[Deck] GW/x Maverick

[slaydo]

If that is what you say, then Thrun would give you more utility starting in the Maindeck. You also want to maximize the KotR in your list. Finally, Maze of Ith should be considered whether you need it. Many of us have found it lacking in the maindeck, and hardly useful in the Sideboard. Cold-Eyed Selkie could also become Edric if you have a blue-splash (usually 1 Trop), but all the 1cc mana dorks can help to cast him too, or be found via GSZ.

overall, the list looks standard.

I tested Edric and he isn't worth the slot imho. Thrun and the 4th KotR are however I dont know what to cut. any ideas?

[r0ckstAr]

To me your list lacks a few lands too : I currently run 22 lands (including Maze but also Cradle) and i sometimes feel like i don't have enough of them (no brainstorm or cantrips to help find the right ones...) - I often feel one wasteland puts me in a really difficult position, especially if my noble/bird/dryad gets Sworded

Other than that I advise you to try a Revoker in your SB, it's a great card against a LOT of stuff (sneak, jace, sfm, led ... it really has a ton of uses)

Also, are you satisfied with SoBaM ? I think in my next tourny i'll try with SoLaS and 2 Jittes.

EDIT : What to cut ? Maybe try to play 60 cards, with 57 there's a good chance you will not see day 2 at amsterdam ;)

[slaydo]

To me your list lacks a few lands too : I currently run 22 lands (including Maze but also Cradle) and i sometimes feel like i don't have enough of them (no brainstorm or cantrips to help find the right ones...) - I often feel one wasteland puts me in a really difficult position, especially if my noble/bird/dryad gets Sworded

Other than that I advise you to try a Revoker in your SB, it's a great card against a LOT of stuff (sneak, jace, sfm, led ... it really has a ton of uses)

Also, are you satisfied with SoBaM ? I think in my next tourny i'll try with SoLaS and 2 Jittes.

EDIT : What to cut ? Maybe try to play 60 cards, with 57 there's a good chance you will not see day 2 at amsterdam ;)

fixed. its 60 cards now. you counted 58. I tried cradle and if they keep your critter count down it won't give a lot of mana. sobam is in testing right now. I was thinking on revoker, maybe cut a dueling grounds from the board?

[Ajsmirnov]

I was playing Revokers, and switched to Needles. As said before, its important against UBG. They kill Revoker and ruin you with Deed. But they can do almost nothing to Needle(1-2 Pulses maximum).

[Tacosnape]

@Tacosnape:

Thanks for your thoughts, some additional questions:

-) Did you ever miss any additional fat (e.g. Terravore) next to your Knights?
-) How were the missteps?
-) You said the Mindcensor was great, but what was your point for running exactly 1?

1. No. Never ever once. Four Knights, four ways to fetch Knight, and the ability for guys to get huge with Exalted Triggers + Equipment? Size of my guys was never once an issue, except for the fact that Fire//Ice is amazing against me. I don't think Terravore's a necessary card in the maindeck, although I do think he's the boss of bosses in the mirror. And you guys know how I feel about Tarmogoyf at this point.

2. Absolutely incredible. I'm pretty sure I'd have scrubbed out much quicker without them.

3. Lack of room? I tried for hours to squeeze a second one in the main and never quite got there, and I never came up with anything I really wanted more than the maindeck one. So I stuffed one main and the other two in an already too tight sideboard. In Hindsight I'm actually going to probably end up running a Metamorph or two and moving the Mindcensors to the board.

[danpo]

Danpo,

Congratulations on your results. Don't feel bad about your misplays, everyone makes them and this is one of those decks that require many small decisions that can have big impact on your game.

I was wondering about your sideboard, I don't see it on the SCG link. I was also wondering how the 2/2/4 split of Crusader, Mindcensor, and MM turned out. I have wrestled with the optimal split of these cards and i always assumed a 2/2/4 would dilute the effectiveness of each card.

I can see trying to massage in a third Mindcensor and/or Crusader, but I'm really not sure where I'd cut to do so. Further thoughts on MM below:

No Mother of Runes? Why?!

Man do I love some Mother of Runes, and have played her just tons over the years. But I think this deck just has other, better ways to do a lot of her work.
Like, Mental Misstep lets you protect guys from Lightning Bolt and Swords to Plowshares and in my case one round a Ghastly Demise. It that sense it's like Mom in that it protects a guy from removal.
But Mental Misstep also lets you Misstep back if your Zenith for Dryad Arbor gets MM'd. And it lets you stop Merfolk's Aether Vial and the odd Reanimate, discard outlet for Dredge, etc. Versatile applications like this where Mom is irrelevant I think is what really shines in Misstep's favor.

Outside that, yeah, Mom lets you block for days, and I have treaded water that way many a time. But Maze of Ith is tutorable and does the same thing. And where Mom lets you bash through a bunch of blockers, often it's nothing a huge/huge KotR couldn't handle anyway, plus the deck has tutorable flyers and protection-giving equipment to smash past ground stalls. This was relelvant one game where an opponent had a few invincible Elspeth tokens and eventually I just ground him out by gearing up a Mindcensor with Sword of Fire and Ice. Protection from Mom wouldn't have helped because he had invincible Mutavaults as well.

Congrats on the result. I like your list, especially the Metamorph in board. How'd your manabase treat you? I may be going to Nashville if I can afford it.

It was nice having an out against Progenitus, and I did board it in for that matchup but never managed to find it when it would've been relevant.
Overall the manabase was fine; I took relatively few mulligans on the day I thought. Getting pinged off Horizon Canopy cost me a very close game, but I think that's because we were playing a tight game of Magic and not because Horizon Canopy sucks and needs replacing. I could see massaging in a second Dryad Arbor perhaps, because it seemed to find its way into a lot of hands where I would've Zenithed for it.

Anyway yeah let's rally if you come to Nashville.

-

I boarded out pieces of the equipment package a lot, and boarded in Path to Exile a lot, but I think as-constructed the list is really open-ended in game one and customizes nicely from there. Maybe someone with a very good read of a narrow meta could fine-tune it better, but you don't see my sloppy ass even pretending to be that pro.

[danpo]

Oh, and upon reflection, wtf did I need a 3/1 Hierarch/Birds split for, when if I need to GSZ a flyer I have Scryb Ranger? I think that was just me trying to be too t3chy for my own good.

[Maëlig]

Birds is a decent tutor target vs hive mind. Not a winning strategy by any means, but it can steal a game if you have a good clock / some additional disruption besides it.

[fdiv_bug]

`Grats on the finish, danpo! Hopefully I'll be able to meet both you and Tacosnape in Nashville. I finished 21st at the SCG Open in Atlanta this past weekend, and I was generally pleased with the list I ran:

// Lands
1 Maze of Ith
1 Dryad Arbor
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Karakas
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wasteland
4 Savannah
2 Forest
2 Plains
2 Misty Rainforest
// Dudes
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Scavenging Ooze
3 Noble Hierarch
3 Aven Mindcensor
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Scryb Ranger
4 Mother of Runes
3 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Birds of Paradise
4 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Terravore
1 Eternal Witness
// Spells
1 Batterskull
1 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
4 Swords to Plowshares

// Sideboard
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
3 Path to Exile
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
1 Null Rod
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Sundial of the Infinite
2 Choke
2 Enlightened Tutor

I ended up going 6-2-1, with losses to Edgar Flores' Dark Faeries list and a Zoo deck that simply outran me, and my draw was with Tinac Xing and his NO RUG deck that took 5th place.

Thrun was almost always a letdown, and while I adore Mindcensor I never felt like it was great for me. Maybe that was just my luck, I dunno. I got really sick of my first-turn Hierarch/Birds/Zenith-into-Arbor sucking up a Swords/Path/Bolt, and for that reason I'm thinking of replacing the Thrun and Mindcensors with 4 Mental Misstep. I could possibly be talked into replacing the Moms with Misstep instead, but... man, I love Mom.

I'm also going to tweak up the manabase a little. Horizon Canopy is OK, but I think I'm going to replace one with a Stirring Wildwood, in part because it can block one of the most obnoxious fliers in the format -- Vendilion Clique. I also have a foil Petrified Field that I really want to use, and I'm going to try replacing the 4th Wasteland with it. It seems like the Knightable "gimme my land back" could come in handy. Finally, I'm going to take one of the basic Plains and replace it with a 7th fetch for the reason Tacosnape mentioned above, in having the Knight hit the table all big from the start.

Thoughts?

[abel_lg]

`Grats on the finish, danpo! Hopefully I'll be able to meet both you and Tacosnape in Nashville. I finished 21st at the SCG Open in Atlanta this past weekend, and I was generally pleased with the list I ran:

// Lands
1 Maze of Ith
1 Dryad Arbor
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Karakas
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wasteland
4 Savannah
2 Forest
2 Plains
2 Misty Rainforest
// Dudes
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Scavenging Ooze
3 Noble Hierarch
3 Aven Mindcensor
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Scryb Ranger
4 Mother of Runes
3 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Birds of Paradise
4 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Terravore
1 Eternal Witness
// Spells
1 Batterskull
1 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
4 Swords to Plowshares

// Sideboard
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
3 Path to Exile
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
1 Null Rod
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Sundial of the Infinite
2 Choke
2 Enlightened Tutor

I ended up going 6-2-1, with losses to Edgar Flores' Dark Faeries list and a Zoo deck that simply outran me, and my draw was with Tinac Xing and his NO RUG deck that took 5th place.

Thrun was almost always a letdown, and while I adore Mindcensor I never felt like it was great for me. Maybe that was just my luck, I dunno. I got really sick of my first-turn Hierarch/Birds/Zenith-into-Arbor sucking up a Swords/Path/Bolt, and for that reason I'm thinking of replacing the Thrun and Mindcensors with 4 Mental Misstep. I could possibly be talked into replacing the Moms with Misstep instead, but... man, I love Mom.

I'm also going to tweak up the manabase a little. Horizon Canopy is OK, but I think I'm going to replace one with a Stirring Wildwood, in part because it can block one of the most obnoxious fliers in the format -- Vendilion Clique. I also have a foil Petrified Field that I really want to use, and I'm going to try replacing the 4th Wasteland with it. It seems like the Knightable "gimme my land back" could come in handy. Finally, I'm going to take one of the basic Plains and replace it with a 7th fetch for the reason Tacosnape mentioned above, in having the Knight hit the table all big from the start.

Thoughts?

You have the same manabase than me except changing a basic forest for Gaea's Cradle. I wouldn't change Horizon Canopy, and it sounds great having 4Mom + 4MM. For me Mom is essential for a Knight not be chumpblocked round after round. Also I play 4 Noble Hierarch and 1 Birds of Paradise to maximize the first turn chances of playing a mana dude. I love Mindcensor but I feel more useful with Vial. Also I found Terravore so useful due to trample, not only for being so big, it's another way to damage the opponent when we haven't an active Mom (due to be killed or to be topdecked so later).

[Cruser]

What you think about this List:

//Lands
4 Savannah
4 Windswept Heath
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Forest
1 Plains
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Maze of Ith
3 Wasteland
1 Karakas
1 Tropical Island



//Creatures
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
3 Noble Hierarch
1 Birds of Paradise
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Eternal Witness
1 Scavenging Ooze
4 Mother of Runes
4 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Quirion Ranger
1 Scryb Ranger
3 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Aven Mindcensor
1 Edric, Spymaster of Trest
1 Gaddock Teeg


//Artifacts
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Feast And Famine
1 Batterskull


//Sorceries
4 Green Sun's Zenith

//Instants
4 Swords To Plowshares





//Sideboard
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Wing Shards
1 Enlightened Tutor
2 Krosan Grip
2 Choke
1 Elspeth, Knight-errant
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Bojuka Bog
2 Phyrexian Metamorph

[Philipp2293]

Looks pretty solid and not so far out of the box. I don't think you need 4 Savannahs if you run a Tropical, I'd cut the 4th and run a 7th fetchland.

Also, what are everyone's thought on the new flash Deathtouch Viper? Could be playable as a tutorable pseudoremoval?

[Fatal]

IMO not worth a slot. To small no impact on game. We have better dudes in 2 cmc slots. When it's useful ? As 1-on-1 trade on flash ? Its conditional trade and more over it died to any other creatures.

[mordraid]

What you think about this List:

//Lands
4 Savannah
4 Windswept Heath
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Forest
1 Plains
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Maze of Ith
3 Wasteland
1 Karakas
1 Tropical Island



//Creatures
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
3 Noble Hierarch
1 Birds of Paradise
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Eternal Witness
1 Scavenging Ooze
4 Mother of Runes
4 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Quirion Ranger
1 Scryb Ranger
3 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Aven Mindcensor
1 Edric, Spymaster of Trest
1 Gaddock Teeg


//Artifacts
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Feast And Famine
1 Batterskull


//Sorceries
4 Green Sun's Zenith

//Instants
4 Swords To Plowshares





//Sideboard
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Wing Shards
1 Enlightened Tutor
2 Krosan Grip
2 Choke
1 Elspeth, Knight-errant
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Bojuka Bog
2 Phyrexian Metamorph

I think it's a standard maverick decklist. What do you want us to say to you ?

[Philipp2293]

No impact on game? It's a blocker besides Knight which actually kills attacking critters, not just stalls them. Also, it's recurring removal with SoLaS.

[Draener]

As a one-of ... it seems strictly worse than Thornweald Archer. You will hardly ever draw it, so it's flash ability is largely irrelevant. I don't believe this is worth it, largely because the two main deck to beat's (NO RUG and UW Stoneblade) either have lavamancer or sword of feast and famine to deal with it.

[Philipp2293]

Well, I would play him at least as 2-of IF he proves worthy in testing.

[TossUsToLions]

If you want more removal in the deck, then there are much better options. If you want more creatures in the deck, then there are much better options. I just don't see this guy fitting into this deck at all.

[CorpT]

What is the general consensus on this deck vs NO RUG? I'm going to a tournament where I expect quite a few NO RUG players to be. Is there a particular configuration that is better vs them? Typical sideboard strategies?

Thanks!

[mordraid]

What is the general consensus on this deck vs NO RUG? I'm going to a tournament where I expect quite a few NO RUG players to be. Is there a particular configuration that is better vs them? Typical sideboard strategies?

Thanks!

VS NORUG you usually want a maindeck Gaddock teeg. You also don't want to see grim lavamancer too often, either you misstep or swords him because he can gets really annoying if he hits the board early.