MTG Salvation

Why you want to play this deck:

Elder Dragon Highlander
Oh Wait
EDH
Oh Wait
Commander
40 life
Oh wait
Unless you voltron
21 damage then
Oh wait
Scars of Mirrodin
Oh wait
Skitheryx the Blight Dragon
10 damage now
lol
Suddenly my Plague Stinger is a 4/1 flying for 2
Oh wait
every +1 pump spell gives every creature +4
...
...
... Awesome

About the Deck:
In a 1v1 game, poison is the most efficient way to win. In particular, Unspeakable Symbol (and to a lesser extent hatred) which allow you to kill a player with ANY unblocked creature. Because of the amazing ability for black to tutor the symbol, I discovered that I ended up winning a majority of my games with cards like necropede and plague stinger in the first few turns and Skittles was a backup plan in case the other dudes couldn't get it done.

In fact, the deck was able to win a fair amount of it's games by t3-4 (with the t2 god hand wins via an opener with an accelerant, 1-2 cc creature, and an unspeakable symbol).





Why on Earth is this card here?:

Dudes... A.K.A. The Infect Package
ALL 0-2 drop infect creatures - Winning is good. Winning fast is better.
Whispering Specter - Flying is good. Making them discard their hand to clear a path for Skittles is better.
Phyrexian Crusader - Evasion, protection, and first strike make him too good to pass up.
Ichor Rats - Too... Complicated... to... Explain... Trust me

All the other poison dudes (Hand of the Praetors, Corpse Cur, Septic Rats...) are too slow to really be utilized properly for my strategy.


Jockstrap's... A.K.A. Stuff that 'supports' the Dudes
Shroud is good, Evasion is great, Pump is best. I've got the cheap proliferate to get me the rest of the way if I need to.


The rest of the deck
Standard Black control. Make em discard their hand. Kill their dudes. Etcetera...

I don't actually have $200 for a tutor... so... you know... don't worry about it...


























Cards I should add, but haven't had the time (too busy making this decklist look all fancy) to:
Lion's Eye Diamond, Dark Tutelage, excetera, excetera, excetera

Good Morning

Sweet Deck! The best 'infect' deck I've seen so far (in my humble opinion).

Noticed you didn't have any of the black classics included:
Pit Scorpion
Suq'Ata Assassin
Swamp Mosquito

Might be worth the addition...

Hope this helps...

Cheers

Quote from GFireflyE

Good Morning

Sweet Deck! The best 'infect' deck I've seen so far (in my humble opinion).

Noticed you didn't have any of the black classics included:
Pit Scorpion
Suq'Ata Assassin
Swamp Mosquito

Might be worth the addition...

Hope this helps...

Cheers

Thanks,

I though about the classic poison creatures, the only problem is that, at best, they put them on a 10 turn counter, it's just too slow.

Have you considered using Grafted Exoskeleton and some other non-infect creatures in the deck? It would also allow you to use Virulent Swipe, plus some manlands.

Quote from davmeister84

Have you considered using Grafted Exoskeleton and some other non-infect creatures in the deck? It would also allow you to use Virulent Swipe, plus some manlands.

The problem with non-infect creatures is that they basically attack for 0 (because I'm going to kill them with poison), while I can use grafted exoskeleton / swipes, they're only useful if I draw them, meaning if I draw the creature without the exoskeleton, it's a dead card (a very bad thing)

If I were going Green / Black infect, I would run either nath (for card advantage) or Vhati and run both swipes & skeleton, but otherwise I don't think I would.

i dont mind running some non infect creatures. they will be blockers whiles infect guys will be attackers only.

Love the deck, but I got 2 words for ya:

Dauthi Embrace

Quote from Hantei Voitagi

Love the deck, but I got 2 words for ya:

Dauthi Embrace

You're right, I don't know how I forgot to include this. Thanks

Crypt Rats is ok, the only problem is that I'm going to be taking upwards of 10-15 damage from draw during the course of the game (which is ok because of the larger starting life total). But I don't think it can afford the extra 5-7 damage to nuke the board (when I would rather spend the life to dig a bit deeper into my deck to find either a wrath effect or a tutor [to search for the wrath effect].

As for non-infect creatures, I feel as though the only ones to run would be those with draw / discard / kill effects built in. If you're going to run them, I would try things like Graveborn Muse, mindslicer, Bane of the Living. This is because besides their utility effects, they are no better than a wall (you're NEVER going to win by dealing damage)

pestilence to clear board. and then regenerate skittles

-Hellfire is another good Wrath effect
-Diabolic Tutor is often better than Cruel Tutor
-I know that Skithiryx can give himself haste, but Hall of the Bandit Lord makes it happen a turn faster
-Phage the Untouchable is a pretty good fit for this deck, as she basically has Poisonous 10
-Trailblazer's Boots makes your Infect guys unblockable 99% of the time
-Empyrial Plate is another great equipment. On average, it gives ~+4/+4
-In addition to Volrath's Stronghold, Phyrexian Reclamation is great for getting back your dudes
-Vector Asp is the worst card in your deck. By a mile.

Quote from RetroRobot

-Hellfire is another good Wrath effect
-Diabolic Tutor is often better than Cruel Tutor
-I know that Skithiryx can give himself haste, but Hall of the Bandit Lord makes it happen a turn faster
-Phage the Untouchable is a pretty good fit for this deck, as she basically has Poisonous 10
-Trailblazer's Boots makes your Infect guys unblockable 99% of the time
-Empyrial Plate is another great equipment. On average, it gives ~+4/+4
-In addition to Volrath's Stronghold, Phyrexian Reclamation is great for getting back your dudes
-Vector Asp is the worst card in your deck. By a mile.

Hellfire - I really like the card (It's a 1-sided wrath and, it being from Legends, looks gorgeous), but I really don't like the fact that it's a dead card against Zur (which is in my playgroup along with a few other black generals)

Diabolic tutor is good (maybe in leu of ambitions cost?), but getting to play my card a turn earlier is really important (play it t4 as opposed to t5).

Hall of the Bandit Lord - I like it, it's just with only 10 creatures, I'm going to be paying lots of life for spells... (5 life to draw 2 cards isn't a good deal). I will try it out though

Phage the Untouchable - it's "you lose the game" clause makes him unplayable. Imagine, you play phage and then your opponent goes "Venser - I win"

Trailblazers Boots is terrible, with all the draw / tutors / removal, I should be able to find a way to get an attack or two (which is all I need) through.

Emperial Plate is good, I think I'll try it out.

Phyrexian Reclamation - Disturbed Burial is better I think (can only be disrupted by counters from blue, as opposed to every deck by disk), but I'm not sold on either one.

Vector asp isn't the best. But it's not that bad. It drops t1 and with acceleration, can swing for the win with Hatred / Unspeakable Symbol like t3 or t4. With access to only 10 of them, I need every infect creature I can get.

Quote from prosistheplumber

Phage the Untouchable - it's "you lose the game" clause makes him unplayable. Imagine, you play phage and then your opponent goes "Venser - I win"

Venser can only blink permanents that you own, so you can't blink your opponent's Phage.

As a suggestion though, you're missing Chainer's Edict.

Quote from Arcengal

Venser can only blink permanents that you own, so you can't blink your opponent's Phage.

When my EDH playgroup was still young, I remembered killing one player with "EoT, Vedalken Æthermage searching for Mistmeadow Mist, gg?" (yes, Phage herself was in play). Personally, I don't like Phage at all; I think that she is too risky.

Quote from fzian

Venser can only blink permanents that you own, so you can't blink your opponent's Phage.

As a suggestion though, you're missing Chainer's Edict.

lol look at that, nevertheless, there are still countless EDH worth(ish) cards that still make you lose:
Mistmeadow Witch, Cauldron of Souls and Mystifying Maze to name a few.

I am missing Chainer's Edict, I'll have to make room for it. Added, Thanks!

Quote from prosistheplumber

Phyrexian Reclamation - Disturbed Burial is better I think (can only be disrupted by counters from blue, as opposed to every deck by disk), but I'm not sold on either one.

Strands of Night says hello.

Unless they've randomly got a ton of stifle effects, strands is just sick.

Sure, you have to sac the swamp, but that's still much better than having to recast in a ton of situations. Also since you can play strands at instant speed, you can play around a ton of things and also have crazy combat tricks if your playgroup is "slow on the uptake."

Quote from Ubershaum

Strands of Night says hello.

Unless they've randomly got a ton of stifle effects, strands is just sick.

Sure, you have to sac the swamp, but that's still much better than having to recast in a ton of situations. Also since you can play strands at instant speed, you can play around a ton of things and also have crazy combat tricks if your playgroup is "slow on the uptake."

With so few creatures in the main, I feel as though I can count on just Volrath's Stronghold to do the trick when I need it, and thanks to tutors, I can find it any game where it becomes necessary.

Edit: reading is tech, as I thought it brought it back to your hand, not play. This card is VERY VERY good.

Does Grafted Exoskeleton on a Pestilence Demon mean GG in this deck?

You might kill yourself but it kills the table and aces just about every critter on the board (including itself unfortunately). Seems worthy of inclusion to me but, then again, I'm a big fan of Pestilence Demon in black EDH decks.

EDIT: Didn't realize I was in the 1v1 forum. PD probably isn't as good in heads up play but I'm still curious what you think.

Have you considered Rain of Daggers? It's a great way to clear the field for your dudes.

Quote from Slank

Does Grafted Exoskeleton on a Pestilence Demon mean GG in this deck?

You might kill yourself but it kills the table and aces just about every critter on the board (including itself unfortunately). Seems worthy of inclusion to me but, then again, I'm a big fan of Pestilence Demon in black EDH decks.

EDIT: Didn't realize I was in the 1v1 forum. PD probably isn't as good in heads up play but I'm still curious what you think.

My buddy uses a basic drana deck wit teh demon in it, and it is fantastic, when it gets hit with a loxodon warhammer LOL now that is funny.

Quote from Slank

Does Grafted Exoskeleton on a Pestilence Demon mean GG in this deck?

You might kill yourself but it kills the table and aces just about every critter on the board (including itself unfortunately). Seems worthy of inclusion to me but, then again, I'm a big fan of Pestilence Demon in black EDH decks.

EDIT: Didn't realize I was in the 1v1 forum. PD probably isn't as good in heads up play but I'm still curious what you think.

That's fairly funny, though mostly for multiplayer. I do enjoy though how the wither / infect dudes interact with other creatures in magic (I was abusing a deity of scars + contagion Engine in a cube the other day).

Quote from RetroRobot

Have you considered Rain of Daggers? It's a great way to clear the field for your dudes.

Wow, who says black doesn't have the best wrath effects. My only issue with it is that it costs 6 mana, which seems a bit high, though I may have get myself one of them and try it out (also just to have one of them).

Also, I've updated the decklist with some new stuff (excited to have lightning greaves x2)

I like it, I run the same deck, different approach though, you can check it out in my sig.

Lashwrithe, you need one.

Quote from ApocryphaEffect

Lashwrithe, you need one.

An excellent addition, New Phyrexia is awesome btw

Also, updated the deck again, any suggestions would be amazing!

Quote from gma

No suggestions, but a question instead: how does the deck fare? I've been running creatureless Skithiryx for a while, but my meta shifted so having other outs in my deck in case Skitrol becomes shuffled into library would be a good next step. Also, any troublesome commanders for the deck to handle?

The deck fairs very well, and (with somewhat aggressive mulliganing) can very often end the game turn 3-4. I end up winning with the little dudes more often than not and skitheryx is in there for when they stabilize from my initial attack. LED belongs in the deck, I just don't have one yet. The deck is just too fast for most random decks to beat and because of discard, assuming you play somewhat conservative, you can often come out ahead after discarding their removal / counters. Most people aren't prepared for this the first day I bring it around to new places and I usually just mop up in 1v1.

When my friend and I play and I let him use my Edric list (see sig if you're curious), I would say he is favored, he can choke up the field with little dudes and eventually take over. Having lots of spot removal is really hard for Edric to overcome though, and Infest and friends + discard is just such a beating, so it's often just a question of which cards you draw / tutor for that determines the game. If you were worried about it too much, I might also throw in a sickening dreams, as it will almost always hit 3+ dudes, meaning the card disadvantage of casting it isn't.

Quote from gma

Thanks for your answer, Prosis. Funny thing: i too run an Edric list and a Skithiryx list ;-)

That's because they're the two most awesome generals ever