[Deck] Donatress

[goldenj]

This deck started as an attempt to mix Life From the Loam into the Enchantress (aka Solitaire ntbcw Solidarity) engine. Then, b/c of the coin flip nature of ultra-aggro matchups, I wondered about...

//NAME: Donatress
Mana
4 Windswept Heath
1 Island
1 Plains
4 Forest
4 Tundra
4 Savannah
4 Tropical Island

Win
1 Multani, Maro-Sorcerer - my fave alt win. Often 15/15 or greater.
2 Illusions of Grandeur
3 Donate

Search
2 Enlightened Tutor
4 Sterling Grove

Control
3 Solitary Confinement
4 Force of Will
2 Words of Wind
2 Life from the Loam

Enchantressy Stuff
3 Seal of Removal
4 Exploration
4 Enchantress's Presence
4 Argothian Enchantress

SB: 3 Naturalize - sometimes it has to be instant
SB: 1 Solitary Confinement - when you absolutely, positively
SB: 2 Holistic Wisdom - vs. heavy discard. Could be Rofello's Gift
SB: 3 Ground Seal - open slot. Could/should be GY hate of your own, like furnaces.
SB: 4 Seal of Cleansing
SB: 2 Pithing Needle - good vs so much. Note fetchable with e.tutor.

This deck tromps aggro. It can have trouble vs dedicated control if they save their counters for enchantresses. It is 50-50 vs deadguy. Strong vs Solidarity b/c of confinement.

Seal of Removal could be Seal of Cleansing, but is in b/c it is a cheap recastable enchantment that can be pitched to Force. If there's not a lot of wasteland and sinkhole, it could be utopia sprawl or wild growth, but it can be crushing to get 2 for 1'd on turn 1. Removal is nice vs MMage.

Give it a whirl, let me know your thoughts.

Try to use only a 2nd grove to fetch illusions. Be wary of casting Illusions vs Goblins/SRB in gane 2 w/o Grove as pyroblast is common. Similarly, wait for force or until you've winded all their permanents to cast donate.

Donate is definitely the weak link in the deck, but you can protect it pretty well. It's just the kill, the main thing is to let confinement do the work. This deck has a lot of support for the confinement, so don't be afraid to cast one early.

[DieMyDarling]

Well i like the deck because i wanted to build both of the decks and i am definately going to test ist. But i am asking myself if u really need the life from the loam? I mean the enchantress carddraw should be enough normally.
And why do you use the words of wind? In my opinion you should better play words of wilding, which can also win the game for you.

So far

[Moby Dick]

While I think this is a dumb deck, i want to point out that donating a symbiotic deployment makes them lose. it's an enchantment making it tutorable.

Symbiotic Deployment 2G
Enchantment AP R
Skip your draw step
1,tap 2 critters: draw a card

you could play it as a way to stop decking, tap enchantess' to darw cards, and if your opp doesn't have more than 1 critter, donate it, also good with way to kill creatures.

[goldenj]

Never thought of symbiotic deployment -- I'll have to try that out. Although, the main advantage of illusions is the 20 life. The card draw under confinement might be worth considering, although you don't often have two enchantresses out.

Words of wilding could definitely be played in the multani slot, or splash red for words of war. Words of Wind allows you draws under enchantress+confinement while timewalking your opponent. Eventually completely locking them out of playing anything > 1 cc.

Life from the Loam has been nice as an alternate way to support Confinement, and is some balm for wasteland heavy decks on what's a pretty non-basic manabase. If I could figure out how to fit in some cycling lands, it would be even better. What was in the deck at one point was Trade Routes, which helped vs. mana attack, mana flood, gave draw with Loam and pitched to Force. Eventually got cut for seals, which were often good for an extra turn vs. aggro. When you're waiting to drop confinement, a turn can be game.

What makes it a dumb deck?

[Cavius The Great]

This deck started as an attempt to mix Life From the Loam into the Enchantress (aka Solitaire ntbcw Solidarity) engine. Then, b/c of the coin flip nature of ultra-aggro matchups, I wondered about...

//NAME: Donatress
Mana
4 Windswept Heath
1 Island
1 Plains
4 Forest
4 Tundra
4 Savannah
4 Tropical Island

Win
1 Multani, Maro-Sorcerer - my fave alt win. Often 15/15 or greater.
2 Illusions of Grandeur
3 Donate

Search
2 Enlightened Tutor
4 Sterling Grove

Control
3 Solitary Confinement
4 Force of Will
2 Words of Wind
2 Life from the Loam

Enchantressy Stuff
3 Seal of Removal
4 Exploration
4 Enchantress's Presence
4 Argothian Enchantress

SB: 3 Naturalize - sometimes it has to be instant
SB: 1 Solitary Confinement - when you absolutely, positively
SB: 2 Holistic Wisdom - vs. heavy discard. Could be Rofello's Gift
SB: 3 Ground Seal - open slot. Could/should be GY hate of your own, like furnaces.
SB: 4 Seal of Cleansing
SB: 2 Pithing Needle - good vs so much. Note fetchable with e.tutor.

This deck tromps aggro. It can have trouble vs dedicated control if they save their counters for enchantresses. It is 50-50 vs deadguy. Strong vs Solidarity b/c of confinement.

Seal of Removal could be Seal of Cleansing, but is in b/c it is a cheap recastable enchantment that can be pitched to Force. If there's not a lot of wasteland and sinkhole, it could be utopia sprawl or wild growth, but it can be crushing to get 2 for 1'd on turn 1. Removal is nice vs MMage.

Give it a whirl, let me know your thoughts.

Try to use only a 2nd grove to fetch illusions. Be wary of casting Illusions vs Goblins/SRB in gane 2 w/o Grove as pyroblast is common. Similarly, wait for force or until you've winded all their permanents to cast donate.

Donate is definitely the weak link in the deck, but you can protect it pretty well. It's just the kill, the main thing is to let confinement do the work. This deck has a lot of support for the confinement, so don't be afraid to cast one early.


I love the deck. There's only one problem I see with it though. What happens when you mill crucial enchantments into your yard with Loam? It seems like you have no ways of getting them back. Has this posed as a problem for you? Other than that the build looks solid. :smile:

P.S. - The build looks far from dumb, I think Moby Dick is a hata. =P

[greyfell]

Not sure about Symbiotic Deployment as a 'lock card' though the very idea makes me laugh. But the one deck off the top of my head that this might be a good idea against (solidarity) is not going to loose much steam. The draw step gives them one card, where as all their instant speed card draw and search give them the rest.

If your really worried about milling key enchant's, give Rofellos's Gift a try. It's worked great for me in the past as a sort of anti-enchantment hate card.

[Cavius The Great]

Not sure about Symbiotic Deployment as a 'lock card' though the very idea makes me laugh. But the one deck off the top of my head that this might be a good idea against (solidarity) is not going to loose much steam. The draw step gives them one card, where as all their instant speed card draw and search give them the rest.

If your really worried about milling key enchant's, give Rofellos's Gift a try. It's worked great for me in the past as a sort of anti-enchantment hate card.

I was thinking more in the lines of cards like Holistic Wisdom, to fetch back key enchantments. But I think the best solution is to cut the Loams and Confinements completely and substitute them with other creature control cards. Elephant Grass, Propaganda and Mark of Eviction all come to mind.

[goldenj]

Dredging win conditions: definitely a possibility. I've experimented with R's gift and wisdom. That's why there's redundancy for important pieces right now, like words and illusions.

I don't like the idea of cutting confinement -- it's really the point of the deck, as is. The other possibility is to make it really combo centered instead of lock centered, combo for win. Why I like the combo win vs the older enchantress win conditions (sacred mesa, words of war) is that it will win you some of the games where you can't assemble the lock. Plus the 20 life has been big in terms of time to get to the lock. There are very few decks that can deal with confinement + grove, and none that are tier I.

There are a lot of Solitaire players who swore by Elephant Grass -- but it just never worked out for me. Propaganda/Ghostly Prison worked better (mana cost didn't seem to be an issue) but neither worked as well as the focus on getting a confinement in play. Worship was there at one point as well.

The only card that's droppable seems to be the Force of Will. Giving up the force would give you Rofello's Gift or Eternal Witness. Maybe a mix of 2 and 2. Witness is pretty nice with wind recursion, or you could bounce with seal. I'll try it out.

The deployments have not worked well, as they do very little until you donate it.

[DieMyDarling]

i would not cut all the confiments, you could play like 2 confinements maindeck.
You can search them with the tutor and use the enchantress carddraw to keep it alive. And if you dont need it just play it draw the cards and then sacrifice it next turn...

I will test the deck in the next days and then give more sugesstions :P

[Cavius The Great]

Dredging win conditions: definitely a possibility. I've experimented with R's gift and wisdom. That's why there's redundancy for important pieces right now, like words and illusions.

I don't like the idea of cutting confinement -- it's really the point of the deck, as is. The other possibility is to make it really combo centered instead of lock centered, combo for win. Why I like the combo win vs the older enchantress win conditions (sacred mesa, words of war) is that it will win you some of the games where you can't assemble the lock. Plus the 20 life has been big in terms of time to get to the lock. There are very few decks that can deal with confinement + grove, and none that are tier I.

There are a lot of Solitaire players who swore by Elephant Grass -- but it just never worked out for me. Propaganda/Ghostly Prison worked better (mana cost didn't seem to be an issue) but neither worked as well as the focus on getting a confinement in play. Worship was there at one point as well.

The only card that's droppable seems to be the Force of Will. Giving up the force would give you Rofello's Gift or Eternal Witness. Maybe a mix of 2 and 2. Witness is pretty nice with wind recursion, or you could bounce with seal. I'll try it out.

The deployments have not worked well, as they do very little until you donate it.


If you're that concerned about the Solidarity matchup just run Ivory Mask.

[DieMyDarling]

OK i have testet this deck in the last days ( not enough yet, but i will keep on testin the next days) and here is my decklist i run atm :

EnchanTrixXx:

3 Flooded Strand
4 Windsweapt Heath
4 Forest
1 Island
1 PLains
4 Savannah
3 Tropical Island
2 Tundra


4 Argothian Enchantress
3 Elephant Grass
4 Enchantress Presence
4 Exploration
2 Seal Of Removal
3 Solitary Confinement
4 Sterling Grove
1 Teferies Moat
1 Treachery
3 Utopia Sprawl
3 Donate
2 Illusions Of Grandeur
4 Force Of WIll

Sideboard:

2 Arcane Laboratory
1 Rule Of Law
1 Solitary Confinement
3 Tormods Crypt
3 City Of Solitude
3 Sacred Ground
1 Elephant Grass

The Sideboard is more random atm because i mostly play without boarding on mws...

I am trying to get in 1 Words Of Wilding but i dont know what to cut yet. The teferis moat is in there because i cant get real moats and it can be pitched for the FoW ( :/ )

In my opinion the solitary confinement is definately one of the best cards in this deck because it often is the win pre board ( if u have enchantress stuff out)

[dontbiteitholmes]

The real question I have for this deck is what makes it better then Enchantress (AKA Solitaire)? What matchups are improving and degenerating with this build as opposed to Solitaire?

[DieMyDarling]

The real question I have for this deck is what makes it better then Enchantress (AKA Solitaire)? What matchups are improving and degenerating with this build as opposed to Solitaire?

well, i cant answer this directly because i havent played "normal enchantress" vs other good legacy decks, but i can combo on turn 4 and ii dont think enchantress can win that early

[Cavius The Great]

OK i have testet this deck in the last days ( not enough yet, but i will keep on testin the next days) and here is my decklist i run atm :

EnchanTrixXx:

3 Flooded Strand
4 Windsweapt Heath
4 Forest
1 Island
1 PLains
4 Savannah
3 Tropical Island
2 Tundra


4 Argothian Enchantress
3 Elephant Grass
4 Enchantress Presence
4 Exploration
2 Seal Of Removal
3 Solitary Confinement
4 Sterling Grove
1 Teferies Moat
1 Treachery
3 Utopia Sprawl
3 Donate
2 Illusions Of Grandeur
4 Force Of WIll

Sideboard:

2 Arcane Laboratory
1 Rule Of Law
1 Solitary Confinement
3 Tormods Crypt
3 City Of Solitude
3 Sacred Ground
1 Elephant Grass

The Sideboard is more random atm because i mostly play without boarding on mws...

I am trying to get in 1 Words Of Wilding but i dont know what to cut yet. The teferis moat is in there because i cant get real moats and it can be pitched for the FoW ( :/ )

In my opinion the solitary confinement is definately one of the best cards in this deck because it often is the win pre board ( if u have enchantress stuff out)


13 blue spells isn't nearly enough to support Force of Will. The minimum amount is probably around 15 and that's still not enough in most cases. I suggest taking out the Utopia Sprawl and replace them with Mark of Eviction. Mark of Eviction is great against any creature strategy and on top of that, It also provides a consistant, repeatable draw engine if you have any enchantress cards in play. I would also up the count of seal of removal to 4. I'd probably take out a green enchantment for them to better support FoW.

[goldenj]

What matchups improved: my hope was that (a) specifically the matchup vs. super-aggro would be improved via the 20 life from Illusions. There are some games with enchantress where you just lose to a God draw vs suicide black or goblins. (b) a combo win vs a slow control win (I once won with Elvish Spirit Guide beatdown in Solitaire.) will win some unwinnable games in all matchups by giving you an 'oops I win'. (c) the Life From the Loam was meant as an alternative way to support the confinement, for games when the enchantress engine can't get running. I cut the Loam because I couldn't figure out how to get in the cycling lands in a meaningful way.

Enchantrix -- megaprops on the name. That's phenomenal.

Ivory Mask << Confinement

Mark of Eviction: you don't have a targetable creature to put it on foir when your opponents don't, and it gives your opponent's creature an attack. An alternative to the below would be a list with Eviction and Eternal Witness.

Current list:
//NAME: Enchantrix
Mana
4 Windswept Heath
1 Island
1 Plains
4 Forest
4 Tundra
4 Savannah
4 Tropical Island

Win
1 Multani, Maro-Sorcerer - my fave alt win. Often 15/15 or greater. Could be Simic Sky Swallower, but I don't see the advantage, other than 17th blue card.
3 Illusions of Grandeur
3 Donate

Search
1 Eternal Witness -- could be Rofello's Gift. Also phenomenal with Wind.
2 Enlightened Tutor
4 Sterling Grove

Control
3 Solitary Confinement
4 Force of Will
2 Words of Wind

Enchantressy Stuff
4 Seal of Removal
4 Exploration
4 Enchantress's Presence
4 Argothian Enchantress

SB: 3 Naturalize - sometimes it has to be instant
SB: 1 Solitary Confinement - when you absolutely, positively need 4.
SB: 2 Holistic Wisdom - vs. heavy discard. Could be Rofello's Gift
SB: 3 Ground Seal - how effective would this be vs. Iggy Pop? OW make them Crypts/Furnaces for double coverage vs Threshold.
SB: 4 Seal of Cleansing - bothers me these aren't in the main.
SB: 2 Pithing Needle - good vs so much. Note fetchable with e.tutor.

[DieMyDarling]

Ok at first the decklist i am currently testing:

3 Flooded Strand
4 Windsweapt Heath
4 Forest
1 Island
1 Plains
4 Savannah
3 Tropical Island
2 Tundra

4 Argothian Enchantress
3 Elephant Grass
4 Enchantress Presence
4 Exploration
3 Solitary Confinement
4 Sterling Grove

2 Words Of Wilding
3 Donate
1 Teferis Moat
1 Treachery
4 Seal of Removal
4 Force Of WIll
2 Illusions Of Grandeur

And it really works quite well, the only problem i am having atm is the matchup vs deadguy which really pisses me off :P
Do you have a good idea what to board against them?

[goldenj]

Deadguy Ale: It's tough. You can board Sacred Ground, but they have vindicate (and probably disenchant after board), so if you don't have a grove, they won't last long. Maybe this matchup requires life from the loam side. I play this matchup as a "get confinement asap" one. It's matchups like this that make me like rofello's gift more than holistic wisdom, despite being a non-enchantment. Have you found the elephant grass to be helpful in this matchup?

Can you describe how the games are going? Is it the landkill that's bad, the discard, or the combination of the two?

[DieMyDarling]

The Problem is, that they can disturb everything you need. They have the duress / hymn and get ur first illusions or confinement and then go sinkhole + vindicate and just run over you. The elephant grass doesnt really help here because u are not able to pay the upkeep very long in this mu. If you have a good start you can win against them, but its like 20/80 imo.

[DieMyDarling]

I am sorry for the double post, but noone answered since some weeks and i have found a solution.
Atm my sideboard looks like this:
4 Spiritual Focus
2 Phantom Centaur
3 Seal Of CLeansing
2 Rule Of Law
2 Worship
1 Arcane Laboratory
1 Solitary Confinement


THe Spiritual Focus and the centaur go in against pikula and they really work quite well. I still try to get in 2 sacred ground, but i do not know what to board out for them in this mu.

[goldenj]

That's good. I would not have thought of Spiritual Focus. Sacred Ground seems like it should be still in the SB though, since there's a fair amount of non-basic hate. What about instead of the Worship?

The Rule of Law is for solidarity and Iggy Pop? How are those matchups working for you?

How about Goblins or other ultra aggro?

[DieMyDarling]

I have not played vs iggy yet, you hardly find it at any tournament here in germany so i am not testing against it. The Solidarity MU is quite hard, but confinement or ruke + Sterling grove makes them scoope most of the time since they just have 1 bouncespell in the sb. The Worship are in there against goblins etc. Since they all run disenchant / naturalize in the sb i like to have 1-2 more cards which win the game against them. I would cut the 4th confinement in the board together with a seal of cleansing for 2 sacred grounds. I nearly never needet the seal. The only things i needed to destroy was the jitte that gave
life.

[goldenj]

That's good. I would not have thought of Spiritual Focus. Sacred Ground seems like it should be still in the SB though, since there's a fair amount of non-basic hate. What about instead of the Worship?

The Rule of Law is for solidarity and Iggy Pop? How are those matchups working for you?

How about Goblins or other ultra aggro?

[goldenj]

That's good. I would not have thought of Spiritual Focus. Sacred Ground seems like it should be still in the SB though, since there's a fair amount of non-basic hate. What about instead of the Worship?

The Rule of Law is for solidarity and Iggy Pop? How are those matchups working for you?

How about Goblins or other ultra aggro?

[DieMyDarling]

I have not played vs iggy yet, you hardly find it at any tournament here in germany so i am not testing against it. The Solidarity MU is quite hard, but confinement or ruke + Sterling grove makes them scoope most of the time since they just have 1 bouncespell in the sb. The Worship are in there against goblins etc. Since they all run disenchant / naturalize in the sb i like to have 1-2 more cards which win the game against them. I would cut the 4th confinement in the board together with a seal of cleansing for 2 sacred grounds. I nearly never needet the seal. The only things i needed to destroy was the jitte that gave
life.