by Johnny Cycles, August 22nd, 2025
Hello! Welcome to another edition of Keeping Modern Janky! This month I’m excited to try out a new card from Edge of Eternities – Weapons Manufacturing. And what has me the most excited about this card is that it facilitates an Aristocrat-style strategy, which is one of my all-time favorite archetypes.
If you’re unfamiliar with the Aristocrat archetype, you can read about it here. Artifacts don’t have any of the archetype’s namesake cards, but they do have plenty of ways to execute the Aristocrat game plan: make fodder for sacrifice and sac it for value, first and foremost, draining our opponent until death.
But what Aristocrats Affinity has lacked until now is a powerful Blood Artist effect. Weapons Manufacturing fills this need, even if it involves an additional hoop to trigger it.
Before I get to the decklists, let me say a couple of things. First, we are playing an Affinity shell, including Mox Opal. We have a fair amount of spice in the deck, but I’m not trying to recreate the wheel any more than necessary. Izzet Affinity is the best version of Affinity in Modern, so I started there with my core cards. What this means is, as far as jank level goes, our deck isn’t as saturated with cards that haven’t seen the light of Modern outside of this site as it normally is.
Second, I’ve come up with seven decks that can take advantage of Weapons Manufacturing. I’ll play as many as I can and post the decklists here. First up, though, is my initial vision for the deck and one that is noticeably different from the industry standard Affinity. As a first draft, it’s not surprising that many changes were made, but the core cards and concept remained the same throughout my testing.
Decklist – Grixis Aristocrats Affinity
by Johnny Cycles
Format: Modern
Creatures (16)
| 4 Memnite | |
| 4 Ornithopter | |
| 4 Umbral Collar Zealot | |
| 4 Thought Monitor |
Artifacts (15)
| 4 Mishra’s Bauble | |
| 4 Mox Opal | |
| 3 Springleaf Drum | |
| 4 Ensnaring Bridge |
Enchantments (4)
| 4 Weapons Manufacturing |
Spells (7)
| 4 Hurkyl’s Recall | |
| 3 Brotherhood’s End |
Lands (18)
4 Darksteel Citadel
2 Drossforge Bridge
2 Island
2 Mistvault Bridge
2 Mountain
1 Otawara, Soaring City
3 Silverbluff Bridge
2 Swamp
Sideboard (15)
| 4 Tormod’s Crypt | |
| 4 Arcbound Ravager | |
| 2 Feed the Swarm | |
| 3 Shrapnel Blast | |
| 2 Brazen Borrower |
Deck Tech
Primary Game Plan
Despite having six different decks, our chief goal is the same. We’re looking to play Weapons Manufacturing followed by a bunch of cheap artifacts to make an equal number of Munitions tokens, then make those tokens leave the battlefield. What differs between the decks is how we go about executing this plan.
Umbral Collar Zealot is another new card from Edge of Eternities that I was pretty high on, so it gets the first shot as our sac outlet. Using our sacrificed Munitions to also dig for more combo pieces is pretty powerful.
Hurkyl’s Recall
Hurkyl’s Recall is the gem of the deck and the best way we have of comboing off and winning in a single turn (and the reason it gets its own heading and two pics!). Affinity’s explosiveness lies in its fast starts that allow it to get ahead on mana. The deck accomplishes this by emptying its hand of mana artifacts, including Mox Opal, and the mana Springleaf Drum. What this means for our game plan is that even when we get a turn 1 Weapons Manufacturing down, we’ll often have little way to make more than a single Munitions token a turn.
That’s where Hurkyl’s Recall comes in. Regardless of when we stick Weapons Manufacturing, we’ll very likely be mostly empty handed. Hurkyl’s Recall allows us to float all of our mana, then return all of our artifacts to our hand, including any stray Munitions tokens we’ve made, after which we can replay everything, triggering Weapons Manufacturing a bunch of times.
In this way, Hurkyl’s Recall pulls double duty for us: it triggers our Munitions tokens’ clause of “leaves the battlefield,” and it refills our hand with cheap artifacts to play to get more Munitions tokens. The games we win in one big turn, we usually cast at least two copies of Hurkyl’s Recall.
With Umbral Collar Zealot out, we then sac all of those new Munitions tokens, hopefully for lethal. And if we can’t kill our opponent that turn, we can surveil our way into another Hurkyl’s Recall.
Match 1 vs. Grixis Reanimation
Match 2 vs. Jeskai Control
Overall Record: 1-1
Changes to the Deck
It became immediately apparent that we needed more card draw. Being a combo deck, we want to maximize our ability to find our pieces. Thoughtcast does a great job of this without having to survive to sacrifice something the way Umbral Collar Zealot does.
And speaking of the Human Cleric, Affinity decks already have a sac outlet, and a really good one at that: Arcbound Ravager. I’ve lost enough times to this unassuming Beast to know how powerful it can be if we get to untap with it and a board full of artifacts. Today’s Affinity has dropped Arcbound Ravager in favor of Kappa Cannoneer, and with good reason. We, however, want a sac outlet, which makes the old Affinity staple our go-to choice.
Arcbound Ravager doesn’t allow us to dig for our pieces the way Umbral Collar Zealot does, but it’s colorless, which means we can drop from our deck.
Finally, being in two colors, not to mention coming out of my momentary insanity, I’ve added the playset of Urza’s Saga. The card is just too powerful in our deck to leave out. For those of you living under a rock these last few years, it gives us both an alternate win condition with the Constructs we make and a way to stay alive with Shadowspear‘s lifelink.
Here’s my Izzet version.
Decklist – Izzet Aristocrats Affinity
by Johnny Cycles
Format: Modern
Creatures (16)
| 4 Memnite | |
| 4 Ornithopter | |
| 4 Arcbound Ravager | |
| 4 Thought Monitor |
Artifacts (14)
| 4 Mishra’s Bauble | |
| 4 Mox Opal | |
| 1 Lavaspur Boots | |
| 1 Tormod’s Crypt | |
| 1 Shadowspear | |
| 3 Springleaf Drum |
Enchantments (4)
| 4 Weapons Manufacturing |
Spells (8)
| 4 Hurkyl’s Recall | |
| 4 Thoughtcast |
Lands (18)
4 Darksteel Citadel
2 Island
2 Mountain
2 Otawara, Soaring City
4 Silverbluff Bridge
4 Urza’s Saga
Sideboard (15)
| 3 Tormod’s Crypt | |
| 4 Galvanic Blast | |
| 2 Boomerang | |
| 4 Shrapnel Blast | |
| 2 Brazen Borrower |
Match 1 vs. Eldrazi Aggro
Match 2 vs. Izzet Affinity
Match 3 vs. Hollow One
Overall Record: 2-1
More Changes to the Deck
Out with Arcbound Ravager and in with Time Sieve.
Holy.
Cow.
This card is SO. MUCH. FUN.
Who doesn’t want to take extra turns? And much like Arcbound Ravager, it’s a free sac outlet, though we have to have at least five artifacts to activate it, which could cost us a game in the wrong situation.
Like the Ravager, it also triggers our Weapons Manufacturing itself, which is very nice. However, it is also returned to our hand with Hurkyl’s Recall, unlike Umbral Collar Zealot, which can cause problems.
Still, it’s been a blast to play.
Here’s the deck:
Decklist – Extra Turns Aristocrats Affinity
by Johnny Cycles
Format: Modern
Creatures (12)
| 4 Memnite | |
| 4 Ornithopter | |
| 4 Thought Monitor |
Artifacts (19)
| 4 Mishra’s Bauble | |
| 4 Mox Opal | |
| 1 Lavaspur Boots | |
| 1 Tormod’s Crypt | |
| 1 Shadowspear | |
| 4 Springleaf Drum | |
| 4 Time Sieve |
Enchantments (4)
| 4 Weapons Manufacturing |
Spells (8)
| 4 Hurkyl’s Recall | |
| 4 Thoughtcast |
Lands (17)
3 Darksteel Citadel
2 Drossforge Bridge
1 Island
2 Mistvault Bridge
2 Mountain
2 Silverbluff Bridge
1 Swamp
4 Urza’s Saga
Sideboard (15)
| 3 Tormod’s Crypt | |
| 2 Feed the Swarm | |
| 2 Emry, Lurker of the Loch | |
| 4 Ensnaring Bridge | |
| 2 Sai, Master Thopterist | |
| 2 Brazen Borrower |
Match 1 vs. Grixis Reanimation
Match 2 vs. Mono Green
Overall Record: 2-0
The sideboard continues to be a work in progress, but Time Sieve was everything we dreamed it to be. Of course, we often were killing our opponent with it before taking an extra turn, but that’s okay. This version was a ton of fun to play. I think the addition of Time Sieve brings a lot to the table, beyond just annoying our opponents. I’m definitely going to play this one some more. But first, let’s try Time Sieve in a 4-color build with Biotech Specialist!
More Munitions Please!
One of the weaknesses of the deck is that we only have one way to burn our opponent out and that’s Munitions from Weapons Manufacturing. That means we have only 4 copies of THE combo piece that makes our deck work. How can we fix that?
Let’s try another sweet Edge of Eternities card: Biotech Specialist. With him on the battlefield, each Munitions we sacrifice now does 4 damage to our opponent. Seems pretty sweet!
Of course, this means we have to choose between a Temur shell with Arcbound Ravager as our sac outlet or a 4-Color build with Time Sieve.
I went with the 4-Color version because, well, go big or go home I suppose.
Here’s the deck:
Decklist – 4-Color Aristocrats Affinity
by Johnny Cycles
Format: Modern
Creatures (16)
| 4 Memnite | |
| 4 Ornithopter | |
| 4 Biotech Specialist | |
| 4 Thought Monitor |
Artifacts (18)
| 4 Mishra’s Bauble | |
| 4 Mox Opal | |
| 1 Tormod’s Crypt | |
| 1 Shadowspear | |
| 4 Springleaf Drum | |
| 4 Time Sieve |
Enchantments (4)
| 4 Weapons Manufacturing |
Spells (4)
| 4 Hurkyl’s Recall |
Lands (18)
1 Boseiju, Who Endures
3 Darksteel Citadel
2 Drossforge Bridge
1 Island
2 Mistvault Bridge
1 Mountain
1 Silverbluff Bridge
1 Slagwoods Bridge
1 Swamp
1 Tanglepool Bridge
4 Urza’s Saga
Sideboard (15)
| 3 Tormod’s Crypt | |
| 2 Feed the Swarm | |
| 2 Emry, Lurker of the Loch | |
| 4 Ensnaring Bridge | |
| 2 Sai, Master Thopterist | |
| 2 Brazen Borrower |
Match 1 vs. Grixis Reanimator
Match 2 vs. Birthing Ritual
Match 3 vs. Eldrazi Aggro
Match 4 vs. Eldrazi…again
Match 5 vs. Reanimator…again
Overall Record: 2-2-1
I gave this deck the most attention, because I really wanted to see Biotech Specialist in action. Alas, while we were able to assemble our Hurkyl’s Recall–Munitions combo several times, the Insect Scientist didn’t make a meaningful appearance in any of our games. The closest I came so far was drawing him the turn after my opponent shut our board down with Karn, the Great Creator. Had we been able to activate our artifacts that game, I think the Insect Scientist would have proven his worth.
And Another One…
What’s more annoying than taking extra turns? Milling your opponent out!
Okay, that’s a debate for another time, but I thought I’d give Grinding Station a shot in place of Time Sieve.
Here’s the deck:
Decklist – Grinding Aristocrats Affinity
by Johnny Cycles
Format: Modern
Creatures (16)
| 4 Memnite | |
| 4 Ornithopter | |
| 4 Arcbound Ravager | |
| 4 Thought Monitor |
Artifacts (14)
| 4 Mishra’s Bauble | |
| 4 Mox Opal | |
| 1 Lavaspur Boots | |
| 1 Tormod’s Crypt | |
| 1 Shadowspear | |
| 3 Springleaf Drum |
Enchantments (4)
| 4 Weapons Manufacturing |
Spells (8)
| 4 Hurkyl’s Recall | |
| 4 Thoughtcast |
Lands (18)
4 Darksteel Citadel
2 Island
2 Mountain
2 Otawara, Soaring City
4 Silverbluff Bridge
4 Urza’s Saga
Sideboard (15)
| 3 Tormod’s Crypt | |
| 4 Galvanic Blast | |
| 2 Boomerang | |
| 4 Shrapnel Blast | |
| 2 Brazen Borrower |
Match 1 vs. 185-Card Special
Match 2 vs. Mono Red
Overall Record: 1-1
I honestly think there’s some kind of combo here…we just didn’t find it. Obviously, our ideal is to sacrifice Munitions tokens as we play our artifacts one at a time to get the most value out of Grinding Station‘s untap clause. Alas, we didn’t find it and given that I’m testing seven different builds of this deck, I’ll have to table this one for now.
The Penultimate Deck…
One problem with the deck is having a board full of Munitions and no way to sacrifice them. But what if we made it so they could sac themselves?
That’s the thought process that inspired me to give Ragost, Deft Gastronaut a chance.
Here’s the deck:
Decklist – Lobster Aristocrats Affinity
by Johnny Cycles
Format: Modern
Creatures (16)
| 4 Memnite | |
| 4 Ornithopter | |
| 4 Ragost, Deft Gastronaut | |
| 4 Thought Monitor |
Artifacts (15)
| 4 Mishra’s Bauble | |
| 4 Mox Opal | |
| 1 Lavaspur Boots | |
| 1 Tormod’s Crypt | |
| 1 Shadowspear | |
| 4 Springleaf Drum |
Enchantments (4)
| 4 Weapons Manufacturing |
Spells (8)
| 4 Hurkyl’s Recall | |
| 4 Thoughtcast |
Lands (17)
3 Darksteel Citadel
1 Island
2 Mountain
1 Otawara, Soaring City
1 Plains
1 Razortide Bridge
1 Rustvale Bridge
3 Silverbluff Bridge
4 Urza’s Saga
Sideboard (15)
| 3 Tormod’s Crypt | |
| 4 Galvanic Blast | |
| 2 Boomerang | |
| 4 Shrapnel Blast | |
| 2 Brazen Borrower |
Match 1 vs. Neoform Combo
Overall Record: 0-1
This was the last deck I was going to test, but I couldn’t resist giving Biotech Specialist another shot in a Temur shell. With only one match completed, it’s hard to judge the legendary Lobster Citizen. However, it’s not hard to see how having your sac outlet not be free, repeatable, and possible the turn it resolves is a real problem. I think for Ragost to work, we’d need to add back in Arcbound Ravager.
The Final and Best (???) Deck
I said above that we could play Biotech Specialist in a 4-color deck or in a Temur shell with Arcbound Ravager. The 4-color deck didn’t perform as well as I’d have liked (though it’s a small sample size and we rarely got all our pieces out), so I wanted to give the Temur version a chance.
It didn’t disappoint.
Here’s the deck:
Decklist – Temur Aristocrats Affinity
by Johnny Cycles
Format: Modern
Creatures (19)
| 4 Memnite | |
| 4 Ornithopter | |
| 4 Arcbound Ravager | |
| 4 Biotech Specialist | |
| 3 Thought Monitor |
Artifacts (13)
| 4 Mishra’s Bauble | |
| 4 Mox Opal | |
| 1 Shadowspear | |
| 4 Springleaf Drum |
Enchantments (4)
| 4 Weapons Manufacturing |
Spells (8)
| 4 Hurkyl’s Recall | |
| 4 Thoughtcast |
Lands (16)
1 Boseiju, Who Endures
3 Darksteel Citadel
1 Forest
1 Island
2 Mountain
2 Silverbluff Bridge
2 Slagwoods Bridge
4 Urza’s Saga
Sideboard (15)
| 3 Tormod’s Crypt | |
| 2 Collective Resistance | |
| 3 Ensnaring Bridge | |
| 2 Brazen Borrower | |
| 3 Metallic Rebuke | |
| 2 Sai, Master Thopterist |
Match 1 vs. Orzhov Blink
Match 2 vs. Mill
Match 3 vs. Sultai Frog
Match 4 vs. Orzhov Blink
Overall Record: 3-1
We finally got to see Biotech Specialist, Arcbound Ravager, and Weapons Manufacturing on the battlefield at the same time and it was as fun as I had envisioned it.
I honestly think this is the best version of the deck, though both the extra turns and Izzet versions are close seconds. Biotech Specialist gives us the redundancy of the effect we need: burning our opponent out.
Record from all decks: 11-7-1
Conclusion
Whew, that was a lot of decks and a lot of testing. I hope y’all enjoyed seeing the deck-building and testing process. It was a ton of fun trying out all the different versions. Furthermore, I really do think Weapons Manufacturing makes Affinity Aristocrats a legit alternative to Izzet Affinity.
Between the seven decks, the top three best decks are the following:
- Temur
- Izzet
- Extra Turns
All three have the power and synergy to win on turn 3. They can also compete with the best decks out there, though, to be fair, we didn’t play Energy.
Speaking of that, the meta this past week was pretty repetitive. Psychic Frog and Abhorrent Oculus were everywhere, while Eldrazi was pretty prevalent, as well. I wonder if this is a product of the free zone or if people have decided that reanimation and big mana are the best decks out there. I’ll have to run the Temur version through a league and find out!
Before I wrap this up, I’ll say that Metallic Rebuke should be in our sideboard to give us some way to stop the really broken decks out there. I made this change in my Temur build, but I want to point it out here. Furthermore, I’m leaning towards Abrade in the board over Brazen Borrower. I was thinking Lightning Bolt, but we need our sideboard cards to do double duty, and Abrade can answer Chalice of the Void and Collector Ouphe, which happens to hose our entire deck as well as Karn, the Great Creator.
Finally, this was a super fun deck to play. After my Affinity Dragons deck was both bad and not fun, I’m happy to have experienced the joy and power of emptying your entire hand on turn 1 and actually winning.
Thanks for reading and watching!
