[Deck] GW/x Maverick

Dear Maverick players,
Please keep playing overcosted and overrated creatures.
Please keep squeezing in all useless new creatures to enable me easy wins.
Please keep relying on nonbasic lands like Gea's Cradle in order to pay for this overcosted creatures.
Please keep splashing as many colors as you'd like to in order to enable me to Stifle-Daze-Waste you into Oblivion.

Okay enough sarcasm. I do not think that these Angels are worth slots in Maverick as they might only be good in Aggro-Control Mirrors. There is literally no way to abuse this creatures in a competitive environment. Imagine to have GSZ = 6 targets when playing Stormcombo, Show and Tell or Canadian. I wouldnt play any of this expensive creatures just in order to dedicate the last few slots to important, strong and undercosted creatures like Thalia.

Hell Thalia is a godess in straight GW-lists. Spend all of this useless slots youd like to fill with some damn Angels with good and undercosted beaters - even white ones.
Thalia is a friggen house against any Combo and is pretty strong versus Tempo too - while shutting off all of our cheap counters and making every spell we play while this creature is laying on ground a pain.
Play more Mindcensors, play Gaddock mainboard, play Terravore but play cheap creatures and DO NOT rely on your deck to support a GSZ > 5 target.

Do not let this deck die. It certainly will if you spend all flex. slots you got with expensive and useless Angels. Keep at the deck's core in order to keep it as strong as it was, is and hopefuly will be in the further metagame.

Greetings

Hello everyone,
It's been a while since i posted on this forum and i thought you guys would like a little report about the last tournament i played in.

So 2 weeks ago, i traveled to Turin for the Modern GP. Sadly, I didnt make day 2 in the main event, but that meant I got to play in the sweet legacy side event that they've been doing lately in european Gps.
The tournament had a 2500€ price pool (1000€ for the winner).

So i registered to the tournament with the following list:

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

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

// Spells
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Sylvan Library
1 Sword of Body and Mind
2 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Garruk Relentless/Garruk, the Veil-Cursed

// Sideboard
SB: 2 Path to Exile
SB: 1 Bojuka Bog
SB: 2 Mindbreak Trap
SB: 1 Ethersworn Canonist (Left my third trap at home)
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
SB: 2 Nature's Claim
SB: 1 Maze of Ith
SB: 1 Mortarpod
SB: 2 Choke

The main changes i made was to move the maze of ith to the sideboard. The reason being that i had been sideing it out a lot in most MUs one of those being the mirror match, so I wanted to go a step further.
I moved my mortalpod to the sideboard (which i had been playing MD in the previous couple tournaments) and as you will see, i regreated it the whole tournament.

So here comes the report. We ended up being 140~ players meaning we were off to an 8 round tournament.

R1: jund home-brew
G1: he starts off with inkizition of kozilek off a badlands, so i responded by raising an eyebrow. Later on the game he cast pernicious deed to whipe my board, and followed that up with a troll ascetic, a thrun the last troll, and an umezawa's jitte.
G2: I managed to see a big part of his deck so i sideboard accordingly. Planeswalkers are huge against Deed and i should be fine as long as i didnt overextend myself.
At some point in the game he had a tarmogoyf with a jitte which makes me look like a fool for not siding in the maze of ith (i didnt see goyf in g1), but it cant do anythuing against my sword of body and mind that kills him in 2 turn. I win the game with 3+ creature in my hand just in case.
G3: He gets stuck at 2 lands for a while and at some point he casts Deed with 1 mana up, i cast Qasali and force him to use Deed but he didn't, as 2 of his 4 mana sources were birds of paradise. I win the game easily on the back of a sylvan library that keeps my hand full of gas all the time in case he plays a second deed.
Sideboard:
+1 elspeth +1 nature's claim
-1 gaddock teeg -1 swords to plowshares.
1-0 : 3 points

R2:Combo Elves
This MU is very roll-dependant. And i was lucky to win the die roll in the 2 rounds i played against elves in the swiss.
G1: I STP his early creatures to slow him down, and i win with a quick jitte.
G2: I'm very close to dieing this game, but mortalpod is an absolute house againt this deck. I win on the back of a sword of body and mind, that gives me enough gas for my mortalpod.
Sideboard:
+2 Path to exile +1 mortalpod +1 canonist
-3 thalia -1 gaddock teeg
2-0 : 6 points

R3:High Tide
This round is easily in my top10 badbeats i've ever had in my magic history.
G1: I didnt know what he was playing so i kept a hand with no thalia/zenith/gaddock and died.
G2: I resolved mother, thalia, and zenith for gaddock on consecutive turns and killed him quickly.
G3: We both mulligan to 6. I keep a hand with a turn 2 thalia. He starts off with a ponder, i play a land and pass, he untaps plays a land and.... i died.
Yep, high tide killed me on turn 2 with mulligan to 6 on the play. 2 island is all you need sometimes..
sideboard:
+2 trap +2 choke +1 canonist +2 surgical +1 bojuka bog
-1 garruk -4 STp -1 thrun -1 jitte -1 Stoneforge
2-1 : 6 points

R4:RUG Tempo
G1: I'd like to think i know this MU well enough, but sometimes they just draw too good.
My opponent cast 2 daze and a force of will folowed by 3 tarmogoyf.
He was probably the slowest player in recorded history, not only because he had to think through every play, but because he read every single card I played.
G2: I was feeling pretty good about my chances since my opponent didnt look like he knew what he was doing at all.
Sure enough, he start the game with turn 1 Top turn 2 counterbalance. At this point you can just imagine my face... Not because CB-Top is good againt Maverick (in fact is terrible as you'll see), but because the slowest player on earth had just cast top-CB on turn 2 with 20 mins left on the clock.
As i just mentioned, CB-Top is terrible against our deck. Soon enough he found out he didnt have any 3-4CC cards in his deck so my chokes, KotR and Zeniths for KotR just laught as his coutnerbalance.
G3: He has the same opening and i beat him the same way... There was a point on which i tought i was gonna draw the match, since he cast 4 consecutive submerge on my KotR with my board being 2 Choke and him having his 5 lands tapped.
In the end i managed to pull a win...
sideboard:
+2 Choke +2 Path to exile +2 Surgical +1 Maze of ith
(+1 mortalpod if your oponent is playing lavamancer. My opponent had nimble mangooses.)
-2 qasali -1 garruk -1 gaddock teeg -1 jitte -1 Stoneforge -1 karakas
3-1 : 9 points

R5:Mirror Match
There are 2 kind of Maverick players in my opinion, those who know how to play the mirror match and those who dont.
I was really impressed by my opponent since he played very good the entire round.
G1: He beats me with a better draw than mine.
G2: My Stoneforge for Mortalpod cought him absolutely off guard, and he's never in the game thanks to that.
G3: I have a turn 3 elspeth and he responds with his only out on the deck (Sword of light and shadow) to get passed my 3 blokers and kill it right away. From this point we start the normal attrition war and we end up drawing the match.
I whish him good luck since i'd have rlly loved to replay the match in the top8.
sideboard:
+2 path to exile +1 elspeth +1 mortalpod +1 bojuka bog +1 nature's claim
-3 thalia -1 gaddock teeg -1 karakas -1 KotR(might seem odd, but the mirror match is not about the big guys).
3-1-1 : 10 points

R6:Mirror match
As mentioned early, my oponent was one of those who didnt know how to play the mirror match. He didnt play bad, but it wasnt as close as the previous round.
G1: He kills my mother of runes and plays 3 consecutive KotR which i can't deal with.
G1: Once again Stoneforge for Mortalpod gives me half the match since as i mentioned early, the mirror match is all about the small guys.
G3: I draw my Garruk for the first time in the tournment and i destroy him with it.
sideboard:
-->See round 5<--
4-1-1 : 13 points

R7:Ad nauseam
Just in case the previous rounds had been too easy, i get paired down with another combo deck.
G1: I keep a 5 lander with 2 wastelands, it's usually a fine keep against most decks, but not against the deck that only needs 1 land to win. Yet again i didnt know what he was playing.
G2: I open with mother of runes into thalia folowed by a gaddock teeg and he is never in the game.
G3: I keep a hand with a mindreak trap. My opponent tanks about going off turn 2 before i get the chance to play a thalia. I perform a little bit of hollywood action while he goes off and then I cast trap on his infernal tutor, leaving him with 0 cards in hand.
Tough round that i managed to dodge with a win.
sideboard:
+2 mindbreak trap +2 surgical +1 canonist +2 nature's claim (it can give u free wins if you hit a LED at the proper time)
-4 STP -1 garruk -1 sword of body and mind -1 stoneforge -1 thrun
5-1-1 : 16 points

R8:Combo Elves
I get paired down against a young kid and i feel rlly bad for him since i'll have to dream crush him.
Once again i win the die roll which is one of the most important aspects of this MU.
G1: I STP his first guy and that gives me enough time to stick a jitte.
G2: Being on the draw is the worst on this MU. I have turn 2 Stoneforge for Mortalpod. At this point i feel pretty bad about my chances but he cant quite go off and just plays a Lord and passes. I untap and pass with STP + mortalpod up. He tries to go off and i respond by STPing his lord and using my mortalpod. At this point he has 3 cards in hand and 1 guy in play so i start feeling pretty good about this game. He then cast:
-glimpse of nature
-glimpse of nature
-llanowar elfs
And i died.
G3: i draw my mortalpod in my opener that eventually starts shooting 1/1 deathouch guys from a flipped garruk.
At some point in this match i wasnt paying much attention so i attacked with a garruk token and a guy with a jitte...That guy was a noble hierarch. That was the only missplay i did in the tournament, and what an embarrassing one to do in front of 15+ spectators >.<
Hopefuly that didnt cost me the match since he was too far behind at that point and he krossan gripped my jitte end of turn anyway.
sideboard:
-->See round 2<--
6-1-1 : 19 points

I end up finishing 7th of the swiss and making top8. Sadly my round 4 opponent lost his win-and-in against High Tide so no rematch for me :(

Top8:Combo elves
Sure enough, the karma comes back to haunt me and i loose the die roll.
G1: I mulligan to 5 and I end up loosing with just a land in play taking 21 damage off a grapeshot on turn 2.
G2: I Stoneforge for mortalpod on turn 2, and he's never in the game.
G3: I mull to 6 to a hand of mortalpod 2 lands 3 X, so i'm happy since i drew the best hand possible to draw on a mull to 6.
But as i said before, the die roll is too important in this MU so it ended up not mattering at all and i loose to a horde of 30+ elves on turn 3.

The deck performed very good the whole tournament, even against tough MUs...

I'd probably put the mortalpod back into the MD, but thats just a meta-call.

Pros:
-Making yet another top8 with this deck. The deck is just insanely good if you know what you're doing.
-Winning 85€ that i used to get some T2 cards for the incoming PTQ season..

Cons:
-The warning i got in one of the rounds due to forgetting my own thalia and casting a zenith for its normal cost that i thought would grant me a gameloss.
-Not making day2 in the main event
-Loosing in the top8 to a die-dependant MU and not having been able to do anything about it.

SO there you go.. Hope you guys liked it and I appreciate all the feedback/questions you want to post.

Marc S.

Quote:

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G2: I resolved mother, thalia, and zenith for gaddock on consecutive turns and killed him quickly.

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This is not possible unless you had a Cradle out=]

Looks like we will be playing against a lot of burn decks. I hate burn decks. I live and die by how lucky they are that day.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MiniLuv

This is not possible unless you had a Cradle out=]

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by arcannys

Cons:
-The warning i got in one of the rounds due to forgetting my own thalia and casting a zenith for its normal cost that i thought would grant me a gameloss.

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RE: Phillip -
You're definitely right, the deck is pretty much locked in at 54 cards for straight GW versions, with the only room to change is 1-2 land slots and the white creatures. It's strength comes from its consistency and adding more high variance cards such as Elesh Norn, Fauna Shaman, and the new Sigarda angel will reduce its consistency.

I think, Sigarda may really be worth 1 slot... its an UNDERcostet beater, that's just nuts in quite many situations - Next to the fact, Zenith für 5 is possible, 6mana is not to hard to get for the deck... You sure will have situations where you wont be able to pay 6 (or even 7) mana für a Zenith to fetch Sigarda but you will nearly always have 5mana to hardcast her, so the card won't be a dead draw...
And i dont think you can compare fauna shaman + retainer + elesh norn with sigarda, which needs ONE slot to own certain matchups...
But for sure i agree with the fact, that you never want to play more then 1 of theese angels...
By the way: Gaeas cradle is great in straight GW, not only for greater Zeniths but also for more devastating scavenging oozes...

Greetz from Germany,
Marius Hausmann

PS: What none of us germans understands is, why many american players cut aven mindcensor... This card is just insane and i would never play a list without atleast 2 of theese birds...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wasteland

I think, Sigarda may really be worth 1 slot... its an UNDERcostet beater, that's just nuts in quite many situations - Next to the fact, Zenith für 5 is possible, 6mana is not to hard to get for the deck... You sure will have situations where you wont be able to pay 6 (or even 7) mana für a Zenith to fetch Sigarda but you will nearly always have 5mana to hardcast her, so the card won't be a dead draw...
And i dont think you can compare fauna shaman + retainer + elesh norn with sigarda, which needs ONE slot to own certain matchups...
But for sure i agree with the fact, that you never want to play more then 1 of theese angels...
By the way: Gaeas cradle is great in straight GW, not only for greater Zeniths but also for more devastating scavenging oozes...

Greetz from Germany,
Marius Hausmann

PS: What none of us germans understands is, why many american players cut aven mindcensor... This card is just insane and i would never play a list without atleast 2 of theese birds...

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Ask Koby...he is the best maverick player in the states.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wasteland

PS: What none of us germans understands is, why many american players cut aven mindcensor... This card is just insane and i would never play a list without atleast 2 of theese birds...

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Mindcensor is good in some matchups, but not typically the ones which are most common. Against Stoneblade and Threshold, you're going to be facing a deck with a ton of removal and a 2/1 is not the best place to be against Bolts and Swords. For 3 mana, we want to be casting a big threat, not a mild annoyance.

@Koby So you don't think that the new angel is worth trying out? In my opinion 5 mana is easy for this deck to create, and if you are only running 1x the chances of it being in your opener are very slim. It seems like a windmill slam game ender, and just tells killing wave (which I suspect will be good against us, and see alot of play) and less so importantly Lilliana and gatekeeper to eat a poop. I will test it and let you guys know if it really does suck, and it might! :smile:

Well lets say, against Canadian mindcensor will atleast block a flipped delver and any other creatures should not be a problem for knights...
You surely are right about some matchups where mindcensor is just too weak, but look at the mirror (which you WILL have to play at every bitter tournament) or nic fit with explorers... I had more then 1 game, where mindcensor in rsp on therapy won the game...
By the way: http://thecouncil.es/tcdecks/deck.ph...6&iddeck=54464 here the decklist i did not change until today...
But at the moment i tend to play straight GW again, just cause there are more combodecks again running around here in Germany...

Looking forward to play this with the upcoming edition (i dont care about temporal mastery, since it will be banned anyway^^ (or brainstorm))

GW "For the Shire"

//lands (22)
4x savannah
4x windswept heath
2x verdant catacombs
2x forest
1x plains
2x horizon canopy
4x wasteland
1x karakas
1x gaea's cradle
1x dryad arbor

//creatures (26)
4x noble hierarch
4x mother of runes
1x scryb ranger
2x scavenging ooze
1x sigarda, host to herons
2x thalia, guardian of thraben
3x aven mindcensor
2x stoneforge mystic
4x knight of the reliquary
2x qasali pride-mage
1x gaddock teeg

//other spells (12)
4x swords to plowshares
4x green sun's zenith
2x umezawa's jitte
1x sword of feast and famine
1x sylvan library

//sideboard (15)
3x aethersworn canonist
3x surgical extraction
1x thrun, the last troll
1x elspeth, knight errant
1x garruk relentless
3x path to exile (i really dont want to loose against tempodecks)
2x krosan grip
1x bojuka bog

For explanations / questions about single cardchoices, contact me...
Greetz,
Marius

Even though I do not agree on all points with Marius you guys should respect him a little more. He is one of Europe's Kobys! When you get what I mean...

Even though I am mostly a Maverick consultant and test-opponent and not a dedicated player myself I like 99% of Hausmanns list. Every single card agrees with my understanding of Maverick, but the goddamn Angel but well^^
To above: I didnt mean to make Cradle bad, I was more like saying that Cradle is terrible in GWX-decks, in straight GW its fine.
I think this Angel should be a third Thalia but whatever.
And I would question the 1off Library but I think its fine aswell.

Greetings

Yeah, if you dont like the angel, just play 3. thalia, 3. ooze or a maindeck thrun - thats fine too :-)

I agree. I certainly wouldn't play the new angel and a g/w/x deck just g/w, much like cradle.

I certainly don't think the angel is something that Maverick needs. The best attribute from Sigarda is Hexproof and Flying; the third ability is a wash. She still dies to Wrath of God and Perish - this much doesn't change. Which cards does the angel specifically protect Maverick from? I don't think having a 5 mana hay-maker 5/5 bomb is any better than having more Knights or any other self-protecting flier. Is she any better than Thrun against decks with removal? Is she better than Geist of Saint Traft?

@ Baghdad-bob
Are people playing The Gate still? I wasn't aware that this was playable again. I suppose Maverick might have trouble against any decent draw from The Gate, but I haven't even playtested against this deck in over half a year.

@ Marius
It's just my own opinion and preference, but I'd rather have Terravore in the mirror and against most Tempo decks. He is almost always sure to connect and represents a really fast clock against a majority of the format. Mindcensor I don't feel provides enough advantage even though it can lead to blind wins, and I mean by this that it's very difficult to evaluate how precisely Mindcensor leads to victories because of imperfect information.

As usual, the mirror still comes down to two key factors: knowing how to play the mirror, and whoever can maintain an active Mother of Runes.

For this reason, I added Gut Shot to the sideboard to provide removal on Moms without generating tempo for my opponent. Both Path to Exile and regular StP means leaving yourself in a situation where you have to use mana and possibly accelerate the opponent. Gut Shot fixes this by nature of its free cost. I wouldn't hesitate to use it on Noble Hierarch too.

Uh, I must be missing something about Sigarda...

- As an undercosted (flying) beater: Knights are usually bigger and cheaper. Elspeth makes any dude a flying beater.
- As an untargetable dude: Thrun (cheaper) already plays this role, not to mention Moms protecting others. I don't really feel the need of another hexproof creature.
- As a sacrifice protection utility against Eldrazi: Karakas (or Knights fetching it) do the trick against Show and Tell. Against Sneak Attack, probably the angel is not fast enough to stop them.
- As a sacrifice protection utility against black: Come on, is it really worth wasting a slot in a tight list just to protect your mana-dorks from being eaten?
- As a mirror-breaker card: Maybe so. A little bit slow, though...

IMHO, she is not good enough to worth the slot. Even in a flex slot, I can think of many other cards before considering her.

Koby u are right saying, that the anti-sac ability is completely wayne...
But dont underestimate the fact having another flying Jitte-carrier that does not get held back by maze of ith... (you dont run mindcensors either, so i think, both of us have just a bit different strategies playing the deck - and obvious both work quite well :-) )
For my part i just love to have a flyer with equipment on it to defeat other mavericks, ecspecially killing their mothers with jitte-counters (and sry, nothing personal - but i'll neverever play gutshot^^)
For the Thrun-argument: Actually i play Thrun or a witness in this slot, but as i said before, i'm definetly going to test Sigarda in this slot due to her flying ability -> how useful flying is you can see when you look at lists that play an Elspeth maindeck.
Last but not least: YES, she is better then Geist of St. Traft^^

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wasteland

Koby u are right saying, that the anti-sac ability is completely wayne...
But dont underestimate the fact having another flying Jitte-carrier that does not get held back by maze of ith... (you dont run mindcensors either, so i think, both of us have just a bit different strategies playing the deck - and obvious both work quite well :-) )
For my part i just love to have a flyer with equipment on it to defeat other mavericks, ecspecially killing their mothers with jitte-counters (and sry, nothing personal - but i'll neverever play gutshot^^)
For the Thrun-argument: Actually i play Thrun or a witness in this slot, but as i said before, i'm definetly going to test Sigarda in this slot due to her flying ability -> how useful flying is you can see when you look at lists that play an Elspeth maindeck.
Last but not least: YES, she is better then Geist of St. Traft^^

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Definitely agree on fliers in Legacy. I've been saying it for more than a year now regarding evasion of any type. I'm thinking that even Soltari Visionary or some equivalent might be interesting as an evasive creature. What about Stillmoon cavalier? Just some ideas to generate discussion. I don't think a 5 mana flier is the place we want to be.

For sure its true that Sigarda would be better as a 4mana 4/4 flyer with hexproof but its not me, who makes the cards...
Cavalier is not tutorable via Zenith whyle Sigarda is - i did not find a better flyer thats a threat for himself, so i'm going to test her - Once more, i dont think 5mana are a problem for GW, exspecially not with a cradle in the deck - Elspeth maindeck maybe an option too but first, i dislike the antisynergie with Teeg and second the pumped creature flies only in your turn... Beneath the fact that you have a real hard threat you can defend urself easier vs. lingering souls-tokens, delver or even a tombstalker... (if it would not cost 7mana, i even would consider hornet queen as finisher^^)

Jenara, Asura of War
Stoic Angel
Mystic Enforcer

Yeah... 2 of them request blue to hardcast, 1 has only flying, as long as you have ur grave (=opp not having an ooze) - and none of them has hexproof...
Before i play any of them i would prefer to play Elspeth (as u do in ur list)...