I recently went to my state's City Champs Finals, which were in Iowa City last weekend (not participating, just drafted and hung out). It was a lot of fun, and I learned that BG Non Axe Elves were alive and kicking when competitor Clayton Mooney whent X-0 with the deck, no draws, then lost in a heartbreaking finals game three against faeries.
That's irrelevant to this article, however. The thing I want to talk about is something that I watched Blake Rassmussen do while we were at the shop.
He purchased four Glittering Wishes.
Now, that doesn't seem like that big a deal at a glance, but after coming home and thinking about it and looking though the spoiler, man, I should probably go do that!
I mean, we have an absolute ton of multicolored utility spells in this format, and Glittering Wish will probably be able to put them to good use. Firespout is absolutely awesome at three mana. No, beyond awesome. I'm still concerned about the printing of that card because of how much reach it has in this metagame. It can hit all the way up to Wren's Run Vanquisher and the new RG/RG/RG Haste Guy, plus it Massacres faeries, and is in the same colors as the 2/2 Boseiju. Speaking of SHusher, you can wish for him too!
The other card I think is going to be sick post rotation, and one that has seen 0 constructed play since release is Idyllic Tutor. I went through the gatherer + spoiler yesterday and there are a ton of incredible enchantments to go for in this format, and I think it's the perfect time to start making some good decks with that card. Here's a list of strong tutor targets that I came up with:
Abundance
Bitterblossom
Bound in Silence
Counterbalance + Cream of the Crop (combo?)
Colfenor's Plans + Puca's Mischief (combo! see below)
Enslave
Eyes of the Wisent
Hoofprints of the Stag
Imperial Mask
Mana Barbs
March of the Machines
Mobilization
Oblivion Ring
Persuasion
Porphyry Nodes
Pyrohemia
Rule of Law
Sacred Mesa
Seal of Primordium
Seismic Assault
Stormbind
Story Circle
Take Possession
Teferi's Moat
Temporal Isolation
Wild Pair
Some of those a little bit of a stretch, but I think every one of them has a lot of potential power in an unknown environment. And now for the new relevant Shadowmoor enchantments:
Greater Auramancey 1W
Enchantment
Other enchantments you control have Shroud.
Enchanted creatures you control have Shroud.
Kind of a new privaleged position, set up so that now they have to deal with this before they can kill your enchantments, and they aren't getting two for ones by using spot removal or bounce to kill your enchanted creatures either.
Prison Term 1WW
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature can't attack or block, or use activated abilities.
Whenever a creature comes into play under an opponent's control, you may attach Prison Term to that creature.
So it's a Faith's Fetters that you can switcheroo when your opponent slaps down something better. I think Oblivion Ring is probably better than this card, as it's less mana intensive on the white and hits more than just creatures. Still, it may turn out to be useful.
Runed Halo WW
Enchantment
As Runed Halo comes into play, name a card.
You have protection from the chosen card.
This card is narrow in general application, but seems really good in specific situations, like when you're staring down a pair of Tarmogoyfs who are about to eat you for dinner.
Puca's Mischief 3U
Enchantment
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may exchange control of target nonland permanent you control and target nonland permanent an opponent controls with an equal or lesser converted mana cost.
While the wording on this card is terrible, the things you can do with it are quite amazing, namely 'donating' Colfenor's Plans to your opponent. After that, they should probably be locked out of the game or be in a problematic position at the very least. Idyllic Tutor would be perfect for this strategy, as you wouldn't have to saturate you deck with four or three-ofs of the combo pieces.
Raking Canopy 1GG
Enchantment
Whenever a creature with Flying attacks you, Raking Canopy deals 4 damage to it.
GOODBYE FAERIES. Oh man, this is an insane hate card against the Fae. I don't even know what to say. They basically have to build up a big force of guys and then Cryptic Command the enchantment before swinging for the win. Or counter it first. If this resolves, Faeries is going to have problems.
Those are the ones I think have potential currently. That may change as the set fills out, but at this point no other enchantments really strike me as amazing. I'll probably post some more deck ideas as I start helping friends test for Hollywood. Until next time.
