Infect is not a tier deck atm so if your looking strictly for a tier deck infect is prob not the deck for you.
If your not phased still then sleeve it up and start playing it. There really is nothing else that plays like it in modern.
As for the event i played on the weekend i ended up running in at 12th position after five rounds.
I was hoping to play against a bunch of storm/Affinity/scapeshift and even eldrazi tron. Unfortunately i saw storm ounce.
R1. I played against a brew deck with planeswalkers. I was too fast for it and snatched the win 2/0
R2. I had to play against a blood moon pack rat deck. I snuck away with the first match but games 2 and 3 land destruction to deal with inkmoth's and kill spells overwhelmed me. 1/2
R3. Jund. Was hoping to miss this match up but sometimes you hit your worst match up. He got me convincingly 0/2
R4. Storm. Finally i hit the match i was hoping to face. Needless to say i beat him 2/0 infect is too fast for it.
R5 (trying to get a win to have any chance of top 8, for and against had to be kind) A gain life deck with serra ascendant. Fortunately i don't care about your life. I managed to get the job done without too much trouble 2/0
The deck was powerful as always and my losses were to prob my worst matches in the room. Overall the deck performed well and given the chance i would play it again in that meta.
It does make me a bit sad that Infect is not a tier 1 deck anymore. When I finally finished the deck, only really got to play with the deck for about a month until Gitaxian Probe got banned.
Nonetheless, Infect is still super fun to play for those want a different way to win, it doesn't manage to throw some people off in tournaments, people seem to think that the deck is dead, thankfully it is still kicking. I do admit Fatal Push is the one removal spell that has hurt us the most...
@Xaricore, I'm wondering the same thing. What is the roll that JvP plays in the deck? Is it just to dig/setup our hand? Is it that plus flashback pumps when he flips?
Wouldn't be hard to flip Jace, Vryn's Prodigy in Infect. The only thing is that it makes Infect a little bit slower in a way, being more careful with winning with infect damage where Infect is usually a speedy win by going all win, guns blazing. I will definitely look into the more tempo and careful pace of Infect has turned into and see it if worth adapting Infect to that.
I'm aware that Fling and Shrapnel Blast do basically the same thing; I can't explain why Fling is fun and Shrapnel Blast isn't. That's one of those mysteries we may never unravel.
I love Fling in the deck, reminds me of the synergy in Pauper by flinging an Atog for the win I've thought about running Shrapnel Blast it seems a bit too slow and dangerous.
Lately I have been seeing that Jace, Vryn's Prodigy has been used in Infect decks lately. I'm sure how I feel about this. If anyone here has been using it, how is it been working in the deck with matchups?
I do admit that I find it strange that many people are taking out Cursecatcher in some builds lately. I understand that the U/G build of Merfolk has more value for Kumena's Speaker in it's 1 drop place. I've also thinking that one of these days to switch out Cursecatcher for Cosi's Trickster to see has it does.
How has been Infect doing for everything that has been playing it? I'm really happy to see that Infect has been gaining a bit of tournament winning status at the SCG Modern Open Cincinnati. I personally haven't been playing it, mainly because my local meta has been a lot of Burn and Jund.
Has anyone ever tried Hall of the Bandit Lord as a way to get atleast one overseer activation before removal? Assuming there was room to swap a land, my thinking is the life loss is too steep. Just wanted to see if someone tested and didn't mention in this thread.
I like the spice of Hall of the Bandit Lord, I just would find out hard in Affinity's build. The land base is really clutch most of the time with maybe 1-2 flex lands most of time. It doesn't help in that the land comes into play always tapped and you have to bolt oneself in getting a hasty creature.
I've been thinking out putting Serum Visions and/or Sleight of Hand to see how well is in the meta now. I like the idea of Peek as well because it does the thing as two mentioned before; however, doesn't let us choose what card we can potentially get.
For Tezzeret's gambit, tom ross said the following :
1. Ticks up an opposing Chalice of the Void to two, freeing up your one-drops.
2. Potentially messes with Aether Vial.
3. Works great with Nissa, Voice of Zendikar, both with +1/+1 counters and ticking up Nissa herself.
4. Ups the -1/-1 counters on creatures dealt damage by Glistener Elf.
5. Generates card advantage against grindy decks, an aspect that Infect is sorely lacking.
6. Last, but not least, kills players at nine poison.
So yeah it seems a strong card even when not in a long grindy matchup.
Those are some very good points to why it is good for us to play Tezzeret's Gambit. My only problem for playing it in our deck, what would we take out to fit it in our deck? I can't imagine it would not be a lot of them in the mainboard because drawing them instead of pump spells early on isn't that good.
Tezzeret's gambit also counteracts chalice on one, correct?
That is amazing, it does indeed add another counter of Chalice of the Void for those that place it with X = 1 plus, it doesn't hurt to Proliferate Poison counters
I'd have to say that this deck is more like an alternate build of the Grixis Death's Shadow builds and isn't honestly much of Delver. Dark Confidant is just too risky in our deck. Revealing a Tasigur, the Golden Fang or Gurmag Angler in the traditional build would more likely kill us big time. Without them in your build, why have Thought Scour?
I just don't know I feel about Smuggler's Copter. Yes, it is a pretty good card and potential beater in the air; however, it doesn't fit with the Merfolk synergy. Every creature my build of Merfolk is synergy related expect for Kira, Great Glass-Spinner which isn't Merfolk but protects my Merfolk. Smuggler's Copter is an interesting choice for getting the job done by discarding cards we don't need and getting cards we need for Merfolk synergy. I would not know how to make cuts to try it out, I'm just very used to my build of Merfolk
Do you guys think its 2x or 0x of each, or should be viable 1x of each main deck ?
Personally I would recommend it depends on the meta you're facing. @rothgar13 is right in that with a more heavy combo meta, Vendilion Clique is the one you would like to have. In a meta with a lot of removal, like the meta I see weekly, Kira, Great Glass-Spinner is definitely the way to go. I personally run 2 of Kira, Great Glass-Spinner but that's my call. For you, one of each of quite good, just to be prepared for variance in the meta.
I do admit that Merfolk is really strong in the meta right now. At FMM this week, I played with it again and made top cut with it. The Merfolk are strong and will remain strong!
I do really like running Kira, Great Glass-Spinner mainboard for myself, two of them for sure because Modern as of right now is really removal heavy om creatures. I also like Vendilion Clique as well. I haven't tried it in Modern, mostly use it in Legacy. I might have to try it out one of these days.
It does make me a bit sad that Infect is not a tier 1 deck anymore. When I finally finished the deck, only really got to play with the deck for about a month until Gitaxian Probe got banned.
Nonetheless, Infect is still super fun to play for those want a different way to win, it doesn't manage to throw some people off in tournaments, people seem to think that the deck is dead, thankfully it is still kicking. I do admit Fatal Push is the one removal spell that has hurt us the most...
Wouldn't be hard to flip Jace, Vryn's Prodigy in Infect. The only thing is that it makes Infect a little bit slower in a way, being more careful with winning with infect damage where Infect is usually a speedy win by going all win, guns blazing. I will definitely look into the more tempo and careful pace of Infect has turned into and see it if worth adapting Infect to that.
I love Fling in the deck, reminds me of the synergy in Pauper by flinging an Atog for the win
I like the spice of Hall of the Bandit Lord, I just would find out hard in Affinity's build. The land base is really clutch most of the time with maybe 1-2 flex lands most of time. It doesn't help in that the land comes into play always tapped and you have to bolt oneself in getting a hasty creature.
Those are some very good points to why it is good for us to play Tezzeret's Gambit. My only problem for playing it in our deck, what would we take out to fit it in our deck? I can't imagine it would not be a lot of them in the mainboard because drawing them instead of pump spells early on isn't that good.
That is amazing, it does indeed add another counter of Chalice of the Void for those that place it with X = 1 plus, it doesn't hurt to Proliferate Poison counters
I'd have to say that this deck is more like an alternate build of the Grixis Death's Shadow builds and isn't honestly much of Delver. Dark Confidant is just too risky in our deck. Revealing a Tasigur, the Golden Fang or Gurmag Angler in the traditional build would more likely kill us big time. Without them in your build, why have Thought Scour?
Personally I would recommend it depends on the meta you're facing. @rothgar13 is right in that with a more heavy combo meta, Vendilion Clique is the one you would like to have. In a meta with a lot of removal, like the meta I see weekly, Kira, Great Glass-Spinner is definitely the way to go. I personally run 2 of Kira, Great Glass-Spinner but that's my call. For you, one of each of quite good, just to be prepared for variance in the meta.
I do really like running Kira, Great Glass-Spinner mainboard for myself, two of them for sure because Modern as of right now is really removal heavy om creatures. I also like Vendilion Clique as well. I haven't tried it in Modern, mostly use it in Legacy. I might have to try it out one of these days.
1 Dismember
1 Etched Champion
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Ghirapur Aether Grid
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Pithing Needle
1 Rest in Peace
2 Spell Pierce
1 Spellskite
2 Torpor Orb
1 Wear // Tear
1 Whipflare
I like Ethersworn Canonist for tech against Storm decks and decks that try to get their with a lot of spells for turn that aren't artifact based.
I see quite a bit Blood Moon use lately and I'm a bit curious to have in my sideboard as well. What do you all think?