Let's keep talking about basic deck construction.

Last week, I did an uber-budget Obosh, the Preypiercer deck which used my top-five tips for beginning deck-builders. Before we get into this week's list, I'd like to wax a bit more poetically about the system.

There are as many ways to build Commander decks as there are Commanders. My tips article is kind of a paint-by-numbers way of building a deck. Paint-by-numbers is great! There's nothing wrong with it. It can be an excellent way to learn about color, shading, how a piece of art comes together, and can generate a perfectly satisfying piece you're excited to share.

Paint-by-numbers can also be a way to move into more complicated artistic techniques. Perhaps your experience with it can lead to taking some art classes or just exploring other methods. Maybe you realize you no longer need the numbers or even the outline to start generating your own art. So it is with deck construction.

There are lots of ways to start building your own decks, just like there are lots of ways to start making art. You can buy a precon and start adjusting it as you get more cards. You can borrow a deck from a friend and use that as a starting place. You can just jump in and go for it. You can use my paint-by-numbers approach. None is wrong.

An advantage to my system is it will create a deck which will, frankly, work most of the time. You'll be able to play cards and represent a board state. You'll be able to interact with the table and make some relevant plays. You won't win all the time, and you won't compete at highly-tuned tables all that well, but you'll have a deck which works, and generally works pretty darn well. You can keep using this system for all the decks you build and, like with paint-by-numbers, you'll have some fine decks. Or you can use it as a way to get started and understand; over time, you'll start not needing the structure. You'll see by looking that your deck can run fewer ramp spells or mana rocks, needs more (or less!) card draw, even (and it pains me a bit to say this) doesn't need 40 lands. The tips are a strong starting point; from there, you can make it your own.

With that in mind, let's take a look at today's deck, once again built using the five tips, and once again to a budget, this time of $60, right here on Cool Stuff Inc (as of this writing). Also, I'm not normally a huge fan of the Planeswalkers-as-Commanders, so I thought it might be fun to step out of my comfort zone and try one of them.

Four-mana, Bant (), Enchantments-matter Planeswalker. I think we can have some fun with this.

Step one: set aside 40 slots for lands. Done.

Step two: 8-10 slots for ramp, 10-12 slots for draw. We choose our ramp number based on our Commander's cost; with a four-mana Commander, we want nine, so we'll go with that.

A couple of things worth noting. With a four-mana Commander, our hope is to ramp on turn two so we can play our Commander on turn three. That means two-mana ramp spells whenever possible. Additionally, our Commander's +2 Loyalty ability untaps all our enchanted permanents, so if we can figure out a way to enchant our lands for more mana, we can untap them and get even more mana! Unfortunately, many of the actual ramp spells (the ones which just turn a basic land into a Command Tower don't ramp us) are three mana, but we do get Wolfwillow Haven, Wild Growth, and Fertile Ground at the two- and one-mana slots. Weirding Wood and friends join at three mana; be careful with these, because they do different things. Fertile Ground lets you add one additional of any color; New Horizons adds two of any one color, and Overgrowth adds to whatever the land taps for. We're also going to run a Rampant Growth as another way to get Estrid out turn three, Burnished Hart as a hyper-efficient land-grabber, and Sanctum of Fruitful Harvest as another Enchantment-based way to get more mana. (We'll add another Shrine later.) The omission of Sol Ring is not a mistake. Our other ramp spells allow us to fix colors and add to the number of enchantments we have which will trigger other abilities.

A major reason to care about Enchantments is because of the Enchantresses; Mesa Enchantress is the classic, a three-mana 0/2 which draws a card whenever we cast an Enchantment. Eidolon of Blossoms is probably better, even if it costs a touch more; it adds actual power to the creature, is an Enchantment itself, and it only cares when an Enchantment enters the Battlefield, so Estrid's Mask-creation will trigger the card draw. Satyr Enchanter and Sythis, Harvest's Hand draw on casting, and Enchantress's Presence is the Enchantment version of Mesa. Honden of Seeing Winds draws us one every turn, and with our other Shrine we'll get an extra card and extra mana. Flight of Fancy draws two on entrance, Ocular Halo turns a creature into a tap-and-draw, and Unquestioned Authority draws one. Treasure Trove gives us a mana sink to draw cards. Finally, Mind Unbound is an Enchantment-based way to draw a lot of cards; flipping this off an Estrid Ultimate is really great, but it's not bad even if we have to cast it. Our card draw is good in this deck, so it could probably only have 10 pieces, but we are going to want a lot of cards to cast a lot of spells and use our mana every turn, so we're running more.

Step three: Time for interaction. One nice thing about Enchantments in White is they tend to handle everything, so we can go with that: Banishing Light and Borrowed Time both stop everything. Frogify hits a creature pretty hard. Soul Snare is a nice rattlesnake, and because we have some ways to get our Enchantments back, should be reusable. Bant Charm isn't an Enchantment but is a nice all-rounder. Time Wipe and Winds of Rath both serve us well as board wipes; many of our creatures will be Enchanted, and the Masks Estrid makes will protect them even if they do get hit.

Step four: Let's build to the Commander. That means Enchantments, of course, but we also want some ways to actually attempt to win this game. We have 30 slots left after our ramp, draw, and interaction, and we want to maximize Enchantments so we benefit as much as possible from Estrid's ultimate. However, we also probably want at least a few evasive and powerful creatures we can use to deal some big damage. Elderwood Scion is a good example of this. It's reasonably big, hard to kill, and makes putting Auras on it cheaper. Kestia, the Cultivator and Celestial Archon are both solidly sized and can Bestow on something else. Nylea's Colossus is reasonably big on its own, but considering it's fairly easy for us to put two or three Enchantments on the field every turn, it can make something really, really huge. Whitewater Naiads is a good choice for this, because it can make itself unblockable. Bestowed with Kestia, the Naiads are an 8/8 which draw a card when they attack. If we play the Colossus and make a Mask on the same turn, it becomes a 32/32 unblockable which draws us a card. That should put an opponent on notice. Bruna, Light of Alabaster is neat because we can grab whatever Auras we've got out, plus any which have landed in the 'yard, and any our opponents happen to have!

Cold-Eyed Selkie is a solid choice for a Boon Satyr Bestow or whatever; it's difficult to block and draws us even more cards. Transcendent Envoy, Alseid of Life's Bounty, and Destiny Spinner are examples of cards which simply help us out, even if they're not huge themselves. Hanna, Ship's Navigator is really helpful, buying back our stuff as it dies (including Burnished Hart!); make sure to stick a Mask on her early.

We have some other Constellation abilities, too. Protean Thaumaturge and Archon of Sun's Grace both care about when Enchantments enter the Battlefield, and Sigil of the Empty Throne requires a cast but can get out of hand rather quickly with this many Enchantments.

Auras are great here, helping make our creatures even more relevant. Flight of Fancy doesn't just draw cards; Octopus Umbra makes something an 8/8 and gives it Totem Armor; Righteous Authority is here for the power boost but the extra card doesn't hurt; Sage's Reverie, Mantle of the Ancients, and Ethereal Armor all count different things for massive power boosts.

A few more fun things to mention. Oath of Teferi lets us flicker something; not a big deal, but can reset a Banishing Light, draw a few more off Flight of Fancy, or move an Ethereal Armor. It also lets us use Estrid more than once a turn, which is really nice; give something a Mask, then untap it! Calix, Destiny's Hand and Niko Aris are both solid additions to our gameplan. Resurgent Belief and Triumphant Reckoning bring back all our Enchantments to the Battlefield, and Planewide Celebration can get us back up to four permanents, but can also add counters to our 'Walkers, make some creatures, or even gain us some life if we need it.

I used the rest of the budget for lands, with our most expensive card being Hall of Heliod's Generosity. That card is worth the hit to the wallet in this deck.

TITLE | FORMAT | CREATOR, TOURNAMENT

• Commander (1)
• 1 Estrid, the Masked

• Creatures (22)
• 1 Alseid of Life's Bounty
• 1 Arasta of the Endless Web
• 1 Archon of Sun's Grace
• 1 Boon Satyr
• 1 Bruna, Light of Alabaster
• 1 Burnished Hart
• 1 Callaphe, Beloved of the Sea
• 1 Celestial Archon
• 1 Cold-Eyed Selkie
• 1 Destiny Spinner
• 1 Eidolon of Blossoms
• 1 Elderwood Scion
• 1 Hanna, Ship's Navigator
• 1 Kestia, the Cultivator
• 1 Mesa Enchantress
• 1 Nylea's Colossus
• 1 Protean Thaumaturge
• 1 Renata, Called to the Hunt
• 1 Satyr Enchanter
• 1 Sythis, Harvest's Hand
• 1 Transcendent Envoy
• 1 Whitewater Naiads

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 1 Calix, Destiny's Hand
• 1 Niko Aris

• Instants (1)
• 1 Bant Charm

• Sorceries (6)
• 1 Planewide Celebration
• 1 Rampant Growth
• 1 Resurgent Belief
• 1 Time Wipe
• 1 Triumphant Reckoning
• 1 Winds of Rath

• Enchantments (28)
• 1 Banishing Light
• 1 Borrowed Time
• 1 Enchantress's Presence
• 1 Ethereal Armor
• 1 Fertile Ground
• 1 Finest Hour
• 1 Flight of Fancy
• 1 Frogify
• 1 Honden of Seeing Winds
• 1 Mantle of the Ancients
• 1 Mind Unbound
• 1 Nature's Embrace
• 1 New Horizons
• 1 Oath of Teferi
• 1 Octopus Umbra
• 1 Ocular Halo
• 1 Overgrowth
• 1 Righteous Authority
• 1 Sage's Reverie
• 1 Sanctum of Fruitful Harvest
• 1 Sigil of the Empty Throne
• 1 Soul Snare
• 1 Spawning Grounds
• 1 Treasure Trove
• 1 Unquestioned Authority
• 1 Weirding Wood
• 1 Wild Growth
• 1 Wolfwillow Haven

• Lands (40)
• 10 Plains
• 11 Forest
• 8 Island
• 1 Blossoming Sands
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Forge of Heroes
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Thornwood Falls
• 1 Thriving Grove
• 1 Thriving Heath
• 1 Thriving Isle
• 1 Tranquil Cove
• 1 Hall of Heliod's Generosity

Buy This Deck Export text format

With this list, I came in at $60.85, just $0.85 over our budget of $60. Drop a couple duals for basics and you get there, but try to keep that Hall.

Some things worth considering, depending on how the deck works for you. If you need more raw power, All that Glitters, Ancestral Mask, and Colossification all will add some significant strength to an attacking creature. Also, Estrid's Invocation is spendy but a solid choice as a way to double up on valuable Enchantments.

What Enchantments would you want in Estrid? How did you learn to deck-build in Commander? Let us know in the comments.

Now get out there and have an enchanting time.

Thanks for reading.