It is no secret that Affinity is one of the top decks in the format at the moment and has been for quite some time. Today I want to take a look at it and see what new cards or strategies people are using based on the current meta. In particular, there is a new creature that I have been seeing get played and it is quite interesting.
The list we will be looking at today that was in the top 8 of the challenge that was posted on 10/30/2022 and was piloted by the player DarkPantsu. Alright ladies and gentlemen, it is time to take a look at everyone’s favorite deck, the flavor of a Pauper lifetime, Affinity!
Frogmite
– Ah yes, the creature I love to hate playing. I personally hate playing Frogmite, but it is a free creature to play early and it does give you a fodder to your sacrifice cards. At best it gets in a few points of damage as well which will matter.
Myr Enforcer
– The oldest win condition in the deck and it still holds up strong today.
GearSeeker Serpent
– One of my favorite creatures to play in this deck. It is just a big scary win condition that you can cast extremely early. It does cost 2 blue to cast, making it a tiny bit annoying, but soon the next set coming out at the time of this article may change all of that.
Kenku Artificer
– Battle for Baldur’s Gate has shown to give quite a few interesting cards to the format and even Affinity got something. This card is actually quite amazing. Although it is only a 1/1, it costs only 3 mana to cast. The big part is when it hits the battlefield, it turns any noncreature artifact you own into a 3 power creature with flying. Now do notice it does not say nonland, this means your indestructible artifact lands can be turned into creatures. This is all because Affinity definitely needed the upgrade in power level. (This is pure sarcasm by the way in case anyone questions it).
Thoughtcast and Galvanic Blast
– Staples of the archetype that you should almost never play less than 4 of in your main deck.
Deadly Dispute
and Reckoner’s Bargain
– These cards have also become staples of the archetype. Back in the day, we played Perilous Research
and that card was quite good to have. Now both of these are strict upgrades with added bonuses. I like only 3 copies of Bargain because it does not leave you a way to use the next copy like Dispute does and you may not have fodder you can give up if you draw to many of them early.
Makeshift Munitions
– Here is your end game card. It can help play the control role against aggro and give you the final points of damage you need against control. This card literally does just about everything a win condition wants to do.
Chromatic Star
and Ichor Wellspring
– Both are fodder for your sacrifice spells and Star helps you cast spells. These have become staples of the archetype as well.
Blood Fountain
– This is still a fantastic way for Affinity to fight the late game.
The Manabase is the same as just about every other list you see. The interesting thing is that we see 21 lands. Long ago, Affinity only played 16-18 lands so that you do not get flooded and replaced those lands with things like Springleaf Drum
. The issue was we still got fairly mana flooded.
However now we have come a long way with the Affinity archetype to the point now where we actually need all the mana we have to cast tons of draw spells. How times have changed.
The Sideboard
Red Elemental Blast
and Blue Elemental Blast
– For any situation you might run into when you face a blue or red deck.
Gorilla Shaman
– While this is mostly for the mirror, I am sure Shaman has other uses in a lot of matchups.
Unexpected Fangs
– If you are able to use this on a Serpent, it is usually game over against certain matchups.
Spell Pierce
– While you may usually see Dispel
, the flexibility of being able to counter anything with Pierce can be quite useful.
Electrickery
– Normally we see Krak-Clan Shaman
in this spot, but if the meta does not call for it, almost any board wipe is fine. Honestly it just depends on the meta you expect to face.
Verdict and Conclusion
I don’t have too much to say to be honest. It is Affinity, the archetype we have all come to love dearly and hate with a strong passion because it has become one of the best decks in Pauper history and can be quite the boogeyman. You can build it however you want and play whatever you want. Chances are, it will do fine.
Affinity has come a long way through Pauper history, but one thing has always remained true, you can’t go wrong with building it. Affinity is one of the best decks to invest in because it will always be a contender and it seems no matter what Wizards does, they can’t stop it completely. I mean hell, at the time of writing this article, the next set is bringing something that may change the format for quite some time and Affinity will most likely reap the rewards.
Do I think you should play this deck? Yes, go play it and win. You will enjoy yourself doing it. Will you have a 100% win rate? No you probably won’t because that is close to impossible, but if any archetype can come close over the course of many games, Affinity has the power to do it.
However, with all this being said, as always, do remember my words are not gospel. I will always encourage you to try a deck that I bring you despite my personal feelings. Remember that results will vary and always remember to practice!
Would you like to compete in a free Pauper tournament with some great prizes? Head on over to Gatherling.com on Tuesday nights at 8pm EDT and play in our weekly Pauper Classic Tuesday's event! Join the chat #PCT to chat with us and feel free to find most of the competitors on Discord!
Thank you so much for reading. Best of luck to you in your next tournament and I’ll catch you all next time!
