[Deck] BG Pox

[Land]

Pox has seen many forms throughout the years. Since the early days of Magic, Pox has waxed and waned in favor. Pox can be run as mono-black, green splash, white splash as well as other variants. Many people do not play well against Pox, and many more cannot control Pox properly. So what is the point of playing it? Pox introduces an element of play that forces the opponent to second guess themselves. By altering the board and sometimes the win conditions, one can force the opponent to make hasty decisions that cost them a match. As a black control deck, Pox shows what boardwide attrition can do to most decks.

The earlier versions of mono-black Pox relied heavily on Sinkhole, Dark Ritual and Hymn to Tourach. Not much has changed since then, other than the printing of Small Pox. With the inclusion of Small Pox, we can now see that sometimes a series minor losses are worse than one or two major ones. Most Pox decks rely on a base now that includes the original Sinkhole, Dark Ritual and Hymn to Tourach set with the inclusion of Duress and Small Pox.

This article is targeted primarily at the green splash version of Pox. There are many reasons one would choose green splash vs. white splash vs. mono-black, but mostly it boils down to personal preference. In legacy, Pernicious Deed is a great bomb early, mid or late game. With this in mind, many people have come to the conclusion that replacement of a couple of Poxes with Pernicious Deeds allows more control of the targeting of the attrition. Much like warfare of today, Pox has transformed from using nukes and blanket bombing to now using a more surgical strike destruction.

First, I give you my background as reference. Not everything in this article may be correct but I will attempt to portray the facts to the best of my knowledge. I have been playing Magic since right before Beta was phasing out and Unlimited was phasing in. I was about 13 at the time and didn't know much about the game or have much money. Back in the days of a $50 Beta Black Lotus, the game played much different. With the conception of "types", sometime around Mirage block, I decided to stay with Type 1. Back then, locally, Type 1 played out much like today's Legacy does. After leaving the game around Urza's block and then coming back in Mirrodin block, much has changed. Affinity was at it's prime then and the game seemed too slanted to me. So leaving again during Kamigawa and returning during Time Spiral, we are now to today. I have a lot of catching up to do but here we go for the Pox article.

The most current version of an alternate Pox that is currently being developed and played, seems to be "Vaka Pox". Why the name was chosen, I'm not really sure. The inclusion of white into Pox has been going on since the printing of Pox. No need to argue semantics though, you can view the development of the current leading BW Pox here: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...ead.php?t=5496

The BG Pox you are about to view was originally developed using the Loaming Pox build by André Bärlin and can be viewed here: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...ead.php?t=7823

Here is a current list that seems to work well against many decks that I play against. Many of the concepts found in other Pox decks and Life from the Loam decks are employed here. Using Threshold's land count as the basis for the mana, I was able to speed up the deck with more acceleration. Recursion creatures were dropped in favor of a faster clock.

BG Pox - [Legacy deck suggested by Dylan Fleming]
Land [17]:
4x Bayou
3x Bloodstained Mire
2x Polluted Delta
2x Swamp
2x Barren Moor
2x Mishra's Factory
2x Wasteland

Clock [4]:
4x Tarmogoyf

Acceleration [14]:
4x Dark Confidant
4x Dark Ritual
3x Mox Diamond
3x Sylvan Library

Attrition [20]:
4x Duress
4x Hymn to Tourach
4x Sinkhole
4x Smallpox
2x Pox
2x Pernicious Deed

Recovery [5]:
3x Life from the Loam
2x Zuran Orb

-------------------

Sideboard [15]:
2x Infest
4x Thoughtseize
3x Krosan Grip
3x Extirpate
3x Pithing Needle


Sylvan Library helps to dig deeper in the deck for better dredging and to find the right answer at the right time. Sylvan is very synergetic with the recurable fetchlands and in a pinch can provide that extra card draw you may need.

Zuran Orb helps to stabilize your mid-game life total. Many losses in old lists were due to simply running out of steam mid-game or losing too much life. Once again, recursion of the lands helps to increase the usefulness of the Orb.

Tarmogoyf is probably one of the most abused cards printed recently. Generally, he hits the table as a 4/5 or 5/6 on turns 3 or 4. Adding such a fast clock to the already disruptive attrition has finished many games quicker than any earlier versions could achieve.

Many of the lands were dropped due to the numerous times mana flooding occured. Instead of the deck being based off of Life from the Loam, it now uses LftL as a support card to gain an advantage. LftL could be stripped from the deck completely with Extirpate or the like, and still run just fine.

Mishra's Factory was maintained for chump blocking anything that the goyf and attrition can't handle. It also allows for some damage to still hit the opponent even with the board blowing up turn after turn.

Wasteland provides a great lock for many decks, but against others it is nothing but a detriment to yourself. Generally, a single Wasteland is sufficient to provide the lock, and with the discussion of low dual land supplies, Wasteland may in the future wane in favor. Two seem sufficient to still include this powerful mechanic without sacrificing deck integrity.

The sideboard has not changed much in design, only some of the particulars differ.

Extirpate is a very useful card in conjunction with discard in the deck. Many decks cannot handle the pre-board attrition, adding RFG on top of that post-board is generally devastating. The new Split Second mechanic is very useful as well, making it hold up well against Thresh and Dredge decks.

Many of the older listings included Innocent Blood as a replacement for Duress versus a creature heavy deck. With the printing of Thoughtseize, you may now still provide the same ability of Duress as well as the added creature removal of Innocent Blood. The new life gaining and non-recurring creatures work better with Thoughtseize as well.


Some postings of tournament and testing results from other players in the community would be appreciated in hopes that the green splash Pox may be listed one day as a Deck to Beat.

[Land]

Well, the list I posted before this one was shit. After much testing online, playing in tournaments locally, help from others on the forums and help from others piloting my version; I have finally come up with a more solid list. This list still has some issues with it though.

4 Bayou
1 Overgrown Tomb
2 Bloodstained Mire
1 Polluted Delta
3 Barren Moor
2 Cabal Pit
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Treetop Village
3 Wasteland
3 Swamp

2 Nether Spirit
2 Undead Gladiator
2 Tombstalker

4 Dark Ritual
4 Duress
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Sinkhole
4 Smallpox
3 Life from the Loam
3 Pernicious Deed
2 Phyrexian Arena
3 Mox Diamond

Sideboard:
3 Krosan Grip
4 Pithing Needle
4 Engineered Plague
4 Leyline of the Void

Fixes:
This list has fixed issues with games being drawn out too long due to a lack of damage. Thanks to Tacosnape for suggesting the addition of more threats. Tombstalker has allowed the reuse of the graveyard components that were dead before such as Sinkhole, Hymn and Duress. Tombstalker also is an immediate threat when he hits the table, is outside of the range of Pernicious Deed and fixes the graveyard in the event that Nether Spirit is not recurring.

Mishra's Factory was causing issues with a lack of colored mana, they were dropped in favor of an Overgrown Tomb and Treetop Villages. The Treetops are slower but are a more serious threat than Mishra's and do not require as many to be effective. Early game they are a good pitch to Mox Diamond and mid to late game they provide the extra damage that finishes the game before the deck runs out of steam. Overgrown Tomb was added after having Bayou extirpated out of the deck and having to fall back on moxen to recur lands.

A Cabal Pit was dropped for Tabernacle because in effect they attempt the same end goal: the removal of the opponent's creatures. The Tabernacle takes effect immediately, whereas the Cabal Pit sometimes sits dead for a few turns waiting on threshold. The synergy between Tabernacle and Urborg is great as well. The addition of Tabernacle has allowed the alteration of the sideboard to focus more on problems that black has anyways and adding a fix for goblins matchup.

Improvement Needed:
Matchups against Dragon Stompy have proven difficult. A single moon effect will cripple the deck usually beyond the point of return. Landstill is still an issue due to Crucible and the excessive amount of lands. This same problem is seen when facing decks like 43 Land.

Phyrexian Arena is still a problem, either the tempo needs to be faster or the draw engine needs to be less detrimental. Most game losses involving the arena are nothing more than too much life loss from my own cards, especially the arena.


I would appreciate any advice to further harden this deck versus the DTB list, currently I am at a loss and have moved to playing sui black and breakfast until I can find some solutions to the problems here.

[mujadaddy]

Why did you take out teh Goyf?

Also, I've been convinced that you don't need card draw in a Poxing deck. (You want it sure, but don't NEED it.)

Swapping Pernicious Deed for Pox seems to have distracted you. (firstly, P-D is ALWAYS more mana than Pox... secondly, P-D seems to be the only thing you splashed for -- but it doesn't do the PRIMARY thing that Pox should do -- attack the hand and attack the lands)

Unfortunately, my advice to "harden this deck versus the DTB list" would be to either dump or to use it differently. In my opinion, the meta could use a solid mono- deck...

[Land]

I took the Goyf out originally because he was messing up the graveyard for the Nether Spirit to recur. Now he's still out because he 1. doesn't fly and 2. does not rfg components from my graveyard that are unused. The only negative effect I have seen thus far from Tombstalker is that he sometimes messes up my threshold for Cabal Pit, but I have also dropped to only 2 pits so I'm not too concerned.

Actually, the green splash is mainly for the Life from the Loam. The deed was just an extra bonus and is not meant so much as a Pox effect but moreso artifact/enchantment control and board wipe vs. aggro. Tombstalker also synergizes better with the deed since he is almost always outside of the range I can deed for, and so far has always been outside the range I would want to deed for.

I have removed the Phyrexian Arena in favor of Golgari Thug because 1. he can fix my grave by bringing himself or a Tombstalker back, 2. allow the Nether Spirit to recur again and 3. chump block for a while in conjunction with Treetop Village to buy me some time. I have been suggested to add more threats as well, and he meets that standard even though it's only 1 damage. The dredge effect can be nice as well if I'm having trouble finding what I need in lands or creatures.

[mujadaddy]

Actually, the green splash is mainly for the Life from the Loam.

Hmm... Ok then. Would you say you're using LftL for the dredge (and I can't really see why that would be it) or for the land recursion?

The reason many Pox decks try to run Crucible is because small/Pox destroys land symmetrically... but if you're not running Pox, do you find you need all the land recursion? Is it for mana-fixing?

My personal "Pox-losophy" is that you don't want to have to cast big spells for big mana -- streamline it. Then you don't need the mana-fixing because you can operate with one, two or three lands, max. (...of course, I run mono with Dark Rituals, so your mileage will vary)...

[Land]

Hmm... Ok then. Would you say you're using LftL for the dredge (and I can't really see why that would be it) or for the land recursion?

I'm using Life from the Loam for the dredge to find recursion creatures faster, and to put tech lands into my graveyard for exploitation. I also use it to recur Barren Moor, Treetop Village, Wasteland, Cabal Pit and fetch lands. Loam also helps to recover from losses quicker.

The reason many Pox decks try to run Crucible is because small/Pox destroys land symmetrically... but if you're not running Pox, do you find you need all the land recursion? Is it for mana-fixing?

It is simply for land manipulation, moving things around where I want them. The greatest benefit I see to running this style of control deck versus a bluer deck like Threshold, is the ability to determine whether a card should be in your hand, library, graveyard or in play. Then exploiting the card to its fullest given it's preferred location.

I have tried Crucible of Worlds, I liked it but I chose Life from the Loam over it simply because of preference. Both can serve comparable purposes but in different ways. With crucible I can run Horizon Canopy for card draw and color. Which allows me to run Mishra's Factory in place of Treetop Village if I want. Mishra's is a better chump blocker but doesn't kill as much. Waiting on a treetop to untap is annoying at times though. Crucible also is a better recover sometimes simply due to the fact that you pay the mana to play it then its effect is free after that. The crucible does blow up to Pernicious Deed though, and is also within an arguable common range for deeds to explode in.

My personal "Pox-losophy" is that you don't want to have to cast big spells for big mana -- streamline it. Then you don't need the mana-fixing because you can operate with one, two or three lands, max. (...of course, I run mono with Dark Rituals, so your mileage will vary)...

Please clarify "streamline". I do run off of 2 or 3 mana producers max. My preferred mana on the table is a Mox Diamond and a Swamp. I also run Dark Ritual, so I'm not sure what you are saying. The only big spells are Pernicious Deed, which is a 2 turn mana utilization, and Tombstalker who is cast generally for only 2 or 3 mana total.


On a side note, my biggest issue right now is Duress v. Thoughtseize v. Innocent Blood. Mainly, this is a problem in the sideboard though which would determine the answer to the question. For now I'm leaving Duress in.

[mujadaddy]

Ok, cool.

Please clarify "streamline".

Pernicious Deed takes a lot of mana... that's really all I had. I run 2 Powder Kegs, but those don't hit Enchantments...

On a side note, my biggest issue right now is Duress v. Thoughtseize v. Innocent Blood. Mainly, this is a problem in the sideboard though which would determine the answer to the question. For now I'm leaving Duress in.

I'm a fan of Thoughtseize, simply because it does the job of innocent blood AND duress. In a low-creature meta, of course, run Duress.

[Land]

Pernicious Deed takes a lot of mana... that's really all I had. I run 2 Powder Kegs, but those don't hit Enchantments...

Pernicious Deed does cause problems at times with the requirement for so much mana. In the past it helped more than Pox, and the only thing of mine that it hurts are the Mox Diamonds now. It also has an easier casting cost and doesn't take as long to get a decent effect from it as compared to Powder Keg. Engineered Explosives rarely is large enough to blow up everything I need and iirc it doesn't pop enchantments either.

I'm a fan of Thoughtseize, simply because it does the job of innocent blood AND duress. In a low-creature meta, of course, run Duress.

Yes, I love the Toughtseize targeting, but sometimes games are won with only 2 life. Unless I can find a reliable, recurable life gain, I believe I may have to stick with md Duress and sb Innocent Blood. The only other way I see to get around this is to run a sweeper in sb like Infest.

[Land]

Before I go any further I must say that my sleeping medication has taken effect some hours ago.

I agree completely with everything up to this point...

I don't think that this deck should GET to late game.... if you mean "late game" as in "an arbitrary amount of turns" that's fine, but if the game goes beyond ~10 full turns, the low # of threats the deck runs is going to bite you...

I have increased the threat count to help that but I have sort of hit a plateau with the deck again. Mainly it's a question of: more threats OR more control. I wanted the deck to play very much like a Counter/Burn or Threshold deck, without using blue as the control color. It is getting closer to that and further from the Pox style of decks. Maybe at some point I'll start a different post as a new name and primer. For now though it's still more pox than anything else.

Optimally, I would like to control early game with attrition and kill mid-game with threats. I would like to be able to maintain control via attrition during the mid-game. Meaning, the creatures have to recur properly, be able to use/recur most if not all of my graveyard, and still have enough removal to hinder my opponent. It's style of play is getting closer to this goal but needs some work.

"So much recursion as compared to what?" -- as compared to no recursion. Presumably you've seen my mono decklist in the Pox card discussion thread (the change I'm vacillating between is 2 PK's vs. 2 SDT's maindeck -- if PK is main'ed, I put Pithing Needles in SB) -- read through the thread if you have some free time -- it has some very good discussion, like the Vaka Pox thread, about theory and execution with respect to Pox.

I was able to skim through your decklist. I had noticed some cards and wondered if they were the best choice to be in there. I wish not to speculate further until I have at least tested the deck. I do also read the BW Pox thread to see another perspective on dual color Pox. Looks like both dual color poxen are going for the same end goal; control through attrition and kill mid-game with maintained control and threats.

[berksowl]

Abrupt Decay adds a lot to this. BG Pox was good enough for a SCG top 4 this past spring. Now I think it's much better.

It's that top 4 finish that put this deck on my radar. The deck belonged to Ali Aintrazi (sp?).

With Abrupt Decay, it's worth noting it can't hit creature lands, like Mishra's Factory, Dryad Arbor, Mutavault, etc.

I assume it gets around Judge's Familiar ( or Daze) without the tax, but not around Thalia or Trinisphere.

With these latest builds, I like Darkblast very much. It is so good against so many of the decks that rule the meta. I'm only lukewarm on Ravens Crime.

I want Dread of Night in my side, which is a meta call. Choke perhaps too, for the same reason. And options to deal with Storm, Omniscience, and Dredge.

Thanks for the contributions to this thread. I'm excited to play this deck.

[fimo]

I'm excited to play this deck.

I m happy that more people try out this deck, it feels very solid, you won t be disappointed . However, it does take a while before getting confident with the deck and not finding yourself in awkward situations after a wrong timed smallpox

But yeah thalia is a bitch. Luckily she has only 1 thoughness so darkblast does the job (once again). You can also make them discard her T1. All our removals deal with her, she is annoying but she is by no means a gg. When I first builded this deck the thing I was most afraid of were GY hate cards game 2 and 3. My build especially relies a lot on GY. However, I was surprised by how much it can tolerate GY hate. A surgical extraction on your life from the loam is not gg. Tomodo s crypt, relic of progenitus and faerie macabre are all possible to play around. The only things you kind of have to deal with is layline of the void and RIP. However, if they mulligan to hard on them it can be that your only mishra s factory does the job or that T1 inquisition takes care of RIP. And there are very few decks that play this kind of hate anyway. Nevertheless, krosan grip is an amazing SB card

@berksowl: I feel I have to say something in defense to raven s crime. It is real good, i suggest you to try it in this deck. It has a perfect synergy with life from the loam and it keeps your opponent hand clear all game long. It is also a good card to discard with smallpox/liliana+1. It is a house against control and combo.

[berksowl]

I'll continue to give Raven's Crime a chance. Here's my list at the moment:

BG Pox

2 Nether Spirit

3 Liliana of the Veil

4 Abrupt Decay
2 Cursed Scroll
2 Darkblast
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Life from the Loam
1 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Pernicious Deed
2 Pox
2 Raven's Crime
4 Smallpox

2 Bayou
1 Forest
3 Marsh Flats
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Swamp
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wasteland

SIDEBOARD
3 Choke
3 Duress
3 Extirpate
3 Krosan Grip
3 Tormod's Crypt

For the side, I really want to include Dread of Night for the Seattle meta, where we're seeing Death & Taxes a lot (though one less D&T pilot with me switching over to this build). But maybe of more general utility would be Night of Souls' Betrayal or Damnation. But also, maybe I should be more focused on match-ups that are our least favorable, like combo decks.

Any thoughts are welcome.

[fimo]

I really like your list. I think the right card against D&T for this deck is darkblast. Darkblast does what dread of night does but it has a wider spectrum. It also kills phyrexian revoker in D&T and delvers and nobles in other MUs. Also, one darkblast can kill X/2 guys like stoneforge if you cast it in the upkeep and then dredge it. And it fits better with the rest of the deck (GY friendly). But I can see you already pack 2 in your main deck so you should be fine. If you want a way to tutor for it just add a couple of entomb to the deck. In that way you will have 4 virtual copies of both darkblast and raven s crime. 4 virtual copies of darkblast should crush D&T.
I am not a fan of playing basic forests, not having black mana sucks, but I guess it is just matter of taste.
On the othe hand I don t like your SB much. You don t have any outs to burn or fast aggressive decks. I think you should fit chalice of the void in there. It would also help you against combo. maybe you can remove choke? Choke is slow and you are gonna crush control anyway with raven s crime.
By the way why playing 2 nether spirits rather than a 1/1 split between spirit and bloodghast?

I look forward to hear how the deck performs!

[Shawon]

I'm surprised that people playing this deck and its mono-black progenitor haven't caught on to how a 1-of Maze of Ith is aMAZEing in both variants. Perhaps it's because most people who think about adding Maze try to think of a land to cut for it and ending up sticking with the land that taps for mana, which isn't how you want to think about Maze. You want to think about cutting a spell for Maze of Ith, likely another removal spell.

Here's my explanation I used when I used to play both Smallpox variants and posted in the Pox thread. It's still relevant today:

Now I'm trying Maze of Ith. I'm noticing a big improvement and I think I just learned something about deckbuilding. Here's why Maze of Ith is an excellent choice for the flex removal slot:

1. The slot is for targeted removal because the 4th MD Innocent Blood is unnecessary. Maze of Ith functions as targeted removal, and it's immune to any color-based protection that some creatures may have (Etched Champion).

2. It's a land. It doesn't produce mana, but if you have Urborg on the battlefield, you not only have your next land drop but you have a land that has a double duty of being a removal spell.

3. It's a land. Stated again because of Smallpox and Pox. Maze of Ith gives you an opportunity to preserve your mana sources while casting your Smallpox effects. On the subject of deflecting attention from your mana sources, Maze of Ith can also be used to draw your opponent into saccing Wasteland, and we all know how we like the opponent doing our work of destroying their manabase for us.

4. It's a land. Stated again because of Liliana. Drawing a Maze after you have Liliana online means you can just play it and not have to discard an otherwise removal spell. Every advantage counts.

I guess I will add "5. It's a land. Stated again because you don't have to worry about it getting hit by targeted discard spells that only hit nonland cards."