Occasionally, when a new MTG set is released, some slight changes are made to old cards to help them keep up with the changing times. The most notable of these changes typically involves shifting creature types since those can have an impact on formats like Commander. Other times, cards like Consider that, basically, Surveil in function are reworked to include the keyword. That is now happening with Affinity.
An overarching Affinity theme is present in MTG Aetherdrift. Between Thoughtcast‘s Special Guest appearance and some new Affinity technology in Azorius colors, one of the most controversial mechanics in Magic’s history is making another return to Standard. With it, some old cards have received errata to have the Affinity mechanic.
Touching Up Out-of-Date Words
Similar to when Otherworldly Gaze and Consider received errata to have Surveil, a considerable batch of MTG cards will now receive errata for Affinity. These cards, basically, already essentially had Affinity but did not use the actual keyword. This means that this change does not impact the function of the card. Discovered by Fireshoes on Twitter, it appears that 14 cards will receive errata to include the Affinity keyword. These changes have led some players to believe that Affinity will now become deciduous.
These errata can be found in Gatherer. While the card images for each of these do not have Affinity included on them, the text for each card on the client now includes Affinity for a certain thing.
Here are the 14 cards we know about that have seen errata to include Affinity:
- Emry, Lurker of the Loch (Affinity for Artifacts)
- Reality Heist (Affinity for Artifacts)
- Angelic Observer (Affinity for Citizens)
- Argivian Phalanx (Affinity for Creatures)
- Brine Giant (Affinity for Enchantments)
- Gate Colossus (Affinity for Gates)
- Icebreaker Kraken (Affinity for Snow Lands)
- Millicent, Restless Revenant (Affinity for Spirits)
- Polliwallop (Affinity for Frogs)
- Riders of the Mark (Affinity for Humans)
- Saheeli the Gifted (+1 now gives Affinity for Artifacts to the next spell you cast)
- Scales of Shale (Affinity for Lizards)
- Sky-Blessed Samurai (Affinity for Enchantments)
- The Circle of Loyalty (Affinity for Knights)
There’s no guarantee that these are all of the cards receiving errata as part of this update, but these are the cards players have discovered so far. There has been no official announcement from Wizards of the Coast concerning this errata. According to how these updates have been handled historically, announcements aren’t always made about them.
Did They Forget Some Cards?
Players are ultimately happy about this change. A push for consistent formatting makes Magic: The Gathering a bit easier to understand as a whole, especially for newcomers. Once a player understands the concept of Affinity, they should be able to grasp even more cards’ functions quicker.
One player was quick to point out that there appear to be some cards that were missed in the Affinity update. Claws Out from MTG Foundations is a great example of this. Considering that this card utilizes the exact same wording as the ones that received errata, it makes a ton of sense that it would see an errata to have Affinity for Cats. This would also help teach Affinity as a concept in a beginner-focused set, making it easier to understand out of the gate.
There is no confirmation that Claws Out will not see the Affinity errata at some point, but according to the card’s text on Gatherer, it is not a part of this change.
What Does This Change?
Unlike previous updates of this nature that have had very slight effects on gameplay, this Affinity update doesn’t seem to have much of an effect at all. The creature type updates have very obvious effects in the form of Typal payoffs, but keyword changes that, essentially, keep the card’s function intact don’t have such an obvious change.
Surveil cards did have some small gameplay adjustments because there were cards that cared about the Surveil Mechanic. Dimir Spybug is an example of this. The card gains +1/+1 counters whenever you Surveil, so cards like Consider officially gaining Surveil is undeniably a buff for cards like Dimir Spybug.
It appears that Affinity does not have any MTG cards that benefit from the keyword itself. This makes sense since Affinity is one of the more powerful mechanics that Magic: The Gathering has ever implemented. Affinity for Artifacts, in its heyday, absolutely dominated competitive play.
That said, there could be some cards in the future that care about the Affinity keyword. The Azorius cards that appear in Aetherdrift represent the Guidelight Voyagers. These Azorius bots were trying to use Speed to find their way back to their plane. This purpose gives them a reason to return in a set like Edge of Eternities, so there is a non-zero chance that the Affinity-focused Guidelight Voyagers may return.
There is absolutely no proof, however, that these little guys will return so soon, or that a card will be printed that will benefit from casting Affinity spells. Considering the snowballing nature of Affinity spells, Wizards of the Coast would have to be very careful with a card designed like this, which is a good reason to never design it at all.
