MTG Salvation

First pptq with the deck, list: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/31-07-16-HQL-affinity/

2-1 Burn
2-1 Infect
1-2 Jeskai Nahiri
2-0 Jeskai Nahiri
1-2 GW Hatebears
0-2 Kiki-Chord

3-3, but at least they handed out some small prizes to the top 16 (34 people total).


Don't remember much from the games; stony silence hurt and kataki + stony = gg. Hatebears and kiki-chord felt beatable, but I had some slow starts and was punished by sideboard hate pretty hard. Had Ghirapur Aether Grid as my anti-stony silence tech, but I never drew it. Thoughtcast was easily the most useless card as it's too inefficient if you play it for more than and I think it would have been better as a 4th Galvanic Blast. I was one of only 2 affinity players, so the recall in the sideboard was a pretty bad attempt at metagaming. No dredge showed up either, so I never brought in cage, although in retrospect I could've brought it in against Jeskai.

Does anyone have tips for the chord decks (Abzan, Kiki)? I feel like they can just tutor for any piece of hate on a whim. Not that the match is 100% in their favor, but it feels pretty close to that.

whats the gameplan against dredge?

Going back to 16 lands but bumping memnite back up to 4. Deck works like a charm now. Thoughtcast is super good now too, the deck actually plays like an affinity deck.

against dredge, idk, race them and try to hit the sideboard in games 2 and 3.

i still don't like etched champion (mainboard). its just a 2/2. would rather pressure them with a master of etherium.

Against abzan chord with the infinite combo? Yes. Against kiki-chord I did not. I made the mistake of running only 1 whipflare, and never saw either of my two aether grids.

Hi everyone! I'm fairly new to the Affinity thread but have been lurking around the forums for quite awhile now. I've been playing quite a bit of Affinity on XMage, and have decided that I'm going to pick it up in paper. I was recommended the following list by a friend who has played Affinity for quite a bit longer than me, and I just wanted to get some additional feedback on it before I pull the trigger and pick up the deck.



Any comments and criticism on the list are welcome!

Welcome to the robots! List looks good! All fairly standard and time-tested stuff in the mainboard. I'd probably cut a blood moon for another whipflare. As bad as tokens is of a MU, i'd probably cut the illness in the ranks, too (since you'll be covered by the second flare) and the torpor orb (less relevant since twin's banning) and put in two grafdigger's cages. Works against CoCo decks and non-living end graveyard shenanigans, namely dredge. Some people try rest in peace for grave hate, but that's a non-bo with arcbound's modular ability. Hope that helped some, but be sure to tune to your meta- everywhere is different!

I'm also looking at affinity, and have been using a Frank Karsten series from after the last modern PT. Everything is still true, except some number of master of etherium can be swapped for etched champion, and you can use one of the flex slots for a fifth three drop. Also, why not cut a memnite for a welding jar in the main?

main deck: http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/modern-affinity-deck-guide-the-main-deck/
sideboard cards: http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/building-the-perfect-affinity-sideboard/
match ups: http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/affinity-sideboard-guide/

First off, welcome. You'll enjoy yhat deck too much.
Second, in my experience that base list is good and that is what you'll usually play with. The changes I would make are more of an expansion thing to the deck, in other words sideboard mostly. I like, like LinkFake said, a Welding Jar in the main, it has belped me out in many situations. I also consider having a seecon Ghirapur Aether Grid as a good isdea, specially for all the artifact hate you will face with white (a.k.a. Stony Silence). Graveyard hate has now become necessary too, so a well timed Relic of Progenitus can be helpful too. I have in my binder an extra section for my sideboard cards so I can adapt to the meta, because the build of your deck will depend soooo much on what people play in your area. I got, for example, a lot of Green Stompy in mine, so I always have some Dismemeber and or Shrapnel ablast at hand, but they are not a must.
What I would say is that you buy the list as it is minus the Ilness maybe and then expamd with time a bit further the SB cards according to your meta.
Have fun!

Quote from StubbsMcAwesome »

Welcome to the robots! List looks good! All fairly standard and time-tested stuff in the mainboard. I'd probably cut a blood moon for another whipflare. As bad as tokens is of a MU, i'd probably cut the illness in the ranks, too (since you'll be covered by the second flare) and the torpor orb (less relevant since twin's banning) and put in two grafdigger's cages. Works against CoCo decks and non-living end graveyard shenanigans, namely dredge. Some people try rest in peace for grave hate, but that's a non-bo with arcbound's modular ability. Hope that helped some, but be sure to tune to your meta- everywhere is different!

Thanks! That was definitely helpful. My local meta has a good amount of BW tokens/other small stuff decks, so I was already pondering the switch of a Blood Moon over to a second Whipflare. I hadn't thought of the grafdigger's cages but they definitely seem like a good option in regards to Dredge and CoCo, both of which I'm assuming will be in my meta shortly.

@qwerqsar - Thanks! I'm pretty excited to pick up Affinity. Having something other than Storm to play will be nice! I'm definitely going to take your advice on having a page in my binder dedicated to extra sideboard options in case I need to swap them in. Not something I've thought about before but definitely a good idea!

Steel overseer slower, but his ability gets out of hand insanely fast if he sticks (don't forget that the counters will stay on blink/inkmoth). Thoughtcast vs blast seems hotly debated, but blast in my experience has been far superior. I would also run a basic land to get value from path/ghost quarter. Lastly, aether grid is a much better answer to stony silence then wear // tear, since you have to have W up the turn before they cast it or you have to cast it off glimmervoid, or city of brass in your case.

The only question in my mind about Ghirapur Æther Grid in the side-board is how many? I had two last time out and I'm pretty sure I'm going up to three.

That said, one still needs colored mana to cast it. That can be tough under Stony Silence. If one has a Mountain as I do, it's still just one card and there are no means of searching for it under one's own control. Maybe one's opponent will be kind and use Path to Exile to help out but one shouldn't count on it.

I know it's possible to get Grid on-line before Stony lands, but Stony is lower on the curve and one should plan on being on the draw game-two.

It's a lot easier to cast aether grid before stony hits than to always have mana up for tear. Also, most lists run 1-2 thoughtseize to grab stony before it hits. Posted links to a series of articles a few days ago that break down all the card choices and sideboarding.

GP Indy top 8 in, 2 affinity lists. Results here.

Great write-up, congrats on the finish! W/ moving etched MB, do you think you'd bring both and to a 3/3 split with MoE, or still keep one in the side?

Has anyone tested shrapnel blast ?

Quote from imaginarypuppets »

Has anyone tested shrapnel blast ?

Yes, I've been on four Galvanic Blasts and two Shrapnel Blasts for a while now. I think I haven't pulled the Shrapnel Blasts out due to laziness; I'm never happy to see it and I usually side it out first. I'm very tempted to swap them out for Lightning Bolts.

So last night i finally got to play affinity at my wednesday night modern for the first time and I'm hooked! Went 3-1 losing to RG Tron. All i have to say is that i love the synergy of the deck and it fits my play style very well. I'll be building this deck asap. The many lines this deck can take does make it a challenge to pilot but just makes me want to learn the ins and outs.

So that happened.

I personally think this has a better home in my Lantern Prison deck though. 8D

How is this making your manabase worse? You either include it as the 17th land, or in 17 land versions cut a Glimmervoid, which has been shown time and again works fine for Sea Gate Wreckage (or a Sea Gate Wreckage itself if you were playing that). For 1 more than Wreckage, it finds a Plating or a Ravager for that final oomph to push in the last points of damage when the board begins to stall and you start to lose tempo. It also brings silver bullets like Etched Champion or Grafdigger's Cage and Ethersworn Canonist from the board. Early game it still gives mana and gains you life. It's an uncounterable, instant tutor ability on a Land in a format where tutors are scarce.

I agree with zephyr. This card looks pretty sweet, and you have about a 65% chance of activating it on turn 5 and 75% on 6 (on the play.) I haven't drawn sea gate wreckage much, but finding what you need seems better when they have tarmogoyf or restoration angel to trump the small creatures. Plus, it pads the advantage against burn and random aggro decks, and can act as a second copy of a sideboard card without diluting the deck. Could this replace wreckage in the board?

Quote from Zephyr Scarlet »

How is this making your manabase worse? You either include it as the 17th land, or in 17 land versions cut a Glimmervoid, which has been shown time and again works fine for Sea Gate Wreckage (or a Sea Gate Wreckage itself if you were playing that). For 1 more than Wreckage, it finds a Plating or a Ravager for that final oomph to push in the last points of damage when the board begins to stall and you start to lose tempo. It also brings silver bullets like Etched Champion or Grafdigger's Cage and Ethersworn Canonist from the board. Early game it still gives mana and gains you life. It's an uncounterable, instant tutor ability on a Land in a format where tutors are scarce.

Agreed on that. The tutor ability looks good - it's a land that can tutor something that's needed at the moment like another plating or ravager in games that go a bit long. And Inventor's Fair also comes into play untapped.