MTG Salvation

This is really more of a thread for archiving my deck and my reasonings for cards than anything else -- while I more than welcome comments, I'm not really expecting any.

A lot of noise has been made about Mayael, both online and in one of my playgroups (which hates her), and her ability to cheat things into play. I find this to be misleading and ignorant of where her actual power lies. The median big creature CMC in my deck is 6, so I'm not getting much of a discount when I activate her. There are, IMO, two major benefits to running Mayael:

1) Put creatures on the battlefield as an instant, albeit most of the time you don't know what you're getting.
2) Card advantage.

That second benefit is enormous. It's one thing to be able to hardcast a 6-CMC creature from my hand, but it's something else entirely to be able to get another one out of the top of my library, saving my hand for other purposes. And that is ultimately why I love Mayael.

Special thanks go to Raikou Rider's primer for help with the land base and ramp, which would have hopelessly confused me otherwise, and effective ratios of card types. I love how, despite being based entirely around giant stompy creatures, the deck is still effectively toolbox. With a creature in hand and Survival of the Fittest on the field, or even a crappier tutor like Worldly Tutor, I can come up with an answer to almost any problem. So here's the decklist:



There are a few choices that are a little controversial, or that I am always wavering on:

• Akroma, Angel of Wrath -- yeah, okay, she is nothing but a big, dumb beater and that's not really interesting. But that keyword list, especially the protections, can come in real handy sometimes. She also makes a really strong pull from Oath of Druids thanks to the haste. You wouldn't ever tutor for her, but it's hard to be sad about putting an Akroma on the board whenever you get something actually random from the deck.
• Domri Rade -- it's sorcery-speed removal for 3; unlike other Mayael players, I've never found his +1 to be all that useful. At this point, I'm thinking that Swords to Plowshares is just a better choice for the deck.
• Godsire -- if a new awesome big creature appears, this guy is first on the chopping block. He's an interesting dude but lack of evasion makes him a bit win-more.
• Reap and Sow -- entirely a meta choice for finding Homeward Path. I like it a little better than Sylvan Scrying because by the time I'll need the former, I'' have enough mana to entwine it.
• Rings of Brighthearth -- I hate this card. It feels win-more, so if I need space for anything that's not a creature, this gets cut. At the same time, this has worked really really well with Elvish Piper to save my bacon when I've had Mayael pithed. The best interactions for the deck are with planeswalkers, fetchlands (which I'll rarely have need of and *also* have Rings out), and Survival.
• True Conviction -- it's part of the toolbox, I guess. The times you'll need either of these abilities are pretty rare on their own, but I have had them both happen. Putting them on the same card allows for some deck compression.
• Where Ancients Tread -- I've always waffled back and forth between this and Warstorm Surge. The latter is 1 extra mana but unquestionably better, but I just really appreciate the lower mana cost.