Infect: Good and Good for You

The return to Mirrodin has been filled with nostalgia. I mean, we are seeing direct results of Urza Planeswalker's meddling, right from day one. Karn the Silver Golem created Mirrodin, and he was created by Urza, who used a Phyrexian Heartstone from his late companion Xantcha (a Phyrexian traitor) that still leaked Glistening Oil. Whats more awesome than returning to the roots of Magic after a couple years of wandering the Multiverse an visiting planes like Ravnica, Alara, and Zendikar? Nothing, that's what.

But the nostalgia isn't just in the storyline, its in the mechanic. Back in Fourth Edition, we saw poison counters make their debut on a couple cards like Pit Scorpion and Marsh Viper, and several more. Of course, these were what are now eratta'd as Poisonous 1. No matter how big they got, damage always resulted in exactly 1 poison counter per hit. This made actually using the strategy extremely difficult and very limited. Even then, there were far better strategies available. Mark Rosewater has stated on several different occasions though that he is a huge fan of alternate win conditions, so it was only a matter of time before they came back with a little extra juice. What extra juice? Allow me to explain.

Infect has super-octaned poison counters by using them as a damage system. Let's look at the Rules Text on the cards to help us out a bit:

This creature deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters

So a 4/4 creature will deal you 4 poison counter, not just 4 damage and a counter to boot. Now, lets look at what the comprehensive rules have to say real quick:

• 120.1c. If a player has ten or more poison counters, he or she loses the game as a state-based action.

Ok, so 10 poison counters to lose, versus the 20 life we have in damage. So, if we need half as much poison as damage to lose, and creature with Infect deal damage directly in poison, then Infect creature have de facto twice as much power as printed. Above and to the left you'll see a card affectionately dubbed "Skittles" by players. It's a whopping 4/4 Infector with flying and regeneration for 5 mana. It has a niche, definitely, but a very big one. Say...every worthwhile Infect based deck? If an equally powerful card was printed outside of this gritty, nifty little mechanic, it would be an 8/8 with flying and regeneration. For 5 mana. Two words: Hot, Damn,  Play a couple Ichor Rats to get the ball rolling, any proliferate card (which I'm getting to, don't worry) and drop Skittles turn 5 or 6 to watch the sweat start to bead on your opponents face. The regeneration bit makes him a tough cookie to get rid of.

Profliferation (Not Covered in the SALT II)

Rules Text: You choose any number of permanents and/or players with counters on them, then give each another counter of a kind already there.

Proliferate is like the quirky, more flexible sidekick who eventually moves on to bigger and cooler things, Like Robin. Robin became Nightwing. Cool, amirite? Anyways, I digress. 

Proliferate is very useful of course in the theme of  -1/-1 and poison counters going on in the Scars of Mirrodin block, but has many more practical applications in every format. Much like a favorite of mine, Gilder Bairn, it is a completely Johnny mechanic and can do some epically wacky things. A Contagion Engine once saved my legacy deck against a swarm of Epochrasites, for example, by endlessly proliferating their time counters until I could fully charge my Darksteel Reactor (also helped along by the proliferation) for an alternate win!

Now Proliferate is cool and deserved mention, as do many other mechanics in this set. But all of that is for another article, if for no other reason than I would have to write another article-sized section to fit in all I want to mention and show about them. What I really want to show case here is a couple awesome combos we can get with some cards you may not have expected. 

I've heard a bunch of mention and seem a lot of play with and about White/Black decks. Now that Phyrexia and their infectious charms have settled into the White portion of the Color Pie,  this is a very, VERY viable option for players. W/B was somewhat popular in the Shadowmoor block, but most enemy color combos were too. Now, though, we see some real synergy going on, even from sets that didn't expect them. Why? Because White has always had a thing for beefing up creates, and sometimes even in gross, mob packaging. Look at cards like Inspired Charge,

Mighty Leap and Celestial Mantle. Just to name a couple I could look up in Gatherer quickly. Ajani here is a great one. Used to buff al your infect creatures and giving them vigilance is a good thing for an aggressive offensive. Even better, using the afforementioned Celestial Mantle and Phyresis on Ajani's Ultimate Token is bound to just absolutely wreck whatever measures your staring down at that moment.  All you need is 10, so even if your taking a beating, you still get a very potent creature on the board. Throw in another favorite with infect, Vampire Bite. Or two or three. In this combo, you can use the kicker to create a recursive effect that only makes your next swing twice as big, or if you have more than one in hand, you can drop several on a couple creatures to tie the game up. Either way, you can turn the tables with this one even at the last moment and survive to fight the good fight. 

I'm not done with Infect, don't think for a second that I am. But the rest will have to wait. I plan on posting again before Friday, but no guarantees. When I do post though, I'm going to do one more Magic article before recentering on something else for a minute. What, you ask? I'll give you a hint: your friends may beat you savagely.  Good night everyone!