Infect at the Modern 1K In Waco

I played at the Nexus ESports Modern 1K in Waco, Texas yesterday. As always, it is a great venue and great event. I played Bant Infect:

4 Blighted Agent
4 Glistener Elf
4 Noble Hierarch

4 Teferi, Time Raveler

4 Scale Up
1 Might of Old Krosa
4 Vines of Vastwood
4 Blossoming Defense
4 Groundswell

3 Spell Pierce
2 Distortion Strike
1 Dismember

4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Windswept Heath
1 Horizon Canopy
2 Forest
2 Breeding Pool
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Pendelhaven
2 Temple Garden

Sideboard
4 Rest in Peace
2 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Wild Defiance
1 Twisted Image
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Return to Nature
1 Carrion Call
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Viridian Corrupter
1 Stony Silence

I somehow misplaced my Might of Old Krosa and could only find one copy. So I played the full four Groundswell in a reverse split of what I wanted to play. (If you borrowed Mights from me and didn't return them, please let me know!)

The deck performed great, I only lost one game all day. The competition was maybe on the weaker side and lots of people playing new cards so decks maybe not quite as tuned as normal. No one showed up with any Hogaak so maybe not a representative sample either.

Round 1 - 4-Color Snow
I had seen this list floating around, but clearly didn't pay enough attention as I got blown out by K Command and probably in a losing position but drew Teferi with an Inkmoth in play and bounced his Ice-Fang Coatl and drew the pump spell I needed to win off the draw. Game two he taps out turn four for a Karn with a snake and explosives set on one. My board was just three lands with Noble Hierarch. He grabs something irrelevant from the sideboard because I end of turn cast Carrion Call, untap and play Teferi to bounce the snake and play two big pump spells to deal him 10. Nice.
1-0

Round 2 - Wb Marty Proclamation
This deck was sweet. He had the full eight Rangers of Eos, new Sorin, and Orzhov Charm. I probably punt game one when I don't protect my creature when he uses Ranger-Captain ability on his turn and I have Teferi in play. I still had some chances to draw Distortion Strike but he had too fast a clock with Serra Ascendants. Game two I get lucky and draw Pendelhaven the turn he uses Ranger-Captain and I needed one extra power to force him to use the Kami of False Hope. This means I was able to kill him a turn earlier which was the difference in chump blockers for his attacks. Game three he has a bunch of removal but no threat and I eventually stuck a creature and protected it to get there.
2-0

Round 3 - UW Control
Game one he cast turn one Peek and still couldn't beat my hand. Had to play into Spell Pierce which he knew about and then didn't use Force of Negation on my pump while tapped out. This left him too low and I just killed him with three one-power infecters and a Pendelhaven. Game two was similar, he had to play into Spell Pierce which he didn't know about this time but I had it. He used Narset to find Dovin's Veto but was just dead on board.
3-0

Round 4 - Humans
I win the die roll which is crucial, and have turn one Noble Hierarch. I play Glistener and Blighted Agent on turn two. He just plays Thalia off his Noble but has no second land. I'm able to use Distortion Strike and Groundswell to put him to 7 poison, and he can't stop my attack on the following turn. Game two he mulligans to four cards and keeps zero lands and scoops after missing twice.
4-0

Round 5 - ID

I'm top seed going into top 8. We had fewer than 32 players though, so the cash only pays to top 4. We all decide to split it 8 ways. If we had more than 32 I probably would have not split the top 8 round at least. We play one round of top 8 for fun

Top 8 - Wb Marty Proclamation
I get to play first from higher seed, and kill him turn three when he doesn't have untapped second land for Orzhov Charm. Game two was probably my favorite game of the day. He gets to 32 life early on but I attack him down below 30 with Distortion Strike to make his Serra Ascendant in Dismember range. He showed me Wrath of God with the Martyr so I play in a way that gets him to commit another Ascendant to the board before playing my infect creature. I Surgical his Ranger of Eos and and he Wraths and we go into topdeck mode after he uses Anguished Unmaking on my Jace. I protect my inkmoth from Field of Ruin to make sure I have a threat and also keep him off of extra Plains for Emeria. I Scale Up to put him to 6 poison, then end of turn fetch and promptly punished for it by drawing Groundswell which I use to put him to 9 poison. He bricks on the two draw steps and I win.
5-0-1

The deck was nice and felt different than Infect has in the past. Teferi is such a strong card in the archetype you get to play a False Tempo style where they have to be fearful of your early turns but by the time they ready to interact you have Teferi in play and just kill them. I really liked Carrion Call and having 21 lands. Didn't miss having Mutagenic Growth since you aren't trying to be as fast as possible but you can still build Scale Up versions with it if you prefer being more all-in, which I don't. Spell Pierce was great at setting up the Teferi subgame. Distortion Strike is a must-have in the current meta in my opinion.

I'll probably work on this more before the GP Dallas at the end of the month. I would definitely play this again.