It takes 40 damage to kill an opponent in Commander, but only 10 Poison counters. It’s no wonder that many players have played with the idea of a Poison deck before.
Thanks to the Proliferate mechanic coming back and the Phyrexians we have plenty of new Poison cards to strengthen your Commander deck.
Today we are taking a look at the best non-creature Poison cards for Commander & EDH that directly apply Poison to your opponents.
Because we assume your deck is built around Poison, we will not be including cards that grant your creatures Poison or Infect, since those are mostly going to be redundant in any build.
We have also excluded the Planeswalkers Vraska, Betrayal’s Sting and Ajani, Sleeper Agent since those only apply Poison counters when their ultimate is activated.
In this list we will be looking at the best Poison instants, sorceries, and enchantments. If you are looking for cards that synergies well with Poison, we also have 50 best Proliferate cards for Commander that can help Proliferate you to victory.
For Poison decks, there is a surprising variety of ways to win the game. You could run an infect deck that simply pumps up creatures to win the game, or run instant or sorceries that directly inflict poison counters and proliferate without ever attacking. We include cards that will assist all kinds of different strategies in this list.
Without further ado, and in no particular order, here are the best 10 Poison cards for Commander:
#1 Tainted Strike
Tainted Strike is the single most powerful Poison card for a Poison deck in Commander. It’s easy to be a complete blowout when cast. But why run it you say, when all your creatures have infect? Because, you don’t cast it on your creatures, you use it on an unblocked attacking creature an opponent controls.
An opponent that thinks they are taking 5 unblocked damage will all of a sudden lose to Poison damage out of nowhere. Just don’t expect to make any friends when you pull this trick off.
#2 Prologue to Phyresis
In a Proliferate deck, Prologue to Phyresis is perfect both early and late game. On turn two, you can cast it on the last end step to get Poison started, then continue your proliferate plan turn by turn.
Late game it acts as a cantrip and helps you finish off your opponents.
#3 Infectious Inquiry
You’re going need card draw to keep dishing out the Poison counters, as there are a limited number of strong ones to make up your 99. Infectious Inquiry helps you dig for them while giving everyone a Poison counter. A must include in any Poison deck.
#4 Phyresis Outbreak
Every Commander deck needs a few board wipes. Phyresis Outbreak is the cream of the crop for Poison decks. Mid game when you have 5 or so Poison counters on everyone, it will wipe out the majority of creatures.
This is also great because it is a one-sided board wipe and doesn’t affect your creatures. All upside here.
#5 Vraska’s Fall
Vraska’s Fall is one of the most powerful Poison removal cards. It basically gives everyone a Poison for free, since 3 mana is already the standard rate for having each player sacrifice a creature or planes walker.
#6 Infectious Bite
Ram Through is considered one of the best removal spells in Green and is very similar to Infectious Bite. The main difference is instead of dealing excess damage to a player, you are giving everyone a poison counter, which is much better in a Poison deck.
#7 Ichor Rats
Ichor Rats is technically a creature, but you play it for the ETB. Even if you aren’t a combat based infect deck, Ichor is one of the few cards that directly give each player a Poison counter, making it a must include for any build.
The added benefit of having Infect will usually give you an extra 2 Poison to a player at least once. So you’re looking at 5 Poison for only 3 mana. Given that 1 Poison is worth 4 damage, that makes Ichor Rates a 20 damage spell for only 3 mana. Not bad.
If you want to push Ichor Rats to the limit, abuse the ETB ability with blink cards or things that return it from the graveyard.
#8 Norn’s Decree
One of the problems with Poison decks is that you end up being the archenemy of the table. Norn’s Decree helps to slow the blunt of creature attacks and help you redirect combat swings toward other players instead. If they don’t, you’ll be rewarded by speeding up the clock with Norn’s Poison trigger.
#9 Caress of Phyrexia
Caress of Phyrexia helps you finish off a player by dealing those last 3 points of Poison. In a pinch you can also use it to draw some cards.
#10 Glistening Oil
Glintening Oil is a multipurpose tool for any Poison based deck. You can use it to kill a troublesome creature, or make any creature on the board have infect (including opponents). The best part is, whenever the enchanted creature dies, you get it back.
Honorable Mention: Triumph of Hordes
Triumph of the Hordes is the best Infect and Poison card in the game. It’s also one of the most useless in a Poison deck. Because almost every one of your creatures already has infect, and it can’t give opponents creatures infect, it ends up being mostly useless. If for some reason you do have a fair number of non-infect creatures, then it is worth adding to any build.
