@ jamesesdad - Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas looks like he'd be fun to tinker with, but not necessarily something I'd use competitively. The Welding Jar does have it's merit, and I could see myself using it in a competitive setting. As I said, I think I will playtest with it and see if I like how it performs. Thanks again for the suggestions.

Thoughtcast really makes the deck shine, it can get you the cranial plating you need or, if you allready have one, two low cost artifacts that gets you +2/+0 on your cranial.

For this reason i would play four of them, no less. Maybe removing one Springleaf Drum

As for the Welding Jar i never regretted adding them in my own affinity deck, it is an awesome card.

I personally run 4 Galvanic Blast and 2 Shrapnel Blast and find them very usefull to end game by turn 5-6 if you haven't yet managed to win and your opponent is starting to control the board.

If you are looking for sideboard cards that can deal with graveyards you also have Tormod's Crypt that has the advantage of being a 0 cost artifact.

I give a +1 because i love machine decks. Keep up the good work !

Ensoul Artifact can turn Darksteel Citadel into a 5/5 indestructible or Ornithopter into a 5/5 flier turn 2

@ Thalanza I appreciate all of the useful feedback. I can see the merit of the 4th Thoughtcast, although, I have considered using an artifact tutor in lieu of the 4th one, but I haven't made any concrete decision on the matter. Welding Jar seems to be a popular suggestion as of late. I'm glad I got a playset when I originally built this deck. It allows me to tinker with it. I've honestly been debating about switching out the Galvanic Blast x4 for a playset of Shrapnel Blast. I use them in my standard artifact deck and they are brutal finishers, especially with Scuttling Doom Engine; so I can appreciate the damage they can do. As for Tormod's Crypt, I personally think Relic of Progenitus is better, yes it cost a mana, but I can use it to remove singular flashback threats, and in a pinch, it does the same thing as Tormod's Crypt with card draw. Simply put, it allows me to keep my artifact on the board longer if I need the extra boost for Cranial Plating, and I can pop it if I need draw. Thanks for all the suggestions and the +1.

@ BlatantLizard I like Ensoul Artifact, so much so that I have used them in a lot of my standard decks just because it is such a powerful card. However, in modern, I do think Cranial Plating is far more powerful. With this decklist, I've had a turn two 9/2 flyer with lifelink, or a turn three 11/1 infect flyer. I can see the merit of Ensoul Artifact, however in Modern, there are just much better choices. Thank you for the suggestions, I appreciate all the feedback and ideas.

i would consider taking out and Memnite for a Signal Pest because Signal Pest is alot stronger doing more damage but is a bit slower

If you're going to run Galvanic Blast, try Shrapnel Blast and Welding Jar.

Since you are not running ensoul artifact, I would drop a drum for the 4th thoughtcast. I would also go down a memnite for a 4th signal pest.

@ fightman69 Ideally, I want the deck to be fast. Although, while Signal Pest is nice at 3 of, I don't think I need a 4th. In fact, I think if I am going to drop a Memnite, it'll be for some Welding Jars.

@ JenniferTheRedeemer I am going to give Shrapnel Blast a shot over Galvanic Blast, and I am already testing it with the Welding Jars. I like the idea of being able to keep my key pieces alive through removal and board wipes.

@ zyphermage Personally, I think Ensoul Artifact isn't nearly as good as Cranial Plating, although, I would consider dropping a Springleaf Drum for the 4th Thoughtcast. i'm still not sold on the 4th Signal Pest, as getting lots of 0 cost artifacts out bolsters Cranial Plating. Yes Signal Pest has its merits, but I think I would rather try out Welding Jar first.

Thanks all for the suggestions and contributing to the discussion. I appreciate the feedback.

Ensoul artifact isn't about being a "better" cranial plating.... It is about being a 5-8th cranial.

Signal pest has evasion, only costs 1 and buffs every other creature... I am not sure why you are against a 1 drop so much. Memnite seems great at 4 of, but once you drop 1 you will not miss it. It is just a 1/1 on the ground, nothing special. I consider vault skirge and signal pest to be the most aggressive drops I use. Taking to the skies makes it more aggressive than being cheaper mana on the ground imho.

@ zyphermage By replacing artifacts/artifact creatures with auras, I lose out on Cranial Plating. I understand the merit of Ensoul Artifact, I use the hell out of it in standard, but I don't know how I feel about it in modern at present. I agree with Signal Pest being a great card, and on it's own merit, yes, it is better than Memnite because it has evasion. Realistically, if I am swinging all in on turn 3, with a couple Memnites, a Vault Skirge or two, an Arcbound Ravager and I have a Cranial Plating on the board and 2 sources that can generate 2 Swamps, it doesn't matter what you block or what you don't block. I can move the Cranial Plating around during combat (which is a plus over Ensoul Artifact as it makes blocking Cranial Plating difficult), and if you are blocking my 1/1s, I can sac them to Arcbound Ravager to make him huge.

Don't mistake me, I get what you are saying, that if I had Signal Pest in the mix, that's an extra 5 damage from the other creatures. What I'm saying is, aside from a handful of creature aggro decks (which aren't common in my meta or playing circles), most decks are using direct removal, so I rarely have issues with them blocking creatures. It's more likely that I would see a Path to Exile in response to my attackers over a blocking creature. It's more of a meta choice than anything else. If I were facing a lot more creature heavy aggro decks, then I would definitely consider swapping for the 4th Signal Pest. I appreciate what you are suggesting, I do, and in a different meta, I'd agree 100% with you. Sorry I should have led off with it being a meta-based choice in my first response. Thanks for the suggestions, I do enjoy discussing strategies and concepts as they help me become a better player.

I didn't even suggest you use ensoul artifact. I think 4x galvanic blast might even be too much too, you could drop 1 of those for welding jar. Just drop the 4th memnite for 4th signal pest, your modern life will improve. I recently decided on maining 1x spellskite.

Affinity's problem besides being artifact hated out, is running out of gas. That is why everyone runs 4x thoughtcast. I even though about trying a single treasure cruise just to have even more draw. I already tried Military Intelligence. I found that sometimes you want the draws before combat. Not to mention that card is less reliable.

@ zyphermage Sorry, I misread your original post. You are right, you did not suggest Ensoul Artifact, my apologies for that. Truthfully, I rarely use the Galvanic Blast for creatures, typically, it gets in the last couple points of damage if I am a few points short. I've been considering trying out Shrapnel Blast over Galvanic Blast as it is a nice finisher and by that point, I am committing to victory (I hope). As for the 4th Thoughtcast I see your point. I rarely have the problem of running out of gas, but the draw is great both early game and late, so I will work on putting the 4th one in there. Yeah, I do agree that Treasure Cruise and Military Intelligence aren't the right types of cards for an Affinity build. The only time you would get the most out of Treasure Cruise would be post board wipe, after a Shatterstorm or a Fracturing Gust. Then it would give you some card draw. Treasure Cruise strikes me as more of a sideboard card for Affinity, rather than a mainboard card.

I just play tested a hand where I thoughtcasted twice on the first turn. I dropped 2 ornithopters a darksteel citadel and a springleaf drum. Tapped the drum for thoughtcast for 1 Blue. The 2 cards I drew were mox opal and thoughtcast with the first one. So I played the opal and tapped it for the 2nd. Then I got a signal pest and cranial. That is a total of 11 cards on the first turn with 2 in my hand, a land and cranial.

That is with your deck with 3x thoughtcast in it, your chances of doing this are even higher with another thoughtcast obviously. 2 cards for 1 mana is vintage worthy. Hell preordain is vintage worthy and thoughtcast nearly destroys that. Thoughtcast as a 4 of is more important than 4x blast is. Just on the fact it could draw into a blast for 1 mana by itself. That trade alone basically means you will consistently see blast just as often while adding more fuel to the deck at the same time. Another trade that does not drop your affinity at all is -memnite. You could have a thoughtcast in hand over memnite, draw 2, then freely drop 1 of 12 free drops opal/ornithopter/memnite.

It's entirely possible to see a game with 3 thought casts on the first turn, and opponent mulled to 6 or worse. At that point you are a full hand on the field and still holding a full hand.

In regards to the sideboard I fell that [Blood Moon] hurts you more than helps since it'll turn around 90% of your lands into mountains, also a couple of sideboard cards I like to use for my affinity deck here are [leyline of sanctity] & [layline of the void]. Sanctity deals with mill, burn, and in a way anything like Rack. While Void deals with dreadge and anything else that deals with the grave.

@ zyphermage I am thinking about swapping out the Memnites for Welding Jars, so I would be putting 3 Welding Jars and dropping a Springleaf Drum for the 4th Thoughtcast. I know you are in favor of running the 4th Signal Pest too, so I will drop one Welding Jar to include the 4th Signal Pest. What are your thoughts on Welding Jar in place of Memnite?

@ dementor922 Considering 99% of my deck uses colorless mana, I don't see what the problem is. I can use red mana to summon my creatures. Additionally, things like Mox Opal & Springleaf Drum will still allow me to tap for any other color of mana I would need. Both Leyline of the Void and Leyline of Sanctity are good cards, but not necessary for me to win. My sideboard addresses many of those types of decks already. Ethersworn Canonist slows down spell heavy decks, preventing them from casting lots of low cost spells, same for Blood Moon. Spellskite can catch Lightning Bolts all day long. Both Grafdigger's Cage and Relic of Progenitus can shut down graveyard tricks. Overall, my sideboard is well designed to handle many of the threats, and I don't need to mulligan to get those Leylines in my opening hand to benefit from them.

Thanks for the +1 and the comments.

Memnite really has always to me just been a free drop add 1 to cranial, and welding jar still does that. You have 15 attackers with evasion, and so I think dropping a few attackers on the ground to keep the creatures in the air alive is fine.

A welding jar in play will usually get more affinity for longer, because they will possibly hold back on an ancient grudge or whatever else, since it gets nullified by the welding jar. They may use it just to make you sacrifice the jar, in that case a 0 drop for their destroy artifact/creature card is still a win.

I agree with zyphermage, the Welding Jar is the best bait in the game for Affinity. I've read a few articles that touch on the "political" aspect of Magic, and the Jar does it perfectly. I'll spare you a lengthy description, but basically having the Jar on the field does a number of things. Number one, it allows you to save any artifact from removal. But more importantly it lets your opponent know that you can save any artifact at any given time. Thus the "political" aspect. It controls your opponent in an unseen way because it does make them consider what they want to waste to get rid of the Jar. And as zyphermage said, that is definitely a little victory. Memnite really is only useful for Springleaf Drum or some early damage if there are no blockers, but mainly for Drum and to activate Metalcraft. Typically none of those things should be too difficult in Affinity, so I have been questioning Memnite's spot in my Affinity deck as well. I feel like I need the creature count, but in all honesty, he doesn't do jack mess, especially compared to what Welding Jar does.

@ CrovaxTheCursed I changed the line up of my deck to include Welding Jar over Memnite and Shrapnel Blast over Galvanic Blast. I am fairly confident that these are more streamline choices in the end. Do you have a link to any of those "political" articles? I'd like to read them. Thanks again for the feedback.

Unfortunately, I do not have any specific links. I occasionally surf around and find that stuff, but I forget to mark them. I have seen on this site though, a deck list that basically includes all the political cards in the game, complete with a pretty good breakdown of the definition. Ofc, I forgot to favorite that page too, so hopefully someone can help out in finding it. Anyway, I dig the new deck list, and it play tests way smoother and much more aggressive. I will have to play around with using Shrapnel Blast over Galvanic Blast as well.

I'm not sure you really want 4x shrapnel blast, you probably only want to see 1 to end the game. Are you going to be able to reliably cast 2 of them?

@ CrovaxTheCursed I use to do that to, then I got tired of kicking myself for losing good articles that I wanted to share with people, lol. I'm looking forward to putting the new list through the wringer, so to speak. I'll dig around and see if I can find those links, and I'll share them with you if I do.

@ zyphermage Between Glimmervoid x4, Mox Opal x4, and Springleaf Drum x3, I am fairly confident that I would be able to cast 2 Shrapnel Blasts in a single turn, and most definitely I would be able to cast 2 of them in a single game.

I'm not doubting whether you are able to cast it, but whether you need it. You might as well throw back in galvanic blast, and add lightning bolt for lethal at this point, and swap the lands for mountains.

I guess you want to burn to finish off an opponent but every burn card in your hand is 1 less artifact too. I did question whether you could reliably cast 2 I guess my mistake, but my main question was even needing to. Or think of my question this way, just cause a playset is 4, why throw in 4 shrapnel blast without even thinking about it, instead of using 3 and another artifact or even 2 blasts.

@ zyphermage Honestly, the 4 are for rotation to ensure that I can see them. I suppose I could do 3 and pick up another artifact, but for now, I'm going to playtest with the 4 and see how it plays. If I drop to 2 or 3, what would you recommend I add then?