Newest list (September 4th, 2008):
// Lands
4 [TE] Wasteland
4 [MR] Seat of the Synod
4 [MR] Vault of Whispers
4 [B] Underground Sea
// Creatures
4 [DS] Arcbound Ravager
4 [5E] Ornithopter
4 [RAV] Dark Confidant
4 [MI] Phyrexian Dreadnought
3 [FUT] Epochrasite
3 [DS] Arcbound Worker
// Spells
4 [FD] Cranial Plating
4 [VI] Vision Charm
4 [SC] Stifle
3 [DS] AEther Vial
4 [MR] Thoughtcast
3 [MR] Chrome Mox
// Sideboard
SB: 4 [FNM] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 3 [A] Winter Orb
SB: 4 [10E] Pithing Needle
SB: 4 [MR] Chalice of the Void
Notable inclusions: Aether Vial, Dark Confidant and Epochrasite.
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Over a year ago, Rafael Truchado won the Open Legacy Madrid in Spain with a new twist on Affinity – AfFOWnity. The deck combined the explosiveness of Affinity with a few disruption cards like Force of Will and Chalice of the Void. Doug Lynn wrote about the deck in his first „European Developments“ article and for a short while, AfFOWnity was all the hype. Then Flash happened, and after it was gone, Tarmogoyf was the new undisputed king of Legacy (next to Jack Elgin of course). AfFOWnity was forgotten.
Then Wizards removed the errata on Phyrexian Dreadnought in July, making it work with cards like Trickbind and Stifle. Of course, designers all aroung the work started to break this new combo, and the Dreadstill deck is one of these decks that succesfully make use of the trampling 12/12 creature. One card that has been strangely overlooked by designers is Vision Charm. Surely, in a normal deck, it is much more narrow than Stifle or Trickbind, simply because it has no other useage as to phase out a Dreadnought, whereas the other two cards can actually counter triggered and activated abilities. But I quickly noticed the awesome synergy Vision Charm has with the whole Affinity archetype. Soon I started working on a new list of AfFOWnity that uses the Dreadnought combo:
#aYb.Dreadnought Affinity 2008 (Warning: outdated list)
// Lands
4 [MR] Seat of the Synod
4 [DS] Darksteel Citadel
4 [TE] Wasteland
4 [PT] Island (4)
// Creatures
4 [AQ] Ornithopter
4 [MR] Frogmite
4 [DS] Arcbound Ravager
4 [DS] Arcbound Worker
4 [MI] Phyrexian Dreadnought
// Spells
4 [FD] Cranial Plating
4 [MR] Thoughtcast
4 [MR] Chrome Mox
4 [AL] Force of Will
4 [SC] Stifle
4 [VI] Vision Charm
// Sideboard
SB: 4 [CH] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 3 [4E] Winter Orb
SB: 4 [MR] Chalice of the Void
SB: 4 [10E] Pithing Needle
This list is actually very straight forward. It doesn't run any quirky one- or two-offs, it just wants to win as quick as posible while keeping the opponent from his resources and disrupting him. Let me just say that this deck is an awesome pile of synergy... most cards fulfill more than one role. And its ability to switch roles makes it very hard to play against. Your opponent just doesn't know if he will get overrun by an affinity army, or a 12/12 dreadnought. Is it good to counter the Cranial Plating? In addition to that, the deck runs a strong mana denial suite and some control elements (mainly FoW). Chalice of the Void has been moved to the board, simply because Dreadnought is much more broken and because the manabase no longer supports Ancient Tomb. Against combo, you bring Chalice in again. But let's look at the card by card analysis, before I go into details.
The manabase:
The 8 artifact lands are self explainatory. You need mana and artifacts to use the Affinity mechanic. These are an auto-include.
4 Wasteland: Combine these with Stifle (which is one of the strongest cards in the deck because of its multiple purposes) and you have a very strong mana denial plan. This deck is much faster than UGr Thrash, and runs the same mana denial. Go figure.Also, you only need one colored mana anyways, so Wasteland is rarely a hinderance to your own gameplan.
4 basic Islands: Well, you do need blue mana and Seat of the Synod is not enough. This is imune to Blood Moon and Wasteland, so it is a solid choice (note that the newest list runs Underground Sea to support the black splash).
3 Chrome Mox: You run 16 colored cards... enough to run Chrome Mox. Lately, Chrome Mox has been cut to three copies in favor of Aether Vial.
3 Aether Vial: You could run a 4/2 split between this and Chrome Mox as well, but I prefer the 3/3 split. Aether Vial is a great card, not only does it work as a mana fixer and is just sick against any form of Control and Conterbalance, it also combos with Dreadnought and Epochrasite. Awesome!
The creatures:
4 Ornithopter, 4 Frogmite, 4 Arcbound Ravager and 4 Arcbound Worker: This is the standard Affinity creature suite... Nothing surprising here, Myr Enforcer isn't run, because he is just a little too expensive (you only run 8 artifact lands while you need at least 12 to support him). Combined with Cranial Plating, these creatures can be a real pain in the ass for an unprepared opponent.
4 Phyrexian Dreadnought: The card that makes this build of Affinity special. With 8 cards that combo with it, you can reliably cast it when you draw it. If this hits the table and the opponent doesn't have a way to remove it, this spells GG. Even if you don't have Stifle or Vision Charm, you can still cast it to pump Ravager. The nice thing about this deck is that it doesn't rely on Dreadnought to win the game. Dreadnought just complements its game plan perfectly and makes this build of Affinity even more broken.
4 Dark Confidant: This is one of the best creatures in the game and a house in this deck... if the opponent isn't able to handle him, the card advantage will most likely be enough to win the game... Affinity is fast enough to make use of every extra card you draw. Also, even with Thoughtcast in the maindeck, the average mana cost isn't much higher than 1. Also this draw engine can carry Cranial Plating, which makes it a lethal thread, as well.
3 Epochrasite: Combos well with Aether Vial and the sac abilities of Ravager. Also, it laughs at Pernicious Deed, Nevinral's Disk and any other card that might be devastating otherwise.
Equipment:
4 Cranial Plating: Also standard in every build of Affinity. This wins just as many games as Dreadnought does, because it turns every creature into a dangerous threat.
The Blue (and black) Cards:
4 Stifle: The most versatily card in the deck. Wasteland+Stifle is a combo, Dreadnought+Stifle is a combo and it is an excellent card against storm combo, opposing Pernicious Deeds, etc.
4 Vision Charm: This not only combos with Dreadnought (obvious), but it has the ability to protect every permanent you run (including the vulnerable Dreadnough itself) from removal. Swords on my Ravager? Okay, cast Vision Charm in response and it phases out. Additionaly, if a creature is equiped by Cranial Plating and phases out, the Plating phases out, as well. This is a excellent way to protect both permanents (for example against Pernisious Deed or Engineered Explosives). Of course, the Charm has other uses as well. Occasionally, you can use it as mana denial if you turn his lands into useless basic lands of some type during his upkeep, but the Phasing ability is normally the most important.
4 Force of Will: Your main protection spell. You run 16 blue cards and this is enough to support FoW. Of course, if you have FoW, Chrome Mox and another blue card in hand, feel free to imprint it... but FoW makes your combo matchup much better and often suprises an unprepared opponent when you counter his key spell. Lately, FoW has been cut due to the card disadvantage.
4 Thoughtcast: Best draw spell for Affinity, makes sure that you don't run out of gas after you dropped your hand on the table.
Cabal Therapy: This is another potential disruption card for the deck. The high creature count makes sure that you can reliably use its flashback ability (this makes it stronger than Thoughtseize in this deck).
Sideboard:
This is off course especially for my meta, feel free to change some cards in the sideboard if you feel this is appropiate. But I think it is quite good as it is if you're playing in a competitive meta.
4 Tormod's Crypt: Ichorid is the most prevalent combo deck in my meta, this ensures the auto-win against them. Also, Life from the Loam is becoming more popular again, this helps to shut off their engine.
3 Winter Orb: This is the card against control. Together with Wasteland and Stifle, you can often keep them off their mana long enough to win. 3 is enough, because multiple don't really help you and if one hits the table, it is usually enough. You also have FoW to force it through opposing Countermagic.
4 Chalice of the Void: The card against storm combo and Belcher. Together with Stifle and FoW, this should win you the game without any problems.
4 Pithing Needle: Your answer to Pernicious Deed, Engineered Explosives, Manlands, Nevinyrall's Disk, Umezawa's Jitte, Survival of the Fittest, Charbelcher, whatever. A very good card to bring in against many decks.
Also possible cards for the Sideboard:
Umezawa's Jitte: Nice if you play in an aggro meta.
Spell Snare: If Counterbalance is a problem for you.
Etc.
Matchups:
UGR Threshold: This is a favorable matchup. If Dreadnought hits the table, they have close to no way removing it. Also, your mana denial plan is very good against most decks that rely on a somewhat shaky manabase... you can often keep them off green mana to slow them down long enough to win with Affinity beats.
UGW Threshold: Somewhat similar to UGR Threshold, but they run Swords to Plowshares, which is actually relevant removal against Dreadnought. If you have Both Stifle and Vision Charm in hand, Stifle the Dreadnought and use the Charm to protect it from removal. This is also, where your Affinity beatdown plan shines. You can also bait their removal with Arcbound Ravager, etc.
UGB Threshold: This is quite similar to UGW Threshold... watch out for their removal and kill them in the meantime.
UW Landstill: Quite good actually. You can often keep them off their white mana long enough win the game... after that you bring in 4 Needle and 3 Winter Orb.
UGB Landstill: Anything that runs Pernicious Deed in the maindeck is a bad matchup. Try to save your Stifles to counter the Deed activation... and try to win as fast as possible.
UBW Landstill: Lately, I playtested against UBW Landstill a lot. The games went something like 70% in my favor, but this has to be because I got lucky with the mana denial... I'm sure the matchup is much more like 50%. But the fact remains that Wasteland and Stifle, backed by a fast clock win the match. Also, they don't run Deed!
Belcher: A good matchup. Even if you don't have the Force of Will in your opening hand in game 1, you bring in Chalice of the Void and Needle after boarding and together with FoW and Stifle, this is enough to crush them.
TES: Worse than Belcher, but not unfavorable. Force their key spells and Stifle their storm. Bring in Chalice and try to win as fast as possible, before they can play around that.
Eva Green (BG Suicide): Game 1 is quite favorable, watch out for their Snuff Outs, but you should be able to hit them hard with Plated creatures and Ravager. Their hand destruction isn't very strong against you and you run indestructible lands and Chrome Mox. It gets worse if they board Pernicious Deed, but the matchup is still far from unwinnable.
Goblins: I actually haven't tested against this, because it is nearly unplayed in my meta. From what I know, this wasn't a very good matchup for the original AfFOWnity. With Dreadnought, this gets better, but you have to watch out for Goblin Tinkerer and Tin Street Hooligan. Still, a turn 1 or two Dreadnought should be enough to race them.
Its the Fear: Of course, this is a bad matchup, because of Pernicious Deed. But you mana denial can easily steal you a game or two. During tournaments, I played against ITF quite often lately (its become quite popular in Germany) and I often disrupted the opponent enough to win the game before I even knew what he was playing (only saw something like Tropical Island, Fetchlands, maybe Goyf). Afterwards I always felt really lucky... but it proves the point that Wasteland and Stifle can occasionaly just win the game against Control, even if you had no business winning those matches.
As you can see, this is actually a very solid deck. So I decided to bring it to two different tournaments this weekend. On Saturday I played at a small 14-man tournament (played Spell Snare over Needle in the board) in Düsseldorf, and on Sunday I brought it to the monthly Legacy event in Iserlohn (52 participants). I took third place in Düsseldorf and tenth place in Iserlohn (missing the T8 through tiebreakers).
Small report:
Düsseldorf:
Round 1 against UG Madness
During game 1 I cast a second turn Dreadnought with FoW backup. He can't do anything (casts Rootwalla or Mongrel) and we quickly go to game 2.
Here I have some mad Affinity beats with Ravager, Arcbound Worker and Frogmite. I put a lot of pressure on him and finally a Phyrexian Dreadnought seals the deal.
2-0
Round 2 against UW Landstill
During game 1 he is mana screwed and I Stifle his fetchland to keep it that way. A Ornithopter with Cranial Plating and a Frogmite go all the way.
In game 2, it's my turn to not hit any land drops and he takes advantage of this. I quickly scoop it up to him and proceed to game 3.
Game 3, I lay down a Winter Orb and have a Force of Will for his own. Then I cast Dreadnought, which he didn't expect and kill him shortly. I even had the Vision Charm to protect Dreadnought from Swords to Plowshares, but this wasn't even necessary.
2-1
Round 3 against Eva Green
This is the moment I hate myself for not playing Pithing Needle. Game 1 is easy for me. I put pressure on him with some early creatures which he manages to handle. Finally, I topdeck Dreadnought and it goes all the way. I win.
Game 2 and 3 are ugly. He has Jitte, Deed, etc. This finally convinced me to play Needle in Iserlohn the next day.
1-2
Round 4 against 2-Land Belcher
I keep a nice hand, but he combos of turn 1 and kills me. Too bad, but even without Pithing Needle, I shut be able to win this.
Game 2, I start with Chalice for 0 and Force his Belcher. I kill him a few turns later with some critters.
Game 3, I disrupt him in the early game. At some point he manages to play Empty the Warrens for ten tokens, but he makes a mistakes with his blockers, so I'm able to do some Affinity combat tricks and win.
2-1
With a record of 3-1, I am third place and win some boosters. Afterwards I eat a disgusting sandwich at the train station (called a „Humus Pocket“) and feel sick for the rest of the day. The Humus incident is actually pretty hilarious, and quite a number of people make fun of it with their decknames at the Iserlohn tournament... :)
Speaking of which, the next day I switch the Spell Snares in the board to Pithing Needles and the tournament begins on time at 11am.
Iserlohn:
Round 1 against Faerie Stompy
He plays a second turn Serendib Efreet, I play a second turn Phyrexian Dreadnought. He equips his Efreet with SoFI, and swings for some damage, I equip my Dreadnought with Cranial Plating and win turn 3 (he took some damage from his Ancient Tomb). Good times.
Game 2, I dump my hand on the table and start beating face with my Affinity beaters. He casts Trinisphere to prevent me from casting Dreadnought (which now effectivly costs 6 mana). I think about phasing out his Trinisphere at the end of his turn to cast Dreadnought, but then I just win the next turn without it.
2-0
Round 2 against Ichorid
Nice. He does some dredging, while I attack for some damage. Finally he has three bridges in the graveyard and is ready to combo off the next turn. I cast Dreadnought, he goes: „Stifle?“. And I'm like: „Nope.“. He looks at me with a blank face and I say: „I remove your bridges.“ He's like: „Oh... damn!“. Two turns later, I win the game.
Game 2 I bring in Tormod's Crypt and have the absolute mad Ravager, Ravager, Ravager, Chrome Mox, Blue card, Land, Tormod's Crypt hand. He can't do much to win against that.
2-0
Round 3 against Survival
Wasteland and Stifle keep him off his mana and I force his Survival. I win through some Affinity beats.
Game 2 he draws Krosan Grips, Engineered Explosives and Swords to Plowshares like mad and even gets them back through Eternal Witness. I lose horribly.
Game 3, I manage to cast an early Dreadnought. I force his Swords to Plowshares, and phase it out to protect it against another one. He still manages to get rid of it and stabilises. The game drags on for long and in the end, he wins. Well, this happens.
1-2
Round 4 against Loam Assault Aggro with Terravore
Game 1 I have some early creatures, but he manages to use Burning Wish to get Shattering Spree and clears my board. He gets Seismic Assault out and kills me in a few turns.
Game 2 I cast Dreadnought on turn 2. I hit for 12 and he topdecks Maze of Ith. Too bad for him that I topdeck Wasteland. I win.
The third game actually drags on for quite some time. I use Crypt to remove his graveyard at some point to stop his Life from the Loam engine but he is able to use his Maze of Ith to untap my Ravager all the time. At some point, Ravager carries three Cranial platings and is lethal, when I topdeck Stifle. He activates his Maze, I Stifle it. He discards all his lands through Seismic Assault to destroy Ravager, but I sac all my permanents to make it grow. It's exactly enough to win the game.
2-1
Round 5 against UBW Cunning Wish Landstill
I quickly get him down to 5 life when he casts Cunning Wish -> Pulse of the Field. He manages to stabilise and casts Humility. Shortly afterwards, I scoop it up.
The second game drags on forever, because I constantly put pressure on him and Winter Orb keeps him from using his lands. He always has solutions for my creatures, though and at some point I draw like 5 or 6 lands, which gives him enough time to nuke the board and win. Oh well, you can't win everything. :)
0-2
Round 6 against Dreadstill/Dreadnought Control
I kind of know what he is playing, but not exactly, so I stifle his fetchland. He is screwed after that and I manage to win shortly with a bunch of creatures and Cranial Plating.
Game 2, he casts Counterbalance on turn 2, I test it with Ornithopter. He reveals a Counterspell on top of his library and I cast Dreadnought+Stifle. He doesn't find an answer and loses.
2-0
4-2, tenth place.
So, third place out of 14 and tenth place out of 53. This is actually quite a good performance and shows that the deck is capable of being quite good in the metagame. It combines the explosiveness of Affinity and Dreadnought with Mana denial and Counterbackup, which leads to a very powerful package. The ability to switch roles makes it flexible, as well.
Try it out, you won't be disappointed. :)
I'm sure there is still room for improvement, eventhough the deck itself might be close to optimal. Any suggestions on how to further improve it are very much appreciated, of course!
P.S. My spell check function doesn't seem to work. If you find anything I should correct, just write me a PM.
Last edited by Lukas Preuss; 09-04-2008 at 06:27 AM.
Sometimes you have to read between the minds.
++ T8ing all over Europe since 2005 ++
++ Team aYb - all your base (are belong to us) ++
it may be just me but still...
did you already had problem with force or mox ?
cause well, for both you need a blue card, and maybe sometime you can be screwed and loose game due to that.
have you test a bit against dragon stompy too ?
Though, great deck, gonna test it today !
will post what i think can be improved, but it is a very solid base.
Holo.
edit :
some guys on MWS say that oracle text have change, and that we can't stifle dreadnought CIP effect, true or false ?
False.Originally Posted by Holo_rip
Tell them they're a week late.
This deck looks pretty good. I'll give it a test spin, and see how it goes. AFoWnity is better in the meta than regular Affinity, and with Dreadnought this easily could be better still.
Make 'em a NOOB token, broseph. It works.
Solid write up. I actually don't think that 4 Dreadnought is too much here. Do you miss enforcer ever?
The E.P.I.C. Syndicate: I mean, if they play a lullaby for babies they should at least play the Monster Mash when somebody dies.
Dreadnought is cool and all, but how does cutting the deck's primary bomb in Chalice of the Void improve the match ups where Affownity was lacking? It seems like you weakened the combo and aggro-control match ups for a vulnerable threat that can't even be cast reliably due to U restraints and the pitch demands from Force of Will and Chrome Mox.
I'd be all over Ancient Tomb and Trinket Mage, just having 4 dreadnoughts doesn't make the 8 card investment of Stifle and Vision Charm that appealing.
Uh, and how does this deck protect his main-winoption? With 4 "Force" and some "Vision Charm"? I think this is not enough.
With the Mana-Denial plan brought to the forefront, why don't you play the Pithing Needles (or at least somenumber of them) in the main? Also, I don't think that the Chrome Moxen are the best idea either. Perhaps you could play Blinkmoth Nexuses in those slots? (although I would rather have more islands if your metagame s infested with Moon/ Back to Basics/ wastelock nonsense)
Team Battletoadz: Fuck the Meta-police?
If it's all in our heads, it's best that we don't loose them.
in the moxen slot, i've think of this :
Springleaf Drum
seem good to me, can use creature when they have summon sickness and all. but one thing that annoy me is his casting cost of 1 =/
Holo.
Like Holo asked, is Chrome Mox worth running over Springleaf Drum considering the card disadvantage?
Is 4 Dreadnoughts too many? I can't imagine that it would be considering you have 8 ways to get them into play.
This is Affinity, he can win through Dreadnought/Ravager/Plating. Any one of the three is good enough.
I actually love the deck Lukas it seems pretty awesome.
I have an question for you I was wondering if this deck could incorporate the counterbalance + sensei's top or is that just win more?
Other then that there isn't really that much you can do with the mainboard although the sideboard could be tinkered with depending on meta. Considering you probably could fit in four propogandas in the board for the goblin match as well.
I should really try out this deck and playing with dreadnought in an affinity deck could really make affinity in general go over the top. Dreadnought is like the tarmogoyf for affinity.
Definitely better than the mox IMO, as it takes the pressure off having a blue card in hand, which does not always happen.
With only 12 sources of blue mana its not nearly reliable enough to get it out. This deck really wants to be taking an aggro role, and just uses FoW to stop itself from dying to combo.
Propaganda, Chill, Crypt, Winter Orb, Chalice, Needle and BEB seem to be the most obvious choices for the board.
One question I've got is whether Darksteel Citadel could be swapped for Vault of Whispers for that Disciple of the vault dork. That, or Great Furnace for Fling, which is great with 'nought when you haven't a Stifle/Charm.
Yeah I thought the counterbalance + top wouldn't work that well in here initially but just wanted to point that out to lukas since I have seen some pretty good stiflenought decks play with countertop.
Chill isn't really that good against goblins I have seen compotent goblin players play around chill with ease. But BEB is of course pretty good against everything that has red. But you have to remember since this is an wide-range format especially where lukas is playing making your board dedicated for the goblin matchup isn't a good plan at all.
Chill is a personal favourite of mine that I probably should stop suggesting. :p
Unlike the most common Stiflenaught deck (Dreadstill) this deck is always after an explosive start, and so Counterbalance will usually be a dead card here.
Yeah well it really depends on where you want to go with the deck but just wanted to throw that out there since Lukas usually plays against every landstill deck imaginable. Landstill is a popular deck in germany. In other words, countertop might be of some importance in his meta since that combo can be successful against landstill. However, I am sure Lukas will make the necassary adjustments to make his affinity deck as strong as it can be in his meta.
Oh by the way I like chill alot too it has always been one of my favorite cards as well.
I have to agree with you guys, Chill is a beating like no other. With Husher coming out soon though, I think it may be wiser to go with BEB.
UR Dreadstill creator and BRx WGD Combo Pioneer
Well, thank you for your criticism and your suggestions.
Yes, I'm well aware of this argument and it has been discussed ever since AfFOWnity first started to T8 in Spain. Actually, 16 blue cards is enough to support both Chrome Mox and FoW. During my tournaments, I never had a situation where I was manascrewed because of this. It doesn't take away from the consitancy of the deck. Of course, this is not Threshold, where you always have FoW and a blue card... this deck has a much better aggro role than Threshold, so having to rely on major counterbackup isn't necessary. Try it out and let me know what you think... I am convinced that 16 blue cards is enough to run both Chrome Mox and FoW effectively in this deck.did you already had problem with force or mox ?
cause well, for both you need a blue card, and maybe sometime you can be screwed and loose game due to that.
I haven't tested much against Dragon Stompy, but I wouldn't think that it is such a bad matchup. As far as I know, Dragon Stompy's main strenghth is the Blood Moon package and Blood Moon isn't an issue for this deck for quite a few reasons:have you test a bit against dragon stompy too ?
- Artifact lands are still artifacts under Blood Moon, so this has no influence on the Affinity mechanic
- You run 4 Basic Islands and 4 Chrome Mox... enough mana sources to ensure one blue mana
- You never need more than one blue mana anyways.
Other than that, you're creatures are just as big as theirs and if Dreadnought resolves, they have a hard time with it. I assume that this matchup isn't very favorable due to their ability to set Chalice at one (and two) very fast, but it is far from unwinnable.
No, I cut it pretty early and never looked back. Dreadnought is a much better creature and in this deck, you can cast it much more often than you can cast the Enforcer. Enforcer is only good if you have a huge number of artifacts on the table (at which point you should already be winning). Dreadnought is very good on it's own and comes out much faster than enforcer.Do you miss enforcer ever?
Well, there's a very wrong assumption. You can cast Dreadnought as reliable as it gets. I never had a problem with a dead Dreadnought in my hand... You don't even have to hesitate to throw away you first Vision Charm/Stifle into a Chrome Mox, because you will still be able to put enough pressure on the opponent to draw into another combo piece to cast Dreadnought. And please, you don't have to focus primarely on that 12/12 creature. Often you just cast Chrome Mox, Land, Ornithopter, and then beat face with Cranial Plating. This is Affinity after all... Dreadnought just gives the deck another truly impressive and strong creature.Dreadnought is cool and all, but how does cutting the deck's primary bomb in Chalice of the Void improve the match ups where Affownity was lacking? It seems like you weakened the combo and aggro-control match ups for a vulnerable threat that can't even be cast reliably due to U restraints and the pitch demands from Force of Will and Chrome Mox.
And the Combo and Aggro-Control matchups are not weakened. Chalice isn't as strong as it used to be and I'd happily play Dreadnought over it any time. Just remember that an unanswered Dreadnought means gg in a very short time. And even if they are able to handle it, you have enough Affinity to win the game.
Using Pithing Needle as a mana denial card is actually not such a good plan... it seldom works and in many matchps, I'd rather have an offensive card than a defensive card that could possibly help the mana denial plan. Remember, you often just need to screw the opponent for a turn or two to win from the speed advantage.With the Mana-Denial plan brought to the forefront, why don't you play the Pithing Needles (or at least somenumber of them) in the main? Also, I don't think that the Chrome Moxen are the best idea either. Perhaps you could play Blinkmoth Nexuses in those slots?
Chrome Mox is very important for speeding up the deck and being immune to the opponent's Wasteland. You have 4 Chrome Mox, 4 indestructible lands and 4 basic islands. You have a very save mana base. Also, Blinkmoth Nexus doesn't produce blue mana... you need the 12 blue mana sources you're running to consistantly support the Dreadnought combo and Thoughtcast.
Thanks for the suggestion, but this is actually not a very good idea. This deck is different from the other builds of Affinity that can make use of Springleaf drum. First of all, they use it as a mana fixer, whereas this deck only needs blue mana. This deck doesn't run as many creatures as traditional Affinity, and its creatures are much better. I would never want to tap Ravager, Dreadnought, etc. to make mana. I want to put pressure on my opponent. And Chrome Mox does this by speeding the deck up by a full turn. This was important in the old builds of AfFOWnity and it gets even more important with the more aggressive plan this deck is running. During testing, I actually had a turn two win with this deck (possible but just as unlikely as the Dragon Stompy turn 2 win*)... Chrome Mox is insane acceleration. The card disadvantage isn't actually that bad - you often have enough blue combo cards to pitch one to Chrome Mox and Thoughtcast works almost like Ancestral Recall in this deck.in the moxen slot, i've think of this :
Springleaf Drum
*It went like this: I am on the draw and keep a hand of: Chrome Mox, artifact Land, blue card, Vision Charm, Dreadnought, Frogmite/Ornithopter/any cheap artifact, Cranial Plating.
I draw another artifact land and play Chrome Mox, Land, Dreadnought, Vision Charm.
On my second turn, I draw just another cheap artifact (I think it was another Chrome Mox) and play Land, Plating, the Frogmite and the last artifact from my hand. I now have 7 artifacts on the table. I equip Plating to Dreadnought and swing for 19 damage. This was enough to finish my opponent off.
I tested this for a few games, but it is impossible to squeeze Counterbalance into this deck... you're very light on mana and only able to support cards with a single blue mana in the casting cost. UU is impossible for this deck to reliably accomplish. Also, the Counterbalance engine is probably too slow for this deck.I have an question for you I was wondering if this deck could incorporate the counterbalance + sensei's top or is that just win more?
Well, you *could* do that, sure. But I don't recommend it. Disciple of the Vault is certainly a very strong card and Fling comboes well with Dreadnought (also not as good as Vision Charm and Stifle), but you'd have to take out one of the blue cards in the deck (don't really want to run less artifacts in Affinity). And the blue cards are 1. needed to reliably cast Chrome Mox for useful mana and 2. better then those two alternatives.One question I've got is whether Darksteel Citadel could be swapped for Vault of Whispers for that Disciple of the vault dork. That, or Great Furnace for Fling, which is great with 'nought when you haven't a Stifle/Charm.
I hope I was able to answer all your questions!
Sometimes you have to read between the minds.
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If you phase out a Ravager with a bunch of counters on it, does it return to play with them still on it?
I really like the look of the deck. The low blue card count is a little alarming with both Mox and Force, but if you say that it's high enough, I'll at least test it.
Putting Stifle-Naught into a deck that doesn't rely on it as the main win condition is pretty impressive. Your must counter/Swords spells are Ravager, Plating, and Dreadnaught/Stifle/Vision Charm. You also run the mana disruption of two color Thresh, with a much faster clock to back it up.
When do you board Chalice of the Void? Do you board out Charm-Naught and board in Chalice against some decks?
InfoNinjas
I've been testing this deck on MWS a bit, and I have a few thoughts.
First, and I know this has been mentioned many times already, I do feel the blue count is a little low. I'll keep testing as is though; maybe it is just due to bad luck or play mistakes that I feel that way.
Second, and I'm sure you've already considered/tested it, but how do you feel about Vial? I know you don't need the color fixing like 3c Vial Affinity but it makes one-land hands more keepable, allows for combat tricks, and gives you another way to get Dreadnought into play. I don't really think there is any space for it, but I'd figure I'd mention it anyways.
I think that's current.
info.ninja
Remember that Chrome Mox can act as a "mana" without imprinting a card. It's not like Mox Diamond.
Also, the original build ran Somber Hoverguard as a flier and a blue card. Did you test him at all? If you're finding the blue count too light, he might be okay in the Ornithopter slot. I have no idea though... I haven't played Affinity in Legacy Fling-Atog back in the day :)
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