Dime a Dozen #13: Metal Militia

Hi everyone! I want to wish you all a happy new year. I also want to say thank you for checking out my articles and videos! Please continue to give me feedback, and let me know what you’d like to see in the future.

The deck we’re going to look at today is called Affinity. It is a strategy that relies heavily on artifacts and does some pretty unfair things once those artifacts make it onto the battlefield. The deck’s namesake affinity mechanic equates to cheap (sometimes free) spells and creatures. These include Thoughtcast, Frogmite and Myr Enforcer. In case you were wondering, drawing two cards for U or playing multiple 4/4s in a turn can be very good. Similarly, metalcraft provides a number of undercosted creature bodies and effects. The most common Pauper metalcraft cards are Galvanic Blast and Carapace Forger, with Auriok Sunchaser occasionally making an appearance. In this deck, metalcraft is always active by Turn 3, if not sooner.

So what makes Affinity good? Simply put, it is able to outclass other decks by playing 4/4s for 2 mana or less, playing the best Lightning Bolts and Divinations imaginable, and playing the biggest creature in the format: Atog. With so many artifacts lying around, Atog usually must be blocked by an opposing creature. He can even steal games from out of nowhere when paired with Fling. Not bad at all.

It’s time to go over today’s list before taking it for a test run:

Most Affinity lists run 18 lands or fewer. For me, this is not enough. I’m running 20, so I mulligan less often, and get to a critical mass of artifacts more reliably. I’ve been happy with this number so far.

Auriok Sunchaser is a product of my decision to play white over black. Disciple of the Vault can have a powerful effect on games, but white gives us the matchup-hosing Benevolent Unicorn and Standard Bearer for Games 2 and 3. It’s also never bad to have some evasion when your primary plan is to win with beats.

Lastly, I’m playing one Fling instead of the more orthodox two. I’m doing this because you never want a second one, and it is only good when you have Atog. When you don’t, it’s the worst burn spell in history (okay, maybe Kamahl’s Sledge is the worst burn spell in history). With one free spot left over, I’ve decided to play a Preordain to try and smooth out some of my draws. I’m by no means positive that this is correct since I tend to board out of that Preordain at nearly every opportunity.

I’m very undecided about the sideboard, but want to have ammo for the mirror (Ancient Grudge, Hydroblast), Fae (Pyroblast), Storm (Benevolent Unicorn) and Infect (Standard Bearer). If anything, the numbers are probably wrong here, and will require some more testing.

It’s time to battle!

In conclusion, I didn’t do so hot in this Daily Event. I think my inexperience with the deck was at least partly to blame. However, this is definitely a good deck. Playing out an explosive hand can be very fun, and some of the deck’s draws are practically unbeatable. There weren’t any real all-stars this time around, but the collective synergy of the deck worked pretty well. Affinity is something I’d be more than happy to revisit in the future, though I might consider trying out a few other cards to round out the 75.

I’ve got some questions for you guys:

What did you think of this Affinity list? What did you like, and what would you change?

Would you like to see more matches with Affinity in the future? Why or why not?

What other decks/subjects would you like me to address in future articles?

I might just give this deck another shot next time. Until then thanks for reading, and please comment!

You can find Jason
co-hosting the Pauper’s Cage podcast
on MTGO as BambooRush
on Twitter @dimecollectorsc
and on Youtube at youtube.com/dimecollectorsc