Mayael, the Master of Monsters
Commander / EDH
SCORE: 13 | 15 COMMENTS | 3824 VIEWS | IN 14 FOLDERS
LEVEL-UP! Fetches! Aggression! —Oct. 12, 2020
Hello Everyone! Its been quite a while! I've had to change a major way of thinking again with this deck. This deck is my pride and joy: I love playing and beating people down and enjoying the sheer, raw power of this deck trampling over people and being absolutely oppressing. And honestly, before the deck just was not being as competitive and aggressive as I knew it could be. For starters, there were a few cards in here that seemed to be a little overpriced for what I need to be doing with Mayael, and frankly: Damaged me if those cards were dealt with effectively while I had put too much investment into it. There were also cards, while accelerating Mayael's game plan once in place, required a few clunky turns to set up, which hurt the pacing and tempo of the overall deck.
However, I've really had a paradigm shift on my decks, and I have been really taking advantage of this new way of thinking and its bore such great fruit! These changes have given the deck a breath of new, terrifying life that my whole playgroup has never seen before! Its been this deck that has inspired me to go back through my decks to really look at both manabases and some of the "pet" cards I use to see if they are really worth running. Without further ado though, I proudly present the following changes!:
Boros Garrison , Gruul Turf, Selesnya Sanctuary, Jungle Shrine ----------------------------------> Arid Mesa, Wooded Foothills, Windswept Heath, Fabled Passage
From Bounces to Fetches! These cards really accelerate and truly amplify Mayael's overall gameplan in ways I still cannot imagine: It thins out the deck a little, allows a few of the new cards I am placing in to provide anywhere from a little extra to tremendous value, and it has made fixing colors in this deck so on par I may have to soon change the ramp package in here, as some of the ramp seems almost obsolete. As for Jungle Shrine, I have decided that this deck does not need lands to come in tapped if possible, and Fabled passage acts as a cheap, effective 4th fetchland. The deck is already mana starving and ravenous and any "slowness" can cause frustration. As you'll see with the next swap..
Temple of Triumph , Temple of Plenty, Temple of Abandon ----------------------> Mountain, Plains, Bonders' Enclave:
...I have even abandoned the temples: The best possible taplands in the entire MTG history. Sadly, even these bad boys are no good, and I have included a few extra basics to help keep my mana ramping consistent and make sure there are no "fail to finds". As for the Enclave, I decided that since it would be easy to have a creature that strong, This would provide great backup card draw for the late game if needed, as I can dump mana into this card and keep drawing a card as needed if my hand was lite.
Kessig Wolf Run ------------------------> Ancient Tomb:
Sadly, While the Wolf run is a classic beatdown staple, the deck cannot afford to be dumping mana on one creature, which most of the time, already has trample. I will be touching on this momentarily, but as I get more massive creatures, I need a mana base able to keep up. With Ancient tomb, I can easily play out huge monstrosities. However, there is a warning, as the damage recoil of this card has a way of sneaking up on you. i am working on a way to correct this issue, and I already have a few ideas for cards to swap out. However, sometimes the best solution to this, is to just beat everyone else before you lose, and its lowkey kind of Awesome.
Wilderness Reclamation -------------------> Garruk's Uprising:
Its rather unfortunate, but Reclamation does not have the same umpth as it did in other formats. While its certainly helped, for 4 mana There are way better options to be playing rather then allowing an extra Mayael trigger. With Garruk's Uprising, I now have a draw engine for 3 mana AND give my Creatures trample! It contains such raw value that I am an idiot for not including it sooner, and I have honestly never made a swap so fast.
Illusionist's Bracers --------------------------> Elemental Bond:
It actually was really hard to make this swap. The Bracers allow for a second Mayael trigger, and its super epic... However: This also means that you need 5 mana to set up the bracers on mayael, which just breaks the tempo for the deck, as the ramp and pacing of the deck make it hard for Mayael to be on board, and not be online the next turn. Wasting that turn to equip the bracers means you lose potentially snagging an Eldrazi titan, or a God, or anything crazy on turn 5. Its hard to see them go, as they have been around since the very beginning of this Mayael deck... but I just think its too slow and clunky. The Bond allows for more card draw, more consistency, and hits some of the utility creatures. Its been a stable match and a welcome swap.
Lurking Predators -----------------------------> Nylea, Keen-Eyed:
So, This card swap probably has the most salt related to it. I cannot tell you how many times that I have played Lurking Predators for 6 mana, only for people to immediately counter, destroy, or in general ruin that turn for me. I cannot tell you how bad it feels, to have your entire turn timewalked, cause you dumped 6 mana into a card as bait removal. OR you get this card, start pitching lands and ramp and so forth, only to make it to your turn and THEN draw some massive beast is a massive feels bad. With the New Nylea, all my creature spells cost one less, which allows me to massively accelerate playing huge threats from hand and in the late game accrue so much value its wild. the New Nylea even synergizes with the top deck manipulation in my deck, and its low-key very cool... Except why on gods green earth does she not have REACH??! Like, I know the card is a god card and its already busted, but like... She is floating in the god damn air, the a BOW AND ARROW, CMON.
Rishkar's Expertise -------------------------------> Return of the Wildspeaker:
I do love Expertise, it really is a great card. With this deck, you're easily drawing around 8 cards for 6 and cheating something out that's 5 or less. And that's where the card kinda fails, in this deck. A lot of the cards in here are not at 5 mana. And while perhaps the switches in this deck have made that better, I would also think that at 6 mana, it should be able to cheat something out 6 or less so it can hit some of our threats. Its good, just not great in here. Return, however, Allows us a modal draw spell at 5 mana, AND allows us to possibly buff our creatures in the late game to finish off our opponents. Its been a pretty healthy swap so far, I am really liking how flexible it can be, even if I am mainly using it for the draw side.
Zendikar Resurgent -------------------------------- Elder Gargaroth:
This swap is more in line with the Lurking Predators swap. Essentially, its just overpriced for being a card draw boost and mana doubler. Don't get me wrong, Resurgent is a great card... but at 7 mana, I should be doing other things and I dont necessarily need the mana doubling, as I am already dropping 7 mana for this and then have to do things to either draw cards or get Value. Meanwhile, the Gargoroth has proven to be a jack of all trades handy man that can fix a lot of problems this deck runs into: Need to trigger an etb for Aura shards to remove a card? Gargoroth. Need to gain life to offset losses from Ancient tomb or other players? Gargoroth. Need card draw? Say no more, Gargoroth has your back always. Its such a solid card, and its even 5 mana. Its staying, truly WOTC will just print these absurdly powerful standard bombs and We will take them.
Finale of Devastation ---------------------------------> Blightsteel Colossus:
I'll make a disclaimer here: The Finale could come back. I always had a personal philosophy that Every deck should just have one X card in it to just unload with in the late game. For me and this deck, the Finale was that card. It was epic: For 12 mana, we could give our creatures +10/+10 and haste! Seemed great... However, I soon realized that this card has a few issues: mainly, that it really IS a finally. This card wants you to finish opponents off as you play it, and it encourages going wide over tall, as this deck likes to do (I already have Yarok for going wide). I may have just been relying on this card as a haste provider, and like... Honestly, dumping 12 mana was almost as feels bad: I would have a board, but it wasnt huge enough to really take everyone down unless I grabbed Novablast wurm, and even then that didn't work unless I had further set up. So I have swapped it out with Blightsteel: Its still a game ending threat, except this time I can even grab it with Mayael on a WAY sooner turn. Dropping a turn 5 Blightsteel is almost winning on the spot, and giving it haste via a few other cards in the deck? priceless. I make this switch, but this is not the last we hear of the Finale...
Combustible Gearhulk ---------------------------------> Cavalier of Flame:
So, the Gearhulk is not terrible, but it is.... Boring. Basically, its a 6/6 with First Strike that will let you draw 3, or someone can gamble and get slapped with around 10 damage (usually between 8-15). It's solid... but with the added card draw in here, It just felt like this card was stale. And, when someone did get smacked, it meant possible losing some vital cards in the process, which is never fun. Since I am including fetches, as well as some other aggressive cards, I decided it was time to make this Card Slot do a little bit more for me. And MAN does Cavalier of Flame deliver! For 2 mana I can give my creatures a power-up and HASTE! And, when it enters the battlefield, I can filer the cards in my hand. Even if its ditching a dead card, It is insanely worth it if I can even combo with it in the late game, like ditching my ramp if its no longer needed, or throwing out a lot of bigger creatures and one of the eldrazi titans, shuffle the yard into the deck, and suddenly get access to my whole graveyard potentially again. And thanks to the Fetches, this Card can deal damage across opponents and planeswalkers pretty consistently when it dies! Its such a jack of all trades card, and I love it. Its even cheaper, as a 6/5 for 5 mana!
Thunderfoot Baloth ---------------------------------> Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded:
Oh, Sneak-Attack on a God-stick. How I've yearned for you. I've been debating on throwing this in since Theros, but thought the sacrificing was just not worth it, especially without a blightsteel and the presumed lack of red creatures. I had tried to fill this role with Surrak, the Hunt Caller but it was just too clunky as early games tended to leave at 7 attack total.. and then, it only affects one creature at a time (which isn't so bad) so i decided that being clunky was not worth it. It actually even synergizes well with New Nylea, pulling creatures to hand and then cheating red/artifact creatures out for the turn! Theres some Shenanigans to be had, but I decided since I was throwing in Garruk's Uprising to check how many creatures already had trample... and Turns out, a lot of them already do! it was wild. And I certainly was not taking out old Nylea, the God clause is way too strong. So I decided haste was more important then another instance of Trample which many creatures already had in this deck. And its working pretty well so far.
Sephara, Sky's Blade -----------------------------------> Moraug, Fury of Akoum:
This card. I have YEARNED for this card. It fulfills the dream of this deck long in the making: It has all the powerful smashes of an anime protagonist, but it was really tough to find spots for extra combat steps. However... Moraug more then provides! This takes our ramp and acceleration to the next level and allows our big creatures to get even bigger and bigger with every swing! On the other side, Sephara was good, but a few of my creatures have indestructible... and just seemed like a weaker version of Avacyn with a cheap casting cost, and Lifelink. It did help protect my fliers, but I am going all in on Offense. You know what they say: A great Defense is a good offense. I will miss the lifelink though.