Fetch Affinity

[Koeka]

Hey there everyone,

While browsing trough some old MWS files I found the old affinity deck that I used to play which I received from YakuzaxtheRock back in the days.
The deck is a blast to play and I decided to fine tune it for some casual vintage play, ill start of with the list.

Affinity:

4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Arcbound Worker
4 Frogmite
4 Disciple of the Vault
2 Ornithopter
4 Skullclamp
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Saphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
1 Chrome Mox
1 Mox Diamond
1 Mana Crypt
4 Force of Will
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Twister
1 Wheel of Fortune
4 Thoughtcast
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Polluted Delta
1 Badlands
2 Tropical Island
2 Vault of Whispers
2 Seat of the Synod

Sideboard:

4 Oxidize
2 Red Elemental Blast
3 Tormods Crypt
2 Naturalize
4 Rushwood Legate

The main strength of the deck is its ability to have an awnser to almost anything if tuned correctly and its speed (in comparrison to other aggro decks).
The choice of playing a fetch+duals manabase seems odd at first but plays out quite natural.
First off is the thinning effect of fetching, second off fetchlands offer an advantage in playing against wastelands by being able to crack in response.
Force of will offers some resilence against control and combo, the blue count still is on the low side, im thinking about addings some master of etheriums but im not sure what to cut for them
Whilst being a blast to play, the deck has some weak points, if not played carefully a well timed energy flux or rebuild can be devestating and the manabase can be unstable against decks sporting 4 wastelands.
The sideboard is a bit of a random composure, Oxidize is there against Stax, Crypts against Ichorid and other graveyard based decks, Rushwood Legate does wonders against decks sporting Islands.
What should be cut in the sideboard for todays current metagame? Are there also any suggestions about how to add Master of Etherium? TQ in advance for any help

Greetings, Koeka

[Harlequin]

Depending on how differant of a deck you want to run, there are a few paths to take.  Right now you seem to have a control/combo deck mixed with a Mirrodin T2 deck pre-5th dawn.   

You need to decide: Do I want artifacts in play to deal damage, or do I want artifacts leaving play to do damage.  One would think that because Ravager likes artifacts, and Master of Etherium likes artifacts, then they would both be good in a deck full of artifacts!  wrong.  Master for a deck running ravager is at best a sideboard card to bring in against Null Rod Fish. 

A Ravager focused deck is likely best complimented by:
Mishra's Workshop
Triskellion x4

My teammate has experimented in the past with a colorless artifact deck that ran these cards.  The deck was moderatly sucessful...   The thread can be found Here: http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=35060.0

Alot of the discussion about the deck, is how this deck functions against GAT and Gush in general.  So some of the comments may be outdated.  But the core concept of the deck still holds water.

I opted for a Metalworker Staff combo, fueled by Skullclamp, and reinforced by the adaptability of Myr retriever and the savageness of Trike and Ravager.

Land (17)
4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Wasteland
3 Mishra's Factory
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy

Creatures (20)
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Frogmite
3 Triskelion
3 Metalworker
3 Juggernaut
3 Myr Retriever

Spells (23)
5 Moxen
4 Thorn of Amethyst
4 Skullclamp
3 Cranial Plating
3 Chalice of the Void
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring

Sideboard
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Sphere of Resistance
3 Pithing Needle
3 Duplicant

This list is a bit dated.  I think in the most recent builds, There were no Juggernaughts but instead, more 4-ofs... spesifically 4 Trikes, 4 workers, 4 Chalice, and 4 Retrivers.    Also I think Cranial platings were dropped for more busted artifacts, namely Memory Jar, And at least 3 Staff of Dominations. 


As for Master of Etherium, or Force of Will in general - we have done a lot of testing, and had a fair degree of sucess marrying Workshop and Force of Will. 

Something to the effect of:
3x Goblin Welder
3x Vexing Shusher
1x Triskelavus
1x Memnarch
1x Sundering Titan
4x Chalice of the Void
4x Shivan Reef
4x Volcanic Island
4x Mishra's Workshop
2x Ancient Tomb
1x City of Traitors
1x Tolarian Academy
4x Force of Will
1x Mana Crypt
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Pearl
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Vault
3x Gilded Lotus
4x Thirst for Knowledge
3x Master of Etherium
1x Wheel of Fortune
1x Memory Jar
1x Trinisphere
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Mindlaver
1x Black Lotus
1x Tinker
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Time Walk


Or More recently:
4 Volcanic Island
4 Shivan Reef
4 Mishra's Workshop
2 Ancient Tomb
1 City of Traitors
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring

Robots in Disguise--
3 Triskelion
1 Triskelavus
2 Sundering Titan
1 Inkwell Leviathan
4 Master Transmuter
4 Goblin Welder
1 Mindslaver
1 Memory Jar
1 Thousand-Year Elixir

The rest of the goodies--
4 Force of Will
4 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Tinker
1 Trinisphere


You'll notice that this deck doesn't run Master of Etherium, it does however run both Force and Shop. 

At any rate, I hope these decks give you some good insight into some new ideas for the deck.  I guess my point is that Arcbound Worker, Ornithopter, and even Disciple of the Vault are usually not going to be good enough to make the cut.

[Troy_Costisick]

Harlequin, what do you think about a Salvage Titan in a affinity deck designe to deal damage when artifacts leave play?

[Harlequin]

When I think Salavage Titan the next card on my mind is Bitter Ordeal. This is vintage, I'd rather Cap someone than Lighting Bolt them.   Disciple isn't really going to speed anything up.  Titan won't need help dealing damage, hes basically a 3 turn clock as is!  Disiple would have to deal at least 5-6 damage to speed that up by 1 turn.  If I have an extra black, rather just duress them to ensure I get the extra turn (or cap them if I have 3). 

A long while back there was a deck called the "The Jester" that was basically an Uba~ish lock deck that sported 4 maindeck Jester's caps.  I wonder if that sort of shell could benefit from this type of deck.  I'm not sure you could settle on the 'right' mana base because Jester's Cap and Bitter Ordeal are fairly awkward when it comes to fitting a manabase.  Combo, Drain, and heavy lock decks would all be good victim for for a deck running X caps, and Y ordeals.  The only thing you'd need to watch out for was fish... and you could easily run good-old robots to compensate for that - you've already got a set of 6/4's you could bolster that with juggs or karn or something.

[Koeka]

@ Harlequin, workshop decks are nice, but not the thing im after, the list I posted is seriously dated, but still holds a lot of potential.
Master of Etherium doesnt always work good together with ravager but they can be considered for the same deck.
The Jester seems like a good awnser to all the drain decks in the current meta but also doesnt really configure with the posted list, on the other hand maybe ill try out some evil Jester brew deck based on the old Jester decks. Master Transmuter is a great deck as well but also doesnt really add anything to the deck, although all these lists do give a lot of food for thought, especially about the choice of creatures, propably im just too much attached to staples like disciple too think about new slots.
Its also good to see that there is a lot of progress on the combination of force of will and workshop, thats definitely something ill look into.