The History of Legacy Maverick

Legacy Maverick: A Green-White based archetype

Legacy Maverick Deck-Tech

Want a quick intro into what Maverick looks like in 2023? MTG content creator Ammi02 put together a great, quick deck-tech for understanding Maverick’s strategy.

Legacy Maverick 101 with Mark Strassman & DougesOnTwitch | Eternal Durdles


What is Maverick?

Maverick as we know it today made it’s debut in the Legacy meta game in early 2011 with the release of Mirrodin Besieged and the printing of Green Sun’s Zenith. The deck, traditionally a GW midrange toolbox deck had been around before this and made use of the card Survival of the Fittest. Like its sister deck Death & Taxes, Maverick runs disruptive creatures like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben & Mother of Runes and lands such as Wasteland and Karakas. The deck is able to disrupt its opponent while also beat down with large threats like Knight of the Reliquary, Tireless Tracker or other troublesome creatures.

Green Sun's Zenith Green Sun’s Zenith (GSZ) allows the pilot to run one-of matchup silver bullets like Gaddock Teeg and Scavenging Ooze and yet have access to a virtual 5 copies within the maindeck. This allows the deck to be filled with creatures that synergies really well together and as one, are a serious power house.  GSZ also gives the deck an element of flexibility, able to aggressively combat any local meta by switching around the silver bullet targets to what’s going to perform well.

The name of the deck has a few different origin stories. Below you can see Todd Anderson discuss why it’s called Maverick, however MTG The Source says the name is a tribute to a MTGO player who popularised the deck with the screen name M@verick (Luis Viciano).

 

“The reason they called it Maverick because Maverick means off the radar – doing something that isn’t normal.” – Todd Anderson

MTG The Source’s Maverick primer also states at the first versions of Maverick were based around Aether Vial (see below) rather than a Zenith value deck, however the printing of Green Sun’s Zenith put the deck over the top. This was all of course after the banning of Survival of the Fittest in the Legacy format in December of 2010.


The birth of Maverick as we know it

Luis Viciano’s Top 8 Maverick List

Treetop Village, Weathered Wayfarer and Ghostly Prison? Although Maverick in 2010 is quite different to what we have access to now, the core of the deck is still very much the same. In fact a green-white based Aether Vial deck is what drew me into the Modern format with GW hatebears so the thought of a competitive list in Legacy only brings an overflowing level of excitement to me.

The Evolution of the archetype

As you can see above the deck started off (and arguably is still strongest) as a green-white creature-based deck, however had expanded since then to Punishing Maverick, Dark Maverick, BANT and even 4/5c versions. Since the banning of Survival, the deck has been hit with some big ups and downs. The biggest impacts on the deck have most likely been the printing of Thalia, Guardian of Thraben in 2012, the Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time era in 2014/5 and also the banning of Deathrite Shaman in 2018. Wrenn & Six also had a pretty huge impact on the playablity of the deck, as many of the creatures we rely on in the early game have 1 toughness. Wrenn also diminished the real value of Wastelanding opponents, and allowed many to get back in the game once they landed the now banned 2CMC planeswalker.

Thalia, Guardian of Thraben really gave the deck a spot in the format with one of the greatest game 1 threats against blue based combo and control decks. A card that some players still to this day may concede to while it’s still floating on the stack, Thalia plays a huge roll in allowing a fair deck like Maverick stay in the game against some of the formats more broken archetypes. I believe one of the main reasons Maverick has been out of the limelight over the past 3 or 4 years is due to the rise in popularity and finishes of Death & Taxes. You can hear more about Maverick and it’s history through a podcast I did with King, called Archetype Influencers.




Why play Maverick? The deck has resilience.

Here’s a great example of how Legacy Maverick can come back from any potential issue including what look to be unwinnable situations:


Further Online Maverick Resources

The Legacy Maverick Discord
The Green Sun’s Zenith Discord
Maverick YouTube Content
The original Maverick MTGSalvation Forum
The original Maverick MTGTheSource Forum
The Maverick 2.0 MTGTheSource Forum
The Three Flavors Of Maverick by Drew Levin 2012
How To Beat Everything Using Savannah by Drew Levin 2011
Six Months Of Maverick by Dayv Doberne 2013
SCG Legacy Open: Seattle 2nd Place Report by Dayv Doberne 2013


Top tournament finishes with Legacy Maverick

2023

November | 8th Place Legacy Challenge | EvanW

October | 2nd Place Legacy Challenge | Harry1232

September | 6th Place Legacy Challenge | Harry1232

August | 10th Place Legacy Challenge | Harry1232

August | Top 16 Legacy Challenge | Keyan926

July | 7th Place Legacy Challenge | Harry1232

July | 9th Place Legacy Challenge | Harry1232

July | 3rd Place Legacy Challenge | Harry1232

June | 5th SCG Baltimore 10K | Harry Hackett

June | 11th SCG Baltimore 10K | Mark Strassman

March | 1st Place MTGO Legacy Challenge | DNEELEY

February | 10th Place Legacy Challenge | Harry1232

2022

2022 | MTGO Legacy Challenge 10th Place | Harry1232

2022 | MTGO Legacy Challenge 9th Place | Harry1232

2022 | MTGO Legacy Showcase Challenge 6th Place | PhilLesh

2022 | MTGO Legacy Challenge 2nd Place | DNEELEY

2022 | Buffalo Chicken Dip Legacy Open 10th Place | Juan Morales

2022 | The Legacy Pit Open II 4th Place | Harry Hackett

2022 | SCG CON Baltimore – Legacy $5K 10th Place | Tyrik Strachan

2022 | Invasion Tour – Monthly Conquest Legacy 10K 4th Place | Gustav Bystedt

2022 | SCG CON Baltimore – Legacy $5K 12th Place | Michael Mascilak

2021

2021 | MTGO Legacy Challenge 3rd Place | AlecInTheInk

2021 | MTGO Legacy Challenge 8th | Kazurban

2021 | MTGO Legacy Challenge Top 16 | Achillies27

2021 | MTGO Legacy Challenge Top 16 | Achillies27

2021 | MTGO Legacy Challenge 10th | Capriccioso

2021 | MTG Huizhou 75th Legacy Games 2nd Place | Jun Wang

2020

2020 | MTGO Legacy Challenge 6th Place | SaitoSan

2020 | MTGO Legacy Challenge 1st Place | Ballestin93

2020 | MTGO Legacy Challenge Top 16 | Achillies27

2020 | MTGO Legacy Preliminary 1st Place | Achillies27

2014 – 2019

2019 | Legacy Dutch Open Series | Alex Rouw

2019 | MTGO Format Playoff Winner | MentalMisstep

2019 | SCG Philly Legacy Classic Top 16 | TK Strachan

2018 | GP Seattle Top 8 | Miranda Keith

2017 | MTGO Challenge | Boin

2016 | MKM Series Frankfurt Top 4 | Fabian Gorzgen

2016 | Balitmore SCG Invitational Top 16 | Alex Majlaton 

2011 – 2014

2014 | SCG Legacy Open Portland Winner | David McDarby

2013 | SCG Legacy Open Philadelphia | Jack Wang

2013 | LCL Abril Winner | Luis Viciano

2013 | Bazaar of Moxen Annecy Top 8 | Luis Viciano

2013 | Bazaar of Moxen Annecy Trial Top 8 | Luis Viciano

2012 | SCG Legacy Open Nashville Top 4 | Todd Anderson

2012 | Bazaar of Moxen Winner | Marc Duran

2013 | Bazaar of Moxen Paris Top 8 | Fabian Görzgen

2012 | 127 Player Legacy Event in Maintal | Kim Breitwieser

2012 | SCG Legacy Open De Moines Iowa | Joshua Snider

2012 | SCG Baltimore Legacy Open Winner | Adam Cai   

2012 | SCG Baltimore Legacy Open Top 8 | Todd Anderson

2012 | SCG Baltimore Legacy Open Top 8 | Ross Merriam

2012 | SCG Baltimore Legacy Open Top 8 | Pat Cox

2012 | SCG Baltimore Legacy Open Top 8 | Michael Braverman

2012 | SCG Baltimore Legacy Open Top 8 | David Bauer

2012 | SCG Baltimore Invitational Winner | Max Tietze

2012 | GP Indianapolis Top 4 | Dan Jordan

2012 | GP Indianapolis Top 8 | Pascal Maynard

2012 | SCG Legacy Open Tampa Winner | William Cao

2012 | SCG Legacy Open Tampa Top 8 | David Winsauer

2012 | SCG Legacy Open Los Angeles Winner | John Kassari

2012 | SCG Legacy Open Los Angeles Top 4 | Jacob Kory

2012 | SCG Legacy Open Los Angeles Top 8 | Nathan Calvin

2012 | GP Ghent 2012 Top 8 | Elias Klocker

2012 | SCG Legacy Open Atlanta Top 8 | Roy Beatty

2012 | SCG Legacy Open Atlanta Top 8 | Phillip Lyons

2012 | Hanau Win a Lotus (247 Players) Winner | Marius Hausmann

2012 | Hanau Win a Lotus (247 Players) Top 4 | Nick Steyns

2011 | SCG Legacy Invitational Top 8 | Gerry Thompson

2011 | Worlds 2011 – Legacy Team Finals | Andreas Nordahl 

2011 | Open City of Bridges – Spain | Luis Viciano