Hello, and welcome to my new weekly installment, Preconstructed Reconstructed, or Precon Recon for short. Here every week I will take a look at some preconstructed decks and rework them to better perform. This week I will be taking a look at a Mirrodin Besieged deck, the Path of Blight deck.

For a look at the original deck list, go here: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/TCG/productarticle.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/mirrodinbesieged/themedeck#deck4.

While the deck itself is pretty sound, it definitely needs help. Some of the things added make no sense what so ever. And there are certain things overlooked. So I will do my best to right the wrongs and build a better deck.

The first thing to look into is why the deck did not receive any Giant Growths. The best option in terms of pump, and dealing extra poison counters from the only card printed in every core set, and yet it is left out of a deck that certainly could exploit it. But before I get into what we should add, let’s first look at what could be pulled.

First and foremost, let’s be real, 2 Banishment Decree’s? Five mana to delay one card? I see that as an obvious pull. Another card that isn’t as useful in this deck is the Decimator Web. While the Decimator Web is in itself a very great card, I just feel that this deck is not the house for it. And the single Mighty Leap is just not worth it. Another card that just doesn’t go with the overall theme of the deck is the Hunter’s Feasts. Why need gain life when it is about killing you opponent through infect as quickly as possible? This brings me to the Trigon of Infestation. While it is a decent creature producer, it is just too slow, and slow means losing. They are a great way to produce some creatures, but again, this deck could have better options.

On the creature side of things to pull, I’d like to start with the Phyrexian Juggernaughts. Six mana for a 5/5 that has infect and is forced to attack every turn is just too much to ask. Another creature that is far over priced for what it does is the Tangle Angler. That is a definite pull in this scenario. Many of the other creatures in here are 3-4 mana, which means that it could be a slow starting deck. Not really what we want to hear. The Plague Myr could help that problem out, but only if you pull one of the two.

So we have removed eleven cards, so what can we put in to help out? First off, I would not hesitate to put in another Phyrexian Hydra, and run it in combination with Bladed Pinions. A flying, first strike, infect creature is one hell of a problem to over come, especially if it is a 7/7. One clear shot, Giant Growth, and it is over. So I would recommend at least 3 Bladed Pinions and one more Phyrexian Hydra so that they come up more often. The hydra replaces that Decimator Web we removed earlier in terms of rares if you are building on a budget. And the Bladed Pinions are great for any infect creature seeing it will weaken whatever it deals damage to before being dealt damage. I would also recommend 3 Giant Growths, since one or two could end the game with infect.

So there are seven cards in. Another combo I run in my own infect deck is using the Flight Spellbomb to give an opponent’s creature flying, and then Pistus Strike it. Destroying the creature and giving my opponent a poison counter. This is handy when it’s a large creature on the ground that could prove troublesome, Grave Titan for example. Since there was one Pistus Strike in the deck already, I would add one more, and then finish off with two Flight Spellbombs, since they can also always boost one of your creatures over an opponent.

That leaves just one card to add to keep the deck running at sixty cards. The possibilities are literally endless. In keeping with type, however, I have one card that screams, “Add Me!!” and that is Overwhelming Stampede. One Phyrexian Hydra out will pump all of your creatures by 7, and give them trample. This is just a bad day when running infect style decks. This would make the Tine Strikes in the air 9/8’s, and if you have the Bladed Pinions on a Phyrexian Hydra, it becomes a 14/14 flying, trampling monstrosity.

These additions make the deck just play so much better. But of course you could explore the option of adding more proliferate, but I feel that better suites another deck I will be taking a look at in the future. One thing I should mention, the reason I left the Core Prowler in is as a massive defensive measure. Choking Fumes when your opponent attacks, and use him as a blocker, you may take some damage, but your opponent would probably lose the majority of his attack force.

Until next time everybody, be safe, be fun, and keep gaming.