This deck is a combo based control deck. It is a unique deck that only solely on enchantments. This deck is perfect for a meta filled with aggro decks. The control match up is favorable after side board if played correctly. Furthermore once this deck gets on line it gains insane card advantage because every card you play other than a land draws you a card. The cards that allows this to happen are Enchantress's Presence and Argothian Enchantress. This deck also use searches to find silver bullets
Now going onto the card selection.
The draw.
Argothian Enchantress
This card is key to the deck. It also, only dies to board wipes.
Enlightened Tutor
Instant speed search that looks for any silver bullets or any card you need at all.
Sterling Grove
Better than Enlightened Tutor, because it draws when played with either of the Enchantress cards. Also amazing because it protects other enchantments.
Elephant Grass
This is the card that slows down aggro based decks. This is one of the best cards in the deck.
Moat
This deck locks down aggro decks, not a lot of creatures in legacy have flying.
Solitary Confinement
This card is great, not only does it also stop aggro based decks but it stops everything and this card's downside is counter by the insane amount of card draw that this deck has.
Oblivion Ring
Removal and it draws a card. This card is also nice when you cast replenish to bring it back.
This is a card I use as four of in my main board. I find it to be very effective with a meta full of waste lands, sac lands and vials.
Sideboard / Silver Bullets
Karmic Justice
This card makes it an uphill battle for your opponent. If this lands and you have other good enchantments out they have to target this first which because legacy has so few enchantment removal hurts them badly.
Aura of Silence
This card is used to mostly combat decks that rely heavily on artifacts.
A side note on this card. I had this card sitting in my sideboard for ever and I almost removed it. Then in one tournament I was doing well and this one guy was running affinity. He was on a hot streak and had yet to loose a game. Game one I lost, but two and three I won with this guy.
Dragon Stompy: In their favor
While moon effects are virtually dead against us, they MD 4 Chalice and usually 4 Trinisphere. Chalice @ 1 locks us out of manna accel. Via Sprawl/Growth/Exploration and protection via Grass. Chalice @ 2 hits 1/2 our enchantress effects, and Trinisphere slows down our game amazingly, giving us mana for only 1-2 spells early game despite if you land any Enchantress effects. Also to consider are their hellbent beaters [Gathan Raiders[/card] and Rakdos Pit Dragon that take little effort to get big. The builds that use Arc Slogger will aim to land him, swing, and shock the last 6-8 damage directly at you.
Stompies SB: Firespout/Powder Keg to hit Enchantress, and some builds run GY hate in the form of Relic.
Your SB: Runed Halo is the big one. Name Rakdos/Raiders and you cut their fighting force well in half.
Strategy: mid-late game belong to you. Once you land 2+ Enchantress and a Solitary/Moat they'll pretty much fold. Early game, however, will be a race for you. If they stick a T1 Chalice @ 1 or Trinisphere, you'll pretty much have to race to get an Enchantress effect online and topdeck into protection.
MBA preboard: slighty in your favor
The main problems you'll deal with MD are early discard and Sinkhole. They can efficiently kelp you off Enchantress and Sinkhole your enchanted lands. Beyond that, not much they can do. Grass/Confinement keep them locked down, and all their removal is targeted. If you can stick at least 2 Enchantress, game will pretty much be yours.
MBA postboard: slightly in their favor
MBA sideboard: Engineered Plague, Extirpate/Leyline of the Void, Dystopia, Powder Keg
Your Sb: Compost, Runed Halo, Gy hate, Aura of Silence
Strategy: G2 and G3 are much more difficult. Leyline means you can't just rely on Replenish for recursion. Dystopia (especially early game) means you'll have to draw into answers fast as they'll just let it eat their life since they know WoW and Sigil take time and Enchantress to set up. Powder Keg hits Argothian/Sigil tokens, and a smart black player can Druid to destroy Argothian, or keep some in reserve to name Angels. Compost can help you retain more draw effects, and Runed Halo on Tombstalker/Shade mean they'll be relying on Hippie as a win condition. Aura can help you keep them off their hurtful enchantments. Just try and stick an Enchantress (pref. Non-creature) and look for those Grass'/Confinement's.
Thank you to ForlornEgoist for helping with the Match Ups.
I am looking for anyone that has experience on either the Blue or Black splice of the decks. I am also working on matchups so if anyone wants to help contribute to that please let me know. Also if anyone wants a certain deck list added to the primer let me know.
Special thanks to TheTrueNub for the amazing banner.
I've gotten teased about my choice of Worldly Tutor, but I found that it adds a more consistant chance for Enchantress effects and has kept me from having to mull.
I run 1 Replenish because my meta has a good deal of GY hate and that green spell that bounces Ench. To the top of library. Holistic Wisdom helps me to get around this.
Island Sanctuary is nice because it's another draw replacement effect, cheaper to cast, and cost me .25 as opposed to $150.
I do have experience with black splash, and honest have only found it useful to give SB access to Thoughtseize and Leyline of the Void. Of which my MB was something like:
I'm not debating W. Tutor is better than E. Tutor. It's simply a preference to be able to cast a T2 Enchantress. For everyone else E. Tutor is fine (and more practical) I just like using Worldy; it suits my flavor.
I do understand how E. Tutor is better, so don't worry about me being ignorant to it's uses. ^^'
Forlorn Egoist
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Currently Playing Legacy Deadguy Ale Dragon Stompy Enchantress EDH Rubinia Soulsinger Casual Fluctuator Sneak Attack Currently Building Show and Tell
W. Tutor is worse; it can only get argothian enchantress. What if they, say, play a sacrifice effect? Enchantments are also the core of the deck. So enlightened tutor can get more than just enchantress effects; which is generally good especially with silver bullets. Which a lot of enchantress players like I like silver bullets to be able to win a variety of MUs since my metagame is pretty broad. In short, E. Tutor >>>> W. Tutor.
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"Yawgmoth," Freyalise whispered as she set the bomb, "now you will pay for your treachery."
I don't see any point in running Terra Eternal. Sacred Ground will never be needed more then 2-of, and it protects against cards like smokestack, which can be more problematic than wastelands or whatnot. We don't run any manlands, so that card is utterly pointless.
Be careful with "one spell a turn" type effects, as it slows us down immensely too. Ethersworn Canonist is more vulnerable than Rule of Law but I guess it's irrelevant against ANT anyway.
Aside from that, nice to finally have a visible primer. It would be great for this type of deck to become more imposing in future tournaments.
Dragonstompy is a very good matchup for us. CotV for 1 slows us down, but it doesn't cripple us and we have answers. Trinisphere is the worst, but again, we have answers, and their pressure is inconsistent.
I would put this match at 60-65% our favor.
Other matchups:
X Lands: We don't play the game they're stopping, and a single Ground Seal ruins their day. Almost a bye
Aggro Loam: They have Devestating Dreams, so this isn't a blowout, but Ground Seal still turns this heavily in our favor. Probably 60-65%.
Eva Green: Black disruption is a pain, but Elephant Grass will frequently bail you out. Probably 50-50.
UW Tempo: Too slow and their disruption doesn't hit us reliably. In our favor.
ANT: Don't even bother. We lose.
Life Combo: Ditto.
Zoo: They are very, very fast, and Pridemage is a pain. If only we could run 8 Grasses. 50-50.
Merfolk: Their pressure isn't enough, Grass ruins their day, and they don't run enough hard disruption to reliably stop us. Post-board we have Choke plus whatever goodies you want to run. 60%
But Choke doesn't do anything against Merfolk...why even side it in? 4x City of Solitude is what I recommend, at least it's a must counterif they ever want to counter again. If choke is winning you games against merfolk then the merfolk players in your meta are doing something horribly wrong. Choke is such a bad card in my opinion (not intrinsically, but bad considering the meta) it's only run because people use it as a sort of "pseudo-back to basics" against decks that run non-basic islands like thresh and c-top ... It isn't good because it's keeping them off blue, it's good because it's keeping them off all their colors.
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"Life is wonderful... but why??" Legacy: Burn
:symr:(:symgb:) Goblins
:symu:(:symw:) Merfolk
:symg::symw::symr: Enchantress
:symg::symw::symr:(:symb:) Zoo
:symg::symw::symu: New Horizons
:symg::symw: Berserk Stompy
:symg::symb:(:symw:) Eva Green
:symg::symb: The Cure Control
They tap out for a lord. You play choke. They cry. You proceed to win ESPECIALLY if they don't have a vial out. Merfolk should be easy for us, considering they are mostly aggro and dropping grass on them is hotness since they run very little lands (around 18 I think?). City of solitude pushes stuff through; choke completely shuts them down if you play it turn 3 without them building up much board position.
D. Stompy should be easy for us; depending on what you run, you can o. ring, journey to nowhere, or kirtar's desire their threats. Which they don't have a lot of since they dump their hand quite quickly just like the extended all-in red decks.
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"Yawgmoth," Freyalise whispered as she set the bomb, "now you will pay for your treachery."
Just out of curiosity, why is Worldly Tutor being discussed? 3 WT to find 4 Enchantress? What is wrong with the 8 MD Enchantress effects?
Well, usually we must mulligan the opening hands without Enchantresses (Argothian or Presence), and we have only 8 Enchantresses.
3 Worldly Tutor raise to 11 the cards that lets us keep the initial hand.
Sure, we can also keep a hand with Sterling Grove, but this means that we cannot drop a drawing engine until turn 4.
Even if you already have 1 Argothian Enchantress in your initial hand you are happy to Worldly Tutor for another one, so you can drop an enchantress on turn 2 and another on turn 3.
I have played a list with 3 Worldly Tutor maindeck and placed first in a recent tournament.
In that deck I also played a single Vexing Shusher which I could tutor and it helped me greatly in some matches.
I wrote a report of that tournament here.
Now I'm working on a WGU version with Words of Wind, I'll post a list soon.
Please give Worldly Tutor a try, you won't be disappointed.
They tap out for a lord. You play choke. They cry. You proceed to win ESPECIALLY if they don't have a vial out. Merfolk should be easy for us, considering they are mostly aggro and dropping grass on them is hotness since they run very little lands (around 18 I think?). City of solitude pushes stuff through; choke completely shuts them down if you play it turn 3 without them building up much board position.
D. Stompy should be easy for us; depending on what you run, you can o. ring, journey to nowhere, or kirtar's desire their threats. Which they don't have a lot of since they dump their hand quite quickly just like the extended all-in red decks.
Yeah, IF you play it turn three and IF they don't have a vial out, then yes, they cry... but that's a lot of if. I never said that Merfolk should be a bad match up, it's not. Obviously I'm not siding out my 4x Elephant Grass and my Moat and whatnot, I'm just saying that Choke isn't this "end all answer to Merfolk and all things blue" like so many players want to believe it is... it's a threat, but if you get it after about turn 4 it's not an answer. Period. If it's turn 5 you'd better be hoping for an Elephant Grass.
"Life is wonderful... but why??" Legacy: Burn
:symr:(:symgb:) Goblins
:symu:(:symw:) Merfolk
:symg::symw::symr: Enchantress
:symg::symw::symr:(:symb:) Zoo
:symg::symw::symu: New Horizons
:symg::symw: Berserk Stompy
:symg::symb:(:symw:) Eva Green
:symg::symb: The Cure Control
I don't think anyone was suggesting that the card single-handedly beats Merfolk. It's less effective vs. them than it is vs. other blue decks, you're correct. But on top of all ready being a good matchup G1, it helps a lot Gs 2&3 and makes the match-up pretty one-sided.
Okay, I can buy that.
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"Life is wonderful... but why??" Legacy: Burn
:symr:(:symgb:) Goblins
:symu:(:symw:) Merfolk
:symg::symw::symr: Enchantress
:symg::symw::symr:(:symb:) Zoo
:symg::symw::symu: New Horizons
:symg::symw: Berserk Stompy
:symg::symb:(:symw:) Eva Green
:symg::symb: The Cure Control
I have only played around with this deck a little bit, but I can say from my experiece with other decks that Choke is not that effective against Merfolk. It is very good against slower decks and decks that run blue duals, but Choke will cripple a Merfolk player a rather low percentage of the time. For Choke to be most effective, I would say you need to be on the play and/or accelerate into it. That being said, it should certainly be boarded in if it is in your SB. Just don't count on it to outright win you the game.
While Choke denies mana, it ultimately doesn't say "no," to free counterspells, or vial, or any number of things. Heck, most Enchantress builds run 2 win-con's only and, contrary to popular belief, we do have finite mana so if they open a hand or draw into FoW's/Daze's, they can still stop our game. Also to consider that while Choke does slow down decks like Countertop/Thresh/Fish, all 3 of which are only threats due to free counters, it can't be sided against any other deck.
City of Solitude, howevever, says against blue that if you don't counter me my win-cons will resolve and you'll lose. It makes EoT vials a little slower as the creature now retains summoning sickness, and it even helps by making something as innocent as a Top a little less useful as it now makes them use a land to Top at upkeep rather than EoT.
I'm sure this debate could continue incessantly as each person has personal experience to verify why one card is better than the other. My opinion is thusly: that because City of Solitude denies them free counters and can be used against decks beyond blue, it is a little more practical.
On a seperate note, I took a hint from Zoo and am loving 3 Mindbreak Trap's SB. ^.^
Forlorn Egoist
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Currently Playing Legacy Deadguy Ale Dragon Stompy Enchantress EDH Rubinia Soulsinger Casual Fluctuator Sneak Attack Currently Building Show and Tell
Hello enchantress players! I do not play enchantress but I had a question for those of you who do. Note I would like a response from people who actually play the deck not those that just are going to theorycraft, I can do that perfectly fine myself. I am a dredge player and I have a bit of trouble with this match up. I was wondering how you guys consider the dredge match up from your perspective and if you could give any insight into what a dredge player has to do to beat you. I've found the best way to beat a lot of decks is to play the deck I want to beat and learn the match up from the other perspective so I was hoping you guys could shed some light on this for me. Thanks!
I played Enchantress for a while (though recently I've been messing around with Threshold and CounterTop decks) and really had a lot of fun with the deck and did really well locally with the deck.
One moment that I remember, and I want to pass this on to my fellow players... even if your opponent gets out Chalice of the Void on 1, don't stop playing your one drops if you have the Enchantress and/or the Presence on the board. You still get to draw, even if it ultimately get's countered.
I once played against a newer player borrowing a Dragonstompy deck. This was actually soon after I had started playing with Enchantress. 2nd game, he dropped Chalice on 1 and then Chalice on 3 a few turns later. Thankfully, I had already gotten an Enchantress and a Presence down. He had taken a somewhat bad hand, and only had one threat (which I took care of with an ORing before he dropped the 2nd Chalice) and he didn't do much. But I kept playing my 1s and 3s, and taking the draws and letting them go to the graveyard, only to Replenish and bring every one of them back and beat his face in a few turns later with some Angel tokens.
Hello enchantress players! I do not play enchantress but I had a question for those of you who do. Note I would like a response from people who actually play the deck not those that just are going to theorycraft, I can do that perfectly fine myself. I am a dredge player and I have a bit of trouble with this match up. I was wondering how you guys consider the dredge match up from your perspective and if you could give any insight into what a dredge player has to do to beat you. I've found the best way to beat a lot of decks is to play the deck I want to beat and learn the match up from the other perspective so I was hoping you guys could shed some light on this for me. Thanks!
To be honest, I'm not too familar with Dredge, and I don't know what version you're running or what your current sideboard plan might be. If you're running Chalice in the board, that's a good starting spot. One list I saw had Wispmare in the board, so that can help you with the enchantment removal. The problem can be, that if you let Enchantress get going, you'll be buried quickly. If they get a Solitary and a Stirling Grove out, you need 2 Enchantment removers or some luck. The only times I've really gotten in big trouble and gotten nervous and relied on luck, was deck's that threatened me very very quickly, and one's that disrupted my hand and mana. For example, Mono Red Burn is ready to kill on turn 4, so I need a perfect hand and draw. And sometimes some luck. There are times when we have to throw down Solitary Confinement just to survive, and have to live on a little bit of luck to keep drawing some enchantments to fuel the draw engine. Elephant Grass can be very bad for you as well since it's a racist propaganda. I'm sorry I can't be of more help to you though with this. I think that it's a decently bad match up for you unless you can combo quickly and be swinging in on turn 3.
Hello enchantress players! I do not play enchantress but I had a question for those of you who do. Note I would like a response from people who actually play the deck not those that just are going to theorycraft, I can do that perfectly fine myself. I am a dredge player and I have a bit of trouble with this match up. I was wondering how you guys consider the dredge match up from your perspective and if you could give any insight into what a dredge player has to do to beat you. I've found the best way to beat a lot of decks is to play the deck I want to beat and learn the match up from the other perspective so I was hoping you guys could shed some light on this for me. Thanks!
If I might ask, what is your build/type of dredge? Are you LED, or DR Dredge?
Honestly, as an Enchantress player I'm not too worried about the MU. Although LED can go off turn 1, it rarely does. We've got 8 ways to make your creatures utterly useless, and while you do run Golgari Thug, you'll rarely have the 2 mana to pay for an Elephant Grass attacking cost.
The most common SB (or MD) I've seen used against are Iona, Shield of Emeria and Chain of Vapor. Iona on white shuts our game down pretty bad, and CoV can remove that 1 Solitary/Grass we're relying on for protection. Granted many Enchantress players (myself included) are becoming savy to Iona due to Reanimator and are now MDing 1 Karakas. Hell, even Cabal Therapy (usually MD) and Unmask (4 of in my DR SB) can help get the job done. You've got plenty of answers against us that are viable against other decks, it's just a matter of which one of us goes off first.
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Currently Playing Legacy Deadguy Ale Dragon Stompy Enchantress EDH Rubinia Soulsinger Casual Fluctuator Sneak Attack Currently Building Show and Tell
hey guys im currently building enchantress and i was wondering how important words of war is for the deck. Mine is just G/W and i didnt know if it was really worth it to splash red just for WoW and possibly blood moon.
Sorry guys like an idiot I forgot to tell you my build and SB. I play LEDless dredge and my current SB is:
3x Leyline of the Void
3x Ancient Grudge
4x Chain of Vapor
1x Ray of Revelation
1x Terastodon
1x Duplicant
1x Ancestor's Chosen
1x Flame-kin Zealot
I do not run Iona or any other dread targets main deck, only the golgari grave trolls and I play ichorid not bloodghast. I know the list seems bad to those unfamiliar with dredge but most match ups are cheese, even game 2. Its just you enchantress players that ruin my day.
Iona on white in the SB could be a good call. They need to run Lignify to recover from that usually.
Unless the proposal was to beat Enchantress with the cards you already have available. You got 6 cards in the SB that are effective against Enchantress so that shouldn't be too hard..
Yea I didn't think it would be hard either but you can't really afford to bring in 6 cards easily with a dredge deck, there is only room to remove so much. I'm not sure what my plan will be yet but I am going to have to think of one for sure.
How viable is enchantress in a meta with decks such as dredge, ant, zoo, counter top, belcher and threshold? I am only 100 bucks away from finishing my deck and was wondering if spending the money to finish the deck is worth it. I know the deck won the Starcity open in LA but how good is the deck really?
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Retired:
ANT, Legacy (75% Foiled) Over all record 21-5-4. RIP
U/R Splinter Twin, Standard 39-10-15 TWINNING!
If you can afford moat then enchantress is pretty nasty. Aggro is not so bad if you get a confinement, ghostly prison, moat, or even just angel tokens out. Dredge is pretty winnable for you, its one of our worst match ups. I'm not sure about ANT but things like Rule of Law and Solitary Confinement make that match up not seem so bad. You can drop confinement on turn 2 so theoretically you can live through those decks.
Island Sanctuary has been suggested before as a viable budget replacement for moat. Anyway, looking at tournament results, this is far from one of the top decks, but still often gets good results now and then.
Island Sanctuary has been suggested before as a viable budget replacement for moat. Anyway, looking at tournament results, this is far from one of the top decks, but still often gets good results now and then.
Yeah Island Sanctuary is pretty good actually considering we draw a ☺☺☺☺ ton of cards anyways, I was thinking about just splashing in a tundra and using Teferi's Moat; Maybe even just using an extra solitary confinement
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Retired:
ANT, Legacy (75% Foiled) Over all record 21-5-4. RIP
U/R Splinter Twin, Standard 39-10-15 TWINNING!
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This deck is a combo based control deck. It is a unique deck that only solely on enchantments. This deck is perfect for a meta filled with aggro decks. The control match up is favorable after side board if played correctly. Furthermore once this deck gets on line it gains insane card advantage because every card you play other than a land draws you a card. The cards that allows this to happen are Enchantress's Presence and Argothian Enchantress. This deck also use searches to find silver bullets
Now going onto the card selection.
The draw.
Argothian Enchantress
This card is key to the deck. It also, only dies to board wipes.
Enchantress's Presence
Draws cards doesn't die to board wipes.
The search.
Enlightened Tutor
Instant speed search that looks for any silver bullets or any card you need at all.
Sterling Grove
Better than Enlightened Tutor, because it draws when played with either of the Enchantress cards. Also amazing because it protects other enchantments.
The rest of the package.
City of Solitude
Stops counter and can stop solidarity.
Elephant Grass
This is the card that slows down aggro based decks. This is one of the best cards in the deck.
Moat
This deck locks down aggro decks, not a lot of creatures in legacy have flying.
Solitary Confinement
This card is great, not only does it also stop aggro based decks but it stops everything and this card's downside is counter by the insane amount of card draw that this deck has.
Oblivion Ring
Removal and it draws a card. This card is also nice when you cast replenish to bring it back.
Journey to Nowhere
Creature removal only.
Exploration
This card is good because it allows to lands to be played, this card is especially good because of all the cards drawn each turn.
Utopia Sprawl
This card is used for three reasons. It accelerates, draws cards with the the Enchantress cards and it allows for a splice.
Wild Growth
See above but it doesn't splice.
Replenish
This card is amazing late game especially if your board was wiped.
Chrome Mox
This card is used is some decks for speed.
Mirri's Guile
This is a good card. It filters cards and allows you to find enchantments to play to draw even more cards.
Suppression Field
This is a card I use as four of in my main board. I find it to be very effective with a meta full of waste lands, sac lands and vials.
Sideboard / Silver Bullets
Karmic Justice
This card makes it an uphill battle for your opponent. If this lands and you have other good enchantments out they have to target this first which because legacy has so few enchantment removal hurts them badly.
Ground Seal
This stops loam in its tracks.
Aura of Silence
This card is used to mostly combat decks that rely heavily on artifacts.
A side note on this card. I had this card sitting in my sideboard for ever and I almost removed it. Then in one tournament I was doing well and this one guy was running affinity. He was on a hot streak and had yet to loose a game. Game one I lost, but two and three I won with this guy.
Seal of Primordium
A decent removal spell most of the time Oblivion ring is better.
Sacred Ground
This is like Terra but faster.
Runed Halo
This is a silver bullet card. One of our only cards that allows us to survive combo.
Choke
This card is amazing against any deck that runs blue.
Story Circle
Stops mono color in its tracks.
Wheel of Sun and Moon
This card deals with Ichorid when it lands and it also prevents any sort of mill from happening.
Warmth
Counter to burn and other red decks.
Ethersworn Canonist
This is something that I have been testing for a while. It combos well with Enlightened Tutor, it shuts down combo well.
Relic of Progenitus
This is another card that I have been running. I use it to shut down Ichorid and loam.
Manabase
Serra's Sanctum
This card is amazing. Expecially when it gets online.
Windswept Heath
Searches / thins the deck.
Savannah Taiga
The taiga is a splash for the win con.
Win Con
Words of War
This win con is great with enchantress you can't deck your self and you draw a lot of cards.
Sacred Mesa
An older win con fueled by Serra's Sanctum
Sigil of the Empty Throne
Play a card get an angel.
Luminarch Ascension
I personally like this the best as a win con. When fueled with Serra's Sanctum it wins in one turn after it can activate.
Deck lists
Place first in Starcity tournamentMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
1 Enlightened Tutor
2 Replenish
2 City of Solitude
4 Elephant Grass
4 Enchantress's Presence
1 Moat
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Runed Halo
2 Sigil of the Empty Throne
2 Solitary Confinement
4 Sterling Grove
4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Wild Growth
6 Forest
2 Horizon Canopy
4 Plains
2 Savannah
2 Serra's Sanctum
4 Windswept Heath
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Replenish
2 Choke
2 Runed Halo
4 Wheel of Sun and Moon
3 Relic of Progenitus
While moon effects are virtually dead against us, they MD 4 Chalice and usually 4 Trinisphere. Chalice @ 1 locks us out of manna accel. Via Sprawl/Growth/Exploration and protection via Grass. Chalice @ 2 hits 1/2 our enchantress effects, and Trinisphere slows down our game amazingly, giving us mana for only 1-2 spells early game despite if you land any Enchantress effects. Also to consider are their hellbent beaters [Gathan Raiders[/card] and Rakdos Pit Dragon that take little effort to get big. The builds that use Arc Slogger will aim to land him, swing, and shock the last 6-8 damage directly at you.
Stompies SB: Firespout/Powder Keg to hit Enchantress, and some builds run GY hate in the form of Relic.
Your SB: Runed Halo is the big one. Name Rakdos/Raiders and you cut their fighting force well in half.
Strategy: mid-late game belong to you. Once you land 2+ Enchantress and a Solitary/Moat they'll pretty much fold. Early game, however, will be a race for you. If they stick a T1 Chalice @ 1 or Trinisphere, you'll pretty much have to race to get an Enchantress effect online and topdeck into protection.
MBA preboard: slighty in your favor
The main problems you'll deal with MD are early discard and Sinkhole. They can efficiently kelp you off Enchantress and Sinkhole your enchanted lands. Beyond that, not much they can do. Grass/Confinement keep them locked down, and all their removal is targeted. If you can stick at least 2 Enchantress, game will pretty much be yours.
MBA postboard: slightly in their favor
MBA sideboard: Engineered Plague, Extirpate/Leyline of the Void, Dystopia, Powder Keg
Your Sb: Compost, Runed Halo, Gy hate, Aura of Silence
Strategy: G2 and G3 are much more difficult. Leyline means you can't just rely on Replenish for recursion. Dystopia (especially early game) means you'll have to draw into answers fast as they'll just let it eat their life since they know WoW and Sigil take time and Enchantress to set up. Powder Keg hits Argothian/Sigil tokens, and a smart black player can Druid to destroy Argothian, or keep some in reserve to name Angels. Compost can help you retain more draw effects, and Runed Halo on Tombstalker/Shade mean they'll be relying on Hippie as a win condition. Aura can help you keep them off their hurtful enchantments. Just try and stick an Enchantress (pref. Non-creature) and look for those Grass'/Confinement's.
Thank you to ForlornEgoist for helping with the Match Ups.
I am looking for anyone that has experience on either the Blue or Black splice of the decks. I am also working on matchups so if anyone wants to help contribute to that please let me know. Also if anyone wants a certain deck list added to the primer let me know.
Special thanks to TheTrueNub for the amazing banner.
4 Windswept Heath
8 forest
5 plains
2 Serra's Sanctum
Creatures 4
4 Argothian Enchantress
Instant/Sorcery 4
1 Replenish
3 Worldly Tutor
Enchantments 33
4 Enchantress's Presence
4 Utopia Sprawl
3 Wild Growth
4 Elephant Grass
4 Solitary Confinement
4 Sterling Grove
2 Ground Seal
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Sylvan Library
1 Holistic Wisdom
1 Island Sanctuary
1 Sigil of the Empty Throne
1 Words of War
1 Sacred Ground
2 Runed Halo
2 Compost
2 Wheel of Sun and Moon
2 Karmic Justice
3 Orim's Chant
3 City of Solitude
I've gotten teased about my choice of Worldly Tutor, but I found that it adds a more consistant chance for Enchantress effects and has kept me from having to mull.
I run 1 Replenish because my meta has a good deal of GY hate and that green spell that bounces Ench. To the top of library. Holistic Wisdom helps me to get around this.
Island Sanctuary is nice because it's another draw replacement effect, cheaper to cast, and cost me .25 as opposed to $150.
I do have experience with black splash, and honest have only found it useful to give SB access to Thoughtseize and Leyline of the Void. Of which my MB was something like:
1 Scrubland
1 Taiga
2 Serra's Sanctum
3 Savannah
4 Windswept Heath
7 forest
3 Plains
Forlorn Egoist
Legacy
EDH
Casual
Currently Building
Dredge
Just out of curiosity, why is Worldly Tutor being discussed? 3 WT to find 4 Enchantress? What is wrong with the 8 MD Enchantress effects?
I do understand how E. Tutor is better, so don't worry about me being ignorant to it's uses. ^^'
Forlorn Egoist
Legacy
EDH
Casual
Currently Building
Currently Playing:
Retired
Be careful with "one spell a turn" type effects, as it slows us down immensely too. Ethersworn Canonist is more vulnerable than Rule of Law but I guess it's irrelevant against ANT anyway.
Aside from that, nice to finally have a visible primer. It would be great for this type of deck to become more imposing in future tournaments.
But Choke doesn't do anything against Merfolk...why even side it in? 4x City of Solitude is what I recommend, at least it's a must counterif they ever want to counter again. If choke is winning you games against merfolk then the merfolk players in your meta are doing something horribly wrong. Choke is such a bad card in my opinion (not intrinsically, but bad considering the meta) it's only run because people use it as a sort of "pseudo-back to basics" against decks that run non-basic islands like thresh and c-top ... It isn't good because it's keeping them off blue, it's good because it's keeping them off all their colors.
Legacy:
:symr:(:symgb:) Goblins
:symu:(:symw:) Merfolk
:symg::symw::symr: Enchantress
:symg::symw::symr:(:symb:) Zoo
:symg::symw::symu: New Horizons
:symg::symw: Berserk Stompy
:symg::symb:(:symw:) Eva Green
:symg::symb: The Cure
They tap out for a lord. You play choke. They cry. You proceed to win ESPECIALLY if they don't have a vial out. Merfolk should be easy for us, considering they are mostly aggro and dropping grass on them is hotness since they run very little lands (around 18 I think?). City of solitude pushes stuff through; choke completely shuts them down if you play it turn 3 without them building up much board position.
D. Stompy should be easy for us; depending on what you run, you can o. ring, journey to nowhere, or kirtar's desire their threats. Which they don't have a lot of since they dump their hand quite quickly just like the extended all-in red decks.
Currently Playing:
Retired
Well, usually we must mulligan the opening hands without Enchantresses (Argothian or Presence), and we have only 8 Enchantresses.
3 Worldly Tutor raise to 11 the cards that lets us keep the initial hand.
Sure, we can also keep a hand with Sterling Grove, but this means that we cannot drop a drawing engine until turn 4.
Even if you already have 1 Argothian Enchantress in your initial hand you are happy to Worldly Tutor for another one, so you can drop an enchantress on turn 2 and another on turn 3.
I have played a list with 3 Worldly Tutor maindeck and placed first in a recent tournament.
In that deck I also played a single Vexing Shusher which I could tutor and it helped me greatly in some matches.
I wrote a report of that tournament here.
Now I'm working on a WGU version with Words of Wind, I'll post a list soon.
Please give Worldly Tutor a try, you won't be disappointed.
Yeah, IF you play it turn three and IF they don't have a vial out, then yes, they cry... but that's a lot of if. I never said that Merfolk should be a bad match up, it's not. Obviously I'm not siding out my 4x Elephant Grass and my Moat and whatnot, I'm just saying that Choke isn't this "end all answer to Merfolk and all things blue" like so many players want to believe it is... it's a threat, but if you get it after about turn 4 it's not an answer. Period. If it's turn 5 you'd better be hoping for an Elephant Grass.
Legacy:
:symr:(:symgb:) Goblins
:symu:(:symw:) Merfolk
:symg::symw::symr: Enchantress
:symg::symw::symr:(:symb:) Zoo
:symg::symw::symu: New Horizons
:symg::symw: Berserk Stompy
:symg::symb:(:symw:) Eva Green
:symg::symb: The Cure
Okay, I can buy that.
Legacy:
:symr:(:symgb:) Goblins
:symu:(:symw:) Merfolk
:symg::symw::symr: Enchantress
:symg::symw::symr:(:symb:) Zoo
:symg::symw::symu: New Horizons
:symg::symw: Berserk Stompy
:symg::symb:(:symw:) Eva Green
:symg::symb: The Cure
While Choke denies mana, it ultimately doesn't say "no," to free counterspells, or vial, or any number of things. Heck, most Enchantress builds run 2 win-con's only and, contrary to popular belief, we do have finite mana so if they open a hand or draw into FoW's/Daze's, they can still stop our game. Also to consider that while Choke does slow down decks like Countertop/Thresh/Fish, all 3 of which are only threats due to free counters, it can't be sided against any other deck.
City of Solitude, howevever, says against blue that if you don't counter me my win-cons will resolve and you'll lose. It makes EoT vials a little slower as the creature now retains summoning sickness, and it even helps by making something as innocent as a Top a little less useful as it now makes them use a land to Top at upkeep rather than EoT.
I'm sure this debate could continue incessantly as each person has personal experience to verify why one card is better than the other. My opinion is thusly: that because City of Solitude denies them free counters and can be used against decks beyond blue, it is a little more practical.
On a seperate note, I took a hint from Zoo and am loving 3 Mindbreak Trap's SB. ^.^
Forlorn Egoist
Legacy
EDH
Casual
Currently Building
One moment that I remember, and I want to pass this on to my fellow players... even if your opponent gets out Chalice of the Void on 1, don't stop playing your one drops if you have the Enchantress and/or the Presence on the board. You still get to draw, even if it ultimately get's countered.
I once played against a newer player borrowing a Dragonstompy deck. This was actually soon after I had started playing with Enchantress. 2nd game, he dropped Chalice on 1 and then Chalice on 3 a few turns later. Thankfully, I had already gotten an Enchantress and a Presence down. He had taken a somewhat bad hand, and only had one threat (which I took care of with an ORing before he dropped the 2nd Chalice) and he didn't do much. But I kept playing my 1s and 3s, and taking the draws and letting them go to the graveyard, only to Replenish and bring every one of them back and beat his face in a few turns later with some Angel tokens.
To be honest, I'm not too familar with Dredge, and I don't know what version you're running or what your current sideboard plan might be. If you're running Chalice in the board, that's a good starting spot. One list I saw had Wispmare in the board, so that can help you with the enchantment removal. The problem can be, that if you let Enchantress get going, you'll be buried quickly. If they get a Solitary and a Stirling Grove out, you need 2 Enchantment removers or some luck. The only times I've really gotten in big trouble and gotten nervous and relied on luck, was deck's that threatened me very very quickly, and one's that disrupted my hand and mana. For example, Mono Red Burn is ready to kill on turn 4, so I need a perfect hand and draw. And sometimes some luck. There are times when we have to throw down Solitary Confinement just to survive, and have to live on a little bit of luck to keep drawing some enchantments to fuel the draw engine. Elephant Grass can be very bad for you as well since it's a racist propaganda. I'm sorry I can't be of more help to you though with this. I think that it's a decently bad match up for you unless you can combo quickly and be swinging in on turn 3.
If I might ask, what is your build/type of dredge? Are you LED, or DR Dredge?
Honestly, as an Enchantress player I'm not too worried about the MU. Although LED can go off turn 1, it rarely does. We've got 8 ways to make your creatures utterly useless, and while you do run Golgari Thug, you'll rarely have the 2 mana to pay for an Elephant Grass attacking cost.
The most common SB (or MD) I've seen used against are Iona, Shield of Emeria and Chain of Vapor. Iona on white shuts our game down pretty bad, and CoV can remove that 1 Solitary/Grass we're relying on for protection. Granted many Enchantress players (myself included) are becoming savy to Iona due to Reanimator and are now MDing 1 Karakas. Hell, even Cabal Therapy (usually MD) and Unmask (4 of in my DR SB) can help get the job done. You've got plenty of answers against us that are viable against other decks, it's just a matter of which one of us goes off first.
Forlorn Egoist
Legacy
EDH
Casual
Currently Building
3x Leyline of the Void
3x Ancient Grudge
4x Chain of Vapor
1x Ray of Revelation
1x Terastodon
1x Duplicant
1x Ancestor's Chosen
1x Flame-kin Zealot
I do not run Iona or any other dread targets main deck, only the golgari grave trolls and I play ichorid not bloodghast. I know the list seems bad to those unfamiliar with dredge but most match ups are cheese, even game 2. Its just you enchantress players that ruin my day.
Yea I didn't think it would be hard either but you can't really afford to bring in 6 cards easily with a dredge deck, there is only room to remove so much. I'm not sure what my plan will be yet but I am going to have to think of one for sure.
ANT, Legacy (75% Foiled) Over all record 21-5-4. RIP
U/R Splinter Twin, Standard 39-10-15 TWINNING!
Yeah Island Sanctuary is pretty good actually considering we draw a ☺☺☺☺ ton of cards anyways, I was thinking about just splashing in a tundra and using Teferi's Moat; Maybe even just using an extra solitary confinement
ANT, Legacy (75% Foiled) Over all record 21-5-4. RIP
U/R Splinter Twin, Standard 39-10-15 TWINNING!