http://www.germagic.de/news/SoM%20-%...ric%20Mass.jpg
what about this artifact?
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http://www.germagic.de/news/SoM%20-%...ric%20Mass.jpg
what about this artifact?
Not bad.. but I think chimeric idol is stronger, because u can use it with no mana..
and chimeric mass will be a 3/3 creature, not more (so it's the same of chimeric idol).
I dont see it beeing better than... let's say Mishra's Factory or Darksteel Brute or such. Factory is a land, which makes it less vulnerable while the Brute is indestructible.
It has the advantage of beeing an X-Spell, but even if you plan to go for it in some mono-brown build and it "grows" to be a 6/6 i dont like it. And in Pox i don't see it "growing" :)
I'm not very excited on the card, too. It could be decent in Bg builds, where you end up accumulating a decent amount of mana, but even there it would probably be underwhelming, because of its antisynergy with Pernicious Deed.
Hey guys, for a while I've been playing this LoamPox list that I've built using some ideas from this thread (specifically mujadaddy) and DeckCheck.net:
// Lands
3 [PLC] Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 [AQ] Mishra's Factory (4)
4 [TE] Wasteland
7 [M11] Swamp (1)
2 [B] Bayou
3 [ZEN] Verdant Catacombs
1 [ON] Bloodstained Mire
// Creatures
3 [FUT] Tombstalker
2 [RAV] Necroplasm
// Spells
4 [TSP] Smallpox
4 [FE] Hymn to Tourach (1)
4 [OD] Innocent Blood
4 [U] Sinkhole
4 [ROE] Inquisition of Kozilek
3 [RAV] Life from the Loam
3 [SH] Mox Diamond
3 [IA] Pox
2 [CHK] Sensei's Divining Top (flexible slot, I find I never have time to spin it)
// Sideboard
SB: 3 [PLC] Extirpate
SB: 3 [10E] Pithing Needle
SB: 4 [FNM] Engineered Plague
SB: 2 [AL] Dystopia
SB: 2 [MR] Culling Scales
SB: 1 [EVE] Raven's Crime
The deck plays just like a typical Pox control deck, so most of the cards don't need much explanation. However, I'd like to provide a little of my input on select card choices:
Inquisition of Kozilek - This has an advantage over Duress in that it can hit turn 1-2 creatures AND spells, such as Top, Lackey, Goyf, CB, Hymn, as well as an advantage over Thoughtseize of not costing life, which is fairly important with Pox sending your life to 13 or lower and facing Burns decks or aggro. I was about to say that it sometimes sucks to not nab Force of Will or Goblin Ringleader, but it doesn't suck because it doesn't matter, the purpose of Inquistion is to not to get rid of their threats, but prevent any roadblocks to Pox before murdering their hand and ravaging their lands.
Life from the Loam - Life from the Loam is way better than Crucible of Worlds, and it is worth splashing green into Pox for Loam. Loam is cheaper than Crucible. This is pretty important. I need to be flexible with my Pox effects, even when it means going down to two lands in order to win. I don't have the luxury to wait forever to draw my third land and cast Crucible. Moreover, compared with Crucible, Loam can play through an opponent's countermagic with ease, barring Counterbalance. Lastly, but Loam can assist in providing gy fuel to cast Tombstalker, which I've had on multiple occasions. Furthermore, the best part about Loam in a Pox deck is the deck doesn't depend on Loam! Casting Loam once and getting an Ancestral Recall out of it is fine enough to happen once in a game. I pray the opponent brings in gy hate against me. I'm a Pox deck, not a Loam deck, I can and will still play like Pox even if you Extirpate my Loams.
Necroplasm - This is WAY better than Nether Spirit. I tried Nether Spirit before, it sucked HARD. If it had Deathtouch or if it was 3/3, I'd definitely play 3. But it's not, and thus awful. Necroplasm, however, is the shit. He's removal, and a finisher. It grows bigger every turn and it becomes big enough to swing in for a few damage before it kills itself. Did I not mention yet that it has DREDGE 2? That's the best part, you can kill, swing, and repeat again. How the hell is this NOT better than Nether Spirit?!
Mox Diamond - I found Mox Diamond to be pretty useful since it aids my ability to cast Life from the Loam, and enable some sick turn 1 plays.
I have more to say about my card choices and cards I tried that I ended up cutting, but I think I'll just save my discussion until someone asks a question or makes a suggestion to add those cards I ended up removing.
If u splash this deck with green (for life from the loam), u can also use pernicious deed and maelstrom pulse.
Necroplasm:
Nether spirit is better (imho) because u didn't have to dredge (it returns automatically), so he's faster than necroplasm.
I used necroplasm, and i can't use his removal ability, because he's too slow and he died first.
So, after all, nether spirit is better, because he's faster than necroplasm and necroplasm's ability isn't effective (playing against tier decks!).
A quick note for those trying to go the aggro way ( mujadaddy and other ) .
Someone created a thread about aggro pox , so I invite anyone willing to go aggro with 4 poxes to join here : http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...Day-of-Disease
Myself , am getting bored of netheir spirit and going more and more the bloodghast way , so I 'll be there.
Wrong. Unless by 'faster' meaning you did NOT mean it kills creatures faster and kills your opponent faster.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mordred
Nether Spirit is always a 2/2. Necroplasm can be a 1/1, 2/2, 3/3, and 4/4 before it dies. It doesn't matter if you don't kill any creatures, because it beats on its own. But it does kill creatures, Nether Spirit doesn't kill creatures no matter what you do, because it's a weak 2/2 with no other abilities. I'd only run Nether Spirit if Vampiric Tutor became unbanned, because then I'd be running Vamp, Entomb, and Nether Spirit to churn out turn 3 Contaminations :)
As for Pernicious Deed and Maelstrom Pulse, I almost cut my Tops for Pulses because I felt I needed more removal. However, I decided that I needed instant speed creature kill the most, so I decided to run Ghastly Demise over Top. I was going to touch on that next time I updated my post.
He has an interesting approach, however, I think the guy's manabase is extremely fragile. 20 lands is too light. I understand he doesn't want to be a slow Pox deck and run Crucible, which is why I didn't bring it up when I posted in his thread, but he should at least run Dakmor Salvage if he ever wants to cast his spells or trigger Bloodghast again. But if his manabase works for him, then I'll leave it at that.Quote:
Someone created a thread about aggro pox , so I invite anyone willing to go aggro with 4 poxes to join here : http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...Day-of-Disease
Myself , am getting bored of netheir spirit and going more and more the bloodghast way , so I 'll be there.
I used to be a huge fan of Nihilith in this deck, I ran two of him, but as I played games, I never really won with him because I either won with Tombstalker, or Nihilith got removed, or I lost before I could even attack with him. Frankly, I think Nihilith is very underwhelming. If it had Suspend 4 instead of 7, then it would be a lot better, or it would actually be better than a 4/4 with Fear, he would be better than Tombstalker.
http://www.germagic.de/news/som_ratchet_bomb.jpg
ratchet_bomb instead of powder keg
My Pox Bg, 4th in a 24 players tournament:
Lands 23
8 Swamp
3 Wasteland
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Bayou
4 Twilight mire
2 Mishra's factory
Creatures 8
3 Nether Spirit
3 Tombstalker
2 chimeric idol
Spells 29
3 Culling Scales
3 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Smallpox
3 Life from the loam
2 Pox
3 innocent blood
4 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Plague Boiler
Sideboard
SB: 3 Engineered Plague
SB: 3 Sadistic Sacrament
SB: 3 Chalice of the void
SB: 3 Pitching Needle
SB: 3 Tormod's Crypt
Has anyone tried to use Call to the Netherworld? simply because it can remove creatures from your yard and re-activate nether spirit or even get a stalker back. It also makes discarding cards to pox so much easier when your actually using them and using them even better than you would if you couldnt discard.
Another possable inclusion is Brain Gorgers, thoughts?
I think, if you were going to use Brain Gorgers, you'd be better off with Big Game Hunter to make 100% sure you killed stuff, but that's not great in play without Equipment. Solid idea though, if you're going with mujadaddy's earlier idea of mimicking The Gate (which I like, for the record).Quote:
Originally Posted by Red_Death01
Hey guys,
this is my first post here, and i m new to the source, although i ve beed reading this thread for quite some time now. I played mtg for many years as an on-off player, but i wouldnt consider myself very experienced. Anyway, i ve been trying to rebuild my old pox deck (i ve participated with a variant of it in a side tournament in athens grand prix in 2006 and in greek nationals a couple of years later, although without great success). This is the list i ve build so far, and any feedback will be greatly appeciated.
Lands (24)
4 x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 x Mishra's Factory
3 x Cabal Pit
4 x Wasteland
4 x Snow-Covered Swamp
5 x Swamp
Creatures (6)
3 x Nether Spirit
3 x Tombstalker
Spells (30)
4 x Pox
4 x Smallpox
4 x Hymn to Tourach
4 x Inquisition of Kozilek
2 x Duress
4 x Innocent Blood
3 x Phyrexian Totem
2 x Crucible of Worlds
3 x Tainted Pact
a brief explanation
- Urborg : i find this card working much too good in this deck. Without it, i find myself struggling with mana, but even then im not sure of running 4. I believe though that an extra one can always be discarded or sac'ed to pox effects
- Innocent blood : i very much prefer it over other creature removals, mainly cause it can get rid of a possible turn 1 threat and with the creature destr going on here, very few times i found myself wanting something targeting. Sorcery speed is a big drawback, though.
- Nether Spirit : Although possibly Bloodghast works better with tombstalker and crucible, i find bloodghasts inability to block frustrating. I don't know though. I ll test it some more.
- Tainted Pact : i m surpriced i didnt see it on this thread (dont know if i missed it somewhere). Running no more than 4 cards with each name, i find it too good to be left out, mainly when you reach those situations when you have the upper hand but you lack a finisher (and i find pox running into those situations quite often). Few times it has failed me, and even then, it can get rid of some less important cards out of the way, when you need to topdeck something quickly. Instant speed is rocking here.
- Tombstalker : as it has been said many times here, imho its THE finisher for pox.
- Inquisition of Kozilek and Duress : i find inquisition better here, cause it can take care of early plays that can screw my game totally, be them spells or creatures.
- Crucible : Life from the loam maybe be better. But i dont know if i d splash green just for it. If i d run some more, like goyfs and stuff, i would, but thats a different deck strategy alright. Also i ll test it some more, maybe one more is worth it.
Dunno if a LD version would work better, but i ve tried it and most of the time i find LD irrelevant, since it wont provide you with a stable control of the board, unless the opponent is unlucky with his draws (legacy decks run too much land and too low costs anyway).
As for a sideboard, i d prob run some extirpates, some laylines, some solid mass creature removal (possibly a powder keg here) and prob some syphon life.
@Tyr
Do you really need a tutor? I understand it might give you a threat late game, but if that's what you want, just run more threats.
Cabal Pit seems downright worse than Mutavault. Sure they might StP your pit, but you run that risk anyways with Factory. And the ability to produce black mana doesn't matter too much when you run a full set of ToY's.
Your reasons for running no LD don't account for LD giving you an insane tempo advantage. Still, I'm fine if you don't run LD. Oh, and you run wasteland, "i find LD irrelevant" =P.
Some cards that I think really enhance the effectiveness of this deck (and haven't really been totally analyzed in this thread) are:
Rachet Bomb (better keg, finally have enchantment hate)
Phylactery Lich (really good with culling scales. there's potential to make pox a much more artifact-centric deck here)
ye your prob right about cabal pit. as i play this deck it seems to me that its not working so well as i might want. About LD, i didnt mean that LD is not good, i meant that i dont think its going to work so well if you base your deck around it, rather just trying to keep your opponent off-balance with pox-effects and wasteland.
Why are more people not running Nether Voids? I've been testing a version of this for a few weeks with that card in it and it's been pretty close to MVP for me. Against land light decks (zoo, other aggro), it basically shuts them out once I get to 4 lands and I can continue to cast stuff around it for the most part. I spend the early turns knocking out lands and then drop the Void and I can clean up whatever else was left with cheap removal - Smallpox, Innocent Blood, etc.
Here's my current version
Lands - 26
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Wasteland
15 Swamp
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Spells - 26
3 Nether Void (Tried 4 and it was too many)
4 Innocent Blood
4 Smallpox
4 Pox
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Sinkhole
3 Cabal Therapy
Creatures - 8 (still Work In Progress, this is kind of an open audition right now...)
2 Tombstalker
3 Bloodghast
3 Nantuko Shade
So far the Nantuko Shade seems the weakest from the creature suite and I'm leaning towards 4 Tombstalkers and 4 Bloodghasts for the mix here.
Would appreciate any conventional wisdom about this deck that I might not be aware of as it's still a pretty new one for me. In particular, I'm curious why more folks are not running Bloodghast and why nobody else runs Nether Voids? Am I missing something that everyone else has already discovered?
Also, would love any feedback on what types of decks are generally bad matchups for Pox as I want to be sure I'm testing against them.
@ Hook76:
- I for sure wouldn't run Nantuko Shade as it is mana-intensive, has no form of evasion and just dies to 12 of your spells. Maybe in your version it might be OK as it should easily become the biggest creature in a post-Nether Void world. Tombstalker and Nether Spirit/Bloodghast seem solid, I wouldn't run four Tombstalkers though. Imagine you casting one on turn four/five and removing from the yard your early turns work, thus emtying the yard. Then your opponent has Swords/Path/Bounce... How are you going to cast the second? You probably don't want to draw into two in your opening hand. Therefore, I consider three a decent number. If you want to run 8 beaters, consider the artifacts that become creatures (Chimeric Idol/Phyrexian Totem/...).
- Once you've decided on playing Nether Void and Tombstalker, consider Dark Ritual. This helps poxing the battlefield small before a Nether Void and makes turn two Nether Void possible (you're running 4 Wastelands and 4 Mishras!). What do you need Nether Void for? You're disrupting hand and land primarily. In order to sit comfortably under a Nether Void, you should have cleared the board of creatures before casting it. You don't want your opponent to have a Nacatl and a Goyf in play when you cast it. On the other hand, if you've managed to clear the board, why not drop Tombstalker and win? Can you say more on the matches in which Nether Void helps?
- That said, I think the really bad matchups, depending of course on your and their builds, are Zoo, Goblins, Berserk Stompy (and other fast Stompies) and especially Loam and Dredge. For the first three on this list your removal is likely to slow. While you're playing Hymns and Sinkholes, they're playing Lightning Bolt or Aether Vial (Ratchet Bomb in the Sideboard is good against this, as well as Engineered Plague, Dystopia and Infest). For the last two: you might end up helping them by letting them discard dredgers, plus Loam recovers fast. (Sideboard: graveyard hate). One matchup that seems near unwinnable to me is burn (Sideboard: -Pox, +Sheletered Valley?).
- You might consider Crucible of worlds in the main (instead of a Swamp), and exchanging Cabal Therapy for Duress (first turn reliable removal seems stronger to me).
- The disruption and the manabase seem strong.
With 4 Wasteland, 4 Pox and 4 Smallpox (and nonbasics) I would doubt your ability to be able cast many spells under Nether Void. Unless you're planning to win with Bloodghasts, but o me it seems that Nether Void is useful only when you're already in a better position, and still doesn't wins the game - but takes whole turn to cast and really disrupts your ability to deal with anthing already on table.
@Tourach
I actually have been finding Zoo to be a pretty easy matchup in the few games we've tested so far. Typical games are going something like:
T1 - Drop a Nacatl, I innocent blood it
T2 - Drop a beater, I sinkhole them
T3 - Drop a beater, I cast Hymn or another Blood/Sinkhole
T4 - Burn or beater, Drop Void
T5 - Cast Shade or Smallpox to stabilize
T6 - Clean up any remaining beaters, they are too land light to cast anything so I take my time and beat with Factories
That said, Pox (the card) is about useless here since I can't afford the life loss. I usually stabilize in mid-single digits with them only having a few lands left and not being able to break 4 for the rest of the game.
Void really shines in matchups that have cheap threats but are mana light because I don't need to worry about them topdecking a threat once it's down to do that last few damage as long as I keep them around 2 lands (which is very do-able given the land destruction count).
Vial decks are a beating since I can't use the same plan - mana denial followed by a Void to seal the deal. Ratchet bombs are definitely going to help. May even consider them maindeck?
Haven't played Dredge or Loam yet but I can imagine they are about unwinnable. Burn also seems bad. Appreciate the sideboard suggestions. Plague and Dystopia are in my current working version and the Bombs will be.
Will try Idol for a few of the Shades. Your take on Shade is about what I'm seeing. He's usually the best creature on the board once Void hits which is nice but I have to either hold him out or he dies to a lot of my removal. I'm leaning towards:
3 Stalkers
2 Ghasts
3 Idols
The Bloodghasts have a nice synergy with Cabal Therapies and I can often get a 2 for 1 here (either by hitting both or by flashing back). That said, I don't really need to hit more than 1 since I'm never racing with this build.
I had rituals and Chrome Mox in originally to speed up the board but the card disadvantage was killing me. I need every card to stabilize and clean up and these just didn't get it done. Plus they were a painfully bad draw once Void comes out (Ritual for 4 mana is some bad...). I find that in the matchups where I need the speed, I am not really wanting to cast Pox and then Void since I need every point of life. I also want to remove as much of their board before I drop the Void so I can afford to cast multiple cards. It surprised me a bit that these were so bad in here but I found the deck improved a lot once I cut the rituals and moxen for more answers and more land respectively.
I see u play idols and mishra's.. I think playing mishra's and idols together isn't very sinergic.. If u have both mishra and idols in play, u can activate only one.. Personally, I have dropped the idols and entered bloodghasts..Quote:
Originally Posted by Hook76
4x Duress
4x Sinkhole
4x Smallpox
4x Hymn to Tourach
4x Vindicate
2x Crucible of Worlds
4x Swords to Plowshares
4x Innocent Blood
2x Ratchet Bomb
3x Bloodghast
3x Tombstalker
6x Swamp
1x Plains
1x Mishra's Factory
4x Marsh Flats
4x Scrublands
4x Wasteland
2x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
I added Ratchet Bomb to my Smallpox Decklist and they really are nice!
@Shough
I'm not really getting your mana base.
In mono black, we're considering running 4 Urborg, ToY yet in multicolor you're dropping it down to 2? :eyebrow:
How does your 1x Mishra's Factory matter? It's not a big enough beater that finding the singleton will give you more depth with the possible tactics you can employ. It doesn't really dodge any non-sorcery-speed hate.
8 spells / 38 need a single white. 4/19 lands should produce white mana.
Basically, you've given yourself 22 slots for lands.
4 ToY
4 Wasteland //don't count as color producing
1 Plains
4 Marsh Flats
6 Swamp
seems more appropriate. There is an extra possibility for white mana thrown in because marsh flats can get stifled.
@Hook76
That's the best hand your deck could get against zoo.
What would you do if you had say,
Bloodghast
Hymn
Pox
Nether Void
Urborg, ToY
2x Swamp?
Your right Bowvamp… There is no need for the single factory. I don’t worry about stifle as much as wasteland but, I can see your point. Perhaps and extra swamp would be better than U,ToY… Do you think U.ToY is that important?
My current deck list comprises of:
Sorcery (23)
4x Duress
4x Hymn to Tourach
3x Innocent Blood
3x Pox
4x Sinkhole
4x Smallpox
1x Syphon Life
Instant (4)
4x Dark Ritual
Land (22)
4x Mishra's Factory
12x Swamp
2x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4x Wasteland
Creature (5)
3x Nether Spirit
2x Tombstalker
Enchantment (3)
3x Contamination
Artifact (3)
3x Crucible of Worlds
Thoughts and comments? I really need help on building a sideboard too....
Eh
Ive never been overly fond of running dark ritual instead of lands. With 7 pox effects I feel like 22 lands is a little light. I also recommend running 4 urborg if you want to run pox with 4 factory 4 wasteland since BBB can be tough sometimes.
Im not sure how good contamination is. It seems like it's only really good against dedicated control which is the matchup you should be pwning anyway.
In any case I dont recommend running pox right now. It sucks since it's my favorite deck but there are far too many unfavorable matchups to make it worth running. You pretty much need the god hand (with your build) to beat zoo and survival game one and merfolk is nigh unwinable game one. :-/
Im sure pox will be good again sometime soon. But right now I would not recommend it. There may be an interesting BW version that runs ghostly prisons that can compete but Ive been too busy with school to explore such a deck.
Good luck
-clavio
Pox oddly enough is surviving a bit in my meta atm as we only have 2 matchs I can think of which hurts us that I run into there.... but then again I'm not that familiar with Pox to say that also :/
Maybe:
3x Bloodghast
2x Bojuka Bog
1x Cabal Pit
3x Crucible of Worlds
3x Extirpate
4x Hymn to Tourach
4x Innocent Blood
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Mishra's Factory
3x Nether Spirit
3x Pox
4x Sinkhole
4x Smallpox
8x Swamp
1x Syphon Life
2x Tombstalker
3x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4x Wasteland
extirpate is an interesting card. It's good against dredge and removing vengevines.
The one nice thing about pox is that its highly adaptable to your own meta. Itd be tough to give suggestions without knowing what exactly your meta is.Quote:
my meta
I've only plaid for about 2 months but, decks I've seen and played include the following- please take in account that some times these decks dont get played since people have their own tastes and will sometimes play one of their other decks-Quote:
Originally Posted by clavio
Zoo (Someone always plays this but only one deck ever)
Bant (two people play this, one always and one is off and on) [It sometimes is Survival, Pure, or a Home Brew of it]
Dredge (rarely played but there is a deck of it)
Burn (two people play this, one almost always, and the other some times in he is in the mood)
Mono Blue Control (Off and On)
White Staxx (Off and On)
Reanimator (It doesnt get played much anymore but, you see it at times)
ANT (One of the two combo players)
Show and Tell/Hideaway Combo (One of the two combo players)
The Game (Always played)
Enchantress (Always played)
White Weenie (Off and On)
Merfolk (I've seen it around but, not to often)
Goblins (One deck get passed around and someone will occassionally play this)
Eva Green (Lately someone has begun playing this)
Stompy (Not sure the name but it invovles a lot of morph, dues of calamity, and so forth- Usually played)
Theres the list I can remember, I have good memery but- it isnt perfect... Hopefully you can help me out- Would appreciate sideboard help too
I like the list a lot from what I see, simple but effective.Quote:
Originally Posted by Red_Death01
My only suggestion that sticks out is to SB Contamination then maybe bust it out against non-black control decks like Top or Standstill decks. I know this seems like a sketchy choice, but you should actually try Infernal Contract in its place. You can always board it out, but most aggro decks that don't run burn you can pretty much run yourself down to very low life to gain enough CA to put them in a choke hold. From my experience, if it ever resolved against those opponents 90% the time the game's yours.. 4 cards is just too much advantage to deal with, if they can't finish you off within the next turn it's usually gonna cost them.
I'm thinking of maybe:
3x Bloodghast
2x Bojuka Bog
1x Cabal Pit
3x Crucible of Worlds
4x Hymn to Tourach
4x Innocent Blood
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Mishra's Factory
2x Nether Spirit
3x Pox
4x Sinkhole
4x Smallpox
8x Swamp
4x The Rack
3x Tombstalker
3x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4x Wasteland
??? The build lost it's simplicity sorta- but... what do you guys think of it all?
Syphon Life looks really good on paper, but realistically, it's going to be useless most of the time. It's not good in the early game and really slow for -2 +2 a turn. I'd rather have a 4th Innocent Blood.
2 Tombstalker is not enough. Bump it to 3.
I can confidently say that regardless of your meta, you need to run at least 3 Extirpate in your sb. It sucks ass only if you mess up with it, trust me I know because I've went through plenty of games where I would have won with Extirpate on Tropical Island :( It is very versatile in this deck though, because you can use Extirpate to attack duals, Force of Wills, Vengevines, Jaces, other win conditions. Seriously, if you know when to use this card, it will be the card responsible for your match wins, or match losses if you fail to use it correctly.
If you are running crucible syphon life is fine. It will bail your ass out against zoo and gives you the inevitability you need some times the way cursed scroll did in 2004. I wouldnt run it as a four of but I have played it.
4 rack seems like alot . You seem light on lands.
I don't think Syphon Life is comparable to Cursed Scroll, though. Syphon Life gains you life against Zoo but it doesn't kill anything they have that slipped your removal.
I've been tuning my Pox deck for the past three months online (I had originally built it for a friend) and am here to necro this thread. I've had a lot of sucess of MWS (for all that's worth) and recenltly went 3-1 at a local tournament to get third of 14. I played, in order:
Steppe Lynx Zoo 2-0
Game one double smallpox, he fireblasted in response to the second one and took me to four, I kill him a turn before he drew the second burn spell he needed to kill me. I have wastelock with two wastes out, and waste his taiga with him having a fetch in play. He fetches in response, and I waste Taiga again in response to the fetch as to be safe from fireblast. He lost with a fireblast I had kept him off of and a bolt in hand.
Game two two innocent bloods followed by and a dystopia that ate a sylvan library and two goyfs. the abyss garner a quick concession once wastes join the party to keep him off white for pride-mage.
Enchantress 1-2
Game one I hymn away enchantress, grove. He draws an enchantress presence (boo, I had edict in hand had he drawn argothian instead) and goes off.
Game two I kill lands, drop a dystopia which eats three permanents and I upkeep until I'm at 3 life, and garner a concession.
Game three he is on the play, and I hymn away lands, eager to take complete control with the double dystopia in hand. He goes turn three aura of silence. Boo. It was a one-of that he had ripped off the top his turn three. 13 of the 15 hate cards I had were arts/enchants. By the time I landed dystopias, he had already started making angels and had dropped a Null chamber naming ratchet bomb. Boo.
Zoo (hatfield's list) 2-0
Edict, smallpox kill his threats and he is land-light. Factories beat down until top finds an abyss and I get the W.
Hymn, cullling scales, innocent blood, hymn bring this one home.
Survival Elves
Game one is over fast after he makes a llanowar pass, I inquisition a survival, he draws and plays a survival. Boo.
Game two edict priest into double plague gets there
Game three is very close, with him leading with two quick archdruids kept smallish by one plague, and ends with a race between how many guys he draws and the abyss. I rip an edict and swing the clock against him.
What I played:
// Deck file for Magic Workstation (http://www.magicworkstation.com)
// Lands
2 [ZEN] Marsh Flats
2 [ZEN] Verdant Catacombs
2 [OD] Cabal Pit
4 [IN] Swamp (2)
4 [DK] Maze of Ith
4 [AQ] Mishra's Factory (4)
4 [PLC] Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 [TE] Wasteland
1 [M10] Gargoyle Castle
// Creatures
1 [MM] Nether Spirit
// Spells
4 [SH] Mox Diamond
4 [TSP] Smallpox
4 [CHK] Sensei's Divining Top
3 [10E] Crucible of Worlds
4 [FE] Hymn to Tourach (1)
4 [ROE] Inquisition of Kozilek
2 [LG] The Abyss
4 [OD] Innocent Blood
3 [5E] Pox
// Sideboard
SB: 4 [FNM] Engineered Plague
SB: 3 [SOM] Ratchet Bomb
SB: 3 [PLC] Extirpate
SB: 3 [AL] Dystopia
SB: 2 [MR] Culling Scales
the side was incredible, and I've been happy to have extirpate against (the possibility of vengevine), sterling grove activation, control decks with counter-top, and occasionally mid- Ill gotten gains.
Gargoyle castle has served me very well against decks packing moats or enough swords to off my factories and spirit. Also incredible against lands if I can kill their engine with an extirpate so that I can win in the air.
Ratchet bomb has been amazing, killing swarms of fish, vials, anJd counterbalances (assuming it's set proactively) and Jace TMS. Culling scales, despite the moderate dis-synergy with mox diamond (though if you're casting a scales, you've likely got enough mana to play the rest of the game) performs amazingly, and has excellent synergy with top - targeting top if scales and top are the only permanents on board and then responding with tap, draw. drawing EoT if you plan on killing goyf, ect and then replaying second main.
The abyss wins so many games, I recommend anyone with physical copies (or access to them) give them a try.
The obvious omission of sinkholes is not for reasons of availability - four copies are sitting in my black binder, lamenting the number of dazes, sylvan rangers, and aggro decks in the metagame. Pox essentially replaced the sinks, taking a creature along with the land. Facilitated by mox daimonds, pox can even be played daze-proof without needing to sack two lands (three lands and mox diamond)
Mazes were a recent addition after the inclusion of mox diamond to fill the role of wretched banquet (my answer to the fast aggro and merfolk decks popping up in my meta) in stemming the bleeding early game, and aided me in bumping up my land count to 27 to support 7 poxes and mox diamonds, all without 'losing' the four removal slots. Having four urborgs feels dirty when tapping mazes for mana for a crucible only to have them hold back goyf the follwoing turn.
I hope someone regains interest in the deck after reading my mini-report and card analysis - the primer hasn't been updated in some time. I'll be playing my pox list at the next dual for forces two sundays from now, and will post results.
@Media314r8: I like your deck, not every last bit, but most of it.
- Your sideboard looks very good. From your report I see especially Dystopia has been helping a lot. You already adressed the dissynergy between Culling Scales from the board and Mox Diamond: if you ever cast them with a Mox on the table, you will have to wait three turns until you will have gotten your two card investment back. That seems bad to me. Do you board out Moxen in this case?
- I've been liking Sensei's divining Top in Pox. I've been playing two copies. How does it feel to play four? Isn't it too much?
- I've been considering the resiliency against mana-disruption one big advantage of monoblack lists. Your lists does nice tricks as you run both Mox Diamond and Crucible of Worlds but Blood Moon makes you scoop, doesn't it? Maze of Ith seems like a good idea but it doesn't produce mana. If an opponent wastes your Urborg or you don't draw into one, it's just bad. Maybe you could reduce the count of Maze of Ith.
- Pox is always quite week against Swords to Plowshares, yours twice so as you run only five and half win conditions. I guess you omit Tombstalker because of The Abyss, maybe man artifacts like Chimeric Idol can solve this problem if it is one for you?
- I agree that Pox should be in the deck, even over Sinkhole.
I don't board out the moxen, as having scales hit turn three and killing permanents turn four is essentially the same as having a mox and dropping it turn two, having it start killing ~their~ permanents turn four. Of course, having both mox and scales in an opener is unlikely (not rare, but unlikely) as there are only two SB scales. Having the power to make turn one hymns, smallpoxes, (to kill nacatl and a dual against zoo, for example) or ratchet bombs more than compensates for the occasional dys-synergy with scales. The tempo provided by cards like dark rit or mox diamond allows pox to take control of the game, and make up for the actual card advantage by our cards which cause our opponent to not be able to play the game.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tourach
Top is the ONLY source of CQ we have in pox. I've actually debated cuting a BBB pox for a crystal ball - I would never go below 4 tops, as they win wars of attrition, where we are looking for a wincon or a harder lock IE crucible+waste, and our opponent is looking for lands to get back in the game. This happens almost every match of pox I've played.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tourach
I have mox diamonds, 4 swamps+ 4 fetches, and 3 ratched bombs + 2 culling scales to play through or deal with magus. Maze of ith does produce mana if sitting next to a urborg, or pitched to a mox diamond. I needed more lands to reliably have mox diamond openers, and mazes fit the bill while serving as removal and occasionally tapping for mana. (tempo decks like merfolk and canadian thresh will often waste a maze if it's sitting next to an urborg, as they would rather kill you fast, and realize that as a pox deck, it's very difficult to mana-screw you due to your high land count.)Quote:
Originally Posted by Tourach
Gargoyle caste doesn't care about swords effects. We have a long time to win game one, and by the time I'm making gargoyles, I've likely found crucible (3 of em MD) and have all but locked my opponent out. Nether spirit is irked by swords, but he is there more as another maze of ith effect that likes to be pitched to pox, and occasionally wins by attacking. In my experience, my opponents board out removal other than burn as I run so few creatures. When my opponent does sandbag a card to two and I suspect swords, it just gives value to the 'dead' midgame hymns and inquisitions that can be used 1st main before we animate factory.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tourach
Hey all, I need some help fixing my mana base. So far my build is the following:
3 Nether Spirit
3 Tombstalker
3 Crucible of Worlds
4 Duress
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Innocent Blood
3 Phyrexian Totem
4 Pox
3 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Sinkhole
4 Smallpox
1 Raven's Crime
2 Urborg, T.o.Y.
4 Mishra's Factory
10 Swamp
4 Wasteland
Im trying to get up to 24 or so lands but I don't know what to take out. Raven's crime is definitely a choice but what else? Top?
Phyrexian Totem. Its inclusion is contradictory in a Pox deck.
@ Morton_Salt: I'd say the debatable slots in your decklist are:
1 Nether Spirit
3 Phyrexian Totem
1 Raven's Crime
1 Crucible of Wolds
3 Sensei's divining Top
1 Mishra's Factory
It might be dangerous to cut too many win conditions. Therefore, maybe -1 Nether Spirit, -1 Phyrexian Totem, -1 Raven's Crime, -1 Crucible of Worlds, +4 Swamp.
So a mana source that stays on the field after poxing that can also turn into a beater when you need it is contradictory? I think your comment might be contradictory hahaQuote:
Originally Posted by Shawon