That's weird, because it's in almost every deck I've seen, including every non-red deck in this subforum, and I'm never mad to draw one in a game. It's such a killer card for Affinity.
Bob had been taking that slot for a while. With the mess of Aggro decks out there, though, he can be a bit of a liability. But, yeah, Thoughtcast nearly got pushed out completely. Its the last holdout of "Affinity" and it isn't giving up without a fight.
I went 3-1 with Tempered Steel version, but I found TS a bit harder to cast, and most of the time it was not needed (went for speedy Build). I'm cutting TS for Champions, and being that I only had 1 ravager in my build last friday, I'm dropping Frogmite for 3 more ravagers. The last built was hastily constructed, so my current build will be better and not have odd numbers like 1 ravager.
Only deck I lost to was Living End I felt like I would have had a better shot if I had a ravager online (sac all your dudes in response to living end). sidenote: Beat KikiTwin, MeliraPod, and Burn, lost to a different KikiTwin build in Top 4 (1-2) (this was due to a misplay, Had a needle on Exarch, a revoker set to pestermite, had an additional revoker in hand, but feared removal, so instead of dropping it to name Kiki, i held in hand and lost to kiki)
Thoughts on Thoughtcast...
I ran 3 in my original build, but it seemed like when I cast this spell, I rarely lost.
I am trying to find a good deck for modern. Usually I play control but since that does not seem viable in the the current format I want to try affinity. The decklist I end up using is very similar to legacy affinity and has worked pretty well in goldfishing but I would appreciate some feedback since I won't be able to play vs magic for another few weeks.
Decklist:
3 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Signal Pest
3 Ethersworn Canonist
4 Vault Skirge
3 Etched Champion
3 Master of Etherium
Ethersworn Canonist is probably sideboard material. -3 Ethersworn, +1 Memnite, +2 Tidehollow Sculler, instead? Definitely want that fourth Memnite, and you have the sources for white. Is the City of Brass really worth going 4 color? I guess it's no worse than Zoo fetching into a shock, but I'm curious about it. My Tempered Steel deck could do with a Galvanic Blast or two, and splashing it off City of Brass seems like a decent idea.
I would switch the numbers on Opal and Drum - I run 3 Drum, 2 Opal, and like the balance quite a bit.
Otherwise looks like a solid list.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
UUU Talrand, Sky Summoner // (W/U)(W/U)(W/U) Grand Arbiter Augustin IV // RRR Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker // (R/G)(R/G)(R/G) Wort, the Raidmother // URG Riku of Two Reflections // RWU Ruhan of the Fomori
Quote from Mark Rosewater »
In response to your Lightning Blast, I'll eat this burrito.
Quote from slipknot72102 »
This is why I started playing magic in the first place. It wasn't PT aspirations just making noobs cry by doing things that are perfectly fair.
I find the three of them really doesn't set you back. Without them the deck requires a rather clunky mana base to fulfill the colour requirements and I found myself being colour screwed 3/4 games. Like I said I am not somewhere where I can test against other people, but I think City of Brass is the best solution.
I tried the Tidehollow Sculler and really like the look of him so far. I almost want to cut something for three of them. Galvanic Blast is amazing because even if they wrath you on turn 4 or 5 you can usually just finish them off with a blast. I have three Dispatch in the sideboard, but the flexibility of blast is more useful and justifies the mana base.
I have yet to find the Thopter foundry useful, do people think I should just drop it for a third Sculler or Ethersworn Canonist? This might just be because I am goldfishing though, it would be a great way to use extra opals and Memnite, turn 4-6 to finish them.
I love Sculler, and while the Foundry has done great **** elsewhere, I'm not sure its a fit for this deck. Turning your Opals and Memnites into 1/1s isn't hugely useful, in my mind. I'd rather have Shrapnel Blast if you're going the sac route for a finisher, especially in your mana base.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
UUU Talrand, Sky Summoner // (W/U)(W/U)(W/U) Grand Arbiter Augustin IV // RRR Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker // (R/G)(R/G)(R/G) Wort, the Raidmother // URG Riku of Two Reflections // RWU Ruhan of the Fomori
Quote from Mark Rosewater »
In response to your Lightning Blast, I'll eat this burrito.
Quote from slipknot72102 »
This is why I started playing magic in the first place. It wasn't PT aspirations just making noobs cry by doing things that are perfectly fair.
So post bannings, with 12 post gone SplinterTwin decks not doing as hot, what is the better version of Affinity? I had assumed Mono-Red was run because the 5 Blood Moon effect side made the 12 post match up slightly better, but with that gone is it still worth running, or is UB Tezz better?
Joe, excellent work as usual. I'm a huge fan of your Legacy primer, and I think this will definitely be up to par with our most trusted Affinity Advisor. Good show!
Anyways...
This is the deck I've ported over from my less successful Legacy career. I really want to try it out in the Modern metagame. Yes, the Champs are in the sideboard, and I'm still running Disciple. I'm seriously considering some other cards for the sideboard. One thought is a transformer board including Galvanic Blast and Fling, some disruption like Thoughtseize, and some answers like Krosan Grip and Stoic Rebuttal to deal with things like Stony Silence and Creeping Corrosion[/CARD].
Your thoughts?
I think I would run Signal Pest over Disciple right now. Disciple can surely win you the game even outside the combat phase but I think if you had that much board advantage you should be winning anyway whereas Signal Pest provides you an artifact body with a pump effect on attack and a form of evasion that can make him quite deadly with Cranial Plating.
Going through the MTGO Daily Event thread it seems there are generally two different successful variants with one Red Affinity running Galvanic Blasts and either Fling or Shrapnel Blast and the other being Tezzeret Affinity.
Has anyone tried out both enough to give out some insight and opinion on each?
Nothing in this game is degenerate or completely dominant. They haven't banned anything in standard in a long, long time. Hell they should have banned affinity right away, but they didn't until boxed sales collapsed too. Hasbro had to come in and fire people.
I'll enjoy watching all the whiners eat crow monday.
Going through the MTGO Daily Event thread it seems there are generally two different successful variants with one Red Affinity running Galvanic Blasts and either Fling or Shrapnel Blast and the other being Tezzeret Affinity.
Has anyone tried out both enough to give out some insight and opinion on each?
In a nutshell
The red version is faster, particularly against combo and is very good at putting a game away having dealt enough initial damage.
The Tezzeret version is a bit slower because it doesn't quite have the reach that burn provides, but can win without getting it's hands really dirty in combat as Tezzeret's ultimate is a real prospect and can swing enough to one shot at least anything that has abused Shock lands.
Started my Tezz Affinity build last week. I am trading a foil Lili and foil jap Thrun for my key pieces. I have never played modern so I'm hoping this deck will be a good start and be somewhat competitive. Thanks for a great primer!
I'm running a RW version of the deck that has been pretty successful in my local meta, the white being for Steelshaper's Gift in the main (there is also Dispatch and Ethersworn Canonist in the sideboard). I've found that in effect having 6 Cranial Platings is making me fizzle by just drawing blanks less than I was before, which is a very real problem the deck can face. Has anyone else found success with this build?
Also, this is not the Fling/Atog version. I've found that following the various bannings, there are less games where I'm in a sheer clock battle (where the Fling/Atog package was useful) and more where I have to just get over the "hump" of other more interactive decks.
Also, I concur with Destiny's recommendation to not run Disciple. I tried it and unless you're running a full-on black version of the deck like tich does, it is very much a "win more" card. Signal pest, being an artifact with a form of evasion (you can strap Plating to it or feed it to Ravager), I find absolutely critical both to getting fast starts and to getting over/around the more interactive decks, which we can have trouble with if we play too interactively. It's also saved me by turning an army of Ornithopers, Memnites, Nexuses and Frogmites that I've coughed onto the board (and then found nothing on my next draw) into a moderately threatening force, at least early game.
I'm running a RW version of the deck that has been pretty successful in my local meta, the white being for Steelshaper's Gift in the main (there is also Dispatch and Ethersworn Canonist in the sideboard). I've found that in effect having 6 Cranial Platings is making me fizzle by just drawing blanks less than I was before, which is a very real problem the deck can face. Has anyone else found success with this build?
Also, this is not the Fling/Atog version. I've found that following the various bannings, there are less games where I'm in a sheer clock battle (where the Fling/Atog package was useful) and more where I have to just get over the "hump" of other more interactive decks.
Also, I concur with Destiny's recommendation to not run Disciple. I tried it and unless you're running a full-on black version of the deck like tich does, it is very much a "win more" card. Signal pest, being an artifact with a form of evasion (you can strap Plating to it or feed it to Ravager), I find absolutely critical both to getting fast starts and to getting over/around the more interactive decks, which we can have trouble with if we play too interactively. It's also saved me by turning an army of Ornithopers, Memnites, Nexuses and Frogmites that I've coughed onto the board (and then found nothing on my next draw) into a moderately threatening force, at least early game.
I love Signal Pest as much as the next guy, but I just don't find myself using him much, really. Instead of casting pest, I'd rather cast a Drum so I can (usually) get a MoE or Champ out on turn 2.
Now, I'm not saying this works all the time, because I need to have a Mox, a Land, and a Drum. But even without, I just feel Pest is slightly less win-more than Disciple when we have other potential beatstick/quickwin/evasive cards.
I love Signal Pest as much as the next guy, but I just don't find myself using him much, really. Instead of casting pest, I'd rather cast a Drum so I can (usually) get a MoE or Champ out on turn 2.
Now, I'm not saying this works all the time, because I need to have a Mox, a Land, and a Drum. But even without, I just feel Pest is slightly less win-more than Disciple when we have other potential beatstick/quickwin/evasive cards.
I can see where you're coming from, but I still prefer Pest to anything else we'd reasonably put in that slot, because in addition to the evasiveness, he helps power out other artifacts, and can be utilized by Drum.
As for MoE, I tried him and didn't like him very much for this version of the deck (for reference, I'm playing the primarily Red version, not the Tezzeret version). Yes, he gets big fast, and makes your other guys bigger, but unless you're in a clock battle with Storm or Splinter Twin, I find that JUST having big creatures at that stage isn't enough given the fact I'd have to take something else out to get MoE in. At least fairy godmother has various tricks up its sleeve. But so far I've found that in the pure clock matchups it's too slow and takes a slot that could go to something that is more focused (given the deck's plan), and for the other matchups I just can't usually straight-up out-battle my opponent on the creature front; I need some kind of trickiness, whether it be evasion, Ravager shenanigans, etc.
Maybe your experience with the deck differs, but I've found that the largest amount of the time I do something crazy/explosive and win with some combination of speed and trickiness, a smaller chunk of the time I actually engage the opponent conventionally, and then the rest of the time I just fizzle and play blanks.
This could be because I was incorporating MoE wrong though. What did you remove to fit him in?
would hollowed fountain be a better replacement for city of brass? cause its a one time deal of 2 damage and you could choose not to take the damage and have it citp tapped
I'm stunned with how few people go the traditional R/U or R/U/b route.
I think thoughtcast and galvanic blast are both too good to ignore. Thats aside from the other spells those colours give you. If you're boarding in Blood Moon, you can just board out your thoughtcasts.
I think the reason people aren't running UR is because RW gets you better options. In UR you get Thoughtcast, and that's about it. In white you get Steelshaper's Gift, which works like Thoughtcast, as well as Dispatch and Ethersworn Canonist.
I'm stunned with how few people go the traditional R/U or R/U/b route.
I think thoughtcast and galvanic blast are both too good to ignore. Thats aside from the other spells those colours give you. If you're boarding in Blood Moon, you can just board out your thoughtcasts.
It depends what you want from your affinity deck.
Thoughtcast is a great card, but it undoubtedly makes the deck run a bit slower. I tend to prefer my blue in affinity to come with either Tempered Steel (makes the slow worthwhile, usually because you're going to bash in with a large Etched Champion/Master of Etherium board) or to come with Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas (His ultimate is a huge finisher)
I've never been sorry to draw a Thoughtcast. Very rarely will you pay more than U for it, especially if you drop Citadel T1. The I've drop two on T3-4 and loved it.
Galvanic Blast is the best Burn spell in the game for us, just like Dispatch. We're lucky enough to have cards tailor made for the deck. However, unlike Dispatch, Blast works well only if you devote a fair portion of the deck to red, like Atog Fling. The a Champion with Plating is good enough to neglect Blast usually.
I would like to see an Artful Dodge or two for MoE. Giving him Evasion makes him better than Champ, and the fact it can be flashed-back onto multiples makes it a boss on paper.
Anyone feel like playtesting this with me?
It's turn 1 of game 1 and you're on the play. The only things you can drop turn 1 are a land, a zero drop (Thopter/Memnite) and either a Vault Skirge or a Signal Pest. Do you drop the Pest or the Skirge?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Time to bring back a 5-year old sig banner. DEDICATION!
Bob had been taking that slot for a while. With the mess of Aggro decks out there, though, he can be a bit of a liability. But, yeah, Thoughtcast nearly got pushed out completely. Its the last holdout of "Affinity" and it isn't giving up without a fight.
Only deck I lost to was Living End I felt like I would have had a better shot if I had a ravager online (sac all your dudes in response to living end). sidenote: Beat KikiTwin, MeliraPod, and Burn, lost to a different KikiTwin build in Top 4 (1-2) (this was due to a misplay, Had a needle on Exarch, a revoker set to pestermite, had an additional revoker in hand, but feared removal, so instead of dropping it to name Kiki, i held in hand and lost to kiki)
Thoughts on Thoughtcast...
I ran 3 in my original build, but it seemed like when I cast this spell, I rarely lost.
I'm Running this currently:
4 Master of Etherium
4 Arcbound Ravager
3 Etched Champion
4 Signal Pest
4 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Vault Skirge
4 Cranial Plating
4 Mox Opal
4 Springleaf Drum
Sorcery
4 Thoughtcast
Land
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Inkmoth Nexus
2 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 City of Brass
3 Glimmervoid
3 Dispatch
4 Leyline of The Void
3 Thoughtseize
3 Pithing Needle
2 Phyrexian Revoker
Thank you mchief111, great sig
Lvl 37 Planeswalker
Current:
Legacy:
:symu::symb::symr::symw::symg: TES | Spiral Tide | MUD | :symu::symb::symg: Lands | Burn | :symr::symbg: Goblins | Elf Combo
Vintage:
:symb::symu: Titan Dredge | :symb::symu::symw: Bomberman
Modern:
:symu::symr: Kiki-Twin | :symr::symg: Tron
Standard:
Wip
EDH:
:symb::symu::symw: Zur
Ethersworn Canonist is probably sideboard material. -3 Ethersworn, +1 Memnite, +2 Tidehollow Sculler, instead? Definitely want that fourth Memnite, and you have the sources for white. Is the City of Brass really worth going 4 color? I guess it's no worse than Zoo fetching into a shock, but I'm curious about it. My Tempered Steel deck could do with a Galvanic Blast or two, and splashing it off City of Brass seems like a decent idea.
I would switch the numbers on Opal and Drum - I run 3 Drum, 2 Opal, and like the balance quite a bit.
Otherwise looks like a solid list.
I love Sculler, and while the Foundry has done great **** elsewhere, I'm not sure its a fit for this deck. Turning your Opals and Memnites into 1/1s isn't hugely useful, in my mind. I'd rather have Shrapnel Blast if you're going the sac route for a finisher, especially in your mana base.
4 Ornithopter
4 Signal Pest
4 Vault Skirge
3 Master of Etherium
2 Etched Champion
3 Springleaf Drum
4 Cranial Plating
4 Tempered Steel
4 Galvanic Blast
1 Dispatch
4 Thoughtcast
3 Glimmervoid
3 City of Brass
3 Blinkmoth Nexus
2 Plains
n0 c0mb0z Sharuum:symw::symu::symb:
Seton Druid Party:symg:
Drana Big Mana Black
Baru Landfall:symg:
Venser:symu:
Animar tempo:symu::symr::symg: (Retired)Azami, Lady of Card Advantage(Retired =[ )Anyways...
This is the deck I've ported over from my less successful Legacy career. I really want to try it out in the Modern metagame. Yes, the Champs are in the sideboard, and I'm still running Disciple. I'm seriously considering some other cards for the sideboard. One thought is a transformer board including Galvanic Blast and Fling, some disruption like Thoughtseize, and some answers like Krosan Grip and Stoic Rebuttal to deal with things like Stony Silence and Creeping Corrosion[/CARD].
Your thoughts?
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Arcbound Worker
4 Vault Skirge
4 Memnite
4 Disciple of the Vault
4 Ornithopter
//Spells: 18
4 Mox Opal
3 Springleaf Drum
4 Thoughtcast
3 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
4 Cranial Plating
4 Glimmervoid
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Inkmoth Nexus
2 City of Brass
1 Vesuva
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Island
3 Etched Campion
3 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Pithing Needle
3 Tormod's Crypt
4 Dispatch
My Attempt at Vintage
WUBRGAd Nausuem AffinityGRBUW
Going through the MTGO Daily Event thread it seems there are generally two different successful variants with one Red Affinity running Galvanic Blasts and either Fling or Shrapnel Blast and the other being Tezzeret Affinity.
Has anyone tried out both enough to give out some insight and opinion on each?
Who's eating crow?
In a nutshell
The red version is faster, particularly against combo and is very good at putting a game away having dealt enough initial damage.
The Tezzeret version is a bit slower because it doesn't quite have the reach that burn provides, but can win without getting it's hands really dirty in combat as Tezzeret's ultimate is a real prospect and can swing enough to one shot at least anything that has abused Shock lands.
Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
Standard:
:symw::symb::symg:Junk Titans:symw::symb::symg:
:symw::symu:Haunted Humans:symw::symu:
Modern:
:symu::symb::symr:Affinity:symu::symb::symr:
Also, this is not the Fling/Atog version. I've found that following the various bannings, there are less games where I'm in a sheer clock battle (where the Fling/Atog package was useful) and more where I have to just get over the "hump" of other more interactive decks.
Also, I concur with Destiny's recommendation to not run Disciple. I tried it and unless you're running a full-on black version of the deck like tich does, it is very much a "win more" card. Signal pest, being an artifact with a form of evasion (you can strap Plating to it or feed it to Ravager), I find absolutely critical both to getting fast starts and to getting over/around the more interactive decks, which we can have trouble with if we play too interactively. It's also saved me by turning an army of Ornithopers, Memnites, Nexuses and Frogmites that I've coughed onto the board (and then found nothing on my next draw) into a moderately threatening force, at least early game.
-Modern-
UBRAffinityUBR
UTronU
-Standard-
BDevotionB
-EDH-
RBGProsshRBG
I love Signal Pest as much as the next guy, but I just don't find myself using him much, really. Instead of casting pest, I'd rather cast a Drum so I can (usually) get a MoE or Champ out on turn 2.
Now, I'm not saying this works all the time, because I need to have a Mox, a Land, and a Drum. But even without, I just feel Pest is slightly less win-more than Disciple when we have other potential beatstick/quickwin/evasive cards.
My Attempt at Vintage
WUBRGAd Nausuem AffinityGRBUW
I can see where you're coming from, but I still prefer Pest to anything else we'd reasonably put in that slot, because in addition to the evasiveness, he helps power out other artifacts, and can be utilized by Drum.
As for MoE, I tried him and didn't like him very much for this version of the deck (for reference, I'm playing the primarily Red version, not the Tezzeret version). Yes, he gets big fast, and makes your other guys bigger, but unless you're in a clock battle with Storm or Splinter Twin, I find that JUST having big creatures at that stage isn't enough given the fact I'd have to take something else out to get MoE in. At least fairy godmother has various tricks up its sleeve. But so far I've found that in the pure clock matchups it's too slow and takes a slot that could go to something that is more focused (given the deck's plan), and for the other matchups I just can't usually straight-up out-battle my opponent on the creature front; I need some kind of trickiness, whether it be evasion, Ravager shenanigans, etc.
Maybe your experience with the deck differs, but I've found that the largest amount of the time I do something crazy/explosive and win with some combination of speed and trickiness, a smaller chunk of the time I actually engage the opponent conventionally, and then the rest of the time I just fizzle and play blanks.
This could be because I was incorporating MoE wrong though. What did you remove to fit him in?
-Modern-
UBRAffinityUBR
UTronU
-Standard-
BDevotionB
-EDH-
RBGProsshRBG
EDH
GWSigarda, Host of EnchantressGW[Primer]
I think the reason people aren't running UR is because RW gets you better options. In UR you get Thoughtcast, and that's about it. In white you get Steelshaper's Gift, which works like Thoughtcast, as well as Dispatch and Ethersworn Canonist.
It depends what you want from your affinity deck.
Thoughtcast is a great card, but it undoubtedly makes the deck run a bit slower. I tend to prefer my blue in affinity to come with either Tempered Steel (makes the slow worthwhile, usually because you're going to bash in with a large Etched Champion/Master of Etherium board) or to come with Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas (His ultimate is a huge finisher)
Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
Galvanic Blast is the best Burn spell in the game for us, just like Dispatch. We're lucky enough to have cards tailor made for the deck. However, unlike Dispatch, Blast works well only if you devote a fair portion of the deck to red, like Atog Fling. The a Champion with Plating is good enough to neglect Blast usually.
I would like to see an Artful Dodge or two for MoE. Giving him Evasion makes him better than Champ, and the fact it can be flashed-back onto multiples makes it a boss on paper.
Anyone feel like playtesting this with me?
My Attempt at Vintage
WUBRGAd Nausuem AffinityGRBUW
G/R Tron
U/W Tron
Dragonstorm
RDW
Faeries
Mono Blue Delver
White Weenie
I've always wanted to play affinity. I know there are different types that do well in different environments. Which type of affinity should I run?
It's turn 1 of game 1 and you're on the play. The only things you can drop turn 1 are a land, a zero drop (Thopter/Memnite) and either a Vault Skirge or a Signal Pest. Do you drop the Pest or the Skirge?
Time to bring back a 5-year old sig banner. DEDICATION!
Currently Playing:
=Legacy=
RUUG Delver
=Modern=
BRRG LOAM
=EDH=
BGGR Karrthus
RRRX Norin
UUWW Bruna
BBBB Skithiryx