Pox as a metagame choice ?

[apple713]

I feel like its a good metagame choice because many decks are now running fewer threats so with smallpox and pox you can tempo very well. Liliana locks the board like a jace and with such high land destruction amount many decks struggle cause of their colors.

Here is my list. It has done extremely well in my limited community but I'd like some input for sideboard and a couple main board decisions.

3x Inquisition of Kosilek
3x thoughtseize
4x duress

3x bloodghast
4x sinkhole
4x smallpox

3x nether spirit
3x liliana of the veil
4x pox
2x crucible of worlds

1x abyss
1x nether void


3x mishras factory
4x wasteland
18x swamps


Sideboard

3x chains of Mephistopheles ( not sure if it helps as much as I would like)
3x extirpate
4x leyline of the void ( thinking of removing)
1x darkblast (thinking of main boarding 1)
2x innocent blood ( thinking of upping the count)
1x animate dead (filler)
1x bloodghast (against slower decks)



So basically I hate crucible of worlds main it seems wasted because every time I can cast it it doesn't matter cause I can cast everything else in the deck. It's also the first card I sideboard out every game. Never missed it. Maybe because I run sinkholes or 25 lands.

I really like darkblast. Darkblast gets a good portion of legacy and dredging nether spirits and bloodghasts to grave is awesome.

Liliana is sweet because she pretty much controls the game. I'm tempted to run 1 more so I always get her but don't want her clogging up my hand.

I have recently thought about adding 3x urborg because it couldn't hurt and if I add 3x urborg then I can also add tabernacle. My only concern about this is adding 4x non basics makes me more susceptible to wastelands especially since I am taking out crucible.

I don't ever think I have mana problems so I think 25 is a good number.

I think I might need innocent bloods main for those first turn creatures when I'm on the draw. Innocent blood / darkblast fit the description not sure what else to take out.

I've locked many games down because of nether void or abyss but worry if I add more they will become wasted. Nether void has proved more helpful though.

Pox is a 4x because I would rather have it and discard a duplicate than be waiting to draw it. The reason is because I usually wait till I can make them discard 2 cards or lose 2 lands. It becomes seriously advantageous when played at the right time and if you are waiting to draw it you may have missed your perfect opportunity.

Also, because my creatures are expendable I was batting around the idea of contamination, but more specifically gate to phyrexia for artifact hate.

Finally since my sideboard is atrocious it needs the most help. And I'm out of ideas because I haven't run into problems. I haven't played against snt or jtms but would imagine that reanimator or snt are weak to pox small pox and lilianas creature sac effects. But idk about jace. Decks don't typically get to 4 mana unless they are digging for it like high tide.

So please help! I have access to all cards in legacy.

[DLifshitz]

Let's pretend for a moment this belongs in "Format and Article Discussion."


3x Inquisition of Kosilek
3x thoughtseize
4x duress


Inquisition and Thoughtseize are good in the present metagame (and I'm looking at mtgdecks.net stats for reference, so BUG, Jund, RUG and Stoneblade foremost). But Hymn to Tourach would probably work much better than Duress. Hymn is especially good now because people are running relatively fewer counters, with Abrupt Decay seeing lots of play. At any rate, I think that 4 Inquisitions and 4 Hymns should be enough discard preboard. You can include some 'Seizes in the sideboard.



4x sinkhole
4x smallpox


Smallpox should be good against decks that open with GSZ into Dryad Arbor, or Deathrite Shaman, because it nullifies their turn 1 play completely. Sinkhole, on the other hand, seems rather weak. Decks packing either of these mana dorks will shrug off Sinkhole quite easily. Some other decks, like RUG or Goblins, won't care about you blowing up lands. Therefore I believe it's good to reduce the Sinkhole count. You could fill the resulting slots with Sensei's Divining Tops, or Dark Rituals (also reducing the land count).



3x nether spirit
3x bloodghast
3x liliana of the veil


Liliana is good in the current metagame. You're playing too many Nether Spirits, but this has to do with deck construction rather than the metagame. If you have 2 Nether Spirits in the graveyard, they won't come back, because each of them 'sees' the other. Maybe you could replace 1 Bloodghast and 1 Spirit with 2 Tombstalkers, which might be a good additional win condition.



4x pox


Since you're not playing Urborg, you might have trouble hitting BBB, and Pox is not really a good card nowadays. Indeed, I would recommend replacing them with Innocent Bloods.



2x crucible of worlds
1x abyss
1x nether void


The Abyss is very good in the current metagame. Many decks can't win once it's in play, and can't remove it. It is also good against Show and Tell style decks. Nether Void is also powerful.

Generally, I think you need more removal. In particular, you need to be able to kill turn 1 Goblin Lackeys and Deathrite Shamans. I also believe that Cursed Scrolls would serve you better than Crucible of Worlds. Scroll is a win condition and repeatable removal in one, and it's also one of the relatively few ways you can kill a Planeswalker. I would also suggest playing 2-3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth so that your Wastelands and Factories can tap for :b:. You'll then be able to play fewer basic Swamps.

Also also a few Engineered Plagues in the sideboard. Not just against Goblins, but also against Bob & Clique (Wizards) and Maverick and D&T (Humans), and any random aggro.

[lordofthepit]

Solid against a lot of matchups, but scoops to Lingering Souls or a resolved Jace.

[DLifshitz]

Solid against a lot of matchups, but scoops to Lingering Souls or a resolved Jace.

Not nocessarily. You have Cursed Scrolls, which gives you an out against planeswalkers and tokens. (If memory serves me right, most Pox lists that placed high in SCG tournaments in 2012 played Scrolls.) But, yes, there are also some terrible matchups.

[apple713]

Solid against a lot of matchups, but scoops to Lingering Souls or a resolved Jace.

Sounds like an easy fix. Pitching needles in board along with engineered plague. I'd imagine 3x of each. Pitching needles may even help in many other match ups naming sdt or fetchlands.

Also I seem to prefer darkblast to scroll just cause it can add spirits or bloodghasts to grave.

[lordofthepit]

I don't mean literally scoops to those two cards, but that Pox is a resource denial deck that plays very well against Tempo decks like RUG but loses to decks that can easily generate card advantage.

Lingering Souls is a beating since most of your removal is one-for-one and discard is very ineffective. A resolved Jace will give you headaches, although your game plan is to never let them get there. Snapcaster Mage into a Brainstorm or Ponder is very potent against you. In fact, Brainstorms and Ponders are very good in general since they ensure that you can keep up your land drops. Sensei's Divining Top is an absolute beating for an even bigger reason.

The problem with Pox is it has a slow clock. While it has solid early game resource denial, it is much worse in the mid-to-late game, but it isn't good at preventing your opponent from getting there.

**Begin Anecdote**
I once played against a Pox deck when I was on Bant. I was on the draw game one, and led with two Noble Hierarchs that got hit with Smallpox, and my followups were hit by Innocent Blood and Liliana. But I kept ripping lands and eventually got Clique + Karakas into Jace, both of which are very annoying for Smallpox. I admittedly got lucky and got there game 1.

Game 2 I was on the draw again, although I think I'd choose to be on the draw even if I had the option. I think I opened up a 6 or 7 land hand and snap-kept. My opponent durdled around and eventually I slammed a Jace and won easily.
** End Anecdote

The reason I give this anecdote is that Pox decks are really bad if your opponent can get to the late game. Its best option is to (a) use resource denial to ensure your opponent never gets to the late game or (b) speed up its clock. The problem is option (b) is unrealistic in this deck, while (a) is great against tempo decks but bad against anything with a reasonable land count, sufficiently library manipulation to protect from discard, and a bomb. You have no way of stopping topdecks from wrecking you.

If the metagame consisted of a lot of Canadian Threshold, Team America, and Turbo Eldrazi, I'd be all for it. However, if the meta were Miracles, Stoneblade, Jund, and Shardless Agent BUG, then I think you're in for disappointment.

[apple713]

The problem with Pox is it has a slow clock. While it has solid early game resource denial, it is much worse in the mid-to-late game, but it isn't good at preventing your opponent from getting there.

The reason I give this anecdote is that Pox decks are really bad if your opponent can get to the late game. Its best option is to (a) use resource denial to ensure your opponent never gets to the late game or (b) speed up its clock. The problem is option (b) is unrealistic in this deck, while (a) is great against tempo decks but bad against anything with a reasonable land count, sufficiently library manipulation to protect from discard, and a bomb. You have no way of stopping topdecks from wrecking you.


This was true of earlier pox decks however late game pox has cards like liliana nether void and abyss that get us to the goal.

[Aggro_zombies]

This was true of earlier pox decks however late game pox has cards like liliana nether void and abyss that get us to the goal.
None of those three cards actually wins you the game.

[apple713]

None of those three cards actually wins you the game.

true but since bloodghasts and nether spirits are expendable they make it to late game. there are also mishra's factories. After 1 pox opponents are at 13, after 2 poxes they go to 8. thats just a couple turns of attacks to win from there.

I usually end the game with 2 creatures in play. 1 blood ghast and 1 spirit.

I've been thinking that bloodghasts might not be as valuable as nether spirits because of their lack of blocking.

[Antonius]

I can't vouch for the spiked dildo special being anything other than a 60 card torture device, no matter how favorable the meta is.