Esper Pox - Think about it...

by tleung84633 on 27 October 2014

Main Deck (60 cards)

Sideboard (15 cards)

Instants (3)


Artifacts (3)


Enchantments (3)

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Deck Description

Now that Khans of Tarkir's "Treasure Cruise" and "Dig Through Time" cards are showing up in so many Modern decks, I decided that I too shall abuse the "search/draw" cards before they ban them (hopefully they won't). Dig Through Time is for combo decks, Treasure Cruise for everything else.

This is the 3rd iteration of my "pox" deck. Here are the first two:
mono-black: http://www.mtgvault.com/tleung84633/decks/i-am-deathdestroyer-of-worlds/
orzhov: http://www.mtgvault.com/tleung84633/decks/hes-back-destroyer-of-worlds/

Both use graveyard play, but because Treasure Cruise needs a graveyard, I replaced a lot of creatures with fetch lands and instants. I still have some graveyard play (bloodghast, snapcaster mage, kitchen finks) but overall I think this deck is even stronger now.

Sorry about the price. I know mtgvault loves budget decks...

How to Play

Please see my other decks on how smallpox works...especially with things like Flagstones of Trokair, Bloodghast, etc. (example: sacrifice OR discard your bloodghast to the graveyard, then sacrifice flagstones - you will get a plains = godless shrine, which triggers bloodghast back onto the field...so they lose BOTH a creature and a land while you get a dual land AND get a creature for free!)

I believe Magic is a game requiring thought. It's not about just summoning creatures and praying you'll win. Black and blue require a lot of thought and analysis. It all depends on the situation. What cards do you have in your hand? What is on your field? What is in the graveyard? What does your opponent have in THEIR graveyard? On their field? In their hand? (thoughtseize and inquisition of kozilek let you see their hand so you can disrupt their combos or get rid of any threats). It all depends on that current state of the game.

Example 1: Treasure Cruise is in your hand and you want to cast it. In your graveyard is a thoughtseize, lingering souls, a fetch land, and zealous persecution. Before you exile all 4 to play treasure cruise, do you need to thoughtseize him again to disrupt his hand? Do you need blockers with lingering souls' flashback? Does he have 1/1 tokens on the field that you need to kill right away with zealous persecution because your life is low?

Example 2: You have Snapcaster Mage AND Treasure Cruise in your hand. In the graveyard is smallpox, esper charm, and a bloodghast. Using treasure cruise means you lose out on the chance to smallpox him, use esper charm, or get to play bloodghast for free with a land drop. Do you use snapcaster to smallpox him? How many lands do you have or need? What about snapcaster-ing back esper charm to draw 2 cards? Or keeping snapcaster in your hand and esper charm in the graveyard cause he is playing a splinter twin deck and you need esper charm's destroy enchantment?

Again, it all depends on the current situation, so you need to think. Take your time, think about it, outplay your opponent, and go for the win!

Deck Tags

  • Esper
  • Modern
  • Graveyard
  • Draw

Deck at a Glance

Social Stats

3
Likes

This deck has been viewed 2,549 times.

Mana Curve

Mana Symbol Occurrence

1583706

Card Legality

  • Not Legal in Standard
  • Not Legal in Modern
  • Legal in Vintage
  • Not Legal in Legacy

Deck discussion for Esper Pox - Think about it...

Hey guys, whatcha think? Sorry again about the price. Besides, that, I am still wondering if I should cut 1 of the Sorin's for another Liliana...

1
Posted 28 October 2014 at 00:31

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This looks amazing! Ive been wanting to get a smallpox deck put together for a long while. If i could afford this i would totally get it!!

1
Posted 28 October 2014 at 01:35

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Thanks for the compliment! I put the links to some of my other smallpox decks (they are cheaper). In any case, I'll try to give you some strategies for using smallpox:

1) Lose 1 life (big deal, they lose 1 life too),
2) Sacrifice a creature (Bloodghast, Gravecrawler, and Geralf's Messenger don't mind hitting the graveyard cause they come back),
3) Sacrifice a land (Flagstones of Trokair replaces itself with a Godless Shrine) and if Bloodghast is in the graveyard, the landfall will trigger and bloodghast will come out for free!,
4) Discard a card (Bloodghast, Gravecrawler, and Lingering Souls can be played from the graveyard), or you can discard a land card if you are mana-flooded (or a thoughtseize or inquisition if they aren't needed at the time).

So ideally, you will slow them WAY down by killing their creature, land, and card. ;-)

1
Posted 28 October 2014 at 04:47

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The thought put behind this deck amazes me.
:)
+1

0
Posted 04 November 2014 at 16:07

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Hey thanks for the compliment! So far it's been doing well at channel fireball modern tournaments. Weak to burn and urzatron though.

1
Posted 06 November 2014 at 23:10

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Thanks to the few people who liked and commented on this deck. After several tournaments at channel fireball and my local comic book store, I must admit that changing it from orzhov to esper was not the right move. Before I go changing it back to orzhov, I will try dimir first. Thanks for all the support everyone!

1
Posted 26 November 2014 at 20:12

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Wow. Expensive deck, but it looks like it could totally control your opponent. But you said it didn't do so well. I'll have to check out your other versions of it.

1
Posted 02 December 2014 at 20:03

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