Infect

[PickleLover]

i want infect back...but sadly it wouldn't fit the lore or theme of a new kamigawa...yawgmoth we need you back in new phyrexia

[WWolfe]

i want infect back...but sadly it wouldn't fit the lore or theme of a new kamigawa...yawgmoth we need you back in new phyrexia

I knew I couldn't be the only one hoping for a return of infect!

[WizardSpartan]

i want infect back...but sadly it wouldn't fit the lore or theme of a new kamigawa...yawgmoth we need you back in new phyrexia

I knew I couldn't be the only one hoping for a return of infect!

You all are a bunch of scumbags

[Marshstepper78]

Infect is a bit much, but Poisonous (see Virulent Sliver), on the other hand, is more fair.

[Slyvester12]

Infect is a bit much, but Poisonous (see Virulent Sliver), on the other hand, is more fair.

I'm pretty sure people hate infect because of poison counters, not -1/-1 counters. Wither might be more acceptable in most groups. (Infect is still great, though.)

[Marshstepper78]

Poisonous has nothing to do with -1/-1 counters.

[PickleLover]

black-green infect was the first good deck i made, and i love it because ppl hate it cuz its so annoying

i just love making my 1/1 "harmless" glistener elf into a 12/12 with invigorate, groundswell, mutagenic growth, and more freebies

[Slyvester12]

Poisonous has nothing to do with -1/-1 counters.

...right. That was my point. People hate poison counters, which is why they'd hate Poisonous just as much as Infect. Wither is the other half of Infect, and I doubt it would make anyone salty.

[Akira Foxmind]

black-green infect was the first good deck i made, and i love it because ppl hate it cuz its so annoying

i just love making my 1/1 "harmless" glistener elf into a 12/12 with invigorate, groundswell, mutagenic growth, and more freebies

No love for a previous Scale up? 

Tbh I'm not sure whether infect will become reprinted cards or even a revival with new cards. Since it literally splits the community I don't want to imagine what would happen if infect would become standard legal with an upcoming set.
But don't get me wrong, I do like to play infect too.

[Aetherium Slinky]

How did I miss this thread completely???

Well then. Maybe a poll for "Infect - yay or nay?"

Considering infect is storm scale 7 (https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/188778981058/hi-quick-question-wheres-infect-on-the-storm) it's unlikely they'll print anything to do with infect.

[PickleLover]

About the Scale Up, I have often thought about putting it in my deck but there are 2 problems

1. It costs one green mana. I always try to have free mana costs because I don't have many lands and likewise not much mana fixing, so even G is not as good as it could be (though there are still cards that cost G simply because i couldn't find any more freebies)

2. It's a sorcery. People see it coming from a mile away, and they almost certainly will block it. I need instants badly, and I need them to surprise people. That's why I chose Groundswell of Might of Old Krosa. My deck works better the less times I have played people, because often times they don't care letting a 1/1 through.

Nevertheless, I do love Scale Up, and it's very good for its mana cost

[WizardSpartan]

Because I only play Commander, my dislike for Infect stems from that. To me, there are 3 ways infect can go:

• Everyone dies at once to an alpha strike. I.e. Triumph of the Hordes. I don't mind this that much, as infect is used more as an immediate win con.
• Everyone gains a couple poison counters as a result of some effect and then get proliferated to death. I.e. Hand of the Praetors + Contagion Engine. I'm a little more against this, as once everybody has that one poison counter, the game turns into "make sure the proliferate player never plays a card again," which feels unfun for all parties involved.
• The infect player kills one person and the rest of the table murders the infect player. I.e. Blightsteel Colossus, Tainted Strike, Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon. This is my least favorite way to go. Infect decks are infamous for being able to quickly kill 1 player, but they lack necessary support to kill multiple people and will likely just have their few good creatures removed, resulting in them durdling the rest of the game. I despise this. If you are the one player that's killed, you have to sit there for likely a long time waiting for the game to end, as the player that killed you likely can't finish the job. If you are the infect player, you killed one player but now can't play the game anymore. If you are the 2 remaining players, the game isn't necessarily unfun, just a little annoying.

I'm not against Infect as a mechanic, but I think it's too difficult to balance in Commander. One of the key aspects of the format is that everyone starts at 40 life, so being able to kill someone with only 10 "damage" that can be increased by proliferate effects is very strong. As a result, WotC has made most infect and infect support cards undertuned to make the mechanic not OP. There are a few (Blightsteel, Skithiryx) that are extremely good cards, but 2 or 3 good cards really isn't enough to make a balanced and enjoyable mechanic.

[PickleLover]

With infect in commander, I absolutely agree no question. I forgot to specify that I only play Eternal formats, and from that, only Legacy and Modern (no commander or pauper)

[WWolfe]

Infect just isn't much of a threat in Commander for the reasons WizardSpartan mentioned. I use it in one deck (Skullbriar) and it's more utility than anything else. I pack both Triumph of the Hordes and Tainted Strike in the deck. That deck however is designed to be a 1v1 deck.

Infect just doesn't have enough support to be the "build around" of a multiplayer deck without focusing on proliferate and as WS said, that can be a double edged sword for the one playing it. I did that at one time and it just wasn't fun for me or my playgroup. If there were more effectively costed creatures or ways of giving your team infect, perhaps an overloaded card that somewhat combines Tainted Strike and Triumph into one with a reasonable cost, then it would be more viable. But without that, it's more of a novelty. With it's ranking on the Storm Scale, it's unlikely either of those ever happen.

And it sucks because I loved infect back in the days.

ETA- I also had a Saskia the Unyielding infect deck at one point and it just made me a target early in the game.

[Aetherium Slinky]

My Dakkon voltron runs Tainted Strike but then again it takes players out one by one anyway. My Uro deck runs Triumph of the Hordes as an alternative to Pathbreaker Ibex. Am I a bad person now?