Riders on the Storm

Selesnya enchantment storm


This deck likes to play a lot of cards, and you only really need Sythis, Harvest's Hand on the board to start the storm. Sythis serves as the dedicated voltron, and since most of this deck is auras with cmc 1 or 2, you can get through a lot of cards per round. However, the storm is usually over once you are down to your last aura on hand. At this point the game shifts to be an interactive combat deck, with instants that: remove creatures (ex Swords to Plowshares), protect Sythis (ex: Blacksmith's Skill), or stop combat damage (ex: Fog). Remove Enchantments can be used to re-start the draw engine if it halts to a complete stop (return everything, play everything).

Other than the small auras, there are a couple of impact cards. They are included to be able to turn the game around if you find yourself in a bad position. This category includes: Abundance which help a lot to keep storming aura spells (choose to draw non-lands), Moon-Blessed Cleric to fetch abundance, Winds of Rath which serves as the decks only boardwipe, and Open the Vaults / Brilliant Restoration which can remake your board after a boardwipe.

To make this deck fair and fun, Ive chosen to exclude certain types of effects. These include: +1/+1 based on the number of enchantments in play (ex: Ethereal Armor), hexproof auras (ex: Alpha Authority), protection auras (ex: Spirit Mantle), and indestructible auras (ex: Shield of the Oversoul).


Aura modification list:

  • 6 lifelink auras;
  • 6 flying auras;
  • 6 trample auras;
  • 6 vigilance auras;
  • 5 totem armor auras;
  • 5 player dmg auras.

Tricks include:


The budet is ~70$ total, max 5$ per card (with exceptions). I use Cardkingdom prices

Suggestions are welcome :)

The deck is working! But is quite unfair against slightly weaker decks. Im introducing a list of effects that I am no longer considering for use and removing the cards I play that fall into this category. Also upgrading from Angelic Gift and evening out the color space.

OUT: Alpha Authority, Shield of the Oversoul, Unquestioned Authority, Angelic Gift, and Call To Serve

IN: Moon-Blessed Cleric, Face of Divinity, Griffin Guide, Feather of Flight, and Treetop Bracers

Hmmm, more changes incoming. Moon-Blessed Cleric is cool and all, and it would be really nice to get more Abundance plays, but its not really a perfect fit for this deck since its a "small auras + small interactions" themed deck.. At the same time I was looking back at Remove Enchantments, a card that I own and that I really like (old, janky, lots of archaic text), but havent really found a place for. Well, I think I just realized how I can use this..! It goes like this: Abundance is used to filter out lands, this is very useful since I am drawing a huge amount of cards, and I only need a fraction of the lands. This will eventually lead me to have only lands and interaction on hand, which is a slightly boring situation. This can be mitigated with cards like Keen Sense, and Whip Silk, or even with land fetchers like One with Nature, but it will still probably happen. Now, Remove Enchantments can be used to counter "exile the board" effects, which is super useful, but still not good enough on its own. But it can also be used just before my turn to remove everything to hand so that I can restart the draw engine. This would be really really nice since I would then get an interesting turn instead of just like drawing a land and passing turn. Even though I might not be able to play every aura back out again, I still think its worth it just for the fun + jank factor! So will give it a try. Also, Alpha Authority is slightly cheaper than Canopy Cover.

OUT: Moon-Blessed Cleric and Canopy Cover

IN: Remove Enchantments and Alpha Authority

Changing out some low impact cards with more auras! Also changing out Spirit Mantle cause its a bit expensive (I dont want this deck to be either too good or too expensive). Moon-Blessed Cleric can be used to fetch Abundance, or as a tool box if needed.

OUT: Abundant Growth, Mana Bloom, Multani's Harmony, Radiant Grace  , and Spirit Mantle

IN: Unquestioned Authority, Mark of Sakiko, One with Nature, Snake Umbra, and Moon-Blessed Cleric

The deck was pretty OP as it was, and my turns went on forever. Additionally, I didnt win very often because I quickly became an arch enemy most games. I guess playing as arch enemy is fine, I do like the challenge, but the deck was a bit stressful to play and not that fun (for once it was missing interaction). So I decided to heavily downgrade the deck, and now it is more of an bugdet aura storm deck with combat tricks. I removed all the additional draw-on-enchantment effects, so now you just draw once per enchantment (with Sythis out). This leads to much simpler play choices, and gives the deck speed even though it plays a lot of stuff. There is also much less deciding what to discard at the end of turn. The auras are also much less powerful, which leads to more interesting combats where blockers and such actually matter. Previously I would often have a 21/21 unblockable commander out on round 5, which is usually just an instant player removal, no fun required. Now I more often have maybe a 6/6 flying commander with vigilance and totem armor, which is much less of a threat, and which is actually possible to survive if you (the opponent) makes the correct combat choices.

In summary: enchantresses are out, strong auras are out, tutors are out, and creatures with hexproof are out.

A lot of cheap cmc / $ auras are in (some focus on vigilance and lifelink), a good pile of cmc 1 interaction spells are in.

This deck likes to play a lot of cards. If you can get a couple of enchantresses on the battlefield, you can pretty easily storm off with small enchantments and auras. Wincon is beatdown with combat damage, which shouldn't be a problem using cards like Ancestral Mask in combination with many cheap auras and break-through-power like Gryff's Boon, Rancor, or Spirit Mantle.

I will usually try to win with commander damage early on, which means using Sythis, Harvest's Hand as voltron. If you play a couple of enchantresses (I like to aim for three) and prioritize playing removal enchantments, I can usually reach lethal on turn 6. However the deck has shown ability to hit for lethal turn 4, but sometimes as slow as turn 7, if the deck is not contested.

If you lose your enchantments to a boardwipe, the secondary plan is to come back with Mantle of the Ancients, Open the Vaults, or Brilliant Restoration. Cards like Instill Energy and Swiftfoot Boots will let you hit the same turn as you get your board back, for a quick retribution.

If you play against deck with a lot of removal and you do not succeed with playing Sythis as voltron, you might want to switch over a hexproof creature as your voltron, or tutor for an aura or equipment that grants hexproof.

It's also worth mentioning that you should probably not go crazy and play more buffs on your voltron than needed (20 commander power or 40 non-commander power in addition to flying / protection from creatures should suffice). This is because you can get demolished by board exile spells like Farewell. If you have spent all your good buffs and a farewell is played, your game is over.


1x Sythis, Harvest's Hand CMDR

buffs: 1x All That Glitters 1x Ancestral Mask 1x Audacity 1x Carapace 1x Eland Umbra 1x Ethereal Armor 1x Felidar Umbra 1x Gryff's Boon 1x Helm of the Gods 1x Hyena Umbra 1x Instill Energy 1x Mark of Sakiko 1x Michiko's Reign of Truth 1x Rancor 1x Shield of the Oversoul 1x Spider Umbra 1x Spirit Link 1x Spirit Mantle 1x Unquestioned Authority

enchantresses: 1x Enchantress's Presence 1x Kor Spiritdancer 1x Light-Paws, Emperor's Voice 1x Mesa Enchantress 1x Satyr Enchanter 1x Season of Growth 1x Setessan Champion 1x Sram, Senior Edificer 1x Verduran Enchantress

hexproof: 1x Alpha Authority 1x Bassara Tower Archer 1x Canopy Cover 1x Gladecover Scout 1x Silhana Ledgewalker 1x Swiftfoot Boots

impact: 1x Brilliant Restoration 1x Mantle of the Ancients 1x Open the Vaults 1x Overwhelming Stampede 1x Winds of Rath

lands: 1x Canopy Vista 1x Command Tower 13x Forest 1x Fortified Village 15x Plains 1x Scavenger Grounds 1x Sungrass Prairie 1x Tectonic Edge

ramp: 1x Abundant Growth 1x Fertile Ground 1x Jukai Naturalist 1x Mana Bloom 1x Multani's Harmony 1x Nature's Chosen 1x One with Nature 1x Overgrowth 1x Wild Growth 1x Wolfwillow Haven

removal: 1x Banishing Light 1x Borrowed Time 1x Darksteel Mutation 1x Heliod's Punishment 1x Journey to Nowhere 1x Kenrith's Transformation 1x Lignify 1x Oblivion Ring 1x Oust 1x Path to Exile 1x Reprobation 1x Seal of Cleansing 1x Seal of Primordium 1x Swords to Plowshares

tutor: 1x Open the Armory 1x Sterling Grove

The deck has been further tuned, the game plan has been changed a small bit, and the average CMC has dropped a lot.

Played a couple of rounds a game night, and didn't manage to accomplish much at all with this deck. It was too slow and too protective of itself - I had a hexproof and indestructible voltron, but that doesn't really help if you can't manage to control combats or hit anyone for damage.. So I decided to change up a couple of things. I won 2 / 2 games the following event, so I think these changes worked :)

The game plan has changed from relying a lot on the hexproof and indestructible abilities to not really caring about them at all. Worst that can happen is my stuff ends up in the graveyard, and that isn't really a big deal if I have mass enchantment recursion. I'd rather play tempo, and use my commander as voltron, so that I might be able to hit for 20 damage early on and eliminate players.

In addition to dropping some indestructible and hexproof cards, a lot of of CMC 3 cards have been dropped. Auras and enchantments that cost 1 or 2 are a lot more explosive in this deck. Additionaly, auras that let me untap lands or tap for mana has been added to further increase tempo the early rounds (Nature's Chosen + Wild Growth is a blessing).

Indestructible has in large been swapped with totem armor effects. I don't really care what else these auras do as long as the cost < 3 mana and provide totem armor (Carapace was a nice find here as it provides pseudo totem armor). I believe I play all the cards that fit this description.

Three more +X/+X effects based on the number of enchantments has also been added. I believe I play all the cards that provide this effect for < 3 mana (in addition to Mantle of the Ancients for comeback potential).

The card "draw category" has been dropped (Harmonize and such). This deck draws crazy amounts of cards, I don't need cards in that category.

IN: Audacity, Carapace, Eland Umbra, Gryff's Boon, Helm of the Gods, Instill Energy, Michiko's Reign of Truth  , Spider Umbra, Spirit Link, Season of Growth, Mantle of the Ancients, Overwhelming Stampede, Winds of Rath, Forest, Plains, Multani's Harmony, Nature's Chosen, and Oust

OUT: Armadillo Cloak, Keen Sense, Shielded by Faith, Sixth Sense, Timely Ward, Unflinching Courage, Bequeathal, Cut a Deal, Harmonize, Secret Rendezvous, Sacred Wolf, Dungrove Elder, Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse, Temple of Plenty, Prison Term, Heliod's Pilgrim, and Moon-Blessed Cleric

The deck is quite strong as it is (probably my strongest), and doesnt really need to cost any more. So I'm gonna tidy up the maybeboard for now. Court of Bounty and Court of Grace are probably strong in this deck, and probably better than Cut a Deal and Secret Rendezvous. Sanctum Weaver is also a really good fit, although not very in theme (as I don' use any mana dorks). And finally Michiko's Reign of Truth   could work well as it is fairly similar to cards like All That Glitters. But I don't feel like I need to consider changes at this point.

After a bit of playtesting, I have to say that this deck works pretty well. I am able to draw and play a lot of cards, and its pretty fun. However, Eidolon of Blossoms really shot me in the foot one game. I had ~20 cards left in my library, ~25 enchantments in my graveyard, and as I played Brilliant Restoration to super populate my board, I drew myself to death :'(. Because this easily can happen with both Brilliant Restoration and Open the Vaults, I have to let the Eidolon go..

OUT: Eidolon of Blossoms

IN: Heliod's Punishment

These might be easier to cast

OUT: Troll Ascetic and Witchstalker

IN: Dungrove Elder and Sacred Wolf

This deck worked pretty well in playtesting, but it could be nice with some more staples. Im adding some removal and utility lands++

OUT: Temporal Isolation, Dungrove Elder, Sacred Wolf, Forest, and Plains

IN: Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Overgrowth, Tectonic Edge, and Scavenger Grounds

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Revision 15 See all

(4 months ago)

-1 Alpha Authority main
-1 Angelic Gift main
-1 Call To Serve main
+1 Face of Divinity main
+1 Feather of Flight main
+1 Griffin Guide main
+1 Moon-Blessed Cleric main
-1 Shield of the Oversoul main
+1 Treetop Bracers main
-1 Unquestioned Authority main