Meren gives you an experience counter whenever a creature you control dies, meaning its very easy to generate a huge number of these counters in a sacrifice deck
The idea of a non-rotating format that encompassed approximately half of Magic at that time was something that got a lot of brewers excited
These include Launchpad, Stitch and Angel with some fresh new abilities to help build your deck in order to obtain victory
Its enter-the-battlefield effect to deal five damage to a creature directly feeds into the other effect relating to excess damage
One look at the Magic: The Gathering release schedule shows that this isn't going to change anytime soon, either
The ability to pay mana and ping each opponent isn't incredibly powerful, but it is a way to keep things rolling in decks such as Rakdos, Lord of Riots or the more recent Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin without having to have spells or other nonland permanents around to help generate life loss