[Deck] GW/x Maverick

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Originally Posted by Pans-Advocate

I don't see how it is remotely possible to claim that UR Delver isn't a deck to beat right now. It is far and away the most successful deck in the format at this moment.

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Because it's not. Look at top 8's. it's a deck that's doing well, but it's not "the most successful deck." It has awful miracles game, mediocre combo game, and mediocre midrange games. What it has was a strategy people weren't actively fighting and the speed of a burn deck and picks on D&T and other Delver decks.

This thread shows it has a lot of Top positions but it's in part because everyone and their mother is playing the deck. This thread shows a similar "several UR Delvers" (or they could be burn, hard to tell with how it was documented) but it didn't push out anything obvious aside from maybe RUG Delver.

In three months UR Delver will have turned into something better or gone away and TC madness will have died down.

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Originally Posted by ironclad8690

I have flip-flopped more than Mitt Romney on my deck choice for SCG Oakland

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I don't remember Mitt Romney talking about your deck choice for SCG Oakland.

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Originally Posted by ironclad8690

What would you guys recommend as a gauntlet for testing right now?

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In my opinion the Big 3 right now are U/R Delver, Death and Taxes, and Miracles. "Deck to Beat" or not, you need to be prepared to see U/R a couple times in a big tournament like an SCG Open or GPNJ.

Beyond those three, Elves, Reanimator, and Esper/4 Color Blade would round out my gauntlet. I've not personally seen much Reanimator lately, but I've read and heard about it. Elesh Norn seems like quite the creature these days.

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Originally Posted by T-101

In my opinion the Big 3 right now are U/R Delver, Death and Taxes, and Miracles. "Deck to Beat" or not, you need to be prepared to see U/R a couple times in a big tournament like an SCG Open or GPNJ.

Beyond those three, Elves, Reanimator, and Esper/4 Color Blade would round out my gauntlet. I've not personally seen much Reanimator lately, but I've read and heard about it. Elesh Norn seems like quite the creature these days.

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The decks I'm expecting to see in GPNJ are:

U/G Infect
UR Delver
DnT
Elves
Esper
Reanimator
Burn

Elesh Norn gets a value as it hoses a lot of those decks, its an autoscoop for most of them. I've heard some people at the LGS they want to bring out Maverick again as the hatebear deck for the TC mania.

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Originally Posted by tescrin

I don't remember Mitt Romney talking about your deck choice for SCG Oakland.

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It was hotly debated along with universal healthcare.

Here is my current list:

Creatures: 25
3 Deathrite Shaman
2 Noble Hierarch
1 Dryad Arbor
4 Mother of Runes
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Gaddock Teeg
4 Knight of the Reliquary

Spells: 12
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow (debating between this and Batterskull)
1 Sylvan Library

Lands: 23
3 Savannah
1 Bayou
1 Scrubland
2 Forest
1 Plains
4 Wasteland
4 Windswept Heath
3 Verdant Catacombs
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Karakas
1 Dark Depths
1 Thespian's Stage

Sideboard:
3 Thoughtseize
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Path to Exile
3 Zealous Persecution
2 Wilt-Leaf Liege

I think 3 Zealous is a good number right now. Any thoughts or criticisms?

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Originally Posted by Nuke is Good

The decks I'm expecting to see in GPNJ are:

U/G Infect
UR Delver
DnT
Elves
Esper
Reanimator
Burn

Elesh Norn gets a value as it hoses a lot of those decks, its an autoscoop for most of them. I've heard some people at the LGS they want to bring out Maverick again as the hatebear deck for the TC mania.

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This is what you are going to expect at GPNJ:
#1&2 - Burn and Manaless Dredge. This event is expected to have 6k+ people. Many will drop before Round 1 to get their brainstorm swag. However, many will want to play, because they already paid. Burn and Manaless Dredge are the two cheapest decks to build in legacy. So Sideboard accordingly (mostly for burn, dread is an easy win for us). Hopefully you wont see much after the first 2/3 rounds.
#3 - All Delver Variants. Delver is extremely popular in America. However, on the east coast I would say its Most Popular. With the addition of Treasure Cruise many are jamming in 4 of into all the Delver shells. I expect UR to be the most popular as it auto-plays itself and been putting up the best results. Followed by BUG, RUG, Patriot then 4c/Grixis. I hate to group four major decks in one category, but you kinda have too. All four together will make up the majority of the meta and should be number #1. But i expect many non-legacy players at this event and Burn and Manaless Dredge will probably be the easiest decks for them to get their hands on.
#4 - Elves. Arguably the best combo deck and definitely the most consistent. This deck has lasted the test of time and is in a great spot since Miracles isn't the #1 deck right now.
#5 - Infect. - People are going to want to ride on the coat tails of Tom Ross' success. 2 back to back invitational wins have guaranteed this is a top tier deck. People like playing winning decks. This is a Star City event after all and a lot of eyes of been on Tom Ross' articles of late on where this deck fits in a Treasure Cruise meta. I would even expect people trying to jam Dig Through Time.
#6 - Miracles - Still the most played deck in the last 6 months and very consistent and strong in the hands of the right pilot. Given that this is a GP I expect that the grind will turn people away from playing this deck. However, expect a lot of Europeans coming across the pond. They love this deck and are very good at playing it.
#7 - Reanimator - Extremely popular on the East Coast and usually puts up a top 8 results.
#8 The Other Top Tier Decks - D&T, Stoneblade and Sneak and Show - These are still top tier decks and will almost certainly be played in numbers.


So those are the decks that I would gear my sideboard towards. There of course are other decks like Storm, Jund, Merfolk, Dead Guy Ale, Shardless Bug, Junk Blade, Regular Dredge, Lands, MUD, Painter Stone, etc. that will be played too. However, the meta is extreme BLUE on the east coast and everyone is on the Treasure Cruse bandwagon so I wouldn't expect to play more than 1 round against these decks.

Then the fringe decks like Goblins (I'm sad it doesn't fit in a 2014 Legacy Meta), Affinity, Nic Fit, High Tide, Food Griffin, Belcher.

Also - Elesh Norn is too greedy without a way to cheat her in. if you want to play her, go for a reanimator style deck.

My guess is that Merfolk is probably a great deck to play due to the heavy Blue Meta. However, if you're like me and Maverick is "your deck". Get some byes to avoid Charbelcher and rely on Scavenging Ooze and Gaddock Teeg more so than Knight of the Reliquary.

27 - 12 in cockatrice testing in the last day or so.

Wins:

Dark Depths: 2-1
MUD: 2-1
High Tide: 2-0
Miracles: 2-1
Mono Blue Delver: 2-0
UR Delver: 2-0
BUG Delver: 2-0
BUG Delver: 1-0
Elves: 2-0
Miracles: 2-0
Junk: 2-1
Aluren: 2-0
UB Tezz: 2-0

Losses:

Esper Midrange: 1-2
UW Blade: 0-2
UB Tezz: 0-2
12 Post: 0-1

Draw:

BUG Delver: 1-1

It's too bad so many people quit after g1 on cockatrice :/

So far everything looks good, just losing to UW/x Blade more than I would like to. Maybe I can find room in my SB for some Armageddons or Oblivion Rings. Anyone have any thoughts?

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Originally Posted by ironclad8690

27 - 12 in cockatrice testing in the last day or so.

So far everything looks good, just losing to UW/x Blade more than I would like to. Maybe I can find room in my SB for some Armageddons or Oblivion Rings. Anyone have any thoughts?

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What specifically are you losing to in the blade matchup? I advocate for Abrupt Decays over Path to Exile because it can hit equipment, Liliana, Counterbalance, etc. You really are boarding PtE mostly for the Delver matchups anyways, this way you don't have to play around Daze and it can't be spell pierced, Forced, etc. Also, a 3rd Qasali Pridemage on your sideboard can work wonders.

I also like Toxic Deluge over Zealous Persecution (I personally go 2x Deluge 1x ZP). It has farther reach and you can board it in on this match-up as well. Plus, when they equip a batterskull to TNN, then you topdeck the zealous afterwards, it basically too little to late. I once was playing Elves and he natural ordered into a Progenitus. I was able to Toxic Deluge for -10 and comeback and win the game. Had it been Zealous Persecution I would have been dead.

@ironclad
Try increasing the QPM count to 3 vs Stoneblades. It's an awesome clock that they have to answer prior to deploying equipment. Likewise it's equally good vs Tezz decks to eliminate Ensnaring Bridge. That frees up for KotR to stay alive and annihilate their mana base. UW stoneblade is likely the hardest, as they have a rock solid mana base and access to Wraths. Choke is a godsend for these type of decks.

SoLS should be a Batterskull to mitigate against Burn. I don't generally like running SFM/BS unless you run 3 SFM however.

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Originally Posted by DudeItsCorey

What specifically are you losing to in the blade matchup? I advocate for Abrupt Decays over Path to Exile because it can hit equipment, Liliana, Counterbalance, etc. You really are boarding PtE mostly for the Delver matchups anyways, this way you don't have to play around Daze and it can't be spell pierced, Forced, etc. Also, a 3rd Qasali Pridemage on your sideboard can work wonders.

I also like Toxic Deluge over Zealous Persecution (I personally go 2x Deluge 1x ZP). It has farther reach and you can board it in on this match-up as well. Plus, when they equip a batterskull to TNN, then you topdeck the zealous afterwards, it basically too little to late. I once was playing Elves and he natural ordered into a Progenitus. I was able to Toxic Deluge for -10 and comeback and win the game. Had it been Zealous Persecution I would have been dead.

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Here are how these games have been going for me:

T1: Manadork or Mom -> they StP it
T2: Thalia -> Stoneforge Mystic
T3: I play a knight, pass attacking with Thalia, they vial in Batterskull
T4: Knight to disrupt their mana if they have a nonbasic or something -> they go snapcaster swords to plowshares on Thalia, attack with Skull.
T5: Jace, bounce knight, proceed to stomp me.

It is even worse when I am on the draw playing catchup. Having to tempo swords a SFM is never great considering you have to be adding to the board at this stage.

These issues are increased if they manage to Force one of my guys or thoughtseize it away in the early turns.

As far as Deluge, I have wanted to run it but Zealous being 1 mana cheaper certainly helps, and when a Thalia is in play it can make even zealous get a little awkward. I think I might go 2 Zealous 1 Deluge or maybe even Engineered Plague in that slot. Having a permanent effect on the field is amazing vs Pyromancer and helps more than Zealous or Toxic against our worst matchup: combo elves.

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Originally Posted by Koby

@ironclad
Try increasing the QPM count to 3 vs Stoneblades. It's an awesome clock that they have to answer prior to deploying equipment. Likewise it's equally good vs Tezz decks to eliminate Ensnaring Bridge. That frees up for KotR to stay alive and annihilate their mana base. UW stoneblade is likely the hardest, as they have a rock solid mana base and access to Wraths. Choke is a godsend for these type of decks.

SoLS should be a Batterskull to mitigate against Burn. I don't generally like running SFM/BS unless you run 3 SFM however.

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I have tried this, but I can only think to cut an equip, library, wasteland #4, or a scavenging ooze to make the space. It is not really the equipment that I end up losing to in the long run, but rather Jace + Snapcasters. I am glad to see Deathblade because I would really rather deal with True-Name than Jace.

If I was to go the Batterskull route, I would probably want to run Cradle to power it out as well as a 3rd SFM. With 3 SFMs, maybe I would cut 1 Thalia or 1 Land, but I am hesitant to cut lands. I have been back and forth about the depths stage combo lately because batterskull seems to be a better plan right now. The format is definitely faster than it was a month ago.

I have always used Choke in my sideboard, and I think I might have to make a cut or two to accommodate it. My only win against Joe Lossett with this deck came as a result of Choke, and it has helped me clench victory against multiple Blade decks too.

I spent a large portion of today testing Punishing Maverick and tuning the list that Nate Sturm played at Legacy Champs to suit my own comfort zone. As I expected, the "weird cards" I saw (Domris and Voice) were totally unsatisfactory to me and got cut for the more stock choices of 2nd Scooze, 2nd QPM, and maindeck Sylvan Library. I also cut the 4th Savannah for a Plains because getting Wasted off white happened a couple times when it didn't feel like it needed to (this resulted on the pretty minimal change of -1 Foothills +1 Arid Mesa as well). Here's where I landed:

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

1 Council's Judgment
4 Green Suns Zenith
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Punishing Fire
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull
1 Sylvan Library

4 Windswept Heath
2 Wooded Foothills
1 Arid Mesa
3 Savannah
2 Taiga
1 Plains
1 Forest
3 Wasteland
3 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Karakas
1 Maze of Ith
1 Dryad Arbor

The sideboard is what I'm a little concerned about. Right now I feel wedded to the following slots:

2 Krosan Grip
2 Pyroblast/REB
2 Electrickery
1 Council's Judgment
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Choke

With 5 slots left and basically no game yet in these 70 against combo aside from Teeg and Scooze (I really feel like 8 of these cards are necessary for the Miracles matchup and the Electrickery also feels essential with all the x/1s running around), I feel like I have 2 options: I can hope to dodge Dredge/Burn/OmniTell/Storm/Reanimator all weekend long at GP NJ and stack the board with fair-matchup cards (some combination of Path, Manriki, Elspeth, Loam, Geddon, Needle, Thrun, etc) or I can just jam in 2 E-Tutors and a COP Red, a Canonist, and a Tormod's Crypt, which gives me a little bit of game against just about all the unfair strategies (but, awkwardly, maybe not actually enough against any of them in particular).

Someone poke holes in my reasoning. Im starting to see a weakness in this list to regular old Sneak and Show, for example, and I don't really know what to do about it (the old school options of Oblivion Ring and Crop Rotation don't sound reliable enough). The thing is, the option of just totally ignoring the unfair matchups and gunning straight for Delver, Miracles, and D&T really, really hard actually sounds almost reasonable right now, because those three decks are doing a pretty solid job of pushing combo out of the format. Am I crazy for wanting to murder fair decks so hard that I essentially punt my matchup against the entire combo pillar of the format?

If you want to beat more fair and less unfair, then going to 3 Thalia is reasonable enough. You could put the 4th in the Sideboard to accommodate more removal in the main. I think with 3 SFM in the maindeck, a Sword of Fire and Ice isn't out of the question. I certainly like it better than Council's Judgment, as both deal with a TNN to a degree. Gaddock Teeg equipped with SoFI is practically like telling UR Delver to play a game of Go Fish.

The issue is that I have no idea what I could cut from this list to find room for 3 Thalia. I think what it comes down to is that if I want to play Thalia I will just play D&T, it's a good deck, I have total access to it, and I know how to play it (in fact I was playing it with success through the whole summer). My reasoning for considering going the Punishing Mav route is that I gain win% against Delver and opposing D&T by dropping the Thalias for Punishing Fire, I salvage the tougher-without-Vials Miracles matchup with Chokes, REBs, and Teeg, and the decks I'm trying to beat are ideally keeping the decks that beat me off my back. I guess my question is less "what do you guys think I can do in this list to beat combo" and more "do you think it's a defensible choice to play Punishing Mav over D&T in the current meta, knowing how much it skews towards beating fair decks and losing to combo."

I will admit that Nate Sturm's performance at Legacy Champs is the only reason I'm considering this ... I'd rather play mirrors at GP NJ than face a bunch of Punishing Fires with D&T, so having him put the deck back on the map felt scary.

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Originally Posted by Pans-Advocate

The issue is that I have no idea what I could cut from this list to find room for 3 Thalia. I think what it comes down to is that if I want to play Thalia I will just play D&T, it's a good deck, I have total access to it, and I know how to play it (in fact I was playing it with success through the whole summer). My reasoning for considering going the Punishing Mav route is that I gain win% against Delver and opposing D&T by dropping the Thalias for Punishing Fire, I salvage the tougher-without-Vials Miracles matchup with Chokes, REBs, and Teeg, and the decks I'm trying to beat are ideally keeping the decks that beat me off my back. I guess my question is less "what do you guys think I can do in this list to beat combo" and more "do you think it's a defensible choice to play Punishing Mav over D&T in the current meta, knowing how much it skews towards beating fair decks and losing to combo."

I will admit that Nate Sturm's performance at Legacy Champs is the only reason I'm considering this ... I'd rather play mirrors at GP NJ than face a bunch of Punishing Fires with D&T, so having him put the deck back on the map felt scary.

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I think punishing is worth it. I am really on the fence about this one too, since I love punishing fire so much.

Here is my punishing list that I have been testing alongside Dark Maverick:


22 Creatures

3 Deathrite Shaman
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Dryad Arbor
4 Mother of Runes
3 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Gaddock Teeg
4 Knight of the Reliquary

15 Spells

4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Punishing Fire
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull
1 Sylvan Library
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant/Garruk Relentless

23 Lands

3 Savannah
2 Tagia
1 Bayou
1 Forest
1 Plains
4 Windswept Heath
2 Arid Mesa
1 Wooded Foothills
3 Wasteland
1 Karakas
1 Horizon Canopy
3 Grove of the Burnwillows

Sideboard:

1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Choke
2 Pyroblast
1 Slaughter Games
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Enlightened Tutor
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Engineered Plague
1 Pithing Needle
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Spirit of the Labyrinth

I think if you play the punishing fire version, your sideboard has to be geared against combo for sure. You have two options:

1) Broadly powerful cards that perform work in a bunch of matchups at consistent numbers.

2) Enlightened Tutor board, which is better suited to punishing maverick as you are hedging towards the fair matchups with your maindeck.

The matchups that I am most concerned about with this version are Reanimator, Storm, Omnitell, and Burn to a lesser extent, hence MD skull. This is very similar to the version that I got 22nd with at SCG LA about 1 year ago. I was lucky to play RUG delver 4 times that tournament, with the others being 2 Affinity, 1 Storm, 1 Dredge, and 1 Shardless BUG I believe.

I have cut the Depths Stage combo due to the speed of the format (definitely want to be casting my power spells on curve, also precarious 4 color manabase), and maze of ith seems marginalized with the Equipment decks running TNN.

I favor Punishing Fire version because it is easy mode against all fair decks when you get the combo, and it is closer to Big Zoo which is my all-time favorite deck. There are combat decisions with the Thalia version that always seem to cost me a game or 2, and I prefer staying away from "thinking" in bigger tournaments.

That said, I am really on the fence right now.

Personally I am very wary of using Deathrite as a mana dork right now. RIP is already strong enough to bring in as a way to nerf Knight and to a lesser extent Scooze, and D&T needs it to break parity with the PFire engine, but it turns a corner from annoying to potentially backbreaking if it also hoses your mana dorks. Since the only other black mana symbols in your 75 are for Slaughter Games and E-Plague, I would consider switching out of the black splash as a way of guaranteeing that your dorks make mana. For that matter, you're also running considerably fewer ways to remove a RIP, which makes it that much scarier.

I also see a pretty glaring issue with your Burn matchup given that your only really good cards are artifacts and they'll be bringing in 2-3 Smash to Smithereens. Since you already play 2 Tutors, a single COP Red can swing that matchup enormously.

Those are the only issues I noticed with that list though. I like that your use of Pithing Needle, Revoker, and Spirit of the Labyrinth gives you board targets against miracles that also do work against Sneak and Show ... My Krosan Grips and Council's Judgment are unlikely to pull weight in that matchup, which is why I'm a lot more scared of it than your list probably needs to be (on that note, if there was one thing that convinced me to run black, it's this matchup ... Slaughter Games just seems impossible for them to beat).

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Originally Posted by Pans-Advocate

Personally I am very wary of using Deathrite as a mana dork right now. RIP is already strong enough to bring in as a way to nerf Knight and to a lesser extent Scooze, and D&T needs it to break parity with the PFire engine, but it turns a corner from annoying to potentially backbreaking if it also hoses your mana dorks. Since the only other black mana symbols in your 75 are for Slaughter Games and E-Plague, I would consider switching out of the black splash as a way of guaranteeing that your dorks make mana. For that matter, you're also running considerably fewer ways to remove a RIP, which makes it that much scarier.

I also see a pretty glaring issue with your Burn matchup given that your only really good cards are artifacts and they'll be bringing in 2-3 Smash to Smithereens. Since you already play 2 Tutors, a single COP Red can swing that matchup enormously.

Those are the only issues I noticed with that list though. I like that your use of Pithing Needle, Revoker, and Spirit of the Labyrinth gives you board targets against miracles that also do work against Sneak and Show ... My Krosan Grips and Council's Judgment are unlikely to pull weight in that matchup, which is why I'm a lot more scared of it than your list probably needs to be (on that note, if there was one thing that convinced me to run black, it's this matchup ... Slaughter Games just seems impossible for them to beat).

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Nice, thanks for the advice. Maybe the Engineered Plague could become a Cursed Totem, Torpor Orb or Dueling Grounds (which actually seems pretty good right now, also hoses elves to an extent, great against Pyromancer, etc), the Deathrites turn into Nobles, Slaughter Games becomes Sigarda/Elspeth/Armageddon/Linvala/some other fat effect that is good against both Miracles and Sneak and Show. Sigarda stops annihilator and is also good vs Jund/BUG, Linvala has utility against Elves and Griselfather.

Updated list:

2x Arid Mesa
1x Dryad Arbor
1x Forest
3x Grove of the Burnwillows
1x Horizon Canopy
1x Karakas
1x Plains
4x Savannah
2x Taiga
3x Wasteland
4x Windswept Heath
1x Wooded Foothills

4x Green Sun's Zenith
1x Aven Mindcensor/Kavu Predator/Scryb Ranger
1x Birds of Paradise
1x Gaddock Teeg
4x Knight of the Reliquary
4x Mother of Runes
3x Noble Hierarch
2x Qasali Pridemage
2x Scavenging Ooze
3x Stoneforge Mystic

3x Punishing Fire
4x Swords to Plowshares

1x Batterskull
1x Umezawa's Jitte
1x Sylvan Library
1x Garruk Relentless

Sideboard:
1x Choke
1x Cursed Totem
2x Enlightened Tutor
1x Ethersworn Canonist
1x Gaddock Teeg
1x Phyrexian Revoker
1x Pithing Needle
2x Pyroblast
1x Sigarda, Host of Herons
1x Spirit of the Labyrinth
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Sword of Fire and Ice

I do really like the idea of Dueling Grounds. It's good against Elves (assuming you can stop Progenitus with Council's Judgment), Pyromancer decks, and is actually pretty insane against Dredge as well in most situations. I'm going to find room for that, it seems like it'll pull its weight. I definitely like it more than Cursed Totem ... we don't need to hose Elves SO hard that we can barely play the game ourselves. I'm terrified of that card getting cast against me, honestly, I would never put it in my own board (same reason I'm not boarding Humility for Elves and Griselbrand decks).

Sigarda has done work for me in the past but I think the format is just a touch too fast for her right now. Pithing Needle is probably the card with the most direct crossover between the Miracles and Sneak/Show matchups.

Considering the following board:

2 Enlightened Tutor
2 Choke
2 Pyroblast
1 Council's Judgment
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Pithing Needle
1 Krosan Grip
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Dueling Grounds
1 Electrickery

This list still boards the same number of cards in most matchups as what I was doing before (9 for Miracles, 4 for Delver which change according to variant, 6 for Blade/TNN decks, 4 for Burn, 1 for Jund, 7-9 for Storm depending on whether they Empty, etc.). It sacrifices the 2nd Electrickery against D&T and Infect to get a couple more points against Dredge and tribal decks with Dueling Grounds, and loses the 2nd Krosan Grip against Omni-Tell to get the Pithing Needle against Sneak and Show, Elves, and Reanimator (which in the case of Sneak/Show is actually 3 cards added because the previous version of the board didn't have a tutor target for the matchup). I think these are both reasonable sacrifices when the other matchups that the 2nd Grip and Electrickery come in for are generally just as well served by Needle and Dueling Grounds respectively.

Dueling Grounds might be a bit expensive in practice, and the decks I'd bring it in against that Electrickery doesn't also beat are pretty rare sights in the legacy meta right now. But the more I think about Needle over a second Grip the happier I am with it.

@ironclad8690: We have similar maindecks. Honestly, I have no idea what to do with the flex slots in the list right now. I go 22 lands + 1 dryad to your 23. I've been playing nearly the same thing since Syracuse. I tried 4 DRS last week and ran into situations where that worked (see: armageddon the board against miracles and burn them out for dmg + play stuff despite zero lands)...but also times where it didn't (DRS not making mana or shrinking my own KotR if I needed mana for a spell). I like the feel of 3:2 DRS to Nobles for arbitrary reasons. There are times the 2x exalted stack with QPM exalted -- turning a 2/2 into a 5/5 or more. Likewise, there are times I lay out a Noble turn 1 into removal only to play DRS (the people's champ) the following turn uninterrupted.

For a large event, I'm brainstorming a few things. Syracuse taught me a lot. The past weeks of up-and-down results also opened my eyes:
1. You want 4x Mom. She's ridiculous right now in every way. Saves lives + punches your team through their wall of TNN/Goyf/Pyromancer shitkickers
2. You want some amount of Sylvan Library
3. Thalia + Wasteland wins games, although I am not sure if the meta is shifting back to 3x as the best or not. Rooms where Thalia is good, you want 4. Rooms where she's hit-or-miss, you want 3. It will be a game time decision.
4. A large event like the GP will definitely have "budget" stuff running around that can randomly kill you. I'm more scared of burn than anything else. That deck can just turn 4 you out of nowhere. A well-placed PoP and/or fireblast reads GG. I am still brainstorming what hurts burn while also being applicable with other crap matchups. I've neglected Canonist for a while but feel she's too well-positioned right now (Storm, Burn, Elves, UR Delver to name a few).
5. Maverick needs anti-combo/spell cards in the SB. Teeg #2 in the board is automatic (miracles, storm). Toss in the aforementioned Canonist and I'm already about +3 cards deep against spell-heavy things. I am unsure if I want to supplement those 3 cards with Leyline (shines against Burn and Tendrils-kills), or Thoughtseize (Storm as a preventative measure, Sneak/Show, Reanimator). This is something I'd like feedback on.
6. Maverick needs 4x QPM effects in the 75. Herzog nails it with 3 QPM main + 1 in the SB. This is the main reflection about Syracuse. I needed a 3rd QPM several times (but still won). I don't know how 2 QPM + 2 decay/kgrip fare. Kgrip is murder but QPM adds damage + exalted.
7. ZP and Toxic D are the only thing giving us game against Elves and DnT. Run as many sweepers as you can afford. Toxic is better against elves. ZP is better against DnT (thalia and mana denial being a main issue)

Lessons Learned
*I have next to zero success with Bog + Crop Rotation as my GY package, so I don't even consider it. A miser Bog for the "KotR --> exile grave in response" trick is sooo incredibly situational. Against the likes of dredge and reanimator you need more consistency like Surgical/Tormod/Nihil/RIP.
*Choke sucks right now
*Maverick can win with 2x Equipment (Jitte + Fire/Ice). Many players are running a 3rd (Light/Shadow, Batterskull). I am debating if there's an even better option in this flex slot.

@Dueling Grounds: Elves will just get a Reclamation Sage and blow past you. I find it better to run removal/sweepers instead of something that funnels damage. Dredge may have problems but they also pack Flayer, who can shoot you in the face if you're stalling.

I'm guessing you board out some number of x/1s to accomodate Toxic Deluge? Deluge seems like it would go very nicely with batterskull. What else do you bring it in against besides Elves! and Death and Taxes?

Edit: trying Courser of Kruphix in the flex slot. When you get it and a knight out, it is pretty cool. You can also use shuffle effects to get dead cards off the top. Also, if we are going Deluge-heavy, courser's 4 toughness means it will likely stick around. It helps against burn by not dying to bolt, and each point of life matters so much in the burn matchups.

Also, I have really been liking 3 QPM.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ironclad8690

I'm guessing you board out some number of x/1s to accomodate Toxic Deluge? Deluge seems like it would go very nicely with batterskull. What else do you bring it in against besides Elves! and Death and Taxes?

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A lot of the Delver match-ups. It can help you stabilize your board. You don't even need to board out the x/1s. Just don't over commit your hand. Hold back a Mom, Thalia, etc for post deluge. Also, usually it doesn't kill your Scooze or Knight, so sometime it can clear out a board for you to get in there. I've actually boarded it against MUD too and it has been very helpful.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Warden

6. Maverick needs 4x QPM effects in the 75. Herzog nails it with 3 QPM main + 1 in the SB. This is the main reflection about Syracuse. I needed a 3rd QPM several times (but still won). I don't know how 2 QPM + 2 decay/kgrip fare. Kgrip is murder but QPM adds damage + exalted.

Lessons Learned
*I have next to zero success with Bog + Crop Rotation as my GY package, so I don't even consider it. A miser Bog for the "KotR --> exile grave in response" trick is sooo incredibly situational. Against the likes of dredge and reanimator you need more consistency like Surgical/Tormod/Nihil/RIP.
*Choke sucks right now
*Maverick can win with 2x Equipment (Jitte + Fire/Ice). Many players are running a 3rd (Light/Shadow, Batterskull). I am debating if there's an even better option in this flex slot.

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Agreed on the QPM, and based on Herzog's performance I also ran 3 back in SCG NJ in May. I think in the New England area, 3 minimum are 100% the right call. I'm less certain of that in other metagames. For GP NJ, 3 is most certainly the right call however.

On the topic of Crop Rot in the SB, I believe it makes more sense if the maindeck is already running Dark Depths / Stage combo. In that case, it helps to speed up quick kills against non-creature matchups like Storm or Sneak. Crop Rot thus becomes KotR #5 and that is a big help in those matchups. Bojuka Bog is fine on its own and I will continue to board it in against RUG Delver (extra mana + utility). Now with all the Delve decks, I still think it has value as a utility land, but less needed to combat Stifle/Wasteland, since they decline to run them.

Also agreed on 2 Equipment. If there's room in the SB, it's most likely going to be SoLS to bring in against other Mother of Rune decks (primarily D&T, rarely Maverick). I'm not so certain is 2 or 3 SFM is the right call, as I haven't extensively tested the Maverick vs UR Delver matchup to know which way it leans.