Eternal Wind

[waSP]

There has been a lot (probably too much, now) discussion of the G/W and G/W/r builds of the Enchantress deck. The current iterations of those decks are not going to be significantly altered anytime soon.

The backbone of the deck can be very strong. It has a very strong game against aggro decks and if tuned appropriately puts up very strong numbers against aggro control. It struggles against combo and I see a lot of sideboards geared up for a tough control matchup.

Now I believe you can increase your percentages against control (and aggro, I'd guess) while keeping good game against aggro control (again it will depend on how you tune it) but maybe losing some ground to combo. To get the mentioned benefits, one must consider blue.

Eternal Wind

Lands (19)
7 Forest
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Serra's Sanctum
2 Savannah
2 Tropical Island
1 Island

Acceleration (11)
4 Wild Growth
4 Utopia Sprawl
2 Chrome Mox
1 Exploration

Engine (7)
4 Argothian Enchantress
3 Enchantress's Presence

Search (5)
3 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Enlightened Tutor

Protection (7)
3 Solitary Confinement
3 Energy Field
1 Oblivion Ring

Graveyard protection (5)
3 Ground Seal
2 Wheel of Sun and Moon

Replenish (2)
2 Replenish

Kill (4)
3 Words of Wind
1 Sigil of the Empty Throne

The 3 Presences look weird, I know. You only really need 1 Enchantress effect against aggressive decks and you almost prefer Words of Wind to Presence against control. I don't know if that's going to stick long-term.

I'll be honest. My motivation for moving to this iteration of the deck is that it performs spectacularly against control decks (so sideboarding specific cards is not required, i.e. Choke and City of Solitude) while possibly improving the Aggro Loam matchup. Aggro Loam has been the most successful deck in my metagame for at least a year. G/W/r Enchantress does not fare well against a smart Loam player. This build tries to attack the permanent base of the loam player, setting up the Wind/Top combo to try to keep them off of their Wishes and Devastating Dreams. I haven't had the chance to test this matchup yet (and will likely end up testing it mostly in tournament situations).

I'll post the sideboard I'm currently running. It assumes I'm going to win game 1 against my 50/50 or better matchups and wants to make sure I take those matches. I typically sideboard out 4-11 cards in each match. The Sterling Groves always come in. The rest of the cards would come in to shift the focus of the deck.

4 Chalice of the Void
3 Meddling Mage
2 Sterling Grove
2 Seal of Primordium
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Solitary Confinement
1 Words of Wind
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon

I'd like to fit a 3rd Replenish in the board. I would probably keep those Groves in the sideboard unless I had 3 or 4 main.

Finally, two of the small combos you get from playing blue:

Words of Wind + Sensei's Divining Top:
2: each opponent bounces a permanent of his or her choice

Energy Field + Wheel of Sun and Moon
Prevent all damage that would be dealt to you without a drawback (this will be unaswerable by a lot of decks in a way that Moat/Confinement is not)

This build of the deck also brings you up to around 90/10 against conventional builds of the deck. So that's always fun.

[Grollub]

I'd swap Chrome Moxen for more Explorations, both for draw and to make it easier/faster to no-perm your opponent. Maybe switch one of the gravehates for a third Grove too. There has to be some kill condition that wins on the spot (after exploration/winds chaining your deck into play) rather than giving your opponent a window of opportunity (read: faster kill against combo).

EDIT: Ah. For some reason I thought this was a port of the extended winds enchantress with Cloud of Faeries to draw and play the deck... Thoughts might still be useful, so I'll leave them un-edited.

By the way, nice to see some development on the Words/Top interaction!

[waSP]

More explorations would be awesome if I ran a 21 or 22 land build.

If you're comboing, that means your opponent will have an empty board, so you don't need to worry about winning immediately (most people scoop). To actually go infinite, it would be necessary to run a Talisman of Unity or Gaea's Cradle or something.

Another small combo to note is that with Ground Seal and Words of Wind, you can pay 2G to make an opponent return a permanent to its owner's hand. Fun!

[waSP]

Quick tourney report from last night. I played in a ~20-person tourney at Games by James in Coon Rapids, MN.

The metagame wasn't the best. It was about 3/4 serious decks and 1/4 people with less serious decks.

Round 1 against Dragon Stompy
1: Chalice for 2 came down on turn 1. A presence followed the turn after.A Chalice for 1 came down the next turn (we were both exhausted and forgot it gets countered. I played a lot of 1 and 2 cc spells. A Chalice for 3 came down 2 turns later. I replenished a Utopia Sprawl into play. I Sigil'd in angels through Chalice.
2: I don't get much gas and he plays a dude with a Jitte. I think Pyroblast won this one.
3: Words of Wind lock on turn 4.
1-0, 2-1

Round 2 against Aggro Loam
1: Words of Wind lock on turn 4.
2: I run out of gas, he plays Krosan Grip for the win.
3: Words of Wind lock on turn 5.
2-0, 4-2

Round 3 against B/R aggro with disruption
1: I get a confinement out and Wind lock him at some point.
2: I get Energy Field/Wheel of Sun and Moon and double Sterling Grove. Wind lock finishes the game.
3-0, 6-2

Round 4 against elves with auras (paired down)
1: He plays creatures and auras. I play Solitary Confinements. Wind lock knocks him out the game and he scoops.
2: He gets me to 1 with big creatures. Argothian chumps the 4/5 after he Naturalized my Confinement. Energy Field comes down and wins it.
4-0, 8-2

Round 5 against Zoo
We ID and split the store credit.

The meta was something like this:
3 Dredge
2 Burn
1 Zoo
1 Reanimator
1 B/G deck
1 R/W with equipment
1 B/R
1 Aggro Loam
1 Dragon Stompy
1 Eternal Wind
2 decks I can't remember
5 bad decks

Apparently, a non-graveyard based combo deck would have been very, very good for that tournament. Zoo was a pretty good pick as well.

[Grollub]

I'm still a little iffy on the Moxen, how'd they work out for you in the tournament?

[waSP]

They are excellent. Occasionally they are an effective mulligan, but about as often, they set up a turn 3 lock. They are absolutely necessary if you're expecting to be able to race control or do an effective job of playing around Daze.

[Vacrix]

I like your build except for Meddling Mage. Its awful. Runed Halo is MUCH better, being an Enchantment that protects you from all the same things, but tutorable with Etutor and Sterling Grove. You can effectively run the same card except boarding in 3 Runed Halo, and 2 Sterling Grove (and 3 Etutor MD) gives you virtually 8 copies which gives you a much more closer game vs. Storm Variants.

[waSP]

Meddling Mage serves as a protection against interaction. Especially good as a random card to play on turn 3 against control. I don't much like them either. I'm thinking about Gaddock Teeg, but he doesn't seem really great, either. Runed Halo is fine for some things, but I'm probably going to lose to Tendrils anyway and the creatures in decks with creatures are not my primary concern, typically. It doesn't shut down Force of Will and it doesn't shut down Reverent Silence.

Maybe run some more Sterling Groves? Those are usually better in games 2 and 3.

I wonder if any of the people who run conventional Solitaire style Enchantress would consider running this build.

Has anyone considered a black splash for Engineered Plague? That seems a little hilarious against the tribal decks.

[waSP]

Another little report from a 12-person 4-round tournament. Nothing too shocking here.

Round 1 against FaerieStill
Lost 0-2
It's tough to beat double FoW and Spellstutter Sprites without Elephant Grass. This and Merfolk are the two matchups where I regret not having Elephant Grass main.

Round 2 against UWB mill
Won 2-0
This was not a great deck. I replenished my win in both games.

Round 3 against Dredge
Won 2-0
Energy Field is in every way Elephant Grass's superior in this matchup. Emptied my hand of non-land cards and played Energy Field on turn 3. No answers. I eventually got a Wheel and some other good stuff. 2nd game I win with double Wheel of Sun and Moon (turns 2 and 4) and Ground Seal (also turn 4).

Round 4 against Zoo
2-0
He did not draw well at all. I think I stayed above 10 life both games.

Final record 3-1, tied for 2nd.

I regretted not drawing replenishes against FaerieStill, but a nice tournament overall.

My sideboard for this tournament:
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Sterling Grove
2 Seal of Primordium
1 Solitary Confinement
1 Words of Wind
1 Aura of Silence
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Dovescape

Optimally I would have swapped out 2 Chalices for an Enlightened Tutor and a Sterling Grove, but those could not be located. I wonder if Dovescape has been discussed with respect to the more conventional Enchantress builds' matchup against Aggro Loam. If anyone can point me to something in that thread, I would be much appreciative. Another thing I'm considering in trying to improve my matchup against blue-based aggro with 8-12 hard counters is 3 Elephant Grass in the sideboard replacing Sterling Grove #4 and Chalice of the Void #1-2. Anyone have thoughts?

[Gocho]

Your deck could have problems with Tendrils Combo variants.

Energy Field don't stop Life loss from Tendrils and Words of Wind Combo can't stop a deck that can win with a single land + artifact + rituals + a single card. You must go for Solitary Confinament or Runed Halo / Meddling Mage and most decks play Reverent Silence (to face counterbalance) and Deathmark (to face Gaddock) to kill you the same turn he cast it.

[i.zk]

Saw this deck a couple days ago and decided to sleeve up the cards and playtest a bit. Haven't tried it out in a tournament setting yet (waiting on some cards to come in), just a couple games with a friend plus some goldfishing, but this is the list that I've been testing, thought you'd be interested.

Lands (20)
5 Forest
2 Island
2 Plains
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Flooded Strand
2 Windswept Heath
2 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
1 Savannah
2 Serra's Sanctum

Acceleration (10)
4 Wild Growth
4 Utopia Sprawl
2 Chrome Mox

Engine (7)
3 Argothian Enchantress*
4 Enchantress's Presence

Dig/Tutor (5)
3 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Enlightened Tutor

Softlocks/Stalls (9)
3 Solitary Confinement
3 Energy Field
3 Counterbalance

Hardlock/Victory (4)
3 Words of Wind
1 Sigil of the Empty Throne

Misc (5)
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Replenish
Edit: Whoops! Forgot 2 Wheel of Sun and Moon

Sideboard (15)
3 In The Eye Of Chaos (http://magiccards.info/lg/en/61.html)
3 Meddling Mage
3 Pithing Needle
3 Sterling Grove
1 Karmic Justice
1 Seal of Primordium
1 Aura of Silence

* To clarify, I would say we should play 4 Argothian and 3 Presence, I just don't have a 4th Argothian and I don't have one coming, so I tested it like this instead.

As you see the primary difference is the inclusion of Counterbalance and the sideboard.

Counterbalance is a very strong option I believe that was overlooked previously. I find it particularly powerful in this deck because of the deck's ability to cycle through its deck quickly, although not at instant speed, but most times you know what CMCs you are expecting. Enlightened tutor -> Counterbalance counter is also quite strong. This addition makes the combo matchup incredibly better I think (especially since this deck can dig better than most so you can do that until you find a Replenish on top to stop their Reverent Silences.

I did not like Chalice in the board. I understand how it is useful in the combo matchup, but it still messes with the decks plans enough that I found it a real bother, so I took it out because I believed that counterbalance would be able to hold up our combo matchup well on its own.

In the Eye of Chaos is also a new addition, and for me I see it taking the place of City of Solitude here. It's not really too incredible, but it does stop free counterspells really well plus a bunch of other instant-style things that could help in other matchups as well (like against ANT it either slows them down or makes them have to answer it). I don't like City in here since it really does not synergize well with Counterbalance. Not that its totally relevant given that Solidarity isn't played much, but that deck just completely scoops to this card.

Pithing Needle is always awesome, and there are some matchups that I played with Enchantress that I would not be able to deal with effectively without it.

I also run a few more fetches and I can guess that may be concerning given one of our stalls is Energy Field, but I can honestly say that it's never really been a problem for me yet, but perhaps I just need to test more.

A couple players say they really don't like Meddling Mage from the board, but I think its quite strong given that this deck otherwise plays no creatures and will probably side out all their creature hate since it appears a fair assumption that this deck runs no creatures. However, I will admit this is all speculation and I have not tested enough to have a developed opinion on this. I guess the idea of playing Meddling Mage as well is that it forces your opponent to play creature and enchantment removal and not just enchantment removal. Letting them know you play creatures can help since it will more often than not leave them with dead cards.

Some other changes that I think are worth considering:
Adding Moat
More Karmic Justice (these help a lot of our matchups + they stack so why not more?)

Hopefully by next week sometime I'll have some results to show from local weekly tournaments and can better say about whether or not any of these changes is worth anything.

I'd also just like to say thanks to waSP for posting this idea, because quite frankly I love it. I've been looking for a new interesting deck to play for a while now, and this one caters to my playstyle and preferences like none other.

[waSP]

Thanks for the feedback, i.zk. The idea of running Counterbalance is very interesting. It suggests a stronger splash of blue, though. Running 3 Brainstorm will allow you to put cards back (you'll probably have a somewhat full grip including Replenish when they Reverent Silence). Your list above only runs 58. I would suggest Wheel. It allows a lousy hand to turn into a blow-out (against fair aggro decks) and gives you minor protection against Reanimator, Dredge, Loam, and other decks. A 4th Top would look fairly strong as well.

I'm of the not liking Karmic Justice very much camp. I used to run the card (and sideboard it in for most matchups), but I never found it to be effective at winning games. A good opponent will only be slightly slowed (if that) by KJ. A bad opponent would be losing anyway.

I've basically given up on the Tendrils combo matchup. If one is concerned with it, I agree Runed Halo would be a good choice. I do have some In the Eye of Chaos on the way and will be testing them in the sideboard at tournaments.

I do not like Chalice in the board now, either. I'm going down to 1 or 2. They are very, very good in a few matchups and we still have Tutors.

I look forward to hearing how you do.


My current sideboard looks like this:
Ack! Aggro:
3 Elephant Grass (Merfolk and Faeries)

Protection:
3 Sterling Grove

I don't really know why; maybe for Pithing Needle.
2 Seal of Primordium

Bullets:
1 Aura of Silence
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Dovescape

Redundancy, redundancy, redundancy:
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Solitary Confinement
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
1 Words of Wind

2 In the Eye of Chaos will replace 1 Seal of Primordium and 1 Chalice of the Void at some point.

[waSP]

Another brief report. Top 8'd a 20+ person tournament; scooped to my friend in top 8.

Round 1 against New Horizons? (UGW with Knights and Wastes)
Lost first game to heavy land disruption, Won back two fairly handily. Words of Wind sealed them up before any recoveries could be made.

Round 2 against Counterthopter
Easy 2-0. My opponent was somewhat new to Legacy. This should be a very, very strong matchup. Instead of just going for a regular win, I tutored into Dovescape and had a race against Thopter tokens. That was FUN!

Round 3 against Reanimator
A not very close 1-2. I really don't like this matchup. They have too much spot removal and counter for me to be able to effectively counter their strategy. Short of going turn 1/2 Chalice 1, turn 2/3 Chalice 2, this matchup should appear unfavorable. One of the few matchups where Moat might actually be good (Iona being their most vulnerable [real] threat).

Round 4 against GWB Rock
Drew in to top 8. This is a slightly unfavorable matchup in my experience, although it will very much depend on the build.

I tossed a couple of Karmic Justices in the board. I brought them in every round but they were not relevant. There are situations where Karmic Justice could be relevant, but I still haven't seen one where it was relevant.

[candellum]

Have you thought of using Mystic Remora? it seems like it would have great synergy with this deck especially since you could now trigger words of wind on their turn without top and you can bounce it back to your hand when its costs get to high. Also looks like it would help a lot with control matchups which we would have trouble with

Also I’m thinking of running 2 ardent pleas main board. i know it looks silly but its an optimal target for chrome mox since you can tap for both colored mana. it also almost always cantrips twice with an enchantress effect on the board and can act as a win con with your enchantress after you lock them out with words of wind. i know it looks silly but i think ima try it out.

Any thoughts?

[aznepyon7]

Mystic Remora sounds awesome. I think I brought this up before and when I've tried it, it was pretty good when there are lots of noncreature decks around. Unfortunately the problem is that most of the deck these days are heavy aggro or aggro/control with plenty of creatures so MR is iffy. Depends on your meta. I still love to use it and even with out Winds, I just let it go as I usually get an Enchantress online.

The ardent pleas doesn't look good. I haven't tried them but from how it looks, the enchantment itself does practically nothing. It's even worse if you don't have enchantress out. I would save the slots for something useful.

There is a new Leyline out that is basically a free Ivory Mask. Might be useful.

[candellum]

Yea, i tried ardent plea and it is amazing when enchantress is out cause of the multiple cantrips off of casting but with out her out its absolute crap. to dependent

also what is your plan for pithing needels naming words of wind? is seals the only real way to deal with disruption like that?

[No_Life_No_Future]

Have you tried Carpet of Flowers in the board? It can give you mana the first turn you play it with the new errata.

[waSP]

Sorry for the lack alacrity with replies. The Source wasn't informing me and I don't visit the site very often unless I'm in an active thread.

Mystic Remora is probably too slow unless you run something like Eladamri's Vineyard or Vintage Moxen. I used to play it in Type 1 back in 2002-2003. I would tend to avoid using it, especially in a land and creature heavy environment.

Ardent Plea is a viable win condition, but it's probably not optimal. At best it hits a Sterling Grove or an Elephant Grass or an Argothian (or a Top maybe?).These don't sound like our best spells on turn 3. It's definitely not that bad as a turn 2 play, but it's not as good as Argothian or Presence. I want my win spell to be high impact.

The Needle plan is either to just win (with Angels or Birds or Eldrazi) or to remove it with O. Ring. Game 2, I'll have access to a Disenchant effect or two.

Carpet of Flowers sounds excellent against heavy control metas.


Here is my current list (I'm testing Runed Halo, although I don't like the WW requirement [I'd love to hear suggestions for replacements]):

Lands (19)
5 Forest
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Serra's Sanctum
2 Savannah
2 Tropical Island
2 Windswept Heath
1 Island
1 Plains

Acceleration (10)
4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Wild Growth
2 Chrome Mox

Engine (8)
4 Argothian Enchantress
4 Enchantress's Presence

Search (5)
3 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Enlightened Tutor

Protection (14)
4 Elephant Grass
3 Solitary Confinement
3 Sterling Grove
2 Runed Halo
1 Ground Seal
1 Oblivion Ring

Replenish (2)
2 Replenish

Kill (3)
2 Words of Wind
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth


Sideboard: (15)
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Karmic Justice
1 Aura of Silence
1 Dovescape
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Humility
1 In The Eye of Chaos
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Solitary Confinement
1 Sterling Grove
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon