@dromar the banisher, I do agree that sometime I am unable to cast it and need to take a mulligan. but in other games, it is just great. I guess for the power of that cards, we may need to mulligan a bit more for better draws. sometime it is not tempered steel, in my earlier version of affinity, I encounter similar problem with other colour spells as well, it is an inherent variance that we need to live with. that is also why many affinity build don't run more than 8 coloured spells. using thoughtcast, and 17 land, I hope to be able to draw into more colour source. other than that, a bad opening , i will just mulligan. we could get by a mulligan to 6 on the play and 5 on the draw.
@furi, if they play stony silence on turn 2 or kataki turn 2, basically that game you are screwed. I don't deal with it. few way I go about it is I play manland and try to use ravager to get by kataki. tempered steel version runs little activated ability other than the mana source and plating. white decks usually play path to exile, therefore you just need a glimmervoid and pressure them to pah your critter for a plain to get the double white for tempered steel. turn 2 stony silence is usually loss, but we can reduce the effectiveness of stony silence on our deck. stony silence is only devastating on turn 2. after turn 4, stony silence lose its impact. boarding wear//tesr seldom helps. spell pierce and thoughtseize are more effective to prevent the turn 2 stony silence. I hope my experience helps you in dealing with stony silence.
Your list over all is ok, but I find the welding jar and blood moon too many. what is the pithing needle used for? for which match-up? springleaf drum should not be cut in my opinion. you are running 9 colour spell, you need all the colour source possible.
I'm very concerned about my performance against GB based decks, including Abzan, Jund, Little Abzan/Abzan Liege. I honestly think the best cards to side in against those decks are Blood Moon and a third Welding Jar. But I might be wrong. Any suggestion for ways to deal with those decks (an particularly Abrupt Decay, Ancient Grudge etc)?
Pithing Needle can be used in a bunch of ways, very versatile card, sometimes I go to tournaments with 2-3 of them in the sideboard. It always gets sided in against Tron and Twin in particular. That/those slot(s) are the ones of Torpor Orb, which I think is a worse card (Spell Snare etc).
As far as for Drum, well, I just happen to usually be wanting to draw only one of them per game...don't like to draw two.
Arcbound Ravager is the MVP in GBx Matchups. Abzan is a little bit easier to beat than Jund, Kolaghan's Command is usually a pretty good 2 for 1 for them, and we can deal with Lingering Souls tokens with plating instant equip, etc. In games where you can play a Ravager into a crowded board is usually a win.
Tested monastery siege, find it too slow to have impact and tight on mana for us. Tempered steel version took out darksteel citadel completely and replced with 4 plains. not exactly happy with the list as i find that i am having too little interaction. Tested intentionally with my friends UWR control. turn 2 stony silence is always the killer. Might revert to previous version. tested with the tweak version of tempered steel, few things i find is without darksteel citadel, it tends to be slower, though more resilient to control removal. it is still not fool proof.
@furi, if they play stony silence on turn 2 or kataki turn 2, basically that game you are screwed. I don't deal with it. few way I go about it is I play manland and try to use ravager to get by kataki. tempered steel version runs little activated ability other than the mana source and plating. white decks usually play path to exile, therefore you just need a glimmervoid and pressure them to pah your critter for a plain to get the double white for tempered steel. turn 2 stony silence is usually loss, but we can reduce the effectiveness of stony silence on our deck. stony silence is only devastating on turn 2. after turn 4, stony silence lose its impact. boarding wear//tesr seldom helps. spell pierce and thoughtseize are more effective to prevent the turn 2 stony silence. I hope my experience helps you in dealing with stony silence.
I find that Wear//tear is a terrible way to deal with Stony silence since you MUST have a glimmervoid to be able to cast it once Stony silence comes down, which to me sounds far too conditional. A combination of Thoughtseize and Spell Pierce are probably a better way to deal with a artifact hate filled meta.
I recently brought Affinity to a 30+ win a box event and got top 4, will write up a very brief report if people are interested.
I find that Wear//tear is a terrible way to deal with Stony silence since you MUST have a glimmervoid to be able to cast it once Stony silence comes down, which to me sounds far too conditional. A combination of Thoughtseize and Spell Pierce are probably a better way to deal with a artifact hate filled meta.
I recently brought Affinity to a 30+ win a box event and got top 4, will write up a very brief report if people are interested.
that is the same argument my friend made to me. it is not the best scenario, but it is an option to get out of that stony lockdown. once unlock, we could possibly end the game immediately if there is a window for such action.
I can't believe what I'm reading! Wear//Tear aligns better than Spell Pierce when against Stony Silence, period! W/T gets rid of Stony Silence under the same conditions Spell Pierce does, as well as after it sticks on the battlefield.
However, we have to curve out on threats in order to win. We can't afford to leave mana open for a Stony Silence that will likely not see play during the game. This is why Thoughtseize is the better option, but even it becomes useless against Stony Silence after turn 2. This is why I advocate Seal of Primordium as a replacement for Wear//Tear. It's good in all stages of the like Tear, but without the constant investment of mana. The opponent is forced to sandbag SS until he draws a second one or gets rid of the Seal. In the mean time, it also gives Thoughtseize more mileage by taking the sandbagged Stony Silence.
As for Spell Pierce, I'm getting more and more underwhelmed by this card. I feel all it's good for is to counter Shatterstorm, Creeping Corrosion, and combo pieces. But since a lot of combo decks are non interactive, and you can easily assemble a threatening boardstate by turn 4, I think Stubborn Denial would just be better here.
I can't believe what I'm reading! Wear//Tear aligns better than Spell Pierce when against Stony Silence, period! W/T gets rid of Stony Silence under the same conditions Spell Pierce does, as well as after it sticks on the battlefield.
Sorry, but I have to disagree. When Stony Silence is on the stack, you can activate Mox Opal or Drums for blue and cast Spell Pierce.
Wear/Tear will only be cast with Glimmervoid.
I can't believe what I'm reading! Wear//Tear aligns better than Spell Pierce when against Stony Silence, period! W/T gets rid of Stony Silence under the same conditions Spell Pierce does, as well as after it sticks on the battlefield.
Sorry, but I have to disagree. When Stony Silence is on the stack, you can activate Mox Opal or Drums for blue and cast Spell Pierce.
Wear/Tear will only be cast with Glimmervoid.
You can do the same for Wear/Tear; it's an instant.
I have also been very underwhelmed by spell pierce and I'm thinking of trading it in for a Wear/Tear. Not really to fight stony silence (I think MoE and Ensoul do a better job) but because I like it better for a wider range of things (Bogles, Splinter Twin, Pyromancer Ascension, etc.) I think the fact that you don't always need to hold mana up (unlike Spell Pierce) makes it much more valuable for our game plan.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Fblthp had always hated crowds.
Decks
Modern
Affinity [MTGO]
Recovering from the Pod ban in paper
Why can't we float the mana from drum or opal while Stony Silence is on the stack, let it resolve, and spend the floating mana to Tear it? Mana pool only empties at the end of steps and phases, no?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern: | C Affinity | RWG Burn |
EDH: | UBG Tasigur / Damia V-Wealth | WU Brago, Flicker and Value | WB Teysa's Orzhov Aristocrats | RG Omnath, Landfall of Rage | RC Daretti |
I believe you still need spell pierce. against some match-up, spell pierce is way superior than wear//tear. however, it depends on your metagame. at my side, there are some rises of merfolk which play hurkly's recall, wear//tear can't deal with that. also against storm, ad nauseam and such, spell pierce works wonder. these are just some examples. in a familiar meta, where you know who is playing what, you can adjust accordingly, but in open meta, I prefer to have a bit of answer for most of the thing.
Here's the statistical breakdown for when you the your opponent both have Stony Silence, Wear//Tear, Spell Pierce, or [insert Stony Silence trump here]. Let's assume you both run 2 copies of the respected cards, and you both draw at least one copy of each.
Turn 2
On the draw (both players see 8 cards): 6.25%
On the play (you see 8, Opp sees 9): 7%
Turn 3
On the draw (both see 9 cards): 7.84%
On the play (you see 9, Opp sees 10): 8.68%
Turn 4
On the draw (both see 10): 9.6%
On the play (you see 10, Opp sees 11): 10.54%
Note: I haven't factored in drawing a colored source to play the anti-hate card, so the chances are actually a little lower than stated.
As you can see, it's better to just play threats and curve out, than hold mana up for a Stony Silence that's very unlikely to be cast. Most of the time, the anit-hate card will be a dead draw.
It's also worth noting that Affinity lists nowadays are moving away from Spell Pierce.
ghostfire is good as plating 5-6. however it is not good if there are tons of stony silence. alternative is ensoul artifact. i have used it before. it is sufficiently effective, but might not be best top deck.
Personally i found the Ghostfire blades are working great to increase the infect clock, as well as pumping the ornithopters away from Ligthning bolt range or speeding up the champion.
Apostle's Blessings are there to play around tokens or dodging removal
Maybe my creature count is a little low, but it's working fine and do well in FNM, the only think that makes me nervous is infect.
the last change I made was cutting out 2 ethersworn Canonist from the SB and adding the needle and cage, i found they never really come to the MB in my meta
yeah, i should get a couple of Spellskites, but i dont like thoughtseize. I found that Kozilek's inquisition do the same work w/o the shock (can't hit creeping corrosion, fracturing gust, or shatterstorm it's the only drawback, and i can deal with them just fine with spell pierce), but at the end i found that playing a creature was far better than discarding a card from my opponent's hand. I guess it's a playstyle thing at the end. Also, w/o combo in my meta it's kinda pointless to play that effect. Maybe i just miss Cabal Therapy from the legacy version.
i notice it too, it's a little too much hate, but i think i would only cut the Ancient Grudge, i have Hurkyl's to deal with wrath effects mainly and the claim to gain a turn against burn, wear//tear is there to hate. So maybe -1 cage, -1 Grudge, +2 Spellskite?...
i have tested ensoul and the only matchup it really did anything was against infect, but apostle's blessing just do the work too, it cant touch the champion, and it only last for a turn in the moth, so i cut them out.
Primeval titan, tasigur, siege rhino, tarmagoyf, ensoul artefact, phrexian obliterator and such. anything that is 5 toughness and above. it is also good against infect. persist creatures are also good target as they can't return. therefore I will say it is more for delver, bloom titan, abzan, mirror, infect, abzan company match-up, tron and such. it is also useful against elesh norn.
@furi, if they play stony silence on turn 2 or kataki turn 2, basically that game you are screwed. I don't deal with it. few way I go about it is I play manland and try to use ravager to get by kataki. tempered steel version runs little activated ability other than the mana source and plating. white decks usually play path to exile, therefore you just need a glimmervoid and pressure them to pah your critter for a plain to get the double white for tempered steel. turn 2 stony silence is usually loss, but we can reduce the effectiveness of stony silence on our deck. stony silence is only devastating on turn 2. after turn 4, stony silence lose its impact. boarding wear//tesr seldom helps. spell pierce and thoughtseize are more effective to prevent the turn 2 stony silence. I hope my experience helps you in dealing with stony silence.
Arcbound Ravager is the MVP in GBx Matchups. Abzan is a little bit easier to beat than Jund, Kolaghan's Command is usually a pretty good 2 for 1 for them, and we can deal with Lingering Souls tokens with plating instant equip, etc. In games where you can play a Ravager into a crowded board is usually a win.
UW Approach UW
EDH
U Azami, Lady of Scrolls U
I find that Wear//tear is a terrible way to deal with Stony silence since you MUST have a glimmervoid to be able to cast it once Stony silence comes down, which to me sounds far too conditional. A combination of Thoughtseize and Spell Pierce are probably a better way to deal with a artifact hate filled meta.
I recently brought Affinity to a 30+ win a box event and got top 4, will write up a very brief report if people are interested.
EDH
U Azami, Lady of Scrolls
GBGlissa, the Traitor
Modern
X Affinity
EDH
BUGTasigur, the Golden Fang (French 1v1)
Modern
RWG Burn
yeah me too!
However, we have to curve out on threats in order to win. We can't afford to leave mana open for a Stony Silence that will likely not see play during the game. This is why Thoughtseize is the better option, but even it becomes useless against Stony Silence after turn 2. This is why I advocate Seal of Primordium as a replacement for Wear//Tear. It's good in all stages of the like Tear, but without the constant investment of mana. The opponent is forced to sandbag SS until he draws a second one or gets rid of the Seal. In the mean time, it also gives Thoughtseize more mileage by taking the sandbagged Stony Silence.
As for Spell Pierce, I'm getting more and more underwhelmed by this card. I feel all it's good for is to counter Shatterstorm, Creeping Corrosion, and combo pieces. But since a lot of combo decks are non interactive, and you can easily assemble a threatening boardstate by turn 4, I think Stubborn Denial would just be better here.
Sorry, but I have to disagree. When Stony Silence is on the stack, you can activate Mox Opal or Drums for blue and cast Spell Pierce.
Wear/Tear will only be cast with Glimmervoid.
You can do the same for Wear/Tear; it's an instant.
I have also been very underwhelmed by spell pierce and I'm thinking of trading it in for a Wear/Tear. Not really to fight stony silence (I think MoE and Ensoul do a better job) but because I like it better for a wider range of things (Bogles, Splinter Twin, Pyromancer Ascension, etc.) I think the fact that you don't always need to hold mana up (unlike Spell Pierce) makes it much more valuable for our game plan.
Decks
Affinity [MTGO]
Recovering from the Pod ban in paper
| C Affinity | RWG Burn |
EDH:
| UBG Tasigur / Damia V-Wealth | WU Brago, Flicker and Value | WB Teysa's Orzhov Aristocrats | RG Omnath, Landfall of Rage | RC Daretti |
Turn 2
On the draw (both players see 8 cards): 6.25%
On the play (you see 8, Opp sees 9): 7%
Turn 3
On the draw (both see 9 cards): 7.84%
On the play (you see 9, Opp sees 10): 8.68%
Turn 4
On the draw (both see 10): 9.6%
On the play (you see 10, Opp sees 11): 10.54%
Note: I haven't factored in drawing a colored source to play the anti-hate card, so the chances are actually a little lower than stated.
As you can see, it's better to just play threats and curve out, than hold mana up for a Stony Silence that's very unlikely to be cast. Most of the time, the anit-hate card will be a dead draw.
It's also worth noting that Affinity lists nowadays are moving away from Spell Pierce.
4 Darksteel citadel
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Inkmoth Nexus
3 Glimmervoid
1 Mountain
Artifact:
4 Springleaf drum
4 Mox Opal
4 Cranial Plating
3 Ghostfire Blade
3 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Signal Pest
4 Vault Skirge
3 Steel Overseer
4 Arcbound Ravager
2 Etched Champion
Instant:
2 Apostle's Blessing
3 Galvanic Blast
1 Pithing Needle
1 Gravedigger's Cage
2 Etched Champion
1 Nature's Claim
1 Back to Nature
2 Wear // Tear
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Whipflare
1 Hurkyl's Recall
3 Spell Pierce
Personally i found the Ghostfire blades are working great to increase the infect clock, as well as pumping the ornithopters away from Ligthning bolt range or speeding up the champion.
Apostle's Blessings are there to play around tokens or dodging removal
Maybe my creature count is a little low, but it's working fine and do well in FNM, the only think that makes me nervous is infect.
the last change I made was cutting out 2 ethersworn Canonist from the SB and adding the needle and cage, i found they never really come to the MB in my meta
@feletroica: You have way to much artifact and enchantment hate in the sideboard. There's also a glaring omission of Spellskite and Thoughtseize.
i notice it too, it's a little too much hate, but i think i would only cut the Ancient Grudge, i have Hurkyl's to deal with wrath effects mainly and the claim to gain a turn against burn, wear//tear is there to hate. So maybe -1 cage, -1 Grudge, +2 Spellskite?...
i have tested ensoul and the only matchup it really did anything was against infect, but apostle's blessing just do the work too, it cant touch the champion, and it only last for a turn in the moth, so i cut them out.