MTG Salvation

Quote from Outcryqq »

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.

I'm running all those except Sanctum, which is a good idea if the mana acceleration from noble heirarch isn't burned out. If they see me search for batterskull early on, they'll just burn stoneforge so that I don't have the mana to bring it out. I did win one game by sowrds/plowing my 8/8 knight, but that really only has use late game unless your opponent planned to perfectly burn only your exact remaining life and has nothing left.

yo! So I know I haven't posted on this thread before, however, with team trios coming up (Santa Clara GP), I was dubbed the Legacy player for my team. Gonna be rocking Maverick up there and wanted to know if anyone had any input regarding the deck, this deck's place in the meta, and/or useful information. Pretty stoked, and I feel like with Terminus not as prevalent, Maverick is a decent choice. I'm on straight Abzan, no blue splash for Leovold and no red for Punishing Fire. Don't think the deck necessarily needs it. I tested Nic Fit for a while, but found Maverick to be a bit more solid. The list is as followed:


SIDEBOARD:


That is where we're at as of now. The GP is about a month away so there's still changes that can be made. Any suggestions or critiques are welcome!

Decent list. For trios, it probably depends on what your teammates are running.

Speaking generically, you have a lot of 3 drop creatures (6), that would concern me a bit. With a proper mana base, like what you have, your DRS are great and you probably won't need the Birds of Paradise, I'd maybe consider 1-2 more Qasali Pridemage main, but maybe that's my response to a meta full of artifacts and enchantments. Also, Zealous Persection has been really great lately, and I'd imagine it would just get better in trios, I'd consider adding another 1-2 in the SB. Which matchups are you wanting to bring in Gideon, Ally of Zendikar?

Quote from Outcryqq »

Decent list. For trios, it probably depends on what your teammates are running.

Speaking generically, you have a lot of 3 drop creatures (6), that would concern me a bit. With a proper mana base, like what you have, your DRS are great and you probably won't need the Birds of Paradise, I'd maybe consider 1-2 more Qasali Pridemage main, but maybe that's my response to a meta full of artifacts and enchantments. Also, Zealous Persection has been really great lately, and I'd imagine it would just get better in trios, I'd consider adding another 1-2 in the SB. Which matchups are you wanting to bring in Gideon, Ally of Zendikar?

I appreciate the response! Teammates for this event are on Affinity (Modern) and as far as Standard goes, TBD. I've gone back ad forth with the Birds of Paradise. The fact that they allow for a turn 2 Knight of the Reliquary or double spell, with a Deathrite Shaman and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben , has been pretty relevant. Late game, the Birdies can become an evasive threat with a SOFI on it. That being said, I am not opposed to reevaluating them... Perhaps going down to 1. Another Qasali Pridemage could be solid, depending on the meta for sure. The exalted trigger is nothing to scoff at either. Gideon, Ally of Zendikar has been ABSURD against any deck that doesn't have a way to pressure it's loyalty. The clock it can put on is actually quite fast. Not necessarily with the "become a creature mode" (though that is good too), but through making 2/2's. That in combination with Thoughtseize and Choke has allowed me to take on the "Miracles" deck much more comfortably. Thanks again for your response!

So after more playtesting, I decided to try out Leovold. He has been great. I always knew he was good, but the card advantage he gives you is what I feel like I needed and the fact that it hinders brainstorms and other cantrips has been solid.

Do you end up playing a trop in the deck too?, or just attempting to power him out with green sun and dorks? I was considering running him in the Brave sir robin version of maverick I'm running, as it is 5 color, but if you can just power him out regularly often enough, ill prob consider testing him in the b/g/w version.

Has anyone ended up using Best Within or at least sideboarding it? I feel like it's good at least against plainswalkers, because the kinds of decks that run plainswalkers are usually more control oriented and aren't adapted to take much advantage of aggro.

Any opinions on what to do after the Deathrite Shaman ban comes to effect?
Back to four copies of Noble Hierarch?

Quote from thErgonomic »

Any opinions on what to do after the Deathrite Shaman ban comes to effect?
Back to four copies of Noble Hierarch?

That or some combination with Birds of Paradise if you're running 3 colors like Punishing Mav.

Ugh, Deathrite Shaman ban really kills my version of Maverick, I am taking a hiatus from Maverick with the hopes of DRS returning at some point.

I haven't had many problems with Maverick since the DRS ban, I run mostly GW or GWU, I prefer more noble hierarch for when you happen to not get the land you need or it gets blown up by wasteland.
I thought taking out thoughtseize and deathrite and abrupt decay and all that would be a major issue, but the aggro is very persistent without that and the tutoring with GSZ and SFM makes it as versatile as it needs assuming you can identity the deck quickly enough, and then there's the mana accel and damage ramp from noble on top of that.
Literally just umezawa's jitte alone is already enough to lock down a game against a lot of decks, add coutnerspells and/or Vendilion Clique to protect it from hate and break combos and you got yourself a faster and more versatile DnT that also has much better scaling into late into the game.

The only thing I've seen as an issue so far is the aggro of stompy decks and sometimes Sneak/Tell, not even chalice since the mana curve for Maverick is 2-3, but just the shear speed they can get to dealing 10-20 damage per turn is another reason to consider FOW and Clique as I've also found Mother of Runes to be less crucial as stompy and sneak decks rise in popularity, so now I only run 3 instead of 4 and sideboard them out against anything that is predominantly colorless.

Deathrite could have tipped the favor from wasteland by allowing you to take extra mana from it, but that really only matters in matchups against more aggro decks anyway that rely on specialized lands like cloudpost or ancient tomb, it doesn't do much to delver or especially burn and merfolk due to its low mana curve, you're more likely to be able to use that time to your advantage due to the versatility to answer whatever threat you face and it still boosts Knight of the Reliquary. You already have the opportunity to use Thalia to break a combo or tutor for Qasali to destroy a combo artifact, use Jitte to finish off a 5/5, swords to remove a flier or other key creature, Scavenging Ooze to counter Reanimator or delve on top of traditional grave hate, Scryb Ranger to block delver or clique. If you know what to tutor for, then adding the control from black and grave control from DRS is just overkill and frankly a waste of time because it didn't add much aggro whereas the GW or GWU already has both control and aggro symbiotically.

If you go aggro you can answer very easily to delver and other aggro/control/combo decks by consistently applying the pressure, because as long as you don't let them build a reservoir of counterspells and removal, you'll always be able to answer to anything they could possibly cast and inevitably overrun them. If Stonforge resolves, they can no longer counter your batterskull or any other equipment, but if they use up a counterspell or lightning bolt on Stoneforge or have to chump block against Nimble Mongoose for whatever reason then not only do you have creatures to feed scavenging ooze and gain life, but they have one less answer to your own removal or Knight or Clique or Stoneforge or Qasali or etc, and that's just if you haven't gotten Thalia or Voice of Resurgence out already.

Alternatively you can consider maining a few Sorcerous Spyglass if you miss thoughtseize and sideboard Mistcaller which aren't as effective against Eldrazi but are effective against Steel Stompy and Sneak/Tell.