Looks like you beat me to the punch. I playtested this list (as well as The Aardvark's list) yesterday on Cockatrice for a bit and was going to post on here with some of my suggestions; many of which you've already covered.
I'm surprised that there's no Gitaxian Probe in this list. It cycles, gives you a read on whether you're running into removal, and is basically 'free.' I can't imagine why any list running Blue wouldn't run this. On that similar note is Phantasmal Image. It's got versatility, kills legendary creatures with shroud or hexproof, copies an infecter, or just becomes the best creature on the table. Any reason why these haven't been included? I'm curious to hear that.
Looks like you beat me to the punch. I playtested this list (as well as The Aardvark's list) yesterday on Cockatrice for a bit and was going to post on here with some of my suggestions; many of which you've already covered.
I'm surprised that there's no Gitaxian Probe in this list. It cycles, gives you a read on whether you're running into removal, and is basically 'free.' I can't imagine why any list running Blue wouldn't run this. On that similar note is Phantasmal Image. It's got versatility, kills legendary creatures with shroud or hexproof, copies an infecter, or just becomes the best creature on the table. Any reason why these haven't been included? I'm curious to hear that.
Simple answer, just haven't had the time to test everything.
I think some of my previously mentioned cards to consider as cuts could indeed be cut for your suggestions plus the Snapcaster that I just wanna try.
Image typically isn't necessary. Its primary use when I ran it was for another way to remove their General. That's fine, and the card has the flexibility that I like, but I felt it just didn't do enough a lot of the time. It's worth testing, though, for sure, especially if you play Survival.
I've been playing a similar build for awhile now, I'm curious about Triumph of the Hordes, how often does this win games? It seems good, but it costs 4 and seems counterproductive with Exalted.
Also do you think the deck need more draw spells? I cut Ancestral Vision because I really only like playing it on the first few turns. I understand you want your curve low so what about things like Brainstorm and Preordain?
I've been playing a similar build for awhile now, I'm curious about Triumph of the Hordes, how often does this win games? It seems good, but it costs 4 and seems counterproductive with Exalted.
Also do you think the deck need more draw spells? I cut Ancestral Vision because I really only like playing it on the first few turns. I understand you want your curve low so what about things like Brainstorm and Preordain?
Thanks
I love running Triumph of the Hordes as it is typically used with Rafiq to swing for lethal. However, I don't have a great number of people to test this list against who run competitive 1v1 decks. I typically get to playtest either against a friend who has two 1v1 lists, Skithiryx and Geist of Saint Traft. Aside from him I get to play in some 3 man free for alls and tonight I played in a 5 man free for all and killed 3 of my opponents before losing to a control list. Triumph should never be used with any other creature besides Rafiq unless you just really need the trample.
I think cards like Preordain and Brainstorm could work well in the list since they can help you dig for some card quality or answer, but at the moment I'm happy with what I'm currently testing. As mutedequilibrium has already mentioned Gitaxian Probe should probably be in the list as its a cantrip for 2 life and lets you see your opponent's hand which can be very crucial in case you need to play around a spell they're holding.
Omni,
Love the deck and i have built it as well. I just noticed that you did an update on 8/8. What's the current incarnation of your deck looking like? Are you using any of the cards from "Other Options"?
Have you played this in multiplayer? I havent had a chance to play this at all yet (just finished the deck yesterday). Any other changes you'd make for multi non french?
Ack! lol I didn't think anyone would notice the update yet. The reason for the update was just to add some of the newer cards to the other options section, but I also saw the primer thread and so I'm interested in trying to turn my list into a primer. However, I need to do some more testing with it and I prefer playing against opponents in person so with some luck I just found out a couple days ago that there is a new place to play EDH for free where I live and I'm actually heading there in a few hours to try out the deck.
Also in regards to multiplayer as you may have read a few posts above I managed to kill 3 opponent's before losing to the 4th in a 5 man pod. There are probably changes that could definitely help the deck perform better in multiplayer but I'm not going to focus to much on that right now since it is primarily designed for 1v1.
Only differences from the list as it stands and what I'm testing at the moment is Bounty of the Hunt is out for Gitaxian Probe, Temporal Spring is out for Wargate, and Wasteland is out for Cavern of Souls. Wasteland is only out at the moment because I have my playset in my legacy deck. However, I should probably swap it back in to take Tectonic Edge's place or maybe just drop Wargate for it as I'm still not sure how I feel about Wargate for 1v1. I really want to test Cavern to protect Rafiq from countermagic.
Oh and one other card that I'm interested in testing is Silverblade Paladin since he'll act like a second Rafiq for the infect creatures.
Edit: So it looks like I will be playing 3 to 4 man pods of multiplayer at these events and I played the Phyrexian Rafiq list with non-french ban list so substitute the cards I mentioned in the OP. The deck performed well I always managed to knock out a player on turns 4, 5, or 6. I ultimately lost all 3 games though. Two of the games were really close though I lost the first because I used Noxious Revival unnecessarily and it put me in burn range of the Jhoira player otherwise he would've died next turn. The other close game I just needed to untap my lands to use Top to dig for my Mutagenic Growth for the win but my opponent blew up all of my lands with kicked clone spell on Acidic Slime.
For the last game I tried out my Scion of the Ur Dragon deck and won by taking like 8 or 10 extra turns with Time Stretch off of Eternal Witness, Cauldron Dance, to get her back in play and then back in my hand etc... They all conceded before I got to attack with Scion + triggers from Rafiq and Finest Hour. Was a fun night.
Edit 2: Most creative one shot that I got to do yesterday was attack with Plague Myr equipped with Livewire Lash for 3, then pumped with Predator Strike for +3/+3 (triggering Lash for 2 more infect), and finally after combat damage putting one of my opponents at 8 poison (or as they called it 8 herps) I path to exiled my Plague Myr getting a 2nd trigger off of Lash for the kill and fetching myself a basic land to replace my myr mana.
So last night I got to try out the deck. Mine is slightly (2 or 3 cards off) different from yours. One of my additions was Aura Shards and it more than paid for itself. Huge benefit from that card.
I was playing in a 3 man pod and had no problem taking out one player within 4 turns, the second player took longer (they were playing a rat deck) and had plenty of blockers. I got lucky in pulling Blighted Agent as my SoFaF was useless when they dropped Thran Lens
Well I went to the wednesday night EDH event and my first game was a 4 man pod and I tried out my Scion deck which was a bad idea since I knew two of the players in my pod were top-notch edh players around my area. They were both playing Jhoira decks and one of them went infinite mana and killed all of us with Comet Storm before I really got to do anything.
So after that I thought I should switch back to Rafiq since it would definitely have some interactions before someone combo'd us to death. But, sadly I played my decks in reverse because in game 2 I was in a 3 man pod where 1v1 decks still shine and I destroyed a Kaalia player (who happened to own the store I was playing at) on turn 4 and could've easily killed the girl sitting next to me (she was playing Bruna) on turn 5 but instead I tried to earn more achievements and actually ended up losing ~9 turns later.
I was fine with that though since I just felt bad for playing my most competitive deck in a loser's bracket against people who were just there to play fun decks. Which is what I was there to do with the Scion deck (I really wanted to get to use my foil Cauldron Dance for some GY and Hand shenanigans).
Anyways, the deck is pretty ruthless and wins games fast like it is designed to. I think I may end up building something else for the wednesday night games since they're a mixture of fun and competitive players. However the sunday games are all pretty much casual so I may just try and find someone to test the deck against who also has a nice 1v1 deck.
But, I did look at how I would probably switch up the deck to handle multiplayer games a little better. So here are some of the cards I would consider cutting and cards I would want to add.
Akroma, Angel of Wrath I just wanted to use her Stonehewer Giant he can grab multiple equipment as opposed to Stoneforge Mystic Lotus Cobra can give us bonus mana faster than bloom tender in the early turns Sun Titan can recur a lot of things from the deck Trygon Predator better than Cephalid Constable on his own cause he has flying Eternal Witness obviously better than Noxious Revival Rhystic Study for awesome card draw as long as it lives Aura Shards works great Krosan Grip good for stopping Sensei's Divining Top Spell Crumple better than Delay and can tuck generals Austere Command most versatile board wiper Wargate better than GSZ in multiplayer Sword of Light and Shadow this replaces the weaker equipment like Bonesplitter and Grafted Wargear Sword of War and Peace Swiftfoot Boots for some haste and hexproof Batterskull solid equipment with lifelink Loxodon Warhammer solid equipment with lifelink Whispersilk Cloak for shroud and unblockable evasion Kor Haven to stop a big beater but leaving it attacking so they can get blocked and die (this could also be Maze of Ith if you prefer) Plains the deck just needs more lands for reliable land drops since the curve is higher Forest
What do you think about Wild Defiance? It's made Infect popular again, in standard, and goes well with the general strategy of this deck.
In general your pumps are primarily Exalted based. Wild Defiance is less good in this singleton infect because you aren't as guaranteed to draw into pump spells as you are in the standard variant.
Something like Sublime Archangel is much, much better. It's probably the best card in the deck.
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Tantarus: It didn't make the gaka greifer level, so it should be fine
In general your pumps are primarily Exalted based. Wild Defiance is less good in this singleton infect because you aren't as guaranteed to draw into pump spells as you are in the standard variant.
Something like Sublime Archangel is much, much better. It's probably the best card in the deck.
Gaka is correct. Wild Defiance would only synergize with roughly 12 cards in the deck which isn't very good odds for getting the extra pumps. That's counting all the pump and protection spells in the current list.
Livewire Lash is also a better card over Wild Defiance since you can even use removal on your infector after damage and get in 2 more infect, and yes Sublime Archangel should be in my list as soon as I acquire one.
Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
Please leave more feedback than (card name and a question mark), or at least ask a proper question.
Sublime Archangel as we mentioned in the posts above is a solid card for this deck. Spinebiter on the other hand is unfortunately too expensive for the build I'm going for. I need the deck to win around turns 3-6. It is an effective infect creature since it can assign combat damage as if it was unblocked, but won't be cast until turn 5 or 6 in most cases. While many of the infect creatures in the deck lack evasion I have cards in the list that provide protection or another form of evasion to get the damage in. Also I run a decent amount of removal to simply get rid of pesky blockers.
I know it's very bad, but I wanted to play this for so long: Nightmare Lash and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth are both legal in the deck! The 2 cards together would be so strong. Too bad 2 cards combos are useless in EDH. I'm really trying to find a way to abuse urborg in a non black EDH.
At this time just looking over the list, I'm not sure I understand the reason for Pendelhaven Elder and maybe even Pendelhaven. I mean you only have six 1/1 infect creatures. I just feel there could be some other pump options used here. For example Might of Old Krosa
P.S. I edited your list format for easier review so clicking on the card names actually brings up the cards.
He's a solid card. Same as Silverblade Paladin. He's like having an extra Rafiq in the deck to give double strike to our infect creatures. I've had him listed under the other options section. I really need to fill it with some explanations though maybe turn my OP into a primer.
That be a great idea dude, just my questions on whether or not Tine Shrike, Viral Drake were to slow for the deck? I mean if your trying to win on turn 5, would these creatures not slow down the goal?
Question about play style:
Upon having 4 mana, do you immediately go for Rafi? It would mean hes a sitting duck for destruction, but maybe a necessary risk to take.
That be a great idea dude, just my questions on whether or not Tine Shrike, Viral Drake were to slow for the deck? I mean if your trying to win on turn 5, would these creatures not slow down the goal?
Question about play style:
Upon having 4 mana, do you immediately go for Rafi? It would mean hes a sitting duck for destruction, but maybe a necessary risk to take.
Yes they slow down the game plan, but they also offer evasion and there aren't a lot of infect creatures to choose from. Viral Drake is also nice since you can proliferate off of him if you're unable to connect again.
Upon having 4 mana if my damage will curve out that I will one-shot them then yes I will cast Rafiq, but a lot of the time it just depends on who I'm playing. Also by curving out for a 1-shot I mean that I have something in hand to pump a guy or equipped to a guy to allow the Rafiq pump to make it a lethal swing.
For example:
Turn 1: Land, Noble
Turn 2: Land, Glistener Elf, Bonesplitter, equip
Turn 3: Land, Rafiq, swing, win
This can also be done with Mutagenic Growth/Bounty of the Hunt instead of the axe.
A lot of the time I have more than 4 mana on the turn I want to cast Rafiq just because of ramp. So I will often go for the swift kill with some pumps/protection spells in hand. I mean I've cast Viral Drake on turn 1 before because of Sol Ring and Mana Crypt.
I believe Sol Ring and Mana Crypt are banned in French?
Correct, I never really get to play this list in a French meta though since I'm in the United States and none of the stores around here like 1v1 EDH. Which means I often go up against 2 or 3 opponents with the deck.
So taking into consideration the French ban list and the French meta. The deck isn't the strongest. Obviously UW control decks have been at the top of the food chain lately and that is typically the type of deck you will want to try to practice against. So I would probably consider a few card changes for more cheap ways to protect your creatures and no I wouldn't typically play Rafiq as soon as I get 4 mana as I will likely walk right into a counterspell.
Also jumping back to the 4 drop creatures. In a meta where most of your stuff can be answered more infect creatures is probably better than less so you have a higher chance of sticking one long enough to kill with it and our game plan won't typically work in 3 or 4 turns so you'll have time to get a 4 drop out.
Just to give you some ideas for cheap ways to try and get around a control deck for some infect damage. Probably add no more than 5 cards like this. unless you're meta is just full of control.
I'm surprised that there's no Gitaxian Probe in this list. It cycles, gives you a read on whether you're running into removal, and is basically 'free.' I can't imagine why any list running Blue wouldn't run this. On that similar note is Phantasmal Image. It's got versatility, kills legendary creatures with shroud or hexproof, copies an infecter, or just becomes the best creature on the table. Any reason why these haven't been included? I'm curious to hear that.
Simple answer, just haven't had the time to test everything.
I think some of my previously mentioned cards to consider as cuts could indeed be cut for your suggestions plus the Snapcaster that I just wanna try.
Temporal Spring --> Phantasmal Image
Bounty of the Hunt --> Gitaxian Probe
Wild Might --> Snapcaster Mage
That's what I'll probably change in the near future. For now I wanna get a few more games in with the current list before I try the switch.
yay for tax return
'Greatness, at any cost.'
Rafiq - Karador - Teferi - Momir Vig - Reaper King - Daretti
Also do you think the deck need more draw spells? I cut Ancestral Vision because I really only like playing it on the first few turns. I understand you want your curve low so what about things like Brainstorm and Preordain?
Thanks
I love running Triumph of the Hordes as it is typically used with Rafiq to swing for lethal. However, I don't have a great number of people to test this list against who run competitive 1v1 decks. I typically get to playtest either against a friend who has two 1v1 lists, Skithiryx and Geist of Saint Traft. Aside from him I get to play in some 3 man free for alls and tonight I played in a 5 man free for all and killed 3 of my opponents before losing to a control list. Triumph should never be used with any other creature besides Rafiq unless you just really need the trample.
I think cards like Preordain and Brainstorm could work well in the list since they can help you dig for some card quality or answer, but at the moment I'm happy with what I'm currently testing. As mutedequilibrium has already mentioned Gitaxian Probe should probably be in the list as its a cantrip for 2 life and lets you see your opponent's hand which can be very crucial in case you need to play around a spell they're holding.
Love the deck and i have built it as well. I just noticed that you did an update on 8/8. What's the current incarnation of your deck looking like? Are you using any of the cards from "Other Options"?
Have you played this in multiplayer? I havent had a chance to play this at all yet (just finished the deck yesterday). Any other changes you'd make for multi non french?
Thanks again.
Also in regards to multiplayer as you may have read a few posts above I managed to kill 3 opponent's before losing to the 4th in a 5 man pod. There are probably changes that could definitely help the deck perform better in multiplayer but I'm not going to focus to much on that right now since it is primarily designed for 1v1.
Only differences from the list as it stands and what I'm testing at the moment is Bounty of the Hunt is out for Gitaxian Probe, Temporal Spring is out for Wargate, and Wasteland is out for Cavern of Souls. Wasteland is only out at the moment because I have my playset in my legacy deck. However, I should probably swap it back in to take Tectonic Edge's place or maybe just drop Wargate for it as I'm still not sure how I feel about Wargate for 1v1. I really want to test Cavern to protect Rafiq from countermagic.
Oh and one other card that I'm interested in testing is Silverblade Paladin since he'll act like a second Rafiq for the infect creatures.
Edit: So it looks like I will be playing 3 to 4 man pods of multiplayer at these events and I played the Phyrexian Rafiq list with non-french ban list so substitute the cards I mentioned in the OP. The deck performed well I always managed to knock out a player on turns 4, 5, or 6. I ultimately lost all 3 games though. Two of the games were really close though I lost the first because I used Noxious Revival unnecessarily and it put me in burn range of the Jhoira player otherwise he would've died next turn. The other close game I just needed to untap my lands to use Top to dig for my Mutagenic Growth for the win but my opponent blew up all of my lands with kicked clone spell on Acidic Slime.
For the last game I tried out my Scion of the Ur Dragon deck and won by taking like 8 or 10 extra turns with Time Stretch off of Eternal Witness, Cauldron Dance, to get her back in play and then back in my hand etc... They all conceded before I got to attack with Scion + triggers from Rafiq and Finest Hour. Was a fun night.
Edit 2: Most creative one shot that I got to do yesterday was attack with Plague Myr equipped with Livewire Lash for 3, then pumped with Predator Strike for +3/+3 (triggering Lash for 2 more infect), and finally after combat damage putting one of my opponents at 8 poison (or as they called it 8 herps) I path to exiled my Plague Myr getting a 2nd trigger off of Lash for the kill and fetching myself a basic land to replace my myr mana.
I was playing in a 3 man pod and had no problem taking out one player within 4 turns, the second player took longer (they were playing a rat deck) and had plenty of blockers. I got lucky in pulling Blighted Agent as my SoFaF was useless when they dropped Thran Lens
How has Silverblade Paladin worked out so far?
So after that I thought I should switch back to Rafiq since it would definitely have some interactions before someone combo'd us to death. But, sadly I played my decks in reverse because in game 2 I was in a 3 man pod where 1v1 decks still shine and I destroyed a Kaalia player (who happened to own the store I was playing at) on turn 4 and could've easily killed the girl sitting next to me (she was playing Bruna) on turn 5 but instead I tried to earn more achievements and actually ended up losing ~9 turns later.
I was fine with that though since I just felt bad for playing my most competitive deck in a loser's bracket against people who were just there to play fun decks. Which is what I was there to do with the Scion deck (I really wanted to get to use my foil Cauldron Dance for some GY and Hand shenanigans).
Anyways, the deck is pretty ruthless and wins games fast like it is designed to. I think I may end up building something else for the wednesday night games since they're a mixture of fun and competitive players. However the sunday games are all pretty much casual so I may just try and find someone to test the deck against who also has a nice 1v1 deck.
Also, I haven't gotten to test Silverblade Paladin yet.
But, I did look at how I would probably switch up the deck to handle multiplayer games a little better. So here are some of the cards I would consider cutting and cards I would want to add.
Berserk since it kills the attacker which you'll need to kill other opponents
Groundswell pumps are nice for the fast kills but evasion becomes more relevant in a longer game
Mutagenic Growth
Predator Strike
Wild Might almost anyone will have mana to make it useless
Giant Growth
Bonesplitter
Grafted Wargear
Triumph of the Hordes
Noxious Revival life becomes more important in a longer game
Gitaxian Probe
Green Sun's Zenith only gets green creatures which we'll have less of after the changes
Bloom Tender
Steelshaper's Gift I like more versatility in multiplayer
Delay figured it doesn't stop the spell permanently so why bother
Spirit Mantle aura's are still frowned upon
Cephalid Constable good luck getting him to stay on the board or hit someone
Dryad Arbor with GSZ cut this isn't needed anymore
Snap doesn't help enough in multiplayer
Emerge Unscathed could still be good but doesn't guarantee evasion when we're swinging
Stoneforge Mystic this one can stay or go depends on your needs
Akroma, Angel of Wrath I just wanted to use her
Stonehewer Giant he can grab multiple equipment as opposed to Stoneforge Mystic
Lotus Cobra can give us bonus mana faster than bloom tender in the early turns
Sun Titan can recur a lot of things from the deck
Trygon Predator better than Cephalid Constable on his own cause he has flying
Eternal Witness obviously better than Noxious Revival
Rhystic Study for awesome card draw as long as it lives
Aura Shards works great
Krosan Grip good for stopping Sensei's Divining Top
Spell Crumple better than Delay and can tuck generals
Austere Command most versatile board wiper
Wargate better than GSZ in multiplayer
Sword of Light and Shadow this replaces the weaker equipment like Bonesplitter and Grafted Wargear
Sword of War and Peace
Swiftfoot Boots for some haste and hexproof
Batterskull solid equipment with lifelink
Loxodon Warhammer solid equipment with lifelink
Whispersilk Cloak for shroud and unblockable evasion
Kor Haven to stop a big beater but leaving it attacking so they can get blocked and die (this could also be Maze of Ith if you prefer)
Plains the deck just needs more lands for reliable land drops since the curve is higher
Forest
any new good stuff from the recent expansions? Totally not updated from AVR and M13
My Rafiq also has a very slim chance on multiplayer. Let us know how your new additions play.
'Greatness, at any cost.'
Rafiq - Karador - Teferi - Momir Vig - Reaper King - Daretti
Rafiq | Jeleva | Zedruu
Brion | Vela
Talrand | Erebos
Otherworld Atlas Collection
4 Foil/ 17 Normal/ 0 Signed
My avatar is Disappointing!
In general your pumps are primarily Exalted based. Wild Defiance is less good in this singleton infect because you aren't as guaranteed to draw into pump spells as you are in the standard variant.
Something like Sublime Archangel is much, much better. It's probably the best card in the deck.
EDH:
RNorin the WaryR <-Link! (Primer - Mono Red Control)
GUEdric, Spymaster of TrestUG <- Link! (Mini-Primer - Dredge)
Duel Commander:
WUGeist of Saint TraftUW <- Link! (Aggro-Control)
BGSkullbriar, the Walking GraveGB <- Link! (Aggro)
BUGDamia, Sage of StoneGUB <- Link! (Extinction Control)
Church of the Wary
Gaka is correct. Wild Defiance would only synergize with roughly 12 cards in the deck which isn't very good odds for getting the extra pumps. That's counting all the pump and protection spells in the current list.
Livewire Lash is also a better card over Wild Defiance since you can even use removal on your infector after damage and get in 2 more infect, and yes Sublime Archangel should be in my list as soon as I acquire one.
Also, Spinebiter.
On phasing:
Please leave more feedback than (card name and a question mark), or at least ask a proper question.
Sublime Archangel as we mentioned in the posts above is a solid card for this deck. Spinebiter on the other hand is unfortunately too expensive for the build I'm going for. I need the deck to win around turns 3-6. It is an effective infect creature since it can assign combat damage as if it was unblocked, but won't be cast until turn 5 or 6 in most cases. While many of the infect creatures in the deck lack evasion I have cards in the list that provide protection or another form of evasion to get the damage in. Also I run a decent amount of removal to simply get rid of pesky blockers.
Well this is a little off topic. However, Urburg, Tomb of Yawgmoth + Kormus Bell + Linvala, Keeper of Silence is a 3 card non-black combo that locks all of your opponents lands from being able to tap for mana. You could even run Linvala as your general to make the combo easier to assemble. You'd have at least 1 tutor for each of the 2 combo pieces (Enlightened Tutor and Expedition Map). Oh and Weathered Wayfarer.
At this time just looking over the list, I'm not sure I understand the reason for Pendelhaven Elder and maybe even Pendelhaven. I mean you only have six 1/1 infect creatures. I just feel there could be some other pump options used here. For example Might of Old Krosa
P.S. I edited your list format for easier review so clicking on the card names actually brings up the cards.
Have you thought about Ajani, Caller of the Pride? He's a 3 drop that provides evasion and a boost!
Your thoughts?
He's a solid card. Same as Silverblade Paladin. He's like having an extra Rafiq in the deck to give double strike to our infect creatures. I've had him listed under the other options section. I really need to fill it with some explanations though maybe turn my OP into a primer.
Question about play style:
Upon having 4 mana, do you immediately go for Rafi? It would mean hes a sitting duck for destruction, but maybe a necessary risk to take.
Yes they slow down the game plan, but they also offer evasion and there aren't a lot of infect creatures to choose from. Viral Drake is also nice since you can proliferate off of him if you're unable to connect again.
Upon having 4 mana if my damage will curve out that I will one-shot them then yes I will cast Rafiq, but a lot of the time it just depends on who I'm playing. Also by curving out for a 1-shot I mean that I have something in hand to pump a guy or equipped to a guy to allow the Rafiq pump to make it a lethal swing.
For example:
Turn 1: Land, Noble
Turn 2: Land, Glistener Elf, Bonesplitter, equip
Turn 3: Land, Rafiq, swing, win
This can also be done with Mutagenic Growth/Bounty of the Hunt instead of the axe.
A lot of the time I have more than 4 mana on the turn I want to cast Rafiq just because of ramp. So I will often go for the swift kill with some pumps/protection spells in hand. I mean I've cast Viral Drake on turn 1 before because of Sol Ring and Mana Crypt.
Correct, I never really get to play this list in a French meta though since I'm in the United States and none of the stores around here like 1v1 EDH. Which means I often go up against 2 or 3 opponents with the deck.
So taking into consideration the French ban list and the French meta. The deck isn't the strongest. Obviously UW control decks have been at the top of the food chain lately and that is typically the type of deck you will want to try to practice against. So I would probably consider a few card changes for more cheap ways to protect your creatures and no I wouldn't typically play Rafiq as soon as I get 4 mana as I will likely walk right into a counterspell.
Also jumping back to the 4 drop creatures. In a meta where most of your stuff can be answered more infect creatures is probably better than less so you have a higher chance of sticking one long enough to kill with it and our game plan won't typically work in 3 or 4 turns so you'll have time to get a 4 drop out.
Other cheap protection that will allow you a chance to get in there would be cards like:
Pact of Negation
Grand Abolisher
Gaddock Teeg
Spellskite
Simic Charm
Apostle's Blessing
Autumn's Veil
Dispel
Silence
Orim's Chant
Abeyance
Delay
Negate
Arcane Denial
Turn Aside
Rebuff the Wicked
Ranger's Guile
Just to give you some ideas for cheap ways to try and get around a control deck for some infect damage. Probably add no more than 5 cards like this. unless you're meta is just full of control.
Thank you very much