An Infectious Dose of Brokkos [EDH] [PRIMER]

Commander / EDH BUG (Sultai) Infect Proliferate

Turtle_Essence

Creature (24)

• 1x Amphin Mutineer
• 1x Blight Mamba
• 1x Boneyard Lurker
• 1x Cephalid Constable
• 1x Cold-Eyed Selkie
• 1x Core Prowler
• 1x Corpse Cur
• 1x Cultivator of Blades
• 1x Evolution Sage
• 1x Flensermite
• 1x Flux Channeler
• 1x Gemrazer
• 1x Glistener Elf
• 1x Hand of the Praetors
• 1x Ichorclaw Myr
• 1x Needle Specter
• 1x Paradise Druid
• 1x Phyrexian Swarmlord
• 1x Plague Myr
• 1x Plague Stinger
• 1x Rot Wolf
• 1x Spark Double
• 1x Thieving Skydiver
• 1x Viral Drake

Instant (8)

• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Blossoming Defense
• 1x Hunter's Insight
• 1x Ram Through
• 1x Reality Shift
• 1x Simic Charm
• 1x Sultai Charm
• 1x Vines of Vastwood

Land (35)

• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dismal Backwater
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Fabled Passage
• 7x Forest
• 1x Golgari Rot Farm
• 6x Island
• 1x Jungle Hollow
• 1x Karn's Bastion
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Opulent Palace
• 1x Simic Growth Chamber
• 1x Simic Guildgate
• 4x Swamp
• 1x Temple of Deceit
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Twilight Mire
• 1x Tyrite Sanctum
• 1x Woodland Stream
• 1x Zagoth Triome

Artifact (12)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Blackblade Reforged
• 1x Contagion Engine
• 1x Darksteel Plate
• 1x Everflowing Chalice
• 1x Fireshrieker
• 1x Shadowspear
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Whispersilk Cloak
• 1x Worn Powerstone
• 1x Zagoth Crystal

Commander (1)

Sorcery (13)

• 1x Bala Ged Recovery  ^Flip
• 1x Crux of Fate
• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Decree of Pain
• 1x Devastation Tide
• 1x Farseek
• 1x Feast of Succession
• 1x Mythos of Brokkos
• 1x Overwhelming Stampede
• 1x Read the Bones
• 1x Rishkar's Expertise
• 1x Sift
• 1x Tezzeret's Gambit

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Aqueous Form
• 1x Corrupted Conscience
• 1x Guardian Project
• 1x Leyline of Anticipation
• 1x Phyresis
• 1x Primal Empathy
• 1x Propaganda

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This mutate deck is not actually a mutate deck! Lets check out this Brokkos Infect deck and see what it's all about.

Why Brokkos, Why Infect?

Brokkos was seen as very underwhelming as the 5th member of the apex cycle when Ikoria first released, and Illuna, Apex of Wishes and Nethroi, Apex of Death got much of the spotlight from the EDH community. After Otrimi, the Ever-Playful was released at the head of a commander precon, Brokkos was dismissed as Otrimi was a better commander to head a Sultai Mutate deck. However, Brokkos was never meant to be a mutate commander. His recursion ability works great for aggressive, Voltron-esque strategies, and a 6/6 trample on top of an infect creature or a Needle Specter can cause much pain early game. I chose Brokkos to head an infect deck for his recursion and the ability to scale a pesky Glistener Elf into a force to be reckoned with. If you want to build mutate, choose Otrimi. If you want to make your playgroup tremble, choose this guy.

Using Brokkos and the Deck Effectively

Playing Brokkos

Brokkos is a very simple commander, with only a couple of abilities. Firstly, he has trample to compliment his 6/6 body, making it easier to break through chump blockers. In addition, he can mutate onto a creature for the cost of . Lastly, he can mutate from your graveyard, a useful way to avoid commander tax for an aggressive deck like this one. This trait to recur itself and not other mutate creatures is what sets it apart from Otrimi, the Ever-Playful . You should never really be playing Brokkos for it's normal mana cost, only mutate it onto creatures, whether it be something with infect like a Ichorclaw Myr or something like a Cold-Eyed Selkie . Brokkos will usually get removed at first, but with plenty of infect creatures and Brokkos's recursion ability, you will be able to get some infect damage in eventually. If you can get in a hit before anyone catches on, all the better. I like to leave infect creatures on the field for a turn, then mutate Brokkos, giving your 6/6 trample infect pseudo-haste. The point is, Brokkos becomes a high-value target once he is mutated on something with infect, so use protection spells like Vines of Vastwood or recast him onto another infect creature later to get in the first hit. Once someone has poison counters, there is not much they can do to stop you.

Playing the Deck

Early Game

In the early game with this deck, you will be wanting to ramp with 2 or 3 mana ramp spells like Cultivate or Arcane Signet , or cast small infect creatures. Get in for chip infect damage if you can. You want to aim to be mutating Brokkos onto an infect creature or something else with a combat damage measured trigger like Needle Specter as late as turn 4 without any especially large interaction. If you can get in a hit, good. If he is targeted with removal, you can either protect it if you think the damage is worth spending another card on, or let it go to the graveyard. Small mutate targets are plentiful in this deck, and so is recursion. Exile removal is a little tricky, and if you suspect that many people in your playgroup are packing mostly exile removal or graveyard hate, you can allow yourself to be a little more conservative with when you cast Brokkos. Try to use politics to keep people from removing your creature if you don't attack them, and get a feel for who seems to have removal in hand. Most of the time, people will only remove your infect creature when Brokkos is mutated on them, which is good for you as mutating a creature onto something else that has been on the battlefield for a turn preventing summoning sickness. People will be reluctant to burn a Swords to Plowshares on a Plague Stinger , even if they know you have larger plans for your little bug.

Mid Game

Mid-Game strategy depends on who has poison counters. If not all players have poison counters, you should try to rectify this swiftly. Bait out removal and use politics to get your opponents to use removal on each other, rather than your stuff. Once all players have poison counters, you can begin to use proliferators such as Evolution Sage and Contagion Engine to continue spreading the plague. Getting at least 1 poison counter on every opponent early game ensures that mid-game, even in a gummed-up board state, you can continue advancing your gameplan. If all goes well, you should be able to proliferate your way to victory fairly early if you played the first 5ish turns correctly. However, if one player seems to be dominating and they have ways to not die to your infect, you may have to focus more attention their way. Use cards like Aqueous Form , Swiftfoot Boots , and Fireshrieker to push more damage through removal, blockers, and other damage reducers. If the situation has not been resolved with these tactics plus some well-timed spot removal, you may be forced to use a board wipe. That's ok, this deck has a fair amount of recursion and none of the board wipes will exile your commander, causing the need to pay commander tax. Usually you can recover faster than other players and get the poison counters on opponents that previously evaded your attempts to infect them.

Late Game

During the late game, at least one of your opponents may have been eliminated, either by you or by another player. You also may come across the fact that you are being focused by your opponents. This can become problematic if you already used your board wipe and don't have the spot removal to deal with their threats. If you can't diffuse the tension with good 'ol politics, you may be forced into a damage race. Try to kill the most threatening player, or pour all of your resources into proliferating as fast as possible. Don't forget cards like Propaganda , they can save you from mana-short opponents. If no one is ganging up on you, no giant board states are cropping up, and you have ways to get more poison counters on your opponents, things are looking good for you. The other outcome is that one of these things isn't going your way, and you need to get a handle on it. Just remember, even with proliferate, this deck has a harder time the longer the game goes, and it's low curve begins to benefit you less and less. Use politics to survive, but never forget that your intent is to close out the game as quickly as possible.

Card Selection

Card Tech

I can't go over every card choice in the deck, but this spot is for explaining some particular card choices that may not be in the average Brokkos deck.
- Feast of Succession I believe that this bulk uncommon from Commander Legends is a very powerful board wipe in the right deck, which is why I picked it over other options. First of all, it gets around indestructible, which can be very useful in many circumstances. It also clears most of the chump blockers from the board and leaves your 6/6 commander, allowing you to break through a gummed-up board state. When used as a total and complete board wipe with no large creatures on board, it leaves you with monarch and no creatures to take it from you, allowing you card draw which is useful to recover from a board wipe faster than others.
- Spark Double This card isn't only good in Brokkos, I feel that it is very powerful in any deck with a high value commander. It can be used to bait a removal spell, and when not removed, functions as a second Brokkos for one less mana than Brokkos's mutate cost and with 1 more power! Spark Double also copies the entire mutate stack, so you can get a second Brokkos mutated onto a Glistener Elf for only 1 card. The value that Spark Double offers to a deck like ours is worth way more than a single slot in this deck.
- Needle Specter Needle Specter is a very cool mutate target for this deck, and gives a little depth to this deck as it doesn't have infect. If you ever have to play against a Melira, Sylvok Outcast that you can't get rid of, you will rely on cards like this one. In addition, Needle Specter is a great early game play as it has flying (an often underestimated evasion mechanic), and can be impactful even without a Brokkos mutated on it, forcing your opponent to discard synergistic cards to hold removal for an infect Brokkos. With Brokkos mutated on it, it becomes pure salt.
- Primal Empathy This card offers lots of utility whenever you play it. Early game, it can turn your random 1 and 2 power infect creatures into actual threats that can get many poison counters on players before you even mutate. After you mutate Brokkos onto these creatures, the counters will continue to buff Brokkos to deal even more damage. In addition, when you play it with a Brokkos on the field, it will offer extra cards every turn, and even if there is a creature with more than 6 power, it will continue to add counters to Brokkos until he can take on any blocker that stands in your way. Both effects are very powerful with this deck.
- Everflowing Chalice This piece of ramp that is normally decent in most decks becomes bonkers in ours, and can quickly take over the early game with the right combination of cards. Any proliferate card can increase the charge counters on the chalice, making it into a giant piece of ramp that can bait a Generous Offering from your opponent. Left unchecked and combined with an Evolution Sage , it can aid you in eliminating players and winning games extremely quickly. Even with only a couple proliferate triggers, it is still a very efficient piece of ramp.

Possible Additions, Power Level, and Budget Notes

This deck is in no way optimized, as I did not choose to completely devote myself to infect. I kept in good mutate creatures like Gemrazer and Boneyard Lurker , and also added in cards like Cephalid Constable that are good but may not have infect. I am also under budget restrictions, so I was unable to include cards like Asceticism and Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon . I would say that the power level of this deck is around a 7 on a 1 to 10 scale, but this may vary depending on how you and your playgroup interpret the power level scale and generally 'salty' strategies such as infect. I would recommend asking your group if infect is ok if you generally play lower-power decks. To make this deck more budget, you can cut cards like Contagion Engine for Contagion Clasp and Darksteel Plate for Snakeskin Veil . This deck is in no means unplayable without it's 10+ dollar cards. If you want advice on a cheaper card to replace a more expensive one, just ask in the comments and I'll try to help. More cards on the slightly expensive side to buy could be Mystic Remora , Phyrexian Crusader , and Inexorable Tide .

Well, thank you for reading my short primer detailing Brokkos, and I hope you appreciate this underrated commander as much as I do. If you enjoyed the primer, be sure to leave an upvote. Questions and criticism are appreciated, and I will be updating this primer regularly (hopefully). See you later!
-Turtle_Essence

P.S. Grammar nerds, I am sorry for the inevitable grammar issue.

Date added	3 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	2 - 0 Mythic Rares 29 - 0 Rares 28 - 0 Uncommons 22 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.18
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Copy Clone, Manifest 2/2 C, Phyrexian Insect 1/1 G, Servo 1/1 C, The Monarch
Folders	Commander, new