MTG Salvation

Playing in a PPTQ this weekend. Am I crazy for wanting to not run the stock list 90% of people seem to run lately? I find 4 Become Immense simply too many, and 2 maindeck Twisted Image to be more than necessary. There is basically one legit deck with maindecked Spellskites game one, and I understand it acts as removal for many mana dorks, I'd rather have more pump. I find Groundswell extremely powerful and about the equivalent of one of the best pumps in the deck, Might of Old Krosa. Sometimes it's better, sometimes worse, and generally totally great. I think having extra groundswells also allows you to handle bolt decks even better by pumping past bolt as long as you don't fetch when you don't need to, which seems to be a frequent need. It acts as both a protection from direct damage removal AND a removal spell in the right situation (block and Groundswell to take out their attacker), and because Groundswell isn't as popular in lists lately it can potentially be a surprise they weren't necessarily planning for.

I also understand TI cycles, but that's one more non-pump spell I'm paying the casting cost on, rather than having a more active and useful card like Groundswell. And I understand that Groundswell is mildly conditional due to landfall, but it's NEVER simply dead in hand, and allows you to count to 10 rather than hope you cycle into something useful off a TI.

So I'm planning on the stock ("Owen's") list, but shave 1 BI and 1 TI, and replace them with 2 Groundswell. The maindeck still has 3 ways to deal with a Spellskite (TI, Viridian Corrupter, and Dismember), and the sideboard brings in a whole lot of ways in a second TI, 2 Dismember, 2 Nature's Claims and an Unravel the Aether.

Sideboard I also don't necessarily want to run 4 Kitchen Finks, and would rather have 3 Finks and 1 Spellskite for the heavy bolt/path meta.

Thoughts?

I was against 4 BI for awhile, but once I started playing 4 it seemed a lot more consistent... I always found 2 twisted image to be kinda useless in game 1 like you mentioned. Here is basically what I run, which sounds extremely similar to what you're talking about. If I took out one of the BI's for anything it would probably be MB spellskite or a 2nd spell pierce.

If you read Owen Turtenwald's article, he talks about the corrupter, dismember, spell pierce and 2 twisted images in the main serving as 5 additional sideboard cards that are stuffed into the main, allowing for effectively a 20 card sideboard. What this does is give you 10 outs for spellskite in your 75, all of which having crossover in different matchups. It lets you customize which outs to the card you have in your deck by selecting the one that will be most useful to you in the matchup. Dismember and twist against abzan coco, twist against URx control decks, natures claim and twist against tron, etc. to do this you have to put five of them in the main, he chose to have one of each in the main, due to the detriment of drawing duplicates. Twisted image gets a pass because it cycles. It's not about how useful it is in game 1. It's about it facilitating the 20 card sideboard without being a complete brick ever. Also the card is absurdly flexible, and it should be used pretty liberally in game 1. Once I attacked an exalted infecter into a clique, and he blocked with it, so I twisted his clique to save my guy, and his clique died the next turn. It was gas. Also don't forget about twisting a guy you have used pendelhaven on.

Eldritch evolution is just not going to be in a good modern deck. I wouldn't worry about it.

Won a PPTQ with UG infect here is a link to my article. https://www.reddit.com/r/ModernMagic/comments/4vlev3/pptq_win_with_ug_infect/

The Nissa question is answered here:
http://www.starcitygames.com/article/33405_Preparing-For-SCGRegionals-And-SCGNY.html

Basically it's just there to beat removal-heavy decks.

Another Infect article:
http://www.mtgmintcard.com/articles/writers/soh-weng-heng/your-perfect-infect

This one comes with a list of 5-card loadouts depending on the metagame you're expecting.

Did the mainboard wild defiance do well? I did kill someone with a 30/x dryad arbor once because of it but haven't played it in the 75 for awhile.

It mostly just tells jund to shove it, bolts are a real threat and WD helps so much.

Hey guys, I'm a Jeskai Nahiri player at the moment, but I keep coming just short of doing well these days. I sort of feel like I have game vs most of the field but just lose in 3 games due to bad draws and what not. Regardless, I'm thinking about making the plunge and going with infect as I want to be more proactive and aggressive in this linear meta. Any pointers for a control style player? What sort of pitfalls should I avoid? I feel like I can reverse engineer how I typically play vs infect to figure out lines vs control decks, but what decks really give people trouble lately, and what do you do to improve them? I'm reading the articles posted above, just wanted to know everyone's personal experiences/thoughts. Thanks!

That's all pretty helpful. Thanks for that info! One thing that draws me to this over some other fast deck is the bluff. It's one of the things I really enjoyed about twin: being able to bluff the combo. Here you are able to bluff protection/pump and really play a mental game with your opponent. I definitely expect to lose a lot while I learn the ins and outs of the deck. I ran a few matches on MODO last night (to very poor results) but I think the biggest question I have is what to keep and what to mull. Granted this is very match up dependent, but at what point should I keep something risky vs mull further. 5 cards? 4? how crucial is that t1 elf or t2 agent? I definitely kept hands of noble, 2 lands and all pump spells and never found any real action.

On a side note, did this deck never play serum visions? I thought it did in the past but I may be mistaken?

I recently did well at a tournament with this build. However, I'm thinking of going back to having two twisted image main and perhaps cutting a skite for another Kitchen Finks. One deck which I had problems with was bushwacker zoo. It's not in my local meta much and I struggled against it. I recall taking out git probe and one mutagenic for finks, skite and pulse which didn't feel like the right call afterwords. Does anyone have any advice on how to take on that deck?

@ KeMT, thanks dude! All of that is great advice. I'm not bothering with adding serums or anything as I don't know the deck well enough to start tinkering just yet. I was just curious. Yea mulling seems to be my biggest issue. The nice thing is that sideboarding seems pretty straightforward for most decks. I've definitely been enjoying the bluffs and feints. I don't think there's much infect in my local meta either, so that should work to my advantage with the upcoming PPTQs. Looking forward to jamming this some more!

Quote from DuceMcCrappin »

I recently did well at a tournament with this build. However, I'm thinking of going back to having two twisted image main and perhaps cutting a skite for another Kitchen Finks. One deck which I had problems with was bushwacker zoo. It's not in my local meta much and I struggled against it. I recall taking out git probe and one mutagenic for finks, skite and pulse which didn't feel like the right call afterwords. Does anyone have any advice on how to take on that deck?

MyDarkerHalf's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Lands (20) 2 Pendelhaven 2 Forest 2 Misty Rainforest 3 Breeding Pool 3 Windswept Heath 4 Wooded Foothills 4 Inkmoth Nexus Creature (13) 4 Glistener Elf 4 Blighted Agent 4 Noble Hierarch 1 Viridian Corrupter	Instant and Sorcery (27) 4 Might of Old Krosa 4 Mutagenic Growth 4 Become Immense 4 Vines of Vastwood 4 Gitaxian Probe 2 Apostle's Blessing 2 Spell Pierce 1 Distortion Strike 1 Twisted Image 1 Dismember	Sideboard 2 Spellskite 2 Kitchen Finks 2 Nature's Claim 1 Unravel the Aether 1 Pulse of Murasa 1 Dryad Arbor 1 Wild Defiance 1 Grafdigger's Cage 1 Spell Pierce 1 Twisted Image 1 Dispel 1 Dismember

I wouldn't cut growth in that matchup. People seem to forget that mutagenic growth is just a ridiculous combat trick. The blowout potential is worth taking damage for. Even against burn I keep that card. Turn 1 Noble, then they turn 1 Goblin Guide and attack. I get a free shot at a land, and get to kill your guy in combat. I was going to take 2 damage anyway. Card's great. Plus, it enables kills out of nowhere in a matchup where you need to race.

Has anyone been playing the G/B infect lately? any updated list to contemplate? there's too much Jund and Grixis over here, U/G hasnt won a tournament in a couple of months.

Quote from MyDarkerHalf »

Quote from DuceMcCrappin »

I recently did well at a tournament with this build. However, I'm thinking of going back to having two twisted image main and perhaps cutting a skite for another Kitchen Finks. One deck which I had problems with was bushwacker zoo. It's not in my local meta much and I struggled against it. I recall taking out git probe and one mutagenic for finks, skite and pulse which didn't feel like the right call afterwords. Does anyone have any advice on how to take on that deck?

DuceMcCrappin's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Lands (20) 2 Pendelhaven 2 Forest 2 Misty Rainforest 3 Breeding Pool 3 Windswept Heath 4 Wooded Foothills 4 Inkmoth Nexus Creature (13) 4 Glistener Elf 4 Blighted Agent 4 Noble Hierarch 1 Viridian Corrupter	Instant and Sorcery (27) 4 Might of Old Krosa 4 Mutagenic Growth 4 Become Immense 4 Vines of Vastwood 4 Gitaxian Probe 2 Apostle's Blessing 2 Spell Pierce 1 Distortion Strike 1 Twisted Image 1 Dismember	Sideboard 2 Spellskite 2 Kitchen Finks 2 Nature's Claim 1 Unravel the Aether 1 Pulse of Murasa 1 Dryad Arbor 1 Wild Defiance 1 Grafdigger's Cage 1 Spell Pierce 1 Twisted Image 1 Dispel 1 Dismember

I wouldn't cut growth in that matchup. People seem to forget that mutagenic growth is just a ridiculous combat trick. The blowout potential is worth taking damage for. Even against burn I keep that card. Turn 1 Noble, then they turn 1 Goblin Guide and attack. I get a free shot at a land, and get to kill your guy in combat. I was going to take 2 damage anyway. Card's great. Plus, it enables kills out of nowhere in a matchup where you need to race.

Ah, good advice. I felt like I was hemorrhaging life which is why I cut the muta. However, I now see that combat trick working out well in this match up. Thanks for the insight!

Thanks for your list. I was playing something similar a couple of months ago. Had great matches against many decks of my local meta, yet found myself to run short in the naya zoo matchup. How do you see finks for that game?

Leyline of the void seems like the perfect answer against dredge. For what else are you uing it for?

How about adding another urborg instead of a swamp? perhaps also another forest for a swamp? I think we end up needing the double green many times.

Something I like about your list is the become immense in such a short number. Without gitaxian probe and mutagenic growth it's difficult to feed the delve!

I guess the B/G plan is to be controllish anyway, and one shouldn't worry that much of not being as fast U/G version. We're still fast enough to have a good match vs ad nauseam and tron.

I think in this case it would be maybe better to keep those groundswell? afterall Crusader finds damage based removal useless while on the other hand adding further self inflicted damage with the mutagenic apart from the need to pay 6 lives in lands might be too much.

I guess the B/G plan is to be controllish anyway, and one shouldn't worry that much of not being as fast U/G version. We're still fast enough to have a good match vs ad nauseam and tron.

I think in this case it would be maybe better to keep those groundswell? afterall Crusader finds damage based removal useless while on the other hand adding further self inflicted damage with the mutagenic apart from the need to pay 6 lives in lands might be too much.

Hello guys, i'm running a mono g infect and will do the upgrade to ug in a couple weeks, but i'll only have how to get 8 fetchs, not 9 like most list uses, what list would you guys recommend me?

So after playing this deck for about a week and a half, I've been enjoying it, but definitely having very swingy results (overwhelming wins and overwhelming losses). Either way, one thing I've noticed is that mutagenic growth seems like the worst card in the deck. I find myself using it as combat tricks to kill creatures more than anything else. It doesn't even save the guys from bolt. When every other spell pumps your guy to a 5/5 or a 7/7, having +2 doesn't seem that valuable. I will say having free spell to fill the yard has made become immense pretty strong, but is that the main reason for running growth? Or is it the aspect of getting 2 more points of infect on them so that you only need to swing 2 or 3 more times for the win? As I'm still new, I'm not going to mess around with the list, just wondering if anyone feels the same way, and what you've done if so.

@Levi251
If you are picking up fetches, then you certainly want to get the green ones. Misty Rainforest would be best, but really only if you are running a basic island. But really, any of the green fetches will work. If cost is an issue, get wooded foothills and windswept heath from khans. That should be good enough I would think.