[Deck] Casual/Peasant Magic: CATA ('Tog Affinity)

[Curby]

Cheap-Ass 'Tog Affinity

The goal is to build a casual affinity deck using only cheap commons.

This is essentially an all-commons port of traditional Vial/Ravager affinity, so feel free to skip it if it bores you. However, I would genuinely like constructive feedback for improving this deck.

Some folks have pointed out that when making all-commons decks, porting over existing designs like 9-land Stompy and Affinity works better than starting from scratch. Since I already have budget (Goyfless) Stompy built, I'm focusing on another cheap deck with a single expensive card: Affinity and its Arcbound Ravager.

Proposed Decklist

// Lands (19)
4 [MR] Great Furnace
4 [MR] Seat of the Synod
3 [LRW] Shimmering Grotto
4 [DS] Darksteel Citadel
4 [MR] Vault of Whispers

// Creatures (23)
4 [AQ] Ornithopter
4 [MR] Myr Enforcer
4 [MR] Disciple of the Vault
4 [MR] Frogmite
3 [AQ] Atog
4 [DS] Arcbound Worker

// Cards and Mana (11)
4 [LRW] Springleaf Drum
3 [TSP] Chromatic Star
4 [MR] Thoughtcast

// Finishers (7)
3 [SH] Fling
4 [FD] Cranial Plating


Mana Issues

There are a ton of mana-related cards in this deck (26), but it seems necessary to give the deck consistency. Additionally, all but 3 are Artifacts, so it will help with Affinity, Plating, and Atog. The Artifact Lands all seem to be good choices, Springleaf Drum can make mana with summoning-sick creatures, and Chromatic Star can cantrip. Shimmering Grotto is used mostly as a last resort for getting colored mana, but otherwise it can tap for a colorless by itself. Any suggestions for shoring up this side of things?

Other Possibilities

Phyrexian Walker Even though it comes out for free, the 0 power combined with the lack of evasion makes this less effective in actual combat. After all, we only have 4 Plating, and we already have the 4 Thopters.
Arcbound Stinger This could possibly used instead of (or even in addition to) Arcbound Worker for another evasive option for Plating.
Somber Hoverguard Another possibility in an Affinity creature, but it doesn't count as an artifact itself so it cannot boost Affinity/Atog/Plating/Disciple.
Atog Do we need 4 in here?
Sarcomite Myr This does three things we like: count as an Artifact, evade, and replace itself when it's no longer useful. However, it costs a lot...

Tooth of Chiss-Goria While this can come out for free, it simply doesn't do much, like Phyrexian Walker above.
Rite of Consumption While this is a Sorcery, it lets us drain life instead of "merely" doing damage.
Lightning Bolt/Duress/Mana Leak Should we use the most efficient cards avaiable in our colors to disrupt the opponent, or should we concentrate entirely on the Affinity/beatdown gameplan?
Battered Golem This seems like a good deck for the Golem, as nearly everything is an Artifact, but it isn't as efficient as an Affinity creature.
Horned Helm A regenerating blocker can nullify our attacks. This gives Trample, but unfortunately doesn't do much else.
Writ of Passage Forecasting this before attaching Plating gives us a straight path to the enemy.

Sideboard Options

What should an affinity deck use in a sideboard? None of our colors affords us a Disenchant option, but we have 10 conditional 5-color sources that could be used to support a Disenchant or Naturalize. Elf Replica only targets Enchantments but could work.

A removal option might be good. I rather like Echoing Truth because it can get rid of multiples (e.g. tokens) and the recurring nature of a threat shouldn't be too worrisome as this deck seems to often build towards a game-ending alpha strike.

As for actual removal as opposed to bounce, black and red are the kings. Between direct damage, targetted removal, and Edicts, not much can survive dedicated removal coming out of a black/red sideboad. The question is whether we need it.

General Notes:

Official peasant magic allows the use of 5 uncommons, but the goal here is to try to use commons only. With that in mind, how can this deck be improved, and how should its sideboard be constructed against a general field?

Thanks for reading!

The Cheap Ass (http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=Cheap%20Ass) Series (making 4 fun decks with less than $70):
CAMBA (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6524): Cheap-Ass Mono-Black Aggro
CARGA (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6848): Cheap-Ass Red-Green Aggro
CAMU (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7268): Cheap-Ass Mono-Blue (Aggro-Control)
CATA (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9320): Cheap-Ass 'Tog Affinity

[Cavius The Great]

The zero cc count seems kind of low. Have you considered Lotus Petal and Welding Jar? I remember Welding Jar seeing heavy play when Affinity was Type 2 legal. Maybe it might find a place in this sort of deck. :smile:

[No_Life_No_Future]

chromatic sphere over springleaf drum?
bonesplitter

[Curby]

The zero cc count seems kind of low. Have you considered Lotus Petal and Welding Jar? I remember Welding Jar seeing heavy play when Affinity was Type 2 legal. Maybe it might find a place in this sort of deck. :smile:
In the powered version, 4x Ornithopters are usually the only 0-costing card in the deck, aside from land and Affinity-to-0 costs. Do you really think we need more here? I'm pretty sure we don't need more mana in the deck, so Lotus Petal's probably out. Welding Jar doesn't seem to do too much for us, but what in my list would you cut out for it? If I really needed another 0-drop, I'd probably run Phyrexian Walker.

@Chromatic Sphere over Drum: In the regular "powered" Vial Affinity thread, everything said about Drum was very positive, some saying that it even competes with Vial (probably not) for overall utility in the deck. Pretty much everyone agreed that Drum was better than Lotus Petal and Chromatic *. Is the peasant version so much different that Drum is less useful here?

@Bonesplitter: I don't think any other equipment can compare to the power of Plating in this deck. Having Plating on a critter and having Plating+Bonesplitter on a critter is about the same, so it doesn't seem worth it.

By the way, how's Somber Hoverguard? It's about the same cost as a Myr Enforcer but gains evasion at the cost of some size.

Thanks for the suggestions, please keep them coming!

[Willoe]

You run way too many pieces of mana fixing. Run 'Walkers instead. They're a lot better. Along with Ornithopters, they stall the game for you to play control route or to topdeck what you need. 2 Toughness stops Flying Men, Scryb Sprites, Mogg Fanatic (in certain situations) and many, many other creatures. 3 toughness without flying surprisingly stops even more creatures. Here's my affinity build:

4 Ornithopter
4 Phyrexian Walker
4 Frogmite
4 Myr Enforcer
4 Arcbound Worker
4 Disciple of the Vault
3 Atog
2 Somber Hoverguard

2 Fling
4 Thoughtcast
4 Cranial Plating
4 Chromatic Star

4 Vault of Whispers
4 Great Furnace
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Darksteel Citadel
1 Shimmering Grotto

SB:
4 Trinket Mage
4 Pyrite Spellbomb
3 Æther Spellbomb
3 Moonglove Extract
1 Welding Jar

I think that that build is really strong. Too many flings are win-more. Atogs in opening hand is baaaad. Top deck them instead. You have 4 draw-2's and 4 cantrips to do that. Somber Hoverguard is extra flying backup. Nothing fancy, but it's really winning games if plating is equipped.

Acceleration in other form than 0cc artifacts that not does anything than adding mana (lotus petal, pentad prism) should not by any means be played. Affinity solely relies on explosive openings... true, but if you have seat of the synod, thoughtcast, frogmite and 2 0cc robots along with a plating or something like that, you should win. Thoughtcast by turn 3 and you've seen 4 cards. Chances are that you draw plating 4/53... Under 10%, but with that many thoughtcasts, I use to find it almost every game. And sometimes, it's just overkill with Plating. You can often beat face with explosive turn 2 enforcers.

Try my build out. I honestly don't know what list is the better. But to sum up, cut that mana fixing. It's waste of slots.

[Cavius The Great]

Why are you running Shimmering Grotto over Glimmervoid? Is Glimmervoid really that out of your budget?

[Willoe]

Only commons are allowed. That's why Æther Vial, Ravager and Glimmervoid are excluded. I think that answers your question.

[Curby]

4 Trinket Mage
4 Pyrite Spellbomb
3 Æther Spellbomb
3 Moonglove Extract
1 Welding Jar


The use of Mages in the side is interesting to me. How do you use this sideboard? Usually I think of a deck as tutor-based or not. Transforming into a tutor-based deck is intriguing but unusual.

I recently traded for a set of Walkers so I'll try them along with the 'Thopters. Thanks!

[m03]

That's funny, I saw someone with this exact deck at a local casual tournament in Studio City on Friday.

Seemed to work decent enough. The Atog seemed to be both the power card and the biggest vulnerability.

[Willoe]

I hate killing the opponent with atog, and often, he's just a fling target. He has no evasion, and that sucks greatly. Double plated ornithopter is my favorite kill. When playing against red decks, you got to be careful against certain things. I know that most people are familiar with these sacrifice to pump abilities, but you got to sacrifice one artifact first, then let that trigger resolve. Then, sacrifice another and see if the opponent has a burn spell. If he hasn't, then you can just go all in. With this trick you still go 3 for 1, but it's not as horrible as 9 for 1. This doesn't work against direct removal (destroy effects), though.

Against decks with artifact hate, I use to sideboard like this:

-4 Enforcer
-4 Phyrexian Walker
-3 Atog

+4 Trinket Mage
+4 Pyrite Spellbomb
+3 Æther Spellbomb
+1 Welding Jar

This allows you to beat with nonartifact men, although it can be pretty hard. Remember, if you need four lands and you're stuck on three, the Mage can grab an artifact land. When playing against Gorilla Shaman, mulligan aggressively for Darksteel Citadel. If you got just one land in play, it's fairly easy to win. Shattering Pulse's often not that much of a problem, as they need five mana to destroy an artifact per turn.

What the Trinket Mage needs to tutor for is usually Pyrite Spellbomb to finish off Gorilla Shaman. The only problem is that you need a red mana source to do this. This can only be helped by another trinket mage which tutors for the great furnace. You can also make the sideboard up like this instead:

4 Lotus Petal
4 Pyrite Spellbomb
2 Æther Spellbomb
4 Trinket Mage
1 Welding Jar

Against some decks, an explosive opening hand is necessary. This is against Krosan Restorer combo and High Tide. They occasionally kill on turn four or five, so if you can get double frogmite on turn 1 into play, you should be fine. Sideboarding against combo would be:

-3 Atog
-4 Disciple of the Vault

+4 Lotus Petal
+3 Trinket Mage

Trinket Mage because that you will maybe need an extra ornithopter to block ETW tokens or a lotus petal to accelerate that thoughtcast and stuff. Lotus Petal enables for turn 1 thoughtcast.

I hope that you can use these advices.