The following are my thoughts on cards from both the maybeboard and the mainboard. If one of my thoughts makes it sound like the card is supposed to be in one board or the other when it's not, then that's likely because I'm constantly moving cards around on this one. Please let me know if you have any suggestions on how to improve the deck.
There seem to be a few different ways to go about using Tayam, Luminous Enigma, but I think one of the more interesting ways to use Tayam is finding neat cards that have a CMC of 3 or less and getting lots of value out of them.
First, I think a decent Tayam deck can be made with a relatively low budget. However, if we were forced to choose only one card on the pricy side to add to the deck, I think Ashnod's Altar would easily be the best choice.
Second, the cards in the maybeboard are mostly cards that work towards the value engine strategy, but are either much more expensive and thus are more for including piece by piece over time ((such as with the more useful lands)), or are cards that I plan on swapping ((or can be swapped)) between the main and maybe boards until the deck becomes a smoother and more comfortable version of this strategy. For example, Knight of Autumn is in the main board, while Reclamation Sage is in the maybe board because I thought that Knight of Autumn was just Reclamation Sage but better because of the ability to choose different modes. If someone told me later that I should be running Reclamation Sage over Knight of Autumn for some reason or that I should run both of them, then I would simply swap Reclamation Sage into the main board, and something else out of it.
Ashnod's Altar + Tayam, Luminous Enigma + Weaponcraft Enthusiast
is one of the loops we have access to. Even if we can't find both Ashnod's Altar and Weaponcraft Enthusiast, they each provide plenty of value on their own.
Abzan Ascendancy generates +1/+1 counters and spirit tokens ((keep in mind that the tokens gain those +1/+1 counters as well))
Champion of Lambholt gains +1/+1 counters on her own as long as we're playing our creatures. Conclave Mentor ensures that we get at least two +1/+1 counters out of each counter generator, and if Tayam, Luminous Enigma is out, the creatures also get a vigilance counter to get us to the three counters we need for Tayam's ability cost.
Currently not running many mana dorks, but Devoted Druid and Incubation Druid are the dorks. At first they'll just be out on the field to give us mana, but later they can become parts of our engine, especially Devoted Druid. Getting the three +1/+1 counters onto Incubation Druid should be pretty easy, but if it ends up not working well, it'll probably be one of the first cards to swap out. Also, thanks to Rishkar, Peema Renegade, all of our creatures can be dorks if they want to be.
Evolution Sage and Martyr for the Cause do the same thing, but are triggered differently. I currently have Martyr for the Cause in the main board and Evolution Sage in the maybe board because Martyr is one mana cheaper and I figured that I'd be killing my own creatures more often than I'd be playing lands. If the fetch lands are in the deck, Marsh Flats + Verdant Catacombs + Windswept Heath
, then Evolution Sage becomes much more important since Tayam, Luminous Enigma can keep bringing the lands back from the graveyard.
That's a thing by the way. Lands are permanents with a CMC of 0, so Tayam, Luminous Enigma's ability works on them. Lands like Strip Mine and Tectonic Edge are worth considering for this strategy if for some reason you just really hate lands.
Murmuring Bosk is a tri-color land and has the Forest land type. Neat!
It's time to talk about Renegade Rallier. This card brings back our 2 or less CMC permanents if one of our things left the battlefield that turn, which it probably did. I think this card is a good reason to run many of the 2 CMC value cards. I'll list all of the 2 CMC or less cards in the main board that we can access with this card: Carrion Feeder, Conclave Mentor, Cryptic Trilobite, Devoted Druid, Incubation Druid, Martyr for the Cause, Safehold Elite, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Spore Frog, Winding Constrictor, Young Wolf, Zulaport Cutthroat, Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit, Saffi Eriksdotter, Skullbriar, the Walking Grave, Arcane Signet, Lightning Greaves, Sol Ring, Swiftfoot Boots, Talisman of Hierarchy, Talisman of Resilience, Talisman of Unity, Angelic Renewal, Animate Dead, Forest, Plains, Swamp, Canopy Vista, Caves of Koilos, Command Tower, Gavony Township, Golgari Rot Farm, Grim Backwoods, High Market, Llanowar Wastes, Myriad Landscape, Nesting Grounds, Orzhov Basilica, Sandsteppe Citadel, and Selesnya Sanctuary. There's plenty of cards in the maybe board that also work with Renegade Rallier so I think it's definitely a card worth testing.
Plaguecrafter is Fleshbag Marauder but better.
Eternal Witness is a Recollect when it's in graveyard, thanks to Tayam, Luminous Enigma. We're also running Recollect.
Saffi Eriksdotter can bring anything back when it's about to die. So we can make use of her ability for our engine, or we can protect Tayam, Luminous Enigma. This card could probably create a lot of loops. Luminous Broodmoth and Avenger of Zendikar come to mind. They're in the maybe board for now but they'll probably become the win cons of the deck.
Resourceful Defense lets us sacrifice our creatures without having any extra counters go to waste. Ideally, we want to put them all onto Skullbriar, the Walking Grave eventually.
Cryptic Trilobite can spend its own +1/+1 counters to float two colorless mana. Spend one of that mana on its own ability to give itself another +1/+1 counter if it doesn't have summoning sickness, then spend that counter on its own ability to create two more colorless mana. Now you have three colorless mana, but you can only spend it to activate abilities. Wait a minute! Tayam, Luminous Enigma has an ability! And it costs THREE! Remember that this is just from one +1/+1 counter. If we cast Cryptic Trilobite for two or more it'll have a minimum of two counters. If we bring in Cathars' Crusade from the maybe board we can even cast it for 0 and still have a counter to spend on mana. We can cast Cryptic Trilobite for 0 even without Cathars' Crusade since we have cards that care about creatures entering the battlefield and dying: Champion of Lambholt + Grim Haruspex + Managorger Hydra + Zulaport Cutthroat + Abzan Ascendancy + Angelic Renewel + Golgari Germination + Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit.
Good-Fortune Unicorn isn't as powerful as Cathars' Crusade but it costs three, it works with everything else that cares about counters, and it even lets our Cryptic Trilobite live if we go through with the aforementioned plan of casting it for 0.
Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit does this too, although Cryptic Trilobite would die immediately in this case if we cast it for 0, but it's still a free bolster trigger.
Cathars' Crusade probably needs to be included but, while it gives lots of value in terms of +1/+1 counters, we can't bring it back as easily as our other permanents. Recollect, Eternal Witness, and Eerie Ultimatum would be our only ways to bring it back. And while our other permanents could also removed by our opponents, we would at least have the opportunity to bring them back as long as they've only been destroyed or bounced and not exiled.
Zulaport Cutthroat + Cruel Celebrant + Corpse Knight + Blood Artist + Bastion of Remembrance are some of the ways that the deck can win. Zulaport Cutthroat and Blood Artist are the easiest to cast. Cruel Celebrant cares about planeswalkers as well as creatures, which is potentially some slightly extra drain if we're running Nissa, Voice of Zendikar or Jiang Yanggu, Wildcrafter and they happen to go to the graveyard. Corpse Knight makes each player lose one life when creatures enter rather than die. Blood Artist only affects a single player. It's probably better to run more or all four of them, but for now I'm going with Zulaport Cutthroat since it's the easiest one to cast and it cares about each opponent.
Spore Frog is Fog on a frog. Neat!
Woe Strider is the reason I'm not currently running Viscera Seer, although I definitely don't think it would hurt to run both. Woe Strider is a sacrifice outlet, AND we get a free goat. There's an escape ability too in case we ever need it.
Carrion Feeder is something we can play on turn one, and it's a sacrifice outlet.
Fertilid is more +1/+1 counters and it dies immediately when we use up all those counters. There are probably a lot ways this card can be mixed in to the other combos.
Sevinne's Reclamation does Tayam, Luminous Enigma's job one, and potentially two or three, times. Unearth does the same thing just once, but only for creatures. We can cycle it too if we need to.
Rampant Growth and Cultivate are the ramp spells. They also combo with Evolution Sage if we decide to run it.
Victimize sacrifices one of our creatures ((which is what we want to happen anyway)) and lets us bring back two creatures. This seems really powerful. We can bring back our combo pieces, or bring out a big finisher if we have one.
Dread Return also brings back any of our creatures AND has a flashback cost that lets us sacrifice three creatures.
Oh, that's another thing. Dread Return + Rite of Oblivion + Sevinne's Reclamation
all have flashback. So even some of our non-permanents have something they can do from the graveyard.
There might be a need to run more enchantment and artifact renewal but right now I think Fracture is the best one over Krosan Grip. Krosan Grip has split second, but Fracture can destroy planeswalkers. I think Krosan Grip would be the next card to add if more removal is needed, followed by Nature's Claim. Nature's Claim is the cheapest, but Krosan Grip has split second, so we can destroy something without worry and can even stop some of our opponents combos sometimes.
Young Wolf is something we can play on our first turn and it has undying which is great.
Hallowed Spiritkeeper only gets stronger as the game goes on, and can probably give us the game outright in some scenarios.
Grim Haruspex and Inspiring Call are ways for us to draw cards.
Cauldron Haze makes the deck go crazy for two.
Nissa, Voice of Zendikar gives us tokens and counters, exactly what we want. We'll probably never get to use the ultimate, but the chances of that happening aren't 0.
Golgari Germination gives us saproling tokens for doing what we were gonna do anyway.
Desecrated Tomb gives us bats for doing what we were gonna do anyway.
Anguished Unmaking, Swords to Plowshares, Rite of Oblivion, Fracture, and Path to Exile are some good and cheap removal spells. Deathsprout isn't as cheap, but we get a land. Evolution Sage likes land.
High Market is a cheap and fast way to sacrifice something. Phyrexian Tower is a much more expensive way to do the same thing, so it's in the maybe board for now.
Grim Backwoods can also sacrifice something for four.
Myriad Landscape can probably stay even as the more expensive lands move in since it can search two basic lands and I'm sure a certain sage would appreciate that.
