[Deck] GW/x Maverick

Well, I have now completed my 8th deck for type 1.5, I started playing the format just about 1 year ago after not playing magic for a few years, before that it was type 2 like crazy from Onslaught -to- Lorwyn, in either case, my 8th deck, is Maverick. >^,^<

Based on the past few Starcity top 16's, I put about 10 Maverick decklists together and compared notes, making an average that lead me to this:

4 Noble Hierarch
4 Mother of Runes
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Gaddock Teeg
3 Qasali Pridemage
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Fauna Shaman
4 Knight of the Reliquary
2 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Sylvan Library
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Wasteland
1 Maze of Ith
2 Cavern of Souls
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Karakas
1 Dryad Arbor
4 Windswept Heath
4 Savannah
1 Plains
3 Forest


All my other deck's would probably not be considered tier 1, since I consider the tier 1 decks to be Rug, Maverick, & Stoneblade at the moment, this is a deck however that isn't going anywhere anytime soon and the more powerful creatures that come out, the possibility of this deck only becoming more prevalent is, a possibility. Off the subject though, goblins did make Deck to beat for the month of July, and I guess Dredge keeps going back and forth with Deck to beat / Not a deck to beat, so I have those deck's as well but I would consider them more tier 1.5, higher than tier 2 decks but not quite as ominous as the 3 tier 1 decks.

Hey Guys,

in 3 Weeks i'm going to go to play my first Legacy tournament with 23 opponents.
I'm training with MWS, because i haven't other players in my hometown. I want to show my build, so you can give me tips, please.

I hope thats okay.

First the decklist and then the declaration to the choices.

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

13 Spells:
4x Green Sun's Zenith
4x Swords to Plowshares
1x Umezawa's Jitte
1x Sword of Light and Shadow
1x Batterskull
1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1x Garruk Relentless/Garruk, the Veil-Cursed


24 Lands:
4x Wastelands
4x Windswept Heath
4x Savannah
2x Wooded Foothills
1x Maze of Ith
1x Karakas
2x Cavern of Souls
1x Horizon Canopy
1x Dryad Arbor
1x Plains
2x Forest
1x Gaeas Cradle
61 cards

Sideboard:
1x Gaddock teeg
1x Bojuka Bog
2x Krosan Grip
3x Pithing Needle
3x Ethersworn Canonist
2x Surgical Extraction
2x Ratchet Bomb
1x Path to Exile
15 cards

Now I'm going to explain the Choices:
3x Noble Hierarch
1x Birds of Paradise
4x Knight of the Reliquary
4x Mother of Runes
2x Qasali Pridemage
3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2x Scavenging Ooze
1x Gaddock Teeg

This are the Core-Creatures. I think this are fix.

1x Thrun, the Last Troll - I'm not sure if he's the best choice? I see many tournament lists without Trun. Why? Is he to slow? Would you exchange him?

2x Stoneforge Mystic - I'm not sure if SFM 2 times is the right choice? 3rd Turn Batterskull is very nice and hard to handle for many Decks. So i don't know, why many tournament list play with only 1 SFM and without Batterskull. Can you explain me that, please?

1x Scryb Ranger - I like the tricks with Mother, KotR, Noble. I think 1 is enogh, because it's tutorable with GSZ. Against Delver its good to have him in the Deck.

Spells:
4x Green Sun's Zenith
4x Swords to Plowshares
1x Umezawa's Jitte

This Spells are fix. I think they need no explanation.

1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1x Garruk Relentless/Garruk, the Veil-Cursed

I think the Planeswalker are good against UWMiracle. I think the Speed up the Game with many Tokens.

1x Sword of Light and Shadow - I think next to the Jitte it's the best Equip, because prot white against StP and PtE. Would you play another Sword?
1x Batterskull - Very good with 2nd turn SFM. Many Lists play without it. Can you explain why, please?

Lands:
The Lands are fix. I'm not sure with Gaeas Cradle. Would you play it? Why - Why not?
4x Wastelands - I haven't Wastelands, so im going to play Ghost Quarter. I think thats the best replacement, till i have money to buy me wastelands.

Sideboard:
1x Gaddock teeg - Against Combo and Miracle
1x Bojuka Bog - Against Dredge and Reanimator
2x Krosan Grip - Against Cursed Totem and CB-SDT Combo. Against Stoneblade equip.
3x Pithing Needle - Against Planeswalkers, Artifact mana in Storm Decks, Sneak Atack
3x Ethersworn Canonist - Against Storm, Elves
2x Surgical Extraction - Mainly against Dredge and Reanimator, but also nice to remove counterspells, submerge etc.
2x Ratchet Bomb - Against Tokens, Dredge, Miracle

I don't know the Metagame in this tournament. I try to make a SB, wich is very flexible. Would you change something, or forget i someting?

Can you read my list and explanation, please. I hope, that you give me some tips and tricks and tell me, if i should change something. Maybe you can give me tournament tips.

I hope it's allright. Thank you very much.

Greetings

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kai_nsane

Hey Guys,

I hope it's allright. Thank you very much.

Greetings

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Though other cards are variable, I would strongly recommend you this:

change pithing needles into phyrexian revokers. The needles don't affect tes and ant, when revokers do. Otherwise they do the same but also attack.

I do not recommend playing Thrun. It's just an expensive vanilla which doesn't stop flyers in RUG. Also there are much better cards for mirror and control matchups.

do not play Ratchet Bomb. It's just crap in this deck. You can play engineered explosives but it's only relevant if you're gonna play against elves. Goblins and Merfolks are already good matchups.

I'd recommend to stick only with 1 plainswalker and consider sylvan library in MD. Also consider adding choke and Linvala into sb. Linvala helps you so much in mirror match.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by door

Though other cards are variable, I would strongly recommend you this:

change pithing needles into phyrexian revokers. The needles don't affect tes and ant, when revokers do. Otherwise they do the same but also attack.

I do not recommend playing Thrun. It's just an expensive vanilla which doesn't stop flyers in RUG. Also there are much better cards for mirror and control matchups.

do not play Ratchet Bomb. It's just crap in this deck. You can play engineered explosives but it's only relevant if you're gonna play against elves. Goblins and Merfolks are already good matchups.

I'd recommend to stick only with 1 plainswalker and consider sylvan library in MD. Also consider adding choke and Linvala into sb. Linvala helps you so much in mirror match.

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I would suggest staying with the Pithing needles since creatures are more prone to removal. The canonist could serve as your board for the ANT/TES matchup.

I would agree that thrun is just a vanilla creature and is too slow for the delver matchup. I would suggest adding another scryb ranger or upping the qasali pridemage.

I have now realized that Noble Hierarch, Mother of Runes, Knight of the Reliquary, & Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, are all humans, I looked at the advanced search for other human creatures but there's like 100's of humans, at 20 per page with over 50 pages, I think that's over 1000 humans to go through, so I have to ask here, does anyone know of any other "good" human's to toy around with, I can think of Grim Lavamancer & Dark Confidant but they are off color.

So this means MoM counts as a human in both cases despite on Commander reads "Human Cleric" while on Urza's Legacy one reads only "Summon Cleric" not "Human"? I hope this isn't too stupid question.

Thanks for the answer!

The answer to your question, is yes, Mom is a Human cleric.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ayiluss

So this means MoM counts as a human in both cases despite on Commander reads "Human Cleric" while on Urza's Legacy one reads only "Summon Cleric" not "Human"? I hope this isn't too stupid question.

Thanks for the answer!

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Many cards are printed with out of date text. Always check the Oracle text for a card to be certain.
http://gatherer.wizards.com

Another thing I have to ask is howcome the deck isn't running stoneforge mystic's anymore? Is it just too slow or not needed or some combination of the two?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by feline

Another thing I have to ask is howcome the deck isn't running stoneforge mystic's anymore? Is it just too slow or not needed or some combination of the two?

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IMO most do not run it because it is not tempo oriented as well as it being harder to protect in maverick then some other decks.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Guy I Don't Know

IMO most do not run it because it is not tempo oriented as well as it being harder to protect in maverick then some other decks.

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Eh I believe it was because Thalia got printed and took the SFM slot it is because of a fear of "unfair" decks like storm and show and tell, if you play a 2 drop that doesn't dissrupt your opponent at all then you die.

Personally I think maybe it is time to shift more towards SFM again--all those unfair decks like storm, and show and tell inevitably get hated on. Against "fair" decks SFM is probably better.

I mostly cut SFM when i realised I was pretty much always tutoring for Jitte, and started running a second Jitte instead. Jitte is a great answer to Jitte, so the seond Jitte (when drawn) isn't always dead. Same line of thought as running two Karakas (Now I only need to get my hands on a second Karakas).

The only advantage i see with runing 1 Jitte 1 SFM is you get an extra, though rather unimpressive, body.

Thank you very much for the help. :)

Can i cut Thrun for a Linvala in MD? I read when i play Linvala its recommended to play Fauna Shaman? Whould you confirm that?

Can i cast Engineered Explosives for 0 Mana? So i can destroy tokens?

Would you recommend for me to cut 2 of my SFM and the Batterskull to add a sylvan lybrarie, a 2nd scry Ranger and a Qasali? Or some other Cards?

Thank you very much for the help. I am looking forward to the tournament and hope do well.

Dont know about the other ones, but: Yes, you can play EE for 0 to destroy tokens with it.
NB: To play EE with 0 counters when you have Thalia in play, you have to have access to a land that can tap for colourless, e.g. Wasteland/Caverns.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kai_nsane

Can i cut Thrun for a Linvala in MD? I read when i play Linvala its recommended to play Fauna Shaman? Whould you confirm that?

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Yes. Thrun is pretty terrible against many matchups. I personally never play him anymore. Linvala is great in the mirror, and has its uses in other matchups as well. Still, Linvala is equally slow, so if your meta consists of RUG Tempo and Storm and such, just play that slow stuff sideboard. Fauna Shaman is useful but also slow. So same argument as for the 4CC creatures.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kai_nsane

Would you recommend for me to cut 2 of my SFM and the Batterskull to add a sylvan lybrarie, a 2nd scry Ranger and a Qasali? Or some other Cards?

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Yes, very much so. Batterskull is terrible unless the SFM sticks. Against Storm and SneakShow, you are dead before Bqatterskull veer does anything, and other decks will just destroy/counter SFM. Batterskull really has very limited use in the current environment. Sylvan Library is always good to play. If you have space, don't hesitate to play two copies. I personally also like to add Path to Exiles to the main deck when I have space for them. They help a lot in many matchups.

My current list:

1 Dryad Arbor
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Mother of Runes
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Qasali Pridemage
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Scryb Ranger
1 Gaddock Teeg
4 Knight of the Reliquary /25

4 Green Suns' Zenith
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Path to Exile
2 Sylvan Library
2 Umezawa's Jitte /13

4 Savannah
3 Forest
1 Plains
4 Windswept Heath
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Flooded Strand
2 Karakas
4 Wasteland
1 Maze of Ith /22

Side:
2 Path to Exile
2 Crop Rotation
1 Bojuka Bog
2 Life from the Loam
1 Sylvan Safekeeper
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Spike Feeder
3 Mindbreak Trap
2 Krosan Grip /15
(but the sideboard is constantly changing - right now I sort of ignore the mirror :tongue: )

Thank you very much for the Help and your Decklists. Through you I feel better prepared for the tournament :)

Is the Sylvan Librarie really so good? I don't understand, why you recommend to play it.

I have change my Decklist a little bit. It's without Batterskull and SFM, now.

List:
23 Creatures:
3x Noble Hierarch
1x Birds of Paradise
4x Knight of the Reliquary
4x Mother of Runes
3x Qasali Pridemage
3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2x Scavenging Ooze
1x Gaddock Teeg
2x Scryb Ranger

15 Spells:
4x Green Sun's Zenith
4x Swords to Plowshares
1x Path to Exile
1x Umezawa's Jitte
1x Sword of Light and Shadow
1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1x Garruk Relentless/Garruk, the Veil-Cursed
2x Sylvan Library

22 Lands:
4x Wastelands
4x Windswept Heath
4x Savannah
2x Wooded Foothills
1x Maze of Ith
1x Karakas
2x Cavern of Souls
1x Dryad Arbor
1x Plains
1x Forest
1x Gaeas Cradle

I play with just 22 Lands, I hope thats enough. I added 2 Sylvan Librarys, 1 Scryb Ranger, 1 Qasali Pridemage and a Path to Exile (Cuts 2x SFM 1x Batterskull 1x Thrun, 1 Horizon Canopy)

1x Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1x Gaddock teeg - Against Combo and Miracle
1x Bojuka Bog - Against Dredge and Reanimator
2x Krosan Grip - Against Cursed Totem and CB-SDT Combo. Against Stoneblade equip.
3x Pithing Needle - Against Planeswalkers, Artifact mana in Storm Decks, Sneak Atack
3x Ethersworn Canonist - Against Storm, Elves
2x Surgical Extraction - Mainly against Dredge and Reanimator, but also nice to remove counterspells, submerge etc.
2x Engineered Explosives - Against Tokens, Dredge, Miracle

Have you other suggestions that I can include in the deck with?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kai_nsane

Thank you very much for the Help and your Decklists. Through you I feel better prepared for the tournament :)

Is the Sylvan Librarie really so good? I don't understand, why you recommend to play it.

I have change my Decklist a little bit. It's without Batterskull and SFM, now.

List:
23 Creatures:
3x Noble Hierarch
1x Birds of Paradise
4x Knight of the Reliquary
4x Mother of Runes
3x Qasali Pridemage
3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2x Scavenging Ooze
1x Gaddock Teeg
2x Scryb Ranger

15 Spells:
4x Green Sun's Zenith
4x Swords to Plowshares
1x Path to Exile
1x Umezawa's Jitte
1x Sword of Light and Shadow
1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1x Garruk Relentless/Garruk, the Veil-Cursed
2x Sylvan Library

22 Lands:
4x Wastelands
4x Windswept Heath
4x Savannah
2x Wooded Foothills
1x Maze of Ith
1x Karakas
2x Cavern of Souls
1x Dryad Arbor
1x Plains
1x Forest
1x Gaeas Cradle

I play with just 22 Lands, I hope thats enough. I added 2 Sylvan Librarys, 1 Scryb Ranger, 1 Qasali Pridemage and a Path to Exile (Cuts 2x SFM 1x Batterskull 1x Thrun, 1 Horizon Canopy)

1x Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1x Gaddock teeg - Against Combo and Miracle
1x Bojuka Bog - Against Dredge and Reanimator
2x Krosan Grip - Against Cursed Totem and CB-SDT Combo. Against Stoneblade equip.
3x Pithing Needle - Against Planeswalkers, Artifact mana in Storm Decks, Sneak Atack
3x Ethersworn Canonist - Against Storm, Elves
2x Surgical Extraction - Mainly against Dredge and Reanimator, but also nice to remove counterspells, submerge etc.
2x Engineered Explosives - Against Tokens, Dredge, Miracle

Have you other suggestions that I can include in the deck with?

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You have 2 planeswalkers, mana heavy cards like Sword of Light and Shadow and Green Sun's Zenith.

20.5 actual lands is not enough; Cradle might hurt sometimes and Maze of Ith doesn't count as a land.

-1 a Planeswalker (depends on metagame which one to cut)
+1 Forest

Okay, i think then i cut the Garruk, because in my tests Elspeth makes a very good job.
Should i also cut Gaeas Cradle for a thrid Forest?

Are Eternal Witness, Aven Mindcensor or Terravor debatable choices?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kai_nsane

Okay, i think then i cut the Garruk, because in my tests Elspeth makes a very good job.
Should i also cut Gaeas Cradle for a thrid Forest?

Are Eternal Witness, Aven Mindcensor or Terravor debatable choices?

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I think Cradle should be a Horizon Canopy.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kai_nsane

Are Eternal Witness, Aven Mindcensor or Terravor debatable choices?

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They can play a role, but have very limited applications. Aven Mindcensor is the most "playable" due to having flying, but the 3 mana spot is already at a premium. Terravore + Sylvan Safekeeper is quite fun, and works well with GSZ.