[Deck] GW/x Maverick

If anyone is interested, here is the list I won the Jupiter Event with yesterday:


Maindeck:

Artifacts
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Umezawa's Jitte

Creatures
2 Aven Mindcensor
1 Birds of Paradise
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Mother of Runes
3 Noble Hierarch
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Eternal Witness
1 Scryb Ranger
4 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Tarmogoyf
1 Gaddock Teeg

Instants
4 Swords to Plowshares

Planeswalkers
1 Elspeth, Knight Errant

Sorceries
4 Green Sun's Zenith

Lands
3 Forest
2 Plains
4 Windswept Heath
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Maze of Ith
3 Misty Rainforest
4 Savannah
3 Wasteland
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Karakas

Sideboard:
1 Thrun, the last troll
1 Sword of feast and famine
1 Thalia, Guardian of Threban
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Circle of Protection:Red
1 Stony Silence
2 Enlightened Tutor
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Life from the Loam
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Manriki-gusari
1 Tower of the Magistrate

Hi guys, any suggestions for sb to my decklist, my biggest threats are junk, uw stoneblade, and mirror (punishing mav).

4 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Mirran Crusader
1 Eternal Witness
3 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Qasali Pridemage
1 Scavenging Ooze
2 Scryb Ranger
4 Mother of Runes
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Sylvan Library
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of war and peace

1 Dryad Arbor
2 Forest
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Karakas
1 Maze of Ith
2 Plains
3 savannah
4 Wasteland
2 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
1 Marsh Flats

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TheBirdMan

If anyone is interested, here is the list I won the Jupiter Event with yesterday:


Maindeck:

Artifacts
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Umezawa's Jitte

Creatures
2 Aven Mindcensor
1 Birds of Paradise
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Mother of Runes
3 Noble Hierarch
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Eternal Witness
1 Scryb Ranger
4 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Tarmogoyf
1 Gaddock Teeg

Instants
4 Swords to Plowshares

Planeswalkers
1 Elspeth, Knight Errant

Sorceries
4 Green Sun's Zenith

Lands
3 Forest
2 Plains
4 Windswept Heath
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Maze of Ith
3 Misty Rainforest
4 Savannah
3 Wasteland
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Karakas

Sideboard:
1 Thrun, the last troll
1 Sword of feast and famine
1 Thalia, Guardian of Threban
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Circle of Protection:Red
1 Stony Silence
2 Enlightened Tutor
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Life from the Loam
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Manriki-gusari
1 Tower of the Magistrate

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Congrats man! Can you talk about how your sideboard worked (or if it didn't)?

Thanks!

Overall it worked well. I liked having many options that could be used against multiple decks. Like leyline for combo/burn as well as the cop for goblins/burn etc. The only card I am unsure of for the board is Ghostly prison but it seems really great against dredge and aggro decks. I didnt get a chance to play against a lot of aggro to see. The mvp for me out of the board would have to be Thrun. He won me a game against stoneblade and I was able to karakas it if they played a wrath effect. Thrun also won me the 2nd game against rug in the finals.

The sb choice that may seem wierd would be feast and famine in the board over the main, but I don't really like it except against control. I like the other 2 swords mb to be able to protect knights from any kind of removal when mother of runes doesnt stay on the table. Also being able to recur creatures and burn delvers is pretty great too.

Maverick mirror on SCG live at the moment.

Woot! Maverick wins another event! 4c "Fearless" build lol

Not really a fan of this "4c fearless" build, I feel like the red wasn't needed. GZ for William Cao! Was fun to watch the finals with a friend who plays dredge:

Quote:

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Sami K says
"masterfully draws jitte from the top of his library"
"you can see how he got into the finals"

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I also think the red was lacking. Blue seemed to pull its weight throughout the matches I watched and Punishing Fire was just lousy, only finishing someone off when the win seemed evident anyway. I think you can fix up the manabase and add in more creatures or whatever to improve consistency.

Geist, Rhox War Monk, and Pierce in the board looked really good. Crucible is also going into my 75.

I don't really like the Spell Pierce plan - even when playing 4 you have to take out a lot of gas to make it work, and you rely too much on random luck to draw it and be useful. For a deck that doesn't control the stack, trying to play counterspell seems really out of place.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rukcus

I don't really like the Spell Pierce plan - even when playing 4 you have to take out a lot of gas to make it work, and you rely too much on random luck to draw it and be useful. For a deck that doesn't control the stack, trying to play counterspell seems really out of place.

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Still seems like one of the best options against combo. Against control it also is a good way to ensure your bombs resolve/stay around. If I ever play a blue splash, I would definitely try at least 3 in the board.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zand

Maverick mirror on SCG live at the moment.

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Link please :)

Hi guys.

After having tried seemingly everything within control i have reached the conclusion that Legacy after misstep is a collection of bad decks and Maverick. Given that Bazaar of Moxen and Ghent are coming up this summer I guess i should join the winning team instead of just spying;)

With that in mind i have a bunch of questions to the wise and experienced people in this thread.

What is your experience with the 3 Thalia package that i have seen in some lists? Is it good enough to win games against combo pre-board or are we trying to solve an unsolvable problem? How often does a singleton Teeg main steal games against combo?

How good is Thalia against control?

Have you experimented with running more than 1 Jitte, my team were discussing cutting the stoneforges for a 3 off jitte to allow more blowouts in the mirror with Jitte equip t3.

How about a second cradle? Seems like the deck goes nuts whenever you draw it.

How good is batterskull against non-burn decks? When do you want batterskull instead of Jitte?

Here is the first draft list for reference. I am a firm believer in getting down to the essentials. I don't like Geist and I think you loose more games to your own manabase then you win by running punishing fires.

4 Mother of Runes
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Scryb Ranger
2 Ooze
2 Quasali Pridemage
1 Teeg
4 Knight
2 Aven Mindcensor
4 Green Sun's Zenith

2 Elspeth
2 Silvan Library
3 Jitte
1 Maze of Ith (I love this one in equipment battles)
1 Eternal Witness
4 Sword to Plowshares

1 Dryad Arbor
2 Forest
1 Plains
4 Savannah
4 Windswept Heath
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Cradle
1 Karakas
3 Wasteland

If we were to run Thalia i would cut 2 Elspeth and a mindcensor for 3xThalia

Moving back to the stoneforge package would entail cutting 1 Jitte, 2 Elspeth for 2 stoneforge and a sword.

SB:
2 Enlightened Tutor
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Pridemage
1 Null Rod/Stony Silence
3 Choke (don't know if this is the best control hate at the moment, but i have certainly lost a lot to it)
1 Tower of the Magistrate
1 COP Red/other monored hate
1 Thorn of Amathyst
2 Path to exile
1 Tormod's crypt

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rukcus

Woot! Maverick wins another event! 4c "Fearless" build lol

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how is this 4c "Fearless" build?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rukcus

Congrats man! Can you talk about how your sideboard worked (or if it didn't)?

Thanks!

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Sounds like he beat the best pilot of the most explosive Storm combo deck in the quarterfinals, so I'm guessing it worked quite well. :laugh:

Tournament report, please!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Machahiko

Not really a fan of this "4c fearless" build, I feel like the red wasn't needed. GZ for William Cao! Was fun to watch the finals with a friend who plays dredge:

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Serious Question: Is your friend normally as bad of a dredge pilot as he appears on camera? He IS playing adam prozak's self-admitted suboptimal decklist from SCG cinci...

I have been playing punishing maverick over 6 months and the fires were great in the beginning but they have been becoming more and more underwhelming. I believe I am going to switch the 3 fires for 2 geist and 1 monk, 3 groves for 1 tropical, 1st cradle, and 3rd wasteland. Also switch 2 mindcensor for 2 thalia and see how I feel on that for the GPindy.

I am worried I am going to miss that removal for cliques, elves/mana dorks, delvers, confidants, metalworkers, and so many other great targets though...

I top 8'd yesterday at a small event in Columbus playing GW Maverick. Here was the list I was playing:

Equipment (3)
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Umezawa's Jitte

Creatures (26)
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Mother of Runes
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Scryb Ranger
1 Terravore
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Rhox War Monk // Played him for testing purposes, still thinking I should have Thalia in the list somewhere as a 2-3 of

Instants (4)
4 Swords to Plowshares

Planeswalkers (1)
1 Elspeth, Knight Errant

Enchantments (1)
1 Sylvan Library

Sorceries (4)
4 Green Sun's Zenith

Lands (21)
2 Forest
1 Plains
4 Windswept Heath
2 Horizon Canopy
2 Wooded Foothills
3 Savannah
4 Wasteland
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Karakas
1 Gaea's Cradle

Sideboard (15)
2 Enlightened Tutor
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Choke
2 Path to Exile
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Maze of Ith
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Elspeth, Knight Errant
1 Stony Silence
1 Worship

I'm still trying to find room to fit in for another land that taps for mana, but I don't think I can justify cutting any of the creatures as stoneforge can just be a blowout against some decks. I cut a Qasali Pridemage to test out the Rhox War Monk and I feel like it is very strong. I wasn't playing any blue sources at the in my manabase which did become a problem in the top 8. I was matched up against UB ANT and I was able to win game 1 when he resolved an infernal tutor for LED and casted a LED, LED, and in response to the second a pridemage blew up his first one. This made him miscount his mana and he was off by one from going off. Game two I had stuck a stony silence and he was able to go off by just casting the artifacts and with enough dark rituals he was able to win. During this game I had a Rhox War Monk in hand the entire game and not having a Tropical Island or Tundra in the deck killed me as I am sure I would have won if I was able to cast it and start beating with it. Game 3 we both mulled to 5 and I had to keep a 3 land, Sylvan Library, Swords to Plowshares hand. I ended up drawing a Worship and GSZ but I was not able to find the fourth land for the Worship and decided I had to go for Teeg. When I was one attack away from winning he slaughter pacted the Teeg and went off.

Conclusions: Rhox War Monk would've been great if I had put in at least one blue dual land but I had thought that the Noble Hierarchs and GSZ would have been enough to cast a one of spell with a blue mana in it. Even though I love Worship in casual play I can't justify playing it anymore yes it helps against the burn matchup and the RUG Delver matchup when they don't expect it but I think it would be better served as either another Rhox War Monk or Kitchen Finx.

FWIW, I have the Teeg in the sideboard. It has very little value in the maindeck oftentimes, and I've taken it out in sideboard games on too many numerous occasions.

I dont think rhox war monk belongs to the maindeck, its a very narrow creature that does nothing against a lot of MU. Its fine to have it in your sideboard against the Mu in which it really shines. Having it in the MD will make you draw it too often since won't be your prime GSZ target, and potentially make you loose games because of having a dead card in your hand.
In the Mu where you rlly want to have rhox, you won't be upset by GSZing for a noble in order to cast it (in case you were unlucky enough to draw it), where if you have to GSZ for a noble just to not have a dead card in your hand rather than GSZ for something more usefull you'll want to cut your vains.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Goddik

Hi guys.

After having tried seemingly everything within control i have reached the conclusion that Legacy after misstep is a collection of bad decks and Maverick. Given that Bazaar of Moxen and Ghent are coming up this summer I guess i should join the winning team instead of just spying;)

With that in mind i have a bunch of questions to the wise and experienced people in this thread.

What is your experience with the 3 Thalia package that i have seen in some lists? Is it good enough to win games against combo pre-board or are we trying to solve an unsolvable problem? How often does a singleton Teeg main steal games against combo?

How good is Thalia against control?

Have you experimented with running more than 1 Jitte, my team were discussing cutting the stoneforges for a 3 off jitte to allow more blowouts in the mirror with Jitte equip t3.

How about a second cradle? Seems like the deck goes nuts whenever you draw it.

How good is batterskull against non-burn decks? When do you want batterskull instead of Jitte?

Here is the first draft list for reference. I am a firm believer in getting down to the essentials. I don't like Geist and I think you loose more games to your own manabase then you win by running punishing fires.

4 Mother of Runes
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Scryb Ranger
2 Ooze
2 Quasali Pridemage
1 Teeg
4 Knight
2 Aven Mindcensor
4 Green Sun's Zenith

2 Elspeth
2 Silvan Library
3 Jitte
1 Maze of Ith (I love this one in equipment battles)
1 Eternal Witness
4 Sword to Plowshares

1 Dryad Arbor
2 Forest
1 Plains
4 Savannah
4 Windswept Heath
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Cradle
1 Karakas
3 Wasteland

If we were to run Thalia i would cut 2 Elspeth and a mindcensor for 3xThalia

Moving back to the stoneforge package would entail cutting 1 Jitte, 2 Elspeth for 2 stoneforge and a sword.

SB:
2 Enlightened Tutor
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Pridemage
1 Null Rod/Stony Silence
3 Choke (don't know if this is the best control hate at the moment, but i have certainly lost a lot to it)
1 Tower of the Magistrate
1 COP Red/other monored hate
1 Thorn of Amathyst
2 Path to exile
1 Tormod's crypt

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I'll be honest and can't claim too much expertise with Maverick (though I have done VERY well in all tournaments I've played it in..just haven't gotten to play in a huge number of tournaments yet). But I absolutely love the deck and have put a lot of thought into it. Here are my takeaways from your list.
First--Bojuku Bog to SB and 4th Wasteland instead. The reason is simple the bog is only amazing as a tutorable graveyard remover...except the decks you really want to do that against can be crippled by an ooze (re-animator and to a minor extent dredge..and before people disagree about dredge..play it a bunch..and then let me know they only run 8-10 dredgers..if you can remove 1-2 a turn that should hit them all). The other issue is you can't fetch the bog until turn 3 at the earliest (assuming you got your turn 2 KoTR) which means you had to have drawn KoTR within the first 2 turns (plus you're starting 7), whereas Ooze you can either draw or GSZ out by turn 2 and remove all the relevant threats by turn 3 as well..except you gained some life and got a big ooze).
Second--3 Jitte's a waste. I understand you want to win the Jitte war but if that's the case run another Eternal Witness (who has a lot more other uses). The only reason I see running the 3 jitte's is turn 2 Jitte more often. Batterskull is good against more than mono-red. It's amazing against Stoneblade because you're deck runs more threats AND you have maindeck solutions to their equipment (pridemage's). Remember Stoneblade still wins via damage...you get out a batterskull faster than them and then just wasteland the crap out of them. I run the standard 1 FaF/1 Batterskull/1 Jitte main and I'm happy with it.
Third--Thalia really is awesome. A lot of legacy decks are stingy on lands and often don't hit more then 3 in a standard game, forcing almost all their stuff (against a lot of combo/control decks) to cost 1 more and only a few of your cards (often mostly dead ones ala swords) you gain a huge advantage...such an advantage that I run 4 Thorn of Amethyst in my SB as it's amazing against all Combo/Control decks. Also keep in mind that her ability means Dredge has to actually PAY to cast Cabal Therapy/Dread Return..which given how small their mana base is means turn 2 thalia (off of a wasteland and savannah) can often be just as much game over as turn 1 tormod's crypt.
Fourth--I believe Choke is unnecessary currently. While it is really good against a lot of control/combo decks you can often waste-lock them faster. The Thorn of Amethyst/Thalia also serves a similar purpose (don't let them play their spells)..except those aren't restricted to people playing islands (which other than merfolk are all control/combo)
Fifth--It may be based on my metagame but we have a lot of affinity players around and your current sideboard is very weak to affinity. The problem is spot removal (ala StP) is marginal against them because they play so many similar creatures.

Those are my thoughts. please feel free to comment and let me know if you disagree.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rukcus

FWIW, I have the Teeg in the sideboard. It has very little value in the maindeck oftentimes, and I've taken it out in sideboard games on too many numerous occasions.

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Tonight I am going to test the Teeg in the board over Worship and take out the Rhox War Monk for 2 Thalia main. I'll let you guys know how it goes.