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Enchantress

Legacy Budget Enchantress

Introduction

Note: this article’s been written by my friend Robin who recently made the finals of a 50-player tournament with his beloved Enchantress. Check out his list here.

A deck that has been around for quite some time and has been played in multiple formats, has had many different configurations over the years, and has been ranked in all tiers imaginable. It’s Enchantress. For now we’ll focus on the legacy deck, which to be fair, hasn’t been that competitive the last couple of year.. decades. Which doesn’t mean it can reward an experienced player and can surprise a lot of opponents. I mean, they often have to read at least 50 percent of the spells you cast. The deck is quite easy to learn, and medium-hard to master.

You’ll want to play this deck if you like to draw multiple cards per turn and have a very large board of permanent by the end of turn 4. You also want to play this deck if you want to have a good matchup versus the fair (and blue) decks.
You don’t want to play this deck if you like stack interaction and a decent game 1 versus fast combo. Also if you dislike basic forests, you’ll better sleeve up something else.

Budget

Price: ~ 1000 EUR / 1100 USD

Playable from 800 EUR / 900 USD

Updated February 2024

Most recent deck lists: here.

How does Enchantress work?

There are quite some configurations to choose from when playing Enchantress. Enchantress, being a ramp-y combo-y controll-y deck generally speaking, can shift between those archetypes depending on the build. The core of each build is more or less identical, but we’ll return to that later. For this article, we’re going to focus on three main builds that are overall considered to be the most successful ones.

Build number 1; RIP Helm ‘Solitaire’

This is the more control-style version of the deck. It opts to control the board until it can land Rest in Peace + Helm of Obedience. For those unfamiliar with this 2-card combo, it exiles the opponent’s library with a single activation of Helm of Obedience. This deck is quite straightforward and self-explanatory. The combo is pretty consistent, so this list is a safe choice to start playing Enchantress.

  • Pros: relatively easy to play, combo is quite straightforward
  • Cons: the deck can be quite slow compared to other variants

Build number 2; Yorion Enchantress ‘Ursula’ 

This version of the deck is trying to outvalue even dedicated value decks. It can out-grind almost every other deck in the format. It answers every threat the opponent can throw at you, and starts to do silly things when Estrid’s Invocation hits the battlefield. Yorion entering and returning 5 permanents that draw a card when entering the battlefield is often the final nail in the coffin. The sideboard is often dedicated to an arsenal of anti-combo cards due to the relatively slow nature of the deck.

  • Pros: very good at grinding
  • Cons: can be quite slow, terrible combo matchup in the first game 

Build number 3; 4WD ‘4 Wheel Druid’ Enchantress

This is my personal favorite build and I’ve had some succes with it in a couple of real life tournaments (editor: Robin’s being modest here, he’s a monster). It has the traditional Enchantress shell, but plays 4 Living Wishes and the Devoted Druid + Swift Reconfiguration combo. Swift Reconfiguration turns Druid into a Vehicle (hence the deck name). As it’s no longer a creature, it doesn’t die to state-based effects reducing its toughness to 0. This combo can be assembled pretty consistently and pretty fast and gives you infinite green mana. With 1-2 enchantress effects out, this often means you can dig, casting green Enchantments, until you find a living wish and cast an Emrakul. Alternatively, you drop enough enchantments on the battlefield for a Destiny Spinner activation to be lethal. The wish-board means you can easily play the control game and finish off the game once some form of board control is achieved. It often catches people by surprise and can even outrace other combo decks with good opening hands, since (in Magical Christmasland), turn 2 is the fastest you can get infinite green mana.

  • Pros: one of the fastest versions of the deck
  • Cons: still not very good against (fast) combo

Building Budget Legacy Enchantress

This deck can be acquired on a budget, since the most expensive cards, original dual lands, aren’t that necessary for this deck to function. This deck plays a lot of basic lands. Depending on the build, you want the following cards (the ones that are more expensive that is, half of the deck consists of very cheap cards);

  • 1-3x Serra’s Sanctum
  • 4x Argothian Enchantress
  • 4x Windswept Heath
  • 0-4 other green Fetch Lands
  • 1x Temple garden (eventually Savannah)
  • 0-1x other green Shock Lands, depending on a splash color. Black (Overgrown Tomb/Bayou) or blue (Breeding Pool/Tropical Island) are often safe choices.
  • 0-4 Prismatic Vista (usually if you go straight GW)
  • 0-3x Carpet of Flowers
  • 0-4x Leyline of Sanctity
  • 0-4x Leyline Binding
  • 1-3x Green Sun’s Zenith
  • 0-4x Estrid’s Invocation
  • 0-2x Helm of Obedience
  • 0-3x Rest in Peace
  • 1x Emrakul, the Aeon’s Torn
  • 0-1x Karakas
  • 0-1x Mirri’s Guile
  • 0-1x Exploration (personal favorite)

Upgrade paths

Enchantress is a relatively unique deck in legacy, so there’s not that much overlap with other decks. If you’ve acquired a Savannah, decks like Maverick or GW Depths become easier to build. However, you’ll still need to drop quite some bank to get there.

Additional Resources