I messed around with a mono-red build with Welder and Magus of the Moon a while ago. It was okayish. Moon in particular was able to catch a lot of people off guard, and Cranial Plating + dudes is still able to win games quickly, with Welder giving you a better long game. However, especially today, I don't really think Welder has too much of a place. Affinity is pretty near dead as is, and the only thing it really has going for it is speed and explosiveness. Welder gives you a bit of resilience, but often at the cost of speed.Originally Posted by Vacrix
What do people think about replacing thoughtcast with Dark Confidant? Bob can at least play with vial, swings in a pinch, and potentially gives more card advantage than Thoughtcast if the opponent does not deal with him.
1) Reveal Myr Enforcer/Frogmite
2) Make the sadface
Actually taking pain from Confidant is the wrong answer. The real reason that Thoughtcast is superior to Confidant in this deck is that the former give you two cards right away for one mana, while you have to wait a couple turns to net your second card with Confidant. Affinity is an explosive deck that wants to win right away.
How are you making this claim? Are you saying Zoo and Fish are playing similar strategies against the metagame, or specifically against Affinity?
Even if the second, what type of metagame are you playing in out of curiosity that would make you come to that conclusion?
The fact of the matter is that Zoo's creatures are independently superior to Fish's creatures, this gives them the ability to trade their creatures with you if they so choose, where as Fish's creatures all rely on each to become big (Fish doesn't have the luxury of trading their Lord of Atlantis with your Enforcer, because they lose not only the card but an additional 3 power and toughness from other creatures, Zoo on the other hand might be fine with trading their Wild Thoctar with your Enforcer if it shrinks your Master of Etherium and isn't taking their only threat off the board).
Have you actually tested this? Or are you just hypothesizing?
Nice. Can you post a list?I messed around with a mono-red build with Welder and Magus of the Moon a while ago. It was okayish. Moon in particular was able to catch a lot of people off guard, and Cranial Plating + dudes is still able to win games quickly, with Welder giving you a better long game. However, especially today, I don't really think Welder has too much of a place. Affinity is pretty near dead as is, and the only thing it really has going for it is speed and explosiveness. Welder gives you a bit of resilience, but often at the cost of speed.
I played in a tournament yesterday and went 3-3.
I won every single die roll, but apparently it didn't really help too much.
Here's the list I used:
// Lands
4 [DS] Darksteel Citadel
1 [5E] City of Brass
1 [MR] Glimmervoid
4 [MR] Vault of Whispers
4 [MR] Seat of the Synod
4 [MR] Tree of Tales
// Creatures
4 [MR] Disciple of the Vault
4 [DS] Arcbound Ravager
4 [MR] Myr Enforcer
4 [MR] Frogmite
4 [MR] Ornithopter
4 [DS] Arcbound Worker
3 [ALA] Master of Etherium
// Spells
4 [DS] AEther Vial
4 [FD] Cranial Plating
3 [LRW] Springleaf Drum
4 [MR] Thoughtcast
// Sideboard
SB: 3 [UL] Engineered Plague
SB: 2 [ALA] Relic of Progenitus
SB: 4 [SOK] Pithing Needle
SB: 2 [FNM] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 4 [TSP] Krosan Grip
This is all from memory, so sorry if there are some inaccuracies.
Round 1 was against Survival. 0-2
Before this tournament I had no idea what the Survival deck actually did.
Game 1 I play out some dudes and a plating and get him to 3 on turn 4, but he gets the shapeshifter-Akroma-Phage action going on the following turn and I die.
I board +4 Pithing Needle +2 Crypt +1 Relic for -4 Worker -1 Vial -2 Enforcer
Game 2 I see none of my sideboarded cards even after a mulligan. He goes Vial turn 1 then Forces my next two plays and combos off shortly thereafter.
Round 2 was against Dredge. 0-2
Game 1 I get out turn 2 Ravager but he dredges half his library the following turn. He sneaks some bridge tokens through my ravager and Woodfall Primus + therapy rapes me.
I board +2 Crypt +2 Relic +3 Plagues -4 Workers -2 Enforcers -1 Vial
I mull to 6 but see a hand with Crypt and Relic. Expecting only to see Pithing Needles, I run the Relic out first, but it gets hit with Ancient Grudge, which i was not expecting. Being land light, I'm forced to play Tormod's to get enough artifacts on the board so I can start playing Frogmites. It doesn't really matter though, as he flashes back the grudge (only card in his yard) and rips a dredger. I get EPlague on Horror but he doesn't even need the Ichorids to win. The game ends shortly thereafter.
Round 3 was against GBw Rock. 2-1
Game 1 I explode with something like land, thopter, thopter, drum, frog. The first play I see from him is Veteran Explorer, which I have to read. I ignore it and fly over with a plated Thopter turns 3 and 4. He finds only another Explorer and dies next turn.
Not knowing what to expect, I just board +4 Needles +2 Grips for -4 Workers -1 Vial -1 Enforcer.
Game 2 I mull to 6 and keep an okay-ish hand. I get turn 2 frog and he gets the explorers again. I attack into one of them and he gets a ton of land, then starts playing a bunch of Kitchen Finks. He then deeds my board and wins. I never saw any of my needles or grips.
Game 3 I manage to lead with Thopter again. He goes Forest, Explorer. I find another plating turn 3 and start bashing. He has no land drops past his first. I play Etherium and beat him for lethal.
Round 4 was against Dragon Stompy. 2-1
Before game 1 he tells me he was given this deck before the tourney and didn't even have a sideboard to go with it, so I told him I'd hold out on sideboarding to make it fair.
Game 1 I get first turn Vial. He gets first turn Trinisphere off of City + SSG. I manage to get a guy out every turn through Vial (Worker, Ravager, MoE) and slowly overwhelm him.
Game 2 he goes first turn Taurean Mauler. Uh oh. I try to play as few spells as possible and get a Ravager out turn 2. He plays a Pit Dragon and starts beating my face. I'm at 5 when I finally get a Ravager big enough to trade with the mauler. He plays another Pit Dragon and a Gathan raiders and it's onto game 3.
Game 3 I lead with Vial again. He gets turn 2 Arc Slogger but doesn't have anything else and I fly over him with Thopter + plating.
Round 5 was against Fish 1-2
For this die roll, he rolled 20, then I rolled 20, then he rolled 12, and I rolled 13. Pretty lol.
Game 1 I'm able to barf my entire hand onto the table and he dies after only Dazing one of my Ravagers, wasting a land, and playing an adept, or something.
I board +3 Plagues +4 Needles for -4 Workers -2 Enforcer -1 Vial
Game 2 my hand is something like Vial, Drum, EPlague, EPlague, Citadel, random land, Frogmite. He Spell Pierces both my turn 1 Vial and my turn 2 Drum. I then proceed to topdeck 2 Disciples and die to Jitte shenanigans a few turns later.
Game 3 I keep another hand with a Plague. I manage to play out a Frogmite turn 2 and get the Plague down turn 3, killing a Silvergill. Next turn I get out a plating and start to eat away at his life. He wastes a land or two, then manages to stabilize with a few Lords and a cursecatcher, which I stupidly trade the Frogmite for after realizing that there were in fact 2 Lords in play. I draw no more creatures the next turn and pass. His next turn he explodes in a way that made me, an affinity player, blush. Something like Silvergill, LoA, Sovereign, LoA. Reejery quickly doubled his board and I died to a swarm of 5/5s even through EPlague.
After the match he tells me that he too is an Affinity player, and he knows the importance of landing Vial/Drum, which is why he was so quick to counter them in G2.
Round 6 was against Lands. 2-1
Game 1 I manage to get a nice start through Drum + Thopter. He gets out a Maze of Ith but I keep my creature count high and a topdecked plating ends it quickly.
I board +4 Needles +2 Crypts +1 Relics -4 Workers -1 Vial -2 Enforcer
Game 2 he manages to lock me out of the game rather quickly, with double Maze of Ith AND Tabernacle, then setting up Academy Ruins + EE AND Crucible + Waste. Holy crap. He beats me down with like a 7/7 Mishra's Factory vs. my lone Citadel, Springleaf Drum, and Disciple.
Game 3 was extremely close. I mulligan, but manage to get a decent start with Thopter + Drum and Vial. I play Crypt in order to keep some pressure on him. He plays EE = 0 and blows my Thopter and Crypt up. I Needle on Maze but don't have anything to abuse it yet. He starts to crop rotate, intuition, and loam for all his pieces. I have another Needle in my hand, which I am tempted to put on either EE or Academy Ruins, but I decide to wait it out. My board is something like MoE, Needle on Maze, Drum, Vial, and a ton of land. He crop rotates for Glacial Chasm, which scares me at first, but he lets it die and EEs my board for 1. I then rip Cranial Plating, slam down the Needle on Maze, and swing for exactly lethal with MoE + plating.
Overall I guess it wasn't that bad. I didn't really prepare for the tourney so I wasn't expecting to do GREAT.
Engineered Plague sucks. Like really bad. It's only good against Goblins and maybe combo elves, neither of which I played against. I guess Chalice could go in that slot, or maybe even more graveyard hate.
Also, I kinda disliked siding the Workers out. They're such good creatures, but they're the only logical thing to take out against most decks.
Another problem I had with boarding is the fact that I would seemingly run outta creatures. I'm considering boarding out 1-2 Platings instead of Enforcers in the future, if only to have more threats.
I woulda ran the 4th MoE over an Enforcer, but I couldn't get one. I did like having 7 accelerants; a 1st turn worker or lone thopter just doesn't cut it most of the time.
I know I messed up a few times (and got really lucky), but overall it was fun, and I learned a lot.
Yes thanks for the report!
Master of Etherium is really dangerous. I have played four of them. One annoying thing in this deck is that it is sometimes too hard to find the much needed blue mana. Just can't figure out how to get some more blue resources in.
What's the consensus on Heap Doll as savage tech vs Ichorid and Reanimator?
http://magiccards.info/shm/en/253.html
Also, why do people run Blinkmoth Nexus over Factory?
More like savage narrow.
It's even decent against Loam... but against other kind of recursions it looks subpar.
1. It flies.
2. Nostalgia.
To have an evasive creature to carry the Plating.
And it can carry the +1/+1 counters from a Ravager.
Yeah, Nexus is much better than Factory when it comes to Vial Affinity.
Im thinking about playing this deck again, but im not sure if i want to play full aggro, or a more aggro/controlish list with 8 spheres and maybe ethersworn adjunctor. What do you think is a better choice for the current metagame??
And somebody has a nice list for me to start testing with? I looked over at the thread of 8-ball but that is very old and outdated so i thought i could try it out here
And what do you think about the rumours about the new sets? They are sounding like artifact sets so maybe.......?
~Maarten
So far what I have played this deck now the wins come from Ornithopter - Plating combo. Often I have hoped just to get one flying creature to finish quickly my opponent. So I have considered to add couple of Nexuses back to deck.
Ravager and Disciple of Vault have not been as effective I hoped for. I think I'll maybe do some testing without them. Hmm.. any ideas for cards to try out?
Has anyone ever tried Winter Orb in the SB against certain decks? I'm trying to fill the last 3-4 slots in my sideboard and cannot get CotV before the next tournament I'll be attending.
My current sideboard is this:
4 Krosan Grip
4 Pithing Needle
3 Tormod's Crypt
1 Relic of Progenitus
3 Engineered Plague
Since Engineered Plague sucks, I'm thinking about just straight swapping it for Winter Orbs. I'm kinda scared of lands.dec and don't really have anything else to put in these slots. Or should I just put in more GY hate cuz the orbs might be too narrow?
Or is there any other tech I should be aware of?
I just went 2-4 at a tournament Sunday. I'm blaming bad luck on some of my draws though.
I used this list.
// Lands
4 [DS] Darksteel Citadel
1 [5E] City of Brass
1 [MR] Glimmervoid
4 [MR] Vault of Whispers
4 [MR] Seat of the Synod
4 [MR] Tree of Tales
// Creatures
4 [MR] Disciple of the Vault
4 [DS] Arcbound Ravager
3 [MR] Myr Enforcer
4 [MR] Frogmite
4 [MR] Ornithopter
4 [DS] Arcbound Worker
4 [ALA] Master of Etherium
// Spells
4 [DS] AEther Vial
4 [FD] Cranial Plating
3 [LRW] Springleaf Drum
4 [MR] Thoughtcast
// Sideboard
SB: 3 [4E] Winter Orb
SB: 1 [ALA] Relic of Progenitus
SB: 4 [SOK] Pithing Needle
SB: 3 [FNM] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 4 [TSP] Krosan Grip
And a small summary of my matches:
Rd 1 vs Dragon Stompy 0-2
Game 1 he hit me for 16 with a flying pit dragon on turn 3. SB +4 Needles -3 Workers -1 Vial
Game 2 he went all in and Shattering Spree'd me for 4 on turn 3 then topdecked Volcanic Fallout and Jitte.
Rd 2 vs Zoo 0-2
I kept a one land hand that would be pretty good had I drawn a 2nd land. Something like Seat, Thopter, Frog, Worker, Plating, Ravager, Disciple. I fail to draw any land and die a slow and painful death. SB +4 Needles -1 Worker -1 Vial
Game 2 he paths and/or burns every single threat I play, including 2 MoEs, an Enforcer, and 2 Frogmites. Wow. T1 lavamancer from him is pretty good. Lategame I topdeck a Thoughtcast but it hits two lands. Irony, I guess. His Goyf owns me fast.
Rd 3 vs Reanimator 2-0
He spends most of the first game brainstorming, fetching, and entombing, but never actually gets any fat on the board. SB +3 Crypt +1 Relic -3 Workers -1 Drum
Game 2 he gets out Sphinx of the Steel Wind turn 3. I'm able to kill him the next turn before he can swing via ravager/disciple shenanigans.
Rd 4 vs Faerie Stompy 2-0
Game 1 he plays a grand total of 2 islands and a Pithing Needle. no SB
Game 2 he gets out T1 Thorn of Amethyst... which does absolutely nothing against me. I get a T3 8/8 MoE. This game also ends very quickly.
Rd 5 vs Tempo Thresh 0-2
Game 1 I put on some early pressure but he gets out a goose and a goofy as defense. I try to Thoughtcast into more threats but hit... two lands. He gets me to 8 then burns me out with bolt, bolt, fire. +3 Crypt +1 Relic -3 Workers -1 Drum
Game 2 he lands turn 3 Trygon Predator. I try to beef up an Ornithopter to block it but he Ices it and kills it. I lose my board slowly but surely for the next 5 turns.
Rd 6 vs Bant 0-2
Game 1 I keep a nice quick hand with 2 Thoughtcast for gas. Turn 3 I'm able to double Thoughtcast and hit 3 lands and an Ornithopter. Awesome. He overwhelms me a few turns later after I keep drawing lands and Disciples.
At this point I didn't care about winning, I just wanted to see if Winter Orbs would affect him, so I went -4 Workers -1 Enforcer -1 Plating -1 Drum +4 Needle +3 Winter Orb
I get T1 Needle on Pridemage T2 Orb. He gets a T1 Heirarch, which I forgot he had. It slows him down a little bit, but he's still able to get T3 War Monk vs my frog and worker. He plows two MoEs which lets me hang on for a while but it doesn't really matter. I end the game with 8 lands on the table.
It seems like so many decks have bigger creatures than we do. I almost want to sideboard some kind of removal. Maybe Smother or Doom Blade as a 3 of?
Or maybe I'm just sick of my MoEs getting plowed so quickly.
I saw that game versus the Predator. You might have been better off blocking with a thopter first, and then sacking, rather than the other way around. I mean, he would have had Fire to kill the first thopter, and you lose to bolt regardless, but you do get to modular off your worker first to beat Fire if you are also willing to ravage stuff
If you want an extra beefy dude or two, you could shave some stuff (1 vial would be first) to put in the BROOOOOOOOOOOOOOODSTAR. You do need like 7 other artifacts to make it work, though.
If you want some removal, consider Shrapnel Blast, which has a good shot at ending a lot of the format's dudes, and gives you reach to boot.
Yeah, I figuerd that if he had removal it wouldn't have mattered much anyway.
I would run Shrapnel Blast but I'm only 3 colors. I dropped red for green to run SB Krosan Grips.
I might just try 3-4 Perish in the SB. All the creatures I really have problems with are at least half green.
Hi!
I tried this one and till now it worked quite good.
I had problems with ANT and AggroLoam, but take a look to my list:
Affinity
Mainboard:
4 Ornithopter
4 Arcbound Worker
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Frogmite
4 Master of Etherium
4 Thoughtcast
4 Disciple of the Vault
4 Path to Exile
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Cranial Plating
2 Thopter Foundry
//42
Lands:
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Vault of Whispers
4 Ancient Den
1 Island
1 Swamp
//18
Sideboard:
4 Ethersworn Canonist
4 Engineered Plague
3 Pithing Needle
3 Relic of Progenitus
1 Tormod's Crypt
//15
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