Monoblack Infect [Competitive]

Modern Competitive Control Infect Mono-Black Phyrexian

Kazierts

Land (21)

• 4x Swamp
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 4x Inkmoth Nexus
• 4x Polluted Delta
• 4x Shadowy Backstreet
• 3x Silent Clearing
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Planeswalker (2)

• 2x Liliana of the Veil

Creature (12)

• 2x Ichorclaw Myr
• 1x Flensermite
• 4x Phyrexian Crusader
• 4x Plague Stinger
• 1x Skrelv, Defector Mite

Sorcery (10)

• 2x Collective Brutality
• 3x Damn
• 2x Inquisition of Kozilek
• 3x Thoughtseize

Artifact (7)

• 1x Bonesplitter
• 4x Mazemind Tome
• 1x Sword of Light and Shadow
• 1x Eater of Virtue

Instant (8)

• 4x Fatal Push
• 4x Funeral Charm

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Sideboard

Artifact (9)

• 2x Damping Sphere
• 2x Dragon's Claw
• 2x Pithing Needle
• 1x Ratchet Bomb
• 1x Sword of Sinew and Steel
• 1x The Filigree Sylex

Sorcery (3)

• 1x Bontu's Last Reckoning
• 2x Necromentia

Enchantment (2)

• 2x Leyline of the Void

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Ashiok, Dream Render

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Maybeboard

Artifact (2)

• 1x Bloodthorn Flail
• 1x Sword of Once and Future

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Normally, infect tends to be played as {G}, {U}{G}, {B}{G} or {B}{U}{G}(in legacy). However, I have a long history with the Monoblack archetype. It was one of the first cohesive decks I started to build, going through many iterations ({B}{G} and {B}{W} to mention a few, but none were any good. There was even a point whenI dismantled basically stopped playing it. Still, my love for the Monoblack Infect archetype would never die and, as such, here I am.

This version tends to be a lot slower than the green ones due to the lack of explosive pump spells like Mutagenic Growth and Scale Up.D Despite this, I tend to have way more fun with control decks, and the Monoblack version delivers exactly what I want.

What's the Goal? Show

Pretty simple. Disrupt my opponent's game plan with a myriad of discard spells, like Thoughtseize and Collective Brutality, and remove any threats or obstacles to my infect creatures.

Plague Stinger, Phyrexian Crusader and Ichorclaw Myr constitute the deck's main win conditions, with Inkmoth Nexus being a hidden infect creature in the manabase.

Having talked about what the deck wants to do, now it's time to detail exactly how the deck works, card by card.

Creatures Show

It's important to note that, now, all creatures here have the Phyrexian type. This raises two important points:

1. Now they are eligible for tribal support. Rally the Ranks and other similar effects can be used to capitalise on this, though I wouldn't recommend it. However, I do think Cavern of Souls is something to consider. It may no be good enough, but it's something to keep in mind.

2. As soon as the update was known, people were thinking Infect would become much worse since Plague Engineer. That's true for the {G} based infect deck, but this one being a control deck, it shouldn't be as much of a problem. Fatal Push, Damn, Inquisition of Kozilek, Collective Brutality, Thoughtseize and Liliana of the Veil, the last one being a little bit situation reliant, all deal with enginer pretty easily.

4x Phyrexian Crusader {1}{B}{B}

The best creature in the deck by far. Sure, it can be a bit slow due to its mana cost. However, the mini wall of text it has definitely makes it worth it.

Protection from red and white makes it really hard to remove for some decks while having decent evasion. Path to Exile, Lightning Bolt and other common removal spells in modern just don't work. Thus, forcing the opponent to have things like Abrupt Decay and Maelstrom Pulse, which can be removed with the help of the myriad of discard spells the deck has.

As an added, sneaky bonus, First Strike makes it hard to be killed through combat since even trying to kill it with 1/1 deathouchers will require at least 3 to get through the First Strike. Plus, though not in a competitive context, there has been more than one occasion in which my friends completely forgot it had First Strike.

Also, the Swords were chosen, partially, because of the Crusaders as it can increase the difficulty of dealing with them.

With Modern Horizons 2, now the Crusader has the added benefit of being a Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer stone wall.

4x Plague Stinger {1}{B}

There isn't a lot to talk about the Stinger. It doesn't have any unique abilities like the Ichorclaw Myr or the mini wall of text the card:Phyexian Crusader has. However, it has flying, and that by itself is enough to make a decent threat if left unchecked.

Of all the creatures with infect that fly, Plague Stinger is the cheapest of the bunch. It isn't any Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon but anyone who saw a Blighted Agent across the field knows how terrifying can be an infect creature with evasion.

3x Ichorclaw Myr {1}{B}

Originally, this spot was reserved to four copies of Phyrexian Vatmother. However, after discussion with a few people and thinking about some games I had, it seemed like the best course of action to make the cuts for the Myr.

Though weaker than the Phyrexian Vatmother, Ichorclaw Myr is a cheap threat to help pressure the board earlier than a 4 drop.

Being two mana means it can come down on turn two and attack on turn three together with an Inkmoth Nexus, which at one point will force the opponent to block since the poison will start to add up. That's when its ability shines. Most of the times, blocking the Ichorclaw Myr won't be profitable for the opponent, specially if there's a Runechanter's Pike equipped to it.

Another small bonus it has is that it doesn't require colored mana. This makes is much easier to cast than basically any other decent threat the deck could have. Otherwise, without Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, there will be times when there's a threat in my hand but I can't cast due to the colorless producing lands in the mana base.

Overall it's a pretty efficient threat thanks to its cost that can catch opponents off guard with its ability to grow when blocked.

1x Flensermite {1}{B}

For now, this is merely a tech choice and prone to being removed. If I end up removing it, my next experiment is going to be Priests of Norn.

I know, I know. This is a very suspect choice, and I'll admit it's probably not a good one. However, with the release of Eater of Virtue, having more keywords for it to absorb seems enticing. Having a card:Bonsplittler that can potentially give Flying, Lifelink, First Strike and/or Protection from White and Red is very interesting. And yes, Lifelink is something important enough for me to consider, as this deck can easily kill itself, especially with the inclusion of Shock and Fecth Lands. Aside from this, there's no other reason to include it.

Technically, Inkmoth Nexus is more important as a creature than a mana producer. Still, I chose to talk about about it in the manabase section.

Instants & Sorceries Show

Since this version is way slower than the more common one, the deck patches its "slowness" by using discard spells to remove key components from the opponent's strategy and/or removal against the "infecters", and by using removal spells against problematic creatures, blockers and tokens. This is what allows the deck to function. It's basically divided into two categories: Disruption/Discard and Removal.

4x Funeral Charm {B}

At first this looks like a really meh spell. However, once you start using it, you can how its modes, though seemingly weak, grant huge versatility.

I'll start by the easiest one to explain, the Swampwalk mode. It may seem kinda narrow, since... Well, the opponent has to have swamps for this to work, and it actually is kinda narrow. If the card had just this to offer it wouldn't even be in the deck, but right know I'm not talking about the other modes. Anyway, one of the most important parts of Modern are the shocklands, which actually have basic land types, therefore enabling the Swampwalk mode. There's also the sneaky tech with card:Urbor, Tomb of Yawgmoth, which I'll talk about more later, that transforms all lands into swamps, thus allowing the deck to have a possible "surprise" kill.

Moving on, now talking about the +2/-1 mode. When I saw this card, I thought to myself that I would mostly just use this as a sort of pump spell but it has actually been a lot of times as a removal spell, believe it or not. In my meta (mostly casual) it normally kills something like a Cryptbreaker which is actually pretty good, with it also being able to snipe creatures with -1/-1 counters that were damaged by infect. Going back to the pump aspect, it can get really nasty with the Phyrexian Crusader due to First Strike. The opponent triple blocked with 3 1/1 deathouchers to kill it? Target the Crusader with the charm and it's now a 4/1 killing all of its blockers (this has happened to me already).

Lastly, but not less important, the Discard mode. This is a bit different from other discard spells since it can be cast as an instant, while things like Thoughtseize, Collective Brutality and Raven's Crime cannot. Which means it can be used at certain moments of the game to force the opponent to maybe discard key pieces that they weren't expecting to have to discard during their turn(but to be honest I haven't figured out how to play it this way... Yet). Otherwise, it's basically another discard spell to add to the deck.

All in all, a pretty versatile card that's pretty important for the Monoblack version of Infect. Its three modes alone wouldn't be worth, but combine them together to make a spell that definitely deserves slots in this deck.

Also important to mention that Swords that give protection from black can be a bit of a nombo with it. Just to give an example, if I equip one of my creatures with card:Sword of Sinew and Stew, that creature won't be able to receive either Swampwalk or +2/-1. Don't know if anyone is gonna be reading at this point. However, if somebody decides to read and is interested in building a Monoblack Infect, keep this in mind.

With the addition of Modern Horizons 2 this actually gets a lot better as its +2/-1 kills Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, Ignoble Hierarch and Dragon's Rage Channeler(before delirium goes online)

4x Fatal Push {B}

This is pretty straight forward. The best forms of removal are/people want to be instants simply because it's much better to kill something during your opponent's turn than to tapout during your own turn and tell them you have nothing up your sleeve. Fatal Push is an instant.

A lot of decks have pretty low costed threats or even mana dorks(which kinda need to be low costed) to further their strategy. Things like, and this is gonna be a long list, Delver of Secrets  , Birds of Paradise, Goblin Guide, Monastery Swiftspear, Champion of the Parish, Devoted Druid, Baral, Chief of Compliance and so many more it would take me a long time to write all of those. Fatal Push deals with those and occasionally can also deal with the likes of Questing Beast if one manages to trick an opponent into blocking or by making use of a removal pointed at one of the infecters.

And what's the cost of all this? One single black mana. The only "downside" is that it hits only creatures with converted mana 2 two or less, 4 if you are able to trigger Revolt. Considering the amount of threats Modern has, this "downside" should really be thought as a power restriction, otherwise this card could have been too powerful.

3x Thoughtseize {B}

The premier discard spell and a format all-star. This is one of those cards that when you start playing you tend to think it doesn't do a whole lot and how different it is from other discard spells. However, the effectiveness of Thoughtseize is immeasurable.

I'll start with the easy stuff first, the "downside". For being an unconditional discard spell(well, with the exception of lands), there needs to be a downside and that is losing 2 life. In general, this doesn't really matter, aside from matches against really fast aggro decks and Burn, with some decks, like Death's Shadow, actually benefiting heavily from losing life. However, I'm not here talking about other decks. Back to this deck, the loss of life can be a bit though. There isn't a lot of card draw in black that doesn't require it's controller to lose life(I know things like Village Rites exist but this deck can't run it properly) and normally a Monoblack Infect would run Sign in Blood or Night's Whisper, with the former working better with the mana base. I myself actually used to run four copies of Sign in Blood with a copy of Castle Locthwain and I gotta tell you, that would kill me really, really fast. So, if you, reader, are interested in building this deck and wants to run painful card draw, maybe you should consider something like Inquisition of Kozilek since it hits almost everything you could want. I, however, opted for another route. Instead of not running, I chose to run a new card from M21 to allow me to use Thoughtseize, and that card is Mazemind Tome. I won't be going in depth about the tome right now as it will have its own section. Just wanted to give some foreshadowing and explain that the life loss can actually hurt the deck.

With the easy part out of the way, let's get to the hardest part, its utility. I'm gonna split this into two parts. In one I'll talked about its usefulness as a universal discard. On the other one I'll give my reasons to why I think it's a better option than Inquisition of Kozilek.

When I started this deck, Black had a few problems dealing with specific cards types, mainly Enchantment and Artifact. However, things like Pharika's Libation and card:Fees the Swarm have happened. So, maybe the future has some more of this type of cards. That being said, I'm still gonna focus on the general idea that Black can't deal with specific types of permanents, because that's the reason this deck runs Thoughtseize. For one single mana, it's possible to get perfect information about the opponent's hand and disrupt their game plane on turn one. That's a huge advantage. Against other control decks it can take a removal, counter, boardwipe, win condition or whatever else might be needed to be taken. Against combo decks it can simply remove their main combo pieces or ways to find them. Against aggro, though a little less efficient, it can eliminate a threat that wouldn't be easily dealt with using something like Fatal Push or Collective Brutality. There's probably way more things that could be said about its utility in general but I think I have already gotten the message across.

Thoughtseize versus Inquisition of Kozilek. In a lot of matchups they will do the exact same things, especially if the opposing deck has a very low curve. Their difference comes up with some decks that have threats that, even though have a pretty huge cost, cast those with ease. cough cough TRON cough cough That's when Thoughtseize shows it true potential. I'll try to list a few to have some examples.

• Gurmag Angler in Death's Shadow decks and a few others
• Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger, Karn Liberated, Reality Smasher and almost everything else that Tron plays. On the off chance you get to play against SaffronOlive himself, it hits Chromatic Orrery.
• Planeswalkers like Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
• Murktide Regent is a new threat brought by Modern Horizons 2 which, despite being able to be cast very cheaply, its mana value (or converted mana cost) is high enough for it to dodge Fatal Push.

These are but a few examples. There's definitely way more than I can remember.

I think that's enough to be said about this one little card. I know that a lot of not every Modern(the format) player knows how good Thoughtseize is in general. I just trying to explain as much as I could to maybe help some people who might consider it for an Infect deck or maybe are really new to the competitive landscape or new to the game in general.

If you want a more in-depth look at the usefulness and power of card:Thoughtseise, the channel Rhystic Studies made an entire video around it. It's definetly worth to take a look.

2x Collective Brutality {1}{B}

This is another one that makes the cut due to its versatility as none of its modes are particularly useful if they were separate cards. I'll first describe each option separately, then I'll talk about the card as a whole and its escalate cost (or fancy entwine, if you prefer).

Let me start by the one that's not necessarily useless, but rather least used, the drain 2 mode. This will only matter when facing aggro or burn decks as the only viable lifegain in the deck comes from Mazemind Tome. So having a lifegain option attached to a potential removal and discard is pretty good. Otherwise, it's just a pretty situational mode.

The pseudo-"Duress" mode is where things get a bit more interesting. I have to mention that, even though some people call this the Duress mode, it's NOT the same as it. Collective Brutality can only take Instants and Sorceries, but noEnchantments or Planeswalkers. With that in mind, it's still pretty useful. Against more controlling decks, you have an answer against counterspells boardwipes or even plain and simple removal that also gives you information on the opponent's had. Another way to use it is to snipe combo pieces. The only examples I can remember are Ad Nauseam, Indomitable Creativity and Cascade spells, such as Violent Outburst and Glimpse of Tomorrow.

The Disfigure mode is probably the best, and the one going to be used the most, though the one above is pretty close. I mean, this is just good ol' removal. -2/-2 kills a ridiculous amount of threats in Modern. Here's a small list of the most played ones:

1. Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
2. Lurrus of the Dream-Den
3. Dragon's Rage Channeler (without delirium online)
4. Esper Sentinel
5. Tourach, Dread Cantor
6. Stoneforge Mystic
7. Puresteel Paladin (without equipment)
8. Brazen Borrower
9. Monastery Swiftspear and many more

In a similar fashion to Funeral Charm, most of its mode aren't impressive by itself and would, at most, be sideboard choices. However, when you combine them all in a single card that can just discard an extra card for each mode you just make an incredibly versatile tool for a huge array of decks. It may look painful to discard a card for each mode, but, in most cases, you're just using a single extra mode and it ends up being pretty worth it. When you consider the fact this deck is probably gonna end up discarding a few cards to Liliana of the Veil anyway, discarding them for something useful starts looking more appealing.

Creatures mentioned here were seen in MTG Golfish's most played creatures in Modern page and can change with the release of new sets.

2x Inquisition of Kozilek {B}

Well, now that I'm splashing a little bit of {W} to include some tech choices, I cannot lose too much life to Thoughtseize. So, as I mentioned previously, card:Inquistion of Kozilek, while not as powerful as the premier discard spell, is still able to get most of Modern staples, even more than what one can remember since Lurrus of the Dream-Den warps the format around it.

There's not much else to say besides what I've said in Thoughtseize's section.

3x Damn {B}{B} or {2}{W}{W}

Yahenni's Expertise completely lost its spot with no chance of coming back

It's kinda surprising WOTC actually printed this card. This is so strong, even in a monocolored deck, the main reason being its two "modes", the spot removal mode (a.k.a. Sorcery speed Doom Blade/Heartless Act/Cast Down) and, literally, Wrath of God. It's ridiculously versatile, but gushing over colorful cardboard doesn't help. Let me break down what it does and why it's so good.

When looking at Scryfall, there are very few removal spells for two mana that have no restrictions for targets. Some examples are Devour in Shadow, which doesn't have restrictions but can be extremely painful if it targets a Tarmogoyf or Death's Shadow, and Feed the Swarm, which is a very recent addition and quite versatile but can also be very painful. Infernal Grasp is another pretty good one, but it's still kinda painful to run, even though being an Instant makes it pretty tempting. Damn simply kills, not strings attached. Doesn't matter if it's a huge Murktide Regent or a tiny Thalia, Guardian of Thraben.

In addition to it, it's also a Wrath of God for just two more {W}{W} mana. It's gonna increase the price a bit since I'm including Polluted Delta, Godless Shrine and Silent Clearing to allow the deck to cast it. I'll go over these specifics lands in the manabase section, otherwise I'll be clogging this section too much. Back to the main point, why is a boardwipe so important for this deck? Simple. This deck struggles against creature heavy lists. A boardwipe resets the board and allows the player to pick o creatures one by one as they come after the reset, which, quess what, Damn can also do for just {B}{B}!

I understand it can be a bit challenging to splash {W} to just include this card and it can be argued it's not necessary. However, I do believe this makes the deck much stronger against creature based decks, specially aggressive decks since you can kill one or all of their creatures. If you plan on ever piloting this deck, don't forget to at least glance over Damn.

Artifacts Show

4x Mazemind Tome {2}

Normally, Monoblack tends to run card draw spells like Sign in Blood and Night's Whisper. However, slowly I realized that those spells can get you really close to dead, which is horrible against more aggro decks.

Then, M21 comes around. The Tome looked rather unimpressive. It didn't seem to do a whole lot. Yet the more I saw it being played in standard, the more I realized it could actually work in this deck.

Let's start with its first ability. It's sure weaker than what regular card draw spell would be as it only provides a very small form of card selection. However, the ability of being able to do it multiple times makes up for it not being as powerful. In most cases, just scrying in an answer is good enough.

2x Runechanter's Pike {2}

There's quite a few equipment that are considered or can be considered for infect decks. Livewire Lash, Lashwrithe, Bonesplitter and probably a few others I don't remember right now. With all those options available, why Runechanter's Pike? There's a few reasons.

One thing almost all equipments considered for the deck have in common is that they're cheap. Why is this so important? Smaller costs mean more plays available as more lands are as well. Example, Runechanter's Pike and Plague Stinger on turn 4, or maybe Runechanter's Pike while leaving Fatal Push/Funeral Charm open. Another important thing related to the lower CMC cost is Liliana of the Veil. If you can spill out your hand as fast as possible, then her +1 won't be as damaging to you as to your opponent.

1x Sword of Light and Shadow {3}

Sword of Truth and Justice temporarily had a spot, but with the new additions of Modern Horizons 2, the deck became a bit more painful. As such I see the recursion and lifegain more important abilities for this list.

Planeswalkers Show

2x Liliana of the Veil {1}{B}{B}

I was debating whether I should include this one or not because of the price. In the end, she seemed too strong to pass up. Currently, I have only copy but I intend to buy another one next year.

There's a lot to unpack here. This isn't even one of those cards that's deceptively weak, this Liliana packs a punch. Let's go over it's abilities one by one.

Her +1, despite being symmetrical, is really strong. The ability to continuously control your opponents hand, probably at the cost of a few of your cards, is invaluable. It can get rid of potential threats, saving its owner's removal spells. It can force the opponent to discard a removal, targeted or boardwipe, making it easier to progress the gameplan. One thing is for sure, she will drain the opponent's resources really fast. There's one last thing I should mention about this ability. While this deck is pretty slow, the curve is pretty low. So, it shouldn't be hard to get empty handed and not be affected by her.

The -2 is non-targeted removal (doesn't target creatures, but I know it targets players). I'm already gonna say that's not particularly good against go wide decks as the opponent can just sacrifice a token, but that's why the deck has maindeck boardwipes. Now that's out ot the way, let me tell why this is also a great ability. One of the things every Planeswalker has to have to be considered good is the ability to protect itself. There will be plenty of times, taking into account the amount of removal the deck has, when the opponent will have only one creature on board when she hits the field. Then, she can either plus and survive, depending on the creature's power, or minus itself to, almost, guarantee her survival, and I say almost because of things like Lightning Bolt. She can also use this to answer big threats that escape the range of Fatal Push, Collective Brutality or Yahenni's Expertise. This ability is definitely situational in a lot of games, but it's definitely a very good to have this option.

-6. This looks very situational but let's think about it a little bit. Let's say you split the piles in half of your opponent's resources each. Unless the opponent is really far ahead, losing half of their resources should mean an instant victory or something close to it.

Manabase Show

5x Basic Swamps {T}{B}

Not anything special. Just basic lands to make the deck work. Well, it enables Castle Locthwain to come in untapped.

4x Inkmoth Nexus {T}{C}

The staple of every single Infect deck that isn't on a budget, and for good reasons.

I mentioned that I would talk more about it in the manabase section rather than in the creatures section. This is, in fact, a land. However, its main use comes not from its mana producing ability. If the only thing it had was its tap for {1} this would have been an useless card.

It's main appeal comes from being able to turn itself into a creature. However, it's even better than most creatures lands as the creature it becomes has Infect, which is insanely huge for this deck. All variations of infect tend to run very few creatures, normally something around 12. The Inkmoth allows the deck to technically run 16 creatures without too much of a drawback.

2x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth {T}{B}

This is purely here for mana fixing reasons. Having colorless lands like Inkmoth Nexus and Karn's Bastion hurts a lot when the deck has quite a few black pips ({B}). So, to mitigate the drawbacks of these lands Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth.

I do have to note it's quite an expensive option but honestly there isn't a lot that can be done about it other than cutting the lands, which is a no go.

4x Polluted Delta

4x Godless Shrine {T}{WB}

2x Silent Clearing {T}{WB}

1x Castle Locthwain {T}{B}

Throne of Eldraine, a.k.a. most of standard bans, gave us the amazing castle cycle, with Castle Locthwain being the best toy given to infect.

As a control deck, you need to keep your hand filled with answers or have engines in place so you can refill your hand, the former being the reason why Locthwain deserves a spot in basic every Monoblack deck, and maybe a few dual colored decks with black. Another very good reason is that the Castle just takes a land slot and, more specifically, a Swamp slot, since, aside of not having the swamp subtype, it's literally a better swamp.

Having all of those upsides said, there's a downside. The card draw is quite painful, which is a problem considering how painful some other Monoblack options, like Thoughtseize or Sign in Blood/Night's Whisper. This made me think it was even more important to have Mazemind Tome as a way to offset this lifeloss.

Given everything I said, it would make sense to have more than 1 copy of it, right? Well, maybe. However, since I'm running quite a few nonbasic lands, it feels like a nombo to have more than one Castle in case I don't open with an Urborg. It's definitely something to keep in mind and worth of testing.

Sideboard Show

1x Ashiok, Dream Render {1}{UB}{UB}

Ashiok, Dream Render was a very pleasant surprise from War of the Spark. It combines an Aven Mindcensor with Shadow of Doubt that also mills (which is kinda irrelevant for this deck) and hates on graveyard.

It does have the downside of not having flash as Aven Mindcensor. However, it completely locks the opponent from searching, which the Mindcensor doesn't do. As an added benefit, its color pips allow it to fit in more decks that normally doesn't have access to this kind of effect. Also, it's way cheaper than Shadow of Doubt.

As I've mentioned, the milling isn't that relevant for this deck but it's still worth to mention that it can help by disrupting a top scry or just removing an important game piece from the opponent. Despite having its uses, the main appeal from Ashiok, Dream Render is its ability to exile all opponent's graveyard. Since you get a repeatable way to exile the graveyard of every othet player, combining it with the power to mill the top of another player, Ashiok, Dream Render is a pretty versatile, cheap-costed and useful hate piece for any deck that can afford to slot it in.

1x Bontu's Last Reckoning {1}{B}{B}

It may seem a bit weird to have another boardwipe in the sideboard when the mainboard already has 3. Still, sometimes not having an unconditional removal can hurt a little bit as creatures can grow up past Yahenni's Expertise's -3/-3. So, with that in mind, Bontu's Last Reckoning is the cheapest one that destroys literally every creature. Sure, I could run Damnation, but it's so expensive I chose to run the cheapest moneywise and cmcwise.

It's important to know that there's a downside, which is stopping lands from untapping during the next untap step, though it shouldn't be so impactful given the deck can run rather properly with 3/4 mana.

2x Damping Sphere {2}

Basically, a Tron and Storm hoser.

There's very little way this deck can interact against Tron aside from discarding a payoff, like Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger, or Karn Liberated and maybe a Tron finder, such as Expedition Map or Ancient Stirrings.

Against Storm, I reckon the matchup to be a little better. Though discarding isn't a proper answer to it, thanks to Past in Flames, combining it with graveyard hate, specially one that prevents searching (Ashiok, Dream Render), with Damping Sphere should prove, in theory, to be a decent lock when facing a storm opponent.

2x Dragon's Claw {2}

This one is as simple as it can get. It's a sideboard tech against burn and red aggro decks. Even though I tried to minimize the effects that force me to pay life, it can still be pretty painful to play against more aggressive decks.

There may be an argument that says it's probably worth to run one more copy since fast aggro/burn are the worst matchups. For now, I'll test with just two.

2x Leyline of the Void {2}{B}{B} or {0}

Every single deck in basically every format has to have graveyard hate in some way shape or form, and since one copy of Ashiok, Dream Render wouldn't be enough, I opted for the Leyline also.

There's a very small detail, which may seem obvious, that makes the Leyline better to me rather than something like card:Graffdigger's Cage or Ravenous Trap, and that's the ability to start the game already in play. To explain this better, I'll give an example that happened to me when using the Cage (I had no money for the Leylines, so I bought the Cages as a Budget option). I sideboarded it in against my opponent who was playing Monoblack Zombies. My opening hand had a Cage in it. However, I was on the draw and my opponent just used Inquisition of Kozilek. That's something that won't happen to a Leyline. Sure, it does get worse of it's not in your opening hand. Still, the upside of having it in your opening hand and ruining a potential setup of a graveyard deck is too much to pass on. Plus, the London Mulligan Rule should help a lot.

Another factor to consider is that it isn't symmetrical. Relic of Progenitus, Crook of Condemnation and other similar effects exile all graveyards. Normally, Monoblack Infect doesn't rely on its graveyard a lot. That's until you consider running Runechanter's Pike, Raven's Crime and Delve spells like Murderous Cut.

As a side note, just to be clear, I'm not saying the Cage or other grave hate options are bad. I'm giving the reasons why I prefer the Leyline of the Void rather than other options.

2x Necromentia {1}{B}{B}

This is mainly to counter combo decks, Ad Nauseum as an exemple, or threats that the deck has very few ways to counter, like enchantments or specific spells against spell heavy decks.

The zombie tokens are practically negligible since they can be easily dealt with using the myriad of removals the deck has. This is why I chose to run Necromentia rather than Lost Legacy, as giving your opponent extra cards can help them win the game.

2x Ratchet Bomb {2}

Black does have some of the boardwipes in the entire game, tied with White. However, Black (Monoblack specifically) has trouble dealing with Enchantments (I know Feed the Swarm exists but it's too painful) and Artifacts. That's where Ratchet Bomb comes in.

Black's main way of dealing with those permanent types is primarily through discarding. Still, that has a problem. You have to be able to discard before your opponent casts it. Otherwise it's gonna be a problem. Ratchet Bomb presents itself as a versatile removal option that can even blow up tokens if needed.

The only things that come to my mind right to give as examples that it can blow up are Blood Moon, Bitterblossom, Ensnaring Bridge, but I'm sure there are plenty more in the Modern format.

2x Pithing Needle {1}

I initially had card:Sorcerer's spyglass but an user (Poseidon31) pointed out that with Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek and Collective Brutality I'll already get to now my opponent's deck anyway. So, there's no point in paying {2} when I can pay just {1}.

1x Sword of Sinew and Steel {3}

Even though the deck has plenty of removal, it can't properly deal with Planeswalkers (not easily at least) and Artifacts. There's a few removal spells in monoblack that actually deal with Planeswalkers but not that deal with Artifacts.

Then, comes Sword of Sinew and Steel in Modern Horizons. It deals with both types of problematic permanents in a single hit. Of course, this wouldn't be enough to award a slot in the deck (this is probably getting repetitive by now).

What makes it worth the deck slot is the protection it provides. Protection from Red and Black protects from basically the best forms of removal in the format, examples being Lightning Bolt and Fatal Push. Aside from protecting against some of the best removals, it also facilitates getting an attack through, which isn't one of its selling points but it's important enough to mention.

There's a few downsides that should be mentioned. Protection from Red is redundant with Phyrexian Crusader, thus it doesn't protect it as much as other swords would.

One thing to note as I'm going into these mentions is they're not definitive analysis about why these cards work or don't work in Modern or any other format (except for Swamp Mosquito). They're just cards I wanted to mention because people have suggested them to me, I used them at some point and/or are common cards people tend to consider when thinking about Monoblack Infect. So, read these with a grain of salt.

Honorable Mentions Show

Here I'll be listing cards I think can be useful, are powerful, are a playstyle choice or are just bad but I like'em (I'll never forget you, Phyrexian Vatmother)

If I have time and/or remember, this section should be getting updates as more sets come out and/or people make suggestions I think are relevant.

Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon {3}{B}{B}

Aside from having a very hard name to spell without looking it up, Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon is a beast of a card.

Flying and Infect are two keywords people never want to see together, except for (us) infect players. Mix that up with a 4/4 body and things become really scary. Still, that wouldn't be enough to make him the threat he is. What makes Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon a true problem for opponents to deal are its activated abilities. So much so I'll talk about each separately.

• {B}: Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon gains haste until the end of turn - Well, I mentioned that Flying and Infect are terrifying when put together. Now think about a hasty, flying, infectious 4/4 body. If the situation, and mana, allows Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon can come out of nowhere and finish an already infected opponent.

• {B}{B}: Regenerate Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon - What's better than a Flying 4/4 with Infect and Haste? One that can also Regenerate! On top of being a huge threat, Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon can also be quite resilient, which makes him basically a win condition by himself.

Now, after all I've said, one would think Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon should be definitely included in the list even if only a single copy in the sideboard, right? There's a problem that's quite noticeable, and that's how expensive (manawise) he is.

This deck curves out at 4 mana, with Yahenni's Expertise being more a reset button that allows me to maintain tempo rather than a must play on turn four. Raven's Crime helps to mitigate any flooding problems since I'll probably never need more than 3/4 mana. Liliana of the Veil is probably gonna end up discarding a lot of lands to her +1 also in case I end up flooding.

So, how would this deck be able to fit Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon in its mana curve, given a lot of times he'll just end being a brick? That's a question I still don't have the answer for.

Karn, the Great Creator {4}

Demonic Embrace {1}{B}{B}

Shadowspear {1}

Whispering Specter {1}{B}{B}

Is Phyrexian Crusader too expensive? Fear not! You can still have an infectious killing machine with evasion, even though it dies to Lightning Bolt.

Whispering Specter might not be as strong as Phyrexian Crusader but, in some scenarios, Flying can be better than any of the Crusader's abilities as it can make things easier when it comes to closing out a game.

Additionally, the ability to sacrifice itself to make the opponent discard cards equal to the number of poison counters they have must not be underestimated. Picture this situation:

1. Turn 2 - Cast either Plague Stinger or Ichorclaw Myr (preferably the Stinger since it has evasion)

2. Turn 3 - Hit the opponent for 1 poison counter. Then, cast Whispering Specter. The order here does matter because if the opponent sees the Specter before taking the damage, they are probably more likely to block.

3. Turn 4 - Hit the opponent with Whispering Specter and the other creatures you control. After that, cast any discard spell of your choice. If you cast a Duress/Despise, or anything similar to it, you pick the option less likely to be discarded by your opponent. Now, just sacrifice Whispering Specter to its own ability and take the rest of your opponent's hand.

Smallpox {B}{B}

Wrench Mind {B}{B}

Urza's Saga {T}{C}

Skrelv's Hive {1}{W}

Soul Partition {1}{W}

Jawbone Duelist {1}{W}

The Stone Brain {2}

As much as I love writing shit tons of text, the only reason I even think about this is because of Karn, the Great Creator. If he ever makes it into my list, Necromentia is out, and the Brain is in. Otherwise, hard no.

Dishonorable Mentions Show

Swamp Mosquito {1}{B}

Just no

Just kidding. I have an explanation why I don't like this one.

While it is capable of inflicting poison counters, it does so through its ability (which isn't infect), and this is the problem. Due to this, even if its power is over 9000, it'll deal just one poison counter as damage. So, it would take 10 turns with a single Swamp Mosquito to kill the opponent. Having something the likes of Whispering Specter is much better despite the fact it costs more mana.

In addition to being almost impossible to kill someone with, it's also terrible at blocking/trading. It's undeniable most of Infect creatures that see play do not have a big body. However, things like Plague Stinger and Ichorclaw Myr aren't supposed to block anyway. If you are forced to blocking with them, you're probably losing anywa, in which case the Swamp Mosquito is gonna be even worse since it can't even trade without being equiped. Furthermore, Phyrexian Crusader and Phyrexian Vatmother (which I'm not using anymore) are pretty good at blocking, being capable of acting as decent deterrents, if need be.

Overall thoughts: unless you're going for a meme/jank deck, do not run any copies of Swamp Mosquito.

Infiltration Lens {1}

Infiltration Lens does look interesting. Draw two cards is always a very good thing to see in a low-costed card. However, that alone isn't enough to make a card good.

Costing only {1} mana is certainly appealing, specially for a deck with such a low curve. Despite this, and the ability to generate card advantage, there is a crucial problem with it. While it makes blocking "less" profitable for the opponent to block, it does absolutely nothing if the opponent blocks, which is why it isn't worth.

I'll give an example using Runechanter's Pike, but you could use any equipment that boosts a creature's stats.

Let's say I have an Ichorclaw Myr equipped with a Runechanter's Pike with a single Instant or Sorcery in my graveyard. For this scenario, it doesn't matter the size of the opponent's creature, but let's say my opponent has a vanilla 2/2.

If I attack with my equipped Ichorclaw Myr and my opponent blocks with a 2/2, they will lose their creature, since the myr's ability would grow it beyond dying and the first strike given by the pike would help decrease the damage in case my opponent has a combat trick, as infect gives -1/-1 counters to creatures it damage.

Now, let's consider another scenario. I'm attacking but, this time, my opponent decides not to block. Sure, I wouldn't kill their creature. Still, the Runechanter's Pike would be helping me develop my game plan by increasing the amount of poison counters my Ichorclaw Myr would give to my opponent, making it less profitable for my opponent not to block.

In both of these scenarios, my opponent wouldn't be favored. They would either lose a creature or have more damage dealt to themselves. On the other hand, can the Infiltration Lens force the opponent into such a hard situation?

Using the same board state as before, if my Ichorclaw Myr becomes blocked by the 2/2 it can be argued it's even worse than just losing the creature as my myr would still be alive and I would have drawn two cards. However, in the event my opponent doesn't block, which is more likely since they probably don't want me drawing two cards, nothing happens, and that's the major issue with the lens. It can, but not necessarily it will, generate card advantage. Also, given the deck wants its creatures to connect, it doesn't help to develop the strategy as it doesn't buff the creature. What makes it even funnier is things like Plague Stinger and Inkmoth Nexus are desired exactly because they're evasive threats, which works against Infiltration Lens.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend running this card. If this is your pet card or you just want to test it, then be my guest. Just be warned that it probably won't perform positively.

Cry of Contrition {B}

Supernatural Stamina {B} / Unearth {B} and other similar cards

Yawgmoth, Thran Physician {2}{B}{B}

Throne of Geth {3}

It's absurdly slow and requires either a critical amount of Artifacts or ways to loop Artifacts.

Still, let's make a thought exercise and image how Throne of Geth would work. I'll be considering I make a land drop every turn, otherwise it would make the Throne even worse.

1. Turn 1 - Not a lot of plays. Make land drop. Leaving open mana for Fatal Push or casting Thoughtseize/Inquisition of Kozilek. Throne wouldn't create an impact. (Bonesplitter is also an option but it isn't that reliable, but I have some things to say as I go on)

2. Turn 2 - This is when a lot of plays are open. Collective Brutality is an option as removal and, taking into account Escalate, hand control. Plague Stinger or Ichorclaw Myr can be the first threats to be deployed. Damn can be cast without Overload.

3. This is when Throne of Geth can come down. Let's say we cast this turn AND we were able to hit our opponent for 1 point of damage.

Profane Command {X}{B}{B}

Written using information available from mtgtop8 at the beginning of 2022

In order to have a more well rounded explanation of why I don't think this is a good option, I decided to look at mtgtop8 to see how many, if any, tops this card ever had. To my surprise, it has 9. However, most of those come from 2015 or before, with only two being from 2019, a more recent year. This, at least in my opinion, shows that it isn't a particularly competitive card. While both decks that topped with it in 2019 were monoblack, they had a very different strategy and shell than my deck.

• Taking a lot at their prices, both seem to have been budget decks. Using CardKingom as basis, one costs $43 and the other 55$. This is absurdly cheap and could explain why they are running Profane Command.
• Those same decks have a creature count that's a bit higher than this deck. Both run 18 creatures and most of them are quite impactful when they hit the board. As an example, Vampire Nighthawk doesn't have an ETB but Lifelink and Deathtouch does make an impact on a board as it's a "kill" spell that can keep the player healthy (Gifted Aetherborn works basically the same way). I won't go over every creature those decks ran but I imagine I got my point across.
• Those decks can ACTUALLY make use of the lose life mode, as their damage works normally, not as poison counters.
• Going back to the creatures for a bit, without prologing this too much, those creatures are more significant targets to gain Fear. Plague Stinger, and Phyrexian Crusader to some extent, already have some form of evasion and aren't particularly scary as an Abyssal Persecutor.

Now, let's forget about those decks and focus on this specific deck.

• I don't need to exlain that making your opponent lose life when you're playing an Infect deck is close to useless.
• The reanimation mode is decent but having {X} makes it useless.
• Because this deck runs Fatal Push, which is one of the premier removal spells in Modern, and Damn, which is an unconditional single target removal and a boardwipe all in a single card, paying {1}{B}{B} to kill a X/1 creature, or {2}{B}{B} to kill a X/2 and so on, is absolutely dreadful.
• I already mentioned why giving Fear isn't that useful here.

So, to summarize everything, each of this card's effects are mediocre at best for this deck, if you desconsider the {X} in it's mana cost. If you consider that, then it's absolutely unplayable.

Budget version Show

While I do think it's possible to build this deck on a budget, I wouldn't recommend building a budget version of this for competitive play. It already has a lot of weaknesses, so I don't think cutting cards like Inkmoth Nexus and Phyrexian Crusader would be a good idea.

Nevertheless, I'll provide my thoughts on how to make a more affordable list (which I'll probably buy into just because I love Infect)

Top Ranked	Achieved #12 position overall 4 years ago Achieved #2 position in Modern 4 years ago Achieved #1 position in Modern Primer 4 years ago
Date added	5 years
Last updated	7 months
Exclude colors	WURGC
Legality	This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	9 - 1 Mythic Rares 29 - 9 Rares 10 - 5 Uncommons 8 - 0 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	1.77
Tokens	Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Infect, my choices, Decks to Make, modern fun, Infect, Future Decks, insumo, Modern, Modern Decks, competitivos