Thank you, it was hard work until the list looked remotely like it looks now :)Originally Posted by Greenpoe
Cutting a Drum seemes like the most logical conclusion - I wanted a reliable mana source and I'm considering to increase the Ornithopter count to 4 for 1 less Memnite, too - a flying Plating carrier oftens wins games by himself.
Also, Drum is kinda clunky - it's like a Rampant Growth. And playing a 17th land doesn't seem too bad... Not to mention that the Nexus doesn't really lower the artifact count too much.
About the other artifact lands, I dunno. It's nice that Meltdown, Pulverize and Pernicious Deed aren't a one-sided Obliterate. The drawback is hardly notable and them not being artifacts hasn't been too relevant - you don't care whether a creature with Plating deals 8 or 9 damage, racing decks has never been an issue. The important thing is surviving their disruption, sticking your bombs and then smashing face.
It's more like The Rock than classic Affinity.
This looks like a job for me.
Most of my posts will be written from my phone, so please excuse the eventual lack of proper typing.
The mana base seems correct to me, but I think I'll run -2 Citadels and 2 Ancient Den since I'll include 4x Ethersworn Canonist and some Dispatch in mi SB.
I'll also cut the 4th Opal, cut the 4th Tidehollow and add the 3rd and 4th Etched like you said. The 4th Opal could be sacrificed to Ravager if I had 2 in hand anyway.
I don't like Tezzeret angent of Bolas in the deck, I prefer beating my oponent with a infinetely large Master of Etherium or a random guy wearing a plating :D
And about Signal Pest, I'll test it along all the changes in the deck, but what do you see in that card? I mean, it's only a 0/1 with "flying" evasion for, it's not that great... I think. Anyway I'll test it.
Thanks for all your help, I'll make a post when I've tested enough the "new" deck.
And if anyone has any idea to include in my list, please let me know!
Again thanks for the help :)
PD. This deck's name is not "Vial affinity" anymore, is it? I mean, the primer of this threat is not actualized, since everybody is running mox opal instead aether vial.
The Darksteel Citadel is there in case you run into some wastelands, but if you're comfortable with the mana base already, then stick to what you're used to.The mana base seems correct to me, but I think I'll run -2 Citadels and 2 Ancient Den since I'll include 4x Ethersworn Canonist and some Dispatch in mi SB.
I'll also cut the 4th Opal, cut the 4th Tidehollow and add the 3rd and 4th Etched like you said. The 4th Opal could be sacrificed to Ravager if I had 2 in hand anyway.
I don't like Tezzeret angent of Bolas in the deck, I prefer beating my oponent with a infinetely large Master of Etherium or a random guy wearing a plating :D
And about Signal Pest, I'll test it along all the changes in the deck, but what do you see in that card? I mean, it's only a 0/1 with "flying" evasion for
Thanks for all your help, I'll make a post when I've tested enough the "new" deck.
And if anyone has any idea to include in my list, please let me know!
Again thanks for the help :)
PD. This deck's name is not "Vial affinity" anymore, is it? I mean, the primer of this threat is not actualized, since everybody is running mox opal instead aether vial.
Pests are awesome because they can carry platings and allow your 0cc drops to deal some damage. The battlecry helps deal those few points of damage that you need.
The problem with the 4 opals is if you don't have ravager, then it is a dead card in your hand. Tezz is basically a "win button" once he sticks for 2 turns. If you feel you don't like him and want to go into a more disruptive route, cabal therapy is an option to shred key cards or stall your opponents. You could also play dispatches in the main deck if aggro decks are prevalent in your meta.
My list:
Creatures(25):
3 Etched Champion
4 Frogmite
4 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Signal Pest
3 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Vault Skirge
Spells(4):
4 Thoughtcast
Other artifacts(11):
1 Batterskull
4 Cranial Plating
3 Mox Opal
3 Springleaf Drum
Lands(16):
4 Ancient Den
4 Vault of Whispers
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
Planeswalkers(4):
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
Sideboard:
4 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Dispatch
4 Mental Misstep
3 Dismember
IMO, Frogmites don't need to be there and 4 Tezz is too much. You could try Master of Etheriums in place of the Frogmites. Also, no Glimmervoids for more color fixing?
The SB looks a little iffy, why would you run Dismembers when you already run 4 Dispatches? And why Missteps? Could you elaborate on your card choices?
SFM looks ok in the deck, having 7 Virtual platings and fetching the batterskull if needed.
You are probably right about the Frogmites and maybe 4 Tezz is a little too much. So i was wondering about replacing the 4 Frogmites with 4 MoE, and the Tezz with 1 Vault Skirge.
About the sideboard, the mental missteps are a great counter to swords and other removals. I just think its a great card to have there. If you have better ideas, instead of having them, please tell me. The Dismembers a probably a bit overkill since I already have got the 4 Dispatches.
I took 4eak's latest list, tweaked a slot or two and the sideboard and ran it in my last two weekly legacy tournaments, going 6-4 overall. The sideboarding I'll try to remember as best I can.
9/15/11:
4 Memnite
3 Signal Pest
2 Ornithopter
4 Frogmite
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Master of Etherium
4 Etched Champion
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
4 Thoughtcast
4 Cranial Plating
4 Mox Opal
3 Springleaf Drum
4 City of Brass
4 Vault of Whispers
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Darksteel Citadel
//Sideboard
3 Seal of Cleansing
3 Phyrexian Revoker
3 Disciple of the Vault
4 Tormod's Crypt
2 Phyrexian Metamorph
R1: Rock/Junk 2-0
Nothing special happened G1, I just blow him out.
SB: +3 Disciple -3 (Can't remember but probably shaving off a Tezz/MoE/Thoughtcast/Champion/Pest)
I get Ravager/Disciple out T3 and he scoops. I find out he boarded in 2 deeds, some grips and a Jitte.
R2: Aggro Loam 2-0
G1 I mull to 5. Frogmite + 4 land. He kept a shaky double wasteland hand hoping to screw me. Doesn't work. I proceed to topdeck enough land to cast the MoE/Tezz I topdeck back to back.
SB: Same as R1
I put on a clock and he can't get double mountain in time to wish for Pulverize. Bullet dodged. I find out after the game he left Chalice of the Void in, which surprised me.
R3: U/w Stoneblade 2-1
G1 I just chain-bomb until stuff starts to resolve and I kill him.
SB: +3 Seal of Cleansing, -2 Memnite -1 MoE/Frogmite
G2 takes like 20 minutes and ends up with him having an 8/8 Lifelink + Vigilance'd Revoker on Ravager that can tap to destroy target equipment. Seems good. Also fuck you, Seal of Can't Kill Batterskull When They Have 3 Mana Open.
G3 he mulls to 4 or 5 and I run him down T4.
R4: Patriot (U/w/r Stoneblade) 0-2
God damn, Stoneblade is OP when I mulligan to 4. I can't even play land or anything! They should, like, ban Mental Misstep or something.
SB: same as R3
G2 I'm always one second away from stabilizing with a Tezz (drew all 4 this game, non lethal ulted once out of desperation), but never get there. Again Revoker/Mutavault equipped is the end of me.
R5: Goblins 1-2
G1 he drops lackey T1, he cycles Gempalm Incinerator on my lone Memnite I played and I die to goblins shortly after.
Sideboard: +3 Revoker +3 Disciple -2 MoE -3 Pest -1 Tezz
G2 he tries his best to keep my board clear with Ancient Grudges, but I get 2 champs + Citadel and stall long enough to hit him twice with a Plating equipped champ.
G3 I have memnite, MoE and champ against his billion goblins+ Goblin Warchief/Piledriver, with him at 4, and me at 14 or 16. He casts a matron for a Stingscourger, bounces my memnite, and hits me with two infinity/2 Piledrivers. Damn you Affinity, losing to Pro: Colors!
3-2, 7-5 in games
9/22/11:
Same maindeck.
//Sideboard
2 Krosan Grip
3 Phyrexian Revoker
3 Disciple of the Vault
3 Tormod's Crypt
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Phyrexian Metamorph
R1: Burn 2-0
He gets land flooded and I get him T4 I think.
SB: +1 Stoneforge Mystic +1 Jitte +3 Disciple -1 Champion -3 Pest -1 Tezz
G2 he banked on Price of Progress, while I had the 1 land + Opal + Drum hand. He burns my Plating'd stuff before I drop second land + MoE, equip it and eventually kill him.
R2: Zoo Nope-2
Before game one he tells me he has 3 Ancient Grudge in his board plus 3 Kataki, War's Wage he put in last minute since he saw people testing Painter + MUD. Crap. Should have found that out.
G1 I mull to 6 and he kills me with cats and Stormblood Berserker, which is surprisingly decent.
SB: Same as R1 except -1 Thoughtcast instead of Champion
G2 summary:
R3: Manaless Dredge 2-0
G1 he mulls to 6 and I get MoE t2 + more stuff later and he can't keep up.
SB: +3 Crypt +1 Stoneforge +1 Jitte -2 Memnite -2 MoE -1 Tezz
I start with a crypt and stuff and blow it right away on his first dredger he discards(he told me it was a misplay and I agree, I was a bit hasty). I had a t3 or 4 kill.
R4: Rebirth/NO combo 2-1
G1 I T3 him after I topdeck a plating on t2.
SB: +2 Metamorph +3 Crypt -1 Champ -1 Tezz -2 Pest -1 memnite/thopter
G2 he does his thing, I read all of the important cards so I actually know how to combat this somewhat if I have a Crypt.
G3 he makes a slight misplay that lets me hit him for lethal before he could try to draw to his one outer allowing him to chain a bunch of Slaughter Pacts together to kill me. The out was on the top of his deck.
R5: Welder MUD 0-2
G1 I have no outs for his Platinum Angel.
SB: +2 Grip +3 Revoker +1 Stoneforge +1 Jitte -4 Champion -1 Tezz -1 Memnite -1 MoE
G2 we play draw-go for 20 turns until he gets Staff of Domination + Metalworker infinite on me.
3-2, 6-5 in games
The MD is sweet. I think I might swap Cities for Glimmervoids. With Citadel and Champions I don't know how much the no artifact clause is gonna come up. I might try 4 Vault Skirge/Ornithopter instead of Pest/Memnite since they do better with a plating/Tezz buff.
Except for the Patriot match where I had 3 stuck in my hand for a while G2, Tezz hasn't been very hard to cast.
I have been convinced by Krosan Grip. I kind of want a 3rd but I don't know what to cut out of the SB. I don't feel like going totally cold against aggro or NO.
I think I'm gonna try out Chalice Affinity again after MM gets banned. I did decent with it a while back. Revoker/Chalice MD with tombs was a beating to a lot of decks.
I think adding in Chalices sounds great. Just go -3 Pest, -1 Tezz, -1 Ravager for +2 Ornithopter and +3 Chalice, and maybe switch some City of Brass for Ancient Tombs. Lots of zero drops=easy to drop Drum and Chalice on the first turn, allowing you to play Chalice and Drum effortlessly.
Yeah, 0cc guys into drum into chalice sounds a lot better that people can't MM my drum (which they started to catch on and do), that was my plan with my old list. I've been testing this out to decent results post MM:
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Vault of Whispers
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Darksteel Citadel
1 Glimmervoid
4 Mox Opal
3 Springleaf Drum
4 Memnite
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Etched Champion
3 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Ornithopter
2 Master of Etherium
4 Cranial Plating
3 Thoughtcast
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
4 Chalice of the Void
//sideboard
4 Disciple of the Vault
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 Mindbreak Trap
2 Krosan Grip
Chalice and Revoker work off of each other great, one usually protecting the other if you get both of them online (CotV at 1 + revoker on Pridemage for Zoo, LED/Petal for storm, etc). Revoker MD punishes decks that try to keep shaky vial hands, as well as just being a general boss you can power out t1 a fair amount of the time. If you don't draw them, you're still basically Affinity that has more ways to pump out t2 Champ or Plating + equip.
Disciple for Chalices after board is a fantastic change-up and one of the main things that allured me to this list along with the Revoker/CotV package.
Casting Tezz is slightly more shaky in this list, but I'm not convinced I have to start cutting any yet. I haven't totally worked out the numbers yet. 4th Tezz maybe should be the 4th Thoughtcast since it's easier to cast. I dunno. I haven't missed Frogmite much in this list because of the tombs powering things out faster.
The sideboard is a work in progress, as well. The grips may have to go since I only have 8 green sources.
I'm gonna test this a bit more and see how it works out.
The Chalices look interesting, I think I have to test them instead of the Cabal Therapies I've been busting out lately... I'm just concerned that playing Ancient Tomb might hurt my ability to play Dark Confidant =/
Losing MMS kinda hurts my list.
This looks like a job for me.
Most of my posts will be written from my phone, so please excuse the eventual lack of proper typing.
Hi I'm new to the forum, to the deck, and to the format (although not new to magic, just never had a reason to play legacy before). The reason I'm picking it up now is that I just realized that I'm going to be in amsterdam when the legacy grand prix is going on and I would hate to miss such an opportunity. Affinity has always been a deck thats attracted me, and the fact that I don't have to unload hundreds of dollars is definitely a bonus.
While I don't know much about the format, I want to tune my deck to have a good matchup against TES decks seeing as how mental misstep just got banned, combined with the showing at the SCG open this past weekend, and the plain fact that storm is popular in the area. Heres my current list
4 Ancient Den
4 Seat of Synod
4 Vault of Whispers
3 Glimmervoid
4 Ornithropter
4 Memnite
4 Signal Pest
4 Vault Skirge
4 Arcbound Ravager
3 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Etched Champion
4 Cranial Plating
3 Mox Opal
3 Springleaf Drum
3 Dispatch
2 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
4 Thoughtcast
Sideboard:
4 Retribution of the Meek
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Annul
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Tormod's Crypt
As you can see, the Ethersworn Canonist is md to help against TES while hurting a number of other decks like elves and charbelcher. I'm not sure if my manabase is best yet, and I'm also stuck between master of etherium and etched champion.
I really am excited about the retribution of the meek in the sideboard. Not only can it take out reanimation, natural order, and show and tell targets, but it also can be a one sided wrath is the opponent is packing goyfs, tombstalkers, or knight of the reliquary.
I was hoping I could get some advice on how the deck is placed right now in the format. Often affinity's worst matchups are targeted hate in the sb, but it seems like affinity is off the radar right now so I don't see that being a huge threat. I'm not sure in general which matchupsare considered good/bad,and whether my build weakens any of those matchups at the price of helping vs combo.
IMO, Ethersworn is not necessary on MD, since usually you'll want it vs combo decks like T.E.S. And maybe Tezzeret should be a 3x of.
Currently playing in Legacy:
Burn
Affinity
Merfolk
Hau fellow anonymous!
I played in a 20-manish tourney a week ago, got top8 and lost it to some epic draws.
Land 16
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Seat of Synod
4 Vault of Whispers
2 Blinkmoth Nexus
1 Glimmervoid
1 Ancient Den
Creature 25
4 Memnite
4 Master of Etherium
4 Frogmite
4 Vault Skirge
3 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Etched Champion
3 Myr Enforcer
Rest 19
4 Cranial Plating
4 Tezzeret, AOB
3 Springleaf Drum
3 Mox Opal
3 Thoughcast
2 Thopter Foundry
Sideboard
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Pithing Needle
3 Nihil Spellbomb
3 Annul
1 Etched Champion
1 Ethersworn Canonist
Pretty basic. 16 land, cos less or more is futile. Skirges over Pests and Thopters, cos they're whole lot better. Canonists main for high combo anticipation (60% combo/-ish meta). 4 Tezzeret, cos I was lazy and they are good enough to 4-off. Foundries make everything easy, so there's no reason to play without em. Therapies are better than Seizes imo in most cases, I considered replacing Thoughtcasts with Gitaxian Probes to ensure some good synergy, but couldnt find them in time. Could've been devastating, I'm gonna try it next time I get to play Legacy. Annuls smash almost every hate there is against this deck, so it really is obvious choice from now on in my SB. Rest is pretty simple. Afterwards I would've wanted to play Metamorphs, totally forgot them when I assembled the deck during the drive to the tournament.
Played 3-1-1
Lost first to Painter, cos I was in a coma-related-state-of-mind after few hours of driving with zero sleep and couldn't care less of sideboarding. 11 in, none in my opening seven, obvious keep, 2nd turn combo and a handshake. I intended to drop at this point to get some sleep. Somehow I managed to continue.
Won Enchantress after falling asleep game 1. He was failing pretty hard and I was way too tired to consentrate and focus on his errors. A single Herpderp attack with 11/11 Master against Solitary resulted in a hail of Judge-calls and facepalms around the guy. Too bad I had used all my mana before doing the futile attack, otherwise would've attached plating to it. Second game annuled his Stony Silence, which ofc made him silent for the rest of the game with a slight WTF showing off his face. Third was just a beatdown as he didnt draw enough drawengine to sustain Solitary.
Won Bant with a landslide, didn't even get to do anything interesting.
Crushed ANT like it was an ant. First game vomited my hand. Second game I emptied his hand with therapies despite his Duress. Almost derped as he IGG:d and didn't Cabal away his tutor, giving him a chance to play Ad Na with 11 life. Six cards later he lost.
And ID:d with Ledless Dredge, would have been a breeze though, so I could get some sleep.
Lost top8 to homebrewish Painter-Thopter-Show&Tell Emra deck that topdecked Grindstone first game, when I had lethals and he was casually thinking: "Man, I need to topdeck Grindstone." He just flipped the card and I gave him my trademark me gusta-face. Second game I start with Land, Frogmite, Memnite, Memnite, Mox Opal and Cranial Plating, leaving Master in my hand. After thinking for a second he scooped. Had some good Annul action, but I never found black mana for Cabal in third resulting to Intuition -> 3 Emracool -> Show and Tell, I had slim chances as I needed just 1 artiland to play and equip Cranial to 6/6 Master, but drew Glimmervoid, thus resulting me going to sleep for a couple of hours while the rest of my team sweeped the table of trophies.
I went 2-2 at 401 Games this afternoon with Affinity, with both of my losses to UW control variants (one UW Stoneblade, one UWR). Played with the following list
4 Memnite
4 Signal Pest
4 Vault Skirge
4 Frogmite
4 Myr Enforcer
4 Etched Champion
4 Master of Etherium
4 Cranial Plating
3 Mox Opal
4 Springleaf Drum
3 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
4 Thoughtcast
4 Vault of Whispers
4 Seat of the Synod
3 Ancient Den
4 Darksteel Citadel
What could I bring in from the sideboard to beat UWx control?
9th at latest SCG by Owen Turtenwald
9th at latest SCG by Owen Turtenwald
Maindeck:
Artifacts
4 Cranial Plating
4 Springleaf Drum
Artifact Creatures
4 Etched Champion
4 Frogmite
4 Master of Etherium
4 Memnite
3 Myr Enforcer
4 Ornithopter
4 Signal Pest
Artifact Lands
4 Darksteel Citadel
Legendary Artifacts
4 Mox Opal
Planeswalkers
2 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
Sorceries
4 Thoughtcast
Artifact Lands
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Vault of Whispers
Lands
2 Ancient Tomb
1 Underground Sea
Sideboard:
4 Relic of Progenitus
1 Tormod's Crypt
2 Spellskite
2 Dismember
3 Mindbreak Trap
1 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
2 Perish
Seems like an "all-in drop all my hand by turn 2" plan. Frogmite looks very underwhelming, but this seems like the deck it would work best. You just drop all of your small dudes and hope to stick a big bomb, and then hope it's enough. I wonder if Myr Enforcer is better than Somber Hoverguard, with 4 Mox and 4 Springleaf Drum you're probably gonna have U + 5 affinity by turn 2/3.
Was thinking of cutting all one drops from the deck and going with a slower more control approach with chalice and ancient tombs with maybe thopter and tezz or sfm. Will be testing over break with the deck and come up with a list. Tired of always playing Bant or Rug decks haha. Also I would never cut frogmite it is way to strong and sticks on turn one for beats
Troubles with Zoo
In theory Affinity should be much stronger than Zoo. Zoo runs about 12 removal spells with DD. Plus they run Lavamancers. There really are no creatures in Affinity that are large enough to dodge bolts. With the exception of Myr Enforcer. Most of the creatures if not all but Enforcer, are not even big enough to out run Lavamancer.
There is not a deck in the format, that Affinity cannot beat game one. Game two is a different story, sideboard against Affinity is horrible, but the deck can get around it.
The only exception is Zoo.
The matches and games are close. Zoo has the finishing power and disruption that Affinity cannot afford.
The deck is almost like Combo.
I have been thinking of running Spell Snare. Tarmagoyf, Snapcaster, Stoneforge, Ancient Grudge, Lightning Helix, Price of Progress, Mana Leak, Pridemage, even Sylvan Library.
The best bang since the big one!
This just finished 2nd at the SCG Open in Richmond (got crushed in the finals vs Mono-Red), going 5-0-2 (17 points). Like Glimpse of Nature, might try this one out over the Tezz-Affinity that I've been playing for ages in a couple of weeks
1 Forest
1 Plains
4 Vault Skirge
4 Glimpse of Nature
1 Arcbound Ravager
3 Cranial Plating
3 Springleaf Drum
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Signal Pest
4 Glimmervoid
1 Seat of the Synod
3 Frogmite
2 Tree of Tales
2 Ancient Den
4 Thoughtcast
4 Ornithopter
4 Glint Hawk
4 Memnite
4 Mox Opal
3 Stoneforge Mystic
Sideboard
3 Dispatch
2 Tormod's Crypt
1 Arcbound Ravager
2 Relic of Progenitus
4 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Ancient Grudge
Today I tried a lot of virtual "starting hand" testing with this deck on TC and the mana base really strugled. I have no idea how this deck did so well on SCG. However, the idea of Glimpse of Nature is really interesting and worth testing.
I posted this up in the Puresteel thread in N&D, but I figured this idea would get more discussion in here. The deck itself is somewhat similar to most of the decks being discussed in here; I mean, it's basically Affinity. Difference is, it's a mono white version, and it's equipment heavy.
Let me start off with the list first:
Puresteel Affinity
// Lands (16)
4 [UNH] Plains
4 [MR] Ancient Den
4 [DS] Darksteel Citadel
4 [DS] Blinkmoth Nexus
// Creatures (20)
4 [MR] Ornithopter
4 [NPH] Vault Skirge
4 [UL] Mother of Runes
4 [WWK] Stoneforge Mystic
4 [NPH] Puresteel Paladin
// Spells (24)
4 [MBS] Flayer Husk
1 [NPH] Batterskull
1 [M12] Swiftfoot Boots
1 [BOK] Umezawa's Jitte
1 [DS] Sword of Fire and Ice
1 [MBS] Sword of Feast and Famine
4 [FD] Cranial Plating
4 [FD] Paradise Mantle
3 [SOM] Mox Opal
4 [NPH] Dispatch
// Sideboard (15)
SB: 2 [M12] Swiftfoot Boots
SB: 1 [SOK] Manriki-Gusari
SB: 4 [ALA] Ethersworn Canonist
SB: 2 [MBS] Phyrexian Revoker
SB: 2 [TE] Disenchant
SB: 4 [DKA] Grafdigger's Cage
So basically, the deck is built around Puresteel Paladin, hence the name. Puresteel Paladin, for this deck, is like Dark Confidant on crack. While he may not necessarily draw a card every turn, the deck can often chain draw from equipments, especially with multiple Puresteels on the board. However, his ability to reduce equipment costs to 0 is also insane for this deck.
Both Stoneforge Mystic and Puresteel Paladin give the deck plenty of card advantage, and the buttload of equipment make even a lonely Ornithopter into a serious threat. The deck gets plenty of fast Affinity-style starts with cheap guys, Paradise Mantle, and Mox Opal, but it also has great midrange with all of the equipment.
The deck still runs Affinity goodies like Ornithopter, Vault Skirge, and Cranial Plating. However, it's also running some White Weenie goodies like Mother of Runes and Stoneforge Mystic.
Mother of Runes is fantastic, giving the deck some serious resiliency against all but the heaviest of control decks.
Flayer Husk to this deck is basically Arcbound Worker to old Affinity decks; he's cheap to help build Metalcraft, the New-Age Affinity mechanic, he's a 1/1 body to attach equipment to, and he's an equipment himself. The synergy with Puresteel is great, and even after the 1/1 body is dealt with, it still sticks around as an equipment that can attach to something else. The +1/+1 bonus may not be huge, but it's actually alot more relevant than one may think when applied to a Vault Skirge. Plus, since it sticks around, it helps maintain the artifact count for Cranial Plating.
The equipment toolbox is pretty standard; Batterskull, Jitte, SoFI, SoFaF. The only one that may stick out is Swiftboots. Swiftboots is actually a really great equipment to have access to. It's nice to tutor for against removal heavy decks, and can single-handedly beat decks like 43 Lands.dec that rely on Maze of Ith.
Cranial Plating is the stone cold nuts, especially equipped to a Vault Skirge, but I don't need to tell you guys that ;) Cranial Plating attached to a flier wins me about 90% of my games.
I choose Paradise Mantle over Springleaf Drum for a few reasons. At 0 mana, it helps enable Metalcraft a little easier. Also, it's an equipment, which turns midgame topdecked Mantle's, which would otherwise be dead draws, into cantrips with a Puresteel on the board. Overall, I've been pleased with them.
Dispatch is epic. Swords to Plowshares/Path to Exile without a drawback? Sign me up!
The deck is a beating against the current metagame. Any blue-based aggro/control deck is typically favorable, any tribal aggro is typically favorable, and all but the most heaviest of control decks are typically favorable. The only real bad matchups are combo: Reanimator, Storm, etc. These are shored up somewhat by the sideboard, but they're still pretty bad matchups. Still though, combo being a bad matchup is nothing new for Affinity decks.
Well, that's all I have for now.
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