How were the Bloodghasts and the Rack/Shrieking Affliction?
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How were the Bloodghasts and the Rack/Shrieking Affliction?
Did you miss the Factories?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Smallpox + Bloodghast + the rack =:cool:
Has anyone thought about Yahenni's Expertise?
I ran it last night in my 4-drop slot instead of Night of Soul's Betrayal, hoping to blow out some DRS/Shardless Agent nonsense, but I never drew and played against Burn/Miracles/Burn (2-0-1) My Collective Brutalities and Trinispheres in the board vs Burn are helpful, but the matchup is still rough.
And just because you aren't interested in discussing Mono Black builds, doesn't mean the rest of us have nothing to talk about.
The expertise is susceptible to counters, but I suppose it can be an alternative to NoSB (if you are going to play a four mana spell anyway) . Myself I prefer sweepers that can play around daze, such as sickening dreams.
For anyone wondering how Ankh of Mishra works I can say it is like a combination of chalice and the rack. A lock piece that also do damage. Also, like chalice, its efficiency varies with the opponent, and is best when played early. I suppose this make it a sideboard card. That said I did get use of it in all the games and did not board them out at any time.
I mentioned it a while ago but I keep fearing that I'd end up just top decking it and it'd just be an inferior Mutilate. Did you ever end up in a situation where you could drop it with Liliana/other spell? My deck style has my hand empty before or on turn 4 which kind of defeats the purpose of the card. My current sideboard sweeper is Massacre for D&T + Miracles monks but I was juggling that with Drown in Sorrow, which is an excellent top deck vs. weenie rush and fixes your draw.Quote:
Originally Posted by ntropy
Current deck list runs only 1 Dark Ritual per advice from Tom "The Boss" Ross. Pox doesn't want to card disadvantage itself too much so a singleton Dark Rit and Contagion is enough.
4 Disfigure (eventually going to be Fatal Push)Quote:
Originally Posted by streetMage
4 Inquisition
4 Brainstorm
3 Sinkhole
3 Hymn
4 Smallpox
4 Jace, VP
2 TNN
4 Liliana
2 Recoil
8 Fetchlands
2 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Urborg
4 Wasteland
4 Underground Sea
5 Swamp
1 Island
2 Tabernacle
4 Surgical
2 Needle
1 Null Rod
1 Perish
1 Lost Legacy
1 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Sphere of Resistance
Generally vs Shardless (and other more fringe grindy decks that are also an issue) I have been taking out a lot of my 1 for 1 stuff for Tabernacle and Sphere. Before I was bringing in Propaganda (which if it protected planeswalkers would have probably worked) and Back to Basics (which required me to build my manabase in a bad way and the 2 Tar Pits are a key contributor to my great win rate vs Miracles). It seems my best bet is going to be to go for their lands as playing 1 for 1 resource denial against a deck that plays virtual Ancestral Recall and endless 2 for 1's is not gonna do it. When I played mono-black the only games that went my way were the ones that I kept the Shardless player off land. I have considered adding a couple Mishra's Factorys to the main deck and switching the Spheres to Standstills in the board, but I'm not sure that trying to beat Shardless at it's own game is where I wanna be.
It's not really just Shardless being the problem, I have trouble with decks that are built for grinding like it. Lost to some weird version of Thieves, some sort of BUG Loam Pox that played Mind Sculptor and Snapcaster and endless other 2 for 1's, Punishing Loam is not an easy match, and I haven't played vs Nic Fit but something tells me it would be an uphill battle. So yeah, basically decks that can go longer than my 1 for 1 denial can go.
There's definitely some room for adjustment, just not sure where. If there is a powerful enough sideboard option, I'm not against adding an extra dual land with a third color in the board (I originally had a Bayou and 3 Abrupt Decay in the board until I realized Miracles wasn't too difficult of a match).
I really don't see how Abrupt Decay makes Shardless a great matchup. Sure, Decay that Tarmogoyf they played off of Shardless. Meanwhile they still have the Baleful Strix and Shardless Agent clocking you, with an Ancestral Vision suspended or a Deathrite in play and they still have more cards in hand than you.Quote:
Originally Posted by Quitrex
Yep, you could play Bloodghast/Factory/Scroll and this has all been weighed, measured, and found wanting.
Adding a couple 1-of's in the form of Void and Abyss is not hugely impactful What are the odds of drawing that one card in a 60 card deck that has no library manipulation?
Acceleration is in the same boat as the Bloodghast/Factory/Scroll camp.
I'm not saying you can't customize the deck, I'm saying all that crap has been tried and it still isn't very good. Yes, you can win some local 8-man event where your first match is against some 12 year old playing a Standard deck but mono-black is not going to all of a sudden have consistent success. Anything can spike an event, hence why a few times in history Mono-Black Pox had decent placings, but it can't consistently do that. I really enjoy the archetype, hence why it is a deck I actively play, but without adding colors there aren't enough options to make it competitive.
Ankh is a neat idea. I imagine you have to play 3 or 4 to ensure you draw it early enough to make it matter as it seems like a pretty crummy top-deck in a deck that is supposed to dominate the top-deck war. From my experience, it seems like a card that would help some of my problem match-ups while only losing a few percentage points against decks I'm favored against. Making Shardless and Miracles to take 5 for each fetch seems like a great way to speed up the clock. I have a very loose BW deck and I'm going to keep a few of these nearby so I don't forget to try them out!Quote:
Originally Posted by Hardcore
Interesting list, thanks for sharing. Have you ever thought of running Stifle and Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver? I think those would fair better in long grindy games than Recoil and Sphere of Resistance.Quote:
Originally Posted by sppabin
Also, I don't agree with TNN in a Smallpox list, but if you insist and have seen good results, I'd recommend switching to your Lilies to Liliana, the Last Hope. She would seem to work better since you run 6 targets for her -2 ability; (Jace and TNN).
You might also want to run a 2x Academy Ruins instead of the Tabernacle or even run one main in place of a Wasteland. You have alot of targets for it and I'd even add in some Mox Diamonds and Engineered Explosives. An extra Ensnaring Bridge might be good also, especially with an Ashiok sitting behind it...
I've found in grindy matchups its all about recursion and resource denial. Against Shardless, I take out all of my Hymns, some discard and put in more cards that effect the board. Ashiok can be good against them since it hits their library and allows you to pit their threats against them...Lil last hope gives you recursion and can shrink gofy for awhile...Stifle can deal with Baleful Strix, thier planeswalkers, Shardless Agent, fetches, etc.
Edit: With all the planeswalkers, Heart of Kiran might be good aswell..recurrable with Academy Ruins, gets under Smallpox, decent clock...
So I don't remember saying that decay is what made the shardless matchup good. What makes the matchup good is your own choice in long game cards, and if you opt out of those for more 1-4-1 cards and a quicker kill, you'll just lose to them. What makes the matchup good for me is the cursed scroll so that they never really get to stick a non-goyf creature, the abyss so they never get goyf and deathrite, crucible so they can't actually get ahead on mana, chains so they can't go brainstorming and ancestral and have you out of the gain, tabernacle and nether void to tie up their mana, surgical/extirpate to let them know hat you really, really don't wanna see card x ever again. The matchup is not an auto win or an auto loss, and the match slip is usually signed 2-1 in somebody's favor, and I had an opponent suspend double ancestral on turn 3 in game one and I beat on through it in spite of mucking up and hymning him with one card in his hand and both of them on one counter. The name of the game is getting 2for1s on them, seeing how many cards Liliana can rip out of their hand and how many creatures she can eat. The name of your mana denial isn't hard denial, since they're on enough land to natural draw out orbit without their brainstorms and such, but to keep them choked, not even locked off of but restricted, on a certain color (w/e their short of, usually green). At the end of the day, it is like most other b control v b control matchups where both players intend to empty he other players hand and the math usually goes to whoever is a.) better at restocking vs dealing with their opponents' restocking, and b.) more capable of out playing the other one with the on-board tools when full topdecking is initiated. All decay does for me in that matchup is make it easier to answer their Lilliana's and harder for them to keep me from killing their things.Quote:
Originally Posted by sppabin
First off, thanks for the food for thought.Quote:
Originally Posted by streetMage
I've considered Stifle, but I'm trying to keep everything as proactive as possible. Stifle can be un-synergistic with Liliana/Smallpox and Jace. I admit I haven't tested it yet, but will add it to my list of possibilities.
Ashiok doesn't seem like a terrible idea, I'll be fitting 1 into the board or possibly the main.
I like the new Liliana, but at 30 bones online I will wait for non-Standard inflated prices.
You lost me with Academy Ruins, Volrath's Stronghold doesn't seem like a terrible idea though. I'll be finding room for one for certain, endless True-Name/Jace seems good.
The Recoils seem weird but they generally play like Dimir colored Vindicates at instant speed. In a top-deck war it answers any permanent. I have basically never been unhappy to see it.
I haven't really ever had much tension between the TNN and Smallpox. In my last 50 or so matches there was one game that I had TNN in play and drew a Smallpox I would have liked to cast.
Much obliged!
when i saw the ability of heart of kiran, i immediately thought of garruk relentless.Quote:
Originally Posted by streetMage
too bad there isn't any synergy with him and POX lists...
Re: Yahenni's Expertise
My list is on 4 Dark Ritual, no Contagion I generally discard Rituals 2-4 to Smallpox/Liliana/Pox, preserving that last Innocent Blood or Hymn in my hand, seems to be worth it for turn 1 Lilianas or Hymns.Quote:
Originally Posted by OmniStrata
I've only played 3 matches with one Yahenni's Expertise and I never drew it. It is instead of Night of Soul's Betrayal in my list. It will be worse at holding down D+T, Elves, Delver, but better at answering Shardless/Aluren which is prominent in my meta. I try to think of it as a topdecked sweeper with it's second clause for occasional blowout potential. I will report back as I gain experience with it.
I have 2 Toxic Deluge Main and 2 Engineered Plague, 1 Perish in the Sideboard as sweepers.
edited to add more
On Ankh Pox: I've tried a blue-black list with Stifle and Brainstorm, and while Ankh of Mishra is awful against burn and Eldrazi, I have found it winning me games against Miracles and especially Loam/ Lands.
Yeah, it should be HILARIOUS against miracle and lands
😆
Please share if you have any game reports. We don't mind hearing about miracle players being beaten!
I am a long time Pox player. I have been experimenting with a lot of shells. The one I have had the most success with is a more aggressive b/g build. It has 3 Bloodghasts, 1 Nether Spirit, and 2 Empty the Pits. And in my board I run Helm Of Obedience to play around gy hate. By being super aggressive with my gy t1 it almost demands he OPP bring in gy hate. Then when I board out most of my gy stuff and play a Helm into their Rest In Piece.. it totally throws them if there is agame 3. Has anyone tried using Empty the Pits? How about the Helm tech?
Mind sharing your list?Quote:
Originally Posted by Pittplayer
I found Empty the Pits to be too mana intensive now that I no longer run 4 Dark Rituals. Helm of Obedience is a great counter for RiP but unlike your hyper aggressive GY strategy, I go for a more defensive grindy Pox deck where my only GY resource is Nether Spirit and some people will bring in GY hate just for him which makes me smirk as he's now brought in probably 3-6 dead cards into the deck for my 1 threat. Personally, I'd rather run Tombstalkers for the Delve instead as it hurts a bit less when Terminus hits. Your build being GY heavy probably gets cards into it faster than my own.
Would you run your own Leylines to combo with your Helm in the board? I'm not a fan of oops-I-win combos as they're not consistent. Nobody can win consistently by accident. :laugh: But that's what tutors like Entomb and what-not are for.
Given that we've been exploring control-oriented lists on this thread for a while, I wonder if we might get into some new territory by exploring more aggressive builds.
I'm imagining pox and smallpox would be more like light disruption to keep the opponent off balance just long enough to win instead of a means to establish actual control of the game - more like tempo.
What would a super aggro / tempo version of pox look like?
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The problem you are going to run into is the threat package you have available.Quote:
Originally Posted by heyjohnsexton
Bloodghast, Nether Spirit, Bitterblossom, Lingering Souls, Tombstalker, The Rack, not that these are terrible threats. I'm sure I am forgetting several, but a tempo deck with turn the corner ability isn't exactly what pox effects are great at. Maybe something with Stoneforge Mystic, but I would say at that point you are just playing a bad Stoneforge Mystic deck and you'd be better off playing D&T. The next spot would be more planeswalkers, but they are mana intensive. It can be tedious to hit 4 mana if you are playing Wasteland and pox effects.
In my little brain, the best tempo style pox deck I can think of involves Bloodghast and Bitterblossom possibly with a Tombstalker along with Daze and Brainstorm. Tempo decks want to cast multiple spells a turn and discarding a Bloodghast or getting a token every turn off of Bitterblossom provides a similar effect to casting a spell. Smallpox, Hymn to Tourach, or Sinkhole with Daze backup seems like a reasonable place to be.
How good is blossom without equipment?
Depends on the matchup but in general yes it is good.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hardcore
My list. I think the slow traditional style of Pox just does not work. You need to use your first 3-4 turns to destabilize your opponent.. and then quickly cut their throat.
3 Sinkhole
4 Entomb
3 Smallpox
3 Collective Brutality
2 Noxious Revival
3 Innocent Blood
2 Empty the Pits
4 Hymn To Tourach
4 Abrupt Decay
1 Life from the Loam
4 Thoughtseize
1 Cabal Therapy
1 Syphon Life
3 Bloodghast
1 Nether Spirit
4 Bayou
4 Wasteland
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Polluted Delta
7 Swamp
SB
1 Ratchet Bomb
2 Chalice of the Void
2 Dread of Night
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Sphere of Resistance
2 Helm Of Obedience
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Toxic Deluge
How is this supposed to run on 21 lands? Must be a typo because even with Life from the Loam you need more lands.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pittplayer
May as well have a Raven's Crime somewhere, maybe even a Darkblast.
Noxious Revival is trash.
Is Empty the Pits really better than just playing a Worm Harvest? I just figure you can dredge it or Entomb for it, I've never played Empty the Pits though.
Where are the mana producing cards? How in the heck can you consistently hit land drops when you are using Wasteland and casting Smallpox?
No Liliana of the Veil seems very odd, but I have yet to test any pox list without her. I guess with no lands you never get to 3 mana anyways.
The question isn't how good is Bitterblossom without equipment, it is how good is the equipment without Bitterblossom. How many creatures do you play? How mana intensive is the equipment?Quote:
Originally Posted by Hardcore
Bitterblossom on it's own can win games depending on the matchup.
If a pox deck is playing 5 or 6 cards that can use equipment and contains no deck manipulation, how many times are you gonna top deck an equipment with no threat on the board. That equipment is going to be way better off as an actual threat.
I've been having success with going back to good ole Tombstalker. Nice Fatal Push/Abrupt Decay/Lightning Bolt and it's basically never outclassed by a creature.
Pox wants to win top deck wars, top decking a stupid equipment is only relevant if you have a creature in play. If you have a creature in play you'd be better off drawing more pressure or more disruption. 5 mana to play and equip a sword or 4 for jitte, and that's assuming you have a threat. Ob Nixilis would be better. Batterskull isn't terrible though, especially if you have Dark Ritual.
I now keep Tomby in the sideboard permanently as a 'surprise' for people who realize regular removal is almost useless game 1. He's a staple as far as long tournaments are concerned and a 3 turn clock after a Big Pox is always welcome.
On Ob Nixilis Reignited, I HIGHLY recommend him as a sideboard for your grinding matches. He turns Liliana Pox into "Superfriends Pox" and works absolute wonders when you top deck him late game. I only run 1 in the board if it's a long game and end up sideboarding out my Dark Ritual and my Contagion. Can't afford card disadvantage if you're going to live for 10+ turns. Of course, if you're facing down multiple 3/3 critters, you're probably screwed but if a single biggie is about to eat you or of it the board is clear, he's a godsend. I also run 2 Spinning Darkness to help stay alive and feed his +1.
I see that most of you run Ob Nixilis, Reignited. I am of the Mind that Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath is the better option. I will admit that the card draw on ONR is appealing, and the protection is unconditional; however, ONB can protect itself with a 5/5 flying blocker which is a 4 turn clock. That's pretty insane. It's plus with life gain I'd relevant and it's ultimate when paired with any recursive creature HAS to be game over.
The deck is more aggro control then control. I never have a problem with mana since my mana curve is so low and I only run 5 cards that need non black mana. If I have 2 lands in play I pretty much can run my whole deck. Revival is gold here.. giving me card selection that pox does not normally have.. putting that Abrupt Decay back on my topdeck can win games. Worm Harvest is too expensive.. where as if the game goes late.. the Empty the Pits wins in one turn ( instant speed makes the card playable ). I don't want to run Lily.. I am trying to be able to win fast.. Lily is a durdle card.. not what I want. Like I said.. first 3 turns I want to mutilate the OP's game plan.. then start putting beats down t4.Quote:
Originally Posted by sppabin
Smuggler's Copter might be something to try depending on the list. Forgive me if it's already been examined and ruled out - I don't lurk here too much but I have played some similar style decks (Braids Stax was the first online deck I built).Quote:
Originally Posted by sppabin
Seems like it alleviates some issues you mention with equipment. Cheap to get out, especially opposed to 5-drop planeswalkers. Allows any ground creatures to get through such as Bobs. Bitterblossom tokens can immediately crew it even with summoning sickness, and the looting seemed extremely valuable to me when I've used it in Dragon Stompy. Seems like it'd be a nice way to grind out the topdeck battle.
That said, perhaps there is some other not-quite-Pox list that is quite heavy on tokens that could make better use of it. Bobs, Ophiomancer, Bitterblossom...wait thats just me trying to revive Braids Stax :rolleyes:
I tried using Mox Diamonds in place of Pernicious Deed, but after a few games it became apparent that in that style of build I needed the boardwipe ability later in the game much more than I needed the acceleration in the early game.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fjaulnir
That's a good point, would be good with Bloodghasts, even if a little clunky with Loam and Factory.Quote:
Originally Posted by ClimbGneiss
If the biggest problem is that we never assume permanent control of the game, then I think the solution may be simple: Let's add a lock. What if we bring in something like Smokestack + Nether Spirit for permanent resource denial? Something like that?
Also, a recent game with Ankh Pox against a friend with Loam went like this(I started):
Fetch, go.
Land, top, go (I fetch and brainstorm to find an Ankh)
Land, Ankh, go
Fetch, chalice on one, Mox Diamond(I Daze)
Land, Smallpox, pitching a Nether Spirit
He couldn't recover from that.
As far as permanent locks go, I find that a nether void and a Liliana buys you a lot of time against basically anything that doesn't play Loam or crucible, especially if you have non-Liliana creature control such as blocking with nether spirit/factory or cursed scroll activations, and if you get to ultimate the Liliana then play a wasteland they usually can't recover. Basically any deck that can actually recover from that is either Lands or stone cold to abyss+cursed scroll. If I want a more permanent lock, I usually go for dust bowl and drownyard temple. My plan for lands is to board in 9-11 cards and tear their ability to actually kill me apart with surgicals, pithing needles, chalice of the void, extirpates, and ensnaring bridge.
You sir, I owe you an ale! Aside from Dakmor and Crucible goofiness, I've always wanted an unconditional way to bring pox fodder land back. I used to use Crucible for Undiscovered Paradise + Retrace goofiness but now I have a reason to bring back my old Dust Bowls. I used to use them long before I could afford Wastelands. :cool: I'll be posting my list after some testing in 2 weeks or so.Quote:
Originally Posted by Quitrex
Always happy to be of service. I would personally recommend considering having some number of your accelerants (if you play any) be mox diamonds, which also play well with your temples. If you wish to run more than a 2 temple 1 dust bowl split and/or run factories with it, you will absolutely need the fourth urborg in your deck, but if you get to run a dust bowl for several turns, especially if you aren't setting yourself back lands, then most of the slower decks just can't beat you. And, it should be noted that almost nothing can function under a nether void with a dust bowl out.Quote:
Originally Posted by OmniStrata
Where I would recommend starting for a mono-B dust bowl mana base is something like
3 Drownyard Temple
2 Dust Bowl
2 Mishra's Factory
9 Swamp
1 Tabernacle(if you have it and your meta is good for it) or sea gate wreckage
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Wasteland
3-4 Mox Diamond
if you're trying for a second color, it gets harder to work in the 11th colorless land, and I'd start somewhere closer to either
3 Drownyard/2 Dust Bowl - OR - 2 Drownyard 1 dust bowl 2 factory
5 relevant fetch land
2 relevant dual -OR- 1 dual 1 basic
4 wasteland
4 urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
1 tabernacle (still if available/applicable) or sea gate wreckage
4 swamp
4 mox diamond
Personally, I haven't tried it yet, but i feel like it would play very well with chalice, and I know that warping wail is surprisingly effective against basically everything except eldrazi. it counters many relevant spells out of storm, exiles most creatures out of D&T, stops show and tell/reanimation spells, exiles Deathrite Shaman and counters ancestral and hymn out of shard less, exiles pyromancer, pre flip delver, and DRS out of delver variants, while countering ponders (it's a good enough matchup that i'm fine with one of my point-and-click spots being only average against them, especially when you're attacking their lands so aggressively) hits the relevant creatures out of painter matchups, counters entreat the #%$^# angels out of miracles, and just keeps going. I wouldn't want more than one in my main, but I think it's worth considering if you're going drownyard/dust bowl. I also really like sea-gate wreckage when we force a late-game top deck war with our liliana plus blatant attacks on our opponents' mana. my two cents on how i'd start looking at it.
Actually, I'm not a fan of Sea Gate as it doesn't do anything to my opponent and it's very very mana hungry. Just running 1 Cursed Scroll is quite taxing as is. Even more so with me dust bowling extra swamps. I was more on the road of 2 Mishra's, 1 Dust Bowl & 1 Drownyard Temple as I'm more interested in keeping my mana early and then scraping by later game. That and I've run brews with less than 10 swamps and those make me cry, 4 Urborg's included. Instead, I've run Maze of Ith in the Tabernacle slot as the astronomical price of a Tabernacle could essentially buy me another Mono-B Pox deck. Please would some designer at Wizard print a functioning duplicate of this beast of a card? :frown: Hell, make it common just cause it's so useless in decks that pack armies of creatures. :laugh:Quote:
Originally Posted by Quitrex
On Maze of Ith's use, I've never 'not liked' seeing it on the field as it's just a 1-of that works with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and stops me from getting plastered by 4 power+ creatures. Gives Nether Spirit and Mishra's Factories vigilance in a hilarious way too.
I was thinking about this the other day. They oughta print a legendary colorless pain-land with the Tabernacle ability, except its a sacrifice not a destroy. It would fill the same role as Tabernacle in many decks, while still allowing Tabernacle to be optimal in Depths lists. The danger is allowing the 2 to stack....Quote:
Originally Posted by OmniStrata
That card would be absolutely bananas. I know I would put two copies in my pox building binder, right next to my tabernacle. Also, at that point I think that elves basically ceases to be a deck, which I'm fine with, but means everything needs to get re-tuned again. Besides, putting that land in modern just seems bananas.
All that said, I would be a happy man if they did.
I piloted Pox to 17th place at TJ's Titanium Weekend Plus Legacy 1k today.
my list:
4 Innocent Blood
4 Thoughtseize
4 Cursed Scroll
4 Dark Ritual
4 Sinkhole
4 Smallpox
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Liliana of the Veil
2 Toxic Deluge
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Collective Brutality
1 Pox
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Wasteland
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
12 Swamp
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Collective Brutality
3 Trinisphere
2 Pithing Needle
2 Engineered Plague
1 Perish
Round 1. Grixis Delver. 1-2: I kept a turn 1 Inquisition/turn 2 Ritual, Liliana, but they had enough threats to deal with it. I think I won game 2, no notes. Game 3 I kept a speculative 6 with one land, 2 Innocent Blood, 2 Thoughtseize, but it never came together.
Round 2. Turbo Depths. 2-1: I lost game 1 to a quick 20/20. Game 2 turn 1 Trini, turn 3 Sinkhole, and kept him off spells and lands the whole game. Game 3 was turn 1 ritual, thoughtseize, sinkhole, keep him off lands.
Round 3. Nic Fit. 2-1: Game 1 he was able to build up to Nissa mana and smash me with a 5/5. Games 2 and 3 I was able to disrupt his hand and mana without killing his explorers and he was never able to cast much. I got a Liliana up to 12 Loyalty one game!
Round 4. Infect. 2-0: I love this matchup. Turn 1 Thoughtseize is great, as is Smallpox. No dead cards in this match-up, easy wins.
Round 5. Grixis Control. 1-2: This match was on camera, I'll post the link when it ends up on Youtube. My opponent was Noah Walker with his new-fangled 4-Color Control build. I beat him game 1 (off-camera, of course) with an early Ritual+Smallpox+Liliana turn that he never recovered from. Games 2 and 3 were what I expected: I grind and grind, but eventually he lands Jace: the Mind Sculptor and I can't deal with it. If this deck finds a home in the meta, I will need to to address Jace. He runs Decay, so my needles are unreliable.
Round 6. Elves. 2-0: This match, in my experience, feels better than it actually is. Elves can operate from very low and top-deck threats all day. If I can't land a lock piece like Engineered Plague I have to worry about losing to random Birchlore Ranger beats. This match, however, it played out like it looks on paper. I blew him out with Toxic Deluge and Smallpox both games.
I was super happy with my deck. I wish I had run 1 Nether Spirit over 1 Inquisition of Kozilek, and I was heavily prepared for Dredge, Reanimator, and Burn, none of which I faced, so sideboarding was a little weird, but I'll be running it back next chance I get!
Props to double maindeck Toxic Deluge, and TJ's for running a tight event!
Slops to 17th place when prize payout went to top 16 T_T