[Deck] GW/x Maverick

[mini1337s]

I think it's gimmicky and loses a lot of power in not being a surprise anymore. It was an awesome call for the meta, as it certainly paid off, but the list I played against didn't seem to have the zenith package and certainly didn't have the stone forge package. It was a nice surprise, but I can't really see it doing all that well, for long, if everyone starts seeing fauna shamans and Elesh running around.

The beauty is that it is protected by Mom. Mother of Runes + Elesh Norn, is pretty difficult for most decks to deal with.

[TheKingslayer]

Of course it is. It's extremely powerful, but what aggro matchup are you afraid of besides the mirror?

[CorpT]

I played Adam Cai round 9 when we were both 7-1 and he absolutely destroyed me with Elesh Norn. It really stomps the mirror. He didn't even need to Retainer it in. Cradle + mana dudes was more than enough.

[TheKingslayer]

Then I played him right before you when we were 6-1. I was shocked to watch him bin her game 1. After I called a judge over to read the oracle text off the Chinese version, I knew I was absolutely fucked.

[Koby]

Finished 12-3 at the GP with 73/75 of the list linked in my signature. Lost three matches: Yurchuck's Stoneblade with 2 Elspeth in Round 7, Belcher in Round 9, and the bubble in Round 15 against Dan Jordan's list in Game 3. His list didn't have much advantage over mine from the main deck and played more Elspeth and ran Gut Shot plus Path to Exile. Mull to five on the draw with a one lander made it a blowout after he removal'd/Wasted me on turn 2. Thems the breaks.

I wouldn't change anything about the deck at this point except for some flex/meta slots. Gut shot is an interesting answer for both the mirror and Delver so it might help out. Report coming in the next week.

-Jacob OUT.

[toor]

Won a GPT. Changed a bit for a GP based on much higher prescences of dredge and Maverick then intially anticipated.

Lost my feature match but barely made Day 2(and bombed out).

Gave my decklist to Pascal who changed about ~5 cards and top 8ed. I think my version/s were very good for the tournament. He mentioned that he should of won his quarters against martell but he played poorly (can't confirm cause I was on my way home).

We were something like 6-0 against the "mirror" on the weekend.

I still think everyone runs way too little lands but maybe I just don't have enough gamble.

-Lucas

[DrHealex]

Ran the ol' Punishing Mav at gp Indy with a side board of
2 choke, 2 enlightened tutor, 1 worship, 1 wheel of sun and moon, 1 phyrexian metamorph (allstar), 1 Tormod's Crypt, 1 Thorn of Amethyst, 1 crucible of worlds, 1 Oblivion Ring, 1 ethersworn canonist, 1 Krosan Grip, 1 elspeth, knigth-errant, 1 something i cant for the life of me remember right now here at work.
Rnd 1 Bye
Rnd 2 Bye
Rnd 3 (2-0) Rug Tempo : a well time choke gm2 while under loamed wasteland lock (2 basics ftw)
Rnd 4 (0-2) Bant Blade: couldnt draw the threats game 1 vs triple knight, game 2 couldnt draw enough threats or my grove vs his removal while crucible wastand locking him. Stoned B-skull wins.
Rnd 5 (2-0) Mono White Blade: powerless vs my removal.
Rnd 6 (2-0) GW Maverick: Removal ROAR!
Rnd 7(2-0) Punishing Maverick: maindeck bog + pfire vs knights swings g1, g2 crucible lock + pfire up + equips + big beats.
Rnd 8 (2-1) Dredge: G1 die turn 2. G2 win via thorn + teeg + crypt + bog. G3 he has me dead but I take a dishonorable win by an upgraded mistrigger regarding bridge (prior mistrigger warning, failling to remove 1 of 2 bridges after discarding a bridge and firestorming my guys g2 , making zombies after a resolved therapy g3)
Rnd 9 (1-2) Shoal and Tell: G1 prog eats me, g2 prog dies to metamorph, g3 prog dies to metamorph and a fortunate brainstorm gets him shoal and vines of vastwood for his prog in hand and active inkmoth to battle my active pridemage a turn before death. FUN GAME!
DAY 2
Rnd 10 (0-2) Sneak and Show: I play this badly, g1 drop knight instead over batterskull on show and tell and dont win race (he drops prog), g2 he shows in a sneak to sneak in an emrakul i kill sneak with pridemade and sac everything but a hierarch (should have left the teeg)
Rnd 11 (2-0) Dredge
Rnd 12 (2-1) Dredge: Won g1 due to md bog and vry bad dredges, won g3 due to hate + karakas when he wiped my board with elesh.
Rnd 13 (2-0) All Foil Merfolk: g1 was epic with me a turn away from dead (lvled commander, kira, reejery) at 1 and me simply outplaying him + plus savage punishing fire rips to kill his cursecather chump to kill him with giant knight. G2 he mulligans, he plays waste + relic, i play plains, he draws and passes.. Ouch, I play mystic for batterskull, he draws and scoops with submerge and mindharness in hand and no island in sight.
Rnd 14 (1-2) UW stoneblade: G1 i win with too many threats and answers, g2 i mull to an all lander 5(dbl waste), he mulls to 4 for an all lander. BLUE comes out on top, g3 get screwd on white and unanswered hardcasted bskull wins it.
Rnd 15 (0-2) Rug tempo: piolted by the ever competent Mark Sun. G1 ok4lander.... Drew 6 turns of land and died to mongoose, goyfs, delver, and burn. G2 mull to an awkward 6 (zenith, savanah, arbor, knight, ooze, hierarch) draw zenith and taiga, he has a strong mana denial/removal hand and kills me with the usual.
FINISH (10-5) 80th

[maktus]

What do you think of using Dust Elemental in SB against mirror or deed/wrath decks?

[BlackStarDeceiver]

I think Elspeth is superior in any way, if you want to toy around though try out Parallax Wave.

[Nik842]

I was looking through cards online and I came across Tangle and I was wondering what everyone's thoughts on the card were. It almost seems like it could be playable though in the SB, not MD. It could help against other aggro decks & the mirror. If we have no creatures it would help us out for a turn or 2 to get something on the board (creature of removal), or if we did have a board full of creatures, it would give us 2 turns of potentially not blockers to attack.

[Machahiko]

It's just extremely bad when compared to.. say, dueling grounds?

[maurobad2k4]

I was looking through cards online and I came across Tangle and I was wondering what everyone's thoughts on the card were. It almost seems like it could be playable though in the SB, not MD. It could help against other aggro decks & the mirror. If we have no creatures it would help us out for a turn or 2 to get something on the board (creature of removal), or if we did have a board full of creatures, it would give us 2 turns of potentially not blockers to attack.

It seems terrible. Too narrow, too situational and usually will be a waste of sideboard space. I guess running more remove in the Sb will be way better than this.

[Nik842]

It's just extremely bad when compared to.. say, dueling grounds?

I wouldn't really want to play dueling grounds. I wouldn't want to limit my own combat to one creature attacking.
I'd probably use DG in a control or stax deck. I'm sure the card doesn't fit into the deck list of either deck, but I feel like it would work better in those styles.

[BlackStarDeceiver]

The Gut Shot approach might be worth it. Saving STP for real threats and playing tempo like. Seems at least better than this :D

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

Running Gut Shot when you could go blue and get Submerge sounds so terrible it makes my eyes bleed.

[Nik842]

Running Gut Shot when you could go blue and get Submerge sounds so terrible it makes my eyes bleed.

And if your opponent doesn't control any forests?
I'm not saying I'm for Gut shot, but it works better than putting the card back on top of the person's library.

I'm not sure if you were being serious with submerge or not.

[Koby]

I think I would still rather play unconditional removal in the form of Path to Exile. Gut Shot is not as versatile and Submerge is very narrow. Oblivion Ring was very good for me all weekend at the Grand Prix, specifically against Planeswalkers and creatures.

[defector]

I just played the GP Indy, not an amazing day, 5-4. Two of my losses were to U/R Delver decks. I felt really behind in those games. I even lost one with a resolved COP:Red, but my only mana was a Horizon Canopy. That sucked. I've only been playing the deck for a few months and was under tested in that MU. Does anyone have any insight about playing it, is it worth more sb slots? It seemed like it was aimed right at G/w, but I wish my sample was larger. Anyway, any ideas, similar experiences or good strat to pound them?

[Koopa]

Hey guys! I know I normally don't post here (quite the lurker I am) but since I did well at the GP I would share my report with you guys :).

I got 64th (whew!) at the GP going 10-3-2. It was a LONG two days but I had a great time! Here is the list I played:

Creatures(24)
4x Knight of the Reliquary
4x Mother of Runes
4x Noble Hierarch
3x Stoneforge Mystic
2x Qasali Pridemage
2x Scavenging Ooze
2x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1x Gaddock Teeg
1x Scryb Ranger
1x Thrun, the Last Troll

Spells(13)
4x Green Sun's Zenith
4x Swords to Plowshares
1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1x Sword of Fire and Ice
1x Sword of Light and Shadow
1x Sylvan Library
1x Umezawa's Jitte

Lands(23)
4x Savannah
4x Wasteland
4x Windswept Heath
3x Misty Rainforest
2x Horizon Canopy
1x Dryad Arbor
1x Forest
1x Gaea's Cradle
1x Karakas
1x Maze of Ith
1x Plains

Sideboard(15)
2x Enlightened Tutor
2x Path to Exile
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Choke
1x Circle of Protection: Red
1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1x Ethersworn Canonist
1x Kitchen Finks
1x Phyrexian Revoker
1x Serenity
1x Stony Silence
1x Tormod's Crypt
1x Tower of the Magistrate

I will talk about the changes to the deck at the the bottom, but here are the matchups:

Round 1: Bant Maverick
Game 1: I bring the beats with a Knight of the Reliquary and win.

Game 2: We have a long game that involves us both having huge boards. He eventually gets a Jace and slowly buries me in CA.

Game 3: Another long game, we go to time.

0-0-1

Round 2: The Dumbest Deck Ever AKA TurboFog

Game 1: He plays some Mines, I Qasali them, but can never deal enough damage through his 100 fogs. It eventually becomes unwinnable and I scoop to try and win game 2.

Game 2: I don't win because this matchup is unwinnable. Way to bring a deck that can't possibly beat anything :/

0-1-1

So now I have to win out, great...

Round 3: Nic Fit

Game 1: I resolve an early Thrun and give it a Sword of Light and Shadow. He resolves a Gravy Train but I have Maze for his train and I was able to recur everything back with Sword from an early Deed. I win the race.

Game 2: An early Elspeth wins the game for me. Deed is pretty bad against her ;)

1-1-1

Round 4: UW Stoneblade

Game 1: Turn 1 Mom and Teeg just crush him. He's never in the game.

Game 2: Elspeth runs away with the game. This matchup is very favorable.

2-1-1

Round 5: RUG Delver

Game 1: He beats me with a great hand of Delver, Goyf, Snapcaster, and 3 Bolts.

Game 2: He Submerges my Noble 3 times, I am stuck on 3 mana every turn. Eventually the Noble sticks and I resolve Thrun to block his Goyf all day. Eventually Jitte wins the game.

Game 3: I smash him with an aggressive hand and Jitte.

3-1-1

Round 6: UW Stoneblade

Nothing much to say. Teeg does his work and he can't be Thrun. Choke gives me a free win here too.

4-1-1

Round 7: Doomsday
He reveals a Lion's Eye while shuffling, I know he is one Combo.

Game 1: I keep a good hand against combo but he combo off pretty quickly and kills me.

Game 2: I resolve an early Thalia coupled with Teeg and Revoker naming Lion's Eye. His hand hand is 3 Lion's Eye.

Game 3: He plays Drought of Night, I have a Teeg. I beat him down with it and a Noble. Eventually I resolve a huge Knight and he can't find the answer he is looking for.

5-1-1

Round 8: UB Tempo/Control

Game 1: He resolves and early Bob but draws nothing and I kill him with a huge Knight and a MoM protecting it.

Game 2: I beat him down but he resolves a Damnation. I lose.

Game 3: I have MoM, Teeg, Knight, and Ooze. The guy next to him keeps bumping him with the chair. He get's really mad and misses a key block on the Teeg. He concedes after he is so tilted.

6-1-1

Round 9: Dredge

Game 1: He mulls to 5 and plays a Careful Study. I waste his only land. I have turn 3 Ooze and just beat him.

Game 2: Same thing happens except I have a Bojuka Bog for good measure.

So I made Day 2 after having to win seven straight matches and I was exhausted. Went to Denny's and then back to the hotel to sleep, especially since we lost an hour that night do to the time change. Anyway, I got up for Day 2 and was ready to play some more Magic!

Round 10: GWr Maverick

Game 1: He has land one land, Noble, and arbor. I plow his Noble, untap, draw Jitte, and blow him out.

Game 2: We have a long drawn out game that he ends up winning after he has a bigger Knight and resolves and Ooze.

Game 3: Again we have a stand off but he pulls ahead with Life from the Loam. I try to put a Sword on a Noble but he GUT SHOTS it! I end up losing to his Sword of Body and Minded Knight.

7-2-1

Round 11: Bant Stoneblade

Like my Day 1 game we split games 1 and 2 after we smash each other and game 3 we have a long grindy game and draw :/

7-2-2

Round 12: UW Stoneblade

Like Day 1, this matchup is a breeze. Thrun, Choke, Elspeth, Teeg. All of these cards smash them.

8-2-2

Round 13: ThopterBalance

Game 1: I beat him down but he sets up the combo. I am able to Ooze his Sword away. I keep recurring Pridemage and get there.

Game 2: I bring in Choke but his lands are 3 artifact lands, plains, plains, mox. I go with the Pridemage plan again and prevent him from comboing off.

9-2-2

Round 14: ThopterSword (No Balance)

Game 1: He get's the combo online.

Game 2: I Serenity him and blow him out. I am able to Qasali away his Ensnaring Bridge. Sword of Light and Shadow does some serious work.

Game 3: Choke gives me a free win after I waste his artifact land leaving him with two moxen to my recurring Pridemage.

10-2-2

Round 15: RUG Delver

Game 1: My opening hand is 5 Lands, Elspeth, Plow. I mull into no lands. I mull into no lands again. I keep my 4 card hand on the play of Zenith, Knight, Fetch, Fetch. I play Zenith for Arbor, he plays Delver. I tank and decide to run out Knight as if he had Bolt he would have killed my Arbor. He reveals Bolt off of Delver. I draw another Zenith and Zenith for Knight. I race him but he plays two more Delver and I can't win.

Game 2: I mull again and he has the dream RUG Delver hand. I stabilize at two life and he rips Snapcaster for Chain Lightning.

10-3-2

Tough loss at the end made me a bit angry as I am already favored but lost to the crappy end of variance. Still, for my first Day 2 I felt pretty good especially since I don't have a real playtest group and have to grind games out on Cockatrice. After my game a guy walked up to my table and said "Koopa?" I look up and the guy extends his hand and say "Sup, I'm CorpT." We exchanged a few words and it was really cool to see someone I basically talk to every day for the first time in real life. He seems like a cool guy and a great Magic player. '

Deck Changes:
-As for changes to the deck, Sword of Fire and Ice was TERRIBLE. I already cut it for Body and Mind and could not have been happier.
-Enlightened Tutor was really unimpressive outside of tutoring for Serenity against my Thopter opponents. I am not sure it is worth it.
-Thalia was pretty good all day, I think a 3rd one of her somewhere in my 75 would have been good.
-Gut Shot by my Round 10 opponent seems insane right now. It kills: Delver, MoM, Arbor, Noble, Explorer (on your turn to get the free mana), other Thalia, Confidant, Snapcaster Mage, Clique just to name a few. The card is TECH.
-Thrun was also insane all day, I am playing one in the MD for sure.

Props:
-Making Day 2
-Making some money!
-Thalia for being a great inclusion
-Sword of Light and Shadow for being the best equipment all weekend
-Thrun for doing a ton of work against nearly every opponent
-Meeting CorpT!
-My girlfriend for putting up with my hobby even when she hates being bored all day.

Slops:
-Losing to my favorable matchup knocking me out of Top 32 contention.
-People playing Bant, your deck always goes to time...
-Playing a TurboFog deck...
-The guy who tilted my opponent in Round 8.
-The dicks who broke in to Malacoda's car and stole all of his stuff. He is a great user here on MTGS and it sucs that this would happen to him. I hope they find that dick who stole your stuff. You can read what happened here.
-Sword of Fire and Ice for being actually the worst card ever.

[mini1337s]

Great report Koopa.
I'm starting to lose faith in the SFM package (and especially in Sword of Fire and Ice). Jitte is amazing versus most decks, but I find myself siding out 3x Stoneforge, 1x B-Skull, 1x Sword of F+I most games. I'm usually bringing in effects like Thalia (some sort of roadblock like Ethersworn in my pre-Dark Ascension build). At this point, I'm testing without the Stoneforge package, replacing 3x SFM 1x SFI and 1x B-Skull with 3x Thalia, upping my Jitte count to 2, and upped my Scavenging Ooze to 2.
I'm also going to go crazy and try the Fauna/Retainers/Elesh Norn package, but am waiting for the cards.

Is Thalia strong enough to be a 3x inclusion in the GW version of the deck now? I laughed when I saw GWr versions in the SCG Top 16 running 3x of it and P-Fire, but I remembered all the good players were at the GP