My first EDH deck that started out budget, but has been incrementally upgraded since. I picked Mayael the Anima as my commander because I like ramp, big creatures, and the chance factor. The ability to take a gamble with Mayael's ability makes every game play differently, and it's very exciting revealing answers to turn the tide of the game. This deck is also capable of functioning without relying on Mayael as well.
Mayael
I see Mayael the Anima's ability more of a method of card advantage by pulling creatures out of the library and retaining cards in hand, rather than a method of cheating mana costs. I've been aiming to reducing the average CMC of my creatures because of this, so I can still play cards on my turn and have mana up for interaction or a Mayael activation.
I chose (stayed with) Mayael over Atla Palani, Nest Tender because Atla Palani inevitably starts to skew towards combo and building around eggs and sacrifice. While Atla Palani is technically stronger, it's not for me. I want to play as many of Magic's cool legendaries and beefy creatures as possible and Mayael stays true to that. Plus I made a full-art foil-peel alter for her using her oversize card.
Strategy
This decks wants to play big creatures and beat down the table with combat damage.
Aim to ramp as fast as possible in the early game - mulligan if no such cards are in the opening hand. Hold off on casting Mayael unless she can activate her ability very soon. Once you have at least six mana, you are pretty much set. Of course, the more the better. Ramp more, draw cards, cast big creatures to attack, win when everyone's dead.
Redundancy
When Mayael the Anima does not have the opportunity to use her ability (like by being dead or at risk of dying immediately), we have some redundancy to continue cheating creatures:
Selvala's Stampede
One of my all-time favorite cards, Selvala's Stampede is a total bomb in the right build - this being one of them. Resolving it typically results in four big creatures dropping onto the board for just six mana. Even at the very worst case scenario, it'll still guarantee a creature drop. It's an extremely fun card that gets the table talking, bringing mindgames and politics into the mix.
Let's take a look at the options given by the council's dilemma: Wild and Free. Every Wild vote lets find something off the top of the library. Every Free vote lets us drop any permanent from our hand. Obviously many people would vote Free since voting Wild would be like letting a Mayael activation go off. But this choice becomes increasing harder to pick when you have loads of cards in hand thanks to all the card draw present in the deck, the playstyle of just outright casting the creatures vs cheating them in, and inevitability of a big creature deck with cards that get stuck in the hand.
Some people might catch on and try to vote Wild, since the variance from flipping over the top might produce something weaker than something in the hand, like a mana dork. Except this deck only runs big creatures! Every Wild vote is five power guaranteed (except Seedborn Muse, which would be even better in some cases). And of course the card advantage is great!
To add an element of mindgames, you can call the opposite of what you want: Free with a bad hand, Wild with a good hand. Your opponents might think you want to stack votes and vote opposite of what you voted. Or you can make think that you want them to vote the opposite of your vote, and get them to inadvertently vote in your favor instead. You can also do some politicking, like making deals or saving someone to keep them alive to vote in your favor.
This card is extremely fun, and it gets even better when you land Greenwarden of Murasa or use Reclaim to get it back and do it all over again.
Card Interactions
This deck doesn't really have any combos due to the high variance, but here are some that are pretty nice interactions:
Potential Additions
Stuff I'm thinking about adding.
Chopping Block
Stuff I'm considering cutting.
Why no X?
Stuff I'm not running on purpose.
Updates
A bunch of updates in one since I lost track of my previous list.
The Average CMC also decreased by 0.43 to 4.13.
Removed Migration Path, Smothering Tithe, Vivien's Arkbow, Combustible Gearhulk, Etali, Primal Storm, Archetype of Endurance, Apex Altisaur.
Added Dragonborn Champion, Karametra, God of Harvests, Kogla, the Titan Ape, Serra's Emissary, Overgrown Farmland, Rockfall Vale, Hunter's Insight.
