Viral Drake

Creature — Phyrexian Drake

Flying

Infect (This creature deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)

{3}{U}: Proliferate. (You choose any number of permanents and/or players with counters on them, then give each another counter of a kind already there.)

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (51)

Mortlocke on The Song of Phyresis

1 month ago

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 {0}.

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?

Vlasiax on The Song of Phyresis

1 month ago

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?

SirHipHopHippo on Ewwww Kros, infect

1 month ago

Possible cuts Necropede, Viral Drake, Sublime Archangel

ChandraVess on Prismatic Planeswalkers

1 year ago

orenrahat: i actually took Viral Drake out to make room for other stuff. both cards have activated abilities. i don't want my loyalty generating spells to be reliant on an opponent attacking me.

orenrahat on Prismatic Planeswalkers

1 year ago

Also I noticed you have Contagion Engine, Viral Drake does something similar with the advantage of an activated ability, albeit require 1 , so you activate as many times as you have the mana.

Than there's Mila, Crafty Companion  ^Flip which punish attacks on your planeswalker.

My apologies, if you are familiar with those cards.

Dangerwillrobinson79 on Atraxa, Profoundly Proliferated

1 year ago

These are a few options if I go the infect route with this deck.

Blighted Agent, Flensermite, Glistener Elf, , Hand of the Praetors , Phyrexian Swarmlord , Spinebiter , Viral Drake , Darksteel Reactor , Grafted Exoskeleton , Grim Affliction , Nest of Scarabs , Relic Putrescence

Dangerwillrobinson79 on Dangerwillrobinson79

1 year ago

Some options if I decide to do the infect route.

Blighted Agent Flensermite Glistener Elf Hand of the Praetors Phyrexian Swarmlord Spinebiter Viral Drake Darksteel Reactor Grafted Exoskeleton Grim Affliction Nest of Scarabs Relic Putrescence

Mortlocke on Atraxa Proliferation of Humans

1 year ago

Greetings Odric_Magnusson,

In response to your question of What Creatures would you put in? (that have infect) - based upon your current decklist and design the infect creatures I would recommend need to compliment your deck's +1/+1 counters matter subtheme and should be relatively threatening on their own. Therefore, I suggest:

• Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon : This one is a bit of a no-brainer next to Hand of the Praetors . It has evasion, built in protection and haste. Skittles is a longtime favorite of mine, and is truly an infect staple in my opinion. This one is at the top of the list, without a doubt.

• Viral Drake : This creature ties in with your deck's +1/+1 counters matter subtheme by serving as an excellent mana dump for proliferation triggers. On top of having infect, it also has evasion. A great pick in my opinion.

• Ichor Rats : This creature serves as a means of getting poison counters on players when they have a Pillow Fort strategy online before you could get infect combat damage in. Additionally, it's a great recursion target if you can get multiple triggers of it's ETB effect.

• Inkmoth Nexus : This is an honorable mention, but this land has served me well over many games. It has built in protection due to being a land and +1/+1 counters do not fall off of it when it stops being a creature. The icing on the cake is that it also has evasion.

That's it for my suggestions. Your list is pretty good, and definitely will make any opponent weary of you during any point in a game. +1 again! lol