The Forgemaster Cometh

I wrote an article on evaluating new cards a while back.  A lot of that article talekd abotu Kuldotha Forgemaster.  I didn't like it much.  My argument was that the investment you have to make to have it do something was not going to be worthwhile.  When I wrote that, the cards worth searching for were pretty limited  Platinum Emperion, Mindslaver, Platinum Angel and Myr Battlesphere.  Alone, those don't do quite enough. Battlesphere was almost worthwhile, but building a deck to speed out battlesphere with a bunch of mana Myrs made more sense than finding it with Forgemaster.  After all, the cost of Forgemaster is only 2 less than the Forgemaster.

Anyway, that was then.  Now - well I saw this play at a recent paper Legacy tourney.

Turn One:

Play these

Tap the Monolith, play this:

use the Key to untap the Monolith and pass the turn.  (Opponent does something unimpressive.)

Turn Two:

tap Ancient Tomb,  tap Monolith, tap Key to untap Monolith, tap Monolith again, play these:

  and   

Equip Forgemaster with Greaves, sacrifice Forgemaster, Key and Monolith to get this ==>

Equip the Colossus with the Greaves, swing for lethal.

Turn two kills are impressive.  Admittedly, this was Legacy, and Legacy has enough mana acceleration to make the card work.  It also has cards like Lightning Greaves, which is pretty nuts.  The big improvement, though, is a Darksteel Colossus that kills in a single hit. 

Besides - this was a fluke, right?   It is one of those decks with a cool trick - the kind that you can pull off on occasion, but can't do well in a serious tournament.   It's not like Forgemaster is Tier One, right?

Actually, wrong.  Blightsteel Colossus is insane.  It is going to become a serious player in Classic, Legacy and Vintage if you can cheat it into play (Tinker, etc.)  However, it turns out that Kuldotha Forgemaster has the support to play in a serious deck, even without the poisoned Colossus.  Check this deck out.

Forgemaster Combo

Michael Bomolt - Second Place at SCG Open Indianapolis

Creatures 1 Sundering Titan 2 Myr Battlesphere 4 Wurmcoil Engine 1 Steel Hellkite 4 Kuldotha Forgemaster 4 Metalworker 4 Goblin Welder 4 Lodestone Golem 24 cards Other Spells 2 Sensei's Divining Top  2 Crucible Of Worlds 2 Lightning Greaves 3 Mox Opal 3 Mox Diamond 4 Grim Monolith 4 Voltaic Key 20 cards

Lands 4 Great Furnace 4 Wasteland 4 City of Traitors 4 Ancient Tomb 16 cards Sideboard 3 Trinisphere 2 Sword of Fire and Ice 2 Duplicant 4 Phyrexian Revoker 4 Chalice of the Void 15 cards

This deck is all about mana acceleration.  A deck with 48 artifacts and Metalworker is going to be able to generate amazing amounts of mana.  I have played decks like this, and have often followed a turn one City of Traitors into Grim Monolith into Metalworker with a turn two that involved tapping Metalworker to show 5 artifacts and generate 10 mana, then playing a Voltaic Key to untap the Metalworker and tap it again - leaving 16 mana floating to play the four artifacts left in hand. 

I'm not a Legacy specialist, but I think ending turn two with Wurmcoil Engine, Forgemaster, Lodestone Golem and Sensei's Divining Top in play seems strong.  Also, note how well Myr Battlesphere combos with Kuldotha Forgemaster:  if you don't have to sacrifice the Forgemaster to bet the Battlesphere, you can sacrifice the Myr tokens next turn, after they have tapped to fuel the Battlesphere ability. 

This was Legacy, with cards that are not yet online.  Could this shell translate to Classic?  Check out this 4-0 deck from a recent Classic event.  Can you see squeezing Forgemaster into this?

Now the decks that are winning in more recent Classic events have been more traditional STAX builds, with more mana denial and fewer creatures (and Smokestacks), but the possibility is still there, especially once Blightsteel Colossus arrives.

So far, I have been talking about paper Legacy, and a potential future Classic.  Forgemaster can't make it in other formats, can it?

Well, I am writing this as Day One at Worlds is wrapping up.  I'm watching a deck tech by Guillaume Matignon about his Standard-format  UB Forgemaster deck.  Here's the list, based on what I saw in the video.

UB Forgemaster

Guillaume Matignon - World Championships - Standard

Creatures 4 Kuldotha Forgemaster 1 Myr Battlesphere 1 Blightsteel Colossus 6 cards Other Spells 4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor 4 Inquisition of Kozilek 4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas 2 Preordain 1 Duress 4 Everflowing Chalice 4 Sphere of the Sun 3 Ratchet Bomb 3 Tumble Magnet 1 Mindslaver 22 cards

Lands 4 Blinkmoth Nexus 4 Darkwater Catacombs 4 Darkslick Shores 5 Island 7 Swamp 24 cards Sideboard 3 Swamp 2 Duress 1 memoricide 2 Terror 1 Ratchet Bomb 3 Flashfreeze 1 Negate 1 Spell Pierce 1 Platinum Emperion 15 cards

We will see more of this deck when Brad and Guillaume battle for Player of Last Year honors.  That's still to come as I write this, but probably old news by the time you read this.  (Unless JXC does some super-fast editing.)

Kuldotha Forgemaster has gone from bulk rare to tournament staple.  It is amazing what a difference a single additional set makes.

I busted a foil Blinkmoth Colosssus in the paper release events.  We have a paper Legacy event this Saturday afternoon.  I may sleeve up some Forgemasters and try it out.

Good luck at your events.

PRJ

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