Lose Friends and Alienate People

Commander / EDH BG (Golgari) Combo Competitive Primer Reanimator Sacrifice Toolbox

outofborderline

CARDADVANTAGE (4)

• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sylvan Library

DUDE (7)

• 1x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
• 1x Kokusho, the Evening Star
• 1x Massacre Wurm
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Woodfall Primus

LANDS (36)

• 1x Ancient TombGC
• 1x Bayou
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Deathcap Glade
• 1x Diamond Valley
• 1x Dryad Arbor
• 7x Forest
• 1x Llanowar Wastes
• 1x Mutavault
• 1x Necroblossom Snarl
• 1x Nurturing Peatland
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 1x Strip Mine
• 6x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Wood
• 1x Tectonic Edge
• 1x Twilight Mire
• 1x Undergrowth Stadium
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Volrath's Stronghold
• 1x Wasteland
• 1x Woodland Cemetery
• 1x Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth

RAMP (12)

• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Deathrite Shaman
• 1x Golgari Signet
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Lotus Cobra
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Nest Invader
• 1x Oracle of Mul Daya
• 1x Pawn of Ulamog
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Wood Elves

RECUR (4)

• 1x Dread Return
• 1x Living Death
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Victimize

REMOVAL (3)

• 1x Assassin's Trophy
• 1x Maelstrom Pulse
• 1x Pernicious Deed

SACRIFICE (5)

• 1x Altar of Dementia
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Attrition
• 1x Birthing Pod
• 1x Greater Good

TOOLBOX (21)

• 1x Acidic Slime
• 1x Big Game Hunter
• 1x Disciple of Bolas
• 1x Duplicant
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Fauna Shaman
• 1x Fleshbag Marauder
• 1x Greenwarden of Murasa
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Merciless Executioner
• 1x Mindslicer
• 1x Nether Traitor
• 1x Phyrexian Delver
• 1x Phyrexian Revoker
• 1x Reclamation Sage
• 1x Rune-Scarred Demon
• 1x Scavenging Ooze
• 1x Shriekmaw
• 1x Vampire Hexmage
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Zulaport Cutthroat

TUTOR (7)

• 1x Demonic TutorGC
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Eldritch Evolution
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Survival of the FittestGC
• 1x Traverse the Ulvenwald
• 1x Vampiric TutorGC

Commander (1)

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Maybeboard

CARDADVANTAGE (4)

• 1x Dark Confidant
• 1x Grisly Salvage
• 1x Life from the Loam
• 1x Phyrexian Arena

DUDE (9)

• 1x Butcher of Malakir
• 1x Chainer, Dementia Master
• 1x Demon of Dark Schemes
• 1x Geth, Lord of the Vault
• 1x Grave Titan
• 1x Ob Nixilis, Unshackled
• 1x Protean Hulk
• 1x Razaketh, the Foulblooded
• 1x Syr Konrad, the Grim

LANDS (4)

• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Volrath's Stronghold

RAMP (1)

• 1x Black Market

RECUR (4)

• 1x Bloodghast
• 1x Nether Traitor
• 1x Reassembling Skeleton
• 1x Rushed Rebirth

REMOVAL (7)

• 1x Assassin's Trophy
• 1x Attrition
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Putrefy
• 1x Toxic Deluge

SACRIFICE (6)

• 1x Demon's Disciple
• 1x Disciple of Bolas
• 1x Druid of Purification
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Plaguecrafter
• 1x Sadistic Hypnotist

TOOLBOX (7)

• 1x Bane of Progress
• 1x Dark Revenant
• 1x Entomber Exarch
• 1x Foundation Breaker
• 1x Polluted Dead
• 1x Skull Prophet
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum

TUTOR (2)

• 1x Maralen of the Mornsong
• 1x Mausoleum Secrets

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Jan 16, 2022: I have returned to playing EDH online and will be once again tweaking and updating this build as I do research on new cards to fit in. Most of it should stay the same, but the mana base, sac outlets, and utility dudes are going to change. Thanks everyone who enjoyed discussing this build and hating themselves. Taking new recommendations and discussion since I'm largely out of the MTG loop.

Lose Friends and Alienate People: The Deck That Social Distances For You

TL;DR

This Meren of Clan Nel Toth deck is a hyper-efficient Birthing Pod deck built for 2-3 player Commander games. [01/16/22: It performs adequately in 4-player games.] It excels in small groups playing "fair" decks (aggro, non-stax control) and struggles against decks with little-to-no interaction (stax, storm). [01/16/22: I've also found it struggles against high-efficiency mono-white.]

This deck is high-risk, high-reward. You cannot win if you are "nice" while playing. You must play like an a-hole. It is alienating.

What is a Birthing Pod deck?

A Pod deck uses Birthing Pod, Chord of Calling, Collected Company, or Eldritch Evolution effects to turn their library into a creature-based "tool-box." They can do this with combos or utility.

My first good deck was Modern 4C Birthing Pod + Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker in Winter of 2013. Back then I appreciated the infinite-combo abilities that Birthing Pod enabled. From then I built Modern decks like Junk, Jund, RG Tron, and of course Melira, Sylvok Outcast Pod. [01/16/2022: Obviously, Birthing Pod has long since been banned in Modern.]

Birthing Pod is a broken card. Lots of fun, I'll tell you.

I enjoy tool-box style decks. They tend to be more resilient and offer more options to players than a streamlined, predictable deck.

The ability to respond to any situation is valuable. Though this style is high-risk due to how off-putting opponents can find it, it can also offer exceptionally high rewards.

This strategy also has plenty of weaknesses--it's a predictable, easy target that's easily disrupted early. This deck is made primarily for 2-3 player Commander games. There are decks that this one probably won't beat, no matter how badly I wish it would. But there are plenty of decks that won't beat this deck. That's what we're hoping for.

Why Utility over Reanimator for Meren? Show

[01/16/2022: This seems unnecessary now that "toolbox Meren" is the norm, but "toolbox Meren" being "the norm" is vindicating for me and I feel great about it. Still keeping it here for legacy.]

Reanimator decks want to barf out large creatures for cheap. Meren has to have a number of experience counters before barfing up large creatures.

Reaching the necessary number of counters to make her shine for Reanimator is a pain. There has to be something gained from the moves made leading up to a stack of experience counters. By the time she can bring back 6-7 cost creatures, we should already be in an advantageous position. That 6-7 cost should help win the game.

Meren's ability triggers at the beginning of the end step. Creatures put into play by it aren't attacking or activating tap abilities. ETB creature triggers are preferable to LTB triggers, but LTB triggers are fine as long as we have an available sac outlet.

This build, to me, is a true GB deck: it can play as grindy or combo-oriented; it relies on resource-denial against your opponents; it gets a lot of value for little cost. You should have an answer for everything, and utility creature packages should be tuned for whatever your playgroup's meta.

Show Me the DeckFax! Show

Consistency

Very consistent, for better or worse.

This Commander has a huge target on her back.

Graveyard hate is hell. In particular, cards that replace "dying" with "exile instead" are a nightmare. Exile that you can respond to instantly (whether on a permanent's ETB/LTB trigger or on-cast) is manageable. As an example, Samurai of the Pale Curtain is weirdly annoying.

Heavy feast-or-famine playstyle. Win hard, lose harder. Efficiency is everything.

Flexibility

Well-rounded creature suite is what makes this deck work. There's a little bit of everything available in the GB colors.

I'll always argue GBx decks are stronger than other color combinations because you don't miss out on a gosh darn thing. [01/16/22: So true, bestie.]

I carry a ten-card sideboard with me to maintain flexibility. If you tune too heavily toward your own meta without considering the idea of playing with new people you'll end up with some strange choice cards that don't do you any good against your new friends.

Synergy

The synergy in this deck has been finely-tuned to ensure that when its player's turn comes around, there should always be an open opportunity to make plays as long as the player is on-par with the deck's expectations.

From counting Experience Counters to planning multiple turns ahead, this deck operates on resource-denial and value-generation in a way where everything works well together. But it works well together in the context of playing the deck the way it wants to be played: synergy, trigger stacking, and timing.

The only "infinite combo" in this list is Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Woodfall Primus + Sacrifice Outlet. Triskelion was in an initial iteration of the list with the intention of creating a quick, sudden win. I realized early on that this is not how I want to win, despite how stupidly easy it can be.

[01/16/22: All of the above is still true. That is not how this particular version of Meren wants to win. This deck wants to set the pace of the table and grind to a halt, if necessary, to get the win. It can win on a singular turn that "seems" out of nowhere, but your play leading to that point is calculated. It's "outta nowhere" to everyone except you.]

Strengths

• Flexible build, easy to tweak
• Flexible gameplay, hard to lock out
• Utility-based, has answers for everything
• Endless synergy, combos with everything
• Endless potential, is as good as the player is
• STRONG 1v1 gameplay
• Extremely grindy, creates long annoying games

Weaknesses

• Fragile to early disruption, falls behind easily
• Struggles in 4+ player games
• BIG RED TARGET ON FACE
• "Feast or Famine"-style play
• Nonlinear play requires practice to get used to
• Flexible build requires meta knowledge to ensure it doesn't get hated out
• Extremely grindy, creates long annoying games

Creature Base Show

Overview

There are no creatures in this deck that do not serve a purpose. I tried to create a wide-range of usable effects that will assist in the resource-denial and value-generation. This includes the ramp dudes, card advantage, hand-hate, all the things GBx loves.

Core Creatures

[01/16/22: The deck changed a lot, but I'll be updating this to acknowledge what is core and what has changed.]

No matter how many times I tweak this list, the following creatures have remained in since the beginning. The creatures below are listen in CMC order and are categorized with other creatures that serve a similar purpose at that CMC.

• Birds of Paradise, Deathrite Shaman - Mana dorks come and go, often finding themselves interchangeable with others such as Elves of Deep Shadow or Llanowar Elves. No matter what happens, BOP and DRS both are simply too good in this deck to deny their value.
• Viscera Seer - Extremely underrated sacrifice outlet on a 1CMC creature. With only VS and Meren out you can start an engine by sacrificing VS to itself before the end step, then bringing it back end of turn. I've been impressed by this card beyond belief.
• Dark Confidant - Few people have agreed with me on running Bob in a list that curves out at 8 with multiple CMC5+ cards that can hurt a lot. I still wouldn't take him out. The card advantage is often too great. Worst case scenario he can be pitched to Pod for Haruspex before you kill yourself.
• Scavenging Ooze, Vampire Hexmage - Though neither of these creatures immediately impacts the game state upon ETB, I value their utility heavily.
• Sakura-Tribe Elder, Lotus Cobra - They combo with each other and provide ramp value.
• Nether Traitor - As opposed to Reassembling Skeleton or Bloodghast, Nether Traitor has done massive amounts of work for this deck and consistently proves that triggering off of death in this list is better than triggering off of Landfall.
• Phyrexian Revoker - Disgusting. Being able to recur this creature and name other sources depending on what you need has the ability to lock opponents out of games for extended periods of time. It's like having as many Pithing Needles as you want.
• Fleshbag Marauder, Merciless Executioner - One-card combos with Meren that will end up being recurred far too many times for anybody to count.
• Grim Haruspex - Despite Haruspex not impacting board state upon ETB or LTB, it pays for itself in no time. I've been extremely happy with this card and have enjoyed it alongside Deathreap Ritual and Greater Good.
• Eternal Witness, Reclamation Sage, Big Game Hunter, Wood Elves - ETB Utility effects are what this deck is about, in my opinion. With an average CMC hovering around 3, it's clear that the three-drop creature spot is vital to my game-plan. What sits here needs to be the utility creatures that will be often recurred by Meren early and mid-game.
• Mindslicer - God I've loved Mindslicer. Nobody I play with does, but I sure as hell love blowing it up. With a graveyard that acts as my hand the majority of the time, the synergy is too strong to deny.
• Oracle of Mul Daya - The one, the only.
• Disciple of Bolas - Never ceases to satisfy my needs for life-gain, card advantage, and a sacrifice outlet. It's also a four-drop, making it an insane on-chain Pod target after utility creatures.
• Phyrexian Delver - A true champion of this deck, Phyrexian Delver's ETB ability Reanimates a creature. When you sacrifice it to something else and bring it back with Meren's trigger EOT you get another thing. Genuinely endless possibilities.
• Sidisi, Undead Vizier - Sac outlet + Demonic Tutor + Snake = <3
• Acidic Slime - Reclamation Sage in the five-drop spot. Fits perfectly in a Pod chain and is a 2/2 Ooze with Deathtouch. Nothing is scarier than an Ooze with Deathtouch.
• Greenwarden of Murasa - On-curve six-drop Eternal Witness that can be used twice in its first run through if you really want to exile it for immediate secondary value. Also big dumb creature.
• Mikaeus, the Unhallowed - Undying is a f--ing broken mechanic with this deck, Mikaeus is disgusting, and he's a dude that can punch opponents directly in the nuts.
• Rune-Scarred Demon - ETB Demonic Tutor on a huge flier. There's a reason this bad boy is an EDH staple.
• Sheoldred, Whispering One - Doesn't immediately affect board-state, but Sheoldred is a terrifying threat that nobody wants to stare down. She's a huge hate target but if allowed to live provides massive value.i
• Woodfall Primus - Big dumb Persist guy that can go infinite with Mikaeus and a sacrifice outlet to blow up all non-creature permanents on the battlefield. Beater creature. Utility. Belongs here.

Creature Discussion

I want to talk about some of the other creatures that have been in/been considered for/are in the list. This section is basically going to be why I do/don't play certain creatures currently.

• Entomber Exarch was in this list until 08/2016. I love it for 1v1 as targeted hand disruption. Everything that the deck cares about can be taken away with Exarch. It even hits lands, too, which makes for an excellent resource-denial option. I ended up removing Entomber Exarch for Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet because I needed a beefier 4CMC creature and more graveyard hate in this list.
• Doomed Necromancer and Apprentice Necromancer are both cool for cheaty Reanimator lists but I find them both far too slow. (In a deck this grindy, you know there's a problem if a card is too slow.) I also didn't like how they didn't have an ETB or LTB ability--I try to keep as many immediate-impact creatures as possible.
• Butcher of Malakir was too high of a CMC for me and I didn't see myself needing the Grave Pact effect, which I detailed more below in non-creature discussion.
• Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord is a huge beater-dude, a sacrifice outlet, and a total f--ing monster of a creature. I love him to bits. That said, I feel like to best utilize him and not waste his potential, a deck needs to be built around him and that deck should be Dredge. He doesn't have the utility or impact I'm looking for in a four-drop for this list.
• Solemn Simulacrum shows up in zero of my EDH decks. It's a fair, reasonable Magic card and I don't want to be fair OR reasonable.
• Yavimaya Elder was too slow with too little impact... Same with pretty much any hasteless creature that had an activated ability with a cost. It's just not what I'm going for.
• Avenger of Zendikar is an insanely good card but can't function optimally in this deck as I don't do enough degenerate ramping.
• Satyr Wayfinder (and similar cards) don't belong in this deck as I am not Dredging nor am I pretending to Dredge.
• Grave Titan is one of my favorite cards in all of Magic, but because I'm focused so intensely on either denying opponents resources or taking a creature-combo route to win, he simply doesn't belong. Sorry, Gravey. I love you.
• Shriekmaw will most likely replace Bone Shredder in the near future. I don't like that Echo is such a slow mechanic and I love that Shriekmaw is 5CMC. It would fit better in the curve for chaining up to my big dumb dudes. [01/16/22: Shriekmaw has been in the list for years.]

Potential Additions or Changes To This Section

[01/16/22: Coming soon.]

• Walking Balista
• Liliana, Heretical Healer  
• Razaketh, the Foulblooded

Non-Creature Spells Show

Enchantments

The enchantment suite is solely value-engines of card advantage (Deathreap Ritual, Greater Good, Necropotence), graveyard outlets (Attrition, Greater Good, Pernicious Deed, Survival of the Fittest), Animate Dead being the only exception, but it follows the "more for less" rule. (Note: Animate Dead replaced by Sylvan Library on 04/10/16.)

You can never really justify not running Necropotence in my opinion. Just don't discard cards. GG. [01/16/22: Phyrexian Arena is an adequate alternative. A case could be made for Maralen of the Mornsong.]

Why no Grave Pact/Dictate of Erebos?

I honestly believe it's unnecessary for this deck; with the amount of times it becomes capable of recurring Bone Shredder, Fleshbag Marauder, and Merciless Executioner, there's no need for an enchantment that does the same thing. The recursion in this deck is degenerate. The Edict creatures will do their jobs and trigger plenty of value when they do. Worst case scenario I make a spot for Butcher of Malakir if I find myself needing it, or play it in the 10-card EDH sideboard.

[01/16/22: This still tracks.]

Artifacts

Aggressively-costed mana rocks, but not many of them. Normally I'd run more but this deck heavily favors mana dorks that can be offered up to Skullclamp or Altar of Dementia.

Birthing Pod, Skullclamp, and Altar of Dementia are the best ways to kill your creatures in this deck. Birthing Pod is the entire archetype of this deck. Skullclamp supports it by serving your functions of killing shit and creating value. Altar of Dementia feeds your graveyard and helps you kill shit.

About Altar of Dementia: There comes a point during the game when you play this deck and you realize your graveyard might as well be your hand. Please don't be rash when making decisions, try not to let your yard get exiled. This deck very heavily relies on an ability to combo with itself.

Potential Additions or Changes

[01/16/22: Coming soon.]

Instants

Vampiric Tutor, because there's no reason not to. Strictly better than Imperial Seal and literally hundreds of dollars cheaper.

Putrefy, because destroying an artifact or a creature and having it unable to be regenerated can be a huge deal in EDH. It's only a three-drop and it's instant speed.

If you find yourself lacking for instants and removal for particularly frustrating combos like Mind Over Matter, I advise removing a low-drop creature for an instant-speed enchantment removal card like Nature's Claim.

Potential Additions or Changes

[01/16/22: Coming soon.]

Sorceries

Living Death is the most bonkers card in this deck when you get to late-game. With your entire deck in the yard, a bunch of open mana, and a Living Death, you will literally trigger your opponents to death.

Demonic Tutor, Diabolic Intent are our staple tutors. I'd argue that Diabolic Intent is technically better in this deck, but since we don't always have creatures we want to get rid of...

Traverse the Ulvenwald isn't hard to get online in this deck. Your "core four" for the Delirium will probably be Creature, Land, Sorcery, Artifact. Good news is you can always just use it to get a land, too.

Dread Return, Reanimate, and Victimize are our friends, kids.

Maelstrom Pulse added as of 07/2016, as it should've been in there sooner. It's better for this deck than the vast majority of other potential removal spells.

Eldritch Evolution is like a one-use-only copy of Birthing Pod. Great stuff. Added as soon as EMN came out.

Green Sun's Zenith is a ramp spell for mana dorks and a Birthing Pod that'll get shuffled back into the library, meaning it'll never get exiled by a Rest in Peace!

Potential Additions or Changes

[01/16/22: Coming soon.]

Side-Board Show

The 10-Card Sideboard

The secret to creating a side-board for a Birthing Pod deck is having more narrowly-usable utility creatures that are only good in specific match-ups.

I carry one around as my fail-safe for new, unfamiliar metas that might try to dick on my poor, innocent Meren deck. I suggest you do too. It's not a rude move to board before playing with a new group, especially if you haven't played with these guys before. You want to be cautious. Always wear protection. Things your mother should've told you already.

For more control-heavy metas, I personally play Dosan the Falling Leaf and Sadistic Hypnotist in my side-board, which will normally lead to me boarding out cards like Bone Shredder.

The ten-card sideboard for this deck is a continual work in progress, but the principles will always be the same.

• Against Control decks, hand-disruption.
• Against Fast-Aggro or Token decks, mass-removal.
• Against Reanimator decks, graveyard-hate.
• Against Fog decks, edicts.
• Against Burn decks, life-gain.
• Against Enchantress decks, enchantment removal.
• Against life-gain, life-loss.
• Against Artifact-Combo decks, artifact and hand-hate.
• Against Group Hug decks, literal everything that crushes dreams.

Top Ranked	Achieved #29 position overall 3 years ago Achieved #27 position in Commander / EDH 3 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH BG (Golgari) 3 years ago
Date added	9 years
Last updated	2 years
Exclude colors	WUR
Key combos	Birthing Pod + Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 0 Mythic Rares 51 - 0 Rares 19 - 0 Uncommons 7 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.11
Tokens	Eldrazi Spawn 0/1 C, Experience Token, Morph 2/2 C, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Commander Decks, Other Edh, EDH, Cool Decks, EDH