[Deck] GW/x Maverick

[tescrin]

I have been playing Punishing Maverick for a long time and I think now is a great time to dust off the deck.

Here is my list. I need 1 more card to complete the sideboard.


--(etutor) SFM punishing maverick--

Grove of the burnwillows 3
Wasteland 3
Thespian stage 1

Honestly you can run up to about 3 Warping Wail right now; which is good in an equip deck, good against combo (and attacks from a different angle) and is generally good enough to slot next to plow (especially since even though it's 2-drop removal it gets through Mom.)

[ironclad8690]

I held on to Maverick for longer than most, and the deck is still very near and dear to my heart.

This deck was great back when RUG, UW Blade, Merfolk, and Reanimator were everywhere (2012). You could even beat Miracles by tuning your sideboard or sticking a teeg.

But then, Deathrite Shaman and Abrupt Decay were printed. DRS pre-emptively keeps Knight small, and Knight is the beef that we need to beat other midrange decks. DRS also really hurts Maverick's mana denial plan. Wastelanding someone with a DRS feels so bad.

This was when the deck stopped being tier 1, and after this TNN was printed. Though beatable, it changed the dynamics of certain matchups. The worst part: people all started playing -1/-1 effects in their sideboards. It also doesn't help that Mother of Runes just keeps getting worse (colorless creatures more common, warping wail etc)

I tried punishing maverick too, but for a deck to succeed in the current legacy arena you have to have game against both fair decks and combo decks. This is why the thalia GW builds have had the most success.

Aggro loam really is doing what punishing maverick used to do but in a way that is better suited to the current legacy meta. It has the card advantage to keep up with miracles/shardless and the mana denial plan is more repeatable and happens more frequently.

Death and Taxes arguably just does hatebears better, and doesn't suffer from nonbos like teeg GSZ or Thalia GSZ. Vial makes a big difference vs tempo and miracles, back in the GW days we had Cavern of Souls, but I wouldn't recommend it now.

tldr: Maverick was a metagame deck created for meta of 2010/11. If it ever becomes tier 1 again, it will likely need to have some insane printings in GW.

[Koby]

tldr: Maverick was a metagame deck created for meta of 2010/11. If it ever becomes tier 1 again, it will likely need to have some insane printings in GW.

Sadly, the new Sigarda is short of turning the tide back to GW. Oh well...

[calcymon]

tldr: Maverick was a metagame deck created for meta of 2010/11. If it ever becomes tier 1 again, it will likely need to have some insane printings in GW.

100% agree

[Stevestamopz]

Solid post Ironclad.

I sympathise, Goblins too have gone the same way as Maverick thanks to Decay, DRS and TNN.

Boring fucking cards...

[Cambriel]

tldr: Maverick was a metagame deck created for meta of 2010/11. If it ever becomes tier 1 again, it will likely need to have some insane printings in GW.

It still does well in metagames full of cantrip decks. I love Maverick, built the whole thing in foil and still have it, but I rarely bring it to events because I hate getting blown out by turn 1 combo or elves. Storm? Delver? Even Miracles? Sure, whatevs.

What Maverick really needs is a powerful turn 1 play. You can play fair in Legacy, but you've got to hit 2 mana to drop a Thalia or some other bear so you can slow things down. Our best option right now is DRS, and while he's a priority target vs. our good matchups, the bad matchups just ignore him completely and combo off. Maverick needs a 1 drop that threatens to tax as aggressively as Delver threatens life totals. It doesn't need to be especially resilient or long lasting, but we need something to throw off the combo decks long enough to stick our bears and start walling off strategic options.

[Megadeus]

Dryad Militant kind of helps. Makes it a little tougher for something like storm to win turn 1. Alternatively just like a green spirit guide to power out a turn 1 hate bear works

[Cambriel]

Dryad Militant kind of helps. Makes it a little tougher for something like storm to win turn 1. Alternatively just like a green spirit guide to power out a turn 1 hate bear works

I've tried Dryad Militant, and it just never did enough. I honestly liked Judge's Familiar more, in terms of delaying to the midgame. They both suck later on though. You can go the spirit guide route and try to rush, but it's really off plan for the deck. Might as well just play Aggro Loam and make value off discarding lands with Mox Diamond.

Something like an extremely narrow sphere effect at 1cmc would be enough to give Maverick some gas. A 1 mana tax on instants only would kick an awful lot of decks in the nuts. Run it out turn 1 and you can't Plow it, follow it turn 2 with a Mom and they're forced to spend their entire turn killing one or the other (probably Mom). Hurts Brainstorm and countermagic but not Top or Ponder, delays Storm by costing them a card from Lotus petal, etc. Nothing breaks, but it ends up being something people have to respect.

Course I'm not a game designer, so there's bound to be terrible unintended consequences I haven't thought about. Ah well, back to playing blue.

[Fatal]

1 CMC sphere never happens, even if, it would be very fast banned :/ also in Vintage.

[Zombie]

Solid post Ironclad.

I sympathise, Goblins too have gone the same way as Maverick thanks to Decay, DRS and TNN.

Boring fucking cards...

But DRS and Decay gave me a deck to play ;_;

TNN should just burn.

[Koby]

Are you really have issues with TNN? I always seem to race it just fine, unless I'm severely behind from heavy removal draws. Between SoFI and Mom, we can swing past TNN easily.

[Strassbaw]

Honestly you can run up to about 3 Warping Wail right now; which is good in an equip deck, good against combo (and attacks from a different angle) and is generally good enough to slot next to plow (especially since even though it's 2-drop removal it gets through Mom.)

Got top 16 at Eternal Extravaganza satellite event with Punishing Dark Maverick. I went with 2 Rebs in the board and left Krosen grip out because Reb seemed better. I could have won the two matches I lost. Do not give up hope. Maverick is pretty well positioned in the nerds mind. :]

[Mapson]

I played the deck for the first time tonight at a local legacy event. We only got 8 people so sadly only three rounds.

I went 2-1

Rd 1 - Grixis Delver: 1-2. Saw no removal in games 2 and 3. Also all my action was forced or dazed, which I was under the assumption would be boarded out.
Rd 2 - Lands: 2-0 He misplayed g1 and overlooked my karakas, I was then able to slowly lock him out with a drs, knight, and scavenging ooze. In g2 he had a pretty all in hand and I saw scooze before he saw loam.
Rd 3 - Reanimator 2-0 Deathrite is good. Scavenging ooze is good for when they needle your deathrite

List felt solid but 3 rounds doesn't mean much. I would have enjoyed a maze of ith.

Land (22)
2x Bayou
1x Dryad Arbor
2x Forest
1x Horizon Canopy
1x Karakas
1x Plains
2x Savannah
1x Scrubland
3x Verdant Catacombs
4x Wasteland
4x Windswept Heath
Artifact (2)
1x Sword of Fire and Ice
1x Umezawa's Jitte
Creature (25)
1x Courser of Kruphix
4x Deathrite Shaman
1x Gaddock Teeg
4x Knight of the Reliquary
4x Mother of Runes
3x Noble Hierarch
1x Qasali Pridemage
1x Scavenging Ooze
2x Stoneforge Mystic
4x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
Instant (7)
3x Abrupt Decay
4x Swords to Plowshares
Sorcery (4)
4x Green Sun's Zenith
Sideboard (15)
1x Armageddon
1x Choke
2x Ethersworn Canonist
1x Qasali Pridemage
1x Scavenging Ooze
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Sylvan Library
3x Thoughtseize
1x Titania, Protector of Argoth
2x Zealous Persecution

[NEELEY]

Got 9th place at SCG Indy classic with my Maverick list. Got left out on tie breakers😞. Here's the list


http://sales.starcitygames.com//deck...p?DeckID=99973

[Jon]

Thank you for not playing the dumpster stage/Depths version. Good job with a real Maverick deck.

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

[klaus]

@NEELEY care to post a micro tournament report?

[NEELEY]

@NEELEY care to post a micro tournament report?

Yea I can write up something after work today.

[NEELEY]

Mini tournament report from SCG Indy Classic on March 20th 2016.

First off congrats to Jj Garlock for a second place finish. My traveling partner and good friend. I have been testing rock/junk variants on mtgo for the last few month since my 10th place finish with this deck here: http://sales.starcitygames.com/deckd...p?DeckID=91032. I figured out with miracles playing moat and eldrazi being popular lingering soul was well positioned. I sent Jj the list I did well with and we made a couple tweaks and he planned to play it since he owned goyfs in paper and I don't :(

We left about 530 am and grabbed a quick breakfast. Got to indy about 9 am, hurried to get our deck registration done. I was playing my old faithful, Maverick. Here's the list: http://sales.starcitygames.com//deck...p?DeckID=99973.

This was an 8 round event. Record 6-1-1

Round 1 vs Mud 2-0

Not much to talk about in this match, I believe combination of pridemage and wasteland easily win game 1. I love having 2 in the main deck :)
Game 2 I remember he played a turn 3 sundering titan, but fortunately for me he only got a bayou. I was able to get a pridmage out off a dryad arbor and horizon canopy?? I think? He ran out of gas and I beat with huge knights after that.

in: 1 pridmage, 2 decay, 1 banishing light
out: 4 mother of runes

Round 2 Esper 1-0-1

Game 1 was a very long game. Ending life totals were 2-2 before I killed him. He stopped me very early on in the game with a True Name. Eventually I was able to get a Mom/Sword of F&I to win.

Game 2 we didn't have a lot of time left. He was able to get a batterskull early and life totals ended him at 32 and me at 2 before we went to turns, it ended in a draw. I don't remember details but my opponent made mistakes and probably could of won that game.

I don't remember how I sideboarded in these games, esper and deathblade seem to be the hardest for me to sideboard and can't remember what all I brought in/took out.

Round 3 Storm 1-2 Caleb S

Obviously I know Caleb is on storm and he is a very good player.

Game 1 I keep a thalia, teeg hand we quickly go to game 2.

Game 2 He kills me with Tendrils.

Game 3 I have another good hand and get Thalia and Etherworn in play, he bounces Thalia end of turn decays my Canonist and make a bunch of goblins, I have two turns to draw a zealous p, I don't. This is the second time I've lost to him and the last was with my rock deck in Columbus.

in: 4 thoughtseize, 1 teeg, 2 canonist, 2 zealous p
out: 4 swords to plowshare, 1 jitte, 2 pridemage, 1 garruk, 1 mom

Round 4 Infect 2-1 Ross Merriam

Game 1 Life totals show high, I believe I get killed quick. I remember swords to plowshare was countered by vines.

Game 2 Win but don't remember the specifics.

Game 3 I mulligan but I accidently drew 7 cards, so I have to either let him take a card from my hand or mulligan to 5. I had 6 land and a swords to plowshare, I chose to got 2 5. I think this hand was pretty good with a Thalia and a thoughtseize. I don't remember any specifics except I think I assemble a jitte and won this game with him being very low on lands.

in: 2 canonist, 4 thoughtseize, 2 zealous, 2 decay.
out: 1 teeg, 2 knight, 1 ooze, 1 pridemage, 1 sword of light and shadow, 4 mom

Round 5 Shardless BUG 2-1

Game 1 a early deathrite into wasteland, thalia quickly ends. using deathrite to deny his.

Game 2 he gets a great start and gets a couple shardless agents into ancestral visions. I cant keep up.

Game 3 I get a great start with a turn 3 Garruk and I make 1 token and then chose the next turn to kill his strix and transform Garruk, I shouldn't of done this because I knew he had abrubt decay in hand. He kills Garruk with decay and I start chipping away at his life total. I don't know how I won this game really he drew a lot of cards and we ended up in a top deck war and I drew more creatures. life totals ended at 7-1 before killing him.

not sure how I sideboarded, I may have brought the choke's in game 2 and boarded them back out, I know I brought both decay in and removed 1 or 2 pridemages.

Round 6 Eldrazi 2-0

Game 1 he doesn't have an aggressive start. I pump out creatures and win.

Game 2 Another slow start. This game I have 2 huge knights out and used all my wastlands. He plays crucible of worlds the turn before I kill him. I think knights are 10's or 11's.

in: banishing light, 2 decay, 1 pridemage.
out: 4 moms

Round 7 Junk/Rock 2-1

Game 1 I lose trying to go after his lands and he beats me down with a goyf.

Game 2 I play 2 early knights, he plays a rest in peace in his deathrite/gofy deck, I was like okay? I wasteland him to 1 land and beat him down with 2 2/2 knights, he concedes shortly after.

Game 3 I get a light and shadow on my stoneforge and wasteland him to 1 basic again. Quick game before he concedes.

in: 2 decay

out: teeg, 3 thalia
in: 1 pridemage, 1 banishing light, 2 decay

Round 8 BUG Delver 1-1-1 Jim Davis

I asked Jim if he wanted to draw and he said no, out tie breakers weren't good enough to get us in, and he was right.

Game 1 I lose to delver and deathrite and never really got anything going. I used a fetched dryad arbor to kill a confidant but wasn't enough. It was a weird and long game 1, I played 2 of my equips and tried equip multiple time but stifle, disfigure, abrupt decay stopped me from getting it going.

Game 2 Jim mulls to 4 and still almost kill me before I start to take over the board.

Game 3 We only have about 10 min left and we try to play quickly. We are now playing for top 8 and starting to get a bit of a crowd. I remember the ending turns where he had a delver and deathrite. I had a good board with mother, knight, deathrite, 2 or 3 vampire tokens from a flipped Garruk. But couldn't quite finish him off in turns, I would of needed a turn 6 to kill him.

Obviously neither of us would concede to the other because there was a slim chance we could still make it in. I ended in 9th and Jim in 10th, sucks to miss out of the top 8 on tie breakers. Especially because I only play legacy and go to the ohio and Indiana events. It doesn't give me a lot of chances as the grinders. I love Maverick and think it is a great deck, I enjoy playing it and it usually puts me into top 32 or better at the SCG events. Sorry for the stuff I missed or the information I gave could be wrong since I didn't take notes. I got to watch my buddy do well and it made the top 8 miss a little better.

[sanderanders]

Thanks Neely, for your report. This helps me desiding which cards my sideboard could contain. How do you feel abaut the DD/TS combo? Do you want to keep a fair deck, or do you think is just isn't good enough?

[Megadeus]

Anybody play a non punishing red list? Or is it simply better with punishing fire?