I had the urge to brew up a budget modern deck the other day, and this was the result of it. Tempered Steel has always been the go-to card for budget Affinity, so I decided to give it a try!
Naturally, the deck plays very much like Affinity, frequently playing multiple aggressive creatures per turn through Springleaf Drum and the Affinity mechanic (which, ironically, Affinity as a deck hardly uses anymore). Since all of our creatures are artifacts, Tempered Steel gives our whole team a +2/+2 boost, which has the potential to quickly end games. Additionally, Cranial Plating ends up giving a massive power boost, and Dispatch becomes a strictly better Path to Exile. Ghostfire Blade can also be equipped to any of our creatures for .
Currently, the cards I'm experimenting with in this deck are Sea Gate Wreckage and Ruins of Oran-Rief. Because of how frequently this deck empties its hand for only a couple mana, Wreckage is often a free card per turn. Ruins allows us to pump up our creatures if the game starts to run longer.
I'm also on the fence about if I should splash another color. For the most part, it's between blue and red, with one giving me the likes of Thoughtcast and Ensoul Artifact, and the other providing Galvanic Blast and Whipflare. Alternatively, I could play City of Brass/Mana Confluence to get the best of both worlds.
Personally, I'm more of a standard/casual player, so if you have any tips for improvements I could make feel free to comment below! I'd be glad to get some constructive criticism.
