commander · Ixhel, Scion of Atraxa
Corrupting Influence (ONC).
An Abzan infect and proliferate deck led by Ixhel, Scion of Atraxa — spread poison counters through infect creatures, proliferate them to ten, and win through the infect kill condition before opponents can stabilize.
The Commanders
Corrupting Influence is an Abzan infect and proliferate deck from Phyrexia: All Will Be One. Ixhel, Scion of Atraxa corrupts opponents by giving their creatures the Corrupted keyword and letting you draw cards when your opponents' creatures with Corrupted die. The strategy is to land one or two infect creatures, get poison counters on each opponent, then proliferate those counters to ten for the win condition unique to infect — most opponents can't recover from seven poison counters.
Ixhel, Scion of Atraxa generates card advantage by revealing the top card of a corrupted opponent's library at your end step and exiling it — if the opponent is corrupted (has one or more poison counters), you may cast that card. She rewards spreading poison counters to all opponents while building up a hand full of opponents' best spells. With flying, she's also a direct infect threat herself.
Key Cards
Skrelv, Defector Mite
A legendary one-mana 1/1 with toxic 1 and protection-granting ability. Skrelv deals a poison counter the turn he enters due to toxic, and can be activated to give a creature protection from a chosen color until end of turn while making it unblockable against that color. The toxic ability means Skrelv contributes to the infect kill without being an infect creature himself — he synergizes with the poisoning plan while being easier to slot into lists that mix infect and non-infect creatures. One mana for guaranteed poison delivery is exceptional value.
Skrelv's Hive
Creates a 1/1 white Mite token with toxic 1 at the beginning of your upkeep if you're corrupted. Mite tokens have toxic 1 — each one that deals combat damage gives an opponent a poison counter. With proliferate effects firing afterwards, those poison counters grow rapidly. Skrelv's Hive generates a stream of toxic attackers that can spread poison counters to different opponents simultaneously, accelerating the table's poison count while keeping the Hive protected behind your board presence.
Evolution Sage
Proliferate every time a land enters the battlefield under your control. In a green deck with a full ramp package, you're typically playing two to three lands per turn in the mid-game — that's two to three proliferate triggers per turn. Each proliferate adds a poison counter to every opponent who already has one. With an opponent at five poison and three land drops, they reach eight poison counters in a single turn without any infect creatures attacking. Evolution Sage is the deck's most efficient passive proliferator.
Contagion Clasp
A two-mana artifact that enters and proliferates immediately, then proliferates again each activation for four mana. This is the deck's most reliable activated proliferate effect. Pay four mana — every opponent with a poison counter gets one more. With two or three activations in a game, an opponent who was at five poison is suddenly at eight, then ten. Against players who don't prioritize removing Contagion Clasp, it closes games from any poison total above two or three in a matter of turns.
Phyrexian Swarmlord
Creates an infect Insect token for each poison counter opponents have at the beginning of your upkeep. Against three opponents each at three poison, Phyrexian Swarmlord creates nine 1/1 infect Insects on your upkeep. Each of those Insects can deal a poison counter when it attacks, accelerating the table's poison count even faster. A single attack with nine infect Insects against any unprotected opponent adds nine poison counters — often jumping them from one to ten in a single swing.
Infectious Inquiry
Draw two cards, each opponent gets a poison counter, and proliferate. For two mana at instant speed, this is one of the most efficient cards in the deck. Every opponent gets poisoned, which immediately activates Ixhel's corrupted trigger and enables Skrelv's Hive tokens. Then you proliferate — turning that first poison counter into two on each opponent. This is the deck's best turn-two play when Ixhel isn't coming down yet, because it poisons the whole table before your infect creatures even attack.
How to Play
Turn one: infect creature or ramp. Turn two: Infectious Inquiry to poison the entire table and enable Ixhel's ability immediately. Turn three: Ixhel. From turn three onward, each opponent who has a poison counter is corrupted — Ixhel steals a card from each corrupted opponent's library at your end step, rapidly building a hand of their best spells.
The win condition requires three poison counters on each opponent before proliferate closes it. Land infect threats on turns one and two. Get all opponents to three poison through attacks and Infectious Inquiry. Then proliferate repeatedly — Evolution Sage plus three land drops per turn is three proliferate triggers, moving opponents from three to six to nine to ten within two or three turns. The deck wins fastest when proliferate reaches critical mass quickly and the table cannot remove all your proliferators simultaneously.