my LGS just declared the FNM to be "casual" EDH with a house rules ban list of "fast mana" cards like Sol Ring, and a mild ban on infinite win-con strategies... basically targeting cedh decks, to let folks like myself who run slower, clunkier, more beats-style decks, like Mayael. I'm also a low budget player.

one particular card I find appealing and have found to be quite useful is Into the Wilds since it both allows ramp and keeps lands off the top 5 for using Mayael's ability. Considering early game tempo, I could see Skyshroud Claim as more of an immediate-value play in the Turn-3-4 play, but over a longer haul, ITW is a pretty sneaky-good card.

Also, since so many decks straight-up out-tempo Mayael, i'm tinkering with a build with cards like Eidolon of Rhetoric and Sphere of Safety, to go ALONG with Iona, Shield of Emeria, Dragonlord Dromoka, Void Winnower, and Grand Abolisher. I guess I would rather my deck just be faster and more consistent, but slowing the table down seems to help me keep pace. A number of my fellow players are CEDH players, and it seems there are several competitive decks that are effective using a stax-style. Personally, I'm just trying to find a build strategy that works, and this primer is quite inspiring when I feel like getting back to the basics.

Because of how big and vulnerable my board gets I also run Saffi Eriksdotter and Dauntless Escort to compliment Avacyn and Spearbreaker Behemoth.

No Wayward Swordtooth in the list?

@MaelstromHobo Great deck, really loving the card choices!

Is there a reason you don't play Iona, Shield of Emeria?

@thewyzman I tried Wayward Swordtooth out, but this deck just doesn't have the card flow to get reliable use out of its ability. It can make for some explosive plays early on, but beyond turn three or so it's just a vanilla 5/5. If your deck is tuned to draw extra cards every turn, then it probably deserves a slot.

@SurpriZe Personal taste. I don't really like cards that shut off my opponents' ability to play their cards. Same reason Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger isn't in here. Both cards are very, very good if your playgroup doesn't mind them.

I put Blightsteel Colossus, Vorinclex, and Linvala keeper of silence in my variation but I only actually run them if we are playing multiplayer format. if its one on one I take them out.

Hey, I'm a big fan of this deck! Glad to see you're still updating it and I love your creativity working with Mayael.

Hobo, I feel like I remember you talking about the quintessential Mayael strat of cheating dudes out with cards like the ever-typical Elvish Piper and Quicksilver Amulet? Maybe i'm confused (I've read a LOT of Mayael primers in my days). Personally, I run both because of how they simply fit in the deck's synergies. i don't run Lurking Predators, or even Defense of the Heart, at this point because they're easily removed, but i am going to be trying Hunting Grounds in the coming weeks simply because it's 2-cmc.

This subject does bring me to a question though: Is there a reliable win-con available if one were to run Defense of the Heart or Tooth and Nail entwined? What I mean is, if this were a Xenagos, God of Revels deck, I might go tutor the Kiki/Conscripts win-con, but since this is Naya and a considerably different build, is there a win-con featuring fatties? The best thing i can come up with -in my limited knowledge- is something like Ogre Battledriver+Avenger of Zendikar with T&N precombat, which isn't even a reliable win-con. I've tried tinkering around with Mayael's Aria, but for it to be a win-con you have to have something set up by your upkeep, which is a slow and vulnerable strategy.

@thewyzman It's good to have plan for when big creatures end up in your hand. Some people like to go the Elvish Piper route, but I've found the more elegant solution to be ramping. Piper can be explosive (turn 3 Ulamog anyone?) but is an absolute lightning rod for removal. Without haste, you're often not going to see much of a payoff. For the same mana you could cast Skyshroud Claim, which puts us at a minimum of 6 mana - more than enough to hard cast a majority of our creatures. You can think of it as a trade-off between speed and reliability; I've opted for reliability. This isn't the kind of deck you're pulling out at a cEDH tournament, so my advice is to maximize your fun for slower, grindier games.

My favorite T&N win-con is probably Purphoros, God of the Forge + Avenger of Zendikar. Xenagos, God of Revels + Gisela, Blade of Goldnight is pretty cool too. Avacyn, Angel of Hope + Archetype of Endurance has been known to tilt people out. I know none of these are instant-win combos, but they should put you in a position to close out the game.

How many fetches do you think you need before it becomes worth it to run knight of the reliquary and Titania? I cant afford as good of a mana base and I'm trying to see what a realistic down-graded version would look like

@deviousx I think you'll find that Knight of the Reliquary is often good for the sake of her tutoring, but unless you can take advantage of that body you may get more mileage out of something like Sylvan Scrying. I wouldn't run Titania, Protector of Argoth at all without at least 12-14 lands you can reliably sac. They don't have to be fetch lands (try Myriad Landscape and Evolving Wilds) but until you hit that critical mass there are far better creatures you should be running.

Curious whether you'd get more mileage out of Soul's Majesty rather than Shamanic Revelation or is the lifegain more the reason for running it?

@TheMaggotPrince Let's start by making it clear that both those cards are lower tier draw spells. Barring corner cases, I would never run either of them over Rishkar's Expertise or Garruk, Primal Hunter. Their inclusion should be purely for redundancy of a powerful effect - massive, one-time card draw that will help us close out the game. The life gain of Shamanic Revelation, while certainly useful sometimes, is largely incidental. So it really comes down to this: which spell, on average, will draw you more cards? The ceiling on Soul's Majesty is quite high (~12 cards) but the floor is abysmally low. Because it is sorcery speed and requires a target, a clever opponent with some spot removal can ensure that the spell nets us 0 cards. By contrast, while the ceiling on Shamanic Revelation is usually not as high (often ~6 or 7 cards) the floor tends not to be nearly as punishing. When I'm looking for redundancy in effect, I tend to rate reliability much higher than "wow" factor. Shamanic Revelation is, most of the time, the more reliable choice.

I've added Approach of the Second Sun as an alt-win card, because sometimes creatures aren't enough. It gives Mayael players reach and inevitability, especially with the package of library manipulation (Mirri's Guile, Top).

Any luck playtesting Wilderness Reclamation ? I can't decide if i like it enough to keep it yet.

@TheMaggotPrince I just took it out. It's not bad, but I like Garruk Wildspeaker better. Reclamation can lead to some explosive turns, but sometimes does nothing. Garruk isn't always as explosive, but he's also never a dead draw. I know some people like to do more of the glass cannon thing, but I prefer a grindy midrange slugfest.

Excited to see what you think of these new cards coming out. I love the Boar god, look forward to seeing if any of them stick around

@TheMaggotPrince I think Ilharg, the Raze-Boar might be the most synergistic creature in the deck. He mitigates two of your biggest problems: getting expensive creatures stuck in your hand, and whiffing when you activate Mayael. I also like the way it plays with Greater Good , topdeck filters, and ETB triggers. It would be hard to imagine a card more perfectly designed for the deck!

I don't have much to say about God-Eternal Rhonas yet. I like the recursion - guaranteed Mayael hits are always valuable - but his ETB is a bit of a nonbo with our typical line of play (activating on opponent's end step). We'll see if he stays in, but initial testing suggests that the recursion is good enough on its own. With a little work he makes for a sweet repeatable combat trick. He can also be a good Tooth and Nail finisher for a big chungus alpha strike.

Vivien's Arkbow is nuts! It's the first card ever printed that truly provides a measure of redundancy for Mayael's ability. In fact, I think it's even a little bit better in most circumstances. I like that you can dig deeper late game, turn dead draws into gas, and more than once I've used it to grab Seedborn Muse . I'm fairly certain it will be a permanent fixture of the deck.

I wasn't sure about the bow at first because of the possibility to whiff if I dont pay enough into it but man are you right about it being a powerful effect. Super excited about both the Bacongod and the bow. Thanks so much for all the insight!

@TheMaggotPrince Here's some numbers you might be interested in. Your exact probability with Vivien's Arkbow will depend on the specifics of your deck, but here's how it breaks down for me. If I pay 1 or 2 into it I have a 0% chance of success (no creatures that cheap in the deck). Paying 3 yields a 9% chance. Paying 4 yields 29%. Paying 5 yields 54%. Paying 6 yields 71%. Paying 7 yields 82%. Paying 8 yields 91%. Paying 9 yields 94%. Paying 10 yields 97%. And paying 11 yields 98%.

I'd say that unless you know what's on top, you probably shouldn't activate the bow for less than 6 mana. In my build Mayael has a 79% chance of success, so if you have a choice between the two at 6 you should go with Mayael. If you have excess mana though, the bow clearly becomes the better option.

Oh wow that's so helpful. It's definitely going in then lol! I run higher cmc costed cards just because I know I can get away with it in my meta but adjusting those numbers still have similar results. I'm excited to playtest it now.

What's your thoughts on your ramp selection? Why Cultivate but no Kodama's Reach ? It seems it has more value than Rampant Growth

The new set really has Mayael screaming my name for a rebuild. I used to main her, but the vulnerabilities of big deep boards and the inability to recover quickly from rifts and wraths, left the deck in turmoil amongst a sea of control and combo decks.

Does this deck even hang in a meta that touts competitors like Animar, Prossh, and The Locust God? I fear no, though I wish I was wrong.

@bankrupt_on_selling - It's all about where those cards come down on the curve. Our average CMC is ~4, so I've found the best play is usually to keep a hand that gets you to 4 mana the fastest. Rampant Growth does that a turn earlier than Kodama's Reach . Now obviously I still like the effect, as Cultivate is in the deck, but I just couldn't justify making room for a second slot for Reach. If they ever reprint Three Visits I'll certainly be making room for that though.

@thewyzman - This is what I would call an "optimized casual" deck. I don't ever bust it out in competitive metas, but it performs well against a broad range of other decks so it's my go-to for FNM. If my opponent sits down with a precon, jank, or semi-competitive we can both expect to have a fun, interactive game.

The current iteration actually holds up surprisingly well against control. Mayael is good at slipping creatures under counterspells, and I get good ETB value even if they don't stick around. I've been adding more hexproof/indestructible/recursive threats over time too. The real weak match-up tends to be combo. The deck usually isn't very fast, and it doesn't have enough interaction/disruption to stop spell-based shenanigans.

KindredDiscovery i was thinking of something yesterday when i tested out a Mayael deck i just put together, how do Top and Mirri's Guile assist with filtering for Mayael when she looks at the top 5 cards? I almost feel like Crystal Ball is better lol.

@ChinoEX - Top and Guile help make sure that your power 5+ creatures don't end up in your hand when you draw for turn. Crystal Ball is still a good option though if you want to run it.