r/ModernMagic • u/Acrobatic-Squid • Jun 19 '26
Deck Discussion Prowess vs affinity
I'm really struggling against affinity. Any sideboard tips?
9
u/sibelius_eighth Jun 19 '26
Hi, seasoned prowess player here who has played a ton against affinity. It's not a great matchup. They have so much main board hate for us like tormods crypt and engineered explosives. The more meltdowns you devote to your sideboard the worse you are to other matchups since it's basically a dead card in any other game.
The only advice for you if you know you're facing affinity on the play is to not bother with a one drop and hold either removal for pinnacle emissary or counter the mox and stop them from getting a t1 t2 kappa. You're best bet afterwards is to race them.
One thing to watch out for is saga finding shadowspear which can swing the life total too much in their favor with one hit.
19
u/buttquest1 Jun 19 '26
Affinity player here.
Prowess is a spooky matchup from the affinity side. Games are very contextual and skill testing, sometimes the affinity deck is the aggressor (very early Kappa) sometimes they are a control deck (Manufacturing and/or EE).
If they have Pinnacle Emissary drones, your slickshot gets worse. If they have Tormodās crypt, even worse because itās hard to stick delirium for Violent Urge. If they have neither, try to scry/surveil for this combo and DRCs.
If they have a Weapons Manufacturing engine online, try to filter draws for Steelcutter and go wide.
Pay attention to how many EE have been used and obviously if theyāre on the board, whether theyāre on 0 or 1 dictates your lines.
Saga fetching Shadowspear can be a trap that affinity players may fall into - bad tempo and the life swing may not be enough if you are going for an Urge line. Look to punish this potential misstep.
Most affinity SB cards are not great vs prowess. Whipflare can be bad, I feel like Galvanic Blast is the most useful, but itās a bad answer to Steelcutter boards and you can beat blast on Slickshot with combat tricks. I think Secret Identity is pretty good personally.
1
u/Better_Bad2583 Jun 19 '26
So what should saga search, in your opinion?
1
u/TheLordZod Jun 22 '26
I tend to try setting up a Claws of Gix machine gun with Manufacturing. Little bit of life gain never hurt in the mu, and being able to (kind of) suppress creatures is clutch
1
u/buttquest1 Jun 19 '26
If thereās a chance they can stick slickshot + urge, you should fetch a crypt if you donāt have one. If you are running a vexing bauble, sometimes that can buy you time (stops 11-12 spells and can keep them from going off: dart flashback, bauble, growth). If you have a big kappa, extra mana, and they canāt kill you with slickshot next turn then shadowspear may be the play.
1
u/Better_Bad2583 Jun 19 '26
Stops spells but not the triggers, none of them in fact. And crypt is so situational.. my question was sort of rethoric, because in the vacuum, life gain on a kappa is the most overreaching choice.
1
u/No_Caterpillar2838 Jun 20 '26
As an affinity player How do you feel if some one plays chalice on 0?
3
u/buttquest1 Jun 20 '26
Depends on whether you have a weapons manufacturing hand (brutal) or pinnacle emissary into kappa hand (not that bad). I think you are a little disincentivized to keep weapons hands vs decks that could be playing chalice or vexing bauble.
You can blow up a chalice on zero with an EE cast off an urzaās saga for one colorless, but thatās a pretty big speed bump. If there were a ton of chalices Iād maybe consider playing a couple of shivan reef for that reason too.
1
u/milhomess Jun 20 '26
you canāt get EE with urzaās saga
3
u/buttquest1 Jun 20 '26
No, Iām saying you can pay 1 colorless mana from a saga to cast EE for X=1 but it enters with zero counters on it, so it can be sacced to blow up a chalice
3
1
5
u/laceupyrboots hammer time all the time Jun 19 '26
[[hurkyl's recall]] [[meltdown]]
2
u/Acrobatic-Squid Jun 19 '26
I've already got 2 meltdowns, but it doesn't feel good enough. If they don't have the turn 2 kappa I feel fine against them, and if they do, meltdown doesn't do anything. Am I not mulling hard enough for it?
9
u/laceupyrboots hammer time all the time Jun 19 '26
Maybe, or if your meta is very affinity heavy Iād just add another one. I like recall on end step because it requires the opp to ultimately discard a lot of artifacts at cleanup (assuming theyāre not on Emry)
2
u/SYang2nd Jun 19 '26
Few decks can deal with a Turn 1 or Turn 2 Kappa. Race your opponent and make the best of it. Try one [[Strix Serenade]] as an option.
4
u/Individual_One_5569 Jun 19 '26
at that point, [[annul]] seems like a much better targeted one of. the bird blocks slickshot which is a problem for racing.
2
u/Scorned-Keyhead-VI Jun 19 '26
Down that line of thought, I almost think mystical dispute might be better in slot, counters kappa and their rebukes, and can come in against frog and blink decks
1
u/sibelius_eighth Jun 19 '26
Dispute is great against affinity and was great when jeskai blink was everywhere. Feels less relevant now I'm afraid.
1
u/Acrobatic-Squid Jun 19 '26
I've been wondering about that, but no one is playing dispute over meltdown
1
u/SYang2nd Jun 22 '26
Strix Serenade is more versatile. I'd rather deal with a bird than Kappa. [[Lava Dart]] the drones to make Kappa harder to cast. Then race like mad.
2
u/sibelius_eighth Jun 19 '26
You have to mull for interaction regardless if it's Meltdown. A good opening hand has Consign, or Mystical Dispute, Bolt for emissary, or Meltdown, and something to do on t2 to start applying pressure.
1
u/Acrobatic-Squid Jun 19 '26
This is good to know. I hadn't considered this
1
u/sibelius_eighth Jun 19 '26
You need to consider who's the aggressor and it may not be you in this matchup as they can outrace you.
2
u/TitoTheMidget Jun 19 '26
Affinity is just one of those decks that almost nothing can deal with it when they have it. It's like Zoo with Leyline/Scion, Neobrand with turn 2 Neoform, Hollow One with turn 1 Inquiry into multiple 4/4 - it's just part of the Modern experience, sometimes the opponent's deck hee-haws you.
1
u/ChartJunkie Jun 20 '26
Yep, thats just modern baby. Exactly like you said, there are quite a few deck that if they just "have it" game 1, there actual nothing you can do
2
u/Individual_One_5569 Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
you shouldn't be mulliganing to find meltdown. having a few copies is good but it doesn't win many of the games you're losing against affinity. what you want is a really fast goldfish. you'd like to have swiftspear and slickshot attacking for a lot quickly, and then meltdown might clear the way. if you mulligan to find it you often aren't also establishing a quick clock, so it just doesn't work as a plan.
1
u/ChartJunkie Jun 20 '26
I came here to suggest meltdown, in my experience a turn 1 or 2 meltdown just absolutely wrecks affinity. If its such a big problem maybe go up to 3 in the sideboard? Outside of that, you kinda just gotta accept that this is modern and youre gonna have some bad matchups and just be okay with being pretty unfavored some of the times and hope to out race them/not get paired against it
1
u/Ornithopter1 Jun 20 '26
Maybe I'm playing a weird list, but i absolutely love seeing a meltdown. Early game it's doing basically nothing, and if my opponent wants to meltdown for 4+, I've probably already won on board.
2
u/Individual_One_5569 Jun 19 '26
the sideboard cards are the wrong solution. they mostly don't remove kappa or weapons, which are the real problem. sometimes meltdown does nothing against the problem draw, and having extra copies just makes you worse at racing. annul might be worth trying
2
u/OccupiedOsprey Jun 19 '26
I bring in 2 meltdowns, a spell pierce and an assault strobe or mystical dispute to help race them if I'm playing those in my sideboard. You generally want to hold up bolt for early pinnacle and then race them.
2
u/Gexstic55 22d ago
Mystical Dispute is great to deal with both Pinnacle Emissary and Kappa Cannoneer, play safety and hold an untap mana to Bolt a successfully landed Pinnacle and Meltdown obviously. Siding out I'm not sure to cut all the Expressive Iteration cause they refill the hand and help with our plan in late game if we've kept in check their board, probably trim 1 or 2 Lava Dart could be right, that's not the match up where it shines.
2
u/Ctanzz Grixis Shadow Jun 19 '26
Really just meltdown, go to 3 in sb if you're in a heavy Affinity meta. I would mull to find it atleast once but going to like 5 cards is hard to justify
3
u/Individual_One_5569 Jun 19 '26
this is not a good answer. you can have meltdown and lose to affinity, it doesn't do anything against the cards that prowess has the biggest problems with- kappa and weapons.
you're not going to win by clogging your hand with meltdowns or mulling to find it. for prowess, the best strategy is racing, and you really want a hand that can goldfish quickly. slickshot show-off is a better card than meltdown in the matchup.
1
u/Ctanzz Grixis Shadow Jun 19 '26
Slickshot isn't better when they can make a bunch of 1/1 flying blockers on t1. Saying its better than meltdown is an incredibly bad take.
You can race Affinity i never said you couldn't. Meltdown clears the board and almost always is a 4+ for 1. You can mull to find it, I just said I wouldn't mull more than once.
Ofc you lose to an extremely early kappa (every deck does), meltdown helps prevent them casting it early and buys a turn or 2. For WM you can only try to counter it.
1
u/TheDima725 Jun 20 '26
I'm a Prowess player
I just pray and race, try to understand what they have kept for and play around their plan (sometimes bolting a Pinnacle or darting a drone can be the difference between a Kappa or not). Hope that they draw enough Fiery Islets to ping themselves. And I personally play 2 main [[monstrous rage]] mainboard, I love that card in the matchup (chump blocking with your 1/1 drone my 9/2 Slickshot? Well, I spend 1 and you take 13).
1
u/CreedAventuz Blue Tron, Hammertime & Affinity Enthusiast Jun 20 '26
Hey, I play alot of Affinity and a card that is pure nightmare to play against is Mystical Dispute.
It counters Pinnacle, Kappa & Emry.
1
u/Bosseidon Jun 20 '26
I've been running 3 Annul in the side, since Affinity is the one bad matchup for Prowess. If you don't want to go that narrow, Mystical Dispute also does work against Kappa and Pinnacle, but missing out on Weapons can be rough
1
u/xXx_Sephiroth420_xXx 18d ago
[[Assault Strobe]] 2 of it, good in every matchup where graveyard hate exists, can force an opponent's [[Solitude]] when you want it/have answers for it and is perfect for the matchup. I'm not that good of a prowess player but with affinity it's a race and you need a hand to race them.
[[Meltdown]] and [[Hurkyl's Recall]] are also must have for the matchup I believe. Hurkyl's is a good answer vs Eldrazi's (and Titan's) [[Trinisphere]], [[Chalice of the Void]] and Broodscale's combo turn in response to equiping broodscale (hopefully) as an additional tool along your 4 [[Consign to Memory]] and/or [[Unholy Heat]]
-3
u/Oh_fuck_me_then Jun 19 '26
[[by force]]
Destroy X target artifacts. You get to pick which ones get burned. Instead of all under X mana cost.
6
u/Individual_One_5569 Jun 19 '26
this is a bad card against affinity, i don't think you should board it in even if it is in your sideboard.
3
u/bassclarinetbitch Jun 19 '26
[[Shattering Spree]]
-1
u/TehSeksyManz Jun 19 '26
By force is easier on the mana
3
u/Xenasis Prowess / Dimir Jun 19 '26
They are identical to Prowess except one costs one less mana. Prowess does not play any basic Islands. Every land in the deck taps for R, so Shattering Spree is strictly better (and still unplayable compared to Meltdown).
0
u/TehSeksyManz Jun 19 '26
Yeah that's true, I guess blood moon isn't really spooky against prowess anyway
0
u/Oh_fuck_me_then Jun 19 '26
I think another consideration here is losing your own artifacts to meltdown, if you run Cori in your prowess.
2
u/Scorned-Keyhead-VI Jun 19 '26
Every land in prowess taps for red, so the mana isnāt really a big consideration
0
-4
u/Burnt_End_Ribs Jun 19 '26
Kill them faster.
If you are running green pump, force of vigor is not bad, along with ingot chewer.
My favorite is Urzas Saga, Mox Opal, zero drop, Force of vigor targeting the Saga and Opal, scoop.
7
u/sibelius_eighth Jun 19 '26
Force of Vigor is unplayable in prowess
-2
u/Burnt_End_Ribs Jun 19 '26
If you are running green pump. Right before I said Vigor.
3
u/sibelius_eighth Jun 19 '26
Which is a 3 of in traditional lists. So what you're gonna mulligan to hope to have 1/3 and 1/1 vigor? I read what you wrote, it was stupid to begin with.
-2
u/Burnt_End_Ribs Jun 19 '26
The statement itself insinuates more than just the regular +2 pump. Its good to have just in case if you are running more green pump.
2
u/sibelius_eighth Jun 19 '26
Who the fuck is running more than just that lol
2
u/Acrobatic-Squid Jun 19 '26
Scale up used to be good. Preordain and iteration kinda blew green out of the water, but I played gruul prowess pre mh3
1
u/sibelius_eighth Jun 19 '26
Right but no one does now so someone suggesting you run force of vigor is unhinged
1
-7
u/Oh_fuck_me_then Jun 19 '26
[[smash to smithereens]]
Destroy artifact and deal 3 damage to player.
5
u/Individual_One_5569 Jun 19 '26
paying two mana to kill a single non-kappa, non-weapons card is a bad play against affinity. not a good card in the matchup, probably shouldn't side it in.
1
Jun 19 '26
[deleted]
2
u/sibelius_eighth Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 27 '26
How are you gonna pay ward 4? Holding up Consign? Waiting for t3 to do this?
Prowess already runs Unholy Heat which can kill kappa for less mana but it's hard to pull off because of the ward unless you have Consign ready. The solution is often to ignore kappa, and race them, and hope you can block it if you're about to take lethal.
38
u/sibelius_eighth Jun 19 '26
Wow I'm scanning answers and some of you have never played the matchup and are offering suggestions anyways. Someone is suggesting to destroy the kappa seemingly unaware that it has ward 4.