Sythis, Harvest's Hand - Classic Enchantress

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Post by yeti1069 » 1 year ago

I think Banishment is significantly better than Cast Out. How often do you cycle it? In particular, I find the deck can struggle against tokens without a Ghostly Prison effect in play. This offers another out vs those decks, while also offering a value play to remove common permanents, like Sol Ring for each opponent.

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Post by BlackbirdPlaysMTG » 1 year ago

yeti1069 wrote:
1 year ago
I think Banishment is significantly better than Cast Out. How often do you cycle it? In particular, I find the deck can struggle against tokens without a Ghostly Prison effect in play. This offers another out vs those decks, while also offering a value play to remove common permanents, like Sol Ring for each opponent.
Yeah, it is definitely a nice removal option when it comes to tokens! I can count the times I have cycled Cast Out on one hand (it basically only happens when I have it in my hand in the early game).

I will probably change Cast Out for Banishment one-on-one, as I feel I do not need to up the amount of removal I am running :) .

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Post by BlackbirdPlaysMTG » 1 year ago

Changelog 04/08/2022

The Changes:

REMOVED :fuming:
  • Cast Out: I barely used the cycling option. It was relevant sometimes when the card was in my opening hand. I think Banishment is a nice little upgrade over Cast Out overall, since it is an answer to tokens and copies of cards (from things like Rite of Replication).
ADDED :)


Double Masters 2022 came out and there are some nice reprints in it. Might want to pick these up. I am not running every card in the short list below, but they are definitely playable (and I have been considering to run Teferi's Protection for a while now!):
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Post by BlackbirdPlaysMTG » 1 year ago

Set Review - Dominaria United

Hey everyone, I have been quite busy with stuff other than Magic: The Gathering. Decided to do a quick scan of the Dominaria United set. A few interesting cards, but nothing to slot into my existing decklist right away. Temporary Lockdown is the best thing in the set. I will do a set review of The Brother's War very soon.

Green

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  • Threats Undetected: A solid tutor/draw two option that could work reasonably well in this deck. However, I prefer my current tutor options to this card.
  • The World Spell: Flashy enchantment that probably does not do enough for the cost in this deck. We generally do not play big, high impact cards, so the third chapter is not as big a gamechanger as it would be in some other decks.

White

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  • Temporary Lockdown : Oooh. I like this card quite a bit. Can absolutely hamstring certain decks and is aggressively costed. It is also a strong removal options vs tokens. The more competitive your meta gets, the better this card will be. Problem is that it also hits some of your own enchantments and enchantresses.
  • Historian's Boon: The first half of the card got me a bit excited, but then I read the second half. We are not a Saga deck. Pass on this mediocre token maker.
  • Prayer of Binding: Solid removal option, but we have Banishment now.
  • Leyline Binding: This card is making waves in constructed. Let it stay there. We can discount it by two at most, and then it is not on par with Banishment.

Colorless

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  • Gerrard's Hourglass Pendant: Interesting card, very similar to Faith's Reward. It could bring back my enchantresses AND all the enchantments after a wipe. I think keeping four (or five) mana open all the time hurts the deck too much though (that can basically only be done in the late game).

Lands

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  • Plaza of Heroes: A powerful land, and it will slot into many commander decks. Not in Sythis though. I want to get her out on turn two and this land does not help with that. The manabase is already smooth as is, and the indestructible + hexproof ability is not necessary in the deck.
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Post by Avacyn Believer » 1 year ago

Thank you for this primer. I've recently began experimenting with Enchantress decks and kept struggling to find a path to winning that doesn't involve turning the commander into a voltron :grin: Also great example for writing my own primer.

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Post by manugl84 » 1 year ago

I guess everyone noticed, but meticulous excavation is a great card for the deck. Protection, it doubles mana of Sanctum or Nykthos, enables more ETBs...

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Post by BlackbirdPlaysMTG » 1 year ago

Avacyn Believer wrote:
1 year ago
Thank you for this primer. I've recently began experimenting with Enchantress decks and kept struggling to find a path to winning that doesn't involve turning the commander into a voltron :grin: Also great example for writing my own primer.
Thank you for your comment! Yeah, Enchantress decks can durdle a lot before they finally win, but if you draw all the cards and put all the permanents on the battlefield you will win eventually. Your value gameplan is just too much for most decks to handle. Which commander are you currently running? Tuvasa?
manugl84 wrote:
1 year ago
I guess everyone noticed, but meticulous excavation is a great card for the deck. Protection, it doubles mana of Sanctum or Nykthos, enables more ETBs...
Yeah, Meticulous Excavation has quite a bit of potential! It is a great tool in the endgame of the deck. I will write about it when I finally come around to my The Brothers' War set review.

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Post by Avacyn Believer » 1 year ago

LaHistorica wrote:
1 year ago
Thank you for your comment! Yeah, Enchantress decks can durdle a lot before they finally win, but if you draw all the cards and put all the permanents on the battlefield you will win eventually. Your value gameplan is just too much for most decks to handle. Which commander are you currently running? Tuvasa?
Sigarda, Host of Herons was my first attempt, in reference to the voltron enchantress. I wanted to try it mostly with Auras to get the enchantress effects but it was fragile, because while Sigarda is hard to remove... the rest of the board isn't. So it felt like an inefficient way to do it.

Alongside that I've got Sythis, but very low budget casual version (basically bunch of Theros Beyond Death and Kamigawa Neon Dynasty thrown together), to get an idea of how it would play. I found that with Sythis I just don't run out of resources, and even my mates thought I should play her as commander instead of Sigarda.

So now the plan is to combine the two, best of both so to speak. I still like high power angel beatdown, and with how much Sythis draws, I think I can get to those reasonably consistently. So it won't be commander damage win, just angels with auras supported by enchantress wins, or so I hope :grin:
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Post by BlackbirdPlaysMTG » 1 year ago

Set Review - The Brothers' War

It took me a while to find some time to write a proper review of The Brothers' War set, but here it is. The set is focused heavily on artifacts, so there are not too many interesting cards in this set. The only card I am considering is Meticulous Excavation, but it is probably too niche (damn the sorcery activation clause!).

Green

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  • No green cards worthy of mention😒.

White

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  • In the Trenches: An anthem effect that doubles as very expensive removal (you have to pay in total to remove a single nonland permanent). Not something the deck wants.
  • Tocasia's Welcome: Card draw on a stick. It triggers when we play an enchantress for example, but we don't play that many creatures to begin with and the deck does not need additional card draw.
  • Meticulous Excavation: Oooh, this card is interesting. The deck can utilize this in different ways. You can use it to return an used Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx or Serra's Sanctum to your hand, so you can play it again and make another boatload of mana. If you have effects on the field that let you play multiple lands that is bonkers. You can also use it to return a cheap enchantment to your hand, so you can play it again to trigger your enchantresses if you do not have an enchantment in hand (rare situation). Another trick is to bounce a enchantment-based removal spell to your hand, so you can select another removal target when that is needed. The problem with this card is that you can only use it during your own turn, which means that you cannot use it to bounce your own enchantments in the face of removal... that is a bummer.
  • Static Net: Solid removal spell, but we have better cards in those slots at the moment.
  • Repair and Recharge: An expensive recursion effect. For one mana less I have a Replenish. In budget brews, there are also better cards like Brilliant Restoration available. It costs a bit more mana-wise, but it can recover you entirely from a wipe.

Multicolour

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  • No multicolour cards worthy of mention😒.

Colourless

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Lands

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  • Brushland: Yay, a reprint. Grab one if you do not have one already.
  • Demolition Field: Good land, but we cannot afford to run it since it does not make coloured mana. I need my pips.


Also, Dominaria Remastered came out and in it are some fresh reprints. Pick these up while they are cheaper if you do not have them already!
Jumpstart 2022 included some reprints as well:
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Post by BlackbirdPlaysMTG » 1 year ago

Avacyn Believer wrote:
1 year ago
Sigarda, Host of Herons was my first attempt, in reference to the voltron enchantress. I wanted to try it mostly with Auras to get the enchantress effects but it was fragile, because while Sigarda is hard to remove... the rest of the board isn't. So it felt like an inefficient way to do it.

Alongside that I've got Sythis, but very low budget casual version (basically bunch of Theros Beyond Death and Kamigawa Neon Dynasty thrown together), to get an idea of how it would play. I found that with Sythis I just don't run out of resources, and even my mates thought I should play her as commander instead of Sigarda.

So now the plan is to combine the two, best of both so to speak. I still like high power angel beatdown, and with how much Sythis draws, I think I can get to those reasonably consistently. So it won't be commander damage win, just angels with auras supported by enchantress wins, or so I hope :grin:
That's a really cool deck idea! You can definitely put in some beaters, suit them up with auras and go to town😎. Do you have a list online somewhere? What are your beaters and which auras are you running?

And yeah, that is the great thing about Sythis. You will always have access to an enchantress effect in the command zone. With the amount of tutors I am running and the enchantress suite being expanded with Satyr Enchanter and Setessan Champion somewhat recently, it is not too hard to find an enchantress effect though.

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Post by Avacyn Believer » 1 year ago

LaHistorica wrote:
1 year ago
That's a really cool deck idea! You can definitely put in some beaters, suit them up with auras and go to town😎. Do you have a list online somewhere? What are your beaters and which auras are you running?

And yeah, that is the great thing about Sythis. You will always have access to an enchantress effect in the command zone. With the amount of tutors I am running and the enchantress suite being expanded with Satyr Enchanter and Setessan Champion somewhat recently, it is not too hard to find an enchantress effect though.
Yeah, I do on Archidekt: Karametra's_Presence

Admittedly it is not as optimized as it could be. At the current form it was built from the cards I already have, rather than looking for the best cards to use (and buy). If nothing else it can really do with better ramp land Auras, I just never had reason to collect those before.

My big creatures are Sigarda, Host of Herons; Zatalpa, Primal Dawn; and Angel of Deliverance. Then also the three Theros gods in Selesnia colours.

I found myself not running many stats boosting Auras in the end, only got All That Glitters and Rancor. Just didn't feel the need for them. So far the deck feel like it can build a solid board state and keep my hand full to rebuild. So the idea is more to outlast than eliminate with massive swings. Sythis just draws too well.

Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll have a chance to test it out properly, it's only recently been put together :)
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Post by BlackbirdPlaysMTG » 1 year ago

Set Review - Phyrexia: All Will Be One

No interesting cards in this set, except for Clever Concealment from the Commander product. This card basically acts like a Teferi's Protection, and you will often be able to cast this for only a few mana, since Sythis and other enchantresses can help you to pay for it. It not having the "your lifetotal can't change" clause means you will be wide open for attacks though, but in case of a wipe that usually does not matter. At the moment, I am not playing Teferi's Protection (or Clever Concealment), but it is on the list of cards to possibly slot into the deck.

Other than that, I hope the next few sets will bring more interesting goodies :).

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Post by TheAmericanSpirit » 1 year ago

What do think of Ossification? I know my build is more Aura-centric, but I think the range of things it can hit for only 2 mana is pretty damn good.
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Post by BlackbirdPlaysMTG » 1 year ago

TheAmericanSpirit wrote:
1 year ago
What do think of Ossification? I know my build is more Aura-centric, but I think the range of things it can hit for only 2 mana is pretty damn good.
It's an alright card, especially if you have some synergies with auras. I prefer Oblivion Ring-like effects thought, because they can deal with anything for just a little more mana investment. If I would go and play some two mana removal options, I would probably select Darksteel Mutation and Kenrith's Transformation over Ossification, since they also have the ability to shut an opponents commander down.


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Post by BlackbirdPlaysMTG » 10 months ago

ChocoDude wrote:
11 months ago
I think the new Seal from Existence is a decent upgrade for either Oblivion Ring or Banishing Light.
Yeah, this can definitely be slotted into the deck! I see it as more of a sidegrade; slightly more difficult to cast but with a small upside. I am on the fence about it.

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Post by manugl84 » 8 months ago

Pretty sweet add incoming, I think composer of spring can be a huge CA machine. There is also Ondu spiritdancer, but at 5 mana I'm not so sure.
What do you think?

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Post by BlackbirdPlaysMTG » 7 months ago

I have not been super active in the past few months. Quite busy at the moment, and I cannot get as many games in as I would like. Some sets have come out over the past few months, so I will do a proper review of the interesting cards soon. Stay tuned!
manugl84 wrote:
8 months ago
Pretty sweet add incoming, I think composer of spring can be a huge CA machine. There is also Ondu spiritdancer, but at 5 mana I'm not so sure.
What do you think?
Hey manugl84! Yeah, I was already eye'ing the Abzan enchantress precon from Commander Masters 😄. I am on the fence regarding Composer of Spring. Putting extra lands into play is good, but I am already running three cards that are doing that unconditionally (Exploration, Azusa, Lost but Seeking and Dryad of the Ilysian Grove). Think I have to see Composer in action to see whether it is a good addition or not.

Ondu Spiritdancer is slow (you have to invest 5 mana first), but obviously pretty strong... imagine copying Mirari's Wake, Ghostly Prison or Sterling Grove. Question is... where to slot it in😅? I am going to order both cards and test them out.

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Post by BlackbirdPlaysMTG » 5 months ago

Set Review - March of the Machine + Aftermath

Alright, it took me a while to get around to it but here we gooooo :) !

Green

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  • Blighted Burgeoning: Another three mana enchant land aura. We run the better (read; cheaper) effects in the deck, so this card won't make the cut. It's fine if you do not want to pay some euros for a Utopia Sprawl and put it in your budget list.
  • Leyline Immersion: You could slap this onto Sythis and generate quite a bit of mana. However, it paints even more of a bullseye on Sythis and I'd rather not.
  • Tribute to the World Tree: Nice enchantment for creature-heavy mono green decks! Sadly, we are neither, so this is a pass. Putting some counter on my enchantresses won't lead to much.

White

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  • Archangel Elspeth: The first two abilities don't really synergies with our deck. The ultimate is pretty sweet, as she can recur a lot of the cards in this deck. Including a walker purely for a situational ultimate is not ideal though. Pass.
  • Invasion of Theros // Ephara, Ever-Sheltering: This card can tutor our aura-based ramp and removal spells. That's pretty solid. The backside is basically another enchantress! Sadly, the card is blue-white and even if we would be able to play it, we cannot really flip it as we are pretty bad at combat.
  • Monastery Mentor: A reprint! This card can create quite a few tokens and triggers the mentor's prowess ability to grow them to pretty a big size. Mentor does not really fit the pillow-forty list that I am running, but if you build a more aggressive list this guy can do some work.
  • Seal from Existence: A solid removal spell. It's basically a Oblivion Ring, but it's a little harder to remove at the cost of being slightly harder to cost.
  • Spark Rupture: Some tech of you face a lot of superfriends decks I suppose.
  • Surge of Salvation: This card can blank a removal spell targeting one of our enchantresses or key enchantments. It's not bad, but I'd rather run Teferi's Protection and that card is currently not in the deck.

Multicolour

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  • Calix, Guided by Fate: Calix is a pretty good card. We do not really have a way to support him when he goes to combat though, so we won't be able to get much value out of him.
  • Sigarda, Font of Blessings: She is very much like Shalai, but she protects all permanents instead of just creatures. She can even cast some of our enchantresses from the top of our deck. I prefer the mana-sink that Shalai offers though, but if you have a Sigarda, Font of Blessings instead of a Shalai, go for it!
  • Danitha, New Benalia's Light: She can recur some our removal aura's and ramp cards, but that's a bit narrow. She is more of a voltron commander/support.
  • Cosmic Rebirth: A recursion spell that can bring enchantresses and smaller enchantments directly back to the battlefield. Could be alright in a budget version of the deck.

Colourless

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Lands

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Post by BlackbirdPlaysMTG » 5 months ago

Set Review - Wild Of Eldraine

Might as well do my Wilds of Eldraine review while I am at it :P .

Green

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  • Bramble Familiar // Fetch Quest: Well, it's a dork early and later in the game it could flip a, say, Mirari's Wake on the battlefield. It's an awful lot of work though. I'd rather spend seven mana casting enchantments and drawing cards.
  • Elvish Archivist: It's an enchantress that triggers once a turn. It's cheap, but it gets outclassed by all the other enchantresses. Should be okay in a budget list as an addition to the enchantress suite or a substitution for Argothian Enchantress.
  • Up the Beanstalk: An enchantment that draws cards! Sadly, in our deck it will only cantrip on itself and a select few enchantments.
  • Virtue of Strength: Ooh, a mana doubler tripler. We only run a few basics though, so this card is not a great fit for this deck (and I cut Nyxbloom Ancient recently because it was way too win-more).

White

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Multicolour

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  • Yenna, Redtooth Regent: This is a sweet card. She prefers to work with aura's, but she can copy our stronger enchantments too. It's a slow card though. I won't put it in my deck, but if you like it, go for it!

Colourless

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Lands

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Also, in the complementary Enchanted Tales product, there are some nice reprints for this deck (as well as some other enchantment staples like Land Tax) with fancy art:

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Post by BlackbirdPlaysMTG » 5 months ago

I made two small changes to the decklist and I am having high hopes for these new cards. Academy Rector already proved its worth a few times.

Changelog 09/10/2023

The Changes:

REMOVED :fuming: ADDED :)
  • Academy Rector: Wooooh, I finally traded one with someone. This card is a great rattlesnake. People don't really want to attack into it and if the board gets wiped you will always have something useful on the battlefield to start rebuilding with.
  • Composer of Spring: I ordered one a few days ago, so I will try it out. I have high hopes for this one. It should be able to put quite a few lands (the creature part is less relevant) into play once I get the enchantress train rolling.


Left on my to-do list is to write my reviews of The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth and Commander Masters. They will be up soon-ish. Stay tuned, and keep slapping enchantments :cool: .

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Post by manugl84 » 5 months ago

New toy from Doctor Who!
The curse of Fenric might be useful for troublesome creatures. The other two chapters could be conuterproductive, but I think the first is worth it.

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Post by Arebennian » 1 month ago

BlackbirdPlaysMTG wrote:
5 months ago
I made two small changes to the decklist and I am having high hopes for these new cards. Academy Rector already proved its worth a few times.

Changelog 09/10/2023

The Changes:

REMOVED :fuming: ADDED :)
  • Academy Rector: Wooooh, I finally traded one with someone. This card is a great rattlesnake. People don't really want to attack into it and if the board gets wiped you will always have something useful on the battlefield to start rebuilding with.
  • Composer of Spring: I ordered one a few days ago, so I will try it out. I have high hopes for this one. It should be able to put quite a few lands (the creature part is less relevant) into play once I get the enchantress train rolling.


Left on my to-do list is to write my reviews of The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth and Commander Masters. They will be up soon-ish. Stay tuned, and keep slapping enchantments :cool: .
How did Composer of Spring go? What are your thoughts on Case of the Locked Hothouse and On the Trail?

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