Faux Pox
Modern*
SCORE: 34 | 59 COMMENTS | 12877 VIEWS | IN 28 FOLDERS
more results: 2-2 —June 27, 2017
Finally broke even!
I was running Empty the Pits this time in place of Painful Quandary.
- SKRED (2-0)
Blood Moon does nothing against this deck. Interestingly enough, I ran Eternal Scourge and he didn't. Koth wasn't a big deal since he got mana screwed from all the pox and discard. The 1 time it resolved he got a Pithing Needle.
- MONOWHITE CONTROL (2-1)
This was a weird deck. Counterspells in mono white with Myth Realized as a finisher. Lost game 1 from not finding a threat in time. Games 2 and 3 went very slow. He brought in Fragmentize for The Rack. Eventually I stuck 1 and Extirpated his answers away.
- JUND (1-2) (close!)
The first game went really fast with 2 racks on the field and his lilana of the veil helping me out. The next 2 were very close games with a lot of big swinging plays that we each came back from. I remember he ult Lili game 2 to remove my racks, then he swung in for less than lethal and on end step I dropped 5 zombies on the field (should have really gone for it and made 6 out of Raven's Crime and Dakmor Salvage). I had to hold 2 back for blocks next turn, and would have had it, but he topdecked Lightning Bolt and killed me. Then game 3 I discarded a Tarmogoyf and Extirpated 2 more from his hand. Came down to a very similar situation, him at 5 life lucking out with Dark Confidant drawing lands for 4 turns in a row.
- GRIXIS SHADOW (0-2)
Super fast opening game 1 dropping 3 shadows and killing me before I could get any removal. Game 2, kept a hand full of removal. He used IoK to look and the game dragged on long enough for me to lose all my removal. I think the lesson here is keep mixed hands of discard/removal.
Thoughts:
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Empty the Pits is sweet and no one sees it coming. You can even tutor for it with Necrogen Mists out then cast it after you untap in response to the trigger. Not as effective as having the opponent go all in, but in an empty board it could work too.
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I side board wrong still. I keep siding out Necrogen Mists which is the wrong thing to do if they are bringing in Leyline of Sanctity or grave hate and they are more cautious with their hand size. Every game I lost I felt like I wasn't able to empty their hand quick enough.
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Necroplasm won me 2 games as a finisher! He's pretty good if your opponent isn't playing Path to Exile and is in top deck mode.
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Beseech the Queen was MVP overall. I would consider running a 2nd tutor maybe Dimir Machinations to mess with Dark Confidant.
Funny thing, I decided at the last moment to not play them in favor of some Geth's Verdict. I was worried about getting blown out by leaning too heavily on the discard strategy and I wanted a maindeck answer to the nahiri-emrakul combo and get potentially get some value out of my removal when I was hellbent with Necrogen Mists.
I also learned 20min before the event that Shrieking Affliction doesn't trigger the way The Rack does when stacking the upkeep discard from Necrogen Mists when the opponent has 2 cards in hand. Maybe that's bad info, but it was a split second decision.
It's a good card no doubt, but personally, I've been shying away from going straight discard and running creatures in lieu of having any copies of Liliana of the Veil or Ensnaring Bridge. It's just more fun to kill creatures than discard cards in my mind (I am not a Spike). Dumb reason, yeah, but all that might change if I choose to include some Waste Not or Asylum Visitor... or it might not if I start including more land destruction. I learned a lot about what this deck can/wants to do and the flexibility of having multiple strategies.
June 17, 2017 11:49 p.m.
Weenie_Roaster9000 says... #3
first off, awesome deck. Painful Quandary looks high for running multiple Smallpox, but I agree, it is very fun. Waste Not is awesome for discard decks in my opinion, it's like gambling. check out my pox deck, I'd love your input. Liliana's Torture Dungeon. I like the use of Syphon Life, maybe I'll throw it in. Good work +1
June 19, 2017 5:35 p.m.
Thanks!
Yeah Painful Quandary is kind of expensive and it's rare that I'm able to get it on the field in time to matter, but it is game over once it's out with Necrogen Mists. They essentially can only play 3 more spells for the rest of the game, which helps shore up the weakness to topdecks most discard decks have. This generally stops most opponents from trying to race The Rack in damage and is really good against storm and control decks. This deck is more durdly than most discard decks and I've been trying to model it more on legacy pox than on other 8rack decks by diversifying my threats.
I really like Waste Not. I can imagine playing it turn 2 then using cheap discard to ramp into a Vengeful Pharaoh or Painful Quandary turn 3 as well as helping offset the symmetry of Necrogen Mists.
Squirrel_of_War says... #1
Why no Shrieking Affliction?
June 17, 2017 10:42 p.m.