In the main deck Maverick plays four copies Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and four copies of Green Sun’s Zenith. Green Sun’s Zenith will tutor for Gaddock Teeg and Scavenging Ooze. The main hate piece in the sideboard is Ethersworn Canonist. When playing the Green-White version, we typically play two copies of Chalice of the Void for turn one interaction, along with Surgical Extraction and Tormod’s Crypt. If you are playing against the black splash you will see three to four copies Thoughtseize and two copies of Zealous Persecution. New Cards like Plague Engineer and Collector Ouphe have also made their way to the sideboard. Choke is also a card that is played in the sideboard and is a card that comes in vs the Storm decks.

Before sideboard the ideal seven would be: Two lands, one Noble Hierarch, two Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, and two Green Sun’s Zenith. But any hand with turn two Thalia, Guardian of Thraben or turn two Green Sun’s Zenith to tutor for Gaddock Teeg are as good as it gets in game one. After sideboard you are looking for the same thing, having a turn two hatebear along with a turn one Chalice of the Void or Surgical Extraction/Tormod’s Crypt. If the deck is playing the black splash, turn one Thoughtseize with a turn two hatebear.

I believe Wrenn and Six heavily affects Maverick as an archetype. When playing games on the draw and they have a turn two Wrenn and Six, you are so far behind that it will be hard to come back. When you know you are playing vs Wrenn and Six, you need to lean heavily on your two or more toughness creatures like Stoneforge Mystic and Knight of the Reliquary as well as other permanents like Sylvan Library and equipment. I have found playing the black splash with main deck copies of Abrupt Decay helps with the Wrenn and Six decks. It also helps with Delver matchups, and I think Abrupt Decay will start seeing more and more play from Maverick.

The normal Stoneforge Mystic package in Maverick is two copies of Stoneforge Mystic and two to three equipments. Typically the equipments are Sword of Fire and Ice, Umezawa’s Jitte and Sword of Light and Shadow. Batterskull does see play at times but isn’t the norm. But, when I have chosen to cut the package, it usually doesn’t open up slots to help Maverick in the TES matchup. You may see more cards like Tireless Tracker or Palace Jailer. I think the equipment are still good enough if the Maverick player makes it out of the early turns because of cards like Chain of Vapor and Echoing Truth are usually brought in against the Maverick player to deal with the hate pieces. Having a Sword of Fire and Ice on your creature typically requires the TES/ANT player to have more bounce/removal spells.

Usually just attacking with that creature and adding additional creatures or equipment to try and close the game more quickly. Having a Mother of Runes to help protect your creature is the best way to soft lock your Storm opponent to consistently make sure you will keep that hatebear alive to close out the game. Wasteland and Choke help keep the Storm player’s resources low to make it difficult to play their spells efficiently alongside your hatebear.

I believe it’s a great card to include as a one of in the sideboard. It’s another hate card to search for with Green Sun’s Zenith. Obviously it’s great in the Storm matchup but also has utility in many other matchups. Recently Bomberman has become a popular deck online and we may start seeing more decks that utilize fast mana starts with the new mulligan.

Green-White is typically the version that plays Chalice of the Void over the black splash playing Thoughtseize. They are both there for turn one interaction. I think the TES player’s hand dictates which card would impact the game more. I think seeing the hand with Thoughtseize gives you more information and is probably a stronger play in most circumstances.

In the Green-White version I play no answers to a resolved Empty the Warrens and it’s because the color combination doesn’t allow it. You could play an Engineered Explosives but the card doesn’t synergize with the deck and doesn’t allow you to set the counters on three without Noble Hierarch involved. The black splash typically plays two Zealous Persecution and that may even switch to more copies of Plague Engineer. I think Empty the Warrens is always a concern, especially with TES. I believe you should always bring in your answers to it.

I would say overall playing the Green-White version is much worse vs TES. I think the older list with Thoughtseize and Zealous Persecution/Plague Engineer will be the new norm and mostly because I think the deck needs more turn one interaction with the new mulligan rule because people will continue to play combo decks.

I think it matters which combo deck you are playing against, but overall I think Maverick is the best deck in the list above at fighting combo as a whole. Having four copies of Green Sun’s Zenith makes the deck very consistent and the tool box to select the right creature to help you in most situations.

I think the TES matchup is worse because it typically combos faster than ANT. Every turn matters and if they give you more time you have the chance to play your spells.

I wouldn’t say I value graveyard hate highly in the TES matchup, but we don’t have the greatest configuration that the cards can do something at times that we would bring it in. With the recent addition of Echo of Eons I believe it matters more, but I think Maverick players are in the same spot and will bring their interaction with the graveyard in.

My current sideboard is:2 Plague Engineer2 Surgical Extraction1 Tormod’s Crypt3 Choke1 Vivien, Champion of the Wilds2 Ethersworn Canonist1 Gaddock Teeg3 ThoughtseizeI would cut:4 Swords to Plowshares1 Sylvan Library1 Stoneforge Mystic1 Umezawa’s Jitte2 Mother of Runes1 Tireless Tracker1 Knight of Autumn2 Abrupt DecayI would bring in all of my sideboard vs TES except for one copy of Choke and Vivien, Champion of the Wilds.

I mostly play on MTGO and Storm makes up a good percentage of the online meta. At times I run into Storm a lot. I would add the fourth copy of Thoughtseize if it became even more popular.

Advice for newer Storm pilots would be to play out your artifacts that cost zero because of cards like Chalice of the Void and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. Heavy cantrip hands get punished most of the time because of Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Choke after sideboarding. Have more mass removal spells like Pyroclasm and Massacre.Advice for Maverick pilots would be to mulligan aggressively to interaction. Stoneforge Mystic and Knight of the Reliquary hands aren’t good enough in this match up. Post-board always try to play around Massacre. Don’t get frustrated losing to turn one plays, only worry about things you can control.

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I would like to take a moment to thank Dan Neeley for joining Through the Looking Glass and providing some spectacular responses on the Maverick versus The EPIC Storm match-up.

Until next time, keep storming!