Written by Zac Clark

SorceryCon 2026 is in the books. You might believe it a foregone conclusion that I would play Enchantress, as I’ve championed it since I got serious about Sorcery: Contested Realm over one year ago.

Enchantress didn’t get much help in Gothic, nor in Arthurian Legends. The former offered nothing, the latter only two staples: The Black Plague and The Great Famine, which are the primary reasons to stay at least .

Gothic's Auras

Acid Rain
Cursed Iron
Eclipse
Falling Star
Homecoming
Mortal Soil
Salt the Earth
Sow the Earth
Sphere of Animosity

Nine auras. That's weak, Erik’s Curiosa! Nine is not much to work with when there's only one set release per year. Before evaluating Gothic's auras, let's look at my Cornerstone-winning Enchantress build before Gothic.

Enchantress by DurdleMagus

Auras (13)

2 Silence
1 The Black Plague
1 The Great Famine
3 Thunderstorm
3 Wildfire
2 Abundance
1 Atlantean Fate

Artifacts (7)

1 Amethyst Core
1 Aquamarine Core
1 Philosopher Stone
1 Ring of Morrigan
1 Ruby Core
2 Angel Egg

Minions (12)

2 Adept Illusionist
4 Apprentice Wizard
1 Fey Changeling
1 Merlin
1 Courtesan Thais
2 Grandmaster Wizard
1 Death Dealer

Magics (18)

1 Twist of Fate
1 Blink
1 Disenchant
1 Firebolts
2 Lightning Bolt (scr)
2 Riptide
1 Feast for Crows
2 Infiltrate
1 Pact with the Devil
1 Ball Lightning
3 Poison Nova
2 Major Explosion

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I've performed best with the above list. As far as I can find, it’s the winningest Enchantress list before Gothic. Its plan was simple: Enchantress is not a rectangle engine, but has the utility of auras doubling as minions to deal damage, control the Realm, and, almost always, have the capacity to attack with auras the turn after they're cast.

Enchantress leveraged Apprentice Wizard as a speed bump and to bait attacks while aiming to survive the first six turns. During that time, Enchantress sculpted its hand and dug for answers in preparation for the mid- to late-game. Pact with the Devil, Grandmaster Wizard, and Adept Illusionist provided raw card advantage.

Thunderstorm, Wildfire, and Silence functioned as removal and damage output.

Abundance enabled two-spelling. Later in the game, when mana was no longer a bottleneck, Abundance swung for five damage to close games.

The value of The Black Plague and The Great Famine is obvious. As minions, they can reposition to accrue more value. Additionally, as minions, they can succumb to Silence when there aren't opposing minions suffering from their plights.

The artifact suite is a nod to the speed of the pre-Gothic metagame. Philosopher Stone and the Cores sped Enchantress to its late game, and Angel Eggs stabilized early hits.

Enchantress's Magics were straightforward, aside from the spicy Twist of Fate, which had big-swing potential with Abundance, but was often a dead card. It does nothing while at Death's Door and never felt good to draw early. was also a challenge.

Enchantress's fixing was not great. While I wouldn't play it now, the spice level on Twist of Fate was enough for the nod, since no other card could offset an early beatdown the same way. Still, I removed it after the Cornerstone tournament.

Of course, Poison Nova and Major Explosion regain control of an out-of-hand board. Firebolts and Lightning Bolts (scr) cleared off smaller, early threats. Blink and Riptide offered movement for Enchantress and her auras at card parity, and they doubled as removal once Enchantress built enough Realm presence.

The Sites were locked in due to the limited fixing and power outliers available during the Beta-Arthurian Legend days. Fields of Camlann, easily the best site in the build, was a free wrath that helped stabilize a full board before deploying a threat. It's amazing. The play pattern is similar to Merlin Tower, enabling a two-spell turn. Pillars of Zeiros and a full set of Funeral Pyre showed respect for Deathspeaker.

Though I'd make changes in hindsight, a 7-1 record at a Cornerstone gets the nod of approval.

Evaluating Gothic Auras

Acid Rain
- Silence for artifacts and sites is a fine utility and a potential two-of when Enchantress needs at least 10 auras.
Cursed Iron
- Punishing artifact-heavy Avatars can be strong with the right matchup lottery, but beyond that, it's narrow.
- Enchantress can animate it into a 2-power minion, which is lackluster, especially against Battlemage, against whom its effect would shine brightest.
Eclipse
- Enchantress is effectively immune to “evil” hate.
- Since Enchantress isn't really on the “evil” plan, Eclipse does little.
  - Enchantress already freely deploys threats around the Realm.
- Eclipse costs two mana, so it's not much of a beater.
Falling Star
- Needs to sit in the Realm for three turns, and IF it lives (BIG IF), it might convert a massive minion.
Homecoming
- I don’t currently play , and Homecoming isn’t enough to change that.
- As a worse Abundance, Homecoming likely thrives outside of Enchantress.
Mortal Soil
- Is , needs a sufficient supply of dead minions, and must sit on my side of the Realm. I'll pass.
Salt the Earth
- Access to site destruction is compelling, though is extreme.
- Acid Rain negates site abilities and asks for less mana and threshold.
Sow the Earth
- If it weren't , I’d consider it, but it's just a more potent Abundance.
Sphere of Animosity
- At first glance, I was like "WHOA, SICK!" I realized, however, it’s just a niche utility piece.
- Auras that do not impact the Realm when they enter must offer something amazing; otherwise, aggressive strategies will shrug it off and smash face.
- Strategies that this would be good against might not even care. Pathfinder only needs four sites to function.

Post-Gothic Release

I was interested in giving the meta time to breathe, so I explored new avatars. Animist was the obvious alternative to Enchantress. In my opinion, Enchantress remains miles better.

Imagine if Animist read, “...also the spell’s effect happens, too,” when casting Magics as Minions. That's the power disparity between Enchantress and Animist.

If you are a devotee of rectangle theory, every aura in Enchantress is worth two rectangles. In Animist, every rectangle is a trapezoid, but it’s not a rectangle if you want it to be a trapezoid.

I tried Imposter, or rather, I tried secret Enchantress. While that strategy might have legs, the current meta is too fast for my build, which requires casting an aura, then paying for the Enchantress mask, and then casting a spell while protecting that mask. It wasn’t viable against anything that wasn't midrange.

Eventually, I returned to Enchantress, but I’m a brewer at heart. I design, tweak, and iterate on a problem. I’m not so single-minded that I can’t accept when a problem can't be solved with my solutions, though.

I was confident I’d solve Imposter, but I didn’t have time to test it leading up to the SorceryCon 2026 Constructed Championship. If I were to play a strategy I wasn’t confident about, it would at least need to allow me to leverage knowledge-of-interaction disparity.

I believe that disparity remains true. Most do not understand the power of Enchantress, and as a result, have trouble reading an aura-loaded Realm.

Enchantress's play patterns are unlike other Avatars, and that is one of its strengths. With sufficient reps, one could outmaneuver the most seasoned Pathfinders, out-card the saviest Sorcerers, or even out-rectangle the spammiest Necromancers.

After five side events, wherein I switched between Imposter and Enchantress, I was convinced Enchantress offered the best chance to succeed in the Constructed Championship.

My issue, however, was being pulled in different directions socially (e.g., creating content, doing interviews, meeting with players, artists, vendors, etc.), and I didn’t want to compromise sleep tweaking if I couldn't get in solid testing.

My previous build looked much like Zalem’s initial post-Gothic list:

Auras (19)

2 Acid Rain
2 Silence
2 Sphere of Animosity
2 Drought
1 The Black Plague
1 The Great Famine
3 Thunderstorm
3 Wildfire
2 Abundance
1 Atlantean Fate

Artifacts (11)

1 Ring of Morrigan
1 Torshammer Trinket
1 Four Waters of Paradise
1 Shrine of the Dragonlord
3 Toolbox
2 Wiccan Tools
2 Angel Egg

Minions (11)

1 Pied Piper of Hameln
3 Fey Changeling
1 Morgana le Fey
2 Orm Infestor
2 Grandmaster Wizard
1 The Green Knight
1 Death Dealer

Magics (19)

3 Blink
2 Lightning Bolt (scr)
1 Magic Missiles
1 Pollimorph
1 Riptide
1 Sleep
2 Disintegrate
2 Infiltrate
3 Poison Nova
2 Major Explosion
1 Wrath of the Sea

Collection (10)

1 Just a Rock
1 Blink
1 Disenchant
1 Displace
1 Lightning Bolt (scr)
1 Magic Missiles
1 Sleep
1 Drown
1 Murder of Crows
1 Angry Mob

No breakout changes from my Cornerstone list. There is a lot of life gain between Orm Infestor and Angel Eggs. There is much to like about this list, despite its lack of panache. It's safe and sturdy.

The SCGCon Atlanta Top 4 list has legit spice: Jihad, Invasion, and, FALLING STAR. They must have expanded the minion suite, right? Hillock Basilisk, Monstrous Lion, Archangel Samael, Askelon Phoenix, Cherubim, Vivien the Enchantress, and Sir Galahad. Oh god, it plays all four elements! That's not where I want to be.

Between this and Zalem’s more conservative list, there was probably a porridge that was just right. As a rule, unless there is a title to be had at the SCGCon events, I weigh the results lower than a Crossroads. I don't know the strength of the field in Atlanta, but a 4-2 finish is respectable nonetheless.

Here's what I played at SorceryCon 2026: