Project Smallpox
Modern
SCORE: 14 | 56 COMMENTS | 2137 VIEWS | IN 5 FOLDERS
Glittering Wish It Is! —July 10, 2015
After deciding to take out Utopia Sprawl from the deck list, I thought Glittering Wish might be a good candidate for Sprawl's slots. In tournaments, cards "outside the game" are limited to your sideboard, which works out just fine. Wish is no Demonic Tutor, but it is Modern-legal and has unexplored capacity that greatly improves this deck.
Currently, my Wish package is the following: 1x Batwing Brume; 1x Fulminator Mage; 1x Maelstrom Pulse; 1x Siege Rhino; 1x Abzan Charm; 1x Crime / Punishment; 1x Fracturing Gust
Batwing Brume can beat Splinter Twin, but on the negative side I have to reveal it, so they have to respect it. More on that later.
One of my worst matchups is Tron, and Fulminator Mage can save me or at least delay their plan. In conjunction with Fulminator, I still need to dedicate some sideboard slots to Surgical Extraction or Thoughtseize.
Maelstrom Pulse is a versatile, advantageous removal spell that Wish curves into. What more needs to be said.
In my early ideas for a Wish package, I wanted to make sure I could tutor for cards other than answers. I moved a copy of Siege Rhino from main to side just for that reason, freeing up a slot for Wish in the process. It's no Baneslayer Angel, but an efficient, trampling beater stapled to a Lightning Helix is nothing to scoff at.
Abzan Charm rivals Unmake as the best Wish target to answer resilient creatures, but is much more versatile. Its counter mode can give a couple Kitchen Finks extra lives, and the draw mode has saved me against 8-Rack. I'm considering Golgari Charm and Selesnya Charm in its place or beside it.
Crime / Punishment is something I'm not sure about. On paper, Punishment looks great against Elvish Company. Even though I haven't played against that deck, it can 2-for-1 or even 3-for-1 with ease. Crime seems largely irrelevant, but could also help beat reanimating decks.
Fracturing Gust is expensive, but if you live long enough to Wish for it and cast it, it destroys Affinity, Boggles and more. The lifegain is also very relevant!
The sleeper card of the deck is DEFINITELY 1x Shadow of Doubt in the main. This card has SO much functionality; it counters tutors (see Chord of Calling and Gifts Ungiven) and fetches, and is main-deck-able as a singleton purely because of fetches' popularity. It can be sided out if this isn't the case. HOWEVER, if the opposing deck RELIES on searching the library, it should be sided out to become a Wish target. It still belongs in the main game 1 because you don't want to pay 2 additional mana at sorcery speed and reveal it to play it.
I mentioned above on another silver bullet card, Batwing Brume, that your opponent has to respect it, namely once you Wish for it. The same applies here; a rational opponent HAS to play around a silver bullet that you effectively have 4 copies of, if only one use. For your part, you have to continue to leave open for Shadow or for Brume, which becomes increasingly easy, especially in a deck running 26 lands. All in all, this strategy can steal games.
I'm quite happy with the deck as it now is, and as soon as I throw in another Abrupt Decay and some Surgical Extractions, I think it'll be in near-optimal condition! Keep the comments flowing!
NotaNetDeck says... #3
Thanks for the suggestion Maringam. Believe it or not, Drown in Sorrow's in my acquireboard, which the d*mned interface won't show... since the deck's online I should probably stop biding my time and just pick up a couple copies.
June 26, 2015 9:14 p.m.
I feel ya buddy... These damn uncommons from standard just keep climbing...
June 26, 2015 10:09 p.m.
Y'know what, even put some cats in the SB. For good luck, y'know.
June 26, 2015 10:13 p.m.
NotaNetDeck says... #6
Haha if Black Cat had better stats I might even take that seriously
June 26, 2015 10:19 p.m.
Programmer_112 says... #7
If you want to make this as competitive as possible, you should probably take most of your cues from the Loam Pox archetype. It's pretty similar to what you're doing now, using Smallpox and other "symmetric" effects to take over the board state, but it has some super-value cards (death by 5x consecutive Flame Jab happens), and is significantly more graveyard-based than this.
If you're interested in learning more about Loam Pox, I've heard that Rafael Levy has some videos with some very tight play, and there's almost certainly a primer on MTGS.
Some of the cards from Loam Pox that I think would fit perfectly here are Life from the Loam (even less symmetry rawr), Vengeful Pharaoh (Free removal), Squee, Goblin Nabob (may or may not require splashing red, but has cute interactions with 100% of the cards in the deck), and Golgari Brownscale (great MBable hedge vs burn, zoo, etc.).
All in all, I think that this deck looks pretty awesome. I tend to like Smallpox decks, and this is no exception.
June 26, 2015 11:43 p.m.
NotaNetDeck says... #8
Well Programmer_112, I'm glad you like the deck. But that I should change the archetype is kind of what I was afraid of hearing, if anything, because it's realistic.
I knew about Loam Pox back when it came out, but I had almost no budget and none of the cards I now play. I'm willing to alter the deck to Loam Pox but first I plan to put it through more testing, which is hard since I don't often have time for games. I'd love to keep the deck true to itself, but if I find myself qualifying for a tournament, I might rework it with more graveyard interactions. Thanks for the feedback. What do you think of Utopia Sprawl in this deck?
June 28, 2015 1:24 a.m.
Programmer_112 says... #9
I don't particularly love Utopia Sprawl here. When your deck is built around Smallpox, I think that a high land count is necessary, and Utopia Sprawl doesn't help with that. It sets up T2 3-drops, but you really want a T2 Smallpox, so that's not particularly useful. All in all, I think I'd prefer some lands in those slots.
June 28, 2015 10:26 a.m.
NotaNetDeck says... #10
Seems like a good assessment to me, and I've come to a similar conclusion. It's just a matter of finding the right cards for those slots (maybe basics?) T2 Fetid Heath + Flagstones of Trokair + Smallpox also seems good.
June 29, 2015 6 p.m.
NotaNetDeck says... #11
What do you guys think about making a Glittering Wish package?
NotaNetDeck says... #1
Atem18, chernobyl516, smsmoore, and APPLE01DOJ: you guys have all built similar decks and I would really appreciate and respect some input.
One thing I'm wondering is whether this is a viable competitive deck without Life from the Loam (or Liliana of the Veil)? Also, Baneslayer Angel has saved me several times; is it worth running more copies or should I mix in some Abyssal Persecutors too? I might take out some Utopia Sprawls if I throw in Persecutor. Thanks in advance.
June 16, 2015 8:54 p.m.