Meren No-Budget Stax

Commander / EDH*

Enderkr

Creature (32)

• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Caustic Caterpillar
• 1x Deathrite Shaman
• 1x Duplicant
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Fierce Empath
• 1x Fleshbag Marauder
• 1x Gonti, Lord of Luxury
• 1x Kokusho, the Evening Star
• 1x Liliana, Heretical Healer  ^Flip
• 1x Massacre Wurm
• 1x Matter Reshaper
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Mindslicer
• 1x Nissa, Vastwood Seer  ^Flip
• 1x Noxious Gearhulk
• 1x Puppeteer Clique
• 1x Reclamation Sage
• 1x Sadistic Hypnotist
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Scavenging Ooze
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Spike Feeder
• 1x Sylvan Caryatid
• 1x Titania, Protector of Argoth
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Wall of Roots
• 1x Wood Elves
• 1x Woodfall Primus
• 1x Wurmcoil Engine

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Liliana of the Veil

Land (33)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Bayou
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Command Beacon
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dryad Arbor
• 4x Forest
• 1x Gaea's Cradle
• 1x High Market
• 1x Hissing Quagmire
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 1x Strip Mine
• 3x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Wood
• 1x The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
• 1x Twilight Mire
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Wasteland
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills
• 1x Woodland Cemetery
• 1x Yavimaya Hollow

Enchantment (13)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Bitterblossom
• 1x Contamination
• 1x Evolutionary Leap
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Greater Good
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Oppression
• 1x Pattern of Rebirth
• 1x Survival of the Fittest
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x The Abyss
• 1x Tombstone Stairwell

Artifact (8)

• 1x Damping Matrix
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Smokestack
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Tangle Wire

Instant (7)

• 1x Abrupt Decay
• 1x Crop Rotation
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Krosan Grip
• 1x Putrefy
• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Eldritch Evolution
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Life from the Loam
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Victimize

Commander (1)

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Maybeboard

Creature (3)

• 1x Dimir House Guard
• 1x Shadowborn Demon
• 1x Yavimaya Dryad

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So I've played a few dozen games with this list, plus or minus a few cards at a time for testing.

Meren Stax is a pain in the ass to deal with. Drop stupid enchantments that screw with your opponents game plan, protect Meren (or ramp to the point where you can cast her 3-4 times without caring), dump dudes in your yard, kill your own things to get the experience counters and cheat stupid things into play.

Changelog:

1/30/16

Cut Awakening ZoneAdditions:

Spike Feeder - Infinite life with Mikaeus + Sac outlet. It can kill itself for an exp counter and block/gain me 4 life. Seems good.

Wurmcoil Engine - Needed more lifegain, synergistic with sac effects.

Complete Disregard - instant speed exile. Gets under Gaddock Teeg.

Kalitas, traitor of ghet - Competing Meren/reanimator lists, Hanna

Grave Pact - duh

brutalizer exarch - Easy to cast and both modes are super useful; early game it tutors, late game I start recurring it to get rid of all your permanents.

elvish mystic - switched to a mana dork style.

Sheoldred, Whispering one

duplicant - turns out indestructible Eldrazi are a thing?

matter reshaper - So good. At the very least, draws you a card when it dies.

birds of paradise -

toxic deluge - removal that gets under Gaddock Teeg.

null rod - switched to a dork ramp style, so Null Rod becomes very, very good.

sylvan caryatid

animate dead

phyrexian altar - I found that i needed easier access to green mana under Contamination. Ashnod's Altar does not help.

wall of roots

caustic caterpillar - like Rec Sage, but a very good rattlesnake card and recurs faster.

green sun's zenith

sadistic hypnotist - Semi-infinite combo with Waste Not; depending on whats in their hand, you can make the entire table ditch their hands.

gaea's cradle

hissing quagmire - more duals, just updated when the set came out

command beacon - this may not stay; basically, I got tired of paying 10 mana for Meren.

Update 2/1/16:

Cuts: Life From the Loam and Dark Deal

Additions: Titania, Argoth's Protector and Fierce Empath

I know, you CUT Loam? But you know, I just...was never really happy to see it. Early game all it does it tie up my mana when I want to be casting Oppression or Smokestack, late game it gets me back fetchlands or the occasional land sacced to Stack.

Dark Deal synergizes with Waste Not, but that's really ALL it does. I need to refill my hand, and dumping cards into the grave doesn't make up for that.

Combos and Synergies:

Mikaeus + Woodfall Primus + sac outlet (Hypnotist/Viscera Seer) = destroy all non creature permanents you don't control.

Mikaeus + Spike Feeder + sac outlet = Infinite life.

Bitterblossom + Contamination = All lands produce B for 1 life a turn.

Waste Not + Dark Deal = you're going to get a ton of mana, creatures and cards.

Waste Not + Sadistic Hypnotist = depending on how many creatures you have or are discarded, you can make the table discard their entire hands.

Gaea's Cradle + Tabernacle = tap 1 land to pay the upkeep on every creature you control.

Date added	9 years
Last updated	6 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	14 - 0 Mythic Rares 55 - 0 Rares 16 - 0 Uncommons 10 - 0 Commons
Cards	102
Avg. CMC	3.07
Tokens	Ashaya, the Awoken World, Elemental 5/3 G, Emblem Liliana, Defiant Necromancer, Experience Token, Faerie Rogue 1/1 B, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Deathtouch, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Lifelink, Zombie 2/2 B, Zombie 2/2 B w/ Haste
Folders	Inspiration decks, Meren of Clan Nel Toth