Kuldotha Forgemaster Prison in Modern
Modern has had Chalice of the Void decks for a long time. Modern has had Simian Spirit Guide decks for a long time. Modern has had Mox Opal decks for a long time. This one, though...is a bit different. Because for as long as Modern has existed, I can’t think of a real deck that has played Lightning Greaves. Especially not three whole copies of the card. But that’s exactly what RagingTiltMonster’s Colorless Prison does. The deck has exactly one 5-0 to its name, but that’s all it really needed to catch my attention.
Looking at the list, you’re probably having a reaction similar to the one I had when I first saw it: How did this thing get a 5-0? And to be honest, I’m not entirely sure myself. But it did, and boy am I glad, because otherwise I might never have found it. Simian Spirit Guide helps us speed out haymakers and lock pieces, while Lodestone Golem keeps the opponent slowed down enough that we can get them out. Kuldotha Forgemaster allows us to play expensive artifacts since we can easily tutor them, Wurmcoil Engine fights aggro while hitting like a truck, and Platinum Angel is a wonderful catch-all answer to anything that might kill us. Finally, we have Blightsteel Colossus, which, well, is Blightsteel Colossus. The card hits hard, able to easily kill the opponent in a single unblocked attack. And even if it doesn’t, it puts a ton of pressure on the opponent to find some sort of answer to it.
Chalice of the Void is one of the best lock pieces to ever be printed, stopping cheap spells dead in their tracks. Everflowing Chalice is a bit odd, but is great in that it ramps, it acts as an extra artifact for Mox Opal in a pinch, and it gives you a free artifact to pitch to Forgemaster in times of need. Mox Opal is a fantastic ramp card that can enable some insane starts, and Welding Jar is a nice way of protecting our lock pieces. Lightning Greaves is a bizarre but all-too-perfect choice, protecting our creatures and speeding them up, and Mind Stone gives us a bit of extra ramp while also providing card draw. Ensnaring Bridge helps fend off the more aggressive decks, and Trinisphere does a good job of slowing games to a halt.
Thanks to the fact that the deck is completely colorless, our lands give us a lot of utility. Buried Ruin recurs pieces that were previously destroyed or sacrificed, Darksteel Citadel gives us a land the opponent can’t blow up, and Gemstone Caverns gives us yet another piece of fast mana to try and break out early with. Ghost Quarter keeps big mana decks in check, Inventors’ Fair helps mitigate the damage from aggro decks while also finding important lock pieces, and the swamps help with the two copies of Dismember in the sideboard.
In the sideboard, we have a few extra copies of Welding Jar for when the opponent brings in artifact hate (which, with 70% of the deck being artifacts, they will), as well as four Damping Sphere to help handle Tron and Storm. Ratchet Bomb continues to be the colorless version of Engineered Explosives here, taking out small permanents, and Sorcerous Spyglass is great against decks that run lots of activated abilities or planeswalkers. Dismember helps against big creatures, or just smaller, more important ones, and Silent Arbiter is fantastic against go-wide strategies. Finally, we have an extra copy of Wurmcoil Engine to tackle matchups where we need the lifegain.
Tips:
- A turn 2 win does technically exist, if you can get lucky enough to get a hand that looks something like: SSG, SSG, Opal, Greaves, Citadel, Opal, and another land or Forgemaster. Turn 1, you can play Citadel into SSG to cast Greaves, then on turn two you play your second land, drop Opal, tap it for mana, then use your second SSG and Opal for two more mana, bringing you to a total of 5 for Forgemaster. Equip Greaves, then use Forgemaster’s ability to sacrifice Opal, Citadel, and Forgemaster, grabbing Blightsteel, equipping the Greaves, and swinging for 11 trample infect. Is this likely? Of course not. But it is technically possible.
- Get Lightning Greaves down early. This will allow you to protect your lock pieces, and to turn the corner extremely quickly. Without Greaves, you would have to play Forgemaster (turn 0), protect it for a turn, then use its ability to find Colossus (turn 1). After that, you would have to wait yet another turn to swing with it (turn 2). With Greaves though, you can play Forgemaster, then immediately swing with the Colossus you tutor up, all on the same turn.
- Keep in mind that Trinisphere’s effect probably damages more than you realize. Mox Opal now costs 3. Your opponent’s Rift Bolt costs 3 coming off of suspend. No matter how many cards your opponent cycles, their Hollow One still costs 3. This is due to the fact that Trinisphere’s effect applies after all cost reduction effects.
- A Chalice of the Void on 0 will stop you from playing Everflowing Chalice for any amount, but you can still play Chalice of the Void for any other value.
- Don’t worry about playing Ensnaring Bridge early if you want to attack soon, since Forgemaster can easily sacrifice Bridge when you use it to tutor.
The deck is crazy, controlling, and just downright weird. Being able to play a string of Chalice of the Voids and Ensnaring Bridges, then turning on a dime into a hasty Blightsteel Colossus feels amazing, and the ability to turn the corner so quickly is what really sold the deck to me. If you’ve been looking for a new prison deck to pick up, I highly recommend trying this one out. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
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