Legacy: Pinnacle Affinity - Deck Tech and Sideboard Guide

Greetings, Legacy community! When I started writing articles for Cards Realm, one of my first pieces was an 8-Cast guide.

Two years later, thanks to a new Robot from Edge of Eternities, the deck that was in limbo, its foundation adapted into what today we call Artifact Blue, has been reborn in Legacy with an old name: Pinnacle Affinity!

I missed Pinnacle Emissary when I first reviewed Edge of Eternities. In my mind, it was worse than Sai, Master Thopterist, which was already losing space in this archetype. And, indeed, if we compare them by their full-cost and base stats, the new Robot loses in nearly all aspects. Firstly, it costs 2 mana of different colors in a deck that is supposed to be Monoblue, and Drones, unlike Thopters, are not that great defensively because they can only block flying creatures. But that's not all: Emissary's 3 toughness is more vulnerable than Sai's 4 toughness, and it doesn't create resources from unused Artifacts.

On the other side, it isn't a legendary card and is, by itself, an Artifact, so it interacts with its own synergies. And, of course, it has Warp!

The fact Emissary has Warp completely changes how we play it. For 1 blue mana, it can explode the board with Drone tokens already on turn 1, and these tokens will, in turn, interact with your Affinity and Improvise synergies and also make Urza's Saga tokens a lot bigger. Being able to do on turn 1 what Sai didn't consistently do on turn 2 completely changes the dynamic of Emissary's effect.

And, though it won't stay on the board threatening the opponent with more tokens as Sai does, it will be there in the exile, waiting for you to use it in the future. Warping Emissary on turn 1 practically guarantees you can play Thoughtcasts, Thought Monitors, and Kappa Cannoneers for very little on turn 2.

The list we'll use today won 5 matches in a row at a Magic Online league in the hands of "pewpew444". It doesn't stray too far from the usual, but it is quite redundant. It plays 4 out of each of the 4 main creatures: Emry, Lurker of the Loch, Kappa Cannoneer, Thought Monitor, and Pinnacle Emissary. Likewise, it also plays the entire Thoughtcast kit to complement Monitor, 4 Force of Will because it is a blue deck, many 0-cost Artifacts and Seat of the Synod to make the main synergies even more powerful. Finally, it plays a decent toolbox to get with Urza's Saga (Shadowspear, Soul-Guide Lantern, Aether Spellbomb, and Lavaspur Boots).

An interesting addition to this list are the 4 Sink into Stupor. Besides useful as a land, they're also useful as flexible answers against problematic cards and as more blue cards to feed Force of Will, which is often a concern with a deck that plays so many colorless cards.

Finally, here's something you typically see in Stompy decks: Chalice of the Void, which this deck can regularly put in play for 1 on turn 1 without much issue to disrupt many decks in Legacy.

Usually, when a new card breathes some new life into a traditional archetype that was forgotten for a long time, many players are willing to dust off their old cards to see what this new thing can do. 8-Cast, at its peak, was one of the most popular decks in Legacy, and the possibility of seeing it in action again is quite attractive to many of us.

It is also an aggro deck that plays enough resources to not melt away immediately when facing certain combo decks. It also has enough resources to push some damage through and build a decent board even when facing cards that interact with Artifacts.

As, unlike most blue archetypes, this deck doesn't play Brainstorm or Ponder, mulliganing well is critical. This isn't a combo deck, but you should map out your first few turns and try to figure out if you can create enough Artifacts to use your Affinity and Improvise cards on these turns.

Let's see a few opening hands:

This is a great hand! On turn 1, you can already explode by Warping Pinnacle Emissary with Force of Will as protection. You can open with Volcanic Island, Warp Emissary, Mox, and Petal and create 2 tokens. This is already enough to discount the cost of Thoughtcast to 1 and enable Mox's Metalcraft. Depending on what you draw, you can even get enough Artifacts to Improvise Kappa Cannoneer on turn 1!

Verdict: you can easily keep it.

This hand is too risky because it doesn't have lands. It threatens Kappa on turn 2 or Monitor on turn 1 (you declare you'll play the spell with Affinity, and the game will check its mana cost based on your Artifacts, and, in this case, discount it by 5. Then, you can sacrifice the 2 Petals to pay the 2 mana). The problem is that this type of hand is too vulnerable to counters and doesn't do anything for sure later on.

Verdict: I'd mulligan it blindly, but it is valid against decks that don't play counterspells.

This is a trap. It may seem safe, but it is actually quite slow, vulnerable to Wasteland, and can't make sure you get your mana's worth from your cards. You can only keep it in one case: if you know you're playing against Oops. If that's the case, then this is the hand you want.

Verdict: mulligan it, except against Oops All Spells.

This hand is quite average. It can't explode on turn 1, and, even on turn 2, it only creates 2 tokens to accelerate Kappa. Against a few decks, you might end up keeping it because it has Force of Will as protection and isn't useless, just slow. I don't like it.

Verdict: mulligan it, but you can keep it when you need Force of Will in your hand.

Like any deck without cantrips, the sideboard below is quite straightforward and redundant, except for the cards that complement Urza's Saga. Let's take a look.

Harbinger of the Seas is a big threat against decks like Lands and Eldrazi. One of the best things about it is that it is immune to Boseiju, Who Endures, and, as this deck plays Force of Will, you can protect it from Dismember.

Force of Negation is another answer to explosive Combo decks. Faerie Macabre is the necessary evil considering Dimir Reanimator is 20% of the format. Dismember can deal with problems the size of Clarion Conqueror and Collector Ouphe.

Finally, the extra tools in our toolbox: Grafdigger's Cage is another graveyard answer that complements Faerie Macabre and Soul-Guide Lantern. Pithing Needle disrupts both Nadu, Winged Wisdom and Mystic Forge lists. Finally, Surge Node, which is the weird card in this sideboard, is a way to answer Chalice of the Void for 0.

Dimir Reanimator

You can already disrupt their main plan with Soul-Guide Lantern and win the race against Atraxa, Grand Unifier with Kappa Cannoneer and Drone tokens to protect your life points. Chalice of the Void for 1 is phenomenal.

Post-side, get more graveyard answers, though I don't see a need for the Force of Negations too.

In:

Out:

Dimir Aggro

This is perhaps one of the best reasons to play Affinity: Dimir doesn't have any efficient answer to either your horde of flying tokens or Kappa Cannoneer, and you can do all of this relatively guilt-free. As it usually happens in matchups against Tempo decks, your Force of Wills open some space for your active cards. Pithing Needle is here to disrupt Tamiyo, Seasoned Scholar exclusively, as this card is a big problem for your tokens.

In:

Out:

Forge

Both decks in this matchup explode with Artifacts, but the opponent can disrupt you with The One Ring and, even worse, Karn, the Great Creator. If you manage to build a board full of tokens on turn 1, this planeswalker could be a little less problematic, but he is quite complicated to deal with in other situations.

Post-side, you'll get more answers to deal with these two cards. Harbinger isn't the threat it was when it killed their Sagas, but it does disrupt their lands considerably.

In:

Out:

Red Stompy

Whoever knows the opponent's deck better will win game 1, as they can simply play Chalice for 0 instead of the usual Chalice for 1, and the same goes to us if we spend our resources to play a useless Chalice for 1. The one card you'll need is Kappa Cannoneer: they don't have an answer for this Turtle, particularly if you play it with Shadowspear.

Post-side, Force of Negation and Surge Node will make Chalice for 0 hurt a bit less. Pithing Needle won't let them use Broadside Bombardiers to steal games.

In:

Out:

Lands

You already naturally have answers to their plan A (Dark Depths + Thespian's Stage through Sink Into Stupor or Aether Spellbomb) and their recursive plan B (Life From the Loam with Soul-Guide Lantern). You're even somewhat resilient to Wasteland because you can create mana with Mox Opal. On the other side, The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale can deal with your board full of tokens. Post-side, your plan is resolving the Harbinger and carrying it to a win.

In:

Out:

Pinnacle Affinity (or 8-Cast, if you think the old name is better) isn't fickle. It has a lot of potential and can attack a part of the format that isn't ready to deal with large boards. At the same time, it can also focus all its firepower into a single, unblockable, and extremely difficult-to-kill creature: Kappa Cannoneer. And all of this with Force of Will as backup!

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!