Infest has been with us for a while, and while the basics of the keyword are generally understood, questions continue being asked about exactly how it works in more niche scenarios. So I thought it was a good moment to explain it in a bit more detail. Before I get stuck in, here’s the wording from the most recent rules update:

When you deploy a Character with INFEST, you may choose to either pay the full Shard Value to deploy it as a Character on your own Canvas, or only pay 1 Shard to INFEST another Character on any Canvas; attaching the INFEST Character to another Character. While attached the INFEST card does not take part in combat, instead the INFESTED card does.

An INFESTED card is unable to resolve any of its own Achroma effects or abilities and its ability is instead replaced with the INFEST ability from the INFEST Character. INFEST abilities (those following the word INFEST) are only ever given to the INFESTED Character and never used by the INFESTING Character. The controller of the INFESTED card is now the controller of the INFESTING card so is able to resolve the INFESTING card’s Achroma effects and other game/resolve abilities.

Cards with INFEST may only INFEST other Characters unless stated otherwise.

When an INFESTED Character is Erased, the attached INFESTING Character is Erased too, even if it has PROTECTION or cannot otherwise be Erased.

You may not attach Objects to INFESTING cards.

This explanation is thorough, but the frequency of the word INFEST can make it tricky to unpick. To help out, I’m going to go through some examples:

Example 1:
Let’s start with a nice simple example. Your opponent plays Copper Joss. You play Invasive Parasite on her.

Copper Joss now loses her Achroma effect (+3) and her abilities, meaning she no longer has SPLAT 3 and she can now be attacked. She’s still a 4 shard 4 strength character though. The Invasive Parasite has a +1 Achroma effect, so your opponent at least gets that +1 resolve. If they want to get rid of the parasite, they could play cards such as Unfathomable Hunger (erase a card on any canvas), Release the Fireflies (drain 2 shards from any card), or Bounce (return 1 character to its owner’s hand).

Example 2:
A more complex example comes from a game against LordTHEN. I played Tenebris, and he played Nocturno and Wing Clipper on Tenebris:

Nocturno removed the steal 3 from Tenebris. Tenebris also gained the ability “while Nocturno is on your canvas, you cannot TRADE”, meaning I couldn’t trade. Wing Clipper prevented Tenebris from attacking or resolving (though Tenebris no longer had an Achroma effect to resolve anyway). Nocturno had a -1 Achroma effect, which I could use.

Example 3:
Let’s say you play an Imp and INFEST it yourself with Diurno. Your opponent then plays Tarni River and is trying to decide what to FREEZE:

In this scenario, the Imp gains the INFEST ability from Diurno, so has a +2 resolve. However, Diurno still has its 2 prevent. Therefore, if your opponent Freezes the Imp you lose the +2, but can still prevent the steal from Tarni River using Diurno‘s prevent. But if they Freeze Diurno, you lose the prevent 2 but still get +2 next turn.

Example 4:
You play Firetender and then INFEST it with The Fallen.

In this example, Firetender loses its +1, but gains PROTECTION, meaning it can attack characters with impunity. The Fallen also has steal 2, which is a pretty nice resolve. The opponent can’t get rid of this combo by attacking, unless that have POISONOUS, but they can play an Action that Erases a character to Erase The Fallen, as it does not have PROTECTION. Once it’s out of the way, the Firetender can be attacked and Erased. However, The Fallen bounces back to your hand, ready for you to repeat the play with another character on your canvas next turn.

Example 5:
Cordyceps deserved an example all to itself. Let’s say you play Cordyceps, followed by Nella, The First Cured Pixie then an Imp. Next turn, your opponent plays Firetender.

In this case, it’ll cost you 3 shards for Cordyceps then 6 shards for Nella. You resolve her ACTION first, drawing 2 cards (you have a revived and a parasite) on your canvas, before Cordyceps infests her, meaning you gain 6 shards. The Imp costs 1, you draw a card, then gain 1 shard back as Cordyceps infests the Imp. MENAGERIE is now active, so you can immediately +3 from Nella. When you resolve you gain +2 from Nella and +2 from Cordyceps, but the Imp has no Achroma effect to resolve. Overall, you’re +4 shards for the turn.

When your opponent plays Firetender, they get to FIND a card, but then Cordyceps infests the Firetender, meaning you gain another 3 shards (as you’re the owner of Cordyceps), but they get the +2 Achroma effect from Coryceps in their resolve phase. You no longer have Menagerie active.

One thing to add with Cordyceps is if you play an object on it before it INFESTS, that object is erased when Cordyceps finds a host, because INFESTING characters cannot carry objects. This is the case even if the object has protection or can’t otherwise be erased.

Other effects:
In every one of these scenarios, the player with the infested character has 2 characters on their canvas: the original character and the parasite. As a consequence, both characters will count towards effects such as Shanty Town or Group Huddle, and the parasite character type will count towards MENAGERIE effects such as Hoffel Brown and Nella in the example above.

It’s also worth re-iterating that INFEST abilities can only be used when the parasite is actually INFESTING a character. You don’t get the +2 from Diurno unless it’s INFESTING. The Fallen doesn’t have PROTECTION if you play it as a character (though it will return to your hand if erased as this is not part of the INFEST effect). You also don’t have a trade embargo on you if you play Nocturno as a 2 shard character on your own canvas.

I love the INFEST ability. With so many ways to DIG cards, neutralising a key card rather than erasing it is potentially a more effective strategy. An Invasive Parasite on a Hex Clunker means the opponent can’t play free Objects any more. Erase the Clunker with a more expensive ability, and they might just deploy Cintimani Stone and get it right back for free. However, do remember that an INFESTED character can still attack your characters, so it’s not completely neutralized.

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