(Note: Some of the cards listed here are from Mirrodin Besieged which will be released on February 4th with the prerelease on January 29th. All Besieged cards can be found at MTG Salvation)
14x Swamp
4x Fetch lands ie Verdant Catacombs/ Marsh Flats
4x Hand of the Praetors
4x Plague Stinger
3x Ichor Rats
2x Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
4x Grasp of Darkness
This list still has 10 open slots which they weren't sure what to do with. Well I took this as an invitation to take a crack at what I think the deck should look like and here is what I came up with:
Creatures:
3x Plague Stinger
4x Ichor Rats
3x Hand of the Praetors
2x Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
Instants / Sorceries
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Sign in Blood
3x Grasp of Darkness
Lands:
12x Swamp
4x Tectonic Edge
4x Verdant Catacombs
Sideboard:
2x Disfigure
3x Duress
2x Doomblade
1x Black Sun's Zenith
3x Corpse Cur
3x Memoricide
1x Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
I have to say that I while I think my friends made a solid attempt at the deck and that I agree with a lot of their choices, their deck left a lot to be desired. I mean it didn't even have 60 cards, what's up with that? :) I chose the list because you have access to early disruption via Inquisition of Kozilek which can hit most cards and you have access to Duress in the board for contol. Corpse Cur is in the board for removal heavy decks or decks with sweepers like Day of Judgment. There will come a time when trading 1 for 1, removal for creature, or creature for creature, will not be advantageous and Corpse Cur gives you the ability to get back one of your critical guys. The one card I did not fit into the 75 that should probably be there is Mind Sludge. I think 1-2 in the side board would be good. Instead I added Memoricide because most top heavy decks are only running one main threat. This may change after Beseiged and I will update the list accordingly. The sideboard also gives you access to other removal options and the ability to overload on removal if you feel it is necessary. The extra Skittles in the board is for those matches you expect to go longer and where you might have to play to conservatively then drop Skittles, give him haste, and win out of no where. With Hand of the Praetors on Board that's a potential 6 poison counters. I only have 3 Hand of the Praetors in the main deck because he can be killed pretty easily but if he resolves and sticks he's really good.
I also want to draw your attention to one of the removal spells, Go for the Throat.
This card is easily one of the best cards spoiled so far. It offers almost no draw backs. Go for the Throat only misses Wurmcoil Engine and Myr Battlesphere. Neither of these cards are being played heavily right now, at least not in standard anyways. But, this spell might change that. (Sorry Grave Titan) Which is why I included Doomblade in the sideboard. Also, think that black is probably going to get played more once Beseiged gets release, as if it wasn't played enough already. So, that's why Grasp is main decked. But, back to Go for the Throat. This card is going to be format defining a removal staple for years to come. It also serious implications for the Extended format.
Faeries has been one of the most dominant decks in Extended right now. Because of that it has been receiving a lot of hate and the varied number of threats it faces has made it very difficult to have the right removal at the right time. This has prompted Faeries to have to rely on discard options like Thoughtseize, Duress, and Inquisition of Kozilek. But, Go for the Throat solves all of Faeries' problems. Many players had been changing their mana base to support Grasp of Darkness but still found the double black requirement hard to get, especially in the early game. Again, Go for the Throat also solves that problem. This might give Faeries the slight edge it needs to stay on top of the meta, at least for right now.
Now that I have gone completely off topic let's return to the Mono Black Infect deck. The cards that really put it in contention are Phyrexian Vatmother and Phyrexian Crusader. These creatures are powerful and well costed. The Vatmother's drawback as of right now is essientially nothing as Infect is not yet a deck and might still be under the radar for the first week or two. But as infect gets more popular it is very possible that the Vatmother might have to played conservatively or not at all in the mirror match. Otherwise, THIS GUY IS NUTS! The only removal spell he dies to is Go for the Throat, which I believe is one of the reasons it was printed. And when he deal combat damage to a player his power is doubled due to the fact that you only need 10 poison counters to kill your opponent. Phyrexian Crusader is just a really solid threat. First Strike and Infect is a great combination and the protection from Red and White make it well positioned in this meta game because he only dies the black removal spells (disfigure, go for the throat, and grasp of darkness). Overall, I think think if a solid two drop or one drop gets printed (which is what I think this deck is really lacking) it will play much like Jund did in Standard in the last season. It would end up being a mid-range beatdown deck with good removal. The only difference is that Mono Black Infect lacks the number and quality of two for one's that Jund had, Blightning and Bloodbraid Elf. But the raw power of Mono Black Infect's creatures might just be enough.
That's all for now. Peace Out.
The Strategist: Mark
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