Card/Deck Chrome Mox

[Eric Chan]

The discussion of Mox Diamond over on Chris's thread made me think about its younger, less popular cousin, Chrome Mox. This card is obviously missing all of the land synergies with enablers like Life from the Loam, so its use is limited to more "fair" decks. The trouble I'm having with this card is, despite having it in my cube for a year, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with it. I threw it in there because the earliest iterations of my cube were largely pulled from other people's lists, and most everyone includes this card. Now that I'm reviewing all of my cube inclusions with a more critical eye, I find myself wondering which decks can best make use of this accelerator.

Have you guys found Chrome Mox to be useful in your own cubes? What decks does it typically shine best in?

 

[Enrique Angulo]

I have found it to be quite spectacular in my cube. Its main purpose is to accelerate and generate tempo for the more aggro/midrange decks. I've seen people play turn 1 Dark Confidant in RB aggro, turn 1 chrome mox into burning-tree emissary into lightning mauler. I cannot see cutting Chrome Mox from my cube anytime soon.

 

[Jason Waddell]

I wanted to like Chrome Mox. Really. But it was always such a blank for me. The trouble is that it looks like it is a fixer, when often it is just a hand ruiner. You need black mana for some sweet spell but only have red cards in hand. Chrome Mox is (in my opinion) at its best in less-color greedy decks. Ideally even a monocolor deck where you never have to worry about awkward hands. It's also really annoying that you can't imprint cards like Baleful Strix on Chrome Mox.

Even though the cards seem very similar, I found myself often wanting Mox Diamond and seldom wanting Chrome Mox.

 

[CML]

eh they're not that similar. (they're moxen but beyond that) ... legacy lovers know that diamond is far more powerful. (they do go in far different decks, though, and chrome is banned in modern)

 

[VibeBox]

Good points ITT on Chrome Mox. I've loved this cards since its days in Type 2 of turn one chrome mox, great furnace, slith firewalker, attack, go. mountain , molten rain, go.
And that really is where it shines, in aggressive (preferably mono or mostly mono) decks. You want to cheat on mana sources anyway so in a deck like that it's sometimes the preferred option over Diamond (which is generally better in most other circumstances)
Tinker packages love any mox, regardless of the name.
4-5 CC decks sometime like Chrome as a fixer, but only if they have a healthy amount of multicolored spells in their deck.
Aggro-Control often likes it (no better than Diamond though) because it gives them the speed to lead with a cheap threat and leave up a force spike, rishadan port activation, memory lapse...ect

Chrome Mox may be the ugliest ducking of the Mox family, but it's still an extra "free" mana source, and that will keep it seeing play for a long time.

 

[Eric Chan]

Hmmm. I've had experiences closer to Jason's, but I know this card is a quote unquote staple in most every cube, so I was trying to figure out why it wasn't really meshing for us here. Enrique's and Vibe's posts help me understand how to "break" the card disadvantage of the poorest of the Moxen, and why some people value it highly. I did see a Plains, Chrome Mox, mana rock, go, land, Elspeth turn 2 one time. That was beautiful.

Chris - I assume the Modern ban is because Wizards is deathly afraid of acceleration making storm combo a thing?

 

[CML]

eric -- yep. (if you like to research what cards go where, my favorite resource is the tcgplayer.com deck search.) pulling this up i see that in legacy chrome mox is played almost exclusively in belcher and storm. belcher couldn't be ported so presumably it would be only storm in modern, which they decapitated with the starting ban list (containing chrome mox), then ponder / preordain / rite of flame, then seething song. now storm is dead. it seemed absurd at first -- i was highly critical of the seething song / bloodbraid elf bans -- but now i see i was wrong. the format is more fun without them. the format is even more fun without motherfucking eggs! modern is sweet.

vibe brings up an interesting tale. i love these pieces of lore; the history of magic is something all cube designers should take an active interest in. long ago, chrome mox must have been a staple in fair decks! i remember an old LSV piece about 'his first GP ever' where someone played two chrome moxen and had em cracked by rack and ruin.

chrome mox isn't like lotus bloom or lotus petal, it does have some value in fair decks. i have a tough time imagining them in cube, though.

on the topic of moxen, jack-in-the-mox was a lot of fun in my cube. so much fun that we didn't even realize how grossly overpowered it was until we remembered the games had sucked because and not in spite of the pop-up toy

 

[Jason Waddell]

I've heard it theorized by some pro (can't remember who) that if Chrome Mox were legal in Modern you would see a lot more Turn 1 Dark Confidants.
EDIT: I just realized my comment sounds really stupid as worded, considering there are currently no decks that put Turn 1 Dark Confidants on the board.

 

[CML]

jason -- mox deezy is played (by contrast) only in fair decks in legacy and oftentimes it will help you make that t1 bob (or stoneforge). oddly t1 bob is a better play in legacy than it is in modern, as fewer decks can kill him and the life loss matters less (due to more combo decks + no shocklands). another possibility is a t2 lily, which is really devastating and maybe format-warping if you could do it with more than a deathrite

 

[Jason Waddell]

Yeah, as we saw from Caw-Blade mirrors, getting a high-impact play on the board a turn earlier (either via coin flip or Mox) can be very strong.
EDIT: Not to imply that anybody ever played a Standard Stoneforge on Turn 1.

 

[CML]

three explores

 

[CML]

you guys will love this:

16 chrome moxen in a top 8: https://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Events.aspx?x=mtgevent/ptcol05/t8decks

good commentary on that top 8: