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Hey man, have a quick look @ my Mayael deck for some ideas: http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=345679

The theme and flavor behind most Mayael decks is primarily very large creatures, often with utility, that you'd normally have trouble finding the mana to cast and cheating them out with Mayael's ability, strong enchantments, mana boosting abilities and 'helper' creatures such as elves.

Mayael is a GREAT general for both casual and competitive play, you should let players at your table know what you're NOT running (for example Iona) if you don't want them to assume that if they let you live too long you're going to wipe them out easily. A Mayael deck can potentially (if you build it right and spend a lot of money) be EXTREMELY powerful.

Mine is kind of middle of the road, maybe slightly above average. It's not intended for hardcore competitive play though.

A friend of mine has a brutal Mayael deck. His has 2 non-permanents, and about 10 enchantments with the rest being creatures. This lets him run a brutal Primal Surge, and a Lurking Predators. In Mayael, I reckon they're both must-haves.

Just search for Mayael decks on here... Here's my list as an example although it's a little outdated now. http://www.mtgvault.com/epsilon-2/decks/mayael-the-anima-edh/

You'll need at least ~25 creatures with power greater than 5 to make sure she can be activated reliably. It helps if you have powerful bombs with crazy evasion or game changing abilities rather than just vanilla fatties but use what you can. An army of 5/5's is still a threat.

I would suggest Seedborn Muse and Awakening for the ability to activate her on each players turn.

Some top manipulation like Sensei's Divining Top, Sylvan Library or Scroll Rack are excellent if you draw into a fatty and want it to come out for free.

Obviously ramp is rather important since all of those big beaters are expensive and mana is important to your plans.

Wipe recovery, recursion and creature protection are important. Things like Boros Charm and Paleoloth are great. Homeward Path as well... You'll be the first Bribery target every game and an insurrection or other similar effects can ruin you if you're not prepared for it.

As an alternate win condition, I would suggest something like Altar of Dementia. Saccing everything in response to the inevitable wipe or an insurrection or living death can be extremely harsh and outright kill several players.

Life gain would not hurt here... With as many big threats as you'll be dropping, you'll be high on people's threat meters so be prepared to take some hate.