[Deck] Pox

Wups, you're right. Dangit, I knew I deff had waste & urborg.. bleh. Anyways, I do remember it was turn 3 and I had two lands when it came out, I guess that was really the point I was getting at Lol. I have a poor memory, my bad :smile:

EDIT:

Here's my most current list I'm trying. I have yet to test it out, but deffinitely looking forward to trying it out a lot these next coming weeks:

Land (21)
13 Swamp
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth (cut down to 2, problems running into eachother >.<)
2 Wasteland
4 Mishra's Factory

Acceleration (4)
4 Dark Ritual

Disruption (19)
4 Duress
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Small Pox
3 Pox
3 Chalice of the Void
1 Haunting Echoes (M10 suckas! :P)

Combo-licious (10)
2 Crucible of Worlds
2 Nether Spirit
2 Syphon Life
2 Bitterblossom
2 Contamination

Other Awesomeness (6)
2 Phyrexian Arena
2 Phyrexian Totem
2 Tombstalker

Sideboard (15) *still working on this
2 Ensnaring Bridge (If unanswered, wins games just from this cards. Syphon/Pox ftw?)
2 Gravepact (evil with blossom/spirit.. I chump 4 free, you sac a creature :P)
3 Engineered Plague
1 Chalice of the Void
4 Leyline the Void
3 Dystopia (can wreck enchantress & control decks with moat, humility, sylvan library, etc)


Obviously everyone knows how to read :) But this deck evolved from somewhat of a beatdown deck to what it is now, which is almost flat out control. But very strong control nonetheless. If you just observe the trends going down, the highest priority spells generally fall under disruption whereas a lot of the 2-of fall after to mitigate their probability of showing up in multiples. They also tend to be numbered according to converted mana cost, for instance haunting echoes is a 1-of, so generally it "shouldn't" hit until at least mid-late game.

Turn 1-2 generally is gonna go cater toward the disruption this way, but following turn 3.. there's a smorgesborg of 2-of spells that are all pretty good on their own. We got Phyrexian Arena, Totem, Bitterblossom, Chalice of the void to lock them down afterwards.. Tombstalker coming out for close to nothing. Contamination, another lockdown.. used in combination with Nether Spirit/Bitterblossom this can lock just about most decks out of winning.

I dunno, let me know what ya think. I'll deffinitely be able to give you more feedback after I test it out in a few more tournaments, too.

Are the 2 Contamination really that useful? When i look at your List, your only possibilities for that "lock" are:
Contamination+Blossom
Contamination+Spirit, nothing else, so when you wanna play that?
You need to draw about 22 Cards, to have a chance of 50% holding Contamination and Spirit or Blossom. Otherwise, the Contamination is just dead in your Hand.
I think there are alot more useful cards than Contamination, like more Arenas, or Sinkhole. Even a Rishadan Port, seems more useful, as you can tap 1 of the few lands they will have after Pox.

I guess we'll have to see how it works out here in the next few weeks :)

About Contamination. It's a 2-of, but worst case scenario it gets pitched to one of the 7 Pox. Next best, activate factory, that's 2 turns you bought. Next best lock, crucible + factory.

Sinkhole is good, just don't have the room atm :[ Port prolly isn't really that good in this deck, its more colorless mana I can see it being more annoying than helpful lol

21 lands seems really low. Among other things. I wouldnt play this list. You have no creature removal other than poxes!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mystical_Jackass

I guess we'll have to see how it works out here in the next few weeks :)

About Contamination. It's a 2-of, but worst case scenario it gets pitched to one of the 7 Pox. Next best, activate factory, that's 2 turns you bought. Next best lock, crucible + factory.

Sinkhole is good, just don't have the room atm :[ Port prolly isn't really that good in this deck, its more colorless mana I can see it being more annoying than helpful lol

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How u can have no room for sinkhole+4 wastelands while playing such many 2x slots which aren't needed at all? :D Extirpate will give you more win situations than haunting echoes cause you won't be able to play it if u run 7 pox. :rolleyes:

For the Sideboard i just dont like grave pact as it seems to manaintensive too, maybe if u can u should rethink the plan of mainboard chalice+duress and dark rituals as you wanna drop it to 1 i guess. Maybe u try out Mox diamonds instead of rituals to low down your 1cc spells or even move chalice to the sideboard. Also i am a fan of powder keg and pithing needles on poxlists.

I initially had 23 land from testing it before, I dropped down to 21 since I hate to say it, I was drawing too much land lol.

Usually just getting out one or two Arena, Crucible, or Totem early saves my arse, but I'll see maybe I will need more :)


As far as the creature removal. I'll see, I haven't used my deck in a tournament for a few months but most of the top seats I've encountered or seen have been control & combo: I'm talking Landstill, Countertop, Ichorid, ANT, Stax (GWr, WW mainly), Blue Control.. I saw Zoo & merfolk final games a few times too. But majority of those decks run few creatures & my deck fairs really strongly against those.
Tribal is not a fear for me... okay, either I disrupt them and lock them out with Engineered Plague, etc. Or I dont find answers fast enough. Innocent blood is NOT a great answer. Maybe the first one, but midgame you make them sac like... 1 siege token lol.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Phaedrus

It appears that the new Zendikar Planeswalker will be black (Sorin the Vampire Dude). I am hoping that his CMC is 3 or less (BB with loyalty 2 would be nice...) and that he's got some pox-synergistic abilities. I think that a low cost black PW could fit into Pox nicely and help fill one of the creature slots that often has come up for debate in the past (Nether v Epochrasite v XYZ). I'm thinking:

+1: Target player loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.

would be a good place to start...seeing as he is a vampire of some sort.

Or maybe an ultimate ability that's a larger version of that...to erase the loss of life from Smallpox/Pox...

Could be interesting. Could be a total dud...

Phaedrus

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And...total Dud it is... 3BBB. totally uncastable.

No Pox synergy here. Move along. Nothing to see.

NOOOOooooooooo!!!!! :cry: PADAME!!!!! Rofl

That sucks though, well better luck next time :rolleyes:

4 Pox
3 Small Pox
4 Dark Ritual
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Duress
4 Cursed Scroll
3 The Rack
4 Sinkhole
2 Phyrexian Totem
4 Chrome Mox
2 Crucible of Worlds

18 Swamp
4 Wasteland

On the draw, playing against turn 1 AEther Vial is an annoyance. Quick question, is there a card like Sand Golem that doesn't say "controlled by opponent" on it, because that seems ideal.

I even thought about Charcoal Diamonds. :cry:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by P.S.

Quick question, is there a card like Sand Golem that doesn't say "controlled by opponent" on it, because that seems ideal.

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Excluding Basking Rootwalla, no such creatures exist. Under the traditional Pox approach, the deck isn't capable of reliably discarding your cards (only Pox and Smallpox). Nether Spirit is as close as you'll get, which can be easily hard-casted when necessary.

3 Nether Spirit

4 Pox
4 Small Pox
4 Dark Ritual
1 Cabal Ritual
4 Hymn to Tourach
2 Duress
4 Thoughtseize
4 Sinkhole
2 Phyrexian Totem
3 Mox Diamond
3 Crucible of Worlds

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

I haven't played Magic in a couple of years, but i just put this list together. I like it, a bit more lean and aggro than usual for a Pox deck. A bit heavy at 2cc, though.

18 Swamp
4 Wasteland
4 Dark Ritual

4 Tombstalker
4 Nyxathid

3 Powder Keg*
3 Smother

4 Duress
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Smallpox
4 Pox
4 Sinkhole

Just not sure if it's a bit outdated (especially the Kegs), but i do like how it plays.

Powder keg is NOT outdated. I've had 3 in the MD for a long time now and they've never been useless. And when I do face a deck with very few / no artifacts and creatures, they're SB'd out. The sheer versatility of the card keeps me using it, and has been a godsend more than once.

4 Nyxathid might be too many and clog up your hand, especially with the Tombstalkers. Maybe a mix of 2 Nyxathid 4 Stalker?

Powder Keg is still amazing! But it can't hit Counterbalance unfortunately. I've gone down to 3 Pox myself, since I want to keep the extra creatures around.

For SB options, 4 Engineered Plague is a must, as Tribal is just fucking annoying and tough to deal with.

I discovered recently that Leyline of the Void, besides being good against Ichorid, also is excellent against Landstill; it shuts off their Academy Ruins and Crucibles. Something to think about when building a board; I'm never going to not run a full set in any black Legacy deck again now.

2 spoiled cards from ZEN that look interesting for Pox.

This one...eh..situationally perhaps:

Tomb Lord's Quest - B
Enchantment
Whenever a creature is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may put a quest counter on Tomb Lord's Quest.
Remove three quest counters from Tomb Lord's Quest, sacrifice Tomb Lord's Quest: Put a 5/5 black Zombie Giant creature token onto the battlefield.

This one looks very intriguing however, especially in Crucible builds, too bad it can't block, though. A recurring 2/1 hasted creature though...seems playable. There seems to be some question as to the correct name on this card though (source MTGSalvation):

Blood Extractor/Abomination - BB
Creature - Vampire Spirit
Blood Abomination can't block.
Blood Abomination has haste if an opponent has 10 life or less.
Landfall - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may return Blood Abomination from your graveyard onto the battlefield.
2/1



Discuss.

Nice to see Kegs aren't outdated yet. Makes me feel not too much behind. I am considering cutting 1 Pox for the 4th Smother though.

I have 4 Nyxathid and 4 Stalker because I want to disrupt then lay a threat down immediately. I haven't had much trouble with them clogging my hand, at least not yet.

Also, I much prefer being able to end games early than to slowly eat away at opponents with Factories and Spirits. I remember I used to lose a lot of games because my threats were too few and too weak, and over a long game other decks would simply recover better than I would from my own disruption. With my current list I could blow the world up, then play a big guy that the opponent would have to address with his limited and ever-decreasing resources.

And yep, my black decks always have 4 Plague and 4 Leyline in the SB.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Phaedrus

2 spoiled cards from ZEN that look interesting for Pox.

This one...eh..situationally perhaps:

Tomb Lord's Quest - B
Enchantment
Whenever a creature is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may put a quest counter on Tomb Lord's Quest.
Remove three quest counters from Tomb Lord's Quest, sacrifice Tomb Lord's Quest: Put a 5/5 black Zombie Giant creature token onto the battlefield.

This one looks very intriguing however, especially in Crucible builds, too bad it can't block, though. A recurring 2/1 hasted creature though...seems playable. There seems to be some question as to the correct name on this card though (source MTGSalvation):

Blood Extractor/Abomination - BB
Creature - Vampire Spirit
Blood Abomination can't block.
Blood Abomination has haste if an opponent has 10 life or less.
Landfall - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may return Blood Abomination from your graveyard onto the battlefield.
2/1



Discuss.

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Tomblord will be interesting. Its a terrible topdeck, but if you land it early, you have control of when to crack it. I dont know what slots it would take.

The vampire doesnt seem as good as nether spirit is. nether spirit often ends up as a recurrable blocker. Its not likely to run both of them, either, because nether spirit doesnt like company in the yard.

Its only advantage is conditional haste, although with pox, getting to 10 shouldnt be unrealistic when you are beating.

yea I just noticed those man. The tomb lord's request seems like an interesting win cond, especially if you're running Spirits & Bitterblossom. Pox, drop a 5/5 into play and kill kill

The vampire, we'll just have to see it seems like a weak finisher compared to like Tombstalker. In a Pox with equip, maybe jitte & meekstone it could be good. The haste, less than 10 life makes it too convenient not to try out in this deck

... I can already smell the Sorin/Blood Extractor decks cooking >.> That's funny

I don't like the enchantment as much as the creature because its a one time thing without evasion and eats up a slot in the deck and, frankly, I have no idea what it could replace. It doesn't carry the same appeal as phyrexian totems to me.

The creature on the other hand lends an extra aggro capability to the deck without necessarily clogging your graveyard of nether spirits. It's slightly underwhelming though, and can't infini-chump like a nether spirit nor does it return nigh-garaunteed (more like a 30% chance ballpark of a land draw vs the much higher chance that of the 4 creatures in the deck, there is only one in GY). Might be something to toy around with but neither of these cards scream auto-include to me.