to Pox or not to Pox?

[ET]

Hello i have returned:P

What i will present is a semi-kinda-competitive deck for a non-power format (such as my own after all).

Pox.dec

4 x Hypnotic Specter

4 x Pox
4 x The Rack

4 x Duress
4 x Hymn To Tourach
4 x Sinkhole
2 x Bottomless Pit
2 x Diabolic Edict

1 x Demonic Tutor
1 x Demonic Consultation
1 x Mind Twist
1 x Yawgmoth's Will

4 x Dark Ritual

1 x Strip Mine
4 x Wasteland
4 x Mishra's Factory
15 x Swamp



The main "combo" is Pox + The Rack which kills the opponent quite fast. Also after trying out Mishra's Factory i couldnt take them out they are an mvp when the opponent is helpless(landless thanks to pox/sinkhole/hymn/twist...)

The kill condition is pretty slow compared to other decks out there but i believe that when combined with all the disruption that this deck packs its viable.

Card choices:

Pox: The main card of the deck. If it resolves it usually wins the game. Gets rid of alot of the opponents resources.

The Rack: Constant damage keeps the opponent under pressure and also is hard to remove since its an artifact (although lately the artifact hate is a problem)

Hypnotic Specter: Excellent to play right after a pox or when the opponents hand is depleted. Complements The Rack well and adds some damage on its own. + it flies:P

Duress + Hymn + Sinkhole: Much needed disruption. I dont think these need much justifying. Simply the best black has to offer (i think).

Bottomless Pit: This card is my own weird choice and is probably the first one i would cut out. Its very effective when combined with The rack and is harder to remove than the Hippie. But sometimes it kinda hurts when you get it in the opening hand. Great late game though.

Diabolic Edict: It was either this or powder kegs. The kegs hurt my racks though. These are here to deal with those big fatties that decks seem to pump out faster and faster lately.

The one of's are okay i think
Dark rituals are there

the land base is pretty solid
Sometimes i have difficulty paying BBB

i'm not sure on the sideboard it might look something like this:

3 x Dystopia
4 x Funeral Charm
3 x Tormod's Crypt
3 x Powder Keg
2 x Kangaroo (I don't know)

The problem is that that there are so many ways you can go with this
splashing white is even good for vindicate and (more importantly) balance.

My main problem with this deck is Sligh or fast aggro
Also artifact decks are hard to beat since black doesnt have anything good against them.
I have thought about adding Nevy's Discs but are they too slow?
Are innocent bloods a better choice rather than edicts?
or perhaps spinning darkness?

Also id like to know whether you can attack with both chimeric idols and mishras workshops in the same turn.

discuss, critisise, flame

thank you

[Engine_number_9]

Hello i have returned:P

Welcome back. A lot has changed the recent years.

I think that your deck idea is fundamentally flawed. You use a lot of resources to cast a semetric effect (Pox) that your deck does'nt have the means to exploit better than most other decks.
I do realize the combo between the Rack and Pox is a powerful one, but casting a Pox is'nt gameending and could often jeopardize your winnig chances since most decks have started using alot of artifacts (including non-power decks) and alot of decks have become alot faster.

I bet you'll have problems with fast aggro, but also low-end control such as non-power Landstill could pose a serious problem, since they often use Crucible of Worlds to maintain a stable mana base.
The part where the deck could actually shine is when an opponent is beginning to stall. But since the level of competitiveness has rising so has the decks ability to not stall.

Anyway here are the changes I would have in mind:
Crucible of Worlds offers you the possibility to recover faster after casting a pox. I would definately use at least a pair of these.

However on the fundamental question on whether or not to Pox my answer is going to be: don't

[Daedalus]

I'd suggest dropping the Will, mind twist, demonic tutor an the consultation for Plague Spitters. These guys clear the board of weenies and if you resolve a pox while they are on the table everything takes another point of damage most of the time killing everything on the board.

I'd also cut the bottomless pits and 2 factories for Lurking Skirge, which is nifty in that when you kill one of there guys during turn 3 you can immediately attack with it and it flies.

I'd drop the other 2 factories for something like funeral charm or Nezumi Shortfang. I've also toyed with the idea of adding Lim-Dûl's Hex (hihi) for increased annoyance but that might a bit weak (haven't tried it yet). Nether Spirit is also nice but requires you to go another route, most likely with chimeric idols, lurking jackals/skirges and 1 Nether Spirit or somesuch.

End advice is that you simply cannot put anything in the deck that costs more than 3 mana. Period. You'll end up hurting yourself more by poxing and that is precisely what you should do asap when they hit 4 of something (since they lose 2). Always try to keep a 3 on the board and in hand, casting spells to disrupt them while dealing damage. That's very important when playing this deck. Shove and pull them until they are out of balance while beating on them with a hippy, spitter or skirge.

[Thalaan]

Splash white is fun.
Gerrards Verdict, Balance, Disenchant, Plowshares
Splash red is fun
Terminate, Meltdown, ...

But
Where are YOUR moxen(Mox diamond)? mox aren't affected by pox, so you can recover faster. Drop the Hypnotics, and mishras, kill by rack

[Daedalus]

You'll find that dropping the hyppies is a bad move in the long run since you'll win more with a creature that disrupts and does damage than one of the two. It's all about the disruption with pox. This causes you to win. While The Rack is a decent added source of damage, it doesn't substitute Hyppies in any way.

As for a second color, i'm not so sure, you will need lands that don't cause life loss since this puts you at a disadvantage rather quickly. Also note that if you do add a second color that Pox is BBB, which is rather tricky to do unless you have a decent manabase available.

If available i'd add Mox Jet and Mox Diamond. Maybe Chrome Mox if you can handle it (not always a good inclusion here since you empty your hand rather fast). I'd prefer the Diamond over the Chrome since it lets you pitch extra lands when you're at 4 cards in hand for instance.

Spinning Darkness is a nice inclusion to deal with creatures but is more a metagame choice in that if your area loves untargetable creatures it'll be dead most of the time in which case Diabolic Edict is best.

[Malenko]

Ankh of Mishra is a good addition to this deck. With the large number of fetch lands that use some decks, and with your land-destruction (wasteland, stripe,sinkhole and pox) it takes a lot of life... Test it, it's more good that it seems. And don't add any color, monoblack it's enough good and more consistent. You can't allow to have mana screw

[w1nnes]

FYI, I've been out of the game a LONG time, but:

A buddy of mine ran a deck a little like this, except he had only two poxes and no Mind Twist, wasteland, edict or sinkhole. He maindecked four each of Cursed Scroll, Ravenous Rats and Funeral Charm. A little different than your deck, which concentrates more on land destruction. He played his poxes very selectively, usually only when he had cards, life and permanents in multiples of three and his opponent did not, trying to gain a net +2 card advantage and inflict greater damage on his opponent than himself. The focus, however, was fast discard to create card advantage and establish control - ie, Rats could cause a discard then trade with another weenier to win a card. Funeral Charm could trade with a weenie, a card in the opponents hand, or even force another two points of damage when cast on a hippie. Pretty much he tried to stop threats before they hit the table. He had graduated to this sort of fast-ish control-y black from Suicide. Friendly games I ended up being an *** and maindecking Sand Golems and Mangara's Blessings lol...still, almost as fun losing your hand by turn three as getting hit by four weenies on turn two...basically my suggestion is to maybe ramp up the discard a bit, depending on how well the land kill works for you. Black can really only stop artifacts and enchantments before they are played. Innocent Blood would get a little situational as you have those hippies potentially hanging around the board. That wrath-on-green card from Stronghold (I think) whose name I forget could make a good sideboard card against stompy, where the Charms won't always cut it and they could potentially have enough creatures not to care about Edict as much.

If you want to focus more on Pox as a card and less on having a control-y black deck, you might consider some kind of interaction with Madness, but that would be either expensive or cost you a pile of life from pain lands. Imagine throwing Violent Eruption into the Madness zone off a Pox, ready to target the survivors on your opponent's side of the board. You could do artifacts and enchantments pretty easily since they aren't affected by Pox - Scroll at least oughtta be a no-brainer. Plague Spitters have been mentioned as a good combo with pox, if you were splashing, for instance, White, Academy Rector or Thrull Priest or False Prophet, Penumbra creatures if you were splashing green and so on. (bad examples but you get the idea)

[Oi!]

I just got back into magic again after a several year sabbattical. I recently rebuilt my necro-pox deck from back when it was extended legal. Here's the list:

4x Necropotence
4x Pox
4x The Rack
3x Ivory Tower
4x Hymn to Tourach
4x Drain Life
4x Dark Ritual
3x Persecute
4x Duress
3x Unmask
1x Demonic Consultation
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Vampiric Tutor

4x Lake of the Dead
16x Swamp

Concept is fairly basic. Complete hand control with The Rack and Drain Life being the game ender. Ivory Tower helps if you need some life to power the Necro, or to just stay alive. I may consider dropping these for something a little more offensive, however (suggestions?) Nothing really spectacular for a type 1 deck, but it's fun. I sold my power 9 (and 10) when I quit years ago. Sucks that I only got about 20% of what they're worth now.

[jingles8200]

staying strictly to how you think you deck should work I suggest ... megrim
this is what I call a rock and a hard place either they get their hand down to nothing or you make them discard and megrim hurts them. If they do choose to get their hand to nothing boom rack hurts them. As well for a big creature up the middle that you may like or may not like try seizan, perverter of the truth it makes them draw 2 cards and loose 2 life wich may be a bad thing with the rack but he is also a 6/5 your call but I think he is a nice touch with what you had