Apostle's Blessing

Instant

( can be paid with either or 2 life.)

Target artifact or creature you control gains protection from artifacts or from the color of your choice until end of turn.

Discussion (51)

TheVectornaut on Searing Infection

3 days ago

Most of my experience with infect comes from playing simic, but I have played the mechanic in all 5 colors. In terms of power, green is the most effective color to play by a very VERY large margin. You get access to the best infect creature in Glistener Elf (along with the slower and safer option of Blight Mamba), you get trample sources to push through damage with Ichorclaw Myr such as Rancor, Predator's Strike, and Larger Than Life, you get protection bundled with buffs in the form of Vines of Vastwood, Ranger's Guile, and Blossoming Defense, and you get the largest pool of very strong power boosts in the form of Mutagenic Growth, Invigorate, Scale Up, Might of Old Krosa, Berserk, Become Immense, Groundswell, Phytoburst, Noble Hierarch, and Pendelhaven. Since infect is an all-or-nothing sort of archetype, even when running the less aggressive versions, the most important characteristics that you need are speed, protection, and evasion. Green offers two of those things in spades but can struggle with evasion. This is why blue is generally considered the next best color to run. You get the insane threat of Blighted Agent, unblockable buffs with Distortion Strike and Aqueous Form, and protection from spells via Spell Pierce, Dispel, Turn Aside, and the odd Spellskite. Black is the next best. Plague Stinger's flying isn't as good as the unblockable on a Blighted Agent but it's still very powerful evasion as illustrated by the ubiquity of Inkmoth Nexus in every non-budget infect list ever made. Black also nets useful control tools like Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, Fatal Push, Dismember, and Assassin's Trophy. White was considered the worst infect color for a very long time since its best option (Apostle's Blessing) can be used in any deck, but the recent introduction of Giver of Runes has breathed some life back into the color. Additionally, I've seen a lot of equipment lists popping up that use Colossus Hammer, Kor Duelist, Sigarda's Aid, and Kor Outfitter to see some success. Unfortunately, that leaves red as the current worst color to run in infect. It has some decent buffs but they pale in comparison to green's offerings. The result is that most red infect decks rely on gimmicks like using Razor Swine's first strike to wither enemy creatures, generating infinite mana to pump into an unblocked Ogre Menial, or putting Phyresis on something like a Spikeshot Elder to bypass combat altogether. Your instant tricks definitely fall in this category. That's not necessarily a bad thing though. If your meta is casual enough, red should still work and it will be much more interesting to play with / fun to play against than a more traditional deck. How competitive you want to be is always up to you.

To answer your specific questions, I would probably start by cutting a few creatures. Most lists run about 12 infect sources (and that's including a playset of Inkmoth Nexus). With Hand of the Praetors on your top end, running 16-20 isn't that unreasonable, at least as long as all of them are good. Infect creatures usually become "bad" when they cost more than 2. That's why I wouldn't usually recommend running Ichor Rats or Septic Rats. Both Necropede and Plague Myr are perfectly acceptable inclusions with very similar power levels. They'll rarely be better than Plague Stinger or Ichorclaw Myr but that's okay if you just want more guys to play. As for Vector Asp, it's honestly a pretty bad choice in most circumstances. While you usually won't need to activate it more than 2 or 3 times to win the game, that mana would be better spent elsewhere, and it doesn't even trigger the Hand. However, given the choice of it and a 3-drop, I'd probably take the snake, especially since it would be your only proactive play on turn 1 (barring the inclusion of Glistener Elf or Inkmoths). Better though would just be to run neither and invest in more buff spells to assist in combat and trigger Livewire Lash. I do like the idea of those spells having cycling in theory, but in practice, the mana needed to cycle can short you of the resources needed to close out the game. Plus, cycling spells tend to cost more to account for the added ability. Cycling lands on the other hand should be fine as long as they come in untapped, although it looks like that only describes Ash Barrens and Blasted Landscape. Just like with creatures, I wouldn't run any spells that cost more than 2 unless they can win you the game like Soul's Fire can. This will also allow you to run 20 lands or fewer, opening up even more slots for gas. I apologize if I'm repeating myself about the low-cost-high-speed thing but that is basically the reason the infect mechanic exists. If you prefer a slow and more controlling style, Rakdos wither built around Necroskitter is a fun option that has some overlap with infect.

TheVectornaut on Searing Infection

1 week ago

Rakdos infect is pretty tough to work around, but you have some cool things going on here. i'd try to have as few creatures above 2 CMC as possible. Hand of the Praetors is strong enough as a finisher in slow games, but the rats should probably be Plague Stinger and possibly Vector Asp. Budget permitting, Inkmoth Nexus is a fairly obvious upgrade. I'd also try to lower the cost on your instants and sorceries. This is especially helpful when playing around Livewire Lash (which should probably be at 4 copies). Reckless Charge, Assault Strobe, Brute Force, Virulent Swipe, and Temur Battle Rage are all options that work better with Lash than Footfall Crater, Dirge of Dread, and Memory Leak. Ways to protect your infect creatures can be very helpful, especially after sideboarding. Apostle's Blessing is probably the best in your colors. I really like Outmaneuver and Soul's Fire as ways to take advantage of infect in red. If you're willing to splash other colors, Wild Defiance provides nice redundancy for the equipment, not to mention the other benefits of having green in the deck.

Anyway, good luck with the deck!

Balaam__ on Dredge/ Delve

4 weeks ago

Unless there has been an extremely recent ban I’m not aware of, Apostle's Blessing is indeed pauper legal. It has been printed as a common, so you should be good.

Blackberry_PR on Dredge/ Delve

4 weeks ago

ponderthewonder I have added Battlefield Scrounger to help alleviate the over milling issue. Balaam__ I couldn't add Apostle's Blessing as it is not pauper legal.

Blackberry_PR on Dredge/ Delve

4 weeks ago

Balaam__ that is a very interesting card. I honestly see that fitting well with this deck as I can also gain health due to Gnaw to the Bone. I'll see to it that I include some Apostle's Blessing into my sideboard.

Balaam__ on Dredge/ Delve

4 weeks ago

Apostle's Blessing can help protect you or allow you to push damage through if you’re shrewd about how you use it. It’s off color but not really; just pay the 2 life and you’re good to go. Protects against removal and if you use it on your most powerful attacker after blockers have been assigned, there’s a high likelihood you can get that damage through.

wonderboyrox on YOU get a car! And YOU get a car!

1 month ago

Valengeta I haven't played many matchups vs Burn with this deck. But when I have, I would just SB in Apostle's Blessing in place of Rapid Hybridization which turned the matchup into a race. Bit of a flip of the coin, depending on what opening hands looked like.

NoopyNolife on Beamsplitter Blitz (UR Prowess)

1 month ago

Small update for anyone who cares: - Sprite Dragon has been absolutely fantastic

• I was able to pick up a playset of Manamorphose for 14 euros thanks to Double Masters

• I took out 1 Beamsplitter Mage because while they're not terrible in multiples, its not really a place where you want to find yourself frequently

• I took out 2 Wizard's Lightning. Mostly to make room for manamorphose, but also because a 5th and 6th bolt doesnt really synergy with the pumping creatures theme

• I also added 2 Apostle's Blessing main and removed one Vapor Snag because I feel the protection is worth more than removing the opponent's threat in this deck