Affinity and the state of Modern: Advice Wanted
Modern forum
Posted on June 3, 2017, 12:24 p.m. by InnerFlame
I recently took about a year and a half off of Magic after playing hard for about two, so I know a decent amount of what modern is all about. For the deck I'd be returning with, I wanted to choose one that had consistently been a deck for years, posting good results, and not really going anywhere in the foreseeable future from the Top 8. On top of that, I didn't want to play burn or bogles as I had already played with those a lot previous to my leave. I narrowed it down to Affinity, Tron, and UWx. Seeing how my play style is very aggressive and I always wanted to play Affinity, I choose Affinity.
I played around with it a ton online against others lately and found out, as many of you know, modern has changed a bit in the past year and a half. Now that I have the deck assembled and I'm getting ready to take it to a modern tournament, I'm looking for advice on how to pilot the deck. I'm using a typical Affinity list and like it so this isn't a question of decklist and help. Instead, this post is about how to play Affinity against some of the new meta. As well as typical piloting tips for the deck. Again, I've played with it a bit now and I've read up and watched a lot on the deck as well so I know the obvious piloting advice such as watch your triggers, play opal before you play a ornithopter, and the nexus can activate itself. However there's still some kinks in trying to work out and some I know I don't even know about. So I ask:
When should I mulligan and when should I keep?Do I actually worry about Stony Silence or not?With the endless possibilities of how to kill, how do you decide which way?How aggressive are you with the Arcbound Ravager sacings?What should I be worried about in the new meta as there seems like a good amount?Any other tricks to the deck and meta you think I should know?
InnerFlame says... #3
Yeah and Darksteel Citadel which is huge, PickleNutz. I just know when I was reading everybody always said to not side in Wear / Tear against it. I don't see why not.
June 3, 2017 2:51 p.m.
PickleNutz says... #4
Most people try to just rely on Stoic Rebuttal to prevent Artifact locks from ever reaching the battlefield, but if you go up against a hard artifact control deck with Stony Silence, Kataki, War's Wage, Hurkyl's Recall, and removal (Like Path to Exile), you're probably screwed.
June 3, 2017 4:42 p.m.
Stony Silence is just an occupational hazard. You're playing a linear deck, you'll lose to hate sometimes. Comes with the territory.
I'd say the main thing you have to think about as Affinity is how fast your development can be. A lot of decks can beat Affinity if you give them time, so you should keep a hand that puts on a quick clock. This means that your payoff card (be it Arcbound Ravager, Cranial Plating, Etched Champion, Master of Etherium, Signal Pest if you have 3+ creatures,Steel Overseer) has to be in hand. Don't keep hands that develop quickly but have no punch behind them - that's how you lose.
That said, if you're facing a grindy deck, it's a somewhat different philosophy - they're not going to let you kill them quickly, so you have to be thinking more in terms of resilience. Can your hand bounce back from the first couple of removal spells? How about a sweeper? Manlands, Arcbound Ravager, and Etched Champion are big here.
Lastly, be aware of your payoff cards' weaknesses. For example, Etched Champion is awesome against Death's Shadow, but useless against Eldrazi Tron. Try to keep a hand that has as much game against the field as possible when you don't know what your opponent is up to.
Also, no one plays Stoic Rebuttal, that's a terrible card (the makes it very difficult for Affinity to cast). Try Spell Pierce, Stubborn Denial, or Thoughtseize.
June 3, 2017 4:42 p.m. Edited.
PickleNutz says... #6
rothgar13 is right, completely. If you come across hate specific decks, you're probably screwed. It happens, but you still have a chance. There's a reason that Affinity is routinely successful, and it's speed. If you have the right hand, even hate decks can be beaten.
June 3, 2017 4:47 p.m.
PickleNutz says... #7
Stoic Rebuttal is kind of junk in my opinion too, but it's what I have played against more often than not when an opponent has had an Affinity deck. I prefer Mana Leak, Spell Pierce, and either Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek myself.
June 3, 2017 4:51 p.m.
InnerFlame says... #8
Yeah I would have to say no to the Stoic Rebuttal. That dual blue mana is rough for Affinity. I am a huge Spell Pierce fan and also pack Thoughtseize.
June 3, 2017 10:42 p.m.
Harashiohorn says... #10
When mulliganing the key question is "how does this hand kill the opponent". If you don't have a clear path to victory you generally want to mulligan. It's worth noting that you're a deck that generally needs a certain critical mass of cards though, so don't mulligan down to 5 cards for the "perfect" hand every game, you're not playing say Ad-Nauseum,and can't win with two cards.
For Stony Silence, you should already have some artifact/enchantment hate in the sideboard, so at least bring that in so you have some kind of an out to a turn 2 silence, some people will mulligan down to a terrible hand to get the silence, so if you can deal with the occasional Stony Silence, that will give you some free wins. Beyond some stock answers, pay attention to how much an opponent is sideboarding, and how heavily white is in their deck. A deck like Mardu shadow will have a max of 2 Stony Silences out of the board, while Boros Nahiri might bring in 4 as it's pretty much only way not to lose to you, in which case more answers and more proactive answers can be a good idea. En-Masse, in terms of sideboard slots, enchantment removal is better than counter magic against hate permanents, because they don't have to be in your hand when the opponent is casting the problem permanent, but countermagic is more flexible so typically run a split in the sideboard, but you don't always need to bring in the countermagic, as it can create dead draws and/or slow you down, which makes it not worth it of your opponent is only bringing in like 1 Stony Silence.
For Arcbound Ravager, people have mainboard k-commands nowadays,in addition to the usual bolts, and the new Fatal Push, so unless the win is in sight or the,opponent is playing an uninteracive deck, preserve your capacity to go wide (and your Master of Etherium and Cranial Plating utility) by being more conservative with your ravagers.
Other tips/tricks: Dispatch kills Death's Shadow and everything in Eldrwzi, if there is an overabundance of those haunting you. Dedicate 2-4 slots for graveyard hate, preferably 4. You WILL need this against large swaths of the meta (and hard g-yard removal like Tormod's Crypt, or RiP, is good against Deaths Shadow decks). And finally, Etched Champion blocks shadow without dying, and is unblockable against decks like shadow. This can be key to winning that matches, especially post board.
PickleNutz says... #2
Stony Silence shuts down Arcbound Ravager, Steel Overseer, the equip for your Cranial Plating, Mox Opal, and so on. So yeah, it can effectively shut down an affinity deck.
June 3, 2017 12:40 p.m.