Introduction
Touched up re-draft of a previous Karametra enchantments deck. I think I'm finally done with it. I'm happy with the deck at this stage, after about 3 fucking weeks of tinkering. Feedback still welcome!
Play this deck if you're looking for something that doesn't necessarily win the game for you in a turn, but is incredibly satisfying to play and highly synergistic. I've also tried to design it to be as cost-effective as possible; this is the cheapest Karametra enchantress deck I've seen that should still be pretty satisfying to play.
Rationale
Angels are fun and so is politics, so why not build a deck which involves politics and angels? The angels are a huge engine in this deck, but they aren't necessarily the only win condition (look at Heliod and some of the big green creatures). Given Karametra's ability and a few decent ramp cards, you should be able to get them going relatively quickly.
Aims:
1. Pillow fort
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Angel tokens
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Lots o' mana
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Big late game creatures/boards
Method
It should permit card draw at decent speed, with a fair amount of deterrence to boot. The high frequency with which you'll (hopefully) be playing creatures will help you ramp toward the stronger beasts in the deck quickly. Included are a number of protective permanents like Indestructibility, Sterling Grove, Shalai, Voice of Plenty and Avacyn, Angel of Hope which can act as great board preservers later in the game. If you have more money to spend, one could replace Sterling Grove with Privileged Position quite nicely.
In case of long, drawn out games (which this deck is designed for), I've included a fair bit of graveyard return, as well as the Elixir of Immortality in case things go wrong. Aegis of the Gods can help keep opponents from messing with your library and graveyards, though a direct upgrade would be Leyline of Sanctity, provided you can afford it.
Sun Titan + Indestructibility + Eternal Witness can bring you back just about anything. Add Growing Ranks for automatic EW retriggers - mass recursion if you also include Anointed Procession. I find that Crystal Chimes, albeit requiring some support, can do a pretty good job at what most decks seem to use Replenish for - plus, it's much cheaper! :-)
Sigil of the Empty Throne + Flickering Ward can quickly generate you a board for relatively cheap (provided Sigil is already in play). Unfortunately, I'm stuck on a way to give the angelic army haste. Earthcraft can give this pretty much infinite recursion if you have Anointed Procession in play. I've included Lyra Dawnbringer in the deck largely because I love her art, but also because she's a nice way to buff up the angel tokens you'll probably collect over the course of the game. An alternative is Angelic Skirmisher, but be careful that your mana curve doesn't get too steep!
Heliod, God of the Sun + Sphere of Safety + Anointed Procession is just absurd. A great way to dissuade anyone from attacking you, and easily scalable to keep pace with everyone's mana pools. Kindred Boon could be a good addition to the deck and this combo if you're looking for an even more disgusting pillow fort setup.
There are a few effects in the deck that Growing Ranks works really well with, one of which I described above. Another is Rampaging Baloths, or any of the landfall creatures.
Discussion
I'd find a way to put Teferi's Protection in here and, if I did, some kind of tutor to get a hold of it, if I had one. I've included a couple of potentially useful control instants and enchantments in the maybeboard, feel free to add/remove as you see fit.
I've not included some useful tutor cards like Enlightened Tutor, Idyllic Tutor, Academy Rector and Worldly Tutor owing to their price. If you have them, or cards like Replenish, I would strongly suggest adding them to the deck.
Instrumental to your ability to pull off a timely strike is the ability to call in game-ending cards like Avacyn, Shalai, Lyra or the Baloths. For this reason I've included a couple of creature summons, but they're very few and far between and the deck mostly relies on card draw/recursion cycles to get them out when needed. Ideally, you could draw an early Avacyn and discard her until later in the game, when you can bring her in using some form of recursion.
Another thing the deck is quite low on is board wipes (though your cards like Eternal Witness might help you get extra mileage out of them). I've decided instead to opt for a focus on wipe deterrents, like Karmic Justice and Martyr's Bond. I did happen upon a really interesting card called Living Plane during my research, which could be the mother of all deterrent additions to this board (if you can afford it!). If you were to try and add some more board wipes, I would suggest Mass Calcify, Wrath of God or Martial Coup.
Easy cheapening options:
Swap Enchantress's Presence for Satyr Enchanter or Verduran Enchantress.
Swap Sensei's Divining Top for Lifecrafter's Bestiary.
Swap Sylvan Library for Abundance.
Improvements:
Swap Shalai, Voice of Plenty with Asceticism.
