[Deck] U/G Infect

[Jesture]

What do you think of splashing white for RiP and Plow? I've tried it and I liked it but is it something to play in a known meta or in an unknown? I think that having RiP instead of Crop Rotation > Bojuka Bog is important, it's a really good card against so many matchups.

Splashing white is fine, but keep in mind that it makes dazes somewhat weaker in the deck. Rest in Peace is fantastic against decks such as Jund and Christmas Lands, but it's often just a turn too slow to matter against decks like Dredge and Reanimator. Swords to Plowshares is also a tempting option, but you're usually just better off playing cards that win you games, as opposed to cards that prevent you from losing. We're pretty fast as a deck to the point that we can win before most decks can establish any sort of soft lock. Sure you'll somtimes hit t1 Chalice or an early hate bear, but that's what counter magic is for. All in all, the options are cute but I feel U/G is just a more stable and equally strong list. Also, getting Massacred sucks.

Hey all, just played a weekly legacy event at my LGS last night. I was planning to do a write up, but I seem to have misplaced my notes. Until I find them, here's a decklist and some notes about my games:

12 Creatures
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Glistener Elf
4 Blighted Agent

25 Instants
4 Invigorate
4 Vines of Vastwood
1 Become Immense
2 Berserk
2 Force of Will
2 Spell Pierce
4 Daze
4 Brainstorm
1 Dig Through Time
1 Crop Rotation

3 Sorceries
3 Gitaxian Probe

20 Lands
1 Forest
4 Tropical Island
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Inkmoth Nexus
1 Pendelhaven
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wasteland

Sideboard
2 Force of Will
1 Crop Rotation
1 Karakas
2 Necropede
1 Sylvan Library
1 Piracy Charm
2 Submerge
2 Krosan Grip
1 Nature's Claim
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Divert

Matchups were RUG Delver, Food Chain, Mono Green Lands, and Miracles. I went 3-0 going into the final round, then lost in 3 to Miracles with Peacekeeper (that card is a beating!)

Some thoughts:

-There is very little reason not to be running at least 2 copies of Submerge. When sided in, this card is at worst a free bounce spell that generates tempo, and at best wins the game on the spot. It has the ability to
Stop a creature from attacking for a turn
Remove a blocker
Remove a problematic creature (think Grim Lavamancer)
Permanently remove a creature in response to a fetch land
Kill a token
Cause an opponent to use mana to redeploy threats (makes Daze and Spell Pierce better)
Deny a draw
and other various good stuff. Infect is a deck that exploits small windows of opportunity, and Submerge is a zero costed card which creates those windows perfectly.

-Divert is absurdly strong in the games it gets sided in. Round 1 I used it as a pseudo Spell Pierce, then another time to Stone Rain myself by directing a Stifle into a fetch land activation (I don't remember the details on this play, but I won the following turn). Round 2 it redirected an Abrupt Decay onto an opposing Food Chain, buying me another turn which I used to crack back for lethal. I'm still not entirely sold on its place in the deck, but with enough BUG decks and as just a one of in the sideboard, I don't see myself taking it out anytime soon.

-Dig Through Time seems just as strong, but I'm not certain of its place in the main deck. I didn't have any problems casting the card, but I feel a resurgence of mana denial (Stifle, Wasteland, Blood Moon) is imminent with the state of the given meta. That said, casting double blue Dig on our current mana base has not been difficult, as I had initially feared. As for power level, resolving an end of turn Dig Through Time just feels like winning. With a resolved threat on the board, and a relevant card or two in hand, scrying 7 then drawing two off the top will often give you the perfect blend of pump spells or counter magic to end the game the following turn. Dig also does a phenomenal job of finding sideboard answers in game 2 and 3. In two separate instances, I used a Dig Through Time to tutor up answers to threats that would have lost me the game (once for Crop Rotation into Wasteland on Glacial Chasm, another for Submerge on Marit Lage). I can guarantee that no other card would have won me those games (this is excluding the games I won after casting Dig Through Time that I felt were already in the bag.) For now, I don't see Ponder coming back into the deck as it doesn't dig as deep, and has to be cast at sorcery speed (something I feel this deck should avoid doing whenever possible.)

Edited for opinions on white splash

[Julian23]

62 cards? I think you listed 2 Berserk twice.

[Jesture]

Good catch, thanks!

[Platinum_Emperion]

Has anyone tried Xantid Swarm? I feel like it would be really good in our deck.

[Lejay]

Counters would still back up removals so it's not a good idea.

[Platinum_Emperion]

Counters would still back up removals so it's not a good idea.

True, but it forces them to have actual removal instead of just counters. Plus it is another creature to beat down with that flies. I have had more than my share of noble kills because people focus too much on my infectors. Maybe they could take the spot of a G-probe or 2 g2

[M+1]

I too have considered Xantid Swarm, mainly as a way to "force the issue" when attacking (preventing the end of turn StP or whatever).

However, attacking with Xantid plus a poison creature turns off Exalted.
And it is another 1 toughness creature that walks right into every 2-mana weapon of mass destruction there is (OK, not Rough/Tumble).

In my experience, Noble kills are very rare, but Xantid is a far better creature for attacking, so it might work.

I would be interested in your results if you test it.

[Jesture]

Has anyone tried Xantid Swarm? I feel like it would be really good in our deck.

I don't like this at all. The purpose of Xantid Swarm is to force an additional counter or removal spell out of the opponent, but it does this in the attacker's step. While it means that the opponent has to fight over your threats a card down, it also means that we have to pick our fights before blocks are declared, ie. we absolutely need Berserk if we want to utilize Xantid Swarm. This is assuming we're not hoping to just chip our opponents up to 10 infect counters, in which case Xantid is also not very good as it has to attack every turn for several turns, leaving it vulnerable to blockers and turning off exalted in the process.

[Bosaapje]

Has anyone tried Xantid Swarm? I feel like it would be really good in our deck.

I don't think that forcing the removal is a good idea. If they have removal you can counter it and if they've got counter back up you're at the same point where you were without a Swarm and you've switched off exalted/combat tricks. It's not like we're ANT without counters, we can prevent the opponent from playing stuff.


I just played a 40 man local invitational hosted by my LGS. You had to get a certain amount of points and if you had them, you were invited. I played 6 rounds, first 2 Legacy rounds, then 3 Modern and then again 1 Legacy. This was because the LGS organizes Modern and Legacy tournaments and you could get invited by playing either of those. I went 4-2 in total, with 3-0 in Legacy and 1-2 in Modern (played storm and the last time I practiced that was a year ago or maybe longer). I didn't make any notes so I'm not writing a report but I do know what I played against and how it went.

This was my decklist:

Lands 19

3 Tropical Island
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
4 Inkmoth Nexus
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Forest
1 Pendelhaven
1 Wasteland

Creatures 12
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Glistener Elf
4 Blighted Agent

Spells 29
4 Invigorate
4 Vines of Vastwood
2 Berserk
1 Piracy Charm
1 Become Immense

4 Daze
2 Spell Pierce
2 Force of Will

4 Brainstorm
3 Gitaxian Probe
1 Ponder
1 Crop Rotation

Sideboard
2 Force of Will
1 Crop Rotation
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Grafdiggers Cage
1 Divert
1 Spell Pierce
1 Piracy Charm
2 Stifle
2 Necropede
2 Krosan Grip
1 Sylvan Library


I played 2 Stifle sideboard because I didn't have acces to Submerges at the moment and I had a feeling that they could come out handy and they did. I stifled a few fetchlands and could stifle a storm trigger, he did go off unprotected and I only had a Stifle. They were also better than the Submerges in the matches that I had. The matchups were:

??? - Forgot it
Storm
Esperblade

My deck worked like it should, I knew how and what to board and I had lots of fun playing it. What do you guys think of Stifle? I know that it's been played mainboard but what about it sideboard? People don't expect it and therefore it can catch someone off guard if they didn't see it game 1. I ran it because of the SFM-decks, with Stifle a Mystic is just a Squire and that's not that good.

And what's up with Teferi's Response? I saw it yesterday at SCG Live on stream. Isn't it really expensive to cast? If you're attacking with your Nexus you need another 2 mana to protect the guy. Yeah you draw 2 cards but isn't just playing Vines better? It just seems so expensive to me.

[twndomn]

And what's up with Teferi's Response? I saw it yesterday at SCG Live on stream. Isn't it really expensive to cast? If you're attacking with your Nexus you need another 2 mana to protect the guy. Yeah you draw 2 cards but isn't just playing Vines better? It just seems so expensive to me.

If the source is a permanent, like R. Port or Goblin Settler, you get rid of it forever (almost, except Loam decks). The deck already packs 4 Vines, Teferi is meant be additional to Vines.

[Bosaapje]

Oh right, I totally forgot Settler or Port. If Death and Taxes/Goblins is prevalent in the meta it would be a good card in the 75.

[M+1]

Teferi's Response could also destroy Jitte.

[Bosaapje]

Teferi's Response could also destroy Jitte.

That's pretty good, 1U: Destroy the biggest threat on the board and draw 2 cards.

[Jesture]

I played 2 Stifle sideboard because I didn't have acces to Submerges at the moment and I had a feeling that they could come out handy and they did. I stifled a few fetchlands and could stifle a storm trigger, he did go off unprotected and I only had a Stifle. They were also better than the Submerges in the matches that I had.

My deck worked like it should, I knew how and what to board and I had lots of fun playing it. What do you guys think of Stifle? I know that it's been played mainboard but what about it sideboard? People don't expect it and therefore it can catch someone off guard if they didn't see it game 1. I ran it because of the SFM-decks, with Stifle a Mystic is just a Squire and that's not that good.

I've actually been thinking about this card recently, and here's what I came up with.

When selecting card numbers, the obvious tradeoff is between how often you see a card and how often you want to see a card. Stifle is interesting because it's a card that's extremely powerful and flexible, but not one that you ever really want to see multiple copies of, as it loses a lot of utility when people think to play around it. Given how much potential and flexibility the card has, I'd say its place in the 75 is in the main deck, siding it out once you've shown it to your opponent. Between Fetchlands, Stoneforges, Storm decks, and any other activated or triggered abilities I'm not listing, there's rarely a game 1 where having a Stifle catch your opponent off guard won't be a huge swing in your favor. In that regard though, you would want to keep your Stifle in your deck for as many games as it goes unseen, then immediately side it out once your opponent gets wise to your tricks.

Playing Stifle in the sideboard feels a little bit backwards, as those slots tend to be reserved for specific matchups, and there's no real point in running a card in the sideboard if you're bringing it in for the majority of your games. Also keep in mind that if they play around it pre-board, they're still going to be playing around it post-board. You're really just denying yourself an entire game's worth of opportunities to use Stifle if you're only packing it in the sideboard.

And what's up with Teferi's Response? I saw it yesterday at SCG Live on stream. Isn't it really expensive to cast? If you're attacking with your Nexus you need another 2 mana to protect the guy. Yeah you draw 2 cards but isn't just playing Vines better? It just seems so expensive to me.

I think the last couple of posts have tackled this issue well enough. I've play tested Teferi's Response a little bit in the past, but I think I'm going to give it another shot after watching Zachary Koch do work with it at SCG Indy. It feels a lot like Stifle in the sense that it loses a lot of its power once its on your opponents radar, but at the same time it has potential to blow games wide open if timed properly.

[poxy14]

5th on a 50man tourney (Neutral Grounds GPT Kyoto Legacy, Manila) with UGInfect last Feb 1, 2015. The deck is very solid, you only have to load helpers vs problematic matchups, i dont carry any creature hate anymore and from my previous lists i think that’s the way to go. will link the list once it shows on tcdecks.net.

R1 (vs reanimator) 2-1 (1-0)
counterlight keep game 1 which i quickly lost, game 2 managed to draw my very loaded sb slots vs this archetype that made it easy for me to establish... game 3 was a double become immense for a NOBLE HIERARCH beatdown! wasnt able to draw any infected crit and sided out my crop rots, my opponent using watery graves did help me alot here.

R2 (vs esper deathblade) 2-0 (2-0)
i just had too many creatures both games, and it served a real problem when he has no lots of removals when im applying pressure..

R3 (vs miracles) 2-1 (3-0)
won g1 easily, when i go off for lethal he stp’ed but in no use as i was loaded with vines and dazes, g2 was able to put him down to 1 infect, but his snapcasters are just waiting for every crit i will land..g3 when i landed a turn2 sylvan and abused it! surgicals are very good vs miracles once they do not establish CBToplock, one time during the g3 i surgicalled 1 copy of stp and my opponent having 2 copies at hand!

R4 (vs MUD) 2-1 (4-0)
played vs this archetype and teammate numerous times and im always positive bout this matchup.. i tweaked my sb with a naturalize to negate useless Nclaims on cotv 1..with 2 needles im not worried bout forgemaster to platinum anymore. My TOP8 clinching win was a mulligan 4 game 3... i drew in inkmoth, misty, invi, invi : )

R5 and R6 both ids, and placed 2nd on the rankings

QUARTERS (vs DNT and eventual champion) 0-2

g1 - he had 2 wastes vs my 2 inkmoths on mull 5, my crop rots didnt showed up this time..
g2 - mulled to 4 WHAT! wasnt able to draw any colored sources to start with and it costed me. i still almost stole the game when he attacked his canonist only to die to berserk, if i only drew any +1 pump on my turn itll be a W.

missed winning any dual on the top4 slot but got me a fetch and an ftv annihilation box, it was a 3rd straight top8 for me with UGinfect that’s why i kept on using it still even when i can already switch back to my old reliable RUGDELVER. The deck is less stress to pilot and i always have fun when my opponent’s asking me “am i dead already?”

[MiniVan_3]

Hi guys, I wound up taking the deck to SCG Indy after all. I was one of the 3 Infect players who made day two, but as I had feared I didn't fare very well vs Shardless, playing against it 3 out of the first four rounds and starting the tournament with a 1-3 record. I managed to rattle off 8 wins in a row after that, against 8 different decks, before finally hitting another Shardless player to be knocked out of top 8 contention. Can someone please give me a general idea of how to board in that MU? I've tried everything I can think of, but I fall just short each time.

[poxy14]

SB i used last sunday... expecting a combo/reanimator/jitte meta

2 krosan grips
1 naturalize (Nclaim will have no use for chalice.decs, coz they will always target 1)
2 pierces
1 envelop
1 fow
1 necropede
1 sylvan library
1 relic progenitus
1 tormod's crypt
2 surgical extractions
2 pithing needles

@minivan: vs shardless i would do this
(-3 fows, -3dazes, -1ponder, -1 berserk, -1 probe / + 2 pierces, +2needles, +1sylvan, +2surgicals, +1 necropede, +1 krosan grip)

discards and pwalkers that hurts us doesnt come in too early, u have to have any of the 4 pierces available by that time, needling DRS will make our pierces connect, i think fow is just bad vs any discard deck, they will pack in removal like AD's and that's where surgicals come, u can also hit opposing wastelands so u can needle other targets.. 2 artifact might be better but i cant squeeze in 1 more... they will carry needles too, and u can also kill strix that stops our flyers.. its really a tough match up for us i guess...they have sweepers too like toxic deluge, charm...envelop can help us here from deluge. still we need to be the aggressor here, they have lots of controllish stuff and the longer itll take itll be more difficult for us to win.

[Alex_UNLIMITED]

This Sunday I will have a tournament and I think the metagame will have a prevalence of tricolore blue based and tricolor not blue based (Junk and Maverick). Infect seems quite suitable? How is your sideboarding against Maverick similar decks?

[Jesture]

This Sunday I will have a tournament and I think the metagame will have a prevalence of tricolore blue based and tricolor not blue based (Junk and Maverick). Infect seems quite suitable? How is your sideboarding against Maverick similar decks?

Depending on what list they're running, Necropede and Piracy Charm can both be very good, as Maverick tends to have a lot of 1 toughness creatures (Thalia, Mother of Runes, Dryad Arbor, I'm seeing Spirit of the Labyrinth and Confidant in some recent posts on the primer). If you're on the draw, I'd also look to side out Daze and Wasteland, as those get a lot worse when you're facing down a t1 Deathrite. On that note, Spell Pierce and FoW are also pretty bad in the matchup, as the first doesn't have a lot of targets and the second is negative card advantage.

In short, it's super situational, but I'd consider something like

On the play:
-2 Spell Pierce
-2 Force Of Will
-1 Inkmoth Nexus
-1 Dig Through Time
-1 Gitaxian Probe

+1 Piracy Charm
+2 Krosan Grip
+1 Nature's Claim
+2 Submerge
+1 Divert

On the draw:
-4 Daze
-2 Spell Pierce
-1 Wasteland
-1 Gitaxian Probe
-1 Glistener Elf

+2 Necropede
+1 Piracy Charm
+2 Krosan Grip
+1 Nature's Claim
+2 Submerge
+1 Divert

[Bosaapje]

Why the -1 Glistener Elf? Don't you want to have every creature sided in? I know that he doesn't have any form of evasion but it's another target that they need to plow.

Oh and what do you guys think of this SB, I'm expecting D&T, BUG, RUG, ANT, Reanimator, Show and Tell and some Miracles.

2 Force of Will
2 Pithing Needle
2 NEcropede
2 Krosan Grip
1 Piracy Charm
1 Divert
1 Spell Pierce
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Crop Rotation
1 Karakas
1 Sylvan Library