Why Derevi at the Helm of Enchantress


Amongst all Bant commanders, she is the only commander that can be deemed as "a cog in the engine deck". With a way to get her back into the command zone she can be used again and again thanks to her unique ability. She is used mainly in the deck to untap permanents that generate mana. Enchantress is a very mana hungry deck, and with an untapper which is almost always available at a cheap cost of , it becomes fomidable.

In the deck there are only 2 types of permanents that she can untap, mana dorks and lands. Mana dorks like Rofellos and Bloom Tender can generate more than 1 mana per activation. It is slightly more tricky with lands, but nothing can't be done in enchantress, especially with green helping out.

  Deck 
1x Wild Growth
1x Fertile Ground
1x Utopia Sprawl
1x Overgrowth
1x Dawn's Reflection
1x Mirari's Wake
1x Mana Reflection

The above 7 cards make up the "land mana engine component" which makes enchanted lands more than 1 mana. Combine a few of them into a single land and you can start looping Derevi.


Noteworthy Combos & Strategies


Since this is an engine based deck, it will be good to group the strategy section together with the noteworthy combos. The deck does require quite a bit of thinking, much like the modern/legacy Eggs.dec and the legacy combo enchantress. It is recommended to do some goldfishing tryouts before bringing it to play for the first time. The deck also employs a number of interesting plays with the stack, will be explained in detail below.


Commander specific infinite - Mana Engine no.1

 

Pre-requisite: Derevi, Empyrial Tactician + Dual Nature + Bloom Tender
Effect: Infinite colored mana, untapping and tapping of all permanents

How to use the combo:
With Dual Nature and Bloom Tender on the battlefield, tap Bloom Tender to get .
Use the + to activate Derevi, Derevi ETB and triggers his own ability and dual nature
Derevi's ETB trigger targets Bloom Tender.
Dual Nature's ability puts a copy of Derevi on the battlefield
Legend rule kicks in, choose the original Derevi to go to the gy, returning Derevi to the command zone. When Derevi LTB, the token is removed.
Derevi clone's ETB ability kicks in, target Bloom Tender
Resolve the 2 untap triggers, tapping Bloom Tender each time.
Gets
Restart from 2 until you get infinite mana of all colors, then can reactivate Derevi to untap or tap other stuff.


Commander specific infinite - Mana Engine no.2

 

Pre-requisite: Derevi, Empyrial Tactician + Dawn's Reflection(+ any other land aura combination) + Martyr's Cause
Effect: Infinite colored mana, untapping and tapping of all permanents

To achieve the 5 mana land pre-requisite, enchant the land with land auras. We can do it in a few different combinations, like Dawn's reflection + copy enchantment, or overgrowth + fertile ground + utopia sprawl, or dawn's reflection + fertile ground on Serra Sanctum. Just mix and play.

How to use the combo:
Similar to Mana Engine no.1, with Martyr's Cause and a 5 mana land online, tap the land for .
Use the + to activate Derevi from the command zone
Derevi's ETB trigger targets the 5 mana land.
Resolve the untap trigger
Sacrifice Derevi to Martyr's Cause, bringing her back to the command zone
Restart from 2 until you get infinite mana of all colors, then can reactivate Derevi to untap or tap other stuff.


Additional notes for both Mana Engines

 

Both of the mana engines can be mixed together in different combinations. Like replacing Bloom Tender with a land enchanted with Dawn's Reflection, or replacing Dual Nature with Dance of Many + Mana reflection to boost Bloom Tender. There are many combinations littered in the deck to achieve a mana engine with Derevi.


Infinite - Opalesence Core

 

Pre-requisite: Opalesence + Parallax Wave
Effect: Infinite exiling of opponents creatures/enchantments, infinite ETB triggers of our own creatures/enchantments

Interestingly this combo can be use together with Derevi to achieve infinite mana + tap down on all opponent permanents (artifacts/lands since enchantments/creatures should be gone)

How to use the combo:
With both Opalesence and Parallax wave on the field, activate parallax wave's ability targeting an enchantment/creature
Here is where it differs, if it is a permanent from your side, let the parallax wave trigger resolve. If it is not, keep the trigger on the stack
Use Parallax Wave's ability on itself, resolve this trigger.
Parallax Wave's LTB trigger kicks in, bringing it and all other permanents that are exiled back into play.
Resolve the unresolved triggers (the one that exiles the opponent's permanent), exiling that permanent permanently as there is no more Parallax Wave LTB trigger to bring it back.
Restart from 1


Infinite - Dual Nature Opalesence

 

Pre-requisite: Opalesence + Dual Nature + Oblivion Ring
Effect: Exile all opponents' non-land permanents or get infinite ETB triggers off our own permanents

Dual Nature + Opalesence together makes copies of any enchantment that ETBs. Each and every non-aura enchantment will come in with their token counterpart, allowing double usage of our enchantments. What is so special about this is that it provides some very interesting combos. I'll highlight some of the minor combos before touching on the main Oblivion Ring combo which is more complex.

combi + Seal of Removal : With 2 of the removal seals in play, sacrifice the token copy to return the original (it is a creature thanks to Opalesence). With enough we can just keep casting the loop, yielding card draws from our enchantresses, creating angel tokens with Sigil of the Empty Throne or use Blind Obedience's extort. This becomes a kill condition when a mana engine is available.


Rule to be abused (from Oracle):
10/1/2007: If Oblivion Ring leaves the battlefield before its first ability has resolved, its second ability will trigger and do nothing. Then its first ability will resolve and exile the targeted nonland permanent forever.

How to use the Oblivion Ring combo:
With both Opalesence and Dual Nature on the battlefield, cast Oblivion Ring
Oblivion Ring ETBs, triggering Dual Nature
Here it goes both ways, for own non-land permanents we resolve Oring's exile trigger first; or for opponents' non-land permanents, resolve Dual Nature's trigger first
Dual Nature's trigger resolve, putting in a creature token which is a copy of Oring
Token Oring ETB triggers, targeting the original Oring.
Resolve the token ETB trigger, exiling the original Oring. Dual Nature's LTB triggers and exiles the token Oring
token Oring LTB triggers, bringing back the original Oring.
Restart from 2

Note:
If you choose to exile all opponent's non-land permanents, those triggers will remain on the stack and not resolve until the entire 'infinite' loop has ended. To end the loop, just target another permanent with the copied Oring.


Infinite - Dance of many Titans

 

Pre-requisite: Dance of Many + Sun Titan + Faith Healer
Effect: Infinite Sun Titan tokens, infinite life

Rule to be abused (from Oracle):
10/1/2009: If Dance of Many leaves the battlefield before its first ability has resolved, its second ability will trigger and do nothing. Then its first ability will resolve and put a token onto the battlefield. That token won't have any connection to a Dance of Many permanent, so it won't be exiled when a Dance of Many leaves the battlefield.

How to use the combo:
With Sun Titan and Faith Healer (or Auratog) in play, cast Dance of Many.
Dance of Many ETB trigger, target Sun Titan and is put on the stack. DO NOT resolve this.
Sacrifice Dance of Many to faith healer, gaining 1 life. Dance of Many is put into the graveyard
Resolve Dance of Many ETB trigger, putting a token of Sun Titan into play.
Token Sun Titan ETB trigger, targetting Dance of Many in the graveyard.
Return Dance of Many onto the battlefield.
Restart from 2


Infinite - Bounce everything!

   

Pre-requisite: Enchantress Presence (or any enchantress or recycle) + Treachery + Copy Enchantment + Words of Wind + 5 lands (that produces 6 mana and above) + 1 creature to enchant (any one will do) + any other low cost enchantment (1cc enchantments are preferred, depends on how much extra mana is produced from the 5 lands)
Effect: Bounce back all opponents' permanents.

This is a 5+ card combo. For this combo explanation I'll use the minimum requirements that is required for it to work. 5lands (6mana) + a 1mana other enchantment. If a doubler is in play like Mirari's Wake, 5 lands will produce (10 mana) and we can use any other 4cc and below enchantments for the combo.

How to use the combo:
With an enchantress draw effect, Words of Wind, Treachery + in play, tap 5 lands to cast Copy Enchantment (uses 3 mana, left 3 mana).
Pay  to replace the draw with Words of Wind. (uses 1mana, left 2 mana)
Words of Wind triggers, each player returns a permanent back to hand. Return any 1cc enchantment besides treachery.
Copy Enchantment ETBs as Treachery, enchanting a creature (preferbly ours), untap up to 5 lands
Cast back the returned enchantment, pay  to trigger Words of Wind. (uses 2 mana, net 0 mana)
Words of Wind triggers, each player returns a permanent back to hand. Return Copy Enchantment (Treachery)
Restart from 1

Note:
This combo will achieve infinite mana should each iteration gives a positive net mana.



- Other combos to be updated (List the combos first) -

Mirari's Wake + Opalesence + Enchanted Evening = opponents have no lands

Enchanted Evening + Ajani's Chosen = infinite cat tokens + forces games to a DRAW unless have a way out of the loop

Rancor + Faith Healer = cast rancor as many times as your G mana permits