[Deck] GW/x Maverick

[majikal]

majikal vs Gearhart in SCG feature match right now.

@majikal:
What was your reasoning for casting Surgical on Tundra in Game 2?

A couple of reasons. 1 - I didn't know wtf he was playing. 2 - I didn't see basic plains or Scrubland g1 and had him on WoG or Humility.

Now that I've seen the deck though I'm sure I hold extraction for Bridge.

Some quick thoughts - Worship was awesome against Burn. Ledgewalker was marginal all day and probably not needed with Thrun and SoLaS in the deck. Thrun was amazing though.

I took some notes and will write a report later if I remember.

[Philipp2293]

@Majikal:

That's a pretty sweet list you've got there. If I would have to play straight GW today I would play almost the same list. I gotta ask though: No love for the second Scryb Ranger? In straight GW it has always been such a house, especially when coupled with SoLaS.

[majikal]

@Majikal:

That's a pretty sweet list we've got there. If I would have to play straight GW today I would play almost the same list. I gotta ask though: No love for the second Scryb Ranger? In straight GW it has always been such a house, especially when coupled with SoLaS.

I had a Ledgewalker in that slot, but I ended up wanting the second Ranger all day. I'll probably switch back if I play GW again, but keep the rest of the 60 the same.

Report incoming later tonight.

[TehGems]

A few pages ago someone proposed to remove Mother of Runes from the deck, because of the high amount of mass removal around (Deed, Wrath, etc.) at least where I'm from, but the subject has been dropped.

Is it so crazy an idea? You would gain 4 slots (plus maybe 1: if you play two Scryb Ranger, you could drop one), and you could play more creatures that have a huge impact on the board by themselves, such as Thrun, Geist of Saint Traft or even Mirran Crusader.

I was thinking about something like this:

// Lands
1 Dryad Arbor
2 Forest
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Karakas
1 Maze of Ith
2 Plains
4 Savannah
1 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
3 Wasteland
4 Windswept Heath
2 Wooded Foothills

// Creatures
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Silhana Ledgewalker
4 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Thrun, the Last Troll

// Spells
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
4 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Sylvan Library
2 Umezawa's Jitte


This version, compared to other "more classic" GW lists plays two Geists, one additional Thrun and Silhana (which is a power house with so many equipments and Elspeth) and I chose to include a Sylvan Safekeeper as a tutorable Mom. I like it, even if it's not as versatile as Mom, because you can activate it the same turn you play it.
Sure, it doesn't give evasion, but Silhana and the Geists (at least the Angels) already have it. Also, hexproof helps a lot against those Punishing Mavericks.
The sheer number of equips, planeswalkers and Mystics should be enough to make every of those unblockable/untargetable creatures a huge menace, allowing us to keep our resources without risking an X/1 against Wrath of God of Pernicious Deed.

What do you guys think?

[majikal]

A few pages ago someone proposed to remove Mother of Runes from the deck, because of the high amount of mass removal around (Deed, Wrath, etc.) at least where I'm from, but the subject has been dropped.

Is it so crazy an idea? You would gain 4 slots (plus maybe 1: if you play two Scryb Ranger, you could drop one), and you could play more creatures that have a huge impact on the board by themselves, such as Thrun, Geist of Saint Traft or even Mirran Crusader.

I was thinking about something like this:

// Lands
1 Dryad Arbor
2 Forest
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Karakas
1 Maze of Ith
2 Plains
4 Savannah
1 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
3 Wasteland
4 Windswept Heath
2 Wooded Foothills

// Creatures
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Silhana Ledgewalker
4 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Thrun, the Last Troll

// Spells
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
4 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Sylvan Library
2 Umezawa's Jitte


This version, compared to other "more classic" GW lists plays two Geists, one additional Thrun and Silhana (which is a power house with so many equipments and Elspeth) and I chose to include a Sylvan Safekeeper as a tutorable Mom. I like it, even if it's not as versatile as Mom, because you can activate it the same turn you play it.
Sure, it doesn't give evasion, but Silhana and the Geists (at least the Angels) already have it. Also, hexproof helps a lot against those Punishing Mavericks.
The sheer number of equips, planeswalkers and Mystics should be enough to make every of those unblockable/untargetable creatures a huge menace, allowing us to keep our resources without risking an X/1 against Wrath of God of Pernicious Deed.

What do you guys think?

IBA, is that you?

[TehGems]

IBA, is that you?

Nope, I'm sorry! :)

[Lt. Quattro]

IBA, is that you?

I didn't like his adding parallax wave or lowering the wastelands, but I came around on dumping mother of runes and scryb ranger for better creatures. Mom is pretty good turn 1 where you get to untap it, but I found the later I played it, the less useful it is and it competes with playing a mana dork turn 1. I added a couple eternal witness since extra swords are good, recurring wasteland to punish my opponent when he stumbles with his mana base, or just getting an extra land since there is always something useful to do with the mana like using punishing fires, equipping a guy and activating scavenging ooze.

[sdematt]

Congrats, Majikal! I'd like a report to read instead of doing homework, plox.

-Matt

[majikal]

Report time!

I rolled up to Charlotte with the following list:

Maindeck:

Artifacts
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Light and Shadow

Creatures
1 Eternal Witness
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Mother of Runes
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Silhana Ledgewalker
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
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

Sorceries
4 Green Sun's Zenith

Basic Lands
2 Forest
1 Plains

Lands
2 Horizon Canopy
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Savannah
4 Wasteland
4 Windswept Heath

Land Creatures
1 Dryad Arbor

Legendary Lands
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Karakas

Sideboard:
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 Choke
1 Stony Silence
1 Worship
2 Enlightened Tutor
2 Path to Exile
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Maze of Ith

Round 1: Stephen G. with Merfolk.

The first game was just bad. He mulliganed once, had all colorless lands, and I killed him with a Voltron of 4x Noble Hierarch.

Game 2 was more interesting. He gets Kira, Great Glass-Spinner, a Coralhelm, and a Reejery and takes me down to six before I Stoneforge in a Jitte, equip it to a Scryb Ranger with Mom's approval and start fucking his team with it. Batterskull comes down a few turns later to seal the deal and he scoops it up.

1-0

Round 2: Vincent L with Punishing Maverick

Judging from all the scribbles on my paper, it looks like we go back and forth killing each other's men until he runs out of gas. His Punishing Fire holds my dorks at bay until I waste his Grove, and then I land a Knight, followed by an Elspeth, and leap over his team for 9 to the face. He manages to kill my planeswalker, we spend a few turns durdling around, and I draw the other one. One swing and he's at 4. He fetches EOT, looks at his card, and scoops.

Game 2 was a little stronger for him, opening with Sylvan Library. We durdle around for a few turns with the board clogged up, getting a hit in here or there before something dies, and eventually he starts gaining the advantage with his superior card selection power, thanks to Library. He brings me down to 11 before I drop Thrun followed by Elspeth. Fortunately, he paid life with Sylvan Library once after a couple of fetches, and one swing takes him to 3. At some point he got a Sword of Feast and Famine and a Jitte, but Path to Exile kept them from being relevant until this very turn. He suits up his Stoneforge Mystic and thinks for a while. He looks at the board, then down at his hand, and then at his library, and realizes it's over. He told me he drew the wrong card and it cost him the game, but little does he know that the lone card in my hand is another copy of Elspeth. I flop it down and he tells me I shouldn't have won because I'm not playing Punishing Fire. Obviously.

2-0

Round 3: Eric C playing Burn.

Game 1 He burns my face and I die.

Game 2 I put men in the way of his men, drop Thrun, and then Enlightened Tutor for Worship. He calls a judge to get an oracle wording on my sweet Japanese USaga Worship, tries to play it out, and Thrun eats him.


Game 3 I do the exact same thing only this time he gets a Sulfuric Vortex and helps me kill him faster.

3-0

Round 4: ?? with RUG Tempo. I forgot my notpad this round and had to scribble on a napkin. In the confusion, I neglected to write down my opponent's name.

Game 1 I get Double Knight and just go kill him.

Game 2 he gets turn 1 Delver, flips it, and counters my removal. A few Goyfs and Mongeese later and I'm dead.

Game 3 I get a Scryb Ranger with Mom's permission to block his Delver all day long, and then Thrun comes along and does what trolls do best.


4-0

Round 5 - MIDBOSS!!! David Gearhart playing that thing he plays.

For the record, David Gearhart is one of the most entertaining human beings alive, and even though I lost this match like a little bitch, it was the most fun I had all day.

Game 1 - He leads with Vault of Whispers, and I put him on Affinity, since I've never seen his deck before. Then he plays a Tundra and I die a little on the inside. He plays a bunch of useless artifacts and then drops a Tezz. I have options, or so I think. I go over the plays in my head, and then check my life total. Oh. I look back at Tezz, and then at the pile of artifacts, and specifically at the Thopter foundry on the top of the pile. Fuck. Next game.

Game 2 - I have a strong opener in this game. I lead with Noble Hierarch, and David plays another artifact land. I Enlightened Tutor for Stony Silence during my upkeep, draw it, drop a land and cast it. It sticks. But then we both durdle around for a while, both drawing brick after brick. Gearhart is a honey badger.

He just keeps piling up his useless artifacts while I peck away at his life. I Waste a Tundra, and he just keeps going. As he plays his fourth land, a Flooded Strand, I start getting nervous about Wrath of God or Humility. I didn't see a basic Plains or Scrubland in game 1, so in response to him fetching, I Surgical Extraction his Tundra. Bad play. It and the other one in play are the only ones. I didn't realize it at the time, but that cost me the game. I get his life total extremely low before he drops the first Ensnaring Bridge. I have the Pridemage, but he has another Bridge and then an Oblivion Ring on my Stony Silence. Fuck. Now his Thopter Combo is active. I blow up his Academy ruins and get another Pridemage to blow the O-Ring, but by now it's pointless. He nonchalantly finds his other Academy Ruins and continues on his merry way.


If I had saved my Surgical Extraction I would have been able to remove his Bridges and thus win the game. Instead I get Tezz'd to death. Sad Panda.

4-1

Round 6: UR Delver, aka Life Tilt
Game one - "Delver Delver herf derf blind flips 6 you 6 you bolt fireblast"
Game two - "lololol I left in Force of Will, so Delver Delver blind flip FoW your StP, 6 you 6 you bolt bolt lol"

I almost drop here, but I realize that I had just hit the nut low and it can't get any worse.

4-2

Round 7: Guy with awesome Pirate Hat, playing some kind of Deadguy Ale
Game 1 - Mom, Stoneforge, Sword of Light and Shadow, ruin him. I end the game at 32 life and having used the same Pridemage to blow up every artifact he played.
Game 2 - More of the same.

5-2. Back in the game!

Standings go up, and I'm in the top of my bracket on tiebreakers. The top seeds are such that the only people who can safely draw in are the top 2. If the stars aligned just right and everyone else played it out instead of gambling on a draw, I would make top 8 if I 2-0 my next round. FINGERS CROSSED!

Round 8: Jeremy, playing Bant Maverick
Game one - This wasn't a game. I Waste him out and get in with dorks, and he scoops.

Game two - I get Mother of Runes, Scryb Ranger, and Stoneforge Mystic. It resolves and I go get Sword of Light and Shadow. He allows it, and goes for Batterskull.

I equip SoLaS to my Noble Hierarch and swing in with it and Scryb Ranger. He Mazes my Hierarch, and I use it to repeatedly block his Germ token. He eventually gets a Knight of the Reliquary and tries attacking with it, just in case I forgot. But I block it too. Pro White AND Pro Black is pretty sexy right now. I get my own Knight and blow up his Maze, and I start getting in. He manages to kill my Sword, but I GSZ for 3 and grab Eternal Witness, bringing it back the very next turn, SFM-vialing it back into play, and suiting up again. I hear infinite Pridemages are pretty good.

At any rate, Knight carried the sword to victory, and an outside chance at top 8.

6-2

Standings go up aaaaaaaaaaaaand....


2nd THRU 10th --- Y U NO PLAY IT OUT

At least 4 of them drew, knocking one guy to 9th who I'm sure thought he was in, and landing me square at 10th. Sad face. But happy face.

But sad face.

I take my $100 and drown my sorrows in delicious Fuel Pizza.


EDUCATION TIME, KIDS!
I was extremely happy with the maindeck with the lone exception of Silhana ledgewalker. By the time I needed a shroudy guy for whatever reason, I could have just gone to get Thrun, and I feel this slot is better served as either another Scryb, another Jitte, or another Library.

The sideboard needs a Pithing Needle, and possibly some number of Krosan Grip.

Also, Worship is awesome against Mono-R Burn, but not so much against Delver.

[Koby]

" he tells me I shouldn't have won because I'm not playing Punishing Fire. "

No respect from PFires sheeple. He deserved to get Elspeth-smashed. :D

For the record, I too recently cut the Ledgewalker. I was clouded by a sore loss to Infinite-StP.dec and wanted another Hexproofer. Going forward, I'd rather just splash for Geist than play Ledgewalker. Thrun has taken up the lead for Trolling Blue.

[majikal]

" he tells me I shouldn't have won because I'm not playing Punishing Fire. "

No respect from PFires sheeple. He deserved to get Elspeth-smashed. :D

For the record, I too recently cut the Ledgewalker. I was clouded by a sore loss to Infinite-StP.dec and wanted another Hexproofer. Going forward, I'd rather just splash for Geist than play Ledgewalker. Thrun has taken up the lead for Trolling Blue.

I tested the Geist version all last week too and didn't like it. I'd honestly rather just have Vendilion Clique in that slot if I'm going for blue. At least it can surprise block a Delver.

[Koby]

I tested the Geist version all last week too and didn't like it. I'd honestly rather just have Vendilion Clique in that slot if I'm going for blue. At least it can surprise block a Delver.

Ya, but means fucking up the manabase too much to get it to work consistently in the face of Wasteland. Stock GW it is.

[majikal]

Ya, but means fucking up the manabase too much to get it to work consistently in the face of Wasteland. Stock GW it is.

Not necessarily. I played a GWU Maverick list to a Top8 finish in Nashville and the mana was never an issue.

I think I played this shell:

3x Misty Rainforest
4x Windswept Heath
3x Tropical Island
2x Tundra
1x Savannah
1x Horizon Canopy
2x Forest
1x Plains
1x Karakas
1x Dryad Arbor
3x Wasteland

[Bobboviking]

@majikal Grats on your finish! You say you tested geist and dident like it, im abit curious what it was that you dident like about it? Do you feel its a bad card in general or is it just not worth it? (swapping some cards in the manabase of the deck)

[Esper3k]

Congrats on your finish, dude!

Did you ever miss having a second Jitte / regret Batterskull? I'm glad the Worship tech panned out for you, it seems awesome & hilarious against Burn.

[Rafa]

Just want to share the list I'm currently testing with my friends on MWS. It's being great against every deck!

// Lands
1 [UNH] Forest
1 [FUT] Dryad Arbor
3 [R] Savannah
4 [ON] Windswept Heath
1 [CMD] Bojuka Bog
2 [R] Taiga
2 [ON] Wooded Foothills
1 [R] Plateau
3 [FUT] Grove of the Burnwillows
3 [TE] Wasteland
1 [FUT] Horizon Canopy
1 [UNH] Plains
1 [LG] Karakas

// Creatures
4 [CFX] Knight of the Reliquary
1 [MBS] Thrun, the Last Troll
1 [TSP] Scryb Ranger
1 [M12] Birds of Paradise
1 [FUT] Tarmogoyf
2 [ARB] Qasali Pridemage
2 [CMD] Mother of Runes
3 [CFX] Noble Hierarch
3 [WWK] Stoneforge Mystic
1 [CMD] Scavenging Ooze
3 [DKA] Huntmaster of the Fells/Ravager of the Fells

// Spells
1 [DS] Sword of Light and Shadow
1 [DS] Sword of Fire and Ice
4 [CST] Swords to Plowshares
1 [BOK] Umezawa's Jitte
4 [MBS] Green Sun's Zenith
3 [DDG] Punishing Fire

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [ALA] Ethersworn Canonist
SB: 1 [NPH] Phyrexian Metamorph
SB: 1 [LRW] Gaddock Teeg
SB: 2 [FNM] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 1 [ISD] Stony Silence
SB: 1 [US] Worship
SB: 2 [TSP] Ancient Grudge
SB: 2 [TE] Choke
SB: 2 [IA] Pyroblast
SB: 2 [MI] Enlightened Tutor

In my opinion Huntmaster will be the deal in Legacy, too.

[zulander]

Why do you keep saying Scryb Ranger with moms approval against merfolk and delver? It has Pro-Blue, it doesn't moms approval...

[Koby]

Why do you keep saying Scryb Ranger with moms approval against merfolk and delver? It has Pro-Blue, it doesn't moms approval...

All the latest Merfolk lists run maindeck Dismember.

[zulander]

All the latest Merfolk lists run maindeck Dismember.

Doesn't fully answer the question, and when he mentioned it it sounded like he was trying to give it evasion, not protection from dismember.

[majikal]

Why do you keep saying Scryb Ranger with moms approval against merfolk and delver? It has Pro-Blue, it doesn't moms approval...

Just to make you ask that question.

But for reals, those decks play non-blue things that kill your stuff. As a rule of thumb, it's a good idea not to run your best answer to an entire deck into off-color removal, because that tends to make you lose.