[Primer/Deck] Pox

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Originally Posted by ronco

Thanks for the response. What kind of matchups do you find yourself taking tangles out g2 and 3 (if ever)? If you have the option of lili or tangle on turn 3, do you gravitate towards one or the other? Sorry if these are dumb questions, just trying best to understand how the deck plays out. I'm not the greatest at looking at lists and figuring these things out.

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I would take t wire out vs manaless dredge I guess!
Honestly, if they run lands, it stays in. And the answer is nearly always Tangle over lilly, unless you are playing ur delver and they have just dropped pyromancer and you know they don't have a free spell in hand. Basically always tanglewire over Lil. Maybe against elves you can construct s corner case scenario where Lil gets dropped first.

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Originally Posted by OmniStrata

Can Tanglewire, Winter Orb, Howling Mine and Smokestack combo for extreme permanent based resource denial and card advantage? :eek::cry: But it's so many slots... :cry::cry:

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No idea. But that sounds more like Stax, bar the howling mine. Now I own 2 stax decks separately, 3 if you count dragon stompy, I love it, but have never reconciled the two.
At least not in this format- my Canlander deck is pox/stax.
I have a friend who tried pox with chalice in Legacy and iirc a smokestack or two in the board. Not sure how it worked out, think it went ok in the one event he ran it. Again it sounds like a pox with karn type thing.
I think w orb is a ur delver card, hard for us to use, maybe in aggro pox with Bloodghasts etc. 3 sphere and N void are just better.
With cling to dust and lockthwain we have loads more draw than ever.

I'm currently trying out a BW Pox build. I'm wondering what our weakest matches are and if there is any changes youd make or things that are obvious I'm missing? I've been enjoying most of the deck. I already changed the black urza manland for a marsh flats for now, but other than that...? Thoughts?https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...84a9c49e7b.jpg

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Originally Posted by Malfeischylde

I'm currently trying out a BW Pox build. I'm wondering what our weakest matches are and if there is any changes youd make or things that are obvious I'm missing? I've been enjoying most of the deck. I already changed the black urza manland for a marsh flats for now, but other than that...? Thoughts

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Some of the cards are tough to make out in the image. At least for me.

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Originally Posted by OmniStrata

Some of the cards are tough to make out in the image. At least for me.

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Here is what I think the list is;
4 Liliana of the Veil
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Vindicate
4 Smallpox
4 Sphere of resistance
4 mox diamond
3 sinkhole
3 myth realized
2 lili last hope
1 nether spirit
1 crucible

Lands:
4 Factory
4 wasteland
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Fetch
3 Scrubland
2 Castle Locthwain
3 swamp
1 plains
1 spawning pool
1 tabernacle
1 flagstones of trokair (?)
1 whatever is behind the flagstones. Shambling vent perhaps?

I'm got my brew-goggles on during this quarantine, so here is my Pox brew I'm working on. BA + Bloodghast is pretty decent pressure if pulled off t1, and it supports Therapy/Smallpox/Brutality in a big way. I ended up cutting the LotV's, it just doesn't seem great right now. This has the Depths combo in it, which should divide attention. Sideboard isn't even on my radar yet, but I put together a rough 15.

4x Bloodghast
4x Vampire Hexmage
2x Bitterblossom

3x Thoughtseize
3x Cabal Therapy
4x Dark Ritual
3x Fatal Push
4x Smallpox
2x Hymn to Tourach
2x Collective Brutality
1x grim discovery
1x Liliana, the Last Hope
2x Buried Alive

4x Dark Depths
4x Thespian's Stage
4x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4x Verdant Catacombs
6x Swamp
3x Wasteland

Sideboard
2x Surgical Extraction
2x Ashiok, Dream Render
1x Dismember
1x crucible of worlds
2x Ratchet Bomb
2x Diabolic Edict
3x Pithing Needle
2x Plague Engineer

I'm now an MTGO junkie! Thanks to Corona-chan... :rolleyes:

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/2218439#paper

I really want to squeeze in The Abyss and/or Chains of Mephistopheles in the SB. Any advice? I like the triplet approach to sideboarding. 3 cards for a bad match up.

this is kinda out there, but I feel like pox really needs a threat that can beat oko. Has anyone tried buried alive + bloodghast and 2 prized amalgams? that's 8 recurring power on t2 like a super beefed up nether spirit.

You have 8 sources of self discard so drawing the targets doesn't hurt much. And you can run a 1 of first sphere gargantuan in case you draw the bloodghast

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Originally Posted by Reeplcheep

this is kinda out there, but I feel like pox really needs a threat that can beat oko. Has anyone tried buried alive + bloodghast and 2 prized amalgams? that's 8 recurring power on t2 like a super beefed up nether spirit.

You have 8 sources of self discard so drawing the targets doesn't hurt much. And you can run a 1 of first sphere gargantuan in case you draw the bloodghast

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I don't think Prized Amalgram has been tried but Mr Safety (a few posts up) is a big fan of the buried alive + 3 ghast plan.

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Originally Posted by ronco

I don't think Prized Amalgram has been tried but Mr Safety (a few posts up) is a big fan of the buried alive + 3 ghast plan.

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I just think 3/3s are way better than 2/1s in the age of plague engineer & elks. Also first sphere is nice if you need card draw or don't have a land drop

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Originally Posted by Reeplcheep

I just think 3/3s are way better than 2/1s in the age of plague engineer & elks. Also first sphere is nice if you need card draw or don't have a land drop

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The difference is you can cast Bloodghast if you draw it, you can't cast Amalgams (without splashing and making your mana-base absolute shit.) I've played a lot of games with Pox, hardcasting Bloodghast happens a lot.

Bloodghast is subtly powerful, it's a link in the chain of what you're doing. He's a great way to escalate Brutality, discard to Smallpox, and feeds busted Therapy openings. Along with Bitterblossom it adds a lot of presssure. I am also pairing it with Depths combo (no factories) so it really pinches my opponents resources while they fight off the combo.

I don't worry about Plague Engineer, I make 20/20's. I don't worry about Oko, I have 4 maindeck answers (hexmage) and 3 sb Needles.

I've been playtesting, and I dropped to 3 Rituals and added a 3rd Hymn.

Edit: I just googled Gargantua, and it's unplayable. It's only redeeming value is haste, and you only get it once. I'm pretty sure it will be hard to keep opponents off all their removal, timing it just right, to hit Oko. Bitterblossom is so much better against Oko. Oko makes both 1/1 tokens and 2/1 can't-block Bloodghasts a lot better, too. Let your Oko opponent give you "prized amalgams".

Edit #2: debating some number of Expedition Map, maybe 1-2, over some of the other disruption. Ritual makes it faster and the combo is pretty important to some matchups.

Edit #3: buried Alive + grim discovery can tutor hexmages, too. Unlikely to come up very often, but definitely something to keep in mind. Huh.

Gargantua is probably bad sure. I just wanted a 4th creature in case I drew a second buried alive. With hexmage and grim discovery its less necessary.

Also, if you add some fetch lands (no duals) and a 1 of witches cottage now buried alive also tutors the hexmage without any other spell.

If you are running dark ritual, bloodghasts and bitterblossom is some smokestacks a consideration? LD that ignores veil.

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Originally Posted by Reeplcheep

Gargantua is probably bad sure. I just wanted a 4th creature in case I drew a second buried alive. With hexmage and grim discovery its less necessary.

Also, if you add some fetch lands (no duals) and a 1 of witches cottage now buried alive also tutors the hexmage without any other spell.

If you are running dark ritual, bloodghasts and bitterblossom is some smokestacks a consideration? LD that ignores veil.

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Smokestack is going a little too deep I think. Witches Cottage seems interesting...I already have 4 Verdant catacombs in my list, so it might be an option, but with Smallpox it's not likely to be reliable.

Down side is you cant tutor it but mortuary mire does it without a qualifier.

Lili last hope can also bring it back too, finally a use for the -2 that isn't delve related?

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Originally Posted by ronco

Down side is you cant tutor it but mortuary mire does it without a qualifier.

Lili last hope can also bring it back too, finally a use for the -2 that isn't delve related?

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Yeah, Liliana is a good way of doing that too.

Looking at first sphere gargantuan, for the cost unearthing, wouldn't Rotting Regisaur be better? Liliana, the Last Hope can bring it back if killed, sadly, I think the meta is all about exiling removal these days.

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Originally Posted by OmniStrata

Looking at first sphere gargantuan, for the cost unearthing, wouldn't Rotting Regisaur be better? Liliana, the Last Hope can bring it back if killed, sadly, I think the meta is all about exiling removal these days.

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Well the idea is its gets itself out of the graveyard when you buried alive for it, triggering your amalgams. But its probably worse than more bloodghasts

It does draw you a card too.

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Does anyone have any sideboard suggestions for countering problems? Just wondering if Godzilla probably brought us anything new to play with. :eyebrow:

I'm hoping the companion mechanic is banned in Legacy, but if it isn't, moving forward I would highly suggest playing Lurrus in your sideboard of Pox. You are significantly handicapped if you don't. You lose Liliana PW's but you get absurd grind power in exchange.