Printable View
Thanks for the report!
I saw your reports a few times. Those lists seems to be aggro-pox while i used to play very controllish. Thats why I have a few questions. :wink:
Bloodghast looks great for me, which creatures were the best for you? Which ones were not that good?
I see that big pox is great with recurring creatures, but in theory 4 seems too much for me. How do you think about that? Because you play Smallpox and Wasteland.
How good is chalice in a deck that could not cast it turn 1?
with 4 big Pox, 2 toxic deluge and 4 bloodstained mire, not to mention the 4 surgical extraction at your side..your life can get dangerously low often..
also i'm not sure why you're running the mires instead of factories, i'm assuming they're for the angler's delve? i feel the fetches are not really that necessary..
and yes, with no spot discard like inquisition of kozilek, thoughtseize or duress; or even rituals to power out an early liliana or chalice, i wouldn't be surprised why you had a tough time against control..
The Rack and Wasteland shouldn't be in the same deck. Wasteland without backup from Sinkholes isn't maximum LD use. Since you're going Rack, I'd say go Cabal Pit and kill creatures with your lands instead of Wastelanding their duals. 4 Pox means faster threshold than 1-2 Pox builds. Don't mind the 1 life payments. From the looks of things, you really don't care how low you go as long as you win.
I can't play like that with my version of Pox but if you can bleed, even if you bleed down to 1 life, a win is a win. In that case, consider 4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth. Your Pits won't bleed you if you swamp tap them.
You are correct in that there are conflicting mechanics in the deck.
Part of the challenge in construction is to figure out solutions to them.
I often go back to the Rack in my builds. It works so well with the pox effects that it is a natural inclusion.
IOKs will probably take the place of chalice next time i play.
It will be two weeks until next time, giving me more time to think things over:D
Hm. Test!
My suggestion with your aforementioned fixes + minor upgrades. I'd suggest 1 Pithing Needle just for how efficient it is. With Cabal Pits, you may not need 4 Disfigures but you can experiment with those alternatives.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hardcore
And a surprise for you, ever thought of Cry of Contrition? You have a lot of sacrifice fodder.
best creatures in order:Quote:
Originally Posted by EtwasSteIne
Bloodghast
Bloodsoaked Champion
the rest
Actually for control deck Mishra's factory is great, and so it Nether spirit. I find them to clunky though.
Playing four of everything is an old habit, but also to ensure that I draw those cards should I need them. If I had blue cantrips I could play fewer for sure.
Chalice is effective even if you can't play it turn one. It totally depends on the opponents. Against storm deck, for example, it is perfectly good to play chalice for 0 on turn one. It stops them from play their artifact like lotus petal and LED. Agains the painter deck it was enough to play chalice turn two for win.
Cry of Contrition. Hm, have you tried it yourself? Sounds perhaps too conditional.Quote:
Originally Posted by OmniStrata
Four Pits seems a lot, but I'll give it some thought. Thanks!
I've used it in a mono black aggro deck with 24 threats. You've got lots of recurring threats and what's more, you can use it on an enemy's 'garbage' creature to make them want to sacrifice their 'better' threats should the cards in their hand be essential. It is in essence a 2 for 1 after all. My Pox doesn't have enough threats, your aggro build on the other hand... :eek:Quote:
Originally Posted by Hardcore
Ah, one can use them on opposing creatures! That's quite funny:-D
I have gold-fished a list with Cabal Pit. The cards appears too slow, maybe because my deck is not controlish.
A cheap way to add extra creature kill is welcome however, so i may try them next tourney. Real testing, you know.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hardcore
cabal pit is sweet, with or without crucibles..but 4 is definitely way too many..i feel comfortable running a singleton..
i'm thinking of maindecking a copy or two of bojuka bog again, to possibly slow down those tasigurs and anglers that are all the rage these days..
Bojuka wont stop delving. Isn't there a better solution?
i'm well aware, thank you very much..Quote:
Originally Posted by Hardcore
what i'm implying is at least it would slow them down a little to not be able to cast multiples of them in a course of a game..
No offense! Sounded almost desperate only. It isn't that bad, is it?
Otoh, Tasigur with counter back -up is a problemx-(
Hello everyone, I've been building this deck for a long time and went to a local tourney a few weeks back, the meta is super developed with plenty of tier 1, 1.5 decks, I ended up going 1-3 but I think I (and the deck) can do far better in future events.
My decklist at the mooment is:
8 swamp
4 mishra's factory
4 wasteland
4 dakmor salvage
3 urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
4 mox diamond
3 the rack
4 deathrite shaman
4 skittering skirge
4 bloodghast
1 soulflayer
2 tombstalker
4 cabal therapy
4 hymn to tourach
4 smallpox
3 pox
The list I played last tournament looked very similar to this one, but I had some minor changes, like only 2 skirges, 4 racks and 2 MD extirpate (now on the SB).
The tournament report is a few weeks old, so take the meta considerations with a grain of salt, speciallt since many players there can switch decks from week to week.
Match 1Elves:
I won G1 after some attrition and getting lucky with a 2nd turn Hymn on the play, followed up by more discard. Tombstalker finished the job shortly after.
G2 he comboed on the second turn so there was not much I could do.
G3 was an attrition fest again And I won afetr he tryed to combo with few creatures to chain. Pox (saccing Ghast) plus Skirge won my first competitive match in over five years.
M2 Grixis
The dream was over preety fast G1 He chained a crazy bunch of cantrips and overruned me with Young Pyro tokens and double bolt.
I remember siding in Leyline of the void in G2 to fight Dig Through Time, and it worked, but the cantrip chains kept his hand full of answers and I eventually died to a jace Ultimate. i cannot remember correctly bc my notes are messed up,, but I made a midsized mistake in G2, casting a shaman with a skirge in play and a therapy on the yard... not a huge thing but i kept making those kind of mistakes all afternoon.
M3 BUG control
This is the match that should have won but ended up loosing to my own mistakes. With a bit more practice this will be winnable.
He plays a Jace, Liliana, Ashiok, Loam hybrid. G1 I started with heavy disruption and manage to put him on 3 life, with a ghast in play and anotherone in the yard, instead of dredging the dakmor salvage also in the yard I drew a card and casted Cabal therapy plus flashback without attacking. He ended up winning that game afterwards...
G2 I disrupted him and poxed him to oblivion
G3 we went back and forth for a long drawn out game that ended with him decking me with Ashiok and Loam recursion. A turn before he ultimated Ashiok I decided not to play a Tombstalekr in my hand to "wait for a turn to see what he does" This is not the kind of deck that holds down cards to answer the opp threats, this is hands down aggro disruption, no hold barred attack. Next turn he erased my yard and i lost motivation and the game shortly after.
M4 Deathblade
G1 he starts with a fetch into tropical island into deathrite, I cast a blind therapy naming Brainstorm and hit jackpot. Then Hymn, smallpox ghast and skirge. He conceded.
G2 Long game. We went back and forth trading discard for counterspells for a while, but eventually he landed a batterskull and sworded all my dudes.
G3 I mulled twice to find a hand with lands, and kept one with threats but no disruption, He killed me with batterskull again.
All in all I believe that the pox strategy is potent, The only real time I felt out of my game was against Swarm plus burn, otherwise i attribute the losses to missplays and being out of practice with tournament play (really, the last tournament i went was an old Extended one).
Right now my Sb looks something like this:
2 necroplasm
2 pithing needle
2 ratchet bomb
3 leyline of the void
2 engineered plague
2 duress
1 sadistic sacrament
1 massacre
Pros: The list is super disruptive, and hands with disruption and a clock are heavy contenders. First turn hymn rules. Skirge steal games, stalker seals them. If yoy play your cards right games tend to be very fast, wich leaves you time to see what the rest of the people are playing with...
Cons: Missplays, being in burn range, opp outdrawing you. Resolved noncreature threats are hard to deal with, as also are swarms.
Soulflayer is a test slot bc I couldn't find a third Stalker...
The leylines could very likely become extirpates and surgicals, to hose duals for the synnergy with therapy.
The next card on my buylist is Liliana, what can I remove for her?
In a few weeks I'll be playing again (job, college and girlfriend pull theyr weight against MTG spare time)
Thought, ideas on how to improve the list, playing tips, and any advice are welcomed.
Saludos!
liliana is not necessary in an aggressive build. Speed and disruption is key.
you got a really aggressive list there..reminds me of hardcore's builds..
if i were running b/g loam pox or b/w holy pox, i'd go for the diamonds..
but i prefer rituals in mono black..
if you're having problems with swarm strategies, then you have to run something more than engineered plagues to keep them at bay..may i suggest toxic deluge or even drown in sorrow? i find necroplasm and ratchet bomb a little tad slow against swarm strategies like elves and goblins..though i still keep a pair of ratchet bombs at the side for chalices and needles..
i was gonna suggest spinning darkness against burn but its a non-bo with your tombys and your flayer, other players here have ran sun droplet and dragon's claws, they are fairly good at what they do although they might seem a little narrow since they aint very useful against other matchups..i like running trinisphere against burn, it really hurts them, plus it also helps against combo especially if you can power it out turn one via ritual..
lastly, you might wanna squeeze in some IOK's in there, hopefully in the main..
That posted list could never be considered 'super disruptive' compared to traditional Pox. It's definitely the type to go fast games but disruption? I see 22 non-land cards that do nothing to disrupt your opponent's gameplan.
The Rack looks very out of place in that deck. With so much creature skull crushing, I don't think the opponent will live long enough for that thing to do its work. That and Liliana Rack combos well but as Hardcore said, your foe will be dead by the time you can damage with it.
DRS looks awesome though as a card that does damage, disrupts GY strategies, and provides mana.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OmniStrata
how does your list look like now omni?