Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon is a formidable infect commander in Magic: The Gathering. This card stands out due to its legendary nature, making it an excellent choice for a commander deck focused on infect strategy.
A Skithiryx deck combines the infect mechanic with a Voltron approach (focusing on enhancing one creature with Equipment and Auras for attacks). In this format, a player loses the game if they accumulate ten or more poison counters, which are typically difficult to remove. Skithiryx proves to be a fantastic commander to achieve a swift victory in this way.
Decklist
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Commander: Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon |
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Vraska, Betrayal’s Sting |
Bilious Skulldweller |
Blackcleave Goblin |
Blightbelly Rat |
Blightsteel Colossus |
Contagious Nim |
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Core Prowler |
Corpse Cur |
Crypt Ghast |
Flesh-Eater Imp |
Gray Merchant of Asphodel |
Gulping Scraptrap |
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Hand of the Praetors |
Ichorclaw Myr |
Ichor Rats |
Leaden Myr |
Magus of the Coffers |
Myr Convert |
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Pestilent Syphoner |
Phyrexian Crusader |
Plague Myr |
Plague Stinger |
Reaper of Sheoldred |
Silent Arbiter |
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Toxic Nim |
Whispering Specter |
Caress of Phyrexia |
Drown in Ichor |
Infectious Inquiry |
Mutilate |
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Phyresis Outbreak |
Toxic Deluge |
Vat Emergence |
Astarion’s Thirst |
Defile |
Grim Affliction |
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Howl from Beyond |
Vraska’s Fall |
Whisper of the Dross |
Arcane Signet |
Blackblade Reforged |
Brotherhood Regalia |
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Champion’s Helm |
Commander’s Plate |
Contagion Clasp |
Contagion Engine |
Fireshrieker |
Glistening Sphere |
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Jet Medallion |
Lashwrithe |
Lightning Greaves |
Mind Stone |
Nightmare Lash |
Prowler’s Helm |
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Sol Ring |
Staff of Compleation |
Swiftfoot Boots |
Trailblazer’s Boots |
Whispersilk Cloak |
Necrogen Communion |
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Phyrexian Arena |
Shade’s Form |
Snake Cult Initiation |
Unspeakable Symbol |
Buried Ruin |
Castle Locthwain |
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Cathedral of War |
Inkmoth Nexus |
Karn’s Bastion |
Minas Morgul, Dark Fortress |
Mirrex |
Myriad Landscape |
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Rogue’s Passage |
Shizo, Death’s Storehouse |
20 Swamps |
The Black Gate |
Urza’s Cave |
War Room |
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Witch’s Cottage |
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This deck features one planeswalker, 26 creatures, seven sorceries, six instants, 20 artifacts, five enchantments, and 34 lands. While focusing on Skithiryx is key, leveraging other creatures and spells can help you secure the final poison counters needed for victory.
Key Cards
Skithiryx, The Blight Dragon
Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon is the primary source of infect in your deck. Its flying ability makes it challenging to block, and various Equipment can render it unblockable. Moreover, Skithiryx’s ability to grant itself haste means you can attack the turn it enters the battlefield, especially if your opponents lack flying or reach creatures.
While Equipment can provide protection, Skithiryx can regenerate itself, making it tougher for opponents to deal with it using conventional methods. If your opponents lack ways to exile or require you to sacrifice Skithiryx, it will likely remain on the battlefield.
Regeneration taps a creature instead of destroying it. This can occur even if the creature is tapped, and the protection will still apply.
Contagion Engine
While not the flashiest card, Contagion Engine is incredibly effective. With just four mana, you can proliferate twice, meaning that for each poison counter your opponents have, you add two more.
This card may be costly to cast, but the payoff is invaluable. In the late game, when your opponents have more established defenses, closing the gap to secure the last few poison counters can become tricky. Double proliferation enables you to efficiently meet your goal.
Staff of Compleation
Staff of Compleation allows you to exchange life for various effects, primarily enabling you to proliferate at the cost of three life. Additionally, you can use it as a source of mana or draw a card if necessary, although it’s generally unwise to use it to destroy your own permanents.
The true strength of the Staff is its late-game utility, particularly when you have excess mana. By investing five mana, you can untap it repeatedly to trigger multiple proliferations in a single turn.
Hand of the Praetors
Hand of the Praetors is a key creature with infest and acts as a lord for your other infect creatures. Since most of the creatures in your deck have infect, this card can turn every creature you play into a source of additional poison counters for your opponents.
It’s usually beneficial to distribute poison counters evenly among your opponents, making it easier to eliminate them all through proliferate triggers. However, if one opponent poses a greater threat, prioritize getting their poison counter count to ten before focusing on others.
The stats boost it provides is decent, but its primary drawing point is the capacity to inflict poison counters easily. By applying constant pressure with poison counters, you present a challenge for your opponents to counter.
How to Play the Deck
Your strategy with the Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon deck involves rapidly placing as many poison counters on your opponents as possible to reach that crucial count of ten. Your commander, Skithiryx, is the most effective means to generate counters quickly, while proliferate effects help to fill any gaps.
Being a mono-black deck, you might find yourself lacking in ramp options. However, there are a few mana-generating creatures like Plague Myr and Myr Convert to help you quickly summon Skithiryx. The Jet Medallion also offers cost reductions for your black spells.
The deck is rich in proliferate effects that can add poison counters to your opponents. It’s important to time these effects carefully, ideally waiting until all your opponents have at least one poison counter to maximize their utility. Permanents that can proliferate, such as Karn’s Bastion and Contagion Clasp/Engine, are particularly valuable since they can be used multiple times.
To take full advantage of Skithiryx, the deck also emphasizes a Voltron strategy. Cards like Whispersilk Cloak, Trailblazer’s Boots, and Brotherhood Regalia help make Skithiryx unblockable, while Unspeakable Symbol, Nightmare Lash, and Lashwrithe offer stat boosts that can potentially secure ten poison counters in just one attack.
If a card has both infect and a toxic ability, activating either ability will trigger both. For example, if a creature has infect with 4/4 stats and toxic 2, the player receiving damage will receive a total of six poison counters.
The ultimate goal of this deck is to secure a victory by inflicting ten poison counters on your opponents. As combat damage from creatures with infect translates directly into poison counters, traditional player life totals remain untouched. Therefore, your victory can only come through poison counters, not through conventional combat damage.
A significant drawback of this deck is its relative speed. Mono-black decks typically face challenges when it comes to ramping, and as soon as you reveal Skithiryx, you’ll likely find yourself a target. Infect decks are notorious for winning swiftly and can often evade interaction, making you a target early on. While cards like Silent Arbiter can help slow down gameplay, you may need to rely on removal spells and board wipes early on to establish your position and begin building your battlefield. The Gray Merchant of Asphodel can also help recover lost life points.
