Standard Affinity Decks

Oh naturally...

Yeah, artifacts are quite strong at the moment. Chief of the Foundry is really rather good and in the event you find a couple more it could be worth running a playset. Got any Darksteel Citadels from M15 (or MM etc..) well they go incredibly well with Thopter Spy Network (which goes incredibly well with - most of your list really)

Oh and don't forget whilst it is still legel - Ensoul Artifact.

Going into rotation artifacts and colorless will probably matter quite a bit (in fact we've seen previews of mechanics that confirm that) so it might well be worth having a little bit of a try out with a list like the above to see what plays well and what synergies you can find.

You are right - it's not full on affinity but it is actually viable.

Well yes, there is some definite seeding going on.

Spidersilk net isn't bad at all to be fair. We talked about 0 cost artifacts a little while ago on another thread and this one is actually reasonably efficient. It can turn a mana elf (go on, pick one.. there are lots to choose from) into a 1/3 blocker with reach at the end of turn 2 (Turn 1: Forest + Elf. Turn 2: Forest, Net, net onto elf which hasn't been tapped for mana).

Now ok, it's only a 1/3 blocker but it buys you some time where you can't be attacked until your opponent has managed to get something big enough to be worth it (stops thopters all day long...) and if you happened to be playing green then every turn increases your chance of ramping into something really big and nasty.

If only there were some really big and nasty things coming into standard soon that green decks could go all out to ramp into. Oh wait...

It depends what else is in there and what the game plan is. They are good for buying time but not good for actually advancing you by themselves. They don't provide you with any extra damage and don't protect the creature they have been placed on from kill spells or deathtouch.

It's also 2 mana to put them onto something so you'd want them in a deck where mana isn't going to be a problem otherwise you stall yourself by putting them onto creatures instead of casting other things. However in the right deck where they are there for a definite reason then yes - a set might work out.



That's it in a nutshell. Get your card pool --> decide on your decks main gameplan --> make the first cut of anything that doesn't advance that --> decide on an alternate win condition (unless you are mono-red )--> 2nd cut of cards that won't be flexible enough to support either strategy --> test what you've got to see what's lacking and what overperforms then adjust as needed

At the moment it will be Theros and, I think, M15 going. Khan's + BFZ replace Theros and Origins replaces M15.

Hmm - I'd mainly look in Origins if I'm honest. I'd want to be building into a shell that would stand up for a while and Origins is the naturally 'seeded' set for Zendikar. However I would probably do a quick search on Gatherer for the artifacts from Khan's block and display then by community ranking (descending) and then perhaps look at the first 12 or so to see if anything lept out at me.

Sounds reasonable. It's been a long, but good, day