How To Play Infect with Mr. Infect | The Command Zone 516 | Magic: The Gathering Commander EDH

[@commandcast]

Are you building a toxic or infect deck in the wake of All Will Be One? Who is the commander? What is your favorite piece of poison tech?

[@oOoFLY1458oOO]

Running Ixhel but I’m running Steely Reserve in the 99. Nobody expects it.

[@SonnyAmbush]

I went with an Esper deck with Kamiz, Obscura Oculus as my commander. It performs really well so far and would even work out without all those toxic creatures because its also heavily +1/+1 counter and proliferate focused.

[@chaindorian]

I have not played mtg in close to a decade but a friend of mine is trying to pull me back in. When I did play it was during the Scars of Mirrodin block and I played a UG infect deck in standard for a while. I went almost 2 months undefeated with my infect deck at our local game shop weekly tournaments, typically 4-5 rounds with 30-40 players in the tournaments. I also ran the deck with pump spells and I used 2 different cards that really shined. The first was an enchantment called Wild Defiance which is for 2 and 1 Green and gave creatures you controlled +3/+3 when they were targeted by instants and sorceries which was just free pump on top of your pump and negated a lot of targeted burn spells. But the second, and my favorite, tech was a card that people slept on for infect which was Livewire Lash. It's an artifact equipment card for 2 and equip for 2 which says that when the equipped creature became the target of a spell that creature deals 2 damage to any target. So, the infect creature dealt the damage, not the equipment itself meaning I could essentially machinegun down the opponent really fast. And the creature only had to be targeted by the spell, it didn't have to resolve for the trigger, so as I would pump the creature my opponents would often try to remove the creature with a kill or bounce spell which just gave me 2 more infect right at the player and I could also then counter their spell or give it protection with Apostle's Blessing. It was a super fun deck.

[@dynamitedan935]

Fynn, The Fangbearer all the way

[@jacobjorelchadwick]

My new favorite Infect commander is "Ramses, Assassin Lord." Gives you the chance of only having to take out one opponent with infect to win. Won this way with "Suq'Ata Assassin".

[@bryceduyvewaardt8136]

I’ve died to infect damage twice in the past 4 days, but honestly it’s preferable to combo wins out of nowhere. It’s a good aggressive strategy to punish my decks that ramp for ages and then drop multicolor creatures with battle cruiser level effects.

[@mindhackz]

Meh. Rotpriest Ivy combo in Standard can go die.

[@mattd3978]

I agree, unless we've covered combo clearly in rule 0, it's no fun to me

[@OhNoTheFace]

This. If nothing else, it keeps the people not playing creatures in check

[@Commander_Claw]

I run an Atraxa infect deck and only play the Phyrexia All Will Be One sorceries and instants. Since my deck doesn't have many creatures that are toxic or infect; I add more removal spells so they can't really touch me.

[@gustavoreis9442]

I have a golgari budget infect deck and i must say that my playgroup like and hate that deck cause it's fun and can one shot someone out of nowhere

[@foxoninetails_]

On the topic of pump spells - a fun and surprising include is Embiggen. Most creatures with Infect have been errataed to include Phyrexian in their creature types, so a significant number of them get +4/+4 or more for a single mana.

[@EbuzerKorkmazer]

isnt only for a sinlge target creature? I am new to this btw

[@foxoninetails_]

@@EbuzerKorkmazer I meant "significant number" as in "of the infect creature cards that have been printed", not as in "of the creatures currently in play" =)

[@xgxwills2857]

I recently built Ixhel and it’s honestly been a ton of fun and it definitely made infect/toxic a lot more fun. I like that the deck wants you to spread the poison around as opposed to just dunking on one player early game since she wants you to corrupt and that the deck can put up a decent fight late game and isn’t trying to just Aggro kill people turn 4-6. Getting 3 extra cards per turn effectively if you corrupt all 3 opponents is fun and it’s fun being able to out-value your opponents and from my experience it’s more well-received than to just beat the life out of one player and then proceed to instantly get knocked out.

[@Gloose284]

I'm starting on an Ixhel decklist now. My main plan is to upgrade it from the precon slowly, and get it complete for my first ever three-colored deck!

[@xgxwills2857]

@@Gloose284 that’s awesome! From past experience, 3 color decks are extremely fun to pilot as you start to see all the fun interactions between how the colors work together and complement each other. The one thing I added to the deck was some more reliable card draw just to ensure Ixhel had sustainability going into the late game. Best of luck!

[@hithisisandreas]

My friend has an upgraded Ixhel precon and it's honestly been super fun to play against! They're a constant threat to be aware of, but have a lot of room for politics and shenanigans. Also, not knowing what they're stealing from the deck is a very interesting consideration, since you don't want to get blown out by your own cards haha

[@JohnWeaver81]

My son has played Ixhel the last four games, and won every time. It's oppressive in 1v1. Going to take it to FNM to see how it really does in multi player.

[@demonhunter4349]

​@@lunarlight3131I bet you're a blast at the table.....

[@gabecabral6691]

Access tunnel is a great version of rouges passage thats 1 mana less it targets creatures with power 3 or greater but after you resolve the effect to make it unblockable and then pump it it’s still unblockable

[@gabecabral6691]

3 or less my bad

[@mouthfulofbees4851]

I run Saskia the Unyielding as my infect commander as a way to get poison on multiple players at once. Feather the Redeemed is my secret commander as she lets me get extra uses out of the pump spells. Pretty effective combo

[@jehansilva9268]

I think one thing I hven’t seen people considering is that it’s now more likely to have multiple infect decks (or decks with some infect) in the same pod

[@caseyspark2019]

Prologue to Phyresis is so simple yet perfect. I really love it.

[@justingumbiner1001]

I loved seeing the end step about your kids! Just know that one day, you'll be able to play cards with them at home! My son is turning 9 this weekend and just started playing Commander....his surprise gift is his own Krenko, Mob Boss deck!!!

[@kylecurtis1130]

I got the Precon Ixhel. Y’all brought up some very good points. First i wanna try a deck that a mix of both Infect and Toxic, because ultimately, they do the same thing. Then i’ll edit from there

[@rufinoacevedo1996]

I am new to magic and commander and this podcast has been huge for me. Thank you. Has there ever been a show dedicated to reading your opponent and their board state to gain important information? What are some obvious or not so obvious things to look for.

[@Spike-hl2mw]

A really basic one is noticing open mana, and being mindful that your opponents can and will do stuff at instant speed to disrupt you. Especially be mindful of open blue mana, which could represent a counter spell.

[@spellbreakerunbound]

Massive fan of Scale Up for aggressive infect decks, 1 mana to pump +4 or +5 power in a lot of cases, sorcery speed but if an opponent cannot block it doesn’t really matter. Plus you have the second mode of doing it to your whole board!

[@blakesherman1958]

I didn't see any mention of Seedcore, taps for 1 of any color to cast phyrexian creatures and also lets you pump 1/1 creatures with Corrupted active

[@GruntOrBust]

Ahhh I love infect. I think my playgroups favorite phrase when playing me is "let me guess, blightsteel?" Or "let me guess, it now has infect". I really don't play infinite combos, but it's funny to me how mad people get towards infect, but then nobody is mad when someone goes infinite turn 3.

[@Greenlover1717]

Exactly no one says nothing about getting infinite out of nowhere early turns and when they see a infect or now toxic creature they got crazy hate 😂

[@Shadowmeire]

While building my Atraxa, Praetor's Voice deck, I committed to mixing Infect and Toxic so I can have both small creatures early game, Proliferate for when I need it, and Toxic for the big stompys mid to late game, and have no problem with winning. I usually try to mulligan for Ichor Rats and Evolution Sage in my opening hand to start pumping out Poison early game, and ramp into Tyrannax Rex and Skitherix as soon as I can. I also run Entomb and Reanimate just to cheat them into play

[@maxbodifee3263]

There are 2 new 1cmc proliferate cards in One that are auto includes. I play Hapatra with more of a -1 counter style but think the new Vraska will do work in an infect deck as well. It has the multiple options and should stick around if you have some deathtouch creatures on board. I will be experimenting with Garruk Relentless as well as a tutor and finisher. Such a cool card that just sat in my binder for years. But this is more for go wide probably (with all the snakes the deck makes). Last planeswalker is Freyalise for extra removal and card draw. Proliferate is a big deal in the deck so I'll ult fairly quickly. Looking forward to test the deck with all the new One cards!

[@dustinwoodbury4417]

As a father of 2 young children, the end step of this episode melted my heart!

[@AnimateDead]

I love this segment, I started playing Magic right around Kaldheim, fell in love with the set and magic in general. Fynn the Fangbearer was one of if not my favorite card from the set, Deathtouchers and poison counters? Win by turn 4 or 5 I loved it. A cheeky way to win but difficult to pull off. I honestly built deck after deck in arena climbing to Mythic with a fast low cmc deck. And then I found about infect and man was I hooked. Phyrexia all will be one reignited my love for poison bringing all the things to help. Wish I owned a Skithiryx tho! Venerated rot priest wouuu! Any way enjoyed the vid!

[@contrakt666]

I like using blade of selves. It copies the equipt creature on attack. Combine this with on death Prolif or etb Prolif creatures depending if the opponents have blockers. Example : Blade of selves + ichor Rats(etb poison for all opponents ) or blade of selves + blightbelly rat (if not blocked toxic , if blocked and killed =prolif)

[@primeascendant797]

I think the most recent Command Zone game with Craig pretty much confirms that small vanilla creatures with infect are not worth deck space in Commander. There was so much theatre about how scary the vanilla infect creatures are IF they get pumped (which wouldn't even kill anyone and relies on no blockers...), and they did nothing past turn 2, maybe 3. I don't think anyone died from infect in that game, for all the fanfare. In fact, I'm pretty sure that at the end of the game, Craig sat across from a huge board and massive dragon with vanilla infecters with nothing else. Heck, Elesh Norn was his best play and she doesn't have infect. Truth is, Commander board-states are almost immediately more complex, and when you hinge your game on doing something that can be stopped by 2/2 utility/mana dorks, you're just not thinking big enough for the format. I fully disagree with their assessment of Contaminant Grafter, too. 5 Mana is not that expensive in Commander, and it does a lot; it offers proliferate, card draw, AND ramp the turn it comes down and has a solidly large trampling body with toxic. And it continues to offer proliferate/card draw/ramp as long as it stays out. All of its abilities are relevant throughout the game, and you can very reasonably sequence into it; T2 ramp, T3 Ixhel, T4 Contaminant Grafter with all of its abilities active if Ixhel connects, as well as Ixhel's ability. Contaminant Grafter is very good, and it's so odd to see them call CG a "trap" and then proceed to hype up Norn's Choirmaster, another 5 mana card--a good card, for sure--but lacks any kind of strict card advantage OR ways to give poison itself. It's especially odd, because they also endorse Bloated Contaminator...even though CG is basically a more expensive, much better version of that card... I just can't see the "pump and infect weenies" strategy working well, and my own experience and what I witnessed in their game confirmed that the value from corrupted and incremental poison strategy is best. With the former, maybe you'll kill one player if you get the ideal hand and your opponents lack interaction, but probably not.

[@Spike-hl2mw]

Yea I think there's a least a big asterisk to Craig's advice, which is that you can also build a slower, more controlling infect deck. This is the direction I've taken with my Hapatra deck. Infect is really just one facet of its game plan, which also involves shriveling my opponents creatures with -1 counters, making 1/1 deathtouchers and other tokens, proliferating both -1 counters and poison counters, and even comboing off with infinite tokens/-1 counters/life drain. And I've put Contaminant Grafter in it and I think it'll be good, but I have to play the deck more to see.

[@daydreamindaze]

Their assessment of Contaminant Grafter was absolutely baffling to me.

[@Rmxzd]

@@Spike-hl2mw can I get a deck list on this? Building Atraxa rn and I’m doing both infect / toxic and proliferating to close games out

[@renanandrade478]

That grafter is a good card but in the competitive games we often play good may not be enough, drawing card from other peoples decks is not that usefull........ infect as a overall strategy is not that strong because is u agains everybody, people easily unite against u if needed

[@TheRandomeDud3]

Livewire Lash is an equipment I love using. When attached to a creature with infect, whenever the equipped creature becomes the target of a spell, it’ll do 2 (infect) damage to any target. It will make your opponents think twice about targeting it with their removal

[@ReyosBlackwood]

51:45 doesn't work in Teysa. The ability will trigger twice, but only the first one to resolve will be able to pay the optional cost of exiling the card, then that intervening if will stop you from being able to make a second copy.

[@Spike-hl2mw]

Good catch.

[@jonathanllewellyn5053]

On the topic if demon embrace: Craig: "The demon thing doesn't really play into it" Me, currently building four flavor-based Ruinous Powers decks: Deathguard heavy breathing noises Great ep, love the content and seeing lots of variation in the show. Much love! x

[@jimmyb2655]

Fynn with deathtouch creatures that have infect and toxic is so silly, i love it. Just made a fynn deck and I'll give a 1/1 infect snake deathtouch and toxic with some equipments and swing for the fences!

[@matengovic2029]

Im playing a brokkos mutate infect Deck, wich runs pretty well:) im running tiny infect creatures and pump them with brokkos to swing for 6poison counters. Playing proliferate spells like steady progress gives me cards and help winning the Game

[@skullgraff6349]

How powerful do u think that built does?

[@TheCommunistGamerTV]

True Chads play Infect without Green.

[@PidgeMidge]

i have a monoblue voltron deck (Kefnet the Mindful) based around blue's artifacts support and equipment. been toying around with the idea of shifting it over to monoblue infect still with the equipment subtheme/support package. so far seems pretty bad tbh LMAO but who knows 👀

[@marcuswehle1833]

I have to strongly disagree green and black or the most powerful colors in infect to deny green is to deny your power in and strategy with infect.

[@viceverse11]

Esper

[@TheCommunistGamerTV]

@@viceverse11 Kamiz, specifically.

[@iron666221666221]

No. True chads play Phelddagriff decks

[@felpshehe]

I love spells that untap lands and basically pay for themselves. Cause I often run those add 2 mana lands, and when i do, those spells become ramp.

[@Gshadewolf14]

So glad you guys have a shout-out to Mirri, she was my first commander and has been my favorite since. She’s super underrated and should be in more decks

[@kjetilreitan5628]

I run a Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief as commander, to get my targeted pump go wider, and I find Monument of Rhonas, Wild Defiance and Livewire Lash really neat🤘

[@jeffreylong1478]

Looks like Rachel is the new default host every episode. Cool with me lol 👍

[@MarvelOfRain]

33:39 - As a proud owner of an Ixhel deck the 2nd ability of hers is great and here is why: Infect strategy has two inherent problems - card quality and the fact that after first couple of rounds people prioritize holding blockers and killing your creatures. Normal infect solves this by recursion, tutors and the mentioned pump spells. This leads to a toxic experience - either you are stopped or you succed and make opponents feel like they couldn’t have done anything. Ixhel allows a different more fun strategy that feels suprisingly organic. You get the first couple of poison counters in with Ixhel often helping with her flying. After everyone is corrupted you sit back and protect Ixhel. No matter what the opponents are playing you will get removal and lands allowing you to play a control game. Eventually you will be able to control the board/buy enough time to finish the game or you can use the stolen cards and fact most of your creatures deal normal damage to finish the game that way. To build the deck play only a few high CMC infect creatures and replace pump spells and most evasion with removal and value cards.

[@dragonman979]

From all will be one 3 green cards that I have been loving recently are contagious vorac, expand the spheres, and clankerbloom. The first 2 you don’t have to reveal the lands and can just proliferate and clanker is just overstated with great versatility

[@kyleanderson6829]

Expand the spheres is soooo good. Need ramp? Need to proliferate? Maybe a little of both?

[@kylejones5518]

On evasion/breaking through, I run Kamiz as my commander. She provides evasion, superb card selection, pump, and double strike .

[@HexQuesTT]

My infect deck is a Fynnfect deck (Fynn the Fangbearer dearhtouch tribal) and unfortunately pump spells don't work for him cause DT creatures will always give 2 poison counters regardless of power (though there's definitely a lot of low to the ground deathtouchers)

[@hiddenleaf414]

There’s so many 1-2 drops with deathtouch it would be scary if they could give more than 2 poison counters a hit. Shoot I would even run that cEDH green card that you can pitch for 1 green so you could cast two 1 drop deathtouchers.

[@HexQuesTT]

@Hidden Leaf I'm not so familiar with cEDH so I don't know the card you're referring to, but that's the beautiful thing abt Fynn, I lucked into cracking a Vorinclex meaning that later in the game the deathtouchers can give 4 poison counters each, combined with Concordant Crossroads from a secret lair not too far back and you've got a surprise kill on anyone unlucky enough to be caught without blockers

[@MrWader76]

Since atraxa is more focused on proliferation, do you feel like the focus should be on applying a few single infect tokens and then protect atraxa or do people play atraxa green heavy and still pump?

[@quezer0]

Going pillow fort with atraxa

[@Commander_Claw]

I just described my Atraxa deck that does this in a comment above! lol Since I don't have permanents taking up space; Ive added more target removal spells and board wipe. So Atraxa is on the battlefield at least 1 turn longer and proliferating 2x...then add the inexorable tide ...ouch!

[@stratavosstuff7575]

I appreciate revisiting this video involving the corrupting influence precon's cards/pieces.

[@matthewherrmann9526]

I am super confused why the cards with 'Each opponent gets a poison counter' were not mentioned in this video or in the previous infect rules discussion video. I feel these are must-run cards. Atraxa has access to 5 cards that unconditionally give each opponent a poison counter from the new set: Infectious Inquiry, Phyresis Outbreak, Infectious Bite, Prologue to Phyresis, Vraska's Fall. Ichor Rats also does this (and gives you one as well). Once each opponent a poison counter, Proliferate gives 3 counters each time. Since Atraxa has good tutors, you can give opponents counters through these unconditional cards that give poison counters without connecting with that player through combat. With sufficient recurring Proliferate, you can finish with things like Planewide Celebration. Or a Elesh Norn which removes opponents blockers and pumps your team. I see this as a bit of a different gameplan than Infect (remove 1 player), Toxic (go-wide tokens). It probably runs some evasive creatures and midrange toxic creatures with some high drop finishers. But not too much pump or tokens.

[@markusaurelius83]

You are completely correct. The cards that give each opponent the first poison counters are a gamechanger for Atraxa infect. It's a lot better to build a proliferate deck and just add these cards and tutors, so that you can fill the rest of your deck with value and interaction instead of bad infect creatures and bad pump spells.

[@Doombot2point0]

They were mentioned multiple times. Craig mentioned how he was happy these appeared in ONE because they are useful.

[@beefbelly]

tell me you didnt watch the video without telling me you didnt watch the video

[@matthewherrmann9526]

@@markusaurelius83 I know, right? I feel like in the other video on this topic they were like, "Infect like never won regularly before All Will Be One". Isn't that a red flag for continuing to try this strat? Pumping creatures is card disadvantage. I understand it's spooky to knock people out of the game, but as you do that you are destroying your hand and locking yourself into a game where you are fighting decks that now have more cards in hand and better cards than you. So don't. Play some evasive stuff, play some midrange stuff and slow-burn until they have like 6ish counters and try to figure out a way to kill them all at once before they band together and kill you first, for example with Triumph of the Hordes. Or knock particular people out of the game with your finisher creatures like Tyrranax Rex, ect. There are SO MANY cards that are basically a good card that costs 1 mana more and has Proliferate stapled on that can get you to ~5-7 counters per player at the table. Infect has the inherent disadvantage that if the table bands together to player-remove you they do not have to worry about the damage you did. So it can really incentivize players to take you out. A midrange strat will have better blockers and will incidentally kill people over time while doing what it wants to do anyway.

[@markusaurelius83]

@@matthewherrmann9526 Yes, and you can even kill everyone out of nowhere in the midgame, if they all just have a few poison counters. For example you could use Birthing Pod on a 3 cmc creature, get Tekuthal into play 2 Proliferate spells and get the Atraxa trigger at the End Step. That's 6 Poison right there.

[@emericmercier9819]

I think Infect is a fair strategy and I have no problem playing against it, but if we have a pre-game conversation and you don't tell me what your main strategy is (whether it's poison or not) or try to mislead me, I won't like it.

[@johantitulaer1052]

I feel like Tainted Strike with Syr Konrad can have some really disgusting combos. So you run a high synergy discard/mill/sacrifice deck, have Syr Konrad as your commander, then on the combo turn, you play Tainted Strike and sac your entire board, or mill multiple opponents or yourself to trigger Syr Konrad's multiple hit effect 10 times to close out the game.

[@Wickerman713]

I run Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons as my Infect commander, the synergy with -1/-1 counters is really strong.

[@davidsisbarro1501]

Thanks for signing my Vishgraz, Craig! Building a Tymna/Sidar infect and toxic deck in your honor called “Mr. And Mrs. Infect”

[@mtnamok266]

On my current Infect deck I still use Atraxa as commander. My strategy is not so much on pumped creature but more making them unblockable and making sure that everybody has a poison counter. Then the second part of the plan is to proliferate - so Atraxa come into the game at this moment. Adding Vorinclex is a huge bonus (even more if you play against another infect/toxic deck)

[@vendettarules1]

Sith Padawans are Acolytes ^_^

[@priestly8164]

I like the evolution sage with contaminant grafter because you can potentially proliferate three times a turn if a creature hits and you hit two land drops. It may be unlikely, but it could happen.

[@newdarkcloud]

In my experience, I'm a big fan of just having the conversation, even if it means that I'm at a disadvantage going in with my Toxic/Poison deck. Catching someone by surprise with an archetype they weren't prepared to go up against is a recipe for a feels bad. It's harder to win if you give them the heads up, but the wins you do eek out will be less likely to leave feels bads at the end of the day.

[@vipreoptic4218]

I'm new to this channel, and you have some of the best ads I've ever heard. The therapy one cracks me up so hard everytime

[@TheMMC100]

I just built my first infect deck with Sidar Kondo and Nadier as partner commanders. It's a weenie toxic/infect deck that goes wide with many unblockable poison creatures. I played it vs my friend and if he hadn't gone infinite in 5 turns, I would have killed him on my own turn 5. Infect is NUTS!!!

[@theshawman]

Getting back into MtG and first foray into Commander and I'm building a infect deck based off Corrupting Influence precon

[@TC-rw1kf]

I run a fear and a shadow in my infect deck. Shadow is my favorite because nobody has a shadow creature to block. Kamiz is my Commander.

[@BobSmith-sp1cg]

I'd recommend an Access Tunnel it's a second Rogue Passage in some decks

[@jacobjackson5535]

I’m just so excited to add to my old Volrath the Shapestealer deck.

[@antdiaz00]

If you’ve played against a well built toxic deck (my buddy built venser) it is super scary. Usually kills everyone by turn 6 with an ok draw, turn 4 if it was a god hand. All will be one definitely turned the heat up for poison counter strategies

[@renanandrade478]

I fail to see how venser is that strong... like give the infect creatures flying? Is that enough?

[@antdiaz00]

@@renanandrade478 It’s not venser himself, just the fact that it can be hard to produce a blocker by turn 2 means that it can scratch you to start the poison. It’s the insane proliferation package that dimir has now because of all will be one that carries this deck all the way. Even months later it consists kills on turn 6 or so.

[@renanandrade478]

Ohhh i see thx on the info, i play a fynn monogreen deck so wouldnt know about dimir, fynn is a little simplistic but good too

[@Drakelis]

If you play infect with red: chandra’s ignition, soul’s fire, and mage slayer is terrifying

[@robertjordan249]

Was great meeting all of the Command Zone people at Magic Con in Philly. Hopefully we can discuss getting Bryon Wackwitz (magic artist) on Command Zone or Game Knights! Enjoy your shows and you games. Don't forget Pendelhaven for your land!! Thanks

[@WitheringMotions]

My infect deck these days is lead by Kamiz, Obscura Oculus. That unblockable or double strike infect gets it done pretty fast. I'm finding I don't care much for the green infect stuff as much as what else is available.

[@ArthasKingOfBlades]

One of my favorite cards to proliferate is Planewide Celebration, it's a 5GG spell but you can proliferate up to 4 times which is a lot to close a game.

[@flippinneetgaming4068]

They are not padawans if they're Sith. They are acolytes.

[@Mr_B_251]

I went unconventional poison. I chose Kamiz, Obscura Oculus with extra proliferate. Put the +1/+1 counter and unblockable on one creature that has no evasion, and give the double strike to one that does (like pump the Ichor Rats, Double Strike the Blighted Agent). I have not gotten to test it out yet. But it is similar to other "traditional" aggro decks and less about the "gotcha" factor.

[@davidlandis8778]

I also have a Kamiz infect deck. That unblockable infect is a killer. Hatred and Archetype of Imagination are great in the deck

[@Mr_B_251]

It's pretty sick. And it doesn't have to be exclusively poison. Included Dragonlord Ojutai, Tymna the Weaver, and Glenn Voice of Calm to keep my connive engine going. And Ria Ivor to trade my non-poison combat damage in for a wide board.

[@thatjacobchild]

Super excited to build a Sidar Kondo/Silas Renn toxic deck! I think I'm super stoked to be able to have a rule zero 'I do t have any pump spells' chat so people don't kill me right out the gate lol

[@virajs2883]

I like tainted strike because if they don’t block someone else’s creature you can put tainted strike on it and it buffs it and gives it infect, tasty

[@alnubist]

I use Tasigur as the commander, make them hand you back an infect/toxic creature.

[@jordanhansen5934]

I made a Glissa the Traitor deck that’s a combination of Infect and Artifacts. It’s fun to play and works surprisingly well together. Once I get some poison counters on my opponents it’s really easy to go shields up and start proliferating. Not to mention that infect doesn’t care how many times you blow up the board so long as you are able to keep proliferating.

[@dennisbradford7216]

This episode has inspired me to build an Artisan EDH Infect deck (for those who don't know, Artisan Commander is a format variant that's just Commander but only with commons and uncommons) with Alora, Merry Thief and Hardy Outlander. Now that all the infect creatures have been errata'd to have the Phyrexian creature type, I think Heirloom Blade is a good piece of infect tech. It buffs your infect creature and finds you the next infect creature should it die.

[@hunterstephens3671]

I tend to have the "Rule 0 talk" anytime it's a new pod. Try to cover combo wins, infect, and mill, as well as game time expectation.

[@edwardphillips4586]

I love my slivers who can do all things, especially pisons counters

[@1ntegrator]

The example for Rebbec with the sword is not the best since you can’t equip it to your mites 😂

[@12jacobmar]

When Command zone releases a new video. 1:13:07

[@maxwellromza8390]

Unreal 😂

[@cyrusburton1287]

I'm somewhat surprised the new Ramses wasn't mentioned. I've been curious about it but don't know if it would work/be fun. Has anyone tried it?

[@Elmarias777]

a great card I have used so many times to win with infect is using those etb abilities along with Emiel the blessed. Blink a few times each turn and get free counters/proliferates.

[@ThisIsAigle]

Craig mentioned infect from surprise. And I had a good cackle. Because Satoru Umezawa is the only commander I have with infect in it. suuuuure it's 4 mana to make the swap. but i'm also swapping for those cards with high powers and infect. Like hand of the praetor and reaper of sheoldred, and of course, the rudeness of Blightsteel. Only takes one unblocked creature to make the table reconsider letting the little 1/1 through

[@felyndiirashaleealbrecht6338]

Question, can you equip a sword with prot x-color onto a creature of the color? i.e. prot black onto a black creature?

[@MerlinSaur]

Aqueous Form, one of my favorite auras. Costs 1 blue, makes the enchanted creature unblockable and whenever it attacks, scry 1

[@epicjuicebox]

I'm still running mono black Skittles. He's very effective! 😈

[@sirada9623]

my commander is Saskia the Unyielding, dealing infect damage to multiple opponents or double the chosen player..

[@takeuspa01]

I would love to see Mr. infect talking about the Fynn, the Fangbearer EDH deck, the combination of Deathtouch and Poison is amazing!

[@j-dubz2349]

Just build General Marhault Elsdragon with nothing but infect/toxic creatures. Opponents have incentive to block and buff all your creatures.

[@SquIDGAmiG62]

A piece of Tech that is both kind of protection/Card Draw/forwarding the strategy is "Norn's Decree" When people hit you they get a poison counter and when players attack poisoned players they draw a card.

[@1ntegrator]

If someone plays an infect deck without mentioning it before I might get mad. That’s what the rule 0 conversation is for, so you can decide if you want to face the deck. If disclosed I am happy to lose to infect but not telling In advance would get me more salty than loosing to it 😅

[@BigBird5991]

I'm running the New Capenna commander Kamiz and just running Esper Unblockable, +1/+1 counter, doublestrike infect

[@eusouonumero232]

I love new phyrexia and old phyrexia, everything about it it's worth my time.

[@kazuallykunfuzed]

I wonder if Craig uses Poison type Pokémon?

[@RazgrizAce67]

I built a Vishgraz deck and have been having fun with it. My strategy is: 1. Poison early with low cmc creatures 2. Play some midrange creatures with evasion (including commander) to ensure all opponents have some poison 3. Use removal and boardwipes to stall opponents 4. Proliferate remaining poison counters I avoid the pump spells and out of nowhere kills due to all the associated feel-bads. So far this strategy makes for a much more fair and fun poison deck.

[@laurenslinkwolf]

I find winds of abandon a perfect board whipe in aggro decks perfect of clearing the entire board and just go for it! they do not get the lands available now, so it really does not matter if they are dead ;-) (and as a bonus my playgroup has way to expensive mana baseses to run lot of basics xD)

[@young-squeezy]

contrary to popular opinion, I do believe infect is GREAT for commander. Soooo relieving to actually have faster games that don’t just devolve into endless Johnny combos or big wompy multi colored bajillion worded battle cruisers creatures. Sometimes it’s great to just actually end games with infect because otherwise there would be no aggressive strategy to balance out the endless forever games that have been plaguing my playgroups…

[@finks1]

Perfect timing! Was great meeting you in Philly Craig. I got many signatures this weekend but my signed Thicc Ixhel is one of my favorite souvenirs.

[@jameswalterii1911]

Fynn the Fangbearer is my infect deck. It is so fun to play but makes me the target lol.

[@mmobley94]

My first infect deck ran as Hapatra, Vizer of Poisons and the infect was there for the -1/-1 counters. now I wnat to take my new Infect/Toxic deck runnig Ixhal and try and do a two headed giant with them both. One clears the way for the other

[@Overi4096]

What about Planewide celebration as finisher? (in infect and/or toxic decks) It's has 7cmc, but it can proliferate 4 times.

[@Donovarkhallum]

So situational if any control is there with mana up.

[@Nanot33]

@@Donovarkhallum isn't that true for any wincon without the text "cannot be countered"?

[@Overi4096]

@@Donovarkhallum but almost every spell can be countered, that's not an argument. Cyclonic rift can be countered, Caress to Phjyrexia too and so on.

[@Spike-hl2mw]

@@Donovarkhallum The old "dies to removal" argument.

[@BathrobeKeck]

In-training Sith are called acolytes

[@iamacharliest]

I like Rhystic Deluge for an infect deck. It's defensive being able to tap your opponents creatures down but also offensive being able to get your smaller infect creatures through by tapping their creatures down when it's your turn.

[@aaronwindham6065]

Looks like a lot of their predictions on some of these cards were wrong

[@spidermonkey28]

Bond of Discipline and Glorious Sunrise would be amazing.

[@richardsneddon2976]

I used to run atraxa as my infect deck but it was difficult.. my new infect deck is mono green with fyn the fangbearer and it is pretty quick and it got a lot of great new toys with this set ..atraxa is so overated especially for the current price

[@yoitsgunattack]

Blightsteel colossus is the best infect creature but it goes in 0 infect decks because it cost to much and getting a support frame to tutor and cheat it would require to much.

[@nathanialmynameisajoke]

Look up the enchantment behind the scenes if you're making lots of mites

[@matwhang]

I think the term you’re looking for is “apprentice” 😊 always two there are…

[@OhNoTheFace]

I wonder if this is where someone could be "mean" with land destruction since your cheaper deck bounces back faster

[@ChrisStopper100]

It has been two months since there was an episode without Rachel I guess this is her show now.

[@akkio2567]

Suprised there is no love for red in this episode, red has some of the best ways to close out the game with flesh/blood, gravitic punch, arcbond and chandra's ignition

[@Kat13196]

I probably should change my kaseto deck out for muldrotha or something 😂 but I do really like him for Infect because he can make my creatures unblockable