Pauper: Let's talk about Affinity... again

Let's be honest: how many more cards will Affinity ban before we admit that the mechanic, known for leading to one of the biggest waves of bans in Standard history, is broken for Pauper?

In just the last few years, this mechanic has highlighted several variants that eventually led to the banning of four consecutive key cards: Atog, Disciple of the Vault, Sojourner's Companion and the newly -banned All That Glitters, plus a “collateral” ban with Prophetic Prism.

Now, Cranial Ram, the fifth potentially banned card will arrive in the format with a probable expiration date: June 24, the day of the next official announcement of Magic's banned and restricted cards and the problem is still there: a deck that received powerful additions and Modern Horizons 2 remains the biggest cause of bans in Pauper's history in a few years, where we will face, once again, another situation where the biggest problem is not being addressed.

Cranial Plating was banned for a reason, All That Glitters was banned for the same reason, and Cranial Ram will be banned as well. Point, there is no situation in Pauper today in which the inclusion of a “Cranial Plating we have at home” would be beneficial to the format unless we have the release of a common card that destroys or exiles more artifacts than Dust to Dust for a low cost - and given the impossibility of a Shatterstorm on steroids being released at low rarities, Cranial Ram is likely to last less than a month of play.

With that out of the way, shall we talk about the real problem?

Mirrodin's artifact lands are one of Pauper's pillars and one of the card cycles that have always been in the competitive scene.

First as part of Affinity lists, then in Kuldotha Boros variants, and later gained more prevalence as more interactions with artifacts emerged, being today in Kuldotha Red and even in some Golgari Gardens or Goblins lists to sacrifice with Deadly Dispute.

In a more direct context, this cycle counts as a “Sol Land” for any card with affinity for artifacts, with the main ones in the format today being Frogmite, Myr Enforcer and Thoughtcast, in addition to making your land drops count for any card that cares about artifacts - like the recently banned All That Glitters and, obviously, Cranial Ram.

They benefit Affinity's more aggressive and "all-in" stances while helping decks like Boros Synthesizer maintain the consistency of casting Glint Hawk or enabling Metalcraft for Galvanic Blast - and even before MH2, it was common to find Jeskai Affinity variants with 12 of these lands and Prophetic Prism to enable Auriok Sunchaser.

The cycle, however, only became a problem when another land cycle mitigated its main weakness in the Metagame:

Since Modern Horizons II, the number of interactions with artifacts and/or archetypes that make use of them has increased significantly in Pauper. It's no longer just about Affinity doing things: Golgari Gardens, Jeskai Ephemerate, among others, take advantage of Bridges to create micro-interactions with Metalcraft and/or for cards like Deadly Dispute, forcing the format to adapt with the constant use of Dust to Dust and similar, like Deglamer, on Sideboards.

Once in the format, the Bridges basically dictated the Metagame most of the time, with exceptions occurring when an even more broken mechanic emerged in Pauper (Initiative is a good example) or when an archetype like Kuldotha Red was able to play under decks like Affinity, or when players prepared too much with eight or more pieces on the Sideboard just for the games where they matter.

This nature, despite being cyclical, has not changed: the MH2 lands continue to dictate Pauper and has given Affinity and other artifact-dependent strategies the perfect safety valve to mitigate their biggest weaknesses: Gorilla Shaman doesn't work as well when the opponent has eight or more indestructible lands, and while Dust to Dust can win the game on its own - especially if played on turn 3 - it loses a lot of effectiveness as the game extends.

For practical purposes, Bridges gave Affinity plenty of resilience while also giving it the consistency needed for optimal color access in both two- and three-color variants.

Cranial Plating was one of the first cards banned from Pauper and for a reason: to keep the rest of the archetype functional, it was more practical to ban it than to ban the artifact land cycle. It's the reverse logic to what was applied in Modern, where fear of this archetype's oppression and other possible interactions caused the lands to be removed from the format even before Modern's first Pro Tour.

This logic remained in Pauper for a long time and Atog and Fling were never a problem before Modern Horizons II because, like Dredge and other more linear strategies in Modern, Affinity in Pauper held itself in a space where it was excellent when no one expected it, and terrible when the number of Gorilla Shamans and/or Shenanigans started to grow on the Sideboards to keep it in check.

And if we look at this spectrum, it's difficult to say that the problem is Mirrodin's lands, making it easy to point to Bridges as being to blame for the deck's potential rise and oppression, but what if we look again at the cards banned since its launch?

Sojourner's Companion added too much consistency in every way: mana, threats, pressure, interactions - it would probably be banned with or without the Bridges, as there was no room for such an aggressive game plan that could still support the interaction between Atog, Fling and Disciple of the Vault.

Atog and Disciple of the Vault were a natural consequence of Bridges. Affinity became too consistent, managing to have Aggro, Midrange or Combo stances depending on each matchup, and common hates like Dust to Dust interacted terribly with Atog and its combination with Disciple of the Vault - in addition, Deadly Dispute created another interaction in the deck and benefited it with even more card advantage, leaving it one step ahead of the Metagame.

All That Glitters is a peculiar case because despite being banned for very similar reasons to Atog (giving a combo-kill to a consistent deck), its ban was caused by the speed that the original Mirrodin cycle offered to Azorius variants while Razortide Bridge offered the consistency of playing 16 artifact lands without any concessions - and in addition to the release of Novice Inspector in Murders at Karlov Manor, which leveraged the number of one-drops that generate value and artifacts on the board - it was also caused by the fact Boros Synthesizer started running it.

In short, we can blame Bridges for one ban cycle, Mirrodin lands for another, and we have Sojourner’s Companion, which would likely be banned with or without Bridges.

And it's important to remember that it wasn't just a land cycle that entered the format and supported Affinity.

Magic, as a whole, has become a more permanent-based game and a natural consequence is that we have more cards creating permanents and/or permanents doing effects that we would previously see in spells.

In Pauper, this resulted in more artifacts being released and more cards that create artifacts present in the format.

Blood Fountain, which generates a Blood token and recursion, would easily be a sorcery in other times. Deadly Dispute, which has become a staple, would never create a Treasure token before, and other permanents like Tithing Blade would be generic edict effects with set mechanics that wouldn't be geared toward permanents.

The rise of Affinity is, naturally, the sign of the times for Magic - a game that has worked much more with the information on the board than with the hand now than in previous decades.

Given the points above, how can we adapt Affinity in Pauper to the point where it is no longer the imminent danger of the format with each new release or slip-up by the design team around interactions with artifacts on common cards?

More immediate bans

The first and likely option is to reduce the time between the card's release and its ban. It is very likely that Cranial Ram, due to the obvious comparisons with Cranial Plating and the recent precedent created by All That Glitters, is the card to be banned the fastest in Pauper's history, but they have the same speed with other less obvious problems?

Overall, the Pauper Format Panel has done a good job of banning obvious issues too early while also leaving room for players to try to resolve other cards before they take hasty action: Initiative cards only took a few weeks to get banned precisely because it became evident that there was no way to solve the problem generated by them and its deck would naturally get caught up in the rest of the format because the best way to take advantage of the mechanic was to play it too early with mana acceleration.

However, we also had cases like All That Glitters, which took nine months to be banned and whose intervention probably came from the rise of Boros Glitters as one of the best decks in the format after Novice Inspector entered Pauper.

We can say that, before this change, the Metagame was relatively balanced and Azorius Affinity didn't cause so many problems because the other decks managed to adapt, but the “free win” precedent was already everywhere - again, Cranial Plating was banned for a reason - and an Aura version of the card clearly wasn't what Affinity needed at the time.

Therefore, if we are going to accept that Affinity in its current composition is here to stay in Pauper, it is also necessary to consider that it is the archetype with the greatest potential to break the format today and, consequently, demands more attention and more immediate responses than other strategies today.

Ban the Bridges

While they aren't necessarily to blame for the current state of the format, Bridges changed Pauper forever and will be a mainstay of Affinity as long as they remain.

Wanting to permanently fix the archetype problem involves, consequently, banning Bridges and letting the format correct itself based on their absence, even if the consequences are not necessarily the most positive that many players expect.

Launch more efficient answers

As it is a format highly influenced by the Limited, it is natural that Pauper has more threats and problems than answers to them.

As I mentioned in my previous article, the format suffers from the absence of spells like Flusterstorm to deal with Chatterstorm or Vandalblast to deal with Myr Enforcers and Frogmites, and any common card that tries to cover this problem ends up falling into the category of palliative solutions, such as Cast into the Fire, which work for what they propose, but are not enough to slow down the Affinity.

Cards like Fiery Cannonade are unlikely to enter Pauper without being through downshifts from Multiplayer sets like Commander Masters, relegating us to very situational launches to include sweepers or other more impactful effects in the common slots - and yet, some effects like Stony Silence or Rule of Law would never come out at this rarity because their effects are too parasitic and frustrating for Limited.

This relationship between Limited and Pauper will not change and, to a certain extent, is part of the beauty of the format, but the natural consequences are that we will always have more threats to the Metagame than efficient answers to them, we lack resources to deal with mechanics that require more specific hates, as in the case of Storm and Affinity.

Accept Affinity as the new Faeries and wait for power creep to do the work

Finally, the other option is to change nothing.

For many years, blue Tempo strategies, known for the combination of Spellstutter Sprite with Ninja of the Deep Hours or for being led by Delver of Secrets and counterspells, were considered the best decks in Pauper with the combination of efficient cantrips, Gush, Daze and, later, the use of splashes for other colors.

It took the rise of the Boros Monarch and, later, the banning of Gush and Daze, caused by Foil's release in Ultimate Masters, to reduce the Faeries' space to the point that it was no longer always the best deck in the format, and yet, it has remained and continues to be at the top of the Metagame.

Affinity has followed a similar pattern: its core is so consistent that it is difficult to take it off the top, and just as Foil or Fall from Favor and Treasure Cruise proved with Faeries, any slightly more powerful addition is enough to make it unbalance the format - but like its predecessors, it also has a role in the competitive scene by keeping certain strategies in check while being vulnerable against others.

Accepting this nature and Affinity as one of its pillars is a necessity. Intervention by banning the Bridges is less likely, while the original Mirrodin cycle is unlikely to be left out of the format, as they don't present the real problem in the archetype.

Magic is a game in constant evolution, and power creep is a reality in it every year: half of the commons that see play in Pauper today would be uncommon or even rare in 2017, and eventually, more powerful cards with mechanics aimed at other strategies will be launched and will cause the format to undergo changes around a new best deck.

Eventually, this best deck won't be broken, just strong enough, and the Metagame will shape itself around it. We don't know if Affinity will be in this equation, but it will certainly stop attracting all eyes because a new competitor has emerged to take its place, and at that moment, the attention of online discussions about Pauper's health will put aside the Bridges controversy to talk about the new “problem”.

Until that day arrives, my plans in the first weeks of Modern Horizons 3 are to equip an Ornithopter with Cranial Ram and attack flying, with the guarantee that, if it takes a Lightning Bolt, my Myr Enforcer can wear the new Cranial Plating and exert the same pressure.

Thanks for reading!