Hi there and thanks for posting this, your list is great
I really want to build a Meren deck and I really like your approach with value/stax elements. Currently, Im having trouble finding suitable win conditions, since my playgroup doesnt allow infinite combos, (so no triskellion combo etc). They do allow for "fixed" kill the table combos, like Jarad/Lord of Extinction, since its not infinite damage per say. Do you have any suggestions for alternative win conditions perhaps? Or is it simply a matter of maindecking more finishers like Grave Titan etc?
You could also just go for the control colors. I play a non-combo Sharuum, the Hegemon deck thats build to stop opposing combo decks. I only run 4-5 counterspells, and I pack both sweepers, blink creatures/effects and hand disruption. I especially focus on exile effects such as Castigate and Duplicant to disrupt graveyard tricks. I then use my general and cards like Archaeomancer, Mnemonic Wall and Snapcaster Mage to get the exile effects back from the graveyard. Oh, and I also pack a lot of draw spells so I dont miss land drops and to get my bombs in time. Works like a charm most of the time.
Still cant believe that theyre making MM a limited print run. What good does it do? Absolutely nothing. More cards of this caliber printed = more cash for WotC. The secondary market shouldnt even be a factor in this. They want more players for Modern and Legacy, then why limit the availability in the first place? I hope that its true what some posters has already guessed at, that this print run is larger than people think it will be.
Underperformers:
None to mention. Was satisfied with my sealed pool (I went Orzhov).
But I noticed that the 3/2 boros two-drop, with batalion/first strike wasnt as powerful as I had thought when I played against it.
I played Orzhov and it was incredible. To begin with I splashed blue for Duskmantle Seer, but cut it again after game two. Met a lot of Boros opponents. Matches went something like this:
Game 1 vs Boros:
He played straight boros agro, splashing in some extort guys for late game reach. Went 1-1, then went to time with no clear winner.
Game 2 vs Orzhov:
0-2 loss. He pulled an Obzedat which destroyed me both games. I managed to get rid of it the second game, but he used the prerelease promo to get it back and finish me off. Such a powerful card.
Game 3 vs Dimir:
He went the mill plan, but it didnt really work out in the end. Second game he mulliganed to 6, bumped into the mana screw and conceded. 2-0.
Game 4 and 5 vs Simic:
Not much to say here. Both decks consisted mostly of small creatures abusing the evolve mechanic. In game 4 my opponent landed a Zegana and drew 7, but luckily I had lethal on the following turn. 2-0 both matches. Simic was probably the easiest matchup I had all night. Shame, looked really fun to play though.
Game 6 vs Boros, splashing extort and green for Borborygmos:
I lost the first game. He had two Syndic of the Tithes and he won the extort war in the end. Really fun game, with lots of swingy lifedraining. Won the last two. First game going control, killing him with a couple of weenies with removal in hand. Second game I carefully took out his Syndics and won the extort war. 2-1
Game 7 vs Boros.
Won this one 2-0. Second game he cast an Aurelia and brought me down to 7 life. Through luck and preserverance I managed to take him down with 1 life remaining. 2-0
I ended up going 5-1-1 in the Swiss and made top 8 in 6th place, (61 players attending).
In the draft portion I went Boros with a small green splash for Biomass Mutation. No idea how to draft this format I got lucky and pulled a Boros Charm and the R/W enchantment that makes tokens. Those two cards had a big hand in winning me the first game 2-0 against another boros player.
In the Semifinals I ran into a Gruul deck which totally dominated me. The same guy ended up winning the whole thing, so congratulations to him Overall I ended up tied at third place and won 9 boosters.
Regarding sealed, I didnt pull a lot of ridiculous bombs, and my deck ended up being a white weenie extort deck with 6-7 assorted removal spells. I had three rares maindeck: Frontline Medic, (So good, you´d be amazed how much a cheap hillgiant can do in this format, even without batalion). High Priest of Penance, (Strong card and difficult to play around it seemed), and the promoTreasury Thrull which adds a lot to the late game survival plan, (is also the card that won me the game vs the last boros player).
My sealed decklist:
2 x Dutiful Thrull
1 x Syndic of Tithes
1 x Cartel Aristocrat
1 x High Priest of Penance
2 x Basilica Guards
1 x Undercity Informer
1 x Frontline Medic
1 x Kingpin´s Pet
2 x Assault Griffin
1 x Treasury Thrull
1 x Death´s Approach
1 x Devour Flesh
1 x Executioner´s Swing
2 x Grisly Spectacle
1 x One Thousand Lashes
1 x Angelic Edict
1 x Aerial Maneuver
1 x Purge the Profane
1 x Knight Watch
1 x Orzhov Guildgate
8 x Swamp
8 x Plains
The best cards ended up being Purge the Profane (Against Boros), One Thousand Lashes (won a lot of my matches with this card), Syndic of Tithes (Increadibly strong bear) and Basilica Guards. The Dutiful Thrulls also did a surprising amount of damage for a one drop. Also Frontline Medic and High Priest of Penance are deceptivly powerful. Who needs bombs when the weenies are this good? Extort is incredible, especially against boros. It allows you to keep odd hands since your end game is so good. For me, probably the best new mechanic of the set.
Norin the Wary: A Shameless copy of Gaka´s twisted brainchild. Its chaotic, throws your opponents off their gameplan and is hella fun to play Oh, and its quite possibly the best anti-blue deck I have ever had the pleasure of playing
Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind: Super combo/mass draw/burn. As competitive as Niv gets in a multiplayer environment. When I pilot this its kill the table before they kill me. I pull this one out when Im facing opposing commanders such as Zur, Oona and the like.
Ruhan of the Fomori: My goto voltron deck, also the list I tweak for french 1 vs 1 when the need arises. The shell is a good stuff control deck, with Ruhan as finisher. Great fun in multiplayer due to the randomness (I like my chaos).
Trostani, Selesnya´s Voice: My newest homebrew. Basically its a massive lifegain deck which aims to stall the game until I combo out with huge trampling tokens to overwhelm my opponents. Work in progress.
I appologize for the lack of response and updates. Coming soon For now, Ill just add that Ive been playing a good deal of matches with the deck. In its weakest incarnation I got steamrolled, but as Ive become more comfortable with it and tweaked it a bit, its starting to win a lot Some unforseen sideeffects playing a deck like this. Ill give you an update soon
I run Phyrexian Processor in my Trostani deck. Can easily gain 100+ life per turn with it if you pay enough life and have enough populate on the board. Worth a look...
I thought on this card and its probably an auto-include, but for some strange reason I really want to avoid artifacts in this deck, even though Im running a few. In time I will probably cut all artifacts, (except Sol Sing), and go with enchantments instead. I dont know, thematically, Hippies and heavy machinery dont suit each other hehe. If you regard Trostani as a hippie general, (which I do) But yeah, nice suggestion. Maybe Ill take it for a spin sometime. Gonna have my first matchups thursday. Ill post experiences and changes friday, if I have the time
I really want to build a Meren deck and I really like your approach with value/stax elements. Currently, Im having trouble finding suitable win conditions, since my playgroup doesnt allow infinite combos, (so no triskellion combo etc). They do allow for "fixed" kill the table combos, like Jarad/Lord of Extinction, since its not infinite damage per say. Do you have any suggestions for alternative win conditions perhaps? Or is it simply a matter of maindecking more finishers like Grave Titan etc?
Thanks
Norin the Wary
Artifact
Skullclamp
Creature
Venser, Shaper Savant
Enchantment
Rancor
Land
Kessig Wolf Run
Sorcery
Ponder
Instant
Word of Seizing
Planeswalker
Venser, the Sojourner
2 x Dutiful Thrull
1 x Syndic of Tithes
1 x Cartel Aristocrat
1 x High Priest of Penance
2 x Basilica Guards
1 x Undercity Informer
1 x Frontline Medic
1 x Kingpin´s Pet
2 x Assault Griffin
1 x Treasury Thrull
1 x Death´s Approach
1 x Devour Flesh
1 x Executioner´s Swing
2 x Grisly Spectacle
1 x One Thousand Lashes
1 x Angelic Edict
1 x Aerial Maneuver
1 x Purge the Profane
1 x Knight Watch
1 x Orzhov Guildgate
8 x Swamp
8 x Plains
Results (61 player tournament): 1-1 vs Boros. 0-2 vs Orzhov. 2-0 vs Dimir. 2-0 vs Simic. 2-0 vs Simic. 2-1 vs Boros and 2-0 vs yet another Boros.
5-1-1 in the Swiss
Ended up in 6th place, then went on to the top 8 where I drafted R/W/g. Finished top 4 overall.
One Thousand Lashes. Combined with extort it is amazing.
Underperformers:
None to mention. Was satisfied with my sealed pool
But I noticed that the 3/2 boros two-drop, with batalion/first strike wasnt as powerful as I had thought when I played against it.
Game 1 vs Boros:
He played straight boros agro, splashing in some extort guys for late game reach. Went 1-1, then went to time with no clear winner.
Game 2 vs Orzhov:
0-2 loss. He pulled an Obzedat which destroyed me both games. I managed to get rid of it the second game, but he used the prerelease promo to get it back and finish me off. Such a powerful card.
Game 3 vs Dimir:
He went the mill plan, but it didnt really work out in the end. Second game he mulliganed to 6, bumped into the mana screw and conceded. 2-0.
Game 4 and 5 vs Simic:
Not much to say here. Both decks consisted mostly of small creatures abusing the evolve mechanic. In game 4 my opponent landed a Zegana and drew 7, but luckily I had lethal on the following turn. 2-0 both matches. Simic was probably the easiest matchup I had all night. Shame, looked really fun to play though.
Game 6 vs Boros, splashing extort and green for Borborygmos:
I lost the first game. He had two Syndic of the Tithes and he won the extort war in the end. Really fun game, with lots of swingy lifedraining. Won the last two. First game going control, killing him with a couple of weenies with removal in hand. Second game I carefully took out his Syndics and won the extort war. 2-1
Game 7 vs Boros.
Won this one 2-0. Second game he cast an Aurelia and brought me down to 7 life. Through luck and preserverance I managed to take him down with 1 life remaining. 2-0
I ended up going 5-1-1 in the Swiss and made top 8 in 6th place, (61 players attending).
In the draft portion I went Boros with a small green splash for Biomass Mutation. No idea how to draft this format I got lucky and pulled a Boros Charm and the R/W enchantment that makes tokens. Those two cards had a big hand in winning me the first game 2-0 against another boros player.
In the Semifinals I ran into a Gruul deck which totally dominated me. The same guy ended up winning the whole thing, so congratulations to him
Regarding sealed, I didnt pull a lot of ridiculous bombs, and my deck ended up being a white weenie extort deck with 6-7 assorted removal spells. I had three rares maindeck: Frontline Medic, (So good, you´d be amazed how much a cheap hillgiant can do in this format, even without batalion). High Priest of Penance, (Strong card and difficult to play around it seemed), and the promoTreasury Thrull which adds a lot to the late game survival plan, (is also the card that won me the game vs the last boros player).
My sealed decklist:
2 x Dutiful Thrull
1 x Syndic of Tithes
1 x Cartel Aristocrat
1 x High Priest of Penance
2 x Basilica Guards
1 x Undercity Informer
1 x Frontline Medic
1 x Kingpin´s Pet
2 x Assault Griffin
1 x Treasury Thrull
1 x Death´s Approach
1 x Devour Flesh
1 x Executioner´s Swing
2 x Grisly Spectacle
1 x One Thousand Lashes
1 x Angelic Edict
1 x Aerial Maneuver
1 x Purge the Profane
1 x Knight Watch
1 x Orzhov Guildgate
8 x Swamp
8 x Plains
The best cards ended up being Purge the Profane (Against Boros), One Thousand Lashes (won a lot of my matches with this card), Syndic of Tithes (Increadibly strong bear) and Basilica Guards. The Dutiful Thrulls also did a surprising amount of damage for a one drop. Also Frontline Medic and High Priest of Penance are deceptivly powerful. Who needs bombs when the weenies are this good?
Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind: Super combo/mass draw/burn. As competitive as Niv gets in a multiplayer environment. When I pilot this its kill the table before they kill me. I pull this one out when Im facing opposing commanders such as Zur, Oona and the like.
Ruhan of the Fomori: My goto voltron deck, also the list I tweak for french 1 vs 1 when the need arises. The shell is a good stuff control deck, with Ruhan as finisher. Great fun in multiplayer due to the randomness (I like my chaos).
Trostani, Selesnya´s Voice: My newest homebrew. Basically its a massive lifegain deck which aims to stall the game until I combo out with huge trampling tokens to overwhelm my opponents. Work in progress.
Krenko, Mob Boss: Under construction.
I thought on this card and its probably an auto-include, but for some strange reason I really want to avoid artifacts in this deck, even though Im running a few. In time I will probably cut all artifacts, (except Sol Sing), and go with enchantments instead. I dont know, thematically, Hippies and heavy machinery dont suit each other hehe. If you regard Trostani as a hippie general, (which I do)