[Deck] Solitaire (Enchantress)

This is the list i'm currently using.

MD:
4 Argothian Enchantress
4 Enchantress's Presence

4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Wild Growth

3 Elephant Grass
3 Solitary Confinement
1 Moat

4 Sterling Grove
3 Mirri's Guile
1 Enlightened Tutor

2 Replenish
2 Oblivion Ring
1 City of Solitude
1 Holistic Wisdom
1 Karmic Justice
1 Words of War
1 Sigil of the Empty Throne

3 Windswept heath
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Serra's Sanctum
2 Savannah
1 Taiga
8 Forest
2 Plains

SB:
4 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Choke
2 Ground Seal
2 Aura of Silence
1 City of Solitude
1 Karmic Justice
1 Elephant Grass
1 Nevermore


Not sure about the Nevermore in the sideboard. Just figured i needed more combo-hate.

I personally like dryad in the deck. It's extremely rare that I GSZ for it, but it saved my ass a couple of times by fetching a surprise chumpblocker when I just need one extra turn to stabilize. It's especially nice with grass.

I'm hesitant between 1 extra oblivion ring (got 1 MD) or 1 lignify in the SB. I'm thinking that lignify could save my ass vs a resolved iona if I already have a grove in play but that seems pretty narrow. Oblivion ring on the other hand can give me some extra help vs CB and show&tell in particular, two MU that I fear.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by guelahpapyrus

According to the starting 7 chart, running 10 Enchantresses (2 of them Zeniths) in a 60 card deck leaves you with a .658329% (66% rounded) chance to have 1 or 2 of them in your hand. In a 61 card deck I've got a .667772% (67%) chance of getting one of 11 Enchantresses (3 Zentihs).

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Your percentages will be even more favorable with 3 Zeniths in a 60-card deck.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by guelahpapyrus

With the added Zeniths, occasionally they're dead so a Dryad Arbor gives them a bit more use and allows me to mulligan with more flexibility.

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If Zeniths are dead, you're probably stone dead and tutoring up Dryad Arbor isn't going to do anything.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by guelahpapyrus

My feeling about this deck is that it can beat anything if it could be just a little bit more consistent with mulligans. Games that I lose are normally due to mulligans, combo, or pernicious deed. So far in my testing, I've had success with 61. I know it goes against tradition but I think the ratios are worth it to help reduce one of those three factors.

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Looking at your list, I would cut 1 Exploration and probably the Dryad Arbor.

I cut the seal of Primordium and the third Zenith and added an enlightened tutor. Three zeniths is too many for 60 cards.

Out of curiosity does anyone else get annoyed with the Death & Taxes MU? I ended up losing to it tonight yet again. Everytime I play against this deck with Enchantress I seem to lose as every card/trick it has seems relevant. Flickerwisp/Mangara of Corondor + Karakas + Aether Vial as well as Rishadan's Port all absolutely wreck my manabase with Ethersworn Canonist essentially sealing the nail in the coffin.

Albeit my meta is just cooky and I honestly wouldn't build my deck/sb around it going into a big tourney or an unknown meta but since I am primarily building around my meta I wanted to see if I could get suggestions for cards to run that would be well suited against it. I won't post my entire list as the general skeleton is pretty regular. Here are the relevant notes:

MD:
I run 2 GSZ with 3 primary flex spots currently occupied by Ground Seal/Vexing Susher/Emrakul the Aeons Torn (note based on my last time playing I was expecting 1-2 Painters Stone and 2+ UR Delver).

SB:
1 Blood Moon
1 Replenish
1 Karmic Justice
2 Aura of Silence
2 Choke
2 City of Solitude
3 Stony Silence
3 Leyline of Sanctity

I know based on what I've seen tonight that I realistically probably don't need the CoS. As much as its been useful in the past the current meta just isn't as counter-heavy as it was back in the CounterTop days and I'm confident this slot could be put to better use. I am also considering taking out the Aura's because frankly I'm the only Enchantress player in my meta as of right now; the other 3 players all seem to have either moved or switched stores.

So, I know I have several slots available, the question is what do I put in to help with this particular MU?

Forlorn Egoist

Chrome Mox is helpful against any deck with Rishadan Port. It also bypasses Canonist. Cursed Totem turns off Mangara and Mother of Runes. Canonist by itself doesn't bother me, but a protected Canonist is a big pain unless they have no other clock. Make sure you have several ways to dispatch Canonist. I killed one last night with a Seal of Primordium.

A single Suppression Field on the table shuts down their entire deck, too.

I'd run more Primordium. It hits Canonist, which seems like the biggest threat, and all their other cards are a lot weaker without Vial.

Perhaps I will test out Chrome Mox. I remember testing it out (as well as ESP) 1 or 2 years ago and not being very fond of them for the deck, however a Mox would be conveinant to play around their mana denial plan which is what always get me. The Canonist by itself is honestly not a card I'm overly worried about when its by itself. The issue comes when they're using their other tricks to prevent me from having the mana necessary to cast the spells I need.

Not sure how I feel about SField as its not really relevant in that many other MU's for me. Perhaps I can throw a couple in the SB.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Forlorn Egoist

First of all, I don't get why their slow mana denial is the problem, versus Canonist. That stuff doesn't come online until turn 3 or 4, why is that so crippling?

And if it IS the problem, how would Chrome Mox be the answer? Both Flickerwisp and Mangara would LOVE to see you play Chrome Mox.

If he starts with a slower hand and is on the draw, Port can tap down whichever land he enchanted before he can cast an Enchantress effect, which can be enough of a delay for the D&T player to get the Mangara combo online before the Enchantress player goes off. At least, I'm assuming this is how it's playing out. Chrome Mox would help in such a situation because he could have two mana on his first turn. Elvish Spirit Guide or Lotus Petal would do the same thing, but the reusability of Chrome Mox is usually helpful against decks that prey on your lands.

@ ESG:

Precisely so. One such an example being:

Him: T1 land, Vial
Me: T1 Forest->Growth/Sprawl.

Him: Vial counter, land, go.
Me: Ports Growth land, drop a land, pass.

Him: Vial counter, land, go.
Me: Ports Growth land, drop a land/Growth or Sprawl, go.

Him: Vial counter, land, drops a creatures, vials in Flickerwisp on Growth land, go.
Me: Ports 2nd land,.... etc.

It doesn't always work out this way, but thats just one example of an annoying scenario. Or, say, I open up with a 2 land and 1-2 Growth/Sprawl and I get locked down when he topdecks a Port. Its not an incredibly prominent MU so I wouldn't alter my deck outside my meta for it, however its just that the Mangara/Flickerwisp/Jotun are all incredibly viable cards against our deck.

Forlorn Egoist

...so if he gets a really good draw, and you don't get any mana, and he's on the play, you can be shut down one land at a time over several turns?

Why is this relevant, again? What does your list look like?

How does Chrome Mox help this? If you lose the land and the Wild Growth/Sprawl, then play another land and a Chrome Mox, you're down 5 cards off the bat, and then you're assuming that you'll have an enchantress on top of that?

D&T: Turn 1 Vial
E: Land, Chrome Mox

D&T: land, pass
E: Land ported, play another land, pass

D&T: land, Flickerwisp targeting mox
E: Land, enchantress, now just as much in a position where recurring LD can screw you over.

All for the Death and Taxes match up against the guy who keeps ripping double-Port and turn 1 Aether Vial? And you never have an Argothian? Or are on the play, where this wouldn't be an issue?

If you're that worried about it, Sheltering Prayers exists. As does Trace of Abundance. And, as someone suggested, Suppression Field, although neutering your fetch-lands when you seem so worried about LD might be counterproductive.

I'm suspecting that the biggest help would be lowering the average cc of your deck. If the D&T gameplan is hindering you that much, your list might be running too many expensive, clunky enchantments.

How do you guys usually play around Deed game 1? I either find myself playing very conservatively or just explode and set up to recover post-Deed. I'm not quite which is correct, or if there is another better way to do so.

If you have Karmic Justice maindeck, then that beats Pernicious Deed, but I'm assuming in this scenario that you don't. If the opponent plays Deed Turn 3 without mana up, you can have either something ready to destroy it before they can activate it or a tutor to find that card. Replenishing the turn after the Deed pops also usually works. In general, I would say try to set up as you usually would but don't overextend. Sometimes they'll draw Deed and sometimes they won't. Back in the day, Bind was some nice technology against Deed, but Karmic Justice is the best answer of late.

Aura of Silence is also a flexible, preemptive answer to Deed.

Has anyone done any serious testing with 19 lands (as opposed to 20)? I'd really like to open up just one more slot...

@ guelahpapyrus:

I haven't playtested 19 lands (as 20 is a nice, round number for skeleton construction of decks) so this is mostly theorycrafting, but I honestly doubt our deck would be gravely influenced by one less land. Not only do we have a low mana curve (average sitting at between 1 and 2 depending on the deck build) but running 7-8 1cc accelerants means we can work with less lands.

My current mana base is:
4 Windswept Heath
2 Wooded Foothills
2 Arid Mesa
2 Serra's Sanctum
1 Taiga
1 Plateau
6 Forest
2 Plains

If I were to free up a land slot I could easily go with either 1 less fetch (Mesa) or 1 less plains. Mines a tad more greedy with fetches than most, but you get the general idea. Once we get 1 plains/1 forest on the field we rarely care about land drops thereafter with exception to Sanctum.

My list currently has 3 flex spots, but I often times find myself wishing I would've have 1 more open spot for tech. In our deck especially going with 1 less land is completely realistic. For me, anyways, that 1 extra flex spot isn't relevant enough that I'm going to put time into playtesting the land count @ 19 however IMO it's very doubtful it will negatively affect us.

Forlorn Egoist

My mana base is:
3 Windswept Heath
2 Verdant Catacombs
8 Forest
2 Plains
2 Serra's Sanctum
2 Savannah
1 Taiga

I've cut one Plains and started testing. I'm with you on the theorycrafting. I don't think it'll be that big of a deal and I think that one extra flex slot will be more valuable than the second Plains (and it's certainly a better solution than 61 cards).

I find that I want to hit land drops each turn with this deck and 20 lands helps that. Also, why aren't you running 4 windswept heath? That card is an auto 4 of because it fetches forests and plains to dodge wasteland.

On deed: aura of silence and karmic justice are the best answers, aura makes it cost a whopping 5 mana and karmic justice says 'lol you blew up everything except my lands.'