ByeZander I know you didn’t ask me but I’ve been slowly but surely moving closer to a complete build of this deck. I have all of the relevant stax pieces except for Sphere of Resistance, and I have all of the creatures on this list except for having swapped out Serra Ascendant for Sylvan Safekeeper. Anyways, Because the stax on this can be so oppressive Yisan gets you around your own stax pieces because he summons creatures through an activated ability. As far as Damping Sphere is concerned it shuts down more strategies than you’d think. It heavily slows down decks that use mana ramp by making each spell cost more. It also shuts down Kess and other storm builds very effectively of which there are two or three in my meta. Again, because of cards like Yisan, Kiki, Birthing Pod and even Sun Titan, we can generally get around our own stax pieces.

SliverKing19 In my experience this build doesn’t generally win with Tana, but I enjoy winning with her as well and added Sigil of the Nayan Gods to fill in for one of the cards I haven’t been able to collect yet. That card alone has won me numerous games with this deck. I usually only need to swing with Tana twice once it’s equipped to get commander damage kill with it.

How well would a Gaddock Teeg fit in this build?

Both seen from a cEDH standpoint, power level: 9-10.

And seen from a tuned down version, to fit a meta at power level 6-8?

I’m curious why this list doesn’t run Nether Void.

I was looking through this list and wondering what Ghave is for?

KittyFaye Ghave is a great sac outlet which helps Blood Pod avoid taking too much damage from Rakdos Charm or similar effect while also allowing Tana or any other card to grow when necessary. Need life? Sac 5 Saprolings and pump Tymna etc. the last time I played I avoided losing to a Rakdos Charm by sacking all of my tokens and pumping up my Birds of Paradise. An 8/9 flyer is no laughing matter.

Is Nether Void not worth running in Blood Pod? I feel like it is such a great way to just stop everything once you have a board presence? Would you rather just run Armageddon?

@LabManiac_Luke:

Fantastic List. +1.

I'm curious about the usage (or non-usage) of Spirit of the Labyrinth in a deck like this...

Is its symmetrical effects worth having in a list like this, considering the fact that Tymna the Weaver is the deck's primary source of draw (not counting others within the deck)?

I Didn't see it in the notable exclusions area, which is why I asked.

Hello again Blood Pod fants. I'm still brewing this deck for my meta. For those of you who come from a more creature heavy meta I would recommend running Noxious Revival in place of Reanimate. I know Reanimate is a staple and all that, but in my creature heavy meta I have found that while this deck has a decent spot-removal package it always just seemed to be one removal card short. Noxious Revival takes care of that problem. Being able to choose which card I'd like to return to my hand just before starting my next turn has been really great for the success of this deck. Reanimate may be better if you're running the Buried Alive/Entomb package, but I've personally swapped out most of my graveyard interaction for a more oppressive stax build and a lower mana curve, opting more for a win off of BitterBlossom. Just my two cents.

simondiamond2012 I'm sorry but there's just no way that Spirit of the Labyrinth would be a good inclusion in this build. Card draw advantage is what makes this deck capable to being so oppressive. Spirit of the Labyrinth would effectively make Tymna useless. Opponents who capitalize on card draw are not as big of a threat to this brew as you would think due to how oppressive the stax package is. If you're worried about someone drawing a ton of cards and being able to cast a ton of spells, I find it more efficient to focus on digging up an answer to that instead of stopping them from drawing in the first place. If they're playing a storm build search for a Rule of Law effect. Rule of Law + Stranglehold or Aven Mindcensor stops a lot of decks dead in their tracks. If you're worried about Thrasios, and who isn't, Linvala stops him cold. I'm not an expert at playing MTG by any means but I feel confident in saying that Spirit of the Labyrinth is a no-go for Blood Pod.

Hey there, I am doing a bit of research on The more competitive decks out there for my Stax deck.

• So the first question is: what kind of "Stax" or "Hate cards" would shut this deck down or make it impossible for you to win under certain singular or combined Effects?

• And the second question is about Sanctum Prelate as I am trying to gather as much information about the stopping power of calling specific CMC with this card vs certain strategies, Would you consider CMC ,, or CMC to be more effective here to disrupt your gameplan?

Kiyomei Blood Pod, generally speaking, has a lot of problems against cards like Cursed Totem and Humility (they slow this deck down a lot, obviously)

The other way to fight this deck is to keep Tymna from drawing cards. Good, efficient sweepers like Toxic Deluge , Fire Covenant , and Pyroclasm can help keep them off the gas pedal. There are a ton of other good sweepers, just make sure you can hit the board for 2 damage, and keep Tymna from hitting people.

If you take a good look at Sanctum Prelate , you'll see that it only stops noncreature spells. Blood Pod is a hatebears deck first and foremost, so a card like Sanctum Prelate really doesn't do much against Blood Pod.

The best way, in my opinion, to beat Blood Pod is to disrupt their card advantage, and then win quickly. Because it is a staxy creature deck, Blood Pod wants to drag the game out. With their big swingy creatures, they're advantaged in the long game. Sweep their card advantage away, and then combo them. It's hard because of their stax pieces, but that's the best way to combat them.

Beating Blood Pod is tough (it's a good deck and top tier for a reason!) but I hope this helps!

I wonder... Are there any Blood Pod lists running Gaddock Teeg in the mainboard? It does shut off Birthing Pod from being cast, but I don't see it as a part of any of the notable exclusions either.

Seems good against Ad Nauseam and Paradox Engine.

Bountiful Promenade is better than Brushland.

What are your thoughts on Vivien's Arkbow ?

anything to add from the last few sets

With the release of Modern Horizons, is it worth it to include the new Horizon lands, Silent Clearing , Sunbaked Canyon , and Nurturing Peatland ? And if so, which lands get cut for them?

What should I change to be more effective in a creature heavy meta?

I believe since Horizons, Collector Ouphe can now replace or be run in addition to the stony silence in the deck.

SMASHER101 Check out Meta Pod for a more creature heavy meta deck. It functions much better overall. I personally had a lot of trouble getting Blood Pod to function well against green ramp decks in my meta due to the fact that the lands they use are basic and the Moon Effects and stax effects don’t hinder them at all. I created a much faster combo oriented list called She Hulk if you want to try checking it out and going for a faster build that seeks to combo off around turn 4.

Why does everyone run urborg in blood pod? The only double black spell it allows you to cast is leyline of the void and the deck doesn't run a ginormous amount of black spells. I feel like running it will help your opponents fix their mana perhaps more than it does for you.