I suppose sb against sneak&show should get most attention since the others are on the whole quite rare.
http://www.vintagemagic.com/buy/art-...agepoxart.html
Just going to leave this here :)
Thank you guys for your advices.
I'll change the "lock down" slot for more relevent cards like pithing needle, bridge and maybe some surgical extraction.
Do you prefer a Main Board Dark Ritual IoK/Hym Split or a No Ritual IoK/TS Split?
I'm down to 3 ritual mainboard and thinking to send them to the sideboard.
I always mainboard 4 Dark Ritual. The turn 1 Liliana is the best start in practically all game 1 situations. When you learn you won't die in 3 turns, then I board out my Dark Rituals for sideboard relevance. Even if you run into Force of Will, Daze, or Spell Pierce, the risk to reward ratio is just too gorgeous.
I don't split my Hymns with anything. 4 IoK/4 Hymn/4 Dark Rit. There's no reason to run any less. Discard is only good in the first 4 turns so having them come up asap is not a bad thing. Late game, the gamble is your land destruction has slowed them from emptying their hand so your discard can still be used on say, that Swords to Plowshares since you're Nether Spirit is 'hiding' in the Graveyard. DR still has its uses when you're less than 3 land and you still want to cast that Night of Souls' Betrayal late game.
Last edited by OmniStrata; 08-13-2015 at 08:56 AM.
Three Lilianas to rule them all. One Pox to find them. Smallpox to bring them all and in the Sinkhole bind them!
Does a pox list with hecatomb exist? i really like that card
maybe.. bitterblossom, cabal therapy, stifle, hecatomb? that sort of cards..
I like that too, but it simply is too underwhelming for any one to try.
Three Lilianas to rule them all. One Pox to find them. Smallpox to bring them all and in the Sinkhole bind them!
oh yeah! i remember that brew, Arctic Pox: the Legend of the Frozen Witch, right? he he he..
in mono black, my sweeper of choice is toxic deluge..drown in sorrow is decent and the scry effect is handy, especially in mono black where library manipulation is scarce, however, there are some cases where it wouldn't be enough to kill a big tarmagoyf, a tasigur or an angler..
are you still running spinning darkness in your 75?
i run 1 main and then another 2 in the side to help with the aggro matchup, especially burn..
Ah, the memories, title courtesy of Umi Neko. Drown in Sorrow is effectively the super(ior) version of Infest. I no longer run Spinning Darkness but I keep going back and forth on a single Murderous Cut due to being able to Delve 1 of my 2 Nether Spirits in case of GY clog. In my board, the 3 E. Plague and 3 Ensnaring Bridge is enough for any aggro.
For Burn, Contamination will uh, yeah... ^_^ It definitely works, I was just dumb enough to sac my Contamination instead of my Mishra's factory as I top decked a Crucible of Worlds... I'll never live that moment down, the guys around me almost boo-ed in agony with that play...
Three Lilianas to rule them all. One Pox to find them. Smallpox to bring them all and in the Sinkhole bind them!
Meta-changing my sideboard. Since aggro seems a bit less and GY strategies aren't as prevalent. My board now looks like this.
2 Pithing Needle
4 Contamination (ah, it's a 3 mana time-walk!)
3 Engineered Plague
2 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Extirpate
2 Leyline of the Void
Ultimately, control and mid-range are my worst nightmares at this point. Casting Contamination to stall and buy 1-3 turns is definitely worth it if I can feed it factories and then Crucible them back later in game.
Three Lilianas to rule them all. One Pox to find them. Smallpox to bring them all and in the Sinkhole bind them!
Last tuesday i got a 3-1 record with this deck, which is acceptable.
4 Bloodghast
4 bloodsoaked champion
3 Gurmag Angler
4 the rack
4 liliana of the veil
4 Pox
4 smallpox
4 hymn to tourach
1 wrench mind
1 toxic deluge
4 chalice of the void
4 bloodstained mire
12 swamp
2 urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
1 dakmor salvage
4 wasteland
Sideboard:
3 ratchet bomb
4 engineered plague
4 surgical extraction
3 darkblast
1 wrench mind
My result was:
2-0 Grixis Delver
2-0 Burn
2-1 Spanish Inquisition
1-2 burg? SFM and no delvers.
Rack and liliana was game winning in several duels. I also got the rack countered once (fear the rack!) if you can believe it!
My loss to SFM was a reminder i got a weakness there. The solution will be the second toxic deluge, and four Disfigure in the sideboard.
The Darkblasts, alas, are not strong enough.
MTGTop8 has 4 Brainstorm in approx 75% of top 8 decks, with blue cantrips clearly dominating the metagame.
Time for maindeck Chains?
Thinking of sleeving this up.
//Lands: 23
4 Wasteland
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
12 Swamp
//Spells: 25
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Innocent Blood
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Sinkhole
4 Smallpox
3 Raven's Crime
2 Pox
//Permanents: 12
4 The Rack
4 Liliana of the Veil
1 Chains of Mephistopheles
1 The Abyss
2 Cursed Scroll
//Sideboard:
3 Extirpate
2 Duress
1 Chains of Mephistopheles
2 Toxic Deluge
2 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Pithing Needle
2 Tombstalker
Run both chains in main. Cut one Raven's crime.
Hi guys,
after a long MTG-break and a few small experiences with Death and Taxes I decided to play Mono Black Pox again.
In Hamburg, Germany I played this list:
1 Cabal Pit
4 Mishra's Factory
11 Swamp
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Wasteland
4 Dark Ritual
4 Innocent Blood
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Sinkhole
4 Smallpox
3 Hymn to Tourach
1 Infernal Tutor
4 Liliana of the Veil
2 Cursed Scroll
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Night of Souls' Betrayal
1 Nether Void
1 Nether Spirit
1 Tombstalker
Sideboard:
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Extirpate
2 Sphere of Resistance
1 Trinisphere
1 Chain of Mephistopheles
1 Contamination
1 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Engineered Plague
1 Spinning Darkness
1 Damnation
1 Toxic Deluge
Here is a small report of today:
Match 1: UR Delver
Game 1: He starts with Volcanic into Brainstorm and failed to find the second land for a few rounds. I had the Wasteland and 17 life at the end.
Game 2: This was a longer game and unfortunately for him his delver missed 3 chances to flip. I attacked his manabase and win on 2 life. He got only one land but enough Bolts in hand. My deck decided to give me topdeck Nether Void. :)
1-0
Match 2: RUG Delver
Game 1 and 2: He killed me both games slowly with Nimble Mongeese while I had all the answers in my hand. I keept good hands, but was not able to get 3 Mana in turn ~10.
1-1
Match 3: Miracles
Game 1: Discard and Ritual into Liliana was too strong for him.
Game 2: Great Game for me; Chains of Mephistopheles, Liliana with ulti, Night of Soul`s Betrayal (I saw 2 Cliques in Game 1) and finally Contamination with Nether Spirit got it!
2-1
Match 4: MUD
Game 1: Mana denial with Crucible and Ensnaring Bridge dominated him.
Game 2: I was able to control early to lategame until he got chalice on 1,2 and 3. After that he drew Karn and killed me in the last extra turn.
2-1-1
Match 5: TES
Game 1: He starts with Gitaxian Probe into land and Ponder. Looks like combo. He had a Duress in hand but my hand was not too scary for him so he ponders instead. My turn 2 play was Ritual into topdeck Nether Void. GG.
Game 2: My hand was Inquisition, Surgical Extraction, Smallpox and Sphere of Resistence. I won that game.
Final result: 3-1-1 (#6/30 players)
Today I always kept the initial seven and was always on the draw. The deck was super fun and very strong.
Finally my thoughts on the card decisions:
MD:
Tombstalker is by far the best finisher. He could be played through a counterbalance, block delver, fly over anything, costs only two mana etc.
Inquisition of Kozilek vs Thoughtseize is not an easy choice for me. IoK was better vs UR Delver, Burn.., TS shines against MUD and Omni; I am still not sure which is better for me.
Hymn to Tourach is a bad topdeck but performed good today. (used to play TS instead)
Infernal Tutor is super good because we operate always on topdeck-mode.
Ensnaring Bridge maindeck (target for Tutor) got me several games.
Nether Void is expensive but won me two games today.
Night of Souls' Betrayal seems good vs DnT and Pyromancer-decks. Could be moved to the SB.
Crucible of Worlds sometimes wins the game, sometimes is dead. Could be moved to the SB.
Cabal Pit together with Crucible of Worlds is a very good lategame-tech.
SB:
Surgical Extraction was very good today, I wont go back to Leylines.
Extirpate could be a third SE.
Grafdiggers Cage is for Reanimator, Dredge and Combo. Not sure how good it is.
Sphere of Resistance and Trinisphere was good today vs TES. Would come in into burn and omni, not sure how good it is.
Chain of Mephistopheles cleared the path vs Miracle!
Contamination locked Miracle out, but still is random.
Ensnaring Bridge protects me vs creatures. Maybe I should add another.
Engineered Plague two is the right number for me. Hits DnT, Elves, Goblin, Goblin Token (TES) and Merfolk.
Spinning Darkness comes in vs delver, burn, DnT ...
Damnation is the remote-button. Never used it. Maybe four mana is too much.
Toxic Deluge is a three mana board-clear. Lifeloss can be crucial so i only played one.
Feel free to comment my card-choices.
So far,
Stephan
Last edited by EtwasSteIne; 08-16-2015 at 07:54 PM.
Thank you very much for the report!
I suppose that deck is a toolbox-Pox. That is one strategy to achieve better consistency.
you love most infernal tutor that beseech the queen ?
Yesterdays tourney went not as well as i had hoped but was still a good experience. I encountered some rarely played decks and got opportunity to better test Toxic Deluge, now that i own two.
The deck
4 Bloodghast
4 bloodsoaked champion
2 Gurmag Angler
3 nihilith
4 the rack
4 liliana of the veil
4 Pox
4 smallpox
4 hymn to tourach
2 toxic deluge
4 chalice of the void
4 bloodstained mire
12 swamp
2 urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
4 wasteland
Sideboard:
3 ratchet bomb
4 engineered plague
4 surgical extraction
4 disfigure
Changes: -1 Wrench Mind, -1 Gurmag Angler, -1 Dakmor Salvage
+3 Nihilith, +1 Toxic Deluge
Nihilith has several advantages. It is easy to suspend, it is not dependent of the graveyard, one can time the moment it comes into play (because removing counters are only mandatory at your upkeep, at other times it's voluntary), it can be hard cast, and lastly it has fear.
I have boarded out Gurmag when I suspected my opponent bringing in Rest in Peace. The Zombie Fish was an interesting experiment but it is not that hot.
My sideboard changes:
-1 wrench mind, -3 Darkblast
+4 Disfigure
Being pawned by stoneforge mystic was something i felt had to be prevented. Darkblast was not strong enough and led to excessive dredging.
My first opponent plays a traditional sneak and show. I was quite unprepared for that since I had forgot what he usually play. A critical factor was that he won the dice roll and thus went first in duel one and two.
This is a difficult deck to handle because of its redundancy.
I suppose lots of discard and surgical extraction would work best.
Next opponent played Enchantress.
This happen to be a difficult opponent too, also because of redundancy.
If you kill enchantress he still has enchantments that fulfill the same function. His win con is Rest in Peace and Helm of Obedience.
I got mana problems in game three. Should have done a mulligan.
Having made the deck SFM proof it was only fair i encounter and defeat one.
Interestingly Toxic Deluge was better than expected here. In one duel I got one countered and had to play the second too. That was eight life points lost just to remove a batterskull and SFM (possibly a DRS too, but i am not sure).
Unfortunately my opponent had five lands and could re-cast the germ. However with no other creatures for protection i could play big pox and remove threat and lands more permanently.
The last match was against another oddball: Imperial Painter.
First duel I struggled to remember what his deck did. He got a fast painter out and proceeded to counter my spells in a quick fashion.
I played chalice of the void set for two, but the grindstone cost one to play. Darn.
Chalice set for one won the two consecutive duels however:)
Funny tech was Shattering Spree that could destroy my chalice. Clever, but it didn't help at that stage.
so, 2-2 vs. bizarre combo decks.
What is the way forward here?
I think maybe moving Chalice to the sideboard and add Inquisition of Kozilek.
A third Toxic deluge in main deck would be fine too.
Last edited by Hardcore; 08-23-2015 at 04:57 PM.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)