[Deck] Solitaire (Enchantress)

I have been running 1 Choke main since GP Chicago, and now is even more of a reason too. I may have stated this in an earlier post, at least 1/3 of the decks had blue in them. If I am reading the meta as well as I can, Reanimator and decks that beat said deck willl be the popular ones, therefore most prevalent. Preparing for a heavy :u: environment is a good strategy, Sorry if I'm looking into the expect meta, but I am preparing for Columbus, which will top previous North American Grand Prix's, and I need to focus on what this will entail. There will be a lot of randoms, some with some sick shit, but I really expect Top 16 to have Zoo, Merfolk, Fairies, Reanimator, UGxxxl(of 1 form or another that has goyf, Force, daze, Brainstorm, Counterbalance, Sensei's Divining Top, etc...) Goblins, New Horizons, Dredge, ANT, and my Enchantress. So anyone one who is playing in the Tournament should pool with what we have so far and come up with a good way to neutralize most of the meta. Choke far surpasses City of Solitude, because it locks them down instead of hindering their counter magic. Counterbalance doesn't care who's turn it is, it just stops you from casting. Choke stops them from activating Top, holds Reanimator from attacking with Iona on white, as long as you have a Grass out with said Choke.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dontbiteitholmes

Still have only played one Zoo player in 5 tournaments, zero Goblins, and one Merfolk. Not sure if my deck hates me or just my luck in general (Last tournament I mulled to 5 six times in 7 rounds and I run 8x Enchantress 4x Guile). Cutting out Lignify since everyone has realized Reanimator is a bad deck and it's worse than O. Ring vs. every other deck.

---

I'll trade you metagames! Locally I'm seeing 2ish zoo, goblins is making a comeback and merfolk is nowhere to be seen. Reanimator has two guys playing it more or less constantly.

I've actually switched for the moment to New Horizons, but still like this a lot. I'm currently 2 cards from an all foreign enchantress. Anyone want to swap me an italian moat and stuff for an english one?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gibbie_X

I have been running 1 Choke main since GP Chicago.....

---

I have a similar meta. Would you mind sharing your list?

What happened to all the Merfolk? Seems like it crushes most U decks and the meta is well over 50% blue decks yet it seems like less people play Merfolk every week even though it was all over T8 for a hot minute.
*edit* yes I also added a Choke MD and neglected to mention it. City of Solitude is <<<<< Choke for hindering blue and if you don't want your stuff countered Shusher >>>>> City. Choke slows them down, Shusher cuts off counters and splashing 1 Trop for In The Eye of Chaos is better than City and relevant vs any deck that brings in Grips as well as combo, counters, and burn. I see no reason anyone should ever run City when there are 3 better options.

Maybe a silly question, but isn't it possible to run 2 or so copies of Mystic Remora as a deterrant or just as a draw source? I'm planning to run 2-3 copies with Words of Wind to bounce back Elephant Grass or the Remora if need be.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by aznepyon7

Maybe a silly question, but isn't it possible to run 2 or so copies of Mystic Remora as a deterrant or just as a draw source? I'm planning to run 2-3 copies with Words of Wind to bounce back Elephant Grass or the Remora if need be.

---

Not a silly question. Different deck. You're looking for "Eternal Wind".

How many chokes do you think should be played main? Im thinking two. I am also going to GP Columbus and i am expecting a lot of blue. Right now i am playing one choke but i am thinking about taking out my lone karmic justice for another one. Choke is better than justice against about 90% of the current meta. I was playing city of solitude but i realized that it is only good against blue (and i sided it out every game that i wasnt facing a blue deck) and choke is much better than city. I feel like sooo many of the top decks have blue right now, and the ones that dont (like zoo) city of solitude doesnt help that much.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wcm8

The thing I've been realizing is that we (or at least for my build) need to include more spot removal in Enchantress. Just because we can tutor for some of our answers, doesn't mean we should sacrifice consistency. I think 1 Oblivion Ring is far too low, and that 3, possibly 4 is the correct number.

---

I personally play 2, which i feel is enough

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wcm8

I'm going to drop Horizon Canopy for 2 basics. I like the optional draw effect, but it seems to just serve as a Wasteland target early in the game (when you actually need to use it for mana), and later on with an engine established it's not really needed. I also found Chrome Mox to be pretty much worthless. Turn 1 Argothian is nice, but 8 land auras should be enough acceleration. Tends to be a really bad top deck as well.

---

Full agreement here, you do NOT want to enchant your non basic lands with enchant lands, and you usually do not need the 1 extra draw. Furthermore, mox is nice for a turn 1 enchantress, or a turn 1 runed halo vs combo, but the card becomes a dead draw around turn 2-3 (since it also creates card disadvantage)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wcm8

I'm upping my MD Replenish count to 3

---

I dont think this is nessecary, but then again, i play a very strange enchantress list atm :P ill share it soon

I've been having great success playtesting with 2 Carpet of Flowers and 2 Choke main deck. Versus some decks they are entirely worthless, but when they help, they can essentially secure the game. In the same way that resolving a Moat means GG against some decks, Choke can also lead to opponents scooping (or at least putting them back multiple turns while you stabilize).

I'm glad for the suggestion on this, the aggro matchup is still fine even with 4 dead slots... and now with the recent banning on Mystical Tutor, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a metagame shift towards blue decks. This works in our favor for two very important reasons: 1) some of our worst matchups will now either not show up at all, or at least be far less consistent, and 2) maindecking strong blue hate will become even better/relevant.

I'd still consider a couple sideboard slots for Combo, but damn, Enchantress just got what I think is a HUGE boost in competitiveness.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wcm8

I'm glad for the suggestion on this, the aggro matchup is still fine even with 4 dead slots... and now with the recent banning on Mystical Tutor, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a metagame shift towards blue decks. This works in our favor for two very important reasons: 1) some of our worst matchups will now either not show up at all, or at least be far less consistent, and 2) maindecking strong blue hate will become even better/relevant.

I'd still consider a couple sideboard slots for Combo, but damn, Enchantress just got what I think is a HUGE boost in competitiveness.

---

I halfway agree with this. I think it's going to cause me to swap my personally championed Blood Moon over to Choke. I think that 'geddon Stax just got potentially playable with Grim Monolith coming back. I'm not OMG! yet, but I think it could have the speed it needs to hold up to aggro now and combo is less threatening also. We may need to look for something for this also.

Quote:

---

I'm glad for the suggestion on this, the aggro matchup is still fine even with 4 dead slots... and now with the recent banning on Mystical Tutor, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a metagame shift towards blue decks.

---

Wait, what? How does combo getting neutered, a positive matchup for blue decks, make blue stronger? Combo getting neutered makes aggro stronger, which makes blue weaker. You have it backwards...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hanni

Wait, what? How does combo getting neutered, a positive matchup for blue decks, make blue stronger? Combo getting neutered makes aggro stronger, which makes blue weaker. You have it backwards...

---

The reason I think there is going to be a shift toward control now is me thinking about this. The control decks were almost able to work before with combo and aggro pulling them in opposite directions. With combo being reigned in, it makes them more able to focus on the aggro matchup. I think this will cause it to come back a bit in popularity.

I agree with Hanni... the Mystical Tutor banning is going to cause an even BIGGER surge in aggro, since combo is the main weakness for decks such as Zoo and Goblins. 4 MD blue hate is going to be way too much, IMHO, although I do like the shift towards Carpet of Flowers, as I feel that it's early acceleration plus a better cantrip once you start comboing off. I might run 2x Carpet of Flowers, move Choke to the board, and have already scrapped CoS from my 75.

And not to be a selfish Enchantress player, but Mystical Tutor banning only helps us. I'm just trying to figure out how I'm going to tweak my list in anticipation for Columbus.

Borrowing from the Elf Combo thread, a card that I can't believe I've overlooked all these years: Crop Rotation

How sexy is that? Rotate Forest for Sanctum, Rotate tapped Sanctum/ Cradle for untapped Sanctum/ Cradle for a burst of 5-10+ mana when you draw it. Draw extra Sanctums/ Cradles, rotate the one in play out, play the new one from your hand. Cradle getting hit by Wasteland- rotate.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jiazhouhuaqiao

Borrowing from the Elf Combo thread, a card that I can't believe I've overlooked all these years: Crop Rotation

How sexy is that? Rotate Forest for Sanctum, Rotate tapped Sanctum/ Cradle for untapped Sanctum/ Cradle for a burst of 5-10+ mana when you draw it. Draw extra Sanctums/ Cradles, rotate the one in play out, play the new one from your hand. Cradle getting hit by Wasteland- rotate.

---

one potential problem I see with crop rotation is that sometimes you are going to need it and not have it, and other times you are going to have multiple copies with nothing to do with them, essentially making them dead cards potentially a lot of the time. Since they aren't enchantments I think they would have to help every time you see one in your hand, since they dont draw off of enchatnress effects and aren't tutorable. It seems to me that crop rotation helps the most when you have several enchantments out and you can abuse sanctum, but by that point you are already in pretty good shape, IMO this deck needs more help in the early game, consistenly getting enchantress effects to stick, which crop rotation helps almost none with. Although if MBA or lots of wastelands are prevalent in your meta, I can see how crop rotation would be really hot even early game against those, although it requires you to hold back from using your mana, slowing you down, potentially fatal.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GiantGrowth

one potential problem I see with crop rotation is that sometimes you are going to need it and not have it, and other times you are going to have multiple copies with nothing to do with them, essentially making them dead cards potentially a lot of the time. Since they aren't enchantments I think they would have to help every time you see one in your hand, since they dont draw off of enchatnress effects and aren't tutorable. It seems to me that crop rotation helps the most when you have several enchantments out and you can abuse sanctum, but by that point you are already in pretty good shape, IMO this deck needs more help in the early game, consistenly getting enchantress effects to stick, which crop rotation helps almost none with. Although if MBA or lots of wastelands are prevalent in your meta, I can see how crop rotation would be really hot even early game against those, although it requires you to hold back from using your mana, slowing you down, potentially fatal.

---

If I need it then it means I have a Sanctum in play, which means I will draw into the Crop Rotation soon anyway.
I can't think of any realistic situation where Crop Rotation is a dead draw and pretty much 95% of the time it's going to make free mana.

If you run Gaea's Touch or ESG then you don't need to hold back mana (on Wasteland). Gaea's Touch means they can't even Disrupt your Rotation...

I'm not sure how good or bad it is early... other than E Tutor, there's nothing you would feasibly run at 1 mana that is helping you find or stick Enchantress effects.

I don't see why you wouldn't start drifting this deck into an Enchantress/ Lands hybrid, Crucible to start playing Sanctums out of your discard, multiple times per turn due to Explorations/ Summer Blooms.

Enchantments that sacrifice lands are Aura Fracture and Overgrown Estate. Artifacts there's Zuran Orb off the top of my head.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jiazhouhuaqiao

I don't see why you wouldn't start drifting this deck into an Enchantress/ Lands hybrid, Crucible to start playing Sanctums out of your discard, multiple times per turn due to Explorations/ Summer Blooms.

Enchantments that sacrifice lands are Aura Fracture and Overgrown Estate. Artifacts there's Zuran Orb off the top of my head.

---

But the reason this doesn't seem feasible is that you are splitting it into two decks. Enchantress works so well because there are so many enchantments, when you start putting slots towards artifacts, sorceries, instants, you lose a lot of consistency. Serra's Sanctum is only amazing after having a good board position, and if that is achieved you're either doing fine without it or have drawn into it.

That's why I think that 4 E tutor main is a good idea.

I get the feeling that the banning of M. Tutor has made this deck the format's Heir Apparent.

also, if they ever printed an enchantment that even came even remotely close to the same functionality as Crucible, then the Lands/Enchantress hybrid would be absolutely baller. Mox Diamond > Chrome Mox, tabernacle dominates with elephant grass...

I sidelined Enchantress a couple of months ago because I wasn't able to improve my CounterTop matchup.

The win-loss results are in games, and the matchups are organized, roughly, from most favorable to least favorable.

Goblins (Mono-Red version) 2-0
Goblins (RBG version) 2-0
Dragon Stompy 2-0
Canadian Thresh 4-0
Merfolk (Mono-Blue version) 2-0
Merfolk (UW version) 2-1
Dredge 8-3
Mono-Brown Stax 2-1
Mirror match 1-1
Reanimator 3-3
Zoo 4-7
CounterTop (Progenitus version) 1-2
CounterTop (Dark Depths version) 1-2
Tempo Bant 0-2
CounterTop (UWB Thopter version) 1-2
43 Land 1-2
Blue Lands 1-2
CounterTop (UBW Stiflenought version) 0-2
CounterTop (UBW mill version) 0-2
Deadguy Ale 0-4
ANT 1-4
CounterTop (Firespout version) 1-8

I'm curious what has been working for other people when facing CounterTop. These are the main countermeasures I have tried: City of Solitude, more Replenishes, Seal of Primordium, Choke. Of these, the best have been Seal of Primordium and Choke. My main problem is that I can't trump multiple copies of Force of Will backed up by either Firespout or an assembled Counterbalance-Top. I need to stick an Enchantress or an Enchantress's Presence to win; if I can't start drawing cards, I lose.