[Deck] GW/x Maverick

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Originally Posted by CorpT

I own three and desperately want to use them. Is it actually good against RUG? Is it worth splashing to black for?

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Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. Hitting Brainstorm and Ponder is nice. Sometimes they spend their dig before you get it down and just Dude/Burn you to death. Sometimes the third color makes you die to Wasteland and Stifle.

I'll go as far to say that your matchup with Chains of Mephistopheles is better than it is without it, but as for whether it's worth splashing black just for RUG? I'd say no. It doesn't do quite enough. It does, however, screw with a lot of SnT decks by hitting Brainstorm, Ponder, and Griselbrand, and it's a behemoth against UW Miracles (It's a deck, I promise. I've been playing it since Terminus was spoiled.) and pretty decent against Bug Control too.

@Tarmogoyf: This guy is garbage in Maverick. Seriously. I've been saying this for eternity.

Also, seriously guys? Try out one Sylvan Safekeeper. You'll win so many games off this guy, between being able to multi-protect when you need a Jitte guy to hit and being able to both protect and pump Knights of the Reliquary at will.

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Originally Posted by ScatmanX

Thanks Door.
I'm also curious about Quirion Ranger, because most people only use 1 Scryb Ranger. Why the 1-1 split. Is it really that usefull?

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according to my experience his ability is priceless.
- fixes manascrew
- double mother activation (you can stall the table for enough time to find elesh norn for example)
- double shaman activation, which means finding elesh norn and loyal retainers without passing the turn
- double kotr activation
- bounce dryad arbor to have a pitch for shaman
- save savannah from wasteland. Yes, lots of people forget about that and loose their wastelands

Ok, Scryb does the same and even better. Generally I want scryb's ability as sooner as possible, so
- more mana on the second turn
- playing savannah - quirion on the first turn if you can't afford a basic land saves from opponent's wastelands
- avoids pithing needle/revoker on scryb
- costs zenith for 1, not for 2
Finally, there are 6 cards for finding scryb, if I need it specifically.

Has anyone tested CoP: Green as sideboard tech against the mirror and RUG? I've tested a few games against RUG and it's been pretty nuts, especially since it goes over the shroud on their mongeese. I'm using it as part of an E. Tutor package, along with Choke and EE.

To me it seems incorrect to play 3 Zenith and 3 Fauna Shaman. One can Zenith for the Shaman but also get Arbor turn 1 or Teeg/Ooze turn 2 if needed. Shaman only works from turn 3, which is slower. I think the correct amount should be 4 Zenith, 2 Fauna Shaman. Other than that I change my mind about the correct list every second. Right now I'm contemplating this:

Creatures:
1 Dryad Arbor
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Mother of Runes
2 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Fauna Shaman
2 Scryb Ranger
1 Gaddock Teeg
4 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Aven Mindcensor /27

Spells:
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Sylvan Library
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Light and Shadow /12

Lands:
4 Savannah
2 Forest
1 Plains
4 Windswept Heath
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Karakas
1 Gaea's Cradle (testing right now, not sold on it yet)
4 Wasteland /21

Seems very solid, but my guess is I'll try something different next week. :tongue:

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Originally Posted by Asthereal

To me it seems incorrect to play 3 Zenith and 3 Fauna Shaman. One can Zenith for the Shaman but also get Arbor turn 1 or Teeg/Ooze turn 2 if needed. Shaman only works from turn 3, which is slower. I think the correct amount should be 4 Zenith, 2 Fauna Shaman. Other than that I change my mind about the correct list every second. Right now I'm contemplating this:

Creatures:
1 Dryad Arbor
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Mother of Runes
2 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Fauna Shaman
2 Scryb Ranger
1 Gaddock Teeg
4 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Aven Mindcensor /27

Spells:
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Sylvan Library
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Light and Shadow /12

Lands:
4 Savannah
2 Forest
1 Plains
4 Windswept Heath
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Karakas
1 Gaea's Cradle (testing right now, not sold on it yet)
4 Wasteland /21

Seems very solid, but my guess is I'll try something different next week. :tongue:

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More or less what I've got right now based on the last few pages of discussion.
-1 Scryb Ranger
-1 Stoneforge Mystic
+1 Qasali Pridemage
+1 Thalia
-1 Sylvan Library
+1 Linvala

And now SB to deal with random activated abilities from the sideboard: Phyrexian Revoker. Pretty solid list, provided you don't run into TES or Belcher.

Hi, what u think of playing in GW 1 Tropical Island maindeck (with 6 fetchlands) and 3x Flusterstorm in Sideboard?
In this period i'm playing a "standard" Gw decklist without Fauna Shaman and i'm testing this sideboard:

3 Flusterstorm
3 Ethersworm canonist
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Choke
2 Path to exile
1 Thrun, The last troll
1 Bokuja bog

I don't play Linvala or Gut Shot because here there aren't too much Mirror, so isn't necessary ^_^
Any advice?

Sideboard depends entirely on your meta.
I seem to always encounter Burn, so I need stuff against that.
TES and Belcher will never be good matchups, so I don't side heavily against those.

Right now I have:
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Qasali Pridemage (just 2 main, so need a 3rd one)
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben (also just 2 main)
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
2 Path to Exile
2 Choke
2 Entlightened Tutor
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Serenity/Phyrexian Revoker (depending on whether I expect Affinity/Mud out there, or not)

This also changes by the minute tho. :tongue:

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Originally Posted by Asthereal

Creatures:
1 Dryad Arbor
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Mother of Runes
2 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Fauna Shaman
2 Scryb Ranger
1 Gaddock Teeg
4 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Aven Mindcensor /27

Spells:
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Sylvan Library
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Light and Shadow /12

Lands:
4 Savannah
2 Forest
1 Plains
4 Windswept Heath
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Karakas
1 Gaea's Cradle (testing right now, not sold on it yet)
4 Wasteland /21

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To me it is always strange, what for do you need fauna shaman without retainers/iona/elesh norn package. In this case standart maverick build would be better. Also I wouldn't play less than 3 Thalia in todays meta. Mindcensor is a question.

Hey all! I've been following this thread for quite some time now, and just decided to join. I am one of very few legacy players in my part of souther nj :mad:

Anyway, Mavrick is one of my favorit decks. The reason i feel that the Shaman package is strong is due to the fact that it can help you dig for threats to the otherwise dead game 1's of match ups to combo decks: high tide, etc..

Need Teeg, done. Need thalia, done. Need revoker, etc.. Also 4 Linvala in the mirror match.

I've been tinkering with:

1. Creatures:
1 Dryad Arbor
3 Noble Hierarch
1 BOP
4 Mother of Runes
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben(Combo hate)
2 Scavenging Ooze
3 Qasali Pridemage
2 Fauna Shaman
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Linvala, KOS (Mirror)
1 Gaddock Teeg
4 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Phyrexian Revoker(Jizzle brand/planeswalkers)/27

Spells:
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Sylvan Library
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Light and Shadow or second Jittle/11

Lands:
3 Savannah
3 Forests
1 Plains
1 Wooded foothills( An extra fetch instead of 4 Savannah's for a bigger kotr)
4 Windswept Heath
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Maze of Ith(Not completely sold, weak vs combo)
1 Karakas
1 Horizon Canopy(May ditch for another fetch land or 4th Savannah)
1 Gaea's Cradle ( I don't have it yet.. wondering if its worth the 60$)
4 Wasteland /22

*Horizon Canopy seems to suck more life then it's worth in my testing so far..
*I'd like to squeeze in at least a singleton Elspeth, Knight-Errant
* Don't have any Aven in my 60, still debating if he is worth the casting cost or spot.

I'm in the process of tailoring a sb..

What do you guys thinK?

With GP Atlanta not far away, what does everyone think the metagame there will look like? There are 4 SCG events between now and then, should this be a good indication of Atlanta?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by door

To me it is always strange, what for do you need fauna shaman without retainers/iona/elesh norn package. In this case standart maverick build would be better. Also I wouldn't play less than 3 Thalia in todays meta. Mindcensor is a question.

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Different packages, if you play guys who aren't green that need fetching. Or to be Zenith 5-6 or 5-7. If you're me, for example, you've got a Metamorph, a Revoker, a Stoneforge, and sometimes one random Mindcensor, along with the ability to go dig up Thalia sometimes. Metamorph and Revoker are huge as 1-of's in my maindeck to me. Fauna Shaman lets me find them when I don't need them, and ditch them when I do.

And I guess that's the second, overlooked point of Fauna Shaman. It's not just about toolboxing. It's about getting the right guy at the right time. If you need nothing more than the STP in your yard, Shaman into Witness into STP might save you all Toolboxy. Sometimes, however, you're just going to be annoyed you drew your third Noble Hierarch, and be glad you can turn him into another Knight of the Reliquary. It makes ALL your dudes Knights of the Reliquary, if you've got the mana to make it happen. And for all the times you need to dig for an exact guy to win, there's two or three times you'll win just because you've got a stupid number of Knights on the board.

EDIT: Fwiw, I think Mindcensor's trash now, given how many Maverick builds have been moving away from heavy Stoneforge stuff, and how subpar it is against a lot of the rest of the field.

I think the ability to find Linvala more consistently makes Fauna Shaman a good upgrade to the deck. That was reason enough for me to play it out, and I enjoyed how the addition worked out.

Lotal Retainers is a bad tech in my opinion.
The cards are bad on their own, and the combo requires a discard outlet to work. Fauna Shaman should be just that, but it only works on the next turn (requires tapping). It's just too easy to shut down, leaving you with irrelevant cards in the deck.

If it works, it's killing. Of course. But the same counts for Natural Order > Progenitus. We don't play that in Maverick either.

To me, Fauna Shaman does this:
- Against the mirror, it grabs Linvala, Mother of Runes, Mindcensors, when needed.
- Against combo, it grabs the additional hatebreas they cannot fight through.
- Against any slow deck, it turns less relevnat creatures into very relevant creatures.
Or it draws removal, leaving your Knight to finish the job.

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Originally Posted by ryscott85

Hey all! I've been following this thread for quite some time now, and just decided to join. I am one of very few legacy players in my part of souther nj :mad:

Anyway, Mavrick is one of my favorit decks. The reason i feel that the Shaman package is strong is due to the fact that it can help you dig for threats to the otherwise dead game 1's of match ups to combo decks: high tide, etc..

Need Teeg, done. Need thalia, done. Need revoker, etc.. Also 4 Linvala in the mirror match.

I've been tinkering with:

1. Creatures:
1 Dryad Arbor
3 Noble Hierarch
1 BOP
4 Mother of Runes
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben(Combo hate)
2 Scavenging Ooze
3 Qasali Pridemage
2 Fauna Shaman
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Linvala, KOS (Mirror)
1 Gaddock Teeg
4 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Phyrexian Revoker(Jizzle brand/planeswalkers)/27

Spells:
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Sylvan Library
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Light and Shadow or second Jittle/11

Lands:
3 Savannah
3 Forests
1 Plains
1 Wooded foothills( An extra fetch instead of 4 Savannah's for a bigger kotr)
4 Windswept Heath
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Maze of Ith(Not completely sold, weak vs combo)
1 Karakas
1 Horizon Canopy(May ditch for another fetch land or 4th Savannah)
1 Gaea's Cradle ( I don't have it yet.. wondering if its worth the 60$)
4 Wasteland /22

*Horizon Canopy seems to suck more life then it's worth in my testing so far..
*I'd like to squeeze in at least a singleton Elspeth, Knight-Errant
* Don't have any Aven in my 60, still debating if he is worth the casting cost or spot.

I'm in the process of tailoring a sb..

What do you guys thinK?

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Horizon Canopy is much better than you think. The extra draw at times can be very helpful late game. It's also an extra card that goes in the yard for knight activation. If you're going to run Life from the Loam in the board for loam lock, it's a dredge at will for the extra Wastelands when needed. I would recommend -1 Foothills and +1 Canopy in MD.

Here is the version I have been playing for about a month in Seattle. It is a little faster and has larger creatures with the Nacatl. Cats + exalted is a lot of pressure early. I am looking for ideas to improve it.

Land (22) (maybe 1 too many)
1x Forest
1x Plains
1x Dryad Arbor
1x Horizon Canopy
4x Windswept Heath
2x Wooded Foothills
3x Wasteland
1x Karakas
2x Plateau
3x Savannah
1x Taiga
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Arid Mesa
Spells
4x Path to Exile (focused on quick damage)
1x Gaddock Teeg
1x Aven Mindcensor (less than amazing likly to cut but not sure for what)
1x Dryad Arbor
4x Mother of Runes
4x Wild Nacatl
4x Knight of the Reliquary
4x Noble Hierarch (4 is better then adding a bird if you want a seriously fast clock)
4x Qasali Pridemage
3x Scavenging Ooze
2x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben (may up this to three)
4x Green Sun's Zenith
1x Sylvan Library
1x Umezawa's Jitte
1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant

Sideboard
1x Gaddock Teeg
2x Honorable Passage (several local budget all bolt/bob decks and Rug or UR Delver)
2x Tormod's Crypt
2x Choke
2x Serenity (Both myself and a friend recently lost to lost to MUD with this deck before adding this)
2x Enlightened Tutor
1x Ethersworn Canonist
1x Surgical Extraction
1x Phyrexian Metamorph
1x Grafdigger's Cage

Looking for ideas against elves (maybe rule of law) and MUD.

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Originally Posted by Sarterus

Here is the version I have been playing for about a month in Seattle. It is a little faster and has larger creatures with the Nacatl. Cats + exalted is a lot of pressure early. I am looking for ideas to improve it.

Land (22) (maybe 1 too many)
1x Forest
1x Plains
1x Dryad Arbor
1x Horizon Canopy
4x Windswept Heath
2x Wooded Foothills
3x Wasteland
1x Karakas
2x Plateau
3x Savannah
1x Taiga
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Arid Mesa
Spells
4x Path to Exile (focused on quick damage)
1x Gaddock Teeg
1x Aven Mindcensor (less than amazing likly to cut but not sure for what)
1x Dryad Arbor
4x Mother of Runes
4x Wild Nacatl
4x Knight of the Reliquary
4x Noble Hierarch (4 is better then adding a bird if you want a seriously fast clock)
4x Qasali Pridemage
3x Scavenging Ooze
2x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben (may up this to three)
4x Green Sun's Zenith
1x Sylvan Library
1x Umezawa's Jitte
1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant

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You are much better off playing Zoo. I see 3 red producing lands at the expense of a Savannah/Wasteland/a Forest just for your Nacatl.You are playing no red spells at all. That is hardly efficient. You are opening yourself to Wasteland + color screw just to play Nacatl. You are also decreasing the Jitte count + other GSZ targets by adding Nacatl. What if Nacatl isn't in your opener? A turn 2 Nacatl off GSZ is horrendously slow. You say you want a seriously fast clock via exalted. Maverick will rarely ever have a fast clock. Turn 1 Nacatl -> Turn 2 Noble is just suboptimal in a deck that wants to have a Turn 1 Noble/Dryad Arbor. This deck has quite a few horrible late game creature top decks (Noble, MoR, Arbor) and doesn't need anymore.

Cats + exalted is much worse at applying pressure than the Cats + 1 drop beaters + Tarmogoyf + burn in Zoo. Switch over to Zoo or cut the Nacatls.

I would think you want to find room for 4 lightning bolts, prob play lavamancer over mother. Prob switch your 3 oozes to one ooze 2 goyf. So basically a big zoo deck

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Originally Posted by MiniLuv

You are much better off playing Zoo. I see 3 red producing lands at the expense of a Savannah/Wasteland/a Forest just for your Nacatl.You are playing no red spells at all. That is hardly efficient. You are opening yourself to Wasteland + color screw just to play Nacatl. You are also decreasing the Jitte count + other GSZ targets by adding Nacatl. What if Nacatl isn't in your opener? A turn 2 Nacatl off GSZ is horrendously slow. You say you want a seriously fast clock via exalted. Maverick will rarely ever have a fast clock. Turn 1 Nacatl -> Turn 2 Noble is just suboptimal in a deck that wants to have a Turn 1 Noble/Dryad Arbor. This deck has quite a few horrible late game creature top decks (Noble, MoR, Arbor) and doesn't need anymore.

Cats + exalted is much worse at applying pressure than the Cats + 1 drop beaters + Tarmogoyf + burn in Zoo. Switch over to Zoo or cut the Nacatls.

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If the goal was to play zoo I agree, bolts and Tarmogoyfs are better. Zoo hits harder and faster but with much less control and more losses to combo. My goal is not to play zoo, but simply to speed up Maverick with a better clock while keeping the control aspects of Ooze, Gaddock and Thalia. Zoo is a much worse deck unless you are playing a goldfish. Zoo's problem is that it plays too many threats and not enough control to beat most decks.

I tried splitting Oozes and Tarmogoyf and found that 95% of the time I just wanted the Ooze. Against Burn, Esper, Zoo, Goblins, Snapcasters and Drege Ooze is better. Only in very rare cases did I want Goyfs vanilla damage.

The casting cost is so low in the deck the wastelands are not a big deal and 2 basics tends to work well.

Mom+Nacatl+Exalted gets a lot more damage by lingering souls then Nacatl + Goyf which are both chump blocked. Give the build a try.

Maverick isn't exactly an aggro deck. Trying to make it into one will lead you back to Zoo (or Big Zoo, but who's counting..) Maverick's strength comes from being able to control the Attack Step and relatively ignore Blue control strategies. The matchups where you want to be hyper-aggressive are ones where you need a quick clock to beat a Combo deck (Burn, Show & Tell, Combo, etc).

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Originally Posted by Sarterus

If the goal was to play zoo I agree, bolts and Tarmogoyfs are better. Zoo hits harder and faster but with much less control and more losses to combo. My goal is not to play zoo, but simply to speed up Maverick with a better clock while keeping the control aspects of Ooze, Gaddock and Thalia. Zoo is a much worse deck unless you are playing a goldfish. Zoo's problem is that it plays too many threats and not enough control to beat most decks.

I tried splitting Oozes and Tarmogoyf and found that 95% of the time I just wanted the Ooze. Against Burn, Esper, Zoo, Goblins, Snapcasters and Drege Ooze is better. Only in very rare cases did I want Goyfs vanilla damage.

The casting cost is so low in the deck the wastelands are not a big deal and 2 basics tends to work well.

Mom+Nacatl+Exalted gets a lot more damage by lingering souls then Nacatl + Goyf which are both chump blocked. Give the build a try.

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Maverick WILL NEVER present a fast clock. Look at the creatures it plays. Noble Hierarch for mana accelration, Mother of Runes to give PROTECTION, and Knight being the ONLY creature that enters play above 2/2. You are adding 4 Nacatls, which equate to 4 horrible vanilla beaters, to a deck that is midrange and grindy in nature. Why is Tarmogoyf not played in Maverick? Because it DOES NOTHING other than attack and block which makes it useless at the 2cc slot. There is not utility with Tarmogoyf that you can get with Qasali, Ooze, Scryb Ranger, Fauna Shaman, etc. Is Nacatl any better at the 1cc slot? Don't dilute the mana base and add more horrible creature top decks at the expense of maxing of a more stable land base and more viable GSZ targets.

Your reasoning for Mom + Nacatl + Exalted getting by Lingering Souls is flawed. You will be attacking with ONE creature as opposed to attacking with multiple creatures in Zoo. Which plan will get rid of the chump blockers more quickly? You plan on giving the Nacatl protection from white to get past the token blockers? They StP in response and set you back.

Let's pretend they do not have removal, which isn't likely. How are you going to get Mom + Nacatl + Noble Hierarch/Qasali out on the field early enough to present a fast enough clock? You need to untap with Mom to use her. You need to untap with Nacatl to start beating down. You need to have Noble Hierarch + Qasali Pridemage out on turn 3 when Nacatl + Mom have gotten over summoning sickness to be useful. And you need to do all of this while having Mountain/Plains/Forest in play. How much damage do you think you will accumulate the first 2-3 turns if everything has gone according to plan? Hardly any. Will Nacatl get outclassed by your opponent's other creatures by then such that you need to start using Mom to force damage through and putting Nacatl on chump block duty? Most likely. You plan on playing PtE to remove their bigger opposing creatures or tokens? I prefer not helping my opponent accelerate into bigger creatures and planeswalkers without Zoo's burn to quickly finish the job.

Please reconsider what you're doing.