I was quite stoked, I found an article on a Pox deck that got me excited about it (http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/legacy/22378_Deck_Tech_Pox_with_Greg_Russell.html) and started looking things up. I made a list and got some help here from Heresy19 (thanks!) and took off for the tournament with 32 players with:

Deck:
4 Liliana of the Veil
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Sinkhole
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 SmallPox
1 Pox
2 Innocent Blood
2 Cursed Scroll
1 Nether Spirit
1 Raven's Crime
1 Worm Harvest
1 Syphon Life
2 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Life from the Loam

4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Bayou
4 Wasteland
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Swamp
1 Forest

Sideboard:
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Leyline of Sanctity
4 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Pox
1 Innocent Blood
1 Abrupt Decay

I wasn't too sure about he mana base, I had a 4th Swamp in there in favor of an Innocent Blood but changed it on the last day. (remember this, this will come back to haunt me. I made 'play'mistake number 1 and I wasn't even there yet)
So off we go to face my first opponent of the day!

Round 1: Reanimator (with a twist, I'll get to that later)
Game 1:
It's an comfortable first few turns but I quickly find out he's playing reanimator when he goes Careful Study in turn 2. As we both discard and destroy he fetches a few times to answer my Sinkhole and Wasteland combo and finally gets out Griselbrand with Shallow Grave. I need to look for an answer but he draws on and casts another Shallow Grave targeting Emrakul (trigger tech). He's quite a slow player and it annoys me.
Right. I know what I'm sideboarding:
Game 2: In 4 Ensnaring Bridge and 4 Leyline of the Void
Mulligan. I open with a Leyline of the Void (yessss!!!) and Wasteland/Sinkhole his ass off. Ensnaring Bridge gives me double safety. He is left with an Island and 2 Petals when I Pulse his Petals (yeah baby, can you feel that!) and finally Worm Harvest for 5 after a few Dredge from Life of the Loam. He scoops when at 7. Apparantly he had only 1 answer and didn't want to wait for it.
Game 3: Oddly he switches his entire Sideboard in and I fear the Reanimator gig was swapped for something else..
We both fetch after I keep a hand of double Factory. After a few blows he's at 7 and I add a 3rd, though he Wastes one. I don't get more colored mana for Decay or Pulse but I lay him flat with Sinkholes and a Hymn. Feeling pleased with myself he adds a 2nd land and starts casting all kinds of crap (Study, Cabal Ritual, Dark Ritual) and with me at 12 I can see the Storm coming. His twist comes out as he easily reaches 6 spells and Tendrils me for the win.
0-1

Dang. Bastard played a trick on me, but I'll get the next one.

Round 2: An unknown deck by me with Scavenging Ooze and Veteran Exporer
Game 1:
Mulligan. I get the turn 1 Inquisition, turn 2 Hymn opening and it lays a Recurring Nightmare in the yard. Huh? What the hell is he playing? He casts Veteran Explorer and I see my land destruction gig go up in smoke. I start the Syphon Life show as his Explorer keeps me close by, until a Pox drops him to 10 and me at 12. He sends out a Scavenging Ooze and he eats enough creatures in 1 turn to become really big and it pushes on for the win.
Sigh. Losing is becoming really annoying..
Game 2: Side in Leylines, Bridges, Decay.
We swap fetches and I get a turn 2 Factory. It runs for 2 turns until his Pernicious Deed kills him. He fetches a few times but I Sinkhole and Smallpox him enough to play my 2nd Factory which gets him.
Game 3:
I get the Leyline before we start! We swap Veteran Explorer hits with my Factory and he gets a Scavenging Ooze. I Decay the hell out of him and he casts Knight of the Reliquary. I Pulse the Knight and play an Ensnaring Bridge, and me with another Factory in play and him just an Explorer I got the upper hand. I have answers in my hand and the board position when time is called and I can't finish him in the 3 turns that I have. Draw.
Holy chickenlovin' b'stards, couldn't you have waited 3 minutes? [puts on nagging voice]Noooooo, we had to play by 'Competitive Rules' so we watch timing....
0-1-1

Ok, look on the bright side, it worked and we're on the rise, now go get the next one!

Round 3: Welder
Game 1:
He mulligans (for a change it's not me) and plays a Great Furnace. I think he's playing affinity as I saw that around somewhere and think I need to blow up his artifact lands and empty his hand ASAP. He gets a Lodestone Golem turn 2 and I Smallpox it after it hits me. His Metalworker actually attacks me for a turn as my fetches bring me to 12. I get a Liliana into play and he gets double Chalice (on 2 and 4) which I happily Pulse the next turn. Hell yeah!! He has trouble finding more land after I get a triple Sinkhole and he scoops when Syphon Life gets online. 1 up!
Game 2: As I was thinking about my Bridges all game long how they would safe me here, I make the biggest mistake of the evening and NOT board in my Leylines!! I would kick myself in the teeth if I was agile enough.
Anyway, he sets a Chalice at 1 knocking out my Cursed Scroll, Inquisition and Innocent Bloods. He gets a Welder and Metalworker as I Smallpox one and hit him with a Factory but it's not enough. A Moltensteel Dragon does the job.
Game 3: Still not thinking about the Leylines....somebody smack me..
Mulligan.
C'mon, we can do this! I get a turn 2 Smallpox and turn 3 Liliana. Turn 4 is an Ensnaring Bridge for me and with Liliana in play and 2 land in my hand I have a good position. We are both short on mana (him 1 land, me 2) so I Dredge a few turns until I can cast Life from the Loam as I've Liliana'd Syphon Life into my yard. I take him to 9 and myself to 23 when he Tormod's Crypts me and I have to dredge for either a Nether Spirit or Worm Harvest (or a Factory). I find a Worm Harvest eventually and he Crypts me again before I can use it (4 land). The situation becomes more grim with him having 2 Welders, a Metalworker and 2 Chalices on the board when I Ultimate Liliana. He keeps the Welders and quickly gets back on his feet with that Moltensteel Dragon again. I'm still safe behind my bridge thinking about my next win condition (Nether Spirit) and answers to that Dragon. Unfortunately he topdecks his one and only answer to my Bridge, Karn Liberated, and exiles my bridge and my hopes of a tournament with dignity. I have 1 turn to topdeck my last Bridge (dredged the others) and .. .

0-1-2 (wins-draws-losses)

Let's not give up, I stay for the last round trying to get more acquinted with the deck and a shot at regaining my honor somewhat.

Round 4: Goblins
Game 1:
I get a turn 1 Cursed Scroll and silenty chuckle when I see his playing Gobbo's. He sighs and plays on, not getting much into play at first. I Sinkhole and Hymn and with Nether Spirit, Factory in play ánd Liliana I go on the assault, hitting him to 6. In the meanwhile his Goblin Ringleaders have given him an Instigater, Matron, and 2 other blokes that I slowly ping and block with Spirit, but he's found his draws and when a Siege-Gang Commander enters the fray it becomes hairy. I kill the Commander and block the Piledraver (Liliana was gone by the Insigator earlier), but I have to little time as I get him down to 2 when his Goblins run me over.
Game 2: Side in Bridges, Innocent Blood, Decay, Pox.
Mulligan. Again.
I have a hand with Swamp, Factory, Wasteland with Smallpox, Smallpox, Hymn but I have to keep it. He gets a turn 1 and turn 2 Vial and I need to find a Pulse, quickly! I draw an Inquisition on turn 3 land and see a Goblin Ringleader and 3 land. I get a Pulse in time but fail to find a Catacombs, Bayou, Forest or at least another colored land that could save me somewhat.
I get swarmed in 3 turns (still 3 turns, he got unlucky on the Ringleader hitting only another Ringleader that got Chieftain and Matron).
0-1-3

I pick up and head for home. Glad to have played the deck, I was fully unprepaired but feel comfortable playing it now for a next tournament. It needs some tweaks here and there, especially the mana base.

Cons:
The Mana base needs work. Heresy19! Where are you? You...you set me up with this manabase! . Seriously, I had numerous occasions where I needed colored mana but got stuck with a Swamp and 2 others. I know there are 12 cards in there that should fix this, but maybe I just got unlucky. I had to mulligan too many times as well. Again, maybe just unlucky.

Pro's:
Nice opponents (mostly);
Finally getting to play Legacy without having to drive 200 km;
Heresy19 for helping me with the deck . Cheers man! Much appreciated!

Conclusions:
I had fun, but could have way more fun. With a little more luck on the mana I could have taken 1 or 2 legs more, and with more thinking through I could and should have taken Match 3 with ease. It was just not my day, being the first time I played this didn't help and in the 4th Match I made a whole lotta playmistakes (tired).
I loved playing Sinkholes and Hymns and they were quite abundant, but it wasn't enough.

I never used Sanctity and Ensnaring Bridge is a silver bullet in here.

Well, I hope you enjoyed it. It's getting late and I still need to mast.... eeh, something that rhymes with.. ah nevermind.

Until my next report, if you want it. I hope I have better news then.

Cheers,

__________________
/Thunder in the wind/No rain/Peace mourns its passing/

Most of your deck is BB, 8 sources of colorless make that tough.

Mishra's, that may not be straight forward. They also become a major target to removal (in most cases only), did that happen alot?

You should think about ghost quarter, it can help you balance your land, and thin their land out, you quarter, they replace IF THEY CAN with a basic, then you sinkhole the basic. It really decreases the odds of drawing into land. Most legacy decks (i see in out pool) only run 1-3 basics if that, most times a quater is as good as wasteland.

Anyways, just my thoughts

I loved reading this post, please do so again!

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pail42:
Better luck next time. Please keep writing, I enjoy reading these

---

Thanks, appreciate it.

quote:

---

Originally posted by ardeay:
Really really cool post. Here are some johnny ideas after reading this:

Most of your deck is BB, 8 sources of colorless make that tough.

Mishra's, that may not be straight forward. They also become a major target to removal (in most cases only), did that happen alot?

You should think about ghost quarter, it can help you balance your land, and thin their land out, you quarter, they replace IF THEY CAN with a basic, then you sinkhole the basic. It really decreases the odds of drawing into land. Most legacy decks (i see in out pool) only run 1-3 basics if that, most times a quater is as good as wasteland.

Anyways, just my thoughts

I loved reading this post, please do so again!

---

Thanks! Glad to see people actually enjoy this. I hope other people will share their results too.

I understand. The Factories don't get wasted a lot. Either I swap Wastelands with him or they go after my Urborg, which is more dangerous perhaps. That is also why Life from the Loam is there (which works way better than Crucible that I had in my 1st draft). Their removal is nullified by the recurrence of Loam.

I'll playtest by adding another Swamp for an Innocent Blood that I rarely used.

Actually I saw quite a lot of basics. I like Ghost Quarter but the Reanimator played enough regular Islands/Swamps, the Veteran deck plays basics a lot due to obvious reasons, Welder played a Great Furnace or 2 alongside Wastes and a lot of Mountains and Goblins just had mountains/Wastes/Fetches.
But it might be something to think about if the extra Swamp doesn't work, or maybe Crop Rotation + extra Overgrown Tomb.

Thanks for the comments.

__________________
/Thunder in the wind/No rain/Peace mourns its passing/

Your round two opponent was running Nic Fit. There are several versions, some being BGW and others BGR. They all have Veteran Explorer, Green Sun's Zenith and Cabal Therapy and use the mana to ramp creatures. There's also a version that runs Scapeshift for Valakut as an alternate path to victory.

Yeah Bridge is awesome.

I've been using Cursed Totem lately. Looks like it could have helped you as well. I've been running 2 MD as it has no effect on the deck.

Leyline of Sanctity seems dangerous. No way to cast it so if you don't mull into it, it's wasted. I would think Engineered Plague would be better.

I do agree with Ghost Quarter in addition to Wastelands but seeing as you had mana issues, it probably wouldn't be advisable. I also like a single Rishadin Port but like GQ, it would only hurt you it seems.

My MonoB (that works "alright"):

1 Nether Void
4 Sinkhole
2 Cursed Scroll
4 Dark Ritual
4 Innocent Blood
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Smallpox
2 Thoughtseize
4 Liliana of the Veil
2 Cursed Totem
2 Extirpate
2 Crucible of Worlds

4 Mishra's Factory
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1 Rishadan Port
11 Swamp
4 Wasteland
1 Ghost Quarter

SB
2 Pithing Needle
3 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Damnation
3 Engineered Plague
1 Duress
4 Leyline of the Void

Land - 24
4x Ancient Tomb
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Mishra's Factory
1x Tabernacle
3x Urborg, Tomb
4x Wasteland
4x Swamp

Creatures - 4
2x Tombstalker

Other Spells - 34
4x Mox Diamond
4x Thoughtseize/Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Chalice of the Void
4x Hymn to Tourach
4x Sinkhole
4x Smallpox
3x Trinisphere
3x Crucible of Worlds
3x Liliana of the Veil
1x Nether Void

[01] Abrupt Decay ($4.7 x 1 = 4.7)
[03] Abrupt Decay ($4.7 x 3 = 14.1)
[04] Bayou ($62.97 x 4 = 251.88)
[02] Cursed Scroll ($6.53 x 2 = 13.06)
[04] Ensnaring Bridge ($3.79 x 4 = 15.16)
[01] Forest ($0.01 x 1 = 0.01)
[04] Hymn to Tourach ($0.97 x 4 = 3.88)
[02] Innocent Blood ($0.68 x 2 = 1.36)
[01] Innocent Blood ($0.68 x 1 = 0.68)
[04] Inquisition of Kozilek ($4.77 x 4 = 19.08)
[04] Leyline of Sanctity ($5.99 x 4 = 23.96)
[04] Leyline of the Void ($0.97 x 4 = 3.88)
[03] Life from the Loam ($5.79 x 3 = 17.37)
[04] Liliana of the Veil ($21.35 x 4 = 85.4)
[02] Maelstrom Pulse ($8.55 x 2 = 17.1)
[04] Mishra's Factory ($1.77 x 4 = 7.08)
[01] Nether Spirit ($2.99 x 1 = 2.99)
[01] Pox ($2.65 x 1 = 2.65)
[01] Pox ($2.65 x 1 = 2.65)
[01] Raven's Crime ($0.08 x 1 = 0.08)
[04] Sinkhole ($23.11 x 4 = 92.44)
[04] SmallPox ($0.05 x 4 = 0.2)
[03] Swamp ($0.01 x 3 = 0.03)
[01] Syphon Life ($0.05 x 1 = 0.05)
[03] Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth ($12.95 x 3 = 38.85)
[04] Verdant Catacombs ($18.75 x 4 = 75)
[04] Wasteland ($40 x 4 = 160)
[01] Worm Harvest ($0.45 x 1 = 0.45)

Total 854.09

On a used car from the early 2000s budget

quote:

---

Originally posted by psrex:
I enjoy reading the reports as well. Thanks for posting them.

Your round two opponent was running Nic Fit. There are several versions, some being BGW and others BGR. They all have Veteran Explorer, Green Sun's Zenith and Cabal Therapy and use the mana to ramp creatures. There's also a version that runs Scapeshift for Valakut as an alternate path to victory.

I've been thinking some about Ghost Quarter as well and adding in Ankh of Mishra. Ankh of Mishra seems like a real beating with all of the fetches running rampant.

---

The opponent who played Nic Fit played a G/B/R/W version. At least, he played Bayous/Savannahs and ran basic plains and mountains, too.

I love Ankh and would love to play it, but I don't see the room here. I'll think about it, I probably will have a month or 2 before they'll do it again, hopefully.

quote:

---

Originally posted by harbingerofthevoid:
Did Loam do much for you? Unless I missed it, doesn't seem like it.

Yeah Bridge is awesome.

I've been using Cursed Totem lately. Looks like it could have helped you as well. I've been running 2 MD as it has no effect on the deck.

Leyline of Sanctity seems dangerous. No way to cast it so if you don't mull into it, it's wasted. I would think Engineered Plague would be better.

I do agree with Ghost Quarter in addition to Wastelands but seeing as you had mana issues, it probably wouldn't be advisable. I also like a single Rishadin Port but like GQ, it would only hurt you it seems.

---

Loam was great. Dredging a win condition into your yard and getting your Wastelands back on the next (or same!) turn is excellent when they are already scrambling for land.

Cursed Totem seems excellent. I would change the Leylines of Sanctity for them. I know, but I would've mulliganed until I got one (little chance) as it was mostly meant for mono-red. 1 Leyline would mean victory in general, but I didn't see a single burn deck.

I like Rishadan Ports and Ghost Quarters, but there's no room for them at this point. Maybe I'll post this in Deck Help Forum later so we can get a serious discussion going .

quote:

---

Originally posted by coasterdude84:
I've been dabbling with a black Stax/Pox mess. It still needs some work, but might give you some ideas:

Land - 24
4x Ancient Tomb
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Mishra's Factory
1x Tabernacle
3x Urborg, Tomb
4x Wasteland
4x Swamp

Creatures - 4
2x Tombstalker

Other Spells - 34
4x Mox Diamond
4x Thoughtseize/Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Chalice of the Void
4x Hymn to Tourach
4x Sinkhole
4x Smallpox
3x Trinisphere
3x Crucible of Worlds
3x Liliana of the Veil
1x Nether Void

It does have similar problems hitting the double black of some of these spells, but the Mox Diamonds definitely help.

---

My first build looked like this, somewhat. As with Harbinger's post, maybe we can go to the DH Forum.

quote:

---

Originally posted by ardeay:
I ran your deck (listed you played) in my card runner at tcg low

Total 854.09

On a used car from the early 2000s budget

---

LOL I suppose so, you don't want to know what my MUC Vintage deck costed .

Thanks for all the response so far, I appreciate it!

__________________
/Thunder in the wind/No rain/Peace mourns its passing/

As for the mana base, I think 4x Mox Diamond could be a gold mine in the deck.

I'll come up with a new mana base later

Try your MD this way and lmk

__________________
''Jesus never existed.... I never had a son.''

Here's my list:
3x Thoughtseize
4x Innocent Blood
4x Dark Ritual
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x lilliana of the Veil
2x Cursed Scroll
4x Sinkhole
2x Nether Void
2x Crucible of Worlds
4x Smallpox
2x Mox Diamond

4x Mishra's Factory
4x Wasteland
4x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2x Ghost Quarter
1x Rishadan Port
1x The Tabbernacle at Pendrell Vale
1x Bojuka Bog
8x Swamp

SB:
1x Duress
2x Perish
2x Engineered Plague
2x Pithing Needle
1x Thoghtseize
2x Ensnarign Bridge
2x Leyline of the Void
1x The Abyss
2x Extirpate