[Deck] GW Survival

[Valdez]

Hi,

i've been playing this deck for some time now, and i like it a lot. I don't play tournaments, and therefore i do not own any goyfs. I'm trying to find a proper beatstick as a replacement. At the moment, steppe lynx is really powerfull. It often does 6+ damage in a game, and often swings for 5 in the second turn. It seems really good (especially in combination with KotR). An other possibility is kitchen finks. But then i like steppe lynx beter.

Isn't steppe lynx a solid play anyway? With 8 fetch and 4 KotR, it often stomps really hard.

No, it isnt.
Goyf is a Next-Level-Wall of Blossoms, in every Macth vs. Aggro, Lynx is a BoP without Flying, so I'd rather play Finks.

[Tao]

Someone mentioned GW won the Iserlohn tournament this month. For some reason they just don't update their site this time, there are standings and Photos but no decklists this time.

Does anyone have the list or know what was played?

[Valdez]

At your service:

Lands
4 [B] Forest
1 [ZEN] Verdant Catacombs
1 [B] Plains
4 [TE] Wasteland
3 [B] Savannah
4 [ON] Windswept Heath
1 [ZEN] Misty Rainforest
3 [FUT] Horizon Canopy
1 [US] Gaea's Cradle

// Creatures
4 [FUT] Tarmogoyf
4 [CFX] Noble Hierarch
3 [ARB] Qasali Pridemage
4 [CFX] Knight of the Reliquary
4 [UL] Mother of Runes
1 [TO] Basking Rootwalla
4 [ROE] Vengevine
4 [M11] Fauna Shaman
1 [P3] Loyal Retainers
1 [ZEN] Iona, Shield of Emeria

// Spells
4 [EX] Survival of the Fittest
4 [B] Swords to Plowshares

// Sideboard
SB: 3 [LRW] Gaddock Teeg
SB: 1 [SHM] Faerie Macabre
SB: 1 [CH] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 3 [ALA] Ethersworn Canonist
SB: 3 [CFX] Path to Exile
SB: 1 [WWK] Bojuka Bog
SB: 2 [TSP] Krosan Grip
SB: 1 [FUT] Aven Mindcensor

[Arcadia]

I've played maverick for a while, and I have thought about running survival (+vengevines, since i don't have lloyal retainers). This deck is really similar, and I think it would be useful for GW survival to run 3 weathered wayfarer.

I don't like running both iona/loyal and vengevines. You have a lot of dead slots if you don't find survival. It's obvious that you will lose some games because you run iona/loyal and you need vengevines or you run vengevines and need iona...but you will lose much more games because you have your hand with vengevines, iona, loyal and you don't have a survival online.

What I would do:

-4 Vengevine
-1 Rootwalla

or
-1 iona
-1 loyal
-4 fauna shaman

+3 Weathered wayfarer
+ ?

I think that Maverick is a really powerful deck, but adding survival would increase the number of free wins.

[Valdez]

1. VV aren't dead cards.
2. Most players run 8 "SotF", so you draw rarely into "dead cards".
3. WW have been discussed a few Month ago, Shamans are simply better.
4. Its nothing personal, but I bet, you havent played a single game with GW Sur.

[Rune]

I've played maverick for a while, and I have thought about running survival (+vengevines, since i don't have lloyal retainers). This deck is really similar, and I think it would be useful for GW survival to run 3 weathered wayfarer.

I don't like running both iona/loyal and vengevines. You have a lot of dead slots if you don't find survival. It's obvious that you will lose some games because you run iona/loyal and you need vengevines or you run vengevines and need iona...but you will lose much more games because you have your hand with vengevines, iona, loyal and you don't have a survival online.

What I would do:

-4 Vengevine
-1 Rootwalla

or
-1 iona
-1 loyal
-4 fauna shaman

+3 Weathered wayfarer
+ ?

I think that Maverick is a really powerful deck, but adding survival would increase the number of free wins.

If you cut Iona, you'll have almost no chance against decks like Lands and Enchantress.

I wouldn't cut Vengevine either. Without it, I think you really damage your matchup vs blue control.

Shaman is another great threat that almost always has to be answered by the opponent. The same can't be said about Wayfarer.

[Valdez]

Why should we have any problems with Enchantress..?
You got, 2-3 QPM (+8 "Tutors"), 3 Grips, 2-3 Canonists and 2-3 Gaddocks, + Mothers vs. Rings, a Clock and mybe even Cradle to dodge Elephant Grass.

[Philipp2293]

Finished 3-1 again today, beating Burn, The Rock and GB Madness each 2:0 and losing versus GB Madness 2:1, cause I punted the SBing, forgetting about the possibility of NOgenitus coming in on his side, so I had to set Iona on G in G2 after seeing the dryad arbor, yet he had the Big Game Hunter in hand :(

Anyways, what I really want to discuss is the last slot in the MD. I have come to a pretty settled list (pretty much the last one Valdez posted), but for the last slot I can't decide between the 4th Vengevine, the 4th Pridemage or 1 singleton Eternal Witness. Today I ran 4 Pridemages, I never needed the 4th Vengevine, but sometimes I could have had good use for the Witness. Your experiences/opinions please.

[Waikiki]

that list is actually the same im running for some time now minus the sideboard. Altho I favor the single witness over the 4th vengevine. Just because witness is awesome at solving problems. And it can help starting the chain again to recur the vengevines.

I do think there is nothing wrong with wayfarer if you look at the version I played in the PTAmsterdam side event. It plays 3 wayfarer + 2 scryb ranger. Trying to combine the GW maverick synergie with survival.

[lebarion]

Guys, I've been playing Survival Elves for a while and now I'm thining about trying another flavor of Survival in GW.
However, I can't afford Retainers right now, and I feel he gives this deck the edge against many decks' archetypes. So, I'm thinking about replacing Loyal Retainers and Iona, Shield of Emeria by two Oriss, Samite Guardian, and the Eternal Witness by Genesis.
What do you think about this? Does this deck lose too much without Iona+Retainers?

[Philipp2293]

Well, I prefer to play with Iona/Retainers, but I guess the version Waikiki with Wayfarers/Scryb Rangers is pretty viable, whereas the replacements you posted are too dependent on survival as well as pretty slow, so I wouldn't recommend running then.

[Waikiki]

I think you could put this deck in 3 different shells:

1) The trick shell with wayfarer/ranger/knight u have an awesome LD strategy

2)The aggro shell with equipment + stoneforger you really wreck havoc in the aggro meta.

3)The I do not think 4 survivals are enough shell. Which lets you run iona / retainer together with shamans for a strong aggro and controlling game.

Al seem good in certain meta's and I think you should adjust your liking according to your local meta. All versions are viable imo.

[lebarion]

I think you could put this deck in 3 different shells:

1) The trick shell with wayfarer/ranger/knight u have an awesome LD strategy

2)The aggro shell with equipment + stoneforger you really wreck havoc in the aggro meta.

3)The I do not think 4 survivals are enough shell. Which lets you run iona / retainer together with shamans for a strong aggro and controlling game.

Al seem good in certain meta's and I think you should adjust your liking according to your local meta. All versions are viable imo.

I'm not a fan of the LD strategy, and as I've said Loyal Retainers is not an option right now.
I'll probably stick with the aggro shell, but I really wanted to have a reasonable maindeck option against combo, which I think Iona is.
I guess I'll try Oriss anyway, just to see how useful (or bad) it is. It doesn't seem to be that bad by herself in aggro matches, besides the possible lock. I'd appreciate any other comments on this.

[Tao]

There is no reason to be worried about the lack of Retainers because of Combo. First of all the matchup is not great anyway so if your Meta is a lot of Combo don't play this deck and second Iona isn't the first choice vs. Combo. The best maindeck option vs. most Combo decks is Gaddock Teeg because it stops Belcher, Empty the Warrens and Tendrils and is a turn faster than Iona. And after a turn 1 Mother of Runes, T2 Shaman/Survival you will usually win the game - should you reach your third turn. It is also rarely dead in a format with Force of Will, Dread Return, Natural Order and many others.

Iona is in the deck to steal wins and to hose Mono Colored Strategies like Elves or Staxx. Iona is not nessecary for the deck, it gives you imo slightly better odds overall but even that is doubtful because drawing the one offs really hurts the plan if they handle Survival/ Fauna Shaman. Just play a Teeg for Disruption and choose between the 4th Vengevine, a Pridemage or a singleton Witness.

[Hawdes]

There is no reason to be worried about the lack of Retainers because of Combo. First of all the matchup is not great anyway so if your Meta is a lot of Combo don't play this deck and second Iona isn't the first choice vs. Combo. The best maindeck option vs. most Combo decks is Gaddock Teeg because it stops Belcher, Empty the Warrens and Tendrils and is a turn faster than Iona. And after a turn 1 Mother of Runes, T2 Shaman/Survival you will usually win the game - should you reach your third turn. It is also rarely dead in a format with Force of Will, Dread Return, Natural Order and many others.

Iona is in the deck to steal wins and to hose Mono Colored Strategies like Elves or Staxx. Iona is not nessecary for the deck, it gives you imo slightly better odds overall but even that is doubtful because drawing the one offs really hurts the plan if they handle Survival/ Fauna Shaman. Just play a Teeg for Disruption and choose between the 4th Vengevine, a Pridemage or a singleton Witness.

Just to add something to the discussion against combo decks... They usually have a hard problem handling many different threats/hate bears than only one of the same type.
I would rather run a split between Teeg/Canonist or Teeg/another hate piece than just focus on Teegs.

[Tao]

Just to add something to the discussion against combo decks... They usually have a hard problem handling many different threats/hate bears than only one of the same type.
I would rather run a split between Teeg/Canonist or Teeg/another hate piece than just focus on Teegs.

That's true. Splitting between hate bears gives you also a wider range of combo decks you hate. Unlike Canonist Teeg does nothing against Elves and Hypergenesis, and Children of Korlis are useful against Dredge, Tendrils Combo and Burn, and Mindcensor is good vs. other Survival decks and Doomsday and Natural Order, and with 8 creature tutors splitting them is useful.

[Valdez]

Canonist is also quite nice vs. Enchantress.

[Waikiki]

And against vengevine :>

[f|i[p]]

Although I play gwb survival with vials, I was wondering how GW survival deals with Vengvine madness. They are extremely fast, and they just wait for your survivals and counter it. Often times it might be too late. So I was wondering what GWsurvival's out on it was.

[Philipp2293]

I consider the UG MU negative, cause they have Wonder and Force for our survivals.....since my Meta is infested with those decks I started running Aven Mindcensors in the SB (and also canonists).