I think that the way you're evaluating these cards is problematic. Military Intelligence might draw you more cards in a goldfish situation, but if you pull it with a single creature in play and none in your hand, it's basically dead. The main benefit of TfK is that it is an instant. The problem with it for you is that you're either discarding two cards or (with some exceptions) discarding gas. If you were playing a more controlling build, there might be a better case for it. It maybe helps you play around Canonist, too, but that's only going to come up if you have 5 mana on the board.
Also, you can consider just running threats instead of draw.
The rest of the questions are tough to evaluate, because it seems like you need to narrow down the type of deck you want to play. Your deck as written is kind of a budget UW version of normal Affinity, which is fine. A lot of your ??? cards might be good in a more controlling version of the deck, using things like Champion/Esperzoa/Ensouled backed up by counterspells, with Thopter Foundry for grindy games. That could also be a thing (sounds fun! might be terrible!), but you need to decide what you want first.
I think that the way you're evaluating these cards is problematic. Military Intelligence might draw you more cards in a goldfish situation, but if you pull it with a single creature in play and none in your hand, it's basically dead.
The rest of the questions are tough to evaluate, because it seems like you need to narrow down the type of deck you want to play. Your deck as written is kind of a budget UW version of normal Affinity, which is fine. A lot of your ??? cards might be good in a more controlling version of the deck, using things like Champion/Esperzoa/Ensouled backed up by counterspells, with Thopter Foundry for grindy games. That could also be a thing (sounds fun! might be terrible!), but you need to decide what you want first.
1. If I have one or less creatures on the battlefield it means that I've already lost (unless it's an Etched Champion with Cranial Plating and active Metalcraft).
2. My questions are rather random because I'm trying to figure out what can work for me in this deck, whichh is still very much an aggro deck.
Since I can't afford Arcbound Ravager and Steel Overseer (probably the next upgrade) I ended up going with Ethersworn Canonist which seems alright as 2/2 for 2 (or 4/4 with Tempered Steel) and will most likely disrupt many opposing decks/strategies.
My question was if they are indeed as good as they seemed to me and if they should be played as a 4x (or maybe less) or am I better of playing creatures like Court Homunculus or Porcelain Legionnaire instead.
What Cavalry said. But to answer your questions a little...
1. Military Intelligence invites/demands that you overextend yourself, which is its real issue. I was trying to give a concrete example, but this is the crux of it.
1. Isn't Affinity's game-plan based on "overextending" ?
Just emptying your hand quickly to overwhelm the opponent (especially if I don't have Inkmoth Nexus or Arcbound Ravager).
The individual creatures in the deck are so weak (without Ensoul Artifact/Cranial Plating) that playing any other way seems counter-intuitive.
2. Wouldn't Myrsmith work well in the deck to help continually produce threats (which become bigger with Tempered Steel) ?
Also how is Renowned Weaponsmith as another ramp option ?
1. Isn't Affinity's game-plan based on "overextending" ?
Just emptying your hand quickly to overwhelm the opponent (especially if I don't have Inkmoth Nexus or Arcbound Ravager).
The individual creatures in the deck are so weak (without Ensoul Artifact/Cranial Plating) that playing any other way seems counter-intuitive.
Try it out. I'm not totally convinced of the need for any draw (just play more threats), but slow draw based on a non-artifact permanent seems bad to me.
You don't have anything to ramp into, it's not an artifact, and it's not a threat. Seems like you will not enjoy playing it in this deck. To forestall future inquiries, when I say you don't have anything to ramp into, I mean that you have a total of 10 things you could be doing (4xChampion, 2xChief, 4xCranial+Equip) which require more than the 2 mana it will require you to drop this, and those all cost exactly 3 mana. You would have been better off seeing a third land and dropping a threat on T2.
Ensoul is good. The Blade might be worth trying since you don't have as much reach as a version with R. Not sure I'd get rid of my lords, but I could be wrong.
Those token making spells could work pretty well with Myr Enforcer though.
Dispatch should definately be in the maindeck (unlike my initial build) and Steel Overseer (got much cheaper online, 3.3tix from 7.5tix back then) is a big upgrade over Chief of the Foundry.
Hi everybody. I have a similar build of budget robots and it works pretty well, but i am wondering if we aren't taking all the budget thing too far. We play for definition a cheaper, weaker version of Affinity which would hardly be upgraded into the real deck because of its staple's absurd cost. So can't we develop something different instead? We will never be as fast, so let's become more resilient to hate and able to mantain the same odds of winning pre and post-side.
Do you think that this option is reasonable or even possibile?
Hello guys, long time no see! I recently started doubting if UW is the right colour combination for budget bots. Considering 4c manabases and Opals out of budget, we have to choose between White (Tempered Steel, Dispatch, token generators, sideboard techs and fringe cards like Court Homunculus and Toolcraft Exemplar), Blue (counterspells, Master of Etherium, Ensoul Artifact and Thoughtcast) and Red (Galvanic Blast, Shrapnel Blast and Whipflare). Right now, my opinion is that Red should be included, due to Galvanic Blast's sheer power. The problem is what do i cut for it?
Please share your thoughts.
This is the current MTGGoldfish version. I'm fine w/trying to run this as I'm just a few Spires and a set of Steels away from it, as I have nearly everything for the mainstream Affinity deck outside of Opals and Ravagers. My question is if we were going to upgrade this build slightly with Steel Overseer, what cards would we cut?
Just as a thought Steelshaper's Gift can find a single or couple Cranial Platings, so that you can run 5-8 of them. I often own one of a lot of cards for my EDH decks, so a cheap tutor like Steelshaper's Gift can be some help. It may also provide toolbox effects out of the sideboard.
Since the realease of Modern Horizons there are some potential new cards for the deck:
# Icehide Golem - Another good 1-drop for the deck besides Homunculus, and is basically a non-legendary artifact version of Isamaru which is pretty good.
# On Thin Ice - either as a replacement or backup for Dispatch as efficient removal.
# Generous Gift - a good catch-all replacement for Banishing Light as it can hit lands which is good against Tron and the instant speed can be useful as well.
It can also be used on your own Hangarback to make flying tokens (and the 3/3 Elephant).
# Force of Virtue - a potential free anthem for the deck, could possible replace some of the grindy cards (Shrine/Hangarback) to make the deck a bit more aggressive and speed up its clock.
Here the deck I'm looking to get feedback on:
4x Etched Champion
4x Ethersworn Canonist
2x Chief of the Foundry
4x Memnite
4x Ornithopter
4x Signal Pest
4x Vault Skirge
Artifact (7)
4x Cranial Plating
3x Springleaf Drum
2x Adarkar Wastes
4x Hallowed Fountain
4x Blinkmoth Nexus
4x Darksteel Citadel
2x Island
2x Plains
Enchantment (6)
2x Ensoul Artifact
4x Tempered Steel
Sorcery (3)
3x Thoughtcast
4x Dispatch
4x Ghost Quarter
2x Negate
1x Phyrexian Revoker
2x Return to the Ranks
2x Unified Will
1. Wouldn't Military Intelligence draw me more cards than Thoughtcast ?
What about Thirst for Knowledge, is it too slow ?
2. Does Dispatch have a place in the mainboard ?
3. Is Ethersworn Canonist good here ? Even as a 4x of ?
Should I add Court Homunculus instead to lower the mana-curve ?
Or Porcelain Legionnaire for more damage ?
4. Is it a good idea to go with Unified Will over Mana Leak in the sideboard?
Should I replace Ghost Quarter with Sea's Claim?
5. Can Esperzoa work in this deck ? Is it worth inclusion ?
6. Are these cards good MB/SB options:
Stoic Rebuttal, Myrsmith, Glint Hawk Idol, Etherium Sculptor, Ethersworn Shieldmage, Plague Myr/Ichorclaw Myr, Ghostfire Blade, Thopter Foundry, Phyrexian Revoker, Arcbound Slith, Suppression Field and Dolmen Gate ?
I think that the way you're evaluating these cards is problematic. Military Intelligence might draw you more cards in a goldfish situation, but if you pull it with a single creature in play and none in your hand, it's basically dead. The main benefit of TfK is that it is an instant. The problem with it for you is that you're either discarding two cards or (with some exceptions) discarding gas. If you were playing a more controlling build, there might be a better case for it. It maybe helps you play around Canonist, too, but that's only going to come up if you have 5 mana on the board.
Also, you can consider just running threats instead of draw.
The rest of the questions are tough to evaluate, because it seems like you need to narrow down the type of deck you want to play. Your deck as written is kind of a budget UW version of normal Affinity, which is fine. A lot of your ??? cards might be good in a more controlling version of the deck, using things like Champion/Esperzoa/Ensouled backed up by counterspells, with Thopter Foundry for grindy games. That could also be a thing (sounds fun! might be terrible!), but you need to decide what you want first.
Yes, I'm familiar with that deck and was actually trying to build upon it without upping the budget too much.
Unfortunately Blinkmoth Nexus doubled in price recently (from 2 tix to almost 5 tix) meaning I most likely won't be able to afford Master of Etherium for now (and go with Chief of the Foundry instead).
1. If I have one or less creatures on the battlefield it means that I've already lost (unless it's an Etched Champion with Cranial Plating and active Metalcraft).
2. My questions are rather random because I'm trying to figure out what can work for me in this deck, whichh is still very much an aggro deck.
Since I can't afford Arcbound Ravager and Steel Overseer (probably the next upgrade) I ended up going with Ethersworn Canonist which seems alright as 2/2 for 2 (or 4/4 with Tempered Steel) and will most likely disrupt many opposing decks/strategies.
My question was if they are indeed as good as they seemed to me and if they should be played as a 4x (or maybe less) or am I better of playing creatures like Court Homunculus or Porcelain Legionnaire instead.
The budget is around 50-55 Tix.
1. Military Intelligence invites/demands that you overextend yourself, which is its real issue. I was trying to give a concrete example, but this is the crux of it.
3. Ethersworn Canonist is basically the reason this deck might be good.
6. Most of those cards you list I would not bother with. Phyrexian Revoker seems fine in the SB.
Just emptying your hand quickly to overwhelm the opponent (especially if I don't have Inkmoth Nexus or Arcbound Ravager).
The individual creatures in the deck are so weak (without Ensoul Artifact/Cranial Plating) that playing any other way seems counter-intuitive.
Btw, you also need to overextend to lower the cost of Thoughtcast (unless you have a lot of Darksteel Citadel, Cranial Plating and Springleaf Drum in play)
2. Wouldn't Myrsmith work well in the deck to help continually produce threats (which become bigger with Tempered Steel) ?
Also how is Renowned Weaponsmith as another ramp option ?
3. Should I add more Ensoul Artifact or Ghostfire Blade
(or maybe Porcelain Legionnaire/Court Homunculus) instead of Chief of the Foundry ?
4. Isn't Stoic Rebuttal a good option for the sideboard ? (instead of Negate maybe)
Try it out. I'm not totally convinced of the need for any draw (just play more threats), but slow draw based on a non-artifact permanent seems bad to me.
If you were playing a grindier version, it might be interesting. My suspicion is that it will function a lot like a worse version of Young Pyromancer.
You don't have anything to ramp into, it's not an artifact, and it's not a threat. Seems like you will not enjoy playing it in this deck. To forestall future inquiries, when I say you don't have anything to ramp into, I mean that you have a total of 10 things you could be doing (4xChampion, 2xChief, 4xCranial+Equip) which require more than the 2 mana it will require you to drop this, and those all cost exactly 3 mana. You would have been better off seeing a third land and dropping a threat on T2.
Ensoul is good. The Blade might be worth trying since you don't have as much reach as a version with R. Not sure I'd get rid of my lords, but I could be wrong.
Since your MD isn't fixed yet, I'd worry about that first.
I'm not sure about playing so many lands (22x) (over using Springleaf Drum) and slow cards like Servo Exhibition and Sram's Expertise over Memnite/Vault Skirge and though Toolcraft Exemplar does seem good I wonder if Court Homunculus wouldn't be better by adding to the artifact count and being buffed by Tempered Steel.
Those token making spells could work pretty well with Myr Enforcer though.
Dispatch should definately be in the maindeck (unlike my initial build) and Steel Overseer (got much cheaper online, 3.3tix from 7.5tix back then) is a big upgrade over Chief of the Foundry.
Do you think that this option is reasonable or even possibile?
4x Signal Pest
4x Court Homunculus
4x Steel Overseer
2x Hangarback Walker
2x Chief of the Foundry
Artifact (6)
4x Smuggler's Copter
2x Shrine of Loyal Legions
4x Servo Exhibition
4x Sram's Expertise
Enchantment (4)
4x Tempered Steel
Instant (4)
4x Dispatch
Land (22)
4x Blinkmoth Nexus
4x Shefet Dunes
14x Plains
3x Selfless Spirit
2x Ethersworn Canonist
2x Path to Exile
2x Disenchant
2x Rest in Peace
2x Banishing Light
2x Gideon's Intervention
Please share your thoughts.
4 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Bomat Courier
4 Signal Pest
4 Vault Skirge
4 Etched Champion
2 Master of Etherium
2 Frogmite
Spells: 14
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Cranial Plating
2 Smuggler's Copter
4 Tempered Steel
1 Island
1 Plains
4 Aether Hub
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Adarkar Wastes
4 Spire of Industry
3 Tormod's Crypt
3 Dispatch
2 Spell Pierce
3 Negate
2 Spreading Seas
2 Oblivion Ring
Since the realease of Modern Horizons there are some potential new cards for the deck:
# Icehide Golem - Another good 1-drop for the deck besides Homunculus, and is basically a non-legendary artifact version of Isamaru which is pretty good.
# On Thin Ice - either as a replacement or backup for Dispatch as efficient removal.
# Generous Gift - a good catch-all replacement for Banishing Light as it can hit lands which is good against Tron and the instant speed can be useful as well.
It can also be used on your own Hangarback to make flying tokens (and the 3/3 Elephant).
# Force of Virtue - a potential free anthem for the deck, could possible replace some of the grindy cards (Shrine/Hangarback) to make the deck a bit more aggressive and speed up its clock.
Some upgrades that can be made for the manabase:
# Ghost Quarter + Flagstones of Trokair for some maindeck LD and deck-thinning.
# Scavenger Grounds (with Shefet Dunes) as maindeck graveyard hate.
# Blast Zone as more removal.