This guy is also the reason why I bought the Golgari commander deck. But after playing around with it against friends, Meren of Clan Nel Toth turned out to be a much more versatile general.. +1/+1 counters on your creatures is cool and all, but it's restricted to sacrifice and it's just not very strong against board wipes or other control. Plus if someone has a Tajuru Preserver in play, that will kinda suck.

That being said!! If it works for you, then by all means, keep at it. Now, here are my two cents on additions and subtractions.

If you're going to keep Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest as your commander, Retribution of the Ancients is Required. It's perfect for Mazirek's ability and is great board control. If you combo that with Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, it's even better.

Counter Play: Hardened Scales, Primal Vigor, Vigor, Doubling Season.

Sac outlets: Sadistic Hypnotist, Viscera Seer, Gate to Phyrexia, Ghoulcaller Gisa, Phyrexian Plaguelord.

Forced Sacrifice: All Is Dust, Dictate of Erebos, Grave Pact, Anowon, the Ruin Sage, Archfiend of Depravity, Liliana of the Veil, Call to the Grave, Sheoldred, Whispering One, Curse of the Cabal (A personal favorite of mine), Choice of Damnations (Another personal favorite).

Combo cards: It That Betrays, Thopter Squadron, Ob Nixilis, Unshackled.

Synergistic card draw: Dark Prophecy, Indulgent Tormentor, Symbiotic Deployment.

Miscellaneous: Creeping Renaissance, Geth, Lord of the Vault, Chainer, Dementia Master.

Hopefully I didn't repeat any cards you already have. May the odds be ever in your favor! ;) Any questions, comments, concerns, leave a comment!

When play testing last weekend with my friends, I did notice that Meren of Clan Nel Toth worked really well. Its possible that I'll be switching to him in the future but I'd like to play test the current commander a little longer.

Unfortunately, most of the cards you have suggested I purposefully did not add to the deck for various reasons. For example, as an unspoken rule, my playgroup doesn't put commanders in their decks that are already being used so Ghoulcaller Gisa won't be going into the deck.

However, there are a few that I will definitely take a look at. Thanks for your time and input :)

Interesting rule. :o

What other house rules do you have? So I can better tailor my input and suggestions for you.

That's all I can think of actually lol. After further thought, I will be switching over to Meren after the holiday weekend. She seems like she'll bring more value as a commander.

Oh ok. Lol. Well, since you're switching commanders, I have some more suggestions for you. :)

+1: Bloodgift Demon, Overseer of the Damned, Dictate of Erebos, gravepact, ((Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Retribution of the Ancients (Super good with Sakura-Tribe Elder btw))), Dark Prophecy, Fecundity, Whip of Erebos, Massacre Wurm, Crypt Ghast, Primal Growth, Gray Merchant of Asphodel.

-1: Pentavus, Bone Shredder, Corpsejack Menace, Eldrazi Monument, Death's Presence, Gyre Sage, Shriekmaw, Spiritmonger.

Now, I have updated my deck

Ring Around the Rosey...

Commander / EDH Raging_Squiggle

SCORE: 3 | 2 COMMENTS | 949 VIEWS

+1: Choice of Damnations, Painful Quandary, Descent into Madness, Smokestack, Damping Engine, Tsabo's Web, Mana Web, Ward of Bones, Call to the Grave, Ob Nixilis, Unshackled, Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger, Possessed Portal, Sheoldred, Whispering One, Mana Web.

With Possessed Portal, it seriously slows or even shuts down people. To get around the not drawing, have cards like Abundance, Necropotence, and Maralen of the Mornsong (This card is especially good if you have Ob Nixilis, Unshackled in play). ;)

Thank you for your suggestions :) I'll take a look when I start switching over after the weekend!

Sounds good! Tag me when it's updated so I can take a look at it if ya want. :) Good luck!

Raging_Squiggle Will probably still need to switch some cards out but this is what I came up with real quick. Somehow my Rune-Scarred Demon got misplaced so I'll have to add that once I find it.

Alrightie, let me roll up my sleeves!

Before you throw in the Rune-Scarred Demon, perhaps consider instead throwing in Sidisi, Undead Vizier? It ties into the sacrificing aspect of Meren, plus he costs less.

Dark Prophecy will give you Mad card draw. The only draw back is the loss of life, but that's easily gained back via Gray Merchant of Asphodel or Exsanguinate. Bonus: Shadows of the Past will also give you ridiculous scrying. To the point your opponents will want to get rid of that over a Necropotence (I've had it happen)

Your tutors are pretty solid, but might I suggest Entomb and Buried Alive? Creatures put into your graveyard won't be staying there for long, so they're effective tutors in this deck.

Non-creature recursion is just as important in this deck. So, I will also suggest Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed. It's an Eternal Witness for black cards! (Talk about racist...). Crystal Chimes is a must for recurring the precious enchantments that get destroyed. And Glissa, the Traitor is a great card for artifact recursion. Especially since I assume many opponent's creature will be dying.

Also, a great sac outlet that gives a bang for the buck is Sadistic Hypnotist. With that card in play, you can run additional recursion via Skullwinder because they'll just be discarding the card they get back.

As for ramping, I would swap Skyshroud Claim for Primal Growth. It's cheaper and ties in to the sacrificing synergy. Plus if you sacrifice a Viridian Emissary to it, that's 3 lands that come into play!

Now! Let's talk about some cruel control, shall we? ;)

I'm noticing a lack of a Dictate of Erebos and Grave Pact. These cards should be at the core of a Meren deck, with all the sacrificing going on, they are single-handedly the best board control cards. And if you pair those with Overseer of the Damned, that's a lot of zombies you'll be getting which you can then use for a Phyrexian Plaguelord to kill off other pesky threats. Null Rod should be a good addition. It may seem small and hindering, but it'll save your board and your life if someone throws down a Perilous Vault, Nevinyrral's Disk, or an Oblivion Stone.

An alternate type of control, what is more commonly known as STAX (Sacrifice tax), is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. Damping Engine, Smokestack, Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger, Painful Quandary, Possessed Portal. Long story short, you punish your opponents for trying to do Anything.

Looks like your deck is coming along really well! :) The more you play and tweak it, the better and scarier it will become. I for one can tell you, people will be scared to see a Meren get pulled out of the deck box. She is quickly becoming a powerful commander that many people are beginning to hate and fear.

On a side note: Have you read the lore behind Meren? She's a total badass! She's also becoming my favorite commander in terms of story. There's not much yet except the beginning of her story, but it's still worth a read!

Wow, I really appreciate the time you put into this :)

Absolutely Sidisi, Undead Vizier is going in over Rune-Scarred Demon. Forgot about that one, DOH!

There are a few cards that are out of my budget currently, what with the holiday season and school (blech!) but maybe once we go into the new year I'll have some extra funds. Entomb, Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed and Phyrexian Tower are all going in when that happens.

Crystal Chimes and Glissa, the Traitor are cards that I've always wanted to use but could never find room for. I think some of the enchantments are going to be coming out and with only 7 artifacts... idk. With not having playtested the deck yet, I will see if they are needed.

I've never like cards like Exsanguinate. We play two-headed giant and 95% of the time its a game of 3v3, with a rare 2v2 game. Paying over 10 is not hard to do in commander and that's 30 life loss right there which is almost half of their starting life. If I played more publicly FNM or something I'd definitely put it in but with our playgroup, not fun. That's also why I won't be using Dictate of Erebos. One of us used that in their Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper deck and it was not fun for the other half of the table. Grave Pact might be considered because its not as one-sided.

Last but not least, I won't be using Null Rod or any of the cards suggested below that. I have no use for Null Rod because of my playgroup and the rest of them are too... rude for a lack of a better term :)

I have yet to read up on her backstory but you have peaked my interest. When I get a moment, I'll go read up on her :) Thanks again for all your help!

I'd recommend some of the star players in my version. These can all get pretty out of hand very quickly Kessig Cagebreakers Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest Savra, Queen of the Golgari

Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest used to be in here but I took him out because things are coming and going out of the graveyard so much, it seemed to hinder his progress of adding +1/+1 counters rather than helping him. As for Savra, Queen of the Golgari, I'm not sure why I haven't thought about her. She is perfect for this deck. I just need to find a spot. Kessig Cagebreakers seems like it would be good on paper though for 5 mana I think I'd rather search for Grave Titan at that point since he gives me sac fodder when he ETB and when he attacks. I'll have to think about him. Thanks for the suggestions!

Great deck, im currently building a Meren of Clan Nel Toth deck and found yours in related decks, i got some great ideas, THANK YOU! +1from me for sure, one question why no Golgari Rot Farm to free up one extra slot? Other than that any suggestions on mine would be apriciated,Merens risen, thank you

Have you thought about running Survival of the Fittest over Fauna Shaman? I made this change in my Meren deck and found it way more useful to be able to use Survival more than once per turn.

devpal unfortunately Survival of the Fittest is a little out of my price range at the moment :D