People are still playing Punishing Fire? I haven't seen a PF Maverick in several months at least. Beat them with a more consistent mana base and side Surgicals if you have to. No reason to play bad cards that last 2-3 turns.
Originally Posted by Ertai's Familiar
Tom? Is that you? I thought you were going to go work on DnD?
Last night was my first real Legacy tournament, I went with the following list by Wayne Tam from Legacy Champs:
Main Deck
60 cards
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Forest
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Karakas
1 Maze of Ith
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Plains
3 Savannah
3 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
3 Wasteland
3 Windswept Heath
1 Eternal Witness
1 Fauna Shaman
2 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
4 Mother of Runes
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Scryb Ranger
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Sylvan Library
2 Umezawa's Jitte
Sideboard
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Crop Rotation
1 Crucible of Worlds
2 Enlightened Tutor
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Gilded Drake
2 Path to Exile
3 Spell Pierce
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Trygon Predator
It was a 16 person turnout for a FNM Legacy tournament, which I was told is a good amount for there on a Friday. I went 3-0-1 but lost in Top 8 to RUG.
Round 1, 2-0 vs Sneak and Show.
Game 1, he Brainstorms twice, through my Thalia, but when he Snow and Tell's in Griselbrand, he is at 5 so my EOT StP resolves and he scoops.
Game 2 he Brainstorms a few times this game, but it seems he didn't draw too much apparently. He does finally land a Sneak Attack through a Thalia, but he doesn't have the mana to activate. I GSZ for Pridemage and he scoops.
Round 2, 1-1 vs Lands
Game 1 is like pulling teeth, I misplay and attack my Thalia into a manland, and eventually I get Wastelanded/Ghost Quartered and locked out via Maze of Ith (that he is recurring via 2 or 3 Loams). I scoop, rather than grind, as I want time to try to actually win the match.
Game 2, I board in Bojuka Bog, Crop Rot and Crucible. I manage to keep him off of really getting a the Loam engine going, via Scavenging Ooze and eventually a get an active Knight, so I am able to keep him off Maze (which I eat with Ooze) and Chasm (via Bog). When I get a second Knight that both are 9/9's, he can't gain enough life from Orb to live. And we finish right as time ends.
Round 3, 2-1 vs Sea Stompy
Game 1, he has a turn 1 Chalice of the Void, Turn 2 Pestermite, turn 3 Jitte. Luckily, I am holding a Jitte, and his second one he plays the next turn I have an active Knight, which gets me a Maze. When I draw GSZ and get a Pridemage, I leave the Jitte there, and hit the Chalice on 1, which unlocks my two Swords and lets my team swing through for the win.
Game 2, he gets a Turn 1 Pestermite, Turn 2 Jitte, and my two Noble Hierarchs get smoked. I don't draw a land and I don't draw removal, and scoop.
Game 3, this is my chance to go turn 1 GSZ for Arbor, turn 2 Jitte, which takes over the game. A few -1/-1's later, it is over.
Round 4, 2-1 vs R/U Aggro/Burn?
Game 1, he burns me out, I can't get enough bodies to stick.
Game 2, I don't really remember all that well, I think I got a Geist that was carrying a Jitte and ride it to victory.
Game 3, he tries to burn me right down, but I am saved by my Ooze that gains me just enough life to not die to an 8 damage Price of Progress.
Top 8, 0-2 vs RUG
Game 1, he gets multiple Geese that I can't touch, I don't have anything that can trade with them and he keeps me off GSZ with Force and Spell Pierce.
Game 2, pretty much the same, except he Pierces my Swords on his Goyf, keeps me off GSZ again, and when he has double Submerge for my Ooze, the game is over.
It was a good time, I don't know exactly how this deck reliably beat RUG as constructed above, but I was not expecting Spell Pierce, that's for sure. Also, running Submerges is pretty good too.
I like the deck, Giest is pretty boss, but it might not be worth the blue splash. I will probably play another deck next week anyway, but I will probably keep this constructed for a loaner deck. I think the Sideboard needs work though, for the meta I realistically will see.
"The Ancients teach us that if we can but last, we shall prevail."
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
Made top 16 of the Season 1 Philadelphia Championship Series. Tournament was 7 rounds since 79 players showed up.
I splashed blue for sideboard Spell Pierces at the last minute due to a large presence of Show and Tell decks.
I played bad and got punished accordingly
If you want a tournament report reply, since I'm too lazy atm to type one up.
In my albeit short experience with Maverick vs Show and Tell (specifically, Sneak Show), you don't need Spell Peirce, Thalia is the tits (no pun intended). Knight and/or Crop Rotation will bring it home.Made top 16 of the Season 1 Philadelphia Championship Series. Tournament was 7 rounds since 79 players showed up.
I splashed blue for sideboard Spell Pierces at the last minute due to a large presence of Show and Tell decks.
I played bad and got punished accordingly
If you want a tournament report reply, since I'm too lazy atm to type one up.
If you can get these in hand, your biggest fear is Sneak Attack (because they can sneak an Emmy back out after you bounce it with Karakas and before the declare attackers step). But if you can survive a sneaked Emrakul swing and leave a KotR on the field, I think you have the advantage.
Basically, slow them down as much as possible and get your heavy hitters going.
Since for some reason quoting him doesn't work, exactly what the above user said is true. Thalia is often good enough to build up a critical board presence, where even swinging with Emrakul is not enough.
For example last tournament he Showed Emrakul into play, I didn't have Knight, but GSZed for one next turn. He swung in with Emrakul and made a disgusted face as the Knight, grown through the annihilated lands, killed him on the backswing.
On a sidenote: For locals today, next to combo decks of all flavours (played 5 combo decks in 5 rounds last time) I except quite a number of tribal and canadian decks. For this reason I'm gonna run Goyf instead of the last Library. I've been bashing Goyf in the past, but I'm gonna give him another chance.
You guys are probably right.
Take this with a grain of salt as I was in the x-2 bracket...
In the last round of the swiss I mulled to 4 against SnT omniscience. I made a misplay when I didn't try to leave up mana for a Qasali Pridemage activation but he ended up having 2 Omnisciences anyways. They are both small percentages: an attack by a Dryad Arbor for 2 damage versus the possibility of him having 2 Omnisciences.
I mulled to 5 game and I had a Thalia when he didn't have a Force of Will for it and a drew a Knight of the Reliquary to seal the game.
I kept an shaky hand game 3: three lands for all three of my colors, wasteland, mother of runes, knight, and a Qasali Pridemage. I never drew spell Pierce but his deck gave him a Show and Tell too late as I had an active Knight with Mother of Runes in play.
Hey Guys,
the blue splash seems to be very interesting.
The Creature Geist of Saint Traft is imo very good. If i wanna play with a blue splash, would you recommend to play the Fauna Shaman? I think the Shaman is very slow.
Are Rhox War Monk and Rafiq of the Many also playable?
In the Sideboard is Echoing Truth maybe playable against Tokens (Miracle, Dredge) and Flusterstorm against Strom.
Against witch Matchup is the GWu List better than the GW Lists?
I think that i play the straight GW List at my next Legacy tournaments, but I'm unsettled, now.
Thank you for your help :)
Greetings
there are several cards that u can use when spashing blue:
geist (he's at his best in a vacuum and pretty weak when the board is stalled since he has a weak body)
spell pierce/flusterstorm to fight combo decks
meddling mage as additional hate bear
rhox war monk to fight zoo and burn
what's the connection between splashing blue and playability of fauna shaman? I guess u just dont like the shaman in general since she's kinda clunky.
To answer ur 2nd and 3rd question:
RWM is playable. see above
RotM isnt. Too expensive. Too little gain. U often want to attack with more than one creature.
GW Maverick has a solid mana base - one of Maverick's strengths. GWU's benefits are listed above.
played in the Legacy plat 1k at GP Boston this past weekend. Made top 4 and we decided to split. I'll go over my matches and how they went, as well as my analysis of the deck and card choices.
Rd 1 - Goblins
My opponent was very nice, but seemed more of a casual player, as he was playing some subpar goblin cards like warren instigator, as well as lightning bolt. Crushed him pretty quickly with mom, jitte, knight in both games, while swordsing and pathing his creatures.
1-0, 2-0 in games
Rd 2 - BUG control/Team America
The deck I faced this time seemed like an old school BUG deck with some new cards in it such as Liliana of the veil. Game 1 I just go to town with a sylvan library, while pridemaging his library. The deck runs tarmogoyf, which is fairly weak when I have ooze and knights that easily outclass it. He talks a lot of trash between games, saying how this is an easy matchup for him and he should definitely be winning. I take that as a challenge, and game 2 I get hymn to tourached twice, on t2 and t3, but still win the game, due to him making very poor plays. The only card I really feared was Deed, but its very easy to wasteland decks like these out of the game.
2-0, 4-0 in games
Rd 3 - RUG Delver
My opponent, Alex Morrill, I often see at magic events in the northeast area, so I figured he must be a pretty respectable player. Game 1 I lose to MD grim lavamancer, which seems like the new tech, while only having 2 green sources and thalias, knights, swords in hand while getting beat down by delvers and geese. HG2 he doesnt have many threats, just answers, so I'm able to win off dropping my own. G3 I have sylvan library out and am able to dredge loam and feed my knight, while denying him lands with wasteland. Getting an active mother out is huge, and he complimented me for being a competent mother of runes player, not tapping out when I didnt need to. I definitely think having 2 libraries is correct, as the nickname "Green Jace the Mind Sculptor" is very accurate IMO.
3-0, 6-1 in games
Rd 4 - Cephalid Breakfast
I can safely say that I had never played against this deck in my life and went on to lose fairly quickly 2-0 having no idea what to play around and attack. I was fooled game1 by thinking he was on stoneblade after seeing stoneforge mystic, then T3 he went cephalid and the 1/1 that targets it. G2 I wasnt sure what he would be siding, so I didnt bring as much grave hate as I shouldve.
3-1, 6-3 in games
Rd 5 - Lands
I've seen Josh Cicio at almost every legacy event I've been to, so I knew what to expect. Luckily for me, he wasnt play blue, which he said is what he usually plays. Game 1 I wasted his maze of iths and removed those and loams with ooze, which is pretty big in the matchup. Game 2 He mulled to 5 on the play, so I was already pretty far ahead. He had a t2 Cursed totem, but luckily for me I boarded in the one card that beats that, Krosan grip, which I had in my opener. I also swords a bob, which I figured he was bringing in since most loam decks have those somewhere in their 75. Tabernacle was a problem but I was able to activate a knight to take it out. Tormod's crypt helped clear his yard and I had a faerie macabre left in hand when he conceded. He told me he usually plays UW miracles though, which obviously wouldve crushed me had he been on that instead.
4-1, 8-3 in games
Rd 6 - RUG Delver
Similar to last time, this is a pretty good matchup if you know what youre doing. We both mulled to 5 in game 1, and he had to lead with ponder rather than a guy. Thats always good, as T1 Delver is pretty scary. He had to cantrip a lot, but couldnt find enough answers to deal with my guys. G2 I bait a counterspell (spell snare) with my GSZ for 1, and then land sylvan library the following turn. From there my hand was just all gas, double KOTR, double Ooze, thalia, so I knew I couldnt lose from there. Cavern was pretty big for me too, as being able to fight through daze, FoW is nice.
5-1, 10-3 in games
Rd 7 - Storm (TES)
I saw what he was playing earlier, as we were sitting next to each other the round previous, so I knew what to expect. G1 I had a hand with Thalia, so I instantly kept. He had to mull to 5, and had to chance after getting beaten down with thalia. G2, I mulled 2 relatively good maverick hands, (knights, pridemages) in order to find a good hand with Thalia. I kept a 5 that was Thalia, Wasteland, Wasteland, Savannah, Green Sun. T1 I went GSZ for arbor while he cantriped first 2 turns. T2 I drop thalia and wasteland his land, as I know TES decks only run about 18 lands usually. I also drew an ethersworn canonist, and theres no way for TES to fight through canonist and thalia, so he quickly conceded hereon after.
6-1, 12-3 in games
Top 8 - Cephalid Breakfast
Having now known what the deck does, It was pretty easy to disrupt the combo. G1 I kept a pretty creature heavy hand, hoping to bring the beats. He forced my ooze, but I had a mother of runes and Jitte, so I was able to stack up a lot of jitte counters, which is hard to fight through when your win con is a 1/1.
Game 2, I had ooze and pridemage, which he couldnt fight through while he had his combo pieces in hand. My friend had told me before the round that cephalid was pretty easy to disrupt, so after sideboarding correctly this time, I was able to take it down.
7-1, 14-3 in games
Top 4 - We each agreed that $200 and 40 tcgpts each would be better than playing for 1st, so we all split. I wouldve been paired against Jarvis Yu, who was on RUG delver, a favorable matchup, albeit from a very good player. All in all, a very successful day.
My list:
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Mother of Runes
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Qasali Pridemage
3 Scavenging Ooze
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Fauna Shaman
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Sylvan Library
4 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Forest
1 Misty Rainforest
4 Savannah
4 Wasteland
4 Windswept Heath
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Karakas
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Plains
1 Maze of Ith
2 Cavern of Souls
SB: 2 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 2 Ethersworn Canonist
SB: 2 Path to Exile
SB: 1 Bojuka Bog
SB: 1 Krosan Grip
SB: 1 Life from the Loam
SB: 1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
SB: 1 Gaddock Teeg
SB: 1 Faerie Macabre
SB: 1 Aven Mindcensor
SB: 1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
SB: 1 Crop Rotation
Notes:
1. Krosan Grip serves many purposes, and I actually like the card a lot. Its good against the UW miracles, since you can take out sensei's top, which is the engine for their deck. It also destroys batterskulls, cursed totems, libraries, etc. etc.
2. I was initially running a Revoker in the board, but switched that to a 2nd Teeg last minute. I never really used Teeg, although it was nice to have against storm if I drew it. It is mainly for the miracles deck, as it shuts off all their miracles. with a Karakas or mother of runes in play, you can protect it too, so I think this might be correct.
3. Loam is huge, and works really well with library as well. Both cards have big impacts in the deck, and Loam locking RUG delver is a real thing. I definitely recommend this card, as its impact can be huge.
4. I have been playing 3 scavenging ooze for a while now, and I highly recommend it. It's the best creature to have against the best deck right now (RUG delver), and it has impacts against every other deck too. against stoneblade it shuts down snap/academy ruins, reanimator, dredge, mirror. Very good against aggro as it can grow and gain life. My opponents were always very surprised and not happy to see the 3rd, as it is just so good right now.
5. EDIT - I also wanted to add my take on the splash of blue. I played blue for spell pierce and flusterstorm in my board at SCG providence where I top16ed. Spell pierce was relevant a few times, but overall I do not think the splash for blue is necessary. There have been times where I wished my Tropical island was a savannah, and spell pierce is too reactive for a deck that just wants to win right away. It doesnt let you be aggressive enough against the slower decks, so you cant properly take the role of the aggro. Also, a good player can play around it if they see it, and then your left with a card that doesnt do much in the late game. Geist is ok but not amazing, and Nick Spagnolo brought up the pt to me that you pretty much would rather have a knight of the reliquary anyways. So, definitely try it out if you want, but I would say just stick with G/W.
I highly suggest playing maverick, as it has game against every deck in the format. If any questions or comments, please feel free to ask. Thanks to all who read this report.
The thing about Geist is that he's pretty good with Swords for Protections to get through. You never have to worry about losing the mana when equiping and getting to hit hard with him is very nice.
However, most people are not playing Swords any more, so his usefulness has decreased. With Swords/SFM, he's pretty decent. But that may be for a different deck than this.
I played Geist in my deck at GP Indy and did fairly well, so it's possible to use him, but most people don't any more.
Tom? Is that you? I thought you were going to go work on DnD?
thats why geist is usually played in stoneblade decks.
they can path his way with pointremoval backed up by snapcaster,
they got enough and mass removal to try to keep the board empty and
they got sfm with the eq's.
@Krondo9: Nice finish! Do you find yourself missing the SFM at all?
So Choke has been cycled out? Anyone care to explain why?
Short answer is Miracles.
Long answer is Miracles, which don't require(Wrath) to destroy Maverick's threats. In decks that utilize Blue/X and X provides sweepers, the majority of mana sources are still Islands. Miracles radically change that requirement to simply Plains. Choke doesn't affect Plains. Turns out the deck is still highly mana hungry. Furthermore, they have anticipated Choke as the old plan and bring in Disenchant (or have in the past). Force of Will is typically weak against Maverick because you need/want more removal. Decks utilizing Cavern of Souls also invalidate counterspells.
Hence, playing Armageddon/Tsunami is more effective than Choke.
West side
Find me on MTGO as Koby or rukcus -- @MTGKoby on Twitter
* Maverick is dead. Long live Maverick!
My Legacy stream
My MTG Blog - Work in progress
Tsunami seems just as bad as Choke though against Stoneblade if the card you are worried about is Terminus.
Also, Tsunami is so much worse than Choke against RUG I can't even imagine using it outside of the Stoneblade matchup.
As for Armageddon, the card seems fine, but requires a lot of set up. Set up that can be undone easy by a Wrath.
Play what you want.
West side
Find me on MTGO as Koby or rukcus -- @MTGKoby on Twitter
* Maverick is dead. Long live Maverick!
My Legacy stream
My MTG Blog - Work in progress
I am not trying to attack your argument, but rather expand and observe your logic. I agree that Choke can be poor when your opponent's Wraths cost 1 as opposed 4. Point noted and I agree there.
I guess the next level of thought is, do we even want a LD effect at all?
Congratulation Krondo9 to your Top4 :)
I really like your list. I'm going to play this on my next Tournament. Maybe i change in the Sideboard the 2 Tormods Crypt against Surgical Extraction (personal predilection), the Teeg against a Revoker (I think, the Needle-Effect is really helpful) and cut something for a 2nd Grip (I liked the Card a lot too).
What do you board against Goblins? 2 Path and the elspeth?
Have you some other tipps, how to play in a Tournament?
Thank you very much.
A Belgian Maverick expert I know was really satisfied with Armageddon.
He played one in his sideboard of late and was always wanting for more.
Has anybody tested Tangle Wire yet? Costs a mana less (relevant with Thalia) and the effect hurts your opponent more than it hurts you. It wears out quickly, but it does work nicely with Thalia and Wastelands. I tried it in mono white and was pretty amazed how well it locked out my opponents from casting stuff.
@Esper3k Thanks! Not at all. Todd Anderson made a good pt in one of his articles that stoneforge is pretty bad when the only equipment you're getting is 2x Jitte. You can draw it naturally and get it through sylvan library. If you naturally draw it after playing stoneforge its probably a dead card. SFM is better when you have swords/batterskull as well.
@kai_nsane Thanks :) I'd probably take out teeg, 2x thalia, for 2x path and linvala. Not sure if Elspeth does much in this matchup. I like her more in the grindy matchups against control or mirrors. Some decks are playing Krenko, Mob Boss, so Linvala is fine. If you're playing revoker, definitely bring that in to name aether vial, plus it trades with most goblins. Mother of Runes is huge in the matchup, so getting one active should be your priority. I wouldn't run a 2nd grip unless your meta requires it, since pridemage provides a good effect already.
In terms of tips for tournaments, I know its hard to say it, but confidence goes a long way. Getting a feel free for each matchup is huge, I would playtest all of them so you know how to beat each deck. The good thing about legacy is decks dont really change much over time, so if you learn how to beat dredge, you will always know how to beat dredge.
Also, just wanted to give my take on choke. I don't think its great right now, and good players will play around it anyways. I had an opponent play glacial fortress against me in stoneblade because he wanted to play around choke. Against RUG delver, I don't really like it either because if you're on the draw, you're probably behind when you play it. I haven't tested much with geddon, although I can see how it would be good. I try to stay away from too many non-creature spells when I run 4 thalia main.
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