I'm going to be brief at first and just post the thread for now and expand the thread if there's interest.
Flash is fun and effective. By now you should have a pretty good idea of what this deck does. Ideally it has Leyline of Anticipation or Vedalken Orrery on the board, I turn Narset sideways, and on that combat I'll hopefully have a nice little toolbox of combat tricks to cream you with. I like the idea of outfitting Narset with auras not only because it's flavourful, but because if she can flash them into play, they don't require an equip cost like equipment.
Even without Narset, flashing enchantments is a handy thing to do, for many reasons. The most obvious reason is the usual draw-go reason: now there's no reason to commit mana to an enchantment on your turn when you have an instant-speed answer in your hand that you want available. Even without an instant in hand, you don't need to commit to that aura if it turns out it wasn't a good idea. For example, an even better target for Faith's Fetters comes out on their turn; don't commit to an Umbra if you don't know that wrath is coming; turn Flickering Ward into a white Turn Aside of sorts, etc.
There's also some more specific, neat things you can do. Gossamer Chains becomes a bit of a Fog machine gun. Mark of Fury can be played on each turn for more enchantress shenanigans.
There are lots of ways to tutor for both the Leyline and the Orrery, but there are plenty of instants as well. Note that This deck hasn't been changed since the recent rule change on tucking and those cards may be subject to change.
Other options that you may want to look at, but I'm not running, include Crown of Flames (goes nice with first strike), Volrath's Curse (pretty good card, but often they have something they don't mind saccing), Shimmering Wings (meh, gives her evasion), Mark of Eviction (only once per turn since it bounces on your next upkeep) and Agoraphobia (pricey for its effect, still allows the creature to chump block). There are lots of others but they're even less impactful in EDH.
A note on counterspells. You'll notice I run counterspells. Some don't like the idea of exiling them. I disagree. Counterspells are a vital protection for Narset against wraths, sac-based removal, and perhaps most importantly nixxing counterspells that target her. Casting her with an additional U open for Swan Song makes my life so much nicer, and Scroll Rack helps make sure you have the counterspells in hand and the bombs in your library. Besides, even if you do exile a counterspell, it's still there to protect any other spells you exiled with her. Bottom line: you should still run them.
Obviously you should run the good modal counterspells like Cryptic Command and... uh... well... that's really the only good one. Condescend isn't a bad counterspell and it at least lets you Scry 2 if Narset casts it. Otherwise, just run good counterspells. Creatures aren't a huge issue for this deck so I like Negate a lot. Narset getting countered or wrath'd are your major issues.
Well leave it at that for now. I look forward to your comments.
Very cool decklist. I've always loved Enchantress decks in EDH, especially when people go outside the traditional Azorius, Selesnya, or Bant colors.
My two cents:
Steel of the Godhead is one of the best auras around, it buffs Narset, keeps you alive, and keeps her alive.
Iroas, God of Victory makes Narset harder to block and immune to combat damage when she does get blocked. Plus, his devotion won't be hard for you and once you get it, you've got another good beatstick/blocker. Then again, it might just be that I've got a soft spot for this fella.
Retether is also a nice trick, especially with Flash.
Detention Sphere requires a greater color commitment than O-Ring, but I like it better for it's ability to nuke tokens and cards that tend to get run or copied by multiple people.
Prison Term is one of my favorite Pacifism effects. It shuts down a creature completely and then, if a new, scarier creature comes into play, you can switch it over to them.
Very cool decklist. I've always loved Enchantress decks in EDH, especially when people go outside the traditional Azorius, Selesnya, or Bant colors.
Hi 3mag5num7, thanks for the compliment. Some excellent suggestions here.
Steel of the Godhead -- This was definitely in V1, and may return in V3. Right now I'm experimenting with Scourge of the Nobilis as a replacement, which also accomplishes the goal of making her attacks safer (first strike + firebreathing) with the added ability to add a ton of extra general damage when I need to. Of course the downside is chump blockers, but they'd have to be flying to pose a real issue as I have plenty of sources of flying, and furthermore I can tutor for Rogue's Passage or Thassa if need be. We'll see how Scourge works out, otherwise yeah it'll be back to Steel.
Iroas, God of Victory -- Helps protect her, but then again so do most other things in the deck, while often having additional uses.
Thassa, God of the Sea -- I think I need to run Thassa, yes. Nice early turn deck manipulation and unblockable can be very important when I need to clinch a close game. Righteous Authority is just too big a clunky so I think I'll make the switch.
Retether -- I need to be careful not to run too many emergency recovery options in case they start bumping out too many cards that ensure I won't see said emergencies. Replenish, Boonweaver Giant and Sun Titan all serve other purposes and I've found I have enough recovery. Certainly Retether will be a consideration if I begin to find I need more.
Detention Sphere -- Ugh, yes, I'm running a UWX deck, aren't I? No excuse not to be running this over or in addition to O-Ring. Good heads-up.
Prison Term -- Bouncy Pacifisms like Cage of Hands obviously aren't quite so optimal but they interact with Mesa and Sigil, which is a partial focus of the deck. There's nothing to say I can't run this as well, though. I'll keep an eye out for a weak spot.
Did you ever think about trying out spirit mantle?
Thanks for the reply, Doopville. The ProCreatures cards are definitely a consideration; I'm especially fond of Unquestioned Authority as I feel the cantrip outweighs the meagre +1/+1 boost. However what I've found is that creatures are not the primary threat to Narset: counterspells and wraths are.
Many auras not only protect against blockers to a certain extent, they also provide other benefits; for example, a power boost will not only deal with creatures combined with her first strike, it'll also do more damage if you don't have creatures to worry about, or are already getting through with, say, Thassa, God of the Sea or Rogue's Passage. The Umbras give her the power boost to gank blockers safely and protect against wraths. Spot removal like Chaos Warp can deal with blockers if necessary, but can also address other problem permanents.
tl;dr: I just feel like the ProCreatures auras don't multitask enough to be worth the card slot. Thanks for the reply though!
Not really, no, since especially in this deck, you have to jump through more hoops than just her hexproof. Let's say you're my opponent. You've managed to tutor out Lighthouse via an Expedition Map or Sylvan Scrying or maybe just top-decked it. This doesn't happen too-too often in my meta, but it happens. Do you also have a way to kill her? Do you have more than one way to kill her just in case I have Swan Song or Boros Charm ready to go? Does she have Indestructibility or Gift of Immortality or an Umbra on her, meaning now you have to have both enchantment removal and Narset removal? It'll still happen, but in my experience my opponents haven't found that window of opportunity as often as they'd like to.
For the sake of argument, though, let's say your meta has Lighthouses out all the time. One more ruthless thing Narset decks often do (make sure your friends won't hate you) is follow her with mass land destruction. If you have Narset on the board and no one has any lands, chances are you've won. This has the added benefit of dealing with Lighthouse as well. If you don't want to be quite such an ********, there are lots of modal spells that can kill lands but will kill other things if Narset casts them off the attack, for example Incendiary Command, Aftershock or Pillage. Another card I really like is Volcanic Offering, since even when it's an opponent choosing the card, they cannot choose one of yours.
Secondly, I was wondering your thoughts on academy rector and omniscience if you thought they have any place in this deck?
Rector was in V1, but honestly, there's not really all that many expensive enchantments in this deck; she'd likely just be grabbing me the Leyline or maybe Sphere of Safety. I've never played Omniscience so that's hard to answer. Narset is tied for the most expensive thing in the deck; I really haven't had much trouble playing the cards I need to play when I need to play them. Would the deck be better off with Rector + Omniscience? Probably. Is it really necessary? Nah.
A Narset, Enlightened Master draw-go enchantress-voltron deck, by Hallucigenia
Introduction
This deck runs a healthy enchantment toolbox for options at all points in the game: early enchantments to establish yourself or deflect aggro, midgame enchantments that steal juicy permanents or establish a board or auras for the late game, when you've played Narset safely and are ready to do heaps of general damage.
Leyline of Anticipation and Vedalken Orrery are particularly useful as they turn auras into combat tricks, both through Narset's ability and otherwise.
6 Narset, Enlightened Master
Creatures (5)
3 Mesa Enchantress
6 Narset, Enlightened Master
6 Sun Titan
7 Boonweaver Giant
Sorcery (8)
3 Idyllic Tutor
4 Divine Reckoning
4 Replenish
5 Bribery
5 Three Dreams
5 Winds of Rath
6 Austere Command
6 Razia's Purification
6 Recurring Insight
Instants (16)
1 Condescend
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Swan Song
1 Swords to Plowshares
2 Boros Charm
2 Counterspell
2 Muddle the Mixture
2 Negate
2 Unexpectedly Absent
3 Capsize
3 Chaos Warp
3 Oblation
4 Cryptic Command
2 Gossamer Chains
3 Copy Enchantment
3 Detention Sphere
3 Ghostly Prison
3 Oblivion Ring
3 Rhystic Study
3 Thassa, God of the Sea
3 Wild Research
4 Leyline of Anticipation
5 Sigil of the Empty Throne
5 Sphere of Safety
Auras (18)
1 Flickering Ward
1 Mark of Fury
2 Daybreak Coronet
3 Cage of Hands
3 Gift of Immortality
3 Scourge of the Nobilis
3 Vow of Duty
3 Vow of Flight
4 Angelic Destiny
4 Control Magic
4 Faith's Fetters
4 Indestructibility
5 Drake Umbra
5 Mammoth Umbra
5 Treachery
6 Confiscate
6 Volition Reins
1 Expedition Map
1 Sol Ring
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
2 Azorius Signet
2 Boros Signet
2 Scroll Rack
3 Darksteel Ingot
3 Commander's Sphere
4 Vedalken Orrery
Lands (38)
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Flamekin Village
1 Hall of the Bandit Lord
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Rogue's Passage
1 Serras Sanctum
1 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
1 Tolaria West
29 Lands Lands Lands
Maybepile
1 Ethereal Armor
2 Volrath's Curse
3 Steel of the Godhead
3 Thassa, God of the Sea
4 Academy Rector
Stuff this Deck Does
I'm going to be brief at first and just post the thread for now and expand the thread if there's interest.
Flash is fun and effective. By now you should have a pretty good idea of what this deck does. Ideally it has Leyline of Anticipation or Vedalken Orrery on the board, I turn Narset sideways, and on that combat I'll hopefully have a nice little toolbox of combat tricks to cream you with. I like the idea of outfitting Narset with auras not only because it's flavourful, but because if she can flash them into play, they don't require an equip cost like equipment.
Even without Narset, flashing enchantments is a handy thing to do, for many reasons. The most obvious reason is the usual draw-go reason: now there's no reason to commit mana to an enchantment on your turn when you have an instant-speed answer in your hand that you want available. Even without an instant in hand, you don't need to commit to that aura if it turns out it wasn't a good idea. For example, an even better target for Faith's Fetters comes out on their turn; don't commit to an Umbra if you don't know that wrath is coming; turn Flickering Ward into a white Turn Aside of sorts, etc.
There's also some more specific, neat things you can do. Gossamer Chains becomes a bit of a Fog machine gun. Mark of Fury can be played on each turn for more enchantress shenanigans.
There are lots of ways to tutor for both the Leyline and the Orrery, but there are plenty of instants as well. Note that This deck hasn't been changed since the recent rule change on tucking and those cards may be subject to change.
It runs the usual enchantress shenanigans. Cards like Mark of Fury and Flickering Ward are nice on Narset and excellent tech with Mesa Enchantress and Sigil of the Empty Throne. I preferentially run Pacifisms like Cage of Hands and Forced Worship for this reason.
Other options that you may want to look at, but I'm not running, include Crown of Flames (goes nice with first strike), Volrath's Curse (pretty good card, but often they have something they don't mind saccing), Shimmering Wings (meh, gives her evasion), Mark of Eviction (only once per turn since it bounces on your next upkeep) and Agoraphobia (pricey for its effect, still allows the creature to chump block). There are lots of others but they're even less impactful in EDH.
A note on counterspells. You'll notice I run counterspells. Some don't like the idea of exiling them. I disagree. Counterspells are a vital protection for Narset against wraths, sac-based removal, and perhaps most importantly nixxing counterspells that target her. Casting her with an additional U open for Swan Song makes my life so much nicer, and Scroll Rack helps make sure you have the counterspells in hand and the bombs in your library. Besides, even if you do exile a counterspell, it's still there to protect any other spells you exiled with her. Bottom line: you should still run them.
Obviously you should run the good modal counterspells like Cryptic Command and... uh... well... that's really the only good one. Condescend isn't a bad counterspell and it at least lets you Scry 2 if Narset casts it. Otherwise, just run good counterspells. Creatures aren't a huge issue for this deck so I like Negate a lot. Narset getting countered or wrath'd are your major issues.
Well leave it at that for now. I look forward to your comments.
Playtesting | Karador, Ghost Chieftain | Narset, Enlightened Master | Ephara, God of the Polis
Established | Gahiji, Honored One | Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker | Opal-Eye, Konda's Yojimbo | Rubinia Soulsinger
Retired | Medomai the Ageless | Diaochan, Artful Beauty
Playtesting | Karador, Ghost Chieftain | Narset, Enlightened Master | Ephara, God of the Polis
Established | Gahiji, Honored One | Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker | Opal-Eye, Konda's Yojimbo | Rubinia Soulsinger
Retired | Medomai the Ageless | Diaochan, Artful Beauty
My two cents:
Steel of the Godhead is one of the best auras around, it buffs Narset, keeps you alive, and keeps her alive.
Iroas, God of Victory makes Narset harder to block and immune to combat damage when she does get blocked. Plus, his devotion won't be hard for you and once you get it, you've got another good beatstick/blocker. Then again, it might just be that I've got a soft spot for this fella.
Thassa, God of the Sea performs a similar role and smooths out your draws.
Retether is also a nice trick, especially with Flash.
Detention Sphere requires a greater color commitment than O-Ring, but I like it better for it's ability to nuke tokens and cards that tend to get run or copied by multiple people.
Prison Term is one of my favorite Pacifism effects. It shuts down a creature completely and then, if a new, scarier creature comes into play, you can switch it over to them.
Whatever I build from my Box-o-EDH stuff
Legacy
Sneak and Show
UR Delver
Scapeshift Nic Fit
Modern
Merfolk
Steel of the Godhead -- This was definitely in V1, and may return in V3. Right now I'm experimenting with Scourge of the Nobilis as a replacement, which also accomplishes the goal of making her attacks safer (first strike + firebreathing) with the added ability to add a ton of extra general damage when I need to. Of course the downside is chump blockers, but they'd have to be flying to pose a real issue as I have plenty of sources of flying, and furthermore I can tutor for Rogue's Passage or Thassa if need be. We'll see how Scourge works out, otherwise yeah it'll be back to Steel.
Iroas, God of Victory -- Helps protect her, but then again so do most other things in the deck, while often having additional uses.
Thassa, God of the Sea -- I think I need to run Thassa, yes. Nice early turn deck manipulation and unblockable can be very important when I need to clinch a close game. Righteous Authority is just too big a clunky so I think I'll make the switch.
Retether -- I need to be careful not to run too many emergency recovery options in case they start bumping out too many cards that ensure I won't see said emergencies. Replenish, Boonweaver Giant and Sun Titan all serve other purposes and I've found I have enough recovery. Certainly Retether will be a consideration if I begin to find I need more.
Detention Sphere -- Ugh, yes, I'm running a UWX deck, aren't I? No excuse not to be running this over or in addition to O-Ring. Good heads-up.
Prison Term -- Bouncy Pacifisms like Cage of Hands obviously aren't quite so optimal but they interact with Mesa and Sigil, which is a partial focus of the deck. There's nothing to say I can't run this as well, though. I'll keep an eye out for a weak spot.
Changes:
Righteous Authority --> Thassa, God of the Sea
Propaganda --> Detention Sphere
Playtesting | Karador, Ghost Chieftain | Narset, Enlightened Master | Ephara, God of the Polis
Established | Gahiji, Honored One | Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker | Opal-Eye, Konda's Yojimbo | Rubinia Soulsinger
Retired | Medomai the Ageless | Diaochan, Artful Beauty
Many auras not only protect against blockers to a certain extent, they also provide other benefits; for example, a power boost will not only deal with creatures combined with her first strike, it'll also do more damage if you don't have creatures to worry about, or are already getting through with, say, Thassa, God of the Sea or Rogue's Passage. The Umbras give her the power boost to gank blockers safely and protect against wraths. Spot removal like Chaos Warp can deal with blockers if necessary, but can also address other problem permanents.
tl;dr: I just feel like the ProCreatures auras don't multitask enough to be worth the card slot. Thanks for the reply though!
Playtesting | Karador, Ghost Chieftain | Narset, Enlightened Master | Ephara, God of the Polis
Established | Gahiji, Honored One | Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker | Opal-Eye, Konda's Yojimbo | Rubinia Soulsinger
Retired | Medomai the Ageless | Diaochan, Artful Beauty
Does arcane lighthouse hose this deck pretty badly?
Secondly, I was wondering your thoughts on academy rector and omniscience if you thought they have any place in this deck?
Thanks a lot for the deck guide and the inspiration, btw
Not really, no, since especially in this deck, you have to jump through more hoops than just her hexproof. Let's say you're my opponent. You've managed to tutor out Lighthouse via an Expedition Map or Sylvan Scrying or maybe just top-decked it. This doesn't happen too-too often in my meta, but it happens. Do you also have a way to kill her? Do you have more than one way to kill her just in case I have Swan Song or Boros Charm ready to go? Does she have Indestructibility or Gift of Immortality or an Umbra on her, meaning now you have to have both enchantment removal and Narset removal? It'll still happen, but in my experience my opponents haven't found that window of opportunity as often as they'd like to.
For the sake of argument, though, let's say your meta has Lighthouses out all the time. One more ruthless thing Narset decks often do (make sure your friends won't hate you) is follow her with mass land destruction. If you have Narset on the board and no one has any lands, chances are you've won. This has the added benefit of dealing with Lighthouse as well. If you don't want to be quite such an ********, there are lots of modal spells that can kill lands but will kill other things if Narset casts them off the attack, for example Incendiary Command, Aftershock or Pillage. Another card I really like is Volcanic Offering, since even when it's an opponent choosing the card, they cannot choose one of yours.
Rector was in V1, but honestly, there's not really all that many expensive enchantments in this deck; she'd likely just be grabbing me the Leyline or maybe Sphere of Safety. I've never played Omniscience so that's hard to answer. Narset is tied for the most expensive thing in the deck; I really haven't had much trouble playing the cards I need to play when I need to play them. Would the deck be better off with Rector + Omniscience? Probably. Is it really necessary? Nah.
Cheers.
Playtesting | Karador, Ghost Chieftain | Narset, Enlightened Master | Ephara, God of the Polis
Established | Gahiji, Honored One | Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker | Opal-Eye, Konda's Yojimbo | Rubinia Soulsinger
Retired | Medomai the Ageless | Diaochan, Artful Beauty