Matchup - Unfavored

We are the beatdown here and they are the control deck, and the matchup is unfavored for us. They win the long game: Infestation Sage, Nested Shambler, Nezumi Linkbreaker and Shambling Ghast all leave tokens or triggers behind when they die, Village Rites turns spare bodies into cards, and the free sacrifice outlets Carrion Feeder and Bloodthrone Vampire make every Shambling Ghast an instant-speed kill spell. We have no card draw and twelve infect creatures to lose. Speed is the one axis we own: left alone, a pumped infect attacker poisons them well before a grown Carrion Feeder and Rite of Consumption finish us, and the life the Rite gains them does nothing against poison. Resilience and card quality leans their way, so their job is only to kill or blank our attacker each turn, and each turn Snakeskin Veil, Vines of Vastwood, Escape Tunnel and Rancor fail to force poison through, they trade off another of our creatures while their board grows.

Plan the poison around getting past blockers rather than through them. Everything they have except Carrion Feeder can chump block, and once the block is declared they sacrifice the blocker to the Feeder or Bloodthrone Vampire before damage, so a blocked attacker without trample deals nothing however much we pump it. Activate Escape Tunnel while the attacker still has 2 power or less, or give it trample with Rancor or the upkeep Llanowar Augur sacrifice, and only then commit the pumps. On the attack turn, answer a Shambling Ghast trigger with another pump rather than protection: any +2/+2 in response (Mutagenic Growth costs no mana) keeps a 1/1 alive through the -1/-1 and still adds poison, which leaves Snakeskin Veil and Vines of Vastwood for the Snuff Out or morbid Tragic Slip that some lists run, which a pump cannot beat.

Keep Llanowar Augur or a second creature beside the infect creature you plan to attack with, because the Accursed Marauder many lists run goes straight through our protection and we want a body to hand over instead. Spend spare mana on protection rather than Blight Mamba's regeneration: the Ghast trigger and Tragic Slip shrink it to 0 toughness, the Marauder makes us sacrifice it, and Snuff Out says it cannot be regenerated, so the shield only saves it from a blocker's damage. Pay life for Mutagenic Growth with Rite of Consumption in mind: they attack with their biggest creature and then sacrifice it to the Rite in their second main phase for its full power again, so an unblocked Carrion Feeder with counters or a pumped Bloodthrone Vampire costs us twice its power in one turn.

Key Threats

Shambling Ghast, in most lists, is the removal we face most often. With a free outlet on the battlefield they sacrifice it at instant speed, and the -1/-1 kills any of our 1/1 infect creatures in response to a pump, a Rancor or an Escape Tunnel activation. Never cast Rancor or crack the Tunnel without a pump or protection spell ready to answer it: if the trigger kills the creature with everything still on the stack, the Tunnel is already sacrificed and the fizzled Rancor never returns to hand. Another +2/+2 in response is the right answer; save protection for the bigger removal.

Carrion Feeder and Bloodthrone Vampire are the free sacrifice outlets that make the rest of their deck work: they fire the Ghast whenever they choose, turn on morbid for the Tragic Slip some lists run, and let them sacrifice a blocker before damage. Do not pump an attacker they have blocked unless it has trample, because the blocker disappears, the pump adds no poison, and the Feeder takes a +1/+1 counter. The Feeder cannot block, and every creature it eats grows the attacker they later feed to Rite of Consumption.

Accursed Marauder, which many lists run in Game 1, is their only main-deck removal that Snakeskin Veil and Vines of Vastwood cannot stop: its edict makes us sacrifice a nontoken creature of our choice, so a lone infect creature dies whatever protection we hold. Committing a single infect creature with no Llanowar Augur or second body beside it hands them the attacker and strands every pump in hand, and any Mortician Beetle they have grows off both sacrifices. Unearth on their turn, or Supernatural Stamina plus a free outlet on ours, brings it back for another edict.

Tragic Slip is in some Game 1 lists and nearly every sideboard. Once any creature has died this turn, which their free outlets arrange at instant speed, it gives -13/-13 that no pump beats, so it is the answer Snakeskin Veil and Vines of Vastwood are held for. Spending the Veil on a Ghast trigger that a spare pump could have beaten is the mistake it punishes: the Slip that follows kills the attacker with our pumps still on the stack.

Sideboard Plan

In:

• 2 Vines of Vastwood
• 2 Seal of Strength

Out:

• 4 Go Forth

Vines of Vastwood comes in because Shambling Ghast triggers fired through free sacrifice outlets, the Tragic Slip nearly every list brings in, and the Snuff Out or Spinning Darkness some lists add are all targeted. Two more copies give us eight protection spells to blank the first answer they fire on the kill turn. Kicked, it also adds +4/+4 toward ten poison and keeps a creature alive through the Drown in Sorrow some lists bring.

Seal of Strength comes in because their removal can arrive at any moment through free sacrifice outlets, so the kill turn needs lands open for Snakeskin Veil or kicked Vines of Vastwood. A Seal cast on an earlier turn with spare mana gives +3/+3 that costs nothing that turn. Once on the battlefield it is out of reach of the Mesmeric Fiend nearly every list can bring in, and its +3/+3 in response keeps a creature alive through the Drown in Sorrow some lists add.

Go Forth goes out to make room for the two Vines of Vastwood and two Seal of Strength. Their removal can come at any moment, so the kill turn needs mana held for protection, and Go Forth gets the least out of that mana of any of our pumps: it never gives more than +2/+2, while Embiggen gives +4/+4 on Glistener Elf and Ichorclaw Myr, Might of Old Krosa gives +4/+4 once Escape Tunnel has made the attacker unblockable, and Mutagenic Growth or a Seal already on the battlefield costs no mana that turn. Its land mode spends a card that should be pushing poison or protecting the attacker.

Sideboarding moves this matchup moderately further toward them: our four slots add protection and a free pump but nothing that touches the edict, while they add more Tragic Slip, more Accursed Marauder and hand disruption, so expect more removal per game than in Game 1.

Post-board Strategy

After boarding nearly every list adds Tragic Slip and most add more Accursed Marauder, so we swap Go Forth for two Vines of Vastwood and two Seal of Strength to hold protection mana on the kill turn, and keep a second body beside the attacker for the edict. With four Vines next to four Snakeskin Veil we hold protection on more kill turns: let them fire first, answer that first targeted removal, and once the protection resolves the attacker is safe from the rest of their targeted removal for the turn. Cast Seal of Strength on a turn with spare mana so its +3/+3 costs nothing on the kill turn and every land stays open for the Veil or a kicked Vines.

What they bring in, and how we play around each piece:

• Tragic Slip: a free sacrifice turns on morbid at instant speed and -13/-13 is more than a pump can offset, so Snakeskin Veil or Vines of Vastwood is held for it, not spent on a Ghast trigger.
• Accursed Marauder: more copies of the edict that ignores all our protection. Before an attack turn have Llanowar Augur or a second creature down to sacrifice instead of the attacker.
• Mesmeric Fiend, in nearly every sideboard: on their turn it takes our protection spell or best pump right before their removal comes, and if they sacrifice it with its enters trigger still on the stack the card never comes back. A Seal of Strength or Rancor already on the battlefield is out of its reach, which is one more reason to deploy them early.
• Drown in Sorrow, in some lists: it kills every 1/1 infect creature we have on their turn while their own death triggers rebuild part of their board. Snakeskin Veil's +1/+1 counter does not keep a 1/1 alive through -2/-2, but Seal of Strength or kicked Vines of Vastwood in response saves one, and Llanowar Augur survives it on its own.
• Spinning Darkness, in some lists: usually free once three black cards are in their graveyard, 3 damage to one creature at instant speed. It targets, so protection stops it, a +3/+3 or bigger pump in response survives it, and Blight Mamba can regenerate from it.
• Snuff Out, in some lists: the 4 life it costs them does not matter against poison, and it kills through Blight Mamba's regeneration, so only Snakeskin Veil or Vines of Vastwood answers it.