[Deck] Affinity

[Zappa]

Hey GameGeek2, nice to see you here. You know me from wizards as Ilyasviel Einzbern. I haven't posted there in awhile, and even here since I have been out of the Magic scene for awhile due to Street Fighter 4. But glad to see you here, and glad to see you still playing Affinity.

Surprised by your results against AnT, though one of the posters named Furt also had some sucess against those. Though I wonder how familiar they are with the deck. But anyways, are there no room for sideboarding in Chalice of the Void? I've been keeping it in my sideboard and never really had any complaints about it.

I'm still pretty satisfied with the configuration of:

3 Krosan Grip
4 [Cards for your meta]
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Pithing Needle

But then again, I've been out of the magic scene for awhile. Oh and which combinations of Thresh do you normally see anyways?

[1maarten1]

Hey, i'm playing the deck for a while now on mws and goldfishing and its going pretty well. Only the sideboard im having troubles with. I never know what to board out . Could someone give sideboardoptions on what to board out and in against some decks??

~Maarten

[Elfrago]

Hey maarten, I ha d the same problem and I asked the same question.
Here is the answer:

@ Elfrago



I look at choosing what to side out as this question:

"what are the least important cards in the main against my opponent?"

(I know, I'm stating the obvious.)

The primer shows a decent structure of how I value each card (I tried to show the most valuable at the top, descending to the least valuable). Perhaps I should say that more explicitly in the primer. The generic answer is at the bottom of that list. Ornithopter, Myr Enforcer, Workers, and sometimes Frogmites are the cards I side out. It depends on the match and how many cards I need to side in. Examples:

If I'm playing against certain control decks, Ornithopters flying is less valuable, and so I'm often inclined to remove them for gamebreakers like Krosan Grip.

If I'm facing Deed, then I never take out Myr Enforcers.

I have dropped 1-2 MoE against copious amounts of mana denial, but I'm not convinced that is the correct play. If I had a 4th Vial in the main, I certainly wouldn't do this.

If I'm only siding Pithing Needles, it often substitutes for the Workers.




peace,
4eak

[gamegeek2]

I generally board out Thopters - I find they're the weakest card in the deck, and the most reliant on specific other cards to be effective. For my four-ofs, I take out my 3 Thopters and an Enforcer, and for my 3-ofs I just board out Thopters.

I just find Enforcer so effective - he's extremely efficient as a 1 or 2 mana 4/4, which is plenty good enough to get the job done.

Thresh has fallen out of favor at my local tourney since the GP, NLU seems to have taken its place. I did an extensive amount of testing and put relics back in the board because they're not nearly as effective at neutering their creature base (though they are still good, and I board in 2 Relics usually for Thopters, unless they're playing Predators). Enforcer also sneaks around Counterbalance as a 4/4 beater very nicely.

The thing is, this deck can fairly easily dodge CounterTop due to its wide range of casting costs, as well as the ever-amazing Aether Vial. Counterbalance is almost dead, I would just side it out if I were the NLU player.

[Kanti]

I am playing the fairly standard first page list, same sb and all, and its been working fairly well. In a meta dominated by cb and discard it is easy to puke out my hand t2-t3 and make haste from there.

What I would like to know if how you sb for the matchups, since it seems we have a lot of cards that can do good. Against normal thresh, do you sb in gy hate and hope to make their creatures useless/make their clock slow as hell as you try to aggro-out, do you side in Krosans too? Do you side in the Needles to deal with SDT? If so, what do you side out to keep a good clock?

Affinity,like most highly-synergestic decks, is hard to sb with.

[gamegeek2]

Change from my previous list for the next tournament

SB
-4 Engineered Plague
+4 Chalice of the Void

[gamegeek2]

Apoplogies for the double post, but Affinity has had some nice finishes as of late. We might make DTW this time around.

[BattlefieldMedic]

Apoplogies for the double post, but Affinity has had some nice finishes as of late. We might make DTW this time around.

Pardon my noobiness but where does one look to find Affinity results?

[Barsoom]

Pardon my noobiness but where does one look to find Affinity results?

http://www.deckcheck.net/

[BattlefieldMedic]

http://www.deckcheck.net/

Thanks.

It seems strange that all of the decks that most of the decks that make top 8 have red or white as the third color as opposed to green. Any reason for this?

The trend seems to be that they're all from foreign countries.. is UBg affinity an American version or something?

[Iranon]

Are 4 Ravagers really enough to make the Disciple pull its weight? Personally, I'd also want at least one Atog along the Ravagers.

Am I the only one who feels like this? Or is it simply preferable to have a slightly inferior main deck for a better sideboard (Tree of Tales -> Great Furnace would mean no Krosan Grips...).

[gamegeek2]

Disciple pulls its weight not only because of Ravager, but also because of board sweepers/removal and Vial tricks.

I'm also thinking about sideboarding Chokes. Seems like a nice card against blue decks, which are rampant right now.

[Pltnmngl]

Choke sounds interesting...Tell me how that works out for you.

I personally don't think we will get DTW status unless Zendikar gives us something interesting.

[4eak]

@ Pltnmngl

I personally don't think we will get DTW status unless Zendikar gives us something interesting.

You are probably right, DTW seems unlikely.

Although, remember that the DTB forum is about making a valid gauntlet and anticipating a metagame. It isn't about "which deck is scientifically the best" (even though I'd be willing to argue it often houses those decks).

The largest factor to a deck getting DTW status is just the number of people actually playing the deck, especially skilled players with good builds. The Affinity archetype is often short on both of accounts. I think most Established decks could easily make DTW status if played by decent pilots in decent numbers.

Most (if not all) decks are strongest when they aren't anticipated (anticipated like the DTW/DTB), and Affinity is a prime example (given the hate it could face). I wouldn't want others playing Affinity if I was playing Affinity. The less my opponent can anticipate me as an Affinity pilot, the better.

Also, I can't think of a card WoTC would give Affinity. Although, I was pretty surprised by MoE.




peace,
4eak

[Elfrago]

I've played the deck for a while in small local tournaments, when I didn't play it I lended it to a couple of friends of mine. All three of us had the same conclusion: the deck performs good.
But I don't think that DTW will come, especially with the printing of Quasali Pridemage that could be a real pain in the ass if widely played.

[Pltnmngl]

So...how much do we suck now? (So much for DTW status... )

Is it bad that I'm praying for good artifacts in Zendikar? (Metallic Dreams, please?)

PS- Perhaps the original post should be modified when the rule changes go through...

[Elfrago]

I haven't tested the deck with the new rules but... I don't think it really loses that much. Ravager is still a fine beater, still able to eat things that where about to die due to removal and still able of eathing creatures that where about to die in combat (sadly without being able of damage on stack things).
And now Quasali pridemage can't be used to 2-for-1 shenigans.

If all else fails, just replace ravager with Tarmogoyf =)

[Pltnmngl]

So...should I just let go of Engineered Plauge altogether? It seems we don't have anything that compliments it anyway...

[NERER0CKET]

Plague naming Lurgoyf is pretty much the tech
It really depends on your meta, it can "help" slow down alot of good decks.

[GreenOne]

Since against tribal decks the match tends to go long, with both sides having a good number of creatures in play, Do or Die might be an option.