@AngryBearTony, @brokendwarf, I don't have Harmonize, Dragonlord Dromoka, Admonition Angel, Avacyn, Angel of Hope,Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, Nylea, God of the Hunt, Oracle of Mul Daya, or Woodfall Primus; nor does my LGS, so unless I run into someone who has these for trade, I can't run them :( Not to mention budget concerns when it comes to spending more than $5 on a card.

Does using up a turn just to cast Staff of Nin make it worthwhile? Also, how much draw do I want in a Mayael deck? I'm playing creatures from my deck, do I want to be filling my hand with expensive creatures?

Lay of the Land is there for early mana fixing, do you prefer the more costly mana-ramp spells like Explosive Vegetation and Kodama's Reach? I'm never sure how many ramp spells to use. ...I'm trying to see if I can spare a Courser of Kruphix from my Standard deck.

yeaGO, what's going on here? Anything I write more than a few sentences is not coming across, and it's making responding to peoples' suggestions awfully difficult.

@AngryBearTony, @brokendwarf, I don't have Harmonize, Dragonlord Dromoka, Admonition Angel, Avacyn, Angel of Hope, Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, Nylea, God of the Hunt, Oracle of Mul Daya, or Woodfall Primus; nor does my LGS, so unless I run into someone who has these for trade, I can't run them :( Not to mention budget concerns when it comes to spending more than $5 on a card.

MaelstromHobo, as mentioned in your primer I didn't want to hijack conversation, so I brought you here. I've got some cards pulled out and curious to see if you've got any experience or insight with any. Here we go with some cards I've selected for potential chopping block to make room for more mana rocks and some newly acquired cards like Nylea, God of the Hunt and Greater Good (Respond however/only to whatever you want):

Creatures:

• Siege Dragon burns the ground your opponents walk on to prevent chump blocks. I'm on the fence here because of how much Trample I can possess.

• polukranos is one of the first (and only) fatties I can cast pre-Mayael activations, and acts like a one-time removal engine that can help me deal with smaller threats (or larger if the game goes longer), but I thought I'd throw him on the chopping block over many others.

• Armada Wurm has been an awesome card in producing two 5/5 tramplers for 6, but... chopping block.

• Arbor Colossus is in here for two reasons: CMC value (re: Polukranos), and Reach/removal, but often gets quickly deferred over other creatures via Mayael.

• Hellkite Charger has been fantastic when I can use its ability, like when I have the advantage, but feels kinda win-more.

• Dictate of the Twin Gods is a lot easier to cast when using Mayael off-turn, and helps speed up the game when things drag, and it's pure manical when combined with True Conviction.

• Hamletback Goliath is one of the most popular creature in budget Mayael decks, and can quickly become a sizeable threat requiring removal, which he is vulnerable to. Now that I'm putting money into the deck, he seems cut-worthy.

• Thunderfoot Baloth is questionable simply for his conditional nature, but there's no question to his value if left unanswered.

• Trostani, Selesnya's Voice is great as an early play and the lifegain helps me stabilize once I get going.

Non-creature: Atarka's Command was in for the charm-like versatility, but so far hasn't provided enough value in this build to really warrant a spot, especially since acquiring Dromoka's Command.

If you made it this far, I appreciate that much already! I'll have to update my actual list tonight when I'm out of work, so please excuse the decklist in its present moment.

List updated (and incomplete, with 3 open slots, as shown)

Hey wyzman

Siege Dragon is legit. I personally prefer Scourge of Kher Ridges though. Good mana sink, and you don't have to wait to attack to get him to work.

I've never played Polukranos, World Eater. There is value in keeping your curve low, but there are also better removal options.

Armada Wurm should get the axe. Fat fatties are fat and that's about it. Not enough utility in my opinion.

Cut Arbor Colossus. Consistently passing over a creature when you activate Mayael is a really good indication that you need to reevaluate its place in the deck. If you're struggling to deal with flyers, just add more of your own. and have among the best in the game.

If Hellkite Charger is feeling win-more, I'd axe it. Run creatures that will help you catch up or maintain your board state - ETB effects that provide removal or recursion should be prioritized.

I had a lot of fun with Furnace of Rath back in my schoolyard days, but I've definitely been hoisted by my own petard. If you're having a blast with Dictate of the Twin Gods, then by all means, continue to do so! I'd probably cut it though.

Hamletback Goliath - another fat fatty whose sole value is being the fattest. Cut it.

I would cut Thunderfoot Baloth. If you ever choose to include for protection for Mayael then it may be worth it, but for the time being he's probably a bit too swingy.

I really like the token subtheme you've got going! I don't have any experience with Trostani, Selesnya's Voice, but if you generate enough tokens to utilize her activated ability reliably then she may prove to be a viable orthogonal strategy - that is, she can help you win on a different strategical axis while still supporting the main theme.

Cut Atarka's Command. Pretty weak in EDH, especially when you could be running a charm like Fiery Confluence instead.

Good luck! Hit me up any time you need to bounce an idea off someone.

Scourge of Kher Ridges is nice, but I'm having a hard time finding it. Armada Wurm's value is in getting two 5/5 tramplers for 6cmc, which gives a decent early agro, or occasionally a two-for-one; it used to feed Trostani, Selesnya's Voice's need for tokens. In fact, I might decide to keep her in SOLELY for the Utvara Hellkite angle (I've used them together at least twice before, it's mind-boggling how nuts it is).

I'm finding myself a bit light on red lately, and I really don't wanna phase it out. I've got 3 open slots right now, and I'm thinking of filling it with mana rocks (including a Sol Ring I oddly don't have yet, and maybe a signet or two).

MaelstromHobo or anyone else, you don't have to acknowledge all, but I've got a few cards on the side that I found when condensing my Maybe-library for the deck. Any responses are appreciated!

1. Gamekeeper is a chump blocker that potentially drops a fatty on its way out.

2. Nayan mana dorks: Knotvine Mystic (pay 1, cast Mayael) or Druid of the Anima (arguably better than Beastcaller Savant but worse than Sylvan Caryatid)?

3. Quarry Colossus: Even if X is just 1, activate Mayael before blocks, drop this guy out, remove a threat while potentially sticking this guy into a solid block.

4. Pelakka Wurm: Gain life, draw a card, AND get a 7/7 trampler for 7cmc? Seems underrated. Sure it's vulnerable to removal, but by the time it's dead you've already gotten value off it.

5. Terra Stomper: 8/8 uncounterable trampler for 6 seems too good to pass up if it gets stuck in our hand.

6. Bramblecrush takes care of anything our fatties can't.

7. Fungal Sprouting is good against Thraximundar so long as it doesn't get countered, and possibly buys us time anyhow against any other deck that won't threaten a trample.

8. Hunter's Insight is easy to play around if opponents are sitting on removal spells to play against us, but 3 mana to draw half a dozen cards seems awfully tempting!

9. Selesnya Charm plays offense, defense, and gives us an early knight if we need it. I see more use for this than Dromoka's Command honestly.

10. Safewright Quest is a T1 go-fetch-a-dual-land. It doesn't help us ramp, but seems a good early mana fix?

11. Ring of Kalonia gives what few creatures we have without trample the value to do so, while also helping even Mayael become a bit fatter. It's definitely an enabler for those who run Mayael's Aria, but even without it seems okay.

12. Dictate of Karametra helps opponents too, but with a high curve and three colors, it seems to help us mre, and a Mayael deck running on all cylinders can go bananas faster than most decks.

13. Curse of Exhaustion so opponents can't get too far ahead of us.

You're amazing if you made it through all that. I wish I had a cookie for you, Thanks!

Hey, sorry for the belated response. I've been taking a break from tappedout.

There are three cards from that list that I would wholeheartedly endorse: Pelakka Wurm, Selesnya Charm, and Safewright Quest. Regardless of your meta, these will pretty much always be good.

Gamekeeper, Bramblecrush, Fungal Sprouting, and Curse of Exhaustion are situationally good. If you find they pull a lot of weight in your meta, they're certainly worth consideration.

The others strike me as so-so, but I haven't played with most of them.

I'm glad you did, I appreciate it! I don't have as much experience with this deck as I'd like being limited to playing with it 2-3 times a month if I'm lucky.

I very much enjoy MTG discussion.

I just now stumbled across Danny West playing Mayael on youtube in a Vs. Series. He played a lot of Impromptu Raid, which seemed fun. I don't know if he had Reya Dawnbringer, but the two of those together seem like a ball!

Thoughts on I-Raid?

Looking at http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=10948&d=262356&f=EDH on MTGTop8, I just can't imagine running only 16'ish fatties. Think of all the whiffs!

Calling all for some advice:

I've got a couple cards I can see fitting in, but don't know how/where, HELP?

• Hedron Archive because mana rocks are nice to have and the acceleration into early 7-8-drops is almost completely necessary in this deck.

• Flameshadow Conjuring lets me double my ETB creatures and those others with combat triggers for a single , amazing value the more you think about the possibilities on offense AND defense (where I use Mayael's ab most).

• Endbringer is probably the weakest of the list, but the utilities and its untap trigger just adds to its board value. The drawback is the cost, but I have a fair amount of sources like Kessig Wolf Run and Reliquary Tower.

• Natural State to burn off my opponents' mana rocks (like those delicious lanterns), equipment (i.e., Sword of Fire and Ice or Swiftfoot Boots), or early enchantments (Oblivion Ring, Propaganda, etc).

• Defense of the Heart seems a bit slow and situational, but the value is unmatched by most cards in the game for what it does in a deck like this.

• Deathrender is often underrated and un-thought-of in most Mayael decks. It's not as good a cheat as Elvish Piper, but once it's on the board it's a free cheat that lets you replace a terminal dude and gives the new guy an automatic +2/+2 (think wrath survival). ...Along with Greater Good (not currently in this deck), IMAGINE the plays!

I've been trying to decide if Blade of Selves makes sense in a Mayael deck. With enough ETB effects, or awesome combat damage effects it does seem good, but slow. I don't know what to think. It hasn't replaced anything in my list yet, but what do you think?

Thoughts on your last comment...Defense of the Heart has proven to be really ineffective. There are times when it's relevant, but then somebody just blows it up, and any other time it just sits in my hand as I want to spend more time ramping or setting up. I like reusable removal like Aura Shards better than something like Natural State although I do see the value in a well timed one of.

Aura Shards is amazing, I only wish I had one! I don't like the blade for the same reason I don't like most equipment "good" in build like this: equip costs. That blade does work well with my list, but the 4 then someone just kills it, seems risky. Definitely flavorful, and I'd love it for my Maybe board, but I'm not sure I'd give up a spot yet. If have to think more on it since every equipment I've ever run so far has proven not worth the trouble

Corner case I think. People kill stuff. But, it all depends on how much removal for artifacts is actually in your meta. If it never gets used then yes, I'd agree. I run Sword of Feast and Famine in my build and every time I have it out it pulls it's weight. IMO if you don't play cards people want to remove you're not doing it right. I do see the feel bad moment of having it removed in response to the equip cost of though.

Ok, I was outside of work when I wrote earlier, so let me elaborate... I've tried running both Behemoth Sledge and Illusionist's Bracers in this deck, and though I have played them, the cost to equip and re-equip is surprisingly inconvenient since this deck is always typically trying to do something else with the mana, whether it's ramping, fixing, building, or interacting with the other boards trying to keep up. Since the deck is comparatively slow against most, taking the resources to equip creatures seems limited in value. However, the struggle that has been streamlining and upgrading this deck has put me in that mindset for a long time.

The mana has been upgraded, and more ETB creatures have been added in the past year, and while that Blade of Selves does have some clear power on my board, I'm just undecided at the moment since you've only just introduced me to it, and considering that $9+ price tag (although my LGS does carry it!) is quite steep for a card useless in 1v1 combat.

Now, Aura Shards seems amazing, and your honorable mention may have pushed me to finally break down and order one. I prefer to have more instants/sorceries over arts/chants since the latter are removable, but that might be a chant worth having (though it would be a clear lightning rod).

bankrupt_on_selling, just tagging an invite to check my deck. It's much like MaelstromHobo's, or many other Mayael decks I suppose, but I have a somewhat defined meta I'm aimed at, and I take the approach of playing Mayael the Anima's ability on opponents' turns, at instant speed, which makes it a bit more predictable and heavier on ETB/interactive effects. I'm also fairly budget constrained, generally speaking, but can occasionally drop a few bucks on the right cards. I'd love to discuss anything, it gives me things to do and think about :)

Hey man I would love to chat some nayan beefcake with you! I read your meta is heavy blue but even so more often than not it seems you would be triggering mayael's ability more than casting creatures so Spellbreaker Behemoth seems like it may be underwhelming. And about Mayael's Aria and your Colossus of Akros there is Mossbridge Troll to think about as another wincon with power 20 or greater. And I've never played with Colossus of Akros can he be consistantly monstrosity-d? Deck top manipulative cards are good with mayael so maybe Mirri's Guile and Scroll Rack to go with your Sensei's Divining Top? I would add Swords to Plowshares to give your Path to Exile a non identical twin. Elspeth, Sun's Champion doesn't seem that impressive, her minus ability goes against everything this kind of deck stands for. Maybe one of the Garruk's or Karn Liberated as a PW substitute? Mighty Emergence seems a tad weak, a deck like this runs the biggest and dumbest heavyweight hitters in the game, it would be good to add something a little more than just more beef. All of this is of course suggestions just to be taken as food for thought of course!

A lot of the blue players run clone spells, so maybe Archetype of Endurance would be more relevant as a Mayael target, but Spellbreaker is nice as an early play, and helps when I inevitably get stuck with fatties in my hand... But you're right. I like Mossbridge Troll, almost forget about him, because I don't own one yet, but I like him for the win con and the pseudo-indestructibility... Lunch over, will finish comment later;)

Alright, response Part 2:

Colossus of Akros, like any monstrosity, can only be used once per the text. I actually just added Sun Titan the other day to the list because my opponents WILL counter or destroy Mayael's Aria if they know it's my win-con, so Titan and Eternal Witness are ways to get it back. ...

Mirri's Guile is good, generally speaking, but the manipulation it does does nothing for Mayael directly since she goes after the top FIVE, Guile is used more effectively with Courser of Kruphix/Oracle of Mul Daya and Into the Wilds to keep lands off the top so Mayael hits more creatures. ...

Swords to Plowshares is good removal, but I don't want to go too heavy on creature removal because the intent of the deck is to just be bigger, it's really just cards like Sheoldred, Whispering One and Thraximundar that really shut this deck down HARD, and I've got some removal, but that's at the TOP of the wishlist when I want more! (at which point I'll have to order one) ...

Elspeth, Sun's Champion does feel like an odd duckling here, but her abilities seem relevant since this deck gets beaten 100% of the time it doesn't answer the aforementioned threats quickly. Dropping tokens by the fistful lets this deck go wide and covers up the glaring Achilles heel of just being deep. Her second ability helps clear the board when it gets bigger than me, and I've never ever seen a player who popped her ultimate lose a game. Nothing says WTF like flying wurms and other winged fatties! Lol. ...

I had Garruk Wildspeaker (probably the weakest Garruk iteration) in here at one point, but he was DRASTICALLY overrated, doing very little for my board, ever. Karn is good, but he's WELL above the budget here. ... Mighty Emergence is another card that feels underwhelming at times, but it's in the list almost entirely for ONE reason: To always have the bigger dude. In other words, when everyone wants to Clone my 15/15 Worldspine Wurm, I'll have a 17/17 Wurm since Clone doesn't copy the +1/+1 counters on the target. ...

Keep it coming if you like :)

I finally got my Avacyn, Angel of Hope, Novablast Wurm, and Aura Shards!

I also got a Steel Hellkite, but not sure whether he deserves a starting spot. The upside is that he's a pumpable dragon (theme, evasion) with a wrath-like destruction ability, and since he's colorless I can't really get land-screwed trying to cast him, if it comes down to that. He's also one of my cheapest "fatties". The downside is that he has no protections, and requires dealing combat damage to use his ability, which also requires additional mana contribution. Anyone, thoughts?

I run a budget Mayael list, so YMMV, but I really like Paleoloth & Hamletback Goliath. Hamletback gets huge quickly and makes other people reluctant to play creatures or pump out tokens - plus doesn't take long to trigger the Aria. Paleoloth is great for recovering from boardwipe.

"YMMV"? I've played with both dudes, and they're not bad for budget decks. The drawback to Paleoloth is that you need dead creatures, and once those fatties come back to your hand you have to cast them, or cheat them in. Hamletback Goliath really does get huge fast, especially alongside Utvara Hellkite! Beyond that, he's just a big fat body with no protections, no abilities, and no real way to interact with opponents. He doesn't really scare off tokens because they'll just swarm right by him, and he's nothing a Doomblade or Ultimate Price can't handle. But now that I stuck Mayael's Aria back in, you're making me reconsider :)

I've been playing this deck for years, and it's been everywhere from a $20 to a now $400 deck. I've got hundreds of cards that I've had in and out, so I'd be happy to answer any questions or share any experiences, or justify any of my card selections.

YMMV - your mileage may vary - and obviously it does! Sounds like your playgroup may be a little more competitive than mine. In my playgroup, he does scare off the tokens, because he gets big fast, and if he's not dealt with I can kill you with a well placed Rogue's Passage or something like Primal Rage - not to mention the aria. I see what you mean about Paleoloth, but at least it gets you back your creatures. I like it better in this build than Eternal Witness because it's a target for Mayael and the effect is repeatable - but your mileage may vary... ;)