[Modern] BW Poxens

The amount of pain this deck brings is a problem, but I don't think making the mana base worse is a way to solve it. As is, it's hard enough to cast turn 2 Smallpox and then turn 3 Spectral Procession. That being said, the upside to an Archangel is pretty good. It's really going to require further testing how I want to modify the mana base. After all, taking out some fetch lands would help with this as well.

Besides hurting/modifying the mana base, the only real life gain I have MD is Sorin, which sometimes is awesome and sometimes just doesn't get a chance to do anything. Even though the pain is bad, my worst match-ups are ones where that seems to matter less. But I will continue modifying the deck.

This is the optimal deck, but at its core it is not too expensive. Liliana's, Thoughtseizes, and Bitterblossoms can be replaced fairly easily by more Token Generators or different hand disruption. The mana base, on the other hand, is expensive, but so are a lot of Modern deck's. It's a shame not to have the lands necessary for turn 2 Smallpox + Flagstones, but you don't NEED all of the fetch lands and other fixing. If you're casual/budget, try the deck out without Liliana's, Thoughtseizes, Bitterblossom, and all of the mana fixing and it should still operate; the deck will just not be quite as well oiled.

By what do you mean it's not being abused? It's very vague what you mean, but I'll tell you why it's in the deck. First off, even though it is double black, it only pressures the mana base slightly. You'll also notice that this deck has no one drop creatures, or 2 drop for that matter (if you don't count Bitterblossom, I guess) so Smallpox can make the opponent sac their one or two drop. This can be extremely good versus a cheesy one drop deck (like Infect or Bogles), a deck with a turn one mana ramper, or just red deck wins, any more. So, the sacrifice part of this card is basically diabolic edict at sorcery speed because at worst you sacrifice a token.

Now, for discarding a card. You really don't care about discarding a Worm Harvest or Darkblast because of their recursion, but sometimes, if you Smallpox turn 2 and don't have a Flagstones, discarding a Lingerng Souls for a turn 2 play is valid. This deck doesn't really want to discard things most of the time, but almost every time the opponent discards something more valuable. But this isn't obviously a part of the card that I think is good for the deck. Also a quick note, the fact they're sacrificing a land and playing against a smallpox deck almost always makes them discard a spell in fear of getting mana screwed.

Sacrificing a land can be one of the most swingy aspects of this card. If you have turn 2 Smallpox with Flagstones in play (off of Fetid Heath or Urborg), it's a one sided Boom Bust. And even if it's not a one sided Boom Bust, it still is usually better for me than my opponent.

And if Smallpox isn't good in my hand, I can usually discard to Liliana or something. Smallpox isn't always the greatest, but it has also single-handedly won me games. So, even if you think it's not being "abused," it's still a good card in the deck because of its power level. And obviously, you're correct about it not being necessary because BW tokens is a deck all by itself, but this is just offering a slight variation that works fairly well, in my opinion. Give it a try if you haven't. The only real time Smallpox is bad is if don't have enough land drops.

Thanks for the explanation, I wasn't saying it was a bad card, I just didn't get it 100%. Apologies for the ignorance ^^