Let me introduce myself: I'm Michael Cragg. I've been playing magic ever since the release of Urza's Saga, mostly at school with friends. For a few months, I've been playing at FNM, mostly with rogue decks. For the first few weeks I went, I played 'Tog back when it was old news, pre-Masters, but without great results barring a 5^th place finish. I then stepped up to a Solitary Confinement deck after getting the idea from an interesting idea I had seen and played: Enchantress. I end up going 2-4-2 altogether after two FNMs. I decide that I won't be playing that anymore, and I decide to throw Enchantress together, because my friends won't let it die. So since the article's title should have you (rightfully) intrigued, I'll go on to the report.

I walk in from school Friday, thinking to myself,"I don't really want to go; I have no good deck." A half-hour later, my friend Peter calls; he desperately wants a ride tonight to the tournament. I say why not? But I realize I have no deck. At this point in time, I have about thirty minutes to repair my current build of Enchantress to something I can use without getting laughed at. I throw a sideboard together, consisting mostly of about eight different things versus control decks. (Now that Psychatog has come back, it is my worst match-up; more on that later).

For those of you who have no idea what Enchantress is, read on. Otherwise, just skip this section and go right to the decklist.

In a nutshell, Enchantress revolves around a simple yet amusing combo: Using Verduran Enchantress, Enchantress's Presence and a ton of weenie enchantments to draw, I use any Words of ... card (specifically the blue, white, and green ones) to

a.) Return their entire set of permanents to their hand
b.) Gain tons o' life, and
c.) Make about twelve bear tokens.

How do you return their permanents, you ask? Imagine me with Mirari's Wake and about seven lands along with a single Wild Growth, Enchantress, and Words of Wind out. Instead of drawing for the turn, I tap a forest, paying one to have each of us return a permanent of our choice to our hands. With the extra green mana from the Wake, I drop the Growth to trigger Presence, but tap another forest to repeat the process, bouncing the Wild Growth back into my hand and playing it on another land.  Once the combo is started, forests aren't even necessary, as you can play Wild Growth on a plains and use the green mana produced from tapping it to drop the same growth over and over. With Wake out, that's two permanents they have to return to their hand for every one land you tap.  Unless they have more than fourteen permanents out, it's like a one-sided Upheaval. 

The only problem with this is against U/G madness with a Wild Mongrel/Aquamoeba and Basking Rootwalla out, because then they can keep discarding the Rootwalla to madness and returning it to their hand from the Words of Wind.  This combo is hard to pull off because it requires resolving two enchantments and having a third in hand or in play... But if your opponents don't know what you are doing, you can easily swing the game in your favor...That is, if they don't concede on the spot!  *Laughs maniacally*

Here's the list:

Enchantress's Rosebud
4x Verduran Enchantress
4x Enchantress's Presence
4x Yavimaya Enchantress
4x Birds of Paradise
2x Words of Wilding
2x Words of Worship
3x Words of Wind
3x Wild Growth
2x Mirari's Wake
2x Aboshan's Desire
4x Kirtar's Desire
2x Pacifism
3x Syncopate

5x Forest
5x Plains
2x Island
2x Brushland
2x Windswept Heath
3x Flooded Strand
2x City of Brass

Sideboard:
2x Ray of Revelation
3x Circular Logic
2x Compost
2x Nantuko Monastery
1x Seedtime
1x Llawan, Cephalid Empress
1x Devoted Caretaker
1x Circle of Protection: Red
1x Words of Worship
1x Aegis of Honor

Verduran Enchantress, Enchantress's Presence:
They're essential to the deck; you need these guys or you are stuck with no card drawing engine and a single creature out. The presence works great as an enchantment, not being as easily killed - as the Verduran is with a single Smother. However, the Verduran comes in great in game 2 and 3 versus non-black. (Ha! If only half my metagame wasn't MBC or Psychatog!)

Yavimaya Enchantress:
Let's hear it for Enchantress beatdown! No one really sees this coming - and when it does come, you better hope you have some way to protect it (this is what the Aboshan's Desire is for). If you have your creatures locked down or pulled off the Words of Wind combo, it is a simple task to lay this down and swing for twelve or so. No I'm not kidding, the lady really does get that big much faster than one would expect, especially against madness or beatdown decks where you have a bazillion enchant creatures out.

Birds of Paradise, Wild Growth:
Essential to the deck as well. It is very important to get an enchantress out turn 2, allowing you to play one of your 3cc enchantments and drawing two cards per turn from then on.

Words of ... :
They're kill cards in this deck, except the Words of Worship, which is an excellent way to stop the fast decks out there until you get a Yavimaya out.

Aboshan's Desire, Kirtar's Desire, Pacifism:
Small enchant creatures, turning a Kirtar's Desire into a Pacifism that lets you draw a card (or two). Don't forget you can play these on your Birds or Enchantress.

Syncopate:
Great synergy with the Wake. Stops cards like Upheaval or Wrath of God, but where it really shines is against beatdown/madness decks that card-cast their incarnations, assuming it's a win-win prospect for them... Well, no more!  Say bye-bye to Genesis, Glory, and Wonder, and any spell with flashback (Moment's Peace!).  In this case, it's preferable to Circular Logic because against non-control decks you will probably have a small graveyard unless you have to discard from drawing too many cards from the Verduran/Presence (and yes, this really does happen).

Round 1: R/G Lightning Rift
Game 1: I mulligan down to six, and stay. He stays, but misses a land drop around turn 4 or 5, which is great because I started out with a pretty good hand except for the missing land. With a single Brushland only, I manage to topdeck land like crazy, allowing me to play my Enchantress, and a couple of Words. He hits me with two Shocks at the end of my turn and cycles to do four with his Rifts. He Living Wishes for a Blistering Firecat, and passes his turn, leaving me at eight life. I lay down a Kirtar's Desire on my own Birds and gain five instead of drawing. I repeat the process and draw a Yavimaya Enchantress. On his turn he plays the Cat morphed and flips it up (he had only two mountains); I take seven. From then on, I just swing for about five a turn and the game ends with me having three Yavimaya Enchantress out.

I side in my Revelations, and another Words of Worship.

Game 2, he draws no Lightning Rifts, and it's pretty much a repeat of game 1, until he gets a Wild Mongrel out. I Pacify it, drawing two, one of which is a Yavimaya Enchantress, and play her. He wastes his Naturalize on the Pacifism and passes. I attack and we trade creatures, because I have another Yavimaya in hand. He loses without his Rifts and a hand full of what I assume are cycling cards. (I hope not; he could have cycled to find a Rift - The Ferrett)

Me: 1-0

Round 2: Sheep, playing White Weenie
This is also a bad matchup for me, but I am confident going in. First game I get an okay hand, and decide to play. He lays down a butt-load of clerics along with Master Apothecary, which I would eventually misread, losing my Yavimaya Enchantress. Tap just one cleric to prevent two damage? That's crazy good. He lays down Nova Cleric, and I misread it again (it destroys all enchantments? Crap!). All in all, I don't draw the answers I need, including any form of Enchantress. He beats my face in with Longbow Archer.

I realize I have almost nothing to side in except another Words of Worship.

Game 2 is almost the same thing. I practically draw my old hand, and end up losing to his horde of Longbow Archers backed up by another Apothecary. I try to stall with Words of Worship but I figure it's useless. Sheep ends up getting in second place, and I really have to hand it to him for playing White Weenie.

Me: 1-1

Round 3: Upheaval build with Traumatize/Haunting Echoes
Game 1 goes perfectly with the minor mishaps of my Enchantress being Smothered, along with my birds. He doesn't know what to counter and I get Words of Worship out with my enchantress and several wild growths. I return all his lands to his hand and pass the turn. I start making bear tokens while he gradually builds up to his original land count of about six or seven. I'm beating him down with bears and I forget to return his permanents, and he Traumatizes me. Luckily, I have the sense to not draw for the rest of the game, making five bears along the way.

I side in a whopping eight cards including the Monasteries, the Logics, two Composts, and the single Seedtime.

Game 2 also goes perfectly. I'm pretty sure I remember him getting mana screwed for a couple turns, during which I utilize Seedtime and my Composts. He pulls off an Upheaval with six lands out; I see no 'Tog or Zombies come out, so I guess he just uses the Upheaval as a mass reset switch. I recover quickly, but things get drawn out. He pulls his own combo off, and I end up with five basic lands in my library. Lucky for me I have my Words of Wilding out, and I beat him down with bears and 4/4 first strikers. (I would have won earlier if he didn't pull some timely Smothers and Innocent Bloods, along with a recurring Undead Gladiator.)

Me: 2-1

Round 4: Tony playing Psychatog
This is my worst matchup. In fact, I played two out of the three Upheaval decks at the whole tournament (ironically enough, the eventual winner of the tourney was using Psychatog too). He's seen Enchantress before, but not in real life - so he knows what to counter, including my Words of Wind. He goes so far to say that I am his God for playing Enchantress T2, all kidding aside.

Game 1, he starts off pretty well, not missing a land drop and he searches via Compulsion. He takes pretty long looking for the right parts, including using a Cunning Wish for Opportunity at the end of my turn. He should have gotten the Mana Short, but hey, he didn't know I had the Syncopates. I spend a lot of time and enchantments looking for my other Syncopates, which I waste on his own Counterspells. He taps nine and plays Upheaval, I look down and curse myself for tapping my one blue mana during my turn. I concede.

Game 2: Stay with me here, folks - it gets pretty hazy.

I start out with a great hand, and he responds with turn 1 Duress, taking one of my sideboard cards. We both get stuck at like three land, but I pull out in front when I draw mana. I lay Enchantress out and start drawing like mad, during which I manage to get threshold for my Monasteries, which he was not expecting at all. I start doing eight a turn, until he gets Hibernation via Cunning Wish and sends about two-thirds of my permanents back to my hand - including my 4/4s. I know he is looking for parts for his combo, but I manage to pull off the remaining eight damage with my monasteries.

The crucial Game 3 for 3 whole packs starts off great with a Seedtime and Compost in hand, along with ample land and an Enchantress. He Duresses twice in the first three turns, taking both of my sideboard cards, during which I play Enchantress. However, I'm stuck without enchantments. I draw a Words of Wind the next turn and decide to hold it for when I get six mana so I can play bait with a Words of Worship. To my amazement, he plays Duress again, taking my Wind.

I play the Words of Worship and draw two, one of which is a Words of Wilding. I play it, he Memory Lapses, but I draw two all the same. (Note: Enchantress's Presence reads"Whenever you play an enchantment spell, draw a card"; thus, the enchantment does not have to resolve.) I play a Yavimaya Enchantress followed by an Aboshan's Desire, it's a 10/10 and since I have threshold, untargetable! He's got a two-turn clock. Next two turns, he draws nothing, I Logic his Cunning Wish and attack for the win.

Turns out that he was holding Smother but couldn't use it because of the Aboshan's Desire.

I end up going 3-0 altogether, winning six games and losing three. I think that now 'Tog, instead of being my worst matchup, is probably somewhere near the middle. With Enchantress, your worst matchup will be weenie, or Sligh. This could turn out to be a big problem, considering the release of Legions, giving Sligh a boatload of new creatures to play with.

The sideboard definitely needs some help. I need to put something main deck to help versus those fast decks. Wrath of God would be nice, but I hate to lose my own irreplaceable creatures. Moment's Peace only gives me two turns of well, peace, but I will end up putting them in there anyway.

For those of you that are currently playing Enchantress - or wish to - continue to do so! I find the deck to be fun, and people like to play it.

Props go to my friend Kyle for the inspiration, and help testing.

You can send comments or ideas to me at waaggh86@aol.com.