[Deck] - Nihil-Pox - mono black denial

Kundalini · Joined: 24 Aug 2007 Posts: 1

I am testing this list extensively in friendly matches, and it performs very good. The fundamental idea is to rape hand and permanents and generate card advantage. Typically the game ends with my opponent having little or no cards in hand/ in play. Almost every single spell is card-advantage, that is what I love in this deck.

Another thing I love in this deck is that it has absolutely no Ravnica so it will be legal post-rotation.

The list:

NIHIL-POX

//Creatures
4 Nihilith
4 Tombstalker
4 Street Wraith
4 Augur of Skulls

//Spells
4 Smallpox
4 Stupor
3 Cruel Edict
2 Damnation
2 Curse of the Cabal
2 Recover
4 Mind Stone
4 Mishra's Bauble

//Lands
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Terramorphic Expanse
14 basic Swamps

//Sideboard
2 Curse of the Cabal
2 Damnation
1 Cruel Edict
2-4 Withered Wretch / Leyline of the Void
3 Bottle Gnomes
3-4 Dodecapod
0-2 Loxodon Warhammer

Cards Explaination:

SMALLPOX: core card of this deck. Cuts opponents' resources and sinergizes with Nihilith and other pieces of denial. Very strong T2 after forest+Bop; also strong at any stage of the game to remove what survived to other removals, or vice versa. Automatic 4x

NIHILITH: main beater. Has great sinergy with smallpox and damnation; lots of removal and discard really help to get it into play faster, but you may delay it (the ability of removing time counters is optional) if you need to resolve a smallpox/damnation before.

TOMBSTALKER: probably the best finisher a deck of this kind can use. With terramorphic expanses, baubles and wraiths it can come online as early as turn 2 if you wish to go beatdown; Another fatty with evasion beside nihilith as clock.

STUPOR: a 2-for-1 that can be sided off if you expect anti-discard sideboarding

AUGUR OF SKULLS: another 2-for-1 that can double as a regenerating beater/blocker if you suspect anti-discard techs

DAMNATION/EDICT: creature removal is good in the format, coupled with discard and poxes, it is even better.

RECOVER: underrated card. It is card advantage, you can use it as another 2-for-1; great for lategame, topdeck mode, which this decks achieves fast sometimes. Actually testing it in the sideboard.

MIND STONE: acceleration for early game, draw for midgame; feeds tombstalkers nicely, thins the deck.

MISHRA'S BAUBLE: thins the deck, feeds tombstalker, empties your hand before a smallpox, gives some little bit of information before cracking a terramorphic expanse.

STREET WRAITH: thins the deck, feeds tombstalkers (see bauble) PLUS it is an additional beater/blocker with evasion for lategame, and sinergizes with urborg.

TERRAMORPHIC EXPANSE: thins the deck, feeds tombstalkers (see bauble) plus shuffle effect for baubles.

URBORG: makes wraiths unblockable, makes terr.expanse tap for B, removes opposing urborg: wasteland effects are good in this deck.

CURSE OF THE CABAL: another underrated card. Can be a 2-for-1 or 3-for-1 or more. Can be devastating when they have an empy hand and you need to get rid of their permanents. Siding in 2x more of these against slow control decks can be lethal. Having multiple curses suspended while you resolve stupors and damnations is huge.

DODECAPOD: sideboard tech vs mirror matches and tarmorack

WITHERED WRETCH / LEYLINE OF THE VOID: actually testing the wretch as graveyard hate. I choose these over extirpate because the deck is focused on quantity and card advantage despite card quality.

BOTTLE GNOMES / LOXODON WARHAMMER: burn and sligh are among the worst matchups obviously, so a little lifegain is what you need to buy time.

Other ideas...
(cards which have been tested and rejected or are currently tested)

Rain of Tears/ Pooling venom: their sinergy is good with the rest of the deck but they require too many slots and mana commitment for being NOT 2-for-1 removals.

Icy manipulator: tested as a 1-of... seems too expensive

Crucible of worlds: tested in sinergy with additional urborgs and quicksands... seems somewhat slow

Recover: tested any number between 0 and 4... actually I just added more creatures and removal instead of them

Loxodon Warhammer: tested some number MD... seems somewhat slow but it can turn the game in your worst matchups

The Rack/cry of contrition/rats: the deck takes a different direction with these. At present the fatty plan is better, so you are not forced focusing on discard and you can dodge anti-discard tech that is so popular.

Mouth of Ronom: whenever I had the mana to activate it, I had no need of it, so basically turned to be useless.

Ghost Quarter: card disadvantage 80% of the time. Too narrow.

Seize the soul: currently testing. Basically an instant speed damnation vs. non-black, non-white targetable creatures.

Hypnotic Specter: still untested.

Megrim: I would run these if I'd focus on discard more. It's a win condition that ignores anti-discard techs (quagnoths and dodecapods). Not fitted in current build, but maybe in a more discard-oriented one.

BLUE SPLASH: currently testing a blue splash, but it runs several ravnica cards (eg. consult the necrosages replaces stupor) so I don't like it very much.
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comments? suggestions?

Toshi · Joined: 16 Oct 2004 Posts: 22

I really don't think you need Terramorphic Expanse at all.

I'd rather play Desert, Horizon Canopy, Llanowar Reborn, New Banalia, Quicksand, Urza's Factory, and/or Zoetic Cavern. I'd probably recommend going up to 20 lands, even with your curve.

You might consider Slaughter Pact as well.

thranarama · Joined: 23 Apr 2005 Posts: 191

Rain of Tears seems like a great board card, especially vs. the control matchup, also, perhaps tendrils of agony vs. Aggro? It seems like a viable strategy, you probably have to tweak it a lot to what is being played, though[/img]

Kundalini · Joined: 24 Aug 2007 Posts: 1

@Toshi

terramorphic expanse is a way to thin the deck. Terra.exp., baubles, wraiths and mind stones are cantrip that actually make the deck 52-54 cards instead of 60. That's why I only need 19 lands (18 would be fine also).

Urza's factory is simply too expensive: I don't want to run a mana base to support 8 mana on the board. Usually I discard and sacrifice lands to my own poxes because I only really need 4-5.

Horizon Canopy is interesting, but too bad I can't afford the life loss with my current decklist.

New Benalia, Llanowar reborn and Desert are all viable options, I don't know if they are worth testing... maybe I'll give them a try

Quicksand and Zoetic cavern are options in case of Crucible builds. With no crucible, I can't afford the card disadvantage.

Slaughter pact has been considered... but it is targeted removal and a little bit too narrow. Cruel Edict, Damnation and Smallpox usually simply remove ALL opposing creatures, so the capability of choosing my victim is irrelevant.
In some matchups, anyway, instant speed and big guy's removal can be really sweet. So I'll test them in the sideboard.

@Thranarama
Tendrils of Agony? It is not T2! Maybe you mean Tendrils of Corruption! Sure, it is a great life gaining vs. aggro, but not so great as in other mono-black builds (Korlash) because I only have 4-6 swamps maximum on the board.

Rain of Tears... uhmmm yes I tested and it was great in control matchups (3color control above all)... but that is an already good matchup and Curse of the Cabal just does that much and more...

anyway...
Thank you all Smile

Circa · Joined: 26 Dec 2005 Posts: 228

Kunta Kinte.

That's what you should name it.