Atem18, chernobyl516, smsmoore, and APPLE01DOJ: you guys have all built similar decks and I would really appreciate and respect some input.

One thing I'm wondering is whether this is a viable competitive deck without Life from the Loam (or Liliana of the Veil)? Also, Baneslayer Angel has saved me several times; is it worth running more copies or should I mix in some Abyssal Persecutors too? I might take out some Utopia Sprawls if I throw in Persecutor. Thanks in advance.

Drown in Sorrow over infest.

Thanks for the suggestion Maringam. Believe it or not, Drown in Sorrow's in my acquireboard, which the d*mned interface won't show... since the deck's online I should probably stop biding my time and just pick up a couple copies.

I feel ya buddy... These damn uncommons from standard just keep climbing...

Y'know what, even put some cats in the SB. For good luck, y'know.

Haha if Black Cat had better stats I might even take that seriously

If you want to make this as competitive as possible, you should probably take most of your cues from the Loam Pox archetype. It's pretty similar to what you're doing now, using Smallpox and other "symmetric" effects to take over the board state, but it has some super-value cards (death by 5x consecutive Flame Jab happens), and is significantly more graveyard-based than this.

If you're interested in learning more about Loam Pox, I've heard that Rafael Levy has some videos with some very tight play, and there's almost certainly a primer on MTGS.

Some of the cards from Loam Pox that I think would fit perfectly here are Life from the Loam (even less symmetry rawr), Vengeful Pharaoh (Free removal), Squee, Goblin Nabob (may or may not require splashing red, but has cute interactions with 100% of the cards in the deck), and Golgari Brownscale (great MBable hedge vs burn, zoo, etc.).

All in all, I think that this deck looks pretty awesome. I tend to like Smallpox decks, and this is no exception.

Well Programmer_112, I'm glad you like the deck. But that I should change the archetype is kind of what I was afraid of hearing, if anything, because it's realistic.

I knew about Loam Pox back when it came out, but I had almost no budget and none of the cards I now play. I'm willing to alter the deck to Loam Pox but first I plan to put it through more testing, which is hard since I don't often have time for games. I'd love to keep the deck true to itself, but if I find myself qualifying for a tournament, I might rework it with more graveyard interactions. Thanks for the feedback. What do you think of Utopia Sprawl in this deck?

I don't particularly love Utopia Sprawl here. When your deck is built around Smallpox, I think that a high land count is necessary, and Utopia Sprawl doesn't help with that. It sets up T2 3-drops, but you really want a T2 Smallpox, so that's not particularly useful. All in all, I think I'd prefer some lands in those slots.

Seems like a good assessment to me, and I've come to a similar conclusion. It's just a matter of finding the right cards for those slots (maybe basics?) T2 Fetid Heath + Flagstones of Trokair + Smallpox also seems good.

What do you guys think about making a Glittering Wish package?

First "It can Sinkhole fetches instantly-". Sinkhole is a sorcery. Wat about Pox?

I said instantly because Shadow of Doubt is an instant, and can effectively counter, or "Sinkhole," a fetchland. Also, Pox is not Modern-legal, so I can't run it.

Oh yeah I forgot sorry about Pox.

No worries. I'd play Pox if I could!

in the current meta with the prevalence of bloom titan and tron, i suggest cutting 2 lands for 2 Crucible of Worlds and 2 other lands for 2 Ghost Quarter. Crucible also lets you lower the land count because you can replay fetches and replay lands you sac to smallpox. you can also ghost quarter people out of the game because after they run out of basics in the deck its a Strip Mine

Abyssal Persecutor is sick in Smallpox

First of all, it's awesome to see so much help so quickly! Thanks so much everybody!

formayor, (btw I'm responding to your comment on the help forum here), Wishing for a finisher is something I've thought about for a while. My best counterargument to cutting Baneslayer Angel is that I'd rather keep a Wish target in the side than the main for game 1, so I'd be cutting something in a different place. Also, I've experimented a bit with finishers, and ol' BS is way better than everyone thinks. A 10-pt life swing just can't be raced. I've considered a Sigarda, Host of Herons in the side before and am willing to reconsider, purely because of how resilient she is to popular removal.

Wheel of Sun and Moon makes for a great, one-sided Leyline of the Void replacement that previously I'd only considered in silly combos. Thanks! I've thought a little about Heros Reunion or similar against burn, but I've got some cool Wish tech up my sleeve. I can side out a Kitchen Finks for say, a Loxodon Smiter game 2, effectively giving me 7 copies of one of the best critters against burn courtesy of Wish! This deck loses a lot of life, though, and I really want to force a concession ASAP against burn, which Leyline of Sanctity excels at. I've also got similar Wish/sideboard tech with Abrupt Decay -- siding out the more versatile, inititially preferable Maelstrom Pulse for it gives me an effective 4 copies (but only one use) game 2, which is great against decks where instants matter like Twin.

selesvyaloverer8, Crucible's a very interesting idea that I'll have to think more about. It looks like a mainboard plan, and I'm guessing it'll either be very good (against the matchups you mentioned) or very bad, as it de-streamlines a deck that already has problems choosing a pet card (Smallpox vs. Glittering Wish). I'll let you know how Crucible/Quarter testing goes for me.

APPLE01DOJ, I agree, and I've used it before! The only problem is it competes with Baneslayer and Tasigur, the Golden Fang for slots. In addition to the drawback printed on the card, it also isn't Wishable. If I were playing an aggro variant, it'd be shoe-in.

Thanks everybody for your thoughts! Let me know about any other ideas :)

All interesting and good points. Here's some further thoughts after I read some more comments and notes:

I realize BSA is better than advertised (as a 5/5 flying linker for 5 is good, even if the other abilities aren't relevant). But a glaring thing about your deck is that all your finishers are pretty removable, which is significant given that your opponents won't often spend targeted creature removal on tokens, and may try to avoid doing so with Finks (I always prefer to try and remove them via combat). This being the case, I think a more resilient finisher on the SB is still a good idea. Also on the same note, I feel like Restoration Angel may be useful in your deck. Blinking a targeted Rhino is sheer hysteria, and Resto's ability will almost never go to waste in a deck with 4 Finks, and some Rhinos. Maybe split with BSA? But that's just a random idea.

Also, something that may allow you to tinker with your larger creature base a bit is Behemoth Sledge, which could replace the lifelink from BSA. It can be tutored from the SB, and plays well with Lingering Souls, Finks, and Garruk - and nobody is going to bring in artifact removal against you.

My last shout goes out to Knight of the Reliquary(SB or MB) and Ghost Quarter(MB). Brings some disruption to many matchups (esp Tron). KotR can heighten the effectiveness of a mid or late Pox by tutoring Flagstones, by land screwing the opponent further by grabbing GQ, and by Pox making your KotR bigger. And of course it's hard to jam 2 GQ in there - but consider the ol' GQ/Flagstones combo, which actually hedges against the potential of having mana problems (you can target Flagstones with GQ and then go grab any basic AND any plains in a pinch). I realize KotR might be hard to make work, but Wish makes it distinctly easier.

OK, Resto and KotR might be reaching a bit - but do consider the point about your big guys and finding a spot for Sigarda. I also think 1X SB Sledge can consistently work well here, and 1-2 GQ makes tons of sense in a deck that's already running 3 Flagstones.

formayor, I'll definitely consider that point. The fact that my finishers are removable is what makes me believe I'll eventually find a slot for Sigarda in the side. However, I do want to defend Baneslayer a little more. Except for removal and Tron creatures, she is unbeatable, and even kills Sigarda herself in combat, thanks to first strike.

I do think Resto and KotR are both reaching a bit into something other than what I want to play. This deck wants to be able to cast Smallpox turn 2, and remain able to cast it up to turn 4 without sacrificing anything crucial, which rules KotR out. In a vacuum (which, with only 9 nontoken creatures, is often how my deck looks), Baneslayer just seems better than Resto.

If I did bring in a lifelink enabler, I'm more likely to go with Unflinching Courage than the Sledge, but I'd rather find a body that gains me life than one that requires a body.

I've already been testing and toying around with a couple GQs and Crucible of Worlds... and except that I have to wait until T4 for Crucible to have any effect, I've been really pleased. Programmer_112, you're the one who convinced me to go with 26 lands, which has worked out well so far. What do you think of Crucible and GQ here?

As always, I appreciate the time you guys have spent thinking about this deck :)

if you want a less vulnerable threat, Batterskull is the go to answer. It gains life like baneslayer and you can bounce it in response to Shatter effects so its essentially unkillable.

Yeah, those were wacky ideas, mostly based on scenarios where you might shake things up and need to fill some gaps left by BSA.

I still think Sledge is potentially way, way better than an Aura in your deck, though, given that you can generate a persistent presence of creatures, but can't keep any particular one from dying.

I don't think Crucible is great against Tron. They'll just hit it with Nature's Claim. Life from the Loam would have nearly the same effect in most games as far as hitting land drops (I assume you rarely need to replay more than 3 land) and it's cheaper (though it has a higher long-term cost if you want to recycle the same GQ several times). The best play vs Tron might be GQ + Surgical Extraction, which is good elsewhere as well so you may be able to make room for it on the SB. You could also run an extra Shadow of Doubt or another Stony Silence, which might be good enough next to GQ.

selesvyaloverer8, I'd love to play the Skull but I can't do to the fact that I play online where it costs ~$40, which is way above my budget. But then I'd be considering two literal BS 5-drops as finishers lol.

formayor, I don't think the ideas were wacky at all, just not what this list is trying to accomplish. I still have no idea how effective Crucible would be, but I know no multicolored deck can beat Crucible of Worlds + Ghost Quarter without removal.

It's so ironic that you mention Extraction and Stony, because I've got Extraction in the maybeboard due to the terrible Tron matchup and I used to run 2 Stonies in the side. As for Shadow, siding it out for Wish seems fine, since slots are starting to get tighter.

GQ seems like the go-to card, and I'll take my chances of being color-screwed and play a couple. What I want to know now is whether I need recursive cards like Crucible of Worlds and Life from the Loam to support it.

Thanks for your input, everyone! Keep the comments flowing!

Also I'm thinking Zealous Persecution > Golgari Charm.

Since you run Lingering Souls, and will often have 2/1 Finks around, I think you're right about Zealous Persecution.

On CoW, I think there's good reasons few decks play it, and that I've never seen it just to recur GQ. Everyone needs artifact removal, and it's nearly always cheaper than , so that's not great. Plenty of decks mainboard Abrupt Decay which hits it as well. But I think the real problem is you screw yourself a bit by not being able to advance your own mana base because you're screwing theirs every turn by sacking GQ. It's also a combo that requires you to find and play 2 pieces by turn 3 to be really effective, and even then your opponent might be able to function on the few lands they already got down even if you combo successfully. So I think Loam is better, but the recursion probably isn't needed.

Between 2 GQ, a tutor-able Fulminator Mage, Shadow of Doubt, a few Maelstrom Pulse, plus Smallpox, I'd say your chances against Tron aren't that terrible without recurring GQ. Garruk also seems good against Wurmcoil Engine. I doubt you'll get color screwed that often with 2 copies of GQ and 3 Flagstones.