Ok I see what your saying. So would you say that having heterogeneous way to get to 20 damage is as efficient as homogeneous? because for me it has always been semi meta dependant, but ive tested multiple versions in the same meta and was still semi inconclusive.
I tend to play with my affinity deck and vary it a lot since I basically have near a playset of all the possible cards used to build the versions, and thats is a point ive never been quite clear on
TLDR: Homogeneous (=, >, or <) Heterogeneous damage route? or is it just play style?
Ok I see what your saying. So would you say that having heterogeneous way to get to 20 damage is as efficient as homogeneous? because for me it has always been semi meta dependant, but ive tested multiple versions in the same meta and was still semi inconclusive.
I tend to play with my affinity deck and vary it a lot since I basically have near a playset of all the possible cards used to build the versions, and thats is a point ive never been quite clear on
TLDR: Homogeneous (=, >, or <) Heterogeneous damage route? or is it just play style?
definitely meta dependent. Heterogeneous is probably better though depending on how you define it. (i mean, steel overseer and cranial plating do different things after all)
-typically the choice is between MoE v Etched Champion and Galvanic blast v Whipflare. Of course, everyone has a certain number of signal pests/steel overseer/memnite/ornithopter that they feel is optimal.
-currently i'd advocate either only running etched champions (i feel this is better for the current overall meta)
-running MoE with 1 or 2 etched champions (for late game utility) also works fine though
-galvanic blast in mainboard and a few whipflare in the sideboard seems to be the consensus for now
overall though, just remember to keep a good curve and it should be fine heheh
Private Mod Note
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Modern UWUW ControlUW UGWSpiritsUGW GHardened ScalesG WGRUKiki PodWGRU [RIP]
Ha! I just noticed the Tournament Reports thread. Could a Mod be so kind to move this post over to it. Thank you.
I found a LGS (30-45 min away) that plays tournament sanctioned modern. I knew this bunch, I knew they were highly competitive, and I knew my first time around it was not going to be pretty.
TWIN vs. TS: 0-1
R1: I went first vomiting my hand onto the field then realized I drew 8 cards by accident being a little nervous. lol Instantly disqualified turn 1.
R2: I never went against twin so I had no idea what to look for and before I knew it he had the combo out and a billion tokens on the field.
MILL vs. TS: 1-1
OPPONENT DROPPED: 1-1-1
BOROS vs. TS: 1-1-2
R1: Chose to go 1st and mulliganed. 2nd hand was horrible too and subsequently died a few turns later.
R2: Sideboarded. Vomited my hand onto the field and drew few to no creatures for several turns and subsequently died.
NOTE: I felt something was off in this game so I asked the rules guys here and found out my opponent was playing Lynx wrong. Tho, I used my Merfolk deck as an example since it has Vapor Snag just for interactions sake.
NOTE: At this point and time I really didn't care anymore after winning only 1 out of 3 matches. And, that 1 being against a Mill Deck, which doesn't count imo. This being the 5th and last match I really wasn't looking forward to it. And, low and behold this was a horrible match to add insult to injury.
UWr vs. TS: 1-1-3
R1: I didn't explode well, and in no time he countered everything I had turn after turn after turn resulting in another loss.
R2: Sideboarded. I got lucky drawing a very explosive hand plus 2x Cranial Plating's killing him on turn three.
R3: Sideboarded. I drew a semi explosive hand, but got hated out when he dropped Stony Silence turn two! I was going to drop Blood Moon on my second turn, but since I couldn't use Mox Opal and lacked Glimmervoid lands I had to chock up another loss.
SUMMARY:
1) I lacked consistency in the extreme drawing horrible hands almost the entire tournament with a highly shuffled deck. But, I also took out Thoughtcast to trial Cranial Plating. Thoughtcast increases consistency which I suffered from, so it needs to go back in the deck asap.
2) Cranial Plating was the MVP giving me two round wins, but 1 was against a mill deck so it doesn't count. I understand why the typical affinity build is superior to tempered steel, but I like tempered steel too much to swap all my cards out for a mainstream build. So, I just have to understand my losses will be higher and in part to my preference vs performance.
3) You live and die by your sideboard. I did not have a preferred sideboard since I was lacking 3x Spellskite, but in the end I never really drew my sideboard cards even though I sideboarded 8+ cards sometimes. And when I did draw them in a preferred match up I got hated out 1 turn before I could drop my hate.
I think you really want to look at a cookiecutter build, Spec.ops; and I also think SB Cranial is a huge mistake. One problem with Tempered steel is that you are looking to tap out, then playlhave your guys on the table and swing; with cranial, you only need one or two guys and It can represent a larger amount of damage with a single equip. The other thing is that plating turns everything to a threat, whereas Tempered steel is just a basic buff. You can slowroll easier with plating than TS but youre also using 4memnite and 4enforcer so youre all in, every game, it seems. You're missing the opportunity to grind out their removal and threaten with manlands/cranial etc if you are just going to spew your hand inti removal 24/7. Are a playset of Plains necessary?
TS, Enforcers, maybe a memnite or two, would be the playsets I would look at for changes (thoughtcast etc), before moving 4 Cranial Plating to the SB :l
I think you really want to look at a cookiecutter build, Spec.ops; and I also think SB Cranial is a huge mistake. One problem with Tempered steel is that you are looking to tap out, then playlhave your guys on the table and swing; with cranial, you only need one or two guys and It can represent a larger amount of damage with a single equip. The other thing is that plating turns everything to a threat, whereas Tempered steel is just a basic buff. You can slowroll easier with plating than TS but youre also using 4memnite and 4enforcer so youre all in, every game, it seems. You're missing the opportunity to grind out their removal and threaten with manlands/cranial etc if you are just going to spew your hand inti removal 24/7. Are a playset of Plains necessary?
TS, Enforcers, maybe a memnite or two, would be the playsets I would look at for changes (thoughtcast etc), before moving 4 Cranial Plating to the SB :l
Thank you Dredge for the input.
As for looking into the cookie cutter affinity? Well, this is TS. It is whole different beast. It being a TS deck I can't take it out. TS is all in or nothing. And, that is fine by me. I remember someone remarked its like a zerg rush. lol That's exactly what it is.
I agree that the cookie cutter is superior to it. It is far more adaptable and prefers evasive threat vectors (etched champion, arcbound ravager and cranial platting) over brute swarm muscle (TS). I just wanted to see if I could improve upon my TS build. My experiment with Cranial Platting was not vs TS, but with Thoughtcast, which I concluded Thoughtcast was more important. So, little changed other than 4 mana and 3 sideboard cards, but it still improved.
I do find the Plains set necessary. TS can be difficult to play without a plethora of white mana. 8 SB cards are based on white mana. And, when the worst case scenario happens (second turn Stony Silence) those 4 Plains really do matter.
Based on your play style preference, You should be dropping the Myr Enforcers for the Cranial Plating, not thoughtcast.
1) Myr Enforcers gets worse everytime you mulligan and can be a lot harder to cast.
2) Cranial Plating can be reused
3) Cranial Plating is an immediate threat. Enforcer with out TS can normally be killed by a goyf. Cranial Plating you can play, equip, and attack on the same turn so it clocks the opponent one turn sooner
Based on your play style preference, You should be dropping the Myr Enforcers for the Cranial Plating, not thoughtcast.
1) Myr Enforcers gets worse everytime you mulligan and can be a lot harder to cast.
2) Cranial Plating can be reused
3) Cranial Plating is an immediate threat. Enforcer with out TS can normally be killed by a goyf. Cranial Plating you can play, equip, and attack on the same turn so it clocks the opponent one turn sooner
I like it! And, CP is still an artifact so Myr Enforcer is only a lost creature. And, I have to admit he is a little difficult to bring out since we lack artifact lands. Ouch, I forgot about the mulligan. Would 2 of each work?
I would say you should main deck all 4 cranial platings, it really is a great card. If you are unsure run some games and just have a proxy for it and decide which would be better when you draw the card.
My advice is:
MD: - 4 Myr Enforcer, +4 Cranial Plating
SB: -4 Cranial Plating, +4 hate (Rest in Peace, Dispatch, etc.)
Also I know ur not using him but Etched Champion can be sick with buffs cause he is unblockable, Since you have a buffing build he isnt as necessary though. Vault Skirge is also fun because of the lifegain. I would advice testing Vault Skirge Instead of Frogmite because a 2/2 for free is cool, but by the time you have 4 artifacts you can cast a 1 mana (always pay the two life and use the rest of the mana for something else if you can) lifelink flyer that with all of your buffs give you back the life and more. Skirge can keep the grindy agmes going a bit longer and swing them towards your favor. Champion is a better SB option for your deck.
I would say you should main deck all 4 cranial platings, it really is a great card. If you are unsure run some games and just have a proxy for it and decide which would be better when you draw the card.
My advice is:
MD: - 4 Myr Enforcer, +4 Cranial Plating
SB: -4 Cranial Plating, +4 hate (Rest in Peace, Dispatch, etc.)
Also I know ur not using him but Etched Champion can be sick with buffs cause he is unblockable, Since you have a buffing build he isnt as necessary though. Vault Skirge is also fun because of the lifegain. I would advice testing Vault Skirge Instead of Frogmite because a 2/2 for free is cool, but by the time you have 4 artifacts you can cast a 1 mana (always pay the two life and use the rest of the mana for something else if you can) lifelink flyer that with all of your buffs give you back the life and more. Skirge can keep the grindy agmes going a bit longer and swing them towards your favor. Champion is a better SB option for your deck.
Thanks nitestars!
CP was very useful when I got to play it, especially in the early parts of the game. I will take your advice a try 4 this weekend. Strangely enough, I'm also tempted to run Glorious Anthem or Glory of Warfare. I'm just conflicted with using more than 4 CPs since its an all in creatures w/ mass buffs. the mainstream affinity is far more evasive; thus, target buffs are far better. And, because of that, TS has little need to use a lot of the typical mainstream affinity cards. It's like trying to shoehorn a Erayo/ Canonist Combo into an Affinity build. You can, and it will work, but not as well. Both are uniquely different play styles, but use similar cards; however, they shouldn't be confused as a bad affinity deck when 4 different builds exist: Evasive (mainstream), Tez (semi-mainstream), TS (low-to-non mainstream), Erayo (non-existent mainstream). They need to be considered good or bad based on their theme. For example, a bad TS deck would only have 1 TS card. lol Now, I have a mainstream affinity build I call Boros Bots. It has Etched Champion, Arcbound Ravager, Vault Skirge, Cranial Platting, Galvanic Blast, Boros Charm, etc...I will give it a spin in the future, but not till I wrap up TS and Tez first. I hope all this makes sense.
You should never ever have less that 4 Platings in your deck, no matter if in game 1 or game 2+3.
Not all affinity decks are the same. Now, by an large CP works great in Evasive, Tez, and Erayo decks, but TS prefers more creatures w/ mass pumps. I'm going to take nitestars advice and see if a blend can work, but in the second and third game nitestars is right in that CP will most likely go for SB options.
actually CP is still great because in TS you want as many people on the field as once and then alpha strike, CP just makes it a larger hit. Competitively you should always have 4 MD, but your deck is your deck xD. Also as a note about SB: you should not have one card you always plan to sideboard out. Cards change a lot depending on what deck you are facing. As a default though vs ppl with ground decks your less evasive stuff goes (mites, and enforcers). I cant think of a deck I would want to take cranial plating out vs
Actually this was mentioned a little earlier, but how do we get this Primer updated? because none of the 3 decks mentioned have shown up recently. As far as i know, the couple most recent competitive versions were Master Affinity (based around Master of Etherium) and the current build performing which doesnt uses the full playset of Etched Champion and Steel Overseers.
I guess part of the problem is that Affinity is a meta deck so the actual deck can change depending on your meta. But Atog, Tempered Steel, and Tez dont see play anymore
Yeah the build tends to be depending upon the meta, hence why I said the Current version uses the etched and overseers. But the corecards are still there for the competitive builds. Tez and Tempered Steel arent used anymore which was more my point
People seem to have an idea that because you have a group pump, then single target pumps are somehow worse all of a sudden.
tell me, does TS have some sort of token producing mechanic? does it have a Mogg War Marshal type creature base? No?
TS simply runs TS in addition to our current array of pumps, it does not center around TS. It is not possible to really center it around TS, because we lack a good token producer, and our affinity creatures are limited to frogmite, which is not synergistic with TS itself, because it is both expensive and an enchantment. There is not a bigger advantage derived from group pumps. That said, having a creature instead of a plating gives you 2 extra power. Having a plating gives you ~ 7.
Right so the mainboard is pretty standard for the most part (I do have card access issues, which explains some of the 3-ofs, if you think those are vital cards to get then I can potentially source), and I've based my sideboard on the following lists:
I'm trying to work on the sideboard, so if it looks funny - that's ok, it can be fixed.
My question is the following, why is the sideboard the way it is? What matchups are we looking to bring cards in for?
Example - why Thoughtsieze? What matchups is this brought in and what are we looking to hit? I assume it's sort of a pro-active look out for Mindslaver, or perhaps Creeping Corrosion? I chose Ethersworn Canonist over the Thoughtsieze because I like that it maintains my aggressive deck stance while shutting down a lot of decks.
I assume Spell Pierce is also brought in for those cards?
Meta-wise - I'm expecting a couple Tron decks, probably 3/4 Affinity lists, perhaps 2/3 people sticking to Jund, Kiki-Jiki won the last time, so I think that will still be there and possibly a few Melira Pod decks also Storm will be tried. On top of that other random stuff that I think I can race anyway and shouldn't be too concerned about.
I use the Duels Of The Planeswalkers layout, though I'm right-handed and keep my deck and GY to the left. I dare you to ask me how tempting it is to hold flying creatures in a floating pattern over the table.
Red can still be viable but its not optimal. Your deck is missing some cards that are really helpful to any build though, mainly thoughtcast which is easy to use and makes it more burn affinity rather than mono red. Also cranial plating is a god in this deck especially on etched. Thosetwo will almost always do better than bolt. And u should have at least one basic land cause of path
I'd drop bolts entirely and prob a memnite, 1 shrapnel blast, and two steel overseers. Overseer because mono red tries to be as fast as possible and overseer is more for long game and takes a turn to activate. He is a great card, just not in burn as much
hi, got the same question as the other guy since i am building my second modern deck and i chose affinity.. when you say it's not optimal, are you basically saying that the blue version is better? or what else?
i'd like to know which version is the best meta placed right now, and, if affinity is still viable in general at the moment. i never built it becauase it seemed to be too fragile due to all the hating that there's around... now i wanna try it since it seems so funny but i still fear hate.
I gave it a try and it seems that it can only win by being faster than the oppo, this is true if you're playing against a combo deck like twin, scapeshift, or pod. but the deck just isn't SO fast, probbaly my version is not. I am thinking about taking out overseer to put in 3x shrapnel blast in addiction to galvanic blast, but then i'd probably be better going 4x glimmervoid since there is 8x red cards and 5x blue cards (thoughtcast + master)
Yeah basically what phil said.
Burnfinity can work decent at a fnm level but there are much better versions such as the one that top 8ed Portland
Also yes affinity is aggro so ur point is to win as fast as u can. The more competitive verwions may have a less chance of getting random turn 3 wins, but can more consistantly get turn 4 and fight through removal better, and with jund/k so popular it does much better.
The deck does take practice though. For the most part game one is always in our favor. The real challenge comes post board because decks have to pack a decent amount of hate to try and stop us
The idea is as to be expected. It rarely if ever has a mana problem, and can run off of a single land. In the testing I did, I mulled to 5 against an Esper deck and was still able to pull it off. The reason why it worked was because of the equipment. Flayer Husk and Bonesplitter help to make creatures that are otherwise nothing more than tempo tricks and bad topdecks into creatures to be feared. This made it so that even after all of my threats were dealt with, each creature that I topdecked afterwards because a threat all it's own. Many people are fully aware of the dangers of Cranial Plating, of course, but it seems that the Husks and Bonesplitters are often underestimated until it is too late, and a topdecked Ornithopter or Signal Pest becomes a serious threat.
The Steel Overseers are for keeping creatures out of range of what seems to be the biggest threat to Affinity - Darkblast. Yes, it dies to Darkblast, but untap with it once and your other creatures are safer from it. I've won games against Affinity because of Darkblast and Funeral Charm, and from that I've learned the importance of planning for that.
I know it doesn't have some of the outstanding cards that many think of staples these days, but I figured that this could help some other people who are also building on a budget. The Decked app says it's $36.40.
I tend to play with my affinity deck and vary it a lot since I basically have near a playset of all the possible cards used to build the versions, and thats is a point ive never been quite clear on
TLDR: Homogeneous (=, >, or <) Heterogeneous damage route? or is it just play style?
My Trade Thread
definitely meta dependent. Heterogeneous is probably better though depending on how you define it. (i mean, steel overseer and cranial plating do different things after all)
-typically the choice is between MoE v Etched Champion and Galvanic blast v Whipflare. Of course, everyone has a certain number of signal pests/steel overseer/memnite/ornithopter that they feel is optimal.
-currently i'd advocate either only running etched champions (i feel this is better for the current overall meta)
-running MoE with 1 or 2 etched champions (for late game utility) also works fine though
-galvanic blast in mainboard and a few whipflare in the sideboard seems to be the consensus for now
overall though, just remember to keep a good curve and it should be fine heheh
UWUW ControlUW
UGWSpiritsUGW
GHardened ScalesG
WGRUKiki PodWGRU [RIP]
I found a LGS (30-45 min away) that plays tournament sanctioned modern. I knew this bunch, I knew they were highly competitive, and I knew my first time around it was not going to be pretty.
TEMPERED STEEL
4 Master of Etherium
4 Steel Overseer
4 Signal Pest
4 Myr Enforcer
4 Frogmite
4 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Cranial Plating
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Mox Opal
ENCHANTMENT 4
4 Tempered Steel
MANA 16
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Plains
1 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
4 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Spellskite
2 Welding Jar
4 Blood Moon
3 Disenchant
TWIN vs. TS: 0-1
R1: I went first vomiting my hand onto the field then realized I drew 8 cards by accident being a little nervous. lol Instantly disqualified turn 1.
R2: I never went against twin so I had no idea what to look for and before I knew it he had the combo out and a billion tokens on the field.
MILL vs. TS: 1-1
OPPONENT DROPPED: 1-1-1
BOROS vs. TS: 1-1-2
R1: Chose to go 1st and mulliganed. 2nd hand was horrible too and subsequently died a few turns later.
R2: Sideboarded. Vomited my hand onto the field and drew few to no creatures for several turns and subsequently died.
NOTE: I felt something was off in this game so I asked the rules guys here and found out my opponent was playing Lynx wrong. Tho, I used my Merfolk deck as an example since it has Vapor Snag just for interactions sake.
NOTE: At this point and time I really didn't care anymore after winning only 1 out of 3 matches. And, that 1 being against a Mill Deck, which doesn't count imo. This being the 5th and last match I really wasn't looking forward to it. And, low and behold this was a horrible match to add insult to injury.
UWr vs. TS: 1-1-3
R1: I didn't explode well, and in no time he countered everything I had turn after turn after turn resulting in another loss.
R2: Sideboarded. I got lucky drawing a very explosive hand plus 2x Cranial Plating's killing him on turn three.
R3: Sideboarded. I drew a semi explosive hand, but got hated out when he dropped Stony Silence turn two! I was going to drop Blood Moon on my second turn, but since I couldn't use Mox Opal and lacked Glimmervoid lands I had to chock up another loss.
SUMMARY:
1) I lacked consistency in the extreme drawing horrible hands almost the entire tournament with a highly shuffled deck. But, I also took out Thoughtcast to trial Cranial Plating. Thoughtcast increases consistency which I suffered from, so it needs to go back in the deck asap.
2) Cranial Plating was the MVP giving me two round wins, but 1 was against a mill deck so it doesn't count. I understand why the typical affinity build is superior to tempered steel, but I like tempered steel too much to swap all my cards out for a mainstream build. So, I just have to understand my losses will be higher and in part to my preference vs performance.
3) You live and die by your sideboard. I did not have a preferred sideboard since I was lacking 3x Spellskite, but in the end I never really drew my sideboard cards even though I sideboarded 8+ cards sometimes. And when I did draw them in a preferred match up I got hated out 1 turn before I could drop my hate.
DECK CHANGES:
MAIN DECK:
-4 Cranial Plating +4 Thoughtcast
-4 Inkmoth Nexus +4 Glimmervoid
SIDEBOARD:
-1 Tezzeret -2 Welding Jar +3 Spellskite
-3 Disenchant +3 Ray of Revelation
TEMPERED STEEL
4 Master of Etherium
4 Steel Overseer
4 Signal Pest
4 Myr Enforcer
4 Frogmite
4 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Mox Opal
ENCHANTMENT 4
4 Tempered Steel
SORCERY 4
4 Thoughtcast
MANA 16
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Glimmervoid
4 Plains
4 Ethersworn Canonist
4 Spellskite
4 Blood Moon
3 Ray of Revelation
YOUTUBE CHANNEL: GOBOTS
TS, Enforcers, maybe a memnite or two, would be the playsets I would look at for changes (thoughtcast etc), before moving 4 Cranial Plating to the SB :l
Thank you Dredge for the input.
As for looking into the cookie cutter affinity? Well, this is TS. It is whole different beast. It being a TS deck I can't take it out. TS is all in or nothing. And, that is fine by me. I remember someone remarked its like a zerg rush. lol That's exactly what it is.
I agree that the cookie cutter is superior to it. It is far more adaptable and prefers evasive threat vectors (etched champion, arcbound ravager and cranial platting) over brute swarm muscle (TS). I just wanted to see if I could improve upon my TS build. My experiment with Cranial Platting was not vs TS, but with Thoughtcast, which I concluded Thoughtcast was more important. So, little changed other than 4 mana and 3 sideboard cards, but it still improved.
I do find the Plains set necessary. TS can be difficult to play without a plethora of white mana. 8 SB cards are based on white mana. And, when the worst case scenario happens (second turn Stony Silence) those 4 Plains really do matter.
YOUTUBE CHANNEL: GOBOTS
1) Myr Enforcers gets worse everytime you mulligan and can be a lot harder to cast.
2) Cranial Plating can be reused
3) Cranial Plating is an immediate threat. Enforcer with out TS can normally be killed by a goyf. Cranial Plating you can play, equip, and attack on the same turn so it clocks the opponent one turn sooner
My Trade Thread
I like it! And, CP is still an artifact so Myr Enforcer is only a lost creature. And, I have to admit he is a little difficult to bring out since we lack artifact lands. Ouch, I forgot about the mulligan. Would 2 of each work?
YOUTUBE CHANNEL: GOBOTS
My advice is:
MD: - 4 Myr Enforcer, +4 Cranial Plating
SB: -4 Cranial Plating, +4 hate (Rest in Peace, Dispatch, etc.)
Also I know ur not using him but Etched Champion can be sick with buffs cause he is unblockable, Since you have a buffing build he isnt as necessary though. Vault Skirge is also fun because of the lifegain. I would advice testing Vault Skirge Instead of Frogmite because a 2/2 for free is cool, but by the time you have 4 artifacts you can cast a 1 mana (always pay the two life and use the rest of the mana for something else if you can) lifelink flyer that with all of your buffs give you back the life and more. Skirge can keep the grindy agmes going a bit longer and swing them towards your favor. Champion is a better SB option for your deck.
My Trade Thread
Thanks nitestars!
CP was very useful when I got to play it, especially in the early parts of the game. I will take your advice a try 4 this weekend. Strangely enough, I'm also tempted to run Glorious Anthem or Glory of Warfare. I'm just conflicted with using more than 4 CPs since its an all in creatures w/ mass buffs. the mainstream affinity is far more evasive; thus, target buffs are far better. And, because of that, TS has little need to use a lot of the typical mainstream affinity cards. It's like trying to shoehorn a Erayo/ Canonist Combo into an Affinity build. You can, and it will work, but not as well. Both are uniquely different play styles, but use similar cards; however, they shouldn't be confused as a bad affinity deck when 4 different builds exist: Evasive (mainstream), Tez (semi-mainstream), TS (low-to-non mainstream), Erayo (non-existent mainstream). They need to be considered good or bad based on their theme. For example, a bad TS deck would only have 1 TS card. lol Now, I have a mainstream affinity build I call Boros Bots. It has Etched Champion, Arcbound Ravager, Vault Skirge, Cranial Platting, Galvanic Blast, Boros Charm, etc...I will give it a spin in the future, but not till I wrap up TS and Tez first. I hope all this makes sense.
YOUTUBE CHANNEL: GOBOTS
Not all affinity decks are the same. Now, by an large CP works great in Evasive, Tez, and Erayo decks, but TS prefers more creatures w/ mass pumps. I'm going to take nitestars advice and see if a blend can work, but in the second and third game nitestars is right in that CP will most likely go for SB options.
YOUTUBE CHANNEL: GOBOTS
My Trade Thread
I guess part of the problem is that Affinity is a meta deck so the actual deck can change depending on your meta. But Atog, Tempered Steel, and Tez dont see play anymore
My Trade Thread
My Trade Thread
tell me, does TS have some sort of token producing mechanic? does it have a Mogg War Marshal type creature base? No?
TS simply runs TS in addition to our current array of pumps, it does not center around TS. It is not possible to really center it around TS, because we lack a good token producer, and our affinity creatures are limited to frogmite, which is not synergistic with TS itself, because it is both expensive and an enchantment. There is not a bigger advantage derived from group pumps. That said, having a creature instead of a plating gives you 2 extra power. Having a plating gives you ~ 7.
Always run 4 cranial platings.
UWUW ControlUW
UGWSpiritsUGW
GHardened ScalesG
WGRUKiki PodWGRU [RIP]
Got a GPT tomorrow so hoping to get some final advice on my deck
Current list:
3 Etched Champion
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Ornithoptor
3 Signal Pest
2 Steel Overseer
2 Master of Etherium
4 Vault Skirge
4 Cranial Plating
3 Springleaf Drum
3 Mox Opal
4 Thought Cast
1 Island
4 Glimmervoid
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Inkmoth Nexus
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Whipflare
2 Spell Pierce
1 Grafdiggers Cage
1 Relic of Progenitus
3 Blood Moon
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Shrapnel Blast
2 Spellskite
Right so the mainboard is pretty standard for the most part (I do have card access issues, which explains some of the 3-ofs, if you think those are vital cards to get then I can potentially source), and I've based my sideboard on the following lists:
http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=4927&d=228457
http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=4927&d=228452
I'm trying to work on the sideboard, so if it looks funny - that's ok, it can be fixed.
My question is the following, why is the sideboard the way it is? What matchups are we looking to bring cards in for?
Example - why Thoughtsieze? What matchups is this brought in and what are we looking to hit? I assume it's sort of a pro-active look out for Mindslaver, or perhaps Creeping Corrosion? I chose Ethersworn Canonist over the Thoughtsieze because I like that it maintains my aggressive deck stance while shutting down a lot of decks.
I assume Spell Pierce is also brought in for those cards?
Meta-wise - I'm expecting a couple Tron decks, probably 3/4 Affinity lists, perhaps 2/3 people sticking to Jund, Kiki-Jiki won the last time, so I think that will still be there and possibly a few Melira Pod decks also Storm will be tried. On top of that other random stuff that I think I can race anyway and shouldn't be too concerned about.
1) Is Red Affinity still viable/popular?
2) How does this list look?
4 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Signal Pest
4 Steel Overseer
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Etched Champion
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Galvanic Blast
4 Shrapnel Blast
Mana Sources:
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Glimmervoid
4 Mox Opal
4 Spring Leaf Drum
I'd drop bolts entirely and prob a memnite, 1 shrapnel blast, and two steel overseers. Overseer because mono red tries to be as fast as possible and overseer is more for long game and takes a turn to activate. He is a great card, just not in burn as much
My Trade Thread
Yeah basically what phil said.
Burnfinity can work decent at a fnm level but there are much better versions such as the one that top 8ed Portland
Also yes affinity is aggro so ur point is to win as fast as u can. The more competitive verwions may have a less chance of getting random turn 3 wins, but can more consistantly get turn 4 and fight through removal better, and with jund/k so popular it does much better.
The deck does take practice though. For the most part game one is always in our favor. The real challenge comes post board because decks have to pack a decent amount of hate to try and stop us
My Trade Thread
4 Island
4 Mountain
4 Ornithopter
4 Memnite
4 Signal Pest
4 Vault Skirge
4 Steel Overseer
4 Bonesplitter
4 Cranial Plating
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Chromatic Star
4 Thoughtcast
4 Galvanic Blast
The idea is as to be expected. It rarely if ever has a mana problem, and can run off of a single land. In the testing I did, I mulled to 5 against an Esper deck and was still able to pull it off. The reason why it worked was because of the equipment. Flayer Husk and Bonesplitter help to make creatures that are otherwise nothing more than tempo tricks and bad topdecks into creatures to be feared. This made it so that even after all of my threats were dealt with, each creature that I topdecked afterwards because a threat all it's own. Many people are fully aware of the dangers of Cranial Plating, of course, but it seems that the Husks and Bonesplitters are often underestimated until it is too late, and a topdecked Ornithopter or Signal Pest becomes a serious threat.
The Steel Overseers are for keeping creatures out of range of what seems to be the biggest threat to Affinity - Darkblast. Yes, it dies to Darkblast, but untap with it once and your other creatures are safer from it. I've won games against Affinity because of Darkblast and Funeral Charm, and from that I've learned the importance of planning for that.
I know it doesn't have some of the outstanding cards that many think of staples these days, but I figured that this could help some other people who are also building on a budget. The Decked app says it's $36.40.
Thanks!
Lantern Control
(with videos)
Uc Tron
Netdecking explained
Netdecking explained, Part 2
On speculators and counterfeits
On Interaction
Every single competitive deck in existence is designed to limit the opponent's ability to interact in a meaningful way.
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