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@fenruscloud was needing some sideboarding tips for certain matchups, mainly, Lands, Grixis Delver, and DnT, Also, i run 1 necropede in my board, along with 2 shaper's sanctuary, was wondering your opinion on these 2 cards, and 3rd, what is the nissa in your board for?
Hello Dowws,
Answering these questions is difficult since this all depends on your own preferences, playstyle and even different versions of the decks, but I will try to give some general tips.
1) Sideboarding
-Lands: First of all, counters are pretty much useless in this matchup. They play almost no spells at all, and the ones they do can be returned forever (life from the loam and punishing fire). Therefore, I board out pretty much all my counterspells. Cards that are always good vs lands are graveyard removal to get rid of these recurring spells (bojuka bog, surgical extraction). Others cards I bring in are those to stop the marit lage token (karakas, crop rotation, sumerge, pithing needle). Last thing I do is get some value cards in to try to get ahead, disrupt their game, and to protect my creatures(spellskite, sylvan library, sylvan safekeeper, dissenter's deliverance, nature's claim). In general, this is a difficult matchup, but with the right tools post-sideboarding not all that bad in my opinion.
- Delver: In this matchup, it's all about keeping your creatures alive. Counters are still useful, but you don't want too many. I mostly trim counters and off course viridian corruptor since they play no artifacts. In goes spellskite, library, crop rotation, safekeeper, hydroblast and depending on their deck type needle as well (grim lavamancer for instance). Very difficult matchup as well.
-DnT: Again, counters are useless vs this deck. They have vial and cavern of souls, making counters worthless. Sideboarding is pretty much the same as vs delver, except I trim almost all of the counters and include the artifact hate. Possibly karakas to bounce thalia if I find a spot. In general, this is a good matchup.
2) Necropede and shapers' sanctuary
I don't like necropede at all. Can't think of a single matchup I would want it. Shapers' sancuary is interesting because it can generate a lot of value, but it can also do nothing. I've tried it a few times instead of sylvan library, but the problem is that while library is always good, sanctuary can be very awkward. I'm not dismissing this card just yet though, I want to try to include both of them in my sideboard, but haven't found a spot for it so far. I have to test some more to make a definitive conclusion.
3) Nissa, steward of elements
Infect has always been missing 1 thing in my opinion: a late game winner when the opponent controls the board. Where I play, everyone plays 4c control or Czech pile. These decks slaughter infect once they survive the early game, so I've been searching for a way to get around this and I've been trying nissa. So far, I haven't seen it a lot in my games, but whenever I had it, it was great. Not only is it a late game finisher, but it's also great if u have it early. I once won a game where my opponent on czech pile had the board completely under control. I had 1 berserk but no creatures. He had a bunch of removal. Normally, this is game over, but I got Nissa. I played it and got a +2 activation. Next turn I ult, going in for lethal regular damage. He had to use all his removal on the lands and I could simply berserk the one land he couldn't kill to kill him. I'm not sold on this card yet though, it's very bad (slow) against most other decks and I will need to test further to be sure about it.
Hope this helps, feel free to ask more questions or comment on my choices.
Good luck infecting!
"Wherever the Needle goes.. the Probe follows..."
Hi, guys my team finished 2nd in the Top 4 of a 16 team Trios Event. I was repping Posion of course. Anyhow I'll be sharing the key cards and interactions that mattered. Tnx for reading!
Team Trios Collector Legion 12/30/17
Round 1
Vs Bant Deathblade 2-1
•Game 1 I keep a Double Force Double Blighted Agent hand.. I used a Force on their Deathrite Shaman.. since I didn't have much action in my hand anyway. The game went on and they commit to Jitte and lose the game to Vines of Vastwood response to equipping their creature. Their hand 3 TNNs LOL
•Game 2 He won by forcing the Vines of Vastwood trying to prevent the Jitte equip ahaha I should have known it was gonna work a 2nd time as that guy was a well known player who played well.
•Game 3 Pithing Needle on Jitte is good.
He never saw his Abrupt Decay for the Pithing Needle and I kill him with Inkmoth purples by Invigorate and Spell Pierce countering his STP.
Key: Stick to Fundamentals in the one, Daze on the play , FoWs on the draw at least have 3, Git Probe and Needle is your friend.
Round 2:
Vs Lands
•Game 1
He craps on me with Tabernacle lock
Scoops
•Game 2
t1 I fetch Trop and play a Noble
t1 mox mox, Thespian Stage, played Sphere of Resistance.
t2 I play an Inky and pass.. Now I have all the mana to pay for Naturalize hehehehe
t2 he plays a Wasteland and casts Punishing Fire to kill my Noble, I respond with tapping 3 and Naturalizing Sphere of Resistance, he Wastelands my Inkmoth. With the PFire still on the stack, I Daze it.
I stuck a threat. Ended up with him cropping for Maze, I cast Vines before I attack and kill him.
•Game 3 he's on the play.. Good God I wanted to scoop, he turn 1'd Exploration into Wasteland
My t1 was Fetch for Trop and Noble..
t2 I thought he was gonna Waste my Trop but he hand better ideas.. he resolves a Molten Vortex... ... I wanted to scoop so bad. He pings my Noble with a land. I play a Fetch and pass.
T3 he plays Sphere of Resistance... gademmit. I play another land and pass..
His T4 I made sure to Naturalize that Sphere of Resitance Hahahaha and I can't believe I cut the 1 Naturalize from my list.
But he ended up setting up to where he could Marit Lage the next turn.
My T4 I play Brainstorm in hopes to find a Crop.. I didn't find squat.. only a bunch of pumps. My only hope was for him to mess up and think I have a Crop so I kept the Fetch up.
He untapped, and sure enough; instead of going for Marit Lage and killing me.. he chose to play around CropRo and Tried to Hit my Elf with Molten Vortex -Invigorate
in response he does it again, -Fetch, Blossoming Defense
I untap and cast a kicked Vines and Become Immense as he was tapped out.
Round 3 vs UR Sneak
•Game 1 I couldn't get there fast enough and didn't play around Spell Pierce, he cancelled my lethal pump and I lost.
•Game 2 I Force an early counter battle and he died with Sneak and Show on board to my Swarm of Infecters
•Game 3 I had to mull to 4 but didn't so I kept a potential 5 with one drops and Daze but no lander.. (I will never do this again)
Lost badly. If I could rewind I'd mull to 4 just cause. But I didn't want to.
My team is 2-1 in the tourney now
Round 4 vs Lands again.
•Game 1 He sets up PFire and Grove and kills my Infect threats leaving me with a Noble. I Brainstorm into 2 more Nobles and Become Immense and I had 2 Berserk in my hand. Ends with my opponent tapping out to PFire one of my 3 Nobles only to die to the 2 + Become Immense + double Berserk...
•Game 2 he blows me out the water with K-Grip as he was set up to kill me the next turn anyway. "KGrip is good when you're trying to win with Inkmoth, I learned this."
After He used it twice haha
•Game 3 we both mulligan and it was a grindfest and he kills my Inkmoth with K-Grip again smh... "KGrip is good when you try to win with I Brainstormed into a threat and killed him with a pre Blossoming Defense to play around Maze and pump for lethal.
We ended up playing to Draw that Round. Worked to our benefit, as we got paired up.
Round 5 win and in to Top 4
Vs Grixis Delver
•Game 1 I win a counter war as he wanted to fight the Blighted Agent during combat when I casted a Become Immense. He put Lightning Bolt on the stack, I cast Blossoming Defense, he Forces, I Force back putting him to 9 total Poison.
I chose this line because I knew it would put him to 9 total poison had I won it or at least 7. My Blighted Agent and Inkmoths on board would finish the job next turn as he had a lone Delver to defend. If I had waited any longer, I think I would have lost game 1.
•Game 2
He had me low as I didn't Force his Delver which he had flipped on T2 with his Brainstorm at Upkeep and I didn't slam my Sylvan Library early enough.. hmm...
•Game 3
Everything but the kitchen sink..
I thought this was gonna be quick as my hand was DAZE, ELF, ELF, NOBLE, INVIGORATE x2, Trop..
Turned out to battle of resources, I put Pithing Needle on Wasteland, even tho he resolved a late DRS coz it didn't matter. Opponent was at 5 Poison after my first Elf attack, he had the Spell Pierce for my 2nd Invigorate. Noble still on board Inky deals 2 a turn. He couldn't find answer while he was at 7, and when he Brainstormed and found a Lightning Bolt, I drew a Vines at my draw. GGs
Brainstorm is such a make or break card...
Top 4
Vs Bant Deathblade
We play against the same team we beat in Round 1 of Swiss. He's on the play this time as they end up as the first SeeD..
•Game 1 He starts with a Trop into DRS I wanna try and keep up so I play Noble and he resolves a T2 Stoneforged Mystic.
I get an Inkmoth and Elf out. He plays a Noble and blocks my Elf the following Turn after playing Wasteland. He Wastelands my Inkmoth at my end step. Jitte takes the game
•Game 2 I can't remember exactly what happened by I think the critical moment was Flusterstorm countering his STP.
I force a game 3
•Game 3 on the draw I mull to a sketchy hand, but I didn't wanna mull to 5 vs this deck, my hand was Brainstorm, Brainstorm, Daze, Fetch, Fetch, Invigorate.
In the hopes that my opponent played into my Daze, they did haha and with the second Brainstorm I find a threat. Ended with Needle on Jitte , He finds a Wasteland for Inky. He resolves a Stoneforged Mystic for Sword of Fire and Ice. I resolve Blighted Agent and leave up the mana for Vines.
Sword of F&Ice on board he tries to equip I cast Vines, opponent responds with Brainstorm, Vines stops the equip. I brainstorm and find the line to be the same, pump for lethal while my opp was tapped out.
Finals
UR Sneak and Show that I lost to in the Swiss.
•Game 1
He snuck in Griselbrand.. auto scoop.
•Game 2
I mulled kept a linear.. Berserk Inv Blighted land, land ,Flusterstorm..
Land, go
He plays a mountain and passes.
I draw Probe, I use it and see that he's got the Abrade ready for my Blighted Agent, and a FoW with no U card to pitch.. Probe draws a Daze. Pass
Opponent plays a Lotus Petal and fetchland and passes.
I play land 3 and cast Blighted Agent.
He waits to untap and try to fight on his turn which was correct. He plays Abrade using Ancient Tomb floating 1 and I lose the game because I Flusterstromed before I Dazed, distracted or not l, the lesson to be learned for me was to Daze first anyway to up Storm count to ensure Flusterstorm. Had I done it the other way, Blighted Agent would have stuck and I would have forced a game 3.
My team Finished 2nd place as my team mate lost right after I did. While I'm sure we played our best, and I did everything fundamentally correct up to that point; I was careless in the finals and screwed up with the order of spells and it cost me the game. Even so, I feel like it's better that I learned it there rather than making that mistake in the Grand Prix. Thank you for reading bros! Happy New Year
•Pithing Needle is a house at 2
•I regret cutting Bojuka Bog from my SB since I only have 2 Surgicals in my board currently
Had I the Bojuka Bog, the Lands match ups would have been way easier.
•I am debating wether Flusterstorm should be at 3 or 2 in the 75
•Daze is so strong, I wanna up from 3 to 4
What are you guys' thoughts on Flusterstorm count in the 75? How many should we have?
And how do you guys feel about Daze? Should we be playing 3 or 4?
I've been going back and forth on 3 or 4 Daze lately. It feels really good to Daze their Deathrite... but it feels really bad to stare down two lands and a Deathrite and draw a Daze. I'm on 1 Fluster main, 1 sideboard right now.Quote:
Originally Posted by DarthGawjus
This has more potential in Modern, but I'm definitely going to experiment:
http://www.magicspoiler.com/mtg-spoiler/admirals-order/
I've seen some chatter around this card, but I honestly don't see it. Flexibility can be hard to value correctly, but a sometimes-Dispel, most-of-the-time-Cancel seems a big step down from Pierce/Fluster (and might be worse than actual Dispel). I guess it can counter the ol' mid-combat Clique, but I don't see many of those flying around these days. Let me know if your testing shows otherwise!Quote:
Originally Posted by qomori
Honestly, it isn't even worth testing. What do you want to counter mid-combat that pierce or fluster don't already counter (plus you also have force and daze)? The 3-mana default means it is uncastable outside of combat on your turn (so no help against combo).Quote:
Originally Posted by EJexpresss
Going in, I think Fluster/Pierce is going to be better. Also, people who know the match up shouldn't be waiting for combat to hit us, but I definitely still get lots of opponents trying to Ambush Viper + get value off of Snap mid combat. Provided we attacked, it also gets EOT Snap too.Quote:
Originally Posted by EJexpresss
Hey guys, fairly new to this thread but I have been playing Infect for a little over a year now. Just curious how does everyone feel about a maindeck flusterstorm? I have one in the board right now and like it, but have considered another in the main. I am running 3 Vines to Vastwood and one Blossoming defense so I would consider cutting a VoV for the flusterstorm.
Go for it, that's the exact configuration I've used in Infect since Blossoming Defense was printed. Vines is great, but I'm not in love with the double green required to kick it. Flusterstorm on the other hand is rarely a dead card, and it frequently nets us a 2 for 1 when used to fight over pump spells on the stack.Quote:
Originally Posted by bomberman32
I play 2 flusterstorm in my main right now and I personally love it. Everyone is playing 4c Control or delver where I play so the main flusters really help. I never was a big fan of blossoming defense and prefer VoV. Guess that just depends on your own preference though.Quote:
Originally Posted by bomberman32
I've been playing infect for years with several good results in Paris, France and I've tried 1 and 2 flusterstorm main.
Since I love the card (I have also played it in blue Elves), I felt quite enthousiastic to run 2 copies main.
But in my tests, the second copy appeared to be a problem because fluster does not counter things like chalice, trinisphere, liliana .. where spell pierce is actually a very good card.
Most of the times, I use VoV like an extra counterspell, so having a pierce is often enough to win the battle.
Moreover, flusterstorm is also very good versus flusterstorm itself. So I think it's good to have one main (and to use it only if you really really need to in order to keep the information for you), and barely no other deck plays it main, and to bring the second one post side.
I was trying 2 fluster/1 pierce main, but I'm on 1 maindeck fluster, 2 Pierce with 1 extra fluster in the board now. Leaning towards Pierce for the reasons you stated, Adibou1er. Fluster is absolutely insane sometimes, but I like the flexibility in game 1.
Has anyone tried search for azcanta in the ponder/sylvan library/jace vryn's prodigy slots? if so, what did you think?
Never tried because it looks like a control or, at least, midrange card to me.Quote:
Originally Posted by drocker23
Plus, it is really, really, really slow... And you don't want to spend 3 manas to activate it.
Sylvan is just superior here.
Keep or mull.
On the play - in the dark - green fetch ×2 inkmoth x2 force - daze - elf
ME - mull for sure on he draw, maybe keep if on play and vs ANT or SnT or miracles
so i've been seeing some recent lists splashing white for Swords to Plowshares and Rest in Peace out of the sideboard while others are still sticking to straight UG. why are people adding the splash color? Is one version better than the other?
Does infect just die to Baleful Strix's all day long? Is that why there are so few lists floating around?
White splash is not a new thing. Rest in peace was almost mandatory if you wanted to beat lands back in the day and Swords has no drawback in this deck.
Strix is a thing but you can dodge it post side with anti artefact card (K Grip is my best friend) or, according the deck you re facing, submerge.Quote:
Originally Posted by drocker23
Plus strix does not block Agent.
Short answer to this question is yes. That card is a nightmare.Quote:
Originally Posted by drocker23
This is also coupled with the fact that Baleful Strix decks are often packed full of card that we don't want to play against, like Hymn to Tourach and Fatal Push.
If Baleful Strix was the only card out of those decks that we cared about, you just Force of Will it and move on, but its not that simple as there are plenty of good cards in the matchups. In addition, unless you manage to snag it with Daze, we don't have any clear answers that aren't 2-for-1s. This is a big reason that Viridian Corrupter can be quite good in these spots.
It replaces itself, blocks 2/3 of our creatures, doesn't care about pump, and they just don't care if it dies. To get through it with Elf or Inkmoth you need specifically Berserk. Another aspect of this is that you need two pump effects (unless you have Become Immense) to get through it for a 10 point kill. Exalted is best, but if you have to use two spells plus Berserk it is a massive blowout and you almost lose the game on the spot if the Berserk itself gets countered.
This is one of the reasons you really need things like Sylvan Library and Jace in these matchups, because while Infect has raw power and speed it lacks grinding potential and card advantage. You ideally want to sneak under their haymakers and 2-for-1s to kill them before they get set up, but without a way to recover from this you can end up getting ground down to nothing pretty quickly.