MTG Salvation

I'm I'm finally working on an Infect Deck with Atraxa, Praetors' Voice as the commander, and I currently have all the means of proliferation and every single infect creature that isn't red. Now of course that's not a good idea, because some are just better than others, and I need room for other spells of course, but I would like some outside advice on what I should cut.

I'm just going to post the list of creatures here:


I also have Melira, Sylvok Outcast in here as one of two ways to prevent being infected in case someone decides to steal my creatures, and I am also running Birthing Pod so while I have some ideas on what to cut, I need to have a decently balanced CMC rate.

I got some ideas on what to cut, but I wanted some suggestions to either confirm or deny my thoughts as well as add to them.

EDIT: Just so you guys know the theme of the deck, it is to kill them as quickly as possible with infect. I'm sure their are better ways (having a different commander, focusing on equipment, pumping creatures, etc) than what I am going for right now, but my general idea is the people I tend to play with nowadays either blow up threatening creatures immediately or after one attack, and relying on one method or combo (or even two or three) seems to not work in this meta: you need multiple backup plans, or you have to run a little slow and unseen until you just molly-whop them out of the blue.

My thought process was 'Hey, I'll be lucky to hit them with one or two attacks and get them to like 3-5 infect, and then be on the defensive for the entire rest of the game. Instead of just running aggro infect or combo infect, I'll mix a bit of both and have reliable proliferation to then win the game for me in case things go south.'

EDIT: Including current Deck List here for those to see.

I actually enjoy playing against Infect decks because they're really good at pointing out flaws in my decks. Even an untuned Infect deck can cause some serious trouble at a table. One of the folks I play with on the regular has a Mimeoplasm helmed Infect deck. It works a lot like what you're proposing, so this recommendation is coming from the critters I hate to see on the board.

Viral Drake and Thrummingbird are must haves. The additional proliferate effects are not to be underestimated. Because of their relatively low stats, a lot of people will not think about using removal on them.

Blighted Agent and Ichor Rats are both great for getting the ball rolling on poison counters for your opponents. By the same token, Putrefax is like a Ball Lightning/Groundbreaker that gives poison counters.

I'd prioritize things that have evasion because you only need to get one poison counter on your opponent and then you can just durdle from there.

Good luck!

If you want a good infect commander for competetive commander Atraxa is not it. I play Atraxa with a proliferate theme, and infect. And it is to slow to be competetive.

No, the real infect commander is Saskia the Unyielding. Now you only need to deal 5 infect damage.

(Honerable mention the Scion of the Ur-Dragon who can turn into the twin phyrexian dragons (mana and infect) and just winn.)

Quote from VidarThor »

If you want a good infect commander for competetive commander Atraxa is not it. I play Atraxa with a proliferate theme, and infect. And it is to slow to be competetive.

No, the real infect commander is Saskia the Unyielding. Now you only need to deal 5 infect damage.

(Honerable mention the Scion of the Ur-Dragon who can turn into the twin phyrexian dragons (mana and infect) and just winn.)

Either one has their benefits. I see Saskia as having the better rules text, but Atraxa has the better colors, specifically infect's superstar, Blighted Agent, is blue. (And of course, Ichor Rats and some proliferate cards already put your opponents on a short clock.) That said, red has Warstorm Surge and Chandra's Ignition, and with the right infect creature, Goblin Tunneler can be funny af. (And Ogre Menial is that infect creature.)

Of course, Scion is always a good reason to consider Stranglehold and Aven Mindcensor. And Rest in Peace and Torpor Orb and...(I'm kidding, maybe. The point is, players see Scion and you are the hate target, even though Hermit Druid is no longer this format's Channel/Fireball.)

The best commander I have ever seen leading a competitive Infect deck was Varolz, the Scar-Striped. Using self-mill, Dredge, and Survival of the Fittest, and Birthing Pod, the deck was able to dig to/tutor up an Infect creature then pump it up for the kill. One of the key cards was Phyrexian Dreadnaught which could be Scavenged for and provide 12 +1/+1 counters. Even if you don't want to change commanders, Varolz would still be great in the 99 somewhere.

Some other cards to consider in an Infect deck:

I think VidarThor has a good point here. I have changed this deck so many times in the past two days it's crazy, and it just refuses to work properly.

The more I balance it out, the more I draw what I balanced out to draw less of...but even if it was working appropriately, I think such an idea is just trying to do too much.

On paper, the idea of only having to hit an opponent once with an infect creature, and then just proliferate to the moon seems like a good idea...but in practice it seems to be rather difficult. With an aggro infect deck, you would just be slapping down creature after creature and swinging for the stars and overrun them with buffed creatures and trample, but this doesn't have the ability to do that consistently. You would think 'Oh that's no big deal, you just hit them once with Blighted Agent or whatever and then proliferate from there!' and well...yeah, proliferation is slow my friends.

Having it happen only once a turn is way too slow for it to matter, and having to wait until Turn 3 or Turn 4 for that is also too slow on top of already being slow. Most consistent ways of proliferation are either higher in CMC, or require a sacrifice. Waiting that long before having your pieces in place to proliferate multiple times a turn is too slow, and having consistent recursion also requires too many pieces.

It feels like Infect really only works well if the combo guarantees it in one big burst to take them from zero to dead, or it's slapping creatures onto the field and having them systematically slap your opponent.

Quote from ForsakenM »

I think VidarThor has a good point here. I have changed this deck so many times in the past two days it's crazy, and it just refuses to work properly.

The more I balance it out, the more I draw what I balanced out to draw less of...but even if it was working appropriately, I think such an idea is just trying to do too much.

On paper, the idea of only having to hit an opponent once with an infect creature, and then just proliferate to the moon seems like a good idea...but in practice it seems to be rather difficult. With an aggro infect deck, you would just be slapping down creature after creature and swinging for the stars and overrun them with buffed creatures and trample, but this doesn't have the ability to do that consistently. You would think 'Oh that's no big deal, you just hit them once with Blighted Agent or whatever and then proliferate from there!' and well...yeah, proliferation is slow my friends.

Having it happen only once a turn is way too slow for it to matter, and having to wait until Turn 3 or Turn 4 for that is also too slow on top of already being slow. Most consistent ways of proliferation are either higher in CMC, or require a sacrifice. Waiting that long before having your pieces in place to proliferate multiple times a turn is too slow, and having consistent recursion also requires too many pieces.

It feels like Infect really only works well if the combo guarantees it in one big burst to take them from zero to dead, or it's slapping creatures onto the field and having them systematically slap your opponent.

It doesn't exist in a vacuum. Atraxa has access to green spells which make Agent yuge. (In fairness, so does Saskia.) She also has access to how to turn infect into storm, a proliferate mana sink, and one of my favorite cards even in non-proliferate decks, Tezzeret's Gambit.

I'd add Triumph of the Hordes, Grafted Exoskeleton, Glistening Oil, and maybe Tainted Strike. Oil and Exoskeleton grant infect and are hard to get rid of, Triumph doesn't target and gives your whole army a pump + infect so spot removal doesn't help, and the strike is so low on the curve that it could get in before they can respond.

In terms of what to cut: Chained Throatseeker is limited, and since you only expect to hit people once or so, this requires you to already have hit a player with infect. Same with Viridian Betrayers - I wouldn't like depending on your opponents already having poison counters. Phyrexian Vatmother is cool but I'm curious if this could end up biting you in the behind.

The rest seem okay for your purposes. If I'd cut any others it would be because they are too low on the cost/power ratio, Blackcleave Goblin, Priests of Norn, Tangle Angler.

Edit: If you added exoskeleton and oil, you might have room to consider a few non-infect creatures. Probably depends on how loyal you plan to be to the only-infect/proliferate theme.

So I'm still sticking with my current analysis that flat-out aggro may be the best way to win with infect, even outside the format it seemed most comfortable in (that used to be Modern, not sure if that's still the case). Proliferate in itself seems to be of better use the more counters you have to increase per proc, which means many permanents and counters, so as much as it COULD be used to bring someone to death from poison counters it seems slow in nature since it only raises any amount of counters by one.

That being said, there is a chance that this deck is just bricking hard on me, or I haven't made the exact changes require to really crack open the awesome sauce this deck might have. Gonna go ahead and drop the current decklist I have, and you guys can give me any recommendations. Anything that gives infect I am not running only because I'm running all infect creatures, but things could change.


Thank you for all the recommendations so far guys, I do appreciate it!

i am running shu yun, the silent tempest as my general for 1v1. you lose out on the green pump spells, but have plenty of red and white pump spells to make up for it. with red you also gain access to the double strike spells which can create a turn three win. i am running all of colorless and the on color infect creatures below four mana with the rest of the deck being pump, protection, evasion, or filtering. as an added bonus you can also score kills with shu yun, the silent tempest with general damage. i have been able to score a turn three win a few times with a lost leonin or one of the other two mana infect creatures. the deck plays a bit like a glass cannon, but i think that makes it a little more fun.

Most of what you want in infect is in green, black and artifact.

Blue has some proliferate cards, but there are plenty to go around in the remainding 4 colours + artifacts. What I however fail to see is why you glorify proliferate so much. You have to jump through hoops to proliferate. Let's say you proliferate 3 whole times! Kept Atraxa aroun for 3 turns, attacked with thruming bird 3 times or just been loky enough to draw Inexorable Tide in your 100. Is that not just as strong as casting a Giant Growth on your creature? There are so many pump spells that just are better in the infect creatures. There might be reasons for playing blue, but proliferate is not one of them.

You can play blue for Blighted agent I suppose but how often do you draw him? No, if you want to be 4 colour infect Saskia the Unyielding is your card. You can even have shu yun, the silent tempest in the 99. I would not recomend him as an infect general though as so much of the good infect is in green and black.

If you still want proliferate as a subtheme you get Volt Charge.

• Razor Swine
  
• Fallen Ferromancer
  
• Ogre Menial

are all infect creatures, but I only like the first 1.

Play cards like:

• Rancor
  
• Stonewood Invocation
  
• Ranger's Guile
  
• Blossoming Defense
  
• Wild Defiance
  
• Might of Alara
  
• Gaea's Might
  
• Vines of Vastwood
  
• Berserk
  
• Might of Old Krosa
  
• Invigorate
  
• Become Immense
  
• Umezawa's Jitte
  
• Mutagenic Growth
  
• Triumph of the Hordes
  
• Simic Charm
  
• Tainted Strike
  
• Bonesplitter
  
• Conqueror's Flail
  

The flail is mostly because having your opponent respond to your pump spells is a real hassle. But with it on the board your opponent has a lot of problems.

There are so many good red pumps as well. Look up a Shu Yun deck and compy them. Your white splash should probably be little to keep up consistency. But remember Duelist's Heritage.

Quote from Outcryqq »

I'd add Triumph of the Hordes, Grafted Exoskeleton, Glistening Oil, and maybe Tainted Strike. Oil and Exoskeleton grant infect and are hard to get rid of, Triumph doesn't target and gives your whole army a pump + infect so spot removal doesn't help, and the strike is so low on the curve that it could get in before they can respond.

In terms of what to cut: Chained Throatseeker is limited, and since you only expect to hit people once or so, this requires you to already have hit a player with infect. Same with Viridian Betrayers - I wouldn't like depending on your opponents already having poison counters. Phyrexian Vatmother is cool but I'm curious if this could end up biting you in the behind.

The rest seem okay for your purposes. If I'd cut any others it would be because they are too low on the cost/power ratio, Blackcleave Goblin, Priests of Norn, Tangle Angler.

Edit: If you added exoskeleton and oil, you might have room to consider a few non-infect creatures. Probably depends on how loyal you plan to be to the only-infect/proliferate theme.

Yeah, I've used Priests and Angler in Doran, and that's...actually just it. Those are literally the only EDH decks where they're useful.

Corrupted Conscience might be useful. Nothing quite as fun as stealing your opponent's Prime Speaker Zegana.

Added the Deck List to the OP for easier viewing.