Sideboarding in Extended - Affinity

aldaryn · Joined: 02 Sep 2004 Posts: 443

I'm going to an Extended tournament (City Champs) this Saturday, and I'm playing Affinity, reasons being that 1) no one expects it around here, 2) i'm familiar with the deck more than other extended decks since i played with it a lot during mirrodin block, and 3) it seems like it should be trinket angel, which is popular around here.

Below is my deck list, it is almost identical to the one from frank karsten's mtg.com article last week, except i took out a glimmervoid for a nexus and changed chromatic sphere to terrarion (you can disagree or agree with those, but that's not the point of my post).

4 arcbound worker
4 arcbound ravager
4 frogmite
4 myr enforcer
3 ornithopter
2 atog

4 cranial plating
4 chromatic star
2 terrarion
2 shrapnel blast
4 thoughtcast
3 pyrite spellbomb

4 blinkmoth nexus
4 vault of whispers
4 seat of the synod
4 great furnace
4 darksteel citadel

sb:
4 darkblast
4 stifle
4 duress
3 tormod's crypt

You could also argue for pithing needle in the sb, and cabal therapy over duress, but I do not have those cards.

My actual question is, I have my sideboard built, and I generally know what to bring in against what decks (darkblast against boros, duress against angel/control/combo, tormod's crypt against friggorid/loam, stifle against combo) but my question is, against these popular decks (primarily trinket angel, boros, teps, and aggro loam) what should i be taking OUT? the only thing i can figure is obv against control decks/combo decks i should take out pyrite spellbomb, but since i'm bringing in more colored cards i'm loathe to take out chromatic star or terrarion...i could take out shrapnel blast but i'm wanting to goldfish aren't i? if you've played affniity before, how would you sideboard? any help appreciated....also if you think there are better cards for sideboard, let me know, but as i said i do not have pithing needle or cabal therapy.

aldaryn

Y2Jonline · Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 92

I think you want to avoid boarding out artifacts if at all possible, as that's what makes the Affinity mechanic hum. I've played with Karsten's version of the deck a little, and in all honesty, the first cards I take out (other than Spellbomb) are always Atog and Shrapnel Blast, simply because they're not artifacts and thus don't hurt your engine. And, of course, neither is anywhere as good as Thoughtcast.

I actually took Shrapnel Blast out of my version because I found it wasn't doing enough. The only situation where it seems really good is if you're facing down an unmorphed Exalted Angel, and because of the deck's speed, that issue doesn't come up too often. And if it does, you probably aren't winning anyway. Dealing 5 to the dome just doesn't seem nearly as good as just beating in with the bad robots. So I cut them for Somber Hoverguard. But if Boros suddenly becomes really popular again, I might switch them out for more Atogs.

R3wind · Joined: 24 Jul 2006 Posts: 873

Affinity is really cool. I just don't think that it is the same without Disciple of the Vault. To answer your question.

Plating>Stifle You have to stop the Angel morph.

Spellbomb or Ornithopter > Tormod's I would say Spellbomb. You have no real tagets other then the dome.

VS BWD that is really a hard choice. You really need the Spellbomb and Darkblast. I think that it would depend on the version of the deck.

Also you really do not have any answer for Counterbalance/Top. Sure you can Stifle. I think that you need a better answer?

Hope that helps. Keep in mind that I have not been to an Ext. PTQ in a long time.

Flame away.

aldaryn · Joined: 02 Sep 2004 Posts: 443

yes, you have to stop the angel morph, but morph is a special action. stifle does nothing to it.

thanks for the replies though

kokusho6 · Joined: 10 Jul 2005 Posts: 83

yeah its a state based effect

aldaryn · Joined: 02 Sep 2004 Posts: 443

Another comment about counter/top, at least with trinket angels it was not much of an issue...I don't even think stifle is worth sbing against them unless it seems like they have 6-10 fetchlands or somethnig. Anyway, counter-top can screw ravager and plating if they're lucky, but they should be very close to dead by the time they go online (they should have probably already either gotten angel out and won or be dead), but anyway, frogmite being four, myr enforcer 7, etc, makes it a bit tougher for them to always counter things, and hopefully i'll duress them before they drop counterbalance (if they drop it turn 2 or 3, they'll be dead anyway)

Y2Jonline · Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 92

Stifle is only good against Storm combo. Against everything else, it isn't worth it to dilute your deck by adding cards that do little-to-nothing.

Also, you can pretty much ignore Counterbalance/Top. If you had Pithing Needles, it would be even less of a concern, but even without them, it doesn't matter much. It doesn't really lock you down (Thoughtcast, Enforcer, and Frogmite are all very unlikely to be stopped by Counterbalance in this format), and by the time they have the combo set up, you likely have superior board-position anyway.

Malice · Joined: 02 Sep 2004 Posts: 81

Lets see, what do you board in when decks can run 1 card and kill you?... i would suggest the following:

4x Darkblast- good against katakis and boros in general, also can come in against ichorid.

4x Pithing needle- no explaination needed. 1 mana artifact that stops things

4x cabal therapy-
3x Duress- Maybe should be the other way around, but bringing these in against control/combo is always good. Without looking at your main board too much, i think this is a pretty good general side.

Squirrel88 · Joined: 02 Nov 2006 Posts: 25

i have an affinity deck that played UR instead of the 3 color one you have posted, i have played both and actually prefered mine, not that i am trying to make ne suggestions but here is my list.
4-ravager
4-frogmite
4-enforcer
4-worker
4-cranial plating
3-chrome mox
4-cromatic sphere
4-fire//ice
4-thoughtcast
3-somber hoverguard
4-sudden shock
lands
4-seat of the synod
4-great furnace
4-blinkmoth nexus
1-barbarian ring
3-dark steele citidel
2-shivan reef
sb
i don't exactly remember the board cuz the deck was built for meta in a tourney in my area which was a lot of bdw and a lot of tog suprisingly. i think it ran like some needles jittes exaustion and i think unsummon, ne way i hope this helps i guess.

IAmSoDamSian · Joined: 07 Feb 2005 Posts: 26

I played affinity in my are's PTQ Yukohama last week and i got into finals, eventually losing to flow rock. My sb was:

3x Tormod's Crypt
3x Stifle
2x Engineered Plague
2x DarkBlast
2x Overload
3x Duress

Best sb card was probably Duress as I played 4 control decks and a combo. Singlehandedly won me some games. I only played 1 goblin deck in semis, and a topdecked Engineered Plague saved won me a losing game as he had 2x Sharpshooters on board.

aldaryn · Joined: 02 Sep 2004 Posts: 443

Thanks for all of the replies.

I think black is absolutely necessary because of the sideboard (Duress and Darkblast). Attaching Cranial Plating at instant speed is also very good.

I see the light on stifle; combo is not popular here (Indiana), so it may get cut, but goblins is not popular either. I expect bdw, aggro loam, trinket angel, MAYBE friggorid.

As I said before, I cannot get pithing needles or cabal therapy soon enough.

I thought about the advice about Shrapnel Blast (taking it out), and about the fact that two of the biggest threats for this deck are Kataki (obv) and Exalted Angel, to a lesser extent. I think, despite what Karsten said, that Fire // Ice should be in this deck, to deal with those (tap angel long enough to win) and since it is just overal versatile, and very good against boros x/1 creatures.

So, I will be taking out 2 Shrapnel Blast for that, but what else do I take out? Terrarion seems clunky and an obvious choice, but is that enough colored mana? My other option is Atog, but 21 creatures already seems low to me, even if blinkmoth nexus adds 4 more.

My other question, is that if I do this, should I add more red/blue sources (either 4 steam vents or 4 gemstone mine) ? I'm hesitant to take anything out, though. Blinkmoth w/ Plating is great and I need all the artifacts I can get, including lands.

At this point, I think I should focus my questions a bit.

1.) I'm putting in 4 Fire // Ice. I'm taking out 2 Shrapnel Blast. What other 2 cards should I take out?
2.) Should I run more U/R Sources? If so, which lands do I take out?
3.) Pyrite Spellbomb obviously comes out when I bring in Crypt and Duress (and probably 1 Fire // Ice comes out too). What should I take out when I bring in 4 Darkblast against Boros?
3.5) Do I still need Darkblast when I'm running Fire // Ice? I think so at this point, but I'm not sure.
4) I agree that I should remove 4 Stifle. What should I bring in? I can certainly at a 4th Tormod's Crypt, but I still have another 3-4 slot.

Thanks again.

aldaryn

aldaryn · Joined: 02 Sep 2004 Posts: 443

small bump, also occured to me that maybe i should prepare for variants of rock, but i'm not sure what to bring in other than duress.

ViR[ITA] · Joined: 05 Dec 2006 Posts: 14 Location: Italy - Co

This is my list, it usually work very well.. let me know how can i improve it or what you think is better change.

// Lands
3 [MR] Tree of Tales
4 [MR] Vault of Whispers
4 [MR] Seat of the Synod
4 [MR] Great Furnace
3 [DS] Blinkmoth Nexus
1 [MR] Glimmervoid

// Creatures
4 [MR] Ornithopter
4 [MR] Frogmite
4 [MR] Myr Enforcer
4 [DS] Arcbound Ravager
4 [DS] Arcbound Worker

// Spells
4 [MR] Thoughtcast
3 [MR] Shrapnel Blast
4 [FD] Cranial Plating
4 [TSP] Chromatic Star
3 [DIS] Seal of Fire
3 [AP] Fire/Ice

// Sideboard
SB: 3 [SOK] Pithing Needle
SB: 3 [RAV] Darkblast
SB: 3 [TSP] Ancient Grudge
SB: 3 [TSP] Trickbind
SB: 3 [TSB] Tormod's Crypt

Horenulas · Joined: 20 Jan 2005 Posts: 1

Does affinity have an answer to destructive flow?

toguppy · Joined: 03 Sep 2004 Posts: 297

sure they do Razz

duress it early or if they play u mana leak it, or if white or green they can remove it Razz

.

it helps when the deck is basically all artifacts so u can splash colours willy nilly Razz