[Deck] U/G Infect

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Originally Posted by geneyquakes

More than awkward openers, I would argue that Daze and Invigorate are the bigger reasons that this is a 4 Tropical Island deck.

I definitely understand your point, and I think as many as 3 basic lands could be right in certain metagames, and the current meta might very well call for a basic Island. If B2B and Blood Moon are all over the place, 2 Forests and an Island could be correct. However, there are plenty of reasons not to play it. The deck is very mana intensive, and extremely color intensive. Kicked Vines of Vastwood plus Berserk is all but impossible with a basic Island in play.

4 Ponder versions in particular can make good use of the blue mana, and using cantrips off Island (instead of relying on Hierarch) to dig for a Disenchant could be really nice.

Despite how color-intensive Infect is, it is actually surprisingly Wasteland resistant for a number of reasons.
1. Inkmoth is the main target. This isn't good, clearly, but it protects out colored mana.
2. Only 2 colors. If we fetch 2 Trops, or have a Noble Hierarch, it is impossible to shut us off a color with a single Wasteland.
3. Noble Hierarch. Noted above but worth saying again because the card is great.
4. Crop Rotation. One of this cards best uses is "countering" Wasteland.

Fetching too much around Wastleland can make it hard to function, in reality Blood Moon and b2b are the real cards we are worried about.

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I second all this. I’ve tested the 3 Trop/1 Forest/1 Island mana base, and it’s been awkward more often than it’s been beneficial. Speaking of mana-related issues, I’ve been trying a singleton Birds of Paradise instead of the utility land slot (Wasteland/Dryad Arbor/Pendelhaven #2). It’s ever-so-slightly helped against Wasteland and Daze matchups and occasionally bought me a turn again Marit Lage. When it’s bad, I simply board it out. Your mileage may vary, but over about 30 matches, I’ve liked it enough to keep it.

Gonna likely play Infect in a 6- or 7-rounder tomorrow. Here’s my list right now:

4 Noble Hierarch
1 Birds of Paradise
4 Glistener Elf
4 Blighted Agent
1 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy

2 Berserk
3 Vines of Vastwood
4 Invigorate
1 Become Immense

4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
1 Regrowth
1 Crop Rotation
2 Spell Pierce
1 Spell Snare
1 Flusterstorm
2 Daze
3 Force of Will

2 Misty Rainforest
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Windswept Heath
2 Wooded Foothills
4 Tropical Island
1 Forest
4 Inkmoth Nexus
1 Pendelhaven

// sideboard //

1 Pithing Needle
2 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Karakas
1 Crop Rotation
1 Flusterstorm
1 Force of Will
1 Hydroblast
1 Dissenter’s Deliverance
1 Naturalize
1 Viridian Corrupter
1 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
1 Apostle’s Blessing

I’ve explained my reasoning for many of these choices in earlier posts, so feel free to check out those. The one slot I’m unsure about for tomorrow is the second JVP in the board. I kind of want a card against UR Delver and Grixis decks (Delver and Control) since I feel my UW matchup is good enough and don’t like that JVP can be Pyroblasted. I’ve thought about a card like Spellskite to suck up Bolts out of UR and block Pyromancer and friends, but it’s such a defensive card and soft to K-Command. I could play a second Hydroblast, but I’m not sure if I want such a narrow card. I could just play the fourth Vines and load up on protection spells. If I’m worried about Bolt specifically, maybe I play a 3-mana do-nothing in Wild Defiance. I’m open to ideas.

Thanks, y’all!

Made Top8 of said 6-rounder yesterday with the above list but swapped 1 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy for 1 Spellskite in the sideboard. I beat 4C RectorFit, two SlowDepths players, and BR Reanimator, then double-drew into top8 for the #4 seed. In round 5 I played a test match against my 4-0 opponent on UR Painter and won a close one thanks to Hydroblast hitting his Sulfur Elemental. I then lost to Grixis Delver in the quarterfinals. My draws in games 1 and 3 were not very good, flooding hard; in game 1 I should've Dazed a threat and not saved it as a protection spell based on my lousy 6-card hand; the matchup is hard in general; and my opponent is a very accomplished Delver pilot locally and played well.

While sideboarding I realized that Spellskite can redirect Hexmage and Liliana, the Last Hope activations — didn’t get to actually do either of these, but that prospect makes me inclined to test Spellskite further.

I made top 8 of 5 round tournament going 3-1-1. I defeated Sneak and Show 2-0, lost 0-2 to Death and Taxes, defeated Merfolk 2-1, defeated U/W Miracles 2-0 and finally drawing with a friend. The deck performed better than I thought but the mana seemed a bit weird. I don't play Legacy very often as most of the people at my LGS are college students and cannot afford to buy in. Need more practice.

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Originally Posted by Meshuggah

I made top 8 of 5 round tournament going 3-1-1. I defeated Sneak and Show 2-0, lost 0-2 to Death and Taxes, defeated Merfolk 2-1, defeated U/W Miracles 2-0 and finally drawing with a friend. The deck performed better than I thought but the mana seemed a bit weird. I don't play Legacy very often as most of the people at my LGS are college students and cannot afford to buy in. Need more practice.

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Congrats on the finish. Got a list you could share with us?

Warning, wall of text incoming!

Hi guys! I won the Light & Shadow Master Series legacy tournament! (61 players) I’m so happy with the victory! I’ve changed my list a bit. Here’s my analysis before I head into the report:

My list at the end of 2018: https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=20540&d=335069&f=LE. What I changed and why:
- 1 dryad arbor
- 1 naturalize
- 1 shapers’ sanctuary
+1 daze
+1 krosan grip
+1 spellskite

My list right now can be found on mtgtop8: https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=21247&f=LE

In general, grixis control is on the decline. I don’t really know why because the deck’s still great, but I’m not complaining. The matchup is pretty rough. I really only played arbor main because there were so many grixis players around and they play diabolic edict, so being able to fetch arbor was nice. Same goes for shapers’, the card was great in the matchup, but not too good versus other removal decks. I prefer spellskite in the vast majority of the matchups, so that was a simple exchange. The arbor has been replaced with a 4th daze, pretty straight forward. I swapped a naturalize for a krosan grip. I played naturalize and not nature’s claim because I want to get rid of chalice so I knew I wasn’t going back to claim, but I do prefer krosan grip at the moment. Back to basics is a pain and the increased mana cost is not very often an issue vs miracles. However, the split second really is important. Downside is that vs stompy decks, grip is worse, so the choice is your own to make.

Alright, let’s get into the tournament!

Round 1: 2-1 vs Miracles
G1: I win the die roll. I play a noble and pass. My opponent simple plays an island and passes so I’m pretty happy when my turn 2 sylvan library resolves. I play another land for the turn and pass. When he casts counterbalance on his turn I daze it, which he forces. Pretty weird that he didn’t fight over the library but I’m not complaining. I brainstorm in response to FOW and find another daze so I use it to counter the balance. From there It’s smooth sailing with library.
G2: He plays an island and passes. I play noble and he tries to force it. I’m very surprised to say the least because I think that’s not what you want to do at all, but again, I’m not complaining. Too bad my ponder and brainstorm do not find an infect creature and when he resolves a monastery mentor, I know I’m in trouble. He races me while I try to find a creature but fail in doing so.
G3: My opponent mulls to 5 and fights counterwars with me about the wrong cards. I win pretty easily.

Round 2: 2-1 vs Infect
G1: He wins the die roll and starts with a noble. I play an elf and pass. He plays one of his own on his turn and since I lack pump but have a bunch of creatures, I don’t attack. When he attacks, I block his elf to death. I attack with a nexus and race him.
G2: I mull to 6 and have a great hand with 2x invigorate, noble, spellskite, fow and ponder. I think about it for a while and I prefer to keep this over going to 5 and hope to find a land soon. I scry a wasteland to the bottom and I don’t find a land in 6 draw steps. Bummer.
G3: The game comes down to a inkmoth nexus race. When I go for it, he tries to crop rotate. I daze to tap him down and then daze again to counter it. My become immense follow-up kills him.

Round 3: 2-1 vs Lands
G1: I win the die roll and start with pendelhaven + elf. My opponent plays a forest and casts exploration, which i force. In my turn I put him at 6 poison with invigorate + pendel attack. In his turn he plays a manabond and slams down his hand end of turn, showing me a wasteland, glacial chasm and thespian’s stage. I pretty much do nothing anymore the entire game.
G2: The game gets decided when I have lethal in hand, but i need to draw another green source in order to be able to waste his glacial chasm and cast pump + berserk. When I finally do, he dies.
G3: I mull to 6, but what a hand I get! I have bojuka bog, surgical, crop rotation, noble, ponder and a land. pretty much everything I need in the matchup. I know I just need to time this right so I try to bait him into making a marit liege token when I attack with inkmoth. When he makes the token he’s outtapped and I crop rotate for karakas, getting in the infect damage. He gambles in his turn and gets life from the loam. I kept my bog, so it’s bye bye graveyard and I still have surgical in hand so it’s an easy win from there.

Round 4: 2-1 vs Death and taxes
G1: I fow his turn 1 vial and play noble on my turn. He plays a land + mother of runes but I follow it up with a sylvan library so I feel pretty confident. The game can then by summed up with me drawing blank with library and getting killed by a thalia + sword of fire and ice.
G2: I have lethal the entire time and a blighted agent, but nothing to protect him with. I simply chip in every turn, afraid of swords to plowshares, slowly infecting my opponent until I can’t wait any longer or I lose. I never find the protection I need to be safe, but when I finally went for it, he scoops and told me he didn’t have any removal the entire game.
G3: My opponent gets rid of 2 arly infect creatures with swords and path to exile. Afterwards the game resembles game 2, where I play around removal for as long as I can and when I find spellskite to protect my creature I go for the all-in. He didn’t have any removal again, but it’s better to be safe than sorry!

Round 5 and Round 6: ID

QF: 2-1 vs Steel stompy
Man, why do so many people play this deck where I live? This is such a horrible matchup.
G1: My opponent starts with a turn 1 thorn of amethyst which I answer with a first turn of playing a land. He plays double steel overseer and passes. I play blighted agent + inkmoth nexus and scoop when my opponent casts a turn 3 ballista with a million counters on it.
G2: I play noble and pass. He plays vault skirge which I’m hoping to race by playing a blighted agent + another noble on my turn. My opponent has spellskite and cranial plating, but I don’t need any pump anymore with the nobles and race him.
G3: My opponent mulls to 6 and starts with a single karakas. I play noble and pass. When he resolves spellskite I know I’m in trouble, but I play sylvan library which finds my dissenter’s deliverance next turn so I play blighted agent and destroy the skite at the end of turn to pump for lethal the turn after.

SF: Free win
We split the prizes before top8 and one of the players had no interest in playing any further so I didn’t have to play the semifinals.

Finals: 2-0 vs Infect
I have to play against the same opponent as in round 2. This was the only round I was on camera and you can watch the game here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/389608905
The game starts at 07:56:40. You can watch the game yourself so I won’t comment on that too much but here are some of my thoughts and additions to the round:

- For starters, many people have told me after the round that my opponent made an illegal play in game 2, not exiling the ponder when casting FOW. I had talked with him after round 2 and he told me there that this was his first real life tournament ever, so I believe he didn’t do it on purpose. It was pretty impactful in the game since then my opponent would have had to cast invigorate first in order to be able to cast become immense, which would have been countered, making me having 2 less infect counters, but luckily it didn’t matter in the end and I hope that this was not intentional.
- In game 1 they said I played spellskite main. I don’t, it’s in the sideboard.
- My inkmoth nexus did not kill him for exactly 10 infect. The nexus was a 18/12 with trample because of 1/1 + noble = 2/2 + invigorate = 6/6 + berserk = 12/6 + become immense = 18/12. My opponent blocked with a 6/7 inkmoth (1/1 + pendelhaven = 2/3 + invigorate = 6/7), so I dealt a total of 11 infect damage.
- In general I think I won because of experience. I believe my opponent made a few questionable decisions, which gave me a slight edge. You can’t give that to the infect deck!

One last thing: the other player had been on camera a couple of times and apparently had turn 2 kills the entire time. Just wanted to let you know that’s usually not how the deck works. I’ve not had a single turn 2 kill the entire day, so don’t get too excited about this!

After finally an entire day of magic, I take down the tournament and feel thrilled!
Cheers guys!
Sam aka Fenruscloud

Well done man! I have been playing the same mainboard for ages. I feel like the main strikes the perfect balance between disruption, pump and cantrips. I've never been happy with arbor, so I'm happy you omitted it from your list. Enjoy your victory :).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fenruscloud

Warning, wall of text incoming!

Hi guys! I won the Light & Shadow Master Series legacy tournament! (61 players) I’m so happy with the victory! I’ve changed my list a bit. Here’s my analysis before I head into the report:

My list at the end of 2018: https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=20540&d=335069&f=LE. What I changed and why:
- 1 dryad arbor
- 1 naturalize
- 1 shapers’ sanctuary
+1 daze
+1 krosan grip
+1 spellskite

My list right now can be found on mtgtop8: https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=21247&f=LE

In general, grixis control is on the decline. I don’t really know why because the deck’s still great, but I’m not complaining. The matchup is pretty rough. I really only played arbor main because there were so many grixis players around and they play diabolic edict, so being able to fetch arbor was nice. Same goes for shapers’, the card was great in the matchup, but not too good versus other removal decks. I prefer spellskite in the vast majority of the matchups, so that was a simple exchange. The arbor has been replaced with a 4th daze, pretty straight forward. I swapped a naturalize for a krosan grip. I played naturalize and not nature’s claim because I want to get rid of chalice so I knew I wasn’t going back to claim, but I do prefer krosan grip at the moment. Back to basics is a pain and the increased mana cost is not very often an issue vs miracles. However, the split second really is important. Downside is that vs stompy decks, grip is worse, so the choice is your own to make.

Alright, let’s get into the tournament!

Round 1: 2-1 vs Miracles
G1: I win the die roll. I play a noble and pass. My opponent simple plays an island and passes so I’m pretty happy when my turn 2 sylvan library resolves. I play another land for the turn and pass. When he casts counterbalance on his turn I daze it, which he forces. Pretty weird that he didn’t fight over the library but I’m not complaining. I brainstorm in response to FOW and find another daze so I use it to counter the balance. From there It’s smooth sailing with library.
G2: He plays an island and passes. I play noble and he tries to force it. I’m very surprised to say the least because I think that’s not what you want to do at all, but again, I’m not complaining. Too bad my ponder and brainstorm do not find an infect creature and when he resolves a monastery mentor, I know I’m in trouble. He races me while I try to find a creature but fail in doing so.
G3: My opponent mulls to 5 and fights counterwars with me about the wrong cards. I win pretty easily.

Round 2: 2-1 vs Infect
G1: He wins the die roll and starts with a noble. I play an elf and pass. He plays one of his own on his turn and since I lack pump but have a bunch of creatures, I don’t attack. When he attacks, I block his elf to death. I attack with a nexus and race him.
G2: I mull to 6 and have a great hand with 2x invigorate, noble, spellskite, fow and ponder. I think about it for a while and I prefer to keep this over going to 5 and hope to find a land soon. I scry a wasteland to the bottom and I don’t find a land in 6 draw steps. Bummer.
G3: The game comes down to a inkmoth nexus race. When I go for it, he tries to crop rotate. I daze to tap him down and then daze again to counter it. My become immense follow-up kills him.

Round 3: 2-1 vs Lands
G1: I win the die roll and start with pendelhaven + elf. My opponent plays a forest and casts exploration, which i force. In my turn I put him at 6 poison with invigorate + pendel attack. In his turn he plays a manabond and slams down his hand end of turn, showing me a wasteland, glacial chasm and thespian’s stage. I pretty much do nothing anymore the entire game.
G2: The game gets decided when I have lethal in hand, but i need to draw another green source in order to be able to waste his glacial chasm and cast pump + berserk. When I finally do, he dies.
G3: I mull to 6, but what a hand I get! I have bojuka bog, surgical, crop rotation, noble, ponder and a land. pretty much everything I need in the matchup. I know I just need to time this right so I try to bait him into making a marit liege token when I attack with inkmoth. When he makes the token he’s outtapped and I crop rotate for karakas, getting in the infect damage. He gambles in his turn and gets life from the loam. I kept my bog, so it’s bye bye graveyard and I still have surgical in hand so it’s an easy win from there.

Round 4: 2-1 vs Death and taxes
G1: I fow his turn 1 vial and play noble on my turn. He plays a land + mother of runes but I follow it up with a sylvan library so I feel pretty confident. The game can then by summed up with me drawing blank with library and getting killed by a thalia + sword of fire and ice.
G2: I have lethal the entire time and a blighted agent, but nothing to protect him with. I simply chip in every turn, afraid of swords to plowshares, slowly infecting my opponent until I can’t wait any longer or I lose. I never find the protection I need to be safe, but when I finally went for it, he scoops and told me he didn’t have any removal the entire game.
G3: My opponent gets rid of 2 arly infect creatures with swords and path to exile. Afterwards the game resembles game 2, where I play around removal for as long as I can and when I find spellskite to protect my creature I go for the all-in. He didn’t have any removal again, but it’s better to be safe than sorry!

Round 5 and Round 6: ID

QF: 2-1 vs Steel stompy
Man, why do so many people play this deck where I live? This is such a horrible matchup.
G1: My opponent starts with a turn 1 thorn of amethyst which I answer with a first turn of playing a land. He plays double steel overseer and passes. I play blighted agent + inkmoth nexus and scoop when my opponent casts a turn 3 ballista with a million counters on it.
G2: I play noble and pass. He plays vault skirge which I’m hoping to race by playing a blighted agent + another noble on my turn. My opponent has spellskite and cranial plating, but I don’t need any pump anymore with the nobles and race him.
G3: My opponent mulls to 6 and starts with a single karakas. I play noble and pass. When he resolves spellskite I know I’m in trouble, but I play sylvan library which finds my dissenter’s deliverance next turn so I play blighted agent and destroy the skite at the end of turn to pump for lethal the turn after.

SF: Free win
We split the prizes before top8 and one of the players had no interest in playing any further so I didn’t have to play the semifinals.

Finals: 2-0 vs Infect
I have to play against the same opponent as in round 2. This was the only round I was on camera and you can watch the game here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/389608905
The game starts at 07:56:40. You can watch the game yourself so I won’t comment on that too much but here are some of my thoughts and additions to the round:

- For starters, many people have told me after the round that my opponent made an illegal play in game 2, not exiling the ponder when casting FOW. I had talked with him after round 2 and he told me there that this was his first real life tournament ever, so I believe he didn’t do it on purpose. It was pretty impactful in the game since then my opponent would have had to cast invigorate first in order to be able to cast become immense, which would have been countered, making me having 2 less infect counters, but luckily it didn’t matter in the end and I hope that this was not intentional.
- In game 1 they said I played spellskite main. I don’t, it’s in the sideboard.
- My inkmoth nexus did not kill him for exactly 10 infect. The nexus was a 18/12 with trample because of 1/1 + noble = 2/2 + invigorate = 6/6 + berserk = 12/6 + become immense = 18/12. My opponent blocked with a 6/7 inkmoth (1/1 + pendelhaven = 2/3 + invigorate = 6/7), so I dealt a total of 11 infect damage.
- In general I think I won because of experience. I believe my opponent made a few questionable decisions, which gave me a slight edge. You can’t give that to the infect deck!

One last thing: the other player had been on camera a couple of times and apparently had turn 2 kills the entire time. Just wanted to let you know that’s usually not how the deck works. I’ve not had a single turn 2 kill the entire day, so don’t get too excited about this!

After finally an entire day of magic, I take down the tournament and feel thrilled!
Cheers guys!
Sam aka Fenruscloud

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I've been off the deck for a while (think it's actually fine now that grixis is less prevalent, just playing other things), but saw an interesting list finished 3rd-4th at a 44-person tourney in Paris: https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=21401&d=343221&f=LE

Of interest:
1) 3 GSZ maindeck for the usual suspects (tho only 3 Glistener Elf), plus a toolbox of Safekeeper, Qasali Pridemage, and KAVU PREDATOR (!!) in the SB. Never thought about it before, but Predator punishes shadow and other players who are reckless with their lifetotal, and seems like a sweet combo with STP - Swords your Marit Lage and bash for 22? Invigorate too, I guess?
2) Only 2 Tropical island, with both savannah and tundra supporting the white splash (3 STP plus pridemage)
3) 2 Compost to fight the black attrition decks
4) Light on hate for artifacts and other non-creatures - only 1 Spell Pierce and Corrupter+Pridemage (+GSZ) as answers. 4 FoW main might help, or maybe just tuned for a depths/shadow-heavy meta?

Anyway, thought I would share - great to see the deck still performing, and especially with such an innovative list.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fenruscloud

Warning, wall of text incoming!

Hi guys! I won the Light & Shadow Master Series legacy tournament! (61 players) I’m so happy with the victory! I’ve changed my list a bit. Here’s my analysis before I head into the report:

My list at the end of 2018: https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=20540&d=335069&f=LE. What I changed and why:
- 1 dryad arbor
- 1 naturalize
- 1 shapers’ sanctuary
+1 daze
+1 krosan grip
+1 spellskite

My list right now can be found on mtgtop8: https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=21247&f=LE

In general, grixis control is on the decline. I don’t really know why because the deck’s still great, but I’m not complaining. The matchup is pretty rough. I really only played arbor main because there were so many grixis players around and they play diabolic edict, so being able to fetch arbor was nice. Same goes for shapers’, the card was great in the matchup, but not too good versus other removal decks. I prefer spellskite in the vast majority of the matchups, so that was a simple exchange. The arbor has been replaced with a 4th daze, pretty straight forward. I swapped a naturalize for a krosan grip. I played naturalize and not nature’s claim because I want to get rid of chalice so I knew I wasn’t going back to claim, but I do prefer krosan grip at the moment. Back to basics is a pain and the increased mana cost is not very often an issue vs miracles. However, the split second really is important. Downside is that vs stompy decks, grip is worse, so the choice is your own to make.

Alright, let’s get into the tournament!

Round 1: 2-1 vs Miracles
G1: I win the die roll. I play a noble and pass. My opponent simple plays an island and passes so I’m pretty happy when my turn 2 sylvan library resolves. I play another land for the turn and pass. When he casts counterbalance on his turn I daze it, which he forces. Pretty weird that he didn’t fight over the library but I’m not complaining. I brainstorm in response to FOW and find another daze so I use it to counter the balance. From there It’s smooth sailing with library.
G2: He plays an island and passes. I play noble and he tries to force it. I’m very surprised to say the least because I think that’s not what you want to do at all, but again, I’m not complaining. Too bad my ponder and brainstorm do not find an infect creature and when he resolves a monastery mentor, I know I’m in trouble. He races me while I try to find a creature but fail in doing so.
G3: My opponent mulls to 5 and fights counterwars with me about the wrong cards. I win pretty easily.

Round 2: 2-1 vs Infect
G1: He wins the die roll and starts with a noble. I play an elf and pass. He plays one of his own on his turn and since I lack pump but have a bunch of creatures, I don’t attack. When he attacks, I block his elf to death. I attack with a nexus and race him.
G2: I mull to 6 and have a great hand with 2x invigorate, noble, spellskite, fow and ponder. I think about it for a while and I prefer to keep this over going to 5 and hope to find a land soon. I scry a wasteland to the bottom and I don’t find a land in 6 draw steps. Bummer.
G3: The game comes down to a inkmoth nexus race. When I go for it, he tries to crop rotate. I daze to tap him down and then daze again to counter it. My become immense follow-up kills him.

Round 3: 2-1 vs Lands
G1: I win the die roll and start with pendelhaven + elf. My opponent plays a forest and casts exploration, which i force. In my turn I put him at 6 poison with invigorate + pendel attack. In his turn he plays a manabond and slams down his hand end of turn, showing me a wasteland, glacial chasm and thespian’s stage. I pretty much do nothing anymore the entire game.
G2: The game gets decided when I have lethal in hand, but i need to draw another green source in order to be able to waste his glacial chasm and cast pump + berserk. When I finally do, he dies.
G3: I mull to 6, but what a hand I get! I have bojuka bog, surgical, crop rotation, noble, ponder and a land. pretty much everything I need in the matchup. I know I just need to time this right so I try to bait him into making a marit liege token when I attack with inkmoth. When he makes the token he’s outtapped and I crop rotate for karakas, getting in the infect damage. He gambles in his turn and gets life from the loam. I kept my bog, so it’s bye bye graveyard and I still have surgical in hand so it’s an easy win from there.

Round 4: 2-1 vs Death and taxes
G1: I fow his turn 1 vial and play noble on my turn. He plays a land + mother of runes but I follow it up with a sylvan library so I feel pretty confident. The game can then by summed up with me drawing blank with library and getting killed by a thalia + sword of fire and ice.
G2: I have lethal the entire time and a blighted agent, but nothing to protect him with. I simply chip in every turn, afraid of swords to plowshares, slowly infecting my opponent until I can’t wait any longer or I lose. I never find the protection I need to be safe, but when I finally went for it, he scoops and told me he didn’t have any removal the entire game.
G3: My opponent gets rid of 2 arly infect creatures with swords and path to exile. Afterwards the game resembles game 2, where I play around removal for as long as I can and when I find spellskite to protect my creature I go for the all-in. He didn’t have any removal again, but it’s better to be safe than sorry!

Round 5 and Round 6: ID

QF: 2-1 vs Steel stompy
Man, why do so many people play this deck where I live? This is such a horrible matchup.
G1: My opponent starts with a turn 1 thorn of amethyst which I answer with a first turn of playing a land. He plays double steel overseer and passes. I play blighted agent + inkmoth nexus and scoop when my opponent casts a turn 3 ballista with a million counters on it.
G2: I play noble and pass. He plays vault skirge which I’m hoping to race by playing a blighted agent + another noble on my turn. My opponent has spellskite and cranial plating, but I don’t need any pump anymore with the nobles and race him.
G3: My opponent mulls to 6 and starts with a single karakas. I play noble and pass. When he resolves spellskite I know I’m in trouble, but I play sylvan library which finds my dissenter’s deliverance next turn so I play blighted agent and destroy the skite at the end of turn to pump for lethal the turn after.

SF: Free win
We split the prizes before top8 and one of the players had no interest in playing any further so I didn’t have to play the semifinals.

Finals: 2-0 vs Infect
I have to play against the same opponent as in round 2. This was the only round I was on camera and you can watch the game here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/389608905
The game starts at 07:56:40. You can watch the game yourself so I won’t comment on that too much but here are some of my thoughts and additions to the round:

- For starters, many people have told me after the round that my opponent made an illegal play in game 2, not exiling the ponder when casting FOW. I had talked with him after round 2 and he told me there that this was his first real life tournament ever, so I believe he didn’t do it on purpose. It was pretty impactful in the game since then my opponent would have had to cast invigorate first in order to be able to cast become immense, which would have been countered, making me having 2 less infect counters, but luckily it didn’t matter in the end and I hope that this was not intentional.
- In game 1 they said I played spellskite main. I don’t, it’s in the sideboard.
- My inkmoth nexus did not kill him for exactly 10 infect. The nexus was a 18/12 with trample because of 1/1 + noble = 2/2 + invigorate = 6/6 + berserk = 12/6 + become immense = 18/12. My opponent blocked with a 6/7 inkmoth (1/1 + pendelhaven = 2/3 + invigorate = 6/7), so I dealt a total of 11 infect damage.
- In general I think I won because of experience. I believe my opponent made a few questionable decisions, which gave me a slight edge. You can’t give that to the infect deck!

One last thing: the other player had been on camera a couple of times and apparently had turn 2 kills the entire time. Just wanted to let you know that’s usually not how the deck works. I’ve not had a single turn 2 kill the entire day, so don’t get too excited about this!

After finally an entire day of magic, I take down the tournament and feel thrilled!
Cheers guys!
Sam aka Fenruscloud

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what was your SB plan for the mirror?

Hi guys,

Has anyone considered yet to play Teferi, Time Raveler or even Narset, parter of veils the 75 ?
Both of them seem pretty cool vs Control especially.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Adibou1er

Hi guys,

Has anyone considered yet to play Teferi, Time Raveler or even Narset, parter of veils the 75 ?
Both of them seem pretty cool vs Control especially.

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Don't own copies of either yet, but Teferi seems like the better of the two in Infect. The ability to turn off opposing cantrips is strong, but I think turning off our opponent's ability to interact on the stack is far and away better for what we're trying to do. Also of note is Teferi's seldom a dead card, as decks that don't have instant speed interaction are typically utilizing some form of lock piece, and Teferi's minus ability can be used to bounce those.

Regarding other abilities I think I like Narset's minus ability better than Teferi's, but they're both very strong and conducive to our game plan. Teferi's +1 is largely moot, but I don't think we're playing him for that ability.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jesture

Don't own copies of either yet, but Teferi seems like the better of the two in Infect. The ability to turn off opposing cantrips is strong, but I think turning off our opponent's ability to interact on the stack is far and away better for what we're trying to do. Also of note is Teferi's seldom a dead card, as decks that don't have instant speed interaction are typically utilizing some form of lock piece, and Teferi's minus ability can be used to bounce those.

Regarding other abilities I think I like Narset's minus ability better than Teferi's, but they're both very strong and conducive to our game plan. Teferi's +1 is largely moot, but I don't think we're playing him for that ability.

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Last saturday I tried 2 Teferi in the board. I just wanted to test a little bit with the card, but I honestly dont think infect is the most suitable shell for Teferi. We can very well in the stack with our counters without needing to commit to a third colour imo.

The card that seems a good upgrade for us is Return to Nature.

On the new card topic, has anyone tried or considered Lazotep Plating (or have a preemptive argument not to consider it)?

The ability to protect from removal + wasteland / any other ability + discard or any targeted combo + making a body to sac to edict effects in addition to this + being a blue card seems interesting.

https://i.imgur.com/BN3POSs.png

[Avultar]?

Sorcery - G

Until end of turn, target creature you control becomes a Wurm with base power and toughness 6/4.

Overload 4GG

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rationalist

On the new card topic, has anyone tried or considered Lazotep Plating (or have a preemptive argument not to consider it)?

The ability to protect from removal + wasteland / any other ability + discard or any targeted combo + making a body to sac to edict effects in addition to this + being a blue card seems interesting.

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I like the flexibility of this card but it feels overcosted at 2 mana. Sure it's a neat a swiss army knife stapled to a zombie token, but I don't see us being able to cast this in spots where it's needed most.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rationalist

[Avultar]?

Sorcery - G

Until end of turn, target creature you control becomes a Wurm with base power and toughness 6/4.

Overload 4GG

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English name is 'Scale Up', I don't think this is a card that's good enough for Legacy Infect. Sorcery speed is a huge downside as we're often using pump spells to protect our creatures or sneak in lethal after no blocks are declared.

http://mythicspoiler.com/mh1/cards/forceofvigor.jpg

Excellent card.
Very nice against Prison decks and can be played around moon effects and chalices.
Does suck a bit if used against a single target. being a 1-for-2 in that case.
Otherwise very interesting IMO.

yeah but +5 strenght and Bolt resiliency for G is still great

Last week Daniel Raymon took down SCG's Play4Power event with the following list:

Maindeck:
Creatures
4 Blighted Agent
4 Glistener Elf
4 Noble Hierarch

Enchantments
1 Sylvan Library

Instants
1 Become Immense
2 Berserk
1 Blossoming Defense
4 Brainstorm
1 Crop Rotation
4 Daze
1 Flusterstorm
3 Force of Will
4 Invigorate
1 Spell Pierce
2 Vines of Vastwood

Legendary Planeswalkers
2 Teferi, Time Raveler

Sorceries
3 Ponder

Basic Lands
1 Forest

Lands
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Savannah
4 Tropical Island
1 Wasteland
2 Windswept Heath

Legendary Lands
1 Pendelhaven

Sideboard:
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Spellskite
1 Sylvan Safekeeper
1 Viridian Corrupter
2 Shapers' Sanctuary
1 Crop Rotation
1 Dissenter's Deliverance
1 Flusterstorm
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Incubation
1 Karakas

Congrats to Daniel if you're here, taking down a tournament like this one is no easy feat.

There's a lot to unpack here, but what I'm most curious about is the pair of Teferi, Time Ravelers in the main deck. I've personally tested two in the sideboard to mix results, and I'm wondering if anyone else has had any experiences with this card they'd like to share. In theory it seems exactly like what Infect would want, a difficult to remove lock piece that cuts off the permission axis of interaction from our opponent. The only question in my mind is whether or not the 3cmc is too much for this deck to handle.

I tested out a few main (mostly so I would see it more often) and had mixed results as well. I wouldn't even say there were particular match ups where it was good/bad, but more particular board states.

That said, slamming it with mitt full of pump spells and a crop rot for Inkmoth and similar situations felt insanely powerful. I also got to bounce a Marit Lage when my opponent made one on their turn to play around Wasteland, which saved me and cleared the way for Glistener Elf.

The power level felt super high. And I didn't have any trouble casting it. Though I did find myself cutting Hierarch less post-board because of it.

I'm playing the Legacy MCQ at GP Seattle on the weekend and I think I'm going to go with 1 main, 1 side.

Played a 4 rounder at weekly legacy last night, thought I'd share my experiences first then my thoughts on how the meta game is shaping up with the advent of War, MH1, and soon Core Set 2020.

R1 Dillon C. on UWr Miracles

All around stand up guy and accomplished Miracles pilot Dillon gives me a run for my money in game one where he has a Swords for Blighted Agent, then another Swords plus back up counter magic to fight over and eventually exile an Inkmoth Nexus. This one drags on for a bit until he eventually finds his Nahiri, the Harbinger, ticks it up twice, then ultimates to sneak an Emrakul into play.

Games two and three are sort of mixed up in my head, but I win one game off of a Sylvan Library drawing four extra cards and the other off of an Inkmoth Nexus and a pair of Invigorates + counter backup.
2-1, 1-0

R2 Yan Z. on RUG Delver

What a doozy of a game. I open with an incredible starting 7 of Hierarch, Invigorate, Become Immense, Blighted Agent, Daze, and two fetches. He leads with Mongoose and I deploy a Hierarch before passing back to him. Turn two he slams a Wrenn and Six. I Daze the planeswalker but he Forces back and begins ticking down to fight over the Hierarch. I Invigorate to protect, then swing Hierarch at W6 and he chumps with Mongoose. Blighted, pass, and I'm forced to use another Invigorate to protect the Agent from Wrenn's ping ability. I get it off the board, then hit him for two the following turn and 8 with Become Immense the turn after that.

Game two slows to a crawl as I manage to land an early Rest in Peace and all of his threats are Gooses or Tarmogoyfs. This one's pretty back and forth with no W6 in sight, but I eventually get there as he finds no Bolt off of cantrips and Blighted Agent is a fun and interactive Magic card.
2-0, 2-0

R3 Aaron B. on RUG Delver

Game 1 is pretty typical RUG Delver shenanigans, with him removing threats and keeping me from developing while clocking in with a flipped Delver and a Goyf. The penultimate turn happens when we're both at two cards in hand and I attempt go for lethal with an Invigorate on a Blighted Agent, only to be met with Force of Will. I look sadly at the fetch land in hand and his Delver swings overhead to secure game 1.

Game 2's a win though I can't remember how it transpired. Something something count to 10.

Game 3 showcases the full might of Wrenn and Six as we fight a counter war over the two mana planeswalker. I lose, it resolves, and my Hierarch is immediately pinged away. Luckily I manage to follow up with a Rest in Peace to prevent the Wasteland recursion, but a second Wasteland from the hand cuts me off of white mana and I'm left stranded with an Absolute Law in hand. With an active Wrenn on board and starved of white mana, I do my best to find a line that lets me resolve and protect a Hierarch for one turn. Unfortunately this line never materializes, and I watch the game slip away at the hands of aggressive 1/1 Nimble Mongeese.
1-2, 2-1

R4 Sean M. on Goblins

I drop game one here to a flurry of Gempalm Incinerators, followed Goblin Chieftain into Mogg War Marshals.

Game two is somewhat tricky, as I lead with a Glistener Elf and he goes Cavern Lackey to start the game off. I skillfully top deck the Pendelhaven and use it to stave off the slowly building army of 1/1's as I cantrip my way into a Blighted Agent and two pump spells. I pendelhaven the Agent, Invigorate it, he responds with Munitions Expert, and I have the back-up Vines to secure the game.

Game three begins with a mull to four. The keep is Hierarch/Fetch/Become Immense/Brainstorm, bottoming Trop Island/Blighted Agent/Fetch. He leads with Vial and I deploy a Hierarch, then pass back to him. A couple of irrelevant Goblins come down, and I Brainstorm to find Blighted Agent, an Invigorate, and a second land. Land, Blighted Agent, Invigorate to protect against Munitions Expert, then I swing with the exalted trigger. He untaps and plays a Pashalik Mons and Mogg War Marshal but has no way to sacrifice a creature to trigger the ping effect. I swing for 8 with Become Immense to close the game out.
2-1, 3-1

Thoughts in no particular order:

-Modern Horizons seems to have really made things difficult for us. Just as we were getting comfy with the increase in durdly planeswalkers that people have been incorporating into their decks, we get thrown both W6 and Plague Engineer to make our lives that much more difficult. Even though I managed to steal a match off of the card last night, the games felt more like a fluke than the norm and I see this card giving us a ton of trouble going forward in the near future. One huge upside here is that Grixis Delver has been supplanted as the preferred flavor of Delver, but only time will tell whether that's better or worse matchup than any of the new Delver decks sporting Wrenn and Six.

-Given the oncoming increase of the Christmas Crucible planeswalker, I'm contemplating increasing the white dual land count to two in order to have a second fetchable white source. As play patterns currently stand, it's very easy for a Wrenn and Six to resolve and take us off of white mana both by pinging Hierarch and by Wastelanding our Savannah. Given that all of our hate cards are white, I think I'd like to try including a Tundra in the 75 as well as the Savannah in order to give us a way to cast our haymaker white enchantments through the pressure of Wastelands.

-Core Set 2020 just became legal today, and I am absolutely stoked for the inclusion of at least two copies of Veil of Summer in the 75. This card does some incredible things for our deck, and I have a feeling we can leverage this to great potential in the same way that Teferi, Time Raveler was a strong printing for us. The floor value for Veil is cycling it at the end of your opponent's turn, but the ceiling lets us deal with all manner of discard spells and counter magic while also drawing us a card. Similar to how Infect is uniquely situated to set up 2 for 1 plays with Flusterstorm, I think Veil of Summer will very often be able to nullify two of our opponent's cards at once while simultaneously replacing itself.

Has anybody worked Veil of Summer into their deck yet and what have you cut?