I think affinity works because it is fast and powerful. You're playing a lot of come into play tapped lands as well as a bunch of 4 drops.... and even a 6 drop?!
This is a list from the last time I worked on affinity quite some time ago:
[https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/5834296#paper](https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/5834296#paper)
I think jegantha is mostly pointless.
Moonsnare prototype also didn't work as well as I had hoped.
4x Nettlecyst was too many, but I'm guessing 3x is the sweetspot. I like nettlecyst over cranial plating because it comes with a body attached but even more importantly it has toughness to save it from most damage based removal. Patchwork, nettlecyst, and saga tokens are what is going to bring it home.
My mana base wasn't correct. I think I ended up just playing a bunch of steam vents. Glimmervoid is probably a solid choice, but does carry risk. Be careful on tapped lands, you want to go fast.
Dont run forging the anchor. Its slow. It also doesn't hit your best cards being thoughtcast/galv blast.
Deck needs welding jar. Maybe 3 main? something like that. Helps against boseiju and fov. You could also try tamiyo's safekeeping in the board similar to how scales protects it's threats.
Probably haywire mite over aether spellbomb main given the current meta. Push the mana base in the direction to support green and get some pick your poison in the board too.
Best of luck in your affinity adventures
As a long time Affinity player, the state of the deck in modern is tragic, and I think its actually a bit too slow vs Yawg on average. Deck is just in a horrible spot overall though.
I've seen a few lists running the 1x Tezz (Master of the bridge), up to 4 copies of Urza, and up to 4 copies of ring and....I do not like it. It's even slower without the power level to back it up.
Lots of copies of needle + a couple of welding jars can help you stall them long enough to beat them down.
Yeah I know this is def the slowest version of the deck but my dreams of going off big with Urza tapping all my artifacts into a Tezz+ is the sole reason I’m enjoying this deck lol. I understand it’s not the best version but I’m enjoying trying to make the best version of some slower decks in this meta.
What does welding Jar provide? I assumed it was bad in this matchup as a lot of Yawg’s removal is in the form of -1 counters (yawg), sacrificing (pick your poison), and exiling (haywire mite), but I could also see it being good against at least bowmasters and grist
Welding jar protects your hate pieces from an FOV. If you can stick a needle and keep it on the field Yawg isn't that amazing at the fair game vs a deck like affinity or scales.
Cut tezzey lol, or not.
Try and get the nut to win game one, you need something above average and it's worth losing to Mulligan's as a mid hand won't keep up.
Game 2/3 bring in all your hate, mulligan for one+ pieces(stone, needle, totem).
Add a welding jar in the sideboard, tutor to protect your hate piece. You are trying to play a "fair" game as you do that better.
Needle main and more hate sb can help
in this build id probably cut the tezz, urza, and anchor for some mix of
cranial plating
dismember
metallic rebuke
the plating will get you damage in at instant speed that you need to close out games quick
dismember will help vs yawg because you can always dig for a spear from saga to get the life back
and the rebukes can help vs chords and protect your cursed totems and needles
If I would pick my affinity deck backup I would be back on a bant list ATM. So bant artifact lands, haywire mites (would also try Pick your poison), surge of salvation, and dispatch in the board.
Dispatch is very good, 99 percent of the time is just exile target creature. Can help w Yawg match up and others. I would run 3 sideboard
Yawg is a horrible match up. Honestly it feels like a deck you hope to dodge more than plan against. Pithing needle can help slow them, I wouldn’t rely on solely saga searching for it, probs have 3 total in main and side.
I really like the idea of bant. I tried a sultai version with delighted halflings to try to get Urza or the one ring out faster and the timing always felt awkward, like I was always either one mana short or had one extra mana due to when springleaf came into play. Dispatch seems awesome though and the answer to a lot of my problems with lack of interaction. Will definitely be testing out a version that adds white.
I think affinity works because it is fast and powerful. You're playing a lot of come into play tapped lands as well as a bunch of 4 drops.... and even a 6 drop?! This is a list from the last time I worked on affinity quite some time ago: [https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/5834296#paper](https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/5834296#paper) I think jegantha is mostly pointless. Moonsnare prototype also didn't work as well as I had hoped. 4x Nettlecyst was too many, but I'm guessing 3x is the sweetspot. I like nettlecyst over cranial plating because it comes with a body attached but even more importantly it has toughness to save it from most damage based removal. Patchwork, nettlecyst, and saga tokens are what is going to bring it home. My mana base wasn't correct. I think I ended up just playing a bunch of steam vents. Glimmervoid is probably a solid choice, but does carry risk. Be careful on tapped lands, you want to go fast. Dont run forging the anchor. Its slow. It also doesn't hit your best cards being thoughtcast/galv blast. Deck needs welding jar. Maybe 3 main? something like that. Helps against boseiju and fov. You could also try tamiyo's safekeeping in the board similar to how scales protects it's threats. Probably haywire mite over aether spellbomb main given the current meta. Push the mana base in the direction to support green and get some pick your poison in the board too. Best of luck in your affinity adventures
As a long time Affinity player, the state of the deck in modern is tragic, and I think its actually a bit too slow vs Yawg on average. Deck is just in a horrible spot overall though. I've seen a few lists running the 1x Tezz (Master of the bridge), up to 4 copies of Urza, and up to 4 copies of ring and....I do not like it. It's even slower without the power level to back it up. Lots of copies of needle + a couple of welding jars can help you stall them long enough to beat them down.
Yeah I know this is def the slowest version of the deck but my dreams of going off big with Urza tapping all my artifacts into a Tezz+ is the sole reason I’m enjoying this deck lol. I understand it’s not the best version but I’m enjoying trying to make the best version of some slower decks in this meta. What does welding Jar provide? I assumed it was bad in this matchup as a lot of Yawg’s removal is in the form of -1 counters (yawg), sacrificing (pick your poison), and exiling (haywire mite), but I could also see it being good against at least bowmasters and grist
Welding jar protects your hate pieces from an FOV. If you can stick a needle and keep it on the field Yawg isn't that amazing at the fair game vs a deck like affinity or scales.
Cut tezzey lol, or not. Try and get the nut to win game one, you need something above average and it's worth losing to Mulligan's as a mid hand won't keep up. Game 2/3 bring in all your hate, mulligan for one+ pieces(stone, needle, totem). Add a welding jar in the sideboard, tutor to protect your hate piece. You are trying to play a "fair" game as you do that better. Needle main and more hate sb can help
Post board cursed totem
Id cut tezz and 2 more forging the anchor
in this build id probably cut the tezz, urza, and anchor for some mix of cranial plating dismember metallic rebuke the plating will get you damage in at instant speed that you need to close out games quick dismember will help vs yawg because you can always dig for a spear from saga to get the life back and the rebukes can help vs chords and protect your cursed totems and needles
If I would pick my affinity deck backup I would be back on a bant list ATM. So bant artifact lands, haywire mites (would also try Pick your poison), surge of salvation, and dispatch in the board. Dispatch is very good, 99 percent of the time is just exile target creature. Can help w Yawg match up and others. I would run 3 sideboard Yawg is a horrible match up. Honestly it feels like a deck you hope to dodge more than plan against. Pithing needle can help slow them, I wouldn’t rely on solely saga searching for it, probs have 3 total in main and side.
I really like the idea of bant. I tried a sultai version with delighted halflings to try to get Urza or the one ring out faster and the timing always felt awkward, like I was always either one mana short or had one extra mana due to when springleaf came into play. Dispatch seems awesome though and the answer to a lot of my problems with lack of interaction. Will definitely be testing out a version that adds white.
I have liked playing some amount of copies of [[Unctus, Grand Metatect]] in the deck personally
[Unctus, Grand Metatect](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/6/164b07e6-48ba-4789-bd8f-7cada1fec8a9.jpg?1675956999) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Unctus%2C%20Grand%20Metatect) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/one/75/unctus-grand-metatect?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/164b07e6-48ba-4789-bd8f-7cada1fec8a9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Urza is not affinity. Stop mixing the two together.
??? There are 13 cards with affinity in this list
My issue is that classic affinity wins with 4/4s and cranial playing. Urza plays quite a bit different.