Legacy

Food for Thought – Tezzeret Affinity

Harrow everyone! Food for Thought is the name of this new column of mine and it is named as such because that is all I am going to be able to give you guys on a bi-weekly basis. Between having a day job and running the whole damn show at Mana Deprived, there really isn’t time for me to write extensive articles. If you want more KYT, just tune in to one of the two podcasts that I have created (the Eh Team or Crazy Talk, take your pick as they are both awesome).

This first article is going to talk about the Tezzeret Affinity build that we had kept under wraps here at the Mana D headquarters (I wanted to unleash it at GP Providence). I am going to first quickly run down which builds I have played since getting my hands dirty with Legacy. It all started in January (pre-Besieged), when I had to scramble for a deck to play in the FacetoFaceGames.com Invitational tournament. I took arguably the easiest deck and won the whole thing. The specific list that I ran was created by Patrick Chapin and you can read about my tournament experience here.

[deck title=Affinity – Kar Yung Tom]
[Lands]
2 Darksteel Citadel
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Tree of Tales
4 Vault of Whispers
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
4 Arcbound Worker
4 Arcbound Ravager
2 Myr Enforcer
4 Disciple of the Vault
4 Frogmite
2 Ornithopter
4 Memnite
3 Etched Champion
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Glimpse of Nature
4 Cranial Plating
3 Springleaf Drum
4 Thoughtcast
4 Mox Opal
[/Spells]
[Sideboard]
3 Duress
2 Tormods Crypt
2 Chalice of the Void
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Relic of Progenitus
4 Mindbreak Trap
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

A very standard [card]Disciple of the Vault[/card] + [card]Arcbound Ravager[/card] build that splashed green for [card]Glimpse of Nature[/card]. [card]Glimpse of Nature[/card] seems like it is awesome, but in theory and in practice, it has proven to be alright. The obvious downside to [card]Glimpse of Nature[/card] is that it is not a great top-deck for Affinity. Usually, you drop your entire hand on the first couple of turns. You then draw Glimpse but then need to wait to draw creature cards for Glimpse to even do anything.

Even in your opening hand, it can be awkward. A starting seven with Disciple, Ravager, [card]Cranial Plating[/card], [card]Etched Champion[/card], Glimpse and 2 lands is fairly standard. Can this particular hand abuse [card]Glimpse of Nature[/card]? Probably not. [card]Glimpse of Nature[/card] is powerful but inconsistent. I did win the Invitational with Glimpse drawing me 5 cards late in the game, but that’s only because my opponent was not doing anything, so I held onto the [card]Frogmite[/card] and Glimpse in my hand until I had one more creature to get the most value I could from Glimpse. I am pretty sure “waiting” should not be a part of the Affinity game plan.

So if not green, then what other color could we tap into? When I was playing against Affinity when it was Standard legal, some versions splashed red for [card]Shrapnel Blast[/card]. Nowadays, it is all about [card]Galvanic Blast[/card]. Michael Eisenhauer and Lukas Parson both took turns making top 8s at recent SCG Open events with very similar lists.

[deck title=Affinity by Michael Eisenhauer]
[Lands]
2 Darksteel Citadel
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Vault of Whispers
4 Great Furnace
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
4 Arcbound Worker
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Signal Pest
4 Frogmite
4 Disciple of the Vault
3 Myr Enforcer
3 Ornithopter
3 Memnite
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Cranial Plating
3 Springleaf Drum
4 Thoughtcast
3 Mox Opal
4 Galvanic Blast
[/Spells]
[Sideboard]
2 Engineered Plague
1 Cabal Therapy
3 Thoughtseize
2 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Etched Champion
3 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Relic of Progenitus
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

[deck title=Affinity by Lukas Parson]
[Lands]
1 Blinkmoth Nexus
1 Darksteel Citadel
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Vault of Whispers
4 Great Furnace
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Signal Pest
4 Frogmite
4 Disciple of the Vault
4 Myr Enforcer
2 Etched Champion
4 Memnite
2 Ornithopter
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Cranial Plating
3 Springleaf Drum
4 Thoughtcast
4 Galvanic Blast
3 Mox Opal
[/Spells]
[Sideboard]
3 Engineered Plague
3 Thoughtseize
3 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Relic of Progenitus
3 Pithing Needle
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Mirrodin Besieged was legal for these two tournaments, so we get to see more changes outside of including [card]Galvanic Blast[/card] over [card]Glimpse of Nature[/card]. The inclusion of 4 copies of [card]Signal Pest[/card] in both lists is the other thing that catches my eye. In Eisenhauer’s tournament report, he compares [card]Signal Pest[/card] favorably to [card]Etched Champion[/card]. In his opinion, they basically do the same thing in terms of being evasive but [card]Signal Pest[/card] is cheaper. Do I agree?

[card]Etched Champion[/card] was my MVP against creatures decks during the Invitational tournament. It would get equipped with a [card]Cranial Plating[/card] and finish off my opponents in one or two turns. It felt so good that I even advocated possibly having a full playset in my tournament report. However, Eisenhauer’s logic made a lot of sense to me. If all I cared about was the [card]Etched Champion[/card]’s evasiveness, then [card]Signal Pest[/card] could indeed play the same role.

However, I do want to note that I have won games with [card]Etched Champion[/card] that [card]Signal Pest[/card] could not have won me. The Dredge deck certainly has a bunch of fliers that can block a [card]Signal Pest[/card]. They do play [card]Putrid Imp[/card]s and [card]Narcomoeba[/card]s right? I remember winning a game where I would attack with the Champion and after declare blockers step, sacrificing all my artifacts to Ravager and then putting all of my counters on [card]Etched Champion[/card] for the win.

There’s of course the question of how relevant the protection from all colors on the [card]Etched Champion[/card] is. If my opponent has artifact removal, they are probably going to destroy my [card]Cranial Plating[/card] in either case, so I think it’s a wash if that’s what they are holding, but if they have burn or bounce in hand, then [card]Etched Champion[/card] is obviously preferred. The Champion is also the better blocker but hopefully, you will not be doing too much blocking when playing Affinity.

This is not a be-all end-all discussion of [card]Signal Pest[/card] vs. [card]Etched Champion[/card]. This is just Food for Thought. See what I did there?

Moving on, we have last weekend’s big winner: Tezzeret Affinity.

[deck title=Tezzeret Affinity – Blake McCracken]
[Lands]
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Vault of Whispers
4 Seat of the Synod
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
4 Signal Pest
3 Myr Enforcer
4 Frogmite
4 Ornithopter
2 Etched Champion
4 Memnite
4 Master of Etherium
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Cranial Plating
3 Springleaf Drum
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
4 Thoughtcast
4 Mox Opal
[/Spells]
[Sideboard]
3 Thoughtseize
3 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Relic of Progenitus
3 Pithing Needle
3 Diabolic Edict
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

This list looks extremely similar to the list Alex Hayne created for me to play in a local Legacy tournament a few weeks ago. Not only was I able to make top 8, but the list drew attention from a lot of the better players that day. 4 Tezzerets in a Legacy deck. How could you possibly look away? Now that the cat is out of the bag, I can satisfy my Twitter followers by revealing our list. I would like to thank Alex for allowing me to call this our deck. I may have been its chief pilot but the concept of our version was all Alex.

[deck title=Tezzeret Affinity – Kar Yung Tom]
[Lands]
4 Ancient Den
2 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Vault of Whispers
4 Seat of the Synod
3 Darksteel Citadel
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
2 Etched Champion
4 Arcbound Ravager
2 Ornithopter
4 Memnite
4 Master of Etherium
3 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Frogmite
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Cranial Plating
4 Thoughtcast
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Mox Opal
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
[/Spells]
[Sideboard]
1 Etched Champion
3 Mindbreak Trap
3 Tormods Crypt
3 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Perish
3 Thoughtseize
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

What can I say about our build? I think Alex said it best on episode #3 of Crazy Talk. If you have ever played Faeries, you know there are two particular versions of it. One of them tries to play cards that are synergistic with one another and the other plays cards that are more powerful on their own. In our case, while the combination of [card]Disciple of the Vault[/card] and [card]Arcbound Ravager[/card] is a lethal combination, we opt for Tezzeret who can win games by itself. Of course, this should not be misunderstood as us saying that our deck has 0 synergies. It is just less dependent on them.

I want it to be clear that Alex and I do not believe a certain take of Affinity is stronger than the other. We have not tested enough. For now, we only claim that they are different and that both versions are viable. The game plan of the Disciple versions of the deck usually consists of an early rush of damage followed by a [card]Disciple of the Vault[/card] or a [card]Galvanic Blast[/card] to finish the job. Our version goes for less frequent hits, but harder hits. This is to be expected as Tezzeret is a slower card and we are playing more lands to support said Planeswalker.

One of our innovations exemplifies our game plan. Its name: [card]Inkmoth Nexus[/card]. Instead of punching the opponent a few times and activating a [card]Blinkmoth Nexus[/card] for that final hit, we choose to knockout our opposition with one uppercut using an Inkmoth Nexus. In the tournament that I top 8ed in, I was able to sacrifice everything to a Ravager and then to an [card]Inkmoth Nexus[/card] to kill a Merfolk player in one blow. Is this all potentially too cute? Maybe, but it is definitely an idea worth playing around with.

The lack of [card]Arcbound Ravager[/card]s is one of the more notable features of McCracken’s list, which is something I am not sure about. I had considered cutting [card]Arcbound Ravager[/card]s from our list due to the fact that they felt a lot less explosive without [card]Disciple of the Vault[/card]s. 1/1 for 2 mana. Whoppty do! But Alex was quick to remind me that it is still a great card that works really well with [card]Etched Champion[/card], [card]Ornithopter[/card] and [card]Inkmoth Nexus[/card]. Without Ravager, a lot of cards in our deck would need to rely too heavily on Cranial Plating.

Another notable feature of McCracken is the mana base he decided to go with. 4 [card]Blinkmoth Nexus[/card] might be better than I think, but both Alex and I would prefer artifact lands because you do not need to tap them to heighten your artifact count for your Affinity spells. I also would like [card]Ancient Den[/card]s so that I can actually cast my [card]Ethersworn Canonist[/card]s on a more consistent basis in post-sideboard games.

[card]Phyrexian Revoker[/card] in the main deck is one of the unique features of our list and even though I feel that it is extremely awesome (I have shut down multiple Aether Vials with it), I feel playing less copies in the main deck or relegating them completely to the sideboard is a smart decision. I am just not a big fan of having it in my hand where it is going to be my turn 2 play and I have no clue what my opponent is playing yet.

In terms of sideboarding, one of the questions I had to ask Alex was what he felt was the best choice for graveyard hate because there are many options out there. You can play [card]Nihil Spellbomb[/card], you can play [card]Tormod’s Crypt[/card] or you can play [card]Relic of Progenitus[/card]. All choices I have seen in the sideboard of Affinity builds. All of the SCG participants seem to prefer the Relic, but Alex believes that the speed of [card]Tormod’s Crypt[/card] (0 to cast and 0 to activate) is what makes it the ideal choice. You usually only need that one turn that a graveyard hate card buys you anyways, so the speed should be more valued than the extra card you can net with the other choices.

The build is continually evolving. One of the main ideas we had for the sideboard was having 4 [card]Force of Will[/card]. It’s funny how with Tezzeret and [card]Master of Etherium[/card], we actually play enough blue cards to support it. I am definitely trying them out after getting completely obliterated by a Show and Tell deck. He [card]Show and Tell[/card]’d [card]Emrakul, The Aeon’s Torn[/card] into play on turn 2 twice in a row, which prompted me to tweet “How consistent is Show and Tell” across the Twitterverse.

If you want to see an endorsement for a playset of Force of Will from a pro player, here’s a snippet of a discussion I had with Gerry T. He said:

“Seems like 4x FOW is pretty awesome. Do you want more Thopters with Tezz and Plating? Seems like Memnites power isn’t all that relevant since you’ll be winning big the majority of the time. You don’t really nickel and dime them out.”

It felt good to know that we are probably on the right track and with that, we end this article.

Leave comments. Please. I need some Food for Thought.

KYT

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