Meren of Clan Nel Toth costs {2}{B}{G} and is a 3/4 Legendary Human Shaman. Whenever another creature you control dies you get an experience counter, and at the beginning of your end step you choose a creature card in your graveyard: if its mana value is less than or equal to your experience counters you return it to the battlefield, otherwise you put it into your hand. Every creature that dies is either a counter or a card.
The precon already has the recursion and mana, including Sakura-Tribe Elder, Eternal Witness, Victimize, Skullclamp and Shriekmaw. Each swap below pairs a cut with an add, and every card is scored with the same numbers the Oracle uses to build decks: synergy and inclusion from the Meren decks, plus lift, which shows how much more often a card turns up in Meren decks than in decks that could play it.
Looking for the unmodified list first? Read the Plunder the Graves precon guide.
What is holding the deck back
Not enough cheap sacrifice outlets
Spore Frog, Viscera Seer, Plaguecrafter, Accursed Marauder and Fleshbag Marauder all put a creature in the graveyard, which gives Meren an experience counter. They are among the top-scoring cards the precon leaves out.
Big sorceries and creatures outside the lists
Ambition's Cost, Barter in Blood, Dread Summons, Overwhelming Stampede, Rise from the Grave, Sever the Bloodline, Spider Spawning, Tribute to the Wild, Wretched Confluence, Banshee of the Dread Choir, Caller of the Pack and Cloudthresher are not cards Meren decks usually play.
Too few payoffs for deaths
Zulaport Cutthroat, Syr Konrad, the Grim and Massacre Wurm punish opponents each time a creature dies, which pairs well with Meren's sacrifices.
The 12 swaps
Each pair shows the numbers for the card coming out and the card going in. Click a card image to zoom.
Ambition's Cost is a four-mana sorcery that draws three cards and loses 3 life. It is not a card Meren decks usually play.
Viscera Seer is a 1/1 Vampire Wizard for {B}. Sacrifice a creature: scry 1. A one-drop sacrifice outlet that gives Meren an experience counter each time you use it.
Barter in Blood is a four-mana sorcery that makes each player sacrifice two creatures. It is not a card Meren decks usually play.
Accursed Marauder is a 2/1 Zombie Warrior for {1}{B}. When it enters, each player sacrifices a nontoken creature of their choice. A two-drop that is a one-sided edict, since you can sacrifice itself.
Dread Summons is a sorcery that mills each player and makes Zombies for creature cards. It is not a card Meren decks usually play.
Spore Frog is a 1/1 Frog for {G}. Sacrifice it to prevent all combat damage that would be dealt this turn. A one-drop that is a sacrifice outlet and a fog, and the highest-scoring card the precon leaves out.
Overwhelming Stampede is a five-mana sorcery that gives creatures trample and +X/+X. It is not a card Meren decks usually play.
Plaguecrafter is a 3/2 Human Shaman for {2}{B}. When it enters, each player sacrifices a creature or planeswalker of their choice, and each player who can't discards a card. A three-drop that can sacrifice itself to give Meren a counter.
Rise from the Grave is a five-mana sorcery that reanimates a creature from any graveyard as a Zombie. It is not a card Meren decks usually play.
Ravenous Chupacabra is a 2/2 Beast Horror for {2}{B}{B}. When it enters, you destroy target creature an opponent controls. A four-drop that kills a creature, and Meren can return it at your end step.
Sever the Bloodline is a four-mana sorcery with flashback that exiles a creature and its copies. It is not a card Meren decks usually play.
Fleshbag Marauder is a 3/1 Zombie Warrior for {2}{B}. When it enters, each player sacrifices a creature of their choice. A three-drop that can sacrifice itself as a one-sided edict and gives Meren a counter.
Spider Spawning is a five-mana sorcery that makes a Spider for each creature card in your graveyard. It is not a card Meren decks usually play.
Wight of the Reliquary is a 2/2 Zombie Knight for {B}{G} with vigilance. It gets +1/+1 for each creature card in your graveyard, and for a tap and another sacrificed creature you search for a land and put it onto the battlefield tapped. A two-drop in exactly Meren's colours that is a sacrifice outlet and grows from the graveyard.
Tribute to the Wild is a two-mana instant that makes each opponent sacrifice an artifact or enchantment. It is not a card Meren decks usually play.
Reclamation Sage is a 2/1 Elf Shaman for {2}{G}. When it enters you may destroy target artifact or enchantment. A three-drop that answers an artifact or enchantment and can be returned by Meren.
Wretched Confluence is a five-mana instant with three modes. It is not a card Meren decks usually play.
Zulaport Cutthroat is a 1/1 Human Rogue Ally for {1}{B}. Whenever it or another creature you control dies, each opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life. A two-drop that drains for every creature you sacrifice.
Banshee of the Dread Choir is a five-mana 4/4 with myriad and a discard trigger. It is not a card Meren decks usually play.
Syr Konrad, the Grim is a 5/4 Legendary Human Knight for {3}{B}{B}. Whenever another creature dies, or a creature card is put into a graveyard from anywhere other than the battlefield, or a creature card leaves your graveyard, it deals 1 damage to each opponent. A five-drop that pings for every death and for Meren's returns.
Caller of the Pack is a seven-mana 8/6 trampler with myriad. It is not a card Meren decks usually play.
Massacre Wurm is a 6/5 Phyrexian Wurm for {3}{B}{B}{B}. When it enters, creatures your opponents control get -2/-2 until end of turn, and whenever a creature an opponent controls dies, that player loses 2 life. A six-drop that is a sweeper and a drain in one.
Cloudthresher is a six-mana flash 7/7 with evoke that damages flyers and players. It is not a card Meren decks usually play.
Solemn Simulacrum is a 2/2 Golem artifact creature for {4}. When it enters you may search for a basic land and put it onto the battlefield tapped, and when it dies you may draw a card. A four-drop that ramps, draws, and gives Meren a counter.
The full swap list
Cut
- Ambition's Cost
- Barter in Blood
- Dread Summons
- Overwhelming Stampede
- Rise from the Grave
- Sever the Bloodline
- Spider Spawning
- Tribute to the Wild
- Wretched Confluence
- Banshee of the Dread Choir
- Caller of the Pack
- Cloudthresher
Add
- Viscera Seer
- Accursed Marauder
- Spore Frog
- Plaguecrafter
- Ravenous Chupacabra
- Fleshbag Marauder
- Wight of the Reliquary
- Reclamation Sage
- Zulaport Cutthroat
- Syr Konrad, the Grim
- Massacre Wurm
- Solemn Simulacrum
What to keep
These cards are doing the deck's heavy lifting. Do not cut them.
- Sakura-Tribe Elder$0.31
Played in 83% of Meren decks. Sacrifices itself for a land, which gives Meren a counter. - Eternal Witness$1.51
Played in 74% of Meren decks. Returns any card from your graveyard to your hand. - Victimize$0.63
Played in 68% of Meren decks. Reanimates two creatures by sacrificing one. - Skullclamp$4.67
Played in 60% of Meren decks. Draws two cards whenever the equipped creature dies. - Shriekmaw$0.28
Played in 34% of Meren decks. Destroys a nonartifact, nonblack creature, even when evoked.
If you want to spend more
These are strong but sit outside a budget upgrade. Prices are the cheapest paper printing.
- Grim Haruspex$2.05
A three-mana creature that draws a card whenever another nontoken creature you control dies. It costs more than a budget upgrade should. - Blood Artist$2.84
A two-mana creature that drains whenever any creature dies. It costs more than a budget upgrade should.
Plunder the Graves already has the recursion, the ramp and Meren's end step trigger. The upgrade is cheap sacrifice outlets and death payoffs, in place of big sorceries and creatures that Meren decks leave out. These twelve swaps cost about $8 in total.
Want a full 100-card list built around Meren of Clan Nel Toth from today's data?
Build with The Oracle →Frequently asked questions
What are the best upgrades for the Plunder the Graves precon?
Using data from 22,630 Meren of Clan Nel Toth decks, the highest-scoring additions are Spore Frog (for Dread Summons), Viscera Seer (for Ambition's Cost) and Plaguecrafter (for Overwhelming Stampede). The full list has 12 swaps, each scored with synergy, inclusion and lift.
How much does it cost to upgrade Plunder the Graves?
All 12 swaps cost about $8.00 at the cheapest paper printings (TCGplayer market prices via Scryfall, 2026-10-28). If you want to spend more, the guide also covers Grim Haruspex ($2.05) and Blood Artist ($2.84).
What should I cut from Plunder the Graves?
The weakest cards for this commander are Ambition's Cost, Barter in Blood and Dread Summons. The guide explains the reason for every cut, and swaps each one for a card that scores higher.
Which cards should I keep in Plunder the Graves?
Keep Sakura-Tribe Elder, Eternal Witness, Victimize, Skullclamp and Shriekmaw. These are the cards doing the deck's heavy lifting.
What does Meren of Clan Nel Toth do?
Meren of Clan Nel Toth costs {2}{B}{G} and is a 3/4 Legendary Human Shaman. Whenever another creature you control dies you get an experience counter, and at the beginning of your end step you choose a creature card in your graveyard: if its mana value is less than or equal to your experience counters you return it to the battlefield, otherwise you put it into your hand. Every creature that dies is either a counter or a card.
More Commander 2015 upgrade guides
How the numbers work
Inclusion is the share of Meren of Clan Nel Toth decks (22,630 of them when this was written, 2026-10-28) that play the card. Synergy is how much more often they play it than other decks in the same colours. Oracle score is synergy × 0.6 plus inclusion × 0.4, the same blend The Oracle uses to rank cards for a deck. Lift compares how often the card appears in these decks with how often it could, capped at 8× here; it is shown for context and does not change the score.
Two cautions. Players who run the precon unmodified count as Meren of Clan Nel Toth decks, which flatters every card the precon contains. Lift is high for many sacrifice cards because few decks play them outside an aristocrats deck, so use lift to compare cards, not to judge one in isolation. A card the commander's decks do not usually play counts as 0 in the average score. Prices are the cheapest non-foil paper printing on TCGplayer (via Scryfall), in USD, and move daily.