$50 Eriette Deck Tech - BathroomBrews
Eriette of the Charmed Apple | Illustrated by Magali Villeneuve
Eriette's Tempting Apple | Illustrated by Alayna Danner
Hello, everyone! Welcome to BathroomBrews, the budget deck tech series proving Magic isn't pay-to-win. Each deck will have a budget of $50 excluding the cost of the commander.
In my last article, I had you, the community, vote on what deck tech you'd like to see from Wilds of Eldraine. The results were too close to call, so instead of just picking one, you're going to get two deck techs! This week we will look at Eriette of the Charmed Apple, and next week will be Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender. As always, there will be a link to the deck at the end of the article. Without further ado, let's get into it!
Aura You Glad to See Me?
When building a deck around a commander, especially when they're your main win condition, you need to protect them at all costs. One of my favorite protection Auras is Gift of Immortality. While this Aura doesn't prevent exile, unlike Kaya's Ghostform, it will recur itself, getting you additional triggers of Constellation. Then you have Timely Ward and Minion's Return, which provide you with instant-speed Aura protection. My favorite piece of tech has to be Swift Reconfiguration. This card isn't protection in the traditional sense, but it will stop Eriette from dying to Wrath of God- or Blasphemous Act-style board wipes, and it fizzles creature removal.
And It's Gone
A key aspect of any Commander deck is going to be removal, so I had to include staples such as Utter End, Generous Gift, and Hagra Mauling, but we want removal built into enchantment. I included Limited all-stars Cooped Up, which let you exile the creature, and Planar Disruption, to turn off abilities. If you'd rather get problematic cards off the board, give Ossification and Chains of Custody a try. These Oblivion Ring-style effects are great because they're Auras, unlike actual Oblivion Ring. The final way to deal with a threat is to turn it into an Insect or a Coward with Darksteel Mutation and Reprobation. These are especially mean when you enchant someone's commander and the table agrees to not remove them.
Looking Up at the Stars
What kind of brewer would I be if I left Constellation out of an enchantment deck? We do miss out on some of the powerful green options, like Eidolon of Blossoms and Setessan Champion, but have you ever felt the pain of Doomwake Giant wiping your board turn after turn? Well, now you get the chance to do it to someone else. My personal favorite is Archon of Sun's Grace, which makes us an army of 2/2s throughout the game and is one of the backup win conditions. The other backup win conditions are Grim Guardian, to burn out opponents, and Sigil of the Empty Throne, to make 4/4s. Sigil does require you to cast enchantments, but it's still worth an inclusion.
If you want to add a combo win with Grim Guardian, you can add Warehouse Tabby or Knight of Doves and Screams from Within to infinitely recur Screams from Within.
Ramping
Aside from the traditional artifact and creature ramp, I included some great cost-reducers in Killian, Ink Duelist and Transcendent Envoy. I've often found that cost-reducers like these are better than actual ramp in some situations. For example, Killian will let you play three three-mana Auras on turn three, which effectively ramps you to nine mana. That is why I've made an effort to have all but a few of the Auras in the deck be three mana or less, letting Killian turn most of the Auras into one-mana spells. While Light-Paws, Emperor's Voice doesn't reduce the cost of enchantments or provide you with lands, they are pseudo-ramp since they can pull enchantments right from the library into play. Give them a Light of Promise on turn three, and you can tutor up Rune of Sustenance, effectively ramping you to five mana on turn three and drawing you a card.
And Card Draw
There are the obvious card draw staples to include in Aura decks, like Sram, Senior Edificer, Kor Spiritdancer and Mesa Enchantress. While these are powerful cards, if we don't have them out, we need ways to keep digging through our library. That's why I included Auras that cantrip, such as Rune of Mortality, Rune of Sustenance, and Angelic Gift.
Something to keep in mind is that Eriette doesn't care if the Auras you control are on creatures, which is why I've included Lithoform Blight and Underworld Connections. Instead of enchanting creatures like traditional Auras, these enchant your lands, so unless someone fires off enchantment removal targeting them or plays land destruction, they'll stick around most of the game. Surprisingly, 21 Auras in Orzhov colors can enchant lands, so one build path you could try is land Auras Eriette. The most expensive land Aura is Equinox from Legends, and it's under $2 at the time of writing. If you want to see all of the land Auras, check out this link to my Scryfall search.
And Goad, Oh My
The biggest issue with Eriette is that she needs to be on board to prevent creatures from smacking you in the face, which is exactly why goad is such a great mechanic in this deck. The Impetus cycle of Parasitic Impetus, Martial Impetus, and Ghoulish Impetus are great because, even if Eriette is removed, the creatures still can't attack you, at least until it's down to 1v1. I excluded the Vow cycle of Vow of Malice, Vow of Torment, and Vow of Duty, but they're in the maybe pile, so if you like them, give them a shot and let me know how it turns out.
Upgrades
If you have a bit more cash to burn than $50 and want to improve the deck, there are a few cards I'd suggest adding. First would be Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose thanks to his ability to tack on extra damage every time we gain life, which is especially strong with Auras such as Spirit Link. If you want to add an infinite combo, you could add Sanguine Bond and Exquisite Blood. Most players find this to be a boring way to win, but games need to end at some point. Finally, you should give Xenk, Paladin Unbroken a try! Hopefully we'll be getting in-universe printing for him soon so we can use him to smash face for a ton of damage.
$50 Poison Apple - BathoomBrews - BRBMTG
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View this decklist on Archidekt
This has been another installment of BathroomBrews; make sure to check out my YouTube channel, BathroomBrewsMTG, for weekly MTG content and the accompanying video. Also, make sure to check out my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/BathroomBrewsMTG if you want to take your support further.
This has been Ben, from BathroomBrewsMTG, and remember, always wash your hands.
