I got a tourny tomorrow, ~30 people. I couldnt get some perish in time, bad for me, and Im expecting survi, bant and goblins. So, I have 3 open slots in SB. Im thinking in nature claim, or engineered plague (got 2)
The problem here is that you have to choose what you want to hate.
If you think your survival matchup needs the most help (which is probably true) then I think 3 nature's claim might be the right call (also hates out pernicious deed which is a really bad card for you to see and the engineered explosivesequivalents, that is unless they are playing around claim, in which case you've probably just hit them with a cranial plating).
I don't think the goblins or fish match needs much more then pithing needle so I wouldn't worry about engineered plague too much.
I think the real issue will be bant, and there doesn't seem to be anything else that can hate out trygon predatorknight of the reliquary and tarmogoyf at the same time quite as well as perish, with a fringe benifit of being relavent against survival.
I think the right choice is probably some combination of nature's claim and deathmark to stop predator and knight depending on how many times you think you'll need to beat survival vs how many times you need to beat bant.
Is the burn out plan viable now since you can have Galvanic Blast, Shrapnel Blast, and Lightning Bolt.
Sort of I thinkg... I know it sounds strange but you don't have the deck space for lightning bolt without watering down the deck too much. The burn out plan typically involves arcbound ravager or atog, a copy or two of disciple of the vault and a couple of burn spells.
It's more a way of dealing the last 8ish then a way to reliably go from 20 to 0 though.
Sort of I thinkg... I know it sounds strange but you don't have the deck space for lightning bolt without watering down the deck too much. The burn out plan typically involves arcbound ravager or atog, a copy or two of disciple of the vault and a couple of burn spells.
It's more a way of dealing the last 8ish then a way to reliably go from 20 to 0 though.
I was actually thinking of just running Galvanic Blast and Shrapnel Blast to deal the last 5-9 points depending.
What do u guys play against horrors like hurkyll's recall in sb ? Hand disrupt may help in sb but is it enough to hope the opponent doesn't draw it ?
I don't think that affinity is a serious enough deck to get specific hate like recall. The worst card you can see that is actually played I've found is pernicious deed or engineered explosives. I tend to go with krosan grip to stop those. I can't think of a way to stop recall without adding counters, which I think would mess with the tempo a lot, and realistically, with the way the deck plays having all your stuff bounced isn't such a big deal.
- only play artifacts to abuse of free creatures & metalcraft ability
affinity already plays 40+ artifacts and has absolutely no problem triggering metalcraft or getting the likes of myr enforcer completely free on turn 2/3. given that, there is no need to play JUST artifacts in the whole deck.
- play as much "+1/+1 boost" cards as possible (16 here)
short of ravager and steel overseer i don't see where the rest of the 16 is. and steel overseer is way too slow for legacy.
- keep a good curve with 0cc, 1cc and free cards
- integrate etched champion, very strong against aggro, while lowering myr enforcer use, not to make the deck become mana intensive
affinity already has a good curve. myr enforcer is a 0, 1 or 2cc creature unless you have a very bad hand (which you should mulligan anyway). a 4/4 artifact creature for 0, 1 or 2 sounds very good to me and i still fail to understand why people keep trying to cut it based on its casting cost.
on the other hand, etched champion combined with master of etherium in the main breaks your "good curve" as you won't have the mana to play more than one of them at a time. while i do know how strong etched champion is against aggro, it is still just a sideboard card. control and combo will rarely care that you have a 2/2 with protection from all colors. control decks will just counter it and combo decks will kill you before you can even swing with it. etched champion is a sideboard card, unless your meta is 3/4 aggro.
- play 2 strong equipment playsets and not only the usual cranial plating
playing more equipment cards just dilutes the aggressiveness of the deck. and if ever we were to run another equipment card alongside cranial plating, it wouldn't be basilisk collar, and certainly not 4 of it.
For sure no blast make the game less polyvalent and weaker against combo.
-> fill the sb with blasts and hand disrupting, against combo
galvanic blast is useful against any match-up, not just combo. it gives you reach. having it in the sideboard doesn't do anything for you as it doesn't swing any one particular match-up in your favor, which is what the sideboard is for.
I didn't play thoughtcast cause I prefer to have 4 more slots for creatures in order to have better chances to equip them ... have to test with them but I think that could slow the deck a bit down in tempo even if it generates CA ...
slow the deck down? i am honestly at a loss for words. please understand how affinity actually works before trying to make such drastic changes to it.
Before it rotated from extended, I was toying around with the concept of running Rage Forger and some additional modular creatures. It was going smoothly, but I was wondering with Steel Overseer would this plan actually be viable... I mean at that point we'd only need a single activation. Maybe even Oona's Blackguard.
Not sure how I would fit them in however. I can try some stuff out. Just wanted to get that idea out of my head.
Don't misjudge me, I understand how affinity works in its usual form, just wanted to change the direction and maybe give some of you new ideas
I don't think the usual affinity deck can evolve that much without thinking to a new direction. Maybe mine is not the proper one, but I think the usual deck is already optimal in its construction and is goal (fast & agressive), except for the new mox opal addition that really helps it.
The one I propose is less aggresive but it might be more consistent.
I don't think the usual affinity deck is that strong vs combo anyway (it can be vs combo with creatures), except if u play counters or hand disrupt in main board, that's not specific to the one I propose.
Still i appreciate your thoughts, I didn't consider etched champion as you suggest it, you're probably right, will depend if etched champion really helps against aggro or if the deck by itself is enough to win aggro.
About the 16 +1/+x boost cards I meant :
cranial plating
steel overseer
master of etherium
arcbound ravager
I agree that basilisk is not aggressive but more defensive, but it can help is some situations I think, and gives a better curve.
Steel Overseer is way to slow for legacy and not running Myr Enforcer seems like a bad idea the other comment is right you cannot run both Master of Etherium and Etched Champion as the messes up the curve too much. From what your trying to do the best way to do it would be to some how add Tempered Steel to the deck but the dubble white mana is really hard for affinity right now.
hey, first time playing Affinity since Standard, and I was toying with it and wondering if anyone runs Berserk anymore. I'm not sure where it will fit, or are cards like shrapnel blast preferred if you are trying to get those extra points of damage?
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And all that the Lorax left here in this mess
was a small pile of rocks, with one word...
UNLESS.
Whatever that meant, well, I just couldn't guess.
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So how about Shared Discovery? I was thinking of ways to break this card and someone pointed out Affinity. After that it just seemed so obvious of a fit for this deck.
So how about [card]Shared Discovery[card]? I was thinking of ways to break this card and someone pointed out Affinity. After that it just seemed so obvious of a fit for this deck.
Seems like a good plan This is what I would run. Bob really likes Shared Discovery over thoughtcast.
1. how were the glimmervoids? would you replace them with artifact lands instead if you had to do it all over again? or if not, would it matter if they were artifact lands instead?
2. any notes on your sideboard choices during the tourney? like what was good, what was bad, what would you rather run in the sideboard in the future, etc.
Glimmervoids never give me problems, I was running 2 more ancient dent instead of them but recintly I change for this setup. Running green and white in SB scary me a bit. During tournament I even cut that lonely ancient dent and play with 14 lands 3 mox 3 drum in some games. There was a game where I could win insta if the glimmer was an artifact, but there was more games where they fix my mana.
SB works well. Cannonist and pithing needle are sooo good. Even MB you wont hate pithing needle, extremely good. GY hate is a must I think, I didnt know the metagame, there wasnt any dredge but who knows... there was a lot of survi so fine.
I didnt side a single EC in all tourny, there was zoo around, even on the top, but I was lucky and didnt see them. I will keep them in SB, he have a lot of potential, but I would never use them in MB IMO.
If I could I would play perish over nature claim for sure. They will help me only against the survival boy but maybe tomorrow I play agains 3 survi, elfs a bant... Because perish is so good in this meta, not blaming nature claim. It destroys threats at instant and 1 mana, or even kill your artifacts to proc a dotv, gain life in the last second.. good card.
Sb worked fine since I didnt know the meta. But I only play against survi ,merfolk and burn tbh. And I saw elfs, goblins, combo, landstill, zoo, affinity... My lucky day
would you say it was worth it that you ran glimmervoids just for nature's claim though? it's the only green card you run in your deck. if you weren't running it you wouldn't need the glimmervoids. it's also exactly the card i'm looking to replace with perish in your list.
Congrats on the good finish. Loam is a tough matchup, along with stax. I really can't figure out a good way to SB for either of them, and that's probably why affinity is firmly out of Tier 1.
Game 2: Nut hand, but this removal, qasalis and creatures to block make the game longer. When he was at 3 I naure claim one on my drums, I got a DotV, so he went to 2. Then with a mox in play i play another, legendary rule, 2 to GY, -2 lifes I win
I love this play so much. People can always see the ravager + Dotv play coming when it's on the board and can play around it. No one ever sees the double mox for 2 damage coming, so I quite often find it causes people to take more damage then they can afford to from not blocking, not creature killing or just not countering some burn.
Re: Glimmervoid. I've found far too often I want all my lands to be artifacts, so recently when I've wanted green and white in SB I've just run 2 ancient dens and 2 tree of tales with the opals and drums for colour fixing. Seems to work ok but I might give glimmervoid another test with less copies.
Have you tried Shrapnel blast? If so, why did you not include it in your 75?
Also Atog, have you tested it? I've really liked it as a 1 of for the ability to dodge pithing needle naming arcbound.
Round 1: vs Burn
My best friend plays Burn, so I know this deck like my own affinity. He plays the wrong way IMO. He tried to hit as hard as me, and he cant. Easy 2-0, I hit harder dude
1-0
Round 2: vs Burn
I think there were 3 burn in the tourny including my friend. He played a sub optimal burn IMO, easy 2-1. Game 2 I keep a really bad hand because I tho I could win him with one hand, bad for me.
2-0
Congratulations on your good finish.
Your battle with Survivine and against another affinity deck gave me some ideas. Thanks a lot for posting your results.
I'd playtest some combination of memnite and ornithopter in the arcbound worker and Myr enforcer slots. (arcbound because you need to have vials for it to be worth being in the 75, you don't win by moving a single +1/+1 token. Enforcer because 4/4 isn't that relevant most of the time. Even if you get to cast it for free, which I can't see happening that often. I'd rather add a free ornithopter to my board in almost all circumstances.)
Darksteel citadel is bad because you don't worry about having 1 mana available, the big problem is colour fixing. I'd rather have red sources there so you have access to:
Burn spells: galvanic blast and shrapnel blast are both really good and a big part of what makes the deck able to function against knight of the reliquary decks. I wouldn't drop them out of a list for any reason, and definitely not the reasons you're looking at with that list. I'd add them in in place of the canonists because 2 for a 2/2 is terrible against a lot of decks in the format, there's heaps of decks that don't care about it's ability including merfolk which will go back to being amazing now that survival is out. You still run them in the sideboard though.
I don't personally like glimmervoid, but others do.
Sideboard:
Cabal therapy isn't good unless you run it with duress effects as well.
You still need perish, even with survival leaving.
Oblivion ring isn't good enough in this format.
Path to exile while good, isn't as good as burn spells for this deck, and creature removal should probably be maindeck rather than side.
Vengevine isn't relavent anymore, and path to exile isn't a good way of dealing with it in eternal anyway, when you can get all 4 of them at a time more easily than in type 2.
I wouldn't ever leave pithing needle out. It's one of the only cards that lets you not auto-lose to decks with access to pernicious deed.
I'd playtest some combination of memnite and ornithopter in the arcbound worker and Myr enforcer slots. (arcbound because you need to have vials for it to be worth being in the 75, you don't win by moving a single +1/+1 token. Enforcer because 4/4 isn't that relevant most of the time. Even if you get to cast it for free, which I can't see happening that often. I'd rather add a free ornithopter to my board in almost all circumstances.)
While I agree worker should be cut for Memnite, a 4/4 for 2 mana or less is never a bad thing, even in Legacy.
Darksteel citadel is bad because you don't worry about having 1 mana available, the big problem is colour fixing. I'd rather have red sources there so you have access to:
Darksteel Citadel is actually extermely good in a meta full of Wasteland. One of the best openings against and deck using Wasteland is Citadel, Memnite/Ornithopter, Mox. There's nothing they can do to slow your tempo after that, seeing as if you have 1 more land, no mater what color, you can play everything in your deck. How effective would Merfolk be against that start?
Burn spells: galvanic blast and shrapnel blast are both really good and a big part of what makes the deck able to function against knight of the reliquary decks. I wouldn't drop them out of a list for any reason, and definitely not the reasons you're looking at with that list. I'd add them in in place of the canonists because 2 for a 2/2 is terrible against a lot of decks in the format, there's heaps of decks that don't care about it's ability including merfolk which will go back to being amazing now that survival is out. You still run them in the sideboard though.
I agree about the burn spells. However I don't think we need to be running Canonist at all, at least IMO.
Sideboard:
Cabal therapy isn't good unless you run it with duress effects as well.
You still need perish, even with survival leaving.
Oblivion ring isn't good enough in this format.
Path to exile while good, isn't as good as burn spells for this deck, and creature removal should probably be maindeck rather than side.
Vengevine isn't relavent anymore, and path to exile isn't a good way of dealing with it in eternal anyway, when you can get all 4 of them at a time more easily than in type 2.
I wouldn't ever leave pithing needle out. It's one of the only cards that lets you not auto-lose to decks with access to pernicious deed.
Cabal Therapy is still VERY relevant. And saying you need a Duress effect only shows you either don't know how to use the card, or don't know the meta. This card takes research. Against Merfolk do you know what to name? What about ANT? CounterTop? You have to know these things, especially because we can use it twice on turn 1. Know the meta, this card ruins control and combo.
Perish is great against random Zoo, Thresh, and Elves.
Personally, I don't think the deck needs to be anything but UBR. Again, this is just my opinion.
With SurviBS leaving, would 3 Champions be enough against Zoo? Or does Perish still need a slot? It also works against Thresh. Elves is also semi-solved with Canonist.
I like Tormod's Crypt/Relic/Spellbomb more than Macabre because they also add to the affinity and Plating count and can be eaten by Ravager. Macabre can still be hit with Needle if your opponent is savvy. Although just straight-up playing one and killing them with it and a Plating would be funny
survival leaving doesn't change anything as far as affinity is concerned.
etched champion - this wasn't added to affinity sideboards because of survival. it was added to help against zoo, merfolk, elves, etc.
faerie macabre - i still prefer being able to hit specific cards with a card that can't be bounced with chain of vapors. the non artifact status doesn't really matter, and pithing needle affects crypts/relics too.
perish - the strength of this card as a sideboard choice isn't negated with the banning of survival. NO strategies have been pretty popular together with survival (NO elves/bant control), except that survival overshadowed them. perish also deals well with zoo, bant aggro and threshold.
survival leaving doesn't change anything as far as affinity is concerned.
etched champion - this wasn't added to affinity sideboards because of survival. it was added to help against zoo, merfolk, elves, etc.
faerie macabre - i still prefer being able to hit specific cards with a card that can't be bounced with chain of vapors. the non artifact status doesn't really matter, and pithing needle affects crypts/relics too.
perish - the strength of this card as a sideboard choice isn't negated with the banning of survival. NO strategies have been pretty popular together with survival (NO elves/bant control), except that survival overshadowed them. perish also deals well with zoo, bant aggro and threshold.
I kinda agree with chipmunk19 faerie macabre would be good option if opponents has pithing needles as SB which would target your relics and crypts easily.
If Survival is leaving then maybe etched champion has a room for SB.
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Mono Black Control
I'm starting to think I'll need to test enforcer a bit more. And cabal therapy. Seems like you would need a really good handle on the various decklists to use it well though. Thanks for the feedback Dyne.
At one point I was running myr enforcers, but it just wasn't giving me the effect that I wanted, and I was rarely getting to play it for free.
I experimented with 2 steel overseer and I found that it works pretty well. Putting +1/+1 counters on ornithopters gets scary for your opponents after a few turns, and putting counters on ravager is even crazier. It honestly deserves a spot if your meta contains decks that can make affinity go into the mid/late game stages.
As a side note, I have also found that ethersworn canonist is extremely effective against combo if you can drop it turn 1-2, and as such it earned a spot in my sideboard.
Lastly, if you're facing a meta heavy with mono red burn, put some copies of chill in your sideboard. It won me 3 rounds in the last tournament I played in.
I would swap Canonist for Therapy, that way not relying on 4 colors.
You basically have Canonist in ther for combo, but all of the combo decks are fairly well known, so being able to disrupt them on turn 1 is better than playing Canaonist turn 2, IMO.
Plus Therapy can be sided in against control as well, so it's more broad than Canonist.
I recently placed first in a 21-player tournament (and picked up a Timetwister as my prize). I'll be the first to say it was partly due to good matchups.
Match 1: ANT. Rough start. Due to an egregious play error on my part (had a Disciple in play and neglected to ping him when he broke his Lotus Petals), lost the first game. Easily won the second game after mulling to 6, and watched my opponent Ad Nauseam himself to death in the third in an effort to raise his storm count.
Match 2: Goblins. My opponent was playing a very bad build. Won the die roll and hooked up an Ornithopter with Cranial Plating early in the first game for an easy win. Boarded in Engineered Plague in game two, but really didn't need it.
Match 3: Eva Green. Affinity loves playing against anything that hurts itself. Had to Shrapnel Blast a Tombstalker in game one to swing for lethal. In game two, got in a few early beats before chewing the board with a Ravager/double Disciple for the kill.
Match 4: Goblins. Just happened to be playing against my boyfriend (with a very good Goblin deck), who I had consistently beaten in testing. Won in three. Lost the first game game due to keeping a decent opening hand, but drawing nothing but mana sources. Won the second by dropping double Engineered Plague by turn four. Won the third with a last-minute double Plating equip on an Ornithopter.
Match 5: Would have been against Dreadstill. I was hungry, so we drew in and I went for a snack.
Moving to top 4:
Match 6: Actually had to play against Dreadstill this time. Managed to win the damage race in the first and third games. In hindsight, probably should have boarded in Annul.
Match 7: Once again, playing against Goblins (same opponent as round 4). Once again, won in three.
Overall notes:
Swapping Shrapnel Blast for Galvanic Blast seems like the thing to do, although Shrapnel Blast can take out a Tombstalker and has a better chance of knocking out a Goyf. Having to pay an extra mana/sac something can be worth it, and interacts better with Disciple. Maybe keep 2x Shrapnel Blast in the sideboard?
Mox Opal is just disgusting. Seriously. Playing a turn one Ravager, chewing the Opal, and playing another Opal to speed out a Disciple is awesome. It also speeds up your game by a whole turn. You can attack with an Ornithopter + Plating combo by turn 2 fairly consistently. Master of Etherium can also be dropped on the second turn instead of the third. Most decks have a very hard time dealing with a 6/6 on turn 2.
Affinity is fast but fragile. I am crediting my success in this tournament to the meta being unprepared. There's a lot of hate available for this deck, and a well-placed Null Rod can ruin your day pretty quick. If you play regularly, this is not the deck for you. But if, like me, you only show up sporadically, it's worth building.
I recently placed first in a 21-player tournament (and picked up a Timetwister as my prize). I'll be the first to say it was partly due to good matchups.
Match 1: ANT. Rough start. Due to an egregious play error on my part (had a Disciple in play and neglected to ping him when he broke his Lotus Petals), lost the first game. Easily won the second game after mulling to 6, and watched my opponent Ad Nauseam himself to death in the third in an effort to raise his storm count.
Match 2: Goblins. My opponent was playing a very bad build. Won the die roll and hooked up an Ornithopter with Cranial Plating early in the first game for an easy win. Boarded in Engineered Plague in game two, but really didn't need it.
Match 3: Eva Green. Affinity loves playing against anything that hurts itself. Had to Shrapnel Blast a Tombstalker in game one to swing for lethal. In game two, got in a few early beats before chewing the board with a Ravager/double Disciple for the kill.
Match 4: Goblins. Just happened to be playing against my boyfriend (with a very good Goblin deck), who I had consistently beaten in testing. Won in three. Lost the first game game due to keeping a decent opening hand, but drawing nothing but mana sources. Won the second by dropping double Engineered Plague by turn four. Won the third with a last-minute double Plating equip on an Ornithopter.
Match 5: Would have been against Dreadstill. I was hungry, so we drew in and I went for a snack.
Moving to top 4:
Match 6: Actually had to play against Dreadstill this time. Managed to win the damage race in the first and third games. In hindsight, probably should have boarded in Annul.
Match 7: Once again, playing against Goblins (same opponent as round 4). Once again, won in three.
Overall notes:
Mox Opal is just disgusting. Seriously. Playing a turn one Ravager, chewing the Opal, and playing another Opal to speed out a Disciple is awesome. It also speeds up your game by a whole turn. You can attack with an Ornithopter + Plating combo by turn 2 fairly consistently. Master of Etherium can also be dropped on the second turn instead of the third. Most decks have a very hard time dealing with a 6/6 on turn 2.
Affinity is fast but fragile. I am crediting my success in this tournament to the meta being unprepared. There's a lot of hate available for this deck, and a well-placed Null Rod can ruin your day pretty quick. If you play regularly, this is not the deck for you. But if, like me, you only show up sporadically, it's worth building.
congrats on the top finish a win is a win regardless of what the match-ups were
it's very refreshing to see more and more top results with people using fast affinity. we're certainly one of the easiest decks to hate out so we'll always be on the fringes of any meta game. but in an unknown meta, this would be a good deck to play since most people will prepare for the more popular decks.
Swapping Shrapnel Blast for Galvanic Blast seems like the thing to do, although Shrapnel Blast can take out a Tombstalker and has a better chance of knocking out a Goyf. Having to pay an extra mana/sac something can be worth it, and interacts better with Disciple. Maybe keep 2x Shrapnel Blast in the sideboard?
my take is you either run shrapnel blast or not at all. galvanic is more consistent and flexible though. i personally just run 4 galvanics without any problems, although some run 2 shrapnels together with their 4 galvanics for even more reach. on your build i would go -1 drum, -1 enforcer, -2 shrapnel, +4 galvanic.
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The problem here is that you have to choose what you want to hate.
If you think your survival matchup needs the most help (which is probably true) then I think 3 nature's claim might be the right call (also hates out pernicious deed which is a really bad card for you to see and the engineered explosivesequivalents, that is unless they are playing around claim, in which case you've probably just hit them with a cranial plating).
I don't think the goblins or fish match needs much more then pithing needle so I wouldn't worry about engineered plague too much.
I think the real issue will be bant, and there doesn't seem to be anything else that can hate out trygon predator knight of the reliquary and tarmogoyf at the same time quite as well as perish, with a fringe benifit of being relavent against survival.
I think the right choice is probably some combination of nature's claim and deathmark to stop predator and knight depending on how many times you think you'll need to beat survival vs how many times you need to beat bant.
Sort of I thinkg... I know it sounds strange but you don't have the deck space for lightning bolt without watering down the deck too much. The burn out plan typically involves arcbound ravager or atog, a copy or two of disciple of the vault and a couple of burn spells.
It's more a way of dealing the last 8ish then a way to reliably go from 20 to 0 though.
I was actually thinking of just running Galvanic Blast and Shrapnel Blast to deal the last 5-9 points depending.
I don't think that affinity is a serious enough deck to get specific hate like recall. The worst card you can see that is actually played I've found is pernicious deed or engineered explosives. I tend to go with krosan grip to stop those. I can't think of a way to stop recall without adding counters, which I think would mess with the tempo a lot, and realistically, with the way the deck plays having all your stuff bounced isn't such a big deal.
affinity already plays 40+ artifacts and has absolutely no problem triggering metalcraft or getting the likes of myr enforcer completely free on turn 2/3. given that, there is no need to play JUST artifacts in the whole deck.
short of ravager and steel overseer i don't see where the rest of the 16 is. and steel overseer is way too slow for legacy.
affinity already has a good curve. myr enforcer is a 0, 1 or 2cc creature unless you have a very bad hand (which you should mulligan anyway). a 4/4 artifact creature for 0, 1 or 2 sounds very good to me and i still fail to understand why people keep trying to cut it based on its casting cost.
on the other hand, etched champion combined with master of etherium in the main breaks your "good curve" as you won't have the mana to play more than one of them at a time. while i do know how strong etched champion is against aggro, it is still just a sideboard card. control and combo will rarely care that you have a 2/2 with protection from all colors. control decks will just counter it and combo decks will kill you before you can even swing with it. etched champion is a sideboard card, unless your meta is 3/4 aggro.
playing more equipment cards just dilutes the aggressiveness of the deck. and if ever we were to run another equipment card alongside cranial plating, it wouldn't be basilisk collar, and certainly not 4 of it.
galvanic blast is useful against any match-up, not just combo. it gives you reach. having it in the sideboard doesn't do anything for you as it doesn't swing any one particular match-up in your favor, which is what the sideboard is for.
slow the deck down? i am honestly at a loss for words. please understand how affinity actually works before trying to make such drastic changes to it.
Not sure how I would fit them in however. I can try some stuff out. Just wanted to get that idea out of my head.
Thanks to Le_Gambit for this awesome sig!
Steel Overseer is way to slow for legacy and not running Myr Enforcer seems like a bad idea the other comment is right you cannot run both Master of Etherium and Etched Champion as the messes up the curve too much. From what your trying to do the best way to do it would be to some how add Tempered Steel to the deck but the dubble white mana is really hard for affinity right now.
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Seems like a good plan This is what I would run. Bob really likes Shared Discovery over thoughtcast.
4 Etched Champion
4 Master of Etherium
4 Ornithopter
4 Memnite
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Dark Confidant
3 Frogmite
4 Mox Opal
3 Cranial Plating
4 Shared Discovery
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Ancient Den
4 Vault of Whispers
4 Glimmervoid
2 questions for ya:
1. how were the glimmervoids? would you replace them with artifact lands instead if you had to do it all over again? or if not, would it matter if they were artifact lands instead?
2. any notes on your sideboard choices during the tourney? like what was good, what was bad, what would you rather run in the sideboard in the future, etc.
would you say it was worth it that you ran glimmervoids just for nature's claim though? it's the only green card you run in your deck. if you weren't running it you wouldn't need the glimmervoids. it's also exactly the card i'm looking to replace with perish in your list.
my own sideboard consists of the following:
4 ethersworn canonist
4 etched champion
3 faerie macabre
2 pithing needle
2 perish
I love this play so much. People can always see the ravager + Dotv play coming when it's on the board and can play around it. No one ever sees the double mox for 2 damage coming, so I quite often find it causes people to take more damage then they can afford to from not blocking, not creature killing or just not countering some burn.
Re: Glimmervoid. I've found far too often I want all my lands to be artifacts, so recently when I've wanted green and white in SB I've just run 2 ancient dens and 2 tree of tales with the opals and drums for colour fixing. Seems to work ok but I might give glimmervoid another test with less copies.
Have you tried Shrapnel blast? If so, why did you not include it in your 75?
Also Atog, have you tested it? I've really liked it as a 1 of for the ability to dodge pithing needle naming arcbound.
Congratulations on your good finish.
Your battle with Survivine and against another affinity deck gave me some ideas. Thanks a lot for posting your results.
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MainBoard:
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Arcbound Worker
4 Disciple of the Vault
4 Frogmite
4 Myr Enforcer
4 Master of Etherium
2 Ethersworn Canonist
4 Cranial Plating
4 Thoughtcast
2 Mox Opal
3 Springleaf Drum
4 Ancient Den
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Vault of Whispers
3 Darksteel Citadel
2 Glimmervoid
SideBoard: (This depends on the Meta)
1 Ehtersworn Canonist
2 Tormod's Crypt
3 Cabal Therapy
3 Oblivion Ring
3 Pithing Needle
3 Path to Exile
for other metas' I insert Chalice of the Void or Engineered Explosive for Pithing Needle.^^
:symw:Death and Taxes:symw:
:symr:Burn:symr:
Mono Black Control
I'd playtest some combination of memnite and ornithopter in the arcbound worker and Myr enforcer slots. (arcbound because you need to have vials for it to be worth being in the 75, you don't win by moving a single +1/+1 token. Enforcer because 4/4 isn't that relevant most of the time. Even if you get to cast it for free, which I can't see happening that often. I'd rather add a free ornithopter to my board in almost all circumstances.)
Darksteel citadel is bad because you don't worry about having 1 mana available, the big problem is colour fixing. I'd rather have red sources there so you have access to:
Burn spells: galvanic blast and shrapnel blast are both really good and a big part of what makes the deck able to function against knight of the reliquary decks. I wouldn't drop them out of a list for any reason, and definitely not the reasons you're looking at with that list. I'd add them in in place of the canonists because 2 for a 2/2 is terrible against a lot of decks in the format, there's heaps of decks that don't care about it's ability including merfolk which will go back to being amazing now that survival is out. You still run them in the sideboard though.
I don't personally like glimmervoid, but others do.
Sideboard:
Cabal therapy isn't good unless you run it with duress effects as well.
You still need perish, even with survival leaving.
Oblivion ring isn't good enough in this format.
Path to exile while good, isn't as good as burn spells for this deck, and creature removal should probably be maindeck rather than side.
Vengevine isn't relavent anymore, and path to exile isn't a good way of dealing with it in eternal anyway, when you can get all 4 of them at a time more easily than in type 2.
I wouldn't ever leave pithing needle out. It's one of the only cards that lets you not auto-lose to decks with access to pernicious deed.
While I agree worker should be cut for Memnite, a 4/4 for 2 mana or less is never a bad thing, even in Legacy.
Darksteel Citadel is actually extermely good in a meta full of Wasteland. One of the best openings against and deck using Wasteland is Citadel, Memnite/Ornithopter, Mox. There's nothing they can do to slow your tempo after that, seeing as if you have 1 more land, no mater what color, you can play everything in your deck. How effective would Merfolk be against that start?
I agree about the burn spells. However I don't think we need to be running Canonist at all, at least IMO.
Agreed, I don't see the need for it with the new Mox.
Cabal Therapy is still VERY relevant. And saying you need a Duress effect only shows you either don't know how to use the card, or don't know the meta. This card takes research. Against Merfolk do you know what to name? What about ANT? CounterTop? You have to know these things, especially because we can use it twice on turn 1. Know the meta, this card ruins control and combo.
Perish is great against random Zoo, Thresh, and Elves.
Personally, I don't think the deck needs to be anything but UBR. Again, this is just my opinion.
Here's my list for reference.
4x Seat of Synod
4x Great Furnace
4x Darksteel Citadel
3x Springleaf Drum
3x Mox Opal
4x Galvanic Blast
4x Thoughtcast
4x Cranial Plating
4x Memnite
4x Disciple of the Vault
4x Arcbound Ravager
4x Frogmite
3x Master of Etherium
3x Myr Enforcer
3x Etched Champion
2x Pithing Needle
2x Perish
1x Tormod's Crypt
1x Relic of Progenitus
1x Faerie Macabre
3x Cabal Therapy
2x Engineered Explosives
Thanks to Heroes of the Plane Studios for the amazing sig.
NO RUG: Primer
Tempo Thresh: Primer
With SurviBS leaving, would 3 Champions be enough against Zoo? Or does Perish still need a slot? It also works against Thresh. Elves is also semi-solved with Canonist.
I like Tormod's Crypt/Relic/Spellbomb more than Macabre because they also add to the affinity and Plating count and can be eaten by Ravager. Macabre can still be hit with Needle if your opponent is savvy. Although just straight-up playing one and killing them with it and a Plating would be funny
etched champion - this wasn't added to affinity sideboards because of survival. it was added to help against zoo, merfolk, elves, etc.
faerie macabre - i still prefer being able to hit specific cards with a card that can't be bounced with chain of vapors. the non artifact status doesn't really matter, and pithing needle affects crypts/relics too.
perish - the strength of this card as a sideboard choice isn't negated with the banning of survival. NO strategies have been pretty popular together with survival (NO elves/bant control), except that survival overshadowed them. perish also deals well with zoo, bant aggro and threshold.
I kinda agree with chipmunk19 faerie macabre would be good option if opponents has pithing needles as SB which would target your relics and crypts easily.
If Survival is leaving then maybe etched champion has a room for SB.
:symw:Death and Taxes:symw:
:symr:Burn:symr:
Mono Black Control
I experimented with 2 steel overseer and I found that it works pretty well. Putting +1/+1 counters on ornithopters gets scary for your opponents after a few turns, and putting counters on ravager is even crazier. It honestly deserves a spot if your meta contains decks that can make affinity go into the mid/late game stages.
As a side note, I have also found that ethersworn canonist is extremely effective against combo if you can drop it turn 1-2, and as such it earned a spot in my sideboard.
Lastly, if you're facing a meta heavy with mono red burn, put some copies of chill in your sideboard. It won me 3 rounds in the last tournament I played in.
I have Perishes, Pithing Needles, Crypts/Relics/Spellbombs, Chain of Vapors, Duress/Inquisition of Kozilek, Ethersworn Canonists, Etched Champions, Krark-Clan Shamans, Nature's Claims, Krosan Grips, Disenchants, Faerie Macabres, Shattering Sprees, and Pyro/Hydroblasts.
Probably some other stuff, too, that I can't think of off the top of my head. Thanks for any suggestions in advance
I would swap Canonist for Therapy, that way not relying on 4 colors.
You basically have Canonist in ther for combo, but all of the combo decks are fairly well known, so being able to disrupt them on turn 1 is better than playing Canaonist turn 2, IMO.
Plus Therapy can be sided in against control as well, so it's more broad than Canonist.
Thanks to Heroes of the Plane Studios for the amazing sig.
NO RUG: Primer
Tempo Thresh: Primer
Here's my current list:
4x Vault of Whispers
4x Seat of the Synod
4x Great Furnace
3x Darksteel Citadel
Creatures:
4x Memnite
4x Ornithopter
4x Disciple of the Vault
4x Arcbound Ravager
4x Master of Etherium
4x Frogmite
4x Myr Enforcer
4x Mox Opal
3x Springleaf Drum
4x Cranial Plating
Spells:
4x Thoughtcast
2x Shrapnel Blast
4x Annul
4x Extirpate
4x Pithing Needle
3x Engineered Plague
Match 1: ANT. Rough start. Due to an egregious play error on my part (had a Disciple in play and neglected to ping him when he broke his Lotus Petals), lost the first game. Easily won the second game after mulling to 6, and watched my opponent Ad Nauseam himself to death in the third in an effort to raise his storm count.
Match 2: Goblins. My opponent was playing a very bad build. Won the die roll and hooked up an Ornithopter with Cranial Plating early in the first game for an easy win. Boarded in Engineered Plague in game two, but really didn't need it.
Match 3: Eva Green. Affinity loves playing against anything that hurts itself. Had to Shrapnel Blast a Tombstalker in game one to swing for lethal. In game two, got in a few early beats before chewing the board with a Ravager/double Disciple for the kill.
Match 4: Goblins. Just happened to be playing against my boyfriend (with a very good Goblin deck), who I had consistently beaten in testing. Won in three. Lost the first game game due to keeping a decent opening hand, but drawing nothing but mana sources. Won the second by dropping double Engineered Plague by turn four. Won the third with a last-minute double Plating equip on an Ornithopter.
Match 5: Would have been against Dreadstill. I was hungry, so we drew in and I went for a snack.
Moving to top 4:
Match 6: Actually had to play against Dreadstill this time. Managed to win the damage race in the first and third games. In hindsight, probably should have boarded in Annul.
Match 7: Once again, playing against Goblins (same opponent as round 4). Once again, won in three.
Overall notes:
Swapping Shrapnel Blast for Galvanic Blast seems like the thing to do, although Shrapnel Blast can take out a Tombstalker and has a better chance of knocking out a Goyf. Having to pay an extra mana/sac something can be worth it, and interacts better with Disciple. Maybe keep 2x Shrapnel Blast in the sideboard?
Mox Opal is just disgusting. Seriously. Playing a turn one Ravager, chewing the Opal, and playing another Opal to speed out a Disciple is awesome. It also speeds up your game by a whole turn. You can attack with an Ornithopter + Plating combo by turn 2 fairly consistently. Master of Etherium can also be dropped on the second turn instead of the third. Most decks have a very hard time dealing with a 6/6 on turn 2.
Affinity is fast but fragile. I am crediting my success in this tournament to the meta being unprepared. There's a lot of hate available for this deck, and a well-placed Null Rod can ruin your day pretty quick. If you play regularly, this is not the deck for you. But if, like me, you only show up sporadically, it's worth building.
congrats on the top finish a win is a win regardless of what the match-ups were
it's very refreshing to see more and more top results with people using fast affinity. we're certainly one of the easiest decks to hate out so we'll always be on the fringes of any meta game. but in an unknown meta, this would be a good deck to play since most people will prepare for the more popular decks.
my take is you either run shrapnel blast or not at all. galvanic is more consistent and flexible though. i personally just run 4 galvanics without any problems, although some run 2 shrapnels together with their 4 galvanics for even more reach. on your build i would go -1 drum, -1 enforcer, -2 shrapnel, +4 galvanic.