Last weekend I decided to play G/B Infect at the SCG Atlanta Modern Open.
Modern has shifted to a point where I believe that Infect is very
well-positioned, and I believe my suspicions were confirmed when my close
friend and teammate Zan Syed took down the Open with G/U Infect.
Creatures (12)
Lands (19)
Spells (29)
So why did I decide to play G/B Infect instead of G/U Infect? There were
two main reasons.
The main reason why I liked the black version better was access to discard
spells. Remember Gitaxian Probe? When Infect was at its most dominant in
Modern, it had the ability to see what its opponent had in their hand and
play accordingly. This effect was so powerful that it was just banned in Legacy.
Having access to discard spells gives you a similar edge. Not only do you
get to see your opponent’s hand, but you even get to make them discard one
of your choice! When entire games can come down to whether they have a
removal spell or not, this is exactly the kind of effect I’m looking for.
Spot removal is usually the best tool against Infect, and there are some
decks in Modern that are packing a ton of Lightning Bolts, Lightning
Helixes, and Path to Exiles. Phyrexian Crusader is essentially immune in a
ton of these matchups because it has protection from red and from white.
Jeskai Control is the most popular control deck in Modern right now, and
they must lean very heavily on their sweepers to get rid of a Phyrexian
Crusader.
Unfortunately, Phyrexian Crusader comes with a pretty significant downside.
The Crusader is very difficult to cast. 1BB is a pretty heavy splash in a
deck that’s trying to as heavily green as Infect. Many lists are running
Phyrexian Crusaders in the main deck, but I found that it’s often too much
of a liability when you’re trying to kill your opponent as quickly as
possible. Running more threats and less pump spells is an easy way to slow
your deck down too much and lose the reason that we want to be playing
Infect right now: speed.
I think Phyrexian Crusader is a house in many matchups, but I strongly
believe that it belongs in the sideboard, because that way, you can keep
your pump spell density high in the main deck and still have access to the
Crusader in the sideboard for the matchups where it can win on its own.
There are a few other card choices that I think are worth talking a little
more about.
The biggest downside to playing G/B Infect over B/U Infect is the loss of
Blighted Agent. Being able to ignore blockers can be vital to Infect’s
success and Plague Stinger is nowhere near as effective at evasion as
Blighted Agent. Because of this, it’s very important to have access to
Rancor to be able to punch through any fliers that might be floating around
on your opponent’s side of the battlefield. It might even be worth it to go
up to three copies of Rancor for this reason.
Sylvan Scrying is easily my favorite sideboard card in this deck, partially
because it’s unintuitive but very powerful. I highly recommend putting a
copy in your Infect sideboard, no matter what colors you’re running.
There are many matchups where Inkmoth Nexus is your best threat. These are
the matchups when your opponent is trying to interact with you pretty
heavily. When Infect is playing against a control deck, you really want to
be the one who decides when the players are going to fight over killing a
creature. The control player really wants to fight in the Infect player’s
end step, because there they run no risk dying in combat.
Inkmoth Nexus allows the Infect player to choose when the players fight.
Having an Inkmoth Nexus on the battlefield means that the Infect player can
play very patiently and wait several turns to set up a turn where they can
go for the win. This allows the Infect player to make land drops and draw
more and more protection spells, so they will eventually be able to win the
fight on their terms. With any of the other creatures, you must make sure
it survives through your end step and your opponent’s next turn, which can
be a big ask.
Additionally, Sylvan Scrying gives you a bit of utility when you need it.
Sometimes you need a Pendelhaven badly or a second black source for your
Phyrexian Crusader, and Sylvan Scrying does just the trick.
Matchups
VS Tron
Out:
In:
Tron is probably your best matchup because you can usually kill them before
they get to cast their first relevant spell. After sideboard things get a
little more tricky, but usually Tron’s best bet is to lean on the two-mana
removal spells that they have access to and we can easily beat those. Just
remember to mulligan to a relatively fast hand and you’ll be fine.
VS Humans
Out:
In:
Phyrexian Crusader is surprisingly strong in the Humans matchup, because so
many of their creatures are red or white. I don’t like going overboard on
bringing in Liliana, the Last Hope or Collective Brutality though. While
those cards are generally strong against Humans, they don’t really fit our
proactive game plan of trying to punch through and kill them before they
can go wide and kill us. Infect is not going to win a long game against
Humans, so try to kill them as fast as possible.
VS Jeskai Control
Out:
In:
In this matchup, you either win by killing the Jeskai player before they
get their feet on the ground with a fast Noble Hierarch into creature plus
protection spell or by going long and protecting a Phyrexian Crusader or
Inkmoth Nexus, which are your premium threats in the matchup. Don’t be
afraid to play draw/go with an Inkmoth Nexus on the battlefield so that you
can draw into a ton of protection spells and make your land drops.
VS Mardu Pyromancer
Out:
In:
Mardu Pyromancer is probably your worst matchup because they have better
removal for Phyrexian Crusader, and Lingering Souls can be a pretty big
problem at times. Usually I find myself grinding through Lingering Souls
with an Infect creature paired with either Pendelhaven or Noble Hierarch,
which can be effective at times. If you can land a Phyrexian Crusader with
protection up, the Mardu Pyromancer player will generally have a pretty
tough time.
It’s very important to bring in Nature’s Claims here because Blood Moon can
be a pretty big problem, and some Pyromancer decks run Ensnaring Bridge out
of the sideboard. If you see an Ensnaring Bridge after sideboard, it’s
probably worth it to also board in the Dissenter’s Deliverance for game
three.
VS Hollow One
Out:
In:
Generally this matchup comes down to a clean race. I don’t like discard in
this matchup because the games are so fast and you don’t really have time
to cast your discard spells.
VS Burn
Out:
In:
While this matchup is generally bad for the traditional G/U versions of
Infect, our deck has a lot of excellent tools in the sideboard. Make sure
to bring in Nature’s Claim because it hits both Eidolon of the Great Revel
and the occasional Ensnaring Bridge. You can also kill your own Inkmoth
Nexus in a pinch if you need the life.
VS Ironworks
Out:
In:
This matchup is generally a race, but you also have a lot of strong
interaction that can slow down the Ironworks player in discard and artifact
removal. Make sure you mulligan to fast draws in this matchup.
VS Affinity
Out:
In:
Games against Affinity get pretty grindy after sideboard. You might be
tempted to kill their first big threat with your Nature’s Claim, but if you
think you can reasonably race it, it’s often better to save your Nature’s
Claim for something like a Ghirapur Aether Grid.
VS Dredge
Out:
In:
Unfortunately, the Dredge matchup can sometimes just come down to how many
Narcomoebas your opponent finds on their first couple of dredges. Getting
through fliers is very important in the matchup, which is why you want to
bring in cards like Fatal Push, Collective Brutality, and Liliana, the Last
Hope. Liliana feels strange to bring in here, but she does an excellent job
of killing a Narcomoeba or making it so your opponent’s Stinkweed Imp can’t
kill your infect creatures when it chump blocks.
VS Storm
Out:
In:
Storm is another deck that you simply must race. The discard spells do a
lot to slow our opponent down, which can be very effective. Make sure you
don’t open yourself up to a Grapeshot that will be hard to protect all your
creatures from, so often it’s better to only deploy one or two threats at a
time.