Enchanted – A Shot at Standard Enchantress

It became a necessity to find something else to play after losing eight straight rounds with Atarka Landfall, and another 4 with Atarka Red. I was determined to stop losing to the various Jeskai and Abzan decks that were flooding the format. Suddenly something clicked in my head while watching the coverage of Pro Tour Battle for Zendikar on Friday. [card]Silkwrap[/card] they had said again and again on coverage. They kept talking about [card]Silkwrap[/card], and then I remembered how many cards there were that exiled creatures and permanents and went to work.

After about twenty minutes I had a rough list for the deck and picked up the cards on Magic Online. And then my wife started looking at me like I’m an idiot as I sat at my computer laughing my ass off while playing the deck. She finally looked over in time to see me land a [card]Starfield of Nyx[/card] and swing for lethal. “How much was that?” she asked as I was laughing hysterically “All of the damages.” I relied. This went on for about two hours until I realized Atarka Red was still a deck and that I needed sweepers.

I went to work trying to figure out what I was going to use to help keep the early threats away. I finally decided that [card]Radiant Flames[/card] was exactly the early sweeper I needed and Immediately put some [card]Outpost Siege[/card] in the sideboard to help in the controlling matchups. After a few more matches I realized I wanted to play this at the PPTQ the next day if I didn’t qualify for the Magic Online PTQ that night with it, so we ended up making a round to the local shops and picking everything I didn’t have up for about $80.00.

I played quite a few more matches trying to ensure that I had the right configuration of cards at my disposal while preparing for the Magic Online PPTQ. I felt like I had it right, so I brought up the window to join. I must have gotten distracted by something, because as I watched the timer count down to begin the event I was doing various things. Suddenly the event began, but my match didn’t pop up. I looked all over for my name, thinking I had gotten the bye. Suddenly it hit me that I had somehow not joined the event. Oops. Well I guess I am playing that PPTQ tomorrow after all.

I showed up to the PPTQ with plenty of time to spare, and waited and waited. We eventually had the event start with eight players. That meant single elimination. I was paired against a Dark Jeskai deck. I was able to maintain the board, but he kept getting in with [card]Mantis Rider[/card]s the turn he would cast them and chipping away with a couple points of burn here and there to take me down a game. Game two I was able to land some win conditions and slowly take the game. Game three didn’t go so well as he had a [card]Disdainful Stroke[/card] waiting for my only win condition of [card]Sigil of the Empty Throne[/card] while I drew nothing relevant.

Do I have enough time to make it to states? I think I do! As I ran off to my car. I made it with about five minutes to spare before the tournament was supposed to start. I quickly got registered and my deck list written out, and then waited about a half an hour for the tournament to start. So much for rushing.

Here is the list that I played for the tournament.

[deck title= States Enchantress]
[Creatures]
4 Herald of the Pantheon
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Myth Realized
4 Silkwrap
4 Suspension Field
4 Stasis Snare
3 Elemental Bond
4 Starfield of Nyx
4 Sigil of the Empty Throne
4 Quarantine Field
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Canopy Vista
1 Cinder Glade
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Forest
10 Plains
[/Land]
[Sideboard]
2 Celestial Flare
4 Surge of Righteousness
3 Radiant Flames
2 Outpost Siege
2 Suppression Bonds
2 Planar Outburst
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

2060412_orig

Round 1- 4 Color Abzan 2-0

Game 1- I started off quite slow this game being down a card on the play, while he was able to put on a lot of pressure. Some timely draws an a [card]Starfield of Nyx[/card] were able to put my opponent on the defensive and then out of the game after being active for a couple of turns.

Game 2- I was able to just dominate this game with some anemic beats from a [card]Myth Realized[/card] backed by all the removal ever.

Round 2- Esper Dragons 2-0

Game 1- I was able to play super tight getting into a battle over a [card]Dragonlord Ojutai[/card] at the end of his turn allowing me to resolve a [card]Starfield of Nyx[/card] on my turn and take over the game.

Game 2- Was super super long, so just some of the cool plays. I was able to resolve a [card]Starfield of Nyx[/card] as some point with active [card]Outpost Siege[/card]. He countered a [card]Suppression Bonds[/card] earlier in the game which I was able to bring back into play on his [card]Dragonlord Ojutai[/card], which would force him to find a 2nd one if he wants to attack with one. He did play another and I brought the [card]Suspension Bonds[/card] back into play on it. [card]Celestial Flare[/card] was also very good as another way to get his dragons off the board, and I did draw both of them.

Round 3- Mono Green Eldrazi 1-2

Game 1- He drew all of his [card]Nissa’s Pilrimage[/card]s and a [card]Nissa’s Renewal[/card]to ramp while I sat on all of my [card]Silkwrap[/card]s not being able to remove all his gigantic creatures.

Game 2- I ran out an early [card]Herald of the Pantheon[/card] and an early [card]Sigil of the Empty Throne[/card], and just ran him down through him drawing both of his [card]Windstorm[/card].

Game 3- I drew all of my [card]Suspension Field[/card]s while he drew all of his mana dorks this time, I started to put myself in the game when he nailed me with an [card]Ugin, the Spirit Dragon[/card] to essentially end the game on the spot.

Round 4- Mono Green Eldrazi 2-1

Game 1- I had the early aggro game again with a [card]Herald of the Pantheon[/card] into turn four [card]Sigil of the Empty Throne[/card] and turn five [card]Sigil of the Empty Throne[/card] to easily close out game one.

Game 2- I started off pretty great until he cast [card]Ugin, the Spirit Dragon[/card] on turn six or seven to get everything back. I was unable to draw and answer in the few turns I had left to me.

Game 3- I went super aggressive with a [card]Herald of the Pantheon[/card] into [card]Sigil of the Empty Throne[/card], and was able to fade his good draws for long enough to win

Round 5- 4 Color Control 0-2

Game 1- I resolved a [card]Myth Realized[/card] early, but nothing else relevant. He was able to counter every relevant spell I drew and ended the game with an end of turn [card]Secure the Wastes[/card] for something like eight.

Game 2- I was only able to resolved [card]Myth Realized[/card] again this game losing to a flurry of counterspells and a [card]Secure the Wastes[/card].

At this point I was super bummed that I had lost a second match, and very pissed at how few spells I had resolved that match. Fortunately my friends were able to help me calm down and get my head back in the game.

Round 6 Bant Megamorph 2-1

Game 1- I mulliganed to six and flooded super hard while he was able to get an emsemble cast of planeswalkers active.

Game 2- I exiled about ten creatures/planeswalkers while beating down with a [card]Herald of the Pantheon[/card] to end the game.

Game 3- I started super strong with the turn four [card]Sigil of the Empty Throne[/card] plan, and ate three of his creatures in a turn to end the game.

I didn’t think I would make top eight, but was hopeful that I could somehow slide in. But when the standings went up I was in ninth. No prize, no glory, but the deck was great.

Over the course of the tournament I realized just how bad [card]Elemental Bond[/card] was and how often I stalled on mana and changed the deck a bit.

[deck title= Enchantress]
[Creatures]
4 Herald of the Pantheon
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Myth Realized
4 Silkwrap
4 Suspension Field
4 Stasis Snare
2 Outpost Siege
4 Starfield of Nyx
4 Sigil of the Empty Throne
4 Quarantine Field
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Canopy Vista
2 Cinder Glade
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Forest
10 Plains
[/Land]
[Sideboard]
3 Celestial Flare
4 Surge of Righteousness
3 Radiant Flames
1 Outpost Siege
2 Suppression Bonds
2 Planar Outburst
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

The deck is super hard to sideboard with, as most of the cards do roughly the same thing. But one thing I have been doing is cutting a [card]Plains[/card] on the draw.

That’s all I have for now. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below and I will do my best to answer them.

Thanks for reading,

Josh Milliken

@joshuamilliken on Twitter

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8 comments on Enchanted – A Shot at Standard Enchantress

  1. Nathan says:

    Did you try using Frontier Siege? The double green could help with colorless for big enchantments and Quarantine, and the dragon effect can help if you already have a Sigil in play. Curious if it came up in testing at all.

    1. Josh says:

      I had considered Frontier Siege, but the deck essentially stops at 5 mana. Sure it would be cool to shoot things out of the sky with angels, but it’s just a win more scenario. I am considering a blue splash for Negate and maybe other things since Ugin and Tragic Arrogance are huge issues. Another card I am currently considering is Void Attendant to put the cards into the players graveyard, preventing them from getting them back when the enchantments get destroyed. If we get the remaining Battle Lands in Oath of the Gatewatch, I will likely splash black as well for Virulent Plague against token decks.

      1. Nathan says:

        Void Attendant is genius. I’m going to slot him in against enchantment hate. Thanks for the article. I’m excited to give this a try.

  2. Carl says:

    I have been playing around with a bant version of this deck, and citadel siege has done a ton of work. Also the blue for counterspells is extremely useful, and may be better than the red splash. I have also liked anticipate in the deck.

  3. Michael says:

    Since the Battle for Zendikar release I was looking “my” deck, and finally found this.
    So far my worst match-ups have been the 4c rally decks. I took out one Suppression Bonds and both Planar Outbursts, since I never really boarded them in anyway and added some Hallowed Moonlights for them.
    I further swapped a Celestial Flare against another Outpost Siege, but I guess this is just my personal preference.

    Too bad I only found this last week, thank you so much for it!

    1. Josh says:

      No problem, there will be an updated list in my Brewing With Oath of the Gatewatch article. I still need to work on the sideboard with how the meta shifts though.

  4. Nathan says:

    Any changes post Gatewatch?

    1. Josh says:

      Yep, check my lastest article

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