Great deck man,just wanted to suggest an Avenger of Zendikar to make a large army. I was also wondering how well does the Abhorrent Overlord work for you?

As I rarely win thru swinging creatures and more so run less of a token subtheme than many Avenger got placed early. Abhorrent took his spot and I have loved it. He offers flyers and a sac engine. Also since my devotion to black is usually above 10 by the time I get him out he has serious value.

Thank you for the suggestion. If I see needing more sac fodder is needed he will definitely be a card to look at heavily again.

I would suggest a Mikaeus, the Unhallowed because it pairs extremely well with Puppeteer Clique and Woodfall Primus

And relatively well with Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Kokusho, the Evening Star

Yeah, Mike is out. To many infinite combos with him and not a card I can get behind. All personal here. I do see and know of the power with him.

Honestly I don't know who I'd remove, who I'd add would be Liliana, Heretical Healer or Nissa, Vastwood Seer  ^Flip these 2 are good as planeswalkers and with the theme you got on your deck (reanimator) they also become easily resuable ones

Thragtusk. Even better, Thragtusk + Blade of Selves. Such value, I gotta put that in. Disciple of Bolas + Skullclamp is value too and I can really recommend Massacre Wurm and Woodfall Primus. I see you have them in the maybe board. Just saying. Living Death and Smothering Abomination have also been really good to me in Meren. Survival of the Fittest is also really beast.

What do you use Riftsweeper for? Getting potentially exiled cards back to your library or am I missing a combo?

How is playing with 32 lands? Does it get iffy often? In mono EDH I barely dare going down to 33. Cause now I'm thinking about going down on land count in my Meren deck and adding the Blade and It That Betrays.

Also +1 just for the Caustic Caterpillar. That card is too great in Meren. Great deck overall.

ManSauce thank you for your suggestions. As for 32 lands I only mulligan to 6 once every 30 some games. With land fetching creatures once one hits the Battlefield the deck ramps naturally.

As for Blade of Selves it has come and gone many times. It might make the cut again. But I find it just gets destroyed the second I cast/equip it.

YES!!! YES!!! YES!!! Riftsweeper let's me get back a key card back. It is a pet card of mine. No combos. Just can return win conditions back to my library.

I support SoF & Living Death. Thrag & Smothering got cut. Not enough impact.

The other suggestions I am debating. Thank you again.

In my deck Meren's sideKicks (competative yet fun), I am about to change Solemn Simulacrum for Smothering Abomination. For fetching lands, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Hermit Druid Wood Elves and even when necessary Eternal Witness do the job for a lower cost. The card-draw from the Abomination is insane, it provides a sac-outlet and you can sac him to himself. And at last it is even a 4/3 flying creature.

Blade of Selves is expensive to use and you need those big ones or ETB-creatures to really make it work, and wait a turn for them to be able to attack. Better stick with Strionic Resonator and copy the ETB-effect instantly

And as long as you have Pathbreaker Ibex, you'll be fine for winning the game. Wait, you don't have it yet? Image, retrieving it with Apprentice Necromancer. And say a 5/5 creature and a bunch of Eldrazi scum on the battlefield. It has haste, so attack and see EVERYTHING getting +5/+5 and trample. Game over.

Tyr_W I agree on Blade not performing the way it wants to. When it works it is beast, but getting it to do so is the key. So Strionic all the way!

Pathbreaker was removed a long while back. I don't go with the swinging with creatures route often so he was semi useless. He is a powerhouse though. I run him in my Xenagos deck. Had Pathbreaker Ibex on the field with Mage Slayer. Cast Savageborn Hydra for X=8. Targeted him with Xenagos, God of Revels making him a 16/16 double strike. Then cast Overwhelming Stampede making everything 16/16 bigger and him 32/32. Then attacked with all 3. Each targeting something else. Both my other receiving 48/48. and Savage being a 64/64 with Mage Slayer attached. So beautiful. But not what I want from this deck. I like this deck just being scummy and cutting all others off creatures while I drain away to a victory.

As for Smothering over Solemn I shall think on that. Seems like a good idea. My biggest issue with Smothering is he has to stick for a full round to be effective.

Thanks for your input. Nice logic added.

Stonewaul your deck looks great, one thing is i'm not too sure how much work Bone Splinters and Altar's Reap do. I know that they are sack outlets and have decent effects that come along with them, but I think that you might want something more consistent instead of a one-time use. I think that Birthing Pod would work better as well as maybe a Mind Slash. Otherwise your deck seems pretty fun!

I disagree on Smothering Abomination not being useful on the turn it comes into play. As long as you have another creature whom you can sac and the ability to sac it, which for me so far is pretty much always, he is useful. Reassembling Skeleton works well, cause you can cheaply bring him in before your upkeep if you need to and he works well with Skullclamp too.

Looking through the cards:

Cuttable:

Greenwarden of Murasa. Just a very expensive Eternal Witness.

Grave Titan. Not that good to attack, because no trample or flying. Not that good to defend, for deathtouch there are cheaper options. And just 2 tokens without any ability. meh.

For that cost, consider:Extractor Demon 5/5 flying and mill yourself whenever any creature dies.

Massacre Wurm Bye bye tokens. Combo with the Butcher, Grave Pact or Living Death (tip!) is fenomenal.

For token-generation, I like Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder a lot. When you have a sac-outlet, he keeps pumping tokens and when maxed out, he sacs himself (+1 exp. counter).

Also, consider Thief of Blood to drain those counter-boosting opponents and instant-kill any Planeswalker. And you even get a nice fat flyer in return.

Last but not least is Bloodspore Thrinax. Instant-sac those scum, and then give all your entering tokens +much/+much. You could even cut Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest for him, as Mazirek needs time and conditions to work. And as your minions usually don't need to live that long, it is a waste.

With regards to statement #34: You cannot cast Overwhelming Stampede after you buff with Xenagos, God of Revels because you are already in combat. Only instants would be allowed. You need to cast the sorcery first then enter combat.

Tempt with Discovery is an amazing card for land combos. Someone is always little behind and will let you tutor Dark Depths + Thespian's Stage or Cabal Coffers + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth . The main downside is that some troll may grab a Bojuka Bog but I feel like it's worth the risk.

This deck is amazin. Going to add a lot from this thanks!

Thx luoxiang I am always making little tweaks to my decks thru playtesting. Hope what you get off this deck helps yours play as you like. There is a TON more I could do with mine if I took out my Dark Depths package. But I play in a casual meta and dropping Marit Lage 2-3 times in a game is just SILLY fun!

Whenever a player uses Tempt with Discovery I always search for Tectonic Edge to destroy whatever they just got.

I could post my decklist sometime and we can compare :D i absolutely destroyed board state with mine. lol, Public enemy # 1 indeed.

I think 31 lands is too few, I would cut at least 5 of these cards to make space for lands:

mind slash: I love hand disruption, but 1BBB+sacrifice is pretty bad especially when Thoughtseize and Entomber Exarch exist

tortured existence: this doesn't become good until very late game and is probably a lot worse than a simple Animate Dead/Necromancy or Phyrexian Reclamation

korozda guildmage: very mana intensive for what you get at 1BBGG

zulaport cutthroat: the effect is too small

all hallow's eve: telegraphing Living Death turns ahead of time is bad. It allows opponents to plan for it and is just asking to get your graveyard exiled

deadbridge chant: 6 mana and has to still be in play on your upkeep just for a bad Regrowth

strionic resonator: seems very win-more, if meren is triggering you are probably winning anyway

It's not that these cards are that bad, but you need more lands and something has to go. You could also use more ramp spells like Cultivate, your deck would run better. Since you seem to like self-mill effects, Hermit Druid and Satyr Wayfinder are some good dorks. Since you have a good amount of sac outlets, Seedguide Ash might work.

I also think tainted wood and grim backwoods are worse than basic lands.

Also where is your Birthing Pod?

You don't need to be as durdly as me, but you can check my grindy golgari edh deck

Cheers

I have played well over 50 games and done extensive testing as well and the lands have only been a Mull to 6 one time EVER! So I see no reason to change that. the deck clears them out fast.

Mind Slash was cut for It That Betrays. My update did not take for some reason. Also cards like Thoughtseize are hands down worse. Mind Slash allows for a permanent sac outlet with disruption. But not why I cut it. To slow for my changing meta anymore.

Tortured Existence is GY manipulation. And as it's cost is much cheaper than Phyrexian Reclamation can be turned easier.

Korozda Guildmage does seem off. but never once have I not found her excellent second ability to not be AMAZING! Sac a Rune-Scarred Demon and get a bunch of sac fodder to just return him at end step? YES PLEASE! Plus all of the 1/1 fuel me for other cards.

Zulaport Cutthroat has been on the fence for some time. But just like Blood Artist these cards left unchecked can do some serious work. So far he has rarely let me down.

Yes, All Hallow's Eve paints a target on my back. But Meren already does that. This card is in current playtesting as I just got it. Will give it some time. Not enough GY hate in my meta to be worried about them finding theirs just for this.

Deadbridge Chant is more for filling the yard for more targets quickly. The second ability is just a bonus.

Strionic Resonator on many occasions has helped shut out the game for me. Late game grabbing a little extra devotion and Gary! Yep. Or get back another token army to fend off the Rhys player for another turn and get Rune Scar for another answer? All in one turn? Yep. Early game getting Fog Frog and an Elder? Yep! This card is not a win more, but a win faster card.

Birthing Pod has been played, tested, and failed in this deck. This deck was not designed for that card. And it requires a fine tuned mana curve to make it work well. I find to often that the next higher CMC is already in my yard, hand, or battlefield.

The new combo added to the deck was Death Cloud and It That Betrays

Thx for your advice though and adding why not just a because.