Affinity PrimerI. IntroductionAffinity is a traditional deck that can be found from all Eternal formats and it is always doing relatively well. Pauper doesn't make an exception to this, actually Affinity is one of the tier1 decks in Pauper (12/2011).
Pauper has always been aggressive deck that fills the board with aggressive creatures and races for the win. Synergies make the deck run smoothly and Affinity mechanic makes sure you have the best board presence in the early game, not only in number of creatures but also in the quality of them. Affinity also has a small combo option.
There are two typical Affinity builds in Pauper with some variance of course. This thread will explore both types WUBR Affinity & UBRG Affinity.
II. The DeckManabase & FixingThe most problematic area of Affinity. Affinity is an aggressive deck that generally runs 16-20 lands. And the lands are vulnerable to removal as basic lands are replaced with Mirrodin artifact lands to boost Affinity mechanic. 4 colours with shaky manabase is the achilles heels of this deck and artifact manafixing is needed.
Springleaf Drum: Decent fixing that can turn Disciples of the Vault & creatures with summoning sickness into any mana.
Chromatic Star & Chromatic Sphere: Cheap manafixing that triggers Disciple and digs you for more cards.
Terrarion: Slower version of the above mentioned.
Prophetic Prism: One mana slower than Chromatic fixers but stays in the battlefield.
Lotus Petal: Efficient one time fixer that can create very pacey starts.
Aggressive creaturesThe deck beats other aggressive decks by playing more efficient creatures and also in high volumes.
Carapace Forger: Two mana 4/4. Green option.
Auriok Sunchaser: White substitute for Capapace Forger. Always smaller but has evasion.
Frogmite: Usually a free 2/2.
Myr Enforcer: Cheap 4/4.
Somber Hoverguard: Cheap 3/2 flier.
Atog: Two mana 1/2 that can eat artifact to finish the game if unblocked.
Somber Hoverguard: 3/2 flier with affinity.
ComboAffinity also has an out for stalled boardstates in the form of Atog/Disciple of Vault with the option for Fling.
Disciple of Vault: Always makes the clock faster because Chromatic fixers trigger it quite many times and also adds value for creature trading. Atog just makes DoV silly by making it a reach utility.
Fling: Offers the possibility to win games from far behind. Eat artifacts with Atog and Fling for 15 isn't unusual.
Draw EngineThe deck needs steam and while the manafixing artifacts dig deeper the true draw power is the most cost-efficient card in the format (heck even in Legacy!).
Thoughtcast: 90% of the time -> U: Draw 2 cards, only one card less than Ancestral Recall!!!
Rush of Knowledge: Expensive draw spell that can draw up to 7 cards in this deck. Sees some play as a one of.
Sideboard optionsLightning Bolt: Galvanic Blasts #5-6 if needed.
Gorilla Shaman: The single best card for mirror match, first turn Shaman = win.
Ancient Grudge: More ways to battle in mirror.
Doom Blade: Spot Removal.
Diabolic Edict: Edict Removal.
Pyrite Spellbomb: Early removal/late reach that also triggers Disciple.
Duress: Hand disruption, effective against Izzetpost.
Hydroblast: Hate for red decks.
Pyroblast: Hate for blue decks.
Krark-Clan Shaman: Board sweeper against some decks.
Echoing Decay: Board sweeper.
Scar: One mana instant to battle infect.
Scale of Chiss-Goria: Protection: Instant speed free +0/+1 for your creature.
III.The Deck Lists yugular's Fling Affinitywww.mtgdeckbuilder.net/Decks/ViewDeck/218464IV. The MatchupsAffinity - Mirror: Matchup really depends on who has the better sideboard options and happens to get them on starting hand. Mulligan decisions are really important. Turn Gorilla Shaman is usually a win on a play.
Sideboarding:
Gorilla Shaman is definitely the best card against Affinity, but horrible topdeck - therefore it is suggested to only side in 2-3. Ancient Grudge is good backup.
Izzetpost - No data yetBurn - Even: Burn has about as fast clock as Affinity and can turn our clock slower. Mulligan decisions are important as early Frogmite & Carapace Forger are needed to race for win.
Sideboarding:
Duress can do some work against Burn and Hydroblast is obviously awesome!
MBC Rats - Good: Affinity doesn't care too much about discard as Affinity goes very early on topdeck mode. Also our creatures are way more powerful in the battle. Crypt Rats is vital for MBC in this matchup.
Goblins - no data yetSideboarding:
Pyroblast works well against monored decks and Echoing Truth can get you huge tempo swing in your favor.
White Weenie - no data yetMonoG Infect - Bad/EvenInfect can pull turn2/turn3 wins against Affinity easily, but Affinity can race pretty quickly if their plan A goes wrong. Affinity usually also has blockers so that they need trample to connect.
Sideboarding:
Scar is useful since it doesn't care about UEOT pump. Diabolic Edict is also vital! Affinity needs high creature count to race Infect and therefore you need to side out some fixing.
Mono U Delver - Very bad:Delver has all the tools to keep the board position favorable for him/her. Some of our creatures do nothing against delver and the ones that do get countered. Fling strategy is also very hard to pull off against delver. Best chance is to get few early damage and finish the game with burn + disciple dmg.
Sideboarding:
IN: Pyroblast is good against this deck and Duress can have some merit. Straight up removal/edict effects are also good against Delver since many of their creatures have high toughness and evasion.