My playgroup has gotten tough. Playing against each other over the years has caused us to adapt and evolve our EDH decks in the pursuit of victories. There have been consistent commanders from each player to hit the playmats, but they are unrecognizable compared to their first iteration. My decks did ok during our get-togethers, but I hadn't yet brewed a standout deck that would immediately grab the attention of my friends and spark politics before it played its first land.

---

The Enchantress Journey Begins

That changed when I decided to try my hand at an enchantress build. In other words, using cards like Argothian Enchantress, Mesa Enchantress, and others to get card advantage while flooding the board with enchantments. Many enchantress builds typically use Selesnya colors (white/green) but there were some red enchantments that I wanted to include. I went big and decided to use Zacama, Primal Calamity as the commander. This was an excellent decision. The mere mention of her name will cause immediate grumbling and groaning from my playgroup.

I began thinking about why this deck was so successful. It occurred to me that no one in our playgroup ran a deck flooded with enchantments. We would all run powerful enchantments, but they were never the focus. As evolved as our decks were, they weren't prepared to handle the onslaught of this permanent type. After a period of domination from Zacama, the guys quickly started seeking mass enchantment removal and now I fear every white deck player having Farewell in their grip.

---

Enter Myrkul, Lord of Bones

I wanted to expand into the enchantment deck archetype, so I began researching commanders that liked playing with them. Specifically, I wanted to use enchantments in a new way. It didn't take long for me to stumble across Myrkul, Lord of Bones. I initially scoffed at the 7 converted mana cost. As I continued to ponder his ability, I kept thinking that it just needs one big turn. Leave out the cheap mana ramp for lands and instead use mana dorks. Speed towards 7 mana with creatures to get Myrkul in play as fast as possible. Once he hits the board, the entire creature board state is fortified by his ability. I built the deck on this idea and excitedly brought it to EDH night.

---

First Impressions and Lessons Learned

The deck came crashing out of the gate with early Myrkul casts. Free sacrifice outlets like Viscera Seer turned my creatures into enchantments and token doublers like Mondrak, Glory Dominus were making me multiple copies. I couldn't fit all my permanents on my playmat. It was incredible. Value engines were running on max velocity drawing me cards and generating mana. The table watched me anxiously awaiting what I was going to do with all the value I was generating. Nothing. Nothing at all. I had a stacked hand full of cards and plenty of mana, but not a win condition in sight. I had engineered a deadly weapon, but I forgot ammunition. Eventually, the table whittled me down and I lost. I knew that I had to bring the deck home and tinker with it. I had created an engine and now it was time to fill it with gas.

---

Refining the Strategy

My first step was to identify the type of deck I wanted to make. A little research showed a few different ways to build Myrkul. I already had a Birthing Pod in the deck and the value seemed to be driven by sacrificing my own permanents, so I decided on a sacrifice theme. Let the deck work its way up to nuclear bomb creatures while flooding my board with multiple enchantment copies of my cheaper creatures. It's not an original idea; aristocrat style decks have always been popular but now the deck is shifting towards a game plan.

I researched all the sacrifice cards, token doublers, and creature token generators within my color identity. I picked out the best of the best and started deconstructing my deck. Whenever I do a deck tech I like to categorize each card by its function during the game. I quickly realized that I was running too many protection spells. I included several of these thinking that I would need to protect my expensive commander. The reality is that he should only be cast once you're ready to abuse his ability and by that point board wipes and single target removal are usually not enough.

---

The Great Card Swap

I improved the mana ramping by cutting some lesser mana dorks like Llanowar Elves and added more meaningful ones such as Bloom Tender. I also removed a couple of board wipes because this deck does not need 6 of them. Lastly, low impact enchantments were removed because the deck does not care about casting enchantments like an enchantress deck would.

---

Looking Forward

I'm definitely going to be pulling this deck out the next time my playgroup gets together. The combination of sacrifice effects, token generation, and enchantment synergies creates a unique and powerful strategy that I'm excited to explore further. Keep an eye out for a future recap where I'll share how the deck performed and any potential changes I make based on the gameplay experience. Until then, may your creatures become enchantments and your board state become overwhelming!