Meren, Graveyard Pod

Commander / EDH BG (Golgari) Creature Cheat Dredge Reanimator Sacrifice

AEVA

Creature (22)

• 1x Accursed Marauder
• 1x Avenger of Zendikar
• 1x Bane of Progress
• 1x Bloodghast
• 1x Demon's Disciple
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Fauna Shaman
• 1x Fiend Artisan
• 1x Fleshbag Marauder
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Harvester of Souls
• 1x Massacre Wurm
• 1x Merciless Executioner
• 1x Midnight Reaper
• 1x Morbid Opportunist
• 1x Nether Traitor
• 1x Plaguecrafter
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Slum Reaper
• 1x Terastodon
• 1x Vengevine
• 1x Woodfall Primus

Card Draw (8)

• 1x Black Market Connections
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Greater Good
• 1x Guardian Project
• 1x Night's Whisper
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Skeletal Scrying
• 1x Skullclamp

Lands (36)

• 1x Blooming Marsh
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Deathcap Glade
• 1x Fabled Passage
• 8x Forest
• 1x Llanowar Wastes
• 1x Necroblossom Snarl
• 1x Nurturing Peatland
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Shifting Woodland
• 1x Svogthos, the Restless Tomb
• 12x Swamp
• 1x Twilight Mire
• 1x Undergrowth Stadium
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Woodland Cemetery
• 1x Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth

Targeted Removal (9)

• 1x Acidic Slime
• 1x Assassin's Trophy
• 1x Attrition
• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Cankerbloom
• 1x Caustic Caterpillar
• 1x Foundation Breaker
• 1x Gate to Phyrexia
• 1x Reclamation Sage

Boardwipe (1)

• 1x Damnation

Commander (1)

General Strategy (15)

• 1x Altar of Dementia
• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Birthing Pod
• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Chthonian Nightmare
• 1x Corpse Dance
• 1x Dread Return
• 1x Eldritch Evolution
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Exhume
• 1x Living Death
• 1x Natural Order
• 1x Necromancy
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Reanimate

Ramp (8)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Golgari Signet
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Resilience
• 1x Wood Elves
• 1x Yavimaya Elder

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Maybeboard

Instead Shriekmaw (1)

• 1x Skeletal Scrying

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LAST UPDATE: 23/07/2025 - Bloomburrow

PRIMER

Throughout the years, this deck evolved from being a Varolz, the Scar-Striped voltron commander with underlying dredge theme, to an Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis commander with dredge theme, to an Old Stickfingers commander with underlying dredge theme before finally settling on Meren of Clan Nel Toth. I still kept some of my favorite ''dredge'' cards like Bloodghast, Vengevine, Reassembling Skeleton & Nether Traitor in part due to the nostalgia factor, but also because they can be sacrificed for additionnal experience counter and easily comeback to be sacrificed again.

DECK OBJECTIVES

1- Use repeatable sacrifice outlets to create a recursion engine to increase board value over time

2- Use a lot of creatures that have ETB effects, ideally asymmetrical because of recursion, to generate value and overwhelm opponents

3- Use a lot of creatures that have a way of coming back to field without Meren (such as Vengevine, Bloodghast, etc.) in play to keep value engine going

KPI DASHBOARD (20/05/2023)

N=25

1. Average Mulligans Required: 1,14 (GOOD)
2. Earliest creature cast: 1,86 (EXCELLENT)
3. Turn Commander Cast: 3,86 (EXCELLENT)
4. Turn Strategy Online: 5,57 (EXCELLENT)
5. Turn of Land Miss: 6,57 (GOOD)
6. Repeatable Sacrifice Outlet: 5,43 (EXCELLENT)
7. Repeatable Net Card Draw: 3,29 (EXCELLENT)

The grades in parenthesis is my own assessment based on how I want the deck to behave.

Date added	2 years
Last updated	5 months
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 40 - 0 Rares 21 - 0 Uncommons 11 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.17
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Elephant 3-3 G, Energy Reserve, Experience Token, Morph 2/2 C, Plant 0/1 G, Shapeshifter 3/2 C, Treasure
Folders	OPTIMIZED DECKS - BLOOMBURROW (01/08/2024)