B/u Pox

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Gizmo

Guest
I`ll say it quietly, but I always thought Sean McKeown was a bit more of a talker than a doer - his metagame analyses were always alightly off the axis I knew. Probably it was just sour grapes from him getting famous from Oath/Replenish before I did (and my deck was earlier and better, dammit!).

Anyway. I got this from him, having asked around to see if anybody thought Pox could work.

4 Duress
4 Funeral Charm
3 Demonic Consultation
2 Stupor
4 Pox
1 Unmask (my add, was 3rd Stupor)
1 Contagion/Spinning Darkness

3 Nether Spirit

4 Recoil

4 Urza`s Bauble
4 Cursed Scroll
4 Chimeric Idol

4 Wasteland
4 Underground Sea
4 Underground River
10 Swamp

SB
4 Chill
4 Massacre
2 Perish
3 Ebony Charm
2 ???

Looks okay, a bit off the wall in places but it runs consistently and you can`t deny that Pox is a wrecking ball of a card in this environment (list of decks that just DROP to a Pox - Trix, TS).
 
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galtwish

Guest
I just saw this too, and here was my take on it:
3 Nether Spirit
4 Chimeric Idol
4 Cursed Scroll
1 Kaerveck's Spite
3 Demonic Consultation
1 Mystical Tutor
4 Pox
4 Recoil (wary of Misdirection)
4 Duress
4 Funeral Charm
1 Rapid Decay/Unmask
4 Urza's Bauble
4 Wasteland
4 Underground Sea
3 Gemstone Mine
2 Underground River
10 Swamp

SB
4 Massacre
4 Chill
2 Rapid Decay/Phrexian Furnace/Unmask
4 Powder Keg (Mox Diamond, Stompy, Sligh, Oath, TS)
1 Kaervek's Spite

Spite is AWESOME against Trix, and a great finisher in general with a Pox and a creature to get the party started. Stupor is too slow, IMHO, but Charm is indispensible against Sligh, Stompy, and TS. Choking Sands would be great if everyone wasn't running Trix. Forsaken Wastes is an option, but not a great one, as it is limited to Oath and Trix. Hoodwink would be decent against these two as well as 21. "Hoodwink your Mox Diamond?"

Erik
 
M

Mundungu

Guest
I have been looking many time at my four Pox lying in the binder waiting in vain to ba traded away.

Maybe I should give your decks a try ...

Or hope you make a famous deck so that every body start looking for Poxes ... :)

( I traded 4 illusions for 2 ports las tuesday, thank you Michelle Bush :) )
 
D

Duel

Guest
Wow! I've never seen that card before. that's really nasty! Deinately, go for it. I'd use more than one contaigon, though, 1 seems to be too little.
 
G

Gizmo

Guest
The thing about that original version was it was crap.
So much for Sean McKeown.

This is much better - more land, cheaper spells etc...

4 Duress
4 Funeral Charm
3 Demonic Consultation
4 Pox
1 Unmask
1 Contagion

4 Lilting Refrain
2 Recoil

4 Urza`s Bauble
4 Cursed Scroll

4 Chimeric Idol
2 Nether Spirit

1 City Of Brass
4 Underground Sea
4 Underground River
4 Wasteland
10 Swamp

SB
4 Chill
4 Massacre
3 Perish
2 Ebony Charm
2 Phyrexian Furnace
 
M

Mundungu

Guest
I like the Idols very much in the pox deck.

I am just wondering about the demonic consultations.
I guess they are mostly there to get the key cards after SB.

I personally would run at least 1 drain life.
 
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galtwish

Guest
Giz-thanks for continuing on with the Ebony Charms, I forgot about the 1 pt drain. I don't know about Lilting Refrain, however. Maybe Counter-Pox? Just kidding.

4 Duress
4 Funeral Charm
2 Unmask
3 Recoil
4 Pox
4 Chimeric Idol
2 Nether Spirit
4 Urza's Bauble
3 Cursed Scroll
4 Demonic Consultation
1 Kaervek's Spite
1 Ebony Charm
1 Mana Short
4 Underground Sea
4 Underground River
1 Gemstone Mine
2 Reflecting Pool
4 Wasteland
4 Swamp
2 Island
2 Faerie Conclave

SB
4 Powder Keg (I tell you, these are good)
4 Chill
2 Ebony Charm
1 Mana Short (kills Trix)
1 Unmask
2 Spinning Darkness

I don't know if I would Consult for the screw cards, but if you don't have a choice...

Erik
 
G

Gizmo

Guest
Lilting Refrain looks like total Jank, but it fits the deck perfectly.
1. It`s a permanent that is not a land or creature.
2. It costs 2cc, the deck was clumped at 3cc before.
3. With all my LD effects it will quickly clamp down to be a solid counter.
4. Vs Trix they cannot Force/Misdirect it.
5. Vs Replenish it`s protection that my discard won`t provide.

We`ll see. I have a PTQ this Sunday, so long as I can grovel up 4 Seas and 2 Wastes this deck is ready to roll...
 
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Gizmo

Guest
I`m gonna need it, because I just looked at my deck and realised it wasn`t Trix - so the chances of me winning just took a dive.
:)
 
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Gizmo

Guest
I made the Semi-Final

Stompy 2-0
Forbiddian 2-0
Trix 0-2
Forbiddian I.D.
CounterSliver 2-0
Trix 2-0
Trix 0-2 (unlucky)

Beats everything but Trix quite comfortably (might not like Replenish) and goes about 50-50 vs Trix.
 
P

Purple_jester

Guest
Could you write up a summary of one of the matches you lost to Trix and one of the matches you won against Trix? It would provide a great deal of information on Pox's dynamics against that deck type.

Thanbks Giz. ;)
 
D

Duel

Guest
I think the problem against trix is twofold:

1: You face enchantments, and few permanents to affect. Necro is unaffected. Illusions as well. PLus they have counterspell backup.

2: Card-drawing. Pox had little to no effect on their hand due to potence, and ittle effect on their board.

You need a way to get rid of necropotence. Easier said then done, I know. annul, maybe?
 
D

Duel

Guest
Posted on mindripper, by Sean McKeown, as an anti-trix deck, no less:

"Et In Terra Pox" (Pox On Earth, Ill Will Towards Man)

4x Wastelands
4x Underground Sea
4x Underground River
10x Swamps
4x Urza's Bauble
4x Cursed Scroll
4x Chimeric Idol
4x Duress
4x Funeral Charm
3x Demonic Consultation
4x Pox
3x Stupor
3x Nether Spirit
4x Recoil
1x Contagion

Sideboard:
4x Chill
3x Massacre
3x Perish
2x Spinning Darkness
2x Phyrexian Furnace
1x Ebony Charm

Well?
 
G

Gizmo

Guest
Well, like I said at the start I got the original deck from Sean McKeown (but only after I first floated the idea of building a B/w Pox deck with Seal Of Cleansing).

Pox vs Trix

The Trix games are very hard if they play first and get a Mox start, because you cannot really disrupt them before Necro comes down unless you drew the Duress in your opening hand. If you are on the playside then you can hurt them more by Consulting, and a second turn Refrain is an effective counter against their Illusions. Also if you are drawside and they don`t get a Mox then you are in the same situation - they need to be 2 mana ahead of you in their main phase to give you a nightmare.
Unfortunately, two of the Trix decks I met did that in their first games and won very comfortably. It also didn`t help that in the first game of the SF I was forced to Mulligan down to five cards, and had nothing worth knowing about in hand.

In both second games that I lost I was beaten down by the fact that they SBed into a beatdown deck of Negators and Masticores (sometimes Hunted Wumpus). In the Swiss he made a Negator, I Poxed it away but had to discard my Scroll as I did so - but my Pox left him with only 2 land in play and 1 card in hand (I had Refrained one Necro already) so I said to him,
"Phew, I`m happy now unless that`s a Necro and the card on top of your library is a swamp".
He shows me a Swamp, he shows me a Necro.
Joy.
He makes a Masticore from his new hand and goes down to 2 life but I cannot find any damage in time.
In the SF I Duress out his combo but he is holding 2 Negators and a Masticore. I Pox him, killing both the Negators and leaving him on 3 land (next turn a Lilting Refrain will be active to stop the Masticore) while I have a Chimeric Idol in play. he makes a THIRD Negator and I die.

I feel a little unlucky about how I lost the SF, having to Mulligan and then him drawing a third Negator.

I beat the other Trix deck by simply keep nibbling away at his hand. Both games are REALLY tight and I think I play the deck perfectly to win them both (any mistakes and he would have won, it was that tight).
In the first I just keep disrupting and eventually force all 3 Donates from his hand, but it`s really tight in the end as I have to Consult for my final Duress in a twenty-odd card deck to win.
In the second I somehow win with a combination of Charms, all game I cast, in order; Ebony Charm, Demonic Consultation (for Duress), Duress, Funeral Charm, Funeral Charm, Chimeric Idol, Ebony Charm - it took perfect timing with those Charms to win it.
Key play was an Ebony Charm for 1 life point on the first turn, so he had to go off twice (expected he had SBed out his Firestorms).

You really have three targets with the Pox deck - the first is to discard the Necro before it hits play (which is why I have Addle in the SB). The second is to attack their Necroed hand, but they can protect it from discard so your best weapon here is the Refrains, which stop them from casting the Illusions. The final option is to attack their mana production, because they need 5 mana to pay the upkeep on Illusions and then Donate it - a succesful Pox or Wasteland here will wreck them. Also remember that most of their hand is valuable (either it`s a Illusions/Donate, or it`s a FoW or blue spell to discard to it, or the land they need to play) so if you time your Funeral Charms they can deal a LOT of damage.
 
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Zadok001

Guest
Giz: I feel kinda silly saying this, but why only 3 Consults? You know their strength as well as I do, any particular reason not to run all four?
 
D

Duel

Guest
Consults always seemed janky to me. A little like goblin bombs, to a lesser extent. When they work, they WORK, but when they don't you're in trouble.

Of course, I died to goblin bomb twice in a row... what do I know.
 
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