Affinity has been one of the most format-defining decks in Modern since its inception. The speed with which Affinity can pressure your life total via both damage and Infect is astonishing; as is its ability to fight through both spot removal and sweepers, thanks to instant-speed pump effects like Cranial Plating and Arcbound Ravager and resilient threats like Blinkmoth Nexus and Inkmoth Nexus. That said, Affinity can struggle somewhat with decks that are prepared to fight against a horde of small robots. Control decks and combo decks can be somewhat problematic for typical builds, but there’s always a new angle to attack from:

Affinity - Modern | RagingTiltMonster, 5-0 Modern League

• Creatures (23)
• 3 Memnite
• 4 Arcbound Ravager
• 4 Ornithopter
• 4 Signal Pest
• 4 Steel Overseer
• 4 Vault Skirge

• Instants (4)
• 4 Galvanic Blast

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Blood Moon

• Artifacts (12)
• 4 Cranial Plating
• 4 Mox Opal
• 4 Springleaf Drum

• Lands (17)
• 1 Mountain
• 2 Glimmervoid
• 3 Blinkmoth Nexus
• 3 Spire of Industry
• 4 Darksteel Citadel
• 4 Inkmoth Nexus

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Ancient Grudge
• 2 Dispatch
• 4 Etched Champion
• 2 Ghirapur Aether Grid
• 2 Relic of Progenitus
• 3 Thoughtseize

Buy This Deck

That’s not the only dimension that Blood Moon adds to this deck. It also adds another haymaker that your opponent has to deal with: Arcbound Ravager and Steel Overseer. Now they have to worry about the two of those as well as Cranial Plating and Blood Moon. This leads to some very interesting questions about how to sequence your threats depending on what kind of interaction your opponent is representing.

If you’re an Affinity player that’s looking for a new way to get an edge, this seems like a great way to do it. You’ll pick up plenty of free wins against various three-color or Tron variants, and Blood Moon will frequently buy you an extra turn or two of attacks against two-color decks as well.