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Esper Affinity OTK Deck Guide: Taking It to the Finals at the MTGO Challenge
About the Deck and the Idea Behind It
Hi everyone, I haven't been playing Pauper for a while because I was testing with Team Worldly Counsel for the Pro Tour and taking some vacation time. So, imagine my surprise when I came back this Saturday morning and was informed by Pauper regular and Boggles enthusiast, Hinahara, that there are new broken cards in the format and they aren’t seeing much play!
The Broken Cards
All That Glitters
All that Glitters truly shines, as it takes into account your lands. If your plan is to flood the board with other artifacts like Blood Fountain, this effect can honestly be quite broken, even in a format full of removals such as Pauper.
Reverse Engineer
Reverse Engineer is essentially an expensive Thoughtcast. Casting it with the help of improvise isn't too difficult, especially when you have cards like Springleaf Drum, Blood Fountain, Ornithopters, Frogmites, or Clue Tokens. These are typically just laying around to be used later in the game. You will usually only have to pay UU to draw three from turn four onwards.
These are the cards that stuck out to me the most, both of these need a cheap enabler and I have been wanting to include Ornithopter and Springleaf Drum into Affinity builds for a while now so it seemed like the best opportunity to make somewhat of an Affinity combo deck, honestly the deck immediately made sense since I have always been exploring Affinity builds like this old 5-0 Aggro Affinity.
The Deck
So, it was quick and easy to build this because these cards are incredibly powerful. Hinahara helped me find the missing pieces and included some unusual tools in the sideboard.
$89/82.95 Tix
Maindeck (60)
| Creature [18] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 4 Frogmite | $0.49 | |
| 4 Myr Enforcer | $1.49 | |
| 4 Thraben Inspector | $0.49 | |
| 4 Ornithopter | $0.39 | |
| 2 Kenku Artificer | $0.35 | |
| Artifact [12] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 4 Chromatic Star | $0.35 | |
| 4 Springleaf Drum | $0.59 | |
| 4 Blood Fountain | $0.39 | |
| Instant [2] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2 Metallic Rebuke | $0.35 | |
| Sorcery [7] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 4 Thoughtcast | $1.29 | |
| 3 Reverse Engineer | $0.35 | |
| Enchantment [4] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 4 All That Glitters | $0.99 | |
| Land [17] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 4 Ancient Den | $3.99 | |
| 4 Seat of the Synod | $2.29 | |
| 4 Mistvault Bridge | $0.35 | |
| 4 Razortide Bridge | $0.35 | |
| 1 Island | $0.01 | |
| Sideboard [15] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 Circle of Protection: Blue | $0.35 | |
| 1 Circle of Protection: Green | $0.35 | |
| 4 Dust to Dust | $9.99 | |
| 1 Dispel | $0.35 | |
| 2 Nihil Spellbomb | $0.79 | |
| 4 Hydroblast | $4.99 | |
| 2 Turn Aside | $0.35 | |
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Similar Decks
Proxies
Archetype Analysis
Magic online format
Apprentice and MWS .dec
How It Works
At first glance, this deck appears very powerful. However, its weakness lies in its lack of interaction. You are drawing a lot of cards and out-valuing your opponent, and you can bring your creatures back with the help of Blood Fountain. However, you spend so much mana setting up these value engines that you risk falling behind on the board and potentially dying to creatures that you can't answer due to a lack of removal.
Covering Your Weaknesses
That’s where All That Glitters comes into play, making your creature unreasonably big and able to kill in one hit. This covers the deck's weakness, as opponents have to strategize to finish you off quickly while also protecting themselves against dying instantly.
Basically, most of the draws from this deck are slower than those of any other deck in the format. However, All That Glitters reverses these situations, making Affinity the fastest when drawn. This is what allows you to include many greedy draw spells, such as Reverse Engineer, despite lacking answers.
I immediately submitted this for the Saturday challenge and was rewarded for playing such a powerful and explosive strategy. I reached the finals and lost a super close game 3. My opponent needed to hit multiple good cascades to survive.
https://mtgdecks.net/Pauper/affinity-decklist-by-mogged-1723939
Tips and Tricks
Tip #1: Keep Opponents Guessing
This is a new deck, and it benefited from having some unexpected lines, like Ornithopter hitting for 10 on turn 4. Future builds might need to introduce a few interactive pieces, like Blacksmith's Skill, to keep opponents guessing.
Tip #2: Drum First
Preferably, it is better to play Springleaf Drum before creatures; that might prevent opponents from leaving you without a creature to get that drum mana.
Tip #3: Best Target
Ornithopter is the best target for All That Glitters, as it changes from insignificant to the strongest entity on the board, and it also has evasion. However, in most matchups, there's a significant amount of artifact hate postboard which either destroys, exiles, or shuffles the artifact. This makes Thraben Inspector the best All That Glitters target, along with the 1/1 body of Kenku Artificier postboard.
Tip #4: Fighting Removal
Sometimes, when having to fight removal, it's better to focus on drawing cards and denying their mana. Then, wait until you have multiple All That Glitters to go for the kill.
Tip #5: Flooding
When you are flooding, it's better to retrieve Thraben with Blood Fountain rather than Myr Enforcer and the like.
Tip #6: Think Twice
Take long pauses during early turns to figure out the best way to deploy your artifacts and lands. It's not always straightforward. Some spells have a higher priority to resolve than others, and there can be a lot of actions involved sometimes.
Tip #7: Crack Early
Colored mana is hard to get early, but don't hesitate to crack your Chromatic Star even at 0 mana to look for enforcers and frogmite. This is especially true when you are low on mana, if you foresee your next turns having enough colored mana to cast your spells. Blood tokens are also relatively easy to crack for the same reason, since winning involves some looting away from the lands.
Tip #8: Inevitability
You might have a quick kill on your deck, but you are still assuming the control role in most matchups and have inevitability. Don't be afraid to play it slow if you are not under pressure.
You can learn more about “The Inevitability” in our previous article “The Art of Sideboarding”
Tip #9: Simply Tap
You can use Rebuke to simply tap out your opponent sometimes, if you have All that Glitters in your hand, ready for the kill.
Tip #10: Turn Aside
Turn Aside is a way to protect your enchanted creature, but it also serves as a counter to hate cards like Dust to Dust. It's very versatile.
Sideboard guide
Burn
Game 1 is tough since you are likely dead by turn 5, and it's challenging to enchant your creature due to threats of instant speed removal. The situation improves post-board, as Turn Aside and Hydroblast act as protection and removal.
Boros Synth
Racing is probably difficult when you have to defend against a lot of hate, but the right strategy can definitely lead to success: use the tips & tricks!
UB Serpent
Note that this plan is succeeding with Kenku, using Ornithopters and the like as a protective wall against removals and Edicts.
Boggles
Just mull for a quick hand. You can't interact with them, as they can't interact with you either. Essentially, you are racing, and your enchantment is usually larger than theirs.
Affinity UBR
Gorilla Shaman is the only issue in this matchup; otherwise, your plan is more solid and your artifact hate is better than theirs.
Cawgates
In Game 1, you have to enchant and go for the kill, probably using an artifact creature so it doesn’t get hit by prismatic. In Game 2, it's a bit more challenging to be aggressive since you have to fend off a lot of hate, so the game is likely to be slower and won by Frogmite/Enforcer attacks while defending against Dust to Dust.
RG Ponza
U Faeries
Tron
Final words
This is one of my favorite decks to play, and I think Pauper is a really underexplored format that offers many opportunities for innovation. I can't think of anything more exciting than playing 0 mana creatures, drawing a lot of cards, and hitting for double digits.
This deck has it all!