Meren and the Golgari Queens

Commander / EDH* Aristocrats BG (Golgari) Infinite Combo Knights Midrange Reanimator Sacrifice Zombie

DreadKhan

Ramp (24)

• 1x Blighted Woodland
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Blood Pet
• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Deathrite Shaman
• 1x Diligent Farmhand
• 1x Elves of Deep Shadow
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Songs of the Damned
• 1x Dawntreader Elk
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Wight of the Reliquary
• 1x Burnished Hart
• 1x Farhaven Elf
• 1x Fertilid
• 1x Warren Soultrader
• 1x Wood Elves
• 1x Yavimaya Granger
• 1x Culling Ritual
• 1x Defiler of Flesh
• 1x Pitiless Plunderer

Combo Piece (10)

• 1x Gravecrawler
• 1x Bog Initiate
• 1x Activated Sleeper
• 1x Chatterfang, Squirrel General
• 1x Warren Soultrader
• 1x Defiler of Flesh
• 1x Pitiless Plunderer
• 1x Mitotic Slime
• 1x Demon of Dark Schemes
• 1x Protean Hulk

Tutor (8)

• 1x Fiend Artisan
• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire
• 1x Jarad's Orders
• 1x Final Parting
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Protean Hulk
• 1x Razaketh, the Foulblooded

Razaketh (5)

• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Songs of the Damned
• 1x Benefactor's Draught
• 1x Life / Death
• 1x Razaketh, the Foulblooded

Graveyard Hate (4)

• 1x Deathrite Shaman
• 1x Dauthi Voidwalker
• 1x Callous Bloodmage
• 1x Coffin Queen

Honourary Queen (3)

• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Visara the Dreadful
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One

Discard (2)

• 1x Tortured Existence
• 1x Dawnstrider

Land (28)

• 1x Blighted Woodland
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dryad Arbor
• 1x Forest
• 1x Forest
• 10x Forest
• 1x Forest
• 1x Forest
• 1x Golgari Rot Farm
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Woodland Chasm

Sacrifice (13)

• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Fiend Artisan
• 1x Wight of the Reliquary
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Warren Soultrader
• 1x Hell's Caretaker
• 1x Vraska, Golgari Queen
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Liliana, Dreadhorde General
• 1x Razaketh, the Foulblooded

Recursion (9)

• 1x Gravecrawler
• 1x Tortured Existence
• 1x Activated Sleeper
• 1x Coffin Queen
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Life / Death
• 1x Hell's Caretaker
• 1x Demon of Dark Schemes
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One

Tokens (6)

• 1x Callous Bloodmage
• 1x Chatterfang, Squirrel General
• 1x Life / Death
• 1x Ophiomancer
• 1x Mitotic Slime
• 1x Liliana, Dreadhorde General

Protection (4)

• 1x Spore Frog
• 1x Dauthi Voidwalker
• 1x Dawnstrider
• 1x Ophiomancer

Royal Companion (3)

• 1x Chatterfang, Squirrel General
• 1x Syr Konrad, the Grim
• 1x Razaketh, the Foulblooded

Wipe (2)

• 1x Culling Ritual
• 1x Demon of Dark Schemes

Commander (1)

Removal (13)

• 1x Caustic Caterpillar
• 1x Accursed Marauder
• 1x Chatterfang, Squirrel General
• 1x Fleshbag Marauder
• 1x Plaguecrafter
• 1x Foundation Breaker
• 1x Ravenous Chupacabra
• 1x Savra, Queen of the Golgari
• 1x Vraska, Golgari Queen
• 1x Shriekmaw
• 1x Liliana, Dreadhorde General
• 1x Visara the Dreadful
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One

Draw (11)

• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Benefactor's Draught
• 1x Callous Bloodmage
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Heartwood Storyteller
• 1x Liliana's Standard Bearer
• 1x Midnight Reaper
• 1x Beast Whisperer
• 1x Vraska, Golgari Queen
• 1x Liliana, Dreadhorde General
• 1x Lurking Predators

Steve (7)

• 1x Blood Pet
• 1x Diligent Farmhand
• 1x Dawntreader Elk
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Burnished Hart
• 1x Fertilid
• 1x Yavimaya Granger

Payoff (5)

• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Zulaport Cutthroat
• 1x Savra, Queen of the Golgari
• 1x Syr Konrad, the Grim
• 1x Liliana, Dreadhorde General

Beater (4)

• 1x Syr Konrad, the Grim
• 1x Visara the Dreadful
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Razaketh, the Foulblooded

Golgari Queen (3)

• 1x Coffin Queen
• 1x Savra, Queen of the Golgari
• 1x Vraska, Golgari Queen

The Ex (1)

• 1x Gravecrawler

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Maybeboard

Combo Piece (12)

• 1x Altar of Dementia
• 1x Heartless Summoning
• 1x Nether Traitor
• 1x Bastion of Remembrance
• 1x Skullport Merchant
• 1x Aetherflux Reservoir
• 1x Poison-Tip Archer
• 1x Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
• 1x Deep Forest Hermit
• 1x Deranged Hermit
• 1x Lord of the Forsaken
• 1x Underworld Hermit

Discard (2)

• 1x Geier Reach Sanitarium
• 1x Containment Construct

Recursion (2)

• 1x Journey to Eternity  ^Flip
• 1x Timeless Witness

Protection (1)

• 1x Malakir Rebirth  ^Flip

Tutor (1)

• 1x Vile Entomber

Tokens (10)

• 1x Crowded Crypt
• 1x Warren Soultrader
• 1x Sifter of Skulls
• 1x Deep Forest Hermit
• 1x Deranged Hermit
• 1x Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder
• 1x Eyeblight Cullers
• 1x Ogre Slumlord
• 1x Underworld Hermit
• 1x Avenger of Zendikar

Removal (4)

• 1x Viridian Zealot
• 1x Sever the Bloodline
• 1x Slum Reaper
• 1x Gargantuan Gorilla

Card Advantage (1)

• 1x In Search of Greatness

Mana (1)

• 1x Lord of the Forsaken

Untap (1)

• 1x Mobilize

Ramp (6)

• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mobilize
• 1x Songs of the Damned
• 1x Viridian Emissary
• 1x Primal Growth
• 1x Warren Soultrader

Card Draw (4)

• 1x Morbid Opportunist
• 1x Silversmote Ghoul
• 1x Greater Good
• 1x Mindless Automaton

Sac Outlet (4)

• 1x Warren Soultrader
• 1x Greater Good
• 1x Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
• 1x Lord of the Forsaken

Land (1)

• 1x Geier Reach Sanitarium

Wrath (1)

• 1x Nightmare Unmaking

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Reworking Underway

I've pulled out the Knight combo for the time being, replacing it with Chatterfang. I'm not sure how I'll rework the deck's RP elements, but the other combos/pieces are staying in (though I still want to throw in a Lotus Petal or Elvish Spirit Guide for Razaketh fuel, it's just hard to cut an actual card for either, they're way more situational than Life/Death or Dark Ritual, and Benefactor's Draught has a ton of potential upsides stapled to it).

The Theme Song Show

Take me back to Valhalla || I don't want to fight with you no more || There was a time when I was a warrior || And I knew who I was dying for || She was born in a cemetery || She was anything but ordinary || I'm torn and my body's weary || I only hope that she has mercy on me...

Let It In, Sam Roberts

Just some lyrics from a song I loved when I was in Welding School, which vaguely has inspired this deck. The song does remind me of Meren a bit, though without Haakon it's a bit weirder, so we'll see if something else jumps at me.

This is a semi-competitive Meren list, mixing control elements with combo to grind out wins. The deck can technically win early, but that's not normal, but it is normal for it to cripple the opponents' boards before I can assemble a combo. This deck is generally a toolbox oriented deck, using it's quality tutor package to remove problematic cards or pieces to win. The ideal scenario for this deck is to have a Steve, enough mana to play it, and for that to get us to casting Meren, allowing her to recur our Steve for use next turn potentially. Recurring Steves can actually make Meren quite rampy, easily making up for a lower land count while simultaneously adding XP. The Magic Numbers for Meren's XP are 3 and 5 generally, with 3 letting me reanimate a Merciless Executioner or any Steve, while 5 lets me reanimate Sidisi, Undead Vizier the turn I cast her, which should be enough to put me in very good shape, while also getting me to 7 XP which will allow me to bring back Protean Hulk to win off of.

Meren is fairly control heavy, excelling at keeping the board clear or having the best creatures out. This deck is not very fast at winning via creature damage, but the deck does have access to infinite tokens. It prefers to win via aristocrat pay offs, as this tends to be faster and harder to interfere with. The deck has some resiliency due to Meren reanimating/recurring stuff, but there is a reasonable amount of backup reanimation in here. The most versatile/powerful is Demon of Dark Schemes, it has big synergy with our combo pieces (and also with Mitotic Slime naturally), but Sheoldred, Whispering One and Hell's Caretaker complete my back up suite of repeatable drawback free reanimation. Gravecrawler is a great card when combined with Hulk, letting me generate infinite sacrifices from one Hulk pile, with easy access to the 2nd usually. Coffin Queen is a weird card that can reanimate stuff, but I prefer to use it vs opponent's creatures, since it will exile them if they die, so she can hate on a graveyard.

Gradually working on trying to get alternate art for female cards, or for cards where it looks way better. Feel free to make suggestions! This deck could also be called 'All the Pretty Girlgari', so we'll see.

This deck struggles if it truly needs a wipe, but it can usually pressure the board very hard with it's various forced sac sources, even if the deck has skimped on the budget here, running neither Grave Pact nor Dictate of Erebos, just Savra, Queen of the Golgari and creatures that force sacs on ETB. The deck has 2 wipes for smaller things, but can struggle vs a deck that has to be wiped, but if I'm truly desperate I might be able to repeatedly get Demon of Dark Schemes' trigger, if I can hit -6/-6 most stuff would be dead I guess?

For non-creature permanents I run Caustic Caterpillar and Foundation Breaker as low to the ground options. I run Visara the Dreadful because I often found myself in need of some targeted removal that didn't eat up my reanimation slot for the turn, and figured the good ol' Gorgon could do me a solid, and so far I've not been disappointed. It's very much 'what's on the tin', but that happens to be a very good label. Card draw is a tad low I think, but the deck's easy use of the graveyard gives it the feel of having a much larger hand, though there can be card quality concerns if you draw poorly (no tutors or card draw). The deck does feature 2 repeatable fogs, one that doesn't even use reanimation (but enables it via discard) in Spore Frog and Dawnstrider, an underplayed gem in a Meren deck for sure (especially if you expect you might need to fog an aggro player most games, as you can make their life difficult with forced sacs). The deck rarely feels hopeless, but it tends to have only a couple solutions to a given problem, leaning hard on recursion to get by, so if your graveyard is repeatedly exiled it will be a true slog.

I'd like to get the creature count even higher, but it's hard to cut the remaining non-creature spells. This is already an ungodly number of creatures, but the deck is also creature synergy at this point. I also wonder if I should throw in some 'high power' tutors, but do I really want Demonic Tutor over a tutor that gets 2 cards for only 4 or 5 mana? I kinda doubt it.

Date added	4 years
Last updated	11 months
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 44 - 0 Rares 13 - 0 Uncommons 13 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.04
Tokens	Emblem Vraska, Golgari Queen, Energy Reserve, Experience Token, Morph 2/2 C, Ooze 1/1 G, Ooze 2/2 G for Mitotic Ooze, Pest 1/1 BG, Snake 1/1 B, Squirrel 1/1 G, Treasure, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	EDH Deck Templates, X - EDH Inspiration - GOLGARI GRAVEYARDS, Possible Builds, decks, Follow, Commander/EDH, Commander