MTG Salvation

Hello everyone, I am posting a "competitive" decklist that I use to an acceptable degree of success in a meta that many would consider to be competitive (Derevi Stax, Brago Stax, Mizzix Storm, Karador Boonweaver, 4c Doomsday, Yisan, and finally some other lower power decks).

History of the Deck
It seems unlikely, but this deck actually started out as the RW Commander 2015 Precon way back then. But maybe I can explain this strange progression. The RW precon had Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas at the helm, and in the deck had many creatures with a converted mana cost of 5, in order to get experience counters for the commander to get bigger and hit harder. Trying it out in our playgroup (which also bought other decks from Commander 2015), it really just performed horribly.
The weaknesses of Boros ended up being the significant factor in every loss - lack of mana ramp, and lack of card draw. Thus, I decided to turn to green for a solution to my problems. Green seemed to have mana ramp, card draw, everything needed for a deck to be great, good job green! Keeping along with the theme of big creatures, I decided Mayael was the perfect commander for the new deck. It started out with hard land ramp into churning out creatures every turn. But as the meta evolved (RIP Daxos), so too has this deck. Decks got faster, wincons got degenerate, stax was introduced, and more answers were added.

Deck Playstyle
Since the mulligan changes, having an ideal start with a ramp hand is rare, so I felt like adding some degree of redundancy by increasing ramp card count, and adding in hatebears was necessary. As the game starts, a hand full of ramp, and perhaps 1-2 high cmc cards is great. As long as 6 mana can be reached before other people get 6 mana, then the deck can just snowball out of control by putting down big creatures that are hard to get rid of. However, there are plenty of times when either mana is slow, colors aren't right, or other people are just as fast. In that scenario, depending on the political climate, I find the play is to just to ramp, and maybe play a few creatures to defend, but not a full commitment of resources unless a win is at hand, else you risk getting your board deconstructed by all your opponents. Use your judgment on when to attack, and when to hold back. Sometimes people are worth more alive, than dead; you've got 120 damage to deal in a 4-player game, so take down the biggest threat first, then crush the little ones.
There are also a few hate cards in this deck, such as Gaddock Teeg, and Spirit of the Labyrinth. Those creatures rarely have a negative impact on yourself, so feel free to play those if it stops your opponents from running off with the game, and if it allows you to lockdown the game in your favor.

Winning and Interesting Interactions
Winning is through damage in this deck, and without a way to instantly win, it makes winning more challenging.
A great way to recover when down, is to have the mana on board to keep on playing creatures. You can ensure this by utilizing creatures such as Oracle of Mul Daya and expending Worldly Tutor to ensure that the topdeck is clear of lands and full of playables.

Gruul Ragebeast is a great creature that allows your own big creatures to effortlessly clear away blockers and kill problematic creatures.
Yosei, the Morning Star (in the graveyard) and Feldon of the Third Path allows for the total lockdown of a single player, by tapping down their permanents and doing it again the next turn.
Avacyn, Angel of Hope and a board wipe, such as Austere Command will often create enough of a resource gap to end the game.
Void Winnower is such a powerful card. Its very presence shuts down Counterspell, Wrath of God, and Go for the Throat, which are common ways to answer cards in Mayael.
Worldly Tutor and the commander's ability gets you any 5 power creature to put onto the battlefield.
Sun Titan can get you back your fetchlands to reuse again, as well as bring back any low CMC mana rock that have found their way to the graveyard.
Scroll Rack allows you to put those fatties on top of your library, so Mayael can put them on the battlefield risk free of not hitting and creatures in the top 5, as well as giving you a fresh hand to work with.
Dragon Mage's combat damage ability and Spirit of the Labyrinth's draw restriction can deny opponents of precious cards which could deny them of removal, and blockers - solutions that could've been.

Notable Exclusions
Spellbreaker Behemoth this one is because Mayael's ability isn't a spell, and so counterspells arent as impactful against this deck, when compared to others.
Sneak Attack Im aware this card exists, and it really is a great card but... in this deck, our hands often arent full enough with creatures to take full advantage of the ability, and the sacrifice at end of turn hurts, due to the lack of reanimation synergy that you would see in black decks, like Marchesa, the Black Rose.
Annihilator Eldrazi - They are powerful indeed, but im not entirely sure what they would replace.

Worst Fears
Effects like Cyclonic Rift, and decks that are heavy with them. If your enemies are all blue, may I suggest Red Elemental Blast? It either destroys one of their blue permanents, or counters one of their spells. Unexpected, but simple and cheap solution to mass bounce. Another type of effect to look out for are ones that can hose creatures, either mass sacrifice effects, mass exile board wipes, or even worse: Humility. Wraths can be recovered from, while Humility requires a specific removal spell to get rid of it, otherwise the creatures in the deck do pretty much nothing.


Matchup Information
Karador, Ghost Chieftain
This matchup is alot like solitaire; not a whole lot of interaction besides removal and Peacekeeper, and slowing the combo, and swinging for damage. So it really depends on what other people are playing to swing the game. As Boonweaver Kardaor uses a quickly-assembled combo to win, swing in and put the combo player on a timer, see if you can also stall the combo or interrupt, or make sure someone else can deal with it when the time comes (leaving people alive has uses!).

Marchesa, the Black Rose and Alesha, Who Smiles at Death
These two ladies give Mayael a hard time. Reanimation heavy decks that are heavy in repeatable and efficient removal, like Attrition, and recurring creatures like Flayer of the Hatebound and Master of Cruelties. This matchup is hard but not unwinninable. Either they will run out of resources, and a wrath can clean the board for long enough to build up, or creatures with hexproof (Archetype of Endurance) or indestructible (Avacyn, Angel of Hope) that are hard to get rid of with the ability to beat through their lineup.

Mizzix of the Izmagnus
This matchup is similar to Karador Boonweaver Combo; with a touch of control and cost reduced value spells from the blue player. Gaddock Teeg, Void Winnower, Sanctum Prelate on 3, Spirit of the Labyrinth are all great cards that can shut down the Mizzix player.

Yisan, the Wanderer Bard
Yisan is a mainly linear deck (1cmc, then 2cmc, etc) that is also fairly commander dependent. Don't be afraid to use removal or eat Yisan with Gruul Ragebeast (as you should be doing with any commander dependent deck, like Mizzix!) Balefire Dragon is a great way to ruin the Yisan player's day. "6 damage and im die." - Local Yisan Player

Brago, King Eternal stax
Brago is yet another deck that really needs the commander in order to gain advantage and break parity from stax pieces. Stax is a hard matchup that requires lucky draws to remove the many artifacts that they run, as well as removal to keep down Brago before he becomes too well protected, or achieves infinite mana with Strionic Resonator and combines it with Blue Sun's Zenith. Apart from that, just trying to chip away at their health, and having a strong line of play lined up should the mana lock be broken is a good idea.

Potential Card Choices
Simply put; different metas, different Mayael. Plenty of cards can be shifted around, for example, Spirit of the Labyrinth for Aven Mindcensor if tutors are a big problem. So off the top of my head, here are a few cards that I think can replace a card slot in the 99.
Aven Mindcensor
Rule of Law (Storm or Doomsday decks)
Scavenging Ooze (Graveyard heavy opponents)
Stonehoof Chieftain (Lots of blockers)
Blazing Archon (Being attacked lots)
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth and his bretheren
Vigor (Damage based removal such as Blasphemous Act)
Birds of Paradise and other mana dorks in place of hatebears if you'd like to just get big mana and play big creatures.



Anyways, here is the decklist. I would love to see any advice for the deck as well as cool cards to consider, thanks for reading.