[Primer/Deck] Pox

[Hardcore]

Thank you for the report!

Key to beating Burn is not life gain but to have a threat in play while playing lots of disruption.

[Chiptoon]

The mentioned Tom Ross list, which looks like legacy 8rack, is this the way to go now ? I'm new to the deck but i would like to build and play it more often. He showed that this deck can top8 in bigger tournaments

I have been testing 8-Rack in Modern and I think the deck is really strong there. My issue with it in Legacy is that counters and Abrupt Decay are much bigger threats in the format. I want to test his list or something close to it though because a change of pace is nice and who knows maybe it's better for the meta right now.

[OmniStrata]

Dealing with Burn is a focal point as it's a deck that simply top decks to kill. Deny him his mana. If you've got a Trinisphere or Sphere of Resistance, it's a bye. Another option is Sun Droplet, but I found it too narrow for a sideboard slot.

I may have missed the post, what's Tom Ross's 8 rack list?

[Hardcore]

CREATURES (1)
1 Nether Spirit
ENCHANTMENTS (2)
2 Shrieking Affliction
SORCERIES (20)
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Innocent Blood
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Raven’s Crime
4 Smallpox
3 Thoughtseize
INSTANTS (3)
1 Contagion
2 Funeral Charm
PLANESWALKERS (4)
4 Liliana of the Veil
ARTIFACTS (5)
1 Cursed Scroll
4 The Rack
LANDS (25)
13 Swamp
4 Mishra’s Factory
3 Wasteland
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
SIDEBOARD (15)
1 Chains of Mephistopheles
3 Leyline of the Void
1 Shrieking Affliction
2 Contagion
3 Spinning Darkness
1 Night of Souls’ Betrayal
2 Duress
1 Raven’s Crime
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale

[lilevo]

I played G/B Pox last night in the daily event I finished 3-1 (last opponent didn't show up)

http://www.twitch.tv/romariovidal/v/20442459

http://www.twitch.tv/romariovidal/v/20455031

I have been itching to play Pox on mtgo I played it a lot on paper but wasn't able to get my hands on Lilianas online until last week, I am probably going to be playing/streaming pox for the rest of the week, I am also going to try a few different things including going mono B.

[Amfibolos]

Hi lads,

unfortunately I need to part ways with my Pox therefore I have some canons ready to join other armies and here is the largest place filled with Pox fans who fancy those canons and can put them to good use.
Some of them are:
The Tabernacle At Pendrell Vale
Sinkhole
Nether Void
Chains of Mephistopheles


Although I didn't write much I enjoyed reading this thread.
Thanks a lot.
Cheers

[zenitramleirdag]

Thank you for the report!

Key to beating Burn is not life gain but to have a threat in play while playing lots of disruption.

that is one way to do it, i'm sure hardcore's more aggressive build can live up to this rule..i once ran a build where i had tombstalkers and desecration demons to kill my opponent quickly after disrupting them..no void or sphere effects since i had no plans of locking them out of the game ..just straight-up ""kick-the-legs-of-the-table-and-kill-them-while-they-are-still-off-balanced" strategy..i based that list off this:

http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=5868&d=234074




however, not all pox builds have those kinds of big threats..many mono-black prison pox lists have just 6-8 wincons in the main in the form of factories, spirits and scrolls..


in a field where i'd be expecting a lot of burn, i like to use cards against them which are also useful in other matches..i feel syphon life and sun droplet are a little narrow since its not specially good against other matchups..the best cards for our sideboard against burn is spinning darkness and trinishpere; take note that they are also good in many other matchups, spinning d. is good against delver decks, maverick, DnT, etc and trinisphere is good against storm, burn and other combo decks..

[zenitramleirdag]

Hi lads,

unfortunately I need to part ways with my Pox therefore I have some canons ready to join other armies and here is the largest place filled with Pox fans who fancy those canons and can put them to good use.
Some of them are:
The Tabernacle At Pendrell Vale
Sinkhole
Nether Void
Chains of Mephistopheles


Although I didn't write much I enjoyed reading this thread.
Thanks a lot.
Cheers

wow! sweet cards..you got all the expensive pox components!
but why are you giving up on pox? what's the matter, you don't love us anymore??

[Amfibolos]

It's not the case ;]
It's actually the competitve power I am saying goodbye to. The story's roots are a little bit broader and notwithstanding my unwillingness towards this concept, it can't be helped.
That is why if anyone wishes to strenghten their Pox, feel free to contact me.

[Aronesxd]

A Starcitygames article just presented a B/U Pox list feat baby-jace as a brew from Michael Majors . I have to say i thought last week about something similar but less blue, because he's cheap and when he get to a walker he doesn't hurt smallpox and innocent blood. Jace's second ability as a walker gives us not only cardadvantage but also a way to not just topdeck every turn. what i would also like to say is that standstill would be an auto include for me . The Deck would loose some raw power but get's more consistent.
As I said a few post earlier I'm quite new to this deck so not all off my thought might be solid proofed :)
What are your thoughts about that ?

[jredelstein]

A Starcitygames article just presented a B/U Pox list feat baby-jace as a brew from Michael Majors . I have to say i thought last week about something similar but less blue, because he's cheap and when he get to a walker he doesn't hurt smallpox and innocent blood. Jace's second ability as a walker gives us not only cardadvantage but also a way to not just topdeck every turn. what i would also like to say is that standstill would be an auto include for me . The Deck would loose some raw power but get's more consistent.
As I said a few post earlier I'm quite new to this deck so not all off my thought might be solid proofed :)
What are your thoughts about that ?

The points of adding Jace are valid, I don't think Pox is the place for him though. As far as I am concerned Pox (GB Pox in my case) is one of the best decks at going long. Jace clogs up the early turns, you can't play jace on turn 2 when you want to be casting Smallpox or Hymn. I do think he has merits in the mid and late game but those are not an issue for Pox. I do think it would be sweet to flash back a Smallpox with him though.

As far as Standstill goes, I love the card but, we are a proactive control deck, we attack our opponents hands, mana, and creatures. We cannot afford to sit behind a Standstill and wait. I think a UB Standstill deck could work but I don't think smallpox has a place in it :(

[OmniStrata]

The points of adding Jace are valid, I don't think Pox is the place for him though. As far as I am concerned Pox (GB Pox in my case) is one of the best decks at going long. Jace clogs up the early turns, you can't play jace on turn 2 when you want to be casting Smallpox or Hymn. I do think he has merits in the mid and late game but those are not an issue for Pox. I do think it would be sweet to flash back a Smallpox with him though.

As far as Standstill goes, I love the card but, we are a proactive control deck, we attack our opponents hands, mana, and creatures. We cannot afford to sit behind a Standstill and wait. I think a UB Standstill deck could work but I don't think smallpox has a place in it :(

Yes, we are on the pounce so to speak. Standstill was made obsolete due to Counterbalance generating better card advantage. I will quit playing this deck if someone actually builds a competitive Counter-Balanced Pox deck so help me!

I think on top of being a proactive instead of defensive control deck, we are also the most difficult deck archetype to defend against. Everyone I've asked tells me that sideboarding vs. Pox is an absolute nightmare. You're either a Dredge deck who likes getting Poxed, or a deck that has nothing in the board to use save Pithing Needles...

[lilevo]

It's not a new thing for writers to post deck lists to hype a card and therefor drive the price up, do you guys remember how good Tibalt was supposed to be?

I realy don't think Jace, Vryn's Prodigy has a place in Pox at least not in the current configurations of the deck.

[jredelstein]

if someone actually builds a competitive Counter-Balanced Pox deck so help me!

Challenge Accepted!

In a couple weeks I will either report back with a list or report back that I don't think it is good.

[OmniStrata]

Challenge Accepted!

In a couple weeks I will either report back with a list or report back that I don't think it is good.

OH KARP!

That 8 rack list, I only counted 6 rack effects...
Contagion? The black equivalent of Force of Will (for 2 weenies lolz) Nice to see old school cards showing up again. This got 1st in a tournament?

[Chiptoon]

Yes, we are on the pounce so to speak. Standstill was made obsolete due to Counterbalance generating better card advantage. I will quit playing this deck if someone actually builds a competitive Counter-Balanced Pox deck so help me!

I think on top of being a proactive instead of defensive control deck, we are also the most difficult deck archetype to defend against. Everyone I've asked tells me that sideboarding vs. Pox is an absolute nightmare. You're either a Dredge deck who likes getting Poxed, or a deck that has nothing in the board to use save Pithing Needles...

I could actually see Counter-Top Pox being decent. Is that a good home for Temporal Mastery? It allows the Pox deck to get ahead on resources, tick up their Planeswalker''s loyalty counters faster, and some other shenanigans. I kind of like the idea actually too bad it requires such a heavy blue investment.

[zenitramleirdag]

while seeing jace ran alongside liliana is really thematically cool, i have to agree with jredelstein that it feels like it'll clog our early turns which in pox, usually has to be spent on disruption..in mono black, we often run 12 2-drops already(hymn to tourach, sinkhole, smallpox) so running young jace seems counter-intuitive..

i would love to see him in a u/g or a bug brew though, maybe with Gilder Bairn? i dunno?

on contagion, i've been testing it a lot lately as a 1 or 2-of, its not bad for mono black pox..but personally, i prefer darkblast if your purpose is to kill creatures with 1 toughness..i think darkblast is more versatile because you can also do some graveyard shenanigans with it with cards like nether spirit, bloodghast, raven's crime, filth, etc..darkblast is also reusable..


contagion can kill a 2-toughness creature if you distribute all its -2/-1 counters on a single creature..darkblast too, if you do its upkeep trick..

darkblast is also a better topdeck than contagion since you don't have to worry about discarding it to liliana since you can dredge it back anyway..

one thing that really shines on contagion is that it can be cast for free..use it if you want, it aint bad, you can even run it with darkblast if you wish..

[zenitramleirdag]

It's not a new thing for writers to post deck lists to hype a card and therefor drive the price up..

that is an important thing to keep in mind when reading about player's articles on certain cards/decks..

[OmniStrata]

I think the only reason I don't run Contagion is the same reason why we completely devour Force of Will plays. The card disadvantage. If only it said "discard" instead of exile...

I already run Dark Ritual and Smallpox which destroys cards, but allows us GY tricks. If I need to kill 2 1-toughness creatures, I'll let Engineered Plague do it, but I'll admit, giving a single biggie -4/-2 sounds like a great idea to totally negate a creature's damage while you wait for your Ensnaring Bridge or top decked Innocent Bloods, or heck, kill it with your Nether Spirit during the damage dance. I just, don't have any more space in my 60!

I just have to remember, the idea isn't to fix my top decks. The nature of the deck is inconsistent, but it's the price I pay to ruin the enemy's top decks.

Ensnaring Bridge, Night of Souls' Betrayal, Engineered Plague ruin top decked creatures. Trinisphere and Nether Void ruin top decked spells. If only there was a way to ruin top decked lands outside Contamination, then we'd be practically perfect.

[Hardcore]

ankh of mishra