Counting to 10

as in depht as I can guide for modern Infect

 

Introduction

Phylosophy

Infect playstyle born back during the Scars of Mirrodin block, where we saw for the first stime the keyword "Infect". A creature with this keyword deals damage in form of -1/-1 counters to other creatures and in form of "Poison Counter" to players. Since a player that gets 10 or more Poison Counters lose the game, a strategy that aim to deal these 10 damage as fast as possible started to rise.

In 2011, when Modern Format came out, there where an Infect build that runned Blazing Shoal with Progenitus along with all the card selection available at the time to kill the opponent on T2/T3. Many bans occurred and Infect got ups and downs since then.

I will take the UG build as a base and start from there to breakdown all the variants that come at my mind

PROs and CONs

Pros:

• Games are usually over at turn 5 or turn 6;
• You're running kind of an unexpected deck right now;
• You definitely prey over slower decks
• You punish sloppy plays and mulligans from you opponent

Cons:

• Games are brief but really intense and thought-dense;
• Right now Infect is not a T1;
• Aggro decks (like Prowess and Death's Shadow) are tough match ups;
• The deck tends to punish even your sloppy plays and mulligans.

At this point if you decided that the Pros outweight the Cons, it is time to get into

The Primer

The Core:

12 Infectors: are what make the archetype possible: 4 Glistener Elf, 4 Blighted Agent and 4 Inkmoth Nexus are the very base. If you're planning to run less than these 12 you should consider changing archetype.

4 Noble Hierarch: it enables T3 wins through some interaction, allows for more safe T2 infector, gives mana acceleration, exhalted and whatnot. Never go outside with less than 4.

10 Pump Spells: You always want to bring a full set of Might of Old Krosa with you, along with a full set of the brand new Scale Up. The other 2 are to be chosen between Groundswell, Become Immense and Mitagenic Growth

Protection (6): 4 Vines of Vastwood and 2 between Apostle’s Blessing and Blossoming Defense, not splitting.

Evasion (2): Whatever you chose between Rancor, Slip Through Space and Distortion Strike.

Lands (12-14): 6-8 fetches, 2 Forests, 2 Breeding Pool, 2 Pendelhaven (plus the 4 Inkmoth Nexus).

The best adds

More Pumps (2-7): Completing a set of Groundswell, adding Mutagenic Growth or Become Immense.

More protection (0-2): another 2 copies of whatever between Blossoming Defense and Apostle’s Blessing

More Evasion (0-2): you can consider using 4 evasion spells maindeck, adding whichever 2 listed above

Flexible slots

Other Infectors (0-2):  Necropede, Ichorclaw Myr, Viridian Corrupter, more often the second and the third in some mix. Necropede is sweet against weenie decks, Ichorclaw Myr is beautiful when paired with Rancor and Viridian Corrupter is good if you want an out from Chalice of the Void main deck. It’s totally up to you

Support (what’s left):  here I’ll add some cards that fits multiple jobs: Dismember act obviously as a removal for what you don’t want to see on board (like a Stoneforge Mystic that called a Sword of Fire and Ice or a Batterskull) and as a soft evasion spell because whatever is dead can’t block your infectors; Mutagenic Growth helps you killing the opponent FOR FREE and shuts down pesky Wrenn and Six; Spell Pierce gets away both Chalice of the Void and annoying Planeswalker. Waterlogged Grove acts as a colored mana source and as a -yet expensive tempo-wise- cantrip; Dryad Arbor acts as a Liliana of the Veil counter, an unexpected blocker against the most aggro-ish decks and a backlash against sloppy players (with Scale Up is a 6/4).

Sideboard

Artifact/Enchantment hate: it actually depends on how many Chalice of the Void decks are in the room. You cam choose between Krosan Grip, Nature’s Claim, Seal of Primordium, Wilt, Force of Vigor and Viridian Corrupter

Protection/Counters: Veil of Summer, Dispel, Spell Pierce, Mystical Dispute, Spellskite

Graveyard Hate: Tormod’s Crypt, Relic of Progenitus, Crafdigger’s Cage

Lifegain: Weather the Storm, Pulse of Murasa, Kitchen Finks

Additional Threats: Ichorclaw Myr, Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath, Necropede, Viridian Corrupter, Tarmogoyf, Carrion Call, Kitchen Finks.

Other ways of spreading the infection

BUG Infect

Has access to Plague Stinger and Thoughtseize/Inquisition of Kozilek as well as Fatal Push. BUG Infect is way more resilient than it UG counterpart and pays this resilience in speed. You won’t see as many T3 wins as with UG, but you won’t face as many T6 loss as with UG. This is a matter of personal preferences I guess.

UGw Infect

UGw Infect has access to T3feri, Giver of Runes and Lurrus of the Dream Den. T3feri cam be a win on the spot due to instant speed Scale Up and/or alike while Giver or Runes act as a Spellskite that ate too much Apostle’s Blessing at dinner. Lurrus gives recursion but remains too slow in my opinion.

RUG Infect

Ok, this is borderline a joke, UNLESS you consider that Scale Up + Temur Battle Rage is GG, whatever +4/+4 and Temur Battle Rage is GG as well, 2 +4/+4 and Maximise Velocity are GG, you have access to Manamorphose... I actually don’t know it this will ever be a thing, but if it will I’m glad I’m one of the first to have mentioned it.