Man either I’m piloting it wrong or there’s something wrong with my Master of keys deck I had land issues AGAIN 😭
Sharing my list soon for reviews!!
#MagicTheGathering

Alrighty, deck list time https://archidekt.com/decks/19627348/enchant_dsenchante_enchantment_sac_recursion_control?sort=cmc&stack=multiple

I have added way too much details in the description but that should help contextualise the deck and give an idea of what we’re doing here

For context, I have struggled with keeping consistent land drops and I end up lagging behind especially since the deck also doesn’t have much ramp. I feel like it takes time to find tangible value in my plays, and I often end up in a situation where my commander is cast and the turn after it gets swooped into a board wipe, and I can’t do much, as casting it for 5 mana as a do-norhing feels awful when I’m not keeping up. Which may be an issue with the concept of the deck and the commander itself, so I am aware my plan may not be viable overall haha

I also feel like I often end up in situations where I have a handful of cards that do nothing with each other, so I think that shows a lack of focus and misevaluation in card quality, and most importantly, a deck relying too much on its on synergy to work.

I think in the meantime I will try to sort of overhaul the whole deck and laser focus it better, cutting cards that don’t quite do what I need and simplify it to its core mechanics, adding more low mana card draw. My aim is also to add one more land to the mix to have 40 lands + 2 land-ish cards which should allow comfort for playing control and offering good mulliganing options (my personal preference recently in my decks has been to run 38 as a bare minimum (besides a few exceptions) and usually more lands, but any polite suggestions or feedback is welcome to help me in that process, I’m feeling a bit self-conscious because I know I am terrible at evaluating card quality and building decks so be gentle pls

Thank you for reading me

#MagicTheGathering

enchanté & désenchantée (Enchantment Sac & Recursion Control) • (Esper Commander deck) • Archidekt

The Master of Keys - Commander deck Control • Sacrifice • Enchantments • Graveyard • Enchantress • Self-Mill (1) Commander • (9) Altars • (6) Burn • (7) Cardboard fetching • (11) Cardboard treats • (41) Land • (8) Mass Disruption • (11) Mill • (3) More MORE!!!! • (12) Protecc • (4) Ramp • (10) Recursion • (10) sparkly fodder • (12) Targetted Disruption • (3) whimsical rat combo Overview Enchanté & Désenchantée is my personal take on building an enchantress deck in Esper colour with a sacrificing twist. The deck is a control deck, aiming to gain value from playing and sacrificing its own enchantments, grinding out opponents in value by recurring enchantments from the graveyard while burning them slowly, until it has accrued enough resources to give an explosive coup de grâce. Soundtrack Around the deck Inspiration The deck was inspired by the Wilds of Eldraine mechanics, in particular its role enchantment tokens combined with the Bargain mechanic, and different payoffs for putting enchantments in the graveyard like [[Warehouse Tabby]] combined with [[Twisted Sewer-Witch]] combined. I wanted to build a deck where these two cards could live without being overshadowed or concentrating the deck on a gimmick. Game plan The main game plan is to use the graveyard as an extended hand to cast enchantments from, and to recurr removal to control the game while burning opponents by casting or sacrificing enchantments. The spot removal suite is entirely made of enchantments, and most of them do not need to stick around to achieve what they need to do (some even benefit from being sacrificed, more on that later). The deck wants to win by burning players via a large amount of enchantments enterring the battlefield or being sacrified, using a payoff like [[Grim Guardian]] or [[Wicked Visitor]]. To achieve control, the deck wants to: Fill the graveyard with enchantments to cast and duds to exile, using predominantly repeatable mill effects. Remove threats or value engine using enchantments, cast from the hand or from the graveyard via [[The Master of Keys]]'s ability. Sacrifice the enchantments to put them in the graveyard, and allow them to be escaped again and again using [[The Master of Keys]]'s ability, while building up card advantage and mana. Rinse & repeat until you can push for a win. In-depths [[Asinine Antics]] This is one of the most explosive enablers in the deck list, as this can spawn a huge amount of enchantments according to how many creatures are on the battlefield, and is the easiest finishing combo to pull off as it does a lot on its own as long as it's combined with burn payoff like a [[Grim Guardian]], which makes it function like a [[Rakdos Charm]] affecting only your opponents on top of debuffing their creatures and generating a supply of fodder, and at its floor, it is a mass disruption spell to turn off big creatures. Another interesting aspect of [[Asinine Antics]] is that it can trigger any Constellation or Eerie payoffs (not just burn), so you can: generate card draw with [[Entity Tracker]]; generate mill with [[Sage of Mysteries]]; board-wipe your opponent's creatures with [[Doomwake Giant]]; phase out non-enchantment permanents with [[Skybind]]. [[Amphibian Downpour]] This enchantments provides similar value to [[Asinine Antics]], with a few key differences. While it cannot generate nearly as many auras in a single spell, it offers the benefits of turning off the abilities of the creatures it is enchanting and being repeatable from the graveyard if the original card gets destroyed or sacrificed. [[Estrid's Invocation]] This is such a fun toolbox card. You can tutor for it with an enchantment like [[Gravebreaker Lamia]] or [[The Cruelty of Gix]], then cast it to flicker the enchantment to tutor for something else, potentially on each of your upkeep; you can generate Wicked tokens on each of your turn with [[Lord Skitter's Blessing]] [[Nashi, Searcher in the Dark]] This deck was originally a Dimir deck using Nashi as the commander, where most enchantments were also creatures to allow them to be recurred in Dimir colour (the lack of white makes it nearly impossible to recurr enchantments from the graveyard). I loved Nashi so much that I initially wanted him to be a secret Commander in the deck as a main mill engine, and that's the reason why I had added a fair amount of low-mana tutors to attempt playing him consistently at the start. Unfortunately, Nashi is hard to play late into the game when the deck isn't built around him being in the command zone, you need some form of evasion, and it becomes costly in terms of card slots and mana on such a tight deck list to allow him to connect every turn. He's still good in the opening hand and can easily scale with the +1/+1 as you can always leave the enchantments in the graveyard though, so he remains in the deck.

Archidekt
@SqueletteCool interesting take on aristocrats style of play. Its very unique and I hope you get it running smoothly.
I'm gonna make some posts, and they'll probably be spread out in time as I type and think.
I can see why you're having difficulties. To start off with, enchantment aristocrats is inherently harder than with creatures. There are a lot more ways to make creature tokens or recur cheap creatures, plus I think there's more opportunity cost to sacrificing an enchantment than a creature
@SqueletteCool I do also feel like the deck would benefit from a little more focus. Control decks can be hard to build and require a lot of tuning, which makes the combination with an also difficult enchantment theme all the more tough. I recommend focusing more on getting value from enchantment shenanigans and then add in more controlling elements once the engine functions properly.
@SqueletteCool Here's a few cards that I question if the benefit is worth the cost in the deck. Of course I'm not the expert on the deck, so I may be missing something.
Shadow of the Second Sun - Not sure what this gets you, and is very expensive
Ancient Excavation - I'm not a big fan of single use draw, and 4 mana is a lot
Nashi - This might not end up doing much b/c it requires dealing combat damage to work

@SqueletteCool
You have a lot of tutors, and expensive ones at that. Are they worth taking a turn off to go find a specific card?
Muddle the Mixture - Dunno if this is worth it
Step Through - 5 mana is way too much unless that wizard is critical to your deck's function
Gravebreaker Lamia - I'm iffy on this one. 5 is a lot for anything that's not payoff

Skybind - Not sure if you plan to target your own or opponents stuff. I don't know if it's worth 5 mana

@SqueletteCool Mill package
Founding the Third Path - I see that it sacs itself, but there's gotta be better mill than this
Ancient Excavation - this is win more, and there are better mill cards
Extravagant Replication - this looks like a lot of fun, but I think it'll end up doing nothing. Slow and expensive and vulnerable

I do like Demon of Fate's Design. He looks rad.

@SqueletteCool
imo anything in your Protecc category should also be advancing your enchantment engine plan.
Siren Stormtamer - Here's an example of a control card that I think should be removed for now until you get the enchantment engine going. Ideally you'll get the deck functioning well enough that you won't need single-use spot protection.
Ogre Slumlord - This doesn't really synergize with anything and is expensive. Probably something else out there that can do the job cheaper

@SqueletteCool
Fear of Imposters - Cool card, but I'm wary of counterspells in commander, especially 3CMC. You have to hold up the resources and only maybe use it. Then you cast it and spend the resources and 2 other people benefit for free.
Nimble Obstructionist - Same as for above, but it's not even an enchantment. I'd only put it in a deck if I felt like countering abilities was very important.

Buried Ruin - Unless you have a specific artifact you absolutely need, I'm super meh on this.

@SqueletteCool
I like everything in your sparkly pile except the extravagant replication, and that only because I think it'll be too slow to have fun with

Your whimsical rat combo isn't the most in tune with the deck, but you knew that already. As with anything I list if you like it, you like it! Have fun with it! It might only work 1% of the time but if that's worth it, then go for it.

@SqueletteCool Cards I like:
Anything that lets you sac an enchantment for free at any time
Braids
Tragic Arrogance
Demon of Fate's Design
Hopeless Nightmare
Lord Skitter's Blessing
Wicked Visitor
Grim Guardian
Hatching Plans
Omen of the Sea
Ripples of Undeath
Entity Tracker
Rowan's Grim Search
Teval's Judgement
Doomwake is RAD
Tragic Arrogance
Singularity Rupture (though is very expensive)
Sage of Mysteries
Stinkweed Imp
Victor Valgavoth's Senechal
Benevolent Blessing
Seal of Removal
@SqueletteCool
Teval's Judgement
Inquisitive Glimmer
Starfield Mystic
Omen of the Dead
Court of Ardenvale
Hopeless Nigkhtmare
Chime of Night
Journey to Nowhere
O Ring
Asinine Antics
@SqueletteCool
If you're looking for cards to make your mill a lot better, Fraying Sanity is your BEST FRIEND. It mills you so much, and it's an enchantment to boot!
I also find that Perpetual Timepiece is excellent for getting cards in the graveyard.
Depending on your build, Altar of Dementia might be useful, or Ashnod's Altar. Those are iffy.
It's not an enchantment, but Sword of the Animist often does good work.
@SqueletteCool Overall, I think the deck has very cool bones, and I'd love to see it in action! It's a very unique take on a fun style of deck.
My guess for why it just kinda fizzles out is because it's not focused enough. Imo focusing on getting the enchantment engine going rather than focusing on the control and protection will help the deck function, and then you can add that element back in once you know what the deck needs.
Oh, and maybe put Dig Through Time and Treasure Cruise

@SqueletteCool If you feel like you need ramp, then maybe pick 5 cards to take out and put in 5 mana rocks and see how it feels for a couple games.

Oooh random thought add Search for Azcanta. I bet that'll work well in the deck

@SqueletteCool I hope this wasn't too much. It's a cool idea for a deck and i'd love to see it do well. And I have many thoughts on cards which may or may not be correct, but they're at least things to consider
@Artemis201 no that’s amazingly valuable feedback, thank you so much for taking the time. I am in agreement with you overall.
I’ll reply to feedback individually to explain my intentions or thoughts behind inclusions, not as disagreement but just to clarify what they were there for

@Artemis201 thank you so much for those suggestions, I think they're going to be very valuable!!

I had considered Search for Azcanta but I was not feeling the use for the land ability once flipped and I had other similar “Surveil 1 once a turn” cards I preferred, but ended up cutting in favour of mill (though I also considered leaning more into surveil than mill, but that's a conversation for another day lol)

Would you have any suggestions for some good later game threats to pressure wins that would be on theme please? I find that the combos I have can work but need assembling and don't do much on their own so even on occasions when my deck was successfully doing its sac-recur value engine, I wasn't able to pressure the game even after roadblocking other players and the games can turn into slogs.

Some I had considered:
- Starfield of Nyx, a potential cute addition to keep a control-value theme but potentially able to pressure by animating enchantments
- Archfiend of Despair, I like that it's effectively a ticking clock for the game, and would still support my actual wincon of burning even when I cannot combo, but it is super expensive without necessarily winning the game instantly
- some mana explosive cards like Matzalantli, the Great Door or Serra's Sanctum

A lot of mill strategy win by reanimating a large board of creatures but I don't think this deck can achieve that in a way that's impactful enough to be a threat

@Artemis201 good call, I think you're right, Extravagant replication just doesn't do enough on its own, thank you.

For context, the rat combo is actually what inspired the deck haha, I loved the interaction between the two cards (Twisted Sewer-Witch and Warehouse Tabby) and was looking for a home for them. I had considered them in a rat token deck, but I feel that they really get outshined in that archetype (Warehouse Tabby doesn't do anything without specifically putting enchantments in the graveyard), so I came up with an enchantment sacrificing theme after finding out about the suite of enchantments with ETBs or triggered abilities when put into a graveyard

I am not sure I quite achieved the perfect home for it, they're not good cards, but it does give an interesting variance when starting the game with a Warehouse Tabby

@Artemis201 that’s the category that needs the more work, I agree. I wanted to load up on repeatable counterspell and stifle effects to protect the graveyard against hate but I am not sure I have use for them now as my meta doesn’t have too much of that. I am not sure how to balance it tbh

Some other pieces here are meant to be effects to deter attackers, as early pressure on Black control is the main counter to it, but Ogre Slumlord was there mostly for the synergy with the rat combo that inspired the deck, it will probably be cut for something cheaper or more effective

@Artemis201 agreed with you here overall.

Founding the Third Path was included more as a silver bullet for recurring instants and sorceries (I have some very key ones I want to avoid leaving stuck in the graveyard) while also offering mills when needed but it’s definitely not the best at milling, it was chosen more as a versatile piece

@Artemis201
So there’s a significant number of tutors to try to improve the redundancy, overlap and consistency early on (as there aren’t a ton of enchantment sac outlet, let alone free ones) and fetching key pieces for finishing combos or big threats at the end, but maybe these should be cut for more redundancy or card draw

Step though’s tutoring is its wizardcycling ability at 2 mana, it’s meant to be a wildcard for Sage of mysteries if I need mill, or for some of the stifle effect pieces (which may see a cut so will see if it sticks around)

Gravebreaker is expensive, but does other things on top of tutoring being a body with some life gain (which I find super helpful in black control), it also reduces the cost of stuff I cast in the graveyard (which the deck benefits from as it is mana hungry), and at its ceiling can fetch Estrid’s Invocation to be flickered each turn. I agree that at its floor, it’s a bit overcosted so may see a cut but I’ve never felt bad seeing it in my hand

Skybind is definitely one I am not sure of, as it feels like a splashy synergy piece where the ceiling is insane but the floor doesn’t feel particularly good on its own. The idea was to repeatably be able to pseudo-phase out opponents’ things and turn anything I cast into a form of removal