Okay sweet ill give your changes a try although im unsure how consistent all the 1 ofs are going to make my side boarding. I wanted to avoid posting a deck list because most affinity deck lists are basically very similar, but ive been struggling with getting results on this deck so if you guys see anything that looks bad or out of place let me know. Game 1's tend to be easy wins but i can never seem to navigate past the hate after boarding. Urborg is a new addition, basically to force damage through with cranial plating.
I don't know about you, but my burn match-up is usually about 60-40 to my favour. I run 2 spellskite mainboard. game 2 bring in another spellskite and 2 spell pierce. the thing is we are an aggro deck, giving opponent 4 extra life is bad. also natures claim cost 1 mana, tear also 1 mana and with no drawback. as for the destructive revelry , smash to smithereens argument, you just need to land a ravager early to sidestep them. they try to smash or revelry your artifact, sac it in response, the spell fizzles. if spellskite is on the field with ravage, redirect and sac in response to avoid the damage. the trick is to let their 1 for 1 spells be less effective. I would board out steel overseer which is too slow against them, board in etched champion, spellskite, spell pierce and occasional wear//tear for eidolon or stony silence if they play it.
Pretty much this minus siding in Wear//Tear because, Eidolon usually gets sided out against us.
while only marginally decreasing the value of the same sideboard slot for other decks
Here is where we disagree. Those 4 life will cost you games.
Additionally, if you don't run dedicated Burn hate and think to get the same results with Burn thank to NC, you're actually also worsening your Burn MU.
The problem with Tomb is you have to tap 3 mana (which includes Tomb itself) in order to use it. If you activate it on turn 3, you usually have 3-5 creatures in play, depending on how explosive your hand is. Gaining 3-5 life a turn for 3 mana isn't good, especially if the Burn player has creatures in play, which can easily cancel out the life gain and then some. That 3 mana is better spent playing threats that can close out the game like Etched Champion, Master of Etherium, and Cranial Plating+equip. Seriously, Spellskite is the best card card we have in this match up. I don't understand why you undervalue it so much. You even siad it yourself that Spellskite is our best answer against Burn. http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/tier-1-modern/219590-affinity?comment=2972
You don't want to run Nature's Claim over Wear//Tear. When it comes to Twin, enchantment hate is quite lackluster when you have access to things like Spellskite, Galvanic Blast, and Thoutseize. As for Burn, you are 2 for 1'ing yourself to gain a small life advantage. Spellskite is the best card we have for the matchup, and if I were that worried about my life total (which I'm not), I would side in Dragon's Claw, Sun Droplet, or Feed the Clan. As for other decks, 4 life is enough for the opposing player to live another turn, and that means an extra draw step for him to draw an out.
you could be right, I might need to review my sideboard strategy. for these match-up. what other mistake did I make on my sideboard strategy? I am thinking of upping my thoughtcast to2 and take out either welding jar or 1 steel overseer, what is your opinion?
I have tried playing tempered steel, it plays out more like white weenie. casting wise, occasionally, I run into the colour problem. I find it less interactive than the classic build, but I will not said it is bad. my only problem is sideboarding for cards where there isn't much slot where I can take out and not slow down my tempo too much. maybe I need more experience.
recently I have not met much stony silence, only 1 game that 1 met, I scoop to it, but it allow me to be on the play on game 3 and I took it down.i am not sure how relevant is it now. what decks run stony silence? many deck I faced, have played engineered explosive instead because of its versatility. stony is only good against us and somewhat against tron. so unless someone really hate affinity, I felt that the current meta is more lenient to us as compared to previously. also it depends on the local meta where affinity is rampant, player might side in more hate, otherwise, it is manageable.
one question, is rule of law too narrow for sideboard? other than storm and ad nauseum, what other match-up is it useful against? this weekend I am going for 2 gpt, I want my sideboard to be efficient and not sub par. any suggestion for changes based on the last list I posted?
I prefer Ethersworn Canonist as it comes down a turn sooner. It's good against Infect, Amulet Bloom (Can't go off with Summer Bloom, can't Hivemind+Pact in the same turn), Living End (watch out for Ingot Chewer though Rule of Law would be better in this case), Burn (works best in tandem with Spellskite which I found to be quite effective, otherwise it's Bolt bait), and Breach Reanimator (can't cast Goryo's Vengeance/Through the Breach and chain extra combat phases with Fury of the Horde in the same turn).
As everyone has pointed out here, Tempered Steel doesn't see play because, of the double color cost. Speaking as someone who played the card in both Standard and Modern, it is a very powerful card. If it cost 2W instead, it would see play, A LOT more play. Still, I think playing a miser copy wouldn't hurt. I would much prefer that than Ghostfire Blade.
Because 1 for 1 is not effective against coco, that is 1. ancient grudge is better against affinity because ravage can make the target too big that you can't blast it away. also when grudge in graveyard, you can use a removal immediately without another draw and also on the stack to any modular target.
No, you play Blast when the modular trigger is on the stack, and G-Blast is also burn, which can throw off combat damage and modular math. As for CoCo, how else are you going to disrupt the combo when it can go off at instant speed? What outs do you have for Kataki?
I think 2 ancient grudge and 1 wear// tear is good combination. ancient grudge is mostly used against mirror, wear// tear have other application, therefore it is useful in some case as well. wear//tear is good in mirror as well if they play ensoul artefact on darksteel citadel.
Ensoul Artifact always gets sided out in the mirror because Spellskite gets sided in for Arcbound Ravager, which is also a better answer for Ensoul Artifact than Wear//Tear.
Tomorrow I'm bringing Affinity to a tournament where the following decks are expected to be the majority: Jund, Grixis Delver, Collected Melira/Anafenza, Zoo of various types and Burn. There will also be quite a lot of Twin decks but I'm mostly giving up the MU.
What do you think about my list as a list meant to be able to fight Jund, Grixis Delver, Burn, CoCo decks and Zoo decks?
Also, if you had to play this deck what would you side in and out againt the decks I listed above (I already have my plan but I want to see if others would do the same).
The main doubt right now is between Steel Overseer, that took the place of Ensoul Artifact for this tournament, and Spellskite maindeck. What I don't like about playing Spellskite maindeck is that sometimes it really slows us down and reduces our aggressiveness level, and that is very bad. I'm also thinking about a second Whipflare but I'm hesitant because I found out that Dispatch and Galvanic Blast are actually better most times!
I don't expect to meet AT ALL the following MUs: Abzan (therefore I took out Illness in the Ranks), Infect, Scapeshift, Bloom, Mirror, Merfolks, Blue Moon.
It russles my jimmies a bit when you said you're giving up the Twin matchup, then you say how bad maindeck Spellskite is, and you're not playing the 4th Galvanic Blast main. Personally, I find giving up on Twin, or hoping to dodge it to be unexceptable, especially when we're talking about a tier 1 deck.
With all this talk about Jund, Kolaghan's Command, and the metagame being aggro oriented in general, it looks like the Burn version is well positioned. With Shrapnel Blast, you don't have to worry about your board state as much when you can just burn out your opponent.
Aggressive land destruction for me when paired against Tron.
As for the Affinity and CoCo match ups, you can play them on Easy Mode by siding in Leyline of the Void. But I don't think there are enough graveyard based decks in the metagame to justify running LotV (same acronym as Liliana of the Veil, how about that?), and nobody plays Storm anymore. It's a shame, Leyline was THE sideboard card for Storm.
@DXI-Edge: i played the Tempered Steel version for a little when I was trying out different versions off Affinity before I settled on a more traditional build. With Tempered Steel, you want to go wide if you want to get the most value out of it. So, you want to play the full set of Memnites. Whenever I had TS and a Steel Overseer in play, there were times when I wasn't sure if I wanted to attack with the 3/3, or tap it for +1/+1 counters. I eventually replaced them with Frogmite, which helped with the going wide plan. I also played Thoughtcast instead of Dispatch in order to draw Tempered Steel. Oh, I also cut a playset of one of the Moths (I kept Inkmoth) for Plains and/or Seachrome Coast so that I could reliably cast TS.
As you can see, I was pretty much all-in balls-to-the-wall aggro with no interaction whatsoever. If I resolved a Tempered Steel, it was pretty much GG, and I could alpha strike for more damage than a single creature wearing a Cranial Plating.
But I eventually dismantled it. Playing all the manlands is too good. They give you the resilience and second wave attackers you need to win games.
edit: I have thought about playing Thopter Foundry, seeing that I could with the manabase I had. Paying a single mana to blank removal, gain 1 life, and get a 3/3 flyer seems like incredible value, but Ravager is probably better in most cases. I don't know. I never actually gotten around to test it.
Quick question for you guys, if you are willing to help out the enemy. Which would you like to see the least between a Chalice of the Void, set to zero, or a Creeping Corrosion? My sideboard needs affinity hate, and these are my options, but I'm not sure which one would be better.
Creeping Corrosion is a game ender if it resolves, whereas Chalice of the Void is best when you're on the play. So, Creeping Corrosion. However, Chalice is also applicable in the Burn, Infect, Delver, and Bogles match ups.
1). Ensoul Artifact is good, almost every single Affinity decklist I've seen making good results plays at least 2 copies of it. So it can't be that bad. 2x1? We are playing an aggro deck folks, playing aggro means playing a bit reckless and taking risks. No guts no glory! As someone here above well said, if it deals 5 damages it has already served his purpose. I usually try to play it when my opponent is tapped out to attack immediately. I disagree on not playing it on Darksteel Citadel: I do it every time I can. Ok, it can be removed, bounced etc: but it's still better than playing it on another artifact on which also Decay, Terminate, Burn spells etc will work.
2). I think Apostle's Blessing is nowhere near Welding Jar. I thought that was pretty obvious. Welding Jar can save our Cranial Plating, increases the artifacts count, doesn't need one mana open all the time (as I said before for Pierce, having to constantly keep one mana open is really bad for this deck).
3). In order to be a bit more solid in a removals filled meta (which is no news by the way), I suggest some things that have worked well for me: playing fullsets of both Arcbound Ravager and Etched Champion maindeck; playing at least 2 Welding Jar maindeck; avoid playing Steel Overseer; if you have an Arcbound Ravager in play with some other artifacts, and you have a Nexus, remember to keep the Nexus untapped: in case of sweeper or a couple of removals, you can put the counters on the Nexus. This is a huge anti-removal play, because: until you don't animate the land, they usually can't destroy it; Decay doesn't work on it; sorceries don't work either; if it's an Inkmoth, usually you can win in 1-2 attacks.
4). If you feel like playing an "anti-removal" card maindeck, in my opinion Spellskite is not what you are looking for: Thoughtseize is better. But instead of playing a lot of cards to protect your creatures, choose to use the creatures that protect themselves alone (Ravager, Champion) over those that need protection (Overseer, Master). And play a couple of Welding Jar for good measure.
Quoting this for agreement. If you haven't read it, you should. This is how the pro affinity players play. Affinity wins by being fast and aggressive. If you are trying to win by getting more value than your opponent (trying to not get 2-for-1'd), you are playing a different deck. Affinity works best by deploying as many high impact threats as fast as possible. Some of them will get removed; that's just the name of the game. What we need to do is keep deploying threats, play aggressively, mulligan aggressively, etc. If you'd like to sit on spells and try to win on tempo, try playing UR Delver.
I disagree with TheAller on his last point. Spellskite isn't just "anti-removal." It shuts down a lot of strategies, and gives you free wins. It's also a creature, which can be turned into a threat with Cranial Plating, and Arcbound Ravager. Welding Jar on the other hand only provides one time protection. It's pretty much a Darksteel Relic that's only good to turn on metalcraft when facing Path to Exile, Dismember, Terminate, and Shatterstorm.
Affinity is really hard to win with right now, Kolaghan's Command has really hurt the deck. The good thing as the deck starts to underwhelm which it will people will cut the hate down expecting less thus making it stronger.
Ive gone back to 1 Ensoul in the main as Bolt has become more popular than Decay.
While I'm not a personal fan of counters and more than 1 Thoughtseize in the board, the deck might have to adapt and play more of each.
Currenty my board is:
3 Ancient Grudge
3 Etched Champ
2 Spellskite
1 Blood Moon
1 Thoughtseize
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Dismember
1 Whipfare
1 Torpor Orb
Maybe its time to cut down -1 Grudge for +1 Thoughtseize or I prefer Stubborn to Spell Pierce might work as well.
But the deck is very weak ATM, Between the surge of CoCo and Kolaghan's Command.
I believe you need the second Whipflare for the Grixis Delver and CoCo matchups.
I think Christopher Arico was on the right track when he played 3 Spellskites main. It's good against most tier 1 decks and it sort of mitigates Kolaghan's Command. It might be time to dust off Grafdigger's Cage as well.
That's really strange Michael. I have personally never lost to burn despite playing it every time I've gone out to play modern. And 60/40 is already a really bad matchup, 90/10 would be defining it as literally impossible to win based off your own plays.
Do not even try to compare it to Faeries. Faeries is probably 80/20 or worse. Faeries can win without tapping mana (good old blossom). In all my matches against Faeries, I have won a single game. Yes, that's right, a single *game*. If the living end player keeps his head and the burn player stumbles a bit the game becomes often very winnable. And I would suggest your success with burn against end rests in part on your own understanding of living end. Even pilots I face who know what living end is and have faced it before make mistakes/play less efficiently because they don't truly understand how it works.
Burn is definitely a hard matchup. I definitely think I've gotten the assistance of a fair amount of luck against the deck, but keeping your head and playing in a sober, precise manner is the only way you can capitalize on the stumbles of the burn player.
Either you were getting extremely lucky with your draws, or you were playing against really bad players. You can ask any competent Living End or Burn player on his thoughts of the matchup, and he will back me up. I never said the matchup was impossible. That 10% are games where you successfully resolved the life gain spells, or the opponent stumbled on land drops and/or mulligans. I still standby my previous statements. I merely speak the truth here.
-1 Urborg
+1 Inkmoth Nexus
-1 Welding Jar
+1 Steel Overseer or Galvanic Blast
You don't need Urborg because, it'll help out your Grixis and BGx opponents a lot more than you.
Pretty much this minus siding in Wear//Tear because, Eidolon usually gets sided out against us.
The problem with Tomb is you have to tap 3 mana (which includes Tomb itself) in order to use it. If you activate it on turn 3, you usually have 3-5 creatures in play, depending on how explosive your hand is. Gaining 3-5 life a turn for 3 mana isn't good, especially if the Burn player has creatures in play, which can easily cancel out the life gain and then some. That 3 mana is better spent playing threats that can close out the game like Etched Champion, Master of Etherium, and Cranial Plating+equip. Seriously, Spellskite is the best card card we have in this match up. I don't understand why you undervalue it so much. You even siad it yourself that Spellskite is our best answer against Burn.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/tier-1-modern/219590-affinity?comment=2972
I prefer Ethersworn Canonist as it comes down a turn sooner. It's good against Infect, Amulet Bloom (Can't go off with Summer Bloom, can't Hivemind+Pact in the same turn), Living End (watch out for Ingot Chewer though Rule of Law would be better in this case), Burn (works best in tandem with Spellskite which I found to be quite effective, otherwise it's Bolt bait), and Breach Reanimator (can't cast Goryo's Vengeance/Through the Breach and chain extra combat phases with Fury of the Horde in the same turn).
As everyone has pointed out here, Tempered Steel doesn't see play because, of the double color cost. Speaking as someone who played the card in both Standard and Modern, it is a very powerful card. If it cost 2W instead, it would see play, A LOT more play. Still, I think playing a miser copy wouldn't hurt. I would much prefer that than Ghostfire Blade.
No, you play Blast when the modular trigger is on the stack, and G-Blast is also burn, which can throw off combat damage and modular math. As for CoCo, how else are you going to disrupt the combo when it can go off at instant speed? What outs do you have for Kataki?
Why would you ever side out Galvanic Blast in the Affinty and CoCo match ups?
Ensoul Artifact always gets sided out in the mirror because Spellskite gets sided in for Arcbound Ravager, which is also a better answer for Ensoul Artifact than Wear//Tear.
It russles my jimmies a bit when you said you're giving up the Twin matchup, then you say how bad maindeck Spellskite is, and you're not playing the 4th Galvanic Blast main. Personally, I find giving up on Twin, or hoping to dodge it to be unexceptable, especially when we're talking about a tier 1 deck.
As for the Affinity and CoCo match ups, you can play them on Easy Mode by siding in Leyline of the Void. But I don't think there are enough graveyard based decks in the metagame to justify running LotV (same acronym as Liliana of the Veil, how about that?), and nobody plays Storm anymore. It's a shame, Leyline was THE sideboard card for Storm.
As you can see, I was pretty much all-in balls-to-the-wall aggro with no interaction whatsoever. If I resolved a Tempered Steel, it was pretty much GG, and I could alpha strike for more damage than a single creature wearing a Cranial Plating.
But I eventually dismantled it. Playing all the manlands is too good. They give you the resilience and second wave attackers you need to win games.
edit: I have thought about playing Thopter Foundry, seeing that I could with the manabase I had. Paying a single mana to blank removal, gain 1 life, and get a 3/3 flyer seems like incredible value, but Ravager is probably better in most cases. I don't know. I never actually gotten around to test it.
Creeping Corrosion is a game ender if it resolves, whereas Chalice of the Void is best when you're on the play. So, Creeping Corrosion. However, Chalice is also applicable in the Burn, Infect, Delver, and Bogles match ups.
I disagree with TheAller on his last point. Spellskite isn't just "anti-removal." It shuts down a lot of strategies, and gives you free wins. It's also a creature, which can be turned into a threat with Cranial Plating, and Arcbound Ravager. Welding Jar on the other hand only provides one time protection. It's pretty much a Darksteel Relic that's only good to turn on metalcraft when facing Path to Exile, Dismember, Terminate, and Shatterstorm.
I believe you need the second Whipflare for the Grixis Delver and CoCo matchups.
I think Christopher Arico was on the right track when he played 3 Spellskites main. It's good against most tier 1 decks and it sort of mitigates Kolaghan's Command. It might be time to dust off Grafdigger's Cage as well.
Either you were getting extremely lucky with your draws, or you were playing against really bad players. You can ask any competent Living End or Burn player on his thoughts of the matchup, and he will back me up. I never said the matchup was impossible. That 10% are games where you successfully resolved the life gain spells, or the opponent stumbled on land drops and/or mulligans. I still standby my previous statements. I merely speak the truth here.