[Deck] Solitaire (Enchantress)

[anonymos]

a lot of savvy players know that siding in GY hate is somewhat effective vs. Enchantress.

Honestly, I don't really use my graveyard that much. I tend to make fun of people for boarding in GY hate. The only time my stuff dies is if I'm dead or they play a mass sweeper (deed, EE, disk). When I see them coming there is usually some form of Karmic Justice involved and they learn to not sweep again. Replenish for me is only really important against discard and long games with counters involved. I tend to think that they bring in GY hate because they have that much wasted space in dead draws from our lack of creatures.

[dontbiteitholmes]

Yeah, personally if people board in GY hate vs. me I kind of think they are not very good at Magic. The only exception would be if they are playing Deed in which case Karmic Justice is the best answer obviously. Luckily Deed is pretty weak now adays and you aren't likely to see it in any tournament, especially in the later rounds if you are in the winners bracket. If you think Pridemage and Grip are bad for Enchantress, imagine how it feels to be relying on Deed to win games, ouch.

Here's another sideboard card to think about, Null Chamber. I used 1x in the SB back in the day. Of course then it was usually naming Anarchy, shows how much the game has changed in the past 4 years. Luckily one thing hasn't changed, Enchantress is still a kick ass deck. Now adays I would bring it in vs. combo. Vs. Beltcher it would name Burning Wish (or maybe Beltcher itself in a pinch) and Vs. ANT it would name Reverent Silence. Of course either way the purpose is the same, stopping Reverent Silence. This card is the worst thing that could happen to you once you drop a protection card and a Grove. Another alternative would be running Gaddock Teegs. Vs. combo you really don't need Moat at all and Teeg shuts down Beltcher/Empty the Warrens/Ill Gotten Gains/Ad Nauseum/Tendrils/ and of course the most dreaded Reverent Silence. I would at least consider one or the other, Reverent Silence is way too good vs. us.

[SpatulaOfTheAges]

Teeg is an interesting option. Being able to shut down EE is also useful. On the other hand, I've kind of decided on the side of the "screw the combo match up" mentality for myself, which limits his usefulness.

[jiazhouhuaqiao]

Boseiju can force through a Replenish against counterspells. Could be worth it since you win when Replenish resolves.

Of course the flip side is that anything with Islands also has Wastelands.

[HAVE HEART]

Boseiju can force through a Replenish against counterspells. Could be worth it since you win when Replenish resolves.

Of course the flip side is that anything with Islands also has Wastelands.

Usually not. Only tempo decks do, but those do not have Counterbalance, therefore do not have a limitless supply of counters. Counterbalance + Wasteland are generally not used together. Dreadstill is the only deck that I can think of that does.

[dontbiteitholmes]

Vexing Shusher in side is much better than Boseiju. Shusher works on every spell in your deck and doesn't cost 2 life.

[wcm8]

I feel like City of Solitude is a lot more elegant and simple than both Boseiju and Shusher. Obviously, it's an enchantment so it's synergistic with most of your deck -- it can draw cards, it's tutorable, and can be replenished if it get's countered. There have been games when I used Choke and CoS as "counter-bait" for the opponent's FoW's, only to replenish them the next turn.

I like Shusher over Boseiju, but unless you are running the build with worldly tutors, I think it's too inconsistent. Enchantress is one of the few decks that can tutor up the majority of its sideboard options, and a 1-of anti-counter option doesn't seem too great.

edit: yes, reverent silence is a bitch, but you should pretty much always be siding in Karmic Justice if you don't already play it in the main. If you land that, you might be able to buy enough time to replenish if needed. Enchantress is still a somewhat niche deck, and I see a lot of other decks packing 2-3 SB against us at most.

As a side note, has anyone ever noticed thematically how "girly" the Enchantress archetype is? The majority of your spells depict women, your game plan is to passively sit behind various walls, and winning consists of either sending a bunch of angels over the moat or in one big calculated bitch-fit (Words of War). Just thought it was kind of funny.

[tomjulioo]

against the blue decks, of course city of solitude is good, but it's not that good against AnT

In the eye of chaos is good against blue decks AND burn AND AnT / belcher (if it's in play early)

my most important concern is to find something reanimator as an early iona is GG. lignify is good but i only have 1

here's my list:
// Deck file for Magic Workstation (http://www.magicworkstation.com)

// Lands
3 [APL] Plains (2)
2 [A] Savannah
2 [US] Serra's Sanctum
4 [ON] Windswept Heath
8 [EUL] Forest (3)
1 [A] Taiga

// Creatures
4 [US] Argothian Enchantress

// Spells
1 [WL] Aura of Silence
2 [UD] Replenish
4 [VI] Elephant Grass
2 [ALA] Oblivion Ring
1 [VI] City of Solitude
3 [JU] Solitary Confinement
4 [ON] Enchantress's Presence
2 [TE] Mirri's Guile
2 [CFX] Sigil of the Empty Throne
1 [ON] Words of War
4 [DIS] Utopia Sprawl
1 [LG] Moat
4 [IN] Sterling Grove
3 [A] Wild Growth
1 [OD] Ground Seal
1 [MI] Sacred Mesa

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [WL] Aura of Silence
SB: 1 [UD] Replenish
SB: 2 [OD] Karmic Justice
SB: 1 [VI] City of Solitude
SB: 1 [JU] Solitary Confinement
SB: 1 [SHM] Wheel of Sun and Moon
SB: 1 [TE] Choke
SB: 2 [OD] Ground Seal
SB: 2 [ZEN] Journey to Nowhere
SB: 1 [LRW] Lignify
SB: 1 [LG] In the Eye of Chaos
SB: 1 [MR] Rule of Law

any suggestions?

[wcm8]

I'm not much of a fan of Mirri's Guile, and would probably put silver bullets in that slot.
Sacred Mesa? Up to you, but I don't see the need.
Karakas is worth a Plains slot.
You might consider a couple slots for acceleration -- Lotus Petal, Chrome Mox, or ESG.

Sideboard: Journey to Nowhere is an interesting inclusion, but probably a bit limited. Enchantress main deck is already pretty anti-creature.
Sacred Ground might be worth considering if you see land destruction often.
In the Eye of Chaos is cool, but isn't it a bit hard to get out? Sure you have Utopia Sprawl, but..
Runed Halo is great SB, and useful main as well.

[Opax]

I feel like City of Solitude is a lot more elegant and simple than both Boseiju and Shusher. Obviously, it's an enchantment so it's synergistic with most of your deck -- it can draw cards, it's tutorable, and can be replenished if it get's countered. There have been games when I used Choke and CoS as "counter-bait" for the opponent's FoW's, only to replenish them the next turn.

I was playing city and choke for a lot of time. I played 1 of each mb and other 3 slot on sideboard. A lot of match i find myself with a lot of bomb for blue deck in my hand but i don't arrange to land anyone on the board. (counterbalacance with a drop of 3 and our answer can suck...)

Now i play 3 susher in my side and i never found someone that has a rapid answer for them. Ok, it's not an enchantment, don't let you draw, and cannot be replenished but it let you to cast what you need atm. And remember it work with chalice of void too.

In the Eye of Chaos is cool, but isn't it a bit hard to get out? Sure you have Utopia Sprawl, but..

Never had this problem, you just need to pay attention to what color do you call.
And a small note: when you call blue with sprawl it usually scares your opponent.

About Journey to Nowhere i think if you want somewhat similar kirtar desire is a better choice.

About Reanimator a couple of Crop Rotation in side for your karakas md?? so you will have E tutor if they call green and Crop if they call white.

[grahf]

// list

any suggestions?

Most Enchantress players have 2-3 win conditions, you have four. Personally I think that two is too low to find one when you need it, and with four you'd have more than you need sometimes. Three feels just right. It's a choice between the Mesa and the second Sigil.

EDIT: A thought about finding Karakas, Shusher, etc... has anyone tried Living Wish recently? I remember seeing some old builds that used it, I guess back then it was for Cloud of Faeries or Laquatus with the WoWind version.

[tomjulioo]

i used to play 3 win conditions but after seeing lists with 4, i decided to try it
it's not definitive yet.

i've tried to play moxes but i hate having to sacrifice a card from my hand.
i haven't tried ESG but i thought mana accel was to be able to have WW on turn 1 or at wrost 2 to play runed halo VS combo... ok, it makes you daze prof but with already 4 sprawl and 3 growth, daze is not really a big problem...

i'm gonna break my D&T and test karakas...

[Dementia]

Hey,

Been playing Enchantress for a long time now, but I've always disliked the killing speed of the GW version. Just wanted to share a couple of ideas. This is the deck I've been working on and decided to give it a try in GP Madrid (went 5-2-2, lost a game to a topdecked Wasteland on Glacial Chasm in the 4th extra turn that would have been a guaranteed win on the 5th :( ).

Eternal Wind 2.0

// Lands
1 [OD] Cephalid Coliseum
3 [U] Tropical Island
3 [US] Serra's Sanctum
4 [ZEN] Misty Rainforest
10 [UG] Forest
1 [UG] Island

// Creatures
3 [US] Argothian Enchantress
3 [UL] Cloud of Faeries

// Spells
4 [JU] Living Wish
4 [A] Wild Growth
3 [US] Exploration
3 [NE] Parallax Tide
2 [ON] Words of Wind
4 [ON] Enchantress's Presence
4 [DIS] Utopia Sprawl
3 [NE] Seal of Removal
2 [WL] Ancestral Knowledge
2 [SH] Mox Diamond
2 [CHK] Sensei's Divining Top

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [US] Argothian Enchantress
SB: 1 [UL] Cloud of Faeries
SB: 1 [IA] Glacial Chasm
SB: 2 [FD] Eternal Witness
SB: 1 [LG] The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
SB: 1 [US] Gilded Drake
SB: 1 [SHM] Faerie Macabre
SB: 2 [TSP] Krosan Grip
SB: 1 [LRW] Gaddock Teeg
SB: 1 [TSP] Harmonic Sliver
SB: 1 [TE] Wasteland
SB: 2 [SC] Stifle

Basically, it's a combo deck around Words of Wind. It used to be popular back in Extended when Frantic Search was still legal and kind of died because it's speed was not good enough anymore compared to other combo decks. Legacy brings silverbullets that do not make the deck faster, but that can slow opponents down and allow to kill safely.

Not going to explain the whole combo in details, but if you need more explanations just let me know :D Once you can produce 5+ mana with two lands, that you have Words of Wind on the board, two enchantress effects, a Cloud of Faeries, a 1cc enchant into play (exploration) that you can bounce freely and a 1cc enchant in your hand (seal of removal):

-Add 5 mana with your two lands
-Play Seal
-Use the WoW ability twice
-Return Exploration and cloud
-With the remaining 2 mana play Cloud
-Repeat playing Exploration and returning Cloud+Seal

If you can add more than 5 mana => infinite mana. You can play exploration, return seal and draw a card as many times as you want. Once you manage to draw a Living Wish and Cephalid Coliseum, wish for an Eternal Witness and loop with Exploration returning Witness to your hand and Witness returning Coliseum. As it's a new Exploration you are allowed to play Coliseum over and over again. Wish for Gaddock Teeg and play it before you plan to combo for the kill (Coliseum brings them Force of Will, Mindbreak Trap, Ravenous Trap...).

Ideally, that's how it goes but in practice it's far from happening that easily. There are many small combos everywhere in the deck. It is extremely versatile: sometimes Parallax Tide hits the board on turn 2, Tabernacle on turn 2/3. Obviously, the control elements are more fragile than Elephant Grass and Confinement, but it's a trade off for other things. Sensei's Divining Top comboes with Words of Wind... you don't even need to have anything but a bunch of mana! Play the tempo game with Seals, don't be afraid to block with Clouds, even with Enchantress if you have to. Gilded Drake + Seal wins games as well. Witness + Seal is nice too.

One more thing is that you can combo with Tide, a single enchantress effect and WoW.

On card choice:

Originally had replenish in the sideboard, but there are no elephant grass to return, no confinement, no sterling grove and a lot of times it's just not worth it in this version. Boarding in the 2 copies of Witness against decks with a lot of disruption is often better because of the interaction with Seal and WoW. Harmonic Sliver > Pridemage in this deck because it costs the same but sliver doesn't have to die to kill something and can be returned. Trygon Predator is also a possibility.

Tried many different things, from sideboard counterbalance to intuition/1 Replenish/1 Witness/1 Genesis/1 Life from the Loam/1 Coliseum package with the singleton Chasm and Wasteland. Chalice of the Void was an option against ANT too but it was so rare bringing it in that it was not worth it. Wishing Teeg turn 1/2 and playing it on turn 2/3 or playing mana denial with stifle, wasteland and tide is not enough but I don't think more should be added for that specific matchup. It's not unwinnable because our clock is not that slow compared to theirs, but it's not the best matchup either.

Have fun

[dontbiteitholmes]

Welcome to the Source. This thread is for Solitatire, that list is Eternal Wind. Tempo Thresh and Countertop have different threads and they share even more cards in common then our 2 lists. You should really start a new thread or else we are all going to be talking about 2 completely different decks and that's not going to get anyone anywhere. The only thing the 2 Enchantress decks have in common is Enchantress draw engine and fast mana enchantments. Good luck.

[SpatulaOfTheAges]

As a side note, has anyone ever noticed thematically how "girly" the Enchantress archetype is? The majority of your spells depict women, your game plan is to passively sit behind various walls, and winning consists of either sending a bunch of angels over the moat or in one big calculated bitch-fit (Words of War). Just thought it was kind of funny.

I originally wanted to call it PMS instead of Solitaire, but sadly, the name had been taken by some terrible Equipose deck.

[wcm8]

Been doing some tests where I ran 4 sprawl/4 growth, vs. 4 sprawl/2 growth/2 mox.

I don't have a concrete statistical analysis, but I found that you will always want the growths for consistency, and that if you are going to run acceleration you should add it in addition to those four growths. Mox/ESG/Petal don't draw your cards, and while they can be great turn 1 to power out an enchantress, they lose most of their relevancy after that.

[dontbiteitholmes]

Been doing some tests where I ran 4 sprawl/4 growth, vs. 4 sprawl/2 growth/2 mox.

I don't have a concrete statistical analysis, but I found that you will always want the growths for consistency, and that if you are going to run acceleration you should add it in addition to those four growths. Mox/ESG/Petal don't draw your cards, and while they can be great turn 1 to power out an enchantress, they lose most of their relevancy after that.

Lotus Petal is better than Mox for this deck I think. It powers out the early Enchantress without costing 2 cards and it's not bad to draw in the middle of blowing up either as it's often the difference between casting Words of War or casting something less awesome just to draw cards.
Growths are good too but oftentimes slower in the early game when it matters most. It comes up more often for me that I need that extra mana "right now" in the early game than I'm playing enchantments and drawing cards and just fizzle out (I think Guiles help).

I'm not much of a fan of Mirri's Guile, and would probably put silver bullets in that slot.
Sacred Mesa? Up to you, but I don't see the need.
Karakas is worth a Plains slot.
You might consider a couple slots for acceleration -- Lotus Petal, Chrome Mox, or ESG.

Sideboard: Journey to Nowhere is an interesting inclusion, but probably a bit limited. Enchantress main deck is already pretty anti-creature.
Sacred Ground might be worth considering if you see land destruction often.
In the Eye of Chaos is cool, but isn't it a bit hard to get out? Sure you have Utopia Sprawl, but..
Runed Halo is great SB, and useful main as well.

I've moved away from Rule of Law in the sideboard. Storm combo/Beltcher would probably prefer that you play it as opposed to any other hate card. You sit there like a fool playing one card a turn instead of trying to combo out, they just wait until they have what they need then Wish/Mystical Tutor and next turn Reverent Silence and Combo out for the win.
Better options?
Gaddock Teeg- You side out the Moats and he stops Sigil. If you don't run Sigil and chose Sacred Mesa he's a one sided monster who stops Beltcher/Tendrils/EtW and of course Reverent Silence. Teeg + enchantment hate is a good thing. It would be quite a feat for most combo decks to answer Teeg then Silence in the same turn and still have the cards to go off. Of course if they pass the turn once they kill/bounce Teeg they risk you playing another one. Then of course he swings to 2 damage a turn which doesn't hurt, especially if they play Sadistic Sacrament.
Dovescape- It's slow, but if it hits the board vs. combo the game is officially over 99% of the time since they usually don't do non-lethal damage or have relevant creatures.
Runed Halo- Good vs. every combo deck, dies to R. Silence.
Null Rod- I don't think it's the best answer but it does shut down all artifacts making pretty much every combo deck a lot less awesome and it lives through R. Silence.
In the Eye of Chaos- Yes it's very cool, but it's a little high at 3 cmc and it's color #4 and it makes me want to run an extra dual to play it when I need it. Is it worth the trouble? Not to me right now but I've definitely tried it in the past.

[Opax]

I've moved away from Rule of Law in the sideboard. Storm combo/Beltcher would probably prefer that you play it as opposed to any other hate card. You sit there like a fool playing one card a turn instead of trying to combo out, they just wait until they have what they need then Wish/Mystical Tutor and next turn Reverent Silence and Combo out for the win.
Better options?
Gaddock Teeg- You side out the Moats and he stops Sigil. If you don't run Sigil and chose Sacred Mesa he's a one sided monster who stops Beltcher/Tendrils/EtW and of course Reverent Silence. Teeg + enchantment hate is a good thing. It would be quite a feat for most combo decks to answer Teeg then Silence in the same turn and still have the cards to go off. Of course if they pass the turn once they kill/bounce Teeg they risk you playing another one. Then of course he swings to 2 damage a turn which doesn't hurt, especially if they play Sadistic Sacrament.
Dovescape- It's slow, but if it hits the board vs. combo the game is officially over 99% of the time since they usually don't do non-lethal damage or have relevant creatures.
Runed Halo- Good vs. every combo deck, dies to R. Silence.
Null Rod- I don't think it's the best answer but it does shut down all artifacts making pretty much every combo deck a lot less awesome and it lives through R. Silence.
In the Eye of Chaos- Yes it's very cool, but it's a little high at 3 cmc and it's color #4 and it makes me want to run an extra dual to play it when I need it. Is it worth the trouble? Not to me right now but I've definitely tried it in the past.

What about Aetherworn Canonist?? Quite easy to cast on 1st turn, give them a clock, go out of reverent silence.
I'm used to play 2 of them in my side. And probably i'll replace Rule of law with one other of them.

[dontbiteitholmes]

What about Aetherworn Canonist?? Quite easy to cast on 1st turn, give them a clock, go out of reverent silence.
I'm used to play 2 of them in my side. And probably i'll replace Rule of law with one other of them.

Canonist is better then Rule of Law but it still slows you down. Against combo I want to end the game ASAP because I have to assume the turn they clear out my hate cards they are going to win. Also I most likely lost game 1 so I need time for game 3. Teeg stops all the cards that win the game for most combo decks except Painter which doesn't care about Canonist and Glimpse of Nature decks which are terrible and not worth consideration. Teeg also stops the most common SB Tranquility and hits more random decks like Dream Halls and doesn't die to Krosan Grip which is the 2nd biggest concern from combo SBs. I just don't think Rule of Law or Canonist is the way to go. They slow you down in the games you need to win the fastest.

[(nameless one)]

What are the pros and cons of not running duals and not running red?