Variant Pez: White control

[fooligan]

so my local pez guys play with this variant rules scheme... cards are set to their highest rarity... 1.5 banned llist...and no scepter... making the game a very different one.
from what ive heard, sligh and affinity seem to be the dominating archetypes... and tho i havent seen any lists i can expect them to seem pretty non-threatening...

so ive drummed this up to combat

3 enlightened tutor
2 genju of the feilds

4 razor golem
4 angelic curator
4 thremal glider
2 noble templar

2 rune of protection red
1 rune of protection black
1 rune of protection green
1 rune of protection white

3 faiths fetters
3 pacifism
1 emyprial armour
2 seal of cleansing

4 wayfaryers bauble
3 secluded steppe
1 ancient den
19 plains

as far as i can see the only md artifact hate seems to be 2-of disenchants and varried compliments of hearth kamis/goblin vandals so i figure golem is a fine inclusion.

blue was going to be an inclusion but i eventualy figured the deck really didnt need it, except possibly for energy flux...
as it stands im not sure the extra genju is really doing anything for me
the templars are just there to add to the consistancy abit while providing a sizable body if drawn later... but they could easily be replaced by various other threats or a land and some more utility.

you have ridiculous game against red and 'finnity and weenie isnt too bad either tho i havent been able to test against tog too much...tho i should... ive got a build...
'same deal with elves and r/g...
but im pretty sure i have game against just about any deck...

thoughts...?

[Abdullah]

Hi Fooligan

If Red is so prevalent, why not max out on Rune of Protection: Red and drop the other Runes?

There are a lot of Pro Red creatures at Common level that might help you.

It also sounds as if you need maindeck Disenchants of your own to deal with Affinity.

Yours

Gandalf

[fooligan]

seals perform the function of disenchants, which i plan to max out on the board as well as some possible actual disenchants. faith's fetters also helps on that front.

id be interested in more prored guys, most likely acolyte, but im skitish to remove anything from the maindeck.

the additional runes do seem to take up a bit of the maindeck(and the sideboard) but i think the contingency facor wins out... at least for now.. but its still something im looking over...they do cycle afterall...

id like to find a man that will outclass or atleast block and kill an enforcer...or something that doesnt die to a fireblast...

[Abdullah]

Hi Fooligan

I can see what you mean with Seal of Cleansing, but I don't think the Seal is an optimal card. Your opponent can see the Seal on the table and play around it by putting down weaker cards and saving their best artifacts and enchantments until the Seal has been used. Disenchant is an instant and carries more surprise value. The number of slots taken up by both cards should be about the same.

I can see that you like pro Red and pro Artifact creatures. In your meta, I can understand why!

Artifacts/Enchantments

Artifact Ward (http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=3260) - stops all damage from artifact sources for one creature, and gives it evasion against artifact creatures.

Auriok Transfixer (http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=11328) - taps target artifact and only costs W. It will slow down affinity a little bit.

Devout Witness (http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=6509) - reusable artifact/enchantment destruction, for the price of a discard.

Dust to Dust (http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=2119) - remove two target artifacts from the game.

Leonin Elder (http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=11333) - gain 1 life whenever an artifact comes into play.

Ray of Distortion (http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=9317) - costs 3W but has flashback, same function as Disenchant. Flashback cost is a bit high though.

Reliquary Monk (http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=6230) - destroys an artifact or enchantment when it goes to the graveyard.

Reverse Polarity (http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=1543) - some fun against affinity!

Sphere of Purity (http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=11349) - reduce all artifact damage by 1. You could tutor for it, but it may be a little too slow.

Stasis Cocoon (http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=11919) - stops artifact creatures and activated abilities.

Pro Red

Crimson Acolyte (http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=7460) - pro Red and can give other creatures protection from Red.

Defender of Law (http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=6299) - 2/1 pro Red.

Disciple of Law (http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=6843) - 1/2 pro Red and cycles for 2. It would fit your deck well. It isn't pro Artifact, but if you can get an Empyrial Plate onto it it should survive just about anything you mentioned.

Freewind Falcon (http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=5846) - flying, pro Red.

Pilgrim of Justice (http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=9315) - 1/3 pro Red, sac to stop damage from a Red source.

Repentant Blacksmith (http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=2343) - 1/2 pro Red.

You've probably seen some of these already, but I just thought I'd cover them to be sure.

Empyrial Armor is your biggest threat, yet you're only using one. Why not add a few more? I would run the full 4 of if I were you. It's the best way you have of turning your creatures into serious threats.

I don't understand why you have an Ancient Den in the deck. -1 Den, +1 Secluded Steppe?

Faith's Fetters is good against most decks, but far too slow against Affinity. I prefer Cage of Hands (http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=11959) to Pacifism as Cage can be moved around. Arrest (http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=11326) is also better as it stops activated abilities. Then again, Statis Cocoon is best against all artifacts.

Yours

Gandalf

[fooligan]

ill adress some of the rest later... but id like you to be aware of the ammount affinity loses when cards are valued at highest rarity.
thopter, tog, sphere... just afew of the major loses along with a restrictive banned list that limits sol ring and other strong inclusions.
affinity becomes alot slower.

i think fetters is alright because it makes up for the wait with afew extra turns pushed against an opposing clock, and it also performs double duty against trixy artifacts and equipment.

but some useful advice, keep it comming.

[Abdullah]

Hi Fooligan

I'm not sure where you're getting the restrictions from. I just checked the rules post at the top of the forum. While there are certain banned cards, none of them come from Affinity. Maybe you're thinking of Extended or another format?

Atog is an uncommon. If you run that plus Disciple, with Skullclamp and Thoughtcast for extra drawing power, maybe Lotus Petals and all the other artifacts at Common rarity that cost 0 mana and the artifact lands - not banned here as far as I know - then Affinity is still very powerful.

Yours

Gandalf

[fooligan]

this is a variant peseant format, the restrictions are: cards count as their highest value(thopter, sphere and atog are uncommon), 1.5 banned list (no sol ring no clamp) and no scepter... but berserk is legal... but im not sure anyone around owns any....
so one would be forced to play terrarion and petal in order to play the coloured spells needed to make pez affinity work... and a 3colour affinity seems very far off.
the best bet seems to be a r/u affinity deck playing 3/2 split of atog to blast, along with cast hoverguard maybe 6 counters and acouple of spellbombs aswell as the rest of the cast. playing 20 lands ans 6-8 fixers...

classic ravager and sarnia style affinity decks lose alot of punch through the dual deduction of rarity and subsequently the additional varriant limititations... which although make for a strong deck in the format... allow for a little more room to turn the tables on them.
im pretty confident my deck can keep up... im proxying up my affinty build right now.. its a bit rough but its more or less what im tuned to.

[Abdullah]

Hi Fooligan

Let me know what results you get after you have played your current Pez deck against Affinity.

Yours

Gandalf

[fooligan]

that might be a while... its new years here but ill get to it when i can

[fooligan]

tourny on friday

[fooligan]

didnt do very well... but... it was a very small sample... and midway through the tourny... holy light
disciple was a beating b/c i couldnt remove it and eventualy a lategame atog could finish things, or my cop couldnt hold off an elf deck with 32 men all day especialy with access to life to offset my fliers...
but holy light changes all that! the card was a total shocker and is deffinately going to see some play.

but right now ive got another pet project....

[Abdullah]

Red and Black are the only colours that I can think of that have effective mass removal needed to deal with creature hordes like Elves, but you found a good answer for White with Holy Light.

The only other answer you have is to beat down with evasive fliers and keep up with life gain of your own. I found this to be a very effective Kami block draft strategy and I see no reason why it couldn't work for Peasant. Ghost-Lit Redeemer (http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=12441) is particularly nice. It worked wel for me.