Affinity Vipin Chackonal 2nd Place at Grand Prix on 3/9/2014

Affinity is a name that’s holds a deeper meaning then just what it stands for in Modern. Part of that meaning is why people tried to reinvent the deck to be known as Robots, but that name just wasn’t accepted. Way back when it was a deck that had a huge amount of game in Standard during the original Mirrodin era it was a menace to that format. This deck is certainly not the same deck as that as there are key elements that came out of Scars of Mirrodin which made the deck a much different beast. Also, the elements around it throughout the Modern metagame even out the playing field a little.

The key to Affinity is a critical mass of artifacts and this deck boasts 48 including the manlands. The reason why the amount of artifacts is so crucial is because Cranial Plating can turn a simple tiny creature into a one or two shot killing machine as it boosts power for each artifact you control. The army comes from a variety of artifact creatures starting with zero drop in Ornithopter and Memnite which help the deck start the game by emptying as much onto the battlefield as quickly as possible increasing the total artifact count substantially. The decks true one drop is Signal Pest with it team pumping Battle Cry and uniquely evasive ability, but Vault Skirge with it Phyrexian mana cost is most often played as a one drop and can quickly gain back the life lost paying for it. Speaking about pumping the team Steel Overseer is a card that if you are allowed to untap with it on the board can quickly make your army of mites turn into ferocious battle bots quickly. Another strong card is the Arcbound Ravager which carries a lot of history in the Affinity decks. With him able to manipulate the board state and sneak damage through where you opponent left himself defenseless can create an inevitable demise for your enemy. The final creature is Etched Champion which in a land of spot removal and opponents with colored creatures it reigns supreme. Often once you attain Metalcraft with him on board it’s gameover in very few hits. There is also two set of manlands with Blinkmoth Nexus and Inkmoth Nexus, both able to help end the game but Inkmoth with it poison counters pairs up with Cranial Plating very nicely to quickly infest your opponent from the inside out.

The deck also derives it blinding ability to speed its hand onto the battlefield with acceleration pieces in the form of Springleaf Drum and the impressively powerful Mox Opal . The Mox is able to get around the Legendary drawback of only one in play for you at a time by using the recent changes to the rules and allowing you to use it for mana, play a second sacrificing the first and then using the second for more mana often powering out a huge fighting force on the first or second turn. For some amount of removal and reach there’s the megabolt in Galvanic Blast which will almost always have metalcraft to burn for four. And finally we get to the draw power of the deck and only card with the Affinity mechanic to still be included in the deck with Thoughtcast which with all the ways to speed out your threats helps to ensure those threats just keep on beating.

Eric J Seltzer