Wanna Win NOW - Current Version

"I come bearing cysts!
Get it? ...Hello? Is this
thing on?"

In the comments of a previous post, I wound up linking to a thread where others had improved on my design. The most notable additions, the birds, cystbearers and the bolts, were added by a poster answering to Ankiseth. I don't think he's playing it with both Rootbound and Copperline lands, but I honestly can't think of a good reason not to if one has them.


Main Deck:

4 x Birds of Paradise
4 x Ichorclaw Myr
4 x Blight Mamba
4 x Cystbearer
3 x Putrefax

4 x Groundswell
4 x Vines of Vastwood
4 x Assault Strobe
4 x Lightning Bolt
3 x Livewire Lash


4 x Rootbound Crag
4 x Copperline Gorge
14 x Forest

Sideboard:

4 x Pyroclasm
4 x Plummet
4 x Naturalize
3 x Combust

I still have yet to test this deck myself, though I hope to this Friday. It will all depend on whether I can get my hands on two more Vines of Vastwood, which, in theory, should happen. I'm not going to play it short any Vines, however, so if I can't, I'll be  tapping in my Myr deck of DOOM (which is probably a better deck, but I'm more eager to try this one).

I'm pretty much winging the sideboard. Yay other forms of removal? Pyroclasm is for dealing with other weenie decks. According to Ankiseth, who actually has been playtesting a version of this deck (some of his results are towards the end of the thread), it's good against Red Deck Wins (RDW).

At first, I wasn't enthusiastic about including Cystbearer. He costs more than Necropede, he has no effect upon entering the graveyard, he tells lame jokes... but being 2/3 with infect is pretty good. For one thing, it can survive one of those sideboarded Pyroclasms. For another, it can still get out by turn three if combined with Birds of Paradise.

And for thirdsies, it can do game-winning damage if unblocked at instant speed without any Assault Strobes. It would still take two cards, but two Groundswells, two Vines of Vastwood, or a combination of the two could still have it dealing 10 poison counters (assuming one pulls off landfall). Either of those with an Assault Strobe also works, so that's five ways an unblocked Cystbearer can end the game with two spells pumping it.

Odds are good that it won't be that simple, but while Cystbearer is less likely to pull of an early win, it's got better odds of finishing a game the deck fails to end as quickly as it wants, which will probably be most of them. Let's face it: the turn three win is an ideal scenario that won't happen most games even if there are lots of ways to do it.

Thoughts?

Wanna Win NOW (WWN) Deck

"Why haven't I won yet?!"

This is a completely untested but potentially scary basis for a RG Infect deck. I call it "Wanna Win Now", or WWN. The reason for that is because there are six combos (all requiring Assault Strobe) that can result in a turn three win.

4 x Spikeshot Elder
4 x Ichorclaw Myr
4 x Blight Mamba
4 x Necropede
4 x Putrefax

4 x Groundswell
4 x Vines of Vastwood
4 x Assault Strobe
3 x Grafted Exoskeleton
3 x Livewire Lash


4 x Rootbound Crag
6 x Mountain
12 x Forest

Assault Strobe is necessary for the turn three win. It must be combined with a two mana infect creature and an instant that gives it +4/+4. Assault Strobe is a sorcery, so the smart opponent will likely block it, but if they can't stop it, that's game over.

Turn 1: Play a land.
Turn 2: Play another land, cast Ichorclaw Myr, Blight Mamba, or Necropede
Turn 3: Play another land, cast Assault Strobe, and if unblocked, cast Groundswell or Vines of Vastwood. This will either cost RG or RGG depending on which boost is being used.

I'm not 100% certain how to calculate the cumulative probability on this (EDIT: though I give it a shot in the first comment and it MIGHT be about 21.8%), but those are the best odds I've ever seen for a potential turn three win. The linchpin of having to draw an Assault Strobe by turn three keeps the odds from being completely favorable, but the rest is drawing 1 of 12 creatures, 1 of 8 instants, and having 3 land in play by turn three (even if you use Groundswell, you need landfall for it to be +4/+4).

Of course, if you DON'T win on turn three, that horrible failure doesn't leave one with no options. The boost spells combined with infect are still potent, Grafted Exoskeleton on Spikeshot Elder means it can give an opponent 3 poison counters for each 1RR you have available each turn, the boost spells combined with Livewire Lash gives a way to put poison counters on the opponent even if they've got a good defense going, and casting Putrefax is roughly the equivalent of throwing a temper tantrum and saying "I should have won by now!"

As I've said, this deck is completely untested, and for all I know it would get slaughtered in tournaments. Nonetheless, I'm proud of it because it's a deck I haven't seen before. It may turn out to be a lame duck, but darn it, it's MY lame duck.

Of course, if it IS tournament viable, I suspect I'm going to be outvoted on what to call it, and WWN will fall by the wayside. They'll probably call it "Infection Assault", or something. BLEH.

Prerelease Tomorrow

The Scars of Mirrodin pre-release is tomorrow! I have my Myr token proxies ready to go. I actually hope I can manage to make an infect-themed deck, but given how sealed works, I'm mostly hoping I can get any sort of theme going.

If you don't mind spoilers and are looking for some pre-release deck construction advice, I recommend this pre-release primer and this daily TMG article.

I've decided to only play in one tournament for a variety of reasons, one of which being that I'm usually ready to stop playing for a while after just one tournament. It will make my blogging about it later easier, at least.

Note: the links included below are to cards from Scars, so don't click if you don't want card spoilers.

My only real regret in regard to not playing more than one of these tournaments this weekend is that I do want four of the promo card being offered, but the fact that it's a promo card in addition to being a mythic rare in the set should help keep the cost relatively low as far as mythics go. I hope that'll be the case, anyway. I have a green deck that would love it.

In the meantime, however, I'm looking forward to making Myr and Infect decks. I'm making the Myr one first, as I know exactly what I'm doing with that, but I do have at least one brutal combo in mind for the Infect deck.

Scars of Mirrodin: Saying "NI!" To Infect

"Shrubberies are a source of
many medicinal remedies."

In an earlier post, I made a joke about Knight Exemplar being afraid of a new ability to be found in Scars of Mirrodin called Infect. Infect deals damage to players in the form of poison counters and creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters. If this reduces an indestructible creature to 0 toughness, it will be destructed nonetheless, so--

Wait, no wavy red underline? "Destructed" is a real word? AWESOME!

*erhem* Anyway, this has resulted in people at my local FNM speculating that knights will be far less potent once Scars comes out due to the Knight Exemplar becoming less reliable.

I'm about to get into card spoilers beyond the existence of the "infect" ability, so if it bothers you that much, flee like I just said ni.

Thing is, however, the Knight Exemplar's boons aren't the only thing knights have going for them. For one thing, every knight in my deck has, or quickly level up to having, first strike. With the exception of a particularly nasty looking 4/4 dragon and a 1/5 horror, my knights are pretty well equipped to block and kill anything with infect without having to deal with -1/-1 counters. White Knights offer significant protection, and they're in my main deck for being 2/2 first strikers for WW alone. The protection from black is a happy bonus.

Plague Stinger, the flying 1/1 black creature with Infect, is a considerable threat given that it's flying, but my knights are still equipped to deal with them via my own flying creatures and creature removal spells. It's possible the flying knights in my deck will lose first strike should I trade my current ones for the weaker-but-less-expensive Kemba's Skyguard (2/2 flying for 1WW, gain 2 life when it enters the battlefield), but it still beats the Plague Stinger.

I'm not saying things aren't going to get more difficult for knights. The themes of Scars means much more -1/-1 shenanigans, be they via infect or something like Grasp of Darkness, a black spell for BB that gives a creature -4/-4 until end of turn, so the knights are definitely more vulnerable.

My point, however, is that I don't think knight decks will suddenly become non-viable. They will still be effective against other decks and capable of holding their own against infect decks. In fact, I look forward to facing off against an infect deck with my knights. Assuming I'm right, those will be intense, fun games.

Of course, that probably won't happen for a while if I get all the cards I need for my Myr deck before the first October FNM. Tap and roll out, Myrs!