pardon what? :eyebrow:Quote:
Originally Posted by sdematt
edit: nvm... >_>
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pardon what? :eyebrow:Quote:
Originally Posted by sdematt
edit: nvm... >_>
Went back to Karakas main deck. I figured the one game I will need it against Iona or Emrakul is worth the 19 I won't need it. Also cut Ensnaring Bridge and Serenity from the sideboard for a 2nd Choke and Maze of Ith. Again, playing the odds of decks I'm most likely to face.
I decided to step away from the Dark Side (TNT) for a day and sleeved up GW Maverick. The list is close to Art Macurda's from the Vegas SCG event with a few changes based on card availability and my personal taste.
Maindeck:
Artifacts
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
Creatures
3 Aven Mindcensor
1 Birds of Paradise
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Mother of Runes
3 Noble Hierarch
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Quirion Ranger
3 Stoneforge Mystic
Enchantments
1 Sylvan Library
Instants
4 Swords to Plowshares
Legendary Artifacts
1 Umezawa's Jitte
Legendary Creatures
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
Planeswalkers
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Sorceries
4 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Life from the Loam
Basic Lands
1 Forest
1 Plains
Lands
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Maze of Ith
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Savannah
1 Tower of the Magistrate
1 Verdant Catacombs
3 Wasteland
4 Windswept Heath
Land Creatures
1 Dryad Arbor
Legendary Lands
1 Karakas
1 Gaea's Cradle
Sideboard:
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Batterskull
2 Faerie Macabre
2 Choke
1 Stony Silence
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
1 Enlightened Tutor
2 Krosan Grip
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Mindbreak Trap
I didn't take notes so I would not be able to formulate a report, but I have some general impressions overall and some match up specific thoughts. First, this deck is very skill intensive and based on my experience with the deck, it plays like a control deck rather than a midrange or aggro deck. Second, you'll always be mana hungry with this deck as there are so many ways to interact with the board that you'll always want more resources to do so.
I ended up going 5-0-1 and won the event.
Round One I was paired with Spiral Tide. I cut two Mindbreak Trap prior to the event predicting Reanimator and Dredge...neither showed. Game one I was able to develop flawlessly and caught him casting Merchant Scroll (likely for High Tide), and I resolved Aven Mindcensor effectively grinding him down. Over the following turns, I'm able to tutor up Sword of Feast and Famine which puts the game out of reach for him. I lost game two and game three was close, but he was mana screwed which put him too far behind to get back into the game. Looking back, I would likely cut the Crypt and Relic out of the board for additional copies of Mindbreak Trap.
Round Two I was paired with Affinity. Tower of the Magistrate pulled double duty on offense and defense. I also open with two GSZ in hand which found two Pridemage putting the game far out of reach.
Round Three I played against BW.deck. They have a slightly more powerful creature base for brawling between Confidant, Stoneforge, and Nighthawk. This version was also play Bitterblossom which made his Stoneforge's all the more powerful. Mother of Ruins totally crushed this match up.
Round Four: I opted to draw with Sneak&Show since we were both 3-0 and I hadn't eaten. Plus, I knew there would be at least two more 3-1s and didn't want to risk missing the cut or getting paired up against him because that matchup seems very unfavorable.
Semifinals: I played against the same BW.deck from round three. This match was a grinder, very skill intensive and mentally draining. Game one ended when he drew three of his four Scrubland and I started recurring Wasteland with Life from the Loam. Game two ended when he equipped Bitterblossom tokens and started swinging for the win. Game three was at least 30 minutes and drew the attention of nearly everyone in the store. After lots of grinding, I got there with a Birds of Paradise equipped with a Batterskull.
The Sneak&Show player lost to a Burn player in the other Semifinal match up
Finals: I didn't like my chances playing against Burn. I knew he was running four maindeck Price of Progress which is really painful for this deck. Game One, I opted to take five off of a Browbeat and he drew seven lands over the course of the game. I won in fairly quick fashion despite him dropping me to six. Game Two, I was blown out by Fireblast. Game Three, I was at eight and he was projecting Fireblast. He attempted to resolve Price of Progress when I had four non-basic lands out. I wasted my own Savannah and was able to activate both Canopies to draw cards dodging any damage and got in for the win. I think this match up is very weak and I feel lucky to of won.
Moving forward, I would make the following changes:
Maindeck
-1 Gaea's Cradle
-1 Thrun, the Last Troll
+1 Plains
+1 Scavenging Ooze
Sideboard
-1 Stoney Silence
-1 Relic of Progenitus
-1 Tormod's Crypt
+1 Stoneforge Mystic
+1 Mindbreak Trap
+1 Thrun, the Last Troll
Played Rukcus' list tonight at a local and went 3-1.
I was able to beat Reanimator, UW Stoneblade and RUG Tempo. The match I dropped was to GUwr Zoo. I really liked the list, Ooze and Thrun were really good against Snapcasters. The sb Life from the Loam was very helpful against RUG Tempo. The gy hate was all great against Reanimator, being able to access it by different angles was big too - GSZ for Ooze, ETutor for Crypt/Metamorph and KotR for Bog/Karakas - only a few devoted slots felt like a lot more.
Nothing really jumped out at me to change. Batterskull was unexciting drawn naturally, but it can obviously be a good SFM target against Merfolk or if you get an active Mother of Runes.
^ FYI in case you missed it, because I noticed you were playing Witness and only a single Scryb Ranger:
I only went 2-2 and you won it--but I agree with rukcus that there should be a second Scryb Ranger.Quote:
Originally Posted by rukcus
Hello guys, normally a lurker but I wanted to report a Top8 I made yesterday in a 42 people tournament in Rome (Italy).
The list I played:
Creatures:
4 Mother of Runes
3 Noble Hierarch
1 Birds of Paradise
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Gaddok Teeg
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Tarmogoyf
4 Night of the Reliquary
1 Eternal Witness
2 Aven Mindcensor
Spells:
4 Green's Sun Zenith
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Punishing Fire
1 Life from the Loam
Artifacts:
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Umezawa's Jitte
Lands:
2 forest
1 Plains
2 Savannah
1 Plateau
1 Taiga
4 Windswepth Heath
2 Wooded Foothills
1 Arid Mesa
3 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Karakas
1 Dryad Arbor
2 Wasteland
SB:
4 Thorn of Amethyst
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Bojuka Bog
2 Krosan Grip
2 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 Choke
I'll get to the card choices later, the report first:
1 ROUND (Davide): ANT
Game 1: he starts and and grab Zenith from my hand with Duress. I build mana and land a ooze followed by an Aven Mindcensor I top decked in turn 3. He has no gas, can't recover and I beat him down.
Sideboard: + 4 Thorn,2 Canonist,2 Extraction - 2 Mystic,1 Sword,1 Jitte,1 Mother,1 Loam,1 Grove,1 Fire
Game 2: I keep a very good hand with 2 Thorns and they both get discarded. I manage to top deck another one while he looks for gas and it slows him down considerably while I build damage. He goes off and reveal an echoing truth for my Thorn but is short one mana with a blue mana and two red mana in pool, he could play a 6 storm tendrils to get me low and go back to 13 (he is at 1) life but decides to go for a brainstorm that finds him the B to continue and kill me
Game 3: I think I wasted a Sea and beat him down with him not finding any gas (Mincensor on 3rd turn I think)
G: 2-1 R: 1/0/0
2 ROUND (Garbino): Monowhite Ascension
Game 1: I don't know what he is playing and keep an and with basic forest, a taiga, one zenith and 2 swords. He starts and play Mother of Runes...I wanted to face palm me to death. I play forest go to get W through Zenith and in his second turn he plays...another Mother of Runes! I keep calm play Zenith for a Birds of Paradise and the turn after Mystic for Sword and later a mother of my own. Several turns pass while I land a Knight and wait for the right time to trick him to tap Mother while his life grows to embarrassing amounts. The right time comes, he taps a mom to protect an attacker I sword it he taps the other to give protection and I double fire the two moms...I clean the field from the other weenies and proceed to beat him down.
Sideboard: + 2 Metamorph - 1 Loam,1 ooze
Game 2: he moms, I sword it and the game goes down from then on. Only relevant play is me copying his Batterskull with Metamorph and the break it with Qasali ;)
G: 4-1 R: 2/0/0
3 ROUND (Silvia...not sure, sorry): Merfolk
Game 1: she lands double Vial but I have more steam drop a Mystic+Jitte and eliminate the lords and the blockers she propose, not much she could do
Sideboard: + 2 Choke - 2 ooze
Game 2: More of the same but with less Vials and another quick Jitte that seal the deal together with a Fire.
G: 6-1 R: 3/0/0
4 ROUND (Riccardo...I think, lol I'm too old :) ): Dragon Stompy
Game 1: I believe he is playing Burn and I keep an hand with basic forest a Karakas a mom, Zenith and a mystic, thinking I would play mom a mystic for Sword and try to recover some life. I start and play Karakas for mom pass, He goes and plays Ancient Tomb, Chrome Mox and Magus of the Moon....oh geez...luckily I had the basic forest, I play zenith for Birds of Paradise to have W available and after some Knights I proceed to win.
Sideboard: + 2 Krosan Grip - 2 Aven Mindcensor
Game 2: Similar to G1 but he starts with Trini, the end is the same tho.
G: 8-1 R: 4/0/0
I ID the next two rounds and end up 3rd of the swiss.
Top8 1st ROUND (Manfredi): GR Aggro Loam with Punishing Fires
Game 1: Manfredi is a friend of mine and he is a better player than me :) I know I have to play tight and hope he doesn't get a super crazy start...which he does, of course, and there is nothing I can do to prevent losing G1.
Sideboard: + 2 Extraction, 1 Bojuka - 2 Mystic, 1 Mindcensor (should have sided the 3 fires and the 2 Mystics for the GY hate and the Grips...)
Game 2: I play perfectly and keep him out of loams with my Ooze, we move to G3
Game 3: I keep a good hand and I start with a little edge, play a ooze with G open to remove his first loam he fires I remove the loam the ooze dies. my hand at this point is: Zenith, 2 Knights, a Scryb. He lands a Seismic Assault and plays another loam out of double mox and has 2 cards in hand, my Knights would land at 5 and be a real pain in the neck for him if I managed to shutdown seismic assault. I could grab qasali and remove the assault or fetch another ooze to remove the loam and stop him to dredge and replenish his hand. I decide to risk and go for the second loam….only to find out that he has the 3rd one in his hand. I die shortly after from a ton of seismic damage.
I could have played more conservatively, I tend to consider this play as a mistake but the gamble would have made me get a big advantage if it succeeded….
G: 9-3 R: 4/2/1
The deck is very, very, very strong. In a meta of small creatures and tempo deck is a real beast it also has a better than expected behavior against BR storm combo, I'll definitely play it again in tournaments to see how far it can go.
A couple of thoughts on my cards choices:
Ooze: if I didn't fear that they would clash against each other I would play 3 of them, a great card against most of the meta
Loam: I'm taking it out of the deck for another Birds of Paradise. One is too random and the deck doesn't really need it
Wasteland: with Loam in I reduced them to two…I'll have to think about finding some space again for the 3rd.
Mincensor: great card but in tests I found that more than 2 were clogging my hand...
I would like to have a competent and experienced maverick player to testa couple of games.
Playing Team America or BUG control I never beat Maverick in a real life tournament... However I feel that I learned and adapted to have a real shot. Problem is there are so many bad players in MWS that I can't trust my wins. :)
Would anyone be up for it?
I am also happy to play other decks/strategies I am familiar with..
I have MWS or Cockatrice and I am available usually between 7-9 CET or on weekends.
Looking forward to your PM.
If the opponent has bloodmoon out and I play bojuka bog. Does it become a basic mountain before I can even exile my opponent's graveyard?
It comes into play tapped as a Mountain and no effect occurs.Quote:
Originally Posted by iScare
Those of you who have been playing SoLS, have you ever had any issues with it shutting off your Mother of Runes?
Yes. Many times. It also stops you from being able to use Elspeth's Jump ability once the sword is equipped. The overall usefulness of SoLS outweighs those two cases however.Quote:
Originally Posted by Esper3k
Yeah right now I'm trying to decide between SoFF and SoLS as my third equipment slot.Quote:
Originally Posted by rukcus
I always like SoLS in theory, especially as a defensive weapon, but I've been digging how SoFF gets you past the green decks and the sickness with Gaea's Cradle.
SoLS shuts down pretty much all the removal that can be thrown to the creature equipped, the best part of it is equipping a Mindcensor or a Scryb Ranger....having infinite Qasali or virtually infinite Witnesses is very very very powerful :)
SoLS on an X/1 doesn't stop Lightning Bolt, which is pretty relevant in today's meta, imo.Quote:
Originally Posted by Raystar
No, it doesn't. But SoLS isn't very good against decks with Red to begin with. SoFI takes care of those decks.Quote:
Originally Posted by Esper3k
Why don't use both swords and depending on your meta, just fetch the right sword. Why not go with Jitte, SoFI and SoLS?
Well, the question isn't about SoFI vs SoLS for me, but SoLS or SoFF (I'm already playing Jitte and SoFI).Quote:
Originally Posted by iScare
Before the printing of batterskull it's what i've been runing with great sucess.Quote:
Originally Posted by iScare
I think that Pro:w: is more important than Pro:g:, especially against UW/x control decks that run Stoneforge (Pro:w: for SFM, StP; Pro:b: against Batterskull). Much more so than Pro:g: against other Maverick-esque decks. Against these decks, SoLS is still useful (can't be blocked by Mom, SFM, Knight, Pridemage, Teeg) plus not worrying about StP (which should always be a worry in the mirrors).Quote:
Originally Posted by Esper3k
The best evasion in the mirror is either Flying (Scrub Ranger, Aven Mindcensor, Elspeth) or Trample (Terravore).
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I recently played against a Maverick Survival-esque build featuring Fauna Shaman, Loyal Retainers, Iona, and Elesh Norn. It also included Garruk Relentless from Innistrad. Has anyone been tinkering around with such a build taking a page from the list as it originated? These seems to have some potential, as playing with Garruk gives slightly more removal for the deck, as well as the inevitability that Elspeth provides in most lists.
Point for discussion:
Garruk Relentless vs Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Garruk's ability to whack a mole when he comes into play is great but it seems very situational. If your opponent does not have any weenies in play you can only summon Wolves and while they are bigger than Soldiers you do not gain loyalty doing so. You can wait a turn and kill your own Wolf to transform but then you have waited two turns just to get Veil-Cursed at one counter! Elspeth is at five counters before an opponent gets to respond.Quote:
Originally Posted by rukcus
If your only fourth turn play is your Planeswalker then unless your opponent finds an answer Elspeth's mighty leap puts them on a 3-4 turn clock. I just do not see Garruk offering that sort of presence.