[Deck] Pox

[berksowl]

Getting back to Magic after a very long hiatus, a Pox/The Rack combination seemed like something I could wrap my head around. Because I knew the cards. Because I could afford the cards (I'm starting my collection from scratch because of a nice neighbor boy and some ill-conceived generosity about a decade ago). And because a mono deck seemed like the way to go for someone without quick access to lots of non-basic lands.

I see that The Rack has lost favor. As a win condition, it is certainly a bit slow to wind up, and discarding/card advantage seems like it can be its own reward without having to take life with The Rack. On the other hand, its cheap to cast it, and one can have more than one on the board at a time. So I'm not ready to give it up.

This is my budget version of a Pox deck, including The Rack. I play-tested a version of this deck in a local Legacy tournament. All told, I lost 10 games and won 1 game (to a Storm deck that was slow to get started). But those were literally the first games of Magic I had played against other humans in 10 years. A nice opponent told me my deck was a knife at a gun fight, and he then offered some great suggestions to improve this deck, many of which are included in this list...

Creatures
2 Hypnotic Specter
2 Nyxathid
2 Tombstalker

Planeswalkers
2 Liliana Vess

Spells: Discard
2 Blackmail
2 Duress
2 Hymn to Tourach
2 Inquisition of Kozilek

Spells: Punishment
4 The Rack
2 Megrim

Spells: Removal/Disruption
2 Diabolic Edict
2 Imp's Mischief
2 Pox
4 Smother

Spells: Card/Mana Advantage
2 Phyrexian Arena
2 Dark Ritual

Land
2 Cabal Coffers
22 Swamp

Sideboard
1 Death Wish
2 Extirpate
2 Forsaken Wastes
2 Gate to Phyrexia
2 Inquisition
2 Leyline of the Void
1 Planar Void
1 Slaughter Pact
2 Tormod's Crypt

...This still needs a lot of work. The following cards would go into this deck right now if I had them in hand:
Dark Confidant
Wasteland

And these are borderline. I think some may be better than some of my current choices, but I'm unsure:
Thoughtseize
Liliana of the Veil
Doom Blade
Geth's Verdict
Innocent Blood
Quest for the Nihil Stone
Unearth
Bloodghast
Nether Spirit

And these could possibly get into the sideboard, for dealing with certain matchups:
Deathmark
Reanimate
Surgical Extraction

I've read a lot about Pox decks in the past week or so, and what I've got is a budget version. I'm happy to tweak it, invest in it by upgrading some of my card choices as soon as I can get my hands on some of the pricey ones.

• I'm pretty certain I'd replace 2 Hypnotic Specter with 2 Dark Confidant.

• And I'd add 2 Wasteland and subtract 2 Swamp.

But I have some lingering questions about where I should make tweaks and where I shouldn't...

• I'm uncertain whether Liliana Vess is a suitable budget stand-in for Liliana of the Veil. Casting cost is worse, but her suitability to my deck once she's in play seems to be at least as good.

• Thoughtseize is a great card, but Inquisition of Kozilek may be just as good, or better, with the Legacy decks I'm likely to be up against. Hymn to Tourach is two cards for two mana, and I like that. Duress doesn't have a loss of life, and Blackmail is awesome any time my opponent has three of fewer cards in hand, which should be much of the time. So I don't know that I see a great need for Thoughtseize.

• I guess I might as well substitute Geth's Verdict for Diabolic Edict, since I'm playing all black anyway. The two black mana casting cost isn't an issue. I think I prefer either of these two spells over Doom Blade. I also like Innocent Blood, but without Dark Confidant, and maybe unless I had four of them, I'm not sure I have any creatures I want to sacrifice. Its also a sorcery, not an instant.

• Unearth would be a nice option in a deck with lots of creature death, and bringing a dead Nyxathid out late in the game seems like a potential winning move in this deck. But is it worth playing a card I couldn't use to resurrect my most-threatening creature, Tombstalker?

• Bloodghast and Nether Spirit are often discussed in Pox decks. Nether Spirit would be cool, and since I could clear creatures out of my graveyard in casting Tombstalker, there is every chance I'd be able to resurrect it. But I don't own the card, and I also sort of wonder if the cycling through of death and resurrection of this creature is worth the effort when its a 2/2 creature. Bloodghast is similar: It can come back from the dead easily enough, but its still not going to win me the game very quickly. Am I undervaluing these two?

• Lastly, Quest for the Nihil Stone. This could complement The Rack and Megrim, but is also seems like an even-slower moving killer in a deck that already seems pretty slow. And while I'll consistently have my opponent discarding, this requires that they have no cards in hand for it to work.

So that's where I'm at. I've prioritized this deck like this, so let me know if my choices support this categorization.

1. Discard spells and punishment for discard.
2. Creatures that work within this framework and can win the game if The Rack is too slow.
3. Removal of threats.
4. Additional card advantage and mana advantage.

[Hardcore]

@berksowl

not bad, but as it looks now it is not a pox deck. You have to decide; do you want to play pox, or black creature deck with disruption. It is not the same thing. Pox deck gladly wreck their own hand and board because it bring the opponent closer to defeat.

For comparison here is what I, a few weeks ago, considered the "core" of a pox deck:

4 Smallpox
4 Pox
4 Encroach
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Sinkhole
4 Liliana of the Veil
4 Mishra’s Factory
4 Wasteland
18 Swamp
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

That's 53 cards giving you room for like 8 creatures.
On this core I built decks like this one:

Klingon Disruptor 1.0

1 Nether Spirit
4 Bloodghast
3 Tombstalker
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Smallpox
4 Sinkhole
4 Pox
2 Raven’s Crime
3 Encroach
4 Liliana of the Veil
2 Cursed Scroll
4 The Rack
16 Swamp
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Mishra’s Factory

Note that the land count is too low in the deck. You really need to play lots of mana producing lands. Mishras and wasteland should be in the slot for creatures and disruption only.
I also played cursed scroll to get something useful mid game.
Encroach was to strengthen the land destruction element of the deck. Worked at least as well as duress or inquisition if you had it in your starting hand.
Notice the "four ofs"; hymn, liliana etc. The only card you could cut to three is the mishras.
Raven's crime can be nasty.

However, my problem have all the time been the topdeck race that has been described in this thread.
I have therefore tried improve the pox deck in all manner of ways and is now actually running a discard pox in tests.
(a bonus is that playing no sinkhole or wastelands saves money should i decide to build the deck.)

Here is a recent, but not the latest, version:

4 Liliana’s Caress
3 Phyrexian Arena
2 Chain of Smog
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Smallpox
4 Pox
3 Raven’s Crime
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Contagion
4 Liliana of the Veil
4 The Rack
17 Swamp
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Mishra’s Factory

[bowvamp]

Really? 29 lands? I know mana screw sucks, but this is sad.

[Shawon]

Wow, Encroach is a card. I have never seen that before. I never knew there was a discard spell that specifically targeted lands. It's probably not very good, but it's really cool nevertheless. I'm awed.

[ScatmanX]

Want to know what you guys think about this 2 cards:

- Executioner's Capsule : Often times, when you want to up Liliana, and you topdeck a removal, you can't really up her with the benefit you want. Capsule can stay on the battlefield for just B, while working together with your gameplan. It's nice with Esnaring Bridge too.

- Necroplasm : When you resolve him, it kills Dryad Arbor, Tokens, Germ Tokens, and lots of Affinity guys. When someone GSZ for Arbor, it is better than an LD. Next turn Nobles an Mother, Elves and lots of other creatures dies. When at 2, youre golden. If your up to a manplan, it hits for 2, 3, then 4. You can recur it, and if you're luck you'll Dredge Nether Spirit, Bloodghast, Loam, Raven's Crime and such.

[Hardcore]

Want to know what you guys think about this 2 cards:

- Executioner's Capsule : Often times, when you want to up Liliana, and you topdeck a removal, you can't really up her with the benefit you want. Capsule can stay on the battlefield for just B, while working together with your gameplan. It's nice with Esnaring Bridge too.

- Necroplasm : When you resolve him, it kills Dryad Arbor, Tokens, Germ Tokens, and lots of Affinity guys. When someone GSZ for Arbor, it is better than an LD. Next turn Nobles an Mother, Elves and lots of other creatures dies. When at 2, youre golden. If your up to a manplan, it hits for 2, 3, then 4. You can recur it, and if you're luck you'll Dredge Nether Spirit, Bloodghast, Loam, Raven's Crime and such.

Necroplasm have been played before with success by some people.
The capsule looks interesting. worth testing at least.
should be good against the iona in terminator decks.

[Hardcore]

because I felt creatures, land destruction and discard didn't go well together, I have built a creature less pox deck.

DiscoPox 3.0


4 Liliana’s Caress
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Smallpox
4 Pox
3 Raven’s Crime
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Liliana of the Veil
4 The Rack
4 Ankh of Mishra
22 Swamp

I realise now that this is a linear deck (to use Karsten Kotter's definition), whereas creature pox is non-linear. perhaps that is why I like it better. It is very focused.
The list is just 57 cards, 3-5 slots for rituals, creature kill or other useful stuff.
I have tried bloodchief ascension since it gives you life. It may be more useful as sideboard card against decks that put lots of cards in the graveyard.
Take a closer look at the text on it; it is triggered by cards going to the graveyard from anywhere.

[Mantis]

I haven't really putten an awful lot of thought into this build but the idea came from Sam Blacks Zombie deck. I'm still not sure if I like Smallpox enough, since having to sac a land hurts the deck pretty badly as well. I think we can leave out The Rack here since the clock seems decent enough. The singleton Nether Spirit looks out of place, but remember that Tombstalker removes the entire yard and Bloodghast will always come back anyway. The Jitte should most likely be something else, but I don't know what right now. From my limited testing, the deck felt pretty smooth but I did have some trouble against fast combo and a resolved Jace. Obviously the sideboard helps sort the combo matchup out, but a resolved Jace is going to suck either way. I'm fairly certain 22 lands is correct and while I really miss having Wasteland or Factory in here, it seems unrealistic with all the double black.

// Lands
1 [ON] Polluted Delta
5 [MM] Swamp (2)
4 [ZEN] Marsh Flats
4 [ON] Bloodstained Mire
4 [A] Scrubland
4 [B] Badlands

// Creatures
1 [MM] Nether Spirit
4 [FUT] Tombstalker
4 [ZEN] Bloodghast

// Spells
1 [BOK] Umezawa's Jitte
4 [R] Lightning Bolt
4 [ROE] Inquisition of Kozilek
4 [ISD] Liliana of the Veil
4 [DKA] Faithless Looting
4 [M12] Smallpox
4 [FE] Hymn to Tourach (3)
4 [DKA] Lingering Souls

[Hardcore]

I have seen worse decks
Lingering souls, isn't that more of a defensive card? Making blockers?

[Hyped]

If running Raven's Crime, what is the appropriate number to include? 2 or 3?

I don't have a concrete decklist yet, but let's assume 1 or 2 dredgers to help get Raven's Crime in the GY, either Loam or Necroplasm.

Lilliana and Smallpox put Raven's Crime in the GY too. I am leaning towards Cabal Therapy as the next discard instead of Hymn since it can flashback out of the GY.

4 Raven's Crime is definitely too many, as retrace does not benefit from having multiple copies in the GY, but 1 seems like way too few. I have noticed most lists posted run only 1, but I feel that is too few. Any help would be appreciated.

I am intrigued by this as I feel focusing on discard rather than land destruction is what Pox needs to do in this meta. Maverick and MUD both frequently show up where I play, and both of those decks just smile when I put lands in their GY for them, hence taking out Sinkhole in favor of more discard and/or more threats.

[Dragon_mage]

Hi there!, I'm testing a list with green in the form of Life from the Loam and Pernicious Deed, this is my list:

Creatures [6]
4 Bloodghast
2 Abyssal Persecutor

Spells [30]
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Smallpox
4 Innocent Blood
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Liliana of the Veil
2 Life from the loam
2 Pernicious Deed
2 Sensei's Divining Top

Lands [24]
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Swamp
3 Wasteland
3 Verdant Catacombs
2 Bayou
1 Forest
1 Grim Backwoods
1 Cabal Pit
1 Dakmor Salvage

Sideborad [15]
4 Pithing Needle
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Faerie Macabre
2 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Krosan Grip
2 Abyssal Persecutor
1 Pernicious Deed

...my idea is to include the other 2 abbysal in game 2, because usually my oponents side in GY-hate, and that doesn't hurt us so much, so I think it's a good idea

the rest is mostly the same, a lot of discard (12 counting smallpox), some recurrence (4 bloodghast) nontargeting removal and the SDTop to make our topdeck better with the Loam to dredge the crap from the top and with some fetchs to change the top 3 cards when we need it....

what do you think about this list???

[Hardcore]

@Hyped,

try Entomb. Should be the thing with any card with retrace or dredge. Also good to bring the Nether spirit in play.

[Hardcore]

Klingon Disruptor 3.1b

Still under construction


4 Bloodghast
4 Geralf’s Messenger
3 Nihilith
4 Faerie Macabre
1 Nether Spirit
2 Desecration Elemental

4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Smallpox
4 Pox
4 Inquisition of Kozilek

2 Darkblast

3 Ratchet Bomb

23 Swamp

[berksowl]

Klingon Disruptor 3.1b

Still under construction


4 Bloodghast
4 Geralf’s Messenger
3 Nihilith
4 Faerie Macabre
1 Nether Spirit
2 Desecration Elemental

4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Smallpox
4 Pox
4 Inquisition of Kozilek

2 Darkblast

3 Ratchet Bomb

23 Swamp

With the Desecration Elemental, you have to sacrifice a creature even when they play a spell? They don't have to sacrifice any creatures for their own spells? Just wondering how well that fits in to this deck. Wouldn't you rather have a Tombstalker or a Phyrexian Obliterator or a Abyssal Persecutor as your fatty?

[Hardcore]

well, my guys mostly come back into play again.
But, sure, the timing of play is a judgement call.
I like his fear effect. I like dealing 8 damage that is hard to block for non-black
creatures. Especially after having played pox. He is easy to get in play, unlike TS.
It is too early to say if he works, or need to be replaced.

In short; he is fun. I guess he could be more playable in a bitterblossom deck.

[Hardcore]

At the suggestion of a friend I have put back the Dark Rituals, gravecrawlers, and removed Nihilith. Also added is Lodestone Bauble. Old school tech. Maybe it works?
Need to playtest it more because I have NO extra tech like edicts or Ratchet bombs right now.
Still, the weeenies make the deck faster. I can cast crawler an ghast T:1 and follow up with hymn T:2.

4 Bloodghast
4 Geralf’s Messenger
3 Faerie Macabre
2 Desecration Elemental
4 gravecrawler

4 Lodestone bauble
4 Dark Ritual
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Smallpox
4 Pox
4 Inquisition of Kozilek

21 Swamp

Going away over the weekend, so any testing will be resumed next week.

[feline]

Finished Liliana pox recently, played at 2 events since then as of this posting, record so far is 6 / 2, and my 2 losses are both in the finals, to the same person, and to rug! which is tough since I tested out against rug with the deck while trying to complete it and it was one of the matchup's that was less difficult for me. One of the games I lost, I just needed to draw one of the multiple cards that would cause my opponent to sacrifice a creature.

[Blue]

I tried to put together a pile that was as disruptive and redundant as possible.
I'm unsure of whether I want Dark Ritual or Mox Diamond. Dark Ritual is more explosive and Mox Diamond is a more stable accelerant.
I'm also unsure of whether I want Inquisition of Kozilek or perhaps Cabal Therapy. Inquisition of Kozilek almost guarantees a threat discarded, while Cabal Therapy means you're going to get all copies of a threat discarded. Not to mention you can flashback Cabal Therapy via Bloodghast and get the Blooghast back fairly quickly.
The last two cards I am unsure of are Bloodghast/Nether Spirit and Geth's Verdict/Innocent Blood. What would you suggest folks?
Any advice would be appreciated. :)

4 Mishra's Factory
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Wasteland
4 Scrubland
4 Polluted Delta
5 Swamp

4 Bloodghast (OR Nether Spirit)

3 Geth's Verdict (OR Innocent Blood)
4 Dark Ritual (OR Mox Diamond)
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Inquisition of Kozilek (OR Cabal Therapy)
4 Sinkhole
4 Smallpox
4 Liliana of the Veil
4 Vindicate

[Hardcore]

well, you are buildin a classic control pox, and the crucible of worlds variant.
Go look at the decklists for that type to get inspiration.

Geth's verdict sucks. that lifeloss is puny and not worth the extra mana cost.
if you are going to run fetch for white then you should really consider sensei's divining top

[iamfrightenedtoo]

StarCity Games Columbus next weekend.
I think this is the build that I will be playing.


4 Pox
4 Smallpox
4 Duress/IOK
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Dark Ritual
4 Underworld Dreams
3 Liliana of the Veil
3 Trinisphere
3 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Killing Wave
2 Cursed Scroll
1 Unmask/Raven's Crime (I really love Unmask, I might play them over Duress.)
1 Sense's Divining Top
20 Swamp

Sideboard is not set.
maybe something like
3 Chalice of the Void
3 Leyline of the Void/Grafdigger's Cage
3 Perish
2 Tombstalker
4 Bloodghast

I need a spot for a playset of Surgical extractions either board or main.. I like maindeck surgical in Pox, but cannot figure out what to remove in its place.

The 6 creatures in the sideboard, most likely will not stay. I was just thinking it would be, maybe a good Idea to have a way to kill off combo quicker. take out all the creature hate in replace of creatures. IDK

I am going to try and fit a play set of Chrome Mox in this build as well as 2 Tombstalker. I might take out one of the (one ofs) for a third Cursed Scroll.