MTG Salvation

I'm not to sure on the new Thalia, i don't think it would be right to play 4 Guardian and two Cathar. But it doesn't feel right cutting down Guardian

Quote from poldrag »

I'm not to sure on the new Thalia, i don't think it would be right to play 4 Guardian and two Cathar. But it doesn't feel right cutting down Guardian

The nice thing is the new and old Thalia pair well together and are not affected by the legendary creature rule like PWs are. A T2 Thalia, GoT followed by T3 Thalia, HC seems powerful. My gut reaction was to run a 3:2 split of old to new, but I've heard others starting out with a 3:3 or 4:2 split.

After some thought I think Thalia, HC might be crazy. With such few basics running around in legacy and the presence of the eldrazi she might be what maverick needs. But i think she belongs in a cradle deck with dorks so you can reliably get her out turn two.

I don't know about all of you but my list is super tight, there is very little room and there are a few cards that I would consider cutting. That being said have any of you ran into a situation where you have had too many dorks? I'm currently on the depths side of maverick and I've just been using 4 DRS, but I am thinking of cutting the DD/TS combo, adding a cradle and maybe a cavern, adding 2 Noble Hierarch, and trying to find room for a Sigarda. So that being said I'm thinking of maybe a 3:3 split for Thalia's? What is the lowest land count you guys would use?

Got some playtesting in this weekend. Tried out GW and GWb variants.

-I missed having DRS in the straight GW build.

-Sylvan Safekeeper is a pretty nice card. Nice enough to consider it a main deck playable card. I will probably do a 3:1 split of Mother of Runes : Sylvan Safekeeper for the time being. Sylvan Safekeeper is great against Eldrazi and Jitte and has nice synergy with KotR (bombing a bunch of lands for lethal).

-I find the SFM package to still be pretty important. GW doesn't have much in the realm of CA other than SFM and Sylvan Library. I feel comfortable running 2-3 SFM and 2 Equipment main board along with 1-2 Sylvan Library.

-The new Thalia was pretty nice. In one game she directly lead to a win as my opponent could not curve into a Liliana thanks to a ETB-tapped fetchland. The following turn I bombed it with a Wasteland and they were never able to hit their 3 untapped land before I presented lethal.

-As of now a 3:3 split of old and new Thalia seems good. It's a feelsbad moment to clutter your hand with a bunch of Thalias, but as of now it hasn't been overly cumbersome on a consistent basis.

Because the mana curve of the deck is increasing with the inclusion of 3 more 3-drops, I intend to put in a 6th mana dork. I had been running a 4:1 DRS:Noble split but I intend to add in a 2nd Noble.

Is there room in Mav for the new recruiter card?

Recruiter of the Guard 2W
Creature - Human Soldier
When *name* enters the battlefield, search library for creature with toughness 2 or less, put into hand.
1/1

http://mythicspoiler.com/cn2/cards/recruiteroftheguard.html

What if you could play any land in your deck from your hand, graveyard, or library at instant speed.

What if GSZ could find the rest of your toolbox?

Maverick meet:





Maze of Ith: needs no explanation on what it can do here.
Petrified: Life from the Loam at instant speed. Not super exciting until you get a Sakura on the board
Wasteland: in a deck that can recur lands?
Rishadan Port: can hinder multi-color decks, stuffs man-lands, can prevent counter-magic.
Karakas: you cheated out an Eldrazi? Nope. Can protect Teeg or Titania, if you need it to.
Sejiri Steppe: protection at instant speed.
Bojuka Bog: can even be played on turn 1 (Crop Rotation)
Mortuary Mire: Top of Library, blah blah. Try abusing with Courser of Kruphix and/or Garruk's Horde
Safe Haven: You get an emblem with CC:"Return Eternal Witness to the battlefield at the beginning of your upkeep." This is the card that makes me want to use Reclamation Sage instead of Qasali despite the Teeg mana cost on GSZ.
Arena: your creature removal. Tutorable and resuable.

There are some other cards I'm debating:
Natural Affinity: Can you imagine someone trying to Wrath of God a Titania and friends, or a KotR with a safe haven out? Lol, gg. Or they just want to infest/pyroclasm my weenies?
Alchemist's Refuge: Just seems like some silly stupid plays are possible with this, probably win-more with the absurd amount of protection/recursion in this deck.
Boseiju, Who Shelters All: because counter can beat toolbox(GSZ/CR), man-lands/ tranquil thicket LotL draw-engine enough?
Vesuva: kind of like Petrified Field.
Glacial Chasm: Step 1 Play Step 2 Sacrifice Step 3 LftL

I don't understand how Mother of Runes is better than Sylvan Safekeeper here. Moreover, Crop Rotation pulls the same trick with a Sejiri Steppe(and can be used for other awesome lands). Loam is already in the deck, and Petrified Field is a scrawny to the bone loam hyped up on instant-crack. Hence Sakura-Tribe Scout. Toss in KotR, Titania, Teeg, and Natural Affinity/Kamahl, Fist of Krosa and you have a skeleton that can be immune to target and mass removal.

Quote from dkrocka »

I don't understand how Mother of Runes is better than Sylvan Safekeeper here. Moreover, Crop Rotation pulls the same trick with a Sejiri Steppe(and can be used for other awesome lands). Loam is already in the deck, and Petrified Field is a scrawny to the bone loam hyped up on instant-crack. Hence Sakura-Tribe Scout. Toss in KotR, Titania, Teeg, and Natural Affinity/Kamahl, Fist of Krosa and you have a skeleton that can be immune to target and mass removal.

Sounds more like trying to piece together Titania EDH cards into a legacy deck. Sylvan Safekeeper is good against removal heavy decks but Mom also trumps in creature matchups that Sylvan Safekeeper can't. Reactive lands aren't all that great because it ties up too much mana without advancing your gameplan and cards like Bojuka Bog and Sejirri Steppe are often pretty worthless to draw and slows down tempo. I've tried playing with land toolboxes in Maverick and even in modern Bant Retreat. The only one that was ever actively impressive is Thespian Stage + Dark Depths.

thats why my current modern maverick deck is 8-1-1 testing against legacy decks. And its in the early stages. The only loss came across the actual maverick legacy deck

I don't play Maverick, but any Maverick players thoughts without miracles in the format?

I still play Maverick from time to time, and I think the top ban will be good for midrange decks like Maverick/Stoneblade, and I expect this deck to get a slight bump as a result.

Quote from Outcryqq »

I still play Maverick from time to time, and I think the top ban will be good for midrange decks like Maverick/Stoneblade, and I expect this deck to get a slight bump as a result.

I just have not seen as many Maverick players anymore. The last post here was last year. I know that terminus really screws this deck over. So it just made me curious.

I'm a knightfall guy trying to build into maverick myself. Just need another bayou/couple other things and I'm there. Anybody who plays maverick have advice on a list to start out with?

Welcome back Maverick: Goldfish Article
.

Unfortunately, Terminus is still a thing and I got handled pretty badly by the new miracles, not sure if regeneration has room in the SB.

I had Dark Depths + Thespian's Stage in my list but eventually took it out. It gave me a few "I WIN" games over the course of a tournament, but it also screwed up my mana base just as often. I'd rather have the consistency of a better mana base and be able to play the deck as intended.

I have not tested Tireless Tracker in this list, though I've tested it in my Modern Hatebears list. It's good, but I think it's too slow for Legacy play in this deck. I also haven't mainboarded any Thalia, Heretic Cathar - have you had success with her? I've tried her in the sideboard and it has performed only marginally for me. Usually by the time I drop her, the damage has already been done.

So, anyone testing Teferi's Protection in the sideboard?

So, my local shop has taken up doing a monthly tournament on the last Saturday of every month that has a $25 buy in and a cash payout to top 4. X amount of swiss, pending on participants, cut to top 8, then top 4 get the prize pool. This month was Legacy and I felt like it would be a great chance to test a variant of Maverick I have been working on, with a friend's assistance, the last few months. I call it Punishing Excavator.

Oh, the tournament was 20 players this month for Legacy. And I ended up winning the whole thing.

The deck takes the core of a general Punishing Maverick build, but instead of a Stoneforge Mystic package in the deck, you are replacing it with a very powerful combo in Exploration and Ramunap Excavator. Those two cards, combined together, create an extremely powerful engine for this deck. Not only does a turn one exploration set you up for the turn two Excavator, but it sets you up for other turn two plays as well. It allows you to Wasteland multiple times a turn, ramp and thin your deck with abuse of fetch lands, and create a lot of overall attrition that normal Maverick decks are unable to do.

Your games against other fair decks are extremely good, especially game one. Deathblade, Control, Death and Taxes... if you're going against a fair deck with this, game 1 is usually yours and then the sideboard helps you modify things, as needed, to help take game 2 or 3. Like Maverick variants, your combo game isn't the best; so, the sideboard is mostly dedicated to the combo matches.

Anyway, the deck is below.



I cannot type up the best tournament report for this, because it was back on Saturday and I have worked a lot and slept very little since then; however, I do have the records and decks I faced written down. So, I will give you guys that at least. Our meta for the tournament was more fair than unfair. From what I remember, there were 3 Death and Taxes, 3 Lands, 2 U/R Delver, 1 Mono-Red Sneak Attack, 1 U/W Stoneblade, 1 Elves, 1 Belcher, and of course my Maverick variant.

Round 1: U/W Stoneblade (2-1)


Round 2: Lands (O-2)

With the Exploration/Ramunap Excavator plan, you are sort of doing what Lands does in their deck... except they do it a whole lot quicker and a whole lot better. To be honest, from what I remember of these games, he was just able to set things up a turn too quick before I seen a Wasteland or Ghost Quarter to stop the Marit Lage beats.

Round 3: R/W Death & Taxes (1-0-1)

Death & Taxes with Red in the main for Magus of the Moon and Red in the side for various types of board wipes, from what I could tell. I had seen his deck from a prior round, so I knew what to expect. I was able to get to my basics both games played before Magus came into play and shut me down with my very greedy manabase. Game 2 I had the option to try and live the Dark Depths dream with the new Magus/Blood Moon rules, but that play would have left me open. We ended up going into time game 2, with me winning game 1. I needed a few additional turns to finish game 2, but just couldn't get there. But a win is a win. Arlinn Kord is a queen and MVP for me during this round. She helped me stabilize as a pathetic one life in a series of plays that were pretty awesome to make.

Round 4: Mono-Red Sneak Attack (2-1)

This match is pretty hard to win game one, unless you somehow are able to get quickly into a Gaddock Teeg before they drop down the Sneak Attack. Games 2 and 3 are a lot better because you get to bring in a lot of your hate against the deck. That's ultimately what ended up happening. He got me pretty quick game one, but game 2 I was able to O-Ring his Sneak Attack and Exploration/Excavator lock him with Wasteland to stop the playing of another. Game 3 I was able to Pridemage turn 2 because of Exploration when he turn 2 dropped Sneak Attack. He did not see another one rest of the game, and even if he did, I had Gaddock Teeg with Mother protecting him.

Round 5: ID vs Abzan Deathblade

My friend and I decided to just ID into the Top 8, plus he is the one who has helped me shape this deck into what it is right now. We have played the match up quite a bit and I am just overall favored across the span of three games. We were hungry and decided to grab food while people played it out for the last two spots in top 8. Tables 1-3 were able to draw in.

Quarterfinals: U/R Delver (2-1)

Game one I get smoked pretty quick. Game 2, he does not see as much burn, but has a Price of Progress and I know it (from a Delver flip). My landbase is pretty greedy and I have a Canonist on the field along with a Mother of Runes and a Knight of the Reliquary. He tries to attack with Stormchaser Mage and prowess with Price of Progress, but with some plays with Knight of the Reliquary getting rid of a Taiga, searching a Wasteland, and popping one of my other lands, I ended up taking zero damage off the Price and gave myself exact damage to take it to game 3. Game 3 was slower on his end and a timely Pyroblast on a brainstorm that was trying to dig for answers to finish me off (backed with Canonist on the field again) left him with nothing but to scoop.

Semifinals: Elves (2-1)

Game one is pretty bad here unless you can race with Marit Lage or get Punishing Fire and Gaddock Teeg online. I was not able to do either. Game 2 and 3, though, I ended up seeing Canonist and Teeg with Mom back up game 2 and not one, but BOTH Canonist game 3. It was able to stall out long enough to get into Marit Lage and swing uncontested in the air.

Finals: Death and Taxes

One of my good friends, and another individual I have played against quite a few games with this deck. We knew how it would be, things were getting late, and we both decided to split the prize pool. With 20 entries, 1st was to get $180 and 2nd was to get $100. We were both okay with taking $140 each. Death and Taxes game 1 is super favorable because you just are able to have a better value plan with them and their wastelands and ports are usually useless against your Exploration/Excavator combo. Games 2 and 3 can be rough as you end up dealing with them bring in Rest in Peace, which shuts off attrition and powerful beats off Knight of the Reliquary.

Overall, the deck did VERY, VERY well. Any questions on card choices, please ask. I think this is a very, very viable option for Maverick players and with some more tweaking could do well in a larger event as the meta seems to be going toward a more grinder game state.

Hey Lucas,

In general I'm breaking into legacy with maverick, and recently traded for the red duals needed for the punishing version, as it appeals to me more than the abzan for my playstyle. If you have time, I'd love some talk on these:

1) a quick primer on mulligans with this deck- how many lands to keep etc. I see you don't have dorks so wondering what is doable and not.
2) how to use punishing fire the best way possible- just very unfamiliar on the potential power here, though it seems great against some decks.
3) the whole merit lage gameplan- when to push for it, when to abandon it
4) when to go all in on ramunap.
5) SB guide

I'm a knightfall, vizier knightfall and counters company player in modern so i'm very aware of how awesome knight is and the basic idea of GSZ and other cards from modern played in maverick, but I'm VERY green on the legacy gameplay. Thanks in advance for any help, your deck looks awesome and congratulations on the finish!!!!!

I've had a G/W maverick deck for a while, but I'm finding that although this deck has a fair chance against burn, in the times it loses I find this deck is somewhat slow against burn even with thalia out, partially because it is so easy to kill her with removal. Is there anything that can be mained/sideboarded that would be reliable against it without sacrificing other deck-hate cards?

I splash black, so I have access to Thoughtseize in the board, but that doesn't help you.

I assume you're playing Umezawa's Jitte, maybe Batterskull for your equipment? Those should be coming down quickly and will help you stabilize.

I see Sanctum Prelate in the SB sometimes, that's an option.

Are you running any number of Scavenging Ooze in your main/SB? They are great in that matchup.

You can also use Swords to Plowshares on your own dudes to gain yourself life, maybe target a huge Knight of the Reliquary in response to their spell. You just need to survive against burn - the longer the match goes, the more likely you are to win.