Commander - Deck Tech: Eriette of the Charmed Apple

Welcome to another deck tech! Today's article is all about a commander that references fairy tales, specifically the evil witches and their royalty status.

Eriette of the Charmed Apple is an elegant and treacherous character, who uses her malice and powers to enchant and control her targets. Thus, we will bring her to the battlefield, and explore her abilities by using her enchantments against our opponents.

For this tech deck, we will have three main focuses:

1. Board Control, through auras that help both as a defensive tool and as a way to manipulate our opponents' plays.

2. Synergy, taking advantage of enchantments to maximize our commander's abilities and also other cards in our deck.

3. Strategic use of life points, so we can convert life gain into useful resources.

We opted for a deck that wants to influence the game by enchanting as many valid targets as possible. In the Maybe Board, we highlight cards for an alternative strategy, such as Curses, and other ways to build the deck.

Therefore, we hope the readers can explore different possibilities for their own versions of the deck.

Auras

Auras have three main roles:

- Control: Auras that stop opponents' permanents;

- Power: Auras that strengthen our creatures, create offensive opportunities, and add useful abilities;

- Protection: Auras that improve our defenses, ensuring that our creatures stay on the battlefield as long as possible.

Control

Let's highlight the flexibility and utility of Despondency and Ghoulish Impetus. Both are excellent for enchanting opponents' creatures, not only because of their abilities, but especially because of their triggered effects, which allow these auras to return to hand when they leave the battlefield. This makes it possible to enchant new targets and keep the deck's strategy constantly flowing.

Power

All That Glitters and Ethereal Armor are classic auras for a power increase on our creatures. However, Mantle of the Ancients and Sage's Reverie can be even better, as they not only increase our creatures' strength, but also provide excellent advance our game plan with their additional effects.

Although we placed them as power-increasing auras, these cards can be also be used on opponents' creatures. This allows for political leverage and strategy during the game, since our commander prevents enchanted creatures from attacking us.

Protection

Flickering Ward is, without a doubt, one of the best auras for protection. In addition to granting protection against the chosen color - a valuable ability for both defense and offensive purposes -, it can also be returned hand and be replayed several times, creating synergies with other cards in your deck.

Also worth mentioning are Benevolent Blessing and Fungal Fortitude, both with flash, which allows us to protect our most valuable creatures – such as our commander – both quickly and efficiently.

Enchantment Synergies

This are cards to explore a few different synergies due to the high number of enchantments in the deck. Some cards stand out as win conditions or for their strategic impact, while others provide support and consistency.

- Archon of Sun's Grace, Daxos the Returned, Hallowed Haunting and Sigil of the Empty Throne are ideal to create a strong and threatening battlefield.

- Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist, Umbra Mystic and Sigarda's Aid guarantee combat advantage, which allows for more flexible and efficient plays.

- Doomwake Giant and Sphere of Safety limit the opponents' aggressive plays, ensuring our safety.

- Sram, Senior Edificer and Lord Skitter's Blessing replenish our resources, and their synergies combine with the deck's strategy while providing card advantage.

These choices ensure that the deck is consistent and maintains an efficient pace throughout the game.

Lifegain Synergies

To further optimize our resources, The One Ring and Well of Lost Dreams ensure constant card draw.

In addition, Bolas's Citadel allows us to play cards from the top of the deck by using our life points.

Since our deck has a constant life gain through the commander and other mechanics, we can afford to pay life and speed up the game without compromising our strategy.

Supporting Role

Highlighted here are cards that ensure a consistent gameplay, even though they have no direct synergy with the deck's main strategy. They are flexible and decisive when we need to preserve an advantageous game state.

We must once again emphasize the protection cards, because keeping the commander and other permanents on the field is crucial for the gameplan, and consequently, to achieve victory.

Now that we have the entire deck, note how it doesn't have many high-cost cards, which means a smoother mana curve. This reduces the need for too many ramps or an excessive number of lands. Due to its enchanting strategy, we classify it as Midrange Control - a strategy based on gradually building a board and using resources efficiently.

The goal is to establish an initial advantage over your opponents, limit their actions, and keep developing your win conditions.

Playing the deck!

Our deck incorporates control elements typical of the white and black colors , but its greatest strength is its ability to keep threats on the board. The strategy focus on keeping the commander safe and active, draining opponents' strength and health.

You must adopt an opportunistic approach when playing this deck - be attentive to opponents' plays before you make your decisions. This means let the opponents spend resources first, and pressure them at the right moment, when your auras will rule the battlefield. Next, we will highlight the game plan and win conditions.

The beginning of the game tends to be slower - focus on developing the board and ensure a good manabase. Play early creatures and support cards, such as Arcane Signet, Sol Ring, Orzhov Signet, Swiftfoot Boots, Alseid of Life's Bounty, Hateful Eidolon, Kor Spiritdancer, and Spellbook Vendor. In parallel, begin enchanting creatures and strategic targets from the opponents, negotiate interactions and avoid unnecessary conflict while protecting the board.

Bringing Eriette of the Charmed Apple to play is essential and one of the key points of the strategy. Once we have around five or six auras, we will be in a strong position to impact the game and achieve a win in a few turns. However, before playing the commander, it may be interesting to further strengthen our board with cards that generate tokens with evasion, such as Hallowed Haunting and Sigil of the Empty Throne. Enchant these tokens with auras that increase their power, such as All That Glitters and Ethereal Armor, so they pressure the opponents, reduce their life points and set the stage for a quick victory alongside Eriette.

Sometimes the game reaches a stalemate, mostly when several players are constantly gaining life. This certainly halts the main victory plan, since even a large board may not be enough to effectively attack and finish the game. For these games, we have an objective and synergistic solution:

Test of Endurance is an excellent alternative win condition, since life gain becomes the main game plan. It works as a guarantee for long games, when all players manage to defend their board and the outcome is unclear. In the Maybe Board, we also included Felidar Sovereign, which has a similar role, but is also less consistent, since it can be removed more easily and has a higher mana cost. Still, by using both you will expand your win conditions.

Digital Version

The following list is an adaptation for Magic Arena! It has been optimized with valid replacements for the Historic Brawl format, so you can enjoy this deck tech even in digital play.

Budget Version

The deck is already somewhat affordable, but this budget version replaced a few cards to make it even more affordable without much loss to efficiency and quality. This list is ideal for players looking for a cheaper version but without compromising the gaming experience.

Control strategies are always a deckbuilding challenge, as everyone play the game in their own unique and personal way. I made an effort to present a solid strategy, with a well-structured game plan and a clear goal. The strategy was designed to ensure control of the game without completely preventing the opponents from playing, but rather interfering at the right moments to maximize our advantage. Therefore, I believe that the deck's result was very positive.

Now, it is your turn to interact! Did you like the content? What is your favorite play from the deck? Do you agree with our deck tech? Would you do something different and even more innovative? Leave your comments, criticisms, suggestions and opinions so that we can continue to grow and learn together.

Cheers and see you next time!