Blazing Infect

[Justin]

Hey guys!

There was a blazing infect deck recently that seemed like a fun way to break up what I'm normally playing (Combo/Shops)

Here is the decklist to the best of my knowledge:
1st (Top 2 split) - Joaquín Fernández - Blazing Infect

Maindeck:
1 Bayou
4 City of Brass
4 Gemstone Mine
2 Mana Confluence
2 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
4 Blighted Agent
4 Glistener Elf
4 Greater Gargadon
4 Plague Stinger
2 Progenitus
1 Ancestral Recall
2 Apostle's Blessing
1 Black Lotus
4 Blazing Shoal
1 Brainstorm
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Duress
2 Flusterstorm
3 Mental Misstep
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
3 Spoils of the Vault
1 Vampiric Tutor

Sideboard:
2 Apostle's Blessing
4 Defense Grid
3 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Ravenous Trap
4 Steel Sabotage

I made the following changes but i'm still tinkering with it:
-4 Greater Gargadon
+2 Progenitus, +2 Reaper King
-2 Flusterstorm, +1 Mental Misstep, +1 Spoils of the Vault
- 4 Duress, +4 Thoughtseize (why not remove the potential blocker)
- 1 Brainstorm, +1 Imperial Seal
-2 Apostles Blessing, +1 Lotus Petal, +1 Time Walk

I Went to a 5 color mana base (4xCoB, 4x Mana Confluence, 4x Gemstone mine). I believe I need to add a land or 2. There are currently 17 colored mana sources, but 2 are black lotus & lotus petal.

Current considerations:
1. Another version that I saw was very blue heavy, using cunning wish to find shoal & pitch counters but I haven't tried it yet. Cunning seems slow in a deck with such a low curve but maybe someone here can dispel this until I test it.
2. Does anyone have any input regarding the plague stingers? Currently Im running 4 inkmoth Nexus in its place since the shoal Kill is free.
This deck will never be tier 1, but its a nice way to break up the normal decks I always have sleeved up (Forgemaster, Dredge, TurboTezz, Belcher, Burning Oath, BUG Doomsday).

Any feedback would be appreciated. I'll update this as I have time to test. Thanks guys!

Edit 8.28.14-

It would be helpful to post where I'm at with the list, so here it is

Mana Sources - 17 ish
4 City of Brass
4 Mana Confluence
4 Gemstone Mine
3 Mox UBG
1 Lotus Petal
1 Black Lotus

Beats - 12 ish
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Glistener Elf
4 Blighted Agent

Shoal Combo - 10
4 Blazing Shoal
4 Greater Gargadon
2 Progenitus

Protection/Disruption - 8
4 Mental Misstep
4 Thoughtseize

Search/Draw - 10
4 Spoils of the Vault
1 Demonic COnsultation
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Imperial Seal
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk

Total - 57 cards

We have 3 slots to play with. Right now the deck seems protection-light & possibly mana-light.
I don't think the lands need to be 5c, so fetches & a brainstorm probably make more sense.

[Wagner]

Gargadon, Progenitus and Reaper King seem entirely interchangeable, but since they are part of your 2 card combo that you really want to Spoil of the Vault for, I would advise keeping 4 of one so you don't die as often.

Check out Vines of Vastwood also, it has a similar role to Apostle's Blessing in preventing removal, but it can also be kicked to end the game more quickly if you can't assembly Blazing Shoal.

[JarofFortune]

I think Gargadon is better than Reaper King and Progenitus because against Oath you can use it to keep them from triggering Oath until you can set up a kill. Double Gargadon is usually enough to beat Oath.

[Tha Gunslinga]

Double Progenitus beats Painter, and Greater Gargadon beats Oath and is not a bad card in general.  I would play both of those over Reaper King unless you find yourself able to cast Reaper King occasionally.

[Justin]

@Wagner

The change I made to the pitch creature left my deck with 4 Progenitus & 2 Reaper King. Spoiling for a non 4 of is....questionable lol
The issue with the combo, or the deck in general, is not "Shoaling Out". I see why original lists ran Apostle's Blessing and why the legacy lists run Vines/Mutagenic/Berserk, etc. I feel like this deck can't play that game without going all in & removing the Shoal combo. It may turn out that smaller pumps will work out, but it may make it too slow by allowing combo to go off or allowing too much interaction. I'll sleeve up a version & post the decklist here with what I find. It certainly has merit in other formats

@Jar/Gunslinga

Great point about Greater Gargadon, I had not considered it. Stupid oversight on my part. Thank you for pointing that out!

Wife is out of town this weekend so I hope to have more to contribute then.

[Wagner]

Find out what you want that card slot to do. Apostle gives you protection and probable unblockability for 2 life. Vines gives you protection and seldom extra pump if you don't have the combo, or to trade against a bigger creature (Lodestone). Shadow rift gives you total unblockability and an extra card.

If you run Progenitus, consider 1 Summoner's Pact also. If you have plenty of Progenitus, it should have the same effect as having one in hand, and you can seldom use it to get an elf if needed and if you can pay 4. Not the best, but there might be room for 1 if you run a full set of Progenitus already. Again, I think Gargadon is the creature of choice here.

[JPoJohnson]

Not playing explosively fragile decks in Vintage... so I probably don't super understand.

But would running Force of will with Progenitus/Scarecrow King be a decent option?

[Justin]

Not playing explosively fragile decks in Vintage... so I probably don't super understand.

But would running Force of will with Progenitus/Scarecrow King be a decent option?

Currently weighing whether or not the force/5c pitchers are superior to running gargadon for oath. Asked myself the same question this weekend, don't have an answer yet. It seems like it would help out the protection suite, possibly in a cunning wish build i mentioned earlier.

Sorry I haven't been able to update, got slammed at work

[serracollector]

Wouldnt running three or four Living Wish with one progenitus in sb plus maybe some utility dudes be a good call?

[Bluediamonds]

Consider filling it up with Gitaxian Probes?

[TheWhiteDragon]

No way this is mana-light.  If anything, it's mana heavy.  You have 17 sources listed, but dont forget the 4 inkmoths are mana too.  That's 21.  Also, you have DT, walk, and 4x agent costing only 2 mana, and every other spell costs 1 or 0.  You are fine on mana.  if you want more control, I'd cut gargadon for progenitus/reaper king, cut 1 thoughtseize or misstep, and add 4x FoW (you have blue spells to pitch with agents and the rainbow creatures and missteps.

I'd actually just go with wellsprings and vines and mutagenic and become immense, a la Modern.  Right now shoal MAY be faster, but it's a 3 card combo.  And if shoal gets countered, it's a 2-for-1.  Only running 4 pump spells in infect is very weak.  I'd take a Modern infect deck and tweak that for vintage, tbh.  Infect is a pain in Modern and it can only be made faster in Vintage.  You might also consider SSG/ESG and reckless charges if you go with the mutagenic growth route.  That can be a Turn 1 kill - mox/lotus/SSG/ESG + land + glistener + charge + wellspring + mutagenic = 10 poison.  I've never been a fan of apostles blssing, but in Vintage you get misstep, so that stops bolt and plow.  Unfortunately, Vintage also plays chalice@1 which you don't see much in Modern, and that shuts down a lot of your deck.  Ancient grudge from the sb is good for that (another reason to add SSG and go more towards red with charge.  A R/G/U build should get you there easily enough.  I'd cut black and tutors/siezes altogether to add more pump and FoW/misstep.