IntroType 2 has been hit with a surge of a powerful deck known as Ravager Affinity. This deck has been rampant and has been almost viable as a type 1 deck in it's block contruction. The next step is obvious, making ravager a type 1 phenominon.
First I will start with my thoughts on color selection and what style of play I am persuing.
Ravager Affinity is lightning fast and is decently consistent, however as it is almost entirely made of artifacts it has a problem in hate. Main deck [card]Null Rod[/card]s and a SB enemy to boot. I believe as far as colors go it should be BUr. The style of this deck is pure and simple, go off before your opponent goes.
The Problem: Getting the cards fast enough to win, and hoping you aren't hated before that time. It was suggested to me by several people to run green for [card]Oxidize[/card]. I thought it foolish to run green in a combo deck just for one card, the inconsistency would jump tramatically and even if I was to add [card]Berserk[/card] and [card]Crop Rotation[/card]; it probably wouldn't ever be worth it.
The object is to run fast enough that such cards as null rod wouldn't be a concern. I have gotten a basic build down but I am unsure on several cards. Don't get me wrong, i've been testing and testing I just can't get the consistency faster then pure 3rd turn.
The Basic: The inclusions that without the deck could not run in my opinion are as follows.
//The Kill [12]
4 [card]Disciple of the Vault[/card]
4 [card]Arcbound Ravager[/card]
4[card]Shrapnel Blast[/card]
//The Grinder [8]
4 [card]Myr Enforcer[/card]
4 [card]Frogmite[/card]
--space--
//The Draw [9]
4 [card]Thoughtcast[/card]
1 [card]Ancestral Recall[/card]
4 [card]Skullclamp[/card]
//The Auto-Win [2]
1 [card]Time Walk[/card]
1 [card]Yawgmoths Will[/card]
//Manabase [22]
5 Moxen
1 [card]Black Lotus[/card]
1 [card]Mana Crypt[/card]
1 [card]Sol Ring[/card]
1 [card]Lotus Petal[/card]
3 [card]Seat of Synod[/card]
3 [card]Vault of Whispers[/card]
2 [card]Great Furnace[/card]
4 [card]Glimmervoid[/card]
1 [card]Tolarian Academy[/card]
As you can see under it's current build it runs only 53 cards.
Obviously that isn't even legal deck size; that is my concern. I want it to be fast, explosive and consistant as all hell (truely a technical term
). I have several options at this time as to where this deck should go from this point.
1) It was suggested that [card]Timetwister[/card] be added, I thought at first that this was a poor choice, but recently I was running ravager versus a rogue tog build (not at all good but it served a purpose) and he played [card]wheel of fortune[/card]. After the wheel he went off a little bit and promised I would die next turn. He never made it to the next turn, I just dropped my entire hand onto the table and he scooped.
I am now thinking that with the present colors, I have an option in Draw 7's.
So question one is yes or no?
Include [card]Timetwister[/card]?
Include [card]Wheel of Fortune[/card]?
Include [card]Tinker[/card] + [card]Memory Jar[/card]? (I find this the most preferred and there is reasoning for the lack of inclusion in Tinker*)
*Tinker isn't currently included because it is 3 mana to grab an artifact, as it stands I don't have any facts that even would cost me 3 to play.
2) To add to consistancy I was thinking of adding tutors, obviously it would be almost entirely of the black tree. [card]Demonic Tutor[/card] is the only one I am really missing out on at all and to a minor extent [card]Vampiric Tutor[/card]. The problem with both is they can slow me down (but as a counter arguement: could just as well speed me up). Demonic is two mana, one of which I would rather be spending on a Disciple. Vampiric is a topdeck tutor which means I would already have to have a skullclamp which
alsomeans that I probably already can win.
Include [card]Demonic Tutor[/card]?
Include [card]Vampiric Tutor[/card]?
Include [card]Mystical Tutor[/card]?
3) The last and one of the most important of my issues is that lack of creatures in the section I so "eliquently" call The Grinder. The affinity or 1 drops that take a clamping. The original final choices for such a deck are [card]Ornithopter[/card]* and [card]Arcbound Worker[/card]. I find however that when going for bad speed you want to cycle through everything twice as fast; [card]Myr Moonvessel[/card] is my choice personally, he gives you the mana to continue right along with your kill without having to tap anything for a clampage.
Include [card]Myr Moonvessel[/card]?
Include [card]Arcbound Worker[/card]?
Include [card]Ornithopter[/card]?*
*On a tangent and as a very last mini-issue; another concern is getting around early blockers/lockage. Ornithopter is also good for snapping on +1/+1 counters. There is another option however in [card]Fling[/card]
Include [card]Ornithopter[/card]
for evasion?
Include [card]Fling[/card]?
Sideboarding will altoghethor depend on the final build of this version of the deck. The lack of green could be changed in a Aggro-Control version of the deck in which case red wouldn't be needed for it's brute force and speed. White isn't included although alot of people like the idea of [card]Auriok Steelshaper[/card]. Input would be much obliged, and if disruption is what this deck apparently needs, [card]Duress[/card] is my current thought.
Thank you.
-Spence Hayes
