Originally Posted by EpicLevelCommoner
Hey there. Are you running 62 cards deliberately?I just took the "dark maverick" deck to my LGS and it felt really solid. It's quite similar to your list except I chose to eschew the stage/depths combo in favor of the 4th wasteland and a cavern. I would love to find room for bob but have not been able to.
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Hehehe yeah: apparantly I'm having trouble using Excel to double check myself :P. Anyhow, the way I see it, there are two reasons to play black: better noncreature (or to be more precise, more generic) removal/hand disruption, and Bob to help with Sylvan Library card advantage (mostly because A) Bob is a creature, so it doesn't get hit by Thalia and B) Although Sylvan Library can draw more cards in one turn, chances are you wont be paying as much life per card with Bob).Hey there. Are you running 62 cards deliberately?
I'm iffy on recent changes to the list, mostly because while I'm skeptical about wasteland's applications as mana denial tool for Maverick (tbh, it seems like we're more of a creature-based control list as opposed to a straight up tempo list), I do recognize it's value as removal for utility lands (Dark Depths, Karakas, Gaea's Cradle/Serra's Sanctum, etc.). Also, I'd hate to run max Thalia since she is legendary.
I also kinda want to include a flier or creature with reach in here somewhere, most likely Linvala since it looks like Elves! is hell game 1 for me.
Do you even Maverick, bro?
On a serious note, Wasteland + Thalia honestly wins half my games. Linvala is okay only if you can live to see turn 3/4 where you can drop her. At that point, the opponent is capable of natural order-ing a wincon into play. With UR delver making huge strides where I play, Linvala would be a cute blocker but her real benefit doesn't stop triggered shenanigans like Swift, YP, and Delver itself.
I think there's room for improvement in this list. I don't think you need two karakas as Knight of the Reliquary can fetch your singleton. If they cast show and tell, you can put a Knight into play, untap and search for karakas with no problem. I would not play less than 4 Knights in Maverick. To me, Knight is the heart and soul of this deck and cutting even one is a mistake. The same goes for Thalia. She is one of your best cards in countless match-ups, you want 4. You said Maverick "cannot make as much out of Wasteland as the Delver decks" but I strongly disagree with this statement. After playing Maverick for years, I've concluded that Maverick is one of the best "wasteland" decks. The reason for this is simple. Knight can fetch wasteland, and many games are won by this approach of just tutoring up a wasteland every turn until your opponent can no longer cast anything. On that subject, I would not go below 4. As someone else in the thread mentioned, Thalia + wasteland wins games.
With your list, I would make the following changes: cut the linvalas, and either the dark confidants or the stoneforge mystics depending on personal preference. Maverick is not that much of a "stoneforge" deck, and I only say that because we rarely play 4 and never play batterskull. Qasali pridemage is a 3 of in most lists to simply beat the stoneforge decks. It's a great tool. Linvala sounds like a slam dunk but really it's a trap. Her ability sounds great but she does almost nothing in a majority of match-ups. I've played one in the side and it was merely ok, not great.
With all that said, welcome to playing Maverick and I'm someone that also loves Nic fit so I feel like we could get along.
Hey everyone. I'm a long time storm player. Occasional Thalia.deck player. About 1 1/2 years ago I got the cards for maverick together but only played it a few times before deciding to put all my focus on storm. In the mean time I have - from time to time - felt like playing a creature-centric deck but, perhaps buying into the talk of Maverick's demise, I chose Death and Taxes.
Now, for the past year or so, maverick has been more or less off the map where I play. There is one guy at my LGS that always plays it but he only shows up once every couple of moths. He's somewhat of a master with the deck, though, and nearly always does well. He has adopted the black splash btw.
Then there's Thomas Herzog who keeps propping up in the occasional scg-top 8 now and again. And I keep thinking... Is maverick perhaps one of the most underplayed decks around? In relation to its, erm, power level?
Bottom line is that for a good while I've felt like the deck was WAY under-hyped and the fact that so few people were playing it meant people had written it off. Not that it was actually a bad choice.
So I talked to a buddy if mine and came up with a list and I took it to a 25-person tournament for a 4-0-2 record (the 2nd draw being an ID). I faced:
Infect: 2-1
Painter: 2-1
12-post: 1-1
UR swiftcruise: 2-0
Merfolk: 2-1
Last round: ID
I loved playing the deck and I'm certain I didn't play it to near its full potential.
I'd love to get some feedback on the list. The cavern would have been a cradle but I didn't have one. The cavern actually ended up being very relevant against UR. The 2 teegs were a concession to a) the new delve cards, b) facing miracles and c) facing storm. There were both storm and miracles in the room but I faced neither. And I only faced one deck playing with delve cards. Subsequently teeg felt most insignificant and got sided out a lot. Still not ready to abandon my plan of running two though.
One final thing is, that I would love, love, LOVE to run bobs as it's one of my favorite cards, but I was simply unable to convince myself that it was proper to do so. He makes us more vulnerable to -1/-1 effects. We need him to survive two turns before he generates card advantage. Also, since I'm not running discard in the main I feel like there are less dead cards later in the game where we would need bob to draw us through them unlike Jund.
I might be wrong and would love to be convinced
My list for reference:
4x Thalia
4x mom
4x knight
4x deathrite
2x stoneforge
2x pridemage
2x gaddock teeg
1x ooze
1x noble hierarch
1x scryb ranger
1x aven mindcensor
1x jitte
1x sword of fire & ice
1x sylvan library
4x swords to plowshares
4x green sun
4x Heath
3x verdant
1x flats
2x savannah
1x bayou
1x scrubland
2x forest
1x plains
4x wasteland
1x karakas
1x cavern of souls
1x horizon canopy
1x dryad arbor
Sideboard:
3x thoughtseize
2x ethersworn canonist
1x surgical extraction
1x bojuga bog
2x abrupt decay
1x krosan grip
2x zealous persecution
1x garruk relentless
2x Pithing needle
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Has anyone tested a few preachers in the mainboard? Been testing them, and they've been pretty sexy. Teeg is also a miniumum of two in my mainboard because of treasure cruise.
I have been brewing between Punishing and GW for a few weeks now and Thalia is just so strong but so is punishing fire and I want to play P fire and a strong two drop that is anti combo besides teeg and then i saw this list:
Maindeck (57)
Creature [21]
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Scryb Ranger
3 Mother of Runes
1 Noble Hierarch
3 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Sylvan Safekeeper
1 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Deathrite Shaman
1 Scavenging Ooze
3 Spirit of the Labyrinth
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Gaddock Teeg
Artifact [2]
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Umezawa's Jitte
Instant [8]
3 Punishing Fire
3 Swords to Plowshares
2 Abrupt Decay
Sorcery [3]
3 Green Sun's Zenith
Land [23]
1 Forest
4 Windswept Heath
2 Wasteland
1 Thespian's Stage
2 Wooded Foothills
1 Horizon Canopy
3 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Arid Mesa
2 Savannah
2 Taiga
1 Plateau
1 Scrubland
1 Bayou
1 Dark Depths
Sideboard:13
1 Wilt-Leaf Liege
1 Sylvan Library
2 Zealous Persecution
1 Crop Rotation
3 Mindbreak Trap
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
2 Slaughter Games
full list wasn't provided so I'd add an Ooze, pridemage and a mom, I'd also cut the 3 non-heath fetchs for 2 wastlands and a savanna,as far as the sideboard goes id cut the traps for canonists, i think trap is really weak because the decks you bring it in vs always play probe,not sure what the calls are with slaughter games and what its' good vs,with the two open spots I'd play 2 choke. thoughts?
Maverick for life
http://magic.wizards.com/en/events/c...sts-2014-10-25
Any thoughts on the list that did Top 8 at Eternal Weekend?
It looked really weird to me at first (Domri and Voice were odd to see) but I kind of like it more and more as I think about it. I mean, I probably would cut the Domris if I took this list to a tournament, adding most likely the second Scooze and the Library that are in the sideboard right now, but I think the broad strokes of the deck are pretty ideal (Stoneforge for Batterskull as a main plan, lots of Knight fuel without too much utility land durdling, solid removal and GSZ packages).
I'm not crazy about the SB, I think it has a couple maindeck cards in it (second Scooze and Library) and I've never been impressed by Thrun. I think it's possible that a couple Electrickery are warranted, not just because Young Pyromancer is the best creature in the format right now, but also due to the splash damage against opposing Mom decks and Elves. Tabernacle feels a little too symmetrical for my tastes. And I've found that ever since Council's Judgment got printed, Armageddon is a better haymaker against Miracles than Elspeth (although Elpeth's value in the BUG matchup might still mean she keeps the slot). I'd probably build his board like this (after subbing the two maindeck cards in for the Domris):
2 Pyroblast
2 Electrickery
1 Life from the Loam
1 Council's Judgment
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Choke
1 Manriki-Gusari
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Krosan Grip
1 Path to Exile
1 Energy Storm
I think if Energy Storm is the truth against Burn (and it looks like it, on paper) this board might want more than one. The two Krosan Grips look clunky and bland, but RIP hurts, and every deck that boards it in has multiple other relevant targets, so I wanted a lot of that effect. This board does very little to address the issue of combo, but with the meta the way it is right now, I feel ok giving up some ground on the Storm, Sneak and Show, and Reanimator matchups. (And more to the point, if I felt like I needed to prepare more for those decks, I would be playing a Thalia build or just straight D&T anyway, the decision to bring Punishing Mav in the first place really rests on the assumption that these decks are not as relevant as decks that play lots of dudes).
Since I'm playing D&T right now, I of course tend to think more deeply into that matchup than is maybe necessary. This board has 6-8 cards to bring in and the maindeck only really has 4-5 I'd want to take out. I'd need to test a lot of post board games to figure out how much the matchup changes in them.
I thought the most interesting thing about that list was the fact that it has 0 deathrite shaman. The last time I saw someone do well with a list like that was Meru Bhanot playing straight GW in a starcity like 3 years ago.
It's not really that surprising. Surprising that he went GWr instead of GWB? Maybe. But once you accept that, it's a simple matter of there being no mana to support Deathrite Shaman's most important function.
The tournament I started is over. You should join the next one.
Even the punishing fire lists have splashed for shaman since Fabian Goerzens list at gp strausburg. I am glad to see hierarch return, I always loved it as a card.
I think Voice will someday find a home; though I'd imagine in GWB for Souls. The reason I say this is because it's two sword-carriers in one. If you get more dudes, more power to ya. It also has minor application against Liliana's and the token can be larger on the attack than an opponent expects. (Kills Voice, you get a 1/1, you drop a DRS next turn and swing for 2 and they can't block or w/e.)
That said, it's a bear that only has an upside against non-Plow decks and the upside can be pretty minor. With all of the TA, Shardless, and RUG though; I could see him slowly make his way in. He can make counter-spells pretty one-sided in Bant colors (since if they counter back, you gain dudes.)
ಠ_ಠ
I was being serious. I think Pyromancer is better than Deathrite, Stoneforge, True-Name, Delver, and Goyf. What else is even in the running? Watching the Eternal Weekend coverage made it clear to me that the card and board advantage that Pyromancer creates if you don't kill it immediately on sight is unparalleled and can win otherwise totally unwinnable games. Basically if you are not playing a way to sweep opposing X/1s in your 75, your deck is not equipped for the most powerful plan that the best deck in the format is using. Kevin Jones completely sold me on UR Delver being the best deck in the format, and Pyromancer being the reason why.
Junk needs Zealous Persecution. Punishing Mav needs Electrickery. Straight GW is probably not viable. If I really thought that straight GW was where I wanted to be, I would still splash Persecution out of the board with a Bayou and/or Scrub in the main. The win% gained against Elves and D&T (and, in the case of Zealous, TNN decks) is becoming icing on the cake ... The real targets are Elemental tokens.
Regarding the lack of Deathrite Shaman, I actually like that choice right now. With the increased value of RiP, Shaman's capacity as a mana dork suffers too much in post-board games, and this deck really, really needs the mana. Noble not tapping for red hurts, but at least it always makes mana. However, the other side of this is that refusing to splash makes the combo matchups harder because you can't Thoughtseize them. Fortunately, the tempo decks that we are targeting by playing Punishing Mav are also pushing combo out of the format somewhat.
I completely agree. I've always defined the best creatures as, "Can I allow them to untap with this?" Deathrite, Stoneforge, Mom, Bob, Metalworker if you want it...
Delver, TNN and Goyf, actually, I don't care about in the same way. They are efficient beaters that can get ahead and can kill you, but they don't really offer other advantage. I'll take hits off a delver for a few turns while I set up something to overwhelm it.
Young Pyromancer is even more dangerous because they don't even need to untap with it, thanks to free spells, or just casting it with mana in play. Plus it can flip the board on you (pyro, bolt your guy, counter your next guy). And if they get two down.... Watch out.
GW has Holy Light at least. Wouldnt be the best with Noble Hierarch, but I think it would be worth it in the matchups where you want it.
I am actually thinking it might be time to bring out the old 1-2 punch of Loyal Retainers/Elesh Norn. Norn is very castable with Cradle, and seems like it would just slaughter right now. Need to look at those old Adam Cai lists for inspiration.
BSK just beats it. As does SoFaI on anything. Pyro is good, but he's susceptible to the removal the format already wanted us to run due to Elves and D&T, and isn't any more impressive against Miracles than Goyf. I felt the oddness against UR delver where I had to kill a Pyro and they had Daze + FoW in hand; but it'd be the same way if it was a Goyf. I've abused Pyro before in a weird brew and it was nice to swarm through TNNs and Goyfs while being able to stall, but at the same time I don't think he's long for the format; he'll go back to obscurity just like he did with Grixis Delver; he's too weak as a topdeck or against any deck with reasonable board presence.
Time will tell and we can agree to disagree for now, I just really think you're heavily exaggerating his power level. People should've been running sweepers anyway; UR delver just made it obvious enough that people might freakin' do it now.
I should point out that it hasn't had enough showings in the Top yet to become a DTB. It probably will, but I think the frenzy will die down shortly and he'll fall into the abyss with Swiftspear at his side.
I don't think Holy Light is playable, especially since straight GW's mana dorks all die to it (whereas a list relying on Deathrite could play it, but Persecution is just way, way better if you're already doing that). The upside to splashing is too high, especially when even the tempo decks are cutting Wasteland and you're less likely to get punished for greedier mana bases. I love the idea of putting Elesh Norn on the table but it feels too clunky and slow to successfully enable against any of the decks that you want it for except maybe the mirror (Elves is too fast, D&T has too much grave hate that they're already siding in, Pyromancer/Delver decks will never let your Fauna Shaman activate). I'm still keeping my eye on that strategy though, if the format starts evolving towards more midrange-y decks that can stymie tempo assaults it could be quite a trump. Remember when Maverick was siding Gideon Jura for the mirror? God, I wish that card was realistically castable right now ...
I don't see how it is remotely possible to claim that UR Delver isn't a deck to beat right now. It is far and away the most successful deck in the format at this moment.
Maybe we should just be siding Gut Shots.
I mentioned Gut Shot a week or two ago in the DnT thread. I like the Elecktrickery talk if people go R for Punishing Fires.
As for the discussion at hand, I like the upside of Elesh Norn but can't justify it. The time it would take to string together that combo you're better off going DD/Stage for an auto-kill. You also have to fit very clunky cards together -- Fauna Shaman(s), Elesh, Loyal. What do you cut to make room for this? If you were hellbent on cramming such a package into the deck, I would assume you cut SFM + equipment not named Jitte to accommodate. Even then, you would have to convince me you're make the deck better. I'm not opposed to the idea of Elesh in Maverick (especially with the meta the way it is right now). However, I would need to see some results.
Pure GW Maverick is dead. You need a splash color to generate CA. We have an increasing need to sweep the table (UR, Elves, DnT/mirror). I'll stand by my 5x sweepers in the board until a better solution is found.
Alright, alright, you guys have convinced me.
I have flip-flopped more than Mitt Romney on my deck choice for SCG Oakland, but I think I will play Dark Maverick, the deck I have most tournament experience with.
Last I played this deck was December last year at SCG Vegas. I went 4-5 beating grixis delver, high tide, UB Tezz, and esper stoneblade. I lost to Elves, rug delver, merfolk, jund, and bant.
I have played Jund for just under a year, but I really like where Maverick is at the moment.
What would you guys recommend as a gauntlet for testing right now?
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