[Deck] Affinity

[Shawon]

Thanks.

I used to sideboard out Memnite all the time, but it's actually pretty fast with Drum and helps me cast my sb cards faster. Believe it or not, Master of Etherium is my most sided-out card against the top decks.

EDIT: Recent changes in bold

4 Seat of the Synod
3 City of Traitors
3 Darksteel Citadel
4 Vault of Whispers
1 Underground River
4 Frogmite
4 Signal Pest
4 Ornithopter
4 Memnite
3 Vault Skirge
3 Etched Champion
2 Master of Etherium
1 Arcbound Ravager
4 Thoughtcast
4 Cranial Plating
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Mox Opal
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas

1 Etched Champion
3 Grafdigger's Cage
3 Cursed Totem
3 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Spell Pierce
2 Gilded Drake


Underground River - Darksteel Citadel is great, but I need more access to and without cutting Cities. I figure 1 Underground River is a good enough tweak without weaking Affinity for Artifacts significantly. Note I'm not using Glimmervoid because I only need access to and I don't want to lose Glimmervoid if I get hit with a Pernicious Deed. EDIT(2): Obviously, I'm not running Underground Sea because it is an Island, and Merfolk is back in the scene.

Arcbound Ravager - You might want to wait before you yell "I told you so!" I still think Ravager + Disciple isn't worth it, because Disciple requires too much setup and is too situational. Also, I only argued there are better creatures to run than Ravager, such as Etched Champion. With the exception of MoE, I believe all of my creatures are better than Ravager. However, I've been really disappointed with Master of Etherium lately. It's been screwing up my opening hands where I don't have access to and moreover it loses me a lot of tempo when it's removed by my opponent. After having some lingering thoughts for a while on the possibilty of using Ravager + Vault Skirge and seeing the synergy between the two firsthand through losing g2 and g3 to Kanti on MWS (it's a small cyberworld after all!) I think I could at least try Ravager for myself. But I'm only testing 1 and by default it's already competing with MoE for the slot of 'worst post-sb creature' in my deck so it has a lot to prove.

Etched Champion - Not much needs to be said, other than the reason I moved the 4th Champ to the sb was to make room for the 3rd MD Vault Skirge. I still need 4 Champs in my 75, so I cut the 4th Pierce for it.

[CabalTherapy]

Pretty sweet list, Shawon. In your Underground River Slot I am running one City of Brass because I am also running red for some blasts. I feel a bit defenceless without some good removals.

My current list is:

3 Master of Etherium
3 Etched Champion
3 Signal Pest
4 Ornithopter
4 Memnite
4 Frogmite
3 Vault Skirge
4 Thoughtcast
3 Galvanic Blast
3 Springleaf Drum
3 Mox Opal
4 Cranial Plating
3 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
4 Great Furnace
4 Vault of Whispers
4 Seat of the Synod
2 Darksteel Citadel
1 Blinkmoth Nexus
1 City of Brass

1 Hydroblast
1 Pyroblast
2 Disrupt
2 Perish
3 Spell Pierce
3 Diabloic Edict
3 Pithing Needle

[Justin]

Thanks.

I used to sideboard out Memnite all the time, but it's actually pretty fast with Drum and helps me cast my sb cards faster. Believe it or not, Master of Etherium is my most sided-out card against the top decks.

EDIT: Recent changes in bold

4 Seat of the Synod
3 City of Traitors
3 Darksteel Citadel
4 Vault of Whispers
1 Underground River
4 Frogmite
4 Signal Pest
4 Ornithopter
4 Memnite
3 Vault Skirge
3 Etched Champion
2 Master of Etherium
1 Arcbound Ravager
4 Thoughtcast
4 Cranial Plating
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Mox Opal
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas

1 Etched Champion
3 Grafdigger's Cage
3 Cursed Totem
3 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Spell Pierce
2 Gilded Drake


Underground River - Darksteel Citadel is great, but I need more access to and without cutting Cities. I figure 1 Underground River is a good enough tweak without weaking Affinity for Artifacts significantly. Note I'm not using Glimmervoid because I only need access to and I don't want to lose Glimmervoid if I get hit with a Pernicious Deed. EDIT(2): Obviously, I'm not running Underground Sea because it is an Island, and Merfolk is back in the scene.

Arcbound Ravager - You might want to wait before you yell "I told you so!" I still think Ravager + Disciple isn't worth it, because Disciple requires too much setup and is too situational. Also, I only argued there are better creatures to run than Ravager, such as Etched Champion. With the exception of MoE, I believe all of my creatures are better than Ravager. However, I've been really disappointed with Master of Etherium lately. It's been screwing up my opening hands where I don't have access to and moreover it loses me a lot of tempo when it's removed by my opponent. After having some lingering thoughts for a while on the possibilty of using Ravager + Vault Skirge and seeing the synergy between the two firsthand through losing g2 and g3 to Kanti on MWS (it's a small cyberworld after all!) I think I could at least try Ravager for myself. But I'm only testing 1 and by default it's already competing with MoE for the slot of 'worst post-sb creature' in my deck so it has a lot to prove.

Etched Champion - Not much needs to be said, other than the reason I moved the 4th Champ to the sb was to make room for the 3rd MD Vault Skirge. I still need 4 Champs in my 75, so I cut the 4th Pierce for it.

I'm not sure if you need four drum and four mox. I think that a 3/3 split should be sufficient to do what you need to do. But if you want to keep it at 4/4, I think that Underground River could just be a fourth Darksteel Citadel. You've got enough rainbow mana in the deck.

You should probably try to run more Master of Etherium. He can win the game quickly if the opponent has no answer for him. I'd cut that singleton Ravager for a third one.

How do you find your "Sol Lands"? I've never tested them in this deck. They would allow for more explosion, but they are non-artifact lands and colorless, so they have some weaknesses. The main reason to run them would be to power out Tezz a turn early I guess. On the other hand running some Nexus or other colored lands (to allow for a third color) also have their own advantages. Also is City really better than Ancient Tomb for this deck?

I wonder if this deck really needs Frogmite anymore. I know that sounds like blasphamy to long-time players of this deck, but a 2/2 vanilla is not too exciting even if it can be "free." Back in the days when Arcbound Worker made the cut, Frogmite was untouchable, but so many good cheap artifact creatures have been printed since then. I value the following cards more:
Memnite: because it's always free.
Ornithopter: ditto and it has evasion.
Signal Pest: A two-mana "lord" with evasion
Vault Skirge: More evasion and lifelink with sick Cranial Plating combo.

Your deck probably needs him because it's only two colors. However, in a three colored deck, I would cut Frogmite for removal (Galvanic Blast or Dispatch).

I wonder if "Affinity" is really the proper name for the deck anymore. I'd say that Thoughtcast is the only must-play card with that mechanic anymore. There are actually more good cards with the metalcraft mechanic than the affinity mechanic.

[Shawon]

I'm not sure if you need four drum and four mox. I think that a 3/3 split should be sufficient to do what you need to do. But if you want to keep it at 4/4, I think that Underground River could just be a fourth Darksteel Citadel. You've got enough rainbow mana in the deck.

You would think so, but I've had plenty of hands where I had double Darksteel in play and a Vault and couldn't cast Thoughtcast or MoE. On paper it seems like a non-issue, but it will come up noticeably if you play enough games. I need more access to without cutting too many Citadels, so 1 Citadel for 1 URiver is a bit smoother on colors.

You should probably try to run more Master of Etherium. He can win the game quickly if the opponent has no answer for him. I'd cut that singleton Ravager for a third one.

I have tried running 4, so I'm aware of its full extent. I'm testing Ravager in the 3rd MoE slot because I want to evaluate the advantage of Ravager's damage distribution and try to optimize the damage I can get with Vault Skirge and/or Etched Champion. If it's worth it, I'll keep the Ravager, but if it not, back to 3 MoE. EDIT: Note Ravager doesn't interfere with my Cursed Totem plan against Maverick/Elves because I would take out Ravager just as I would take out MoE normally.

How do you find your "Sol Lands"? I've never tested them in this deck. They would allow for more explosion, but they are non-artifact lands and colorless, so they have some weaknesses. The main reason to run them would be to power out Tezz a turn early I guess. On the other hand running some Nexus or other colored lands (to allow for a third color) also have their own advantages. Also is City really better than Ancient Tomb for this deck?

You should test them. Against blue, and you'll see how wonderful they are. They are explosive, but they help me maintain consistency in the face of Wasteland. And yes, City is better than Ancient Tomb so I don't get burned out by Lightning Bolts or Fireblasts.

I wonder if "Affinity" is really the proper name for the deck anymore. I'd say that Thoughtcast is the only must-play card with that mechanic anymore. There are actually more good cards with the metalcraft mechanic than the affinity mechanic.

That's true, but it retains its primary plan of dumping out robots on turn 1-2, which continues to be the essence of "Affinity." Also, Tezzeret Metalcraft sounds stupid: http://sales.starcitygames.com//deck...p?DeckID=48473. (SCG changed it to "Affinity," but I shit you not, it was originally labeled as "Tezzeret Metalcraft." Yuck)

[02Drop]

So, I'm brand new to this deck and probably playing it at a tournament this weekend. I normally play Goblins but promised to loan my deck to a friend when I expected that I would be working during the tournament. My plans since changed and I'm able to go, but minus a deck. I found that between he and I, we have the workings for this deck. But I know very little about the current proper build(s). Here's a very crude rough list. Any comments on it? I've only done a handful of test hands so far, but I generally find it's not bad, but Frogmite is so unexciting. Is cutting him a no-no? He's nice, generally free and another dude to feed to Ravager or pump Etherium at worst. But a 2/2 just doesn't cut it in this format if it doesn't do anything else, I feel. Also, Nexus is driving me nuts sometimes. I rarely want to animate it and it doesn't make a color. Should I move it around too?

4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Etched Champion
2 Master of Etherium
4 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Signal Pest
4 Frogmite

4 Mox Opal
3 Springleaf Drum
4 Thoughtcast
3 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
4 Cranial Plating

4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Vault of Whispers

[Johanovich]

Hi guys,

So I've had an affinity list for some time now, switching between UB and UBW affinity according to the metagame. After our last tournament we decided we wanted to try another direction with the deck. Our idea isn't unique but we thought to give it a go anyways.

The list:
3 ancient tomb
4 vault of whispers
4 great furnace
4 darksteel citadel

3 mox opal
3 springleaf drum

4 etched champion
4 arcbound ravager
4 frogmite
4 ornithopter
4 memnite
4 vault skirge
4 disciple of the vault

4 cranial plating
4 galvanic blast
3 shrapnel blast

SB (under construction):
4 cabal therapy
2 grafdigger's cage
2 relic of progenitus
2 meekstone
3 pithing needle/phyrexian revoker
2 ??

So the idea is to become more explosive with the well-known disciple + ravager set. The added burn gives the deck a mean punch with this setting. Especially the shrapnel blast + disciple can deliver an uppercut at the right time.

The loss of tezzeret and thoughtcast does hurt consistency, but I think it's worth giving it a go.

What do you guys think?

[Greenpoe]

For a pure-speed build, run the 4th Opal. It gives invaluable speed and with Ravager or Shrapnel Blast, you can play one, tap it and sac it for a +1/+1 counter, then sac the other. With Disciple but without Ravager, you can use the Legend rule to burn them for 2 per Disciple.

[Shawon]

Another reason I forgot to mention on why Sol lands are good is they help you cast your sb cards with frightening efficiency. Going turn 1 Sol land, Memnite, and Jitte is a very good play against creature decks like Goblins or Elves. EDIT: As well as turn 1 Cursed Totem against Maverick and Elves.

[slave]

Hi all,
I'm looking to make some use of some artifact cards I've got, and this thread so far has named quite a few of them. Looks like a good place to start!
I'm wondering if some of you could help me with some card choices, and explain why THIS is better than THAT?

I like the look of the 0-Cmc creature lists to achieve Metalcraft, but I'm wondering why some of you play grafdigger's cage over Tormod's Crypt in the SB?
I assumed TC would play better with metalcraft and Mox Opal.
Am I missing something?

I've been finding a lot more lists that run UB than any other colours, but not for the reasons I assumed. Thoughtcast & Tezz are the only cards I can see that people seem to routinely run with Affinity lists in U or B, and yet I was wondering why many other cards don't see much play, even in the SB.
Diabolic Edict?
What about extraction effects like Extirpate or Surgical Extraction?
Etherium Sculptor?

Ichor Wellspring is something I half expected to see in a couple decks for draw that doesn't cost any coloured mana - and works well with sac effects that ravager etc. can use, and yet I haven't seen it in any of the lists. Is 2 colouress mana too expensive for 2 cards?

I haven't seen very many decks running White - I would've thought that with an option like Dispatch & Tempered Steel, there may have been a few attempting to make that work in Legacy.
I understand Black-Tezz makes that hard with keeping the focus on metalcraft to make T2 Champion/Master easy, but I half expected to see more decks attempt it.
Or is this considered a whole different deck?

Is Inkmoth Nexus good for affinity?
It looks like a great card against sorcery-speed sweepers (like Terminus, Wrath etc) with Tezz's ability to make it a 5/5 with Infect & Flying. ...and Cranial.
But IS it a good choice?
.....I'm thinking of replacing Darksteel Citadel with it, as Wasteland doesn't see much play near me.

Time Sieve. Why not?

Lastly, just a question, are most of you topdecking by t3 or 4?
Would introducing something to disrupt your opponents' hands be worth it?
For want of a better card, something like Bottomless Pit is close to what I'm imagining as something to play against heavy control.
(SB option of course)

Thanks!

[Vinnie]

hu guys

I have build an affinity again,but with SFM.
U see that many of you dont use it.Why?

I think that a cant dislike playing 7 cranial plating,or playing 4 uncounterable plating.

3 x Stoneforge Mystic
3 x Etched Champion
4 x Vault Skirge
4 x Signal Pest
4 x Memnite
4 x Ornithopter
4 x Frogmite

4 x Cranial Plating
4 x Springleaf Drum
3 x Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
4 x Thoughtcast
3 x Mox Opal

4 x Ancient Den
4 x Seat of the Synod
4 x Darksteel Citadel
4 x Vault of Whispers

3x Phyrexian Revoker
3x Disenchant
3x spell pierce
3x duress
3x relic of the progenitus

[CabalTherapy]

I think that it doesn't make much sense, when we just throw around some lists and no one comments on them. So I will make the start here.
First of all it is difficult to speak about "one" Affinity simply because there are different ways to abuse the power of playing an aggro artifact deck: UB, UBr, UBw and maybe also UBg or pure B or whatever. Nevertheless UBr and UBw are the most common here.
I am playing red as the third colour because of personal choice and I can't claim that it is better or worse than UBw. I like the Galvanic Blasts more than using SFM for some searching. Also there are the midraged varieties and pure speed builds. So, I think that it is almost impossible to answer a question like: Is card x good or bad?
There has to be a clear context.

@slave:
- Time Sieve is not good because if you can sac. so many artifacts you can instead win.
- Dispatch is indeed a good card and it is used in most of the UBw builds.
- Bottomless Pit does not provide dmg or put the enemy under pressure. It is a bad topdeck. I would rather draw a Frogmite against control because they have to deal with it. (I assume that I am in the late game.)
- Inkmoth Nexus is a good card. I use Blinkmoth Nexus because I want to deal real dmg and in the context of Galvanic Blast it looks like the better choice.

[Vinnie]

I think that it doesn't make much sense, when we just throw around some lists and no one comments on them. So I will make the start here.
First of all it is difficult to speak about "one" Affinity simply because there are different ways to abuse the power of playing an aggro artifact deck: UB, UBr, UBw and maybe also UBg or pure B or whatever. Nevertheless UBr and UBw are the most common here.
I am playing red as the third colour because of personal choice and I can't claim that it is better or worse than UBw. I like the Galvanic Blasts more than using SFM for some searching. Also there are the midraged varieties and pure speed builds. So, I think that it is almost impossible to answer a question like: Is card x good or bad?
There has to be a clear context.

youre totally right.But I think that personal choices come with better results with Y or X card.

In your case you like most G.Blast because you want a card that can do more than 1 thing (removal and finish),or u just think SFM is too slow on the deck?

Like me,I want SFM because I play with 15 creatures with avoidance,so as fast I get my Plating,faster I can win.

About SB,revoker is enough to stops pernicious deed?I'd play duress and pierce to help ,but havent tested yet to know if this really helps me.

NVM with my english,Im not native

[Shawon]

Like me,I want SFM because I play with 15 creatures with avoidance,so as fast I get my Plating,faster I can win more.

Except SFM is not fast. It's too slow and improving consistency in finding Platings just helps you win more. It doesn't help when you are losing.

[iamfrightenedtoo]

I have actually ran Pithing Needle main deck before, and it worked awesome.

i like Needle over Revoker you can Needle a wasteland, and Maze of Ith, you cannot Revoke either. Maze beats me almost always once it sticks.

I also run 2 Stoneforge Mystics, Not real sure how often it helps, I rarely cast them, but I guess when I do, they do what they are supposed to do.

[Shawon]

I think I'm going to say that if you are running Tezzeret, you need to be running 2-4 Sol lands. Thalia is a mainstay in Maverick decks, and you can't wait forever to play two lands in two turns to pay for Spell Pierce. It's just not cool.

[CabalTherapy]

I think I'm going to say that if you are running Tezzeret, you need to be running 2-4 Sol lands. Thalia is a mainstay in Maverick decks, and you can't wait forever to play two lands in two turns to pay for Spell Pierce. It's just not cool.

I'm not running Sol lands but 3 Tezzerets. The 4 Mana are pretty easy to pay.
(I'm running 3 Mox Opal and 3 Drum.)
I believe this deck needs a update on the primer. Looking at the first page, it is kind of dated. But whatever.

[Shawon]

Getting to 4 mana is easy, as you said. But trying casting Tezz when you're facing Wasteland, Thalia, Daze and Spell Pierce in the format. It's very easy to mana screw Affinity, a lot more than people in this thread seem to realize. Cities defend you from cheap counters and they simply Time Walk you into a win. They're just too good not to run.

I wouldn't mind writing the primer, maybe with some help from fellow Sourcers.

[iamfrightenedtoo]

Sol-lands are definitely needed.
I have lost as many games because of them as I have won (mostly because I get greedy) and my sideboard against Dredge requires me to use them a lot. But they are worth the risk. Drop a second turn Tezz, and you will never run Affinity without them again. it is possible obviously to cast a second turn Agent of Bolas without Sol-lands but it just makes it easier.

I have been trying to switch to Comb from Affinity as playing this deck for close to a decade has become a little boring, but I think it is one of the best decks in the format. Especially in large Meta's such as SCG's and Grand Prix's.

I messed up my list and forgot how I was running main deck Pithing Needle, but I need to figure it out again. Pithing needle is such a powerful card in Legacy.

Maze of Ith
Wasteland
Goblin Charbelcher
Knight of the Reliquary
Aether Vial
Qasali Pridemage
Umezawa's Jitte
Sensei's Diving Top
All Planeswalkers
Krenko, Mob boss
Zuron Orb
Mirror Entity
Sneak Attack

to name the activated abilities I can think of off the top of my head.

for me the random encounter with Maze of Ith, and the almost guaranteed run in with Wasteland makes it easier to run Needle main deck.

[Shawon]

I find Maze really easy to deal with. I mean, you just need to have access to for Cranial Plating shenanigans or you can just simply outnumber your opponent. Or if you run Ravager, you can just sac redistribute power to an unblocked attacker.

[Kanti]

Maze of Ith is an extreme pain to deal with. It deals with the biggest threat we can stick to Maverick, which is to have one of our 12 evasive beaters equipped with a Plating beat face.

Even if you have BB to move around a Plating it really isn't all to relevant if they can block the new creature that is getting Plated (which they can unless it's colorless and has evasion; Thopters or Champions). If it's a ground creature they can usually trade with it, and if it's a colored creature they can block it with their Mothers. This isn't even accounting for the fact that they probably have an active KotR if they have out a Maze, which will quickly allow them to disrupt our mana, foiling our plans.

Maze is even stronger against Ravager as it acts like a pseudo-blocker, only better though as you can declare it to "block" after combat tricks. You pretty much have to KO them with Ravager if you are trying to use him to get around a Maze, as even if you move the counters to a metalcrafted Champion you aren't going to be able to attack next turn. We aren't cold to the Maze, but it is very potent in stopping our comboesque kills. It makes games drag out, and when we have to play like a midrange deck against Maverick we are on our backfeet.

Onto the subject of lists; I swapped out my MoE's for Champions and have never been more ecstatic. After a few test games it is clear just how much more powerful Champion is. He has insane synergy with the deck, comboing out with Plating and Ravager, and is pretty much just as strong as a MoE on his own. He looks deceptively weak, but it took few test games to show me how strong blanking out spot removal and getting around chump blockers was.

MoE is still strong though, so I tried swapping 4 Enforcers for them right off the bat to see how it would work out. It made my curve atrocious, obviously, so for the longest time I went for a 2/2 split but have recently went to a 3/1 split in favor of Enforcers. Though MoE's power level looks great on paper he is many times just an extremely large, yet irrelevant beater. The same can be said about Enforcers, but running more of them helps create more tempo as they come out a lot faster than MoE's, and have synergy with each other thanks to our namesake mechanic. This allows you to do things such as drop an Enforcer and equip a Plating, rather than having to choose whether to equip Plating or cast MoE. They are also amazing on post-Ravager boards which is important since Etched Champion and Vault Skirge allow you to go crazy with Ravager many games.

Maverick easily deals with MoE via running 5 Scryb Rangers and 4 Mothers. They also can make it tough to cast him via Wasteland. UW decks blow him up with Plows left and right, and though he is a bitch to deal with if he sticks they usually have just as hard as a time dealing with a resolved Enforcer. RUG is the only match-up where I would really want to have a 2/2 split as MoE blasts out Goyf, but our RUG match-up is slightly favorable already so we don't need too much help in that department. All in all I think the 3/1 split is a bit more stable. This split in my deck is still in testing though, so I'm running an Enforcer from another set to see if when I draw him I'd rather him be a Master (so far, so Enforcer).

Lands: 18
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Vault of Whispers
3 City of Brass
3 Tree of Tales

Creatures: 28
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Disciple of the Vault
4 Etched Champion
4 Frogmite
4 Ornithopter
4 Vault Skirge
3 Myr Enforcer
1 Master of Etherium

Spells: 14
4 Cranial Plating
4 Thoughtcast
3 Aether Vial
3 Mox Opal

Sideboard: 15
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Phyrexian Revoker
3 Krosan Grip
2 Faerie Macabre
2 Tormod's Crypt

I see you guys talking about making a new primer. Why? The Affinity primer is one of the best primers on the website. Though many new cards are great (I would never take Vault Skirge or Etched Champion out of my deck) the primer would only really need to be updated for that. Other cards, such as Tezz, didn't warp Affinity at all, but rather made two different types of it viable (Vial Affinity and Tezzeret Affinity).

tl;dr: Update the primer, but there is absolutely 0 reason to make a new one.