Discussion Forum

Day 3 of testing is up, this time against a Caw-Blade variant that recently won Magic-League Master Tournament. Oddly, the deck never saw a single Caw, even though there was plenty of Blade involved.

I also have a new layout for my blog, let me know if you like it, or if it just looks obnoxious.
http://ggxgames.blogspot.com/2011/05/testing-infectwire-part-3.html

I've updated the deck list again after some more trial and error.
http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=186211

Comments and suggestions welcome.

More updates!
http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=186211
http://ggxgames.blogspot.com/2011/05/infectwire-evolved.html

I've taken out 2 of the Livewire Lashes for 2 Tezzeret's Gambit instead, and made some other nice changes.

Let me know what you guys think.

I made a couple minor last minute changes to the deck list and headed out to FNM tonight.

Unfortunately I don't think I've gotten in enough practice with this deck yet. I always did well in my first game of a match, typically blowing them out pretty easily. But after that I would sideboard, and apparently I was doing it wrong.

New blog post up: http://ggxgames.blogspot.com/2011/05/infectwire-at-fnm.html

Essentially I need answers to Giddeon, and how other aggro decks deal with B/U control decks that are stacked with counterspells. If anyone has some suggestions that would fit in my sideboard, I am all ears.

Thanks.

Edit, what do you guys think of adding in Garruk? He can make some decent 3/3 bodies to pummel Giddeon, and if we can swing past Giddeon, the trample pump should be enough to end it.

New evolution. I've left Livewire Lash behind. It was a very neat trick, and I loved it dearly, but the format has gotten so much faster with Batterskull and Splinter Twin that it just isn't quick enough.
Now I'm running this:
http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=186211

This deck is doing amazing. I did 6 or 7 matches on MWS tonight with this deck, and won every single one 2-0. Blighted Agent with a Piston Sledge on it and then a Groundswell with landfall is GG. The deck also has lots of answers to get rid of those pesky Spellskites, which seem to be cropping up more and more.

Let me know what you guys think :)

too much pump add more card draw or mana leaks

Just won a T2 Mini over at Magic-League with my deck.
http://www.magic-league.com/tournament/info.php?id=70971&view=decks

It's only the third time that I've had enough time to play in one of these, and I think I played extremely well.

The hardest thing is still sideboarding with this deck. I've made it a little easier by running several 2-ofs in the mainboard, but it's still a really tough decision between matches.

Blog post about the deck here:
http://ggxgames.blogspot.com/2011/05/infectwire-loses-wire.html

The changes do look good on how your deck has evolved more or less.
Don't often see the Piston Sledge put to use where it can actually be effective. Good luck on the sideboarding concepts, sometimes it is stupidly complicated.

The one card that I'm surprized still hasn't made it into your deck is Preordain. Not going to lie, I mainboard it in almost all my blue decks.

[QUOTE=Safearus]The one card that I'm surprized still hasn't made it into your deck is Preordain. Not going to lie, I mainboard it in almost all my blue decks.[/QUOTE]

I did run preordain for a long time. But when I put in the Halimar Depths, and the Tezzeret's Gambits, I stopped using them.

The Halimar Depths give you a free almost-scry and the Tez's Gambit draws you 2, and proliferates. It seems like Preordain fit right between those 2. And while Preordain is pretty good in the first few turns, once you get beyond that, you would almost always want to draw a Gambit instead.

[QUOTE=TheRabbit]I did run preordain for a long time. But when I put in the Halimar Depths, and the Tezzeret's Gambits, I stopped using them.

The Halimar Depths give you a free almost-scry and the Tez's Gambit draws you 2, and proliferates. It seems like Preordain fit right between those 2. And while Preordain is pretty good in the first few turns, once you get beyond that, you would almost always want to draw a Gambit instead.[/QUOTE]

Preordaine is WAY better than Halimar Depths. The ability to put cards you don't need onto the bottom of your library is really good. I would also say that in this deck, it is also better than Tez's Gambit. It only costs 1 to cast instead of 3-4, and it digs deeper. While Tez's Gambit does have proliferate, I don't think that is all that important in this deck. The main idea of the deck is to pump a creature big enough to win with 1-2 swings anyways, so is 1 poison counter from a proliferate going to decide the game? I doubt it. In my opinion (and that's all this is), I would run Preordaine over both Depths, and Gambit in this deck.

[QUOTE=pete_h]Preordaine is WAY better than Halimar Depths. The ability to put cards you don't need onto the bottom of your library is really good. I would also say that in this deck, it is also better than Tez's Gambit. It only costs 1 to cast instead of 3-4, and it digs deeper. While Tez's Gambit does have proliferate, I don't think that is all that important in this deck. The main idea of the deck is to pump a creature big enough to win with 1-2 swings anyways, so is 1 poison counter from a proliferate going to decide the game? I doubt it. In my opinion (and that's all this is), I would run Preordaine over both Depths, and Gambit in this deck.[/QUOTE]

I'm using 4 fetch lands. Typically if Halimar turns up cards that I don't want, I can get a shuffle off.

You don't think that proliferate is important in a deck that wins based on poison counters? There are plenty of times when you can get someone up to 8 or 9 counters, but they've managed to solidify their board position enough that you simply can't get in anymore. Proliferate wins those games for you. That's also why this deck runs Contagion Clasp and Viral Drake. Proliferate is very powerful.

At FNM tonight I went 3-1 unfortunately. My only loss coming in the very first round. I lost both games by drawing 7+ lands in a row after drawing a very solid opening hand. I can only blame myself though, I had been playtesting earlier that afternoon, and I just didn't shuffle enough before going to FNM.

I'm still playing this deck: http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=186211

I made a short blog post talking about the decks I played against and how the games went down: http://ggxgames.blogspot.com/2011/05/infect-at-fnm.html

I ended up coming in 5th because the guy that I lost to in the first round didn't win a single match after that, giving me the worst OMW tiebreaker score. So close...

Anyone else run infect at FNM and do well? (Or not so well?)

[QUOTE=TheRabbit]I'm using 4 fetch lands. Typically if Halimar turns up cards that I don't want, I can get a shuffle off.

I still don't think Halimar depths is better than Preordain. So you look at your top 3, don't like them get a shuffle, and now it's like you didn't play the depths... Preordain, you don't like the 2 cards, you still get to draw a card.
You don't think that proliferate is important in a deck that wins based on poison counters? There are plenty of times when you can get someone up to 8 or 9 counters, but they've managed to solidify their board position enough that you simply can't get in anymore. Proliferate wins those games for you. That's also why this deck runs Contagion Clasp and Viral Drake. Proliferate is very powerful.

In this deck, I think proliferate is wasted space. So you get them to 8 or 9 and they've solidified, but isn't that what the Livewire is for? Livewire gives them direct poison counters...
At FNM tonight I went 3-1 unfortunately. My only loss coming in the very first round. I lost both games by drawing 7+ lands in a row after drawing a very solid opening hand. I can only blame myself though, I had been playtesting earlier that afternoon, and I just didn't shuffle enough before going to FNM.

I'm still playing this deck: http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=186211

I made a short blog post talking about the decks I played against and how the games went down: http://ggxgames.blogspot.com/2011/05/infect-at-fnm.html

I ended up coming in 5th because the guy that I lost to in the first round didn't win a single match after that, giving me the worst OMW tiebreaker score. So close...

Anyone else run infect at FNM and do well? (Or not so well?)[/QUOTE]

This is your deck, and you seem to have some success with it, so keep it how you want. You posted a deck up on a forum, and I gave my opinion. There was nothing negative about it, so take it or leave it. No big deal.

[QUOTE=pete_h]This is your deck, and you seem to have some success with it, so keep it how you want. You posted a deck up on a forum, and I gave my opinion. There was nothing negative about it, so take it or leave it. No big deal.[/QUOTE]

I'm sorry if my reply seemed negatively directed at you, I certainly didn't mean it that way. I was just trying to defend the card choices that I have in there, and explain why I was using them over the cards you suggested.

The reason I think proliferate is important in my current list is that I'm no longer running Livewire Lash, and I'm instead using Piston Sledge as my equipment (posted about it briefly a few posts up).

In related news, a U/G infect deck just won a Trial Tournament (50+ people, single match elimination). He's running a very "pure" version of the deck, where every card is either land, an infect creature, pump, or a draw spell. It seemed to serve him well. More information about it over on my blog:
http://ggxgames.blogspot.com/2011/05/ug-infect-wins-55-man-trial-tournament.html

Unfortunately, the Master Tournament that this Trial feeds is a sealed tournament, so we won't get to see how he would do in a full blown tournament.

Pete, you were right, I should have kept Livewire Lash in there for the longterm strategy. In the late game, just having Livewire Lash out on the battlefield is inevitability. Eventually I will draw a creature and a pump spell, that's what the deck does.

After taking out the Livewire Lash for last week, I reevaluated my decisions. I had told myself that Piston Sledge was good because I was able to keep my infect dudes alive. How was I keeping my Infect dudes alive? With spells. What piece of equipment loves to get spells cast at it? That's right... I'm still a big fan of Piston Sledge, the speed of it is great in a fast infect deck, but the Livewire Lash leads to inevitability like Pete said.

I also made a couple other changes. I decided to go "all-in" in the maindeck. Gone are the Beast Withins and the Dismembers. In their place is Preordain and extra copies of the equipment we all love.

I had to go pick up my car from the shop today, so my testing time was cut short, and I only managed to get in 4 matches tonight, but I won all of them.

Here's the blogpost talking about the changes and going step-by-step through a match against a roguish Big Red deck:
http://ggxgames.blogspot.com/2011/05/putting-lash-back-in-infectwire.html

Thanks for reading guys, keep the dream alive!

nice deck :) you might have to change the deck a lil too much to do it, but have you considered running a putrifax, fishing him out with a green sun or birthing pod, and then putting him on top of your library every turn with noxious revival?

Just a cute lil combo that may work. and if not, you can always just chuck him down anyways and force them to block him due to his trample. I love putrifax in green infect.

as for how this deck looks now, i dont like the tez gambit much. just a tad too expensive i think. go with the preordain instead of them. if you want to proliferate you can always do it with your creature.

There is a much better card than Putrifax for green infect. Gigantiform. I used to run that before New Phyrexia came out, it's pretty amazing for 5 mana.

[QUOTE=TheRabbit]I'm sorry if my reply seemed negatively directed at you, I certainly didn't mean it that way. I was just trying to defend the card choices that I have in there, and explain why I was using them over the cards you suggested.

The reason I think proliferate is important in my current list is that I'm no longer running Livewire Lash, and I'm instead using Piston Sledge as my equipment (posted about it briefly a few posts up).

In related news, a U/G infect deck just won a Trial Tournament (50+ people, single match elimination). He's running a very "pure" version of the deck, where every card is either land, an infect creature, pump, or a draw spell. It seemed to serve him well. More information about it over on my blog:
http://ggxgames.blogspot.com/2011/05/ug-infect-wins-55-man-trial-tournament.html

Unfortunately, the Master Tournament that this Trial feeds is a sealed tournament, so we won't get to see how he would do in a full blown tournament.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=TheRabbit;24776]Pete, you were right, I should have kept Livewire Lash in there for the longterm strategy. In the late game, just having Livewire Lash out on the battlefield is inevitability. Eventually I will draw a creature and a pump spell, that's what the deck does.

After taking out the Livewire Lash for last week, I reevaluated my decisions. I had told myself that Piston Sledge was good because I was able to keep my infect dudes alive. How was I keeping my Infect dudes alive? With spells. What piece of equipment loves to get spells cast at it? That's right... I'm still a big fan of Piston Sledge, the speed of it is great in a fast infect deck, but the Livewire Lash leads to inevitability like Pete said.

I also made a couple other changes. I decided to go "all-in" in the maindeck. Gone are the Beast Withins and the Dismembers. In their place is Preordain and extra copies of the equipment we all love.

I had to go pick up my car from the shop today, so my testing time was cut short, and I only managed to get in 4 matches tonight, but I won all of them.

Here's the blogpost talking about the changes and going step-by-step through a match against a roguish Big Red deck:
http://ggxgames.blogspot.com/2011/05/putting-lash-back-in-infectwire.html

Thanks for reading guys, keep the dream alive![/QUOTE]

I haven't been on in a couple days, so I hope your deck is turning out good. I apologize, cause when I posted I hadn't looked at your updated deck, and I didn't even realize the Lash's weren't even in the deck... lol. I think the Lash is the best decision though, cause most decks have creature removal, but targeting the equipped creature is bad news for them, so they have to destroy the lash, which most decks aren't maindecking artifact hate yet.

Have you tested Spellskite yet? This is something that can protect your creatures, and most of the time you Lash. Also, a cool little trick is to have 2 out with at least one of them (Preferably both) equipped with the lash. You just bounce the spell between them and triggers the lash every time. His ability to protect everything you got makes him great though.

hey im at work so i can't look at your updated deck but, have you thought about SB creeping corrosion? its the right color and you can really devistate someone whos running an arti deck....especially that ever so annoying blue/black control with tezz AoB.

[QUOTE=pete_h]Have you tested Spellskite yet? This is something that can protect your creatures, and most of the time you Lash. Also, a cool little trick is to have 2 out with at least one of them (Preferably both) equipped with the lash. You just bounce the spell between them and triggers the lash every time. His ability to protect everything you got makes him great though.[/QUOTE]

I did try Spellskite, and I wasn't a huge fan of him. It is a great card, a 0/4 blocker if need be, a free redirect for any creature destruction, and all sorts of other things. When I had him in the deck though I always felt really bad when I drew him, he was never what I wanted to be drawing. I was never sitting there thinking "I hope my next card is a Spellskite."

I do still use him in my sideboard at my local FNM though. There are a bunch of people that play K-Red decks, and Spellskite is a house against them.

truegrave, I don't think I've ever been in a game where I've really wanted to destroy all artifacts. I think the best cards against Tezz decks are the 2 I already have in my sideboard, Nature's Claim and Beast Within.

even if you dont include spellskite in your main deck, i think its a must in the sideboard like youve done. nothing pisses me off more than when i cant use any of my creature buffs like giant growth because he just redirects them. such an annoying card to play against, and can frustrate your opponent. for 2 mana i think its awesome.

[QUOTE=Horsey]even if you dont include spellskite in your main deck, i think its a must in the sideboard like youve done. nothing pisses me off more than when i cant use any of my creature buffs like giant growth because he just redirects them. such an annoying card to play against, and can frustrate your opponent. for 2 mana i think its awesome.[/QUOTE]

I agree with this. I've grown to hate seeing Spellskite sitting across the table more than almost anything. That card is so annoying... lol

[QUOTE=pete_h]I agree with this. I've grown to hate seeing Spellskite sitting across the table more than almost anything. That card is so annoying... lol[/QUOTE]

lol the best solution is to play creature removal out the yingyang! honestly though, i haven't had a chance to play against it..thanks to my work schedule, i can't do fnm anymore:( and im not gutsy enough to play in an Open so, until my tight circle of friends start getting this card, i won't know the frustration it has caused many:P

There are tons of the floating around on MTGO... That's all I play.

i may get into Online but, as for now, in my current financial state, the best i can do is mws.

is it like real life where you can sell your cards to other players? or is it strictly trading?

Your decks has changed considerably. Why did you decide to add the two Garruks to your deck? Are they worth it?

And is Twisted Image really worth it?

The Garruks are a little slow, but if they stay on the field you win. If nothing else they will save you 4 life, as people are very likely to not want you to keep a Garruk out, and will attack it to take it out.

The Twisted Images are very worth it. Anyone that has Spellskite, Overgrown Battlement, Cunning Sparkmage, or any of the other walls that are used, will not only lose their creature, but you get to draw a card. Worst case you could use it on your own Livewire equipped creature to bounce 2 poison and draw a card.

[QUOTE=TheRabbit]The Garruks are a little slow, but if they stay on the field you win. If nothing else they will save you 4 life, as people are very likely to not want you to keep a Garruk out, and will attack it to take it out.

The Twisted Images are very worth it. Anyone that has Spellskite, Overgrown Battlement, Cunning Sparkmage, or any of the other walls that are used, will not only lose their creature, but you get to draw a card. Worst case you could use it on your own Livewire equipped creature to bounce 2 poison and draw a card.[/QUOTE]

very nice sir! i'll have to add this to my infecty:D keep up the awesome work

that wouldnt bounce infect damage would it? doesnt the card say deal two damage to target creature or player? wouldnt that just be normal damage?

It says equipped creature gets: "Whenever this creature becomes the target of a spell, this creature deals 2 damage to target creature or player." Meaning that it is the creature dealing the damage, and Infect states that any damage the creature deals counts as Poison counters or -1/-1 counters on creatures.