MTG Salvation

What's the general consensus on Serum Visions? I looked at MTG top8 all Infect decks from 2015 and a little over half are doing Serum visions.

Only a handful do Twisted Image and Dismember MB, the ones that do play 1 of each main. Im not a fan of that as I believe it's more of a meta call and those cards are better placed in the SB but Serum visions seems like it could be great as a 2-of (even though I was previously against it). I would have to go down to 2 Apostles and 2 Mutagenic growth if I did that though.

This is what my list would look like with those changes. Was also thinking a 3'ed Mutagenic growth/Apostles instead of 2nd Rancor. Overall thoughts?

I was actually thinking of cutting down to 19 for a 4'th Mutagenic Growth or 4th MOOK. List is in my sig and posted a few posts up.


Thoughts?

I'm not a fan of Piracy charm, Serum visions or even Twisted image MB. We can be playing better cards that give us more consistency; the deck really should be as close as possible to 1/3 creatures, 1/3 pump spells and 1/3 protection spells in the main. This gives us redundancy and consistency which are 2 of the most important elements for any combo deck; those other cards are either not really useful to our overall plan or are SB cards.

I dont even like Wild Defiance as tapping out to play it usually isn't great, and it's a horrible top-deck.

Here's my list:

I never liked serum visions. It's too durdly. I've cut down to 3 mutagenic growths to make room for a 3'ed apostles blessing, also completely removed Wild Defiance as it seems so awful when I play it even though it has helped me win some games. I feel like there are more cons than pros to cards like Serum visions, wild defiance, sleight of hand and Sylvan scrying.

My list is linked in my sig for reference

I think Chalice set to 1 is very hard to play around since all our pumps (except Become Immense) cost 1 and even our Artifact/Enchant removal cant get rid of it. It would take 5 turns with a Blighted agent + Noble exalted triggers to kill someone which is very long for modern. Spellskite on the other hand can be removed but he literally steals every pump spell so that's very hard to deal with if you dont have removal.

I'd rather face Spellskite than Chalice though because we have more "outs" to a resolved Spellskite compared to Chalice.

Splashing red for double strike is bad. Just play UG. A pump spell is better than DS since the creatures are 1/1 anyway. If you're gonna argue that you can pump once with a DS, i'll retort that simply double pumping is better and more effective. Also Assault strobe is sorcery speed which is just asking to get 2 for 1'ed.

Replace probes with 2x Dispel + 2x Spell pierce

Burn is Actually a 50/50 matchup for infect. SB you have answers to the burn spells and on the play you are usually a lot faster. Spellskite also blocks early attackers and natures claim gains you life.

Amulet boom is also a very easy matchup just check out the bloom primer and see how everyone is talking about what to SB vs infect.

Quote from KingOfThePandas »

Ok, so I am having a huge problem with burn. The deck just seems like it makes a joke out of Infect. When I am going to play my creature with Infect, he bolts it. When I play Skite to protect my Infecter, he double bolts my skite and bolts my creature. When I am just plain racing him, he stops, bolts my stuff, then proceeds to bolt my face until I lose. I really hate Eidolon. It sits there and you can't do anything. Yeah, I have removal, but paying 6 life against a burn deck for a Dismember is too much. I got so mad to the point that I was just going to take out a Breeding Pool and replace it with a Stomping Grounds. Then, replace the Dismember and the Twisted Image with my own Lightning Bolts.

Infect is usually faster than Burn. Every time Burn uses a spell on your creature rather than you, it's buying you almost a full turn. 2 spells on Spellskite, you've bought yourself a full turn and then some. Don't play a Blighted Agent on T2 against Burn unless you have a Noble and a protection spell/Pump. Aside from T1, only play your creatures when you have Apostles blessing/Vines or a pump spell to protect. Inkmoth also gets can't be burned unless activated, in which case you should have protection spells/Pumps ready. And postboard you should be bringing in Dispel + Spell pierce to slow the Burn.

This matchup is about 50/50 overall. And yes, I play both Burn and Infect.

Melira only get's played in a single deck and that's Abzan Company. We don't need creature removal for that reason alone.

Spellskite gets played in multiple decks, but that's why we have 3-4 Nature's claim

That said, I could see a reason to splash black ever so lightly for Plague stinger since 12 infect creatures can sometimes screw you completely. I've had to mull down to 4 - and lose - due to having no infect creatures in the opening 7. I've also lost games even when I see only 2 infect creatures over the course of a game due to removal.

I've wanted to try Stinger for a while but haven't had a chance to. Anyone here try them? Is it worth it or would you be better off playing Serum visions to dig for creatures/setup draws?

Distortion strike was removed mostly because of how slow it is. Yes it can set up nice plays with Defiance, but overall too cute to work consistently. It's been replaced by either Rancor or Serum Visions since half our infect creatures are unblockable/flying or can be given unblockable with Apostles blessing.

Quote from chewemy »

So for the Boss, no serum vision this time. What do you think about this ?

I've never liked serum visions. Too durdly when I'd rather just draw a pump spell.

I don't know if it's just me but Wild Defiance seems like such an awful card. Don't get me wrong if it resolves you're pretty much guarantee'd a T4 win but tapping out to play it usually leaves us so vulnerable. I have 2 in the SB which I bring in against control heavy matchups since they will try to counter our pump spell. Maybe it's not the right way to use that card I dont know but I always feel like I do better without it, even against control. Thoughts on the card overall?

Quote from Timba »

I disagree with primer that spot removal is Infect's weakness
It just trades one for one, thats fair and we even get an advantage because our spells usually cost one mana
Even if our creature dies we usually have another

I disagree. We run 12 infect creatures, that's it. Often times you will only have 1-2 creatures and never see another; Spot removal is by far and away our weakness followed by control heavy decks like grixis control. There's a reason most lists run 6 protection spells and 2 Spellskite.

I guess it's not a bad sideboard card if your meta is infested with spot removal.