Overview:

This Meren of Clan Nel Toth deck is a grindy Golgari aristocrats/reanimator build focused on incremental value through sacrifice triggers, graveyard recursion, and attrition-based win conditions. The strategy leverages Meren's experience counters to repeatedly reanimate key creatures while using sacrifice outlets and death triggers to drain opponents. Key threats include Syr Konrad, the Grim, Grave Pact effects, and recursive value engines like Eternal Witness. While lacking infinite combos, the deck can generate overwhelming board states through persistent recursion and stax-like creature denial.

Primer:

Core Strategy: The deck aims to establish early sacrifice fodder (e.g., Sakura-Tribe Elder, Viridian Emissary) to accelerate Meren's experience counters. Midgame focuses on deploying recursive threats (Plaguecrafter, Ravenous Chupacabra) and death payoffs (Blood Artist, Moldervine Reclamation). Late-game leverages high-impact reanimation targets (Sheoldred, Whispering One, Sepulchral Primordial) while draining opponents through mass creature deaths.

Key Lines:

1. T1-T3: Ramp with dorks/land-fetch creatures, sacrifice them to Ashnod's Altar/Priest of Forgotten Gods for early Meren counters
2. T4+: Recur Fleshbag Marauder/Plaguecrafter every turn with Meren to strip opponents' boards
3. Synergistic Payoffs: Activate Syr Konrad with mass mill (Dread Summons) or pair Grave Pact with token generators

Mulligan Priorities:

• Keep hands with 3 lands + 1-2 sacrifice outlets/recursion enablers
• Prioritize early ramp creatures over high-CMC bombs
• Avoid keeping slow 5+ CMC cards without acceleration

Critical Interactions:

• Tortured Existence + Underrealm Lich: Selective graveyard filling
• Drivnod, Carnage Dominus + Dictate of Erebos: Double sacrifice triggers
• Eldrazi Monument + Recursive Creatures: Evasion and protection

Win Conditions:

1. Attrition: Grave Pact/Dictate of Erebos locking opponents out of creatures
2. Drain Effects: Blood Artist/Syr Konrad accumulating damage through mass deaths
3. Combat Overload: Sepulchral Primordial stealing opponents' best creatures

Weaknesses:

Critical:

• Complete graveyard hate (Rest in Peace) shuts down 60% of strategy
• Lacks fast win conditions (no infinite combos)

Moderate:

• Slow recovery from multiple Meren removals (only 3 recursion sources)
• Limited stack interaction (no counterspells)

Minor:

• Some high-CMC cards (e.g., 7 CMC In Garruk's Wake)

Most Important Cards:

• Ashnod's Altar
• Phyrexian Altar
• Grave Pact
• Dictate of Erebos
• Syr Konrad, the Grim
• Sheoldred, Whispering One
• Buried Alive
• Eternal Witness
• Blood Artist
• Victimize

Attribute Ratings:

Speed: 5/10

• No T3-4 wins, but can establish stax locks by T6-7
• High-CMC finishers require setup

Resilience: 6/10

• Redundant sacrifice engines
• Vulnerable to graveyard exile but has 3 recursion tools

Consistency: 7/10

• 8 tutors/enters-battlefield fetches
• Meren provides inherent recursion consistency

Interaction: 5/10

• 10 targeted removals but slow/sorcery-speed
• No counterspells/card advantage engines

Rating Justification:

This deck sits between Optimized Casual (5.0) and High-Power Casual (5.5) on the rubric. It exceeds precon-level decks through synergistic redundancy and powerful stax elements but lacks:
1) The speed of T6-7 combo kills expected at 6.0+
2) Sufficient protection against common hate
3) Instant-speed interaction density

The attrition plan matches 5.5's "T8-9 via combat/slow combos" benchmark, but inconsistent mana base and vulnerability to graveyard hate prevent reaching 6.0.

Power level: 5.0 - 5.5