MTG Salvation

EDIT: Based on feedback and the release of four new sets, I've modified the list a bit.

Just a deck I threw together, to help christen this new section of the site :). I wanted to keep the deck under $50, as any higher than that and you may as well just play a bog-standard Commander precon.

Deckstats link shows the deck at $29.06, although that's an awfully conservative estimate.


Tactics:
Basically, you ramp to Mayael's ability (stacking/peeking at your deck with Crystal Ball, Cream of the Crop, Congregation at Dawn, etc) and start throwing down big monsters. Once you have a few, you can focus on the numerous cards in the deck that support them...

- Warstorm Surge, Where Ancients Tread, and Soul's Fire can kill opponents out of nowhere by turning your big fat guys into laser-guided missiles. Newcomer Gruul Ragebeast lets your guys eat the opposing team.
- Your big guys are already huge, but they can get huge-er and more trample-y with Roughshod Mentor, Behemoth Sledge, Mighty Emergence, Skarrg the Rage Pits, and Overwhelming Stampede
- Likewise, many of them are hard to kill and become even harder to kill with Spearbreaker Behemoth, Asceticism, Deathless Angel, and your various hexproof gear
- Mayael's ability is basically pure card advantage, but there's no such thing as too much card advantage. You can draw MOAR cards with Soul's Majesty, Drumhunter, Soul of the Harvest, and Garruk's Horde, or recycle the ones you used to have with Paleoloth.

You have some utility in the form of the charms and your various removal spells, but this deck is less "tricksy" and more "smash it with a hammer".

Intentional Omissions:
- Keeper of Progenitus, Heartbeat of Spring, Vernal Bloom, Rites of Flourishing: These were all in the price range, some more than others, but I'm selfish and greedy and don't like sharing my mana ramp with other players. If your playgroup won't punish you horribly, or if you happen to be the only Naya player, consider these bad boys.

- Savage Twister, Phyrexian Rebirth, Blasphemous Act, and other "budget" sweepers: this deck plays much more aggro, or I hope it does. If you want a bit more control, you can try these out...they're certainly fun in a deck where they are unlikely to actually harm your team.

Better Cuts of Beef: Upgrading the Deck

Cube Steaks: Maybe you need to be even more budget somehow? Okay, crazy-pants: some cards that can get the cost of the deck lower as you start hacking the rares and good uncommons out of it...

Here's a list of all uncommon or common creatures in these colors with power 5 or greater. Many are in the deck already, but there's a few diamonds amongst the garbage
Gift of the Gargantuan
Beast Hunt
Manalith
Wild Hunger
Smash
Harrow
Sunseed Nurturer
Exuberant Firestoker
Gilt-leaf Seer
Wirewood Herald (assuming you tweak your beast count a bit)

T-bone Steak: $2-$5 upgrades

Better fatties: Sun Titan, Inferno Titan, Armada Wurm, Avenger of Zendikar, Utvara Hellkite, Bogardan Hellkite, Sundering Titan, Twilight Shepherd, Hydra Omnivore
Eternal Witness
Primal Command
Harmonize
Oracle of Mul Daya
Angelic Chorus or Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
Eladamri's Call
Pandemonium
Bloom Tender, which enables T4 Mayael activations, thanks Lyciana!
Budget Duals like Rootbound Crag, Raging Ravine, Sunpetal Grove, Karplusan Forest, Jungle Shrine, Command Tower

Filet Mignon: $6-$10 upgrades

Regal Force, Woodfall Primus, Blightsteel Colossus, Craterhoof Behemoth, Baneslayer Angel, Angel of Serenity, and other top-of-the-line fatties
Sol Ring
Worldly Tutor
Mirri's Guile
Green Sun's Zenith
Defense of the Heart
Mana Reflection
Mirari's Wake
Garruk Wildspeaker or Ajani Goldmane

Rib Eye: No budget!
I won't list everything here, but it goes without saying that no card can really substitute for Primeval Titan (EDIT: Now banned, forget him :(), Thundermaw Hellkite, Natural Order, Sensei's Divining Top, or Sylvan Library, all of which are amazing in Mayael. Mayael also loooooves the Eldrazi (Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre) to top her curve. Likewise, every deck is much improved if you can "get serious" about its manabase with shocklands, fetchlands, original duals, etc. This deck's most wanted planeswalker is Garruk, Primal Hunter, who is also pricey. Newcomer Domri Rade is also quite exciting for the list, with some minor adjustments.

I hope you enjoyed this mini-guide to living the big dream of fat Naya monsters. Let me know what you think!

Genesis Wave? Despite its omnipresence in EDH you could make an argument for including it here, since it's only ~$1 and fits with the "topdeck" theme.

Quote from Wildfire393

I might suggest you run a few more guys with 5+ power. I know it's tough when you can't run rares, and thus most of the actually-good ones are off limits, but with only 16, you've got a pretty decent shot of whiffing on a Mayael activation.

Here's a pretty standard scenario: It's turn five. You've got Mayael, a Signet, and 5 lands. You've got six cards in hand, we'll say only one of which is a 5+ power creature. This means that in your deck there are 15 targets, and 87 cards remaining. By my calculations, you've only got about a 60% chance of hitting a target. (15/87 = 17.24%, so we want the chance of that not happening 5 times in a row, so 100-17.24 = 82.76, so .8276^5 = .388, 100-38.8 = 61.2%).

If you can find a way to bump that number up to 23, even assuming you then draw 2 of them in your first five turns, your odds of hitting a target jump to 75.8%. Pushing it to 27 - assuming you draw two - raises your odds to 82.4%.

Good advice, and much appreciated. I think a combination of the "cube steak" creatures and a few other modest ~$1.00 dudes like Tornado Elemental and Requiem Angel would work well. The question is, what to cut? For now my cut list looks like this:

- Soul's Grace - lifegain just isn't that exciting in Commander. One-shot lifegain with no other effects attached is unplayable, even if it is 9-10 life for :1mana::symw: as this might be.
- Sunseed Nurturer - see above
- Llanowar Empath - just not very good
- Mask of Avacyn - terribly weak, and what good is hexproof gear without creatures to strap it too?
- Burden of Guilt - probably overkill with Aftershock, Arrest, Journey, and Fetters to deal with opposing creatures.
- Mighty Emergence - nicely thematic but almost always "win more"
- Rith's Charm - I hate to see it go, but only the first effect is particularly great in EDH and this deck will ideally not be used in an environment so cutthroat that you need nonbasic land hate.

That'd let us get up to 22 fatties AND add the card below.

Quote from NumaPompilius

Genesis Wave? Despite its omnipresence in EDH you could make an argument for including it here, since it's only ~$1 and fits with the "topdeck" theme.

I wasn't aware that card was only $1; I'll see if we can get away with it while still adding six more beefy creatures and keeping the list below $50. Thanks!

Quote from Hawk7915

Filet Mignon: $6-$10 upgrades
Sun Titan, Regal Force, Hydra Omnivore, Woodfall Primus, Blightsteel Colossus, and other top-of-the-line fatties

Hydra Omnivore ain't that expensive, I'm pretty sure you can obtain it for under two bucks.

This is a great list! We did something like this awhile back for a friend of mine who was the victim of a theft, and we picked Mayael as the commander. Couple other budget suggestions for you:
- You have several mana dorks in your list that seem kinda fragile. I might change a few of them for ramp spells that bring more lands into play, like Farhaven Elf, Rampant Growth, Farseek, Harrow, etc. These spells won't set you back after someone wraths the board away like Druid of the Anima or Vine Trellis will. The one exception is Drumhunter because he very quietly draws a bunch of cards.
- How many of your creatures are Beasts? Wirewood Savage could be good if you can keep your Beast count high enough.
- Just because you're on a budget doesn't mean you have to skimp on your big guys. I might take a stroll through some lists on Gatherer and find a couple of better fatties than vanilla guys like Terra Stomper, Duskdale Wurm, Bull Cerodon, etc.

Quote from OCPunisher

Just because you're on a budget doesn't mean you have to skimp on your big guys. I might take a stroll through some lists on Gatherer and find a couple of better fatties than vanilla guys like Terra Stomper, Duskdale Wurm, Bull Cerodon, etc.

This is true, most of the big green guys and red dragons are quite cheap. Most are dollar rares and will really increase your attack potential.

have you considered Mossbridge Troll? Incredibly hard to remove attacker or blocker and can just grow huge and one shot your opponents in a deck like this if left unblocked

Have you considered Bloomtender? He easily enables T4 Mayel activations. (T2 tender, T3 Mayael, T4 tap tender for 3 and tap whatever you tapped to cast Mayael for the rest)

Thanks for the feedback and continuing interest, everyone! I updated the list with some spicy new RtR block cards