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So Fatal Push is proving to be very problematic for me. I just got a number of knights Pushed/snapcaster pushed and it felt so terrible.
I am honestly wondering if I can keep playing this deck with how prevalent the card is. We used to get by on the inconsistencies of the delver manabase and Bolt/Decay awkwardness, but now postboard games vs any bug deck feel so much worse. All those times they had Disfigure and couldn't answer Knight, those are all different now.
Push is another reason I've moved to souls in junk now. One thing you could try is more value stuff. Rallier was solid in junk for me, but BUG Decks still have deathrite.
Decklist:
4 Mother of Runes
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Flickerwisp
3 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Recruiter of the Guard
2 Renegade Rallier
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Sanctum Prelate
1 Serra Avenger
1 Mirran Crusader
4 Aether Vial
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Batterskull
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wasteland
1 Forest
2 Plains
1 Scrubland
1 Bayou
2 Savannah
1 Horizon Canopy
3 Marsh Flats
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Karakas
SB: 1 Qasali Pridemage
SB: 2 Gaddock Teeg
SB: 1 Choke
SB: 1 Zealous Persecution
SB: 2 Thoughtseize
SB: 2 Ethersworn Canonist
SB: 1 Containment Priest
SB: 2 Abrupt Decay
SB: 2 Faerie Macabre
SB: 1 Pithing Needle
Ok so first time playing Renegade Rallier in a local store legacy event.
Match 1 - Miracles - WIN 2-0
First game he can't find Top and I just lock him out with Thalia + Mom.
Second game, he cast one terminus and I just keep pumping gas. Gaddock Teeg as usual, is a star in this matchup.
Match 2 - Affinity - Loss 1-0
First game took a very long time until we had a stalled board but with me having a Serra Avenger equipped with Jitte and Skull. He used some dirty tricks by anouncing passing the priority in combat and then I passed back and couldn't activate any Jitte effects - sloppy play from my side - otherwise it would be a win.
Second game I had control on the board and was going for the win but time in the rounds was not enough.
Match 3 - Miracles - Win 2-1
First game, Vial Turn 1 countered. Renegade Rallier bringing Vial back from graveyard was game breaking to bypass Counterbalance + SDT lock.
Second game, I open a hand with 3 dual lands no vial and somehow decided to keep it. He plays Blood Moon T3 and I am dead.
Third game, Mom + Teeg + Revoker = GG
Match 4 - Death and Taxes - Draw 1-1
D&T is a very grindy matchup for us, but we have the upper hand here with Zealous Persecution and Rallier to get back a threat. Felt I could win our G3 but no time to close it out.
Final: 2-1-1
Conclusions:
Rallier is nuts, 2 felt like the right number to be playing with Recruiter to fetch him. There is way too many exile effects this days to make it full value to go 4 of.
Seems like a lot of miracle players are on the Mentor plan this days, which make our life easier by going flying mode on them.
I need more practice with this deck and play it faster.
I made top 8 at a small tournament with my trusty Maverick deck. List:
4x Mother of Runes
3x Noble Hierarch
1x Birds of Paradise
1x Dryad Arbor
3x Stoneforge Mystic
2x Scavenging Ooze
2x Qasali Pridemage
1x Scryb Ranger
1x Gaddock Teeg
4x Knight of the Reliquary
4x Green Sun's Zenith
4x Swords to Plowshares
3x Punishing Fire
1x Sylvan Library
1x Umezawa's Jitte
1x Batterskull
4x Windswept Heath
3x Wooded Foothills
3x Savannah
2x Taiga
1x Plateau
1x Forest
1x Plains
3x Grove of the Burnwillows
1x Karakas
3x Wasteland
1x Thespian's Stage
1x Dark Depths
SB: 2x Surgical Extraction
SB: 2x Pyroblast
SB: 2x Crop Rotation
SB: 1x Bojuka Bog
SB: 1x Gaddock Teeg
SB: 1x Reclamation Sage
SB: 1x Ethersworn Canonist
SB: 1x Phyrexian Revoker
SB: 1x Pithing Needle
SB: 1x Sword of Fire and Ice
SB: 1x Garruk Relentless
SB: 1x Council's Judgment
Matches went as follows:
R1: W Death & Taxes (2-0)
R2: W Burn (2-0)
R3: W Mono-G Cloudpost (2-1)
R4: L Miracles: (0-2)
R5: W Lands (2-0)
R6: ID
QF: L Lands (0-2)
Got the good and bad ends of variance. I think Pyroblast (and to a lesser extent, Council's Judgment) is good right now due to all the Show & Tell, Leovold, TNN, and Miracles in the meta.
1. BR Reanimator destroys me. It is so fast and interacts way more then a normal storm deck in terms of disruption. It seems like a faster Show and Tell deck which spells doom for us since turn 2 is really where our hatebears shine. I have started running a Grafdigger's Cage in the board, might bump it up to two copies. Also thinking about running 1-2 Leyline for graveyard hate (over RiP) that gets in at the start and can't be discarded. The only problem is black mana is hard to come by with the version I run (no DRS) so it would be tough to hard cast late, if the game ever went that long which I doubt. The Unmask into combo T1 is just super strong, and I'm trying to find ways to interact.
2. Rallier seems amazing when he works. I have stuck to 2 copies cus it seems the right number, but I also cut down on Kotr and added in more random stuff in the 3 drop slot. I have been running a mixed up GW Vial based list and he is bonkers in fair matches. I think he will be big if the Push numbers do up (which I am expecting them to cus that card is bonkers).
3. I have started playing around with the 4 drops in the side for the Miracles match. Garruk seems good vs BUG decks because their main removal suite consists of things that can't hit him (Push, Lilly, ADecay, etc.). Also started playing back with Thrun some more, an uncounterable regenerating tough to kill body seemed to be what I wanted.
4. Smugglers Copter seems great in Vial style lists as a 2 ish of. Not having a dork and going, T1 Vial, T2 Copter (vial 1 drop if you have it), T3 Qasali with 1 mana open for his ability, vial a 2 drop another Qasali maybe, turn on Copter, swing for 5 in the air. Seems a little bad with the mana dorks I run in NH since they can't enable it where DRS could. It makes any late game creature better, makes Mom seem way more useful instead of just drawing removal instantly.
5. Vial seems fun. I miss GSZ and the ability to just tutor up Teeg father in G1 vs Storm. But the mana being tight and now being able to play almost a Delver/Goblins/DnT style mana denial with Wastes and still provide board pressure seems good. Also being able to instant speed in stuff opponents EoT has been enjoyable.
6. Running a 2x ETutor sideboard seems ok, but slow. It makes me have a lot more utility in that it can search up Vials, Copters, Banishing Light, Equipment, etc. but it has felt slow (as it should). Dunno if I wanna pull these out and just go with the Leylines/2 Cage approach.
7. Creature decks have been giving me troubles. It seems they are so much more efficient then they used to be and their removal has only gotten better. DRS is still nuts as he first was. To combat this I have started running a single Path in the main, as well as some Celestial Flare in the side to try and handle these. I couldn't find the right removal in GW and it makes me wanna go back to Black splash for ZP, Push, ADecay, etc.
-- end rambling thoughts --
-List for reference-
2 Phyrexian Revoker
3 Mother of Runes
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Knight of the Reliquary
2 Qasali Pridemage
3 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Renegade Rallier
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Recruiter of the Guard
1 Scryb Ranger
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Path to Exile
2 Smuggler's Copter
4 Aether Vial
1 Batterskull
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
4 Windswept Heath
4 Savannah
3 Plains
1 Forest
4 Wasteland
1 Karakas
1 Cavern of Souls
3 Marsh Flats
1 Horizon Canopy
Sideboard
2 Gaddock Teeg
2 Enlightened Tutor
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Rest in Peace
1 Reclamation Sage
2 Banishing Light
2 Celestial Flare
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Garruk Relentless
After playing a bit of maverick lately (both online and now in a paper tournament) I really think that I should be playing death and taxes. I want more karakas (not just knight to fetch it), a more stable manabase, aether vial so I can drop dudes while wastelanding everything... Don't know. Maybe I'm a bit salty, maybe I'm bad with the deck, probably a mix of both.
Anyway, I'll try to do a small report of the paper tournament with my thoughts and stuff, maybe you can help me out and make me realize my mistakes. This deck can't be THAT bad, it must be about me making a ton of mistakes. It would be amazing, seriously, I just don't know what to do to get better with this deck. So many new tools that I don't have in modern, mistakes being harshly penalized in the format, cards and manabases being more homogeneous makes identifying an opposing deck much more difficult. I can correct one mistake at a time, but I feel like I do so many things wrong...
List https://deckstats.net/decks/2563/652028-maverick-v3/en
R1 lose 0-2 - 4c delver
Here I really missed at classifying the deck. I thought that it was some kind of 4c midrange and wasn't expecting pyromancers at the end. Game one I saw no delvers, no pyros, just a bunch of spells and a gurmag angler (which killed me). I guess that a midrange deck doesn't run stifle. This made me not side in the zealous persecutions, which got 2 pyros to kill me game 2.
SB: -2 knight of the reliquary +2 chokes
R2 lose 0-2 - nahiri miracles
His list was like a miracles deck, but without counterbalance and adding more jaces and nahiri+emrakul. Felt as hopeless as against miracles, but lost faster due to emrakul.
SB: -4 swords to plowshares -4 mother of runes +1 qasali +2 choke +2 zealous persecution +2 pithing needle +1 gaddock teeg
Zealous persecution were because it could kill any win condition other than walkers and the 4/4 angels (snap/vendilion/mentor/tokens). He told me that I should not side mother of runes out because it's my only way to protect gaddock teeg but I feel like other than that situation, card is not useless. Doesn't even protect against council's judgement if I understand correctly.
I tried to play a game of "drop a creature, attack and disrupt as much as possible" so I wasn't super vulnerable to terminus but I couldn't. If anyone has any tips for the miracles/control matchup it's appreciated.
R3 win 2-1 - Merfolk
This one feels pretty easy. Both jitte or sword are so good on their own... anyway now I think that sword is even better, because jitte can be named with pithing needle and sword grants unblockability (which means a faster clock).
SB: -1 ooze -1 gaddock -3 thalia guardian of thraben +2 choke +1 qasali +2 zealous persecution
R4 lose 0-2 - UG omnitell
I think that he had the green was just for sylvan library but I'm not sure. He gave me tons upon tons of time to do things and I still lost both games. What's the usual procedure against show and tell? qasali is good, karakas too, but other than that I don't know what should be my gameplan
SB: -4 mother of runes -1 ooze -1 tireless tracker +2 choke +3 thoughtseize +1 qasali
I guess that decays are good here since they kill sylvan library? maybe. Don't think that they had more targets. Left swords for griselbrand, but maybe those should have left instead of mother or something. Thought about including surgical (so I could go thoughtseize+surgical a key piece) but didn't include them.
R5 draw 1-1 - punishing jund
Kind of grindy games. T1 mother was the best that I could do all games, so I guess those are good here. Sided in qasali and 2 pithing needles (for liliana and few more things) but I don't remember what I took out.
Vs miracles, zealous isn't good enough. I go
-4 Swords to Plowshares
-1 Mother of Runes
-1 Deathrite/or Noble
-1 Scavenging Ooze
+2 Abrupt Decay
+1 Gaddock Teeg
+1 Choke
+1 Garruk Relentless
+1 Pithing Needle
+1 Reclamation Sage
With a Zenith list.
I cut a couple 1 mana creatures to hedge against Terminus. I still want 3 Mother of Runes, because it is very good vs Swords to Plowshares, their main way to deal with teeg and out-tempo our equips. If they draw the Judgment when your teeg is out, so be it. You have to force them to have it, and usually they wont. That % of the time they do will be annoying, but shouldn't come up often. Swords is dead for a vast majority of the game and a liability.
As for Delver, that matchup is tough. I think you have a decent enough maindeck vs them, but there are unbeatable draws from both sides, and play/draw is extremely important.
Omnitell, I would bring in Ethersworn Canonist as well as Chokes. Omnitell is a little slower to go off, so choke can actually do some worry combined with Thalia. Surgical extraction is worth it here too, show and tell is their only card to get omniscience in play, and thus their only way to win. Thoughtseize it, surgical it, can win the game on the spot.
GP San Jose Side Event Report
I played in three of the side events during the weekend. Each event is a 4 round Swiss with payout based on record. I played three events for a total of 12 rounds over two days.
Saturday Morning:
Miracles 1-1-1
First game was close, but a timely Entreat the Angels broke serve, preventing me from getting there. Umezawa’s Jitte did a lot of work for me this game and it even had 4 counters on it allowing me to prevent Monastery Mentor from saving him; but then he reminded me why Entreat is such a beating.
The second and third games had a quick Sword of Fire and Ice take over the games on my end. Game two was pretty much over before it began but a Moat was cast in game three during turns stopped me from finishing the game in time.
Miracles 0-2
Both games were textbook cases why this matchup is unfavored. Between Terminus, Supreme Verdict, and Monastery Mentor; I was continually forced to overextend to a sweeper. Lost two games fairly easily here.
Death and Taxes 2-0
This guy was fairly inexperienced. His discipline in announcing effects and actions showed that he's been working hard on learning the deck--but it also announced his lines of play super clearly. Jitte and Moms won the day, but this should have been much closer.
Turbo Depths 2-0
Both games he had fast Dark Depths draws without disruption. So between Swords to Plowshares, Wasteland, and Karakas he was just blown out of resources as my board slowly snowballed. Didn’tmatter that he was at 30+ life, he was unable to stop me from just turning dorks sideways over and over again.
Game two he had a chance to cast Pithing Needle on an early Knight of the Reliquary, but inexperience told him to wait for Karakas or Maze of Ith instead. The mistake cost him as 4 wastelands later he was unable to cast spells at all.
Final morning result: 2-1-1 (5-3-1)
Saturday Afternoon:
Shardless BUG: 2-0
Game one consisted of every creature I cast dying to removal until I resolved a Knight of the Reliquary. Two turns later I had a Marit Lage token out and it was off to sideboards.
Game two was much closer as I had to navigate an active Liliana of the Veil. I built up land drops to hard cast Batterskull while applying steady pressure to force him into using Lili’s -2 ability—Batterskull was bounced many times this match. Both sides used up a lot of resources but eventually he ran out of removal and started chump blocking the Germ Token. He never found the Maelstrom pulse I saw from game one and it cost him the game as Batterskull eventually closed things out rather quickly.
BR Reanimator 2-0
Both games started with a turn zero Chancellor but no action until turn three. As such I burned a one drop on my first turns to eat up the Chancellor trigger, and then took over the game with Thalia, Thoughtseize, and Deathrite Shaman.
Sneak and Show 2-0
Game one started with me playing a Karakas on my first turn to "keep mana up for Swords to Plowshare," he had kept a first turn Griselbrand hand and proceeded to lose the game soon after. Sometimes its better to be lucky than good.
The second game was actually worse for him as I we had both kept sketchy hands, except mine had 2x Wastelands. I was able to destroy his volcanic and city of traitors during the first two turns followed by a Thoughtseize into a Thalia. On his side he was forced to activate his Sensei’s Top with an Ancient Tomb, speeding up the clock tremendously. At some point he was forced to cast a Through the Breach to put an emrakul into play--but I had 7 permanents and more than 15 life. The beats continued with my Thalia still in play and him having no access to mana (he was at 2 with only 2 Ancient Tombs in play after burning through lotus Petals to cast Through the Breach.
Turbo Depths 0-0-1
Chose to draw as it's been a long day and it wasn't *that* much more tickets to win 4-0 anyway.
Final afternoon result 3-0-1 (6-0-1)
Sunday Morning
Lands 2-1
Knight of the Reliquary is too big to punish game one, game was over before it really begun.
Game three a midgame Knight was bricked by a maze of Ith--but Scryb ranger allowed knight to Wasteland the maze, attack with knight, and then counter a life from the Loam by untapping the Knight and fetching a Bojuka Bog on his turn. He was forced to pass tapped out against a lethal board and just hoped I drew my card before I paid for Tabernacle upkeep—I paid for tabernacle and he picked up his cards.
Death and Taxes 1-1
A 45 minute game one that went back and forth for ages. I was able to break serve with appropriate use of Deathrite Shaman drains after he had lost too much life from Knight of the Reliquary hits before stabilizing. Game two was me keeping a sketchy hand against a fast Jitte draw. We went to time and I was able to Deluge the board away on turn four, but he vialed a Crusader at eot and was able to crack back for twenty exactly which drew the match.
Turbo Depths 2-1
This matchup is fairly interesting because he runs heavy removal in place of a slower combo compared to most Turbo Depths lists. As such, the matchup leans heavily on whether he draws Toxic Deluge against me or not.
He didn’t draw Deluge in game one but drew it game two. In the third game he was able to draw two Deluges but he was too far behind in life in game three for it to stop my attacks. Eventually I just went wide against his maze of Ith to deal lethal.
Shardless BUG 2-0
At 2-0-1 there was zero incentive for either of us to draw as the prize was the same for 2-0-2 as it was for 2-1-1, so we played it out.
Game one lasted 45 minutes with him only having three cards left in his library by the end of it. He favored protecting his Jace too strongly and threw away 3 of his 4 deathrite shamans to protect him. He was never able to rebuild a board after that as Thalia + Batterskull eventually outclassed his Goyfs.
With only 5 minutes left a smarter maverick player would have played to stall the game--instead I got a fast Depths out and killed him on turn 4 of turns.
Final Morning result 3-0-1 (7-3-0)
Final score for the weekend: 8-1-3 (18-6-2)
The list I brought:
Creatures: 26
4 Mother of Runes
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Dryad Arbor
Spells: 12
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull
1 Maze of Ith
1 Dark Depths
Lands: 22
4 Wasteland
4 Windswept Heath
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Forest
2 Savannah
1 Bayou
1 Scrubland
1 Plains
1 Karakas
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Thespian's Stage
Sideboard: 15
3 Thoughtseize
3 Sanctum Prelate
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Toxic Deluge
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Bojuka Bog
I got 2nd place at a 1K over the weekend. Here's my TR.
Top Deck Games – Legacy 1K – Tournament Report.
Tournament Logistics: 24 players. 5 Rounds. Top 8.
Introduction:
I haven’t played competitive REL Legacy since External Extravaganza 5. I am also a L1 judge so I’ve been working a lot of events, and played a very few large events. I was convinced by my friends to come up to the tournament, so I laid out the deck and make some last minute changes. They were the following:
• Took out 3x Dark Confidant, Thrun, and Sylvan Safekeeper, and inserted Leovold, Tireless Tracker, Renegade Railler, and 3rd Stoneforge Mystic and Sword of Light and Shadow for the MD.
• Took out A Tropical island and a 2nd Forest for a 2nd Cavern of Souls and a Horizon Canopy
• Took out Garruk and Bojika Bog and inserted Nissa, Vital Force and Pithing Needle.
I will put all my Sideboard decisions and analysis at the end of the Report, as well as my list. I felt that I would be expecting more Miracles and D&T, and that I prayed to god to not face Storm or LANDS. Sadly, I lost to one of these decks, but onto the day.
Round 1: UG Eldrazi. (Lose 0-2) {0-1}
You heard it right. They were running UG for the two emerge Eldrazi cards (Mockery of Nature and Wretched Gryff). Game 1 they smashed my reality…twice (2 5/5 Haste, Trample is really hard to fight through). Game 2 I was able to deal with the 2 Reality Smasher by double swords. I only have 2 Caverns, a Knight and a Pridemage, while they had a Matter Shaper and Thought Knot Seer. Haven’t I cracked my Horizon Canopy I could have won that game, but I was brought to my end with an Endbringer. I talked to my opponent after and I realized that they play Powerless Eldrazi in vintage, so I didn’t feel as bad losing to them. They played really great, and I hope that one day I get my REVENGE!
Round 2: Colorless Eldrazi (Won 2-1) {1-1}
Game 1 they beat me down with a Smasher till I was able to land a Knight and Sword the TKS to draw a card. However it wasn’t enough, because they played another Reality Smasher and I was dead. Game 2 I landed a Jitte and equipped it to a Pridemage and started to go snipe their creatures, and they conceded. Game 3 I was playing the control deck and try to eliminate as much creatures as I could, then I landed a Knight, followed up with a 2nd Knight and a Light and Shadow next turn. Lights out.
Round 3: Solider Stompy (Won 2-1) {2-1}
Game one my opponent mulled down to three cards, and I was thinking, “Well...They only need Entomb, Swamp, Reanimate Sire of insanity to kill me” But it turn out that it was Chrome Mox, pitching Thalia, Guardian of Thaben, and pass. I quickly kill them with just Ooze +Knight Beats. Game 2 they were able to turn 1 Suppression Field, and I quickly lose to that, along with an unanswered Precinct Captain. Game 3 they drop two Chrome Mox, and 2 Ballyrush banneret, and 1 Cavern. I Wasteland their land and drop a bird. Over the next couple of turns I landed a Knight, Light and Shadow, and Tireless Tracker, to attack to end the game.
Round 4: Mono-Red Sneak Attack (Won 2-0) {3-1}
Game one I play T1 DRS. My opponent turn one was mountain, lotus petal, pass. I made the assumption that I was playing against a Sneak and Show Variant, so I landed Gaddock to hope not get Turn 2 Sneak Attack. Turns out that they had a Turn two sneak attack, and I won that game with gaddock + Scooze beats. Game 2 my opponent performed Mulligan Procedure Error on a mull to 6 they drew 7. They choose to mulligan down to 5. They went Ancient Tomb pass. My hand was: Bayou, Thoughtseize, Fetch, Canonist, Fetch, Rec Sage, Swords: I am not losing this game. My thoughseize shown: Pyromancy, Seething Song, Interno Titan, and Trinisphere. I pick the Titan because that’s the one card that I can’t deal current out of the hand. On Turn three they got a red source and cast trinisphere. Seeing how it hurts them more than me, I didn’t pop it with Sage. I preceded to win that game with Knight beatdown.
Round 5: (Drew 0-3) {3-1-1}
I realized after the tournament Chinese Food isn’t the best food to eat while a tournament, but hey I can’t complain that I top 8 another 1K.
QUATERFINALS: UR Delver (Won 2-1) {4-1-1}
The person I drew with is my opponent. They came off real strong with a T2 flip Delver, swiftswpears, got my life down to 4. But I established with Gaea’s cradling a Light and Shadow and equipping to a Thalia, and start swinging. Eventually I was able to get enough life to not get Price of Progress (I have an activate Wasteland). Game 2 I only had Horizon Canopy as my source of mana after I mulled to 6. And It lost me the game because I couldn’t activate it under scooze to gain the 2 life I needed to get out of Price of Progress range for lethal. If I left it the forest I would have saved 4 LP. Game 3: I had bird, DRS, and Knight, fetch, fetch, wasteland ,forest. Every creature I drop was dealt with by a bolt or chain lightning. I landed a Sylvan Library to help me found a Choke, and choke down their only island. Once Knight was start swinging, it was GG.
SEMIFINALS: Death & Taxes (Won 2-1) {5-1-1}
Game one was over in 4 turns. T1 Bird Go, T2 Stoneforge, get Light and Shadow pass, T3 Knight pass, T4 equipped knight with Light and Shadow and my opponent conceded. Game 2 I wasn’t so lucky because I kept a one land hand, and I didn’t get there. I got land screwed and got Flickerwisp out the game. Game 3 was very similar to game one, except that I was able to Rec sage the Revoker naming Jitte. They conceded.
At this point I’ve never enter the finals of a Legacy tournament in my life, and at this point I was fighting for the trophy. I have enough points for a bye. And this is where I faced a match-up where I totally need a Bojika Bog.
FINALS: RG Combo Lands (Lost 0-2) {5-2-1}
My opponent turn one was Mox pitch Riftstone Portal, Cast Exploration, played Grove and Wasteland, cast Life of the Loam, chose no targets, pass. I played a Fetch and pass. Then they turn two make a 20/20 and pass. I drew no swords and pass. They attacked me and cast two P fires. Game 2 I lead off with a Mother of Runes, and for a while now it did a lot of work. The game was in a little statlemate, because he had the combo ready, but I surgical all the life of the loams. I made a huge misplay and attacked with the team, thinking that it was lethal, but I miscounted by 2, and I was killed with the 20/20 on the swingback.
Conclusion:
I was very happy with my performance for this tournament. I know that I need to improve my technical plays, but overall I finally broke the curse of only losing in the Quarters or Semis. I’ve also notice that throughout the tournament a few players knew what deck I was playing before I sat down. So I find that I’m becoming this Maverick mascot, which I’m fine with it. Regardless, even though my opponents know what I’m playing, it doesn’t help that much in the long run because I change my configuration of the deck every tournament I participate. I will say that Maverick is one of those decks where you really need to know what you’re doing, and rewards experienced pilots well. You really need to know the meta and how to adapt and just grind through the hate.
Next Time:
My next event is the SCG Classic at Baltimore. I would love to see more Maverick players and talk more about optimization the build to deal with problematic matchups
List.
4x Deathrite Shaman
1x Bird of Paradise
3x Mother of Runes
3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3x Stoneforge Mystic
1x Scavenging Ooze
1x Scrub Ranger
1x Gaddock Teeg
1x Qasli Pridgemage
4x Knight of Reliquary
1x Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1x Tireless Tracker
1x Renegade Railler
1x Dryad Arbor
4x Swords to Plowshares
4x Green Sun’s Zenith
1x Umezawa’s Jitte
1x Sword of Fire and Ice
1x Sword of Light and Shadow
1x Sylvan Library
4x Winswepth Heath
3x Verdant Catacomb
4x Wasteland
2x Savnannah
1x Scrubland
1x Bayou
2x Cavern of Souls
1x Horizon Canopy
1x Karakas
1x Gaea’s Cradle
1x Forest
1x Plain
Sideboard:
2x Zealous Persecution
2x Thoughtseize
2x Choke
2x Ethersworn Canonist
2x Abrupt Decay
1x Nissa, Vital Force
1x Maelstrom Pulse
1x Pithing Needle
1x Surgical Extraction
1x Reclamation Sage
SIDEBOARD CHOICES W ANALYSIS
[Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/fQX4fja.png)
Eldrazi Analysis:
Thalia and Mom are completely bad in this match up. However at least thalia has first strike so when you equipped a sword it can at kill a Thought-Knot Seer. Nissa’s plus one makes a 5/5 that can block a smasher or TKS. I didn’t see any of my sideboard cards for either Eldrazi matches, but I feel that I need to improve this area the most.
Solider Stompy Analysis:
Again, Thalia is bad in this matchup since they will most likely board out their Thalia’s and the lack of spells they have. Leovold and Tracker are not fast enough to beat them down. My thought was I need to remove problematic cards like the captains. Also, Suppression field is the bane of this deck’s existence, so I need more ways to remove it. I didn’t see any of my sideboard cards of either games.
Mono Red Sneak Attack Analysis:
one of the few combo decks that isn’t as scary as more I practice playing against it. Removing all Weapons package and insert combo hate cards is the way to go in this match-up. I did see my sideboard cards and they did help me win the game. Although I should have called a judge when my opponent tried to cast a sudden shock under a Trinisphere. Either way Canonist is the way to go here.
UR Delver Analysis:
Decay for the Blood Moon, Zealous for the True Name Nemesis, and Choke because they are playing Delver. I took out the weapon package because I feel that it’s too slow against a slight aggressive delver variant that runs Price of progress. I did see a sideboard card: Choke, which helps me just tap the only island on the battlefield.
Death and Taxes Analysis:
Thalia and Gaddock come out of this match, since they also have a karakas. I leave leovold in because they run ports and wasteland and Jitte so I can use to draw a card. I shave a DRS because they are running that many fetches so I feel that I need to maximize the cards that I want to see. Zealous Persecution is a card that D&T can’t deal of. Not only it removes all problematic creatures, but it can be used as an anthem pre-combat to do more damage. I felt that Tracker is too slow to set up in this match-up, but I could be wrong.
RG Combo Land Analysis:
Tbh, I still don’t know what I’m doing in this match-up, but I do know that active mom ruins their P Fire plan. Molten Vortex is also a problematic card so this match-up I brought in all the cards that can deal with enchantment or artifacts. Nissa, in theory, is an all star in this match-up because she makes 5/5, and retrieve creatures or artifacts that were destroyed. I was able to cast her, but I will still run her. I remove Thalia because I feel that they can cast the spells since they are running enough lands that produce mana to pay for spell cost under her.
Overall Analysis:
• Bird is staying in the deck.
• MB Leovold isn’t that great. I could see just putting him in the board and just bring him in the matches where he shines, but other than that he’s a 3/3 at best.
• If you are playing Maverick, you need to get your copies of Renegade Railler. This guy is insane. I wasteland the 2nd Eldrazi deck out of the game because of stripping their 3 lands in one turn. I maybe just add a 2nd Railler to the MB instead of leovold. This guy has multiple targets in the deck to get back on the battlefield.
• I’m cutting the Horizon Canopy and the 2nd Cavern of Souls for a 2nd forest and 2nd Bayou.
• I’m still debating on the 3rd Stoneforge and Sword of Light and Shadow. I want to put Dark Confidants back in the deck, but I need to do more testing to see.
• I’m not entirely sold on Tireless Tracker. While he can be Green Sun, it requires to set him up in order to effective get usages out of him. I might take him out.
Thanks for reading this report. If you have any questions, feel free to message me and I’ll do my best to respond. I’ll see y’all at SCG Baltimore Legacy Classic. Ride On.
I have not had a problem with Push on any level yet. Mainly because BUG has always been so removal heavy that them running a different removal spell hasn't mattered much while Grixis has always had such a shitty late game against us that having 1-4 more removal spells was never the "answer" they were looking for.Quote:
Originally Posted by ironclad8690
Weekly Legacy Update. Record 2-0-1
2-0 aganist Sneak and Show:
It felt good revealing Leovold off from a show and tell, and your opponent reveals a Grislebrand
2-0 aganist Elves
Spilt with the Miracles player.
Nissa, Vital Force ultimate feels so good.
Have you pushed Leo to the sb?Quote:
Originally Posted by Thunderknight
I'm considering trying 1 of him since it's basically a GSZable Chains of M. effect but I'm not sure if it belongs to the main or the side.
I came to conclusion to put him in the sideboard. I've made the decision to go back to Dark Confidants in the MB again, in anticipating for SCG Baltimore.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cpt-Qc
Trying to make a little more time to play. Went 4-1 with this deck and just wanted to share results.
Wins against BUG Delver, Fish, Combo, Depths Combo.
Lost to Eldrazi.
Eldrazi seems rough to me since they are so explosive and their creatures are just troublesome. I like having 2 ADecay in the main for extra removal. So many decks run off the wall stuff game 1 this allows me to have an answer to most of them. So far I have never been sad about these. In game 1's if I think they are on combo I can easily rush to a GSZ for Teegfather and that normally locks up the game quick. They were super helpful vs Merfolk just killing lords and forcing them to play fair.
Scryb Ranger continues to impress me, it coupled with a Mom allowed me to beat an on board Merit Lage at 4 life. Getting attackers in and then being able to use Mom again to block Lage is just great.
DRS keeps seeming more and more meh to me. It's nice in games when it gets active but I feel like it eats removal early and when I rely on it for mana I normally get burned by it.
Surgical will stay in my board for now. Being able to just Wasteland a Dark Depths and then Surgical = gg in that match. I have also done this similar move against 12 post on a turn 1 Cloudpost.
Maindeck TS is just cus I wanted a 3rd discard option and I couldn't fit it into the board, so I figured a misers one of couldn't hurt. It's been ok in Game 1 where I am flying blind, I like being able to know how to sequence. Knowing how to sequence GSZ, what to hunt for, etc. is what I like about Legacy, having opponents nailed on a deck turn 1 make those options way easier.
Choke continues to be eh in the board. I feel like I might switch and go for a more Armageddon style, maybe even Ghost Quarter and Loam instead of the 2x Choke. I feel like recurring Wasteland/GQuarter would be useful in more matches then a 3 mana enchantment.
Chains was in the board to test against Leovold and just the value blue decks get from Brainstorm/Ponder/etc. When I brought it in I boarded out Library, but never landed the Chains. Still dunno if this is what I want. I just wanna find a way to get value back against blue decks.
I missed that new 3 drop that is EWitness on crack. Might squeeze him in as a 1 of.
2 SFM has been working for me. Batterskull normally gets stripped in some way (either kill SFM or discard) so it's tough to land it. With Cradle it seems unfair sometimes. I still think I prefer having this vs the Dark Depths combo. After beating the DD combo, there are just too many ways to stop the 20/20 in most matches. Fire and Ice has been good to go so far. I haven't missed Light/Shadow since I took it out. I would LOVE to get a Blue/Black sword, I can dream :)
2 Qasali main is not changing for me any time soon. In the same way I like having AD for random things, having a spare Qasali to tutor up for weird removal really helps in some matches.
Thanks for reading.
-Seabass
I really want them to print the cycle of swords with allied color protection. They have to one day, and I really want sword of protection UW to make miracles players cry.
Any thoughts on other equipment? I used to enjoy the GB effect. War and Peace seems cool but eh protection wise. I feel like BodyMind could be ok, but I hesitate with reanimator being "on the rise".Quote:
Originally Posted by ironclad8690
Sword of Vengence could be fun with a KotR. Elbrus seems silly. Livewire Lash seems ok. Quietus Spike seems interesting. Just thinking and getting the cogs turning.
I've always wanted to play lightning greaves and teeg together, of course that isn't a hard lock anymore, still a dream.
Lightning Greaves seems like a good one. I could see in really grindy games, any late game creature draw is active right away in any capacity... KotR land or attack, Mom protection to get past blockers, SFM, BoP, DRS activation. Could be fun.Quote:
Originally Posted by ironclad8690
I agree it's a very interesting equipment. I've played Lightning Greaves with the main purpose of causing trouble for Miracles in game 1 before they get to board in Wear/Tear; this was obviously better before they started maindecking Engineered Explosives and other Chalice removal. With a Scryb Ranger in play it potentially allows you to play a Knight, equip Greaves to Knight and use it to get Depths, untap Knight with the Ranger (moving equipment to Ranger then back), get Stage, activate Stage, equip Greaves to Marit Lage and attack in the same turn. This costs 5 mana, with Ranger and Greaves already in play [just to give an idea of how much impact the card can actually have]. I was experimenting with it some 18 months ago, also maindecking Bitterblossom to mess further with Miracles (a constant struggle of mine) and giving your Fearie Rogues haste is pretty good too.
Since I'm posting, I went 3-1 last week in our local weekly tournament with a Dark Maverick/Leovold version, hardly drew any of my experimental cards though so from a testing perspective it didn't give much.