[Deck] GW/x Maverick

[danyul]

@Artlee - I saw these lists on the decks of the week page also. It certainly is an interesting build. Very bold of him to just say "screw it" to the traditional thinking and run his own thing. I've been prepping for a Lotus tournament and wanted to take a variant of Maverick and I just can't settle on a build.

I like medvedev's redundancy with 4 MoM and 4 MM. But I worry about the lack of Stoneforge. How does this build run against UW Stoneblade decks? Sometimes you really need an equip to match theirs in those matchups. Is Mirran Crusader really that much of a beatstick? I'm sure Elspeth does work there too. Hmm.

I would say I prefer Aven Mindcensor over Crusader but everytime I play that card it gets killed or countered right away. And when it does stick around it just kind of sits there. It's difficult to gauge the full value of Aven Mindcensor because of that.

I'll give his list a run though. It looks like it gets out of the gate a turn or so faster than the SFM builds.

Which version would you guys run in a meta with mostly NORUG, UW Stoneblade, a bit of Hive Mind and maybe a Reanimator or two?

[Fatal]

Toolboxed

No RUG/Reanimator/UW Stoneblade/Hive Mind - Aven Mindcensor blocks the most important cards:
Natural Order/Entomb/SFM/Intuition.

And now let see what gives you Crusader:
1) Blocks Goyfs attack nice over Hydra, dies to Lavamancer/bolts/Fire//Ice which would be sided along with the Submerge in NO RUG.
2) Reanimator - can attack though the Sphinx of the Steel Wind, but dies to Elesh Norn.. (same as Censor but he can be used in resp - Crusader can't)
3) UW Stoneblade - Can attack though the Batterskull and have protection from it - very nice - Aven stops searching, can be fleshed to killing Jace, and its also unblockable. Both are nice in this MU, but probably flash is key card here.
4) Hive Mind - Clock + Disrupt - only chance, Mirran without disrupt can't be on time..

[Artlee]

This. Plus Mother of Runes has got insane synergies with Quirion and Scryb Ranger.

Sure, but I feel this is one of those situational synergies that takes a lot of resources to obtain. how often have you REALLY felt the need to play mother of runes, GSZ -> one of the rangers and also have something worth protecting... Twice?

@Artlee - I saw these lists on the decks of the week page also. It certainly is an interesting build. Very bold of him to just say "screw it" to the traditional thinking and run his own thing. I've been prepping for a Lotus tournament and wanted to take a variant of Maverick and I just can't settle on a build.

Regarding Aven Mindcensor vs Mirran Crusader: They obviously have different benefits, but I feel Mirran Crusader is better in maindeck while Aven Mindcensor is definitely worth having in the sideboard.

I like medvedev's redundancy with 4 MoM and 4 MM. But I worry about the lack of Stoneforge. How does this build run against UW Stoneblade decks? Sometimes you really need an equip to match theirs in those matchups. Is Mirran Crusader really that much of a beatstick? I'm sure Elspeth does work there too. Hmm.

I would say I prefer Aven Mindcensor over Crusader but everytime I play that card it gets killed or countered right away. And when it does stick around it just kind of sits there. It's difficult to gauge the full value of Aven Mindcensor because of that.

I'll give his list a run though. It looks like it gets out of the gate a turn or so faster than the SFM builds.

Which version would you guys run in a meta with mostly NORUG, UW Stoneblade, a bit of Hive Mind and maybe a Reanimator or two?

My problem with stoneforge is that when I go for batterskull they kill stoneforge. When I go for other swords I feel I'm "wasting" time cheating equipment into play and not having enough creatures on board. Many decks get a lot of time to find answers for this by the time you have equipped. Instead of this hassle you can have lots of creatures on board and use Mother of Runes and Mirran Crusader for colour protection.

I actually just saw a match between medvedev and prolepsis9 (UW faerie visions). It went 2-1 in medvedev's favour and he won his matches with ramping into KotR -> wasteland while landing Elspeth. The game he/she lost was because of no one-drops and prolepsis suspending visions on turn 1 and 2. As often it's very effective to ramp into KotR and start attacking the mana, while simultaneously making KotR bigger. Lastly Mother of Runes did great protecting vs batterskull token.

[Vesper Ghoul]

Just for the sake of it Most people call it Maverick but it was more of a 'Geddon deck. Lost in top 8 mainly to not having a way to deal with Humility.

NELC @ Jupiter Games
6th Place: Joe Marucci

1 Birds of Paradise
3 Noble Hierarch
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Green Sun’s Zenith
3 Mox Diamond
1 Sylvan Library
2 Terravore
3 Armageddon
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Elspeth, Knight Errant
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Life from the Loam
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Feast and Famine

2 Plains
2 Forest
3 Savannah
4 Wasteland
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Karakas
1 Nantuko Monastery
4 Windswept Heath
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Flooded Strand
1 Maze of Ith
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Flagstones of Trokair

Sideboard:
3 Angel’s Grace
1 Manriki-Gusari
3 Circle of Protection Green
1 Loaming Shaman
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Eternal Witness
1 Elspeth, Knight Errant
2 Bojuka Bog
1 Umezawa’s Jitte

[Maëlig]

Just for the sake of it Most people call it Maverick but it was more of a 'Geddon deck.

Congrats! I've been toying around with this idea too, basically creating a hybrid between white stax and maverick (maverick stompy?). We're getting a bit far from the original concept here obviously and this is essentially a different deck, but since there's no dedicated thread I'll post the list here :


3 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Traitors
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Flagstones of Trokair
1 Forest
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Karakas
1 Maze of Ith
1 Mishra's Factory
1 Plains
1 Rishadan Port
3 Savannah
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
4 Wasteland
4 Windswept Heath

1 Qasali Pridemage
3 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Aven Mindcensor
4 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Terravore
4 Green Sun's Zenith

3 Armageddon
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Mox Diamond
1 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Crucible of Worlds
1 Batterskull
2 Sylvan Library


The idea is to keep from maverick the denial package and complement it with geddon and crucible for the waste-lock. The light disruption / protection (swords, mother) is replaced with chalice which looks good atm, and all of this is given acceleration in the form of sol lands & moxes. Knight is more than ever the pillar of the deck. Canopy + crucible is solid CA in the late-game, and a geddon followed by a knight activation for tabernacle is super nice.
As I said this is just an experimental concept, I no significant testing experience to share.

[ThoSha]

Anyone tried Loam Lion in this deck? That guy is awesome.

[Koby]

Anyone tried Loam Lion in this deck? That guy is awesome.

I have recently picked a few up. I'm in the process of hammering out a decklist with him.

[Philipp2293]

Please share if done.
Tbh, I'm not sure if another 1 drop (with not that impressive stats) is what the deck needs.

[Artlee]

Please share if done.
Tbh, I'm not sure if another 1 drop (with not that impressive stats) is what the deck needs.

2/3 for W is good stats. Iknow it's a conditional bonus, but quite reliable.

[Bzka]

I have no idea why this deck needs a t1 2/3 vanilla when you can have a t2 4/4+ who bursts out wastelands or an SFM with removal protection, which can both single handedly win games, where a Loam Lion can't. Also he is a bad choice for equipment, as he lacks evasion. He is our worst t1 drop and a rather dead topdeck afterwards, which sounds rather unimpressive.

[Fatal]

Putting 2/3 W Vanilla is wrong direction. I was even thinking about cutting last goyf. It is always unimpressive and also I didn't GSZ for him since 2-3 months.

Scavenging Ooze was always better, or Scryb Ranger.

[Julian23]

The last thing this deck wants is a vanilla creature. It also doesn't fit into the mana curve as it would only be your 4th best 1-drop in a deck that is all about efficiency. Each card in Maverick is good. Loam Lion is not.

(/Loam Lion)

[Mr.Dieth]

Agree, Just as everybody is starting to cut goyfs ( because they are vanilla, and goyf is much much better then loam lion )

So you would acctually be cutting goyfs to play loam lion?

[ThoSha]

Actually it was just a suggestion, he might not be good at all.
Tried him last night on MWS tough in the place of Mother of Runes, and i was satisfied everytime i dropped him, as he was an extra 4-6 damage each game. I really liked the extra aggro note from the start, but i might be wrong with that.

Mr. Dieth:
Yeah sure, im cutting Goyfs to add Loam Lions..
In fact i was running 2 Goyfs and GSZ, like I care what everyone else does.
Play in someone elses garden, kid.

[Ajsmirnov]

Cutting Mother of Runes is VERY bad idea, man. For any purpose.

[fdiv_bug]

Cutting Mother of Runes is VERY bad idea, man. For any purpose.

I agree, especially if you're replacing her with, at best, a 2/3 vanilla creature.

[Tacosnape]

Maverick is not a traditional aggro deck. Maverick is a unique deck in that it usually wants to swing with just one guy each turn and do utility shit with the rest. Speed is not as important as longevity here, and cards like Stoneforge Mystic, Knight of the Reliquary, and Mother of Runes, all of which who make big differences in the long game, are forces to be reckoned with.

So what's the general consensus on dealing with Stoneblade here? All I see are ways to deal with the Mystic itself, which isn't what I'm frightened of. It's all the Jace/Visions shenanigans that seem to cause more problems. Is Scryb Ranger the MVP here, given his ability to take down Clique/Spellstutter, avoid Jace Bounce, fly over Stoneforge/Batterskull, and get there? If you had 2-3 spots to dedicate in the board to beating this match, what would you take? And what would you take if you were trying to do well against BUG Visions in the process also?

[supa_tim]

I've been testing with the Loam Lion only because I haven't acquired Moms yet. He is very much the weakest card in the deck. I almost never want to play him turn 1 and he always feels like a bad topdeck. There are so many games that would have been won if he was Mother of Runes.

[Draener]

The problem with the stoneblade/bugstill matchup is Maverick really doesn't have a way to interact with their cheap card advantage. This is especially true of visions, but is also true of Jace if either deck is allowed to properly setup. This is especially true due to the fact the deck actively encourages attacking with only a single creature (exalted), thus allowing a single removal / chump block to effectively timewalk you a turn. Now the most effective way to beat visions is probably Spellstutter Sprite which combines nicely with Scryb Ranger to take down Jace, but I'm sure most of you wont want to splash blue.

As for on color Solutions, there's always Zodiac Horse. On a more serious note, a well timed choke can get bugstill really good, but it's much harder to get the stoneblade decks with this. Elspeth is really good against both, but is often dificult to cast, and needs to be protected by Scryb Ranger against stoneblade. One strategy I have had moderate success with is the combo of 2 Life from the Loam and 1 Tower of the Magistrate. Loam is good against both bugstill and stoneblade, Dealing with reoccurring Horizons canopies and wasteland is really difficult for these decks.

[Asthereal]

Adding Loam Lion seems awkward to me.
If I wanted more one/drop options, I think I would try Aether Vial.
That boy helps rushing important beasts into play while still having mana left to equip.
End of turn Vial in SFM, get Batterskull, own turn Mystic in the Batterskull seems nice too.

The tourney I beat Stoneblade, I had 3 Krosan Grips side and 3 main deck Elspeths.
That was enough. :)