The Maverick Monthly – Q4 Catch-Up & 2020 Trends

On top of that, it’s another hatebear vs Storm. We used to always play 2 to break the mirror in 2011, and I figured it would make sense with how popular Death & Taxes seemed to be.

GW Maverick November Tournament finishes:

Undefeated MTGO lists & Challenge TOP 32s

MTGO Username: ctuck999

Maindeck Collector Ouphe is becoming the norm these days, with many players dropping Stoneforge Mystic from their lists and taking some free wins against the LED decks in G1. This list has a really clean sideboard; a full 4 Veil of Summer is pretty brutal for those having to play against it with a deck of targeted combo, countermagic or hand disruption. Maverick isn’t a deck that’s known for flyers outside of Birds of Paradise and Scryb Ranger. But 3 Tomiks makes your manabase very stable and is an eyesore for any Depths opponent. I’m also a big fan of the snow lands – it can play mind games on your opponent when they start wondering if there are actual cards in your deck they need to worry about.

MTGO Username:  BalenciagaNBoba

Sword of Feast and Famine in the maindeck is not something I’ve tried (SOFAI is just so hard to drop), but it seems like a great metagame choice right now. I also really like the mix of both Surgical Extraction & Faerie Macabre in the sideboard (great against cards like Cabal Therapy and Duress to some extent). But I think Leyline of the Void is at an all-time high when it comes to impact on matches. NBoba regularly puts up 5-0s with Maverick, so if you’re after a GW list, they are one of the best sources to go to. As soon as i saw a 5-0 list with Feast & Famine and Sunlance, I knew it was Boba.

MTGO Username:  StarMonkey

3 Hexdrinker maindeck is really aggressive and I really like it. Against many decks in the format, Hexdrinker is an ‘answer me now or you won’t be able to answer me again‘ type of threat. Karn, Scion of Urza isn’t something I’ve seen before in Maverick (at least in a 5-0 deck). But it’s a really interesting inclusion – the colourless casting cost being a huge upside. The Yavimaya Hollow is tech that’s been talked about in the Maverick discord for the rise in deathtouch creatures, so it’s great to see it actually being tested with success.

MTGO Username:  DaniMRebel | MTGO Challenge | 26th

Winds of Abandon in the sideboard is a great way for GW to deal with go-wide strategies like Young Pyromancer, Empty the Warrens and tribal decks (to some extent). 2 more copies of Gaddock Teeg in the board is not something a Miracles player or ANT/TES player may expect, but there have been many times where I’ve wanted an extra Teeg in my 75.

The one issue I’ve had with extra copies of Gaddock is finding a chance to actually cast a 2nd copy before my opponent wins. Most of the time, my combo opponent is dealing with Teeg in either my end step or in their turn. So the 2nd copy is likely going to be sitting in my hand during the period they use to win.

Paper tournaments:

Jacob Coram | South West Legacy Quarterly II | Top 8

As I said above, I’m not the biggest fan of a Bojuka Bog on it’s own. But when it’s coupled with 3 Crop Rotation, I’m very much a fan of this. Crop Rotation is card disadvantage, but in the games you get to rotate into a Karakas or Bog, you most likely don’t care due to their devastating impact on your opponent’s plan. Jacob’s also gone through route of 3 Hexdrinker. This little fella is looking more and more at home in Maverick.

Tobias Muckelberg | Bottrop Series @ Bottrop (Germany) | Top 4

3 maindeck Once Upon a Time is great to see. I think Once has huge potential for Maverick, especially in the builds with (0-1) Sylvan Library. Being able to find a utility land or mana-producing creature is huge in the early game, and finding a silver bullet is fantastic in the mid-late game.

Uwe Degenhart | Trader-Con @ Coesfeld | Top 8

I know many players who are scared to drop Thalia, Guardian of Thraben to anything less than 3, but here we have just 2 Thalia in Uwe’s maindeck. 3 Once Upon a Time do allow you to find them faster than other builds, but with a Top 8 under their belt, perhaps Uwe made a meta choice and it just worked out for them.

2 Return to Nature is a small amount of spice in the side board, a silver-bullet-style instant that has a huge amount of flexibility.  2 Celestial Purge was most likely there for Wrenn and Engineer but does hit a wide range of threats from Griselbrand to Dreadhorde Arcanist to Liliana, Last Hope.

Sword of Sinew and Steel is also pretty gas. We haven’t seen this card a whole lot in the top-table Maverick lists, but it’s great to see someone giving it a shot.

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GW Maverick December Tournament finishes:

Undefeated MTGO lists & Challenge TOP 32s

achillies27 | MTGO Legacy Playoff | Top 4

4 Once Upon in the maindeck really improves the consistency of this deck. I really like the trend of more players testing it out (and obviously seeing positive results).  It also helps you find your 1-of silver bullets like Collector Ouphe to fight against the Stoneblade decks, ANT and Eldrazi / Post decks. The two different equipment swords in the sideboard can also hedge your G2& G3 against certain matchups and help you push through damage past pesky creatures.

I also really enjoy the synergy between Once Upon a Time and Faerie Macabre, allowing you to dig for Faerie Macabre in response to anything from a Reanimate to sniping a Loam in the bin. Deafening Silence in the sideboard is the best way for Maverick to approach combo decks right now.

MTGO Username: DNEELEY

Dan’s been a huge fan of maindeck planeswalkers in Maverick as of late. It’s a great way to add another angle of attack for a deck that traditionally has relied on creatures and mana denial. You’ve also got 2 maindeck Palace Jailers not only for removal, but also to make sure you bury your opponent in card advantage in the mid-late game. Dan’s also jammed his deck with 10 mana dorks in 3 Gilded Goose, 3 Birds and 4 Nobles to ensure his ability to have a T1 play and mana accelerant is near 100%.

MTGO Username: Dreadnaught33

Jono has adopted Mirran Crusader in his maindeck not only as a great piece of pressure, but also an Oko-proof threat. The 3 Once Upon a Time allow you to find them quickly and make sure you’re deploying threats or breaking apart manabases each turn. In a deck with mana acceleration and exalted, Mirran can end games very quickly.  Safekeeper is a really nice 1-of, a piece of protection you can find with Green Sun’s Zenith. Plus, it works straight away – no need to wait (unlike Giver / Mother of Runes).

Again, the split of Surgical + Faerie is really needed right now in the board. The upside of being able to find Faerie with Once Upon a Time is exactly what you may need to steal a match.

MTGO Username: wiz0mystic

Again we see Collector Ouphe in the maindeck, partnered up with a Sanctum Prelate to hedge against some of the non-creature-heavy combo decks of the format. Prelate is really nice in a deck where you can cast it as early as turn 2, allowing you to lock out a combo player before they even get to play their 2nd cantrip sometimes. The trend continues with 4 Once Upon a Time to help bring the deck together from as early as Turn 0. A single Chalice in the board helps against some of the faster combo decks in the format, while a Surgical and 2 Faeries help against decks like Loam and Reanimator.

Paper tournaments:

Sebastian Bartl |Eternal Series: Legacy #13 @ Aalen | 1st Place

Another player stocking Return to Nature in their sideboard. The versatile spell is becoming more appealing to players as sideboard cards need to answer a wider range of threats. I know it’s a little overkill to call this the green Council’s Judgment, but it has the same feeling of being good in a ton of different situations.  Crop Rotation pops up again to make sure you have more ways to find Bog, Karakas and Wasteland at instant speed.

GWB Maverick November Tournament finishes:

Undefeated MTGO lists & Challenge TOP 32s

MTGO Username:Naosukesamurai

Eladamri’s Call is very cool. I’ve been toying around with Finale of Devastation but Eladamri’s Call is much more mana-efficient. Eladamri’s Call is also a great way to find your maindeck Plague Engineers and Prelates, as well as solving your ‘I need to draw x creature next turn’ conundrums. No Thalia here, not even 1 copy. Let that sink in for a second. It’s not easy to go undefeated through a league with only Teeg & Prelate as your real combo hate.

Paper tournaments:

Calen Bowlin | 4 Formats Team Event @ Norman (Oklahoma) | Top 8

This is a really interesting list. Leovold has made it into the list with no blue-producing lands? I mean, this manabase is great with Choke in the board – and to be fair, you do have 8 ways to get Leo on the field through Hierarch and Green Sun’s Zenith. The Dark Depths combo makes an appearance – a great way to steal a game.

Trophy & Decay in the maindeck give you some nice outs against a multitude of threats, but I just can’t get myself to drop Swords to Plowshares below the full playset – it’s just so good at what it does. I’m going to assume Calen dropped the 4th Swords to have more answers to non-creature permanent threats like planeswalkers, and more specifically, Oko.

GWB Maverick December Tournament finishes:

Undefeated MTGO lists & Challenge TOP 32s

MTGO Username: albrekt

Garruk Relentless, Vraska, Golgari Queen and… Kaya, Orzhov Usurper in the maindeck?! Yes, please. Gilded Goose also makes an appearance for mana acceleration and 3 maindeck Abrupt Decay to ensure equipment, small creatures like Delver or Dreadhorde Archanist, or even threats in the form of opposing planeswalker *cough*Oko*cough* don’t take over G1. Leyline is the choice of graveyard hate in the board, and most likely my choice of best hate right now due to decks like Hogaak having too many threats.

MTGO Username: Dreadnaught33 | MTGO Legacy Challenge | 30th

If you’re splashing black, 2 Abrupt Decay in the main seems great right now. 3 Leyline in the board are also really nice. While you’re dropping your chance of having a Leyline in your open by around 6%, it’s still one of the best ways to attack graveyard decks in the current meta. Big congratulations to Jono for his second deck in this article. If you ever want to catch his stream, check him out here.

Paper tournaments:

Brian Mears | Quest for Duals @ MTGFirst Game Center | Top 4

Very cool to see more players sliding utility lands back into their maindeck – in this case, Maze and Blast Zone MD. Brian hasn’t opted for any 4CMC threats like Shifting Ceratops or Questing Beast, but it’s worth noting the interaction between Maze of Ith and Questing Beast. If your attacking Beast is targeted with Maze of Ith, damage still occurs from the Beast because of its clause stating damage can’t be prevented. Pretty sweet, huh?

Nissa and Vraska slide into the sideboard as a nice secondary route of attack against some of the midrange and control decks of the format right now. Nissa’s ability to regrowth something from the yard is really strong, especially when it comes to cards like Qasali Pridemage or Wasteland.

GWR Maverick December Tournament finishes:

Paper tournaments:

Mark Strassman | Legacy Rumble VI @ Dice City Games | Top 4

Mark’s always been a leader in the Punishing Maverick group, so I can understand how he’s got another great result under his belt with the deck. I really like Goyf as a 1-of Green Sun’s Zenith target; sometimes Goyf is literally all you want in a creature against multiple decks. What I really enjoyed was seeing a near playset of Palace Jailer in the sideboard – hopefully something Mark can comment on.

BANT Maverick December Tournament finishes:

Undefeated MTGO lists & Challenge TOP 32s

MTGO Username: fpawlusz

BANT Maverick has been showing up more and more since the printing of Oko, Thief of Crowns. I felt the BANT colour tri has always had it tough in Legacy, a group of colours that’s usually over shadowed by Grixis, Junk or RUG. I’ve also found there’s been a bit of a battle between having enough blue cards for Force of Will yet having enough green creatures for Green Sun’s Zenith.

Just to clear something up, I’m talking about BANT Maverick, not BANT midrange (popularised by players such as Reid Duke in the past). The big difference is Duke’s lists run Ponder, Brainstorm, Daze and Force whereas BANT Maverick really splashes blue for only a couple of cards – usually permanents.

I feel like there hasn’t been a blue card strong enough to gel BANT together, a card that players would finally decide ‘hey, that’s actually a really interesting and competitive thought‘. Oko is that card, and the reason why (in my opinion) BANT is now a real choice for Maverick fans.

Flusterstorm in the side is another card Maverick players aren’t used to having access to outside of those who’ve gone for Mindbreak Traps in the sideboard before. The rest of the deck is pretty much a solid Maverick base with a few choices to break up playsets to play around cards like Plague Engineer.

jacetmsst | MTGO Legacy Challenge | 27th

Notes: Oko has also pushed Jacetmsst to play BANT to a top-32 finish in the Legacy Challenge. This list is running Tropical Island, however is still running Choke in the board. I think this just shows the power of Choke and how much of an impact it can have on your blue opponents. This is just another really clean sideboard, which I find really appealing. It has enough answers for a wide range of threats but also enough copies that you’re going to be seeing them often enough in the games they matter.

Paper tournaments:

Federico Coin | PGG 19-20 #4 – Oko, Ladro del Natale | Top 8

Huge shout out to Federico for taking a Legacy deck with shocklands to a top-8 finish. A single Oko can be found in the maindeck, fighting alongside a Teferi, Time Raveler and Elspeth, Knight-Errant in the sideboard. I really like the choice of Waterlogged Grove in this list, a blue mana source that isn’t affected by Choke post-board.

Gilded Goose also makes its way into the maindeck. But with it and Oko only as singles in the decklist, I don’t see the synergy between the two coming up too often. Sword of Light & Shadow in the maindeck was most likely a meta choice, and it’s obviously paid off well.

You can find a Legacy league I recently went through with BANT Maverick below:

4C Maverick December Tournament finishes:

Paper tournaments:

Tyrik Strachan | The Legacy Pit Invitational | Top 8

Tyrik is another Maverick stalwart finishing in the top 8 of the Legacy Pit’s Invitational. This list is all types of greed – and I love it. This deck is closer to a GW Shell, with splashes for U for 2 Oko (1 side / 1 main) and B for sideboard Abrupt Decay, Lingering Souls (flashback) and Plague Engineer. I think Lingering Souls is sweet tech for the right grindy meta. Sure, opposing Plague Engineers can swipe them away, but if your opponent is naming Spirit against Maverick, you’re going to be having a good time nevertheless.

Alexey R | Hotbox Liga Finals @ Hotbox Berlin | Top 4

Alexey has taken 4c Maverick to a top-4 finish, packing 3 Oko, a Leovold and 2 Umezawa’s Jitte in the maindeck. Playing two Jitte instead of a whole Stoneforge package has been a trend for a while now, allowing players to improve the power of Green Sun’s Zenith by running more green creatures. Dovin’s Veto in the board is spice – a really nice counterspell for fighting against all types of combo and permanents such as planeswalkers or equipment.

This list isn’t running Mother of Runes, instead going for a split of 3 Giver of Runes and a Green Sun’s Zenith-able Sylvan Safekeeper. This could be a way to not only play around Plague Engineer as much as possible but also give your opponent less outs to Marit Liege through Karakas.

The Dark Depths package makes this deck even more tight on mana, but obviously it worked pretty well for Alexey.

Maverick Trends for 2020:

Stoneforge Mystic:

Stoneforge isn’t the playset mainstay in Maverick it once was. Many players have been moving away from Stoneforge Mystic but have been holding onto the equipment package, opting for Sylvan Library or more Green Sun’s Zenith silver bullets in her place. Umezawa’s Jitte and Sword of Fire & Ice are still the most popular, but many players have been jamming two Jitte in their maindeck and calling it a day. Because Maverick already has a great matchup against the decks where equipment truly matters, I feel most pilots have been happy with their results after dropping SFM.

Sadly, since the rise in Oko decks, equipment isn’t as effective as once before. In a deck that doesn’t rely on Batterskull as its main beater, SFM is generally just a glorified equipment fetcher. It just isn’t seen as the threat it once was. I think it’s also worth mentioning Brazen Borrower, a card that now gives decks like UR Delver a real out to equipment in G1 when they might not have access to Abrade or Smash to Smithereens.

Collector Ouphe:

With the drop in Stoneforge Mystic and equipment, Collector Ouphe in the maindeck has been seeing more play across the board (GW,GWB,4C Maverick) and can steal some G1s. Turning off LEDs, Vials, equipment or Astrolabes can be a huge nuisance for your opponent. The issue is Ouphe is just a vanilla bear in the wrong matchup. This is where the power of Green Sun’s Zenith really shines. In the matchups where you want Ouphe, you have 5 copies, and when you don’t want to see it, chances of drawing it are quite low.

Graveyard Hate:

The biggest question regarding GY hate right now is Surgical Extraction vs. Faerie Macabre vs. Leyline of the Void. I feel Leyline is the best piece of sideboard hate right now; it completely turns off the graveyard as a resource for your opponent until they can find removal for it. BUG Hogaak and these new Breach storm decks aren’t hit hard enough by Surgical or Faerie. They can go wide in their yard to make sure it doesn’t matter if you can interact with 1 or 2 pieces. I wrote an article last year regarding graveyard hate in Maverick – I think it’s worth checking out if you’re on the fence about what to run.

Once Upon a Time:

Once Upon a Time has been showing up more and more, mostly in GW Maverick. I think this card has legs, but you’re most likely wanting 3-4 copies in your deck. Finding space can be difficult, you may be cutting a land, a mana dork and some of the silver bullet flex slots to make the deck a little more consistent, so it really depends on your play style. I really like the synergy with Faerie Macabre against fast-combo decks that use the graveyard like Reanimator. But with Leyline being the best way to interact with graveyards right now, I don’t expect to be seeing that interaction too often.

Plague Engineer:

Paging GoblinLackey1 & itsJulian! Plague Engineer is a love or hate card – I don’t think there’s an in-between. Plague Engineer has been a nice printing for GWB Maverick, taking precedence in most builds over Zealous Persecution. But the upside of having a new card like PE to play with ourselves is quickly outshined by the downside of it’s impact on our deck if the opponent plays one.. Players have been testing broken playsets (Mother/Giver, Noble/Birds/Goose) to be more Engineer-proof, and for good reason.

The card is a house against some of Maverick’s best starts. Noble into Mother of Runes and Thalia? Sure. Cast Plague Engineer name human? This line of play has happened to me on at least two occasions in a G1, and it’s not a great feeling.

Planeswalkers:

Maindeck planeswalkers have been showing up recently as a way to fight the grind from a different angle, especially Garruk Relentless and Vraska, Golgari Queen have been seeing more play in the 60. Both of these planeswalkers protect themselves well. They provide card advantage or the ability to cantrip and play around Abrupt Decay, a card seeing an uptick in play right now.

Maverick is a deck that traditionally has relied on creatures alone to get the job done, but this plan is not great against cards like Supreme Verdict and Terminus. (And, to a lesser extent, Ice-Fang Coatl and Plague Engineer.) Planeswalkers keep the pressure on. They attack from a different, more resilient angle, and allow you to put some of your eggs in a different basket. Sure, it may be a little tricky to cast them when you have cards like Thalia or Teeg on the field, but the feedback from players who’ve been testing MD walkers has been really positive.

Vraska currently seems like the best way to deal with an Oko for non-red players. The ability to deal with Oko but have Vraska stick around means you’re back on card parity with your opponent (if you destroy it right after Oko).

Mirran Crusader:

Oko, Thief of Crowns can be a really big issue for creature decks, so naturally players are trying to find ways to negate its impact on the gamestate. Mirran Crusader not only cannot be targeted by Oko or blocked by the green creatures it creates, but it can swiftly kill an Oko in 1 (technically 2) swings if you have an exalted creature on the field (and, of course, win you the game a few turns after). Mirran can be cast as early as turn 2 in Maverick, an advantage it has over Death & Taxes, where Mirran is mainly found. Being able to attack for more than normal due to exalted is also a huge bonus, as double strike allows you to get even more value from your exalted creatures.

Mirran does cut into the flexibility of GSZ as you’re most likely cutting some number of green creatures to fit the Crusader into your battalion, but I’ve found it to be a very worthy inclusion in GW Maverick.

Spice Rack:

Ikegami Akira | Eternal Party 2019 Osaka | Top 16 (243 players)

Imagine this: In your main phase, you activate one of your 4 Elvish Reclaimer to grab your one of Dark Depths, target it with your one of Thespian’s Stage, and then equipping your Marit Lage with… Lightning Greaves. Ike has taken a very sweet Depths / Maverick list to a top-16 finish, running the format’s best planeswalker and one of the format’s best kept secrets, Sevinne’s Reclamation. The Daze in the board are very cool – I don’t think you’d expect Daze in a deck like this, but obviously it worked well for this pilot.

Gokhlayeh MTGO Leagues Undefeated

This deck looks really unique. A bunch of 1-ofs including Mox Diamond, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Life from the Loam and Council’s Judgment. 2 Green Sun’s Zenith allows you to find your single copies of Oracle of Mul Daya, Courser of Kruphix or 1 of your 2 Knight of the Reliquary. This deck is as much of a creature-based deck as it is a lands-based deck, with a Field of the Dead and 2 copies of the Dark Depths combo.

This list looks wild to an outsider. However, it was obviously piloted by someone who knew what they were getting themselves into. I’ve always found one of the biggest strengths of Legacy Maverick is its consistency in each match. So seeing 1-ofs like Mox Diamond, Birds of Paradise (with no Noble Hierarchs) or only half a playset of Knight of the Reliquary’s has me scratching my head. This 75 looks like a heap of fun to play though, with some maindeck walkers that aren’t seen too often. I assume these are going to be easier to cast early on compared to more traditional lists because of the many ways to cheat out lands.

Conclusions:

Not only is Legacy is a pretty great place right now, Maverick seems as wide open as ever before. We’re currently seeing 3 or 4 different archetypes of Maverick putting up results, not just the 1 random GW list we saw this time last year. I really enjoy seeing players trying out new cards and making their own decisions based off their own experiences.

via GIPHY

A huge thank you all for the support I’ve had over the last 12 months, it really keeps me going.