Merieke Ri Berit - more draw? (EDH)
Deck Help forum
Posted on Nov. 20, 2019, 5:34 p.m. by MustaKotka
Fifty ways to combo your lover (Merieke Ri Berit)
I'm at a standstill. I know I need more draw but I have no idea which cards to include and which should be taken out.
Land base is a known problem, so no need to comment on that. :P Other suggestions are welcome, though!
MustaKotka says... #3
Azami is an alternative to Arcanis, both lead to a win. It's not the wizard part, it's the 'tap to draw' part. Sure, I do have tutors so maybe it's a bit redundant but she has pseudo haste so she's more resilient.
Notion Thief was recommended by a lot of people so I decided to run it. I don't know why it's so good but I really trust some of those people. It did lock a deck once from snowballing so it's not bad per se.
Grimgrin is expensive and perhaps you're right I should let him go. Sad, the synergy with Merieke is quite good so I'd love to keep him. I'll try removing him and replacing it with draw.
Thank you so much for the feedback! I appreciate it a lot. This deck has been an interesting learning experience.
November 21, 2019 9:13 a.m.
Notion Thief is only really good because of Flash. So on the off chance someone is like "Hey I'm gonna draw like 6 cards real quick" you get to be like "Naw I'm gonna draw 6 cards real quick instead".
It's a one off thing. It can be good, but usually your not going to get more than one good steal from it before he gets popped. And after he hits the field, he isn't doing much as a 3/1.
Grim is a big beat stick for you, which I don't think is how you want to win. You can untap him, but beyond that he isn't doing a whole lot for the investment. Merieke Ri Berit only needs to untap to kill the creature that she stole, so your better off just using her as a machine gun. Maybe running some draw off of death triggers.
November 21, 2019 10:50 a.m.
MustaKotka says... #5
This makes a lot of sense. Thank you again. I'll look into death trigger draw!
November 21, 2019 12:45 p.m.
MustaKotka says... #6
Skullclamp! That's the answer I've been looking for. I draw, in a pinch I can draw 2 from Merieke, too.
November 21, 2019 12:49 p.m.
Yup! Anything you steal you can attach Skullclamp to before you untap Merieke Ri Berit to kill it. That is excellent draw if you have the resources.
Also Phyrexian Arena , Dark Prophecy , Grim Haruspex (Who is a Wizard), Ob Nixilis Reignited , Decree of Pain , Greed , Necropotence , Underworld Connections , Erebos, God of the Dead , Night's Whisper , Sign in Blood , Read the Bones , Baleful Strix , Mind's Eye , Staff of Nin , Tamiyo, the Moon Sage .
November 21, 2019 3:54 p.m.
MustaKotka Now you've got me looking at updating my own Merieke Ri Berit deck! How dare you make me nostalgic!
November 22, 2019 8:23 a.m.
MustaKotka says... #9
DarkHero I'm glad I've renewed your interest in what I deem the most confusing commander! The rules around Merieke are bizarre due to the wording she has and I love it.
I looked at the cards you linked and I think they're good and all but somewhat expensive to cast or in difficult colours (looking at you, Dark Prophecy ). Zuran Spellcaster would be an interesting alt wincon, although it's a pretty dead card without infinite untaps.
I see you updated your deck. Would be interesting to play against your deck on Cockatrice some day!
November 23, 2019 5 a.m.
MustaKotka says... #10
Hey DarkHero I figured it out: Staff of Nin is the better Zuran Spellcaster because it has two important functions: draw and haste. It's never a dead card and has the potential to be more resilient than the Spellcaster.
November 23, 2019 8:21 p.m.
I think your right. I was looking for a sort of janky wincon and sort of forgot Staff taps for 1 dmg too.
DarkHero says... #2
So these feel out of place to me: Notion Thief , Grimgrin, Corpse-Born , Azami, Lady of Scrolls just because you don't have a lot of Wizards to rely on.
You may find yourself better off running less of the one off "untap target permanent" or whatever, and instead running tutors and draws to get you to your infinites. You could cut a lot of cards this way and it might make you more efficient at doing what you want to do.
You have a lot of removal for a deck that wants to abuse Merieke.
I really don't think your draw or your land base is all that bad. Maybe not "optimized" but it's solid. Best I can say is maybe run less removal and more Brainstorm , Telling Time , Ponder and the like. And the only draw artifact your missing that I can think of is Mind Stone .
November 21, 2019 8:39 a.m.