The Top Decks of Pauper: Affinity

In this series we will walk you through the top decks of Pauper as played on Magic Online. Pauper is the Magic Online format where you are only allowed to play commons.  These are the official rules: http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/resources.aspx?x=magic/rules/pauper

We will be using this tier page as the basis or our walkthrough: http://mtgostrat.com/pauper-tier-listing/

Today we will be discussing Affinity, a tier one deck that has recently undergone a major change.

Earlier installments in the series:

Delver: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2013/10/the-top-decks-of-pauper-delver.html
Stompy: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2013/10/the-top-decks-of-pauper-stompy.html
UB Trinket Control: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2013/10/the-top-decks-of-pauper-ub-trinket.html
DelverFiend: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2013/11/the-top-decks-of-pauper-delverfiend.html

 

The traditional Affinity deck

Special_Kyle explained this deck very well in this classic podcast:
http://www.mtgcast.com/mtgcast-podcast-shows/active-podcast-shows/pauper-cage-podcast/paupers-cage-9-affinity

2 Darksteel Citadel
2 Krark-Clan Shaman
4 Thoughtcast
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Myr Enforcer
4 Carapace Forger
2 Terrarion
2 Chromatic Star
4 Galvanic Blast
4 Vault of Whispers
2 Fling
4 Tree of Tales
2 Chromatic Star
4 Frogmite
4 Great Furnace
4 Atog
4 Disciple of the Vault
4 Seat of the Synod

Sideboard
2 Krark-Clan Shaman
4 Hydroblast
4 Pyroblast
2 Doom Blade
3 Ancient Grudge


The new Perilous Affinity deck

The printing of Perilous Research in Modern Masters and the banning of Temporal Fissure enabled Affinity to be a little slower but a lot more consistent.

I will let Chamois's 3-1 deck from the Daily on November 11 exemplify this idea:

4 Ancient Den
2 Darksteel Citadel
4 Great Furnace
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Tree of Tales
4 Atog
4 Carapace Forger
4 Frogmite
3 Myr Enforcer
4 Chromatic Star
2 Fling
4 Galvanic Blast
3 Ichor Wellspring
4 Perilous Research
4 Springleaf Drum
2 Terrarion
4 Thoughtcast

Sideboard
3 Ancient Grudge
3 Hydroblast
3 Krark-Clan Shaman
4 Pyroblast
2 Ray of Revelation





The idea

This is an aggro-combo deck. Either you overwhelm the enemy with 4/4s (work on all aggro decks) or you resolve Atog-Fling for the win (against midrange and Control decks). The recent inclusion of the Perilous Research - Ichor Wellspring engine allows you to outdraw the Control decks, making almost every non-aggro matchup better.

Financial implications of the deck

Since the Modern bannings of the artifact lands, nothing in the main deck is really expensive. If you cut the Hydroblasts and Pyroblasts in the sideboard, you can build this deck very cheaply ... but don't! You need your Hydros and Pyros.

For more detail about how to play the deck, listen to the podcast above. It is really the best audio walkthrough of any deck I have ever heard.

Learn more about Pauper

Here are some more relevant Pauper videos and articles
-----------------------------------------------

Competetive Pauper Cast - our podcast about winning Pauper tournaments: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/mtgostrat.com-cpc/id698010096

Jphsnakes reinvents Freed from the Real combo in the LOVE TRAIN deck: http://mtgostrat.com/2013/07/my-train-of-thought-decks-im-thinking-of-abusing/

Bava plays Po Dragons in a Pauper Daily. Deck list and tech here: http://mtgostrat.com/2013/05/pauper-brew-po-dragons-by-andrew-lakie/

A Pauper Chat with Deluxeicoff - Episode 2 (DelverFiend & Elves): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YX3F5UPtv0

More about the deck Illusory Tricks: http://mtgostrat.com/2013/05/pauper-brew-illusory-tricks-by-bava/

DelverFiend deck list and interview with Deluxeicoff here: http://puremtgo.com/articles/pauper-chat-deluxeicoff-episode-2-elves-and-delverfiend

A Pauper Chat with Deluxeicoff (hexproof)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C1-SXibr0Y

Every article about UB Trinket Control on mtgostrat.com:
http://mtgostrat.com/category/trinket-control/

The Pauper Gauntlet first season recently finished:  http://puremtgo.com/articles/pauper-gauntlet

A Pauper Chat with Deluxeicoff - Epsiode 3 (BorosKitty & Grey Ghost)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb0i8vkwPAo

Pauper Walkthroughs Episode 9 - Delver with Cweaver
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxavc6y8sbg

Pauper Walkthroughs Episode 6 - UB Trinket Control
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuDh39fnifU

Pauper Walkthroughs Episode 5 - Stompy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwOntadLP6g

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