Matter reshaper playtesting has begun. Seems better then Tracker, way better then Shaman. No downside. Dies, plays a card, survives, does 3. I've also never really been able to get Tracker to matter. Dies fast with no upside when he does, games aren't long enough for him to matter and paying for that card draw takes us off Co Co or threats.
I won't touch to much on the Manabase right now, but this is the newest deck I plan to try. I love Maverick in Legacy and always wanted to try it in Modern and feel like it has the cards to be viable. Looking for some other opinions on my first build.
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Commander - Master of the Drunkin' Arts:D(no longer together)
versus ad nauseum and living end we have sd option of leyline of the void and lighter one aven mindcensor, ofcourse stony, surgical and qasali pridemage/rec sage helps also.
Storm is hard but there's good possibility to destroy their lands before they can do anything after that they prob. scoops.
Oh sorry, I mean sanctuaty which helps a lot. i havent played against living end with this deck but in my mind Aven is good one against cascade and also there's whisperwood elemental which we use.
Aven doesn't stop Cascade. They don't search the library, they exile cards from the top, which Aven doesn't prevent.
Best card against Living End is Sigarda. With here, Living End can't make you sacrifice your board and you'll just outvalue them. Whisperwood is also good.
Other than that, Surgicals can take out their Living Ends after the first one and, if you manage to stabilize the game after it, there's a chance to win.
How does a stock list of just GW do against combo like Storm, Ad Nauseam, Living End, ect, ect? I'm weighing my options for the black splash
Play Eidolon of Rhetoric, it will stop Storm, Ad Nauseam and Living End and is Bolt proof Works very good in Elves (but there you have Chord of Calling to find the one-off
Favourite Deck: Elves (Modern & Legacy)
Standard: New Perspectives Combo
Modern: GW Hatebears | Death and Taxes | Eldrazi and Taxes | Abzan Liege | Abzan Company
Commander: The Gitrog Monster (Combo) | Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper (Control) | RIP Leovold Sultai (Elvestorm, no unfair locks) | Mono G (Yisan or Titania)
Tiny Leaders: Too many decks to keep track of
Pauper: RIP UR Drake | Mono B | GBx Goodstuff | Jund "Melira"
I know its been awhile, my friends! However, I have been jamming a ton of Maverick lately and been finishing with good results! I have been posting them to twitch and youtube with the latest testing archived here, Maverick in Modern. The deck seems very powerful and resilient to a lot of the inherent issues a fair deck comes up against in Modern. Please check the videos out and feel free to support my efforts by following on Twitch/YouTube!
This is the first brew without any playtesting. I'd love to play 1-2 swords of (...) but a) I don't have them b) don't want to buy them because c) I don't think they are worth it.
The Sideboard is tweaked for our "friendly league". Taking this deck to a wider competative tournament I would add some Thrun, the Last Troll and/or Loxodon Smiter to fight against UWx decks. I want to squeeze some copies of Collective Brutality in the Sideboard to fight Combo/Burn. Maybe for the Kitchen Finks or Mirran Crusader.
The longer I think about the deck I'm starting to think it could be actually good! The only concern, in a competativ environment, is the rise up of Bloodbraid Elf... I'm playing her in my Naya build... damn this card is soooo good!
Didn't realize there was an actual maverick thread! I posted this in the GW value town thread but that one is dead. I took the deck to a 3-0 modern Monday earlier this week and did a short write-up. Deck feels REALLY good. I played Todd Stevens' most recent main deck with a cobbled together sideboard based on what I had available. Below is the list -
Match notes and sideboards - I don't take very good notes and don't have a great memory of every single turn (I have no idea how some of you have such detailed tournament reports) but I always remember how I sideboarded so I'll just try to give you the gist.
Match 1 - Lantern Control - 2-0
I feel pretty favored against lantern normally as we have SO much control over the top of our library and that proved to be the case in these games.
Game 1 - Had a turn 2 Knight that he couldn't answer at all and it was far too hard for him to control my draw step and he couldn't find a bridge. Easy and quick win.
Sideboard:
Out
4 Path - no targets
3 Voice of Resurgence - just a grizzly bear and that's definitely not where you want to be.
In
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Kataki
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Shalai
2 Stony Silence
Game 2 - This was more of the same if not better as I got to just remove all of my dead stuff. Ended up delivering most of my beats via a BOP under a bridge with double Hierarch triggers. He whirred for a spellbomb to kill one of the Hierarch's which dropped my clock to give him time to find outs. I ended up with 2 knights in play and in one upkeep saw 8 different cards on top of my deck before I drew. Knight is stupid. Finally found a Kataki which basically wrathed his board and that was the game.
Match 2 - Jeskai Control - 2-0
Jeskai can be a tough matchup if they see enough removal early and can stabilize at a high enough life total. Our general gameplan here is to try and grind with them while constantly pressuring their basics. Most Jeskai players run 3/4ish basics - generally 2 islands and a plains but some will run a third island or 1 mountain.
Game 1 - Did exactly what I was looking to do in that he naturally drew his basics and I got to a point where I could ghost quarter aggressively. A Ramunap sealed his fate with GQ's every turn while he tried to deal with some pesky Voices.
Sideboard:
Out
4 Path
4 Birds of Paradise - dorks aren't really where you want to be against a super removal heavy deck - you want to insulate yourself from easy removal targets and give yourself better late game topdecks
In
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Choke
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric - 4 power toughness creatures come in against Jeskai as only path cleanly deals with them. The other text isn't terribly relevant but it does turn off Snapcaster, so that's nice.
1 Engineered Explosives - a hedge against them bringing in something like Rest in Peace
1 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
1 Reclamation Sage - also a hedge against RIP
1 Shalai
1 Sigarda
Game 2 - Mulled to 6 and snap kept a hand with a voice, choke, and Coco. Drew a Noble and played it turn one - into voice (not playing into mana leak), end of his fourth turn I played Coco into Cryptic mana and he took the bait and I slammed Choke on my turn keeping him completely tapped out. Voice was a slow clock and he got some more lands up while I built out my board and the game ended when I 'countered' a wrath with Avacyn.
Match 3 - Jund - 2-1
Jund games are the grindiest of the grindy games. Your success comes down to how able you are to hold off aggression while ghost quartering them out of the game as they don't run many basics.
Game 1 - I got relatively lucky and found a constant stream of huge knights that he couldn't deal with all in a row and I got a Scavenging Ooze going early which helped clean up Goyfs.
Sideboard:
General idea - similar to that of Jeskai. Dorks are not where you want to be. Give yourself better top decks and the more you can inoculate yourself against bolt, the better. Our board is pretty good against Jund so I felt pretty good going into the sideboard games.
Out
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Noble Hierarch
In
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Nissa
1 Shalai
1 Sigarda
Game 2 - I thought I kept a fairly good hand with some voices, but one ate an inquisition and he followed it up with a Bob that went ham, and a Scavenging Ooze that ended up with 10 counters on it and my graveyard completely empty. Despite my best efforts I never found a path.
Game 3 - Kept a super shaky 6 - 2 lands (fetch and ghost quarter) with a my only real playables being a courser and EE and scryed another courser to the bottom. First draw step was another courser. He dropped a goyf with only lands in the yard. I find a land and drop Courser. I don't block his goyf when he swings in because I saw he had the bolt (he did). Got the second courser up and passed. Blocked his two goyfs (which were 2/3s) and he didn't have anything to punish me and played a bob in his second main. Hit my 4th land drop into EE on 2, popped, swing. He found a Liliana the Last Hope and we start to grind out a little bit, with him finding another pesky Scooze that got big enough to be a threat. He couldn't put pressure on though and I blew him out with Avacyn negating a push on a late Excavator. Feels good.
So yeah, I love this deck. You have so many options, you have so many different ways to attack the format and you have outs to almost everything.
And that was that. Felt good. On the modernmagic forum there were some arguments about my sideboarding decisions. At the time everything felt good, but now I'm not so sure. Thoughts?
This deck feels SO much better than it's following would suggest. Are people just not interested in the playstyle?
So, is this the primer for "GW Valuetown"?
I'm a huge fan of the deck! I really enjoy playing and watching it!
What I don't understand: why is no one splashing black? I mean the splash is mostly for free and even if you just splash for your sideboard you can play a "stock" list and have a better sideboard against combodecks (which I think are a bad matchup).
Todd Stevens has mastered this deck but I think with a little more black cards he will finally win an open with "Valuetown"
After my first post in march I realised that 4x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is just bad (in modern). Don't get me wrong - I love this card. But as a 4 off she's not that good in modern. I'll test the deck this week and will post my current list/thoughts!
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Modern: 5c Humans//Devoted Company
Legacy: Maverick
Pauper: UB Delver
So, is this the primer for "GW Valuetown"?
I'm a huge fan of the deck! I really enjoy playing and watching it!
What I don't understand: why is no one splashing black? I mean the splash is mostly for free and even if you just splash for your sideboard you can play a "stock" list and have a better sideboard against combodecks (which I think are a bad matchup).
Todd Stevens has mastered this deck but I think with a little more black cards he will finally win an open with "Valuetown"
After my first post in march I realised that 4x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is just bad (in modern). Don't get me wrong - I love this card. But as a 4 off she's not that good in modern. I'll test the deck this week and will post my current list/thoughts!
Yep - this is basically the valuetown primer.
What would you be looking to splash black for? Duress/Thoughtseize/Iok?
Agreed on Thalia. I run one out of the side and she's been fine there - I definitely don't think that four maindeck is necessary at all.
Maybe I'm trying too hard to copy the legacy list but hear me out! Abrupt Decay helps game one against Devoted Druid, Elves and other creature based decks. It's good against unflipped Search for Azcanta (I think destroying it the turn they play it is the most value-play). Scryb Ranger + Dryad Arbor gives you infinite chumpblocks. Maybe it's too cute but I think it's worth a try.
1-off Thalia, Guardian of Thraben could work out. I played her in a humans build (Bant) as a one-off and never had the issue of drawing too much copies.
The Manabase trades some basics for the shocklands. Not sure if 7 fetchlands are enough. Yeah, we will give some % to burn but I think Courser of Kruphix will balance it.
The true black splash comes from the sideboard! Basically it's just Thoughtseize and Zealous Persecution. Imho discard is pretty strong in this meta. Zealous Persecution could be Engineered Explosives but the instant is more versatile and can push the last points of dmg. The maindeck should be balanced enough and we can board special hate against bad matchups.
Maybe the list needs a curve topper - I really like Archangel Avacyn! I think Thalia, Heretic Cathar is a flex spot and I'll try the angel instead of her.
Tomorrow I'll playtest the list a little bit - you'll get some feedback afterwards
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Modern: 5c Humans//Devoted Company
Legacy: Maverick
Pauper: UB Delver
Finally a place to talk about GW Company, thank god!
@Barthenrykson:
I've played Dark Maverick (GWb) in Legacy and your list looks like a direct port over to modern. A couple of notes from my experience:
-Scryb Ranger + Dryad Arbor is too cute for modern. In Legacy this is a far better combo due to wasteland > ghost quarter and both creatues beeing tutorable via GSZ. I would cut them. Imho Ramunap Excavator + Azusa is far more viable if you want to go that route.
- Thalia GoT is not needed imho. In Legacy she is a necessaryevil due to the format beeing much more spell based than modern but if you like her i would add a couple to the board instead of maindecking her in the current meta.
- A black splash is workable for sure. It comes down to personal preference if you go with the GW Eldricth Evolution silver bullet board or with a black splash. However, the only black cards i see worthwile are Thoughtseize/Collective Brutality, Abrupt Decay and Orzhov Pontiff (can be tutored via EE).
Edit: Avacyn is a hell of a card. Has won me every game i've cast her so far. Another underestimated card is Rogue's Passage, especially when the board is crowded as hell. A unblockable KotR or Tracker can end the game in 2 or 3 turns.
These are all great points and I'm inclined to agree based on my testing but YMMV. I've talked about Scryb with some friends who play maverick religiously and without Delver being a big format player and GSZ to tutor it, it's just a little too lackluster. Sure, situationally you can come up with plenty of examples of when you'd want it, but on the average it's not performing nearly as strongly as any of your other three drops. Top decking a night with an empty board can snowball into you winning the game. Topdecking a Scryb doesn't have nearly the same impact.
Played at a modern night last night and went 2-1-1 - I made basic changes to my list above -
Dropped one tracker and replaced with a second scavenging ooze. Dropped the Dromoka's Command and replaced it with a Thalia, Heretic Cathar. Switched Avacyn and Mindcensor between main/board. In the board I dropped a Blessed Alliance for a Bojuka Bog, I switched a Thalia, Guardian of Thraben in for the Nissa, and the friend I'm borrowing EEs from needed one back so I replaced it with a Gideon's Intervention.
Explanation of changes and thought process - Mainboard changes were designed to give me more coco hits in game one, and I've really liked 3 mana Thalia in testing (especially on the play). Mindcensor and Thalia both on the play on turn 2 are SO backbreaking against so much of the format. I'm also concerned with a rise in graveyard decks and wanted access to the second scooze in the main as more incidental graveyard hate. Dromoka's was too cute so it got the axe, and Tracker *can* get out of hand, but seems like it's a step too slow to generate too much value for me to want the full three. I haven't liked mainboard Bojuka Bog because of how wonky it can make your starting hands (GQ, BB, and two birds is such a bad feeling in an opening hand), and you don't want to see it every game at all, but having access to tutoring it with Knight at instant speed is very powerful out of the side.
Match 1 - U Tron - 0-2
I got destroyed in both games. Game 1 he repealed my board out of existence and then won with an overloaded cyclonic rift at my end step into an unchecked Jace and Ugin. Yikes. Game 2 I didn't see a single sideboard card and he started recurring O-stones with academy ruins (and I couldn't find a GQ). GGs. This matchup feels genuinely terrible because we have a hard time dropping a serious clock against bounce effects, they don't care that much about finding tron, and their late game is the best in modern. Them's the beats.
Match 2 - GR Eldrazi - 2-0
I kept a hand that had the ghost quarter lock by turn 4 and he stumbled on mana. Salt flowed but on his side but MAN did it feel good. Noble - Knight - Mindcensor - Ramunap WEW. Second game was a little more of the same - my Knights got too big too fast for him to deal with, and I found Mindcensor again in conjunction with some Paths. He couldn't answer it.
Match 3 - Jeskai Control - 2-1
Game 1 he's on all of the removal and I stumbled a bit in the beginning. I scoop once I'm working off the top of my deck and he's got a grip full of cards and a flipped Azcanta - we just don't have time to waste playing to 1% outs in game 1. Game 2 I bait him into countering a Voice and then slam a Choke that he definitely can't answer. I strip mine him out of the game over the next few turns once I find Azusa/Ramunap. Game 3 is super grindy but I manage to keep stringing out Voices one after another. He's terrified of tapping out in fear of getting choked so I got to free time walk him quite a few times and it just proved to be too much.
Match 4 - Id'd for prizes.
Deck still feels great. Need to keep getting better with it, but I'm looking forward it to running it through a few PPTQs and the GP in Portland in December.
I've tested my list yesterday against Vizier Combo, Burn, GW Taxes and Burn.
The two copies of Abrupt Decay felt super good! Having access to more removal can't be wrong
The Manabase was a bit tricky because the lifeloss can be real against burn and without a bird we are soft to Ghost Quarter. Imho adding a Swamp isn't necessary because it has no synergy with Knight of the Reliquary and the black splash is marginal.
The Sideboard was ok too. The Thoughtseize bought me some turns against Company and overall the sideboard felt like just some small tools to spice up the mainboard and keep up your gameplan.
Cards that have to be cut: Dryad Arbor + Scryb Ranger - a huge tempo loss and the synergy between Arbor and Ranger isn't that good to play it. Also the argument mentioned above is pretty strong. Without GSZ you can't tutor it and topdecking one of both is crap.
I think playing a legacy-like maverick deck is just a dream
Todd's articles about Valuetown that he wrote have finally become available to non-premium SCG users - DEFINITELY check them out as his choices are pretty illuminating.
He specifically confirmed something I've learned over the course of playing with it in that main phase cocos are often where you want to be, Courser is incredible for the draw knowledge, and Knight shouldn't really be attacking until it's presenting a very very fast clock. This deck is bizarre and your play patterns have to follow that, but it is a ton of fun.
Some things about this list - I don't know that I like anything less than 4 GQs. It just seems so integral to the strategy more often than either the tec edge or field of ruin would be. It is nice to insulate yourself from Surgical on GQ, but still. I also think I'd rather have the second plains than the second Temple Garden - fetching basics to preserve life is often much more important to me than fixing in the later stage of the game.
Out of the side, I *really* like the idea of Nissa, Vital Force as the go to planeswalker. She comes down a turn earlier than Elspeth, she presents a HUGE problem for control decks (just like Elspeth), and her ultimate is both easy to attain and game winning. Definitely going to try it out. Everything else looks more or less standard.
Going forward, I'm going to try a Qasali Pridemage in the main. I'm noting lots of 'gotcha' artifacts and enchantments in maindecks in my meta currently (a single bridge, worship, etc) and I'd like to have outs to them in the main. QP happens to be a more serviceable creature than Rec Sage, so in the event I don't need the destroy ability, I'd rather have access to it.
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I won't touch to much on the Manabase right now, but this is the newest deck I plan to try. I love Maverick in Legacy and always wanted to try it in Modern and feel like it has the cards to be viable. Looking for some other opinions on my first build.
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=392928
Modern - Mardu Death's Shadow(needs work)
DnT(mono white cause I had the cards)
Legacy - RUG Delver(almost foiled out)
RG Lands
In Legacy you can do that because you have GSZ, but it's not the case here.
WGUBR 5c Humans
GWR Naya Zoo
Legacy:
GW GW Maverick
R Goblins
That's true about the Green Sun. I was thinking of trying out Collected Company over the Lingering Souls
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=392928
Modern - Mardu Death's Shadow(needs work)
DnT(mono white cause I had the cards)
Legacy - RUG Delver(almost foiled out)
RG Lands
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=392928
Modern - Mardu Death's Shadow(needs work)
DnT(mono white cause I had the cards)
Legacy - RUG Delver(almost foiled out)
RG Lands
WGUBR 5c Humans
GWR Naya Zoo
Legacy:
GW GW Maverick
R Goblins
Storm is hard but there's good possibility to destroy their lands before they can do anything after that they prob. scoops.
WGUBR 5c Humans
GWR Naya Zoo
Legacy:
GW GW Maverick
R Goblins
Best card against Living End is Sigarda. With here, Living End can't make you sacrifice your board and you'll just outvalue them. Whisperwood is also good.
Other than that, Surgicals can take out their Living Ends after the first one and, if you manage to stabilize the game after it, there's a chance to win.
WGUBR 5c Humans
GWR Naya Zoo
Legacy:
GW GW Maverick
R Goblins
Play Eidolon of Rhetoric, it will stop Storm, Ad Nauseam and Living End and is Bolt proof Works very good in Elves (but there you have Chord of Calling to find the one-off
Favourite Deck: Elves (Modern & Legacy)
Standard: New Perspectives Combo
Modern: GW Hatebears | Death and Taxes | Eldrazi and Taxes | Abzan Liege | Abzan Company
Commander: The Gitrog Monster (Combo) | Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper (Control) | RIP Leovold Sultai (Elvestorm, no unfair locks) | Mono G (Yisan or Titania)
Tiny Leaders: Too many decks to keep track of
Pauper: RIP UR Drake | Mono B | GBx Goodstuff | Jund "Melira"
EDIT: Then I read the card and meh.
Thanks in advance,
-Catmix
WWModern Death And Taxes (w/ Militia Bugler) (JUL '19)
GWModern Maverick (JUL '19)
WBCatmix on Twitch!
WWCatmix on Youtube
My meta is full of BGx, Jeskai control, Tron and Death's Shadow.
// 4 Artifact
4 Aether Vial
// 28 Creature
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Dark Confidant
2 Voice of Resurgence
4 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Eternal Witness
1 Ramunap Excavator
2 Courser of Kruphix
3 Spirit of the Labyrinth
1 Scavenging Ooze
2 Mirran Crusader
4 Path to Exile
2 Collected Company
// 22 Land
4 Windswept Heath
2 Verdant Catacombs
1 Temple Garden
3 Ghost Quarter
1 Sejiri Steppe
1 Gavony Township
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Godless Shrine
3 Forest
2 Plains
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Bojuka Bog
Definitely I want these cards in my SB.
And something to beat an aggro deck.
So are there better card choices?
4x Noble Hierarch
3x Birds of Paradise
3x Voice of Resurgence
1x Qasali Pridemage
1x Scavenging Ooze
1x Scryb Ranger
4x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4x Knight of the Reliquary
2x Tireless Tracker
2x Courser of Kruphix
1x Ramunap Excavator
1x Eternal Witness
Spells:
4x Path to Exile
2x Abrupt Decay
4x Collected Company
2x Temple Garden
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Godless Shrine
1x Horizon Canopy
4x Ghost Quarter
1x Gavony Township
2x Forest
1x Swamp
1x Plains
4x Windswept Heath
4x Wooded Foothills
1x Dryad Arbor
2x Thoughtseize
1x Stony Silence
1x Kataki, War's Wage
2x Choke
2x Orzhov Pontiff
1x Anafenza, the Foremost
1x Scavenging Ooze
1x Mirran Crusader
2x Kitchen Finks
1x Eldritch Evolution
1x Eidolon of Rhetoric
This is the first brew without any playtesting. I'd love to play 1-2 swords of (...) but a) I don't have them b) don't want to buy them because c) I don't think they are worth it.
The Sideboard is tweaked for our "friendly league". Taking this deck to a wider competative tournament I would add some Thrun, the Last Troll and/or Loxodon Smiter to fight against UWx decks. I want to squeeze some copies of Collective Brutality in the Sideboard to fight Combo/Burn. Maybe for the Kitchen Finks or Mirran Crusader.
The longer I think about the deck I'm starting to think it could be actually good! The only concern, in a competativ environment, is the rise up of Bloodbraid Elf... I'm playing her in my Naya build... damn this card is soooo good!
@LeaveMasterPro I think Kitchen Finks and Loxodon Smiter are good against Aggro helping also against Controldecks. Courser of Kruphix is solid against aggro too!
I'll will give you some feedback after our little tournament! Maybe I'll sleeve the deck for the next FNM!
Legacy: Maverick
Pauper: UB Delver
1 Gavony Township
4 Ghost Quarter
2 Horizon Canopy
2 Plains
2 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
3 Wooded Foothills
1 Archangel Avacyn
1 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Ramunap Excavator
1 Scavenging Ooze
3 Tireless Tracker
4 Voice of Resurgence
4 Collected Company
1 Dromoka's Command
4 Path to Exile
2 Blessed Alliance
1 Choke
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Eldritch Evolution
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
2 Stony Silence
Match notes and sideboards - I don't take very good notes and don't have a great memory of every single turn (I have no idea how some of you have such detailed tournament reports) but I always remember how I sideboarded so I'll just try to give you the gist.
Match 1 - Lantern Control - 2-0
I feel pretty favored against lantern normally as we have SO much control over the top of our library and that proved to be the case in these games.
Game 1 - Had a turn 2 Knight that he couldn't answer at all and it was far too hard for him to control my draw step and he couldn't find a bridge. Easy and quick win.
Sideboard:
Out
4 Path - no targets
3 Voice of Resurgence - just a grizzly bear and that's definitely not where you want to be.
In
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Kataki
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Shalai
2 Stony Silence
Game 2 - This was more of the same if not better as I got to just remove all of my dead stuff. Ended up delivering most of my beats via a BOP under a bridge with double Hierarch triggers. He whirred for a spellbomb to kill one of the Hierarch's which dropped my clock to give him time to find outs. I ended up with 2 knights in play and in one upkeep saw 8 different cards on top of my deck before I drew. Knight is stupid. Finally found a Kataki which basically wrathed his board and that was the game.
Match 2 - Jeskai Control - 2-0
Jeskai can be a tough matchup if they see enough removal early and can stabilize at a high enough life total. Our general gameplan here is to try and grind with them while constantly pressuring their basics. Most Jeskai players run 3/4ish basics - generally 2 islands and a plains but some will run a third island or 1 mountain.
Game 1 - Did exactly what I was looking to do in that he naturally drew his basics and I got to a point where I could ghost quarter aggressively. A Ramunap sealed his fate with GQ's every turn while he tried to deal with some pesky Voices.
Sideboard:
Out
4 Path
4 Birds of Paradise - dorks aren't really where you want to be against a super removal heavy deck - you want to insulate yourself from easy removal targets and give yourself better late game topdecks
In
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Choke
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric - 4 power toughness creatures come in against Jeskai as only path cleanly deals with them. The other text isn't terribly relevant but it does turn off Snapcaster, so that's nice.
1 Engineered Explosives - a hedge against them bringing in something like Rest in Peace
1 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
1 Reclamation Sage - also a hedge against RIP
1 Shalai
1 Sigarda
Game 2 - Mulled to 6 and snap kept a hand with a voice, choke, and Coco. Drew a Noble and played it turn one - into voice (not playing into mana leak), end of his fourth turn I played Coco into Cryptic mana and he took the bait and I slammed Choke on my turn keeping him completely tapped out. Voice was a slow clock and he got some more lands up while I built out my board and the game ended when I 'countered' a wrath with Avacyn.
Match 3 - Jund - 2-1
Jund games are the grindiest of the grindy games. Your success comes down to how able you are to hold off aggression while ghost quartering them out of the game as they don't run many basics.
Game 1 - I got relatively lucky and found a constant stream of huge knights that he couldn't deal with all in a row and I got a Scavenging Ooze going early which helped clean up Goyfs.
Sideboard:
General idea - similar to that of Jeskai. Dorks are not where you want to be. Give yourself better top decks and the more you can inoculate yourself against bolt, the better. Our board is pretty good against Jund so I felt pretty good going into the sideboard games.
Out
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Noble Hierarch
In
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Nissa
1 Shalai
1 Sigarda
Game 2 - I thought I kept a fairly good hand with some voices, but one ate an inquisition and he followed it up with a Bob that went ham, and a Scavenging Ooze that ended up with 10 counters on it and my graveyard completely empty. Despite my best efforts I never found a path.
Game 3 - Kept a super shaky 6 - 2 lands (fetch and ghost quarter) with a my only real playables being a courser and EE and scryed another courser to the bottom. First draw step was another courser. He dropped a goyf with only lands in the yard. I find a land and drop Courser. I don't block his goyf when he swings in because I saw he had the bolt (he did). Got the second courser up and passed. Blocked his two goyfs (which were 2/3s) and he didn't have anything to punish me and played a bob in his second main. Hit my 4th land drop into EE on 2, popped, swing. He found a Liliana the Last Hope and we start to grind out a little bit, with him finding another pesky Scooze that got big enough to be a threat. He couldn't put pressure on though and I blew him out with Avacyn negating a push on a late Excavator. Feels good.
So yeah, I love this deck. You have so many options, you have so many different ways to attack the format and you have outs to almost everything.
And that was that. Felt good. On the modernmagic forum there were some arguments about my sideboarding decisions. At the time everything felt good, but now I'm not so sure. Thoughts?
This deck feels SO much better than it's following would suggest. Are people just not interested in the playstyle?
WWModern Death And Taxes (w/ Militia Bugler) (JUL '19)
GWModern Maverick (JUL '19)
WBCatmix on Twitch!
WWCatmix on Youtube
I'm a huge fan of the deck! I really enjoy playing and watching it!
What I don't understand: why is no one splashing black? I mean the splash is mostly for free and even if you just splash for your sideboard you can play a "stock" list and have a better sideboard against combodecks (which I think are a bad matchup).
Todd Stevens has mastered this deck but I think with a little more black cards he will finally win an open with "Valuetown"
After my first post in march I realised that 4x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is just bad (in modern). Don't get me wrong - I love this card. But as a 4 off she's not that good in modern. I'll test the deck this week and will post my current list/thoughts!
Legacy: Maverick
Pauper: UB Delver
Yep - this is basically the valuetown primer.
What would you be looking to splash black for? Duress/Thoughtseize/Iok?
Agreed on Thalia. I run one out of the side and she's been fine there - I definitely don't think that four maindeck is necessary at all.
I think the green-white version lacks a little bit of interaction. Especial the combodecks are hard for.
This is the list that comes to my mind:
4x Birds of Paradise
3x Noble Hierarch
1x Dryad Arbor
1x Scryb Ranger
2x Scavenging Ooze
1x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3x Voice of Resrugence
1x Qasali Pridemage
4x Knight of the Reliquary
4x Courser of Kruphix
2x Tireless Tracker
1x Thalia, Heretic Cathar
1x Ramunap Excavator
4x Path to Exile
2x Abrupt Decay
4x Collected Company
Lands:
4x Windswept Heath
3x Wooded Foothills
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Godless Shrine
2x Temple Garden
4x Ghost Quarter
1x Gavony Township
1x Horizon Canopy
4x Forest
1x Plains
2x Choke
2x Stony Silence
3x Thoughtseize
2x Zealous Persecution
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1x Reclamation Sage
1x Eidolon of Rhetoric
1x Kataki, War's Wage
Maybe I'm trying too hard to copy the legacy list but hear me out!
Abrupt Decay helps game one against Devoted Druid, Elves and other creature based decks. It's good against unflipped Search for Azcanta (I think destroying it the turn they play it is the most value-play).
Scryb Ranger + Dryad Arbor gives you infinite chumpblocks. Maybe it's too cute but I think it's worth a try.
1-off Thalia, Guardian of Thraben could work out. I played her in a humans build (Bant) as a one-off and never had the issue of drawing too much copies.
The Manabase trades some basics for the shocklands. Not sure if 7 fetchlands are enough. Yeah, we will give some % to burn but I think Courser of Kruphix will balance it.
The true black splash comes from the sideboard! Basically it's just Thoughtseize and Zealous Persecution. Imho discard is pretty strong in this meta. Zealous Persecution could be Engineered Explosives but the instant is more versatile and can push the last points of dmg. The maindeck should be balanced enough and we can board special hate against bad matchups.
Maybe the list needs a curve topper - I really like Archangel Avacyn! I think Thalia, Heretic Cathar is a flex spot and I'll try the angel instead of her.
Tomorrow I'll playtest the list a little bit - you'll get some feedback afterwards
Legacy: Maverick
Pauper: UB Delver
These are all great points and I'm inclined to agree based on my testing but YMMV. I've talked about Scryb with some friends who play maverick religiously and without Delver being a big format player and GSZ to tutor it, it's just a little too lackluster. Sure, situationally you can come up with plenty of examples of when you'd want it, but on the average it's not performing nearly as strongly as any of your other three drops. Top decking a night with an empty board can snowball into you winning the game. Topdecking a Scryb doesn't have nearly the same impact.
Played at a modern night last night and went 2-1-1 - I made basic changes to my list above -
Dropped one tracker and replaced with a second scavenging ooze. Dropped the Dromoka's Command and replaced it with a Thalia, Heretic Cathar. Switched Avacyn and Mindcensor between main/board. In the board I dropped a Blessed Alliance for a Bojuka Bog, I switched a Thalia, Guardian of Thraben in for the Nissa, and the friend I'm borrowing EEs from needed one back so I replaced it with a Gideon's Intervention.
Explanation of changes and thought process - Mainboard changes were designed to give me more coco hits in game one, and I've really liked 3 mana Thalia in testing (especially on the play). Mindcensor and Thalia both on the play on turn 2 are SO backbreaking against so much of the format. I'm also concerned with a rise in graveyard decks and wanted access to the second scooze in the main as more incidental graveyard hate. Dromoka's was too cute so it got the axe, and Tracker *can* get out of hand, but seems like it's a step too slow to generate too much value for me to want the full three. I haven't liked mainboard Bojuka Bog because of how wonky it can make your starting hands (GQ, BB, and two birds is such a bad feeling in an opening hand), and you don't want to see it every game at all, but having access to tutoring it with Knight at instant speed is very powerful out of the side.
Match 1 - U Tron - 0-2
I got destroyed in both games. Game 1 he repealed my board out of existence and then won with an overloaded cyclonic rift at my end step into an unchecked Jace and Ugin. Yikes. Game 2 I didn't see a single sideboard card and he started recurring O-stones with academy ruins (and I couldn't find a GQ). GGs. This matchup feels genuinely terrible because we have a hard time dropping a serious clock against bounce effects, they don't care that much about finding tron, and their late game is the best in modern. Them's the beats.
Match 2 - GR Eldrazi - 2-0
I kept a hand that had the ghost quarter lock by turn 4 and he stumbled on mana. Salt flowed but on his side but MAN did it feel good. Noble - Knight - Mindcensor - Ramunap WEW. Second game was a little more of the same - my Knights got too big too fast for him to deal with, and I found Mindcensor again in conjunction with some Paths. He couldn't answer it.
Match 3 - Jeskai Control - 2-1
Game 1 he's on all of the removal and I stumbled a bit in the beginning. I scoop once I'm working off the top of my deck and he's got a grip full of cards and a flipped Azcanta - we just don't have time to waste playing to 1% outs in game 1. Game 2 I bait him into countering a Voice and then slam a Choke that he definitely can't answer. I strip mine him out of the game over the next few turns once I find Azusa/Ramunap. Game 3 is super grindy but I manage to keep stringing out Voices one after another. He's terrified of tapping out in fear of getting choked so I got to free time walk him quite a few times and it just proved to be too much.
Match 4 - Id'd for prizes.
Deck still feels great. Need to keep getting better with it, but I'm looking forward it to running it through a few PPTQs and the GP in Portland in December.
I've tested my list yesterday against Vizier Combo, Burn, GW Taxes and Burn.
The two copies of Abrupt Decay felt super good! Having access to more removal can't be wrong
The Manabase was a bit tricky because the lifeloss can be real against burn and without a bird we are soft to Ghost Quarter. Imho adding a Swamp isn't necessary because it has no synergy with Knight of the Reliquary and the black splash is marginal.
The Sideboard was ok too. The Thoughtseize bought me some turns against Company and overall the sideboard felt like just some small tools to spice up the mainboard and keep up your gameplan.
Cards that have to be cut:
Dryad Arbor + Scryb Ranger - a huge tempo loss and the synergy between Arbor and Ranger isn't that good to play it. Also the argument mentioned above is pretty strong. Without GSZ you can't tutor it and topdecking one of both is crap.
I think playing a legacy-like maverick deck is just a dream
For now I'll add a 4th Noble Hierarch and the 23rd land. In this case I would have two flexslots (Thalia, Guardian of Thraben+Thalia, Heretic Cathar). Not sure if I'm hopping on the Azusa/Ramunap train.
Legacy: Maverick
Pauper: UB Delver
http://www.starcitygames.com/articles/37238_Everything-You-Need-To-Know-About-GW-Company-Part-1.html
http://www.starcitygames.com/articles/37265_Everything-You-Need-To-Know-About-GW-Company-Part-2.html
He specifically confirmed something I've learned over the course of playing with it in that main phase cocos are often where you want to be, Courser is incredible for the draw knowledge, and Knight shouldn't really be attacking until it's presenting a very very fast clock. This deck is bizarre and your play patterns have to follow that, but it is a ton of fun.
1 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Courser of Kruphix
1 Elvish Mystic
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Ramunap Excavator
2 Scavenging Ooze
3 Tireless Tracker
3 Voice of Resurgence
4 Collected Company
1 Dromoka's Command
4 Path to Exile
1 Field of Ruin
6 Forest
1 Gavony Township
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Plains
1 Tectonic Edge
2 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Aven Mindcensor
2 Blessed Alliance
1 Bojuka Bog
2 Choke
2 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Nissa, Vital Force
2 Reclamation Sage
2 Stony Silence
1 Surgical Extraction
Some things about this list - I don't know that I like anything less than 4 GQs. It just seems so integral to the strategy more often than either the tec edge or field of ruin would be. It is nice to insulate yourself from Surgical on GQ, but still. I also think I'd rather have the second plains than the second Temple Garden - fetching basics to preserve life is often much more important to me than fixing in the later stage of the game.
Out of the side, I *really* like the idea of Nissa, Vital Force as the go to planeswalker. She comes down a turn earlier than Elspeth, she presents a HUGE problem for control decks (just like Elspeth), and her ultimate is both easy to attain and game winning. Definitely going to try it out. Everything else looks more or less standard.
Going forward, I'm going to try a Qasali Pridemage in the main. I'm noting lots of 'gotcha' artifacts and enchantments in maindecks in my meta currently (a single bridge, worship, etc) and I'd like to have outs to them in the main. QP happens to be a more serviceable creature than Rec Sage, so in the event I don't need the destroy ability, I'd rather have access to it.