Wilds of Eldraine brings two new Commander Precons, and the Selesnya Aura deck brings with it powerful new cards and ways to play, thanks to the Role mechanic. So how does Virtue and Valor play and how can you upgrade it further? Kristen has the guide.
VIRTUE AND VALOR: NEW COMMANDERS
The first of two new Commanders in Virtue and Valor, Ellivere of the Wild Court is powerful as she is delightful. She enables Ferocious and all of its power-four analogues, she draws you cards and she gives a sizable buff to your team based on how deep you go into Enchantress.
Given consistency is the aim of the game when on a budget, I’ll be choosing her for the lead role in today’s upgrade guide.
Gylwain, Casting Director is the other option. And though he doesn’t draw you cards, he can offer some decent buffs through his Role tokens. As a quick reminder:
- Monster: Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has trample.
- Royal: Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has ward {1}.
- Sorcerer: Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has “Whenever this creature attacks, scry 1.”
As you can see, none of these are quite as powerful as Ellivere’s Virtuous Role tokens. While fun, Gylwain feels more like a card made for the 99.
PRECON REVIEW: ENCHANTING, MY DEAR
This precon surprised me. It has a few questionable card choices, but it’s also got some innovative new cards and decent reprints.
The most exciting new cards are undoubtedly Unfinished Business (a three-for-one that can completely turn the tables) and Songbirds’ Blessing — a card that will occasionally spike something insane like Eldrazi Conscription but most of the time offers excellent, consistent card advantage.
Reprint wise, we get some cards like Umbra Mystic and Kor Spiritdancer that always need reprints, and some powerful role-players like Bear Umbra and Shalai, Voice of Plenty.
The goal with this upgrade is to take Ellivere and enable her Virtuous Role tokens. We want to convert that damage and build a force to be reckoned with.
VIRTUE AND VALOR: $50 BUDGET UPGRADE
We managed a cool 25 cards for our $50 budget, which is a pretty good card-to-dollar ratio.
First on my list was evasion. Having pumped up bodies is no use if they can just be chump blocked.
Unflinching Courage and Armadillo Cloak both give trample, lifelink and a buff. Trample and lifelink seemed to be the theme of this upgrade, with Thrun, Breaker of Silence; Danitha, New Benalia’s Light; and Primeval Herald all bringing keywords to the table. With the added lifelink, Sphere of Safety was less necessary — but is absolutely a card for later.
Consistency is important too, so adding Sythis, Satyr Enchanter and Verduran Enchantress is a solid start. I opted for Primeval Herald to help ramp, as it wears the Virtuous Role really well.
Enchantment mana can’t be forgotten, either. Overgrowth, One with Nature and Mark of Sakiko really up our mana production.
It’s hard to fit the best protection spells in on a budget, so special attention was paid to persistence. Thrun is hard to remove, and Alseid of Life’s Bounty offers synergistic protection.
We splurged for Clever Concealment to protect us from even Cyclonic Rift while playing into the potential line of wrathing ourselves and peacing-out too. Phasing is really good for decks like Enchantress that commit to the board.
Sigarda’s Aid is too expensive, so I opted for a bit of a pet card in Vernal Equinox. It’s a global effect, sure, but you should be able to leverage it more than your opponents… and the card’s just fun. It makes for memorable games, and you can’t put a price on that.
Check the Sideboard on Moxfield for all of the cuts. The cut cards were either high mana value, low impact or not doing anything for our strategy.
Loamcrafter Faun, for example, is powerful. But without the land-based synergies and enough lands to discard, it offers us very little.
Siona could end up back in if you’re bothered to play the Shielded by Faith combo, but at that point, shouldn’t you just build Siona? Knickknack Ouphe is fun, but you can read my review of the new Commander cards to see why I think it can be a bit of a trap in Enchantress decks.
Overall the focus has been on making Ellivere more consistent at deploying a board, and more consistent at converting that board into a win. Where do you take it from here?
FURTHER UPGRADES
First up, the two cards I really want to add that couldn’t keep us under budget: Hallowed Haunting and Kodama of the West Tree. Both give much needed evasion to allow Virtuous Roles to do their thing. But more than that, they give us incidental token generation and ramp, respectively.
These are at the top of my list, even above some generically good value engines. Obviously you can add the likes of Smothering Tithe, Esper Sentinel, Heroic Intervention and other staples, but they’re pricey for a reason.
Speaking of staples, Sigarda’s Aid is always good, as is Mirari’s Wake. Don’t forget that if you do go super deep on Enchantress creatures like Sythis, Flickering Ward becomes WW: draw a card (at least!).
Creature-wise, consider adding Birds of Paradise for early game ramp and Nylea’s Colossus for late game buffing. Dragonlord Dromoka and Sigarda, Host of Herons are both phenomenal in this kind of build, and Sigarda herself is a spicy alternate Commander. She’s my Aura-Enchantress Commander, and you can find my list for her here if you want some inspiration.
If you’d rather look at something newer and/or lower on the curve, then maybe try Xenk, Paladin Unbroken or Calix, Guided by Fate. Xenk does limit you to attacking alone, but if you want to go tall, he can halve the time it takes to knock a player out.
Calix, on the other hand, is pure value. He copies your best enchantments for free when he or an enchanted creature connects. That’s seriously strong, even if all you copy is the Virtuous Role token.
We just had Abzan Enchantress for Commander Masters, and if you ended up picking up the deck or some singles, Ellivere is a great home for Composer of Spring and Ondu Spiritdancer.
Rounding things off, both Song of the Dryads and Sphere of Safety are Enchantress staples for a reason. Turning anything into a Forest is super flexible and strong, and if you build enough recursion into your deck, it can really pay off. I’m just imagining casting Cosmic Rebirth at Instant Speed, don’t mind me.
Sphere of Safety will always do more work than Ghostly Prison, and comes down later, meaning you don’t become the “Ghostly Prison Player” too early. That’s a win-win for me.
One final word on Tutors: they are very strong in Enchantress, so decide on how linear your game plan should be. Sterling Grove and Enlightened Tutor are obviously top of the list, but Open the Armory can be a real role-player if you want to grab Robe of Stars or Shadowspear with it.
END STEP
Enchantress remains a popular option because drawing cards feels great. Ellivere draws you cards, and lets you play all the Enchantress effects in the 99 to draw you more cards. The difference is, that unlike Sythis, she also offers a win condition with her Virtuous Role tokens.
Am I going to switch off of Sigarda, Host of Herons at this point? It’s unlikely, but that doesn’t mean that Ellivere isn’t more than good enough to lead a deck. I may even try her in the command zone of Sigarda, for science, because why not?
Hopefully this precon upgrade guide delivered what you needed — now let Card Kingdom deliver what you need, too.
Kristen is Card Kingdom’s Head Writer, and member of the Commander Advisory Group. Formerly a competitive Pokémon TCG grinder, she has been playing Magic since Shadows Over Innistrad, which in her opinion, was a great set to start with. When she’s not taking names with Equipment and Aggro strategies in Commander, she loves to play any form of Limited.