Pox! ... Type I

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Evan_Mann

Guest
Pox was the first deck I ever played in a Type I tournament. Ever since, and for no good reason since the deck has a tendency to crap on you at the worst times, I have had a love affair with that BBB sorcery.

What follows is my current build. The thing with Pox is that it hits hard and fast in the early game, but the presure can't be kept up.

Any sugestions are welcome, especially in helping to find some kind of finisher when you have the game locked down ... Idols and Spirits, while posessing the greatest synergy with Pox, just don't deal enough damage.

2 Netherspirit
4 Chemeric Idol

4 Pox
4 Cabal Therapy / Duress (not sure which)
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Sinkhole

1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Demonic Consultation

4 Powder Keg
4 The Rack

1 BlackLotus
1 Mox Jet
2 Charcoal Diamond
4 Dark Ritual
1 Stripmine
4 Wasteland
14 Swamp
 
R

Reverend Love

Guest
The Mana Drain has an excellent primer concerning Pox. I've ran a variant of this with much success. The author's highlights concerning when to Pox and when not to were damn near right on. It's very much a deck which requires consistent long term play for maximum results. You really have to know magic to be good with it.
 
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Evan_Mann

Guest
I've read the Pox primer on The Manadrain, and have been deeply involved with many of the discusions on Pox over there.

However, we have yet to come up with a way to make the deck really tick.

That's what I'm after here. The biggest problem is that there is no finisher that can wrap up the game quickly enough.
 
R

Rooser

Guest
Well, I'm gonna risk sounding stupid, but here's an interesting idea for a game-closer:

Guiltfeeder.

Actually, the deck looks pretty good to me as is, but I haven't played it myself, so obviously you would be more aware of any shortcomings it might have.
 
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Evan_Mann

Guest
You know what .. that's just crazy enough that it might work. With all the discard, the opponant's graveyard will be huge/

The only problem I see with it is the casting cost. Since Pox destroy's it's own land, it can be hard to get up to 5 mana, and hopefully have a Duress or Hymn to force it through.

I think I'm going to try it none-the-less.

Thanks!

EM/jp
 
K

Killerbob

Guest
Pox was also my first T1 deck. I think there are no other ways, than playing it as the primer tells you. Duress IS better than cabal therapy, because it has to hit on turn 1. Cursed scroll is needed for that long term preassure you missed. Powder keg destroys too many of your own things (especially because you need the scrolls), and is too situational. Guildfeeder is just too expensive for a pox deck.
Sorry that I´m a little negative, but Pox isn´t really a deck with lots of possibilities for experiments. Maybe Ensnarring bridge in the current metagame. Stops dryads, dreadnoughts, juggernauts and probably su-chis. Maybe even atogs. Pox should be able get rid of all cards fast. But Pox is anyway autoloss against GAT.
But I guess thats not really a casual discussion...
 
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Reverend Love

Guest
I love the feeder, in fact I top'd 8 with a black and blue control deck using him as my win condition at the local Regionals here. However for Pox he's just tooooo expensive. Most situations will have you following a hypie/shade/chimerac idol (my version) with pox..which means you either

A: have 3 land on the table
or
B: Using a Ritual for the required mana (holding land or whatever)

You'd be hardpressed to get the beast of destruction out.
 
T

Tabasco

Guest
Aku Necromancer had a great pox build...........he found this card called Karevik's Spite:

BBB
INS or SOR
Discard your hand: deals 5 damage to target opponent

The card was something like that, but it worked very well in his deck.
 
1

13NoVa

Guest
i believe spite is Remove your hand and all permenents to do 5 damage... so its not very viable against counters.
 
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Evan_Mann

Guest
RE: Cursed Scroll
Over at The Manadrain, we agreed that The Rack is better in Pox then Cursed Scroll due to the fact that if you have a Scroll out, then you're going to have to choose each turn whether to hit them for 2 or play the spell you just drew.

However, if the Scroll was The Rack, you could deal your colorless damage and play your spell, keeping a little more preasure then Scroll alone. It's all about a certain critical mass of discard ... The Rack is potentially too good a damage source when you have 12 discard spells (8 of which will usually nab 2 or more cards).

RE: Duress vs. Cabal Therapy
Duress is obviously the better card, but it would be nice to play Therapy and then sac your recurring Nether Spirit to steal away another card. Perhaps there's some kind of mix between the two we could agree on.

RE: Guiltfeeder
This guy is just too expensive. I ran him in a few test matches last night and he only hit the table three times out of 12 games. Pox just kills too many of it's own resources to run it. Shame. Plus, he adds another real creature and that screws with your Nether Spirit mojo.

RE: Powderkeg
I listed them because they kill moxes, and usually act as Sinkholes 5-8 in that respect. However, I see your point about it's non-synergistic interaction with The Rack/Cursed Scroll. Perhaps some true creature removal in these slots?

Thanks to everyone for thier replys.

And by the way, the Pox Primer is pretty out-of-date. Someone was suposed to write a new one, but I have yet to see it.

EM/jp
 
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Nightstalkers

Guest
A Pox on you Evan, you dirty devil! ;)

<Lazarus: the almighty>
<Nightstalkers: The Shadows Know>
<Spruce Lee: The Doll Shadow>
 
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