U/B Infect (Opinion) <Venenatus Conplexus>

If you have access to them, this deck could use Inexorable Tide and Decimator Web. I've had some fun with those cards.

http://deckbox.org/mtg/Inexorable%20Tide
http://deckbox.org/mtg/Decimator%20Web

Mono Black Infect has been a pretty solid build in recent times.  Here is a link to a decent version; http://deckbox.org/sets/98411.  I like most of this build but would make the following changes:
-2 Nihil Spellbomb
-2 Phyrexian Vatmother
-1 Distress
-2 Contagion Clasp

+3 Whispering Specter
+2 Trigon of Rage
+2 Contagion Engine

Mainly these changes are to enhance the decks agressive capabilities.  Phyrexian Vatmother looks good on paper but it doesn't fly so it just gets blocked all the time.  Also, popping the Whispering Specter to clear out your opponents hand is the win in many cases.  The Contagion Engine for Contagion Clasp swap brings mass removal and double proliferate to the deck while lightening the crowded 2-mana slot. 

If you were looking to stay closer to your current build then I would at least recommend the following changes:

-4 Plague Myr
-4 Reaper of Sheoldred
-4 Mana Leak
-2 Steady Progress
-1 Grimoire of the Dead
-1 Venser's Journal
-1 Dissipation Field
-1 Nephalia Drownyard
-1 Swamp

+2 Blighted Agent
+2 Plague Stinger
+2 Corrupted Resolve
+4 Thrummingbird
+2 Contagion Engine
+4 Silver-inlaid Dagger
+3 Island

The changes are meant to focus the deck on the fast beatdown strategy and increase the amount of evasion in the deck to 13 sources (up from 5).  The equipment will make the evasion all the more deadly and help provide a respectable clock.  Most of the cards are already in your inventory save a few that will be easy to acquire if you choose to go this route.  Lastly, I didn't add it because they are expensive but if you can get you hands on Inkmoth Nexus', Drowned Catacombs or Darkslick Shores it would help the deck quite a bit.

If you want to keep it Standard legal, throw some of these in Mutagenic Growth. THey can go a long way towards pushing through the extra poison counters.

you can play mutagenic growth in any colored deck because of the phyrexian mana. It can serve two purposes: push in those last point of infect damage, or take your guy out of burn range/flash blockers/kill a hard to deal with blocker fast.

But if you want to keep your deck infect control I would suggest you take out the Blightsteel Colossus from the sideboard, you wont have time to cast it. Then decide if you want a proliferate theme deck or not, if so add more proliferate + mass removal (like black sun's zenith).

But I suggest you do the following and see if you like the deck:
SB:
out Blightsteel Colossus
out 1-2 Reaper of Sheoldred (4 is too mutch)
out myr
less think twice (max 2 or 0)

move contagion engine to the side,
take out (or move to side)Inexorable Tide, cause if you play this and they play a titan, you are probably dead. Move one Tezzeret's Gambit to the sideboard. Change a Hand of the Praetors to a Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon. Also consider taking out 1-2 Cryptoplasm for extra land. Change one or two Corrupted Resolve with mana leak/negate for consistency. Also because of the drawback of doom blade, change one to Go for the Throat.
the Thrummingbird is a waste of space, because it wont deal infect and the proliferate is not that significant (note if you want a proliferate deck, make one.. this is not) also it does not combo well with anything (not the dager, it will just do 3 damage and proliferate once, neither with the engine, use tezz's gambit). Instead of them add 2 bounce spells likeVapor Snag, Silent Departure (can be used twice) or Disperse. Disperse goes well against enemy plainswalkers or equipment. Also all the bounce spells can remove a pesky blocker for a turn or buy a turn against a titan so you can counter it. Also copying something with the Cryptoplasm than bouncing the original (like a titan) than attack, this can win you the game on its own.

Also consider Phantasmal Image instead of the cryptoplasm, it is easier to cast and enters the battlefield as the copy, you don't have to wait a turn to make it.

Add some (2)Black Sun's Zenith to the side or Tribute to Hunger against the hexproof guys.

This will reduce the deck to a normal 60 card deck and make it more consistent.

I understand you have a budget.

Depending on the mana base (you could really use the other 3 dual lands ) I like 2-3 crusaders, depending on the match-up of course. Against a white but especially against red deck it is a beating (red has some to 0 ways to kill it) but only if your meta does have red or white players. I would put in 2 instead of 2 Cryptoplasm same cost but in most cases better (better on its own, or if there is nothing worthy to copy).

Also if your meta plays lot of artifact removal, you can try Darksteel Axe, but will loose the +1/0 for for the agent.

Also in the side you can try some discard cards like Distress or Despise, they will help you get some advantage, especially against control decks. Consider (after testing) Silent Departure instead of vapor snag, cause your opponent won't care about the life loss, and playing it from the graveyard later on when you have nothing to do, or twice with 6 mana can make the difference. Ofcourse loosing the instant speed can be a problem if the opponent is removal heavy, but testing can help you out.

In my opinion the crusader is good against the W/R matchup, and the Cryptoplasm is not. In the other match-ups they are both mediocre. So I would put 2/2 (and if you want your Cryptoplasm for the other matches, you can put 1-2 in the side). For example against red I would take out the 2 Cryptoplasm and put in the 2 Reaper of Sheoldred from the side, they can block and the crusader can atack/block as needed. But you need to make some playtests.

Anytime

Yeah, the phyrexian mana makes Mutagenic Growth playable in any colour, and can really help push through the last poison counters you need to win.

The Hands are good, but they're more medium/long game, where you want to be able to deal as much damage as quickly as possible. Maybe instead of runnign four of them, swap two out for more equipment or pump spells. As they don't have any evasion of their own, the Hands are more utility cards.

If you were playing green though you'd want to run four copies of Invigorate. They're excellent, as you can use their alternate casting cost with no drawbacks, as your opponants life doesn't matter. My borther had a blue/green infect deck that makes great use of Mytagenic Growth and Invigorate. With them, a single 1/1 unblockable infect creature can take out an opponant in two hits.

Tested the deck as updated at [8 Feb 2012], seems to kill my enemies off as early as turn 3 ~ 4, maybe 2 if my hands are good.
If hands are bad, no creature comes out , needs to modify that abit...

About dropping Hands entirely, getting more vapor snag in the process... is it worth it?
Hands are more of utilities, that's true but the +1/+1 boost and extra poison counter when casting creature with infect, can push that final bit of poison off your opponent, so I'm thinking of leaving it back at 2

Last edited by Archylte (2012-02-10 02:30:43)