This is my first attempt at an EDH deck, and some of the pieces are still in flux as I learn more about the cards that are available to me. To further that end, I come to you all for input!
The idea of this deck is to supplement the iron-shod, high-power beatdowns with life gain and artifact/enchantment disruption.
Domri Rade: This guy is a great utility player for the deck--free(ish) Pit Fights; draw. And God help them if I get that emblem on the table.
Creatures
Angel of Serenity: Exiling three creatures is amazing, especially if I can shroud her and keep them gone for good.
Angelic Arbiter: This is jut annoying, for them at least. This basically prevents them from doing any sort of combat tricks since they can't cast anything once they've attacked. That's a big impact on the game state.
Anger: Haste for everything is awesome, and it's basically another Fervor.
Balefire Dragon: This is an insidious card and it basically forces a blocker from your opponent, assuming the other guy has a flying creature. And if he does, try to get a little trample on this bad boy.
Beast of Burden: His power and toughness are equal to the number of creatures in play. Holy God. Beef him up with trample or whatever, and get to stomping that mud hole.
Blazing Archon: You want to piss people off? Make it so they can't attack you with creatures. This is a great disruptor.
Borborygmos: Any creature that can spread the beef around is one I want on the board. Distributing counters is a great power when combined with trample.
Celestial Force: A fat body and life gain. Sure, alright. Truth be told, however, he'll be one of the first cuts to make when I start making them.
Darksteel Colossus: This guy is an indestructible and recurring problem. A big problem, too.
Elderscale Wurm: This is just there to keep your head above water, if need be. Slap some shroud love on him, and just kick back and watch the game roll.
Elvish Piper: Come on--dropping a creature from my hand for one mana? Who could say no?
Giant Adephage: The token drop is the best part. This guy basically populates himself as long as you attack, which, if you're piloting this deck, you should be doing.
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight: A good body and an amazing power. Halving damage to you; doubling it to others? Hell yeah!
Gruul Ragebeast: A fat back and free creature removal via knock-off Pit Fights. With the bodies we're putting on the board, this is a great card.
Hydra Omnivore: When I'm really on a rampage and I want to smash faces and start fights, this is the creature to call. Deals damage to everyone? Ha, man, this will get you sent from the table in a quick hurry.
Spearbreaker Behemoth: This thing hands out indestructible to almost any other creature in the deck. That's amazing.
Sylvan Primordial: This guy is another fire-starter. It's like lining up the opponents and giving them all one monstrous slap in the face.
Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger: More disruption combined with ramp--awesome! This will slow those guys down for sure.
Worldspine Wurm: Another one of those rashes that just won't go away. Not only does it hang around the graveyard, but it craps on the lawn before it leaves.
Sorcery
Austere Command: This is staple hate in EDH, so far as I can tell.
Creeping Renaissance: A great go-getter, especially since we stand to have a lot of cards in the graveyard. Particularly creatures. This is a reason to produce as much mana as this deck does (so you can drop all this stuff the turn you draw it) or to have a Reliquary Tower on the board.
Insurrection: If this sticks, someone is dead. Maybe everyone, depending on the board state.
Primal Surge: This card is a pure hate, mostly generating it for me. I don't think I could ask for a better draw card that produces immediate board transformation.
Relentless Assault: Untap, get an additional attack phase. With the creatures this deck is packing? Yeah, let's do that.
Terminus: Everyone needs board wipes. Sometimes two or three.
Tooth and Nail: Awesome draw card, and if you can get it entwined, so much the better.
Vandalblast: Part of my disruption package. This is a great artifact hater for the price, and you can drop it fast for a real problem, or bomb out the overload and piss on everyone's parade.
Enchantments
Asceticism: This is for the protective aspects. Also, regeneration doesn't hurt. I can't imagine running out of creatures, but I only get one of each.
Aura Shards: This is part of my disruption package, here solely to dole out the artifact hate, considering how prevalent artifacts seem to be in EDH.
Fervor: Haste seems like a true winner in this deck, considering the pace at which I can drop fatties on the board. Keeping them on the offense sounds like a great maneuver.
Five-Alarm Fire: Another part of my disruption package, but this time focused on creature hate, by and large. I could push out 5 damage on a player but that doesn't amount to much.
Martial Law: Creature-centric aspect of my disruption package. The added benefit of taking activated abilities off the board until my next turn is awesome--it could potentially turn another guy into a sweet target for every other opponent at the table.
Martyr's Bond: More disruption. Want to hit me? Fine, but be ready to get hit back. I suppose that makes this a nuclear deterrent of sorts.
Mirari's Wake: Sure, +1/+1 is cool, but you know what's better? More freakin' mana.
Moonlit Wake: Part of my life gain suite. Lots of stuff dies in EDH, and I may as well get a little something for the effort. This is especially awesome against token generators!
Prison Term: More disruption. This particular spell is especially problematic for one opponent, but just one. Also, once I drop this on a guy, I better be ready to finish that fight because I would call this a declaration of war.
Triumph of Ferocity: More draw. I find myself in the enviable position (usually) of having the fattest backs on the table.
True Conviction: Seriously? Double-strike and lifelink? What's not to love?
Warstorm Surge: And haste? Ha, alright. This is a great addition to the disruption package I'm running.
Artifacts
Angel's Feather: White-based life gain, to compliment my other life-gainers. This one just sits there and racks it up!
Boros Keyrune: Mana, and a creature in a pinch, such as a need for a quick sacrifice. I think I have enough mana gain in this deck to sac out a keyrune or three.
Tablet of the Guilds: A life-gainer with some ability to control the cue. I set this to work on red and white or green, and I'll be covering all of my bases, so far as color-based life gain is concerned.
Wurm's Tooth: Another life-gainer, keyed to green.
Buried Ruin: I've got a lot of artifacts in this deck and the need to replace one may arise. This is colorless mana with a nice retrieval perk.
Mosswort Bridge and Spinerock Knoll: Hideaway is a cool-ass power, and these two can actually be achieved with this deck.
Reliquary Tower: Sometimes I may need to hold a little extra heavy in my hand. This is for that occasion.
Yikes! Quite a bit of reading. In any case, I need some help tightening up the disruption and life gain aspects of the deck, with special emphasis on the life gain. I want to wage a war of attrition that simply can't be won by the other people at the table. The artifact/enchantment hate is just a cherry on top, and a tertiary priority.
The other issue is my mana. Me thinks I may be generating too much. I either need to live up to it with a Clan Defiance or an Aurelia's Fury (or both) or some other sort of x spell that will really benefit from all the other production. There are some creatures that benefit from it as well, like Primordial Hydra, but I think I can do better on creatures.
The life-gain package is set up to aggregate small amounts of life from all over the place. In Christmastimeland, if someone plays a red creature with haste, and then attacks, I could stand to gain 3 life from that one engagement: 1 from the red spell, 1 from the attack, 1 from something dying (blocker or attacker). And that's just one guy attacking with one creature. What if it's a green/white creature with haste? That could be 4 for being white and green, one for the attack, and another for something dying. 6-freakin'-life! Anyway, even in a more realistic setting the little bits here and there add up, especially since I attack a lot, kill a lot of things, and cast a lot of RGW spells.
Since I've got this post reserved, I'll put the change log here:
Drop List: 03/14/2013
-Anger: Haste is cool and everything, but this guy has a chump's body. I found a lot more value out there.
-Beast of Burden: Doesn't really bring anything but a big ass to the board. Granted, it's really big, but still.
-Borborygmos: Counter distribution isn't worth it. I found other creatures that actually support my disruption/life gain build.
-Giant Adephage: Again, a cool card, but I don't have much use for tokens. Not really the direction I'm heading.
-Moldgraf Monstrosity: Nice recovery power; good body. Just felt that I found better value in my additions. This guy could make a return after some play-testing.
-Worldspine Wurm: Big body? Cool. Lots of big tokens? Also cool. Are tokens what I want? No.
-Boros Keyrune: Not worth the cost, not really. I've got a lot of mana production as it is.
-Selesnya Keyrune: Same as the B. Keyrune.
-Gruul Keyrune: Same as the S. Keyrune.
-Quest for Pure Flame:
-Five-Alarm Fire: Not really worth it. I can get a lot better value out of a stronger creature base.
-Buried Ruin: Eh, it's cool, but it involves sacking out, and I only get one artifact. Odds are, I can live without that artifact.
-Moonsilver Spear: I only really had this in the deck because it looks cool. A 4/4 token is not in this decks wheelhouse.
Add List: 03/14/2013
+Boros Garrison: This is to round out my mana production; help me keep even and smooth.
+Bringer of the White Dawn: This guy brings a little more to the artifact-recovery table, allowing me to fish one out every turn, as opposed to sacking out a land for one. Plus, with a 5/5 body he fits right into the overall stompy theme of the deck.
+Chancellor of the Annex: This contributes more to my disruption package, as well as bringing a 5/6 body to the table. Hell, it's an auto-counter, per spell. That's a pretty nice speed bump.
+Deus of Calamity: Another card that adds to the disruption package, this time by chewing up lands. It should be no problem at all to push six damage through with this guy.
+Engulfing Slagwurm: Creature removal and life gain in one tidy 7/7 package. I'll be happy to have it.
+Hoard-Smelter Dragon: Artifact hate, as well as a nice flyer.
+Mycoid Shepherd: Virtually all of my creatures have 5+ power, so if I can get this guy to stick, I stand to gain a ton of life.
+Iona, Shield of Emeria: Could I ask for a better disruptor in a creature? Stop an entire color from hitting the board. Ha!
+Paleoloth: Again, basically all of my creatures are 5+ power, so this could end up being a lot of graveyard recovery for me.
+Purity: If you burn me, I gain life instead of take damage. Man oh man--at the very least this will discourage player-focused hate at the table.
+Rustmouth Ogre: Deal damage; destroy artifact. Yeah, alright--welcome to the team.
+Tyrant of Discord: This is the Primal Surge of permanent-focused removal. Plus, it's bringing 7/7 to the table.
+Windbrisk Raptor: this dude is a 5/7 flyer that gives everything that attacks with it lifelink. Yep, I'll take that.
Needed more land, so I made a second round of changes:
Drops (pt. 2): 03/14/2013
-Forest, Mountain, and Plains: These had to go to make room. I just can't find anything else I want to cut.
-Terramorphic Expanse, Naya Panorama, and Krosan Verge: I know that these kinds of filter lands are supposed to be helpful for digging around in your library, but I'm going to run without them and see what happens. Besides, it's a real pain in the ass digging in a 99-card deck.
-Survival of the Fittest: I realize this is supposed to be a staple of the deck, and I'm going without it anyway. If draw becomes and issue I'll bring this guy back.
-Chromatic Lantern: My mana draws should be smooth enough, and the biggest fluff I can find is in my artifacts. So, this it out along with....
-Gruul Signet, Boros Signet, and Selesnya Signet: Again, my mana draws should be fine with the new cards, and I'm running a lot of nonsense in my artifacts.
-Primal Surge: I'll deck myself with this damned thing--almost everything I have in this deck is a permanent!
Adds (pt. 2): 03/14/2013
+Mossfire Valley and Sungrass Prairie: These function just like the signets, except I don't have to pay to play them.
+Madblined Mountains and Mistveil Plains: These two cards have great synergy together for getting stuff out of my graveyard and back into rotation. On top of they, they count as Mountain and Plains! So, all around nice cards.
+Eiganjo Castle: Pure Mayael protection. And white mana, too, but mainly protection.
+Windbrisk Heights: I love hideaway as a power, and this rounds out my mana identity with another trigger that I should easily accomplish.
+Flagstones of Trokair: A great land that replaces itself if it gets knocked out of the game. Also, I can cycle it back into the deck with the Plains that I'll dig out with this very card!
+Miren, the Moaning Well: With all my graveyard digging, this should add some very nice extra life gain at very little cost.
+Rith's Grove: One land that can add any of the Naya colors. Sounds good!
+Serra's Sanctum: Talk about a man bump! I run a fairly sizable package of enchantments, so this should pay dividends.
+Thespian's Stage: A nice utility land that lets me take advantage of other players' board, or my own.
+Kor Haven: ****-block your attacker? That sounds good to me!
After having some sense talked into me by Cha Cha, I went (more or less) back to the basics. Here's the updates:
Drops: 03/16/2013
Nothing really to say about these drops except that they are part of a package that isn't really prudent for Mayael as a commander. So, these guys are out.
Made a bunch of land adjustments yesterday, and I think the deck is ready to go! I should get some play in this weekend. If anyone has any initial thoughts on the build, let me know!
Hmm, without going in exhaustive detail about questions on your card choices. I will simply state that alternative or 'different approach' lists for Mayael all end up being whittled down and replaced with something very closely resembling the 'standard mayael' lists. (primer here).
Trying other things like mass life gain doesn't really fit her scheme and it also doesn't really help win in most scenarios, life gain just delays the inevitable or gives the opponents time to find alternate win cons or lock your board down. It also gets you caught up in playing really bad cards in order to make it work. (like Celestial Force)
As a rule of thumb you wanna focus on 3 things with Mayael: around 25-29 Fatties that add game changing value aside from their big stompy bodies, alternative ways to cheat said fatties in, and good enough ramp suites to hardcast fatties in an accelerated time frame. There is no real cuteness to her strategy, her lists win with overwhelming amounts of combat damage and effects granted by the fatties she plays... If you feel that is too plain for you, you may want to see another Naya general to try different things with, but diluting Mayael's very narrow and singular strength with anything but big creatures and cards that interact with them- is tenuous at best.
Heh, sorry to go on, just wanted to drive that point home.
I'll be quick with the rest-
Cards I'd cut:
- Bringer of the White Dawn, since it has 5 colors printed in it's text, it is illegal in this deck due to color identity rules in Commander. It's also just not that great to begin with.
- Celestial Force, bad creature, horrible top deck value even with a life gain theme his ability is marginal at best.
- Chancellor of the Annex, the disruption this card provides is too little, too late in this format. When you are at mana counts where you can cast this or cheat this out, 1 extra mana isn't going to dissuade anyone or prevent many things. This is the last creature I want to see late game with my back against the wall.
- Hydra Omnivore, weak card with no evasion. If you are hitting with this, you already won anyways...why not add someone that does more?
- Rustmouth Ogre, there are so many cards better than him, I don't even know where to begin. If you really want to hate out artifacts more, try Hellkite Tyrant instead.
That is just creatures, we'll see if you respond before I go into the rest of the cuts, besides take my advice with a grain of salt. If you list works for your group, more power to ya!
Cards I'd add without a doubt to any Mayael list:
- Bloomtender, with Mayael or a few creatures out, she's tapping for RWG all the time. Just a great card to have around.
- Stalking Vengeance, gonna wrath WHO, bro?
- Defense of the Heart, 4 mana to end the game. Seems legit. You already run Iona, it's not like you care if people hate you
- Where the Ancients Tread or Warstorm Surge, adds TONS of threat and removal to your deck by simply getting fatties out.
- Scroll Rack, busts mayael wiiiiddeee ooppenn.
- Genesis Wave, looking for that X spell to eat up all that late game mana? Look no further.
- Eternal Witness, just plain useful.
- Rings of Brightearth, 2 Mayael/Amulet/Piper etc. activations for an extra 2? Yes plz.
- Worldly Tutor, need an early ramp guy? need an answer to put on top for Mayael? Need the dude to win the game? ok.
- Ulmog or Kozilek or both, Big, stupid, easy, annihilator 4.
The primer really covers the rest, read past the beast sub-themes for his general evaluations on card value for this deck archtype. He covers a lot.
Just remember, getting a big dummy out is generally never enough. Look for them to either create 2 for 1 or more, change the game state to something you can play around or serves as a rattlesnake to ward off opponents while you bide time.
Look forward to hearing back, if you ditch the life gain/disruption sub-theme, we can expand a lot more.
Well, first things first: thanks for all the information! I've learned that when no one responds to a thread, it's usually because the deck is so terribly bad that no one wants to be the guy bringing the ants to the picnic. That said, I've played EDH once! So, I need all the help I can get, and I appreciate the input. I do have a tendency to wander off the reservation over time, if left to my own devices.
Now, that all said: beating face is what I want to to do. I went to Mayael because I wanted to drop high-value fatties and punch everyone in the mouth. The life gain/disruption tweaks were, in all honesty, me trying to be cute. And, as my friends and I have learned in standard, "don't be cute". I think I got enamored with all the freakin' cards, man!
Okay, enough of that. To business.
I did read the primer, and originally I basically netdecked it for my first Commander game, which was a total clusterf--k. I was very overwhelmed, and made poorly informed changes.
In any case, I'll go back to where I was and post a the changes in a bit, and if you don't mind, I'd like some feedback on them as well!
EDIT: and the change log has been updated! Deck to follow.
So please update your list to what you currently have in it, and we will tweak from there. It's going to take some time to explain each series of cuts from here and why, but might as well be detailed for anyone caring to read about Mayael lists here.
Survival of the Fittest and/or Fauna Shaman deserve a special call out in Mayael lists from me. Since cheating fatties into play is essentially the goal with cards like Quicksilver Amulet, Elvish Piper, Mayael (with scroll rack) SotF is indispensable. One of my most common back breaking plays with Mayael is SotF, find Anger, pitch it for Bloom Tender/Piper depending on the situation (whether or not I get sol ring or not).
This does have the downside of making your gameplay somewhat linear, but hasty t4 Serra Avatars are just too funny not to use. (Don't use Eldrazi or Blightsteel before t6 if you are in a non competitive group. It will get you hated)
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The idea of this deck is to supplement the iron-shod, high-power beatdowns with life gain and artifact/enchantment disruption.
So, let's get to the beef!
1 Mayael the Anima
Planeswalkers
2 Domri Rade
Creatures
3 Angel of Serenity
4 Angelic Arbiter
6 Avacyn, Angel of Hope
7 Balefire Dragon
8 Blazing Archon
10
11
12 Darksteel Colossus
14 Elderscale Wurm
15 Elvish Piper
16 Engulfing Slagwurm
17 Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
18 Gruul Ragebeast
20
21 Iona, Shield of Emeria
23 Paleoloth
25
26 Seedborn Muse
27 Soul of the Harvest
28 Spearbreaker Behemoth
29 Sylvan Primordial
31 Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
Sorcery
33 Austere Command
34 Creeping Renaissance
35 Day of Judgment
36 Farseek
37 Green Sun's Zenith
38 Insurrection
39 Relentless Assault
40 Terminus
41 Tooth and Nail
43 Asceticism
44 Aura Shards
45 Fervor
46 Lurking Predators
47 Mana Reflection
49
50 Mirari's Wake
52
53 Privileged Position
55 Stranglehold
56 Sylvan Library
57 Triumph of Ferocity
58 True Conviction
59 Warstorm Surge
Artifacts
60
61 Darksteel Ingot
62 Lightning Greaves
63 Manalith
64 Obelisk of Naya
65 Quicksilver Amulet
66 Sol Ring
67 Staff of Nin
68 Swiftfoot Boots
Land
71 Forest
72 Mountain
73 Plains
74 Boros Garrison
75 Command Tower
78 Flagstones of Trokair
79 Gruul Turf
80 Jungle Shrine
81 Kor Haven
82 Madblind Mountain
83 Deserted Temple
84 Mistveil Plains
85 Mossfire Valley
86 Mosswort Bridge
88 Rith's Grove
89 Rugged Prairie
90 Rupture Spire
91 Sacred Foundry
92 Selesnya Sanctuary
93 Serra's Sanctum
94 Spinerock Knoll
95 Stomping Ground
96 Sungrass Prairie
97 Temple Garden
98 Thespian's Stage
99 Windbrisk Heights
100 Wooded Bastion
So, here's my thinking:
Planeswalkers
Domri Rade: This guy is a great utility player for the deck--free(ish) Pit Fights; draw. And God help them if I get that emblem on the table.
Angel of Serenity: Exiling three creatures is amazing, especially if I can shroud her and keep them gone for good.
Angelic Arbiter: This is jut annoying, for them at least. This basically prevents them from doing any sort of combat tricks since they can't cast anything once they've attacked. That's a big impact on the game state.
Anger: Haste for everything is awesome, and it's basically another Fervor.
Artisan of Kozilek: He's here for the graveyard digging.
Avacyn, Angel of Hope: Everything is indestructible. Boom.
Balefire Dragon: This is an insidious card and it basically forces a blocker from your opponent, assuming the other guy has a flying creature. And if he does, try to get a little trample on this bad boy.
Beast of Burden: His power and toughness are equal to the number of creatures in play. Holy God. Beef him up with trample or whatever, and get to stomping that mud hole.
Blazing Archon: You want to piss people off? Make it so they can't attack you with creatures. This is a great disruptor.
Borborygmos: Any creature that can spread the beef around is one I want on the board. Distributing counters is a great power when combined with trample.
Celestial Force: A fat body and life gain. Sure, alright. Truth be told, however, he'll be one of the first cuts to make when I start making them.
Darksteel Colossus: This guy is an indestructible and recurring problem. A big problem, too.
Elderscale Wurm: This is just there to keep your head above water, if need be. Slap some shroud love on him, and just kick back and watch the game roll.
Elvish Piper: Come on--dropping a creature from my hand for one mana? Who could say no?
Giant Adephage: The token drop is the best part. This guy basically populates himself as long as you attack, which, if you're piloting this deck, you should be doing.
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight: A good body and an amazing power. Halving damage to you; doubling it to others? Hell yeah!
Gruul Ragebeast: A fat back and free creature removal via knock-off Pit Fights. With the bodies we're putting on the board, this is a great card.
Hydra Omnivore: When I'm really on a rampage and I want to smash faces and start fights, this is the creature to call. Deals damage to everyone? Ha, man, this will get you sent from the table in a quick hurry.
Moldgraf Monstrosity: Good body and some more grave digging.
Seedborn Muse: Risk-less attacks? Yeah, we can do that.
Soul of the Harvest: Free draw is always a winner.
Spearbreaker Behemoth: This thing hands out indestructible to almost any other creature in the deck. That's amazing.
Sylvan Primordial: This guy is another fire-starter. It's like lining up the opponents and giving them all one monstrous slap in the face.
Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger: More disruption combined with ramp--awesome! This will slow those guys down for sure.
Worldspine Wurm: Another one of those rashes that just won't go away. Not only does it hang around the graveyard, but it craps on the lawn before it leaves.
Sorcery
Austere Command: This is staple hate in EDH, so far as I can tell.
Creeping Renaissance: A great go-getter, especially since we stand to have a lot of cards in the graveyard. Particularly creatures. This is a reason to produce as much mana as this deck does (so you can drop all this stuff the turn you draw it) or to have a Reliquary Tower on the board.
Day of Judgment: Everyone needs board wipes.
Farseek: Nice fetch card. Seems somewhat... out of place among all this other juice, but here it is nevertheless.
Green Sun's Zenith: A great draw card and a gift that keeps on giving.
Insurrection: If this sticks, someone is dead. Maybe everyone, depending on the board state.
Primal Surge: This card is a pure hate, mostly generating it for me. I don't think I could ask for a better draw card that produces immediate board transformation.
Relentless Assault: Untap, get an additional attack phase. With the creatures this deck is packing? Yeah, let's do that.
Terminus: Everyone needs board wipes. Sometimes two or three.
Tooth and Nail: Awesome draw card, and if you can get it entwined, so much the better.
Vandalblast: Part of my disruption package. This is a great artifact hater for the price, and you can drop it fast for a real problem, or bomb out the overload and piss on everyone's parade.
Enchantments
Asceticism: This is for the protective aspects. Also, regeneration doesn't hurt. I can't imagine running out of creatures, but I only get one of each.
Aura Shards: This is part of my disruption package, here solely to dole out the artifact hate, considering how prevalent artifacts seem to be in EDH.
Fervor: Haste seems like a true winner in this deck, considering the pace at which I can drop fatties on the board. Keeping them on the offense sounds like a great maneuver.
Five-Alarm Fire: Another part of my disruption package, but this time focused on creature hate, by and large. I could push out 5 damage on a player but that doesn't amount to much.
Lurking Predators: Draw.
Mana Reflection: Ramp to support my hardcasting needs.
Martial Law: Creature-centric aspect of my disruption package. The added benefit of taking activated abilities off the board until my next turn is awesome--it could potentially turn another guy into a sweet target for every other opponent at the table.
Martyr's Bond: More disruption. Want to hit me? Fine, but be ready to get hit back. I suppose that makes this a nuclear deterrent of sorts.
Mirari's Wake: Sure, +1/+1 is cool, but you know what's better? More freakin' mana.
Moonlit Wake: Part of my life gain suite. Lots of stuff dies in EDH, and I may as well get a little something for the effort. This is especially awesome against token generators!
Prison Term: More disruption. This particular spell is especially problematic for one opponent, but just one. Also, once I drop this on a guy, I better be ready to finish that fight because I would call this a declaration of war.
Privileged Position: More protection. Combine this with Asceticism and you're golden.
Quest for Pure Flame: This is just straight-up hate, part of my disruption package against creatures.
Righteous Cause: Part of my life gain suite. How could I not love a card that gives me life for every attack?
Stranglehold: More disruption. Keeping people out of their libraries is a big deal.
Survival of the Fittest: This is the staple creature search card. Plus, I got a few token generators in here that give me an easy sacrifice.
Sylvan Library: Draw, like a boss, no less.
Triumph of Ferocity: More draw. I find myself in the enviable position (usually) of having the fattest backs on the table.
True Conviction: Seriously? Double-strike and lifelink? What's not to love?
Warstorm Surge: And haste? Ha, alright. This is a great addition to the disruption package I'm running.
Angel's Feather: White-based life gain, to compliment my other life-gainers. This one just sits there and racks it up!
Boros Keyrune: Mana, and a creature in a pinch, such as a need for a quick sacrifice. I think I have enough mana gain in this deck to sac out a keyrune or three.
Boros Signet: Mana.
Chromatic Lantern: This will help even out the mana base in a pinch. Giving all my lands the ability to draw any color is super-sweet.
Darksteel Ingot: Indestructible mana.
Gruul Keyrune: Mana.
Gruul Signet: Mana.
Lightning Greaves: Protection for Mayael, or whoever may need it. A couple of creatures have persistent effects that I may want to keep on the board.
Manalith: Mana.
Moonsilver Spear: It's a pretty sweet weapon and the token generation is awfully nice. So what the hell. right?
Obelisk of Naya: Mana.
Quicksilver Amulet: Pay 4 to drop any creature from my hand? Yes, please! Especially with the curve on this freakin' deck....
Selesnya Keyrune: Mana.
Selesnya Signet: Mana.
Sol Ring: Mana. I'm beginning to think I have too much mana gain....
Staff of Nin: A little extra mana and some draw.
Swiftfoot Boots: Protection for Mayael.
Tablet of the Guilds: A life-gainer with some ability to control the cue. I set this to work on red and white or green, and I'll be covering all of my bases, so far as color-based life gain is concerned.
Wurm's Tooth: Another life-gainer, keyed to green.
Lands
Forest, Mountain, Plains, Fire-Lit Thicket, Command Tower, Gruul Turf, Jungle Shrine, Rugged Prairie, Rupture Spire, Sacred Foundry, Selesnya Sanctuary, Temple Garden, Stomping Ground, and Wooded Bastion: Straight mana lands. Nothing too fancy about them.
Krosan Verge, Terramorphic Expanse, and Naya Panorama: Fetchlands. Nothing too mysterious here, either.
Buried Ruin: I've got a lot of artifacts in this deck and the need to replace one may arise. This is colorless mana with a nice retrieval perk.
Mosswort Bridge and Spinerock Knoll: Hideaway is a cool-ass power, and these two can actually be achieved with this deck.
Reliquary Tower: Sometimes I may need to hold a little extra heavy in my hand. This is for that occasion.
Yikes! Quite a bit of reading. In any case, I need some help tightening up the disruption and life gain aspects of the deck, with special emphasis on the life gain. I want to wage a war of attrition that simply can't be won by the other people at the table. The artifact/enchantment hate is just a cherry on top, and a tertiary priority.
The other issue is my mana. Me thinks I may be generating too much. I either need to live up to it with a Clan Defiance or an Aurelia's Fury (or both) or some other sort of x spell that will really benefit from all the other production. There are some creatures that benefit from it as well, like Primordial Hydra, but I think I can do better on creatures.
The life-gain package is set up to aggregate small amounts of life from all over the place. In Christmastimeland, if someone plays a red creature with haste, and then attacks, I could stand to gain 3 life from that one engagement: 1 from the red spell, 1 from the attack, 1 from something dying (blocker or attacker). And that's just one guy attacking with one creature. What if it's a green/white creature with haste? That could be 4 for being white and green, one for the attack, and another for something dying. 6-freakin'-life! Anyway, even in a more realistic setting the little bits here and there add up, especially since I attack a lot, kill a lot of things, and cast a lot of RGW spells.
Thoughts?
Drop List: 03/14/2013
-Anger: Haste is cool and everything, but this guy has a chump's body. I found a lot more value out there.
-Beast of Burden: Doesn't really bring anything but a big ass to the board. Granted, it's really big, but still.
-Borborygmos: Counter distribution isn't worth it. I found other creatures that actually support my disruption/life gain build.
-Giant Adephage: Again, a cool card, but I don't have much use for tokens. Not really the direction I'm heading.
-Moldgraf Monstrosity: Nice recovery power; good body. Just felt that I found better value in my additions. This guy could make a return after some play-testing.
-Worldspine Wurm: Big body? Cool. Lots of big tokens? Also cool. Are tokens what I want? No.
-Boros Keyrune: Not worth the cost, not really. I've got a lot of mana production as it is.
-Selesnya Keyrune: Same as the B. Keyrune.
-Gruul Keyrune: Same as the S. Keyrune.
-Quest for Pure Flame:
-Five-Alarm Fire: Not really worth it. I can get a lot better value out of a stronger creature base.
-Buried Ruin: Eh, it's cool, but it involves sacking out, and I only get one artifact. Odds are, I can live without that artifact.
-Moonsilver Spear: I only really had this in the deck because it looks cool. A 4/4 token is not in this decks wheelhouse.
+Boros Garrison: This is to round out my mana production; help me keep even and smooth.
+Bringer of the White Dawn: This guy brings a little more to the artifact-recovery table, allowing me to fish one out every turn, as opposed to sacking out a land for one. Plus, with a 5/5 body he fits right into the overall stompy theme of the deck.
+Chancellor of the Annex: This contributes more to my disruption package, as well as bringing a 5/6 body to the table. Hell, it's an auto-counter, per spell. That's a pretty nice speed bump.
+Deus of Calamity: Another card that adds to the disruption package, this time by chewing up lands. It should be no problem at all to push six damage through with this guy.
+Engulfing Slagwurm: Creature removal and life gain in one tidy 7/7 package. I'll be happy to have it.
+Hoard-Smelter Dragon: Artifact hate, as well as a nice flyer.
+Mycoid Shepherd: Virtually all of my creatures have 5+ power, so if I can get this guy to stick, I stand to gain a ton of life.
+Iona, Shield of Emeria: Could I ask for a better disruptor in a creature? Stop an entire color from hitting the board. Ha!
+Paleoloth: Again, basically all of my creatures are 5+ power, so this could end up being a lot of graveyard recovery for me.
+Purity: If you burn me, I gain life instead of take damage. Man oh man--at the very least this will discourage player-focused hate at the table.
+Rustmouth Ogre: Deal damage; destroy artifact. Yeah, alright--welcome to the team.
+Tyrant of Discord: This is the Primal Surge of permanent-focused removal. Plus, it's bringing 7/7 to the table.
+Windbrisk Raptor: this dude is a 5/7 flyer that gives everything that attacks with it lifelink. Yep, I'll take that.
Needed more land, so I made a second round of changes:
Drops (pt. 2): 03/14/2013
-Forest, Mountain, and Plains: These had to go to make room. I just can't find anything else I want to cut.
-Terramorphic Expanse, Naya Panorama, and Krosan Verge: I know that these kinds of filter lands are supposed to be helpful for digging around in your library, but I'm going to run without them and see what happens. Besides, it's a real pain in the ass digging in a 99-card deck.
-Survival of the Fittest: I realize this is supposed to be a staple of the deck, and I'm going without it anyway. If draw becomes and issue I'll bring this guy back.
-Chromatic Lantern: My mana draws should be smooth enough, and the biggest fluff I can find is in my artifacts. So, this it out along with....
-Gruul Signet, Boros Signet, and Selesnya Signet: Again, my mana draws should be fine with the new cards, and I'm running a lot of nonsense in my artifacts.
-Primal Surge: I'll deck myself with this damned thing--almost everything I have in this deck is a permanent!
Adds (pt. 2): 03/14/2013
+Mossfire Valley and Sungrass Prairie: These function just like the signets, except I don't have to pay to play them.
+Madblined Mountains and Mistveil Plains: These two cards have great synergy together for getting stuff out of my graveyard and back into rotation. On top of they, they count as Mountain and Plains! So, all around nice cards.
+Eiganjo Castle: Pure Mayael protection. And white mana, too, but mainly protection.
+Windbrisk Heights: I love hideaway as a power, and this rounds out my mana identity with another trigger that I should easily accomplish.
+Flagstones of Trokair: A great land that replaces itself if it gets knocked out of the game. Also, I can cycle it back into the deck with the Plains that I'll dig out with this very card!
+Miren, the Moaning Well: With all my graveyard digging, this should add some very nice extra life gain at very little cost.
+Rith's Grove: One land that can add any of the Naya colors. Sounds good!
+Serra's Sanctum: Talk about a man bump! I run a fairly sizable package of enchantments, so this should pay dividends.
+Thespian's Stage: A nice utility land that lets me take advantage of other players' board, or my own.
+Kor Haven: ****-block your attacker? That sounds good to me!
After having some sense talked into me by Cha Cha, I went (more or less) back to the basics. Here's the updates:
Drops: 03/16/2013
Nothing really to say about these drops except that they are part of a package that isn't really prudent for Mayael as a commander. So, these guys are out.
Martial Law, Angel's Feather, Tablet of the Guilds, Wurm's Tooth, Reliquary Tower, Vandalblast, Tyrant of Discord, Moonlit Wake, Martyr's Bond, Righteous Cause, Prison Term, Eiganjo Castle, Rustmouth Ogre, Purity, Mycoid Shepherd, Hoard-Smelter Dragon, Deus of Calamity, Chancellor of the Annex, Windbrisk Raptor, Artisan of Kosilek, Celestial Force, Hydra Omnivore, Bringer of the White Dawn, and Miren, the Moaning Well.
Adds: 03/16/2013
These cards get back to the basics of Mayael, which is dropping high-value creatures for tasty, tasty face punching.
Reflecting Pool, Yavimaya Hollow, Deserted Temple, Sensei's Divining Top, Rings of Brighthearth, Scroll Rack, Explosive Vegetation, Where Ancients Tread, Crescendo of War, Survival of the Fittest, Worldly Tutor, Enlightned Tutor, Hamletback Goliath, Giant Adephage, Godsire, Utvara Hellkite, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, Hellkite Tyrant, Stalking Vengeance, Bloom Tender, Myojin of the Life's Web, Hellkite Charger, and Worldspine Wurm.
Trying other things like mass life gain doesn't really fit her scheme and it also doesn't really help win in most scenarios, life gain just delays the inevitable or gives the opponents time to find alternate win cons or lock your board down. It also gets you caught up in playing really bad cards in order to make it work. (like Celestial Force)
As a rule of thumb you wanna focus on 3 things with Mayael: around 25-29 Fatties that add game changing value aside from their big stompy bodies, alternative ways to cheat said fatties in, and good enough ramp suites to hardcast fatties in an accelerated time frame. There is no real cuteness to her strategy, her lists win with overwhelming amounts of combat damage and effects granted by the fatties she plays... If you feel that is too plain for you, you may want to see another Naya general to try different things with, but diluting Mayael's very narrow and singular strength with anything but big creatures and cards that interact with them- is tenuous at best.
Heh, sorry to go on, just wanted to drive that point home.
I'll be quick with the rest-
Cards I'd cut:
- Bringer of the White Dawn, since it has 5 colors printed in it's text, it is illegal in this deck due to color identity rules in Commander. It's also just not that great to begin with.
- Celestial Force, bad creature, horrible top deck value even with a life gain theme his ability is marginal at best.
- Chancellor of the Annex, the disruption this card provides is too little, too late in this format. When you are at mana counts where you can cast this or cheat this out, 1 extra mana isn't going to dissuade anyone or prevent many things. This is the last creature I want to see late game with my back against the wall.
- Hydra Omnivore, weak card with no evasion. If you are hitting with this, you already won anyways...why not add someone that does more?
- Rustmouth Ogre, there are so many cards better than him, I don't even know where to begin. If you really want to hate out artifacts more, try Hellkite Tyrant instead.
That is just creatures, we'll see if you respond before I go into the rest of the cuts, besides take my advice with a grain of salt. If you list works for your group, more power to ya!
Cards I'd add without a doubt to any Mayael list:
- Bloomtender, with Mayael or a few creatures out, she's tapping for RWG all the time. Just a great card to have around.
- Stalking Vengeance, gonna wrath WHO, bro?
- Defense of the Heart, 4 mana to end the game. Seems legit. You already run Iona, it's not like you care if people hate you
- Where the Ancients Tread or Warstorm Surge, adds TONS of threat and removal to your deck by simply getting fatties out.
- Scroll Rack, busts mayael wiiiiddeee ooppenn.
- Genesis Wave, looking for that X spell to eat up all that late game mana? Look no further.
- Eternal Witness, just plain useful.
- Rings of Brightearth, 2 Mayael/Amulet/Piper etc. activations for an extra 2? Yes plz.
- Worldly Tutor, need an early ramp guy? need an answer to put on top for Mayael? Need the dude to win the game? ok.
- Ulmog or Kozilek or both, Big, stupid, easy, annihilator 4.
The primer really covers the rest, read past the beast sub-themes for his general evaluations on card value for this deck archtype. He covers a lot.
Just remember, getting a big dummy out is generally never enough. Look for them to either create 2 for 1 or more, change the game state to something you can play around or serves as a rattlesnake to ward off opponents while you bide time.
Look forward to hearing back, if you ditch the life gain/disruption sub-theme, we can expand a lot more.
However! If you are staunch about sticking your idea out and trying it, maybe add some stuff that can help life gain function as a win con! (Felidar Soverign, Celestial Convergence, Test of Endurance, Boon Reflection, Well of Lost Dreams, True Conviction). The main problems I saw with your theme is that your life gain didn't really accomplish anything other that gaining arbitrary life.
cheers!
:symu::symr::symw::symb::symg: Dream Halls :symu::symr::symw::symb::symg:
:symu::symw: U/W/x Landstill (now Miracles) :symu::symw:
:symu::symu: Merfolk :symu::symu:
contact me!
Now, that all said: beating face is what I want to to do. I went to Mayael because I wanted to drop high-value fatties and punch everyone in the mouth. The life gain/disruption tweaks were, in all honesty, me trying to be cute. And, as my friends and I have learned in standard, "don't be cute". I think I got enamored with all the freakin' cards, man!
Okay, enough of that. To business.
I did read the primer, and originally I basically netdecked it for my first Commander game, which was a total clusterf--k. I was very overwhelmed, and made poorly informed changes.
In any case, I'll go back to where I was and post a the changes in a bit, and if you don't mind, I'd like some feedback on them as well!
EDIT: and the change log has been updated! Deck to follow.
:symu::symr::symw::symb::symg: Dream Halls :symu::symr::symw::symb::symg:
:symu::symw: U/W/x Landstill (now Miracles) :symu::symw:
:symu::symu: Merfolk :symu::symu:
contact me!
This does have the downside of making your gameplay somewhat linear, but hasty t4 Serra Avatars are just too funny not to use. (Don't use Eldrazi or Blightsteel before t6 if you are in a non competitive group. It will get you hated)