[Deck] GW/x Maverick

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Originally Posted by ph88

glad to see you join the mav ranks!

some suggestions. first of all, your creature count is simply too low. you've got too many utility spells without enough actual guys to beat-down with. also, 8 mana dorks (deathrite has other uses, but is primarily a mana dork) is also, simply, too many. 4 is the standard number to run, but i wouldn't fault anyone for running between 3 and 6, depending of course on what else is in their lists. since you're trying to play 4-color, i would recommend having at least one birds of paradise in there as a GSZ target, because it is the only way you can consistently make any color. birds also carry equipment like a boss. speaking of which, your choice of only one SOLAS seems subpar. for most metagames, 1x jitte and 1x batterskull is, i would say, the standard equipment package. of course, if you don't run stoneforge, batterskull gets a helluva lot worse. thus, not knowing your metagame, i would recommend 1x jitte if you are going to only run one piece of equipment. if you wanted to run 2, 1x jitte and 1x sword of x and y (or possibly just 2x jitte) is probably the way to go.

as far as your lands are concerned, the depths/stage combo isn't fantastic without weathered wayfarer or crop rotation. using two knight activations to tutor up the combo is really slow, when you should just be beating down with gigantic knights instead, or using your knights to waste-lock your opponent. horizon canopy is also a very unusual choice outside of straight GW builds or wayfarer builds.

in summary, you've got a lot of different packages/ideas going on in your deck, many of which are very strong. however, i would try to give the deck more focus. that is, i'd recommend you pick two of the following packages and build the rest of the deck around those:

1) punishing groves combo
2) stoneforge/equipment package
3) stage/depths
4) aether vial / wayfarer

most commonly you will see packages 1 and 2 together, which gives you the standard "punishing mav" list, or you will see 3 and 4 together, which gives you the "vial mav" list (although it's not uncommon to see 2, 3 and 4 together as well in a vial mav build).

hope that helps. enjoy the mav!

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Great response and i totally agree.

WHat you're doing to your deck is spreading out all the wincons too thinly to the point that you don't know what line to take in your turns. Further, 4cc Mav, while benefiting from all these lines, has a very greedy manabase, and most decks running Wastelands will know what land of yours to kill or anticipate (ie, holding wasteland in hand and waiting for you to play a Bayou or a Grove or a Taiga to know what Mav variant you're playing) your most valuable land.

I have played a similar variant in the past with 4CC Cascade Mav (with Bloodbraids, Punishing and Deathrites) to some playtest success (played two bloodbraids over two succeeding turns both cascading into KOTR), and you'll find that after your first Deathrite, any succeeding ones run you out of land-gas in graveyards very quickly, and you'll even run into scenarios where you'll exile a land using one Deathrite only to fuel the B or G ability of your second deathrite. All in the context of running KOTRs main too :(

Anyway, my observations on your proposed deck:

a.) Golgari charm when you have 8 1/1s is a bad idea, unless you plan to use the regen everything route which rarely happens -- Pernicious Deed, Supreme Verdict scenarios only. Infest and Terminus laugh at that charm. Why not play Zealous Persecution instead?

b.) I'm getting why you play SOLAS instead of Batterskull as your creature count is low. But remember, SOLAS vs a live Deathrite Shaman is useless.

c.) 1 Ooze, 1 Pridemage, no Gaddock, no Canonists - combo will kill you as you only have 2 maindeck discards and 2 Thalia main and 1 side.

d.) While Ashen Rider is cute, i'd just go with Karakas or Oblivion Ring

e.) Unless you're considering playing Absolute Law, Pyroclasm -- one of the banes of the deck -- appears twice in your side x.x

f.) Given that your creature count is low, Thalia is working to your disadvantage. Thalia shines because you can curve out in the following turns while your opponent struggles to keep up.

g.) Umezawa's Jitte. Play it. It's Maverick's way of proving that fair decks win games.

i agree with ph88's suggestion of picking 2 lines and going with the deck. And I suggest going the blade package first since you're running Thalia. She taxes the swords when you choose to play them instead of being able to cheat them in with SFM.

Mav is a difficult deck to play, and since you're just going to start Legacy playing with it, I suggest you stick to a basic Naya or Junk or even straight GW maverick then test out which one you're most comfortable with.

Once you get the hang of it and the common decision lines and trees you'll make when you play, you can tinker with the pieces and tailor fit them to your meta or your preferences because the deck is flexible. ie, Thrun vs Sigarda? SOFAI vs SOFAF? 2 Jitte or 1 Jitte, 1 skull and 1 Sword of x and y? To play Abrupt Decay main or board? play 6 fetches or 7 fetches?

The tweaks go on and on, which is why i love playing the deck

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Originally Posted by buloid

i'd rather go for Sigarda with Maze of Ith, KOTR to fetch Karakas or good old Oblivion Ring for SnT decks.

While Parallax Wave can be played on its own, its 4cc is what makes me think twice. Though it can't be Abrupt Decay-ed, it will die anyway due to the fading. I find it a win-more card since you'll most likely exile everything to get an alpha strike in, but at that point your board presence will lead you to win a few turns later anyway.

my 2 cents

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Thanks for the feedback! About the options you listed out, these are my thoughts:

sigarda + maze = good answer, but needs 2 cards to be efficient and the big guy remains in play.

karakas = versatile asnwer against show and tell, but if the opponent plays a omniscience or sneak attack with two red manas remaining it's useless.

Oblivion ring = good versatile answer that I'm using. The problem is if the opponent puts an grisel and pay 7 life or sneak attack and activate his ability in response to exile. Parallax allows you to use more than once.

About the problem of fading you're right, but maybe parallax + karakas in G2 could be effective.

Thank you ph88 and buloid. I made some changes and this is what I came to.
1 Birds of Paradise
2 Deathrite Shaman
1 Gaddock Teeg
4 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Mother of Runes
2 Mirran Crusader
2 Noble Hierarch
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Weathered Wayfarer

1 Crop Rotation
4 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
3 Swords to Plowshares
2 Sylvan Library
2 Thoughtseize
1 Umezawa's Jitte

2 Bayou
1 Dark Depths
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Maze of Ith
4 Savannah
2 Scrubland
1 Thespian's Stage
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Wasteland
4 Windswept Heath

SB:
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Choke
1 Elspeth, Knigh-Errant
1 Ethersword Canonist
1 Life from the Loam
1 Master of the Wild Hunt
2 Oblibion Ring
1 Pithing Needle
1 Rhox War Monk
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Zealous Persecution
From what I know about my local meta, it includes a few pox players, a lot of delver(both rug and uwr), a few maverick players, and some esper blade. Not a whole lot of combo. I realized SoFaI fits better as a sword. I dropped the punishing fire package. I also took out the bojuka bog from the sideboard because of the deathrites and scavenging ooze main. I took ph88's advice and swapped the golgari charm for zealous persecution. I also upped the creature count a little. Any other suggestions are appreciated.

In your meta you really want the full set of Mother of Runes. :wink:

Does anyone know what criteria TCDecks uses to identify a deck as "Maverick" vs "The Rock"?

Or is it just set by the user/submitter of decklists?

http://tcdecks.net/deck.php?id=12287&iddeck=90076

There are actually quite a few "Dark Maverick" decks that are classified as "The Rock". You can find them by searching the archetype "The Rock" for decks that have Mother of Runes in the maindeck.

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Originally Posted by ironclad8690

Does anyone know what criteria TCDecks uses to identify a deck as "Maverick" vs "The Rock"?

Or is it just set by the user/submitter of decklists?

http://tcdecks.net/deck.php?id=12287&iddeck=90076

There are actually quite a few "Dark Maverick" decks that are classified as "The Rock". You can find them by searching the archetype "The Rock" for decks that have Mother of Runes in the maindeck.

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Hopefully someone will correct me if I am wrong but I believe the difference is that "The Rock" focuses more on removal and will be more black than white, if white at all, and "Maverick" is more creature based and focuses more on white than black, if black at all. Obviously not all rock decks run white and not all maverick decks run black so this is another way to distinguish them. I hope this answers your question.

Borrowed Haganbmj's deck for the local tonight. First time playing Maverick, though I have been interested in it. It was very solid, and felt much better than the Big Zoo deck that I played for a couple months. I somehow beat lands on him not drawing loam and Bojuka Bogging a full graveyard. But Goddamn fucking TNN from Merfolk slaughtered me. Twice. Same guy once in the top 8. Good lord this card is horrid. Game 1 I have Teeg with a SoFaI and 2 Hierarchs for exalted. He derps in a TNN, then plays 2 Phantasmal Image copying it. Fucking christ. Every single game it was bash me to ~10 with Lords, I remove them, then die to uninteractive 3/1.

Hi huys! I'm new to Maverick. Just start building the deck. What do you in general think about Dark Confidant? As I'm owning a playset at the moment and really like that card I would like to play Bobs. Can you imagine a GWb Maverick with 3 Bobs instead of Thalia? Thalia is in SB then and goes in against RUG/Combo, whatever.
I also like the Dark Depths/Thespian's Stage combo. But most Maverick decks do not include this one. Do you like the combo? Is it worth the 2 slots?

Would like it to hear some comments from experienced Maverick players!

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Originally Posted by Sporty824

Hopefully someone will correct me if I am wrong but I believe the difference is that "The Rock" focuses more on removal and will be more black than white, if white at all, and "Maverick" is more creature based and focuses more on white than black, if black at all. Obviously not all rock decks run white and not all maverick decks run black so this is another way to distinguish them. I hope this answers your question.

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I guess there is a fine line between the two. I noticed that on tc decks all of the decks that look like Maverick but are classified as The Rock (since they do not have a "junk" section) have at least some dark confidants and some discard in the main deck. Perhaps maindeck thoughtseizes are where they draw the line.

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Originally Posted by Megadeus

Borrowed Haganbmj's deck for the local tonight. First time playing Maverick, though I have been interested in it. It was very solid, and felt much better than the Big Zoo deck that I played for a couple months. I somehow beat lands on him not drawing loam and Bojuka Bogging a full graveyard. But Goddamn fucking TNN from Merfolk slaughtered me. Twice. Same guy once in the top 8. Good lord this card is horrid. Game 1 I have Teeg with a SoFaI and 2 Hierarchs for exalted. He derps in a TNN, then plays 2 Phantasmal Image copying it. Fucking christ. Every single game it was bash me to ~10 with Lords, I remove them, then die to uninteractive 3/1.

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I haven't played that matchup, but I can see how the typical TNN hate would not be quite as effective. Golgari charm and Zealous Persecution don't help much when all their guys are getting +1+1 from a lord or two. Most other TNN decks are raceable (with Patriot being the hardest to beat, then UWb stoneblade, then UW blade, then Team America, then Bant as the least hard to beat). We can beat the slower decks by racing them, but when they put a fast clock on us and follow it up with TNN, it becomes challenging. I am not thrilled at the idea of phantasmal images copying TNN.

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Originally Posted by Stuhl

Hi huys! I'm new to Maverick. Just start building the deck. What do you in general think about Dark Confidant? As I'm owning a playset at the moment and really like that card I would like to play Bobs. Can you imagine a GWb Maverick with 3 Bobs instead of Thalia? Thalia is in SB then and goes in against RUG/Combo, whatever.
I also like the Dark Depths/Thespian's Stage combo. But most Maverick decks do not include this one. Do you like the combo? Is it worth the 2 slots?

Would like it to hear some comments from experienced Maverick players!

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Check out Jacob Lindy's Maverick deck:

http://mtgdecks.net/decks/view/57407

If you search a couple of pages back you will find a tournament report by him. It is a good one too.

As far as thalia and bob, I think you want both. They sort of accomplish different goals. If you aren't playing thalia, most of the time you will want either more removal, discard, or both; depending on your metagame. I like the Depths stage combo as a way of going over smaller creature based decks (read: TNN), but sometimes there are times/metagames where maze of ith might be better (like a death and taxes heavy meta with a ton of karakas or vs other maverick decks).

Hope this helps!

If you want Mom, Thalia, and Bob, then you're getting closer to Deadguy Ale territory, splashing Green for Abrupt Decay or other stuff.

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Originally Posted by ironclad8690

I haven't played that matchup, but I can see how the typical TNN hate would not be quite as effective. Golgari charm and Zealous Persecution don't help much when all their guys are getting +1+1 from a lord or two. Most other TNN decks are raceable (with Patriot being the hardest to beat, then UWb stoneblade, then UW blade, then Team America, then Bant as the least hard to beat). We can beat the slower decks by racing them, but when they put a fast clock on us and follow it up with TNN, it becomes challenging. I am not thrilled at the idea of phantasmal images copying TNN.

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Basically this. I can definitely see how prior to the printing of TNN this was a favorable match up. Every game I was able to kill off lords and just make a KOTR or Scooze that was big. But TNN being impossible to deal with was the nail in the coffin. The only thing I could see was getting Jitte instead of SOFAI off of stoneforge, but then the stoneforge would not have been large enough to get through his non TNN men. Idk. It was just frustrating to watch him drop a TNN and suddenly just realize I'm dead.

I have been working on a list to take to a local legacy event coming up this weekend and this is what I have decided on.

Lands - 23
4 Wasteland
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Savanah
2 Bayou
2 Windswept Heath
2 Marsh Flats
1 Scrubland
1 Karakas
1 Maze of Ith
1 Plains
1 Forest
1 Dryad Arbor


Creatures - 20
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Mother of Runes
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Sylvan Safekeeper
1 Qasali Pridemage


Spells - 18
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Thoughtseize
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Sylvan Library
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice


Sideboard - 15
1 Bojuka Bog
2 Surgical Extraction
3 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Zealous Persecution
2 Choke
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Oblivion Ring
1 Abrupt Decay


I am just looking for some feedback on my list. I am pretty nervous about the number of non-creature spells along with Thalia, but it hasn't been an issue in my testing so far. Has anyone had more experience with a more Junk list similar to mine with Thalia included? I expect to face a fair number of Storm decks and Delver Tempo decks (guranteed to face at least one of each.)

Ideally I could fit in Stoneforge + Batterskull, but I am having trouble getting it all in the MB. Moving Thoughtseize to the SB and then bringing in SFM would be one way for sure. Upping the amount of discard and adding more removal was another option, but I felt that would start eating into the utility creatures that I have in the deck plus swinging me further into The Rock. It's a hard balance to strike.

Any suggestions on SB cards that can help hose Delver decks would be gladly taken :)

The customization of Maverick is a great part of the deck, but it has been giving me headaches trying to figure out the list that works best :rolleyes:

Thanks in advance.

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Originally Posted by cartothemax

I have been working on a list to take to a local legacy event coming up this weekend and this is what I have decided on.

Lands - 23
4 Wasteland
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Savanah
2 Bayou
2 Windswept Heath
2 Marsh Flats
1 Scrubland
1 Karakas
1 Maze of Ith
1 Plains
1 Forest
1 Dryad Arbor


Creatures - 20
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Mother of Runes
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Sylvan Safekeeper
1 Qasali Pridemage


Spells - 18
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Thoughtseize
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Sylvan Library
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice


Sideboard - 15
1 Bojuka Bog
2 Surgical Extraction
3 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Zealous Persecution
2 Choke
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Oblivion Ring
1 Abrupt Decay


I am just looking for some feedback on my list. I am pretty nervous about the number of non-creature spells along with Thalia, but it hasn't been an issue in my testing so far. Has anyone had more experience with a more Junk list similar to mine with Thalia included? I expect to face a fair number of Storm decks and Delver Tempo decks (guranteed to face at least one of each.)

Ideally I could fit in Stoneforge + Batterskull, but I am having trouble getting it all in the MB. Moving Thoughtseize to the SB and then bringing in SFM would be one way for sure. Upping the amount of discard and adding more removal was another option, but I felt that would start eating into the utility creatures that I have in the deck plus swinging me further into The Rock. It's a hard balance to strike.

Any suggestions on SB cards that can help hose Delver decks would be gladly taken :)

The customization of Maverick is a great part of the deck, but it has been giving me headaches trying to figure out the list that works best :rolleyes:

Thanks in advance.

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To both reduce the amount of non-creature spells AND fit in SFM + Skull this is what I'd do:
-1 STP (2 Decays make up for just 3 STP)
-1 Sylvan Library (SFM will provide sufficient C/A)
-1 Zenith (does not flow with Thalia and Gaddock)
+2 SFM
+1 Skull

Also I could see Thoughtseizes being replaced by Tidehollow Sculler. Alongside MoR and Safekeeper they are pretty strong. They could replace Canonists in the SB, I guess.
Edit: 3 SFM / 3 Sculler would also be an option of course.

18 non-creature spells MB is pretty heavy with thalia, I wouldn't go more than 15

I would go 2 Thoughtseize and 2 SFM main instead of 4 thoughtseize.

Some data I'd like to share with everyone:

Maverick Record:

12/9/2013: Dark Maverick (Thalia Version Etutor Board, needed to prep for SCG Vegas so Thalia back in)
Affinity (1-0)
W: 2
L: 1
Punishing Jund (1-1) *
W: 1
L: 2
Pox (2-1)
W:2
L:0
Team America (2-2) *
W: 1
L: 2

Notes: Batterskull was stuck in hand most of the time. Really annoying. Would have rather had jitte/SoFaI/SoFaF. More removal would have helped against my losses, punishing fire may have made huge difference. Missed Depths Stage Combo as well. Finally feeling the pain of losing to true-name in what usually was a great matchup (team america)

12/2/2013: Dark Maverick (Sb: 3 O ring, 2 Choke, 1 SoFaI, 3 Zealous P, 3 Rest in Peace, 3 Ethersworn Canonist)
Zombardment (1-0)
W: 2
L: 0
4 Color Loam: (2-0)
W: 2
L: 0
12-Post (2-1) *
W:0
L: 2
Team America (3-1)
W:2
L: 0

Notes: Lost to primetime. Needed to stop etb trigger or mindcensor him. Got hardcast emrakuled with karakas backup (infinite turns) to lose two games with no wins. Got pithing needled on game 1 for wasteland.

11/25/2013 : 4 Color Maverick
Affinity (1-0)
W: 2
L: 1
Death and Taxes (2-0)
W: 2
L: 0
Esper Deathblade (2-1) *
W: 0
L: 2

Notes: Deathblade just ground me out. g1 lost to lingering souls with a jitte (i had 2 knights and a mom and got blown out by supreme verdict), g2 lost to wasteland + crucible. Missed Thalia in this matchup. Missed LFTL to get back lands

11/18/2013: GWb Dark (no thalia, since no combo/control in meta, instead Stoneforge + MD Abrupt Decay)
Elves (0-1) *
W: 1
L: 2
Team America (1-1)
W: 2
L: 0
Zombardment (1-2) *
W: 0
L: 2

Notes: Beat elves g1 with depths/stage, marit lage making a surprisingly nice blocker for craterhoof. Lost the next two on the count of heritage druid. Zombardment blew up all my guys and perished me in g2 to get rid of all my important stuff. Lost game 1 to 4 lingering souls tokens, sometimes you just can't race that.

The formatting on that last post makes zero sense the asterixs are not explained and the win loss records do not matchup with the game descriptions very unhelpful jargan

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Originally Posted by uncletiggy

The formatting on that last post makes zero sense the asterixs are not explained and the win loss records do not matchup with the game descriptions very unhelpful jargan

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Here is the legend for my previous post:

Asterisks: Match Losses

Number in Parenthesis: Match record for that particular tournament

W:/L: the number of games won to the number of games lost in that match.

Hello all,

Recently I've started playing mtg (again) and this is the first time I'm playing Legacy decks.

I've based my Dark Punishing Maverick deck from the one that was played by Gorzgen Fabian recently.

24 LANDS
4 Windswept Heath
3 Wasteland
3 Wooded Foothills
3 Grove of the Burnwillows
2 Savannah
2 Taiga
1 Bayou
1 Plateau
1 Dark Depths
1 Thespian's Stage
1 Karakas
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Forest

20 CREATURES
3 Deathrite Shaman
4 Mother of Runes
4 Knight of the Reliquary
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Aven Mindcensor
2 Stongeforge Mystic
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Dryad Arbor

13 INSTANTS and SORCERIES
4 Punishing Fire
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Sylvan Library

3 OTHER SPELLS
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

15 SIDEBOARD
1 Stony Silence
1 Pithing Needle
2 Enlightened Tutor
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Engineered Plague
1 Slaughter Games
1 Mindbreak Trap
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Engineered Explosives mtg
1 Zealous Presecution
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Crop Rotation

Some notes and thoughts:
- I threw in SFM, Jitte and SoFnI because my friends are all about TNN lately... I feel SoFnI at least give me a chance to race with my (2) flyers (Go Birds of Paradise!!!). I have access to other swords (SoFnF, SoMnB, SoLnS) and battleskulls as well...
- The reason I'm running Gaddock Teeg on SB is because none of my local play groups play combo deck, I know normally Gaddock Teeg should be MB.
- Of the time I am able to cast Slaughter Games, I really like it as it cannot be countered.


My concerns
- Am I trying to squeeze too much into a deck? If so, what should I really trim... Honestly I'm open for idea.
- Because this is a 4 color deck... so many duals and very little basic. I am very worry about Bloodmoon (which one of my friend is running I believe).
- It looks like ANY graveyard hate will screw this deck to the ground, any thing can we can do about it?
- SB Bojuka Bog or Tormod's Crypt, or do I even need these at all?
- Sejiri Steppe, any good?
- I feel like my SB is a mess, any constructive advice is appreciated.

Played in a very small local event last night with no real valuable information coming from it.
Dark Maverick - same build I've been running. List Here
This is a bit of worthless information.

Round 1 v Bant Untouchables w/ black access [1-2]
- He's playing a bant shell with Hierarch, Pridemage, Geist of Saint Traft, True-Name Nemesis, and Thrun alongside the typical blue manipulation and white removal spells. Tough threats all around.
- I win game one with a developed board even after he leads on Noble->Geist->2x Pridemage.
- He takes game two off a tempo Geist with Path to Exile and Swords clearing the way.
- He takes game three in a close one after we trade some hits and he stalls the board out with TNN and Thrun until he can find a removal spell and another threat to break parity.

Round 2 v Bad-Luck Burn [2-1]
- Game one I lead Hierach->Thalia + Mom, he leads on a Lava Spike then he Chain Lightnings the Mom, and then the Thalia, and then Bolts the Hierarch, and then a Pridemage I play.. I lead Savannah into triple Wasteland, so maybe he thought the Hierarch was relevant.. dunno. So he's sitting pretty at like 17 with no cards and I'm sitting at a healthy 16. Then he complains about flooding as I hit him a few times.
- Game two he blames luck as he mulls down to 5 and leads on a Lavamancer. I don't have a good way to interact with this and play for the mana plan to pump out threats. He gets me.
- Game three I stomp him with active Jitte on turn 4. I end the game with 11 counters on Jitte 'cause I hate his face and don't want to kill him faster.

Round 3 ID w/ RUG Delver

into top 8 lol

Round 4 v Metalworker brew w/ Painter's + Grindstone [2-1]
- He's on the play Game one and leads on a Furnace, I Thoughtseize and see double chalice, metalworker. I take the metalworker and let him stick a turn two chalice on 1. I play some two drops and hit him a few times. whee.
- Game two he gets me with Grindstone after Forgemastering + Lightning Greaves into it.
- Game three I Thoughtseize again and then lock the game up with Thalia into Knight, wasting his manabase.


Deck still feels solid, having access to Thoughtseize and Abrupt Decay has been valuable lately. I wish I had an good answer to True-Name somewhere in the 75 though. The answers I do have are narrow and often unwanted in the matchups I see TNN.
For example, I didn't bring in Zealous Persecution against Bant. It only affects TNN and Noble Hierarch in his list.

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Originally Posted by haganbmj

For example, I didn't bring in Zealous Persecution against Bant. It only affects TNN and Noble Hierarch in his list.

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While true, Zealous Persecution allows you to profitably block his now 1/1 Geist, etc with your presumably bigger dudes. And the fact that you can just blow him out with Zealous Persecution on his Hierarch x 2 and TNN x 1 is just insane.

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Originally Posted by Arsenal

While true, Zealous Persecution allows you to profitably block his now 1/1 Geist, etc with your presumably bigger dudes. And the fact that you can just blow him out with Zealous Persecution on his Hierarch x 2 and TNN x 1 is just insane.

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Sure, there are situations where it is very useful. My primary point though was that his deck was set up to have draws that ignore Zealous Persecution, and it felt like I would only be bringing it to answer one threat (TNN). I'd like to find an option that's a bit more versatile so that I can bring it in as a general answer that happens to hit TNN, but also has play in other match scenarios.

Question to the maverick gurus...

Does the rise of true name nemesis mean that maverick is back due to its ability to destroy fair decks?

The pure GW mana base with 3-4 Thalia's punishes the tempo decks that have popped up and maverick does a great job of smashing control as well. Show and tell will be pushed back by the tempo decks and maverick will swoop in on the tempo decks!

2. Are you happy to match up against death and taxes? The decks are so similar....

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Originally Posted by lavafrogg

Question to the maverick gurus...

Does the rise of true name nemesis mean that maverick is back due to its ability to destroy fair decks?

The pure GW mana base with 3-4 Thalia's punishes the tempo decks that have popped up and maverick does a great job of smashing control as well. Show and tell will be pushed back by the tempo decks and maverick will swoop in on the tempo decks!

2. Are you happy to match up against death and taxes? The decks are so similar....

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I've playtested quite a lot against stoneblade w/ nemesis. I play GW maverick with the depths/stage combo, with mindcensors, hierarchs etc. This matchup is close, but I think it's to our favor.

True name nemesis is very raceable, especially with the depths combo. You also have mindcensors, elspeth, mom and scryb ranger. Just make sure to destroy Jitte or Batterskull before they equip it to him, because at that point its over.

Choke is a BEATING. The guy played nemesis on turn 3, tapping island island and underground sea I believe, passed the turn and I slammed choke. GG

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Originally Posted by lavafrogg

Question to the maverick gurus...

Does the rise of true name nemesis mean that maverick is back due to its ability to destroy fair decks?

The pure GW mana base with 3-4 Thalia's punishes the tempo decks that have popped up and maverick does a great job of smashing control as well. Show and tell will be pushed back by the tempo decks and maverick will swoop in on the tempo decks!

2. Are you happy to match up against death and taxes? The decks are so similar....

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TNN certainly pushed out BUG Shardless out of the meta and there's also a decline Jund which also benefits us.

I'm still suprised that Maverick does still perform in the current meta, though. Is the DD combo really the key to the recent success?

Relatively new here, but I've been lurking for a while. A friend and I took the same 75 to a 1k; he finished in the top 8, so I wanted to share the list since it's been successful.

22 LANDS
4 Wasteland
4 Windswept Heath
2 Bayou
2 Savannah
2 Verdant Catacombs
1 Dark Depths
1 Forest
1 Karakas
1 Marsh Flats
1 Plains
1 Scrubland
1 Swamp
1 Thespian's Stage

19 CREATURES
4 Dark Confidant
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Scavenging Ooze

19 OTHER SPELLS
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Thoughtseize
3 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Liliana of the Veil
1 Batterskull
1 Sylvan Library
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Vindicate

SIDEBOARD
2 Duress
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Golgari Charm
1 Life from the Loam
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Pithing Needle
1 Sword of Fire and Ice

We opted to run a much more disruptive maindeck and cut a lot of the awkward late-game draws like Mother of Runes. The basic plan was to always have a must-answer turn 2 play, often facilitated on the back of Deathrite Shaman or Dryad Arbor: Knight of the Reliquary, Wasteland + 2 drop, or 1 mana disruptor (TS, Swords) + 2 drop. Dark Confidant and Stoneforge Mystic keep the good cards flowing and grind your opponents into the dirt. Knight of the Reliquary is a double-faced threat: beat them the old-fashioned way or set up Thespian Depths for a kill. The removal is all efficient, powerful, and flexible. The sideboard choices are plentiful, but we tailored to expecting combo (being in the Midwest U.S.) and True-Name Nemesis.

We're open to suggestions, of course, but we are pretty much sold on the maindeck at this point, despite how greedy the manabase is. Most of the work now is tuning the sideboard. Some of our losses (Affinity, Elves) would've benefited from a wrath effect of some kind, which makes me lean toward Pernicious Deed and/or Engineered Explosives.

DaGarver- you should take that lust over to the rock thread as they have been working on similar lists. At the point you are at: no mom and no heirarch mean you have crossed into junk territory and not just GWb maverick.

What would you guys say are the correct colors? Straight GW, punishing, or junk?

Played Dark Maverick in the SCG open in Las Vegas yesterday.

Won against: High Tide, Grixis Delver, U/B Tezz, Esper True-Blade.

Lost against: Elves, Merfolk, Punishing Jund, Rug Delver, and Bant True-Blade.

All in all, I really wish I had gone into this tournament with Punishing Fire rather than Thalia (at least in my maindeck).

As you guys can see from the results of the invi and the open, Jund had a really good weekend, and when Jund is doing well punishing fires are usually warranted. I would also definitely rock a sword of fire ice right now as part of the stoneforge package if you weren't already.

New maverick question: heirarch or deathrite shaman?

Deathrite shaman all the way. Not only is drs a mana dork, it's also used as a mb hate against graveyard based decks.

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Originally Posted by IL_casual

Deathrite shaman all the way. Not only is drs a mana dork, it's also used as a mb hate against graveyard based decks.

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Anyone else?

I have been testing an aggressive GW list with 3 mind censors and 4 pridemages and wrecking all of these stoneforge decks running around...

If you are on straight GW, Hierarch seems better for more big men, if on black splash or even the 4 color version, DRS is probably best

Thanks, I am spending the evening reading all of the Maverick threads…. I think I'm finishing it soon.

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Originally Posted by lavafrogg

Thanks, I am spending the evening reading all of the Maverick threads…. I think I'm finishing it soon.

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Interesting list. Mind if you post it? 4 Pridemages and Mindcensors surely do fit the stoneblade meta, but leaning towards pure GW.

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Originally Posted by buloid

Interesting list. Mind if you post it? 4 Pridemages and Mindcensors surely do fit the stoneblade meta, but leaning towards pure GW.

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4 Pridemages seem excessive, even in a Stoneblade meta. You still have GSZ for that.

If you run the black splash, I would rather have some Abrupt Decays in the mix.

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Originally Posted by Barook

4 Pridemages seem excessive, even in a Stoneblade meta. You still have GSZ for that.

If you run the black splash, I would rather have some Abrupt Decays in the mix.

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It seems excessive, but these days you cannot let yourself get hit by an equipment once. Added to the fact that my list currently has 8 exalted creatures; the aven mind censor I flashed in in response to your [insert library search] or EOT now is hitting for 4-6 instead of just 2… The ground war in maverick has a tendency to bog down without mother of ruins so being able to lend some additional power to the air(or just attacking as a 3/3+) really helps.

That being said, the ext card I am looking at is fauna shaman…

Wouldn't mirran crusader be generally better than aven mindcensor in a list with 8 exalt creatures?

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Originally Posted by Maëlig

Wouldn't mirran crusader be generally better than aven mindcensor in a list with 8 exalt creatures?

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Vs stoneblade decks, aven mindcensors ability is more useful.

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Originally Posted by Maëlig

Wouldn't mirran crusader be generally better than aven mindcensor in a list with 8 exalt creatures?

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Mind censor flies!! This is especially important with a true name clogging the ground.

I am also brewing with fauna shaman again...