So I'm working on a Mayael deck on a really tight budget outside of the cards I already own. How does this decklist look and are there any glaring problems? I'm worried that I have too many fatties, too few spells, and too few ways to protect Mayael. Also of note, my friends I'm playing this with are also new to EDH so I'm not in a super high level local meta or anything. There's spells I think belong in there like Sylvan Scrying or Temporary Truce, but I'm don't know where to cram them in. Any budget (no card over $5) suggestions?

//General
Mayael the Anima

//Creatures
Admonition Angel
Akroma, Angel of Fury
Anger
Blazing Archon
Bloom Tender
Cloudthresher
Crater Hellion
Darksteel Colossus
Dust Elemental
Eternal Witness
Fierce Empath
Godsire
Hateflayer
Iona, Shield of Emeria
Knotvine Mystic
Krosan Tusker
Meglonoth
Mossbridge Troll
Myojin of Infinite Rage
Purity
Razia, Boros Archangel
Regal Force
Scourge of Kher Ridges
Seedborn Muse
Spearbreaker Behemoth
Spitebellows
Terastodon
Tornado Elemental
Twilight Shepherd
Vagrant Plowbeasts
Verdant Force
Vigor
Windbrisk Raptor
Woodfall Primus

//Spells
All Suns' Dawn
Austere Command
Boros Signet
Breath of Life
Collective Unconscious
Cultivate
Faith's Fetters
Gruul Signet
Hull Breach
Kodama's Reach
Krosan Grip
Lightning Greaves
Mayael's Aria
Miraculous Recovery
Naya Charm
Oblivion Ring
Overwhelming Stampede
Regrowth
Restock
Selesnya Signet
Sensei's Divining Top
Sol Ring
Tooth and Nail
Vines of Vastwood
Whispersilk Cloak

//Lands
Arctic Flats
Arena
Boros Garrison
Contested Cliffs
Eiganjo Castle
Elfhame Palace
Evolving Wilds
9 Forest
Grasslands
Gruul Turf
Highland Weald
Jungle Shrine
Kazandu Refuge
Mosswort Bridge
6 Mountain
Naya Panorama
7 Plains
Selesnya Sanctuary
Terramorphic Expanse
Vivid Crag
Vivid Grove

Their aren't any glaring problems. I did see some odd choices but still nothing terrible. I've found that mass pump effects are overkill in Mayael and I'd rather run utility guys or spells that keep me active in the game.

Whispersilk Cloak and Overwhelming Stampede both seemed a little odd because they look to do different things. The cloak wants to go in the back door and the stampede wants to go crashing through the front. Going for complete overkill you could use Titanic Ultimatum as additional mass pump.

Vines of Vastwood also seems odd. Not sure what you want to replace it with but it's a bit weak when you have all these big guys too and there are better protective spells.

Vines and Whispersillk are to keep Mayael on the board if I don't have a more immediate threat out. Titanic Ultimatum would be another good gatecrasher card. I'm still worried about my lack of low costed guys to put down while I ramp. I could slip in Woolly Thoctar, but aside from coming out early, he doesn't do anything. Also wondering if Elvlish Piper is useful, but I don't think she'd be much other than a 4 mana decoy.

Your list is missing Spinerock Knoll too. And Lurking Predators, which has always been awesome for me.

I tried Mayael's Aria for a while and found it underwhelming. It just doesn't do enough. Occasionally it gives you a few +1/+1 counters, and if you're lucky enough to get it on the field with a Terastodon it might gain some life, but it's really slow and frequently dead. I'd leave it out unless you want to be hardcorely on-theme.

Bloom Tender and Knotvine Mystic also strike me as suboptimal. They're fragile and they don't fix your colors. Darksteel Ingot, Drumhunter, Oracle of Mul-Daya, Recross the Paths, and Coalition Relic are some examples of better choices for accelerants.

Some of your choices of fatties are unexciting as well. Meglonoth, Darksteel Colossus, and Verdant Force stick out to me as cards that are awesome in theory but so-so in practice. Some examples of better fatties would be Pelakka Wurm, Novablast Wurm, Artisan of Kozilek.

I agree that Vines of Vastwood is not great, especially since you aren't running Privileged Position, which is definitely better.

I like Aria flavor-wise and I like the far off possibility of my friends staring in wonder as I hit an alternate win condition with my hulked out Troll. Meglonoth, Colossus, and Verdant Force are there because they are cards I already have and they aren't that awful, the three you mentioned are worth thinking about.

I didn't add Oracle because I thought it was like a $10 card, but apparently not so I could do it in budget. I only have one Coalition Relic and one Ingot which are going in my wife's Scion deck Recross the Paths and Lurking Predators are definite adds though. What would I replace with them?

Recross the Paths could replace the Knotvine Mystic pretty cleanly and Lurking Predators could go in for the Vines of Vastwood. Cream of the Crop is worth considering once you've got Predators in there, since it goes from already decent with Mayael to completely and utterly insane with Lurking Predators.

Artisan of Kozilek and Pelakka Wurm are both uncommons and are definitely better than some of the fatties you have already, so you should absolutely find room for them. The wurm could easily be a straight swap for Verdant Force, and the Artisan could swap in for the Darksteel Colossus. I don't know what you could take out for Novablast Wurm, but it's pretty sick and you definitely oughta run it.


Aria is one of those win-more cards that has a cool enough effect on paper that you can't help but want to see it work in a real game, and then you draw it and it doesn't do anything. It's flavorful and cute and fits well in the theme of the deck...it just isn't very powerful. But I can definitely understand wanting to live the Mossbridge Troll dream at least once.

Well, if you really want to win via Aria every now and again, Serra Avatar and Multani, Maro-Sorcerer make great alternatives to the Troll, and are on the same level of "Go away already!" as the Troll, if not more so. There's also the Eldrazi Titans as well, though your playgroup may or may not be thrilled with Annihilator.

If you want to stay on budget, Crystal Ball. Kinda like the Sensei's Divining Top, but cheaper to get, and it actually Scrys instead of leaving the crap on top.

My problem with the Aria is that each effect is too clunky to be worth it and, while it fits the deck flavorwise, is not something I was to be doing. The only one that appeals to me is the gain 10 life. Even the conditional winning the game I don't like. This is mostly because I choose not to run those effects in EDH. I also don't have a single creature that can hit 20 and the ones in Magic that can I don't want to run because they tend to be subpar without the Aria.

Do they draw the cards from Decree before the trigger for V. Shadows goes off, or does the Shadows trigger interrupt decree of pains resolution?

Just so I know.

Thanks.

The Vicious Shadows triggers will trigger during Decree of Pain's resolution, but you will not put them on the stack until after Decree of Pain has finished resolving, by which time they'll have probably already drawn quite a few cards.

Note that the interaction is different in the case of cards such as Solemn Simulacrum because with Decree of Pain (or Slay etc.), drawing cards is part of the same effect that's destroying the creatures, whereas Sad Robot has a triggered ability that triggers on its death. The Sad Robot's ability and the Vicious Shadows ability would go on the stack in APNAP order, and in that case you may or may not deal damage before they draw, depending on whose turn it is.

Greater Good is... Great! Also added Oblivion Stone and Rage Nimbus for a little added Sun Titan usefulness. This deck's won twice now down at my local store. We pay in 5 bucks and winner gets packs. I've opened a foil Jace Beleren and a non-foil Garruk Wildspeaker so far, so thanks to you guys for getting me some trade fodder!! I'll update my list when I have more time, just wanted to say that I'm a Greater Good Convert, and thanks for all the help so far!

Hi guys, I've been meaning to make a competitive Mayael deck for a long time(way too many EDH decks so she got left behind), now I'm focusing on her deck and this topic (of which sorry I only read the first page and pages 40 to 45, it's too much ) has been very helpful. Now I play on mol only so some cards aren't here yet and can only play 4players FFA, please keep that in mind when reading my decklist, so here it its:

General:
-Mayael the Anima

Lands:36 (I don't have any duals yet, partly for $ reasons but I will around the end of the year)
-7Forest
-4Mountain
-6Plains
-Temple Garden
-Stomping Ground
-Sacred Foundry
-Arid Mesa
-Windswept Heath
-Wooded Foothills
-Krosan Verge
-Boros Garrison
-Gruul Turf
-Selesnya Sanctuary
-Jungle Shrine
-Temple of the False God
-Mosswort Bridge
-Spinerock Knoll
-Windbrisk Heights
-Thawing Glaciers
-Miren, the Moaning Well
-Reliquary Tower
-Skarrg, the Rage Pits

Creatures:36
-Angelic Arbiter
-Artisan of Kozilek
-Baneslayer Angel
-Bloodfire Colossus
-Crater Hellion
-Deathless Angel
-Drumhunter
-Elvish Piper
-Eternal Dragon
-Eternal Witness
-Garruck's Packleader
-Hateflayer
-Keeper of Progenitus
-Krosan Tusker
-Living Inferno
-Novablast Wurm
-Paleoloth
-Pelakka Wurm
-Rampaging Baloths
-Seedborn Muse
-Seeker of Skybreak
-Spearbreaker Behemoth
-Terastodon
-Twilight Shepherd
-Vigor
-Windbrisk Raptor
-Woodfall Primus
-Yavimaya Elder
-Arashi, the Sky Asunder
-Emrakul, the Aeons Thorn
-Iona, Shield of Emeria
-Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
-Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
-Reya Dawnbringer
-Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre

Planeswalkers:1
-Sarkhan Vol (Testing has showed me that this deck needs haste BADLY)

Instants:2
-Enlightened Tutor
-Eladamri's Call

Sorceries:7
-Cultivate
-Explosive Vegetation
-Farseek
-Idyllic Tutor
-Recross the Paths
-Tooth and Nail
-Kodama's Reach

Artifacts:6
-Crystal Ball
-Mana Crypt (my replacement for Sol Ring not being here yet)
-Quicksilver Amulet
-Rings of Brighthearth
-Sensei's Divining Top
-Lightning Greaves

Enchantments:12
-Abundance
-Burgeoning
-Call of the Wild
-Cream of the Crop
-Defense of the Heart
-Greater Good
-Lurking Predators
-Mirari's Wake
-Privileged Position
-Sneak Attack
-Sterling Grove
-Sylvan Library

Now some comments about my card choices.
It has a lot of acceleration because a)The deck was REALLY slow without it and b)I often suffered mana/color screw even with 37 lands if I went below 6/7 accel/fixers.

I want the deck to be competitive and consistent, the strategy of Mayael at least for me it's play lots of fat, fast and let the other deal with it, be proactive. Cards like Elvish Piper, Quicksilver Amulet ,Lurking Predators, Call of the Wild and Sneak Attack help with this.

I also found out that the deck suffers from lack of haste (even if I have Deathless Angel or Spearbreaker Behemoth out), so that's why Sarkhan Vol is there. I tried Survival of the Fittest + Anger + Brawn + Genesis package in the deck but it took too much space, although Anger did won me some games.

Next cards I want to add but can't right now:
-Primeval Titan: for $reasons (but I'll buy one the minute I can, but only if the stay at 34tix max)
-Mirri's Guile: I'll probably get one in a few weeks, my magic budget is pretty much maxed out this month.
-Natural order: See Mirri's Guile, exactly same reason.
-Winding Canyons: See Mirri's Guile.

Cards I may want to add but I'm not sure how good they will be in the deck:
-Worldly Tutor: May not have room for him, even though he's really good with Lurking and Call.
-Admonition Angel: Landfall can't really be abused in this deck and if it dies you don't get to keep tokens or something like with Baloths.

ANY kind of comment, advice, critique about the decklist, my choices or help you can give me is welcomed.

Thanks and good luck, Mravenrocks.

Mravenrocks, your list looks pretty solid to me. A few choices could be better, though; Keeper of Progenitus should be either Mirari's Wake or Mana Reflection (or both!), Idyllic Tutor could be Academy Rector. Also, my deck (and others, from what I've read on here) doesn't NEED haste, as you mentioned. If anything, I use Lightning Greaves in my deck for the shroud more than the haste. In a way, once your general is active, your guys sort of have haste, in that you can get one at the end of your opponents' turn. I'm trying out Where Ancients Tread in my deck, and it seems to be good at what I want it for, which is to break late game stalemates when getting more creatures out still won't help win. Hope some of this helps!

There is also the option of running Fires of Yavima to get haste. Keeper also isn't a bad choice for mana ramp. He is less likely to get removed because other players benefit from him. It all depends if the risk of doubling other player's mana outweighs how bad you need to double your's.

I prefer Pandamonium over Where Ancients Tread. WAT is definetly the safer card, but I got tired of some of my smaller creatures not being able to chip away at things, and my really big creatures getting short-changed.

Keeper of Progenitus also doesn't work on your nonbasics. So there's that.