death by infect

[ezio]

heres a rough plan for my new infect deck hasnt been tested yet let me know what you think

// Lands
7 Swamp
9 Forest
4 Inkmoth Nexus

// Creatures
4 Phyrexian Crusader
4 Viridian Corrupter
4 Glissa, the Traitor
4 Septic Rats
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Ichor Rats
4 Blight Mamba

// Spells
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Creeping Corrosion
4 Grasp of Darkness

[browncoat]

Before anything else I have one question: Why the hell are you running glissa? You have no artifacts to abuse her ability and she does not have infect.

Of course your mana base needs 4 verdant catacombs but I am sure that you already know that. Do you need so much maindeck artifact hate? I am out of the loop on standard but as far as I know nothing from besieged has created a major shift to artifact decks. I really think this deck needs putrefax as it is a threat that either mus be answered or the player loses. I also think infect decks need to have 3-4 everflowing chalice as they need the ramp and I have yet to see a promising 2 drop for the deck. The other major problem with the deck is its very color intensive costs. You will have difficulty getting the mana to cast most of your spells. Birds of paradise is not enough as you never know when a turn 4 (or was it turn 3) destructive force will appear to ruin your life.

[zeldalink53]

I would put Skithrix AKA skittles in, but thats just me.

[Xavious]

Based on the standard environment I've seen so far, Hand of the Praetors needs to be in the deck. Even though there is a lot of artifacts in standard right now I don't think you need this much artifact hate unless you're going against someone running a myr tribe.

More creatures I'd also consider Rot Wolf for some good card draw. Lastly I think an infect flyer would help make this deck. So, either Plague Stinger, Flesh-Eater Imp, or if you just want a flashy ending Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon. Virulent Wound and Spread the Sickness would fit right in there considering the first should get a poison counter on the opponent early in the game and the second can proliferate poison counters you should have by then.

Also, Decimator Web and Core Prowler are two artifacts I'd add to this deck. Decimator Web is just evil with its ability and Core Prowler is a 2/2 Infect that proliferates when it hits the graveyard.

So here's what I'm seeing for a good G/B Infect deck:

18 Creatures:
2 Ichor Rats
2 Septic Rats
3 Phyrexian Crusader
3 Rot Wolf
4 Blight Mamba
4 Plague Stinger

16 Spells:
4 Virulent Wound
4 Spread the Sickness
4 Grasp of Darkness
4 Giant Growth

4 Artifacts:
2 Core Prowler
2 Decimator Web

Land
10 Swamp
10 Forest
4 Inkmoth Nexus

I'm not too fond of the rats but I'd keep two of each in the deck. Plague Stinger and Blight Mamba are pretty good second turn drops. I love virulent wound. It's an ideal answer to take out the opponents early creatures or used with Grasp of Darkness (-5/-5 on a creature and it's controller gets a poison counter when it hits the graveyard for only BBB? And its at instant speed? Sounds good to me!) as a nasty surprise late game. Spread the Sickness is good to take out the bigger creatures and up any counters you'd like to see increased. Giant Growth really should be a staple for infect decks in my opinion. Being able to instantly give the opponent three more poison counters on a successful attack for just G is awesome. Lastly the two artifacts I'd use just for filler. They'd certainly help, but the rest should be enough to get the job done.

I'm not too sure on the ideal land amount for this, so I just used a base amount. Inkmoth Nexus should definitely stay here though, I've seen it abused terribly since the Pre-release tournaments.

[Hobojackal]

A few things on infect.

1) Run one colour

Basically, running two colours can and will make your life a lot harder in the long run. Sure, green gives you the ability to pump your dudes making it easy to get the 10 counters on them, but you need removal, and those pump spells take up the valuable slots that you could be filling to keep the board clear while you're attecking. I highly recommend mono black for this, simply because it has now got some of the best removal spells. Things like Go For The Throat and Grasp of darkness really are great. And if you're running short on cards, you can just use Dark Tutelage to get the advantage you need to pull through.

2) Creature choices.

In standard right now, there is one piece of removal that is played in almost every deck... Lightning Bolt. We all know the card, and im sure it's screwed over EVERYONE who has ever played magic. You need to try and keep the toughness of your creatures, especially your finishers above 3 to avoid this. This is where cards like Hand of the Praetors comes in handy. While he himself doesn't have the magic toughness, he certainly helps your other infecters to get past at least that one hurdle, and keep the rest of your team alive.

Another thing that is highly important is evasion, the ability to hit your opponents more often. Plague Stinger is great for this, especially combined with a Piston Sledge on turn 3 to make it a whopping 4/2 with flying and infect.

3) The endgame.

This is where you need to make some more minor choiced about how you want the deck to win out. Do you want to keep beating your opponent in the face with your creatures, or do you want to sit behind your removal and simply proliferate them away. Both are very valid choices and it is completely up to you.

If you want to go down the road of beating them in the head, i would highly recommend Phyrexian Juggernaut. At the well-costed price of 6 mana, you get a 5/5 artifact creature with infect that attacks each turn. There wil be a lot of people changing out thier Doom Blades for Go for the Throat, and honestly i dont blame them. You can take very good advantage of this by running this beast because go for the throat cant touch it. There are other options like Skytherix, but he's far too easy to be removed because of the change, although i do still really like him.

The proliferate option is more controlling, and i feel more reliable. This is the option where you would be running the Dark Tutelage to get the heavier card advantage. You would want things like Virulent Wound and Ichor Rats to put the poison counters on the opponent, and then things like Contagion clasp and Black Sun's Zenith to get around the more aggro decks. Other removal spells you would want to be running are Grasp of Darkness, Go for the Throat and the Black Sun's Zenith. If you need more proliferate options, you can go for things like Throne of Geth and Contagion Engine.

4) Utility

If you don't want to run the Dark Tutelage, then you would want other ways of getting the extra cards into your hand. Phyrexian Rager is a really good way to get a few extra cards at a relatively low cost to your life. There's also Sign in Blood as well.

Well, i hope that helps somewhat. Ill put links to all the cards that i mentioned at the bottom of this so that you can see what all the cards do, just in case you arent familiar with them all.

http://magiccards.info/query?q=go+for+th...rd&s=cname
http://magiccards.info/query?q=grasp+of+...rd&s=cname
http://magiccards.info/m11/en/149.html
http://magiccards.info/query?q=!Hand%20o...20Praetors
http://magiccards.info/query?q=plague+st...rd&s=cname
http://magiccards.info/query?q=piston+sl...rd&s=cname
http://magiccards.info/query?q=phyrexian...rd&s=cname
http://magiccards.info/som/en/79.html
http://magiccards.info/query?q=dark+tute...rd&s=cname
http://magiccards.info/query?q=virulent+...rd&s=cname
http://magiccards.info/query?q=ichor+rat...rd&s=cname
http://magiccards.info/query?q=contagion...rd&s=cname
http://magiccards.info/query?q=black+sun...rd&s=cname
http://magiccards.info/query?q=throne+of...rd&s=cname
http://magiccards.info/query?q=contagion...rd&s=cname
http://magiccards.info/query?q=phyrexian...rd&s=cname
http://magiccards.info/query?q=sign+in+b...rd&s=cname

Those are all the cards listed in the order that i mentioned them.

Jackal

[browncoat]

I have to disagree, I don't think that going mono-colored is the right choice.

The main problem with mono-black infect is that it can get locked out hard by control. Yes you can stop them from winning but you can't win if your threats are countered. The main problem with poison is that the deck runs out of steam and can find itself stalled at 6-9 poison which leaves you sitting there once you have been disrupted without options. Removal does not help you when the board is stalled, pump lets you win if it resolves with an unblocked creature.

Infect needs to have lots of threats, specifically cheap ones. You really want to curve out with putrefax and/or skithiryx. Things like phyrexian juggernaut seem good but when compared to its normal counterpart or the improved version it is very underwhelming.

I will probably add more after class when I am more conscious.

[Xavious]

(2011-02-07 14:40 PM)browncoat Wrote:  I have to disagree, I don't think that going mono-colored is the right choice.

The main problem with mono-black infect is that it can get locked out hard by control. Yes you can stop them from winning but you can't win if your threats are countered. The main problem with poison is that the deck runs out of steam and can find itself stalled at 6-9 poison which leaves you sitting there once you have been disrupted without options. Removal does not help you when the board is stalled, pump lets you win if it resolves with an unblocked creature.

I have to agree with this. Infect decks can come to a grinding halt if you stick with mono-black. B/U Infect has options for countering, including the new counterspell which counters and proliferates. At the very least with G/B Infect you can sideboard Vines of Vastwood for creature protection.

Although now I'm very tempted to try out a B/U Control Infect deck.

[Deckbuilder]

I would also add livewire lash, this adds power to a creature that essentially has double strike when hitting players, and when you pump the creature you can throw two extra poison counters on the player. Also if the cast removal on the creature it hits the player with poison counters. This goes especially well on the crusader who has first strike by making him beat higher toughness creatures

[Xavious]

(2011-05-02 21:35 PM)Deckbuilder Wrote:  I would also add livewire lash, this adds power to a creature that essentially has double strike when hitting players, and when you pump the creature you can throw two extra poison counters on the player. Also if the cast removal on the creature it hits the player with poison counters. This goes especially well on the crusader who has first strike by making him beat higher toughness creatures

I certainly agree about livewire lash, although I wouldn't call it like having double strike. Since when scars was released it has been the only card to remain present in all the various incarnations of my infect deck. That said, I've been meaning to share my current deck but I was waiting until New Phyrexia was released to see what sort of havoc I could wreak with it. However after the last fnm I think I can say that RBG infect is one of the most potent forms I've come across. Here's my current deck load out:

14 Creatures
2 Phyrexian Crusader
2 Necropede
3 Ichorclaw Myr
3 Plague Myr
4 Plague Stinger

8 Black Spells
3 Go for the Throat
3 Virulent Wound
2 Virulent Swipe

7 Red Spells
3 Lightning Bolt
4 Assault Strobe

6 Green Spells
3 Unnatural Predation
3 Vines of Vastwood

4 Artifact
4 Livewire Lash

21 Lands
4 Dragonskull Summit
3 Rootbound Crag
5 Swamp
5 Forest
4 Mountain

Side:
2 Red Sun's Zenith
2 Black Sun's Zenith
2 Pyroclasm
3 Mark of Mutiny
1 Virulent Swipe
3 Doom Blade
2 Shatter

[Disturbedone0777]

My new infect build has been doing okay. It's not quite where I'd like it but it does work.

Creatures
3x Viral Drake
3x Corpse Cur
4x Blighted Agent
4x Phyrexian Crusader
4x Whispering Specter
2x Skithiryx, The Blight Dragon
[20]

Support
2x Caress of Phyrexia
3x Corrupted Resolve
3x Tezzeret's Gambit
4x Distortion Strike
[12]

Removal
3x Go for the throat
2x Doomblade
[5]

Lands
2x Creeping Tarpit
4x Darkslick Shores
4x Drowned Catacomb
6x Swamp
7x Island
[23]

[Deckbuilder]

I think the deck should run hand of the praetors if you can get ahold of them. Also you are running a lot of draw spells, you might want to consider dropping some of them and adding little jace if you have it. He still allows you to draw cards and can get rid of the big jace you will see in most tournament blue decks. You could also consider running virulent wound because this can get a poison counter on the opponent early allowing you to play corrupted resolve on turn 2.