Crippling Disease

Commander / EDH MartialArt

SCORE: 3 | 25 COMMENTS | 2140 VIEWS | IN 1 FOLDER


Epochalyptik says... #1

I would drop all (or at least the majority of) of your infect creatures unless you plan on using infect as your primary wincon (which I would not advise, given the direction of the build).

You should read my article, Building an EDH Deck. It talks a lot about the philosophy of selecting cards for an effective deck and focuses particularly on creatures. It might help you out. There's also my List of EDH Staples and Power Cards.

What is your budget for the deck? How much experience do you have with EDH?

August 15, 2012 12:09 p.m.

MartialArt says... #2

I've got a good experience in building and playing Commander but as it comes to this deck I just come to my end of thoughts.The main problem is:What kind of stradegy including the -1/-1 counters is the most effective I should focus on to win.I can build commanders quite good but at this one I'm just confused what to do.

August 15, 2012 12:15 p.m.

Epochalyptik says... #3

I think you may be focusing far too much on the -1/-1 counters. They seem to permeate every aspect of the design to the point where it is kind of interfering with the deck's ability to do anything else. I'd focus less on the counters and just make sure that the counter-related cards that you leave in the list are the best of what's available.

You might also consider Thousand-Year Elixir and Thornbite Staff to pair up with your general.

August 15, 2012 12:29 p.m.

MartialArt says... #4

Ok.I put in The elixir and the Staff since they interact with my commander quite well.But why should I not focus on infect too since my opponent has only 10 life for my infect creatures?And on what else should I focus instead of the -1/-1 counters?

August 15, 2012 4:02 p.m.

MindAblaze says... #5

I would say if you're going to play infect, you kind of have to go all in. Cards like Corrosive Mentor serve little purpose if most of your creatures already have infect. Green/Black has some good tutors/token making/and recursion, and you could still use cards like Flourishing Defenses but to say "why couldn't I focus on infect too?" is kind of an oxymoron. You have some excellent pieces, but they need direction and end game

August 15, 2012 5:07 p.m.

Epochalyptik says... #6

As jminute14 said, infect is not something you want to go half in on. You don't really want to mix between infect and regular combat damage because it makes it hard to commit to either and harder still to win outright with either.

Not every aspect of your deck has to be involved with wither or -1/-1 counters; dedicating that much board space to these themes would be less than ideal because creatures with wither tend to be less powerful/cost effective than normal creatures and just don't offer the utility of creatures like Seedborn Muse and Primeval Titan . You risk making your deck too one-dimensional and not flexible enough to deal with noncreature approaches in an efficient manner.

August 15, 2012 5:28 p.m.

MartialArt says... #7

Ok.Thanks.I decided to concentrate on infect now and put out most of the wither creatures to leave the best in there like Lockjaw Snapper and Necroskitter .I'm not sure about Gift of the Deity since it is a good combination card with Quillspike and Devoted Druid (even without they are a quite big thread).I don't think I'll need Phyresis any more and Blight Sickle left for the same reason.Still left Tainted Strike for the opportunity to kill opponents with creatures of other opponents getting through.I'm yet not sure wich infect creatures to throw out and wich ones to leave in there so I don't lose this win condition. (Just cut out the ones without abilities, but am not sure for the rest)

I appreciate you help a lot since this deck still confuses me a bit.

August 16, 2012 5:05 a.m.

MindAblaze says... #8

If you do intend to win with infect damage, you'll need cards like Phyresis and Glistening Oil as well as proliferate sources like Plaguemaw Beast and Core Prowler . Good utility creatures shouldn't be avoided, who doesn't like Primeval Titan , and a Titan with infect is a scary thought.

Infect creatures in general are fragile beasts. They need pump spells and evasion to be at their best. Spells like Spread the Sickness and Ichor Rats are your friends, mass removal and reanimation will be your point men.

August 16, 2012 6:31 p.m.

MindAblaze says... #9

Or you could use The Mimeoplasm as a commander and play Infect Control, gives you access to Corrupted Conscience and that proliferate enchantment.

The Mimeoplasm is sweet because he can come in copying a creature in your graveyard, giving him infect, and picking a choice fatty to make him huge. Copying Phyrexian Crusader would be nice me thinks. Blue would give you access to Fate Transfer and Scarscale Ritual

August 16, 2012 8:28 p.m.

MartialArt says... #10

Thanks for the suggestion.I'll put Phyresis back in to enchant creatures like Primeval Titan .The Mimeoplasm is a quite good idea but since I already have a deck with it I won't play it.And I think my actual Commander interacts quite good with the -1/-1 counters since he can kill creatures already having some.

August 17, 2012 3:10 p.m.

squire1 says... #11

With your commander, it seems like the perfect deck to run Pestilence and Pestilence Demon especially if you have a way to Untap him.

August 18, 2012 7:21 p.m.

dethjakal says... #12

October 15, 2012 11:07 a.m.

dethjakal says... #13

October 15, 2012 11:09 a.m.

dethjakal says... #14

and maybe go up on your mana base a little, 32 is short for EDH

October 15, 2012 11:14 a.m.

MartialArt says... #15

Midnight Banshee didn't get in because it kills a lot of my own creatures.Serpent Generator is a quite good idea but way too slow.Adding more lands could be good. I will think about it once I got this thing on perfect size and tested it in real games. But mostly 32 Mana works out quite well.Thanks for the suggestions.

Could anyone help me throw things out so I can get nearer to perfect size?

October 17, 2012 6:42 p.m.

guessling says... #16

I playtested against my Vela infect deck and both times your deck didn't do what I think it could do because of not getting enough mana out on the board. You could reliably play one spell each turn and I had enough card draw, kill spell, and "return to hand" spells that I kept you creatureless for long enough that proliferate did you in.

I think with only 32 land cards (that's low even for me ... and I probably should have more land in my decks), the higher-cost stuff would be what I would look at for trading out for more land. You have some great 6 drops like Spinebiter that are a lot better than any of the 7 drop or higher (in my opinion) for the theme of this deck. Among the cards with mana costing more than 6, I'd consider keeping only Sheoldred, Whispering One , Sisters of Stone Death , and Plague Wind and even those are iffy. I'd rather draw a lot of the 6 drops than those.

October 24, 2012 9:43 p.m.

guessling says... #17

Ahh ... ok I see you just said something about what to throw out ... and someone else mentioned it too ...

October 24, 2012 9:44 p.m.

MartialArt says... #18

Thanks for the suggestions.I will put more mana in after getting it near to perfect size.Still need to put out 44 cards and don't know wich ones to put out.Sheoldred, Whispering One stays since she is a good board control and gets my creatures back and the other 2 cards are simply a win option.

I really don't know if I really should cut out Vitalizing Wind since it is a strong win option as a instant.

I put some things out and playtestet against you vela 2 times:First game I won with pure muscles.2nd game I lost against to much return to hand cards.

October 25, 2012 8:42 a.m.

Cornebus says... #19

I like it, even if I'm not a fan of infect. This deck could be a very real problem in my current metagame.

October 25, 2012 8:43 a.m.

guessling says... #20

Yeah - I thought your deck could potentially do better than what it did if it happened to get more mana to cast some of the bigger things and/or more than one spell per turn.

I agree with keeping Sheoldred, Whispering One but my issue with Vitalizing Wind is that I don't think you will have such a large number of creatures that a normal deck couldn't block them by the time it was a 9 mana game and it gives a nice plus to all your creatures but without trample, I don't think that it would often translate into much against your opponent ... at any rate I don't think it's worth it for this deck. Overrun and the like give a bonus AND trample - now that could be a win on infect creatures right there! +7 is ridiculous ... you only need 10 poison counters to win, +3 on multiple creatures and trample is better and it costs less.

Here are some other things to consider getting rid of:

card:Gaea's Anthem is nice, no doubt - however, it doesn't give the bonus in the form of counters that can be proliferated so it doesn't work as well for your deck - and you won't have tons and tons of creature tokens to get as much out of it as other decks get.

Beastmaster Ascension is another really nice card but without a very large number of creatures attacking each turn, it often doesn't get activated and in my experience, infect decks are more careful since most of the creatures aren't easily replenished or regenerated and easy to block by themselves.

I think that in general, since you are proliferating, keep the things that give bonuses in the form of +1/+1 counters but let the other bonuses go (unless they also give something like trample). For example, I would keep Increasing Savagery .

I guess that doesn't get you too close to 99 ... but it is what I could think of for "cards that are good but that maybe you could let go of in this particular deck".

October 25, 2012 noon

MartialArt says... #21

Thanks.I think you're right.I cut out Vitalizing Wind , card:Gaea's Anthem and Beastmaster Ascension .Plague Wind stays for now since it is a real strong win option.

I'm at 40 cards to put out now.

Long way but I hope with some further ideas this deck now might take some form.

October 25, 2012 4:50 p.m.

SevenSeasAgo says... #22

card:Black Sun's Zenith?

October 26, 2012 9:55 a.m.

DimirZer00 says... #23

Is this your infect commander deck you need help with? If it is? No, wonder you were asking for help. If it isn't? let me know. and might have some more Suggest for you. But, am assuming it is

First off, you should try to add a Decimator Web, Relic Putrescence and maybe Caress of Phyrexia

Then you should switch-out Kamahl, Fist of Krosa for Phyrexian Swarmlord

Then, you should take a look at Hand of the Praetors,Phyrexian Hydra,Blightwidow,Reaper of Sheoldred, and Toxic Nim. and Corrosive Mentor.

Hopefully, this help out

December 16, 2014 8:46 a.m.

MartialArt says... #24

Hi DimirZer00. Thanks for the input but this is a very old version. The deck I was asking help for is: Toxic waste

December 17, 2014 11:25 a.m.

DimirZer00 says... #25

Your Welcome. and this is why I checked to make sure. I'll take a look at Toxic waste. and tell you what I think and if there are any more suggest to be had.

December 17, 2014 12:33 p.m.

Please login to comment