It's been about 15 years since I started playing Magic: The Gathering, and I decided to revisit one of the decks I started trying to build around then when the Scars of Mirroden and New Phyrexia sets were all the rage.
Infect was a major aspect of that block, depicting the corrosive effect of Phyrexian influence across the world of Mirroden. Infect not only cripples creatures with permanent -1/-1 counters like the Wither mechanic, but also added Poison counters to players. A player automatically loses the game if they gather 10 poison counters regardless of their life total. There were (and are) very few ways to prevent or remove such counters. Green and black were the colors most associated with Infect, but cards in all colors could be poisonous.
I pulled apart my original deck and rebuilt it from the ground up with a focus on better reliability and sneaky ways to hit harder. I'm also playing with a new deck building site to see whether I like its features better. Check out my Budget Green Infect deck on Moxfield!
Ramp
What's a green deck without extra mana sources? Elvish Mystic is one of several 1/1 elves costing just one green and capable of tapping for green mana. I have a lot in my collection, so that's what I chose to add.
Equivalents include Llanowar Elves and Fyndhorn Elves, or Boreal druid if colorless mana is acceptable.
I also included Urban Burgeoning in my sideboard. I'll need some games to test it, but there are pros and cons to mana dorks. The elf has summoning sickness. The enchantment untaps its land immediately on the next opponent's turn, and allows responses on an opponent's turn after tapping out. Creature destruction is also more common than enchantment destruction. But the elf increases the mana available for my next turn, and as the game progresses, having a blocker or a creature to sacrifice might be beneficial when mana ramp is a lower priority. What's your preference, and should it be promoted to the main deck instead?
Defense
If you play green, Fog effects are your friend. I went with a set of the O.G. namesake card. This is where I can see a benefit to Urban Burgeoning because I can tap out my lands and get back the untapped forest to use this defense anyway.
Green traditionally has limited access to flying creatures, but can defend against them with the right card selection. My sideboard includes full sets of Pistus Strike and Blightwidow. These are situational cards, which is why they are not in the main deck.
There are better anti-flying instants than Pistus Strike, but this card is on theme because it adds a poison counter to my opponent. In any other deck, Plummet is strictly better because it costs less to cast.
Similarly, Blightwidow is not the best creature with Reach, but having the Infect ability has more synergy with this specific deck. I wouldn't use it unless I specifically needed the defense against flying, though.
But as the saying goes, the best defense is a good offense.
Offense
The goal of this deck is to swing hard and hit the opponent as often as possible so those Poison counters stack up as fast as possible. My goal is to play "on the curve," hitting my lads drops on the first few turns and playing each card as soon as possible. Here's the attack plan sorted by converted mana cost (CMC).
CMC 1
Glistener Elf is a 1/1 Elf Warrior with Infect. Simple and effective as a baseline creature. I run a full set of 4.
Giant Growth gives anything +3/+3 at instant speed, allowing small creatures to deal with bigger foes, or letting me sneak some extra poison counters in from any un-blocked infectious attacker I send. Again, we're running 4.
Primal Bellow is a card that gets better the longer I wait to cast it. At first, it's a very small buff. By turn 3, it should be equal to Giant Growth, but it's all upside from there. If I ran a multi-color deck, it would be less effective, but it's perfect in mono-green.
CMC 2
Blight Mamba might be first on the chopping block for replacement from the sideboard, because CMC 2 for a 1/1 is not good value, but regeneration might be useful, and Infect is still on-brand. What would you suggest as a replacement?
Titanic Growth is a slightly-better Giant Growth granting +4/+4 at instant speed. Phytoburst would be better, but it must be cast preemptively at Sorcery speed instead. No, thanks.
CMC 3
Here's where this deck really starts to drop good stuff on the field, I hope.
Viridian Corrupter is a 2/2 with the bonus ability to destroy an artifact when it enters the field. I like Swiss Army Knife creatures with bonus abilities. I only own 2 from back in the day, so 2 are what I run. Should I make it a full set?
Rot Wolf is another 2/2 for 3, but again, the ability to draw when it kills something adds potential value. I run a full playset of 4 here.
Mycosynth Fiend is another creature that gets better as the game goes on, picking up +1/+1 for each poison counter I inflict. Again, I only have 2, so I run 2. Should I add more?
CMC 4
By turn 4, I hope to have set up a good variety of attackers while holding some answers in my hand to set up a win. I'll want some mana free for those instants mentioned earlier to boost my attackers or fog away damage.
Corpse Cur is the only creature I have at this stage, and I only own 2, so there's no real strategy behind having so few. It just is what it is, but if any of my Infect creatures have died by now, this is a way to retrieve them while adding more Infect to my board.
CMC 5
Plaguemaw Beast is the sole occupant of this CMC slot, and I only own one copy in the sideboard. I'd like to make Proliferate a larger part of this deck, but I'm not sure what to cut (or what color to splash in) to make it work how I want.
CMC 6
Spinebiter is my main win condition. It's only a 3/4, but it can assign its combat damage as though it weren't blocked, which means if I pump it with Giant Growth, Primal Bellow, or Titanic Growth, it should end the game on its own. I own 2, so I used 2.
Improvements?
I have a lot of one-of and two-of cards that should be either scrapped or expanded to full playsets of four for better consistency, especially in the CMC 3-4 range.
Another option might be building a multicolor deck to expand what I can play instead. Over the ensuing years, newer cards have also been printed to support poison counters and proliferation. I can also consider swapping mana elves for Birds of Paradise which can fly and add any color, but it is also a costlier card to buy.
Splash Blue
This deck doesn't include much Proliferate or card advantage, so adding some Islands in place of some Forests, and using some of these cards might help a lot.
Blighted Agent (Unblockable creature with Infect)
Distorted Curiosity (card draw)
Contentious Plan (proliferate and draw a card)
Prologue to Phyresis (gives poison counters and draw a card)
And let's not forget the trolling opportunities Blue affords, like Counterspell and its cousin Corrupted Resolve.
Splash Black
Black is probably the other most Infect-laden color from any Phyrexian sets. Its synergy can add more targeted removal and other effects outside the scope of a pure Infect deck, too.
Flensermite (Infect and Lifelink)
Hand of the Praetors (Infect synergy and Proliferation-lite)
Go for the Throat (Instant-speed creature removal)
Plague Stinger (Infect and Flying, arguably better than Blight Mamba)
Drown in Ichor (weakens or kills a creature and Proliferate)
Grim Affliction (add a -1/-1 counter and Proliferate)
Splash Red
Red doesn't add a lot to Infect strategies directly, although cards like Lightning Bolt definitely add spot removal. The key with splashing this color is more about expanding how the deck can address threats, but a few cards might be good with the main goal anyway.
Cacophony Scamp (Proliferate)
Volt Charge (Lightning Bolt with Proliferate added)
Fallen Ferromancer (Infect plus a pay-to-ping ability)
Splash White
White is probably tied with red for least Infect synergy, but it adds a lot of ways to pump creatures similar to what I already have in this deck through cards like Mighty Leap or prevent damage with more Fog effects like Holy Day. White is also capable of fending off loss with cards like Phyrexian Unlife. A few cards also exist leaning more toward defense and proliferation.
Priests of Norn (Infect and Vigilance)
Grateful Apparition (Flying and Proliferate)
Metastatic Evangel (New Proliferate card)
Final Thoughts
This deck is a fun budget build nowadays with lots of room to play around with its themes and mechanics if I so choose. How do you feel about Infect, proliferation, and some of my ideas for possible changes to the deck? What cards work best, what would you replace, and how would you defeat this with your own deck?
