Broodstar Affinity - 60

Cranial Plating on an Ornithopter. Good times indeed.

If you're looking to update the build, let me know. There's a metric ton of artifact support available now, even on a budget.

Thanks Anon88 for the suggestion of Cranial Plating!

dknight27,
Yes, I'm legit interested in updating the build, as long as it sticks with the core theme of Broodstar, the Affinity mechanic, and stays with Blue/Black. I also need to stay away from infinite combos or infinite lock for my play group balance. As long as it's either Legacy or Vintage legal I should be good. :)

Any ideas and feedback would be appreciated!

There's good news and bad news about artifact decks. The good news is, there's basically limitless support/ideas to draw from. The bad news is, all the broken artifacts are expensive. However, there is more than enough cheap material to make a playable/winning build with what you're going for.

First and foremost, you're gunna try and up the speed of the deck. You want as many artifacts on the field as you can get as quickly as possible, which activates your heavy hitters that need lets of artifacts. To do this, you run a bunch of 0 and 1-drop artifacts that still give you advantage.

If you're ok with vintage, you're basically obligated to run a copy (you can only have 1) of Sol Ring. The 0-drops you want to run are Mishra's Bauble and Urza's Bauble, both of which replace themselves if you need it (with a little info advantage). Being able to drop some turn 1 and speed up your artifact count is CRAZY powerful, and when you don't need them for affinity anymore, you sac them off and draw. Perfect win/win scenario.

Then you've got affinity critters that you need for damage. Refurbished Familiar, Thought Monitor, and Frogmite fit nicely in here, though I personally don't like running too many Thought Monitors (2 is preferred) in case they clog up my opening hand, but that's me. Plenty of other people like running the full set.

Another mechanic that works almost identically to affinity is improvise, which basically turns all your artifacts into mana rocks (those 0-drops suddenly become moxes, which is ludicrous). Kappa Cannoneer is an absolute nightmare win condition and is probably the card this deck needs most. Emry, Lurker of the Loch is another heavy hitter, this time a recycling engine that fits like a glove with your Baubles. Every turn, you can play 1 from your grave for free, then sac it to draw an extra card. Plus, Emry is ludicrously cheap (can be played turn 1), and gets the mill, opening up targets.

Metallic Rebuke is excellent counter coverage if you're playing into lots of problematic cards, as you will almost certainly be able to cast it for just U.

A huge consideration for the build would be running Sphere of Resistance, as it essentially doesn't affect your build in the slightest but absolutely hamstrings opponent across the board. Since it's an artifact, it's net 0 in cost for you, but to opponent it's an anchor that can lose them the game.

Mystic Forge is an engine of destruction for cheap artifacts/affinity mechanics, and once you have one fielded, you'll be dropping spells off your deck like crazy. Crystal Skull, Isu Spyglass works almost identically, except it lets you play artifact lands and taps for mana, so it's a great consideration, even if it has the double blue cost.

Soul Manipulation and Signal Pest don't really fit in here, as they're too slow and/or don't give enough benefit. Ratchet Bomb has similar problems, as you've got to wait around for the counters to build and it hits your own targets as well. It's mainly used as an anti-token card, as you can sac it for 0 and kill off tokens. If you need removal, try Executioner's Capsule.

This feedback is amazing!!! So much to consider! I'll have a dig through my collection of cards and see what I can come up with to retool this deck. Excited! :D