This Week: I expand on the new Stripped Out series. I take a look at the themes in the Upgrades Unleashed Commander Precon Deck, strip out the counters and equipment to leave me with a great shell for an enchantments matter deck.
There was a lot of good in last week’s article, a lot to learn from for the direction of this series. I’m going to keep building off that with another relatively new precon option. Modified ranks up there with Historic as silly catchalls Wizards has put out. Counters, equipment, and auras all have enough support of their own. Was there a real need to have a convergence and pay off for any of the three? No there was not. But that didn’t stop that plan in Upgrades Unleashed. That deck had a little bit of everything and when you’re doing a little bit of everything you’re usually not doing enough of the one thing that will win you a game. This instance of Stripped Out will take Upgrades Unleashed and give it that focus.
With that line in the sand I drew I’m overruling the face commander, Chishiro, The Shattered Blade right from the start. I’m not in love with counters generally as a plan for an intro deck anyway. Now I have to bring dice for me and opponents. It just increases the stuff I have to bring with me to a game and I would rather travel light. I do like Kosei, Penitent Warlord. Hit one opponent to damage the other two is a plan I can get behind. In green I could make that Ogre into a real monster. But I need all 3 categories, counters, auras, and equipment to turn that ability on. Its too broad for my purposes. I knew my choice the moment I saw it, Kaima, The Fractured Calm. My love for enchantments is well known at this point. Forcing my opponents to attack is a new found favorite of mind. An exgirlfrind of mine made me watch Princess Mononokae years ago and I immediately was reminded of that when I saw the art for the card. That’s not a selling point for building the deck or a strategy, but its what popped into my head and I wanted to be transparent.
Back to Kaima and the deck. Goading opposing creatures wearing my enchantments is a riot. Their gain is my benefit. It’s a win win until I win outright. So I’m stripping out all the cards that deal with counters and equipment from the deck. My first includes don’t even need Kaima to be effective, but they're that much better if he's out there. Shiny Impetus and Predatory Impetus Goad on their own. So even if my Comander isn’t on the board I can still direct the biggest threat away from me. Bequethal nets me two cards when the enchanted creature dies. I'm incentivized to put it on something fragile or likely to eat removal from one of my other opponents. Smoke Spirits' Aid isn't an enchantment, but it makes a ton of them that punish the enchanted creature's controller upon death and ramps me. Its all upside, especially if my commander is out. Kumano's Blessing is not defacto removal, but it is quite definitive.
Most complaints around auras is around the fact they go to the graveyard once the creature dies and it can result in a blowout if you over commit to one creature. Fan favorite Rancor gets around this by returning to hand in the event of an untimely demise. What most people don’t remember is that there are multiple enchantments in all colors that do the same thing. Fiery Mantle provides an opponent no benefit if he has no red mana to power it. So the potential Goad is all upside when used against the correct opponent. Unquenchable Fury provides extra damage even if the creature is blocked. Which is fine because when the enchanted creature dies I get to pass the aura to the next threat. Aspect of Mongoose is tricky as it protects the creature from targeted removal or further enchanting, but it does come back after the creature does die.
There are a couple other aura's worth mentioning before moving on. Skin Invasion//Skin Shredder helps with the removal problem as once the enchanted creature dies I inherit an Insect Horror. One With The Kami is insurance against a board wipe as I'm left with a ton of small token creatures.
With all these enchantments I needed to put in some payoffs and enablers. Eidolon of Blossoms, Setessan Champion, Verduran Enchantress, and Argothian Enchantress are all creatures that draw me cards. Enchantress's Presence is a more survivable form of that effect. There's a reason the strategy is called enchantress after all. Rounding it out I have Herald Of The Pantheon to reduce the cost of all these permanents.
Now, onto the creatures. I need options to enchant too to keep the pressure on my opponents. I'm cheating with this first group since they all have bestow. Especially since my opponents will be left wide open after their goaded creature dies. I'm running powerhouses like Boon Satyr so I can flash in whenever and however it benefits me the most. Everflame Eidolon pumps up with built in firebreathing. Nylea's Emissary helps to get damage through with trample making blocking it a losing proposition. I don't know if you've caught on yet, but all these creatures, and more, have bestow. I can use them against an opponent and still retain the creature once the host dies. Be careful with something like Noble Quarry as it can be used against you if the enchanted creature isn't properly goaded.
Not all my creatures have bestow or are even enchantment role players. Combat Celebrant and Karlach, Fury of Avernus open up additional combats for me. So do Akki Battle Squad and Port Razer. Extra combat steps are powerful to begin with. But if my opponents are wide open extra combats are even more valuable. I believe in this so much I added Zariel, Archduke of Avernus for the potential emblem. Even the +1 is good though pumping my attacking army and getting any newbys to attack too.
Since I have all these enchantments and I'm forcing opponents to attack anyway, I may as well encourage players to attack each other regardless, or find a way to reduce the feel bads a bit. Enter the curses. Curse of Opulence lands early and rewards both the attacker and myself with a treasure. Curse of Clinging Webs rewards us with spider tokens with reach. They're not very powerful so I'm not afraid if an opponent amasses a small army of them. I also have a problem with flying creatures so the chump blockers are even more appreciated. Curse of Shaken Faith is great against the spell slinger deck just as is Curse of Obsession.
What else is new to the deck? I'm adding in some good removal options like Earthquake and the always solid Blasphemous Act to clear the board. Heaven//Earth sweeps the ground which may be a problem for me, but then sweeps the sky which is not nearly as troublesome or me. I added a couple Totems for ramp options, Weatherseed and Foriyisian. I wouldn't enchant them but having them available after a board wipe is important once the mana is less relevant. Cultivate rounds out the new ramp filling my board with lands to stay ahead. I have a suite of protection like Trollhide and Regeneration when it comes to permanents but also Tyvar's Stand and Tamiyo's Safekeeping for one offs. Harmonize keeps with the one shot effect but for card draw this time.
What stayed in then? Snake and Bear Umbra obviously. My Commander is a big deal so he's getting some insurance. Komainu Battle Armor also stayed above the cut line. I don't really care for these reconfigure cards and I was moving away from equipment but it pushes the goad plan along. I expect to have several creatures on the field at any given time so Rishkar's Expertise and Shamanic Revelation stay too. Starstorm and Chain Reaction are mass damage spells that stay in for when things get out of hand. Beast Within goes the opposite way, with a more measured response. I'm not afraid to enchant the token to keep it from coming at me. Overall I kept 16/63 for a total of 25% of the original non land cards.
Here's the deck.
Kaima, The Fractured Calm
Everflame Eidolon Troll Hide Shiny Impetous
Boon Satyr Tamiyo's Safekeeping Predatory Impetous
Noble Quarry Tyvar's Stand Rancor
Nylea's Emissary Regeneration Aspect of Mongoose
Purphuros' Emissary Jolrael's Favor Fiery Mantle
Spirespine Harmonize Sluggishness
Leafcrown Dryad Eidolon of Blossoms Undying Rage
Akki Battle Squad Enchantress' Presence Skin Invasion//Skin Shredder
Combat Celebrant Verduran Enchantress Bequeathal
Karlach, Fury of Avernus Argothian Enchantress Smoke Spirit's Aid
Herald of The Pantheon Pest Infestation Kumano's Blessing
Port Razer Heaven//Earth One With The Kami
Setessan Champion Earthquake Unquenchable Fury
Nessian Wanderer Road//Ruin Spider Umbra
Zariel, Archduke of Avernus Chain Reaction Snake Umbra
Weatherseed Totem Blasphemous Act Bear Umbra
Foriysian Totem Rishkar's Expertise Kominu Battle Armour
Kodama's Reach Shamanic Revelation Curse of Opulence
Rampant Growth Beast Within Curse of Clinging Webs
Cultivate Starstorm Curse of Shaken Faith
Curse of Obsession Curse of The Nightly Hunt
Cinderglade Command Tower Exotic Orchard
Game Trail Gruul Turf Mossfire Valley
Opal Palace Oran-Rief, the Vastwood Raging Ravine
Temple of Abandon Mountain x12 Forest x14
I did cheat a little here as well. I had to cut 1 land from the original deck. 37 is way too many for me, especially since I have land ramp options. Since this deck came with an extra Mossfire Valley its not a great effort since you'll have to remove one copy anyway to keep the deck legal. 25% is better than last week. I may be able to push it a little further. It depends on how much you want me to keep the same going forward.
The deck plays differently if the commander is on the field for the most part. I think holding back a turn or two to drop the commander would be best in most cases. Kaima is best deployed after a board wipe. I can keep pressure on my opponents as they slowly start deploying their own creatures in the rebuilding phase. Let me know what you think. Mean enchantress is a little different than what most people are used to seeing so enjoy the confused looks when you start bestowing your cards on opponents creatures the first time.
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