Infect applies to any damage, not just combat damage—so if you can somehow give your Prodigal Pyromancer infect, its ability will deal damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.
Does infect affect life total?
Damage from a source with infect is damage in all respects. If the source with infect also has lifelink, damage dealt by that source also causes its controller to gain that much life. Damage from a source with infect can be prevented or redirected.
Does infect work on protection?
Nope. Infect modifies how the damage is dealt, but Protection prevents the damage, regardless of how it is dealt.
What is the synonym of infect?
Synonyms & Near Synonyms for infect. contaminate, poison.
Is it possible to prevent wither and infect damage?
Your friend is correct, he can prevent Wither and/or Infect damage just like regular damage. The reason for that is that damage and damage effects are separate things. That difference is usually not important because in most situations, the steps to get from one to the other are walked over and the correct outcome is intuitively clear.
What happens when a creature with infect and wither deals damage?
When a creature with Infect and/or Wither deals damage, the effect of the damage is that that many -1/-1 counters are placed on the creature or; in case of Infect only, the player gets that many poison counters, loses life otherwise. Damage dealt to a planeswalker will always result in that many loyalty counters being removed from it.
When does damage have an effect on a creature?
Only after that step does damage have an actual effect. When a source without wither or infect deals damage to a creature, the effect of that damage is that the affected creature gets that much damage marked on it; if the damage was dealt to a player, that player loses that much life.
