Do you have enough artifacts to really capitalize from the inclusion of Glissa, the Traitor? I think Sakura-Tribe Elder and Spore Frog should pretty much be auto-includes in any Meren deck. STE generates so much experience and mana, the frog makes you virtually impervious to combat. I also like including a myriad of reanimation spells to fully take advantage of graveyard filling. Victimize is amazing. Woodfall Primus is a great recursive piece of removal as well. More sac outlets, such as Ashnod's Altar, would be great too. Sac outlets provide a ton of value and board control in conjunction with cards like Grave Pact. Good start!

Also, Caustic Caterpillar is better than Viridian Zealot. Pernicious Deed is probably better than Hex

Hey there, BoozyBlastoise, thanks for checking it out.

Good call on the Caustic Caterpillar switch. I'll do that. Total oversight on my part.

You may be correct on Glissa. Thing is, I just like that girl, lol. Personal preference for me. And fact, the guys in my play group hate the first strike deathtouch on defense, so she's been earning her keep.

Spore Frog, never knew about that one, but he looks amazing. Going to order one tonight!

Victimize is crazy. I like it, and know I've seen some in my recently opened Eternal Masters boosters, so I'll pull those now.

Ashnod's Altar, check. Good call. I'll buy the new Eternal Masters version because that art is sick.

I like Pernicious Deed, but for now I'll stick with Gaze of Granite.

Great suggestions, and thank you!

Hey! I don't wanna come across as overly critical, but I think your deck has a few major problems. Namely, that it's got way too many expensive cards, with no ramp to cast them, and few ways to dump them straight into your graveyard. I could go on for quite a while about what cards to cut, and add, and why each would be a good idea, but I don't quite have the time. Instead, I made this deck just for you!.

It's basically just a mashed-together version of your deck and mine, with all the more expensive stuff stripped out. Let me know what you think, and please tell me if you'd like some pointers (or an explanation for why I chose what!).

Also, I find EDHREC really handy when deckbuilding, as it shows what cards are commonly used with a given commander. Great for showing you cards, combos or synergies you hadn't thought of!

Hey there, Coucho_Marx, I appreciate your comments.

I've thrown a few cards into my Maybeboard to consider when I get home and can lay everything out. I see what you're doing with the ramp, and dig it. I'm not going to opt for that route, as my playgroup is multiplayer and slower games than the faster ramp up one on one games. What I will do, though, is your suggestion to lower the curve a bit. I do have some expensive stuff in there, primarily the 5 and 7 spot, and I can think those down.

Thanks for the input!

No problem! We all have to work within our own meta. I have a few specific recommendations now, which you might like.

I've found that Meren really loves creatures that kill themselves (surely you've noticed this with Sidisi by now!). Vulturous Aven is really cool, a Sign in Blood that you can reanimate over and over. I know you don't like much ramp, but the (already mentioned) Sakura-Tribe Elder, as well as Devoted Druid, are too good to ignore in a Meren build.

I feel like a couple of cards you run may not perform well. How often have you won with Mortal Combat? You have 35 creatures in your deck, and only three ways to self-mill or get creatures into your graveyard easily (Jarad's Orders, Dread Summons, and Deadbridge Chant. On average, you'd have to mill more than half of your deck to get twenty creatures in there, or cast around that many (nontoken!) creatures and get them all killed. This is really hard to do - even in long games, with tons of dorks for fodder, I never get that close, because I keep reanimating them or the game ends. If you really want to use it, I'd try adding Altar of Dementia and Buried Alive as an extra grave-filling option. It's much more flavourful considering you can sac stuff and then bring it back. Dread Summons is a bit underwhelming - since it only gives you zombies for creatures it directly mills, and since many decks aren't as creature-heavy as ours, it's likely to generate only one zombie per X. If you want lots of tokens, try Army of the Damned. If you want to mill, Altar of Dementia is the better option. And since you're milling, pop in a Reanimate so you can cheaply grab other people's stuff.

Speaking of tokens, I notice you have several good producers, in Creakwood Liege, Grave Titan, and (the slightly underwhelming and expensive) Primeval Bounty. The last one doesn't do you much good when you really should be reanimating stuff instead of casting it. You should be putting all of these tokens to use! Craterhoof Behemoth is a great win-condition creature, especially if you can reanimate him on the cheap. If he costs too much for you, then Overwhelming Stampede and Triumph of the Hordes are good alternatives, or you can try Pathbreaker Ibex. Avenger of Zendikar is an incredible token producer, too. And if you add Birthing Pod, you can pod right from Avenger into Craterhoof! Overseer of the Damned is alright, but Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet is almost certainly better, if you can afford one. Add some boardwipes with it!

A couple of other suggestions. You already have Grave Pact, Dictate of Erebos, and Merciless Executioner, so why not Fleshbag Marauder? I know that sometimes you might only want a certain amount of some effects, but this one is so undeniably good that I'd run four copies of it if I could. I understand why you use Asceticism, but it doesn't do a lot to protect your board from wipes without a huge amount of mana open, which isn't what your deck wants. Besides, as a reanimator deck, spot removal doesn't scare you as much. Roll with it and double down on graveyard stuff! Phyrexian Delver is an all-star for me, as an ETB reanimator on a body has incredible utility. Sangromancer only really gains you life, which is underwhelming when you could be killing someone else.

Silklash Spider and Sisters of Stone Death are incredibly mana-hungry and again require you to leave mana open, when you have no other ways of using it. I'd take them out for some quality targeted removal, like Beast Within, Hero's Downfall, Nature's Claim and/or Krosan Grip, or Unravel the Aether if someone uses the Gods a lot. Pharika's Mender is a poor man's Eternal Witness, which you already have anyway. Greenwarden of Murasa does a better job for not much more mana, or you could go cheap and use Regrowth or even Reap if you know you'll be playing against black decks. Finally, I've recently fallen in love with Shaman of Forgotten Ways. It is ramp, again, but only for creature spells so it does limit you. What I really like, though, is the second ability. It's slow, and it's expensive, but it can win you the game on the spot (for reference, the spell with this effect, Biorhythm, is banned). Your opponents should have plenty of time to see it coming! It'll come into play much more that Mortal Combat, and actually works better with your reanimate/forced sarcrifice strategy.

Sorry, that was really long! I hope some of this is useful, and hopefully you can make some fun changes.

Don't apologize for it being long, Coucho_Marx, that's the quality kind of feedback I look for when posting decks!

I see what you're saying about a number of the cards and I think I'll make some changes to it tomorrow night. I'll tag your name in it when I do, letting you know what I swapped. I may already have a Craterhoof, so will see. I don't necessarily need to make budget decks, so your suggestions shouldn't be shackled by that. I'm a Magic Player, thus, I enjoy spending money, lol.

You brought up some very key points on cards that have convinced me to take out. Good stuff, man! Thanks!

Coucho_Marx, you'll be happy to know I did some Maybeboard shopping today and bought Attrition, Avenger of Zendikar, Birthing Pod, Sadistic Hypnotist, Soul of the Harvest, Sakura-tribe Elder, and Devoted Druid.

The other ones on the Maybeboard not bought, I already own.

Thanks again for the suggestions. It's what this community's all about! Love the helpful feedback!

When the cards come in, I'll take a look what's coming out, but much of it will be based on your recommendations.

When the cards arrive, will be doing the following:

TAKING OUT

• Primeval Bounty
• Mortal Combat
• Asceticism
• Dread Summons
• Silklash Spider
• Sangromancer
• Pharika's Mender
• Smothering Abomination
• Evolutionary Leap

ADDING IN:

• Attrition
• Birthing Pod
• Devoted Druid
• Sadistic Hypnotist
• Sakura-Tribe Elder
• Shaman of Forgotten Ways
• Vulturous Aven
• Soul of the Harvest
• Ishkanah, Grafwidow

Nice job! Looks like you bought some cool cards. Great call on Sadistic Hypnotist, by the way - a sac outlet you can reanimate is really cool, one that makes Blue players cry is even better! The stuff you're taking out looks about right, but I've found Evolutionary Leap to be pretty good. It's no Survival of the Fittest, or even Fauna Shaman, but being able to swap a cheap creature or token for a totally different creature to your hand is actually kind of cool, if a bit of a gamble. It's up to you, though. Smothering Abomination seems to float just outside my deck, since it can be kind of awkward if you don't have many things to sac. At least it can kill itself for a card! I'd do a straight swap for Grim Haruspex.

I like all of your additions, with one exception - Ishkanah, Grafwidow seems like an odd inclusion. She'll occasionally make some spiders, but her activated ability is likely only useful when she's piloting her own deck. I'm guessing you're worried about flyers? In my experience, especially in a grindy deck, the best defense against flyers is using strong ones of your own. Kokusho, the Evening Star is a great big flyer that comes with a huge life swing when it dies. It's great just to sac and reanimate, and it works doubly well as a rattlesnake - people really don't want to swing in against it. You already have four big flyers (plus Tornado Elemental), so adding a fifth (and maybe some spot removal) should do you fine. Maybe keep Hornet Queen in mind too?

I do have even more suggestions for cuts and additions (some the same as last time), but considering you've made so many changes already, I'd put them off until you've tested your current ones. The cards I'd put on a mental 'watchlist' would be Overseer of the Damned, Sisters of Stone Death, Thragtusk, Conjurer's Closet, Golgari Charm, and Gaze of Granite. Make sure a given card sees play in at least three games, and see how the perform - if they do work for you, great! If not, think about replacing them. My ideas for replacements would be mainly boardwipes, spot removal, and non-Meren reanimation. Viscera Seer, Toxic Deluge, Seeds of Innocence (very meta-dependent, great if you play against lots of artifact decks), Beast Within, Krosan Grip, Ashes to Ashes, Hero's Downfall, Go for the Throat, Reanimate, and Phyrexian Delver would all be good options to trial.

I forgot to ask last time, but how is your land base going? You have quite a few lands that come in tapped, which I feel aren't overly needed in a two-colour deck. Evolving Wilds, Golgari Guildgate, Golgari Rot Farm, Jungle Hollow, Oran-Rief, the Vastwood, Terramorphic Expanse, and the Vivid lands are all a bit underwhelming. You could replace at least half of them with basics and speed your deck up a bit, without really damaging colour access. Temple of the False God feels like a bit of a trap to me, as it absolutely sucks if you draw it early. Opal Palace is only really ok in decks where the commander's power and/or toughness matters, such as voltron decks; less so when she's just a tool and will rarely swing in. As for what nonbasics to add, City of Brass and Mana Confluence are both cheap, tap for anything, and their lifeloss is negligible. Overgrown Tomb is a must, and gets better if you ever splash out on fetchlands (some Khans ones aren't too expensive. Bloodstained Mire and Windswept Heath come in at around/under US$15 right now, if you want to grab them). Barren Moor and Tranquil Thicket are generally better cycle lands than Polluted Mire and Slippery Karst, since they only cost one to cycle (even if it is colour-dependent). Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Cabal Coffers combo wonderfully, but Coffers is a bit pricey. Urborg by itself is great colour fixing, though, and doesn't slow you down since it can tap for black itself.

Sorry to dump even more potential changes on you. Good luck in testing!

Thanks, Coucho_Marx, it looks like my changes finally got a +1 outta ya!

Yeah, your suggestions are solid.

One thing - I would suggest to you to try out Conjurer's Closet. It basically does what you want Meren to do, but with Meren out, you can do it twice. Most of these creatures work on ETB effects, and Closet either doubles an effect of something coming out due to Meren, or just do another creature and get double benefits by end of turn.

It's enough that when Closet is out, my opponents are actually more focused and concerned with Closet than they are Meren.

Give it some consideration. It's really great for a Meren deck.

And I'll also take a look at the mana. When I first put this together, it wasn't my aim to make it my go-to commander deck (that's reserved for my Oloro-bro, lol). Now that it is my go-to, I don't mind subbing some money in, so mana will be the next thing I look at.

And I'll keep Evolutionary Leap in the deck and forego Ishkanah.

I see the utility for Conjurer's Closet, and I do have a Brago deck that it should go into, but it just doesn't quite fit in my own Meren deck. There are only about a dozen creatures it works on for me; this sounds like a lot, but most of them have a habit of killing themselves on entering the battlefield so will never see an end step - I have to get them in the graveyard, since I have many cards that can reanimate them to re-use them, but only that one blink card. It doesn't do anything for my dorks, either, since they'd need haste for me to use them again. It's a cool card, but it doesn't fit my deck very well.

Don't stress with the mana, I've always found it's the easiest thing to play with. Thirty-seven is a great amount, so you can just swap in better stuff as you get it.

And it was funny, I thought I'd upvoted the deck ages ago, absent-mindedly hit the button, and realized I hadn't :(

Oh yeah, and don't forget Fleshbag Marauder!

Also noting the land changes:

Taking Out

• Evolving Wilds
• Terramorphic Expanse
• Golgari Guildgate
• Jungle Hollow
• Opal Palace
• Exotic Orchard
• Vivid Grove
• Vivid Marsh

Adding In

• Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• Mana Confluence
• 4x Swamp
• 2x Forest

Looks good! I'd suggest that Jungle Hollow is better than Golgari Rot Farm, which can suck horribly if the land you bounce to play again also comes in tapped, it just really slows you down. I'd rather be able to, say, play something on T2 rather than mess around with a bounceland. Your choice, though! Also, between Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and the fact that you have exactly one card that needs black mana in all your one-and-two drops, you could probably drop a Swamp or two for Forests (though I acknowledge that you have several 3-drops that require BB, and there's always the greedy 1BBB Grave Pact). Once you start improving the mana base of your decks (by spending money, sadly!), colour issues tend to solve themselves, especially in two-colour green decks like Meren. Please let me know how your next few games go - I hope you give your regular opponents a fright!

Throwing in a Black Sun's Zenith in place of the Golgari Charm.

And Coucho, ended up ordering a Cabal Coffers. :)

Yay! To help grab it, try to find room for Crop Rotation, which is a great instant-speed land tutor. Remember, you can sac the land you tap (probably a Forest), and the land you search for comes in untapped, so it doesn't slow you down. Also, with Bojuka Bog in the deck (put it in, I cannot stress this enough, having gravehate in a land slot is incredible!), you can nuke someone's graveyard in a hurry.

You're only playing six non-permanents, which always makes me think of Primal Surge :D

I would not put Cabal Coffers in because if you draw it and you don't have a Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth. If you're willing to spend a bit of money get Polluted Delta, Bloodstained Mire, Wooded Foothills, Windswept Heath, and Verdant Catacombs to fetch Overgrown Tomb. Other great cards for synergy I would recommend is Sheoldred, Whispering One and Reanimate for control. As well as Life from the Loam, Golgari Grave-Troll, and Hermit Druid to fill your graveyard. Agent of Erebos works wonders for graveyard hate and Buried Alive for some free tutors. Oracle of Mul Daya and Yavimaya Elder also really helps ramping and digging.

I would take out Big Game Hunter, Hex, Blood Artist, Glissa, the Traitor, Overseer of the Damned, Ghoulcaller Gisa, In Garruk's Wake, etc. Decree of Pain, Toxic Deluge, and Deadly Tempest are better board wipes than In Garruk's Wake.

tendouji, thanks for the input!

I'm going to elect to keep Cabal Coffers in the deck, per Coucho_Marx's recommendation, because of Urborg, yes, but also because I'm removing a lot of my tapped lands and replacing them with straight up basic swamps. I think it's a worthy inclusion.

I will be adding in some fetches now from my binders. The only ones I can't add (funny enough, considering these colors), are Verdant Catacombs and Overgrown Tomb, lol. I have a playset of each, but they're all used in my Modern deck. However, I can add in Foothills, Mire, Delta, and Heath, and have done that now.

For the additions, I'm taking out Golgari RotFarm, Polluted Mire, Slippery Karst, and Tainted Wood.

I typically play more multi-Commander than one-on-one games, so I will say, In Garruk's Wake has been incredible for me and I couldn't fathom taking it out. You're not the first person to say I don't need Hex, so I think I'm going to finally oblige to the advice. I believe I own a Sheoldred, but will have to check. If not, then I'll throw in Agent of Erebos, as I've kept that card on the back-burner for some time now. I like it. Being able to recur it makes it even better.

Thanks for the input!

I like the manabase a lot! An Overgrown Tomb would of course be a great addition with all those fetches now. Given that you have a lot of Swamps and fetches that can grab them, I'd keep the Tainted Wood - all the tainted lands are wonderful in Bx decks, just not in tri-colour or up. Woodland Cemetery would also be a no-brainer, and I've gotten decent use out of a Spawning Bed, which is super cheap to boot. Have you heard of Phyrexian Tower? It's pretty much a better High Market (not to mention fantastic flavour text, and my favourite art in all Magic!), but its price reflects that. Verdant Catacombs's cost always makes me wince when I see it :(

I've never been a fan of In Garruk's Wake, mostly because of its mana cost, but I understand completely that it works in your meta. If you're dumping Hex, tendouji up there had some good ideas - Toxic Deluge and Decree of Pain are cool ideas, though Deadly Tempest is much better in decks with few creatures. Crux of Fate is cheap in both price and mana cost, if the others aren't available. A cool option is Living Death, as it can be potentially incredibly one-sided, especially if you sacrifice all of your creatures to an outlet first. Agent of Erebos is a nice addition, too. Sheoldred, Whispering One is ludicrously bonkers, to the point where it can turn the whole table against you. Of course, being a generally better (and backup!) version of Meren, she can win the game for you too, so there's that.

LOL, yeah, Coucho_Marx, it was about a month ago that I finally got my playset of both Verdant Catacombs as well as Liliana of the Veil for my Modern zombies deck. Granted, I didn't drop $720 cold cash, but instead sacrificed a shit-ton of Rares and Mythics I would never use (enough that filled a Fat Pack box, basically, because that's what I shipped them in). But was happy I did it.

So yeah, Not really gonna get another Verdant Catacombs in the near future. I can likely pick up another Woodland Cemetery and Overgrown Tomb, though. They're cheap enough.

Living Death would be hilarious...so with this and the lands above, I think I need to make an order...lol.

And yeah, In Garruk's Wake needs to stay. My typical 3-4 player games...it's a wrecking ball. There's some planeswalkers that be walkin' with their decks. :)

I love the evolution of this deck, though. It's been really great. Can't wait to test drive it with the group this upcoming weekend!

How about

Turn 1: Entomb Sheoldred, Whispering One

Turn 2: Reanimate Sheoldred, Whispering One

That's a hell of a Christmasland, Tendouji! But that would make some hearts sink, that's for sure, lol.