The Best Poison Commanders in EDH: Infect, Toxic and Proliferate

Ten poison counters and a player is out, no matter how much life they have. In a format where everyone starts at 40, that sounds like cheating. It isn't, quite: there are three opponents, so you need thirty counters, and a deck that tries to deal them all in combat gets seen coming.

Poison decks that win in Commander don't try to deal thirty. They put one or two counters on everybody, then proliferate until the numbers do the rest. The cards below are sorted by which half of that job they do — the commanders that lead it, the creatures that start the counters, and the engines that finish them.

How does poison work in Commander?

There are three ways to give poison. Infect creatures deal damage as poison counters to players and as -1/-1 counters to creatures, and nothing else. Toxic creatures deal normal damage plus a fixed number of poison counters. And a few cards just hand poison out directly. Then proliferate gives every player you choose who already has a counter one more — which is why a single poison counter on each opponent is worth far more than it looks.

The lesson it teaches: toxic is the forgiving half. A toxic creature still hits for its full power, so when the poison plan stalls you're still a beatdown deck. Infect is the fast, brittle half — an infect creature does nothing to a player's life total, so a deck of only infect creatures has exactly one way to win.

The best poison commanders

Most of these commanders put poison on players directly, which means your first counters arrive from the command zone rather than from the 99.

Atraxa, Praetors' Voice is the other classic choice. She doesn't poison anyone herself, but she proliferates at the beginning of every one of your end steps, so every poisoned opponent picks up one more counter whether or not you attacked. The cost is the mana base: wants real fixing.

Vishgraz, the Doomhive is Ixhel's colours with more aggression: three toxic Mites on entry, and he grows with every poison counter your opponents carry. Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon is the classic mono-black infect commander — flying, regeneration, haste for — but three hits only removes one player, and the table knows it. Karumonix, the Rat King gives every Rat toxic 1, which is charming and a little thin. Fynn, the Fangbearer turns each deathtouch hit into two poison counters, but mono-green has too few deathtouch creatures to lead with him. He's better in the 99.

Which is where the recent one comes in. The Serpent Society from Marvel Super Heroes is a Golgari deathtouch commander with ward — get five poison counters, so an opponent who targets it with a spell or ability either takes five poison counters or has it countered. It doesn't attack for poison on its own, but put Fynn in the 99 and every deathtouch creature that connects adds two. Still proving itself, and the best home Fynn has had.

Infect and toxic creatures that start the counters

Your commander is one creature. The 99 needs cheap, evasive threats that put the first counter on each opponent before anyone treats you as the problem.

Glistener Elf is the turn-one start in green. Pestilent Syphoner is a flying toxic 1 for five cents. Myr Convert and Plague Myr are mana creatures that also attack. Phyrexian Crusader's protection from red and white blanks a lot of blockers and removal. Necrogen Rotpriest adds a counter to every toxic hit — the best seven-cent card in Golgari poison. At the top end, Tyrranax Rex is an uncounterable, hasty 8/8 trampler with toxic 4 and ward . Skip Ichor Rats: it poisons you too.

The recent one is Virulent Silencer from Edge of Eternities: whenever a nontoken artifact creature you control deals combat damage to a player, that player gets two poison counters. It turns a pile of ordinary artifact creatures into a poison deck.

Pump and evasion: turning one hit into ten

Infect has a famous weakness: it does nothing until it connects, and blockers stop it. These are the cards that make the damage go through, or make it bigger when it does.

Tainted Strike gives any one creature infect at instant speed for . On your biggest attacker, that's a surprise kill. Grafted Exoskeleton does it permanently, but you sacrifice the creature if it ever comes off. Skrelv, Defector Mite gives another creature toxic 1, hexproof from a colour and evasion against that colour — the best one-drop for any white poison deck. Mutational Advantage protects everything you control with counters on it in response to a destroy or damage wipe, then proliferates.

Skrelv's Hive is back in print in Reality Fracture Commander: a toxic Mite every upkeep for 1 life, and once an opponent has three poison counters, your toxic creatures gain lifelink. Eighteen cents, and once the lifelink is on, it pays back its own life cost.

Proliferate engines that finish the job

This is the half that wins. A deck that has given every opponent three counters has done the hard part; from there it's proliferate turns, not combat steps, and these are the cards that take it home.

For repeatable proliferate, Inexorable Tide triggers on every spell you cast and Flux Channeler on every noncreature spell — both strong. Evolution Sage proliferates on landfall. Thrummingbird and Grateful Apparition are cheap fliers that proliferate on combat damage. Contagion Engine proliferates twice a turn for and is worth its six-mana entry. Vraska, Betrayal's Sting's 0 draws and proliferates — including her own loyalty — and her −9 puts a player straight to nine poison. Cankerbloom and Throne of Geth are fine filler. I'd cut Contagion Clasp first: for one proliferate is slow.

Two newer engines. Norn's Choirmaster proliferates whenever your commander enters or attacks, and it's a 5/4 flier with first strike — strongest under a commander that swings every turn, like Ixhel or Vishgraz. Ripples of Potential proliferates at instant speed and then phases out any of your permanents that got a counter — the proliferate and the protection in one card for .

Frequently asked questions

How many poison counters do you need to lose in Commander?

Ten, the same as every other format. Poison is tracked separately from life and commander damage, so a player at 40 life with ten poison counters is out.

Does proliferate add poison counters to every opponent?

Only to the players you choose, and only if they already have at least one poison counter. That's why poison decks spread a single counter around early — a player with zero poison can't be proliferated.

What's the difference between infect and toxic?

Infect replaces damage: players get poison counters instead of losing life, and creatures get -1/-1 counters. Toxic adds to damage: the player loses life as normal and gets the listed number of poison counters.

Are poison decks too strong for casual Commander?

No — none of the cards here are on the Game Changers list, and poison is slower in multiplayer than its reputation. It does knock one player out early if you focus them, so say "poison" when your table talks brackets before the game.

What's the best budget poison commander?

Vishgraz, the Doomhive, at under a dollar. He brings his own toxic creatures, gets bigger as the counters spread, and the core creatures in this post are mostly under two dollars.

The verdict

If you're building your first poison deck, take Atraxa or Ixhel, run Blighted Agent and Bloated Contaminator, and treat every proliferate as a removal spell for three players at once. Don't build pure infect — toxic keeps you in the game when the counters stall.

If you want to check whether your list has enough proliferate to close, Carl will build it with you in the deck builder and tell you where the count is thin. And if you're unsure how proliferate interacts with a counter doubler, Trisha handles rulings in chat.