Variola Major- G/B Loam Pox

Modern BG (Golgari) Competitive Loam Pox

ZombieBatman

Land (23)

• 1x Barren Moor
• 2x Blooming Marsh
• 2x Ghost Quarter
• 2x Nurturing Peatland
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 2x Snow-Covered Forest
• 2x Snow-Covered Swamp
• 1x Tranquil Thicket
• 2x Treetop Village
• 4x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 4x Verdant Catacombs

Sorcery (15)

• 3x Inquisition of Kozilek
• 4x Life from the Loam
• 2x Raven's Crime
• 4x Smallpox
• 2x Thoughtseize

Enchantment (11)

• 3x Ayula's Influence
• 4x Bitterblossom
• 3x Spreading Algae
• 1x Zombie Infestation

Instant (7)

• 3x Abrupt Decay
• 1x Assassin's Trophy
• 1x Defile
• 2x Fatal Push

Planeswalker (3)

• 3x Liliana of the Veil

Creature (1)

• 1x Nether Spirit

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Sideboard

Instant (6)

• 1x Assassin's Trophy
• 1x Darkblast
• 2x Force of Vigor
• 2x Surgical Extraction

Sorcery (5)

• 2x Bontu's Last Reckoning
• 1x Maelstrom Pulse
• 1x Syphon Life
• 1x Worm Harvest

Enchantment (3)

• 3x Leyline of the Void

Land (1)

• 1x Field of Ruin

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Welcome to G/B Smallpox

Introduction

A spicy Smallpox build that focuses on resource denial, discard, and the Life from the Loam and Ayula's Influence combo to generate a ton of 2/2 bears! The Spreading Algae and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth combo allows for a recurring way to keep our opponents off off balance with Smallpox and control the board. Use Life from the Loam to fill the graveyard with lands to pitch to Ayula's Influence and Zombie Infestation to generate a recurring army of 2/2s; rinse and repeat.

Strategy

Main Deck

One Drops Show

Inquisition of Kozilek: Turn one hand disruption that hits most targets in the format.

Thoughtseize: Great turn one hand disruption and without several shock lands in the deck allows for minimal damage to us.

Raven's Crime: Easily the best discard spell in the deck. Forcing your opponent to discard multiple cards a turn with retrace is extremely valuable when Life from the Loam is online.

Fatal Push: Hits most targets in the format and revolt is easy to hit with fetch lands and Smallpox.

Defile: Cool tech out of Modern Hoizons. Combos well with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth.

Spreading Algae: Keeps manabases under control until we can play our enchantments. Combo with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth to have a reliable target; however, decks run around in modern so targets still exist until you can grab an Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth. Getting this combo turned on as early as possible puts us in the best position. If the combo fails we can pitch these to Liliana of the Veil.

Two Drops Show

Abrupt Decay: This staple removes most threats in the format and can't be countered.

Assassin's Trophy: Deals with the bigger threats that our other removal can't deal with. We don't want too many copies to avoid giving the opponent basic lands.

Bitterblossom: One of two possible turn two plays that keep us on track. Great at establishing a board state if left unchecked but allows for early blockers against more aggro decks. Helps stall the game to get our engines moving.

Smallpox: The decks namesake and the other turn two play. Keeps the opponent off mana, removes early game threats, and forces cards out of our opponents hands.

Life from the Loam: The engine that keeps us going. The dredge keeps us stocked in lands to replenish from our own Smallpox, pitch to Ayula's Influence/ Zombie Infestation, use to retrace our Raven's Crime, and recur our cycle lands and Ghost Quarter's.

Zombie Infestation: Running a single copy allows us to protect against Surgical Extraction. This keeps a win condition in the deck in the case of removal of Ayula's Influence. It isn't nearly as effective as its bear making counterpart but it puts in work in a pinch.

Three Drops Show

Ayula's Influence: The main win condition of the deck. When our engines are running it can make an army pretty quickly.

Liliana of the Veil: She offers immense value to the deck. Allows us to pitch our Life from the Loam's if we don't have a target in the graveyard at it is stuck in our hand. Her -2 ability keeps the board clear of any threats. Some games can become a grind and her ultimate operates as an alternate win condition.

Nether Spirit: The only actual creature in the deck. Since we will be dredging several times the single copy usually ends up in our grave to be a consistently returning to play.

Lands Show

Verdant Catacombs: Running four keeps our land drops smooth and helps fix for the cost of Ayula's Influence.

Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth: Running four copies keeps our Spreading Algae online and helps us pull off the combo in the early game. It also helps smooth out the mana base to easily cast our Smallpox.

Tranquil Thicket/ Barren Moor: These act as our draw engine and to dredge Life from the Loam to fill our graveyard quickly.

Nurturing Peatland: Operates in a similar role to our cycle lands. I have found these to be slightly more effective as they enter untapped and can be used for mana more efficiently.

Ghost Quarter: Deals with problematic lands that are all over the format. If used appropriately can operate in a pseudo Strip Mine role to eliminate all basics from the opponent's decks to start stripping them of their lands. It also keeps opponents off of duel lands to cause disruption.

Blooming Marsh: Fast land to give us access to both colors turn one and turn two.

Sideboard

Card Choices Show

Leyline of the Void: Turn 0 graveyard hate. Dredge is one of our worst match ups.

Assassin's Trophy: Match up dependent removal if the opponent is using larger threats.

Darkblast: Works great in a pinch against certain aggro strategies. It also dredges to help fill the graveyard to fuel our strategy.

Surgical Extraction: Removes the problematic pieces of the opponents deck.

Force of Vigor: Effective artifact and enchantment hate and we don't have a shortage of cards to pitch to it.

Maelstrom Pulse: Another effective piece of removal that hits all of our threats on the board and can pop token armies.

Bontu's Last Reckoning: Cheaper than Damnation and sits at the top of our curve.

Syphon Life: Life gain we can recur to stabilize against burn decks and fast aggro decks while simultaneously shocking our opponent.

Field of Ruin: Additional land hate against decks that rely heavily on their land abilities.

Worm Harvest: Alternate win condition out of the board. Can generate a ton of worm's and retracing this can get out of hand.

Conclusion and Inspiration

The deck is not top tier by any means but it is enjoyable to say the least and can play with the best of them. I am always a sucker for fringe modern decks to jump into the format and shake things up! If you like the deck please throw me an upvote! A huge shout out to n008k35h for the inspiration for the deck!

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Invasive Foliage - G/B Pox

Modern n008k35h

SCORE: 5 | 1 COMMENT | 1814 VIEWS

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Date added	4 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	3 - 0 Mythic Rares 31 - 12 Rares 18 - 3 Uncommons 4 - 0 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	1.84
Tokens	Bear 2/2 G, Faerie Rogue 1/1 B, Worm 1/1 BG, Zombie 2/2 B