Also, I think I agree on spell pierce, I've been back and forth on that issue for a while.. But by the time they can pay 2 I've already won or lost the game usualy.

I don't agree with that. You can very easily not be able to counter 1-2 mana cards with Spell Pierce especially if you're on the draw. Your normal gameplan really isn't that fast, either - killing before t4 is kinda hard and you will often have to wait until t5 to go for the kill.

I don't really see a good alternative, though. Apostle's Blessing is the best one imho, followed by Dispel and Spell Pierce which are pretty similar in their level of playability. I think the deck should run a total of 8-10 copies of said cards in the main.

I like that this build is attempting to be so protective of the combo. Mainboard counterspells is something the U/G version can't afford (unless we're talking about the legacy version) since it's goal is to win on turn 3 or even, potentially, on turn 2 if your opponent isn't interacting with your board state. I don't see a way to win by turn 3 in this though. Having all two-drop creatures means the first time you swing is on turn 3 but without access to the best pump spells green has to offer there doesn't seem to be any way of dealing lethal poison in one swing. But it seems to balance this with a more grindy, control oriented plan which deals with one of the many downsides of the infect builds: it's typically really bad in the long game. I've found that if I don't win with U/G infect by turn 4 or 5 the game becomes heavily slanted in my opponent's favor. So I like that this is attempting to augment that. It may even help with one of the other downsides which is that all your creatures die to lightning bolts. Always. Most players are smart enough to bolt infect creatures on their turn when you won't benefit from pumping because you're not attacking. So holding up counters to keep your creatures alive is important. You might even be more comfortable committing more than one creature to the board because you can potentially counter the sweeper spells. But this, I think, can lead to some clunky game play where you have to debate whether to use your mana proactively with combat tricks and pump spells, or reactively with counters and control elements. I'd like to see this build against one of infect's worst match-ups like Burn or Naya Zoo.

Thanks a ton for your comment :D The only turn 3 win possibility would need a very lucky draw. On turn 2 you drop Ichorclaw Myr turn 3 pay 2 mana for Ensoul Artifact (he is now 5/5) pay 1 mana for Distortion Strike he is now 6/5 and pay 4 life for 2 Mutagenic Growth which would make him 10/9 and unblockable. I think the main thing this deck would struggle with is other control decks, not so much burn because once a creature is 5/5 not much will bother it so the burn potential is windowed, I also think it has an advantage against almost any creature based deck in that it doesn't interact with other creatures at all and not many decks can compete with a 5/5 infect creature on turn 3 so they don't have the option of just out-trading me in damage. But it has 0 anti-enchantment. Like all infect decks there's almost no coming back from behind especialy in this case because the start up is longer than u g infect. Do you have any suggestions for a side board? I'm horrible with them ... Thanks a ton for your feedback :D

"I like that this build is attempting to be so protective of the combo. Mainboard counterspells is something the U/G version can't afford (unless we're talking about the legacy version) since it's goal is to win on turn 3 or even, potentially, on turn 2 if your opponent isn't interacting with your board state."This list is running exactly four counterspells, none of which counter creatures. They're essentially just protection spells, which is something that UG Infect runs plenty of. Spell Pierce is a mainstay in UG, sometimes as a 1-2-of in the main.

"But it seems to balance this with a more grindy, control oriented plan which deals with one of the many downsides of the infect builds: it's typically really bad in the long game. I've found that if I don't win with U/G infect by turn 4 or 5 the game becomes heavily slanted in my opponent's favor. So I like that this is attempting to augment that." Don't want to be negative, but this version isn't any better in the late game than UG. Muddle and Pierce will not be slowing your opponent down too much, if at all.

"It may even help with one of the other downsides which is that all your creatures die to lightning bolts. Always. Most players are smart enough to bolt infect creatures on their turn when you won't benefit from pumping because you're not attacking." Spellskite, Groundswell, Apostle's Blessing, Vines of Vastwood, Become Immense and Pendelhaven with any pump spell will all counter a Lightning Bolt. Yes, your creatures are going to be vulnerable if you're going to tap out, but that's why you keep protection up. You only dodge Bolt if you somehow manage to slip the Ensoul on a creature when your opponent's tapped out, which is just not going to happen a relevant amount of the time.

"You might even be more comfortable committing more than one creature to the board because you can potentially counter the sweeper spells."UG can play as many Spell Pierces as it wants. Not really an argument for this version.

" I think the main thing this deck would struggle with is other control decks, not so much burn because once a creature is 5/5 not much will bother it so the burn potential is windowed"Burn will keep their Lightning Bolts up against you. Trust me. Burn will also kill you way before you get to swinging two times with your 5/5 even if Ensoul resolves and they don't have Revelry OR Path to Exile.

"I also think it has an advantage against almost any creature based deck in that it doesn't interact with other creatures at all and not many decks can compete with a 5/5 infect creature on turn 3 so they don't have the option of just out-trading me in damage."Name one such deck.

I know I sound like I'm just bashing whatever you guys are saying but I simply cannot agree with the above statements.

I've always hated the "dies to bolt" argument in modern. Yes, burn decks will be running four of them, but even so there's only a 40some% chance that they'll start with one in their opening hand, and an even lower percentage that they'll draw into a second or third one. If you're playing against a burn deck and they have to waste their best spells dealing with your creatures than you've basically already won.

"I've always hated the "dies to bolt" argument in modern. Yes, burn decks will be running four of them, but even so there's only a 40some% chance that they'll start with one in their opening hand, and an even lower percentage that they'll draw into a second or third one. If you're playing against a burn deck and they have to waste their best spells dealing with your creatures than you've basically already won."

It's not like Burn is the only deck with Bolts. Grixis and Jund both run loads of them, as does pretty much any Red deck that isn't so combo-oriented that it cannot run them. "Dies to bolt" isn't an argument against running any <4 toughness creature - it's an argument against running creatures cost 3+ mana and die to Bolt without you getting anything out of it. Running something like a Vampire Nighthawk out on t3 only to get it removed with a single red mana after your opponent has played something like Tassigur or Tarmogoyf on their turn will generally not work out well for you. Trading something like a mana dork for a Bolt is fine since you're trading a one mana card for a one mana card. Tempo is important.

Wild Nacatl dies to Bolt but does so in a very efficient way. Pestermite dies to bolt but has flash to play around it, forces your opponent to spend their mana on their turn and can just win the game if you untap with it. Kitchen Finks dies to Bolt but comes back and gives you life.

I'd keep this discussion going but you completely missed my point and its not exactly the place to have it. For sideboard cards I would suggest running some sort of creature counters or bounces that can target anything to slow down decks that will try to out-speed you. Boomerang always comes to mind as an example but is probably not modern legal without looking it up; Vapor Snag, however, is.

Boomerang is legal in modern and I do recommend it as it can buy you turns and disrupt combos, you can even use it to bounce lands to set your opponent back a turn on his mana base and is particularly mean to target shock lands. "yeah, take 2 again, suckah!"

"I'd keep this discussion going but you completely missed my point and its not exactly the place to have it."

I really didn't. The part about your comment that I didn't address (the part about them "only" having Bolt in roughly every second game) kinda refutes itself. It's kind of silly ignoring how terrible some cards are against Bolt (and that you almost instantly lose the game because of the massive loss in value) if it's not even going to matter every single game. I'm just saying.

If you'd like to keep the conversation going, do so on my profile or whatever.

;-; 326 as much as I appreciate your dedication to commenting on this deck, you always make the comments list so long. :(

Too bad you can't edit comments on TOut :P

Is it just me or did he just prove my point for me...?

Guys, have some respect for the OP. I'm sure he doesn't want his comments section cluttered with jibber jabber. Yes, I realize I'm doing that right now, but come on.

So I will inquire about a sideboard, so no spam. Have you built a sideboard yet? Or are you looking for some suggestions on that matter?

I would LOVE sideboard suggestions :D Also thanks <3

I would actually take out Plague Myr and Necropede, then I would put in things like Gitaxian Probe, which is just really good. you only need 1 infect creature on the board to win, and to win faster, Gitaxian Probe helps.

If I took them both out, i'd been left with only 4 possible card draws that can be ensouled, I think if I did it I'd drop one or the other, not both to keep it at 8 minimum. I think Plague Myr is more useful in general than Necropede so maybe i'll drop the 3 necropedes for 3 probes. I'll see how it plays that way. Thanks for the suggestion.

If I would suggest taking out anything it would be the blighted agents, not the artifact creatures. Without them, the Ensouls are useless, thus making the muddles useless.

Well, my reasoning behind it is, i already had 11 artifact creatures, the blighted agents actualy come in handy a lot more often than you think, mutagenic growth, pendelhaven and wings of velis vel all pump them up too, with 8 artifact creatures still in there, PLUS the additional card draw from gitaxian probes will suffice, 8 is pretty likely to make it into almost ever hand.

man, maybe even Become Immense would work in here.

Theres a few problems with become immensce for this deck, one is that only 2 of my lands provide green mana and the other is that this deck is supposed to win by turn 5 or 6 w/o any real interation creature wise so not many cards would be in the graveyard.

how is this both colorless and mono-blue? for that matter, why is it tagged like that at all? lol. wheres your sideboard, yo?

cool idea though!

;-; You're right, and because its been both throughout its creation, I just must have messed up with the tags. Also, I am taking side board suggestions, because I'm horrible with them :(