Glistener ElfGlistener Elf | Art by Steve Argyle

Welcome back to 60 to 100, a series where I take beloved decks from 60-card formats and convert them to Commander.

When going back and watching old Legacy coverage before writing the 60 to 100 on Legacy Miracles, there was one match that really stood out to me: Reid Duke on Miracles vs. Tom Ross on Infect from an Star City Games Invitational in 2014. Tom piloted his deck masterfully, and I've long wanted to create a similar experience to piloting his Infect deck in Commander for an installment of this series. Here, I'm going to do just that. Let's get to the source material!

The Source Material

Unsurprisingly, the goal of Legacy Infect is to put 10 poison counters on the opponent as quickly as possible. With three playsets of the format's most efficient infect creatures (Glistener ElfGlistener Elf, Blighted AgentBlighted Agent, and Inkmoth NexusInkmoth Nexus) and 9 pump spells, killing the opponent on turn three or four is an incredibly realistic goal. Add in the protection provided by DazeDaze and Force of WillForce of Will and a little card selection from PonderPonder and BrainstormBrainstorm, and this mixture becomes a deck that was tier one in Legacy for a long time.

I've always found Legacy Infect fascinating because of it's blend of strategies. At its heart, this build of infect is both a combo deck and a tempo deck. Casting InvigorateInvigorate and BerserkBerserk on one of the deck's 12 infect creatures wins the game on the spot, and the deck will often sit back, swinging for one point of infect damage and interacting with the opponent while it spends time sculpting a hand that can cast those two pump spells and counter the opponent's interaction. It would be pretty reasonable to classify the deck's goal as a combo. It would be equally fitting to classify it as a tempo strategy, as sitting back and attacking with cheap creatures while using interaction to keep your opponent off balance is the same basic strategy a Delver of SecretsDelver of Secrets deck, one of the most iconic examples of a tempo deck in Magic, follows.

Choosing a Commander

When thinking of commanders that support infect strategies in Commander, there is one clear winner: Atraxa, Praetors' VoiceAtraxa, Praetors' Voice. I fought this choice very hard at first, but at the end of the day, this commander provides everything a deck trying to win with infect damage could possibly want. First, she's a source of inevitability. Once each opponent has received their first poison counter, Atraxa sitting in play for nine turns is enough to win a game without taking any other actions. Second, she's fantastic in combat. One of this deck's routes to eliminating opponents is going to be giving Atraxa infect, and she will benefit greatly from receiving trample in addition to the deathtouch she brings to the table herself. All that plus the fact that she grants access to four colors makes Atraxa, Praetors' Voice the clear commander choice.

Key Cards for Infect

The Infect

The most critical cards in any Infect deck are the ways to put poison counters on opponents! I've included the traditional suite of mana-efficient infect creatures: Blighted AgentBlighted Agent, Glistener ElfGlistener Elf, and Inkmoth NexusInkmoth Nexus. Especially in the early stages of the game, these three can be great for drawing out opposing removal spells and fostering a general sense of unease at the table. However, they aren't the only or even the primary way I'm looking to eliminate opponents with infect damage.

PhyresisPhyresis, Glistening OilGlistening Oil, and Tainted StrikeTainted Strike are the most effective infect-enablers in the deck. One of the perks of having Atraxa, Praetors' VoiceAtraxa, Praetors' Voice in the command zone is that I can count on having access to an evasive 4/4 every game. Given that, I'm really happy to leverage a robust suite of tutors that can find Auras to grant that 4/4 infect. When paired with one or two pump spells, Atraxa will be both a lethal threat in combat and incredibly difficult to answer.

Pump Spells

The fun part of playing infect strategies is that the opponent will often have no idea how much damage they're on the hook for when deciding how to block. Instant-speed pump spells, like Vines of VastwoodVines of Vastwood, Become ImmenseBecome Immense, EmbiggenEmbiggen, BerserkBerserk, and InvigorateInvigorate ensure that opponents will think very carefully before declaring no blocks.

The one issue with the aforementioned single-use pump spells is that they only provide a temporary buff. In 1v1 formats, that's fine because there's only one person to kill. In order to keep up the pressure on multiple opponents, it'll be necessary to use some more permanent methods of increasing a creature's power. This is where this deck pivots away from just being an Infect deck and takes on attributes from another favorite Magic archetype of mine: Enchantress.

Auras, like Ethereal ArmorEthereal Armor, All That GlittersAll That Glitters, Ancestral MaskAncestral Mask, and Strength of the HarvestStrength of the Harvest, provide the kind of permanent power and toughness increases this deck needs to keep the ball rolling and opens the deck up to using draw engines like Argothian EnchantressArgothian Enchantress to keep cards flowing in the process. It also adds a lot of flexibility to the tutors that look for Auras or enchantments.

A Twist of Enchantress

In total, there are seven enchantress effects in the deck, but two of them are far better than the rest of the pack. Kor SpiritdancerKor Spiritdancer and Setessan ChampionSetessan Champion both double as draw engines and reasonable attackers. Stacking Auras on either, when combined with their ability to buff themselves, puts two more potentially lethal threats in this deck's toolbox.

In order to support Kor Spiritdancer and Sram, Senior EdificerSram, Senior Edificer, this deck's ramp and removal suites are mostly made up of Auras, like Utopia SprawlUtopia Sprawl and Darksteel MutationDarksteel Mutation. It's really hard to hit a fail state with the kind of card velocity this achieves, and as such I will typically mulligan to an enchantress effect unless the enchantress-less hand is incredibly compelling.

Winning the Game with Infect

My favorite thing about playing this deck is that just about every card part of the win condition. However, there are a couple standouts I'll highlight here.

I've found it incredibly difficult not to win after resolving Finest HourFinest Hour. Typically, the first combat step will be Atraxa, Praetors' VoiceAtraxa, Praetors' Voice killing one player, and then the second combat will be Atraxa and another infect creature finishing off the other two players. In a perfect scenario, I'll have a Hardy OutlanderHardy Outlander in play to double Atraxa's power once in each combat!

Savor the MomentSavor the Moment is another that's really strong with Atraxa, Praetors' Voice. Since she has vigilance, skipping the untap step isn't much of a downside, and Savor the Moment is essentially transformed into a blue extra combat spell.

Finally, Venerated RotpriestVenerated Rotpriest provides the deck with a solid noncombat win condition. Simply going through the motions of casting Auras and pump spells will add poison counters to the opponents that Atraxa can then proliferate. This is great for end-game scenarios where one or two players are only a couple poison counters away from death but the Auras that grant infect to creatures have been removed.

Infect Commander Deck List

Conclusion

I enjoyed building this one a lot! A friend of mine that mostly plays other card games and has a soft spot for poison strategies was watching me play Arena, and when my opponent put a poison counter on me, he was instantly invested. This deck is largely the result of the brainstorming we did afterwards. I'd like to think I succeeded in building a deck that looks to win with poison counters without being "one of those" groan-inducing poison decks that kills one player and then is promptly put down by the other two players at the table.

As for where this deck sits in the bracket system, I'd say it is firmly Bracket 3 (Upgraded) due to the three game changers and the speed at which this deck is looking to blitz players down. I'm tempted to assert that this build of Atraxa, Praetors' VoiceAtraxa, Praetors' Voice could be tuned up just a little more to play well at lower Bracket 4 (Optimized) tables, given how resilient the current build is to instant speed interaction, but I've yet to test that theory.