mtg noob here, what to do about poison?
General forum
Posted on Aug. 4, 2013, 11:57 p.m. by Nerdible
i've read up a bit online, and i'm sorry if this has been asked a lot but i'm still new to the site.
i have some friends who run dedicated poison/infest decks, and i just can't seem to figure out a way to deal with them. is there any way to counter the poison that i'm missing here? i saw the leeches card but i don't have access to them right now without buying them online (maybe 4x for my sideboard??)
seems like kind of an overpowered mechanic to this noob. not complaining, just wondering how i can deal with the mechanic that i'm not seeing right off.
cheers.
sorry about posting in the incorrect place.
so sounds like it's one of those "win quickly" mechanics? thanks for the card suggestion also. i might have to look into building a green deck just for infect.
August 5, 2013 12:12 a.m.
TheDuggernaught says... #4
Most infect decks run out of steam pretty quick because they often have a difficult time protecting their creatures and not many of their creatures have high power/toughness. If you run some control for the early game and have some good mid range beats, you can usually get them. What colors are you running?
August 5, 2013 12:36 a.m.
most infect based decks // creatures are low toughness and lose card advantage very quickly, so quick removal helps Path to Exile , Lightning Bolt , Lightning Helix , Pyroclasm can help immensely. If you're on a budget, Fog , Riot Control etc. to stall into board wipe can work.
Melira, Sylvok Outcast is a great suggestion .
Leeches could work if you're playing legacy and just building against your play group.
August 5, 2013 12:37 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #6
The problem is some of his friends could be playing something akin to Modern infect, in which case the counterstrategy would need to be extremely fast. If they're playing the casual Phyrexian Crusader +Hand of the Praetors kind of decks, then there's more time to react.
As everyone else mentioned, infect is somewhat hindered by its low return on investment. Most infect creatures are more expensive to cast than their non-infect counterparts, so the strategy quickly becomes a drain on resources. The creatures also tend to be small and vulnerable.
You could go red because burn effectively combats most infect creatures. Lightning Bolt and Burn the Impure would be viable options. In general, Jund would give you the most flexibility. Black and green can both deal with Phyrexian Crusader , red gives you burn, green gives you Melira, Sylvok Outcast , and black gives you other removal spells. After that, you have a wide range of creatures from which to choose. Of course, the mana base for a three-colored deck would be kind of finicky unless you put some money into it, but it's just a thought. RG would still be effective.
August 5, 2013 1:53 a.m.
Hey maybe I'm not crazy after all!
August 5, 2013 2:01 a.m.
thanks for all the suggestions. i only have a monowhite angel deck at the moment, but will look into a red deck to just burn everything down for when i come across things like this. cheers.
Epochalyptik says... #2
The Q&A is mostly for rules-related or otherwise "answerable" questions. This is more of a discussion-based question. Moved to General forum.
Melira, Sylvok Outcast is one of the go-to answers for infect/poison. It kind of depends on what kind of infect they're playing, though. There aren't many solutions to poison counters once you get them, so you need to proactively answer the threat.
August 5, 2013 12:03 a.m.