Suneloon
11-11-2011, 02:02 PM
Reanimator Pox
AKA
Jin & Lil
Mana (28)
3 Wasteland
7 Swamp
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Marsh Flats
2 Polluted Delta
2 Bloodstained Mire
4 Mishra's Factory
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Dark Ritual
Pox (21)
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Liliana of the Veil
4 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Smallpox
4 Funeral Charm
1 Ratchet Bomb
Reanimator (11)
2 Reanimate
4 Animate Dead
4 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
1 Angel of Despair
Sideboard
2 Ratchet Bomb
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Pithing Needle
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
2 Engineered Explosives
3 Innocent Blood
Why not just play classic pox?
Ever since Liliana of the Veil was spoiled, I’ve been trying out pox builds on Magic Workstation. I really, really, really want a pox-shell deck with Liliana to work!
Pox has always been a fun deck to play, and Liliana is exactly what this deck has always wanted. But pox decks still have obvious weaknesses, all of which have not fundamentally changed with Liliana.
Someone in the actual pox thread, on this forum, has described the main problem of pox. I can’t find the actual quote. But it was something like this: “your game plan is to develop a game state where both players are in top-deck mode, with very few relevant permanents down. But in doing so, you have no way of ensuring that your opponent, does not simply “out-top-draw” you”.
This for me illustrates the core problem with pox very well: the symmetrical nature of your control spells.
Bloodghast, Nether Spirit, Tombstalker, Crucible of Worlds, Life from the Loam, and fellow graveyard-relevant cards have been in and out of pox decks, forever, in an effort to break the symmetry.
But these cards always seem lack-luster to me. And which of these to play is an unsettled issue. I think it's because none of them are really impressive.
But having some cards in your deck, that you don’t mind discarding, is an important part of the pox strategy.
So: I was testing out Animate Dead, as a nod to old-school mono-black control decks.
There are so many powerful creatures in Legacy today, and getting one of them into your opponent’s graveyard, is not very hard with a pox deck (provided they’re in his deck obv.).
Animate Dead can simply win games by itself when animating a goyf/knight/ooze/qlique/snapcaster/witness etc. It is simply more powerful than most of the classic pox threats.
Off-course it is a very situational card. But that is somewhat upset by the symmetrical discard. You can simply feed a useless Animate Dead, to one of the symmetrical discards. Throwing away useless cards, is off-course never plan A, but when playing pox, this situation is unavoidable.
At this point playing some awesome Animate Dead targets yourself, is stumblingly close. And simply replacing lack-luster cards like Bloodghast , with some awesome reanimator targets, while still maintaining the general pox shell¸ is very doable.
You lose some of the synergy of the deck, but gain a lot of raw power. In top-deck mode you’re looking for any relevant threat. And instead of just finding the usual pox threats, u can end the game very quickly with an Animate Dead.
How the deck plays
This deck plays a lot like classic pox decks: try to develop a game state, where both players are in top deck mode with very few relevant permanents.
This deck foregoes a lot of cmc 1 control cards, like Thoughtseize and Innocent Blood But between Sensei's Divining Top , Dark Ritual and Funeral Charm, you do have strong turn one plays. Followed up by turn two Hymn to Tourach, Smallpox, and turn three Liliana of the Veil, you still have a very clear control plan.
Once you get there, you can grind it out with Mishra's Factorys, Liliana of the Veil, and Sensei's Divining Top .
The reanimator part of this deck is just gravy. You can win without it. But sometimes you get to “woops-I-win” plays. And having Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur in hand makes the symmetrical discard feel like cheating .
Getting Jin in the grave is not dependent upon having a ready animation spell. A lot of times Jin will just sit in your grave, and you’ll never find a reanimation spell. But throwing away cards, is unavoidable in pox.
If you’re able to utilize the reanimation spells, targeting the creatures you put into your opponents graveyard, they don’t feel like half of a broken combo. They become fully relevant threats themselves.
This is key to why this is not just two different decks thrown together. Some sort of reanimation spells is playable in classic pox somewhere in the 75. Even without any targets in your own deck!
Off course they do sometimes sit in your hand and not have any target. But that’s when you discard them to the symmetrical effects, to save other relevant cards.
In short this may look like a random pile, but it does not feel as random when you play it. It plays very much like a real pox deck, with an side-order of awesomeness. If you like playing pox, and you like playing un-fair cards – you – will – love – this – deck!
Card explanations:
There is nothing spectacular in the lands. I’m packing 24 lands, because I need to not cripple myself when casting Smallpox.
Dark Ritual is debatable. But for me the boost in speed is key to winning with pox. Turn one Hymn to Tourach/ Liliana of the Veil/ Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur, simply wins games.
Hymn to Tourach, Smallpox, Liliana of the Veil, I consider very standard pox cards. And I don´t feel they need further explanation.
Sensei's Divining Top is simply one of the best cards in this deck. I would never go below 4. It’s the cheapest, and simplest way to break the symmetry of the pox effects. And it helps assemble the reanimator package.
Funeral Charm is also old-school pox tech. I know there are better cmc 1 discard spells. But the versatility of Funeral Charm in this deck is crazy. I didn’t like this card on paper, but then I tried it out.. It sometimes wishes very hard, that it was a Thoughtseize. But here are three reasons it works in this deck:
1: there are a lot of toughness 1 creatures in legacy right now!
2: It can target yourself, discarding Jin.
3: When your opponent is in top-deck mode, you can virtually time walk them by discarding the card they draw for their turn, during they’re draw step. Instant speed discard can be the nuts. This card also is very awesome post-Jin!
Animate Dead. I’ve already explained why this card is semi-viable in pox on its own. The ability to target creatures in any graveyard is very much key. And off-course it’s half the reanimator package.
Reanimate. As above, but the cheaper cost is not worth the life-loss is this particular decks. This is foremost a pox deck, and Reanimate is not made for long games. I play 2 at the moment, to up the chances of getting Jin online, without cluttering up my hand when going for the the pox plan. It’s a balance. I feel 6 reanimator spells is the right number at the moment.
Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur is the nuts. If this card was not printed, I would not try this “marriage” between pox and reanimator. The inherent card-disadvantage in reanimation is avoided with this guy. He changes the way reanimation works in a fundamental way. You really only need this guy to stick around until your end of turn, to be worth the while. Drawing 7 cards even once is very easily game-ending. Smallpoxes, Mishra's Factorys, Funeral Charms, and to a lesser extent reanimation spells are what you are looking for if this guy sticks.
Angel of Despair. The fifth reanimation target that just deals with most of your headaches. Wins games by itself. I’ve played games where Jin was simply looking for the Angel in order for me to seal the deal.
Sideboard
It’s not set in stone. I like Leyline of the Void and Pithing Needle in the mono-black version. They simply answer things you sometimes need to answer.
The rest of the sideboard is somewhat transformational. I can board out most of the reanimator plan, for a more controlish pox approach.
A different approach to this deck
Bloodghast, Cabal Therapy, Entomb.
Cabal Therapy also puts Jin in the grave in a pinch, and is an awesome discard spell in itself. Bloodghast can shine in pox decks, and obviously has great synergy with Therapy.
Entomb is the most obvious reanimator card missing from my deck. And I’m not saying it shouldn’t be in there. Especially with Bloodghast and Therapy, it can sometimes have more utility than just putting Jin in the grave. But it has no synergy with the pox plan. It has been suggested in the pox thread, to tutor for Squee, Goblin Nabob and Life from the Loam. And this may be the shizzle, but I think it’s a very different deck than what I’m playing at the moment.
This approach may look better on paper, but in testing I’ve come to like the Funeral Charm version over this one.
Possible splashes
White:
Vindicate
Enlightened tutor
Blue:
Show and tell
Brainstorm
Careful study
Ancestral Vision
Green:
Life from the Loam
Beast within
Red:
Squee, Goblin Nabob
What do you think?!
AKA
Jin & Lil
Mana (28)
3 Wasteland
7 Swamp
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Marsh Flats
2 Polluted Delta
2 Bloodstained Mire
4 Mishra's Factory
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Dark Ritual
Pox (21)
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Liliana of the Veil
4 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Smallpox
4 Funeral Charm
1 Ratchet Bomb
Reanimator (11)
2 Reanimate
4 Animate Dead
4 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
1 Angel of Despair
Sideboard
2 Ratchet Bomb
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Pithing Needle
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
2 Engineered Explosives
3 Innocent Blood
Why not just play classic pox?
Ever since Liliana of the Veil was spoiled, I’ve been trying out pox builds on Magic Workstation. I really, really, really want a pox-shell deck with Liliana to work!
Pox has always been a fun deck to play, and Liliana is exactly what this deck has always wanted. But pox decks still have obvious weaknesses, all of which have not fundamentally changed with Liliana.
Someone in the actual pox thread, on this forum, has described the main problem of pox. I can’t find the actual quote. But it was something like this: “your game plan is to develop a game state where both players are in top-deck mode, with very few relevant permanents down. But in doing so, you have no way of ensuring that your opponent, does not simply “out-top-draw” you”.
This for me illustrates the core problem with pox very well: the symmetrical nature of your control spells.
Bloodghast, Nether Spirit, Tombstalker, Crucible of Worlds, Life from the Loam, and fellow graveyard-relevant cards have been in and out of pox decks, forever, in an effort to break the symmetry.
But these cards always seem lack-luster to me. And which of these to play is an unsettled issue. I think it's because none of them are really impressive.
But having some cards in your deck, that you don’t mind discarding, is an important part of the pox strategy.
So: I was testing out Animate Dead, as a nod to old-school mono-black control decks.
There are so many powerful creatures in Legacy today, and getting one of them into your opponent’s graveyard, is not very hard with a pox deck (provided they’re in his deck obv.).
Animate Dead can simply win games by itself when animating a goyf/knight/ooze/qlique/snapcaster/witness etc. It is simply more powerful than most of the classic pox threats.
Off-course it is a very situational card. But that is somewhat upset by the symmetrical discard. You can simply feed a useless Animate Dead, to one of the symmetrical discards. Throwing away useless cards, is off-course never plan A, but when playing pox, this situation is unavoidable.
At this point playing some awesome Animate Dead targets yourself, is stumblingly close. And simply replacing lack-luster cards like Bloodghast , with some awesome reanimator targets, while still maintaining the general pox shell¸ is very doable.
You lose some of the synergy of the deck, but gain a lot of raw power. In top-deck mode you’re looking for any relevant threat. And instead of just finding the usual pox threats, u can end the game very quickly with an Animate Dead.
How the deck plays
This deck plays a lot like classic pox decks: try to develop a game state, where both players are in top deck mode with very few relevant permanents.
This deck foregoes a lot of cmc 1 control cards, like Thoughtseize and Innocent Blood But between Sensei's Divining Top , Dark Ritual and Funeral Charm, you do have strong turn one plays. Followed up by turn two Hymn to Tourach, Smallpox, and turn three Liliana of the Veil, you still have a very clear control plan.
Once you get there, you can grind it out with Mishra's Factorys, Liliana of the Veil, and Sensei's Divining Top .
The reanimator part of this deck is just gravy. You can win without it. But sometimes you get to “woops-I-win” plays. And having Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur in hand makes the symmetrical discard feel like cheating .
Getting Jin in the grave is not dependent upon having a ready animation spell. A lot of times Jin will just sit in your grave, and you’ll never find a reanimation spell. But throwing away cards, is unavoidable in pox.
If you’re able to utilize the reanimation spells, targeting the creatures you put into your opponents graveyard, they don’t feel like half of a broken combo. They become fully relevant threats themselves.
This is key to why this is not just two different decks thrown together. Some sort of reanimation spells is playable in classic pox somewhere in the 75. Even without any targets in your own deck!
Off course they do sometimes sit in your hand and not have any target. But that’s when you discard them to the symmetrical effects, to save other relevant cards.
In short this may look like a random pile, but it does not feel as random when you play it. It plays very much like a real pox deck, with an side-order of awesomeness. If you like playing pox, and you like playing un-fair cards – you – will – love – this – deck!
Card explanations:
There is nothing spectacular in the lands. I’m packing 24 lands, because I need to not cripple myself when casting Smallpox.
Dark Ritual is debatable. But for me the boost in speed is key to winning with pox. Turn one Hymn to Tourach/ Liliana of the Veil/ Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur, simply wins games.
Hymn to Tourach, Smallpox, Liliana of the Veil, I consider very standard pox cards. And I don´t feel they need further explanation.
Sensei's Divining Top is simply one of the best cards in this deck. I would never go below 4. It’s the cheapest, and simplest way to break the symmetry of the pox effects. And it helps assemble the reanimator package.
Funeral Charm is also old-school pox tech. I know there are better cmc 1 discard spells. But the versatility of Funeral Charm in this deck is crazy. I didn’t like this card on paper, but then I tried it out.. It sometimes wishes very hard, that it was a Thoughtseize. But here are three reasons it works in this deck:
1: there are a lot of toughness 1 creatures in legacy right now!
2: It can target yourself, discarding Jin.
3: When your opponent is in top-deck mode, you can virtually time walk them by discarding the card they draw for their turn, during they’re draw step. Instant speed discard can be the nuts. This card also is very awesome post-Jin!
Animate Dead. I’ve already explained why this card is semi-viable in pox on its own. The ability to target creatures in any graveyard is very much key. And off-course it’s half the reanimator package.
Reanimate. As above, but the cheaper cost is not worth the life-loss is this particular decks. This is foremost a pox deck, and Reanimate is not made for long games. I play 2 at the moment, to up the chances of getting Jin online, without cluttering up my hand when going for the the pox plan. It’s a balance. I feel 6 reanimator spells is the right number at the moment.
Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur is the nuts. If this card was not printed, I would not try this “marriage” between pox and reanimator. The inherent card-disadvantage in reanimation is avoided with this guy. He changes the way reanimation works in a fundamental way. You really only need this guy to stick around until your end of turn, to be worth the while. Drawing 7 cards even once is very easily game-ending. Smallpoxes, Mishra's Factorys, Funeral Charms, and to a lesser extent reanimation spells are what you are looking for if this guy sticks.
Angel of Despair. The fifth reanimation target that just deals with most of your headaches. Wins games by itself. I’ve played games where Jin was simply looking for the Angel in order for me to seal the deal.
Sideboard
It’s not set in stone. I like Leyline of the Void and Pithing Needle in the mono-black version. They simply answer things you sometimes need to answer.
The rest of the sideboard is somewhat transformational. I can board out most of the reanimator plan, for a more controlish pox approach.
A different approach to this deck
Bloodghast, Cabal Therapy, Entomb.
Cabal Therapy also puts Jin in the grave in a pinch, and is an awesome discard spell in itself. Bloodghast can shine in pox decks, and obviously has great synergy with Therapy.
Entomb is the most obvious reanimator card missing from my deck. And I’m not saying it shouldn’t be in there. Especially with Bloodghast and Therapy, it can sometimes have more utility than just putting Jin in the grave. But it has no synergy with the pox plan. It has been suggested in the pox thread, to tutor for Squee, Goblin Nabob and Life from the Loam. And this may be the shizzle, but I think it’s a very different deck than what I’m playing at the moment.
This approach may look better on paper, but in testing I’ve come to like the Funeral Charm version over this one.
Possible splashes
White:
Vindicate
Enlightened tutor
Blue:
Show and tell
Brainstorm
Careful study
Ancestral Vision
Green:
Life from the Loam
Beast within
Red:
Squee, Goblin Nabob
What do you think?!