{"ops":[{"insert":"NIGHT'S BLESSED HEXBOOK\nY'shtola enchantment drain\n\nWHAT THIS DECK IS\nAn Esper warlock enchantment deck led by [[Y'shtola, Night's Blessed]]. It does three things: drain life, hex threats and curse players. This is a control deck: it answers threats one at a time with 16 removal spells, 12 of them hexes (removal enchantments and Auras), rather than locking anyone out. With 32 enchantments, almost every card you play feeds the engine. No attack taxes, no stax, no infinite combos: opponents can always cast their spells and attack, but expect their best threats to get hexed, and most spells you cast cost them life.\n\nHOW IT WINS\nAlmost every enchantment costs 3 or more, so each one triggers Y'shtola: 2 damage to each opponent, 2 life for you. The deck stacks drain on top of that:\n• [[Grim Guardian]]: each opponent loses 1 whenever an enchantment enters.\n• [[Eriette of the Charmed Apple]]: drains each opponent for every Aura you control at your end step.\n• [[Cliffhaven Vampire]] and [[Marauding Blight-Priest]]: each opponent loses 1 whenever you gain life.\n• [[Archon of Sun's Grace]]: a lifelinking Pegasus for nearly every enchantment you play.\n• [[Enduring Tenacity]], [[Sanguine Bond]] and [[Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose]]: turn your lifegain into damage at an opponent.\n• [[The Wind Crystal]]: doubles that lifegain.\nFrom turn 8 on, the deck typically deals 11-16 damage per opponent per round, and far more once an amplifier or [[Wound Reflection]] is out. [[Debt to the Deathless]] and [[Exsanguinate]] finish the game.\n\nTHE HEXES\nRemoval is mostly enchantments, so it keeps working after it resolves:\n• Exile: [[Banishing Light]], [[Oblivion Ring]], [[Detention Sphere]], [[Cast Out]], [[Stasis Snare]], [[Sheltered by Ghosts]].\n• Shut down: [[Observed Stasis]], [[Faith's Fetters]], [[Imprisoned in the Moon]], [[Minimus Containment]], [[Bound in Gold]].\n• Bleed: [[Stab Wound]] shrinks a creature, and if it survives, its controller loses 2 every upkeep.\nEvery hex counts for Eriette and Grim Guardian, and with Eriette out, no creature wearing your Aura can attack you. [[Starfield of Nyx]] can bring a lost hex back, and after a board wipe [[Replenish]] returns every enchantment at once, so the exile hexes trigger again.\n\nTHE CURSES\n• [[Curse of Leeches]]: each upkeep, the cursed player loses 1 and you gain 1.\n• [[Curse of Fool's Wisdom]]: whenever the cursed player draws a card, they lose 2 and you gain 2.\nBoth are Auras for Eriette, and every bit of life they give you feeds Cliffhaven, Blight-Priest and the amplifiers.\nNote: Curse of Leeches uses day/night. If a turn passes in which the active player casts no spells, it becomes night and the curse turns into a 4/4 lifelink creature until someone casts two spells in a turn.\n\nKEY INTERACTION: LIFELINK ON Y'SHTOLA\n[[Sheltered by Ghosts]], [[Steel of the Godhead]] and Vito's ability all give Y'shtola lifelink. Lifelink works on all damage, not just combat, so every spell costing 3+ now gains you 8 life instead of 2 (2 damage to each of three opponents, plus her own 2).\n• With Cliffhaven Vampire or Blight-Priest: 2 extra damage to each opponent per spell, per creature, because lifelink and her own lifegain are separate events.\n• With an amplifier: 8 extra damage at an opponent per spell, or 16 with The Wind Crystal.\nSteel of the Godhead also makes her a 4/6 that can't be blocked. She attacks every turn without tapping (vigilance), and [[Curiosity]], [[Ophidian Eye]] and [[Helm of the Ghastlord]] draw on that combat damage too.\nThis is the deck's most explosive line; if it ends games too quickly for your table, cut Vito first, then one of the lifelink Auras.\nTip: put the Auras on Y'shtola before [[Greater Auramancy]], which gives her shroud once she wears an Aura.\n\nGAMEPLAN\n1. Turns 1-4, set up: 2-mana rocks put Y'shtola out on turn 3. Add cost reducers ([[Starfield Mystic]], [[Inquisitive Glimmer]], [[Geist of Saint Thalia]]) and card draw (Curiosity, Ophidian Eye, [[Rhystic Study]], [[The Theorist, Jace Beleren]]). The reducers make spells cheaper but keep their mana value at 3+, so they still trigger Y'shtola.\n2. Midgame, play on their turns: hold up mana and hex threats at instant speed with Cast Out, Stasis Snare and Observed Stasis. [[Leyline of Anticipation]], [[Vedalken Orrery]] and [[High Fae Trickster]] let you cast every hex at instant speed, for extra Y'shtola triggers every round.\n3. Late game, burst: once an amplifier is out, every lifegain becomes damage, and a big Debt to the Deathless ends the game.\n\nDEFENCE\nThe deck is hard to attack, but never locks anyone out:\n• Hexes deal with the biggest threats, and Eriette stops every creature wearing your Aura from attacking you or your planeswalkers.\n• [[G'raha Tia, Scion Reborn]] turns life into blockers: once each turn, pay life equal to a noncreature spell's mana value for a Hero with that many +1/+1 counters, a 4/4 for every 3-mana spell.\n• Archon's Pegasi, Cliffhaven Vampire and Jace's Illusions block too, and your life total keeps climbing.\n• [[Ultimate Magic: Holy]] keeps your board alive through a \"destroy\" wipe, and cast from exile it also prevents all damage to you for a turn.\nProtect Y'shtola: Greater Auramancy gives her shroud once she wears an Aura, [[Timely Ward]] makes her indestructible at instant speed, and [[Kaya's Ghostform]] brings her straight back if she's destroyed or exiled (leave her in the graveyard or exile instead of moving her to the command zone).\nAgainst fast, aggressive decks, hex their biggest threats early: there are no punishers to fall back on.\n\nGROUND RULES\n• 1 Game Changer (Rhystic Study). Bracket 3.\n• No [[Exquisite Blood]]: with any amplifier it's an infinite combo.\n• No attack taxes, goad or political tricks: the deck wins on its own engine.\n\nMULLIGAN\nKeep 3+ lands with at least two colours, plus a 2-mana rock or reducer. A card-draw Aura or a cheap hex makes it a great keep. Don't keep hands that rely on 5-6 drops.\n\nSIDEBOARD\n• [[Doomwake Giant]]: for tables with lots of small creatures.\n• [[Aetherflux Reservoir]]: an extra finisher for tables where games stall with everyone at low life.\n"}]}