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OK so I am FINALLY done with my 101 MWS matches. And I have to say I am confident on these results. Out of the 101 games I played I lost 29. Please take this with a grain of salt. For we all know, MWS is not the best place to test things out. However, due to the lack of time between medschool and Swimming, this is the best I can do.
So what is this? This is a new Affinity Control Build.
As we all know, Affinity is a deck which relies on Artifact Lands in order to fuel affinity spells and cheap artifact creatures. Cards like Frogmite, Arcbound Worker and Ornithopter were automatic x4 in most builds back then.
Affinity’s plan is to mow down your opponent by dropping your complete hand as early as turn 2/3. This has always been the plan ever since Affinity appeared 7 years ago. However, with the release of Scars of Mirrodin block. Affinity aquired some new cards, such as Memnite and Mox Opal. Mirrodin Besieged brought Affinity what could be the most powerful card to date, Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas. Or as many people put it. It's a "The next turn you win the game" Button. You need only 10 artifacts in play in order to win downright. Between Artifact Lands and all your creatures, thats easy to acheive. Plus. considering you have already dealt damage by the time it goes active. It pretty much wins games if it resolves and stays alive for one turn. Tezzeret is after all Affinity's Planeswalker. The addition of such cards to the pool just ached for affinity to be revamped. In as little as 2 months, after the release of such cards, Blake McCraken took first place at a Legacy Tournament, courtesy of StarCityGames.
His deck was such an oddity though. All previous affinity builds played both a playset of Arcbound Ravager and a playset of Disciple of the Vault. McCracken however opted for a complete swarm gameplan, making the deck able to drop its hand as early as turn 1.
Lets give it some thought. As a player who was there back then when affinity rampaged accross T2, I can tell you some things. First, Affinity is a deck who's greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. On average, out of 60 cards 48/50 are artifacts. This greatly fuels the deck, but this as well makes it incredibly vulnerable. Cards like Shattering Spree and Hurkyl's Recall turn into one sided Obliterates.
After devouring T2 and being subject to massive bannings, Affinity moved on to Extended... and surprise surprise? It rampaged through Extended as well. It was all good in the hood for Affinity! But then... ohh no... Affinity decided it was time to meddle with Legacy. And THAT is when affinity came to a harsh stop. For you see, Legacy has just SO MANY ways to roundhouse kick affinity. Energy Flux, Pernicious Deed, Powder Keg, Null Rod, Kataki, War's Wage, Engineered Explosives, Serenity, and Pulverize just to name some.
So when affinity was at the top of its kin, as soon as it entered Legacy it died down a gruesome and fast way. For every single Legacy deck had its answers ready to tear it down to pieces.
Now, how does this affect us at all? As soon as players realized that Affinity could be hated out with such ease it died down, and after various years it became more of a rogue deck rather than a Mainstream force... Until someone...
RELEASED McCrACKEN!!!!
The very momment McCracken won his SCG Tournament, was the beginning of a new affinity era.
Affinity is a deck that is cheap to build when compared with your other legacy staples. And what do you know? It even won a first place! Let's try it!
This will flood the Meta with affinity decks. Which will greatly resemble the times when affinity tried to enter legacy back then. And yeah, as soon as it becomes a mainstream deck, good legacy pilots will start to tweak their Sideboards to yet again put affinity to rest. As we speak, many Affinity players have already faced Null Rods, and its just been a couple weeks.
This time however, I think there are enough weapons to not being hated out of the meta, but we do need to start from scratch in one too many aspects. My very idea, which many found controversial, is to turn Affinity into a control deck. This way we can deal with all the hate we get thrown at as the meta evolves. I know it was tried back then, but back then we didn't have Etched Champions, we didn't have Tezzy 2.0. We didn't have Vedalken Certarch.
Without further ado I present you the evolution of Affinity; NeoFinnity.
Ok Aluren, hold your horses... No Memnites, Frogmites or Signal Pests? Are you kidding me? FoW? Certarch? Are you mad?
No, I am not. Just sit down and listen a little before going rampant...
First thing's first. I have always claimed that one of the many drawbacks affinity has is that it is an overly synergistic deck. It is full of cards that don't do much on their own, which effectively wastes space. It is a deck that has TERRIBLE topdecks. What good is it to topdeck a Memnite? a Frogmite? Or as D3@D said:
This is what I'm talking about that there are few cards in this deck that really matter. If you can resolve a Plating, and prevent them from tampering with it for a few turns, more likely than not, you will win that game. The same goes with Tez.
So why not work from that quote and forward? That is precisely what I meant with card quality. All you need to win its a Ornithopter/Etched Champion and a Cranial Plating. All you need is to play Tezz and make him live 1 complete turn. Why bother using so many slots to cards that just are horrible topdecks?
I really think affinity should evolve into quality artifact creatures. We now have Phyrexian Revoker; why not mainboard that isntead of Frogmites? Testing has shown how valuable a P. Revoker is G1 if you know what you're against.
Another good example: Why run memnites, those 1/1 creatures. When you can run Vedalken Certarch? Same 1/1 body. It costs 1 colored mana true that, it's not an artifact Touche! However it sure is better than a Memnite. Think about it, what does a Memnite add to the board? +1 to plating? +1 to the Affinity Count?
I've lost count of how many times I've seen stalled memnites just because a Tarmogoyf or any Goblin are throwing it mean faces. Whereas Certarch can remove blockers, can tap threats, can free us from trinispheres, can disrupt mana? And most importantly, it can be pitched to FoW?
You've got a Trygon Predator? Before declare attackers I tap it down? You Sneaked Emrakul, the Aeons Torn into play? Before attackers I TAP IT DOWN... You have a huge Tarmogoyf bloking your P. Revoker? EOT I tap it down and Swing for the game! You have 2 Maze of Ith? EOT I tap one, and in my turn I tap the second one! Swing for Game! You have blue mana open to counter what I play? I TAP THAT LAND DOWN... You float that mana? I move on to my second mainphase! And my personal Favorite... You've got a pesky Trinisphere hating on your entire deck? Read the first 6 words of Trinisphere...
"As long as Trinisphere is untapped..."
See that? Get it? Just TAP IT! and you can cast that FoW!
There are just so many tricks that can be played with Certarch its almost unfair. Achieving Metalcraft in this deck is just a joke. And heck, in worst case scenarios, it can carry a Plating if needed.
We need to adapt to what is comming, not just being confident that "we can drop our hand turn 1" or "we can win as early as turn 2". For these "God Hands" are scarce.
Now then, I know you are staring at those 3 Aether Vials. More likely than not you're thinking that its too slow of a card for today's Affinity. Well, for a swarm build it is indeed, but for a control build. It is of great importance. You just can't appreciate the beauty of Instant Speed Vialing a P .Revoker in response to a Jitte, Sword of Fire and Ice, Pernicious Deed, EExplosives and so on. Remember that your opponent can't see what you're putting into play with the Vial until it is actually in play. And that P. Revoker's effect is activated as it comes into play. So if your opponent allows you to resolve the Vial, he can't activate that pesky Deed in repsonse to the PRevoker being revealed and put into the battlefield!
Another Good reason to add Vials is Etched Champion. This mini Progenitus' only weakness is while on the stack. So how about avoiding that at all? at CMC3 it can as well be a Master of Etherium. Either way its an awesome card you're putting into play EOT.
And last good reason to play Vial: Force of Will...
What? Force of Will is a reason to play Vial? Explain...
Well, my list currently runs 19 blue cards. That's almost a third of the deck that can be pitched to FoW. I know it's not that high on the blue cards count, ergo there will be times in which you WON'T have that blue card to pitch at hand. So you will want to have your mana sources available to hardcast it if needed be. This, is where Vial comes into play. For you don't have to pay for your creatures.
I'm not going to explain you why FoW is such a great card. You know it's one of the 4 pillars that give sustenance to Legacy. This card alone will win you a LOT of games. Via saving your Tezzeret, saving your platings, P. Revokers and what else, pretty much by countering almost all threats but Krosan Grips.
Now, this deck is far from complete, As for this deck and this primer, both are still works in progress. Feel free to point out any Errors you may find. But im mostly looking for fresh new ideas to improve this archetype! I'd also like to thank the guys in the original Affinity Thread who encouraged me to write this up! Go pay them a Visit if you want to learn about the Swarm builds!
Special Thanks to Khiefkaboose who corrected a lot of mistakes and made me some epic suggestions!
4 Mox opal is just to increase the chances of getting a turn 1 Opal. I want to have acces to blue mana turn 1 no matter what. I've been pondering on adding ravagers to fix this, but I just don't see enough bennefit to them.
As for City of Brass, Testing has shown me the harsh way that since I don't run that many artifacts for it to be played safely turn 1. I've had my Vials Pierced turn 1 so GLimmervoids go down as well at EOT :S
As for spot removal, we got all we need with certarch G1 IMO. all you need is to remove blockers or attackers. certarch takes care of those.
As for the mana, i've had no problems whatsoever, more often than not i've been mana flooded
Good list I think. I will throw it together and see how it plays. What do you think about Cabal Therapy? Is Aether Vial really needed? I mean the excitement of dropping in a Master of Etherium or Etched Champion on their attack phase and surprise block is novel, However would the spot not be better used with Cabal Therapy. Or even Daze for that matter. I just do not see much use for it any more to be quite honest.
Good list I think. I will throw it together and see how it plays. What do you think about Cabal Therapy? Is Aether Vial really needed? I mean the excitement of dropping in a Master of Etherium or Etched Champion on their attack phase and surprise block is novel, However would the spot not be better used with Cabal Therapy. Or even Daze for that matter. I just do not see much use for it any more to be quite honest.
I stated three good reasons for Vial. Protecting Etched, Keeping mana untapped (specially good in G2/G3 with SB cards) and nullifying equips/sensei's and such.
Lets not forget how rampant Wastelands are nowadays D:
Im not doubting you, you have done the testing not me. I just feel that Cabal Therapy probably provides better protection than Aether Vial. (again you tested not me) I am just wondering if you tested Cabal Therapy in that spot?
Im not doubting you, you have done the testing not me. I just feel that Cabal Therapy probably provides better protection than Aether Vial. (again you tested not me) I am just wondering if you tested Cabal Therapy in that spot?
I guess I could try (: Though im thinking that since I don't want to sacrifice any of my creatures, i'd rather run Thoughtseize. Thoughts on that?
Thoughtsieze is good. I played with it in my side a little. I just like cabal therapy because of the assurance. They know it is setting in your gy ready to be cast again. I played with them a few minutes ago. Named FOW so my opponent FOW it. (I am playing swarm btw) next turn I went Signal pest, Memnite, Frogmite, Opal, Thoughtcast. Sacced my Memnite named Force and got his second Force. He was down too many cards at that point to even make a come back. Thoughtsieze is good. I guess it is just your preference.
Thoughtsieze is good. I played with it in my side a little. I just like cabal therapy because of the assurance. They know it is setting in your gy ready to be cast again. I played with them a few minutes ago. Named FOW so my opponent FOW it. (I am playing swarm btw) next turn I went Signal pest, Memnite, Frogmite, Opal, Thoughtcast. Sacced my Memnite named Force and got his second Force. He was down too many cards at that point to even make a come back. Thoughtsieze is good. I guess it is just your preference.
I'd say that more than a preference its a strategy. You for instance can sac Memnites, those won't affect the outcome of the game. Whereas I'd have to sac Prevokers, Champions, MoE's, Certarchs and so on S:
Have you tried replacing Springleaf Drum with Aether Vials and Vials with something else? I'd go with 4x Vials in this build, add the 4th MoE and 4th Revoker.
Vial functions as mana in this deck as well, and having Drum, Mox and Vial in addition to 16 lands seems a lot dedicated to getting stuff out.
I'd run through the creatures and tweak on the casting costs of them to maximize the utility of Vials.
RE: Introduction. I thought I should inform you that I'm not the creator of the other Affinity Primer. I requested it, but didn't have time to write yet another one as I already have responsibilities for 2 other primers in the Legacy Forums.
Have you tried replacing Springleaf Drum with Aether Vials and Vials with something else? I'd go with 4x Vials in this build, add the 4th MoE and 4th Revoker.
Vial functions as mana in this deck as well, and having Drum, Mox and Vial in addition to 16 lands seems a lot dedicated to getting stuff out.
I'd run through the creatures and tweak on the casting costs of them to maximize the utility of Vials.
RE: Introduction. I thought I should inform you that I'm not the creator of the other Affinity Primer. I requested it, but didn't have time to write yet another one as I already have responsibilities for 2 other primers in the Legacy Forums.
Yeah, I fixed that little mistake xDD
As for your suggestions they sound pretty solid. So the list would be like -3 Drums +1 MoE +1VIal +1 Prevoker. Seems like a solid change. I't be harder to cast Tezz though. Ill have to test that... im almost done with thoughtsezie. Most of the time Im wishing it was a Vial S:
Zoadian has a point, but I'd test both before making any decisions.
Try 4x Vials and no Drum and the other way around and try to notice the difference in performance. I would imagine that Vials ability to sneak creatures more or less uncounterable and at EOT can make up for its lack in speed.
Being almost sure that your Champ hits the table should be key.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think you can throw a Phyrexian Revoker onto the battlefield in response to someone activating their Jitte to counter the ability. I guess you could do it in response to them playing Jitte though, if that's what you meant.
Aside from the board, there are no cards main deck that aren't blue or black. Which makes me wonder if you wouldn't be better off fixing the sideboard and instead run underground sea over city. Threaten Daze and take no damage is nice.
Thoughtsieze is good. I played with it in my side a little. I just like cabal therapy because of the assurance. They know it is setting in your gy ready to be cast again. I played with them a few minutes ago. Named FOW so my opponent FOW it. (I am playing swarm btw) next turn I went Signal pest, Memnite, Frogmite, Opal, Thoughtcast. Sacced my Memnite named Force and got his second Force. He was down too many cards at that point to even make a come back. Thoughtsieze is good. I guess it is just your preference.
Just thought I'd point out, that if you declare a name before the card resolves, that's your mistake, as you don't actually have to name the card until it resolves, which then in turn does not give your opponent time to respond to it, FYI.
Love the deck. I just played a quick match on MWS against Zoo and I basically destroyed it. Game 1 I opened with an AEther Vial with an etched champion in hand and 2 Tezzeret. It seemed kinda shaky because he got Grove of the Burnwillows with that burn spell that you can return to your hand when an opponent gains life. Even though Tezzeret only stayed on the board for 1 activation both times I played it, the first time it fetched up a Master of Etherium (8/8), and the second time it made my springleaf drum a 5/5 (6/6 with master) and i beat down in an alpha strike. He tried to block and live with an STP on my Master, but I hardcast Force for the win.
The second game I boarded out 3 Vedalken Certarch for 3 Perish, which I believe was a good call. I kept a slow hand with phyrexian revoker, master, and a perish with a couple of land. I end up turn 3 perishing away his Tarmogoyf and Knight of the Reliquary. After that I played an ornithopter that had a cranial plating which he STP'd, and then a Master the next turn which he STP'd, ( I was at ~30 life ). Eventually he lands a Nacatl and hits me for 5-6 turns until I topdeck an Etched Champion that takes me home with the plating.
Overall, the deck seems very good and I like a lot of the card choices. I am unsure about Vedalken Certarch not having used it (it was pretty useless in the zoo matchup). However, I definitely like FOW, as I used it in both games (hardcasted!). I never had a second blue card in hand, and it seems to me that I wouldn't want to remove another blue card since the other two are Thoughtcast and Master (both of which should be played). I could see removing a Cetrarch.
AEther Vial was also incredibly good and I would not take it out.
Love the deck. I just played a quick match on MWS against Zoo and I basically destroyed it. Game 1 I opened with an AEther Vial with an etched champion in hand and 2 Tezzeret. It seemed kinda shaky because he got Grove of the Burnwillows with that burn spell that you can return to your hand when an opponent gains life. Even though Tezzeret only stayed on the board for 1 activation both times I played it, the first time it fetched up a Master of Etherium (8/8), and the second time it made my springleaf drum a 5/5 (6/6 with master) and i beat down in an alpha strike. He tried to block and live with an STP on my Master, but I hardcast Force for the win.
The second game I boarded out 3 Vedalken Certarch for 3 Perish, which I believe was a good call. I kept a slow hand with phyrexian revoker, master, and a perish with a couple of land. I end up turn 3 perishing away his Tarmogoyf and Knight of the Reliquary. After that I played an ornithopter that had a cranial plating which he STP'd, and then a Master the next turn which he STP'd, ( I was at ~30 life ). Eventually he lands a Nacatl and hits me for 5-6 turns until I topdeck an Etched Champion that takes me home with the plating.
Overall, the deck seems very good and I like a lot of the card choices. I am unsure about Vedalken Certarch not having used it (it was pretty useless in the zoo matchup). However, I definitely like FOW, as I used it in both games (hardcasted!). I never had a second blue card in hand, and it seems to me that I wouldn't want to remove another blue card since the other two are Thoughtcast and Master (both of which should be played). I could see removing a Cetrarch.
AEther Vial was also incredibly good and I would not take it out.
No offense, and nothing against the deck, but if your opponent was playing a Zoo deck that had Punishing Fire, Grove of the Burnwillows, and Swords to Plowshares, he was not playing a very good Zoo deck.
Zoadian has a point, but I'd test both before making any decisions.
Try 4x Vials and no Drum and the other way around and try to notice the difference in performance. I would imagine that Vials ability to sneak creatures more or less uncounterable and at EOT can make up for its lack in speed.
Being almost sure that your Champ hits the table should be key.
Yeah, I've been testing a drumless affinity and im liking it better. Sure Tezz it's slightly slower to cast. But it makes up with the higher creature density. Im liking it so far.
As for the Winter Orb... Gotta admit that just caught my eyes. IT seems like a really powerful idea. Though Im thinking it'd be in another shell. One that does un fact run memnites/Frogmites to not have any drawbacks.
Aside from the board, there are no cards main deck that aren't blue or black. Which makes me wonder if you wouldn't be better off fixing the sideboard and instead run underground sea over city. Threaten Daze and take no damage is nice.
I'm having a hard time with the Sideboard. I did think about that possibility. But I just don't know what to do with the SB yet.. Any ideas?
@mysterygoo Im really glad to see you are enjoying the deck! Certainly Zoo isn't that hard of a matchup. But keep on testing it and you'll see how versatile it is. And as for Certarchs, Believe me, the more you test them the more you'll like them. Just you wait and see!
@zoadian: Care to give me some of the reasons to the SB changes? Im kind of lost at some of those D:
@Markitus: I think 4 platings is a must. We need it's one of our two win conditions. And Thirst for knowledge is too expensive IMO
A very interesting deck for me, a long-time advocate of Affinity in Legacy. I will test variants of this soon and get back to you on this.
EDIT:
Have you considered adding Dark Confidant? I know that the curve is slightly higher now than before, but if you're playing a controllish version, your deck should consider playing him. Possibly in SB for more grindish MUs.
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Legacy Currently playing:
Merfolk
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:symb::symu::symw: Sharuum, the Hegemon
A very interesting deck for me, a long-time advocate of Affinity in Legacy. I will test variants of this soon and get back to you on this.
EDIT:
Have you considered adding Dark Confidant? I know that the curve is slightly higher now than before, but if you're playing a controllish version, your deck should consider playing him. Possibly in SB for more grindish MUs.
With an average casting cost of 2-3 I don't think it would be a good idea. Specially not if im running City of Brass :S I do want to get more drawing into it, however I just can't decide on what.
On a side note, I was thinking, how about Esperzoa to replace Ornithopter? It's an artifact too, it flies, it shares Vial at 3 counters with MoE and EC plus it beats on its own and it'd would rise the blue card count to 24 to FoW
Special thanks MChief111 for making me such an amazing banner! Go check out his Avatar/Sig Shop Over here!
OK so I am FINALLY done with my 101 MWS matches. And I have to say I am confident on these results. Out of the 101 games I played I lost 29. Please take this with a grain of salt. For we all know, MWS is not the best place to test things out. However, due to the lack of time between medschool and Swimming, this is the best I can do.
So what is this? This is a new Affinity Control Build.
As we all know, Affinity is a deck which relies on Artifact Lands in order to fuel affinity spells and cheap artifact creatures. Cards like Frogmite, Arcbound Worker and Ornithopter were automatic x4 in most builds back then.
Affinity’s plan is to mow down your opponent by dropping your complete hand as early as turn 2/3. This has always been the plan ever since Affinity appeared 7 years ago. However, with the release of Scars of Mirrodin block. Affinity aquired some new cards, such as Memnite and Mox Opal. Mirrodin Besieged brought Affinity what could be the most powerful card to date, Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas. Or as many people put it. It's a "The next turn you win the game" Button. You need only 10 artifacts in play in order to win downright. Between Artifact Lands and all your creatures, thats easy to acheive. Plus. considering you have already dealt damage by the time it goes active. It pretty much wins games if it resolves and stays alive for one turn. Tezzeret is after all Affinity's Planeswalker. The addition of such cards to the pool just ached for affinity to be revamped. In as little as 2 months, after the release of such cards, Blake McCraken took first place at a Legacy Tournament, courtesy of StarCityGames.
4 Ornithopter
4 Memnite
4 Signal Pest
2 Etched Champion
4 Master of Etherium
4 Frogmite
3 Myr Enforcer
Spells:
4 Mox Opal
3 Springleaf Drum
4 Cranial Plating
4 Thoughtcast
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Vault of Whispers
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
3 Pithing Needle
3 Relic of Progenitus
3 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Diabolic Edict
3 Thoughtseize
His deck was such an oddity though. All previous affinity builds played both a playset of Arcbound Ravager and a playset of Disciple of the Vault. McCracken however opted for a complete swarm gameplan, making the deck able to drop its hand as early as turn 1.
Lets give it some thought. As a player who was there back then when affinity rampaged accross T2, I can tell you some things. First, Affinity is a deck who's greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. On average, out of 60 cards 48/50 are artifacts. This greatly fuels the deck, but this as well makes it incredibly vulnerable. Cards like Shattering Spree and Hurkyl's Recall turn into one sided Obliterates.
After devouring T2 and being subject to massive bannings, Affinity moved on to Extended... and surprise surprise? It rampaged through Extended as well. It was all good in the hood for Affinity! But then... ohh no... Affinity decided it was time to meddle with Legacy. And THAT is when affinity came to a harsh stop. For you see, Legacy has just SO MANY ways to roundhouse kick affinity. Energy Flux, Pernicious Deed, Powder Keg, Null Rod, Kataki, War's Wage, Engineered Explosives, Serenity, and Pulverize just to name some.
So when affinity was at the top of its kin, as soon as it entered Legacy it died down a gruesome and fast way. For every single Legacy deck had its answers ready to tear it down to pieces.
Now, how does this affect us at all? As soon as players realized that Affinity could be hated out with such ease it died down, and after various years it became more of a rogue deck rather than a Mainstream force... Until someone...
The very momment McCracken won his SCG Tournament, was the beginning of a new affinity era.
Affinity is a deck that is cheap to build when compared with your other legacy staples. And what do you know? It even won a first place! Let's try it!
This will flood the Meta with affinity decks. Which will greatly resemble the times when affinity tried to enter legacy back then. And yeah, as soon as it becomes a mainstream deck, good legacy pilots will start to tweak their Sideboards to yet again put affinity to rest. As we speak, many Affinity players have already faced Null Rods, and its just been a couple weeks.
This time however, I think there are enough weapons to not being hated out of the meta, but we do need to start from scratch in one too many aspects. My very idea, which many found controversial, is to turn Affinity into a control deck. This way we can deal with all the hate we get thrown at as the meta evolves. I know it was tried back then, but back then we didn't have Etched Champions, we didn't have Tezzy 2.0. We didn't have Vedalken Certarch.
Without further ado I present you the evolution of Affinity; NeoFinnity.
4 Vault of Whispers
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 City of Brass
Creatures
3 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Etched Champion
4 Master of Etherium
4 Vedalken Certarch
4 Tidehollow Sculler
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
4 AEther Vial
4 Mox Opal
3 Cranial Plating
4 Thoughtcast
4 Force of Will
2 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Relic of Progenitus
3 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Perish
3 Krosan Grip
3 Steel Sabotage
Ok Aluren, hold your horses... No Memnites, Frogmites or Signal Pests? Are you kidding me? FoW? Certarch? Are you mad?
No, I am not. Just sit down and listen a little before going rampant...
First thing's first. I have always claimed that one of the many drawbacks affinity has is that it is an overly synergistic deck. It is full of cards that don't do much on their own, which effectively wastes space. It is a deck that has TERRIBLE topdecks. What good is it to topdeck a Memnite? a Frogmite? Or as D3@D said:
So why not work from that quote and forward? That is precisely what I meant with card quality. All you need to win its a Ornithopter/Etched Champion and a Cranial Plating. All you need is to play Tezz and make him live 1 complete turn. Why bother using so many slots to cards that just are horrible topdecks?
I really think affinity should evolve into quality artifact creatures. We now have Phyrexian Revoker; why not mainboard that isntead of Frogmites? Testing has shown how valuable a P. Revoker is G1 if you know what you're against.
Another good example: Why run memnites, those 1/1 creatures. When you can run Vedalken Certarch? Same 1/1 body. It costs 1 colored mana true that, it's not an artifact Touche! However it sure is better than a Memnite. Think about it, what does a Memnite add to the board? +1 to plating? +1 to the Affinity Count?
I've lost count of how many times I've seen stalled memnites just because a Tarmogoyf or any Goblin are throwing it mean faces. Whereas Certarch can remove blockers, can tap threats, can free us from trinispheres, can disrupt mana? And most importantly, it can be pitched to FoW?
You've got a Trygon Predator? Before declare attackers I tap it down? You Sneaked Emrakul, the Aeons Torn into play? Before attackers I TAP IT DOWN... You have a huge Tarmogoyf bloking your P. Revoker? EOT I tap it down and Swing for the game! You have 2 Maze of Ith? EOT I tap one, and in my turn I tap the second one! Swing for Game! You have blue mana open to counter what I play? I TAP THAT LAND DOWN... You float that mana? I move on to my second mainphase! And my personal Favorite... You've got a pesky Trinisphere hating on your entire deck? Read the first 6 words of Trinisphere...
"As long as Trinisphere is untapped..."
See that? Get it? Just TAP IT! and you can cast that FoW!
There are just so many tricks that can be played with Certarch its almost unfair. Achieving Metalcraft in this deck is just a joke. And heck, in worst case scenarios, it can carry a Plating if needed.
We need to adapt to what is comming, not just being confident that "we can drop our hand turn 1" or "we can win as early as turn 2". For these "God Hands" are scarce.
Now then, I know you are staring at those 3 Aether Vials. More likely than not you're thinking that its too slow of a card for today's Affinity. Well, for a swarm build it is indeed, but for a control build. It is of great importance. You just can't appreciate the beauty of Instant Speed Vialing a P .Revoker in response to a Jitte, Sword of Fire and Ice, Pernicious Deed, EExplosives and so on. Remember that your opponent can't see what you're putting into play with the Vial until it is actually in play. And that P. Revoker's effect is activated as it comes into play. So if your opponent allows you to resolve the Vial, he can't activate that pesky Deed in repsonse to the PRevoker being revealed and put into the battlefield!
Another Good reason to add Vials is Etched Champion. This mini Progenitus' only weakness is while on the stack. So how about avoiding that at all? at CMC3 it can as well be a Master of Etherium. Either way its an awesome card you're putting into play EOT.
And last good reason to play Vial: Force of Will...
What? Force of Will is a reason to play Vial? Explain...
Well, my list currently runs 19 blue cards. That's almost a third of the deck that can be pitched to FoW. I know it's not that high on the blue cards count, ergo there will be times in which you WON'T have that blue card to pitch at hand. So you will want to have your mana sources available to hardcast it if needed be. This, is where Vial comes into play. For you don't have to pay for your creatures.
I'm not going to explain you why FoW is such a great card. You know it's one of the 4 pillars that give sustenance to Legacy. This card alone will win you a LOT of games. Via saving your Tezzeret, saving your platings, P. Revokers and what else, pretty much by countering almost all threats but Krosan Grips.
Currently being tested:
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Ancient Den
3 Vault of Whispers
3 City of Brass
3 inkmoth Nexus
Creatures
3 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Etched Champion
4 Vedalken Certarch
4 Tidehollow Sculler
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Mental Misstep
4 Thoughtcast
4 Force of Will
3 AEther Vial
2 Mox Opal
2 Chrome Mox
3 Cranial Plating
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull
4 Dispatch
3 Leyline of the Void
3 Annul
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Manriki-Gusari
Now, this deck is far from complete, As for this deck and this primer, both are still works in progress. Feel free to point out any Errors you may find. But im mostly looking for fresh new ideas to improve this archetype! I'd also like to thank the guys in the original Affinity Thread who encouraged me to write this up! Go pay them a Visit if you want to learn about the Swarm builds!
Special Thanks to Khiefkaboose who corrected a lot of mistakes and made me some epic suggestions!
Its over here ---> http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=308778
NeoFinnity... A Control Affinity Primer
other than the possibility of board wipers of artifact hating folk.. why not glimmervoid > city of brass??? save some life...
zero spot removal??
and with 16 land and 7 mana artifacts... and a hard cc average of somewhere around 2.4-3.2 thats pretty out there...
and idk not fast not slow... needs more cowbell i think...
trying to move into standard because more players in my area are moving that way
As for City of Brass, Testing has shown me the harsh way that since I don't run that many artifacts for it to be played safely turn 1. I've had my Vials Pierced turn 1 so GLimmervoids go down as well at EOT :S
As for spot removal, we got all we need with certarch G1 IMO. all you need is to remove blockers or attackers. certarch takes care of those.
As for the mana, i've had no problems whatsoever, more often than not i've been mana flooded
NeoFinnity... A Control Affinity Primer
I stated three good reasons for Vial. Protecting Etched, Keeping mana untapped (specially good in G2/G3 with SB cards) and nullifying equips/sensei's and such.
Lets not forget how rampant Wastelands are nowadays D:
NeoFinnity... A Control Affinity Primer
YUMA, AZ
I guess I could try (: Though im thinking that since I don't want to sacrifice any of my creatures, i'd rather run Thoughtseize. Thoughts on that?
NeoFinnity... A Control Affinity Primer
I'd say that more than a preference its a strategy. You for instance can sac Memnites, those won't affect the outcome of the game. Whereas I'd have to sac Prevokers, Champions, MoE's, Certarchs and so on S:
NeoFinnity... A Control Affinity Primer
Ill try to go specific in here. Though this might take some time.
However, any MUs you're particularly interested in?
EDIT: Just played against Big Red using Thoughtseize... How I wished those were vials xDDD I won but still
Ill keep testing them though haha
NeoFinnity... A Control Affinity Primer
Vial functions as mana in this deck as well, and having Drum, Mox and Vial in addition to 16 lands seems a lot dedicated to getting stuff out.
I'd run through the creatures and tweak on the casting costs of them to maximize the utility of Vials.
RE: Introduction. I thought I should inform you that I'm not the creator of the other Affinity Primer. I requested it, but didn't have time to write yet another one as I already have responsibilities for 2 other primers in the Legacy Forums.
As for your suggestions they sound pretty solid. So the list would be like -3 Drums +1 MoE +1VIal +1 Prevoker. Seems like a solid change. I't be harder to cast Tezz though. Ill have to test that... im almost done with thoughtsezie. Most of the time Im wishing it was a Vial S:
NeoFinnity... A Control Affinity Primer
Try 4x Vials and no Drum and the other way around and try to notice the difference in performance. I would imagine that Vials ability to sneak creatures more or less uncounterable and at EOT can make up for its lack in speed.
Being almost sure that your Champ hits the table should be key.
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Just thought I'd point out, that if you declare a name before the card resolves, that's your mistake, as you don't actually have to name the card until it resolves, which then in turn does not give your opponent time to respond to it, FYI.
Thanks to Heroes of the Plane Studios for the amazing sig.
NO RUG: Primer
Tempo Thresh: Primer
The second game I boarded out 3 Vedalken Certarch for 3 Perish, which I believe was a good call. I kept a slow hand with phyrexian revoker, master, and a perish with a couple of land. I end up turn 3 perishing away his Tarmogoyf and Knight of the Reliquary. After that I played an ornithopter that had a cranial plating which he STP'd, and then a Master the next turn which he STP'd, ( I was at ~30 life ). Eventually he lands a Nacatl and hits me for 5-6 turns until I topdeck an Etched Champion that takes me home with the plating.
Overall, the deck seems very good and I like a lot of the card choices. I am unsure about Vedalken Certarch not having used it (it was pretty useless in the zoo matchup). However, I definitely like FOW, as I used it in both games (hardcasted!). I never had a second blue card in hand, and it seems to me that I wouldn't want to remove another blue card since the other two are Thoughtcast and Master (both of which should be played). I could see removing a Cetrarch.
AEther Vial was also incredibly good and I would not take it out.
No offense, and nothing against the deck, but if your opponent was playing a Zoo deck that had Punishing Fire, Grove of the Burnwillows, and Swords to Plowshares, he was not playing a very good Zoo deck.
Your SB was correct though.
Thanks to Heroes of the Plane Studios for the amazing sig.
NO RUG: Primer
Tempo Thresh: Primer
And plus, the Zoo matchup for any sort of Affinity is usually very good.
This is very true.
Thanks to Heroes of the Plane Studios for the amazing sig.
NO RUG: Primer
Tempo Thresh: Primer
Yeah, I've been testing a drumless affinity and im liking it better. Sure Tezz it's slightly slower to cast. But it makes up with the higher creature density. Im liking it so far.
As for the Winter Orb... Gotta admit that just caught my eyes. IT seems like a really powerful idea. Though Im thinking it'd be in another shell. One that does un fact run memnites/Frogmites to not have any drawbacks.
I'm having a hard time with the Sideboard. I did think about that possibility. But I just don't know what to do with the SB yet.. Any ideas?
@mysterygoo Im really glad to see you are enjoying the deck! Certainly Zoo isn't that hard of a matchup. But keep on testing it and you'll see how versatile it is. And as for Certarchs, Believe me, the more you test them the more you'll like them. Just you wait and see!
@zoadian: Care to give me some of the reasons to the SB changes? Im kind of lost at some of those D:
@Markitus: I think 4 platings is a must. We need it's one of our two win conditions. And Thirst for knowledge is too expensive IMO
NeoFinnity... A Control Affinity Primer
EDIT:
Have you considered adding Dark Confidant? I know that the curve is slightly higher now than before, but if you're playing a controllish version, your deck should consider playing him. Possibly in SB for more grindish MUs.
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With an average casting cost of 2-3 I don't think it would be a good idea. Specially not if im running City of Brass :S I do want to get more drawing into it, however I just can't decide on what.
On a side note, I was thinking, how about Esperzoa to replace Ornithopter? It's an artifact too, it flies, it shares Vial at 3 counters with MoE and EC plus it beats on its own and it'd would rise the blue card count to 24 to FoW
NeoFinnity... A Control Affinity Primer