{"ops":[{"insert":"This is my Meren deck. I love black cards in Magic and this deck is home to most of my strongest cards in the color. Meren and a good few of the legendary creatures are just passive payoffs and not really all that central to the win-con for this deck. You really are just wanting to use some of the *many* tutors in the deck to assemble a Stax lockout which kills everything on the board every single turn and brings them all to your field.\n\nPrep the board - You want to ramp a bit, and get a sacrifice engine on the board to protect your key pieces and give alternate win-cons through sacrifice loops."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Sacrifice outlets"},{"attributes":{"indent":1,"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Viscera Seer"}},{"insert":" "},{"attributes":{"indent":2,"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Thallid Soothsayer"}},{"insert":" "},{"attributes":{"indent":2,"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Stronghold Assassin"}},{"insert":" "},{"attributes":{"indent":2,"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Hell's Caretaker"}},{"insert":" "},{"attributes":{"indent":2,"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Dockside Chef"}},{"insert":" "},{"attributes":{"indent":2,"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Blood Bairn"}},{"insert":" "},{"attributes":{"indent":2,"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Vampiric Rites"}},{"insert":" "},{"attributes":{"indent":2,"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Key sacrifice targets"},{"attributes":{"indent":1,"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Junji, the Midnight Sky"}},{"insert":" "},{"attributes":{"indent":2,"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Merciless Executioner"}},{"insert":" "},{"attributes":{"indent":2,"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Plaguecrafter"}},{"insert":" "},{"attributes":{"indent":2,"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Sacrifice Payoffs - These are cards that aren't central to the main plan, but can easily help close the game faster should you run into them while assembling your combos."},{"attributes":{"indent":1,"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Deathreap Ritual"}},{"insert":" "},{"attributes":{"indent":2,"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Dictate of Erebos"}},{"insert":" "},{"attributes":{"indent":2,"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Grave Pact"}},{"insert":" "},{"attributes":{"indent":2,"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"The Meathook Massacre"}},{"insert":" "},{"attributes":{"indent":2,"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Sangromancer"}},{"insert":" "},{"attributes":{"indent":2,"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Tutor for the combo. (There's a ton of tutors in the deck and ways of pulling these three pieces back to the board from the graveyard should they get removed. Make sure to set up a good sacrifice engine before getting them out. The last thing you want is your opponent to lock you out of the game by Path to Exile-ing your combo piece before it gets any value)"},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Sheoldred, Whispering One"}},{"insert":" "},{"attributes":{"indent":1,"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Archfiend of Depravity"}},{"insert":" "},{"attributes":{"indent":1,"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Tergrid, God of Fright // Tergrid's Lantern"}},{"insert":" "},{"attributes":{"indent":1,"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Build on the advantage. With this combo on the board your opponents can't have more than a single creature on the board at any given time, and any time they cast an additional one it just comes to your side of the table. The next step is to deal with the last creature on each person's board or swing through it. Any number of these next cards will easily wrap up the game at this stage."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Phyrexian Obliterator"}},{"insert":" "},{"attributes":{"indent":1,"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Massacre Wurm"}},{"insert":" "},{"attributes":{"indent":1,"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest"}},{"insert":" "},{"attributes":{"indent":1,"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Meren of Clan Nel Toth"}},{"insert":" (Your commander herself is probably getting really big at this point, Commander damage is just icing)"},{"attributes":{"indent":1,"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Tarmogoyf"}},{"insert":" "},{"attributes":{"indent":1,"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Willow Geist"}},{"insert":" "},{"attributes":{"indent":1,"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\n\t\tThe deck is quite brutal. I almost never play it because of the salt factor. It's really consistent with all the tutors and tends to wall out the other 3 players from even playing. Most casual commander decks are creature heavy, so making a deck which targets this specific play-style tends to take over games without much effort. For the decks that aren't creature focused (Which I've found are not the most common at the tables I've played at) your sacrifice loops allow you to dodge removal pretty effectively. Any spell that kills your combo pieces or counters them isn't that big of a deal, a lot of the time you can pull them from the graveyard back to the field that very turn. Exile spells like what are common in White and Colorless decks are the only scary threat to this deck's goals. Make sure to get your sacrifice engine out fast, You need to be able to dodge Exile type board wipes and targeted removal on your combo pieces.\n"}]}