Plunder the Graves (Commander Anthology) precon upgrade guide

The box gives Meren 37 other creatures to bury and 26 cards that cost five or more, and nothing that destroys every creature at once.

Meren of Clan Nel Toth gets an experience counter whenever another creature you control dies. At your end step she picks a creature card in your graveyard and returns it to the battlefield if its mana value is no higher than your counters, or to your hand if it's higher. Either way that's a card every turn there's a creature in the graveyard. What the Anthology box doesn't have is a way to make deaths happen in bulk, or the mana and draw to carry a hand full of five-drops.

The numbers behind that: 7 ramp pieces and 6 draw effects, against typical ranges of 8 to 12 for both, and 7 of the 38 lands enter tapped. Nothing destroys every creature. The widest effects are Golgari Charm’s -1/-1 mode, Cloudthresher’s 2 damage to each creature with flying and Barter in Blood, which makes each player sacrifice two. None of those clears a board, so the counters arrive one outlet activation at a time.

These are the same 100 cards as the Commander 2015 Plunder the Graves, which has its own guide that spends on sacrifice engines. This one leaves the sacrifice package alone and spends on the other two gaps, a wrath and the mana. Ten swaps, $25.63.

What are the best Plunder the Graves upgrades for Meren?

Ranked by how much each changes a game with Meren on the table. Prices are October 2026 market prices at the cheapest released printing, so a few are promo or Secret Lair copies.

1. Damnation ($17.45). Four mana, destroy all creatures, no regeneration. It's the one add that costs real money, and its cheapest printing is a Secret Lair (the Double Masters 2022 copy is $22.01). The wrath section argues why it belongs here.
2. Woe Strider ($0.26). A 3/2 for {2}{B} that brings a 0/1 Goat. It sacrifices another creature for scry 1 with no mana cost, so the Goat is a free first counter. It can escape from the graveyard for {3}{B}{B}, exiling four other cards, so pick those four from cards Meren won't want.
3. Blood Artist ($2.59). Whenever it or another creature dies, target player loses 1 life and you gain 1. It triggers on opponents’ creatures too, so a wrath drains for everything on the table.
4. Phyrexian Arena ($2.54). A card each upkeep for 1 life. Together with Village Rites it takes the draw count from 6 to 8, the bottom of the usual range.
5. Village Rites ($0.29). Sacrifice a creature as you cast it, draw two, for {B} at instant speed. The box already has Altar's Reap at {1}{B}, and this is a second copy of the same job for one less mana. Cast it in response to removal on a creature that was dying anyway.
6. Maelstrom Pulse ($0.21). Destroys a target nonland permanent and everything else that shares its name, so it clears a token army in one cast. It replaces three narrow artifact and enchantment answers (Indrik Stomphowler, Viridian Zealot and Tribute to the Wild) with one that also hits planeswalkers and creatures.
7. Farseek ($0.50). Two mana for a tapped land with the Swamp type. Nothing else in this list has a Plains, Island or Mountain type, so in this deck it always finds a Swamp, which is the colour the BB cards need, and it turns on Tainted Wood.
8. Arcane Signet ($0.34). It taps for black or green, Meren’s whole identity, at two mana. With Farseek it takes ramp from 7 to 9, next to Sol Ring, Golgari Signet and Thought Vessel.
9. Woodland Cemetery ($0.86). It enters tapped unless you control a Swamp or a Forest, and with 25 basics in the deck that is usually the case by your second land. It replaces Golgari Guildgate.
10. Llanowar Wastes ($0.59). Taps for {C} with no damage, or for black or green at 1 damage to you. It replaces Jungle Hollow, which always enters tapped.

Ten cards leave. The list is below.

Why a deck that wants creatures should own a wrath

Counters are the bottleneck in this deck. A seven-drop in the graveyard returns for free only at seven counters, and counters arrive one death at a time. Damnation is the fast way: each of your other creatures that dies is a counter, and the rulings say that holds even when Meren dies at the same moment. Five other creatures on the board is five counters from one card.

It also takes Meren, and that is the price. The counters are on you, not on her, so they survive. Put her back in the command zone and recast her for {2}{B}{G} plus {2} for each earlier cast, and her next end step has the whole count to work with. The box already has the cards that rebuild around the empty board. Diabolic Servitude and Rise from the Grave each return a creature the turn you cast them, and Victimize needs a creature to sacrifice first.

The graveyard is the other half of the payoff. Five cards in the box count creature cards in a graveyard, and a wrath fills it faster than anything else in the box. Only some of them survive the wrath to use it. Spider Spawning makes a Spider per creature card in your graveyard and Bonehoard counts every graveyard, and neither is a creature on the battlefield, so both are still there afterwards. Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord, Kessig Cagebreakers and Corpse Augur are creatures, so they count the graveyard only once they are back on the battlefield, and Corpse Augur draws that many and costs that much life when it dies. Blood Artist is the other reason to want the wrath. It drains for every creature that dies, yours or theirs, itself included.

It's a sorcery, so it can't answer a threat on an opponent’s turn.

Ten cuts, starting with the two eight-drops

Terastodon and Verdant Force cost eight. Meren returns an eight-drop for free only at eight counters and until then puts it in your hand, where you pay all eight. Verdant Force is the better of the two, a Saproling at the beginning of every upkeep, and the one I'd put back first at a slow table. Terastodon turns three target noncreature permanents into 3/3 Elephants for their controllers, which helps you only when you aim at your own.

Great Oak Guardian has flash and reach, and its enter ability gives +2/+2 to the creatures of one target player and untaps them. That's a six-mana combat trick. Champion of Stray Souls costs six and then {3}{B}{B} more, tapped, to sacrifice creatures and return that many. Meren already returns one a turn for free. Banshee of the Dread Choir needs to connect to make anyone discard, and the myriad copies that make it interesting get exiled at end of combat.

Indrik Stomphowler, Viridian Zealot and Tribute to the Wild are three narrow answers, all to artifacts and enchantments. Indrik’s enter ability is mandatory, so if the only artifact on the table is your own Sol Ring, it has to target that. Zealot costs {G}{G} in a deck where GG by turn three is a 66.7% chance in the box. Maelstrom Pulse covers all three, and Acidic Slime, Putrefy and Golgari Charm are still in.

Golgari Guildgate and Jungle Hollow always enter tapped. Woodland Cemetery and Llanowar Wastes make the same two colours and are untapped in nearly every game. That drops the always-tapped lands from 7 to 5, and Golgari Rot Farm, Polluted Mire, Slippery Karst, Vivid Grove and Vivid Marsh stay.

The five-drops, and one clamp, I left alone

Twenty-six cards cost five or more in the box. These cuts take six of them out and nothing I add costs more than four, so 20 remain, and the average mana value goes from 4.00 to 3.64. Five cards still draw the usual objection, too expensive or too narrow, and I think all five stay.

Rise from the Grave costs five and Meren already returns creatures for free. But Meren reads only your graveyard. Rise takes a creature card from any graveyard and makes it a black Zombie under your control, so it's the one card that uses what the table loses.

Kessig Cagebreakers makes a 2/2 Wolf, tapped and attacking, for each creature card in your graveyard whenever it attacks. In this deck that's the number the whole plan raises. Mycoloth has devour 2: every creature you sacrifice as it enters is a Meren counter and two counters on Mycoloth, each worth a Saproling at your upkeep.

Phyrexian Plaguelord is a free sacrifice outlet with no tap, a -1/-1 for each creature you give it, so it clears small blockers and counts deaths at once. Skullclamp is not a one-creature card here. Seven creatures in the new list have toughness one: the six already in the box (Sakura-Tribe Elder, Satyr Wayfinder, Viridian Emissary, Wood Elves, Eternal Witness and Lotleth Troll) and Blood Artist. Woe Strider brings a 0/1 Goat. Each of them, the Goat too, dies the moment it's equipped for {1}, draws two, and gives Meren a counter.

The mana: seven tapped lands become five, and BB is still short

Black sources go from 24 to 25 and green from 23 to 24, all from Arcane Signet. The two new duals replace two duals, so they change speed and not colour. Woodland Cemetery enters tapped unless you control a Swamp or a Forest. The hypergeometric check, a 90% chance on the play, still puts BB by turn three at 71.8% (it would take 36 black sources) and GG at 69.4%.

That's the shape of a B/G deck. Twelve black spells want BB by turn three, and Damnation and Phyrexian Arena replace Banshee and Champion in that group, so the count stays at twelve. Nine green spells want GG, including Jarad at {B}{B}{G}{G}. Farseek is the one add that helps both: it finds a Swamp, and Tainted Wood then makes green. The land count stays at 38.

I left out Overgrown Tomb, the one dual that would help both colours at once. Its cheapest released printing is $8.14, and Scryfall lists it in Star Trek on 13 November 2026, which may move that price. You pay 2 life or let it enter tapped, and as a Swamp Forest it also switches on Tainted Wood.

Two cards I priced and held back

Grave Pact ($21.46) is the strongest death payoff I priced for Meren, and it's the card I'd add next. It isn't a Game Changer. I held it back for the {1}{B}{B}{B} cost in a deck short on BB, and because Damnation already costs most of the budget.

Harmonize ($0.19) draws three for {2}{G}{G} and would be a ninth draw piece. It isn't a Game Changer either. Village Rites took its slot, because it draws two for one mana and counts a death, and GG is the harder colour to find.

The upgraded decklist

Meren and the 99 with all ten swaps made, sorted by card type. Ten cards in for $25.63 at the cheapest released printing (checked 16 October 2026). Hovering any name shows the card.

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FAQ

How many experience counters does Meren need before the big creatures come back for free?

A creature returns to the battlefield only when its mana value is no higher than your experience counters, so a seven-drop needs seven. Counters come one at a time, from other creatures you control dying, and tokens count. Below the threshold she puts the creature in your hand instead, so a graveyard full of seven-drops is still a free card every end step. You can't choose the hand when the creature qualifies for the battlefield.

Is Damnation good in a Meren deck?

Yes, with one cost to plan around. Every creature you control that dies alongside her is an experience counter, and the counters stay on you. But Meren dies too, so the end-step return waits until you recast her from the command zone, which costs {2}{B}{G} plus {2} for each time she has been cast before. Cards you cast afterwards that read your graveyard, such as Spider Spawning and Bonehoard, get bigger the turn it resolves.

Does Skullclamp work with Meren, and which creatures want it?

It works well. Skullclamp gives +1/-1, so any creature with toughness one dies the turn you equip it, you draw two, and Meren gets a counter. Sakura-Tribe Elder, Satyr Wayfinder, Viridian Emissary, Wood Elves, Eternal Witness and Lotleth Troll all have toughness one, and the 0/1 Goat from Woe Strider is a free target every time Woe Strider enters.

Is the Commander Anthology Plunder the Graves the same deck as the Commander 2015 one?

The 100 cards are identical, quantity for quantity. The Commander 2015 guide here cuts for sacrifice engines and spends $55.16. This guide leaves the sacrifice package alone and spends $25.63 on a sweeper, draw and mana, so the two lists share six of ten cuts and four of ten adds.

How much does the Plunder the Graves upgrade cost?

The ten adds total $25.63 at the cheapest released printing, checked 16 October 2026. Damnation is $17.45 of that, from a Secret Lair printing, and the other nine cost $8.18 together. Skip Damnation and the rest still fix the mana and add draw.

Why isn't Grave Pact in the list?

It costs $21.46 at its cheapest printing and three black pips, {1}{B}{B}{B}, in a deck that is short on BB by turn three. It isn't a Game Changer. Whenever a creature you control dies, each other player sacrifices a creature of their choice, which is the strongest death payoff available to Meren. Buy it second, once Damnation is in the deck.