Dance of the Manse
has been on my mind daily since it was spoiled. I’ve built two Standard shells, neither of which felt like they quite got there. But the card is undeniably fun, and unquestionably powerful.
Pioneer offers us a fantastic opportunity to make a really neat deck built around it, by opening up a plethora of powerful enchantments and artifacts, as well as the famed Enchantment Creatures from Theros block.
The spell I felt the most longing for while building a Standard shell was
Authority of the Consuls
. Backing that up with
Search for Azcanta
will grind our opponent to a halt while giving us valuable selection, as well as fueling our graveyard for later. Lastly,
Pithing Needle
ensures our opponent’s prison is complete.
Underworld Coinsmith
,
Grim Guardian
, and
Nyx-Fleece Ram
will provide excellent defense, bolster our life total, and drain the opponent of resources. Trading them in combat is favorable to us, as we can simply re-animate them later with Dance.
Similarly,
Gleaming Barrier
will give us early protection and possible mana advantage to reach Dance’s demanding need for 8 mana.
Chief of the Foundry
is mostly a re-animate target, and
Noxious Gearhulk
ensures a powerful 2-for-1 every time it hits the board.
Having very nearly all our Enchantments and Artifacts doubled as creatures means it’s easy to protect ourselves, and even easier to fill up our graveyard with juicy targets. If the opponent won’t help us do so, we always have
Hour of Revelation
to clean up the board and set up a next-turn Dance.
The ETBs attached to most of our creatures should provide a powerful life swing when we do finally crack off a hefty Dance of the Manse.
