Viral Drake

Creature — 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.)

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

Discussion (51)

multimedia on Aminatou, the infected

1 month ago

Hey, good updates. If infect is the way you want to go then consider more of it? Ichor Rats and Viral Drake for infect and proliferate.

When you blink Rats with Aminatou's -1 or Thassa each player including you gets a poison counter. Giving all your opponents a poison counter is very good with proliferate. You getting poison counters is not the end of the world because you can blink Rats 8 times and not die from poison, but this will most likely kill all your opponents if you also have proliferate. If you're affraid of dying from giving yourself poison counters then Leeches will remove them.

Proliferate is an effect that can give your opponents more poison counters as long as they have one poison counter you can proliferate that counter. You choose any number of counters when you proliferate meaning that you don't proliferate your own poison counter only your opponents. Proliferate also works with Planeswalker's loyalty counters. Aminatou in this case can do a lot more -1 if you have proliferate.

Proliferate also works with +1/+1 counters such as support from Together Forever. If you get a +1/+1 counter on Skithiryx or Blighted Agent/Plague Stinger who are powerful two drop infect creatures, then you can proliferate this counter to give the infect creature more power. Forever has interaction with blink because when you blink it you get to support 2 again.

multimedia on Yarok's Horrific Funhouse

7 months ago

Hand of the Praetors is good way to repeatedly give your opponents infect. Praetors triggers on cast of an Infect creature which can take advantage of the interaction of Shrieking Drake with Yarok. With Yarok Drake gets two bounce triggers, first one bounces itself and the second can bounce any other creature you control with Infect.

Yarok + Shrieking Drake + Cloud of Faeries + four lands equals infinite mana by tapping and untapping those four lands with two Cloud triggers. Use this infinite mana with Viral Drake / Merfolk Skydiver for infinite proliferate after you have given all your opponents a poison counter. You're constantly casting both Cloud and Drake meaning that each time can you trigger Inexorable Tide as another way for infinite proliferate.

Should consider adding a few more dual lands and cutting some basic lands. Cabal Coffers is displayed twice in the manabase which is not allowed in a Commander deck. Sandsteppe Citadel has white mana in it's color identity which isn't allowed because Yarok doesn't have white in it's color identity. Llanowar Wastes , Yavimaya Coast , Breeding Pool could replace three Forests since they can be tapped turn one to make green mana. Hinterland Harbor and Drowned Catacomb are the other Sultai Check lands and they could replace two Islands. With 34 creatures Guardian Project can be good repeatable draw especially since it triggers Yarok, you draw two cards when the creature ETB.

Good luck with your deck.

BreakfastSimulator on

7 months ago

- Viral Drake + Shardless Agent

- Nature's Lore + Chord of Calling

- Finale of Devastation + Invisible Stalker

- Sword of Truth and Justice + Herald of Secret Streams

Stardragon on

8 months ago

multimedia thxs i thought Drake Haven was blue and green for some reason so i never considered it but I did add it and added Looting cards to help it go off and added Flux Channeler to as well for your right and will help both Viral Drake and Ral go off faster.

Icbrgr yes it a great beater in addition to Crackling Drake and Enigma Drake and was put in thxs for the advice

ScionsStillLive Crackling Drake was already added one the first ones i added but thxs for trying to help anyways if you have more ideas don't hesitate to share them

multimedia on

8 months ago

Hey, Drake Haven can be a repeatable way to make Drakes when you discard cards. You could expand on the draw and discard theme such as Faithless Looting , Careful Study , Chart a Course , Frantic Search , Monastery Siege (Khans) which is more fuel for Crackling and Enigma. Looters such as Merfolk Looter , Thought Courier , Desolate Lighthouse can draw and discard and be a permanent to untap with Ral.

If Viral Drake is a possible win condition then consider Flux Channeler who can also proliferate. Difference is proliferate happens whenever you cast a noncreature spell. Combining this with more draw/discard can be a lot of proliferation not just for opponent's potential poison counters, but also Ral's loyalty.

DemonDragonJ on Guildpact Informant or Merfolk Skydiver?

9 months ago

The newest debate that I am considering for my Atraxa EDH deck is whether or not I should replace Guildpact Informant with Merfolk Skydiver . The skydiver has a lower converted mana cost and can also immediately make itself or another creature more powerful, but its proliferate ability requires a significant investment of mana, which is the main focus of my deliberation.

On one hand, the informant’s ability requires no mana, but triggers only during combat, whereas, on the other hand, the skydiver’s ability can be used at any time, but requires mana to use. Also, each of those creatures has redundancy with other cards in my deck; the informant has redundancy with Thrummingbird , Grateful Apparition , Sword of Truth and Justice , Kalonian Hydra , and Archangel of Thune in that each of those cards has a triggered ability that places counters on creatures. If I were to put the skydiver in the deck, it would have redundancy with Viral Drake , Contagion Clasp , Contagion Engine , Karn's Bastion , Shalai, Voice of Plenty , and Gavony Township in that each of those cards has an activated ability that places counters on creatures.

What does everyone else say about this? Should I replace Guildpact Informant with Merfolk Skydiver ?

Actually, I could alternatively replace Abzan Falconer with Merfolk Skydiver , because, as nice as the falconer is, it does not really contribute to the overall theme of the deck and having another source of proliferation is better than giving all of my creatures flying, especially since a large number of creatures in this deck already have flying, and I have two other cards in this deck that can grant all of my creatures flying. What does everyone say about that?

DemonDragonJ on Viral Drake or Merfolk Skydiver?

9 months ago

DragonSliver09, I posted a link to the deck in the opening post of this thread.

bushido_man96, I actually have not used the deck sufficiently frequently to be able to provide detailed information about how it usually functions, but I shall say that I usually do very well with it; I do not win every game with it, but I rarely am in last place in any games with more than two players.

Also, I have multiple redundant cards in that deck: as I already mentioned, Thrummingbird , Grateful Apparition , and Guildpact Informant are redundant, but that group also includes Archangel of Thune and Sword of Truth and Justice in that they all have triggered abilities that put counters on my creatures. Viral Drake has redundancy with Contagion Clasp , Contagion Engine , Mikaeus, the Lunarch , Shalai, Voice of Plenty , and Gavony Township in that all of those cards have activated abilities that place counters on my creatures, so replacing, for example, Guildpact Informant with Merfolk Skydiver would be reducing the number of redundant cards in one group and increasing the number of redundant cards in the other group, which could probably be a thread of its own.

multimedia on Viral Drake or Merfolk Skydiver?

9 months ago

Viral Drake is better because of flying and infect. Drake is also easier to activate with colorless mana combos; needing only colorless and one blue. If not playing mana combos and only using these cards for proliferate then there's better mana efficient options such as Evolution Sage , Flux Channeler , Thrummingbird and Grateful Apparition .