I have actually thought about running Birds of Paradise just so I never have to worry about shutting off my own mana dork with revoker.Originally Posted by Megadeus
Speaking of Eldrazi I played the matchup for the first time the other night. Game 1 his start was too fast but a large Knight almost got me back in it until he landed an Endbringer. Game 2 I mull to 5 and had fetch, Wasteland, 3x Green Sun Zenith. Went for Dryad Arbor ramp turn 1 and he played Pithing Needle on Wasteland. I drew a second Wasteland and went land-go while he put a creature into play. Next turn I draw the 3rd GSZ again and am able to put a Knight onto the battlefield 3 turns in a row while he plays dudes that can't afford to attack into me. Once I have the third Knight I sacrifice a few lands, swing for 21 and he chump blocks before conceding. Game 3 he had a fast start again and I couldn't get my Jitte online in time to save me from a Reality Smasher.
In my list I tried out two Renegade Ralliers and think they basically won me 2 games. One was against Shardless when I got my Jitte back and that allowed me to take the game over. The other time was also against Shardless when I got the turn 3 double Wasteland dream and he never recovered.
Hi all,
I have been playing Zenith Maverick for a long time since printing of Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. Then, at some point, Maverick became not as good in the meta, and I switched to Nic Fit for some time. Now, watching Maverick gaining some popularity (rising to just 1% of the meta, but still), I decided to make a comeback and to play Maverick with Vials.
I do feel like the printing of Sanctum Prelate gave Vial Maverick a new breath, as a proper maindeck replacement for Gaddock Teeg, who you obviously can't find with a Zenith in a Vial list. I've had some good success in online tests with my list:
// Recruiterless Vial Maverick
// 60 Maindeck
// 7 Artifact
4 Aether Vial
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
// 27 Creature
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Mother of Runes
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Sanctum Prelate
2 Scryb Ranger
3 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Mirran Crusader
// 1 Enchantment
1 Sylvan Library
// 4 Instant
4 Swords to Plowshares
// 21 Land
1 Bayou
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Forest
1 Karakas
1 Marsh Flats
2 Plains
2 Savannah
1 Scrubland
4 Wasteland
4 Windswept Heath
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Gaea's Cradle
// 15 Sideboard
SB: 1 Containment Priest
SB: 2 Ethersworn Canonist
SB: 2 Gaddock Teeg
SB: 1 Choke
SB: 2 Abrupt Decay
SB: 2 Zealous Persecution
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
SB: 3 Thoughtseize
Some comments:
-> I'm still doubting between Sylvan Library and a 3rd Qasali Pridemage. The deck is very vulnerable (compared to Zenith lists) to Chalice for 1, but Library is so good in fair games that go into topdeck mode
-> I do not run Revokers. Still not sure about them, but I feel that they are worse in the deck compared to D&T, as they have additional ways to tax opponents with ports. The upside is that all my creatures (except maybe Prelates) are really good in combat.
-> No Recruiters. I miss a lot the possibility to search for something with a Zenith, but they are not fast enough for my taste. The faster we finish the game, the more chances we have against combo decks (and vs fair blue decks what I've got is usually enough).
-> Batterskull is switched to a Sword of Light and Shadow. Its primary purpose is the same (attacking/gaining life), but it gives an extra hand with gaining CA. With enought mana (e.g. with Cradle), it can be used on the same turn as Stoneforge is played (or next for just 4 mana), while Batterskull might take up 2-3 turns to gain any life, and is more fragile to removal into the Mystic. Stats of my creatures (especially Mirran Crusader & Knight) and their numbers are already high enough, and I don't feel like I want another 4/4, but I love the possibility of attaching the Sword to Sanctum Prelate for <6> against Miracles in order to shut their Terminus for a while, until they find their Jace or Council's Judgement. After sideboard, the same operation can be implied to Gaddock Teeg for better protection. The Sword is underplayed a lot due to the popularity of Deathrite Shaman, but I barely yet faced any issues with the B/W Sword and opponents' Shamans. Also, it is really strong vs Death & Taxes and rather works against Leovold and Shamans, unlike its blue-red twin. The sword is also rather good with Qasali Pridemages, as you can sacrifice one to destroy something and immediately get it back. With Vial for 2 and a Mirran Crusader equipped with this Sword, we can even sacrifice Qasali to destroy something, then get it back from first strike, play it with Vial, destroy something else and get the same Qasali back for the second time (though I do agree that this is a dream case scenario).
I'm planning to wipe the dust from my deck and go to a local Legacy FNM next Friday. What do you guys think about the list and my tweaks? Any advice is appreciated :)
Love the list @aspsnake
I have been coming to similar conclusions about Recruiter. I tried him today and went 4-1, losing only to Burn (1-2), but beating Elves, Painter, Miracles, and BUG Aether Vial. I feel like we just want to be more aggressive, though he did save my butt in Painter and Elves matchups (fetching Revoker and Pontiff respectively).
Here was the list:
I do really like the Crusader too. With Fatal Push.meta we seem to find ourselves in (at least me), Crusader is basically like our own True-Name Nemesis.
I might try out the Sword of Light & Shadow again, last time I was using it it felt like the life gain wasn't enough vs tempo decks. The main reason I switched to Skull was actually because you can get by on only 2 mana. Untap with SFM then opp can't attack profitably, whereas with SoLaS it takes a turn to be able to equip and then reap the benefits. Either way I can't fault anyone for running Skull, Light and Shadow, Feast and Famine, or Body and Mind in those slots, they all have great usages. Heck maybe even War and Peace could be good in certain metagames. I feel like the only 2 "locks" are Jitte and Fire and Ice.
I think I will try switching the creatures around back to the 4-4-4-4-4-2-2-2-2 config, or maybe cutting the prelates for scryb 3 and qasali 3. Those feel like creatures that I want pretty often, with the last two being Crusader instead of Revoker.
Thanks man! ^^
It's surprising that you suggest cutting Prelates. I feel like they do really A LOT in the current meta, at least for me. When played turn 2-4 with a Cavern/Vial against Delver players for 1, they very often instantly scoop. Loam decks, including Lands, that run PushFire & Decay as removal, are hurt really hard by a Prelate for 2. They hurt so much OmniShow, if we manage to squeeze one for 3 on time (often with some help from Thoughtseize). In certain cases, one for 4 just makes games vs Storm. One for 6 (and also opponent's manascrew) is the only way we can normally win vs Miracles.
I think, I win every second game I play with the help of a Prelate :p
I run 3 Prelate in my 75
Versus Miracles I lean heavily on Prelate for 1 plus a Teeg to turn off their deck.
Just to be double sure, but I assume I am right in saying that this deck is not playable nor competitive without wastelands?
Thanks.
This is correct. Wasteland/Thalia interaction is one of the core strategies of the deck.
Cheers!
Yeah, maybe I won't cut the prelates. I have been finding them weak lately, but then again maybe they are doing more work than I think.
If you want to play this without wastelands, try building a deck similar to Clone9's WG Post deck. You can find it by googling clone9 recent decklists.
Hi all,
i need help guys! Each month i play in my local shop in Rome (usually 40-50 players), sometimes with Aggro Loam and sometimes with Maverick GWB (zenith version).
This is my current Maverick's list:
Creatures
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Noble Hierarch
3 Qasali Pridemage
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Scryb Ranger
2 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Mother of Runes
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
Instants
4 Swords to Plowshares
Sorceries
4 Green Sun's Zenith
Enchantments
1 Sylvan Library
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Umezawa's Jitte
Lands
1 Bayou
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Karakas
1 Scrubland
2 Forest
1 Plains
2 Savannah
4 Windswept Heath
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wasteland
Sideboard:
2 Abrupt Decay
4 Thoughtseize
2 Zealous Persecution
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Choke
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Banishing Light
And this is exactly the metagame last time:
5 BURN (1 in top)
4 BR REANIMATOR
4 AGGRO LOAM
3 BUG DELVER
3 SHARDLESS BUG
2 BUG CONTROL
2 DEATH & TAXIS (1 in top)
2 ELVES
2 MIRACLES
2 TURBO DEPTHS
2 UR DELVER (1 in top)
1 4-C DELVER
1 4-C MIDRANGE (1 in top)
1 ANT
1 DARK MAVERICK
1 DRAGON STOMPY (1 in top)
1 DREDGE
1 ELDRAZI
1 ENCHANTRESS
1 GOBLINS (1 in top)
1 GRIXIS DELVER
1 MAVERICK (1 in top)
1 MUD
1 OMNI-MIRACLES-TELL
1 SNEAK & SHOW
1 THE ROCK (1 in top)
1 UB REANIMATOR
Anyone can help me for make some change on main/side?
Thx All
Hi BlackNight,Hi all
i need help guys! Each month i play in my local shop in Rome (usually 40-50 players), sometimes with Aggro Loam and sometimes with Maverick GWB (zenith version).
This is my current Maverick's list:
Creatures
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Noble Hierarch
3 Qasali Pridemage
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Scryb Ranger
2 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Mother of Runes
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
Instants
4 Swords to Plowshares
Sorceries
4 Green Sun's Zenith
Enchantments
1 Sylvan Library
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Umezawa's Jitte
Lands
1 Bayou
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Karakas
1 Scrubland
2 Forest
1 Plains
2 Savannah
4 Windswept Heath
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wasteland
Sideboard:
2 Abrupt Decay
4 Thoughtseize
2 Zealous Persecution
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Choke
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Banishing Light
And this is exactly the metagame last time:
5 BURN (1 in top)
4 BR REANIMATOR
4 AGGRO LOAM
3 BUG DELVER
3 SHARDLESS BUG
2 BUG CONTROL
2 DEATH & TAXIS (1 in top)
2 ELVES
2 MIRACLES
2 TURBO DEPTHS
2 UR DELVER (1 in top)
1 4-C DELVER
1 4-C MIDRANGE (1 in top)
1 ANT
1 DARK MAVERICK
1 DRAGON STOMPY (1 in top)
1 DREDGE
1 ELDRAZI
1 ENCHANTRESS
1 GOBLINS (1 in top)
1 GRIXIS DELVER
1 MAVERICK (1 in top)
1 MUD
1 OMNI-MIRACLES-TELL
1 SNEAK & SHOW
1 THE ROCK (1 in top)
1 UB REANIMATOR
Anyone can help me for make some change on main/side?
Thx All
I like your list a lot :) I used to play a very similar one back in the days when I played Maverick with Zeniths.
It seems that your meta is highly fair (with just a few Show&Tell/Reanimator players).
I feel like 3 Qasalis are a bit too many for a Zenith version and I would swap one for a Fauna Shaman. This humble shaman can just win games against fair (and unfair, if game goes long enough, too) decks on his own in hands of an experienced Maverick player, not to notice its interaction with the B/W sword. The powerful part of it is that it allows all creatures, not just green, to be fetchable with a Zenith (although in two turns). One of the really powerful usages I often went for was returning a previously fetched (or accidentially drawn) Dryad Arbor to hand (with a Scryb Ranger) to discard it and search for a Mother of Runes / Thalia / Knight of the Reliquary / Faerie Macabre / Ethersworn Cannonist / Whatever Creature Card You Need Atm. You can also just get rid of useless cards in certain matchups, e.g. Qasali Pridemages against Delver decks, to find something you really need. If going for Fauna Shaman, you might want some postboard hate slots that you can fetch (e.g., maybe swapping 1 Zealous Persecution in sb for an Orzhov Pontiff). I heard, 1x Sanctum Prelate and/or 1x Phyrexian Revoker post-board can be an interesting solution as well
Also, in such a meta full of Dredge & Reanimator decks, I would run in total 3x additional graveyard hate slots post-board, e.g. Surgical Extractions, a Faerie Macabre (this one's our best answer to BR Reanimator as you don't cast it and it's therefore not affected by their Chancellor of the Annex) and/or a Bojuka Bog. And 4x Thoughtseize is a bit too many imo (not so many combo/stoneforge decks in your meta), 2-3 should do the trick.
I guess, Banishing Light is targeting decks like Omni-Show and is supposed to help vs Miracles and such. However, classic Omni-Tell that runs Cunning Wish often won't care about trigger-based hate cards against Show&Tell. You might want something like Containment Priest (also helps against Reanimator/Dredge/possibly D&T!) against Sneak Attack version and just hope to squeeze in a Qasali against the Wish version and win some time by threatening to crack Omniscience in response to a Cunning Wish instead
Good luck with Maverick!
Since Burn is so prevalent, I would change one or two Thoughtseizes into Duresses. It's usually an even matchup and tipping the point in your favor with a few life points seems very valuable. Also the second top deck in your meta is BR Reanimator and you never want to grab a creature vs them anyway.
I generally like the configuration of 1 Leyline of the Void, 1 Rest in Peace, 1 Enlightened Tutor since it provides lots of flexibility and tutorability, increasing the value of other sideboard slots such as Ethersworn Canonist. Rest in Peace should be valuable in your meta due to the large amount of BUG decks, IF most of them play Goyfs. Not sure whether this would be the best approach in your meta though. Perhaps 2 Leylines would be better. Leyline is pretty good vs Aggro Loam too, they can't decay it and their KotR's will be much smaller than yours. Faerie Macabre probably works too, I'm not a fan yet though. It seems much weaker then Leyline in the majority of matchups where it matters.
@BlackNight
As one could see, there are as many opinions as there are Maverick players, as this is not a deck one could "solve", like ANT or RUG Delver, and find an optimal configuration that is the "best".
Tbh, Duress is not exactly the card I would like to see vs Burn, as it basically forces you to fetch non-basics and makes you more vulnerable to Price of Progress.
Leyline of the Void works well against Reanimators indeed, especially now, when they are increasingly relying on Abrupt Decay instead of other disenchant spells. But if playing those, it's worth playing 3-4 then (I personally like Surgical Extraction more as they work against Loams better (Krosan Grip ends our day), and are better off topdeck, but it's just my opinion). Although I do dislike Rest in Peace a lot in Maverick, as it shuts to the size of 2/2 our Knights, disables our Deathrites and makes your B/W sword worse.
But don't listen to us in the end, consider our opinions, but listen to your heart & personal experience, it always works for me at least ;)
I was lucky to have some time to jam League games this weekend, and ended up wishing I hadn't. I ended up going 0-7 in matches with old Maverick. I was running this list: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/569781#online.
Out of the bad times I can remember losing to:
Elves: quick NO into Hoof just overrun me.
Same Burn Deck Twice: Price of Progress is nasty as is just having all the Fireblasts.
Miracles: was close, but in the end they out grinded cus Mentor is nuts as is having 2 Tops.
Big Nic Fit: Turn out if they can answer everything we do efficiently, then being able to drop fatties is a good way to go.
As the format seems to be slowing down in a weird way, yet getting super aggro at the same time, I dunno what to do with Mav. Slower midrange decks go over the top if they can get setup, control has tricks up their sleeves to get more aggressive. Combo has been almost invisible to me, except for creature based combo like Reanimator, Elves, and "Burn" to a lesser extent.
I dunno what to do with the list for now, I'm tempted to shelve it and switch to some BUG deck with TNN online. Being a Maverick player I feel like we can always tweak to meet the meta, but there are sometimes when I feel like that just isn't the case and it's better to lay low for a while. We have come through dark times before when Miracles came out, etc. Just looking for a good ole' "everyone has bad beats that's Legacy, Maverick is still great". Thanks yall.
I share your pain, pal.
Although: it is objectively true that you had an amazing unluck with matchups. You collected all the worst matchups that the deck has.
> Elves: very bad
> Nic Fit: very bad
> Miracles: unfavorable
> Burn x2: favorable, but requires very careful fetching landbase, and welcomes 2-3 basic land choices. I see you do run 3 basics, but with black cards mainboard... oh well.
Now about the meta becoming faster. It is true indeed. And this is the primary reason why I turned to AEther Vials from GSZs. You may see my list if you scroll a bit above (and lots of others' lists if you Google a bit). At first, playing Vials seems very strange - no cool tutoring, no Gaddock Teeg in the first game, no Ooze. You might also say that we lose so much gas - GSZ is potentially a creature, while Vial is just a Vial. Oh well. But we just become so much faster, and can react to the board instant speed. Vial tremendously improves matchups with Miracles (Vial in Prelate/Teeg in resp to the Miracle trigger!) and blue aggro/midrange decks. If you get your Vial online, you may not even cast any spells throughout the game anymore. Their drawn FoWs/Dazes will be just looking silly. Vialing in Gaddock Teeg somewhere in the middle of Storm's going nuts can be fun as well :)
Hope next time you'll be more lucky with your matchups!
Cheers,
aspsnake ;)
To make a prairie, it takes a clover and one bee. One clover, a bee, and revery...
Anyone heading to Baltimore for the SCG Tri-Wizard Tournament.
Yea, I have run the Vial version based on what Ironclad was running with some nice results. I felt like it moved the deck in a more D&T feel and more into a White creature base with a little G/B splashed in. I feel less big on KOTR as BUG decks run rampant and DRS is a 4x in every dang deck.
I do love the inclusion of the Looter Scooter Thopter Copter whatever we call it. Plays of T1 Vial/Dork, T2 Copter (maybe a 1 drop too if dork) vial to 1, T3 Vial to 2 with 3 mana maybe 4 and a Copter in play.... was big. Being able to drop double 2 drops T3 to pilot the Copter felt gross when the drops were both Qasali, or a Qasali and Thalia or something nasty. Copter also made Mom feel a lot more relevant in a format with Push becoming big she dies REAL quick, but being able to have her pilot the Copter feels like cheating. Copter is also really nice at flying over TNN, Mentor Tokens, Gurmag, Goyf, etc. It also allows us to trade favorably with Delvers by letting our SFM and such "fight" in a weird roundabout way. Not to mention Scryb Ranger's flash/untap plays real nasty with the ability to pilot 2 Copters or just in general mess stuff up.
Vial seems strong and I think helped the Miracles match a decent bit by allowing us to focus mana on denying them with Wastelands and such, and getting uncounterable instant speed creatures. I just like GSZ too much :). Running Vial and Wg as the main colors makes me wanna try maybe splashing Red for Punishing Fire and the likes. I feel like without GSZ some creatures come back into consideration: Bloodbraid, Red Imperial Recruiter Tutor dude, Magus of the Moon, Wild Nacatyl, Huntmaster, Burning-Tree Shaman (great vs durdle decks), Mina and Denn, Wolf Run as a land cus we have spare mana cus vial, Vexing Shusher, etc.
It's more the debate/thinking why go Green is we don't use GSZ, are there more benefits in other colors? Maybe more Black for Bob Orzhov things, Blue for flying nastys ability to splash Brainstorm/Force/etc. If Maverick at it's core is a GSZ deck with Thalia/Wasteland, by removing GSZ we can branch out into other colors and think outside the box, similar to what happened with the printing of DRS and ADecay pushing us into Black as almost a staple color now.
Hi all once again,
I wanted to ask other Vial Maverick players, how do you guys sideboard against Miracles.
Here's my current list.
I have 3 possible scenarios of sideboarding in mind:
1) +2 Gaddock Teeg, +1 Choke, +2 Abrupt Decay; -4 Swords to Plowshares, -1 Scryb Ranger
2) +2 Gaddock Teeg, +1 Choke, +2 Abrupt Decay, +3 Thoughtseize, +2 Surgical Extraction; -4 Swords to Plowshares, -2 Scryb Ranger, -4 Deathrite Shaman
3) Option (1) on the draw and option (2) on the play.
I'm quite curious how does the game plan of discarding a Swords/Terminus/Top (or any card that is present 2+ more times in their hand) and immediately extracting these works. It seems that losing any one of these turn 1 makes their decks so much worse against us. The lock of Mom+Prelate/Tegg becomes so much more real (in fact, a single Teeg is so much pain if they have no Swords in the deck left). In addition, on the play, we have an option to punish greedy hands with 1-2 lands and a single Top/cantrip spell. In addition, knowledge about their cards allows us to play our threats much better-timed.
On the draw, however, they can hide their important stuff with Brainstorm and the plan becomes way less viable.
On the other hand, discard is generally weak vs Miracles, and if they consider that we play discard they will often keep a Brainstorm in their hand or an important card on top (and draw it with Top, should the need arise). 1-drop spells are also rather useless when the top+balance lock becomes real.
Any thoughts on this?
To make a prairie, it takes a clover and one bee. One clover, a bee, and revery...
Hi Maverick players,
I was playing some casual Legacy with a friend of mine who was running Eldrazi Stompy and I was running G/W Maverick. I've been away from Legacy for a little while so the deck's incredible speed at dropping huge threats caught me by surprise. What means does Maverick have to combat the deck? I was thinking of running Retribution of the Meek in the sideboard or even in the main since there are a lot of huge threats roaming around these days. What are other typical or tried and tested solutions?
I have been enjoying Vial for these same reasons. GSZ is awesome and I love it, but GSZ version was having too much trouble with Miracles and Delver decks.
So elves is catching on in a big way because of BUG's comeback, I have faced a ton in the leagues. My most recent was 2-3
Elves: 1-2
Death and Taxes: 0-2
TES: 2-1
Dragon Stompy: 2-0
UWr Blade: 1-2
The blade matchup was terrible. g1 I wasted his two early tundras and he scooped, but g2 and 3 I got wrecked by STP, Snapcaster, Batterskull, Kozilek's Return (I hate this card so much, it killed my board of Mom Mom Teeg Thalia), and Jace.
Perhaps if my tilt ends by tomorrow I will play another. Trying to think of ways to make the deck better, but I can't really think of anything.
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