@BerserkWin

Have you play tested my deck at all? It often plays out smoothly. That being said;

I totally agree with you, on most of what you said. I am never upset to see Cultivate in my hand. Skyshroud Claim is probably a good choice, and will probably find a place. I do like having the mana dorks though because Craterhoof Behemoth is one of my win-cons. That monster often finishes the game off, and the mana guys just as often help me punch through for lethal on a couple of players at the same time. But you're right, killing them slows me up a bit.

Quicksilver Amulet is a nice alternative way to cheat creatures in, and I've been looking at Pandemonium as a possible cut. It's pretty good with Asceticism out though. Lurking Predators is interesting, card advantage is always good. Especially with Worldly Tutor . I will look into it, what would you guys take out?

One thing, you say it seems like my goal is to activate Mayael. In reality I almost never have to cast her. Unless I happen to get a crazy draw where she's active turn 4, or I have Rings of Brighthearth out. The goal is mostly to hard cast the fatties. It works fairly well.

As far as card draw, I seem to have a hand of at least four or five most of the time, and when my engines are online I have even had to discard occasionally.

If your budget really is unlimited, you ought to start with the optimal land base:

Savannah

Plateau

Taiga

Temple Garden

Sacred Foundry

Stomping Ground

Windswept Heath

Flooded Strand

Bloodstained Mire

Wooded Foothills

Marsh Flats

Arid Mesa

Scalding Tarn

Misty Rainforest

Verdant Catacombs

Command Tower

Reflecting Pool

City of Brass

That list gives you stability and consistency, which are important when you're looking to increase the deck's speed.

After that, look at ramp cards:

Mana Crypt

Gilded Lotus

Thran Dynamo

Skyshroud Claim

card:Nature's Lore

Keeper of Progenitus (this one is a bit risky)

Exploration

Azusa, Lost but Seeking

Burgeoning

Oracle of Mul Daya

I'm not a fan of some of your card choices:

card:Avacyn's Pilgrim

Baneslayer Angel

Birds of Paradise

Druid of the Anima

Godsire

Krosan Tusker

Novablast Wurm

Somberwald Sage

You don't have many removal spells. You're missing Swords to Plowshares , Path to Exile , Beast Within , Krosan Grip , card:Nature's Claim, etc.

How does this deck hold up against mine?

The lands are a good point, cut the vivids and some of the other etb tapped lands, sub a few basics too.

A few of those artifacts should fit in nicely, I like producing colored mana, which is the reasoning behind BoP and Druid of the Anima , but I have been taking a long look at my mana dorks lately.

Why not Krosan Tusker ? I realize Divination is not a premier EDH spell, but the way I look at it the worst I do is drawing two lands when I need them. Also, it increases my chances of hitting with Mayael, albeit hitting a vanilla 6/5...Is there a reason for not liking Novablast Wurm ? The plan is usually to drop Avacyn first, and if my Defense of the Heart sticks thats often my one-two punch. But Im willing to hear your reasoning...

The first game I tested against your deck didn't go well, I got mana stuck early after you countered my mana dork, and then JTMS hit on turn three and I couldn't make any progress after that. Between his top-deck control, your removal package and his unsummon...it wasn't good. The second game Lim Dul's Vault found the package right away and I was done for. I'm too slow and like you say, don't have much for interaction.

Between Kaalia and Scion of the Ur-Dragon my meta requires a nice blocker for Dragons and Demons, so I have to politely disagree with you on BSA

Krosan Tusker just feels kind of average. The cycle+Rampant Growth is nice, but it doesn't seem great when you consider it's on an otherwise vanilla 6/5 that costs 7 if you ever need to cast it.

Novablast Wurm only works if your field is indestructible. Otherwise, it just wipes everything you built up.

Baneslayer Angel is an example of a card that's good as a beatstick but not much else. It doesn't have any support abilities. If you need it to survive, I suppose you shouldn't cut it just yet. I would try to find alternatives, though.

Mana dorks aren't ideal in EDH because of the numerous sweepers they have to face. It's better to invest in mana rocks, which are slightly more expensive as a whole, but offer better ramp in a form more resistant to removal. You're better off using Azusa, Lost but Seeking and Oracle of Mul Daya as your ramp creatures.

Actually, Krosan Tusker doesn't even Rampant Growth . That fact makes it even less viable.

Fair, I'd cut Krosan Tusker once to make room for a different creature but everytime I draw it I just cycle it anyway so it's never really a creature. Unless I need to pick something up with Paleoloth .

BSA is mostly a beater, and I've been pretty good about avoiding simple beaters. But between her and Akroma I've got a solid defense against the two stronger decks in my meta. I'm sure with some tweaking we won't need her but for now she stays.

I have to track down a Mana Crypt , but in the meantime my Worn Powerstone will have to do. I have all the Zendikar fetches about a 12 hour drive away, so I'll add those when I get them...What do you think of Garruk, Primal Hunter ?

It's playable, considering how good his -3 is in this deck.

Mmm, this deck reads of just like a list of my favorites and want-to-haves. Just based on the decks I've seen from you so far it seems we have a similar aesthetic. If you actually own all the cards from all the decks you have posted (39!?!), I'm insanely jealous. I only recently returned to playing, so right now my card pool is just painfully small.

Mayael is another example of a really fun/pretty elf card, and I like how you took the time to describe your strategies and combos. With EDH it can be hard to take it all in since there's just so much to consider. And I think Novablast Wurm is a fun way to board wipe, even if other people don't! :P

Did you ever consider using Vigor in this deck?

Well, PriestessKikyo1 I have to be honest, I own the cards that repeat a lot in my deck lists (tezz, Havengul lich, snapcaster, wrexial and the stoneforges for example) but a lot of my builds are plans and dreams :). I just enjoy building decks and putting them out in space for people to Ponder .

My true love is the Vorthos side of the game, this deck is my brainchild and thus I'm tentative to gut it too much, despite my efforts to make it more competetive. I have about 400 words hashed out telling the story of this deck, Mayael gets a little "subcountercanon." Maybe one day when it's finished squire1 will let me post it, maybe turn it into a challenge article...The Vorthos Cave... :)

I've always been a Vorthos myself. I've gotten better about it, but it's difficult for me to pass up a card if I love the art- even if the card is pretty much worthless otherwise. And right now my deckbuilding has come to a screeching halt due to financial issues. ><, Well, if you ever get to air Mayael's 'subcountercanon' (I still haven't decided exactly what that is yet...) I'd love to read it!

One of my favorites as far as art is card:Mayael's Aria. You really can't appreciate it fully by just looking at the card though.

card:Mayael's Aria was the background for my phone for almost a year! Steve Argyle does some amazing work.

I know what you mean as far as Flavor over Function sometimes. I'd rather enjoy my cards than win all the time, although winning with the cards you like is fun too. :)

When I have time to finish it, I will post a link to it as the description for my deck, like I say, the plan is to write a Vorthos column based on people's decks...but it takes sooo much time to write a good version about an EDH deck. I posted one on gatherer about Sarkhan's Angry Birds once, typed it all into the message box...and then hit the word limit....then when I was cutting and pasting I accidentally deleted it all. Not impressed. :)

Haha I noticed you changed the name again! How are you liking Angel of Serenity ? I remember you asked about her.

Also how are you liking Aurelia, the Warleader and Linvala, Keeper of Silence ? They can't be flipped by Mayael, but I guess with Wild Pair driving your deck it's different.

Haha, I've been having a hard time settling on a good name for this, but I have a view of the flavor I want for it so I'm slowly getting closer.

The few times I've seen Angel of Serenity she's been great. She's a bit of a removal magnet, but then again so are most of my big creatures...the only downside is she's a Wild Pair singleton. Not really the end of the world.

I love Aurelia, the Warleader . There have been times when I wanted something else first, but that's to be expected. She definitely finishes games off if played at the right time, and in combination with say...Craterhoof Behemoth ? Just silly.

Linvala, Keeper of Silence I have been less thrilled about, but she's a third four drop to pod my Eternal Witness into. She shuts down mana dorks and cards like Elvish Piper , so she does have utility. I know when I go out in the world, into a meta of Heartless Hidetsugu , Jenara, Asura of War and Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord she will serve her purpose.

Hmmmm, I may have to add Aurelia as a utility creature haha.

I pulled a shiny one out of a booster one day and I couldn't not find a home for it. Unfortunately it meant Kamahl, Fist of Krosa had to get cut, but the "mythic angel" flavor of the deck was worth more to me than the board-wipe deterrent.

The more I play this deck the more I like it. It's like Mayael's Toolbox...

Honestly, this deck looks pretty strong as it is. The only thing I would advise you to change is the ramp setup; I think you would benefit from more ramp.

Cards I would drop:

• Mind Stone - Could be replaced with better ramp, even if it means losing the draw ability.

I think Acidic Slime and Baneslayer Angel are probably some of your weakest cards.

Cards I would consider:

• Cream of the Crop
• Skyshroud Claim - Ramp that finds duals and brings them in untapped.
• Nature's Lore - Ramp that finds a dual and brings it in untapped.
• Mana Vault - Ramp.
• Keeper of Progenitus - Ramp, but risky.
• Mana Reflection - Ramp.
• Swords to Plowshares - Removal.
• Nature's Claim - Removal.

First off, thanks again for this. Some final tweaking is needed for sure.

So, we've talked about Baneslayer Angel before, and I'm starting to agree. While it fits the flavor, I never want to cast it over anything else, and I never even pull it out with Wild Pair or Pod. The big downside to cutting it is that takes me down to 19 power 5+ creatures. I almost never use her ability, but it sucks to miss. I've been considering Shivan Wurm but I don't think it's good enough either. Too inconsistent.

I think I'll avoid the keeper because I don't like giving my opponents mana. I like Mana Reflection , and am actually considering Mirari's Wake it doesn't have very good synergy with Wild Pair though.

Cream of the Crop is interesting, I will keep it in mind for top deck manipulation but I think my primary focus will be ramp for now. I'd like to optimally be dropping six drop enchantments by turn three or four.

I wouldn't include Shivan Wurm because it doesn't seem good enough.

Mirari's Wake is definitely worth including, but you need to know how to use Wild Pair around the buff.

What do you mean? You're talking being aware of how the pairs line up after the pump?

Yeah. The buff throws off the pairings by an extra two, so you need to remember what you can and can't find when Mirari's Wake is in play.

On that line of thinking...would it make sense for me to cut Birds of Paradise and Bloom Tender for mana rocks? At that point Green Sun's Zenith would become mostly irrelevant other than that timely "end the game soon" tutor.

There's upside to BoP since it would become a tutor for some of my small utility guys (with Mirari's Wake and Wild Pair out) but I'm on the fence about Bloom Tender most of the time. If I need mana I often find myself using GSZ for Sakura-Tribe Elder rather than the tender. Without them I get mana rocks, can potentially run some (mass) removal and the lack of frustration from someone killing my mana dork with spot removal is always a bonus.

You could do what I did with my BUG deck: use Lotus Cobra because its effect is busted with fetches.

You might also consider using Exploration effects to add to your ramp power.