I've done mono colored decks in almost every color. I even did a colorless deck. Some colors even got the MEDHWA treatment twice. Then there's mono Black. It's been my most difficult endeavor. Which is funny since I've had the clearest direction for the deck. This idea is older than this series. But recently I was given a lot of ammo to flesh out the strategy. But is it enough? I'm not going to settle for a subpar strategy just to say I closed out a cycle.
When you think of enchantress, what comes to mind? For me, and most people, it's Green and White. It's in the name. Think Verduran Enchantress and Mesa Enchatress. My idea was to go in the opposite direction, a black enchantress deck. Black isn't known for it's connection to enchantments, it couldn't even remove them for most of the game. I first wanted to do something like this after Theros. There was just no way. The idea was too thin, a handful of constellation cards really. As tends to happen, the idea was forgotten about for some time. A long time. Even after a return to Theros the idea wasn't ready. At least there was at least a Commander option in Aphemia, The Cacophony. Recently, pieces have started to fall in place and I thought the idea was worth exploring in full.
When exploring a strategy or mechanic I need 3 components. The first is “the thing”; the mechanic or the strategy itself. In conjunction with that, I need enablers and payoffs. Enablers make the thing or the mechanic easier to achieve or pull off. Without enablers, you're playing slower. You're less likely to capitalize on synergies between cards. You're also less likely to cast more than one card in a turn. The more resources you use in a game, the more spells you're playing, the more fun you're having. I would go a step further and say the more likely you are to win. The payoff is an extra reward you get from “doing the thing.” With the typical enchantress, when you “do the thing” and play an enchantment, you get rewarded by drawing a card. A deck can function without a payoff, but you'll feel a lack of synergy in the deck and you'll play more linearly and an overall slower game.
A big portion of these categories were filled out by Wilds of Eldraine. I already did my take on Eriette of the Charmed Apple. It might feel like an enchantress deck, but it has white in it and that would be cheating for this idea. So, with that direction in mind, what was available to me now? Shatter the Oath is an enabler. It seems a little weird as it's not making anything cheaper or finding me enchantments. But as a removal spell, it leaves behind an Aura. I can use that later and sacrifice it or the creature it's enchanting for profit. The set brought with it a cool and unique payoff in Ashiok's Reaper. It plays like a traditional black spell, synergizing with the graveyard. In this case, the permanent it cares about going to the graveyard is an enchantment. It plays great with Shatter the Oath or other role cards since you can only have one role on a creature at a time. The effect is small enough that it doesn't deter opponents from removing an enchanted creature, but incremental damage and advantage is always welcome. Lord Skitter's Blessing is the best for this. It is an enchantment, it makes an Aura that can hurt opponents and draws me cards if I control an enchanted creature, which I will. It's filling multiple roles all at once. Twisted Sewer-Witch can be an army in a can. All I need are a couple of rats in play and she pumps them and turns it into a losing proposition to remove the rats.
It's not just new cards that make the deck work. There are some classics to power up the strategy. Underworld Connections and Greed keep my hand full. Doomwake Giant and Blightcaster are great creature removal. I just need to play enchantments to make it happen. Oubliette is great targeted removal. It's such a weird effect for black I had to include it. Grim Guardian is impactful in a similar way to Wicked Roles. This wants enchantments entering the battlefield, so I can get people coming and going Seal of Doom is great for this. It's removal that does its thing upon it being sacrificed.
The deck isn't just enchantments. I have a series of artifacts that really make the deck well rounded. Crystal Chimes makes sure I can recur my best cards to play them again later. Cloud Key is a great way to reduce costs. I just need to name the right card type for the maximum value. Scrap Heap on the other hand lets me gain a little life to keep me in the game. That's important in a black deck as I tend to pay life to play cards. Cards like Sign in Blood and Read the Bones are typical for this effect. It's not all incremental advantage though. Helm of the Gods can be a finisher in the right circumstances. With a critical mass of enchantments, the equipped creature can be lethal in one or two attacks.
This deck also plays nice with auras that protect my creatures from removal. Kaya's Ghostform is cheap and effective. Unholy Indenture on the other hand is a little more pricey. The name always makes me want to enchant an opponent's creature. It's insulting to steal a key creature from someone else and I love it. The counters are a nice addition, I'm just not sure they're worth 2 mana. Minon's Return on the other hand is worth the 2 mana/. Flash is king and helps me surprise opponents either to keep my own creature or to leave me with the best card on the field.
So, who's in charge of the deck? I mentioned Alphemia before. Tokens are always solid and provide me with a target to enchant. I'm not opposed to using my graveyard for some advantage. Too much isn't great though. I have some reliable recursion options so I don't want to trade all my killer enchantments into tokens when I could have a bigger impact with them in the future. So no, she wasn't going to headline the deck, but I'm happy to include her in the 99. The other option that came to mind early in the process was Erebos, God of the Dead. It's hard to remove and keeps opponents from accruing advantage of their own. Although very powerful, it doesn't have anything to do with Enchantments. I jumped on something beyond those choices. Avrinox, the Mind Flail was funky enough to jump out at me. I discovered the card late enough in its life cycle that I didn't have to wait for the in-universe replacement to Mind Flayer, the Shadow. It plays so nice with my Necrogen Communion effects in addition to its ability to steal from others. That ability adds some survivability for the strategy. I can always hit opponents' permanents, especially their enchantments. The ability enables play patterns that wouldn't be possible with a mono black deck. Now I get to stretch into other parts of the color pie and sure up my defenses. I get some cool ETBs or enchantments from my opponents to charge up my strategy.
There was a real deck building consideration here. Do I just let Arvinox feed its own ability or do I lean into it and help it along? Once I saw Visions of Dread I had my answer. This Sorcery allows me to pilfer the best creature from the graveyard for only 3 mana. But because my Commander is so expensive I can flash it back for only 2 mana. On more than one occasion I've cast it twice in a single turn to get 2 creatures that play nice together. Boneyard Parley can always net me a minimum of 3 cards if need be. I generally care more about animating Arvinox than the quality of the creatures at that point. Every so often someone thinks they're being smart by doing a 4 and 1 split for cards because that 1 is objectively so much better than the others. I'll take the 4. And Sepulchral Primordial offers me the best from all my opponents. It feels better to play this with more opponents, but it never truly feels bad. Just watch out for graveyard hate and don't be afraid to enchant it with Kaya's Ghostform or something similar.
My choice of commander has a couple of other things going for it. The first being its stat line. A 9/9 is a threat people will take notice of. It's in the 3 hit commander damage kill category that made the original Elder Dragons such a threat in the early days of the format. The other thing it has going for it is the fact it's just an enchantment sometimes. A lot of colors have problems dealing with enchantments reliably. So when I don't happen to control enough stuff from my opponents my commander can sit there, dodge most removal, and accrue value for me over time.
As much as the commander offers me there is one problem. 7 mana is a lot and black isn't synonymous with ramp. I added a few more rocks than I usually do. I want to get the ball rolling sooner than later with my commander so things like Charcoal Diamond, Mind Stone, and Prismatic Lens are clutch. Liliana of the Dark Realms actually searches for a swamp for me. I've never actually gotten the emblem and I don't really blame my opponents for targeting her so hard. But in a pinch, she offers me a solid choice for removal as well. She shines in a deck like this. I wouldn't play her in any deck that's more than 2 colors so I'm happy to have this deck as an option. I'm not running Cabal Coffers with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth. I don't own a Coffers at this point and I'm not looking to invest that much more in the deck, financially speaking. But I do have Cabal Stronghold. I get a similar effect without breaking the bank.
There are a couple more interesting cards I want to highlight. And why not keep with the land theme? Roadside Reliquary always gets me 2 cards. I don't love sacrificing lands but sometimes options in hand are more important. I've never gotten less than 2 with the land. I play Soul Transfer for similar reasons. It's easy to get to play both modes on the card. I considered including Clawing Torment and Stab Wound just to bleed opponents slowly. Vengeful Strangler is a card I want to die. He's best early on in a game as I get to start off aggressively. If I put a wicked Role on it, people are less likely to block and lose life anyway. Curse of Disturbance is really where it's at. I keep up with that incremental punishment, I just have to choose the right permanent to enchant so it sticks around. Speaking of incremental punishment, Revenge of Ravens tweaks the math if anyone wants to attack me. There are several similar effects, but this blanks all those 1/1 tokens running around in the format. I also love The Eldest Reborn here as well. It plays into the enchantment theme, it acts as removal, and eventually, I get to pick the best thing out of the graveyard in hopes of bringing my commander online.
One more to round it out, Gerrard's Hourglass Pendant. I wanted more graveyard recursion so the deck still felt like a black deck. This is very versatile though. I can use it like Crystal Chimes or to recur some creatures that make roles after a board wipe. It adds a suprise element to the deck which is nice. The extra turn clause has never been relevant to me though.
So, how did the deck turn out? Check it out.
Arvinox, The Mind Flail
Leeching Licid Wicked Visitor Cloud Key
Grim Guardian Warehouse Tabby Skull of Orm
Forlorn Pseudamma Blightcaster Scrapheap
Deathbringer Lampads Conceated Witch Lich Knight's Conquest
Doomwake Giant Eriette's Whisper Helm of the Gods
Demon of Fate's Design Not Dead Afterall Gerrard's Hourglass Pendant
Lord Skitter's Blessing Crystal Chimes Alphemia, The Cacophony
Ashiok's Reaper Spiteful Hexmage Cacophony Unleashed
Agent of Erebos Dockside Chef Darkness
The Witch's Vanity Lampad of Death's Vigil The Eldest Reborn
Twisted Sewer-Witch Archetype of Finality Visions of Dread
Invasion of Innistrad Crypt Ghast Sepulchral Primordial
Nighthowler Extraplanar Lens Boneyard Parley
Murderous Rider Caged Sun Soul Transfer
Necrogen Comuninon Charcoal Diamond Feed The Swarm
Unholy Indenture Mind Stone Shatter the Oath
Kaya's Ghostform Prismatic Lens Extinguish All Hope
Minion's Return Liliana of the Dark Realm Seal of Doom
Underworld Connections Read the Bones Twisted Embrace
Greed Vengeful Strangler Ghoulish Procession
Dead Man's Chest Revenge of Ravens Elspeth's Nightmare
Oubliette Hagra Mauling/Broodpit
Scavenger Grounds Bojuka Bog Cabal Stronghold
Roadside Reliquary Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx Desert of the Glorified
Polluted Mire Barren Moor Swamp x26
The deck is fun to play. It feels very much like a traditional mono black deck with the creature removal and recursion the deck can do. What surprised me was the discussions that spring up around the commander. People have a tendency to forget the Universes Within cards. They'll recognize Mindflayer but not realize they're one and the same. I was a little hesitant to go forward with this and Eriette at the same time but with how long I had wanted to make this work I'm glad I didn't wait.
Black enchantments do all the things you associate with a black deck: creature removal, recursion, pay life to draw, etc. There are enough enablers and payoffs to make doing the thing viable. Let me know what long term strategies you have waiting on the shelf for the right set or card to come along. We've all got them.
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