Overview:

This UB deck helmed by Venser, Corpse Puppet focuses on proliferating poison counters through toxic creatures and incremental value engines. The strategy leverages artifact synergies and proliferate triggers to either drain opponents via Scheming Aspirant or deliver lethal poison via Ichor Rats/toxic creatures. While capable of generating board presence with Venser's Hollow Sentinel tokens, the deck operates as a mid-range poison control build with moderate interaction and recursion.

Primer:

Core Strategy:
The deck aims to establish early poison counters via Ichor Rats/toxic creatures, then amplify them through proliferate engines like Flux Channeler, Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus, and Contagion Engine. Key phases:

1. Poison Setup (Turns 1-5): Deploy Ichor Rats or toxic creatures like Voidwing Hybrid. Use cheap proliferate spells (Experimental Augury, Grim Affliction) to start counter accumulation.
2. Engine Assembly (Turns 4-7): Resolve critical mass of proliferate enablers (Thrummingbird, Inexorable Tide) and value artifacts (Staff of Compleation, Mindsplice Apparatus).
3. Closing (Turns 7-10): Double proliferate triggers via Tekuthal or Contagion Engine to push opponents to 10 poison. Backup plan uses Scheming Aspirant life drain.

Mulligan Priorities:

• Keep hands with at least 1 early poison source (Prologue to Phyresis, Ichor Rats).
• Prioritize 3 lands with access to UB.
• Acceptable to keep 1 proliferate engine + 1 draw spell.

Key Tips:

• Time proliferate triggers post-toxic damage for maximum efficiency.
• Use Riptide Laboratory to protect key Wizards like Trinket Mage.
• Vat of Rebirth pairs with artifact creature deaths for recursion.

Weaknesses:

Critical

• Poison Counter Vulnerability: Fold to Suncleanser/Leeches effects.
• Artifact Reliance: Key engines (Lux Cannon, Coalition Relic) are fragile to mass artifact removal.

Moderate

• Slow Poison Scaling: Requires 3+ proliferate triggers per opponent after initial setup.
• Limited Board Wipes: Relies on situational Nuclear Fallout and Make an Example.

Minor

• Commander Dependency: Venser's token generation is useful but replaceable.

Most Important Cards:

• Ichor Rats
• Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus
• Flux Channeler
• Contagion Engine
• Vraska's Fall
• Scheming Aspirant
• Mindsplice Apparatus
• Solve the Equation
• Thrummingbird
• Staff of Compleation

Attribute Ratings:

Speed: 5/10
Can theoretically deliver T9-11 wins via proliferate chains but lacks fast mana or combo acceleration.

Resilience: 4/10
Moderate recursion (Vat of Rebirth, Voidwing Hybrid) but crumbles to repeated artifact/creature removal.

Consistency: 6/10
12 proliferate sources + 5 tutors (Solve the Equation, Ringsight) ensure redundancy in core strategy.

Interaction: 5/10
Situational counters (Corrupted Resolve) and targeted removal (Drown in Ichor), but lacks free protection.

Rating Justification:

This deck operates as a focused casual build with clear poison goals but lacks the speed (T9-11 benchmarks) and protection to reach optimized tiers. Its reliance on incremental poison and moderate interaction aligns with the 4.0-5.0 "Casual/Precon" to "Focused Casual" range.

Power level: 4.0 - 5.0