For Knightfall, Kalitas is an all-star here. Damnation and Last Hope is good as well. Not too sure with EE but it’s still solid on 3. I would take out Liliana, specially on the draw. Too slow and Finks and Voices will make her feel bad. Bring in all the removals you have. As for discards, I would cut some IoK for Brutality. They might be running CoCo bit watch out for Smiters and/or Baloths.
8Rack. Depending on the list but usually all Push and Path goes out same goes for any type of discards. Bring in EE and creatures. You need to race them. Last Hope and Extraction is not bad against them.
As for Ponza, I don’t like this mu. Lol. The best way, I believe, to beat them is through discards early on and kill the dorks. T2 BM is kinda bad. Discards and a good threat is prolly the best way against them, specially in Junk coz Junk is slower. You don’t wanna grind against them coz they can go bigger than us.
So that’s just my 2cents based on experience. Hope this helps and hopefully other people with add in their ideas as well.
what is everyone sideboard plans for Hollow One? The only thing I am confident on is 4 LOTV out for 2 Damnations, 2 Spellbombs. Interested what other slots people take out. For reference I am playing the centralised list.
I’m on BG Rock rn and I have 2x Flaying Tendrils and 2-3 Nihil Spellbomb and 1x Surgical Extraction.
There are builds that doesn’t run Bob or Nobles. Liliana and Goyfs are a must though. If you’re willing, I’d go for Lilies first then Goyfs. Prices are spiking right now though.
Yeah, I’ll try one in olace for GftT as well. Being a blank against Affinity and can’t kill Hollow One kinda hurts but the trade of is that it won’t kill Clique, Thalia, Tasigur, Mom and Dad. Those are the ones on top of my head in the current Modern rn.
Hi. I’m back to The Rock instead of Jund and I’m curious to what are our best 3 and 4 drops for creatures right now? I’m trying out 2x Trackers and 1x Excavator.
I just would like to thank gromgrom and Xentago (as well as the other contributors in this thread) for sharing their expertise and experiences with Meren. I am very fascinated by her potential as a commander and am looking forward to trying these decks out.
Thanks again!
No problem. There's lots of resources around specially at Reddit cEDH.
How crucial is Chains of Mephistopheles? Is it mainly there to fill up your graveyard so that you have more options to "reanimate" with Meren?
It's really good agianst decks that really wants to draw, U decks in particular. You pair it with Mindslicer so you'll slow them down significantly. It affects all extra draws.
This. I've neglected to grab one for months, because I'm a scrub who prefers to foil his deck out haha. No seriously, I have terrible priorities, but at least the deck is pretty! Id love to have a Chains and Nether Void for the deck (and a real Cradle, I'm proxying, but I should proxy those too)
I think it's fine. Right now, I'm proxying 3 cards. Just prioritize the important ones first.
On the other hand, I just got my Chains of Mephistopheles and this is my current list right now.
I may have to try Ramunap Excavator. Not sold on him in Meren yet, but it seems super gooood.
Liliana of the Veil, how has she worked out for you? she seems underwhelming in this format.
I actually removed him from the list just recently, I find him underwhelming.
As for Liliana of the Veil, she is pretty good. If left unchecked, she can just shred peoples hand and they won't notice about it. The only complain I have for her is that she's a bit slow.
----
I see that you're adding the Protean Hulk combo with the Body Snatcher line. I hope you'll like it coz it's pretty sweet. I was just surprised when you took out Birthing Pod on your list. The card evades our stax cards except Null Rod. Even if it's a bit slow and need creatures to tutor, it's still a house specially with Meren in play. Don't worry about pod being targeted all the time. That means they're scared of the card coz it'll prolly push you out of control and they're wasting resources instead of hitting your taxing cards. I know Meren is not up there but since we are playing stax, we push our taxes first out and grind them from there. I had a game with Pod and Nether Void online, they can't do anything. lol
I am not sold on Boreal Druid in the list. Most of the time, I need colored mana on the first 3-4 turns and it feels awkward with him. The one mana is really enticing though.
How crucial is Chains of Mephistopheles? Is it mainly there to fill up your graveyard so that you have more options to "reanimate" with Meren?
It's really good agianst decks that really wants to draw, U decks in particular. You pair it with Mindslicer so you'll slow them down significantly. It affects all extra draws.
This. I've neglected to grab one for months, because I'm a scrub who prefers to foil his deck out haha. No seriously, I have terrible priorities, but at least the deck is pretty! Id love to have a Chains and Nether Void for the deck (and a real Cradle, I'm proxying, but I should proxy those too)
I think it's fine. Right now, I'm proxying 3 cards. Just prioritize the important ones first.
On the other hand, I just got my Chains of Mephistopheles and this is my current list right now.
How crucial is Chains of Mephistopheles? Is it mainly there to fill up your graveyard so that you have more options to "reanimate" with Meren?
It's really good agianst decks that really wants to draw, U decks in particular. You pair it with Mindslicer so you'll slow them down significantly. It affects all extra draws.
Btw. I was able to order online an MP Chains of Mephistopheles and I'm so excited about the card. Will update my list as soon as the card arrives next week. Might trade some of my Modern staples for a Nether Void but I don't know yet.
Tangle wire is just an additional stax. It's good early specially with Root Maze and all the ramps that we have, but it really sucks late game.
Yes, Liliana, Heretical Healer is mostly there for the discard. The reanimation is bonus utility as well from time to time. Overall, she performs fine in the deck, lifelink helps a bit when she's a creature. The bad side of her is that she needs a sac outlet for her to flip and she doesn't help that much when you are behind or when there's no card to support her.
As for Creakwood Liege, it's my go to card when I have a lock on the board but I'm really low on resources to win. He can win the game by himself, assuming the opponents can't do anything, when you can't combo off. It's more of a 3rd wincon and helps Meren to grow bigger. It helps with Contamination, Magus of the Abyss, and Razaketh, the Foulblooded too. If I can get a hold of the good stax card/s, he's prolly the one to go or Liliana, Heretical Healer.
I thought about the Body Snatcher line as well but with my current list, it's heavy on discard(more stax pieces). Most of the time, my hand is already empty by t4 or t5. I won't be able to discard a creature card to combo off, though, I like the baked-in protection in that line. The line I usually do now is to put Contamination or Mindslicer online then go off. Thanks to Razaketh, he makes it easier.
For Knightfall, Kalitas is an all-star here. Damnation and Last Hope is good as well. Not too sure with EE but it’s still solid on 3. I would take out Liliana, specially on the draw. Too slow and Finks and Voices will make her feel bad. Bring in all the removals you have. As for discards, I would cut some IoK for Brutality. They might be running CoCo bit watch out for Smiters and/or Baloths.
8Rack. Depending on the list but usually all Push and Path goes out same goes for any type of discards. Bring in EE and creatures. You need to race them. Last Hope and Extraction is not bad against them.
As for Ponza, I don’t like this mu. Lol. The best way, I believe, to beat them is through discards early on and kill the dorks. T2 BM is kinda bad. Discards and a good threat is prolly the best way against them, specially in Junk coz Junk is slower. You don’t wanna grind against them coz they can go bigger than us.
So that’s just my 2cents based on experience. Hope this helps and hopefully other people with add in their ideas as well.
I’m on BG Rock rn and I have 2x Flaying Tendrils and 2-3 Nihil Spellbomb and 1x Surgical Extraction.
2x Abrupt Decay
4x Fatal Push
1x Dismember
1x Gi for the Throat
2x Maelstrom Pulse.
No problem. There's lots of resources around specially at Reddit cEDH.
I actually removed him from the list just recently, I find him underwhelming.
As for Liliana of the Veil, she is pretty good. If left unchecked, she can just shred peoples hand and they won't notice about it. The only complain I have for her is that she's a bit slow.
----
I see that you're adding the Protean Hulk combo with the Body Snatcher line. I hope you'll like it coz it's pretty sweet. I was just surprised when you took out Birthing Pod on your list. The card evades our stax cards except Null Rod. Even if it's a bit slow and need creatures to tutor, it's still a house specially with Meren in play. Don't worry about pod being targeted all the time. That means they're scared of the card coz it'll prolly push you out of control and they're wasting resources instead of hitting your taxing cards. I know Meren is not up there but since we are playing stax, we push our taxes first out and grind them from there. I had a game with Pod and Nether Void online, they can't do anything. lol
I am not sold on Boreal Druid in the list. Most of the time, I need colored mana on the first 3-4 turns and it feels awkward with him. The one mana is really enticing though.
I think it's fine. Right now, I'm proxying 3 cards. Just prioritize the important ones first.
On the other hand, I just got my Chains of Mephistopheles and this is my current list right now.
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/all-in-merenprotean-stax/
It's really good agianst decks that really wants to draw, U decks in particular. You pair it with Mindslicer so you'll slow them down significantly. It affects all extra draws.
Btw. I was able to order online an MP Chains of Mephistopheles and I'm so excited about the card. Will update my list as soon as the card arrives next week. Might trade some of my Modern staples for a Nether Void but I don't know yet.
Yes, Liliana, Heretical Healer is mostly there for the discard. The reanimation is bonus utility as well from time to time. Overall, she performs fine in the deck, lifelink helps a bit when she's a creature. The bad side of her is that she needs a sac outlet for her to flip and she doesn't help that much when you are behind or when there's no card to support her.
As for Creakwood Liege, it's my go to card when I have a lock on the board but I'm really low on resources to win. He can win the game by himself, assuming the opponents can't do anything, when you can't combo off. It's more of a 3rd wincon and helps Meren to grow bigger. It helps with Contamination, Magus of the Abyss, and Razaketh, the Foulblooded too. If I can get a hold of the good stax card/s, he's prolly the one to go or Liliana, Heretical Healer.
I thought about the Body Snatcher line as well but with my current list, it's heavy on discard(more stax pieces). Most of the time, my hand is already empty by t4 or t5. I won't be able to discard a creature card to combo off, though, I like the baked-in protection in that line. The line I usually do now is to put Contamination or Mindslicer online then go off. Thanks to Razaketh, he makes it easier.
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/meren-of-clan-nel-toth-stax-4/