“Gravestone by the river, Rotting in the field where I found ya”
Art:Meren of Clan Nel Toth
by Mark Winters
Pricing courtesy of Moxfield.com
Table of Contents
Todays Featured Commander Is:
Meren is a really sweet Golgari commander who just like most creatures in Golgari cares a lot about creatures dying and the graveyard! Meren even in a budget form is still an efficient combo heavy deck that can really bring it and at a pretty decent speed! For only $150 you can have a fun semi-competitive deck that can be a great introduction into the reanimator archetype and you can also have a ton of fun with it! Without further adieu lets get it!
The Deck:
Meren of Clan Nel Toth $150 Reanimator!
Buy This Deck!
Tcgplayer link to buy this deck: Meren of Clan Nel Toth $150 Reanimator
Please note: This link will take you to tcgplayer.com, tuesdaynighttakeover.com is not affiliated with tcgplayer, this link is simply provided as a courtesy to our readers to one-click buy the deck if they would like.
Why Meren of Clan Nel Toth?
The main reason we chose Meren is that she is a perfect commander for the reanimation archetype since if we have enough experience counters, which are not very hard to get we can get a creature directly back to the battlefield, and even if we don’t we can recur a creature back to our hand! Combine this with her being a 3/4 for 4 and we have a really sweet and efficient commander who is the perfect commander for our deck!
Deck Overview:
This section contains information about cards in the deck and how they function within the deck! For explanations of the combos please refer to the “Main Win Conditions” section below!
Creatures:
Elves of Deep Shadow
is a really cool mana dork for our deck! Carrion Feeder
and Viscera Seer
are not only combo pieces but some of the best and cheapest sac outlets in our deck! Haywire Mite
is a great card to recur with Meren and exile an artifact or enchantment, this is really strong against combos! Dawntreader Elk
is a really great card to get back with Meren and continue to get mana off of it! Old Stickfingers
is a really cool card to mill out some cards and have a really big creature for either offense or defense!
We also have some bigger permanents like Massacre Girl
which is really good to reanimate multiple times and is just a great card for the deck overall! Noxious Gearhulk
and Verdurous Gearhulk
are both great ETB’s and reanimation targets since they are big bodies with big impacts when they come in! Butcher of Malakir
is our budget friendly Dictate of Erebos
and can be absolutely ridiculous with a sacrifice outlet which we have plenty of! Terastodon
is a great way to blow up some noncreature permanents and can get even better when we bring it back!
Instants:
Feign Death
and Undying Malice
are some of my favorite cards to use on ETB cards with a sac outlet like Gray Merchant of Asphodel
or Noxious Gearhulk. Beast Within
and Putrefy
are great ways to destroy creatures / permanents easily! Golgari Charm
can be as great way to hate on token strategies or regenerate against a creature in the wake of a board wipe!
Sorceries:
Since we have some big mana permanents on our top end and we are in green, we of course have some ramp in the form of Explosive Vegetation
, Kodama's Reach
and Cultivate
just some great early ways to get more mana! Living Death
and Life // Death and Victimize
are some of our reanimation / mass reanimation spells!
Artifacts:
Sol Ring
and Arcane Signet
are our only mana rocks in the deck but they are both strong and staples of the format! Welcome to the altar section of our artifacts with Ashnod's Altar
, Phyrexian Altar
and Altar of Dementia
which are all key combo pieces and just great sacrifice outlets overall!
Enchantments:
Our enchantment package is pretty small but has two really good ones! Phyrexian Arena
is just a great way for us to get some extra card draw which we will never say no to! Moldervine Reclamation
is a great extra payoff to the constant stream of sacrificing that is happening throughout our deck!
Land Base:
We are a budget deck, so we are missing the fetches and shocks and other various forms of fast mana that would be present in the non-budget version of this deck. This by no means we don’t have good lands our duals, for starts we have every cycling land that black and green can play and we also have some other faster style lands like Necroblossom Snarl
and Castle Locthwain
both of which can come down untapped and pretty easily. We also have Bojuka Bog
which is a great card if there is another reanimator deck sitting at the table! Besides that our deck is mostly filled with some other tap-duals and basics, we don’t have the most intricate or complex land base but it still works for us!
Strengths of the Deck:
- Many ways to combo off
- Decent amount of card draw
- Decent interaction package
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Deck is worse without Meren
- Weak to graveyard hate
- Weak to control strategies
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
Some of our combos allow us to directly win the game but others require the use of our on death damage cards like Blood Artist
, Zulaport Cutthroat
or Falkenrath Noble
any combo that references “infinite death triggers” will require the use of these cards! Below are all of the combos in our deck explained.
Walking Ballista
+ Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
Requires:
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed on the battlefield. Walking Ballista on the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it.
Steps:
- Activate Walking Ballista’s last ability by removing a +1/+1 counter from it, dealing 1 damage to itself.
- Walking Ballista dies, triggering its undying ability, returning it from your graveyard to the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it.
- Repeat.
Results:
Infinite ETB. Infinite LTB. Infinite death triggers.
Living Death + Eternal Witness
+ Phyrexian Altar
Requires:
All permanents on the battlefield. At least five creature cards in your graveyard. 3B available. Living Death in hand.
Steps:
- Sacrifice Eternal Witness to Phyrexian Altar for B.
- Cast Living Death returning all creatures from your graveyard to the battlefield.
- When Eternal Witness enters, Return Living Death from your graveyard to your hand.
- Sacrifice all creatures you control for at least 4BB.
- Repeat.
Results:
Infinite colored mana. Infinite ETB. Infinite LTB. Infinite sacrifice triggers. Infinite death triggers.
Living Death + Viscera Seer + Puppeteer Clique
Requires:
All permanents on the battlefield.
Steps:
- Sacrifice Puppeteer Clique to Viscera Seer, putting scry 1 onto the stack.
- Undying and persist go on the stack.
- Stack undying under persist so that persist resolves first and Puppeteer Clique ETBs.
- Resolve the Puppeteer Clique ETB, reanimating a creature from an opponent’s graveyard, then allow the undying trigger to fail to resolve and the scry 1 to resolve.
- Sacrifice Puppeteer Clique to Viscera Seer, putting scry 1 onto the stack.
- Undying and persist go on the stack.
- Stack persist under undying so that undying resolves first and Puppeteer Clique ETBs.
- Resolve the Puppeteer Clique ETB, reanimating a creature from an opponent’s graveyard, then allow the persist trigger to fail to resolve and the scry 1 to resolve.
- Repeat.
Results:
Inifinte ETB. Infinite LTB. Infinite death triggers. Infinite scry 1. Infinite sacrifice triggers.
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Putrid Goblin
+ Viscera Seer
Requires:
All permanents on the battlefield.
Steps:
- Activate Viscera Seer by sacrificing Putrid Goblin.
- Putrid Goblin dies, triggering its persist and undying abilities.
- Resolve the persist trigger, returning it from your graveyard to the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter on it.
- Resolve the undying trigger, doing nothing.
- Resolve the Viscera Seer ability, causing you to scry 1.
- Activate Viscera Seer by sacrificing Putrid Goblin.
- Putrid Goblin dies, triggering its undying ability, returning it from your graveyard to the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it.
- Resolve the Viscera Seer ability, causing you to scry 1.
- Activate Viscera Seer by sacrificing Putrid Goblin.
- Putrid Goblin dies, triggering its persist ability, returning it from your graveyard to the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter on it.
- Repeat from step 5.
Results:
Infinite ETB. Infinite LTB. Infinite death triggers. Infinite sacrifice triggers. Infinite scry 1.
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Putrid Goblin + Carrion Feeder
Requires:
All permanents on the battlefield.
Steps:
- Activate Carrion Feeder by sacrificing Putrid Goblin.
- Putrid Goblin dies, triggering its persist and undying abilities.
- Resolve the persist trigger, returning it from your graveyard to the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter on it.
- Resolve the undying trigger, doing nothing.
- Resolve the Carrion Feeder ability, putting a +1/+1 counter on it.
- Activate Carrion Feeder by sacrificing Putrid Goblin.
- Putrid Goblin dies, triggering its undying ability, returning it from your graveyard to the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it.
- Resolve the Carrion Feeder ability, putting a +1/+1 counter on it.
- Activate Carrion Feeder by sacrificing Putrid Goblin.
- Putrid Goblin dies, triggering its persist ability, returning it from your graveyard to the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter on it.
- Repeat from step 5.
Results:
Infinite +1/+1 counters on Carrion Feeder. Infinite ETB. Infinite LTB. Infinite death triggers. Infinite sacrifice triggers.
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Putrid Goblin + Altar of Dementia
Requires:
All permanents on the battlefield.
Steps:
- Activate Altar of Dementia by sacrificing Putrid Goblin.
- Putrid Goblin dies, triggering its persist and undying abilities.
- Resolve the persist trigger, returning it from your graveyard to the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter on it.
- Resolve the undying trigger, doing nothing.
- Resolve the Altar of Dementia ability, causing target player to mill cards equal to Putrid Goblin’s power.
- Activate Altar of Dementia by sacrificing Putrid Goblin.
- Putrid Goblin dies, triggering its undying ability, returning it from your graveyard to the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it.
- Resolve the Altar of Dementia ability, causing target player to mill cards equal to Putrid Goblin’s power.
- Activate Altar of Dementia by sacrificing Putrid Goblin.
- Putrid Goblin dies, triggering its persist ability, returning it from your graveyard to the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter on it.
- Repeat from step 5.
Results:
Infinite +1/+1 counters on Altar of Dementia. Infinite ETB. Infinite LTB. Infinite death triggers. Infinite sacrifice triggers.
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Putrid Goblin + Ashnod's Altar
Requires:
All permanents on the battlefield.
Steps:
- Activate Ashnod’s Altar by sacrificing Putrid Goblin, adding CC.
- Putrid Goblin dies, triggering its persist and undying abilities.
- Resolve the persist trigger, returning it from your graveyard to the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter on it.
- Resolve the undying trigger, doing nothing.
- Activate Ashnod’s Altar by sacrificing Putrid Goblin, adding CC.
- Putrid Goblin dies, triggering its undying ability, returning it from your graveyard to the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it.
- Activate Ashnod’s Altar by sacrificing Putrid Goblin, adding CC.
- Putrid Goblin dies, triggering its persist ability, returning it from your graveyard to the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter on it.
- Repeat from step 5.
Results:
Infinite colorless mana. Infinite ETB. Infinite LTB. Infinite death triggers. Infinite sacrifice triggers.
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Putrid Goblin + Phyrexian Altar
Requires:
All permanents on the battlefield.
Steps:
- Activate Phyrexian Altar by sacrificing Putrid Goblin, adding one mana of any color.
- Putrid Goblin dies, triggering its persist and undying abilities.
- Resolve the persist trigger, returning it from your graveyard to the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter on it.
- Resolve the undying trigger, doing nothing.
- Activate Phyrexian Altar by sacrificing Putrid Goblin, adding one mana of any color.
- Putrid Goblin dies, triggering its undying ability, returning it from your graveyard to the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it.
- Activate Phyrexian Altar by sacrificing Putrid Goblin, adding one mana of any color.
- Putrid Goblin dies, triggering its persist ability, returning it from your graveyard to the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter on it.
- Repeat from step 5.
Results:
Infinite colored mana. Infinite ETB. Infinite LTB. Infinite death triggers. Infinite sacrifice triggers.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, even in a budget form Meren is still a very fun reanimator deck to play with a ton of combo potential and a ton of recursion. There is not a whole ton of differences between a non-budget version and a budget version besides the speed of the deck! Hope you enjoyed this article, don’t forget you can request a commander for Budget EDH, EDH, CEDH and PDH on our twitter or discord! Thanks for reading to the end!