[Primer/Deck] Pox

Hello I'm relatively new to pox and have been building it for a few months now. I keep tweaking it and haven't found just the right mix though. I do however really like pack rat because it makes all dead draws into useful tokens, and the tokens can be made even while nether void is in play. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
4 wasteland
4 urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
4 Mishra's factory
13 swamp

4 hymn
4 IoK
3 dark ritual
4 sinkhole
4 smallpox
4 innocent blood
2 cursed scroll
4 liliana of the veil
3 pack rat
1 crucible of worlds
1 nether void
1 the abyss

Sideboard
1 the abyss
1 nether void
2 perish
2 massacre
2 toxic deluge
2 null rod
3 leyline of the void
2 ensnaring bridge

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Holly

Not really since it doesn't affect your opponent TNN'S (as long as you're the chosen player) since the damage will be prevented.

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Oh, I misrembered it as -1/-1 rather than 1 targeted damage.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by beez

Oh, I misrembered it as -1/-1 rather than 1 targeted damage.

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Protection includes damage. So Rancid Earth will not hit TNN sadly. However, since we're spending lots of our time causing sacrifices, TNN should never be a problem to begin with. Main decking Night of Souls' Betrayal and a single Engineered Plague has helped me considerably in any match up. It's like a permanent Infest in some cases vs. certain decks.

I fought Miracles, show/lands, goblins and PiF yesterday. With luck I went 2-2.

PiF is actually quite favorable so I won't say much about that. Stuff like thorns and surgicals are powerful.

Miracles is still a riddle I haven't found the solution to. I had lots of hate in my artifacts, and necroplasm killed a bunch of angel tokens. Still, only circumstances allowed them to have effect.

Show/lands was about drawing big pox whenever my opponent had four lands play.
I was lucky and that was that.
Early rat put on much pressure.

Goblins. Anti-combo against anti anything .
He didn't need to DO anything, only play creatures.
This guy played Mud last time so I was not prepared for the type of deck.


Some comments in cards:

Chalice hit cards in every deck in the format. HOWEVER, this not mean they are worth to play in every duel.

DRS is better in other decks (BG), or an environment with fair decks. The drain ability is something I rarely got to use when fighting combo.

RAT is hard to use. Often you do not have mana to play disruption and make more rats at the same time.

I put arena in play a lot. Had no trouble poxing while it was in play. Possibly the pox effect added to the value of arena.

The deck looked like this:

4 Bloodghast
2 necroplasm
4 pack rat
2 tombstalker
4 deathrite shaman
2 filth

4 Smallpox
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 pox
2 sickening dreams
4 chalice of the void
16 Swamp
3 Dakmor Salvage
4 urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
2 umezawa's jitte

The problem with your Pack Rats aggro design is that Liliana allows us control decks to use Cursed Scroll [same activation cost mostly] and she lets the disruption continue. It was a problem with older builds like Phyrexian Totem. Heck, even the Mishra's eats 2 of our mana to punch when we also need said mana to disrupt.

Maybe you should raise your land count in place of the DRS?

The plan was to go back to dark rituals instead of DRS.

Something like this

4 Bloodghast
3 necroplasm
4 pack rat
3 the rack
2 tombstalker

4 dark ritual
4 Smallpox
4 chalice of the void
4 Hymn to Tourach
3 pox
2 phyrexian arena
2 sickening dreams

18 Swamp
3 Dakmor Salvage


I am thinking I should run only two the rack, and get more creature kill.

Another idea is a singleton hatred vs combo.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hardcore

Another idea is a singleton hatred vs combo.

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:eyebrow:

Pox naturally decimates combo decks, but your deck isn't the norm. Hatred costs far too much. The fact that you'd need 2 Dark Rituals to make it work means the combo deck just butchers you and you mulligan harder. Inquisition, Hymn, and Dark Ritual owns combo. Though it's true that Chalice can deal with Combo's 0 cmc cards, Chalice needs Dark Rit turn 1 to be maximized. I find the 1 cmc cards in a combo deck the most dangerous ones (BS cantrips).

You've got so much damage in the deck, is your clock not fast enough?

I love how Liliana turn 1 off a Dark Rit causes most combo decks to just collapse. Turn 1 Liliana [+1] followed by Turn 2 Hymn and [+1] again is auto lose for any combo deck that isn't Dredge. :cool:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OmniStrata

Turn 1 Liliana [+1] followed by Turn 2 Hymn and [+1] again is auto lose for any combo deck that isn't Dredge. :cool:

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And very hard to recover from for most decks in general :smile:

Anyone already found the list of Jeff Hoogland? Still searching, but nothing so far

Tournament report! W00t! improvement! 2 wins vs. Punishing Jund & RUG Thresh, 1 draw vs UW SF Mystic, 1 loss vs. Manaless Dredge (yes it's here 0_0)

Didn't write much in my notes, got a strong feel for the meta now and have fine tuned my deck to a razor's edge.

Game 1 vs. Manaless Dredge
Since I won the die roll, I went first, since I didn't know what deck he was playing. Game 1 I get rocked by a 30 dmg Flayer of the Hatebound Trigger due to Golgari Grave Troll being Dread Returned with 30 creatures in the yard... OWCH

Board out: 4 Hymn to Tourach, 4 Smallpox, 4 Sinkhole, 1 Pox
Board in: 3 Engineered Plague, 3 Ensnaring Bridge, 2 Pithing Needle (for Street Wraith and Phantasmagorian activations), 2 Surgical Extraction, 3 Relic of Progenitus

Game 2 I managed to Relic away about 20 cards, but he still managed to Dredge through and Ensnaring Bridge was Cabal Therapied away. I died to some 1/1 Zombies [yay Plague] after getting walloped for 17 using the Flayer + Gravedigger Troll setup. Loss...
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Game 1 vs. UW Stoneforge Control
He's on the play, and I managed to Wasteland and Sinkhole his first 4 land drops within 6 turns, sadly, the disruption stops there, he manages to stick a Stoneforge Mystic that gets killed by Liliana, however, his True Name Nemesis gets me killed. I vow vengeance with my Sideboard

Board out: 4 Dark Ritual, 1 Trinisphere
Board in: 3 Engineered Plague, 2 Pithing Needle

Game 2 vs. UW I win due to Pithing on Stoneforge and consistently having Liliana butcher his Vendillion Cliques and True Name Nemesis. Mishra's Factory + Nether Spirit give a good beating.

Game 3 goes to Draw with nobody dying. We just took too long... gah* Control vs. Control, it happens...
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Game 1 vs. Punishing Jund
I remember this may / may not use Bloodbraid elf after seeing his Grove of the Burn willows. I Wasteland, Sinkhole, and Smallpox him mercilessly and at the end of the game, he's lost 7 land and with Trinisphere on the field and 2 fetchlands, he dies to my Cursed Scroll. My inner Planeswalker grins intensely.

Board out: 4 Dark Ritual
Board in: 2 Pithing Needle, 2 Surgical Extraction

Game 2
I draw the tits. Each Tarmogoyf he plays gets sacrificed to the great Goddess. He tries to loop me with Punishing Fires+Grove but my Cursed Scroll is winning the race. Wastelands come up and by the end of the game, I count 4 Wastes, 3 Sinkholes, 1 Pox, and 2 Smallpox in the yard. A golden play involved him sacrificing a Wasteland to Smallpox only to have it Surgically Extracted on a gamble. He had another Waste in his hand that he needed but I Extracted it HARD. Without mana, the win is practically mine. Very happy with this performance.
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Game 1 vs. Threshold -> I learn that I have a very tiny chance of being 4th place so instead of dropping with 1-1-1, I decide to stay hoping for a stomp win. I get RUG ^_^
However, my deck decided that after breastfeeding me topdeck orgasms fighting Jund, it says F-you Omni, you get to Mulligan to 5 with ONLY Urborg, have it Wastelanded, and see NO LANDS for 7 turns while Mongoose and unflipped Delver have their way with you. I get a swamp late in game, attempt to go double Dark Ritual, but the first 1 gets dazed. My hand? --> 2 Innocent Blood, 2 Hymn to Tourach, 2 Dark Ritual, 1 Sinkhole... :mad: I swear to myself, MULLIGAN HARDER!!

Board out: 4 Dark Ritual, 1 Engineered Plague, 1 Hymn, 1 Sinkhole, 1 Liliana
Board in: 2 Surgical Extraction, 3 Relic of Progenitus, 3 Ensnaring Bridge

Game 2: I'm rocking hard with an opening Ensnaring Bridge off of Dark Ritual. I predicted correctly he had no FoW so I discover him Pondering for cards. *Light bulb - he needs land...* My Inquisition of Kozilek confirms a 1 land hand. RUG must NEVER keep 1 land hands vs. Pox. He learns why after I kill him with Cursed Scroll behind a pair of Ensnaring bridges.

Game 3: I completely obliterate his mana base. I found myself keeping an opener with Urborg, Mishra, 2 Wastes, 2 Sinkholes, and a Smallpox. After he opened with a Delver, he never saw his mana again. I once again hide behind an Ensnaring Bridge after he manages to stick 2 lands. His new Tarmogoyf helplessly twiddles his thumbs. Liliana does some heavy lifting as well keeping his hand empty and killing Delver after Delver. Cursed Scroll flings four letter words at his dome for the kill.

Pros:
A much better record than any of my previous tournaments at this card shop.
The look on people's faces when they realize they CAN'T SIDEBOARD AGAINST ME AT ALL! :eek:
All my foes are good sports able to just remain polite despite having no mana. Love me some LD!

Cons:
My GY hate needs help. I'll be swapping it for new stuff. And now, the current DECK -->

4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Sinkhole
4 Innocent Blood
4 Smallpox
1 Pox
1 Trinisphere (to be replaced with Nether Void... :cool:)
1 Engineered Plague
1 Night of Souls' Betrayal
4 Liliana of the Veil
4 Dark Ritual
2 Cursed Scroll
2 Nether Spirit

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

Board
2 Pithing Needle
2 Dystopia (This card is sweet sauciness when there's few stuff on the field. I even pay 1 life just to prevent them from playing anything a 2nd time. Liliana does the rest. Deals with Enchantments!)
3 Engineered Plague
3 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Leyline of the Void
3 Grafdigger's Cage (Need this vs. GSZ for sure...)

Nice one Omnistrata! Your list looks sweet :)

On other news: not sure this is THE list, but found a recent Loam Pox list of Jeff Hoogland, and boy does it look sweet! Not your average list, mind you:

Creature (1)
1x Nether Spirit

Sorcery (12)
3x Life from the Loam
1x Maelstrom Pulse
4x Smallpox
4x Thoughtseize

Instant (8)
3x Abrupt Decay
2x Crop Rotation
1x Darkblast
2x Entomb

Enchantment (1)
1x Sylvan Library

Artifact (7)
1x Batterskull
1x Crucible of Worlds
3x Mox Diamond
1x Ratchet Bomb
1x Sensei's Divining Top

Planeswalker (4)
4x Liliana of the Veil

Land (28)
2x Barren Moor
3x Bayou
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Buried Ruin
1x Cabal Pit
2x Dark Depths
1x Forest
1x Karakas
1x Maze of Ith
3x Swamp
2x Thespian's Stage
3x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4x Verdant Catacombs
3x Wasteland

Sideboard (15)
1x Darkblast
2x Diabolic Edict
1x Duress
1x Nihil Spellbomb
2x Pernicious Deed
3x Pithing Needle
3x Sphere of Resistance
2x Surgical Extraction

(Source: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/loam-pox-03-04-14-1/ )

Now I don't know wether or not this is legit, but either way the list looks different from what I've seen sofar

An intetesting mix. Has a bit of a toolbox aspect to it.

Your tourney report was an enjoyable read, Omni. I guess I need to figure out manaless Dredge too, it looks like that version is here to stay, not just a budget one.

I'd consider manaless dredge the most dangerous form for now since it has that CitP trigger that Ensnaring Bridge can do nothing about. In fact, I think that's really all it needs to kill you. The other forms of Dredge I distinctly remember killing me with combat step. After some discussion with other players, and remembering that Nether Spirit doesn't work with Grafdigger's Cage, I've changed my GY hate to...

2 Leyline of the Void
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Graffdigger's Cage

I really like how Relic can trigger it's Omni-Tormod's effect while tapped and I can use it in response to my 2nd Nether Spirit dying while 1 is in the yard, AND draw a card. Love cantripping. I shall remain grateful nobody runs Burn in my meta yet.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OmniStrata

I'd consider manaless dredge the most dangerous form for now since it has that CitP trigger that Ensnaring Bridge can do nothing about. In fact, I think that's really all it needs to kill you. The other forms of Dredge I distinctly remember killing me with combat step. After some discussion with other players, and remembering that Nether Spirit doesn't work with Grafdigger's Cage, I've changed my GY hate to...

2 Leyline of the Void
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Graffdigger's Cage

I really like how Relic can trigger it's Omni-Tormod's effect while tapped and I can use it in response to my 2nd Nether Spirit dying while 1 is in the yard, AND draw a card. Love cantripping. I shall remain grateful nobody runs Burn in my meta yet.

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I was having a bit of trouble with manaless Dredge for the reasons you mentioned. I see it *a lot* on MTGO but after boarding 4 LotVs, its a free win every time I see it. Leyline isn't bad versus Goyf/DRS builds either. And of course, Reanimator/Loam strategies. I wouldn't run Pox without 4 Leylines due to our main relying heavily on discard which is largely irrelevant against them.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by vizari

I was having a bit of trouble with manaless Dredge for the reasons you mentioned. I see it *a lot* on MTGO but after boarding 4 LotVs, its a free win every time I see it. Leyline isn't bad versus Goyf/DRS builds either. And of course, Reanimator/Loam strategies. I wouldn't run Pox without 4 Leylines due to our main relying heavily on discard which is largely irrelevant against them.

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I used to think that myself, until people's anti-gy hate sideboards started bouncing my leylines. A mix of GY hate gives you immunity from Extirpate like effects and if your hate gets bounced, which happens a lot to me, it can be easily recast. I suppose I could run 4 Leylines and 1 Cage [Cage stops GSZ which is very crucial]

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OmniStrata

I used to think that myself, until people's anti-gy hate sideboards started bouncing my leylines. A mix of GY hate gives you immunity from Extirpate like effects and if your hate gets bounced, which happens a lot to me, it can be easily recast. I suppose I could run 4 Leylines and 1 Cage [Cage stops GSZ which is very crucial]

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Dark Depths builds don't really have many answers for LotV since it's not Abrupt Decayable. I often board in Ensnaring Bridge as well versus Reanimator. The thing is, even if they bounce Leyline, it gives us a turn or two to commence shredding their hand. I like Pithing Needle against manaless Dredge too for Phantasmagorian. It's not bad to keep in Thoughtseize/IoK as well to have them discard their Street Wraiths/other non dredgers. And I'm sure you know this, but, always choose to go second against the manaless version as it nets you an extra card.
YMMV though, I run G/B Pox with 4x Chalice of the Void which stops Reanimator cold. Running surgical/extirpate is a nonbo with Chalice, otherwise I might at least consider it an option.

During Easter weekend there will be a major gaming convention in town. Lots of magic too, ofc.

This may be the list I bring:

4 Bloodghast
3 necroplasm
4 pack rat
2 the rack
2 tombstalker

4 dark ritual
4 Smallpox
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 pox
1 chain of smog
4 Liliana of the veil
2 sensei's divining top

20 Swamp
3 Dakmor Salvage


Sideboard would be

3 Darkblast
4 thorn of amethyst
4 surgical extraction
+3 free slots