[Primer/Deck] Pox

Also versus Burn cards drawn, and turns played, are much the same thing. A hymn to tourach is a two turn timewalk when you force discard of two burn spells, same with an healing salve. This is what make casting pox viable vs burn. Consider situation where the opponent is on the draw, playing land and goblin guide with haste. Next turn you play land, dark ritual, pox. You go from 18 to 12 life, kills his guide, land, and force discard of two of his five cards in hands.
You yourself will have 3-4 cards left in hand depending on the result of the GG attack. A discarded nether spirit or bloodghast gives you the edge now.
Granted there are better times to pox but this was an illustration on the effectiveness of discard vs burn.

Just curious, what's your list look like Hardcore?

it is too much in flux to be of any help.
What is there always are four pox and bloodghasts. Almost equally untouchable are Hymn to tourach and Bloodsoaked champion.

Sorcery (24)
4x Hymn to Tourach
4x Innocent Blood
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Pox
4x Sinkhole
4x Smallpox
2x Thoughtseize

Instant (1)
1x Empty the Pits

Land (24)
1x Cabal Pit
4x Marsh Flats
4x Mishra's Factory
6x Swamp
3x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2x Verdant Catacombs
4x Wasteland

Planeswalker (4)
4x Liliana of the Veil

Artifact (7)
2x Cursed Scroll
1x Haunted Plate Mail
4x Sensei's Divining Top

Sideboard (15)
3x Ensnaring Bridge
4x Extirpate
3x Pithing Needle
3x Ratchet Bomb
2x Toxic Deluge

New iteration of my list. I'm trying to find a more consistent list. I cut Dark Ritual and Crucible of Worlds. Running 6 1cc discards and our beloved deck's namesake again. Also I opted for a 4th top.
I'm unsure about Haunted Plate Mail and Empty the Pits. I don't know if I can afford the 4cc with 6 pox effects and no dark ritual/crucible. I need to write a programm to calculate this for me :D

Edit:
I did some math (well my computer did it):
here are some results:

4cc cards	pox effects	lands	avg turns till cast	deviation
2	6	20	19	11
4	6	20	14	8
8	6	20	11	6
4	8	20	15	8
4	6	24	12	7
4	8	24	13	7

Personally, I don't like those numbers.
Now I'll add Dark Ritual into the deck, lets see, what the numbers do

4cc cards	pox effects	lands	rituals	avg turns till cast	deviation
2	6	20	4	17	12
4	6	20	4	10	7
8	6	20	4	7	4
4	8	20	4	11	8
4	6	24	4	10	7
4	8	24	4	10	7

The numbers suggest, that dark ritual count and pox count have a small effect, when running only 2 big cards.
when running 4 or more big cards (like 2 nether void, 1 NoSB and 1 HPM) using dark ritual theoretically enables you to cast those cards more consistently (4 turns early)
Important: those numbers do not take into account using top and shuffles, or holding back on pox effects, in order to keep lands alive, or discarding cards with poxes and lili, or even keeping a good starting 7.

for me, this means, I'll cut my 2 4cc cards. without rituals and a consistent way to find those 2 copies, the deck is just too random.

btw: I have some more numbers, you might be interested in:

cards to find	avg turns till found	standard deviation
2	19	14
4	11	10
8	6	6
12	4	4

this data shows, on what turn on average and with what deviation you'll find specific cards/effects. eg: when running 8 pox effects, you'll draw at least 1 after 6 turns, with a standard deviation of 6 turns.
might help you chosing sideboard options, or cards in general, when trying to build a consistent deck.
consider this: if you run less than 4 of a specific effect, those cards need to win you the game if you draw them. if their effect is too weak, it might not be worth to reduce the consistency of your deck.

maybe all this information is already known. If not: I hope it helps you. It did help me.

"if you run less than 4 of a specific effect, those cards need to win you the game if you draw them. if their effect is too weak, it might not be worth to reduce the consistency of your deck"
When i run two of one card it is often because they are not fun finding in the starting hand.
otoh, this is like saying just what you did above, right?
We cannot beat blue for consistency, because of... you know,
and have to rely on other strategies to achieve that result. Playing four of relevant cards is one way. (This is the overloaded principle applied to card access.)

Another good tool is flexibility.
This is what you get when, for example, you cut 1cc cards number five and six, with something like ratchet bombs.
This leads us to the point of diminishing returns, for each card. Three tombstalkers is probably what is viable (even in a deck with cantrips). Number four is better cut for something else. Not necessarily
ratchet bombs:-)
Underlying my thinking here is the desire to have proper mana base and enough of good threats. Thus i think about blocks.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Countertoplol

Just curious, what's your list look like Hardcore?

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Latest draft is this one. Braids for fun!

3 tombstalker
3 geralf's messenger
3 bloodsoaked champion
4 bloodghast
3 the rack
4 dark ritual
3 chalice of the void
4 Pox
4 hymn to tourach
3 Liliana of the Veil
2 braids, cabal minion
3 gitaxian probe
3 Mishra's Factory
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Verdant Catacombs
11 Swamp

Thought I would add my tuppence worth. This is the listIi was using when I last played pox, Just after TC was axed if I remember correctly.
I felt the maindeck was pretty much perfect

4 Dark Ritual
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Smallpox
4 Sinkhole
4 Liliana
4 Innocent Blood
2 Surgical extraction
2 Chains of mephestopholies
1 Nether Spirit
3 Cursed Scroll

2 Urborg
4 Mishras Factory
4 Wasteland
14 Swamps

I may have cut 1 swamp for another Surgical, cant remember

Side
3 Nethervoid
2 EPlague
2 Perish
1 Surgical
1 Diabolic Edict
some other stuff

The maindeck was pretty well thought out. It is slow yes but is very resilient and redundant.

The SCG Chicago Legacy IQ is OVER! And with it, some of my dignity! However, I've finally experienced 8 rounds of swiss [yark! :cry:] in a very large open field over my smaller local legacy tourneys.

Some of you guessed correctly, "CONTAMINATION!!" is correct. How did it fare? IT DID BEAUTIFULLY! It does NOT need a tutor, it will save your ass when you're getting your skull rocked on the ropes, and it can be maintained with man-lands, Crucible, and 2x Nether Spirits only.

Right now I don't have my tournament play notes on hand as I'm not currently at home, but though my experience was depressing, it was through no fault of the deck, but my own insecurities and nervousness in a LOOONG high pressure environment (8 rounds of swiss is mentally taxing and I noticed it on everyone I faced after the 5th round. My foes and I all complained at the same time.). The minor rundown, I faced OmniShow, Burn, MUD Metalworker, Exploration + Thespian + DD combo (FARKING HELL that matchup), a no show (woot free win), BUG control, homebrew Stoneforge, and High Tide (fought to time, his combo kill was amazing game two).

My short explanation: the meta had far less black decks and this was a good thing for my Contamination Sideboard. My worst and deadliest play error (which would have been a sound decision for any other deck) was letting my Contamination sacrifice itself instead of sacrificing my Mishra's factories to it. I top decked my single Crucible THE SAME TURN it died due to my Nether Spirit getting Surgically extracted. It was in the burn match up WHICH I COULD HAVE WON!! [facepalm, cries bloody tears]

record: 2 wins, 5 losses, 1 draw to time.

The good: the deck didn't mana screw me or flood me, and I got to play magic, not twiddle my thumbs with bad draws as an excuse.

The bad: 8 rounds of swiss vs many unfair decks using a deck that was designed to murder fair decks, I however do not regret this as Pox is my pet deck and after experiencing an exhilarating Burn match, I have more confidence in it than ever before. My first combo loss [after 20 tests vs. many different non-dredge combo] was this tournament which made me quite sad. :frown:

The ugly: the look on my enemies' faces when they have to sideboard game two. :laugh:

I'll have the long details in a post later in the week, probably tommorow or Wednesday at the latest

We look forward to that report!

Contamination is a cool card, and, many have tried to make it work.
Crucible + man-lands may be the required mechanic.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hardcore

Latest draft is this one. Braids for fun!

3 tombstalker
3 geralf's messenger
3 bloodsoaked champion
4 bloodghast
3 the rack
4 dark ritual
3 chalice of the void
4 Pox
4 hymn to tourach
3 Liliana of the Veil
2 braids, cabal minion
3 gitaxian probe
3 Mishra's Factory
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Verdant Catacombs
11 Swamp

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I can't imagine that you don't want to run wasteland in a deck like this... Do you own them and actually opt to not play them or is this a budget list?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Countertoplol

I can't imagine that you don't want to run wasteland in a deck like this... Do you own them and actually opt to not play them or is this a budget list?

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He's not running smallpox or sinkhole and his creature base has a very high cmc. Wastelands in a build like this I'm guessing would string up his hand with dead cards. The build appears like it will attempt to kill you before you get the chance to do anything worth while. With such a thick threat count, even bombs like Jace won't be able to cope with 3-4 high power threats punching him in the jaw. In which case, let them have the land. The only sweeper I'd be afraid of with a deck like this is Terminus.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OmniStrata

He's not running smallpox or sinkhole and his creature base has a very high cmc. Wastelands in a build like this I'm guessing would string up his hand with dead cards. The build appears like it will attempt to kill you before you get the chance to do anything worth while. With such a thick threat count, even bombs like Jace won't be able to cope with 3-4 high power threats punching him in the jaw. In which case, let them have the land. The only sweeper I'd be afraid of with a deck like this is Terminus.

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Makes sense, thanks for clarifying.

Yeah, that is correct. The only thing black is good at is disruption, but that doesn't win games. Our creatures that are powerful enough to compete cost more than those of of other colors. Annoying.

Starcity Games Chicago: OmniStrata deck - Traditional Pox.

Creatures (2)
2 Nether Spirit

Spells (34)
4 Dark Ritual
4 Innocent Blood
4 Smallpox
1 Pox
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Sinkhole
2 Cursed Scroll
4 Liliana of the Veil
1 Night of Souls' Betrayal
1 Engineered Plague
1 Crucible of Worlds

Land (24)
12 Snow Covered Swamp
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Wasteland

Sideboard:
2 Pithing Needle
2 Contamination (da little secret!)
3 Engineered Plague
3 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Extirpate
3 Relic of Progenitus

The report next Post...

Round 1 Game 1: I thought it was BUG at first, but turned out to be Omni-tell. I never lost that match up before.
Turn 1 - I'm on the play and start with a Dark Ritual, Crucible of worlds. He's Island, Ponder.
2 - I attempt a Sinkhole that eats Force of Will. He Thoughtseizes my Smallpox
3 - I wasteland his next Underground Sea. He Brainstorms in response, but passes his turn.
4 - Mishra's Factory. He plays another Underground Sea.
5 - I Wasteland his Underground Sea. He casts Lim Dul's Vault, checks 10 cards, loses 2 life.
6 - I punch with Mishra's. He's on Island pass the turn
7 - Swamp into Inquisition of Kozilek. He Brainstorms in response and I see Emrakul, Omniscience, Boseiju who Shelter's All. I need to kill him 2 turns ago!
8 and 9 - I punch with my lone Mishra as often as I could but he drops a Misty Rainforest, fetches an island, Show and Tells. I fail to get my Innocent Blood, and get my sideboard ready.

Round 1 Game 2: I'm somewhat angry in that my disruption didn't show up, but I'm still confident. He Leyline of Sanctity's me before we start.
1 - We both play basic swamp and island
2 - I Sinkhole. He Brainstorms in response. After his land sinks he Gitaxian Probes me.
3 - Smallpox, discarding Nether Spirit. He sacs his Island and fetches another with Misty Rainforest
4 - I play Mishra's. He plays a Polluted delta and Brainstorms after it.
5 - I punch him. He fetches end of turn an Island and passes.
6 - Nether Spirit's been out now so I rock his head with Mishra and Nether. He Ponders and plays an Underground Sea.
7 - THE KILLING BLOW! I wasteland his Underground Sea and punch him again for 4 damage. He Digs Through Time in response, but scoops. I'm deadpan, but celebrating on the inside.

Round 1 Game 3: He's on the play, double Leyline, I laugh inside :laugh:.
1 - He drops an Underground Sea. I Swamp and Relic of Progenitus, the intention to eat as much of his GY as possible for the damn Dig Through Time.
2 - He's on an Island. I Wasteland his Underground Sea.
3 - He Ponders and I Relic him after playing my 2nd land.
4 - CoF (Shit I forgot what this stood for *facepalm*). I hard cast Lilliana of the Veil
5 - Show & Tell :frown: I Swamp and he plays Omniscience. He casts Dig Through Time for Free for Cunning Wish, Eldamri's Call, Emrakul, I die.

The Good: I learned something. Instant Speed removal like Diabolic Edict could have helped me here, but other than that nothing else.
The Bad: I've tested against all form of Combo decks. The only one that consistently killed me was Dredge and I've never lost... until now! :frown:
The Ugly: My Disruption didn't come up as often as I'd hoped, but I chalk that up to bad luck.

Round 2 Game 1: BURN! I SHOULD HAVE WON!!! GAH!
Turn 1 - I'm on the play. I open with Dark Ritual, Lilliana and he says "Whoa, haven't seen that play in a while". He suspends a Rift Bolt from a Mountain. I quiver with fear.
2 - I activate Liliana discarding Pox and then Sinkhole him. He Rift Bolts my skull and plays Wooded Foothills.
3 - Liliana discards my Nether Spirit which I top decked. He fetches a mountain and plays Eidolon of the Great Revel
4 - I activate Liliana. He punches me with Goblin guide and Eidolon of the Great Revel.
5 - I Liliana -2 him while Nether Spirit stands as her invincible Bodyguard. He plays a mountain.
6 - I Lili -2 his other threat and let Nether Spirit have his way with him. He's now in Draw - Go state. YAY
7 - I Inquisition something out of his hand and my Mishra's played prior attacks with NS. He Searing Blood's Nether Spirit. He's Draw - Go
8 - I attack with Mishra's and he Lava Spike's Lilliana.
9 - Cursed Scroll is played. He fetches a Mountain
10 - Cursed Scroll and Nether Spirit cut him down. I'VE WON AGAINST BURN?! :really:

Game 2: Here comes CONTAMINATION! He's of course, on the play.
1 - He's Wooded Foothills, fetch mountain, Suspend Rift Bolt. I play a swamp.
2 - He plays Eidolon of the Great Revel. I play my 2nd swamp, Dark Ritual DOUBLE Hymn to Tourach!
3 - His Eidolon punches me. I hard cast Nether Spirit as a guard.
4 - I play Mishra's Factory and cast Contamination. He facebutts Nether Spirit and passes turns until turn 8. I've been Mishra punching him this whole time.
8 - Nether Spirit gets Surgically Extraction. I had a 2nd Mishra's on the field. On my turn, I sac the Contamination and draw... (drumroll) CRUCIBLE OF WORLDS! *facepalm* :really:
9 - He plays 2 Goblin Guides, attacks, and Fireblasts me to death.

Game 3: My thought processes are in a state of chaos
1 - I'm swamp. He's mountain, Goblin Guide punch, I find nothing.
2 - Dark Ritual, Innocent Blood, Sinkhole. Feeling great! He plays another GG and punches me, I see no land.
3 - Engineered Plague on Goblins. He Lava Spikes me.
4 - I Smallpox and punch him with a prior Mishra's factory. he plays Mountain, Eidolon of the Great Revel.
5 - Crucible of Worlds, Swamp. Eidolon bleeds me. He plays mountain, Grim Lavamancer
6 - I punch him with Mishra's. He Grim Lava's me, Fireblast, and Lava Spikes me into the dirt. I couldn't recover. :frown:

Round 3, Game 1 - MUD Metalworker. A ramping deck. Pox doesn't like mana cheaters... :mad: He's on the play. Oh yeah, he mulligans twice!
1 - He's Cavern of Souls, naming Construct. I Urborg, Dark Ritual, Cursed Scroll, Sinkhole. *feeling saucy*
2 - Another Cavern of Souls. I Sinkhole AGAIN!
3 - He plays an Ancient Tomb. I cast Liliana and we both discard.
4 - He plays City of Traitors. I activate Liliana.
5 - I activate Lili, discarding Dark Ritual and he discards Staff of Domination. Top deck mode!
6 - He plays Kuldotha Forgemaster and Grim Monolith. I make him sac the Forgemaster and Cursed Scroll his dome.
7 - Lodestone Golem. I cast Smallpox and then Lili +1
8 - He plays Coercive Portal. I activate Lili.
On turn 10 with nothing eventful happening, he scoops due to missing multiple Portal triggers. I shrug and say better luck game 2.

Game 2 - He's playing first
1 - He's glimmer post. I swamp.
2 - Ancient Tomb, Crucible of Worlds. I seek raging doom! I smallpox him.
3 - He plays another Glimmerpost and I play Mishra's and let my Nether Spirit hit the field (previously smallpoxed)
4 - He crucibles a Gpost and I punch him with Nether Mishra tag team.
5 - He casts Witchbane Orb. I activate Liliana after casting and he dumps a Wasteland, myself a Swamp.
6 - Ancient Tomb, Wurmcoil Engine. I use Liliana to make him sacrifice and Cursed Scroll his skull.
7 - He plays a Cloudpost and attacks with Wurm Tokens, one of which is equipped with a Batterskull he casted.
8 - He casts Karn Liberated. My NS gets exiled. Wurm and Batterskull defeat me.

Game 3 - Contamination of course, I REALLY thought I had this one... We both mulligan to 6
1 - Swamp, Dark Ritual, Crucible (I autowin inside my head). He plays Wasteland.
2 - I Wasteland his Wasteland. He plays a Glimmerpost
3 - I Wasteland his Glimmerpost. He plays Ancient Tomb, Grim Monolith, Metalworker. I realize this deck is truly Godlike.
4 - Without removal or my Pithing Needle, I play a Mishra's. He activates the metalworker and reveals 5 artifacts for 10 mana. He drops Trinisphere and Wurmcoil engine.
5-6-7-8 For the next turns, he drops Chalice of the Void on 2, Lodestone Golem, and murders me with Wurmcoil. If I had pithing turn 1, I realize now my error...

The Good: Some decks function on 1 colorless mana. Learned something. Pithing the damn Metalworker next time.
The Bad: How to sideboard against this aside from Pithing and Contamination is beyond me. Stalling it is very difficult since most of its abilites are mana abilities and land that makes 2 mana.
The Ugly: My Record...

Round 4 Game 1 - AUTOWIN NO SHOW!

Round 5 Game 1 - I'm on the play, he's too fast for me.
1 - I play swamp. He plays Wooded Foothills, fetching Taiga, Exploration, Grove of the Burnwillows.
2 - I Wasteland his Grove and he responds with a Crop Rotation into Forest. He casts Life from the Loam. I scoop knowing full well what I'm up against, almost.

Game 2 - I forget about Dark Depths, this hindsight shall haunt me.
1 - Swamp into Relic of Progenitus. Forest, Exploration, wooded Foothills. I HATE THAT CARD.
2 - Smallpox, relic activation. He draws, and plays a Wasteland and Thespian Stage. I facepalm inside.
3 - I drop Mishra's and he drops a Dark Depths. I'm dead at the end of my turn 4.

The Good: Nothing. Wasteland did nothing this fight and I have to say it was probably a 'worst case' matchup.
The Bad: I wish I had diabolic edict, again.
The Ugly: My record... more disfigurements! :frown:

Round 6 Game 1 - I think BUG and I'm correct. On the play.
1 - Swamp, Dark Ritual, Crucible. He plays a Polluted Delta.
2 - Swamp. He's Bayou, fetch Underground Sea, Hymn to Tourach
3 - Swamp, Sinkhole his Underground Sea. He fetches another Underground Sea and Abrupt Decays my Crucible.
4 - Cursed Scroll. He Wastelands Urborg and Hymns me again.
5 - Swamp. He casts Tarmogoyf.
6 - I Wasteland his other Underground Sea. He Goyfs my head and casts Deathrite Shaman.
7 - I cursed Scroll his Deathrite Shaman and Goyf punches me.
8 - Here's the nasty luck. I cast 2 Lilianas I top decked for two turns in a row and he Force of Wills both of her using Daze twice! Goyf murders me. :eek:

Game 2 - hindsight lesson, a Needle on Deathrite Shaman and Contamination WOULD HAVE DESTROYED HIM... Of course, I side in neither cause my mind is hurting.
1 - I Inquisition his DRS. He plays a Misty Rainforest.
2 - Mishra's Factory, Relic of Progenitus. He fetches an Underground Sea and Ponders
3 - I Wasteland his U. Sea and Mishra his knees. He fetches a Tropical Island, Brainstorms, Wastelands my Mishra, and plays Goyf
4 - I cast Inquisition, which he Force of Wills, exiling Brainstorm, and he punches with Goyf and casts Life from the Loam.
5 - I blast relic, draw my card. I'm glad I waited that turn to hit that Loam. Innocent Blood, goyf is bye bye. He casts Baleful Strix and fetchlands
6 - I cast Liliana and make him Discard a dead FoW. He Wastelands my Mishra's and Strix punches Liliana. Drops a Fetchland, fetches and casts Deathrite Shaman
7 - Cursed Scroll. He draw go's
8 - I attack with Nether Spirit I discarded to Liliana turns ago and he blocks with Strix. DRS hits me for 2 life loss and he casts another strix
9 - Smallpox. He Brainstorms in Response. Draw go
10 - Cursed Scroll kills his DRS (woohah!). He uses DRS in response before it dies and passes.
11 - I cast Liliana. He Digs Through Time for a Force of Will and a Daze to exile with it. He Brainstorms on his turn.
12 - I cast a 2nd Cursed Scroll and play my 2nd Urborg, killing my previous one leaving me with all untapped land. He casts Null Rod. I realize Mishra can still do it's pump thing as a land.
13 - I punch with Mishra's. He cracks a Fetch end of turn. He gets Underground Sea, plays Wasteland and summons a Tarmogoyf.
14 - Liliana appears and sacs his goyf. He casts Jace and Jacestorms. At this point, I realize he has to die at any and all costs.
15 - I punch Jace with Mishra's. He Brainstorms with Jace.
16 - Liliana + 1. Jacestorm
17 - I liliana +1 again. He top decks Dig Through Time and Brainstorms with Jace. He abrupt decays my Mishra as I tried to attack him.
18 - I liliana +1 as Mishra dies. Jacestorms, Abrupt Decay on Liliana
19 - Pithing Jace YAH!. He cast Tarmogoyf.
20, 21 - I sinkhole him and I top deck Hymn to Tourach as Goyf kills me. Jace gave him too much and Liliana wasn't enough.

The Good: The game as a whole was fine. Jace is as strong and OP as everyone makes him out to be and I dealt with him as best I could.
The Bad: I know I could have won had a Nether Spirit appeared to stop that ending Goyf game 2.
The Ugly: Me realizing I let Jace do too much work.

Round 7 - There was a lot of blah blah to this game cause it was a Stoneforge Homebrew that had too many elements and no removal at all to speak of. I'm on the play
1 - Dark Ritual, Liliana, discarding Smallpox. He discards Jace (I :eek: inside). He fetches an Underground Sea, and Thoughtseizes away my other Smallpox.
2 - I top deck and Wasteland his Underground Sea. I activate Liliana +1. He plays an Island.
3 - Things get very nasty here. I Hymn his hand and activate Liliana +1. He Brainstorms in response. After my turn, he plays an Island.
From turn 4 - 18, Liliana counts up something FIERCE and the gamer next to me says, "That's a lot of Loyalty on Liliana." I reply with, "Yeah, it's like I married her in 3 religions..." I ultimate with her 3 times [that's right, 22 loyalty!] and Mishra's kills the hapless victim by turn 19.

Game 2 - more of the same. It plays out much like game 1, but the short list, 21 turns of mediocrity.
1 - He fetches a Tundra and Brainstorms. I wasteland it.
2 - He thoughtseizes my Smallpox after playing an Underground Sea. I Inquisition his Stoneforge.
3 - Mishra's factory. Hymn to Tourach. He plays a Fetchland.
4 - My Mishra punches, I cast Cursed and he reads the card, and Force of Will's it. He fetches an Island and casts a Stoneforge getting a sword of Feast and Famine.
5 - Innocent Blood. Mishra Punches. He's Draw-Go mode.
6 - Punch. He casts a Plains and hard casts Sword of Feast and Famine.
7 - I Mishra punch him again. He casts Lingering Souls from his yard. (remember the Hymn?)
8 - I Smallpox him before Mishra Punches him. He swings with his single Token.
9 - I punch him with Mishra's. He plays and equips Jitte, and swings with the token.
10 - I cast Ensnaring Bridge (oh yeah!) and he casts Meddling Mage, naming Smallpox. The Mage is equipped now, but for no good reason really.
11 - I cast Engineered Plague on Humans. He casts another Lingering Souls
12 - I top deck a Plague on Spirits, they wipe out the Spirits forever. Draw go is his game plan.
13 - I play swamp. He's draw go agian.
14 - Crucible hits the field from a top deck. I Wasteland loop him from my Fortress of Solitude that is my Ensnaring Bridge.
15 - 21, from that point onward, I drop a Night of Souls' Betrayal, a Cursed Scroll, and then Scroll his skull to victory. I felt really sorry for the guy...

The Good: Too much disruption? NAH, I love it! It's better to just disrupt them to nothing and lock them down, then to play threats first and let them play their game.
The Bad: His spirit must be in pieces after that fight. We had the same points score when I looked at the pairings.
The Ugly: LONG LONG ass game.

Round 8 - HIGH TIDE! This post is getting stupid long so I'll make this quick. This match ended in a draw but I know I would have won. I'm on the play.
1 - I inquisition and hit Meditate?! He drops an Island. I realize it's High Tide.
2 - I swamp, Inquisition, discard his only counter, I think it was Daze, I'm not sure, and my 2nd swamp is Dark Ritual Liliana.
3 - I inquisition him a 3rd time with Liliana's ability afterward. He plays a Candelabra of Tawnos. I have this game in the bag.
4 - 16 I cursed scroll him to death while Lilliana keeps his hand totally empty.

Round 8 Game 2
A game that went much longer than was needed. i realize he may have done it on purpose to force a Draw and if I were in his shoes, I'd do the same.
1 - He's on the play with an Island after a fetchland. I Needle his Candelabra.
2 - I drop a Mishra's. He draws and drops Island.
3 - I hard cast Nether Spirit [fark]. He drops an Island and Passes.
4 - CONTAMINATION! gets force of willed after he Meditates in response. He skips turn 5
5 - Mishra punches with Spirit.
6 - I die to a fantastic combo loop involving time spiral and 6 High Tides and 2 Meditates in 1 turn and he makes me draw 67 cards with Blue Sun Zenith.

Game 3
I disrupt him to the point of nothing after Pithing his Candelabra and Liliana hits the field turn 3 after a Hymn to Tourach on Turn 2. He tried to bluff me by Merchant Scrolling a Force of Will 'in my face' but with two Liliana's in my hand, I called his Bluff. DRAW GAME!!

On the whole, despite 2 wins, 5 losses, and 1 Draw, I had a better time at the end of the day. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts as it were. I'm DEFINITELY keeping Contamination as the meta is very low on Black decks and even if splashed, I understand that it becomes VERY difficult to function if you cut off that other color. Relic was too weak and so I'm replacing it with the BOMB of Leyline of the Void. Wastelands feed Dig Through Time!

I hope you enjoyed this report more than I did typing it. It's been almost an hour! :cry: 11 smilies only?! darn.

OmniStrata we were there at the event looking for you, only found you at the end where is was clear the day had taken its toll. After reading the bad beats,, I can empathize. I have a few notes after reading your report:

Round 3 Game 2 - You say he cast Witchbane Orb, which should shut off Liliana of the Veil's -2 & -6 ability, but you say you used this the turn after the Orb was played.

Metalworker is a mana ability, it can't be turned off with Pithing Needle. You'd need Phyrexian Revoker to do that.

Round 6 Game 2 - You say your opponent cast Abrupt Decay targeting your Mishra's Factory. That isn't a legal target, you should have been able to continue the beats into Jace's dumb face.

Beyond that a good read and some tough breaks for you. My wife was there running Pox and did even worse, facing two OmniShow decks as well as the mirror. We used to have 4x Leyline of the Void in the side, but recently swapped them for 2x Relic of Progenitus and Extirpate. It offers us a better range of hate and the flexibility of not always needing to bring in 4 copies to maximize the opening hand. We're playing without library manipulation, so our deck is our deck, and putting in cards that do nothing when drawn is a really dangerous prospect. Yes our set up is weaker against DTT, sometimes Relic just isn't enough to keep them off Delve, and since you can't respond to paying a cost, it's too late once they can. But I think it makes the deck stronger as a whole, as well as giving us better game against RG Lands and OmniTell. (My wife hit Show and Tell with an Extirpate, though the opponent had anticipated this and had brought in Young Pyromancer, her Engineered Plagues were still in the side, and couldn't kill them faster than he was making them and died, but still, good play that was potentially game over against that deck) If DTT continues its rise and becomes a serious issue, then maybe we will reconsider, but for us locally, casting a wider net has more benefit than crushing just one card.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PirateKing

OmniStrata we were there at the event looking for you, only found you at the end where is was clear the day had taken its toll. After reading the bad beats,, I can empathize. I have a few notes after reading your report:

Round 3 Game 2 - You say he cast Witchbane Orb, which should shut off Liliana of the Veil's -2 & -6 ability, but you say you used this the turn after the Orb was played.

Metalworker is a mana ability, it can't be turned off with Pithing Needle. You'd need Phyrexian Revoker to do that.

Round 6 Game 2 - You say your opponent cast Abrupt Decay targeting your Mishra's Factory. That isn't a legal target, you should have been able to continue the beats into Jace's dumb face.

Beyond that a good read and some tough breaks for you. My wife was there running Pox and did even worse, facing two OmniShow decks as well as the mirror. We used to have 4x Leyline of the Void in the side, but recently swapped them for 2x Relic of Progenitus and Extirpate. It offers us a better range of hate and the flexibility of not always needing to bring in 4 copies to maximize the opening hand. We're playing without library manipulation, so our deck is our deck, and putting in cards that do nothing when drawn is a really dangerous prospect. Yes our set up is weaker against DTT, sometimes Relic just isn't enough to keep them off Delve, and since you can't respond to paying a cost, it's too late once they can. But I think it makes the deck stronger as a whole, as well as giving us better game against RG Lands and OmniTell. (My wife hit Show and Tell with an Extirpate, though the opponent had anticipated this and had brought in Young Pyromancer, her Engineered Plagues were still in the side, and couldn't kill them faster than he was making them and died, but still, good play that was potentially game over against that deck) If DTT continues its rise and becomes a serious issue, then maybe we will reconsider, but for us locally, casting a wider net has more benefit than crushing just one card.

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My notes were in shorthand as taking my time wasn't an option. I may have transposed some of the 'turn numbers'. Ah, I remember now, that was an illegal move and the -2 had to be taken back (of course, I didn't write that down). The BUG player actually Abrupted Decayed Mishra before damage, I most likely miswrote that note. Right on about that Pithing Needle, I forgot that mana abilities don't need targets. Cursed Totem comes to mind, but ultimately, killing the Metalworker outright would have given me the time I needed.

I note you had little use of sinkholes, and could have use for a couple of the Rack.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OmniStrata

My notes were in shorthand as taking my time wasn't an option. I may have transposed some of the 'turn numbers'. Ah, I remember now, that was an illegal move and the -2 had to be taken back (of course, I didn't write that down). The BUG player actually Abrupted Decayed Mishra before damage, I most likely miswrote that note. Right on about that Pithing Needle, I forgot that mana abilities don't need targets. Cursed Totem comes to mind, but ultimately, killing the Metalworker outright would have given me the time I needed.

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Mishra's Factory is never not a land, it should never be a valid target for Abrupt Decay.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PirateKing

Mishra's Factory is never not a land, it should never be a valid target for Abrupt Decay.

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Good point. I remembered Liliana gets Abrupt Decayed a lot in that match, AH, I must have gotten the Wasteland swapped up in there and misread my scribbles. I distinctly remember him Wastelanding the Factories as the BUG player's way of stopping the man-land damage and Abrupt Decay is for Liliana. Grr, notes mix-ups! [facepalm :tongue:]

As far as Sinkhole is concerned, it does heavy work vs. non combo and with Smallpox, Pox, and Wasteland backup, I'm very grateful for it when my Wastelands are dead in my hand to a mono color.