[RETIRED]Sythis, Harvest's Hand - Grass Grows, Birds Fly, Sun Shines

[TheAmericanSpirit]

And brother, this deck hurts people. Many of you may have seen @LaHistorica's wonderful new primer on Sythis, but I'm here to demonstrate there's more than one way to skin the metaphorical cat. In this build, we won't be making tokens, building forts, or locking the board down. We're here to punch people into next Tuesday while drawing fistfuls of cards. Here's how it's done:

Grass Grows, Birds Fly, Sun Shines

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

Generalissimo

1 Sythis, Harvest's Hand

Creatures (17)

1 Generous Visitor

1 Sram, Senior Edificer

1 Kor Spiritdancer

1 Light-paws, Emperor's Voice

1 Femeref Enchantress

1 Destiny Spinner

1 Jukai Naturalist

1 Kami of Transience

1 Argothian Enchantress

1 Sanctum Weaver

1 Satyr Enchanter

1 Mesa Enchantress

1 Katilda, Dawnhart Martyr

1 Setessan Champion

1 Verduran Enchantress

1 Eidolon of Countless Battles

1 Eidolon of Blossoms

Artifact (1)

1 Sol Ring

Sorcery (2)

1 Open the Armory

1 Winds of Rath

Instants (5)

1 Karametra's Blessing

1 Blacksmith's Skill

1 Tamiyo's Safekeeping

1 Enlightened Tutor

1 Heroic Intervention

Non-Aura, Noncreature Enchantments (6)

1 Season of Growth

1 Seal of Primordium

1 Seal of Cleansing

1 Michiko's Reign of Truth

1 Sterling Grove

1 Enchantress's Presence

Auras (35)

1 Glaring Aegis

1 Hyena Umbra

1 Whip Silk

1 Spider Umbra

1 Flickering Ward

1 Swift Reconfiguration

1 Instill Energy

1 Rancor

1 Ethereal Armor

1 Gryff's Boon

1 Radiant Grace

1 Utopia Sprawl

1 Wild Growth

1 Daybreak Coronet

1 Alpha Authority

1 Wheel of Sun and Moon

1 Kenrith's Transformation

1 Lignify

1 All that Glitters

1 Canopy Cover

1 Mark of Sakiko

1 Fertile Ground

1 Wolfwillow Haven

1 Shield of the Oversoul

1 Battle Mastery

1 Unflinching Courage

1 Armadillo Cloak

1 Ancestral Mask

1 Overgrowth

1 Verdant Haven

1 Empyrial Armor

1 Bear Umbra

1 Market Festival

1 Dawn's Reflection

1 Mantle of the Ancients

Lands (33)

7 Plains

10 Forest

1 Bountiful Promenade

1 Fabled Passage

1 Command Tower

1 Windswept Heath

1 Hall of Heliod's generosity

1 Temple Garden

1 Wooded Bastion

1 Fortified Village

1 Sunpetal Grove

1 Sungrass Prairie

1 Brushland

1 Prismatic Vista

1 Scattered Groves

1 Horizon Canopy

1 Canopy Vista

1 Overgrown Farmland

Approximate Total Cost:

The gameplan is self explanatory. Play out your enchantress effects and some land auras, then pick a dude, maybe sythis, maybe a starfield mystic, it doesn't really matter. Just start stacking auras until your dude is 100 feet tall, immortal, and shoots lazers from his eyes and then start wiping people out. This deck can create formidable damage output fairly early in the game and rebuilding after removal is pretty easy given all the cards drawn. I recommend sandbagging at least one enchantress in case of inopportune wipes, as this will allow you to redeploy your engine quickly and give you a ready target for aggressive auras. Other than that, a kindergartener could run tables with this thing.

Now it's up to you, humble reader: do you prefer the classic flavor of enchantress or are you a savage like me who just wants to rumble with giant magical monsters?

Building on a Budget

SPOILER

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First, let's cut every card over $10 (as of 5/3/22, time of writing). Zero of them are mission critical to our gameplan. Those would be:
-Argothian Enchantress
-Flickering Ward
-exploration
-land tax
-mirri's guile
-femeref enchantress
-wheel of sun and moon
-daybreak coronet
-enlightened tutor
-heroic intervention
and some fancy nonbasics

Great, now dig through your jank bin for a half dozen auras under 3 cmc, common aura-related creatures like Heliod's Pilgrim, and some basic lands. Slap that %$#% in and watch in amazement as the pricetag falls while the efficacy only suffers in the margins! This deck was brutal when I built the first draft for 50 bucks on the bones of a precon. Sure, the fancy stuff helps but the deck thrives on redundancy of effects, not necessarily the quality of effects. Stuff like Spectral Steel is perfectly playable and it's 14 cents. The only real cost you gotta pay is buying all the redundant enchantress cards, but most of them are sub 5 USD and you came here to play enchantress presumably, so pony up. Coming soon: an example budget decklist!

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Quick change, I wanted a little more aggro and a few fewer lands, so

-flickerform
-evolving wilds
-terramorphic expanse
-transcendent envoy
+mirri's guile
+land tax
+kami of transience
+angelic destiny

[TheGildedGoose]

No Song of the Dryads? Seems like a slam dunk that draws cards, takes cares of problematic permanents, and gets around random "oops, I lose" lands you might otherwise not be able to interact with, like Glacial Chasm/Maze of Ith. Likewise, I always liked running Strip Mine in aggro and Voltron.

I sort of like Parallax Wave here, actually. You can aura up, slap it down, exile an opponent's creatures, and then smack them to death before they can recover and the Wave is sacrificed.

Is Teferi's Protection worth running to save your board from wipes?

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Song is a great suggestion, and will be added as soon as I can find one! Parallax wave was in an earlier draft, but got cut alongside Opalescence. I love that card quite a bit, but 4 drops have to be a bit better than average to make the grade with a mana curve this aggressive. I am also chained to playing at least 30 auras to make sram and the spirit dancer worth it, so nonaura enchantment space is tight.

As for Teferi's protection, if I had one I must admit I'd play in Phelddagrif before I played it here. This deck just wants to go ham and usually does so before anyone mounts a sufficient roadblock and if they somehow manage to get us down, rebuildin is a snap given the high level of natural redundancy and card volume.

Speaking of which, I played 3 games with this deck last night and went 3-0. Fast aggro is back in style, baby.

[BlackbirdPlaysMTG]

Oooooh, I see a Sythis list. Just a question, but why didn't you go for Tuvasa? She specifically synergizes with more voltronny builds. She does have the downside of only drawing you one card each turn herself, so you would be more dependent on your other enchantresses.

I like the list, very low to the ground. Good that you found a home for Kami of Transience and Femeref Enchantress. I saw some cards which I think are not optimal though, so I'll just list them:

• Equinox: You are not running extreme value lands, so it is basically just there for the cantrip?
• Land Tax: It does filter lands out of your deck and cantrip, but I am not sure if you want to dedicate a slot to that.
• Paladin Class: Is quite inefficient. You can easily weave it in though, but how often will you spend mana to level it?

I see you run Whip Silk. Maybe you could also include Flickering Ward? You can draw many cards of it if you need to, and protection can help you protecting it from removal/getting past blockers. Also saw you took out Flickerform. It is quite an investment, but once you have a stacked creature you can protect it. Seems like a valuable effect.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Oooooh, I see a Sythis list. Just a question, but why didn't you go for Tuvasa? She specifically synergizes with more voltronny builds. She does have the downside of only drawing you one card each turn herself, so you would be more dependent on your other enchantresses.

I like the list, very low to the ground. Good that you found a home for Kami of Transience and Femeref Enchantress. I saw some cards which I think are not optimal though, so I'll just list them:

• Equinox: You are not running extreme value lands, so it is basically just there for the cantrip?
• Land Tax: It does filter lands out of your deck and cantrip, but I am not sure if you want to dedicate a slot to that.
• Paladin Class: Is quite inefficient. You can easily weave it in though, but how often will you spend mana to level it?

I see you run Whip Silk. Maybe you could also include Flickering Ward? You can draw many cards of it if you need to, and protection can help you protecting it from removal/getting past blockers. Also saw you took out Flickerform. It is quite an investment, but once you have a stacked creature you can protect it. Seems like a valuable effect.

Glad to see you pop by! I'll address your points in order:

Tuvasa: there's two issues with her that are dealbreakers for me: I already have a bant deck and she can only be obtained in foil. I hate foil cards (quality control issues aside, I would still prefer my cards to have a uniform non-iridescent finish. It just looks better imho).

Equinox: most of the time it is merely a cantrip, but there is one player in my meta who occasionally pulls out a Reaper King list rife with Armageddons. I put the card in to stick it to that guy in particular, just in case.

Land Tax: it's been okay so far. I rarely get the full three lands, usually just opting for 1-2 just to keep things moving. Definitely a flex slot though if something better comes along.

Paladin Class: Yeah, this card is not great. But it is very cheap to cast and tangentially moves the gameplan along if it sticks around. Someday soon it probably should be replaced with a Grand Abolisher or a Destiny Spinner.

Flickering Ward: admittedly, this should be included. But I'll nab one when it isn't 17 dang ol' dollars. It's a fine card and all, but it's not $17 good.

Flickerform: this was a hard cut, but it has a few problems. First, it requires me to hold up a minimum of 4 mana, which is quite a bit in this deck. Second, it isn't cheap enough activate in order to dodge 2 removal spells played in succession unlike something such as Vanishing. Third, it contributes nothing else to my offensive capabilities. Granted, with Bear Umbra it is bonifide amazing, but I have not been impressed outside of that scenario.

Anyhoo, thank for the feedback! Hopefully I can pull the trigger on a few of these potential changes in the coming week and get back to the forum on how it's going. So far, so good.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Got some new cards today. Will edit later to explain when I have more time.

-paladin class
-equinox
-Kenrith's transformation
-conviction
-spectral Steel
-stirring wildwood
-forest

+enlightened tutor
+Destiny spinner
+radiant grace
+song of the dryads
+wheel of sun and moon
+prismatic vista
+bountiful promenade

As LaHistorica pointed out, paladin class is pretty weak. Out it goes for destiny spinner, which gives better protection and another source of Aggro via animated lands. Equinox, conviction, and spectral steel were my weakest auras, so they're out for Wheel, Radiant Grace, and enlightened tutor. I like that radiant grace gives vigilance (a vital keyword underrepresented in this list) and then a way to blunt hasted attacks from a fellow aggressor. Wheel is targeted hate against a graveyard or a way to keep from decking lategame, which has been a worry. Finally, Kenrith's Transformation is removed for the superior Song of the Dryads, as per the suggestion of a mysterious precious metal waterfowl.

[Arebennian]

I've got two cards that I think are auto includes:

Mark of Sakiko
Instill Energy

[TheAmericanSpirit]

I've got two cards that I think are auto includes:

Mark of Sakiko
Instill Energy

I cannot find a copy of Mark to save my life. I'm waiting for one to wash up on the great lgs shores.

Instill energy is not quite worth it imho. The untap does very little aside from help sanctum weaver (which is already nuts) and the haste alone doesn't justify it to me.

[Arebennian]

I dunno.
Sandbag it for after the inevitable boardwipe, then drop a creature and play install energy and a few other enchantments to hit someone for 6-10 out of nowhere.

With the untap, you're effectively granting vigilance: protecting yourself with an intimidating blocker.

Haste and vigilance for 1 mana seems great to me.

What is Frontier Siege doing for you (other than probably being close to mana neutral).

[TheAmericanSpirit]

With all due respect, Frontier siege is bonkers, it makes 4 mana on each of your turns aside from the turn you play it. Mana tends to be the biggest throttle on forward progress; usually I have more than enough cards courtesy of the enchantress effects and the siege's mana output has been fabulous help in every game it's resolved. I could see instill energy getting a trial run sometime in the future, but Frontier Siege isn't going anywhere. There's at least 20 cards worse than it still in the list lol

[Arebennian]

Cool to hear. I was simply interested: didn't mean to come across as hostile.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Cool to hear. I was simply interested: didn't mean to come across as hostile.

No worries, my friend! Your passionate response convinced me to order (and soon test) both of the cards you suggested. I just love me some Frontier Siege. It plays so much better than it reads. Card is straight gasoline. I apologize if I came off as defensive though! Tone is admittedly hard to parse on these forums but truly I appreciate your input.

[Arebennian]

Cool. I'm building the Tuvasa version of this deck so it is interesting to hear your thoughts on things. I wasn't quite sure if it had any other applications.

I read you were worried about non-aura enchantments going below 30, but surely Duelist's Heritage deserves a spot?

[ChocoDude]

Since you can't run U, you don't have access to the "unblockable" auras, but what are your thoughts on the pseudo-unblockable auras Spirit Mantle and Unquestioned Authority?

[TheGildedGoose]

I was actually wondering how you dealt with blockers with this deck, which is why I originally suggested Parallax Wave. Generous Gift and Beast Within are obviously fantastic removal spells but this is one of those rare circumstances where the leftover body is an actual drawback. I mean, I guess the correct answer is "attack with your 40/40 until they can't block anymore" but it seems so inelegant. Unquestioned Authority would get you right back to 30 auras and could probably replace something like Nature's Claim. I think your enchantment and artifact removal suite is fine without it, if a bit awkward.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Since you can't run U, you don't have access to the "unblockable" auras, but what are your thoughts on the pseudo-unblockable auras Spirit Mantle and Unquestioned Authority?

Personally, I haven't felt the need for them. Usually the creatures in this deck are enormous and have trample, flying, etc when they're swinging, so most blockers are inconsequential speedbumps en route to Damage Town. Now, if you've got Glissa, the Traitor and company running around in your meta, then heck yeah I'd run 'em. They're super solid but thankfully not too necessary in my meta.

I was actually wondering how you dealt with blockers with this deck, which is why I originally suggested Parallax Wave. Generous Gift and Beast Within are obviously fantastic removal spells but this is one of those rare circumstances where the leftover body is an actual drawback. I mean, I guess the correct answer is "attack with your 40/40 until they can't block anymore" but it seems so inelegant. Unquestioned Authority would get you right back to 30 auras and could probably replace something like Nature's Claim. I think your enchantment and artifact removal suite is fine without it, if a bit awkward.

You're not wrong about the lefotver bodies being inconveniences, but they're minor ones. As I said above, hugeness and trample have served me well so far, but now that I think about it, you folks may be onto something with this protection form creatures business given how nasty enemy deathtouch can be for the gameplan. Alright, I'll give it a whirl, what the hell?

Here's what's on the docket:
I ordered Mark of Sakiko, Instill Energy, Empyrial Armor, Endless Wurm, and Wooded Bastion for the deck. When those arrive in the mail, I will subtract Starfield Mystic, Herald of the Pantheon, Elephant Grass, Solitary Confinement, Radiant Grace, Grasslands, and Nature's Claim for the aforementioned ordered cards, Unquestioned Authority, and Transcendent Envoy.

The cost reduction duo are occasionally awkward in a way that the enchantment creature cost reducers are not. Out they'll go, back in comes the envoy. Elephant Grass and Solitary Confinement are vestigal organs of the OG enchantress concept, and I don't think they're necessary. We're here to hit home runs, not defend third base. Out they'll go for more auras. Claim (as goose pointed out) and Grace are just the weakest remaining cards, so they too will be out for an aura and a wurm respectively. That wurm is cooler than Chris Pratt, man. Can't wait to give it a go!!

[TheAmericanSpirit]

So I made some interim changes to smooth out gameplay until the new cards arrive.

-starfield mystic
-herald of the pantheon
-elephant grass
-solitary confinement

+spectral steel
+transcendent envoy
+unquestioned authority
+oath of ancient wood

Oath in particular I want to test. There are turns where this thing could deposit 10+ counters without sweating. The biggest limitation of its potential is my general distate for excessive bookkeeping. In all likelihood though, it's a placeholder like spectral steel.

[Arebennian]

I'ave always been intrigued by Remove Enchantments, but I was listening to a podcast today and heard about Scarab of the Unseen which seems to be a more proactive use for a similar impact.

[Gamazson]

Have you considered Empyrial Armor? I had built an aura deck around Wyleth, Soul of Steel where I found it to be a powerful buff.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

So I've been working on other things for a while, but I managed to get hands on a Mark of Sakiko, Flickering Ward, Empyrial Armor, and a few nice lands for this deck. TBH, its current version seems to me like the best it'll get until more enchantment support is released.

Here's to hoping for a 1-3 more scary auras this year!

[TheAmericanSpirit]

I'ave always been intrigued by Remove Enchantments, but I was listening to a podcast today and heard about Scarab of the Unseen which seems to be a more proactive use for a similar impact.

So this deck and I ran into Farewell for the first time yesterday, and I now believe Remove Enchantments may be a pertinent suggestion than I previously thought. I will have to acquire a copy for testing!

[BlackbirdPlaysMTG]

So this deck and I ran into Farewell for the first time yesterday, and I now believe Remove Enchantments may be a pertinent suggestion than I previously thought. I will have to acquire a copy for testing!

Perhaps you could also go for Teferi's Protection? I don't know if it is within your budget, but it is even better in most cases. Everything basically stays on the board, so you don't have to replay and rebuild. I have been contemplating running a copy myself in my own Sythis deck.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

So this deck and I ran into Farewell for the first time yesterday, and I now believe Remove Enchantments may be a pertinent suggestion than I previously thought. I will have to acquire a copy for testing!

Perhaps you could also go for Teferi's Protection? I don't know if it is within your budget, but it is even better in most cases. Everything basically stays on the board, so you don't have to replay and rebuild. I have been contemplating running a copy myself in my own Sythis deck.

Good ol' T.P. has been suggested before, but it has three issues I see:

1. It has no offensive function. At least Heroic Intervention can be used to punch past deathtouch and other deterrents, whereas T.P. can only save you and your board.
2. It costs 3, which is quite a bit to hold up in a deck that wants to generate hideous value on its own turn and uses almost all its mana to that end.
3. My only copy is in another deck, and 40 quid is a lot to spend on the same thing twice.

[BlackbirdPlaysMTG]

Good ol' T.P. has been suggested before, but it has three issues I see:

1. It has no offensive function. At least Heroic Intervention can be used to punch past deathtouch and other deterrents, whereas T.P. can only save you and your board.
2. It costs 3, which is quite a bit to hold up in a deck that wants to generate hideous value on its own turn and uses almost all its mana to that end.
3. My only copy is in another deck, and 40 quid is a lot to spend on the same thing twice.

Ah okay, I see your points. For me it is mainly point two holding me back from trying it, but since my build is a lot more defensive and slower it might be worth it.