Infected Planet

Legacy* Competitive Creatureless Exalted GU (Simic) Infect

BlackDeegs

Land (50)

• 2x Blinkmoth Nexus
• 4x Botanical Sanctum
• 4x Breeding Pool
• 4x Cathedral of War
• 3x Dark Depths
• 1x Eye of Ugin
• 1x Field of the Dead
• 4x Inkmoth Nexus
• 3x Lumbering Falls
• 3x Maze of Ith
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 3x Sea Gate Wreckage
• 3x Thespian's Stage
• 3x Tolaria West
• 4x Vesuva
• 3x Wasteland
• 4x Waterlogged Grove

Creature (1)

• 1x Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre

Artifact (1)

• 1x Crucible of Worlds

Sorcery (4)

• 4x Treasure Hunt

Enchantment (4)

• 4x Manabond

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Sideboard

Land (4)

• 2x Blast Zone
• 2x Boseiju, Who Shelters All

Creature (1)

• 1x Kozilek, Butcher of Truth

Enchantment (3)

• 3x Chill

Instant (3)

• 1x Spell Pierce
• 2x Surgical Extraction

Sorcery (4)

• 2x All is Dust
• 2x Animist's Awakening

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Maybeboard

Land (5)

• 3x Hashep Oasis
• 2x Sea Gate Wreckage

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Welcome to my creature-less infect deck (edit: now has one creature) I'm pretty proud of this deck as it is my own unique rendition of lands which is extremely different in win- con, design, and speed.

It is possible to win on turn 3 with infect damage even though the deck has no creatures!

Turn 3 Win

Treasure Hunt + Manabond to have a potential turn 3 infect win using Exalted from Cathedral of War and Vesuva copying the cathedral of war and Blinkmoth Nexus to pump up Inkmoth Nexus for infect wins. Only requires that on turn one you place a Manabond and on turn two you get lucky with your Treasure Hunt (its easy to do in an almost completely land deck, and get enough land cards including at least one Inkmoth Nexus ). potentially you could win on Turn three by pulling an Inkmoth Nexus , four Cathedral of War , and four Vesuva and either one Thespian's Stage or one Blinkmoth Nexus or any combination of the 4 four supporting lands which could pump Inkmoth Nexus up to a 10/10 flying infect turn three. In my mock version of this deck I have been able to make this a reality several times but obviously not with good consistency. Turn four wins have been relatively consistent (1/10), turn three wins are probably about 1/75 hands and only if they have no early instant response on turn three. Overall mock deck win percentage is roughly 80% but unfortunately I haven't been able to test it against any truly competitive legacy decks.

Main - Card Choice

Most of the Card choice revolves around the mana base since this is an extremely land-based deck.

Manabond - This is the bread and butter of the deck, allowing you to drop an absurd number of lands from your hand directly into play giving you the turn two combo and main focus of the deck.

Treasure Hunt - Part of the same centered combination as Manabond, I again run four copies of this as it allows me to draw cards until I hit a non-land. I have found that I usually draw between 5-6 lands but have drawn as many as 13 lands with a single Treasure Hunt .

Animist's Awakening - is another way to drop in multiple lands. It has the added benefit of a potential added effect to untaped all of the lands once they are put into play. I usually prefer to use this post Manabond + Treasure Hunt combo but it can be a nice substitute for a Manabond follow up if I don't have a Treasure Hunt and draw into this first.

Inkmoth Nexus - Inkmoth serves as the win condition for this deck. Pumping it up with Blinkmoth Nexus , Cathedral of War , Vesuva (as a copy of Cathedral of War), and Thespian's Stage (as a copy of Catehdral of War). I have found that with good hands I can get a turn 3 infect wins if the opponent lacks early flying drops.

Blinkmoth Nexus - Primarily used as a +1/+1 buff for Inkmoth Nexus to decrease the turn count it takes for Inkmoth to end the game. Can be used as a large flying creature in dire situations when no inkmoths are in play.

Cathedral of War - allow a single Inkmoth Nexus to swing for much larger infect damage, also protects other Inkmoth Nexus from being targeted by any damage or destroy or remove creature spells as opposed to swinging with multiple creatures and potentially losing all of them. Also more mana efficient.

Vesuva - Enters as a copy of Cathedral of War for the same effect and purpose.

Thespian's Stage - Turn into a copy of Cathedral of War for the same effect and purpose. Can additionally be repurposed if needed for .

Temple of the False God - Can provide the mana for Blinkmoth Nexus and Thespian's Stage required to buff Inkmoth Nexus , or for the mana to activate Inkmoth Nexus itself. This is also good for when casting Animist's Awakening and Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre .

Rogue's Passage - Unblockable Inkmoth Nexus can make even the reach and flying defenders useless and provide wins against decks which normally would be able to stall for a little bit with blockers. Also can make Lumbering Falls or Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre unblockable if those become the win-con.

Wasteland - Extremely valuable card in this deck, if this is pulled as part of your turn two and your opponent has put any non-basic lands into play this can destroy a land before attacking phase potentially protecting Inkmoth Nexus from any instants which would be able to target it once it becomes a creature. Also great for removing any pesky lands opponent may be running such as their own copies of Maze of Ith .

Tolaria West - Great land in a tight spot as it allows you to search for the exact land you need using Transmute. Can also be played as a land.

Maze of Ith - Used to protect against decks which swing with one large creature or have effects which trigger when they damage an opponent. Also useful to slow opponents by forcing them to get multiple creature into play before they can effectively swing for damage.

Crucible of Worlds - Great way to keep your lands punching if the opponent has a lot of removal they are able to get off against your endless barrage of Inkmoth Nexus attacks.

Lumbering Falls - a perfect backup plan against decks which are successfully getting removal off against Inkmoth Nexus . Inkmoth getting targeted too frequently? Switch to a hexproof creature and win by regular damage. Like inkmoth this guy is near impossible to hit with a board wipe due to the fact he is only a creature during my turn and almost all board wipes are sorcery. Doubles as a or mana producing land when not needed as a creature.

Breeding Pool , Yavimaya Coast , Botanical Sanctum - Dual mana producing lands (). Just one of any of these in an opening hand can play both Manabond and Treasure Hunt which are really the only color dependent mana cost in the deck (I would run Misty Rainforest and Tropical Island but need to draw the line somewhere for cost).

Eye of Ugin - This is primarily used to either find or quickly cast Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre for some target destroy and solid follow up. However, when sideboarding it can also reduce the cost of Kozilek, Butcher of Truth to or All Is Dust to .

Arch of Orazca - Once 9 other lands are in play and Manabond , or 10 lands this becomes a second draw per turn to amp up the late game land dropping and chances of drawing into another Treasure Hunt or Animist's Awakening . Additionally can supply prior to Ascend.

Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre - Ulamog's targeted destroy is good for turning around games where a single permeant in play is acting to stall the deck or prevent me from winning. He is relatively easy to cast in this deck as long as the initial combo was able to be used, as you will usually have enough lands to tap for on the turn following your first Treasure Hunt . He can also be called to action with Eye of Ugin if needed which is easier to get out with the initial combo, Crop Rotation , or Tolaria West . Ulamog also acts primarily as an anti-mill/self-mill by shuffling itself and the graveyard back into the deck if you draw too many cards with Treasure Hunt 's or if your opponent is running a mill deck.

Sideboard - Card Choice

Sideboard seeks to answer issues this deck may face.

Surgical Extraction - I use this as an answer to kill spells. They use a kill spell on Inkmoth Nexus ? Remove all copies of it from their deck and try again. I generally pay the two life of its mana cost. An amazing card I find in any deck as it can be played without ever having a swamp or producing land in the deck. It additionally can usually stop turn 1 self-mill decks if it is in your opening hand and even halt their delicate combo completely.

Chill - "burn hate" to counter the deck style which counters this deck most efficiently. The reason I choose Chill as opposed to Chalice of the Void is the inability for burn decks to react. Burn decks often run "destroy artifact" (specifically for Chalice) in their sideboard but have no answer to enchantments and it slows their deck enough to allow a successful response. I usually will sideboard Chill with Surgical Extraction for a dual burn deck counterplay. Better to pay and take the two life hit in exchange for removing all those Lightning Bolt or likewise from the game.

Kozilek, Butcher of Truth - I added Kozilek for two reasons if the game hasn't ended by the time I can cast him he is a late-game play which could end a game. The main reason, while he has a secondary use he is actually an anti-mill card in this deck. Assuming he is the last card in the deck I can draw him and discard him using Manabond preventing the deck from drawing out (this happened several times due to the fact that two Treasure hunts can cause you to draw more than half of your deck sometimes on Turn 3). Primarily, run one Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre for a similar purpose but with cast targeted destroy.

Blightsteel Colossus - Another huge colorless creature for the sideboard to pull with Eye of Ugin or to draw and cast. Blightsteel has synergy with our infect win condition, is indestructible, colorless, and shuffles our graveyard into our library giving it many different values if I do choose to sideboard it in.

All Is Dust - A fantastic board-wipe that works even against indestructible permanents. Cost can be reduced to by Eye of Ugin and it destroys all permanents except for my lands and potentially Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre , Kozilek, Butcher of Truth , Blightsteel Colossus or Crucible of Worlds .

Boseiju, Who Shelters All - I have tossed this guy in against blue decks and found it to be more effective than I thought it would be. It essentially just protects Treasure Hunt , Animist's Awakening , and All Is Dust but I still like it for the sideboard in case I hit blue control.

Blossoming Defense - Another sideboard card that comes in against decks running lots of removal in order to both buff and protect Inkmoth Nexus from opponents removal. These are especially good against and/or where the deck runs a lot of instant speed removal.

Theory/Analysis of Inkmoth Nexus

The idea behind this deck is to make the most out of powerful land cards. One of my favorite cards since print has been Inkmoth Nexus . This land/creature is incredibly powerful, is immune to sorcery spells as long as you are using it as an offensive tool, and has two extremely powerful beneficial attributes.

No sorcery. Opponent running Damnation , Cleansing Nova , Earthquake or any other clear card? Unfortunate. For them. Inkmoth Nexus is only a creature until end of turn and only when we choose which 99% of the time is on our turn. Unless they are destroying lands there will be no board wiping this creature win-con.

The attributes. Flying is the more commonly seen and is obviously a great tool, but it is even better when you combine it with infect. Flying allowing us to hit an opponent unless they have put a flying or reach creature onto the battlefield is extremely deadly especially when you are pumping up that creature to match the size of late-game flying drops for an early game combat phase. Infect is also a double whammy. While infect essentially eats away at an opponents life twice as quickly it is also not concerned with their life-gain. Nor is infect concerned with their indestructibility, or not being able to kill your creature in a single combat phase due to its delivery system of -1/-1 counters.

Inkmoth Nexus also benefits from its land card type when being targeted by cards such as duress. or really any early game discard cards. Because targeted discard effects from these cards state "non-land" in all of them we can safely assume that our Inkmoth will sit in our hand along with all of its amp ( Cathedral of War , Vesuva , Thespian's Stage , and Blinkmoth Nexus all explained above).

Almost all of the cards in this deck are lands, which not only means they all cost no mana to play throughout the game. But it means we can drop all of them into play giving us our entire winning combo just by allowing our cost Manabond to be put into play on hopefully the first and/or second turns.

All in all, this card has insane upside and several built-in protections at a land cost.

Theory of Land Choice

Outside of our Inkmoth Nexus , I have gone back and forth between countless land cards debating which brings the most value to the deck. From removing The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale because of its incredible cost for a physical copy, to adding in a full playset of Vesuva for their ability to replicate the lands I wish I could play more copies of in the deck, there have been a lot of back and forth decisions which ultimately have improved performance and lowered cost.

Cathedral of War was an easy add as it provides the buff for Inkmoth Nexus the deck needs to end things before opponents have time to mount a defense. I prefer these over many other stat buffing cards as they require no mana to work as opposed to many. And even better, can produce colorless mana to be used for other land abilities. Running a full set of these is a must for consistency and for maximum possible Inkmoth Nexus size. Cathedral of War is one of the cards I most want to see in my opening hand or when flipping cards off the top of my deck with Treasure Hunt .

Vesuva is a cover all bases copy of whichever land is needed most. I tend to try and use these as copies of Cathedral of War for the added exalted boost to our creature lands. It, however, can also serve as a copy of Inkmoth Nexus if I am worried about removal targeting Inkmoth Nexus when it becomes a creature. Rarely I have even had Vesuva enter play as a copy of Wasteland to ensure land removal for the following turn if I have sufficient exalted and want to ensure I can stall my opponent a little longer. I run four copies of this because of its ability to fill any need and to increase to chance that I have multiple Vesuva in play. More Vesuva 's = more exalted and a more consistent turn four infect win.

Thespian's Stage Everything for Thespian is the same as for Vesuva except with the small but easily paid mana cost. The added bonus of Thespian's Stage is in a pinch you can react to removal targeting Inkmoth Nexus as it attacks, and change Thespian's Stage into a Inkmoth Nexus before it leaves the battlefield. Ensuring that there is an Inkmoth Nexus on the battlefield for the next combat phase. Although I am only running three of these, I may move back to running four copies again for more potential exalted with Cathedral of War clones.

Rogue's Passage making Inkmoth Nexus unblockable is a needed feature for this deck. Having it wrapped into a land effect that can be pulled and played with our Manabond + Treasure Hunt combo without ending the hunt is priceless. This allows for some fantastic swing to win early games.

Temple of the False God I have cut and added back several times. These lands essentially enter the playing field as a land which is great for powering Thespian's Stage or activating Inkmoth Nexus , Blinkmoth Nexus , and Lumbering Falls . And can also give an extra mana value when casting Kozilek, Butcher of Truth . The balance of not running too many of these and making sure to run some in my mana pool had landed me at three copies. However, I am now down to two copies because after the first three turns mana tends to become overly abundant beside casting Kozilek, Butcher of Truth .

Wasteland 's extended analysis has a lot to it, but even for an extended analysis I will try and keep this short. Wasteland is a destroy target non-basic land card which entered the battlefield untapped. When put Wasteland into play at the beginning of an end phase with Manabond , we can before the end of the end phase Wasteland to destroy a nonbasic land. In a game where you play first, this could mean destroying your opponents only land before they even get to their second turn which is crazy. Additional protection comes with Wasteland as well, we can hold onto a copy untapped and wait for that non-basic land we know can counter our deck. Destroying Maze of Ith , Detection Tower (if we are trying to use Lumbering Falls ), a dual mana producing land if we are trying to stall out their mana base or a specific color, or even a creature land similar to Inkmoth Nexus , Lumbering Falls , etc. While Wasteland is an extreme stall tool and mana advantage tool for this deck, it is also the first card I look at when I sideboard against mono red. Mono-Red burn decks tend to run between one and none at all non-basic lands. It is against those decks where both Chill need to be added from the sideboard and it becomes the best option to remove if you build this deck and are playing against the mono-red burn decks that tend to pose the greatest threat to Infected Planet.

Maze of Ith is perfect for removing Inkmoth Nexus from combat if a spell or ability targets a creature, an attacking creature, or if a flash creature or instant spell would change the outcome of combat. Beyond protection for Inkmoth Nexus , it also provides some defense for the deck removing opponents creatures from combat as they attempted to swing at us. Maze of Ith can also protect Lumbering Falls in the rare chance that it is being removed by a spell like Settle the Wreckage which doesn't need to target the creature in order to remove it.

Lumbering Falls is the most recent land to join team Infected Planet. This is here to stay and may be increased to three or even as many as four copies in the deck. Because this land can tap for the or mana requirements in Manabond and Treasure Hunt it meets a big requirement of keeping enough color producing lands in the deck. At the same time, I have found that against decks which seek to destroy my Inkmoth Nexus with instant spells, Lumbering Falls becomes the untargetable threat that needs to be blocked each turn to ensure the opponent doesn't lose. It also gives exalted additional targets outside of just the Inkmoth Nexus , Blinkmoth Nexus , and potentially Kozilek, Butcher of Truth .

Yavimaya Coast cost one life per use for its colored mana but at the most this land is only going to ping for two life to cast Manabond and Treasure Hunt , making it a budget copy of Breeding Pool which cost two life to be untapped upfront. I run four copies of these and find they are the most valuable (in this particular deck) of all the dual mana producing lands that enter untapped.

Eye of Ugin - Allows for me to more consistently pull Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre which I moved into the mainboard as I found it to be useful more often than not and was sideboarding it in constantly. This also reduces the cost of All Is Dust when a player just really needs those all permanent board wipes to counter their deck and at it becomes very affordable for this deck to cast.

Tolaria West - The more I play this deck the more I appreciate this card over Crop Rotation . when using Treasure Hunt it doesn't end the hunt, and often when Treasure Hunt is bumping into Crop Rotation I find myself discarding it in order to use Manabond .

Theory of Counter Play

This deck struggles with a few week points in counter-play. Legacy burn decks tend to have the low cost and reactive instants to shut down the main win-con of Inkmoth Nexus infect swings. While counter-play has been built into the sideboard in the form of Surgical Extraction + Chill to slow and reap havoc on their ability to respond, it often comes down to which deck is on the play and whether this deck has drawn a solid first hand for who will come out on top.

Since originally theory crafting this deck I have added in Lumbering Falls . 7/10 times it becomes a dual land for me. However, I have found that against the strong burn deck this has become the new win-con as the hexproof land swinging for large damage can usually punch them down before they can burn 20 health. Additionally, Lumbering Falls has become the answer against other creature-less decks and many control decks which rely on black/white creature removal as quite often those decks only way around hexproof is with non-targeting board wipes, which tend to be sorcery speed. Lumbering Falls much like Inkmoth Nexus is protected from these kind of spells since they are only a creature until end of turn and unless I have multiple copies in play I tend to take damage as oppose to using them as blockers and race my opponents to win.

Another potential counter-play which this deck has had to adapt too is my arch nemesis Blood Moon . Now most basic land hate in decks don't make their way out into play against this deck due to higher mana cost such as Ruination , which can also be recovered from in a few turns (and nobody plays this). However, Blood Moon , Magus of the Moon , and Alpine Moon see sideboard play can cripple this deck to a scoop (besides Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre as a final hope) due to their ability due be played by on turn three just as we are hitting full combo ( Alpine Moon can be played turn one but it takes multiple Alpine Moon to justify an early scoop). I have found that the combination of some All Is Dust , Eye of Ugin , Chill , and Surgical Extraction often allow me to stay in the game and make these land-wrecking enchantment/creatures irrelevant. Ruination still ruins this deck and there isn't a response built in.

Against turn one win self-mill we have Surgical Extraction , which for two life can not only stop the turn one win. But because of the delicacy of their combo (and the fact that I am removing all copies of part of it), I can often end their win-condition completely. The best ally when facing these decks is "know thy enemy". If you know what they are doing and how the mechanics of their deck work you can know when and what to remove all copies of from the game. This doesn't always stop all of these decks from going off and winning, but it's our best weapon to hopefully either slow them or stop them.

Playing against dredge or just a graveyard-based deck? Sideboard in all three Leyline of the Void . It may take a mulligan unless your hand otherwise is rocking the perfect Manabond + Treasure Hunt and lands to play them. But I have (against a dredge deck I knew I would hard counter me if it got going) mulligan three times in order to get that Leyline of the Void in my starting hand. It usually pays off. I have stalled myself out accidentally and lost to Bloodghast and Gravecrawler just swinging to win though so no counterplay is perfect.

Lore

A planet once ruled by battling factions of creatures fell to the infection that is life. The pollution and decay created in their never victorious paths gave wake to an infection of the very land they fought for. Sickly, the land began to strike back. The Infection became one, a cognitive cleansing of its creator. The planet bathed itself in the corpse of the once living, and from their decay it regrew. Centuries afterlife ceased to exist, the planet has recovered. The rivers flow blue, plants have covered every inch of the once decay ridden battlefields, trees have razed tall canopies into the sky, and flowers open up to bloom each day... However, The Infection too has flourished, and The Infection has not forgotten.

In this seemingly harmless environment, the land has developed its own defense against the creatures and planeswalkers who once roamed its lands. A sleeping Infection which was the product of the pollution of creatures now lays in wait as the defense against those who once walked there.

Yes, The Infection is alive and well under the seemingly peaceful landscape. And from the moss-covered ruins and drowned catacombs of past life; The Infection is ready to hastily strike.

Planeswalker be warned. This battlefield is not a battlefield you will fight upon; but rather, a battlefield you will fight.

Please let me know thoughts or ideas for the deck, sideboard, lore, or anything you think hard counters the deck that could be addressed!

Top Ranked	Achieved #28 position overall 5 years ago
Date added	5 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is Legacy legal.
Rarity (main - side)	12 - 3 Mythic Rares 40 - 8 Rares 4 - 3 Uncommons 4 - 1 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.60
Tokens	Marit Lage, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Legacy