Affinity Aggro 2021

[Mr. Safety]

On a whim I picked up some Thought Monitors and Sojourner's Companions, thinking a legitimate 8x Thoughtcast + free dudes setup might be good enough in Legacy. This is a budget list for now, just something to mess around with. Obvious upgrades come in the form of Urzas Saga, Arcbound Ravager, possibly Nettlecyst, maybe Chalice, and a 4th Mox Opal. I'm testing the tapped artifact lands because they 'add' mana even while entering tapped. The critical mass of blue mana is needed to feed the 8 card draw engines. I've had insane turns where chaining 2 thoughtcast/monitors just feeds more free 4/4's and 2/2's. Like 20+ power on the board turn 3. I genuinely think there is a way to make this a legit aggro deck.

First draft:

4x Ornithopter
1x memnite
4x frogmite
4x myr enforcer
4x sojourner's companion
4x thought monitor
4x master of ethereum

4x cranial plating
4x springleaf drum
3x Mox Opal
4x Mishra's bauble
1x welding jar
4x thoughtcast

4x seat of the synod
4x razortide bridge
4x mistvault bridge
1x darksteel citadel
2x blinkmoth nexus

Rough draft sideboard:
4x Tormod's Crypt
4x Force of Will
2x Force of Negation
2x Steel Sabotage
2x Ethersworn Canonist
1x Engineered Explosives

Second Draft, testing inclusion of Salvage Titan and non-Force sideboard.

4x Ornithopter
1x Memnite
4x Frogmite
4x Myr Enforcer
4x Sojourner's Companion
4x Thought Monitor
3x Salvage Titan
2x Master of Etherium

4x Springleaf Drum
4x Cranial Plating
4x Thoughtcast
3x Mox Opal
4x Lotus Petal

4x Seat of the Synod
4x Mistvault Bridge
4x Razortide Bridge
1x Darksteel Citadel
2x Blinkmoth Nexus

Sideboard
4x Thoughtseize
3x Steel Sabotage
2x Ethersworn Canonist
4x Tormod's Crypt
2x Stubborn Denial

[Purple Blood]

Have you tried cutting Springleaf for Chalice and adding Ancient Tomb?

If you go white you can add Ethersworn Canonist and/or Esper Sentinel (if you don't add Chalice).

[kombatkiwi]

Assuming you want to keep this on a budget (isn't opal still worth quite a bit more than a bunch of obvious cards you're not playing) play 4 citadel and fewer (0?) tapped lands

[Mr. Safety]

First off, thanks for the feedback guys.

Ancient Tomb + Chalice is definitely a way to go, there is literally only 1 card that costs 1 mana (Drum) in the maindeck. I would have to work towards that with purchases, I'm a paper-only player. I'm not sure if playing the Enforcer/Frogmite plan is the correct way to build it with Chalice.

Regarding Mox Opal...I just had them, so as far as being on a budget, it was a non-issue. Even with 4x Opal in the deck it's absurdly cheap to build by legacy standards. I've spent less than $50 so far. Another $50 or so for the 4th Opal is an easy decision. A harder decision is shelling out for Tombs/Chalices, which is quite a bit more than $50 (about $140 for the Chalices and $150 for 3 more Tombs, I have 1.)

In testing the tapped artifact lands haven't really been a problem. The main point is that they are artifacts so they enable Opal turn 1 and they make everything cost less. They still 'add' 1 mana even while entering tapped. The other crucial point is that they add blue mana, which is absolutely critical. What I want in the deck is useful, free artifacts that make Frogmite/Enforcer/Companion free. That's why I have a 'bad' card like Mishra's Bauble in there, just to turn on Opal and it adds mana for the affinity dudes.

Ethersworn Canonist and Esper Sentinel are both on my list of potential cards, especially Sentinel. This deck wants to draw cards, so anything that does that for low mana cost is going to be good. The obvious place to cut is Mishra's Bauble, but again, I need a critical mass of free artifacts to enable the free dudes. I already have 2x Ethersworn Canonist, it was in the first draft, but it didn't really work towards the blitz goal. It is a strong sideboard card for sure, but I'm not sure how good it would be maindeck.

The deck is incredibly strong at stabilizing by turn 3, even on slow starts. I'm not worried about the fair matchups too much, this can play around Daze turn 2+ so easily. Terminus isn't played very much anymore, but it's still there. The biggest worry is Null Rod, so there needs to be a plan for that. With 12 maindeck blue cards already I think it could reasonably sideboard Force of Will/Negation to answer Null Rods.

Other ideas that I'm thinking about, that are probably bad but fall into the 'cool stuff' category:

Paradise Mantle + Steelfin Whale = play stuff, untap Whale for every artifact, make tons of mana, Walking Balista for combo finish. Mantle is another free artifact that generates 2 mana for affinity spells.

Somber Hoverguard = play Delver-style threats to pressure in the air

Ethersworn Sphinx = play UW for a 4/4 flyer, cascade into more threats. The zero cost artifacts are pretty lousy to cascade into, but just getting a 4/4 flyer for 2 mana that feeds the engine is probably good enough. Qumulox is already a card, and likely easier to cast than Sphinx, but if I'm playing a non-artifact creature I want it to cost 1 mana at most, and Hoverguard is better in this regard.

Essentially what I want the deck to do is play free threats and re-load into more free threats with 8 Thoughtcast effects. It does that very well so far, sometimes entering the degenerate zone. I'm testing this in legacy with Seat of the Synod/Mox Opal but I could easily port this over to Modern, or even Pauper, if I wanted to.

EDIT: I'm holding out on Urza's Saga for a little bit, in case it's banned from Modern. If it's banned I should be able to pick them up much cheaper than currently. It's a calculated risk.

[Mr. Safety]

Here's a cool list that did well in a league recently:

http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=31233&d=442514&f=LE

This is doing essentially the same thing I want to do: play free artifacts and draw a bunch of cards. I had an idea that Glimpse was possibly good, but it was just a passing thought. I totally missed the improvise mechanic, that might be a direction I take now. I also really like the idea of Salvage Titan, which means my lands again pull double duty by not having to tap for mana, just sacrifice them to Titan's free cost.

EDIT: Looks like Barricade Breaker and Foundry Assembler are the best options. I'm going to toy around with Salvage Titan first.

[Vacrix]

One with the Machine is basically a draw 7 for 3U. Sometimes it might be a draw 4 with Frogmite. It’s comparable to Paradoxical Outcomes tho it could be better when you are playing this many 7 drops each with affinity.

Erayo, Soratami Ascendant is a build I haven’t seen in a while. Erayo turns on Mox Amber is relatively new. It seems ideal for a Glimpse build tho rather than a monoblue beatdown plan. Interestingly, Erayo flips when the fourth spell of a turn is played, so if the opponent plays two spells, one could respond with 2 spells to flip her.

Hope of Ghirapur seems ideal for a Glimpse of Nature build.

Hullbreacher is a nice way to turn off cantrips, particularly in response to Brainstorm. Combos with symmetrical card draw like Echo of Eons. More importantly.. it makes artifacts which helps to cast all those 7 drops for cheap.

Salvage Titan is sweet. I was playing around with it recently. Life’s Legacy, and Morbid Curiosity. Life’s Legacy in particular seems quite good with Cranial Plating, Greater Good and plating can do something similar.

Other cards to take advantage of the high cmc were Burnt Offering, but one would want to run stuff like Burning Wish.

Energy Tap is monoblue, tho it’s hard to find somewhere to go with all that mana without something like Karn, the Great Creator.

Snap can bounce Thought Monitor, or just temporary removal. Perhaps better for saving your own creatures. Comparable to Steel Sabotage.

Birthing Pod is another direction, find Grizz.. lots of 7 drops lead right to him, and Birthing Pod is both splashable and an artifact. The deck structure would look different but unlike Neoform and Eldritch Evolution, one doesn’t risk the creature as an additional cost.

Hex Parasite can remove counters from Aether Vial. Wish there was something else to do with it tho.

Spellskite can save your dudes from spot removal, particularly Bolt. More fun than practical is Shaper’s Sanctuary to draw via Spellskite upon the opponent’s removal spell.

Wishclaw Talsiman is an artifact, not sure what I would grab with it tho.

The Great Henge is a potential engine. Steelfin Whale plays well with this one, as does Paradise Mantle and Metalworker. Cranial Plating feels like the only reliable way to ensure that you can get the Great Henge into play. Corridor Monitor only untaps something when it enters, but it can untap Metalworker. Seems like it might be useful in a Paradoxical Outcomes build.

Displacement Wave seemed alright perhaps as board material? For UU you can wipe tokens, and for more you can reset the board, and bounce all your 0 cmc mana sources, unlike Echoing Truth and Engineered Explosives. X at 3ish pretty much secures the combat step, whilst bouncing Aether Vial to ensure nothing else gets in the way.

I mostly wanted to suggest ways of taking advantage of twelve 7 drops. Previously, four 7 drops wasn’t nearly enough to take advantage of the high cmc.

The affinity is another potential mechanic to exploit, by going slow instead of fast. Drop all the gas early, play lots of Sphere of Resistance effects, play the creatures at a fair cost instead.. effectively boosting the cost of a 7 drop by 1 cancels out since Sphere is an artifact. Perhaps more effective as a transformable sideboard.

The monowhite builds seem best equipped to start locking up the board early where laying down Enforcer/Monitor should be enough to get there. Likely it will play better tho as monowhite Bomberman with Auriok Salvagers and Lion’s Eye Diamond.