Pauper: Simic Infect - Deck Tech & Sideboard Guide

Infect was once a historical archetype in Pauper: the deck was responsible for the banning of Invigorate, and today, it's the main reason the card isn't even considered for an unbanning — the speed at which Glistener Elf, when combined with a free spell, can win the game is many steps ahead in terms of speed compared to the pace that, last year, prompted the banning of Kuldotha Rebirth.

Since then, Infect has never had its moment in the Pauper spotlight. New cards like Embiggen and Might of Old Krosa are extremely versatile pump spells that gained prominence, but still, the threat density and reliance on pumps put this strategy in a very vulnerable position today, or perhaps it just needs the right shell to find its place in the Metagame.

This variant revolves around the same basic principle of Infect in all formats where the archetype is viable: making a creature connect for lethal damage in one or two attacks. The entire rest of the deck exists to enable this game plan, but there is an interesting line that the Simic version offers: the security of winning the game if we protect Blighted Agent for enough turns.

Due to this "inevitability," almost the entire Sideboard seems designed exclusively to protect a single creature and not lose the game while establishing the clock, providing an extra appeal in this variant that we can't get with monocolored lists.

Maindeck

Glistener Elf can be our best early game. A second turn followed by Embiggen and Might of Old Krosa combined with any other pump and Lotus Petal is enough to win the game on the second turn if the opponent fails to interact. In less explosive games, being able to untap with it and attack with a pump spell and a protection spell also provides an effective clock against slower archetypes.

Blighted Agent is the perfect target for most pumps and protections. It evades blockers and therefore ignores the opponent's board development. If we need to keep a creature on the board, it will usually be an Agent.

Ichorclaw Myr loses value without Rancor in the list, but it remains our best threat for "trading" in combat when we don't have Distortion Strike.

Blight Mamba is a slower threat, but the ability to regenerate ensures it survives against damage-based removal and Cast Down.

Might of Old Krosa will commonly be used to give +4/+4 to the target creature, guaranteeing half the damage needed to win the game. Embiggen has a similar role and guarantees +4/+4 for most of our creatures, given that they all received errata to gain the "Phyrexian" type.

Mutagenic Growth is a free pump which can be used both proactively to push damage and to protect our creatures from minor removal.

Go Forth adds redundancy as a pump and also helps ensure we have the necessary lands to execute our game plan.

Distortion Strike is the deck's evasion. For two turns, it makes a creature unblockable, offers a small power increase, and guarantees a free path for the kill-hit.

Snakeskin Veil protects against spot removal and permanently increases the chosen creature's power, amplifying the long-term clock for Blighted Agent.

Vines of Vastwood offers cheap protection and one of the most potent pumps we could want from a card. More copies can be played, but we prioritize mana efficiency.

Escape Tunnel also works as evasion and guarantees a free path for lethal damage while fixing our mana early in the game — a role it shares with Foreboding Landscape, which has the advantage of generating mana when it enters if we don't need to fix our colors.

Lotus Petal offers a brief mana acceleration that allows for more explosive turns with our pumps early in the game or playing one of the two-drops on the first turn if we are sure our opponent has no way to remove it early, or on the second turn if we want to hold up a protection spell.

Sideboard

Spider Umbra gives our creatures a second chance while also offering a power increase and Reach, essential against decks like Faeries.

Dispel deals with Counterspell and other stack interactions that tend to be a problem for Infect, as the worst thing that can happen is us being unable to resolve our creatures.

Vines of Vastwood is the cheapest protection against spot removal and comes in for matches where we expect more removal, with the bonus of functioning as a Pump in the late-game.

Our disruption goal is exclusively to delay opponents who might be faster than us, especially Burn / Mono Red Rally, where Weather the Storm guarantees two or more extra turns, and against Spy Combo, where we use Relic of Progenitus to force the opponent to play around the hate.

Mono Blue Terror

IN

OUT

Mono Red Rally

IN

OUT

Grixis Affinity

IN

OUT

Madness Burn

IN

OUT

Spy Combo

IN

OUT

Jund Wildfire

IN

OUT

Faeries

IN

OUT

That's all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!