On a different note, I think adding 1 to 2 basics (of your choice) is smart as "Path to Exile" is poised to good things with all the greedy Mana bases out there, and "Ghost Quarter" is almost becoming "necessary" with Tron running around. It's nice to have a basic or two to responed to those cards.
Thats a very good point i didint consider, changed a bit the mana base:
Just got home from a PTQ in Des Moines, and it was sketchy at best. I got matched up with Tron out of four rounds, and I can easily say that this is our worst matchup. Most Tron lists are running 4 Pyroclasm main, which is pretty tough on a turn two board for us. Inkmoth and Blinkmoth could get us there, except they are pretty worthless without a cranial plating and a board full of creatures. Ravager helps, but eats our artifact count, making himself bigger, yes, but again, we lose board presence.
Any ideas? I thought about spell pierce in the side, but I feel like there is something better that I'm missing. Boros Charm, yes, but RW turn two is not something I am going to depend on to save me.
I see signal pest is a 4 of in the core affinity and all of the example decks. Ive still yet to play the deck but have about 50 cards for my deck. Is he a four auto include? Thanks!
So today while looking on my big box of "no one ever wanted these cards so they're in a shoe box" I found basically an almost-complete mirrodin affinity deck, and I thought I could give it a shot in both modern and legacy, I've got a couple doubts though about this since I'd have to buy the opals, ravagers, and well half the other cards which are definitely more affordable. My doubts are these:
1)Why no disciple + ravager? I've read that without the artifact lands he's not good...and I totally don't agree. He's either a removal bait, or he just does some free damage as a one mana drop to me, and I can't see why we would not want it with the rampant hate, they have to remove it before destroying our artifacts or he'll ping 1 damage for each one going...I understand he's not the BEST, but I was thinking he still had a place.
2)How are we trying to win? This deck seems a combo-aggro-tempo-midrange-infect-Idon'tknowwhatismyplan, and I definitely feel that it is the main weakness of the deck, and I'll explain why: if we go the aggro route, why do we want to infect too? I understand the idea of a second wincon, but why not make the aggro better and run a stronger deck? Why not slow down the aggro and focus on infect? Why not go the combo way with a ravager/atog/disciple into a lot of 0 drops and thoughtcast draws + some more? You guys surely know better than me but really, every list I'm reading seems to be all over the place, I'm quite surprised that it isn't more focused on doing something better.
3) Counter-hate, how do we deal with that? stony silencedisenchant, ancient grudge, the mass artifact removal I never rember the name(think it's green or red or both color have one), kataki, war's wage, seems that everyone hates this deck, how do we counter it usually? I was thinking of spell pierce but still...on a sidenote I believe this whole artifact hate makes the disciple a bit better if they go the "wrath of god" style on destroying the artifacts.
4) Why no welding jarfrogmitemyr enforcer, I understand that times have changed but still, they mostly come online free, they are nice sacrifice outlets for the ravager/atog, and they double up the damage with the disciple if he's out. I may be a bit living in the past but I still have nightmares of the old affinity-wombo-combo...
5) Why the decks aren't running the genesis chamber? This was the definitive combo piece of the old deck...
You know I'm tempted to make a list and give it a couple goldfish tries but I remember it being quite comboish, something like disciple in game + genesis chamber + bunch of 0 drops/affinity drops+ thoughtcast/thirst(you could add at the time a skullclamp on the tokens but who cares, is still rough) into a ravager to sac and pump and go for the kill.
Nowadays it would be slower in a perfect setup finishing by turn 3-4 maybe 5, which I agree isn't the best for modern, but still, feels strong enough for me.
am i completely missing something and the new deck is quite better? I'd like to understand more why the deck changed so much. I see that artifact lands made half the deal back there, but still, modern isn't THAT fast, this seems to me better than trying to aggro in some metas...am I still sane?
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Vintage nostalgic, WUB Fish control/aggro addicted.
Legacy:RUG Temur Delver
Modern: ??? undecided.
So today while looking on my big box of "no one ever wanted these cards so they're in a shoe box" I found basically an almost-complete mirrodin affinity deck, and I thought I could give it a shot in both modern and legacy, I've got a couple doubts though about this since I'd have to buy the opals, ravagers, and well half the other cards which are definitely more affordable. My doubts are these:
1)Why no disciple + ravager? I've read that without the artifact lands he's not good...and I totally don't agree. He's either a removal bait, or he just does some free damage as a one mana drop to me, and I can't see why we would not want it with the rampant hate, they have to remove it before destroying our artifacts or he'll ping 1 damage for each one going...I understand he's not the BEST, but I was thinking he still had a place.
2)How are we trying to win? This deck seems a combo-aggro-tempo-midrange-infect-Idon'tknowwhatismyplan, and I definitely feel that it is the main weakness of the deck, and I'll explain why: if we go the aggro route, why do we want to infect too? I understand the idea of a second wincon, but why not make the aggro better and run a stronger deck? Why not slow down the aggro and focus on infect? Why not go the combo way with a ravager/atog/disciple into a lot of 0 drops and thoughtcast draws + some more? You guys surely know better than me but really, every list I'm reading seems to be all over the place, I'm quite surprised that it isn't more focused on doing something better.
3) Counter-hate, how do we deal with that? stony silencedisenchant, ancient grudge, the mass artifact removal I never rember the name(think it's green or red or both color have one), kataki, war's wage, seems that everyone hates this deck, how do we counter it usually? I was thinking of spell pierce but still...on a sidenote I believe this whole artifact hate makes the disciple a bit better if they go the "wrath of god" style on destroying the artifacts.
4) Why no welding jarfrogmitemyr enforcer, I understand that times have changed but still, they mostly come online free, they are nice sacrifice outlets for the ravager/atog, and they double up the damage with the disciple if he's out. I may be a bit living in the past but I still have nightmares of the old affinity-wombo-combo...
5) Why the decks aren't running the genesis chamber? This was the definitive combo piece of the old deck...
You know I'm tempted to make a list and give it a couple goldfish tries but I remember it being quite comboish, something like disciple in game + genesis chamber + bunch of 0 drops/affinity drops+ thoughtcast/thirst(you could add at the time a skullclamp on the tokens but who cares, is still rough) into a ravager to sac and pump and go for the kill.
Nowadays it would be slower in a perfect setup finishing by turn 3-4 maybe 5, which I agree isn't the best for modern, but still, feels strong enough for me.
am i completely missing something and the new deck is quite better? I'd like to understand more why the deck changed so much. I see that artifact lands made half the deal back there, but still, modern isn't THAT fast, this seems to me better than trying to aggro in some metas...am I still sane?
Different cards have replaced different old cards it seems. Frogmite is ok at a 2/2 for maybe 0, but is it better than Vault Skirge who has evasion and lifelink for 1 (face it, we always pay the life) or Signal Pest who also has evasion and pumps your other dudes. And then you have different packages that run Steel Overseer or Master of Etherium, both of which are good creatures pumps that didn't exist in original affinity. And don't forget R for 4 damage in Galvanic Blast that should be in pretty much any deck that runs red.
As far as countering removal. There's a few options. Sometimes, you just gotta outpace the opponent. Then as you pointed out, there's Spell Pierce. For Kataki you should have damage removal in red or path or dispatch in white. As far as mass removal, I haven't played modern since Gatecrash but I'm planning on bringing Boros Charm into main when I can play again.
1)Why no disciple + ravager? I've read that without the artifact lands he's not good...and I totally don't agree.
2)How are we trying to win? This deck seems a combo-aggro-tempo-midrange-infect-Idon'tknowwhatismyplan, and I definitely feel that it is the main weakness of the deck, and I'll explain why: if we go the aggro route, why do we want to infect too?
5) Why the decks aren't running the genesis chamber? This was the definitive combo piece of the old deck...
1)
A- ravager has been and always will be removal bait, and when he is removed, disciple becomes much less useful, as the attrition ping really isn't what we are going for
B- even when ravager works, the combo is way too vulnerable. It is rare to be able to sac 20 artifacts after all (or even sac 10 in the unlikely case you get a ravager and 2 disciples), the target of the extra tokens is almost sure to be removed, or the ravager chumped, in which case you have no board position
C- without artifact lands, this problem is compounded further
2)
A- we play like an aggro deck, it's really not as complicated as it seems. Play many artifacts, attack. Our aggro deck is kind of combo-ish, but not especially. If anything, it's a tribal deck.
B-We win by playing many low costed artifacts which are then buffed by our Pest, Plating, Master of Etherium, or steel overseer respectively, removing key threats with Galvanic blast or Whipflare
C-as flashy as the old wombo combo seemed, it is actually slower than our simpler "beat their faces in" strategy when compared head to head (assuming deck lists from that era vs. this one), especially now that we run evasion creature like pest, ornithopter, and skirge.
D- the inkmoths may appear odd, but you have to remember, we are minmaxers here, they are merely the "eiganjo castle" (which replaces a plains in many decks) of affinity. Running them provides corner benefit for almost no cost
3)
A-spell pierce is often a good defense, as is welding jar + arcbound ravager, rest in peaceand graffdigger's cage helps combat ancient grudge to some extend whiel being very good flex hate blood moon can stop many mass hate spells from being deployed, and works well for us since most of our color sources aren't lands.
B- but the main defense is to kill them too quickly for it to swing the game. Affinity is very powerful g1, but less powerful g2/g3, such is its nature. Affinity depends partially on an unprepared meta, and it always has
4)A- Frogmite and Myr enforcer are too slow for the format, too slow to be good anyway.
--Take frogmite. In modern, it's a turn ~ 2.5 play.
Being able to play a vanilla bear on turn 2 or 3 (about half and half) is nice, but doesn't measure up to our other possible card choices. For "free" cards, memnite and ornithopter are more reliable options, hitting turn 0 and doing things with springleaf drum. the difference in p/t is hardly noticeable because our deck revolves around buffing our creatures anyway.
-- Playing more than 8 (most people dont play that many in the first place) "free" vanillas makes our deck more inconsistent than is worth.
-- Myr enforcer is waaaay too slow. It's a turn 4 or 5 or so play, by then a vanilla 4/4 is lackluster, especially considering that you've probably played every card in your hand by then, so you're not even saving mana
B-we do play a single welding jar in most builds.
5) A-genesis chamber is nifty, but cards like steel overseer tend to outclass it. We play as an extremely aggressive aggro deck, genesis chamber doesnt really help us with that
- 1/1s deal only 1 damage (obviously), compounded with the fact that they ahve summoning sickness, and the fact that many of them can be easily blocked.
- the 1/1 counters from steel overseer not only provide "1 damage" for the creatures you just played, but for the ones in play already
perhaps it'd be a great fit in a more attrition based, longer game-plan version of affinity
I ran affinity a few times at my shop and did fairly decently went 3-1 both times, then all of a sudden everyone is running UWR. I just can't get a creature to stick outside of trying to play around counters for etched champion.
I ran affinity a few times at my shop and did fairly decently went 3-1 both times, then all of a sudden everyone is running UWR. I just can't get a creature to stick outside of trying to play around counters for etched champion.
Yeah, we're most assuredly a meta call against some but not all of the top decks and as a lawnmower for the jank decks.
I have been trying to break into modern and Affinity seems like a good match for me ; Etched Champion being a favourite card of mine. However, I am not sure how it would do against my LGS' meta and the many variants of the deck. Sideboarding feels overwhelming too.
My meta is very small and often consists of :
Infect
Burn
Martyr-Proc
Knights
Various tribal decks (nothing competitive)
Random brew stuff (again, nothing competitive)
Knowing the meta and that I am using the following core, which path should I take? How about a sideboard?
I have been trying to break into modern and Affinity seems like a good match for me ; Etched Champion being a favourite card of mine. However, I am not sure how it would do against my LGS' meta and the many variants of the deck. Sideboarding feels overwhelming too.
My meta is very small and often consists of :
Infect
Burn
Martyr-Proc
Knights
Various tribal decks (nothing competitive)
Random brew stuff (again, nothing competitive)
Knowing the meta and that I am using the following core, which path should I take? How about a sideboard?
I beseech you, fellow artificers, to lend me a hand
If that's your meta, skip the Galvanic Blasts and run Whipflare MD. Also, that's a lot of White, so there will be Path to Exile, so play a basic land of some kind, probably Island if your running Master of Etherium and Thoughtcast.
My meta is very small and often consists of :
Infect
Burn
Martyr-Proc
Knights
Various tribal decks (nothing competitive)
Random brew stuff (again, nothing competitive)
as the other guy said, you're going to want to run 1 island, probably dropping a glimmervoid
i'd advise actually taking out some memnites. This deck is much different from the legacy one because of lack of artifact lands, and is therefore less dependent on the 0 drops
Overall: these cards are all good by themselves
-2 Memnite
+4 Etched Champion- good against Infect, Burn, Knights because it can't be damaged, probably the best creature for this meta
+3 Arcbound ravager- combat tricks are great vs. Burn and Infect
+3 Whipflare- hoses martyr proc and knights, also good against infect (though to be honest, the blast is better for that particular matchup)
+4 Steel Overseer- just all around clock speeder
+1 Springleaf drum- i'd run a full four myself, if you don't feel like it, then instead add a master of etherium
for your sideboard:
Main options:
- 2-3 Galvanic blast: side it in against infect trading a few creatures or fast mana, side it in, generally trading for whipflare when it is less useful than superbolt
- 3-4 Deglamer: it's just a useful allround answer to threats and hate
- 3-4 Spellskite: useful against decks like burn and infect as well as a general slowdown to many combo decks (yeah we're really going to poop on infect heheh)
- 2 Spell Pierce: Can help foil sweepers, and expensive hate
Viable options, but i don't really like
- some master of etherium against decks without real removal, this is an overall better option than etched champion.
- 1 welding jar if there are a tonne of sweepers, or jsut removal in general, i might side one in
- ethersworn canonist is a possibility, but eggs is in the dumps, so is storm. Could be good against infect, but our SB already naturally destroys it. In general it slows down decks a bit
- dismember is good all round removal when galvanic blast wont quite work
Viable but sort of irrelevant Options: Bloodmoon is amazing, but most of your meta appears to be monocolored Grafdigger's Cage is nice for pod, etc., but again, not in your meta
i'd actually be quite confident, spellskite, whipflare, and galvanic blast combine to give infect a bad bad day, and you have an already positive matchup vs. knights and martyr-proc.
Burn is your biggest problem, especially g1, but easily doable if we run the etched champions, and especially with the SB option spellskite. Assuming they only bother running smash to smithereens as affinity hate, you should be alright
of course, as always, affinity vs. subcompetetive is sort of like bringing a p90 to a fistfight. I advise going and getting a drink in the downtime after you wreck their faces
After the GPQs I was inclined to cut the Whipflares for cheaper removal, but given the thought of playing through three match's of jank without any edge besides being a reasonably well made deck just seems so... soulcrushing.
That being said, against Melira pod or something where you're just trying to knock about the combo a bit to buy time and/or clear a blocker away so that they have less time, using a 2cc spell to kill something is just downright obnoxious.
After the GPQs I was inclined to cut the Whipflares for cheaper removal, but given the thought of playing through three match's of jank without any edge besides being a reasonably well made deck just seems so... soulcrushing.
That being said, against Melira pod or something where you're just trying to knock about the combo a bit to buy time and/or clear a blocker away so that they have less time, using a 2cc spell to kill something is just downright obnoxious.
I find Whipflare to be great against Melira Pod.
If they runner out mana dudes and you follow up with Whipflare, prepare to win.
If they runner out mana dudes and you follow up with Whipflare, prepare to win.
For me it was mostly single mana dude and then an attempt at pod or a wall of roots, etc.
And, to be honest, if a dork was hitting t1 I was killing it if I could. t2 pod is a nasty, nasty thing. T3 pod/bait for it/mana for it is something I'd rather not fight through.
Still, it's part of me running 6 MD removal (4 of which can be aimed at the face, 2 of which can create a broken back for the other guy) which is about where my comfort zone is.
So I keep seeing players post lists that invovled at least 3 ravagers, master of etherium, and steel overseer, and 1 or two etched champions main deck. What is the logic behind this, because they seem to have conflicting goals as wincons.
For example, the two versions I play most are Master Affinity, and Burn Affinity because to me they seem to have the clearest win cons. Master you pump all of your guys with the various effects and swing with an army (sacing to Ravager isnt good in this case and etched goes SB) and Burn you just pump one guy huge then beat face or fling him (global pump doesnt matter).
Does having all 4 creature wincons (I'm excluding cranial plating cause that card is a staple in all the decks) help that much, or does it just dilute your chances of pulling a faster win compared to the decks with clear win strategies?
So I keep seeing players post lists that invovled at least 3 ravagers, master of etherium, and steel overseer, and 1 or two etched champions main deck. What is the logic behind this, because they seem to have conflicting goals as wincons.
For example, the two versions I play most are Master Affinity, and Burn Affinity because to me they seem to have the clearest win cons. Master you pump all of your guys with the various effects and swing with an army (sacing to Ravager isnt good in this case and etched goes SB) and Burn you just pump one guy huge then beat face or fling him (global pump doesnt matter).
Does having all 4 creature wincons (I'm excluding cranial plating cause that card is a staple in all the decks) help that much, or does it just dilute your chances of pulling a faster win compared to the decks with clear win strategies?
1-ravager is not really a win-con, it is an attrition mechanism. You do NOT do damage with ravager. It can be a clutch game ender, but this is the exception, not the rule.
2- having a "clear" wincon is not the same as having a "single" or "homogeneous" win con. Affinity's win-con is always quite clear. Do ~20 damage before they can.
You shouldn't view etched champion, for example, as making the win-con unclear. It doesn't conflict in any way with the goal "do 20 damage". It is simply a meta choice. While master of etherium does more damage straight up, in certain metas (in my opinion overall), etched champion's evasion makes it a more relevant 3-drop damage- dealer.
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Modern UWUW ControlUW UGWSpiritsUGW GHardened ScalesG WGRUKiki PodWGRU [RIP]
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Thats a very good point i didint consider, changed a bit the mana base:
4 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Signal Pest
4 Vault Skirge
3 Arcbound Ravager
4 Etched Champion
3 Frogmite
4 Mox Opal
4 Galvanic Blast
3 Boros Charm
3 Springleaf Drum
4 Cranial Plating
4 Battlefield Forge
2 Glimmervoid
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Blinkmonth Nexus
1 Mountain
1 Plains
-Jaya Ballard, task mage
Needs removal
Decks I play and stuff.
Legacy Burn
Modern Mono U Tron
Any ideas? I thought about spell pierce in the side, but I feel like there is something better that I'm missing. Boros Charm, yes, but RW turn two is not something I am going to depend on to save me.
1)Why no disciple + ravager? I've read that without the artifact lands he's not good...and I totally don't agree. He's either a removal bait, or he just does some free damage as a one mana drop to me, and I can't see why we would not want it with the rampant hate, they have to remove it before destroying our artifacts or he'll ping 1 damage for each one going...I understand he's not the BEST, but I was thinking he still had a place.
2)How are we trying to win? This deck seems a combo-aggro-tempo-midrange-infect-Idon'tknowwhatismyplan, and I definitely feel that it is the main weakness of the deck, and I'll explain why: if we go the aggro route, why do we want to infect too? I understand the idea of a second wincon, but why not make the aggro better and run a stronger deck? Why not slow down the aggro and focus on infect? Why not go the combo way with a ravager/atog/disciple into a lot of 0 drops and thoughtcast draws + some more? You guys surely know better than me but really, every list I'm reading seems to be all over the place, I'm quite surprised that it isn't more focused on doing something better.
3) Counter-hate, how do we deal with that? stony silence disenchant, ancient grudge, the mass artifact removal I never rember the name(think it's green or red or both color have one), kataki, war's wage, seems that everyone hates this deck, how do we counter it usually? I was thinking of spell pierce but still...on a sidenote I believe this whole artifact hate makes the disciple a bit better if they go the "wrath of god" style on destroying the artifacts.
4) Why no welding jar frogmite myr enforcer, I understand that times have changed but still, they mostly come online free, they are nice sacrifice outlets for the ravager/atog, and they double up the damage with the disciple if he's out. I may be a bit living in the past but I still have nightmares of the old affinity-wombo-combo...
5) Why the decks aren't running the genesis chamber? This was the definitive combo piece of the old deck...
You know I'm tempted to make a list and give it a couple goldfish tries but I remember it being quite comboish, something like disciple in game + genesis chamber + bunch of 0 drops/affinity drops+ thoughtcast/thirst(you could add at the time a skullclamp on the tokens but who cares, is still rough) into a ravager to sac and pump and go for the kill.
Nowadays it would be slower in a perfect setup finishing by turn 3-4 maybe 5, which I agree isn't the best for modern, but still, feels strong enough for me.
am i completely missing something and the new deck is quite better? I'd like to understand more why the deck changed so much. I see that artifact lands made half the deal back there, but still, modern isn't THAT fast, this seems to me better than trying to aggro in some metas...am I still sane?
Legacy:RUG Temur Delver
Modern: ??? undecided.
Different cards have replaced different old cards it seems. Frogmite is ok at a 2/2 for maybe 0, but is it better than Vault Skirge who has evasion and lifelink for 1 (face it, we always pay the life) or Signal Pest who also has evasion and pumps your other dudes. And then you have different packages that run Steel Overseer or Master of Etherium, both of which are good creatures pumps that didn't exist in original affinity. And don't forget R for 4 damage in Galvanic Blast that should be in pretty much any deck that runs red.
As far as countering removal. There's a few options. Sometimes, you just gotta outpace the opponent. Then as you pointed out, there's Spell Pierce. For Kataki you should have damage removal in red or path or dispatch in white. As far as mass removal, I haven't played modern since Gatecrash but I'm planning on bringing Boros Charm into main when I can play again.
Most of my decks: http://tappedout.net/users/thraashman/
Spell pierce is less narrow and interacts with things that aren't pyroclasm.
1)
A- ravager has been and always will be removal bait, and when he is removed, disciple becomes much less useful, as the attrition ping really isn't what we are going for
B- even when ravager works, the combo is way too vulnerable. It is rare to be able to sac 20 artifacts after all (or even sac 10 in the unlikely case you get a ravager and 2 disciples), the target of the extra tokens is almost sure to be removed, or the ravager chumped, in which case you have no board position
C- without artifact lands, this problem is compounded further
2)
A- we play like an aggro deck, it's really not as complicated as it seems. Play many artifacts, attack. Our aggro deck is kind of combo-ish, but not especially. If anything, it's a tribal deck.
B-We win by playing many low costed artifacts which are then buffed by our Pest, Plating, Master of Etherium, or steel overseer respectively, removing key threats with Galvanic blast or Whipflare
C-as flashy as the old wombo combo seemed, it is actually slower than our simpler "beat their faces in" strategy when compared head to head (assuming deck lists from that era vs. this one), especially now that we run evasion creature like pest, ornithopter, and skirge.
D- the inkmoths may appear odd, but you have to remember, we are minmaxers here, they are merely the "eiganjo castle" (which replaces a plains in many decks) of affinity. Running them provides corner benefit for almost no cost
3)
A-spell pierce is often a good defense, as is welding jar + arcbound ravager, rest in peaceand graffdigger's cage helps combat ancient grudge to some extend whiel being very good flex hate
blood moon can stop many mass hate spells from being deployed, and works well for us since most of our color sources aren't lands.
B- but the main defense is to kill them too quickly for it to swing the game. Affinity is very powerful g1, but less powerful g2/g3, such is its nature. Affinity depends partially on an unprepared meta, and it always has
4)A- Frogmite and Myr enforcer are too slow for the format, too slow to be good anyway.
--Take frogmite. In modern, it's a turn ~ 2.5 play.
Being able to play a vanilla bear on turn 2 or 3 (about half and half) is nice, but doesn't measure up to our other possible card choices. For "free" cards, memnite and ornithopter are more reliable options, hitting turn 0 and doing things with springleaf drum. the difference in p/t is hardly noticeable because our deck revolves around buffing our creatures anyway.
-- Playing more than 8 (most people dont play that many in the first place) "free" vanillas makes our deck more inconsistent than is worth.
-- Myr enforcer is waaaay too slow. It's a turn 4 or 5 or so play, by then a vanilla 4/4 is lackluster, especially considering that you've probably played every card in your hand by then, so you're not even saving mana
B-we do play a single welding jar in most builds.
5) A-genesis chamber is nifty, but cards like steel overseer tend to outclass it. We play as an extremely aggressive aggro deck, genesis chamber doesnt really help us with that
- 1/1s deal only 1 damage (obviously), compounded with the fact that they ahve summoning sickness, and the fact that many of them can be easily blocked.
- the 1/1 counters from steel overseer not only provide "1 damage" for the creatures you just played, but for the ones in play already
perhaps it'd be a great fit in a more attrition based, longer game-plan version of affinity
UWUW ControlUW
UGWSpiritsUGW
GHardened ScalesG
WGRUKiki PodWGRU [RIP]
Yeah, we're most assuredly a meta call against some but not all of the top decks and as a lawnmower for the jank decks.
My meta is very small and often consists of :
Infect
Burn
Martyr-Proc
Knights
Various tribal decks (nothing competitive)
Random brew stuff (again, nothing competitive)
Knowing the meta and that I am using the following core, which path should I take? How about a sideboard?
4 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Signal Pest
4 Vault Skirge
4 Mox Opal
4 Cranial Plating
4 Thoughtcast
3 Springleaf Drum
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Glimmervoid
That leaves 13 slots open for Etched Champion, Arcbound Ravager, Galvanic Blast, Master of Etherium and basically all the cards that constitute the many variants of Affinity.
I beseech you, fellow artificers, to lend me a hand
If that's your meta, skip the Galvanic Blasts and run Whipflare MD. Also, that's a lot of White, so there will be Path to Exile, so play a basic land of some kind, probably Island if your running Master of Etherium and Thoughtcast.
Thanks to Heroes of the Plane Studios for the amazing sig.
NO RUG: Primer
Tempo Thresh: Primer
as the other guy said, you're going to want to run 1 island, probably dropping a glimmervoid
i'd advise actually taking out some memnites. This deck is much different from the legacy one because of lack of artifact lands, and is therefore less dependent on the 0 drops
Overall: these cards are all good by themselves
-2 Memnite
+4 Etched Champion- good against Infect, Burn, Knights because it can't be damaged, probably the best creature for this meta
+3 Arcbound ravager- combat tricks are great vs. Burn and Infect
+3 Whipflare- hoses martyr proc and knights, also good against infect (though to be honest, the blast is better for that particular matchup)
+4 Steel Overseer- just all around clock speeder
+1 Springleaf drum- i'd run a full four myself, if you don't feel like it, then instead add a master of etherium
for your sideboard:
Main options:
- 2-3 Galvanic blast: side it in against infect trading a few creatures or fast mana, side it in, generally trading for whipflare when it is less useful than superbolt
- 3-4 Deglamer: it's just a useful allround answer to threats and hate
- 3-4 Spellskite: useful against decks like burn and infect as well as a general slowdown to many combo decks (yeah we're really going to poop on infect heheh)
- 2 Spell Pierce: Can help foil sweepers, and expensive hate
Viable options, but i don't really like
- some master of etherium against decks without real removal, this is an overall better option than etched champion.
- 1 welding jar if there are a tonne of sweepers, or jsut removal in general, i might side one in
- ethersworn canonist is a possibility, but eggs is in the dumps, so is storm. Could be good against infect, but our SB already naturally destroys it. In general it slows down decks a bit
- dismember is good all round removal when galvanic blast wont quite work
Viable but sort of irrelevant Options:
Bloodmoon is amazing, but most of your meta appears to be monocolored
Grafdigger's Cage is nice for pod, etc., but again, not in your meta
i'd actually be quite confident, spellskite, whipflare, and galvanic blast combine to give infect a bad bad day, and you have an already positive matchup vs. knights and martyr-proc.
Burn is your biggest problem, especially g1, but easily doable if we run the etched champions, and especially with the SB option spellskite. Assuming they only bother running smash to smithereens as affinity hate, you should be alright
of course, as always, affinity vs. subcompetetive is sort of like bringing a p90 to a fistfight. I advise going and getting a drink in the downtime after you wreck their faces
UWUW ControlUW
UGWSpiritsUGW
GHardened ScalesG
WGRUKiki PodWGRU [RIP]
2 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Signal Pest
3 Arcbound Ravager
4 Steel Overseer
4 Vault Skirge
4 Etched Champion
Spells (19)
4 Mox Opal
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Cranial Plating
3 Whipflare
4 Thoughtcast
3 Glimmervoid
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Darksteel Citadel
1 Island
4 Deglamer
3 Galvanic Blast
4 Spellskite
4 Spell Pierce
That being said, against Melira pod or something where you're just trying to knock about the combo a bit to buy time and/or clear a blocker away so that they have less time, using a 2cc spell to kill something is just downright obnoxious.
I find Whipflare to be great against Melira Pod.
If they runner out mana dudes and you follow up with Whipflare, prepare to win.
Thanks to Heroes of the Plane Studios for the amazing sig.
NO RUG: Primer
Tempo Thresh: Primer
For me it was mostly single mana dude and then an attempt at pod or a wall of roots, etc.
And, to be honest, if a dork was hitting t1 I was killing it if I could. t2 pod is a nasty, nasty thing. T3 pod/bait for it/mana for it is something I'd rather not fight through.
Still, it's part of me running 6 MD removal (4 of which can be aimed at the face, 2 of which can create a broken back for the other guy) which is about where my comfort zone is.
For example, the two versions I play most are Master Affinity, and Burn Affinity because to me they seem to have the clearest win cons. Master you pump all of your guys with the various effects and swing with an army (sacing to Ravager isnt good in this case and etched goes SB) and Burn you just pump one guy huge then beat face or fling him (global pump doesnt matter).
Does having all 4 creature wincons (I'm excluding cranial plating cause that card is a staple in all the decks) help that much, or does it just dilute your chances of pulling a faster win compared to the decks with clear win strategies?
My Trade Thread
1-ravager is not really a win-con, it is an attrition mechanism. You do NOT do damage with ravager. It can be a clutch game ender, but this is the exception, not the rule.
2- having a "clear" wincon is not the same as having a "single" or "homogeneous" win con. Affinity's win-con is always quite clear. Do ~20 damage before they can.
You shouldn't view etched champion, for example, as making the win-con unclear. It doesn't conflict in any way with the goal "do 20 damage". It is simply a meta choice. While master of etherium does more damage straight up, in certain metas (in my opinion overall), etched champion's evasion makes it a more relevant 3-drop damage- dealer.
UWUW ControlUW
UGWSpiritsUGW
GHardened ScalesG
WGRUKiki PodWGRU [RIP]