The t16 Maverick list at SCG LA is not really Maverick, more just Junk. No Mother of Runes (in fact no x/1s at all, and 2 maindeck Golgari Charm), 8 spot removal and 6 discard maindeck, only 2 Green Sun's Zenith. Pretty weird list but I can see why it did well, just about all the cards in it are pretty well-positioned.
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Thanks to Gabgabdevo for the awesome sig image!
I'm always looking for foil Madcap Skills and Ghitu Fire-Eater, [trade thread link forthcoming]
So there are lot of Maverick in the top 8 of BOM. There is a punishing maverick in eighth place in the main event and numerous iterations of the deck in the trials.
I think this deck is healthy, but why don't we see it in the US?
Also, notice that there are NO Thalias in the Punishing Maverick list. It made it to top 8 in a 695 player event. The other lists do have them.
The US meta is just full of sheep, they follow what preforms well and maverick is "inconsistent" and "loses to terminus and combo" so it's under-represented.
Packing black for discard + <the more typical kit> may be enough to keep the combo match up winnable. Admittedly, I'm not a huge fan of punishing fire (maybe just doesn't fit my playstyle?) but if non-thalia decks are ticking through, I'd be very tempted to run a small NO package in the 75. There are some pretty boss targets around (Ruric Thar, the Unbowed, Craterhoof Behemoth) that just better than proggy as they either lock up/end the game on resolution.
Also, just realized that the heavy meta of DRS provides another recursion engine for Punishing Fire. Making Grove of the Burnwillows less vital to the deck.
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The heavy Deathrite meta probably keeps you from recurring Punishing Fire (it should be the first target Deathrite hits unless you play a game of chicken with Grove). I'd still keep regular Grove counts for games of chicken.
Hey guys, tournament report from SCG LA for you. I could have top 16 by playing my last match rather than drawing, but my opponent and I decided to draw into top 32 so that we both got $100.
So I played this list at SCG LA:
1 Dryad Arbor
3 Deathrite Shaman
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Birds Of Paradise
4 Mother of Runes
3 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Scryb Ranger
4 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Aven Mindcensor
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Swords To Plowshares
3 Punishing Fire
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull
1 Life From The Loam
SB:
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Bojuka Bog
2 Choke
1 Crop Rotation
2 Pyroblast
2 Oblivion Ring
It is similar to "Punishing Dark Maverick" lists that have been posted before such as Fabien Goerzgens, but I chose to run no maze of ith or sylvan library. I personally like punishing fire more than Thalia in the maindeck right now. Anywho here goes:
Round 1: Michael with Shardless BUG
Game 1: I mull to 5. Back and forth for a while with creatures/planeswalkers, I eventually establish the grove/p fire lock on his creatures and a large knight finishes up the game.
Game 2: Very grindy game, he gets an early sideboarded ashiok which is actually pretty problematic. Eventually I get a good enough board presence to keep his creatures at bay while aven mindcensor and scryb ranger fly overhead with a jitte to lock the game up.
1 - 0
Round 2: Daniel with Affinity
Game 1: He plays a turn 1 ornithopter and a couple of cranial platings. Game ends quickly as my deathrites sit there and look dumb
Game 2: now that I know he is on affinity, I mulligan until I find a stoneforge mystic. I get a jitte, he has a slow enough start for jitte to lock up the game.
Game 3: I keep a hand with GSZ, 2 stoneforge, noble hierarch, birds of paradise, verdant catacombs, wasteland. He gets a turn 2 blood moon, but luckily my noble and birds cast my two stoneforges on turn 3 for jitte batterskull. He bricks on creatures, and scoops it up.
2 - 0
Round 3: Daniel with Dredge
Game 1: He mulls to 5, I keep a pretty standard 7. I lead with taiga deathrite shaman, he plays LED and passes. I play a few creatures while he does nothing, and scoops shortly thereafter. I put him on belcher or oops all spells, so I side in 11 of my best storm/GY hate cards and hope for the best.
Game 2: He mulls to 5 again, I keep a hand with canonist an mom backup. Of course he careful studies and turns out to be playing dredge. Next turn I rip a scavenging ooze off the top and proceed to eat ichorids and dredgers each turn until he just runs out of gas.
3 - 0
Round 4: Sherwin with RUG
Game 1: We get called into the backup feature match area, and begin playing. Game 1 he plays wooded foothills pass, like an idiot I go windswept crack and he cracks and stifles in response. I don't get many lands on board, and by the time i do 3 goyfs and a flipped delver just run me over.
Game 2: I get an early choke on board and he can't do anything. Knight crashes in for enough
Game 3: He gets a nutter butter hand of sulfur elemental, rough/tumble, submerge and bolts and delver. I lose a mom and a stoneforge to rough/tumble after protecting stoneforge with my mom the turn before, and he runs me over with insane tempo plays. He was a very skilled pilot.
3 - 1
Round 5: Jason with Affinity
Game 1: Many artifacts + tezzeret win the game quickly.
Game 2: This one drags out for the longest time. I hope for a stoneforge/jitte/batterskull with all my heart, but they never come and etched champions finish me off.
3 - 2
Round 6: Alex with RUG
Game 1: He goes volcanic ponder, so I figure sneak and waste his volcanic. Next turn he goes dig with brainstorm, plays a fetch, and passes the turn. I play a fetch and crack immediately, he cracks misty and stifles my land. A few turns/wastelands later, I cannot stop his mongoose which runs me over.
Game 2: I get a choke out, proceed to win easily.
Game 3: Life from the loam + wasteland take care of his lands while I draw enough removal for his creatures.A big knight ends the game.
4 - 2
Round 7: Eric Froelich with ANT
Game 1: He duresses after basic swamp, takes a jitte given the choice of GSZ jitte and STP. I don't put him on storm and play a deathrite shaman. He plays a couple cantrips and infernal tutor for lotus petal. I GSZ for teeg the next turn. He scoops a couple turns later when batterskull hits the table.
Game 2: I get a mom + stoneforge into batterskull. He casts infernal tutor, gets a cabal ritual, casts it, but then I surgically extract his infernal tutor. He reveals a hand that had one, and hands over his library. I get all the tutors out, and he scoops it up after passing a couple of turns.
5 - 2
Round 8: Mark Lalague with RUG delver
Game 1: I continue the tradition of losing game 1 to delver despite getting grove/pfire combo. It was due to a combination of wasteland, daze and stifle backed up by tarmogoyf.
Game 2: My best friend choke resolves on turn 3. I get a couple of creatures on the board and he has no outs.
Game 3: I keep a nut hand of arbor, grove, windswept heath, life from the loam, wasteland, swords to plowshares, and punishing fire. He can't protect delver but keeps me off of two mana for a long time. he submerges my last green source, dryad arbor, for two turns in a row, but I eventually topdeck another land to cast life from the loam and go to town with wasteland while pumping my knight.
6 - 2
Round 9: Reese with RUG Delver
We decide to draw into top 32. I was 16th and not worried about not top 16ing. Gotta note that this little guy was like 11 years old and had a 10 cards sideboard. We play a couple games for fun, but choke isn't very fun for him and he decides to stop.
6 - 2 -1
All in all it was a great day. Got to see a couple others do well with maverick decks, and hang out with all of my magic buddies. The punishing fires were so good to me all day. I realized that my playstyle is very suited to grove/pfire and I was having a blast with the deck. Didn't miss sylvan library or maze of ith. Deathrite continues to be awesome and just downright win games sometimes. Got $100 for my troubles and I owe it all to Maverick. 23rd is the best I have done yet at a big tourney, and guarantee more fun tournaments to come with this awesome underrepresented deck.
Edit 1: To the guy above me, deathrites should never be eating your punishing fires because you have 7 removal spells + jitte that kill deathrites, and they are one of your primary targets. Always kill deathrite the first chance you get playing maverick, otherwise they can ramp into powerful things or eat your lands and then your knights suck.
Edit 2: To the people trying to explain why not many maverick decks are doing well in the states: it is because the deck is relatively hard to play in the current meta. You had to have been playing it for a long time to know how to fight against certain decks. My theory is that the tier of the deck is actually inversely proportional of the skill level needed to pilot the deck to a good finish. High tier means lower skill level where lower tier means you need a higher skill level/format knowledge. For example, many more death and taxes decks have been doing well recently, and while it is a deck that takes a lot of skill to pilot, I think it takes less skill to do well with a death and taxes deck than it does to do well with a maverick deck. That opinion is based solely on the current decks in the meta and the tools death and taxes has to deal with those decks. This can be seen at the invitational: many really skilled players played the easiest decks to pilot or decks that required little format knowledge (sneak and show, shardless bug) and won.
Thanks for the report. I have two questions. First, how is the miser aven mindcensor. Seems rather out of place for as a one of. Is it worth it? Also, how was not having thalia main. I have been advocating taking it out to the sideboard, replacing it with powerful spells such as thoughtseize. It seems like you didn't step on combo. Are you not worried for future matches which may involve combo? I have put my Thalia's in the sideboard and it seems to work. Thoughtseize has been a great replacement. What do you think?
Thanks for the report. I have two questions. First, how is the miser aven mindcensor. Seems rather out of place for as a one of. Is it worth it? Also, how was not having thalia main. I have been advocating taking it out to the sideboard, replacing it with powerful spells such as thoughtseize. It seems like you didn't step on combo. Are you not worried for future matches which may involve combo? I have put my Thalia's in the sideboard and it seems to work. Thoughtseize has been a great replacement. What do you think?
Aven mindcensor is actually in there more as a way to connect with jitte as well as block/kill delver at instant speed. I don't know if it is worth it, but it has won me games against combo decks (either in response to infernal tutor or even just to block fetch lands, since most combo decks are land-light). As far as not having thalia, the meta in LA has many fair decks and I believe punishing is the better call there. If your meta has lots of combo or miracles, I think either thalia or thoughtseize is fine in that slot. As you can see from my sideboard, I mostly have my combo match evened out in games 2/3. I brought in 11 cards vs eric froelich for example.
I finally found a group that plays Legacy tournaments at a local store and managed to eek out a win at the weekly tourney, but it showed that I need a lot of work with making a good side deck. The most notable decks I saw people play/talk about what they have are Stax, Rakdos Pit Dragon, High Tide, Charbelcher, and Maverick. I have not faced the Maverick, Charbelcher, or High Tide decks yet, so I don't know how my current deck would fare against them. There were 3 rounds in the tournament, I ended up 3-0 at the end.
This is the build I used, had no idea what I was going to face. Lack of staples made me use cheaper alternatives.
I don't know what sort of changes I should make to adjust for the decks I know are in my meta, does anyone have any suggestions on changes I should make?
With a lack of fetches and no wastelands, your knight isn't going to grow very fast, and you lose a lot of appeal to "land tutoring" because you're not running wasteland.
Miser Captain Sissay and Mangara of Corondor - I get what you're doing with each, but running a sub-par mana base and only 2 mana dorks + aether vial makes your first turns significantly slower/weaker and less impactful. Raising your curve isn't going to help much when you don't have many ways to stabilize/recover. Sissay may be worth it if you had DD/stage combo.
Your meta doesn't look like you need all 4 WLL or the extra mindcensors very much, and there's very little blue so cut selkie and choke. The bojuka bog seems overkill for a meta with no GY deck present. Relic cantrips and surgical can be relevant in random cases if you want to keep those.
As much as I generally dislike finks, he's very helpful in your meta against both empty the warrens and $taxs variants. The pithing needle should help against belcher, stax and dragon stompy. As will running the SFM and batterskull package.
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With a lack of fetches and no wastelands, your knight isn't going to grow very fast, and you lose a lot of appeal to "land tutoring" because you're not running wasteland.
Miser Captain Sissay and Mangara of Corondor - I get what you're doing with each, but running a sub-par mana base and only 2 mana dorks + aether vial makes your first turns significantly slower/weaker and less impactful. Raising your curve isn't going to help much when you don't have many ways to stabilize/recover. Sissay may be worth it if you had DD/stage combo.
Your meta doesn't look like you need all 4 WLL or the extra mindcensors very much, and there's very little blue so cut selkie and choke. The bojuka bog seems overkill for a meta with no GY deck present. Relic cantrips and surgical can be relevant in random cases if you want to keep those.
As much as I generally dislike finks, he's very helpful in your meta against both empty the warrens and $taxs variants. The pithing needle should help against belcher, stax and dragon stompy. As will running the SFM and batterskull package.
I second this. No fetches significantly decreases your knight capability, but cutting two may be harsh. Stone forge mystic will seem to boost your deck. For the mirror, I would pack in some way to fight opposing mothers. Finally, I'm not sure if mainboarding a planeswalker is synergetic with a vial build. The mana curve is high and you can't vial it in. Especially with only two mana dorks, it is difficult. If you can't get a hold of noble hierarchs, even adding two more birds will help.
I do have fetches in my list, 4 of them (2 Arid Mesa, 1 Verdant Catacomb, 1 Marsh Flats). I will try to get my hands on SFM and Batterskull, they're in high demand here though.
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I do have fetches in my list, 4 of them (2 Arid Mesa, 1 Verdant Catacomb, 1 Marsh Flats). I will try to get my hands on SFM and Batterskull, they're in high demand here though.
Most maverick decks run at least 11 "sac lands" though:
6-7 fetches
3-4 wasteland
1-2 Horizon Canopy
You've got about 1/2 the number of lands to send to the 'yard to grow your own knight. You can expect her to be a 3/3 by turn 4 consistently and occasionally a 4/4; but she's not likely to get much bigger unless you're using her ability a lot.
The lack of wasteland (number 1 knight target), karakas, cavern of souls, maze of ith, yavimaya hollow and DD/stage makes her tutoring ability very, very weak. You're almost better off running Loxodon Smiter instead of any KotR so you have an uncounterable/GY independent beater.
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Sorry, I didn't mean no fetch land as in 0, but not enough. I agree with luklinda again, but having some knights seems ok to me. But yes, no tutor target lands significantly reduces knight'a meaning.
Long time lurker, first time poster. Maverick is one of my favorite archetypes, and I want to share my list!
Let me know what you think! Some of the sideboard choices I feel are kind of sub-optimal, but that part's always kind of in flux, especially with the recent changes to the format.
TK, I run a very similar list to yours. However, I cut my SFM's from 3 to 2. I feel they're a little clumsy, especially in the early game. I'm thinking about doing away with them altogether and just adding another jitte in the MD.
I also used to run Batterskull in the MD. It's nice to cheat in a turn 3 Batterskull with SFM from time to time with the following play:
T1: White source, Mother of Runes
T2: Land, SFM with a Batterskull fetch.
T3: Land, cheat Batterskull into play followed up with feeling good.
The first turn mom is absolutely essential to the play. When you play a T2 SFM fetching a Batterskull, your opponent immediately knows your plan. A removal spell on an unprotected SFM is awful, especially if you fetched for an early Batterskull.
More often than not, I inadvertently draw Batterskull without having a SFM in play, and having a 5 CMC card sitting in your hand with a Thalia out is pain since mana is already a little tight. In the end, I feel Batterskull is a high risk-high reward card. I still keep it in the SD so I can bash my friend's goblins with it though.
Also, Yavimaya Hollow has been very good to me in helping alleviate Abrupt Decay. I feel adding it in is a meta call personally.
I used to run 2 Stoneforge and 2 Jitte, and I've found it sort of lackluster.
Being able to consistently threaten cheating in a Batterskull can throw off an opponent as Batterskull hitting the field too early can cause a game to get out of hand in your favor. Upping to four Mystics main can ease the pain of having B.Skull in the opener (see Ari Lax in 2013 Legacy Champs Finals).
Nonetheless it is awkward with no direct way to cheat it in, but I feel that in terms of threats, there's not much else we'd rather be running except for maybe Tarmogoyf, but if that's the case we just get blown up by grave hate since Knight is already very graveyard reliant.
My big worry is True-Name Nemesis I haven't had any chance to test playing against it, but I feel that an early B.Skull or just hating their lands to oblivion and back ( via Life from the Loam and Armageddon post board ) and one all-else-fails from Wrath of God might give the deck a fighting chance
I used to run 2 Stoneforge and 2 Jitte, and I've found it sort of lackluster.
Being able to consistently threaten cheating in a Batterskull can throw off an opponent as Batterskull hitting the field too early can cause a game to get out of hand in your favor. Upping to four Mystics main can ease the pain of having B.Skull in the opener (see Ari Lax in 2013 Legacy Champs Finals).
Nonetheless it is awkward with no direct way to cheat it in, but I feel that in terms of threats, there's not much else we'd rather be running except for maybe Tarmogoyf, but if that's the case we just get blown up by grave hate since Knight is already very graveyard reliant.
My big worry is True-Name Nemesis I haven't had any chance to test playing against it, but I feel that an early B.Skull or just hating their lands to oblivion and back ( via Life from the Loam and Armageddon post board ) and one all-else-fails from Wrath of God might give the deck a fighting chance
I was worried about the blue menace until I realized I had zealous persecution in my sideboard to stump gobs and elves for a few turns. It also is good against the mirror, killing moms, Thalia's and mana dork not named my favorite card, deathrite shaman. True name nemesis is just another card it hits.
I was worried about the blue menace until I realized I had zealous persecution in my sideboard.
The splash black version does have a lot more outs to it. It almost feels like another nail in the coffin for straight GW builds since there's so few ways to answer it in those colors outside of hating equipment off of it and praying.
What are people's thoughts on Humility in the board? I've seen it in a few lists, but have never played with it. Does it do enough work against problem creature decks? And is it worth the cost in Maverick?
The splash black version does have a lot more outs to it. It almost feels like another nail in the coffin for straight GW builds since there's so few ways to answer it in those colors outside of hating equipment off of it and praying.
What are people's thoughts on Humility in the board? I've seen it in a few lists, but have never played with it. Does it do enough work against problem creature decks? And is it worth the cost in Maverick?
Yes gw doesn't seem too equipped to handle him. I think the solution may lie in what ari lax and the death and tax players are doing: turning on the fire and chilling with ice. If equipped, most creatures can out race the menace. It gives tremendous card advantage too. I'm thinking about changing my batter skull to a fire and ice.
Yes gw doesn't seem too equipped to handle him. I think the solution may lie in what ari lax and the death and tax players are doing: turning on the fire and chilling with ice. If equipped, most creatures can out race the menace. It gives tremendous card advantage too. I'm thinking about changing my batter skull to a fire and ice.
Yeah that's exactly what I'm thinking. Looks like others have reached the same conclusion as Sword of Fire and Ice has jumped in price a little since I last checked. I think I'll try Sword of Body and Mind in the meantime, even if it is vastly inferior.
Is Wrath wrong in the sideboard? Would Cataclysm be better for most situations? Or can I get by with a one of for both Wrath and 'Geddon?
Yeah that's exactly what I'm thinking. Looks like others have reached the same conclusion as Sword of Fire and Ice has jumped in price a little since I last checked. I think I'll try Sword of Body and Mind in the meantime, even if it is vastly inferior.
Is Wrath wrong in the sideboard? Would Cataclysm be better for most situations? Or can I get by with a one of for both Wrath and 'Geddon?
If you own cataclysms, that may be something worth trying. I am all for trying and seeing as I am a hands on kind of guy. I think wrath may be too disadvantage for us. Many times we lose more creatures then the opponent. Although it really doesn't deal with the blue menace, sadly.
Thanks to Gabgabdevo for the awesome sig image!
I'm always looking for foil Madcap Skills and Ghitu Fire-Eater, [trade thread link forthcoming]
The US meta is just full of sheep, they follow what preforms well and maverick is "inconsistent" and "loses to terminus and combo" so it's under-represented.
Packing black for discard + <the more typical kit> may be enough to keep the combo match up winnable. Admittedly, I'm not a huge fan of punishing fire (maybe just doesn't fit my playstyle?) but if non-thalia decks are ticking through, I'd be very tempted to run a small NO package in the 75. There are some pretty boss targets around (Ruric Thar, the Unbowed, Craterhoof Behemoth) that just better than proggy as they either lock up/end the game on resolution.
Also, just realized that the heavy meta of DRS provides another recursion engine for Punishing Fire. Making Grove of the Burnwillows less vital to the deck.
Maverick -- Storm
Click here for trade threadTrade thread under reconstruction.
Because you can't spell slaughter without laughter.
So I played this list at SCG LA:
1 Dryad Arbor
3 Deathrite Shaman
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Birds Of Paradise
4 Mother of Runes
3 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Scryb Ranger
4 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Aven Mindcensor
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Swords To Plowshares
3 Punishing Fire
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull
1 Life From The Loam
2 Savannah
1 Taiga
1 Bayou
1 Plateau
1 Scrubland
1 Horizon Canopy
4 Windswept Heath
2 Verdant Catacombs
1 Arid Mesa
3 Wasteland
1 Forest
1 Plains
3 Grove Of The Burnwillows
1 Karakas
SB:
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Bojuka Bog
2 Choke
1 Crop Rotation
2 Pyroblast
2 Oblivion Ring
It is similar to "Punishing Dark Maverick" lists that have been posted before such as Fabien Goerzgens, but I chose to run no maze of ith or sylvan library. I personally like punishing fire more than Thalia in the maindeck right now. Anywho here goes:
Round 1: Michael with Shardless BUG
Game 1: I mull to 5. Back and forth for a while with creatures/planeswalkers, I eventually establish the grove/p fire lock on his creatures and a large knight finishes up the game.
Game 2: Very grindy game, he gets an early sideboarded ashiok which is actually pretty problematic. Eventually I get a good enough board presence to keep his creatures at bay while aven mindcensor and scryb ranger fly overhead with a jitte to lock the game up.
1 - 0
Round 2: Daniel with Affinity
Game 1: He plays a turn 1 ornithopter and a couple of cranial platings. Game ends quickly as my deathrites sit there and look dumb
Game 2: now that I know he is on affinity, I mulligan until I find a stoneforge mystic. I get a jitte, he has a slow enough start for jitte to lock up the game.
Game 3: I keep a hand with GSZ, 2 stoneforge, noble hierarch, birds of paradise, verdant catacombs, wasteland. He gets a turn 2 blood moon, but luckily my noble and birds cast my two stoneforges on turn 3 for jitte batterskull. He bricks on creatures, and scoops it up.
2 - 0
Round 3: Daniel with Dredge
Game 1: He mulls to 5, I keep a pretty standard 7. I lead with taiga deathrite shaman, he plays LED and passes. I play a few creatures while he does nothing, and scoops shortly thereafter. I put him on belcher or oops all spells, so I side in 11 of my best storm/GY hate cards and hope for the best.
Game 2: He mulls to 5 again, I keep a hand with canonist an mom backup. Of course he careful studies and turns out to be playing dredge. Next turn I rip a scavenging ooze off the top and proceed to eat ichorids and dredgers each turn until he just runs out of gas.
3 - 0
Round 4: Sherwin with RUG
Game 1: We get called into the backup feature match area, and begin playing. Game 1 he plays wooded foothills pass, like an idiot I go windswept crack and he cracks and stifles in response. I don't get many lands on board, and by the time i do 3 goyfs and a flipped delver just run me over.
Game 2: I get an early choke on board and he can't do anything. Knight crashes in for enough
Game 3: He gets a nutter butter hand of sulfur elemental, rough/tumble, submerge and bolts and delver. I lose a mom and a stoneforge to rough/tumble after protecting stoneforge with my mom the turn before, and he runs me over with insane tempo plays. He was a very skilled pilot.
3 - 1
Round 5: Jason with Affinity
Game 1: Many artifacts + tezzeret win the game quickly.
Game 2: This one drags out for the longest time. I hope for a stoneforge/jitte/batterskull with all my heart, but they never come and etched champions finish me off.
3 - 2
Round 6: Alex with RUG
Game 1: He goes volcanic ponder, so I figure sneak and waste his volcanic. Next turn he goes dig with brainstorm, plays a fetch, and passes the turn. I play a fetch and crack immediately, he cracks misty and stifles my land. A few turns/wastelands later, I cannot stop his mongoose which runs me over.
Game 2: I get a choke out, proceed to win easily.
Game 3: Life from the loam + wasteland take care of his lands while I draw enough removal for his creatures.A big knight ends the game.
4 - 2
Round 7: Eric Froelich with ANT
Game 1: He duresses after basic swamp, takes a jitte given the choice of GSZ jitte and STP. I don't put him on storm and play a deathrite shaman. He plays a couple cantrips and infernal tutor for lotus petal. I GSZ for teeg the next turn. He scoops a couple turns later when batterskull hits the table.
Game 2: I get a mom + stoneforge into batterskull. He casts infernal tutor, gets a cabal ritual, casts it, but then I surgically extract his infernal tutor. He reveals a hand that had one, and hands over his library. I get all the tutors out, and he scoops it up after passing a couple of turns.
5 - 2
Round 8: Mark Lalague with RUG delver
Game 1: I continue the tradition of losing game 1 to delver despite getting grove/pfire combo. It was due to a combination of wasteland, daze and stifle backed up by tarmogoyf.
Game 2: My best friend choke resolves on turn 3. I get a couple of creatures on the board and he has no outs.
Game 3: I keep a nut hand of arbor, grove, windswept heath, life from the loam, wasteland, swords to plowshares, and punishing fire. He can't protect delver but keeps me off of two mana for a long time. he submerges my last green source, dryad arbor, for two turns in a row, but I eventually topdeck another land to cast life from the loam and go to town with wasteland while pumping my knight.
6 - 2
Round 9: Reese with RUG Delver
We decide to draw into top 32. I was 16th and not worried about not top 16ing. Gotta note that this little guy was like 11 years old and had a 10 cards sideboard. We play a couple games for fun, but choke isn't very fun for him and he decides to stop.
6 - 2 -1
All in all it was a great day. Got to see a couple others do well with maverick decks, and hang out with all of my magic buddies. The punishing fires were so good to me all day. I realized that my playstyle is very suited to grove/pfire and I was having a blast with the deck. Didn't miss sylvan library or maze of ith. Deathrite continues to be awesome and just downright win games sometimes. Got $100 for my troubles and I owe it all to Maverick. 23rd is the best I have done yet at a big tourney, and guarantee more fun tournaments to come with this awesome underrepresented deck.
Edit 1: To the guy above me, deathrites should never be eating your punishing fires because you have 7 removal spells + jitte that kill deathrites, and they are one of your primary targets. Always kill deathrite the first chance you get playing maverick, otherwise they can ramp into powerful things or eat your lands and then your knights suck.
Edit 2: To the people trying to explain why not many maverick decks are doing well in the states: it is because the deck is relatively hard to play in the current meta. You had to have been playing it for a long time to know how to fight against certain decks. My theory is that the tier of the deck is actually inversely proportional of the skill level needed to pilot the deck to a good finish. High tier means lower skill level where lower tier means you need a higher skill level/format knowledge. For example, many more death and taxes decks have been doing well recently, and while it is a deck that takes a lot of skill to pilot, I think it takes less skill to do well with a death and taxes deck than it does to do well with a maverick deck. That opinion is based solely on the current decks in the meta and the tools death and taxes has to deal with those decks. This can be seen at the invitational: many really skilled players played the easiest decks to pilot or decks that required little format knowledge (sneak and show, shardless bug) and won.
BGElvesBG and BUGNissa ElvesBUG Faithful Elfer since May 1st, 2015
Results: SCG IQ Top 8, Monthly Modern Masters Top 4
Aven mindcensor is actually in there more as a way to connect with jitte as well as block/kill delver at instant speed. I don't know if it is worth it, but it has won me games against combo decks (either in response to infernal tutor or even just to block fetch lands, since most combo decks are land-light). As far as not having thalia, the meta in LA has many fair decks and I believe punishing is the better call there. If your meta has lots of combo or miracles, I think either thalia or thoughtseize is fine in that slot. As you can see from my sideboard, I mostly have my combo match evened out in games 2/3. I brought in 11 cards vs eric froelich for example.
This is the build I used, had no idea what I was going to face. Lack of staples made me use cheaper alternatives.
LAND
x4 Temple Garden
x4 Sunpetal Grove
x3 Forest
x3 Plains
x2 Arid Mesa
x1 Verdant Catacombs
x1 Marsh Flats
x1 Horizon Canopy
x1 Gaea's Cradle
x1 Dryad Arbor
CREATURES
x4 Knight of the Reliquary
x4 Mother of Runes
x2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
x2 Aven Mindcensor
x2 Qasali Pridemage
x1 Scavenging Ooze
x1 Wilt-Leaf Liege
x1 Timbermare
x1 Noble Hierarch
x1 Birds of Paradise
x1 Captain Sisay
x2 Gaddock Teeg
x1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
x1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
x1 Mangara of Corondor
ARTIFACT
x4 Aether Vial
x1 Umezawa's Jitte
SORCERY/INSTANT
x4 Swords to Plowshares
x4 Green Sun's Zenith
PLANESWALKER
x1 Garruk Wildspeaker
SIDE
x3 Wilt-Leaf Liege
x2 Aven Mindcensor
x2 Relic of Progenitus
x1 Cold-Eyed Selkie
x1 Choke
x1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
x1 Qasali Pridemage
x1 Surgical Extraction
x1 Bojuka Bog
x1 Stony Silence
x1 Rest In Peace
I don't know what sort of changes I should make to adjust for the decks I know are in my meta, does anyone have any suggestions on changes I should make?
MB:
-2 KotR
-1 Mangara of Corondor
-1 Timbermare
-1 Captain Sissay
+2 SFM
+1 Batterskull
+2 Noble Hierarch
Reasons:
With a lack of fetches and no wastelands, your knight isn't going to grow very fast, and you lose a lot of appeal to "land tutoring" because you're not running wasteland.
Timbermare is just a bad creature.
Miser Captain Sissay and Mangara of Corondor - I get what you're doing with each, but running a sub-par mana base and only 2 mana dorks + aether vial makes your first turns significantly slower/weaker and less impactful. Raising your curve isn't going to help much when you don't have many ways to stabilize/recover. Sissay may be worth it if you had DD/stage combo.
-----
SB:
-2 Wilt-Leaf Liege
-1 Cold-Eyed Selkie
-2 Aven Mindcensor
-1 Choke
-1 Bojuka Bog
+3 Kitchen Finks
+3 Pithing Needle
+1 SFM
Reasons:
Your meta doesn't look like you need all 4 WLL or the extra mindcensors very much, and there's very little blue so cut selkie and choke. The bojuka bog seems overkill for a meta with no GY deck present. Relic cantrips and surgical can be relevant in random cases if you want to keep those.
As much as I generally dislike finks, he's very helpful in your meta against both empty the warrens and $taxs variants. The pithing needle should help against belcher, stax and dragon stompy. As will running the SFM and batterskull package.
Maverick -- Storm
Click here for trade threadTrade thread under reconstruction.
Because you can't spell slaughter without laughter.
I second this. No fetches significantly decreases your knight capability, but cutting two may be harsh. Stone forge mystic will seem to boost your deck. For the mirror, I would pack in some way to fight opposing mothers. Finally, I'm not sure if mainboarding a planeswalker is synergetic with a vial build. The mana curve is high and you can't vial it in. Especially with only two mana dorks, it is difficult. If you can't get a hold of noble hierarchs, even adding two more birds will help.
BGElvesBG and BUGNissa ElvesBUG Faithful Elfer since May 1st, 2015
Results: SCG IQ Top 8, Monthly Modern Masters Top 4
Most maverick decks run at least 11 "sac lands" though:
6-7 fetches
3-4 wasteland
1-2 Horizon Canopy
You've got about 1/2 the number of lands to send to the 'yard to grow your own knight. You can expect her to be a 3/3 by turn 4 consistently and occasionally a 4/4; but she's not likely to get much bigger unless you're using her ability a lot.
The lack of wasteland (number 1 knight target), karakas, cavern of souls, maze of ith, yavimaya hollow and DD/stage makes her tutoring ability very, very weak. You're almost better off running Loxodon Smiter instead of any KotR so you have an uncounterable/GY independent beater.
Maverick -- Storm
Click here for trade threadTrade thread under reconstruction.
Because you can't spell slaughter without laughter.
BGElvesBG and BUGNissa ElvesBUG Faithful Elfer since May 1st, 2015
Results: SCG IQ Top 8, Monthly Modern Masters Top 4
Long time lurker, first time poster. Maverick is one of my favorite archetypes, and I want to share my list!
Let me know what you think! Some of the sideboard choices I feel are kind of sub-optimal, but that part's always kind of in flux, especially with the recent changes to the format.
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Umezawa's Jitte
Creature: 26
1 Gaddock Teeg
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Mother of Runes
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Scryb Ranger
4 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Sylvan Library
Instant: 4
4 Swords to Plowshares
Sorcery: 4
4 Green Sun's Zenith
Land: 22
1 Dryad Arbor
3 Forest
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Karakas
1 Maze of Ith
2 Plains
4 Savannah
2 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wasteland
4 Windswept Heath
2 Pithing Needle
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Krosan Grip
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Armageddon
1 Life from the Loam
1 Wrath of God
I also used to run Batterskull in the MD. It's nice to cheat in a turn 3 Batterskull with SFM from time to time with the following play:
T1: White source, Mother of Runes
T2: Land, SFM with a Batterskull fetch.
T3: Land, cheat Batterskull into play followed up with feeling good.
The first turn mom is absolutely essential to the play. When you play a T2 SFM fetching a Batterskull, your opponent immediately knows your plan. A removal spell on an unprotected SFM is awful, especially if you fetched for an early Batterskull.
More often than not, I inadvertently draw Batterskull without having a SFM in play, and having a 5 CMC card sitting in your hand with a Thalia out is pain since mana is already a little tight. In the end, I feel Batterskull is a high risk-high reward card. I still keep it in the SD so I can bash my friend's goblins with it though.
Also, Yavimaya Hollow has been very good to me in helping alleviate Abrupt Decay. I feel adding it in is a meta call personally.
I already know what I look like. That's why I'm there.
I used to run 2 Stoneforge and 2 Jitte, and I've found it sort of lackluster.
Being able to consistently threaten cheating in a Batterskull can throw off an opponent as Batterskull hitting the field too early can cause a game to get out of hand in your favor. Upping to four Mystics main can ease the pain of having B.Skull in the opener (see Ari Lax in 2013 Legacy Champs Finals).
Nonetheless it is awkward with no direct way to cheat it in, but I feel that in terms of threats, there's not much else we'd rather be running except for maybe Tarmogoyf, but if that's the case we just get blown up by grave hate since Knight is already very graveyard reliant.
My big worry is True-Name Nemesis I haven't had any chance to test playing against it, but I feel that an early B.Skull or just hating their lands to oblivion and back ( via Life from the Loam and Armageddon post board ) and one all-else-fails from Wrath of God might give the deck a fighting chance
I was worried about the blue menace until I realized I had zealous persecution in my sideboard to stump gobs and elves for a few turns. It also is good against the mirror, killing moms, Thalia's and mana dork not named my favorite card, deathrite shaman. True name nemesis is just another card it hits.
BGElvesBG and BUGNissa ElvesBUG Faithful Elfer since May 1st, 2015
Results: SCG IQ Top 8, Monthly Modern Masters Top 4
The splash black version does have a lot more outs to it. It almost feels like another nail in the coffin for straight GW builds since there's so few ways to answer it in those colors outside of hating equipment off of it and praying.
What are people's thoughts on Humility in the board? I've seen it in a few lists, but have never played with it. Does it do enough work against problem creature decks? And is it worth the cost in Maverick?
Yes gw doesn't seem too equipped to handle him. I think the solution may lie in what ari lax and the death and tax players are doing: turning on the fire and chilling with ice. If equipped, most creatures can out race the menace. It gives tremendous card advantage too. I'm thinking about changing my batter skull to a fire and ice.
BGElvesBG and BUGNissa ElvesBUG Faithful Elfer since May 1st, 2015
Results: SCG IQ Top 8, Monthly Modern Masters Top 4
Yeah that's exactly what I'm thinking. Looks like others have reached the same conclusion as Sword of Fire and Ice has jumped in price a little since I last checked. I think I'll try Sword of Body and Mind in the meantime, even if it is vastly inferior.
Is Wrath wrong in the sideboard? Would Cataclysm be better for most situations? Or can I get by with a one of for both Wrath and 'Geddon?
If you own cataclysms, that may be something worth trying. I am all for trying and seeing as I am a hands on kind of guy. I think wrath may be too disadvantage for us. Many times we lose more creatures then the opponent. Although it really doesn't deal with the blue menace, sadly.
BGElvesBG and BUGNissa ElvesBUG Faithful Elfer since May 1st, 2015
Results: SCG IQ Top 8, Monthly Modern Masters Top 4