[Deck] GW/x Maverick

[pcccp]

GW Maverick is really popular in Legacy right now. The deck can easily be ported to the Mordern format. This could be a start:

Creatures [23]
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Eternal Witness
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Mirran Crusader / Tarmogoyf
2 Scryb Ranger
3 Weathered Wayfarer
3 Noble Hierarch
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Knight of the Reliquary

Instants [4]
4 Path to Exile

Sorceries [4]
4 Green Sun's Zenith

Artifacts [7]
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Body and Mind
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
4 Aether Vial

Lands [22]

1 Sereji Steppe
1 Plains
2 Forest
3 Misty Rainforest
4 Horizon Canopy
4 temple Garden
4 tectonic edge
3 Arid Mesa

Most significant losses are Mother of Runes & Stoneforge Mystic but we have access to Weathered Wayfarer who combos with Path to Exile and Scryb Ranger.

Discuss ...

[TossUsToLions]

I think that the deck may need some more bombs since we lose SFM. I think maybe up the Mirran Crusaders to four.

Why are you still running the equipment package? Batterskull especially seems awkward in that list.

There are some other GSZ targets that could see play, such as Cold-Eyed Selkie, Kitchen Finks, Heartwood Storyteller, etc.

Loaming Shaman seems really good here, especially against all the Goyfs and Knights running around.

Needs more Aven Mindscensors. Goes well with Paths and then I would run Ghost Quarter over Tec. Edges.

Remember, this is not Legacy, it is a completely different format. The meta is different, so you can't just directly port a list from one format to the other.

[Humphrey]

I dont think this deck will work in modern. The loss of Mother, SFM, Wasteland, Swords and a completely different meta (combo) wont do it.

[Mr. Safety]

Wilt-Leaf Liege seems like a pretty awesome dude for this deck.

I love it, straight-up beats.

[Koby]

Aven Mindcensor and Ethersworn Canonist should be highlights of this deck. They are going to become an integral part of the denial strategy after the loss of SFM to the deck.

Jotun Grunt and Flickerwisp are also good ideas to include.

[menace13]

I don't think the deck can afford to run single swords or Batterskull without Mystic. 3 Feast and Famine should probably be the deck's package.

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

Disregard equipment, acquire Glare of Subdual. It's also surprisingly effective against a wide range of combo decks.

Here's what I'm testing atm:

4 Horizon Canopy
4 Wooded Bastion
4 Temple Garden
4 Windbrisk Heights
3 Forest
2 Dryad Arbor
2 Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree

4 Noble Hierarch
4 Selesnya Guildmage
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Tarmogoyf
4 Aven Mindcensor
2 Eternal Witness
1 Dauntless Escort
1 Loxodon Hierarch
1 Kodama of the North Tree
2 Reveillark

4 Path to Exile
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Glare of Subdual
3 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

Not actually sure if Reveillark is better than Sun Titan here. It is against Wrath/Damnation, but until the meta shapes it's hard to tell. I'm defaulting to Reveillark to give the deck more aerial strength.

[Amon Amarth]

@ IBA: Woudn't you want at least 1 Knight of the Reliquary in there? Even if you are only fetching Horizon Canopy or Vitu-Ghazi it seems like an effect I'd want at least over a Witness or something. It opens up Ghost Quarter/Tectonic Edge, Stirring Wildwood, etc.

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

Well I certainly wanted Knight, the problem is the lack of fetchlands, really. They hurt Knight's size and your ability to find plains and forests for him to sac.

You could run off color fetchlands and drop the other mana fixing lands, but then you're going to wind up dealing a lot of damage to yourself over the game and weaken your aggro matchup.

[Just me]

How about a light blue splash?

It opens up the manabase to Misty Rainforest to improve KotR.
It adds Rhox Warmonk to the GSZ package which is great a racing aggro due to lifelink and a big butt which doesn't get burned to easy.
It adds Rafiq of the Many, which races combo pretty good.

You also gain more options in the SB for a light counterspell suite vs combo for example.

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

How about not dealing a million damage to yourself in a format where the best deck is probably Zoo, I think is the answer to that.

Like pay a bunch of life to fix your manabase, cast Rhox War Monk, have it get Pathd, lose.

Instead just catch Kitchen Finks.

[Jabari]

So I played this list today and I feel like it definitely has a lot of power.


4 Noble Hierarch
4 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Qasali Pridemage
3 Watchwolf
2 Eternal Witness
2 Aven Mindcensor
2 Wilt-Leaf Liege
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Scryb Ranger
2 Kitchen Finks

4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Path to Exile
3 Mana Tithe
3 Rebuff the Wicked

1 Dryad Arbor
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Arid Mesa
4 Forest
5 Plains
3 Horizon Canopy


For some reason I remember 23 lands but I don't know what was swapped. Anyway the deck is suboptimal but I'm playing on a budget so yea. The Watchwolves could easily be Goyf and the basics Temple Gardens but I don't know how long I'll be playing the deck so I don't want to invest yet.

Mana Tithe was really awesome game 1 and sometimes game 2/3 but it's easy to play around if they think you have it. It's a good idea to board them out as they play around them most of the time anyway. The Rebuff's were sometimes good sometimes bad, sometimes I just wished they were Mana Tithe's. In the future it would probably be better to play 4 Mana Tithe main with Rebuff in SB.

Aven Mindcensor is a CHAMP! Play 2 minimum. I put the Scryb in as a nod to Folk, could easily be a different bullet dependent on meta.

Also I have 1 Mystic Enforcer SB which should be moved to the MD. It wins games by itself.

[Just me]

I don't think Zoo is the best deck. It certainly is the most expected deck, the easiest place to start and the benchmark for this young format.

And you might be right but I'm not so sure. Finks is merely 4 life and just 2 if it catches the same Path to Exile. Finks dies to Punishing Fire, Warmonk doesn't. Warmonk can gain much more life during the game and it a must kill for Zoo. If they don't have Path, Warmonk takes out atleast 2 cards and gains 3 life in the process.

Vs Aggro red and burn style decks, Warmonk becomes even better since there is only teh removal in burn form.

[Fatal]

Hello guys, I'm experience Maverick player (known deck in Legacy), also a creator for Maverick Primer which can be found here on TheSource in Legacy section - its actually DTB.

I was toying with new format - Modern and found that most of the cards from Maverick are also legal in Modern. Format is very friendly for this kind of deck - slower combo, slower control, a lot of aggro which, are mostly good MU for this deck.

After about 50-100 games on Cocatrice I created a stable list. It's not finished I will write few words about chooses which I taken building the Deck.


4 Noble Hierarch
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Aven Mindcensor
2 Scryb Ranger
1 Tarmogoyf
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Rafiq of the Many
3 Rhox War Monk
1 Eternal Witness
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
3 Temple Garden
1 Plains
2 Forest
2 Tectonic Edge
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Horizon Canopy
2 Ghost Quarter
4 Path to Exile
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Breeding Pool
1 Sejiri Steppe
3 Arid Mesa
1 Hallowed Fountain
SB: 3 Dismember
SB: 1 Gaddock Teeg
SB: 2 Krosan Grip
SB: 2 Life from the Loam
SB: 1 Sword of Fire and Ice
SB: 1 Sword of Light and Shadow
SB: 2 Engineered Explosives
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
SB: 2 Spell Pierce


Similar to Maverick we have a lot of 2-3 mana drops and GSZ toolbox.

Here are the cards chooses:

Creatures:

4 Noble Hierarch - this dude is auto-include ramp to enable 3 mana drops on turn 2. MM is banned and one mana removal are only bolts - so most time he resolve and live enough long to ramp us.

4 Qasali Pridemages - 4 is probably too much but its still very nice beater with disenchant - its very useful with such a young blind meta.

4 Aven Mindcensor - first question why 4 ? This creature has big impact on this meta - it's stops most combos, fetches and also support a lot of MD cards - PtE and also Ghost Quarter. Use them wisely with them flash ability.

2 Scryb Ranger - This dudes improve their useful in legacy - here is the same, pro blue can be very good, they're mostly support KotRs.

1 Tarmogoyf - probably can be more in Qasali Pridemages spots - biggest body/cost for 2 - its actually only 1-of due to poor support from our deck.

1 Dryad Arbor - obv target for GSZ for 0.

1 Rafiq of the Many - 4 mana cost bomb under GSZ.

3 Rhox War Monk - shocklands pains are really huge in this deck - this dudes are the best aggro race 3 cmc slots, with 8 exalted creatures and rafiq its gives a lot of life - can be fetched from GSZ.

1 Eternal Witness - life in Maverick Regrowth on legs can be like demonic tutor in middle/late game.

4 Knight of the Reliquary (KotR) - this creatures are the reason why this deck is so good - the biggest body on table with land toolbox great synergy with Scryb Ranger.

Creatures which can be keep on eye:

Weathered Wayfarer - also good CA with Scryb/fetches - was cut due to GSZ mana intensive and situational useful - can be reworked in more Death and Taxes style build.

Mangara of Corondor - D&T main base strategy, with Scryb/blind etb triggers creatures can be used as 2-1/1-0 exchange. Was cut to being to slow - Vial build can be quite well with it.

Thrun, the Last Troll - its very good but mana intensive - more test needed in this format.
Utilites:

1 Sword of Light and Shadow - was prove in Maverick why this sword is actually on of the best in this deck

1 Sword of Fire and Ice - one of the best Swords - CA + pinging without jitte its only card which can be useful as removal.

Actually only 2 Equips still testing right number of them.

Instants and Sorceries:

4 Path to Exile - not a StP but also 1 mana removal which drawback can be covered by Avens

4 GSZ - heart of the deck - CQ and Tutor.

Plainswalker - Elspeth, K-E - probably best plainswalker in this deck - works as tox producer and evasion giver.

Lands:
3 Temple Garden
1 Plains
2 Forest
1 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain

4 Misty Rainforest
3 Arid Mesa

Toolbox lands:

2 Tectonic Edge - "almost wasteland"
2 Horizon Canopy - draw engine
2 Ghost Quarter - works with Avens as better wasteland - but sometimes it's risky
1 Bojuka Bog - very useful tool under KotR
1 Sejiri Steppe - protection via KotR - can be useful while attack with scryb ranger/KotR trick

SB is actually meta call which I found on cockatrice.

Actually record is very promising to be a Tier 1 deck, only pyromancer ascesion with Grove//Punishing is a bad MU before sideboard.

SB: 3 Dismember - vs B/W tempo and Goyfs/KotRs
SB: 1 Gaddock Teeg vs most combos like DragonStorm/Hive Mind
SB: 2 Krosan Grip vs random artifacts protected with counters - probably can be replaced
SB: 2 Life from the Loam - debatable slot - works well with GQ/Edge vs Cloudpost
SB: 1 Sword of Fire and Ice - second Sword to improve equips
SB: 1 Sword of Light and Shadow - like upper
SB: 2 Engineered Explosives - vs Naya Zoo
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction - vs Ascesion
SB: 2 Spell Pierce - vs Combo and heavy removal decks

Comments and debate are welcome ;)

Greetings,

Fatal

[4eak]

Maverick threads merged.

-4eak

[Fatal]

Thx ! :)

Simply time to judge and test which build is better and more stable -> GSZ or Vial build.

[Jabari]

I think if you play Vial you should definitely be playing mangara+flickerwisp. Personally I prefer the ability to mana accel with GSZ and that in my opinion gives GSZ the advantage. Of course vial is better against control decks, but the builds for each version have to be different. GSZ is = to a threat whereas vial just represents the possibility of one. Because of this distinction you need to pack more threats into your Vial deck than your GSZ build because every Vial won't equate to a KOTR but every GSZ can.

[Mr. Safety]

Vs Aggro red and burn style decks, Warmonk becomes even better since there is only teh removal in burn form.

Good burn/RDW players will be bringing Dismember, at a minimum in their sideboards, because it doesn't just hurt War Monk, but kills Doran. Doran is the single biggest wall (no pun intended) to RDW getting there against Rock/Dark Bant.

I know if I was playing RDW, I'd be playing a set of Dismember in the sideboard. It can deal with Doran, RWM, early Goyfs, and Tombstalker. It's awesome that Red doesn't even need to splash for white for that...

[mishrazz]

My Maverick build:

Lands
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Forest
3 Flagstones of Trokair
1 Stirring wildwood
2 Horizon Canopy
3 Plains
2 Temple Garden
1 Sejiri Steppe
1 Breeding Pool

Creatures
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Qasali Pridemage
3 Noble Hierarch
1 Birds of Paradise
2 Scryb Ranger
1 Emeria Angel
1 Thrun, the last Troll
2 Troll ascetic
2 Wall of Roots
2 Tarmogoyf
1 Mystic Enforcer
1 Steppe Lynx
1 Kitchen Finks

Spells
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
4 Path to Exile
2 Beast within
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Elspeth, Knight errant
2 Day of Judgement
2 Edge of Autumn

Maindeck Day of Judgement to crush other creature decks. Garruk, Elspeth, Finks, and manland survives, and the trolls can regenerate.

Edge of Autumn wtf!? you say. It has followed me for a long time now, and works great in the deck. Mana ramp, fuel for landfall, extra draw, cycle and fill the yard to benefit Goyf and enforcer.

The trolls: well, hexproof is awsome. Just slap on a sword and Elspeth will fly him in for the kill. :tongue:

SB
3 Gaddock Teeg
2 Rebuff the Wicked
1 Kitchen Finks
3 Mana Leak
1 Trygon Predator
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Worship
2 Leyline of Sanctity

[HorseshoeCrab]

Is anyone still working on this deck? I think it has a lot of potential in light of the punishing fire ban, plus the ability of this deck to play a huge swath of combo hate.

My list is a bit unconventional, but i think you will see why soon...

1 arid mesa
3 flagstones of trokair
2 forest
3 horizon canopy
1 marsh flats
4 misty rainforest
2 plains
1 sejiri steppe
4 temple garden
2 verdant catacombs

2 blade splicer
3 grand abolisher
4 hero of bladehold
4 knight of the reliquary
4 noble heirarch
3 qasali pridemage
4 steppe lynx
4 tarmogoyf

1 elspath, knight errant
2 lead the stampede
2 mirrorweave
4 path to exile

Sb:

2 choke
3 ethersworn canonist
2 gaddock teeg
2 kataki, war's wage
1 loaming shaman
1 samurai of the pale curtain
2 spellskite
2 aven mindsensor

My list is more like a mildly disruptive ww deck. It has some blowout plays possible with hero of bladehold and mirrorweave. I was really excited about the combo between hero and mirrorweave. A hero and one other creature on your board represents 20 damage on turn 4-5, and that's if you only have two creatures.

I'm trying to cover as many ways to disrupt combo that i can with this sb. I have the beefiest individual creatures in the main so that i can win the attrition fight against aggro and control decks. That is also why i'm running lead the stampede. With 28 creatures, lead the stampede refills my hand nearly every time. Add to the fact that nearly everything in the deck will be big late game, and i think i will be fine against other creature decks.

The deck needs work. I might run loam lions, and i want to fit in kitchen finks somewhere. Spellskite might be bumped to a 3-of in the side since it is great in so many matchups. I have lots of sideboard cards that i don't have room for, like jotun grunt, the pro-white & pro-black guy from eventide, torpor orb, etc.

Any suggestions? I know the sideboard is a mess, but that's because this format is too open for me to have a tidy split on potential answers...

[Mr. Safety]

In legacy, GSZ is a fundamental piece of Maverick's success. I'm not sure it can be ported to modern with as much consistency without it.

Glare of Subdual is looking better and better for this format, and I am on IBA's side for adding in 3-4 of them into a maverick-style build.

[Koby]

I still hold that for the first few weeks of the PTQ metagame, running the maximum amount of Ethersworn Canonist is still the best idea for the deck.

[HorseshoeCrab]

Glare of subdual could be sweet. I don't think i want to shoe it into a typical maverick list, but i'd rather put it in a more token-focused build. Going spectral procession into glare seems good :)

I have 3 canonists sb right now. The other sb slots are in such flux that there is a possibility that the 4th ends up in the sb when all is said and done, but right now 3 feels right. I have a variety of hate bears that go in against the major combo decks. Some possibilities for us:

Angel's grace - keeps us from losing to hive mind pacts
Samurai of the pale curtain/wheel of sun and moon - dredge, snapcaster decks, and melira combo are less effective while this is on the field.
Loaming shaman - the nuclear option against graveyard decks. Isn't as good against melira, but could be useful. See also jotun grunt.
Spellskite - stops twin decks, turns dragonstorm into not-quite-lethal, protects other hate bears from bounce, bolts, etc.

There is a lot more to mention, but i will have to post it later.

[Philipp2293]

How do you feel about the Steppe Lynx? This build is not so ultra agressive, is it enough to feed the Lynx via Knight in the mid to late game or to turn it into a hero via weave?

[HorseshoeCrab]

I jumped ship from this deck a few days ago since I have found a better Mirrorweave deck (and a better deck, period.) Here's the final list that I have:

1 sejiri steppe
1 arid mesa
3 flagstones of trokair
2 forest
3 horizon canopy
1 marsh flats
4 misty rainforest
2 plains
4 temple garden
2 verdant catacombs

2 blade splicer
2 grand abolisher
4 hero of bladehold
4 knight of the reliquary
4 noble heirarch
1 birds of paradise
3 qasali pridemage
3 steppe lynx
3 tarmogoyf
2 fauna shaman

2 lead the stampede
2 mirrorweave
1 elspeth, knight errant
4 path to exile

Sideboard:

2 choke
2 spellskite
3 ethersworn canonist
2 gaddock teeg
2 kataki, war's wage
2 aven mindcensor
1 Loaming Shaman
1 Grand Abolisher

Lynx was great. Worst case it was a 2/3 (aka Loam Lion) and it just ate removal spells like a champ. There were also turns where it was a real threat, either through multiple fetches or the double Flagstones play. You could swap those for more mana dorks or even something like Weathered Wayfarer.

I never finished talking about the sideboard options for this deck, and I apologize for leaving that post hanging. Basically, IMO you want some combination of Stony Silence, Kataki, maybe even Krosan Grip, Nevermore, Ethersworn Canonist, some form of good GY removal and something to help fend off Jund (Spellskite?) Everything else is just gravy, but make sure you have slots to beat storm, graveyard-based, and twin combos, Affinity decks, and Gifts Ungiven strategies like Tron.

[Vimes]

Straight outta ChannelFireball:

// Lands
1 Sejiri Steppe
2 Plains
3 Forest
2 Treetop Village
3 Arid Mesa
3 Tectonic Edge
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Misty Rainforest
2 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Catacombs

// Creatures
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Qasali Pridemage
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Fauna Shaman
3 Lotus Cobra
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Birds of Paradise
1 Baneslayer Angel
4 Vengevine
4 Squadron Hawk

// Spells
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Gideon Jura
2 Sword of Feast and Famine
3 Path to Exile

// Sideboard
SB: 1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
SB: 1 Oust
SB: 3 Thorn of Amethyst
SB: 1 Day of Judgment
SB: 1 Ethersworn Canonist
SB: 3 Mindbreak Trap
SB: 1 Obstinate Baloth
SB: 1 Qasali Pridemage
SB: 1 Gaddock Teeg
SB: 1 Tectonic Edge
SB: 1 Path to Exile

I am pumped about this deck. It just does so much cool stuff; keeps you low on mana with KotR + Tectonic Edge, sets up crazy chains with any two of Vengevine, Squadron Hawk, and Fauna Shaman, and takes you out with Swords and Planeswalkers 'cuz they're just that good. Any thoughts on Scryb Ranger, though? It just looks kinda awkward to me.

[cthululord]

I have generally been a fan of the Scryb rangers. They allow for extra Knight/Shaman activations, produce oodles of mana with lotus cobra/birds/hierarch, and block delver like a champ. I think that 1 is the perfect number, as it can be fetched with Fauna shaman. They are also good at carrying swords.

[JACO]

I think Lotus Cobra needs to be a 4 of in these decks. The ability to have sick turns 3-5 is what would make this deck very competitive. The threats are good, but kind of slow.

[Bignasty197]

I went 2-2-1 drop at a PTQ this past Saturday with a Lotus Cobra variant. My losses were to Aggro Loam(I had him on Jund going into game 3 because I saw no Crushers, Loams or Assaults in games 1 or 2; I did not sideboard accordingly.) and GWr Steelshaper's Gift aggro(which I made 2 epic misplays that cost me the match. Not Pathing a Knight in response to the activation to go get Arena and kill my Sun Titan; Pathing a creature in response to an equip during his first main phase when he had mana to do it again.). I drew against Ur Faeries round 3 because I failed at sideboarding in Ancient Grudge to kill Vedalken Shackles. I beat Burn and some artifact deck with 4 MD Ensnaring Bridges. I believe that if I had known the format better and not made stupid misplays and sideboard errors, I could have easily made top 8 because the deck itself ran amazingly. Here is whats I ran:

4 Noble Hierarch
4 Lotus Cobra
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Obstinate Baloth
3 Kitchen Finks
3 Path to Exile
2 Birds of Paradise
2 Eternal Witness
2 Baneslayer Angel
2 Primal Command
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Sun Titan
1 Chameleon Colossus
1 Plow Under

4 Misty Rainforest
4 Horizon Canopy
3 Verdant Catacombs
3 Razorverge Thicket
3 Temple Garden
3 Forest
1 Plains
1 Stomping Ground
1 Gavony Township
1 Treetop Village

SB- (I had no idea what to expect)
3 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Fracturing Gust
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Ghostly Prison
1 Lightmine Field

I had literally no testing at all going in, but I figured if it was GW I could make it work. I MD'd 4 Baloths because I thought I might face a bunch of Jund and Aggro Loam and I wanted to have a strong game 1 against them. The single Gavony Township was a last minute addition suggested by Di just before the tournament which turned out to be fantastic. Regrowing Finks and making mana dorks bigger was pretty awesome. Eternal Witness was like Snapcaster Mage on crack because I had so much mana.

[Koopa]

Here is a list I just build, going to test it soon

Creatures(28)
4x Fauna Shaman
4x Knight of the Reliquary
4x Noble Hierarch
4x Squadron Hawk
4x Vengevine
3x Qasali Pridemage
3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2x Birds of Paradise

Spells(8)
4x Path to Exile
2x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2x Sword of Light and Shadow

Lands(24)
4x Misty Rainforest
3x Forest
3x Tectonic Edge
3x Temple Garden
2x Arid Mesa
2x Gavony Township
2x Horizon Canopy
2x Plains
2x Verdant Catacombs
1x Dryad Arbor

Sideboard(15)
2x Ethersworn Canonist
2x Gut Shot
2x Kataki, War's Wage
2x Kitchen Finks
1x Arena
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Gaddock Teeg
1x Linvala, Keeper of Secrets
1x Loaming Shaman
1x Obstinate Baloth
1x Oust