[Primer/Deck] Pox

[naynay666]

With no rituals i would consider replacing leyline of the void with something cheaper to cast, or go up to four to increase the odds of having one to put into play at start.
Myself I run Nihil spellbomb to avoid nerfing my Own Nihiliths.

I will be going up to 4 Leylines. Feels obvious now.

Current SB:
2x Bitterblossom
1x Bontu's Last Reckoning
1x Ensnaring Bridge
1x Extirpate
4x Leyline of the Void
2x Lost Legacy
1x Nether Void
1x Night of Souls' Betrayal
2x Pithing Needle

MD -2 Necrofiend, +a 2nd Deluge, +Ensnaring Bridge.
SB -1 Extirpate, -1 Bridge, -1 Bontu, +2 Bitterblossom, +1 Leyline.

I don't feel good about removing Necropolis Fiend but this is my 8:30am on the weekend sideboard update.

[sonorous]

I played the deck last Thursday and did a couple of casual games.
My mana base:
3 dark rits
1 bojuka bog
1 maze of ith
1 spawning pool
4 urborg
4 wasteland
4 mishra
10 swamp
What I’ve noticed in all my games was that I got mana screwed.
I’m thinking -1 urborg, -1 mishra, +2 swamp.
Having 12 swamp is good enough, or should there be more?

[Hardcore]

I played the deck last Thursday and did a couple of casual games.
My mana base:
3 dark rits
1 bojuka bog
1 maze of ith
1 spawning pool
4 urborg
4 wasteland
4 mishra
10 swamp
What I’ve noticed in all my games was that I got mana screwed.
I’m thinking -1 urborg, -1 mishra, +2 swamp.
Having 12 swamp is good enough, or should there be more?

Mansources that comes into play tapped sucks. I realized that when I played Dakmor Salvage back in the days. You don't want them in your starting seven.
Another very bad thing is dark rituals in the starting hand but no proper lands to cast them with. Myself I have in my deck 22 Lands that provide black mana and can comfortably run four rituals in my deck. You, otoh, have only 14 sources for black. (the tap lands don't count, Obv). One of us will have problems and it is not me.
What to recommend? Well, start by consider if you need ituals. Next think of the Bojuka Bog and Spawning pool as spells and creatures, rather than lands. Replace all these with swamps or fetch lands is my advice.

[sonorous]

I appreciate the advice and all the insights and reasonings behind it.
I might have more inquiries after a round of Poxing this week.

[OmniStrata]

I played the deck last Thursday and did a couple of casual games.
My mana base:
3 dark rits
1 bojuka bog
1 maze of ith
1 spawning pool
4 urborg
4 wasteland
4 mishra
10 swamp
What I’ve noticed in all my games was that I got mana screwed.
I’m thinking -1 urborg, -1 mishra, +2 swamp.
Having 12 swamp is good enough, or should there be more?

Trade Spawning Pool and Mishra's instead. That looks like Ryousuke Adachi's mana base less one Tarbernacle Urborg is too good for the deck to ever trade out. 4 Wastelands + 3 Mishra's + Maze of Ith is safer with 4 Urborgs

[Hardcore]

Trade Spawning Pool and Mishra's instead. That looks like Ryousuke Adachi's mana base less one Tarbernacle Urborg is too good for the deck to ever trade out. 4 Wastelands + 3 Mishra's + Maze of Ith is safer with 4 Urborgs

Yes, he is running that list.

[sonorous]

That's right; copy from a tested, proven list, and then build from there with lots (and lots) of testing and feedback from fellow Poxers.

[itsvan]

Hello everyone,

I got the cards to build this deck last year, but I had trouble finding a reliable store to play. Since then, I’ve been reading your reports to get to know this archetype better. I finally found a tournament this Sunday, so here it goes my first report:

Current list:

Mainboard
26 Lands
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Ifnir Deadlands
1 Inventors' Fair
1 Maze of Ith
4 Mishra's Factory
10 Swamp
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Wasteland

6 Artifacts
1 Crucible of Worlds
2 Cursed Scroll
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Phyrexian Totem
1 Trinisphere

1 Enchantment
1 Night of Souls' Betrayal

7 Planeswalkers
2 Karn, Scion of Urza
4 Liliana of the Veil
1 Liliana, the Last Hope

15 Sorceries
2 Hymn to Tourach
1 Infernal Tutor
3 Innocent Blood
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Smallpox
1 Thoughtseize
1 Toxic Deluge

5 Instants
4 Dark Ritual
1 Fatal Push

Sideboard
3 Leyline of the Void
1 Helm of Obedience
2 Bitterblossom
2 Pithing Needle
2 Collective Brutality
3 Dark Confidant
1 Engineered Plague
1 Contamination

Odd Inclusions
• Inventors' Fair: Currently replacing a swamp. Provides life gain and tutoring when there are enough artifacts in play. Works nicely with Crucible of Worlds and Karn’s construct tokens.
• Infernal Tutor: Currently replacing Beseech the Queen. Costs one less but can be a little awkward sometimes.

The tournament only had 7 players, so only 3 rounds. I finished 1 – 2:

Highlights:
• Won a match at 3 life by swinging with 6 zombie tokens and 3 Faerie Rogues under my own Ensnaring Bridge.
• Casted a Liliana, the Last Hope on turn one.

Round 1 – Sneak and Show
Game 1: Opponent started with Polluted Delta, pass. I went with an Inquisition of Kozilek and saw: Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, 2x Sneak Attack, Omniscience, Force of Will and City of Traitors ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. I had a couple of Wastelands in hand, but my opponent played well and only fetched before comboing. The turn 1 Inquisition made me realized I should have listed Thoughseizes instead. It also showed that my sideboard was not good enough.

Sideboarding: I did not have any hate, so I opted for a rush (Confidants and Bitterblossom) or lockdown strategy (Needle and Contamination).

In (8): 2 Pithing Needle; 2 Bitterblossom; 3 Dark Confidant; 1 Contamination

Out (8): 2 Karn, Scion of Urza; 1 Liliana, the Last Hope; 1 Inquisition of Kozilek; 1 Fatal Push; 1 Night of Souls' Betrayal; 1 Toxic Deluge; 1 Infernal Tutor.

Game 2: My opponent mulled down to six to find a Leyline of Sanctity. I ended up keeping a mediocre hand and could not interact very well. Bitterblossom did show up to generate blockers and bought me an extra turn, but it still wasn’t enough.
Score: Games: 0 - 1; Matches: 0 – 2.

Round 2 – RW Eldrazi?
Game 1: Opponent started with a Snow-Covered Plains. I went with a turn one Inquisition of Kozilek again and saw: Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Chalice of the Void, Eldrazi Displacer, Rishadan Port, Wasteland and a Thought-Knot Seer. I don’t really remember my hand, but I had a way to deal with Thalia and I had a couple 1cmc cards, so I took the Chalice. I took a few hits of the Thalia, but after she was killed I landed a Karn which quickly took over the game.

Sideboarding: I had never seen this deck before, but it look like Bitterblossom would be a good card here.

In (3): 2 Bitterblossom; 1 Engineered Plague.

Out (3): 1 Inquisition of Kozilek; 1 Dark Ritual; 1 Engineered Plague.

Game 2: This game was a nice pox experience. It started with Thalia beats, backed by a Karakas. I casted a fatal push on end of turn to force a Karakas activation and, on my turn, landed an Engineered Plague for human. My opponent went with Recruiter of the Guard to get a Pia and Kiran Nalaar, but I took it with a topdecked Thoughtseize. Karn lands on an empty board and starts doing its thing, followed by a Liliana of the Veil on the next turns, which started ticking up. My opponent finds a Stoneforge Mystic, which grabs a Batterskull but, on my turn, Liliana of the Veil takes care of the Stoneforge and an Ensnaring Bridge keeps the Batterskull in check. The lock is tight at this point, but my opponent casts a second Recruiter to find a Phyrexian Revoker to shut down my Liliana of the Veil. Then I cast a Bitterblossom at 12 life to win the game under my Ensnaring Bridge, but my opponent topdecks a Hazoret the Fervent to keep up the race. The game is finally decided by a hellbent Infernal Tutor searching for a Liliana, the Last Hope, which kills the revoker and gets to ultimate. At 3 life, I draw for the turn, draw again with karn to get get 2 cards in hand and swing with 6 zombie tokens and 3 faerie rogues for the win.
Score: Games: 1 - 1; Matches: 2 – 2.

Round 2 – Monored goblins
Game 1: My opponent took a mulligan to 6 cards but had a nice start with a Mountain and a Chrome Mox to summon a Warren Instigator. On my turn I started with a basic swamp and a Dark Ritual to land a Liliana, the Last Hope which killed the Warren Instigator and took over the game on the spot. She killed a couple more goblins and a timely Karn joined the field to create a construct token, which protect Liliana until the ultimate.

Sideboarding: I figured that I wanted some creature hate on this match to replace the bad topdecks.

In (3): 2 Collective Brutality; 1 Engineered Plague

Out (3): 2 Hymn to Tourach; 1 Karn, Scion of Urza

Game 2: I mulled to 6 cards on this game, while my opponent had to mulligan to 5 cards. It started well for me with an early Night of Souls’ Betrayal which really put my opponent behind. His board only had an Aether Vial which kept ticking up until it had 4 counters. I did land a planeswalker to close the game (can’t remember which one) but a Goblin Ringleader finding a bunch of goblins, including another Goblin Ringleader was too much for me to handle.

Sideboarding: Seeing that my opponent relied so much on his Aether Vial I decided to change my deck again.

In (2): 2 Pithing Needle

Out (3): 1 Thougthseize; 1 Trinisphere

Game 3: I’m on the play and I kept this hand: Smallpox, Smallpox, Fatal Push, Innocent Blood, Cursed Scroll, Swamp, Inventor’s Fair. I can’t remember all the turns in this game, but my opponent started with a Vial and we kept trading resources, with forced me to use all my removal. He then lands a Warren Instigator on my end step, which attacks on his turn putting another Warren Instigator into play and a Tuktuk Scrapper to blow up my Cursed Scroll. I managed to land a Karn into play, which bought me a couple turns, but he has a Goblin Ringleader that finds multiples Goblin Chieftains to win the game.

Score: Games: 1 - 2; Matches: 3 – 4.

MVP – Liliana, the Last Hope: She was always relevant this weekend because she had so many targets. The only time she could not kill anything was because the board was already empty. She also won two matches with her -7.

Top Performers
• Dark Ritual: this card enabled a lot of degenerated stuff this weekend. Liliana on turn 1, Karn and Night of Souls’ Betrayal with only 2 lands on the table. On a few occasions it also felt like a horrible topdeck, so maybe 4 copies are too much.
• Karn, Scion of Urza: never felt bad casting this guy. On an empty board he basically closes the game, when you are a behind he can buy you a few turns.

Underperformers
• Inquisition of Kozilek: I missed so many times with this discard that I felt that, at least in my meta, Thoughtseize is the better option.
• Phyrexian Totem: I’m kind of unimpressed with this card. I casted it a few times, but it only worked as a target for sideboard hate.

Closing Thoughts
I really enjoyed playing Legacy for the first time, I'll be definitely playing this Sunday again.
I think I need to tweak my list a bit by replacing the Inquisitions for Thoughtseizes and maybe finding a replacement for the Phyrexian Totem. I will also need to work a lot on my sideboard, I need something to fight combo better and I need to read more on what to side in\out versus the most common matchups.


Thanks for reading!

[aslidsiksoraksi]

Nice report Itsvan, and welcome to the Pox fam!!

Your list looks pretty solid to me. I'm glad you're trying the Karns, I've loved them as well. Inventor's fair is interesting... I'd think it would be hard to turn on but if it worked for you... Life gain is nice. I might cut a 1x trinisphere tho but that's just me.

Really surprised to hear goblins won through a NoSB, since that card kills almost all their guys dead on arrival. It seems like in that second game he drew just the nuts against you :(

I've also been unimpressed by Totem. Thoughtseize instead of Inquisition is certainly a reasonable thing to do, kind of a meta call. If eldrazi and goblin ringleader are everywhere then yeah you'll want thoughtseize. If there's burn players or a lot of delver, that's where Inquisition might be slightly better.

For your sideboarding... Might have kept in Inquisition against sneak and show, just to grab show and tell or a cantrip. And against goblins I'd have dropped crucible and totem, since crucible is a late game grinder card and you want more early interaction, and totem can't block well and can't really attack into a vial (I see totem as good for closing out games against combo and control). Btw, shameless plug but Necropolis Fiend is an absolute house against goblins. Also I like that you're doing Dark Confidant in the side, that seems strong, just wish I had some confidants...

Anyway nice work with the deck! I think it's a good way to get into legacy and the deck itself is just a blast. Would love to read how things go next Sunday.

Also can I just say the contamination from the board is so sexy with bitterblossom



@omnistrata - I run I think that exact manabase and have had very few problems. Could just be a run of bad luck? Or maybe good luck on my end, I suppose. I agree with shaving factory before urborg and with shaving spawning pool before factory though, if you're dead set on changing it

[kombatkiwi]

Inventor's Fair / Crucible is sick if you have enough artifacts to use it reliably
6 + 2 Karn is not a huge number but I guess the opportunity cost is pretty low if it doesn't work

[Mr. Safety]

Hello everyone,

I got the cards to build this deck last year, but I had trouble finding a reliable store to play. Since then, I’ve been reading your reports to get to know this archetype better. I finally found a tournament this Sunday, so here it goes my first report:

Current list:

Mainboard
26 Lands
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Ifnir Deadlands
1 Inventors' Fair
1 Maze of Ith
4 Mishra's Factory
10 Swamp
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Wasteland

6 Artifacts
1 Crucible of Worlds
2 Cursed Scroll
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Phyrexian Totem
1 Trinisphere

1 Enchantment
1 Night of Souls' Betrayal

7 Planeswalkers
2 Karn, Scion of Urza
4 Liliana of the Veil
1 Liliana, the Last Hope

15 Sorceries
2 Hymn to Tourach
1 Infernal Tutor
3 Innocent Blood
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Smallpox
1 Thoughtseize
1 Toxic Deluge

5 Instants
4 Dark Ritual
1 Fatal Push

Sideboard
3 Leyline of the Void
1 Helm of Obedience
2 Bitterblossom
2 Pithing Needle
2 Collective Brutality
3 Dark Confidant
1 Engineered Plague
1 Contamination

Odd Inclusions
• Inventors' Fair: Currently replacing a swamp. Provides life gain and tutoring when there are enough artifacts in play. Works nicely with Crucible of Worlds and Karn’s construct tokens.
• Infernal Tutor: Currently replacing Beseech the Queen. Costs one less but can be a little awkward sometimes.

The tournament only had 7 players, so only 3 rounds. I finished 1 – 2:

Highlights:
• Won a match at 3 life by swinging with 6 zombie tokens and 3 Faerie Rogues under my own Ensnaring Bridge.
• Casted a Liliana, the Last Hope on turn one.

Round 1 – Sneak and Show
Game 1: Opponent started with Polluted Delta, pass. I went with an Inquisition of Kozilek and saw: Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, 2x Sneak Attack, Omniscience, Force of Will and City of Traitors ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. I had a couple of Wastelands in hand, but my opponent played well and only fetched before comboing. The turn 1 Inquisition made me realized I should have listed Thoughseizes instead. It also showed that my sideboard was not good enough.

Sideboarding: I did not have any hate, so I opted for a rush (Confidants and Bitterblossom) or lockdown strategy (Needle and Contamination).

In (8): 2 Pithing Needle; 2 Bitterblossom; 3 Dark Confidant; 1 Contamination

Out (8): 2 Karn, Scion of Urza; 1 Liliana, the Last Hope; 1 Inquisition of Kozilek; 1 Fatal Push; 1 Night of Souls' Betrayal; 1 Toxic Deluge; 1 Infernal Tutor.

Game 2: My opponent mulled down to six to find a Leyline of Sanctity. I ended up keeping a mediocre hand and could not interact very well. Bitterblossom did show up to generate blockers and bought me an extra turn, but it still wasn’t enough.
Score: Games: 0 - 1; Matches: 0 – 2.

Round 2 – RW Eldrazi?
Game 1: Opponent started with a Snow-Covered Plains. I went with a turn one Inquisition of Kozilek again and saw: Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Chalice of the Void, Eldrazi Displacer, Rishadan Port, Wasteland and a Thought-Knot Seer. I don’t really remember my hand, but I had a way to deal with Thalia and I had a couple 1cmc cards, so I took the Chalice. I took a few hits of the Thalia, but after she was killed I landed a Karn which quickly took over the game.

Sideboarding: I had never seen this deck before, but it look like Bitterblossom would be a good card here.

In (3): 2 Bitterblossom; 1 Engineered Plague.

Out (3): 1 Inquisition of Kozilek; 1 Dark Ritual; 1 Engineered Plague.

Game 2: This game was a nice pox experience. It started with Thalia beats, backed by a Karakas. I casted a fatal push on end of turn to force a Karakas activation and, on my turn, landed an Engineered Plague for human. My opponent went with Recruiter of the Guard to get a Pia and Kiran Nalaar, but I took it with a topdecked Thoughtseize. Karn lands on an empty board and starts doing its thing, followed by a Liliana of the Veil on the next turns, which started ticking up. My opponent finds a Stoneforge Mystic, which grabs a Batterskull but, on my turn, Liliana of the Veil takes care of the Stoneforge and an Ensnaring Bridge keeps the Batterskull in check. The lock is tight at this point, but my opponent casts a second Recruiter to find a Phyrexian Revoker to shut down my Liliana of the Veil. Then I cast a Bitterblossom at 12 life to win the game under my Ensnaring Bridge, but my opponent topdecks a Hazoret the Fervent to keep up the race. The game is finally decided by a hellbent Infernal Tutor searching for a Liliana, the Last Hope, which kills the revoker and gets to ultimate. At 3 life, I draw for the turn, draw again with karn to get get 2 cards in hand and swing with 6 zombie tokens and 3 faerie rogues for the win.
Score: Games: 1 - 1; Matches: 2 – 2.

Round 2 – Monored goblins
Game 1: My opponent took a mulligan to 6 cards but had a nice start with a Mountain and a Chrome Mox to summon a Warren Instigator. On my turn I started with a basic swamp and a Dark Ritual to land a Liliana, the Last Hope which killed the Warren Instigator and took over the game on the spot. She killed a couple more goblins and a timely Karn joined the field to create a construct token, which protect Liliana until the ultimate.

Sideboarding: I figured that I wanted some creature hate on this match to replace the bad topdecks.

In (3): 2 Collective Brutality; 1 Engineered Plague

Out (3): 2 Hymn to Tourach; 1 Karn, Scion of Urza

Game 2: I mulled to 6 cards on this game, while my opponent had to mulligan to 5 cards. It started well for me with an early Night of Souls’ Betrayal which really put my opponent behind. His board only had an Aether Vial which kept ticking up until it had 4 counters. I did land a planeswalker to close the game (can’t remember which one) but a Goblin Ringleader finding a bunch of goblins, including another Goblin Ringleader was too much for me to handle.

Sideboarding: Seeing that my opponent relied so much on his Aether Vial I decided to change my deck again.

In (2): 2 Pithing Needle

Out (3): 1 Thougthseize; 1 Trinisphere

Game 3: I’m on the play and I kept this hand: Smallpox, Smallpox, Fatal Push, Innocent Blood, Cursed Scroll, Swamp, Inventor’s Fair. I can’t remember all the turns in this game, but my opponent started with a Vial and we kept trading resources, with forced me to use all my removal. He then lands a Warren Instigator on my end step, which attacks on his turn putting another Warren Instigator into play and a Tuktuk Scrapper to blow up my Cursed Scroll. I managed to land a Karn into play, which bought me a couple turns, but he has a Goblin Ringleader that finds multiples Goblin Chieftains to win the game.

Score: Games: 1 - 2; Matches: 3 – 4.

MVP – Liliana, the Last Hope: She was always relevant this weekend because she had so many targets. The only time she could not kill anything was because the board was already empty. She also won two matches with her -7.

Top Performers
• Dark Ritual: this card enabled a lot of degenerated stuff this weekend. Liliana on turn 1, Karn and Night of Souls’ Betrayal with only 2 lands on the table. On a few occasions it also felt like a horrible topdeck, so maybe 4 copies are too much.
• Karn, Scion of Urza: never felt bad casting this guy. On an empty board he basically closes the game, when you are a behind he can buy you a few turns.

Underperformers
• Inquisition of Kozilek: I missed so many times with this discard that I felt that, at least in my meta, Thoughtseize is the better option.
• Phyrexian Totem: I’m kind of unimpressed with this card. I casted it a few times, but it only worked as a target for sideboard hate.

Closing Thoughts
I really enjoyed playing Legacy for the first time, I'll be definitely playing this Sunday again.
I think I need to tweak my list a bit by replacing the Inquisitions for Thoughtseizes and maybe finding a replacement for the Phyrexian Totem. I will also need to work a lot on my sideboard, I need something to fight combo better and I need to read more on what to side in\out versus the most common matchups.


Thanks for reading!

Once you get familiar with the format I would suggest using Cabal Therapy as targeted discards 5-6. I don't advocate a full set unless you are extremely confident in your matchups. I also think that Duress is a very good option if Inquisition of Kozilek is missing. Thoughtseize has a cost to it that isn't always irrelevant. Duress can be an all-star, there are enough targets in almost every deck to justify maindeck inclusion. The only possible exceptions are Elves, Goblins, Death and Taxes...anything that plays 24+ creatures. Cabal Therapy can be very good out of the sideboard as well, once you have a good handle on what they are playing.

That's a LOT of planeswalkers; did you ever feel like you were drawing too many/couldn't cast them in time? Just curious, I think a strong PW-focus could be very powerful.

[Hardcore]

This new card in Battlebond is sick

Arena Rector 3W

When Arena Rector dies, you may exile it. If you do, search your library for a planeswalker card, put that card onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library.

[Mr. Safety]

This new card in Battlebond is sick

Arena Rector 3W

When Arena Rector dies, you may exile it. If you do, search your library for a planeswalker card, put that card onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library.

I am probably going to preorder a set and use it in Nic Fit. Pox? I don't think the white splash is worth it.

[itsvan]

@aslidsiksoraksi
Thanks for the kind words!

I've also liked Karn a lot, for me he's just the finisher \ card advantage engine we needed.

I also appreciate your sideboard advice, I'll keep that in mind for next Sunday. I like Necropolis Fiend too, but I did not find mine in time, so I kept the Totem in it's place. Hopefully he will get to kick some ass next Sunday



@kombatkiwi
That's my reasoning too. I also felt that it would be hard to activate, but I wanted to try anyway. However, after testing I feel that it would be more consistent in a build with The Racks.



@Mr. Safety
Thanks for the advice. I like the Cabal Therapy idea, especially if we are running Bitterblossoms to help with the flashback. I'll be definitely trying once I get more experienced with the format.

I did not get any planeswalkers stuck on my hand, at least for now. I did side out one Karn when I needed the deck be faster, but I wasn't unhappy to see him in those aggro matches.

[sonorous]

itsvan: did Trinisphere get played during those matches? feedback on that being maindeck?

[itsvan]

itsvan: did Trinisphere get played during those matches? feedback on that being maindeck?

Not that I remember. I felt it could do a bit of work shutting down cantrips vs sneak and show but since I rarely felt like I wanted to draw it, I'm kind of unimpressed.
I'm running it in the maindeck as a budget Nether Void, but it's far from the same thing. It could be probably better in a list with more more mana denial, like sinkholes.

I'm not sure if I'm playing with it in the main again, but if I do I'll make sure to report back next week.

[aslidsiksoraksi]

yes i was going to suggest cutting the sphere as well, seems like a good move

I think heavy planeswalkers is where the prison builds want to be now. 6-7 of them is about right if you ask me

[fluuu]

What is the list u consider is the standard one right now?

[Hardcore]

What is the list u consider is the standard one right now?

None, really. it's what we try to find.

[fluuu]

None, really. it's what we try to find.

What do you play?