Rack Pox is a mono-black resource-denial deck that uses Smallpox and Pox to clear away the opponent's cards while dealing damage quickly.
Why play Rack Pox?
We get to use one of the most powerful cards in Legacy: Pox
The disruption provided by Rack Pox is powerful enough to compete with the large majority of the current Legacy metagame. Most decks will have a difficult time developing their game-plan with a constant attack on their hand, lands, creatures, and life total. The typical list runs main-deck 13 win-cons (plus pox taking huge chunks of life), 22 discard effects, 16 edicts plus blockers, and a strong mana base with basics and a total of 20 black mana sources. Pox by itself can sometimes discard 2-3 cards, destroy 2-3 lands, or destroy 2 or more creatures.
Compared to Prison Pox or 8-Rack Pox, this strategy is more consistent and has higher win percentages. Instead of focusing on either mana-denial or hand-denial -- which many decks can easily play around -- we use big pox to strip away a larger variety of resources, leaving the opponent with fewer plays. We are also stronger due to our utilization of discarded creatures/spells, which generates card advantage.
This build of pox is very skill-rewarding since we must consider land, spell, and attack sequencing to maximize damage. When things go well, we can win very quickly -- as early as turn 4! Also the card filtering mechanics present more decision-making.
II. The Deck
The Win-Cons: The Rack - For 1 colorless mana we get repeating damage that can also be directed at planeswalkers. Just as importantly, this card creates an incentive for the opponent to keep cards in his hand, gaining us more advantage for our resource denial spells. Bloodghast - We discard him and get a 2/1 attacker that can quickly gain haste. Nether Spirit - Recurring creature that can block. He flies solo so as not to get stuck in the graveyard. Mishra's Factory - Taps for mana, gets in for damage, provides a 3/3 blocker.
The Core: Smallpox - The goal of this card is to generate a 3-for-2 card advantage. Pox - Massive resource denial. Do not run less than 4 -- the land destruction and damage are very relevant. Liliana of the Veil - Our favorite planeswalker gives us repeating discard or creature removal. Typically generates at least 2-for-1 advantage or 2-for-2 attrition. Hymn to Tourach - Simple 2-for-1 card advantage. Thoughtseize - The preferred 1cmc discard spell since we're fast enough that the 2 life doesn't usually matter. A full playset is too much though; split with Inquisition of Kozilek. Disfigure - Instant targeted 1cmc removal to supplement Pox/Smallpox/Liliana. Doesn't kill our own creatures, which is a plus over Innocent Blood.
The Support: Sensei's Divining Top (SDT) - Phenomenal source of card filtering. Entomb - Tutors a variety of cards: Nether Spirit, Bloodghast, Raven's Crime, Dakmor Salvage, or other goodies you might mix in. Shuffles for SDT. Raven's Crime - Repeating discard for supporting The Rack. Funeral Charm - Our utility card; all modes are relevant. Kills creatures, provides instant-speed discard, and can even tack 2 more unblockable damage onto Nether Spirit or Factory. Spinning Darkness - Instant, free, targeted removal. When it's good it's really good.
The Mana Swamp - 1 black mana please Verdant Catacombs/Bloodstained Mire/Polluted Delta/Marsh Flats - Provides instant-speed land-drops for Bloodghast and shuffling for SDT. Dakmor Salvage - Sometimes we need to pull a black source back from the graveyard. Fetchable with Entomb. Repeating discard with Raven's Crime. Pseudo-shuffle effect for SDT. Potentially dredges nether spirit, bloodghast, or raven's crime. Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth - Allows factories and fetches to tap for black. Plus we like John Avon, so there.
Other potential cards:
Surgical Extraction/Extirpate - Main-deck yard hate to remove win-cons, mana sources, combo pieces, or disrupt brainstorms. In a pinch it can shuffle for SDT or even save our own bloodghasts from an enemy surgical (fail to find). Wasteland - Worth testing in addition to the current lands. Darkblast - Decent anti-creature card tutorable with Entomb. Cabal Therapy - Could be useful as a 1-of and makes a another entomb target. Shrieking Affliction - Not quite as good as The Rack, but less vulnerable to artifactremoval. Could be Rack #5. Smother - We are lacking in the targeted removal category, so we could maybe use this to take out serious threats at instant speed. Innocent Blood - Playable instead or mixed with Disfigure. Tombstalker - A decent finisher but less synergistic than our other win-cons.
Cards NOT to use:
Dark Ritual - In my testing this card hurts our win percentages. Possibly useful in the SB. Wrench Mind - 1cmc discard is better since we're not all-in on the rack plan. If you run extra shrieking affliction it's OK. Sinkhole - Wasteland is preferred and this does little to help us win. Cursed Scroll - This card should not be used main-deck. It works poorly with everything we're trying to do. Possibly useful in the SB. Waste Not - While fun, it is too slow and inconsistent.
-Other Creatures. We have too many discard effects to keep them in hand and way too many sac effect to keep them on the board.
-Almost everything 4CMC or higher should not be run, notably Night of Souls' Betrayal (especially since it kills bloodghast).
III. Strategy, Tips, and Tricks
The general strategy is to play massive resource denial and fast win-cons that maintain synergy. Our ideal play would be turn 1 swamp into Thoughtseize, Turn 2 Urborg into hymn, T3 factory into pox (discard bloodghast), T4 smallpox (discard bloodghast) into land triggering bloodghast followed by the rack. At this point we're dealing about 9 damage a turn and the opponent has lost around 8 life, 5 cards from the hand, 2 lands, and 2 creatures from the board.
Here are some specific things to keep in mind:
Land Drops
We operate on 1-3 lands, so it is generally wise to hold lands in your hand if you have 2 on the board. Holding these lands gives you options when deciding what to discard to Smallpox/Pox. Furthermore, extra lands in hand provide additional fuel for Raven's Crime OR additional land drops to return Bloodghast.
Keep in mind that if you play a 4th land, you will now have to sacrifice 2 lands to Pox.
Managing your non-basics will take practice if you're new to the pox archetype.
Liliana vs Pox -- the Turn 3 Play
When you have the option to cast Lili or Pox, go for the Lili first.
If she resolves you can probably still +1 or -2 her and then play pox next turn, probably for the win.
If she gets countered, then you are more likely to resolve the more powerful Pox next turn.
Bloodghast & Nether Spirit
Triggers! Triggers! Triggers! Don't forget to return these guy to play -- put a reminder die on your library or pile of lands if you must.
Most of the time you want to keep these in your hand to discard to a pox or smallpox. However, it is OK to play them if you have no other threats on the board.
If you have a bloodghast, before you do anything during your main phase, think about how you can deal the most damage over the next 2-3 turns. Sometimes you will need to play pox, and then drop a land and attack and other times you might get the most damage from an attack and then pox.
Fetchlands can protect bloodghast in the graveyard from an unfriendly Deathrite Shaman, Surgical Extraction, Rest in Peace, whatever. Fetch in response to the spell or ability to put him into play.
Be aggressive with bloodghast since he cannot block.
Pox & Smallpox
Avoid poxing yourself down to 1 land unless you will just win off of the rack or absolutely need to get rid of a creature. Having SDT in play can help find lands though.
Although it rarely matters, remember the effects occur in the order as stated on the card. For example a player with only a forest and a dryad arbor in play will need to sacrifice both.
Triggered abilities will occur only after the pox spell is finished resolving, but replacement effects will occur during resolution. For example Wilt-Leaf Liege may be put into play via the discard effect and then sacrificed via the sac creature effect.
Sensei's Divining Top
This card provides top-deck control that give us virtual advantage via card filtering over the mid- and late-game. It has a lot of tricks...
Generally you want to use your extra mana toward rearranging your library to find cards you need, shuffling or dredging to refresh them whenever available.
Your second top can be played and then put itself back in the library later when you find a shuffle/dredge card.
You can spin it during your upkeep to control the turn's draw without using it's draw ability, though this is rarely beneficial.
Dredging a Dakmor Salvage can replace the activated draw.
You can draw/dredge a card after going hellbent with a pox or Lili +1. e.g. one crazy play is to cast pox, then activate top to dredge dakmor salvage, putting bloodghast from the library into the graveyard, play the salvage, returning the bloodghast to play, attack.
Dodges Abrupt Decay, Pernicious Deed, Smash to Smithereens, etc. by putting itself on top of your library in response.
Mishra's Factory
Factory blocks as a 3/3 as long as he's not summoning sick. Animate, block, and then give itself +1/+1.
Spinning Darkness
Don't forget this is an instant and can do useful things such as kill a vendilion clique in response to its triggered ability or kill a Stoneforge Mystic vialed in at the end of your turn.
The Rack
This gives a triggered ability at the beginning of the opponent's upkeep. Any triggers the opponent controls go on the stack first, such as removing a counter from Ancestral Vision. The Rack's ability will resolve first.
Funeral Charm
This can be cast during the opponent's draw step to make him discard, which is quite useful if the opponent has only that one card.
IV. The Matchups
This section is under construction.
The main deck is generally weak against creature swarms, graveyard strategies, and resilient combo decks.
Aggro:
Generally these Matchups are even to favorable.
Even to Favorable - 60%
In my experience G1 is favorable (around 70%) and post-board is about even without specific anti-burn cards.
Early discard is effective and then our Pox spells control their lands and creatures long enough for our win-cons to go the distance. Post-board gets worse probably because they are less likely to keep land-light hands and are usually on the play G2. Watch out for Smash to Smithereens on The Rack (ouch). You might also see grafdigger's cage or relic of progenitus boarded in.
In my list I don't sideboard anything.
Cards to bring in: IF you play against a lot of burn, consider running Dragon's Claw, Sun Droplet, or Zuran Orb for a little bit of life gain. 1-2 extra Spinning Darkness wouldn't hurt. Main deck consider changing some number of The Rack to Shrieking Affliction and some number of Thoughtseize to Inquisition of Kozilek.
Cards to take out: Sensei's Divining Top (too slow)
Possibly Favorable
Save your spinning darkness for something that matters like a goblin chieftain. Keep in mind you'll probably need to play around wasteland.
This gives us LOTS of answers to early creatures and sets us up for a discard + the rack win.
Any yard hate they bring in will be mostly useless. You'll probably see some artifact hate boarded in.
We remove Pox here because
1) 3 mana to kill 1-2 creatures at a time is not enough. We need board wipes and plagues (which will compete for the 3-drop spot post-board)
2) The land destruction affects us more than them since they can easily cheat goblins into play with vial, lackey, etc. plus we need the 3 lands to play our board wipes.
3) The damage is too much.
Drown in Sorrow is a possible alternative board card. Darkblast is solid. Cursed scroll might even have a place in the board if you play a lot of these aggro decks -- it's not as bad without Pox in the deck.
Even to favorable
Our disruption is not very effective game 1 since they empty their hand quickly and have multiple creatures to sacrifice. Affinity lists can vary greatly, but the card to watch out for is cranial plating.
This is what I suggest:
Cards to bring in: +2 Null Rod, +1 Toxic Deluge, +3 Pithing Needle
Cards to take out: -3 hymn to tourach, -1 raven's crime, -2 Pox
If you see chalice, try this instead: +2 null rod, +1 toxic deluge, +1 ensnaring bridge, +3 pithing needle, -4 hymn to tourach, -2 disfigure, -1 raven's crime
Null Rod shuts down cranial plating, most of their lands and artifact mana, foundry, and ravager. Draw with your SDT before you drop it.
Pithing Needle is for cranial plating, thopter foundry, or tezzeret, agent of bolas
Again, Drown in Sorrow is fine here. Powder Keg might be viable if you play against affinity a lot although Ravager might just eat all the doomed artifacts and it doesn't work great with null rod. Cursed scroll is fine but you'll need to board out Pox. Bitterblossom is decent. Darkblast is good enough to bring in if you run it (replaces IB).
Tempo & Midrange
Even to Favorable
They run 10 creatures main, which we can kill with no problem unless they counterspell everything we play.
They will probably board in rest in peace or grafdigger's cage, and wear // tear. I've seen players board in meddling mage but it doesn't do a lot.
Ensnaring bridge can be used in place of a funeral charm. It stops batterskull, TNN, and insectile. Pithing needle can be used in place of an entomb, naming stoneforge mystic.
We don't actually need to board anything since all our main-deck cards are still useful.
Toxic deluge, drown in sorrow, or massacre are potentially useful but not needed. They are probably not the best choice for us since they kill our own guys as well, and they may never come back due to RIP or cage. Darkblast really doesn't kill anything [with one cast] besides unflipped delver and isn't great vs RIP.
Even
Favorable pre-board but unfavorable post-poard. This is our worst delver matchup because Abrupt Decay hits a lot of our permanents and Deathrite Shaman eating bloodghast/nether spirit is a problem.
I think this is one MU where tombstalker shines.
Bringing in Needle for DRS might not be a bad idea. Mass destruction is potentially useful: perish, toxic deluge, drown in sorrow. Deluge is risky because we still paid the life if it gets countered.
Even to Favorable
The addition of blue makes this matchup easier than burn since we can kill Delver of Secrets, cantrips slow them down, and counterspells aren't too harmful against us. The only real problem is if they land an unanswered young pyromancer.
Engineered Plague can come in for Pox if you see YP.
Even to Favorable
Same as any delver match, we will only lose to bad luck.
Consider bringing in chains of mephistopheles
Even to favorable
DRS can give us some problems as usual but our deck is still designed to beat theirs.
Favorable
Their high mana curve makes this an easy matchup. Discard Ancestral Visions if you get the chance but if it resolves it's not even a major concern.
Favorable
Very easy matchup since they have no countermagic to stop our plan.
Favorable
Builds with DRS are more problematic but we should be able to go through with our plan uninhibited by countermagic.
Pre-board
D&T is designed to mess with curves and Pox is a reactionary deck that must answer the opponent's threats as he/she curves out. Thalia, Port, and even flickerwisp (from an aether vial will tie up your mana long enough for the threats to hit the battlefield. Worse, your own mana denial won't hurt them since aether vial and flagstones allows them to ignore or recover from land destruction. Although you can discard their hand to nothing, they run enough threats that a couple of solid top decks will turn the game around. If you can keep the board clear of small utility dorks, you can answer their big threats by poxing them. If that isn't possible, your best hope is to land a rack or two and try to race them.
Post-board
Watch out for wilt-leaf liege; most builds run two. If you know they have the liege in their hand, you can sandbag your discard until you have enough removal that you can kill the liege as soon as it hits play. Expect council's judgment, seal of cleansing, or oblivion ring on your racks and potentially rest in peace to remove bloodghasts and nether spirits.
If your meta is infested with D&T, black offers a wide variety of anti-white cards. Massacre and Dread of Night are the most effective, but neither answers serra avenger wearing jitte or germ tokens carrying batterskull. If you run pithing needle, name jitte, port, wasteland, or aether vial. Only name vial if you see it though; some D&T players side vials out.
Tips:
-Cards that must be discarded or removed as soon as you see them: Jitte, Batterskull, Brimaz, Karakas.
-Cards that can be dealt with later, but will eventually cost you the game if you wait too long: Thalia, Vial, Port, Revoker, Serra Avenger.
-Mother of runes might seem harmless, but she'll protect their actual threats from spot removal or will be sacrificed to save more important creatures.
-Watch out for aether vial tricks, especially in conjunction with karakas. An active vial means you have to be careful with your sacrifice effects. For instance, if the D&T player has a vial with one counter and a Thalia out, use spot removal on Thalia if possible, because there is a good chance the vial will spit out a Mom if you cast a smallpox or innocent blood.
-If karakas is in play with vial, their legends (Thalia and Brimaz) will be almost unkillable. The land will save the legend from removal and vial will save them from discard. If you can't answer the karakas or the vial, you will need to cast a pox when they have no other creatures in play or cards in hand. Yes, this is a matchup where wasteland will shine.
-Phyrexian Revoker is annoying, but its not a high priority target unless you need to use liliana, top, or factory ASAP.
(Courtesy of Darth Bunny)
Even to Slightly Favorable
Pre-board
In theory, they run too many creatures. In practice, they're a tempo deck that trades burn for lords. If you can empty their hand early, your pox effects can contain their fish people pretty well. Mutavault is the only real card they run that can dodge your removal, although vial might save a fish or two from discard.
Post-board
Do not let them keep more than two lords (although zero is obviously preferred). Engineered plague will win the game only if you have the removal/discard to control their lord count. Pithing needle is also a good choice, since needle can shut down mutavault, jitte, and/or aether vial. They will likely side in echoing truth or standstill, the former will be aimed at plague. Break the standstill early, especially if mutavault or vial are in play. Do not wait.
Tips:
-Watch out for aether vial on one counter. Cursecatcher does a very good daze impression.
-One plague will not end the game, but it will cripple them. Two plagues will likely force a concession unless they have echoing truth in their hand or you let them keep too many lords.
-If you have a choice as to which lord to remove, kill Merrow Reejerey first. Reejerey can tap your lands on your turn with the help of vial, allow them extra spells by untapping their lands and vials, or untap fish/mutavaults for defense.
-Postboard, good players will side out force of will. Expect other types of countermagic instead.
-A wall of counterspells in the first few turns can be frustrating, but hymns and poxes are equally frustrating for them. Both decks are capable of shutting out the other, so don't let a one-sided game discourage you from winning games 2 or 3. Likewise, if you blow them out of the water one game, don't underestimate them in game 2.
Control
Favorable - 65%
Game 1 is about even and becomes favorable post-board due to null rod and needle. Landing an early Rack is pretty key to victory, coupled with early discard to keep them off a counter/top lock. Be careful not to over-extend on creatures, try to hold at least one in your hand or graveyard or a non-animated factory, otherwise Terminus will set you back pretty far. These games will take a while, so be patient. Proactive land destruction keeps angels or jace off the board.
Miracles will probably board in rest in peace or grafdigger's cage, and perhaps pithing needle for Liliana. You might see wear // tear or engineered explosives.
Cards to bring in: +1 chains of mephistopheles, +2 null rod, +3 pithing needle
Cards to take out: -1 entomb, -3 innocent blood -1 spinning darkness, -1 sensei's divining top
Needle on Jace and SDT. It can name flooded strand if top and jace are locked down, but that's probably overkill at that point.
Funeral charm is actually pretty good -- if you can bait the opponent into putting SDT on top to draw card, next turn you might get lucky and make him discard it during the draw step if he is hellbent. It also kills flashed in x/1s that annoyingly block your creatures or attack Lili.
There aren't any other great cards against Miracles I know about. Tombstalker does poorly in this MU due to jace and rest in peace.
Very unfavorable.
G1 is probably only winnable with a large amount of luck. Graveyard hate is required for G2.
They don't care about discard due to life from the loam, which also shuts off the rack. Untargeted LD obviously does very little. Glacial chasm, maze of ith, and wasteland shut off all our win-cons. Marit lage is basically inevitable and unstoppable.
Lands builds can vary greatly, but they definitely have additional cards to bring in to fight yard hate. Be aware they might bring in dark confidant, so don't board out all removal.
Cards to bring in: +1 ensnaring bridge, +3 pithing needle
Cards to take out: -1 raven's crime, -1 spinning darkness, -2 innocent blood
Bring in any graveyard hate you might have. If you are running surgical extraction or one-time effects like tormod's crypt, be careful to play around tranquil thicket dredging back loam in response.
To bring in more cards, we can take out: entomb, funeral charm, and additional copies of innocent blood or smallpox.
Even to favorable
Their control builds vary but we should be favored pre-board and probably unfavored post-board when they bring in yard hate and more counters, taking out Lili and hymn. If they find a life from the loam it's game-over for us unless removed immediately.
MUD
Combo
Storm: ANT, TES, Tin Fins, High Tide, Belcher
Unfavorable to Even
From the board we bring in pithing needle, chains of mephistopheles, and ensnaring bridge. Cut Disfigure, Spinning Darkness, and Funeral Charm.
Nether Spirit isn't great. If you run Surgical Extraction, it may be reasonable to board it in to remove their combo pieces. Reanimate is epic tech if that's your style; if possible use griselbrand to draw more disruption.
Reanimator
Dredge
Elves
Oops All Spells
Painter
Titan Post
V. Decklists
Here is my recommended list tuned for a mixed metagame:
This board is tuned to help more against aggro. Replace Dark Ritual with Leyline of the Void if you have less trouble with goblins/merfolk/elves/D&T, and/or regularly see Dredge. Extirpate or Surgical Extraction are required to beat Lands.
VI. Budget Options
Bloodghast - Tombstalker is an OK replacement. Also take out the Spinning Darkness if you run him. Think about replacing any copies of IB with disfigure, smother, darkblast, and/or other removal.
Sensei's Divining Top - just run more spells: +1 IB, +1 Shrieking Affliction would work fine.
Liliana of the Veil - She is a tough lady to replace. You could add in 1 Inquisition of Kozilek, 1 IB, and 1 Smother.
Black Fetchlands - Replace with swamps and remove SDT.
Entomb - Probably the least necessary of the expensive cards: usually fetches a win-con, so replace with Shrieking Affliction.
Very excited to see this. I'll add a link to it in the Modern 8Rack primer.
Quick note: you seem to think The Rack doesn't get through Leyline, but it does. Also, Deluge is quite expensive on MTGO; what would you suggest replacing it with?
You are correct about the rack; I got mixed up somehow. Thanks, I will fix. Drown in sorrow fills the same role as deluge. However you might be able to replace it with something else entirely, depending on the meta. Chains of Mephistopheles would be solid. Frequent goblins and merfolk players at my local store influenced my board.
As I fill in the matchups section it should help with building a sideboard.
Have you had problems with the new delve cards, particularly treasure cruise? That thing has single-handily made the U/R delver matchups even, if not in their favor. The only solution I've come up with is to board in engineered plague since almost all their threats are humans. Really wish the monastery swiftspear was a 2/1 =(
I haven't played against treasure cruise yet with pox, but I'm surprised it swings the matchup that much. Maybe I should add chains to my board. Thoughtseize and raven's crime probably help.
Darth, would you be willing to help with the matchups section of the primer here? I know you have more experience with rack pox than I do, even though our lists are a bit different. I can also add your current list if you want to share it.
Well the problem is that TC turns our strength, disruption, into a source of fuel for their card draw. When they cast TC, it effectively turns off the rack while undoing all the damage that our discard did. And those three cards they draw could contain a brainstorm, a ponder, or another TC, which only puts them further ahead. TC isn't unbeatable, but it becomes an uphill battle.
I'd be happy to help with the matchups, but: 1. it might be a week or two since I'm currently busy with papers and 2. our builds are different enough such that our numbers might vary.
I've been testing your list and I've liked it a lot because there isn't as much tension between cards (cast pox discarding bloodghast v. cast pox with tombstalker in hand) and there's a few extra lines of decision-making thanks to STD and entomb. I'm currently revising my list in preparation for SCG Oakland, but I'll provide a list once I've settled on a final draft =)
Yeah I took my Pox deck to a Legacy tournament on Friday night and TC was a total beating. It lets decks grind with us because every card they use is just fueling an eventual Ancestral Recall to refill their grip, which is super frustrating.
I had an opponent cast TC THREE TIMES against me in one match. All max delve, as in he delved 21 cards that game. I was just on Gatherer looking for the most spiteful tech I could come up with to beat that card, because I feel like I was losing games to Treasure Cruise when I had the rest of their deck under control.
I'm just going to list a bunch of ideas, either possibly as main deck or sideboard tech, but with Delve becoming a big time mechanic in Legacy, I think we can't get away with not attacking people's Graveyards as a resource, because it WILL eventually fuel their grip.
Also, the notion of just having either main deck Extirpate, Surgical Extraction, or Nihil Spellbomb also occurred to me. I don't mind letting them get one TC off if it means I can stop them from doing it again in a game, but when they can do it multiple times in a game it really gets out of hand.
Also, what do you all think of the possibilities Khans opened up for Delve in Pox? Specifically, these cards stand out as playable:
Murderous Cut
Somewhat an upgrade over Spinning Darkness? Upsides include ability to kill black creatures, and ability to kill things with toughness > 3 (mostly 'Goyf, maybe opposing Tombstalker).
Necropolis Fiend
Any chance this is better or en par with Tombstalker? Being able to keep shooting things could be relevant.
Also, what do you all think of the possibilities Khans opened up for Delve in Pox? Specifically, these cards stand out as playable:
Murderous Cut
Somewhat an upgrade over Spinning Darkness? Upsides include ability to kill black creatures, and ability to kill things with toughness > 3 (mostly 'Goyf, maybe opposing Tombstalker).
Necropolis Fiend
Any chance this is better or en par with Tombstalker? Being able to keep shooting things could be relevant.
I've tried fiend. Its tap ability didn't come up very often because it already ate all the cards in my grave. I've found tombstalker to be better, not because of the extra power, but because it costs 8 rather than 9. Being able to cast my demon a full turn earlier is a lot more relevant than it might appear at first glance.
I haven't tried murderous cut, although I wouldn't put it in the same deck with one of the demons. I don't know if I'd put it instead of spinning darkness. Spinning darkness being castable for free and giving three life are not small advantages. We often burn through our life totals with the pox effects and thoughtseize that three life is crucial, especially if the opponent has any burn spells. So if I run MC, it will be alongside spinning darkness instead of in its place.
We run so many black sources + Urborg (and Dark Rituals and Moxes) that getting the BBBB casting cost portion shouldn't be too hard. Then we can delve the whole yard and produce an army out of nowhere. Seems legit to me? Possibly as an alternative to Tombstalker?
I'll be honest here, and everyone will deem me crazy for saying this, I'm not a fan of Nether Spirit. Like, at all! It's one of our best blockers, but that's all I feel it does. It may be slower, but with enough skill I feel Necroplasm would work in this deck too. Granted he fits more into a prison style build, but I can see him working in this deck as well. Then again, maybe the reason I hate Nether Spirit so much was because I didn't discard him often, and seeing how this deck not only runs 3 Liliana of the Veil and 4 Smallpox, it also runs 4 pox as well. I'm no expert in legacy, but what do you guys this of Necroplasm. It can kill pretty much any creature in the game if we have the opponent under control.
I think that Necroplasm is a good card, but it has two really big downsides stapled to it, as compared to Nether Spirit.
First, and most importantly, is that Nether Spirit costs ZERO mana 9 times out of 10. Given that Pox has a tendency to destroy our own lands with our spells, having a threat that comes back every turn, for free, is a pretty big deal.
The second issue is that, in order to dredge the Necroplasm, you also have to not draw a card. This is also a big issue, because sometimes you need a blocker and to draw cards that keep advancing your board state.
Take two different game states: one where you have 3 lands and a Necroplasm, and your opponent has 3 lands and a 5/6 Tarmogoyf. Let's say the Tarmogoyf represents lethal, and you have to block it. This means that for every turn for the rest of the game, you need to dredge your Necroplasm, and then spend all 3 of your mana just to cast it. You will never win this game without taking a chance on not dredging, and instead hoping to hit a relevant card off the top of your deck. At best Necroplasm will slowly lose the game for you, and in a sense you will be "Necroplasm locked."
Take the same scenario, but replace the creature with Nether Spirit. Now, you've got a blocker, for free, every turn, and are free to draw off the top of your deck while you look for a permanent answer to the Tarmogoyf. You can wall that 'Goyf all day, and still be able to draw through your deck looking for relevant spells. Necroplasm just doesn't give you that option.
Ultimately, Necroplasm is a good creature and idea, but I think the marginal utility is far too low compared to what Nether Spirit brings to the table.
Edit: The only place I would see Necroplasm doing good work is against a matchup that is already good for this deck. Against U/R Delver, you would kill their Elemental tokens and Insectile Aberrations on zero (turn 1), their un-flipped Delvers and Swiftspears on one (turn 2), and their Young Pyromancers on 2 (turn 3). Even then, I'd rather just board in Engineered Plague on Humans and watch them weep. Ditto for the Elves, Goblins, and Merfolk matchups.
@WeaponX
You're worried about the 1x nether spirit getting stuck in the yard for a couple turns with one of the ghasts? Keep in mind we're not intentionally sacrificing our creatures at any point. Exiling our win-cons is the last thing we want to do.
@SoundReason
I think I would rather play chains than spellbomb or relic.
Surgical extraction is playable for sure... I'm just not sure TC would ever be the best target.
I don't particularly like anything from Khans I've seen. Murderous cut isn't terrible but I like my removal to be active turn 1 or 2.
Empty the pits costs way to much for what little it will do for us.
I'm curious about your list since it sounds like you're trying hard to "replace" tombstalker. Do you not run bloodghast?
I think that Necroplasm is a good card, but it has two really big downsides stapled to it, as compared to Nether Spirit.
First, and most importantly, is that Nether Spirit costs ZERO mana 9 times out of 10. Given that Pox has a tendency to destroy our own lands with our spells, having a threat that comes back every turn, for free, is a pretty big deal.
The second issue is that, in order to dredge the Necroplasm, you also have to not draw a card. This is also a big issue, because sometimes you need a blocker and to draw cards that keep advancing your board state.
Take two different game states: one where you have 3 lands and a Necroplasm, and your opponent has 3 lands and a 5/6 Tarmogoyf. Let's say the Tarmogoyf represents lethal, and you have to block it. This means that for every turn for the rest of the game, you need to dredge your Necroplasm, and then spend all 3 of your mana just to cast it. You will never win this game without taking a chance on not dredging, and instead hoping to hit a relevant card off the top of your deck. At best Necroplasm will slowly lose the game for you, and in a sense you will be "Necroplasm locked."
Take the same scenario, but replace the creature with Nether Spirit. Now, you've got a blocker, for free, every turn, and are free to draw off the top of your deck while you look for a permanent answer to the Tarmogoyf. You can wall that 'Goyf all day, and still be able to draw through your deck looking for relevant spells. Necroplasm just doesn't give you that option.
Ultimately, Necroplasm is a good creature and idea, but I think the marginal utility is far too low compared to what Nether Spirit brings to the table.
Edit: The only place I would see Necroplasm doing good work is against a matchup that is already good for this deck. Against U/R Delver, you would kill their Elemental tokens and Insectile Aberrations on zero (turn 1), their un-flipped Delvers and Swiftspears on one (turn 2), and their Young Pyromancers on 2 (turn 3). Even then, I'd rather just board in Engineered Plague on Humans and watch them weep. Ditto for the Elves, Goblins, and Merfolk matchups.
Thanks for this. I've been playing Pox for a while now and I feel like the prison builds tend to fade out mid/late-mid game. Some decks can get over your setups or draw beastly and decide to smack you a bit. I've seen a lot of people playing loam and Rack builds as of recent. May try out this version of Pox this primer covers.
Also, this may be a dead draw for us, but how about Dream Salvage for draw power, and is Waste Not that dead of a card where it's not included in the primer?
Dream salvage - Absolutely not. Available turn 3 at the earliest, the only time it would provide value would be if you cast hymn and then dream salvage (using 3 black mana), netting 1 card, which can't even be cast until the following turn (unless it was a spinning darkness).
Waste Not - This card has a number of problems. To provide value it needs to trigger 2 draws. Early in the game, casting it slows down our disruption since it does nothing to the opponent. Late in the game, it is harder to get value since the opponent is more likely hellbent. Value is completely dependent on our discard spells hitting targets. I was thinking of testing it, but there's just no way it's better than other cards we already run or would rather run like chains of mephistopheles.
Neither of these cards really help accomplish anything in line with our tempo strategy: drain resources & life.
I have a rough non-pox list that runs dream salvage and waste not, but it's not ready to take to any tournament. On the other hand, I feel this rack pox list is actually pretty refined.
The ability to have a recurring blocker is also very relevant. More so when it can trade, but even just causing a speed bump for a goyf until it can be dealt with, is reason for my concern. Plus keeping pressure is a boon for pox especially with the resource denial.
Private Mod Note
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------------------- Keep Abiding or Get Mangled ------------------
I find Necroplasm useful in casual, aggro-heavy metas. I find it clunky in a developed competitive Legacy meta. Rarely does it kill more than 2 creatures per iteration and you just have better tools to deal with creatures that opponent cannot play around by carefully timing his turns (Ensnaring Bridge, Toxic Deluge, Liliana, etc.). Necroplasm plays out like one of those "you choose cards". Everything is on the table out in the open, no surprises or interactions, opponent has perfect information to play around it, it's obvious when certain cards are going to die, and opponent can shove it in your face by doing things like playing a 1 drop right after Necroplasm already triggered at 1cc. It has its uses but I see there being few relevant gamestates where Necroplasm truly dominates the game as opposed to just grinding out edges that you could have gotten from other cards too.
@OP: Why no Cursed Scroll? That card has done well in non-Rack non-budget Pox lists, and this version seems to dump its hand quickly too.
i think the reason is that when you're running 8 pox effects, consistently being able to activate your cursed scroll might be difficult..the racks can consistently deal damage without having to activate it..
though i'd probably try to incorporate it in my build to test it because i like it so much..but i'd never put more than 2 in an 8 pox build..
Necroplasm is nasty against most creature decks. Especially those relying on tokens, like PiF empty the warrens. (Batterskull is also a token, btw.)
It is also a Blocker, and beat down.
Anyone running plenty of lands and mana acc should consider it at least for the Sideboard. Should work well in BG builds.
necroplasm is a good card but i'd personally pick ratchet bomb over it as a maindeck card..i think our deck is already good at handling creature swarms(night of soul's betrayal, toxic deluge, drown in sorrow, etc) and ratchet bomb can at least give us an answer to other troublesome permanents like aether vial, etc..
Private Mod Note
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"I am the purifier, the light that clears all shadows."
—Seal inscription
Nether spirit + bloodghast works well in practice because ghast normally doesn't stay in the yard very long when you play lands appropriately.
I don't think necroplasm has a place in this deck. Too many drawbacks as already mentioned. Answering tokens is not what we want to be doing anyway, especially not for 3 mana. It also kills bloodghast.
Cursed scroll is not main deck material because 1) it can't really replace any of the win-cons since it is not efficient 2) IB, spinning, smallpox, pox, charm, and Lili are already filling the crowd control role 3) this build does not reliably empty its hand; we have more live cards since we don't run dark rit 4) the 3 mana is a problem because we don't want to drop all our lands and we have 4 pox effects 5) it does not play well with factory.
That said, it is a sideboard option for cases when you board out big pox.
I saw one player running it along with dark rit, which makes sense since you run out of cards faster. Ask yourself, do you really want to run out of cards faster?
Splashing green creates a completely different build since you would need to change so many of the cards. Would it strictly improve the deck? I don't think so, but it might still be good.
Night of souls' betrayal is incompatible with the main deck and too inefficient for SB. I'm not sure why you'd mention it.
Ratchet bomb is potentially playable but I'm not convinced it's worth a slot in the board. What matchups is it great against? I've had it in my board in the past but never felt the need to bring it in.
I'm a fan of Dark Ritual however, i'm going to replace it in the next event.
I have 18 black sources + 4 mishra (+4 DR).
Do you think I need more black mana if I replace the DR?
I run 4 smallpox and 2 Pox.
I'm thinking in replacing DR with +2 swamp, +1 pox, +1 flex slot.
@Dromar: how is your experience with 20 black sources and 8 pox?
I want to share some thoughts about the following cards:
- Tombstalker: It was great in my matchs, when it resolves is a fast clock that helps ending games (wich is really important in this build).
- Ratchet bomb: was very helpful, it is not great in any matchup, but its very versatile, allowing to blow more than one permanent and recovering the board control. If you cast it early your opponent will tend to play one threat a time so is easy for us to disrupt him.
- Sensei's: great in playtesting, never used it in a real game because I don't have it (coming soon!).
- Dark Ritual: the main reason to run it is playing 1st turn lili, that play is too good in my opinion. It allows you to make explosive starts. It is also a dead card late game but if you don't run it you have to increase the land count (+2) (which are dead cards late game too). It has really good sinergy with tombstalker! I'm going to try without it and then I will tell you!
B Rack Pox B
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
I. Introduction
Rack Pox is a mono-black resource-denial deck that uses Smallpox and Pox to clear away the opponent's cards while dealing damage quickly.
Why play Rack Pox?
We get to use one of the most powerful cards in Legacy: Pox
The disruption provided by Rack Pox is powerful enough to compete with the large majority of the current Legacy metagame. Most decks will have a difficult time developing their game-plan with a constant attack on their hand, lands, creatures, and life total. The typical list runs main-deck 13 win-cons (plus pox taking huge chunks of life), 22 discard effects, 16 edicts plus blockers, and a strong mana base with basics and a total of 20 black mana sources. Pox by itself can sometimes discard 2-3 cards, destroy 2-3 lands, or destroy 2 or more creatures.
Compared to Prison Pox or 8-Rack Pox, this strategy is more consistent and has higher win percentages. Instead of focusing on either mana-denial or hand-denial -- which many decks can easily play around -- we use big pox to strip away a larger variety of resources, leaving the opponent with fewer plays. We are also stronger due to our utilization of discarded creatures/spells, which generates card advantage.
This build of pox is very skill-rewarding since we must consider land, spell, and attack sequencing to maximize damage. When things go well, we can win very quickly -- as early as turn 4! Also the card filtering mechanics present more decision-making.
II. The Deck
The Win-Cons:
The Rack - For 1 colorless mana we get repeating damage that can also be directed at planeswalkers. Just as importantly, this card creates an incentive for the opponent to keep cards in his hand, gaining us more advantage for our resource denial spells.
Bloodghast - We discard him and get a 2/1 attacker that can quickly gain haste.
Nether Spirit - Recurring creature that can block. He flies solo so as not to get stuck in the graveyard.
Mishra's Factory - Taps for mana, gets in for damage, provides a 3/3 blocker.
The Core:
Smallpox - The goal of this card is to generate a 3-for-2 card advantage.
Pox - Massive resource denial. Do not run less than 4 -- the land destruction and damage are very relevant.
Liliana of the Veil - Our favorite planeswalker gives us repeating discard or creature removal. Typically generates at least 2-for-1 advantage or 2-for-2 attrition.
Hymn to Tourach - Simple 2-for-1 card advantage.
Thoughtseize - The preferred 1cmc discard spell since we're fast enough that the 2 life doesn't usually matter. A full playset is too much though; split with Inquisition of Kozilek.
Disfigure - Instant targeted 1cmc removal to supplement Pox/Smallpox/Liliana. Doesn't kill our own creatures, which is a plus over Innocent Blood.
The Support:
Sensei's Divining Top (SDT) - Phenomenal source of card filtering.
Entomb - Tutors a variety of cards: Nether Spirit, Bloodghast, Raven's Crime, Dakmor Salvage, or other goodies you might mix in. Shuffles for SDT.
Raven's Crime - Repeating discard for supporting The Rack.
Funeral Charm - Our utility card; all modes are relevant. Kills creatures, provides instant-speed discard, and can even tack 2 more unblockable damage onto Nether Spirit or Factory.
Spinning Darkness - Instant, free, targeted removal. When it's good it's really good.
The Mana
Swamp - 1 black mana please
Verdant Catacombs/Bloodstained Mire/Polluted Delta/Marsh Flats - Provides instant-speed land-drops for Bloodghast and shuffling for SDT.
Dakmor Salvage - Sometimes we need to pull a black source back from the graveyard. Fetchable with Entomb. Repeating discard with Raven's Crime. Pseudo-shuffle effect for SDT. Potentially dredges nether spirit, bloodghast, or raven's crime.
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth - Allows factories and fetches to tap for black. Plus we like John Avon, so there.
Other potential cards:
Wasteland - Worth testing in addition to the current lands.
Darkblast - Decent anti-creature card tutorable with Entomb.
Cabal Therapy - Could be useful as a 1-of and makes a another entomb target.
Shrieking Affliction - Not quite as good as The Rack, but less vulnerable to artifact removal. Could be Rack #5.
Smother - We are lacking in the targeted removal category, so we could maybe use this to take out serious threats at instant speed.
Innocent Blood - Playable instead or mixed with Disfigure.
Tombstalker - A decent finisher but less synergistic than our other win-cons.
Cards NOT to use:
Wrench Mind - 1cmc discard is better since we're not all-in on the rack plan. If you run extra shrieking affliction it's OK.
Sinkhole - Wasteland is preferred and this does little to help us win.
Cursed Scroll - This card should not be used main-deck. It works poorly with everything we're trying to do. Possibly useful in the SB.
Waste Not - While fun, it is too slow and inconsistent.
-Other Creatures. We have too many discard effects to keep them in hand and way too many sac effect to keep them on the board.
-Almost everything 4CMC or higher should not be run, notably Night of Souls' Betrayal (especially since it kills bloodghast).
III. Strategy, Tips, and Tricks
The general strategy is to play massive resource denial and fast win-cons that maintain synergy. Our ideal play would be turn 1 swamp into Thoughtseize, Turn 2 Urborg into hymn, T3 factory into pox (discard bloodghast), T4 smallpox (discard bloodghast) into land triggering bloodghast followed by the rack. At this point we're dealing about 9 damage a turn and the opponent has lost around 8 life, 5 cards from the hand, 2 lands, and 2 creatures from the board.
Here are some specific things to keep in mind:
We operate on 1-3 lands, so it is generally wise to hold lands in your hand if you have 2 on the board. Holding these lands gives you options when deciding what to discard to Smallpox/Pox. Furthermore, extra lands in hand provide additional fuel for Raven's Crime OR additional land drops to return Bloodghast.
Keep in mind that if you play a 4th land, you will now have to sacrifice 2 lands to Pox.
Managing your non-basics will take practice if you're new to the pox archetype.
Liliana vs Pox -- the Turn 3 Play
When you have the option to cast Lili or Pox, go for the Lili first.
If she resolves you can probably still +1 or -2 her and then play pox next turn, probably for the win.
If she gets countered, then you are more likely to resolve the more powerful Pox next turn.
Bloodghast & Nether Spirit
Triggers! Triggers! Triggers! Don't forget to return these guy to play -- put a reminder die on your library or pile of lands if you must.
Most of the time you want to keep these in your hand to discard to a pox or smallpox. However, it is OK to play them if you have no other threats on the board.
If you have a bloodghast, before you do anything during your main phase, think about how you can deal the most damage over the next 2-3 turns. Sometimes you will need to play pox, and then drop a land and attack and other times you might get the most damage from an attack and then pox.
Fetchlands can protect bloodghast in the graveyard from an unfriendly Deathrite Shaman, Surgical Extraction, Rest in Peace, whatever. Fetch in response to the spell or ability to put him into play.
Be aggressive with bloodghast since he cannot block.
Pox & Smallpox
Avoid poxing yourself down to 1 land unless you will just win off of the rack or absolutely need to get rid of a creature. Having SDT in play can help find lands though.
Although it rarely matters, remember the effects occur in the order as stated on the card. For example a player with only a forest and a dryad arbor in play will need to sacrifice both.
Triggered abilities will occur only after the pox spell is finished resolving, but replacement effects will occur during resolution. For example Wilt-Leaf Liege may be put into play via the discard effect and then sacrificed via the sac creature effect.
Sensei's Divining Top
This card provides top-deck control that give us virtual advantage via card filtering over the mid- and late-game. It has a lot of tricks...
Generally you want to use your extra mana toward rearranging your library to find cards you need, shuffling or dredging to refresh them whenever available.
Your second top can be played and then put itself back in the library later when you find a shuffle/dredge card.
You can spin it during your upkeep to control the turn's draw without using it's draw ability, though this is rarely beneficial.
Dredging a Dakmor Salvage can replace the activated draw.
You can draw/dredge a card after going hellbent with a pox or Lili +1. e.g. one crazy play is to cast pox, then activate top to dredge dakmor salvage, putting bloodghast from the library into the graveyard, play the salvage, returning the bloodghast to play, attack.
Dodges Abrupt Decay, Pernicious Deed, Smash to Smithereens, etc. by putting itself on top of your library in response.
Mishra's Factory
Factory blocks as a 3/3 as long as he's not summoning sick. Animate, block, and then give itself +1/+1.
Spinning Darkness
Don't forget this is an instant and can do useful things such as kill a vendilion clique in response to its triggered ability or kill a Stoneforge Mystic vialed in at the end of your turn.
The Rack
This gives a triggered ability at the beginning of the opponent's upkeep. Any triggers the opponent controls go on the stack first, such as removing a counter from Ancestral Vision. The Rack's ability will resolve first.
Funeral Charm
This can be cast during the opponent's draw step to make him discard, which is quite useful if the opponent has only that one card.
IV. The Matchups
This section is under construction.
The main deck is generally weak against creature swarms, graveyard strategies, and resilient combo decks.
Aggro:
Generally these Matchups are even to favorable.
In my experience G1 is favorable (around 70%) and post-board is about even without specific anti-burn cards.
Early discard is effective and then our Pox spells control their lands and creatures long enough for our win-cons to go the distance. Post-board gets worse probably because they are less likely to keep land-light hands and are usually on the play G2. Watch out for Smash to Smithereens on The Rack (ouch). You might also see grafdigger's cage or relic of progenitus boarded in.
In my list I don't sideboard anything.
Cards to bring in: IF you play against a lot of burn, consider running Dragon's Claw, Sun Droplet, or Zuran Orb for a little bit of life gain. 1-2 extra Spinning Darkness wouldn't hurt. Main deck consider changing some number of The Rack to Shrieking Affliction and some number of Thoughtseize to Inquisition of Kozilek.
Cards to take out: Sensei's Divining Top (too slow)
Save your spinning darkness for something that matters like a goblin chieftain. Keep in mind you'll probably need to play around wasteland.
Cards to bring in: +4 Dark Ritual, +3 Engineered Plague, +1 Ensnaring Bridge, +1 Toxic Deluge
Cards to take out: -1 Thoughtseize -4 Bloodghast, -4 Pox
This gives us LOTS of answers to early creatures and sets us up for a discard + the rack win.
Any yard hate they bring in will be mostly useless. You'll probably see some artifact hate boarded in.
We remove Pox here because
1) 3 mana to kill 1-2 creatures at a time is not enough. We need board wipes and plagues (which will compete for the 3-drop spot post-board)
2) The land destruction affects us more than them since they can easily cheat goblins into play with vial, lackey, etc. plus we need the 3 lands to play our board wipes.
3) The damage is too much.
Drown in Sorrow is a possible alternative board card. Darkblast is solid. Cursed scroll might even have a place in the board if you play a lot of these aggro decks -- it's not as bad without Pox in the deck.
Our disruption is not very effective game 1 since they empty their hand quickly and have multiple creatures to sacrifice. Affinity lists can vary greatly, but the card to watch out for is cranial plating.
This is what I suggest:
Cards to bring in: +2 Null Rod, +1 Toxic Deluge, +3 Pithing Needle
Cards to take out: -3 hymn to tourach, -1 raven's crime, -2 Pox
If you see chalice, try this instead: +2 null rod, +1 toxic deluge, +1 ensnaring bridge, +3 pithing needle, -4 hymn to tourach, -2 disfigure, -1 raven's crime
Null Rod shuts down cranial plating, most of their lands and artifact mana, foundry, and ravager. Draw with your SDT before you drop it.
Pithing Needle is for cranial plating, thopter foundry, or tezzeret, agent of bolas
Again, Drown in Sorrow is fine here. Powder Keg might be viable if you play against affinity a lot although Ravager might just eat all the doomed artifacts and it doesn't work great with null rod. Cursed scroll is fine but you'll need to board out Pox. Bitterblossom is decent. Darkblast is good enough to bring in if you run it (replaces IB).
Tempo & Midrange
They run 10 creatures main, which we can kill with no problem unless they counterspell everything we play.
They will probably board in rest in peace or grafdigger's cage, and wear // tear. I've seen players board in meddling mage but it doesn't do a lot.
Cards to bring in: +1 chains of mephistopheles
Cards to take out: -1 raven's crime
Ensnaring bridge can be used in place of a funeral charm. It stops batterskull, TNN, and insectile.
Pithing needle can be used in place of an entomb, naming stoneforge mystic.
We don't actually need to board anything since all our main-deck cards are still useful.
Toxic deluge, drown in sorrow, or massacre are potentially useful but not needed. They are probably not the best choice for us since they kill our own guys as well, and they may never come back due to RIP or cage. Darkblast really doesn't kill anything [with one cast] besides unflipped delver and isn't great vs RIP.
Favorable pre-board but unfavorable post-poard. This is our worst delver matchup because Abrupt Decay hits a lot of our permanents and Deathrite Shaman eating bloodghast/nether spirit is a problem.
Cards to bring in: +1 chains of mephistopheles
Cards to take out: -1 raven's crime
I think this is one MU where tombstalker shines.
Bringing in Needle for DRS might not be a bad idea. Mass destruction is potentially useful: perish, toxic deluge, drown in sorrow. Deluge is risky because we still paid the life if it gets countered.
The addition of blue makes this matchup easier than burn since we can kill Delver of Secrets, cantrips slow them down, and counterspells aren't too harmful against us. The only real problem is if they land an unanswered young pyromancer.
Cards to bring in: +1 chains of mephistopheles
Cards to take out: -1 raven's crime
Engineered Plague can come in for Pox if you see YP.
Same as any delver match, we will only lose to bad luck.
Consider bringing in chains of mephistopheles
DRS can give us some problems as usual but our deck is still designed to beat theirs.
Their high mana curve makes this an easy matchup. Discard Ancestral Visions if you get the chance but if it resolves it's not even a major concern.
Very easy matchup since they have no countermagic to stop our plan.
Builds with DRS are more problematic but we should be able to go through with our plan uninhibited by countermagic.
Cursed Totem is good against a field of maverick.
Some tempo decks run too many creatures and are harder matchups:
Slightly Unfavorable to Unfavorable (Builds with Brimaz, King of Oreskos and Flagstones of Trokair will be harder)
Pre-board
D&T is designed to mess with curves and Pox is a reactionary deck that must answer the opponent's threats as he/she curves out. Thalia, Port, and even flickerwisp (from an aether vial will tie up your mana long enough for the threats to hit the battlefield. Worse, your own mana denial won't hurt them since aether vial and flagstones allows them to ignore or recover from land destruction. Although you can discard their hand to nothing, they run enough threats that a couple of solid top decks will turn the game around. If you can keep the board clear of small utility dorks, you can answer their big threats by poxing them. If that isn't possible, your best hope is to land a rack or two and try to race them.
Cards to bring in: +1 toxic deluge, +1 ensnaring bridge, +3 pithing needle
Cards to take out: -3 pox, -1 entomb, -1 nether spirit
Post-board
Watch out for wilt-leaf liege; most builds run two. If you know they have the liege in their hand, you can sandbag your discard until you have enough removal that you can kill the liege as soon as it hits play. Expect council's judgment, seal of cleansing, or oblivion ring on your racks and potentially rest in peace to remove bloodghasts and nether spirits.
If your meta is infested with D&T, black offers a wide variety of anti-white cards. Massacre and Dread of Night are the most effective, but neither answers serra avenger wearing jitte or germ tokens carrying batterskull. If you run pithing needle, name jitte, port, wasteland, or aether vial. Only name vial if you see it though; some D&T players side vials out.
Tips:
-Cards that must be discarded or removed as soon as you see them: Jitte, Batterskull, Brimaz, Karakas.
-Cards that can be dealt with later, but will eventually cost you the game if you wait too long: Thalia, Vial, Port, Revoker, Serra Avenger.
-Mother of runes might seem harmless, but she'll protect their actual threats from spot removal or will be sacrificed to save more important creatures.
-Watch out for aether vial tricks, especially in conjunction with karakas. An active vial means you have to be careful with your sacrifice effects. For instance, if the D&T player has a vial with one counter and a Thalia out, use spot removal on Thalia if possible, because there is a good chance the vial will spit out a Mom if you cast a smallpox or innocent blood.
-If karakas is in play with vial, their legends (Thalia and Brimaz) will be almost unkillable. The land will save the legend from removal and vial will save them from discard. If you can't answer the karakas or the vial, you will need to cast a pox when they have no other creatures in play or cards in hand. Yes, this is a matchup where wasteland will shine.
-Phyrexian Revoker is annoying, but its not a high priority target unless you need to use liliana, top, or factory ASAP.
Even to Slightly Favorable
Pre-board
In theory, they run too many creatures. In practice, they're a tempo deck that trades burn for lords. If you can empty their hand early, your pox effects can contain their fish people pretty well. Mutavault is the only real card they run that can dodge your removal, although vial might save a fish or two from discard.
Cards to bring in: +4 Dark Ritual, +3 Engineered Plague, +1 Ensnaring Bridge, +1 Toxic Deluge
Cards to take out: -1 Thoughtseize -4 Bloodghast, -4 Pox
Post-board
Do not let them keep more than two lords (although zero is obviously preferred). Engineered plague will win the game only if you have the removal/discard to control their lord count. Pithing needle is also a good choice, since needle can shut down mutavault, jitte, and/or aether vial. They will likely side in echoing truth or standstill, the former will be aimed at plague. Break the standstill early, especially if mutavault or vial are in play. Do not wait.
Tips:
-Watch out for aether vial on one counter. Cursecatcher does a very good daze impression.
-One plague will not end the game, but it will cripple them. Two plagues will likely force a concession unless they have echoing truth in their hand or you let them keep too many lords.
-If you have a choice as to which lord to remove, kill Merrow Reejerey first. Reejerey can tap your lands on your turn with the help of vial, allow them extra spells by untapping their lands and vials, or untap fish/mutavaults for defense.
-Postboard, good players will side out force of will. Expect other types of countermagic instead.
-A wall of counterspells in the first few turns can be frustrating, but hymns and poxes are equally frustrating for them. Both decks are capable of shutting out the other, so don't let a one-sided game discourage you from winning games 2 or 3. Likewise, if you blow them out of the water one game, don't underestimate them in game 2.
Control
Game 1 is about even and becomes favorable post-board due to null rod and needle. Landing an early Rack is pretty key to victory, coupled with early discard to keep them off a counter/top lock. Be careful not to over-extend on creatures, try to hold at least one in your hand or graveyard or a non-animated factory, otherwise Terminus will set you back pretty far. These games will take a while, so be patient. Proactive land destruction keeps angels or jace off the board.
Miracles will probably board in rest in peace or grafdigger's cage, and perhaps pithing needle for Liliana. You might see wear // tear or engineered explosives.
Cards to bring in: +1 chains of mephistopheles, +2 null rod, +3 pithing needle
Cards to take out: -1 entomb, -3 innocent blood -1 spinning darkness, -1 sensei's divining top
Needle on Jace and SDT. It can name flooded strand if top and jace are locked down, but that's probably overkill at that point.
Funeral charm is actually pretty good -- if you can bait the opponent into putting SDT on top to draw card, next turn you might get lucky and make him discard it during the draw step if he is hellbent. It also kills flashed in x/1s that annoyingly block your creatures or attack Lili.
There aren't any other great cards against Miracles I know about. Tombstalker does poorly in this MU due to jace and rest in peace.
G1 is probably only winnable with a large amount of luck. Graveyard hate is required for G2.
They don't care about discard due to life from the loam, which also shuts off the rack. Untargeted LD obviously does very little. Glacial chasm, maze of ith, and wasteland shut off all our win-cons. Marit lage is basically inevitable and unstoppable.
Lands builds can vary greatly, but they definitely have additional cards to bring in to fight yard hate. Be aware they might bring in dark confidant, so don't board out all removal.
Cards to bring in: +1 ensnaring bridge, +3 pithing needle
Cards to take out: -1 raven's crime, -1 spinning darkness, -2 innocent blood
Bring in any graveyard hate you might have. If you are running surgical extraction or one-time effects like tormod's crypt, be careful to play around tranquil thicket dredging back loam in response.
To bring in more cards, we can take out: entomb, funeral charm, and additional copies of innocent blood or smallpox.
Their control builds vary but we should be favored pre-board and probably unfavored post-board when they bring in yard hate and more counters, taking out Lili and hymn. If they find a life from the loam it's game-over for us unless removed immediately.
Combo
Storm: ANT, TES, Tin Fins, High Tide, Belcher
From the board we bring in pithing needle, chains of mephistopheles, and ensnaring bridge. Cut Disfigure, Spinning Darkness, and Funeral Charm.
Nether Spirit isn't great. If you run Surgical Extraction, it may be reasonable to board it in to remove their combo pieces. Reanimate is epic tech if that's your style; if possible use griselbrand to draw more disruption.
Dredge
Elves
Oops All Spells
Painter
Titan Post
V. Decklists
Here is my recommended list tuned for a mixed metagame:
4 Bloodghast
1 Nether Spirit
1 Funeral Charm
1 Raven's Crime
2 Thoughtseize
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Hymn to Tourach
3 Disfigure
1 Spinning Darkness
4 Smallpox
4 Pox
1 Entomb
2 Sensei's Divining Top
3 Liliana of the Veil
3 Mishra's Factory
2 Dakmor Salvage
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Verdant Catacombs
11 Swamp
4 Dark Ritual
3 Engineered Plague
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Chains of Mephistopheles
2 Null rod
3 Pithing Needle
This board is tuned to help more against aggro. Replace Dark Ritual with Leyline of the Void if you have less trouble with goblins/merfolk/elves/D&T, and/or regularly see Dredge. Extirpate or Surgical Extraction are required to beat Lands.
VI. Budget Options
Sensei's Divining Top - just run more spells: +1 IB, +1 Shrieking Affliction would work fine.
Liliana of the Veil - She is a tough lady to replace. You could add in 1 Inquisition of Kozilek, 1 IB, and 1 Smother.
Black Fetchlands - Replace with swamps and remove SDT.
Entomb - Probably the least necessary of the expensive cards: usually fetches a win-con, so replace with Shrieking Affliction.
Everything else is inexpensive, so that's it!
Here's a very budget list ($79 US Dollars TCG Player mid price January 2015):
4 Shrieking Affliction
1 Nether Spirit
4 Tombstalker
4 Funeral Charm
1 Raven's Crime
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Disfigure
4 Smallpox
4 Pox
Go out and spread the pox!
Edits:
Oct 03 2014: Initial post.
Jan 25 2015: Updated deck list (Disfigure) & added more matchups.
Jan 28 2015: More matchups added.
Quick note: you seem to think The Rack doesn't get through Leyline, but it does. Also, Deluge is quite expensive on MTGO; what would you suggest replacing it with?
Drown in sorrow fills the same role as deluge. However you might be able to replace it with something else entirely, depending on the meta. Chains of Mephistopheles would be solid. Frequent goblins and merfolk players at my local store influenced my board.
As I fill in the matchups section it should help with building a sideboard.
Peace
Darth, would you be willing to help with the matchups section of the primer here? I know you have more experience with rack pox than I do, even though our lists are a bit different. I can also add your current list if you want to share it.
I'd be happy to help with the matchups, but: 1. it might be a week or two since I'm currently busy with papers and 2. our builds are different enough such that our numbers might vary.
I've been testing your list and I've liked it a lot because there isn't as much tension between cards (cast pox discarding bloodghast v. cast pox with tombstalker in hand) and there's a few extra lines of decision-making thanks to STD and entomb. I'm currently revising my list in preparation for SCG Oakland, but I'll provide a list once I've settled on a final draft =)
I would consider more spinning darkness or cards with delve to make sure you don't lock yourself out.
-----The Legacy Flowchart-----
Tiny Leaders Overlord
I had an opponent cast TC THREE TIMES against me in one match. All max delve, as in he delved 21 cards that game. I was just on Gatherer looking for the most spiteful tech I could come up with to beat that card, because I feel like I was losing games to Treasure Cruise when I had the rest of their deck under control.
I'm just going to list a bunch of ideas, either possibly as main deck or sideboard tech, but with Delve becoming a big time mechanic in Legacy, I think we can't get away with not attacking people's Graveyards as a resource, because it WILL eventually fuel their grip.
Ravenous Trap
Grave Consequences
Gravestorm
Planar Void
Bitter Ordeal
Also, the notion of just having either main deck Extirpate, Surgical Extraction, or Nihil Spellbomb also occurred to me. I don't mind letting them get one TC off if it means I can stop them from doing it again in a game, but when they can do it multiple times in a game it really gets out of hand.
Also, what do you all think of the possibilities Khans opened up for Delve in Pox? Specifically, these cards stand out as playable:
Murderous Cut
Somewhat an upgrade over Spinning Darkness? Upsides include ability to kill black creatures, and ability to kill things with toughness > 3 (mostly 'Goyf, maybe opposing Tombstalker).
Necropolis Fiend
Any chance this is better or en par with Tombstalker? Being able to keep shooting things could be relevant.
I've tried fiend. Its tap ability didn't come up very often because it already ate all the cards in my grave. I've found tombstalker to be better, not because of the extra power, but because it costs 8 rather than 9. Being able to cast my demon a full turn earlier is a lot more relevant than it might appear at first glance.
I haven't tried murderous cut, although I wouldn't put it in the same deck with one of the demons. I don't know if I'd put it instead of spinning darkness. Spinning darkness being castable for free and giving three life are not small advantages. We often burn through our life totals with the pox effects and thoughtseize that three life is crucial, especially if the opponent has any burn spells. So if I run MC, it will be alongside spinning darkness instead of in its place.
I also actually forgot to list one card among "potentially playable delve spells".
Anybody give any thought to Empty the Pits?
We run so many black sources + Urborg (and Dark Rituals and Moxes) that getting the BBBB casting cost portion shouldn't be too hard. Then we can delve the whole yard and produce an army out of nowhere. Seems legit to me? Possibly as an alternative to Tombstalker?
I think that Necroplasm is a good card, but it has two really big downsides stapled to it, as compared to Nether Spirit.
First, and most importantly, is that Nether Spirit costs ZERO mana 9 times out of 10. Given that Pox has a tendency to destroy our own lands with our spells, having a threat that comes back every turn, for free, is a pretty big deal.
The second issue is that, in order to dredge the Necroplasm, you also have to not draw a card. This is also a big issue, because sometimes you need a blocker and to draw cards that keep advancing your board state.
Take two different game states: one where you have 3 lands and a Necroplasm, and your opponent has 3 lands and a 5/6 Tarmogoyf. Let's say the Tarmogoyf represents lethal, and you have to block it. This means that for every turn for the rest of the game, you need to dredge your Necroplasm, and then spend all 3 of your mana just to cast it. You will never win this game without taking a chance on not dredging, and instead hoping to hit a relevant card off the top of your deck. At best Necroplasm will slowly lose the game for you, and in a sense you will be "Necroplasm locked."
Take the same scenario, but replace the creature with Nether Spirit. Now, you've got a blocker, for free, every turn, and are free to draw off the top of your deck while you look for a permanent answer to the Tarmogoyf. You can wall that 'Goyf all day, and still be able to draw through your deck looking for relevant spells. Necroplasm just doesn't give you that option.
Ultimately, Necroplasm is a good creature and idea, but I think the marginal utility is far too low compared to what Nether Spirit brings to the table.
Edit: The only place I would see Necroplasm doing good work is against a matchup that is already good for this deck. Against U/R Delver, you would kill their Elemental tokens and Insectile Aberrations on zero (turn 1), their un-flipped Delvers and Swiftspears on one (turn 2), and their Young Pyromancers on 2 (turn 3). Even then, I'd rather just board in Engineered Plague on Humans and watch them weep. Ditto for the Elves, Goblins, and Merfolk matchups.
You're worried about the 1x nether spirit getting stuck in the yard for a couple turns with one of the ghasts? Keep in mind we're not intentionally sacrificing our creatures at any point. Exiling our win-cons is the last thing we want to do.
@SoundReason
I think I would rather play chains than spellbomb or relic.
Surgical extraction is playable for sure... I'm just not sure TC would ever be the best target.
I don't particularly like anything from Khans I've seen. Murderous cut isn't terrible but I like my removal to be active turn 1 or 2.
Empty the pits costs way to much for what little it will do for us.
I'm curious about your list since it sounds like you're trying hard to "replace" tombstalker. Do you not run bloodghast?
Agree with you 100% on nether spirit.
Peace
Thanks for this. I've been playing Pox for a while now and I feel like the prison builds tend to fade out mid/late-mid game. Some decks can get over your setups or draw beastly and decide to smack you a bit. I've seen a lot of people playing loam and Rack builds as of recent. May try out this version of Pox this primer covers.
Also, this may be a dead draw for us, but how about Dream Salvage for draw power, and is Waste Not that dead of a card where it's not included in the primer?
Dream salvage - Absolutely not. Available turn 3 at the earliest, the only time it would provide value would be if you cast hymn and then dream salvage (using 3 black mana), netting 1 card, which can't even be cast until the following turn (unless it was a spinning darkness).
Waste Not - This card has a number of problems. To provide value it needs to trigger 2 draws. Early in the game, casting it slows down our disruption since it does nothing to the opponent. Late in the game, it is harder to get value since the opponent is more likely hellbent. Value is completely dependent on our discard spells hitting targets. I was thinking of testing it, but there's just no way it's better than other cards we already run or would rather run like chains of mephistopheles.
Neither of these cards really help accomplish anything in line with our tempo strategy: drain resources & life.
I have a rough non-pox list that runs dream salvage and waste not, but it's not ready to take to any tournament. On the other hand, I feel this rack pox list is actually pretty refined.
peace
-----The Legacy Flowchart-----
Tiny Leaders Overlord
I find Necroplasm useful in casual, aggro-heavy metas. I find it clunky in a developed competitive Legacy meta. Rarely does it kill more than 2 creatures per iteration and you just have better tools to deal with creatures that opponent cannot play around by carefully timing his turns (Ensnaring Bridge, Toxic Deluge, Liliana, etc.). Necroplasm plays out like one of those "you choose cards". Everything is on the table out in the open, no surprises or interactions, opponent has perfect information to play around it, it's obvious when certain cards are going to die, and opponent can shove it in your face by doing things like playing a 1 drop right after Necroplasm already triggered at 1cc. It has its uses but I see there being few relevant gamestates where Necroplasm truly dominates the game as opposed to just grinding out edges that you could have gotten from other cards too.
@OP: Why no Cursed Scroll? That card has done well in non-Rack non-budget Pox lists, and this version seems to dump its hand quickly too.
though i'd probably try to incorporate it in my build to test it because i like it so much..but i'd never put more than 2 in an 8 pox build..
—Seal inscription
It is also a Blocker, and beat down.
Anyone running plenty of lands and mana acc should consider it at least for the Sideboard. Should work well in BG builds.
—Seal inscription
Nether spirit + bloodghast works well in practice because ghast normally doesn't stay in the yard very long when you play lands appropriately.
I don't think necroplasm has a place in this deck. Too many drawbacks as already mentioned. Answering tokens is not what we want to be doing anyway, especially not for 3 mana. It also kills bloodghast.
Cursed scroll is not main deck material because 1) it can't really replace any of the win-cons since it is not efficient 2) IB, spinning, smallpox, pox, charm, and Lili are already filling the crowd control role 3) this build does not reliably empty its hand; we have more live cards since we don't run dark rit 4) the 3 mana is a problem because we don't want to drop all our lands and we have 4 pox effects 5) it does not play well with factory.
That said, it is a sideboard option for cases when you board out big pox.
I saw one player running it along with dark rit, which makes sense since you run out of cards faster. Ask yourself, do you really want to run out of cards faster?
Splashing green creates a completely different build since you would need to change so many of the cards. Would it strictly improve the deck? I don't think so, but it might still be good.
Night of souls' betrayal is incompatible with the main deck and too inefficient for SB. I'm not sure why you'd mention it.
Ratchet bomb is potentially playable but I'm not convinced it's worth a slot in the board. What matchups is it great against? I've had it in my board in the past but never felt the need to bring it in.
Peace
I have 18 black sources + 4 mishra (+4 DR).
Do you think I need more black mana if I replace the DR?
I run 4 smallpox and 2 Pox.
I'm thinking in replacing DR with +2 swamp, +1 pox, +1 flex slot.
@Dromar: how is your experience with 20 black sources and 8 pox?
I want to share some thoughts about the following cards:
- Tombstalker: It was great in my matchs, when it resolves is a fast clock that helps ending games (wich is really important in this build).
- Ratchet bomb: was very helpful, it is not great in any matchup, but its very versatile, allowing to blow more than one permanent and recovering the board control. If you cast it early your opponent will tend to play one threat a time so is easy for us to disrupt him.
- Sensei's: great in playtesting, never used it in a real game because I don't have it (coming soon!).
- Dark Ritual: the main reason to run it is playing 1st turn lili, that play is too good in my opinion. It allows you to make explosive starts. It is also a dead card late game but if you don't run it you have to increase the land count (+2) (which are dead cards late game too). It has really good sinergy with tombstalker! I'm going to try without it and then I will tell you!