If it were the case that you are scared to draw the cradle, which I am not sure is a reasonable fear because you would have to draw the cradle with no other way to generate mana and no 0 or effective 0 drop creatures, then I would think it would probably be better to add a glimmervoid in to the list as a 15th land instead to help us produce blue.
I defer to your experience with Affinity and will test the list you suggest without alteration. If there's something you'd like me to look at, let me know.
Seems like it can make the lists even more aggro. The 1 drop slot has been strange in the past, and Arcbound worker isn't the worst thing in the world either, but for just raw turn one power these seems really strong and its going to allow players to drop frogmites that much faster. An opening hand of This, Citadel, Signal Pest, Mox Opal and Frogmite is a lot of threat very fast.
Yeah, the best thing about hitting Frogmite affinity level is being able to just drop them all into play. I was tooling around with some of those colorless Affinity decks like the ones Ashok Chitturi plays, not entirely without wins. I tried putting in even Myr Enforcers, and even those are quite possible to play for 0-1 mana as long as there aren't too many in the deck (they clog each other out).
Arcbound Worker is probably the weakest card in those lists, especially once I started shaving Ravagers (due to not wanting to buy a set of them, ahem, cursed Modern). One major problem was Lackey Syndrome, I couldn't get him through Deathrite Shaman. In that sense, I welcome this potential new addition.
Day's Undoing, for all its obvious insanity, just hadn't been working out in my testing. Three mana is actually a lot for the deck unless it's full of Springleaf Drums that don't attack. I must say that I agree with Ashok's statements in his deck tech:
The larger problem is that I was losing more than half of the time with whatever list I was playing, but when I switched back to Grixis Delver the bleeding promptly stopped. It's possible that we're supposed to be playing Dig Through Time for as long as they'll let us.
Alright everyone, Affinity made it the Top 8 of the SCG Premier IQ in Chicago! I have Affinity in Modern and always wanted to play it in Legacy. Also, start picking up Day's Undoing...
First time posting on here. I had a few questions about this deck and what version has the best win%. I love Tezzeret so the versions with those I gravitate towards but I also like Ashok Chitturi's version with tangle wires and chalice's. Just trying to figure out what I should build towards so I can get it on modo. I have most of the filler but now I have to figure out what staples I want to go with. Thanks keep this thread alive!
Serious question: Which decks play Null Rod? I've only seen it in Vintage Fish. MUD clearly can't play it in Legacy.
I've been working on Lands (need some Burnwillows and a Tabernacle, but I've got one hunted down and am fashioning a trade soon) but I thought transferring Affinity to Legacy from my Modern list would be a cheap way to play in the interim. Affinity does seem really bad against Combo, though. Is there any way to hedge against that matchup?
Hi, I have been playing Affinity in Legacy for a long time. It was the first deck I built for Legacy.
I am presenting a tourney report here where I run Affinity in GP HK side events. It is a story on how I was sent to the bottom of the rank after 2 rounds and then finished 10th (with a lot of luck), missing top 8 on tiebreakers.
First and foremost, the list:
4 Arcbound Ravager
3 Etched Champion
4 Frogmite
4 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Signal Pest
4 Steel Overseer
4 Vault Skirge
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
2 Contested War Zone
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Cranial Plating
4 Mox Opal
4 Tangle Wire
3 Wasteland
SB: 2 Chalice of the Void
SB: 2 Cursed Scroll
SB: 1 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 1 Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 Relic of Progenitus
SB: 2 Pithing Needle
SB: 2 Thorn of Amethyst
SB: 2 Umezawa's Jitte
SB: 2 Winter Orb
Pretty much Ashok Chitturi list here. Nth to spectacular here.
I used to run the standard Affinity list with Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas, Master etc. The list did ok until my testing against combo. The standard Affinity is fast. But it is killing on turn 4-5 which is not enough against combo when you have no disruption maindeck. SB does not help much either because you are spending time casting cards which only delay your opponent from combo out. While at the same time slowing yourself down...
That leads me to test Ashok Chitturi list: I found myself falling in love with the speed of the deck in my first testing session. Upon further testing, it is proven to be fast enough to race combo and hold itself against other control.
For those of you who are still on the bench on which side to pick (ie standard or Ashok), I suggest you to proxy it up and try.
It's time to rock!
7 Aug, around 70 players, 6 rounds of swiss cut to top 8
Round 1 vs 4 colour control (no white, w/punishing fire, Jace, Abrupt Decay)
G1: I mull to 5, he traded his removals for my critters. Then 2 Tarmo appeared. I was forced to go all in with Ravager and put counters onto Vault Skirge to race. Can only got him to 9. He had the Jace to seal it.
G2: I drew a good hand and just kept playing creatures.
Jitte, Signel Pest, Ravager wins the game here. There was a brief rule argument in the middle of the game:
I played a waste in 1st main phase and target his only green source. He floated a green mana.
And then I said "declare attack and clear mana pool". He responded by using abrupt decay to destroy my ravager w/Jitte. I then went on to equip my Jitte to another one of my creatures and threaten the kill. He called judge and said that I cannot do that because we are in the attack phase. The judge sorted it out and ruled that I can equip the Jitte to another creature because it was in my first main phase. My opponent argued that we were in the attack phase and I cannot equip. But the ruling was that due to my opponent had a response to the pass of priority and thus pool clearance. I got the chance to response again.
Drawing double Tomb made me down to 5 though....
This caused my opponent the game but he was losing anyway. This had detracted my attention and affected my G3 play.
G3: the rule thing in G2 had taken a lot of time and additional time was provided to us in G3. I had two Champion going with the ravager. I should have enough damage to kill my opponent (ie sac enough artifacts to ravager and transfer counter to the Champion to kill in the 2 extra turns). Instead, I messed it up and left my opponent at 2 life after DRS activation
I was quite mad with myself at this point.
Round 2 vs UWG Loam Control Dark Depths
G1: His T1 Tundra and his pondering made me wary of a control matchup with possible Wrath effect. I play 3 dudes with a Signel Pest and this drew out the Supreme Verdict. My opponent then went on to Wasteland lock me after using Swords + Counterspell + Abrupt Decay to deal with the remaining threats. He went through half his deck without finding the Dark Depths. But I saw the Stage and hence was pretty sure it was Dark Depth. I scooped to save some time for G2 & 3.
G2: Strange game. I played some dudes and this drew out the Verdict as expected. Then the 2nd wave was stopped by 2 x Stage + Maze of Ith when he was at 4
He kept loaming but still cannot find the combo. We dragged on for a few turns. One of the critters was a Overseer which I kept activating to pump my team. I made my team so large that even any of one of the creatures I touched him will kill him. In his side, he had the Wasteland lock with a lot of mana but not much action going.
I kept playing additional creatures to try to overrun his Mazes but he countered and destroyed some of them. At the end, he drew no Verdict while I top decked Wasteland to destroy one of the Mazes for the win.
He may have misplayed in this game, otherwise I dun think I can win because I was under very little resource with no land in play.
G3: Fast game. I played critters and attacked. I drew and played Wasteland before he assembled the combo. He played Dark Depths and activate Stage.
I pointed my Waste to his Stage. He responded by Crop Rotation away Stage!
So at this point, I was at 0-1-1 while my friends were in 2-0, 1-0-1, 2-0....
I was quite down and thought of dropping....
Round 3 GW Enchantress (probably no Sanctum?)
My friend told me she was on Enchantress and an underpowered one. So I was feeling better.
G1: She kept a hand with 1 Forest & 1 Carpet of Flowers as only mana. When she died, she had only added 1 Wild Growth.
G2: She played an Enchantress with basic lands and 1-2 enchantments and drew some card. A Tangle Wire time walk her for the necessary turns.
Feeling much better after the slaughter!
Round 4 vs 4 Color Aggro Loam
G1: Opponent went T1 Bayou, Green Sun. I played my dudes and my opponent raised his eyebrow and commented "stupid Affinity". He played a Dark Con and drew some cards. But that was more than welcomed. He removed my plating but the remaining teams did him in. Then stupid Affinity did it work (life total went 19-18-9-7-4-3).
G2: I played some dudes and he punishing fire. I responded by casting Surgical Extraction to cut all his Punishing Fire. This revealed that he had kept a hand with Fire and Grove but Loam and not much else. I landed my team. He drew 2 chalice and played it on 0 & 1.
On the last turn, he landed a KoR for blocking purpose facing lethal. I had 4 dudes and I drew a Mox Opal. I calculated the damage on board and found that I was one short with my Ravager counter transfer. I counted once more and still one short. He seemed to notice that he was on the verge of dying and was counting as well and realized that I was one artifact short. Then I PLAYED the Mox Opal, seemingly to fill unp the artifact count and sac the Mox Opal for enough damage.
Seems obvious....
What's the catch here?
.
.
.
.
.
There is a chalice for 0 on his side of the table and he forgot the trigger!
My double counting may have distracted him and draw him to count damage as well. Then his attention may have drawn to the combat and blocking recalculation after that additional artifact. So he may have forgotten the trigger. I wondered whether he would remember his trigger if I landed Mox before counting the damage several times.
He did not realise this even after the game.
It may not matter but Knight can search out a Maze next turn. And
If he top decked another removal as well, then he will be back to the game.
Round 5 vs buddy with Tezzeret Control (maindeck Leyline/Helm)
G1: we know both the decks well as we playtest together. He started with a Leyline and I did my usual drill. On turn 2, he thought for a bit and played a Sea and then Talisman. On my next turn, I landed tangle Wire and that's all it wrote.
G2: I know that he had Toxic Deluge in SB. I landed a Plating with 1 Frogmite and another creature in play. After counting the damage, I had two options:
i. added another Frogmite to threaten a kill 1 turn quicker if I also happened to draw land to activate Contested Warzone.
ii. kept the Frogmite in hand but killed one turn later, while playing around Toxic Deluge.
I went for it with 1. He drew his card and counted damage and scooped. (miscounting here as he was in 16)
He later explained that he misplayed in game 1 as he can actually played Sol Land and cast Talisman T1, then he can cast Transmute Artifact on T2 to assemble the combo. Even I casted Tangle Wire, he can still win in his upkeep. His intention was to wait for 5 mana and instantly activated for the win to dodge artifact removal/revoker. But in reality, he knew my list and I had no removals main deck.
Round 6
My opponent explained that he got to leave and conceded to me.
Final standings: 10th
I will later cover what happened in the 2nd Legacy side event on the next day.
This is something I recently put together that I really want to start testing at my LGS weeklies. It is essentially an Ashok-esque build featuring Hangarback Walker, which plays really nicely with Steel Overseer and the Arcbounds. The deck obviously had to be slightly adjusted with Hangarback's inclusion, and no longer plays Frogmite, but I don't know if that was the right cut or not. The fact that these lists only play a max of 4 Artifact Lands and 0 Springleaf Drums made me think that Frogmite deserved the cut over some 0-1 CMC creature, mostly because it would be harder to cast in certain scenarios. But otherwise the deck is tuned to incorporate Hangarback, including going back to playing a copy of Gaea's Cradle, which can be really good. Not sure if only 1 Contested War Zone is correct or not, but I thought having slightly more Mishra's Factories could come in handy when I need creatures to bring the beats. If I am able to play this deck in the near future, I will post back with my results.
This is something I recently put together that I really want to start testing at my LGS weeklies. It is essentially an Ashok-esque build featuring Hangarback Walker, which plays really nicely with Steel Overseer and the Arcbounds. The deck obviously had to be slightly adjusted with Hangarback's inclusion, and no longer plays Frogmite, but I don't know if that was the right cut or not. The fact that these lists only play a max of 4 Artifact Lands and 0 Springleaf Drums made me think that Frogmite deserved the cut over some 0-1 CMC creature, mostly because it would be harder to cast in certain scenarios. But otherwise the deck is tuned to incorporate Hangarback, including going back to playing a copy of Gaea's Cradle, which can be really good. Not sure if only 1 Contested War Zone is correct or not, but I thought having slightly more Mishra's Factories could come in handy when I need creatures to bring the beats. If I am able to play this deck in the near future, I will post back with my results.
One thing I read about Ashok's build is he would've ran Blinkmoth Nexus given the opportunity as an aggro approach, playing with Mishra's Factory feels alot more tempo based which is what I assume why you include Hangarback Walker for your build. Isn't Contested War Zone then counter intuitive on your build (especially as a 1-of)?
Personally I want to test a build with salvage Titan and Disciple of the Vault but I feel those cards fit a modern shell (possibly Day's Undoing that has been hyped up so far.
-What would be your opinion (anyone still keeping up with this thread) of Bonded Construct in an Ashok Build?
I'm concerned it would be a 1CMC Frogmite with strictly drawbacks but still have minor synergy in the colorless Ashok build and act as nothing but fluff should they turn off our boardstate (Stony silence or Null rod) or tax us down (Kataki, war's wage) to overall deter this approach in legacy affinity but am hoping others can find some value or worth for this card in the 75 (as well as Chief of the Foundry for their 75.
One thing I read about Ashok's build is he would've ran Blinkmoth Nexus given the opportunity as an aggro approach, playing with Mishra's Factory feels alot more tempo based which is what I assume why you include Hangarback Walker for your build. Isn't Contested War Zone then counter intuitive on your build (especially as a 1-of)?
Personally I want to test a build with salvage Titan and Disciple of the Vault but I feel those cards fit a modern shell (possibly Day's Undoing that has been hyped up so far.
-What would be your opinion (anyone still keeping up with this thread) of Bonded Construct in an Ashok Build?
I'm concerned it would be a 1CMC Frogmite with strictly drawbacks but still have minor synergy in the colorless Ashok build and act as nothing but fluff should they turn off our boardstate (Stony silence or Null rod) or tax us down (Kataki, war's wage) to overall deter this approach in legacy affinity but am hoping others can find some value or worth for this card in the 75 (as well as Chief of the Foundry for their 75.
Well, the reason I included Contested War Zone is that there are still insane plays to be made using it, but I never really want to draw more than one in case there is a real chance they can get stolen from me and I need to play out other mana sources instead. Building up a Hangarback and sacking it to a Ravager will give you lethal with War Zone or Signal Pest a lot of the time, but the War Zone can't be killed with ordinary removal and their Wastelands are likely already taxed as it is with manlands or big mana producers. So, you can alternatively keep it in your hand until you deem necessary and use it as a pump spell for your team.
I also share a lot of your worries about Bonded Construct. As soon as it was spoiled (and to a lesser extent, Chief as well), I began trying to incorporate them into Modern shells. What I found was pretty much what you said spot on; Construct was just a worse Frogmite, a card that has already become borderline unplayable in these lists. And who in their right mind would want to pay MANA for a Frogmite? Not I. Chief was also just a worse Master of Etherium, a card that IS worth playing, but only in blue lists.
I have seen someone toying around with the idea of Salvage Titan in Modern (don't know if they also played Disciple) and they asked what I thought about it. I told them I really had no experience playing the card in anything resembling an Affinity shell, but that they should maybe try Genesis Chamber? It seemed good in the spammy Vintage version of Affinity (although they have Skullclamp) and it could fuel the extra sacrifices needed for the Titan itself.
So Black Vice is a 1 drop artifact that does a ton of damage. Is it possible it sees play in a very very aggro version of affinity? Maybe one running Shrapnel Blast?
Gearseeker Serpent doesn't look too bad, and dodges artefact hate too.
Most of time this should be getting dropped on the field on turn 2 for UU, provided you can get the blue mana.
Gatekeeper servant would be on curve with master of etherium. I don't think it's remotely playable. The one card that looks playable is innovation fair, the colorless land that gains life each turn and can tutor an artifact.
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legacy: Tes, Affinity, Dredge
modern: 4 color Gifts, ritual gifts, goryo's vengeance, affinity
Gatekeeper servant would be on curve with master of etherium. I don't think it's remotely playable. The one card that looks playable is innovation fair, the colorless land that gains life each turn and can tutor an artifact.
Only tutor target is plating and at 4 no thinks, no current spoiled artifacts look interesting at all.
If affinity wants to move up, I say it needs to go like infect, drop a bunch of stuff, play tezz t2-3, win on t3-4.
Or a uwr route with shrapnel blast, galvantic blast and that new re legend which will die to removal
Something like this feels pretty solid for the maindeck. Darksteel is nice for the indestructible part, but if we aren't worried about that angle, then the colored artifact lands are better. Threw this together on tappedout and goldfishing it feels like a good balance
Plating makes the deck do anything.
Artifact lands help.in damage and affinity count
Tomb makes crazy things happen like a t2 tezz ftw.if tomb was legal in modrrn it would be the most used land ever.
But wotc hates fast mana so modern will never see the other artifact lands.
Unless they make new legendary versions but that won't happen either.
Artifact lands make things like frogmite, Myr enforcer relivant and turns Mox opal on faster.
The more I play my list the more I hate ravager, sure cute combat tricks but he's very mediocre any other time.
Hey guys, I'm playing Legacy on sunday, and since I haven't built/bought into higher tiered deck, I'm going in with my trusty robots for my first foray in Legacy.
Yes I know the deck is Tier 3 at best, and is not well positioned, but I need help on a few Maindeck choices and Sideboard choices for my possible meta.
The meta seems to be the following, although I know some guys have 2 decks and keep interchanging:
RB reanimator
MUD
Miracle
Sneak and show
Omnitell
Shardless Bug
Burn x2
Eldrazi x2
Elves x2
Sideboard: I'm not sure what to place here, but on top of my head-
3x Ensnaring Bridge
3x Pyroblast
3-4x Graveyard hate (Tormod's crypt/Rest in peace/Surgical Extraction/Grafdigger's Cage)
1x Wear//Tear
2x Smash to Smithereens/Nature's Claim/Natural State/Fragmentize
3x Chalice of the void/Thoughtseize/Pithing Needle
As you can see I'm all over the place. Any help will be appreciated!
Hi there guys. I had affinity as a legacy deck long time ago and it was always fun to play, so I decided to return to the deck and hav fun with it again. So the thing is I have all the cards I need but I wanted to know if anyone has some additions to make since the new sets are out?
Especially I'm curious with [card] Hope of Ghirapur[\card]? He looks really good, has evasion with flying and prevents that our opponent does something we don't want him to do. Mainly we buy a round for us which can basically end the game for us if they can't do anything in their turn. Even if it is a legendary he does more for the deck than memnite does. What do you guys think?
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"Master they threatened to darken the sky with their arrows!"
"Well, then we will at least fight in the shadow"
"There is no glory to be gained in the kingdom of the dead!"
Post by Narah about unbanning Mind Twist in legacy and that this would be evil:
Yeah, but it's really more "Disney Evil" than practical. It's like being a bond villain and giving a monologue rather then just shooting them.
If you want to play on MTGO add me I'm HeskatetAS, playing Modern and Legacy
This is the current deck I'm working with. The deck is capable of very explosive turn 3 kills and has the late game stay power against alot of fair decks. I prefer the two lodestone golems in the main to hedge a bit against combo but also to keep the pressure.
I want the mainboard to be strong against fair decks and the sideboard to be more geared towards combo by using 4 thorns and 2x chalice. I'm expecting to throw away alot of game 1 against decks like reanimator/ storm and punish them post sideboard with thorn, crypt and chalice. (I really don't want to play thorns in the main to reduce the deck's explosive power). I'm still debating between the Dismember and a dispatch. 4 life is alot in a deck that plays ancient tombs, but the maindeck really doesn' have colored sources as well as the modern affinity list.
The hangarback walker is more to deal with sweepers post board/ grindy matchups. You could make the case Tezzert agent of bolas is better and I would prob agree with you.
I find a large portion of the legacy metagame just doesn't have any answers for you. If terminus is played more in your metagame, I would swap the hangarbacks for Tezzert Agent of Bolas. I find the advantage affinity has over the metagame is the deck plays pretty much like the legacy version of vintage ravager shops and should rely more on being able to spend more mana than your opponent than playing threats like tezzert/ etched champion that your opponent cannot deal with (plus I find they're too slow)
I'm actively maintaining a comprehensive article to help explain to new cube players how some complex vintage level cards work in a cube environment. Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Http://www.fantasticneighborhood.com/
Comedy gaming podcast. Listening to it makes you cool.
I defer to your experience with Affinity and will test the list you suggest without alteration. If there's something you'd like me to look at, let me know.
Overall record: 139-98-15
Total number of matches: 252
Win percentage ignoring draws: 58.649789
Win percentage including draws: 55.158730
Seems like it can make the lists even more aggro. The 1 drop slot has been strange in the past, and Arcbound worker isn't the worst thing in the world either, but for just raw turn one power these seems really strong and its going to allow players to drop frogmites that much faster. An opening hand of This, Citadel, Signal Pest, Mox Opal and Frogmite is a lot of threat very fast.
Http://www.fantasticneighborhood.com/
Comedy gaming podcast. Listening to it makes you cool.
Arcbound Worker is probably the weakest card in those lists, especially once I started shaving Ravagers (due to not wanting to buy a set of them, ahem, cursed Modern). One major problem was Lackey Syndrome, I couldn't get him through Deathrite Shaman. In that sense, I welcome this potential new addition.
Day's Undoing, for all its obvious insanity, just hadn't been working out in my testing. Three mana is actually a lot for the deck unless it's full of Springleaf Drums that don't attack. I must say that I agree with Ashok's statements in his deck tech:
The larger problem is that I was losing more than half of the time with whatever list I was playing, but when I switched back to Grixis Delver the bleeding promptly stopped. It's possible that we're supposed to be playing Dig Through Time for as long as they'll let us.
Overall record: 139-98-15
Total number of matches: 252
Win percentage ignoring draws: 58.649789
Win percentage including draws: 55.158730
Here's the decklist:
3 Arcbound Ravager
1 Baleful Strix
2 Etched Champion
3 Frogmite
4 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Vault Skirge
3 Disciple of the Vault
Planeswalkers (2)
2 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
Lands (16)
1 Ancient Den
4 Seat of the Synod
1 Tree of Tales
4 Vault of Whispers
3 Ancient Tomb
2 Glimmervoid
1 Inkmoth Nexus
3 Chalice of the Void
4 Cranial Plating
2 Springleaf Drum
4 Mox Opal
3 Day's Undoing
2 Thoughtcast
3 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Containment Priest
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Thoughtseize
2 Whipflare
Level 1 Judge
Currently Playing:
W Death and Taxes
BGR ScapeWish Nic Fit
BGR Punishing Nic Fit
I've been working on Lands (need some Burnwillows and a Tabernacle, but I've got one hunted down and am fashioning a trade soon) but I thought transferring Affinity to Legacy from my Modern list would be a cheap way to play in the interim. Affinity does seem really bad against Combo, though. Is there any way to hedge against that matchup?
I am presenting a tourney report here where I run Affinity in GP HK side events. It is a story on how I was sent to the bottom of the rank after 2 rounds and then finished 10th (with a lot of luck), missing top 8 on tiebreakers.
First and foremost, the list:
4 Arcbound Ravager
3 Etched Champion
4 Frogmite
4 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Signal Pest
4 Steel Overseer
4 Vault Skirge
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
2 Contested War Zone
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Cranial Plating
4 Mox Opal
4 Tangle Wire
3 Wasteland
SB: 2 Chalice of the Void
SB: 2 Cursed Scroll
SB: 1 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 1 Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 Relic of Progenitus
SB: 2 Pithing Needle
SB: 2 Thorn of Amethyst
SB: 2 Umezawa's Jitte
SB: 2 Winter Orb
Pretty much Ashok Chitturi list here. Nth to spectacular here.
I used to run the standard Affinity list with Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas, Master etc. The list did ok until my testing against combo. The standard Affinity is fast. But it is killing on turn 4-5 which is not enough against combo when you have no disruption maindeck. SB does not help much either because you are spending time casting cards which only delay your opponent from combo out. While at the same time slowing yourself down...
That leads me to test Ashok Chitturi list: I found myself falling in love with the speed of the deck in my first testing session. Upon further testing, it is proven to be fast enough to race combo and hold itself against other control.
For those of you who are still on the bench on which side to pick (ie standard or Ashok), I suggest you to proxy it up and try.
It's time to rock!
7 Aug, around 70 players, 6 rounds of swiss cut to top 8
Round 1 vs 4 colour control (no white, w/punishing fire, Jace, Abrupt Decay)
G1: I mull to 5, he traded his removals for my critters. Then 2 Tarmo appeared. I was forced to go all in with Ravager and put counters onto Vault Skirge to race. Can only got him to 9. He had the Jace to seal it.
G2: I drew a good hand and just kept playing creatures.
Jitte, Signel Pest, Ravager wins the game here. There was a brief rule argument in the middle of the game:
I played a waste in 1st main phase and target his only green source. He floated a green mana.
And then I said "declare attack and clear mana pool". He responded by using abrupt decay to destroy my ravager w/Jitte. I then went on to equip my Jitte to another one of my creatures and threaten the kill. He called judge and said that I cannot do that because we are in the attack phase. The judge sorted it out and ruled that I can equip the Jitte to another creature because it was in my first main phase. My opponent argued that we were in the attack phase and I cannot equip. But the ruling was that due to my opponent had a response to the pass of priority and thus pool clearance. I got the chance to response again.
Drawing double Tomb made me down to 5 though....
This caused my opponent the game but he was losing anyway. This had detracted my attention and affected my G3 play.
G3: the rule thing in G2 had taken a lot of time and additional time was provided to us in G3. I had two Champion going with the ravager. I should have enough damage to kill my opponent (ie sac enough artifacts to ravager and transfer counter to the Champion to kill in the 2 extra turns). Instead, I messed it up and left my opponent at 2 life after DRS activation
I was quite mad with myself at this point.
Round 2 vs UWG Loam Control Dark Depths
G1: His T1 Tundra and his pondering made me wary of a control matchup with possible Wrath effect. I play 3 dudes with a Signel Pest and this drew out the Supreme Verdict. My opponent then went on to Wasteland lock me after using Swords + Counterspell + Abrupt Decay to deal with the remaining threats. He went through half his deck without finding the Dark Depths. But I saw the Stage and hence was pretty sure it was Dark Depth. I scooped to save some time for G2 & 3.
G2: Strange game. I played some dudes and this drew out the Verdict as expected. Then the 2nd wave was stopped by 2 x Stage + Maze of Ith when he was at 4
He kept loaming but still cannot find the combo. We dragged on for a few turns. One of the critters was a Overseer which I kept activating to pump my team. I made my team so large that even any of one of the creatures I touched him will kill him. In his side, he had the Wasteland lock with a lot of mana but not much action going.
I kept playing additional creatures to try to overrun his Mazes but he countered and destroyed some of them. At the end, he drew no Verdict while I top decked Wasteland to destroy one of the Mazes for the win.
He may have misplayed in this game, otherwise I dun think I can win because I was under very little resource with no land in play.
G3: Fast game. I played critters and attacked. I drew and played Wasteland before he assembled the combo. He played Dark Depths and activate Stage.
I pointed my Waste to his Stage. He responded by Crop Rotation away Stage!
So at this point, I was at 0-1-1 while my friends were in 2-0, 1-0-1, 2-0....
I was quite down and thought of dropping....
Round 3 GW Enchantress (probably no Sanctum?)
My friend told me she was on Enchantress and an underpowered one. So I was feeling better.
G1: She kept a hand with 1 Forest & 1 Carpet of Flowers as only mana. When she died, she had only added 1 Wild Growth.
G2: She played an Enchantress with basic lands and 1-2 enchantments and drew some card. A Tangle Wire time walk her for the necessary turns.
Feeling much better after the slaughter!
Round 4 vs 4 Color Aggro Loam
G1: Opponent went T1 Bayou, Green Sun. I played my dudes and my opponent raised his eyebrow and commented "stupid Affinity". He played a Dark Con and drew some cards. But that was more than welcomed. He removed my plating but the remaining teams did him in. Then stupid Affinity did it work (life total went 19-18-9-7-4-3).
G2: I played some dudes and he punishing fire. I responded by casting Surgical Extraction to cut all his Punishing Fire. This revealed that he had kept a hand with Fire and Grove but Loam and not much else. I landed my team. He drew 2 chalice and played it on 0 & 1.
On the last turn, he landed a KoR for blocking purpose facing lethal. I had 4 dudes and I drew a Mox Opal. I calculated the damage on board and found that I was one short with my Ravager counter transfer. I counted once more and still one short. He seemed to notice that he was on the verge of dying and was counting as well and realized that I was one artifact short. Then I PLAYED the Mox Opal, seemingly to fill unp the artifact count and sac the Mox Opal for enough damage.
Seems obvious....
What's the catch here?
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.
.
.
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There is a chalice for 0 on his side of the table and he forgot the trigger!
My double counting may have distracted him and draw him to count damage as well. Then his attention may have drawn to the combat and blocking recalculation after that additional artifact. So he may have forgotten the trigger. I wondered whether he would remember his trigger if I landed Mox before counting the damage several times.
He did not realise this even after the game.
It may not matter but Knight can search out a Maze next turn. And
If he top decked another removal as well, then he will be back to the game.
Round 5 vs buddy with Tezzeret Control (maindeck Leyline/Helm)
G1: we know both the decks well as we playtest together. He started with a Leyline and I did my usual drill. On turn 2, he thought for a bit and played a Sea and then Talisman. On my next turn, I landed tangle Wire and that's all it wrote.
G2: I know that he had Toxic Deluge in SB. I landed a Plating with 1 Frogmite and another creature in play. After counting the damage, I had two options:
i. added another Frogmite to threaten a kill 1 turn quicker if I also happened to draw land to activate Contested Warzone.
ii. kept the Frogmite in hand but killed one turn later, while playing around Toxic Deluge.
I went for it with 1. He drew his card and counted damage and scooped. (miscounting here as he was in 16)
He later explained that he misplayed in game 1 as he can actually played Sol Land and cast Talisman T1, then he can cast Transmute Artifact on T2 to assemble the combo. Even I casted Tangle Wire, he can still win in his upkeep. His intention was to wait for 5 mana and instantly activated for the win to dodge artifact removal/revoker. But in reality, he knew my list and I had no removals main deck.
Round 6
My opponent explained that he got to leave and conceded to me.
Final standings: 10th
I will later cover what happened in the 2nd Legacy side event on the next day.
I get odd hands, it used to be a t3 deck pritty consistent with plating or a taob.
Lastly its been I wish I had a plating or a taob by turn 4. Or even a land, I have been getting so many no land hands.
The intent was to limit mullagains but have a decent long game
3 Etched Champion
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Arcbound Worker
4 Hangarback Walker
4 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Signal Pest
4 Steel Overseer
4 Vault Skirge
4 Cranial Plating
4 Mox Opal
Lands (17)
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Contested War Zone
3 Mishra's Factory
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
1 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Pithing Needle
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Thorn of Amethyst
2 Tormod's Crypt
4 Chalice of the Void
This is something I recently put together that I really want to start testing at my LGS weeklies. It is essentially an Ashok-esque build featuring Hangarback Walker, which plays really nicely with Steel Overseer and the Arcbounds. The deck obviously had to be slightly adjusted with Hangarback's inclusion, and no longer plays Frogmite, but I don't know if that was the right cut or not. The fact that these lists only play a max of 4 Artifact Lands and 0 Springleaf Drums made me think that Frogmite deserved the cut over some 0-1 CMC creature, mostly because it would be harder to cast in certain scenarios. But otherwise the deck is tuned to incorporate Hangarback, including going back to playing a copy of Gaea's Cradle, which can be really good. Not sure if only 1 Contested War Zone is correct or not, but I thought having slightly more Mishra's Factories could come in handy when I need creatures to bring the beats. If I am able to play this deck in the near future, I will post back with my results.
One thing I read about Ashok's build is he would've ran Blinkmoth Nexus given the opportunity as an aggro approach, playing with Mishra's Factory feels alot more tempo based which is what I assume why you include Hangarback Walker for your build. Isn't Contested War Zone then counter intuitive on your build (especially as a 1-of)?
Personally I want to test a build with salvage Titan and Disciple of the Vault but I feel those cards fit a modern shell (possibly Day's Undoing that has been hyped up so far.
-What would be your opinion (anyone still keeping up with this thread) of Bonded Construct in an Ashok Build?
I'm concerned it would be a 1CMC Frogmite with strictly drawbacks but still have minor synergy in the colorless Ashok build and act as nothing but fluff should they turn off our boardstate (Stony silence or Null rod) or tax us down (Kataki, war's wage) to overall deter this approach in legacy affinity but am hoping others can find some value or worth for this card in the 75 (as well as Chief of the Foundry for their 75.
Well, the reason I included Contested War Zone is that there are still insane plays to be made using it, but I never really want to draw more than one in case there is a real chance they can get stolen from me and I need to play out other mana sources instead. Building up a Hangarback and sacking it to a Ravager will give you lethal with War Zone or Signal Pest a lot of the time, but the War Zone can't be killed with ordinary removal and their Wastelands are likely already taxed as it is with manlands or big mana producers. So, you can alternatively keep it in your hand until you deem necessary and use it as a pump spell for your team.
I also share a lot of your worries about Bonded Construct. As soon as it was spoiled (and to a lesser extent, Chief as well), I began trying to incorporate them into Modern shells. What I found was pretty much what you said spot on; Construct was just a worse Frogmite, a card that has already become borderline unplayable in these lists. And who in their right mind would want to pay MANA for a Frogmite? Not I. Chief was also just a worse Master of Etherium, a card that IS worth playing, but only in blue lists.
I have seen someone toying around with the idea of Salvage Titan in Modern (don't know if they also played Disciple) and they asked what I thought about it. I told them I really had no experience playing the card in anything resembling an Affinity shell, but that they should maybe try Genesis Chamber? It seemed good in the spammy Vintage version of Affinity (although they have Skullclamp) and it could fuel the extra sacrifices needed for the Titan itself.
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Comedy gaming podcast. Listening to it makes you cool.
4x Arcbound Ravager
4x Etched Champion
4x Master of Etherium
4x Memnite
4x Ornithopter
4x Signal Pest
4x Vault Skirge
4x Thoughtcast
3x Ancient Tomb
4x Darksteel Citadel
2x Glimmervoid
3x Seat of the Synod
3x Vault of Whispers
4x Cranial Plating
4x Mox Opal
2x Springleaf Drum
3x Chalice of the Void
2x Cursed Totem
1x Grafdigger's Cage
2x Nature's Claim
1x Nihil Spellbomb
2x Pithing Needle
1x Tormod's Crypt
I made it to make sure I had a t2-3 tezz with a t3-4 tezz win.
Thinking about taking 1 tezz and 1 tomb out for something.
When I goldfish I have excellent outcomes, when I play I get flood/nothing or more creatures no endgame.
Endgame not mana or blah blah.
Most of time this should be getting dropped on the field on turn 2 for UU, provided you can get the blue mana.
At least Affinity is getting some new options!
modern: 4 color Gifts, ritual gifts, goryo's vengeance, affinity
vintage: burning oath
my affinity primer
http://legitmtg.com/competitive/metalcrafting-for-the-win-an-affinity-primer/
Only tutor target is plating and at 4 no thinks, no current spoiled artifacts look interesting at all.
If affinity wants to move up, I say it needs to go like infect, drop a bunch of stuff, play tezz t2-3, win on t3-4.
Or a uwr route with shrapnel blast, galvantic blast and that new re legend which will die to removal
Anyone have any ideas on how to be more consistent? Obviously to many tezz and 2-3 drops but most other cards I could use seem uninteresting to me.
How much will MB chalice hurt me if I dropped 1 of all 3 drops in the current meta?
If I ran chalice MB should I run vial to skirt around chalice?
I don't know what to do anymore to make it more competitive.
Or should I just forget legacy and port it to modern where affinity is a thing?
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Etched Champion
2 Master of Etherium
4 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Signal Pest
4 Vault Skirge
3 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
Spells: 14
4 Mox Opal
2 Springleaf Drum
4 Cranial Plating
4 Thoughtcast
Lands: 16
4 Ancient Tomb
1 Darksteel Citadel
1 City of Traitors
2 Glimmervoid
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Vault of Whispers
Artifact lands help.in damage and affinity count
Tomb makes crazy things happen like a t2 tezz ftw.if tomb was legal in modrrn it would be the most used land ever.
But wotc hates fast mana so modern will never see the other artifact lands.
Unless they make new legendary versions but that won't happen either.
Artifact lands make things like frogmite, Myr enforcer relivant and turns Mox opal on faster.
The more I play my list the more I hate ravager, sure cute combat tricks but he's very mediocre any other time.
Yes I know the deck is Tier 3 at best, and is not well positioned, but I need help on a few Maindeck choices and Sideboard choices for my possible meta.
The meta seems to be the following, although I know some guys have 2 decks and keep interchanging:
RB reanimator
MUD
Miracle
Sneak and show
Omnitell
Shardless Bug
Burn x2
Eldrazi x2
Elves x2
4x Vault of Whispers
4x Seat of Synod
4x Great Furnace/4x Ancient Den
4x Darksteel Citadel
Main:
4x Ornithopter
4x Memnite
4x Vault Skirge
4x Arcbound Ravager
4x Etched Champion
2x Master of Etherium
2x Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
4x Mox Opal
3x Springleaf Drum
4x Cranial Plating
4x Thoughtcast
5x Galvanic Blast/Dispatch/Shrapnel Blast
Sideboard: I'm not sure what to place here, but on top of my head-
3x Ensnaring Bridge
3x Pyroblast
3-4x Graveyard hate (Tormod's crypt/Rest in peace/Surgical Extraction/Grafdigger's Cage)
1x Wear//Tear
2x Smash to Smithereens/Nature's Claim/Natural State/Fragmentize
3x Chalice of the void/Thoughtseize/Pithing Needle
As you can see I'm all over the place. Any help will be appreciated!
Affinity
Legacy:
GBCombo Elves
EDH:
GEzuri, Renegade Leader's Elf Ball
Cube:
180 Peasant Micro Cube
Especially I'm curious with [card] Hope of Ghirapur[\card]? He looks really good, has evasion with flying and prevents that our opponent does something we don't want him to do. Mainly we buy a round for us which can basically end the game for us if they can't do anything in their turn. Even if it is a legendary he does more for the deck than memnite does. What do you guys think?
"Well, then we will at least fight in the shadow"
"There is no glory to be gained in the kingdom of the dead!"
Post by Narah about unbanning Mind Twist in legacy and that this would be evil:
If you want to play on MTGO add me I'm HeskatetAS, playing Modern and Legacy
2x Great Furnace
4x Seat of the Synod
4x Mishra's Factory
2x Inkmoth Nexus
4x Ancient Tomb
Main:
4x Ornithopter
2x Memnite
4x Vault Skirge
4x Arcbound Ravager
2x Lodestone Golem
4x Master of Etherium
4x Signal Pest
4x Mox Opal
4x Springleaf Drum
4x Cranial Plating
4x Thoughtcast
2x Chalice of the Void
4x Thorn of amethyst
3x Hangarback walker
3x Tormod's crypt
2x Ghirapur aether Grid
1x Dismember
This is the current deck I'm working with. The deck is capable of very explosive turn 3 kills and has the late game stay power against alot of fair decks. I prefer the two lodestone golems in the main to hedge a bit against combo but also to keep the pressure.
I want the mainboard to be strong against fair decks and the sideboard to be more geared towards combo by using 4 thorns and 2x chalice. I'm expecting to throw away alot of game 1 against decks like reanimator/ storm and punish them post sideboard with thorn, crypt and chalice. (I really don't want to play thorns in the main to reduce the deck's explosive power). I'm still debating between the Dismember and a dispatch. 4 life is alot in a deck that plays ancient tombs, but the maindeck really doesn' have colored sources as well as the modern affinity list.
The hangarback walker is more to deal with sweepers post board/ grindy matchups. You could make the case Tezzert agent of bolas is better and I would prob agree with you.
I find a large portion of the legacy metagame just doesn't have any answers for you. If terminus is played more in your metagame, I would swap the hangarbacks for Tezzert Agent of Bolas. I find the advantage affinity has over the metagame is the deck plays pretty much like the legacy version of vintage ravager shops and should rely more on being able to spend more mana than your opponent than playing threats like tezzert/ etched champion that your opponent cannot deal with (plus I find they're too slow)
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i