Hello everybody,
Today I will talk to you about how to build with Stoneforge Mystic, because I’m really excited about this card
Is Stoneforge Mystic too strong for Modern?
Well, no, but actually yes. Now Stoneforge Mystic could be really powerful, but I think that there are some causes that doesn’t involve the raw power of the card:
Hype: This card was banned as the modern was created, so a lot of people now want to play it, this is why it’s just overpresented. In few weeks the hype will fall down, as the presence of Stoneforge Mystic
How to play against it: It’s not simple to interact against Stoneforge, especially against sideboard, because side-in a lot of artifact hate it’s not worthy, because at max with this strategy you can invalidate 6 cards of your opponent’s deck, if your opponent choose to leave SFM in the MD.
So, this card is powerful, for sure, as a lot of other great cards in modern (Snapcaster, Tarmogoyf and so on), but it’s not broken as the card in banned list (like Hogaak, for example), then I think that SFM will stay unbanned, like Jace TMS and Bloodbraid Elf.
Which is the best gameplan for Stoneforge Mystic?
Ok, this is a hard topic to discuss about, but I will explain my thought.
First of all, including SFM in you deck means that you’re going to invest from 5 to 7 MD cards (¾ SFM and ⅔ equips) and perhaps ½ SB card. Assuming that you’re playing 22 lands, This means that more than 13% of your deck is already chosen. Now let’s try to figure out SFM in the main MTG archetype (Aggro, Midrange, Control, Combo)
Aggro: when you play an aggro deck, you wanna maximize all the mana invested for casting your spell. If you play a SFM, you fetch for an equipment your hand, that are usually mana intensive. Moreover, if the kill your turn 2 SFM, you’ve just lose a lot of tempo. So, aggro isn’t the best home for SFM
Midrange: when you play midrange, it’all about value, and SFM provides you a card in hand and a body on the field. Here you have a lot of proactive/reactive spells, useful to protect SFM and disrupt your opponent plan. Moreover, even if you don’t activate her, you can play the equipment casting them from your hand, because usually you reach like 6/7 lands for game. I think that midrange is the best home for SFM
Control: usually here you try to stay alive in the early game and then overcome your opponent with powerful endgame threat. You can play SFM as threat, but you can play spells stronger on their own than SFM, like Lyra, Sun Titan, Elspeth Sun Champion, etc… So, you can play SFM in control, but you’ve better choice in that 5/7 slot
Combo: If there are combo with equipment, you have to play SFM. In fact, now there are esper sword/thopter that rely on sinergy between Thopter Foundy and Sword of the Meek, and having acces to SFM just raise up the number of copy of the sword. Moreover, you could fetch for Batterskull and just imposing a race with it. So, i think that esper combo is a good home for SFM.
Stonforge Best Friends
Blue
If you play an UW-build, you want to get card advantage and protection for your SFM, and the best cards in doing this are the cards below:
With Snapcaster you’ve a body on which to assign an equip at instant speed plus a value provided from flashbacked card. I would recommend at least 3 Snapcaster.
With Jace, you have a lot of value, and if he’s left unchecked, he just win the game alone with the great card advantage that he can provide. Moreover is a wincon, too. I would recommend at least 2 Jace
The last is a wonderful add from Modern Horizons, Force of Negation. There’s nothing to say, the first free counter for modern, you can tap out on your turn for every threat (is it a planeswalker, creature or something else) and then counter your opponent threat/removal. I would recommend at least 3 Force.
Black
With black we have access to discard spell, removal and so on. You’re going to play a bg rock deck style:
With discard spells you pay 1 mana for removing a card from your opponent’s hand is great, obviously is great if they are played in the first turns of the games. These cards help in protecting SFM and/or removing your opponent’s threats. I would recommend at least 6 discard spells
With fatal push you can deal with your opponent’s threat for a single mana, so at turn 3 you can use SFM ability and remove a creature. I would recommend at least 3 Fatal Push
As the last we have Dark Confidant, one of the biggest value engine in Modern. With the lifegain provided by Batterskull, the downside of Dark Confidant is not a big deal. I would play 4 of it in a BW shell.
Red
I don’t think that red is a great color paired with SFM, but is more a support color with the addition of the cards below:
With Lightning Bolt you’ve access to a virtual multimodal spell, that can act as removal or direct damage. If you play red, 4 of this is mandatory
Lightning Helix is very similar to Lightning Bolt, with the downside of CMC 2 but the upside of lifegain. I think that ⅔ are the correct numbers for it
With Young Pyromancer, you’ve access to a very strong token generator, and i think that in a WR/UWR build, you can create a bunch of token with it. As i said for Helix, ⅔ are the correct numbers.
Green
For Green I could report the same sentence for red: “I don’t think that green is a great color paired with SFM, but is more a support color with the addition of the cards below: ”
With Noble Hierarch you’ve access to the best mana dork in Modern, that could ramp, pump other creature or hold on its own some equip. If you play green, 4 of this is mandatory.
With Knight of the Reliquary, you’ve access to creature that can tutor utility lands and can be a real threat on it’s own. Probably I would play ⅔ of this.
With Renegade Rallier you’ve a powerful value engine, that could return your SFM from graveyard to the battlefield for even more value. I think that 3 is the correct number, because in late game is hard to trigger Revolt.
White
Thalia does multiple things with SFM: tax opponent (usually you’re low on noncreature spells), early blocker and acts as a lightning rod for opponent’s removal. 4 of this.
With Giver of Runes you’ve access to a card that could give a breach against the creature wall of your opponent to get value from your sword and can can give protection from removal. 4 of this too.
The last one is the best removal for Modern, for a single mana you exile a creature with the downside of giving a land to your opponent. 4 of this also.
Some decklists
Crujiff’s Esper Stonelade
This is my personal build of Stoneblade. I’ll write an article about this, but with this deck you’ve multiple angles of attack (discard, counter, creature, planeswalker). You’ve to try this.
UW Stoneblade (MCQ @Indianapolis)
This version of the deck is more draw go then the esper version, but has a better lategame thanks to Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and could handle better go wide strategy thanks to 2 mass removal (with one that is one-sided). Probably this deck could suffer Tron strategy, because the clock is slower, and other midrange deck that set an early threat and then disrupt the opponent hand/board
Urza-Stoneforge (Magicfest @Indianapolis)
This is really similar to Splinter Twin gamestyle with the add of Stoneforge, because SFM has just added another angle of attack with the beat of Batterskull as well as a tutor for one piece of the combo. I would reccomend this list!
Death & Taxes (MCQ @Alicante)
This is nice deck to play, it's a creature midrange deck where your gameplan is to disrupt your opponent with the creature while you beat it with them. It's absolutely hard to play, but every win take itself a great satisfaction.
Conclusion
It's enough, I've explained you all what I know about Stoneforge Mystic, now you just take one of the list above or just create your own Stoneforge deck, like I did.
And you, what do you think about SFM? Write your opinion in the comment
Regards
Vito