Fumulus, the Infestation is a standout legendary creature from Magic: The Gathering’s Jumpstart set, serving as a mono-black commander. This means your deck can only include cards in black and colorless. However, this restriction is not a significant drawback.
The strategy behind a Fumulus deck revolves around sacrificing creatures—yours and those of your opponents. Fortunately, many cards that facilitate mass sacrifices are found in the black color, allowing the deck to thrive despite its color limitations. If you enjoy dominating the battlefield with tokens and executing mass sacrifices, Fumulus, the Infestation is the ideal commander for your needs.
Deck Overview
The deck consists of 30 creatures, 9 sorceries, 10 instants, 10 artifacts, 6 enchantments, and 34 lands. Most of the cards in the deck either compel your opponents to sacrifice their creatures or allow you to gain advantages from your creatures’ deaths.
Key Cards
Fumulus, the Infestation
The heart of the deck, Fumulus, the Infestation, is crucial for its strategy. Every time a creature token is sacrificed, you create a 1/1 Insect token. This effect triggers whether you sacrifice your own creatures or force your opponents to do so.
Fumulus works particularly well when multiple creatures are sacrificed at once, generating multiple 1/1 Insect tokens with flying. This not only helps in combat but also allows you to recover life lost earlier in the game. The tokens offer a resource for sacrifice, preserving more important creatures while still maintaining your sacrifice momentum. However, sacrificing these tokens won’t create additional ones.
Dictate of Erebos
Dictate of Erebos stands out as one of the deck’s strongest cards. It dictates that whenever a creature dies under your control, all opponents must sacrifice a creature as well. This effect triggers whether the creature dies from combat or through your own sacrifice, creating major board pressure.
One advantage of Dictate of Erebos is that it often becomes a primary target for removal spells. This can draw attention away from Fumulus and keep your main strategy intact.
Mirkwood Bats
With Mirkwood Bats in play, the numerous creature tokens you create can be transformed into damage. The bats trigger whenever a token is created or sacrificed, augmenting your burn strategy.
When combined with the burn effect of Fumulus, these two cards synergize perfectly. Mirkwood Bats deal damage based on your generated tokens, while sacrificing them still allows you to benefit from Fumulus’s abilities.
Meathook Massacre II
Meathook Massacre II grants you significant value from your sacrificial creatures. Many of your creatures will force opponents to sacrifice creatures. By paying three life to sacrifice one of your own, you can push the sacrifice effect further, making everyone lose even more.
Keep in mind, though; it’s often better to play Meathook Massacre early rather than attempting to build up sufficient mana for its sacrifice ability.
Blood Artist
Blood Artist consistently chips away at your opponents’ life totals, providing a steady stream of damage as creatures die. With the high volume of sacrifices occurring, it won’t be long before Blood Artist inflicts double-digit damage.
When activating Blood Artist, focus on the opponent who poses the greatest threat. You can also use it strategically on players you aren’t attacking directly, spreading out your burn damage across the board.
Playing the Deck
To maximize a Fumulus, the Infestation deck, focus on forcing sacrifices and building value. Your best options involve creatures that make all players sacrifice, invoking Fumulus’s ability multiple times. Cards like Accursed Marauder, Demon’s Disciple, and Fleshbag Marauder will allow you to trigger Fumulus multiple times in a single turn.
You also have several mass sacrifice options like Make an Example and Blasphemous Edict, which can act as board wipes while still benefiting your overall strategy.
Additionally, several payoffs exist for when your opponents’ creatures meet their demise. Revel in Riches can offer Treasure tokens, while Black Market delivers incremental ramping as your creatures die. Dictate of Erebos, of course, ensures more sacrificial triggers.
The primary route to victory for this deck lies in burn damage combined with combat swings. Thanks to Fumulus creating creature tokens with flying, opponents may struggle to defend against the flying onslaught. Each token can effectively deal two damage if unblocked. Supplement this with cards like Blood Artist, Bastion of Remembrance, or Mirkwood Bats for added burns, or aim for victory through Revel in Riches by accumulating ten or more Treasures.
The main challenge for this deck is its slow start. Early plays may be limited, and while there are some one-drops, it takes time for the synergy to kick in. Additionally, keeping Fumulus on the battlefield is essential, as losing it complicates potential victory. Fortunately, the deck provides a fair amount of lifegain to help ensure you stay in the game while bringing your opponents down.
