[EDH / Commander] Fifty ways to leave your lover (Merieke Ri Berit / combo)

[Aetherium Slinky]

https://deckstats.net/decks/93006/1407793-six-ways-to-break-merieke-ri-b/en

This is a deck that's been in progress for years and I've finally settled on a decklist which means that it's time to ask the community for wild suggestions that make me question my sanity and the integrity of the deck.

In case it's not clear at a glance: we use Merieke as a kill spell and to steal and sometimes keep creatures permanently. The rest of the deck deals with noncreature problems, things that could hurt Merieke and things that find us the winning pieces. Win conditions are: damage or whatever the stolen creatures can do on their own, or as a last resort we can assemble Decree of Silence + Solemnity which should make opponents scoop.

So... Hit me with your best critique.

[Judaspriester]

I have no time for a check in detail right now, but I atleast want to leave some quick suggestions:
Long-Term Plans and Diabolic Intent (sac a opponents creature as additional cost) could be useful tutors.

the manabase could be improved with check lands (e.g. Glacial Fortress) and battle lands (e.g. Prairie Stream) without crushing the budget. Nimbus Maze and Exotic Orchard might also be interesting.

[Aetherium Slinky]

I admit, the mana base looks really bare. I just don't want to get hit by a Blood Moon or Back to Basics (which is probably something I should run). Nimbus Maze is fun but oh-so-finicky. 40% of the time it won't produce the colours you actually need.

Diabolic Intent was a really good suggestion. I already splurged on a Demonic Tutor (but I might need it elsewhere as well...) so I need to think about this. Long Term Plans is solid albeit a little slow. There's a lot of synergy going on here and I don't want to break it by removing cards.

Thanks for the good suggestions!

[crimsonking]

Shocklands
Checklands
Fetchlands
Prismatic Vista
Reflecting Pool - almost always a second Command Tower.
Minamo, School at Water's Edge - untap Merieke Ri Berit.
Volrath's Stronghold
Phyrexian Tower - sacrifice stolen creatures for mana.
Orzhov Signet
Phyrexian Arena
Rhystic Study
Vampiric Tutor
Demonic Tutor
Thornbite Staff - with Merieke Ri Berit and a sac outlet like Ashnod's Altar or Altar of Dementia, you clear the board and get a bunch of mana or mill the opponent etc.
Willbreaker - target a creature with whatever, gain control of it.

[Aetherium Slinky]

Shocklands
Checklands
Fetchlands
Prismatic Vista
Reflecting Pool - almost always a second Command Tower.
Minamo, School at Water's Edge - untap Merieke Ri Berit.
Volrath's Stronghold
Phyrexian Tower - sacrifice stolen creatures for mana.
Orzhov Signet
Phyrexian Arena
Rhystic Study
Vampiric Tutor
Demonic Tutor
Thornbite Staff - with Merieke Ri Berit and a sac outlet like Ashnod's Altar or Altar of Dementia, you clear the board and get a bunch of mana or mill the opponent etc.
Willbreaker - target a creature with whatever, gain control of it.

Lands you mentioned are prohibitively expensive and again, I don't want to be susceptible to nonbasic hate. I'd love Minamo but again, really expensive considering what you get for the money. I'd much rather have 5 decent untappers than 1 expensive.

Tutors and the draw are also prohibitively expensive...although I did buy Demonic Tutor recently.

Thornbite staff + sac outlet is interesting. I think Thornbite staff is on the mana hungry side of things but let's see here:

1) Equip staff to tapped Merieke that has captured a creature.
2) Untap Merieke with another untapping device. Lose control of captured creature, creature gets destroyed.
3) Staff's latter ability goes on stack.
4) Tap Merieke in response, steal a creature.
5) Resolve Merieke's ability. Gain control of a creature.
6) Resolve staff's ability, Merieke untaps. Lose control of creature, creature gets destroyed.
7) Staff's latter ability goes on stack.
Rinse and repeat.

No need for a sac outlet. It's all instant speed. Checks out, probably a good card.

EDIT: Willbreaker: didn't realize I can target my "untap" abilities to my opponents' creatures too! Good one, missed that completely.

[crimsonking]

I'm not 100% sure, but I think if you get to untap Merieke Ri Berit in response to her own ability, you keep the creature until she leaves the battlefield.

[Aetherium Slinky]

I'm not 100% sure, but I think if you get to untap Merieke Ri Berit in response to her own ability, you keep the creature until she leaves the battlefield.

Correct. Except all captured creatures trigger again when Merieke untaps. Plus, you can't tap her in response to the Thornbite Staff because she's not untapped yet. You need to let the ability resolve (i.e. the captured creature gets destroyed).

I've outlined many of the ways to abuse Merieke in the deck description.

[crimsonking]

Ok, now that I've read everything I have a better idea of what's going on.
Indeed you don't need a sac outlet to clear the board, you can just wait until your upkeep.
It's still a one-sided repeatable wrath that deserves some attention, in my opinion.
Additionally, Thornbite Staff can go infinite with several cards, I use it in red with Goblin Welder, Kiki-Jiki, Krenko, Mob Boss etc. but there are options in your colors too, like Hell's Caretaker and Marrow-Gnawer.

[Aetherium Slinky]

Ok, now that I've read everything I have a better idea of what's going on.
Indeed you don't need a sac outlet to clear the board, you can just wait until your upkeep.
It's still a one-sided repeatable wrath that deserves some attention, in my opinion.
Additionally, Thornbite Staff can go infinite with several cards, I use it in red with Goblin Welder, Kiki-Jiki, Krenko, Mob Boss etc. but there are options in your colors too, like Hell's Caretaker and Marrow-Gnawer.

Thanks! I'll see if I can find cards that support the deck. Nevertheless it's a good combo. Visara the Dreadful would be one. And Tsabo's Assassin could be hilarious, depending on the number of enchantments on the battlefield.

[Aetherium Slinky]

Additionally, Thornbite Staff can go infinite with several cards

Ended up buying the staff. Don't know what I'm going to cut - but bought it anyway (along with Minamo). Added Willbreaker as well. Hopefully that's all now good and we get to have some interactive fun!

Now I'm considering Priest of Forgotten Gods, Phyrexian Tower and Phyrexian Altar.

[CleanBelwas]

Now I'm considering Priest of Forgotten Gods, Phyrexian Tower and Phyrexian Altar.

Hey man,

These are all great cards. As far as sac outlets go, if you don't have one already, I'd also consider Ashnod's Altar. It achieves mostly the same thing in this deck, but is a superb addition to anyones collection. In my opinion, it's more worthwhile having than a Phyrexian Altar just because it's a combo piece in so many more combos. 2 colourless is often far more abusable than one of any colour, especially in artifact decks. Worth considering as it's the kind of card that will be a powerhouse in many, many decks and goes infinite in all kinds of decks and archetypes, as well as doing what is needed in this deck too.

[Aetherium Slinky]

Hello Belwas,

Thank you! Defnitely picking up a copy. They're not actually that expensive.

[CleanBelwas]

Hello Belwas,

Thank you! Defnitely picking up a copy. They're not actually that expensive.

No worries man. I think you've made an excellent choice. It really is a superb card. It's my personal favourite card of all time, and I play it in almost all of my decks. I mean, just a free sac outlet you can activate at instant speed is superb for getting around exile effects, people stealing your creatures or enchanting them or anything like that, but getting two colourless mana for it too is nuts. It's a king pin in my Athreos, God of Passage; Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain; Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle and The Scarab God decks and can do work in any deck that plays even a reasonable amount of creatures.

I hope you have as much fun and success with it as I do.

[Aetherium Slinky]

Testing has actually revealed Ashnod's Altar to be a dead card in the sense that Merieke is a creature repellent. After that it's a stalling match between my control magic and their countered spells. I don't just have (or capture) enough targets for it to be viable.

Since this is a fun deck I'm now moving to the next price category: cards below 20€. New additions are: Rhystic Study, Land Tax and the slightly over the limit Rings of Brighthearth. Also going to pick up a Smothering Tithe and Mystic Remora but unsure if I should include them. Cryptic Command should be a good card but I fear will have trouble casting it because of its triple-blue casting cost. Same goes for Archmage's Charm although it's much less expensive and can steal things so I might pick it up anyway.

New suggestions are welcome. I like things that are really versatile, perhaps let me choose what to do and work well with the stealing/untapping theme that is going on here.

[crimsonking]

If you plan to add Land Tax, think about Scroll Rack too.
It's a good deck filterer by itself and with Land Tax effectively draws you 3 new cards per turn.
You need more shufflers (fetchlands for instance) or you will always see the same cards, when you don't have Land Tax.