[Deck] BG Pox

[caesar]

Grandmaster Duke himself revealed his work on LoamPox post RtR legality. For reference:
http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/l...egacy-Pox.html

[Anen]

Links to premium articles are useless to the majority of us..

[Oiolosse]

Links to premium articles are useless to the majority of us..

good thing at least somebody can read it.

Thanks Caesar for sharing.

[sherko7]

Can anyone post the deck list ?

[lyracian]

Can anyone post the deck list ?

I can not read the article either but it will be free to read in 30 days. Anyway we can all take a guess at the list. Just take a Loam-Pox list and stick some Decay's in.

Creatures
1 Nether Spirit
4 Bloodghast

Enchantments
3 Pernicious Deed
2 Cursed Scroll
4 Liliana of the Veil

Spells
4 Abrupt Decay
4 inquision of kozelek
4 Hymn to Tourach
2 Raven's Crime
3 Life from the Loam
4 Smallpox
1 Worm Harvest

Lands
2 Barren Moor
4 Bayou
1 Forest
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Swamp
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wasteland

[lithiux]

In the comments of that article someone asked about the card Shrieking Afflication as a win condition, but it didn't really generate any conversation. I think that card looks really good, but I'm not sure what one would take out. I'm not really a fan of Worm Harvest; when do you want to use it? If you can reliably deal 3 damage per turn for no cost (and a casting cost of B), is there a scenario in which Worm Harvest is needed? Realistically, how many tokens does it create?

[lyracian]

In the comments of that article someone asked about the card Shrieking Afflication as a win condition, but it didn't really generate any conversation. I think that card looks really good, but I'm not sure what one would take out. I'm not really a fan of Worm Harvest; when do you want to use it? If you can reliably deal 3 damage per turn for no cost (and a casting cost of B), is there a scenario in which Worm Harvest is needed? Realistically, how many tokens does it create?

Depends how many lands are in your yard; you can create 3+ tokens a turn which is nice even if just for blockers.

I like Shrieking Afflication in mono-Black Pox; I am sure you could use it in Loam-Pox since you can focus on Raven's Crime to empty there hand it just does not play well with Pernicious Deed.

[sherko7]

I am currently playtesting this list and I must say, I really love how the deck plays out:

4 Life from the Loam
4 Smallpox
4 Bloodghast
1 Nether Spirit
3 Pernicious Deed
3 Liliana of the Veil
4 Abrupt Decay
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Raven's Crime
1 Worm Harvest
2 Barren Moor
4 Bayou
1 Forest
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Swamp
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wasteland
1 Tranquil Thicket
4 Hymn to Tourach
1 Entomb

At the moment have only tested with U/W Stoneblade and Goblins, swept both matchups. I think Cabal Therapy could work better than Inquisition of Kozilek at some point, especially if the meta is predictable. I'd probably try a list that has 0 Hymn and 4 Therapies main but Hymn seems to powerful in this deck. I can see 4 more discards going to my board to kill combo.

[fimo]

I been playing in a couple of tournament with the following list:

Creatures
1 Nether Spirit
3 Bloodghast

Enchantments
4 Pernicious Deed

Planeswalkers
4 Liliana of the Veil

Other spells
3 entomb
2 Innocent blood
4 inquision of kozelek
4 Hymn to Tourach
1 Raven's Crime
1 darkblast
3 Life from the Loam
4 Smallpox

Lands
2 Barren Moor
4 Bayou
4 Mishra's Factory
2 Swamp
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
6 black fetches
4 Wasteland

SB:
1 tabernacle at pendrell vale
3 duress
2 maelstrom pulse
4 layline of the void
2 krosan grip
1 karakas
2 perish


I m fairly new to the deck but it seems to perform very well against most decks. However, i had problem against burn and U/R delver. Do you have any suggestion how to play against them? I m thinking of playing chalice of the void/zuran orb/spinning darkness. Any opinion on these cards? Another problem I encountered was a resolved planeswalker...how do you deal with it? deed doesn t help here..I play maelstrom pulse/duress against them but sometimes it is not enough. I m thinking of replacing inquisition with thoughtseize MD but then I would struggle even more against very aggressive decks. Opinions are very much appreciated.
Last but not least, what do you guys think about entomb? I think it is awsome and I wonder why I don t see it often in B/G pox lists. It can tutor raven s crime, darkblast, life from the loam, nether spirit, bloodghast and utility lands if you have the loam engine going. A tutor for 1 mana seems pretty sweet to me. It basically tutors whatever you need at any given time: discard, removal, creatures and life from the loam.

Thank you in advance for your contribution!

[sherko7]

Yeah Entomb is pretty nuts in this deck. It allows you to run a toolbox of sorts plus it gets your engine (LftL) online.

Burn seems like a pretty hard deck to fight through with this. Not even sure what to board against it. Hymn will help stall them, but due to the slow nature of this deck Burn can take its time and draw 3 damage per turn to break us.

[Mr. Safety]

I am fairly new to the deck but it seems to perform very well against most decks. However, i had problem against burn and U/R delver. Do you have any suggestion how to play against them?

I am a long-time Loam player, but I almost always splash white in my decks. Regardless, I really like Leyline of Sanctity in my sideboard. I have to mulligan rather aggressively, but against Burn and U/R Delver you can usually crawl out of that with some decent card advantage plays. I also use Kitchen Finks, but that is a little green-intensive for a fundamentally black deck to include. Just a thought, I'm a big fan of Leyline of Sanctity, it has value against a lot of matchups, Burn, U/R Delver, and even storm decks packing Tendrils, Brain Freeze, or Grapeshot. Leyline also has the great benefit of hosing targeted graveyard hate (Surgical Extraction, Tormod's Crypt, Extirpate, Faerie Macabre, Scavenging Ooze) but doesn't help against RiP or Relic of Progenitus.

[sherko7]

I am a long-time Loam player, but I almost always splash white in my decks. Regardless, I really like Leyline of Sanctity in my sideboard. I have to mulligan rather aggressively, but against Burn and U/R Delver you can usually crawl out of that with some decent card advantage plays. I also use Kitchen Finks, but that is a little green-intensive for a fundamentally black deck to include. Just a thought, I'm a big fan of Leyline of Sanctity, it has value against a lot of matchups, Burn, U/R Delver, and even storm decks packing Tendrils, Brain Freeze, or Grapeshot. Leyline also has the great benefit of hosing targeted graveyard hate (Surgical Extraction, Tormod's Crypt, Extirpate, Faerie Macabre, Scavenging Ooze) but doesn't help against RiP or Relic of Progenitus.

Was thinking the same card, but I'm hesitant about adding another color to BG Pox. Then again you can mull to Leyline G2-3 and then just use the spare copies as Liliana fodder.

[fimo]

Leyline of sanctity seems pretty gamebreaker against those decks. Even though they all have outs from it: they can bounce it, empty the warrens or attack with creatures. I am attracted by the synergy of zuran orb + life from the loam but maybe it is too slow? It would be nice to find an answer usable from the graveyard though... the version of the deck with entomb open the possibility to have a graveyard toolbox but I cannot think of anything that would help against fast damage. The only thing I playtested was syphon life... it is sweet but it is still too slow... by the time you have life from the loam going and 3 mana open to cast it you are already dead. Any ideas?

[Climax]

I like Zuran Orb in the LoamPox variants. Pretty much solves the Burn Problem

[Hardcore]

A mix of threats and discard is the thing vs burn. They probably hate hymn to Tourach more than any other card In magic.

Landdestruction is also good. A hand full of spells and no lands left in play is pure anguish.
Remember that many burnspells cost more than 1cc.
Speaking of mana cost why not help then increase it for them?
thorn of Amethyst or sphere of resistance
Will also be good vs combo engine.

[fimo]

I went to a 36 man tournament, made it to top 8 and went into prices. Here is the list:

Creatures
1 Nether Spirit
1 Bloodghast

Enchantments
4 Pernicious Deed

Planeswalkers
4 Liliana of the Veil

Other spells
2 entomb
1 abrupt decay
4 inquision of kozelek
4 Hymn to Tourach
1 Raven's Crime
1 darkblast
3 Life from the Loam
4 Smallpox
1 worm harvest

Artifacts
3 mox diamond

Lands
1 Barren Moor
4 Bayou
4 Mishra's Factory
2 Swamp
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
6 black fetches
4 Wasteland
1 karakas

SB:
1 tabernacle at pendrell vale
2 duress
2 maelstrom pulse
4 layline of the void
2 krosan grip
4 chalice of the void


Round 1: WRU aggro. He plays steppelynx, delver, grim lavamancer and a lot of burn. G1 I entomb for a darkblast and kill all his creatures. G2 I get to 1 life but his hand is empty due to liliana doing her job. I manage to kill him before he top decks a burn spell.
1-0

Round 2: BUR aggro. He plays blue and red spells similar to a RUG delver but replaces the green creatures with dark confidant and discard. G1 is quite close but I manage to keep the board clear and finish him off with factories. G2 his T1 inquisition removes a smallpox. T2 he plays a dark confidant that I dont manage to remove before his hand is full of good stuff. he finishes me with nivmagus elemental. G3 we go in topdeck mode but I have a liliana on the battlefield with a lot of counters
2-0

Round 3: D&T. G1 I play karakas on his karakas. I play 2 small poxes and he is mana screwed. I have a life from the loam going and win from there. G2 he plays rest in peace. That hutrts. I krosan grip it away but it is too late, he has a thalia down and too much pressure on the board. G3 he doesn t have grave hate, keep the board clear and win from there.
3-0

Round 4: esperblade. He runs me over both games. Surgical extract my life from the loam, wasteland and smallpoxes one game so i m left with nothing and counters all my relevant spells another game.
3-1

Round 5: high tide. G1 I start making him discard and I force him to the spot of "either I try now or I loose". Apparently he draws very good cards and manages to combo out. G2 I raven s crime all his hand away. G3 starts at few min left from the end. I am in a much better position, I have chalice@1 and chalice@2 on the board. I take him down to 2 life. Last turn possible I activate my 2 factories and he taps all my lands in response. It is a draw then... it sucks, I had 1 other turn and I would have won.
3-1-1

Round 6:sneak and show. G1 He puts an emrakul too fast and wins. I was tired and misplayed a lot. G2 and G3 I keep his hand empty and win from there. G3 was very closed: He had 1 card in hand, 1 sneak attack down and few lands on the board. I have a liliana on 6 and next turn I could hit for lethal. I ultimate liliana saying sneak attack or lands. He chooses lands. At the end of my turn he intuition for show and tell. He doesnt topdeck a fatty so I won.
4-1-1

Pros:
- mox diamond was amazing. I think I always won when I had it in my opening. Turn 1 hymn and T2 liliana is just brutal. It fixed my mana more than once helping having a green source. The life from the loam build basically makes the card disadvantage drawback irrelevant. Getting the opponent in topdeck mode as fast as possible is crucial for this deck and mox diamond helps incredibly much. I think that mana acceleration is needed and playing life from the loam makes mox diamond superior to dark ritual.

-entomb/ravens crime/darkblast package. I often entombed for darkblast keeping grim lavamancer, snapcaster mage, delver, dark confidant, mother of runes/vendillion clique away from the board. It is nice to dredge it so you can get life from the loam and bloodghast/spirit faster. Ravens crime was also very good in keeping people s hands clear. Loved it

-life from the loam. Ok we all know that it is good but in pox it is just broken. It makes seriously all cards in the deck better. It makes smallpox and liliana+1 virtually asymmetric. It nullifies the mox diamond card disadvantage. It feeds raven s crime and liliana. It makes you draw cards with barren moor. It looks for your win conditions at a speed of 3 cards a turn. It makes factory unkillable. It waste-lock your opponent. Just too good.

Cons:
-worm harvest. too slow. I ALWAYS wished it was a bloodghast/spirit/factory. I am gonna replace this with an extra bloodghast

-4 pernicius deed MD. It is an awsome card but it underperformed. I frequently wished it was something else. I will definetely keep some number of those MD but the full playset MD may be too much. I think I will replace one or two with abrupt decay or another bloodgast. I will maybe keep the playset in the 75 but I am not sure, I need more playtesting.

All in all I had tons of fun with the deck and I look forward for more playtesting!

[lyracian]

I went to a 36 man tournament, made it to top 8 and went into prices. Here is the list:
All in all I had tons of fun with the deck and I look forward for more playtesting!

Well done. Keep up the poxin'

[metamet]

Vengeful Pharaoh seems like a really fun Entomb target, especially if there is a Loam in the graveyard.

[Sarterus]

I played Mini Pox (B/G) Monday at Card Kingdom's weekly legacy tournament in Seattle and it was amazing, my play needed a bit of work but the deck was great! I went 2-1-1 despite a few play mistakes and not knowing the deck well. This version has no dark rituals. Dark ritual is just terrible against daze, spell pierce, & force of will. I also like Cursed Scroll as a win con it kills delvers, mana dorks, goblins and brings back warm fuzzy thoughts of playing red in tempest.

Here is the list I played:

Land (25)

2x Barren Moor
4x Bayou (one too many)
1x Forest
2x Marsh Flats
4x Mishra's Factory
2x Swamp (1 or 2 too few)
2x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Wasteland

Instant (4)

4x Abrupt Decay

Enchantment (2)

2x Pernicious Deed

Planeswalker (4)

4x Liliana of the Veil

Sorcery (21)

4x Hymn to Tourach
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Life from the Loam
1x Maelstrom Pulse (wanted 1 more for Jace)
2x Pox
2x Sinkhole (Great!)
4x Smallpox
2x Thoughtseize

Artifact (3)

2x Cursed Scroll
1x Nihil Spellbomb (decent could be replaced with a win con)

Creature (1)

1x Nether Spirit

Sideboard (15) (this needs work, it is anti Goblins and Maverick neither of which are big in Seattle right now)

1x Krosan Grip (Great)
1x Tormod's Crypt
1x Leyline of the Void
1x Crop Rotation
4x Engineered Plague
4x Perish
1x The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Grafdigger's Cage

I am a much better speaker than writer, my full deck tech and short tournament report are up on youtube at: http://youtu.be/RyavD9urnw0

Full deck list at: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/mini-pox/

Cutting dark ritual from the list was the best thing improvement from earlier list I play tested. Mad props also to Maggidear from tapped out my play test partner and co-builder, also to Reid Duke foe his great legacy articles over at SCG.

[fimo]

@ Sarterus: did you like Nether Spirit? was it ever relevant? What about if he was a cursed scroll/bloodghast?
Are you happy with the 4:2 split between Abrupt Decay and Pernicious Deed?
I agree on dark ritual in the green version of pox. Have you ever tried mox diamond? I find it amazing in this deck.
How did the actual card pox perform? It does not seem too appealing to me. I would give those spots to deed/sinkhole/Abrupt Decay but I may be completely wrong

I wanna playtest cursed scroll. In theory it is a very good card but does it fit well in the green version of pox? I am afraid that not being recovable from the GY as opposite to nether spirit, bloodghast and mishra's factory is a huge thing. Opinions?