I Go Without

I didn't really talk about it last time but there are a few really cool synergies with Starve that I have been developing over the years. It really did start out as merely a Pox deck with efficient black creatures, developing into something that has more resilience and thus (hopefully) a better ability to close the deal.

First, there's  Bloodghast and Dakmoor Salvage, which allows me to repeatedly landfall those vampires back. Dakmore Salvage also works nicely with the Tombstalkers, because super cheap beaters are very scary in this deck.

Next is the usefulness between Pox/Smallpox and Haakon: whenever I see Haakon in my hand, it's never a dead card. It's purpose is to be discarded to the Pox effects, then return to play from the graveyard. This is also why cards like Black Knight and Order of the Ebon hand have remained in the deck: because with Haakon out, they can be recast and continue beating.

Now that I've explained a few of the cooler workings behind the curtain, I can talk about how the first round of games went.

My first matchup was against a mostly Black Birthing Pod deck, going 2-1. There was some concern on Jason's part: his deck was using ETB effects and Undying and he figured he would outmatch me on a deck that I'm testing. I proceeded on, unafraid.

The rule of a Pox deck is: Pox early and Pox often. This is because the deck wins when you Pox and loses when you don't; if the opponent is allowed to recover from a Pox, then usually I'm in trouble. My plan to overcome this is with a weenie rush.

On the other side; the opponent is almost always trying to play out their resources as fast as they are able: in my wins in this matchup, I would cast Pox with only three lands and Jason would have four out. While this would feel like we would start over from the same point, both with two lands, my recovery to three and rolling on would happen faster than his recovery to four.

In a second match against a mono-Green deck, ramping up for deathtouch creatures and fight effects, I once again went 2-1. In the first game, I was a little fortunate: I didn't draw a Pox but Jason just drew mana ramp.

In this game I went with the alternate gameplan: weenie rush deck and it worked well. In this matchup the Guul Draz Vampire came in extremely handy. Although a weak turn one play, in the midgame when life totals are certainly below 10, the intimidate and power boost are pretty big deals. I was able to attack past a Predator Ooze to win.

Game two, as you might see, I attacked past a Predator Ooze with Guul Draz Vampire at two life...and forgot that when the Ooze attacks, it gets a +1/+1 counter. So that was bad. If I'd held back a single creature, I may have been able to hold out. I won the match though so I'm not going to be too bitter about it.

Still, I started this series with the idea that the GDV would be replaced, most likely with discard. I'm currently testing Blackmail in that slot on Cockatrice. I don't know if that will work but I have Blackmail so I'm going with it. However, if that doesn't work, the Vampires may go back in. There aren't any Knights at that converted mana cost and I don't know if any other creature in Black could give me that kind of power/toughness ratio so there aren't any other synergies I think I can exploit and extra damage is extra damage.