Overview:

This Meren of Clan Nel Toth deck focuses on sacrifice synergies, leveraging creature recursion and death triggers to control the board and drain opponents. Meren acts as the engine, enabling repeated reanimation of key sacrifice fodder (e.g., Fleshbag Marauder, Plaguecrafter) and combo pieces. The deck aims to win through incremental life drain (Zulaport Cutthroat, Blood Artist), explosive Gray Merchant of Asphodel triggers, or infinite loops with Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + persist creatures. While Meren is central to the strategy, the deck includes redundancy through tutors and recursion to mitigate commander dependency.

Primer:

Core Strategy Execution:

1. Early Setup (Turns 1-4):
   • Ramp with Sakura-Tribe Elder, Sol Ring, or Birds of Paradise.
   • Deploy sacrifice outlets (Viscera Seer, Carrion Feeder) and value engines (Grim Haruspex, Skullclamp).
   • Use Buried Alive or Jarad's Orders to dump key creatures (e.g., Gray Merchant, Gravecrawler, Putrid Goblin) into the graveyard.

2. Midgame Grind (Turns 4-7):

   • Recur Fleshbag Marauder-type creatures with Meren to disrupt opponents.
   • Generate value via Pitiless Plunderer/Pawn of Ulamog for mana and Zulaport Cutthroat for life drain.
   • Tutor for combo pieces (Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Putrid Goblin/Lesser Masticore).

3. Win Conditions:

   • Infinite Drain: Putrid Goblin + Mikaeus + free sac outlet (e.g., Yawgmoth, Thran Physician) + Blood Artist effect.
   • Gray Merchant Loops: Reanimate repeatedly with Meren/Victimize for massive life swings.
   • Syr Konrad, the Grim: Amplify death triggers with mass reanimation (Living Death, Rise of the Dark Realms).

Mulligan Priorities:

• Keep hands with early ramp, a sac outlet, and a tutor/recursion piece.
• Prioritize Buried Alive, Diabolic Intent, or Skullclamp in interactive metas.
• Avoid hands lacking graveyard setup or Meren enablers.

Key Tips:

• Use Nim Deathmantle + Ashnod's Altar/Phyrexian Altar with token generators (Ophiomancer) for infinite recursion.
• Sacrifice Reassembling Skeleton to Yawgmoth for repeated card draw and -1/-1 counters.
• Toxic Deluge can reset the board while preserving Meren’s experience counters.

Weaknesses:

Critical

• Graveyard exile (Rest in Peace, Leyline of the Void) cripples recursion and combo lines.
• Torpor Orb/Hushbringer nullifies ETB death triggers from key creatures.

Moderate

• Heavy artifact/enchantment removal disrupts Grave Pact, Phyrexian Altar, and Skullclamp.
• Fast combo decks can outpace Meren’s setup time.

Minor

• Limited stack interaction (no counterspells) leaves key spells unprotected.
• High reliance on Meren’s survival for consistent recursion.

Most Important Cards:

• Mikaeus, the Unhallowed (Enables infinite persist loops)
• Zulaport Cutthroat (Primary life drain engine)
• Gray Merchant of Asphodel (Massive life swing payoff)
• Buried Alive (Tutors combo pieces to graveyard)
• Yawgmoth, Thran Physician (Sac outlet, draw engine, proliferate)
• Phyrexian Altar (Mana generation for loops)
• Living Death (Board reset + mass reanimation)
• Diabolic Intent (Tutor with sac synergy)
• Pitiless Plunderer (Treasure generation for explosive turns)
• Grave Pact (Board control via forced sacrifices)

Attribute Ratings:

Speed: 6/10

• Can threaten T5-7 wins with ideal draws (Mikaeus + persist creature + sac outlet), but typically grinds value over explosive starts.

Resilience: 7/10

• High recursion and redundancy mitigate removal, but graveyard hate is a critical vulnerability.

Consistency: 7/10

• Tutors (Diabolic Intent, Buried Alive) and card draw (Skullclamp, Grim Haruspex) reliably assemble key pieces.

Interaction: 5/10

• Targeted removal (Assassin’s Trophy, Beast Within) and forced sacrifices handle permanents but lack stack interaction.

Rating Justification:

This deck operates as a focused aristocrats strategy with a T6-8 win potential via combos or attrition, balanced by vulnerability to graveyard hate. Its resilience and consistency push it above casual tiers, but slower setup and meta-dependent weaknesses cap its ceiling.

Power level: 6.0 - 6.5