Beautiful-Decay
04-09-2012, 06:42 AM
Questions people used to ask me:
1. Why white over green and mono black?
- That question can be discussed forever, however they all support different strategies.
The old choice of mono black is safe and a secure choice for new Pox users, it's user friendly and dosen't require and large budget. Next is it the best resistance against decks like Blood Moon and other cards that usally wins the game alone.
- Green Pox forfills alot of "missing links" in the mono B Pox deck, but also requires a larger budget. Green gives access to card manipulation by Sylvan Library, board destruction created by Pernicious Deed combined with a great beater named Tarmogoyf.
Each Pox deck needs a "soft lock tool" to stay alive. Someone uses Ensnaring Bridge and others uses more destructive cards like Death Cloud. Some people also use "slower lock pieces" like Necroplasm and alot others.
- White Pox has the opportunity to change lock piece into Ghostly Prison instead of alot others. Sadly this lock requires the deck focus to be a land destruction theme or else the piece will shatter into pieces over time. White also adds cards like Flagstones of Trokair which add some syngery between all the lands destruction cards like Pox and others.
So to sum it all up. Black Pox is resistant against hard-locks like Blood Moon and others due to its use of Basic Swamps. Sadly it comes with the cost of a missing destructive theme. Green adds TOP destructive cards like Pernicious Deed combined with Necroplasm to continue to clean the board and watch the enemy crawl at your feet. White lacks the destructive addon green added but gives the user to a chance to change direction to Land destruction if the player seeks so.
2. What Pox is missing in all constructed decks so far (we only hope to change in the future) in card drawing and Poxs Top-deck-mode. Green has Sylvan Library and all Pox decks can always add some Sensei's Divining Tops to change the draws. But due to all the discard often seen in Pox decks top-decking will happend in the battle and their topdecks is often just plain better than the Pox players. Green has the chance to top-draw Tarmagoyf like they might do, sadly the other decks creatures isn't as strong as Tarmogoyfs and will fall over time unless their gain acces to some bombs. This is the reason I chose White over the other colours. B Pow and G Pox both lacks the cards to form a "greater lock-down combination"
The pieces I talk about is the combination of land destuction theme and the cards named: Ghostly Prison and The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale. The difference between this kind of lockdown and the one people often use: Ensnaring Bridge is that you gain the opportunity to push your own creatures through their wall of creatures to victory while they have to stay behind enemy lines and wait until they gain mana enough to push through. This ofcause require your creatures to be able to push through other creatures with abilities like "unblockable" and so on so forth.
A list of white as an example could be:
Creatures (5):
2 Tombstalker
2 Nihilith
1 Necroplasm
Lands (24):
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Wasteland
3 Scrubland
3 Mishra's Factory
3 Flagstones of Trokair
2 Swamp
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Polluted Delta
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Marsh Flats
1 Godless Shrine
1 Volrath's Stronghold
Spells (32):
4 Smallpox
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Vindicate
4 Sinkhole
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Sensei's Divining Top
3 Ghostly Prison
2 Crucible of Worlds
2 Liliana of the Veil
2 Pox
Sideboard options:
3 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
3 Chalice of the Void
3 Trinisphere
1 Ghostly Prison
4 Leyline of the Void or Planar Void (up to the user, the Leyline of the Void denies a Dredge player to dredge when a creature (like Stinkweed Imp) with the affix is puttet into the graveyard. While Planar Void gives the dredge player a chance to dredge on before the card is removed. It is however easier to cast if not drawn early compared to Leyline of the Void)
Changes in the last month:
-2 Epochrasite
-1 Wasteland
+1 Nihilith
+1 Necroplasm
+1 Volrath's Stronghold
3. The idea behind a Land Destruction theme in legacy is both good and bad. The bad part of this plan is because people have alot of options to find their lands through Brainstorms and other "digger-cards" that gives the caster an opportunity to search in their deck of lands and give them a chance to rebuild their land-count. However what also is seen in legacy is the use of "low-land count" combined with fetch lands (like Polluted Delta.) The tech behind a fetchland is that the user sacrifice his land and 1 life to find a land that forfill one of who land-types (Swamp, Plains, Island etc.) This tech adds to the Land destructive theme by lowering their total land count further.
So behind the fetch-functions people often use in Legacy the deck is designed to handle land destruction meanwhile it cleans the board slowly by Pox, Smallpox, Vindicate etc. However against creature based decks the sideboard provides alot of options and the combination behind Ghostly Prison and Tabernacle effects often seen in Stax decks, It's fatal. There's close to unlimited options is magic the gathering and this is just one of them with alot of card-options available, so if you see a card you believe has a spot in this list please tell me so and I will see if I can fit it in and make a better deck overall. Support is very appreciated.
Why would I revive an old Bw Pox theme that has been known for being tiar 2 for a few years now?
- because of adds the list has gotten over the last couple of years. Honorable mentions:
1. Lingering Souls
2. Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
and so on so forth.
4. Peoples choices: A friend of mine has shown me the card: Encroach which is interresting I haven't played the deck enough to see if I can find a place for it but I thank him for showing me. Poeple from this forum will ofcourse get their name added to the thread-page and together we'll see if we have the options to make this deck stronger and fit its theme better than it already does. Another creature choice could be Death's Shadow to crush most creatures in legacy, sadly it dosen't have the ability to pass through the creatures on the other players battlefield like the ones chosen that has either fear or flying, which means if I chose to play one it would be to stall the game (force the opponent to pay Ghostly Prison's cost two times in order to strike through).
Another exciting card is Aegis of Honor, it will without destroy burn decks which can harm the decks low-life count. However I haven't seen many burn decks in a while but with the print "Vexing Devil" it may revive in small tournaments. However Chalice of the Void already destroys burn, but a honorable mention anyway.
People who have supported from the forum atm:
Lyracian by suggesting Sorin, Lord of Innistrad and Nether Spirit
- Nether Spirit is a well known creature in the history of pox and derserve a consideration, always..
- Sorin, Lord of Innistrad supports two spots in the deck which atm is a very fragile: Creatures and answars to planeswalkers. The ability to create creatues each turn a force the opponent to pay the cost of Ghostly Prison with two creatures a turn to pass through is crucial! I must admit though, replaceing Liliana of the Veil is a hard choice and maybe there is room for both of them? my testings alone can't answar all the questions, so I would love your opinions.
Thanks for reading and have a nice day.
1. Why white over green and mono black?
- That question can be discussed forever, however they all support different strategies.
The old choice of mono black is safe and a secure choice for new Pox users, it's user friendly and dosen't require and large budget. Next is it the best resistance against decks like Blood Moon and other cards that usally wins the game alone.
- Green Pox forfills alot of "missing links" in the mono B Pox deck, but also requires a larger budget. Green gives access to card manipulation by Sylvan Library, board destruction created by Pernicious Deed combined with a great beater named Tarmogoyf.
Each Pox deck needs a "soft lock tool" to stay alive. Someone uses Ensnaring Bridge and others uses more destructive cards like Death Cloud. Some people also use "slower lock pieces" like Necroplasm and alot others.
- White Pox has the opportunity to change lock piece into Ghostly Prison instead of alot others. Sadly this lock requires the deck focus to be a land destruction theme or else the piece will shatter into pieces over time. White also adds cards like Flagstones of Trokair which add some syngery between all the lands destruction cards like Pox and others.
So to sum it all up. Black Pox is resistant against hard-locks like Blood Moon and others due to its use of Basic Swamps. Sadly it comes with the cost of a missing destructive theme. Green adds TOP destructive cards like Pernicious Deed combined with Necroplasm to continue to clean the board and watch the enemy crawl at your feet. White lacks the destructive addon green added but gives the user to a chance to change direction to Land destruction if the player seeks so.
2. What Pox is missing in all constructed decks so far (we only hope to change in the future) in card drawing and Poxs Top-deck-mode. Green has Sylvan Library and all Pox decks can always add some Sensei's Divining Tops to change the draws. But due to all the discard often seen in Pox decks top-decking will happend in the battle and their topdecks is often just plain better than the Pox players. Green has the chance to top-draw Tarmagoyf like they might do, sadly the other decks creatures isn't as strong as Tarmogoyfs and will fall over time unless their gain acces to some bombs. This is the reason I chose White over the other colours. B Pow and G Pox both lacks the cards to form a "greater lock-down combination"
The pieces I talk about is the combination of land destuction theme and the cards named: Ghostly Prison and The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale. The difference between this kind of lockdown and the one people often use: Ensnaring Bridge is that you gain the opportunity to push your own creatures through their wall of creatures to victory while they have to stay behind enemy lines and wait until they gain mana enough to push through. This ofcause require your creatures to be able to push through other creatures with abilities like "unblockable" and so on so forth.
A list of white as an example could be:
Creatures (5):
2 Tombstalker
2 Nihilith
1 Necroplasm
Lands (24):
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Wasteland
3 Scrubland
3 Mishra's Factory
3 Flagstones of Trokair
2 Swamp
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Polluted Delta
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Marsh Flats
1 Godless Shrine
1 Volrath's Stronghold
Spells (32):
4 Smallpox
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Vindicate
4 Sinkhole
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Sensei's Divining Top
3 Ghostly Prison
2 Crucible of Worlds
2 Liliana of the Veil
2 Pox
Sideboard options:
3 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
3 Chalice of the Void
3 Trinisphere
1 Ghostly Prison
4 Leyline of the Void or Planar Void (up to the user, the Leyline of the Void denies a Dredge player to dredge when a creature (like Stinkweed Imp) with the affix is puttet into the graveyard. While Planar Void gives the dredge player a chance to dredge on before the card is removed. It is however easier to cast if not drawn early compared to Leyline of the Void)
Changes in the last month:
-2 Epochrasite
-1 Wasteland
+1 Nihilith
+1 Necroplasm
+1 Volrath's Stronghold
3. The idea behind a Land Destruction theme in legacy is both good and bad. The bad part of this plan is because people have alot of options to find their lands through Brainstorms and other "digger-cards" that gives the caster an opportunity to search in their deck of lands and give them a chance to rebuild their land-count. However what also is seen in legacy is the use of "low-land count" combined with fetch lands (like Polluted Delta.) The tech behind a fetchland is that the user sacrifice his land and 1 life to find a land that forfill one of who land-types (Swamp, Plains, Island etc.) This tech adds to the Land destructive theme by lowering their total land count further.
So behind the fetch-functions people often use in Legacy the deck is designed to handle land destruction meanwhile it cleans the board slowly by Pox, Smallpox, Vindicate etc. However against creature based decks the sideboard provides alot of options and the combination behind Ghostly Prison and Tabernacle effects often seen in Stax decks, It's fatal. There's close to unlimited options is magic the gathering and this is just one of them with alot of card-options available, so if you see a card you believe has a spot in this list please tell me so and I will see if I can fit it in and make a better deck overall. Support is very appreciated.
Why would I revive an old Bw Pox theme that has been known for being tiar 2 for a few years now?
- because of adds the list has gotten over the last couple of years. Honorable mentions:
1. Lingering Souls
2. Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
and so on so forth.
4. Peoples choices: A friend of mine has shown me the card: Encroach which is interresting I haven't played the deck enough to see if I can find a place for it but I thank him for showing me. Poeple from this forum will ofcourse get their name added to the thread-page and together we'll see if we have the options to make this deck stronger and fit its theme better than it already does. Another creature choice could be Death's Shadow to crush most creatures in legacy, sadly it dosen't have the ability to pass through the creatures on the other players battlefield like the ones chosen that has either fear or flying, which means if I chose to play one it would be to stall the game (force the opponent to pay Ghostly Prison's cost two times in order to strike through).
Another exciting card is Aegis of Honor, it will without destroy burn decks which can harm the decks low-life count. However I haven't seen many burn decks in a while but with the print "Vexing Devil" it may revive in small tournaments. However Chalice of the Void already destroys burn, but a honorable mention anyway.
People who have supported from the forum atm:
Lyracian by suggesting Sorin, Lord of Innistrad and Nether Spirit
- Nether Spirit is a well known creature in the history of pox and derserve a consideration, always..
- Sorin, Lord of Innistrad supports two spots in the deck which atm is a very fragile: Creatures and answars to planeswalkers. The ability to create creatues each turn a force the opponent to pay the cost of Ghostly Prison with two creatures a turn to pass through is crucial! I must admit though, replaceing Liliana of the Veil is a hard choice and maybe there is room for both of them? my testings alone can't answar all the questions, so I would love your opinions.
Thanks for reading and have a nice day.