MTG Salvation

Quote from zyrnak »

CTony,

It might be shameless self-promotion, but I have a hundred or so matches of Affinity up on Youtube if you'd like to take a look. I've heard other people find them useful, so you might too.

https://www.youtube.com/user/Zyrnak/playlists

I'll definitely take a look at it! I appreciate the help

I piloted Affinity in a 92-man $1k today and took home Top 4. 5-1-1, 2-1 in quarterfinals and 1-2 in semifinals.

Lost in g3 of semis to 5 consecutive turns of opp flipping a land to his bob to not be at 0 life when I had to swing out with my champion + plating.

Deck still feels great. I live and die by Daniel’s videos, highly recommend 😬

Quote from kodieyost »

I piloted Affinity in a 92-man $1k today and took home Top 4. 5-1-1, 2-1 in quarterfinals and 1-2 in semifinals.

Lost in g3 of semis to 5 consecutive turns of opp flipping a land to his bob to not be at 0 life when I had to swing out with my champion + plating.

Deck still feels great. I live and die by Daniel’s videos, highly recommend 😬

Congrats man! You've been really crushing it with the deck.

I was considering asking you how you side for the mirror, but when I was out for a walk, I think I figured it out...
On the play or draw - side out 3 Etched Champion and 4 Signal Pest for 2 Ancient Grudge, 2 Ghirapur Aether Grid, 2 Bitterblossom, and 1 Spell Pierce (for nabbing that Cranial Plating or Ghirapur Aether Grid, lol). Does this sound right?

*Dark Confidant always flips lands. I had a match a long while back where my opponent had 8 flips from Bob in 2 games - 7 Verdant Catacombs and 1 Raging Ravine. It came to a point where I'd just guess, "Verdant Catacombs?" and I was right every time except once. The only hope is that the card drawn is also a land, right?

**One thing I noticed from the videos is this. There was a game where he could have afforded 1 mana to equip Cranial Plating onto Ornithopter and off the Vault Skirge when he was expecting Lightning Bolt. Is it the better play to equip the Ornithopter instead when the Vault Skirge is a more important creature if you are expecting removal? I know it's different when you NEED the life gain, but I would have done so. Or is it more important to try to gain the life, just in case it matters later on? You never know. How do you play it? For me, I equip the Ornithopter because I'd rather that die since sometimes chip shots from a Skirge put an opponent in Galvanic Blast range.

I’m playing 2 Bitterblossom in my board, I play 3 Champion/2 Master in my MB and the 4th champion in my board

Quote from FoodChainGoblins »

Quote from kodieyost »

I piloted Affinity in a 92-man $1k today and took home Top 4. 5-1-1, 2-1 in quarterfinals and 1-2 in semifinals.

Lost in g3 of semis to 5 consecutive turns of opp flipping a land to his bob to not be at 0 life when I had to swing out with my champion + plating.

Deck still feels great. I live and die by Daniel’s videos, highly recommend 😬

Congrats man! You've been really crushing it with the deck.

I was considering asking you how you side for the mirror, but when I was out for a walk, I think I figured it out...
On the play or draw - side out 3 Etched Champion and 4 Signal Pest for 2 Ancient Grudge, 2 Ghirapur Aether Grid, 2 Bitterblossom, and 1 Spell Pierce (for nabbing that Cranial Plating or Ghirapur Aether Grid, lol). Does this sound right?

*Dark Confidant always flips lands. I had a match a long while back where my opponent had 8 flips from Bob in 2 games - 7 Verdant Catacombs and 1 Raging Ravine. It came to a point where I'd just guess, "Verdant Catacombs?" and I was right every time except once. The only hope is that the card drawn is also a land, right?

**One thing I noticed from the videos is this. There was a game where he could have afforded 1 mana to equip Cranial Plating onto Ornithopter and off the Vault Skirge when he was expecting Lightning Bolt. Is it the better play to equip the Ornithopter instead when the Vault Skirge is a more important creature if you are expecting removal? I know it's different when you NEED the life gain, but I would have done so. Or is it more important to try to gain the life, just in case it matters later on? You never know. How do you play it? For me, I equip the Ornithopter because I'd rather that die since sometimes chip shots from a Skirge put an opponent in Galvanic Blast range.

I just now saw this, thanks buddy!! I love the videos for the thoughts and plays I get to watch, I don’t necessarily always agree with his lines — probably 75-80% of the time I do, and if I knew which match you’re referring to I’d go check it out.

Sometimes the huge life swing is relevant, especially vs decks with Bolt, so the odds of connecting must have seemed high to make it worthwhile. I tend to equip my Skirge more often than not, because I win more easily with the lifegain than the exact 1 extra damage

As for the mirror, yes you have it nailed pretty much down. I also SB out my mountain on the draw instead of a Pest.

Quote from kodieyost »

Quote from FoodChainGoblins »

Quote from kodieyost »

I piloted Affinity in a 92-man $1k today and took home Top 4. 5-1-1, 2-1 in quarterfinals and 1-2 in semifinals.

Lost in g3 of semis to 5 consecutive turns of opp flipping a land to his bob to not be at 0 life when I had to swing out with my champion + plating.

Deck still feels great. I live and die by Daniel’s videos, highly recommend 😬

Congrats man! You've been really crushing it with the deck.

I was considering asking you how you side for the mirror, but when I was out for a walk, I think I figured it out...
On the play or draw - side out 3 Etched Champion and 4 Signal Pest for 2 Ancient Grudge, 2 Ghirapur Aether Grid, 2 Bitterblossom, and 1 Spell Pierce (for nabbing that Cranial Plating or Ghirapur Aether Grid, lol). Does this sound right?

*Dark Confidant always flips lands. I had a match a long while back where my opponent had 8 flips from Bob in 2 games - 7 Verdant Catacombs and 1 Raging Ravine. It came to a point where I'd just guess, "Verdant Catacombs?" and I was right every time except once. The only hope is that the card drawn is also a land, right?

**One thing I noticed from the videos is this. There was a game where he could have afforded 1 mana to equip Cranial Plating onto Ornithopter and off the Vault Skirge when he was expecting Lightning Bolt. Is it the better play to equip the Ornithopter instead when the Vault Skirge is a more important creature if you are expecting removal? I know it's different when you NEED the life gain, but I would have done so. Or is it more important to try to gain the life, just in case it matters later on? You never know. How do you play it? For me, I equip the Ornithopter because I'd rather that die since sometimes chip shots from a Skirge put an opponent in Galvanic Blast range.

I just now saw this, thanks buddy!! I love the videos for the thoughts and plays I get to watch, I don’t necessarily always agree with his lines — probably 75-80% of the time I do, and if I knew which match you’re referring to I’d go check it out.

Sometimes the huge life swing is relevant, especially vs decks with Bolt, so the odds of connecting must have seemed high to make it worthwhile. I tend to equip my Skirge more often than not, because I win more easily with the lifegain than the exact 1 extra damage

As for the mirror, yes you have it nailed pretty much down. I also SB out my mountain on the draw instead of a Pest.

Sorry, I should have been more specific. He was playing vs. Jund Hollow One. The Hollow One player was clearly on the back foot, with only a Flameblade Adept on turn 3 and an uncracked Wooded Foothills. His life total was at least 19 to 13 for the Hollow One dude. Zyrnak could have afforded to equip the Ornithopter instead of the Vault Skirge. The mana couldn't have been used for anything else or to bluff, as it was colorless. I talked to 2 Affinity players tonight and one said he didn't know. He'd have to see the situation. The other player who has played the deck for years said he would have done the same thing as me - to make the Ornithopter more valuable.

Mind pointing me at which video this was? I'll see if I can remember why I made the play, although I do certainly make mistakes in these videos. I try to play a few notches above autopilot, but trying to play all of them as tight as I do at paper tournaments would be exhausting and mean I'd record a lot less. Actually - would people prefer more videos, or ones where I try to play perfectly?

Quote from zyrnak »

Mind pointing me at which video this was? I'll see if I can remember why I made the play, although I do certainly make mistakes in these videos. I try to play a few notches above autopilot, but trying to play all of them as tight as I do at paper tournaments would be exhausting and mean I'd record a lot less. Actually - would people prefer more videos, or ones where I try to play perfectly?

Personally I think it’s hilarious when you record them at 1:00 AM, durdle through a league, and still end up 4-1 at the end. I think the current pace of videos is fine, maybe just me but I find the coaching leagues to be especially helpful.

I can't remember now. I think it was League 22 or 23 - the one where you played against Jund Hollow One.

I love the videos. They are truly something to help out many and I have told no fewer than 2 Affinity players that I know in paper about them (I don't know too many, at least that I want to help, lol). Thanks.

Quote from Hemmingsen »

Hi guys, I've recently picked up Affinity again online, but found guides and forum posts on how to sideboard quite confusing. Specifically, I would like input on how/when to sideboard Thouhtseize, Blood Moon and Rest in Peace.

I'm mainly confused by the somewhat hybrid builds like Eldrazi Tron and GR Eldrazi. Should we bring in Blood Moon? And what about Death Shadow decks and Jeskai control? It seems like a decent hoser, but not a game-winning card like it can be against Tron or Scapeshift.

I played RG Eldrazi in the quarterfinals of a $1k this weekend, blood moon crushed them. It isn’t so good vs Eldrazi Tron because they play more wastes and maps to find them, along with more colorless spells. RG plays spells with G mana symbols, which helps us out. It’s not a surefire thing, and I’d only consider it if you feel the MU is bad (I curb stomped him, the games felt fine). Vs Jeskai, deaths shadow, Jund, etc — blood moon is a house, and I will almost always consider it when SBing. Especially if they don’t seem experienced vs Affinity. Even if they fetch basics, it keeps them from having high-velocity games where they can curve XX colored spells into YY colored spells because of shocks. Shutting off their colonnades, keeping 5cDS from resolving anything, and keeping Jund off Green and Black are all very relevant plays worth considering, but not surefire.

The same goes for Rest in Peace versus Snapcaster/delve decks and the Hollow One decks. It seems like a minus tempo play that shuts down only a part of their plan.

I bring Rest in Peace ONLY when it’s going to severely cripple their gameplan. Almost never vs Snapcaster decks. Never vs Grixis Deaths Shadow. I bring it gorgeous Hollow One because Bloodghast, Phoenix, Gurmag, and Looting flashback are all relevant interactions to shut down. Keeping their Phoenix off the table let’s you fly in for the kill while you chumpblock — don’t forget the Phoenix HAS to attack, which means you don’t need to worry about it pulling blocker duty very often.

Thoughtseize. Do we bring it in against Midrange decks, Eldrazi decks and Tron? I'm certain about the combo MUs and certain control MU where they could have mass removal, but not sure about the BIG creature/midrangy decks, like BBE Jund. I end up wanting to bring it in against almost all decks, but that just seems wrong. Thx a lot, I hope this whole thing makes sense

i bring it in vs any deck that has a haymaker for Affinity. Shatterstorm, stony silence, Kozilek s return, creeping corrosion, et al. Vs Jund, it’s nice to know what kind of game they’re playing — creature heavy hand that they’re just not deploying to bluff removal, hand with a crap ton of removal, etc. I bring Tseize Against just about everything except the mirror match.

I put my answers in bold, hope that helps you see where I come from!

-4 Pest -2 memnite -1 Mountain -2 master -1 ravager

+2 Bitterblossom +2 blood moon +2 Rest In Peace +2 Thoughtseize +1 Spell pierce +1 Champion

I’m a really big fan of the “slow down and land haymakers” plan vs Jund, it’s very possible I’m playing it wrong and I’m only winning on the back of the decks pure power but I’ve only lost to Jund in one sanctioned match and it was the semifinals of the $1k this weekend where he flipped five consecutive lands to his dark confidant to not be dead (got him to 2 life).

Playing haymakers every turn means they have to find an answer every turn or die. Cards like signal pest and memnite are miserable in that MU. I’m currently playing 3 bomat courier over my 3 galv blast, I think they swing that MU a fair amount if they can connect a couple times. I drew 6 cards vs tron in response to an oblivion stone last weekend 😜

Edit: modern testing session last night at the shop before the legacy tournament, some thoughts.


1) Bomat Courier has a few things going for it. Haste to pick up equipment and bash in the late game, must-answer before turn 3 or we’re likely cashing in for cards, Lightning-rod for removal to make our overseer/master/ravager stickier, and of course artifact synergy. Played a dozen matches vs UW and a dozen more vs Jund, bomat was a star player most of the time. Much better than Blast for me there, which is where I really want the help anyway (I can race other combo with bomat just fine anyway)

2. People are starting to pack less hate because they’re overloading on “beat Midrange/Control”. Cards like display of dominance are taking SB slots away from affinity hate, which is something I’ve noticed really lacking recently — to the tune of 2-3 cards in the board on average, instead of the old days of 5 fine affinity cards

3. The format is simultaneously doing two things; slowing down to play jace and bbe, and speeding up to win before they impact the game. This leaves the powerful and flexible robots in a great position; we can play the fast game and we can play the grindy game, putting us in position to take down more events.

As an example, at the $1k this past weekend I saw several linear decks doing well in the early rounds along with a really high number of BGx. Tron was beat out very quickly by the storm, burn, and counters company decks, while those decks were clocked by the BGx and UWx decks.

Affinity has game in all of those matchups, so it seems like this meta evolution could be very ripe for us. Only thing that has me worried is the higher proportion of Kolaghans Command in the MB for jund, but honestly fewer fatal pushes and abrupt decays makes that card less of a problem at 3cmc anyway.

Anyone else feeling real good about the meta? I’m currently on 3/2 Champion / master split in the MB still, thinking 4/1 if the meta gets any grindier.

Played at a 31 person FNM.

Round 1 vs. Enchantress. Played some creatures, saw turns 2 and 3 Ghostly Prison. Swung away and killed him with a Cranial Plating on a dude. In the next game, my mull to 6 is looking all right. Ghirapur Aether Grid, next turn he plays Leyline of Sanctity. Ready to swing for lethal with only 1 Ghostly Prison for him this game. His draw - Sphere of Safety. I play a few more turns out of spite, but I somehow doubt I'll be able to pay 8 mana + 1 extra every turn he draws an enchantment. Go to the last game. I get out Ghirapur Aether Grid. He has 0 cards in his hand. He has 2 Ghostly Prison, which he drew after being hellbent. My only chance to kill is Inkmoth Nexus. I write down on my paper that he will draw land (for 2nd White source) into Leyline of Sanctity into Sphere of Safety into Wrath of God. He draws Windswept Heath. He then plays Leyline of Sanctity after fetching for Plains the next turn. Ghirapur Aether Grid to put him to 8 life in response. One mana short of killing him with Ravager and Inkmoth or I can attack Inkmoth with 4 counters to put him at 5 poison. I do Ravager. He draws Sphere of Safety next turn. I look at the last card I haven't crossed out yet - Wrath of God. He draws Wrath of God the next turn. I literally guessed 3 of 4 cards in the correct order that he drew, but only guessed "land" when he drew Windswept Heath. I would have guessed "Plains" anyway. 1-2.

Round 2 vs. Jund.Play against one guy we drove with. He has triple Lightning Bolt and K Command, but runs out of removal and I swing for lethal. The next one is similar, but requires some tricky blocking on Goyf in the end to survive at 2 life, but only Black mana up, so the last card being Lightning Bolt (which is WASN'T the 4th one), I still win. 2-0.

Round 3 vs. Jund. SOOO lucky to play against 1 of 2 guys from my card and Jund twice. Have an explosive hand. He has some number of removal, but runs out and I barely get lethal with double Blinkmoth Nexus after a Ravager caused some trouble. In the next game, I swing and swing. He finally does Ancient Grudge and flashback, but I can switch the counters from Ravager to win if he doesn't have Fatal Push. I consider if he had Push, why didn't he play it earlier to stop millions of damage from happening? He doesn't and scoops. 2-0.

Round 4 vs. Dredge. He does Faithless Looting into another one after dredging Dakmor Salvage. When I had Vault Skirge into Steel Overseer. Dredge 3, Bloodghast, Prized Amalgam, CONFLAGRATE! Great! Gets my 2 creatures when I hoped to dodge that single card for a single turn. Got me low and killed me. In game 2, drew some removal for my dudes and realized that Arid Mesa didn't fetch a Black land for the Darkblast that he dredged. It didn't matter since my Inkmoth Nexus with Cranial Plating could have gotten +1/+1 from Blinkmoth Nexus. I think about telling him since he seemed upset by his play, but decided that maybe he didn't know what Blinkmoth Nexus did, so I should save that for Game 3. Doesn't matter, he mulls to 4 and passes to me after scrying land to top. I play Vault Skirge into Cranial Plating. He dredges Narcomoeba and blocks. He dredges another one and blocks my Blinkmoth Nexus with Plating too. I draw 3 straight Darksteel Citadel. I draw a single creature in Inkmoth Nexus, but he has 3 Prized Amalgam and 2 Bloodghast by this time and I can only swing him to 7 poison, so I scoop. The 2 draw steps that he took drew him lands to bring back Bloodghast and Amalgams. Good play by him. Dredge creatures in, take draw steps to draw lands and put those creatures in play, attack during the combat step and have me draw 1 Inkmoth Nexus the whole game as my only creature. 1-2.

2-2, pretty disappointed. Haven't been prizing recently. There was a time where I had prized (3-1 or better) around 95% of the time at this store. Pretty sure it's down to 80% now...

*Before anyone says that I shouldn't play Affinity in this meta, this is the first time the meta was like this. It is literally different every single time I've been here every Wednesday and Friday I've come. Here's some of the other decks I could have faced - Grishoalbrand, UW Control, Ad Nauseam, Lantern Control, Burn, Goblins, Bant Company, THREE Big Tron, E Tron, Mono Green Land Destruction, yes I am leaving out the ones that I probably don't have a good matchup against like BW Tokens, Junk with Jace.

Can someone help me on beating Skred Red? I know it's a tough match up. I have 2 players in my local meta that play the deck and it's getting difficult. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Quote from CTonyJab »

Can someone help me on beating Skred Red? I know it's a tough match up. I have 2 players in my local meta that play the deck and it's getting difficult. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I've played against it once and I don't think you actually can beat Skred, outside of having 2 Darksteel Citadel and putting Cranial Plating on an Etched Champion. Literally every other card will die and the Cranial Plating will be part of a 4 meal course for Shattering Spree. Fun times!

Quote from FoodChainGoblins »

Quote from CTonyJab »

Can someone help me on beating Skred Red? I know it's a tough match up. I have 2 players in my local meta that play the deck and it's getting difficult. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I've played against it once and I don't think you actually can beat Skred, outside of having 2 Darksteel Citadel and putting Cranial Plating on an Etched Champion. Literally every other card will die and the Cranial Plating will be part of a 4 meal course for Shattering Spree. Fun times!

Yeah that's what I feel like too lol I'm just gonna mulligan aggressively until I get an Etched Champion lol

I mean, G1 is just like burn except they’re slower than burn. They kill everything, we strategically try to kill them while they do so.

Manlands play a big role in these “everything dies” MUs, as does champion and Ravager. Don’t expose ravager if you can’t put his counters elsewhere.

Anyone think we should be running 1-2 Spellskite in the SB with there being so much Jund around like what we saw in the MTGO Championships (3 Jund decks in the top 8)?

Funny you mention that, I tested 2 spellskite in the board this week in 2 comp leagues on MTGO. It was pretty sick, I went to 4/1 Champion/master in MB and used the 4th champion slot + 2nd Spell pierce slot in board to play 2 spellskite. Didn’t get to play Jund in 10 rounds.

It was huge VS mirror, basically shut his t2 aether Grid off with Mox + drum. Ended up losing the game to a couple loose plays - I was at my LGS for modern and it was about to start so I was rushing through the game.

If Jund is going to continue to be a big part of meta I think I’m going to 2nd jar > 2nd memnite.

I played in TNM last night and finished 3-1, losing to my friend on RG Eldrazi. We had spent Monday night going through leagues with RG Eldrazi and we both know the G1 is miserable for him but the SB makes g2 and g3 exponentially better for them. G1 I killed t3, g2 he killed t4, g3 was a slug fest that would’ve ended quickly if my double Pest double bomat memnite overseer Inkmoth hand ever found a second mana in six draws.

R1 vs UWr Control t1 double bomat ended up dealing 8 damage and drawing 8 cards by the time he finally cast wrath. I just redeployed and killed him the next turn. 2-0

R2 vs Mardu pyromancer, I killed him t4 on the play through double bolt, push, and terminate. G2 he got stuck on 2 lands and I killed on t4 with tons of backup. 2-0

R3 RG eldrazi, see above. 1-2

R4 Ad Nauseam, this Guy is a long time Ad Nauseam player and runs a YouTube channel with a ton of tutorials on the deck. Very good Ad Nauseam player, but I have a t3 regular damage kill on the draw G1, g2 I threaten lethal t3 on the draw, he bontu’s Last reckoning my board, I suit up Inkmoth nexus with plating and give him lethal poison. 2-0

The version I played at TNM was 3 bomat over 3 blast, the version I play online is 3 blast still. Also been testing 4th Champion but haven’t liked it much. 3 is fine. A lot of non-interactive decks trying to prey on the scrambled meta right now.

I've always liked Spellskite. I think that if you play Thoughtcast (I haven't played affinity in quite a while, so I don't know if it runs TC, GB or both), you can side it out for a Spellskite. I think that in a match up where kite is good, it does what a TC would do - buy you time, get you creatures - but is an artifact, and saves whatever creature you want on board.

Also, I think Bogles is making a rise, and kite is bonkers good against auras (I've also seen more infect lately, and doing rather well [except against jund of course lol])

Yea spellskite is a great card right now — super fan of it