Ways to avoid the Meran Semi-Slav

I've been playing chess over the board for about two years and only faced an opponent who played the Meran twice. The first time was back when I played it as white when faced with the Semi-Slav, but since then I've opted for the more aggressive 5.Bg5 to get more interesting games. A few days ago at a tournament I faced the same dude and he played the same way, so I took a chance and played 4...dxc4 instead of 4...e6. It payed off and I ended up winning one of my best games yet with a 95% accuracy game but instead of 5.a4 (the main line) or 5.e4 (a sideline) he played 5.e3 and played the wrong move order but still got a solid position.

My question is should I keep the Classical Slav or try something else like the Chebanenko Slav? 

The game is https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/pgn/2k1MBmgQPg?tab=review if anyone cares

Why avoid the whole Semi-Slav for the Meran? You don’t have to play dxc4 immediately, you can play Be7, Bd6, or Bb4 and still be following prep. Granted, dxc4 is by far the best move and the Meran is really good for Black so I don’t understand avoiding it, but you have options.

I agree that it's good for Black, but I'm trying to do 3 things:

a) take White out of theory as no one plays the Classical or Chameleon Slav at my level and people don't study much

b) open up the position and make White a little uncomfortable

c) be able to play for a win instead of a boring game with no pawn weaknesses or inequalities

I do agree with Bd6/Be7 (Bb4 is a waste) but the result is the same, I'll have to play ...dxc4 eventually to get a good position

(my alt)

theres an interesting slav variation called the Noteboom. its quite interesting

if white does not know the theory at all you usually get to hold onto an extra pawn

if he does you usualyl use your 2 passed pawns for counterplay while white attacks in the center/kingside

It's a good recommendation but I like to play 1...Nf6 2...c6 3...d5 to get a favorable version of the London (like 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 c5 instead of 1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 c5) though honestly I'm probably gonna switch back to the 1...d5 move order and try the noteboom. Thanks!

I'll make a forum about the Noteboom with my research

Ooh, yeah, the Meran and Noteboom, for that matter, both require a lot of research, for a quick and easy solution they aren’t great.

literally a simple meran line here:

just play the a6 meran and learn that. simple

I know a little bit, I prefer the Bb7 move order but I've been looking at the Noteboom and as a whole I think I like it better.

You've all been very helpful, and the mainline Meran isn't too much to learn, but my problem is that people even at my level don't last too many moves in theory.

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/master/13705359?tab=review ended in a draw but Black was dominating, specifically via the a8-h1 diagonal and the c-file. What if White hadn't blundered that fork though, like how would Black have attacked then?
https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/master/999858?tab=analysis ended in a win for Black but what if 22.e4?? giving up the pawn for free was instead 22.Nd2, then how would Black have pushed through?
If anyone has recommendations on any opening strategy material (i.e. chessable courses, books, websites, articles, etc.) then I'd love if you could share those with me because all I know is to create/exploit weaknesses for your opponent and grab outposts/open files.

btw dont play 3.Nc3 its an inacuraccy

It might be. My Chessable course says that you can play 6.Nce2 instead of Nb1 where the knight shifts over to g6 but the computer isnt a huge fan.

its not an inacuraccy you just must know how to use a development advantage white being down 1-2 pawns

Yeah. Thanks for bringing this to my attention though, I think I'll switch move orders and it might end up being what I use as black.

yeah Nf3 avoids all those other lines and thats why its played before Nc3