The Pox Report

Although I'm a week late, I finally made it out to play some Legacy. 

Match 1
vs Brandon on Changeling combo

Won game 1, Lili and poxes helped keep the board clear and I mopped up with Stromgald Crusader

Games 2 & 3 though I couldn’t get enough disruption going in the early game, and I got run over. Hex Parasite DID show up in both games! But I was stuck on 2 mana so I couldn’t actually use it to make a dent in the Aether Vial or the Grist, the Hunger Tide.

Match 2
Vs Zach on UW Standstill
Game 1: got stuff countered and eternalized Timeless Dragons got to to me. My deck really does need Pox spells to resolve...

Game 2: an aggressive start for me with some discard and Crusaders bringing him down to 9, but I couldn’t follow it I up with any board control, and eventually eternalized dragons worked me over again.

Match 3
vs Dennis on GW Maverick

Game 1: hand played out perfect, with a discard hitting Solitude and Swords to Plowshares. With a Stromgald Crusader and a Smallpox to follow, he saw the writing on the wall.

Game 2; I spent my turns casting removal through a Deafening Silence, and then settled into a actual Pox, followed up by 2 Stromgald Crusaders and a Tombstalker.

Match 4 

 Vs Matt on Parfait homebrew 

Game 1: I was able to Hymn out his early win conditions (Dark Depths and Urza's Saga), but I couldn't get enough pressure going afterwards. Eventually, Urza's Saga tokens got there. 

Game 2: I had a Null Rod to stop his artifacts from artifacting, which was great until Blast Zone cleared it away. It looked like it wouldn't matter, as I had a Liliana I was going to ultimate-until Urza's Saga got a Pithing Needle. From there, he was able to grind the rest of the game out. 

So what did I learn? 

First, when I fell behind, I didn't have a way to catch up. I either had hand disruption or I had a Pox/Smallpox but rarely both-the games I won are when they both appeared. I didn't have enough pressure without this combo to win. 

Second, Pithing Needle. That is a card I need to account for in my sideboard. It's a very popular card to use to solve a bunch of problems.

Third: Protection from White is relevant! At least, it was until it wasn't-eternalized tokens are Black. This suggests that a card like Surgical Extraction, one I'd thought wouldn't be helpful, has a place in the Sideboard. Or, maybe graveyard removal is just useful enough to maindeck?

Possible adjustments to the Sideboard include: Ratchet Bomb, Unlicensed Hearse, and Bontu's Last Reckoning.