Originally titled "Learning to Run U/B Infect, or How I Stopped Failing at Standard."

Hey again! This week, I'd like to discuss my Type 2 deck. As I mentioned in my previous article, "The Quest for First Place: How I Derp at Drafting," it's been my mission for quite some time to get first place in a DCI-sanctioned event. While my drafting is improving, my T2 deck seems to be holding its own better and better; it's even made Top 2 the last two times I've played Standard! In this article, I'd like to talk about how I got to running this deck, how the deck runs against other decks, where it needs improvement, and what I'm doing to change it with the inclusion of New Phyrexia.

Before I made this deck, I was running a mono-White artifact deck that ramped into Indomitable Archangel, True Conviction, and Sun Titan, and then swung for the win. It was pretty straightforward ramp/aggro, and while the mono-White ramp seemed like an interesting and hard-to-deal-with idea to me, it was actually quite easy to beat, and I often went home defeated (literally) and wondering what card I was missing in the deck, or how I could have played it slightly differently to win. Honestly, it was just not that great of a deck idea. It was slow, and if my opponent got rid of my 2-drop Gold Myr, I was toast. I was so frustrated that I just took the deck apart, deciding that I would make a deck that was fast, aggro, and hard to deal with. I wanted to win, but I still didn't want to simply copy someone else's deck. What resulted was a (mildly pathetic) attempt at W/B Infect/control, which couldn't accomplish both at the same time and often failed pretty badly. I did, however, decide that I loved the Infect mechanic, and wanted to play with it more. So, I took apart the W/B Infect, and looked online for inspiration. It was suggested by friends that I simply netdeck Valakut or Caw-Blade, but I didn't have the cards I needed. What I did have was most of the Infect creatures necessary for a U/B Infect deck I found. It ran Distortion Strike and Livewire Lash, as well as Preordain, Big Papa Jace, Sword of Feast and Famine, and several counterspells. While I liked certain parts of the deck, I couldn't afford a Jace, and the Sword was good, but didn't have synergy. With advice from friends and lots of play-testing, I've gotten the deck to a point where it's almost exactly what I want it to be, and here it is:

[cardlist]

[Creatures]

1 Septic Rats

2 Ichor Rats

4 Hand of the Praetors

4 Phyrexian Crusader

4 Plague Stinger

4 Plague Myr

[/Creatures]

[Spells]

2 Consume the Meek

2 Doom Blade

2 Go For the Throat

4 Vampire's Bite

4 Distortion Strike

3 Livewire Lash

[/Spells]

[Lands]

10 Swamp

2 Creeping Tar Pit

4 Darkslick Shores

4 Drowned Catacomb

4 Inkmoth Nexus

[/Lands]

[Sideboard]

2 Phyrexian Vatmother

3 Phyrexian Revoker

2 Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon

1 Sadistic Sacrament

2 Black Sun's Zenith

1 Volition Reins

[/Sideboard]

[/cardlist]

This is my absolute favorite Standard deck. I love how Blue/Black can be so aggro, and I love that in almost any game I play, I can win around turn four or five. The ideal hand to go off as fast as possible is one Inkmoth Nexus, one Swamp, one dual land, one creature-removal spell, one Phyrexian Crusader, and two growth spells. The Phyrexian Crusader can also be a Livewire Lash. The trick to running this deck is simply to not care about losing life unless you're going to lose—it's highly unlikely that your opponent can deal 20 damage to you in the time that it takes you to deal 10. My favorite play to make? Go for the Throat my own creature (equipped with a Livewire Lash) for the win! Your opponent will look at you like you're crazy for two seconds and then yell an expletive.

But how does this deck match up against the netdecks so common in Standard? I haven't gotten people together to actually play out for stats, but I can give you some estimates of how this deck does:

Updated: Percentages changed by author's request.

As you can see, the deck's main weak spot is counterspells and decks that go off faster than it. I'm not entirely sure what could be done to combat this weakness; Inquisitions seem like a possibility, but keep me from getting my opponent to 1 poison on turn two, throwing off my tempo.

My main concern for the deck is what will happen when New Phyrexia shows up at the next T2 tournament. My board is really odd—I never seem to do any sideboarding besides switching Doom Blades for Go for the Throats, or vice versa. I think that is my weak spot—a nontechnical board. For now, what I'm thinking for the board are two Hex Parasites to deal with planeswalkers, and a Surgical Extraction to deal with burn/counterspells. I guess I'll have to see what happens at the next tournament (there isn't one this weekend because of the release party), and try to assess what needs work from that, but I can't shake the feeling that I'm going to get my butt kicked next Saturday.

What T2 deck are you running, and what are your plans for the inclusion of New Phyrexia? I'd love to hear how your deck does against the typical T2 netdecks; I think it's fascinating how decks do against each other. Thanks for reading! I hope everyone has a good time at the release this weekend, and I do read all of your comments!