Does Maestro Still Hold Up as a Top Defender? Is he Still Worth R3?

So I finished crucible today and got my r3 gem. I had been planning on my next r3 being maestro for a while, but im starting to second guess my choice. I have an r3 in every class except cosmic and tech. In tech the only one who interests me is guardian, but he’s terrible this meta and in the next one so I plan to r3 him later on. In cosmic my top options are basically just maestro, s40 Terrax or s20 sersi. (I’m ftp so no BRB but I don’t think I’d r3 him anyway)

Lately I’ve been seeing maestro get nuked a lot, sometimes even at r3. Part of his threat is when you’re caught without a counter against him, but it seems like almost anyone counters him these days. And if they do happen to be caught without one, wouldn’t an r2 still do the trick?

On the other hand, maybe being r3 still holds up since he’s very tanky and will likely survive long enough to deal some unavoidable damage. Maybe Cgr and juggs would still nuke, but I ban juggs, and I don’t know that many other champs could really nuke him down consistently at r3.

I thought about making this a poll for my next r3, but this is more so about accurately assessing Maestro’s value than deciding who I take up. If he’s still as good as I hope he is, then I will be taking him up. If he’s not, then I maybe will make a poll to sort through my other options.

Does he still hold up? What are your thoughts?

Comments

Heinz11

So I finished crucible today and got my r3 gem. I had been planning on my next r3 being maestro for a while, but im starting to second guess my choice. I have an r3 in every class except cosmic and tech. In tech the only one who interests me is guardian, but he’s terrible this meta and in the next one so I plan to r3 him later on. In cosmic my top options are basically just maestro, s40 Terrax or s20 sersi. (I’m ftp so no BRB but I don’t think I’d r3 him anyway)

Lately I’ve been seeing maestro get nuked a lot, sometimes even at r3. Part of his threat is when you’re caught without a counter against him, but it seems like almost anyone counters him these days. And if they do happen to be caught without one, wouldn’t an r2 still do the trick?

On the other hand, maybe being r3 still holds up since he’s very tanky and will likely survive long enough to deal some unavoidable damage. Maybe Cgr and juggs would still nuke, but I ban juggs, and I don’t know that many other champs could really nuke him down consistently at r3.

I thought about making this a poll for my next r3, but this is more so about accurately assessing Maestro’s value than deciding who I take up. If he’s still as good as I hope he is, then I will be taking him up. If he’s not, then I maybe will make a poll to sort through my other options.

Does he still hold up? What are your thoughts?

There are definitely a lot more attackers that can take Maestro than there was a few months ago. That shouldn’t stop you from ranking him though. Part of building a good BG deck is having defenders that force your opponent to draft a counter. Maestro is still one of those champs.

Nemesis_17

R3 Maestro is still very much relevant as a defender. If u have him and Serpent the opponent will really struggle to find counters.
No serpent, but I do have domino, sassy, and killmonger as my 3 big r3 defenders. I like the idea of adding a 4th, because that way they chat just ban the 3 biggest defensive threats and move on. One of them can still get through.
And trust me that one leftover defender will never enter your draft. But magically always enters opponent draft if they have them as well.

Happens to me everytime with serpent lol
You’re telling me serpent isn’t banned in 99% of your matches?

But yea lol it could happen though it’s unlikely. Most of the time they don’t ban all 3 of my defenders, but adding a 4th still gives an extra problem.
He is banned in most matches, and rarely when he doesn't get a ban, usually when opponent has a serpent too, it's almost always they get to draft him but I don't, lol.

Lol it do be that way sometimes

Nemesis_17

So I finished crucible today and got my r3 gem. I had been planning on my next r3 being maestro for a while, but im starting to second guess my choice. I have an r3 in every class except cosmic and tech. In tech the only one who interests me is guardian, but he’s terrible this meta and in the next one so I plan to r3 him later on. In cosmic my top options are basically just maestro, s40 Terrax or s20 sersi. (I’m ftp so no BRB but I don’t think I’d r3 him anyway)

Lately I’ve been seeing maestro get nuked a lot, sometimes even at r3. Part of his threat is when you’re caught without a counter against him, but it seems like almost anyone counters him these days. And if they do happen to be caught without one, wouldn’t an r2 still do the trick?

On the other hand, maybe being r3 still holds up since he’s very tanky and will likely survive long enough to deal some unavoidable damage. Maybe Cgr and juggs would still nuke, but I ban juggs, and I don’t know that many other champs could really nuke him down consistently at r3.

I thought about making this a poll for my next r3, but this is more so about accurately assessing Maestro’s value than deciding who I take up. If he’s still as good as I hope he is, then I will be taking him up. If he’s not, then I maybe will make a poll to sort through my other options.

Does he still hold up? What are your thoughts?
There are definitely a lot more attackers that can take Maestro than there was a few months ago. That shouldn’t stop you from ranking him though. Part of building a good BG deck is having defenders that force your opponent to draft a counter. Maestro is still one of those champs.

That’s a great point. The last thing you want is to be caught without a maestro counter. If you can’t get around his glancing it’s a guaranteed L

ThePredator1001

Maestro will be a relevant defender for a long time, even if there are stronger defenders or mystics that shut him down. He’s got a big health pool, stalls time with his glancing, and deals chip damage.

On a side note, once we can awaken the 7* I’d take him to R3 for offense alone. He’s a sneaky good attacker and this season I’ve used my maxed out 6* maestro to solo path 9 by himself without needing to heal up.

Nemesis_17

Maestro will be a relevant defender for a long time, even if there are stronger defenders or mystics that shut him down. He’s got a big health pool, stalls time with his glancing, and deals chip damage.

On a side note, once we can awaken the 7* I’d take him to R3 for offense alone. He’s a sneaky good attacker and this season I’ve used my maxed out 6* maestro to solo path 9 by himself without needing to heal up.

Yea im not an aw player, but he is really fun on attack. With his big healthpool and glancing always up you have to go out of your way to get killed. The dupe would be nice, but I find that I can get 3-4 sp1s in after the sp2 before the furies expire. For bgs that’s more than enough. The block pen would certainly help on defense, but he’s still a tank. without it.

Monkydluffy

Maestro is still pretty good on defense even though some players can counter him but as a higher level he is almost as good as r3 serpent so, yes

Nemesis_17

I waited for the 7* basic pool to change to pop the crystal I had in case I pulled an onslaught or bullseye which would change my r3 plans. I didn’t, so maestro went up to r3.

Since I now knew which class cats I was using for my r3 I pulled the trigger on the generic gem from crucible:

And the basic crystal I opened was another white tiger lmao so atp I knew I had to take her up, no more waiting for juggs or Kushala.

Thanks to everyone who gave their feedback👍🏻