Vlasiax,

After doing enough goldfishing I feel that most of, if not all of the changes were the right move. I have no qualms about cutting Grateful Apparition as i'm certain i've added more than enough additional proliferation sources that also provide more cohesion to the main Poison theme. White Sun's Twilight will hopefully fill the gap of being the one sided mass removal I can rely on. The deck previously ran Winds of Abandon and before that Phyrexian Scriptures - each spell gave me mixed results. Winds of Abandon would always ramp my opponents so far ahead it almost seemed like a bad play more often than not - especially against token builds. Phyrexian Scriptures would rarely fail to clear the board but was basically a Damnation with extra steps. The problem is that both of the previously mentioned would rarely leave me in a position to advance my boardstate as Poison sources are mostly creature based.

Vlasiax,

What're your thoughts on Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus? Seems like it would be a good inclusion in this build, but I have no idea what to cut to make room for it? I'm leaning toward wither Prologue to Phyresis or Tezzeret's Gambit. Both spells are great for setting up a boardstate, and are important for different reasons. Maybe I should cut something else? Also, I don't think Venerated Rotpriest would be a good inclusion - I only have 2 spells in the deck that I could target my own creatures with - i'm going to slot back in Glistener Elf.

White Sun's Twilight is an interesting spell, but when I saw that I had an extra Smothering Tithe I knew what I had to do.

Mortlocke,

I'd personally cut Blightsteel Colossus due to it's high cost or Sensei's Divining Top as I don't see much usage for it (aside from filtering top 3 for Ajani, Sleeper Agent's +1, but he's more for his Ultimate to spread counters).

Also I don't like Urza's Incubator in this deck: 13 creatures benefit from it fully (I count Atraxa after 1st commander tax), 6 benefit only partially and 2 are not affected at all.

From my experience Venerated Rotpriest is alright: he can pressure early 1/1s into either not blocking or blocking unfavorably. And later his main usage is to chump block or deter removal (mainly from Atraxa, as we are speaking of established board). I wonder if he could work as a 2nd copy to Glistener Elf because I find that low amount of creatures quite astounding: it could often lead to mulligans because of lack of early pressure.

I've also noticed that in my games it's quite important to have high count of creatures with Flying, so Pestilent Syphoner proved to be quite useful either for early posion counters or blocking Flying creatures later. Btw, could you tell me your experience with Viral Drake? How is it performing?

Hello everyone , I would like to introduce myself into the discussion , about a year ago I first saw Mortlocke's deck and inspired by its creation I decided to create my own "revised" version of it following my budget and preferences . Unfortunately due to studies I could not devote enough time to its constant updating , but now , having the time , I am restoring the project .

Personally , from my recent tests Venerated Rotpriest turned out to be a more than useful tool , generating pressure in early game , but above all (quite surprisingly ) generating fear in the later stages , acting as a deterrent for spot removal .

As for Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus , it is a card I have been eyeing since the beginning (although I must confess that I have not tested it yet due to deck restoration ) , proliferating double in this deck can practically lead to the demise of one or more players even by simply having Atraxa, Praetors' Voice on the field , the only thing that might not convince me at the moment is the fact that you need counters to activate its ability and protect it , a price that might not be so easy to pay.

Oh and forgot to point out: for some reason Ajani, Sleeper Agent is listed as 6 CMC spell instead of 4...

Vlasiax,

Blightsteel Colossus as hard as it is to believe it can be regularly cast between turns 5 and 8 but no sooner. Between getting out the right mana rocks and Urza's Incubator (more on that in a bit) Blightsteel does see the board and can make a significant impact. On the otherhand, Sensei's Divining Top is a straight up pet card of mine and is in almost all of my decks. Between this and Scroll Rack I just feel reassured knowing that I can rely on this card to dig deep and ensure I can manipulate my next draws. When in a bind and am about to miss my land drop I've used this card with great efficacy to fix things. Then when I feel i'm in the clear, I just draw a fetchland or mana ramp and shuffle the top into my library. I really want to keep it in, but if I were to cut it, what would I cut it for?

Now, as for Urza's Incubator, could you please elaborate on what exactly do you mean by it only affecting a small number of my creatures? Because I don't think you're aware of this, but back when Modern Horizons 2 was released (in 2021) a list of roughly 225 creatures were all revised to have the "Phyrexian" subtype (if you want a full list go to my previous deck update titled The "New" Phyrexian Tribe). Yes, every single creature in this deck was on that list - if it doesn't already have the Phyrexian subtype officially printed on it. Every creature in this deck benefits from the Incubator, and in the case of each Myr in the list makes them cost .

I decided to cut the Venerated Rotpriest from the decklist - Toxic is far inferior to Infect as it simply doesn't scale - a Glistener Elf is far more dangerous with Sword of Feast and Famine than a rotpriest. Additionally, this deck doesn't have a lot of spells that I would want to target my own creatures with. Pestilent Syphoner isn't something that pinged across my radar - but I do see what you mean about creatures with evasion. As for Viral Drake, it's a magnificent card - evasion, infect, a big butt, and repeatable proliferation - what is there not to love? It has traditionally performed very well in this deck and has always maintained a decent asking price. Currently the non-foil is around $5 - and the foil print is $11. For an uncommmon, I think the pricing and demand speaks for itself, no?

Idraxus,

Hello and welcome to the conversation. I'm very pleased to hear that this deck inspired you to create your own! I love Poison and I'm always pleased to see more players embracing it. You do bring up a valid point about Venerated Rotpriest as my initial assessment of it was a tool purely devoted to deterring spot removal. But beyond that, I'd need a deck that has more pump spells, or a means of recurring pump spells to really get the most value out of Toxic/Rotpriest. Ultimately, I think cutting it is the way to go - but if I were to try and make room for it i'd probably cut the Sensei's Divining Top if I absolutely had to.

I love the aesthetic of Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus, and I think really do want to try and make room for it. I'm leaning more toward cutting the burst draw/proliferation of Tezzeret's Gambit - but when I do Tappedout's "competitive" algorithm for my deck rates it lower. I'm not exactly sure why, but it feels like i'm doing something wrong lol. I mean, it's a similar CMC, the only difference is that Tekuthal demands two pips. If you had to cut a cmc (or higher) card from this deck, what would you cut to make room for a possible Tekuthal? Should I just cut Tezzeret's Gambit anyway? Weird random algorithm be damned? lol

Mortlocke, I wouldn't pay too much attention to the competitive meter. I've learned that it doesn't always compute synergy or power correctly. Some of my decks used to be 95% or higher then all of a sudden they were not.

AscendedLandfalls,

Thanks for explaining the issues behind the Competitive algorithm. I am still dwelling on the pros and cons on including Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus vs. Tezzeret's Gambit. Tekuthal, compliments the decks themes overall but feels "greedy" in that it hurts consistency. Having a great static effect might mean little to nothing if I'm hurting for cards or need an actual proliferation trigger on the stack.

Am I off with this assessment? What do you think?

I dont know if this is just a thing on my end or if its everyone I've been just watching this deck list for a couple of weeks now but just recently the change log disappeared. I just wanted to know if that could be reenabled so we can view the method of madness of change over the next few months.

Mortlocke, I think you're right. Tekuthal effect reads good but if there isn't room for it, I wouldn't stress over it. I rather have Tezzeret because you also get card draw on top of proliferate.

I feel like the deck description should be All Will Be Ten.

Quickspell, All Will Be Ten? Why Ten?

Mortlocke Poison!

@Quickspell ok, that actually made me giggle.

Mortlocke Have you thought about adding any of the new cards from March of the Machines? I wish they gave us more Toxic cards to play with. I'm kinda drawn towards Brimaz, Blight of Oreskos, since it gives us Phyrexian creatures through Incubate that could act as blockers/deterrents from attacking us, since when the tokens die (or any other Phyrexian creature), we can proliferate at the end of each turn (presumably they are already Poisoned haha).

Phyrexian Censor also seems like a good fit for your deck, since you've got that Stax-y subtheme. It could help slow down the game and let the Poison proliferate away.

I am only here to praise your impressive graphic design/CSS work.

You bring glory to Phyrexia!

UltimateRoxas40 thanks for stopping by. I too wish MOM had more Toxic creatures for us to use - but overall the set decided to go in a very different direction with Incubate as the Phyrexia specific mechanic. As neat as it is (basically a strictly better Amass) I can't get behind adding it as adding in yet another sub-theme would make the deck sub-optimal overall. Phyrexian Censor definitely gives me pause. My only wish is that it had Toxic 1 then I'd toss it in for Ichorclaw Myr. I think i'm going to get a copy of it just in case I feel like experimenting with it. Worst case scenario it'll find a home in my soon to be upgraded Corrupting Influence precon. Thanks for swinging by, have you made any updates to your Atraxa build? I'm going to check your deck page in a few.

Massacar thank you for the nice words! I honestly have no idea if anyone actually likes any of my CSS customization (well besides me lol). I really appreciate it!

Mortlocke I'm more interested in Brimaz, Blight of Oreskos's Proliferate ability, just to drive the poison home more quickly. But I get not wanted to add another element to the deck haha. Funny enough, I was actually going to swap out Ichorclaw Myr and put in Phyrexian Censor too haha. Ichorclaw Myr never did a lot for me, and having something to slow my opponents down just a little bit while I Poison them or build up my +1/+1 counters seems pretty good. I just need to get a copy of it first.

Hey Mortlocke. I just wanted to let you know that I have become Compleated. Love this deck design and how it all meshes together so well. I've proxied the deck against some friends and it normally nets a win in 4 to 5 turns for me. Definitely converting to this from my Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow commander deck.

NoLifeGrimmjow,

Thank you for taking the time to comment and give my build such praise. Phyrexia is truly one of my all time favorite tribes and this deck is in celebration of them and what they represent. Personally, I still hold a grudge against Wizards for the hack job they did in creating some of a "story" regarding the Phyrexian invasion - it's like they ordered it off of Wish. But I digress - i'm glad you chose to proxy the deck. I do realize that these pieces can be very expensive, but to just get out there and play is the point and i'm glad my build inspired you to do so.

Turns 4 to 5 is quite fast, typically I've experienced an attempt at winning between turns 5 and 8. You must've gotten some great draws and would love to hear about the avenues of play you've discovered. I'm glad you've found a new deck to enjoy, and I look forward to hearing from you again.

P.S. I'm always down for games on Spell Table.

Mortlocke

Opening hand was amazing. Mana Crypt, Gemstone Mine, Reflecting Pool, Blighted Agent, Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon, Prologue to Phyresis, and Imperial Seal. First draw was Thrummingbird, then Sword of Truth and Justice, then Imperial Seal for Command Tower,then Counter spell. I couldn't ask for a better set-up

I've been out of the loop with MTG for a couple years, cool to see the new Phyrexian goodies and Toxic mechanic!

Guessing you don't run Inexorable Tide because of it's double blue cost?

Phyrexian Swarmlord seems decent, high cost but does make token board presence with infect, not sure how he would be slotted if you chose to run him?

Guessing this deck is more of a 1v1 based deck? Or group, or both?

Evolution Sage seems good too if cast early, to proliferate off of land drops, I get it isn't Phyrexian based but seems decent too.

Cheers great deck! Gave me ideas to upgrade my Atraxa!

Managem,

Always a pleasure to have new visitors to the page, welcome. Magic has gone through multiple changes in the past couple of years with everything getting multiple art treatments, power creep, and a whole host of different products that seem to lose more and more relevance with each new iteration. But I digress, I love the Toxic mechanic. Sure it doesn't quite have the explosive potential of Infect, but it can still put in work with it's sibling mechanic Corrupted.

As for your questions about certain notable exclusions from the deck:

• Inexorable Tide - This was once in the deck, but had to be cut simply due to a lack of space. 5 mana with 2 blue pips is a steep ask for a card that does literally nothing on cast. The usefulness of this card is entirely contingent on how large of a hand I have, and how many counters I have in play to target for proliferation. If none of my opponents have poison counters, and none of my creatures have +1/+1 counters on them...then what's the point? That's the unfortunate position this card holds in that it requires a steep investment for little pay off more often than not.

• Phyrexian Swarmlord - Much like the previously mentioned, Swardlord requires a great deal of set up to be relevant that amounts to nothing more than a win-more card. If there aren't a plentiful amount of poison counters already on my opponents then this card is simply a 4/4 for 6 - not a worthwhile investment of mana.

• Evolution Sage - This too was once in the deck until more relevant creatures came and replaced it. I'm not trying to be rude or anything but there was a big retcon that created the Phyrexian tribe. Every creature in the deck is a Phyrexian as a result of said retcon and therefore benefit from cards like Urza's Incubator and Cavern of Souls. Tribal issues aside, Evolution Sage is only as good as the number of land drops I have per turn which at most is only 2. to make this card a worthwhile inclusion I'd have to carve out more space for additional land drops in the form of Burgeoning and Exploration which is more trouble than it's worth. This card would be better suited for a different deck.

The deck is for both a 1v1 and Group setting - the hardest part is overcoming the politics and stigma of playing Poison counters. It's one of my favorite mechanics regardless, and always enjoy my games - archenemy status and all. Thanks for coming by and checking out the deck. Thanks for the +1 and the nice words, good luck with your own build and let me know if you have any questions.