From LCQ to a lost Win and In for Top8 at the RPTQ
A bit of background to my person. I have been pretty much an Affinity one trick pony for the past year. It’s just so satisfying to outplay the opponent with what’s on board and the amount of lines and complexity this deck offers feels infinite.
During the Modern PPTQ-Season I played 4 PPTQs and finished tied for 1st place after swiss in 3 of them with the 4th still being tied in points for 8th place. Unfortunately, during the TOP8 things didn’t work out for me too well previously.
The three FNMsized tournaments I participated beforehand I finished 11-1 overall, with the only loss being due to me unable to count to 20, so I felt very comfortable heading into the tournament.
The List:
In preparation for GP Madrid I have played without Thoughtseize (TS) for about a month and I don’t really miss it, so I went without. This has the nice bonus of improving my SB vs Burn, which previously sucked. The only card one really needs TS instead of Spellpierce (SP) is Supreme Verdict, but UW is such a bad MU that it probably doesn’t matter too much anyway. Hope of Giraphur (HoG) instead of the 4th Vault Skirge was a test to improve MUs like Storm. If you have any further questions to my list or how is sideboard, feel free to ask.
As for the tournaments, I might mix some things up because I didn’t take any notes, but I’ll try to highlight the interesting situations to best of my memory. All my opponents were very nice and we had some games.
LCQ:
R1: 2-1 Semi-Mirror
My opponent plays without Inkmoths and uses the WR painland instead with his reason being his very white and red heavy SB. He is on the play for G1 which leads to me being one turn behind for the entire game and losing. In my last turn I needed a Plating, Ravager or Blast of the top to kill him from 19. I didn’t draw any of those and could only do 17 so we go to the next game.
G2 I have the nuts and just stomp him through his Grid which did nothing but ping me once or twice. For G3 he mulled to 5 without any thread. As it turned out, he had 2 Shrapnel Blasts which killed an Overseer of mine each. My 3rd Overseer followed by a Master finished him off after he essentially mulled to 3. (1-0)
R2: 2-1 Titanshift
Sucks to play vs your driver in the 2nd round but here we are. G1 I do what Affinity does and overrun him. HoG was the MVP as I sacced it with him having 6 lands and his only out being Scapeshift. G2 is kind of unfortunate for me as I only draw lands after his Anger to back up my Plating and therefore not being able to cast Bloodmoon without hurting myself just as much. He was also short on lands so I decided to just try to kill him before he breaks out of the screw. At 1 life he drew a 6th land (fetchland), casting Prism and Scapeshift afterwards to dome me for 72…ouch! G3 I don’t have the fastest but therefore a very resilient clock with two Ravagers. This game he is horribly flooded on lands but misplays his last turn. He has an active Valakut with 1 landdrop left and drew Grudge for the turn. My three creatures are 2 Ravagers and 1 Thopter. Instead of killing the Thopter with Valakut and the Ravagers with the Grudge, he targets a 1/1 Ravager with the Trigger to which I sacc 3 artifacts I didn’t need anymore. Still I got lucky that he never drew a card from his SB other than that Grudge. (2-0)
R3: 2-1 BG Lantern
G1 I have double Master but in his last turn he manages to find the 3rd manasource in Mox after milling himself twice and shuffling his deck with Lantern. G2 I just overrun him so fast, there was nothing for him he could have done. G3 he sees ~half his deck without ever finding a bridge, although in my view he was too greedy at the end of the game. Instead of drawing Decay, killing my Pest with it and going to one life in the next turn which would give him 4? (idk, some more atleast) more looks for bridge, he milled it and didn’t find an out afterwards. (3-0)
R4: 2-0 Grixis Shadow
G1 my opponent loses to him fetching an Island as 2nd land instead of a red shock, leaving him only with a Watery Grave and the Island. When he killed my Ravager before dmg on my turn I chose to go for the 1 turn clock of putting most of my board on Inkmoth to make it a 4/4 with him already being on two Poison and two pushes in the gy, aswell as him missing his 3rd land and not having access to red mana at that point. The turn after he was dead. G2 he drew Liliane the last Hope + Staticsaster, but couldn’t keep up with my much more efficient draw. (4-0 and Top8)
R5: ID Eldrazi Tron
I id with my other friend I came with and we are both locked for Top8. (4-0-1)
R6: ID MonoW DnT
Again I id which guarantees me being 1st or 2nd seed with me being 1st before R6. In the end my breakers did hold and I went into the Top8 as 1st seed. (4-0-2)
Top8: 2-1 Grixis Shadow
I play vs my opponent from R4. Unfortunately, I don’t remember too much from these games, but I emerged victorious. (5-0-2)
Top4: 2-0 MonoW DnT
This time I get to play my R6 opponent and finish him in quick fashion. G1 was kind of interesting because one of my two lands was my only Basic but he never killed it with his GQ, which definitely could have given him much needed time. G2 I keep a hand with T2 Master but not much else which also folds to Stony badly. I keep it as Master is one of the best threads in the MU and get insanely lucky to draw a 2nd Mox for my first turn which lets me play Master on T1. He never found a Path and got overrun by the Master followed by some cheap idiots aka Thopter & Co. (6-0-2)
Finals: 2-1 5c Shadow
I think I mulled on the play and kept a very mediocre hand, but going down to 5 vs a TS deck isn’t a winning recipe. My first relevant play was a T4? Master after he stripped my hand apart. For the longest part of the game he was on fife life and knew about my Blast in hand but as the game played out, I killed him with two Poison for five turns straight the turn before he would have killed me. G2 I punted a 100% win away. At nine life and under Bloodmoon he played a Shadow off of his Swamp to which I verbally reconfirmed that it’s a 4/4. In my turn I attack him to seven with my Champion, setting up lethal the very next turn through a Ravager with more that enough artifacts left to ensure Metalcraft. In his turn he goes for the alphastrike and for some reason I still got the idea of the shadow only being a 4/4 in my head. Of course, he has Battlerage (TBR) and kills me with an attack I could have easily survived if blocked correctly. G3 was probably the most intense game of MTG I have ever played. For ~6 turns I’m only on two lands and can’t cast more than one spell a turn. While I deployed thread after thread he had an answer for every one of them. The game stalls out really hard with both of us being hellbent and praying to the top of our decks when he casts a LotV at some point after I played a RIP, reducing his threads from twelve (Shadows, Goyfs, Traverses) to four. At this point I’m not too sure how it continued and I might mess up some turns or sequences. At some point I drew a Plating with him having no defenses, but a Lili at 6. This is the turn I think he could’ve won the game if he ulted Lili, but the +1ed to my relief. I hit Lili down to three and want to finish him off over the next two turns. At four life he draws Souls which keep my entire board in check and him still having Lili. Over the next 10+ turns we both pretty much miss turn after turn during which he played a 2nd Lili. Those two Lilis had ~15 loyalty together over the game. Down the road he draws a Grudge for the Plating and a Brutality putting him back to six life, leaving my two Blasts left in the deck unable to kill him. After that he found a Shadow when he was back to three life and hitting me for 10 which I decided to not block, going down to 6 and -2ing Lili to kill one of my two Thopters. My board at that point consist of Thopter, Drum, Citadel and Inkmoth. I draw for the turn and find a Champion, tap my entire board to cast it and hope he doesn’t find TBR. To my relief he didn’t and I got to untap, hitting him down to one single life and having to dodge one more draw from him. In his turn he kills the remaining Thopter with Lili and attacks. I animate Inkmoth and pray one last time…he reveals Decay as his draw for the turn and extents the hand. (7-0-2)
I did it, I finally overcome my Top8 curse after having yet another perfect swiss finish and I got to come back the day after to play again in my first RPTQ.
RPTQ:
R1: 2-1 Titanshift
G1 goes like the day before. G2 I keep a hand with all the threats in the world plus Bloodmoon, but with only one land, drum and HoG. I didn’t draw my 2nd land until T4 after he already played a Titan. I cast Moon to not just die the next turn and hope to trade at some point with my equipped creature. Nope, he has a 2nd Titan and smacks my face. G3 I mull to or six with Moon and Dispatch, but not much else. I scry a Mox to the top and slam Moon on T2. Unfortunately for me he has a Forest already in hand and Pacts for a Titan he plays the same turn. At this point my board is Citadel, Pest, Memnite, Mox, Moon and some more lands when I use Dispatch on the Titan at the end of his turn. In response he bolts my Pest thinking I’m off Metalcraft. When I tell him, that Citadel is still an artifact under Moon he didn’t believe me. We had to call a Judge which asked the HJ for aid. After some discussion they agree with me and the Titan gets exiled. After some turns of me hitting him for one I drew some Overseers in a row and the 3rd sticked, finishing him off. (1:0)
R2: 2-0 UWR
G1 he manages to stop some of my first few creatures while still taking some damage here and there. When he was tapped out for Geist I played my Master and hit him for four in the air with Skirge and Pest down to nine. On his turn he played Snapcaster flashing back a Path for the Master with Steamvents and Flooded Stand as untapped lands. I played my 2nd Master and attacking him down to 5 while having an untapped Drum and Master with a Blast for the turn in hand. In my endstep he cracked the Stand to which I responded with the Blast to kill him. G2 want as perfect for me as it could, and I predicted every single relevant turn in the game the way they actually played out, which was sweet. My hand was good, but not great with Moon, Ravager, Plating, Pest, Memnite, Citadel and Blinkmoth. I draw a Spire but lead on Blinkmoth to hide my colored mana, followed by Memnite and Pest to which he replied with a fetch+shock into a Bolt onto my Pest. Island, Go from him. This is the very moment I realize that this is my weekend when I drew a Mox. To hide me having Metalcraft I lead with casting the Mox, which resolves without response from his side. Then I play my Citadel, leaving him no chance to disrupt my Metalcraft. The only possible card he could have to punish me for forcing Moon here is Logic Knot, but first of all I think that card is bad postboard vs Affinity and the possibility of him playing a Flooded Strand on his next turn, as well as him having mana for Spellqueller, which is a pain in the ass for Affinity. I get rewarded and basically won the game in this very moment. The next turn I run my Ravager into his obvious Rejection and follow it up with a Plating, that card I actually wanted to resolve. To bait out the blue mana for another possible Rejection I equipped my Memnite and swung for six with him being at 15. He does what I hoped he would and flashed in a Snapcaster to trade. Now the path was free for my Champion and there was basically nothing left to fear other than a random Kozilek’s Return, but UWR usually doesn’t run that. (2-0)
R3: 2-1 Eldrazi Tron
I knew what my opponent was and kept a fine but slow hand without acceleration but with Ravager and Overseer. While this is the kind of hand that loses to ETron’s nuts, it still wins most of the time and I don’t think the average six card hand is better. He had the nuts with T3 Tron into TKS taking my Ravager plus Ballista, killing my Overseer. I brick for the turn and he follows it up with a 2nd Ballista on four and kills two Skirges with an All is Dust. G2 the MU plays out the way it’s supposed to and I Stomp him. G3 on the other hand is insanely close, coming down all the way to one turn difference. My start is ok with Ravager, Plating and some random 1/1s in the form of Skirge, Memnite, Blinkmoth, Inkmoth and a Thopter with him having a Ballista on 4. I attack with everything, he blocks the Ravager and shoots the Skirge. In response I sacc it and a Citadel to make the Ravager 3/3, offering the trade and he accepts. He goes to two life with me having a 3/5 Thopter, 5/1 Memnite, Blinkmoth and Inkmoth. Now comes the blowout, he plays GQ and Ratched Bomb, killing both creatures and a Mox. From here on it gets a little blurry. On my Turn I force the GQ onto the Blinkmoth to get the Mountain out of the deck and enabling the infect plan. He proceeds to play a TKS, Reshaper and Smasher over next two or three turns and we end up in a race in which I hit him for four up to 6 poison, leaving back a Blinkmoth plus land to block his TKS and going down to two life. Know I have to dodge Smasher, Ballista, GQ, Map, Spatial Contortion and Warping Wail. To my relief he didn’t draw any of those and swing for exactly 4 more poison. (3-0)
R4: 1-2 UW Control
I get paired down vs a 2-0-1. G1 I have an insane draw that leaves him dead on board on my T4 with him being on the play even through a Verdict. G2 & G3 played out the way one thinks it should and I get destroyed. While I drew the cards one need to win this MU, namely Grid or Champions with Plating, they came way too late or he had to many Verdicts. (3-1)
The pairings for R4 go up and I noticed that I got awarded a win for the last round, so I went to the judges and told them the mistake. Their solution was to just have me and my previous opponent, who had already a draw, switch tables. So now I was paired against a player on 2-2.
R5: 2-0 Elves
G1 he mulls to 6 and I to 5. Both our draws sucked but he kept a onelander while I found an Overseer some turns down the line and killed him before he could recover. G2 my Opener allowed me to play and activate a Nexus, Thopter and two Moxes for an Overseer with a Whipflare in hand. I drew a 2nd Thopter so I didn’t even have to use the 2nd Mox as Lotus Petal yet. On his T2 he played a Cavern on spirits, which means bad news for my beloved robots. On my T2 I have to pay for Kathaki, leaving me with a tapped Nexus, a Thopter and an Overseer. If I draw a 2nd land I’m still fine and kill his board, but I miss. All I could do was passing the turn and hoping to hit that land. He continuoued to play some 1/1s while I kept on missing my 2nd land, only having that Nexus and Overseer in play now. In my 4th I finally drew a Citadel, played it followed by a Mox and the Whipflare. He responded by making four mana. I asked him whether I can move to combat to which he replied with yes followed by trying to cast a CoCo a few seconds afterwards. I called a Judge who agreed with me that the mana is gone and from thereon there is no coming back for him. (4-1)
So here I was, the day before at the same time I wasn’t even qualified for the RPTQ and now I was in an Win and In for the Top8 at my first RPTQ.
R6: 1-2 Ad Nauseam
I get paired vs a silver pro, who I knew was playing Ad Nauseam. G1 I mull to six and keep. My hand isn’t really great with Citadel, Mox, Plating, Master, two Spires but it had potential. A 2nd Mox went to the bottom, Citadel plus Mox and go. I hoped to draw another Citadel for my 2nd turn which was funnily the card I drew, leaving me with a 4/4 Master on T2. On my next turn Plating gets equipped to the Master, attack for 10. The turn after the same to which he responded witch a Grace leaving him at 1 life. In his upkeep I cast Blast on him, forcing him to have another Grace. He had it, drew for the turn and scooped. G2 I had the nuts with an T3 infectkill, but he had a Push and after that I was too slow for his T4 kill. While looking through his deck I saw 3 Recalls, ouch! The winner of G3 is in the Top8 in 3rd or 4th seed, so know it’s all or nothing. Unfortunately, I had to pay the price for my great draws all weekend long and mulled to 3, GG. I wished him the best of luck for the Quarter and while somewhat disappointed that the journey ended the way it did I am still happy how the weekend went. (4-2)
Thanks for reading and sorry for my bad writing – English is not my first language. I realize that I’m switching tenses frequently and that there are probably some spelling mistakes, but I’m way too tired to bother at the moment.
Greetings,
Mahalek
EDIT: My friend who I played in the LCQ in R2 just remindet me that the G3 I wrote about actually happend some time ago and during the actual G3, he was super flooded and never drew a single card out of his SB the entire match.
Any adjustments on the main or sideboard going forward?
Thanks.
The only thing I dislike about the list is the mirror, but with three Masters main it isn't that bad. I want to board out the Champion and the four Pests but only have two Grudges, Dispath and Grid to bring in. I thought about siding in a single SP for the devastating cards my opp has access to in G2&3, but that doesn't feel right either, so for now I would just keep in a lonely Pest. In my previous lists I had a 2nd Grid instead of the 2nd Moon, but with the rise of UWR and Spellqueller, I don't like the 2nd Grid as much anymore, which is kind of a shame because I always felt that Grid was the most powerful thing we could be doing postboard in the past.
One thing to highlight is how awesome HoG was! I never wished it being the 4th Skirge and it's ability came in handy pretty much every time I drew it. Definitely will keep the 3/1 split going forward.
Another point one could make is whether to play five 5c lands plus 3 Blinkmoths or four and four. I like the 5/3 split atm, due to how powerful my SB is (I win about 1/3 of my postboard games thanks to Moon. That's how powerful this stupid card is). This is somewhat like the ideology of Dredge for G2&3:
1) No one draws hate -> I prob win
2) We both draw hate -> I prob win
3) Only I draw hate -> I prob win
4) Only he draws hate -> I prob lose
So my conclusion is that I really want to be able to cast my powerful hosers when I draw them and therefore five 5c lands seem right.
I was thinking a Hope of Ghirapur and another Vault Skirge MB with a Hex Parasite SB. Does that seem reasonable? Should the Vault Skirge be another Arcbound Worker instead?
I was thinking a Hope of Ghirapur and another Vault Skirge MB with a Hex Parasite SB. Does that seem reasonable? Should the Vault Skirge be another Arcbound Worker instead?
Vault Skirge is an automatic four-of in my view. To my knowledge, Arcbound Worker has not seen play in Modern since, well, ever.
Instant speed removal is best as one can possibly float mana when ones opponent presents the spell. There are a couple or three that are worth considering but I've put about all the effort into this post that I feel up to at the moment.
Thanks for the reply, but this is not in reference to dealing with stony silence, it is to keep a high threat density when you know you will be sideboarding out Steel Overseers etc and to have creatures that ignore Stony Silence. The idea being that I want the deck to be as proactive and threat dense as possible.
I am in the camp of ignoring Stony Silence - plenty of wins through a SS without an answer & lost plenty of games with a spell pierce i couldn't cast or drawing irrelevant sideboard cards like thoughtseize late game. I will still have Aethergrids anyway as it is fantastic.
Hazoret seems to be gaining popularity (was even 1 mb at scgbalt team event).
My question is how does Lupine Prototype compare in this slot?
2cmc v 4cmc
Colourless v coloured
No activated ability v activated ability
Relevant card type v irrelevant card type
Weak to normal removal v resistant to normal removal
No haste v haste
Thanks for the reply, but this is not in reference to dealing with stony silence, it is to keep a high threat density when you know you will be sideboarding out Steel Overseers etc and to have creatures that ignore Stony Silence. The idea being that I want the deck to be as proactive and threat dense as possible.
I am in the camp of ignoring Stony Silence - plenty of wins through a SS without an answer & lost plenty of games with a spell pierce i couldn't cast or drawing irrelevant sideboard cards like thoughtseize late game. I will still have Aethergrids anyway as it is fantastic.
Hazoret seems to be gaining popularity (was even 1 mb at scgbalt team event).
My question is how does Lupine Prototype compare in this slot?
2cmc v 4cmc
Colourless v coloured
No activated ability v activated ability
Relevant card type v irrelevant card type
Weak to normal removal v resistant to normal removal
No haste v haste
You won't likely be able to use Lupine Prototype as some of your mana will be locked down. The odds are good that you will have cards in hand.
Was Shapers' Sanctuary discussed?
Just looking for a good Sideboard Card vs Grixis Shadow because I really struggled to beat a resolved Kolaghans Command.
What do we think of this? Too slow for modern or has some potential?
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
It would fit into a jeskai shell i think.
Exactly. I should have mentioned why it didn't fit in my post but I was lazy. Four mana is a massive investment for us as well.
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
I like these enchantment flip lands theyre pretty interesting way of nerfing old broken cards
Tolrian academy, gaias cradle i wonder whats next?
Maybe a wasteland?
RUAffinityUR
GMono Green StompyG
CEldrazi TronC
URWJeskai GeistWRU
WRBoros BurnRW
BRWMardu PyromancerWRB
C’mon..
@Robo_Memer on Twitter, Twitch, Reddit, and YouTube
Feel free to PM me about Affinity decks in any format!
RUAffinityUR
GMono Green StompyG
CEldrazi TronC
URWJeskai GeistWRU
WRBoros BurnRW
BRWMardu PyromancerWRB
@Robo_Memer on Twitter, Twitch, Reddit, and YouTube
Feel free to PM me about Affinity decks in any format!
A bit of background to my person. I have been pretty much an Affinity one trick pony for the past year. It’s just so satisfying to outplay the opponent with what’s on board and the amount of lines and complexity this deck offers feels infinite.
During the Modern PPTQ-Season I played 4 PPTQs and finished tied for 1st place after swiss in 3 of them with the 4th still being tied in points for 8th place. Unfortunately, during the TOP8 things didn’t work out for me too well previously.
The three FNMsized tournaments I participated beforehand I finished 11-1 overall, with the only loss being due to me unable to count to 20, so I felt very comfortable heading into the tournament.
The List:
4 Arcbound Ravager
3 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Cranial Plating
4 Darksteel Citadel
1 Etched Champion
4 Galvanic Blast
1 Glimmervoid
1 Hope of Ghirapur
4 Inkmoth Nexus
3 Master of Etherium
3 Memnite
1 Mountain
4 Mox Opal
4 Ornithopter
4 Signal Pest
4 Spire of Industry
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Steel Overseer
3 Vault Skirge
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Blood Moon
1 Dispatch
3 Etched Champion
1 Ghirapur Æther Grid
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Rest in Peace
1 Rule of Law
2 Spell Pierce
1 Whipflare
In preparation for GP Madrid I have played without Thoughtseize (TS) for about a month and I don’t really miss it, so I went without. This has the nice bonus of improving my SB vs Burn, which previously sucked. The only card one really needs TS instead of Spellpierce (SP) is Supreme Verdict, but UW is such a bad MU that it probably doesn’t matter too much anyway. Hope of Giraphur (HoG) instead of the 4th Vault Skirge was a test to improve MUs like Storm. If you have any further questions to my list or how is sideboard, feel free to ask.
As for the tournaments, I might mix some things up because I didn’t take any notes, but I’ll try to highlight the interesting situations to best of my memory. All my opponents were very nice and we had some games.
LCQ:
R1: 2-1 Semi-Mirror
My opponent plays without Inkmoths and uses the WR painland instead with his reason being his very white and red heavy SB. He is on the play for G1 which leads to me being one turn behind for the entire game and losing. In my last turn I needed a Plating, Ravager or Blast of the top to kill him from 19. I didn’t draw any of those and could only do 17 so we go to the next game.
G2 I have the nuts and just stomp him through his Grid which did nothing but ping me once or twice. For G3 he mulled to 5 without any thread. As it turned out, he had 2 Shrapnel Blasts which killed an Overseer of mine each. My 3rd Overseer followed by a Master finished him off after he essentially mulled to 3. (1-0)
R2: 2-1 Titanshift
Sucks to play vs your driver in the 2nd round but here we are. G1 I do what Affinity does and overrun him. HoG was the MVP as I sacced it with him having 6 lands and his only out being Scapeshift. G2 is kind of unfortunate for me as I only draw lands after his Anger to back up my Plating and therefore not being able to cast Bloodmoon without hurting myself just as much. He was also short on lands so I decided to just try to kill him before he breaks out of the screw. At 1 life he drew a 6th land (fetchland), casting Prism and Scapeshift afterwards to dome me for 72…ouch! G3 I don’t have the fastest but therefore a very resilient clock with two Ravagers. This game he is horribly flooded on lands but misplays his last turn. He has an active Valakut with 1 landdrop left and drew Grudge for the turn. My three creatures are 2 Ravagers and 1 Thopter. Instead of killing the Thopter with Valakut and the Ravagers with the Grudge, he targets a 1/1 Ravager with the Trigger to which I sacc 3 artifacts I didn’t need anymore. Still I got lucky that he never drew a card from his SB other than that Grudge. (2-0)
R3: 2-1 BG Lantern
G1 I have double Master but in his last turn he manages to find the 3rd manasource in Mox after milling himself twice and shuffling his deck with Lantern. G2 I just overrun him so fast, there was nothing for him he could have done. G3 he sees ~half his deck without ever finding a bridge, although in my view he was too greedy at the end of the game. Instead of drawing Decay, killing my Pest with it and going to one life in the next turn which would give him 4? (idk, some more atleast) more looks for bridge, he milled it and didn’t find an out afterwards. (3-0)
R4: 2-0 Grixis Shadow
G1 my opponent loses to him fetching an Island as 2nd land instead of a red shock, leaving him only with a Watery Grave and the Island. When he killed my Ravager before dmg on my turn I chose to go for the 1 turn clock of putting most of my board on Inkmoth to make it a 4/4 with him already being on two Poison and two pushes in the gy, aswell as him missing his 3rd land and not having access to red mana at that point. The turn after he was dead. G2 he drew Liliane the last Hope + Staticsaster, but couldn’t keep up with my much more efficient draw. (4-0 and Top8)
R5: ID Eldrazi Tron
I id with my other friend I came with and we are both locked for Top8. (4-0-1)
R6: ID MonoW DnT
Again I id which guarantees me being 1st or 2nd seed with me being 1st before R6. In the end my breakers did hold and I went into the Top8 as 1st seed. (4-0-2)
Top8: 2-1 Grixis Shadow
I play vs my opponent from R4. Unfortunately, I don’t remember too much from these games, but I emerged victorious. (5-0-2)
Top4: 2-0 MonoW DnT
This time I get to play my R6 opponent and finish him in quick fashion. G1 was kind of interesting because one of my two lands was my only Basic but he never killed it with his GQ, which definitely could have given him much needed time. G2 I keep a hand with T2 Master but not much else which also folds to Stony badly. I keep it as Master is one of the best threads in the MU and get insanely lucky to draw a 2nd Mox for my first turn which lets me play Master on T1. He never found a Path and got overrun by the Master followed by some cheap idiots aka Thopter & Co. (6-0-2)
Finals: 2-1 5c Shadow
I think I mulled on the play and kept a very mediocre hand, but going down to 5 vs a TS deck isn’t a winning recipe. My first relevant play was a T4? Master after he stripped my hand apart. For the longest part of the game he was on fife life and knew about my Blast in hand but as the game played out, I killed him with two Poison for five turns straight the turn before he would have killed me. G2 I punted a 100% win away. At nine life and under Bloodmoon he played a Shadow off of his Swamp to which I verbally reconfirmed that it’s a 4/4. In my turn I attack him to seven with my Champion, setting up lethal the very next turn through a Ravager with more that enough artifacts left to ensure Metalcraft. In his turn he goes for the alphastrike and for some reason I still got the idea of the shadow only being a 4/4 in my head. Of course, he has Battlerage (TBR) and kills me with an attack I could have easily survived if blocked correctly. G3 was probably the most intense game of MTG I have ever played. For ~6 turns I’m only on two lands and can’t cast more than one spell a turn. While I deployed thread after thread he had an answer for every one of them. The game stalls out really hard with both of us being hellbent and praying to the top of our decks when he casts a LotV at some point after I played a RIP, reducing his threads from twelve (Shadows, Goyfs, Traverses) to four. At this point I’m not too sure how it continued and I might mess up some turns or sequences. At some point I drew a Plating with him having no defenses, but a Lili at 6. This is the turn I think he could’ve won the game if he ulted Lili, but the +1ed to my relief. I hit Lili down to three and want to finish him off over the next two turns. At four life he draws Souls which keep my entire board in check and him still having Lili. Over the next 10+ turns we both pretty much miss turn after turn during which he played a 2nd Lili. Those two Lilis had ~15 loyalty together over the game. Down the road he draws a Grudge for the Plating and a Brutality putting him back to six life, leaving my two Blasts left in the deck unable to kill him. After that he found a Shadow when he was back to three life and hitting me for 10 which I decided to not block, going down to 6 and -2ing Lili to kill one of my two Thopters. My board at that point consist of Thopter, Drum, Citadel and Inkmoth. I draw for the turn and find a Champion, tap my entire board to cast it and hope he doesn’t find TBR. To my relief he didn’t and I got to untap, hitting him down to one single life and having to dodge one more draw from him. In his turn he kills the remaining Thopter with Lili and attacks. I animate Inkmoth and pray one last time…he reveals Decay as his draw for the turn and extents the hand. (7-0-2)
I did it, I finally overcome my Top8 curse after having yet another perfect swiss finish and I got to come back the day after to play again in my first RPTQ.
RPTQ:
R1: 2-1 Titanshift
G1 goes like the day before. G2 I keep a hand with all the threats in the world plus Bloodmoon, but with only one land, drum and HoG. I didn’t draw my 2nd land until T4 after he already played a Titan. I cast Moon to not just die the next turn and hope to trade at some point with my equipped creature. Nope, he has a 2nd Titan and smacks my face. G3 I mull to or six with Moon and Dispatch, but not much else. I scry a Mox to the top and slam Moon on T2. Unfortunately for me he has a Forest already in hand and Pacts for a Titan he plays the same turn. At this point my board is Citadel, Pest, Memnite, Mox, Moon and some more lands when I use Dispatch on the Titan at the end of his turn. In response he bolts my Pest thinking I’m off Metalcraft. When I tell him, that Citadel is still an artifact under Moon he didn’t believe me. We had to call a Judge which asked the HJ for aid. After some discussion they agree with me and the Titan gets exiled. After some turns of me hitting him for one I drew some Overseers in a row and the 3rd sticked, finishing him off. (1:0)
R2: 2-0 UWR
G1 he manages to stop some of my first few creatures while still taking some damage here and there. When he was tapped out for Geist I played my Master and hit him for four in the air with Skirge and Pest down to nine. On his turn he played Snapcaster flashing back a Path for the Master with Steamvents and Flooded Stand as untapped lands. I played my 2nd Master and attacking him down to 5 while having an untapped Drum and Master with a Blast for the turn in hand. In my endstep he cracked the Stand to which I responded with the Blast to kill him. G2 want as perfect for me as it could, and I predicted every single relevant turn in the game the way they actually played out, which was sweet. My hand was good, but not great with Moon, Ravager, Plating, Pest, Memnite, Citadel and Blinkmoth. I draw a Spire but lead on Blinkmoth to hide my colored mana, followed by Memnite and Pest to which he replied with a fetch+shock into a Bolt onto my Pest. Island, Go from him. This is the very moment I realize that this is my weekend when I drew a Mox. To hide me having Metalcraft I lead with casting the Mox, which resolves without response from his side. Then I play my Citadel, leaving him no chance to disrupt my Metalcraft. The only possible card he could have to punish me for forcing Moon here is Logic Knot, but first of all I think that card is bad postboard vs Affinity and the possibility of him playing a Flooded Strand on his next turn, as well as him having mana for Spellqueller, which is a pain in the ass for Affinity. I get rewarded and basically won the game in this very moment. The next turn I run my Ravager into his obvious Rejection and follow it up with a Plating, that card I actually wanted to resolve. To bait out the blue mana for another possible Rejection I equipped my Memnite and swung for six with him being at 15. He does what I hoped he would and flashed in a Snapcaster to trade. Now the path was free for my Champion and there was basically nothing left to fear other than a random Kozilek’s Return, but UWR usually doesn’t run that. (2-0)
R3: 2-1 Eldrazi Tron
I knew what my opponent was and kept a fine but slow hand without acceleration but with Ravager and Overseer. While this is the kind of hand that loses to ETron’s nuts, it still wins most of the time and I don’t think the average six card hand is better. He had the nuts with T3 Tron into TKS taking my Ravager plus Ballista, killing my Overseer. I brick for the turn and he follows it up with a 2nd Ballista on four and kills two Skirges with an All is Dust. G2 the MU plays out the way it’s supposed to and I Stomp him. G3 on the other hand is insanely close, coming down all the way to one turn difference. My start is ok with Ravager, Plating and some random 1/1s in the form of Skirge, Memnite, Blinkmoth, Inkmoth and a Thopter with him having a Ballista on 4. I attack with everything, he blocks the Ravager and shoots the Skirge. In response I sacc it and a Citadel to make the Ravager 3/3, offering the trade and he accepts. He goes to two life with me having a 3/5 Thopter, 5/1 Memnite, Blinkmoth and Inkmoth. Now comes the blowout, he plays GQ and Ratched Bomb, killing both creatures and a Mox. From here on it gets a little blurry. On my Turn I force the GQ onto the Blinkmoth to get the Mountain out of the deck and enabling the infect plan. He proceeds to play a TKS, Reshaper and Smasher over next two or three turns and we end up in a race in which I hit him for four up to 6 poison, leaving back a Blinkmoth plus land to block his TKS and going down to two life. Know I have to dodge Smasher, Ballista, GQ, Map, Spatial Contortion and Warping Wail. To my relief he didn’t draw any of those and swing for exactly 4 more poison. (3-0)
R4: 1-2 UW Control
I get paired down vs a 2-0-1. G1 I have an insane draw that leaves him dead on board on my T4 with him being on the play even through a Verdict. G2 & G3 played out the way one thinks it should and I get destroyed. While I drew the cards one need to win this MU, namely Grid or Champions with Plating, they came way too late or he had to many Verdicts. (3-1)
The pairings for R4 go up and I noticed that I got awarded a win for the last round, so I went to the judges and told them the mistake. Their solution was to just have me and my previous opponent, who had already a draw, switch tables. So now I was paired against a player on 2-2.
R5: 2-0 Elves
G1 he mulls to 6 and I to 5. Both our draws sucked but he kept a onelander while I found an Overseer some turns down the line and killed him before he could recover. G2 my Opener allowed me to play and activate a Nexus, Thopter and two Moxes for an Overseer with a Whipflare in hand. I drew a 2nd Thopter so I didn’t even have to use the 2nd Mox as Lotus Petal yet. On his T2 he played a Cavern on spirits, which means bad news for my beloved robots. On my T2 I have to pay for Kathaki, leaving me with a tapped Nexus, a Thopter and an Overseer. If I draw a 2nd land I’m still fine and kill his board, but I miss. All I could do was passing the turn and hoping to hit that land. He continuoued to play some 1/1s while I kept on missing my 2nd land, only having that Nexus and Overseer in play now. In my 4th I finally drew a Citadel, played it followed by a Mox and the Whipflare. He responded by making four mana. I asked him whether I can move to combat to which he replied with yes followed by trying to cast a CoCo a few seconds afterwards. I called a Judge who agreed with me that the mana is gone and from thereon there is no coming back for him. (4-1)
So here I was, the day before at the same time I wasn’t even qualified for the RPTQ and now I was in an Win and In for the Top8 at my first RPTQ.
R6: 1-2 Ad Nauseam
I get paired vs a silver pro, who I knew was playing Ad Nauseam. G1 I mull to six and keep. My hand isn’t really great with Citadel, Mox, Plating, Master, two Spires but it had potential. A 2nd Mox went to the bottom, Citadel plus Mox and go. I hoped to draw another Citadel for my 2nd turn which was funnily the card I drew, leaving me with a 4/4 Master on T2. On my next turn Plating gets equipped to the Master, attack for 10. The turn after the same to which he responded witch a Grace leaving him at 1 life. In his upkeep I cast Blast on him, forcing him to have another Grace. He had it, drew for the turn and scooped. G2 I had the nuts with an T3 infectkill, but he had a Push and after that I was too slow for his T4 kill. While looking through his deck I saw 3 Recalls, ouch! The winner of G3 is in the Top8 in 3rd or 4th seed, so know it’s all or nothing. Unfortunately, I had to pay the price for my great draws all weekend long and mulled to 3, GG. I wished him the best of luck for the Quarter and while somewhat disappointed that the journey ended the way it did I am still happy how the weekend went. (4-2)
Thanks for reading and sorry for my bad writing – English is not my first language. I realize that I’m switching tenses frequently and that there are probably some spelling mistakes, but I’m way too tired to bother at the moment.
Greetings,
Mahalek
EDIT: My friend who I played in the LCQ in R2 just remindet me that the G3 I wrote about actually happend some time ago and during the actual G3, he was super flooded and never drew a single card out of his SB the entire match.
Thanks.
The only thing I dislike about the list is the mirror, but with three Masters main it isn't that bad. I want to board out the Champion and the four Pests but only have two Grudges, Dispath and Grid to bring in. I thought about siding in a single SP for the devastating cards my opp has access to in G2&3, but that doesn't feel right either, so for now I would just keep in a lonely Pest. In my previous lists I had a 2nd Grid instead of the 2nd Moon, but with the rise of UWR and Spellqueller, I don't like the 2nd Grid as much anymore, which is kind of a shame because I always felt that Grid was the most powerful thing we could be doing postboard in the past.
One thing to highlight is how awesome HoG was! I never wished it being the 4th Skirge and it's ability came in handy pretty much every time I drew it. Definitely will keep the 3/1 split going forward.
Another point one could make is whether to play five 5c lands plus 3 Blinkmoths or four and four. I like the 5/3 split atm, due to how powerful my SB is (I win about 1/3 of my postboard games thanks to Moon. That's how powerful this stupid card is). This is somewhat like the ideology of Dredge for G2&3:
1) No one draws hate -> I prob win
2) We both draw hate -> I prob win
3) Only I draw hate -> I prob win
4) Only he draws hate -> I prob lose
So my conclusion is that I really want to be able to cast my powerful hosers when I draw them and therefore five 5c lands seem right.
Edit: Spelling.
4 Darksteel Citadel
3 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Inkmoth Nexus
3 Spire of Industry
2 Glimmervoid
1 Mountain
Creatures 24
4 Ornithopter
2 Memnite
4 Signal Pest
1 Arcbound Worker
3 Vault Skirge
3 Steel Overseer
4 Arcbound Ravager
3 Master of Etherium
2 Welding Jar
4 Mox Opal
4 Springleaf Drum
3 Galvanic Blast
4 Cranial Plating
3 Etched Champion
3 Blood Moon
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Dispatch
1 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Ghirapur Aether Grid
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Tormod's Crypt
I was thinking a Hope of Ghirapur and another Vault Skirge MB with a Hex Parasite SB. Does that seem reasonable? Should the Vault Skirge be another Arcbound Worker instead?
Vault Skirge is an automatic four-of in my view. To my knowledge, Arcbound Worker has not seen play in Modern since, well, ever.
Hope of Ghirapur is a playable card.
Maybe it's just late and I'm tired but I don't see the application for Hex Parasite.
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
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Feel free to PM me about Affinity decks in any format!
Could Lupine Prototype also work in this spot?
With limited ability to play cards due to Stony Silence, Lupine Prototype would seem to be a dead card.
The stock answers for Stony Silence are Ghirapur Aether Grid to do damage, Spell Pierce or Spell Snare to counter it, Thoughtseize to discard it, or some cheap enchantment removal.
Instant speed removal is best as one can possibly float mana when ones opponent presents the spell. There are a couple or three that are worth considering but I've put about all the effort into this post that I feel up to at the moment.
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
I am in the camp of ignoring Stony Silence - plenty of wins through a SS without an answer & lost plenty of games with a spell pierce i couldn't cast or drawing irrelevant sideboard cards like thoughtseize late game. I will still have Aethergrids anyway as it is fantastic.
Hazoret seems to be gaining popularity (was even 1 mb at scgbalt team event).
My question is how does Lupine Prototype compare in this slot?
2cmc v 4cmc
Colourless v coloured
No activated ability v activated ability
Relevant card type v irrelevant card type
Weak to normal removal v resistant to normal removal
No haste v haste
You won't likely be able to use Lupine Prototype as some of your mana will be locked down. The odds are good that you will have cards in hand.
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
Just looking for a good Sideboard Card vs Grixis Shadow because I really struggled to beat a resolved Kolaghans Command.
Green @ it's best
@Robo_Memer on Twitter, Twitch, Reddit, and YouTube
Feel free to PM me about Affinity decks in any format!