SUGGESTIONS ALWAYS WELCOME :)
OK, so we've all seen the crazy fun life swap decks helmed by
Selenia, Dark Angel
. They're awesome! But they are also all in on the combo, for the most part. We've also seen the sweet Selenia voltron decks---she is evasive and can be returned to the hand whenever, which nullifies commander tax and makes removal against her less effective. Also sweet! Knowing about these decks, I wanted to build a Selenia deck. But, being the ever-engaged hipster that I am, I wanted it to be unique. I wanted the best of both worlds! Is it even possible to have both options available in a Selenia deck?
This was right around when the C15 decks came out, and I bought them all. Thus, I had the shell of an Orzhov enchantments deck---and I love enchantments. I didn't have an enchantments-matter deck at the time, and definitely wanted one. But I absolutely hate the art on Daxos the Returned---that mask is so goddamn stupid, rrrgghhhh---so there's no way I was building a deck around him!
Then it hit me---enchantments could be the glue that holds together the two goals for my Selenia deck! And thus this list was born. This deck is the opposite of a one-trick pony. It relies on playing lots of enchantments with various enchantment synergies in order to establish a board state and interact with your opponents, and then it can finish the game via a few different avenues.
Finishing avenue 1---Life manipulation: We can use Selenia to lose all of our life if we are at an even life total, or go down to 1 life if we are at an odd life total. We can also use
Plague of Vermin
, Necropotence, or Unspeakable Symbol to lower our life. If we have Phyrexian Unlife, Platinum Angel, or Angel's Grace, then we can go to 0 life or below. Then, we can give our life total to another opponent via Soul Conduit,
Magus of the Mirror
, Repay in Kind, or Reverse the Sands. (once Ixalan is released, we will add Axis of Mortality). If we do this via life swap, then we will also gain a bunch of life, or we can zap our life total and then use children of korliss or
Exquisite Archangel
to gain our life back. We can then weaponize this massive life gain with Sanguine Bond, Vizkopa Guildmage, or Cradle of Vitality.
Finishing avenue 2---Voltron: We have a few good ways of pumping Selenia:
Helm of the Gods
and Ethereal Armor since we have butt loads of enchantments; Fallen Ideal sacrificing some tokens from Sigil of the Empty Throne or
Plague of Vermin
, or sacrificing Sun Titan enchanted with Gift of Immortality for an infinite sac loop; or True Conviction. Also, in synergy with the life manipulation detailed above, we can use Unspeakable Symbol and Cradle of Vitality to pump up for a huge swing. Of course, we have Rogue's Passage to help out too---this land has won me so many games it's insane.
Finishing avenue 3---Enchantment synergies: We can swarm the board with Sigil of the Empty Throne/
Opalescence
/Starfield of Nyx + True Conviction, or we get mad value with Animate Dead, Debtors' Knell, or Open the Vaults. We have lots of efficient card draw via enchantments to help have tons of options and interaction as well as find our life manipulation or voltron pieces.
This deck is super fun and though some might say it's too scattered and trying to go too many directions at once, I think it's actually flexible and more fun to play over and over again since you can take a few different routes to victory, depending on the board states and deck variance. It has enough synergy between the different strategies to be effective in a causal-competitive environment.
As always, let me know your thoughts! Much love, y'all :)
