Scars of Mirrodin Draft: Infect Deck

If you're heading into a Magic: The Gathering Scars of Mirrodin draft and you're looking to play an infect deck, you'll probably want to know what options are available and what other cards to mix with your purveyors of poison.  We'll walk you through some of the choices you'll face when going for a withering win.

Blight Mamba:  Although it may seem dangerous at first and is a decent staple in an infect deck, you probably don't want to be using high quality picks on Blight Mamba.  You'll have to save mana to regenerate that you should probably be using to play more threats, and remain vulnerable to other infect creatures and -1/-1 counters.  Playable, but far from ideal, Blight Mamba is a fine addition to a infect deck.

Plague Stinger:  One of the most dangerous turn 2 drops available, paired with boosting cards the Plague Stinger offers a voracious early game assault to the infect deck and incredibly degenerate wins.  The evasive nature of this fetid flying fiend makes it a terrifying asset and should be given consideration over many of the other infect creatures despite its low toughness.

Ichorclaw Myr: A great 2 drop that can be used in any infect deck, you won't have to scramble to play black/green - you can pick one and play the impressive artifact lineup and use a different color for removal spells and support.  Ichorclaw Myr is great for continual assaults and will almost always trade considerably higher than its value.

Necropede: It's like a Perilous Myr, only Necropede features infect.  That's a good thing, providing annoying assaults that will two for one on Myrs and other fragile smiths and utility creatures.  A great colorless addition to an infect lineup.

Vector Asp: Often overlooked, and certainly not the best infect option of the bunch, this can actually be an alright addition to your infect deck assuming you're packing a Throne of Geth or two.  A Necrotic Ooze can actually utilize the effect from beyond the grave as well.

Throne of Geth: Not only will the Throne allow you to push extra poison counters on your opponent and place them on a clock with your Ichorclaws, Necropedes, Curs, equipment, and maybe even vector asps, the Throne of Geth makes a great addition to an infect deck utilizing  artifacts.

Trigon of Rage:  Useful in many Limited decks, Trigon of Rage can be quite the powerhouse in an infect template, turning those Plague Stingers into "8" points of effective damage on a single swing.  Virtually any unblocked creature can prove lethal with this Trigon in play.

Darksteel Axe:  One of the more interesting aspects of drafting an effective infect deck is that you should be prioritizing powerful equipment like Darksteel Axe to get the most out of the infectious creatures that you do pick up.  As almost any savvy drafter will be picking up this equipment early, you'll have to use a high selection on it.

Corpse Cur: Especially good in multiples, these specialized Scars of Mirrodin gravediggers allow you to recycle your strongest infectious creatures.

Untamed Might: After getting in for a few poison pokes, Untamed Might functions as a win condition and a psychological trauma machine, as your opponents will be forced to give you credit as if you were holding one or risk losing the game.

Tel-Jilad Fallen:  These can be an excellent middle of the road choice for your infect deck, as protection from artifacts is very useful in Scars of Mirrodin and the high base power makes for serious poison punch.  Four mana and green committal is a lot to pay for a one toughness creature - but sometimes he can just get there on his own, especially against metalcraft builds.

Tangle Angler: A solid addition, but definitely more than a little expensive to get out.  The 5 toughness on an infectious body is impressive, but he lacks the aggressive nature to get the job done.

Ichor Rats: A great bonus to any infect deck, Ichor Rats will let you get the first point of poison on without even having to make contact with the opponent, and comes with 2 points of power for after the first bite.

Contagious Nim: Vanilla infect, but still quite viable for getting the job done if you've been picking up quality equipment over infect creatures.

Cystbearer: A very sturdy infect selection and definitely something you'd like to see a few of in your infect-oriented draft if green is an option.

Blackcleave Goblin: Probably the last option you'd like.  Too expensive even for the surprise value, stay away from this one.

Grafted Exoskeleton:  Really ties the infect deck together, and will allow you to utilize specialty high-pick creatures outside of infect such as Skinrender.

Contagion Clasp: Removal that can clock the opponent and wear creatures down.  Since Contagion Clasp is very playable in almost any Scars of Mirrodin draft deck, you'll have to take it high.

And then of course there's the obvious selections in the rare and mythic slots that really don't need much explanation: Putrefax, Hand of the Praetors, Skithiryx, Contagion Engine, etc.

The infect deck is a very strong template, but beware of people in front of you forcing it and pick up on it early.  If you're getting passed Razor Hippogriffs and other strong selections early, chances are you've got one, maybe even two people upstream snagging all the infectious fun. 

Although forcing can be an effective strategy, everyone is looking to play with poison at the moment.  Unless you can get some clear signals early in a Scars of Mirrodin draft that the infect deck is open, you're probably better off grabbing the great stuff that the three poison obssessed players in front of you are letting go.

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