The Witch House (Nearly Mono-green Enchantress)

[SpatulaOfTheAges]

"The expression on her face was one of hideous malevolence and exultation... He must meet the Black Man, and go with them all to the throne of Azathoth at the centre of ultimate Chaos." -"The Dreams in the Witch House", H.P. Lovecraft

1. Background for the deck
2. MD Card Choices
3. Sideboard and Wishboard
4. Decklists
5. Play Style
6. Match-up Analysis
7. Conclusion

I. Some Background.

Since Onslaught, major additions to the Enchantress archetype have been fairly limited - Green Sun's Zenith was a huge help, many Enchantress players added Emrakul to the deck and there are now a half dozen iterations of Oblivion Ring. Most relevant to this post, however, is the block printed during my latest hiatus from the game, Theros, which added enchantments that are also creatures. While most Enchantress players seem to have added one Eidolon of Blossoms and occasionally sideboard in Doomwake Giant, I think the combination of GSZ and the existence of playable enchantments that are ALSO creatures opens up a number of questions about an older card that was often tried and usually discarded in Enchantress lists, namely, Living Wish.

II. Maindeck Card Choices

The Core:

First of all, the core of any Enchantress list is four cards: Argothian Enchantress, Enchantress's Presence, Utopia Sprawl, and Wild Growth.

Argothian Enchantress - shrouded and only two mana, in most match-ups she's your best turn-2 drop, since you can play another 1 mana enchantment and begin digging if she resolves in most cases. A 4x in any Enchantress list, a 3x in ours due to Living Wish.

Enchantress's Presence - slightly pricier and vulnerable to Spell Pierce, but even fewer decks have maindeck ways of dealing with a resolved enchantment than with a resolved shroud creature. Also has the advantage of drawing off itself with multiple copies. Also an automatic 4x.

Wild Growth & Utopia Sprawl - I think it's safe to consider these as much a core of the deck as the Girls themselves. These are your best, most important turn 1 plays, accelerating you and making up for what is otherwise a slow and sometimes clunky deck. Once you have an enchantress out, they're free card draw on the turn you play them, and the following turn boost you even further ahead in mana. Each is a 4x or you're probably doing the deck wrong.

Any Enchantress list needs these cards at its core. Moving on.

Supplemental Threats:

These cards are your plan B against disruption.

Green Sun's Zenith - I remember running into a lot of resistance on this card when it first came out. "You only have one creature to get!" But you need that creature to win, so... at any rate, it also opens a lot of SB options for the deck. GSZ combines surprisingly well with Living Wish, allowing you do get more value out of your very limited SB space by effectively running 4x copies of Gaddock Teeg, Spore Frog, Scavenging Ooze, Reclamation Sage, or other green utility creatures. From 2011 to 2018 this was pretty much the 3rd best Enchantress option, until...

Estrid's Invocation - The newly printed and as of time of writing, [s]still-not-fucking-available-on-mtgo[/s] FINALLY FUCKING AVAILABLE contender for 3rd best Enchantress. Pros vs GSZ: an enchantment, not a creature, so generally harder to kill, can evade a lot of traditional hate like Ethersworn Canonist and taxing effects by "casting" itself every upkeep for free, triggering all sorts of neat stuff from simple card drawing via Abundant Growth or Ground Seal, to affecting the board with Oblivion Ring, Elephant Grass, and Doomwake Giant. Cons vs GSZ: a fourth color, this is the big drawback. It will have some impact on the stability of the mana base, and there can be times you just can't cast it. I guess it also gives an outlet to those people who MD Red Elemental Blast.

Eidolon of Blossoms - Generally your weakest enchantress effect, Eidolon does have a couple advantages over the others. Unlike Presence, she can't be Spell Pierced. Unlike Argothian, she's an enchantment, so not only does she draw off of herself, she draws if you have another enchantress out. She also has some great interaction with Replenish. I advise running Eidolon if you're on 3 or 4 GSZ so you can convert them into card draw. If you're not running many or any copies of GSZ she loses a lot of value, although she also works well with Estrid's Invocation.

Living Wish - Here we get to the main distinguishing feature of this list. Living Wish is a powerful and versatile card that allows you to switch gears between aggressor and control. We'll get more specific about it in the sideboard section, but the ability to grab an enchantress, land, an answer to a problem permanent, combo-hate, an enchantment to keep digging, AND to keep your otherwise clunky kill conditions out of the maindeck is huge.

Doomwake Giant - This guy is a powerhouse, and Living Wish gives you access to 5x copies without having to destroy your curve too much. He wrecks Death and Taxes, Delver decks, True-Name Nemesis, Elves, Infect and so much more, and even against control decks he clears away Strixes, and can't be Fatal Pushed, and against Miracles he can clear away a bunch of monks and require them to dig for that StP they shuffled away with Brainstorm.

Sterling Grove - I don't often run this, but I mention it because it is, of course, a great card for Enchantress lists. This list is trying to run as few off-green cards as possible though, and with Living Wish on top of other Enchantresses, it feels unnecessary to use Grove. If you do run it, the shroud for your Doomwakes isn't bad though. If you're on 4c with Invocation, 1 copy is all you need, as you can always copy it to get the "total shroud" effect. Note that Invocation doesn't target.

Replenish - I sometimes run this as a 1x, and some people may not like it much, but having it in your toolkit can just randomly win games. It usually sucks in your opening hand or even before turn 4, but the trade-off is worth it in my book, especially with Doomwake and Eidolon of Blossoms.

Mirri's Guile and Sylvan Library - I'm not a fan of running more than 1-2 of either of these, but between them I prefer Guile unless you're running WordsofWhatever. It comes down turn 1 so you can right off the bat make sure you smooth out your land drops. It operates under Solitary Confinement, and more importantly, under Leovold.

Sigil of the Empty Throne - This card directly competes with Doomwake Giant on the mana curve. Personally I vastly prefer Doomwake, although Sigil is probably better versus control decks.

Helm of Obedience and Rest in Peace - I don't much like this combo since Helm is always useless and expensive and Rest in Peace is only situationally relevant on its own, and prevents you from running Replenish. In any case, due to Living Wish, we don't need more win cons.

Emrakul, the Aeons Torn - Living Wish allows you to access the powerful auto-win without having to have it weigh down your early hands.

D-FENCE:

These cards are what actually keep you alive, since most of your enchantments can't block.

Solitary Confinement - As mentioned above, this card was central to the Solitaire version of the deck, and the card that I think made the deck viable back in the day. That said, it's quite bad against control decks, so I don't generally recommend more than 1 or 2 in the main. Estrid's Invocation makes it easier to support an early Confinement, so if you're doing the blue splash, it's arguable that you can run more Confinements as well.

Elephant Grass - In my opinion, the single most important defensive card you have. For a measly one mana, it buys you another turn against almost any deck before turn 5. This is important when you've set up your draw engine, but you don't yet have tons of mana and need to dig for an answer. Sometimes by the time you've dug and dug, you won't have 3 mana for Confinement left. Grass is much easier to cast. The cumulative upkeep can be a pain, but rarely is it not worth it to get at least two turns out of it. Also remember to give your opponents a chance to Rishadan Port you before you pay it, just to make the upkeep free. I wouldn't personally run less than 3x, and I think 4x is usually the correct call.

Oblivion Ring and its many cousins - I didn't use to be a huge fan of these cards, and tbh if it weren't for the prevalence of Leovold and planeswalkers I'd still say they're not worth it. But those cards are pretty common and I think you have to have an answer. Against decks like Delver, they're not as strong since they don't cooperate well with Elephant Grass's bottle-necking effect. The different varieties each have their own virtues; Oblivion Ring itself lets you target your own permanents, in case you want to hide an Elephant Grass against a game-blowing All is Dust or hide an Enchantress against Pernicious Deed. Ixalan's Binding can net you virtual card advantage, and can't be Abrupt Decayed. Quarantine Field can actually net you card advantage, but is weaker to Flickerwisp. Currently I'm running Banishing Light, which like O Ring is on the "cheaper" end of the scale, and can be cast into an empty field if you just need to draw a card, and Cast Out, which like Binding can't be hit by Decay, and can cycle, and can also be cast when the opponent has their defenses down due to its flash. This last also makes it much better against Dark Depths. Edit for the War of the Spark meta: I think it's now obligatory to run 4x O Rings to deal with Narset. Personally I'm on 2x O Ring 2x Cast Out.

Sphere of Safety - Living Wish and Doomwake, and sometimes Replenish, already drive your curve up too much to get away with this card in my opinion. Could be good in other versions though.

Moat - This card doesn't stop so many of the things you would want it to, and it's both expensive and double-white. Probably good against Eldrazi Stompy and 8-Moon, but I don't think it's good right now.


Other Stuff:

Supplemental mana acceleration and cantripping, mostly.

Exploration - I started out running this card, but switched to Gaea's Touch instead. Exploration isn't bad; it can accelerate you on turn 2, if you have 3 lands but no Growth, and when you're going off it's very useful to draw. Downside: it does nothing on its own or if you don't have that extra land.

Gaea's Touch - Gaea's Touch operates similarly to Exploration in a deck running this many basic forests, as long as you remember to play into it (ie, use your fetches up front and save a forest in hand). The disadvantage is that against combo it's worse, as Exploration can put you into situations you might need against faster combo decks, like 4 lands and turn 2 Wish into Teeg. The upshot is that against everything else I think it's better. Most blue disruption in the format is mana based like [cards][Spell Pierce/cards] and Flusterstorm. Even Miracles wants you to roll your threats out one turn at a time to optimize Snapcaster. By banking mana for next turn you allow yourself to safely play multiple threats and be able to effectively counter their Dazes and Pierces. If you're out of land drops, it cycles for free with an enchantress, which Exploration doesn't. It gives you more variance in your curve, to avoid getting blown out by Chalice of the Void or Sanctum Prelate. And lastly, it works really well with Replenish. I ran this card in the DRS meta game, but without Delver dominating, I think you'd rather have business spells in these slots.

Abundant Growth - A beautiful card, really. An alternate turn 1 play that lets you start digging for lands/threats if you have to, but its real beauty shines when you have to fight through disruption and you're able to land that first enchantress, immediately drawing 2 cards for one mana. It also allows you to run 3 or 4 colors with so few non-basic lands, and makes Blood Moon a non-issue.

Ground Seal - Obviously this card lost some of its luster when they banned Deathrite Shaman. I still run 1-3, to shut off Life from the Loam, Surgical Extraction and Snapcaster Mage. It also randomly stops some fringe cards and weird decks that need Dread Return. Kind of slow against Reanimator, and doesn't stop Exhume.Also important if you're running Estrid's Invocation, to have extra worthwhile copy targets. Update for the War of the Spark/Modern Horizons meta: this card is really strong again. Dreadhorde Arcanist and Wrenn and Six have boosted the strength of the card, and the meta seems to be shifting to favor Grixis Control over Miracles as the control deck of choice, which runs K Command in addition to Snappy. Finally, Miracles lists seem to have abandoned Mission Briefing and are back on Snapcaster.

Seal of Primordium - I didn't maindeck this in the DRS meta, because it was dead against them and not amazing against most UBx control decks. Decks it is good against include Miracles, Dragon Stompy, Stoneblade, and Death and Taxes. It's nice to fit somewhere in your 75, but it's very much a meta-call whether it's MD material.

Manabase:

Forest - You run a lot of these. It makes you dodge a lot of the meta-decks running Back to Basics and Blood Moon, and it makes it rare that Wasteland or Stifle can hurt you much.

Serra's Sanctum - It's probably wrong not to play a couple of these, even though they're not usually good in your opening hand. But past turn 2 they can start generating crazy mana. Many people running other Enchantress lists run 3-4, but I find that too many adversely affects your mulligan rate and early game.

Windswept Heath and other green-fetches - How many colors you run and whether you run Mirir's Guile/Sylvan Library affects how many of these you should run. With 4 colors and one copy of Mirri's Guile I'm on 5-6. With only three colors you can cut at least one.

Plains - Many versions run one, but for us it would be a detriment, taking away from your mulligan rate, and without enough white cards to justify it.

Bayou, Tropical Island and Savannah - One copy of each. Any more is a liability to your critical turn Wild Growth play.

Karakas - It's a non-basic, which is bad, and even worse, it produces white instead of green. But it's an uncounterable answer to your biggest nemesis: Leovold, Emissary of Trest. It also gives you additional game against Sneak and Show and Turbo Depths - and it can bounce Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, and Kambal, Consul of Allocation. Neat tech: also gives you infinite turns with Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, if you should need it. Update: In the DRS meta this was an auto-include in the MD, but since the ban it's much weaker and I don't recommend it MD.

Dryad Arbor - It may seem like an easy decision to run one of these. It lets GSZ become mana acceleration, and it can make a fetch-land a counter to their Diabolic Edict. However, it is TRASH in your opening hand. The deck cannot afford to waste a land-drop without casting something, even if you fetch it up.

Hall of Heliod's Generosity -As of mid-June 2019 I've been testing it for a couple weeks and it's helped me a lot and only once have I just wished it was a forest. Against Grixis Control it's nearly an autowin, as they just can't deal with recurring enchantments. If you have Cast Out or Oblivion Ring in the yard it provides inevitability in answering Narset. And against a deck like Dredge, it gives you ways to recur the Elephant Grass they took with Therapy. Currently I'm running the obvious nonbo of Ground Seal plus Heliod's Hall - the meta-game makes Ground Seal very well positioned, with a majority of decks running Snapcaster Mage, Dreadhorde Arcanist, Life from the Loam or Wrenn and Six. I've run into the problem a couple times, but each side of the nonbo has also been more than carrying its weight, so for now I'm content to run both.

III. Sideboard and Wishboard

First, before talking about specific card-choices, we have to talk about how far down the rabbit-hole of Living Wish we go. It's very tempting to just keep adding good Wish targets to the board, because it lets you run 4x copies of whatever hoser you want. But at the end of the day, if you use your entire board for those four maindeck cards, you're losing the ability to maximize the deck in games 2 and 3. So you have to strike some kind of balance. Luckily, green creatures give you a way to do both: you can bring them in as GSZ targets, and still leave other Wish targets in the board.

First, let's talk about the main Wish targets:

Argothian Enchantress - Four mana for her is a lot, but if you need to, she's here, and you still can have anywhere from 10-12 maindeck enchantress effects.

Doomwake Giant - Your bread and butter mid-game target, he draws cards off of enchantresses and replaces their board with a pile of bodies. He also punches in the face for four, and is quite hard to kill.

Karakas - Running this allows you to have +4 outs to Leovold, and a solid plan of attack versus Dark Depths and SnS. It also can just be a mana source if you really need it.

Emrakul, the Aeons Torn - I've actually tested without her, it's quite possible. However, since time is always a factor, she is the simplest and most reliable win condition.

Reclamation Sage - The most efficient and reliable answer to most non-creature problem permanents, like Chalice of the Void, Counterbalance, or Ethersworn Canonist. Green, so can be brought in for GSZ.

Knight of Autumn - The downside of one white mana is not insignificant, especially when you're trying to kill a Chalice. However, her life gain is huge, against Burn, UR Delver, even Grixis Delver sometimes, and also against Dark Depths decks. Unless your meta is just full of Dragon Stompy, I recommend her over Rec Sage.

Gaddock Teeg - This guy is your main plan versus ANT and other Storm Combo decks, and he's not bad against a variety of other decks like Miracles, Aluren, RIP-Helm, and Elves. Also GSZ-able.

Secondary Wish Targets:

Those are in my opinion the most essential targets. Moving on to some more optional but powerful creatures/lands:

Wickerbough Elder - I was running Qasali Pridemage in this slot but it felt too redundant with Rec Sage, and the white was sometimes a problem. Wickerbough gives you an answer when you also have some extra mana and need a body on the field, and at 4/4 he's actually a significant presence. I tend to bring him in over Rec Sage as a GSZ target in match-ups where the body is helpful.

Phyrexian Revoker - Fragile, but capable of just stopping a lot of plans you otherwise couldn't. Don't Wish for him if they're playing UBx control and you see any red sources, as he can turn Kolaghan's Command from a pretty bad card into a blowout.

Aegis of the Gods - This card replaced Leafcrown. It serves the same primary function, although it's a little weaker and is off-color. But it has the bonus of helping the Storm and Burn match-ups. Also can't be Edicted, so that's neat.

Courser of Kruphix - I started running this card over Aegis. It's a better Wish target versus Miracles, since it's a form of sort-of-card-advantage, and it's a good blocker versus aggressive decks. Also a good card to bring in against decks like Steel Stompy and Death and Taxes post board, since they're attacking your mana and she helps you make land drops. The life gain can matter against Burn, but also at times versus Dark Depths combo decks; if you can get to 21, it's like a Time Walk.

Spore Frog - This card may seem underwhelming, but it can just buy you the time you need like no other card (eh, maybe Tabernacle would do the same thing but I ain't ever gonna buy one). Being able to reach the mid-game can mean the difference against decks like Elves or Infect. GSZ-able.

Peacekeeper - This is actually the single best Wish target versus Sneak and Show, since if they Show and Tell, they can't attack past her, and if you get another turn she can also shut off Sneak Attack. She's also quite good versus Elves and Infect, and can be good post-board versus Eldrazi Stompy, after most of their removal is gone. Of course, she sucks against Dragon Stompy with their dozen ways of board-wiping.

Serra's Sanctum - My original plan for the deck definitely involved having one as a Wish target, but I've since gone away from that. I'm not sure when you'd really want to do that. Against disruption, it's unlikely you can afford to waste one of your four Wishes just getting mana. And against decks you need to race, Gaddock Teeg or Spore Frog are probably better Wish targets. Not sure if it's worth it, but I don't personally run it.

Bojuka Bog - A utility land that lets you get black mana. Probably a meta-choice, the ability is very often relevant, even if it's only removing Snapcaster fodder, and some games it can just blow out.


Hall of Heliod's Generosity - a bomb against Miracles or Grixis Control if you don't have a Ground Seal in play, and situationally powerful versus any kind of midrange deck or sometimes decks that can't beat Grass/Confinement lock.

Plague Engineer - People don't yet fully understand how much value this guy produces. He is almost always a 2 for 1 at the minimum. He kills something, then he trades with either a removal spell, or an Angler/Knight/Goyf.

Collector Ouphe - Really situationally powerful against a few decks. Shuts off LED and Petals versus Storm, pre-empts Karn + Lattice lock, shuts off Vials and equipment versus DnT and can make Steel Stompy's position rather awkward, while also being unkillable via Walking Ballista. A bonus of course is that you can Zenith for him.

More debatable Wish targets:

Hex Paraside - The best solution so far for Narset, it's rather narrow and laughably bad at killing Chalices. It CAN kill multiple PWers though, and can't be hit by removal before it can finish off a Narset at 1. It can also situationally stop a Blast Zone, if they haven't left it mana to blow.

Dryad Militant - A turn 2 Wish-play against Storm, probably only relevant if that's a major meta-concern for you. Limited application against other decks, DOES give you some game against All-Spells. Not as great against TES, which is less reliant on Past in Flames. GSZ-able. If the Echo the Eons deck takes off, Militant would be pretty strong.

Heliod, God of the Sun - A strong Wish target against control decks, it can't be Disenchanted or Abrupt Decayed - if it resolves, only a Council's Judgement is likely to kill it, since it will almost never have Devotion. The tokens it makes are enchantments, so they trigger Eidolon and Doomwake. Also, it's a good Wish target when the opponent has a Humility out.

Kamahl, Fist of Krosa - A late-game Wish target if you're in grind-mode and don't have the mana for Emrakul. Primarily, I use him as a post-board GSZ target against grindy decks. He's hard to Edict (make one of your lands a dude), and even harder to board wipe (turn their lands into dudes). Of course, he can usually be bolted if you don't get to untap with him. Bonus: he gets around Ensnaring Bridge so you don't have to waste a removal spell on them.

Faerie Macabre - This card seems like it should be better against Reanimator than it was in my testing. If they know you have it, it loses some potency, for one. Also it doesn't hit turn 1 or get around Chancellor of the Annex

Leovold, Emissary of Trest - I tested him briefly. He's useful backup hate versus combo, since he stops them digging into bounce. But he's not as good as you'd hope against control decks, they tend to have an answer by the time he comes online. Might be worth revisiting now that DRS is banned, makes the Leovold-off more fair maybe.

The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale - Haven't tested it, and obviously one hell of an expenditure in paper. While there are games it might win you, a lot of those same decks run Wasteland.

Maze of Ith -Synergizes well with Elephant Grass, but again, a lot of the decks you want it against will have Wasteland and will often have few other targets.

Non-Wish Sideboard

Choke - This is a must-have. I always run 2. It can be back-breaking against 60% of the decks in legacy, and it works really, really well with Elephant Grass. Some people run City of Solitude, but I personally find it very weak. Choke is where it's at.

Solitary Confinement - If you're only running one main, at least one should be in the board. There are decks that just can't deal with it.

Seal of Primordium - Versatile and cheap, useful for many match-ups, dead in others.

Cast Out - Or other Oblivion Ring effect. Good against Eldrazi Stompy, UBx control decks, and Sneak and Show. Cast Out specifically is also good against Dark Depths; Ixalan's Binding is better against control, and Banishing Light is better against xStompy and Reanimator.

Karmic Justice - Worth thinking about now that Blast Zone is so popular.

City of Solitude - I just think Choke is so much better. Choke actively shuts off their entire game, City is an answer to an answer to a threat you may or may not have.

Carpet of Flowers - this card is actually really good, especially versus Delver decks, but there's not really any space for it.

Engineered Plague - this will be the first in a list of cards I primarily consider as viable if you're playing Estrid's Invocation, and probably not if you aren't. E Plague is obviously sick against Elves, Goblins, and Merfolk and pretty good against Infect, Death and Taxes, and 8-Moon. It's also better than Grass against Miracles, generally, due to no upkeep (name Monk). With Invocation, it's not bad versus Eldrazi Stompy - the first only kills Mimics, but the first copy also kills Reshapers and makes their Smashers 3/3 and their TKS 2/2.

Trial of Ambition - Really good versus Eldrazi, Death Shadow, and most non-combo decks not running Strix or Snapcaster or Goblins. Obviously much better with Invocation.

Back to Basics - blue gives us access to this bad boy, which can blow out Eldrazi decks as well as Lands and 4c Loam variants.

In the Eye of Chaos - NEVER COPY THIS WITH INVOCATION. Look up "World Enchantment" for reasons. Good against Grixis Control, Infect, Burn, and Storm combo. Probably okay versus red delver decks.


IV. Decklists

Second Place Belgian Legacy Cup Trial List by Spatula, November 2017: https://mtgtop8.com/event?e=17966&d=311464&f=LE
5-0 MTGO Competitive League List by SynapseTwitch, March 2018 https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/982330#online
5-0 MTGO Competitive League List by Spatula from June, 2018 https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetyp...g-52897#online
First Place Belgian Legacy Cup Trial by Spatula, June, 2017: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...=1#post1050118
5-0 MTGO Competitive League List by Spatula from July, 2018: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetyp...s-53847#online
5-0 MTGO Competitive League List by Spatula from July, 2018: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1240221#online
5-0 MTGO Competitive League List by Exodisma, from August, 2018 https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1265592#online
5-0 MTGO Competitive League List by Spatula from August, 2018 https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetyp...ss-53847#paper
5-0 MTGO Competitive League List by rameison from September, 2018 https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1302822#online
5-0 MTGO Competitive League List by McRowanE from September, 2018 https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1328732#online
Top 8 Swiss Magic Masters by Lorenzo Marinuzzi from September, 2018 http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=20014&d=329827&f=LE
5-0 MTGO Competitive League List by Spatula from November, 2018 https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1442665#online
Top 4 Belgian Legacy Cup Trial by Spatula from November, 2018 https://mtgtop8.com/event?e=20540&d=335067&f=LE
5-0 MTGO Competitive League List by Spatula from December, 2018 https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1545287#online
5-2 MTGO Legacy Challenge List by Spatula from December, 2018 https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1548363#online
5-0 MTGO Competitive League List by Spatula from January, 2019 https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1571968#online
5-0 MTGO Competitive League List by carlos_danger from January, 2019 https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1611978#online
5-2 MTGO Legacy Challenge List by Spatula from January, 2019 (Invocation) https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1615070#online
Top 8 MTGO Legacy Challenge List by Spatula (Invocation) https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=21149&d=340992&f=LE
5-0 MTGO Competitive League List by carlos_danger from March, 2019(Abzan, Leyline SB) https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1739429#online
First Place MTGO Legacy Challenge List by Spatula from March, 2019 (Invocation) https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1769884#online
Top 4 Wurzburg, Germany List by Friedrich Schutze from March, 2019 (Invocation) https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=21493&d=344039&f=LE
Top 8 Sao Paulo, Brazil List by Donato Conde from May, 2019 (Invocation) https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=22056&d=349043&f=LE
5-0 MTGO Competitive League List by Spatula from June, 2019 (Invocation) https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1992543#paper


Andrea Mengucci took a list for a spin on Channel Fireball, July 2018: https://www.channelfireball.com/vide...nnel-mengucci/
and again in February, 2019, this time with Invocation https://www.channelfireball.com/vide...el-mengucci-2/

Anti-Narset List: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1948896#online
General Meta: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1471862#online


V. Playstyle

First, briefly: the first two turns are ideally the same as in most Enchantress builds: a first turn Utopia Sprawl/Wild Growth/sometimes Exploration, followed by a turn 2 Enchantress effect. From there, the deck’s low mana curve and cantrip-enchantments allow the deck to ramp and start exploiting all its big cards.

Years ago when enchantress players tried to fit Living Wish in the deck, there were two main obstacles that made it an ineffective addition: cost and type. I believe that recent cards have helped with both problems.

First, the cost issue. If you consider Living Wish as an Enchantress, it costs 4 mana. The issue here is that your standard game plan requires a second turn Enchantress effect, and while some hands involving Exploration and 4 lands or Exploration, 3 lands and a Wild Growth might get you there, it’s unlikely and besides, the latter takes up a lot of your enchantments that you’d rather be cycling under an Enchantress effect. Compare this to Green Sun’s Zenith, which curves just fine under our usual plan, costing 3 mana to plop an Argothian into play. So Living Wish is never going to be your first Enchantress if you can help it. It is, however, much more reasonable to use Living Wish as a backup Enchantress after your first one gets countered or destroyed. The fact that we can now play Argothian PLUS Presence PLUS Green Sun PLUS Living Wish gives us far more redundancy than Enchantress has ever had.

Secondly, the type issue. When you’re going off, you’re often under lethal pressure from the opponent, and the engine stalling can get you killed. While you could theoretically spend crazy money on silver bullets like The Tabernacle At Pendrell Vale or Maze of Ith and hope they don’t have Wasteland, it would often be more useful to simply keep comboing. My board has a variety of Wish targets that are also enchantments, to keep drawing cards.

The explanation out of the way, I’d like to delve a little deeper into the strategy, although it’s not too complicated.

Turn 1: Wild Growth/Utopia Sprawl are the best T1 plays, which is why we run so many basic forests to put them on. Mirri's Guile is also a good T1 play. Often, you'll just play an Abundant Growth, which isn't amazing, but it can set you up by color fixing and pave the way for a big T3/4 via Serra's Sanctum.

Turn 2: First threat. Usually this means Argothian/Presence/GSZ. Invocation is acceptable here; it won't immediately start drawing cards, but it can give you 5 mana to start doing big things next turn, and by having it in play, your Abundant Growths/Ground Seals in the future become real threats.

Turn 3: Sometimes you’ll be able to get a Doomwake going by this point. Other times you’ll have to deal with something via Living Wish. You should draw 3-4 cards this turn, and establish some board presence via O Ring or Grass at the least.

Turn 4-5: This is where you really start snowballing into a big board. You probably won't be able to hardcast Emrakul until turn 5/6 even without disruption so make sure you're using your Wishes to close out the opponent's paths of escape.

Against disruption: against black-based disruption, you always run out your enchantresses and other threats, maximizing your ability to play around their disruption. If you can play around Daze, do it, but don't let them just Hymn you into oblivion. If they tap out on their turn, or only leave one mana open, go for it. Against most disruption decks, you're the aggressor. A resolved Enchantress will usually end in a win. If you anticipate a Narset, prioritize drawing cards NOW rather than setting up a second Enchantress. Dig for your answers while you can.

Against combo, you need to switch into the control role ASAP. Living Wish gives you a better game here than other Enchantress builds. If you can turn 2 Wish into turn 3 Gaddock Teeg that's it for most Storm decks game 1. Against other combo decks, like Food Chain, Phyrexian Revoker is your priority. Either way, you need to prioritize hate over your own engine.

Against combo decks like Dark Depths or Dredge that fold naturally to our game plan (Grass), prioritize setting up the engine and you'll just win most games by having more answers than them.

It's important to get the most use out of your Living Wishes, using them to supplement the weaknesses of your current hand. If their disruption is wearing away your enchantresses, that means getting a threat - whether that's Argothian, or Doomwake Giant, or something else entirely. If they're grinding you down, Spore Frog or Peacekeeper or Shriekmaw might buy you the time you need. If they're running a deck you couldn't normally interact with, Gaddock Teeg and Phyrexian Revoker give you new lines of attack. All of this actually means that the deck performs better in small to mid-sized real life tournaments where you either know people, or can scout. Online, you need to pay close attention to what they're doing and try to figure out what you're up against before you can be sure you're Wishing for the right thing.

Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC16...C71LT8n5_jSVEw
https://www.twitch.tv/spatulaoftheages84

VI. Matchups (percentages given are OUR win percentage)

8-Moon/Dragon Stompy - 50-55%. This matchup got harder when most lists dropped MD Ensnaring Bridge for extra Trinisphere, added Lotus Petal, and got 4 more Rabblemasters in the form of Legion War Boss. An Abzan list is probably going to do slightly better versus them as they are less hurt by both Chalice at 1 and Blood Moon. Mulligan decisions are also tough, as sometimes your hand is set against one of their plans but weak to another. Seal of Primordium is worth a lot here, as is artifact destruction in general. Their most powerful weapon is Chalice - without Chalice, Blood Moon does very little, and Trinisphere doesn't stop you from developing your board unless they got it in on turn 1 on the play.

SBing. Bad against them: Mirri's Guile is an easy cut, as it's slow and increases vulnerability to Chalice at 1. Against 4x Trini and Scab-Clan Mauler, I'd take out Living Wish altogether. [i]Good against them[/]: Doomwake is surprisingly powerful if you can access black mana. Anti-artifact cards of any stripe are powerful. Gaddock Teeg is solid against them, shutting down their planeswalkers, CotVs, and Fiery Confluences. It WILL eventually eat a Kozilek's Return, so don't overextend into the board. Also leave him back to block against incoming Scab-Clan Berserkers, unless they're really low off of tombs. Potential Wish Hoser: Burrenton Forge-Tender.

ANT – 25-30%. Game 1 it can be hard to even tell what you're up against. Duress is usually the biggest give-away. If you can tell, you Living Wish/GSZ for a Gaddock Teeg as fast as you can, or you can go for an aggressive Confinement. This matchup got worse for us when they banned Probe, since most of them added more powerful cantrips in its place, and Ad Nauseum whiffs less without the random life loss.

SBing Bad against them: Elephant Grass isn't great, but keep a couple just so they can't go Empty the Warrens. Doomwake Giant is dead weight, as it spot removal like Cast Out. Ground Seal does nothing. Good against them: Gaddock Teeg, first and foremost. Choke. Extra Confinements. You want 1-2 wish targets left, but bring anything else that's possibly relevant in. This includes even Seal of Primordium - which can matter if they're using multiple LEDs. Aegis of the Gods, Phyrexian Revoker (LED), Dryad Militant, and Eidolon of Rhetoric are all potential friends here. If you're on the blue splash, In the Eye of Chaos is fantastic. Potential Wish Hoser: Dryad Militant

Big Eldrazi - 40-45%. Significantly harder than it's more aggro brother due to the inevitability of things like Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger. Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and All is Dust are also beatings. So you have to race them, and prioritize disrupting their artifact mana whenever possible. Wishing for Gaddock Teeg or Phyrexian Revoker(Ugin or artifact mana) can buy some time.

SBing Bad against them: Elephant Grass is dead here unless you're also running Painter's Servant. Ground Seal does nothing. Leave in Replenish in case of a slow hand but one that has an early Chalice. Good against them: anything that kills their artifacts, that's your best shot unless you're running a dedicated hate slot to them. Gaddock should come in as a GSZ target, but he's not a cure-all here. Potential Wish Hosers: Painter's Servant shuts down a lot of their mana and their ability to tutor with Eye of Ugin. It also stops them from attacking if you have Grass out, and makes Ugin and All is Dust less one-sided. Remember that they will kill all your lands though so remember to keep a land or two in hand to rebuild. Magus of the Moon is a more-straight forward answer, but is harder to cast.

Burn - 50%. Although Grass can buy you time, it's a race to get Solitary Confinement up. Once you do the game is over. Not a complicated match-up.

SBing. Bad against them: Living Wish. Under an Eidolon of the Great Revel or Pyrostatic Pillar, you're taking 4 damage off of a Wish. Get them out. Good against them: You need to bring in extra Confinements, obviously, along with Aegis of the Gods if you have it and Seal of Primordium+Reclamation Sage. Their biggest threat to you is Eidolon and Pillar, and you may also need to kill Sulfuric Vortex. Potential Wish Hoser Burrenton Forge-tender

Canadian Threshold 65-70%. Stifle is generally really bad against us, their answers, except for FoW, are situational, and they run more creatures than Grixis did, which means more guys that can't afford to attack through a Grass. The main thing they have going for them is Tarmogoyf - paying 2 mana for 4-6 damage isn't a terrible trade-off, so if you die it will usually be to that card with some well placed Dazes and FoW backup.

SBing Bad against them - On the draw, take out your Living Wishes to minimize their disruption package. On the play, take out 2. Ground Seal is dead here. Seal of Primordium is often dead, but some builds have Winter Orb in their SB, and that card NEEDS to be dealt with. Good against them - Doomwake Giant. Rec Sage if they have Winter Orb. Choke, obviously. Potential Wish Hoser: not really applicable. Maybe Wall of Roots?

Death and Taxes – 60-65%. Game 1 is dicey. If you miss more than two land drops before turn 5 you’re in trouble, and if they’re on the play and get T1 Vial T2 Port, that’s hard to get out of. Their best cards against you are Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Rishadan Port, and Flickerwisp. Sometimes they still MD Spirit of the Labyrinth but it's getting rarer. If they have a Mom out you can’t spot removal her that’ll be rough. The best news for you is that Doomwake Giant is a fuqing beating against them, and isn’t affected by Thalia. Wish Targets - Doomwake, Reclamation Sage, Revoker, Wickerbough. Don't over enchant one land, even a basic, or Port will destroy you. Don't put yourself in a situation where a Council's Judgement will destroy you, if you can help it.

SBing Bad against them: Living Wish. Take them out completely. They have too much mana disruption, and besides, they probably boarded out their StPs, so the guys you bring in will be relatively safe. Ground Seal sucks here. I usually take out one Wild Growth, and one Enchantress's Presence. Good against them: In this match-up, I just go Bad Maverick. Phyrexian Revoker(usually Vial, sometimes equipment), Rec Sage, Wickerbough, Doomwake, Argothian, Seal of Primordium, Karakas (the extra land, and good against Thalia). Potential Wish Hoser: Doomwake Giant is already really good, but maybe Night Incarnate or Minister of Pain.

Elves - 35-40%. This was only slightly unfavorable before they printed Archon of Valor's Reach, now it's pretty rough. Racing them to Doomwake is still your best bet but it can be hard to pull off. Tabernacle, Peacekeeper, and possibly Minister of Pain are all good Wish targets. Having an answer to Archon, like Ravenous Chupacabra, Shriekmaw, or Angel of Sanction, is another option, but they could still randomly Behemoth you so I'd try to focus on an answer to multiple angles. Update for MH: Plague Engineer is obviously really good here. I think it probably only shifts the matchup a few percentage points, but it's very strong.

SBing Bad against them: Ground Seal. Confinement is bad unless you're on Grove. You can take out at least one Enchantress here. Good against them: Gaddock Teeg. Getting him online shuts off their Natural Orders, and their ability to tutor up their singleton Rec Sage via GSZ. Be careful though, they probably brought in Abrupt Decay. If you have Peacekeeper and Spore Frog, bring in the Frog. The key is still just to stall the game until you get Doomwake active. Potential Wish Hoser: Peacekeeper, Plague Engineer.

Eldrazi Stompy - 50-55%. Like Dragon Stompy, this can come down to the roll of the die, particularly with Chalice. Thought-knot Seer is really annoying though, and Reality Smasher is a stupidly fast clock, and Elephant Grass is only good against hands that are relying on Eye of Ugin and Eldrazi Temple. You also can't be sure Confinement will win automatically, as many now MD All Is Dust.

SBing Bad against them: Ground Seal. Gaea's Touch isn't great here, they don't have much actual taxing. Good against them - Seal of Primordium, Solitary Confinement, Wickerbough Elder. You need Teeg to shut off All is Dust, buuut I'm not sure whether it's right to bring it in or not as otherwise it's pretty dead? But that card wrecks us hard. Potential Wish Hoser: Magus of the Moon or Painter's Servant.

Food Chain - 45-50%. Bad news: they have a faster combo than us and Leovold. Good news: we have lots of ways of disrupting them, particularly post-board. It's important in the first few turns to kill creatures when you get the chance - if they play Food Chain, they need to either have a creature on the board, or else pass and give us the chance to kill it. It can also be a challenge to identify the deck, because game 1 it might look like Sultai-Leovold. Honestly the only really give-away is if they Manipulate Fate. Wish targets are obv Rec Sage, Wickerbough, Revoker (Food Chain).

SBing Bad against them: Elephant Grass really does nothing here. Ground Seal is also no longer relevant due to DRS ban. Good against them: Wickerbough Elder comes in, as does Seal of Primordium. Extra Confinement if you have it. Potential Wish Hoser: Essence Warden would make them require two Ballistas in hand. Phyrexian Revoker does the same thing though.

Goblins - 60-65%. Elephant Grass has always been the key card against any version of this deck. The ones running Goblin Gardner and Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker are actually harder than the others, because land destruction is really good against us. But Doomwake is also really good against them, and if you can kill their Vials, they often can't do much. Don't overload enchantments on one land, as even if they don't play Gardener, they have Port.

SBing Bad against them: Ground Seal. You can afford to drop one Presence, it's not like they have active disruption. Maybe one or two Living Wishes if you're on the draw. Good against them: Artifact destruction. Not just for Vial - post-board they're almost certainly bringing in Thorn of Amethyst. If you have two Seals, two O Rings, GSZ for Rec Sage, and Wish for Elder, you're pretty covered. Potential Wish Hoser: Magus of the Tabernacle probably. Tabernacle itself also, but that dies to Wasteland.

Grixis Control - 70-75%. Writing this in October of 2018, where Grixis Control is the top dog in the format. Great matchup. They can't deal with a resolved enchantment and have no clock. You can lose to hands with a lot of Hymns but even then you can sometimes just topdeck out of it. Ground Seal is also amazing here, and Grass stops what little pressure they have. They just run tons of cards we care very little to not at all about; Kolaghan's Command, Fatal Push, Baleful Strix, Lightning Bolt as removal, Liliana the Last Hope. Update for War/MH: Narset gives them a big boost but they're not as good at protecting her as Miracles is and still can't apply much pressure.

SBing Bad against them: not much, but you don't need too many copies of Grass/Confinement. Keep in probably 2 Grass, maybe one Confinement just because it also stops Hymns and Edicts. If you're MDing Seal of Primordium, it doesn't do much here. Good against them: Choke is huge obviously, and Heliod or some other fatty can come in, since Doomwake is actually a very solid Wish target, killing everything they have except Angler and only dying to Edict effects, which they also need to deal with Argothians.

Loam Control: 55-60%. Their biggest threat is Knight of the Reliquary. If they get one early, they can beat for absurd damage, which Grass does very little against, and they can also disrupt your mana when they need to. Other than those early Knights, it's not too hard. Chalice plays the same as every other match-up, but they don't play it first turn very often so you can generally get your initial Wild Growth to land. And once your enchantress is out, you can keep cycling them and set up for when you draw your Replenish. Doomwake kills most of their board that isn't a Knight. And if you draw Ground Seal or have Bojuka Bog as a Wish target, it shuts off the best part of their engine. All that said, Liliana of the Veil can be rough, especially if you had to mulligan.

SBing Bad against them: You can go down to 2 Grasses here, they're often not amazing. If you have more to bring in, the Gaea's Touches also aren't particularly good in this match-up. Good against them: a GSZ artifact destruction target, to hit Chalice or Mox. If you have extra O. Ring effects, they're good. Potential Wish Hosers: Bojuka Bog is pretty good here, so is Runic Armasaur.

Maverick - 75-80%. Pretty hard to lose tbh, requires both Thalia and an aggressive start with Knights. But their gameplan has few outs against ours, mainly just them GSZing into Pridemage. But Pridemage ain't gonna bring back all his friends after a visit from Doomwake.

SBing Bad against them: Nothing really. Good against them:Maybe on the draw you bring in another Confinement, since they might have a fast hand.

Miracles - 55-60%. This matchup took a huge hit, down from 65-70%, with the printing of Narset. It's important to not play around Pierces or anything, just run out your Enchantresses hard and try to draw as many cards as possible before Narset comes online, because you need to be able to have answers to her, hopefully multiple. Cast Out is very good here because if you cast it on their turn you still get to draw a card.

SBing Bad against them: Confinement, Grasses (leave two though, in case of random fast Mentor hands), Gaea's Touch. Good against them - Choke, Seal of Primordium. Extra threats, whether it's Wickerbough Elder, Kamahl, or Sigarda. Kamahl is particularly good. These days I bring in Qasali Pridemage against them; in addition to being an answer to Counterbalance (which many of them are going away from as of mid June 2019), the Exalted can allow you to snipe an unprotected Narset with an Argothian.

Reanimator – 20-25%. Game 1 you have Ground Seal, but it’s slow compared to how fast they can go off and doesn’t stop Exhume. You can play Faerie Macabre or Bojuka Bog, but even so it’s unreliable. If this was a match-up I was concerned about seeing a lot, I’d go ahead and bring in some Tormod’s Crypt or Swords to Plowshares. Wish Targets: Karakas, Karakas, Karakas. After that, Phyrexian Revoker (Grislebrand), Reclamation Sage if they're relying on Animate Dead.

SBing Bad against them - The deck? Honestly everything that isn't removal or acceleration is a potential cut. Solitary Confinement in particular does nothing here, they'll simply bounce it. Grasses stay because sometimes they need to hit with an early Griselbrand. Good against them - Bring in Seal of Primordium, Rec Sage, Phyrexian Revoker(Griselbrand). You need to catch them with a weak hand to have a hope - if they're relying on Animate Dead, you can destroy it. If you can get a turn 2 Revoker naming Griselbrand, do it, but it's too slow as a Wish target. Potential Wish Hoser: Honestly everything is too slow. Faerie Macabre might let you beat their slow hands.

Stoneblade(UW) - 65-70%. This, like Miracles, used to be about 10% higher before Narset came along. Still very favorable, as their threats are all bad against us, and they run fewer answer compared to Miracles. In addition, Grass is actually okay against them because their clock depends heavily on Batterskull (the germ token is black). Post board we also have Choke and the ability to turn GSZ into a Pridemage. Doomwake is also really good vs them, killing Snappys and TNNs. Most games will come down to how fast they get Narset and how well they can protect her.

SBing Bad against them - Confinement and a Grass or two can go. You want Chokes and Pridemage, to provide Exalted (to try to kill Narset) and to kill equipment or more importantly, Ethersworn Canonist. Post board you can expect to see Disenchant, Canonist, and possibly Containment Priest.

Sultai Control - 50-55%. Slightly favorable, probably a little stronger now that DRS is dead. During the DRS period this was the hardest of the UBx Control match-ups, because your main answer to Leovold is Karakas, and this build almost always runs Wasteland. They also tend to run more Abrupt Decay and Hymn, and the red cards were always the weakest against us. On the plus side, you can Wish for Phyrexian Revoker without fear of Command to shut down their Liliana or Jace.

SBing Bad against them - Solitary Confinement can go, it's a dead draw, and if you're winning, they don't have any threats. You can cut down to 2 Grass, and cut Gaea's Touches. Good against them: Choke, O Ring effects. Wickerbough Elder doesn't hit that many things, but the body is good against them. Kamahl or any other fatty GSZ target should also be brought in here.

Team America(BUG Delver) - 45-50%. The hardest Delver match-up, they maindeck Abrupt Decay and often have Leovold, Emissary of Trest in the board, and they play Hymn to Tourach. This isn't too complicated a match-up though, it comes down to whether you can stick an Enchantress and get your defenses up. Like Canadian Thresh, Tarmogoyf is also a problem for Grass. Unlike Canadian Thresh, you can't really play around Daze and such as much, since if you hold onto something, it might get discarded.

SBing Bad against them - Gaea's Touch. It's good against mana disruption, but bad against discard, since you're sacrificing a card for the mana. They have both so it's tough. Seal of Primordium does nothing here. Good against them Choke obviously. Any extra O Ring effects.

VI. Tools, Data, Conclusions

I've been working on this since about September of 2017, and appreciate the support of everyone who took the deck for a spin, particularly harry nyquist, jin, watersaw and fjaulnir.

The deck is well positioned in metas where there's a lot of Delver, Wasteland, and Force of Will, and where the prevalent combo decks are Dark Depths and/or Sneak and Show. The amount of ANT and Reanimator on MTGO makes it something of a hostile atmosphere for us, but I've found the Sunday Challenge to be a better meta, as you get to reduce the number of ANT-zealots you run into, and the number of times you run into them. That said, I'd definitely recommend this to anyone expecting a "competitive" paper tournament, as the more competitive tournament players favor decks that we're very strong against, like Miracles, Grixis Control, and Delver.

Record of games: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...=0&single=true
A tool I made for evaluating SB cards: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...usp=sheets_web
Invite to the Enchantress discord server: https://discordapp.com/invite/Cj7SD9Y
youtube videos of me playing the deck on MTGO https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC16...C71LT8n5_jSVEw
a SB guide, not at all definitive https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...SgQ/edit#gid=0

Appendix. The Name

The name is a reference to the H.P. Lovecraft short story, "The Dreams in the Witch House". The story is about a mathematician who goes insane in a part of New England once inhabited by a cabal of witches(Enchantresses), particularly one, Keziah Mason, who travels through dimensions(Living Wish). She is accompanied by a rodent-like familiar(visible in the art for Argothian Enchantress), and "the Black Man"(Doomwake Giant). They are pledged to the service of an eldritch, alien entity called Azathoth (Emrakul).