Overview:

This Vishgraz, the Doomhive deck focuses on poison proliferation, leveraging toxic/infect creatures and proliferate effects to overwhelm opponents with poison counters. Vishgraz serves as both a token generator and a scaling threat, growing stronger as opponents accumulate poison. The deck combines incremental poison pressure via Mites and infect creatures with explosive proliferate turns to reach 10 counters. Key support from Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines doubles ETB triggers like Vishgraz’s Mites, while cards like Ichor Rats and Phyresis Outbreak accelerate poison distribution.

Primer:

Core Strategy Execution:

1. Early Poison Setup (Turns 1-4): Deploy toxic 1-2 creatures (Bilious Skulldweller, Plague Stinger, Ichor Rats) to establish initial poison counters. Use ramp (Sol Ring, Cultivate) to cast Vishgraz by turn 4, generating three Mites.
2. Proliferate Surge (Turns 4-6): Activate Karn's Bastion, cast Drown in Ichor/Evolution Sage, or use Thirsting Roots to multiply poison counters. Ixhel, Scion of Atraxa steals exiled cards from poisoned opponents.
3. Closing the Game (Turns 6-8): Overwhelm with Vishgraz’s growing power (scaling with poison) or finish with White Sun's Twilight/Wurmquake for lethal toxic tokens. Use Noxious Assault to punish blockers with poison.

Mulligan Priorities:

• Keep hands with 2-3 lands, including green/black sources.
• Prioritize early toxic creatures (e.g., Venerated Rotpriest, Blightbelly Rat) and ramp (Arcane Signet, Sol Ring).
• Avoid hands without early poison sources or excessive high-CMC cards.

Key Tips:

• Use Necrogen Communion on Vishgraz to ensure recursion and toxic 2.
• Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines doubles Vishgraz’s Mite generation and Blightbelly Rat’s proliferate-on-death.
• Phyresis Outbreak scales with poison counters, clearing blockers while pressuring life totals.

Weaknesses:

Critical

• Board wipes cripple momentum (Fumigate, Rout), as the deck relies on creature-based poison and token swarms.
• Lacks counterspells to protect key pieces like Elesh Norn or Vishgraz from removal.

Moderate

• Slow poison accumulation vs. lifegain/hexproof strategies.
• Limited tutors for critical proliferate engines (e.g., Evolution Sage).

Minor

• Artifact/enchantment hate disrupts The One Ring, Norn's Annex, and Moldervine Reclamation.
• Mana base inconsistencies from tapped lands (e.g., Krosan Verge, Temple of Plenty).

Most Important Cards:

• Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines (Double ETB triggers for Mites/proliferate)
• Ichor Rats (Global poison seeding)
• Karn's Bastion (Repeatable proliferate)
• White Sun's Twilight (Toxic token finisher/board reset)
• Phyresis Outbreak (Scaling poison-to-removal spell)
• Venerated Rotpriest (Passive poison on spell targeting)
• Noxious Assault (Combat trick + poison on blocks)
• Contaminant Grafter (Proliferate-on-attack + card advantage)
• Wurmquake (Corrupted token generator with flashback)
• The One Ring (Card draw engine/protection)

Attribute Ratings:

Speed: 5/10
Can apply early poison but requires 3-4 proliferate turns to close, typically threatening wins by T8-10.

Resilience: 4/10
Minimal protection for key pieces; struggles to rebuild after wipes but has some recursion (Unnatural Restoration).

Consistency: 6/10
Redundant toxic creatures and proliferate effects, but lacks tutors for critical noncreature spells.

Interaction: 4/10
Spot removal (Swords to Plowshares, Anoint with Affliction) and board wipes, but no counterspells or stax.

Rating Justification:

This deck operates as a focused casual build with a clear poison strategy, leveraging incremental value and proliferate bursts. Its T8-10 win potential and moderate resilience align with precon-level power, though its reliance on combat and vulnerability to interaction caps its ceiling.

Power level: 4.0 - 4.5