Affinity has long been one of MTG’s most infamous mechanics. With tons of cheap artifacts printed over the years, payoffs that feature the “Affinity for artifacts” ability can easily be played on well ahead of schedule.
Interestingly, though, Affinity has appeared in some capacity in many recent premier sets. In fact, in response to a Blogatog post a few days ago, head designer Mark Rosewater confirmed that Affinity has been downgraded to a 3 on the Storm Scale. At long last, it seems that the design team has found how to properly balance the mechanic.
A Major Contrast
“Don’t put ‘Affinity for Artifacts’ on a bunch of cards in a set/block that’s 80% artifacts, including artifact lands.”
mrmoustachemm, via Blogatog
Right off the bat, one of the most important things to note regarding Mark Rosewater’s stance on Affinity is the difference between Affinity for artifacts and Affinity for anything else. As things currently stand, even though Affinity has fallen on Mark Rosewater’s Storm Scale (which measures how likely a mechanic is to be featured in a future premier set) from a 6 to a 3, Affinity for artifacts is still at an 8.
Back in 2018, Mark Rosewater went into more detail about the problems associated with Affinity for artifacts. He stated that, from a development standpoint, Affinity for artifacts has caused a ton of tournament problems. He also mentioned that the risks associated with the mechanic are very high, because any miscalculations could result in a broken competitive environment.
On the flip side, though, Affinity for non-artifacts was deemed much easier to balance. Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen this in action. Currently, 17 Standard-legal cards feature Affinity in some capacity. A large percentage of them feature Affinity for a card type that is restrictive and comes with a high deckbuilding cost.
Take Bartz and Boko, for instance. The card is very strong if you can play it on the cheap. To do so, though, you need to play Birds to the board. Bird is a highly specific creature type, and the opponent can easily remove your Birds in play to make it difficult to get a cost reduction. The same can be said for Scales of Shale from Bloomburrow.
Similarly, Gate Colossus and Travel the Overworld have powerful effects, but force you to play a high density of mediocre lands (most Gates and Towns enter tapped) to get your reward.
Affinity for artifacts has suffered over the years in part because of how trivial it is to flood the board with artifacts. With so many free artifacts like Mox Opal and artifact lands at a player’s disposal, there’s a reason why Mirrodin Standard was so broken and why Pauper has needed so many bans over the years.
Additional Color Requirements
“Also most of the time there’s now at least one or two colored mana in the cost”
whith14, via Blogatog
It is interesting to note that despite the high grade for Affinity for artifacts, this mechanic showed up recently. Over the past few years, we’ve seen it in Phyrexia: All Will be One, Aetherdrift, and Final Fantasy. Plated Onslaught, Voyage Home, and Valkyrie Aerial Unit were all in premier sets, despite the Storm Scale ranking of Affinity for artifacts.
Without artifact lands and many free artifact spells in Standard, these cards are naturally less threatening. Nonetheless, the potential card advantage Voyage Home provides is incredible. Due to this, you may wonder what’s stopping it from seeing play in Modern and beyond.
The key is the color requirements in the mana cost. The difference between Voyage Home and Thoughtcast is much bigger than it looks. The same can be said about Myr Enforcer, a Pauper staple, and Gearseeker Serpent, which sees very little Pauper play. Luckily, Memory Guardian is not Pauper legal. Long gone are the days of colorless threats like Sojourner’s Companion getting printed at common.
“That’s the big thing. Amazingly, the problem with original affinity was almost the same thing they got wrong with Phyrexian mana”
natew000, via Blogatog
As natew000 points out, this isn’t all that different than why Phyrexian mana was so broken. Cards like Nissa, Ascendant Animist utilize the mechanic in a cool and fair way. Phyrexian mana becomes a problem when players can jam Gitaxian Probe and Mental Misstep for free without any major concessions.
Affinity is different in the sense that you still need to put artifacts in your deck, and the artifact lands are vulnerable to hate. That being said, when the upside of playing haymakers on the cheap far exceeds the negatives of playing lots of artifacts, you know you have a problem. Wizards of the Coast has clearly found a better balance in their designs, and it shows.
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