This is the currently legal decklist as of 4/5/05

Engine:
4x Argothian Enchantress
4x Enchantress's Presence

Acceleration:
4x Wild Growth
4x Exploration

Security and Stabilizers:
3x Sterling Grove
3x Ground Seal
4x Elephant Grass
2x Sylvan Library
3x Solitary Confinement
2x Seal of Cleansing
1x Aura of Silence

Kill:
1x Words of War
1x Words of Wilding
1x Sacred Mesa

Mana base:
3x Elvish Spirit Guide
7x Forest
4x Windswept Heath
3x Savannah
2x Plains
2x Serra's Sanctum
2x Taiga

SB:

Anti-control:
2x Choke
3x City of Solitude
3x Multani's Presence
Disenchant effects:
2x Aura of Silence
Insurance:
2x Karmic Justice
1x Sacred Ground
1x Null Chamber
Anti-aggro:
1x Parallax Wave

Card choices:

Enchantresses: The deck's core. It really doesn't require much explanation; 4 of each is obvious and necessary; Verduan is too vulnerable and slow to be played.

Sylvan Library: Almost as good as an Enchantress against some decks; I'd rather drop it than Argothian against <s>Dragon</s> Solidarity turn 1/2. The deck has 7 reshuffle effects to work with the Library.

Wild Growth/Exploration:1-drop enchantments that accelerate early game, and cantrip afterwards. The goal is to cast at least 1 Enchantress by turn 2, these are the cards that get it done

Elvish Spirit Guide: See above. The only drawback is that it's not an enchantment. However, provided you can draw other enchantments, it continues to be of use mid-late game in "going off".

Ground Seal: Critical against Dragon and Mud, and has great synergy with the Enchantresses and Solitary Confinement. I replaced many of the deck's "silver bullets" with them. Even without an Enchantress, the ability to cantrip is of more use than an expensive and often dead reactive card that relies on Sterling Grove to tutor.

Sterling Grove: Serving both as protection from targeted disenchant effects and as a tutor for critical spells; it also makes the kill condition a one-slot commitment.

Seal of Cleansing: Deals with random things like Disk, Tanglewire, Winter Orb, tapped out to play Pernicious Deed, and other such obstacles the deck can run up against.

Elephant Grass: It's Propaganda/Light of Day for a one mana investment. The cumulative upkeep doesn't generally need to go past 2, at most.

Solitary Confinement: A thousand times better than Worship, it stops pretty much every kill condition in the game. The drawback is counteracted by the deck's draw engine.

Words of War: The red splash is worth the incredible reliability, flexibility and speed of the improved main kill condition that doubles as board removal.

Sacred Mesa: Reasonably strong kill condition that also makes chump blockers.

Words of Wilding: Usually the secondary kill; stronger on its own than Words of War, but weaker without than Sacred Mesa.

Mana base:

The single red mana source really doesn't come up that often. A single Serra's Sanctum is questionable; two would be nice, but they're almost always dead in the opening hand, so they're high risk.

Update: Recently I've added number 2, but might want to find room for another non-conditional mana source.

Sideboard:

Multani's Presence: It comes down turn 1 and turns every counter into Arcane Denial. One game against TeenieBopper he had to Force of Will a spell with two Multani's Presences out. Crazy card advantage and the price is right.

Aura of Silence: Same as Seal of Cleansing, but a lot better against Pernicious Deed, Landstill and Enchantress.

Karmic Justice: Anti-hate and anti-LD.

City of Solitude: Good against control, and ATS.

Seal of Cleansing: Because it's better than Aura against a lot of decks, and against other decks, 5 disenchant effects are good.

Sacred Ground: Anti-LD. Not very prominent, but LD is such bad news for this deck I feel it's worth it. Good against Sundering Titan and Armageddon.

Null Chamber: Anti-combo, serving dual time against random hosers like Pernicious Deed, Armageddon, Tempest of Light and Tranquil Domain.

Other SB Options:

Exalted Angel, Genju of the Fields, Gaea`s Blessing, Spreading Algea, Compost, Night Soil, Sphere of Law, Ghostly Prison, CoP:Red, Rule of Law, Chalice of the Void, Spiritual Focus, Moat, Humility.

Testing:

I haven`t recorded specific results since the bannings, so these are estimates that are based on mine and Mad Zur`s experience, so they can be taken with a grain of salt and aren`t error-proof. Estimates are pre-SB.

v. Landstill - 45%-55%

Previously this was a heavily favorable match. Since the bannings, the deck has moved more towards Trenches. WoG is an answer to Argothian that the deck lacked previously(not including Disk). They also MD Disenchant now. I think in a meta where Landstill is succesful, it`s priority #1 in the SB, and I would consider having 12 cards to side in. Included are Multani`s Presence, City of Solitude, Choke, Aura of Silence, and I would like to include either Exalted Angel or Genju of the Fields/Cedars. Your best bet is to overwhelm with threats; take out Elephant Grasses, Ground Seals, 2 Explorations, 2 Solitary Confinements, 1 Wild Growth, and the other Confinement only if you have Exalted Angel/Genju of the Fields. I wouldn`t usually suggest playing more than one Argothian at a time.

v. ATS - 65%-35%

You play the beatdown here. The only real way they can win is through countering your early Enchantress or having a particularly explosive Survival hand and you having a slow hand. Exploration, Sterling Grove, and Ground Seal all play roles here, in addition to the normal threats. SB you have the option of Humility, but it shouldn`t be needed unless you have a lot of ATS in your area. If you`re playing first, you can bring in Aura of Silence, otherwise, leave it.

v. Welder Survival - 75%-25%

See ATS match, except they don`t have FoW and Ground Seal is even better. They usually can only win through a third turn Titan. SB you bring in Sacred Ground, Karmic Justice, and Aura of Silence.

v. R/G Survival - 80%-20%

See ATS match, except they have no disruption at all. Their usual strategy of attrition isn`t very relevant, since Solitary Confinement with a Sterling Grove is ultimate card advantage, making their deck useless.

v. Solidarity - 10%-90%

This is basically an auto-loss if they have Cunning Wish and Hibernation in the board. If they don't it's probably 35%-65% in their favor. SB option include Gaea`s Blessing, Null Chamber, and Chalice of the Void. Blue builds can access In The Eye of Chaos, but it has poor synergy with Null Chamber. Currently I have Choke and City of Solitude.

v. 2-Land Belcher - 40%-60%

Your Confinement actually does something in this match, but you need to drop it quick. This is one of those match-ups where you hope to go turn 2 Library, draw 3 cards, drop a Confinement, and be able to keep it up. Aura of Silence comes in, with Null Chamber.

v. U/G Madness - 60%-40%

They have to hit you with early disruption and have pressure; sometimes they have both, more often than not they don`t. This is still a thinking match; always play it safe with your Confinements. One of the oddities of the aggro-control match is having to worry about a Confinement resolving reasonably quickly after an Enchantress has resolved. Elephant Grass is also strong in this match-up. City of Solitude and Parallax Wave come in for Seals of Cleansing and a Ground Seal. If you play in a combo-heavy meta, you might want to leave one SoC in in case of Arcane Lab.

v. Goblin Sligh - 65%-35%

Elephant Grass and Solitary Confinement dominate this match-up; they lack answers to your threats. You have to be more carefu games 2 and 3, but this is usually just a matter of finding a Confinement before they can kill you.

v. Vial Goblins - 70%-30%

Above, but less able to race. Like R/G Survival, you don`t care about their card advantage at all. Post board they might access any combination of Anarchy, Flaring Pain, and Pithing Needle. Anarchy and Flaring Pain both mean that you want to keep Elephant Grasses up, even under Confinement.

v. Hulk - 35% - 65%

Counters, Duress, and Pernicious Deed make this a losing battle. There`s really not that much to be said about it; similiar SBing as Landstill, but take out two SoC for Karmic Justices.

v. WWW/Angel Stompy 70%-30%

This isn`t really hard or complicated; they have a few MD Disenchant effects, and a usually slow clock. SB they have Armageddon, so play with that in mind and you should be fine; you have 4 SB options with the above list for that, plus you can hold back a bit on land. Justice also covers any Weenie lover who brought Tempest of Light.

v. Gro 35-65%

What, like 9 counters, plus Naturalizes/Disenchants/Duress/Pyroclasm(depending on build)? This is hard as hell. CotV for 2 post board is sweet though.



Edited By SpatulaOfTheAges on 1132028221