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If You Ain't Cheatin', You Aint Tryin'

Commander / EDH Casual Multiplayer RGW (Naya)

denyde


CHEATERS NEVER WIN! Except when you play Mayael and support it with other ways to puke out crazy stuff onto the battlefield!

*hint: turn on custom categories to get a better idea how the cards are used

This is a fairly straight-forward Mayael the Anima commander deck focusing on multiple ways to smash creatures onto the battlefield without paying their cost. Even though it's great to get a discount, CMC is taken into account when deciding options because of the inevitability of hard-casting some of them. There is also an emphasis on top-deck manipulation to synergize with Mayael and a few other cards in the deck such as Lurking Predators.

This deck attempts to put as much functionality into the land-base as possible to free up card slots for biggies. Ramp and card advantage are important here b/c of the naturally slow curve.

Big creatures (5+ power) in this deck should be evaluated based on how much of a discount you get from the 6 mana from Mayael's ability (the most expensive way to artificially get a creature onto the board in this deck) as well as the utility it serves in the deck. That means if a biggie is 5 or less CMC, it better be bringing a TON to the deck and/or be completely worth its hard-cast cast (ex: Sigarda, Host of Herons, Rhonas the Indomitable, Baneslayer Angel, etc). Conversely, you can think about these high-value cards as helping smooth the mana curve. you really dont mind drawing them opening 7 assuming you have the fixing.

Tramp, haste and vigilance effects are brought in wherever the most card advantage and Mayael target synergy can be found to help finish off opponents.

A minimum of 25x (5+) power creatures must be in this deck to stay on top of the stats for Mayael's ability (dont want to dip below 75% chance).

Creatures under 5 power are generally for ramp but some are in there b/c they synergize with the deck so well (ex: Seedborn Muse, Oracle of Mul Daya, Elvish Piper, etc).

Also, you will probably notice many amazing Mayael targets and other powerhouses missing (Blightsteel Colossus, Iona, Shield of Emeria, Tooth and Nail, etc). I believe in the "75%" rule and I also dont care if i dont win every game. I have more fun if the game is interesting and i was competitive. This is my take on the most fair and interesting version of a Mayael "cheater" deck. I find its the deck i enjoy playing the most as well as the deck my opponents enjoy the most playing against. That's the sweet spot.

Jason Alt's Original Article on "75% Rule": http://www.gatheringmagic.com/jasonalt-021314-building-a-75-commander-deck/

Thanks for reading and for any feedback!

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Updates Add

I've been tweaking and tuning this deck for a year and a half now and its very balanced and in a great place in terms of mana fixing, top deck manipulation, land efficiency, and toolbox flexibility.

I am now working to better smooth out the mana curve and add a bit more ramp to the deck, while at the same time increasing the Mayael targets (its up to 28 now, which makes for about an 82% success rate on her activated ability).

The goal of these changes was to increase early game consistency. In about 15-20% of games, i was finding myself not ramping hard enough and falling too far behind after Mayael getting nuked once or twice. I am hoping more ramp and a better curve will help me combat this.

As new cards come out, i hope to continue to get my total Mayael targets to 30 while keeping the toolbox and curve intact (just keep printing more Rhonas the Indomitable and i'll be good :P).

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Date added 9 years
Last updated 7 years
Legality

This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

26 - 0 Mythic Rares

49 - 0 Rares

10 - 0 Uncommons

8 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 4.78
Tokens Copy Clone, Elephant 3-3 G, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Deathtouch, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Lifelink
Folders WIP, Possibilities
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