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Pox decks and the early Balance
decks have a lot in common. They are similar because the both center on
cards that can hurt an opponent in 3 ways: hand disruption, and creature
and land destruction. In the case of Pox there is a 4th, loss of life.
Pox decks can be separated into 4 different parts: disruption, kill,
tech, and mana
~Disruption is the most important part of this deck overall because it
helps in controlling the match-up in a proactive way.
Pox, this card is helpful in the multitude of ways listed above. Duress
and Hymn to Tourach provide extra hand disruption to Pox and can slow
down your opponent greatly. Funeral Charm is sometimes used because of
the fact that it is instant speed hand disruption. Mind Twist is often
not used due to the fact that it is played as an over-priced Hymn most
of the time.
Sinkhole, Strip Mine, and Wasteland are there to help with mana denial.
These cards are important because if you don’t get good hand
disruption early you will destroy some lands and prevent them from
playing some of the cards in hand or remaining in hand
Other disruption such as creature removal in the form of Innocent
Bloods, Edicts, or Powder Kegs are also very common either maindeck or
SB in Pox. There are other SB cards such as Planar Void, Dystopia, etc.
that are chosen based around you local metagame.
~Win Conditions are important in finishing off your opponent after
playing pox or some of the other disruption methods.
Chimeric Idol and Nether Spirit are some of the creatures used to beat
down on an opponent. They are used mainly because the avoid pox in one
way or another. Chimeric Staff and Steel Golem aren’t as popular in
Pox builds but still have a place in this category. Man Lands such as
Mishra’s Factory are seldomly used because they don’t escape the
effects of Pox but are sometimes used as a metagame decision against
control.
The Rack and Cursed Scroll are some of the other more popular win
conditions used in current Pox decks because they also avoid the effects
of Pox.
~Tech is mostly a supplement to the deck in the form of tutoring and
card advantage
Demonic Tutor and Demonic Consultation are the two tutoring cards that
make the cut for Pox. I think their use is fairly straightforward.
Vampiric Tutor is not commonly used due to that card disadvantage that
using it creates. Vampiric Tutor also is not used due to the fact that
Pox cannot handle additional life loss in the deck.
Yawgmoth’s Will is used to re-use disruption most of the time by
casting Dark Rituals from the graveyard to pay the costs of the cards
played with ‘Will.
Entomb is becoming a little more popular in Pox deck which use Nether
Spirit as it is a very good first turn play to Entomb a Nether Spirit.
It can also be done in addition to other things first turn thanks to
Dark Ritual.
Necropotence is sometimes used for extra card drawing to pull winning
cards sooner. Many people do not use Necro because by using Pox you
already are paying life in one respect and by using Necropotence as well
can sometimes result in a suicidal situation.
~Mana
Dark Ritual is used as mana acceleration to speed up the use of cards.
Mox Diamond is a possible card to be used in the form of land
acceleration as well in Pox decks
Wastelands and Strip Mines are also in the manabase due to the fact that
they produce colorless mana.
Mox Jet and Black Lotus are an obvious addition to the deck if you can
afford them or already have them. Swamps just as easily replace them if
you are on a budget.
Mox Diamond is to help out in the early game and add some more mana
acceleration to the mix of things. It is always nice to have in the
early game.
Swamps are a no brainer… just use ‘em…
Here is a decklist that I use
“1/3 of the Devil” by Incinera
Kill: (10)
2x Nether Spirit
4x Chimeric Idol
4x The Rack
Disruption: (20)
4x Pox
4x Duress
4x Hymn to Tourach
4x Sinkhole
4x Innocent Blood
Tech: (4)
1x Entomb
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Demonic Consultation
1x Yawgmoth’s Will
Mana: (26)
4x Dark Ritual
4x Wasteland
1x Strip Mine
1x Mox Diamond
1x Chrome Mox
15x Swamp
SB: (15)
3x Chalice of the Void
3x Powder Keg
2x Coffin Purge
2x Nevinyrral's Disk
3x Gate to Phyrexia
2x Phyrexian Negator
The first rule of Pox is “3x+1.” Because losses from Pox are rounded
up, the opponent suffers the greatest disadvantage when Pox catches him
with 1, 4 or 7 permanents. He discards only 1 card, for example if he
has 3 cards in hand, but discards 2 if he has 4. This seems simple
enough, but tracking the potential effects of Pox every turn can be an
art form.
“3x+1” is what makes Pox hit hard. Even if X is zero, it can still
be hard. Against creatures, for example, Pox can eliminate almost any
large creature from the game if it has no accompanying 1/1s, especially
a Morphling played out of desperation.
Pox has 2 main strengths:
1.) All of the cards in Pox have a low casting cost. This means that it
should be extremely easy to play cards in your hand right from the
start.
2.) The deck is aggressive. You don’t have to sit and wait for your
opponent to do something before you can act. Your goal is to play as
much as you can right from the start.
Many people who play Pox splash white to use cards such as Vindicate and
Balance. The positive side is that this provides protection from
enchantments and gives you a better removal spell, Balance. The negative
is that by splashing white you are hindering the manabase and making it
more prone to non-basic land hate.
Thanks to Mathieu Bedard and Oscar and the Pox Primer they had created
on BeyondD and Ruadira, Sliver Lord for help proofreading this Primer
“Pox early, Pox often, and Pox hard!” |
