Took the plunge and picked up Affinity on MTGO. Currently 3-0 in a league having beaten Merfolk, Tron, and Abzan. I'll hopefully find the time to finish the league tonight. Playing a very similar list to what is listed above.
Went undefeated with Frenzy Affinity again. Haven't updated my paper list from last week. I lost more games this time, but still took each round. One notable round inparticular was game 2 against Scapeshift. My opponent hit me with Anger of the Gods 4 turns in a row. Each time he killed 4-6 creatures. But I just kept rebuilding because of Frenzy, also lost a Cranial Plating in there somewhere. Eventually he had 2 Primeval Titans on board, to my Frenzy, 2x Blood Moon, 2 Memnites, 2 Ornithopters, and a bunch of mana. I blocked with my Ornithopters and floated some mana blowing up my Frenzy. Untapped, drew my card. Played my last Bomat Courier from my hand, played another Frenzy from my hand, and started playing more off the top. Went through almost my entire deck, there were only two cards left when I hit a Ravager (was digging for it or a plating), then I used that with the Courier to get lethal. In the end I went through 59/60 cards in my deck.
whats the purpose of the single arcbound worker rather than another memnite?
Arcbound Worker is +2 with a Ravager while a Memnite is only +1. This has come up for me several times in getting a lethal swing. My paper deck has 2 Workers in it right now actually.
Probably because you want to be able to cast as many cards as possible once you have an Experimental Frenzy on the board.
I picked up that card earlier when I was playing at FNM, only played a single game but had some fun going from no board state to having 6+ extra creatures / artifacts on the board. You can cast a ton of spells by using the opals and springleaf drums you just "drew" to generate extra mana during that turn. Too bad if you hit 2 lands though.
You are not playing any 3 drops in your main at all, and only 2 overseer and 2 Inkmoths. Have you missed the ability to play a turn 2 overseer as it seems pretty powerful with your strategy of going wide. An unanswered overseer can take over the game in no time.
And whats your reasoning for only 2 Inkmoths? The infect kill is probably valued to high overall, but very potent non the less.
There's just not enough mana available to be playing 3 drops with Frenzy. You need a low curve. I do have several 3 drops in my sideboard, and they do come in from time to time, but hitting 3 drops once Frenzy is down is almost as bad as hitting a land. I don't go for infect kills very often, so far I haven't successfully pulled off a single one if I remember right. The thing is, there's only so many land slots and it's important to make sure you have enough red mana, so that red spells don't constrict you with Frenzy. Using Frenzy optimally demands some level of library manipulation, I do this with Bomat Courier and fetchlands so I need enough things to fetch. Also, with Trophy around I wanted to run more basics. I was pretty set on 4 basics no matter what, and that number has worked well in practice. If you really wanted another Inkmoth, you could probably cut a Mountain for it, but I don't think that's correct. With Blood Moon being a common sideboard card, it also helps to lessen that opportunity cost.
I haven't liked Steel Overseer, if there were good alternatives I would probably completely cut it. Unlike Plating and Ravager, Overseer takes a full turn to do anything. Sometimes it runs away with the game, but of the 3 ways in the deck to hit really hard (Overseer, Ravager, Plating) Overseer is the weakest of them.
Probably because you want to be able to cast as many cards as possible once you have an Experimental Frenzy on the board.
I picked up that card earlier when I was playing at FNM, only played a single game but had some fun going from no board state to having 6+ extra creatures / artifacts on the board. You can cast a ton of spells by using the opals and springleaf drums you just "drew" to generate extra mana during that turn. Too bad if you hit 2 lands though.
With 16 lands, you usually go through a few cards before you hit a second land. There's also a couple fetchlands, so some portion of the time you can shuffle away a land. Also, Bomat Courier can clear the top of the deck and give you a fresh look post combat. I haven't yet finished my league I wrote about before, it's been a busy week. I'll do it this weekend though hopefully. Once that's done, I plan to modify the deck again and add a Smugglers Copter or two in order to work in a little more library manipulation.
Edit: Also, with Frenzy, fetchlands do provide a meaningful amount of thinning (as will Path/Trophy). You go through enough cards in a game, should the opponent manage to not die, that you do start seeing additional cards to continue your Frenzy.
I'm going to try and build something similar since I already have all the cards, and I always love janky robot builds.
What i'm wondering is what your game plan is for games where you don't draw Frenzy and/or don't get to 4 mana? (Although with 24 mana sources this probably shouldn't be a problem?) Having the steel overseers in a game where you don't draw frenzy could be useful.
I'm guessing the standard plan for games with frenzy is:
Cast lots of artifacts until you run out of mana and/or hit Ravager/Plating -> attack with a flyer for lethal?
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Decks - Modern Currently active - Humans - Evolve Zoo
Games without Frenzy aren't much different from any other game. Play creatures and hit the opponent. Since the curve is so low you'll even get a faster start.
This is beyond my experience so I will give no advice. I've formatted it and fixed some things so people can see the cards. And just so you know, Länder is Lands.
Hey Guys,
i found myself in love with Salvage Titan, Illusory Angel and Zahid. So i tried to build a deck around them. It´s my first deck and i want to go on tournaments and FNM´s with it. I hope that u have some good advises for me!
A few people have been playing Frenzy Affinity lately, I've heard about it on a couple streams now and gotten questions from some people playing it in person. So I wanted to give a couple tips on the deck.
First is Bomat Courier. A lot of times it seems like an unassuming card and an easy thing to cut, but it's quietly the glue that holds everything together. When you don't have a Frenzy, due to the curve of the deck, you will quickly empty your hand. In these situations, Bomat generates card advantage. If the opponent has lifelink creatures Bomat is also a good blocker, helping you keep ahead. Where Bomat really shines though is with Frenzy. Not only can you swing with it for library manipulation (now with a known card) but in situations where you're light on board, a Bomat followed by a Plating/Ravager can give you a lot of damage out of nowhere while being less of a strain on your mana than a creature land is, where an activation+swing will take 2 mana out of your Frenzy while Bomat only takes 1.
Next is Steel Overseer. In most Affinity lists, Steel Overseer is the strongest of the two mana bombs. In a Frenzy list that's not true, it's actually the weakest of the trio. The reason for this is that it takes a full turn before it does anything. On a good Frenzy turn you're looking for some board impact right away. Essentially, you take a turn off to Frenzy, and then a turn off to Overseer. One turn for a large impact is ok, but two turns is not. That's why there's only two in the deck, it can be good on a non frenzy hand but you don't want to see too many of them. I've been tinkering with the idea of one of the cards with Affinity in that slot instead but haven't really figured out anything I like yet.
Now, for the sideboard. I want to say up front that I strongly suggest building your own sideboard, don't take just my word for things. But I will say why certain cards are in there, and hopefully give some advice as to what to look for in potential cards.
Etched Champion - It's a tough to deal with threat. Everyone sees where this card is good so I don't need to say much.
Whipflare - Similar situation to Etched Champion, however I don't think you need this in every meta, I find it to only be ok right now rather than great. If you take this out, consider some other form of low mana damage. Additional Galvanic Blasts can be really solid.
Ghirapur Aether Grid - I primarily run this to deal with cards like Ensnaring Bridge, but I've been finding it to not be very good right now. It can probably come out. If you remove it, look for some other way to generate reach.
Legion Loyalist - Tried these out since I'm mono red. They've been all stars. Not being artifacts has been a little annoying, but these are there to deal with go wide strategies and especially Lingering Souls. I suggest only including them when on the play, except against Lingering Souls or random token builds.
Relic of Progenitus - Primarily graveyard hate, but it also serves another purpose. It is also library manipulation with Frenzy.
Pyrite Spellbomb - Removal and library manipulation. Sometimes you will have games without anything great to bring in, and a few cards that you would really like to take out. In those situations cantrip artifacts can be alright to bring in. They get really good once Frenzy comes down. If you find yourself looking for more of this effect, a Chromatic Star or two wouldn't actually be the worst thing in the world (be sure to use Star since you can pull off some tricks with Ravager with it).
Smash to Smithereens - Artifact destruction. I'm not convinced that this card is the right card to be using. Feel free to experiment. You definitely need some though, and you probably want it to cost two in order to best deal with Chalice of the Void.
Throne of Geth - Used to deal with Chalice, and provide some additional utility. If you don't like this, it's pretty interchangable with the types of things you're bringing in Smash for.
Blood Moon - Against a lot of decks I don't like this, but when it's good it's great. Since you're mono red in Frenzy there's not much opportunity cost in your colors, but you do lose access to a few threats. Redundant 3 drops aren't really where you want to be mid Frenzy either (but if your opponent is locked behind a Moon and you have Frenzy, you're already winning). Don't bother with Moon unless your opponent wins on turn 4. If they can do that, you'll want it, but if they can't do that it's a better strategy to just race them.
As someone who faces affinity all the time, how much does grave hate affect the hardened scales build? I am wondering if it's worth siding Leyline of the Void in.
Had my first bad showing with Frenzy tonight at 2-2. The meta ended up preparing quite a bit for Affinity since I was dominant the past two weeks, Frenzy was never bad (minus getting munched in a G1 by Knight of Autumn) but the rest of my cards got hated out pretty hard.
In the frenzy builds I could see going shrapnel blasts over steel overseer, it’s not an artifact but 5 off the top after combat or during blockers is probably enough reach once you’re in frenzy mode
In the frenzy builds I could see going shrapnel blasts over steel overseer, it’s not an artifact but 5 off the top after combat or during blockers is probably enough reach once you’re in frenzy mode
Maxing out Galvanic Blast first would be better if you wanted to use that strategy. The big problem however is in the number of red sources you have available. You want to make sure that you don't get gated on the cards you can play because of not having colored mana. Since many of the sideboard cards are red, this becomes a big concern postboard and in G1's you would rather have the creatures.
In the frenzy builds I could see going shrapnel blasts over steel overseer, it’s not an artifact but 5 off the top after combat or during blockers is probably enough reach once you’re in frenzy mode
In the frenzy builds I could see going shrapnel blasts over steel overseer, it’s not an artifact but 5 off the top after combat or during blockers is probably enough reach once you’re in frenzy mode
Experimental Frenzy is an interesting spice but I don't think it is really something that the deck works well with. Shrapnel Blast does not cut the overall value that Steel Overseer has. Another thing about Experimental Frenzy is that it is a 4 drop. On turn four, you should either be winning or close to death. The best 4 drop for Affinity if my personal opinion is Hazoret the Fervent. By then your hand should be empty and swinging an indestructible 5/4 with haste is really strong.
The current best 4-drops are probably Karn, Scion of Urza followed by The Antiquities War. Hazoret shows far less synergy in my opinion.
So here is my actual situation: there will be a Team Trios event next Saturday, and I'll be the Modern player. I plan to bring Affinity due to my expectations towards those net-deckers bringing top-tiered decks with GY and Tron hate - thereby creating a softspot for aggressive robots.
Here is my current list for reference:
I am quite convinced that the maindeck is 99% stuck, though my SB changes frequently.
I am happy about any criticism or hints and suggestions what anyone here would guess about a better 75 for a Team Trios, and any thoughts towards decks to expect there.
Last year I was the Legacy player with Big Eldrazi / Legend MUD and my team back then reached 2nd place - so I have quite some high hopes for this one.
I finished 2-4, my team 3-3. I met lots of Combo and had overall just bad openers. I mulliganed at least once in every game I remember, and then still had slow hands.
I think the deck is a good choice if you expect a meta like on Magic Online. In my case, that was wrong.
So a while back I tried making a "pure" affinity deck using Frogmite and Myr Enforcer along with Bomat courier.
Whilst the deck was fun and had explosive starts, it was easy to disrupt and ran out of steam quickly. It also lost to itself if you drew a bad starting hand.
So, with the printing of Experimental Frenzy I tried working the card into a traditional affinity deck alongside Cranial Plating and Steel Overseer, however the deck proved to be a little disappointing. The problem with Frenzy was both it's expense and the difficulty of topdecking either two lands or many expensive cards in a row.
Thinking about how to reduce both mana costs and lands without sacrificing the decks power led me to this deck. The idea is simple, play super fast aggro and use Experimental Frenzy as Plan B to resupply cards and win games that stretch a long time. The most important feature of the deck is the lack of Cranial Plating and the inclusion of Reckless Bushwhacker. This is based on the idea of trying to maximize both damage and speed at the same time, whilst Plating is an amazing card Bushwhacker effectively lets us attack an entire turn earlier.
The choice of 3 Bushwhackers and 3 Myr Enforcers is because although they are powerful cards, drawing two in the starting hand actually slows us down.
The choice of 14 lands is a little arbitrary, low lands is great for Frenzy but Frenzy itself is an expensive card and requires us to get to 4 mana, the deck also relies on casting as many artifacts as possible as quickly as possible, therefore we don't want more than 2 lands in our starting hand, and in fact 1 land plus Mox Opal is probably the ideal draw. Thus the deck as it stands has 22 mana sources, which feels about right.
Overall 3 - 0
Obviously I'm very happy with this result, I had never expected the deck to do so well. Testing had shown me that it's possible to draw a T3 kill but also that it's possible to draw a hand with no lands or a hand with too many, either of which means we have to mulligan. It should be noted that this decks does NOT mulligan well. Mulliganing doesn't just cost us a card but also reduces the effectiveness of all our other cards depending on either the Metalcraft or the Affinity mechanic.
KCI 2 - 0
Not much to say, both games were a matter of trying to race the combo. Sideboarded out Fenzy and brought in Crypt and Relic since if the game is going long enough for us to cast Frenzy then we are probably going to lose to the KCI combo.
Valakut 2 - 1
Game one I manage to attack fast enough to secure the win. Sideboard out Frenzy again since this is a combo race. Brought in Spell Pierce and one Tormods Crypt simply because I want a fast start.
Game two he wipes the board with Anger of the Gods then follows up with Scapeshift for the win.
Game three I manage to apply early pressure until he casts Anger again, luckily I kept a mana up for Spell Pierce. Unfortunately he top decks another one next turn, however I bought myself an extra turn to attack which means he is on very low health. A few top decks later I close out the win with a Memnite and Blinkmoth.
GB Rock 2 - 1
Game 1 was pretty brutal. I kept a no land hand because it had enough 0 mana artifacts to enable metalcraft on Opal, and would have let me play out the hand by turn two. He's on the play and using inquisition to take my Ornithopter... meaning that I have a do nothing hand. He lands multiple Liliana's and secures the win.
Game 2 I'm on the play, and although I don't have an amazing hand multiple Signal Pest let me get through enough early damage.
Game 3 I have another mediocre hand, however Bushwhacker and Contested War Zone let me keep the pressure on. Later he lands a languish to kill my robots, but Blinkmoth together with Contested War Zone let me close out the game.
Conclusions
The real crux of the deck is having a payoff card in the form of either Reckless Bushwhacker, Signal Pest or Contested War Zone. Without these cards you are stuck playing and topdecking thopters and memnites and the clock is way too slow. Having one or two of them however let you attack crazy fast. Bushwhacker lets you hit hard for 6 to 10 as early as turn 2, if you can follow that up then the opponent is playing defensive for the rest of the game.
I had some good hands and some slow hands, but didn't get any of the goldfish killer hands I found when testing the deck. I had to mulligan multiple times when I drew a no land hand.
This is the best I've ever done at my local FNM, and I've played with all sorts of decks such as Spirits, Mardu, and Craggwick Cremator. My FNM is very competitive and you are likely to see only top tier decks on any one night. I had previously thought this deck was a bunch of fun jankness and had expected to go 1-2 or 0-3 as I have done with other decks. The 3-0 result is very surprising...
Is this deck actually good? Maybe, but it certainly is a blast to play
It's a week on and I thought I'd give the deck another go since we did so well last week. I honestly can't believe we got straight wins again, the deck did well but at the same time we had some very lucky games. That being said we also had some bad matchups (we also lost the roll for first play in every match, which is pretty detrimental for this deck) so the fact that we pulled through shows me that this deck actually has some serious staying power.
Humans 2 - 0
Game 1: was incredibly close. He was on the play and put down some serious aggro with Mantis Rider. My hand had played out slow due to limited mana sources, but held many signal pest. He swings and I decide not to block, putting me at 2. He has 18 health and thanks to double Mantis rider has two blockers available. I play frogmite into Bushwhacker, I already have ornithopter, frogmite and three signal pest on the board giving all attacking creatures +4 this turn. He blocks the three highest dmg but that leaves exactly 18 to go through for lethal.
Game 2: I keep a slower hand with some control spells. I keep him off balance until I draw Frenzy, after that I overwhelm the board with artifacts in two turns and that's game.
Red Prison 2 - 1
This is a terrible matchup in my opinion, chalice completely shuts down the deck and Anger prevents us from getting too much traction.
Game 1: I simply happen to have the aggro game going, he plays Chalice later but I already have my cheap artifacts down and secure the win.
Game 2: he plays Chalice turn 1 before I have an opportunity to play, I have 3 0 mana's in my hand. After a few turns I concede the game.
Game 3: Crazy close game. He gets Chalice down on one, but a turn too late. He controls the board until I get Frenzy down and play some cards. He plays bridge with 0 cards in hand and has an Eidolon of the Revel on the board preventing me from attacking or playing any cards. I know that under the Frenzy I have one artifact removal spell in hand so eventually I decide to destroy Frenzy to get the cards back. Destroying the bridge and getting some creatures out leaves me at exactly 1 life. He sacs his Chandra for her ultimate Emblem (deal 5 whenever you cast a spell). Due to Eidolon my clock is slow needing at least 2 turns to kill. He draws land two turns in a row. My face ->
Thopter Sword Combo 2 - 1
Game 1: Average hand puts some fast pressure on him for a turn 4 win, he tells me he could of used KCI to infinite combo next turn. Too bad for him.
Game 2: He gets the thopter foundry online and simply outvalues me by gaining 4+ thopters a turn.
Game 3: I keep a very slow hand because it has some control. Spell Pierce keeps him off opal on turn one, Smash to Smithereens gets rid of his Foundry (although he sacced it to itself to prevent taking dmg...). I land some Bushwhackers but only have ornithopter and signal pest on board to make use of it, he uses fatal push to stop me getting too much damage through. I draw into 2 Contested war zones allowing me to double pump on a turn for enough damage to close out the win.
Conclusions
Well I can't say this deck is going to be appearing in any GP's soon but... this is the most successful I've ever been at FNM, and for two weeks running now too. Yes I had some luck with my opponents getting bad draws etc, but I didn't win any rolls either, and playing first is very important for this deck. The matchups also have not been in my favour; Humans and prison can completely stonewall this deck if they get the right cards out.
The reason we didn't straight up lose in these matches is Experimental Frenzy. Yes it lets us get out some creatures, but it also lets us dig for important cards such as artifact destruction. That being said, it kinda sucks to play out your mana and see the spell you need on top of the deck knowing that next turn it will be placed into the hand and thus be unavailable. At some point it's worth while to sac the Frenzy and get back those key cards.
Contested War Zone has been a clutch card in getting enough damage out to close the game. Spell Pierce has also been crucial in all these game, havn't had much chance to use sideboard cards like Legion Loyalist but potentially it can give us reach in heavy creature / token matchups. The big problem with side boarding is choosing to balance how many cards to bring in. Generally speaking sidebaording slows down our primary goal of clocking the opponent quickly, so we don't want to oversideboard if it's going to stop us getting a fast win.
My conclusion is this deck has some serious legs, janky as it may look, it has the possibility of explosives starts and inevitability if you can cast Frenzy. I'm gonna keep testing it but I'd love for someone else to pick it up and give me some feedback. I wan't to know if I've just been getting lucky or if I've stumbled upon a real game changing deck here.
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
2 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Mountain
2 Bloodstained Mire
Creatures 26
4 Ornithopter
3 Memnite
1 Arcbound Worker
4 Bomat Courier
4 Vault Skirge
4 Signal Pest
2 Steel Overseer
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Cranial Plating
4 Mox Opal
4 Springleaf Drum
1 Welding Jar
2 Galvanic Blast
3 Experimental Frenzy
2 Etched Champion
3 Whipflare
1 Ghirapur Aether Grid
2 Legion Loyalist
3 Relic of Progenitus
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
1 Smash to Smithereens
2 Throne of Geth
Frenzy is really really good.
whats the purpose of the single arcbound worker rather than another memnite?
Currently active
Arcbound Worker is +2 with a Ravager while a Memnite is only +1. This has come up for me several times in getting a lethal swing. My paper deck has 2 Workers in it right now actually.
I picked up that card earlier when I was playing at FNM, only played a single game but had some fun going from no board state to having 6+ extra creatures / artifacts on the board. You can cast a ton of spells by using the opals and springleaf drums you just "drew" to generate extra mana during that turn. Too bad if you hit 2 lands though.
Currently active
There's just not enough mana available to be playing 3 drops with Frenzy. You need a low curve. I do have several 3 drops in my sideboard, and they do come in from time to time, but hitting 3 drops once Frenzy is down is almost as bad as hitting a land. I don't go for infect kills very often, so far I haven't successfully pulled off a single one if I remember right. The thing is, there's only so many land slots and it's important to make sure you have enough red mana, so that red spells don't constrict you with Frenzy. Using Frenzy optimally demands some level of library manipulation, I do this with Bomat Courier and fetchlands so I need enough things to fetch. Also, with Trophy around I wanted to run more basics. I was pretty set on 4 basics no matter what, and that number has worked well in practice. If you really wanted another Inkmoth, you could probably cut a Mountain for it, but I don't think that's correct. With Blood Moon being a common sideboard card, it also helps to lessen that opportunity cost.
I haven't liked Steel Overseer, if there were good alternatives I would probably completely cut it. Unlike Plating and Ravager, Overseer takes a full turn to do anything. Sometimes it runs away with the game, but of the 3 ways in the deck to hit really hard (Overseer, Ravager, Plating) Overseer is the weakest of them.
With 16 lands, you usually go through a few cards before you hit a second land. There's also a couple fetchlands, so some portion of the time you can shuffle away a land. Also, Bomat Courier can clear the top of the deck and give you a fresh look post combat. I haven't yet finished my league I wrote about before, it's been a busy week. I'll do it this weekend though hopefully. Once that's done, I plan to modify the deck again and add a Smugglers Copter or two in order to work in a little more library manipulation.
Edit: Also, with Frenzy, fetchlands do provide a meaningful amount of thinning (as will Path/Trophy). You go through enough cards in a game, should the opponent manage to not die, that you do start seeing additional cards to continue your Frenzy.
What i'm wondering is what your game plan is for games where you don't draw Frenzy and/or don't get to 4 mana? (Although with 24 mana sources this probably shouldn't be a problem?) Having the steel overseers in a game where you don't draw frenzy could be useful.
I'm guessing the standard plan for games with frenzy is:
Cast lots of artifacts until you run out of mana and/or hit Ravager/Plating -> attack with a flyer for lethal?
Currently active
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
First is Bomat Courier. A lot of times it seems like an unassuming card and an easy thing to cut, but it's quietly the glue that holds everything together. When you don't have a Frenzy, due to the curve of the deck, you will quickly empty your hand. In these situations, Bomat generates card advantage. If the opponent has lifelink creatures Bomat is also a good blocker, helping you keep ahead. Where Bomat really shines though is with Frenzy. Not only can you swing with it for library manipulation (now with a known card) but in situations where you're light on board, a Bomat followed by a Plating/Ravager can give you a lot of damage out of nowhere while being less of a strain on your mana than a creature land is, where an activation+swing will take 2 mana out of your Frenzy while Bomat only takes 1.
Next is Steel Overseer. In most Affinity lists, Steel Overseer is the strongest of the two mana bombs. In a Frenzy list that's not true, it's actually the weakest of the trio. The reason for this is that it takes a full turn before it does anything. On a good Frenzy turn you're looking for some board impact right away. Essentially, you take a turn off to Frenzy, and then a turn off to Overseer. One turn for a large impact is ok, but two turns is not. That's why there's only two in the deck, it can be good on a non frenzy hand but you don't want to see too many of them. I've been tinkering with the idea of one of the cards with Affinity in that slot instead but haven't really figured out anything I like yet.
Now, for the sideboard. I want to say up front that I strongly suggest building your own sideboard, don't take just my word for things. But I will say why certain cards are in there, and hopefully give some advice as to what to look for in potential cards.
Etched Champion - It's a tough to deal with threat. Everyone sees where this card is good so I don't need to say much.
Whipflare - Similar situation to Etched Champion, however I don't think you need this in every meta, I find it to only be ok right now rather than great. If you take this out, consider some other form of low mana damage. Additional Galvanic Blasts can be really solid.
Ghirapur Aether Grid - I primarily run this to deal with cards like Ensnaring Bridge, but I've been finding it to not be very good right now. It can probably come out. If you remove it, look for some other way to generate reach.
Legion Loyalist - Tried these out since I'm mono red. They've been all stars. Not being artifacts has been a little annoying, but these are there to deal with go wide strategies and especially Lingering Souls. I suggest only including them when on the play, except against Lingering Souls or random token builds.
Relic of Progenitus - Primarily graveyard hate, but it also serves another purpose. It is also library manipulation with Frenzy.
Pyrite Spellbomb - Removal and library manipulation. Sometimes you will have games without anything great to bring in, and a few cards that you would really like to take out. In those situations cantrip artifacts can be alright to bring in. They get really good once Frenzy comes down. If you find yourself looking for more of this effect, a Chromatic Star or two wouldn't actually be the worst thing in the world (be sure to use Star since you can pull off some tricks with Ravager with it).
Smash to Smithereens - Artifact destruction. I'm not convinced that this card is the right card to be using. Feel free to experiment. You definitely need some though, and you probably want it to cost two in order to best deal with Chalice of the Void.
Throne of Geth - Used to deal with Chalice, and provide some additional utility. If you don't like this, it's pretty interchangable with the types of things you're bringing in Smash for.
Blood Moon - Against a lot of decks I don't like this, but when it's good it's great. Since you're mono red in Frenzy there's not much opportunity cost in your colors, but you do lose access to a few threats. Redundant 3 drops aren't really where you want to be mid Frenzy either (but if your opponent is locked behind a Moon and you have Frenzy, you're already winning). Don't bother with Moon unless your opponent wins on turn 4. If they can do that, you'll want it, but if they can't do that it's a better strategy to just race them.
Maxing out Galvanic Blast first would be better if you wanted to use that strategy. The big problem however is in the number of red sources you have available. You want to make sure that you don't get gated on the cards you can play because of not having colored mana. Since many of the sideboard cards are red, this becomes a big concern postboard and in G1's you would rather have the creatures.
I tried a couple copies of Shrapnel Blast and it never felt good. Never. I'm not sure Experimental Frenzy is going to change that.
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
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StaffExperimental Frenzy is an interesting spice but I don't think it is really something that the deck works well with. Shrapnel Blast does not cut the overall value that Steel Overseer has. Another thing about Experimental Frenzy is that it is a 4 drop. On turn four, you should either be winning or close to death. The best 4 drop for Affinity if my personal opinion is Hazoret the Fervent. By then your hand should be empty and swinging an indestructible 5/4 with haste is really strong.
So here is my actual situation: there will be a Team Trios event next Saturday, and I'll be the Modern player. I plan to bring Affinity due to my expectations towards those net-deckers bringing top-tiered decks with GY and Tron hate - thereby creating a softspot for aggressive robots.
Here is my current list for reference:
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
3 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Darksteel Citadel
3 Spire of Industry
1 Glimmervoid
1 Island
[Creatures]
4 Ornithopter
3 Memnite
4 Signal Pest
3 Vault Skirge
1 Hope of Ghirapur
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Steel Overseer
4 Master of Etherium
4 Mox Opal
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Cranial Plating
[Spells]
3 Thoughtcast
2 Karn, Scion of Urza
2 Thoughtseize
1 Shaper's Sanctuary
2 Wear // Tear
2 Rest in Peace
2 Ghirapur Aether Grid
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Damping Sphere
2 Etched Champion
I am quite convinced that the maindeck is 99% stuck, though my SB changes frequently.
I am happy about any criticism or hints and suggestions what anyone here would guess about a better 75 for a Team Trios, and any thoughts towards decks to expect there.
Last year I was the Legacy player with Big Eldrazi / Legend MUD and my team back then reached 2nd place - so I have quite some high hopes for this one.
Thanks in advance and greetings
I think the deck is a good choice if you expect a meta like on Magic Online. In my case, that was wrong.
Greetings
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
3 Contested War Zone
1 Mountain
4 Darksteel Citadel
2 Spire of Industry
Creatures (30)
4 Bomat Courier
4 Frogmite
4 Memnite
3 Myr Enforcer
4 Ornithopter
3 Reckless Bushwhacker
4 Signal Pest
4 Vault Skirge
3 Experimental Frenzy
Instants (2)
2 Galvanic Blast
Artifacts (11)
4 Mox Opal
4 Springleaf Drum
3 Welding Jar
2 Legion Loyalist
2 Ghirapur Aether Grid
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Tormod's Crypt
1 Dispatch
2 Smash to Smithereens
2 Spell Pierce
1 Wear//Tear
2 Whipflare
FNM Report
Preface
So a while back I tried making a "pure" affinity deck using Frogmite and Myr Enforcer along with Bomat courier.
Whilst the deck was fun and had explosive starts, it was easy to disrupt and ran out of steam quickly. It also lost to itself if you drew a bad starting hand.
So, with the printing of Experimental Frenzy I tried working the card into a traditional affinity deck alongside Cranial Plating and Steel Overseer, however the deck proved to be a little disappointing. The problem with Frenzy was both it's expense and the difficulty of topdecking either two lands or many expensive cards in a row.
Thinking about how to reduce both mana costs and lands without sacrificing the decks power led me to this deck. The idea is simple, play super fast aggro and use Experimental Frenzy as Plan B to resupply cards and win games that stretch a long time. The most important feature of the deck is the lack of Cranial Plating and the inclusion of Reckless Bushwhacker. This is based on the idea of trying to maximize both damage and speed at the same time, whilst Plating is an amazing card Bushwhacker effectively lets us attack an entire turn earlier.
The choice of 3 Bushwhackers and 3 Myr Enforcers is because although they are powerful cards, drawing two in the starting hand actually slows us down.
The choice of 14 lands is a little arbitrary, low lands is great for Frenzy but Frenzy itself is an expensive card and requires us to get to 4 mana, the deck also relies on casting as many artifacts as possible as quickly as possible, therefore we don't want more than 2 lands in our starting hand, and in fact 1 land plus Mox Opal is probably the ideal draw. Thus the deck as it stands has 22 mana sources, which feels about right.
Overall 3 - 0
Obviously I'm very happy with this result, I had never expected the deck to do so well. Testing had shown me that it's possible to draw a T3 kill but also that it's possible to draw a hand with no lands or a hand with too many, either of which means we have to mulligan. It should be noted that this decks does NOT mulligan well. Mulliganing doesn't just cost us a card but also reduces the effectiveness of all our other cards depending on either the Metalcraft or the Affinity mechanic.
KCI 2 - 0
Not much to say, both games were a matter of trying to race the combo. Sideboarded out Fenzy and brought in Crypt and Relic since if the game is going long enough for us to cast Frenzy then we are probably going to lose to the KCI combo.
Valakut 2 - 1
Game one I manage to attack fast enough to secure the win. Sideboard out Frenzy again since this is a combo race. Brought in Spell Pierce and one Tormods Crypt simply because I want a fast start.
Game two he wipes the board with Anger of the Gods then follows up with Scapeshift for the win.
Game three I manage to apply early pressure until he casts Anger again, luckily I kept a mana up for Spell Pierce. Unfortunately he top decks another one next turn, however I bought myself an extra turn to attack which means he is on very low health. A few top decks later I close out the win with a Memnite and Blinkmoth.
GB Rock 2 - 1
Game 1 was pretty brutal. I kept a no land hand because it had enough 0 mana artifacts to enable metalcraft on Opal, and would have let me play out the hand by turn two. He's on the play and using inquisition to take my Ornithopter... meaning that I have a do nothing hand. He lands multiple Liliana's and secures the win.
Note: Liliana the Last Hope is just SUPER bad for this deck.
Game 2 I'm on the play, and although I don't have an amazing hand multiple Signal Pest let me get through enough early damage.
Game 3 I have another mediocre hand, however Bushwhacker and Contested War Zone let me keep the pressure on. Later he lands a languish to kill my robots, but Blinkmoth together with Contested War Zone let me close out the game.
Conclusions
The real crux of the deck is having a payoff card in the form of either Reckless Bushwhacker, Signal Pest or Contested War Zone. Without these cards you are stuck playing and topdecking thopters and memnites and the clock is way too slow. Having one or two of them however let you attack crazy fast. Bushwhacker lets you hit hard for 6 to 10 as early as turn 2, if you can follow that up then the opponent is playing defensive for the rest of the game.
I had some good hands and some slow hands, but didn't get any of the goldfish killer hands I found when testing the deck. I had to mulligan multiple times when I drew a no land hand.
This is the best I've ever done at my local FNM, and I've played with all sorts of decks such as Spirits, Mardu, and Craggwick Cremator. My FNM is very competitive and you are likely to see only top tier decks on any one night. I had previously thought this deck was a bunch of fun jankness and had expected to go 1-2 or 0-3 as I have done with other decks. The 3-0 result is very surprising...
Is this deck actually good? Maybe, but it certainly is a blast to play
Currently active
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
3 Contested War Zone
1 Mountain
4 Darksteel Citadel
2 Spire of Industry
Creatures (30)
4 Bomat Courier
4 Frogmite
4 Memnite
3 Myr Enforcer
4 Ornithopter
3 Reckless Bushwhacker
4 Signal Pest
4 Vault Skirge
3 Experimental Frenzy
Instants (2)
2 Galvanic Blast
Artifacts (11)
4 Mox Opal
4 Springleaf Drum
3 Welding Jar
2 Legion Loyalist
2 Ghirapur Aether Grid
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Tormod's Crypt
1 Dispatch
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Smash to Smithereens
2 Spell Pierce
1 Wear//Tear
1 Whipflare
FNM Report
Overall 3 - 0
It's a week on and I thought I'd give the deck another go since we did so well last week. I honestly can't believe we got straight wins again, the deck did well but at the same time we had some very lucky games. That being said we also had some bad matchups (we also lost the roll for first play in every match, which is pretty detrimental for this deck) so the fact that we pulled through shows me that this deck actually has some serious staying power.
Humans 2 - 0
Game 1: was incredibly close. He was on the play and put down some serious aggro with Mantis Rider. My hand had played out slow due to limited mana sources, but held many signal pest. He swings and I decide not to block, putting me at 2. He has 18 health and thanks to double Mantis rider has two blockers available. I play frogmite into Bushwhacker, I already have ornithopter, frogmite and three signal pest on the board giving all attacking creatures +4 this turn. He blocks the three highest dmg but that leaves exactly 18 to go through for lethal.
Game 2: I keep a slower hand with some control spells. I keep him off balance until I draw Frenzy, after that I overwhelm the board with artifacts in two turns and that's game.
Red Prison 2 - 1
This is a terrible matchup in my opinion, chalice completely shuts down the deck and Anger prevents us from getting too much traction.
Game 1: I simply happen to have the aggro game going, he plays Chalice later but I already have my cheap artifacts down and secure the win.
Game 2: he plays Chalice turn 1 before I have an opportunity to play, I have 3 0 mana's in my hand. After a few turns I concede the game.
Game 3: Crazy close game. He gets Chalice down on one, but a turn too late. He controls the board until I get Frenzy down and play some cards. He plays bridge with 0 cards in hand and has an Eidolon of the Revel on the board preventing me from attacking or playing any cards. I know that under the Frenzy I have one artifact removal spell in hand so eventually I decide to destroy Frenzy to get the cards back. Destroying the bridge and getting some creatures out leaves me at exactly 1 life. He sacs his Chandra for her ultimate Emblem (deal 5 whenever you cast a spell). Due to Eidolon my clock is slow needing at least 2 turns to kill. He draws land two turns in a row. My face ->
Thopter Sword Combo 2 - 1
Game 1: Average hand puts some fast pressure on him for a turn 4 win, he tells me he could of used KCI to infinite combo next turn. Too bad for him.
Game 2: He gets the thopter foundry online and simply outvalues me by gaining 4+ thopters a turn.
Game 3: I keep a very slow hand because it has some control. Spell Pierce keeps him off opal on turn one, Smash to Smithereens gets rid of his Foundry (although he sacced it to itself to prevent taking dmg...). I land some Bushwhackers but only have ornithopter and signal pest on board to make use of it, he uses fatal push to stop me getting too much damage through. I draw into 2 Contested war zones allowing me to double pump on a turn for enough damage to close out the win.
Conclusions
Well I can't say this deck is going to be appearing in any GP's soon but... this is the most successful I've ever been at FNM, and for two weeks running now too. Yes I had some luck with my opponents getting bad draws etc, but I didn't win any rolls either, and playing first is very important for this deck. The matchups also have not been in my favour; Humans and prison can completely stonewall this deck if they get the right cards out.
The reason we didn't straight up lose in these matches is Experimental Frenzy. Yes it lets us get out some creatures, but it also lets us dig for important cards such as artifact destruction. That being said, it kinda sucks to play out your mana and see the spell you need on top of the deck knowing that next turn it will be placed into the hand and thus be unavailable. At some point it's worth while to sac the Frenzy and get back those key cards.
Contested War Zone has been a clutch card in getting enough damage out to close the game. Spell Pierce has also been crucial in all these game, havn't had much chance to use sideboard cards like Legion Loyalist but potentially it can give us reach in heavy creature / token matchups. The big problem with side boarding is choosing to balance how many cards to bring in. Generally speaking sidebaording slows down our primary goal of clocking the opponent quickly, so we don't want to oversideboard if it's going to stop us getting a fast win.
My conclusion is this deck has some serious legs, janky as it may look, it has the possibility of explosives starts and inevitability if you can cast Frenzy. I'm gonna keep testing it but I'd love for someone else to pick it up and give me some feedback. I wan't to know if I've just been getting lucky or if I've stumbled upon a real game changing deck here.
Currently active