surprised by the lack of Ayli love
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Feb. 23, 2016, 3:53 p.m. by NixTheThird
While obviously not breakable like the most popular w/b commanders (Teysa, Athreos, etc), I feel like there must be some strong strategy with Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim. Low cost to get her on the field, super low cost to sac creatures, threatens to kill any big dumb creatures, and all attached to the commander that can keep coming back at a much smaller cost than most viable commanders. The second ability I'm going to kind put on a discount, because it's not going to happen every game and shouldn't be relied on.
So I'm surprised that people haven't been brewing with her more. Is that 1 mana just enough to keep her sidelined? Or maybe it's the lifegain isn't good enough of an effect (which I don't think is right, as most sacrifice decks already run more than enough creatures and spells that give value to creature death).
lemmingllama says... #3
I personally like her, but Karlov of the Ghost Council works better as a cheap lifegain commander. Similar abilities but with more smashing and less mana investment.
February 23, 2016 4:08 p.m.
Karns_Pyromancer says... #4
I think she's better in Limited, personally. That said, a friend of mine has been brewing her & I can attest that she is a very newb friendly general, whether you're new to MTG or just EDH. She's the kind of legend that can grow with you (be built with with commons from a toolkit and become a fearsome, sturdy deck with little effort).
I like her for those reasons. I'm scared of her in a cleric tribal deck. Maybe that's just because I learned EDH by playing against a BW cleric deck though...
February 23, 2016 4:29 p.m.
Spunkmeyer says... #5
There are several win conditions with her. Even endless-combos gain&drain. I added my decklist for her today. Have a look.
February 23, 2016 4:42 p.m.
Honestly, I do love what Ayli brings to the table (legendary cleric!) but I think I like her more as a support card than a general. It would be quite a bit of testing to see if Ayli or Karlov are better, but Ayli slots very nicely into most Oloro, Ageless Ascetic decks. Her second ability comes online much more frequently and can help deals with hard-to-remove targets.
February 23, 2016 4:47 p.m.
Raging_Squiggle says... #7
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I love Ayli. When I saw her I immediately starting building clerics. The way I play her is stealing other players' creature with Preacher or Helm of Possession then sacrificing them to Ayli to gain life or to Vindicate something (but exiling, not destroying).
February 23, 2016 6:06 p.m.
NixTheThird says... #8
Tribal is something I completely forgot about actually. I just never took to it, and cleric as a tribe is well before my time, ha.
I guess we did just have Karliv and Daxos hit the scene, which may be taking some brewing brains away from Ayli. I'll be checking out more decks over time for sure.
Just waiting for my play group to get back together so I can finally try my own list, ha.
February 23, 2016 7:45 p.m.
nobu_the_bard says... #9
Several people I know have discussed Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim decks or making a tribal deck with her, but I haven't seen any materialize locally. I saw people brainstorming kor or cleric decks. "Lifegain" as a deck is overplayed already and people already have other commanders that do that.
I think locally people have been very busy with other things though. A lot the newer decks I've seen have been golgari, izzet, abzan, and mono-white lately. Orzhov decks have never had a strong showing where I am.
February 24, 2016 10:21 a.m.
NixTheThird says... #10
I think lifegain decks might have its overplayed rep due to the obnoxious Orolo, which makes most other lifegain commander look weak by comparison. Maybe that has something to do with it as well.
February 24, 2016 12:14 p.m.
Spunkmeyer says... #11
But Oloro, Ageless Ascetic 
and Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim is wich makes her faster and easier to cast her a second or third time. Beside that, blue isn't known to be a "life-gain" color, so Ayli maybe more straightforward in that regard.
February 24, 2016 2:59 p.m.
lemmingllama says... #12
@Spunkmeyer Oloro is rarely cast. Normally he just sits on his throne and gains two life every turn. You can still run a deck with Oloro and never have any difficulties.
February 24, 2016 3:09 p.m.
Spunkmeyer says... #13
That's a good point! Never thought about it that way. But imho, 2 life every turn is a bit slow for a lifegain-commander. Ayli could easily get you twice as much and more through sacrificing.
February 24, 2016 3:14 p.m.
Karns_Pyromancer says... #14
The point isn't the amount. The point is the cost. Oloro is free life gain. There is no downside to running him.
February 24, 2016 3:27 p.m.
nobu_the_bard says... #15
He's hardly the only lifegain commander, he's just prone to it. Locally I've seen "lifegain" as the default strategy for just about any white deck. I've seen Darien, King of Kjeldor lifegain (via soul sisters)- most local mono-white decks have this as their go-to strategy; various takes on extort (mostly using Oloro or Athreos, God of Passage); some random legendary dragons focused on lifegain; etc etc.
February 24, 2016 3:52 p.m.
I've been working on converting my mono- reanimator deck to Orzhov with her at helm. I've found my main problems are that I need a sacrifice outlet and haven't drawn one or that I don't have the proper removal to deal with non-creature permanents and she does a good job shoring both of these weaknesses. It also gives me the option of a quick win by using Strands of Night, Winding Canyons, or Chainer, Dementia Master to reanimate Felidar Sovereign before my upkeep.
DrLitebur says... #2
Well, I do like her, but the fact is the we just had a spoilage of Daxos the Returned in that same color set, tailor-made for Commander. People are still doing some brewing with him I think. Now with her, a life gain shell and pillow fort would work nicely I think. But as a Commander, she can be difficult to find a finisher, unless you use Felidar Sovereign and the enchant that does the same win con.
Just my thoughts.
February 23, 2016 4:05 p.m.