[Budget] G/w Enchantress-Craft

[Falc]

Disclaimer: This is a BUDGET deck for a 100% BUDGET metagame.  That means that everything is a turn or two slower than in a powered metagame.  That also means no Workshop decks and no Trendrills combo decks, so don't ask about those matchups.

I'm not a newbie to Type 1 or TMD, but I've found that my unpowered decks are better received in this forum.  People just flame or lock unpowered decks in the other forum no matter how in-depth the post is or what disclaimer I post.  I've always been a big fan of Enchantress (hey, isn't everybody?).  Drawing lots of cards and playing out your whole deck is just fun.  Now that Earthcraft is unrestricted, it seems like the perfect win condition for an Enchantress draw engine.  I'll kick it off with a decklist:

Falc's Enchantress Craft
// Combo
    3 [TP] - Earthcraft
    3  - Squirrel Nest
// Creatures
    4  - Xantid Swarm
    4  - Argothian Enchantress
    2  - Verduran Enchantress
// Draw & Search
    4  - Enchantress's Presence
    2  - Sterling Grove
// Disruption
    3  - Swords to Plowshares
    3  - Seal of Cleansing
// Mana
    4  - Wild Growth
    4  - Exploration
    1 [RV] - Fastbond
    1  - Chrome Mox
    4  - Windswept Heath
    4 [RV] - Savannah
    10  - Forest
    3  - Plains
    1  - Serra's Sanctum

SB: 4  - Compost
SB: 3 [CK] - Ghostly Prison
SB: 3  - City of Solitude
SB: 3  - Seeds of Innocence
SB: 1  - Seal of Cleansing
SB: 1  - Swords to Plowshares

Obviously, the goal of the deck is to create a bajillion squirrels and attack for the win.  In order to do that, it needs to draw the combo and stay alive long enough to pull it off.

Enchantress is one of the most potent draw engines in Magic.  Once you start going off, it's really easy to draw all sixty cards, in fact, you end up having to stop playing stuff to keep from decking yourself most times.  I've included ten "Enchantress-effects" in this build and I think that's the absolute minimum.  You need at least one Enchantress-effect in your opening hand if you hope to get anything going.  Once you get two effects on the table, you can start "going off" and rapidly burn through your library.

I chose to add white to the deck to overcome the problem of getting killed.  Mono-green versions are very vulnerable to any number of things and generally won't be fast enough to win unless they get both combo pieces in their opening hand.  Swords is a no-brainer here.  It's great against any deck that hopes to beat you with a creature including Oath, Tog, Ravager, and Goblins.  Seal of Cleansing mops up troublesome non-creatures like Oath, Moat, Skullclamp, Standstill, etc.  It's also an enchantment which means you'll be drawing cards when you play it making it double-plus good.

Overall, the deck has 24 enchantments.  That number has proven to be adequate in testing, but just barely.  I'd love to add two or three more enchantments to the deck but there just isn't anything to take out without severely crippling your win percentage.  Cutting Swords would result in getting run over by large beatsticks while you're trying to find the combo and cutting Xantid Swarm isn't an option.  The Swarm is the only reason this deck is even playable.  You don't have that many "must-counter" spells, so without a way to force them through, you'll have a tough time beating a heavy permission deck like Oath or Tog.

With an ideal hand, you can complete the combo on turn two and attack for the win on turn three.  More realistically, though, you'll complete the combo on turn three or four and attack the turn after.  Somtimes that's not fast enough, but the deck has enough disruption that it usually lasts that long with ease.  There are ways to win the turn that you complete the combo, but they all invovle playing crappy cards that are otherwise useless (Alter of Dementia, Soul Warden, etc.).  If one of these were at least an enchantment, you could probably fit it in, but there's no room for more non-enchantment cards that don't do anything.  You might be able to speed up the deck with more artifact mana like Mox Diamond, Lotus Petal, or Sol Ring, but again, you run into the problem of taking something out.  The deck is already lean on lands at 22 so cutting more lands for artifact mana seems dangerous to me.  

I've tested mostly against Oath, Affinity, and Fish because they represent a wide spread (control, aggro, and aggro/control), and are typical of my metagame.  I've had enough success against them to continue working on the deck and post about it here.  The sideboard is heavily geared for my personal metagame and should not be taken as a general strategy.  One gem that is worth noting, however, is Seeds of Innocence.  If anyone in your area plays an artifact-based deck (Affinity, Welder, etc.) break out this forgotten "Crumblestorm" from Mirage to ruin their party.

I'd love to hear thoughs and criticisms on my build and Enchantress Craft in general.  Thanks for reading.

- Falc

EDIT: +2 Sterling Grove, +1 Serra's Sanctum, -1 Craft, -1 Nest, -1 Plains.

[JAG]

the deck looks very solid.  If you wanted an alternative win, Goblin Bombardment is an enchantment, although it requires you add another color to the deck. However, with fetchlands and potential multilands like Gemstone Mine and City of Brass, you shouldn't have too much trouble finding the R to cast the Bombardment.  

Come to think of it, although i know the deck requires basic lands to go off, it seems like splashing a color, either Red for bombardment and artifact kill or Blue for card drawing, counters, and other possible combo elements, would be worth trying.  GW makes the deck more consistent, but again, with fetchlands and multilands available to you and with the insane card drawing of the Enchantress engine, you shouldn't have too many problems with a third color.  This will require testing, of course.

Overall, the deck seems very solid, although perhaps, since it is a combo deck after all, you could afford some Sterling Groves or an Enlightened Tutor.  

-JM

[Yokomoto]

Have you thought about sterling grove? It makes it hard to disrupt the win condition and can fetch out enchantments if you need them

[Falc]

Of course I considered Sterling Grove and Enlightened Tutor.  The thing is though, with the Enchantress Engine, you can draw your whole deck sooner than you cast, fetch, and draw with Grove.  Now that I consider it again though and have played a lot of games with the deck, I think it might be good to cut one Craft and one Nest for two Groves.  Drawing muliple Crafts or Nests is really bad.  I once had a game where I drew all four Crafts in the top 15 cards.  I still ended up winning because they fueled the draw engine, but it was still really annoying.  I'll try two Groves and see how they go.

Adding a third color would be really hard.  The deck needs a crapload of green mana for it's spells and it needs basic lands for Earthcraft to function.  More non-basics would also make the deck more vulernable to Wasteland.  Goblin Bombardment really is the perfect "Kill Now" mechanism for this deck.  Good find there.  I'm just not sure if it's worth adding another color just to shave one turn off the kill.

I'm also adding a Serra's Sanctum back to the deck just because it's ridiculously good and I forgot to add it when I posted.

- Falc

[Ender]

I have personally tried everything to make this deck work in my metagame (which is tier 2 powered with random moxen) and its impossible but I will give you some of my insight.

I put elvish spirit guides to help speed it up a bit. For a better win condition than goblin bombardment, I put in altar of dementia. The plows I think are a bit much cause your a combo deck and you really don't need spot removal minus something to kill old plats. Eladamri's Vineyard is a big contributor for the speed of my deck and usually just results in mana burn for the opponent.

[Godder]

Solitary Confinement is a good anti-aggro card that also happens to be an enchantment. The only mainstream creature that it doesn't stop is Welder, and even then the targetting restriction helps (it stops Mindslaver, for example).

[The M.E.T.H.O.D]

Bird Bird Bird, the Bird is the Word.

[Toad]

Gaea's Touch is probably better than Wild Growth. It cantrips (or more) with an Enchantress on the board, provides mana acceleration when you sacrifice It, does not hurt your tempo ...

Is White really needed? Seal of Cleansing could be swapped for Naturalize (though losing some card draw synergy) and Swords to Plowshares for Elephant Grass (gaining synergy). Sterling Grove is quite good, but bein more consistant is probably the way to go.

[Tetre]

Interesting,

Have you given any thought to COncordent Crossroads?

A) It's Green
b) It costs 1
c) It's an enchantment
d) You don't wait to "go off"

Cheers,
Tetre

[Falc]

Solitary Confinement: Interesting as a possible sideboard card, but I think the drawback is a little harsh for the maindeck.  It won't be able to "save you" if your draw engine isn't running, but if the draw engine is running, then you don't really need saving.  I could see it as a possible one-of to play when you draw your whole deck to protect yourself for the one turn until you can attack.  It could be as good or better than Altar of Dementia or Soul Warden in that role.

Birds of Paradise(?): Birds aren't a good fit for this deck.  They're vulnerable, they aren't enchantments, and you have better plays on turn one.  With Earthcraft in play, all your creatures become "birds" because you can tap them to untap a land.  Usually that land will have one or more Wild Growths on it and net you a lot of mana.

Gaea's Touch: This would be interesting in addition to Wild Growth, not instead of it.  Wild Growth is totally amazing in this deck.  It's synergy with Earthcraft can make a lot of mana and allow you to "go off" quicker and more effectively.  Basically, if I could play eight Wild Growths, I would.

Concordant Crossroads:  While this is a great 1-mana enchantment, it isn't going to do anything in this deck.  None of my creatures have a tap ability and you can tap them to activate Earthcraft even if they have summoning sickness.  The reason that you have to wait an extra turn is that when you create a billion squirrels you have to tap each one to make another one.  So you end up with a billion tapped squirrels and one untapped squirrel.  You have to wait a turn to untap them and attack.  Crossroads wouldn't help that problem.


I'm leaning toward trying to squeeze in one Soul Warden for the "win now" condition.  One copy is all that you'd need since you can usually draw your whole deck and you'd never want multiples.  I think he's a better choice than Altar of Dementia because Altar is completely useless before you go off whereas the Warden will gain you a few life, untap Wild Growthed Forests, and block in a pinch until the army of Squirrels arrives.  Also, Altar doesn't work against Oath because they have Blessing.  I have no idea what to take out though.  I just can't see any room to cut.  Any ideas?

- Falc

[walking desicration]

Sylvan Libray, mabe Vitalize, the squrrill combo is nice but with a untap all creature you control that gives you an attack phase the turn you go off if you have Cordanent Crossroads in play. mabe a Natural Balance. Also one mabe two Abundance just get your deck into play

[Rancor1]

Why did you try to go white instead of blue here? It seem that your metagame would not like the Words of Wind Lock. Blue also gives you fun things like (1) frantic search, cloud of faeries (with seal of removal) trade routes (serra's sanctum+fastbond=total gas) along with a win condition that doesn't require you to pass the turn (brain freeze). Oh yeah, and this cool counterspell from Alliances, too. White seems unnecesary to the deck; seal of cleansing could be replaced with naturalize (if you really need it that much), and StP is sheer idiocy in a combo deck, as it not only dilutes your combo, but there is no creature in the game (other than plat, which as you said, isn't in your meta) which must be removed for you to go off (am I wrong?)

Even if you don't switch white for blue, I would take out one Argothian and two Verduans for three Living Wishes, as it would not only equate to the same number of enchantresses, but would give you a sideboard toolbox of answers, as well as another way to find sanctum.

[Frappie]

Falc: Also, Altar doesn't work against Oath because they have Blessing. I have no idea what to take out though.

Partially true: With only one blessing in their deck you can make it so that they draw that one on their turn. It's very simple really you just state that your repeating the combo until x happens and at this point your opponenet can draw the GB on his turn. There is a mathematical equation for this as to how many times you need to do it based on probability, but I failed math for calling my teacher an asshole. That and I'm an idiot.

[Falc]

Why did you try to go white instead of blue here? It seem that your metagame would not like the Words of Wind Lock. Blue also gives you fun things like (1) frantic search, cloud of faeries (with seal of removal) trade routes (serra's sanctum+fastbond=total gas) along with a win condition that doesn't require you to pass the turn (brain freeze). Oh yeah, and this cool counterspell from Alliances, too. White seems unnecesary to the deck; seal of cleansing could be replaced with naturalize (if you really need it that much), and StP is sheer idiocy in a combo deck, as it not only dilutes your combo, but there is no creature in the game (other than plat, which as you said, isn't in your meta) which must be removed for you to go off (am I wrong?)

Even if you don't switch white for blue, I would take out one Argothian and two Verduans for three Living Wishes, as it would not only equate to the same number of enchantresses, but would give you a sideboard toolbox of answers, as well as another way to find sanctum.

Running Blue and the Words of Wind lock is really a completely different deck.  In this deck, Craft/Nest is the win condition and I don't think that it's possible, or wise, to also try and fit in the Words of Wind lock and make it work.  The only card in blue that really calls to me is Seal of Removal to replace Swords.  A U/G Enchantress/Words/Brainfreeze deck really falls outside the scope of this thread because all it has in common with this deck is the Enchantress draw engine.  Otherwise, it's a completely different animal.  As far as the white goes, Seal of Cleansing has been the MVP for my metagame.  It's amazing against Oath, Fish, and Ravager, as well as the random stuff that pops up every week including the mirror.  While Naturalize "works", it isn't nearly as good.  It's not an enchantment and it's harder to get past counterspells.

I agree that StP dilutes the combo, but it's hard to combo out when you're dead.  The deck isn't fast enough without power to allow your opponent's beatsticks to run free.  Without Swords and Seal, I can't see this deck ever beating Oath and it would have a difficult time racing Ravager and Suicide (yes, Suicide still exists).  You could try a different route and go for a pure speed build.  In that case, you'd probably want a mono-green version with Eladamri's Vineyard, Fertile Ground, and lots of artifact mana.  A build like that could work and could even be better, but I can't say for sure without testing it.

Partially true: With only one blessing in their deck you can make it so that they draw that one on their turn. It's very simple really you just state that your repeating the combo until x happens and at this point your opponenet can draw the GB on his turn. There is a mathematical equation for this as to how many times you need to do it based on probability, but I failed math for calling my teacher an asshole. That and I'm an idiot.

I'm confused as to how this would work.  I understand that you can make a billion squirrels and keep milling them for their whole deck over and over.  It sounds like you're saying that you want to keep doing this until Blessing is the top card of their library, then stop and allow them to draw it on their turn, then mill the rest of it while Blessing is in their hand.  I can't see how that would work though because you'd never know when Blessing was the top card since it's in a hidden zone.  Besides, if you're waiting a turn for them to draw a card, then you're totally defeating the purpose of the Altar, which is to win the turn you complete the combo.  So far, the Soul Warden has been perfect for this task.

I'm willing to give a mono-green pure speed build a try and see how it goes.  Has anyone had success using such a build?

- Falc

[Frappie]

Let me try to be a little clearer. With inifinite squirrels you mill their deck infinite times until you know that the last card in their deck is GB. Since the cards are revealed once at a time then you will know when the last card in their deck is a GB. If a process seeking one result is a possibility and the process is repeated infinitly until the order is acheived then it will be achieved. I really need some math genius help here.
Example: if you were to roll a D20 only looking for 20 and were going to roll it until that number was rolled you would have a 1 in 20 shot. What you are looking for is like a 1 in 55 shot. If the process is repeated infinite times until the goal were achieved then the process will be done.

However as for saying I'm going to repeat said process until x happens, I don't know the ruling on that.

[Rancor1]

I understand that adding blue would make it a completely different deck, but if it is a better deck (which it isn't, necesarily,) than why is that a bad thing? I also always wanted to cut the craft/nest engine.

Seal of Removal would bounce oath creatures, and anything that you need to StP you could just bounce. There is no creature that must permanently be off the board, or off the board for more than a turn, as in the turn it is not in play, you can just win. This is where brain freeze excels, as you don't need to pass the turn so you can attack with squirrels. Essentially, seal of removal does the work of StP while complimenting the draw engine of the deck. If you need additional creature removal, snap is an option, as it produces huge amounts of mana with wild growt/sanctum, etc.

[Falc]

I understand that adding blue would make it a completely different deck, but if it is a better deck (which it isn't, necesarily,) than why is that a bad thing? I also always wanted to cut the craft/nest engine.

Seal of Removal would bounce oath creatures, and anything that you need to StP you could just bounce. There is no creature that must permanently be off the board, or off the board for more than a turn, as in the turn it is not in play, you can just win. This is where brain freeze excels, as you don't need to pass the turn so you can attack with squirrels. Essentially, seal of removal does the work of StP while complimenting the draw engine of the deck. If you need additional creature removal, snap is an option, as it produces huge amounts of mana with wild growt/sanctum, etc.

Oh, I certainly agree.  A U/G version is definitely viable.  I dunno if it's a better deck or not because I haven't tested it, but it could work.  Everything that you mentioned would be great in a U/G Enchantress deck, but that's just not the focus of this thread.  I'd like to keep working on an Enchantress/SquirrelCraft deck, and for that purpose, I still think G/w is the best way to go.

Let me try to be a little clearer. With inifinite squirrels you mill their deck infinite times until you know that the last card in their deck is GB. Since the cards are revealed once at a time then you will know when the last card in their deck is a GB. If a process seeking one result is a possibility and the process is repeated infinitly until the order is acheived then it will be achieved. I really need some math genius help here.
Example: if you were to roll a D20 only looking for 20 and were going to roll it until that number was rolled you would have a 1 in 20 shot. What you are looking for is like a 1 in 55 shot. If the process is repeated infinite times until the goal were achieved then the process will be done.

However as for saying I'm going to repeat said process until x happens, I don't know the ruling on that.

What you suggest would work, but it's completely irrelevent.  The whole point is to win the turn you complete the combo if say, you're staring down an Akroma and SotN.  Leaving them with one card in their library (Blessing), defeats the whole point of having the Altar in the first place.  If you have an extra turn to play with, mise well just attack with a billion squirrels, amirite?

- Falc

[Hi-Val]

The ruling on that at SCG2 when a D4rG0N player milled Jason playing Oath was to split the deck into two equal piles, the player chooses one, that becomes their deck and blessing gets shuffled into it. The other half is milled. That was MattV's ruling (I think) but it would be an excellent question for Saturday School or something.

[Frappie]

Frappie wrote:
Let me try to be a little clearer. With inifinite squirrels you mill their deck infinite times until you know that the last card in their deck is GB. Since the cards are revealed once at a time then you will know when the last card in their deck is a GB. If a process seeking one result is a possibility and the process is repeated infinitly until the order is acheived then it will be achieved. I really need some math genius help here.
Example: if you were to roll a D20 only looking for 20 and were going to roll it until that number was rolled you would have a 1 in 20 shot. What you are looking for is like a 1 in 55 shot. If the process is repeated infinite times until the goal were achieved then the process will be done.

However as for saying I'm going to repeat said process until x happens, I don't know the ruling on that.


What you suggest would work, but it's completely irrelevent. The whole point is to win the turn you complete the combo if say, you're staring down an Akroma and SotN. Leaving them with one card in their library (Blessing), defeats the whole point of having the Altar in the first place. If you have an extra turn to play with, mise well just attack with a billion squirrels, amirite?

- Falc

yes you are right but the idea behind this is insurance.  what if they balance on their turn? its best imo to guarantee the win rather then just swing with all of it at stake.