Duke Ulder RavengardDuke Ulder Ravengard | art by Eric Deschamps

Welcome back to Bottom of the Barrel, where we pick a theme from EDHREC and look at the “bottom of the barrel.” This means that we look at the least played color-combinations and pick a commander in those colors to brew a spicy new deck around!

Today's theme is a contentious one: infect.

Now, I know what you're thinking, "Nick, why infect? That's the worst!!" Believe me, I've been on the wrong side of an infect deck too, so I echo your sentiment. However, the combination of this theme with this commander was too good to pass up. Speaking of which...

Today's commander is a legendary creature from Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate: Duke Ulder RavengardDuke Ulder Ravengard.

According to EDHREC, the most popular infect color combination, with 14,000 decks, is "Witch-Maw" (white, black, blue, and green). The printing of Atraxa, Praetors' VoiceAtraxa, Praetors' Voice was largely the reason for this, as her passive proliferate ability is quite good with poison counters.

The least played color combination for infect is colorless, but after several days of brewing, this one stumped me. Colorless is already tricky to play, and focusing solely on infect made it even harder, so I looked for the second least played combination.

The second least played combination, with a modest 73 decks, is Boros (red and white). Boros is known for both Equipment and generally aggressive combat strategies, and these strategies align well with what infect is trying to accomplish.

Usually, infect suffers from one major drawback: it's hard to kill three players with infect. This is where myriad comes in. Duke Ulder can grant a creature myriad and haste, and giving myriad to infect or toxic creatures is an easy way to spread out poison counters to everyone.

Category #1: Infect, and its younger brother, Toxic

In Boros, there are only a handful of creatures with infect that we can include: Core ProwlerCore Prowler provides us with extra value when it dies, Ichorclaw MyrIchorclaw Myr gets bigger when it becomes blocked, Tine ShrikeTine Shrike is a flying poisonous threat, Corpse CurCorpse Cur can recur any of our infect creatures that die, Razor SwineRazor Swine grants us first strike on top of infect, and Phyrexian JuggernautPhyrexian Juggernaut's "downside" of always attacking allows us to constantly pressure our opponents.

On top of our infect creatures, we have a few toxic creatures to help push toward our goal: Skrelv's HiveSkrelv's Hive is a white BitterblossomBitterblossom, but for Phyrexian Mites, White Sun's TwilightWhite Sun's Twilight is a board wipe that can leave us with a terrifying board, Myr ConvertMyr Convert can act as a mana dork or a toxic threat, Annex SentryAnnex Sentry is a good piece of removal in a pinch, and Skrelv, Defector MiteSkrelv, Defector Mite is a great way to protect our creatures while giving them toxic 1.

Category #2: Copies, copies, copies!

Since our options for infect and toxic creatures are so limited, I needed to find ways to make the most out of every creature we have. With this in mind, including creatures that can create copies of other creatures (even if they're temporary) is a must! Jaxis, the TroublemakerJaxis, the Troublemaker, Orthion, Hero of LavabrinkOrthion, Hero of Lavabrink, and Rionya, Fire DancerRionya, Fire Dancer all are perfect ways to copy our infect creatures for maximum value.

Aside from Duke Ulder's ability, we have a few other ways to grant myriad to our creatures: Blade of SelvesBlade of Selves grants myriad to whichever creature is equipped, and Legion LoyaltyLegion Loyalty grants myriad to all of our creatures.

Also, for all of those pesky temporary copies that we make, I included Sundial of the InfiniteSundial of the Infinite. We can't let good tokens go to waste!

Category #3: Proliferate

It's not always guaranteed that we can get in for damage, but if we can get in early enough, that's all we need! If everyone has at least one poison counter, we have plenty of proliferate effects to ensure that our gameplan isn't stalled by a few blockers or an untimely fog.

Some of the best are: Glistening SphereGlistening Sphere to act as a mana rock that proliferates upon entering, Staff of CompleationStaff of Compleation to act as a Swiss army knife for our deck, Sword of Truth and JusticeSword of Truth and Justice to make our infect creatures bigger while granting proliferation on combat damage, and Recon Craft ThetaRecon Craft Theta and Filigree VectorFiligree Vector to act as repeatable ways to proliferate every turn.

If you're wondering, yes, we are including the proliferate all-stars in Contagion ClaspContagion Clasp and Contagion EngineContagion Engine.

Category #4: Pushing Damage

To win with poison, let's be honest, this deck needs to attack a lot in the early game. Here's what I included to help with that: Subira, Tulzidi CaravannerSubira, Tulzidi Caravanner can make our small creatures unblockable, Neyali, Suns' VanguardNeyali, Suns' Vanguard can give our attacking tokens double strike (this can be Mites or our myriad copies!), Full ThrottleFull Throttle can give us extra combat steps, Dolmen GateDolmen Gate can guarantee the safety of our attackers, Akroma's WillAkroma's Will can give protection and act as a finisher, and Virtue of LoyaltyVirtue of Loyalty can grow our army, as well as untap them, every turn!

Category #5: "Secret Spice" 1 and 2

Our first secret spice for today comes more in the form of a strategy rather than a specific card. Since we are relying heavily on the poison plan, we included a lot of proliferate effects.

What else is good with proliferate? +1/+1 counters. There are so many cards in this deck that grant +1/+1 counters to our creatures that we should have no problem presenting a threatening board even without any poison makers.

For example, if Virtue of LoyaltyVirtue of Loyalty is on the board alongside Aetheric AmplifierAetheric Amplifier or Contagion EngineContagion Engine? All of our creatures get HUGE. (Specifically, 1 counter turns into 3 then into 6)

Even if you just wanted to focus on the +1/+1 counters side of this deck, you could take out all of the infect creatures and replace them with anything you want and the deck can still operate at a high level.

Our second secret spice is a card that I think deserves the spotlight more often: Agrus Kos, Eternal SoldierAgrus Kos, Eternal Soldier.

Our commander grants myriad and haste to something, and Agrus can copy that ability and apply it every creature we control. The same can be said about any additional copying effects (Jaxis, Orthion, etc.). If our entire battlefield has myriad and haste, the game is over.

Closing Thoughts

This brings us to the end of our ninth edition of Bottom of the Barrel! I hope you enjoyed exploring a lesser-played color combination in the world of infect! I know you might have tuned out for this one, as poison isn't for anyone, but give it a shot!

If you have any thoughts or ideas about this decklist, let me know in the comments below!

Check out my decklist below!