"No card is an automatic four of, not even Pox and Smallpox." - the father-thread under Card analysis. If anything, I'd just run Big Pox instead of Smallpox. I should test Curse of the Cabal. It's one hell of a bomb. Assuming you keep Teferi, Time Raveler off the table. Since I'm of the mana denial flavor, they'll probably be in deep trouble since I'm hitting the lands, they'll probably be sacrificing relevant permanents to buy time. I'm trading Nether Void to finish my RUG Delver land sets. Turns out that Winter Orb with Artifact Mana is nastier...
Three Lilianas to rule them all. One Pox to find them. Smallpox to bring them all and in the Sinkhole bind them!
Chalice @ 1 seems to hurt the Dark Ritual Core builds and discard flavors of Pox. If it's really that prevalent, I'd suggest going full land killer since they're not using cmc 1 spells either. I haven't fought vs. Chalice much but I know my Inquisitions & Dark Rits would certainly be a problem. BlastZone becomes your answer, but you need to pump it up to two counters right?
Three Lilianas to rule them all. One Pox to find them. Smallpox to bring them all and in the Sinkhole bind them!
"The Ancients teach us that if we can but last, we shall prevail."
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
Those rulings... Ugh. Blast Zone doesn't work on tokens since it starts on 1... DOH! In that case, Ratchet Bomb becomes the answer for Chalice @1.
Three Lilianas to rule them all. One Pox to find them. Smallpox to bring them all and in the Sinkhole bind them!
You could play your own Chalices...just sayin'.
Brainstorm Realist
I close my eyes and sink within myself, relive the gift of precious memories, in need of a fix called innocence. - Chuck Shuldiner
Yes, this was explicitly stated by MaRo, that we will see Black's design-space opened to include conditional Enchantment removal, but not Artifact removal.
You've got to get into the weird sub-par realm to really get anything in Black that I know of, like Xenic Poltergeist or Gate to Phyrexia.
"The Ancients teach us that if we can but last, we shall prevail."
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
Most pertinent enchantments are green and or white, so Dystopia is still one of my all-time favorites for not only green and white enchantment removal, but green and white permanent removal in general.
Vampire Hexmage is also an acceptable answer to Chalice from monoblack decks (the only issue here is that it conflicts with Nether Spirit, but it also has flexibility as an anti-PW option if you want that effect)
Karn, the Great Creator and Null Rod come to mind. Problem is the Rod messes with your own artifacts like Cursed Scroll and activated Mishra's Factory and Phyrexian Totem. If only KtGC was 3 mana and 4 loyalty instead...
Three Lilianas to rule them all. One Pox to find them. Smallpox to bring them all and in the Sinkhole bind them!
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/2218439#paper
Winter's Orb Testing Failed. Bringing back the Nether Void and replaced it with a 2nd Murderous Rider. If you're fighting Chalice @1. Fuq it and bring in all the sideboard you like > 1 cmc and swap out the inquisitions, Bloods, Fatal Pushes & 1 cmc GY hate. The sideboard should be able to handle practically everything you'd need. Walkers have 3 ways of being Dealt with: Swift End, Asylum Visitors uppercutting hard, or Pithing Needle. Bonus if the Dystopia can kill the Walker of your choice! 6 Lilianas make her Triumph more certain... Pun intended Can Withering Wisps damage walkers? I suppose not...
Three Lilianas to rule them all. One Pox to find them. Smallpox to bring them all and in the Sinkhole bind them!
Well, I'm sure it will get listed over the weekend, but EWLandon just 5-0'd with a BW Pox list.
1 Crucible of Worlds
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Liliana of the Veil
2 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Myth Realized
4 Sinkhole
4 Smallpox
4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Mox Diamond
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Marsh Flats
2 Castle Locthwain
1 Plains
3 Scrubland
5 Swamp
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Vindicate
4 Wasteland
SIDEBOARD
2 Ashiok, Dream Render
2 Bontu's Last Reckoning
3 Duress
1 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Porphyry Nodes
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Tormod's Crypt
If you watch the VOD, you will see, pretty much proof positive that it's better to be lucky than have a "good deck."
"The Ancients teach us that if we can but last, we shall prevail."
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
Myth Realized was the threat I've been waiting for... Too bad it's the wrong color...
Being super lucky will defeat any bad deck design. Though I'm not one to worship RNG as she's an evil btch most of the time.
Three Lilianas to rule them all. One Pox to find them. Smallpox to bring them all and in the Sinkhole bind them!
Well, the deck isn't terrible, but, like anything else, if you run into some decent matchups and get lucky, you might do really well.
That being said, the list itself isn't far from the old, hypothesized Vaka Pox lists from years ago. Several of the card choices make no seeming sense, but the structure, in-itself, is likely at least somewhat competitive. In fact, Sinkhole, while far, far from being the powerhouse it once was, might be somewhat better than it had been, since more decks are relying on the "stability" that Basics give in dodging Wasteland.
That being said, it seem doubtful, to me, that this would be the "optimal" Sinkhole deck, even if Sinkhole is better (which is a highly debatable notion in it's own right).
"The Ancients teach us that if we can but last, we shall prevail."
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
I grew up with the precon, "Groundbreaker" as a basis for winning in MtG. Yes, I was an evil sadist. Having Sinkhole becoming dangerous in a deck is my dream. Sadly, despite WotC personal mission to make LD unplayable because losing with no lands is unfun... Yet printing Enter the Breech... I'm literally stuck between rock and hard place. I'll try as I might... But if splashing white is my only recourse, Vindicate is worth the price I guess. Years ago discussing with a coach and best friend, what's a good land destruction deck? This Pox was my answer... The pet deck as it were. I shall wait. We have two Lilianas that can shine. Murderous Rider is a welcome addition. Maybe, we'll get something, anything with time...
Three Lilianas to rule them all. One Pox to find them. Smallpox to bring them all and in the Sinkhole bind them!
https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=24242&d=369231&f=LE
This is an eye opening idea. Instead of a lock, you play an enormous creature after tripping them up. The triple Innocent Blood definitely feels solid despite the creatures. 25 land with 4 dark rituals makes sideboarding a bit more flexible. Any ideas besides sideboarding Dystopia? Normally, I wouldn't run this cause the creatures lacked protection but if the hymns and other discard can do it, maybe it'll work. It definitely has a learning curve but the Zombie combos well with the Cursed Scroll. Noxious Grasp & Dystopia would modify the board a bit for me.
Three Lilianas to rule them all. One Pox to find them. Smallpox to bring them all and in the Sinkhole bind them!
Not even sure if this still qualifies for Pox, but here goes
Land
1 Mountain
2 Swamp
2 Polluted Delta
3 Graven Cairns
4 Wasteland
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Badlands
Spells
2 Thoughtseize
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Fatal Push
1 Storm World
2 Kolaghan’s Command
2 Faithless Looting
3 Unearth
2 Blightning
Creatures
4 Kroxa, Titan of Death’s Hunger
3 Young Pyromancer
4 Lightning Skelemental
Planeswalkers
3 Liliana of the Veil
2 Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage
Sideboard
3 Dreadbore
1 Chains of Mephistopheles
3 Ashiok, Dream Render
3 Plague Engineer
2 Faerie Macabre
2 Pyroblast
1 Witch's Oven
I'd simply swap both Blightnings with Smallpox or Pox and that's all you'd need. Blightning is 3 mana for a hymn to Bolt. Pox is 3 mana for 2 bolts, 2 sinkholes, and 2 Raven's Crime if their lands and hand are 4 early game and Smallpox is 2 mana for a Sinkhole, Innocent Blood and Raven's Crime + Searing Touch Such value, and we built our deck to survive the blast so to speak. Land count is too small for it though so you would have to revise a bit.
Three Lilianas to rule them all. One Pox to find them. Smallpox to bring them all and in the Sinkhole bind them!
I'm afraid I won't get to BBRR for Kroxa with Pox effects. It's absolutely backbreaking and all my creatures are resistant to it, so I'd like to run it, but how do you deal with the land loss though.
PS: Graven Cairns is in the deck over Urborg because of the need to generate BB and RR for Hymn, Skelemental and Kroxa in case people were wondering.
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