So I'm wanting a little feedback on this deck, which is sort of a Dark Maverick deck, and one that I've been having a little fun with in testing. Just whatever thoughts people have would be very useful, as I don't normally play this style of deck:
Sideboard: 23
3 Thoughtseize
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Engineered Plague
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Wheel of Sun and Moon
1 Batterskull
1 Path to Exile
1 Garruk Relentless
1 Life from the Loam[/DECK]
Everybody will have his own opinion about specific card choices, but I'm looking for some more general advice about whether the black splash is workable and whether the list will lead to reasonably coherent lines of play. One thing I am considering is dropping the Noble Hierarchs in favor of a 4th Shaman and a 2nd Sylvan Library (to help make Bob a little better--in some matchups, like against combo, I can see just boarding him out for Thoughtseize).
Thanks.
Here's my concern with this deck. My first version of Dark Maverick started out looking like this. It's a decent deck, but if you want consistency, you'll need think of deck philosophy when it comes to how you want to end your game. As I've learned playing Dark Confidant in this deck, you want to have 4 in your main because he'll piggy back you for the win if he stays long enough on the field. Having 1 more of him over a Sylvan Library will increase probability to have him in opener. Simply, he is much better than Sylvan Library. You have less removal and more creatures. This is fine. I play 4 Abrupt Decays in my main. It allows me to remove hard to deal with things. Having removal is always good. Tons of control decks have tons of removal. Sometimes, their removal is better. You really got to aim what games you got to beat, and what games you can lose to.
I am not a fan of Mr. Confidant but that's another story for another day.
@discodude:
I don't know why you aren't running Gaddock #2. That's like the only mandatory card in the SB imho.
@Miracles: Land Thalia/Mom/Gaddock as soon as possible. Mom -> either of those is extremely difficult for them to deal with. I'd even argue it's GG if you can turn off swords to plowshares/path to exile (hence mom).
If it's countertop-miracles-stoneblade, thalia is more important. Also don't be afraid to ruin their manabase. Especially if they are a 3 color mix; holding that deck down on mana is huge.
@Opposing Elspeths: Always take them down OR dig up a maze of ith immediately if you cannot. It's worth stopping their attacks. You DO want to kill elspeth because letting her eventually ultimate if you can durdle (via maze), the indestructible effect is impossible to beat unless they are low on life or something.
@Gaddock: Unless you're going in for the kill and need him, never attack with teeg. My 2 cents. The only times it's otherwise appropriate is some type of storm combo. Losing teeg like you had against an ambushing snapcaster/clique is soooo not worth it.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
That which nourishes me, destroys me
10th at SCG: Syracuse (2014), GP:NJ Last-Chance Grinder Winner (2014):: Former Legacy Mod
I mean, hell, we're all on a forum for something that most people would describe as a "children's card game"...do what makes you happy. You are never too old to enjoy yourself.
I am not a fan of Mr. Confidant but that's another story for another day.
@discodude:
I don't know why you aren't running Gaddock #2. That's like the only mandatory card in the SB imho.
@Miracles: Land Thalia/Mom/Gaddock as soon as possible. Mom -> either of those is extremely difficult for them to deal with. I'd even argue it's GG if you can turn off swords to plowshares/path to exile (hence mom).
If it's countertop-miracles-stoneblade, thalia is more important. Also don't be afraid to ruin their manabase. Especially if they are a 3 color mix; holding that deck down on mana is huge.
@Opposing Elspeths: Always take them down OR dig up a maze of ith immediately if you cannot. It's worth stopping their attacks. You DO want to kill elspeth because letting her eventually ultimate if you can durdle (via maze), the indestructible effect is impossible to beat unless they are low on life or something.
@Gaddock: Unless you're going in for the kill and need him, never attack with teeg. My 2 cents. The only times it's otherwise appropriate is some type of storm combo. Losing teeg like you had against an ambushing snapcaster/clique is soooo not worth it.
should have known some of those tips, and should have been more awake in general during that miracle game. Aside from that, I learned an exceptional lot during that game, so there is at least that. I had played games against miracles before, but not against actual good players, and the games never went really long, so never a lot to see in those games. also, as I said, I will probably remake some of the sideboard, i'll look in to it when I have more time. The only thing I know is that tracker in sideboard in not where I want to be right now. Teeg also seems like a card I want as a second copy somewhere.
Playing:
Legacy:
:symw::symb::symg::symu::symr:Dredge
:symu::symb: ANT
The Gate
Modern:
:symu::symr: Past in flames Storm
EDH:
:symr::symw::symb: Kaalia of the Vast
How would someone go about playing this deck if they don't have original dual lands? I'm interested in playing this deck, but I don't have Savvanah or the old school fetch lands, so I wanted to know what alternatives are available to me.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Collecting Timbermare, hit me up if you have any for trade
[color=deeppink]I am not a fan of Mr. Confidant but that's another story for another day.
I'd like to fast-forward to that day. I've been contemplating a fairly radical revision to Dark Maverick and I'm curious what the community's (and especially Warden's) opinion would be on it.
This is my thought process. Knight of the Reliquary is an amazing card, but it's seen better days. It just doesn't often get to be Hugey McHuge as reliably as it used to, with Deathrite Shamans munching on graveyards and folks playing Rest In Peace. I am not sure if it really needs to be a 4x in the deck, maybe it would work fine with fewer copies: certainly it still serves as a lovely GSZ target with lower numbers in the deck.
Dark Confidant was undesirable, meanwhile, partly because the density of CMC=3 was fairly high. If some Knights were cut, though, we simultaneously make room for Bob and lower the pain associated with him.
How would someone go about playing this deck if they don't have original dual lands? I'm interested in playing this deck, but I don't have Savvanah or the old school fetch lands, so I wanted to know what alternatives are available to me.
Without either duals or fetches you're going to have trouble. Yeah, you could do shocks + some combination of fastlands, checklands, filters, ect. but it's going to cause headaches, and to me it seems silly to invest in a deck like maverick without a mana base that will make it work.
That said, I don't think you need a full set of duals for the deck to be viable, and heaths are on the cheaper end of fetchland prices. I've had good luck running duals as singletons with shocks for the rest of the list (not in maverick because I happen to have 4x savannah, but in other decks like loam pox and zombardment).
Sometimes you won't need the mana that turn and you can grab the shock and just play it tapped, or you can grab a basic. Sometimes you're playing vs. combo and your life total is largely irrelevant anyway. With only 2 groves you shouldn't have to worry much about them causing problems.
Lastly, and this should be obvious: Stick to GW with no splash.
Actually the GWr Punishing Maverick (I call it Pirates) might be a cheaper manabase than straight GW.
I think the most important part of the base is absolutely the 4 Windswept Heath. That part isn't ultimately going to be optional. The deck really wants to go fetch -> Hierarch, fetch -> Knight.
From cards I already have, would this be an acceptable semi-budget loadout? 1 Horizon Canopy, 2 Temple Garden, 2 Sunpetal Grove, 1 Arid Mesa, 1 Verdant Catacombs, 1 Marsh Flats
Other than land the only things I don't have are a full set of Noble Heirarch (1), Stoneforge Mystic (1), Tarmogoyf (0).
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Collecting Timbermare, hit me up if you have any for trade
Actually the GWr Punishing Maverick (I call it Pirates) might be a cheaper manabase than straight GW.
I think the most important part of the base is absolutely the 4 Windswept Heath. That part isn't ultimately going to be optional. The deck really wants to go fetch -> Hierarch, fetch -> Knight.
Not tremendously cheap, but far better than a lot of the format. Cradle doesn't fit quite as well into a 3-color deck, so not running it in the GWr build doesn't really hurt.
Could anyone give me a quick run down of how Dark Mav's match ups against the field? I'm strongly thinking about getting into Maverick and I'm hoping for a bit more information about what I'm getting into.
Here's what I think about Dark Maverick's matchups against the rest of the field. DISCLAIMER: This my own experience that I've gathered from playing my deck in tournaments in Western Washington, and online using Cockatrice (where there's a variety of decks but not a ton of skill).
RUG and BUG Delver - favorable
are both reasonably easy, as long as you stabilize through their early mana disruption and deal with a Delver. This deck has enough graveyard interaction to keep their threats looking non-threatening.
American Delver - slightly unfavorable
I don't win this one very often because Geist and Stoneforge are much harder to interact for Dark Mav with than Goyf and Goose and their removal is better. That said, I may just be getting unlucky.
Esper Stoneblade - neutral
Most of the time when I lose to this deck ti's because I was drowning in a sea of card advantage from Bob, SFM, Jace, Lingering Souls, etc. It's hard to find a way to break this matchup, I'm currently trying Zealous Persecution and Tower of the Magistrate, but haven't gotten to use them yet.
Jund - unfavorable
Punishing Fire is a pain for this deck, even with all the GY hate we have, and Jund has about a million removal spells to go along with it.
Death n Taxes - neutral
Both decks have a lot of tricks and a lot of ways of grinding an advantage. As always, kill Mom on sight. Revokers are annoying, but they can't name everything. Watch out for Aven Mindcensor.
Elves - highly unfavorable
I hate elves. I rarely beat them. If anyone has any tips, I'd love to hear them.
Miracles - unfavorable to neutral
Terminus sucks for us. That said, we have Mom and Thalia to annoy them. Armageddon is GG every time it's been cast; they usually board out counterspells against us. Surgical Extraction on Terminus us a huge boon as well. If in doubt, fetch basics Games 2 and 3.
Reanimator - favorable
We have lots of gy control.
Staxx - favorable (only slightly favored if it's white staxx)
Our biggest costs 3 already and we don't have very many relevant spells at 1cc. Watch out for Armageddon though.
Slow storm combo [High Tide, ANT] - favorable
If they don't win before you hit a Thalia or Teeg, smart play will usually win you game 2 and game 3.
Fast storm combo [Belcher, TES, SI, Opps! All Spells]- unfavorable
Turn 1 discard -> hate bear is pretty much your only hope game 2, and even then you'll probably lose game 3.
Goblins - neutral
Merfolk - favorable (Scryb Ranger )
All in Red - favorable as long as you fetch basics
Affinity - favorable if they don't have Tezz, unfavorable if they do.
Play with me on Cockatrice at cockatrice.woogerworks.com
Currently playing:
Legacy
GW(G/B) Maverick RRR Burn (G/B)G(G/R) Elves!
Building: Who knows?
EDH WR Jor Kadeen - 100% pimp URG Maelstrom Wanderer - rampramprampbomb.dec UG Prime Speaker Zegana Control UBR Gwendlyn di Corci and her band of Scantily Clad Women UR Pauper Gelectrode
I wouldn't have guessed that Goblins earned a Neutral rating.
Goblins was a natural predator of Maverick decks back in the day, wasn't it? Very solid chances against both Maverick and Miracles, and even chances against RUG, made it worthwhile to absorb the traditionally miserable combo games.
I wouldn't have guessed that Goblins earned a Neutral rating.
Goblins was a natural predator of Maverick decks back in the day, wasn't it? Very solid chances against both Maverick and Miracles, and even chances against RUG, made it worthwhile to absorb the traditionally miserable combo games.
That's what I've noticed about the different splashed of Maverick. GW gives you a solid, stable deck, with probably a better matchup against Tempo decks.
GWb gives you discard and tools to beat combo decks. (I opted for this one because of my meta)
GWr give you a much better matchup against any deck trying to win with creatures with > 2 toughness.
@Barook: I'm theorycrafting at this point, but wouldn't discard on SnT = Surgical Extraction allow you to win the game against OnmiTell?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Play with me on Cockatrice at cockatrice.woogerworks.com
Currently playing:
Legacy
GW(G/B) Maverick RRR Burn (G/B)G(G/R) Elves!
Building: Who knows?
EDH WR Jor Kadeen - 100% pimp URG Maelstrom Wanderer - rampramprampbomb.dec UG Prime Speaker Zegana Control UBR Gwendlyn di Corci and her band of Scantily Clad Women UR Pauper Gelectrode
I hope you are doing well with your decks. I am mikeduges and I have recently abandoned my long lasting love affair with blue and sold all of my pieces to settle into this fine deck that is Maverick. I have pretty much copied my decklist from Jack Wang's winning list from SCG in June. I entered one tournament and went 4-2, missing my last game because I had to get home at a reasonable hour (my wife and baby needs me).
In the tournament, I noticed that Aven Mindcensor under performed in a major way. I was wondering if that slot is a must for the tri color version of this deck? After much deliberation, I decided to try Mirran Crusader for the BUG matchups. But the two white was quite harsh and I found that against other decks, it wasn't quite up to par.
This is my question as a player new to non-blue decks. Would Lingering Souls suffice in those slots? I had them in my sideboard and constantly brought them in. When I did so during the tournament, they shined. They are good against anything that is not combo and replaces the mindcensor in the battle of the skies. They happen to fight decently against BUG as well.
Is this card a good replacement despite the nonbo with Thalia? Would to love to know your thoughts in preparation for tomorrow's tourney and October's major tournament held here in Japan.
EDIT: I forgot to add. My meta here is filled with stoneblade variants of all shapes, color and sizes. Especially common are W/U/x stoneblade.
I hope you are doing well with your decks. I am mikeduges and I have recently abandoned my long lasting love affair with blue and sold all of my pieces to settle into this fine deck that is Maverick. I have pretty much copied my decklist from Jack Wang's winning list from SCG in June. I entered one tournament and went 4-2, missing my last game because I had to get home at a reasonable hour (my wife and baby needs me).
In the tournament, I noticed that Aven Mindcensor under performed in a major way. I was wondering if that slot is a must for the tri color version of this deck? After much deliberation, I decided to try Mirran Crusader for the BUG matchups. But the two white was quite harsh and I found that against other decks, it wasn't quite up to par.
This is my question as a player new to non-blue decks. Would Lingering Souls suffice in those slots? I had them in my sideboard and constantly brought them in. When I did so during the tournament, they shined. They are good against anything that is not combo and replaces the mindcensor in the battle of the skies. They happen to fight decently against BUG as well.
Is this card a good replacement despite the nonbo with Thalia? Would to love to know your thoughts in preparation for tomorrow's tourney and October's major tournament held here in Japan.
EDIT: I forgot to add. My meta here is filled with stoneblade variants of all shapes, color and sizes. Especially common are W/U/x stoneblade.
I remember posting with you on the stoneblade forum back when UWr was a thing... probably a year ago.
I too, am finding Aven Mindcensor a bit subpar, but I don't think lingering souls is what we want. I personally want to add in Phyrexian Revoker to the maindeck over aven as an additional hatebear, I've always liked that card.
I'm also playing a singleton Sorin, Lord of Innistrad since I have the black splash, might as well play it. It produces tokens like elspeth, but the emblem can really push damage over the top. It ults fairly quickly too, and can kill jaces.
I remember posting with you on the stoneblade forum back when UWr was a thing... probably a year ago.
I too, am finding Aven Mindcensor a bit subpar, but I don't think lingering souls is what we want. I personally want to add in Phyrexian Revoker to the maindeck over aven as an additional hatebear, I've always liked that card.
I'm also playing a singleton Sorin, Lord of Innistrad since I have the black splash, might as well play it. It produces tokens like elspeth, but the emblem can really push damage over the top. It ults fairly quickly too, and can kill jaces.
Yes! I remember you when we were both ardently defending the splash red. I will assume with the common occurrence of UWrs in recent years that we were certainly on the winning side.
I can definitely see the advantage of Phyrexian Revoker as it stops everything we need to. Jace, top and opposing Jitte. I can concur that it is a good replacement. I, however, don't think this necessarily negates the effectiveness of Lingerings Souls. I think Lingering Souls has two things that Revoker doesn't. Card advantage and resilience to discard. Fliers are needed in many situations as well, especially on a stalled board.
I don't see what Sorin provides that Elspeth doesn't. Wouldn't we just wanna jam Elspeth if we are trying Sorin? The difficulty of casting either is similar with the color restriction and Elspeth is tougher.
Let me know further what you have found, I am very interested in your argument.
Yes! I remember you when we were both ardently defending the splash red. I will assume with the common occurrence of UWrs in recent years that we were certainly on the winning side.
I can definitely see the advantage of Phyrexian Revoker as it stops everything we need to. Jace, top and opposing Jitte. I can concur that it is a good replacement. I, however, don't think this necessarily negates the effectiveness of Lingerings Souls. I think Lingering Souls has two things that Revoker doesn't. Card advantage and resilience to discard. Fliers are needed in many situations as well, especially on a stalled board.
I don't see what Sorin provides that Elspeth doesn't. Wouldn't we just wanna jam Elspeth if we are trying Sorin? The difficulty of casting either is similar with the color restriction and Elspeth is tougher.
Let me know further what you have found, I am very interested in your argument.
PS congratulations on being a moderator!
Ha, thanks. I've been a mod for some time now, since last year.
I do like lingering souls, but I honestly don't have any testing with the card in maverick to say the least. I can give it a shot. Getting it eaten in the yard by DRS kind of sucks though. We honestly aren't a flying deck, I can't think of any deck with a ton of fliers we can't just race on the ground.
In terms of being resistant to discard, it's usually targeted, minus a hymn, so I doubt they're going to take a lingering souls. I can see the value against an opposing Liliana OTV, although I really do like boarding in Wilt-Leaf Liege against them.
I'm testing Sorin because his abilities are slightly different. Since he hits ult faster, if he's at 6 counters, you can prevent your opponent from casting any jace or a creature to find an out. Nobody wants you stealing their creatures or walkers. The emblem is also a lasting effect, regardless of death. I thought it was neat.
Ha, thanks. I've been a mod for some time now, since last year.
I do like lingering souls, but I honestly don't have any testing with the card in maverick to say the least. I can give it a shot. Getting it eaten in the yard by DRS kind of sucks though. We honestly aren't a flying deck, I can't think of any deck with a ton of fliers we can't just race on the ground.
In terms of being resistant to discard, it's usually targeted, minus a hymn, so I doubt they're going to take a lingering souls. I can see the value against an opposing Liliana OTV, although I really do like boarding in Wilt-Leaf Leige against them.
I'm testing Sorin because his abilities are slightly different. Since he hits ult faster, if he's at 6 counters, you can prevent your opponent from casting any jace or a creature to find an out. Nobody wants you stealing their creatures or walkers. The emblem is also a lasting effect, regardless of death. I thought it was neat.
Hm, good arguments for Sorin. In fact, now that I think about it, the emblem WITH Lingering Souls produces 4 2/1 fliers! That may be enough to push me towards that direction. I'm currently running a singleton garruk and have found him to be decent, but not dominating. Perhaps I will switch that slot to Sorin.
I'm really working on getting my dirty hands on those Wilt-Leaf Leige's. I can definitely see their value. Quite a house. Do you think they are much better than Loxodon Smiters?
Here's my concern with this deck. My first version of Dark Maverick started out looking like this. It's a decent deck, but if you want consistency, you'll need think of deck philosophy when it comes to how you want to end your game. As I've learned playing Dark Confidant in this deck, you want to have 4 in your main because he'll piggy back you for the win if he stays long enough on the field. Having 1 more of him over a Sylvan Library will increase probability to have him in opener. Simply, he is much better than Sylvan Library. You have less removal and more creatures. This is fine. I play 4 Abrupt Decays in my main. It allows me to remove hard to deal with things. Having removal is always good. Tons of control decks have tons of removal. Sometimes, their removal is better. You really got to aim what games you got to beat, and what games you can lose to.
Here's my list.
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Verdant Catacombs
3 Windswept Heath
2 Marsh Flats
3 Wasteland
2 Scrubland
3 Bayou
2 Savannah
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Karakas
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Scryb Ranger
4 Mother of Runes
1 Scavenging Ooze
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Maze of Ith
1 Gaddock Teeg
4 Abrupt Decay
2 Thoughtseize
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Dark Confidant
1 Umezawa's Jitte
I've made it to built top tier control decks like BUG, RUG, JUND, and UWR. It has elements to beat combo decks as well with 4 discard in the main.
So far my record is:
2-0 UWR MIRCALE
2-0 shardless agent
0-2 stax
2-0 rug
This is on Cockatrice.
@discodude:
I don't know why you aren't running Gaddock #2. That's like the only mandatory card in the SB imho.
@Miracles: Land Thalia/Mom/Gaddock as soon as possible. Mom -> either of those is extremely difficult for them to deal with. I'd even argue it's GG if you can turn off swords to plowshares/path to exile (hence mom).
If it's countertop-miracles-stoneblade, thalia is more important. Also don't be afraid to ruin their manabase. Especially if they are a 3 color mix; holding that deck down on mana is huge.
@Opposing Elspeths: Always take them down OR dig up a maze of ith immediately if you cannot. It's worth stopping their attacks. You DO want to kill elspeth because letting her eventually ultimate if you can durdle (via maze), the indestructible effect is impossible to beat unless they are low on life or something.
@Gaddock: Unless you're going in for the kill and need him, never attack with teeg. My 2 cents. The only times it's otherwise appropriate is some type of storm combo. Losing teeg like you had against an ambushing snapcaster/clique is soooo not worth it.
10th at SCG: Syracuse (2014), GP:NJ Last-Chance Grinder Winner (2014):: Former Legacy Mod
should have known some of those tips, and should have been more awake in general during that miracle game. Aside from that, I learned an exceptional lot during that game, so there is at least that. I had played games against miracles before, but not against actual good players, and the games never went really long, so never a lot to see in those games. also, as I said, I will probably remake some of the sideboard, i'll look in to it when I have more time. The only thing I know is that tracker in sideboard in not where I want to be right now. Teeg also seems like a card I want as a second copy somewhere.
Playing:
Legacy:
:symw::symb::symg::symu::symr:Dredge
:symu::symb: ANT
The Gate
Modern:
:symu::symr: Past in flames Storm
EDH:
:symr::symw::symb: Kaalia of the Vast
I'd like to fast-forward to that day. I've been contemplating a fairly radical revision to Dark Maverick and I'm curious what the community's (and especially Warden's) opinion would be on it.
This is my thought process. Knight of the Reliquary is an amazing card, but it's seen better days. It just doesn't often get to be Hugey McHuge as reliably as it used to, with Deathrite Shamans munching on graveyards and folks playing Rest In Peace. I am not sure if it really needs to be a 4x in the deck, maybe it would work fine with fewer copies: certainly it still serves as a lovely GSZ target with lower numbers in the deck.
Dark Confidant was undesirable, meanwhile, partly because the density of CMC=3 was fairly high. If some Knights were cut, though, we simultaneously make room for Bob and lower the pain associated with him.
Would the deck possibly be improved if Knight of the Reliquary numbers were reduced to 1-2, Dark Confidant introduced as a 2-3 of, and Maze of Ith possibly removed?
Overall record: 139-98-15
Total number of matches: 252
Win percentage ignoring draws: 58.649789
Win percentage including draws: 55.158730
Without either duals or fetches you're going to have trouble. Yeah, you could do shocks + some combination of fastlands, checklands, filters, ect. but it's going to cause headaches, and to me it seems silly to invest in a deck like maverick without a mana base that will make it work.
That said, I don't think you need a full set of duals for the deck to be viable, and heaths are on the cheaper end of fetchland prices. I've had good luck running duals as singletons with shocks for the rest of the list (not in maverick because I happen to have 4x savannah, but in other decks like loam pox and zombardment).
A viable semi-budget manabase might look like this: 1 savannah, 2 temple garden, 2 sunpetal grove, 4 windswept heath.
Sometimes you won't need the mana that turn and you can grab the shock and just play it tapped, or you can grab a basic. Sometimes you're playing vs. combo and your life total is largely irrelevant anyway. With only 2 groves you shouldn't have to worry much about them causing problems.
Lastly, and this should be obvious: Stick to GW with no splash.
I think the most important part of the base is absolutely the 4 Windswept Heath. That part isn't ultimately going to be optional. The deck really wants to go fetch -> Hierarch, fetch -> Knight.
Overall record: 139-98-15
Total number of matches: 252
Win percentage ignoring draws: 58.649789
Win percentage including draws: 55.158730
Other than land the only things I don't have are a full set of Noble Heirarch (1), Stoneforge Mystic (1), Tarmogoyf (0).
My manabase from Punishing Maverick:
1 Arid Mesa
1 Wooded Foothills
3 Savannah
2 Taiga
1 Forest
1 Plains
3 Grove of the Burnwillows
3 Wasteland
1 Karakas
1 Maze of Ith
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Horizon Canopy
Not tremendously cheap, but far better than a lot of the format. Cradle doesn't fit quite as well into a 3-color deck, so not running it in the GWr build doesn't really hurt.
Have any questions or concerns? Come take a dip in my pool.
4 Mother of Runes
3 Thalia, guardian of Thraben
3 Deathrite Shaman
3 Knight of the Reliquary
2 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Aven Mindcensor
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Quasali Pridemage
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Sylvan Safekeeper
Artifacts: 3
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
4 Green Sun's Zenith
3 Swords to Plowshares
2 Abrupt Decay
Land: 23
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Windswept Heath
3 Wasteland
3 Savannah
2 Bayou
1 Scrubland
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Karakas
1 Maze of Ith
1 Plains
1 Forest
1 Dryad Arbor
3 Duress
2 Choke
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Krosan Grip
1 Golgari Charm
1 Gaddock Teeg
Probably going to put in a Cavern of Souls over a horizon canopy. Wizard gets me Pridemage, Safekeeper and Mindcensor, human gets me the norms.
WGURBLands!WGURB
WGUInfectWGU
Legacy Lands Primer
Top 8 SCG Oakland 2014
Helpdesk
My Cube on CubeTutor
Splintertwin (?)
RUG and BUG Delver - favorable
are both reasonably easy, as long as you stabilize through their early mana disruption and deal with a Delver. This deck has enough graveyard interaction to keep their threats looking non-threatening.
American Delver - slightly unfavorable
I don't win this one very often because Geist and Stoneforge are much harder to interact for Dark Mav with than Goyf and Goose and their removal is better. That said, I may just be getting unlucky.
Esper Stoneblade - neutral
Most of the time when I lose to this deck ti's because I was drowning in a sea of card advantage from Bob, SFM, Jace, Lingering Souls, etc. It's hard to find a way to break this matchup, I'm currently trying Zealous Persecution and Tower of the Magistrate, but haven't gotten to use them yet.
Jund - unfavorable
Punishing Fire is a pain for this deck, even with all the GY hate we have, and Jund has about a million removal spells to go along with it.
Death n Taxes - neutral
Both decks have a lot of tricks and a lot of ways of grinding an advantage. As always, kill Mom on sight. Revokers are annoying, but they can't name everything. Watch out for Aven Mindcensor.
Elves - highly unfavorable
I hate elves. I rarely beat them. If anyone has any tips, I'd love to hear them.
Miracles - unfavorable to neutral
Terminus sucks for us. That said, we have Mom and Thalia to annoy them. Armageddon is GG every time it's been cast; they usually board out counterspells against us. Surgical Extraction on Terminus us a huge boon as well. If in doubt, fetch basics Games 2 and 3.
Reanimator - favorable
We have lots of gy control.
Staxx - favorable (only slightly favored if it's white staxx)
Our biggest costs 3 already and we don't have very many relevant spells at 1cc. Watch out for Armageddon though.
Slow storm combo [High Tide, ANT] - favorable
If they don't win before you hit a Thalia or Teeg, smart play will usually win you game 2 and game 3.
Fast storm combo [Belcher, TES, SI, Opps! All Spells]- unfavorable
Turn 1 discard -> hate bear is pretty much your only hope game 2, and even then you'll probably lose game 3.
Goblins - neutral
Merfolk - favorable (Scryb Ranger )
All in Red - favorable as long as you fetch basics
Affinity - favorable if they don't have Tezz, unfavorable if they do.
UNKNOWN (to me): OmniTell, SneaknShow, Esper Deathblade, Shardless BUG, 12 Post
My list for reference:
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Mother of Runes
3 Thalia
2 Deathrite Shaman
2 Noble Heirarch
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Dryad Arbor
Lands - 23
4 Windswept Heath
3 Verdant Catacombs
2 Savannah
2 Bayou
1 Scrubland
2 Forest
1 Plains
3 Wasteland
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Karakas
1 Maze of Ith
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Batterskull
1 Jitte
1 Sylvan Library
1 Garruk Relentless
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Tower of the Magistrate
1 Life From the Loam
2 Armageddon
3 Inquisition of Kosilek
2 Zealous Persecution
2 Abrupt Decay
3 Surgical Extraction
Currently playing:
GW(G/B) Maverick
RRR Burn
(G/B)G(G/R) Elves!
Building: Who knows?
EDH
WR Jor Kadeen - 100% pimp
URG Maelstrom Wanderer - rampramprampbomb.dec
UG Prime Speaker Zegana Control
UBR Gwendlyn di Corci and her band of Scantily Clad Women
UR Pauper Gelectrode
Modern/Casual
WU Acid Trip
WURZedruu's Didgeridoo
ThePrevailer on The Source, MTGO, and Cockatrice
Goblins was a natural predator of Maverick decks back in the day, wasn't it? Very solid chances against both Maverick and Miracles, and even chances against RUG, made it worthwhile to absorb the traditionally miserable combo games.
I knew Maverick players who sided in Tidaver's Crusade, Linvala, Keeper of Silence, and Torpor Orb.
...vs. DnT, their Plan A (and it's a good plan) is to get a Phyrexian Revoker naming Qasali Pridemage on the table, and give it a Sword of Light and Shadow.
That's tough to beat.
Overall record: 139-98-15
Total number of matches: 252
Win percentage ignoring draws: 58.649789
Win percentage including draws: 55.158730
D&T comes down to a mother of runes battle. Thankfully in your scenario, Abrupt Decay takes care of that.
WGURBLands!WGURB
WGUInfectWGU
Legacy Lands Primer
Top 8 SCG Oakland 2014
Helpdesk
My Cube on CubeTutor
GWb gives you discard and tools to beat combo decks. (I opted for this one because of my meta)
GWr give you a much better matchup against any deck trying to win with creatures with > 2 toughness.
@Barook: I'm theorycrafting at this point, but wouldn't discard on SnT = Surgical Extraction allow you to win the game against OnmiTell?
Currently playing:
GW(G/B) Maverick
RRR Burn
(G/B)G(G/R) Elves!
Building: Who knows?
EDH
WR Jor Kadeen - 100% pimp
URG Maelstrom Wanderer - rampramprampbomb.dec
UG Prime Speaker Zegana Control
UBR Gwendlyn di Corci and her band of Scantily Clad Women
UR Pauper Gelectrode
Modern/Casual
WU Acid Trip
WURZedruu's Didgeridoo
ThePrevailer on The Source, MTGO, and Cockatrice
I hope you are doing well with your decks. I am mikeduges and I have recently abandoned my long lasting love affair with blue and sold all of my pieces to settle into this fine deck that is Maverick. I have pretty much copied my decklist from Jack Wang's winning list from SCG in June. I entered one tournament and went 4-2, missing my last game because I had to get home at a reasonable hour (my wife and baby needs me).
In the tournament, I noticed that Aven Mindcensor under performed in a major way. I was wondering if that slot is a must for the tri color version of this deck? After much deliberation, I decided to try Mirran Crusader for the BUG matchups. But the two white was quite harsh and I found that against other decks, it wasn't quite up to par.
This is my question as a player new to non-blue decks. Would Lingering Souls suffice in those slots? I had them in my sideboard and constantly brought them in. When I did so during the tournament, they shined. They are good against anything that is not combo and replaces the mindcensor in the battle of the skies. They happen to fight decently against BUG as well.
Is this card a good replacement despite the nonbo with Thalia? Would to love to know your thoughts in preparation for tomorrow's tourney and October's major tournament held here in Japan.
EDIT: I forgot to add. My meta here is filled with stoneblade variants of all shapes, color and sizes. Especially common are W/U/x stoneblade.
BGElvesBG and BUGNissa ElvesBUG Faithful Elfer since May 1st, 2015
Results: SCG IQ Top 8, Monthly Modern Masters Top 4
I remember posting with you on the stoneblade forum back when UWr was a thing... probably a year ago.
I too, am finding Aven Mindcensor a bit subpar, but I don't think lingering souls is what we want. I personally want to add in Phyrexian Revoker to the maindeck over aven as an additional hatebear, I've always liked that card.
I'm also playing a singleton Sorin, Lord of Innistrad since I have the black splash, might as well play it. It produces tokens like elspeth, but the emblem can really push damage over the top. It ults fairly quickly too, and can kill jaces.
WGURBLands!WGURB
WGUInfectWGU
Legacy Lands Primer
Top 8 SCG Oakland 2014
Helpdesk
My Cube on CubeTutor
Yes! I remember you when we were both ardently defending the splash red. I will assume with the common occurrence of UWrs in recent years that we were certainly on the winning side.
I can definitely see the advantage of Phyrexian Revoker as it stops everything we need to. Jace, top and opposing Jitte. I can concur that it is a good replacement. I, however, don't think this necessarily negates the effectiveness of Lingerings Souls. I think Lingering Souls has two things that Revoker doesn't. Card advantage and resilience to discard. Fliers are needed in many situations as well, especially on a stalled board.
I don't see what Sorin provides that Elspeth doesn't. Wouldn't we just wanna jam Elspeth if we are trying Sorin? The difficulty of casting either is similar with the color restriction and Elspeth is tougher.
Let me know further what you have found, I am very interested in your argument.
PS congratulations on being a moderator!
BGElvesBG and BUGNissa ElvesBUG Faithful Elfer since May 1st, 2015
Results: SCG IQ Top 8, Monthly Modern Masters Top 4
Ha, thanks. I've been a mod for some time now, since last year.
I do like lingering souls, but I honestly don't have any testing with the card in maverick to say the least. I can give it a shot. Getting it eaten in the yard by DRS kind of sucks though. We honestly aren't a flying deck, I can't think of any deck with a ton of fliers we can't just race on the ground.
In terms of being resistant to discard, it's usually targeted, minus a hymn, so I doubt they're going to take a lingering souls. I can see the value against an opposing Liliana OTV, although I really do like boarding in Wilt-Leaf Liege against them.
I'm testing Sorin because his abilities are slightly different. Since he hits ult faster, if he's at 6 counters, you can prevent your opponent from casting any jace or a creature to find an out. Nobody wants you stealing their creatures or walkers. The emblem is also a lasting effect, regardless of death. I thought it was neat.
WGURBLands!WGURB
WGUInfectWGU
Legacy Lands Primer
Top 8 SCG Oakland 2014
Helpdesk
My Cube on CubeTutor
Hm, good arguments for Sorin. In fact, now that I think about it, the emblem WITH Lingering Souls produces 4 2/1 fliers! That may be enough to push me towards that direction. I'm currently running a singleton garruk and have found him to be decent, but not dominating. Perhaps I will switch that slot to Sorin.
I'm really working on getting my dirty hands on those Wilt-Leaf Leige's. I can definitely see their value. Quite a house. Do you think they are much better than Loxodon Smiters?
BGElvesBG and BUGNissa ElvesBUG Faithful Elfer since May 1st, 2015
Results: SCG IQ Top 8, Monthly Modern Masters Top 4