if i would play latest Ross list, he said hes confident vs elderazi.....
i can't say i agree with this statement after testing on MTGO but maybe im just bad.....
THIS 100X!!! If you don't agree with this then there is no amount of logic that will ever convince you that good, non-oppressive, combos should be allowed. If you don't agree with it then just don't play this game, and you certainly shouldn't feel entitled to make any comment on ban lists ever.
lol I ment slip through space. not blessing, I keep 1 blessing always. I have 4x probes and 2x slip through. last night slip set in my hand more than was played. I had pump to kill, i didnt wanna waste it on cantrip. idk though if i was in bad place maybe that draw would of helped.
my only loss was to a B/G infect. I have never played mirror or even knew how it worked.
mirror works like this: (aside from a spellskite war) you are kind of set if you resolve a creature and a pendlehaven or some hierarchs, then you play the whole match figuring out if and what kind of mix of protection/pump/removal your opponent has.
Usually a gitaxian wins you the match, if none uses one be wary of the war on vines/spell pierce/dismember/blessings and the dryads out of nowhere. It's not really a matter of hand, rather a matter of making you opponent believe yours is better.
from the side you bring in disrupion (dispel, pierce, dismember, piracy charm, ...) and usually side out the least efficient pumps you have (either mutagenic or your pick on krosa/swell) i even have a fog in my sb for aggro matchups, well it usually wins you the game alone.
I do not know if I change to 1 Serum Visions fo 1 Rancor. Why we don't see Serum Visions now ?
Why i see some kitchen fings i don't understand ? Is to slow i think, turn 3 you can use a pump
i prefer to have Groundswell with mutagenic growth +2/+2 is not enough for me and turn 3 i have enough mana for play.
T2 you can deal one dmg poison and t3 pump with two +4/+4 with steal one mana up for protection or other. if you have just one +4/+4 and one +2/+2 with two mana up for me is mana usless and you don't win, one mana is enoutgh for protect. if you have two +4/+4 and one +2/+2 the +2/+2 are too much.
For win two +4/+4 enough so i don't want draw mutagenic growth this +2/+2 dmg are always usless for me, with it, you kill with too much poison or not enoutgh.
mutagenic growth can be good with Wild Defiance but i prefer use Wild Defiance for protection vs burn and not for be aggressive is too slow and give you also too much poison
I do not know if you understood me, sorry for my english
But in modern red is the color to go.^^ That sounds not that great
Well...It in the Tier 1 Forums for a reason im sure:D Im new to the deck and just returning to magic after 18 years. I literally just built my Infect and have played it once, but I'm sure someone with more experience can tell you more.
Hi! Just went 3-1 tonight on my lgs using the traditional list (BG infect). Was able to beat jerskai control, and two naya burns. My only lost was against gw hatebears. Any tips on how we can improve this matchup? I felt like it was 20-80 with the leionin arbiter, ghost quarter, thalia,vor, pte and wingmares. Any sideboard tips would be greatly appreciated i was thinking of siding deathmark. Not sure though if it will help the matchup.
Hi guys. I became the 1st place in a 100+ player event again, the same one from p. 116 with the same exact decklist. We all decided to split the Top 8 pot money. Match-ups were so good, plus the deck was probably happy with its 2 Breeding Pool Expeditions and BFZ foil Noah Bradeley Forests hahaha:
Round 1: 2-0 vs. Ad Nauseam Combo
Round 2: 2-0 vs. Infect
Round 3: 2-1 vs. Storm
Round 4: 2-1 vs. RG Scapeshift
Round 5: 2-1 vs. Merfolk
Round 6: 2-0 vs. RG 'Tron
Round 7: Intentional Draw
Top 8 was: 2x UG Infect, 2x Abzan Collected Company, 3x Eldrazi variants (Colorless, UW, and UR) and GW Hatebears.
I went to a 25 man GPT today and got 2nd! I finished the deck the week before the PT so I haven’t been playing it for that long. The deck had performed pretty well at FNM’s previously (I believe I had two 4-1-1 finished and a 3-3) so I felt pretty comfortable with it coming into the event. The deck I registered was almost the same 75 as Tom Ross’ newest, the main differences being my inclusion of 3 Spellskites in the 75 and Pulse of Murasa rather than Kitchen Finks. I expected a lot of Eldrazi (specifically the UW version that was cutting the Chalice of the Void) so I added Spellskites to the main to hedge against more Dismember and Path to Exile. As it turns out there was only one Colorless Eldrazi and a UR Eldrazi, but Spellskite was great anyway. Other than Eldrazi I didn’t know what to expect so I kept in most of the cards that were focused on speed.
I think the top 8 was: 1 UR Eldrazi, 1 UR Delver, 1 Affinity, 1 Junk, 1 Elves, 1 Naya Burn, 1 Kiki Chord and 1 UG Infect so surprisingly very diverse.
I’m not gonna lie, I did get pretty lucky at this tournament and had some insane draws.
Round 1 vs GR Tron
Game 1 I had a hand of Elf, Agent, Noble, Might, 2 land and a probe. I dump my elf on turn 1 then turn 2 I draw another Might. I decided to “play it safe” and not go all in, instead opting for Noble THEN Might in that order. He gets me with a Warping Wail then is able to drop Ulamog in 2 turns but I couldn’t kill him because my Agent just came into play. Game 2 he lands Karn on 3 and makes me discard rather than exile the Inkmoth on the battlefield. Game 3 I had Agent and double Vines but I wasn’t able to one shot him and his Ugin got there. This was a pretty awkward way to start my day.
1-2
Round 2 I got a bye.
Round 3 vs UB Mill
Game 1 I had a sketchy keep of an elf and my only pump spell being Become Immense. While wondering how I would win my opponent Glimpse the Unthinkable’s me on T2. I then topdeck a Might of Old Krosa and turn 2 him. Gotta love mill. Game 2 he lands a Hedron Crab but I have a Blighted Agent. I baited his Devour Flesh with a Glistener Elf. I then play Spellskite into Agent and proceed to kill him. Easy match but a really sweet brew with stuff like Shelldock Isle.
2-0
Round 4 vs Krark-Clan Eggs
This was a friend of mine so we both knew what we were playing. He almost play his 4C gifts which is obviously a much worse matchup, but he couldn’t find his Inquisition of Kozilek’s. I played against another player on Eggs on Friday and lost the MU on turn 4 both times, so I figured this matchup was bad to iffy. I don’t remember game 1 much, just that I had a turn 3 with Become Immense somewhere in the mix. I don’t remember much of game 2 other than killing his Spellskite with my Viridian Corrupter, which ended shortly after.
2-0
Round 5 vs. Mono White Hatebears/Death and Taxes
There were 7 of us on 9 points and I got paired down so I had to play it out. (Sad Life). Game 1 he mulled and his hand seemed pretty loose when I probed him. It had Finks, Arbiter, Mindcensor, Tec Edge and some other lands. The next turn he top decked a Path, but I was able to come back and take the game. Game 2 my infect guy was an Inkmoth and he had 2 Ghost Quarter’s and a Tec Edge. I wasn’t able to get the right spells to one shot him and lost this game. Game 3 my friend told me he kept a 2 Ghost Quarter hand with no other lands and topdecked the White source for the Path in his hand. I probed and saw the Path in his hand so I attacked with my elf and only used Pendlehaven with an exalted trigger to get in for 3. He doesn’t use Path on my end step or his turn. When I go for the kill he attempts to Path but I top deck a Probe to hit Vines for game. I should not have won this game, but you take them when you get them I guess.
2-1
Top 8 vs Kiki Chord
Game 1 he mulligans and only had Wall of Roots. Blighted Agent with Spellskite to take a Path wins me this one. Game 2 I should have Dismembered his Scavenging Ooze as soon as it came out because I had 2 Become Immense in hand. I think I was saving it because I was respecting the combo too much. I end up dying with the 2 Become Immense in my hand that I cannot cast. Game 3 was pretty intense. I mull to 6 and get a hand with Forest and Noble Hierarch with Blighted Agent as my infecter. The scry sees me Inkmoth Nexus. Pretty good scry except I have Might of Old Krosa and Vines in hand. I decide to take the chance and keep it on top anyway in case he has removal. I turn 2 a Spellskite and plan to play my Agent on 3 to be super careful. When I probed him on turn 3 I saw a hand of Kiki, Voice, Chord, Pridemage, Restoration Angel and Sacred Foundry. Since he had a Wall of Roots on the field I was dead if I didn’t play it correctly. I opt to play Agent and say go. When he plays the Angel end of turn I cast Twisted Image on the Wall of Roots which buys me a turn. He attacks since I have an Agent and says go. I don’t topdeck the green source to kill him with Vines and Might so I play the second Spellskite I drew and held up Dispel mana. He does not draw the 5th land and I proceed to kill him.
Top 4 vs. Burn
Since I switched my build and removed some protection spells, I knew this matchup would be a lot worse than it should be. Game 1 he keeps a hand with a lot of creatures but I have Blighted Agent on 2 with Noble for protection. He gets me down to 7 life but I kill him the next turn. Game 2 I mulligan to a hand with Forest as my only land and Noble Hierarch with Blighted Agent as my Infecter. Since I am up a game I get greedy and keep this hand. I scry Inkmoth Nexus to the top (yes this scenario happened twice lol). He had 2 Nacatl’s and a Swiftspear and got me down to 4 life, but Pulse of Murasa came up clutch and with a Dryad Arbor Block I was able to go to 6 life. He taps out for Molten rain on my Pendlehaven and I Become Immense him for the kill.
*Looking back, Kitchen Finks would have most likely netted the same result, but I love green Kolaghan’s Command too much.
Top 2 vs UR Delver
This is another local at my LGS and I know he is really good. We mutually decide to have second place receive more money than first since first also gets byes. At this point I’m surprised to have made it this far and I know this matchup isn’t great so I didn’t have too high expectations going in. Game 1 he was able to land a Grim Lavamancer and won a fight over my Blighted Agent. He probed me so I revealed a Forest in my hand. He then end of turn Vapor Snags my Noble Hierarch. Without thinking I play the Forest I revealed and play the Noble. This was huge because I drew an Inkmoth Nexus for the turn. The next turn I drew my single copy of Groundwell and got punished big time. I play the Inkmoth and hope for a miracle that I can get there. He gives me an opening by attacking with his Pia and Kiran Nalaar token but by then it was too late. I topdeck Vines of Vastwood, which in tandem with the Forest I should have saved would have been 11 poison even if he dealt 2 damage to the Noble Hierarch I had on field. Game 2 was also really close. I probed which saw Snapcaster Mage and Vapor Snag. His Delver flip revealed Remand so I had to try and play around those 3 cards all game but I could not find a second Vines or another counter. He probed me and was able to perfectly tap his mana leaving only a blue up. I had to cast a Pulse of Murasa to not die but he had the Dispel to lock up the game.
All in all this was a great experience and I learned a lot more with the deck.
Some other things about the deck:
I really am liking the 3rd Forest opposed to the 3rd Breeding Pool. Life total is very relevant and Path to Exile/Ghost Quarter are everywhere.
Spellskite was insane. I might even want to go up to 4 copies (probably a bad idea though)
Dryad Arbor is a must in the 75. I was actually on the fence and originally cut it, but the card proved to be too valuable and is an irreplaceable effect.
I’m 60% sure that 4 Become Immense is not correct. Honestly it might be, but the times that I drew 2 of them felt so bad. I think I’ll go back to the 3 I ran before, but just keep the Mutagenic Growths in.
Spell Pierce was extremely underwhelming. I kept it in a lot since it was pretty good against most of those decks, but I either never drew it or drew it when my opponent could pay the 2. It is probably very good but I just drew it at the wrong times.
2 Dismember (or at least 2 Spellskite killers) is also probably correct just in case I face decks with Melira, Sylvok Outcast or Spellskite in the main deck. They weren’t amazing today, but I will still stick with the 2 main for now.
I think I want another Apostle’s Blessing or Slip Through Space in the main. Other than that I think the deck was fine.
TLDR; infect is a good deck when there isn’t a lot of eldrazi everywhere.
Feel free to ask me questions about the event.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern URBSome variant of Death's Shadow URB Grixis Control (Chapin Version) JFM Storm / Treasure Cruise Delver / Splinter Twin / Infect
So today, I finally got to play MTG again after taking a short break to focus on getting my L2 Judge certification. I ended up making top 8 in a 25 player $1k event.
Round 1 vs UW Eldrazi (2-0)
The new boogieman of the format.
Game 1: My opponent plays turn 1 Eldrazi Mimic, turn 2 Endless One, turn 3 Reality Smasher. While that is good, I am able to secure the kill on my Turn 4 with a Blighted Agent and multiple pump spells.
Game 2: Mull to 6. My opponent is now on the play, and Path to Exiles my turn 1 Glistener Elf. This accelerates me to a turn 2 Wild Defiance into a turn 3 kill with Inkmoth Nexus.
Round 2 vs Affinity (2-1)
Game 1: I lose this very close game due to underestimating how much damage my opponent can do to me in a single combat step.
Game 2: My opponent mulls to 6, and cannot recover from multiple Nature's Claims and Viridian Corrupters.
Game 3: Opponent mulligans to 5 this time, and I am able to draw a few timely Nature's Claims to seal the game up.
Round 3 vs UR Burn/Prowess (0-2)
My opponent has been playing this deck for a while now, and I feel like the matchup is close, but slightly unfavorable for me. Both games play out about the same, with me dealing close to 10 poison, but having to work through Lightning Bolt, Forked Bolt, Vapor Snag, etc. while dealing with multiple Monastery Swiftspears and Stormchaser Mages.
Round 4 vs Grixis Control (2-1)
Game 1: We grind it out for quite a few turns before eventually folding to an unchecked Liliana of the Veil.
Game 2: Yet another grindfest. I was able to finally push regular damage for the win after my opponent missed a few landdrops and was forced to fetch/shock a few times in order to get the correct colors of mana in order to cast spells.
Game 3: A quick kill with poison before he could begin to lock me out of the game.
An interesting note about Game 2. I had hedged on a larger showing of Zoo due to it being very popular in my meta, which skewed my choice to play Wall of Roots in the sideboard. I decided to bring them in in this matchup in order to get ahead of my opponent on mana. It turned out to work double and triple duty to brick wall Tasigur, the Golden Fang and acted as a sacrificial creature to LotV to allow me to swing with 2 creatures to get lethal damage in this game
Round 5 vs ??? (0-0-3)
We Id this round into top 8 so I have no idea what my opponent was playing.
Top 8 vs Blue Moon
Game 1: This was the most interactive game of MTG of the day. We fight over the course of 3 or 4 turns over a few Electrolyzes and Bolts, and I top deck a second +4/+4 spell in order to push an exact, unblockable 10 poison.
Game 2: I mull to 6 and keep a hand with fetchland/Noble Hierarch and proceed to brick on lands after a t1 bolt on my Hierarch. I miss my next landdrop and get locked out by Blood Moon
Game 3: We have another very close game, but eventually fold to being whittled out of resources by Lightning Bolt, Roast, Electrolyze, Burst Lightning, and Snapcaster Mages.
Some thoughts I had throughout the day:
It seems to me that most decks are currently trying to gum up the board with a bunch of little dudes, and Slip Through Space does an excellent job at getting through all of my opponents little friends.
The Eldrazi matchup, while seemingly bad on paper, is actually a lot closer to 50/50 in my testing, with a few points going either way depending on play/draw.
Maindeck Viridian Corrupter was absolutely a correct choice for my meta, with 5 or 6 of the players there playing Affinity.
Wall of Roots is a flex spot that I have been testing interchangeably with Pulse of Murasa and I feel like it is WORLDS better in this faster meta. I think Pulse has a place in our arsenal in a grindier Grixis/Jund meta, but not today.
I had gone up to 3 Spell Pierces during the Tron heavy meta game, and feel like it is correct to cut at least 1 of the sideboard Pierces in place of a Dispel.
Overall, I am happy with how well I did, considering I have very little playtest time these days. Next week will be another tournament for me, a $3k event, which should give me an even larger testing bed with more players from all around the Bay Area. I will be back with another tournament report in about a week.
So what more important, Noble hierarch or Inkmoth Nexus? I'm making a budget list that I'm slowly going to make T1 and was wondering which I should get first. Also is Birds of paradise a good sup for Hierarch or no?
So, just a question, if you had a budget of about 100 euro, what is the best way to make the deck? I already own a playset of Inkmoth Nexus, a playset of Windswept Heath and 2 Pendelhavens. Besides that some of the cheaper cards, like the Glistener Elfs, Blighted Agents, Ichorclaw Myrs, Groundswells, and Vines. Can I make a decent U/G version with this and a budget of about a 100 euro's, or should I stick to monogreen? I'm not really sure, and I want to make the best budget version of the deck I could possibly make right now..
My meta has quite some Tronplayers, but Burn/Zoo are prominent as well, as well as Abzan Coco, Living End, and some Eldrazi (but luckily not that much). Also, how is the match-up versus Bogles?
Hey guys, long time lurker here. Just wanted to ask your general preference for evasion spells:
Distortion Strike - Classic evasion spell. Pseudo pump. Pretty good, but underperforms when you don't have the winning hand.
Rancor - Evasion and pump in one, amazing in matchups vs grindy decks and long games in general. A really hard choice between the two. Testing is recently in favor of rancor because it shores up bad MU like coco (Allows you to punch with regular damage through their 1 billion blockers with a melira out) and eldrazi. (as Thought-knot decimates your kill spell and ruins the math for distortion strike, rancor at least stays and lets your steamroll any blockers they leave up)
Slip through Space - Newcomer, kind of iffy because you spin the wheel for that draw when you cast it. Slightly better for all-in hands because it automatically feeds become immense.
Apostle's Blessing - Pseudo evasion spell, mostly for protection. Good because it essentially costs 1. Eldrazi winter weakened it as evasion though, and doesn't help protect vs drowner. (although we probably already lose when they slam it) Still essential as protection and will at least be a 2-of in the deck.
Personally I run 2 Blessing, 1 Slip and 2 Rancor.
Is this a good set-up? My meta is filled with Coco and some amount of UR 'drazi.
Coco feels unwinnable unless we prepare for it in the MB. UR drazi is pretty much a coin flip although thought-knot and devoid still allows them to interact to some degree. Should I just bank on Distortion strike/Slip and hope for the best or is grinding it out the way to go?
Also as a side note how do you guys prepare for Coco? How many SB slots are dedicated for them?
- My lands
- My creatures
- My pump spells
- My other spells
- My sideboard ????
Lands look fine. Dryad Arbor is a play preference, but 19 + Dryads is right. 2 Forest, 2 Breeding Pool, and a third copy of either is right.
Creatures look fine, I'm off of the MD Spellskite for now.
Pump spells look a little off to me. I think Might is better right now, and you probably want to run 9 fetches if you're running 4 Groundswell. Rancor is not great right now if you have to trample through Eldrazi. Slip Through Space or Distortion Strike might be better. Other spells look good.
Sideboard could use a little tuning. I'd find a way to fit in some Dispels. It's a lot harder for decks like Chord to play around a Dispel since they have so much acceleration. I'd do 2-2 split between Pierce and Dispel in the 75. Pulse is a promising card, and I'd consider running at least 2 Finks. Otherwise good.
So what more important, Noble hierarch or Inkmoth Nexus? I'm making a budget list that I'm slowly going to make T1 and was wondering which I should get first. Also is Birds of paradise a good sup for Hierarch or no?
To me, Inkmoth Nexuses are a critical part of the deck. I played a budget list for a long time that ran Inkmoths (before they got crazy expensive) and Birds instead of Hierarchs (with decent, but not great, results), but there is no real replacement for Inkmoth Nexus. Inkmoth dodges Chalice, it has multiple forms of evasion (flying, not a creature on your opponent's turn), and is just awesome.
Hierarch is superior to Birds of Paradise (you'd be surprised how much that Exalted trigger is the clincher), but you can at least run Birds instead (and it does open you up to Abrupt Decay if that's your sort of thing), but if you don't have Inkmoths, you're really handicapping yourself.
Hi all, for my first post in this thread I may as well make it a mammoth one and see what I can contribute. I've been playing infect in paper for about a year and have been reading this thread for a little bit longer. I recently built a close copy of the deck online and have been diving into preparing for the WMCQs with the intention of playing infect there.
@xEurydicex
From a practical perspective get your fetches now, they may drop in price pre-rotation but we’ve likely already seen them bottom out. Going forward these cards likely only have upside and will become more expensive.
From the point of view of playing the deck as soon as possible look to get your Noble Hierarchs and Might of Old Krosas. Noble Hierarch is a card that allows you to get ahead on mana to hold up protection as well as being your new favorite pump spell. Become Immense loses value quickly without the fetches to fuel delve, each fetchland being the equivalent of 2 mana to cast it.
Without fetches you’ll be looking at playing a deck which focuses on the +4/+4 pumps and you will lose some reliability for Groundswell. I would suggest trying to stretch your budget a bit to get 4 Wooded Foothills, 4 Might of Old Krosa and 2 Breeding Pool. The Wooded Foothills will also allow you to play Become Immense. Noble Hierarch should become a priority purchase though, the card changes so many dynamics of the deck and the sooner you start making the choice between turn one Glistener Elf or Noble Hierarch the better.
Birds of Paradise is about one third of the card (maybe one quarter or less) that Noble Hierarch is and so playing it for simply the mana will to a large degree be just about having mana to protect your infect creature.
@dreadnaught26
The evasion you choose will be largely based on the decks you expect to play against. Personally I like Apostle’s Blessing because I find it does double duty but it is weak to eldrazi and basically just counters a dismember.
Distortion Strike is in my mind the best pure evasion spell available to us, it has implications for delve but overall the minor pump and Rebound make it a strong consideration.
Rancor is great where you can utilise the extra damage but I personally tend to think of it as less “evasion” and more “pump” the trample is nice but has its limits.
@Scotttastic55
You'll see my views on Noble Hierarch above but on the choice between it and Inkmoth Nexus I would recommend the Nexuses. The three best infect creatures in U/G are (in no particular order) Glistener Elf, Blighted Agent and Inkmoth Nexus. The difference between these three and the fourth best is enormous and each of these has unique advantages.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Where can I find this list?
my only loss was to a B/G infect. I have never played mirror or even knew how it worked.
thanks man
1 Windswept Heath
2 Forest
2 Pendelhaven
3 Breeding Pool
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wooded Foothills
CREATURES
2 Viridian Corrupter
4 Blighted Agent
4 Glistener Elf
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Apostle's Blessing
2 Spell Pierce
3 Become Immense
4 Groundswell
4 Might of Old Krosa
4 Vines of Vastwood
4 Gitaxian Probe
OTHER SPELLS
1 Serum Visions
2 Distortion Strike
2 Wild Defiance
2 Nature's Claim
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Spellskite
2 Twisted Image
2 Dispel
2 Dismember
1 Dryad Arbor
I do not know if I change to 1 Serum Visions fo 1 Rancor. Why we don't see Serum Visions now ?
Why i see some kitchen fings i don't understand ? Is to slow i think, turn 3 you can use a pump
T2 you can deal one dmg poison and t3 pump with two +4/+4 with steal one mana up for protection or other. if you have just one +4/+4 and one +2/+2 with two mana up for me is mana usless and you don't win, one mana is enoutgh for protect. if you have two +4/+4 and one +2/+2 the +2/+2 are too much.
For win two +4/+4 enough so i don't want draw mutagenic growth this +2/+2 dmg are always usless for me, with it, you kill with too much poison or not enoutgh.
mutagenic growth can be good with Wild Defiance but i prefer use Wild Defiance for protection vs burn and not for be aggressive is too slow and give you also too much poison
I do not know if you understood me, sorry for my english
anything without red:D
Well...It in the Tier 1 Forums for a reason im sure:D Im new to the deck and just returning to magic after 18 years. I literally just built my Infect and have played it once, but I'm sure someone with more experience can tell you more.
Round 1: 2-0 vs. Ad Nauseam Combo
Round 2: 2-0 vs. Infect
Round 3: 2-1 vs. Storm
Round 4: 2-1 vs. RG Scapeshift
Round 5: 2-1 vs. Merfolk
Round 6: 2-0 vs. RG 'Tron
Round 7: Intentional Draw
Top 8 was: 2x UG Infect, 2x Abzan Collected Company, 3x Eldrazi variants (Colorless, UW, and UR) and GW Hatebears.
I think the top 8 was: 1 UR Eldrazi, 1 UR Delver, 1 Affinity, 1 Junk, 1 Elves, 1 Naya Burn, 1 Kiki Chord and 1 UG Infect so surprisingly very diverse.
I’m not gonna lie, I did get pretty lucky at this tournament and had some insane draws.
This was my 75:
3 Forest
2 Breeding Pool
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Windswept Heath
2 Pendelhaven
Creatures:
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Glistener Elf
4 Blighted Agent
2 Spellskite
4 Become Immense
4 Vines of Vastwood
4 Might of Old Krosa
4 Mutagenic Growth
4 Gitaxian Probe
2 Rancor
2 Dismember
1 Apostle’s Blessing
1 Spell Pierce
1 Groundswell
3 Nature’s Claim
2 Viridian Corrupter
2 Twisted Image
3 Pulse of Murasa
1 Dispel
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Wild Defiance
1 Dismember
1 Spellskite
Round 1 vs GR Tron
Game 1 I had a hand of Elf, Agent, Noble, Might, 2 land and a probe. I dump my elf on turn 1 then turn 2 I draw another Might. I decided to “play it safe” and not go all in, instead opting for Noble THEN Might in that order. He gets me with a Warping Wail then is able to drop Ulamog in 2 turns but I couldn’t kill him because my Agent just came into play. Game 2 he lands Karn on 3 and makes me discard rather than exile the Inkmoth on the battlefield. Game 3 I had Agent and double Vines but I wasn’t able to one shot him and his Ugin got there. This was a pretty awkward way to start my day.
1-2
Round 2 I got a bye.
Round 3 vs UB Mill
Game 1 I had a sketchy keep of an elf and my only pump spell being Become Immense. While wondering how I would win my opponent Glimpse the Unthinkable’s me on T2. I then topdeck a Might of Old Krosa and turn 2 him. Gotta love mill. Game 2 he lands a Hedron Crab but I have a Blighted Agent. I baited his Devour Flesh with a Glistener Elf. I then play Spellskite into Agent and proceed to kill him. Easy match but a really sweet brew with stuff like Shelldock Isle.
2-0
Round 4 vs Krark-Clan Eggs
This was a friend of mine so we both knew what we were playing. He almost play his 4C gifts which is obviously a much worse matchup, but he couldn’t find his Inquisition of Kozilek’s. I played against another player on Eggs on Friday and lost the MU on turn 4 both times, so I figured this matchup was bad to iffy. I don’t remember game 1 much, just that I had a turn 3 with Become Immense somewhere in the mix. I don’t remember much of game 2 other than killing his Spellskite with my Viridian Corrupter, which ended shortly after.
2-0
Round 5 vs. Mono White Hatebears/Death and Taxes
There were 7 of us on 9 points and I got paired down so I had to play it out. (Sad Life). Game 1 he mulled and his hand seemed pretty loose when I probed him. It had Finks, Arbiter, Mindcensor, Tec Edge and some other lands. The next turn he top decked a Path, but I was able to come back and take the game. Game 2 my infect guy was an Inkmoth and he had 2 Ghost Quarter’s and a Tec Edge. I wasn’t able to get the right spells to one shot him and lost this game. Game 3 my friend told me he kept a 2 Ghost Quarter hand with no other lands and topdecked the White source for the Path in his hand. I probed and saw the Path in his hand so I attacked with my elf and only used Pendlehaven with an exalted trigger to get in for 3. He doesn’t use Path on my end step or his turn. When I go for the kill he attempts to Path but I top deck a Probe to hit Vines for game. I should not have won this game, but you take them when you get them I guess.
2-1
Top 8 vs Kiki Chord
Game 1 he mulligans and only had Wall of Roots. Blighted Agent with Spellskite to take a Path wins me this one. Game 2 I should have Dismembered his Scavenging Ooze as soon as it came out because I had 2 Become Immense in hand. I think I was saving it because I was respecting the combo too much. I end up dying with the 2 Become Immense in my hand that I cannot cast. Game 3 was pretty intense. I mull to 6 and get a hand with Forest and Noble Hierarch with Blighted Agent as my infecter. The scry sees me Inkmoth Nexus. Pretty good scry except I have Might of Old Krosa and Vines in hand. I decide to take the chance and keep it on top anyway in case he has removal. I turn 2 a Spellskite and plan to play my Agent on 3 to be super careful. When I probed him on turn 3 I saw a hand of Kiki, Voice, Chord, Pridemage, Restoration Angel and Sacred Foundry. Since he had a Wall of Roots on the field I was dead if I didn’t play it correctly. I opt to play Agent and say go. When he plays the Angel end of turn I cast Twisted Image on the Wall of Roots which buys me a turn. He attacks since I have an Agent and says go. I don’t topdeck the green source to kill him with Vines and Might so I play the second Spellskite I drew and held up Dispel mana. He does not draw the 5th land and I proceed to kill him.
Top 4 vs. Burn
Since I switched my build and removed some protection spells, I knew this matchup would be a lot worse than it should be. Game 1 he keeps a hand with a lot of creatures but I have Blighted Agent on 2 with Noble for protection. He gets me down to 7 life but I kill him the next turn. Game 2 I mulligan to a hand with Forest as my only land and Noble Hierarch with Blighted Agent as my Infecter. Since I am up a game I get greedy and keep this hand. I scry Inkmoth Nexus to the top (yes this scenario happened twice lol). He had 2 Nacatl’s and a Swiftspear and got me down to 4 life, but Pulse of Murasa came up clutch and with a Dryad Arbor Block I was able to go to 6 life. He taps out for Molten rain on my Pendlehaven and I Become Immense him for the kill.
*Looking back, Kitchen Finks would have most likely netted the same result, but I love green Kolaghan’s Command too much.
Top 2 vs UR Delver
This is another local at my LGS and I know he is really good. We mutually decide to have second place receive more money than first since first also gets byes. At this point I’m surprised to have made it this far and I know this matchup isn’t great so I didn’t have too high expectations going in. Game 1 he was able to land a Grim Lavamancer and won a fight over my Blighted Agent. He probed me so I revealed a Forest in my hand. He then end of turn Vapor Snags my Noble Hierarch. Without thinking I play the Forest I revealed and play the Noble. This was huge because I drew an Inkmoth Nexus for the turn. The next turn I drew my single copy of Groundwell and got punished big time. I play the Inkmoth and hope for a miracle that I can get there. He gives me an opening by attacking with his Pia and Kiran Nalaar token but by then it was too late. I topdeck Vines of Vastwood, which in tandem with the Forest I should have saved would have been 11 poison even if he dealt 2 damage to the Noble Hierarch I had on field. Game 2 was also really close. I probed which saw Snapcaster Mage and Vapor Snag. His Delver flip revealed Remand so I had to try and play around those 3 cards all game but I could not find a second Vines or another counter. He probed me and was able to perfectly tap his mana leaving only a blue up. I had to cast a Pulse of Murasa to not die but he had the Dispel to lock up the game.
All in all this was a great experience and I learned a lot more with the deck.
Some other things about the deck:
I really am liking the 3rd Forest opposed to the 3rd Breeding Pool. Life total is very relevant and Path to Exile/Ghost Quarter are everywhere.
Spellskite was insane. I might even want to go up to 4 copies (probably a bad idea though)
Dryad Arbor is a must in the 75. I was actually on the fence and originally cut it, but the card proved to be too valuable and is an irreplaceable effect.
I’m 60% sure that 4 Become Immense is not correct. Honestly it might be, but the times that I drew 2 of them felt so bad. I think I’ll go back to the 3 I ran before, but just keep the Mutagenic Growths in.
Spell Pierce was extremely underwhelming. I kept it in a lot since it was pretty good against most of those decks, but I either never drew it or drew it when my opponent could pay the 2. It is probably very good but I just drew it at the wrong times.
2 Dismember (or at least 2 Spellskite killers) is also probably correct just in case I face decks with Melira, Sylvok Outcast or Spellskite in the main deck. They weren’t amazing today, but I will still stick with the 2 main for now.
I think I want another Apostle’s Blessing or Slip Through Space in the main. Other than that I think the deck was fine.
TLDR; infect is a good deck when there isn’t a lot of eldrazi everywhere.
Feel free to ask me questions about the event.
URB Some variant of Death's Shadow
URB Grixis Control (Chapin Version)
JFM Storm / Treasure Cruise Delver / Splinter Twin / InfectCommander/EDH
This pile of cards when I feel like it
Death's Shadow discord link
3 Windswept Heath
2 Wooded Foothills
3 Breeding Pool
2 Forest
2 Pendelhaven
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Glistener Elf
4 Blighted Agent
1 Viridian Corrupter
1 Spellskite
3 Groundswell
3 Might of Old Krosa
3 Mutagenic Growth
2 Become Immense
2 Slip Through Space
4 Gitaxian Probe
1 Wild Defiance
1 Spell Pierce
1 Twisted Image
1 Apostle's Blessing
4 Nature's Claim
2 Twisted Image
1 Spellskite
1 Viridian Corrupter
2 Spell Pierce
2 Wall of Roots
1 Dismember
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Wild Defiance
Round 1 vs UW Eldrazi (2-0)
The new boogieman of the format.
Game 1: My opponent plays turn 1 Eldrazi Mimic, turn 2 Endless One, turn 3 Reality Smasher. While that is good, I am able to secure the kill on my Turn 4 with a Blighted Agent and multiple pump spells.
Game 2: Mull to 6. My opponent is now on the play, and Path to Exiles my turn 1 Glistener Elf. This accelerates me to a turn 2 Wild Defiance into a turn 3 kill with Inkmoth Nexus.
Round 2 vs Affinity (2-1)
Game 1: I lose this very close game due to underestimating how much damage my opponent can do to me in a single combat step.
Game 2: My opponent mulls to 6, and cannot recover from multiple Nature's Claims and Viridian Corrupters.
Game 3: Opponent mulligans to 5 this time, and I am able to draw a few timely Nature's Claims to seal the game up.
Round 3 vs UR Burn/Prowess (0-2)
My opponent has been playing this deck for a while now, and I feel like the matchup is close, but slightly unfavorable for me. Both games play out about the same, with me dealing close to 10 poison, but having to work through Lightning Bolt, Forked Bolt, Vapor Snag, etc. while dealing with multiple Monastery Swiftspears and Stormchaser Mages.
Round 4 vs Grixis Control (2-1)
Game 1: We grind it out for quite a few turns before eventually folding to an unchecked Liliana of the Veil.
Game 2: Yet another grindfest. I was able to finally push regular damage for the win after my opponent missed a few landdrops and was forced to fetch/shock a few times in order to get the correct colors of mana in order to cast spells.
Game 3: A quick kill with poison before he could begin to lock me out of the game.
An interesting note about Game 2. I had hedged on a larger showing of Zoo due to it being very popular in my meta, which skewed my choice to play Wall of Roots in the sideboard. I decided to bring them in in this matchup in order to get ahead of my opponent on mana. It turned out to work double and triple duty to brick wall Tasigur, the Golden Fang and acted as a sacrificial creature to LotV to allow me to swing with 2 creatures to get lethal damage in this game
Round 5 vs ??? (0-0-3)
We Id this round into top 8 so I have no idea what my opponent was playing.
Top 8 vs Blue Moon
Game 1: This was the most interactive game of MTG of the day. We fight over the course of 3 or 4 turns over a few Electrolyzes and Bolts, and I top deck a second +4/+4 spell in order to push an exact, unblockable 10 poison.
Game 2: I mull to 6 and keep a hand with fetchland/Noble Hierarch and proceed to brick on lands after a t1 bolt on my Hierarch. I miss my next landdrop and get locked out by Blood Moon
Game 3: We have another very close game, but eventually fold to being whittled out of resources by Lightning Bolt, Roast, Electrolyze, Burst Lightning, and Snapcaster Mages.
Some thoughts I had throughout the day:
It seems to me that most decks are currently trying to gum up the board with a bunch of little dudes, and Slip Through Space does an excellent job at getting through all of my opponents little friends.
The Eldrazi matchup, while seemingly bad on paper, is actually a lot closer to 50/50 in my testing, with a few points going either way depending on play/draw.
Maindeck Viridian Corrupter was absolutely a correct choice for my meta, with 5 or 6 of the players there playing Affinity.
Wall of Roots is a flex spot that I have been testing interchangeably with Pulse of Murasa and I feel like it is WORLDS better in this faster meta. I think Pulse has a place in our arsenal in a grindier Grixis/Jund meta, but not today.
I had gone up to 3 Spell Pierces during the Tron heavy meta game, and feel like it is correct to cut at least 1 of the sideboard Pierces in place of a Dispel.
Overall, I am happy with how well I did, considering I have very little playtest time these days. Next week will be another tournament for me, a $3k event, which should give me an even larger testing bed with more players from all around the Bay Area. I will be back with another tournament report in about a week.
Legacy: Infect, Lands, Eldrazi, Storm
Modern: Infect, UW Eldrazi
My meta has quite some Tronplayers, but Burn/Zoo are prominent as well, as well as Abzan Coco, Living End, and some Eldrazi (but luckily not that much). Also, how is the match-up versus Bogles?
Distortion Strike - Classic evasion spell. Pseudo pump. Pretty good, but underperforms when you don't have the winning hand.
Rancor - Evasion and pump in one, amazing in matchups vs grindy decks and long games in general. A really hard choice between the two. Testing is recently in favor of rancor because it shores up bad MU like coco (Allows you to punch with regular damage through their 1 billion blockers with a melira out) and eldrazi. (as Thought-knot decimates your kill spell and ruins the math for distortion strike, rancor at least stays and lets your steamroll any blockers they leave up)
Slip through Space - Newcomer, kind of iffy because you spin the wheel for that draw when you cast it. Slightly better for all-in hands because it automatically feeds become immense.
Apostle's Blessing - Pseudo evasion spell, mostly for protection. Good because it essentially costs 1. Eldrazi winter weakened it as evasion though, and doesn't help protect vs drowner. (although we probably already lose when they slam it) Still essential as protection and will at least be a 2-of in the deck.
Personally I run 2 Blessing, 1 Slip and 2 Rancor.
Is this a good set-up? My meta is filled with Coco and some amount of UR 'drazi.
Coco feels unwinnable unless we prepare for it in the MB. UR drazi is pretty much a coin flip although thought-knot and devoid still allows them to interact to some degree. Should I just bank on Distortion strike/Slip and hope for the best or is grinding it out the way to go?
Also as a side note how do you guys prepare for Coco? How many SB slots are dedicated for them?
Lands look fine. Dryad Arbor is a play preference, but 19 + Dryads is right. 2 Forest, 2 Breeding Pool, and a third copy of either is right.
Creatures look fine, I'm off of the MD Spellskite for now.
Pump spells look a little off to me. I think Might is better right now, and you probably want to run 9 fetches if you're running 4 Groundswell. Rancor is not great right now if you have to trample through Eldrazi. Slip Through Space or Distortion Strike might be better. Other spells look good.
Sideboard could use a little tuning. I'd find a way to fit in some Dispels. It's a lot harder for decks like Chord to play around a Dispel since they have so much acceleration. I'd do 2-2 split between Pierce and Dispel in the 75. Pulse is a promising card, and I'd consider running at least 2 Finks. Otherwise good.
To me, Inkmoth Nexuses are a critical part of the deck. I played a budget list for a long time that ran Inkmoths (before they got crazy expensive) and Birds instead of Hierarchs (with decent, but not great, results), but there is no real replacement for Inkmoth Nexus. Inkmoth dodges Chalice, it has multiple forms of evasion (flying, not a creature on your opponent's turn), and is just awesome.
Hierarch is superior to Birds of Paradise (you'd be surprised how much that Exalted trigger is the clincher), but you can at least run Birds instead (and it does open you up to Abrupt Decay if that's your sort of thing), but if you don't have Inkmoths, you're really handicapping yourself.
@xEurydicex
From a practical perspective get your fetches now, they may drop in price pre-rotation but we’ve likely already seen them bottom out. Going forward these cards likely only have upside and will become more expensive.
From the point of view of playing the deck as soon as possible look to get your Noble Hierarchs and Might of Old Krosas. Noble Hierarch is a card that allows you to get ahead on mana to hold up protection as well as being your new favorite pump spell. Become Immense loses value quickly without the fetches to fuel delve, each fetchland being the equivalent of 2 mana to cast it.
Without fetches you’ll be looking at playing a deck which focuses on the +4/+4 pumps and you will lose some reliability for Groundswell. I would suggest trying to stretch your budget a bit to get 4 Wooded Foothills, 4 Might of Old Krosa and 2 Breeding Pool. The Wooded Foothills will also allow you to play Become Immense. Noble Hierarch should become a priority purchase though, the card changes so many dynamics of the deck and the sooner you start making the choice between turn one Glistener Elf or Noble Hierarch the better.
Birds of Paradise is about one third of the card (maybe one quarter or less) that Noble Hierarch is and so playing it for simply the mana will to a large degree be just about having mana to protect your infect creature.
@dreadnaught26
The evasion you choose will be largely based on the decks you expect to play against. Personally I like Apostle’s Blessing because I find it does double duty but it is weak to eldrazi and basically just counters a dismember.
Distortion Strike is in my mind the best pure evasion spell available to us, it has implications for delve but overall the minor pump and Rebound make it a strong consideration.
Rancor is great where you can utilise the extra damage but I personally tend to think of it as less “evasion” and more “pump” the trample is nice but has its limits.
@Scotttastic55
You'll see my views on Noble Hierarch above but on the choice between it and Inkmoth Nexus I would recommend the Nexuses. The three best infect creatures in U/G are (in no particular order) Glistener Elf, Blighted Agent and Inkmoth Nexus. The difference between these three and the fourth best is enormous and each of these has unique advantages.