Smallpox

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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Archenemy Legal
Block Constructed Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Freeform Legal
Highlander Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Modern Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Planar Constructed Legal
Planechase Legal
PreDH Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Smallpox

Sorcery

Each player loses 1 life, discards a card, sacrifices a creature, then sacrifices a land.

TheVectornaut on Fast Demons

2 months ago

I'm not sure what format this is intended for so I'm sorry if any of my suggestions aren't legal. Most decks aiming for big demons opt for reanimation over other turbo out options, but I think you can make it work for a casual deck. I like Quicksilver Amulet for instance and I think you could also consider Heartless Summoning, Ancient Cellarspawn, or Crypt Ghastfoil. Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx makes Coffers slightly worse but I can't imagine it being a bad inclusion with so many black pips. Another option would be to include more demons in the low mana range so that you have some board presence early. Some that came to mind are Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire for tutoring, Master of the Feast if you want to lean into a Underworld Dreams/Orcish Bowmasters plan, Desecration Demon for stats and potential board denial, and Nightmare Shepherd for removal insulation. Really though, if you want more consistency, the best thing you can do is add more copies of your best cards. This does incentivize picking a clear direction and you don't want to consolidate too much here lest you get too low on unique names for Contract. If I was building this, I think I'd go to 4 copies of Spawn of Mayhem and 2-4 The Speed Demon with a focus on dealing damage or life loss to get their relevant triggers. Changeling Outcast is perfect for this so I'd up them too. Removal like Smallpox or the safer Geth's Verdict can incur life loss, and I do recommend upgrading from Sorin's Thirst and Cremate anyway. Fatal Push, Dismember, and Feed the Swarm are all options with varying strengths and weaknesses. That's just one direction too. You could just as easily build around foretell with Dream Devourer and some symmetry-breaking Damnations, Rite of Consumption effects with overstatted guys like Abyssal Persecutor, or pure devotion with Gray Merchant and Bloodletter alongside tools like The Meathook Massacre or Leyline of the Void. If you pick the handful of demons you enjoy playing the most and run more copies, you'll have more games actually playing with them and can save your tutors for emergencies more often.

Cloudy2024 on Void-Racker

4 months ago

Smallpox and Shrieking Affliction work well in this build

DreadKhan on The Cruel(la) March of 101 Sacrifices

10 months ago

This deck makes me think of some of my old favourites, Pox, Smallpox, and Innocent Blood. Would any of them work in here? Maybe they are too small?

Ersatz_Mageta on Modern 8 rack/ control

1 year ago

Love the idea of Flagstones of Trokair. That can certainly be an addition to the manabase, especially now that I've converted it to a creatureless deck with Smallpox.

I know Fatal Push is a great card, but I just don't know about it in this deck. Besides the fetchlands, I don't know what permanents I'll have leaving the field at instant speed. Honestly, I'd be more inclined for something like Cut Down, but I love the slower, more universal approach of Vindicate and Anguished Unmaking. Vindicate is never a dead draw because in the late game you can always just nuke a land and cut off more resources.

My big question once the cards come in will be how many "rack like effects" will be needed to truly achieve the sweet spot. Urza's Saga just feels like a tutor for a rack, which is nice, but also feels out of place for the lack of artifacts.

Icbrgr on Control The Hand, Control The Game

2 years ago

Awesome suggestion! I think The Mycosynth Gardens could probably take the place of Ghost Quarter in the main and move ghost to the side; but there is ALWAYS a Titan/Hammertime player at my LGS I just didn't see them last night. But thank you I'm gonna get me some of them!

I was honestly on the verge of cutting Smallpox but the effect although horrible for everyone makes Tombstalker or any delve creature Tasigur, the Golden Fang/Gurmag Angler really easy to reliably cast; and the 5 toughness was what allowed me to win against Rhinos.

I have done zero playtesting against any decks running The One Ring... I think my main goal is to just not let them cast it at all via discard because I'm pretty sure I just lose if it resolves when they have 4+ life and/or have 1+ card in hand... Shrieking Affliction can still hurt them; but if they draw all the cards that's not gonna get it done...and I'm just not sure what I would do with a copy of the ring... dig for Pithing Needle/other sideboard cards?... Idk I'll playtest it and get a better understanding of it (I have a full playset of Phyrexian Metamorph just collecting dust so why not?)

Icbrgr on Control The Hand, Control The Game

2 years ago

@capwner I actually just had a FNM tonight and played this deck (but my Shriekmaw/Slaughter Pact/Sudden Spoiling/Grim Discovery are still in the mail... so instead I was running a playset of Bloodghast and some ratio of Liliana's Triumph/Sheoldred's Edict/Augur of Skulls... I will update this deck with the matchup results next week when I get the missing cards in.

Tonight I played against yawg and Rhinos and had a bye.... In the yawgmoth matchup One of the games I just got absolutely blown out by Force of Vigor getting rid of my both The Rack/Shrieking Afflictions and both of us were in topdeck mode but I ended up losing. I went 1-2 for both the games I played tonight; granted I lost but they were close/winnable I swear!

I have been toying with the idea of Cabal Coffers but The real monkey wrench of the deck is Smallpox and Liliana of the Veil... some games I can get 5 lands in play but other times its a struggle to get/keep 3; I think thats why I like Ghost Quarter simply because there isn't any investment to use it.

nuperokaso on "Vampires are a POX on this Land!"

2 years ago

wallisface on

2 years ago

Some thoughts:

  • 20 lands feels really low for a deck running Smallpox, that also needs 3 mana reliably, and ideally 4 mana for Tourach, Dread Cantor. Personally, i'd go up to 24 lands, and then run a playset of Raven's Crime so that you can still make use of any excess lands you might draw later in the game. (i'd drop the Hypnotic Specter for those extra lands, as the card just validates your opponents killspells too much)

  • I'd suggest running the full playset of Smallpox as it can just prove soo valuable for messing with your opponent, particularly if you're on the draw (which 8rack decks often want to be).

  • I'd ditch Megrim in place of some kind of killspell. between Shrieking Affliction, The Rack, and Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage you already have enough ways to punish an empty hand - and the opponent might not even have any cards in hand to discard after turn 3 anyway. You also want to be able to killspell the opponents board to force them into having to play more cards and get lower on resources. I think Fatal Push would be a lot more useful than Megrim here.

  • Duress can be really problematic in that it might not find a card to discard. I'd suggest running 3x Blackmail instead, and then 1 copy of Bontu's Last Reckoning. Blackmail is a lot stronger in that it will at least be guaranteed to force a discard, and the single copy of Bontu's Last Reckoning can come in clutch for getting out of gross situations (though I don't think you want to be running more than 1 copy because drawing 2 in a game is probably not helpful)

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