Affinity is still as good as it’s always been! This past weekend I took down a local Pauper Open with Grixis Affinity, using its explosive starts, card advantage, and backup combo to defeat the competition. I had thought about bringing UW Caw-Gates (see article here) to the Open, but after a testing session the night prior, I decided that Affinity felt so much more powerful and could not turn it down.
I have loved the Affinity mechanic ever since I played it in the original Mirrodin, and I used to play Affinity in Modern (back when it was a viable deck). When the banning of Mox Opal occurred, I shifted my love for Affinity to Pauper, where I used to kill my opponents with enormous Atogs.
However, when Sojourner’s Companion and Atog were banned in Pauper, I wasn’t sure if I still wanted to play it. After looking around at some other decks, I decided that it didn’t hurt to sleeve up the new version of Affinity just to have it around for testing. I hadn’t picked up the deck in a while, but after testing with it the night prior, I knew that Affinity was still the powerhouse that it had always been.
Creatures
Before January 2022, Atog was the main reason Affinity was so powerful in Pauper. Now that it has been removed, Affinity must rely on more ‘fair’ cards to win the game. Most of that responsibility now lies on the shoulders of Myr Enforcer, and it handles the weight quite nicely. A seven-drop 4/4 doesn’t sound like a powerful card until you realize it can come down without paying its mana cost as early as turn two.
However, we only get to run four of these in the deck, so the deck needs other ways to win. Affinity has a miniature version of Myr Enforcer in Frogmite, which usually ends up being a free 2/2 that gets you closer to casting your Myr Enforcer for free. There is also a backup Myr Enforcer in Gurmag Angler, which can come down for as little as one mana and provide some of that needed extra power and toughness.
For those of you who say there are no board wipes in Pauper, clearly you have never played Affinity, which gets to run a one-drop boardwipe. Of course, I’m talking about Krark-Clan Shaman, which can easily wipe the board in a pinch. Simply hold priority and sacrifice as many artifacts as you wish before allowing all the triggers to resolve, effectively wiping the board.
The last creature that this deck utilizes is a new addition, and while the list I used only runs one copy, I believe I will be increasing that number to at least two copies. Kenku Artificer may seem obviously powerful in Affinity to the average viewer, as it can turn any of your unused artifacts into a 3/3 flier, but it’s way more powerful than you think. The correct play is to target one of your indestructible artifact lands, turning it into a 3/3 flier.
Even if your opponent kills your Kenku Artificer, the land will remain a 3/3 indestructible flier, since it's a permanent effect. I can not tell you how many games I won this past weekend because I turned my land into a creature, and my opponent simply said, “well, I can’t kill that, so I guess I lose.”
Spells
Most of the spells in Affinity are rather self-explanatory. Galvanic Blast is a very powerful removal spell that can sometimes deal four damage right to your opponent's face for lethal. Thoughtcast lets you draw two cards for one mana. Metallic Rebuke enables you to use your unused artifacts to counter your opponent’s spells.
Really what needs to be focused on are Deadly Dispute and Reckoner’s Bargain, which are the most important spells in the entire deck. These two spells do so much for this deck that without them, Affinity would not nearly be as powerful as it currently is. My opponent in the finals of the Open even remarked that in Affinity, “Deadly Dispute and Reckoner’s Bargain are basically Ancestral Recall.”
Deadly Dispute is an incredibly useful spell in this deck for many reasons. The first reason is that although you need to sacrifice an artifact or creature (usually it’s an artifact), Deadly Dispute replaces that artifact with a treasure token as well as drawing you cards. That means you don’t have to sacrifice your artifact count for Affinity to play this spell.
Often the treasure completely replaces the mana used to cast Deadly Dispute, as it can be used for your artifact count for Affinity and sacrificed for mana. For example, if you have a treasure token and five other artifacts with a Myr Enforcer in hand, you can actually cast Myr Enforcer. Because of how costs are paid, Myr Enforcer sees that you have six artifacts in play, applying the discount and making it only cost one mana, which you can sacrifice the treasure token for.
While Reckoner’s Bargain does not get you a treasure token, it does something that in some matchups is even more powerful; it gains you life. If you are playing against burn or any other aggressive deck and you sacrifice a Myr Enforcer to Reckoner’s Bargain, it’s game over. A seven-life swing is often enough to get you out of range of your opponent’s burn spells and dig you through your deck to find more Reckoner’s Bargains.
Artifacts/Enchantments
Speaking of digging through your deck, that is what Deadly Dispute and Reckoner’s Bargain are best known for and why my opponent referred to them as Ancestral Recalls. This list runs a playset of Chromatic Stars and Ichor Wellsprings, which draw you a card when they leave the battlefield. If you cast a Deadly Dispute or Reckoner’s Bargain and sacrifice a star or wellspring, you will draw three cards plus gain a treasure token or life.
This right here is one of the reasons why this deck is so powerful. If your opponent tries to one-for-one you and you cast one of these spells, it’s usually game over. Surprisingly, getting to Ancestral Recall in Pauper is good. Who knew?
The scary thing is, I’m not even done with how good these spells are due to another new addition to the deck: Blood Fountain. Not only does Blood Fountain get you two artifacts for only one mana, but it creates a blood token that you can use to sift through your deck, and it can be sacrificed to return two creatures to your hand. You can now go turn-one Blood Fountain into turn two Frogmites and Myr Enforcers.
You flooded out? Sacrifice the blood token to get a new card. You sacrificed your Myr Enforcer to a Reckoner’s Bargain and your Frogmite to a Deadly Dispute? Sacrifice Blood Fountain and get them back into your hand, most likely casting them for free again. Even being able to sacrifice your Kenku Artificer and bring it back to make another 3/3 flier is just busted.
As you can see, I can go on and on about this deck, but I’ll wrap it up here with the secret killer combo that this deck uses in Makeshift Munitions. Let's say that you and your opponent go back and forth trading off resources, and you get to a game state where they are at a low life total, but you only have lands left. On your turn, you topdeck a Makeshift Munitions. Suddenly, all your artifact lands have now become Lava Darts, and you can easily pitch all of your useless artifacts at your opponent’s creatures or right to their face.
Final Thoughts
If you ask most Pauper players what the most powerful decks are, most will probably say Affinity. Affinity has fast and explosive starts with Myr Enforcer, enormous card advantage with Deadly Dispute and Reckoner’s Bargain, a built-in boardwipe with Krark-Clan Shaman, a combo-kill with Makeshift Munitions, late-game recursion with Blood Fountain, and evasion with Kenku Artificer. In short, this deck does it all.
I honestly recommend this deck to anyone. While there are some big heads-up plays and secret lines, the game plan is quite simple: put a ton of artifacts on the board and turn your big creatures sideways. I hadn’t played with Affinity in several months, and I was able to pick up the deck the night before a Pauper Open and win with it. I’m not saying the deck is easy to play, but once you understand the flow of the deck you will do just fine.
Also, this deck is literally only $60 to make, and you probably already have most of the cards lying around. I’m pretty sure the most expensive card in the deck is Deadly Dispute at $3. This is by far the highest selling point of playing Pauper and one of the reasons I love it so much, as you can build a top-tier deck for really cheap, and most of the cards you probably already own.
If you started playing Magic after the original Mirrodin was printed and never got the chance to play with Affinity cards, I highly recommend you give this deck a try. Artifacts have always been one of the most powerful parts of Magic the Gathering, and the only thing that makes powerful artifacts better is when they are free to cast.
The winning decklist can be found here. Tournament Guide for the Pauper Open will drop later this week!
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