Originally Posted by
timmyod17
Hey all, long time Maverick fan and first time poster. Split the finals of an SCG IQ today and wanted to give a brief tournament report.
My List
4 DRS
4 Mom
3 Thalia, GoT
2 SFM
2 QPM
1 Ooze
1 Teeg
1 Scryb
4 KotR
2 Thalia, HC
1 Tireless Tracker
4 STP
4 GSZ
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Sylvan Library
1 Jitte
1 SoFaI
4 Windswept Heaths
3 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wasteland
2 Savannah
2 Bayou
1 Scrubland
1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Karakas
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Dryad Arbor
SB:
3 Thoughtseize
2 Zealous P
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Choke
1 Rest in Peace
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Teeg
1 Pithing Needle
1 Sanctum Prelate
1 Garruk Relentless
The Matches
Rd 1 - Bye (1-0)
Sucks driving 2 hours to an IQ to get a first round bye. Would rather play but a win's a win.
Rd 2 - Merfolk - Loss (1-1)
Gm 1 - Had a weird start with GSZ off basic forest for Arbor, then turn two dropped Cradle and GSZ for Scryb. Topdecked Jitte the next turn and scryb +jitte just machine gunned down his team. Never even drew a white or black mana source and won with a hand full of useless Thalias and such.
Gm 2 - TNN sucks.
Gm 3 - Assembled scryb + jitte combo again but eventually he got 2x TNN. Had Library going and managed to draw not one, but two, ZP's. Both would have killed both TNNs, but both got forced.
Rd 3 - Grixis Delver - Win (2-1)
Gm 1 - He got young pyro out and started making tokens but not much else going on. A scryb shut down the lone delver he got out. Eventually it became a board stall and I got a giant ooze in play and he ran out of tokens to chump block.
Gm 2 - Got crushed by the aggressive delver start after keeping a sketchy one lander.
Gm 3 - He mulled to 5 and I had the nuts. DRS, then waste + thalia, then KotR on turn 3.
Rd 4 - D&T - Win (3-1)
Need to win to get in.
Gm 1 - He drew all four of his vials within the first few turns and had basically no action. Mom + scryb is pretty strong here.
Gm 2 - I answered his equips and had my own jitte going. He managed to resolve a cataclysm though, but i still kept DRS equipped with jitte, a land, and a library. Eventually jitte mowed down his guys and we got there.
Top 8 - vs BUG Delver
Gm 1 - Played around daze, killed his guys, resolved a mom, and beat him down with a big knight.
Gm 2 - He stumbled on lands, and my draw punished him. DRS into wasteland + thalia is pretty hard to come back from.
Top 4 - vs D&T
Same guy I played in Rd 4. Games were also lopsided here.
Gm 1 - Mom + Scryb with jitte dominated the board. He tried to equip his own jitte but I was always able to kill the equipped creature and eventually the jitte itself. Teeg even did his part by preventing him from hardcasting a batterskull.
Gm 2 - Grindy, but again won the jitte battle, library found me all the right answers, and then cast a ZP which wiped his board and let me alpha strike for lethal.
Finals - vs Merfolk
Same guy I lost to in round 2. We agreed to split prizes and just play for the invite.
Gm 1 - Got totally swarmed while stumbling on lands. He gets a few lords. I resolved my scryb ranger and then managed to get it equipped with a sword but can't shoot any of his guys down due to all the lords. Eventually he gets a TNN and I'm in trouble. Managed to draw a STP off a sword trigger, and take out both his lords in the process as I had dealt the damage from the sword trigger to one of his lords. DRS keeps my head above water in the life total as TNN hits for three each turn, but I lose the race when I run out of creatures in graveyards.
Gm 2 - Take a mull to 5. I needle naming vial. Then I resolve mom and ooze and library in my first few turns. Then he drops two needles, shutting those off. Then he draws a few lords in a row and i have to trade both creatures for one of his lords. I get scryb on board, but he's got a lord and a mutavault and I take a few hits from the land. My life total is low and I draw ZP, so I ZP and trade my scryb for his mutavault and go to 1 life. I draw a few creatures (DRS, mom) to chump his remaining lord for a few turns but then draw a blank and lose.
Thoughts
-Scryb Ranger was my MVP all day. I had nearly cut it before the event, and quite glad I didn't. It made all my other creatures better and was a force on offense and defense and great with equipment.
-Obviously only faced "fair decks" but I am geared to beat fair decks and usually feel favored. You know, until it starts raining TNNs. But I was glad to have avoided miracles.
-Sylvan Library is amazing in fair matchups. Since I'm no longer running Cavern of Souls (the reason I have Tracker in the list was due to having Cavern and a little humans theme), perhaps should add back in Courser. Courser + Library just basically feels like cheating when you get it going.
Welcome comments on the list.