magicbullet What do you mean "again" it never left? Plus it is VERY good

I mean Grim Lavamancer isn't guaranteed either.

you could be dead the next turn (before you use him) or they could just zap him.

Vexing Devil isn't guaranteed either, but if you win the game turn 4-5 he is?

my question is on what turn do your opponents let him sit on the board?

Just a thought, I dont know the answer just starting conversation.

They let him stay if he will do four or less damage as a creature. This means they can remove him, meaning that you spent one card to not deal damage (even if you took one of their cards, that doesn't matter). Lavamancer gives reach, meaning that as the game wears on he will provide consistent damage each turn instead of being in complete topdeck mode.

magicbullet He stays whenever they want it's their choice which is why he is bad. Whenever they are at 3 and you draw him over a burn spell you are screwed.

gotcha makes sense. play testing a deck now and realized his late game strategy.

@magicbullet think of it like this... You're playing a mirror match or a removal-heavy deck. If you play Vexing Devil , they laugh at you, let it resolve, then Lightning Bolt it at the end of your turn. Monastery Swiftspear is actually replacing him in a lot of RDW decklists.

one more question .what card was it that Monastery Swiftspear replaced.

im also struggling to get this deck to beat affinity is affinity a weakness?

Not really, just bring in all of your artifact hate and resolve an Eidolon, the game wraps up fast from there. Just make sure to kill all the creatures, affinity runs out of steam before you do so you're favored in a topdeck war

ahh, so its how you play against it

Right. Affinity relies on its cheap drops to either overwhelm the board or cast its big dudes that are extremely difficult to burn away. If you get rid of their little guys, they can plop a big dude down late-game but by that time you have them down to 5 or less life, so you win the top-deck war.