MTG Salvation

With the perfect hand knowledge Probe gives you, you might be just as well or better off running Cabal Therapy. You could strip their hand of multiple copies of two different cards potentially, and still have attackers to swing with.

oh yeah, never thought of therapy in this deck. could be wicked

played a fnm legacy tournament last night. shop did a thursday legacy event. i went 1-3 but i totally botched some plays. hadn't played competitive in months and i think my nerves got to me but i know what i did so it's all good.

Round 1: Goblins--1-2
Both tied game 3. first two games were nothing special. thalia got me game 1 and i got lucky and sped out game 2.
game 3 though came to a top deck war and i made an error. he had 5 creatures at 13 life and i was at 9 with 3 etched champions and a signal pest. i played a blood moon with a tezzeret in hand and 3 ancient tombs on the field so i wouldn't take the 2 damage, but like a noob i forgot that blood moon hit my seat of synod and glimmervoid. had i not played it, i could have dropped tezzeret and swung for leathal had i made signal pest a 5/5. would have hit for 14 he couldn't stop. i realized it too late and lost he top deck war. lesson learned. and i only put in blood moon because his goblin list was 3 color and he played a ton of duals and multi cards like thalia, warren weirding, paths, etc

Round 2: Burn. wan super easy in 3 games. brother in law plays burn so i have tons of practice.

Round 3: sneak and show.
nothing much i couldn've done dfferent. game 1 i was out of the gates huge and won super quick. game 3 i boarded in tajuru preserver and chalice of the void. so game one i spit out my hand and had the option of either chalice for 1 or tajuru. dude only had 1 land so i played chalice for 1. next turn he drops a land, 3 lotus petals, and sneak attack with emrakul. i think i'd have won had that not happened. took him a while to find next big guy. game 3 he got it quick and won before i could get him. got him to 7 before he got me on turn 3

Round 4: Death and taxes.
same as round 1. he got me game one and i got him game 2. made huge mistake game 3. brought down tezz and made vault skirge and etched champion both a 5/5 and when he was at 10 i preemptively cast apostle's blessing on vault skirge and in response he STP it. had i waited, he would have done it before damage and i could have saved him instead. i was excited about the possible win and got ahead of myself.

worst record yet with the deck and hope these errors help you guys out in the future. nerves and what not got to me and i just didn't have my A game. it happens. next time i'll have a better report

p.s. whipflare would have been awesome against death and taxes and goblins lol

Quote from offtheropes5 »

oh yeah, never thought of therapy in this deck. could be wicked

I run 4 Therapy in my affinity deck. It IS wicked, especially when you know what they're on in game 2 or 3.

Hey guys, i will play a league in my city with this list:

16 LANDS

4 Vault of Whispers
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Ancient Tomb
2 Glimmervoid
2 Ancient Den

18 CREATURES

4 Ornithopter
4 Vault Skirge
3 Master of Etherium
3 Etched Champion
2 Memnite
2 Stoneforge Mystic

4 INSTANTS

4 Thoughtcast

22 OTHER SPELLS

4 Chalice of the Void
4 Cranial Plating
4 Mox Opal
3 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
3 Thopter Foundry
3 Springleaf Drum
1 Sword of the Meek

SIDEBOARD
3 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Thoughtseize
3 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Manriki-Gusari
3 Krosan Grip
2 Whipflare

yhea!!! i know this sb stinks, but is what i have

Expect to face:

Ominitell
Team italia
Death and taxes
Bug agroo
Goblins
Merfolks
Patriot
GWb maverick
Painter Combo
Lands
Burn
Pox mono black
Elfs
UR delver
Belcher

U can help me with game plays and sideboard plans?

Really THANKs

on the subject of colors, my own affinity deck is 4.5 (the .5 being the flashback of ancient grudge)

^^^^is this in refernce to a post? Nothing wrong wit 4.5 colors, the deck can easily handle it. I want to add whip flares to board and that'll give my version all 5 colors including sideboard. Glimmervoid plus opal Plus drum equals we have so many options

I've recently tried adding Vedalken Certarch to the deck, and it's been amazing. It acts as mana denial, but can also be an answer to problematic creatures or equipment like stoneforge mystic. It's also amazing against show and tell, letting you shut down emrakul completely and prevent griselbrand from attacking.

that does actually sound like an interesting card. a really good show and tell answer. i might actually test this guy out

Quote from 0evil_overlord0 »

I've recently tried adding Vedalken Certarch to the deck, and it's been amazing. It acts as mana denial, but can also be an answer to problematic creatures or equipment like stoneforge mystic. It's also amazing against show and tell, letting you shut down emrakul completely and prevent griselbrand from attacking.

Cool.
Thanks for the headsup!

It's not a bad choice. No one expects disciple andhe will demand immediate attention leaving other importantguys unchecked. It seems to be a good deck design, but I'd check out the top post of this page as well. Vaseline certarch is a sweet idea as well.
Sideboard also needswork, I'd try at least 2 cabal therapy and maybe a few probes mainboard. Knowing when to sac and fling is very important

Quote from offtheropes5 »

Sideboard also needswork, I'd try at least 2 cabal therapy and maybe a few probes mainboard. Knowing when to sac and fling is very important

Using Cabal Therapy in a deck like Affinity I find is much easier than Dredge or the other graveyard decks, and far more effective, as you get two bites of the cherry.
Against combo, more often than not you can make a Turn 1 play of discarding at least 1 threat from an opponents had, often 2, sometimes more if they have multiples.
For a turn 1 play of target opponent discards 2+ cards or your choice, that can be a hell of a swing...

Personally, I can see why some would use Probe but I don't think its necessary > just name the card you fear most, remember they have to decide to cast counter before you need to name the card > if you miss you still get to see their hand. Sac a robot to do it again with information.
I'm using 4 Therapy's out of the board myself, mainly for combo and Miracles.

Hallo Affinity Aficionados. First off, first post- I live in the middle of no-where. In my dreams I get to play my shiny new Affinity deck against actual people. I have to confess to pure theory crafting here, but I have been following this thread for a couple of weeks while trying to get a handle on how I want it to run. My main question is this: How much disruption can Affinity run before it turns into a different deck? I like tangle wires and chalices a lot, and cabal therapy is too sweet not to run... however, they don't seem like enough and when I back them up with revokers and canonists it plays like a different deck. I guess my second question is should I be trying to tune affinity or go for Tezzeret control? I feel like affinity is a winner by meta-gaming, which means mind games are one of our best weapons. Having limited access to actual games, I have to rely on videos, and they don't really say much about meta strategies.

Anyhoo, I love this deck, and I think legacy is it's best format. I think it has potential to steal games out of nowhere.

Quote from Le_Mieux777 »

First off, first post- I live in the middle of no-where.

In my dreams I get to play my shiny new Affinity deck against actual people. My main question is this: How much disruption can Affinity run before it turns into a different deck?

G'day.
You're not alone, whilst many on these boards live in huge cities, many of us don't and have to drive for a long way for gaming.

RE: Disruption, I think we can get away with using quite a lot compared to some decks.
As long as you keep some Robots with evasion + Plating, you'll have the most likely way to win, whatever else is up to you.
I've been playing around with transformational sideboards lately, like Painted/Stone, for fun > may not be the most resilient plan but it's fun at least.

How many pieces does your painted stone plan use? That sounds like a delightful trap to spring on someone. I had never even considered going full combo on them.

Wow, glad to see I not the only one who has thought about transforming to painted stone. Mother pulled the trigger but I'd expect for quickest kill you'd want 4 each of he combo or 2 or 3 each plus some enlightened tutors. After that I'm not too sure what I'd personally do. Only downside is that it's still artifacts which means the opponents artifacthate is still good unless we can go off quick. May repel pierce or pact to ensure it on the turn were ready

Thank you for the thread link, phulshof. It answers my question quite nicely. There's also some sick tech there. I don't like force of will in an artifact based deck, but winter orb definitely has potential. I'm fairly certain that 15-16 is the maximum number of slots open for disruption, as anything more than that takes away from our main strength- hand-vomiting. Strangely enough that is also the number of sideboard slots...transforming robots... hmmm...

Is Steel Overseer playable in the Legacy builds of Affinity?

I ask because I have been really interested in Oona's Blackguard, gold fishing in a Black/Green affinity shell. Green adds Gaea's Cradle, Glimpse of Nature, and Curse of Predation.

Forgive my complete lack of understanding of Affinity (in any format), but I brewed this up and it's been a fun Gold fish deck.



Goldfish One
Opening Seven: Glimpse of Nature, Curse of Predation, Vault Skirge, Oona's Blackguard, Ornithopter, Gaea's Cradle, Vault of Whispers

T1: Vault of Whispers, Vault Skirge [2 Life alternate cast]
T2: [Draw: Arcbound Worker] Gaea's Cradle, Glimpse of Nature, Ornithopter [Draw: Darksteel Citadel], Arcbound Worker [Draw: Arcbound Worker] [Attack: deal 1 damage, lifelink trigger: gain 1.]
T3: [Draw: Ornithopter], Darksteel Citadel, Oona's Blackguard, Ornithopter, Arcbound Worker, Curse of Predation [Attack: Curse of Predation trigger, Ornithopter/Vault Skirge/Arcbound Worker receive +1/+1 counters, deal 5 damage, opponent discards 3 cards, lifelink trigger gain 2 life]
T4: [Draw: Mox Opal] [Attack: Curse of Predation trigger, Ornithopter/Vault Skirge/Arcbound Worker/Oona's Blackguard/Ornithopter/Arcbound Worker receive +1/+1 counters, deal 13 damage, opponent discards 6 cards, lifelink trigger gain 3 life]

19 damage dealt on turn 4.

Goldfish Two
Opening Seven: Darksteel Citadel, Gaea's Cradle, Mox Opal, Lotus Petal, Curse of Predation, Arcbound Worker, Signal Pest

T1: Darksteel Citadel, Mox Opal, Lotus Petal, Arcbound Worker, Signal Pest

T2: [Draw: Ornithopter] Gaea's Cradle, Ornithopter, Curse of Predation [Attack: Curse of Predation trigger, Signal Pest / Arcbound Worker receive +1/+1 counters, Battle Cry trigger, Arcbound Worker gets +1/+0, deal 4 damage]

T3: [Draw: Arcbound Worker] Arcbound Worker, [Attack: Curse of Predation trigger, Signal Pest / Arcbound Worker /Ornithopter receive +1/+1 counters, Battle Cry trigger, Arcbound Worker / Ornithopter gets +1/+0, deal 8 damage]

T4: Attack for Lethal

Goldfish Three
Opening Seven: Vault Skirge, Glimpse of Nature, Lotus Petal, Cranial Plating, Oona's Blackguard, Darksteel Citadel, Mox Opal

T1: Darksteel Citadel, Vault Skirge [2 Life alternate cast]
T2: [Draw: Vault of Whispers] Vault of Whispers, Mox Opal, Lotus Petal, Cranial Plating [and equip cost] [Attack: deal 6 damage, lifelink trigger gain 6]
T3: [Draw Cranial Plating] Cranial Plating [and equip] [Attack: Deal 15 damage, game]


Are these gold fishes considerably slower than the traditional builds? Is it worth actually testing +1/+1 counters and Blackguard? Is Curse of Predation good enough on it's own [essentially being a 3 mana haste Signal Pest the first turn it is cast]?

It's Avery interesting build for sure. I see the reason behind oona and petal but I feel there's better options. Like springleaf drum and maybe something like frogmite for this type of build. I would also suggest gold fishing with beastmaster ascension over curse of predation. Same cost but has a bigger pay out and opponents r more likely to kill that over anything else u have out of fear of it activating. Just a thought but I love the idea behind it

Well pending on how fast u would like to go, I'd suggest 4 thoughtcast since almost everything u have is artifact. I'd also suggest cuttin maybe 1 drum and 1 land of your choice. Just so u can speed a bit more. That's room for two thoughtcast there. Wih so many artifacts u should always be paying 1 for it. And I'd suggest apostles blessing inboard to protect your combo guys. And etched champions for various matchups like bug control

Quote from offtheropes5 »

It's Avery interesting build for sure. I see the reason behind oona and petal but I feel there's better options. Like springleaf drum and maybe something like frogmite for this type of build. I would also suggest gold fishing with beastmaster ascension over curse of predation. Same cost but has a bigger pay out and opponents r more likely to kill that over anything else u have out of fear of it activating. Just a thought but I love the idea behind it

The thing about the Curse of Predation over Beastmaster Ascension is firstly +1/+1 counters synergy with Oona's Blackguard (or Arcbound creatures), and that it has an immediate impact regardless of how many attackers (as long as there is at least one attacker).

The weakest card I think is Glimpse, which can make some insane turn 3/4 plays (especially with Cradle in play before the combo turn, then use a second drawn Cradle to "ritual"). I think cutting Glimpse for Steel Overseer at least in some number is a good plan. I didn't think of Springleaf Drum, and that could replace the Lotus Petals like you said.

I'd love for someone with access to MTGO or Cockatrice to test a Curse and Blackguard in an affinity shell. I feel like the potential to Mind Twist their hand on turn 3 (maybe turn 2 ?) could be pretty insane. Affinity to me seems like it is the strongest Aggro deck in legacy, but has a number of poor cards in it. If something could replace those, and add another element I think the deck's matchups could improve. Another potential swap for Glimpse could be Warriors' Lesson which acts as a green Thoughtcast involving the attack step (but without delving into blue mana).



I'm trying this, as an earlier poster mentioned Vedalken Certarch, and between it's Rishadan Port/Icy Manipulator type effect, and Oona's Blackguard's discard maybe this can add a bit of control to the Affinity game plan, while maintaining so/most of it's explosiveness.

Just wanted to share this list which I have had great success with. I'm open for suggestions :]

It is a bit expensive at 5cmc, but thoughts on the newly revealed Ugin's Nexus (check spoilers above) its pretty sweet and anyone running ancient tombs can put it out turn 2 or 3 easily. its a house with ravager, or we make it a 5/5 with tezzeret. i'm going to test a singleton this weekend and hope to get back to you all with some results. also going to try running 1 less land or someething to ssee how urborg, tomb of yawgmoth runs. being ableto not haveto take damage from tombs is very relative at a certain point in the game, and makes all lands able to swap plating with ease

Quote from The_cobra »

@Echofish

That is about the list I piloted into the top 8 about a year ago, haven't played my affinity anymore since the complete fail at BOM in Paris. There I got turn 1 chalice almost every game and it got forced almost every time. It is a dangerous card as it lands it is gamewinning and if it doesn't your hand just is looking a lot worse.

The diffrences: I played with and without springleaf drums, you don't have enough creatures to fuel them anymore. Chalice permits you to play a little bit slower anyway and it hardly ever speeds up your chalice plan. I am a big fan of welding jar, I bought them before my tournement with the 4-chalice list and they are allstars ('abrupt decay, denied')

I would ad 4 more creatures, maybe ravagers are a plan (I like them a lot as they make interesting board states), but frogmite still is a good card as well, maybe a mix of the classics is the right choice. This deck rules in a meta with RUG-tempo (BUG and UWR are less good) and ironicly enough combo becomes really cute with a T1 chalice on the table (good luck drawing into your combo). also I tend to play 3 tezzerets, you never need 2 and you don't need it in your opening 7 either, so then generaly 3 is the right choice.

I also like Welding Jar, but feels so useless when there are so many spells that exiles, but against abrupt decay it's the king. So I guess it's more of a sideboard card, but I have no room for it. I have have replaced 2 Jars and 2 Masters for 4 Ravenger. I don't think Frogmite is worth it. I need more power cards. Many times I puke out my whole hand in one or two turns and the only thing that makes my board state good is a plating, ravenger or tezz. If they get removed or countered, I'm sitting there with drums, mox, memnites and thopthers and staring into opponents overpowerd cards.

I wish the deck had more consistency.

Quote from The_cobra »

Anyone experience with the miracle matchup?

Playing against Miracles blows. This deck in my mind needs a way to stop Miracles just controlling the game.
....the number of times I've snatched defeat from the jaws of victory against Miracles (sigh).

So peeps,
I've been looking at our new set, mainly Ghostfire Blade. Sure, it's no Basilisk Collar, but a +2/+2 pump for 1 isn't too bad.
Heart-Piercer Bow isn't very good...really it's pretty lean on artifacts that are useful to us.
Stubborn Denial piqued my interest, but looks very win-more.