Best Infect creatures (standard)
General forum
Posted on Oct. 11, 2010, 6:24 p.m. by zigkid3
So I've had an infect deck for a while now, but I was thinking about moving things around a lot. Obviously one question I asked myself is, well which infect creatures are the best to use? we got... Blackcleave Goblin who has haste, but costs 4 Blight Mamba who's early game and can regenerate Contagious Nim just a normal creature Cystbearer who costs the same amount as the nim but has 3 defense instead of 2 Hand of the Praetors who gives other infect creatures +1/+1, a 3/2, and costs 4 mana Ichor Rats deal a posion counter by entering the field Plague Stinger who can fly and is early game Putrefax is more late game (as far as infect is concerned) but has trample and haste. but the downside is he goes away at the end of its turn Tangle Angler who can forcible be a creature killer and some defense. he is also great with Infiltration Lens Tel-Jilad Fallen has some good power but low defense, but has protection from artifacts Vector Asp is colorless and can come out on turn one, but his infect ability costs a mana to use Necropede is early game and can give -1/-1 when he goes to the graveyard Ichorclaw Myr is early game and he becomes a 3/3 if he gets blocked Corpse Cur helps you revive dead infect creatures, and works well with Putrefax Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon is late game but is a 4/4 flying who can gain haste and regenerate
with all of these infect creatures and their abilities it's hard to choose how to prioritize them. obivously the point of infect decks is to try to win as fast as possible, and thus you need early game creatures instead of late game. So how would you rank them? how would they rank in black and green? how black ones rank against themselves? how would green ones rank against each other? where to the colorless infect creatures lie on those rankings?
I'm basically creating this thread to help figure out which infect creatures are the most useful, which can get damage through the most often, and which ones may be considered a waste of space.
here are the categories i've made for them (this is in no particular order):
Most Useful for their abilities: Blight Mamba Corpse Cur Hand of the Praetors Ichor Rats * Tangle Angler
Most likely to get damage through: Ichorclaw Myr Plague Stinger Putrefax Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon Tel-Jilad Fallen (if your opponent is an artifact deck)
Useless (for the most part): Blackcleave Goblin Contagious Nim Cystbearer Ichor Rats * Necropede Vector Asp
NOTE: I am aware that some of these may fall under two categories, I only put them in their most suited category.
NOTE 2: These are just opinions
- = i'm personally a little biased about Ichor Rats i dont like the idea of dealing a posion counter to yourself. this could backfire against another infect deck, or a proliferate deck. sure you get that one extra posion counter, but after that i dont find them very useful, but i know some people still like them so i put it under both categories.
So what are your thoughts? which damage through the most often? which are more useful? which do you find useless? how would you rank them?
SocialistElite says... #4
What makes Ichor Rats bad against a proliferate deck is also what makes it good IN a proliferate deck. Vector Asp , Ichorclaw Myr , Corpse Cur and Necropede are all artifacts, which makes them good with Throne of Geth .
I think all of those cards just need context.
October 11, 2010 9:06 p.m.
GET RID OF BLACK!!!!!!. Its a trap the only cards that are good are the dragon and the lord. and the dragon can be in a deck without everything else, and the lord is over costed. Go mono green or green blue.
October 12, 2010 2:59 p.m.
Hell, go any colour you like, just as long as you can access that 1 black mana for that double striking trample creature that is doing 4 points of damage to be enhanced with a Tainted Strike after the blockers have been declared... (We could all dream of that move, can't we?)
Black can be VERY potent, and I don't see a problem with it... except that the creatures asses are very small... make's them fall over and die if your not careful. :)
You could go green/red... Putrefax OR Tel-Jilad Fallen + Assault Strobe = No laughing matter.
Yes, I know any kind of burn spell would laugh at that prospect.
The one thing I'm noticing with this new set? It's not got many big defence creatures...
Hence why I would go red wise, use cards like Pyroclasm , to get rid of the weenie's, and then go on the assault. You never know how good a kill card that can be until you see what your opponents will be losing. :)
October 12, 2010 4:51 p.m.
danthraxxx says... #7
Yes. Let's not forget Tainted Strike.
turn 1: Forest, Birds of paradise turn 2: Swamp, play Tainted Strike and a Groundswell with landfall for a 5/6 infected Birds of paradise.
October 13, 2010 12:02 a.m.
To be honest, I believe the best infect creature is Tangle Angler , and a close second is a Kraken Hatchling equipped with a Grafted Exoskeleton .
October 13, 2010 8:05 p.m.
danthraxxx says... #11
@luckyfirefox16 Birds are beastly. Don't deny the death that BoP can rain upon the enemy!
October 13, 2010 9:28 p.m.
rawrimjustin says... #12
For constructed I suggest staying in the green area with cards like giant growth, vines of vastwood, ect. Stick with the lowest costing tiers (and contrary to your list, necropede is extremely discouraging to blockers, as well as ichorclaw). Livewire lashes can be very good if you go green, the ability to deal two infect with a single pump spell is no laughing matter (+2/+0 doesn't hurt either).
October 13, 2010 11:51 p.m.
Justarsaus says... #13
my fav is skittles... im working on a u/b control with him in it :D
October 13, 2010 11:56 p.m.
i can see how Necropede can be useful, but the only thing i see going for Vector Asp is that it comes out on turn 1
October 14, 2010 2:39 p.m.
MasterFlinter says... #16
I'd say Plague Stinger is the best infect creature although Ichorclaw Myr is very good as well because no one wants to block it. Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon deserves mention because its the only infect creature that can be played in a non-aggro strategy and I think UB control could start seeing play with Skithy as the only creature in the deck.
I think black is the best color for aggro infect right now due to having a ton of cheap power increasing cards like Vampire's Bite, Demonic Appetite, and Virulent Swipe. I built a deck around those cards and it can win on turn 3 fairly often but is completely hit or miss. Also, once you surprise kill an opponent by giving +9 to a 1/1 infect they typically don't let your little fellers hang around long enough to do it a second time.
deck:black-blue-infect-1 is the deck
October 14, 2010 2:56 p.m.
Tangle Angler and Blight Mamba are also good non-aggro strategy infect creatures, they're one of my favorites.
personally i see it as... green- pump up the creatures black- control blue- control
when it comes to infect decks
the thing is there are 2 green infect creatures i really want in the deck, but then i also want plague stinger which is black and maybe some of those -4/-4 grasp things and doom blade, and i also want to use Distortion Strike and Neurok Invisimancer
but i dont want to make a tri-colored deck so its hard figuring out which is the best.
i will definitely have it be green because of the pumps so its just a matter of whats better...
green-black = pump up your infect creatures and hope to get rid of their creatures
or
green-blue = pump them up and make them unblockable
October 14, 2010 5:06 p.m.
Top Infect Decks will now appear on the deck builder page.
October 15, 2010 12:32 a.m.
masterpeez says... #19
Plague Stinger . Ichor Rats . All you need is one. Proliferate the rest of the way. Or just give that plague stinger a Giant Growth . There is no need for all these giant infect creatures. There is no need for them. They are not needed.
October 16, 2010 1:42 a.m.
they're needed enough if you want to have enough creatures in your deck to ensure you get a low cost infect creature in your opening hand. the question is, which ones are worthy of that. Plague Stinger is an obvious answer, but what about the rest?
October 16, 2010 3:35 a.m.
Okay not to sound like a prick but some people obviously have no creativity or know what the hell they are talking about. Ichor rats is useless? Not as much as you think... Hand of the Praetors is out on the field there's an automatic 2 infect to the other opponent and now becomes a 3/2... Plague Stinger is an amazing card for early game and for a win condition if you have the right cards... Plague stinger + Virulent Swipe... There's a 1 drop +2/+0 that rebounds next turn so they're taking 3 in the air... Or even Unholy Strength on them... And necropedes are a decent chump blocker plus an additional -1/-1 counter creature.
October 30, 2010 9:17 p.m.
toastytoast says... #22
Vector asp has turn 3 win potential, I'll admit you need a good hand and good draws but,
t1 swamp + vector asp, t2 forest + groundswell, t3 land + groundswell, or forest + kicked vines of vastwood.
November 2, 2010 7:53 p.m.
best infect creatures in the game today:
Plague Stinger , Ichor Rats , Ichorclaw Myr , Hand of the Praetors and Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
honestly, the only great green infect creature is Blight Mamba , the rest of the green infecters are slow to get out.
November 5, 2010 12:59 p.m.
and as for the deal with Ichor Rats , you only use him if your deck has the defenses and is easy to proliferate
personally i love that card. my deck, thrumming-strike revolves around that, if you already have a poison counter, i can most definitely get you more.
it all starts with one, might as well keep at it
November 5, 2010 1:02 p.m.
Braynedehd says... #26
My infect deck is Black/Green. I usually pull a turn 1 Glistener Elf, turn 2 Swing with Glistener elf pump with Mutagenic Growth and Titanic Growth. That puts them at 7 Poison Counters. Turn 3 I play Virulent Wound, swing with Glistener Elf, second Main Phase play Plague Stinger. That leaves my opponent at 9 Poison Counters and leaves me available to attack for the win or, if they have good enough blockers, play Grim Affliction to proliferate them to death. Turn 4 win most games.
October 24, 2011 10:58 p.m.
Phyrexian Crusader ? Phyrexian Vatmother ? Glistener Elf ? Blighted Agent ? Priests of Norn ? Lost Leonin ?
October 27, 2011 6:28 p.m.
the best infect creature ever is Inkmoth Nexus
no doubt about it
October 29, 2011 7:56 p.m.
toastytoast says... #29
I'd say Plague Stinger Priests of Norn Glistener Elf , TBH i like really like Phyrexian Swarmlord especially with Parallel Lives I know most green infect decks for the blitz, but lets say you get stuck and they're at 6 poison, you swing with the Swarmlord and bam instant army, bigger army ofcorse if you have lives out but meh. I also still like Putrefax , simply because it's pure aggression and also good if you get stuck.
October 30, 2011 10:45 a.m.
toastytoast says... #30
Lol i goofed on my last post a little, but i still like Swarmlord you don't need to swing with him XD i was thinking Hero of bladehold however my opinion on him still stands he is good if you get in a pinch
October 30, 2011 10:48 a.m.
I have a great idea for you guys. Personally i believe in U/G. I love blighted agent. He is a 2 drop infect, unblockable. He is extremely useful early game. Also, the best card ever for infection is a card called invigorate. It's +4/+4 for either the mana cost of 2 colorless and 1 green, or, if you control a single forest, you can have an opponent gain three life. This card is wonderful because you don't play with life against your opponents, so basically it's free.
February 4, 2014 9:16 p.m.
Trample infect is how I do it. Mono-green is what mines color is. Glistener Elf pumped up with trample is usually what happens for me.
February 4, 2014 9:21 p.m.
This thread was from 2011 and is discussing standard at the time.
Try not to resurrect threads unnecessarily.
February 4, 2014 9:31 p.m.
Right. I was just giving input. Its still modern legal though.
February 4, 2014 9:33 p.m.
since my old topic got necro'd, here's what my now modern infect deck looks like:
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/ug-infect-111/
I need to swap Invigorate in at some point, i just don't have any right now.
February 7, 2014 12:36 p.m.
Hallowed_Titan says... #37
Is Phyrexian Crusader not good enough? Or Phyrexian Hydra .
February 7, 2014 2:33 p.m.
The best infect creature still is Blightsteel Colossus
April 18, 2014 4:49 p.m.
KrosanTusker says... #40
Sorry, why have we necro'ed a thread called "best infect creatures in standard"? And why have we necro'ed it more than once?
April 19, 2014 7:25 a.m.
sorry, im dumb... rly dumbstandard means nothing to me so... jeah im pretty dumb
April 19, 2014 7:33 a.m.
thedoodwhocrushesyourdreams says... #43
so i hope you guys know that i don't play versions at my schools magic table, we just play with what we have, don't like to spend a lot of money, but we can be VERY competetive, so i would like to know why someone said that all green creatures cant come out fast enough? ever heard of lanawar elves elvish mystics or when your in a pinch golden hind, its like t1 forrest, lanawar. t2 forrest, lanawar. blight mamba, rinse repeat until you have an ARMY then you swing with EVERYTHING on like turn 3 and win the game. where is the flaw in that???
August 26, 2015 4:56 a.m.
The problem with that is Wrath of God Pyroclasm Lightmine Field ect they spend one card you loose like 4
August 26, 2015 8:27 a.m.
Justin_Bop says... #45
thedoodwhocrushesyourdreams and Gale7 Why do people keep necro'ing this thread? This is the third time, lol. Just wanted to let you know that this was an old thread, next time check the date :)
August 27, 2015 9:21 a.m.
Yeah I saw how old it was and nearly didn't reply but it was already necro'd so whatever XD
August 27, 2015 9:31 a.m.
Justin_Bop says... #47
Gale7 Yeah, that was more directed at the other person that necro'd the thread. Threads should be closed after they become inactive for too long so people can't necro them.
Dr. McMeen says... #2
Don't sell Necropede short. Many players will eat a poison counter rather than risk things like mana myr or Llanowar Elves getting nuked. It's like a better Goblin Arsonist - slightly more expensive, but playable with any colors.
October 11, 2010 7:48 p.m.