[Deck] GW/x Maverick

[THerzog41]

A reply to some of the recent topics:

The reports of Maverick's demise are greatly over-exaggerated. It never died. Less people played it for a few reasons. Two main reasons are that people did not know how to build the deck to beat miracles (which was the hot deck for a time), and it lost (at least one of) its champion(s) in Todd Anderson. Naysayers started talking about the deck dying. Nobody proved them wrong. Less people played the deck.

If I'm going to play a 4+ cmc creature, it would be Siege Rhino. When you are paying that much mana for something, you want it to have an immediate impact on the game. It doesn't have hexproof, but if it does get plowed, you at least got something out of it. Hexproof doesn't help against Terminus... The ability to GSZ for the final points of life is good. Delver and Pyromancer have a hard time racing it after the ETB trigger.

I'm not on the Spirit of the Labyrinth train. It really comes down to how many Blue decks you expect to play. For some large tournaments (like SCG opens), the meta is so Blue that she may be the right card. For my local meta, there are a lot more non-blue "Legacy" decks that Spirit does nothing against. Blue decks normally aren't the hard decks to beat anyways... For the time being, I'm going to stick with double library. The second seems strange, but if with the first one in play, you will rarely draw the second one.

The choices in deck building do matter, but what is far more important is familiarity with the deck, and play skill.

[Cambriel]

Miracles has dropped off quite a bit in my area, so I dropped a Library as part of a move to 3/3 Swords/Decay rather than just 4 Swords. It might be wrong, but it freed up 3 sideboard slots (Library took one), so the only major loss is equipment #3.

I haven't tried Rhino yet, but I've thought about it. Same with Titania, which seems more fun than good.

[Strassbaw]

Advanced to day 2 at 7-2 and finished 55th at SCG Philly with Punishing Maverick

http://sales.starcitygames.com//deck...p?DeckID=78732

I'll post a report later on with match details and where I want to go moving forward. I made some poor choices day 2, and I would adjust a few cards, but the deck certainly feels strong right now.

[barcode]

I have been playing Maverick quite a lot lately at the local store's FNM (that's right, legacy FNM - suck it) and have done quite well. Last week (48 players, iirc) my two losses were to elves and sneak & show. I changed up my sideboard that week to cut Surgical Extraction and something else to test two Chalice of the Void for certain matchups (UR delver, for one). I brought Chalice in for Elves and it was not good enough. Surgical is gone back in and I've added a Toxic Deluge.

This is what I've been playing:


26 Creatures
4 Mother of Runes
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Courser of Kruphix
1 Noble Hierarch

7 Spells
3 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Swords to Plowshares

3 Equipment
1 Batterskull
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice

1 Enchantment
1 Sylvan Library

23 Lands
4 Wasteland
4 Windswept Heath
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Savannah
2 Forest
1 Bayou
1 Scrubland
1 Plains
1 Karakas
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Horizon Canopy

Sideboard
3 Thoughtseize
2 Zealous Persecution
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Containment Priest
1 Krosan Grip
1 Choke
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Pithing Needle
1 Obstinate Baloth
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Surgical Extraction


I've been really pleased with three GSZ. I found with four of them they were clogging up my hand in the fast pace games today plus, four GSZ and Gaddock Teeg sucks. I've really been displeased with Gaddock Teeg and Sword of Fire and Ice. Teeg needs to be in the 75 to deal with annoying cards and I don't want to waste a sideboard slot. SOFAI just isn't pulling its weight. No one is playing True-Name Nemesis.

Courser of Kruphix, as noted earlier in the thread is absolutely nutty. Aside from the combo matches I'm never sad to see Courser. It's truly annoying to mechanically use with Sylvan Library but that's a small price to pay. The singleton Noble Hierarch is a concession to needing a stable mana accelerant. Sometimes there aren't fetchlands.

I'm not playing Dryad Arbor. I played the Arbor back in the day a few years ago but today it's far too slow. There's too many Lightning Bolts and Forked Bolts running around and there's no Dark Confidants to ambush anymore. I'd rather play an additional basic Forest. If anything I'll be cutting the Forest for a Cavern of Souls.

Speaking of Cavern of Souls: I'm not playing it because there's too wide a creature type disparity. It sucks that Deathrite Shaman is too good to ignore since Noble Hierarch pulled a lot of weight back in the day.

I'm going to continue playing this base and see how it goes. The previous three weeks I've finished either 4-0 or 3-1.

[Fatal]

I'm not playing Dryad Arbor. I played the Arbor back in the day a few years ago but today it's far too slow. There's too many Lightning Bolts and Forked Bolts running around and there's no Dark Confidants to ambush anymore. I'd rather play an additional basic Forest. If anything I'll be cutting the Forest for a Cavern of Souls.

Can't understand your point - you don't play Dryad so you can't ramp out turn 1 from GSZ - your argument was about bolts around - how is different with turn 1 mana dork - it also dies to bolt/forked ?

Maybe there are few Dark Confidants but there are still quite a lot equips so man-land from fetch is still useful - I won enough games vs let say miracles with arbor as a beater equipped with SoXaY/Jitte.

I'm almost sure that not running arbor is big mistake - turn 1 ramp, turn 2 waste + thalia is a win most time, without arbor you can't done it without mana dork on hand - GSZ doesn't provide cheap G ramp (which even if dies pump KtoR).

[Stuhl]

Yeah, never randomfetch against miracles! Terminus -> fetch arbor -> attack -> terminus -> fetch arbor ...
That's key against miracles. Also playing only one creature at a time and cavern of souls. At the moment I'm playing 2 of them. I had DD combo in before an thought that 2 caverns are reasonable instead of a colorless and no mana land. First on human to cast knight and then eventually fetch 2nd with knight to make sure an ooze or pridemage lands. Works fine!

[tescrin]

If we're fair, Arbor is an abysmal topdeck and makes starting hands pretty band when it lands in them IMO. I'm hot and cold with it, but I've never been on straight maverick.

[Fatal]

Understand the risk on draw:
You have GSZ in hand and want to fetch Arbor - first draw - it's it :/ but this case isn't so often - less then:
50% * 1/53 of games - its really low count.

[tescrin]

Understand the risk on draw:
You have GSZ in hand and want to fetch Arbor - first draw - it's it :/ but this case isn't so often - less then:
50% * 1/53 of games - its really low count.

EDIT: It sounds like you're mathing the GSZ into Arbor problem, but that's not the problem. Playing Arbor as a vulnerable EBT land is. This means most games where you start with arbor or draw into it are obnoxious

I have no idea what you're mathing here; but you start with Arbor 11.7% on the play (~1/9 games) and 13.3% on the draw (2/15 games.) Having a mulligan taken for you 2/15th-1/9th of the time is obnoxious.

I'm not saying it's invalid, I just think it's fundamentally annoying to put in decks. It's nice when it works out right, but that's less than 1/3rd of games where you:
-Have GSZ without Arbor (35%)
-Don't have other ramp (you will in 46.5% of the those games; 12% overall)
-Have 3 or less lands (in the case where you'd even do it with 3 lands, ~45% of the time you have a GSZ in hand)

Again, I'm not making a case against it and it has a lot of neat tricks here and there, but it's certainly awkward.

[Strassbaw]

@Barcode - Dryad Arbor is an exceptional card in the deck, and I wouldn't consider playing without it. Give it another try if you can find the room, and I think you'll be very pleased. This card has helped me win many games, as this card can really be sneaky and strong when used correctly. Dryad Arbor can be an uncountable body to equip, or extra presure when in a standstill. You can also use arbor to chump block cards and many players don't see it coming from an open fetchland. Lastly, dryad arbor can be a cool tool against dredge, as you can take out a bridge from below early all from a fetchland and a punfire, or a knight ability. Keep trying new things, and I like the fact that you are testing new things with the deck. Sometimes an old card in an archetype can be phased out like Maze of Ith , or scryb Ranger, however, I do not feel Dryad Arbor is one of those cards.

[lavafrogg]

Could humble defector be a thing in maverick? We can easily run homeward path for the combo and he wears equipment like any other dork.

I am just not sure how we would feel if we had to use him fairly.

[danyul]

This wild Mav build was piloted by our very own ESG to an undefeated record at a local duel for duals event in the Seattle area. The deck was profiled by Gerry T over at SCG. Just some food for thought!

http://www.starcitygames.com/article....html#comments

(Actually, is this Mav or Junk or...who knows?)

[barcode]

Can't understand your point - you don't play Dryad so you can't ramp out turn 1 from GSZ - your argument was about bolts around - how is different with turn 1 mana dork - it also dies to bolt/forked ?

Maybe there are few Dark Confidants but there are still quite a lot equips so man-land from fetch is still useful - I won enough games vs let say miracles with arbor as a beater equipped with SoXaY/Jitte.

I'm almost sure that not running arbor is big mistake - turn 1 ramp, turn 2 waste + thalia is a win most time, without arbor you can't done it without mana dork on hand - GSZ doesn't provide cheap G ramp (which even if dies pump KtoR).

I never want to draw Dryad Arbor - it can be game losing in the mid-late game. The best way to ensure that is to not have it in the deck. Yes, it's great when you can GSZ on turn 1 but that's not always the best option in a field with a large amount of Lightning Bolts and Forked Bolts.

I understand that the Arbor can be good in the right circumstances but I'm not going to play a card that can be good - I want to play cards that are good (which is why I'm not playing Scryb Ranger). My experiences with Dryad Arbor have been lacklustre and we've gone our separate ways.

[tescrin]

That's kinda my stance, but it has a lot of success in the real world and hastey equips are neat (while turning Forest-Fetches into an equipable dude.)

The Arbor->Thalia/Waste play is indeed one of the neat things. I think it's mostly there to make your GSZs that much better/more versatile. This deck is mana-hungry early and you have to deal with your own Thalias.

[Cambriel]

While Arbor is a component of some of our worst hands (a reason why I feel Depths/Stage has no permanent place in Maverick), consider this: Removing Arbor basically cuts you from 9 mana dorks to 5. That alone is reason enough to include a single copy, imo.

Does it suck to see as your 7th card in an opening hand? Undoubtedly, especially with a GSZ sitting next to it. Maverick is a synergy deck, though. We rely on a lot of individually weaker cards that have amplify one another. Arbor is weaker alone than nearly any other card in the deck (unequipped equipment is arguably worse), but that's hardly surprising for a deck which hinges so much on its first turn plays.

[barcode]

While Arbor is a component of some of our worst hands (a reason why I feel Depths/Stage has no permanent place in Maverick), consider this: Removing Arbor basically cuts you from 9 mana dorks to 5. That alone is reason enough to include a single copy, imo.

Does it suck to see as your 7th card in an opening hand? Undoubtedly, especially with a GSZ sitting next to it. Maverick is a synergy deck, though. We rely on a lot of individually weaker cards that have amplify one another. Arbor is weaker alone than nearly any other card in the deck (unequipped equipment is arguably worse), but that's hardly surprising for a deck which hinges so much on its first turn plays.

It's weak to the point of being detrimental. It sucks drawing it on every turn of the game. The only time it's good is when you have GSZ in your opening hand and the Arbor will survive to your next turn and you couldn't play a better card (Deathrite, Noble Hierarch or Mother of Runes) and you have enough action in your hand to squander a GSZ (which could go get a real creature of utility). Sure, it's cute to fetch up a creature when you're Terminused but at the end of the day it's a 1/1 that could have had more impact before the Terminus anyways, like Gaddock Teeg. Is it cute enough to waste a card on? Not for me. It's cool that the archetype has so much variety in it that it can support different play styles. For me I'm happy to take a more midrange approach to the deck. I wanted to share my positive experiences with shunning Dryad Arbor so others can begin to question its viability. Even Modern "Melira Pod" has moved on from Melira combo when a year ago someone would call you crazy for cutting it.

[nevilshute]

I have a question regarding our lack of flying creatures. I've tried removing my one-of Scryb Ranger which was my only flier. I have since then gotten destroyed on a few occasions by Delver-heavy draws. It might just be bias from staring down at two flipped delvers for a few consequtive games without being able to find swords to plowshares but I am really tempted to revert back to one Scryb Ranger as a GSZ target.

It's extremely frustrating having a mom online and just dying to the 3/2 fliers. I feel like the only viable strategy is to get out an equipment but running only 2x Stoneforge Mystic that is not all that consistently happening.

I know that many have moved away from Scryb Ranger but what do people think about playing versus delver? I would consider it a decent-to-favorable matchup but not when they manage to deploy and flip multiple, unanswered delvers.

[Asthereal]

I have a question regarding our lack of flying creatures. I've tried removing my one-of Scryb Ranger which was my only flier. I have since then gotten destroyed on a few occasions by Delver-heavy draws. It might just be bias from staring down at two flipped delvers for a few consequtive games without being able to find swords to plowshares but I am really tempted to revert back to one Scryb Ranger as a GSZ target.

It's extremely frustrating having a mom online and just dying to the 3/2 fliers. I feel like the only viable strategy is to get out an equipment but running only 2x Stoneforge Mystic that is not all that consistently happening.

I know that many have moved away from Scryb Ranger but what do people think about playing versus delver? I would consider it a decent-to-favorable matchup but not when they manage to deploy and flip multiple, unanswered delvers.

True on all accounts. In a very Delver-heavy meta, I would definitely consider goimng back to playing one Scryb Ranger.
My list right now contains one Birds of Paradise that could block a Delver and be protected by Mother of Runes, and a Sigarda to actually do stuff, but it's not enough against a double Delver board, for sure. Those draws are just tough to beat.

[barcode]

I have a question regarding our lack of flying creatures. I've tried removing my one-of Scryb Ranger which was my only flier. I have since then gotten destroyed on a few occasions by Delver-heavy draws. It might just be bias from staring down at two flipped delvers for a few consequtive games without being able to find swords to plowshares but I am really tempted to revert back to one Scryb Ranger as a GSZ target.

It's extremely frustrating having a mom online and just dying to the 3/2 fliers. I feel like the only viable strategy is to get out an equipment but running only 2x Stoneforge Mystic that is not all that consistently happening.

I know that many have moved away from Scryb Ranger but what do people think about playing versus delver? I would consider it a decent-to-favorable matchup but not when they manage to deploy and flip multiple, unanswered delvers.

I feel that the biggest loss from cutting Scryb Ranger is Elves. They can block forever and we can't get a Jitte active to control their board. Delver plays enough removal and countermagic to deal with a Scryb Ranger that I've never want to rely on it in the matchup.

[tescrin]

Delver stuff

I think it depends on the delver deck. Are you running the extra decays that others are? Some people run Quad-SFM as well.

IMO, if you're running 2-3 Pridemage, 2 Teeg, and/or 2-3 Scooze, I'd start trimming those slots for Scryb or SFMs (and/or sylvan safekeeper) depending on your meta:
-Miracles -> Multiple Teeg and a Safekeeper
-Lots of SFM -> Pridemage
-Lots of Delver -> SFM

If you aren't running any decays, I would start. I don't think I've had a list I liked without Decay since I started Legacy. The things it gets you out of while dealing with Daze, FoW, etc gets you through the unbeatable delver hands, counterbalance locks, and deals with Equips; all while basically being an almost-Plow.

I had misgivings about such thinking until the last few Maverick lists were finally running Decay.