Thread by @JasonILTG

Today I'm talking about Essence Infusion, which is a card that I think is both overrated and underrated in Bo3. I know that's kind of a contradictory thing to say, but I'll explain. 1/x

ALSA 7.77 in Bo3, which is exactly the same as Professor's Warning, a card that I generally like better. Here's the Card Evaluation Metagame graph for it; looks like it's been gaining in popularity a lot recently. 2/x

So first of all, why do I think Infusion is overrated? Well, this is tied to how I like to build my Silverquill decks: more fliers, fewer counters. My ideal aggro Silverquill deck wins by having too many fliers for opponents to deal with, not by loading up on one creature. 3/x

I've faced many Silverquill decks that are built with heavy +1/+1 counter synergies, playing cards like Star Pupil, Essence Infusion, Promising Duskmage, and Dueling Coach. But I've found those cards to be too weak and too easily disrupted to rely on as my main plan. 4/x

And my fliers decks don't tend to need +1/+1 counters, since fliers are relatively hard to block in this format anyways. I'd rather just go wider with more fliers than load up on one and risk getting blown out. And when I want the effect, Anatomy fills the role much better. 5/x

So then, why do I think it's also underrated? Well, unlike the other +1/+1 counter cards I mentioned, I do think Infusion is actually fairly powerful on its own. A +2/+2 aura that gives lifelink for a turn will often swing the race heavily in your favor. 6/x

Plus, it does have synergies in both Silverquill and Witherbloom, with counters and lifegain. And those decks often want to be racing anyways (through fliers in Silverquill and big creatures and lifegain in Witherbloom). The only problem is that it's horrible against control. 7/x

Quandrix especially often wants to have a gameplan where it stabilizes with removal and giant fractals, both of which are very good against Infusion. Needlethorn Drake and Bury in Books especially punish you for trying to go tall. And Quandrix is both good and popular. 8/x

All of this adds up to Infusion being a card that I often want specifically in my sideboard. I'll side it in when the lifegain for racing is especially important, or if I don't see much hard removal from my opponent. It can be good maindeck, but I'd often rather not risk it. 9/x

Conclusion: Essence Infusion, like most auras, is powerful but risky. Some decks might still want it maindeck, but I prefer to have it in my sideboard as a powerful effect to bring in against low removal or decks that want to race. 10/10

One example of where Infusion did a lot of work from the sideboard was my last Draft Challenge deck: 17lands.com/details/addac5…

You can see from the 9 different deck configurations that I did quite a lot of sideboarding. Most of it was for Infusions and Beaming Defiances.

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