Mayael, Caller of Beasts

Commander / EDH* JustJoshingU

SCORE: 8 | 29 COMMENTS | 1387 VIEWS | IN 1 FOLDER


durzostarfire says... #1

what about Archetype of Courage? first strike is solid

April 1, 2015 3:25 p.m.

wolfging says... #2

I'm a huge fan of Autumn's Veil to protect both my creatures and spells from blue/black shenanigans.

April 1, 2015 3:28 p.m.

NarejED says... #3

Looks like an awesome deck!

I'd say you're running a few too many ramp artifacts. Green gives access to some absolutely amazing ramp creatures that are typically slightly superior to most artifacts.

OUT: Boros signet, fellwar stone, Gruul Signet, selesnya signet, talisman of impulse, talisman of unity, and possibly Thran Dynamo.

IN: Somberwald Sage, Birds of Paradise, Elvish Mystic, Llanowar Elves, Fyndhorn Elves, Arbor Elf, Lotus Cobra and possibly Sylvan Caryatid. If you do end up making the deck more creature heavy, Gaea's Cradle might make a worthy addition. For non-creature ramp, Utopia Sprawl and Wild Growth really push the mana out fast and combo quite nicely with Garruk Wildspeaker.

Other non-ramp additions: Warstorm Surge might be useful, since you're likely dropping a powerful creature every single turn. Sylvan Tutor is great as a second Worldly Tutor for putting the perfect Mayael target on top of your deck. Swiftfoot Boots is a good backup for Lightning Greaves. Similar, slightly better effect for a similar cost.

I never really liked baneslayer in Mayael decks. She seems like an auto-include, and she is indeed strong, but not in EDH. A flier with lifelink is only really great in less competitive metas where nobody is comboing out or winning via commander damage on turn 3. I'd cut her in favor of something more toolbox-ish like Sun Titan or a more aggressive creature like Xenagos, God of Revels. Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger comes to mind when I think of big scary Mayael targets.

I only playtested the deck once, so sadly I'm not in a position to really see which cards should be cut to make room for some of these suggestions beyond a few obvious ones like Banesayer.

How is Oblation working out in the deck? I remember it was amazing before the tuck rule change, but I can't imagine it's still worthwhile since. Giving an opponent two cards and paying three mana just to shuffle away one target seems underwhelming. I would think the spot would be better served either with a different removal spell (IE, Council's Judgment) or even a draw spell like Wheel of Fortune.

September 13, 2015 3:16 a.m.

JustJoshingU says... #4

NarejED Ah, let's get to work. So many decisions.

To be honest, I don't want this deck to be too creature heavy. If I have counted correctly, I have 25 fatties that are Mayael targets. That has been consistent enough for my taste. I haven't had any issue with the creature count until I started playing around with the suggestions you displayed. All of those mana rampers are slightly better than the artifacts. I felt that it was messing up the consistency. The flow of it just wasn't as fast. At this point, I don't know what to take out and put in its place.

I have made a few minor tweaks. I removed Oblation for Wheel of Fortune because I did feel that I needed some draw power. Also, I took out Fellwar Stone for Sylvan Tutor. More tutors for creatures? Why not? HA.

Lastly, Baneslayer Angel was taken out for Sun Titan.

September 13, 2015 12:37 p.m.

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