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By: Arctic_Ghost, Arctic_Ghost
May 02 2016 12:00pm
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As always, some great questions to start us off!

Question: Did you make any mistakes this week?

Answer: Oh yes I did!

 

Question: Were they embarrassing??

 

Answer: Some of them were, so I hope you enjoy them!

 

 

As always, for those who can't watch the video or a deck list would work better for you, here is the deck list for your viewing pleasure!

 

 

 

Affinity is a deck that has been around pauper for a long time. It has good burn, card draw and huge creatures that come down early and do not cost much most of the time.

 

Affinity can either win easily and very quick, or sometimes it grinds your opponent out with its 4 power creatures long enough to grab the victory. With Atog and Fling, it also contains a combo like kill that can make it so you don't even have to win an honest fight. Now that I have ranted on, let us see just how good the deck is or isn't/

 

Match 1 vs Goblins.

 

 

 

Game 1 started off well for me. My opening hand was pretty ideal, containing a 1 drop in Flayer Husk, a couple of lands and Springleaf Drum to accelerate into the big drops I had available to me while also having a Thoughtcast to refill a bit and get some more threats down on the battlefield. My opponent however also had a very good opening hand to counteract my draw almost all together. I was able to get some early big guys down and my opponent was able to get through all my 4 power guys and we were on to game 2.

 

Game 2 also went well for me, but I basically threw away a Carapace Forger in the beginning of the game for what was pretty much no good reason at all. It wouldn't have mattered in the end, but it's still pretty bad that I did it. After wrathing the board with Krark-Clan Shaman, I was able to quickly overwhelm my opponent with enough big creatures to slowly win the game.

 

Goblins can be a tossup for Affinity because of how much good removal and good artifact destruction they have available to them and also the fact that they can win the game super-fast, giving you almost no time to stabilize in the process. The second game showed the power of Krark-Clan Shaman and just how game changing the card can be and it certainly makes the goblin match better for you.

 

I drew the next round with my opponent, but they were nice enough to play a match so I could record it for your pleasure.

 

Match 2 vs MBC

 

 

 

I personally think that MBC is a bad matchup for Affinity, but after some recent testing and this game, I am starting to believe otherwise. Usually MBC just has more removal for Affinity to handle and you never get to keep a threat down. They can also gain life through Grey Merchant and through Tendrils of Corruption, making it even harder for you to get the win. You do have Atog and Fling to combo kill them and sometimes that is enough to win on its own, but you also can overwhelm them quickly and they can easily run out of removal spells.

 

I tried numerous sideboard cards to deal with this match and none of the plans ever worked out. Luckily for me, this time around, the old school style of Affinity worked out just fine.

 

Also with Frogmite and Flayer Husk, you can effectively blank their edict like effects, which can also be a big help because a lot of their early removal is made up of edict effects.

 

Game 1 I had what I thought to be a decent opening hand with a little burn, a threat and a cantrip. My opponent also had a decent start as well, bur my deck chose to shine on me and grant all 4 Thoughtcast, which definitely played a huge roll in me winning this game.

 

Game 2 also went well for me as I was able to blank his edict effects and pressure him enough to grab the victory.

 

I think I got lucky to win the 2 games that we played, but I also started to see that this Affinity list had a much better time dealing with MBC this time around.

 

Top 8 Match vs Izzet Blitz

 

 

 

Game 1 my opening hand was pretty good. My opening hand had a good mix of lands and spells and a decent curve for what the Affinity deck was trying to accomplish and all I needed was for my draws to help me out. My opponent starts off ok with a Delver of Secrets, but I decided to kill it with a Galvanic Blast to try and buy myself time to draw some good gas. I got a little lucky to draw the Seat of the Synod and was able to piece together Fling and Atog for the win. It helped my opponent didn't draw a combo creature until it was too late.

 

Game 2 I decided to keep a hand that had a little bit of everything. I was able to get out some quick threats and have removal for my opponent's threats. I had Circle of Protection: Red as a backup plan just in case something went wrong, but luckily for me, my opponent missed their third land drop for a few too many turns and I was able to pull off a quick victory.

 

I personally believe that this matchup is actually good for Affinity. You have access to pretty much anything you need and you barely give your opponent time to get things going. Now yes, they can easily combo kill you and they can do it very quickly. But you have access to very cheap removal and as long as you space them out enough to make sure almost all your colors do something you need to, you should be fine in the end.

 

Top 4 match vs the mirror

 

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Neither of these games were very interesting to be honest. I got my butt handed to me and it wasn't even close. The mirror is a lot about who draws better, has a better start and draws more sideboard cards. Don't get me wrong though, it is also about who is the better player, who uses their removal better and whose sideboard plan is better. Still, in the end, I got beat and it was real bad and yes, I do feel very bad.

 

Where we go from here? Updates to the deck list, aftermath thoughts and possibly more!

 

I really like this build of Affinity and for the first time in weeks, I wasn't unhappy I was playing it. The deck is a ton of fun and I would totally recommend it to anyone trying to get into pauper or any pauper veterans trying to find a new sweet deck to have fun with.

 

Note* This is the second week in a row Affinity won the tournament and my opponent in the top 4 went undefeated in the tournament.

 

I decided to make a few changes to the deck list after some more investigating and a few more test games. Let's check out the deck list and see what I came to.

 

 

 

 

My appreciation for Flayer Husk has actually gone up quite a bit after this tournament and some more testing, I feel like my game plan requires it much more than I expected. I also took out the Rancor in favor of a single Temur Battle Rage to try and spike games that seem unwinnable. It makes me wonder if there is an Affinity combo deck out there with Expedite for Atog. But then again, you would need a lot of artifacts in play to make that work. I like Rancor, but the problem is that it isn't powerful enough in matchups where you really need. It's good in the mirror to make Frogmite a 4 power creature and it shines in other places, but it doesn't shine enough everywhere. It might be better in a list running Perilous Research where you can get extra value out of it.

 

In the sideboard I changed 1 Pyroblast for a Nature's Claim. I was inspired by other Affinity players having it and that includes my Top 4 opponent as well. I like its flexibility and how useful it can be in so many matchups. You can use Ray of Revelation instead, but Claim being able to hit artifacts can easily be a huge difference in a lot of matchups. I also took out a Shaman in favor of another Journey to Nowhere for extra removal. A lot of the decks where Krark-Clan Shaman is good against, decks like Goblins, Tokens and other aggro decks with a ton of dudes with 1 toughness. I just don't see them around as much as I used to. I believe the the sideboard slot where I had 3 Shaman's, can be turned into something else and so that is where the extra removal of Journey to Nowhere comes in. I can also understand a card like Doom Blade being in the sideboard instead, but I like that Journey hits Gurmag Angler.

 

As always, thank you all for checking out my article and I hope you enjoy in the future! Next week I might shy away from aggro decks for the time being. But we shall see if that remains to be true!

 

Thanks for watching!