Nov 25 2010

BG Infect

dastels @ 2:51 am

So I’ve gotten back into Magic after a very brief hiatus. Part of that hiatus involved selling my not insignificant collection of paper magic. Coming back, I’ve focused on Magic Online. I love it. I can have a game whenever I want. Without leaving home. I can switch decks without having multiple playsets of cards or wasting time resleeving (actually I got smart when I was playing paper magic and bought black Dragon Shields in bulk) or searching decks for cards.

I played in one event post-Zendikar, I went to GP Oakland and drafted some ZZW and bought a Worldwake fatpack. That was all the Worldwake I ever got. I was away for Rise of the Eldrazi and M11 releases. I like the timing of my return, coming back as Scars of Mirrodin was released. I’ve been enjoying Scars. I love the new Infect mechanic. Like Mark Rosewater, I’m a big fan of poison. I played slivers during Timespiral block and Virulent was my MVP. I also really liked Wither. Infect is two of my favorite mechanics mashed into one. What’s not to like?

So naturally when I started playing standard online I built a deck around infect. Here’s the deck I’ve been playing & tuning. It’s pretty much full of infect creatures, pump, and removal. The idea that you can fairly easily attack with a Plague Stinger for 12 by turn 5 is pretty cool. I’ve won on turn 4 before. The deck can be very explosive.

The Verdant Catacombs serve to smooth your colors as well (if you can hold them in reserve) as providing a source of landfall for Groundswell if land dries up on you. The color balance is the way it is because you can get by on 2 Swamps, but you need a lot of Forests for casting multiple pumps.

Plague Stinger is the real MVP of this deck. More often than not it’s this little guy that takes the game. Tangle Angler is a good blocker that can pick at attackers. Hand of the Praetors is just sick. If you can drop some cheap Plague Stingers after getting one or two of these on the board, you’re doing great.

I played around quite a bit with the slot that Corpse Cur currently occupies. I was running Putrefax there for a while. In the end I found the recursion effect of the Cur to be more useful. It’s also useful for blocking fear guys.

Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon is the bomb at the top end. If you’ve been using a Stinger to get a few poison counters out earlier in the game, this bad boy can wrap things up quickly.

Grasp of Darkness is very nice removal, and well worth the BB cost. In this format (i.e. we’re on Mirrodin, remember) 4 copies of Naturalize just makes sense.

Now for the key to the deck: 12 pump spells. Vines of Vastwood is simply lovely. For G you get instant speed protection from burn, removal, theft, or Planeswaker abilities. Kick it with G and you get a +4/+4 pump. Insane. Likewise for Groundswell: a +4/+4 for G (assuming you dropped a land or popped a fetch). And a set of Giant Growth to round it out.

The Tel-Jilad Fallen are in the sideboard for punching through artifact flyers. Slice in Twain serves as another set of Naturalize effects. Another Grasp for removal. Wing Puncture for extra flyer removal, expecially for clearing the way for a pumped Plague Stinger or Skithiryx.