Apex Gaming 5K Top 8 Debrief

Hey everyone, I got to play with Forge Anew for the first time this weekend at the Apex Gaming 5K (they broadcast all their events on Twitch at https://www.twitch.tv/apexgaming) and I made the top 8! Based on the number of questions I received on Twitter, I decided to go ahead and make a post going over my deckbuilding choices, so here we are.

Decklist: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/5672168#paper

Matchups:

Living End - 2-1

Izzet Murktide - 2-0

Creativity - 2-1

Creativity - 2-0

Craggenwick Cremator - 2-0

ID

ID

Top 8

Izzet Murktide - 1-2

Thoughts:

• Forge Anew was excellent - 2 is very likely, but could go down to 1, and almost certainly wouldn’t go up to 3.
  • Equipping as an instant vs. T3f is huge game when it matters.
  • It also lets you be more resilient vs shatters, and additional equippers are always welcome.
• Mana Tithe???
  • Card was fine. I found that when I lost to creativity, it was rarely to creativity, and more to the T3f. Having the ability to tag a W6 or T3f on the way down can be a huge swing in your favor, and can sometimes make the difference between winning, and taking the L.
    • Still not 100% on the card, which is why I didn’t put the list up earlier this month.
• Orvar
  • Card definitely won me multiple games vs creativity, and I will likely keep at least 2 in the SB going forward as it helps give me % points in the only popular matchup where I don’t feel favored.
• No Sanctifiers?
  • Yes, I have cut Sanctifier entirely. I did this for a few reasons:
    • The card doesn’t feel very impactful in any popular deck aside from exactly RB Scam.
    • Scam has adapted additional EEs, alongside a mix of Path of Peril and  Sheoldred’s Edict to kill Sanctifier.
    • The most impactful cards vs Hammer out of Scam (EE, Hidetsugu Consumes All) largely ignore Sanctifier.
    • The printing of Surge of Salvation helped swing the matchup notably in Hammer’s favor.
    • The combination of Sanctifier being a very narrow card, coupled with its lost effectiveness in the target matchup leads me to the conclusion that cutting it is largely correct.
• 4x Drannith
  • You could definitely bring this number down to 3, but having this sledgehammer of a card vs Living End (one of your worst matchups) can really be the difference maker. Additionally, it does a ton of work vs rhinos which seems to be quite popular at the moment.
• Changes going forward? The list felt quite good, but if I were to make changes to the list, I would add a 23rd land (likely the 10th basic plains). The addition of 2 Forge Anew to the main makes me want a bit more mana, and the Lonely version of Hammer is always quite mana hungry due to its ability to hardcast Solitude or Emeria’s Call. I would likely do this by cutting a mana tithe from the SB, and moving the 2nd Surge to the board.

Overall, I was quite impressed by Forge Anew, and quite happy with the list going into NRG Chicago. Cheers!