I'm not sure what you mean with "slow". As a control deck, sacrificing tempo for long term card advantage is basically what you do. Merieke alone should work as a pretty strong argument against aggroing you out early. Your counters and instant speed removal should deter most combo strategies.
As for being dependent on recursion... it's the main way any EDH deck creates card advantage. Especially a PDH deck. Also, you still have Capsize (by itself an unfair card) and your general + untappers as a win con.
Basically, your diamond shoes are too tight, ZS *violins playing*
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Probably. My concern with Disturbed Burial has always been because the deck isn't ramping into a lot of extra land like the Child decks five mana at sorcery speed is pricey early. Especially if you want or need to keep mana up for other spells. Very much a late game card like Remember the Fallen.
I'm not sure what you mean with "slow". As a control deck, sacrificing tempo for long term card advantage is basically what you do. Merieke alone should work as a pretty strong argument against aggroing you out early. Your counters and instant speed removal should deter most combo strategies.
True. The previous build had a more proactive feel to it in part because of the trinkets. Now it feels much more like draw-go.
Basically, your diamond shoes are too tight, ZS *violins playing*
Sadly, I had to look up this reference. Friends don't let friends quote 'Friends'.
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//EDIT (January 28, 2014): After I little more time playing the latest version of the deck I found it lacking. No creature removal in the trinkets package diminished both Trinket Mage and the artifact recursion package. Further the deck became entirely dependent on the spellmancers to recur creature removal which at times was challenging. So for the time being I'm reverting back to the previous build (August 2013 - http://deck.tk/1jbS4RjL ). It may not be the most optimal version but it has better synergy overall.
//DOUBLE-SECRET EDIT (March 22, 2014): Re-testing Ponder & Preordain (over Courier's Capsule & a Snow-Covered Island) trying to find a happy middle ground from the previous iteration that completely dropped the artifact trinkets. I know Ponder & Preordain are solid cards through every part of a game but with previous build I found having too much draw & not enough redundant removal spells was not ideal. We'll see where this goes.
//EVEN MORE SECRET EDITS (April 5, 2014): I've been happy with the recent additions of Ponder & Preordain and am now pushing the deck a little further. I swapped Rend Flesh for Doom Blade in an effort to have a little better game versus the UGx decks in my area that all run the Deadeye Navigator, Seedborn Muse, Prophet of Kruphix engine. I also dropped the much maligned AEther Spellbomb in favor of putting the deck back up to 36 lands. The deck seemed to still do okay with only 35 lands so Snow-Covered Island #13 may end up being the test slot for future changes.
//HARRY POTTER & THE CHAMBER OF SECRET EDITS (May 20, 2014): Updated the list a few times since my last "secret" update. Dropped the clunky recursion four drops in Sanctum Gargoyle & Gravedigger. I rarely transmuted for either with Dimir House Guard. Patrician's Scorn has proven to be a solid addition with uptick in enchantments seeing play (locally at least) with Theros block. Overrule returns to the team as well. I'm not a huge fan of it but it's one of the better life gain options for the deck at common. Riot Control is another card vying for that slot so we'll see how things shake out. I've been toying with the idea of pushing the land count back up to 38 but I want to see Overrule and a few other cards work out first.
Brainspoil, Pristine Talisman, & a haste equipment are things I've considered for the deck but haven't really found cards I'm comfortable cutting for any of them yet. My most recent build has so few actual creatures I'm not sure equipment would be an ideal draw unless you're already ahead. I was a big fan of Kjeldoran Outpost back in the day so I'd love to get a token generator in here that was decent but again it's finding room that's the challenge.
I just found this thread and want to thank you. There is a lot of confusion about Merieke and what happens if you untap her with her activated ability on the stack. I see you quoted Brimbot, who claims to be a level 3 judge, but I have called Wizards of he Coast on a few different occasions and they have always said that the creature will die before the ability resolves. I can't get a consistent straight answer. I knew a high ranking judge personally and he agreed with Brimbot long before the post you quoted, but this confusión is really frustrating.
Anyway, this is a great thread and I love Merieke. I was looking for ideas on how to power my build down, but keep it playable. This will be a great start!
"Whatever style you wish to play, be it fast and frenzied or slow and tactical, the surest way to defeat your opponent consistently is by dominating him or her in the war of card advantage." - Brian Wiseman, April 1996
Over 2 years with this deck and still going strong, I am a little late for the 2 year anniversary, but I will say it anyway, Congratulations!!! for 2 years of destroying people slowly =)
I started playing Merieke back in late 2007 and she was just a casual excuse to play esper colors before Esper was in our vocabulary. My local game store (LGS) had a Time Sprial foil of her for like $2-$3 and I gave her a shot. Our local play group (myself included) began to notice very quickly how underrated and powerful she can be.
The deck over time turned more and more into a combo control deck. Lots of Disenchant effects to get rid of Lightning Greaves and like problems, a small pile of cards that can untap her, and a small pile of other creatures who can abuse tohse cards as well. Dralnu, Lich Lord and Arcanis the Omnipotent became MVPs very quickly.
As I said before, I am looking to power down Merieke becasue over the years and with the help of my old meta/LGS my deck became more and more of an expensive ($$$) combo deck that was pretty brutal. Not the best, but darn good. Now I want to go back to having fun again and play with other low poer decks like the Commander 2013 pre-con decks. I have bookmarked this thread and will continue to reference it when I have time to mess around with my list.
They confirmed that the WotC customer Serivce hotline, while nice, has a lot of flaws in it's rulings and that Merieke's activated ability creates a delayed trigger. If you untap her before her ability resolves, you will NOT kill that creature and can potentially take many creatures. That is how I always understood the wording myself and how I always played her, but when facing new people it was hard to get a definitive answer to prove I was playing her correctly... as that is a really powerful thing to do.
Now, is there a reason you are going PURE pauper?
Merieke can get a lot stronger and still stay on a budget.
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"Whatever style you wish to play, be it fast and frenzied or slow and tactical, the surest way to defeat your opponent consistently is by dominating him or her in the war of card advantage." - Brian Wiseman, April 1996
I'm a big fan of the Pauper format in general and when I started playing EDH those were the cards I had handy to build a deck with. What I found was that it was a really fun challenge against regular EDH decks while not being overpowered against newer players. I've kept it that way mainly because winning with only commons has a certain charm about it.
"Whatever style you wish to play, be it fast and frenzied or slow and tactical, the surest way to defeat your opponent consistently is by dominating him or her in the war of card advantage." - Brian Wiseman, April 1996
I use to play Signets in the deck but what I found was drawing them late game was a bit of a let down. The deck is much more interested in hitting all its land drops rather than ramp. Their slots in the deck were later replaced with the likes of Compulsive Research, Echoing Truth, and Vedalken AEthermage which are much better draws mid and late game. The deck has several other cards that do help with mana fixing early while being more versatile later. (Trinket Mage, Traumatic Visions, Twisted Abomination, etc.)
Bounce lands have been in and out of the deck on occasions. Drawing them early can be clunky and awkward at times. It's more of a play style preference than anything. I would not be against re-adding them as lands 37-39.
Yes, Strip Mine is uncommon. It was the one pass I gave myself when I initially built the deck so that I would have an answer to opposing utility lands that could be problematic.
Consult the Necrosages is good and was in the initial build of the deck. The "Mind Rot" option was rarely effective so most of the time it was a harder to cast Divination.
Evincar's Justice was something I've never thought was very effective for its cost. I've always found Crypt Rats to be much more versatile and cost effective in most situations.
Thanks! I have had a special place in my heart for pauper ever since I built my BW discard deck after Guild Pact came out. I was told that in "normal" 60x4 Magic, that 5-4 slots could be uncommon, but that changes from group to group. Even here I see some pauper decks run non-legendary uncommon creatures as thier commander (?!) so what ever floats their boat!
I had forgotten that without Sol Ring, Top, Tormord's Crypt and others, that Trinker Mage will likely get you an articat land or a bauble or something. I also love twisted A-Bomb. I was looking up swamp, island and plains cycling and he is easily the best choice. The others are so-so at best. The same with Traumatic Visions and basic land cycling. I have been away from the game for a few years and I am still adding new cards to memory. Remember the Fallen looks really nice. I have a foil Grim Harvest and a foil Grim Discovery because I like to hunt for foils of nice commons, and that will certainly go on my list.
Have you tried Dispeller's Capsule? In my build with Academy Ruins & Hanna, Ship's Navigator is has been a solid inclusión. With the artifact interactions you have mentioned, I would think this would be another good target. I have a personal love for Disenchant effects. I started playing Magic with mono black and that is always my staple color/style. I grew to apprecaite the power of artifacts, Enchantments, and the inability to kill them. Dismantling Blow and Return to Dust might be the two biggest reasons why I went with Merieke over Dralnu, Lich Lord when I started EDH.
I'll be sure to ask more questions later when I have more and more time to break down the deck and mess with it in the future
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"Whatever style you wish to play, be it fast and frenzied or slow and tactical, the surest way to defeat your opponent consistently is by dominating him or her in the war of card advantage." - Brian Wiseman, April 1996
so my wife asked me about Merieke and if she had a story. I told her none that I am aware of,but I can take a look. According to artist Heather Hudson:
"The card was originally called "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" after the
poem by Keats, the name was changed in production."
You can read the poem and more here. In short, like the card mechanics, she is a femme fatale who...
...attracts lovers only to destroy them by her supernatural powers. She destroys because it is her nature to destroy.
With a name Zombie Shakespeare, I figured you might appreciate that bit of information I just found.
"Whatever style you wish to play, be it fast and frenzied or slow and tactical, the surest way to defeat your opponent consistently is by dominating him or her in the war of card advantage." - Brian Wiseman, April 1996
Correct. Much in the same way the Child of AlaraDreamcrusher threads in this forum, I constructed it for play versus other "normal" EDH decks. It started out as a challenge to see how well it would fare and I've had fun developing it along the way. I do include a few budget suggestions for upgrades with uncommons & rares in the original post.
I've always been under the impression that Pauper EDH was sort of allowing rares and such as the General in order to keep everyone from being forced to run Joven.
There are a few variants to choosing generals in the Pauper Commander format. Any uncommon or common creature, common legends, & any legends. This has been discussed ad nauseam in other threads and I would appreciate it if such discussion was continued there rather than here.
Most of the lists in this subforum do focus on an uncommon creature as their general and that's fine. I'm not going to rain on anyone else's parade. If it's working for them great. But I've played, and played against, more decks using the regular legend + 99 commons than any of the other variants. That's what I build for.
When I play Merieke varies based on what I'm playing against and the rate they're developing their own board presence. For combo or prison style decks I tend to hold her back until the mid game. Against more aggro oriented opponents I will run her out earlier to try to use their own creatures against them. If I draw creature recursion early I may also run her out earlier than normal just to see what type of removal my opponents are running.
Rules question: If Merieke is killed, I let her in a graveyard to recur her to the hand, but before I do that, someone will a) shuffle my grave into the library, b) remove my graveyard. What happen with her? In a) I guess she will be shuffled into the library, and I can´t just remove her to the command zone, right? In b) no big deal, grave is removed, but she will be moved to the command zone. Am I right?
Correct on both. Getting Merieke tucked isn't that a big deal because you have Perplex & Drift of Phantasms find her again. Plus several other cards that can either dig or search for those cards.
Your Rares & Uncommons look good. Thornbite Staff seems a little iffy. The equipped creature's triggered ability is not a "may" so that would allow your opponents force Merieke to untap when you might not want her to.
//KHANS OF TARKIR EDIT (October 2nd, 2014): Recently updated my list to include the new common duals from Khans cutting 2 Islands & a Swamp to make room. Not 100% on if that was the right combination to cut. Oddly I seem to be drawing more Swamps than Islands in the early game. Additionally I've added Read the Bones and Reaping the Graves over Forbidden Alchemy and Death Denied respectively. Read the Bones has been solid and Reaping the Graves has been good on the occasions I've cast it.
I wanted to ask you to go into more detail about the play style of the deck. What are good opening hands? What are bad opening hands? how often (I assume almost always) are you looking to transmute versus just playing the cards for their effect? What do you often transmute for? In terms of threat assessment, what types of threats are you worried about most? For example, in my Merieke deck I tend to save my disenchant effects for things that give shroud/hexproof, or things that I know are game winning combo pieces.
When I wrote the Vintage Mono Black Null Rod agro primer years ago (2007) and the discard Primer for the casual sub forum, I made sure to write about optimal starting hands and what hands might look good but are a trap and should be mulled. I also wrote about how to get out of a bad situation and how your strategy can change mid game and/or based on what you are facing. One game of vintage I scooped to a turn one Tinker - Darksteel Colossus while going second because I didn't have an edict or a tutor in hand and instead of trying to luck sack it, I chose not to give my opponent any information and just scooped. I won game two because he didn't know what to board in or out and didn't have suck a lucky start, and game three was pretty easy as well. Discard kills combo and his ONLY out was Tinker, and had already boarded in more answers.
I love the little details and plays that are made in competitive magic. What ever you can share will be read and appreciated, more so by a fellow Merieke player.
"Whatever style you wish to play, be it fast and frenzied or slow and tactical, the surest way to defeat your opponent consistently is by dominating him or her in the war of card advantage." - Brian Wiseman, April 1996
The deck lives & breathes by its land drops so having a good amount of land in my opening hand is always important. Wayfarer's Bauble (or Expedition Map) plus two lands that can be played untapped is a good start. Enough lands and a transmute card to set up a turn 4 Armillary Sphere or Foresee is also strong. Bad openers are ones with recursion or mid game cards like Crypt Rats or Freed from the Real. I'm not a big fan of Mystical Teachings either until I have enough mana to cast what I get in the same turn so that's another card I'm not eager to see in my opener.
I will generally mulligan away most of the nonland cards that don't directly find land (Wayfarer's Bauble, Expedition Map, Armillary Sphere, Traumatic Visions, Twisted Abomination, Pilgrim's Eye, and Trinket Mage). This allows you to focus on setting up your mana before bigger spells start getting cast. I hang on to one or two of the early draw spells (Ponder, Preordain, Brainstorm, Impulse, Read the Bones, Sea Gate Oracle) the deck runs as well in hopes of further developing my mana base early. They will allow you to find and be ready to cast whatever you need as the game progresses so don't be shy about shuffling back counter magic or removal or other key cards. Obviously if you know you're facing off against a deck that's going to need a particular answer ASAP adjust plans accordingly.
The three transmute creatures are there as tutors. The other transmute cards are primarily there for the spell's effect but if the need arises to use any as a tutor I certainly will. Shred Memory & Muddle the Mixture along with Dimir Infiltrator are are great tutors on turn 3 to set up a turn 4 Armillary Sphere. Dimir House Guard setting up a turn 4 Foresee is another common play I make early. Perplex is a hard counter through the mid game most of the time and late game it can search for a hard counter like Faerie Trickery or Soul Manipulation or another utility card as needed.
In terms of opposing threats anything that might impede your own long term plans is certainly something that needs to be dealt with. There's obvious stuff like graveyard hate and not so obvious stuff like chaos type cards. Drawing too many cards can also be a concern. I played a four player game last week versus a Kaalia deck with Dragon Mage that made everybody "wheel" a few hands before I was able to deal with it. That combined with the Font of Mythos, Dictate of Kruphix, & Rites of Flourishing on the board made things very challenging to keep up.
Friday I played a particularly challenging three player game vs Prossh and Sidisi. By mid game Prossh had developed a board with Phyrexian Altar, Dictate of Erebos, and Undercity Informer to sac the Kobolds to mill a good portion of my deck and keep everyone else from having any creatures. He finished off Sidisi first and I was able to delay the heavy beats with removal and bounce until I was able to finally bounce & counter the Informer and top deck Revoke Existence & Patrician's Scorn to deal with the rest of his board presence. From there I was able to stick Merieke, take control of his commander, & lock down the game.
It started when a friend challenged me to build a pauper EDH, where all cards must be from commons and uncommons only, including the general.
I stumbled on this forum, and substituted a few cards.
The first playtest I was attacked to death by Mono green, with Howl of the Nightpack and Overun.
So I added in Congregate, Exanguinate and Aetherize.
Against Monoblack, I was able to Voilition Rein his Geth Lord, and used it against him for the win. I controlled my graveyard and his grave yard with Feldons Cane and Tormod's Crypt.
Against GW Trostani, I was able to win using Congregate, Exanguinate and Aetherize.
Against UR Nizzet Firedrinker, I was able to disrupt his combo by using Eyeblight's Ending, and stall for the win.
But against Shaarom, I lost 2 games, due to Grand Arbiter Augustine IV. The effect, coupled by his land ramp, costed me the games. I already banned him from playing that card against my pauper EDH, haha.
Ætherize is an incredible card! Very similar to Ætherspouts which was a one-of in the Blue-Black Control deck from the recent Pro Tour. Dawn Charm & Echoing Truth are other great cards versus token armies. Grand Arbiter is very challenging to play against. He's one of those creatures that the best way to deal with it is to take it with Merieke.
Yup, Echoing Truth is a good card against tokens.
As my group can only use common or uncommon for the General, I can only put in Windwright Mage, with its occasional flying ability with some artifacts in the graveyard.
I have to admit there are just some decks that pauper EDH finds difficulty in handling
However, friends have been pleasantly( or unpleasantly ? ) surprised by the synergy of the deck
Will update my future results.
I want to thank you again for posting this deck list and answering all of our questions. When I first learned about EDH/Commander back in late 2007/early 2008, Merieke was my second General after Braids, cabal Minion. I built my first Merieke deck out of commons, uncommons and cheap bulk rares. At that time, there weren't even any forums yet dedicated to this format. My first build was pretty much built on the "theme" of untapping Merieke and Control Magic effects. Over time, decks started to grow in power and our LGS drifted more towards duels (with the normal multiplayer rules and ban list) and the format became more and more competitive. My deck changed with the rest of the decks and became a combo-control deck that just tried to dominate duels. I still play like that online with Magic Work Station.
A few years ago I moved out side the United states and I have found a couple LGS locations where people play multiplayer Commander. Finding this thread months ago, asking questions and reading it again and again has helped me shape my paper magic deck to fit such a meta. I'm not restricting myself to a budget or to a pauper rules set, however, I still share a lot of cards in common with the most up to date list on the first page. I use dual lands, fetch lands and other rares for my mana base along with some small changes, such as replacing Foresee with Concentrate (that planechase art is awesome). Also, I replaced Nihil Spellbomb and Shred Memory with the Rest in Peace & Leyline of the Void along with Helm of Obedience as an infinite mill alternate win condition, which can also be tutored up. The transmute creatures have been replaced with the more powerful tutors Demonic Tutor, Diabolic Tutor, and Fabricate. there are other changes, but you get the idea. I haven't needed to combo with helm yet, but it is nice to know it is in there, and the fact that I don't go fishing it out of the deck every game keeps the table from making me public enemy #1.
If you could build the deck up without any rarity restrictions, and you have the time to reply here or with an inbox message, I would appreciate a hypothetical list.
"Whatever style you wish to play, be it fast and frenzied or slow and tactical, the surest way to defeat your opponent consistently is by dominating him or her in the war of card advantage." - Brian Wiseman, April 1996
Here's an initial list I came up with to start with. It's essentially Esper Control Good Stuff. It could probably use a few more draw spells and creatures to finish out the game. Bribery, Vedalken Shackles, and Treachery should probably be in there. Lots of room to adjust and refine based on what your playgroup is like.
Played a few games against 5cc and monoblack, and Mardu clan.
The few key cards locking down me are :
1. Dovescape – which I added in Ronom unicorn.
2. Omniscience – added in Erase.
3. Ruric Thar and Ob Nixilis Unshackled – using Merieke to control.
4. Stranglehold – to use Volition Reins to control.
I will try to use Shakespeare's rare edh deck to test against them next time, as the pauper EDH deck seems to have some limitations against certain decks.
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I'm not sure what you mean with "slow". As a control deck, sacrificing tempo for long term card advantage is basically what you do. Merieke alone should work as a pretty strong argument against aggroing you out early. Your counters and instant speed removal should deter most combo strategies.
As for being dependent on recursion... it's the main way any EDH deck creates card advantage. Especially a PDH deck. Also, you still have Capsize (by itself an unfair card) and your general + untappers as a win con.
Basically, your diamond shoes are too tight, ZS *violins playing*
A series of seven articles using Magic to explore the very stuff of the Universe!
"At least for those who can play cards, their present incarnation is not quite wasted."
[Click here for the articles!]
Probably. My concern with Disturbed Burial has always been because the deck isn't ramping into a lot of extra land like the Child decks five mana at sorcery speed is pricey early. Especially if you want or need to keep mana up for other spells. Very much a late game card like Remember the Fallen.
True. The previous build had a more proactive feel to it in part because of the trinkets. Now it feels much more like draw-go.
Sadly, I had to look up this reference. Friends don't let friends quote 'Friends'.
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//EDIT (January 28, 2014): After I little more time playing the latest version of the deck I found it lacking. No creature removal in the trinkets package diminished both Trinket Mage and the artifact recursion package. Further the deck became entirely dependent on the spellmancers to recur creature removal which at times was challenging. So for the time being I'm reverting back to the previous build (August 2013 - http://deck.tk/1jbS4RjL ). It may not be the most optimal version but it has better synergy overall.
//DOUBLE-SECRET EDIT (March 22, 2014): Re-testing Ponder & Preordain (over Courier's Capsule & a Snow-Covered Island) trying to find a happy middle ground from the previous iteration that completely dropped the artifact trinkets. I know Ponder & Preordain are solid cards through every part of a game but with previous build I found having too much draw & not enough redundant removal spells was not ideal. We'll see where this goes.
//EVEN MORE SECRET EDITS (April 5, 2014): I've been happy with the recent additions of Ponder & Preordain and am now pushing the deck a little further. I swapped Rend Flesh for Doom Blade in an effort to have a little better game versus the UGx decks in my area that all run the Deadeye Navigator, Seedborn Muse, Prophet of Kruphix engine. I also dropped the much maligned AEther Spellbomb in favor of putting the deck back up to 36 lands. The deck seemed to still do okay with only 35 lands so Snow-Covered Island #13 may end up being the test slot for future changes.
//HARRY POTTER & THE CHAMBER OF SECRET EDITS (May 20, 2014): Updated the list a few times since my last "secret" update. Dropped the clunky recursion four drops in Sanctum Gargoyle & Gravedigger. I rarely transmuted for either with Dimir House Guard. Patrician's Scorn has proven to be a solid addition with uptick in enchantments seeing play (locally at least) with Theros block. Overrule returns to the team as well. I'm not a huge fan of it but it's one of the better life gain options for the deck at common. Riot Control is another card vying for that slot so we'll see how things shake out. I've been toying with the idea of pushing the land count back up to 38 but I want to see Overrule and a few other cards work out first.
Brainspoil, Pristine Talisman, & a haste equipment are things I've considered for the deck but haven't really found cards I'm comfortable cutting for any of them yet. My most recent build has so few actual creatures I'm not sure equipment would be an ideal draw unless you're already ahead. I was a big fan of Kjeldoran Outpost back in the day so I'd love to get a token generator in here that was decent but again it's finding room that's the challenge.
Thanks again for the game report!
Anyway, this is a great thread and I love Merieke. I was looking for ideas on how to power my build down, but keep it playable. This will be a great start!
(now build me a BANT version of this)
..
Azusa - Derevi - Glissa - Mizzix - Sharuum - Wanderer - Wort
The deck over time turned more and more into a combo control deck. Lots of Disenchant effects to get rid of Lightning Greaves and like problems, a small pile of cards that can untap her, and a small pile of other creatures who can abuse tohse cards as well. Dralnu, Lich Lord and Arcanis the Omnipotent became MVPs very quickly.
As I said before, I am looking to power down Merieke becasue over the years and with the help of my old meta/LGS my deck became more and more of an expensive ($$$) combo deck that was pretty brutal. Not the best, but darn good. Now I want to go back to having fun again and play with other low poer decks like the Commander 2013 pre-con decks. I have bookmarked this thread and will continue to reference it when I have time to mess around with my list.
I wrote to Bimmerbot and he responded very quickly and directed me to: http://chat.magicjudges.org/mtgrules/
They confirmed that the WotC customer Serivce hotline, while nice, has a lot of flaws in it's rulings and that Merieke's activated ability creates a delayed trigger. If you untap her before her ability resolves, you will NOT kill that creature and can potentially take many creatures. That is how I always understood the wording myself and how I always played her, but when facing new people it was hard to get a definitive answer to prove I was playing her correctly... as that is a really powerful thing to do.
Now, is there a reason you are going PURE pauper?
Merieke can get a lot stronger and still stay on a budget.
Oh, I agree. Even simple stuff like upgrading the removal and lands would be a huge benefit.
HA! Certainly.
-Why no signets?
-Why no Ravnica Bounce lands?
-Isn't Stripmine an uncommon?
-What are the artifact lands doing for you? Without Thirst for Knowledge & Crucible of Worlds or Tezzeret the Seeker to take advantage of them, how would you not be better suited with 3 more snow-covered basic lands?
-Have you played with Consult the Necrosages? It is Divination or Mind Rot on the same card. It doesn't dig as deeply as Compulsive Research, but the options are nice.
-Have you taken a look at Evincar's Justice?
I use to play Signets in the deck but what I found was drawing them late game was a bit of a let down. The deck is much more interested in hitting all its land drops rather than ramp. Their slots in the deck were later replaced with the likes of Compulsive Research, Echoing Truth, and Vedalken AEthermage which are much better draws mid and late game. The deck has several other cards that do help with mana fixing early while being more versatile later. (Trinket Mage, Traumatic Visions, Twisted Abomination, etc.)
Bounce lands have been in and out of the deck on occasions. Drawing them early can be clunky and awkward at times. It's more of a play style preference than anything. I would not be against re-adding them as lands 37-39.
Yes, Strip Mine is uncommon. It was the one pass I gave myself when I initially built the deck so that I would have an answer to opposing utility lands that could be problematic.
The artifact lands are primarily there as potential targets for Trinket Mage if I'm still developing my mana early game. Putting them in the graveyard via Compulsive Research or Forbidden Alchemy give Remember the Fallen & Mine Excavation more targets potentially. The deck also runs Grim Discovery to help recur lands.
Consult the Necrosages is good and was in the initial build of the deck. The "Mind Rot" option was rarely effective so most of the time it was a harder to cast Divination.
Evincar's Justice was something I've never thought was very effective for its cost. I've always found Crypt Rats to be much more versatile and cost effective in most situations.
I had forgotten that without Sol Ring, Top, Tormord's Crypt and others, that Trinker Mage will likely get you an articat land or a bauble or something. I also love twisted A-Bomb. I was looking up swamp, island and plains cycling and he is easily the best choice. The others are so-so at best. The same with Traumatic Visions and basic land cycling. I have been away from the game for a few years and I am still adding new cards to memory. Remember the Fallen looks really nice. I have a foil Grim Harvest and a foil Grim Discovery because I like to hunt for foils of nice commons, and that will certainly go on my list.
Have you tried Dispeller's Capsule? In my build with Academy Ruins & Hanna, Ship's Navigator is has been a solid inclusión. With the artifact interactions you have mentioned, I would think this would be another good target. I have a personal love for Disenchant effects. I started playing Magic with mono black and that is always my staple color/style. I grew to apprecaite the power of artifacts, Enchantments, and the inability to kill them. Dismantling Blow and Return to Dust might be the two biggest reasons why I went with Merieke over Dralnu, Lich Lord when I started EDH.
I'll be sure to ask more questions later when I have more and more time to break down the deck and mess with it in the future
"The card was originally called "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" after the
poem by Keats, the name was changed in production."
You can read the poem and more here. In short, like the card mechanics, she is a femme fatale who...
With a name Zombie Shakespeare, I figured you might appreciate that bit of information I just found.
Most of the lists in this subforum do focus on an uncommon creature as their general and that's fine. I'm not going to rain on anyone else's parade. If it's working for them great. But I've played, and played against, more decks using the regular legend + 99 commons than any of the other variants. That's what I build for.
Your Rares & Uncommons look good. Thornbite Staff seems a little iffy. The equipped creature's triggered ability is not a "may" so that would allow your opponents force Merieke to untap when you might not want her to.
//KHANS OF TARKIR EDIT (October 2nd, 2014): Recently updated my list to include the new common duals from Khans cutting 2 Islands & a Swamp to make room. Not 100% on if that was the right combination to cut. Oddly I seem to be drawing more Swamps than Islands in the early game. Additionally I've added Read the Bones and Reaping the Graves over Forbidden Alchemy and Death Denied respectively. Read the Bones has been solid and Reaping the Graves has been good on the occasions I've cast it.
When I wrote the Vintage Mono Black Null Rod agro primer years ago (2007) and the discard Primer for the casual sub forum, I made sure to write about optimal starting hands and what hands might look good but are a trap and should be mulled. I also wrote about how to get out of a bad situation and how your strategy can change mid game and/or based on what you are facing. One game of vintage I scooped to a turn one Tinker - Darksteel Colossus while going second because I didn't have an edict or a tutor in hand and instead of trying to luck sack it, I chose not to give my opponent any information and just scooped. I won game two because he didn't know what to board in or out and didn't have suck a lucky start, and game three was pretty easy as well. Discard kills combo and his ONLY out was Tinker, and had already boarded in more answers.
I love the little details and plays that are made in competitive magic. What ever you can share will be read and appreciated, more so by a fellow Merieke player.
I will generally mulligan away most of the nonland cards that don't directly find land (Wayfarer's Bauble, Expedition Map, Armillary Sphere, Traumatic Visions, Twisted Abomination, Pilgrim's Eye, and Trinket Mage). This allows you to focus on setting up your mana before bigger spells start getting cast. I hang on to one or two of the early draw spells (Ponder, Preordain, Brainstorm, Impulse, Read the Bones, Sea Gate Oracle) the deck runs as well in hopes of further developing my mana base early. They will allow you to find and be ready to cast whatever you need as the game progresses so don't be shy about shuffling back counter magic or removal or other key cards. Obviously if you know you're facing off against a deck that's going to need a particular answer ASAP adjust plans accordingly.
The three transmute creatures are there as tutors. The other transmute cards are primarily there for the spell's effect but if the need arises to use any as a tutor I certainly will. Shred Memory & Muddle the Mixture along with Dimir Infiltrator are are great tutors on turn 3 to set up a turn 4 Armillary Sphere. Dimir House Guard setting up a turn 4 Foresee is another common play I make early. Perplex is a hard counter through the mid game most of the time and late game it can search for a hard counter like Faerie Trickery or Soul Manipulation or another utility card as needed.
In terms of opposing threats anything that might impede your own long term plans is certainly something that needs to be dealt with. There's obvious stuff like graveyard hate and not so obvious stuff like chaos type cards. Drawing too many cards can also be a concern. I played a four player game last week versus a Kaalia deck with Dragon Mage that made everybody "wheel" a few hands before I was able to deal with it. That combined with the Font of Mythos, Dictate of Kruphix, & Rites of Flourishing on the board made things very challenging to keep up.
Friday I played a particularly challenging three player game vs Prossh and Sidisi. By mid game Prossh had developed a board with Phyrexian Altar, Dictate of Erebos, and Undercity Informer to sac the Kobolds to mill a good portion of my deck and keep everyone else from having any creatures. He finished off Sidisi first and I was able to delay the heavy beats with removal and bounce until I was able to finally bounce & counter the Informer and top deck Revoke Existence & Patrician's Scorn to deal with the rest of his board presence. From there I was able to stick Merieke, take control of his commander, & lock down the game.
I stumbled on this forum, and substituted a few cards.
The first playtest I was attacked to death by Mono green, with Howl of the Nightpack and Overun.
So I added in Congregate, Exanguinate and Aetherize.
Against Monoblack, I was able to Voilition Rein his Geth Lord, and used it against him for the win. I controlled my graveyard and his grave yard with Feldons Cane and Tormod's Crypt.
Against GW Trostani, I was able to win using Congregate, Exanguinate and Aetherize.
Against UR Nizzet Firedrinker, I was able to disrupt his combo by using Eyeblight's Ending, and stall for the win.
But against Shaarom, I lost 2 games, due to Grand Arbiter Augustine IV. The effect, coupled by his land ramp, costed me the games. I already banned him from playing that card against my pauper EDH, haha.
Thanks for the inspiration !
Ætherize is an incredible card! Very similar to Ætherspouts which was a one-of in the Blue-Black Control deck from the recent Pro Tour. Dawn Charm & Echoing Truth are other great cards versus token armies. Grand Arbiter is very challenging to play against. He's one of those creatures that the best way to deal with it is to take it with Merieke.
Welcome to the forums & enjoy Pauper EDH!
As my group can only use common or uncommon for the General, I can only put in Windwright Mage, with its occasional flying ability with some artifacts in the graveyard.
I have to admit there are just some decks that pauper EDH finds difficulty in handling
However, friends have been pleasantly( or unpleasantly ? ) surprised by the synergy of the deck
Will update my future results.
Cheers !
A few years ago I moved out side the United states and I have found a couple LGS locations where people play multiplayer Commander. Finding this thread months ago, asking questions and reading it again and again has helped me shape my paper magic deck to fit such a meta. I'm not restricting myself to a budget or to a pauper rules set, however, I still share a lot of cards in common with the most up to date list on the first page. I use dual lands, fetch lands and other rares for my mana base along with some small changes, such as replacing Foresee with Concentrate (that planechase art is awesome). Also, I replaced Nihil Spellbomb and Shred Memory with the Rest in Peace & Leyline of the Void along with Helm of Obedience as an infinite mill alternate win condition, which can also be tutored up. The transmute creatures have been replaced with the more powerful tutors Demonic Tutor, Diabolic Tutor, and Fabricate. there are other changes, but you get the idea. I haven't needed to combo with helm yet, but it is nice to know it is in there, and the fact that I don't go fishing it out of the deck every game keeps the table from making me public enemy #1.
If you could build the deck up without any rarity restrictions, and you have the time to reply here or with an inbox message, I would appreciate a hypothetical list.
deckstats.net
1 snapcaster mage
1 trinket mage
1 preacher
1 solemn simulacrum
1 phyrexian metamorph
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Mulldrifter
1 mnemonic wall
1 consecrated sphinx
//draw
1 ponder
1 preordain
1 brainstorm
1 lim-dûl's vault
1 thirst for knowledge
1 esper charm
1 jace's ingenuity
1 sphinx's revelation
//countermagic
1 negate
1 counterspell
1 muddle the mixture
1 mana drain
1 hinder
1 spell crumple
1 dissipate
1 cryptic command
1 force of will
//tutors
1 enlightened tutor
1 mystical tutor
1 vampiric tutor
1 demonic tutor
1 merchant scroll
1 mystical teachings
1 swords to plowshares
1 path to exile
1 go for the throat
1 ashes to ashes
1 supreme verdict
1 austere command
1 detention sphere
1 return to dust
1 cyclonic rift
1 mind twist
//misc
1 dawn charm
1 land tax
1 Pemmin's Aura
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
//utility artifacts
1 pithing needle
1 elixir of immortality
1 sensei's divining top
1 lightning greaves
1 Thousand-Year Elixir
1 scroll rack
1 crucible of worlds
1 sword of feast and famine
//combo
1 helm of obedience
1 leyline of the void
1 rest in peace
//mana rocks
1 lotus petal
1 mox opal
1 sol ring
1 mana vault
1 mind stone
1 talisman of Dominance
1 talisman of progress
1 command tower
1 arcane sanctum
1 strip mine
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
1 Vivid Creek
1 Halimar Depths
1 polluted delta
1 flooded strand
1 misty rainforest
1 scalding tarn
1 marsh flats
1 underground sea
1 tundra
1 hallowed fountain
1 watery grave
1 glacial fortress
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 adarkar wastes
1 Underground River
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Celestial Colonnade
1 darksteel citadel
9 island
2 swamp
1 plains
The few key cards locking down me are :
1. Dovescape – which I added in Ronom unicorn.
2. Omniscience – added in Erase.
3. Ruric Thar and Ob Nixilis Unshackled – using Merieke to control.
4. Stranglehold – to use Volition Reins to control.
I will try to use Shakespeare's rare edh deck to test against them next time, as the pauper EDH deck seems to have some limitations against certain decks.