[Deck] Affinity

[Mr. Froggy]

I tested Myr Enforcer and I haven't been too happy with it right now, but Jitte IS AWESOME. Next cards I get will definitely be Jittes.

[frogger42]

That second Opal is such a bad topdeck that I find I need a way to utilize it. I'm not a huge fan of Ravager, but I dug through my box of semi-playables and found Looter Il-Kor. That guy loots your dead Opals and lands, and suits up with a Cranial pretty swell. How about:

4 Ancient Den
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Adarkar Wastes
4 Mox Opal
4 Chrome Mox

4 Chalice of the Void
3 Cranial Plating
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
4 Thoughtcast
4 Force of Will

4 Ornithopter
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Looter il-Kor
4 Master of Etherium
2 Vault Skirge


I like the idea of Forcing to save your Chalice, that's been pretty sweet for me before. Looter's the weakest card in the deck, but I think it's better than Riddlesmith and there's about nothing else in blue that's runnable. Just trying to stir up some thoughts here, not sure if there was another thread for Force affinity.

[264505]

That second Opal is such a bad topdeck that I find I need a way to utilize it. I'm not a huge fan of Ravager, but I dug through my box of semi-playables and found Looter Il-Kor. That guy loots your dead Opals and lands, and suits up with a Cranial pretty swell. How about:

4 Ancient Den
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Adarkar Wastes
4 Mox Opal
4 Chrome Mox

4 Chalice of the Void
3 Cranial Plating
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
4 Thoughtcast
4 Force of Will

4 Ornithopter
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Looter il-Kor
4 Master of Etherium
2 Vault Skirge


I like the idea of Forcing to save your Chalice, that's been pretty sweet for me before. Looter's the weakest card in the deck, but I think it's better than Riddlesmith and there's about nothing else in blue that's runnable. Just trying to stir up some thoughts here, not sure if there was another thread for Force affinity.

I like the idea, but are you only playing Master over Champion because you can pitch it to FoW?

[frogger42]

Yeah, MoE pitches to Force and Champion obviously doesn't. Also, this version runs SFM and tends to snag a Sword with it, which pretty much gives evasion on its own (SoFI for Merf, Gob, SoLS for Batterskull decks). I used to play Champion with the swords, but it seemed redundant; that and Jitte makes quick work of the best creature in the deck. Also, Chalice @ 1 stops most removal, except for Abrupt Decay now, so the Pro:Colors on Champion is very redundant.

[DragoFireheart]

I have some super secret tech to share with you.

Highlight:
=============
Invisible Stalker
=============

Give it a try if you need a better carrier for Cranial Plating.

[Mr. Froggy]

I don't know if all those are needed, especially since Affinity needs a lot of artifacts. Do you think it's diluting the deck too much? Or has it been working out for you?

[DragoFireheart]

I don't know if all those are needed, especially since Affinity needs a lot of artifacts. Do you think it's diluting the deck too much? Or has it been working out for you?

I need to test it more TBQH, but I got the idea from these two decks:

http://www.thecouncil.es/tcdecks/bus...ide=&strict=on

If for some reason your opponent does a good job at killing your creatures, Stalker will give you some inevitability.

[Mr. Froggy]

I checked both decks out, and I'm really not impressed with them. No offense, though.

To me Cranial Plating should always be a 4-of, it's too good in Affinity. And what are the Welding Jars for exactly? I thought, "Why not run Memnite instead?"

[frogger42]

Hey Drago, I saw the Invisible Stalkers in my box, but I think the guy, like Etched Champion, stinks unless he's suited up. Looter deals with one of the problems of the deck, which is topdecking Opals and Ornithopters when you need Cranial or something with punch; I think getting the looting ability and dropping hexproof is a solid tradeoff, makes the card always good regardless of board state. He also digs deeper to find Cranials for himself, too.

I'm also kinda annoyed that I only run 3 Cranials, too, but I'm not sure how to fix that. I could drop a land I guess, but I like the high amount for this build with the Swords and SFM. Sometimes you need to hardcast a Batterskull and all. I think I prefer the second Skirge in its place to help metalcraft, but I haven't tested it a whole lot to see what the deck really needs. I'd run 4 Skirge and Cranial if I had the room... oh well.

EDIT: Also Chalice @ 1 keeps Bolts off Looter. I'd considered it like the Mother of Runes of the deck until Decay came out, and that usually hits the equip anyway.

[Mr. Froggy]

I'm thinking of cutting my Galvanic Blasts, but for what I'm not sure yet. Ideas?

[CabalTherapy]

I'm thinking of cutting my Galvanic Blasts, but for what I'm not sure yet. Ideas?

I ve played Galvanic Blasts too but switched over to Gitaxian Probe.

[a boss]

I 3-1ed a legacy daily with this

4 Thoughtcast
4 Memnite
4 Frogmite
4 Cranial Plating
4 Signal Pest
4 Ornithopter
2 Master of Etherium
4 Mox Opal
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Darksteel Citadel
3 Springleaf Drum
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Vault of Whispers
3 Arcbound Ravager
4 Etched Champion
3 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
1 Chalice of the Void
SB: 3 Spellskite
SB: 4 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 1 Faerie Macabre
SB: 3 Perish
SB: 4 cabal therapy

Round 1 ant
He plays gitaxian probe ponder off an underground sea so my plan is to make ad nauseam shitty and pray. I play ravager and he just ponders and brainstorms. I have singal pest ornithopter in play and cast ravager. I miclick sacrificing ravager to ornithoper instead of sacrificing ortithoper which puts him at 5 instead of 4. He goes off the nest turn with infernal tutor into infernal tutor into tendrils. I side out tezz, etched champion and side in cage, macabre and cabal. I turn one therapy naming dark ritual and hit 2 then I flashback off memnite and hit infernal tutor. Then I play 2 cages and start beating for 2 or 3 a turn. Several turns later he I have him in two turns and he echoing turths cage and kills me.
0-1
round 2 burn
I raced him game 1 with tezzeret. He was forced to kill tezzeret and that bought me a turn to attack back and win. I sided in spellskite. I had a turn 2 spell skite into turn 3 plating on pest. he had double goblin guide. I blocked with spellskite then he lightning bolted me and I redirected at spellskite. I attacked for the win and he played price of progress putting me at 1.
1-1
round 3 bug control
He forced plating and champion I resolved master of etherium. He brainstormed and conceded with nothing in play.
Game 2 was similar except he had counterspell and fow played a goyf and I played master of etherium, master of etherium
2-1
round 4 uw control
I have literally never been able to beat this deck. All I remember about game 1 was him playing jace and dieing next turn. Game 2 I got him to 1 and he got jitte onto clique (he terminused me twice) and I lost. Game 3 I balls to wall not playing around counterspells at all and he was at 1 life with 3 lands a fetchland. Conceded revealing supreme verdict. (he could have cast it without the fetchland)
3-1

I played almost an identical list at the local event last night. I cut the chalice for another master. The cabals in the board were mindbreak traps.
Round 1 Tes
I put him on dredge since he was testing it before hand. He also did the whole "register for a new dci card at a new store" He was play testing dredge before hand and I had never seen him before. I won the roll keeping a hand with ravager. I played darksteel pest mox and passes. He played an underground sea foil gitaxian probe and foil japanese ponder. I asked "tes?" he said maybe. I said "is it bryants list" He said "ya, exactly" letting me know he was running no mainboard tendrils and he had shattering spree and 2 abrupt decays sb. He did his ponder things over the next few turns and I was certain I was just dead on the next turn. He was at 11 and "went off", he cast infernal tutor with 5 mana floating, and then got empty the warrens making 16 goblins. On my turn I played a land frogmite and springleaf drum, he attacked me for 16. I drew played a land cast ravager cast frogmite saced all the lands the frogmite to ravager sac ravager to memnite and attacked for exactly 11 winning the game.
I sided out champion tezz for 2cages, 1 spellskite mindbreak trap and farie macabre . He mulliganed to 6 I mulliganed to 5 missing the mindbreak trap. He probed and pondered. I kept a hand with no blue mana and a master. I drew spellskite. I played memnite. He pondered finding a land. I played spellskite and he infernal tutored for abrupt decay revealing abrupt decay. I played seat of synod and cast master of etherium. He pondered. I attacked putting him at 1 and put him off the fetch. He conceded.
1-0
Round 2 rug
Game 1 I played land mox and he forced mox them he wasteland all three of my lands.
Game 2 He forced my mox and wasted me, but I had enough lands and master of etherium killed him.
game 3 he got stuck on 2 lands and I played champion next turn plating and swung. Then he lost.
2-0
round 3 rug
I played mox opal which he spell pierced then I played another and laughed at him. Then Master won.
Game 2 he didnt wasteland me and I won with etched chamions. He krosen griped some random stuff and dazed plating.
3-0

Overall the added master was worth it for sure. Mindbreak depends on if the meta had belcher or not. I played another dialy going 2-2 getting wrecked by bug control. I beat a turn 2 show and tell prgentus on the play though and game 2 I wanted therapy over mindbreak. Terapy is probably better but the local meta gets a lot of belcher and I also like it against elves and hypergensis so there is that.

[a boss]

I don't like anymore the swarm strategy cause I feel it's based on pure luck, and it's not even that fun.

If "based on pure luck" involves winning with exact damage and making strategic plays with subpar creatures then sure. Its like saying storm is based on pure luck. "oh they have no disruption looks like I win" and then you miscount slightly and die on the spot. I feel like the deck is lot more deep than people give it credit for. Playing around counterspells, wrath effects, mulliganing when you deck is half blanks half nearly instant wins- is a lot more that what I would call "pure luck". But to each his own. The ub version has consistently been the best for me. All the chalice revoker stuff is trying to make the deck do something that other decks do better. If you want to play stax play stax. The one of chalice I ran was cute but I found i just wanted more master of etheriums.

[Mr. Froggy]

I changed out my Blasts for some Enforcers, and they are starting to grow on me. 4/4s for 1-2, I like it.

Also, as much as I used to love Jitte, I'm starting to be turned off by them a bit. I have found them a bit too slow for my liking, and I might switch them out of my SB.

[Smea.gol.lum]

Have you tested Cursed Scroll ??
I haven't tested it yet, but on paper it looks really good.
It kills Delver, Deathrite Shaman etc....the majority of good creatures, it helps to overcome an opposing Goyf and Affinity decks are in topdeck mode very fast.

Sample List:
Mana:
4 Mox Opal
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Vault of Whispers
4 Seat of the Synod
3 Blinkmoth Nexus/Inkmoth Nexus

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

Non-Creature-Spells:
4 Thoughtcast
3 Tezzeret
4 Cranial Plating
4 Cursed Scroll

SB:
3 Spell Pierce
4 Cabal Therapy
1 Etched Champion
4 Tormod's Crypt
3 Perish

[Shawon]

Cursed Scroll is a decent suggestion. I'll try it out. I question its reliability to kill Delver given its susceptibility to Abrupt Decay and needing few cards in hand, but fundamentally it's a reusable source of noncombat damage that synergizes with the rest of Affinity.

I haven't posted a list in a while because I've been reinventing lists and starting over a bunch of times so if I come up with something definitive, I'll post it.

[Shawon]

(Sorry in advance for double post!)

Cursed Scroll has been proving to be quite useful! For weeks now I was thinking about how best to replace Signal Pest, and I couldn't think of a replacement that cost the same mana or less. Scroll really fills in Pest's slot as it's still a cheap artifact except it's way better as a removal and a finisher.

PSA: Relic of Progenitus needs to be in every Affinity SB. >>>> Tormod's Crypt & Grafdigger's Cage.

Mana
4 Seat
4 Vault
4 Citadel
3 Den
1 Glimmervoid
4 Opal
4 Drum

Creatures
4 Thopter
4 Skirge
4 Etched
4 Ravager
4 Frogmite
1 SFM

Everything Else
4 TC
4 Plating
3 Tezz
3 Cursed Scroll
1 Jitte

SB
4 Therapy
4 Relic
3 Canonist
3 O-Ring
1 Tezz

[Mr. Froggy]

Is it fast enough in Affinity? I used to run in a Mono-B Pox deck I had, and found it was a good finisher because of the slow nature of the deck.

[Shawon]

Like Smeagollum mentioned, Affinity decks play out their hand pretty fast, so you can activate Cursed Scroll with one card in your hand relatively quickly.

[Shawon]

Double post.

*tumbleweed rolls by* "It's quiet... too quiet..."

So, has anyone besides me actually tested Cursed Scroll? because it's goshdarnit insane. It's seriously Affinity's version of Grim Lavamancer. Anyone reading this needs to test Cursed Scroll. Props to Smeagollum for suggesting Cursed Scroll.

Aside: It seems that every page there's always someone posting their pet Affinity list, but I rarely see any posts asking for or discussing sideboard strategies against the Legacy metagame. Why is that?