Poorly thought-out constructed decks

It's Johnny time people! Sure you could netdeck some mardu vehicle nonsense and win games. But let's be honest, if that's what you were into (winning), you wouldn't be reading this. No, with all due respect to my court-assigned therapist, we're going to delve the murky depths of Jed's mind and come up with...



A trash common that doesn't even make the cut in 99% of draft and sealed decks. Keep calm and make it work!



But let's investigate this a little closer because there has been a surprising amount of support for enchantments lately. First and foremost, the cartouches/trials in Amonkhet do a surprising amount of lifting.

 

I get that 'powerful in draft' doesn't always (or 'ever' really) translate into a Standard archetype, but hoo boy, picking up trials and setting them down again brings a lot of thunder. It's also fun, feels like cheating somehow. There's also been a surprising amount of cheap aura recursion lately.

  

The Restoration Specialist was poo-pooed because everyone sighed, rolled their eyes and asked "gosh, how often do you really have an enchantment in the graveyard?" Well, maybe we want to put them there. Plus, the crappy green divination might throw things in your graveyard. The sky is the limit!

Seemingly unrelated, but possibly VERY related, let's take a look at a card that I desperately wanted to make work.


We can all agree that 1 to cast equipment is spicy. That drawback is a bit of a bummer though. I originally looked into trying to flicker my way to value but it never really worked out. But I remember during the Amonkhet spoilers I got some deja vu...

 

MY GOD THAT'S STICHER'S GRAFT'S MUSIC. A grafted exerted (exafted? grated?) creature has the same drawback twice. And, uh, it would be 7/7.

Creatures (~18)

   

Enchantments (~14)

   

Artifacts

 

Misc

Questions

What are the odds on Benefaction of Rhonas?

Let's assume we're rocking 18 creatures and 14 enchantments. Hyper-geometric calculator sez wut:

Hitting 1+ creatures: 84%
Hitting 1+ enchantments: 75%
Hitting both: (1 Enchantment in 5, 1 creature in 4) = 57.7%
Tossing an artifact in the graveyard (for future fetching) = 50%

Those aren't bad odds! I'm not sure if they are 'good enough' odds and I'd be a lot more excited if it was 2 to cast instead of 3.

Other auras worth considering?

   

If I ditch the Cartouches & Trial synergy, what would go in? Conviction can be hilarious with Sram, but outside of that it does very little. Choking Restraints has the nice upside of being able to get into your graveyard on its own for a second cast. I suspect though by the time you cast it, exile the creature, pull it back with an Ironclad Slayer, and cast it again... the Heart of Kiran has already stomped you into the ground three games in a row. Faith Unbroken might be cute, as it is pretty legit removal.


This looks like it might be a fun combination of mini-synergies (vigilance/exert/sticher's graft/auras and creatures) where you could always be making some fun choices. I have no illusions that this is a GOOD deck, but it might be fun to pilot. And in the end, isn't that the real victory?

The answer is no. But I can dream.