Is infect making a comeback / good in the current meta? I played it a lot before G probe was banned and push got printed, but never tried after. I'm guessing it's still great vs tron and control, bad vs BG and probably at least 50/50 vs red decks? Just saw the 16th place list from SCG Richmond and aside from a couple sideboard cards it's almost the same as what I was playing a few years ago. It's pretty cheap online, seriously considering checking it out again.
with tron decks being on the rise, it is a good time to play a fast deck!
I've been toying with golgari wersion of infect with average success (IoK, phyrexian crusader)... I wonder I should add more punch (more pump spells or add a splash of blue for blighted agent).
So the new card from MH1 seems to have quite the potential
"Scale Up" G
Sorcery (Uncommon)
Target creature you control becomes a green Wurm with base power and toughness 6/4 until end of turn.
Overload 4GG (You may cast this spell for its overload cost. If you do, change its text by replacing all instances of "target" with "each".)
I agree, this card is stupid on paper. It doesn't stack and can't save a creature at instant speed, but the deck has enough material to protect the creatures anyway.
It makes me want to force 4x Blossoming Defenses, and maybe 2x Spellskite in the maindeck.
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Pioneer - A bunch of stuff Modern - Humans Legacy - Grixis Phoenix / Death & Taxes
So does Scale Up take the place of become immense?
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Little angel, go away come again some other day the Devil has my ear today I'll never hear a word you say. He promised I would find a little solace and some peace of mind. Whatever. just as long as I don't feel so desperate and ravenous.
Hey guys!
I'm a Living End veteran, looking for a new competetive Deck and I think I found one in Infect.
Do you know, if theres any Discord-Channel about this Deck?
With Scale Up i am quite convinced that Infect will be a really strong deck again.
What are the opinions on what to cut? A friend of mine who plays infect says he intends to cut the Baubles and maybe another Groundswell to fit a 4th Blossoming Defense.
I only have experience playing against infect, never actually played the deck myself. My rough draft would look like this:
Also what is the argument against playing Botanical Sanctum? It fixes all colors and deals no damage? I can only imagine that it is about deck thinning and trying to prevent flooding out?
I would personally cut BI entirely, it's too often a dead card or a tad too expensive to keep a protecting spell up. The loss of Probe hurt bad. A 1-of I can get behind at most. With Scale Up, the deck doesn't need BI as much, my guess is the new spell increases the clock high enough so the deck doesn't need the flashy spells anymore.
Bauble and other cantrips always feel bad in the deck when I play them, so I agree with your friend.
Your list seems to lack some removal spells to make a bunch of MUs easier game 1. Without the London Mull Rule, I'd say it's better to be a bit interactive in the maindeck. Humans & UR Phoenix are enough to warrant some Dismembers in the main deck, UW control on top of it makes me want to add Spellskite over counterspells. the horror can also turn into a 6/4 and win through normal damage.
Hard to predict what Modern's gonna be with MH1 though. Just guesses.
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Pioneer - A bunch of stuff Modern - Humans Legacy - Grixis Phoenix / Death & Taxes
I'm also thinking infect will be back. A few questions (I haven't played the deck in a while and also haven't really played modern in a while):
1) Why did the deck fall off recently? With the amount of linear decks I see in top 8's it seems like a good meta for us. What am I missing?
2) I think 2-3 scale ups should take over from BI. That said, I think you can support 2 BI if you run 3-4 street wraith just to fuel the yard. I ran wraith right after the g probe banning and it felt ok, but I also think scale up is just a better option and leads to faster kills. Might even be worth a full playset
3) How many waterlogged groves do we run and what lands do they replace? Do we need arbor dryad main anymore? How many decks with sac effects are we seeing? I feel like putting one in the side and replacing it with grove should be better. Without BI, cutting fetches seems reasonable as well. I would construct the manabase something along these lines:
edit: sideboard option - flusterstorm side? Generally pierce is probably better overall, but against blue decks having a stormed counterspell seems like a good form of protection. And what about the green storm card? does it slow us down too much, or is it worth it vs storm and burn?
edit x2: unearth seems like an attractive sideboard card for BUG or BG variants
I don't think scale up is even close to being bannable. The current iterations of infect already have a very high turn 2/3 kill rate if the the opponent does not interact at all. The reason infect does not dominate modern is that it is vulnerable to every single type of interaction in the format. A single removal spell, discard spell, blocker, or counter spell can be enough to buy several turns against infect. Scale up helps infect race a bit faster, but I don't think it fundamentally changes anything about the power level of our deck.
To answer the question about why infect has fallen out of favor, my opinion is the following:
*Walking ballista is almost unbeatable
*Izzet phoenix is a really bad match-up for us with bolt and thing in the ice in their main-deck
*Various decks (especially control) playing field of ruin made inkmoth nexus a weaker threat
*Humans and Death's Shadow decks are both top tier decks right now and feel like awful match-ups from the infect side
Definitely going to be trying out Infect again, now that we have the London Mulligan and Scale Up. I'm thinking BI might just need to take a seat, though out-of-nowhere +6 is really good at baiting the win. Are people planning on retooling lists to be more all-in game 1 with the London Mulligan?
I just played against Jund online. Won game 1. Game 2, I turn 1 hierarch, turn 2 agent and dismember his confidant. He assassins trophys the agent. Turn 3 I cast Geist of Saint Traft, Scale Up Noble Hierarch and smash in for 7. Distortion Strike on Geist finished out the game. It was awesome.
http://www.starcitygames.com/decks/128602
Everyone loves an angry mob RWG
Why so Bloo? RU
what do you think of this badboy for our sideboard ?
I've been toying with golgari wersion of infect with average success (IoK, phyrexian crusader)... I wonder I should add more punch (more pump spells or add a splash of blue for blighted agent).
"Scale Up" G
Sorcery (Uncommon)
Target creature you control becomes a green Wurm with base power and toughness 6/4 until end of turn.
Overload 4GG (You may cast this spell for its overload cost. If you do, change its text by replacing all instances of "target" with "each".)
It enable t2 wins with only 2-3 cards assuming you can put Glistener Elf T1 and they have no blocker or response.
T1: Glistener Elf
T2: Scale Up + (Groundswell or Might of Old Krosa or Mutagenic Growth + ( Mutagenic Growth or Blossoming Defense or Rancor ))
I feel this is insta 4 of in the deck. Thoughts?
Competitive: GW Hatebears - UG Infect - BGW Liege Rhino
Casual: GR Titan Ramp - BR Aggro
WIP: BUW Control Mill
It makes me want to force 4x Blossoming Defenses, and maybe 2x Spellskite in the maindeck.
Competitive: GW Hatebears - UG Infect - BGW Liege Rhino
Casual: GR Titan Ramp - BR Aggro
WIP: BUW Control Mill
I'm a Living End veteran, looking for a new competetive Deck and I think I found one in Infect.
Do you know, if theres any Discord-Channel about this Deck?
With Scale Up i am quite convinced that Infect will be a really strong deck again.
What are the opinions on what to cut? A friend of mine who plays infect says he intends to cut the Baubles and maybe another Groundswell to fit a 4th Blossoming Defense.
I only have experience playing against infect, never actually played the deck myself. My rough draft would look like this:
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Breeding Pool
1 Dryad Arbor
4 Inkmoth Nexus
2 Pendelhaven
2 Forest
4 Blighted Agent
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Scale Up
4 Mutagenic Growth
2 Become Immense
4 Blossoming Defense
4 Might of old Krose
3 Groundswell
4 Vines of Vastwood
2 Spell Pierce
2 Distortion Strike
Not sure about the sideboard yet.
Also what is the argument against playing Botanical Sanctum? It fixes all colors and deals no damage? I can only imagine that it is about deck thinning and trying to prevent flooding out?
BRGJundGRB
GCTronCG
WBRMardu PyromancerRBW
Legacy:
GElvesG
I would personally cut BI entirely, it's too often a dead card or a tad too expensive to keep a protecting spell up. The loss of Probe hurt bad. A 1-of I can get behind at most. With Scale Up, the deck doesn't need BI as much, my guess is the new spell increases the clock high enough so the deck doesn't need the flashy spells anymore.
Bauble and other cantrips always feel bad in the deck when I play them, so I agree with your friend.
A manabase with Sanctum and the new Waterlogged Grove is tempting.
Your list seems to lack some removal spells to make a bunch of MUs easier game 1. Without the London Mull Rule, I'd say it's better to be a bit interactive in the maindeck. Humans & UR Phoenix are enough to warrant some Dismembers in the main deck, UW control on top of it makes me want to add Spellskite over counterspells. the horror can also turn into a 6/4 and win through normal damage.
Hard to predict what Modern's gonna be with MH1 though. Just guesses.
1) Why did the deck fall off recently? With the amount of linear decks I see in top 8's it seems like a good meta for us. What am I missing?
2) I think 2-3 scale ups should take over from BI. That said, I think you can support 2 BI if you run 3-4 street wraith just to fuel the yard. I ran wraith right after the g probe banning and it felt ok, but I also think scale up is just a better option and leads to faster kills. Might even be worth a full playset
3) How many waterlogged groves do we run and what lands do they replace? Do we need arbor dryad main anymore? How many decks with sac effects are we seeing? I feel like putting one in the side and replacing it with grove should be better. Without BI, cutting fetches seems reasonable as well. I would construct the manabase something along these lines:
edit: sideboard option - flusterstorm side? Generally pierce is probably better overall, but against blue decks having a stormed counterspell seems like a good form of protection. And what about the green storm card? does it slow us down too much, or is it worth it vs storm and burn?
edit x2: unearth seems like an attractive sideboard card for BUG or BG variants
Legacy: UW RiP/Helm, UR Sneak and Show
I don't know how many become immense I shoud cut tho...
To answer the question about why infect has fallen out of favor, my opinion is the following:
*Walking ballista is almost unbeatable
*Izzet phoenix is a really bad match-up for us with bolt and thing in the ice in their main-deck
*Various decks (especially control) playing field of ruin made inkmoth nexus a weaker threat
*Humans and Death's Shadow decks are both top tier decks right now and feel like awful match-ups from the infect side
I would also add burn as a bad matchup as almost all of his burn card can kill our creatures.
So what are the good matchup for infect ?
non-interactive decks that kills slower ... : Tron ? Boggles ? Dredge ? Amulet titan ? Adnauseum ?
Do you think that the London Mulligan rule (if it's official) would help our deck to be more consistent ?
UG Infect
Modern
UG Infect
GW Infect
EDH
WB Teysa, Orzhov Scion
B Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon