A Study in Infectious Diseases [Infect Primer]

Modern* Competitive Five Color Infect Primer

WillowtheCouncil

BlackPower (28)

MulticoloredCreature (13)

WhitePower (11)

ArtifactCreature (6)

WhiteCreature (2)

GreenPower (26)

Lands (15)

BlackCreature (7)

BluePower (7)

BlueCreature (2)

ColorlessPower (20)

MulticoloredPower (19)

RedPower (12)

GreenCreature (5)

The original version of this guide can be found here:

Infect Modern Card List (Competitive and Casual)

Modern WillowtheCouncil

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That version contains every card you could ever want for competitive, or casual, or spicy new brews. That said, per the advice of BodhiQL, I have decided to adjust this guide to be a lot more competitive focused. It will still be 5c, but I'm only going to cover competitive cards and strategies here. If you have more casual-oriented suggestions, please leave them on the other decklist.

As an infect player, I wanted to break down Infect in a way that covers all colors in modern, their strengths and weaknesses, what they bring to the table, etc. This is a guide on what infect wants, what each color provides, and some ideas to get your creative juices flowing. This is not going to give you a decklist, but instead give you enough resources to make your own great deck. All Will Be One.

Introduction

I learned to play Magic many years ago. I went on eBay, and found a lot for 600 cards for $0.99. I bid on it, and no one else did. I got a lot of commons and uncommons, and a couple rares from original Ravnica. I got a hand-me-down computer game for the Windows 98 I had at the time. I learned the rules of the game from the very first tutorial level. The resolution of my screen was not optimized with the game, so the second level's request that I mulligan didn't work. The mulligan button was outside the screen. Whoops.

I met some other peers during weekend religious services that played the game. We talked about it. I made a five-color deck that was ~150 cards that I thought was just the greatest thing ever. I stuck all the best and coolest looking cards in that deck. I was a fifth grader then. I went to sixth grade, where I played Yugioh with a few friends. I played a little bit of magic, but not many people I knew played. The year after, however, I met three other boys who played the game a LOT. They weren't good (objectively) but they were a hell of a lot better than I was. They taught me Commander, and I built a Tolsimir Wolfblood deck. It was really, really meh. After that failed, I deconstructed it and made a Teysa, Orzhov Scion deck. Also meh. I really wanted to make a Lim-Dul the Necromancer deck, which I one day did.

It was fun though, and it sparked (haha planeswalker joke I'm so original) a long-lasting love of Magic: The Gathering. In Eighth grade I made the jump to Modern. I went online and looked for really fast winning decks. I found BMpatrol's 0 to 10 in 60 Seconds deck in a state much different from the one he has now. And I bought that deck for around 20 bucks. It was great. I beat all of my friends over and over and over. I gave it a five card sideboard, just for good measure. That deck I used is the basis of the Mono-green Infect deck I still use today, with just a couple edits and an entirely brand-new sideboard. My playgroup expanded, and the kids who had been playing Yu-gi-oh all quit shortly after realizing that the game is boring and Konami is a shit-tier company. Sorry yu-gi-oh players. No offense.

Then the deck got stolen, with the shitty deckbox and sleeves it used. RIP me. I don't know who did it or why, but after lunch (and I put the deckbox back into my bag) and the period after lunch, I came and found that the bag was open, and only the deckbox was missing. My phone was still there. My theory is someone became disgruntled after losing to 10 points of damage too many times in a row, and wanted revenge.

High school was a bit harder. I no longer had a playgroup, since all of my middle school buddies went off to different schools, with just a few exceptions. Since I had no one to play magic with, and didn't go to FNMs and shit, I quit magic for that year. In tenth grade, however, I got back into it. I started buying sets and packs and opening them and I threw together a really shitty modern deck out of some stuff I got. I started playing MtGO with a friend of mine who moved away, and I got really into commander again. I bought my old infect deck online, and gave it a spiffy new sideboard. And it worked too. Death's Shadow rode my ass hard because of T1 Thoughtseize but it was still fun. And then, I become obsessed with infect. I just began loving it. It felt so good to play, and so good to win with. I bought my Rafiq of the Many deck I built on tappedout for MtGO, and realized what a big mistake that is. Yes, I can kill someone on T3. But you know, wheres the fun in that... for commander? I always feel really guilty removing someone from the game T3, then doing it again T4 and T5. But I still get the exhilaration of 100-0'ing someone. There's no better feeling.

Glory to the Glistening Oil! Glory to Phyrexia! We shall ALL be COMPLEATED!

Pros/Cons

There's a few reasons you might like to play infect.

Pros

You like fun
You like decks that can win very early
You like explosive turns
You like creature combo
You like competitive decks that are a tiny % of the meta
You like linear decks
You like Phyrexia
You don't mind losing a few games here and there
You like fast games

And also a few reasons you might not...

Cons

You don't like fun...
You prefer a more sturdy deck
You like interactive magic
You like control
You like decks that the meta converges on
You like slower games.
You like Urza/Dominaria/Mirrodin/Karn
You don't like creatures.

Infect does well against decks that don't suspect it. It does good against aggro decks that just try to jam creatures, and combo decks. Combo decks can survive 20 points from aggro in time, but not 10 infect. Infect has trouble with control and midrange, because the control elements makes it hard for infect to either get damage through or use enough pump.

While there are no 'best' colors for infect, some color combinations are really good. The best competitive color combination is probably UG. The G gives fast, efficient pump, the cheapest creatures, and the blue allows for enough interaction to force through the pump, and unblockable creatures. There's a reason that's the only combo in modern that sees play. The other reason, is that infect isn't very popular. It's a polarizing mechanic. I would say it is less hated than Bogles. I would say that BG infect has a lot of untapped potential. Creature removal from black, artifact and enchantment removal in green allows for all permanent types to be answered, and they have the best creatures for infect. Bant, which has exalted, has probably the most useful transitional ability. I use transitional to mean able to deal both regular and infect damage. Infect creatures are generally frail, and sometimes can't get there. Other times, like against Death's Shadow, regular damage is really just more effective. Bant also has the best control colors, which can make infect a force to be reckoned with.

Red is a strange color. I think Red/Green, which has the BEST pump, could be very effective. But Red doesn't see much play for infect. If we ever see infect return to standard, I hope red gets some creatures (unlikely given how frickin' dead Urabrask is) that are better than the ones they have now. There's actually a lot of really good pump in red.

Monogreen is the best budget color - a cheap but effective deck can be made for 20-40 dollars.

I hope you give infect a shot. Whether it's an aggro deck, a creature combo deck, or a control deck infect is that little bit of pizzazz that everyone needs in their life.

White

I'll start with white, since people consider it to be the worst color for infect. Think about the way you need to play infect in Modern. Fast. Green and Red have pump, blue has evasion, and black has the faux-tribal effects for black and the ability to just give poison counters. But what does White offer? Lifegain? No. Anthems? Oh hell yes. Even though there's only 4 white infect creatures (only two of which are somewhat playable), that doesn't matter. A few of those, a few cheaper artifact creatures, and a few anthems and you have a good boardstate. White can also sustain long enough to get to that point.

Back in 2011, there was chittering that white would be the supreme color for infect. Tempered Steel was combined with artifact creatures for huge advantage. Inkmoth Nexus would become a 3/3 infect flyer for 1 mana.

White also has evasion effects like Apostle's Blessing (which is in flavor), Emerge Unscathed and Center Soul etc. I think White has a lot of potential for strong boards of many creatures. If going the way of white creatures instead of artifacts then use Guardians' Pledge. White also gets a lot of creature removal like Journey to Nowhere et al. Journey is proactive, but you can always use reactive cards like Settle the Wreckage to wipe your opponent before a big game-ending swing. Akrasan Squire like other Exalted cards work great. Exalted is usually better for other colors, but it works wonders with the evasion/protection cards mentioned earlier.

I think White is a very underrated color for infect. It has a lot of potential, but it doesn't feel like the aggressive colors we often see in modern, and therefore people shy away from it. Give it a shot! I hope this guide inspires you.

Blue

Blue is the strangest color out of the five when it comes to infect. On it's own, it's surprisingly weak. But when mixed with other colors it's surprisingly strong. Blue gets control through bounce and counterspells, evasion through flying and 'cannot be blocked' and card advantage. It also gets a few proliferate cards. Blue is tied for the fewest number of infect creatures with Red at 3, but one of those creatures (Chained Throatseeker) is a little... less than impressive.

In infect, blue provides exalted, (through Noble Hierarch, which is as amazing for the deck as it is expensive) card draw (which is good because Infect tends to go through a lot of resources), control, and evasion. If playing a mono-blue infect, I would recommend using proliferate effects to ensure a win.

John Stolzmann ran an infect deck (monoblue) back in 2011 that used Blazing Shoal to pitch a Progenitus or a Dragonstorm to a Blighted Agent for instant kill. It was still a monoblue deck (no non-blue mana sources) but it was very unique. (Blazing Shoal is NOT Modern legal, but I included it because it's a damn good card if y'all wanna do Legacy or Vintage infect a different way.) Link to Wizards article on it here.

Mutagenic Growth is a card, so it is available in ALL colors. I was looking for multicolored cards and realized I derped and forgot Ensoul Artifact. 2 mana, turns an artifact infect creature into a base power 5/5. Sweet.

Blue gets cheap counterspells, like Dispel (since most 'good' cards that disrupt in Modern are instants), Spell Pierce, and Swan Song. Corrupted Resolve is a 2-mana counter anything in an infect deck.

Black

While there is no single 'best color' for infect, Black and Green are pretty damn close. Those are the two colors that (flavorfully, and by extension mechanically) LOVE INFECT. Almost as much as I do. Ha ha. Ha ha.

Not all black creatures are created equal, but most of them are pretty good. Hand of the Praetors, even though it's 4 mana, is pretty good. An anthem effect that also allows you to cast spells to tick up their counters. Really solid in any creature-centric infect deck running black. Also means it can be splashed. Phyrexian Crusader is 3 mana with first strike AND infect, AND pro-red and white. HELL YEAH. Septic Rats is a 3/3 infect creature for 3 mana. Flensermite is tied with Plague Stinger for the cheapest mana, and both are really good. Vector Asp needs every turn, sort of like a non-flying Inkmoth Nexus, however, it has the advantage of being able to deal regular damage.

Virulent Wound is a weaker Disfigure (although permanent), but it is just , and it does give them a poison counter.

It gets three cards that grant infect. Tainted Strike is a one mana card with a slight power buff. Maybe if you include cards like Mycosynth Fiend in green, you can close out the game while also having straight damage just in case. If you go into red, you can find a creature with double strike. Think about it. In regular magic, you have to deal 20 damage. With a double striker, that drops to 10. With infect and double-strike, that drops to 5. Put tainted strike on a 1/1 double striker and your opponent is 40% dead.

Phyresis is just two mana, permanently grants infect. Not bad. Put it on a big beater, maybe a Tarmogoyf to get some good damage in. Versatile. Glistening Oil is Phyresis' dopey cousin. 2 mana, but double black. Grants infect, but permanently weakens the equipped creature over time. BUT, if killed it comes back. If you want to build a deck of all beaters with essentially 8 Phyresises then you can do it with Oil, but the choice is yours.

Black gets a couple of good pump spells, and it gets spot removal. For spot removal, literally ANYTHING will do. Go for the Throat, Doom Blade, etc. Clears the board for your infect creatures. Infect creatures often have small bodies and are slow, so boardwipes are probably gonna hurt you a whole lot more. Be careful with them.

Black also gets some pump. Bad Moon pumps your field for only two mana. Boon of Erebos is pretty okay pump for one mana. Cartouche of Ambition doubles as a kill spell for weak creatures, and the lifelink it provides can help keep you in the game against a tough matchup, or since you may realize that black can be sometimes slow (when it comes to infect). Dark Favor is pretty good value. Demonic Appetite is really good value. Funeral Charm can provide pump, evasion, or hand destruction at instant speed for one mana. Nice. Oblivion Crown is pretty cool. 2 mana, flash, and you can pitch your hand for big bonuses. Big finisher. Predator's Gambit provides pump, and sometimes evasion, for one mana. That leads me to my next point, evasion.

Infect often needs evasive creatures to win. Ways to get the damage through. Blue has unblockable and flying. White has flying and pseudo-evasion with first strike. Red has trample and menace. Green has trample. Black has... fear and intimidate, and menace.

Untamed Hunger is pump and always-on menace. Aphotic Wisps is a black cantrip that gives fear. Fear, Profane Command are great. Gruesome Deformity is great too. But these can't always be relied upon, because your opponent could be running artifacts and/or black. So... what else? Well, not a whole lot. Collective Brutality has a lot of uses.

So that's black. A great color, very good all around. Can do most things other colors can, and I think it's a fantastic color to blend with something else.

I'll leave Raven's Crime as a stand-in for other discard cards like Wrench Mind, etc. Destroying the enemy's hand is the safest way to protect frail infect creatures.

Lashwrithe and Nightmare Lash are artifacts, but go in black (but if you're doing Artifact Infect with Swamps for lands then that works too) and are essentially 4 mana and some life for a pretty good pump. Definitely not bad.

Red

Red, like Blue, has just three creatures. Red is powerful if you're using the artifact creatures (most of which are better than Red's) to get the job done. Red has pump effects, and strong ones at that. Red's best infect creature is Razor Swine, which is the cheapest at 3 mana. Next best is the Ogre Menial, since 'firebreathing' can be pretty good, but it's still pretty bad. All of Red's creatures are unplayable from a competitive standpoint. Red gets nice creature and artifact removal (through burn and artifact hate) so it can be pretty strong.

As mentioned, Red brings trample and pump effects. It also gets double strike (especially when combined with white). A fantastic card is Temur Battle Rage, since it gives double strike (and trample) for just two mana. Combine with any pump spell for lethality. Since Red will likely utilize artifact infect creatures, Built to Smash is a direct upgrade to Green's Giant Growth. Brute Force is just Giant Growth, which is a powerful card.

Fury Charm is a weaker version of Unnatural Predation, but also can kill enemy artifacts, which can be invaluable at times. Invigorated Rampage is good value on one creature, and can work on two also. It's an excellent card. Rush of Adrenaline is more trample and pump. Assault Strobe is ONE MANA. A solitary for double strike. Rush of Blood can be good for a closer. Giving a creature +3/+3, then doubling it's power is nice. Fatal Frenzy combines Rush of Blood with trample. Assuming the attack gets through, that can easily be game.

Since Infect can turn into a suicide-whatever deck pretty easily, Lightning Axe isn't bad. Pitch an extra land or something to it, and kill a creature. Soul's Fire deals infect damage, since the source is the creature. It can be used to kill creatures or players. Fling is just for Soul's Fire's damage, but you have to Sac so it's a finisher.

Red is a really strong color, all in all, for explosive plays that win the game in a turn. Trample is everywhere, which can make you easily push past weenie decks. Red is especially good with the cheap creatures like Necropede and Ichorclaw Myr. Red is a great aggressive color, which is something infect likes very very much.

Green

Ah, the long-awaited green. So beautiful. So majestic. As I said, there is no 'best color' but like Black it comes pretty damn close. Has plenty and I mean PLENTY of GOOD creatures. Altho they're infect creatures so it doesn't say a lot.

Glistener Elf is king. It is the strongest infect creature with no equal, only because it is ONE MANA. Most infect players, myself included, have a love/hate relationship with Glistener Elf. We love it because it's so good, but we also recognize that Elf is a little bit too strong for a mechanic that only needs ten points of damage to win.

Mamba is a good choice in green. It's a 1/1, cheap, and later on it can regenerate itself, so it has some survivability. Viridian Corrupter and Rot Wolf are good 3-drops. One gives some much needed card advantage late game, and the other can be very strong, especially against cards like Ensnaring Bridge. Putrefax can win games out of nowhere, but I'd suggest Putrefax for something like GB infect, since that ways it's a reliable big damage creature, but it's slow enough that you'll use it.

Remember that slow isn't ALWAYS bad, but often infect can win on turn 3 and 4 (depending on color) very easily, and you don't want a card that comes out the turn after you should've won. Also keep in mind that fast is a glass cannon. It's hard to build a fast infect deck that is also resilient. Slower infect decks don't have speed, but they do have answers instead.

The next topic is GREEN POWER!

Predatory Focus gives all creatures you control super trample. It can be compared with Overrun and Overwhelming Stampede for the ability to just win games. Let's break them all down. Oh... and let's just throw in baby brother Triumph of the Hordes for good measure.

Predatory Focus doesn't buff damage at all, it just means your creatures can get through as if they were unblocked. 5 1/1s only deal 5 damage. With Overrun, they get a buff AND trample, so 5 1/1s swing for 20 infect damage with trample. Overwhelming buffs every member by your strongest, so 5 1/1s swing for 10, but a 2/2 and 4 1/1s swing for 16. So why would you EVER use Predatory Focus?!?! Simple. If you're losing. If your opponent has 5 5/5s vs your 5 1/1s, Predatory Focus is the only one that lets you deal damage. And if you have lethal damage on the board already, all 3 don't really do anything better than each other. Focus also has a hidden advantage. Your opponent can't buff their own dudes in response to save themselves. Their ONLY out is blowing up your creatures. So, Overrun and Overwhelming help you close out a game that you almost have enough to win, and Focus help steals a game while you're losing.

But what about Triumph of the Hordes? To be fair, you have to have a high IQ to play infect... so I don't think I really need to tell you. But I'll say it anyway. It's a mana cheaper, but most importantly you can turn non-infect creatures into infecters, which means you can run big green beatsticks and just turn those into big infecting beatsticks. It also gives trample. It's a card that you can go wide with (tons of small creatures) or support a few fatties. I like it mainly because of the choice it gives you. Play a green aggro deck, and play the game. Against Death's Shadow and the like, you can use regular damage (which may be more effective) and against decks like Soul Sisters you can just swing in for 10 damage and wreck them. It's also a fun card in EDH.

Damn. I wrote a lot for just 4 cards.

Green has the best, most efficient pump spells, some powerful abilities like Exalted (which is in Bant colors), trample granting effects, and some other great infect-related cards. Carrion Call makes 2 1/1 infecters for 4 mana... at INSTANT SPEED. If you want to go wide with infect, that's a good choice. If you want to be in partial or fully Bant colors, it doesn't get much better than Noble Hierarch, but keep in mind that's an EXPENSIVE card. For other creature-related stuff, Llanowar Augur is one mana for a delayed, telegraphed buff and trample. Very very nice card, works like a wall also, but IS in bolt range.

Vines of Vastwood is an amazing card. One mana protection spell, can also be used offensively. If an opponent uses a buff spell on their own creature like a Temur Battle Rage, and you cast Vines on their creature, it will counter the spell. For 2 mana, it grants hexproof and +4/+4. Very nice card. Blossoming Defense is also an amazing card. For one mana on you're own creature, its an upgrade to Vines. BUT it can't be used offensively like Vines can, because Vines doesn't give hexproof.

Rancor is very very efficient. One mana for a great effect, and it recurs itself. Become Immense at it's worst is a dead card. Most infect decks will NEVER get up to 6 mana (in Modern, but when Dominaria comes to town maybe there'll be infect so fingers crossed for Standard), but at it's BEST it's one mana for +6/+6. At instant speed. If you resolve that, you've straight-up won.

Since you're going to be using poison damage as your main win-con, I'm gonna guess that you don't care about their life total. Nature's Claim is an amazing sideboard card, it's one mana to kill an artifact or enchantment with NO DOWNSIDE. Damn, that's good stuff.

Green has creature removal through fight cards. Prey Upon is one mana, so that's a plus. Infect creatures deal damage as -1/-1 counters, so fight cards can do a lot of good, even if you don't outright kill. Nature's Way provides good abilities and is a one-sided fight card. Combine it with a pump spell to take out an opponent's blocker, swing in, and still have a blocker next turn. Pounce fights at instant speed, and Savage Punch/Epic Confrontation can give buff in addition to the fighting. These cards are good for monogreen, if you want removal of some sort. But I find it's often better to just power up and trample over.

Speaking of powering up and trampling over, there are a LOT of pump spells. Here's a small sampling, not including what I've already mentioned.

Predator's Strike - trample
Unnatural Predation - trample
Might of Old Krosa
Groundswell
Titanic Growth
Giant Growth
Mutagenic Growth
Revenge of the Hunted - very expensive, but getting the miracle can be devastating. Recommend for UG for Scry.

I'm gonna toss something out there for the hell (and jank) of it. Virulent Sliver gives Poisonous 1 to all your slivers. Poisonous does regular combat damage, and a specified amount of poison on hit. It stacks with infect. The sliver is futureshifted, originally, so you can play it in a go-wide sliver deck. If your sliver deck is in black, you can use cards like Phyresis and Virulent Strike for lots of poison damage immediately. Kinda janky, but it's available if you want to do Infect in a more tribal way.

Green is an amazing color, with a lot of very powerful cards that can bring the infect damage slamming into your opponents. It's a color that can be paired very well with many other colors, and is a classic modern infect color. Very strong creatures and cards of varied CMCs, pump spells galore, it's all wonderful. You cannot go wrong with any green infect deck. Wild Defiance is an amazing 3 mana enchantment that can counteract burn spells, and make your already efficient pump spells incredibly overpowered.

Colorless/AllColors

Fun for all your little infecting friends.

Colorless/All Colors

Colorless is colorless (like Artifacts), and cards that use Phyrexian Mana. Most of the artifact creatures are, well, pretty good. Necropede and Ichorclaw Myr are really good. I have a personal preference for the Myr, because it trades with 3+/3s when attacking. The 'Pede is pretty good though, and can end up two-for-one'ing your opponent sometimes. Blightsteel Colossus is a card that is used in reanimator combos. If you want to build an infect reanimator deck, though... that could be cool. Most of the rest of the artifact creatures aren't as good. If you're building totally colorless, then the rest get better. Corpse Cur isn't normally great, but it's pretty okay in a more control-based infect deck that has a long game. Something infect isn't normally good at...

Let's start with Phyrexian Mana cards. They're amazing. They allow any deck (in a non-commander format) to do stuff outside of the colors they're playing. Mutagenic Growth, for example, provides pump in colors like blue and white. But it doesn't end there. Because life is traded for mana, the spells are almost always cheaper than normal. Aformentioned Growth is 2 life for +2 damage. That's value.

The free spells are:- Marrow Shards, which is OK. Not great. Any-color answer to token strats, which can prove difficult for some colors of infect. - Nothing in blue, since both free spells Probe and Mental Misstep are banned.- Surgical Extraction, an amazing card that allows you to permanently remove all copies of a card an opponent has that's problematic once one copy is in the graveyard. - Gut Shot, which is 0 mana to clear out small creatures. - Mutagenic Growth, and Noxious Revival (which allows you to recur fallen infect creatures or other pump spells).

There are a lot of Phyrexian Mana cards. Some of the best 'non-free' ones are:- Dismember, the color-pie nuking removal card that gives any color a 1-mana kill-all. If you're not playing black, this card is a beast. Great card. Removes big threats. - Postmortem Lunge is one that really doesn't see play, but could be amazing. Since most infect creatures are low-costed, for 2 life and maybe one mana you can bring one back. Can be great if your opponent wipes the board, like in a black or white go wide strategy. Nifty card, can close out a game out of nowhere. But very narrow card. Risky.- Tezzeret's Gambit is OK. 3 mana draw 2 is meh, but it does proliferate, which is very nice. I'd recommend more for a control deck that plans to win through proliferating a bunch of times (something I recommend for control players that also love Phyrexia). - Apostle's Blessing gives protection in any color, which is also god-tier. A staple of modern infect decks.

I won't go over normal artifact answers, since any modern primer can handle that. Trigon of Infestation is a card I didn't even realize existed for a while. It's not amazing, but it can pump out multiple infect creatures, which is always nice. Not bad, but definitely not great. Grafted Exoskeleton is another infect-granting card, but it also grants a buff. Pretty nice.

Decimator Web is bad in modern, but it could be a card you build around, like with an infinite untap/mana combo. The reason I suggest it, is if they can lose to poison, they lose to poison, if they can't they lose to life loss, if they can't then they lose to mill. Not a good card, but an interesting card with potential.

Contagion Clasp and Contagion Engine are a given.

Throne of Geth eats artifacts to proliferate. In a colorless infect deck, it's amazing. Great synergy with cards like Necropede, Corpse Cur, and Core Prowler. At worst, its , sacrifice this card: Proliferate. At best, it puts an opponent on a short clock. I think it'd be a fun idea to build a mono-artifact infect deck, using this card to accelerate your opponent's death.

Artifact cards are also open to the possibilities of equipment. Infiltration Lens gives a pseudo-unblockable effect for cheap. If your opponent doesn't block, they risk dying. If they DO block, then drawing two cards feels pretty good... Prowler's Helm is essentially unblockable, but a bit more mana. Whispersilk Cloak means that you'd have to use already equipped cards, or anthems to buff the attacker, but it does give protection and unblockable attacks. So that's nice. Grafted Wargear is a really solid buff for just 3 mana. Cranial Plating in an artifact deck is such a house. Mono-artifact infect looking pretty good now, right? No? Just me? Batterskull is basically a creature, and if it were to be attached to an infect creature, jesus that would stomp. Measly 1/1 becomes a 5/5 infecter with vig and lifelink? Oh god. I love it. Demonmail Hauberk can equip pretty easily. it's basically more aggressive Grafted Wargear. Not every equipment is good, but you know what they say. Go big or go home.

The ability of artifact/colorless cards to fit into any deck is part of their strength. Furthermore, artifact cards have lots of synergies, meaning that strategies like Inkmoth Nexus, Ichorclaw Myr, Necropede, and something else combined with Tempered Steel could be very strong. Cranial Plating, too. I think they're very strong, and it would be cool to see a competitive artifact infect deck.

Multicolored

This is gonna be a short section. Infect is not great at working with multicolored (especially permanents) because of the fact it normally is a lot more expensive, and can be slow. I'm gonna list some cards that could be useful, and maybe a reason why.

Creatures

Ethercaste Knight, and Ethersworn Shieldmage good in UW Artifact Infect. The Knight is a stand-in for all exalted cards, like the amazing Qasali Pridemage.
Gaddock Teeg no real spells over 3 cmc. Maybe a SB card?
Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons goes well with the -1/-1 counters.
Varolz, the Scar-Striped can buff infect creatures permanently. Can also easily transition to regular damage.
Iroas, God of Victory: a 1-of enchantment, maybe? Good for aggro.
Rafiq of the Many pretty good card, great with pump, combos well with other exalted cards.
Slitherhead could be useful in a lot of different decks.
Disciple of Deceit can allow you to essentially transmute counterspells to pump, or pump to kill, or kill to counterspells, etc and etc. Infect uses lots of similarly costed cards, and sometimes you want one 2 mana pump spell over another 2 mana pump spell.
Goblin Electromancer can make more expensive pump spells cost less. Maybe.
Renegade Rallier, maybe..? There aren't a whole lot of good creatures.
Ghor-Clan Rampager is actually good. Mostly Uncounterable spell that reads ": Target attacking infect creature gets +4/+4 AND Trample"? Jesus that's amazing. Same goes for Zhur-Taa Swine. Not as good, but ok.

Noncreature, nonplaneswalker spells

Jeskai Ascendancy can make a few creatures big, and gets value out of pump spells. You can loot for more gas if you don't have quite enough.
Mage Slayer doubles up the effect of pump spells. Can allow you to get through really bad blocks, like against Death's Shadow.
Hadana's Climb is a little slow, but if it flips then you're basically set. Much better if you are running a lot of creatures.
Shielding Plax cantrips and gives hexproof. Not the worst budget option.
Tezzeret's Touch turns an artifact infect creature into a base power 5/5 for 3 mana. And also regrows the creature if it dies. Pretty sweet.
Gruul War Chant isn't so bad.
Boros Charm's second and third modes could be useful.
Colossal Might is a good card.
Dromoka's Command wouldn't be a bad sideboard card.
Gruul Charm can either clear out blockers, or make your team unblockable. Nice either way.
Signal the Clans is a tutor, which is nice because infect can often run low on creatures. Don't know if it's better than just running more dudes.
Simic Charm has 3 useful modes.
Warped Physique after a regular pumpspell could be huge. Or it could just be a removal spell. IDK.
Fiery Justice can be a big blowout.

Planeswalkers

As it turns out, most monocolor walkers are pretty bad for infect. There's a couple OK multicolored ones.

Ajani Vengeant has a good +1, and his Minus 2 is pretty good. Gets rid of creatures.
Arlinn Kord is decent enough.
Samut, the Tested could be fine.
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad and Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas's minus abilities are both fine. Not sure if they're worth running tho.

Yeah. As it turns out, expensive (dollar and mana wise) walkers aren't so great.

There's lots of options for multicolored cards. Maybe you'll find one that fits the deck you want to build. Some are definitely better than others, but they all could be useful in their own right. BTW, I searched every card type for multicolored cards, and sorted by CMC to find the best cards (so you don't have to unless you want to).

Lands

Now here comes the fun part...

Lands

Let's start with the obvious ones. Inkmoth Nexus is a 1/1 infect flier. For one mana every activation. It's really good. Really good. And expensive, but mostly the cost is justified. The other really obvious one is Pendelhaven. You can play that baby in non-green decks. That's how good it is. Most really strong infect creatures just so happen to be 1/1s (mainly because R&D made the decision that if the creature can win with 10 damage instead of 20, it shouldn't have an efficient body. Good choice, as it turns out). Pendelhaven can save a creature in a trade, or from a weak kill spell without using some pump in hand. Or, just make your inkmoth get in for 2 a turn instead of 1 a turn. Nice. Definitely some of the best (if not hands-down the best) lands for infect.

Dryad Arbor can be fetched for, allowing for a creature that can deal regular damage (if needed), or to protect against an edict effect (like Liliana of the Veil).

Boseiju, Who Shelters All is a bit slow, but does give you uncounterable pump, which is really nice. Hall of the Bandit Lord is sort of the same way (slow and hurts you), but hasty infect creatures? Damn that's nice.

Cathedral of War has exalted, even if it is a bit slow. Good in an exalted infect deck. Darksteel Citadel can go well in an artifact deck, for artifact matters cards. Swarmyard works for the infect decks using the infect rats or insects. There's enough infect elves for Gilt-Leaf Palace to work.

Llanowar Reborn is a bit janky. Can be good tho, even tho it is slow. Same goes for Oran-Rief, the Vastwood.

Kessig Wolf Run gives trample alone for 2 mana (red green), which isn't so bad. Same goes for Skarrg, the Rage Pits.

If you want to try it, Magosi, the Waterveil can kind of give you another turn. 2 turns in a row is enough to play a creature, and then attack for lethal. Janky, sure, but interesting.

Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion gives a little bit of inevitability, but it's really expensive... so I don't think it will be super useful.

There's a lot of lands in Magic. I kept out stuff like (most) manlands, and fetches and shocks etc. The best lands for infect are (generally) ones that can enter untapped easily. Regardless, the question of what you put in your manabase is something to always consider.

Competitive Analysis

Part of Magic: the Gathering is winning. You can be a Spike, and want to always win. But not everyone who wants to win is a spike. Everyone at some point has seen some combo of cards they've wanted to make work, and many of us have tried building (truly awful) decks with that combo in mind. It's a natural part of the game.

Infect has ranged from limited success in some formats, to an absolute beast needing a ban. In this section, I will cover the deckbuilding archetypes of infect, and what works within those archetypes, and what you need to do to build successful decks.

First, infect is not hard to build a prototype of. Infect (particularly in green-centric decks) needs a few cheap creatures, some pump, and some creature protection and you're good to go. If you aren't considering budget, get some fetches and shocks and fastlands, and you're done. You can construct a pretty decent infect deck in just 5 minutes.

The difficulties in infect, is pushing that 'decent' to 'competitive', and also in playing the deck.

MONO-BLUE INFECT

I talked about this briefly in the 'Blue' section, but now I am going to elaborate. Back in late 2011 (just months after Modern's CREATION) John Stolzmann made a mono-blue infect combo deck. I emphasized combo here, because while traditional infect is considered combo, Stolzmann's deck was real combo. It assembled the combo of either- Blazing Shoal + Progenitus or- Blazing Shoal + Dragonstorm

It put shoal on one of TWO creatures: Blighted Agent and Inkmoth Nexus.Now, most modern infect decks have 4x of about 3 or more creatures. But Stolzmann just used cards like Muddle the Mixture to fetch combo pieces instead. It was amazing. And Stolzmann's teammate Sam Black took it to the top 8. Despite not crushing the pro tour, Shoal Infect's success earned Blazing Shoal a ban shortly after the Pro Tour.

But Stolzmann's Shoal infect was actually a variation on an earlier black version of the deck, which used cards like Spoils of the Vault to find missing combo pieces.

In a true combo infect deck, you want the ability to deal a massive amount of damage very early on. Look for cards that can give a variable amount of pump to a creature. Or, look for things like infinite mana combos, and cards like Viral Drake for infinite proliferation.

Infect Control...?

Infect has yet to be tried (at least, successfully) as a control deck. It offers nothing to an actual control plan, which makes it basically just a control finisher. But then, that begs the question. Why try a risky prison strategy to finish with a big swing, instead of just finishing with a big swing on turn 3? Or, you could hit them over and over with a small infect creature until they die, but it's only (maybe) marginally faster than hitting them with Snapcaster Mage. If they have a greedy shock-filled manabase, it might actually be slower, then. Oops...

So now you see why it doesn't mesh so well. However, there are a few infect creatures you could use as blocks, namely Priests of Norn. They're decently cheap, can attack each turn, and leave permanent damage on attackers when blocking. If you were to use infect creatures, give them vigilance, and attack that way, it could be good. In a UW infect control deck, Twisted Image could turn Viral Drake and Priests of Norn into real threats, while still controlling the board.

So not a proven success, but could be worth trying.

Aggro/Midrange infect...?

Generally, aggro and midrange win by using very mana-efficient or high-value creatures and spells. Infect creatures are naturally mana-inefficient, with a few exceptions. Because infect creatures are so much more expensive than what they're worth, they're very hard to curve out with, too. There's also not good enough lords to justify covering the board in infect creatures. The only other effects are anthem effects like Bad Moon or Honor of the Pure, but the good anthem effects are either too expensive, or too narrow. In the previous sections of my guide, I've given cards to use in brews and semi-competitive decks. Aggro is not particularly effective, unless you're using pump. But if you are using pump, then... why not just play regular infect? Mono-G and UG infect can both out-race burn and other aggro decks.

Well, then what about Midrange? We've established that infect is a little too slow for aggro, but midrange is a little bit slower.

Infect has very few value creatures. The only real value creatures are Viridian Corrupter, which nukes an artifact on ETB, and Corpse Cur, which re-curs a fallen infect creature. That's it. And out of those creatures, one of them isn't even that good. So infect creatures then really have to be used as actual creatures. Good to known. Now, refer back to my section on control. Control does not mix well with infect. Their plans do not support each other. Against aggressive decks, a midrange infect isn't controlling enough to be effective, unless you use creatures like Priests of Norn. But then against control, the creatures won't be fast enough unless you're using Glistener Elf.

GElf is a lot different from Priests of Norn. In the more aggro or more control shifting playstyles of midrange, one of them will end up being useless. That's a problem. A Tarmogoyf in a midrange deck is a beatstick that also blocks well. Glistener Elf is neither.

Additionally, aggro (and aggro derivatives) want abilities that facilitate aggro. Those abilities are ranked here (when combined with infect).

Cannot be blocked - pretty self explanatory
Flying - like a slightly worse 'cannot be blocked'
Self pump - exists on a few creatures like Ichorclaw Myr and Septic Rats
Haste - only on Skittles and Blackcleave Goblin, which is 4 mana...
Regeneration - pretty expensive, but just allows for whittling attacks when losing. Oh wait, if you're whittling with aggro you've probably already lost? Oh, wow...

Yeah, so tl;dr, infect really isn't that great for aggro or midrange.

So what works then?!?

Really truly, the strategy now of playing a creature and pumping it up is the strategy to follow. I've been looking at ways to reject this conclusion, but have yet to find one... If you have a great idea of your own for something I've already rejected (like control or aggro) then please try it out. Comment and tell me how it goes.

In any case, infect wants to win fast. If you durdle too much, then you'll end up losing. Infect is not resilient, or efficient, but it is fast and furious. infect has been the traditional winner in terms of competitive advantage. It combines a few cheap, usually evasive creatures, pump spells, and a few other 1-ofs and 2-ofs to win. It does not have much interaction, except to protect its own creatures.

If you examine the highest ranking infect deck (as of 3/28/2018), there are 13 infect creatures (including Inkmoth Nexus), 20 lands (including Dryad Arbor), one kill spell Dismember, and one counterspell Spell Pierce. The sideboard is a wide selection of a few narrow hate cards and counterspells, and a few cards to add resilience.

However, I feel very strongly that UG infect being king for so long is because there hasn't been enough strategies tried that are different. This is the revolution I want to start: a modern filled with a manifold of infect decks spread over the 5 colors. Each color has strengths and weaknesses, and the next section of this guide is going to be a deep breakdown of colors and color combinations.

But for the final point of this guide: a general checklist.

Your decks needs (and this can be edited in specific circumstances):

~12-14 cheap and preferably evasive infect creatures.
~20+ pump spells and evasion/trample enablers
~3-4 ways to deal with opponent's creatures and/or answers.
~20 lands that either help the plan (think Pendelhaven and nexus), or provide fast mana like shocks and fastlands.
A sideboard full of answers to general deck strategies, and a way to not get blown out by specific cards like Ensnaring Bridge, Ghostly Prison, or heavy creature removal. Things like Spellskite and Hurkyl's Recall

Community Decks

COMMUNITY DECKS

This is a section for community decklists, so that you can see what makes good decks, (and also having decklists makes this more of a traditional primer + guide). If you have a primer/thoroughly explained decklist to submit in the comments, go ahead. I'll look at it, and if I like it (or think it's fresh/clever) I'll put it in here.

Frankenstein's Monster- Modern Infect (Primer)

Modern BodhiQL

SCORE: 40 | 13 COMMENTS | 2524 VIEWS | IN 10 FOLDERS

Wrap-Up

I hope you enjoyed reading this guide/primer, and I especially hope you found it useful. I am still going to be adding to this, but I'm not sure what you (the reader) would find most beneficial from it.

I personally (and I'm pretty sure I've said this many times by now) really like infect for the interesting and fast-paced gameplay it provides.

If you have any cards you think I missed and want to talk about, feel free to leave a comment. If you have a question, feel free to ask me. If you think I made a mistake somewhere, feel free to tell me and to give me your opinion.

Finally, if there is something (like a section) you want to see added in future updates, please leave a request.

Oh, and while you're here, I'd appreciate it (if you liked the guide) if you would upvote the guide. It'll help the guide stand out, and increase the chance that other players will see it.

Thank you!

-WillowtheCouncil

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Revision 7 See all

(6 years ago)

-1	Blackcleave Goblin	main
-1	Blightwidow	main
-1	Caress of Phyrexia	main
-1	Chained Throatseeker	main
-1	Contagious Nim	main
-1	Cystbearer	main
-1	Fallen Ferromancer	main
-1	Flesh-Eater Imp	main
-1	Frontline Sage	main
-1	Fuel for the Cause	main
-1	Inexorable Tide	main
-1	Ogre Menial	main
-1	Phyrexian Digester	main
-1	Phyrexian Hydra	main
-1	Phyrexian Juggernaut	main
-1	Phyrexian Swarmlord	main
-1	Phyrexian Vatmother	main
-1	Predator's Gambit	main
-1	Razor Swine	main
-1	Reaper of Sheoldred	main

and 39 other change(s)

Date added	6 years
Last updated	6 years
Key combos	Blazing Shoal + Progenitus Blazing Shoal + Dragonstorm
Legality	This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 0 Mythic Rares 41 - 0 Rares 54 - 0 Uncommons 68 - 0 Commons
Cards	173
Avg. CMC	2.50
Tokens	/ W Creature Avatar, Bird 2/2 U, Emblem Arlinn Kord, Emblem Elspeth, Knight-Errant, Emblem Sorin, Lord of Innistrad, Human 2/2 G, Phyrexian Germ 0/0 B, Insect 1/1 G w/ Infect, Snake 1/1 G, Snake 1/1 G w/ Deathtouch, Soldier 1/1 W, Vampire 1/1 B w/ Lifelink, Wolf 2/2 G, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Infect, Modern
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