Affinity...Talismans or Chromatic Sphere?

[NickWhiz1]

Obviously, Affinity decks are based around getting large amounts of artifacts on the field to cast large creatures, ending with arbitrarily large flying Blue beasts. One of the components is mana acceleration. Any artifact that provides mana essentially provides two mana towards the purposes of Affinity. The best non-Chrome Mox choices for this are Talismans and Chromatic Sphere.

Talismans:
Pros:
-Don't have to sacrifice to use
-Don't have to use other mana in order to use it
-Provides 2 colors or colorless
Cons:
-2cc
-Have to pay 1 life to get colored mana

Chromatic Sphere:
Pros:
-1cc
-Cantrip
-Good mana fixer, as it gives you access to all 5 colors
Cons:
-Can only use once
-You need to use other mana to use the ability
-Could burn yourself if you don't have a way to use the mana

So, with both sides presented, my question to you is:

Which is better to run in an Affinity deck, Talismans or Chromatic Sphere?

[SoldierOfFortune187]

My only thought is: Why not both?

Both have their own unique bonuses, and there is room for each in most cases.

[That-Elf-Guy]

I would probably go with the chromatic since it also allows you to draw and ddrawing is very important to win with Affinity. i am starting an affinity deck and will be using the spheres. Thats just my opinion though.

[gumshoes]

My only thought is: Why not both?

Both have their own unique bonuses, and there is room for each in most cases.


No... there isnt room for both...

affinity is stuffed as it is, its hard to keep the deck 60 cards running 16 lands.... there really isnt room for both....

If you are running 2 color or 1 color affinity use talismans (as they pay for themselves) and if you are running 3 color affinity use chromatic spheres....

if you do have enough room to run both then do it, but you dont have enough room to run both

[ice_shards]

Talismans, because they stay on the field when you want to use them. Affinity should never have to use all 5 colors anyway, so the point about all 5 colors is pretty much moot. Yes, you'll hurt yourself for 1 if you want to use a talisman for blue, but it is well worth it. Besides, Affinity has enough card-drawing power as it is.

[flibbty_flobbity_flu]

instead of using spheres and talismens, why dont you just use myrs, it cost the same, andif u need to you can block w/ it. use the color of myr that goes along w/ the color of ur deck

[gumshoes]

myrs are a lot worse than talismans...

myr only tap for 1 color
myr cant tap the turn they come in to play
myr die from shocks
myr die from -1/-1 effect

[SaneHuman]

The talismans are basically free in the correct affinity deck, as they cost 2 (reducing affinity costs by 1), then tap for (1) that turn (free spell, almost). If you are going more aggro, i'd go with talismans, the speed advantage is key in those games. If you want a more controllish affinity build, cantrips are golden, and one costing artifacts wont get in the way of your countering, so Chromatic Sphere is your man. The best advice is just playtest the hell out of the deck and see what works.

[Ricroso]

No sir, you have it backwards.

Aggro Affinity - With Disciple of the Vault should play spheres.


Control Affinity - W/ broodstar and lots of draw, talismans are better.

[Dark Tyrant]

I think you should play the talismans because they stay on the field and affinity keys is having artifact on the field, so why use and sacrifice sphere? (Unless your using disciple of the vault, dont play spherre.)

[AKA:Battousai]

He is referring to mono blue affinity, or True affinity.

aggro style affinity uses the stars to win not the disciples therefore a talisman out there would help out a lot more than a one turn cantrip that lowers the broods overall strength. and other than that I was never all that impressed with the chromatic sphere when I played them in mine. I've played maybe 4-5 different styles of affinity and probably the sphere helped out my mono black affinity better than the blue one. although in that black deck I really liked the darksteel ingot over the sphere. I know the sphere is tons a lot faster and you get a draw and a mana off it. but that didn't help my combo at all but I still used them cuz they worked well in it.

[Ricroso]

Not exactly, aggro affinity wins w/ Atog + Disciple. Myr Enforcer and Frogmite just help it out. So, anything that you can sacrifice and trigger vault. (-1 life) Should be used. Also, Chromatic Sphere draws a card, which aggro affinity doesn't do a lot of. I only play thoughtcast, and honestly, I don't want more than 4 Thought and 3 Sphere. Also, sphere smoothens out your mana base, since good aggro affinity's base is this:

3 Vault
3 Seat
3 Furnace
4 Void
3 Citadel

You need spheres to make your mana flow better, for your 3 colors.