MTG Salvation

Ive been toying with a potential deck list, and have come to this. Thoughts?

@Kovo, honestly GB is not that great, and I am not saying that without having tried. Phyrexian Crusader is awesome, but the double black cost hurts the deck. I think the best option if you want to run black is to go BUG. Add Breeding Pool, Blighted Agent and Noble Hierarch and you will have a far more brutal deck (even if you don't have the Hierarchs).

Back to UG, and I have found a list that recently placed in the Top 8 of an SCG-IQ, that is starting to look more like a deck that has adapted to the current modern meta.

http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=74927



Ichorclaw Myr resumes its place in the deck instead of Viridian Corrupter. It is faster, and is good at dispatching blockers. It should be noted that it is much better now that there are less Tarmogoyfs in the format.

Giant Growth is being run instead of Might of Old Krosa. I have been a big fan of that plan for a long time, but it is even more relevant now than it has been in the past with all the burn going around. Good to see it being tried in UG anyway.

3 Spellskite in the main deck. It seems like a good card in an aggro/tempo format. It is a great early blocker, saves creatures from removal, and can redirect a Lightning Bolt to the face. This is going to be more relevant than it has been in the past.

Also, I notice he is running 21 land, with 1 Island along with the usual 2 Forest. I wonder if that is because he has been running into Blood Moon.

Hmm, would something like this be more competitive?

Quote from fanoftomross »

2. Does mono black infect do well against the aggressive strategies of UR Delver and Burn? It looks pretty good on paper with cheap removal, disruption and resilient threats though treasure cruise against hand disruption is very good. (I've shown CLYDE's mono-black list from ~August as an example)

I have little to no experience playing G(UB) infect in Modern but I've played MonoB Infect for over a year before shelving the deck so here are my 2 cents about it: When I played with it, the deck wasn't as competitive as other Infect variations because it played a grindy, more control-ish game but all the "goodstuff.dec" that were popular back then did the grindy game better. Right now, because Jund(k) loses way too much life (fetches, shocks, Thoughtseize, Bobs) I think that a grindy MonoB is better placed than it used to be. I can't say how competitive it's compared to other archetypes but it's certainly a decent (and budget-y) possibility.

Between Funeral Charms, Disfigures and other stuff you have a very efficient removal suite. Raven's Crime can deal with flooding quite well, Wrench Mind is a solid discard card against most of the format as is Inquisition of Kozilek. To add insult to injury, Phyrexian Crusader is incredible hard to interact with in the format and Liliana of the Veil is bonkers. That said the Burn matchup is certainly not easy (doesn't matter if you are playing Phyrexian Arena for recurring CA or Night's Whisper for gas - they are just too fast and too efficient).

If you decide to test it out, you'll have to consider your gameplan against Burn (prioritizing Skullcrack is probably the right play as the card can temporarily disable the "protection from white" from Crusader. Also American versions of Burn play Mountains as their only basic land. Ghost Quarter could be a reasonable answer).
The matchups that felt pretty bad for MBInfect were G(r) Tron, Jund(Junk is slightly easier but not by much). There are certainly other bad matchups but those are the really bad ones I can name from the top of my head.

I am taking back what I have being saying about Necropede, although it has been reasonable against burn, it really hasn't been great against the field. The format in general seems faster and UR Delver is proving very hard to beat, especially with MonoG. I have a feeling that the period of MonoG being a viable Infect option is over, it just feels too slow.

I do stand by what I said about Ichorclaw Myr being a better option than Viridian Corrupter at the moment in UG.

The brutal speed and evasion of BUG, may actually prove to be the best option. That is what I have switched to now. One thing is for sure, the current format is proving to be very difficult for Infect.

Quote from izzetmage »

You don't need Gods Willing for protection since you already have 4 Vines and 4 Blessing. If your reason for playing Gods Willing is that it makes your creature unblockable, cut out the middleman and play an unblockable creature (i.e. Blighted Agent) instead.

I don't agree with this logic, being someone who plays G/W Infect and it does reasonably well when I take it to weekly events (reliably 3-1's and 4-0's).

Blighted Agent is amazing, yes. But you're overlooking the value of Protection. Not only does it grant a sort of unblockability, it also saves a creature from spot removal. Let's be honest, you can pile up pump spells all day on your creature until they go to Abrupt Decay it. Protection is a nice way to swerve around this problem. And sure, you could say "Well, then pile a Vines of Vastwood or Apostle's Blessing spell on top of their Abrupt Decay." This thinking works in best case scenarios or against bad players.

You want to be able to beat good players, right? Good players won't try to kill your guy on your turn unless they've Probed you or Inquisitioned you and have a good handle on what amount of responses you have. They will usually sorcery speed burn or remove your guy so you'll run out of gas on your own turn.

It is for this reason that Emerge Unscathed is a powerhouse in infect, especially in a Wild Defiance list.

Lest we not forget, while splashing white may not provide us any great infecters, it does give us access to an incredible SB (Rest in Peace, Stony Silence). What more infecters do we need? I also see a lack of Plague Myr in most lists. I think this guy is great because if he's not the one going in, he can always help cast Apostle's Blessing or add to the much rarely used Phytoburst.

I guess I should also provide an argument for Phytoburst. Might of Old Krosa happens as an instant, right? Why not lump this bad boy in, too? We're going to rock some sorcery speed stuff, but things that will try to win right then. If you run enough protection, you'll have an evasive beast who survived the attempt to kill it. One thing I've noticed in playing infect is that the surprise rarely happens where you attack in and instant speed run them out of the game. They will always assume there might be a pump spell, rarely can you catch them that off guard.

For that reason, I'm also much less of a fan of Mutagenic Growth. Often times it will only lead to them being at 9 poison or something short of victory and the game turns around.

What exactly are you trying to say by bringing up Abrupt Decay? Play more protection spells? Do you think 4 Blessing and 4 Vines aren't enough? It's not like I'm forced to play white for more protection, there is Ranger's Guile.

I don't need Emerge Unscathed. You might play it in your GW deck so you can cast it on your opponent's turn to stop removal then again on your turn for evasion. In BUG I just need one protection spell for the removal; 8/12 of my creatures have built-in evasion.

Quote from Melvellan »

What list are you running for BUG atm? I'm still struggling to come up with a cohesive one after playing UG exclusively ...

Early days yet, but here is my initial list:



I am only running 1 Pendelhaven and 1 Forest to try and maximize the the number of Breeding Pool and Overgrown Tomb, while still keeping the land count at 20. I have Spell Pierce in the side but that might get replaced with Inquisition of Kozilek.

Quote from Ultra_Magnus »

I am only running 1 Pendelhaven and 1 Forest to try and maximize the the number of Breeding Pool and Overgrown Tomb

Is this necessary? You only ever need one blue and one black source at all times.

My SB when I last updated the deck was:

This was in the Burn+Delver meta. I played Disfigure to kill the creatures in those decks.
Darkblast was for Young Pyromancer, it should be pretty good against Affinity also.

Quote from izzetmage »

Quote from Ultra_Magnus »

I am only running 1 Pendelhaven and 1 Forest to try and maximize the the number of Breeding Pool and Overgrown Tomb

Is this necessary? You only ever need one blue and one black source at all times.

I am just worried about color screw, and I only run one Pendelhaven anyway, as I seem to like drawing the 2nd one!

I have noticed though that an online player called Lazy5000 has been running a 2/4 split with 4 Overgrown Tomb, instead of the usual 2/2 split. Blue has Noble Hierarch, so it seems he runs an extra couple of Overgrown Tomb to help with black.

Edit: Izzet, I notice in his latest result he has 1 Darkblast in the sideboard.

He's playing Phyrexian Crusader in the SB, so he needs 2 black sources.

Well done Styl3d! Anything you would change now?

I played in a small 4-round tourney more than a week ago. :))

2-0 vs. UWr Control
2-1 vs. Burn (still perfect record in matches; Necropede totally saved me.)
0-2 vs. UR Tempo (I hate Treasure Cruise so much)
2-1 vs. Melira Pod

For the MonoG Infect list, would it be better nowadays to have the 2 Spellskites maindecked and have the full 4 Dismembers in the SB instead?

What did your deck list look like?

Here is my current iteration. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Similar to UltraMagnus' latest MonoGreen edit w/ Necropedes MD instead of Sylvan Scrying (2 copies moved to SB)

@Ultra_Magnus
Mind checking my list out, I have modified the SB for a more comprehensive scrying package but kept most ov your original list intact (it's a work ov art after all).
Went to 2 haven after lots of reading and playing (If the Boss man Ross says 2 is right, 2 is right^^),
I seem to have better luck not drawing the second and with the new legend rule they aren't necessarily bad






So far this iteration feels the most solid to me, it plays much like the legacy version in that it is very calmly paced, and methodical.
You aren't really playing an-all in deck(only when the timing is right).

I would also like to thank you and everyone in this thread for your devotion to developing this deck to the point it is at now,
I read this entire thread today and was astonished at the amount ov development that has gone into making Mono green the monster it is today.

Thanks calexil, it is much appreciated. I recently went in a big tourney with the Necropede list, thinking it would be good against UR Delver, and ended up playing a bunch of matches against Delver and got the Necropede out, only to have it hit with Vapor Snag, Remand or Spell Snare each time, while my opponent successfully bought the time he needed to win. So for the MonoG version I have put back in Sylvan Scrying, which has definitely been a great card for the deck. Necropede has been good against Burn though.

As has been suggested I am starting to think main decking 2 Spellskite instead of the 2 Dismember could be useful in the current format, although it will still get bounced and countered. Maybe something like Gut Shot could be useful in the side to help slow Delver down.

As for the plan for running a tool box of land in the sideboard, I have had some success running a single Tectonic Edge in the side, which I boarded in against Scapeshift and Tron, but of course Ghost Quarter would be better against Tron. Sejiri Steppe looks good, as tutor-able evasion. Bojuka Bog could be interesting to keep Treasure Cruise at bay. Let us know how you go with it!