"And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, such as there had never been since man was on the earth."

- Book of Revelations 16:18

Welcome to the (A)(F) Enchantress Primer, the Avatar of Transcendant Triumph.

I have written an extensive primer for Enchantress for my previous build, a more control-ish version that you can find here. Honestly a lot of what I have written there, remains true, especially for how you animate, move and use the Auras.

Over the last few months, with the advent of Gothic, and the rise of Necromancer and more recent avatars, Enchantress has moved into a more "niche" tier. People generally agree that the Avatar and strategy remains strong but you rarely see it. Truth is, Enchantress now dwells in a very dark place of the Realm, with her special cult of dedicated players who specialized in the weaving of Auras and the mystery behind giving form to the formless.

I welcome you to the fold...!

Playing Enchantress is living on the edge. Tread carefully in the realm for a single moment of inattention, a single mistake comes at a high price. For your opponent but also for you. And that's why I love Enchantress: it rewards knowledge, ambitious play and out-of-the-box thinking,

Air (A) and Fire (F) differs a lot from the Enchantress Control and trades all the cards that aim to slow down the game for agression and surprise burst of damage. This is what I like to call the "Tempesta di Fuoco" Operation. Removing (W) from the equation, frees up a lot of Threshold problems for a more focused gameplan. That said, Threshold has historically been a problem for Enchantress and a source of instability for the deck. Don't think that only having 2 elements solves all the problems. You still need to pay attention to the Threshold requirements and sometimes accept drawing from the Atlas to curve your cards.

Auras - "The Lifeblood of the Weave".

Bring the Fire...

You will find here the powerful (A)(F) Auras, especially the high damage dealing [[Thunderstorm]] and [[Wildfire]] that are your main source of damage. Remember to attack sites with them so that they don't take damage and kill themselves. Especially for Wildfire. And Wildfire triggers at the end of each turn (that's usually when you remind this line to your opponent that you see disbelief in their eyes).

[[Jihad]] pairs well with your Fire Minions and remember that a Wildfire next to it gets the +1 power! And also when you animate Jihad, it becomes a 3 power minion.

The two Arthurian Legends auras [[The Black Plague]] and [[The Great Famine]] still are amazing and you'd be surprised how long you can keep them alive when you get to move them. I should also say that there's value to sacrifice your minions to them, like a Highland Princess who has done its job if you have plans for the next turns. These auras are a testament of how much forward thinking you need to have; like drawing Sites to build the Realm under them, keeping them alive and then move on the offensive. Out of the two, Black Plague is the clear winner since, when you activate it, it is rarely the weakest minion (because, yes, they check themselves at resolution) and so you rarely lose it to its own ability ; while, for Great Famine, it's harder to find a stronger minion. Thankfully when there's another 4 power minion around, you get to chose.

[[Falling Star]] is the new inclusion and while I wasn't completely sold on it when it came out, I see the real power. Just treat it as a potential 4 power minion that gets to do something if it doesn't die in 3 turns. and even if it's to put down a small minion, there's value to it. You don't need a big timmy minion, Sometimes it's all you need to strike a Death Door'ed Avatar. It's reach and you need it. So take it! (Because savvy players won't play Sites on the right or on the left of their Avatar to prevent you from bringing animated Auras to them, that's when you need to find crafty ways to kill them). And it's obviously bonkers when you get to put a Vampire on the board or don't pay for the Grandmaster Wizard to draw your 3 cards.

And [[Drought]] is our answer to the predominance of Water decks. You will encounter some. And when you will, Drought will be outstanding. Drought kills submerged minions, wrecks Body of Water strategies, and sometimes removes that sweet 3rd Threshold they were banking on for their busted Uniques. When you don't play against Water, it's still a 4 power minion when you want to push the button. Don't underestimate it or disregard it thinking it's "just an anti water card". You need a high number of Auras to make the deck function, when it's great, it's amazing and can outright win you the game, when it's average it's a 4 power minion. And that's ok.

... And make it a Tempest.

As you understand, Enchantress' key factor of success is her unique ability to control precisely when Auras are animated into minions. This timing flexibility allows her to effectively play around removal spells. Your opponent only has a short window to deal with them. Find the best moment to activate your Auras and, in the blink of an eye, pivot from reactive gameplay to proactive and apply tremendous pressure before your opponent can find the adequate responses.

This (A)(F) version had a more "combo" feel to it. Aura-minions also tend to be more resilient than standard units, while synergizing particularly well with “Strike” Magics such as [[Grapple Shot]] or [[Shatter Strike]], which require an active minion presence to function. It essentially allows the Aura to deal double damage. Grappling an animated Wildfire from the other side of the board, striking an avatar for 4, attacking the site it's on for 4 and then dealing 3 with Wildfire's ability for a total of 11 damage is the kind of combo-ish sequence the deck is capable of. And don't be afraid to do it with a bigger Aura, if the coast is the clear. High-impact spells like [[Blaze of Glory]], [[Warp Spasm]], and [[Whirling Blades]] can swing games in a single turn, frequently representing bursts of high amount of damage.

In addition, most Aura permanents occupy a full 2×2 space and yes they work just like you imagine with Whirling Blade and Blaze of Glory. You haven't lived if you haven't animated a Thunderstorm with Whirling Blades, moving it 2 steps, striking everything in its path of a big 2×2 minion and then attacking with it and hopefully triggering its ability on another target! Or Blaze of Glory with a 2×2 minion to strike every enemy nearby. That's practically the whole board. Enjoy!

Finally, the archetype benefits from a robust density of card draw engines such as Grandmaster Wizard, Wizard’s Den, and Char Omphalos. There is a case for playing [[Gift of the Serpent]] or [[Gift of the Raven]] that are great enablers. It's just that sometimes, the (2) mana is better spent elsewhere. But Gift of the Raven can absolutely be included in the collection if you fear Aggro decks, even in the main.

The true strength of Enchantress is being able to dictate the pace of the game while suddenly switching mode from careful play into pure agression and forcing your opponent to play their cards out of sequence and into difficult or suboptimal positioning decisions.

Minions - "The Supporting Choir".

There are a number of minions in the deck to support the gameplan. I won't go into details for each of them.

Highland Princess fetches your [[Ring of Morrigan]] to clear the way; [[Vile Imp]]s remove pesky blockers (and can feed your Black Plague and Great Famine if they become irrelevant); the [[Daperyll Vampire]]s and [[Renatus Trueblood]]s need no introduction and are prime candidates to dramatically enter the Realm inside a [[Falling Star]]; [[Balor the Evil Eye]] shoots beams in the Realm; [[Sir Lamorak]] is a very agressive minion with a built-in Blaze of Glory and wears the [[Torshammar Trinket]] so well; [[Courtesan Thais]], [[Bane of Aventis]], [[Morgana Le Fay]] win you games.

Quick note on [[Purple Knight]]s that might look like an odd addition. It's an above average minion, especially with Jihad with an easy Threshold requirement (I found than having a single Threshold of each element is easier than having doubles) and it comes with a Lance. When positioned on a Site where you have an Aura, you can play it, animate the Aura, drop the Lance, have the Aura pick it up and swing with it. And adding +1 damage and first strike on your Auras solves many problems.

When the Spell Runs Thin...

While Enchantress can sometimes feel unstoppable, perfection is not of this world.

As previously mentioned, the deck is hungry. The spells are not particularly cheap and have demanding Thresholds requirements and as much as I like the Auras, they don't stick around and have a built-in timer before they dispel. This can be difficult to manage and you will have sequences where your Thunderstorm doesn't do much because you cannot animate it or you don't have the necessary tools to make your Wildfire the menace it should be. Curving out is difficult and while your opponent is summoning powerful minions, spending your 4th turn to make a Thunderstorm to throw a unremarkable Lightning Bolt can feel underwhelming.

Of note, since the last clarification of the Codex, [[Root Spider]] is a problem. It can disable an Aura very easily and it is known for being a pain to remove. Balor kills it since it lazers at every location. If you see a lot of Root Spiders, [[Sea of Ash]] is a perfectly reasonable inclusion (and it kills Submerge minions as well) and also [[Shrike Orchard]] (a more elegant way to kill it and it's Elite so you can have 2 of them).

The Quiet After Transcendance.

Enchantress an archetype capable of seizing entire games and bending them into submission when guided by an experienced hand. I hope these few lines helped you on the Path. Each sequence is a calculated invocation, where precision determines whether the you ascend or collapse under your own ambition. I find it incredibly rewarding to play.

The Enchantress offers a path of immense potential where mastery is not simply rewarded, but amplified into transcendence.

Have fun in the Realm

Weave Auras

Unleash the Storm

Ascend to Transcendance

Reap victory.

Incantatrice | Tempesta di Fuoco

@Thibault