Feb 16, 2012
My quest to “crack” the meta-game hasn’t stopped. Just a couple of days ago I was reading Conley Woods article over on tcgplayer.com and was really taking a close look at Undying Evil. I originally started with a shell of Snapcaster Mage and a couple Undying Evil, however in a roundabout way I ended up with no Snapcaster and Undying Evil in the sideboard. I found that my guys were never actually getting blocked or even blocking. And a lot of standard removal isn’t even destroying the creatures so it wasn’t doing too much main deck.
I went back and looked at what my old UG infect aggro did well, but I wanted more staying power and I also wanted to use guys that could attack with evasion as well as having better control elements. Plus the UB mana base is far better.
The deck I’d classify under “combo” for a couple of reasons, a lot of the time (if you are playing this correctly) you aren’t just throwing out 1/1′s to die. The trick is to stick a dude when you are confident you can keep it alive via protecting it with pump, leaks etc. Or stick it when you know your opponent needs to tap out next turn. The idea is to sculpt a hand and surprise attack with Livewire Lash, equip, Artful Dodge + Mutagenic Growth and basically just win on the spot. Phyrexian Crusader helps by staying alive much easier than other creatures, so you are ok to tap out turn 3 for a guy. It really depends though. In certain matchups I do go turn two creature, and start to get in some infect. A lot of the time this will scare the opponent into tapping out to try and race, and sometimes they just have to. And it’s because of this that I believe players may struggle with this build and may not have success. It’s a deck you really need to test against the field because it plays out so differently vs all of them. This is also the reason I include Gitaxian Probe. Information is incredibly valuable for the deck. Use a pad and paper!
Another tip is to be patient with everything, don’t just growth to get your opponent to 5 infect. That growth may save your guy later, or you may find that Livewire Lash and Growth will be worth 4 infect for 0 mana! If you can sculpt the right hand you can outrace in a single turn, so really play out your next turn or two in your head. This all ties into my SCG article I wrote this week to a tee, and this is the exact deck that you’d end up throwing to the side based on losing because you are playing it wrong. All that said, this deck is amazingly powerful and incredibly fun to play as it’s a thinking mans deck from time to time.
If you are rocking FNM or SCG this weekend and have time to test or feel brave, this is an awesome deck for the current weekend. There are far fewer Gut Shots around (but you have plenty more Growth’s than they have Gut Shot). I know I’ll be battling with this over the weekend!
One final note – I generally side out Livewire Lash against artifact removal unfortunately (sometimes waiting until game 3), and bring in Dark Favor to brick some of their cards. This is 100% of the time vs Ancient Grudge as you’ll never stick a Lash.
"BUI"
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For those playing this evening or this weekend here is a general sideboard guide. Remember this isn’t necessarily right because every circumstance is different. But it’s a guide and hopefully some insight on how I see certain matchups (whether right or wrong).
Vs Ramp
-4 Livewire Lash (Ancient Grudge is too good, you want to blank them)
-2 Virulent Wound (it’s still decent vs opposing Birds or Inkmoth Nexus)
+1 Undying Evil
+3 Dark Favor
+2 Dissipate
Vs Spirits
-3 Gitaxian Probe (taking 2 life hurts and they can Ponder so your information isn’t as valuable)
-2 Mana Leak
-1 Virulent Wound (doesn’t hit as much as it used to)
+3 Corrosive Gale
+3 Mental Misstep (Still stops Gut Shot, Snag, Delver, etc)
Vs Reanimator
-4 Virulent Wound
+2 dissipate
+2 Surgical Extraction
Vs Mono Green Aggro
Probably no changes to be honest. They hit enchantments so sideing out Livewire won’t do much good.
Vs Humans
-4 Virulent Wound
+3 Mental Misstep
+1 Dark Favor
Vs Pod
-1 Gitaxian Probe
+1 Dissipate (you wan to keep creatures off the board)
Vs UB Control
-1 Gitaxian Probe (this is sort of a variable cut slot)
-4 Virulent Wound
+2 Dissipate
+2 Undying Evil
+1 Surgical Extraction
Vs Random decks
The extra Undying Evil comes in vs Red decks mostly. But you should be able to figure this out based on prior SB strats.
You have 21 instants/sorceries in the deck. Why no Runechanter's Pike.
And I am swooning over Livewire Lash + Artful Dodge!!! Good find!
Pike is just a worse Livewire lash in here. It's possible I find room for 1. I'd prolly go -2 Snap +1 pike +1 Scour or something if I wanted a little more pump. But I side out the artifacts vs grudge decks.
you've done it again! lets see some daily vids of this in action!
Hoping to daily this weekend for sure. <3 infect
Can't help but point out that Mike Flores championed the use of U/G infect with Livewire Lashes and Distortion Strikes. I'm actually more impressed with the sideboard Corrosive Gale.
Oh of course. His UG infect was super solid. The combo has come back!
Cutting some cards for Probe definitely seems like the right call. Snapcaster, Tragic Slip, and Undying Evil seem like the cuts. Undying Evil definitely seems like a sideboard card to me as there are a lot of matchups where you will not interact via combat at all.
Crusader also seems a bit clunky. I mean it's a very good card, but I feel like it's the worst card in this deck in terms of synergy.
Jodo, I can get behind all your points. Crusader is too good though. He's slow for the deck sure, but he does fit the theme of evasion. And if you go turn 3 crusader turn 4 livewire and pump it with mutagenic it's a good curve. Plus he's very hard to kill and there's no other creature you'd replace him with. U can't always count on dodge.
Having actually played the U/G list, I can tell you that in a build which depends on creatures to bash in for the win - Apostle's Blessing was an MVP. Being able to protect the creatures (and even the Livewires!) Was gamebreaking and pro-color meant I could often swing in unblockable. Add to it the targetted effect for the Lash trigger and I have to say its worth a second look as a substitute for the Undying Evils. I love the idea of Undying but it would take playtesting to prove it better than Blessing for me.
I do like blessing but it's a non-bo with Phyrexian Crusader
so glad to see you're playing in 2 mans... haha please don't put a video out until after this weekend... i was worried about RDW and slags and whips in the latest WRR. would you make any changes for us this weekend? more corrosive gales? any chance on getting SB strategies? congrats on the SCG articles btw! i've always loved your decks and out of the box innovation... keep it up sir. I hope this "crack" grows.
Used this build at last week's FNM and went 3-1.
Lost to reanimator, it runs so much removal making it hard for this deck to get something to stick. Will probably play this deck again this week, it was really fun especially against WRR.
Hey, when I first saw artful dodge, I thought it was pretty sweet with infect also, however, my first thought was immediately Phyrexian vatmother. 2 unblockable swings with the vatmother is GG. And you don't need to fill your deck with crappy 1/1s or livewire lash, which has been proven to be just too slow.
The 2nd thing I tried first week of dark ascension release was a runchanter's pike list with thought scours. Both of these lists allow you to cut the poopy plaguestinger and fit in a few more slots for removal and more cantrips.
Also I really think you want 23 lands in this deck. 4 of your lands are creatures, and you want to be hitting land drops turns 1-4, 22 is just too low.
All good points Ninja! I could get behind Vatmother over Stinger and cut a Lash for a land.
Isn't Vatmother pretty bad against Vapor Snag? Although, if she has a Lash equipped... :)
ya it's a little bad against vapor snag, i suppose it is a little expensive if you're trying to be tempo-y with mana leaks and what not. Just seemed like a good interaction with artful dodge
Took the deck to a side-event of GP Madrid. 260 person standard tournament.
Except for a hickup at the beginning it went like a charm. Played lots of ramp and heartless summoning and didn't lose a match to those.
The hickup was losing to black-white(-green) tokens quite badly and losing to mono-black zombies. The latter matchup seemed good but I lost because of a smart play of fume-spitter, of all cards...
Ended 6-3 and just outside of the top 16 because I lost a 3rd match against bu-control. Little sleep and 2 long days of magic made me play sloppily. I also didn't think of sideboarding the corrosive gale in after seeing his Bloodline Keeper win-condition in game 2. Doh...
Loved playing it and am even considering taking it to GP lille next weekend. Any possible updates or tips before then would of course be appreciated. ;-)
Anyway, just wanted to say thanks for the deck.