The Convergence of Junk

[bakofried]

If you follow the Maverick/Junk/Deadguy threads, you may have noticed that there is some division (mostly in the Maverick thread) over what constitutes Maverick as opposed to, say, Junk. While at first this might just seem to be an issue of semantics, I disagree. There used to be clear differences: Deadguy looked closer to Black and Taxes, Maverick had the classic exalted package, Junk went bigger and had more control elements, etc.

However, t this point the deck lists seem to be mirroring each other more closely. The inclusion of Deathrite Shaman, Lingering Souls, Stoneforge, and Thoughtseize in the 75s is becoming more commonplace. Is anyone else noticing this? Is there some deck list that will hybridize all three? Or is it just a spectrum of what cards you want to play, which sends us forumites into conniptions over the differences?

If there's anyone else who can articulate this better than me, please do. I was just curious. Everyday Eternal briefly chatted about it, but I'd like something in greater detail.

[Griselpuff]

Stoneforge OP. Deathrite even more OP

QED

[sdematt]

I would say that Koby and I are pretty good people to talk about this.

In my mind, this is how I would break it down:

1) Maverick is a Green/White GSZ-Knight of the Reliquary deck, usually with Mother of Runes, Noble Hierarchs, and a package of creatures to fetch.

2) Deadguy Ale is a B/W Tempo deck using heavy disruption and land destruction (old school Pikula) OR using disruptive, small creatures.

3) Junk is a midrange BGW deck usually with lots of removal and heavy beaters to clock after quick disruption.

4) The Rock is a midrange/control BGW deck with more removal and a later game.


The lists are starting to mirror each other because only certain cards are good against the metagame, and some are the best at what they do. Thoughtseize would be common in Deadguy, Junk, and the Rock, but Maverick is splashing it to gain some edge against Miracles and Combo, since Miracles can be a very bad matchup for Maverick.

Lingering Souls is a response to the format's response to TNN. With just TNN in the format, Souls was only okay. As the format switched to more Liliana, Lingering Souls became better at discarding to Liliana and harassing Planeswalkers. Equipment, especially SOFI, because better as TNN was on the rise in the format, meaning connecting with it became better (ie. Souls). Plus, Miracles came into its own because it had the tools to combat TNN better than any other deck, and it turns out Souls is really good against Miracles as well.

Many decks switched from Knight to Souls or some such thing in a response to TNN, if they decided to not run the Depths package. All of the decks have started to look the same because those are the best cards at combating the TNN strategies. Is there a deck that uses all of these strategies? Sure. It just depends on what you want to lose to.

Starting with a base of:

4 Thoughtseize
2-4 Lingering Souls

4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Deathrite Shaman

You have a package to go into any of the forays of Deadguy or Junk.

-Matt

[maharis]

These decks also crossover with Jund (DRS, Bob, Goyf, Liliana, Thoughtseize, maybe even GSZ) and D&T (Thalia, Mom, Mindcensor.) I run a dega deck with Mom, Thalia, SFM, Mindcensor, and Mirran Crusader. It's all about deciding what packages you want to use for disruption, mana denial/taxing, and a clock. There's only so many playable cards and the synergies have subtle differences.

[ironclad8690]

Junk is a collection of cards that are inherently powerful on their own. Tarmogoyf is a great example. Usually junk decks have around 16 creatures and a similar approach to Jund.

Maverick is more about ramping into KOTR and the creature/land toolbox. Usually Mother of Runes is included. Green suns zenith is almost always included, unless it is one of the less common aether vial builds.

Deadguy will usually only have green as a splash for deathrite and abrupt decay. This deck more closely resembles blade control without blue.

That being said, people have mixed and matched these into obscurity, and it isn't uncommon to find amalgamations of all three.