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Legality
| Format | Legality |
| 1v1 Commander | Legal |
| Block Constructed | Legal |
| Canadian Highlander | Legal |
| Casual | Legal |
| Commander / EDH | Legal |
| Commander: Rule 0 | Legal |
| Custom | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Highlander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Leviathan | Legal |
| Limited | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Tiny Leaders | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Smallpox
Sorcery
Each player loses 1 life, discards a card, sacrifices a creature, then sacrifices a land.
Dead_Blue_ on
Monoblack Burn [Budget/Casual/Jank]
3 days ago
The Value in Vicious Rumors is that it is a great precursor to Smallpox it attacks the opponents hand and pings for life. I know it doesn’t read impressive but it’s great in practice
So the main thing about Syphon Life is that it’s a great late game wincon. You turn all those late game land top decks into burn spells
I think the main thing holding this deck back is that it needs to hide behind an Ensnaring Bridge prison effect for you to win without being aggro’d to death first. Bridge isn’t budget but you could run Norn's Annex instead
ZappaDappa on
Modern Smallpox
4 days ago
Love the suggestions wallisface! I was trying to fool around with the Dakmor Salvage but it just wasn't doing it for me. Optimizing the lands for a turn 2 Smallpox followed by a turn 3 Vindicate is absolutely the right choice.
I took a look at your decklist and going all in on land destruction is definitely a tempting option. Shadow of Doubt is a nasty surprise for sure. I think I might just be leaning toward general value and grinding out my opponent for now, but if it doesn't pan out I may look into trying some of those ideas out.
DreadKhan on
Discarded Treachery
1 week ago
Well, I'm glad a few were worth a look! If you're really into lower budget stuff, there is also Augur of Skulls that is about the most efficient bulk discard spell at 1B for 2 cards, but it's also a blocker if you'd prefer a regenerating weenie. Another cheap way to sacrifice a creature (that you've stolen probably) and hopefully be discarding a manageable amount is Smallpox. Not sure if you think you can handle the card loss, but I'd hate to not mention it, and Pox are very good effects if you want to pressure people's hands and boards.
As for the art, that's funny because I actively go well out of my way to find older art generally, I especially prize any of the really old stuff, pre-digital is very special to me. My Rakdos deck still has an Uncle Istvan, it's just too cool to cut out, there are better cards, but Istvan has better art IMHO. Obviously you can't run too many pet cards, but I hate to run none. I commend you for sticking to what you enjoy, and am happy your tastes don't compete with mine!
wallisface on (HELP) monoblack removal casual need …
2 weeks ago
My suggestion would be to play 23 lands, and only 4 cards costing 4 mana, with everything else below this cost.
As far as other solid removal/control cards, consider: Fatal Push, Smallpox, and maybe March of Wretched Sorrow. Black control generally excels at removing threats before they're on the battlefield, so stuff like Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize are also pretty great.
Good mono-black creatures to consider include: Dauthi Voidwalker, Tourach, Dread Cantor, Murderous Rider, and Gatekeeper of Malakir - i'd suggest just keeping your Phyrexian Obliterator and then removing your other creatures for a selection of these.
It sounds like you're trying to play your deck as an attrition/value-engine gameplan. A good approach for that would be to try and mirror card-counts of "The Rock" decks (which is a Green-Black attrition/value-engine deck). They run around 23 lands, 15-16 creatures, 5-7 hand-removal cards, and 14-17 killspells. In your case you probably want to lean-higher on the hand-removal cards (so, 7-8) because being monoblack means you don't have many good options for removing noncreature permanents once they're in play (so better to remove them before they get into play)
wallisface on
Lightning Slime
3 weeks ago
To give you more specific detailing around the rules you mentioned, it’s only comparing the timing when you cast something like Bone Shards versus Smallpox. With Bone Shards you discard an extra card as part of the spells cost, so you get to draw before it resolves. With Smallpox you are discarding during resolution, so you draw after all its effects have happened.
None of this really impacts how you want to use Rielle, the Everwise unfortunately. Her ability only triggers once per turn, and Lightning Storms discard effect is always one-lamd-at-a-time, so she’ll always only ever see the first discard you do, and ignore the rest - meaning you only ever get one card. To get more cards drawn, you need a single effect that makes you discard multiple cards in one go, like One with Nothing.
DreadKhan on
Fuck you
4 weeks ago
I'm just happy to see you running x4 Hymn, it's a very 'go to hell and get fucked' kinda card, it can and does just win games. If you're playing casual you could consider a Mind Twist, which is banned for some reason while Hymn is fine. I playtested with Mind Twist for awhile, and I found that while it was sometimes a worse Hymn, it was also sometimes a game ender when I can hit an opponent for 4 or more cards.
When I see you running Spawning Pool, I feel like you should probably run Phyrexian Totem if you want a creature that can actually attack. It's very good with Edict effects, like Innocent Blood, but it's especially juicy with Smallpox, it's type is ignored and it can easily make up for losing a land. If you want Spawning Pool as a blocker then I'd run Mishra's Factory, which can block as a 3/3 for 1 mana, and can swing as a 2/2.
I wonder if you shouldn't toss in a Reliquary Tower to go with your Necropotence/Ivory Tower, it's one thing to gain 3 life at your upkeep, but gaining 10 or more sounds pretty tempting.
In my Pox deck, I found I preferred running No Mercy over Damnation, it's vulnerable to interaction but is a bigger effect over the course of a game if it doesn't go away. I played it with Mishra's Factory and Phyrexian Totem, so there was a good reason to not throw away your blockers if you can't deal with those annoying non-creatures. Damnation would clear the board once, but No Mercy makes small swings usually not worth it, making it a card I can just throw down when I have the mana, I don't need to manage the board like a wipe will require. All that said, there are definitely situations where you'll want Damnation and No Mercy is dead cardboard, but I feel like you've got space for some of each in your sideboard.
I'm not sure if it'll go up or down over time since it's in Standard I gather, but Liliana of the Veil is a heck of a card in a deck like this. She's good enough that you could consider The Rack as a clock.
wallisface on
Modern Smallpox
1 month ago
I’ve been toying with a similar concept here, which might help inspire you.
One thing i’ve noticed is there’s no real point in attacking an opponents hand & land - if you destroy their landbase then discard doesn’t achieve anything (they can’t cast spells anyway), and similarly if you have loads of hand disruption then there’s not a lot to gain from also targetting their lands (they have nothing worth casting).
The other thing, turn 2 Smallpox with Flagstones of Trokair out feels amazing. You want to have a decent number of that land, as well as Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Fetid Heath, to give yourself the best possible odds of living that dream
