JensDagon

I know I should feel bad that Stox lost, but XX-Lands is one of my main decks too XD That MU is the opposite of Delver, you need to apply every bit of denial you can before they setup, which is quite the race.
Against them I favor Extirpates, so you can hit LftL, and not have to worry about any response.

It comes in for a variety of reasons, and may now be one of my favorite black creatures. My original use for it was against ANT, where Contamination would be nigh worthless, but as I continued to use them I found more and more of the bad MUs could be turned towards my favor by using them.
Pithing Needle I flip back and forth between using two, and using three. I think I have to agree with you and say that they should be at two currently.

I'm quite flattered that you plan to proxy this, and that you think it's good. But Bitterblossom at four is part of what gives this deck such a capable offense and defense. Even when I'm just using them for sacrifice fodder, it means that I can apply pressure through other means, and doubly so if Blood Artist is out.

Fair enough, I guess it's just one of those areas that I have my usual oddball luck with.
And I do believe your SB quite thoroughly answers my concerns, but I must admit that Blind Obedience (while a logical call I do believe) amuses me a little bit. It's useful to the point that it makes you willing to dilute such a magnificent MBC, and nobody can contend it.

Also, I'm quite glad you're enjoying Entomb, and that you aren't Sure
http://www.myfacewhen.net/view/1034-ash-is-king

Counterspells are the reason for the name actually; Pessimist is Extraction, and takes away what you can do. Optimist is Orzhov Pox, it tries to make elaborate plays and setups. This is Realist, it says don't do that, and let me make something reasonably big.

I'm actually looking for a way to slip the Flusterstorm in the main deck, but the only thing I can stand to take is Trickbind, and it seems like a poor choice to remove. I tend to get at bit excessive with counters sometimes though, as this has been proving to work quite well at eleven as you thought.

You're quite welcome, and I wish you luck.

Beating Delver is based on creating an initial mana burden, an effect such as Sphere of Resistance, Trinisphere, or Nether Void, and then applying the denial. It's one of the MUs where WinterVoid designs like Quasimofo is the optimal answer probably, since they are designed to inflict the most burden, whereas my designs usually focus on the aspect of denial.

I've actually been here since around the same time as Sure, just thought it was time for a name change. Also, this way I don't get complaints because people at the shop are netdecking me
http://www.myfacewhen.net/view/889-eh

And I guess you could, but they'd cost more on the flights!

I'd suggest adding a Meekstone, it's what really makes Blind Obedience go from great to amazing. Tarmogoyf comes in, and doesn't untap? Yes, very yes!

Another thing that makes the mana denial work is Winter Orb, as I'm sure you've noticed. Going first turn Moxxen, Port, Orb can make some people fold if they have no outs. I'd suggest trying to add at least a second, but it is one of those cards that's not nearly as effective resource light decks such as Reanimator, Delver, ect.

But one thing is true of all Black based control decks; the key to success lays in the sideboard. Try playing some other decks against this one, see what they can do to beat you, and develop foils to them. Stoneblade is a deck that gave me a surprising amount of hell. but playing Torpor Orb and Chains of Mephistopheles essentially stops that from being a functional deck when coupled with the pressure you can put on their manabase.


Also, I'd totally trade you homes if I could. You could have Georgia and random trips to Gujarat if I get Danmark.

I fully support the use of two Entombs, it rounds the deck off in a nice way. But I can't help but feel like you're playing too much ramp, and not enough denial built into the landbase. /Especially/ since you're playing Entomb.

Thanks! And I'd be glad to check out yours, these Stox decks are still quite rare, but always cool!

And against Burn I do something like this
-1 Meekstone
-1 Ghostly Prison
-1 Smokestack
+1 Cabal Therapy
+2 Surgical Extraction, and pay for them with mana rather than life.
Burn is a terrible MU for anything vaguely resembling Pox, but if you have/run Nether Void they can be just what was needed. Or Trinispheres.

Delver is also hard because they need just a little mana, meaning the same tactics could be applied. And if I think there will be a prevalence of Delver decks, I'd trade one or two cards in my SB out to get those.
I make my SBs on the site tailored to either the most versatile metas, or my own, and this time I went for my own; No Delver, lots of StoneX, lots of jank.

The first thing I notice is that you're two copies of Lake of the Dead. And I usually approve of this more than Cabal Coffers at two, but I often find that in Pox having one of each to be optimal. This would allow you to replace it with Buried Ruin, which is in my opinion quite underrated, and this would allow recursion of artifacts.
A simple idea, but if your only option is to discard an Orb or Smokestack for an early Smallpox, it can bring you back the game.

I also think that it can be agreed that Blood Artist was the inevitable evolution for not only the deck, but Vampires as a tribe. It removed the nasty requirement of paying to activate Kalastria Highborn of the Zendikar era Vampires, and makes them much more approachable overall in my opinion just off of that increase mana efficiency.

The real problem I find with this deck is that the landbase isn't aggressive enough though. You run three copies of Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, and the playset of Moxxen, you don't need ten Swamps. If you want to keep the count at twenty-five I'd suggest trimming Swamps down to eight, and upping Rishadan Port to the full allotment. But if you want my honest suggestion it would be
-5 Swamp
-1 Lake of the Dead
-0/1 Tabernacle(preference really, I can very well understand the merits of playing two)
+1 Buried Ruin
+2 Rishadan Port
+2 Entomb
+0/1 Ensnaring Bridge