MTG Salvation

Quote from Complete_Jank

I know how you fit all that in your deck. Your deck is missing Glimmervoid which reduces your land count, speed, and consistency. You have no AEther Vials which also reduces your consistency. Archbound Workers are not really a huge spot to miss, but an early turn drop can make the difference in the game on turn 3, as a worker can add 2 instead of 1 to damage, which can mean and additional 2 damage with a Fling, not to mention usually hitting for 1 on turn 2.

I can tell you didn't finish reading my post...Atog is a better fling target anyway because each artifact equals two extra damage as opposed to one and SOMETIMES two on a ravager. I won't bother repeating myself; read the rest of my post and you'll see my opinions of glimmervoid and aether vial.

I honestly have no idea how I manage to fit it all in, but I run at least three copies of both fling and shrapnel blast. Of course, I run a build of affinity that has yet to be touched on by anyone in this particular thread so far. I will list it and share why I feel it works better than vial affinity OR afFOWnity. (I have no experience with the wanky B/R build so I'm not sure whether I'd prefer it to that).


NOW THEN....you'll notice the number one thing missing from this build is Aether Vial. Obviously this can be weaker for the deck in general as it provides no resistance to counterspells, but the replacement of aether vial with Paradise Mantle improves several other aspects of the deck. First of all, it is a zero casting cost artifact that speeds up your affinity count. It is very possible to get out turn one frogmite with the mantles in the main deck. Secondly, it provides some limited resistance to null rod, one of the primary hosers for affinity and a sideboard strategy that, as an artifact, is available to every color. By equipping mantle to a colored creature such as Atog or Disciple of the Vault, you can still access colored mana after null rod has hit and nullified your artifact lands. This is doubly important because the mantle build does not run any copies of glimmervoid or other non-artifact lands, allowing more space for aggressive creatures and spells. Finally, mantle fixes your mana, allowing for disciple of the vault to get played even when you have no Vaults in play.

Another noticeable change is the lack of Arcbound Workers in the deck, which have been a staple of affinity since its standard days. This omission is also due in part to the paradise mantles in the main, because rather than playing an arcbound worker on turn one in this deck you frequently would rather either a) play frogmite for 1 off an artifact land, mantle + ornithopter or b) make your first turn ornithopter into a 0/2 birds of paradise.

As for the fling/shrapnel blast argument, it almost always makes sense to board one out after the first game. Against counterspells, (threshold and some landstill) board out fling. Against board-wiping effects, keep it in for a response play. Against Goblins, fling is practically your main win condition. They will almost always have more creatures clogging up the ground than you and the best method you have of getting past them is to build up a large number of artifacts and fling a really fat atog at their face. (Or attack with a slightly less powered ornithopter powered with plating and then fling it at their face)

Playing threshold is very reliant on your ability to build up lots of dudes and rush past them. You pack many more creatures and your biggest fear from them is a very fast start and counterspells on your a) disciple of the vault or b) arcbound ravager. The best advice for this matchup is to attack, see what they block, and then start sacrificing things to whichever atog or ravager you can get through. Ornithopter OR that hoverguard guy that some builds run are gold here as they have few options against flyers. UGw is much easier than UGr, which has annoying removal for your best creatures.

Combo matchups range from bad to terrible. The board can help out some (the one listed is very untuned) but most of the time the faster combo decks (tendrils variants and belcher) are going to roll over you. Your only game plan is to move as fast as possible and try to hit key spells with whatever you've got from the board. Graveyard based combo may be slightly easier but I have less experience in that area. Extirpate is good, as is Tormod's Crypt (especially the latter conssidering it is a 0cc artifact).

In any event, it is a solid list that doesn't lose so hard to null rod (although it's possible to beat people even when they run it-I once beat a guy with 2 affinity'd myr enforcers after he dropped a rod). Affinity is definitely a blast to play because of how fast it goes, and it's very fun to see how much you can drop on first turn-your whole hand comes down more frequently than you might think.

Marauders, definitely. You get at least 2 damage for two mana, without attacking, while for 2 you can get two 1/1s or for 4 you can get two 1/1s and then another 1/1 later. Plus if you've got burn they're more than likely going to hit for three if they're played early enough. Other stuff to consider -- Soul Warden doesn't really head toward your goal of killing the opponent quickly. Rift bolt should probably be in the deck. Blade of the Sixth Pride could be nuts if there was nothing around to block it-another 3 power for 2 mana that only gets better with anthem out.

I don't know how long you've been playing but if you have anything sitting around from Mirrodin you can probably make affinity; what with Arcbound Ravager being the only expensive card. However, this is a bad suggestion from me as the only less-exciting deck to play than affinity is goblins.

This is certainly an interesting announcement. I'd wager we'll see quite a lot of extended ports being played, because familiarity can slightly make up for card quality (but only slightly). Probably things like affinity and (unfortunately) goblins will have bigger showings than at a dedicated legacy event. Also, since they've got no established meta, it'll only make choosing a real deck harder.

Golem already made the point I was going to in his list, but in case you didn't catch it, you should split your fetchlands at least half and half. That way the opponent can't play Meddling Mage or Pithing Needle naming your single fetchland, which would screw with your manabase.

you would want to turn some of the basics into fetchlands to smooth your mana out, but running fewer basics would make you more vulnerable to wasteland... can you explain the function of veteran explorer?

If you're wanting to remove the lands from the deck to help clear it out so you don't have to stop the combo, try fetchlands. Bloodstained Mire could come in for however many lands you want to take out and that would reduce the number left in your deck.

Mutilate totally kills off Llanowar Reborn with a Darksteel Garrison on it. Which Damnation cannot.

"Your Legs Grow" - Nada Surf

edit: beat me to it

"Burn Girl Prom Queen" - Mogwai

"March into the Sea" - Modest Mouse

Worse: Europop

Good: Oranges

"Gone" - Ben Folds

"Been Swank" - The Von Bondies

Red rusalka will probably end up a better choice than the wolverine. Sulfur elementals may be more sideboard material, as there isn't really a standard WW presence and the only other use they have is vs. counterspells. Where is char?