honestly i think the end of civil war was a complete letdown.
captain america turning himself in? the way they played it out made sense, but c'mon! after 6 issues of seeing cap as this badass leader of the underground, this was total crap
cap could always turn up as ronin in new avengers. doubtful, but it's a possibitliy. but then again...
we did see punisher pick up caps cowl at the end of civil war number 7. maybe that was a little foreshadowing from marvel.
almost anything is worth testing at least once. but i really like the moxen so i have mana left over after i pox. i do think i'm gonna drop to 3 tho, because drawing 2 at once can suck pretty bad. at one point last night i was playing against goblins. i had five cards in hand, my opponent has a bunch of gobos. i draw into damnation. cast it. and he goes, so i lose now? and i'm like no. and reveal my hand. land, land, land, mox, mox. *bleh* our other friend standing behind me says, your deck hates you. so yeah, i'm at least going to 3 moxen and adding in another damnation. we'll see how that goes tonight.
@ freakaccident: just because we don't agree w/ your input doesn't mean it's not appreciated. just putting that out there.
ok, so this is the latest version of my pox deck. after testing against affinity, 10land, and goblins i've decided that, pre s/b, the deck just simply rolls over and dies to anything excessivly aggro.
yaw you got 10 sources of white but probably at least 16 or more sources of black ;-) (50% more black sources than white). verdicts are great in the deck, but you never want to cast them turn 1 from what i have seen.
you are correct in examining my mana sources, but you also have to look at the amount of black casting costs in the deck compared to the amount of white. as it stands i have 11 cards main deck that require white mana and all of them require only one white. and 23 cards that require black, most of the require atleast two black and pox requires 3. so that's why there are so many more sources of black than there are white. but, like i said before, i may switch out a swamp for a plains just to be a bit more 'consistant.'
and there are definitely other choices that i'd rather have on t1 besides gerrard's verdict, but if verdict is the only choice, then verdict it is. why wouldn't you want your opponent to pitch two cards and start out w/ 5 cards? that's good, right? a first turn hymn is far better as i have a chance of getting something that my opponent really needs to get his game started. i mean, if i start the game w/ a black source, a mox, a verdict and a hymn, odds are i'll pitch the verdict to the mox and play the hymn. depending on the black source and what other cards are in my hand, of course.
i really don't know what my meta is. i've never played in that area before. my friend's have and they don't seem to think i'll see that many creature decks outside of goblins. but i'm trying to treat the deck as tho it will see everything. after s/b my deck is nuts against creature decks. that gives me 3 each of ghostly prison, engineered plague, and powder keg. gg. w/ all of these cards i shouldn't be troubled too much by their critters. but i don't wanna put too much creature hate maindeck because i'm afraid it might hinder my games vs control or combo.
white mana can, at times, be hard to come by, but w/ 10 sources of white in the deck, i'm not that worried about it. i may end up switching out a swamp for a plains since i added verdict to the deck last night.
oh yeah... i really want sinkholes in the deck. they are so awesome, but i can't afford them. i feel like, short of running four ghostly prison's, i need the creature hate. simply because of the bad match-up vs quick creature decks like 10land or affinity or even gobos. i'll get to test more tonight. i think i'll have a fairly decent match-up against threshold.
oh, and btw, i am also testing against real decks. my friend and i, at a table, shuffling and playing magic. i wouldn't have it any other way.
ok, so some testing was done. not much and really only against a couple of decks, but i lost. a lot. i played against ravager affinity and 10land stompy packing berserk. after a couple games of losing vs affinity i replaced damnation w/ ghostly prison and small pox w/ rancid earth. but that, i think, is still up in the air. basically i have to have s/b to beat decks like these. w/ s/b against affinity, i add one more prison and 3 powder keg. against 10land, i never got both prison's out. just one, and i still lost. beserk = good. but i think w/ s/b i can still do pretty good.
i'll get to test this version out a bit more tonight. and honestly i think swords is definitely needed. it's saved me by removing their creature more than i can say. the lifegain aspect of it hasn't really hindered me in playing the deck. innocent blood could be decent, but it's definitely not a swords replacement. i like being able to decide what dies, not letting my opponent decide. i think i'm gonna drop the 4 sink holes and 1 vindicate and add 3 verdict and 2 smallpox. we'll see how that tests out. i might end up running 3 small pox and 2 verdict. just depends on how it tests tonight. i'll post later and let you know how it went.
the tournament i'm playing this deck in is coming up in two weeks. well... a week and a half now. and i only have 1 damnation for it. i was actually thinking that ghostly prison would be a good replacement here. i'd rather kill all their creatures than have them just sitting there staring back at me, but at least this way they can't get much damage through. and i know for a fact that the prison is in s/b. w/o it i think i'll just have too much trouble vs quick aggro.
and i really don't think dark ritual is necessary here. sure it's good and i'm not doubting the power of dark rit, but w/ chrome mox in the deck i think it's got enough speed. and besides, i wouldn't know where to begin taking things out. the thing w/ dark ritual is if you don't have it opening hand or within the first few turns of the game, it's usually just a dead card in hand. don't get me wrong tho, going first turn land, mox, duress, dark rit, pox, discard spirit is pretty hot.
after extensive testing, i've decided the tutor engine doesn't work as well as it looks like it does on paper. one would think you'd be able to find what you need when you need it. but it just results in tons of bad draws. tons. so i've changed it up a bit. removed the tutor engine and added some stuff. here's the updated list.
night's whisper has actually turned out to be so awesome in this deck. being able to draw more cards in this deck is so good. and you are right about not really caring about your life total early game. that's why nights whisper is so good.
i think that verdict is awesome in the deck, but i don't really have room for it. it's good as a discard spell alone as a two for one, but it's great as a gain life spell for myself too. but as i said, i just can't fit it in.
i was also thinking of adding smallpox. mostly because i don't have, nor can i afford sinkholes. i had thought of just adding some more common, less expensive land destruction like choking sands, i think the 2 mana choice is much better. of course i do have the mana accel of the moxen, but even then small pox can happen first turn if needed and choking sands can't happen until second turn. this will require some testing.
speaking of testing, it seems to be doing fairly well against anything that doesn't get started until atleast turns two or three. but against quick creature decks, especially 10land packing beserk, it has a bit of trouble. it seems that they just get my life total too low, too quick to be able to do w/ the deck is supposed to do.
Silent Hill wasn't that good. It was just impressive.
totally agreed. there were definitely some good parts in this flick, and some crazy good looking characters. but, imo, the movie was a lot different from the game, and i thought the ending was terrible.
but i wasn't disappointed when i left the theater, and really that's what matters when you see a movie. and after seeing something like ghost rider you can always say, "atleast it wasn't that bad!"
i find the totem to be less mana intensive because i play w/ moxen and totems. and i do agree w/ topdeck on one aspect, most of the damage done in a pox deck, should be done w/ pox itself. but the thing w/ pox decks is you can't just rely on pox to deal all your damage for you. the idol is a 3/3 vanilla guy. the totem is a 5/5 w/ trample. this guy wins games. and i don't like being forced to play everything as a sorcery. w/ idol that's pretty much how it is. either play it on my turn, or tap out and swing. i like the surprise factor. i like being able to two for one my opponent w/ a swords. i don't want to have to activate scroll during my turn. i like to wait, see what they do, and then scoll. and as i've said, the totem can tap for mana if i need it. i just feel that he's a better artifact guy than the idol. i've seen them both played and prefer the totem.
you may have to tap 3 to activate totem, but like you said... if you're playing pox correctly you only have three lands in play. but on the same note: if you're playing pox correctly you also have some moxen in play. and i'm pretty sure they tap for mana too. and the totem doubles as a mana producer as well if you need it.
and like i said in my earlier post, the totem puts them on a 4 turn clock. that's a good thing. they have to do something about it or die a few turns later. imo, it's just better.
i could take or leave the first movie. but i thought second one was decent. it's watchable and much better than the first. although they both have some really great scenes in them.
i had to see this preview before i saw ghost rider. and to be honest, this preview was the only good thing about watching that movie. i think that, although this third installment in the series has nothing to do w/ the games, it looks pretty badass. you got worn out las vegas which looks pretty cool and you got milla jovavich all decked out in western gear. man, she's hot! so all in all, i think i'll at least give it a chance. hell, i gave ghost rider a chance and even someone as sexy as eva mendes couldn't make that movie watchable.
cap could always turn up as ronin in new avengers. doubtful, but it's a possibitliy. but then again...
calibretto
@ freakaccident: just because we don't agree w/ your input doesn't mean it's not appreciated. just putting that out there.
calibretto
4 pox
4 hymn to tourach
4 duress
3 gerrard's verdict
1 haunting echoes
//removal
3 vindicate
3 swords to plowshares
3 cursed scroll
2 damnation
3 nights whisper
2 ghostly prison
//beats
3 phyrexian totem
2 nether spirit
//mana accel
4 chrome mox
//land
4 scrubland
4 godless shrine
4 wasteland
2 swamp
2 flagstones of trokair
2 cabal pit
1 urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
1 plains
so there it is, in all it's glory. oh, the 1 plains should be another flagstones, but i only have 2.
calibretto
you are correct in examining my mana sources, but you also have to look at the amount of black casting costs in the deck compared to the amount of white. as it stands i have 11 cards main deck that require white mana and all of them require only one white. and 23 cards that require black, most of the require atleast two black and pox requires 3. so that's why there are so many more sources of black than there are white. but, like i said before, i may switch out a swamp for a plains just to be a bit more 'consistant.'
and there are definitely other choices that i'd rather have on t1 besides gerrard's verdict, but if verdict is the only choice, then verdict it is. why wouldn't you want your opponent to pitch two cards and start out w/ 5 cards? that's good, right? a first turn hymn is far better as i have a chance of getting something that my opponent really needs to get his game started. i mean, if i start the game w/ a black source, a mox, a verdict and a hymn, odds are i'll pitch the verdict to the mox and play the hymn. depending on the black source and what other cards are in my hand, of course.
calibretto
white mana can, at times, be hard to come by, but w/ 10 sources of white in the deck, i'm not that worried about it. i may end up switching out a swamp for a plains since i added verdict to the deck last night.
calibretto
oh, and btw, i am also testing against real decks. my friend and i, at a table, shuffling and playing magic. i wouldn't have it any other way.
calibretto
calibretto
the tournament i'm playing this deck in is coming up in two weeks. well... a week and a half now. and i only have 1 damnation for it. i was actually thinking that ghostly prison would be a good replacement here. i'd rather kill all their creatures than have them just sitting there staring back at me, but at least this way they can't get much damage through. and i know for a fact that the prison is in s/b. w/o it i think i'll just have too much trouble vs quick aggro.
and i really don't think dark ritual is necessary here. sure it's good and i'm not doubting the power of dark rit, but w/ chrome mox in the deck i think it's got enough speed. and besides, i wouldn't know where to begin taking things out. the thing w/ dark ritual is if you don't have it opening hand or within the first few turns of the game, it's usually just a dead card in hand. don't get me wrong tho, going first turn land, mox, duress, dark rit, pox, discard spirit is pretty hot.
calibretto
4 pox
4 hymn to tourach
4 duress
4 sinkhole
1 haunting echoes
//removal
4 vindicate
3 swords to plowshares
3 cursed scroll
2 damnation
3 nights whisper
//beats
3 phyrexian totem
2 nether spirit
//mana accel
4 chrome mox
//land
4 scrubland
4 godless shrine
4 wasteland
3 swamp
2 flagstones of trokair
2 cabal pit
1 urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
night's whisper has actually turned out to be so awesome in this deck. being able to draw more cards in this deck is so good. and you are right about not really caring about your life total early game. that's why nights whisper is so good.
i think that verdict is awesome in the deck, but i don't really have room for it. it's good as a discard spell alone as a two for one, but it's great as a gain life spell for myself too. but as i said, i just can't fit it in.
i was also thinking of adding smallpox. mostly because i don't have, nor can i afford sinkholes. i had thought of just adding some more common, less expensive land destruction like choking sands, i think the 2 mana choice is much better. of course i do have the mana accel of the moxen, but even then small pox can happen first turn if needed and choking sands can't happen until second turn. this will require some testing.
speaking of testing, it seems to be doing fairly well against anything that doesn't get started until atleast turns two or three. but against quick creature decks, especially 10land packing beserk, it has a bit of trouble. it seems that they just get my life total too low, too quick to be able to do w/ the deck is supposed to do.
calibretto
4 pox
4 hymn to tourach
4 duress
//removal
4 vindicate
4 swords to plowshares
//beats
3 phyrexian totem
2 nether spirit
//tech
3 enlightened tutor
1 sensei's divining top
1 seal of cleansing
1 phyrexian furnace
1 crucible of worlds
1 engineered plague
1 contamination
1 cursed scroll
4 mox diamond
//land
6 swamp
4 godless shrine
4 scrubland
2 flagstones of trokair
2 tainted field
2 cabal pit
1 urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
3 seal of cleansing
2 tormod's crypt
2 engineered plague
2 ghostly prison
2 pithing needle
2 braids, cabal minion
1 engineered explosives
1 ivory mask
in this build i feel that the totem just seems to work better. i guess it's more of a personal preference than anything else.
calibretto
totally agreed. there were definitely some good parts in this flick, and some crazy good looking characters. but, imo, the movie was a lot different from the game, and i thought the ending was terrible.
but i wasn't disappointed when i left the theater, and really that's what matters when you see a movie. and after seeing something like ghost rider you can always say, "atleast it wasn't that bad!"
calibretto
calibretto
so where's the problem?
you may have to tap 3 to activate totem, but like you said... if you're playing pox correctly you only have three lands in play. but on the same note: if you're playing pox correctly you also have some moxen in play. and i'm pretty sure they tap for mana too. and the totem doubles as a mana producer as well if you need it.
and like i said in my earlier post, the totem puts them on a 4 turn clock. that's a good thing. they have to do something about it or die a few turns later. imo, it's just better.
calibretto
calibretto
i had to see this preview before i saw ghost rider. and to be honest, this preview was the only good thing about watching that movie. i think that, although this third installment in the series has nothing to do w/ the games, it looks pretty badass. you got worn out las vegas which looks pretty cool and you got milla jovavich all decked out in western gear. man, she's hot! so all in all, i think i'll at least give it a chance. hell, i gave ghost rider a chance and even someone as sexy as eva mendes couldn't make that movie watchable.
calibretto