Pox

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drmarkb
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Post by drmarkb » 4 years ago

The POX primer


Hello and welcome to the POX primer. In this primer we will explore the different versions of Pox, give a little bit of history, and most importantly look at decklists and core card choices for each of the types of Pox. If you are already familiar with Pox decks, then feel free to skip the introduction parts of the primer.
Introduction
What is Pox? A brief history and guide
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Pox is the name given to attrition-based strategies that were originally based on using the namesake card Pox and Smallpox. These cards acted symmetrically under normal circumstances, but when built around became asymmetrical. The aim was to restrict the opponent's primary resources- lands, creatures and hand size. You avoided hurting your own creatures by playing cards such as Nether Spirit as your only creature, aside from man lands such as Mishra's factory, a strategy still seen in some current Pox builds. Cards like Cursed Scroll took advantage of low numbers of cards in hand caused by the Pox-ing. The deck was traditionally mono-black, and relied on the availability of good hand destruction and land destruction, backed up by a Nether Void to finally lock the opponent out of the game whilst being able to Scroll and man-land the final points of damage under the aforementioned Nether void. The deck was, and still is to an extent, associated with Reid Duke, and many people still talk about his deck lists, although it must be noted that whilst he created videos of him playing the deck, he was normally seemed to playing other Legacy decks at paper events.
The deck has always had, shall we say, a certain reputation for being the Mtg equivalent of something that might have been written by de Sade, and there always were its fair share of haters. A sarcastic "Fun deck, huh" was sometimes the response as the first Sinkhole did its work and the opponent realised that the game might go rather long. Nowadays, I find, completely anecdotally of course, that the deck has a bit of a mystique, often comprising of cards that simply don't see play anywhere else backed up by ubiquitous discards cards like Hymn to Tourach that are also used in many unloved strategies, and thus the reception for a Pox player is far more positive than it once was, at least until you beat them :grin: .
Pox decks in the modern era
As most of you will know, Pox decks don't actually run "daddy pox", and have not done so really since Innistrad came out and gave us Liliana of the Veil. Over the years we have seen an increased supply of powerful planeswalkers, and gained a fair few utility lands, whilst the supply of land destruction, enchantment lock cards and hand discard has not expanded concomitantly. The term "Pox" as used on MTG TOP 8 normally includes a range of decks that vary quite widely in their construction, none of which contain the original "Pox".

Let us briefly introduce the types of Pox decks.....

Traditional mono-b pox
This type of deck is based on attrition, with a focus on landkill, handkill and lock pieces. It wins via nibbling away over a number of turns, looking to ultimate planeswalkers. There are a couple of these that splash a tad for Red, but the vast majority are, and always have been mono-b.

Rack Pox
This again is normally mono-b, but is characterised by the inclusion of cards like The Rack and Bloodghast. It wins more quickly than Traditional, is much cheaper to build in terms of finance, and has less focus on landkill and lock cards and is a cousin of Modern format's "8 rack". It is less common to see this type of deck than traditional strategies, and I won't go into it in as much detail as Traditional pox, but it does pop up from time to time.

GB Loam Pox and BW Pox
The former is a Life from the Loam deck, and I won't be discussing it here. I think it deserves a Primer of its own, although if people want to talk about it in the thread, then that is welcome too. The latter is a Lingering Souls deck with Mox diamond that runs Vindicate and can end up closer to Deadguy Ale. It is a bit antiquated, although one 2018 KMC build resurrected it, but I won't be discussing it beyond this section, although I am happy for any Pox discussion to include this. I think that to include other colours would make a huge primer even more unwieldy.

Untraditional Mono-B pox

In this section we can look at mono-B control strategies that normally get reported as "Pox" but are variants, sharing much with Traditional pox but having a substantial element away from the main established strategies, such as using more Delve creatures and milling oneself with War of the Spark's Ashiok, Dream Render, or putting in a Snow theme, running the Dark Depths and Thespian's Stage combo or even focusing more on the Leyline of the Void -Helm of Obedience combo more often seen in the sideboard of Traditional pox.
Traditional Pox
Traditional Pox- key cards and choices
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Let us get the ball rolling. First up, we need to establish a core. Now a quick look through the decklists here or elsewhere will produce the observation that Pox is one of the most diverse decks of any that are out there. Asking for its core is much more challenging than for most decks, but most Pox decks follow some basic rules.......
A golden rule is that you want a minimum sixteen to seventeen of these:. This is obtained with often as little as nine and as many as twelve basics, four Urborg, Tomb and then some black utility lands listed in the core box below. The Spawning Pool is the least common, removal of graveyard or creatures afforded by Cabal Pit et al. normally being preferable to a defensive beater.

Having obtained the black mana base, then you add four wasteland and proceed to take the count up to around 25 lands plus a Maze of Ith, seemingly ubiquitous as a one of. Lands that provide colourless utility include Blast Zone, Geier Reach Sanitarium, Sea Gate Wreckage, and of course, the Mishra's Factory. Only Mishra's Factory is picked in all versions, and the only one to make our core, although the numbers can vary. The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale and the aforementioned Maze I don't ever include as mana producers, although Urborg can interact favourably with them to help them make and they can be sacrificed to Smallpox.

Next we need discard- Hymn is ubiquitous as a "4 of", although students of the deck can point to a time when its use was reduced and less favoured than Thoughtseize. The exact level of 1cc discard varies, and often depends on what else you are running; three Thoughtseize is common- it is rarely a full set. Other one cc options exist and can be seen in the options section, some decks even run Surgical Extraction main deck.

A playset of Smallpox is the card that makes the deck Pox, and deck lists that drop it are dealt with in the last section of the primer- Untraditional Pox.

Dark Ritual is nearly ubiquitous- some few brave souls go without in what are presumably very fair/very Miracles-heavy metas. More common than completely dropping Ritual is the drop to three copies, although four copies is still modal. Note that Ritual can work well with Cursed Scroll, bringing it online early, as well as working well with the sometimes-used Phyrexian Totem to allow both mana development and discard on the first turn. I personally favour running Sanitarium and Sea gate wreckage precisely because it helps with dead Ritual late game draws. Ritual in the early game can sometimes allow you to get hellbent more quickly, meaning Lilly does less self-harm than it otherwise would when ticking upwards.

After that you will need some mass anti-critter measures. I have included some in the "core section" with the caveat that you can change the core anti-creature measures about a bit- there simply is no exact recognised package, they all vary but I included them below on the understanding that some are needed and the most common ones are below in our "core".

Planeswalkers are essential.Lilliana of the veil and Liliana, the last hope are normally present as a playset and a pair, respectively, whilst Ashiok, Dream Render has not yet had time to establish itself but looks promising.

It might be pushing it to include Nether Void, Nether Spirit and Cursed Scroll as core, if you take the decklist at particular points in time, but over a longer period of time both are nearly always there in low numbers. All are unique in terms of what they do, only Trinisphere come close to Nether Void, whilst Nether Spirit is only vaguely related to the more aggressiveBlood Ghast. Scroll is unmatched for killing players, walkers and creatures.

I have not included Sinkhole, Innocent Blood, or Liliana's Triumph as core, though they are often used plenty of lists exclude them. I personally favour a principle of "you can run Smallpox and some Sinkhole, or Smallpox and some Innocent Blood, but you cannot run all of Smallpox, Innocent Blood and Sinkhole as they are too situational". Other powerful sideboard options, like Ratchet Bomb or Dystopia simply don't quite get enough use to qualify as "core".

Finally, Bitterblossom and Chains of Mephistopheles are so good that these ostensibly sideboard cards for grindy blue matches are maindeckable, and often turn up in both the maindeck and sideboard. Chains also hits any land based draw you are running as well as Sylvan Library. Bitterblossom is useful at putting pressure on against blue decks, but also is decent at making blockers for 20/20 avatars. Don't leave home without them, especially Chains. If you have not got this expensive card my advice would be to get it, because it is vital.
Core cards for traditional Pox
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Next up we need to establish the more common choices for flexi-slots. Deep breath, because there are a lot.
I have summarised them in the box below this, but want to give an explanation as to their use, found beneath that.
Common flexi-slot choices
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Common fexi-slot choices
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Explanations of the common fexi-slot choices
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Blast Zone- Moderately flexible but clunky removal, hard to stop a Back to Basics, impossible to stop Blood Moon, and won't beat Chalice, Moxen or other 0 cc stuff.

Sea Gate Wreckage Brilliant card, I find this gives gas against the blue decks and is amazingly synergistic with everything bar Chains. I personally will not play Pox without one, although please don't cut coloured mana sources for it.

Geier Reach Sanitarium I first saw this get use in the KMC lists. Excellent with Nether Spirit, good for searching for answers and smoothing the deck's live draws.

Innocent Blood It used to be a staple, but it is limited as it is dead against a lot of decks.

Sinkhole Another former staple, I am happy to play a couple of copies, more in the right meta. Wrenn and Six makes it harder to justify but cards like the lands above make it less risky.

Ashiok, Dream Render Awesome new addition, making waves. Note you can mill yourself and exile enemy lands. Ritual into this can be super if they are hoping to fetch, but it does a lot, including hurt people who Brainstorm to wish to protect their hands (think about it).
Beseech The Queen Tutor, especially great if you have a toolbox of singleton lands to fetch as it effectively doubles the count of them.

Crucible of Worlds Superb card, I always play it. Wastelock is famous, but recurring Factory blockers, Blast Zone and black utility lands to kill dudes or graveyard also gives this card a lot of use. I always include one.

Trinisphere Often seen, super against storm, and combines with Nether Void to make things cost 6, effectively. Hurts blue cantrip shells and Storm style decks, but only inconveniences Elves. can be a budget Nether Void replacement, although it does not quite match exactly in what it hurts.

The Abyss Good vs most of Show and Tell and fair decks like Maverick and Nic-Fit. Note Mother of Runes and True-Name Nemesis can beat it. A good option for the main or sideboard.

Toxic Deluge Alternative sweeper- I normally split one of these with Bontu's Last Reckoning, for me this tends to be main deck over Reckoning, but opinions may vary.

Ratchet bombMain deck or side deck flexible removal, but also slightly clunky.

Phyrexian Totem Super card, I use one often. Again I first saw this used in the KMC series lists. The reason it is good is that it can run over a planeswalker, and you can discard their hand to clear it from removal before animating. Turn one ritual into this into discard and a T2 walker is pretty strong.

Liliana's Triumph A card that has often replaced Innocent Blood and Diabolic Edict. At its best it offers more than both, but honestly I actually prefer to run none of them.

Tombstalker Used to race burn from the board, and in one unconventional deck at least, it is used main deck, fed by Ashiok, Dream Render self-milling. Dark ritual feeds this in two ways, like all Delve creatures, and it can come out early and win the race.

Engineered Plague Superb against Elves, Goblins, Maverick, DnT, Merfolk, Soldier Stompy, Infect and Pyromancer decks, ok vs Eldrazi too.

Helm of Obedience Combos with Leyline for the win from the board, I have a whole Untraditional Pox style deck running these main with Karn, Leyline etc. that I have a higher win rate with than Traditional Pox.

Pithing Needle Flexible. Sorcerous Spyglass also works here, of course,

Dystopia Brilliant and often forgotten card, I don't play without them in my board. Great vs D n T, Maverick and strong vs Elves in conjunction with other stuff, and very good vs a good many BUG/RUG, Food Chain, Aluren, Infect and Nic Fit decks. The fact it checks during each upkeep is significant against D n T and its EOT Aether Vial that puts a creature into play.
Finally the more unusual options are below in the same format as before
Unusual flexi-slot choices
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Unusual flexi-slot choices
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Explanations of unusual flexi slot choices
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Ghost Quarter Used as extra kill for basics, potentially recurring with Crucible.

The Tabernacle at Pendrell ValeSuper utility vs swarms, won't kill an indestructible, but does for a lot of decks with a little help. Note some anti-synergy with Bitterblossom and the prohibitive $$price$$.

Gurmag Angler Rarely seen, I personally do not like them.

Blood Ghast Used in Rack Pox, the odd Traditional Pox list runs these too, though I find them to be not as effective.

Nevrinyrral's disk board wipe that ignores our Planeswalkers.

Ob Nixilis, Reignited A wincon. I personally don't think we can support this, at least my style doesn't. Smallpox gets worse when protecting cards in hand. If you do not run Smallpox then I can get behind it.

Spinning Darkness This was better in the days we could play top- removal from the Top of the library when tapped out. Life was useful vs. many decks, and it made Innocent Blood better.

Night of Soul's Betrayal Superb card, 4cc is a lot though. I prefer Engineered Plague x2, but I run them in my Untraditional Smallpox-less Helm-Pox list. Note the anti-synergy with Bitterblossom.

Surgical extraction and Extirpate. A sort of hedge-your bets card. Very good vs Show and Tell or Depths/Lands decks, OK at best vs bin heavy strategies, good sometimes vs greedy manabases or at key times vs Snappy, it can also work against enemy Extractions at a push.

Inquisition of Kozilek A step up from duress, I don't like it in most metas.

Collective Brutality Flexibility personified, always useful, never spectacular.

Chalice of the Void All star of the format, but our curve says no. Pox needs a radical adjustment to be able to play this card, but it can be seen in some lists.

Phyrexian Obliterator Primarily this is anti-red tech, and for those games where you took 40 minutes to lose G1 and need some threats..

Gloom. Actually remarkably powerful vs D N T, Maverick and especially Miracles. All their removal and creatures bar Snappy are white, and all of our problem cards are permanents- Chains, Trinisphere, Nether Void, Planeswalkers, Factories etc. It can be backbreaking, and I am highlighting this one as I actually think it should get more consideration in Pox, even if Dystopia is wider ranging, this does a different job.

Dread of Night Used for D N T, Soldier stompy, Maverick. I actually am not a huge fan in Pox.

Damping Sphere It is theoretically fine vs Sol land 12 post decks, but its primary use is anti combo. 12 post also runs artifact mana, as does MUD.

Zuran orb Anti-burn and UR and RUG Delver, very good vs Burn as it negates Price of Progress. Also sometimes good for getting above 20 life vs Lands decks after the EOT 20/20 has swung, enabling Lilly or sorcery speed removal to kill a 20/20 every now and then.

Syphon life A bad card for my money, but against tempo strategies it is never dead
Contagion The ultimate "meh" card IMHO, neither this nor Force of despair impress me enough.

Underworld Dreams A budget alternative to Chains, sort of punishing the cantrip engine and any other draw engine.

Lost Legacy Good vs decks like Food Chain, Aluren and Show and Tell that rely on a specific card.
Traditional Pox decklists
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Traditional Pox: Common matchups
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In no particular order......
UWx decks
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These used to be considered favoured, when in fact they often were not against straight UW at least- we lacked the power to compete unless they really stumbled or you could cut a colour early; I can remember ultimating Lilly twice and still losing a few years ago. What has changed? Well they have no Divining Top any more, they have to change their deck to accommodate Narset etc., whilst we have gained a succession of utility lands like Blast Zone, Ifnir Deadlands, which beats a Mentor in the way Cabal Pit did not, and most importantly Lillana, The Last Hope. As long as you are running Chains of Mephistopheles and Bitterblossom and have not overloaded on Innocent Bloods this tends to be very favourable post board when Rituals come out. I run a Smallpox-less Helm Pox too, which cuts Smallpox (reasonably bad in this matchup) and has Leyline/Helm main and Karn, the Great Creator as additional threats with the standard Discard, Land and PW engine, cutting a little anti-creature stuff. As the threat density is greater in this it has an even more favourable matchup, and helps show that when UW and UWr Miracles is about, threat-heavy permanents and disrupting permanents is they way to go, preferably having the threat of a insta-win combo. If you play lots of creature control spells like Innocent Blood this match becomes harder. Realistically you should be aiming to beat UWx control and its cousins.
Burn
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Well, we lose game one unless we (a) kill land and (b) land a Trinisphere or Nether Void. If we are playing less traditional versions with Insta win 20/20s or other combos then that is different, but basically grinding burn is only possible if they cannot cast spells. Things get so bad that Wasteland is actually often better aimed sometimes at our own lands, in response to Price of Progress, and you should avoid laying non-basics if you can. Game two Zuran Orb is super at negating Price of Progress, whilst Obliterator and Tombstalker racing is sometimes possible if you run them and Dark ritual- if you do not then you are looking to lock them, pure and simple, but realistically we are 90% cert ain to lose game 1 (more if we do not play rituals), and game 3 is never better than reasonable on the draw.
Stoneblade
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This is not too dissimilar to Miracles in terms of roles. Their threats sometimes line up to make Smallpox better than it that match, but other than that it is the usual hate package and very similar interactions.
D n T
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This match varies according to your list and the skill levels of the D n T pilot, but it is close to favourable with the right build. I favour boarded Engineered Plague and Dystopia, and am normally of confident of winning the match even from one nil down, even in my build with no Innocent Bloods. Vial is an issue, and I recommend having a way of dealing with it, whilst I normally keep Nether Spirit in- they often board out Swords. They don't always board in Cataclysm, but watch out for it if the mana restriction plan goes awry. Having a board wipe like Toxic Deluge or Bontu's Last Reckoning will save you from time to time.
Maverick
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This is normally pretty easy regardless of their version, they sometimes get a 20/20 from nowhere, and I recommend keeping in any Bridges and Ashiok, Dream Render for this reason. Dystopia, Plagues, and Abyss and Bridges plus board wipes give this a stronger game two than game one, and game one is strong anyway.
Depths decks and Lands
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Both these decks present issues if relying on sorcery speed effects and permanents to stop the 20/20. They can remove most permanents, meaning safe is not safe for long. Ashiok works to stop searchers, and Leyline OTV is a great card board card, of course, as is Bitterblossom. If you can Extract a Depths things rapidly swing. Zuran Orb is often worth it to get over 20 and survive the 20/20 allowing Lilly OTV to come into play with its downward activation.
Grixis and 4c control
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The greedier mana-wise they are, the easier the match. Chains is key game two, but remember if both decks do their thing Jace is often the difference between the two. Smallpox is often strong, and Nether Spirit does a lot unless they drop Last Hope Lilly. Without a specific list on either side the match is hard to call beyond "roughly even".
Reanimators UB and RB
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RB reanimator is 95% to win game 1, UB a little bit short of that. Watch out for UB Show and Telling, although if you run a Leyline/Helm board you can sometimes ride it to a win. Game two I recommend dumping Hymn, hoping for Ashiok to stop their Tutor, and mulliganing to hate- hard Leyline hate rather than softer Bridges. This is a hard matchup, and when lots of it and Dredge is about in my meta I run Leyline/Helm pox instead, so I get the free wins, and not them.
Storm variants
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This is strong a match regardless of which type of Storm, unless you count Tin Fins as a storm deck, when it is harder game one at least.
Trinisphere, Nether Void are super when combined with a strong discard package and Leylines from the board. Don't forget that Storm runs goblins tokens as well as tendrils too, so if there are some weak cards Engineered Plague and Tabernacle are worth bringing in.
Dredge decks
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One of the reasons I prefer to run the Leyline helm combo main is this type of deck, which is unbeatable game one nearly. Only a Bridge and/or Tabernacle and Trinisphere/Nether Void can beat a manaless Dredge deck, whilst normal dredge is little better. Game two and three you need hate, but in the case of regular dredge remember that they will be expecting it.
Eldrazi aggro
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Simply put, you need to hit a Bridge type card early, and even then Ballista may get you eventually if you don't establish control. A wastelock via Crucible is strong against them and a common route to victory. It is not impossible, but it is not easy either, and better if you run Bridge.
MUD, 12 posts
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12 Post decks are hard to lock out regardless of their configuration, to say the least. If you can stop the Monolith or they do not draw it, then the match is easier. MUD often relies on a 1/1 to make its huge volume of mana, and thus is much easier because it needs a turn and is unlikely to ever survive against us.. In both cases Wastelock is a route to a win, it is just more likely in the case of the latter.
Infect, UR delver, BUG delver, RUG
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Infect is one of Pox's easiest matches- we kill land and creatures effectively. It is one of the harder matches for Infect. Other Delver strategies are in a similar boat, and in the case of RUG delver we get to bring in Leyline that reduces Goyf and Mongoose to almost nothing and small respectively. All these matches are favourable.
Dragon Stompy and Stax strategies
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Dragon Stompy presents issues- sweepers are needed and Bridges are not safe to hide behind. Moon can be awesome against us, or ineffective. Their threat density is quite low, it is often about surviving. Other brown (or even white) Stax strategies are about going first and doing stuff t1. If they drop a t1 Trinisphere or Sphere of Resistance, or even early Tanglewires then it is true that we can find ourselves never able to cast a card, but the other way round can lead them never getting a stranglehold and being ground out of it, As a longstanding Stax player of white and brown varieties from time-to-time I have been on both sides of this match.
Goblins
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Yuk. Supposedly level, I normally find this a very hard match. Goblins has had some upgrades in removal of colourless cards, and basically you need to run rituals, sweepers and in game two some Engineered Plague type cards, otherwise it will soon be GG. D N T is much easier to play against than this Vial deck.
Nic Fit
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This is a tough match. Game two Leyline can stop the Veteran explorer ramp, but game one only an early Ashiok, Dream Render. The match is grindy and winnable rather than stellar. It is always worth bringing in Leyline game two- if you can stop the Explorer from exploring the mana denial plan can work.
Death's Shadow
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A favourable match, but watch out for them Wastelanding you. I have been colour screwed in this match before. Smallpox does a lot of work, as does Bitterblossom from the board.
Elves
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This is a bit touch and go. Chains comes in for the combo, Plague does well but the deciding factor is the sweeper. Elves is resilient game one to sweepers, and frequently rebuilds against Miracles, but if you are going to lock it you normally need to sweep and then start to lock. Sinkhole is variable in effectiveness and Cradle the card that hurts us most. Running Plagues or Night of souls' betrayal gives the match a boost, whilst Dystopia helps rather than dominates. Tabernacles and Trinishpheres are OK at adding to the pressure rather than stellar.
Enchantress
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A positive match up if you can find it. They put enchantments on Lands, we blow up lands. They use 0/1 Hexproofs, we have un-targeted removal. They draw cards, we have Chains. We have Dystopia. Just watch out for combo wins. I own Enchantress and it is not pretty for Enchantress.
BUG Food Chain
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This is tight and grindy, hit their hand, bring in Chains. If you have any Extraction or Lost Legacy effects then great, otherwise Dystopia, handkill and keep the rituals. Their mana is rarely smooth and is disruptable, ironically for a deck that combos to a ton of mana.
BUG Aluren
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Trinisphere and Nether void type cards are needed here, together with any Extraction/Lost Legacy effects, otherwise its Dystopia, Chains and handkill.
UR Delver
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Well this is interesting. Our match is much better than you might think. Creatures are not stellar against us, we have repeated removal and sweepers, and we can hurt their efficient mana base and hand, we have a Chains board, and hopefully Engineered Plague which is very reasonable. So far, so good, but the key point in determining the match is their bin- they get a lot of use and as such how much bin hate you have and draw goes a long way in the match. Bogs are fine, but running Ashiok is useful here. I would certainly bring in Leylines too. Just play sensibly around Daze.
Rack Pox
Rack Pox- key cards and choices
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This type of deck is pretty rare, so rare that I almost included it in the last section, but as it is a good budget option (you could probably get away without Chains at least) and easy to play I gave it a small section of its own. Establishing a core is a pretty questionable thing to do when deck lists are so rare. The idea is to win more quickly via The Rack and Shrieking affliction, and sometimes to often some number of Bloodghast. A creature heavy sideboard is likely too- Tombstalker, Obliterator et al. The deck mimics 8-rack from Modern, but with better discard. The point is to win quickly, so basically more damage-based cards are included. The land count is often a tiny bit lower than regular Pox, and long game cards don't get included as much. This is probably the only Pox deck where you could justify an actual daddy Pox. The core is actually pretty small, reflecting the large degree of variation in the few lists.
Key cards for rack Pox variants

Lands

10-20 Swamp
2-4 Wasteland

Artifacts

Planeswalkers

Enchantments

2-4Shrieking Affliction
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Flexi-slot choices for Rack Pox

Lands

0-4 Mishra's factory

Sweepers

Artifacts

Main or side

0-4 Waste Not
0-3 Contamination
1 Pox
sideboard- as per regular pox options
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Rack Pox decklists
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I have chosen only two lists, to reflect the paucity of lists following this strategy c.f. regular Pox.
Tom Ross SCG Invitational Qualifier - Roanoke, VA,2015
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Richard Cox POX SCG Invitational Qualifier - Roanoke, VA 2014
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Rack Pox match-up discussion-what changes from regular Pox?
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Full disclosure, I am not hugely experienced in Rack Pox. I have played it a couple of times in five years, so what you are going to get from me is very much broad brushstrokes rather than minutiae. Rack Pox is more aggressive than its cousin, but the basics of the match-ups are similar to regular Pox, with some tweaks. firstly you can often race Burn, UR Delver etc.. especially with a bit of game two Zuran Orb-ing, and the Dragon Stompy/Stax match up is a bit better. The deck is also more consistent and mulligans less.
If the game goes long against most UW-x, Grxis, 4 c and similar opponents you are more likely to be toast as the deck is less grindy than regular Pox, but there is still a strong disruption engine for most of these decks and a clock that is hard for them to control. You basically get a bit weaker to fast Storm combo without cards like Trinisphere and Nether Void, Reanimator and Show and Tell are equally challenging as they are in regular Pox, but against the blue based decks you are only a little shy in terms of win rate. D n T, and especially Elves are harder when trying to do damage based on hand size. If that sounds like you lose more than you gain then I think you probably do, although budget Rack Pox is miles better than budget versions of Traditional Pox. You could, for example, try to play Rack Pox without Chains, and even though it is clear that ideally you would have them, the result is not horrible. Budget versions of Traditional Pox suffer more as many of the expensive cards are hard to replace and the game goes long so you will see your inferior replacements.
Infect and most of the other unlisted decks don't change much between the versions, Goblins is still hard, for example.
Untraditional Pox- including game ending combos etc.
Untraditional Pox- What is the advantage of deviating from the norm?
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This section is for decks that vary from the norm in some key way. One way of doing this is to add a combo- Thespians' stage and Dark Depths is one, whilst another is the sideboard card combo of Leyline of the Void and Helm of Obedience. Obviously if you include these there is a price, otherwise every Pox deck would. Depths is a card you can't tutor for, and if you lay it and the enemy can it is you who will be staring down the barrel of their 20//20. Moreover, it won't produce mana without Urborg, TOY meaning you can be light on mana. That said, this route offers a vastly different profile, and means that control decks like Grixis and UW-X miracles cannot just play the long game, and must always respect the 20/20 out. Decks like burn have more difficulty with a t4 20/20 than a grindy control strategy, and Pox's perennial downfall- it draws matches too often- if far less likely with a combo to finish. I have included one Stage list and my own Helm list here that I have been running for a year with much success, which with the addition of Karn, The Great Creator now has more permanents demanding immediate answers.
Another way is to increase the number of creatures- check out the Snow Themed deck in the deck lists. More creatures, more sweepers, no Smallpox but all the other usual suspects. Not quite "The Gate" deck- way too much control for that- but not quite a regular Pox either.
Most of the unusual Pox lists over the years that do well whilst deviating from the norm seem to be trying to win more quickly, turning draws into results and also restricting the ability of answer based decks to tap out without appropriate measures in hand, whilst increasing the threat density. With five minutes left against a lands or depths player there can normally only be one winner, but with a combo element the game takes a different complexion. You also get to put people off balance- I have won matches with Leyline/Helm main simply by dropping the Leyline against reanimator, traditionally the worst match-up game 1.
I enjoy a few free wins every now and then!
Untraditional Pox decklists and brief discussion on each
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First up a recent Snow themed version of Pox. Note that it is sweeper heavy and does not run Smallpox. I believe this came second in a 36 player event. Note the absence of smallpox, presumably due to the poor interaction between it an the creatures. Note also that Ashiok can self-mill to feed the four delve creatures, whilst still munching the enemy bin.
Next we have Depths-Pox. All the usual suspects are present, but we get to see a 20/20 on the Pox side of the table for once.
This was 2 from 26 players. Note the high land count, presence of Hexmage- both due to Depths of course, and slightly lower count in the usual suspects and increased Crucible count to back up the Depths. Again, I imagine this wins more quickly than regular version.
Finally my own little contribution. Helm Pox. Yes, main deck Leyline combo gives better game ones vs some of our nemesis decks, and can really tilt. I have been on this for a year. My last 20 player FNM I won with this beating Miracles, D n T, Death's Shadow and UR delver/arcanist, the previous two times I have played it I top 8'd with 20+ players in the room, losing once. My last comp REL with it was 2018, where I top 4 prize split from a just under 30 player event for a £90 prize. I have now added Karn, TGC which seems to have pushed it on results-wise- my first even post Karn was an event win 4-0 from 21 players.. Note the absence of Smallpox, which is not conducive to casting 4cc game ending spells, and that the Night of Soul's Betrayal sometimes gets swapped to The Abyss. Tabernacle is not as good without heavy mana restriction, and this only has Wasteland and recursion via Crucible, so it does not make it, although I run it if I ever run regular Pox.
Untraditional Pox wrap up and the future of Pox
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Well there we have it. I do feel that these unusual versions show the way forward in some ways, and highlight the issues with the normal approach. I am not sure at the end of this decade if winning games by restriction alone is going to work. More stuff gets printed and they are not going to upgrade landkill anytime soon. It is always a great feeling to lock someone, and strategically if you can reduce a player to not casting things for a couple of turns you have more control over the game until they draw out of it. But that is the point- decks often do, and, as such I feel the deck needs to be more modal- sometimes locking, sometimes grinding- but also sometimes eliciting a win faster, from other avenues.
I do feel Pox has a future - there are lots of enthusiasts and the deck can be personalised to suit different approaches and play styles. There is a brewers' paradise out there in mono-b alone, and its strength lies in the variety of lists that we see- not a homogenised lump, but a veritable haven of innovation. Finally, it is a home to a style of MTG yesteryear, and as such deserves respect. One day MTG may only be snazzy graphics, creatures and the like. But not here, not when we can control, brew, and grind, and even if we never see the look of horror on someones' face when they realise they have to do Pox maths, we still get to see the puzzled reaction to Chains, Tabernacle et al. Happy Poxing.
Last edited by drmarkb 4 years ago, edited 4 times in total.

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drmarkb
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Post by drmarkb » 4 years ago

The first primer is away....)
Nearly finished. Got one more thing to add.......)
Then on to Stax and probably Modern

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Post by drmarkb » 4 years ago

Castles are being revealed today- lands that come into play tapped unless you control the appropriate basic. The black one has 3 mana tap to draw a card, with the downside of lifeloss according to the number of cards in hand, which is pretty low in pox, normally,
This has two implications- in Pox we have a lot of Swamps, especially with Urborg, and we can often see in classical Pox that the game ends up in hellbent topdeck wars- this can be a way out of them. Utility lands often have the issue of being colorless, and as most know BB is very important so it limited the utility lands/Mishras- this is a Utility land that is on colour.
In Pox decks with combos such as Marit Lage or Helm/Leyline the ability to get down lower is very important, so this could fulfill the sort of role seen in Sea-Gate wreckage or Sanitarium in some of the innovative KMC style lists.

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Post by Chaman » 3 years ago

Great work, im running an alternate pox with the zombie dinos, they are really efficient in killing

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Post by drmarkb » 3 years ago

Yes, lots of mono b pox derivative decks in Legacy today. sadly Veil and Astrolabe make Pox a tough sell.
I noticed that one of the online Legacy challenges had a mono b control helm/curse type deck- close to pox in spirit.
I have been tanglewiring in traditional Pox with sinkholes and Pox. I got good results in testing prior to lockdown......

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Post by drmarkb » 3 years ago

It would be nice to get some debate here, sadly the Legacy traffic is low, too many people now just discord or whatever.....

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