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Pauper infect

Posted: Mon Nov 25, 2013 8:15 am
by DarthStabber
It's amazing how cheap infect is. My modern monogreen infect deck needs only minimal maindeck modification to fit pauper (the sideboard is another story).

Current build
[Deck]
Dudes
4 glistener elf
4 ichorclaw myr
4 blight mamba
2 rot wolf

Pumps
4 vines of vastwood
4 groundswell
4 mutagenic growth
4 giant growth
2 ranger's guile
4 rancor

Scouting
4 gitaxian probe

Land
4 tranquil thicket
16 forest

Board
4 leaf arrow
4 apostle's blessing
1 rot wolf
2 ranger's guile
4 nature's claim[/deck]
Turn 2 wins are certainly possible, but angling at that specifically requires a nut draw that is just not realistic to rely on. If you do get that hand, enjoy it.

Glistener elf is the key to the turn 2 victory, and beyond that he's a dude with infect for cheap. Mamba and icky myr give you dudes for 2, icky is annoying to block, and mamba's regen is frequently relevant. Rot wolves
are there to achieve an acceptable creature density, the ability to draw cards doesn't come up all that often, but the lack of better options make him necessary.

The pumps are fairly self explanatory, mutagenic growth and groundswell are the heavy lifters. Gaint growth is needed for density. Vines of vastwood pulls double duty, it's a pump and it protects a dude, never underestimate the value of the hexproofing, the creature count is very low so protecting them is important. Ranger's guile serves as more protection, with two more in the board for decks with a lot of removal. Finally rancor gives trample and 2 power, nothing to complain about.

Gitaxian probe is an important inclusion, for a mere 2 life you get to check to see if your opponent can stop you, it lets you get your sequencing for buffs right, and it replaces itself. Tranquil thicket is included for a couple of reasons. First: if you have no glistener in your opening hand you have no turn 1 play, meaning you can drop it without
actually slowing yourself down. Second: you do 't need that many lands, it's nice to be able to ditch the excess. Third: with invigorate banned you have nothing that requires actual forests

The contents of the sideboard tend to slow the deck down, and many matches require no boarding. The leaf arrow is included to deal with flipped delvers, faeries, and a few other random things, keep in mind that you don't need it unless they are maintaining too much board presence, or can outrun you, which is rare. Nature's claim deals with artifacts and jace's erasure (turbofog), and giving them extra life is hilarious. The extra wolf is important in certain matchups, just to shore up the numbers. The extra ranger's guile is more protection for games when maintaining board presence is critical. Apostle's blessing is even more protection and evasion, just be careful with it as you are dealing yourself a lot of damage with phybrid mana.

It's fast, it's ugly, and my local
shop is considering banning glistener elf as a result.

Posted: Mon Nov 25, 2013 5:40 pm
by Jack
I don't know how much experience you have with this deck that would lead you to think otherwise, but I'd think that you'd want to mainboard your Apostle's Blessings. I played MGI for a few months in Standard and a few months in Modern, and that card is absolutely necessary if you want to have a chance at winning once they put up resistance. The loss of your manland (your only evasive creature) makes it even more crucial.
Also, Rancor is the tits.

Posted: Mon Nov 25, 2013 11:40 pm
by Alex
Yeah I played a lot of UG infect in Standard as well, Apostle's Blessing is a huge boon in the mainboard. It's actually just better than Ranger's Guile most of the time.

Also Tranquil Thicket is pretty pointless here, you almost never want to cycle it and you'd rather just play your land as a spell if you can. I'd probably play Teetering Peaks, even if it IS off color.

Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2013 12:09 am
by DarthStabber
I forgot rancor, damn! And actually I have been playing it alot (and winning with it), and rancor was in it at one point, not sure where it got cut or why, and how it got cut and some how predator's strike stayed. My only excuse is mixing anxiety meds with hard liquor (double the fun, double the hangover). I love whiskey, i'm not an alcoholic, i'm a drunk, alcoholics go to meetings. Either way I have been winning without it, so I should be golden when it goes back in.

Apostle's blessing is not in the main deck because I don't own any at the moment, ordered some, currently the spot in the board is being held by 2 naturalize and 2 of the pro artifact infect elf. Beyond that I was really liking the extra power, as it created more t2 win lines, but I suppose it's hypocritical of me to say that here when I stated in the main part that t2 wins should not be treated as the goal.

I have enjoyed tranquil thicket, it
has done some surprising good work, though I can't rule out confirmation bias. I'll give teetering peaks a go, might be worth the effort, though the color requirements of the deck will often make it just a pump that costs a land drop instead of mana.

Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2013 2:10 am
by Alex
Nothing being GG means you can basically keep any hand with a single Forest in it. :shrug:

Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2013 4:28 am
by DarthStabber
Not true, kicked VOV is GG, and casting any more than 1 non-mutagenic growth requires extra green. Buff stacking is the name of the game. Infact other than creatures everything is colored mana or phybrid.