"Modern Pauper: Mono Blue Cranial Infect"

"Modern Pauper:  Mono Blue Cranial Infect"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

After remembering that Cranial plating was a common card and beating myself up for not remembering this fact , I decided to revisit one of my most favorite mechanics and one that probably reflects my profession as much as anything else. This is the Infect mechanic. Since infect came out I have brewed a lot of decks based on it but I have not brewed a mono blue deck that involved the cranial plating in this way. This is the Mono Blue Cranial Infect.

4 x Seat of the Synod

4 x Vault of Whispers

10 x Islands

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18 lands

4 x Frogmite

4 x Blighted Agent

4 x Ornithopter

4 x Ichorclaw Myr

4 x Corpse Curr

4 x Plague Myr

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24 creatures

4 x Cranial Plating

4 x Thoughtcast

4 x Serum Visions

4 x Boomerang

2 x Distortion Strike

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18 spells

Since this is a deck of Infect creatures based on the power that Cranial plating could give I wanted to cram as much common artifacts cards in the deck. Along with a set of the Seat of the Synod and Vault of Whispers, lands that ought to make things big and interesting very fast. I know Vault of Whispers produces black mana but it gets a nod here since it could potentially attach the Cranial plating at instant speed to any of your attacking creatures. An old trick that was put to good use while Infect was still in Standard.

In this deck I have also included non-infect creature cards like Ornithopter and Frogmite who might seem to go against the Infect them but could actually up the artifact count for all of the equipped Infect creatures on the list and the great thing is that they cost almost nothing for you to cast!  

Blighted Agent is the most efficient Blue infect agent so he is an automatic inclusion in this deck and since he is unblockable he could win the game for you single handedly. Imagine equipping him with the cranial plating and you have at least 5 artifacts in play? This easily translates into a two turn swing Infect kill! Or you could just keep in attacking with him and you win on the 11th or 12th turn , depending on when you were able to put him on the battlefield.

Plague Myr is included for mana acceleration in the early turns and a possible Infect creature in the mid to late games.Powering out a lot of Infect creatures is key since there are no mass removals in Modern Pauper as well. Ichorclaw Myr is just a favorite in this kind of deck since he could be a killer for both creatures and players alike.

And finally Corpse Curr who by itself is an Infect creature but also has the ability to get more creatures because it returns a creature with Infect to your hand from the graveyard as its enter the battlefield effect. In an Infect deck it is ok to be aggressive and even if your creatures are killed early they could simply be brought back by the Corpse Curr.A set of them is in the deck for that very purpose.

Thoughtcast and Serum Visions provide the card draws for this deck because believe me you don't want to run out of creatures and spells in your hand. These cards also increases the probability of getting a Cranial Plating.

On to the support cards , Boomerang allows you to remove a pesky creature on the battlefield who is standing in the way of your infect victory. You could also use this as a delay in the mana accumulation process of your opponents  , when you bounce back an opponents land in the early turns or when they area already having trouble playing sufficient lands to begin with.  

And lastly Distortion Strike allows your Infect creatures to hit home with a +1/0 stat pump and allowing it to be unblockable until the end of turn. I mean an unblockable Infect creature with a Cranial plating is pretty cool but with the Rebound mechanic on Distortion Strike you could repeat the damage on your next turn and finish an opponent off.

Making Infect decks is my passion and with each passing expansion I am always on the look out for ways to abuse it but sometimes I just have to revisit something that is already there and just have fun with it. Enough writing for today , time of turn someone Phyrexian.

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Editors Note: Sigh. Sadly the over powered Cranial Plating is banned in any Pauper Format. In my excitement in making the deck I forgot to check that one little fact. Sigh.