User:NorrYtt/Ravager Affinity

Ravager Affinity (or Vial Affinity) is a hybrid Aggro-Combo deck archetype of Magic: The Gathering. It dominated tournaments worldwide during its reign, forcing each other archetype to commit between four and eight slots in their maindeck and/or sideboard for answers to Ravager Affinity to even be considered viable.

Ravager Affinity, at its core, thrives on an extreme form of synergy. The more artifacts Ravager Affinity puts into play, the more powerful it becomes. It exploits the Affinity mechanic to play undercosted creatures quickly. Its creatures are robust for being cheap, difficult to destroy, and mana providers.

The player may also sacrifice all of his or her artifacts to "feed" an Arcbound Ravager and attack for the win, sometimes, this was accompanied by the presence of Disciple of the Vault and its triggered ability that forced the opponent to lose 1 life for each artifact sent to the graveyard. Other tricks include one-for-two card draws by way of Thoughtcast, or uncounterable threats through Aether Vial. Ravager Affinity, despite all the hate, continued to flourish.

Ravager Affinity in Standard

 * "The reason why I'm playing Affinity is because everyone thinks that their decks deal with Affinity, and they honestly don't. ...you win nearly every single game 1 matchup in the format, and then games 2 and 3 are usually 50/50 or 60/40 against you, which is still pretty good odds when you are already up a game." - Brian Kibler

Due to "netdecking", budget builds, and general lack of innovation, the Ravager Affinity situation in Standard had spun out of control. Players began seeking other forms of entertainment besides Magic. Tournament attendance suffered. This led to the DCI banning an unprecendented eight cards on March 1st, 2005 from the Standard format:
 * Disciple of the Vault
 * Arcbound Ravager
 * The six Artifact Lands
 * Ancient Den
 * Seat of the Synod
 * Vault of Whispers
 * Great Furnace
 * Tree of Tales
 * Darksteel Citadel

The scale of the banning was so large that it annihilated the Affinity archetype. The motive of the banning was unprecendented as well - the game was "not fun." No deck in recent Magic history has had such a blow from the DCI. The last time something like this happened was during Urza's Block and the domination of Tolarian Academy based combo decks.

Ravager Affinity in Extended
The power level of Ravager Affinity resurfaced during the rotation of Extended in October 2005, when many players prophesied that the artifact menace would dominate the format. The DCI preemptively banned Disciple of the Vault and Æther Vial in Extended on September 1st, 2005 before this prophecy could come to fruition. Even with the bannings, Ravager Affinity remained a powerful archetype during the 2005 Extended Qualifer Season, giving merit to the preemptive bannings.

As vivid demonstration of Ravager Affinity's resistance to hate, Pierre Canali famously won 2005 Pro Tour: Columbus with a tricked-out Ravager Affinity deck, despite being a rookie, a matchup underdog, and making several play mistakes.

Ravager Affinity in Mirrodin Block
Almost two full years after Ravager Affinity had stagnated Mirrodin Block Constructed sanctioned tournaments, its power level was again brought to light during the March 1st, 2006 DCI Banned and Restricted List Announcement. Not to be outdone by previous Standard or Extended bannings, the DCI banned the following nine cards in the long-defunct Mirrodin Block Constructed format:


 * Disciple of the Vault
 * Arcbound Ravager
 * Æther Vial
 * The six Artifact Lands
 * Ancient Den
 * Seat of the Synod
 * Vault of Whispers
 * Great Furnace
 * Tree of Tales
 * Darksteel Citadel

This seemingly haphazard banning spree by the DCI was explained by Aaron Forsythe in "Yes It Iz" as preparation for the 2006 Magic Invitational Tournament's Block-Party format. Without this shotgun-approach to bannings, there would be little stopping Ravager Affinity from dominating yet another format.