Toxic in MTG: Rules and FAQs

Last updated on December 4, 2024

White Sun's Twilight | Illustration by Julian Kok Joon Wen

Phyrexians, the greatest threat to the known Multiverse, showed their claws and teeth in Phyrexia: All Will Be One, where they had lots of weapons at their disposal. One of those was toxic, which relates to infect, a previous Phyrexian-themed mechanic.

The mechanic had a lot of potential, and today I'm taking a look at how toxic works. Let’s dive in!

How Does Toxic Work?

Mite Overseer | Illustration by Nestor Ossandon Leal

If a creature with toxic N deals combat damage to a player, that player gets N poison counters. While N is usually 1 or 2, there are cards with toxic 6 and even 9 in ONE, so beware!

Poison counters are only applied to players if the toxic creature deals combat damage to a player. It doesn’t work with planeswalkers. Toxic also doesn't do anything to creatures the way that infect does with -1/-1 counters.

Let’s say you have a 3/3 creature with toxic 2, and it deals 3 damage to a player. They also get 2 poison counters thanks to toxic 2. Your opponent could block this 3/3 with a 3/4 without fear of having their creature become a 0/1, like it would with infect.

The History of Toxic in MTG

Toxic's first sort of “honorary” appearance was on two cards in 2007's Future Sight with a different name: poisonous. Toxic also has a design history in wither from 2008's Shadowmoor, an ability converted damage into -1/-1 counters to creatures and regular damage to opponents. R&D reworked the old mechanic into toxic for Phyrexia: All Will Be One, changing it from a triggered to a static ability and renaming it for a more Phyrexian feel.

Toxic appears on some cards in ONE, like Venser, Corpse Puppet and Bloated Contaminator, as well as any cards that produce Phyrexian Mite tokens. It appeared in ancillary sets for ONE, like Phyrexia: All Will Be One Commander, with an entire Commander precon based on the mechanic, as well as the MTG Arena-only Alchemy: Phyrexia.

The mechanic has since only appeared on one card: Bloodroot Apothecary from Bloomburrow Commander.

What Does Toxic X Mean?

If a creature with toxic X deals any amount of combat damage to a player, they get X poison counters. So far we’ve seen the X count go up to 9 on Monument to Perfection, but most such creatures have toxic 1 or 2.

It’s interesting to note that if the toxic creature has trample and gets damage through to the opposing player, all the poison counters from toxic are given to the opposing player.

Is Toxic a Triggered Ability?

Like infect, toxic is a static ability, not triggered. It’s always on, and if a creature with toxic deals damage then the poison counters are inflicted without a trigger and without using the stack.

Does Toxic Stack?

Yes, toxic does stack. If a creature has multiple instances of toxic, let’s say toxic 1 and toxic 2, and it deals combat damage to a player, they get a total of 3 poison counters because of the two toxic abilities. It’s fair to say that the creature effectively has toxic 3.

Toxic vs. Poisonous

Toxic and poisonous are very similar mechanics that end with the same effect, but the function is slightly different. While both mechanics give players poison counters equal to their N value, toxic is a static ability but poisonous is a triggered ability.

Toxic vs. Infect

Toxic has a few things going on in comparison with infect. Toxic creatures deal combat damage as well as poison damage, which isn't true with infect. With infect creatures, you only get one route to victory since they don’t reduce life totals. With toxic you can apply both pressures, and it works nicely with proliferate and corrupted.

Should your opponents gain life or remove counters, there are two separate win conditions and one doesn’t exclude the other. It also helps Limited play since you're not screwed if you start drafting infect and it gets cut.

Is Toxic Good?

Toxic had a short competitive run in Standard and caught the attention of Commander players, especially since it’s somewhat easier to win with 10 poison counters than 40 damage or 21 commander damage. EDH players have wanted more poison cards to add to their infect deck since 2011, and toxic provided that.

That said, we haven't seen much of toxic in Constructed formats, and it's generally harder to win with toxic creatures than it is with infect creatures, so the competitive viability outside of Standard and Limited is questionable.

Gallery and List of Toxic Cards

Creatures With Toxic

• Annex Sentry
• Basilica Shepherd
• Bilious Skulldweller
• Blightbelly Rat
• Bloated Contaminator
• Bloodroot Apothecary
• Branchblight Stalker
• Contaminant Grafter
• Crawling Chorus
• Duelist of Deep Faith
• Dune Mover
• Flensing Raptor
• Glissa's Retriever
• Ichorspit Basilisk
• Indoctrination Attendant
• Ixhel, Scion of Atraxa
• Jawbone Duelist
• Karumonix, the Rat King
• Mite Overseer
• Monument to Perfection
• Myr Convert
• Necrogen Rotpriest
• Nimraiser Paladin
• Paladin of Predation
• Pestilent Syphoner
• Plague Nurse
• Porcelain Zealot
• Ribskiff
• Sheoldred's Headcleaver
• Skrelv, Defector Mite
• Slaughter Singer
• Stinging Hivemaster
• Tainted Observer
• Tyrranax Atrocity
• Tyrranax Rex
• Unctus's Retrofitter
• Venerated Rotpriest
• Venomous Brutalizer
• Venser, Corpse Puppet
• Vishgraz, the Doomhive
• Voidwing Hybrid

Cards that Grant Toxic

• Aspirant's Ascent
• Necrogen Communion
• Prosthetic Injector

“Toxic Matters” Cards

These cards don't necessarily have or grant toxic, but mention the mechanic by name in one way or another.

• Compleat Devotion
• Hexgold Slash
• Maze's Mantle

Cards that Create Toxic Tokens

These are cards that don't actually have toxic themselves, but creature tokens that do. Ria Ivor, Bane of Bladehold is in this category too, but doesn't like to show their card image on Draftsim.

• Charge of the Mites
• Goliath Hatchery
• Infested Fleshcutter
• Kinzu of the Bleak Coven
• Lukka, Bound to Ruin
• Mirrex
• Ria Ivor, Bane of Bladehold
• Skrelv's Hive
• Viral Spawning
• White Sun's Twilight
• Wurmquake

There are three different tokens with toxic 1 that can be created by various cards: the 1/1 Phyrexian Mite token, the 3/3 Phyrexian Beast token, and the */* Phyrexian Wurm token with toxic 1.

Alchemy: Phyrexia Toxic Cards

The following cards from Alchemy: Phyrexia are only available through MTG Arena's digital-only formats:

• Skullpiercer Gnat
• Seething Skitter-Priest
• Phyresis Roach
• Blightwing Whelp
• Norn's Fetchling
• Nettling Host

Wrap Up

Monument to Perfection | Illustration by Igor Kieryluk

Toxic looked like a nice implementation of poison counters that are less parasitic than infect, and while that's true, it hasn't made too much of a competitive impact anywhere but Standard. And it also failed to take into account the fact that many players just hate poison with a passion, no matter how it's implemented.

Did you find this to be an interesting mechanic for Limited and Constructed? What's your position on the infect vs toxic debate? Let me know in the comments below or in the Draftsim Discord.

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you in the next one!