Introduction
This deck is part of the Pauper Decks, which are made from only common cards. The great thing about Pauper is the majority of the cards are cheap to buy, and are still strong as there are quite a lot of good common cards over Magic's history.
Key Strategy
The Grixis Affinity deck is a powerful, artifact-based strategy that leverages the synergy between cheap artifacts and potent creatures to dominate the battlefield. This deck utilizes the affinity mechanic to play large threats at a reduced cost, while generating value through card draw and removal. The deck's strength lies in its ability to flood the board with threats quickly while maintaining a steady stream of resources through efficient card draw and sacrifice effects. Grixis Affinity combines the raw power of artifacts with the versatility of the Grixis color combination (blue, black, and red), making it a formidable choice for players who enjoy aggressive and resilient strategies.
Affinity Creatures + Artifact Lands: At the heart of the deck are the affinity creatures Myr Enforcer and Gearseeker Serpent. These creatures benefit from the number of artifacts you control, reducing their mana costs to as little as zero. With a heavy reliance on artifact lands like Seat of the Synod, Vault of Whispers, Great Furnace, and the Bridges like Mistvault Bridge and Silverbluff Bridge, you can easily flood the board with artifacts, allowing you to cast these creatures early and often. Myr Enforcer is a 4/4 that can be played for free in the right setup, while Gearseeker Serpent becomes an unblockable finisher when you have enough mana.
Blood Fountain + Sacrifice Effects: Blood Fountain plays a dual role in this deck, acting as both a source of artifacts and a tool for recursion. Its ability to return two creatures from your graveyard to your hand is invaluable in a deck that often sacrifices its creatures for value. Pairing this with sacrifice effects like Deadly Dispute and Reckoner's Bargain allows you to draw cards and generate treasure tokens while ensuring that your key creatures like Myr Enforcer and Gearseeker Serpent can be recast from the graveyard. Blood Fountain ensures that you can keep up the pressure even after trading creatures or losing them in combat.
Ichor Wellspring + Sacrifice Engines: Ichor Wellspring is another crucial piece of the deck’s engine, providing card draw when it enters or leaves the battlefield. By pairing it with sacrifice outlets like Deadly Dispute, Reckoner's Bargain, and Krark-Clan Shaman, you can generate value by drawing extra cards while triggering effects that care about artifacts leaving the battlefield. This synergy keeps your hand full and helps you dig deeper into your deck for more threats or removal.
Reckless Fireweaver + Artifact Flood: Reckless Fireweaver adds an extra dimension of damage to the deck, turning every artifact that enters the battlefield into a source of direct damage. With the sheer number of artifacts you can generate through lands, treasure tokens, and cards like Ichor Wellspring, Reckless Fireweaver can quickly chip away at your opponent's life total, acting as a secondary win condition. This card is especially potent when you’re able to flood the board with multiple artifacts in a single turn, turning what would otherwise be a value play into a game-ending threat.
Chromatic Star: Chromatic Star provides mana fixing and card draw, making it a flexible and valuable addition to the deck. When sacrificed, it replaces itself by drawing a card, which is crucial for maintaining momentum in the deck. It also synergizes well with cards like Deadly Dispute and Reckoner's Bargain, offering even more value when sacrificed for those effects.
Galvanic Blast: Galvanic Blast serves as efficient removal and a potential finisher. With metalcraft (which is easily achieved in this deck), it deals 4 damage for just one red mana, allowing you to clear threats or directly damage your opponent. This spell ensures that you can handle opposing creatures or deliver the final points of damage needed to win.
Kenku Artificer: Kenku Artificer brings an interesting twist to the deck by animating your artifact lands, turning them into flying creatures. This can catch your opponents off guard and adds an additional layer of aggression to the deck. Not only does it allow you to apply pressure from the air, but it also turns your artifact lands into threats that can both attack and block, further enhancing the deck's synergy.
Krark-Clan Shaman: Krark-Clan Shaman offers board control by allowing you to sacrifice artifacts to deal damage to all creatures. This can clear the board of smaller threats, especially in matchups where your opponent is going wide with creatures. Its ability to reset the board while you maintain your larger affinity creatures makes it a valuable tool in certain matchups.
Grixis Affinity is capable of overwhelming opponents through both aggressive and grindy game plans. The deck can go wide by flooding the board with cheap, powerful creatures like Myr Enforcer and Gearseeker Serpent, while also leveraging direct damage from Galvanic Blast and Reckless Fireweaver to finish games quickly.
The combination of card draw from Thoughtcast, Ichor Wellspring, and sacrifice effects ensures that you rarely run out of gas, allowing you to maintain pressure throughout the game. Additionally, the ability to recur key threats with Blood Fountain and animate your lands with Kenku Artificer gives the deck a surprising amount of resilience and reach, enabling you to close out games even after a lengthy battle.
Grixis Affinity is a deck that thrives on the synergy between cheap artifacts and powerful creatures, offering a blend of aggression, card advantage, and direct damage that makes it a formidable choice in any meta. With the ability to cast large creatures for free, draw cards efficiently, and deal damage both on the ground and from the air, this deck has the tools to outpace and outmaneuver opponents in a variety of situations. Whether you’re slamming down a free Myr Enforcer, drawing extra cards with Ichor Wellspring, or burning your opponent out with Galvanic Blast, Grixis Affinity provides a dynamic and rewarding gameplay experience that can take you to victory.
Key Cards
Cards to look for in the opening hand