Joshua-- It's fun to have a smorgasbord of detergents to try, isn't it?
Having used dishwasher pacs for quite awhile now, I've overcome the urge to add extra detergent for the prewash. A single pac will clean nearly any load. I do keep some Cascade Complete powder (or gel) on hand for super-tough loads of pots/pans, for which I'll fill the main wash dispenser to capacity, plus more for the prewash. But that's a rare occurrence. I suppose one could simply toss in two pacs, but I've never done that.
Don't know about your Maytag, but the prewash on my new GE is so brief that it seems a waste to add any detergent to it. The cycle has obviously been programmed with pacs in mind.
I'm quickly becoming a pod person in the laundry room, as well. Tide and Wisk pods seem to do the best job on stains, but sudsing can be problematic in softened water with small, lightly-soiled loads. I use Arm & Hammer pods for them, as its sudsing is more controlled. Have also tried All, Gain, and Purex pods, none of which I plan to repurchase.
[this post was last edited: 2/22/2014-07:09]