The idea behind this deck is to play so many disruptive enchantments that my opponents would like to kill me, cannot, and are beaten to death very, very slowly (Humility and/or Dueling Grounds are some of the better ways to stay alive and neither works well with a fast gameplan). From what I can gather, this deck is somewhat excruciating to play against at times but I'd expect nothing less from something modeled after legacy enchantress.
A quick note on why I play Jasmine Boreal instead of one of the other options, like Sigarda, Host of Herons or Krond the Dawn-Clad. In short, I like Jasmine more. She's got gorgeous art by one of my favorite MtG artists, is relatively unassuming, and I just like her more than the others. When I built the deck, she was actually the most efficient (power to CMC) GW legend with more than two power, which was the justification I used if someone wanted a better reason than "screw you, that's why." Since then, WotC has decided that GW aura focused enchantress should be a thing, but I'm very attached to Jasmine and not planning on changing.
Hartebeest and Golem were mostly cute, and I always had more lands than I needed. Rule didn't actually do much beyond annoy most decks, and not being able to chain enchantments together hurts this deck a fair amount. Witness is just good general recursion, Exploration is one of the few enchantment ramp spells, Leyline is a much better catch-all answer than Rule, and Asylum is an effort to protect the enchantresses and Sanctum until there are other lock pieces in place.
Scrying was too redundant. There are already ways to find Sanctum, and that's the only land I want to put serious effort into. Anything else can be grabbed by Knight, which can be grabbed by creature tutors. Mantle was mostly cute and generally not needed by the time I was actually swinging in. Monastery couldn't be enchanted, but in hindsight (writing this much later than the changes happened) its strength is actually with Humility down. Knight is one of the better land tutors and is also a nice beater, Burgeoning is another piece of enchantment based ramp, and Fengraf's downside is very minor in a deck with so few creatures. They're also all worth getting back.
Mostly manabase improvements. Asylum wasn't doing anything that I cared about, and there are better defensive cards. Auramancer was just getting increasingly sketchy with the creature and GY hate in the deck. Cage is a wonderful answer to a lot of the recursion in the format, and Wave flips a bunch of enchantments. It's not quite an "I win" card here, but it goes a long way toward solidifying my position.
The first update on here in quite some time. This reflects more than a single update, but I didn’t keep track of any intermediate changes. There are a few cards from newer sets in here, largely improvewd defensive options. I’ve also picked up a moat since the last update, which is an obvious choice for a deck like this. Creature tutors came out in favor of enchantments, but they may make their way back in (at least GSZ) if I find myself wanting more enchantress effects. All of the defensive cuts were just not doing enough, and most of them have been replaced with more/better proactive options.
Adding the new enchantment Wayfarer's Bauble, the new enchantress, and some more ramp. Cuts are soft removal and a pseudo eldrazi. I'd be more inclined to keep the mage if it worked under Humility or stuck the aura on anything, but it often ends up being a little slow when played.
This deck wins through disruption and resilience. While people are getting better about it (at least in my group), there's still a dearth of enchantment removal in this format. If each enchantment on the board is a must-answer card, I can burn through the limited number of answers available very quickly, and basically lock down the board. By playing a large number of disruptive elements, I can interfere with just about every strategy.
Unfortunately, this makes me a target a lot of the time. With so few creatures in the deck (an even fewer who are relevant in combat), the primary defenses are things like Humility and Dueling Grounds. Humility is a particularly good answer, because the tools many people run to get rid of it are attached to creatures. In addition, manlands and auras can get around its effect as long as they're activated or played after Humility (auras actually still provide a P/T boost either way, but any abilities need a later time stamp), meaning I can almost always have the biggest threat on the board.
If I do get swept, from something like the absolutely brutal Austere Command, I run several mass recursion cards (Replenish, Open the Vaults, and Creeping Renaissance) to recover. These have the bonus of going through all of my disruptive pieces and frequently can set up multiple layers of defense without giving opponents a chance to react.
Once I've got defense and disruption in place, the actual win comes from aura-buffed creatures, Sigil of the Empty Throne, Sacred Mesa, or painfully slow beats from things like Kjeldoran Outpost tokens. Sometimes it gets there, sometimes it doesn't, but it's always a blast to play.
Updated to the current list. I'm not entirely sure when or why I took Knight of the Reliquary out, but she's heading back in in the not-too-distant future. Also added in a solid target for my auras in Thrun to supplement the general damage plan, which should also help against spot removal. Thanks to anyone who's reading!
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Damping Matrix seems like it would be really amazing in here. Your creatures really dont have activated abilities and you run 2 artifacts who also dont.
Eternal Witness it seems like a solid staple considering how many good enchants you have. Sure it feels a bit staple ish but its just that good. It could replace Auramancer as sort of a strict upgrade but I suppose that degrades some of the flavor of the deck...
I guess there is always Primeval... I am assuming you know that he isnt in the list though...
Nicely done list I literally couldn't come up with much else for you.
No idea how I missed Damping Matrix, especially when I've been building modern recently. That's a great suggestion and I'm definitely trying it out. EWit is definitely going in at some point, but I need to pick up more of them first. One of the little downsides of running a stack of decks at any given time. Primeval isn't here mostly because I get tired of seeing him all the time, and he doesn't do anything especially ground shaking here.
Yavimaya was actually in an early draft of the deck, but I cut her because she doesn't do anything but beat. The other creatures I've got either give me some form of protection/card advantage or are evasive in some way. Yavimaya relies on auras to get to that state, and Jasmine is just a more effective beater at that point because of general damage. Thanks for checking out the list!
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Three dreams is a good aura tutor.
Mother of runes could help protect your enchantresses. Femeref enchantress could be a possible addition as well, depending on how often your enchantments actually get killed.
Three dreams is a good aura tutor.
Mother of runes could help protect your enchantresses. Femeref enchantress could be a possible addition as well, depending on how often your enchantments actually get killed.
Three Dreams is another one that was in the early drafts and then cut. It's just so incredibly slow, and the various enchantress effects keep me fairly well stocked with cards. Mom is one of my favorite cards, but she doesn't have a whole lot of synergy here. The fact that protection makes auras fall off makes me very wary of running her to begin with, and there are a number of cards in the deck or soon to be in the deck that invalidate her completely.
I've never been a fan of Femeref Enchantress because you can't control the card draw outside of a couple weird cases like Soul Snare, and there are generally better ways to protect your enchantments. My opinion on her may change someday, but right now enchantment destruction is not prevalent enough in my meta to make her worth it.
Thanks for checking out the list!
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Vow of Wildness- Yes, I know its kind of cruddy, bu I think ts the best of the Vows due to higher power/toughness and trample being so relevant with otherwise "vanilla" creatures. Otherwise, you stick it on something beating you down.
Bear Umbra - untaps lands, lets you chump block a turn(though costly), protects a creatures from a normal sweeper. Snake Umbra was another that I ran, but I already see you're running Umbra Mystic.
Celestial Ancient is one card that I run that I have debated in cutting and not cutting. You should at least try it out.
I've considered Vow before, but it never seems to make the cut. Glancing at it now, I'm realizing that it makes Jasmine a 3-turn clock if she connects and that has to be worth something. I may have to revisit it.
Bear Umbra was in an earlier draft that put a little more emphasis on instant speed shenanigans, but that really needs to be a Bant list. I'd rather find options that protect everything at once rather than a single creature. If it had any kind of evasion tacked on, it would be a sure thing, but it's borderline as is. On a somewhat related note, Umbra Mystic + Rancor is a hilarious way to chump all day. Celestial Ancient is another that I've waffled on. If I add another token mana sink, which I've been considering, then it's in a pretty good spot. I like that it works with Humility to give all of your creatures an edge as long as it comes down first.
Wake is pretty much a budget call. Both of mine are in other decks that need the effect more than this one, and I don't really want to shell out for another right now. Again, I like that it can give me the edge once Humility hits.
Thanks for the ideas!
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Is the new white curse on your add list? I don't see Rule of Law effects, and while the curse only affects one player, it could still be helpful. Plus I have my own Jasmine build I'm very, very slowly working on...and if the cursed player gets knocked out, you have recursion to bring it back, right?
Curse of Exhaustion and Grafdigger's Cage are the only things I'm even considering out of DKA for this deck. I think I would add Rule of Law before the Curse, just because there's not much downside to it in this deck. It's rare that I'm trying to play out several cards in a turn, other than the very late game where I can hopefully chain a few enchantments together. By the time that's even a possibility, I assume someone would have destroyed Rule of Law for being obnoxious. Something along those lines could be useful in hurting combo decks, which I currently have very little game against. So yeah, I'm considering it, though it's probably behind Rule of Law.
Cage is probably going to be artifact #4, as it only hurts a couple cards in this deck while locking out a couple archetypes until it's dealt with.
Changes: Trying Rule of Law and Damping Matrix in place of Aura Gnarlid and Weathered Wayfarer. Two extra hate pieces in over a mediocre beater and a repeatable land tutor. Wayfarer may still find his way back, but I generally don't need Sanctum badly enough to justify the three land tutors, and the rest of the manabase doesn't really require that much work. Sylvan Scrying and Crop Rotation should be able to shoulder the load while being unaffected by any of my hate cards.
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First off nice deck! Always been a fan of legacy enchantress.
What about solitary confinement? Or to a lesser extent, ivory mask?
Aspect of mongoose for a self recurring shroud effect?
Also is your list the best possible it can be? I noticed you omitted savannah so I'm wondering if there are other cards you haven't included on purpose because of budget restrictions or the like.
Edit: how does the deck fare with theft effects? It seems to have very few answers to getting rid of your opponent's creatures, especially if they're your enchanted ones. Would asceticism have a place here?
I had a fairly long, detailed response typed out, then started screwing with my internet and it was lost. So I'm going to give short answers this time.
Retether - Pretty much what you said. I generally don't run out the game enders if I don't expect them to survive for a while, so this was, at best, a couple pieces of removal. Frequently less impressive than that as well.
Solitary Confinement - The lower number of enchantresses and higher CMCs in the deck mean this isn't as beast as in Legacy. By the time you can expect for it to stick around (unless playing against group hug), you're probably in good shape to win anyways.
Ivory Mask - Worse than Leyline of Sanctity, though I think that actually is in the current draft. I like either of these more than Confinement for edh, though.
Aspect of Mongoose - Maybe? There are only ~6 creatures worth protecting here, but self recursion is always nice and it could raise some hell with Umbra Mystic. Worth a shot, for sure.
re: budget, I'm mostly just lazy. I have a Savannah in another deck that I don't want to switch around, and I'm playing almost exclusively edh these days. No reason to pick up another. The only thing really influenced by budget here is the lack of Moat. Other than that, I would never call one of my decks the best it can possibly be, because I'm not a raging egomaniac. There are some obvious flaws, like the lack of ramp and very situational draw, but I think it's fairly solid at worst.
re: theft, it happens occasionally. Like I said earlier, I try not to run out things like Ancestral Mask when there's not at least one line of defense, and 2/3 mass protection enchantments protect both the enchantment and the creature. I've lost Rector once or twice, which is annoying but not the end of the world. I think Asceticism is probably too narrow, but I might still try it out someday.
I'll also try and update this list to its current form. I know there have been a few changes, like losing Golem in favor of KotR, but I'm not sure of specifics.
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I am interested in a current list; I've been testing my own enchantress deck (subbing Sigarda as my general). What I'm having difficulty doing is finding a consistent engine that provides me with a constant stream of card advantage (something enchantments should hypothetically be good at). I've added a few more creature tutors in the form of Eladrami's call and Primal Command in order to get the enchantress creatures out. I'm also left wondering how we're supposed to get those anti artifact silver bullets out when we want them. In the games I've tested, every time I would want one of them out, they're nowhere to be found. There isn't enough reliable card draw and/or tutors to get them out when need be. I would also like to fit some ramp in my list as well, hopefully we can share some tech and come up with a tuned list
I assume you'll be making the switch to Sigarda as well? I've won a few games using her alone, once she sticks she can usually finish the game on her own with or without the aid of enchantments.
I am interested in a current list; I've been testing my own enchantress deck (subbing Sigarda as my general). What I'm having difficulty doing is finding a consistent engine that provides me with a constant stream of card advantage (something enchantments should hypothetically be good at). I've added a few more creature tutors in the form of Eladrami's call and Primal Command in order to get the enchantress creatures out. I'm also left wondering how we're supposed to get those anti artifact silver bullets out when we want them. In the games I've tested, every time I would want one of them out, they're nowhere to be found. There isn't enough reliable card draw and/or tutors to get them out when need be. I would also like to fit some ramp in my list as well, hopefully we can share some tech and come up with a tuned list
I assume you'll be making the switch to Sigarda as well? I've won a few games using her alone, once she sticks she can usually finish the game on her own with or without the aid of enchantments.
I updated my list, though not all of my changes make sense to me now. While the newly added changelog has today's date, the actual changes probably happened more like a month ago. Specifically, I have no idea why I took out a land and why I didn't add KotR back in. I also haven't gotten my lands up to date - ideally, they include Strip Mine/Wasteland/Savannah and some other color fixing, losing Nantuko Monastery and a couple basics. Addressing the earlier budget concerns again, I've got all this on hand but I'm lazy. Selesnya Sanctuary is there as tech with KotR to save lands. Rule of Law is out as a meta call. I don't have to deal with infinite combo on a regular basis, so it was more an annoyance than an actual hate piece.
Spiritual Asylum is on a trial run, as there aren't a whole lot of little swings and the added defense for enchantresses is nice. Fountain Watch and Grafdigger's Cage are on the short list, though I don't have either one on hand right now and haven't ordered anything for a while. The other adds are all pretty self-explanatory. I still feel like I want more ramp, but I generally go exceedingly ramp heavy in my decks with a lower land count. The big ones that could still fit in here are Overgrowth and Burgeoning, though I haven't tried either one out yet. Crucible of Worlds and a fetch-heavy manabase might also be worthwhile, though it isn't actually ramp.
Finding silver bullets is tough. Generally, I either hold onto the enchantment tutors until I need something specific or see an opportunity to head off one or more decks at the table. The usual exception to this is grabbing Enchantress's Presence, which is pretty solid. Other than that, trying to get a critical mass of choices and card draw is about all that works in these colors. The mass recursion is also helpful here. Even if the table can handle one or two at a time, dumping everything at once is rough at best.
Sigarda is definitely the better choice, though I'm sticking with Jasmine outside of games where there's something on the line. She's got nostalgia and art working for her, and I'm expecting Sigarda to be fairly heavily played around here for the immediate future after her release. She might be one of the 99 for me, for the same reasons that Silhana Ledgewalker has tempted me in the past.
Another thing that might be worth considering is more token producing lands. There are a lot of defensive elements here, playing to the strengths of a GW enchantress deck vs Bant or GWB, so grinding out an army could be a fairly reliable strategy to supplement aura-powered beats. I know I've set up a board state before where the only answer anyone at the table had was Austere Command.
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Made some changes.
Swapped out Sylvan Scrying for Knight of the Reliquary - same number of land tutors, but I pick up another threat/aura target. Spirit Mantle came out for Burgeoning - not sure if I'm going to miss the evasion, but the ramp is definitely needed and I could someday live the dream with Land Tax. Nantuko Monastery was replaced with Haunted Fengraf - running creature light makes the random aspect hurt less and everything I could possibly get back is gas.
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First off, Weebo, I just want to congratulate you on an awesome looking deck. I'm really loving it as well as your conviction to stick to your theme as much as possible. I play a Rafiq enchantress deck and love it to death. I am always trying to strengthen it while not allowing myself to betray my theme. I've been looking at the many new Bruna builds that players are already developing and saw this thread. I've got to say, it is a breath of fresh air. It even makes me think about how my own Rafiq deck doesn't adhere to my theme as much as I want it to. Thanks for that.
I have one question for you. How does Sacred Mesa fit in with your deck exactly? I know you mentioned you are creature light and it is an enchantment, but there's something about the card that doesn't fit for me. Do you go infinite with it?
Sacred Mesa is a mana dump for Sanctum, an evasive win condition, and one that plays nice with Humility. There's not any particular combo or anything there, just a powerful card that continues to run through all of the hate I play. It could probably be replaced by something with more synergy, but this deck does tend to grind a little bit, so it's nice to have something with some game ending potential.
Thanks for checking out the list!
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Sacred Mesa is a mana dump for Sanctum, an evasive win condition, and one that plays nice with Humility. There's not any particular combo or anything there, just a powerful card that continues to run through all of the hate I play. It could probably be replaced by something with more synergy, but this deck does tend to grind a little bit, so it's nice to have something with some game ending potential.
Thanks for checking out the list!
No problem. Your deck looks fun to play and to play against. Keep us updated with the deck's progress if you add or remove anything.
It could be cool to reshape the deck into an Astral Slide deck. all 6 Rune of protection for card draw with Ewit and Auramancer, things like Hornet Queen and Deranged Hermit to make an army fairly quickly, Pull from Eternity for creature removal with slide, or to get slide back into your graveyard after it gets randomly exiled...
I like the deck, but I just don't know about Jasmine. She doesn't seem cool like Stangg or Sir Shandlar of Eberyn or Livonya Silone. I wouldn't be tempted to make a Jasmine deck.
It could be cool to reshape the deck into an Astral Slide deck. all 6 Rune of protection for card draw with Ewit and Auramancer, things like Hornet Queen and Deranged Hermit to make an army fairly quickly, Pull from Eternity for creature removal with slide, or to get slide back into your graveyard after it gets randomly exiled...
I like the deck, but I just don't know about Jasmine. She doesn't seem cool like Stangg or Sir Shandlar of Eberyn or Livonya Silone. I wouldn't be tempted to make a Jasmine deck.
I find Jasmine Boreal very tempting, especially with that RKF artwork. I could stare at that all day! I just wish it came in a FOIL version.
EDIT: Oh, wait. It does! FOIL Time Spiral version. Wow. How am I finding out about this now?!
It could be cool to reshape the deck into an Astral Slide deck. all 6 Rune of protection for card draw with Ewit and Auramancer, things like Hornet Queen and Deranged Hermit to make an army fairly quickly, Pull from Eternity for creature removal with slide, or to get slide back into your graveyard after it gets randomly exiled...
I like the deck, but I just don't know about Jasmine. She doesn't seem cool like Stangg or Sir Shandlar of Eberyn or Livonya Silone. I wouldn't be tempted to make a Jasmine deck.
Target Player pretty much has it. That RKF art goes a long way, seeing as he's probably my favorite MtG artist (his early stuff, at least. I'm slightly less enamored with his more recent stuff, though it's still excellent). I've also got a copy of Livonya Silone that I've been meaning to build a deck for forever and just built Hazezon Tamar. It helps that Jasmine isn't so far outside of the current P/T v CMC range. Obviously not nearly as good as modern creatures, but not as horrific as a lot of the other Legends.
The Slide idea is an interesting one, but it's not really relevant to this deck. It takes up a lot of space with cards that aren't really relevant when Slide isn't out. Blinking is unquestionably a powerful strategy, but it's also kind of an all-in strategy, and this deck really doesn't want to give up that many of its current slots for something so insular.
I find Jasmine Boreal very tempting, especially with that RKF artwork. I could stare at that all day! I just wish it came in a FOIL version.
EDIT: Oh, wait. It does! FOIL Time Spiral version. Wow. How am I finding out about this now?!
Yeah, I've got my TSP foil. It is a good looking card. I built the deck so I could use her as a general and there aren't weren't any really relevant in-color legends around for an enchantress deck.
Now that Sigarda has appeared, I get to go full-power Magic hipster and keep running Jasmine as an aura focused deck while all the young whippersnappers try and get there with Sigarda. I'd probably swap them out if there was some reason I really needed an optimized list, but that's not really the point here.
Now that Sigarda has appeared, I get to go full-power Magic hipster and keep running Jasmine as an aura focused deck while all the young whippersnappers try and get there with Sigarda. I'd probably swap them out if there was some reason I really needed an optimized list, but that's not really the point here.
And I applaud you for that. I respect that you can say that as a Magic player. Many of my friends play EDH, in essence a casual format, merely to competitively win or smash on others. This isn't the point in EDH, though. For me, EDH is so much more than that.
Now that Sigarda has appeared, I get to go full-power Magic hipster and keep running Jasmine as an aura focused deck while all the young whippersnappers try and get there with Sigarda. I'd probably swap them out if there was some reason I really needed an optimized list, but that's not really the point here.
Thanks for calling me a whippersnapper. lol
1) Jasmine's art is still quite pretty, but 2) Sigarda's an angel and I love angels, 3) my real name is Gabriel, so that explains my angel love, and 4) one of the dudes I play more often against in college has a douchebag Spike Ghave token deck.
accept those if you will, but I will be playing Sigarda over Jasmine.
A quick note on why I play Jasmine Boreal instead of one of the other options, like Sigarda, Host of Herons or Krond the Dawn-Clad. In short, I like Jasmine more. She's got gorgeous art by one of my favorite MtG artists, is relatively unassuming, and I just like her more than the others. When I built the deck, she was actually the most efficient (power to CMC) GW legend with more than two power, which was the justification I used if someone wanted a better reason than "screw you, that's why." Since then, WotC has decided that GW aura focused enchantress should be a thing, but I'm very attached to Jasmine and not planning on changing.
1 Jasmine Boreal
//Creatures
1 Academy Rector
1 Argothian Enchantress
1 Eidolon of Blossoms
1 Eternal Witness
1 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Kor Spiritdancer
1 Mesa Enchantress
1 Sun Titan
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Umbra Mystic
1 Verduran Enchantress
//Non-Aura Enchantments
1 Act of Authority
1 Burgeoning
1 Crackdown
1 Dueling Grounds
1 Enchantress's Presence
1 Exploration
1 Font of Fertility
1 Greater Auramancy
1 Holistic Wisdom
1 Humility
1 Khalni Heart Expedition
1 Land Tax
1 Mirari's Wake
1 Mirri's Guile
1 Moat
1 Night Soil
1 Privileged Position
1 Sacred Mesa
1 Sigil of the Empty Throne
1 Soul Snare
1 Sterling Grove
1 Stony Silence
1 Sylvan Library
1 Ancestral Mask
1 Angelic Destiny
1 Armadillo Cloak
1 Eldrazi Conscription
1 Ethereal Armor
1 Faith's Fetters
1 Fertile Ground
1 Lignify
1 Market Festival
1 Rancor
1 Shield of the Oversoul
1 Utopia Sprawl
1 Verdant Haven
1 Wild Growth
//Artifacts
1 Damping Matrix
1 Null Rod
1 Torpor Orb
//Sorceries
1 Austere Command
1 Creeping Renaissance
1 Genesis Wave
1 Idyllic Tutor
1 Open the Vaults
1 Replenish
1 Winds of Rath
//Instants
1 Beast Within
1 Crop Rotation
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Oblation
1 Return to Dust
1 Swords to Plowshares
8 Forest
7 Plains
1 Command Tower
1 Haunted Fengraf
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Kjeldoran Outpost
1 Kor Haven
1 Krosan Verge
1 Nantuko Monastery
1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
1 Petrified Field
1 Savannah
1 Secluded Steppe
1 Selesnya Sanctuary
1 Serra's Sanctum
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Temple Garden
1 Tranquil Thicket
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Bastion
- Totem-Guide Hartebeest
- Rule of Law
- Plains
+ Exploration
+ Leyline of Sanctity
+ Spiritual Asylum
- Spirit Mantle
- Nantuko Monastery
+ Burgeoning
+ Haunted Fengraf
- Spiritual Asylum
- Plains
- Plains
- Plains
- Plains
- Forest
- Forest
- Forest
+ Genesis Wave
+ Command Tower
+ Nantuko Monastery
+ Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
+ Petrified Field
+ Savannah
+ Tectonic Edge
+ Wooded Bastion
- Leyline of Sanctity
- Martyr's Bond
- Canopy Cover
- Prison Term
- Grafdigger’s Cage
- Green Sun’s Zenith
- Worldly Tutor
+ Crackdown
+ Holistic Wisdom
+ Mirari’s Wake
+ Moat
+ Darksteel Mutation
+ Ethereal Armor
+ Verdant Haven
- Ground Seal
- Darksteel Mutation
+ Font of Fertility
+ Market Festival
Unfortunately, this makes me a target a lot of the time. With so few creatures in the deck (an even fewer who are relevant in combat), the primary defenses are things like Humility and Dueling Grounds. Humility is a particularly good answer, because the tools many people run to get rid of it are attached to creatures. In addition, manlands and auras can get around its effect as long as they're activated or played after Humility (auras actually still provide a P/T boost either way, but any abilities need a later time stamp), meaning I can almost always have the biggest threat on the board.
If I do get swept, from something like the absolutely brutal Austere Command, I run several mass recursion cards (Replenish, Open the Vaults, and Creeping Renaissance) to recover. These have the bonus of going through all of my disruptive pieces and frequently can set up multiple layers of defense without giving opponents a chance to react.
Once I've got defense and disruption in place, the actual win comes from aura-buffed creatures, Sigil of the Empty Throne, Sacred Mesa, or painfully slow beats from things like Kjeldoran Outpost tokens. Sometimes it gets there, sometimes it doesn't, but it's always a blast to play.
Eternal Witness it seems like a solid staple considering how many good enchants you have. Sure it feels a bit staple ish but its just that good. It could replace Auramancer as sort of a strict upgrade but I suppose that degrades some of the flavor of the deck...
I guess there is always Primeval... I am assuming you know that he isnt in the list though...
Nicely done list I literally couldn't come up with much else for you.
EDIT: Oooo you could add Yavimaya Enchantress as well.
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Yavimaya was actually in an early draft of the deck, but I cut her because she doesn't do anything but beat. The other creatures I've got either give me some form of protection/card advantage or are evasive in some way. Yavimaya relies on auras to get to that state, and Jasmine is just a more effective beater at that point because of general damage. Thanks for checking out the list!
Mother of runes could help protect your enchantresses. Femeref enchantress could be a possible addition as well, depending on how often your enchantments actually get killed.
BRWC Mardu Shops - Tymna and Akiri Artifacts BRWC
Three Dreams is another one that was in the early drafts and then cut. It's just so incredibly slow, and the various enchantress effects keep me fairly well stocked with cards.
Mom is one of my favorite cards, but she doesn't have a whole lot of synergy here. The fact that protection makes auras fall off makes me very wary of running her to begin with, and there are a number of cards in the deck or soon to be in the deck that invalidate her completely.
I've never been a fan of Femeref Enchantress because you can't control the card draw outside of a couple weird cases like Soul Snare, and there are generally better ways to protect your enchantments. My opinion on her may change someday, but right now enchantment destruction is not prevalent enough in my meta to make her worth it.
Thanks for checking out the list!
Here are some suggestions:
Vow of Wildness- Yes, I know its kind of cruddy, bu I think ts the best of the Vows due to higher power/toughness and trample being so relevant with otherwise "vanilla" creatures. Otherwise, you stick it on something beating you down.
Bear Umbra - untaps lands, lets you chump block a turn(though costly), protects a creatures from a normal sweeper. Snake Umbra was another that I ran, but I already see you're running Umbra Mystic.
Celestial Ancient is one card that I run that I have debated in cutting and not cutting. You should at least try it out.
Mirari's Wake - a mana doubler/combo piece for me.
Bear Umbra was in an earlier draft that put a little more emphasis on instant speed shenanigans, but that really needs to be a Bant list. I'd rather find options that protect everything at once rather than a single creature. If it had any kind of evasion tacked on, it would be a sure thing, but it's borderline as is. On a somewhat related note, Umbra Mystic + Rancor is a hilarious way to chump all day.
Celestial Ancient is another that I've waffled on. If I add another token mana sink, which I've been considering, then it's in a pretty good spot. I like that it works with Humility to give all of your creatures an edge as long as it comes down first.
Wake is pretty much a budget call. Both of mine are in other decks that need the effect more than this one, and I don't really want to shell out for another right now. Again, I like that it can give me the edge once Humility hits.
Thanks for the ideas!
Thoughts?
--- Meren of Clan Nel Toth --- Jhoira of the Ghitu --- Prime Speaker Zegana ---
--- Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief --- Ghoulcaller Gisa --- Akroma, Angel of Fury --- Titania, Protector of Argoth ---
Cage is probably going to be artifact #4, as it only hurts a couple cards in this deck while locking out a couple archetypes until it's dealt with.
Changes: Trying Rule of Law and Damping Matrix in place of Aura Gnarlid and Weathered Wayfarer. Two extra hate pieces in over a mediocre beater and a repeatable land tutor. Wayfarer may still find his way back, but I generally don't need Sanctum badly enough to justify the three land tutors, and the rest of the manabase doesn't really require that much work. Sylvan Scrying and Crop Rotation should be able to shoulder the load while being unaffected by any of my hate cards.
(U/B)(U/B)(U/B) JUMP IN THE LINE, ROCK YOUR BODY IN TIME
(R/W)(R/W)(R/W) RISING FROM THE NEON GLOOM, SHINING LIKE A CRAZY MOON
(U/R)(R/G)(G/U) STEALIN' WHEN I SHOULD HAVE BEEN BUYIN'
What about solitary confinement? Or to a lesser extent, ivory mask?
Aspect of mongoose for a self recurring shroud effect?
Also is your list the best possible it can be? I noticed you omitted savannah so I'm wondering if there are other cards you haven't included on purpose because of budget restrictions or the like.
Edit: how does the deck fare with theft effects? It seems to have very few answers to getting rid of your opponent's creatures, especially if they're your enchanted ones. Would asceticism have a place here?
Retether - Pretty much what you said. I generally don't run out the game enders if I don't expect them to survive for a while, so this was, at best, a couple pieces of removal. Frequently less impressive than that as well.
Solitary Confinement - The lower number of enchantresses and higher CMCs in the deck mean this isn't as beast as in Legacy. By the time you can expect for it to stick around (unless playing against group hug), you're probably in good shape to win anyways.
Ivory Mask - Worse than Leyline of Sanctity, though I think that actually is in the current draft. I like either of these more than Confinement for edh, though.
Aspect of Mongoose - Maybe? There are only ~6 creatures worth protecting here, but self recursion is always nice and it could raise some hell with Umbra Mystic. Worth a shot, for sure.
re: budget, I'm mostly just lazy. I have a Savannah in another deck that I don't want to switch around, and I'm playing almost exclusively edh these days. No reason to pick up another. The only thing really influenced by budget here is the lack of Moat. Other than that, I would never call one of my decks the best it can possibly be, because I'm not a raging egomaniac. There are some obvious flaws, like the lack of ramp and very situational draw, but I think it's fairly solid at worst.
re: theft, it happens occasionally. Like I said earlier, I try not to run out things like Ancestral Mask when there's not at least one line of defense, and 2/3 mass protection enchantments protect both the enchantment and the creature. I've lost Rector once or twice, which is annoying but not the end of the world. I think Asceticism is probably too narrow, but I might still try it out someday.
I'll also try and update this list to its current form. I know there have been a few changes, like losing Golem in favor of KotR, but I'm not sure of specifics.
I assume you'll be making the switch to Sigarda as well? I've won a few games using her alone, once she sticks she can usually finish the game on her own with or without the aid of enchantments.
I updated my list, though not all of my changes make sense to me now. While the newly added changelog has today's date, the actual changes probably happened more like a month ago. Specifically, I have no idea why I took out a land and why I didn't add KotR back in. I also haven't gotten my lands up to date - ideally, they include Strip Mine/Wasteland/Savannah and some other color fixing, losing Nantuko Monastery and a couple basics. Addressing the earlier budget concerns again, I've got all this on hand but I'm lazy. Selesnya Sanctuary is there as tech with KotR to save lands. Rule of Law is out as a meta call. I don't have to deal with infinite combo on a regular basis, so it was more an annoyance than an actual hate piece.
Spiritual Asylum is on a trial run, as there aren't a whole lot of little swings and the added defense for enchantresses is nice. Fountain Watch and Grafdigger's Cage are on the short list, though I don't have either one on hand right now and haven't ordered anything for a while. The other adds are all pretty self-explanatory. I still feel like I want more ramp, but I generally go exceedingly ramp heavy in my decks with a lower land count. The big ones that could still fit in here are Overgrowth and Burgeoning, though I haven't tried either one out yet. Crucible of Worlds and a fetch-heavy manabase might also be worthwhile, though it isn't actually ramp.
Finding silver bullets is tough. Generally, I either hold onto the enchantment tutors until I need something specific or see an opportunity to head off one or more decks at the table. The usual exception to this is grabbing Enchantress's Presence, which is pretty solid. Other than that, trying to get a critical mass of choices and card draw is about all that works in these colors. The mass recursion is also helpful here. Even if the table can handle one or two at a time, dumping everything at once is rough at best.
Sigarda is definitely the better choice, though I'm sticking with Jasmine outside of games where there's something on the line. She's got nostalgia and art working for her, and I'm expecting Sigarda to be fairly heavily played around here for the immediate future after her release. She might be one of the 99 for me, for the same reasons that Silhana Ledgewalker has tempted me in the past.
Another thing that might be worth considering is more token producing lands. There are a lot of defensive elements here, playing to the strengths of a GW enchantress deck vs Bant or GWB, so grinding out an army could be a fairly reliable strategy to supplement aura-powered beats. I know I've set up a board state before where the only answer anyone at the table had was Austere Command.
Swapped out Sylvan Scrying for Knight of the Reliquary - same number of land tutors, but I pick up another threat/aura target.
Spirit Mantle came out for Burgeoning - not sure if I'm going to miss the evasion, but the ramp is definitely needed and I could someday live the dream with Land Tax.
Nantuko Monastery was replaced with Haunted Fengraf - running creature light makes the random aspect hurt less and everything I could possibly get back is gas.
I have one question for you. How does Sacred Mesa fit in with your deck exactly? I know you mentioned you are creature light and it is an enchantment, but there's something about the card that doesn't fit for me. Do you go infinite with it?
Thanks for checking out the list!
No problem. Your deck looks fun to play and to play against. Keep us updated with the deck's progress if you add or remove anything.
I like the deck, but I just don't know about Jasmine. She doesn't seem cool like Stangg or Sir Shandlar of Eberyn or Livonya Silone. I wouldn't be tempted to make a Jasmine deck.
I find Jasmine Boreal very tempting, especially with that RKF artwork. I could stare at that all day! I just wish it came in a FOIL version.
EDIT: Oh, wait. It does! FOIL Time Spiral version. Wow. How am I finding out about this now?!
Target Player pretty much has it. That RKF art goes a long way, seeing as he's probably my favorite MtG artist (his early stuff, at least. I'm slightly less enamored with his more recent stuff, though it's still excellent). I've also got a copy of Livonya Silone that I've been meaning to build a deck for forever and just built Hazezon Tamar. It helps that Jasmine isn't so far outside of the current P/T v CMC range. Obviously not nearly as good as modern creatures, but not as horrific as a lot of the other Legends.
The Slide idea is an interesting one, but it's not really relevant to this deck. It takes up a lot of space with cards that aren't really relevant when Slide isn't out. Blinking is unquestionably a powerful strategy, but it's also kind of an all-in strategy, and this deck really doesn't want to give up that many of its current slots for something so insular.
Yeah, I've got my TSP foil. It is a good looking card. I built the deck so I could use her as a general and there
aren'tweren't any really relevant in-color legends around for an enchantress deck.Now that Sigarda has appeared, I get to go full-power Magic hipster and keep running Jasmine as an aura focused deck while all the young whippersnappers try and get there with Sigarda. I'd probably swap them out if there was some reason I really needed an optimized list, but that's not really the point here.
And I applaud you for that. I respect that you can say that as a Magic player. Many of my friends play EDH, in essence a casual format, merely to competitively win or smash on others. This isn't the point in EDH, though. For me, EDH is so much more than that.
Thanks for calling me a whippersnapper. lol
1) Jasmine's art is still quite pretty, but 2) Sigarda's an angel and I love angels, 3) my real name is Gabriel, so that explains my angel love, and 4) one of the dudes I play more often against in college has a douchebag Spike Ghave token deck.
accept those if you will, but I will be playing Sigarda over Jasmine.
--- Meren of Clan Nel Toth --- Jhoira of the Ghitu --- Prime Speaker Zegana ---
--- Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief --- Ghoulcaller Gisa --- Akroma, Angel of Fury --- Titania, Protector of Argoth ---