Auras of War, Finished List

Finally! Of all the new deck projects I’m working on, this was the toughest to crack. I started out with a pool of nearly 100 cards, not counting lands, that I wanted for the deck. Obviously that meant I was going to have to cut well over 30 cards, and to do so without neutering my own strategy was an immensely difficult task.

As I reminder, here are the objectives laid out by myself, which I had to always keep in mind while making cuts and additions during the building process:

Objectives
1. To avoid linear, repetitive gameplay (a la Uril the Miststalker)
2. To avoid over-reliance on my General
3. The deck should be creature-oriented and avoid combo or heavy control
4. To make the deck viable within a metagame that is heavy on sweepers and spot removal

Objective number one was the biggest sticking point. While it was completely necessary, it also made the deck that much harder to build. If I were willing to just go all-in on Voltroning up Jenara as the primary purpose of the deck, it would have been considerably easier to make cuts, but that would have lead to a boring, repetitive deck that functioned like a slightly weaker version of a Uril the Miststalker deck. I’ve already done the Uril thing, though, and while that was fun initially, it got old pretty quickly. It was imperative that I avoid doing that here.

So I tried to include creatures other than Jenara that would be worth enchanting with my Auras, as well as broadening the Enchantment theme to include a wider range of effects that extend to ALL my creatures – instead of running Shielding Plax to give Jenara Hexproof, I went with Asceticism to give all my creature Hexproof. I wanted to make it so that any creature could potentially be a viable threat.

Only by playing the deck will I know for sure if I succeeded in hitting all my objectives, but for now this is the final list I plan on rolling into battle with.

Creatures

Enchantresses
Argothian Enchantress
Femeref Enchantress
Kor Spiritdancer
Mesa Enchantress
Verduran Enchantress

- Simple, obvious card advantage. Gotta do something to compensate for the two-for-ones I’ll be giving my opponents.

Other Enchanters
Academy Rector
Faith Healer
Hanna, Ship's Navigator
Sovereigns of Lost Alara
Totem-Guide Hartebeest
Umbra Mystic

- Just some Enchantment-specific utility creatures. Some find Enchantments, some recur them, and Faith Healer is the all-important sac outlet. Faith Healer + Rancor + any Enchantress = “G: Draw a card and gain 1 life.” Fun!

Other Creatures
Cephalid Constable
Dauntless Escort
Drift of Phantasms
Drogskol Reaver
Duplicant
Eternal Witness
Frost Titan
Jenara, Asura of War
Rafiq of the Many
Reveillark
Sun Titan

- These are either non-specific utility creatures, or plausible targets for buff auras. Or both.

Auras - Buffs
Angelic Destiny
Armadillo Cloak
Bear Umbra
Eldrazi Conscription
Gaea's Embrace
Rancor Shield of the Oversoul
Steel of the Godhead
Favor of the Overbeing
Spirit Mantle

- This is the one section I’m not 100% happy with, but it’ll work for now. Favor of the Overbeing is their just to complete the cycle, while Spirit Mantle made it in mostly because I set 10 as the minimum number of “buff” Auras I was willing to run. Any less and I’d have to consider cutting Kor Spiritdancer, which was something I wanted to avoid.

Auras - Answers
Cage of Hands
Confiscate
Faith's Fetters
Lignify
Treachery
Volition Reins

- These are Auras you typically don’t want to put on your own guys! They’re more for dealing with things that I’d rather not have to deal with. Lignify is a great way to shut down problematic Generals, since killing them just means the player can recast them later. Fetters also does this job well, and can also turn off Planeswalkers or annoying lands like Volrath’s Stronghold. Cage of Hands is mediocre, but it’s reusability makes it a potential draw engine with an Enchantress out.

Enchantments
Asceticism
Aura Shards
Copy Enchantment
Enchanted Evening
Enchantress's Presence
Finest Hour
Fertile Ground
Holistic Wisdom
Karmic Justice
Land Tax
Mirari's Wake
Oblivion Ring
Rhystic Study
Sigil of the Empty Throne
Sterling Grove

- I made a last minute decision to put Finest Hour in, in place of True Conviction. Ideally, I’d like to have both, but space issues didn’t allow for that. Also missing Martyr’s Bond, but with Karmic Justice already in, I felt like it was an acceptable loss.

Other Spells
Cleansing Meditation
Creeping Renaissance
Eladamri's Call
Enlightened Tutor
Idyllic Tutor
Replenish
Sol Ring
Three Dreams
Wrath of God
Winds of Rath

And, these are the only 10 cards that aren’t a Creature or an Enchantment. I wanted to keep this category as low as possible, but there were some obvious cards here that were just to crucial to pass up. Replenish might just be one of the most important spells in the deck, considering how fragile my game plan really is. Winds of Rath is hilariously techy, and I hope it actually works out. It could be a dud, but we’ll see…

Lands

Serra's Sanctum
Kor Haven
Mistveil Plains
Secluded Steppe
Halimar Depths
Tolaria West
Lonely Sandbar
Llanowar Reborn
Yavimaya Hollow
Tranquil Thicket
Vesuva
Command Tower
Reflecting Pool
Seaside Citadel
Misty Rainforest
Evolving Wilds
Flooded Grove
Mystic Gate
Wooded Bastion
Breeding Pool
Hallowed Fountain
Temple Garden
Glacial Fortress
Sunpetal Grove
Hinterland Harbor
Plains x4
Island x4
Forest x4


Closing Thoughts…
Enchanted Evening is in the deck, for now at least, to combo with Aura Shards and more importantly Cleansing Meditation. With Enchanted Evening in play, Cleansing Meditation will destroy ALL permanents in play, then if I have threshold (and I almost certainly will at this point!), I return all of MY permanents destroyed this way to the Battlefield.

There is some slight anti-synergy with that play, because any Auras returning to the battlefield will be returning AT THE SAME TIME as any creatures returning, and because they’re happening simultaneously, the Auras will not be able to target the creatures, as the creatures aren’t technically on the battlefield yet.

For this reason, and others, I considered Retether as well, but couldn’t find room. Should playtesting reveal any cards that need to be replaced, Retether is at the top of the short list for adding in later.

That’s pretty much the deck in a nutshell. Play Enchantments, draw cards, stick a suitable threat, and go to town.

Enjoy!

Auras of War

Before we begin, I have two caveats to get out of the way.

First, I have not yet assembled this deck with real cards – I’m going to need to purchase 7 or 8 critically important cards, and I’m totally broke. So this list is just a theoretical starting point, for now, but I plan to have it up and running for real in a couple of weeks. It may change between now and then.

Second, the title “Auras of War” is a tad outdated, as the initial concept was going to revolve more heavily on Voltroning-up Jenara  with a number of top shelf Auras and winning via General Damage. However, this seemed to me like it would make the deck play out like a cross between Uril and Rafiq, both of which I have already explored. Uril is played out completely, for me. And while I still love Rafiq intensely, if the deck I build here is going to be that similar to Rafiq, why don’t I just build Rafiq? So, the end result is that the deck is much less of a Voltron-styled General Damage deck, and more of just an Enchantress deck with a  solid beat-down General. I’m keeping the title in place for now, though, because it sounds cool.

Okay, with that out of the way, let’s dive in.

General: Jenara, Asura of War

Objectives

   1. To avoid linear, repetitive gameplay (a la Uril the Miststalker)

   2. To avoid over-reliance on my General

   3. To make the deck viable within a metagame that is heavy on sweepers and spot removal

   4. The deck should be creature-oriented and avoid combo or heavy control

To fulfill objectives 1, 2 and 4, I have tried to reduced the Aura count from what you’d typically see in a Uril deck or any other “Voltron” strategy, while simultaneously upping the creature count, as well as including some non-Aura enchantments that buff all my creatures, not just my general. General damage wins should still be possible, but not necessarily the primary route to victory.

Fulfilling objective 3 is helped along by the increased creature count, but I have also added a good deal of recursion for both creatures and enchantments, to help prevent blowouts by a Wrath of God, or Fracturing Gust, etc.

Creatures: 20

Jenara, Asura of War

Faith Healer

Kor Spiritdancer

Auramancer

Umbra Mystic

Mesa Enchantress

Academy Rector

Totem-Guide Hartebeest

Reveillark

Sun Titan

Drift of Phantasms

Argothian Enchantress

Verduran Enchantress

Eternal Witness

Femeref Enchantress

Hanna, Ship’s Navigator

Dauntless Escort

Rafiq of the Many

Sovereigns of Lost Alara

Duplicant

Enchantments: 33

Ancestral Mask

Angelic Destiny

Armadillo Cloak

Bear Umbra

Eldrazi Conscription

Griffin Guide

Rancor

Spirit Loop

Shield of the Oversoul

Steel of the Godhead

Treachery

Volition Reins

Confiscate

Copy Enchantment

Aura Shards

Faith’s Fetters

Lignify

Oblivion Ring

Prison Term

Shackles

Seal of Cleansing

Asceticism

Enchanted Evening

Enchantress’s Presence

Greater Auramancy

Holistic Wisdom

Karmic Justice

Land Tax

Mirari’s Wake

Rhystic Study

Sigil of the Empty Throne

Sterling Grove

True Conviction

Non-Enchantment Spells: 9

Wrath of God

Replenish

Cleansing Meditation

Creeping Renaissance

Three Dreams

Idyllic Tutor

Enlightened Tutor

Eladamri’s Call

Wargate

Lands: 38

Serra's Sanctum

New Benalia

Kor Haven

Mistveil Plains

Secluded Steppe

Halimar Depths

Tolaria West

Lonely Sandbar

Llanowar Reborn

Yavimaya Hollow

Khalni Garden

Tranquil Thicket

Vesuva

Command Tower

Reflecting Pool

Seaside Citadel

Misty Rainforest

Evolving Wilds

Flooded Grove

Mystic Gate

Wooded Bastion

Breeding Pool

Hallowed Fountain

Temple Garden

Glacial Fortress

Sunpetal Grove

Hinterland Harbord

Plains x4

Island x3

Forest x4

This is the list as it stands, and there are a few clear issues:

1. Too many cards overall. This list is 68 non-land cards, with very little Ramp, so I need to cut a few slots to make room for Lands. Ideally I’d like to have 37 or 38 lands, so I’d need to cut 5 or 6 non-Lands from the list above.

2. Not enough Auras? I’m clearly trying to avoid making this deck play out like every Uril deck ever, and I don’t want every game to just be “pile aura after aura on Jenara, swing for the win”, but I do need to be able to buff my creatures into actual threats. How many is too many?

3. Not enough game-ending creatures. Jenara is still one of the most likely targets for my Auras, meaning most of my wins will likely come from swinging with Jenara enchanted with a couple of Auras and some +1/+1 counters. I really need to find room for more suitable threats – adding a few Hexproof creatures (Geist of St Traft, Troll Ascetic, Thrun, etc.) might help.

4. Not enough “pet cards”. I can’t help that I’m a good-stuff player. I like my decks to have a cohesive theme, but I also like to play really powerful spells. Stuff like Primeval Titan, Consecrate Sphinx, and Rite of Replication… you know, cards that almost everyone plays and are often groan-inducing to most EDH fans. Well, I like stuff like that, and I don’t ever get bored kicking a Rite of Replication targeting a Consecrated Sphinx or Primeval Titan. It helps that those are often the cards that eventually win you the game, not your gimmicky theme or whatever.

So, I want the deck to remain true to its theme, and for that theme to be relevant in-game. But I also want to make more room for spells that I enjoy. I don’t think Rite of Replication is a good fit here, but I’d love to get a few other pet cards into the list, without diluting the theme too much. Here’s a quick list of stuff I’d highly prize being able to find room for:

Mulldrifter

Augury Adept

Cold-Eyed Selkie

Cephalid Constable

Noble Hierarch

Loxodon Hierarch

Primeval Titan

Simic Sky Swallower

Akroma, Angel of Wrath

Drogskol Reaver

Troll Ascetic

Thrun, the Last Troll

Sol Ring

Darksteel Ingot

Winds of Rath (Tech!)

Time Spiral

Aura Mutation

Yavimaya’s Embrace

Finest Hour

Martyr’s Bond

Please comment if you have any suggestions or tips for me. I'm a little rusty on the deckbuilding, as it has been a while since I put together any new decks. Thanks for reading, and enjoy!