How do you like to take the fight to your opponent in Magic: the Gathering? The beauty of this game is the incredibly deep card pool and variety of strategies, from control decks that think long-term to aggressive decks that say “Do or die!” Some decks are built to win, and others are for-fun builds centered around an interesting theme.

One of the most notorious strategies is Infect, a G/x build that wins fast by building up a single creature with infect and dealing lethal damage in one strike. Cards like Blighted Agent, Inkmoth Nexus, Mutagenic Crowth, and Vines of Vastwood define this deck, and it can win out of nowhere. So, in your sideboard or in your Commander deck, you ought to dedicate a few slots to cards that counter this wicked play style. Here are ten cards that will give infect decks a real headache.

10 Melira, Sylvok Outcast

Why not start off with the most clearly anti-infect card of all? Melira, Sylvok Outcast is the sort of card designed to keep a set’s big bad mechanic in check. Many sets do this, and Melira is a clear “go away” to poison counters and infect threats.

It’s a small creature and may need protection, but if you keep Melira alive, infect decks must whittle down your life points with regular damage, and they’re not designed for that. This buys you time.

9 Platinum Angel

This angel is rather slow for Modern play, but it’s a fine choice in Commander. There are many Commander decks built around proliferate or poison, such as Skythyrix or Atraxa. Once they give you a poison counter, your doom is a matter of proliferation, and you probably won’t have a card that removes those poison counters.

If that’s the case, good old fashioned Platinum angel is your main way to avoid death by poison, and buy you time to find your own route to victory. But like Melira, this angel may need some protection. Cards like this are removal magnets.

8 Chalice of the Void

Many Modern and Legacy decks feature this insidious artifact in their sideboard to slow down decks that rely on many cards of a certain converted mana cost (CMC). Put two charge counters on the Chalice, and Storm decks will have a pretty bad day.

For infect, meanwhile, put it at one. Glistener Elf becomes impossible to cast, and the same is true for Rancor, Vines of Vastwood, Mutagenic Growth, and Noble Hierarch, among others. But be aware that Blighted Agent is at two-drop, so watch out for it if you’ve got just one charge counter on the Chalice.

7 Ensnaring Bridge

Suppose you couldn’t find a way to counter your opponent’s infect threats or counter the pump spells used on those threats? Don’t worry: this bridge will make for a fine moat.

Keep your hand small (ideally 0 cards), and nothing can attack you at all. Infect can’t win without attacking, after all. Just be ready for your opponent to attack with a 1/1 threat, and then pump it with instant-speed effects to circumvent the Bridge if you have one card in hand. Having a discard outlet should help you keep a hand of zero cards during your opponent’s turn.

6 Alpine Moon

Let’s not forget about those lands. Infect’s mana base is typically forests, dual lands for blue or black, Pendelhaven, and Inkmoth Nexus.

Those utility lands can either pump or morph into infect threats, and they’re immune to creature removal during your turn (while they are merely lands). So, for just one red mana, Alpine Moon can convert them into much more mundane land cards, with no infect or pump abilities at all.

5 Spellskite

Sometimes, an infect deck will also use this card, to divert creature removal away from infect threats. On the other side of the table, you can also use Spellskite to disrupt infect’s plans.

It’s simple: use this creature’s ability to redirect pump spells (even auras) onto the Spellskite, rather than an infect threat. If you don’t have blue mana, don’t feel bad about paying (2) for each activation, since your opponent isn’t attacking your life total anyway.

4 Grim Lavamancer

Time for some serious creature removal. Grim Lavamancer hits for 2 each time if you can supply it with red mana and graveyard cards, which can pick off infect threats like a champ.

The card advantage can really add up. And even if your opponent uses cards to save their creature on your turn, such as Apostle’s Blessing or Vines of Vastwood, that’s one less card they can use to pump their infect creature during their own turn. Either way, Grim Lavamancer gets you results.

3 Pithing Needle

For the most part, Pithing Needle acts as a substitute for Alpine Moon if you don’t have any red mana. Name Inkmoth Nexus with it, and no more flying infect threats will come!

If you play a second copy, or if you do have Alpine Moon in play, try using this on your opponent’s Spellskite, so they can’t redirect removal away from their infect threats.

2 Thoughtseize

It’s time for black mana to take a turn. This color excels at hand control, which is ideal against combo and control decks, which have low redundancy among their cards. Take out a key card from your opponent’s hand, and the rest become meaningless.

Use this to take out an infect threat in your opponent’s hand, such as Glistener Elf or Blighted Agent. Failing that, take out the pump spell that you’re least able to handle. As a bonus, Thoughtseize lets you see your opponent’s hand, so you’ll know (for a short time) whether or not they’re bluffing or trying to bait out removal. Knowledge is power.

1 Wipe Away

Control decks will probably get the most use out of this against infect, since a color-heavy three-drop is rather clunky for faster, more proactive decks.

A bounce spell is a fine way to delay an infect threat and negate all the pump spells that were used on it. Better yet, your opponent can’t protect their creature with Apostle’s Blessing or Vines of Vastwood, due to Wipe Away having split second. You’ll get the final word for sure.

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