Enchantress/Constellation

[CaptainTwiddle]

10/12/2015 - Updating OP with current decklist.

Below is roughly the 5th major permutation of my take on an Enchantress/Constellation deck. The deck started as GW, then GWb, then GWbu, and I've finally settled, for the time being on a GWU/Bant list. This particular version is essentially an engine/combo deck. The specific win condition in any game may vary, but the general idea remains the same: generate mana, draw cards, create a ridiculous/overwhelming board.

Bant Constellation/Enchantress/EnBantress
CREATURES
4 Arbor Elf
3 Courser of Kruphix
4 Eidolon of Blossoms
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Herald of the Pantheon
4 Verduran Enchantress
SPELLS
1 Copy Enchantment
1 Detention Sphere
3 Fertile Ground
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
2 Ghostly Prison
1 Kiora, Master of the Depths
2 Overgrowth
1 Quarantine Field
1 Sigil of the Empty Throne
3 Spreading Seas
4 Utopia Sprawl
LAND
2 Forest
1 Island
1 Plains
3 Breeding Pool
1 Flooded Strand
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
3 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath

Sideboard
1 Aura of Silence - A tax on Affinity that also works as spot removal. Can come in with Starfield of Nyx for recursive removal if desired in a given matchup.
1 Choke - Powerful hoser against blue-based strategies
1 Greater Auramancy - Protection against decks with lots of spot removal.
1 Idyllic Tutor - Can be brought in as an additional virtual copy of any of the strong hoser cards.
1 Kruphix's Insight - Card draw for grindy matches, generally brought in with Starfield of Nyx.
2 Leyline of Sanctity - Major roadblock for Burn. Also good against decks relying on targeted discard.
1 Mark of Asylum - Protection from damage-based sweepers.
1 Myth Realized - Just trying this out as an option to diversify threats if needed. It's cheap, so it's valuable early in the enchantment/draw chain and it becomes lethal quickly.
1 Rest in Peace - Powerful graveyard hoser.
2 Sphinx's Tutelage - Alternate win condition in matches where you don't anticipate reaching sufficient mana to cast Emrakul or you aren't able to win though combat.
1 Starfield of Nyx - Recursion and alternate win condition in grindy matches.
1 Stony Silence - Powerful hoser against Affinity and Lantern Control.
1 Worship - Powerful hoser that some decks just can't beat. Be leery though, as you opponent has likely boarded in enchantment hate. Pick your spot to stick this.

The game plan is to drop mana accelerants, play your enchantment draw-engine pieces, cast enchantments, draw cards, make more and more mana and cast Emrakul for the win. There are some alternate win conditions as well, namely Sigil of the Empty Throne and Garruk Wildspeaker (as it turns out even Arbor Elves and Verduran Enchantresses are pretty lethal when given +3/+3 and trample).

The deck's strengths are that it's redundant and consistent. While the creatures played are mediocre in combat, the life gain provided by Courser and Herald can provide enough cushion to get you to the your critical mass turn. Additionally, the maindeck Ghostly Prisons are just too much for some decks to beat. Spreading Seas offers mana disruption and additional card draw. The deck can also be very explosive, for example:

T1: Forest/Shockland, Arbor Elf
T2: Forest/Shockland, Utopia Sprawl (on untapped land), tap for 2, untap with Elf, tap for 2, Kiora, untap enchanted land and Elf, make 4 more mana...then Herald + Courser, or Garruk, or Eidolon, etc.

The deck is powerful and fun. The biggest potential weakness is to dedicated enchantment hate (e.g. Back to Nature). Currently, enchantment hate runs pretty low in most sideboards. Destructive Revelry out of Burn/Zoo is probably the most common answer to enchantments. With respect to maindecks, Abrupt Decay and Maelstrom Pulse out of Jund/Abzan are things to be aware of.

[TheFlyinGutchman]

I really like the idea. I think that it would be good to narrow the focus a bit. I feel like the retreat/kotr combo is better in a deck that is more focused on executing that. That said I think cut that combo and focus on enchantress-ing. I want sphinx's tutelage to work so badly and this may be the deck to do it, but I am not sure if blue is necessarily worth it in this deck.

[CaptainTwiddle]

I really like the idea. I think that it would be good to narrow the focus a bit. I feel like the retreat/kotr combo is better in a deck that is more focused on executing that. That said I think cut that combo and focus on enchantress-ing. I want sphinx's tutelage to work so badly and this may be the deck to do it, but I am not sure if blue is necessarily worth it in this deck.

The thing is, Retreat also combos with Arbor Elf, allowing you to generate copious amounts of mana. Additionally, the deck makes very good use of the scry ability, as drawing your cards in the right order really improves your efficiency. It's not uncommon to have an opener where you dump your hand on turn 2-3 and have your engine assembled, but no fuel to start drawing cards. In those instances, getting to scry away a land and find an enchantment can be a full turn's difference in reaching critical mass. As for Knight of the Reliquary, it enables repeated landfall triggers and thins your deck off all the cards that can cause your draw-engine to fizzle and provides other utility in being a way to find Nykthos or even a second copy in single turn as well. I'm obviously not "all in" on the Knight + Retreat combo, as I'm only running 2 copies of each, but I think each piece offers enough on its own to warrant inclusion. KotR is the lesser of the two in the context of this deck, but I've been pleased with it.

[Phoenix Ignition]

I'm definitely going to try something like this out. Only thing I see right away is that there isn't a whole lot of disruption for decks that can kill quickly.

D-sphere, slOw-Ring (self coined!), and Ghostly Prison are the only things that can slow someone else down pre-sideboard and that seems a bit optimistic in terms of your own kill potential. More ghostly prisons would probably help a lot since they shut down Affinity, Boggles, Splinter twin, and blue control fairly effectively.

Spreading Seas can really slow down greedy decks and Tron and you mentioned already they were a great cantrip, do you think they would fit in the main?

Leyline of Sanctity, Stony Silence, and Rest in Peace can all really cripple certain decks, I'm wondering how hard it would be to get something like Idyllic tutor in here so you could actually hit the right lock piece when you need it.

Also, the 1-of Molting Skin seems pretty random and slow. You'd want it out before playing a good creature to save them from a bolt or something, but you don't ever want to play it before something like Herald, Eidolon, or Verduran. Drawing it opening hand seems bad and in general it only seems good on certain occasions. Affinity doesn't even use Welding Jar in a lot of versions of the deck, and it feels a lot like a 3 mana version. Late game using it as a free bounce enchantment to trigger Constellation seems okay but also hopefully unnecessary/win more if the deck is playing well on its own.

[CaptainTwiddle]

I'm definitely going to try something like this out. Only thing I see right away is that there isn't a whole lot of disruption for decks that can kill quickly.

D-sphere, slOw-Ring (self coined!), and Ghostly Prison are the only things that can slow someone else down pre-sideboard and that seems a bit optimistic in terms of your own kill potential. More ghostly prisons would probably help a lot since they shut down Affinity, Boggles, Splinter twin, and blue control fairly effectively.

Spreading Seas can really slow down greedy decks and Tron and you mentioned already they were a great cantrip, do you think they would fit in the main?

You are correct in that there isn't a lot of disruption in the main deck. A second copy of Ghostly Prison would probably be what I added, if anything, as its effect is just so good against so many decks. That said, Green is really the focus in the deck and running into too many non-green spells is the easiest way for your combo to fizzle.

Spreading Seas is awesome and is the card I'd like to include in the maindeck if possible, but it makes things a bit clunkier in terms of your own mana production. It may just be a metagame call in the end. If you expect a lot of Tron/June/Abzan, then Spreading Seas might be worth it in the main, but if a big chunk of the field is on Merfolk or UW Control, then it's power is greatly diminished.


Leyline of Sanctity, Stony Silence, and Rest in Peace can all really cripple certain decks, I'm wondering how hard it would be to get something like Idyllic tutor in here so you could actually hit the right lock piece when you need it.

Idyllic Tutor is something I had in the board as 2-of, then a 1-of, then cut. It's entirely possible that it may be worth having in the board. I don't really like it in the maindeck, as this strategy is fringe enough that your game one is pretty solid against a lot of decks, as your opponents may not realize how quickly this deck's engine ramps up. Boarding in a copy of Idyllic Tutor along with 1-2 bullets seems fine. The only issue I ever really had with it was that I'd find myself not needing it and just wishing I had drawn another enchantment. Whether or not the Tutor makes it into the 75 is really going to be determined after much more testing.

A quick note about Rest in Peace: I couldn't decide if I wanted it in the board or not. It nullifies the offensive power of KotR, but that might not matter, as KotR is really in here to fix draws and ramp your mana. The shear power of RIP might warrant its inclusion. For the time being, I'm running Ground Seal. While it doesn't hose fringe decks like Aggro Loam, Dredgevine, or opposing KotRs, it shuts off Snapcaster Mage, the relevant ability of Jace, Telepath Unbound, Unburial Rites, and a lot of other random things, all while being green and a cantrip.


...the 1-of Molting Skin seems pretty random and slow. You'd want it out before playing a good creature to save them from a bolt or something, but you don't ever want to play it before something like Herald, Eidolon, or Verduran. Drawing it opening hand seems bad and in general it only seems good on certain occasions. Affinity doesn't even use Welding Jar in a lot of versions of the deck, and it feels a lot like a 3 mana version. Late game using it as a free bounce enchantment to trigger Constellation seems okay but also hopefully unnecessary/win more if the deck is playing well on its own.

I've been loving the 1-of Molting Skin. It does come in handy to protect your combo-piece creatures, but its true value is being insurance that your combo won't fizzle. Once you start to chain off, you almost always have a least 1, if not 2 or more, Herald of the Pantheon and multiple Eidolons/Enchantresses. As such, Skin generally reads something along the lines of "1G: Draw 2 cards."

Presently, the only card I'm really questioning in the maindeck is Sigil of the Empty Throne. I think the card is good, but I have yet to have a game where it served any real purpose beyond drawing me some cards when cast. If that's all the more it's going to do, it would be better to fill that slot with something cheaper without WW in the casting cost. I can see Sigil being good in attrition based matchups or against decks that are packing multiple Ghost Quarters, which can really hamper your standard plan of placing multiple auras on a single land. That said, I've found myself boarding out Sigil for Sphinx's Tutelage on occasion and I've been so pleased, that I wonder if Tutelage should just be in the maindeck and possibly be the primary win condition. It's a cheap enchantment that provides some potential utility, but also just wins you the game by going through the motions that the deck would go through anyway. That said, there is some risk decking yourself if you need to push the card draw to win (though, that's probably less of an issue if you're running multiple Tutelages) and against Tron or any random deck packing an Eldrazi titan, Tutelage isn't going to go the distance. I guess the main strike against Tutelage is simply that building around it puts more eggs in a single basket.

[CaptainTwiddle]

After further testing, I've updated the list (changed in OP):

-1 Knight of the Reliquary
-1 Retreat to Coralhelm
+1 Verduran Enchantress
+1 Ghostly Prison

My original numbers were based on a transition of the deck from a grindy, midrange build to the combo build. Adding the 4th Enchantress simply increases the likelihood of finding a combo piece early and the additional Ghostly Prison helps buy you time against aggressive decks, as you are rarely in a situation where you can block profitably. I trimmed one copy each of KotR and Retreat as that combo is a little less potent in this deck than elsewhere. It's rare that KotR will grow to be large enough to present lethal in a single attack and there is no means of providing him evasion. In most games, you either combo off and KotR is irrelevant or your creatures get picked apart and you lose. Occassionally, KotR is a robust enough body that he buys the time needed to combo and it's ability to find Nykthos is valuable; hence, I have left one copy in the list.

I'm pretty happy with the current configuration. I'd kind of like to add a 3rd Courser of Kruphix, as it's really your best blocker and the life gain is relevant in many games.

As for the sideboard, it's still up in the air, but I've come around to running Rest in Peace either in place of, or in addition to, Ground Seal. RIP doesn't hamper our own deck at all, outside of making KotR nothing more than a tutor/shuffle effect, but that seems fine, and you have the option of just boarding out KotR for the RIP. Spreading Seas is still something I'd like to have in the board, but I'd want it as a x3, and I don't think there are enough slots in the board, nor do I really ever want to cut more than 3 cards from the main in any matchup. As such, I think it will remain on the bench for now. I haven't tested the Tron matchup much, but I imagine it's a pure race and that Tron is favored. Karn, Ugin, and Pyroclasm are all significant problems for this deck. That said, I think Modern is currently a format where you have to pick your battles, give up a little on some matchups, and hope to dodge them (or have them be under-represented) in a tournament.

Sphinx's Tutelage is still kind of vexing me. I think the card is amazing in the deck, but I don't like it as the mainboard, primary win-con, as it's not going to beat a deck playing Emrakul, the Aeons Torn or another Eldrazi titan. I'm still not sure where I'd board it in, but if there is a deck against which I feel like I'm not going to be able to reliably amass sufficient mana to cast Emrakul, then Tutelage comes in. Copy Enchantment gains a lot of value when you board in Tutelage, as multiple Tutelages or Eidolons is incredibly powerful.

[Phoenix Ignition]

After further testing, I've updated the list (changed in OP):
I gotta say that 1 Knight maindeck is really suspect. Retreat is a fine card on its own, surprisingly so even, but it seems like you could just replace both at this point to try to make your main play lines more consistent. These could even be the Spreading Seas slots you wanted, helping your matchup against greedy manabases as well as adding cantrips instead of just scry. You still have multiple win conditions with Emrakul + Planeswalkers so I don't think the KotR backup is really that necessary.



Sphinx's Tutelage is still kind of vexing me. I think the card is amazing in the deck, but I don't like it as the mainboard, primary win-con, as it's not going to beat a deck playing Emrakul, the Aeons Torn or another Eldrazi titan. I'm still not sure where I'd board it in, but if there is a deck against which I feel like I'm not going to be able to reliably amass sufficient mana to cast Emrakul, then Tutelage comes in. Copy Enchantment gains a lot of value when you board in Tutelage, as multiple Tutelages or Eidolons is incredibly powerful.
I like the card but one more thing to note is that with more and more Lantern control decks being played in tournaments it's quite possible people will be playing more mill-hozers in their sideboards. I might actually just throw 1 Emrakul in most sideboards I play from now on since it is close to unbeatable for that deck (They can kill you with pyrite spellbomb recursion by Academy Ruins, but you buy yourself a lot of time). I wouldn't probably build around Sphinx's Tutelage right now.

[Lord Seth]

I might actually just throw 1 Emrakul in most sideboards I play from now on since it is close to unbeatable for that deck (They can kill you with pyrite spellbomb recursion by Academy Ruins, but you buy yourself a lot of time). I wouldn't probably build around Sphinx's Tutelage right now.Why Emrakul? Ulamog would make a lot more sense because not only is it more plausible you'd be able to cast him (unlikely in anything not named Tron, but still more likely), but if you do cast him his cast trigger is a lot more useful against Lantern than Emrakul's. Sure, this is only marginal upside, but it's still an upside.

[Phoenix Ignition]

Yeah, either or. From a purely "lets squeek out every last 0.001% chance at the win" standpoint Ulamog is better, but I probably wouldn't end up casting him ever in any number of games I play.

I like the flavor of Emrakul better since he's already such a big "fuck you" card in any deck that plays him, it's nice to know he can do that exact same thing by just existing in your 60 cards against a mill deck. He's always pretty much just "hah, 15 mana, hope you had fun!"

[CaptainTwiddle]

I gotta say that 1 Knight maindeck is really suspect. Retreat is a fine card on its own, surprisingly so even, but it seems like you could just replace both at this point to try to make your main play lines more consistent. These could even be the Spreading Seas slots you wanted, helping your matchup against greedy manabases as well as adding cantrips instead of just scry. You still have multiple win conditions with Emrakul + Planeswalkers so I don't think the KotR backup is really that necessary.

I'm coming around on this. KotR is probably going to get the axe. I still like Retreat though. The scry is nice, as is defensively tapping down opposing creatures, but the main power is untapping Arbor Elf. Just cutting the remaining Knight makes me want to add either the 3rd Courser of Kruphix or another piece of removal/disruption, but I'm not sure what that would be. Alternatively, it may be correct to add either the 4th Fertile Ground or 3rd Overgrowth in that slot. It will require a lot of testing to determine the significance of either of those changes.


I like [Sphinx's Tutelage] but one more thing to note is that with more and more Lantern control decks being played in tournaments it's quite possible people will be playing more mill-hozers in their sideboards. I might actually just throw 1 Emrakul in most sideboards I play from now on since it is close to unbeatable for that deck (They can kill you with pyrite spellbomb recursion by Academy Ruins, but you buy yourself a lot of time). I wouldn't probably build around Sphinx's Tutelage right now.

Lantern Control typically plays Surgical Extraction maindeck as a way to beat Emrakul and Co. From the most recent SCG IQ results, there wasn't any Lantern control near the top of the field, but R/G Tron seems to be rather popular.

[Holiday]

I have been testing Myth Realized in my legacy enchantress build. So far it's been a nice win con that's hard for the opp to remove. At worst, it's a 1cc enchantment.

[CaptainTwiddle]

I have been testing Myth Realized in my legacy enchantress build. So far it's been a nice win con that's hard for the opp to remove. At worst, it's a 1cc enchantment.

I actually had Myth Realized in my initial Abzan build. It was a fine card, but is better suited toward the grindy, midrange game plan. I don't think it really fits well in the more combo-centric build. Granted, it will likely grow to epic proportions, but in that case, Sigil of the Empty Throne just seems better, though obviously more expensive for the initial investment. I just think having the evasion on the creatures and multiple bodies is much more relevant. If the deck ever transforms to be more White centric (playing Mesa Enchantress and more white in general), I could get behind Myth Realized, as getting your white devotion up would allow Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx to pump some serious power into Myth.

I've updated my list as well. I cut the KotR, Retreat to Coralhelm, and the Flooded Strand for x3 Spreading Seas. The card has been really good. It adds so much more draw power to the deck and is very helpful early to dig to an engine piece while potentially disrupting the opponent. It really pulls its weight against Tron and is solid against Affinity by nullifying Inkmoth Nexus, as well as just being incidentally good against Jund/Abzan by either disrupting their colors or shutting off manlands.

[CaptainTwiddle]

After playing a bit more with my Bant Constellation build, I realized that the deck had some vulnerabilities that I didn't care for. It was very much all in on assembling the draw/mana engine and, as such, was very vulnerable to decks with ample removal. After much though, I realized that the blue in the deck wasn't adding all that much. It was literally just providing access to Kiora, Master of the Depths, Detention Sphere, Copy Enchantment, and Spreading Seas, six cards in total in the maindeck. I like all of those cards and they do play relevant roles, but I found myself thinking back to my Abzan version and realized that there were options in black that provided certain upsides. So, this is what I came up with:

Abzan Constellation
CREATURES
4 Arbor Elf
3 Brain Maggot
3 Courser of Kruphix
2 Doomwake Giant
4 Eidolon of Blossoms
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Herald of the Pantheon
4 Verduran Enchantress
SPELLS
3 Fertile Ground
2 Garruk Wildspeaker
2 Ghostly Prison
2 Overgrowth
1 Quarantine Field
1 Sigil of the Empty Throne
4 Utopia Sprawl
LAND
2 Forest
1 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
3 Overgrown Tomb
3 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath

Sideboard
1 Aura of Silence
1 Choke
1 Greater Auramancy
1 Idyllic Tutor
1 Kruphix's Insight
2 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Mark of Asylum
1 Rest in Peace
1 Seal of Doom
1 Seal of Primordium
2 Starfield of Nyx
1 Stony Silence
1 Worship

Here is a brief summary of the black cards added and the reason for their inclusion over the blue cards they replaced:

Brain Maggot - Replaced Spreading Seas as my disruption card. It works on a different access, but is better against some combo decks and has the upside of being a creature, which is actually very relevant with Garruk Wildspeaker being able to ultimate so quickly. Even Brain Maggots are real threats when you give them Overrun.

Doomwake Giant - This card is so much better than I thought it would be in the format. If it lives for you to untap, it's not uncommon to be able to wipe your opponent's board and swing for large chunks of damage. Some decks just can't beat it (e.g. R/G aggro). The Giants replaced the Detention Sphere and the Copy Enchantment. D-Sphere was a nice card to have, but early in the game, it rarely hit more than one thing. As such, Giant plays a similar role and can be better against multiple diverse threats, killing something small with its ability and being a large road block for the other. Copy Enchantment doesn't really have an analogue, as it just served as an extra copy of whatever you needed. Giant can't do that, obviously, but by being the biggest self-contained threat in the deck, it does play multiple roles, thereby filling the void left by the removal of Copy Enchantment.

The Maggots and Giants account for 5/6 cards replaced. The 6th card was Kiora, Master of the Depths, who was replaced by her mono green analogue in Garruk Wildspeaker. I do miss having Kiora in the deck, as she provided more diverse utility than Garruk, but both cards' primary roles were to provide explosive mana production. Kiora would generally untap an Arbor Elf and either Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx or a Forest enchanted with multiple mana production auras,whereas Garruk just untaps two lands, ideally an enchanted Forest and Nykthos. It was nice in the Bant version to be able to have both planeswalkers in play together, but those situations typically lead to "win more" games. Having two Garruk is fine, and you do have the option of playing one, generating mana, drawing cards, playing the second one, and continuing to combo. Garruk also gains some value in this version because the list is more creature heavy. Its very common to win by just playing some elves, maggots, and misc engine cards, followed by Garruk, activating his +1 ability and then going ultimate with him the next turn.

It's possible to play a 4, or possibly even 5, color version of this deck, but I don't think destabilizing the mana is worth it. I like running lots of basics whenever possible (pro tip: if you suspect your opponent has Tectonic Edge, load your mana auras onto a basic Forest or spread them out). I don't think Red offers all that much, though I do potentially like Seal of Fire as a removal spell that your can play preemptively to just draw additional cards. Blood Moon is a possibility as well. Even in a 4+color version of the deck, you can still hit your needed colors with a moon in play, if you're smart with your Utopia Sprawls and Fertile Grounds. I'd probably add the fourth Fertile Ground and possibly a Mana Bloom if I were going into more colors. Chained to the Rocks is a card that I like, but I don't like having to run Mountains to enable them.

The sideboard contains a number of bullets aimed at specific decks/strategies, along with an Idyllic Tutor to find those bullets. It also contains a Starfield of Nyx package with various complementary enchantments to bring in with them. The Kruphix's Insight will generally come in when you bring both Starfields as well. I've been amazed by how good Seal of Doom can be. Recurring it with Starfield is a soft-lock that some decks really struggle to break out of. I'd love to run a Seal and Starfield in the main, but I just can't find the room. Starfield really shifts how you want to play the game in a way that is at odds with the combo element (e.g. Emrakul) of the maindeck plan. It is great in the grindy matchups though, as it can't be hit by Abrupt Decay, though you do have to be careful if the G/x decks have Scavenging Ooze.

[Obould]

Hi,

I have toyed some time ago with the following list (found some similarities to CaptainTwiddle's list):

Lands
16 Forest
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

Enchantments
4 Abundant Growth
4 Utopia Sprawl
3 Fertile Ground
1 Nylea's Presence

3 Brain Maggot
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Monastery Siege
3 Sphere of Safety

1 Xenagos, God of Revels
4 Eidolon of Blossoms

Creatures
4 Arbor Elf
2 Verduran Enchantress
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

Other
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Tooth and Nail

Sideboard (just throw in something):
2 Dismember
1 Lignify
1 Beast Within
2 Bramblecrush
2 Choke
2 Creeping Corrosion
1 Bow of Nylea
2 Pithing needle
2 Relic of Progenitus


Xenagos, God of Revels has just been awesome even without tooth&nail + emrakul. Xenagos makes Garruk's tokens real threats! Monastery sieges are performed somewhat mediocre and they may be cut off for something (Courser of Kruphix). Also manabase and abundant growth + nylea's precence may be changed for something better but color fix + cantrip is good too..

[CaptainTwiddle]

Hi,

I have toyed some time ago with the following list (found some similarities to CaptainTwiddle's list):

Lands
16 Forest
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

Enchantments
4 Abundant Growth
4 Utopia Sprawl
3 Fertile Ground
1 Nylea's Presence

3 Brain Maggot
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Monastery Siege
3 Sphere of Safety

1 Xenagos, God of Revels
4 Eidolon of Blossoms

Creatures
4 Arbor Elf
2 Verduran Enchantress
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

Other
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Tooth and Nail
...

Xenagos, God of Revels has just been awesome even without tooth&nail + emrakul. Xenagos makes Garruk's tokens real threats! Monastery sieges are performed somewhat mediocre and they may be cut off for something (Courser of Kruphix). Also manabase and abundant growth + nylea's precence may be changed for something better but color fix + cantrip is good too..

This is definitely a different and interesting take. It's sort of a hybrid between the Constellation and the Green Devotion/Tooth and Nail deck. I could see running Xenagos, God of Revels and a copy or two of Tooth and Nail in an Enchantress shell. I don't necessarily love running the full set of T&N, b/c you really only have the one set of payoff creatures. Xenagos is nice in that he is an enchantment, so he has a general synergy with the Enchantress theme. The only other immediate critique I'd make is the Sphere of Safety, which I think is fine as a 1-of, but I'd opt for Ghostly Prison in the other slots, as it's just more mana efficient and against the swarm decks, a 2 mana tax is likely as good as any higher number you'd get from Sphere.

[Piceli89]

I have been trialing out some Enchantress variant myself. Some tips:

- you are not going to beat Twin maindeck by only relying on Ghostly Prisons. You need additional roadblocks. Suppression Field disables that combo and a lot of the staples this format is centered around. It is also crucial in slowing down Tron,as Karn and OStone are otherwise going to destroy you. The only downside- a noticeable one- is that you will not be able to play Arbor Elf nor fetchlands. This hurts the deck.

- Verduran Enchantress is severely underpowered and I would not bother with her. Too slow and no shroud make her a liability.

- Monastery Siege is burn/decay/Cryptic hate AND loot engine to discard dead pieces all in one. Very flexible and synergistic with Copy Enchantment too. I would play four. It also comboes well with

- Starfield of Nyx. Recursion machine and alpha strike. siege protects your animated enchantments while they beat. SoN also buffs Eidolon to 4/4. Both its abilities seem to be tailor-made to be combined with the ones from Monastery Siege.

[Piceli89]

I also believe this deck needs to be designed so that it has a concrete and reliable end-game plan, as all the successful archetypes of the format do. This means that you need something to "go off" andbe surr the game is wrapped up from there on. tooth and Nail may be a nice one but Xenagos and Emrakul do not really overlap with the enchantment theme and they sit dead in hand early. Enduring Ideal may be something to look into, as it basically allows you to pay seven mana, grab Dovescape and lock most of the decks out. Then you grab Starfield and start beating. The old clunky Form of the Dragon perhaps is not even needed anymore.

Hope this input may be useful.

[Phoenix Ignition]

I also believe this deck needs to be designed so that it has a concrete and reliable end-game plan, as all the successful archetypes of the format do. This means that you need something to "go off" andbe surr the game is wrapped up from there on. tooth and Nail may be a nice one but Xenagos and Emrakul do not really overlap with the enchantment theme and they sit dead in hand early. Enduring Ideal may be something to look into, as it basically allows you to pay seven mana, grab Dovescape and lock most of the decks out. Then you grab Starfield and start beating. The old clunky Form of the Dragon perhaps is not even needed anymore.


I agree with this. I messed around with an enchantment deck for a while but even when my gameplan went off I would have a bunch of 4/4s with Starfield, which were wildly outclassed by anything from Tarmogoyf to Tasigur. Turning my guys into creatures went poorly due to Lightning bolt on my Monastery Sieges and even the occasional Wrath effect. I like Enduring Ideal as an end game. Dovescape could potentially win you the game, especially if you have Ghostly Prison out already. Enduring Ideal costs a lot, would Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx help with that?

[Piceli89]

I agree with this. I messed around with an enchantment deck for a while but even when my gameplan went off I would have a bunch of 4/4s with Starfield, which were wildly outclassed by anything from Tarmogoyf to Tasigur. Turning my guys into creatures went poorly due to Lightning bolt on my Monastery Sieges and even the occasional Wrath effect. I like Enduring Ideal as an end game. Dovescape could potentially win you the game, especially if you have Ghostly Prison out already. Enduring Ideal costs a lot, would Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx help with that?

No. The best setup of enchantments to play a control game is in bant colors. Nykthos wont have a specific color in big quantity to provide mana boost with.

Reaching seven mana earlier than normal is made possible by Sprawl and Fertlle Ground, which conveniently also fix your colors. If you have a hand trying to accelerate to Ideal, don't forgetthat you can also CopyEnchantment the mana accel enchantments.


There is also the option of running Lotus Bloom plus Wargate, but that is inconsistent as hell, and drawing Lotuses suck.

[CaptainTwiddle]

Too many recent points for me to address with direct quotes, so I'm just going to ramble a bit.

The Abzan list I've posted above does have an endgame payoff: Emrakul. The list actually has a lot of inevitability, but it certainly can get rolled over by a threat plus lots of removal. An early Tarmogoyf with removal is really scary, as Goyf tends to be extra large against you because the deck contains Enchantments and Planeswalkers as less common card types. You can't really go into chump block mode, as you need your creatures in play to have your engine run. Doomwake Giant is also a surprisingly effective finisher. I've had reasonable success against the RGw Zoo lists lately, largely on the back of Doomwake outclassing their creatures and wiping their board the following turn (very effective against a deck that is trying to go wide).

Verduran Enchantress is not an amazing card, but I definitely think it's worthwhile in the combo/engine build. The fact that it adds 2 green devotion is relevant and drawing on casting rather than entering the battlefield is a big deal, plus it's nice to have some non-enchantment engine pieces post-board, as any enchantment hate your opponent has is coming in. If you opt to eschew the combo plan and just want to grind, I can see an argument for running Monastery Siege in that slot. Starfield of Nyx definitely fits in that version. Kiora, Master of the Depths may as well, unless you're planning on running Suppression Field, but I think the fact that that shuts down fetchlands really limits it to a G/W build, which I just can't get behind, as the only thing it has going for it, so far as I can tell, is a more streamlined approach to ramping to Emrakul, which has been a non-issue in the 3-color versions.

Twin is a hard matchup. Brain Maggot helps a little, but it's just a speed bump, as they'll find a bolt for it eventually. I they board out the combo (or most of it), and you correctly anticipate this, being on the Starfield/grind plan can work, but it's still difficult.

I think the Constellation/Enchantress archetype has legs currently, but the greatest part of this type of deck is that, because it's based on a card type, it will invariably gain pieces in the future. So, it'll most likely always be something worth revisiting.

[runn3runn3r]

I’ve also been playing an enchantress deck to some decent success in my local stores. It’s strategically quite a bit different from the one here. List now, explanation below:

enBANTments:

4 Kruphix's Insight
3 Eidolon of Blossoms
4 Sigil of the Empty Throne
4 Myth Realized

4 Ghostly Prison
4 Journey to Nowhere
1 Stasis Snare
2 Oblivion Ring

4 Spreading Seas

1 Runed Halo
1 Nevermore
1 Rest in Peace

4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Fertile Ground
4 Windswept Heath
1 Verdant Catacombs
2 Horizon Canopy
3 Temple Garden
2 Razorverge Thicket
2 Plains
2 Forest
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Breeding Pool

Sideboard
3 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Monastery Siege
1 Wrath of God
1 Detention Sphere
1 Choke
2 Path to Exile
2 Suppression Field
1 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence

My version moves away from the arbor elf-based acceleration plan and plays a fairer game, centered around the idea that kruphix’s insight can be a completely broken card. It plays out like a midrange deck that out-cards midrange and control, while having silver bullets for aggro (ghostly prison) and combo (nevermore/runed halo/rest in peace/leyline). In general, the deck kills with a bunch of sigil angels, but you get occasional double myth realized draws where you just tempo out the opponent.

The version I have now is definitely tooled more toward fair decks and burn (most of what I play against), but because of the flexibility of kruphix’s insight, the shell can easily be tuned to have good game against the unfair decks. (Also, with so many unfair decks being creature decks, there’s a lot of overlap in answers to fair/unfair decks.)

General game plan versus fair decks:
Turns 1, 2: use mana enchantments to make more than 1 “land drop” per turn, maybe sneaking a myth realized into play
Turns 3, 4: clean up whatever opponent has been doing (ghostly prison, o-ring effect, spreading seas etc.) and/or resolve kruphix’s insight
Turns 4, 5: Get a win condition (sigil, eidolon) into play or case kruphix’s insight
After turn 5: Hopefully you’ve pretty much won by this point

Versus unfair decks:
Mulligan to backbreaking hate cards if possible. If not, hope for lots of spreading seas.

The deck is incredible against midrange (tested mostly against jund, junk, and grixis) and fine versus zoo/affinity/elves (ghostly prison, plenty of 2-drop removal spells). My version crushes burn out of the sideboard, has game versus scapeshift, junk company, and infect, and pretty much dies to tron and amulet.

Because so much of the deck’s manabase is tied up in enchantments (keeping kruphix’s insight awesome), you need to mulligan more than you would with an average modern deck. I’m beginning to think that the nykthos is too greedy and should just be a plains.

Compared with the original deck in this thread, this version isn’t as top-end powerful (no emrakul…) and not as explosive, but dodges removal and has absurd card advantage engines built in, so I’d imagine I’m worse versus unfair decks and better against fair ones.

I’m always testing and tweaking this deck and would love to hear others’ thoughts on it.

[CaptainTwiddle]

I’ve also been playing an enchantress deck to some decent success in my local stores. It’s strategically quite a bit different from the one here. List now, explanation below:

enBANTments:

4 Kruphix's Insight
3 Eidolon of Blossoms
4 Sigil of the Empty Throne
4 Myth Realized

4 Ghostly Prison
4 Journey to Nowhere
1 Stasis Snare
2 Oblivion Ring

4 Spreading Seas

1 Runed Halo
1 Nevermore
1 Rest in Peace

4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Fertile Ground
4 Windswept Heath
1 Verdant Catacombs
2 Horizon Canopy
3 Temple Garden
2 Razorverge Thicket
2 Plains
2 Forest
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Breeding Pool

Sideboard
3 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Monastery Siege
1 Wrath of God
1 Detention Sphere
1 Choke
2 Path to Exile
2 Suppression Field
1 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence

My version moves away from the arbor elf-based acceleration plan and plays a fairer game...

I like your take. I definitely think that you can effectively lean toward being more midrange with an Enchantress shell and it does exactly what you've stated; it out values other fair decks with card draw. Personally, I'm really high on black, particularly for Doomwake Giant. I know I've raved about it in many of my prior posts, but until you've tried out the card, I don't think you can fully understand how powerful it actually is in the format. If you go black, you can also use Seal of Doom, which is absurd if you're on the Starfield of Nyx plan. I think the theoretical risk of playing a more midrange based strategy with Enchantress is that you open yourself up to being hated out post-board if people are actually packing things like Back to Nature or Ray of Revelation. You're still vulnerable to those if you're on the combo plan (in fact, they can likely be even more devastating), but you have the upshot of just being able to go faster and win before those cards are drawn. In the larger meta, that isn't really an issue presently, but if the Enchantress archetype becomes more popular, there is a lot of hate out there to contend with.

The thing that I like the most about your list is the ability to effectively utilize Suppression Field; I'd love to run it myself, but it really hampers your ability to run fetchlands. The ability to use fetches in conjunction with Courser of Kruphix to filter your draws has been something that I just value too much to give up running fetches. I also happen to believe in the relevance of deck-thinning a bit more than most players, but particularly in critical mass type decks (also, the margin of life-loss vs the marginal benefit of deck-thinning is negated by Courser's life-gain).

Starfield is a really powerful card and seems like the tandem win-con alongside Sigil for a midrange variant. I use a Starfield package in my board, as the combo versions are just too fast for Starfield to do much (and if you're behind by the time you're casting it, it's unlikely to be enough to recover).

Moving away from runn3runn3r's list...

Per some suggestions from a prior post, I tried a Bant version that eschewed Verduran Enchantress for Monastery Siege. I also opted to run x2 Sphinx's Tutelage in the deck as the primary win-con. It was fun, and had the upshot of just being an engine deck that wins by continuing to run, but it was durdly to the max and I often found myself drawing so many cards and making so much mana that Emrakul was still easy to cast. I actually like Emrakul in conjunction with Tutelage, as you can discard Emrakul to shuffle your graveyard back into your library to continue drawing and deck your opponent, which actually came up as a necessity more than once (reminder the Eidolon of Blossoms trigger is mandatory). For the time being, I've opted for the somewhat more straight-forward Abzan build. Similar to how Splinter Twin plays like a tempo deck that has an "oops, I win" combo, my enchantress builds function like an Abzan/Jund midrange deck with a 15/15 flying, annihilating, extra turn granting "oops, I win" combo. The planeswalkers, Garruk Wildspeaker in particular, also offer an alternate angle of attack that can't be readily answered by enchantment hate.

[CaptainTwiddle]

Here's another version of an Enchantress deck that I've been testing. It's a lot of fun and attacks from a different angle. It's less explosive, but hinges a bit less on individual cards.

EnBantress Mill
CREATURES
3 Courser of Kruphix
4 Eidolon of Blossoms
4 Herald of the Pantheon
2 Thassa's Devourer
SPELLS
2 Abundant Growth
1 Copy Enchantment
1 Detention Sphere
3 Fertile Ground
2 Ghostly Prison
2 Journey to Nowhere
3 Monastery Siege
1 Sigil of the Empty Throne
3 Sphinx's Tutelage
3 Spreading Seas
1 Starfield of Nyx
1 Kruphix's Insight
4 Utopia Sprawl
LAND
3 Forest
1 Island
1 Plains
3 Breeding Pool
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
3 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath

It's a mill deck. Sphinx's Tutelage is actually pretty nuts. Thassa's Devourer is adorably janky, but surprisingly good, as 6 toughness makes it a great blocker and its mill trigger really does work well toward your win-con. The only thing that really makes me hesitant about playing this particular build is that mill isn't a viable win-con against Tron or any deck that happens to be packing an Eldrazi titan. You can run Rest in Peace or something in the board and Sigil of the Empty Throne gives you an alternate means of winning, but it's not very reliable in the Tron matchup (Ugin, the Spirit Dragon just wrecks you). Tron aside, you have a chance against most decks. I wanted to run Suppression Field, but I don't think you can run a 3 color mana base without fetchlands, and you really do want to be able to fetch to shuffle away lands on the top of your library (revealed by Courser of Kruphix) so you can keep chaining your enchantments. I can't decide if Arbor Elf has a place in this version. The mana acceleration it offers would be welcome, but this deck really benefits from running so lean on non-enchantments, I don't really want to dilute the deck.

[CaptainTwiddle]

With the release of Oath of the Gatewatch and the banning of Splinter Twin and Summer Bloom, I've updated my Abzan Constellation list (Abzan is the version I've been happiest with).

Abzan Constellation
CREATURES
4 Arbor Elf
3 Brain Maggot
2 Courser of Kruphix -cut 1
2 Doomwake Giant
4 Eidolon of Blossoms
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Herald of the Pantheon
3 Verduran Enchantress -cut 1
SPELLS
3 Fertile Ground
2 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Ghostly Prison -cut 1
1 Oath of Gideon +added 1
3 Oath of Nissa +added 3
1 Overgrowth -cut 1
1 Quarantine Field
1 Sigil of the Empty Throne
4 Utopia Sprawl
LAND
2 Forest
1 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
3 Overgrown Tomb
3 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath

Sideboard
1 Agent of Erebos
1 Aura of Silence
1 Choke
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Greater Auramancy
1 Idyllic Tutor
1 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Mark of Asylum
1 Rest in Peace
1 Seal of Doom
1 Seal of Primordium
1 Starfield of Nyx
2 Stony Silence
1 Worship

Changes/Explanation:
Oath of Nissa is a huge boon to this deck. It gives us another relevant turn 1 play and a cheap enchantment that generates value. It can dig for of our engine pieces, a fatty/win-con, Nykthos, or Garruk. It's also a 1cmc enchantment which is what the deck absolutely wants. To fit the 3 copies of Oath of Nissa I trimmed a Courser of Kruphix, a Verduran Enchantress, and an Overgrowth. The Oaths serve as virtual copies of the creatures and the ability to dig for Arbor Elf or Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx alleviated the desire for a second Overgrowth.

Oath of Gideon took the place of a Ghostly Prison. While Prison was/is great, preventing the Splinter Twin combo isn't a worry anymore. Oath of Gideon provides chump blockers and fills a similar role to Prison, as it buys you time while being an enchantment. The other relevant part of Oath of Gideon is that it allows Garruk Wildspeaker to immediately hit his ultimate and serve as a discounted Overrun. This makes Garruk a more reliable win-con. Starts like Elf, into random creature, into Oath of Gideon (+2 bodies), into Garruk ultimate for the win are completely within the realm of possibilities.

The sideboard has also been updated, but is far from set. I added another Stony Silence, as I anticipate an uptick in Tron and Affinity decks. A lot of the other inclusions are based on bringing in a Starfield of Nyx package, but I've been doubting whether that's really worth it. There are so many really powerful enchantments that it might just be better to run 1 or 2 copies of all the best hosers and then an Idyllic Tutor to bring in with the appropriate silver bullet. That said, multiple Oath of Nissa interact nicely with Starfield; their legendary status allows you to return a 2nd copy to play, get its trigger (along with any constellation triggers), and put the card back into the graveyard for a repeat the following turn.

[moseby]

Would not Daxo's torment not be a good option as a finished in junk builds?
5/5 hasty flier, seems OK to me.

[CaptainTwiddle]

Would not Daxo's torment not be a good option as a finished in junk builds?
5/5 hasty flier, seems OK to me.

Daxos's Torment is not Modern legal, as it appears only in the Commander 2015 product.

[Obould]

Hi,

I have moved a little more to a tooth & nail devotion than my previous tooth & nail enchantress. I just have to be more explosive and try to goldfish game 1. I'm not sure if it is more fun but at least it wins more games in this meta. Here is my deck list at the moment:


15 Forest
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Kessig Wolf Run

4 Arbor Elf
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Oath of Nissa
4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Fertile Ground
2 Strangleroot Geist

3 Courser of Kruphix
4 Eidolon of Blossoms
4 Garruk Wildspeaker

4 Tooth and Nail
2 Hornet Queen
1 Xenagos, God of Revels
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

Starngleroot Geist is purely against fast aggro (especially aggro eldrazi). It is also great at making devotion. In the sideboard are then more or less traditional enchantress cards and also Gut shots. Garruk -> hornet queen -> garruk's overrun is just great!

[Anarky87]

4 Arbor Elf
1 Nyx-Fleece Ram
4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Eidolon of Blossoms

4 Utopia Sprawl
3 Fertile Ground
1 Greater Auramancy
4 Ghostly Prison
2 Idyllic Tutor
2 Journey to Nowhere
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Sigil of the Empty Throne
2 Sphere of Safety
1 Starfield of Nyx

6 Forest
4 Plains
1 Marsh Flats
4 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills

2 Nyx-Fleece Ram
2 Runed Halo
2 Rest in Peace
2 Nevermore
2 Stony Silence
1 Choke
2 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Sphere of Safety
1 Open the Vaults

This is what I've been trying in my spare time. Seems to run fairly well, but I'd like play some tournaments first with it to try it out. I've been tinkering around with it and this is my current iteration. The first couple attempts proved to be too slow.

[CaptainTwiddle]

It has been a while since I updated this thread. I've still been playing around with the Constellation deck. Here's my current list:

Constellation
CREATURES
4 Arbor Elf
2 Courser of Kruphix
3 Doomwake Giant
4 Eidolon of Blossoms
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Herald of the Pantheon
2 Verduran Enchantress
SPELLS
4 Fertile Ground
2 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Mana Bloom
2 Nahiri, the Harbinger
1 Oath of Gideon
1 Oath of Liliana
4 Oath of Nissa
4 Utopia Sprawl
LAND
2 Forest
1 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
2 Overgrown Tomb
3 Temple Garden
1 Stomping Ground
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath

Sideboard
1 Agent of Erebos
1 Aura of Silence
1 Choke
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Greater Auramancy
2 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Mark of Asylum
1 Quarantine Field
2 Rest in Peace
1 Seal of Primordium
2 Stony Silence
1 Worship

The main change is the addition of Nahiri, the Harbinger. The red splash is essentially free, as Fertile Ground, Utopia Sprawl, Oath of Nissa, Mana Bloom, and a single Stomping Ground make Nahiri more than readily castable. She adds a bit of removal to the deck that was otherwise lacking and provides a solid win condition with Emrakul. I've also included an Oath of Liliana as an additional piece of removal that works to protect your planeswalkers and can provide bodies that serve as a realistic win condition when paired with Garruk Wildspeaker's ultimate.

One more quick note about Nahiri, she's one of the last cards you want to see across the table, as her -2 can basically exile all of your relevant cards.

I've added a 3rd Doomwake Giant, as the card continues to impress me and having multiples in play presents a nearly unbeatable board position against most creature-based strategies.

The single Mana Bloom adds a lot of staying power to the deck. It ramps your mana, fixes your colors, and at best provides an enchantment with a net cost of zero that gets all your constellation triggers to fire.

Molting Skin is the next card I'd like to try to squeeze into the deck or sideboard. It seems good against decks that are heavy on removal as a way to protect your draw engine and also serves as a powerful constellation enabler as an enchantment that you can potentially cast multiple times each turn for as little as a single green mana.

[Anarky87]

I'm going to try out a change of -1 Temple Garden, -1 Sigil of the Empty Throne for +1 Stomping Ground, +1 Assemble the Legion. Then I'm gonna try and squeeze a couple Blood Moon into the board.

[Dihensoeur]

Hi all,

I like the concept and would like to suggest some ideas.

About choosing color which colors play:

- Green is obvious.
- Red can offer only Blood Moon (I don't see anything else).
- Black is, for me, obvious too and should be more exploited.
- White is interesting for hates.
- Blue can offer an interesting card: Riptide Chimera to have a quick flying creature turn 2 and get back cards like Oath cards.

Constellation deck means to me a control deck and so should maximize control card.

I suggest something like this:
Constellation
SPELLS
4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Oath of Liliana (we don't want any creature from opponent's field)
4 Seal of Doom
4 Abundant Growth (too powerful card)
CREATURES
4 Riptide Chimera ("combo" with the deck)
2 Courser of Kruphix
3 Doomwake Giant
4 Herald of the Pantheon
3 Grim Guardian (idea of kill and good blocker)
1 Pharika, God of Affliction (to manage swarm)
1 Doran, the Siege Tower (good with many constellation)
4 Nyx-Fleece Ram
2 Worship (why not MD ?)
LAND
20 lands

About your list:
- I personaly don't like Enchantress like Eidolon or Verduran (or maybe x1 Eidolon), totally useless in battle, too weak, dead too easily, ...
- 14 accelerators is too much and so you are lack of control cards.
- Nahiri: if you add this kill that means for me you don't have a list good enough to win with constellation theme.


What do you think about it ?

[CaptainTwiddle]

Hi all,

I like the concept and would like to suggest some ideas.

About choosing color which colors play:

- Green is obvious.
- Red can offer only Blood Moon (I don't see anything else).
- Black is, for me, obvious too and should be more exploited.
- White is interesting for hates.
- Blue can offer an interesting card: Riptide Chimera to have a quick flying creature turn 2 and get back cards like Oath cards.

Constellation deck means to me a control deck and so should maximize control card.

I suggest something like this:
Constellation
SPELLS
4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Oath of Liliana (we don't want any creature from opponent's field)
4 Seal of Doom
4 Abundant Growth (too powerful card)
CREATURES
4 Riptide Chimera ("combo" with the deck)
2 Courser of Kruphix
3 Doomwake Giant
4 Herald of the Pantheon
3 Grim Guardian (idea of kill and good blocker)
1 Pharika, God of Affliction (to manage swarm)
1 Doran, the Siege Tower (good with many constellation)
4 Nyx-Fleece Ram
2 Worship (why not MD ?)
LAND
20 lands

About your list:
- I personaly don't like Enchantress like Eidolon or Verduran (or maybe x1 Eidolon), totally useless in battle, too weak, dead too easily, ...
- 14 accelerators is too much and so you are lack of control cards.
- Nahiri: if you add this kill that means for me you don't have a list good enough to win with constellation theme.


What do you think about it ?

I think there are a lot different ways to go about building the Constellation deck. You can build it to be midrange, combo, control, or a hybrid thereof. Riptide Chimera is an interesting card for the more midrange style, as it beats down pretty effectively and is large enough to survive Lightning Bolt. I'm not a huge fan of Abundant Growth, as the color fixing isn't as important as mana ramp, at least in the builds I've tried. I think if you're going to play blue, especially if you're including Riptide Chimera, you should be running Spreading Seas, as it's potent disruption against a number of decks and is a value enchantment regardless. Personally, I like the inclusion of planeswalkers, as it provides another angle of attack from the deck and is facilitated by Oath of Nissa, which is one of the more powerful cards you can be playing in Constellation. I have to disagree about my list having too many accelerators and too little control. While I'd like to have more control elements, all the cheap acceleration, combined with the Eidolons/Enchantresses allows the deck to function well enough, as you can dig to the removal you have. Nahiri adds to the removal and being able to ramp mana quickly and have the ability to play multiple spells per turn makes Doomwake Giant an incredibly powerful source of board control. I'm not a huge fan of Oath of Liliana if you're not playing planeswalkers and Seal of Doom has enough of a targeting restriction that I don't like running more than 1 in the main. I think the inclusion of both Oath and Seal are more justifiable if you're playing Starfield of Nyx, as you get recursive value and it turns the Legendary status of the Oaths into an upgrade. If you have Blue and White in your list, I find it hard not to justify the inclusion of at least 1 Detention Sphere.

One last note about the consideration of Red: Blood Moon is by far the most powerful draw toward red, but it definitely puts deckbuilding constraints on you, as you have to include a higher number of basic lands and/or cards like Abundant Growth, Fertile Ground, and Mana Bloom. I think Chained to the Rocks is the other draw to Red, despite being a White card, but that only adds further constraint on your mana base, as you now need to include a sufficient number of Mountains, which can be hard outside of relying on Blood Moon to create a few.

[Dihensoeur]

I'm not a huge fan of Abundant Growth, as the color fixing isn't as important as mana ramp, at least in the builds I've tried.
It's more to draw for one mana than fixing color.



I think if you're going to play blue, especially if you're including Riptide Chimera, you should be running Spreading Seas, as it's potent disruption against a number of decks and is a value enchantment regardless.

Good idea, keeping the draw engine and add more effect on the opponent.



Personally, I like the inclusion of planeswalkers, as it provides another angle of attack from the deck and is facilitated by Oath of Nissa, which is one of the more powerful cards you can be playing in Constellation.

Becareful with Oath of Nissa, you can't get non-creature enchantment.



I'm not a huge fan of Oath of Liliana if you're not playing planeswalkers

The best utility of Oath of Liliana is to kill one creature. But ok if you're not fan.
The goal is to have control enchantment cards.

Starfield of Nyx can be one slot to test yes.

I don't like cards like Detention Sphere/Oblivion Ring/... because it's your opponent that choose when he get back the exiled card (except for tokens), so it's too dangerous. Maybe it's ok in Modern format (but I don't think so), but I know from Legacy format that is not good at all.



One last note about the consideration of Red: Blood Moon is by far the most powerful draw toward red, but it definitely puts deckbuilding constraints on you, as you have to include a higher number of basic lands and/or cards like Abundant Growth, Fertile Ground, and Mana Bloom. I think Chained to the Rocks is the other draw to Red, despite being a White card, but that only adds further constraint on your mana base, as you now need to include a sufficient number of Mountains, which can be hard outside of relying on Blood Moon to create a few.
Agree.


It's ok if you prefer ramp PW way. It was just to suggest another Constellation way.

[CaptainTwiddle]

In light of the recent comments above, I threw together a Sultai version of Constellation that plays more of a midrange game. While it still has a draw engine, the deck is much less combo oriented. It's more about establishing board presence and just crushing other fair decks through card advantage.

Sultai Constellation
CREATURES
4 Arbor Elf
2 Courser of Kruphix
3 Doomwake Giant
3 Eidolon of Blossoms
3 Grim Gaurdian
4 Herald of the Pantheon
3 Riptide Chimera
SPELLS
2 Abundant Growth
1 Copy Enchantment
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Kiora, Master of the Depths
2 Oath of Liliana
3 Oath of Nissa
4 Spreading Seas
4 Utopia Sprawl
LAND
3 Forest
1 Island
1 Swamp
3 Breeding Pool
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
3 Overgrown Tomb
4 Verdant Catacombs

Many of the less fair decks in the format (e.g. Affinity and Infect) have few ways to overcome a Doomwake Giant. Oath of Liliana feels pretty good alongside the Giant, as you can stack the triggers to wipe the board of smaller things and let the Oath cleanup a straggling fatty.

Spreading Seas is an all star in this deck, at times gaining you life, draining your opponent, disrupting their mana, and drawing you multiple cards, all for a single mana.

Arbor Elf provides such potent acceleration with Utopia Sprawl that I felt behooved to include it. But even without Sprawl, the Elf facilitates casting the decks 3 drops on turn 2 or enables the play of a turn 2 Herald of the Pantheon into Spreading Seas.

Oath of Nissa is a good curve filler and is cheap enchantment cantrip. The ability to dig for Doomwake Giant or Nykthos is great. The cards will rarely, if ever, totally miss. The specific card you end up grabbing isn't as relevant as the fact that you've simply drawn an additional card and triggered Constellation. Garruk Wildspeaker is included as a possible grab that provides a diversified win condition and acts as a sort of "super Arbor Elf" by untapping enchanted lands and Nykthos. Kiora, Master of the Depths is also thrown into the mix as another source for untapping an Arbor Elf along alongside a land. She can also dig for your creatures/lands and her ultimate is game winning. While infrequent, Kiora actually leads to the most powerful start the deck can have of turn 1 Forest + Arbor Elf, turn 2 Forest, Utopia Sprawl, tap/untap with Elf, cast Kiora, untap Elf and enchanted land, generate an additional 4 mana, which can then cast any number of additional things (extra points for casting Garruk, untapping your lands and utilizing the 3 additional mana).

Copy Enchantment is a spicy inclusion. It essentially acts as a discounted copy of one of your value pieces. Copying a Doomwake Giant and having ample mana left up all but ensures that you'll wipe your opponent's board. Adding a second Eidolon of Blossoms will draw you an obscene amount of cards. Even copying a Grim Guardian is a solid defensive play that turns into your condition once you've stabilized. Perhaps the greatest thing about Copy Enchantment though, is that you can pick it up with Riptide Chimera to replay/reset it as needed.

Possible enchantment sideboard options:
Agent of Erebos - Graveyard hate attached to a body that happens to be an enchantment. It's not the most efficient at what it does, but the added synergy make it a strong consideration. Agent is rather good against opposing Tarmogoyfs, which tends to be a somewhat problematic card, as it essentially gets a free +1/+1 against the Constellation deck by virtue of the abundance of enchantments.
Brain Maggot - Disruption against combo decks. It may be worthy of maindeck inclusion, but I couldn't think of what it would edge out.
Choke - Powerful hoser, but definitely metagame dependent (currently, there aren't many decks running an abundance of Islands, save for Merfolk, but between their non-Islands and Aether Vial, Choke doesn't lock them out). Note that there is some potential self-inflicted harm deployment of Choke, but Arbor Elf and Utopia Sprawl let you work through it.
Ground Seal - Graveyard hate that is limited in its applications, as it doesn't completely nullify graveyard strategies. It's most useful against Snapcaster Mage decks. The fact that it's a cantrip in and of itself is a nice bonus.
Leyline of the Void - Possibly your best option for graveyard hate.
Monastery Siege - Taxes opposing removal or can provide yet another source of card draw/filtering.
Reality Acid - At the risk of being too cute, this acts as a recursive pseudo Vindicate when combined with Riptide Chimera.
Seal of Doom - Additional removal; relegated to the board due to targeting restrictions.
Seal of Primordium - Artifact/Enchantment removal.
Underworld Connections - It might be overkill, but it provides a less vulnerable source of card advantage for attrition matchups and can be activated multiple times per turn cycle with Arbor Elf.

[Dihensoeur]

I hope I wasn't wrong about my suggestions :) .
I would like to heard your tests results.

About Gravehate, the best still Rest in peace, is it possible to have it in sideboard with a white ravland ?

[CaptainTwiddle]

I hope I wasn't wrong about my suggestions :) .
I would like to heard your tests results.

About Gravehate, the best still Rest in peace, is it possible to have it in sideboard with a white ravland ?

I'm hoping to take the Sultai list to a legit Modern event soon. I was really high on my prior GWBr list with Nahiri, but I've been converted to the Sultai brew for the time being; it's just leaner and less fancy, with better disruption and removal. I'll definitely write a report once I run this through a real event.

I'm strongly considering a white splash, just for sideboard cards. Rest in Peace and Stony Silence are just too good to ignore, not to mention things like Greater Auramancy and Mark of Asylum (Anger of the Gods was a real nightmare for me with other versions of this deck, as you play so much to the board). I think you can run a single Temple Garden in the main without much negative effect. I'd likely either trim a basic Forest or an Overgrown Tomb to make room for it.