[Primer/Deck] Pox

Long time lurker, first time poster.

Pox has been my baby for about four years now, only straying for brief moments with various graveyard decks. I had been enjoying the Miracles meta before the banning and was set up for that (and the Chalice-on-One) matchup. Maindecking Ob Nix, Nev's Disc, and all three Legends Enchantments felt great back then, but it can't keep up in the combo/Delver meta I find myself in. The newest additions are Fatal Push, Collective Brutality and Phyrexian Totem.

My current concoction is skewed towards the Delver matchup after an eyeopening run against it. Fatal Push is a beast here, but is worthless to a decent chunk of the meta. Therefore it exists as a 2-of under the 3-of Innocent Blood which hits a broader range of creatures. Being a 2-of also brings satisfaction when watching it get Surgically Extracted with little payoff.

I took longer than I should have to join the Collective Brutality camp. Since becoming a convert I have reveled in the versatility it provides. Utilizing (or not utilizing) Escalate is a lot of fun when baiting countermagic, but the best part is the casting cost. My biggest grievance with Pox has always been being stuck with 3-4 BB cards in hand with a swamp and a couple colorless lands. Brutality allows you to have a turn 2 play when you otherwise wouldn't. Oh yeah and it kills all those creatures we hate so very much.

Phyrexian Totem is a powerhouse and I couldn't be happier with how it has preformed so far as threat #8. Getting in for five is brutal and swinging alongside a Factory is a pretty decent clock. If the coast isn't clear you don't activate it.

This is my current list.


// Spells
3x Dark Ritual
2x Fatal Push
3x Collective Brutality
4x Hymn to Tourach
3x Innocent Blood
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Sinkhole
4x Smallpox
1x Thoughtseize

// Permanents
4x Liliana of the Veil
1x Nether Void
2x Cursed Scroll
1x Phyrexian Totem
1x Nether Spirit

// Land
4x Mishra's Factory
4x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4x Wasteland
12x Swamp

// Sideboard
1x Chains of Mephistopheles
1x Engineered Plague
2x Ensnaring Bridge
3x Extirpate
1x Night of Souls' Betrayal
1x Ob Nixilis Reignited
3x Pithing Needle
1x The Abyss
2x Toxic Deluge


Notes:

Having only four 1-mana discard spells is a nod to Chalice. Less dead cards the better.

Three feels like the right number of Rituals. Less opening 7's with two Rits but it can still show up when you are praying for one late game. They come out against midrange and control as I can't afford the card disadvantage, but this feels counter intuitive when it gets replaced by cards with cmc 3-5.

After Dark Ritual, Sinkhole is usually what gets cut when going to game two, that is if nothing super relevant needs to be dropped. I will probably experiment with only two copies and none. Maybe move the Deluges back to the main, or Pox.

Engineered Plague is the flex sideboard card. It will probably be a Surgical Extraction as I want to squeeze in two more, but I also want to make room for the second Ob Nixilis, Reignited.

So I've finally settled on a Mono-Black pox list, this is what I got. What do you all think?

Creatures - 1
1x Nether Spirit

Planeswalkers - 4
4x Liliana of the Veil

Spells - 24
4x Dark Ritual
4x Hymn to Tourach
4x Smallpox
3x Thoughtseize
2x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Sinkhole
1x Grim Tutor
2x Innocent Blood

Enchantments - 3
2x Nether Void
1x Chains of Mephistopheles

Artifacts - 4
2x Cursed Scroll
1x Phyrexian Totem
1x Crucible of Worlds

Lands - 25
1x Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
4x Wasteland
4x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2x Maze of Ith
2x Cabal Pit
4x Mishra's Factory
8x Swamp

Sideboard - 15
2x Ensnaring Bridge
1x The Abyss
1x Necroplasm
1x Trinisphere
2x Collective Brutality
4x Leyline of the Void
2x Helm of Obedience
2x Pithing Needle

I've been testing Waste Not...when it resolves, its the stone cold nuts. Not extensively tested yet (maybe 5 games where I've drawn and played it.) Pairing it with a Smallpox or Hymn is unbelievable, many times replacing the card you just spent or giving mana to continue the pressure. I figure getting one activation covers Waste not, the second breaks symmetry on the pox effects, the third gets you ahead of your opponent. I figure a good 50 games from now I'll have a better idea of how good it really is, but its definately worth playing those 50 games.

so i put together the 4 chains and abyss deck here by QBturtle:

http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles...gue-2017-05-30

a little bad luck and poor matchups still let me stumble into split for first in a small FNM legacy.
the abyss is great but not against haste. my first match-up was against tin-fins.
my third matchup was R/G sligh. both opponents (first and third) killed me turn 2.
i don't like chrome mox and dropping the abyss for ensnaring bridge leans me towards playing mox opals.
and there was a weird game where the abyss kept killing my nether spirit. (an aside to that... my spirit was the only creature killed by the abyss the entire night!)

maybe diabolic edict instead of chainer's edict? still had fun but never got meph's chains into play once.

Going off of my experience with Vaka Pox, I'm very excited about Bontu's potential in Pox in general. A 3cc wrath effect that doesn't cost us life is exactly what this deck needs.

If I was to give up on the incredible flexibility that Vindicate provides (being able to blow up lands, enchantments, artifacts and planes walkers) and stuck with mono black, I would probably play something similar to this...

// Lands
10 Swamp
4 Polluted Delta
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Wasteland
3 Mishra's Factory

// Threats
4 Tombstalker

// Disruption
4 Chalice of the Void (or 4 Dark Ritual or 2 Innocent Blood and 2 Inquisition of Kozilek)
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Smallpox
4 Sinkhole
4 Pox
4 Liliana of the Veil
4 Bontu's Last Reckoning
3 Crucible of Worlds

// Sideboard
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Trinisphere
3 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
3 Chains of Mephistopheles
2 Innocent Blood

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Clark Kant

Going off of my experience with Vaka Pox, I'm very excited about Bontu's potential in Pox in general. A 3cc wrath effect that doesn't cost us life is exactly what this deck needs.

If I was to give up on the incredible flexibility that Vindicate provides (being able to blow up lands, enchantments, artifacts and planes walkers) and stuck with mono black, I would probably play something similar to this...

// Lands
10 Swamp
4 Polluted Delta
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Wasteland
3 Mishra's Factory

// Threats
4 Tombstalker

// Disruption
4 Chalice of the Void (or 4 Dark Ritual or 2 Innocent Blood and 2 Inquisition of Kozilek)
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Smallpox
4 Sinkhole
4 Pox
4 Liliana of the Veil
4 Bontu's Last Reckoning
3 Crucible of Worlds

// Sideboard
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Trinisphere
3 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
3 Chains of Mephistopheles
2 Innocent Blood

---

Wow, just wow. 3 mana wrath with a 'skip your next turn' clause, practically. I'd actually consider a split more like 2 Bontu and 2 Drown in Sorrow. Drawing it late game is less punishing than being forced to use it turn 3 due to Goblin speed rush, but if the board is empty and your enemy is in topdeck mode, it could be the best wrath spell ever.

*:eek:* at 3 Tabernacles.

I am pretty excited to try out Bontu's Last Reckoning. The drawback feels inconsequential in most situations since our edicts can usually hold down the board through turns 6/7. After that we usually have 4-5 lands (if we didn't Smallpox ourselves to oblivion) and we only need to tap 3 lands to cast it. This grants extra value to our newfound Phyrexian Totems and makes a lategame Dark Ritual good instead of aggravating.

The lifeloss from Toxic Deluge has become more difficult to justify.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by naynay666

I am pretty excited to try out Bontu's Last Reckoning. The drawback feels inconsequential in most situations since our edicts can usually hold down the board through turns 6/7. After that we usually have 4-5 lands (if we didn't Smallpox ourselves to oblivion) and we only need to tap 3 lands to cast it. This grants extra value to our newfound Phyrexian Totems and makes a lategame Dark Ritual good instead of aggravating.

The lifeloss from Toxic Deluge has become more difficult to justify.

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Can't you just Damnation then? :smile: (if you're late game/have excess Dark rituals etc)

The list I posted is modeled after Vaka Pox which means it has a much heavier focus on land destruction.

It doesn't have Vindicate to blow up lands but it still packs 4 Sinkhole, 4 Pox, 4 Smallpox, 4 Wasteland in combination with Crucibles to recur them all designed to blow up lands. The reliance on Pox is why you generally want all your spells to be castable for 3 mana. Bontu offers the deck a great means to blow up elvish swarms and stabilize while staying at 3 mana to maximize Pox utility.

The new set may have some interesting cards. I wonder what can be done with Mirage Mirror?

3

Artifact
2: Mirage Mirror becomes a copy of target artifact, creature, enchantment, or land until end of turn.

Potentially some sick lands tech. I have a 20/20 too!

Yeah, my thought exactly! On second thoughts I suspect I won't have the mana to use it. Miracles would love it, though .

It can't copy most of the cool Pox permanents except for Chains or Nether Void, and even Void you would have to activate early in the turn in anticipation of spells. I don't see it here unless you want to copy Mishra's factory or use it to try and copy opponent's permanents.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Claymore

It can't copy most of the cool Pox permanents except for Chains or Nether Void, and even Void you would have to activate early in the turn in anticipation of spells. I don't see it here unless you want to copy Mishra's factory or use it to try and copy opponent's permanents.

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just to clarify, you CAN copy Nether Void but the original nether void will die because of the world enchantment rule.

Just started playing on Mtgo again for the first time since januari (and the first time with Pox), been testing this list:

27 Lands
1 Cabal Pit
1 Ghost Quarter
4 Mishra's Factory
3 random black fetches
1 Sea Gate Wreckage
8 Swamp
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Wasteland

2 Creatures
2 Tombstalker


27 Other spells
1 Beseech the Queen
1 Chains of Mephistopheles
1 Crucible of Worlds
2 Cursed Scroll
3 Dark Ritual
2 Fatal Push
3 Hymn to Tourach
2 Innocent Blood
2 Sinkhole
4 Smallpox
2 Thoughtseize
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Toxic Deluge

4 Planeswalkers
3 Liliana of the Veil
1 Liliana, the Last Hope

Sideboard (15)

4 Dark Confidant
1 Engineered Plague
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Lost Legacy
1 Nether Void
2 Pithing Needle
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Extirpate
1 Night of Souls' Betrayal
1 Trinisphere


Ended the first league 1-4 (including a Pox mirror o.O where I never drew a 3rd land), then 4-1 with only an unfortunate loss to Storm. Had Surgicaled his Tendrils so he went off with a huge ETW, could flashback Cabal Therapy for my Engineered Plague, I topdeck a land and die. Next card Tabernacle :eek:



Things I've been really satisfied with so far:
*the Liliana split. Once in a while (elves,...) Lili Last Hope is just better, and against control decks the emblem was gg + returning Confi/Stalker is huge.
*Tombstalker. I was happy every time that it was Stalker and not Totem, he just won so many games in the air...
*Dark Confidant sideboard, has been good to me so far.
*Sea Gate Wreckage drew me 4 cards against Czech Pile, and 2-3 cards against Elves.
*2 Fatal Push seems correct so far :smile:
*Toxic Deluge was awesome :wink: (got paired against Elves 3 times...) doesn't kill Tombstalker which is a big +

Things I'm unsure about: This version doesn't seem to profit from Crucible a lot, never won me a game or never wanted to cast it when I could. I put in the fetches especially because of Crucible and Tombstalker (and randomly defended me against Jace +2 occasionally) but without Crucible I'm not sure they were worth it.
Same for Ghost Quarter, it did some work randomly (and I wanted +1 colorless for Sea Gate Wreckage) but without Crucible lock it may be less worth it to screw our BB mana requirements.


More playing will be done the next few days :wink:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Quitrex

Potentially some sick lands tech. I have a 20/20 too!

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Probably better to just play your own depths/hexmage/stage. I see the card as a distraction, I'm more interested in the new three mana wrath, which I dismissed at first but seems more reasonable as folks chime in on what it might be able to accomplish.

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Didn't realize that both were non-land permanents. Might make them stronger than what I thought originally. Still a punisher mechanic that the opponent can choose the lesser of both evils.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Claymore

Didn't realize that both were non-land permanents. Might make them stronger than what I thought originally. Still a punisher mechanic that the opponent can choose the lesser of both evils.

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Agreed.
Is the 4 mana enchantment better than The Rack or Shrieking Affliction?
Is the XBB spell significantly better than Corrupt / Consume Spirit?
I don't think so.

They are playable for the more controlish variants. Those not running Pox, but stuff like trinisphere.
Otoh, it happen against some decks that you Pox and discard them down to nothing, and cards like torment of scarabs are very powerful then.
So... Time will tell.