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I'm relatively new to Magic....I started playing after M12 was released, so I only played Limited and Standard so far. I don't have any pre-standard cards, but I want to enter the format and assemble a deck for a PTQ in Mars. I decided to go with Affinity since it's somewhat budget friendly, and I already owned all the cards from Tempered Steel.

Here's the deck I will run:

4x Arcbound Ravager
4x Etched Champion  
4x Memnite  
4x Signal Pest  
1x Steel Overseer  
4x Vault Skirge  
4x Signal Pest

4x Cranial Plating  
4x Galvanic Blast
3x Shrapnel Blast  
4x Mox Opal  
3x  Springleaf Drum
2x  Steelshaper's Gift

4x  Blinkmoth Nexus
4x  Darksteel Citadel
2x  Glimmervoid
3x  Inkmoth Nexus
2x  Mountain

Sideboard:

2x  Ancient Grudge
4x  Blood Moon
4x  Ethersworn Canonist
2x  Spellskite
1x  Torpor Orb
2x  Whipflare


Yes I picked the list on the net, 0 originality, but I'm new and know nada about the format, so I'll keep things simple at first. If anyone has suggestions to this list, feel free, I'll be glad to get any help.

Now, I'd like some advice about how to prepare for a tournament. If I don't prepare, I'll be looking at and read nearly every cards my opponents play, since I never played pre-M12. What are the most common decks in Modern, the ones I am most likely to encounter? Could someone point out to a place where I could see the deck lists, so I could at least go over the cards, and be more prepared to at least know the cards my opponents play?

Also, sideboarding...I'd really need some advice about what to side in and out for the various, most likely decks I will face.

Thanks for your help!

Okay, I run Affinity and while I'm not paricularly fond of this build, it does work well, so you can leave it as is.

As for what you'll be seeing in the format, at every tournament there will always be a core group of decks that you should expect to see. These decks are Storm, Exarch-Twin, Birthing Pod, Affinity, and Zoo. I would also gamble that there will be a decent number of Urzatron and Loam decks running around, and some weird stuff you've never seen.

Sideboarding with Affinity is actually a fairly easy affair. I'll break it down for you for each of the main deck types.

Storm -- In: 4x Ethersworn Canonist , 2x Spellskite ; Out: 4x Etched Champion , 2x Memnite and/or Ornithopter

Exarch-Twin -- In: 2x Spellskite , 1x Torpor Orb ; Out: 3x Etched Champion

Birthing Pod -- In: 2x Ancient Grudge , 1x Torpor Orb ; Out: 2x Etched Champion , 1x Memnite

Affinity -- In: 2x Ancient Grudge , 2x Spellskite ; Out: 4x Etched Champion

Zoo -- In: 4x Blood Moon , 2x Spellskite ; Out: 3x Memnite , 3x Shrapnel Blast

Urzatron -- In: 4x Blood Moon ; Out: 4x Etched Champion *

Loam -- In: 2x Spellskite ; Out: 2x Memnite and/or Ornithopter **

*Depending on what type of build they're running, Ancient Grudge is also a good include.

**This is a horrible match up for Affinity and I've yet to come up with a decent answer besides Spellskite .

Most of these choices should be obvious. Etched Champion is basically a 2/2 vanilla creature against decks not loaded with creatures and/or removal, which is why it should be one of the first things you consider dropping. I would advise against the Whipflare . I know there are games in which it does wonders, but more often than not you'll just end up regretting you didn't run more Spellskite and Ancient Grudge .

Creatures:

4x Arcbound Ravager
3x Etched Champion
4x Memnite
4x Ornithopter
4x Signal Pest
4x Steel Overseer
4x Vault Skirge

Other Spells:

4x Cranial Plating
4x Galvanic Blast
4x Mox Opal
3x Shrapnel Blast
3x Springleaf Drum

Lands:

4x Blinkmoth Nexus
4x Darksteel Citadel
3x Glimmervoid
4x Inkmoth Nexus

Sideboard:

4x Ancient Grudge
4x Blood Moon
4x Etched Champion
3x Spellskite

Sideboard is still in need of fine tuning. After some recent matches against Exarch-Twin, I'm beginning to suspect 4x Spellskite and 3x Ancient Grudge might be a better option. Or even 4x Spellskite , 1x Torpor Orb and 2x Ancient Grudge . Still no real answer to Loam.