This deck's win condition is built around a simple combo that's replicated with a variety of cards: quickly place 10 poison counters by casting creatures with infect and evasion (Plague Stinger, Ichorclaw Myr, Whispering Specter, and Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon) then casting power buffs on them (Rancor,
Dark Favor
,
Boar Umbra
and a variety of cards similar to Giant Growth but with different cost/benefits).
For example, vs a deck that can't block flying (or can't yet):
Turn 2) Plague Stinger
Turn 3)
Phytoburst
and Groundswell on the Stinger make it 10/10 infect flying; attack with it to win.
Here's an explanation for each of this deck's cards, starting with the creatures: Plague Stinger and Whispering Specter are the basis of the deck. They can lay down a few consistent counters early game and are great targets for buffing throughout the game, just like in the example above. Whispering Specter's ability to force discards can cut another deck off at the knees mid game, and provides good control for this deck.
Ichorclaw Myr is cheap (3/3 infect for 2) and meant to attack early game, to lay down infect counters on the opponent's early creatures, or to simply be an extra early target for power buffs if it goes unblocked.
Plague Myr
is a mana ramp that can also act as a target for all the buffs in the deck.
Late game, Hand of the Praetors buffs all the creatures in the deck and provides an additional and unblockable source of poison counters.
Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon's quick damage can end the game in a couple turns. Attacking with it along with
Might of Oaks
is a win condition by itself.
If the deck hasn't won the game by turn five, something's gone wrong and the deck has probably stalled because I haven't drawn one half or the other of this deck's combo: either I haven't drawn a creature, or I haven't draw a creature buff. Diabolic Tutor fixes this problem by letting me pull whichever half of that combo I need to win. It's most likely target is Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon; assuming I have a bunch of creature buffs in my hand but no evasion creatures Skithiryx gives me a target and hence a quick path to winning. Alternately, I might have drawn a bunch of creatures but not enough of the enchantment buffs, leading to the deck laying down poison counters too slowly and giving the opponent the time they need to win. In that case Diabolic Tutor can be used to draw the most appropriate of the variety of Giant Growth like cards. Each one has a different CMC, and provides a correspondingly different +X/+X benefit. This way I can figure out exactly which card I need to win as quickly as possible with the mana available and draw it; preferably casting it that same turn.
Giant Growth and Groundswell are the cheapest. Depending on whether I have a land in my hand or not, sometimes one is more valuable and sometimes the other so both are in the deck so that either can be fetched.
Phytoburst
can halfway kill an opponent for 1G, even if it is a slow sorcery that can only be used offensively.
Might of Oaks
has the worst CMC to benefit ratio but it represents a win condition in a lot of situations. It'll probably be played on a 1/1 flyer and if either I've already dealt 2 poison counters or that creature already benefits from any other buff in the deck, then the game will end surprisingly quickly.
Those temporary buffs are useful game finishers, but the enchantments are the workhorses of this deck. Rancor is cheap and also lets me sacrifice creatures to lay down extra infect counters on opposing creatures while dealing trample poison counters, since it'll just bounce back to my hand. This mechanism is especially vicious on Ichorclaw Myr.
Dark Favor
is a cheap early way to buff power. The life loss is unfortunate, but it's the only card that does so in a mostly black deck. This life loss is meant to be balanced against an opponent loosing 1 life per successful hit by the creature, but in this deck the trade is 1 life vs 1 poison counter per turn.
Boar Umbra
costs a bit more, but it's totem armor lets me risk the target creature in combat with an opposing creature, which helps the deck stay aggressive.
Golgari Charm
usually has a similar use, regenerating each attacking (or blocking) creature I control and really taking advantage of infect's withering effect on opposing creatures without also loosing my whole army in an attack. That it can take out an enchantment instead is really just a bonus. In a handful of situations this card's ability to give every creature -1/-1 could be a boardwipe, but far more often it would just take out all my own 1/1 creatures, so this option is unlikely. The card is really in the deck for the sake of the mass regen.
I'm testing
Livewire Lash
for crowd control, to help keep an opposing army at bay. The CMC is a bit high, however.
Pendelhaven
lets me get a creature buff out of a land, providing a degree of fixing. Most of the creatures in the deck are 1/1 and can therefore benefit from this card, but because they have infect the +1/+2 benefit is more valuable than in the elf decks this card was probably intended for.
I'd appreciate any help building this deck. Cost is a consideration and I'd like to keep any suggestions under about five dollars. I think there's room for a few more lands that provide alternate benefits (like
Pendelhaven
), though I don't think I need different dual color lands.
When this deck's combo fires, it wins very quickly, so what I'm mostly looking for at this point are ways to ensure that the combo triggers more reliably, while keeping the average CMC low.
There's probably also room for other mana acceleration besides
Plague Myr
: I've considered Rampant Growth or Llanowar Elves, for example, but what do you think would work best? I've also considered
Contagion Engine
as a finisher, but it seems a bit slow.
My maybeboard is filled with other cards that used to be in this deck, but that I've rotated out for one reason or another. I'm leaving them there as suggestions for other people making similar decks.
I'd also like feedback on my sideboard. Ideally it would help adapt this deck to all sorts of decks that are out there, but I'm sure there are types of opposing decks that I haven't considered or thought of a counter for. Each of the cards that are on there are very useful but only in a small set of circumstances.
