[Primer/Deck] Pox

[slave]

it actually depends on the meta..right now, it seems like dredge have fallen a bit out of flavour(not necessary non-existent because it still out there)because of the plethora of gravehate usually even in the main so many feel that surgicals and/or extirpates would suffice..but leyline of the void is actually a common sideboard material in pox..

Okay, thanks.

[gatherer]

I love this deck and I enjoy playing it, but the meta game I'm in has a bunch of Burn decks. Which aren't too bad to deal with, however because of that there is a bunch of Leyline of Sanctity in the format, which just so happen to hose a bunch of the cards in Pox. Looking for suggestions on how to combat that card in this deck.

[Kihashi]

I love this deck and I enjoy playing it, but the meta game I'm in has a bunch of Burn decks. Which aren't too bad to deal with, however because of that there is a bunch of Leyline of Sanctity in the format, which just so happen to hose a bunch of the cards in Pox. Looking for suggestions on how to combat that card in this deck.

Honestly, your best bet for Leyline of Sanctity is to play green. The card makes a lot of your deck useless and black has no real way to deal with it. If you don't want to splash green (or white, although I think the green splash is stronger in general), then your best bet is ratchet bomb. Alternately, you can side out all of your targeted spells, but I think that removes too much from the core of the deck.

[Hardcore]

A transformational sideboard can be rewarding.
If your opponents have access to leyline, then a) they do not play combo, and b) the temptation to board it in against discard will be irresistible. In this situation you don't NEED hymns and thoughtseize. Board them out and bring in stuff like Tombstalkers and ratchet bombs. Now your opponent not only have 3-4 useless cards in deck but must also adapt to your new strategy with four less of the cards that constituted his basic deck.

[OmniStrata]

After facing down Leyline of Sanctity and other such nonsense, I've come up with a solid conclusion as a Mono-B Pox player.

Ignore it with indirect 'fire' threats. Cursed Scroll gets shut down, but not The Rack or Tombstalker. Bottomless Pit and Necrogen Mists ignore Leylines. I'd board out the Dark Rituals for them since Leyline defense isn't about speed but attrition. As Pox, we ARE the attrition deck...

With my current Sideboard, I'd more than likely board out Inqusition, Hymn, and Dark Ritual for Engineered Plagues, Ensnaring Bridge (dependant on enemy threat size), Pithing Needles, Tombys, and perhaps GY hate. I used to think bringing in things like Ratchet Bomb to deal with 4 cmc Leylines was best, but does it make any sense (outside Dredge) to have a sideboard for anti-sideboard or anti-decks?

[Hardcore]

I agree. Also if ratchet bomb is all You got then it is what one should board in.

[OmniStrata]

I agree. Also if ratchet bomb is all You got then it is what one should board in.

Luckily, the beauty of Ratchet bomb is it's versatility and narrow aim. It handles tokens faster than Engineered Plague [no Dark Rit needed]. I have killed Jace with R bomb, but looking back, a Pithing Needle would have been the same result. That and Needle kills any potential Jace in his hand which is now VERY important with the new Legend Rule.

So R. Bomb is great so long as you're not doing something silly like Ratchet Bombing a Pithing Needle. They might Needle your Bomb If you're feeling old school, I'd even consider Nevinnyrral's Disc if total wipe doesn't faze you.

[zenitramleirdag]

if it weren't for the scrolls, voids and spheres and the latest addition; night of soul's betrayal....i'd really try to squeeze the disks in my deck..maybe with a couple of buried ruins too to recur them..

i might probably run creatures that don't care getting blown up by the disks: bloodghasts, nether spirit, epochrasite, etc..

its fun, though i'm not sure how competitive it's going to be..

[jimmythegreek]

Is waste not a real card and if so I can only imagine its gonna go nicely in this deck....right?

[OmniStrata]

Is waste not a real card and if so I can only imagine its gonna go nicely in this deck....right?

Though I saw the description, I dislike the mechanic since it's not strong alone. To make this deck the strongest it can be, you want cards that are already powerful by themselves. Kind of like how RUG Thresh is designed. In our case, we pack the BEST Swamp powered disruption. Our threats come in the form of artifacts or Black creatures that won't die. I don't have space for Waste Not as I like to disrupt more than synergize, oddly enough.

[zenitramleirdag]

Though I saw the description, I dislike the mechanic since it's not strong alone. To make this deck the strongest it can be, you want cards that are already powerful by themselves. Kind of like how RUG Thresh is designed. In our case, we pack the BEST Swamp powered disruption. Our threats come in the form of artifacts or Black creatures that won't die. I don't have space for Waste Not as I like to disrupt more than synergize, oddly enough.

i have the same feeling towards it, but moreso than that, i feel that it will ensure that mind twist will never be unbanned..

also, i wouldn't know which card to replace if i were to run it..

[Chatto]

Maybe somebody has a briljant built already, but I also felt the same way. First I was estatic about Waste Not, but after some trails I felt like mweh, maybe not. Waste Not could work, but I think in non-Pox centric built...

[OmniStrata]

i have the same feeling towards it, but moreso than that, i feel that it will ensure that mind twist will never be unbanned..

also, i wouldn't know which card to replace if i were to run it..

Mind Twist [banned], Mind Shatter [also terrible], both are inferior to the might of HYMN TO TOURACH! Heck, I'd even use Wrench Mind over either due to the efficiency. Gerrard's Verdict as well for the Vaka builds.

[OmniStrata]

2nd Legacy local tournament! Same deck, new meta! (different card shop) This is the abridged report, the detailed report I'll post when I get home to my notes.

Game 1 Round 1: Pox vs. Painter's Servant/Grindstone + Thopter/Sword of the Meek hybrid home brew.
I'm on the draw. He starts off turn 1 with LED, Island, Mox Opal and SDT. I flinch thinking some sort of combo deck, then I smirk inside realizing my deck has never lost against combo after fighting 5 different combo decks ^_^
After disrupting using Inquisition, Hymn, and Sinkhole with 2 smallpoxes, a Mishra's factory carries me to victory.

Game 1 Round 2: Urborg, 2 Mishras', Dark Ritual, and 2 Hymn to Tourachs in the tits draw automatically seal his fate. He's in top deck mode by turn 3 and I make a fatal misplay by not using Liliana during a critical point. He manages to get a City of Traitors, Sword of the Meek and Thopter foundry up. [these are his only permanents] and he almost steals the win from me. I top deck a Night of Souls' Betrayal and laugh maniacally inside. Tombstalker from the SB Cleaves his soul in two. (1 game won)

Game 2 Round 1: Pox vs. Bant. I've hated this matchup due to the extreme card advantage / mana advantage brought by Noble Hierarchs and SDT. I'm on the draw and after multiple Innocent Bloods killing his opening Hierarchs, I couldn't Sink/Waste any of his mana and he manages to use GSZ for a Knight of the Reliquary with a Jitte on field. She skins me alive at 9 damage a hit. Nether Spirit couldn't chump her :(

Game 2 Round 2: SB Leylines to deny his Knight of Reliquary. I pithing needle naming Jitte turn 1 but he manages to Detention Sphere all my relevant permanents. I even ended up with two Leylines [one was DS'd] Still loss due to running out of steam and a resolved top. (1 - 1)

Game 3 : I didn't do any notes for this cause I was up against one of my best friends playing Landstill. I fight that matchup too many damn times and I hate it. My deck seems to solidify my hatred for this matchup due to mana screw and I couldn't kill him with Cursed Scroll when I needed it most. Game 2 my Pithing Needle gets Detention sphered and his Elspeth Sun's Champion (yes it works) murders me. (1 - 2)

Game 4: U/W Counterbalance. I didn't understand why there was a red splash with Volcanic Islands and his opening hand which I inquisitioned led me to believe it was Threshold for a second. I lost game one on the draw but won game 2 due to a Hymn to Tourach booboo. He placed his cards face down and I rolled a die to determine which card gets discarded. He reveals a land and the 2nd random discard, he flips the wrong card and reveals a fetchland. The judge is watching and says discard them anyway since it was random even though he flipped the wrong card. I knew he didn't like that but as far as I'm concerned, flipping a card, and then changing his mind to flip the 'right' one from the die roll would have been ethically incorrect anyway. Game 3 I get mana screwed and Jace fatesealed me to hell [fateseal hit me for a nonstop string of swamps, he never needed to to put any on the bottom] I was mind sculpted... (1 - 3)

This meta is very light on creatures. I didn't see a single tribal deck. I'm starting to consider bringing in Shadow of Doubt to blank all the Fetchlands and I ran into some tutors as well. This 12 player meta seems to be Combo and Midrange based.

[zenitramleirdag]

was the Painter's Servant/Grindstone + Thopter/Sword of the Meek deck you've faced / or //? last saturday i playtested against an esper build that has the same wincon with an enlightened tutor toolbox, he even has pithing needle maindeck..engineered and ratchet bomb is really good against this deck..



what does your SB look like right now omnistrata..

[OmniStrata]

was the Painter's Servant/Grindstone + Thopter/Sword of the Meek deck you've faced / or //? last saturday i playtested against an esper build that has the same wincon with an enlightened tutor toolbox, he even has pithing needle maindeck..engineered and ratchet bomb is really good against this deck..



what does your SB look like right now omnistrata..

2 Pithing Needle
2 Tombstalker
3 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Engineered Plague
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Surgical Extraction

Any suggestions for GSZ decks? Nic Fit and Bant come to mind. And Counterbalance/Landstill. U/W are issues.

[Chatto]

2 Pithing Needle
2 Tombstalker
3 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Engineered Plague
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Surgical Extraction

Any suggestions for GSZ decks? Nic Fit and Bant come to mind. And Counterbalance/Landstill. U/W are issues.

I would suggest Gravedigger's Cage. It served me well, and also tackles Dredge, Elves and Reanimator (the latter not being big in my meta)

I have no idea how to battle Counterbalance/ Landstill. I really like/ hope to dodge them, or splash Green if it's big in your meta?... Perhaps Ratchet Bomb, but it will be too slow. Best chance is to grab it with pinpoint-discard, then Extract them. Then again I really think it's a tough MU

[OmniStrata]

I would suggest Gravedigger's Cage. It served me well, and also tackles Dredge, Elves and Reanimator (the latter not being big in my meta)

I have no idea how to battle Counterbalance/ Landstill. I really like/ hope to dodge them, or splash Green if it's big in your meta?... Perhaps Ratchet Bomb, but it will be too slow. Best chance is to grab it with pinpoint-discard, then Extract them. Then again I really think it's a tough MU

Any deck that inherently generates card advantage to counter our disadvantage is a bad matchup I used to run Ratchet Bomb but I'm considering an old staple in Nevinyrral's Disk. If I'm worried about token decks, like some combo, the Plagues/Bridges and Night of Souls' Betrayal should be plenty.

I'm not a fan of cage since resources can be 'saved' in a GY for later due to cage leaving it alone. I prefer Relic of Prog or Tormod's Crypt or even Leyline of the Void [ultimate GY killer]. Go back to Ratchet Bomb? I'm not sure what to remove. I know I had fun using Tomby to get around Counterbalance in a hilarious manner but a card that buys me time for a long game [Night of Souls] is better than a card that buys me 1 turn [Damnation, Infest, etc.]

Thanks for the suggestions though. Mana dorks luckily fall to Plague and NoSB [cept the 0/2 Planeswalking Elf wannabe, grr]

[Hardcore]

I plan on run chalice of the void. Given that I run only a few 1 cc spells it will be worth it.

[yuMi-]

I'm running BG pox with average results.

25 lands:
2 Bayou
2 Overgrown Tomb
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Marsh Flats
2 Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Maze of Ith
4 Wasteland
4 Mishra's Factory
1 Bojuka Bog
2 Barren Moor
1 Cabal Pit

35 other:
1 Nether Spirit
4 Abrupt Decay
4 Smallpox
4 Innocent Blood
4 Liliana of the Veil
4 Dark Ritual
1 Mox Diamond
1 Entomb
1 Crop Rotation
1 Raven's Crime
2 Thoughtseize
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Hymn to Tourach
2 Life from the Loam
1 Cursed Scroll

My side is dedicated against D&T and graveyard strategies, since there are a lot of those over here.

Maindeck changes I'll do for this week: -1 Crop Rotation -1 Maze of Ith -1 Overgrown Tomb +1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth +1 Pox +1 Swamp