A Second Look at Horizons #2: Forging your way to victory!

What’s happening everyone, MoxAmethyst here and I’m back with part 2 in our series looking at Modern Horizons cards that may have been overlooked, and today we’re going to be looking more specifically at cards that play nicely with the newest shakeup to the format, Stoneforge Mystic!

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And now that’s all out of the way, let’s talk Stoneforge Mystic.

This 1/2 Kor Artificer seems innocuous enough, but for those of you with a keen eye for legacy will know that Stoneforge is an absolute powerhouse of a Magic card. Now granted we don’t have Umezawa’s Jitte in Modern, but Batterskull along with the Sword cycle still make for an impressive package to tutor with our Stoneforges.

So why don’t we draw some inspiration from the long term home of Stoneforge, we’re going to start off today with a deck that alot of people have jumped straight to as the defacto best Stoneforge deck in modern (much like it is in legacy) and that is Azorious Stoneblade.

So this is the version of the deck that I’ve been testing this past week, and it’s definitely a contender in the modern format. As you can see I’ve gone down the route of the legacy ideology, with a full 8 cantrips, and 0 copies of Cryptic Command. We’re playing Geist of Saint Traft, as a difficult threat that holds a Sword really nicely, the usual suspects in the planeswalker slot, and the full set of Force of Negation, our ‘fixed’ Force of Will from Modern Horizons.

Force of Negation is really the big focus of this deck for me. Since we will be looking to tap out much more often in the early turns, having a free counterspell for opposing planeswalkers and removal spells is the real key to making this deck function. The sideboard for this and the other decks in today’s article are by no means the finished product. The modern format is adapting right now and so will our sideboards in coming weeks.

Next up, we’ve got another home for Stoneforge that has been adapted from a Legacy shell, albeit a much less common one; Maverick!

In the supporting role of this deck, we have Modern mainstay Thalia. With only 8 Noncreature Spells that we intend to cast, Thalia does a fantastic job of keeping the unfair decks at bay and the fair decks honest. Also joining the fray, this decks Modern Horizons ambassador; Giver of Runes.

Again we see a full set of Stoneforge, accompanied by a Sword of Fire and Ice and a Batterskull. I’m not convinced in either of these decks whether Sword of Feast and Famine would be better, however I’m fairly confident that 2 equipment is the correct number to have in the main.

Giver is incredible, so much so that a good portion of Legacy decks are playing Giver of Runes as a replacement for the original Mother of Runes that the card was based on. Giver is particularly powerful in this shell as we have a wealth of 2 and 3 mana creatures that we want to stick around, including Stoneforge, Thalia and the decks main engine piece in Knight of the Reliquary.

Now I don’t expect this deck to be nearly as popular as Azorious Stoneblade, nor do I think that Maverick is the best choice for a premier event. However, if you’re looking for a fun and interesting Stoneforge deck for your local FNM or MCQ, this might be for you.

And speaking of fun and interesting, our last deck of the day is a little brew that me and my team have been working on since Horizons came out, which I feel has gained an ideal threat in Stoneforge Mystic; 4 Color Control!

Now this deck, I’ll admit, looks like an absolute pile. We only have 2 Stoneforge in this deck, with just a singleton Batterskull for her to go and fetch. The power of this deck lies in the diversity of it’s threats. With Stoneforge, Wrenn and Six and Jace all as powerful, must answer cards, this deck will put your opponents resources under a lot of distress.

Now the Horizons card that we have to focus on here has quickly become an integral part of the Jund deck, Wrenn and Six. This card is very, very powerful. The ability to get back lands, ensuring you hit your land drops, and keep the board clean with the ping effect is exactly what a control deck wants. And with the popularity of Fetch Lands in Modern, Wrenn let’s us get a little greedy and play a whopping 4 Colors! I’ll admit this is the deck I’ve tested the least of the 3, but from what I have played with it I strongly believe the deck has legs, and I’m very excited to continue working on and refining the list.

And that’s it for today, thankyou for taking the time to have a read, and don’t forget to leave a comment letting us know your thoughts on the lists, and what decks you guys are going to be trying with Stoneforge Mystic. If you’ve seen anything in the post that you’d like to pick up for yourself, head on over to TCGPlayer. Anything you buy through the link gives us a little bit back and really helps towards keeping the content coming. I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s article, and I’ll be back next week taking a look at the weekends Modern Challenge results, and picking apart what we can expect moving forward. Until then, have a great weekend, and this is MoxAmethyst tapping out.