[Deck] GW/x Maverick

First post here to the forums, I was looking for some feedback on my GWb list for Worcester. I started playing legacy last year with Maverick and have really enjoyed the creature/land toolbox nature of the deck (coming from pod in modern......rip....).

Creatures (24)
3x Deathrite Shaman
2x Noble Hierarch
4x Mother of Runes
4x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2x Stoneforge Mystic
2x Qasali Pridemage
1x Gaddok Teeg
1x Scavenging Ooze
1x Scryb Ranger
4x Knight of the Reliquary

Spells (13)
4x Green Sun's Zenith
1x Sylvan Library
4x swords to Plowshares
2x Abrupt Decay
1x Sword of Fire and Ice
1x Jitte

Lands (23)
4x Windswept Heath
4x Verdant Catacombs
1x Forest
1x Plains
2x Savannah
2x Bayou
1x Scrubland
4x Wasteland
1x Gaeas Cradle
1x Karakas
1x Horizon Canopy
1x Dryad Arbor

Sideboard plan is the hedge against Omnishow, Miracles, and Storm/Elves

2x Ethersworn Cannoist
1x Thrun the last Troll
2x Choke
1x Krosan Grip
3x Thoughtseize
1x Surgical Extraction
2x Zealous Persecution
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Gaddok Teeg
1x Containment Priest

I would recommend some number of Armageddons if you plan on playing at Worcester. It is 12post heaven.

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Originally Posted by specialagentcooper

First post here to the forums, I was looking for some feedback on my GWb list for Worcester. I started playing legacy last year with Maverick and have really enjoyed the creature/land toolbox nature of the deck (coming from pod in modern......rip....).

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Welcome! Some comments as your shell is very similar to my most recent list:
1. Scrub does nothing against the decks you wanna beat. He's expendable against those big 3 you list. Useful overall, but I value a decay or something > scryb.
2. 4x Thalia means you're almost bound to see the second one. If you run more spells in the main, such as decay, I really advise trimming down to 3x Thalia MD. Miracles can deal with Thalia (she's good up until a point), Omni doesn't really care once they cast SnT, and Elves laughs at her.
3. Run 2x Scooze in the 75 (I'd prefer maindeck). It beats the delver matchup almost single-handedly.
4. Courser of Kruphix helps against everything right now except elf-combo and pure-combo stuff.
5. Please remember all the little lines of play to throw off opponents. You'll get free wins by baiting less skilled players (always a thing to think about at a larger event). In-response, KotR shenanigans (especially while blocking) is huge.
6. Against Miracles, keep a fetch or two uncracked because that little Dryad Arbor wears equipment and survives Terminus that way.

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Sideboard plan is the hedge against Omnishow, Miracles, and Storm/Elves

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2x Ethersworn Cannoist ---> omni, elves
1x Gaddok Teeg ---> combo. if you think the room is mainly combo and miracles, bring in Teeg #3 (looks stupid until you absolutely wish you had more)
2x Krosan Grip ---> Miracles, omni
5x Sweepers -----> Against Elves, my experiences tell me 5 is on-point. Some combination of Deluge and ZP. Deluge is the bigger effect and knocks out x/2's like Nettle and DRS for elves. Deluge has more flex against DnT and the mirror, where x-for-1'ing the table basically wins you the game
2x META Call #1: Banishing Light ---> Miracles (jace and other permanents), omni (off SnT), a good "catch-all" card for what you wanna face
3x META Call #2 -------------> you had Thoughtseize here. This could easily be removal, planeswalkers, another sword of X&Y, grave-hate (Scooze #2)

*Choke is sub-par unless you know you're facing greedy U-based delver and SFM things
*Containment Priest is extremely good against a specific set of decks. If you want to stop Omni, I'd recommend just going straight K-grip and B-light, which happen to be better applicable to other matchups.
*The META slot can be a lot of things. I usually go with Thoughtseize but if the room isn't combo (or you don't give a shit about it), planeswalkers, scooze #2 (which I feel all decks need), and equipment make good "safe" calls. Wilt-Leaf-Liege is another good meta-pick, depending upon conditions. Thrun can fit in here.

I like maverick as a choice right now, provided you're ready to face a lot of Miracles and probably Elves. If you can navigate those matches, you'll have a good event.

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Originally Posted by Cambriel

I like maverick as a choice right now, provided you're ready to face a lot of Miracles and probably Elves. If you can navigate those matches, you'll have a good event.

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This weekend's SCG had Miracles, Omnishow, and Elves as the top 3 decks of the event. This is an ominous sign for team savannah.

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Originally Posted by TMagpie

This weekend's SCG had Miracles, Omnishow, and Elves as the top 3 decks of the event. This is an ominous sign for team savannah.

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Got a top 8 with Punishing Maverick at a LGS this weekend in Philly.

Here is my 75 this week:


---Punishing Dark Maverick---

21 Creatures:

Mother of runes 4
Knight of the reliquary 4
Deathrite shaman 3
Aven mindcensor 2
Gadock teeg 2
Qasali pridemage 2
Scavenging ooze 1
Noble hiarch 1
Birds of paradise 1
Dryad arbor 1

15 Non-Creature spells:

Green Sun's Zenith 4
Swords to plowshares 4
Punishing fire 4
Umezawa's jitte 2
Life from the loam 1

Lands 24

Forest 1
Plateau 1
Savanna 2
Taiga 2
Bayou 1
Grove of the burnwillows 3
Horizon canopy 1
Wasteland 3
Karakas 1
Wooded foothills 3
Windswept Heath 4
Thespian stage 1
Dark depths 1


E-turor board:
Pyroblast 3
Enlightened tutor 2
Choke 1
Etherswon canonist 1
Pithing needle 1
Phyrexian revoker 1
Null Rod 1
Tormods Crypt 1
Engineered explosives 1
Oblivion ring 1
Reclamation sage 1
Bajaku bog 1


The Omnitell meta makes Pyroblast an extremely strong card, and miracles is also petty vulnerable to Pyroblast. You are certainly correct about "team savanna" having some trouble at the moment, but the card pool is vast and the decks are not particularly finely tuned to beat Maverick. The newest creature heavy versions of Miracles are worse against Maverick, and the up-and-coming delver decks are good news for us. Keep on playing fair gentlemen!

Will be posting a more detailed report later, but wanted to share my results from Worcester. Day one I finished at x-2 with the cut to day two being x-3. Ended up in 42nd with a 10-5 record, going 3-3 on day two. It was an awesome tournament, and the deck ran really well. I was happy with some of the changes I made to previously posted decklist. Hopefully will have some time tomorrow to take my notes and post a report....have been driving 18 out of the last 24 hours and need some sleep.

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Originally Posted by TMagpie

This weekend's SCG had Miracles, Omnishow, and Elves as the top 3 decks of the event. This is an ominous sign for team savannah.

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Is Omni-Tell that bad for us? I haven't faced it all that much since the newer, leaner Dig Through Time lists became common after Kyoto. Previously, it just wasn't that hard to stick a hate bear and ride it out. I suppose a hard-cast Emrakul does pose a significant problem.

I think you need straight GW to fight all of the miracles and combo. Pyroblast only do so much when they can just counter back.

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Originally Posted by Strassbaw

Got a top 8 with Punishing Maverick at a LGS this weekend in Philly.
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Great to see someone else rocking Punishing Maverick. I haven't played Maverick in 6 months but recently sleeved it up again and have been getting some games in.

Some questions about your list: why don't you play Stoneforge Mystic or Gaea's Cradle? Also, how did the Mindcensors perform?

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Originally Posted by Seraphix

Great to see someone else rocking Punishing Maverick. I haven't played Maverick in 6 months but recently sleeved it up again and have been getting some games in.

Some questions about your list: why don't you play Stoneforge Mystic or Gaea's Cradle? Also, how did the Mindcensors perform?

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I'm glad some one else is enjoying the deck! This list has been very good to me recently. The exclusion of Stoneforge Mystic was for the current meta just after TC and the Bug Delver/patriot lists that were being played right after TC. Currently, I am not afraid of being killed very fast, so SFM Batterskull wasn't the tech I wanted. 2x Jitte is where Pun Mav wants to be as SFM can be very clunky, and BSkull is a 3rd dead card in an opening hand in this deck (DD/arbor). In most cases against the fair decks, 4x Punfire with 4x STP, and 2X Jitte is enough to deal with DNT and various delver builds. Not running a card like Thalia is the hard part, and that's why I like 2 Teeg, 2 Mindcensor to help beat the combo decks and Miracles.

The Mindcensor:

This card has been pretty effective, but I want to test it more against Omnitell. Against miracles, the flash threat is nice, and against elves, this card can beat NO and carry Jitte, so it's an ace against elves. Storm decks struggle against mindcensor because it has flash, and they often don't name Mindcensor with Cabal Therapy. Having 2 haters in the deck is necessary, as Teeg is not enough alone because of the discard and removal in the format. The mindcensor is pretty nice, but I run this card partly because I do not have better options. I want to jam Thalia in the deck, however, the idea of having both Punfire and Thalia out at the same time seems bad, and against many of the same decks, both cards are effective in (miracles, delver mostly). The fact that they are both good against many of the decks makes sideboarded a very big challenge. Perhaps if Mindcensor isn't enough, I'll try Thalia.

Gaea's Cradle:

This card is really cool, but with 21 creatures and the stage/DD combo, I can't fit it. Perhaps with some alterations it could fit, however, I also do not have mega Haymaker cards like Sigarda to GSZ for, so the extra mana would likely go to waste. Also, this mana base isn't the greatest. It's certainly a strong enough mana base to play with, but an 8th fetch may make the deck before cradle without other alterations. Stage and DD are really cool, but something else could work.

Pyroblast:

I didn't want to use this card. It didn't seem like a great option as it doesn't end the game and isn't a 'Silver bullet' but it is a very effective card against Omnitell, Miracles, and all 3 have come into my deck post board against delver decks with the way my deck is designed right now. If I didn't run an Etutor package, I would consider a 4th Pyroblast because of how good that card has been to me the past few months.

The deck is pretty strong right now, however, I don't think it's quite optimized yet. The stage/DD combo was better for me when Jund and Bug were played more often, and I have not untapped KotR 2 times in a game where it mattered in a long time. The ability to get a Grove and beat DnT is probably enough tech for KotR.

My final list for Worcester was:

Creatures (24)
3 Deathrite Shaman
2 Noble Hierarch
4 Mother of Runes
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Gaddock Teeg
4 Knight of the Reliquary
Spells (13)
4 Green Sun’s Zenith
1 Sylvan Library
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Umezawa's Jitte
Lands (23)
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
2 Savannah
2 Bayou
1 Scrubland
1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Karakas
1 Gaea’s Cradle
4 Wasteland
Sideboard (15)
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
3 Thoughtseize
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Zealous Persecution
2 Krosan Grip
1 Choke
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Armageddon

Coming into this tournament I had never played in a legacy event that was 7+ rounds so I wasn’t expecting to post any great results. Overall I am very pleased with finishing in the top 64 and making it to day two, and did not drop a match to any combo decks through the whole weekend. MVP of the weekend was Gaddock Teeg , the advisor did serious work both days, Thalia being the close second, winning games off her innocuous “pay one more”.

Don’t have my notes with me so I might be a little off but here's my report:

• Round 1 vs Reanimator (2-0)
G1: Kept a hand with t1 Deathrite, Karakas and Knight. Opponent won the roll and started the game with a fetch for an underground sea and a ponder. I was thinking storm or reaniamator at this point and proceeded with running out the Deathrite and hoping not to die on his t2. Opponent played land and main phased brainstorm before passing. My t2 I play Karakas and play knight. He end of turn entombs for Griselbrand. His turn he exhumes his Gdaddy and proceeds to draw 7 and pass. I bounce Gdaddy on my turn and take control of the game ending it quick Knight beats.
G2: Board ended up with me with an active knight, opp getting a GDaddy into play, me activating Knight EOT for a karakas, bouncing, and then swinging in for the win
Not the most experienced pilot, he seemed surprised by the ability to fetch for Karakas.
1-0

• Round 2 vs Omnitell (2-0)
G1 & G2 opponent Show and Tells putting Emrakul into to play, first time I put in Karakas and bounced, second time I put in Knight, fetched karakas on my turn and bounced.
2-0

• Round 3 vs Omnitell (2-0)
G1&2 Mr. Teeg and Canonist with karakas stopped any shenanigans from occurring
3-0

• Round 4 vs Burn (1-2)
G1: Opponent wins dice roll t1 Goblin Guide, t2 two more Goblin Guides, I proceed to 0 life quickly
G2: Opponent spends his first turn burning out Mom, I am able to get board stabilized, he has an Eidolon in play and ends up at 2 life unable to cast any more spells, I have a Teeg in play with a Knight and active Mom. Proceed to take my time and swing for lethal.
G3: t1 Goblin guide, t2 Goblin Guide, I am able to stop them with mom and ooze at 10 life. Stoneforge and Jitte are too slow and end up getting burned out with bolts + fireblast
3-1

• Round 5 vs Omnitell (2-0)
G1&G2: Mr. Teeg, Thalia and friends say no to casting your spells. In G2 he Show and telled in an omniscience and me an o-ring which I had in my opener. I targeted the omni, he wished for a wipe away and sent my ring back to hand. I had to call a judge when he tried to pass the turn and ignored the o-ring trigger.
4-1

• Round 6 vs Death and Taxes (2-0)
G1: We both start out with Mom’s and Thalias. I kept him off mana with a Knight and wastelands. An avenger in the air made things look grim, but a stoneforge into jitte plus a fetched cradle turned the race around.
G2: I got a pridemage out on t2 and proceeded to blow up his vial before it got to three. He was stuck on two mana for several turns while I developed my board. Once I got a jitte going and had counters it was too much for him to catch up to.
5-1

• Round 7 vs Miracles (1-2) This was the most skilled opponent I played on Day one, even with the loss, it was the most fun match of the day.
G1: Long game, traded resources, he couldn’t get a top lock going with my decays and pridemages finished me off with angels
G2: Turn 2 Choke slowed him down, too many threats, he was unable to keep up and beats finished him off. I tried slamming down an Armageddon which met a force of will, only time cast all weekend. Thrun however was able to resolve….
G3: Surgicaled all his tops to slow him down. He played tight and fast and got an active Jace going. I couldn’t keep up with the Jace and all the council judgements/stp made Mr. Teeg unable to stick in the early game, he finished me off with angels.
5-2

• Round 8 vs Elves (2-0)
G1: I win the roll and fetch for forest into Deathrite, opponent laughs and says mirror match and proceeds with the same play, so I put him on Elves. T2 I run out Mr. Teeg, who proceeds to say no to any potential Natural Orders. I get in with exalted Pridemage beats, opponent never has an explosive Glimpse turn, shows me three Glimpse in hand and no creatures to cast when I win g1.
G2: My opening seven had a hierarch, canonist, and Mr. Teeg. I run out canonist first, draw a zealous persecution, run out Mr. Teeg, next turn cast ZP. Slow beats from there for the win.
6-2

• Round 9 vs Omnitell (2-1)
G1: He starts pondering, while I play out Mr. Teeg. Got a knight going and tutored up a karakas. Opponent was a ten life and I swung in for exact lethal by wasting my own lands
G2: I keep a hand with Canonist, Karakas and Green Sun. I play out the Canonist on turn 2, turn three cast Green Sun, which he responds to with a DTT. I figure since he played it in respond he was expecting Mr. Teeg and chose his two cards based on that so I get a pridemage. I draw another green sun andtutor up a teeg and leave up Karakas on t4. My opponent proceeded to go into the tank for three minutes or so, and smiles like hes got it figured out. Wipes my canonist to my hand and then casts show and tell….. Canonist back to the field you go…. Opponent put in Omni and passes. I proceed to reduce his life total to zero.
7-2

So yeah, Omnitell 0, Maverick 4 on Day One

DAY TWO
• Round 10 vs Miracles (0-2) This opponent was Brian Braun-Duin. I was a little nervous starting out against him, very intense to play against. Did not feel like I could get anything going either game
G1: We go back and forth, I kept him off a counter top lock with a pridemage, but he eot turn Miracled two turns in a row for 2 angels both times and flew over my board for the win.
G2: I get my board wiped on t3, he gets a Mentor in play and beats me down for the win.
I should have kept in some number of swords in this matchup, and for some reason I went and boarded out my decays? Was flustered after starting out the day like this.
7-3

• Round 11 vs UW Stoneblade (2-1)
G1: Jitte battles with me coming out on top. Turns out that Knight can race True Name. He missed that I could waste my own land when I finished it out g1 swinging for exact lethal
G2: Back & forth trading resources, but he got an active Jace brainstorming each turn. Sylvan Library was the only thing that let me keep up for so long. I missed that I could have give my pridemage pro white and pro black with my two active Moms and swung into Jace past my opponents Stoneforge and Bskull. Very long game that he was able to finish out by EOT casting two dig through times, brainstorming with Jace, equipping V. Clique with Bskull, casting Sword of Feast/Famine, and equipping.
G3: Started with 3 minutes on the clock. I wanted to play for the win and kept an opening seven that had one land, hierarch, double stp, thrun, sword of fire and ice, and stoneforge. I top decked two lands in a row and played out thrun. Opponent thought he was good when he played a Truename on his turn. I played out my sword and passed to him playing a stoneforge and passing. We entered turns at this point. I stp his mystic, equipped up Thrun and started swinging. Thrun with Fire and Ice equipped finished the game out within turns. Felt really good after winning this one.
8-3

• Round 12 vs Esper Deathblade (0-2)
G1 & G2 Opponent force of wills when he should have, gets a B’skull and Clique going. Opposing Deathrites made racing with Knights impossible, felt on the back foot the entire time. Skilled opponent.
8-4

• Round 13 vs RG Lands (2-0)
G1: Turn one deathrite, turn two wasted my opponent off coloured mana. Played out a giant knight and ooze, and started swinging. My opponent conceded g1 quickly
G2: My opponent t1 gambled, ended up with a Tabernacle in the gy. Turn 2 he tapped out to cast a life from the loam. I had surgical in hand and removed all the loams from the game. From there I got two active Moms going, he played out the Tabernacle, my dice went to the top of library to make sure I wouldn’t miss my upkeeps. Once I had a knight out and had a clock going my opponent conceded the match.
9-4

• Round 14 vs Storm (2-1)
G1: Turn two Thalia gg a few turns later. Didn’t see anything but ponder’s and petals, sideboarded for reanimator in G2
G2: Had a pridemage out on turn 2 with beats following, and had a surgical extraction in my hand feeling pretty safe if he tried to go off. My opponent started his turn with a ponder and then started chaining rituals, and cast an LED. I didn’t see any problems yet and was holding up my surgical. He cracked his LED and put what I thought was a dark ritual and past in flames into the graveyard, I thought he would try to find a tutor with his cantrips that had flashback, so I didn’t do anything and said ok to flashing back past in flames. Then he recast his rituals and flashes back a tendrils……. Was not happy with myself that I didn’t pay enough attention to notice that he had put it in the graveyard when he cracked his LED…. Proceeded to G3
G3: I resideboarded for the storm match up, and had an opener with two thalias. My opponent pondering twice t2, one with a petal after probing me, so I assumed he was looking for a therapy. When he passed the turn I knew it was looking good and slammed down the thalia. Next turn I drew Mr. Teeg and slammed him down to prevent any massacres. Game ended quickly after that.
10-4

• Round 15 vs RUG Delver (1-2) (Jake Mondello)
G1: I won the roll and started with a Mom. Opponent cracked a foothills and bolted Mom. I put him on RUG Delver at that point and started playing around daze and stifle. I stabilized the board after getting a 5/5 Knight down and stopped his mongoose beats. Proceeded to take my time and attack accordingly for the win.
G2: We traded wastelands back and forth in the early turns, he didn’t get a threat going until t4 or so with double mongeese. I had an ooze down but couldn’t get it past a 3/3 and I didn’t want to trade with the mongeese. I was finally able to stabilize with a 4/4 ooze 8 life. My opponent played out a Sylvan Library and passed the turn. I had been sitting with a decay all game and had finally found a target. With four mana available I played out an ooze with my two bayous, leaving up a plains and hierarch to cast the decay…. loooooong day….. Had to pass the turn, my opponent drew two extra cards off of library to have three cards in hand passed. I decayed the library on my turn and passed, EOT bolt 2/2 ooze. He went dismember on my 4/4 ooze, swung in with mongeese and bolted for lethal. Should have had this one I think if I stopped him from reloading with library.
G3: Started out getting a board of two deathrites, thalia, and dryad arbor. Opponent cast rough//tumble. Couldn’t recover and got tempoed out in RUG fashion.

Final Record of 10-5

Final Thoughts: The deck felt powerful all weekend long and had all the right cards to fight the field. I had added an extra ooze and removed a Scryb Ranger before the event. I missed it several times when cliques were attacking while I had an ooze doing nothing on the ground. I would probably add it back to the main and move the second ooze to the sideboard and take out the Armageddon. From the sideboard I was really impressed with the Surgical Extraction. I go back and forth between having a Sigarda or Thrun in the 75, Thrun will be staying for now after winning several games on the weekend. Had a great time overall, was happy with my play, and will hopefully learn from the mistakes I did make.

Awesome report. Really happy to see Omni-Tell folding so many matches in a row.

Hello Maverick players.

I have been playing a Punishing Maverick with Deatheite Shaman for years and one card that has been an auto include in the sideboard has been Reclamation Sage.

Reclamation sage has been an Ace sideboard option for me for years now. This card has been the additional pridemage that when I search for it, it grants a simple and effective 2 for 1 that Pridemage wouldn't. In fact, I cannot think of a game where I opted for Pridemage over Reclamation Sage games 2 and 3 with Greensun when there was a troublesome artifact or enchantment in play. Why is it that many players have not opted for this card. I do not often play Abzan Maverick, but maybe the Decay partly nullifys the Rec Sage option? With Omnitell back in the picture, I think the sage is certainly worth another look for many players.

Here's a thing I've never quite managed to decide on even after playing Maverick for quite some time:

When you're on the play against an unknown opponent and your hand doesn't really demand one or the other, do you prefer to lead with Mother of Runes or a mana guy?

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Originally Posted by Moroklumpen

Here's a thing I've never quite managed to decide on even after playing Maverick for quite some time:

When you're on the play against an unknown opponent and your hand doesn't really demand one or the other, do you prefer to lead with Mother of Runes or a mana guy?

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Most often, I will lead with a mana dork. Mother of Runes untaping is best when you have a creature worth protecting on board. The mana dork allows you to play more spells , or more expensive spells sooner, so the greater board presence will be more advantages than untaping Mom T1. I will only lead with Mom by choice when I have a T2 creature in hand that will likely win the game in the MU (perhaps Thalia, Teeg, SFM). Ramping for mana has been more often the correct line of play in most games I have played, even enough to make me choose a GSZ for an Arbor T1 over mom T1 especially against delver decks.

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Originally Posted by Moroklumpen

Here's a thing I've never quite managed to decide on even after playing Maverick for quite some time:

When you're on the play against an unknown opponent and your hand doesn't really demand one or the other, do you prefer to lead with Mother of Runes or a mana guy?

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Mana dork ALWAYS when blind--except for one occasion.

Green Sun's Zenith is the mana dork in hand.
You also have a Mom in hand.
You don't have a threat in hand (just plows/equipment/wasteland + 2-3 lands)
You run Deathrite Shaman instead of Noble Hierarch (or including)

In which case, you run Mom first, zenith for Deathrite next, followed by support spells on turn 3.

Otherwise always run the mana dork first when blind.

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Originally Posted by Strassbaw

Hello Maverick players.

I have been playing a Punishing Maverick with Deatheite Shaman for years and one card that has been an auto include in the sideboard has been Reclamation Sage.

Reclamation sage has been an Ace sideboard option for me for years now. This card has been the additional pridemage that when I search for it, it grants a simple and effective 2 for 1 that Pridemage wouldn't. In fact, I cannot think of a game where I opted for Pridemage over Reclamation Sage games 2 and 3 with Greensun when there was a troublesome artifact or enchantment in play. Why is it that many players have not opted for this card. I do not often play Abzan Maverick, but maybe the Decay partly nullifys the Rec Sage option? With Omnitell back in the picture, I think the sage is certainly worth another look for many players.

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Elves excepted, Pridemage is just better if you have access to :w:. Sage has the advantage of a 2-for-1 like you said, but it's usually outweighed by Pridemage's advantages. Namely, blowing stuff up at instant speed, GSZing for one less mana, and being able to fetch it and beat with it until you need its ability instead of having to wait until the troublesome artifact/enchantment appears.

It's obviously not a bad card, and I'm sure one can encounter times when Sage's 2-for-1 matters more than Pridemage's strengths, but I firmly believe those times to be strongly in the minority. Harmonic Sliver existed for years and was mostly viewed as inferior to Pridemage. Sure, it's different from Sage by having 1 power, requiring :w:, and carrying the risk that Sage doesn't have of blowing up your own artifact/enchantment if the opponent has none, but I think it's a suitable analogy.

Pridemage hitting for 3, not having 1 toughness, and granting Exalted goes a way to negate Sage's 2-for-1 bonus point, too.

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Originally Posted by LOLWut

Elves excepted, Pridemage is just better if you have access to :w:. Sage has the advantage of a 2-for-1 like you said, but it's usually outweighed by Pridemage's advantages. Namely, blowing stuff up at instant speed, GSZing for one less mana, and being able to fetch it and beat with it until you need its ability instead of having to wait until the troublesome artifact/enchantment appears.

It's obviously not a bad card, and I'm sure one can encounter times when Sage's 2-for-1 matters more than Pridemage's strengths, but I firmly believe those times to be strongly in the minority. Harmonic Sliver existed for years and was mostly viewed as inferior to Pridemage. Sure, it's different from Sage by having 1 power, requiring :w:, and carrying the risk that Sage doesn't have of blowing up your own artifact/enchantment if the opponent has none, but I think it's a suitable analogy.

Pridemage hitting for 3, not having 1 toughness, and granting Exalted goes a way to negate Sage's 2-for-1 bonus point, too.

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its not "just better" by a large margin. Pithing needle, humility, revoker and that wasn't much time thinking on it

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Originally Posted by Rekk

humility ... and that wasn't much time thinking on it

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Clearly.

Anyway, Qasali Pridemage is in no way "strictly better" (figuratively speaking) than Reclamation Sage. Being a two-for-one is far more significant than you're making it out to be. Yes, Harmonic Sliver existed, but it was also a piece of shit for exactly the reasons you mentioned. One power is the difference between Lightning Bolt and Shock, and it's also your defense of Qasali Pridemage.

The fact of the matter is just that Qasali Pridemage fits better in a maindeck when you're unsure whether there will be relevant targets presented.

Also, to answer Strassbaw's question that wasn't actually phrased as a question, I too am a general fan of Reclamation Sage, but it, unfortunately, has yet to make it into any finished sideboard of mine. Reason being that there's honestly just more tons more deserving things to put in the sideboard. Also, being a trigger, Reclamation Sage shouldn't be your go-to guy for defeating Omni. I'd definitely bring it in if I had one, but they can easily win around it in most circumstances.