The modern way to make fatal damage hit it's controller
Modern forum
Posted on Jan. 31, 2015, 1:21 a.m. by tyforthevenom
I played modern yesterday i got to final round 0 losses, I was against ad nauseam fling/swing now I'm looking to find a way my affinity list can beat beat the 64 damage coming at me from that 1 Death's Shadow
Well it doesn't have trample for a start and youre playing a creature heavy deck. You could win with inkmoth nexus whilst throwing Signal Pest and others under the bus.
January 31, 2015 1:26 a.m.
tyforthevenom says... #4
He uses Messenger's Speed and goes into negative life total because of Phyrexian Unlife
January 31, 2015 1:28 a.m.
I can't think of any way affinity can deal with that without just winning before he goes off. Unless you splash for path or something. Ad nauseum can be a very slow deck sometimes.
January 31, 2015 1:32 a.m.
tyforthevenom says... #6
Also ChiefBell I d always have inkmoth/spellskite on the table or I'd have done as you say, this guy is resilient to non infect aggro because of unlife andAngel's Grace
January 31, 2015 1:33 a.m.
tyforthevenom says... #7
He consistently goes off turn 4-5, I was thinking maybe there's something better than Deflecting Palm in modern to send his attack back at him
January 31, 2015 1:35 a.m.
They need angels grace to combo if they don't have in life down. Therefore forcing him to use grace early COULD stop him going off.
January 31, 2015 1:35 a.m.
tyforthevenom Deflecting Palm won't work. Affinity typically only has ~12 colored sources.
Honestly, your best option is to just be faster than that, no need to try and get fancy. Side into some Master of Etherium and beat down. Even with Angel's Grace and Phyrexian Unlife Affinity is much faster. It sounds like he just nut drew you, and basically every deck in Modern is going to kill you when they do that. The key is to not get tunnel vision because of it.
January 31, 2015 1:39 a.m.
Ohthenoises says... #12
Why not side in Dispatch? Or Path to Exile?
I mean, sure, he can fling but you could also side in Spellskites and Ethersworn Canonist. Any of that should help.
Spellskite helps the most.
January 31, 2015 1:41 a.m.
tyforthevenom says... #13
Slycne this is the 15th time he's beat my affinity list I'm starting to comtemplate putting in Plague Myr into the side
January 31, 2015 1:41 a.m.
My point is simply don't give up a valuable sideboard slot trying to get some kind of cheeky silver bullet - unless the laugh is worth more to your than the 75 being well tuned. As someone mentioned, something like Ethersworn Canonist puts a large enough crimp on their combo that you should be able to finish them off.
January 31, 2015 1:52 a.m.
tyforthevenom says... #16
I run 3 thoughtseize I brought in 7 cards against him 3 thoughtseize and 4 spellskite and drew none of my 11 outs against him
January 31, 2015 2:24 a.m.
bijschjdbcd says... #17
Thats the variance of Magic, Nothing you could of done.
January 31, 2015 3:07 a.m.
tyforthevenom says... #18
I have just figured out I can adjust my hate on affinity to give me a full 15 cards to use against them and also improves my matchup vs twin (Nature's Claim
January 31, 2015 3:44 a.m.
bijschjdbcd says... #20
So was this at a FNM Level? You are basically a combo deck yourself so these matchups are very Play/Draw dependent.
January 31, 2015 4 a.m.
tyforthevenom says... #21
It was FNM but it really bothers me that I alway lose out on 1st on the last round usually coming 3-8 (depending on numbers)
January 31, 2015 4:13 a.m.
tyforthevenom says... #23
That depends on turnout and location usually 3-5
January 31, 2015 4:58 a.m.
bijschjdbcd says... #24
Im not sure, Affinity should be able to beat the deck no problem, Maybe you just got the tail end of the percentage.
January 31, 2015 6:33 a.m.
tyforthevenom says... #25
I went up against our 2 best players (though 2 of my matches were vs creature aggro decks that couldn't deal with Etched Champion or Spellskite)
January 31, 2015 6:45 a.m.
bijschjdbcd says... #26
Better players can draw poorly aswell.
What decks did you face?
January 31, 2015 6:48 a.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #28
Just because you lost one match doesn't mean you need 15 sideboard cards. Your matchup with Ad Nauseam is a case of racing, and sometimes they will outrace you.
Having access to Thoughtseize and Spell Pierce in the sideboard should be fine, and I'd strongly advise against playing four Spellskites. One or two should suffice.
January 31, 2015 9:17 a.m.
tyforthevenom says... #29
My list is almost exactly the same as the one that got top 8 in gp bng
I mistyped when I said 15 I meant 13 but even with that changing that singular sideboard slot I improve my match vs bogles and it gives me a be match vs anything using annoying enchantments where the 3 Ancient Grudge I currently run don't do that, canonist is something I need to get ahold of though
January 31, 2015 9:24 a.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #30
I'd suggest you update it to suit the format's changes. You can pretty safely play 2-3 Master of Etherium now. Assuming that you are talking about Christian Seibold's Affinity deck.
January 31, 2015 9:26 a.m.
tyforthevenom says... #31
I was running 1 master 2 overseer and lightning greaves as my "4" lords, greaves really helped against 5 colour zoo coz they couldn't deal with my overseer if they didn't have an instant which spellskite post board made sure of, but yeah might mess with the numbers there, I als have ensoul in there coz who doesn't
January 31, 2015 9:37 a.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #32
Quiet Purity still good vs twin too. Not as versatile but potentially more powerful for taking Phyrexian Unlife out than Nature's Claim. Loose the ability to hit Spellskites though...
January 31, 2015 10:48 a.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #33
I'd probably just play Wear / Tear. It's strictly better.
January 31, 2015 10:50 a.m.
I'm building a Mardu deck centered around Death's Shadow myself, and yeah, it's really hard to stand against it when all the combo pieces are put together. Besides Angel's Grace, there's Faith's Shield and Rebuff the Wicked to deal with targeted removal and protect Phyrexian Unlife from enchantment hate. So yeah, the best way to win against Shadow is either go all-out aggro and secure a win before T4, counter Phyrexian Unlife before it hits the board, or simply hope they get really unlucky with their draws. Since you run Affinity, the first one seems like the safest option.
Oh, and I don't know if the guy at your FNM does this, but I often use Spoils of the Vault to "search" for a card I don't own, effectively milling myself out and making Shadow's power and toughness skyrocket. When that happens, a single targeted draw spell (e.g. Sign in Blood) wins you the game right away. Just hope they haven't cast Silence by then.
January 31, 2015 12:37 p.m.
Whoops, didn't even notice the thread had a second page. Nor did I notice the guy is using Ad Nauseam instead of Spoils - and it's on the first post. I need glasses >_>
Yeah, Chalice of the Void is perfect. They probably have 4x Wear / Tear on the sideboard just to deal with it (I sure do), but a Chalice on T2 is, at the very least, a huge tempo loss (unless Wear / Tear is on my opening hand or my first draw, but it never is). Ugh.
January 31, 2015 12:45 p.m.
Eidolon of Rhetoric is bolt resistant and only a little more expensive than ethersworn. He is also very good against living end if you get him out before they combo off, and is a nightmare for storm decks.
January 31, 2015 1:14 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #39
Ethersworn Canonist is an artifact, though. It also still lets you cast multiple spells.
January 31, 2015 1:14 p.m.
tyforthevenom says... #40
Also if canonist is my win and I got it on the board I'm putting Lightning Greaves on it asap
January 31, 2015 1:25 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #41
You should not be playing Lightning Greaves in Affinity.
reverendvile777 says... #2
64? Unless there's something else I'm missing a swing from a Death's Shadow and flinging it will be 24 damage. And you can just block it, it doesn't have trample.
January 31, 2015 1:25 a.m.