[Deck] Enchantress, a return to respectability?

[Ruinn]

After having a very poor performance at Waterbury, (still had a great time, btw, thanks all for making it so much fun) I decided it was time to change the deck I would be playing.  After mulling around a number of ideas I decided to try out some of my old favorites with some of the cards that have come out since they became less popular.  After failures with numerous decks, one worked out a little better than expected.  As you probably guessed from the subject, it was the enchantress deck.  Let me start off by giving you the list that I am currently working on.

Mana (27):
4 City of Brass
4 Savannah
3 Bayou
3 Windswept Heath
2 Scrubland
2 Wasteland
1 Tundra
1 Serra's Sanctum
1 Strip Mine
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Sol Ring

Draw/Tutor (14):
4 Argothian Enchantress
3 Sterling Grove
3 Sylvan Library
1 Pursuit of Knowledge
1 Enchantress's Presence
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Demonic Tutor

Utility (9):
1 Pariah
1 The Abyss
1 City of Solitude
1 Holistic Wisdom
1 Moat
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Story Circle
1 Worship
1 Balance

Disruption (4):
3 Duress
1 Words of Waste

Kill (2):
2 Sacred Mesa

Gamebreaker (4):
4 Replenish

Sideboard (15):
4 Rule of Law
2 Powder Keg
2 Swords to Plowshares
2 Hidden Gibbons
1 Aura Fracture
1 Circle of Protection: Red
1 City of Solitude
1 Compost
1 Karmic Justice

Card Discussion
The thing that most people notice about this deck is that there are many one of's and that this results in a loss of consistancy.  This may appear true, but if you look at the the draw/tutor portion of the deck you can see that it is quite large and this assures that you will always get what you need.  I feel that having the large number of one of's adds versatility to this deck, and allows it to have a decent matchup against many other decks.

Pariah / The Abyss / Moat / Story Circle / Worship / Balance:
All of these are invaluable control methods against any kind of creature deck.  They all deal with decks that want to walk over and kick you in the face, but all in their own ways and this is part of the versatility I was referring to.  The weakest of the group is probably the abyss, but it is still very valuable and I feel it deserves a slot.

Words of Waste:
This may seem like an odd choice but I have found it to be a great card on several occasions.  Much like pursuit of knowledge, if you have a sylvan library in play (which you almost always do) this card is amazing.  Forcing an opponent to discard three cards is the kind of midgame push this deck loves having and often lacked in the past.

Enchantress's Presence: I originally was running more of these but I found that while the drawing was nice, I needed more business cards.  The one may look kind of random, but having a fifth enchantress in the deck is worth the slot.  Anymore than one and the deck gets bogged down and can't get to the more important cards.

Holistic Wisdom: This is an invaluable card.  Mid to late game you are usually drawing like a madman and the discard is of little consequence.  Realize that often your opponent will hold back on a few spells to unleash a volley of spells at you quickly, dropping a holistic could mean you undoing all their work in one turn.  The fact that it is an enchantment and can get you back serra's sanctum alone warrants its inclusion.

Rule of Law:  The reason I think this deck may be playable again.  Enchantress always rolled over and died to combo, but this card changes that.  Due to the lack of combo in my meta they are in the sideboard.  Arcane labratory always seemed like a great suggestion but it was off color.  Mirrodin bringing us Rule of Law I believe gives this deck a shot at beating combo.  When this is combined with the lack of combo that has been seen lately, enchantress's worst matchup  is not so terrible anymore.



Matchup Discussion:
Aggro decks: This version of enchantress has been very strong versus many solid aggro decks.  Over the last week me and the rest of my team have been testing it hard against Big O and GPR2 among others.  Two guys on our team played Jacob Orlove at Waterbury, going 0-1-1 against him so we knew the effectiveness of the deck.  Surprisingly, I was able to pull down a better than 50% winning percentage against these decks (doing slightly better against GPR2 than Big O).  Sligh was actually slightly more difficult with the presence of burn, but post sideboard enchantress did a great job against it.  R/G beatz went about 50/50 with enchantress, doing better than most aggro decks.  This I feel is because its threats were multiple colors, weakening story circle, and it had burn which often proved to be a difference maker.  We actually tested a good deal against PTW's new deck, "Fro" because one of our team members loved the idea and put one together to try.  This matchup was mostly in enchantress's favor as the deck had neither enough counters nor fast enough creatures to kill enchantress before it could setup.  Post sideboard it moved closer to a 50/50 matchup but it was still not quite there.

Control decks: I was unable to truly test against a good keeper player as all the members of our group shy away from it.  In theory I feel like enchantress should be able to hold its own, especially post sideboard, but this is one area that I cannot say for sure how the matchup would go.  Landstill is a very difficult matchup.  Disk = good.  The deck packed enough counters to keep enchantress locked down for the most part and everytime it seemed to be making a comeback disk would hit the board.  This is one of the worst matchups the deck will face.

Combo:  Still the hardest matchup for this deck, combo is not necessarily an auto loss anymore at least.  The new Long.dec variant was the strongest against this deck as it packs no counters, taking a large majority of the games.  Rector combo decks and dragon also took better than 60%, but not quite on the same level as long.  If anyone would know a way to improve these matchups I would like to hear it.

Aggro/control decks: Tog decks can beat out enchantress at about a 55-60% clip it would seem.  This deck has enough counters to keep enchantress on its heels and a resolved tog will usually result in a loss if a creature control card cannot be found and resolved immediately.  Fish variants do not fair as well against this deck.  The deck simply cannot kill fast enough to beat enchantress at better than 40%.  Counters and small creatures typically proved to be a nuisance as the deck would run out of ways to stop enchantress before it could deliver the final blow.  In the games wear fish decks did win, lavamancers were just about always the reason.

Summing it all up:
I feel I have improved this deck as much as I am physically capable of and that is why I am posting my thoughts, in hopes that you guys may be able to push it one final step.  I think with the current rise of aggro decks Enchantress could become viable again as it is a strong matchup.  Also, very few people would pack sideboard cards that deal with enchantress.  Combine that with the deck's versatility and games 2 and 3 will often be quite favorable.  I plan on trying to take this to some tournaments soon in order to get some results outside of a purely testing environment.  

Thanks for reading

-Ruinn

[DEA]

i've always felt enchantress was a fun deck to play
just check out the number of silver bullets main deck
i've toyed with earthcraft/squirrel nest, mirari's wake/sacred mesa etc etc along with the worships and solitary confinements
the only thing with my enchantress is that it's unpowered
but it's still quite fun to play though

how does crop rotation sound?
i've often wished i had a serra's sanctum around mid game, but running more than 1 makes it risky that you'll have a dead draw in the early game
also, it helps to save against wastelands

[Spizzard]

I've always been partial to combo enchantress.  It has always seemed to have the tools to beat control through city of solitude, as well as being fast and resilient enough to beat aggro (Solitary Confinement).  Its weakness has been combo, since it is usually a full turn or two slower.

Here's an old skeleton of what I messed around with... Don't bother critiquing it, its quite outdated and some of the card choices look a little odd to me as well... its just what I goldfished/toyed with.


// Draw
        4 Enchantress's Presence
        4 Argothian Enchantress
        4 Brainstorm
// Other
        1 Fastbond
        4 Exploration
        4 Seal of Cleansing
        1 Braingeyser
        1 Stroke of Genius
        2 City of Solitude
        2 Trade Routes
        2 Words of Wind
        3 Solitary Confinement
// Br0ken
        1 Time Walk
        1 Ancestral Recall
// Manabase
        2 Windswept Heath
        4 Flooded Strand
        2 Serra's Sanctum
        1 Tolarian Academy
        2 Tundra
        4 Savannah
        4 Tropical Island
        1 Sol Ring
        1 Mox Sapphire
        1 Mox Ruby
        1 Mox Pearl
        1 Mox Jet
        1 Mox Emerald
        1 Black Lotus

[urza_insane]

Parfait 4L!!!  

On a serious note-
I would think 4x sterling groves is a must! Drop a sylvan for one, they don't do much in multiples. Also, Pariah seems a little random maybe a whipsilk as an engine in its place?

[Ruinn]

You are correct in that sylvan in multiples does nothing for you, however I use three for a couple of reasons:

- This is probably the biggest counter target outside your deck other than the enchantress herself.

- This is usually the first card naturalized off the board

- It is THE best card in the deck (if you do not believe me play a few games) and you have to have one... always.

- Its only 2 to cast and I've been in some late games where I've thrown one down just to draw a few cards.

I used four sterling groves for a very long time and dropping one was something that took a long time for me to come to terms with.  It is truly a house in this deck, however I have found that I am not really missing it all that much.  There is a great deal of drawing/tutoring in this deck, so that part of the card is not missed all that much.  The untargetability is its greatest asset and multiples of that are not very useful.  While two groves in play basically means game over I find that one grove in play does the job very well on its own.

I love pariah, it is a great card.  It is not just damage prevention, but also creature removal.  I can recall several moments in testing when it really saved me.  It is easier to cast than worship, story circle, or moat.  These are just arguments that I feel cannot be ignored.

Whip silk is a little narrow I feel.  I have no creatures that could be targeted with it and giving an opponents creature this ability (that is if he has one) just does not feel like a good idea.  The deck draws very well, in fact is draws better than almost anything I have played so I do not think another engine is necessary.

[Dr. Sylvan]

Rector combo decks and dragon also took better than 60%, but not quite on the same level as long. If anyone would know a way to improve these matchups I would like to hear it.

If you see Rector/Dragon opponents, your options include either black graveyard hate or green hosers. It's hard to find room for non-enchantments like Coffin Purge, but they're spicy against the Rectors. Green's options are more suited to the deck: Ground Seal and Root Maze. Obviously Seal doesn't work against Rector, so use your judgment. Root Maze is rough, slowing you down too, but it's a good way to mess them up.

BTW, Sylvan x3 is very important. They are t3h b0rken. Everyone should read the (now outdated but still awesome) Enchantress Primer to understand the approach this deck takes to a game of Magic.

[Nefarias]

One thing that stuck out in my mind about your decklist was the inclusion of the four Cities of Brass. With enough duals and fetches it is hard to believe that you would get colored-screwed, and the only non W/G/B card is Ancestral. I suppose if any card is worth a splash, it's that, but I'm just not sure that they are necessary, especialy in a deck based around a huge draw engine (and as you have stated, it seems to have no problem with said draw engine). I haven't really played the deck, so if your life is a complete non-issue, than I suppose there's no harm done, but I have always been of the opinion that Cities should generally be avoided if not entirely necessary. If your deck goes off fast enough, Gemstone Mine might even be an option. Either way, one could probably be dropped for the fourth Windswept Heath.

But hey, if this is working for you, whatever.

[Queequeg]

I can't but feel theres no excuse for not running 4 sterling Grove, especially since you are running a 3rd Sylvan Library in its place which could just be as easily tutored for with the Grove, along with virtually anything else in the deck.

It is intreasting you raise the piont of addtional enchantress effects beond the 4th. I currently play a 5 enchantress effect build much the same as yours but am considering adding a 6th enchantress effect. My logic behind this is that Argothian is almost always the target of a counter or Keg and rarely stays on the table for long and somtimes you will hit a glute of bullet cards and no drawing.

Rule of Law although nice tech verse Dragon,  and Tredrils just isn't fast enough verse most combo and even so dragon has ways of getting around it namely the Laquartus or Scroll Kill.  Rule of Law I don't think is quite the answer all the enchantress players are looking for verse combo you might just have to assess the meta throughly and go for somthing a little more direct like Gaeas Blessing for example or similar hate. More Plowshares and a 4th Duress are obviously going to help.

Also why only 3 Fetch Lands?, if you are finding your mana Base comfortable with a 4 City of Brass and 3 Fetch lands then try 3 City and 4 Fetch Lands. The biggest problem I found with running 4 of each was I would lose 4-5 life just from my land, running only 3 Brass should help minimise this if you are experincing the same problem.

@TheWalkingSponge: City of brass is almost always required due to the high demand for both Green and White that the deck has whilst accomadating for splashes of both black and Blue. Since commonly Cities have to be included to support the black splash of comonly 7 or so cards then adding a ancestral has virtually no effect on the mana bases demands.

Whipsilk is a stupid Idea, a completly wasted slot, with no creatures of your own to enchant you have to rely on your opponent having valid targets. Plus  this would be a vastly inferior engine to both the enchantress engine and the Slyvan Library/Pursuit of Knowledge engine.

The value of Pariah is also somthing that I have concerns with. Since you can't target any of your own creatures and neither would you want to it is left completely for the Aggro match and Morphling (where it can be replenished on to superman). Against aggro I can't but feel that swords to Plowshare is better, since a 4cc you have both the Moat and the Abyss. Surely the purpose of spot removal must be to hold off until they arrive ( hence the reason way you are sideboarding Plowshares and Not Pariah). As for taking out morphling Scared Mesa seems a better choice since you save on deck slots and dosn't require recursion by replenish.

This brings me on to Earthcraft/Mesa combos. I think these are fine in a non competative game where you want to make the play as intreasting as posible and not let your opponents get too bored, but in torment play you are more likely to win by you opponent conceding than with Mesa. Speeding Mesa's Kill up is irrelevant commonly since once you are in the postion to Kill you have basically won anyhow and the combo isn't fast enough to be competative anyother way.

Words of Waste and Soltariary Confindment are intreasting. I havn't tested either so I could be spouting complete crap but both seem good cards when you are winning. Confindment is marginally more protective than Worship but worship dosn't incringe on your hand size or stop you drawing cards.

Of coarse it depends on your meta but I would be tempted to run more Karmic justice in my sideboard.

[Leakycow]

I've also been tinkering around with enchantress for no other reason than the gradual disappearance of enchantment hate with the rise of sideboard cards like rack and ruin, energy flux, etc.

The control matchup really isn't that bad.  Landstill can be a problem, but no card hoses Nev's disk like Karmic Justice.

I didn't like Pariah for a long time because I kept finding myself replenishing it onto my enchantress (in order to get other necessary enchantments back from the graveyard).  The problem is, despite what I tested, very few anti-aggro enchantments were able to do what Pariah is best at -- buying a turn.  It's just better than Seal of Doom or Arrest or anything else like that.  When that stompy deck finally draws its naturalize and gets rid of your moat, hopefully one of its beatsticks is Pariah'd, giving you a turn to replenish.  If there was a "fog" enchantment, I'd be tempted to try it out for those occasions when the held-back horde of mongrels and wurms suddenly is able to attack again.

With 1/1 soldiers and X/2 Piledrivers running around, one card I've messed around with is Dueling Grounds.  It's working out OK...just needs to be sealed away when you go on the pegasus rampage.

I've also dropped to 3 Groves (basically to cram Karmic Justice in the main).  It's been fine, as silver bullets, not tutoring, are still the true strength of this deck once you get past the draw engine.

Good luck, and post any other new tricks for this currently under-rated deck that you can think of.

[Ruinn]

Thanks for the replies guys, let me see if I can break down why my experience has led me to make certain choices.

- About the sterling groves, I mentioned that I felt the fourth was not totally necessary and that the third sylvan was simply better.  Using the grove to tutor for the library is slower than simply drawing one and you need the library out there ASAP.  Thank you Dr. Sylvan for pointing out the primer, I had not realized there was one on this site for an enchantress build.  Mine version seems very similar to the one discussed and it seems that they came to the same conclusion in regards to the number of groves vs. sylvans.  Its difficult to get the exact numbers right, but in testing I find that I am not really missing the fourth grove so I am leaning towards keeping it out.

- I never thought about taking out the cities of brass actually.  In looking at the deck, it needed so much on color mana that I always considerred the cities a necessity.  While I feel that taking all of them out in not possible, replacing one with another heath seems like a good idea and I am going to definately try it out.  Taking out any more cities though will probably not happen as this deck is not incredibly fast and cannot really deal with color screw.

- The 5 vs. 6 enchantress effects is another one of those preference issues.  I feel like I can get enough drawing with the five but if you feel the sixth is more suited to your style, by all means go with it.  I find less people using kegs nowadays though so she tends to stay around longer if not countered.  Also you mention that it would be a problem if you hit a bunch of bullet cards, but sylvan helps a great deal with this.

- I do really like rule of law, it is usually fast enough for the rector decks and the dragon matchup as they take a couple of turns to do their thing.  As I mentioned earlier, Long is a whole different animal as it is a turn faster or so.  Gaea's blessing is ok, but just about every dragon player runs Sliver Queen as an alternate kill condition.  While enchantress can often find ways to deal with creatures the sliver queen kill is very effective.  Swords to plowshares will never get a main deck slot due to this decks effectiveness versus aggro, and because it is not an enchantment.  However upping the count in the sideboard is definately an option depending on your meta.

- As I mentioned before all the enchantments that deal with creatures serve different purposes, and Pariah is sometimes just better than moat or the abyss.  It gets sideboarded out against decks not using creatures but in the current meta I feel that is has to remain in the maindeck.

- Solitary confinement to me is a little bit restrictive.  I feel like it would only be useful in the late game when you are drawing massive amounts of cards, and by that point you have probably already won.  To me it seems like a win-more card.  Words of waste however is a great card it can really mess with an opponents hand, and it has a couple of times actually saved me from being decked.

- Ground seal is an excellent idea that I had not thought of, however I will definately be trying them out.

- Karmic justice is a solid card, but it is useless in multiples and considering the drawing/tutoring I have finding it if I really need it is not that difficult.  However, I usually find that I would rather have something else anyway.  Karmic justice is more of a catch-all if something better had been removed, and because of this will remain a one-of.

-Ruinn

[Leakycow]

We're actually in agreement here...I'm definitely not proposing multiple copies of KJ in enchantress.  I'm saying that in some metagames, it belongs maindeck to help win game 1.

Against some match-ups, KJ is more than a catch-all or substitute for superior card, it IS the best card.  I must play against a lot more Deeds and Disks than a lot of people.

My question lies here...now that there's a decent anti-combo card in Rule of Law, what is this deck missing?  What enchantment could be printed to really push enchantress back to the forefront?  The deck is too slow, so something to up its speed that doesn't also benefit the opponent would be really nice.  Carpet of Flowers is great, but so narrow.

[Ruinn]

I often wonder about eladamri's vineyard, its an enchantment, it speeds things up....but something about giving my opponent that much mana for so many turn, and me not even have a good sink prevents me from doing it.  It might be the best we will ever see though in the way of enchantment excelleration.

[Dr. Sylvan]

I'd run Wild Growth before Vineyard, no question.

The weakness of Enchantress is that the card-drawers don't work by themselves, you have to follow them with other cards to get the benefit. This makes it much harder to race decks like Tog, and increases the vulnerability to disruption. I don't see any way around this problem in a Force of Will and Duress-ridden environment.

[lilmidget]

why don't you run any explorations in there? they'll help when you draw a million lands and they are 1 mana enchantments that allow you to draw.

[Dr. Sylvan]

Exploration is weak because you typically play it before you play the Enchantress, and its ability will rarely be used unless you're already winning by drawing a ridiculous number of cards. The same applies to Fastbond. Wild Growth is much more acceptable because it doesn't require you to be holding an extra land in order to recoup its mana cost in the same turn you cast it.

[Ruinn]

I've been known to overlook the simple solutions in an effort to find something more complicated and it looks like this has happened again.  Wild growth could be very good, even if it makes the land even more of a wasteland target.  I am not sure what the best thing to cut from the deck would be, but this is an change I will try out when I get some free time.

[Toad]

A few days ago, I found one of my old Enchantress decklist and thoughts that, with the rise of new Aggro decks and TNT's return, It could be a nice deck choice. The deck is obviously not really strong, but It's really nice to pilot and has a nice matchup against Aggro decks. Nevertheless, I think the deck should not focus on beating Aggro. Control, Prison and Dragon are also decks you should be able to beat, or at least steal some games. I threw a first draft on paper, tested it a few times and here is what I have now. It's not tweaked as It should be for a tournament though. The mana base needs a lot of work, as Blood Moon wrecks the deck, even with the few Plains.

// Mana base -- 27
        3 [card]City of Brass[/card]
        1 [card]Library of Alexandria[/card]
        1 [card]Plains[/card]
        1 [card]Serras Sanctum[/card]
        1 [card]Strip Mine[/card]
        2 [card]Bayou[/card]
        3 [card]Wasteland[/card]
        4 [card]Savannah[/card]
        3 [card]Scrubland[/card]
        3 [card]Windswept Heath[/card]
        1 [card]Black Lotus[/card]
        1 [card]Mox Emerald[/card]
        1 [card]Mox Jet[/card]
        1 [card]Mox Pearl[/card]
        1 [card]Sol Ring[/card]
// Draw engine, Tutors and Recursion -- 16
        4 [card]Argothian Enchantress[/card]
        2 [card]Enchantresss Presence[/card]
        2 [card]Sylvan Library[/card]
        3 [card]Sterling Grove[/card]
        1 [card]Demonic Tutor[/card]
        3 [card]Replenish[/card]
        1 [card]Pursuit of Knowledge[/card]
// Protection and Removal -- 10
        3 [card]Seal of Cleansing[/card]
        2 [card]Swords to Plowshares[/card]
        1 [card]Balance[/card]
        1 [card]Overgrown Estate[/card]
        3 [card]Duress[/card]
// Bullets -- 4
        1 [card]Ground Seal[/card]
        1 [card]Moat[/card]
        1 [card]Words of Waste[/card]
        1 [card]Worship[/card]
// Win Conditions -- 3
        1 [card]Eternal Dragon[/card]
        2 [card]Sacred Mesa[/card]
// Sideboard -- 15
 SB:  1 [card]City of Solitude[/card]
 SB:  1 [card]Karmic Justice[/card]
 SB:  3 [card]Rule of Law[/card]
 SB:  1 [card]Sacred Ground[/card]
 SB:  1 [card]Seal of Cleansing[/card]
 SB:  1 [card]The Abyss[/card]
 SB:  1 [card]Aura Fracture[/card]
 SB:  2 [card]Xantid Swarm[/card]
 SB:  2 [card]Ground Seal[/card]
 SB:  2 [card]Swords to Plowshares[/card]

I upped the Wasteland count because they are crucial in the Prison and Dragon matchup. You need to stop Mishra's Workshop and Bazaar of Bagdaad ASAP. They can also kill an active Library. This forces me to cut the Tundra and the Ancestral Recall, which is a great card but well. Aggro is raising again, so Swords to Plowshares are now maindecked. I also cut the Pariah, because even if it has a nice synergy with the Enchantresses and Replenish, It fails to deal with a first turn Metalworker or a Worldgorger Dragon. Balance is still maindecked though. And I'm maindecking 3 Seal of Cleansing because they are really strong in the current metagame. Ground Seal is maybe not worth maindecking, but as It cantrips, It's not a problem.

[Leakycow]

Wild Growth is a nice replacement for moxen, but if you have the jewelry, I'd forget about W.G.  You'll need more room for beef and not necessarily that much mana boost.  I guess that's the problem with enchantress--it's one of an older style of deckbuilding that relies on silver bullets, thus there's always a fight for deckspace.

Before the fetchlands were printed, I had a couple of Abolishes in the side due to the complete wrecking that Blood Moon (BtB to a lesser extent) caused.  Now that Heaths are available, I think Toad's Eternal Dragon route provides a satisfactory 2nd route to getting basic lands into play.

As long as the majority of Dragon builds uses the Ambassador kill, Gaea's Blessing seems to be a fine choice.  Metalworker is another beast, though.  StP is probably the best answer.  Can the mana base support Aura of Silence?  Replenish makes everything easier to cast, but that extra turn of speed vs. Mud is crucial.

[Dr. Sylvan]

I think Aura of Silence is just a shade too slow for the maindeck. It could fit in the sideboard as a support card for the obvious matchups where you just need more artifact kill and wouldn't mind slowing them down, but I think I'd rather just get the fourth Seal of Cleansing and be done with it.

One other weakness of the archetype now is that modern green and white power cards are not enchantments. Decree of Justice and Xantid Swarm were the primary yield of Onslaught block, and both run counter to the theme. Maybe a control deck using these colors should drift away from the high concentration of permanents/enchantments and find room for alternative weapons. Thoughts on that?

[Toad]

On paper, Aura of Silence is obviously better than Seal of Cleansing against Prison decks, for example. Nevertheless, the casting cost of the Aura is prohibitive in this matchup unless you have a double Mox or Lotus opening. This is why I'd rather have the fourth Seal of Cleansing in my SB. I've been playtesting with 2 Seals and an Aura in my maindeck, but whenever I drew the Aura I wished it was a Seal.

Dr. Sylvan is right about the weaknesses of the deck. It can't really abuse the best green cards, Decree of Justice, Xantid Swarm and Root Maze. Root Maze is probably an *ok* sideboard card for the Dragon matchup, but It slows you down too much against so many decks I'd rather have Ground Seals and Swords to Plowshares instead. Xantid Swarm is a good sideboard card, but with Sterling Groves I'm forced to keep a City of Solitude. You can't rely on a cycled Decree to win games against Aggro because getting an early Moat out is your only chance to win, so Sacred Mesa is still the best choice, even if the upkeep is really painful when you need chump blockers.

The Eternal Dragon is still up for testings, and Enchantress is not a deck I playtest a lot (I only see it as a good casual deck, not as a deck that can win tourneys). My main concern is that I can't tutor for it under Blood Moon, which makes it pretty random. The deck is really hungry on white and green mana, which is a serious drawback because I'd really like to run at least an additional basic Forest. The 3 MD Seal of Cleansing help a lot though, and IMHO should be considered as a staple in modern Enchantress's builds. How about 2 Eternal Dragon and 1 Sacred Mesa only ? You only drop the Mesa when you are winning, and if it's destroyed, you can still Replenish it.

[Dr. Sylvan]

Since the mana base is one of the absolute biggest problems here, maybe what we should be looking at is cutting black. Right now there's 3 Duress, 1 Words of Waste, and 1 Demonic Tutor. All awesome cards, but is it possible to replace their functions in the primary colors?

Duress: IMO, since you have virtually no chance against Storm combo anyway, and vs. Dragon your best bet is on varied cards beginning and ending in "Seal", Duress' benefit is against control. Increased Xantid Swarms could easily slide into that function.

Words of Waste: Sadly there is no analog to this functionality, but I think discard is at an all-time low of effectiveness due to the preference of all Madness and Dragon decks to have certain cards leave their hand. This makes it another anti-control card, and the first thing that's popping to mind here is Choke. It's the closest thing green has to Blood Moon; therefore it's obviously a brilliant idea. :-P Other suggestions welcome.

Demonic Tutor: Another Sylvan Library or Sterling Grove may be the closest thing. It's been a while since I've put in the time on Enchantress, so I barely even remember what I tutored for. Even then, I was probably playing poorly, so if someone thinks the most-frequently-tutored card could be used in this spot, that'd be useful.

After cutting black from Toad's solid list, the manabase alters like so:
-3 City of Brass
-2 Bayou
-3 Scrubland
+1 Windswept Heath
+1 Wasteland
+3 Forest
+2 Plains
+1 off-color Mox? or perhaps would 26 mana enough for two colors?

Three each of Forest and Plains would make all Blood Moon problems much less significant. This is a very good reason to lose the benefits of black, I think.

Once that's done, I still think Decree is incredible, and I would like to exploit its synergy with Humility. Most Type 1 decks have a difficult time removing Humility compared to Damping Matrix, and I think exploiting that to the maximum should be the goal. Unfortunately Enchantresses get in the way. Humility's affect on the game is so good right now that it makes me want to stray from the Enchantress game plan.

Good about Humility:
-Oshawa Stompy: All creatures neutered.
-Madness: All creatures neutered.
-TnT: All creatures neutered.
-Hulk: Togs suck as 1/1s.
-GAT: Dryads don't grow, either.
-Stax/wMUD/Slavery: Loss of Welders is major.
-Dragon: The combo can't go off under Humility.
-EBA: No Meddling, no Ophidian, no Exalted lifegain.
-Goblins: Most importantly, Piledriver, Warchief, Lackey, and Siege-Gang are all stopped.

Bad about Humility:
-Keeper: No effect on opposing Soldier tokens.
-Casting cost is too high for early-game awesomeness. (Increased white sources and accelerants?)

Humility is one of the most disruptive cards available in Type 1 right now, for a deck that can afford to cast it. I have some initial thoughts for abuse, but I'd like to see if you guys think that's a direction that makes sense.

[DEA]

heheh
i use 2 humility in my version because of rampant aggro
squirrel craft sidecombo or sacred mesa kills everything
for extra omph, mirari's wake AFTER humility resolves makes yours 2/2 and theirs 1/1
good times for all

[Toad]

Unfortunately, Humility can't be played in Enchantress because it shuts down your own draw engine. Moat is often enough to hold the first critter wave long enough until Worship and Sterling Grove enters the place. About 70% of my wins against Aggro are concessions from my opponent because the Enchantress / Worship / Grove is awesome.

Cutting Black from the deck would obviously help to stabilize the mana base, but you lose really important spells. Duress are key against Control to resolve your key spells (Enchantresses or Replenish). That's my main concern here. You can switch back to City of Solitude, but the 2 manas difference is a huge pain. The deck can run smoothly without The Abyss and Demonic Tutor though. Words of Waste is awesome against Control but It's not a real key component (even if the synergy with Sylvan Library is incredible). This would allow us to play Hollistic Wisdom, which is cool, Choke (so so, but well) and other goodies.

[Ruinn]

The removing of black is something I have thought about due to the high concentration of blood moons running around, and also the occasional back to basics.  The deck gains stability and loses some versatility, overall the choice should be very much a metagame decision.

I am not a fan of humility, this deck handles aggro pretty well even with the loss of the abyss.  I had mentioned earlier that the abyss is the weakest of the creature control methods.  Decree of Justics is also not as good as Sacred Mesa because the opponent may have many creatures just sitting on the ground waiting for you to attack with soldiers, or you could have a moat in play.  Yes, you could make angels but not control deck will allow that to happen, and duress is gone to clear the way.

Mesa can create much larger, harder to block armies.  The fact that it is an enchantment only strengthens its case.

I always ran hollistic wisdom, it is a very important card I feel the deck.  Enchantress draws so well that the discard is usually not as issue and getting back a serra's sanctum or something else more valuable.  

I think if black is removed adding another sterling grove and maybe in my case bringing in a karmic justice would be the best option.  If your feeling the need for a little more acceleration, the extra slots could also be wild growths, but there are numerous useful enchantments.  One ground seal main could be very useful depending on the opponents you are facing.

[Dr. Sylvan]

Toad: I was actually talking about abandoning the Argothian Enchantresses and relying on more Sylvans and Presences for draw. I think Humility is that bomby. Perhaps the aggro problem could be helped with the Words of Worship / Sylvan combo. That's actually (amazingly) enough to hold off a Dreadnought or a small team of Goblins, and that gives you the extra turn to fetch Humility, after which they're in trouble. I've always liked WoWorship over actual Worship, but maybe that's because I don't like worrying about whether they have an enchantment remover maindeck. If Duress is most often serving the counter-clearing purpose, we already have the Chant/Abeyance choice available without a huge mana base problem. Chant is even a bonus card against aggro. The more I think about it the more I like it. And don't forget Xantid Swarm does the same thing.

One of the key reasons for Argothian > Presence was to sneak in under Mana Drain. Now, incorporation of both Chant and Swarm makes this a lesser priority. The late-game draw power of the Presence is still strong, and now we're adding Holistic Wisdom, too. For the early game I added an Enlightened Tutor to the mix, but if the fourth Grove looks better, I can be persuaded to use the more expensive effect.

Brainstormed list, so you can see just how weird my thoughts are getting:

----Mana - 27 (compressed listing)
3 Forest, 4 Plains
4 Savannah, 4 Windswept Heath
4 Wasteland, 1 Strip Mine
1 Serra's Sanctum
6 SoLoMoxen (skip one Mox)
----Draw/Search - 12 (slower, but still da bomb)
1 Pursuit of Knowledge
4 Enchantress's Presence
3 Sylvan Library
3 Sterling Grove
1 Enlightened Tutor
----Non-Enchantments - 11
3 Replenish
3 Swords to Plowshares
1 Balance
2 Orim's Chant
2 Decree of Justice
----Teh Bombs - 10
1 Sacred Mesa
1 Words of Worship
3 Seal of Cleansing
2 Humility
1 Ground Seal
1 Choke
1 Holistic Wisdom

SB: 1 Swords to Plowshares
SB: 1 Orim's Chant
SB: 3 Xantid Swarm
SB: 1 City of Solitude
SB: 1 Karmic Justice
SB: 1 Sacred Ground
SB: 1 Seal of Cleansing
SB: 1 Aura Fracture
SB: 2 Ground Seal
SB: 3 Rule of Law

Total MD Enchantments: 21
Enchantment Mana Curve: 10 (2cc), 8 (3cc), 3 (4cc)

I'll try to test this in the next day or two against Madness and Keeper to see what refinements I can come up with by putting this idea under pressure.

[MuzzonoAmi]

For the reasons Toad said, I haven't been lpaying Enchantress with the intention of Winning recently, but I still play it at least once amonth, because it does very well in local tournies.

4 Savannah
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
5 Plains
5 Forest
1 Serra's Sanctum
1 Mox Diamond
1 Sol Ring
1 Lotus Petal
4 Enchantress's Presence
2 Argothian Enchantress
2 Seal of Cleansing
1 Aura of Silence (should be another Seal)
3 Sylvan Library
3 Sterling Grove
1 Words of Worship
1 Humility
1 Balance
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Mirari's Wake
3 Replenish
2 Argivian Find
2 Sacred Mesa
2 Abundance
1 Drop of Honey
1 Fastbond

Sideboard
2 Circle of Protection: Red
3 Choke
2 Carpet of Flowers
1 Compost
2 Dust to Dust
1 Replenish
2 Ground Seal

1 Circle of Protection: Artifacts
1 Dueling Grounds


As for my unorthodox card choices:

These are either metagame issues (Dueling Grounds, CoP: Artifacts) or are the result of my testing and a result of my playstyle with the deck. Most notable of these is the use of 4 Presence as opposed to 4 Argothians. This is primarily linked to the fact that utility creatures have been plaguing my metagame for about 6 months now, and Moat, as has been noted elsewhere, doesn't stop those creatures, while Humility does. The loss in speed is not that significant in the less powerful metagames, and against aggro, even aggro like TnT, this deck is just a wrecking ball. Pillar makes things a little harder, but not much, since you have plently of answers to it.

[Dr. Sylvan]

Abundance seems like an extremely odd choice. Ever since the olden-days of cooperb's primer, Pursuit of Knowledge has been preferred in the four-mana slot. What was your thinking behind the change, and the use of the second copy? Also, have you tested Decree or Swarm (or Chant for that matter)? Those are the cards I'm most interested in adding to the accepted build.

[MuzzonoAmi]

I haven't tested Swarm or Decree. I have however, tested Abeyance and Chant. They're good, but I haven't had as much success with them as I have had with Drop of Honey and the Lotus Petal, because this deck really wants more acceleration and greater consistency. That's probably a playstyle/metagame issue for me, and against the 'general field', Abeyance and Chant may be more effective. I'll give them another shot and run the deck through the gauntlet.

As for Abundance, I perfer 3-5 cards/turn to a raw 'Draw-7', especially when those 3-5 cards are filtered. The second copy is being tested in the slot that was Enlightened Tutor/Sterling Grove #4 before.

[BreathWeapon]

Has anybody tried a combinations of Enchantress/Oath of Druids or a Transpositional Side Board between the 2? I know its sounds stupid, but if you cut Argothian for Presence you can MD superior bombs in the form of Balance, Humility, Drop of Honey and Pernicious Deed while keeping 1 Oath, 2 Blessings, 2 Spikes and Visara in the SB to deal with Aggro. Between 4 Groves and a Demonic Tutor you should find the single Oath with relative ease ... and you can always Replenish the thing if it gets countered by FoW or Duressed etc. Its not terribly difficult to side in for your 1 Humility, 1 Drop of Honey, 2 Kill Conditions and MD Control Hate.

I've played something similar to this as of late and its a lot of fun to play. Who expects you to side in Oath? :shock:

[Dr. Sylvan]

Why Oath instead of Humility if you already have the boatload of aggro-stopping instants and lifegain? I don't really see the benefit of using so many slots when later on your only solution is having more creatures than the opponent. I'm of the opinion that if one wants to play Oath, then that should be the main strategy, not a side feature.