I've been in love with the idea of playing a Modern Enchantress for some time now, but in reality the pool available just fell short of being competitive.
The lack of Argothian Enchantress and Serra's Sanctum, staples in the legacy version of the deck made us turn to much lesser Mesa and Verduran Enchantress', cards that don't really have Modern stats, while not having land support at all.
The shell also lacked cheap removal in the form of enchantments as well. Oblivion Ring, Journey to Nowhere, Detention Sphere, Seal Away, Cast Out and some others, always stroke me as insufficient. Chained to the Rocks was a cute idea for some time, but the splash made the deck considerably less consistent.
Well, Modern Horizons came and gave us Hogaak, Urza, Wrenn and Six, and some other busted toys. But besides that, it also gave us cards that received much less attention: On Thin Ice and Hall of Heliod's Generosity. Two cards that I think made a Modern Enchantress a little bit more possible, if still very slow.
Now comes Theros Beyond Death and with it an awesome Enchantress: Setessan Champion. While still a 3 mana creature that is susceptible to bolt and do not provide immediate value by itself, we've seen a similar card make waves in modern before in the form of Tireless Tracker, one of my favorite creatures of all time.
The big challenge now is to develop the best shell for it. But one shall try, and for obvious reasons I think Selesnya (G/W) or Bant (G/W/U) colors is where I wanna start:
- 1 MANA - Enchantments with relevance at 1 cmc are sparse. So are creatures.
On Thin Ice is the best possible removal this deck can get in the form of a enchantment. I want this.
Utopia Sprawl strikes me as the best one along with the newbie (and mandatory) On Thin Ice. Sprawl helps us to ramp to our 3, 4 and 5 mana spells. My big beef with Sprawl is that later in the game, it's effects become more and more irrelevant. Hopefully we can get value with later ones with Setessan Champion and Eidolon of Blossoms. Other than these two... it gets hard.
Arbor Elf is the Modern companion to Utopia Sprawl. It bugs me so much to have non-enchantment creatures in the deck, but it might be worth it.
Authority of the Consuls is good against creature decks, but kind of irrelevant in multiples.
Deafening Silence is my go to sideboard against combo.
Telepathy is more of a meme card than a real one. But I always wondered the relevance of having perfect information at all times. Plus, shenanigans with Nevermore and Runed Halo become possible.
Abundant Growth draws us a card and fixes our mana a bit. Meh.
Gelid Shackles might be another form of cheap removal, but the continuous use of a Snow Land may be too steep. Maybe Oppresive Rays might do the same.
Hypnotic Siren is a possibility. Early it is a generic 1/1 with flying witch can chump or, heck, even trade with something. Much later, it can steal our opponent's best creature and help swing the game in our favor or outright win.
Genju of the Cedars for an aggresive route.. ?
Myth Realized is possibility, but it works better in spellslinger style decks.
Robe of Mirrors is an interesting option to protect our Setessan Champion and maybe our Eidolon of Blossoms so that they can keep providing us our precious value.
Shaper's Sanctuary, like the one before, helps our card advantage continue in case our opponents are pack full of removal.
Root Maze is... dangerous.
Sea's Claim can help the deck in the control aspect I guess.
And.. I'm at my wit's end. I either don't know of any more relevant 1 cmc and I don't seem to find any other ones in my searches.
- 2 MANA - We can be much more straightforward with these. There are 2 real cost reducers: Starfield Mystic and Herald of the Pantheon. And thinking of trying to provide the most immediate value possible, I'll go with the Herald. Then the enchantments:
Greater Auramancy is amazing. Giving shroud to all our enchantments for 2 is something I want at least 1 copy in the main, another in the side.
Runed Halo is another important piece in a deck so frail to unfair magic. At least 1 in the main might save us from combo decks in a pinch.
Rest in Peace goes to the sideboard. No brainer.
Stony Silence in the board as well. But I have doubts about it's relevance in the current metagame.
Aegis of the Gods is a more fragile Leyline of Sanctity. I'll opt to go with the latter.
Alpha Authority might be another way to protect our enchantresses.
Baffling End is a possible additional removal.
Blind Obedience can make Authority of the Consul's work and then some, but the added CMC does not encourage me.
Declaration of Naught shenanigans with Telepathy are shenanigans.
Favor of the Mighty is an interesting card that I didn't know of, but I don't see it fitting here.
Fertile Ground adds more mana, but that is a job Utopia Sprawl is already taking care of enough.
Destiny Spinner as another addition from Theros Beyond Death is another win con in the long game, along with Setessan Champion and Sigil of the Empty throne it presents a threat along with making our enchantments non-counterable. I shall try it.
Herald of the Pantheon, as said, is our best mana reducer, giving us a life for each enchantment cast is relevant against aggro strategies that don't rely just on the combat phase.
Starfield Mystic is just worse than Herald, not worth it.
Quarantine Field is a base 2 CMC enchantment, but with the added XX cost. It is a flexible removal that, at a certain stage of the game, can get rid of multiple permanents our opponents control. 1 on the main is very attractive.
Marit Lage's Slumber, such a dream.
Seal of Primordium is a great sideboard card.
Spreading Seas is relevant against greedy manabases and can delay the game so it can bend to our favor.
Luminarch Ascension asks too much of us, in my opinion, although the ceiling is great.
Suppression Field. Afraid. Might hurt us more than others. Still, maybe?
- 3 MANA - Here's our best drops.
Setessan Champion is the newest addition, and does, admittedly a watered down impression of both Argothian Enchantress and Tireless Tracker. I want it nonetheless!
Courser of Kruphix is just a great card. An enchantment creature, that naturally resists Lightning Bolt, non-revolted Fatal Push, blocks really well thanks to its 2/4 stats and provides us with card advantage, even if just in the form of lands, still manages to give us bits of life very naturally.
Nevermore. Only playtest will tell if I want this on the main or on the side. Still, it is a great way to deal with pesky planeswalkers such as Ugin, Karn, etc., combo win conditions, and overall big threats.
Oblivion Ring and Banishing Light do essentially the same thing. It seems reasonable to keep at least one of them in the main, to be a unconditional permanent removal.
Sphere of Detention in bant colors is outright better than O-ring and Banishing Light, but it is for Bant.
Story Circle is interesting, but it always seemed too narrow, and too much of a investment for me.
Idyllic Tutor is something I pondered since the beginning, but I don't know how fast it is as a searcher of silver bullets. I think of it as that, because the rest of the deck can be quite consistent with it's main gameplan, and doesn't need a tutor for specific pieces. Sill...
Kruphix's Insight was once a mainboardable card for me. But since the overall density of enchantments is not overwhelmingly high, and to add it to the main we would have to cut enchantments, it goes either to the board, to help fight against attrition based matches or not at all.
Astral Drift could be fun if we did make it work. Abusing our ETB's with our enchantresses is possible with it on the table, the big problem is having cycling stuff. Maybe having the cycle lands wouldn't hurt the deck.
Solemnity and Phyrexian Unlife. The infamous lock. Not today.
Curator's Ward could be used to protect one of our enchantresses, but might open feelbad 2 for 1 moments for us.
Mirrormade can be our best enchantment for each matchup, but depends on what we have on the table.
Monastery Siege is good protection for our permanents and has added flexibility. Not sure on it's immediate effect, so it seems slow.
Choke is a sidebord control killer.
Eidolon of Blossoms is the other great enchantress of the deck. Provides immediate value, activates other enchantresses. Buys us so many cards that I considered playing Reliquary Tower in the mana base.
Leyline of Sanctity I once considered it in the main. Nowadays just goes on the side.
Leyline of Anticipation let's us cast everything at instant speed. Powerful, sure, but I'm not sure about cost/value.
Cast Out. Instant speed permanent removal, cycling for W. Interesting, possible.
Heliod, God of the Sun is a interesting option, being a indestructible 5/6 body that is fairly easy to activate as well as being able to trigger our enchantresses by making 2/1 Cleric enchantments (our enchantresses activate on ETB, not by casting). The big problem is space.
Thassa, Deep-Dwelling, is a option to abuse the ETB's on our enchantresses. The tap ability is kind of irrelevant in our deck.
Teferi's Ageless Insight would be bonkers with our enchantresses out. But it just seems too slow, and it does not impact the table immediately if we don't have at least one enchantress.
Worship is, in the right metagame, an amazing sideboard option.
Time of Ice? Nah... Don't see why.
Abundance is something we could try to abuse in the late game, so as to close the game faster when we're drawing like crasy. But it seems too cute.
Nylea, Keen-Eyed is a big, hard to deal with 5/6 body, that makes our creatures cheaper and might draw us a card or fix our top. The lack of space in the deck is the biggest problem, not unlike the other gods.
Sigil of the Empty Throne. Yes, just yes. Multiple flier 4/4's is the biggest win condition of the deck.
Starfield of Nyx is a card that had me very excited at the beginning. Opalescence right, with upside, for just one more mana. Seemed great. Then I remembered that Wraths are a thing.
Sphere of Safety is the basically lights out to the combat step for our opponents. Along with Gostly Prison, it makes reach the only way we lose. I still don't know if 1 or 2 is correct in the main.
Karametra, God of Harvests is a favorite of mine, and something, that while powerful if activated, is too slow. Might just throw her in from time to time just for funsies.
