States has come and gone and we know about as much of the new face of Type Two as before – there are a lot of people playing a lot of decks, yet none approach the consistency of Affinity. Affinity, despite what rogueish naysayers may claim, is not some phantom that goes bump in the night, or an exaggerated monster hell-bent to swoop down and devour anyone so foolish enough to play anything but the tier 1 decks. No my friends, it is real. No matter how much you hate Affinity, Affinity hates you more… or does it?
Sure it is hands down the best deck in the format, but why? How come the hate decks haven’t been able to take it down more than 50-60% of the time and still be viable against other decks? Mainly, I propose because the hate thrown at Affinity has been purely misguided.
Sure, there were lots of decks that did well at States this year, and Affinity didn’t do as well as it did in previous tournaments. I think this could easily be attributed to the fact that the new set was released, lots of people wanted to play the new cards, and most of the Affinity decks in the environment were either misconstructed, or not played to the level they could have been. I know from observing a few matches, as well as from playing a few of my own that the games would have played out much differently had the Affinity player made a few more wise decisions.
Every single deck in the entire field designed to put the proverbial smack down on Affinity has one fatal flaw – it must deal with the artifacts once they are in play. Even a grip full of Oxidizes, Electrostatic Bolts, Naturalizes, Tel-Jilad Justice, Viridian Shamans, and Molder Slugs can’t stop an Arcbound Ravager from doing his thing once he hits the board. Combined with the devastating Disciple of the Vault, and your removal can seem down right pointless.
The point is, if you plan on going one-for-one with Affinity, you are doomed from the start. Their “normal draw” is often good enough to overcome several pieces of early hate. For months now people have been trying to find ways to overcome such obstacles, and it finally seems that at least one deck has shown up that has a good enough matchup against Affinity, while still being competitive against the rest of the field. The deck approaches hate from a different perspective, stopping the artifact threat before it enters play and can have any affect on the game.
The deck, by most assumptions, should actually be the worst against Affinity, but at this point aren’t you ready to try anything? If the obvious choice to run massive amounts of artifact destruction doesn’t work… maybe running none might. The deck? Mono-Blue Control found its way into my hands, passed down by Ted Knutson, who was handed the general idea by Mike Flores. Without any more stalling, I present you the list I was handed and used in my local States:
Jigga Blue
4 Annul
4 Relic Barrier
4 Vedalken Shackles
4 Echoing Truth
4 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Mana Leak
3 Hinder
2 Condescend
2 March of the Machines
2 Keiga, the Tide Star
1 Meloku, the Clouded Mirror
20 Islands
4 Stalking Stones
1 Blinkmoth Nexus
Sideboard:
4 Temporal Adept
3 Crucible of Worlds
2 March of the Machines
2 Oblivion Stone
2 Time Stop
1 Last Word
1 Meloku, the Clouded Mirror
The deck functions on the principle that if it stops the dangerous artifacts before they enter play, Affinity pretty much can’t win. Without being able to resolve either an Arcbound Ravager or Cranial Plating, winning becomes A lot more difficult for the Affinity player – they are reduced to attack with bears and 1/1’s. Once you hopefully deal with their initial few turns by preventing the “I win” draw, you can take control of the game with a Shackles or March. The hope against the rest of the field is that instead of drawing those useless Oxidizes and near-useless Viridian Shamans, you will have efficient counter magic. Annul actually has far more targets than Oxidize, as many of the decks not running artifacts run some form of enchantment, such as the dreaded Phyrexian Arena or possibly even a random Honden deck.
Allow me to break down the deck card by card:
Annul
Pure and simple this is your best defense against the Affinity menace. If you go first and have an Annul, I will go out on a limb and say it is near impossible for you to lose as long as you aren’t staring at six other lands in your grip. The ability to just say “No” to their turn 1 play many times will be enough to slow down their initial assault. Suddenly that Aether Vial they were depending on is out the window, and their artifact count is going to make it harder to get out a Frogmite or Myr Enforcer. Don’t get me started on how tight it is against the more explosive Jar and Ornithopter versions of Affinity, where fewer of their artifacts are actually threats than in other builds. You need to counter even less of their spells to make their Welding Jars, Ornithopters, and Moxen look impotent.
Relic Barrier
I can’t say enough good things about this card in this deck. Sure it isn’t Oxidize or even Naturalize, but the ability to switch up your targets mid-game often makes it better. Sometimes the strategy to aim your hate at the Affinity player’s land can be devastating, but many times it can empty your hand for when they drop their real threats and bash you into the loser’s bracket. The beauty of the Barrier is that you can attack their mana base early without any fear, as whenever they drop a significant threat, you’ll be ready to neutralize it. It also has added benefits against a sorcery-speed equip of Cranial Plating and the Indestructible Darksteel Citadel.
Vedalken Shackles
The MVP of the deck. This card is good enough to run it in a low-artifact count deck against a sea of hate. It throws off the math of Affinity like no card before. Again, the fact that you can switch the target of your hate mid-game gives you even more of an edge. You don’t have to evaluate the potency of their threats immediately – you can easily adapt as the threat level of certain cards increases or decreases.
Echoing Truth
Bounce is good. Instant speed bounce is juicy. Instant speed bounce against an all-in Ravager or Atog is just downright evil. Just the threat of Echoing Truth can make a weaker player think twice about trying to kill you when they can. Few other cards in Blue can be bluffed to such success. Also, this card is essential against threats that get past your counterspell defense.
Thirst for Knowledge
Best card drawing available to you in the format. Everyone should have been taught in Magic 101 that card drawing is good in control decks.
Mana Leak
The best counterspell in the format. Cheap, Efficient, and the perfect side dish for any meal. It gets the job done, and there isn’t a time you hate drawing this in your opening hand, and there isn’t a deck that it is bad against, at least not in the early game.
Hinder
The cheapest hard counter in the format. With the presence of Eternal Witness in just about every non-Affinity deck, the ability to put the countered spell on the bottom of their deck will almost always be better than putting it in their graveyard. Don’t be afraid to stick it back on top when the situation is right, sometimes Memory Lapse can be better than Counterspell.
Condescend
Rounding out the counters in your deck is Condescend. The scrye is amazing, it just runs into the problem of being too mana-intensive in the late game against decks like Tooth and Nail and U/G control. Two seems to be about the right number, as it’s a counter on turn 2 without being completely useless in the late game.
March of the Machines
Another piece of hate strictly for Affinity. The idea behind it is to slow or halt their aggression in the first few turns with counter magic. Then when you drop March of Machines, you get rid of their lands and thus their ability to produce more threats. From there it should be easy to mop up any remaining riff-raff and cruise to a win.
Keiga, the Tide Star
Reminiscent to the Fat Moti of old, Keiga has a great power-to-mana ratio. He has the added benefit of being especially good against the removal several decks have, making it easy to drop him without any counter back-up and feel good that no matter what, you will untap with a creature in play.
Meloku the Clouded Mirror
The house, the pimp master general, the new rock and his Milliiiiiiiiiiiions! Not bad for an itty, bitty Blue not-so-fatty. Meloku is just a great kill, he is as good on offense as he is on defense. He can put a stop to entire armies with little or no threat to his own welfare. The beauty of Meloku is, even more so than Keiga, if they kill him, you usually will still get some beats out of him. Meloku also provides a little insurance to the problem that control decks have been facing since the time when dinosaurs still roamed the earth (raaaaar), the always increasing threat of a draw to time being called. Control decks of old would often cringe at the dreaded “Time! Active player finish your turn, you have five additional turns after that.” With Meloku you have a fast and efficient kill. If it comes down to it, just return all your land and swing in for the win.
Gifts Ungiven
Probably the most uncertain card in the deck. When given the list, I was told that it really felt like it needed another form of card draw, this was the best option we could think of, but it really isn’t that fabulous. Flores runs Inspiration instead, which isn’t exactly inspiring.
Stalking Stones and Blinkmoth Nexus
Additional blockers/kill cards. Stones allows you to play a reasonable threat that gets around counter magic and doesn’t force you to tap out on your turn.
Sideboard:
Temporal Adept
Insane against slower decks, locking down their lands constantly, also deals with big creatures Tooth can get out.
Crucible of Worlds
A card I never boarded in and that has since become Bribery. It really wasn’t needed, as land destruction was not a viable strategy, nor a big threat.
March of the Machines
Used to basically finish the Affinity matchup, it’s the only two cards you actually bring in against them. The look on the Affinity player’s face when you only bring in two cards is priceless.
Oblivion Stone
Brought in against non-Affinity aggro decks or mid-range control decks. It’s just an answer to most random threats and has the ability to gain card advantage.
Time Stop
Just losing to Obliterate isn’t good, and it has the nifty ability to stop a Time Stop under Boseiju Protection.
Last Word
The odd man out, not really needed, but some form of additional counter magic or card drawing should be in the board.
Meloku, the Clouded Mirror
Boarded in against slower decks, doubling your chances of drawing this Champion of Kamigawa. Again, especially good if the first game took a long time or wasn’t in your favor. Gives you the opportunity to end the game fast.
Now the first time I picked up and played this deck was round one at States. I lost the die roll and my opponent started off with Blinkmoth Nexus and an Aether Vial. Great… Aether Vial. As you can probably gather, Aether Vial is really the bane of this deck. Don’t get me wrong – you still have a good shot at winning. It just makes your job that much harder. The good thing is, unlike other decks out there, their turn 1 Aether Vial doesn’t speed them up, it just gives them a way around the counter magic. Thing is, they don’t really have a choice but to try to empty their hand in the first few turns anyway, so your counters will still be golden. If they decide to hold back and wait to just use the Vial, you have all the time in the world and this plan becomes horrible if you happen to have a Shackles, March, Echoing Truth, or sometimes even a lowly Relic Barrier.
On my turn, I dropped an Island and merely passed the turn back. My opponent put a counter on the Vial and was ready to go off. He smacked down an Arcbound Worker with the Vial, played an artifact land and dropped a Cranial Plating and a Frogmite faster than I could blink. “Woah! Hold up,” I tell him, “I have a response to the Plating.” He looks at me quizzically as I Annul his Plating, completely throwing off his game plan. I then point at his Frogmite, informing him that he doesn’t have enough to drop it into play for free. Instead of attacking for three plus the massive amounts of Plating damage, he got to swing for one on the following turn. I Mana Leak his next Plating and drop a Shackles on turn 5 to take the game. The next game goes pretty much the same way, except I drop a March on turn 4 to lock him out of the game.
The next round was the most disappointing of the tournament, I played against Affinity again. I mulliganned to five game one… and still won. My three Island, Keiga, Mana Leak hand was enough to take it, despite his turn 1 Aether Vial. Unfortunately, the next two games I am forced to mulligan twice more into mediocre hands, and I was too worried and unfamiliar with the deck to go to five cards again, especially when I had cards I could actually play. Game two I don’t have any action in the first few turns and am able to stave off a turn 4 kill for several turns, until my poor draws finally get to me. The third game is mostly the same, except I Annul his turn 2 Ravager, preventing the third turn kill, but am unable to do anything about his double Frogmite and Arcbound Worker he drops into play on the same turn. This was the fifth game in a row I had to fight turn 1 Aether Vial. His third turn shows that had I not had the Annul, I would have lost, but it is no matter as he has the second Arcbound Ravager, a Cranial Plating and a Disciple of the Vault. I die on turn 4.
Frustrated to no end that I didn’t at least try for five cards in games 2 and 3, I go on to face R/G Beats featuring Drosan, the Falling Leaf, two Mono-Blue control decks, and another Affinity deck. I win them all, and sweep all of them except for the R/G deck. Round seven comes, and I need a win to draw myself into Top 8. I play against U/G control, which isn’t really that bad a matchup except the deck he was running was tuned totally for a control metagame. He hadn’t played Affinity once in the tournament, and wasn’t running any maindeck hate other than three Viridian Shamans. He ramps up his mana in the early game, and despite him tapping out numerous times, I never have a threat to lay down other than Shackles, which promptly get sat on by two Viridian Shamans.
I finally manage a Stalking Stones and beat him down to five before he draws his first Shackles. This catches me by surprise, since he is playing U/G. While I’m slowing getting pummeled by a pair of 2/2s, I finally draw a second Stalking Stones, just in time for him to draw his second Shackles. I can’t do anything at this point, as he has around 13 mana and has played more Condescends, Mana Leaks, and Hinders than I can count. Game two he Shamans my third turn Shackles, and Naturalizes my turn 4 Oblivion Stone.
This leaves me completely perplexed as I learn that he boarded in artifact hate against me. He only knows that I had the Shackles, which aren’t really a threat to him because all he has are a few bears – his primary kill is Rude Awakening. Completely thrown off by this but undaunted, I slow down to play the control match. I’m able to get us both down to a few cards when he taps out on his turn to play some card draw and some bears. I drop my Keiga that I’d been holding and prepare to race. In my hand I have Time Stop and Hinder, fully prepared to protect my Keiga and win the creature battle. At fifteen life, he dumps a Shaman and Solemn into play to bring me within two swings of death. On the turn before he can kill me, I have him at ten life, I have nine mana and an unactivated Stalking Stones. He has two cards in hand and a graveyard full of counters. I realize that if I hold back to block with Keiga and Stones, I lose to just about every card in his deck, from any 2/2 to a bounce spell, artifact hate, or even a Rude Awakening, since I wouldn’t be able to activate Stone and block enough of his creatures. I decide to go all in and swing with Keiga. The way the only possible way I can lose is if his last two cards in hand are counters for my upkeep Time Stop/ Hinder Backup. Long story short… they were.
I get another disappointing loss and go into the final round knowing I can only make Top 8 if any of the players ahead of me play out their match (I was in ninth). I win two uneventful games against mono-Black Aggro and excitedly find out that two people decided to play it out. Just as I get over to watch the match, the two players decide to draw, knocking me into ninth place. Frustrated with my losses, I take my packs and go make fun of everyone’s favorite editor over dinner.
Despite not making Top 8, I still feel good about the deck, and that it could be a solid choice in the current Type Two metagame. With a little modification for whatever you’re expecting, you’ll have a viable deck in the Affinity world. If I were to play it again this would be the list:
Jigga Blue Two: Electric Booga-Loo
4 Annul
4 Relic Barrier
4 Vedalken Shackles
4 Echoing Truth
4 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Mana Leak
3 Hinder
3 Condescend
2 March of the Machines
2 Keiga, the Tide Star
1 Meloku, the Clouded Mirror
20 Islands
4 Stalking Stones
1 Blinkmoth Nexus
Sideboard:
3 Temporal Adept
3 Bribery
2 March of the Machines
2 Oblivion Stone
2 Time Stop
2 Jushi Apprentice
1 Meloku, the Clouded Mirror
[I would drop a maindeck Keiga and Condescend for two Inspirations and drop an Island for a Nexus. Then I’d put two Duplicant in the sideboard in place of Jushi Apprentice, which I think is pretty bad overall, but remains a decent call should you predict a control-heavy metagame. You also need a fourth Adept, but I’m not sure what you take out for it… Time Stop I ‘spose.- Knut, who actually convinced Flores to play his own deck at States and the LCQ for PT: Columbus]
As you can see, not much has changed. I replaced some of the control cards for ones that I feel are a bit better in the current metagame. Hopefully it should have a little better game against Tooth and Nail and other slower creature based decks. Try it out for yourself and tinker with it a bit, hopefully you’ll have a blast and win a bit too. ‘Til next time, mise well and always have the turn 1 Annul.