I'm assuming you already have the Noble Hierarch's? Cause you could sub in Birds of Paradise as another stopgap. Titania, Protector of Argoth could be another top end beater, since you have the full set of Wastelands and Knights. Not having equipment seems likely to hurt you at some point, but this certainly looks playable to me.
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I've been mostly working playing Nic Fit, so take my opinion at a grain of salt, but I've read up alot on Marverick as an option. Dark Maverick and Junk fit are somewhat similar decks, especially in support spells.
I love siege rhino in my build but its usually a bit higher than maverick goes. That being said, I think its a fine choice for you since you are using shocks. I've seen some lists drop KotR to a 3 since 3 mana (4 with GSZ) is alot for Marverick, especially with Thalia because she makes GSZ 5! So it would definitely be interesting to see how it plays. If Maverick goes big, is usually for stuff like Sigarda, Host of Herons or Thrun, the last troll.
I've seen alot of lists run at least one Containment priest but I think that's a meta call. The more you know about your meta, the better. Maverick is a deck that preys on metas---so like if you have sneak show and reanimator, you probably want the priest at least in your board. But if you have tons of Miracles, Cavern of Souls can help you break the lock from Counterbalance. Krosan might be enough against them though. On that note, I might consider pithing needle for the board against planswalkers. It can be decent against Death and Taxes or the Mirror as well because you can turn off their activates, but maybe needle is just a pet card for me. Maverick is just a hard deck to build because again it is all about what you think you'll be facing. Like Council's Judgment is another card that might overperform if you run into alot of True Name Nemesis. I've never seen a deck run Ana in the sideboard and I am not sure what she'd do that Dryad Militant doesn't already...DM is also easier to GSZ for. With Deahtrite and Ooze, you have tons of graveyard hate.
Most lists tend to run full sets of Thalia and Deathrite, if they go dark. As the other poster mentioned the lack of stoneforge and equipment is the most alarming absence--both Batterskull and Jitte can gain you life in certain matches up, but Batter is a monster and Jitte kills small creatures. I'd really squeeze in a Scryb Ranger if you can. It helps against any Delver deck but also lets you reuse Mom or KotR's powerful abilities. Sylvan Safekeeper is another powerful guy if your opponents pack removal--also boosts KotR. I'd consider a Maze of Ith for your deck's toolbox. I'd give Spirit of the Labyrinth a look as well. He basically shuts down alot of card drawing from Divining top to Brainstorm. Again all are useful in certain match ups...you just have to go with what you are going to face.
I'd think about Circle Protection Red over Kor Firewalker. The problem is burn often has sulfuric vortex--many lists even main deck it. They use it for batterskull and other random life gain. Circle at least protects you and short of Anarchy, mono red cannot remove it and they prefer mono red usually since it protects them from wasteland. Though be warned sometimes they splash white or green for answers like wear and tear or the new red/green enchantment hate card from the Theros block--Destructive Revelry.
As for cuts, most lists run a single sylvan library rather than Mirri's Guile, though with the less life from shocks and reduced casting cost, maybe Guile is enough. I hardly ever see more than one pridemage.
I've been mostly working playing Nic Fit, so take my opinion at a grain of salt, but I've read up alot on Marverick as an option. Dark Maverick and Junk fit are somewhat similar decks, especially in support spells.
I love siege rhino in my build but its usually a bit higher than maverick goes. That being said, I think its a fine choice for you since you are using shocks. I've seen some lists drop KotR to a 3 since 3 mana (4 with GSZ) is alot for Marverick, especially with Thalia because she makes GSZ 5! So it would definitely be interesting to see how it plays. If Maverick goes big, is usually for stuff like Sigarda, Host of Herons or Thrun, the last troll.
I've seen alot of lists run at least one Containment priest but I think that's a meta call. The more you know about your meta, the better. Maverick is a deck that preys on metas---so like if you have sneak show and reanimator, you probably want the priest at least in your board. But if you have tons of Miracles, Cavern of Souls can help you break the lock from Counterbalance. Krosan might be enough against them though. On that note, I might consider pithing needle for the board against planswalkers. It can be decent against Death and Taxes or the Mirror as well because you can turn off their activates, but maybe needle is just a pet card for me. Maverick is just a hard deck to build because again it is all about what you think you'll be facing. Like Council's Judgment is another card that might overperform if you run into alot of True Name Nemesis. I've never seen a deck run Ana in the sideboard and I am not sure what she'd do that Dryad Militant doesn't already...DM is also easier to GSZ for. With Deahtrite and Ooze, you have tons of graveyard hate.
Most lists tend to run full sets of Thalia and Deathrite, if they go dark. As the other poster mentioned the lack of stoneforge and equipment is the most alarming absence--both Batterskull and Jitte can gain you life in certain matches up, but Batter is a monster and Jitte kills small creatures. I'd really squeeze in a Scryb Ranger if you can. It helps against any Delver deck but also lets you reuse Mom or KotR's powerful abilities. Sylvan Safekeeper is another powerful guy if your opponents pack removal--also boosts KotR. I'd consider a Maze of Ith for your deck's toolbox. I'd give Spirit of the Labyrinth a look as well. He basically shuts down alot of card drawing from Divining top to Brainstorm. Again all are useful in certain match ups...you just have to go with what you are going to face.
I'd think about Circle Protection Red over Kor Firewalker. The problem is burn often has sulfuric vortex--many lists even main deck it. They use it for batterskull and other random life gain. Circle at least protects you and short of Anarchy, mono red cannot remove it and they prefer mono red usually since it protects them from wasteland. Though be warned sometimes they splash white or green for answers like wear and tear or the new red/green enchantment hate card from the Theros block--Destructive Revelry.
As for cuts, most lists run a single sylvan library rather than Mirri's Guile, though with the less life from shocks and reduced casting cost, maybe Guile is enough. I hardly ever see more than one pridemage.
Thanks for all the good suggestions! You brought a lot of valid points.
If I can find a way to fit in 4 Deathrite I'll definitely do so. Thalia I think 3 is just enough.
I'v thought bout Spirit of the Labyrinth but the reason I cut it is it feels like hate and 1-2 in the maindeck is not reliable enough. If I could search it with GSZ it would be great tho. I guess putting 1-2 in the SB could be worth it tho.
Isn't putting 1 Library too hopeful? Like it feels you'll barely ever see it come to play since you can't tutor it.
My meta is mostly populated by aggro, a little control and almost no combo. Oh and my Rival mains Stoneblade/Affinity/Aggro Elves decks.
I'm assuming you already have the Noble Hierarch's? Cause you could sub in Birds of Paradise as another stopgap. Titania, Protector of Argoth could be another top end beater, since you have the full set of Wastelands and Knights. Not having equipment seems likely to hurt you at some point, but this certainly looks playable to me.
I actually don't own Hierarch but I felt Exalted was the only way I could apply pressure without equipments.
If you don't own hierarchs I wouldn't buy them. They are a great card but I think they are likely to get reprinted in Modern Masters 2. Cards that see alot of play in modern suffer reprints to lower their prices to manageable levels. I think your pressure comes from KotR and Rhino anyway. There's a guy running my deck that Nic Fit that swears on the rhino and honestly I have to agree. He's an absolute beast in a slower meta like yours. I just was really cautious about him before because you don't ramp like Nic Fit does and you usually have to interact with fast combo decks. Since your meta is more agro vs agro, he's way better. Trample is relevant, even if he's removed, you still blast them, and I can't think of many creatures that could stand up to him besides gorf...and your deathrites should make sure that never happens.
I think library/guile are great cards for selection but the second one is a dead draw. If you decide to run 2, at least you could leave it at the top of your library and shuffle it away with fetches and GSZ. The idea is to never have a "dead" draw. That's why something like Sensei's Divining Top is so good. You can always trade it back for 1 mana for a new card and shuffle it away. I don't think 2 is terrible by any means, but I certainly wouldn't play 3. At that point, you might have one in your opening hand and draw it on your first turn. Yeah, its a bit unlikely that will cost you a game, but that's the type of thing you consider when optimizing. The reason people like library more is sometimes you'd pay your life as a resource to get an extra card if it wins you the game. Plus between the creatures in a normal dark mav deck--ooze, deathrite, batter, jitte, and in your case rhino, that's alot of life gain that isn't relevant against say a deck like omnitell. Again I am no expert at the deck, extra draw is worth the 1 colorless investment, especially since you know if you need to do it since you can see the card you are drawing.
Zealous Persecution is a great card for you then--keeps affinity and elves in check--keeping mana to clear their board is an amazing thing. You are sideboarding it, but maybe even consider main decking a copy or two. I've seen people also use toxic deluge since your heavy hitters like Kotr or Rhino could live and it can easily kill a board of 2 toughness creatures. I know in Nic Fit we use Pernicious Deed but we also are ramping our mana up and not running Thalia--and honestly it would kill alot of your stuff. Your Ethersworn canonists you can at least slow elves down alot.
You might consider Path to Exile over swords or maybe even both. Affinity gets absolutely nothing with path for example and with rhino bolts, sometimes the life they gain is more relevant. You could hammer them with null rod too. It isn't a bad card to turn your opponents swords and jittes into paperweights, though batterskull is still dangerous. This will sound a bit crazy, but one of the great that Nic Fit does is running Cabal Therapy. It is amazing tech against stoneforge mystic because you can usually make them discard the equipment they just got, get a look at their hand, and then make them discard something else that could wreck you with the flashback on your worst creature like arbor or something. It easily my favorite discard spell in the game because it rewards you for knowing what your opponent is likely to be playing and you can use it to neutralize the card that will most hurt you--ie if they need a force of will to stop you from winning, then that's what you name. The more normal answer is to run Manriki-Gusari--though most decks that run it are packing their own mystics to find it. Again Pithing Needle is a great flex choice, stops Tezz in Affinity if they run it, and can stop equipment or stoneforges or any number of other threats. The trick is knowing what to worry about...for affinity Cranial Plating and Tezz would be your prime targets. Lab spirit loses tons of value without alot of people casting brainstorm and ponder and the like--usually combo decks to be honest. Burn is a popular deck in an undeveloped meta since its so cheap to play, but if its not a factor, you have alot more options for your sideboard space.
I'm assuming you already have the Noble Hierarch's? Cause you could sub in Birds of Paradise as another stopgap. Titania, Protector of Argoth could be another top end beater, since you have the full set of Wastelands and Knights. Not having equipment seems likely to hurt you at some point, but this certainly looks playable to me.
I actually don't own Hierarch but I felt Exalted was the only way I could apply pressure without equipments.
If you don't own the $180 worth of Hierarchs already, I would invest it in Stoneforge and equipment package instead honestly. Overall significantly more options and power for the $.
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Well for starters I might proxy up some cards to test them (Hierarchs and Wastelands). I will slowly build this deck over several months so I might be able to get cards much cheaper if they are indeed reprinted in MM2015.
Also, why bother putting 2 Stoneforge + equips in the deck? Wouldn't it just be better to build something like stoneblade if I need it that badly?
Since I don't have much card filtering and cantrips, I feel that stoneforge doesn't belong...
Or should I put in 4 stoneforge + 2 equips? that would mean freeing 6 card slots which isn't a small task.
Many Maverick builds run just 2 Stoneforge and 2 equips. Jitte is just very, very good against any fair creature deck (and some unfair creature decks). I'd also second the suggestion to get a Scryb Ranger in (probably drop an Ooze, double Mom/DRS/KotR activations can be useful.
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I've been playing Maverick for a few years, and I've tried out a lot of different builds. Honestly, if you're trying to save a few bucks then I wouldn't put in Noble Hierarch. It is expensive and the exalted doesn't help as much as you'd think. Personally, I prefer Stoneforge Mystic. I run 3 and then Batterskull, Umezawa's Jitte, and Sword of Light and Shadow. Maverick gets you a good stable of beaters and the equipments mean you can race Stoneblade decks, because you can match their toys. If you don't want to play SFM, then maybe go higher on the curve? Wilt-Leaf Liege usually makes your guys as strong as a hierarch would, and the buff stays even if you're not attacking.
Also, Mirri's Guile is a great budget version of Sylvan Library but Maverick in general doesn't need a lot of filtering or deck manipulation. You run essentially 8 tutors (your GSZ for creatures and Knight of the Reliquary for lands) so needing to hit your draws is less of an issue. You might even be able to get away with not running it at all. You seem to be iffy on SFM, which also acts a as tutor, but Maverick can pull up what it needs without mucking around too much, which is why Maverick players run 1 or sometimes 0 liberaries. If you are worried about getting what you need, you could play Fauna Shaman, which is while about $9USD, but is a little like Survival of the Fittest which is an excellent way to get creatures into your hand.
I have put together a second version of the deck in my first post. Does that seem better?
I really wanted to avoid using SFM because it feels everyone is using it, it isn't cheap and you need the equipments to go with it (not cheap either).
I don't really know if maverick can perform well without it but I was looking for an alternative. If you have cheaper alternatives I'm all ears.
Also, I first went Mirri because of the price but also because of the lower casting cost.
You are +1 Siege Rhino +1 Scryb Ranger, +1 Land
His deck is +1 Sylvan Library, +1 Sword of Fire and Ice +1 Knight of the Reliquary
That's pretty close to the same. Knight and Rhino are nearly the same role. They have better card selction and a poweful third piece of equipment so his mystics always have something to find unless he draws it naturally, while you have some combat tricks and insurance against delver and an extra land. I think he's got a better package of lands, but having access to duals lets you make room for stuff lie Maze of Ith and Horizon Canopy really just lets you fight flood. The Bojuka bog in main might be a meta call. I was thinking about the wording of library and it seems like you could get rid of unwanted mystics and a second library by putting them back on top of your deck and then using a fetch or KotR trigger to shuffle.
I really think you can't go wrong with your second list, though of course as I've mentioned before Maverick preys on metas. The better you know your opponents decks the better you can adjust yours to crush them.
I agree, the second list looks really good. Personally I would find room for at least 3-4 targeted discard spells (Inquisition, Thoughtseize and/or Duress) in the board. It's part of what makes the black splash attractive, and it really makes a difference against many combo decks. However, sideboards are only useful for your meta, and without knowing it my idea might be terrible!
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Yeah, I had 3 targeted discard in the board but I replaced them with Path to Exile. I was thinking Inquisition of Kozilek, but I had already heard Path was good in maverick in conjunction to Swords.
As I said, there isn't much combo in my friends circle. There's one storm and I think that's it. It's mostly aggro and control. Which is why I changed the discard.
If you're in a meta where you need that much creature removal (beyond the 7 Stp/AD), perhaps Maverick running red for Punishing Fire/Grove of the Burnwillows would be a better choice than black for Deathrite Shaman/Abrupt Decay?
Anyway, the main board looks solid, and I certainly don't know your meta so the board will I'm sure evolve to deal with it as you go. Have fun!
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Thanks! I really wanted to make a deck based on deathrite because I think the creature is so much fun! The graveyard hate included in this deck is just gravy.
I stumbled on Maverick a few months back but black splash was lacking imo. I feel rhino is just at home in this deck, being a beater and a lifegain engine to counter some lifeloss.
Similarly, Library when you have another Library already is very dead. Stoneforge is at least a body. I don't know that +1/-1 of the other is a huge difference, but just for what it's worth the other side of the coin
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I'd agree with that. Dark Confidant is very good in decks that run absurdly tight mana curves. Maverick doesn't really do that, you'll play a lot of 3-drops and enough 4+ drops to make Bob hurt.
As it was previously stated, there isn't enough fast burn players in my meta to warrant the hate cards. Thus I removed the 2 Circle of Protection: Red.
I'v decided to try 1 Sword of Fire and Ice and 1 Sword of Light and Shadow in the SB. I'm not an equipment deck but if I can side out jitte for a more personalized hate equipment I think it's worth it.
Edit: I'v actually reworked my whole sideboard to be better at facing my meta. Since Maverick preys on meta it's only fair I don't base myself on other metas when building it.
I know it's not THAT budget because of wasteland and karakas but those are just impossible to remove for mav.
Anything that should absolutely be changed?
3 Deathrite Shaman
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Gaddock Teeg
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Mother of Runes
3 Noble Hierarch
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Siege Rhino
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
ENCHANTMENT
2 Mirri's Guile
INSTANT
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Green Sun's Zenith
LAND
1 forest
2 Godless Shrine
1 Karakas
2 Marsh Flats
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Temple Garden
2 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wasteland
4 Windswept Heath
1 Anafenza, the Foremost
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Kor Firewalker
1 Choke
2 Krosan Grip
2 Zealous Persecution
1 Bojuka Bog
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
Version 2:
1 Batterskull
1 Umezawa's Jitte
CREATURE
4 Deathrite Shaman
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Gaddock Teeg
3 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Mother of Runes
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Scryb Ranger
2 Siege Rhino
2 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
ENCHANTMENT
2 Sylvan Library
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Swords to Plowshares
SORCERY
4 Green Sun's Zenith
LAND
1 forest
2 Godless Shrine
1 Maze of Ith
2 Marsh Flats
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Temple Garden
2 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wasteland
4 Windswept Heath
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Qasali Pridemage
2 Choke
2 Zealous Persecution
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
Modern: WUBValue Titan UMerfolk WGDeath and Taxes
I love siege rhino in my build but its usually a bit higher than maverick goes. That being said, I think its a fine choice for you since you are using shocks. I've seen some lists drop KotR to a 3 since 3 mana (4 with GSZ) is alot for Marverick, especially with Thalia because she makes GSZ 5! So it would definitely be interesting to see how it plays. If Maverick goes big, is usually for stuff like Sigarda, Host of Herons or Thrun, the last troll.
I've seen alot of lists run at least one Containment priest but I think that's a meta call. The more you know about your meta, the better. Maverick is a deck that preys on metas---so like if you have sneak show and reanimator, you probably want the priest at least in your board. But if you have tons of Miracles, Cavern of Souls can help you break the lock from Counterbalance. Krosan might be enough against them though. On that note, I might consider pithing needle for the board against planswalkers. It can be decent against Death and Taxes or the Mirror as well because you can turn off their activates, but maybe needle is just a pet card for me. Maverick is just a hard deck to build because again it is all about what you think you'll be facing. Like Council's Judgment is another card that might overperform if you run into alot of True Name Nemesis. I've never seen a deck run Ana in the sideboard and I am not sure what she'd do that Dryad Militant doesn't already...DM is also easier to GSZ for. With Deahtrite and Ooze, you have tons of graveyard hate.
Most lists tend to run full sets of Thalia and Deathrite, if they go dark. As the other poster mentioned the lack of stoneforge and equipment is the most alarming absence--both Batterskull and Jitte can gain you life in certain matches up, but Batter is a monster and Jitte kills small creatures. I'd really squeeze in a Scryb Ranger if you can. It helps against any Delver deck but also lets you reuse Mom or KotR's powerful abilities. Sylvan Safekeeper is another powerful guy if your opponents pack removal--also boosts KotR. I'd consider a Maze of Ith for your deck's toolbox. I'd give Spirit of the Labyrinth a look as well. He basically shuts down alot of card drawing from Divining top to Brainstorm. Again all are useful in certain match ups...you just have to go with what you are going to face.
I'd think about Circle Protection Red over Kor Firewalker. The problem is burn often has sulfuric vortex--many lists even main deck it. They use it for batterskull and other random life gain. Circle at least protects you and short of Anarchy, mono red cannot remove it and they prefer mono red usually since it protects them from wasteland. Though be warned sometimes they splash white or green for answers like wear and tear or the new red/green enchantment hate card from the Theros block--Destructive Revelry.
As for cuts, most lists run a single sylvan library rather than Mirri's Guile, though with the less life from shocks and reduced casting cost, maybe Guile is enough. I hardly ever see more than one pridemage.
Thanks for all the good suggestions! You brought a lot of valid points.
If I can find a way to fit in 4 Deathrite I'll definitely do so. Thalia I think 3 is just enough.
I'v thought bout Spirit of the Labyrinth but the reason I cut it is it feels like hate and 1-2 in the maindeck is not reliable enough. If I could search it with GSZ it would be great tho. I guess putting 1-2 in the SB could be worth it tho.
Isn't putting 1 Library too hopeful? Like it feels you'll barely ever see it come to play since you can't tutor it.
My meta is mostly populated by aggro, a little control and almost no combo. Oh and my Rival mains Stoneblade/Affinity/Aggro Elves decks.
I actually don't own Hierarch but I felt Exalted was the only way I could apply pressure without equipments.
I think library/guile are great cards for selection but the second one is a dead draw. If you decide to run 2, at least you could leave it at the top of your library and shuffle it away with fetches and GSZ. The idea is to never have a "dead" draw. That's why something like Sensei's Divining Top is so good. You can always trade it back for 1 mana for a new card and shuffle it away. I don't think 2 is terrible by any means, but I certainly wouldn't play 3. At that point, you might have one in your opening hand and draw it on your first turn. Yeah, its a bit unlikely that will cost you a game, but that's the type of thing you consider when optimizing. The reason people like library more is sometimes you'd pay your life as a resource to get an extra card if it wins you the game. Plus between the creatures in a normal dark mav deck--ooze, deathrite, batter, jitte, and in your case rhino, that's alot of life gain that isn't relevant against say a deck like omnitell. Again I am no expert at the deck, extra draw is worth the 1 colorless investment, especially since you know if you need to do it since you can see the card you are drawing.
Zealous Persecution is a great card for you then--keeps affinity and elves in check--keeping mana to clear their board is an amazing thing. You are sideboarding it, but maybe even consider main decking a copy or two. I've seen people also use toxic deluge since your heavy hitters like Kotr or Rhino could live and it can easily kill a board of 2 toughness creatures. I know in Nic Fit we use Pernicious Deed but we also are ramping our mana up and not running Thalia--and honestly it would kill alot of your stuff. Your Ethersworn canonists you can at least slow elves down alot.
You might consider Path to Exile over swords or maybe even both. Affinity gets absolutely nothing with path for example and with rhino bolts, sometimes the life they gain is more relevant. You could hammer them with null rod too. It isn't a bad card to turn your opponents swords and jittes into paperweights, though batterskull is still dangerous. This will sound a bit crazy, but one of the great that Nic Fit does is running Cabal Therapy. It is amazing tech against stoneforge mystic because you can usually make them discard the equipment they just got, get a look at their hand, and then make them discard something else that could wreck you with the flashback on your worst creature like arbor or something. It easily my favorite discard spell in the game because it rewards you for knowing what your opponent is likely to be playing and you can use it to neutralize the card that will most hurt you--ie if they need a force of will to stop you from winning, then that's what you name. The more normal answer is to run Manriki-Gusari--though most decks that run it are packing their own mystics to find it. Again Pithing Needle is a great flex choice, stops Tezz in Affinity if they run it, and can stop equipment or stoneforges or any number of other threats. The trick is knowing what to worry about...for affinity Cranial Plating and Tezz would be your prime targets. Lab spirit loses tons of value without alot of people casting brainstorm and ponder and the like--usually combo decks to be honest. Burn is a popular deck in an undeveloped meta since its so cheap to play, but if its not a factor, you have alot more options for your sideboard space.
If you don't own the $180 worth of Hierarchs already, I would invest it in Stoneforge and equipment package instead honestly. Overall significantly more options and power for the $.
Modern: WUBValue Titan UMerfolk WGDeath and Taxes
Also, why bother putting 2 Stoneforge + equips in the deck? Wouldn't it just be better to build something like stoneblade if I need it that badly?
Since I don't have much card filtering and cantrips, I feel that stoneforge doesn't belong...
Or should I put in 4 stoneforge + 2 equips? that would mean freeing 6 card slots which isn't a small task.
Modern: WUBValue Titan UMerfolk WGDeath and Taxes
Also, Mirri's Guile is a great budget version of Sylvan Library but Maverick in general doesn't need a lot of filtering or deck manipulation. You run essentially 8 tutors (your GSZ for creatures and Knight of the Reliquary for lands) so needing to hit your draws is less of an issue. You might even be able to get away with not running it at all. You seem to be iffy on SFM, which also acts a as tutor, but Maverick can pull up what it needs without mucking around too much, which is why Maverick players run 1 or sometimes 0 liberaries. If you are worried about getting what you need, you could play Fauna Shaman, which is while about $9USD, but is a little like Survival of the Fittest which is an excellent way to get creatures into your hand.
I really wanted to avoid using SFM because it feels everyone is using it, it isn't cheap and you need the equipments to go with it (not cheap either).
I don't really know if maverick can perform well without it but I was looking for an alternative. If you have cheaper alternatives I'm all ears.
Also, I first went Mirri because of the price but also because of the lower casting cost.
A Dark Mav deck from the competitive thread. The poster suggests his list is pretty close to a stock dark maverick list.
4 Mother of Runes
4 Deathrite Shaman
3 Thalia, guardian of thraben
3 stoneforge mystic
1 scavenging ooze
1 qasali pridemage
1 gaddock teeg
1 dryad arbor
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of fire and ice
4 Swords to plowshares
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Green Sun's zenith
2 Sylvan Library
4 Windswept Heath
3 Verdant Catacombs
1 Marsh Flats
4 Wasteland
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Maze of Ith
1 Bojuka Bog
3 Savannah
2 Bayou
1 Scrubland
1 Forest
Let's look at the diffences.
You are +1 Siege Rhino +1 Scryb Ranger, +1 Land
His deck is +1 Sylvan Library, +1 Sword of Fire and Ice +1 Knight of the Reliquary
That's pretty close to the same. Knight and Rhino are nearly the same role. They have better card selction and a poweful third piece of equipment so his mystics always have something to find unless he draws it naturally, while you have some combat tricks and insurance against delver and an extra land. I think he's got a better package of lands, but having access to duals lets you make room for stuff lie Maze of Ith and Horizon Canopy really just lets you fight flood. The Bojuka bog in main might be a meta call. I was thinking about the wording of library and it seems like you could get rid of unwanted mystics and a second library by putting them back on top of your deck and then using a fetch or KotR trigger to shuffle.
I really think you can't go wrong with your second list, though of course as I've mentioned before Maverick preys on metas. The better you know your opponents decks the better you can adjust yours to crush them.
Modern: WUBValue Titan UMerfolk WGDeath and Taxes
As I said, there isn't much combo in my friends circle. There's one storm and I think that's it. It's mostly aggro and control. Which is why I changed the discard.
If more people build combo I might change it.
Anyway, the main board looks solid, and I certainly don't know your meta so the board will I'm sure evolve to deal with it as you go. Have fun!
Modern: WUBValue Titan UMerfolk WGDeath and Taxes
I stumbled on Maverick a few months back but black splash was lacking imo. I feel rhino is just at home in this deck, being a beater and a lifegain engine to counter some lifeloss.
Modern: WUBValue Titan UMerfolk WGDeath and Taxes
Modern: WUBValue Titan UMerfolk WGDeath and Taxes
2 BoBs would be enough... it could even be better since you get card advantage and most of the time it'll cost less than library.
I'v decided to try 1 Sword of Fire and Ice and 1 Sword of Light and Shadow in the SB. I'm not an equipment deck but if I can side out jitte for a more personalized hate equipment I think it's worth it.
Edit: I'v actually reworked my whole sideboard to be better at facing my meta. Since Maverick preys on meta it's only fair I don't base myself on other metas when building it.