I just run 2x Sinkhole for extra/Basic land destructionOriginally Posted by Captain Hammer
The problem with GQ is that you are at card disadvantage when you use it if your enemy has at least 4 basics in deck. It is hilarious to use against a deck that attempts to hide cards from a hymn to Tourach using Brainstorm. Counterbalance Decks can get screwed up if you GQ them in the middle of a trigger, though it depends on how much mana they have at the time. Crucible won't be countered if your enemy is in top deck mode due to countering your 16 other spells that 'must be countered'.
By including Crucible, I'll need more 'spell lands'. I've squeezed in Maze of Ith and Ghost Quarter and Cabal Pit into my current build. Hymn is back and my land count has dropped back to my 'usual' 24. Went from 2 Nether Spirit to 1 pre TC ban to 2 again.
The Singleton crucible still gives me the freedom to ignore enemy graveyard hate. It's just an option, not a core method to this Pox flavor. Older lists I remember run 2-3 crucibles.
Three Lilianas to rule them all. One Pox to find them. Smallpox to bring them all and in the Sinkhole bind them!
are you on mono black hovercraft? i can justify 3 sinkholes but 3 seems amiss to me..can you explain your numbers?
Omni, tnx for that info! I had completely missed that use for GQ. Sounds like I have some fun times to look forward too! 😸
I'm on B/g loam pox. Not sure what your question is asking since you said 3 both times. Right now I have 3 hymn, 2 sinkhole and 2 smallpox at BB I believe
are you on mono black hovercraft? i can justify 3 sinkholes but 2 seems amiss to me..can you explain your numbers?
and only 2 smallpox?
-there, fixed that..sorry, i was too tired to realize that i typed it wrong..
haven't tried the green splash..so i'm a bit green about splashing green(no pun intended)..
I played a 67 player tournanemt on sunday. Went 15th place with 4-1-2.
This is the list I ended up playing:
Land
1x Cabal Pit
4x Marsh Flats
4x Mishra's Factory
6x Swamp
3x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2x Verdant Catacombs
4x Wasteland
Enchantment
1x Night of Souls' Betrayal
Planeswalker
4x Liliana of the Veil
Sorcery
3x Hymn to Tourach
4x Innocent Blood
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Sinkhole
4x Smallpox
Artifact
1x Crucible of Worlds
2x Cursed Scroll
3x Sensei's Divining Top
Creature
1x Nether Spirit
Instant
4x Dark Ritual
1x Empty the Pits
Sideboard
1x Duress
1x Hymn to Tourach
3x Ensnaring Bridge
2x Extirpate
1x Night of Souls' Betrayal
2x Nihil Spellbomb
2x Spinning Darkness
2x Toxic Deluge
1x Trinisphere
I did not play Nether Void, as I didn't want to borrow one, and I could not get my hands on a Haunted Plate Mail before the tourney.
Ended up playing 4 Rituals and 24 lands instead of 3 Rituals and 25 lands, just because ^^ Couldn't say it made much of a difference.
Playing Rituals felt good, and I will keep them in my deck for a while again.
Round 1
Sneak & Show 1-1-1
Game 1: I manage to disrupt quite a bit, but he then Show and Tells Grieselbrand, draws 14 cards going down to 4, plays some mana and passes. I cant deal 4 damage but I can kill Grieselbrand.I put him at 2 life and have to pass. He drops Sneak Attack, and attacks for lethal with another Grieselbrand and Emrakul.
-1 NoSB, -1 Crusible, -3 SDT
+3 Ensnaring Bridge, +1 Duress, +1 Hymn to Tourach
Game 2: I have all the disruption I need and can put my opponent into top deck mode, without anything usefull on the board. And then I take ages to find a wincon and beat him.
Game 3: I know I cant win this anymore, because its not enough time, so I just mulligan to a save hand that can stall the game out. Show and Tell into Ensnaring Bridge is enough to not lose.
Round 2:
UWr Miracle 1-2
I know this deck quite well, as it is played by a good friend of mine. I hate playing against him (but he's not very happy about playing against me either). He ended up 2nd place.
Game 1: I manage to lock him out of having more than 3 lands in play. Most of the time he was on 2 lands. Factory beatdown does the rest. Sinkhole is amazing in this matchup, and small poxing a board with no creatures, if you know he has few lands, seems worth it (at least it worked for me in this game)
+1 Duress, +1 Hymn to Tourach, +1 Trinishpere (+1 NoSB, cant remember if I did this or not. He plays Snapcaster and Vendillion, so I might have boarded it in)
-3 (4) Innocent Blood
Game 2: He gets an early Countertop online, and I am mana screwed. I concede in order to have enough time for game 3.
Game 3: I can't disrupt him as much as I did game 1, but manage to keep his lands at 3. He has a Counterbalance in play, that shows me an Entreat the Angels. In his turn he casts Entreat for X=1. That lone Angel token kills me as I cant resolve any removal. I think he found a Top in addition to the Balance too while the Angel was beating me.
0 - 1 - 1 so far... not looking good.
Round 3:
UG Enchantress Pile 2-0
I know this deck a little. The guy playing it is from my local playgroup. It's a strange list, using Cloud of Faries and Seal of Removal in order to untap his lands. I have no idea how his deck is supposed to win ^^; But I know he doesnt win against me.
Game 1:
Discard and Sinkhole rip him appart. Just playing Pox by the book.
-1 Crucible, -2 SDT, +1 Duress, +1 Hymn to Tourach, +1 Trinisphere
Game 2:
Much the same as game 1. He had quite a strong hand, and could have started comboing turn 2, but IoK took his Enchantress.
2 - 0
Standing 1 - 1 - 1 now. Maybe I can still climb the ranks :D
Round 4:
UB ToporNought 2-0
Game 1: He starts his turn with USea into Gitaxian Probe. I put him on a combo deck. I have no 1cc discard, so I have to hope he doesnt combo turn 2. He doesnt, just plays a cantrip. My turn 2 I start casting small poxes, in order to keep him from going off. He is still just casting cantrips. After my 2nd Smallpox he discarded a Phyrexian Dreadnought, leaving me a bit confused. On his turn he then casts Topor Orb, and I finally get his deck. An IoK shows me a Daze and Spell Pierce in addition to more fatties. I know I have to get a Liliana out, in order to not be overwhelmed. Next turn he casts Dig through Time and Dreadnought, leaving him with no mana. Because of this mistake I can Dark Ritual my Liliana through his Daze, kill his Dreadnought, and win the game on the back of Lili.
Game 2:
+3 Ensnaring Bridge, -3 SDT
He lands an early Nought, I can kill it. I think he FoW'd my first Liliana, and he manages to go into top deck mode much faster than I do. Pox does its thing, and I win. Having Ensnaring Bridge in play was a nice bonus :D
Round 5:
Maverik & Taxes.. or Death & Maverik, dunno :D 1-1-1
Game 1: This was an exausting game. I could disrupt him early on, but he could get some damage through. I had NoSB in hand, but couldnt play it, becaus he had a Qasali Pridemage. I managed to get rid of it, and of all his lands, going down to 2 in the process. NoSB gave me some freedom (and my opponent some headache, as he threw 3 creatures into it everytime forgetting, they have -1/-1). I had Liliana in play, and felt quite save, but he found an Aether Vile that eventually led to me loosing.
+1 NoSB, +2 Spinning Darkness, +2 Toxic Deluge, -4 Dark Ritual, -1 X (I guess SDT or Crucible, cant remember)
Game 2: As exausting as game 1, but I cant remember much of this game. Smallpoxes and Sinkholes did much work, and Factories finished it.
Game 3: We had 3 Minutes left. I knew I would not win this, but neither could my opponent. Extra turns started turn 3. Nothing much happened. My opponent tried to get a win via Knight of the Reliquary + Dark Depth/Tespian Stage combo, but he didnt have the time.
Standing 2 - 1 - 2 now.
Round 6: RUG Delver 2-0
Game 1: On the play I keep an explosive hand, and start with Swamp, Dark Ritual, Liliana. He FoW's. He drops a Volcanic and passes. I play Wasteland, kill his Volcanic. He floats U, I go to combat in order to empty his pool. Second mainphase I Dark Ritual my Crucible. He looks unhappy. Wasteland/Crucible lock win the game.
+2 Spinning Darkness, +1 NoSB, -3 SDT
Game 2: He plays it save, just dropping lands and keeping his creatures in hand. Also he had a Pithing Needle in play, naming Liliana. When he finally had two creatues to play, I happened to have a Spinning Darkness, to deal with both of his creatures. Spinning Darkness his delver, so he has to sacrifice his Nimble Mongoose to Smallpox. He looks unhappy again. After I drop NoSB, he concedes.
3 - 1 - 2
Round 7: RIP/Helm Miracle 2-1
Game 1: Another Miracle list.. I hate it. I do what I can to disrupt him. He drops an early RiP, following up with Counterbalance and Top. I concede, in order to win game 2+3 in time.
+1 Trinisphere, +1 Hymn to Tourach, +1 Duress, -1 Empty the Pits, -1 Crucible, -1 Dark Ritual
Game 2: Sinkhole and Wasteland do amazing work, and keep him from doing much. He plays Pithing Needle naming Wasteland. I guess he was afraid of Crucible, because I already played 2 Wastelands. Naming Liliana or Mishras Factory would have been the better play. I get Liliana into play, and I can use her -6 two times, before I finally managed to kill him with Factories.
Game 3: He plays land + pass. I 1cc discard him, he brainstorms in response and shows me a hand with 6 lands.. *sigh* Unfortunally he never really drew anything else but lands. I attacked him with two factories. He managed to StP one of them, but the other finished the job.
Standing 4 - 1 - 2 resulting in 15th place of 67.
I'm quite happy with my result. If I had managed to get a win out of one the draws, I might even have gotten a price ^^
I really want to try Haunted Plate Mail instead of Empty the Pits, and I guess I'll use a 1 of Trinisphere main deck until I can get a Nether Void.
Senseis Divining Top is amazing in grindy matchups, but gets boarded out in a lot of matches where I dont need to prepare for late game, because my opponents dont have one.
Ensnaring Bridge did a lot for me. I got them a few days before the tournament, and this was the first time I played with them. Putting an Ensnaring Bridge into play with my opponents Show and Tell feels very satisfying :D
My List deviates a bit from a traditional Pox plan. I use Dark Depths as a win con with Living Wish and Loam to assemble it. I am also playing Mox Diamond and Chalice of the Void to get that Chalice on 1. Because of this I don't play any 1 drops myself. Exact numbers I am constantly tinkering with, but I actually only own 2 Sinkhole. I was kinda looking at Sinkhole/Smallpox as 4 cards in the same spot. I am open to any suggestions or comments though :)are you on mono black hovercraft? i can justify 3 sinkholes but 2 seems amiss to me..can you explain your numbers?
and only 2 smallpox?
-there, fixed that..sorry, i was too tired to realize that i typed it wrong..
haven't tried the green splash..so i'm a bit green about splashing green(no pun intended)..
1 Barren Moor
3 Bayou
3 Dark Depths
1 Forest
2 Swamp
3 Thespian's Stage
1 Tranquil Thicket
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wasteland
1 Windswept Heath
4 Mox Diamond
2 Trinisphere
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Sinkhole
2 Smallpox
3 Hymn to Tourach
3 Liliana of the Veil
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Beast Within
1 Powder Keg
1 Toxic Deluge
3 Life from the Loam
4 Living Wish
1 Sylvan Library
Sideboard:
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Golgari Charm
1 Sphere of Resistance
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Dark Depths
1 Gatekeeper of Malakir
1 Glacial Chasm
1 Maze of Ith
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Reclamation Sage
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Thespian's Stage
1 Tombstalker
1 Vampire Hexmage
CARDINAL SIN!YOU never say Sinkhole and Smallpox can be in the same spot!
BB to kill a land or BB to kill a Land, creature, and Hand... omg! BB S.Pox also says screw your fetchland
Seriously though, if you only have space for it, go 4 Smallpox, don't worry about the Sinkhole.
Three Lilianas to rule them all. One Pox to find them. Smallpox to bring them all and in the Sinkhole bind them!
same thing as what i have in mind..Seriously though, if you only have space for it, go 4 Smallpox, don't worry about the Sinkhole.
The main reason I haven't gone 4 smallpox is that I can't cast it after I make a ML token, but I guess that should usually end the game anywayCARDINAL SIN!
Seriously though, if you only have space for it, go 4 Smallpox, don't worry about the Sinkhole.
Good job man! Way to rock our pox!
@ Charon: nice job! Haunted Plate Mail should be ok... I've never tried it myself, but people have tested it with positive results. One question: what is Mav & Taxes?
"Be it ever so crumbled, there's no place like home."
RGCL (GQ)
Youtube-playlist dedicated to RGCL
Mav & Taxes was a funny deck. The guy that played it, said he tried to combine Death and Taxes with Maverik. He played DnT stuff like Aether Vile, Thalia, Mother of Runes, but also Knight of the Reliquary, Dark Depth/Tespian Stage and Qasali Pridemage.
He wins by forcing conceit by bouncing your board or hard casting Emry. Pox pretty bad MU for him. Enchantress engine doesn't dodge Edict effects and that makes his engine break down.
I'd like to play Bitter Ordeal..
Unlike Extirpate it can remove cards not yet n play, and pox feed the gravestorm.
Definitely interesting after a Smallpox, or even a Wasteland
Fetch land, play cabal therapy, sacrifice recuring creature to flashback therapy, play wasteland, play Bitter Ordeal.
For decks like miracles it would be GG
That would be so funny. Hope you get it to work.
Sideboard update:
Leyline of Sanctities getting you down? Are free brainstorms from Jace getting on your nerves? Do you feel helpless when an enemy just shuts off your best abilities and Liliana with a God darned Pithing needle? Normally sideboard is best for things like extreme combo. Either they Dredge rush you with 50 zombie tokens, you get stomped by Empty the Warrens, or they SneakShow your skull.
Control is an issue for me since they can go long games and it's hard for a Pox shell to have a 'safe' form of inevitability. TC getting banned does help. New sideboard for my meta.
2 Pithing Needle
3 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Engineered Plague
2 Extirpate
3 Relic of Progenitus
1 The Rack
1 Underworld Dreams
If I find Liliana getting pinned by an enemy Jace backed by Pithing Needle, I may change out one Relic for Oppression/Bottomless Pit. Against control, having more 'hard to kill' win conditions seems the right call. We can't really increase our killing speed with things like Tombstalker and I can't build an effective 'Aggro' Pox. Game against combo is good, but having more ways to kill my control deck enemy seemed to work better than board nuking.
Know of any other alt-win cons that don't target players below 3 cmc?
Three Lilianas to rule them all. One Pox to find them. Smallpox to bring them all and in the Sinkhole bind them!
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