This deck ranked 3rd Place at StarCityGames.com Legacy Open last December 8,2013.Wow, I am so happy to see my favorite legacy deck win. When I checked this list with my current Legacy Affinity list at home, there were just a few cards that I was missing and I felt like I should just complete the deck and bring it to the next Legacy event. It may not be a tier-1 deck anymore, but I like this deck so much and I am just comfortable playing this deck.
Affinity by Ian Anderson
| Sideboard: 4 Chalice of the Void 4 Ethersworn Canonist 4 Rest in Peace 3 Spell Pierce |
I also ran an Affinity deck when I played in a Legacy event. But that was way back when Scars of Mirrodin block was still not printed, so I still had no access to Mox Opal, Vault Skirge, Signal Pest, Etched Champion and Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas. Back then, it was still Ravager Affinity where you can win by the Arcbound Ravager + Disciple of the Vault combo/synergy. You can check my list in this link. Although even until now, some players still opt for that version of affinity because it was still fun to play.
Yesterday, I was able to pick up these cards, and tadah! My deck is finally complete. While I was really happy seeing affinity in the top 8 of a legacy event, I also think there are interesting choices that Ian used in his version of the deck. There are also some cards in the list that I would have also changed.
The 17th Land
17 lands in affinity is more than what Affinity runs way back. There was even a time when 14 lands were run by Affinity. Although 17 lands may be the right number nowadays since this deck, for me, really can't afford to mulligan that much because it relies on the advantage of putting as many artifacts on the board as soon as possible. Although personally, I would like to run a singleton Island or any blue mana source just to give us additional chances of casting Thoughtcast(and Spell Pierce in the sideboard), I love the singleton Academy Ruins to recycle almost every card in this deck. Cranial Plating may be the number 1 target of the ruins since the plating usually forces a counterspell or the card will be the primary target of removals in the deck.
No Master of Etherium
Who won't love a card that with a body bigger than Tarmogoyf (most of the time in this deck) and gives +1/+1 to all artifact creatures you control? But I guess the lack of evasion of Master of Etherium makes it the odd man out these days as Etched Champion hit the spotlight and became a mainboard card rather than a sideboard card. I missed the Master, but Etched Champion works really well with Arcbound Ravager and the emergence of Signal Pest to pick up the slack of giving +1 power to all artifacts with a body that is a better target for Cranial Plating. They really pushed my favorite Master outside the 75.
Splash White or Red?
Splashing white allowed us to run Ethersworn Canonist, which can, by itself, just ruin a combo players' day without fail. This just really turns off the combo engines of storm and other combo decks. Plus, it's a 2/2 body for two mana and it adds to the artifact count. White also gives us access to Dispatch and Rest in Peace for the sideboard, but I would prefer an artifact graveyard hate card like Grafdigger's Cage or Tormod's Crypt just to increase the artifact count.
While splashing red will give us access to cards like Galvanic Blast and Pyroblast, I think against Goblins, Elves and other decks with small aggressive creatures, the red card that stands out the most for those matchups is Whipflare. Whipflare will simply clear the board on your opponent's side since all your creatures are artifact creatures.
But then again, splashing white or red really depends on the current metagame of your local tournaments. That's why I have my Ancient Dens and Great Furnaces ready to go depending on the decks of the people in my local game shop.
In my next Legacy event, I think I will not retain the mainboard of the deck. But if I would change some cards in the sideboard, this is what I will run.
Sideboard:
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Grafdigger's Cage
3 Spell Pierce
1 Pithing Needle
And c'mon, who wouldn't love and have fun in playing a deck that lets you play your entire hand in the first turn? ^_^
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