How good is infect MTG?

Infect has the capability to be just about the fastest deck in Modern. Capable of turn-2 kills thanks to cards such as Mutagenic Growth and Become Immense, some games are over before they’ve even properly begun.

What MTG set has infect?

Infect was featured as rules card 1 of 5 in the Scars of Mirrodin set and as rules card 4 of 5 in the Mirrodin Besieged set and as rules card 3 of 4 in the New Phyrexia set.

Does infect still do damage?

Yes. The damage is still damage, and any triggered abilities based on damage will trigger. The only thing different is the effects of the damage, since you gain poison counters instead of losing life.

Can you remove infect counters?

Counters can be removed. Leeches was in the Homelands set. I’ve seen comments that suggest that this is intentional, that they didn’t/don’t want poison to become like life, just another counter that can be moved up or down by all sorts of things.

What should I sideboard against infect?

Sideboarding Against Infect

• Spellskite. Hands-down, no-contest, don’t-even-ask-about-it the best card you can use against Infect.
• Curse of Death’s Hold.
• Engineered Explosives.
• Chalice of the Void.
• Deflecting Palm.
• Lightning Bolt.
• Zealous Persecution.
• Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite + Gifts Ungiven + Unburial Rites.

Is infect a replacement effect?

These aren’t replacement effects themselves, just what happens. The damage ITSELF has no meaning on permanents or players, so it always manifests as something more tangible.

Does infect trigger enrage?

Effects such as wither and infect that do damage in the form of -1/-1 counters would trigger enrage because they do not replace the damage like the “instead” abilities a la Soul-Scar Mage.

How do you play against infect?

Infect is good at playing around removal. It has cost-efficient spells that both defend against kill spells and tack on secondary effects (unblockability, pump, etc.). One way to beat that is to overwhelm an Infect opponent with removal spells, but this is often card-intensive and forces you to keep mana open.

Can you proliferate poison counters?

The answer is yes, you can proliferate poison counters. If you read the reminder text for a card with proliferate, it says, “You choose any number of permanents and/or players with counters on them, then give each another counter of a kind already there”.

Does infect deal Commander damage?

Infect deals damage to players in the form of poison counters, but it’s still dealing damage. The rules for commander do not state which form that 21 damage needs to be in.

Does deflecting palm stop infect?

No, because Deflecting Palm is the source of the damage dealt to the source’s controller, not the creature with infect. In contrast, [[Shining Shoal]] redirects the damage while keeping its original source, so it can cause infect damage.

Does infect stack?

No, infect is a damage-replacement effect. So multiple instances of it on a creature are effectively meaningless, since during the damage resolution once the counters are put on the opposing creature/player, any further attempts to replace the damage with more infect effects simply do not apply.

Can you proliferate Hexproof?

Nowhere in the rules text of Proliferate does it use or imply the word target, so yes you would be able to proliferate something with Hexproof. Contagion Engine is great for getting that initial -1/-1 counter on hex/shroud creatures.

Does proliferate work on +1?

Does Proliferate Work On Infect? Not only does proliferate work on infect but it was strictly created to support it. Both -1/-1 and poison counters can be proliferated.