Hey guys! I am going to talk with you a little this morning about my experiences drafting Infect in Scars of Mirrodin. I went to my first official Scars of Mirrodin draft December 28th, 2010. I have hosted some small 4-5 man SOM drafts here at my place, but it is a 35+ minute drive to our local cardshop (Gamer's Guild). With work, the holidays etc it is difficult to find the time, or desire to make the drive down there.
Shortly after Christmas I had some free time, and Gamer's Guild started a new Tuesday Night Draft geared for attracting new players and military personnel from Ft. Bragg. Having never drafted Scars in a tournament format I did not know what to expect. I knew that Infect was one of the common archetypes that people were playing, but it wasn't one that I drafted a lot. I usually chose the U/W skies, or W/R Metalcraft route.
Nobody in my draft pod appeared to be drafting Infect, so I was able to stock up on your basic Infectors, Contagious Nim, Cystbearer etc. These guys are the ones that did the bulk of the work for me, whittling my opponents forces down enough to allow Putrefax to deal the final blow. When I started the draft I actually heard people in my draft pod busting on Putrefax as he was being passed around. I ended up getting him passed to me Pack 3, Pick 6. That's fine, he had a home in my deck. The thing with drafting Infect is, late game you often find your opponent at 7-9 poison counters, and you're not able to close the deal. Putrefax is perfect in that situation. Unless they have a fatty to block with, or an instant removal spell they are taking more poison counters.
Here is the decklist:
Creatures:
4x Contagious Nim
2x Cystbearer
1x Ichorclaw Myr
1x Corpse Cur
1x Necropede
1x Blight Mamba
1x Tangle Angler
1x Necrotic Ooze
1x Putrefax
1x Steel Hellkite
Instants:
1x Grasp of Darkness
1x Carrion Call
Artifacts:
1x Trigon of Infestation
1x Trigon of Corruption
1x Contagion Clasp
1x Bladed Pinions
1x Infiltration Lens
2x Sylvok Lifestaff
Lands:
8x Forest
8x Swamp
MVP
I went 5-1 with this deck, and won the tournament. After winning the Tuesday tournament, the next couple of FNM's that I went to at the Gamer's Guild I intentionally forced myself to NOT draft Infect. I wanted a break from it, and I also wanted to feel out some of the other archetypes in a larger tournament setting. The next couple of tournaments were uneventful, I missed the Top 8 in all of them. I learned a lot about drafting Scars though, and that is what matters.
Well, I went back this Tuesday, January 18th and was open minded about drafting Infect again. My rare in P1 was a dual land, followed by a slew of Infect guys. I figured this was a good case for going Infect tonight. I managed to gather up all of the usual suspects, as nobody else was drafting Infect in my pod. Additionally, I pulled Skithiryx as my P3 rare. I have never been happier about going Infect!
Here is the decklist:
Creatures:
1x Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
1x Precursor Golem
4x Cystbearer
2x Ichorclaw Myr
2x Contagious Nim
1x Corpse Cur
1x Necropede
1x Plague Stinger
2x Wall of Tanglecord
Instants:
1x Grasp of Darkness
1x Untamed Might
Artifacts:
1x Trigon of Infestation
1x Infiltration Lens
1x Panic Spellbomb
1x Horizon Spellbomb
Unfortunately I didn't fair nearly as well the first time I drafted Infect. I went 2-2 with the above decklist. I didn't even make the Top 8, despite having what felt like a better deck. My first match I won without trouble, but the 2nd match did not go down as handily. I was playing a girl, and she was a newer player, but very nice. To make a long story short, I won the first game, but the second game I was all tapped out creature wise and at 11 life. She had a Flameborn Hellion, and a Vulshok Heartstoker on board. I attacked with everything on my previous turn thinking she would only be able to hit me for 7 with the Hellion and Heartstoker... Well, I was wrong, she dropped Koth on me. This is were it gets interesting. I actually had to teach her how to use the Planeswalker, mid-game... She didn't know if she could use his abilities on her turn, or mine, or what speed the abilities resolved at. I had to explain to her that she could attack with the 4/4 mountain etc. Naturally, she takes my advice and activates the 4/4 mountain and swings for 11. Game.
After that I was certain I had earned some Karma points, and the next game would go better for me. I didn't... I am a big 7-card pile shuffler. I always do it 2-3 times in between games, and always after a mulligan. I draw my 7, no lands.. No problem, shuffle, shuffle... Draw 6, no lands.. Ok, that sucks, shuffle shuffle.. Draw 5, NO LANDS WTF! I do not remember the last time I had to mulligan to 5 cards and drew no land. I have a rule, never mulligan passed 5 cards. Well, I broke that rule and went down to 4... 2x swamps, a Horizon Spellbomb, and a Necropede... I should have stayed at 5 cards and built from there.. At least I would have had creatures to put out.. The game did not go well, I kept taking Flameborn Hellion shots to the dome, because I had no way to block. I am 1-1 after the match with her.
The next match was against a guy who I had played once before, and lost the previous match. He has been in the Top 8 at NC States before, and I respect him a lot as a player. I was looking forward to the match up, because I knew no matter what happened I was going to take something valuable away from it. The first game was initially fairly lopsided in my favor, I was able to get my creatures out faster than he was. He made a strong comeback mid-game, and had Soliton + Heavy Arbalest on board. He had me dead-to-rights, but I top decked a Contagion Clasp, then proliferating for the win. The next game was quite different. This time he managed to get several Myr on the board via Myr Propagator, and then a Myr Galvanizer, to galvanize them in to 2/2's effectively shutting down my Nims, and Cystbearers. Additionally, he had Soliton with a Heavy Arbalest on board again. The game went his way with him plinking me with the Soliton. The third game was tit-for-tat all the way down to the wire, he had the same Myr Propagator + Myr Galvanizer combo going, preventing my ground pounders from getting in. I was holding Skittles, but really wanted him to stick around this time, so I held him until I could haste + regenerate him. I dropped Skittles, and he Turned to Slag, I regenerated. I dropped him again, double Soliton + Arbalest, I regenerated. Finally, the third time I dropped him + haste I was able to get in for lethal. He scooped and said I played it well, which I really appreciated coming from him. 2-1 after our match.
The third match was against a R/B deck, the first game went down quick with a Plague Stinger + Untamed Might on turn 5 or 6. He just did not draw any creatures. The second game went to him after he dropped:
T1 Mountain
T2 Mountain, Iron Myr
T3 Mountain, Palladium Myr
T4 Carnifex Demon – promptly dropping -1/-1 counters on my Infect force.
Only having 1x Grasp of Darkness I wasn't able to answer the wide body flyer. Game. Game three I mulliganed to 6, wondering if I would have to go down to 4 again lol.. Those kinds of thoughts are counterproductive, so I shoved it away quickly. It really didn't matter how far I pushed that thought back, it wasn't enough to keep the Carnifex Demon from making another rockstar appearance on turn 6 to decimate my forces. Game. Set. Match.
I was disappointed by the results, but sitting here comparing the two decklists I can see why the first Infect deck worked out better.
#1 Removal – The first deck had good removal in the Trigon of Corruption and the Steel Hellkite. Also, the Bladed Pinions giving First Strike often acts like a form of removal, allowing your creature to stay alive while killing theirs. In my matches I could have really used more removal to get through Myrs etc.
#2 Trample – Often times I would get them to 7-8 poison counters and would be unable to deliver the final blow. Putrefax's Trample just gets through, and usually that equates to 1-3 poison counters for your opponent.
#3 Sylvok Lifestaff – I always hear mixed feedback on the Lifestaff, but with an aggro deck, especially an aggro Infect deck, you cannot go wrong with it. With Infect your creatures are going to die, because people are going to block them. You may as well gain some life from it. Also, the +1 helps out a bunch, making a 2/3 Cystbearer in to a 3/3 Infecting force to be reckoned with.
All-in-all I enjoy playing Infect. I know there is a lot of Infect hate out there right now. When drafting Scars of Mirrodin, you either have bombs or you don't. There really is no in between, except for Infect. It is good on it's own even with mediocre creatures, but with bombs such as Putrefax, or Skittles it is deadly.
Thanks for reading!
