Putting the Lash back in Infectwire

I know, I know. Just last week I took Livewire Lash out of the deck in order to put in Piston Sledge. But I went back and looked at my reasoning. I said that I could keep my creatures alive long enough for Piston Sledge to matter. Well, how was I keeping my creature alive? By casting Instants at them. What Equipment was it that worked really good when the creature was being targeted by a bunch of spells? That's right.

I've also made 2 more changes to the mainboard. I was inspired by the recent list that placed first at that trial tournament (this one here).

So, without further adieu:

Infectwire Rev 3.1
Lands (24) 4 Inkmoth Nexus 4 Misty Rainforest 2 Halimar Depths 5 Island 9 Forest Creatures (10) 4 Glistener Elf 4 Blighted Agent 2 Viral Drake Equipment (4) 4 Livewire Lash Pump (14) 4 Mutagenic Growth 4 Groundswell 4 Vines of Vastwood 2 Distortion Strike	Planeswalkers (2) 2 Garruk Wildspeaker Draw (4) 2 Preordain 2 Tezzeret's Gambit Artifacts (2) 2 Contagion Clasp	Sideboard: 2 Dismember 2 Beast Within 3 Twisted Image 4 Apostle's Blessing 4 Nature's Claim

You'll notice that I have removed the Beast Within and Dismembers from the main deck. I also added in 2 Preordains.

Now, as I said, I've gotten exceedingly good at keeping my little dudes alive. There's still some problems against Vampires and B/U Control that runs a lot of creature hate, but the only way around that is hoping that Inkmoth can do it all by himself. Sometimes you just have bad match ups.

I've been testing this version on MWS. While that isn't necessarily the greatest of proving grounds, I have a 100% match win streak with this deck so far. Granted, I've only gotten to play about 4 matches so far (I had to go pick up my car from the shop today, so testing was cut short), it's still been doing quite well.

Another thing that I've noticed is that more people seem to be understanding what Livewire + Infect creature does. I used to have to explain what is going on to people, but tonight only 1 person didn't immediately start racking up their poison counters, and once I explained it to him he realized he was dead.

Here is a transcription of a match against one of our worst match ups. Big Red.

Game 1 started out well enough, I won the roll and obviously decided to play first. I didn't know what I was up against, so I went for the all-in "strategy."

I drew my starting hand, and was happy enough with it to keep it. My opponent did the same.

To start things off I drop in a Misty Rainforest, and immediately send it off for an Island. I tap the Island and Preordain. The top 2 cards are a Mutagenic Growth, and a Livewire Lash. I already have a Lash in my hand, so I send that to the bottom and put the Growth into my hand before passing it over to my opponent.

Red plays a Mountain and passes. Prior to this, I didn't know what kind of deck I was up against. Anyone that leaves a Mountain untapped is probably up to no good. Keep that in mind.

I play another Misty Rainforest and turn it into a Forest. Assuming that he has a Lightning Bolt in hand, I tap out to play my Livewire Lash.

My opponent plays another Mountain and does something concerning. He plays a Ratchet Bomb.

Now I'm a little concerned, I haven't drawn a 3rd Land, and I have a Blighted Agent and a Glistener Elf in hand. If I play the Blighted Agent I'll have 2 things out with a CMC of 2. I decide to risk it and play the Glistener Elf without protection. My opponent Ratchets up to 1 counter.

My opponent untaps, plays a Mountain and Lightning Bolts the Glistener Elf, then plays a Brittle Effigy, and passes the turn.

I untap, draw another "not-land" card and pass my turn. Ratchet is up to 2 counters.

My opponent plays a Tectonic Edge, and taps 2 for an Iron Myr.

I untap, pray, and draw an Inkmoth Nexus. I play the Nexus (I only have a total of 3 land out, so it's safe).

My opponent draws, plays a Manic Vandal, killing my Livewire, and then attacks with the Iron Myr.

I draw, and it's a Forest. I have a Mutagenic Growth and 2 Groundswells in my hand, and my opponent is tapped out. The 11/11 Inkmoth swings for the win. My opponent shows me a Galvanic Blast in hand.

Ok, game 1 is done. Playing against red always sets me on edge. You really have to play the stack to your advantage here or you're screwed. Drop all of your pump at once and a single Lightning Bolt will ruin your day. I side out my Contagion Clasps and the Garruks in favor of more protection in the form of Apostle's Blessing.

Game 2, and my opponent is playing first. He plays a Mountain and hands the turn over.

I have pretty close to a god-hand, Glistener Elf, Livewire Lash, and 2 Groundswells. I play the Forest, and put out the Elf. EOT it gets blasted by a Galvanic Blast.

Red puts another Mountain out, and taps them both for a Necropede. Curious.

I untap, play an Inkmoth Nexus, and tap out for a Livewire Lash.

My opponent plays a third Mountan, attacks with the Necropede for 1, and then plays a Ratchet Bomb.

I untap, play a Forest and attack with Inkmoth. Forest untapped and Groundswell in hand. No tricks from my opponent, so now he's at 1 poison. End of turn puts a counter on the Ratchet Bomb.

Red plays a Tectonic Edge (crap) and attacks for another 1 with Necropede.

I'm sitting at 3 lands out, 3 more in my hand, and no Vines of Vastwood. Playing a 4th land will open me up to Tectonic Edge. So Inkmoth gets sent in to do another point of damage. Another counter goes on Ratchet Bomb.

My opponent plays a Mountain, attacks for another poison, and ends his turn.

I draw, still no Vines. Send in Inkmoth for 1 more. We're both at 3 poison counters now, but I've got a full hand.

My opponent plays another Moutain, and taps 4 for Koth. He uses Koth's +1 and hits me for 4 life and 1 more poison. Now I need to start playing threats, Ratchet Bomb and Tectonic Edge be damned, I can't let Koth get off his Ultimate.

I play an Island, my 4th land, and put out Blighted Agent, hopefully I can force him to pop Ratchet Bomb. He gladly does so at the end of my turn, binning my Agent and Lash, but also killing his own Necropede off.

Red puts down another Mountain, and taps 3 for Tezzeret's Gambit, proliferating Koth up to 5. He goes Ultimate on Koth and passes the turn, 3 Mountain untapped. This is bad, I was hoping to have another turn before I needed to worry about that.

I play a Misty Rainforest and tap 4 for Viral Drake.

My opponent untaps and draws, thinks for a moment, then taps 4 Mountains aimed at the Drake. I respond with firing off Misty Rainforest for a Forest, and respond with Groundswell. He responds with a Lightning Bolt and tapping another Mountain. Unfortunate. He could have played this better by letting single points of damage resolve, and then he would only have to tap a single Mountain if I tried to Groundswell.

I untap, look at the board, and decide to go for it. He has a Mountain and the Tectonic Edge untapped, but maybe he doesn't remember that he has it. I drop a Forest, make Inkmoth a Creature, play Distortion Strike on it, and Groundswell. That would only take him up to 9 poison anyway. He blows up his Edge to kill the Inkmoth. I don't draw anything useful next turn, and he kills me with Mountain taps.

Ok, onto Game 3. If I have another amazing hand, I might be able to blow him out.

Shuffle draw, and I have it. 2 Mutagenic Growths. Livewire Lash. Glistener Elf. Groundswell.

I play a Land and Glistener Elf. Even if he Lightning Bolts I can double Mutagenic Growth to keep him alive.

He plays a Mountain and passes.

I draw a Vines of Vastwood and play Halimar Depths to take a look at my top 3. It looks pretty good, another Mutagenic Growth goes on top followed by an Inkmoth in case I need it. I attack for 1, and no response from my opponent.

Red plays another Mountain and taps 1 for a Lightning Bolt. I respond with Vines of Vastwood, and he passes the turn to me.

I play another Land, and attack with the Elf. I don't use any pump on him, and no responses from Red. Then I tap 2 for Livewire Lash and pass the turn.

My opponent drops another Mountain and plays a Ratchet Bomb. Lucky.

I untap. My opponent has 1 Mountain untapped, I have 2 Mutagenic Growths and a Groundswell in hand. I play down a Island, and attempt to move the Livewire Lash over. My opponent responds with a Galvanic Blast, I play a Groundswell to pump him out of range. The equip goes through, and I have a 7/5 Glistener Elf. I announce combat, and attack. My opponent is tapped out, and I drop the 2 Mutagenic Growths onto Elf just to make it official. Red looks at the top card of his library and lays it down, another Lightning Bolt.

I admit, the above Red deck was probably not your standard Big Red. He had a maindeck Ratchet Bomb after all. However, these are the types of decks you will play against at your local FNM. He was playing enough Lightning Bolts and Galvanic Blasts to make my life difficult.

Remember folks, the stack is important. Often it can be the difference between victory and defeat. Also, try and get in some practice with your decks before going to an FNM or other tournament. A lot of people show up to FNM with the same deck they had last week, and the week before that, and the week before that. Having an intimate knowledge of your deck is a big part of winning.

Thanks for reading!