[Deck] Affinity

I run just one Thopter Foundry. It's a fun, flavorful little card that gives you some solid options, but I've never seen it as something that really sets this deck on fire. Can't believe some people still refuse to run 4 Thoughtcasts. 2 cards for 1 blue mana is just bonkers.

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Originally Posted by tjmorrison

Hello everyone. Im the guy that posted 16th at the scg in indy with my affinity list. after reading some of the posts about it on here, i figured i might as well post my two cents about the deck, explain some of the decisions and why they are correct, and some of the things i would change, as well as my report persay.
Maindeck:

Artifacts
4 Cranial Plating
3 Springleaf Drum
2 Thopter Foundry

Artifact Creatures
4 Arcbound Ravager
3 Etched Champion
4 Frogmite
4 Memnite
4 Myr Enforcer
2 Ornithopter
4 Signal Pest

Artifact Lands
4 Darksteel Citadel

Creatures
4 Disciple of the Vault

Legendary Artifacts
3 Mox Opal

Sorceries
4 Thoughtcast

Artifact Lands
1 Ancient Den
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Vault of Whispers

Lands
1 Blinkmoth Nexus
1 Glimmervoid

Sideboard:
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Nihil Spellbomb
4 Pithing Needle
3 Engineered Plague
2 Darkblast


First off, signal pest is amazing in this deck, it has the ability to put an opponent into serious trouble early. he is definitly better than ornithopter (every time i draw an ornithopter i get mad!), however ornithopter is a neccesary bad card because of springleaf drum. Ornithopter get sacced to foundry or to ravager as soon as they hit the board usually because it dies to every removal spell as soon as ravager or cranial plating hit the board.
Thopter Foundry is all around sick, it by itself wins your control match ups, and makes spot removal virtually useless against you, as well as combos with disciple, makes a huge flyer with ravager, makes your memnites better, gains you life in the aggro match, turns your mid-late game land draws useful, and is really sick with a signal pest on board. 2 was the perfect amount, i wouldnt go lower, and sword of the meek doesnt fit the deck well enough to make it relevant. we tested the hell out of it, in a blue moon it was good, the rest of the time it was just awful.

etched champion is amazing everytime you draw it. You are going to power it out turn 3, 5 out of 7 games its in your opener. It IS Progenitus, and CANNOT BE KILLED by and spot removal which makes it much better than master of etherium ever could be. i dont know if people running master are aware that there are cards called STP, Krosan Grip, Ancient Grudge, Vindicate, Putrefy, Smother, and Path to Exile running around in this format, which makes the card really bad because you have NO WAYS to stop any of this.

Glimpse of Nature does not belong in Affinity. Here are reasons why: 1. It allows you to keep really bad hands. Would you keep the following? memnite, memnite, ornithopter, seat of synod, vault of whispers, springleaf drum, mox opal? NO. it has no real action. If that springleaf drum was a glimpse would you keep it? YES. they force your glimpse and youre in the same boat as if you kept the first hand, no action. secondly it is green, and as we should all know by now there is only 1 good green card that has every been printed (tarmogoyf).

The land base was great all day too. Darksteel Citadel is your basic land for the deck, its the only one that cant be wastelanded, and since only 10% of your deck has color it makes sense to play it as a 4 of. kataki is also bad so 2 sources that arent artifact mana is better than none. I ran the 1 of glimmervoid to help with color fixing and 1 of ancient den to help cast thopter foundry. blinkmoth nexus is better than inkmoth, because if you have your opponent below 10 it makes sense to just kill them instead of giving them 9 infect.

I think i can sum this up best with the word synergy. Each cards function is synergetic with the next and thats why I was successful, and without mulling to 4 against elf combo game 3, and my opponent cheating with goblins twice, im positive that i could have went X-0 on the day. It was a blast playing.

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Like I said before, I'm digging this list. Still not comfortable with the land choice, but I accept that.

If you don't mind giving us details, what went wrong?

Also, what adjustments would you make to the deck?

Looks like after I've been advertising Thopter Foundry for what feels like months, people are catching up.
Seriously, forget Tezzeret. Thopter Foundry is the nuts.

new tezzeret, top or flop ?

To TJM:
It's a little shocking not to see Master of Etherium in your list. What's the reason he's not in there? CMC?

What are people's thoughts on Ichor Wellspring? Probably not for an aggro deck?

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Originally Posted by the Thin White Duke

To TJM:
It's a little shocking not to see Master of Etherium in your list. What's the reason he's not in there? CMC?

What are people's thoughts on Ichor Wellspring? Probably not for an aggro deck?

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Read what he posted...... Etheriums fights for same spot with Champions, but Champions dont die to every removal available.

1st question regarding ancient tomb. Your lands already act as ancient tomb w/o the drawback. one of the benefits of this deck is you arent punished for playing your manabase unlike zoo. it also takes away from affinity.

2nd question, why not 3 thopter foundry? youre an aggro deck, and thopter foundry is your secondary win con, you dont want to draw it unless you need it. thopter foundry generally isnt a threat until you have a few damage in.

3rd, what went wrong? I didnt draw a second source of mana and had to mull to 4 so i lost against brian boss in round 5.

4th, what would you change? 4 pithing needles is too many so -1 needle, -4 chalice, +3 thorn of amethyst, +2 perish. maindeck, -1 ornithopter +1 etched champion.

5th, Tezzeret, you run 21 "land" or 18 depending on your build, why in the hell would you run a 4 drop?

6th, If youre going to play this, test the hell out of it and know your format, each of them you play differently, its not belcher, you dont go all in on turn 1.

Your match up key cards

Zoo, etched champion and signal pest (Frogmites become nacatyls, seems good to me) main deck, sb perish, and 2 needles (Jitte) 10-0 in games

Merfolk, 3 needle (jitte, commander, mutavault), DO NOT BOARD IN PLAGUE!!! maindeck key cards, champion, nexus, signal pest pst board 75% your favor

Goblins, 3 plague -2 foundry -1 memnite, champion is your go to guy 65% your favor

CBTOP, +3 needle 65 % your favor

1) Can you handle combo well enough with that sideboard? And what do you need darkblast for?
2) What do you think about more draw? Only 4x Thoughtcast is not much.

depends on the combo deck, ant is really rough, but no deck is perfect against every deck in the field. show and tell is actually a good match up because youhit them fast early, and with a disciple of the vault, they kill themselves. ant i dont even consider a real deck, there are only 1 person i know that can play that deck right, and its ari lax. so in the 4-0 bracket hes the only one you will face. as far as the add'l draw effects, there really isnt any room for more. it would be 2 glimpse if i felt it was good enough, but its just too random, its not good every time you draw it, only on occasion. and it really sucks to draw it on turn 3 when your hand is dumped.

Darkblast is your only out to a kataki if they are running it, or a plague on spirits, unfortunately kataki costs 2 and plague costs 3 so it doesnt work. if i was to cut darkblast, it would be executioner's capsule

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Originally Posted by tjmorrison

depends on the combo deck, ant is really rough, but no deck is perfect against every deck in the field. show and tell is actually a good match up because youhit them fast early, and with a disciple of the vault, they kill themselves. ant i dont even consider a real deck, there are only 1 person i know that can play that deck right, and its ari lax. so in the 4-0 bracket hes the only one you will face. as far as the add'l draw effects, there really isnt any room for more. it would be 2 glimpse if i felt it was good enough, but its just too random, its not good every time you draw it, only on occasion. and it really sucks to draw it on turn 3 when your hand is dumped.

Darkblast is your only out to a kataki if they are running it, or a plague on spirits, unfortunately kataki costs 2 and plague costs 3 so it doesnt work. if i was to cut darkblast, it would be executioner's capsule

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Did you test Phyrexian Revoker? It seems like Pithing Needle is better for us in almost every situation in affinity.

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Originally Posted by Pltnmngl

Did you test Phyrexian Revoker? It seems like Pithing Needle is better for us in almost every situation in affinity.

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For builds running Steel Overseer and MOE, I would run a few maindeck Revokers. There's nothing like shutting down Vial/Pridemage/Top in game 1 on turn 1.

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Originally Posted by tjmorrison

depends on the combo deck, ant is really rough, but no deck is perfect against every deck in the field. show and tell is actually a good match up because youhit them fast early, and with a disciple of the vault, they kill themselves. ant i dont even consider a real deck, there are only 1 person i know that can play that deck right, and its ari lax. so in the 4-0 bracket hes the only one you will face. as far as the add'l draw effects, there really isnt any room for more. it would be 2 glimpse if i felt it was good enough, but its just too random, its not good every time you draw it, only on occasion. and it really sucks to draw it on turn 3 when your hand is dumped.

Darkblast is your only out to a kataki if they are running it, or a plague on spirits, unfortunately kataki costs 2 and plague costs 3 so it doesnt work. if i was to cut darkblast, it would be executioner's capsule

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Isnt Thoughtseize an option in place of Darkblast? Might need 3 thoughtseize tho, 2 is too less imo. Let me know what you think!

Thoughtseize/duress are bad choices for the deck. Affinity doesn't like to play contolish strategies very much. It wants to hit fast and hard, without worrying about creating a good defensive strategy. There are better options for the combo matchup (E. Canonist, Revoker, Chalice).

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Originally Posted by The Big Ragu

Thoughtseize/duress are bad choices for the deck. Affinity doesn't like to play contolish strategies very much. It wants to hit fast and hard, without worrying about creating a good defensive strategy. There are better options for the combo matchup (E. Canonist, Revoker, Chalice).

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Thoughtseize is for Kataki, War's Wage, null rod , etc, and non storm combo (aka show and tell).

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How successful were you with Thoughtcast? A long time Affinity staple, but there are so many other options I'm wondering if you'd consider it a core element of the deck, or something that might be a flex spot.

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Thoughtcast is the best draw spell available in the format BY FAR. There is NO other spell that says u: draw 2 cards. on turn 2 or 3 when you are out of gas you can easily play thoughtcast AND the 2 cards you draw.

There is only 1 draw spell ever printed that is better than thoughtcast. Ill let you guess what it is..... and its banned in legacy.

true, thoughtcast is the best carddraw at our disposal, but i would love to have another 2 slots for carddraw, and it should at least be allmost as good as thoughtcast

right now i am using glimpse, but it is true that it makes you keep hand you shouldn't, but is there a card better than glimpse ? maybe ichor wellspring ? it would be a cantrip and when you sac it with ravager or thopter foundry it is another cantrip, what do you guys think?

I would stick with Glimpse. Playing it correctly can be trickey though.

You may want to run 4, as the hands with 2x glimpse and a mox really crack wiiiidddeeee open. If you run the full 16 "free" guys your chances of hitting more each time you draw 2 is pretty decent.

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Originally Posted by tjmorrison

depends on the combo deck, ant is really rough, but no deck is perfect against every deck in the field. show and tell is actually a good match up because youhit them fast early, and with a disciple of the vault, they kill themselves. ant i dont even consider a real deck, there are only 1 person i know that can play that deck right, and its ari lax. so in the 4-0 bracket hes the only one you will face. as far as the add'l draw effects, there really isnt any room for more. it would be 2 glimpse if i felt it was good enough, but its just too random, its not good every time you draw it, only on occasion. and it really sucks to draw it on turn 3 when your hand is dumped.

Darkblast is your only out to a kataki if they are running it, or a plague on spirits, unfortunately kataki costs 2 and plague costs 3 so it doesnt work. if i was to cut darkblast, it would be executioner's capsule

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Well, it seems that you have a very weird end easy metagame.

Here Storm is all over the place and without Chalice and Ethersworn Cannonist you are a BYE. 3 Thorn of Amethyst is not gonna make you win even against a bad storm player.
And Kataki has never been played in Legacy, that is extended tech from many years ago...

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Originally Posted by The Big Ragu

Thoughtseize/duress are bad choices for the deck. Affinity doesn't like to play contolish strategies very much. It wants to hit fast and hard, without worrying about creating a good defensive strategy. There are better options for the combo matchup (E. Canonist, Revoker, Chalice).

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I agree completely! these cards are good against more decks than just combo. Except for Chalice I play them maindeck.
I have 3 Canonist en 2 Revoker main.

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Originally Posted by Sea R Hill

And Kataki has never been played in Legacy, that is extended tech from many years ago...

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I play Bant and I actually keep 2 Kataki in the board just for Affinity. Its pretty brutal what Kataki does.
I had a game Saturday where I went turn 1 Needle on Cranial Plating, turn 2 Kataki, turn 3 Wasteland on a Great Furnace. I thought only Shrapnel Blast or Galvanic Blast could deal with him effectively, but it turned out he was running neither.

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Originally Posted by bakofried

A quick question, say you sac everything, your entire board, to dump a crapload of counters on your etched champion and then attack? He doesn't have protection, right? Right.

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Right.....without the Metalcraft no protection.

Kataki is also good against Vial, top or any other cheap artifact.

A friend has tested this list with pretty good success. Try it out.

14 Land
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Ancient Den
4 Darksteel Citadel
2 Glimmervoid

31 Creatures
4 Memnite
4 Ornithoper
4 Signal Pest
4 Frogmite
4 Ethersworn Canonist
4 Etched Champion
4 Master of Etherium
3 Myr Enforcer

15 Spells
4 Thoughtcast
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Cranial Plating
3 Mox Opal

Etched Champion hoses aggro and tribal. There's 16 must counter threats (20 if you feel like including canonist.) Randomly loses to EE and Powder Keg.

That list looks far too mana intensive for its own good. Myr Enforcer I feel isn't as useful as it once was at this point. There's a number of cards that I don't run, but would consider running over Myr Enforcer. Etched Champion I see either as a metagame choice, or a potential sideboard card. It's expensive, and I wouldn't ever considering running more than 2 between my board and sideboard. No Vedalken Certarchs? Your deck would really benefit from a reduction in its mana expenses, and that card is one heck of a fine 1 drop.

Steadily climbing the ladder...

http://sales.starcitygames.com//deck...p?DeckID=37037


Decent list. Galvanic Blast seems alright, but a red splash kind of meh to me.

This is my current list. Ancient Tomb is the nuts btw. There is really no reason not to play Tomb. Artifact lands count as Affinity for some spells, Ancient Tomb counts as Affinity for all spells. Not being an Artifact for Ravager and Plating is not nearly as relevant as attacking with Plating and/or playing Ravager/Overseer/Champion one turn earlier. City of Traitors is great, too, but only half the time good on T1 and multiples suck. It also allows for turn 1 Chalice of the Void on 1 - especially if they use Enlightened Tutor. You can side in Chalice for Pest in some matchups when on the play in G2 or G3 and you know they play a lot or dangerous CC 1 spells in addition to being good against Combo.

I tried to play Chalice maindeck but you really need every spell you can get and it made the deck inconsistent.

// Mana
4 [HOP] Seat of the Synod
3 [DS] Darksteel Citadel
4 [TE] Ancient Tomb
3 [EX] City of Traitors
4 [LRW] Springleaf Drum
4 [SOM] Mox Opal

// Creatures
4 [SOM] Memnite
4 [R] Ornithopter
4 [MBS] Signal Pest
4 [MR] Frogmite
3 [FNM] Myr Enforcer

3 [SOM] Etched Champion
4 [DS] Arcbound Ravager
4 [M11] Steel Overseer

// Spells
4 [HOP] Cranial Plating
4 [MR] Thoughtcast

// Sideboard
SB: 4 [MR] Chalice of the Void
SB: 3 [SOK] Pithing Needle
SB: 4 [ZEN] Mindbreak Trap
SB: 4 [FNM] Tormod's Crypt

my own BUG home brew:

4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Disciple of the Vault
3 Etched Champion
4 Frogmite
4 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Phyrexian Walker

4 Cranial Plating
4 Glimpse of Nature
3 Mox Opal
3 Springleaf Drum
4 Thoughtcast

3 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Tree of Tales
4 Vault of Whispers

still working on sb and and please leave comments

i do not think inkmoth nexus has a place in this deck.... actually blinkmoth nexus would be better suited if you ask me, otherwise i think phyrexian walker is just not needed since you allready have 8 creatures for cmc 0... if you want to stick with them i suggest trying erayo

inkmouth is for the out of nowhere win and the walkers are place holders same as glimpse. Until affinity stabilizes with some sort of standard list. I would use blinkmouth but sadly do not have any

As cool as Inkmoth Nexus with Cranial Plating sounds, I think you are just better off running Galvanic Blasts for that mid game push.

Inkmoth Nexus is far too slow to have any effect in this deck.

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Originally Posted by lambert101

Until affinity stabilizes with some sort of standard list...

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Lists have been pretty standard for a while:
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deck...37&deck2=36642

With a 13 card difference maindeck, it's pretty safe to say that Signal Pest and Memnite have found room, Etched Champion is no joke, and a lot of the classic cards are going nowhere.

Okay, since I got ignored with my last post. Let's discuss Ancient Tomb.

In my testing, it is flat out awesome. Obviously not in a list with overly many colored spells, but in a list that focusses on the beatdown plan. It often enough speeds up the deck by a full turn (T1 Ravager/Overseer/Pest+Drum/Drum+free creature + 1 Mana floating; Plating equip or Champion a turn earlier).

Tomb seems good, has the life loss been relevant in those games where they counter some business and you stumble for a few turns looking for extra business?

Do you miss Disciple and more consistent instant Plating equips with that list? My local meta likes sweepers + Emrakul so they usually pull their weight along with the wins I get from having that + Ravager/Foundry out at the same time. Plating tricks have been nice as well.

Has 4 Ornithopter felt like too many? Since Pest was printed I went to two and haven't really regretted it. Only reason I liked them was for evasive plating action and Pest does that as well.

I like your list, looks so much more streamlined than mine.

Signal pest seems weak...sure its a mini lord but when you are swinging into goyf a nd knight is it really worth it, and ya it can carry plating but so can thopter

I have no issue swinging over them and giving use to other small creatures in my possession.

@AlexAI: It plays out consistently with many extremely fast hands for the price of having less reach in form of Blast & Disciple. It might be a good idea to add Disciple back for some Ornithopers and play less City of Traitors / Citadels for 4 Vault of Whispers. Instantly equipping Plating would be another advantage of that.
I am not sure about the exact list, probably you are right about Disciple and Vault of Whispers. But I am 100% sure that Tomb belongs in the deck. The deck is too fast to care about life loss - especially those hands with Tomb.

@lambert: Pest might be bad in theory, but I don't think anyone who tested with it gone back from it yet. It is really good, doing a lot of things.

Signal Pest just doesn't seem worth the 1 to me. If I'd spend the 1, it'd be on a worker, maybe a certarch. But the memnites serve as great 1/1s for now.

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Originally Posted by Arcbound Vacuum Cleaner

Signal Pest just doesn't seem worth the 1 to me. If I'd spend the 1, it'd be on a worker, maybe a certarch. But the memnites serve as great 1/1s for now.

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Luckily, it does seem good for others. After all, it is a 1-mana lord with evasion. Memnites and Ornithopters make Pest awesome and vice versa.

Signal Pest is probably the best thing to happen to Affinity since they printed Mirrodin block.

I don't like Ancient Tomb though. It feels clunky. Half the time, if it had been an artifact land, I would have gotten the same effect or better. (Mox Opal, Frogmite, Thoughtcast, etc)

Etched Champion is good but slow, formidable topdeck vs. anything tribal, etc. Galvanic Blast is the BOMB (so is Darkblast), I don't understand why people forget about it. Steel Overseer is a permanent Signal Pest, which I think doesn't do enough for this build :

MD:
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Great Furnace
4 Vault of Whispers

4 Disciple of the Vault
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Frogmite
4 Ornithopter
4 Myr Enforcer
3 Memnite
2 Steel Overseer

4 Thoughtcast
4 Galvanic Blast
3 Cranial Plating
3 Springleaf Drum
2 Mox Opal

SB:
4 Mindbreak Trap
3 Phyrexian Revoker
3 Cabal Therapy
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Darkblast