[Deck] Affinity

[Final Fortune]

Cutting Thoughtcast and playing Master of Etherium, I thought I was reading my own post for a second.

I'm pretty sure Dispatch is a waste of time, you're not going to win the Reanimator match up with Dispatch, you're not going to win the Reanimator match up with Rest in Peace and you're basically not going to win the Reanimator match up at all so unless Dispatch serves a purpose in the aggro-control match up, which is the match up you're playing Affinity for in the 1st place, then you're just weakening your good match ups and making your deck less consistent. I'd sooner play Galvanic Blast because it contributes to the aggro-strategy and Rest in Place is replaceable in the SB by Relic of Progenitus anyway.

You're probably better off with Mystics or Champions than Overseer because you're basically all in on Plating and Ravager anyway.

I think Tezzeret is terrible vs any deck that plays Islands unless you're playing Cabal therapy some where in your 75, if you can't force him thru' then Disciple of the Vault is the better combo kill. I don't think I could play Affinity without Cabal Therapy for that matter, that card is too important vs any deck that has instant speed removal.

[Aesir]

Do any of you guys run a couple pieces of equipment without stoneforge? I feel like a Sword/Jitte could help drastically in a few matchups. I feel like it's not consistent enough, but I'd rather not run the Mystic package, as I don't like it in Affinity.

[Shawon]

Sword of Fire/Ice is pretty decent right now with TNN in the format, but without Stoneforge Mystic, it's always going to cost 5 mana to cast it and equip a creature the same turn, so you have to consider that. Jitte is good since you can cast it on turn 1 off of land + Opal + 0 cc, and just sometimes win games off it alone. I couldn't tell you which equipment you should run without SFM, because I think if you're going to run any extra Equipment, you're only going to afford to run 1 copy since you don't want to run too many noncreatures in the deck, and then you might as well run SFM if you have 1-ofs Equipments to increase your consistency to find them.

I wish Chariot of Victory was one mana cheaper. Sigh.

[Dwell]

Hi guys. Been testing some games against various decks, and did pretty well. The deck can be very resilient and good. Anyways, developing a new list:

4 Seat of the Synod
4 Vault of Whispers
2 Ancient Den
2 Glimmervoid
4 Ancient Tomb
1 Academy Ruins

4 Mox Opal
3 Springleaf Drum
4 Cranial Plating
4 Chalice of the Void

4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Vault Skirge
4 Etched Champion
4 Ornithopter
3 Master of Etherium
2 Ethersworn Canonist

3 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
4 Thoughtcast

SB:
4 Rest in Peace
3 Duress
3 Spell Pierce
2 Pithing Needle
2 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Mindbreak Trap

This deck is built to perform effectively against my meta. Storm, Delver, Stoneblade, and other decks are part of it. Chalice and Canonist main do well against Storm and Delver/Blade, while Master is a threat good against Blade decks and DNT, where it is big enough to block/kill their threats and dodge Jitte. Sideboard covers other decks and helps improve matchups. Thoughts?

I've been anything something similar to this recently. The main deck chalice is wonderful vs such a variety of decks. I'm curious, how do you do deal with the post-board set up. It seems chalice would interfere with the Spell pierce and duress. Do you take it out? I'd assume that it's relevant against the same decks as those. How to find find that balance is workin' out.

Not to mention more Revokers in the side seems like a better option then pithing needle

[Aesir]

I've been anything something similar to this recently. The main deck chalice is wonderful vs such a variety of decks. I'm curious, how do you do deal with the post-board set up. It seems chalice would interfere with the Spell pierce and duress. Do you take it out? I'd assume that it's relevant against the same decks as those. How to find find that balance is workin' out.

Not to mention more Revokers in the side seems like a better option then pithing needle

This was a rough draft to be perfectly honest. I've been testing different lists and ideas, in the effort to make a set list I can play. I'm still tweaking, but after testing Chalice a bit more, I don't like it main, as it interferes with too many of the sideboard cards, which forces me to alter the board in order to make it more effective. As I take this deck to larger events, I'll need a good all-rounder Affinity list, so I'll post that when I develop it fully.

[Draconicsteel]

On Thoughtcast: I still don't see it. I don't look at Thoughtcast as two cards for one mana, I look at Thoughtcast as two extra threats for one mana. You yourself stated how you wanted to clog the board with threats. Well, Thoughtcast puts them in your hand to get them there. Insane card advantage like that in an aggro deck is nuts. Thoughtcast has won me so many games I can't keep track of them. Every time I resolve one, my opponent gets a little disappointed. Can you imagine drawing two Ravagers? Or a Ravager and a Plating? Or a Champion and . . . anything? Honestly, I still think Thoughtcast is one of the best cards in the deck. Also, it's hard to argue "you need more threats" when you play too many mana sources. 25 is waaaay too much. I run 15 lands, 4 Opal, and 3 Drum, and still sometimes think that's too much. If you want your deck to be more threat-heavy, I'd recommend skimming some land first, before you resort to Thoughtcast.

Inkmoth: I played around with it before. I think this card is more preference, so I can understand why you would want to use it. It's also probably determined by your meta. I think there are a lot of Wastelands in my area, so playing Inkmoth is almost a hindrance. It feels much better to play Citadel, and know that, if nothing else, eventually I can make a 5/5 beater that can only be responded to with Swords. Also, I hate Overseer in Legacy. I tried it out VERY briefly, and found that every time it was in my hand, I wanted it to be something else. The Legacy version is faster than Modern, and doesn't spit out the absolute swarm that Vintage does, so I don't the card really belongs here.

Dispatch: I can understand your desire for removal. I've played around with Dispatch several times, and opted on taking it out every time. My problem is that other sideboard options (because I don't think it's quite main-boardable) are simply more versatile. I main two Revokers, and side two Pithing Needles, the Needles because I need something for Marit Lage. I had originally tried Dispatch over Needle, but Needle is simply more versatile. All the things that Dispatch is good for, I already have options - I love RiP against any graveyard deck, and, likewise, RiP nerfs a Goyf and a Deathrite. On one card. I just thought Dispatch was too narrow.

Etched Champion: aside from Thoughtcast, this might be my biggest problem with this list. The decks that Affinity is designed to beat will cringe and die before Champion. Death and Taxes, BUG, Jund, etc., - really, any fair deck - can't do anything against it. Unless you saw the card too late in the game, Champion will get there for you. I used to only run two of Champion, but most of my friends at my game store who play fair decks have told me that Champion is the only thing they're really scared of. That's coming from the other side of the table. Everything else they can deal with. Plating, Ravager, Master, they don't care about those cards. Master dies to all of the best removal in the format, but Champion does not. Don't get me wrong, I still like Master - I play two of him myself - but you can't really justify playing that over Champion. Champion is simply the better card.

[Aesir]

Finally settled on a build; been playing the list below to good success.

12 Artifact Lands
3 Tomb
3 Glimmervoid

8 Cheeri0s
4 Ravager
4 Champion
4 Vault Skirge
2 Master
2 Sculler

4 Plating
4 Drum
4 Mopal
2 Tezz
4 Thoughtcast
1 Jitte

SB:
3 Canonist
3 Revoker
3 Spell Pierce
2 Rest in Peace
2 Grafdigger’s Cage
2 Tezz

The list has been doing very well so far. New cards (for me) I have been testing are Thoughtcast and Tidehollow Sculler. Thoughtcast provides insane card advantage, and really helps drop threats as the previous post states. I was skeptical about Sculler at first, but I've come to love it. It is disruption that comes with a 2/2 beater, and it's an artifact. I've played numerous games against a wide field of established legacy decks, and have done quite well against them. Still having some problems with Sneak and Show, though. Anyways, any thoughts, comments about the list?

[Dwell]

The list has been doing very well so far. New cards (for me) I have been testing are Thoughtcast and Tidehollow Sculler. Thoughtcast provides insane card advantage, and really helps drop threats as the previous post states. I was skeptical about Sculler at first, but I've come to love it. It is disruption that comes with a 2/2 beater, and it's an artifact. I've played numerous games against a wide field of established legacy decks, and have done quite well against them. Still having some problems with Sneak and Show, though. Anyways, any thoughts, comments about the list?

I'm not a fan of sculler. It's a strong card indeed, but the WB is too inconsistent to have open on turn 2. Playing it any later seems weak to me, especially vs combo decks like S&T. I'm trying out Diabolic Edict in the side right now, along with the chalice maindeck. Testing is going well so far.

I'm also thinking whip flare. The red might be a stretch though. It's just so good vs things like elves, D&T, esper stoneblade even.

[Aesir]

I'm not a fan of sculler. It's a strong card indeed, but the WB is too inconsistent to have open on turn 2. Playing it any later seems weak to me, especially vs combo decks like S&T. I'm trying out Diabolic Edict in the side right now, along with the chalice maindeck. Testing is going well so far.

I'm also thinking whip flare. The red might be a stretch though. It's just so good vs things like elves, D&T, esper stoneblade even.

I didn't like it at first, but after extensive testing, I grew quite fond of it. The glimmmervoids in the deck help cast it a little more consistently, and I've even been able to get it out T1 with a 0, Mopal, and artifact lands. Aside from that, do you mind posting your list?

[Draconicsteel]

As an alternative to Whip Flare, I would recommend Zealous Persecution. I run three side right now. It has the same cost problem as Sculler, but if you're in those colors anyway, it's less of a stretch than the red. And still tears apart decks like Elves and such.

2 main Sculler is interesting. I ran some side for awhile and kind of liked it, though I'm not currently running it. I do run two Revoker main, however - of the situations where you might have had it in hand, which card do you think would have been more useful? I feel like Revoker might be more versatile in the long run, but Sculler helps the first game against poor match-ups, like combo, while not taking away from the deck's aggressiveness. I've really liked the Revoker main, but I'm curious to see which one you think might be better. Maybe I'll try to run some Scullers main for a bit and see what I like better, too.

[Dwell]

As an alternative to Whip Flare, I would recommend Zealous Persecution. I run three side right now. It has the same cost problem as Sculler, but if you're in those colors anyway, it's less of a stretch than the red. And still tears apart decks like Elves and such.

2 main Sculler is interesting. I ran some side for awhile and kind of liked it, though I'm not currently running it. I do run two Revoker main, however - of the situations where you might have had it in hand, which card do you think would have been more useful? I feel like Revoker might be more versatile in the long run, but Sculler helps the first game against poor match-ups, like combo, while not taking away from the deck's aggressiveness. I've really liked the Revoker main, but I'm curious to see which one you think might be better. Maybe I'll try to run some Scullers main for a bit and see what I like better, too.

I prefer Whipflare because it kills things like SFM, Deathrite, and zombie tokens.
I Really like revoker main, but its primarily a meta choice. I'm playing for a mox tomorrow, and the meta is going to have D&T and miracles for sure.

4 Ancient Tomb
4 Seat of the Synod
3 Vault of Whispers
3 Ancient Den
2 Glimmer Void
1 Academy Ruins
4 Mox Opal

3 Springleaf drum
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Cranial Plating
4 Thoughtcast
3 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas

4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Ornithopter
2 Memnite
4 Vault Skirge
2 Phyrexian Revoker
3 Etched Champion
2 Master of Etherium

SB
4 Rest in Peace
2 Whipflare
2 Diabolic Edict
2 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Pithing Needle
4 Ethersworn Cannonist

That's my current list. However I have until tomorrow morning to decide on it. I think I may cut a master for a 4th champion, I hear plenty of talk about folk borrowing burn lists. I run 6 Cherrios just to help get mox online/drum. I was on 4 before hand, but their just dead draws late game.

I was thinking of cutting a Cannonist from the SB, because with the chalice main and 3 I feel that gives me enough combo hate.
Then again, you can never have too much combo hate.

[Minkkiq]

Hello

Played Affinity today in a 20-man tournament that had UG Sea and Tundra for prizes. I was completely bored in Nic Fit and Delver variants and wanted to return to my roots and picked up my first deck in Legacy with the help of a friend. It was about three years ago that I last played this deck and pretty much copypasted the same deck I had used that time. I was pretty sure there'd be little hate towards my deck and lots of combos so I tuned my sideboard with that in mind. Slept three hours before the tournament, ate a poor breakfast and of course had stomach-aches later in the day due to shitty kebabmeal. Swan Song felt better than Annul in paper, but sadly I didn't get to use it properly and lost finals because I sided wrong. Zealous Persecution was a very good choice but... messed it up too in the finals. Here's the list and some short notes on games:

4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Vault of Whispers
4 Seat of the Synod
3 Ancient Den
1 Glimmervoid
1 Blinkmoth Nexus

4 Ornithopter
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Etched Champion
4 Vault Skirge
4 Frogmite
3 Master of Etherium
2 Ethersworn Canonist

4 Mox Opal
4 Cranial Plating
4 Thoughtcast
3 Springleaf Drum
3 Tezzeret, AoB

Sideboard

4 Rest in Peace
3 Zealous Persecution
3 Swan Song
2 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Mindbreak Trap
1 Ethersworn Canonist


Wanted to play 4 Masters but didn't get a fourth one in short notice. Mindbreaks were useless today. Swan Songs trapped me. I am still though a keen believer that it is better than Annul in most cases. S&T just wins if it resolves. Fourth Tezzeret might be good. Canonists were pretty irrelevant stall-bears most of the time.


Match 1 Mud? Stax?

I wasn't sure what my opponent played actually, but I saw Tangle Wire, Trinispheres, Chalice and Smokestack. Nothing really happened in these games. He tried to stall me and I patiently smacked him down.

1-0 (2-0)


Match 2 Reanimator

I put down Master and Skirge followed by Cranial. Almost lost the first game due to miscalculations. Thought I had lethals when I attacked with both of them and attached Cranial as an instant. Well he survived and I cringed. I was able to win through animated Angel of Despair and S&T:ed Elesh Norn with Master and Etched Champ. Second game he mulliganed and didn't get his pieces in time even after several draw spells.

2-0 (4-0)


Match 3 BUG

First game was pretty even. I played Frogmites, Ravagers and Skirges, he responded with 3 Goyfs, Delver and DShaman. We swinged at each other until I yoloed in when he had 2 cards in hand (other one was revealed for delver as Hymn), 10 life and I was at 4. He didn't have Decay so the second Skirge finished the deal. Second game he played two Goyfs and Dshaman. I responded with RiP and after a short while beated him down with plated Skirge. I was very lucky to evade Decays.

3-0 (6-0)


Match 4 Burn

First game too fast too furious. Second game he had Smash to Smithereens to my Cranial and I died to some burns later on even though I had 3 Canonists, two Skirges in play and gained 9 life in one swing. Third I had my ravagers to counter his Price of Progress and after he had to spend all his resources to remove my 6/6 Skirge the game was over.

4-0 (8-1)


Game 5 D&T

ID. Too tired and I lost when we played for fun. Funny thing was that in both games he had 1-2 life and I had 30-50+ when he stabilized.


Top8

Game 1 BUG (different guy)

I don't remember anymore. Destroyed him.

Game 2

Topdeck one-off Null Rod shut me down. Sad.

Game 3

Took beaty hand with Frogs and Skirges. After a fashion beated him down when he couldn't get bigger guys to block me. Decays didn't help for the sheer amount of beaters.


Semifinals

Game 1 D&T (different guy)

Early Tezz made Ornithopter huge and swinged him down shortly.

Game 2

Mulliganed to a pretty bad hand, topdecked a land, but never got third mana to actually play good things. Mangara + Karakas + Vial broke me. Also shattered to the sideboard anti-equipment equipment. Would've won easily as I had 2 Zealous in my hand, Master and Etched and other business.

Game 3

He kept a slow hand. I vomit and named my Revoker to his Mangara. GG.


Finals (YAY, at least won Tundra and I was in a really good mood)

Game 1 Maverick (should've been cakewalk right?)

Decimated him.

Game 2

Sided in Revokers and Persecutions. He played only lands, some removals and a Needle to my Ravager and proceeded to win with Crop Rotation to DD as I drew only Ravagers and nothing relevant. Salty. For some reason I thought he'd gone more for DD combo so I switched Persecutions to Swan Songs. Huge ****ing mistake.

Game 3

I felt bad with 2 Swan Songs in my hand and Jitte beating me down. Vomited my hand on the battlefield on turn 1 and played 2 Thoughtcasts. Again drew Ravagers after Needle had named him and Opals and lands and not a single dude. Felt very salty especially since my friends saw fit to pour salt on me even during the game. After some raging about basic manners I found myself both dissapointed and happy. I could've easily gone undefeated today as the deck performed excellently and I only failed in the most important game. Ah. Such is life.

[th3 w1z4rd]

As an alternative to Whip Flare, I would recommend Zealous Persecution. I run three side right now. It has the same cost problem as Sculler, but if you're in those colors anyway, it's less of a stretch than the red. And still tears apart decks like Elves and such.

2 main Sculler is interesting. I ran some side for awhile and kind of liked it, though I'm not currently running it. I do run two Revoker main, however - of the situations where you might have had it in hand, which card do you think would have been more useful? I feel like Revoker might be more versatile in the long run, but Sculler helps the first game against poor match-ups, like combo, while not taking away from the deck's aggressiveness. I've really liked the Revoker main, but I'm curious to see which one you think might be better. Maybe I'll try to run some Scullers main for a bit and see what I like better, too.

I love Whipflare to death in this deck. Never lost a match to Elves. Zealous Persecution is not even close in this matchup. It does not kill Deathrite Shaman, Nettle Sentinel, or any Elf if an Elvish Archdruid is out (I know this isn't common but still). It also doesn't kill Stoneforge Mystic, Insectile Aberration, Meddling Mage, Magus of the Moon (which Whipflare can actually be cast against with only lands), and a bunch of other things. Granted, Whipflare can't kill True-name Nemesis or Phyrexian Revoker or other things. I've found Zealous Persecution (with any deck, not just Affinity) to only be good against Elves when the opponent is not very good and plays out all their 1/1 dorks right into it and doesn't have Shamans and Sentinels. Just my two cents. Additionally, Whipflare can be easily cast with Glimmervoid, Mox Opal, and Springleaf Drum, but Zealous Persecution is much harder to cast.

[Aesir]

Hello

Played Affinity today in a 20-man tournament that had UG Sea and Tundra for prizes. I was completely bored in Nic Fit and Delver variants and wanted to return to my roots and picked up my first deck in Legacy with the help of a friend. It was about three years ago that I last played this deck and pretty much copypasted the same deck I had used that time. I was pretty sure there'd be little hate towards my deck and lots of combos so I tuned my sideboard with that in mind. Slept three hours before the tournament, ate a poor breakfast and of course had stomach-aches later in the day due to shitty kebabmeal. Swan Song felt better than Annul in paper, but sadly I didn't get to use it properly and lost finals because I sided wrong. Zealous Persecution was a very good choice but... messed it up too in the finals. Here's the list and some short notes on games:

4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Vault of Whispers
4 Seat of the Synod
3 Ancient Den
1 Glimmervoid
1 Blinkmoth Nexus

4 Ornithopter
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Etched Champion
4 Vault Skirge
4 Frogmite
3 Master of Etherium
2 Ethersworn Canonist

4 Mox Opal
4 Cranial Plating
4 Thoughtcast
3 Springleaf Drum
3 Tezzeret, AoB

Sideboard

4 Rest in Peace
3 Zealous Persecution
3 Swan Song
2 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Mindbreak Trap
1 Ethersworn Canonist


Wanted to play 4 Masters but didn't get a fourth one in short notice. Mindbreaks were useless today. Swan Songs trapped me. I am still though a keen believer that it is better than Annul in most cases. S&T just wins if it resolves. Fourth Tezzeret might be good. Canonists were pretty irrelevant stall-bears most of the time.


Match 1 Mud? Stax?

I wasn't sure what my opponent played actually, but I saw Tangle Wire, Trinispheres, Chalice and Smokestack. Nothing really happened in these games. He tried to stall me and I patiently smacked him down.

1-0 (2-0)


Match 2 Reanimator

I put down Master and Skirge followed by Cranial. Almost lost the first game due to miscalculations. Thought I had lethals when I attacked with both of them and attached Cranial as an instant. Well he survived and I cringed. I was able to win through animated Angel of Despair and S&T:ed Elesh Norn with Master and Etched Champ. Second game he mulliganed and didn't get his pieces in time even after several draw spells.

2-0 (4-0)


Match 3 BUG

First game was pretty even. I played Frogmites, Ravagers and Skirges, he responded with 3 Goyfs, Delver and DShaman. We swinged at each other until I yoloed in when he had 2 cards in hand (other one was revealed for delver as Hymn), 10 life and I was at 4. He didn't have Decay so the second Skirge finished the deal. Second game he played two Goyfs and Dshaman. I responded with RiP and after a short while beated him down with plated Skirge. I was very lucky to evade Decays.

3-0 (6-0)


Match 4 Burn

First game too fast too furious. Second game he had Smash to Smithereens to my Cranial and I died to some burns later on even though I had 3 Canonists, two Skirges in play and gained 9 life in one swing. Third I had my ravagers to counter his Price of Progress and after he had to spend all his resources to remove my 6/6 Skirge the game was over.

4-0 (8-1)


Game 5 D&T

ID. Too tired and I lost when we played for fun. Funny thing was that in both games he had 1-2 life and I had 30-50+ when he stabilized.


Top8

Game 1 BUG (different guy)

I don't remember anymore. Destroyed him.

Game 2

Topdeck one-off Null Rod shut me down. Sad.

Game 3

Took beaty hand with Frogs and Skirges. After a fashion beated him down when he couldn't get bigger guys to block me. Decays didn't help for the sheer amount of beaters.


Semifinals

Game 1 D&T (different guy)

Early Tezz made Ornithopter huge and swinged him down shortly.

Game 2

Mulliganed to a pretty bad hand, topdecked a land, but never got third mana to actually play good things. Mangara + Karakas + Vial broke me. Also shattered to the sideboard anti-equipment equipment. Would've won easily as I had 2 Zealous in my hand, Master and Etched and other business.

Game 3

He kept a slow hand. I vomit and named my Revoker to his Mangara. GG.


Finals (YAY, at least won Tundra and I was in a really good mood)

Game 1 Maverick (should've been cakewalk right?)

Decimated him.

Game 2

Sided in Revokers and Persecutions. He played only lands, some removals and a Needle to my Ravager and proceeded to win with Crop Rotation to DD as I drew only Ravagers and nothing relevant. Salty. For some reason I thought he'd gone more for DD combo so I switched Persecutions to Swan Songs. Huge ****ing mistake.

Game 3

I felt bad with 2 Swan Songs in my hand and Jitte beating me down. Vomited my hand on the battlefield on turn 1 and played 2 Thoughtcasts. Again drew Ravagers after Needle had named him and Opals and lands and not a single dude. Felt very salty especially since my friends saw fit to pour salt on me even during the game. After some raging about basic manners I found myself both dissapointed and happy. I could've easily gone undefeated today as the deck performed excellently and I only failed in the most important game. Ah. Such is life.

Congrats on the finish; good to see at least some of us doing well with the deck at tournaments. I've not been able to attend too many lately due to other things I need to attend to, but hopefully I'll be able to soon.

@Draconisteel: Honestly, I haven't tested Revoker too much, but in theory I like Sculler better, as the info+added disruption and a body is good. There are certainly times in which Revoker will be better than Sculler, but they both have pros and cons.

[Dwell]

I played in a 69 man this weekend with the listed I posted above.
Here's a roughly how it went down.

Round 1 Vs Blake.
G1, I'm on the play. I kept at 6, with a slow hand. But it had champion and Plating, so how bad could it really be. I drop a land and pass. That felt dirty. He With a swamp, go. I Drop Tomb, champ. Pass. He yet again, swamp pass. I play and equip plating. He scoops. I'm still not too sure what he's on. Pox maybe? I side in the 4 Rips, then take them out again.
G2. I find out he's on Meliria pod. That's fine, I get a revoker down on pod. Keeping a second in hand to deal with any removal he has,. while i vaultskirge plating beat. He's down to 4. I was ready for abupt deacys, but not a deed. It whips the board, leaving me with nothing. I can't recover. I bring in the needle, rips and extra revokers.
G3. He does the pod thing and shuts me down
matches, 0-1, games 1-2

Round 2. Alex with Jund.
G1. I knew she was on Jund before it started. I lose the die roll, shes drops a DRS and passes. I slam a chalice at 1, and hide from bolts with a beat down.
2. She gets punishing online before I stabilize, out come bob and goyfs.
G3. T1 Chalice, stabilize behind an etched champ with plating.
Matches 1-1 games, 3-3

Round 3. Jon with ANT
G1, nothing exciting here, I lay beats and he dies.
G2, I keep with a T2 cannonist. He sees it with a probe, and makes 14 goblins on his second turn.
G3. We both mull too six, he then proceeds to storm out and kill me turn 2. Just like Richard Garfield intended.
Matches 1-2 Games 4-5

Round 4. Sean with Merfolk.
G1. We both mull to six. He has 2 cursecatchers out, but they don't stop etched champion.
G2. He Echoing truths my Master a few times, but eventually it sticks and kills him.
I find this to be one of the more favorable matchups.
matches 2-2 games, 6-5

Round 5. Donovan with MonoBlackPox
G1. I already feel good, this is a favourable matchup again.He opens with IoK, takes out a plating. I drop some cherrioes and draw a master. he smallpoxs, but thankfully I had an orthnithopter to keep my master alive. He scoops shortly after.
G2. He brings in ensnaring bridge, but makes the mistake of playing it turn one with a ritual. I manage to get in with a few thopters and memnites that are pumped from master. Next turn I'm forced to sac master to ravager in orger to get in with memnites and skirge. Eventually, I get him with Tezz.Brige hurt me more then I want it too, I did not really prepare to fight it.
matches 3-2 Games, 8-5

Round 6. Nixon with UWr Miracles.
We sit down, and he asked how I'm doing and if I'd like to concede and give him the free win. At this point he was at 3-0-2 and wanted to keep his run going. That was silly of him as I am spiteful. Plus I knew what he was on, and it's a match up I came very prepared for.
G1. I'm on the play, Slam Tomb and a revoker. naming Top. He sighs, and plays a top at his T1 play. The game just goes my way from then on. Drawing 3 thoughtcasts helps keep things going in my direction.
G2. He brainstorms into an early terminus to keep alive, then a supreme verdict. Then came angles.
G3. T1 Chalice. Always a good day. I can hold behind this I get two plating out, but he supreme verdicts and leaves me without a threat. In this match up I always try and keep a threat in my hand for later. I play the biggest threat of all. A 0/2 flying unicycle. He plays jace and bounces my monster. But that's only a temporary solution, jace runs out of counters and I have a memnite in my hand in case he has any funny business.
Matches 4-2 Games, 10-6

Round 7. Eric with Death and taxes.
I Remember playing Eric a few weeks ago at a weekly, he complained how much trouble he had vs affinity. Although that day I was playing Junk Depths, I like to remember affinity related things for another day. That other day had come. This was for top 16, and in the prizes. I could see the sweet glow of the 12-16th place prize: a Stifle. I even licked a card in order to see what it takes like. cardboard. Victory tastes like card board. That's fine, I like card board. I want cardboard. I need cardboard.
G1. He slams a Mom. I don't get to plow it, but she cant do much vs my colourless flyers with plating.
G2. I play for a T1 vault skirge. He then plays a T2 Stoney silence. bad times all round. I get some dudes out with an ancient tomb. These dudes cant do much to a Thalia. Wasteland kept be off glimmervoid and Whipflare. Ports did their work.
G3. He drops a quick revoker on plating. I'm getting in with vault skirges. The first master I play gets plowed, they second sticks. I get in with the vault skirges. they sneak right over his mommy and her family of 2/1's. End of my turn he enlightened tutors. This is the first time i play to hear the words, "Ill grab Jitte" I've been hanging onto a revoker for just that moment. He doesn't say jitte, he drops stoney silence on the table and lets me cut his deck. bad times ensue. For a while we pass back and forth, him hitting in with Thalia, and me with vault skirges. My life total went something like this. 6/4/6/4/6/ But he lands a serra avenger, and I can't beat through it. Whatever cardboard tastes rather bland anyways.
Matches 4-3 games, 11-8

All in all, I'm not too disappointed. If i'm ever against a deck that might play deed post board, I think I'm just gonna slam revoker on it. I think I've made up my mind on whipflare. I'm gonna cut it.
Changes to the SB are now
-2 Whipflare
-1 Diabolic Edict
+3 Disenchant

Pretty iffy about disenchant, but it's served me well in the past. I'll probably go up too 4 Ancient Dens now with that change.

[Shawon]

On Thoughtcast: I still don't see it. I don't look at Thoughtcast as two cards for one mana, I look at Thoughtcast as two extra threats for one mana. You yourself stated how you wanted to clog the board with threats. Well, Thoughtcast puts them in your hand to get them there. Insane card advantage like that in an aggro deck is nuts. Thoughtcast has won me so many games I can't keep track of them. Every time I resolve one, my opponent gets a little disappointed. Can you imagine drawing two Ravagers? Or a Ravager and a Plating? Or a Champion and . . . anything? Honestly, I still think Thoughtcast is one of the best cards in the deck. Also, it's hard to argue "you need more threats" when you play too many mana sources. 25 is waaaay too much. I run 15 lands, 4 Opal, and 3 Drum, and still sometimes think that's too much. If you want your deck to be more threat-heavy, I'd recommend skimming some land first, before you resort to Thoughtcast.

I'm well aware of how good Thoughtcast is. It's always been a great card, and will continue to be. I don't think you understand why I cut it, though. I cut Thoughtcast because in the respective matches I'm playtesting against (Reanimator, combo, Cloudpost), Thoughtcast doesn't do anything. I'm not going to argue with you about how Thoughtcast improves threat density through a game, because it's obviously true, but what I was attempting to say earlier is that Thoughtcast doesn't set up a threatening board states on turns 1-2 as well as having redundant threats. By having 4 Ravager, 4 Platings, 4 Masters, 4 Pest, 4 Inkmoth, etc., my goldfishes are much better. The goal of is that it makes my SB strategy against combo decks more successful since I can finish the game quickly if I manage to disrupt my opponent. In a nutshell: I wanted to improve my goldfishes at the cost of a better midgame. Previously, I focused my deck to have better midgames by packing Stoneforge Mystic and Tezzs MD. Now I've changed my priorities based on recent metagame trends in my area. So basically, my deck can get easily blown out by Jund or RUG Delver packing REBs/Ancient Grudge.

EDIT: I could possibly fit in 2-3 Thoughtcast and cut Overseer possibly, or 2 Vault Skirge. I could test those configurations and see how it runs.

Inkmoth: I played around with it before. I think this card is more preference, so I can understand why you would want to use it. It's also probably determined by your meta. I think there are a lot of Wastelands in my area, so playing Inkmoth is almost a hindrance. It feels much better to play Citadel, and know that, if nothing else, eventually I can make a 5/5 beater that can only be responded to with Swords. Also, I hate Overseer in Legacy. I tried it out VERY briefly, and found that every time it was in my hand, I wanted it to be something else. The Legacy version is faster than Modern, and doesn't spit out the absolute swarm that Vintage does, so I don't the card really belongs here.

Without Inkmoth Nexus, Steel Overseer would be absolutely terrible. It's definitely a replaceable card, but it does make other cards that I would consider cutting like Signal Pest better in the deck.

Dispatch: I can understand your desire for removal. I've played around with Dispatch several times, and opted on taking it out every time. My problem is that other sideboard options (because I don't think it's quite main-boardable) are simply more versatile. I main two Revokers, and side two Pithing Needles, the Needles because I need something for Marit Lage. I had originally tried Dispatch over Needle, but Needle is simply more versatile. All the things that Dispatch is good for, I already have options - I love RiP against any graveyard deck, and, likewise, RiP nerfs a Goyf and a Deathrite. On one card. I just thought Dispatch was too narrow.

Dispatch is also used as general removal against Death and Taxes. It is better than any cards suggested if you run them MD because Dispatch addresses Reanimator, Marit Lage, and fair interactive decks like Tempo or D&T all at the same time. In game 1.

Etched Champion: aside from Thoughtcast, this might be my biggest problem with this list. The decks that Affinity is designed to beat will cringe and die before Champion. Death and Taxes, BUG, Jund, etc., - really, any fair deck - can't do anything against it. Unless you saw the card too late in the game, Champion will get there for you. I used to only run two of Champion, but most of my friends at my game store who play fair decks have told me that Champion is the only thing they're really scared of. That's coming from the other side of the table. Everything else they can deal with. Plating, Ravager, Master, they don't care about those cards. Master dies to all of the best removal in the format, but Champion does not. Don't get me wrong, I still like Master - I play two of him myself - but you can't really justify playing that over Champion. Champion is simply the better card.

As I said a few times, I am actively trying to beat certain decks in my meta, like combo decks, Cloudpost, or Death & Taxes. Against those decks, Etched Champion is a card I wouldn't want to see. My list isn't a gold standard or what I would snap-keep if I was going to SCG New Jersey next week. I would change up my list, because I would want better game against decks I'm likely to pair up against, like Miracles or Deathblade, where 4 MD Dispatch is useless against Miracles.

Against Death and Taxes, Etched Champion is pretty useless if the D&T player has Phyrexian Revoker, because it can block Etched Champion, and furthermore, the Revoker is likely naming Cranial Plating which buys them an incredible amount of time to draw Jitte and nullify Etched Champion. Attacking with Etched Champion, even with Plating, can be a risky proposition if you don't swing for lethal, seeing as how a connect with Jitte from the opponent next turn can cause you to lose the game. Notwithstanding Mother of Runes, Master of Etherium can be pretty insane against D&T if they are forced to chump block it due to mounting pressure, something which this deck can apply.

EDIT: I should state for the record that my list is tuned specifically for a meta, which has Cloudpost and decks trying to beat Cloudpost such as Delver/D&T/lots of combo decks. It isn't a gold standard list by any means, and it's NOT something I would suggest blindly playing if you were to go to SCG Somerset next week. I wouldn't play my list anywhere except where I current live, in Connecticut, where I almost assuredly pair up against Jeremiah Rudolph, the acclaimed inventor of the Cloudpost deck, every stinking week.

[Aesir]

Any recent developments with the deck folks? Been testing a couple Sculler main, but other than that not much else...

[lambert101]

A friend of mine tested the following against uw stoneblade to some
decent success last night:

4 Ancient Tomb
4 Ancient Den
4 Vault of Whispers
4 Seat of Synod

3 Spring Leaf drum (want to change but no idea to what)
4 mox opal
4 thoughtcast
4 cranial platting
4 chalice of the void
3 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas

4 ornithopter
2 Memnite
4 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Master of Ethrium
4 Etched champion
4 Valut Skirge

We did pre-boarded games only.
The list went 3-4 for the first run-through it did not seem that bad. Sideboard was going to be something like:
4 Rest in Peace
4 Ethersworn Cannonist
4 Anti creature cards
3 artifact/enchantment hate

[Shawon]

I played in a 25-man event on Saturday. I beat Round 1 Miracles due to tight play and him keeping a bad hand game 3. I lost to BG Depths with Null Rod games 2 and 3 (LOL), and I punted a match against Elves that I had in the bag. I dropped the main event at 1-2 to enter the side event (prizes were limited to top 4 anyway, wasn't worth it to stick it out) where I got eliminated by Storm. I played in a 8-man the Friday before and that experience made me change up my SB against Sneak-Show.

Here's what I played Saturday.

Mana
12 Artifact Lands
4 Drum
4 Opal
4 Inkmoth

Critters
8 0-costs
4 Pest
4 Skirge
4 Ravager
4 Master

Business
4 Plating
4 Tezz
4 Dispatch

SB
4 Revoker
2 Envelop
1 Swan Song
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Canonist
2 Karakas
1 Explosives
1 Tezz

I wish I could've played this list against Sneak-Show Saturday, alas that never happened. I would've love to try out 2 Karakas postboard lol. Unfortunately, I only borrowed it and had to give it back, so I'm testing non-expensive cards like Aether Spellbomb or going back to O-Ring.

I don't have much other insight regarding deck tech as my critical losses were due to misplays, such as punting towards Elves (>.<) and I've decided to just spend less emphasis on tweaking my sb and more on consistent practice, hence I'm attending more Legacy weeklies from now on to sharpen my skills.

[Cire]

Any room for

Military Intelligence 1U
Enchantment (U)
Whenever you attack with two or more creatures, draw a card.

(from 15th edition?)

Seems like you can get it out by turn 2, and draw an extra card from then on?