Forged In Stone precon upgrade guide

Thirteen cards in this box cost six or more, and only three of its nonland cards make mana. Five of the nine Equipment I keep from the box cost three or more to attach by hand, and Nahiri covers one attach a turn.

Nahiri, the Lithomancer is a planeswalker you can cast from the command zone, and her +2 is the deck’s engine: it makes a 1/1 Kor Soldier and lets you attach an Equipment you control to it without paying the equip cost. Her -2 puts an Equipment from your hand or graveyard onto the battlefield. The box already contains its best draw engine and nothing on the cards says so. Put Skullclamp on the table and the +2 makes a token that dies the moment it is equipped, because +1/-1 turns a 1/1 into a 2/0, and Skullclamp draws you two cards. That is two cards a turn for two loyalty.

The trouble is the mana and the price of moving Equipment. Thirteen cards have a mana value of six or more (ten at six, three at seven) and the only nonland cards that make mana are Sol Ring, Marble Diamond and Commander's Sphere. Spectral Procession is printed at six and costs {W}{W}{W} in a white deck, so call it twelve in practice. Ten swaps fix the mana, the equip costs and the removal for $40.16 at the cheapest released printing of each card as of October 2026 (sometimes a promo). The list carries no Game Changer.

What are the best Forged In Stone upgrades?

Puresteel Paladin goes first because it fixes the problem the box can't fix itself. The tutor comes after, then the answers and the rocks.

1. Puresteel Paladin ($0.59): with three artifacts it gives every Equipment you control equip {0}, and it can draw a card whenever one enters. The list has 17 artifacts once the swaps are made.
2. Stoneforge Mystic ($29.17) and Batterskull ($3.30): a tutor for any Equipment in the deck, and a way to put a five-drop onto the battlefield for {1}{W}. Together they are $32.47 and the priciest line here.
3. Sram, Senior Edificer ($1.73): draws a card each time you cast an Equipment, and the list has ten of them.
4. Swords to Plowshares ($1.07) and Path to Exile ($0.93): two one-mana answers to any creature. The ten cuts are further down.
5. Skyclave Apparition ($0.25) and Adeline, Resplendent Cathar ($2.55): a body that exiles an opposing permanent of mana value four or less, and a three-drop that makes a 1/1 attacker for each opponent every time you attack.
6. Arcane Signet ($0.34) and Mind Stone ($0.23): ramp goes from three cards to five.

Ten cuts, and one that exiles the deck's own recursion

Containment Priest looks like a two-drop with flash and a good body. Its last line exiles any nontoken creature that enters without being cast, and six cards in this deck put one onto the battlefield that way: Flickerwisp when it blinks a creature, Sun Titan, Adarkar Valkyrie, Marshal's Anthem, Emeria, the Sky Ruin and Twilight Shepherd when persist brings it back. It would exile six of your own plays. It goes.

Armistice costs three to cast and {3}{W}{W} for each card, and the opponent gains 3 life every time you use it. Sacred Mesa makes a 1/1 Pegasus for {1}{W} and then asks for a Pegasus back every upkeep or sacrifices itself, so it taxes its own output, and Mobilization makes tokens without the upkeep. Assault Suit is a 4-mana +2/+2 with equip 3 that can hand your equipped creature to an opponent on their upkeep, and nothing in this deck wants that. Mask of Memory draws two and discards one only when the creature connects, and the box has Skullclamp and Mentor of the Meek for card flow.

Deploy to the Front makes a token for every creature on the battlefield for seven, which Nomads' Assembly does for six with rebound, counting only your creatures. Serra Avatar is a 40/40 at the start of a Commander game, and it is the cut I like least. It is one seven-mana body in a list that wants many small ones. Oblation puts a permanent back in its owner's library and draws that player two, so using it on an opponent's threat hands them two cards. Comeuppance stops damage to you and to Nahiri, but one fog does little in a deck that wants to go wide.

Ghost Quarter is the one land that goes. It taps for {C} and destroys a land, and the list has no way to use that. The tapped lands stay since Drifting Meadow and Secluded Steppe both cycle, Emeria returns a creature with seven Plains, and Karoo is a bounce land. Temple of the False God stays for its {C}{C}, because that pays for equips.

Strata Scythe stays for a reason that is specific to this deck: it searches for a land card, exiles it, and gives +1/+1 for every land on the battlefield with that name. With 32 Plains in the list it takes a Plains, and every player's Plains count. Argentum Armor stays because Nahiri's +2 attaches it without the 6 it costs to equip, and a +6/+6 token that destroys a permanent each time it attacks is what that attach is for.

Equip {0}, and two ways to get an Equipment onto the table

Nahiri's free attach is one a turn, and it only goes onto a token she just made. Everything else in the box pays full price. Moonsilver Spear costs 4 to cast and 4 to move. Loxodon Warhammer, Strata Scythe and Sword of Vengeance cost 3 and 3, and Argentum Armor costs 6 and 6. Attaching those five once each costs 19 mana, and most of that buys a bonus on a single body in a deck built to go wide. That is a fair objection to the box as printed.

Puresteel Paladin answers it. Metalcraft needs three artifacts and the box has 16 (11 Equipment, Sol Ring, Marble Diamond, Pearl Medallion, Commander's Sphere and Loreseeker's Stone), so it turns on early. With it, moving any Equipment costs nothing and Nahiri's +2 stops being the only free attach in the deck. Paladin also draws when an Equipment enters, so Nahiri's -2 and Stoneforge's activation draw as well as put something onto the battlefield. Sram's trigger doesn't fire on either, since neither casts anything. Casting a Skullclamp, on the other hand, triggers Sram on the cast and Paladin on the entry, which is two cards for one mana.

Kemba, Kha Regent is the payoff for the free moves. She makes a 2/2 Cat each upkeep for every Equipment attached to her, and at equip {0} three Equipment on her is three Cats a turn for no mana at all.

Stoneforge Mystic is $29.17 and it is the card I'd buy last. The tutor finds any Equipment in the deck, the second ability puts one onto the battlefield for two mana, and Batterskull is the best use of it: a 4/4 vigilance lifelink Germ the turn after you cast Stoneforge. Batterskull itself is $3.30, so nearly all of the premium is the Mystic. Stoneforge is a tutor, and with no Game Changers in the list the bracket floor is still 1.

Answers at one mana, and a ramp package of five

The box answers creatures with Afterlife, which gives the controller a 1/1 flier, and with Condemn and Wing Shards, which only hit attackers. Fell the Mighty is a sorcery-speed sweeper, and Martial Coup becomes one at X of five or more (seven mana). Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile exile any creature at instant speed for {W}, at the price of life for its controller or a basic land. Skyclave Apparition is the answer with a body: it exiles a nonland, nontoken permanent of mana value four or less, and if it leaves the battlefield the owner gets an X/X token with X equal to what was exiled. Kill it and you have traded the exile for a token.

Sol Ring, Marble Diamond and Commander's Sphere are the only mana in the box, against thirteen cards that cost six or more. Arcane Signet makes {W} in this deck and Mind Stone makes {C}, and it can be cashed in later for a card at the cost of {1}, a tap and a sacrifice. Both cost two. Ramp goes from 3 to 5, and the land count drops from 39 to 38.

Adeline, Resplendent Cathar is the creature that does the most with the board the rest of the list builds. Her power equals your creature count. Each attack makes a 1/1 Human tapped and attacking for each opponent, so a four-player pod gets three tokens a turn, and every one of them is another creature for Geist-Honored Monk to count and another trigger for Cathars' Crusade.

Cards I left out, and where they sit in the buying order

Hammer of Nazahn ($4.11) is the next card I would add. It attaches itself and every other Equipment you control to a creature the moment it enters, which does what Nahiri's -2 doesn't. Sigarda's Aid ($15.45) does the same attach and adds flash for your Equipment spells. Sword of Fire and Ice ($17.41) and Shadowspear ($20.91) are strong, and I stopped where the price rose faster than the improvement. Smothering Tithe is $55.24 and a Game Changer, so adding it would move this list to Bracket 3.

Where the ten swaps landed

Creatures go from 21 to 24, ramp from 3 cards to 5, and nonland cards now average 3.41 mana value, down from 3.67. Cards at six or more drop from 13 to 11. White sources go from 38 to 39, and the odds of {W}{W} by turn three on the play rise from 92.5% to 93.4%, which barely moves because a mono-white deck was never short of white. Equipment fall from 11 to 10, since Mask of Memory and Assault Suit leave and Batterskull arrives. The box and the upgraded list both sit at Bracket 1.

The upgraded decklist

The hundred cards as they stand after the ten swaps. Hover any name for the card.

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“Load into the deck builder” opens this list in your account, pinned to the printings the box shipped, ready to edit or save. “Copy decklist” gives you plain text for Moxfield, Archidekt or Arena, with no account needed.

FAQ

Does Nahiri’s plus ability with Skullclamp draw two cards every turn?

Yes, as long as Skullclamp is already on the battlefield. The +2 makes a 1/1 Kor Soldier and lets you attach an Equipment you control to it for free. Skullclamp gives +1/-1, so the token becomes a 2/0 and dies before anything else happens, and Skullclamp's trigger draws you two cards. Nahiri goes up 2 loyalty for it. It's in the box already, which is why I didn't add a second draw engine. The cost is the body, so on a turn when you want a Kor Soldier to stay, attach something else.

Why cut Containment Priest when it has flash and a body?

Because it exiles the deck's own recursion. Its last line exiles any nontoken creature that enters without being cast, and six cards here put one onto the battlefield that way: Flickerwisp when it blinks a creature, Sun Titan, Adarkar Valkyrie, Marshal's Anthem, Twilight Shepherd's persist, and Emeria, the Sky Ruin. Against a table with a reanimator it earns a slot. In this list it would exile six of your own plays.

Which Equipment should Stoneforge Mystic fetch?

Skullclamp if Nahiri is on the battlefield and Skullclamp isn't, since each +2 then draws two cards. Otherwise Batterskull: {1}{W} and a tap puts it onto the battlefield from your hand, and the living weapon trigger still makes its Germ. Stoneforge's second ability puts any Equipment from your hand onto the battlefield, so it can cheat in a Moonsilver Spear or Argentum Armor you drew naturally as well.

Can Batterskull move for free with Puresteel Paladin?

Yes, once you control three artifacts, which this list does comfortably with 17 of them. Metalcraft gives every Equipment you control equip {0}, so Batterskull's {5} costs nothing and you can slide it onto a flier. The Germ is a 0/0 without it and dies when Batterskull leaves, so move it when you'd rather have the +4/+4 and lifelink on a better creature than the Germ.

How much does the Forged In Stone upgrade cost?

$40.16 for all ten swaps at the cheapest released printing of each card, as of October 2026, and sometimes that printing is a promo or a Secret Lair. Stoneforge Mystic is $29.17 of it and Batterskull is $3.30. The other eight cards come to $7.69, so a budget version of this page is those eight, with the Mystic and Batterskull added last.

Is Smothering Tithe worth adding to Forged In Stone?

It's one of the strongest white cards I left out, and it's a Game Changer at $55.24. One Game Changer is enough to lift a list's floor to Bracket 3, and the list as written has none, so the floor stays at Bracket 1 like the box. If your table plays at Bracket 3 it fits. If it doesn't, the cheaper draw in this list is Sram, Senior Edificer at $1.73.