Affinity for Artifacts in MTG: Rules, History, and Best Cards

Thoughtcast | Illustration by Greg Hildebrandt

Affinity is one of MTG’s most broken mechanics, alongside storm and others, and the term is synonymous nowadays for playing a lot of artifacts. It shows the world of card games what happens when you put an easy-to-meet cost reduction requirement on your spells. Affinity for artifacts decks, or “robot” decks, saw a lot of play in plenty of Constructed formats, including Standard, Modern, and Legacy.

Today, we’re taking a quick look at the mechanic, its cards, and rules questions. I know that there’s many different affinities out there, so if I just say “affinity” here, assume I mean artifacts, ok? Let’s dive in!

How Does Affinity for Artifacts Work?

Thought Monitor | Illustration by Martina Pilcerova

Affinity for artifacts is a simple mechanic. It reduces the cost of the spell by for each artifact you control. You can count any artifact for that: artifact creatures, artifact tokens like Treasure, artifact lands, and more. So, a card like Myr Enforcer, which is a vanilla 4/4 artifact creature for 7 mana, can frequently be cast for 1, 2, or even 0 mana. That’s pushed when we consider that a base rate of 2 mana for a 3/3 or 3 mana for a 4/4 is already strong.

Affinity for artifacts doesn’t reduce the colored cost of spells, so a card like Broodstar will still cost even if you have a large amount of artifacts. Another interesting note is that we have many affinities these days, including affinity for islands, swamps, creatures, tokens, and more.

The History of Affinity for Artifacts in MTG

The set that unleashed the affinity monster upon MTG was the original Mirrodin in 2003. It was intended to be a blue mechanic for Limited and a cool Constructed build-around. The original Mirrodin had eight affinity for artifact cards: four blue cards, and four colorless ones. In the same block, Darksteel and Fifth Dawn expanded that with 3-4 designs each, bringing the total affinity card count to 15.

Even though many players and MTG designers deemed affinity for artifacts too powerful to ever return to MTG, WotC put more affinity cards in future sets. Modern Masters 1 and 2 reprinted affinity cards as Limited subthemes. Modern Horizons 2 and Modern Horizons 3 have an artifact subtheme, and more affinity for artifact cards were printed. We also have examples of cards like Gearseeker Serpent that originally didn't use the terminology, but have received errata to now use affinity.

Nowadays, MTG adds affinity for artifacts into a design when it makes sense, as we can see on cards like Sami, Wildcat Captain, printed in 2025.

Do Artifact Lands Count as Artifacts for Affinity?

Not only do they count, they’re one of the main sources of power for the mechanic. Cards like Seat of the Synod and Ancient Den were banned across multiple formats because affinity effectively made them Sol lands like Ancient Tomb.

Does Affinity for Artifacts Stack?

Each instance of affinity applies to the cost of a spell. So, if you have a card like Tezzeret, Master of the Bridge, which grants some of your spells affinity for artifacts, and you cast a Myr Enforcer, then every artifact you control will reduce the spell’s cost by .

Does Affinity for Artifacts Count Artifact Tokens?

It does. Artifact tokens, like Treasure, Clue, and Food are considered artifacts in play, and the affinity mechanic doesn’t distinguish between token and nontoken artifacts.

Does Affinity for Artifacts Reduce Colored Mana Costs?

It doesn’t. Affinity for artifacts only reduces the colorless cost of a spell. So, if you have 10 artifacts in play, Gearseeker Serpent will cost , and Imskir Iron-Eater will still cost .

Does Affinity for Artifacts Reduce Commander Tax? Other Additional Costs?

Affinity reduces all alternate or additional costs, including commander tax. For example, if your commander is Urza, Chief Artificer and you’ve cast it twice, it will cost to cast, adding the tax. If you have six artifact creatures, you can cast Urza, Chief Artificer for only . Additional casting costs, like kicker or entwine, can also have their costs reduced by affinity.

Does Affinity for Artifacts Work with Alternate Casting Costs?

Affinity applies to all alternate casting costs of a spell. An interesting interaction happens when we have Sami, Wildcat Captain and Tannuk, Steadfast Second—two cards from the same Standard-legal set, mind you. Sami gives our spells affinity for artifacts, and Tannuk lets us warp any red creature or artifact spell for . If I have these two in play at the same time, I can warp any artifact or red creature spell for , as Sami will reduce from the warp cost because of its affinity-granting ability.

Is Affinity for Artifacts Broken?

It’s tamed, I’d say. During the 2003-2018 era of MTG, it led to the banning of various cards across multiple formats. Affinity has two main balance problems:

One, most affinity for artifact cards are colorless, so they can go into any deck. Two, most mechanics that offer cost reduction are dangerous, and some affinity cards can be cast for free. So when your Frogmites and Myr Enforcers are 2/2s and 4/4s for 0 mana, you have a problem.

In the case of artifacts, it’s especially dangerous because you can fill your deck with 0-mana artifacts (Ornithopter, Memnite) or artifact lands. But MTG as a whole became a more powerful and faster game, and artifact removal is more maindeckable than it was in the past, which has curbed affinity for artifacts a little.

Gallery and List of Affinity for Artifacts Cards

• Lens Flare
• Plated Onslaught
• Assert Authority
• Blinkmoth Infusion
• Broodstar
• Chromescale Drake
• Emry, Lurker of the Loch
• Gearseeker Serpent
• Into Thin Air
• Krang, Master Mind
• Memory Guardian
• Quicksilver Behemoth
• Qumulox
• Reality Heist
• Somber Hoverguard
• Steelfin Whale
• Thoughtcast
• Thought Monitor
• Utrom Monitor
• Valkyrie Aerial Unit
• Demonic Junker
• Refurbished Familiar
• Chiss-Goria, Forge Tyrant
• Furnace Dragon
• Furnace Hellkite
• Slag Strider
• Ethersworn Sphinx
• Voyage Home
• Imskir Iron-Eater
• Frogmyr Enforcer
• Frogmite
• Mycosynth Golem
• Myr Enforcer
• Scale of Chiss-Goria
• Sojourner's Companion
• Tooth of Chiss-Goria

Cards That Grant Affinity for Artifacts

• Tezzeret, Master of the Bridge
• Don & Raph, Hard Science
• Saheeli, the Gifted
• Sami, Wildcat Captain

Best Affinity for Artifacts Cards

#6. Ethersworn Sphinx

Ethersworn Sphinx is a big 4/4 flying creature with affinity and cascade, so you’re getting more than your average big flying beater. This card tends to see more play in EDH and in rarity-restricted Cubes, or artifact-themed Cubes. It works very well in Draft environments to tell people exactly what blue and white are doing. Cascade and affinity are two mechanics that work very well together. You want a 9-mana cascade card that can hit expensive cards, but you also don’t want to pay 9 mana for a spell, so you have the mana-reducing cost that affinity provides.

#5. Sojourner’s Companion + Myr Enforcer

These two fundamentally equal cards shine in the Pauper format as 4/4 creatures for 0-3 mana. Sojourner's Companion is the better card and was banned in Pauper in an attempt to weaken the affinity decks, but Myr Enforcer continues to see heavy play.

#4. Utrom Monitor

Here’s an interesting one. Memory Guardian is basically this card with an extra point of toughness, but Utrom Monitor sees much more play because it’s a common for the Pauper format. The ceiling on this card as a 3/3 flier for 1 mana is too high, and those are big stats for Pauper.

#3. Emry, Lurker of the Loch

Emry, Lurker of the Loch’s best ability is the artifact recursion. Being able to tap this creature and cast an artifact from your graveyard is huge, and you can get a win condition from your graveyard like Walking Ballista, a combo piece, or just sacrifice something like Ichor Wellspring for value. It’s excellent considering the synergies with cards like Black Lotus or Lion's Eye Diamond for combos and fast mana.

#2. Thought Monitor

Thought Monitor is literally an artifact Mulldrifter that can be cast for . For 2 more mana than Thoughtcast, you get a 2/2 flier that can be flickered, and the difference between having four and six artifacts in play is small. Most affinity decks play both cards.

#1. Thoughtcast

Thoughtcast sees play in many formats, from Legacy to Pauper, as an efficient draw-two spell for 1 or 2 mana. Affinity decks usually dump their hand onto the battlefield, so a quick draw helps the explosiveness of this deck a lot.

Decklist: Modern Affinity Deck

Pinnacle Emissary | Illustration by Alejandro Pacheco

This is a Modern affinity decklist by Luis-Scott Vargas (LSV) that demonstrates how explosive affinity decks are. MTG has many mechanics that revolve around artifact numbers and density, so we have not only affinity cards here, but also improvise, metalcraft, and other artifact-matters mechanics and cards. This deck has 14 creatures, all artifact creatures. We have cards like Thought Monitor, Thoughtcast, and Metallic Rebuke, which get easier to cast with more artifacts.

The mana curve is very low, with 17 artifacts that cost 0 mana and an artifact land, plus seven 1-mana artifacts and four Pinnacle Emissarys that can be warped for 1 mana. You can go turn 1 warp Pinnacle Emissary, cast some 0-mana artifacts, which creates that many 1/1 flying thopter artifact tokens, and suddenly, your affinity and improvise spells can be cast for cheap. Win conditions involve cards like Cranial Plating and Kappa Cannoneer, which are excellent in artifact-heavy decks. Or the combination of Claws of Gix and Weapons Manufacturing.

Wrap Up

Frogmyr Enforcer | Illustration by Maxime Minard

Affinity for Artifacts paved the way to many cost-reducing mechanics in MTG (and many broken mechanics and decks, too). It sees more play in formats like Legacy and Pauper where the artifact lands are legal, and in artifact Commander decks. If done right, it’s a cool mechanic, especially in Limited formats where you can’t put 24+ artifact cards in your deck at will, or when it works with a more balanced permanent, like affinity for tokens, or for artifact creatures.

Which affinity cards do you use? Do you play affinity in Modern, Commander, or other formats? Let me know in the comments below or over on the Draftsim Discord. For more from us, subscribe to our daily newsletter, The Daily Upkeep.

Until next time, stay safe!