Anyone else think the new Karn from Dominaria makes this deck super busted?
Uh, no. In fact it's a much worse version of Tezzeret. You're trading easier castability for the presence of an actual ultimate that straight up kills opponents through all common creature/combat lock pieces the turn after it comes into play. Not to mention that Tezz' +1 is a bazillion times better than Karn's +1 and -1 in terms of card advantage/selection. Karn's -2 is better than Tezz' -1 most of the time though.
There are so many interesting decks in yesterday's list of 5-0 MTGO decks. Check out this Mono U Affinity deck:
// Artifacts
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Darksteel Relic
4 Mox Opal
// Creatures
2 Etched Champion
4 Master of Etherium
2 Walking Ballista
// Instants
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
// Legendary Planeswalkers
3 Karn, Scion of Urza
2 Tezzeret, Artifice Master
// Enchantments
4 Ensoul Artifact
2 The Antiquities War
// Sorceries
4 Thoughtcast
// Land
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Seat of the Synod
7 Island
// Sideboard
SB: 2 Damping Sphere
SB: 2 Echoing Truth
SB: 3 Ensnaring Bridge
SB: 4 Leyline of the Void
SB: 2 Padeem, Consul of Innovation
SB: 2 Sorcerous Spyglass
Very intrigued with this list. Is it even proper to call it Affinity anymore?
Relic seems meh...maybe another Ballista? Another issue I saw from goldfishing a bit was there's a lot of very non-explosive hands. Not enough good 2 drops, and your 3 mana creatures and Thoughtcasts end up stuck in your hand.
Yeah, it sounds like the deck designer started from the idea of a blue stompy deck. There's a thread about the deck on the Legacy subreddit, and if you ctrl-f TheRealRandyLarsen, it's the creator talking about it. He actually agrees with you about replacing Relic with another Ballista.
I'm playing a somewhat similar deck where I've smashed tezzerator and affinity together. The goal is to land a T2-T3 planeswalker and either search for lock pieces or go aggro.
Etched Champion is a boss
glad to see somebody finally found a way to make cradle work.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/article...whohaveheart_-
Creature (28)
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Steel Overseer
4 Stonecoil Serpent
4 Walking Ballista
Artifact (16)
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Cranial Plating
4 Mox Opal
2 Mystic Forge
2 Thorn of Amethyst
Land (16)
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
4 Gaea's Cradle
4 Vault of Whispers
<3 affinity.
-rob
- Artifact manland (moth/factory) is good in affinity and good with standstill
- Getting a bunch of cheap creatures onto the board quickly (affinity stuff) is good with standstill
- Ornithopter good for attacking or enabling mox opal etc (affinity stuff), Retrofitter Foundry is good under a standstill and can convert ornithopter into 4/4, Urzas Saga can find it
- Constructs from Urza's Saga are much better when you have a bunch of other artifacts on the battlefield
I don't know if it would look much like a traditional affinity deck or if it would be a major overhaul but I like the synergies there
Maybe very blue heavy for like thoughtcast/force/emry etc
You misclicked the Dreadstill thread. Retrofitter Foundry is a rather feeble and slow card, particularly if you are losing lands + highly susceptible to Wasteland. In terms of affinity, you lose pretty hard to Karn already and this locks you into that play pattern further.
It would still be the wrong deck, but Ninjas would be the better home for this. The problem we will see with see with this card for a bit is the bad deck syndrome, where people identify a thing they can do, but lack the mana progression and the ability to protect this card from Wasteland.
I've been trying to brainstorm a more traditional Affinity list lately as well, something explosive like the 'old days', and then have some sort of card advantage engine to recoup. Standstill and Thoughtcast are fine cards but I was looking at Shared Discovery.
Brainstorm Realist
I close my eyes and sink within myself, relive the gift of precious memories, in need of a fix called innocence. - Chuck Shuldiner
No on 1 mana jank draw spells, Affinity is a Chalice cheese deck. Reverse Engineer, Thoughtcast, TFK.
I meant, as I stated, like the 'old days' of Frogmite/Myr Enforcer/Ornithopter, not the current iteration of Affinity which most of us understand to be Steel Stompy. Thanks for the Reverse Engineer idea though, that is something I will have to look into; it looks pretty good but challenging with even a UU base cost. What is TFK? Thirst for Knowledge? I think in order to maintain hyper-efficiency the most an engine could cost is 2....a more traditional Affinity list…
Brainstorm Realist
I close my eyes and sink within myself, relive the gift of precious memories, in need of a fix called innocence. - Chuck Shuldiner
The specific combo of dreadnought + stifle is just not something that I find particularly compelling in current legacy.
I don't think a creature aggro deck (assuming that's approx how you build it) is necessarily soft to a 4 mana PW.
I suppose Ninjas is also a potentially interesting shell for this idea but I think it might be worthwhile playing a deck with more artifacts and trying to leverage the saga making big constructs.
Have you gone anywhere with this? I am intrigued, and I have most of the cards to put something together.
EDIT: I was also thinking that there may be something with Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
Last edited by Mr. Safety; 05-20-2021 at 03:51 PM.
Brainstorm Realist
I close my eyes and sink within myself, relive the gift of precious memories, in need of a fix called innocence. - Chuck Shuldiner
Here's a fun Affinity type list with Foundry and some new cards that just placed first in a challenge https://magic.wizards.com/en/article...inest_st_place
Creature (29)
4 Arcbound Ravager
2 Emry, Lurker of the Loch
4 Ethersworn Canonist
4 Stonecoil Serpent
4 Walking Ballista
4 Esper Sentinel
4 Thought Monitor
2 Sai, Master Thopterist
1 Zabaz, the Glimmerwasp
Artifact (11)
4 Mox Opal
4 Nettlecyst
3 Retrofitter Foundry
Land (20)
4 Ancient Den
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Plains
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Urza's Saga
Deck looks crazy. Get your Pernicious Deeds and Meltdowns ready.
But like Steel Stompy was for a bit, this might be a good call in an unprepared meta. If only it had a real answer to Terminus (besides hoping they don't see them) but it can still fight through serval as the winner showed Saturday.
"The Ancients teach us that if we can but last, we shall prevail."
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
The deck is quite resilient to Terminus. Just like Goblins was highly favored over UW Miracles (and the old UWx Landstill), beatdown decks can beat Wraths just by generating threats while keeping a fully stocked hand. Saga + Foundry is very good at doing that. Thought Monitor, Sai, and Esper Sentinel also dig it into gas. Canonist means opponent literally cannot Brainstorm into Terminus on your turn, so they have to set it up more slowly.
I think the bigger weaknesses are direct attacks on the artifact shell:
Meltdown
Null Rod
Energy Flux
Pernicious Deed
Serenity
Karn, the Great Creator
Kataki, War's Wage
Deed and Serenity both kill artifact lands and Urza's Saga, something the newer "nonland permanent" cards can't do.
Yeah, that is exactly why Deed is a top 3 favorite card of mine, it is worded (and works) so oddly, even for the time it was printed. I'd actually love to know who designed it really and why they made so many odd choices.
The issue with Deed is always how expensive it is though. It was good with DRS (counter-intuitively) so I do kind of wonder if Ignoble Hierarch might help it. (Seems unlikely, but still possible.)
Also, I wonder if this shell though, could leverage 1-2 Steel Overseer, since it seems so bonkers with Sentinel.
"The Ancients teach us that if we can but last, we shall prevail."
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
I saw some crazy screenshots of UR delver playing pulverize.
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