with the new Sram'Os deck throwing Opals into a bad situation, hypothetically speaking, if Opal got banned, how will this affect our deck? What could we do to keep it competitive?
You guys are worrying FAAAAAAAR too much about this. Affinity and Lantern as not the decks abusing Opal, why in the world would they ban something that punishes them when there are a pile of easy targets in the problem deck to bring it back in line. Never mind the fact that the deck has trouble with fair decks that can just play Whack-A-Mole on the creatures and keep it in check.
I think it would go in the thoughtcast spot as it doubles in as a threat or card advantage. So far it works in goldfishing...
If it works out, i am swapping overseers for Bomat courriers because that interaction is sexy. Sac courrier, get cards, get courrier back to attack next turn. Or bolt them.
See this strikes me as more the route to go for this card to be good.
I still prefer Galvanic Blast to Thoughtcast because it can help you with racing an opponent since you can use it on the player too but I'm no Affinity expert so it's just my preference and I don't really like Thoughtcast.
Thoughtcast shines when people are trying to grind games into the mid to late game. Being able to reload or find your answer is great in those situations. The problem is the decks that are preforming well atm are pretty much combo and agro type decks.
What about Gearseeker Serpent? I've been proxying it in my pauper list and i'm very impressed. Sure, broodstar can be bigger, flies and only costs 1 more. But the serpent can come down earlier and eats goofs, tasigur's etc for lunch. It's artifact-hate, bolt and decay proof. Late game his ability might even close out a game. Probably not worth it, but it's been impressive in my pauper build the last weekend.
The problem is 1) double blue and 2) getting enough artifacts to make this profitable to cast. If we had artifact lands, sure he is great but we don't. Also his evasion costs 6 freaking mana. This card is 100% unplayable in our deck.
What about Gearseeker Serpent? I've been proxying it in my pauper list and i'm very impressed. Sure, broodstar can be bigger, flies and only costs 1 more. But the serpent can come down earlier and eats goofs, tasigur's etc for lunch. It's artifact-hate, bolt and decay proof. Late game his ability might even close out a game. Probably not worth it, but it's been impressive in my pauper build the last weekend.
Definitely considering it over Steel Overseer against BG(x) and Burn. Although double blue and no artifact synergy is bit of a problem for red heavy builds.
Why are people so hellbent on getting rid of Overseers?!?!?! Yes he dies to everything, but his job is to be the worst of our game winning threats. You play him and your opponent MUST kill it before out next turn or things can get real ugly. Is it a bad top deck, sure, but so is the majority of the deck.
I've been running the Tempered Steel budget build for a long time (and lucked out a 1st place win at FNM the other day with it using my own setup for the sideboard) and am considering slowly collecting the pieces for the actual Affinity deck. Though I figured I'd ask you all what pieces are most vital to obtain first? I could never justify spending so much all at once.
The key expensive cards are Opal, Ravager, Glimmervoid, and Inkmoth. Opal gives you speed, Ravager lets you win games, Glimmervoid lets you cast things, and Inkmoth gives you a back-up plan/random wins. Generally I would go Ravagers > Opals > Inkmoths > Glimmervoids. Glimmervoids last because there are multiple lands that can be used in their place (shocks, pain lands, etc) and Ravagers over opal because there is no point in going fast if you have no way to win the game.
Why not play Hurkyl's Recall in the sideboard for the mirror match instead of Ancient Grudge? In a clogged board state, you play it at their end of turn and then swing next turn for what is probably lethal. Grudge also is more mana intensive for specific colors, may be harder to play if you only have one Mox Opal out and no Glimmervoid (or vice-versa).
Just wondering if this has been tried at all.
Recall is a very narrow card, really only being useful in the mirror. Grudge can be brought in for other decks like Tron, Eldrazi, etc. That said if your store is swarming with Affinity, it can be back breaking so could be worth a spot.
Any thoughts on trying to bring in some Lupine Prototype? Seems like it might be a solid addition, essentially a 5/5 for 2.
Lupine Prototype (2)
Artifact Creature - Wolf Construct
Lupine Prototype can't attack or block unless a player has no cards in hand.
5/5
Go back a page in the thread.
In short, it does not look very good. The fact that you have to have an empty hand for it to do anything can be really awful if you have say a counter or burn spell to break up a combo. Also it doesn't fly so it will just get chump blocked for days. AND it does nothing to make the rest of your dudes better.
In the end it's a big dumb beater where it's only good thing is it doesn't die to bolt.
I think it's probably not going to be very good in a traditional style list. An example where it will be clunky is going against CoCo with a blast in hand. On the one hand you want to swing with your 5/5, but you don't want to waste your only bit of interaction.
There might be a build that makes use of things like Frogmite and the like that will fit better, but I have no idea if it will be any good.
Well the thing that makes me the most sad about it probably not being good enough is that it would a FANATIC card to get altered with Snowball from Rick and Morty.
You know how little pings of damage tend to kill all of the creatures in affinity... Isn't Lupine Prototype pretty much perfect for the deck since we have no hand turn 4 or after?
Going to quote The Master of the deck Frank Karsten:
"I don't think it is a reliable enough attacker and it doesn't fit the evasive theme of the deck"
Big downsides are things like not being able to hold a Galvanic Blast if you want to attack, makes a large amount of our sideboard cards a bit awkward, etc. I will test it as a 1-of, but I am not sold on it doing anything groundbreaking in a traditional Affinity shell.
Now it might work in a shell that uses things like Frogmites and the like to really get that hand empty quickly, but we shall see.
Affinity had the issue of doing well at some events leading up to the Open plus UWR becoming a thing. When the meta shifts in that direction, Affinity players are going to have a bad time.
I have a question for all of you affinity players..
I have a extra budget list for affinity without the Opal, Inkmoth or Ravager.. What do you think is the most important cards to buy first because I love the deck and I think I want the "full" version but don't know where to start
Think of it like this. Opal is what lets you go faster, Ravager is what lets you win games. Depending on how much you can spend at a time, I would look to try and get 2 of each before finishing off one of the playsets. The reason being there is no point in going fast if you can't kill them and you can't kill them if you can't go fast.
Inkmoth is the thing you get last since it is generally our back up plan.
It looks very resilient, but I question the logic behind no Springleaf drum with 8 colored spells. What do you guys think? Is this the way moving forward?
Take States winning lists with a grain of salt. If you go digging through lists you will find all sorts of crap people have put together and gotten on a hot streak. 8 color spells on 8 sources is just 100% wrong and if you play enough games you will find it doesn't work.
You guys are worrying FAAAAAAAR too much about this. Affinity and Lantern as not the decks abusing Opal, why in the world would they ban something that punishes them when there are a pile of easy targets in the problem deck to bring it back in line. Never mind the fact that the deck has trouble with fair decks that can just play Whack-A-Mole on the creatures and keep it in check.
It's awful in the deck. 8 of our cheap creatures can't even crew it, it still just dies to bolt, all our stuff flies already, etc.
See this strikes me as more the route to go for this card to be good.
Thoughtcast shines when people are trying to grind games into the mid to late game. Being able to reload or find your answer is great in those situations. The problem is the decks that are preforming well atm are pretty much combo and agro type decks.
Your list and sideboard cards would help.
The problem is 1) double blue and 2) getting enough artifacts to make this profitable to cast. If we had artifact lands, sure he is great but we don't. Also his evasion costs 6 freaking mana. This card is 100% unplayable in our deck.
Why are people so hellbent on getting rid of Overseers?!?!?! Yes he dies to everything, but his job is to be the worst of our game winning threats. You play him and your opponent MUST kill it before out next turn or things can get real ugly. Is it a bad top deck, sure, but so is the majority of the deck.
The key expensive cards are Opal, Ravager, Glimmervoid, and Inkmoth. Opal gives you speed, Ravager lets you win games, Glimmervoid lets you cast things, and Inkmoth gives you a back-up plan/random wins. Generally I would go Ravagers > Opals > Inkmoths > Glimmervoids. Glimmervoids last because there are multiple lands that can be used in their place (shocks, pain lands, etc) and Ravagers over opal because there is no point in going fast if you have no way to win the game.
Recall is a very narrow card, really only being useful in the mirror. Grudge can be brought in for other decks like Tron, Eldrazi, etc. That said if your store is swarming with Affinity, it can be back breaking so could be worth a spot.
Go back a page in the thread.
In short, it does not look very good. The fact that you have to have an empty hand for it to do anything can be really awful if you have say a counter or burn spell to break up a combo. Also it doesn't fly so it will just get chump blocked for days. AND it does nothing to make the rest of your dudes better.
In the end it's a big dumb beater where it's only good thing is it doesn't die to bolt.
I think it's probably not going to be very good in a traditional style list. An example where it will be clunky is going against CoCo with a blast in hand. On the one hand you want to swing with your 5/5, but you don't want to waste your only bit of interaction.
There might be a build that makes use of things like Frogmite and the like that will fit better, but I have no idea if it will be any good.
Going to quote The Master of the deck Frank Karsten:
"I don't think it is a reliable enough attacker and it doesn't fit the evasive theme of the deck"
Big downsides are things like not being able to hold a Galvanic Blast if you want to attack, makes a large amount of our sideboard cards a bit awkward, etc. I will test it as a 1-of, but I am not sold on it doing anything groundbreaking in a traditional Affinity shell.
Now it might work in a shell that uses things like Frogmites and the like to really get that hand empty quickly, but we shall see.
Think of it like this. Opal is what lets you go faster, Ravager is what lets you win games. Depending on how much you can spend at a time, I would look to try and get 2 of each before finishing off one of the playsets. The reason being there is no point in going fast if you can't kill them and you can't kill them if you can't go fast.
Inkmoth is the thing you get last since it is generally our back up plan.
Take States winning lists with a grain of salt. If you go digging through lists you will find all sorts of crap people have put together and gotten on a hot streak. 8 color spells on 8 sources is just 100% wrong and if you play enough games you will find it doesn't work.