Scars of Mirrodin Infect

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Good Day my MTG pickles,

Gather around - We have good (or bad) news for the lot of ya straight from the Wizards Arcana today - here's a hint - What would you get if you if you took the mechanics Poison and Wither, and spliced their genetics (by way of waaay too much punch at the prom) ? Yep - How did ya know ? You would get 'Infect' - a new Scars of Mirrodin keyword.

Players at gaming tables around the world either really loved or really hated poison (the latter we think were in the majority. The reminder text of Infect should read as such :
Infect (This creature deals damage in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)

The big question now is exactly how many creatures will be printed in Scars of Mirrodin with Infect? A minor number of cards ? Shadowmoor / Eventide had around 35. There were just under a dozen poison type critters way back and around 35 or so cards with 'wither'. Most reacently, there was around 40 landfall tech cards in Zendikar and Worldwake. We should probablly expect the number of cards with Infect to be around 20 in the first set which now that we think of it, kind of thats the shine of our new fav indestructible creature (looking at Knight Exemplar).

If you were not around for it poison works like this - a player with ten or more poison counters loses the game. Kind of simple but let's have a looky-see at the rules around both poison and wither . . .

Poisonous is a keyword ability that uses poison counters. It was introduced in Future Sight, though the concept of poison counters is as old as Legends.

From the Comprehensive Rules
* 502.69. Poisonous
o 502.69a Poisonous is a triggered ability. "Poisonous N" means "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, that player gets N poison counters." (For information about poison counters, see rule 102.3d.)
o 502.69b If a creature has multiple instances of poisonous, each triggers separately.
o 102.3d If a player has ten or more poison counters, he or she loses the game the next time a player would receive priority. (This is a state-based effect. See rule 420.)

Rulings
* If all damage that a poisonous creature would deal to a player is prevented, the poisonous ability won't trigger.
* The player will get the stated number of poison counters each time the poisonous creature deals combat damage to him or her, regardless of how much damage that creature dealt.
* If a player has ten poison counters, that player loses the game.
* Although several older cards give players poison counters, none of those cards have abilities that trigger on combat damage.

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Wither was introduced in Shadowmoor. Wither was featured as rules card 6 of 6 in the Shadowmoor set and 6 of 8 in the Eventide set.

From the Comprehensive Rules
* 502.80. Wither
o 502.80a Damage dealt to a creature by a source with wither doesn’t stay on that creature (see rule 212.3g). Rather, it causes that many -1/-1 counters to be put on that creature.
o 502.80b Multiple instances of wither on the same object are redundant.

Rulings
* The damage is still dealt as damage, and as such it can be prevented or redirected as normal. If not prevented or redirected, it turns into -1/-1 counters.
* Damage to a player or planeswalker is dealt normally.

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Wow - are you guys still looking forward to Scars of Mirrodin ? Do you think today's SoM spoiler will totally rock your game in October or will you be steering clear of that mechanic altogether (ignore it and it will go away)?
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Lastly . . .
What does Scars of Mirrodin Patinum Imperion and the movie Fifth Element have in common? This guy . . .










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