Also, Karn over Null Rod?

I answered my own questions

Kira0077 Definitely Not Tarim from the Meren Discord came up with the following line:

3 creatures + razaketh in play. sac for crypt, lesser masticore, hulk. cast crypt. cast masticore, discarding hulk. sac masticore (persist), get lotus petal or equivalent. sac masticore, get reanimate. reanimate hulk with razaketh in play, talk shit.

I'm going to put that in the primer and try it myself, but I'm not sure I'll keep using it because you can't use eye witness lines. The fact that it requires crypt also makes it a pretty piss poor budget option, but at least crypt goes in every deck.

Sidisi is very over-costed as a tutor. Sure, it’s reusable, but the loss of tempo that casting it incurs is extreme and cheating it into play with entomb+reanimation is pointless. This deck has such a high density of reanimation that one black tutor should assemble entomb+reanimation and threaten a win.

Yahenni's is much better because it kills virtually every creature that is playable in cEDH, nets a ton of experience and doesn't kill Meren. Board wipes that kill Meren are no bueno. If you follow it with a fleshbag effect (which Yahenni's lets you cast for free) then it's practically Fire Covenant .

Ishan priest is very, very slow. To be playable it would need haste and also be able to sacrifice itself, which would probably break some other format. Stitch Together isn't worthwhile; threshold is too high of a bar. This deck already runs all the good 2 CMC reanimation, but if I wanted another I think that Exhume would be pretty good-- if someone entombs their own hulk in response, that sucks, you have to pass turn and it turns into a Mexican standoff where you both wait for each other to twitch. Whoever's hulk trigger goes on top of the other trigger wins.

I've definitely tried more discard effects, but Oppression is the only one that turned out to be brutal (other than Mindslicer itself of course). It simply works great every time it resolves.

You can probably guess what I'm going to say about Karn: too slow! Null rod is a great "oh shit button", if someone draws the nuts opening hand with moxes and so on then null rod will absolutely dumpster them, they will go from first to last place. Turn 1 sol ring into null rod is a legitimate play that you shouldn't shy away from. Aside from that, it's much easier to cast null rod and still do other stuff that turn.

Woof! I think that's it.

Well , do you think the new card blood for bones is good of this deck?

procy gonna answer for rogue here - no.. it costs 4 and requires a creature to sac + a good reanimation target already in yard. too much setup and too much mana. remember that this deck is built for competitive EDH where people are threatening wins on turn 1-3.

Any suggestions on a budget alternative to Dark Confidant? I was thinking that either Mindblade Render or Pain Seer could work but I would love to know your thoughts on that. Maybe it would be better to just cut out bob for another piece of removal?

does this deck lose any consistency or leave any dead cards by hard swapping gary for ball?

Andrew6Gardiner grim flayer and grim haruspex are interchangeable with bob.

chrismannion12 gary vs ball is apples vs apples until you have played the other 98 cards for at least 80 hours.

Unfortunately, I don't have an imperial tutor, could I replace it with Natural Order or Sidisi?

Hello there,
I think I just found the perfect Meren deck ❤️
But I gotta make it a bit more budget (tough student's life). So please let me know what you think of my changes:

First of all, the Razaketh combo comes out. Just taking your advice and putting in a few more lands:

• Razaketh, the Foulblooded --> Prismatic Vista
• Lion's Eye Diamond --> Strip Mine
• Eternal Witness --> Volrath's Stronghold

• Imperial Seal --> Tangle Wire
• Gaea's Cradle --> Forest
• Mox Diamond --> Sakura-Tribe Elder
• Crop Rotation (loses a lot of utility with the Cradle gone) --> Wood Elves
• Compost (I think it underperforms outside Tier 1 cEDH) --> Necropotence
• Reclamation Sage --> Manglehorn (idk if the stax is worth not being able to hit enchantments)

what do you think about adding urborg because you added necromancy. It will be easier to cast it sometimes. You could cut a swamp.

@Snowflakz

I thought about running Urborg , but I don't know if it's worth it. Necropotence should not be too hard to cast with eight fetchlands in the deck. But then again, Urborg might make the mana base more consistent, with a rather high number of Forest in the deck.

Snowflakz not in terms of ratios, I categorize NO as a combo piece because it gets hulk 100% of the time and I categorize Sidisi as a very slow card advantage engine that paints a huge target on your chest. I'd recommend a draw engine. Off the top of my head Grim Haruspex is viable and not currently in this 99.

TCG-Player eternal witness is a Meren staple regardless of the presence of raz. I've never had the balls to try Necropotence in Meren-- Mindslicer is our cornerstone-- give it a shot though. Reclamation sage kills RIP and leyline of the void, decks that can function with RIP in play should always run Manglehorn. Running both is fine in Meren, we love ETBs. The swaps you've made and rationales you've given for them display significant insight, I encourage you to join the Discord via the link at the top of the primer.

Thanks for your tip. I replaced Compost with Grim Haruspex as Drawengine, because in our Playgroup almost nobody plays black.

I am thinking about replacing Imperial Seal with NO, because it is also a kind of tutor for the wincon.

In my games I didn't like eldritch evolution so I replaced it with Grim Flayer. It feels super strong when it comes to the advantage.

This is my current deck list and I'm pretty happy with it:

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what do you mean mindslicer + clamp = table scoops? whats the combo?

TheWaffleAirforce Everyone will have to discard their hand and you still net 2 cards. In a Cedh match that kind of tempo/card advantage swing is hard to recover from

So this is my Meren deck. Could you take a look and tell me what you would change? I'm on a budget, and would prefer to keep any additions under $30. As in no single card over $30, not a total of $30.

hello, new user here. have you considered adding more draw cards to the deck considering you only run 5 (dark c. runic armasaur, compost, sylvan and skullclamp) i know you run tons of tutors here but they only net you one answer and considering the amount of counterspells and mindcensors out there... also, how do you deal with all the graveyard hate cards such as rest in peace and so... thanks

What are your thoughts on yawgmoth?

roguelikedev Why not run victimize, phyrexian arena or fauna shaman?

XinZhao Phyrexian arena is a worse sylvan library and fauna shaman is a worse survival of the fittest. Deck space is a bit tight and they are both slower then the two run in the deck. But those are good semi budget alternatives to run instead. Or along side if your meta fits that

roguelikedev

I am currently running yawgmoth as instead of compost because im the black player at my game table. I have not yet aquired a bob yet and am already running haruspex and flayer in the deck, necropotence seems too risky to run in meren and as stated before phyrexian arena is too slow is there any other recommendations you might have? Thank you for ypur consideration

XinZhao check out pao2's list, linked at the top of the primer. it has significantly more of the card advantage engines you're interested in, including big boy Yawgmoth.

Would be better if you add Sylvan Safekeeper in the list.

First Hulk line would be BS/Sac outlet/Sylvan Safekeeper. This line would ensure that you have protection for your combo.