Forged In Stone Upgrade Guide

Quick verdict

Forged In Stone is a mono-white deck built around a planeswalker commander that makes soldiers and puts Equipment onto the battlefield for free. Nahiri, the Lithomancer gives the deck a steady stream of bodies and a way around the high equip and casting costs of cards like Argentum Armor . The deck's problems are the usual mono-white ones: slow mana with several lands that enter tapped, thin card draw, and a commander that sits on the battlefield as a target with little to protect it.

TurnZero HQ rates Forged In Stone a 2 out of 5 on difficulty and a 3 out of 5 on power, as it comes in the box. That is our editorial read, not an official Wizards rating. The full hundred cards are on the Forged In Stone decklist page, and every other precon we cover is on the precon directory.

How the precon plays

Nahiri, the Lithomancer has three loyalty abilities. Her +2 creates a 1/1 Kor Soldier and lets you attach an Equipment you control to it for free. Her −2 puts an Equipment card from your hand or graveyard straight onto the battlefield, which skips the casting cost of something like Argentum Armor or Moonsilver Spear . Her −10 makes Stoneforged Blade, an indestructible Equipment with equip {0} that gives +5/+5 and double strike.

Most turns you will use the +2. Each soldier is a chump blocker that protects Nahiri, and the free attach means a soldier can carry Loxodon Warhammer or Sword of Vengeance the turn it is made without paying an equip cost. When a big Equipment ends up in your hand or graveyard, the −2 puts it into play and the +2 on a later turn moves it onto a fresh body.

Around the Equipment there is a white tokens deck. Martial Coup , Spectral Procession , White Sun's Zenith and Decree of Justice make wide boards, Cathars' Crusade and Marshal's Anthem grow them, and True Conviction gives the whole team double strike and lifelink. Sun Titan returns cheap Equipment and creatures from the graveyard each time it enters or attacks.

What works out of the box

Nahiri, the Lithomancer ↗

Makes a soldier and attaches Equipment for free every other turn, or puts an Equipment from hand or graveyard onto the battlefield. It solves the deck's biggest cost problem by itself.

Argentum Armor ↗

Plus six power and toughness, and it destroys a permanent every time the creature attacks. Nahiri can skip its six-mana casting cost and her +2 can skip its six-mana equip.

Sun Titan ↗

Returns a permanent card with mana value 3 or less from your graveyard each time it enters or attacks. Most of the deck's Equipment and small creatures qualify.

Skullclamp ↗

Equipped on a 1/1 token, it kills the token and draws two cards. With Nahiri and the token makers, it is the deck's best draw engine.

Martial Coup ↗

At seven mana it makes five soldiers and destroys every other creature, so you wipe the board and keep an army at the same time.

True Conviction ↗

Double strike and lifelink for every creature you control. Once the board is wide or carrying Equipment, an attack with this out usually ends the game.

What needs improvement

The mana is slow. Temple of the False God makes nothing until you have five lands, Marble Diamond enters tapped, and Drifting Meadow , Secluded Steppe , Karoo and Emeria, the Sky Ruin all enter tapped too. Several of the deck's best cards cost six or more, so a slow start leaves Nahiri alone on the battlefield with nothing to defend her.

Card draw is light for a deck that spends its hand quickly. Skullclamp and Mentor of the Meek carry it, while Armistice and Loreseeker's Stone are slow and expensive. A few of the cards also work against the plan: Containment Priest exiles creatures that Sun Titan , Marshal's Anthem and Adarkar Valkyrie try to return to the battlefield.

Upgrade ideas

Each upgrade below starts from something the deck does poorly and says what a replacement card has to do. The cards named are examples, not the only answer: if you own something else that does the same job, or a newer printing does it better, it goes in the same slot. Make one change at a time and play a few games between them, so you can tell which change helped. The general method is in how to upgrade a Commander precon →

1. Find and attach Equipment faster

Nahiri gets far more out of the deck when there is a strong Equipment around to move onto her soldiers. Right now you have no way to search for one, and a couple of the Equipment slots go to cards that don't fit.

What to look for Cheap cards that search for Equipment, put it onto the battlefield, or attach it without paying the equip cost.

Cut, for example

✕

Assault Suit Its main ability hands your creature to an opponent each turn. In a deck that wants its own creatures attacking, that is a drawback more often than a plan.

✕

Bonehoard Its bonus depends on creature cards in graveyards, which is often small in a token deck. Other Equipment does more for the same slot.

✕

Containment Priest Its replacement effect exiles creatures that Sun Titan, Marshal's Anthem, Adarkar Valkyrie or Emeria would return, so it switches off your own recursion.

Add, for example

Stoneforge Mystic ↗

Two mana. It searches your library for an Equipment when it enters, and can later put an Equipment from your hand onto the battlefield for two mana.

Steelshaper's Gift ↗

One mana to search your library for any Equipment, such as Argentum Armor or Skullclamp.

Sigarda's Aid ↗

Lets you cast Equipment at instant speed and attaches each Equipment to a creature as it enters, so you never pay an equip cost on a fresh Equipment.

2. Fix the slow mana

The deck has several six- and seven-mana cards and a lot of lands that enter tapped. Two-mana rocks that come in untapped get Nahiri out on turn four and the top end out on time.

What to look for Mana rocks costing two or less that enter untapped, or cheap cards that put a land onto the battlefield.

Cut, for example

✕

Temple of the False God Taps for nothing until you control five lands, which is when you need the help least.

✕

Marble Diamond Enters tapped, so it does not speed you up on the turn you cast it. An untapped two-mana rock is strictly better here.

Add, for example

Arcane Signet ↗

Two mana, enters untapped, and taps for white. A straight upgrade on the Diamond.

Mind Stone ↗

Two-mana rock that can be sacrificed to draw a card once the late game no longer needs the mana.

Wayfarer's Bauble ↗

One mana to cast, then two more to put a basic land onto the battlefield. It ramps you and thins the deck.

3. Draw cards off Equipment and small creatures

Nahiri makes a 1/1 every other turn and the deck casts a lot of Equipment. Draw engines that trigger on either of those keep your hand full without spending a turn on it.

What to look for Cheap creatures or enchantments that draw when you cast Equipment, when an Equipment enters, or when a small creature enters.

Cut, for example

✕

Loreseeker's Stone Six mana to cast, three or more to activate, and the cost goes up with every card in your hand. Too slow for the cards it gives you.

✕

Armistice Five mana per activation for one card, and an opponent gains 3 life each time. It also needs a turn of mana you would rather spend on threats.

Add, for example

Puresteel Paladin ↗

Draws a card whenever an Equipment enters, and with three or more artifacts every Equipment you control has equip {0}.

Sram, Senior Edificer ↗

Two mana. Draws a card every time you cast an Aura, Equipment or Vehicle spell.

Welcoming Vampire ↗

Draws a card once each turn when one or more creatures with power 2 or less enter. Nahiri's soldiers and the token spells trigger it.

4. Protect the board from a wipe

A wide board of tokens carrying Equipment is the deck's whole plan, and one board wipe resets it. The only protection in the box is Brave the Elements , which does nothing against a destroy effect.

What to look for Instant-speed cards that give your creatures indestructible, ideally cheap enough to hold up while you keep developing.

Cut, for example

✕

Benevolent Offering Either mode helps an opponent as much as you: they get three fliers too, or they gain life. It doesn't push your own plan forward.

✕

Serra Avatar Seven mana for a creature with no evasion that only matters while your life total is high. The deck already has better things to do with that mana.

Add, for example

Flawless Maneuver ↗

Creatures you control gain indestructible until end of turn, and it costs nothing if you control a commander. Nahiri counts while she is on the battlefield.

Unbreakable Formation ↗

Three mana for team indestructible at instant speed. Cast in your main phase, it also adds a +1/+1 counter to each creature before an attack.

Akroma's Will ↗

With a commander out you get both modes: double strike, flying and vigilance for an alpha strike, or indestructible and protection from every color against a wipe.

Win conditions

The deck wins by attacking. Build a board with Nahiri's soldiers and the token spells, move the strongest Equipment onto them, and swing when True Conviction , Cathars' Crusade or Argentum Armor tips the numbers in your favor. If Nahiri survives long enough to use her −10, Stoneforged Blade turns any creature into a double-striking threat for free. The upgrades above mostly make sure the mana and the hand are there to set that up.

Who should buy this precon

A friendly first deck for a player who wants to learn planeswalker commanders. Nahiri asks for one clear choice each turn (make a soldier or put an Equipment into play), and the rest of the deck is creatures and Equipment that do what they say. It is a weaker fit for someone who wants a lot of instant-speed interaction, since white here mostly answers threats by building a bigger board.

Checked against the printed decklist on October 10, 2026.