Excellent. That was fast, thank you. I will toss the Champ and Master in if I happen across them, not looking to invest so much right now. I'm missing clamp #4, but after flipping through my binder for the fourth I find my one Arcbound Ravager copy. He'll take the spot of shrapnel blast now.
I'm generally slow with my responses because i've stopped frequenting the casual forum subsection. But if I see this thread on the forum mainpage, i'l definitely stop by to put down my input.
Abrupt Decay is nonland only. That's why I brought up Beast Within. A 3/3 dork I can deal with... the Tabernacle, a lot less.
EDIT: Nevermind, just realized Legacy does have Glimpse Affinity, so maybe the Casual forum isn't the best place to discuss it.
Woops, missed that part of abrupt decay.
Honestly though, Tabernacle and all lands are hard to deal with in affinity. Beast within is your best bet but it is slow and unless you have good accel (opals and springleaf drums), tabernacle will tear the deck up.
The one difference you will notice immediately is Skirsdag High Priest. This can give an opponent fits if they try to kill other creatures (like say, your Memnite with that Cranial Plating on) and you take advantage of the creature dying to activate the High Priest's Morbid ability to put a 5/5 flying demon in play. It also has synergy with Arcbound Ravager, where you can make it bigger with its sac effect and one of the many cheap artifact creatures you have and at the same time gain a huge beater to stick that Cranial Plating on.
I have tried it in kitchen table matches, and I found that after a while my opponents began to twitch, because they weren't sure whether to kill my zero and one cost evasive beaters with the Cranials on, my High Priest who's waiting for someone to die horribly so he can perform his unholy rites, or that Ravager in the background quietly waiting to do horrible things if left unattended. Not to mention the singletons of Umezawa's Jitte and Blinkmoth Nexus can really ruin their day.
You will also note I chose the slower Darksteel Ingot over Springleaf Drum. This is to combat artifact hate and mana denial decks, and the Ingot coupled with the Darksteel Citadels tends to give opponents fits.
I may be missing something here - but how are you making the token demon bigger with ravager, as you point out?
Ravager's ability is "sac an artifcat" for the +1/+1, or when ravager dies, put its counters on target artifact creature...the token generated by the priest is not an artifact creature..
I mean, a 5/5 demon is nothing to ignore, just not sure if something is being overlooked?
I would honestly sub out the priest for Disciple of the Vault myself if you are looking for synergy with ravager. I remember at one point he was banned for most formats, but he is back to legal in modern, only being banned in block constructed.
Another option is the powerhouse that is Arcbound Crusher. Makes that plating a bit more difficult to handle on a critter with trample.
I meant making the RAVAGER bigger. I probably didn't word that phrase out well.
Still..how does saccing the token contribute to the growth of the ravager? You must sac an artifact for him to grow the +1/+1.
Or are you going from the angle of sacing something else, just to trigger the morbid ability, to grow a token?
If you are saccing off critters/lands, it may get difficult to keep up the pace with having to tap multiple creatures each time to pop out another token.
Okay, let me explain. First off, the Ravager is a nice synergy, not the centerpoint of the deck. I can use it to respond to creaturekill - especially the kind that exiles the killed creature, hi there Path to Exile - on my low cost critters to get a +1/+1 counter off it and make them waste the kill. The thing is, its sacrificing, when done to an artifact creature, still triggers Morbid (which Path to Exile wouldn't), which lets the High Priest do its thing provided there are two more creatures (and there should be given how low the average creature casting cost in the deck is).
The High Priest in general loves when my lowcost critters get blocked and killed, so I can afford to attack with a Memnite into a Tarmogoyf, knowing that I'll almost certainly get a 5/5 flying monstrosity out of the exchange, even if it will cause the Cranial Plating's bonus to drop by 1 point. I found that the threat of Morbid is an enormous deterrent - if a High Priest resolves at all, opponents will either do their damnedest to kill it (thus ignoring your OTHER threats on the field) or refuse to attack/kill creatures for fear of triggering it. I've even seen cases where a single High Priest with three Memnites prompted a player to sacrifice his army of Saprolings to wipe every creature off the board, afraid that I might use it.
It's actually pretty convenient. An Affinity deck doesn't really care if the creatures die in an assault, it only cares that something exists to stick a Plating on.
Ah, now I'm with you. From the post above I initially commented on, it really read like you were using the token to sac for the ravager's ability, or place the counters from the ravager onto the token. That is all I was worried about.
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I wish the High Priest gave me an artifact creature token, hahaha. That'd be beyond broken for this deck. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Although there are other ways to cheat the Modular bonuses onto a token, but that'd require making a dedicated deck, which defeats the purpose.
Admittedlly this is a bit slower than standard Affinity... and maybe just a little too brutal for casual play. But hey, my 'friends' here think it's OK to use Trinistax and Omni-Tell for casual games, so I feel no shame at all in using Jitte or Mox Opal.
Even more so why I mentioned the Disciple.
If they let the ravager go unchecked, he [the Disciple] ends games very, very quickly.
But, sometimes I got overzealous and damned myself with him by saccing away too many things to the ravager; such is life.
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Heh, I remember that back in Mirrodin, I had that exact combo. Stopped using it after my playgroup threatened to stop playing me altogether. Raffinity was really nasty.
I actually had considered going that route exclusively, focusing on artifact saccing and Modular critters abuse to make a nasty mess with the Disciple and exploit Morbid for the finishing strike as well. Green/Black would be surprisingly nasty with the Modular guys. Specifically, Hunger of the Howlpack and Blessings of Nature, which can make even a lone Arcbound Worker look scary.
Hmmm... I wonder, was Modular ever a thing in Modern outside of Arcbound Ravager?
Interesting points....hmm...
And not that I am aware of..as far as I know/knew, it was only Affinity that was really used in Modern. But being as I don't play much in tourneys or the like, I am probably wrong
edit: Want to collab a new Modulator deck with me? This looks interesting...
I have, but too many zero-power critters would leave me very dependant on Cranial Plating. I'd rather play Frogmite, which will almost always cost zero mana in a deck like this. I managed to throw out Seat/Vault/Citadel, Thopter, Thopter, Mox, Frogmite, Thoughtcast more times than I care to count.
I considered Vault Skirge for the evasion, too. I could go heavy black pretty easily, actually. The Alara block was a godsend with its Esper shard, and Scars was also really nice.
True story.
I remember using Mycosynth Golem in my affinity deck(s). Fueled by lands, orni's, Welding Jar's and the walkers. Nothing like throwing down an old Darksteel Colossus...or now the blightsteel version
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A couple additions since my last post. Let me know what you think of this list. Trying to keep old school vibe with ravager/disciple with a couple new tricks.
A couple additions since my last post. Let me know what you think of this list. Trying to keep old school vibe with ravager/disciple with a couple new tricks.
If your playgroup is nasty enough to use sideboards and Null Rod for casual kitchen table, you'll also want to have at least a few nonartifact mana sources, such as Glimmervoid, and a way to deal with Null Rod (Shattering Spree works fine, and it has the added bonus of being castable under Blood Moon, since it's red).
it would be fine if he replaced the myr enforcers with signal pest and not the glimmervoids
Cards like Galvanic blast and Glorious anthem are counterproductive in the same deck. You need creatures to make Anthem work for you but adding in spells doesn't up the creature count
If you want anthem in, i'd suggest adding arcbound workers and taking out the enforcers. If you don't want anthem, i'd still recommend the workers in place of the two anthems
I suggested Glimmervoid because it's not an artifact land. When Null Rod pops up, it shuts down all artifact abilities... meaning you can't tap artifact lands anymore. That is, as you can imagine, very very bad, as it prevents you from, among other things, equipping Cranial Plating, which is pretty much your wincon.
Granted, that's just one card... but my meta is crawling with it because it shuts down all sorts of nasty artifacts.
Rainbow lands are good in general. It's resilience to null rod is just an added bonus
Quick question: would the recent Theros block's artifacts have a place in Affinity decks?
Aside from the reprint of springleaf drum, no. Everything is too slow or expensive or both
edit: Ensoul artifact from M15 could be interesting. I've been testing it in modern affinity but it probably is too weak in casual where this is no ban list
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I'm generally slow with my responses because i've stopped frequenting the casual forum subsection. But if I see this thread on the forum mainpage, i'l definitely stop by to put down my input.
Woops, missed that part of abrupt decay.
Honestly though, Tabernacle and all lands are hard to deal with in affinity. Beast within is your best bet but it is slow and unless you have good accel (opals and springleaf drums), tabernacle will tear the deck up.
I may be missing something here - but how are you making the token demon bigger with ravager, as you point out?
Ravager's ability is "sac an artifcat" for the +1/+1, or when ravager dies, put its counters on target artifact creature...the token generated by the priest is not an artifact creature..
I mean, a 5/5 demon is nothing to ignore, just not sure if something is being overlooked?
I would honestly sub out the priest for Disciple of the Vault myself if you are looking for synergy with ravager. I remember at one point he was banned for most formats, but he is back to legal in modern, only being banned in block constructed.
Another option is the powerhouse that is Arcbound Crusher. Makes that plating a bit more difficult to handle on a critter with trample.
Still..how does saccing the token contribute to the growth of the ravager? You must sac an artifact for him to grow the +1/+1.
Or are you going from the angle of sacing something else, just to trigger the morbid ability, to grow a token?
If you are saccing off critters/lands, it may get difficult to keep up the pace with having to tap multiple creatures each time to pop out another token.
Ah, now I'm with you. From the post above I initially commented on, it really read like you were using the token to sac for the ravager's ability, or place the counters from the ravager onto the token. That is all I was worried about.
Even more so why I mentioned the Disciple.
If they let the ravager go unchecked, he [the Disciple] ends games very, very quickly.
But, sometimes I got overzealous and damned myself with him by saccing away too many things to the ravager; such is life.
Interesting points....hmm...
And not that I am aware of..as far as I know/knew, it was only Affinity that was really used in Modern. But being as I don't play much in tourneys or the like, I am probably wrong
edit: Want to collab a new Modulator deck with me?
I'll keep you updated via PM.
Have you considered other creatures for your affinity deck such as Phyrexian Walker ? Another free drop, with a slightly larger hindside.
True story.
I remember using Mycosynth Golem in my affinity deck(s). Fueled by lands, orni's, Welding Jar's and the walkers. Nothing like throwing down an old Darksteel Colossus...or now the blightsteel version
4 ornithopter
4 memnite
4 frogmite
4 arcbound worker
4 arcbound ravager
4 disciple or the vault
3 myr enforcer
2 master of etherium
4 aether vial
4 thoughtcast
4 springleaf drum
3 cranial plating
// land (16)
4 vault of whispers
4 seat of the synod
4 darksteel citadel
3 great furnace
1 city of brass
Is this a swarm deck? If it is, i'd highly suggest signal pest
it would be fine if he replaced the myr enforcers with signal pest and not the glimmervoids
Cards like Galvanic blast and Glorious anthem are counterproductive in the same deck. You need creatures to make Anthem work for you but adding in spells doesn't up the creature count
If you want anthem in, i'd suggest adding arcbound workers and taking out the enforcers. If you don't want anthem, i'd still recommend the workers in place of the two anthems
Rainbow lands are good in general. It's resilience to null rod is just an added bonus
Aside from the reprint of springleaf drum, no. Everything is too slow or expensive or both
edit: Ensoul artifact from M15 could be interesting. I've been testing it in modern affinity but it probably is too weak in casual where this is no ban list