Quote Originally Posted by heyjohnsexton View Post
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.
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.