[Deck] GW/x Maverick

[VERTUK]

I just wanted to share with you my decklist. I won many games from nowhere with Gitrog Monster anyway, especially against D&T and Shardless BUG (and fair match ups in general).

I love your list. Im currently playing grixus delver and hating miracles. Your list seems very well suited for a miracles environment. Grats. Do you think the list is good enought to win vs storm?

[ThunderPork]

I love your list. Im currently playing grixus delver and hating miracles. Your list seems very well suited for a miracles environment. Grats. Do you think the list is good enought to win vs storm?

You can win against storm, since you have many hate cards (and in game 1 you can search for Gaddock and just win), but I think Storm is slightly favorite (even if you add Thoughtseizes, Canonists and a Thalia post sideboard) since it can always have explosives hands. Sometimes you get them with Crop Rotation+Bojuka, but I can't find any slot for a 2nd Crop Rotation.
My deck since last month has been Grixis Delver, now I like this more. Miracles so far has been a good match up with 14 wins and 8 losses, definitely 2 Garruk and 2 Library help a lot.

[Gammelanz]

I miss you on Thursdays #nohomo

On topic I wouldn't play Maverick with less than 4 DRS, card is absurd.

DRS is definitely very powerful, but I actually think that one of the problems Maverick has in its current shape, is that without 4 Hierarchs and 2+ Pridemages, the deck is a bit thin on threats. Before the switch to DRS and Abrupt Decays, basically any creature was a threat when there were 2+ exalted triggers, but now only the Knights or something bearing equipment can get through enemy blockers and deal a reasonable amount of damage. It may be that the damage from the DRS activations are enough to offset that, but I do think that the deck have been slowed down a bit by the absence of Exalted.

[Koby]

I just wanted to share with you my decklist. I won many games from nowhere with Gitrog Monster anyway, especially against D&T and Shardless BUG (and fair match ups in general).

Odd that a Legendary creature is good vs D&T. Seems like extraordinary circumstances to keep it in play against the 3 Karakas deck.

[calcymon]

Odd that a Legendary creature is good vs D&T. Seems like extraordinary circumstances to keep it in play against the 3 Karakas deck.

and mother of runes

and mirran crusader

gitrog is more ueless than ever.

[ThunderPork]

Odd that a Legendary creature is good vs D&T. Seems like extraordinary circumstances to keep it in play against the 3 Karakas deck.

With 4 Wasteland and Knight of Reliquary in the deck? And all you need is playing while Karakas is tapped, draw some extra cards and use card advantage to win the game. But maybe is better looking at cards and make a judgment instead of trying them. Your choice.

[pettdan]

I think Gitrog is interesting but it's kind of competing with Tireless Tracker. I played Tireless Tracker this week and it ended up drawing me a shitload of cards. It comes down a while earlier so that's nice, also you're not relying on cards entering a graveyard (Rest in Peace is a card). Anyway, keep on playing and let us know. :)

[Vandalize]

Sup guys, I've played a local FNM Legacy in my local, 4 rounds with a nice 3-0-1 record. Matches went pretty good.

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

Creatures [23]
4 Mother of Runes
4 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Deathrite Shaman
2 Noble Hierarch
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons

Spells [14]
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Sylvan Library
2 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Abrupt Decay

Sideboard [15]
4 Thoughtseize
2 Choke
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Krosan Grip
1 Zealous Persecution
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Pithing Needle

R1) Eldrazi Stompy (2-0)

G1: I know my opponent is on Eldrazi so I snap-keep a hand with double Wasteland on the play. I start with fetch -> Savannah -> GSZ for Dryad Arbor. He starts with Ancient Tomb -> Mimic. I play Thalia and Wasteland his Ancient Tomb. He plays another Ancient Tomb and another Mimic. I Wasteland him again. He doesn't make a land drop for 3 turns, while I get a Knight out and start growing it up. As he finally finds another land, my Knight is already able to tap and find those extra Wastelands and he realizes that by scooping up.

SB:
+4 Thoughtseize, +1 Krosan Grip, -4 Mother of Runes, -1 Scavenging Ooze

G2: He starts with City of Traitors and casts a 2/2 Endless One. I start with fetch -> Savannah -> Deathrite Shaman. He plays another land without tapping City of Traitors before, so I make him sacrifice City, he tries to rollback but I call the judge and he rules in my favor. He ships the turn. I play another fetch, break it and cast Qasali Pridemage and a Thoughtseize off Deathrite Shaman, grabbing a Thought-Knot Seer. He plays another land, casts Master Reshaper, passes the turn. I draw a GSZ and fire it for 3, grabbing Knight. He doesn't make a land drop and casts a 3/3 Endless One. I draw another GSZ for the turn, cast it for Scryb Ranger and activate Knight twice to grab double Wasteland and leave him without a mana source. He gets a few beats off those Endless Ones and Reshaper, but my Knight is already huge and able to attack and block every turn (thanks to Scryb). He scoops it up showing 2 All is Dust in his hand.

R2) Belcher (2-1)

G1: I don't know what my opponent is playing, and I lost the roll. I draw a keepable hand. Only to watch him goldfish me with his turn 1 Empty the Warrens for 14.

SB:
+4 Thoughtseize, +1 Ethersworn Canonist, +1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, +1 Gaddock Teeg, +1 Pithing Needle, +1 Zealous Persecution, -4 Swords to Plowshares, -4 Mother of Runes, -1 Sigarda, Host of Herons

G2: He mulls to 6 and scries and keeps the top. I start with Thoughtseize grabbing his lone Goblin Charbelcher, leaving his hand full of mana. He draws and passes. I play another land and cast GSZ for 1 (as I don't have a third land) and search for Noble. I draw another GSZ and fire it for Gaddock Teeg and he scoops.

G3: He mulls to 5 on the play, scries to bottom and pass the turn. I open with fetch -> Savannah -> Noble Hierarch. He draws again, use Land Grant, exile 2 Spirit Guides, cast Seething Song and Empty the Warrens for 6 tokens. His hand now has only 1 card, so I cast a Knight for my turn 2 and he realizes he's in deep trouble. He tries to stall with the Goblins looking for mana and Charbelcher, but I manage to draw a Thalia and later I GSZ for Gaddock Teeg and he scoops.

R3) Miracles (1-1 draw)

G1: This game is surprisingly fast. I open with THE NUTS against Miracles: double land, Mother of Runes and Gaddock Teeg. He starts with Island, go. I play Mom. He fetches for Tundra and casts Counterbalance. I play Teeg, he tanks for a minute. He announces the Counterbalance trigger and it's a land! He can't remove my duo and can't find his 1-of Council's Judgement to rain on my parade so I steal a very unlikely game 1 win.

SB:
+2 Choke, +1 Gaddock Teeg, +1 Abrupt Decay, +1 Krosan Grip, +1 Pithing Needle, -4 Swords to Plowshares, -1 Umezawa's Jitte, -1 Wasteland

G2: This game takes almost 30 minutes. He uses all 4 Terminus and Swords to Plowshares (even with Snapcaster Mage) and I'm not able to stick a creature for long. When I finally get my Choke down, he has 2 untapped Islands and is able to cast Jace, the Mind Sculptor (with a Counter Top already working). I can't remove Jace nor cast anything and lose.

G3: We start G3 with no time left so we went to 5 rounds. Neither my nor his deck can end the game in 5 turns so it's a draw.

R4) Weird Modern Jund? (2-0)

G1: He starts with fetch -> Blood Crypt (taking 3 damage) and Bolts me in his Main Phase. I couldn't ask for anything better than this. I start with Deathrite Shaman, he plays Dark Confidant. I remove his Bob and cast Thalia. He plays another fetch into Overgrown Tomb and tries to cast Liliana of the Veil, but I tell him that Thalia makes that costs 4, he ships the turn. I play my third land and cast Knight and a Mom. He plays Blackcleave Cliffs (tapped) and passes. My Knight starts to Wasteland the shit out of him and he scoops when he realizes my Knight is 8/8 and growing.

SB:
+1 Abrupt Decay, +1 Pithing Needle, +1 Bojuka Bog, -2 Qasali Pridemage, -1 Gaddock Teeg

G2: He starts with Blackcleave Cliffs into Inquisition of Kozilek, taking my Knight. I play Forest -> Noble. He plays a fetch and casts Duress, grabbing Abrupt Decay. I play Mom and Jitte in my turn. He doesn't make a land drop, passes. I equip my Noble with Jitte and attack, he tries to Bolt it, but I just tap Mom to give protection and his face is like: omg, I should have read that card. Jitte starts growing and he still can't make a third land drop, but uses Thoughtseize (grabbing GSZ) and use Extirpate on it. Fine, bro. I draw a Knight and cast it, attack again with equipped Noble. He finally gets the third land and cast Liliana of the Veil, I sacrifice Noble. I equip Knight with Jitte and kill his Liliana (going up to 6 charges on Jitte), he gets the fourth land and casts Thrun, the Last Troll. I attack with my 5/5 equipped Knight and he doesn't block, I use all my charges making Knight 17/17 and he just dies.

Tournament was fun, but everyone aside from that Miracles player isn't very experienced with Legacy (or Magic in general). I get some good store credit, and buy some Pauper foil staples, like Mulldrifters, Sign in Bloods and Chainer's Edict.

Fun fact: I didn't cast any of my CA engines. Never drew any Library or Tireless Tracker (and didn't need to GSZ for it).

[Barook]

G2: He starts with City of Traitors and casts a 2/2 Endless One. I start with fetch -> Savannah -> Deathrite Shaman. He plays another land without tapping City of Traitors before, so I make him sacrifice City, he tries to rollback but I call the judge and he rules in my favor.

City of Traitors is a sacrifice trigger that goes on the stack. You can still tap it for mana meanwhile.

Could you clarify the situation better? Because the way you described it, both you and the judge were terribly wrong unless I misunderstand something.

[Vandalize]

City of Traitors is a sacrifice trigger that goes on the stack. You can still tap it for mana meanwhile.

Could you clarify the situation better? Because the way you described it, both you and the judge were terribly wrong unless I misunderstand something.

He played the second land and tapped it (without announcing the trigger). Then tapped City. In this case, the trigger is already done, right?

[Barook]

He played the second land and tapped it (without announcing the trigger). Then tapped City. In this case, the trigger is already done, right?

Nope, you can tap the second land and tap the City while the trigger is still on the stack. You can use mana sources whenever you want as long as the trigger is on the stack and you hold priority. Can also confirm due to MTGO testing.

[Vandalize]

Nope, you can tap the second land and tap the City while the trigger is still on the stack. You can use mana sources whenever you want as long as the trigger is on the stack and you hold priority. Can also confirm due to MTGO testing.

Well, I guess myself and the judge fucked him up then. It happens, haha.

[ThunderPork]

I think Gitrog is interesting but it's kind of competing with Tireless Tracker. I played Tireless Tracker this week and it ended up drawing me a shitload of cards. It comes down a while earlier so that's nice, also you're not relying on cards entering a graveyard (Rest in Peace is a card). Anyway, keep on playing and let us know. :)

I tried Tireless Tracker in the place of Courser of Kruphix and I liked the second more, so I switched back to it. Maybe I should try it in the place of Gitrog, but I'm really happy how it can win games alone without using your mana to draw. My impressions were that Tracker was really good when I was ahead, but it was a poor threat when I needed to recover my position in the game. At least so far, but I'm gonna try it again even if I'm really impressed by Gitrog right now.
Today I put another 5-0 with this deck in a MTGO Legacy League. I don't know why few people play Maverick, arriving from Grixis Delver I find this deck really good.

[Vandalize]

Today I put another 5-0 with this deck in a MTGO Legacy League. I don't know why few people play Maverick, arriving from Grixis Delver I find this deck really good.

Since the printing of Deathrite Shaman and Abrupt Decay, Knight of the Reliquary got significantly worse. And Maverick has a poor combo matchup as well. But it's awesome against Tempo/Delver variants, which is the main reason why I'm playing this deck (the second being the Fun/Nostalgy).

[Stuhl]

Since the printing of Deathrite Shaman and Abrupt Decay, Knight of the Reliquary got significantly worse. And Maverick has a poor combo matchup as well. But it's awesome against Tempo/Delver variants, which is the main reason why I'm playing this deck (the second being the Fun/Nostalgy).

Actually, Maverick has a pretty strong combo match up. Ask any Storm player, 4x Thalia, 4 Zenith to Gaddock Teeg + 2nd Teeg, Canonist, Thoughtseizes from SB are definitely putting combo decks under pressure.

I think I won more games against Storm than Shardless Bug...

Of course, durdely T1 combo decks a la Oops All Spells are not winnable if they can go off T1. But hey, it is really rare to face one of these decks in my eyes.

[ironclad8690]

To those trying out Gitrog: Why not Elspeth, Knight-Errant instead of Garruk Relentless?

She can jump the toad and 9 damage will often be lethal by that point int he lategame. She also produces tokens every turn just like Garruk.

[Seraphix]

To those trying out Gitrog: Why not Elspeth, Knight-Errant instead of Garruk Relentless?

She can jump the toad and 9 damage will often be lethal by that point int he lategame. She also produces tokens every turn just like Garruk.

2/2 tokens are a lot better than 1/1 tokens against stuff like Jitte, ZP/Golgari Charm (already good against Maverick), not to mention all the Squires/Grey Ogres. Garruk also doubles as removal with the "fight" ability, plus the shit-ton of other abilities he has when flipped. I think Garruk is popular for these reasons.

I still play Elspeth a lot though. The jump ability is very strong and she is substantially more resilient.

[ThunderPork]

To those trying out Gitrog: Why not Elspeth, Knight-Errant instead of Garruk Relentless?

She can jump the toad and 9 damage will often be lethal by that point int he lategame. She also produces tokens every turn just like Garruk.

Mainly because you can have all the mana you need from Cradle, while Elspeth needs two white mana. Moreover sometimes it really helps kill some Deathrite Shamans with Garruk. I'd say Garruk is more versatile: while Elspeth is probably stronger on her own, having the ability to kill small creatures, bring in 2/2 (against Miracle it really matters having bigger bodies, pumping a single creature sometimes just wins you a removal) and search for a creature in the deck is just better in this deck. The main reason I run 2 Garruk is having non creature threats against Miracle (aside with Sylvan Library which they have to counter/remove quickly), where I think Garruk is better than Elspeth providing bigger creatures.

[Claymore]

Interesting GWr Punishing Maverick build out of MKM (2/426) with ETutor sideboard for...Moat?

http://www.tcdecks.net/deck.php?id=20455&iddeck=156011

[Stuhl]

I'm really not sure about the Gitrog Monster. Is it really that useful? For me it looks like win more in every aspect and besides that it's not Karakas/Swords proof like Thrun or Sigarda...

It also does not help against fast decks. I see, it helps in "fair" creature MUs but there the DD combo is also an allstar. And the DD combo can finish stalled games pretty fast.

So, I will test Gitrog myself, but just from thinking about it, I'm not really convinced yet.