I'm On The Internet

I don't know what reminded me, but I remembered that I was "featured" in two articles on the website Hipsters of the Coast back in summer 2013. The author was playing a new Standard deck every two weeks at Pandemonium in Cambridge and writing tournament reports of his experience on the site (the name of his column is "Ensnaring Cambridge", get it?).

This was only two years ago but it feels a lot longer ago than that. I was even worse at Magic then than I am now and was almost exclusively playing Standard! (I really enjoyed ISD-RTR though). I started getting interested in Legacy that summer through watching the SCG Open streams on Sunday, out of sheer boredom because I was working at school that summer while none of my friends were around.

Some things I remember from that time:

• Having to look up every card in Enchantress (except Sterling Grove, thanks to my comprehensive Invasion block knowledge)
• Seeing a Submerge hardcast on a single Lingering Souls token
• Lamenting the fact that Geist of St. Traft was ruining people's day even in Legacy
• Staring at awe at Bryant Cook turning over his foiled Storm deck
• Witnessing a turn 1 Tin Fins kill
• Not having a clue what "Maverick" was

...and last but not least:

• Wishing there was another Standard Open on Sunday so I could watch more Standard instead of Legacy.

...

I thought I might as well re-post the two articles here since I went through the trouble of digging them up:

I am his Round 3 opponent here, grim and unsmiling despite doing God's work with Sigarda and Advent of the Wurm.

I ran into him again but was able to smile for the photo this time. We somehow managed to draw the Red Deck Wins VS Sphinx's Revelation matchup!

I've also managed to dig up rough decklists for my two Standard decks from the articles. My Bant deck was very sub-optimal with no Thragtusks, Restoration Angels, or Voice of Resurgences since I was a budget-minded college student at the time:

Prime Speaker Bant

4 Centaur Healer
2 Loxodon Smiter
3 Yeva, Nature's Herald
2 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Wolfir Silverheart
2 Armada Wurm
1 Prime Speaker Zegana

4 Farseek
3 Azorius Charm
2 Selesnya Charm
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Think Twice
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Detention Sphere
2 Sphinx's Revelation
2 Supreme Verdict

3 Temple Garden
3 Sunpetal Grove
4 Breeding Pool
1 Hinterland Harbor
4 Hallowed Fountain
2 Glacial Fortress
5 Forest
1 Rogue's Passage
1 Alchemist's Refuge

SB: Can't find but it was certainly garbage considering how bad of a deckbuilder I was at this time. It definitely had a Jace, Memory Adept, Trostani, Selesnya's Voice, 2 copies of Rest in Peace, and probably some permission.

The 4C Control deck was a (sort of) logical extension from my Bant deck. At this point I wanted to build Esper Control to have a strong Jund matchup (it was only about 50/50 with Bant), but didn't want to shell out too much extra money on a Standard deck so late in the rotation. As a result, I ended up with this Esper Control/Bant Midrange hybrid monstrosity. I think I was genuinely onto something here and this deck could have been significantly better than it was, though maybe it would just become Dark Bant Control. Again, Thragtusk probably would have been a very valuable addition.

4C Control

4x Hallowed Fountain
4x Breeding Pool
3x Temple Garden
2x Watery Grave
1x Godless Shrine
1x Overgrown Tomb
3x Sunpetal Grove
2x Glacial Fortress
1x Hinterland Harbor
1x Drowned Catacombs
1x Alchemist's Refuge
2x Forest

4x Farseek
4x Think Twice
2x Azorius Charm
1x Cyclonic Rift
1x Blind Obedience
2x Dissipate
2x Syncopate
1x Putrefy
1x Oblivion Ring
3x Supreme Verdict
2x Far // Away
2x Sphinx's Revelation
3x Jace, Architect of Thought
1x Vraska the Unseen

2x Snapcaster Mage
2x Blood Baron of Vizkopa
1x Sigarda, Host of Herons
1x Aetherling

SB: 1x Staff of Nin
SB: 1x Supreme Verdict
SB: 1x Jace, Memory Adept
SB: 1x Reap Intellect
SB: 1x Oblivion Ring
SB: 1x Merciless Eviction
SB: 1x Nephalia Drownyard
SB: 1x Dispel
SB: 2x Rest in Peace
SB: 1x Deathrite Shaman
SB: 1x Armada Wurm
SB: 1x Sigarda, Host of Herons
SB: 1x Detention Sphere
SB: 1x Elixir of Immortality

Tournament Report: Eternal Extravaganza 3 with Punishing Jund, 10/24/15

Eternal Extravaganza 3 promised be exciting as one of the first major Legacy events following the banning of Dig Through Time. After a year of Delve-fueled madness, there was finally a prospect of a "return to normalcy" in the Legacy metagame.

I decided to stay on the Jund train as the deck has treated me very well over the last few months, and the demise of Omni-Tell as a Tier 1 deck has put it in a much stronger position. Expecting a lot of Shardless BUG and Blade players to come crawling out of the woodwork, I decided to play the 4th Punishing Fire in my maindeck flex slot. In the sideboard I wanted to try out Pernicious Deed instead of Toxic Deluge. Deluge is a great card but I was finding the life loss hurt a lot in this deck. Otherwise the list has remained basically unchanged for a while:

PUNISHING JUND, 10/24/15
Creature Spells (15) 4x Deathrite Shaman 4x Dark Confidant 4x Tarmogoyf 3x Bloodbraid Elf	Noncreature Spells (22) 4x Thoughtseize 2x Lightning Bolt 4x Abrupt Decay 4x Punishing Fire 3x Hymn to Tourach 1x Sylvan Library 4x Liliana of the Veil
Lands (23) 4x Verdant Catacombs 3x Marsh Flats 2x Wooded Foothills 3x Badlands 2x Bayou 1x Forest 1x Swamp 4x Grove of the Burnwillows 3x Wasteland	SB: 2x Duress SB: 2x Surgical Extraction SB: 2x Grafdigger's Cage SB: 2x Pyroblast SB: 2x Golgari Charm SB: 1x Phyrexian Revoker SB: 1x Trinisphere SB: 1x Nihil Spellbomb SB: 1x Life from the Loam SB: 1x Pernicious Deed

There were around 320 players present so the event would be a full nine rounds. Here is a lazy rundown of my matches:

Round 1: Omni-Tell (1-2)
People are still going to play this deck? Come on!!

Round 2: Canadian Thresh (2-0)
Game 2 I got to live the dream of Trinisphere/Loam lock.

Round 3: Death & Taxes (0-2)
I was in a strong position to win the second game, but at 8 life I proceeded to hit Bloodbraid Elf, Bloodbraid Elf off Bob triggers. Greatness at any cost.

Round 4: GW Maverick (2-1)

Round 5: Manaless Dredge (2-0)

Round 6: Aggro Loam (2-1)

Round 7: A.N.T. (2-0)
Real bad beats for my opponent. Game 1 he died to a totally non-interactive draw on my end after apparently bricking on all his cantrips. Game 2 I nut-drew him.

Round 8: Canadian Thresh (2-0)
Only Pernicious Deed action of the night in game 2 to clean up his board.

Round 9: Miracles (2-0)


Final Record: 7-2

I placed 23rd and was awarded a Tundra for my trouble. Overall it was a great event, and I hope to attend the next one!

Tournament Report: Legacy for Lotus with Punishing Jund

Another event at Die Hard Games, but this time a Lotus was on the line along with some other Eternal goodies. This won't be much of a report because I'm pretty tired.

4x Deathrite Shaman
4x Dark Confidant
4x Tarmogoyf
3x Bloodbraid Elf

4x Thoughtseize
2x Lightning Bolt
4x Abrupt Decay
3x Hymn to Tourach
3x Punishing Fire
4x Liliana of the Veil
1x Kolaghan's Command
1x Sensei's Divining Top

4x Verdant Catacombs
3x Marsh Flats
2x Wooded Foothills
3x Badlands
2x Bayou
1x Forest
1x Swamp
4x Grove of the Burnwillows
3x Wasteland

SB 2x Duress
SB 2x Grafdigger's Cage
SB 2x Pyroblast
SB 2x Surgical Extraction
SB 2x Golgari Charm
SB 1x Nihil Spellbomb
SB 1x Maelstrom Pulse
SB 1x Phyrexian Revoker
SB 1x Trinisphere
SB 1x Life from the Loam

I tried out K-Command for the 1st time where I normally play an Ooze, which was underperforming. I also decided to give Top a spin (haha) in place of Sylvan Library.

Trinisphere was SB tech I saw in a list somewhere which looks useful against Omni-Tell. I've been playing it for a little bit now and have been very satisfied with it (hasn't come up in the Omni matchup yet though). Haven't tried Slaughter Games yet but its still on my radar.

There were just over 100 people at the event so it was going to be 7 rounds. My matches went as follows:

Elves (2-1)

Belcher (1-2)

MUD (2-1)

Omni-Tell (2-0)

Reanimator (2-1)

Merfolk (0-2) (Got a game loss for having an SB card in my maindeck, then got boned by an early Back to Basics!)

Omni-Tell (2-1)

Final Record: 5-2

My record was good for 17th place, just out of prizes. I don't know if it was luck or skill, but I came out on top against unfavorable matchups all day. Beating Omni-Tell twice in one event was just absurd. Even in this era of Delve madness Jund is still good, so don't be discouraged from playing it!

GWb Maverick Decklists

          

Introduction
GWb Maverick has been the most popular and best performing Maverick variant since 2013, primarily due to the addition of these three Black cards that shore up some weaknesses of the classic GW build:

• Deathrite Shaman provides a formidable arsenal of abilities on an efficient, Green Sun's Zenith-able body. Enables incidental graveyard interaction while affording reach, lifegain, and mana production/fixing. Having 2 toughness also allows Deathrite Shaman to block better than other mana creatures while decreasing your vulnerability to -x/-x effects.
• Thoughtseize enables cheap, early, stack-based interaction against combo decks. While Maverick has access to many hatebears, being able to pressure combo decks on two different axes is invaluable.
• Zealous Persecution fulfills the need for fair decks to have access to -1/-1 and sweeper effects to combat True-Name Nemesis, Elves, and Death & Taxes. Zealous Persecution is uniquely effective in this role due to its asymmetric effect.

Note on Deck Nomenclature
Maverick decks splashing Black used to sometimes be referred to as "Dark Maverick" to distinguish them from pure GW or Punishing Maverick decks. However, the Black splash has become so dominant that this term is now obsolete. "Maverick" now comes with the expectation of a Black splash, rendering the "Dark" qualifier unnecessary.


The Lists

Michael Antrim, 9th-16th @ Star City Games Open Indianapolis (2/1/2015, 582 players)
Thomas Herzog, 5th-8th @ Star City Games Open Indianapolis (9/28/2014, 260 players)
Thomas Herzog, 3rd-4th @ Star City Games Open Indianapolis (6/1/2014, 347 players)
Thomas Herzog, 5th-8th @ Star City Games Open Detroit (4/20/2014, 225 players)

This list has been jointly developed by Maverick veterans Michael Antrim and Thomas Herzog, who have experienced widespread competitive success with it. I believe their style of list, representing a return to Maverick's roots, is the gold standard and the best place to start. Many characteristics of their list have been adopted by other players:

• 2 Libraries and 3 Equips main (eschewing Batterskull) with a heavy emphasis on creatures (note the quantities of Qasali Pridemage) 
• This manabase is the most functional for GWb Maverick, with 3 basics, a very light Black splash, and Gaea's Cradle providing access to explosive plays with Equipment or powering Zeniths through your own Thalia. 
• Antrim had great showing against Elves in Indianapolis, a bad matchup, with an extra G Teeg (3 total) and an extra Jitte in the 75. The extra G. Teeg also does work against Miracles, another bad matchup.
• Note that a 61 card maindeck is not uncommon for an archetype like Maverick and is totally acceptable.

More Lists:

Josh Pestana, 9th-16th @ Star City Games Classic Charlotte (1/10/2016)

Chris Ferber, 5th-8th @ Star City Games Classic Las Vegas (12/13/2015, 94 players)

Raymod Cornely, 3rd-4th @ Star City Games Premier IQ Baltimore (3/1/2015, 230 players)

David McDarby, 1st @ Star City Games Open Portland (12/7/2014,  players)

Chris Scagnelli, 9th-16th @ Star City Games Open Syracuse (8/10/2014, 230 players)

Corey Armstrong, 5th-8th @ Star City Games Open Los Angeles (11/3/2013, 281 players)

Jacob Lindy, 6th @ Star City Games Open Philadelphia (9/2/2013, 280 players)

Jack Wang, 1st @ Star City Games Open (6/23/2013, 220 players)

David Doberne, 2nd @ Star City Games Open Seattle (4/21/2013, 261 players)



Click here to see the GWx Maverick Introductory Primer

Click here to see the Punishing Maverick Primer and decklists

Click here to see the Maverick Card Interactions & Rules Primer

DECK: Punishing Maverick, 6/1/15

I've decided to play some Maverick again after a nearly seven-month hiatus. When I first started Legacy I only played Maverick because it was all I had. Now that my collection has expanded to include other decks I spend less time with it. However, Punishing Maverick is my true "pet deck", and was the inspiration for starting this blog with the Punishing Maverick Primer. Despite that, I actually don't have a lot of practical experience with the deck and am still figuring out my own list. There are around four maindeck flex slots that I'm constantly shifting around. Here is the latest attempt:

Creature Spells

Noncreaure Spells

Lands

Sideboard

This maindeck is "retro" to say the least-its pretty similar to the one Max Tietze won an SCG Invitational with in early 2012. The Elspeth should probably be a Batterskull but I like her too much not to give her a shot. Courser is a recent addition that I've seen in some other lists that could be interesting. Its a good blocker and provides lifegain and card advantage. 

In the sideboard I'm playing Containment Priest, which looks like a great addition to Maverick at first glance, but with Omni-Tell making Sneak & Show almost obsolete I'm wondering if it deserves a spot anymore. Bonfire is another spicy one I'm trying in place of the lackluster Electrickery.

I honestly think Punishing Maverick may be better positioned that GWb Maverick right now. Red Blasts are a great tool to have against Omni-Tell and other Dig decks, and Punishing Fire, while slow, can decimate the URx Delver decks. 

I'm having delusions of bringing this deck to Eternal Weekend in a month, but first I have to settle on a list, and then I have to remember how to  play this deck again-its a lot harder than Jund!

Tournament Report: Buncha Duals 4 with Punishing Jund

Buncha Duals is a long running tournament series held by Die Hard Games in Lincoln, RI, where prizes come in the form of duals and other Legacy goodies. This event was the last Buncha Duals, as the owner of DHG is now all out of duals.

I decided to roll with Jund for this event. I've been a bit down on Aggro Loam since SCG Providence and wanted to mix it up, and the deck honestly felt really strong outside of the Omni-Tell matchup. The 75 I registered was:

Punishing Jund, 6/15
Creature Spells (16) 4x Deathrite Shaman 4x Dark Confidant 4x Tarmogoyf 1x Scavenging Ooze 3x Bloodbraid Elf	Noncreature Spells (21) 4x Thoughtseize 2x Lightning Bolt 4x Abrupt Decay 3x Hymn to Tourach 3x Punishing Fire 4x Liliana of the Veil 1x Sylvan Library
Lands (23) 4x Verdant Catacombs 3x Marsh Flats 2x Wooded Foothills 3x Badlands 2x Bayou 1x Forest 1x Swamp 4x Grove of the Burnwillows 3x Wasteland	SB: 2x Duress SB: 2x Golgari Charm SB: 2x Grafdigger's Cage SB: 2x Pyroblast SB: 2x Surgical Extraction SB: 1x Krosan Grip SB: 1x Life from the Loam SB: 1x Nihil Spellbomb SB: 1x Phyrexian Revoker SB: 1x Toxic Deluge

There were >90 people so it was a 7-round tournament. I'm pretty tired and have bad notes so I can only give brief details of each match.

Round 1: MUD (2-0)
This is a matchup I run into a lot and am fairly comfortable with. I made some really loose plays, including completely misunderstanding how Coercive Portal works, but managed to pull out the win thanks to the BGx goodstuff.

Round 2: UR Delver (2-0)
Close and interactive games here but I won out. This matchup is actually a lot harder than one might think due to their heavier burn element compared to other Delver decks.

Round 3: UG 12-Post (2-0)
I'd never played against this deck with Jund before, but it seems quite favorable. The discard spells were just really good. I was hoping for some Loam action game 2 but didn't draw it. Props to my opponent's beautiful foiled deck.

Round 4: Omni-Tell (0-2)
I was kind of hoping to dodge this one but that was obviously wishful thinking. At 3-0 the top tables were swarmed with Omni-Tell players.

Round 5: A.N.T. (2-0)
Got there with loads of discard again, plus help from Surgical in game 2.

Round 6: Omni-Tell (0-2)
This matchup is seriously bad. I might need to try Slaughter Games in my board.

Round 7: Affinity Stompy (1-2)
This was a bit of a wacky deck, with stuff like Chalice, Chrome Mox, Stoneforge Mystic, and Myr Enforcer (who is actually really hard to deal with!) The games were interactive and close but I lost out in the end. I was pretty tired and wasn't really playing optimally at this point.

Final Record: 4-3, out of prizes
Not the best finish overall, but not one I'm unhappy with. As I suspected coming in, the deck is quite strong outside of the Omni-Tell matchup, which I'm not sure is fixable. The second Omni-Tell player I lost to was actually a guy from my store, who ended up making Top 8 which was nice. This was the last big event on my calendar before Eternal Weekend in August, my deck choice for which is still undecided. I think it would be really cool to play Punishing Maverick, which I'll probably sleeve up and test for a bit. First, I have to decide on a list though!

Modern Musings

Watching GP Charlotte coverage this weekend got me thinking about Modern again. Looking back, I started getting into Modern late in 2012 with an Affinity deck ($9 Mox Opals!) but never finished it. I began building GW Hatebears at the end of 2013 and had it finished about a month before the new bannings and unbannings. Hatebears felt kind of bad since it was trying to be Maverick in a format without Wasteland, Stoneforge Mystic, and Green Sun's Zenith, so I moved into a new deck after another 2 months: Scapeshift. I love ramping and doing stuff with lands, and it plays what is possibly the sweetest Blue card, Cryptic Command, so it seemed like a very natural choice.

I tried to play a lot of Modern last Spring and Summer leading into the PTQ season and GP Worcester but I ended up being too busy to go to any PTQs and by Fall I was just playing Legacy instead, despite having the option to play Modern locally twice a week. Since then my Modern deck has remained virtually untouched. A lot of players have strong feelings about Modern; I'm honestly still not sure where I stand on it. The essence of Modern is simple and appealing. People want to build a deck that they can play a long time from a larger cardpool and with strategic depth that Standard Magic simply can't offer. While this experience best describes Legacy, the Reserved List and other factors have made the entry costs of that format quite prohibitive, and thus Modern has to provide a microcosm of that experience to both the Pro Tour and a wider audience. Unfortunately Modern can still be quite an expensive format, especially when Wizards has shown a willingness to ban entire decks out of existence. While the incessant bannings make Modern seem unhealthy, they have shaped it into a format that can offer something different from others. Due to the paucity of individually powerful cards in the format due to bannings, decks built around synergy and redundancy have arisen, which has certainly caused complaints about the over-effectiveness of sideboard cards and BGx decks that can efficiently disrupt synergies. But the nature of the format has allowed unique and quintessentially Modern decks to arise such as Twin, Amulet, Boggles, Living End, Tron, Ad Nauseam combo, and Pod. While some of the bannings seem absurd, they may be necessary to ensure Modern doesn't simply become a worse version of Legacy, but something different instead.

While it isn't for everyone, at the end of the day Modern is here to stay. It has become a very popular format and will only continue to grow as it inevitably gets cheaper with the reprinting of staples. However, in the wake of the MM2 release and accompanying financial upheaval, it remains unclear when prices reach a level where this growth can finally and completely be realized.