Berto’s Beats – Drafting Red Infect
Ogres and Spiders and Cystbearers and …Pigs, O My!
As a format matures we all start to see different draft “archetypes” arise. From the dregs of Metalcraft we eventually found Dinosaurs! When Infect wasn’t working we realized that all-in with Untamed Might was still good enough to 3-0 a draft. New Phyrexia has blossomed this Scars block draft format into fruition. We see aggro decks based around Battle Cry and cards like Suture Priest. There’s the resurrection of the Robots now fighting for their Phyrexian masters and their overpowered alternate mana costs. From all the compost, I see a future for Red Infect- invading draft tables like an especially virulent patch of poison ivy.
The main reason you can build a deck like R/G Infect is general neglect. Drafters avoid Green like the plague, and Red infectors don’t fit in any other deck. Many of you have also noticed that Razor Swine and Ogre Menial are in a print-run together. If you haven’t… well now you know. Often this would be an alarm clock to my allegorical wet dream, but with Red Infect it’s actually a blessing. Thousands of drafters around the world have already declared “Red Infect sucks! Red has zilch for Infect besides a lowly Rally the Forces which is never good enough. R/G can’t even get enough poisonous creatures for it to be worth it…”
The truth is, though, that an early-pick Pig in this situation will often spin you the Ogre for later! While the Ogre is honestly better for the archetype (we’ll get into this later), the Swine is used in many decks as a staunch defender, so we have to prioritize grabbing him. Secretly, they are both actually amazing defensive creatures, and so Red Infect is primarily a control deck. Pair them with the defensive prowess of Blightwidow, and you won’t be breached. Sit back on your good defensive creatures, use your burn to deny the opponent any real threats, and then bash in unabashedly for lethal in as little as one hit!
Alright, so we have a gameplan: Red Control with Infect creatures as finishers. The best support commons to this archetype are the obvious Volt Charge and the underrated Leeching Bite. Free pump spells are always good, but it’s specifically the Bite I want to spotlight. This card offers the deck a sweet combat trick while also doubling as a removal spell for many flyers and evasive creatures. Many a race will be one by stealing their momentum and charging with it.
“How high should I take Glistener Elf?” The fact is that you need to cut Green (especially Infect creatures) HARD in pack one, because it’s the Blightwidow and Rot Wolf from pack two that make this deck growl and not just purr. Obviously grab the Fallen Ferromancer if you see it over the commons, but you cannot let a Spinebiter ever get through. That card is an instant signal into Infect and you cannot afford the guy on your left to steal from you. Luckily, for commons you only need to protect the pump spells. The deck is generally control, but if you see a couple Glistener Elves then you may be able to accelerate the gas.
Pack two is pretty straight forward: take the Infect creatures, then the burn, then the pump. Don’t forget that Rally the Forces is pretty cute for a bundle of poisonous kitties that LOVE to give presents to blockers before they get hit back. Also consider the Dinosaurs! like Fangren Marauder as good control elements that help you build your poisonous team. An underrated Kuldotha Ringleader (and it’s white parallel Loxodon Partisan) can be a huge problem for your opponents as a big blocker when you drop him and a Battle Cry the next turn. Try to get Unnatural Predation as a winning combo with Ogre Menial. The Living Weapons are fine but they don’t poison… so look more for Piston Sledge, an absolute powerhouse on the Swine or Ogre.
Mirrodin Besieged is the site of some of the best equipment for Infect decks, so here’s a Top 5 list of all Equipment in the block for us.
5. Grafted Exoskeleton - This guy gets the nod since the thinned infectious ranks often have to play ‘inferior’ beings. The Exoskeleton provides a good source of late-game poison damage and combines well with the Trainees, as well as a random Spin Engine or Vulshok Replica.
4. Strider Harness- Along with big brother Necropouncer, this equipment offers the important element of surprise. Oftentimes your opponent can prepare for your attacks by leaving one plus-sized blocker. But with Haste sitting on the table, you can generate some startling momentum.
3. Piston Sledge- I don’t understand why this card gets passed. Remember Moldervine Cloak? This card is better AND fits into any color. While it’s best paired with Plague Stinger and Blighted Agent, it’s also great on the Red infectors.
2. Viridian Claw- First Strike is so good on these guys! I can’t say it loud enough. The ability to shrink the guy you’re fighting before he touches you is insanely good. Sometimes your Ogre Menial can even wreck an entire team.
1.Mortarpod- I’d be totally happy with a first-pick Claw, but the Mortarpod is the shit. This card does everything from removing blockers, to adding to Metalcraft if you need it (hello Mirran Mettle), to straight up ending games. Sacrificing a poisonous creature to your opponents face still deals Infect damage. A topdecked Mortarpod often spells doom for your opponents.
Really, any plus-power equipment is good. Axes, Armor, etc. make your guys a headache to deal with, and often fill out a creature-light deck.
Scars of Mirrodin offers all the Infect goodies we love to hate. Untamed Might has been stealing games since October, and no one needs to introduce Cystbearer. A card that has gotten a huge boost, though, is Tel-Jilad Fallen. With all the new Phyrexian artifacts, this guy is often unblockable. Not only that, but there’s fewer “ping” effects in the format than ever (did anyone notice he has protection from Pith Driller?) so his one-toughness buttocks is a bigger booty than it seems. The burn spells are obviously great, but there’s one card that can make your par poison decks explode: Assault Strobe. I’m not saying you should always play it, but it is surprisingly useful at stealing games when combined with Predation, Triumph of the Hordes, or even the random Immolating Souleater that you played just to trade with 3/3s. Strobe has made it as a 1-of in all my RG Infect decks (which often struggle to put together a full 23) and been a stud.
Drafting the deck is half the battle. The other half, as the G.I. Joes would tell us, is knowledge. While you will occasionally curve Cystbearer into Blightwidow and finish them with a huge fire-breathing Ogre, many matches will stall out. Cards like Razor Swine and the Widow are worth protecting since they can often single-handedly hold back the opposing team. Play smart. You’re often in the control seat, so don’t just run the pig into a 3/3 to shrink it! Eventually you’ll have the Untamed Might or the Viridian Claw that will blow the game open, so be patient.
Keep in mind that the opponent will have time too, so don’t get blown out by an untimely Dispense Justice, etc. Many of your creatures are fine attacking alone and simply the threat of pump will disjoint your foe. Get the swipes in while you can. Just remember, you’re RG Infect with only like 8-9 poisonous creatures so you need to preserve them! Keep a board through the midgame, and your opponents will succumb to a barrage of pump spells.
Until next time!
Roberto Castro-Mahoney
Is it really possible to go and draft a certain deck?… I am no expert but drafting seams to to me to be very fluid thing… and that you need to draft whats available and make a deck not try to force it. What I do is try and familiarize myself with the archetypes and keep them in mind while drafting.. but draft a deck based soly on the cards themselves.
Am I doing something wrong by doing it that way?
No, anyone who goes into a draft with the intention of forcing a deck is a moron, and is not confident enough with their own card evaluations to actually learn how to draft. It’s reasonable to enter a draft with certain archetypes in mind, and have preferences for certain strategies, but you can’t just expect certain cards to come to you. Note how the deck this clown describes wants to run Assault Strobe, pump spells, and only 9 or so creatures that can finish the game. This is a beyond terrible strategy, and you would be much better off ignoring it. Furthermore, the author is writing as if he is addressing a two-year-old. Giving really vague advice on how to attack or block is not helpful from a drafting strategy article.
If you really are confident of your archetype, make a draft video demonstrating its power. Otherwise it’s all theory. Oh, and thanks for reminding me to play around Dispense Justice, I really hadn’t known about that trick until you just told me. God, what a worthless article.
Why do you even come here David?
I for one thought it was an interesting article, thanks!
@itisme (and David) You shouldn’t be reading this article as “how to force red green infect”. In general, straight up forcing an archeype isn’t a great idea, but I don’t see where he suggests that you should do this. This is just a potential archetype that you can keep in mind to move into when you feel the time is right. Here he suggests what to keep in mind once you do move in, and what the key cards are so you can better evaluate when to move in (though I’d agree that the article could use a bit of direct discussion about the latter).
Yeah, I think David is misunderstanding the article just a little bit although I would say that the RG-infect strategy isn’t really a good archetype and it really kinda seems like you want to draft R/G-infect from the beginning… if that’d be true it really is a BAD thing.
The thing is that many cards suggested are uncommons (piston sledge, mortapod, grafted exoskeleton, viridian claw)… I don’t think I ever got any of those cards later than 3rd pick except for the exoskeleton and since they are uncommon you often won’t see any of them in any deck at the draft event at all.
The commons he discribed are also pretty high picks… people seem to like red (at least a lot more than they like blue) and the swines are good in almost every red deck so you probably won’t pick them up very late… same goes for untamed might… it’s not like only infect wants a fireball attached to an unblocked creature in fact everyone wants them (see the hidden joke?).
I also would like to know which first pick makes you wnat to draft this strategy? (btw. Ogre Menial is not linked at the beginning).
@itisme: I hardly ever advocate forcing an archetype (not since UW merfolk in Lorwyn-Morningtide). This series of articles is to realize the potential of certain synergies and how to build a deck that can win out of cards you might normally pass. In odd packs (like the swine/ogre pack) you can build a good red infect deck (something many people
HAVE DISMISSED AS UNPLAYAbLE)
my cat walking on the keyboard haha so I’ll check back later :-)
…cntd. The ability to diverge from the beaten path into abstract strategy is much more valuable than simple pick orders. When you understand a format and understand the decks available, then you can build strong and cohesive gameplans. The main idea here preys on two related theorems:
1- green is bad
2- red infect is bad
Because 1 + 2 are widely accepted, you can build 12… a deck that is greater than the sum of its parts.
This article is disappointing, because while there are many new archetypes, R/G infect isn’t a reasonably common one, and you shouldn’t move into it. Red is an overdrafted color, and because it has artifact and regular removal, it is heavily splashed, meaning cutting it can be useless. You can cut black and get grasps/skinrenders, but you won’t see that 3rd pick scrapmelter/arc trail unless the pack was incredible or the drafters poor.
The red sees no help in p2 (or 3) for infect creatures, and the green creatures you would want are highly picked (Blightwidow, Rot Wolf, Fangren Marauder). These cards go in every green deck, meaning you are cut from red splashes and all green players. Good luck.
The real secret of red infect is that it isn’t infect at all, it is red control. It can be paired with Blue, Black or Green, allowing you to hold the ground early and win with evasion/tempo (blue) Removal/Infect (black) or dinos (green). Ogre Menial in particular is an awesome defender that can be had with late picks. He follows the natural curve after blisterstick shaman, which is meh in infect but excellent otherwise.
I would strongly advise anyone against taking glistener elfs early, often, or even putting them in your deck. Glistener elf is not a signal, it is barely a playable, and it will almost always table.
I’ve done about 20-30 NMS drafts, and this is my experience thus far.
The only thing I agree about with this article is the top four equipments, but I think an intoxicated chimpanzee could have written that part. For a fifth artifact, I would go with Darksteel Axe as it is far better than the truly awful for an infect deck Grafted Exoskeleton given how much artifact removal there is in the format, and how few artifacts you will actually have in an infect deck. The Grafted Exoskeleton is basically unplayable in any infect deck because it is one of the few targets they’ll have.
From my experience (and I’ve never actually drafted it, only played against a few seemingly terrible players who have), R/G infect truly does suck. There’s just not enough there in red and if you’re actually playing Assault Strobe and Unnatural Predation, you’re deck is going to be extremely inconsistent. You might win a game or maybe even a round or perhaps if your extremely lucky even a tournament, but this is not at all typically going to be a deck you see in the finals. The only thing that can save your deck from being pretty bad is a bunch of excellent uncommons, no one else drafting green, and a bunch of removal.
I guess what I’m trying to say is avoid playing Grafted Exoskeleton in any deck without many artifacts (i.e. 99% of infect decks), and I don’t think it’s good advice to advise someone to jump into R/G early, as the article suggests. I have to say that would be some really bad advice.
David :D funny man
I liked the article as a suggestion on what to do if nothing goes your way pack 1. I do agree that the menial is pretty underrated in the right deck, and though I have not played with it, I have heard nothing but good things about razor swine. The claim that the deck sucks because it has nothing in later packs is just not true: ALL equipment (except echo circlet, Y U NO GOOD?) is better in infect as it makes already versatile creatures that much more scary. I am seriously concerned when I see a 2/7 vigilance blightwidow (courtesy of the oft-overlooked shield) staring down at me.
However, I disagree that green is bad in the current draft format. I have never been disappointed in leeching bite (GREEN REMOVAL BRO!), most decks should play a mutagenic growth just for the awesome, and unexpected, combat trick it provides, and things like fangren marauder, alpha tyrannax, and molder beast are still perfectly capable of just winning games. Green even has great creatures like viridan emissary, often overlooked even though it is almost always strictly better than the once tournament-worthy sakura-tribe elder. Ramp is amazing in a format with as many powerful hihg-end cards as this. Even though you should never play mono-green, and I usually find myself in either green-blue or green-red, green provides an excellent backbone to a draft deck, and I have never not placed when drafting it at local FNMs.
@drn: Thank you for emphasizing a certain point: That there is no need to cut Red at all. You don’t need anything from the later packs besides the burn spells that will fall in your lap. Cards like Bloodshot Trainee will easily come to you also.
Rot Wolf is not highly picked. I’d say it goes more than half the table >80% of the time… and can easily spin.
As for the rest of your post, kudos. Red Infect is a control deck. You read the article right?
@George: The Exoskeleton (if opened in pack 3) will almost always make it to you. Your otherwise useless Blisterdicks and Crapmelters tend to like gaining Infect. If they have artifact removal… it’s not like your 2/1 was gonna win you the game. The Exoskeleton is fantastic at filling out this deck.
I apologize if you felt persuaded to force R/G from this article, because that is not the intention. Red Infect is a Reactive Strategy, and is greatly rewarded if you put out the feelers and then jump on it once shown to be wide open. (You can find my preferred NMS deck:)
Corpse Cur, Ichorclaw Myr, and Phyrexian Juggernaut, Equipment are artifacts that make all of my Infect lists. Yours? 99% is a gross exaggeration that I’d avoid using in the future.
Red Infect is a fringe strategy. It can pay high dividends by preying on the metagame’s tendencies to avoid it and to avoid Green.
Very insightful, Berto. Keep ‘em comin’ and don’t let the haters get you down. Didn’t actually realize that the ogre and the swine were in a print run together. Anyone know of a site that actually catalogs known print runs of commons? Seems like that would be incredibly useful for draft.
Whatever u thought about the article, it and the comments surely should have thought some of u(s) nerds a thing or two about a game that matters little. Surely! ^^
D, I think your translator gave up there
Lasting impression to day(s) never almost. If a me it, this taken spoon lightly. Almost! :D
D, you troll, you have officially been trolled… (trans: U(s) have ever thought forum posts and bade unwelcome but post surely matters little.)
This article was interesting. There are some things I can’t agree with (exoskeleton is bad. Period. Even on a crappy creature, those creatures matter.), but I often find myself drafting red infect subthemes by accident, thanks to the print run… And stealing a few games here and there with my “defenders.” I especially like the ogre because he serves as an early blocker and a finisher.
Also, I notice depending on the packs, that people are apt to get tied up in blue/black/white colors. This makes for the occasional flamefiend or into the core to go a bit late, and it’s common to see turn to slag on pick five or six. Marauders also go late.
Thanks for this article… Some people apparently feel very strongly about this (at least, I think this is what D was trying to say), but keep goin,’ man… Finding those niche archetypes.
Okay, so at least you admit in the comments that R/G infect is a fringe strategy…the article seems to suggest otherwise (by saying to take Glistener Elfs very highly in pack one).
And, while it may be a slight exaggeration, I will also maintain that most infect decks have relatively few artifacts. All of your good equipments outside of Strider Harness as well as the Juggernaut (and Trigons too) are all uncommons and taken relatively early. How many of these cards can you really expect to see in a draft? Corpse Curs and Ichorclaw Myrs also tend to go very early in full-block drafts given that people do tend to draft red, white, or blue infect, and there are no other poison creatures to choose from in the SOM pack in their color. I’d say the average good infect list has maybe 6 to 7 artifacts. I don’t consider that a lot, and it’s not uncommon for an opponent to be waiting for an artifact target to remove when a deck has that few. I mean sure giving your Blisterstick Shaman +2/+2 and infect is nice, but I’d much rather spend 6 mana doing something more productive than setting my opponent up for a 2-for-1 regardless of how little a 2/1 creature matters. It’s a bad card, just as Assault Strobe and Unnatural Predation are bad, situational cards that I’m not planning on playing in any list I make.
The Elf is the worst card in the deck. He only gets picked out of necessity to cut the signal (and is prioritized well after the pump spells). Elf sucks. I don’t say take Elf. Screw the Elf.
To me drafting RG infect is based way, way, way too much on luck that I would never try it. It seems to me that you would have to pick up a ton of burn which almost always goes early. You can attempt to cut red, but the thing is that there are usually 8-10 people drafting which would make that nearly impossible. Also, you said in your previous article that most red burn besides turn to slag is extremely splashable which would only create more of a reason for it to be taken early. One thing that caught my attention in this article was when you said that tel-jilad fallen is better now then ever. I think that this is just not true because with the addition of new sets, there are more cards to kill X/1`s such as virulent wound or leeching bite. Sure it has protection from pith driller, but I don`t think that it is enough. There are also not even close to as many artifacts played in most decks as there were in triple scars.
All this said I did enjoy this article because I like things that make me think.
ok…. so im still unclear as to why anyone would want to be infect aside from rares… in any color combination… it just doesnt work anymore with 1 pack of scars.
extreme luck is required to even get to 23 playables without having more tricks than critters w/ infect
@wizmo: Spinebiter, Blightwidow, and others play very active roles. Infect is a ‘meta’ deck that works in certain drafts. It plays few artifact creatures and delivers surprise knowckout win. I see a lot of people play UB Infect with firstpick Blighted Agents out of Throatseeker packs (spin the beast). That deck is a faster, aggressive evasion deck. There’s definitely options out there. I don’t ever prefer it… but sometimes the gods of mtg just deem it so!
Always be open to whatever best deck is available in any draft. Never close off options.
How often do you want to take removal over the red infect creatures. Lets say you grab a razor swine in P1P1, then in P1P2 you see a volt charge and a razor swine. Should you load up on the red infect?
Sincer there’s nothing to gain by cutting a Red infect guy, there’s no reason to take him over removal. Swine is good but following BREAD Bombs Removal Evasion Average Dirt… Swine is jsut a better than average guy.
Volt Charge > Swine always.