Enchantress Rubinia precon upgrade guide

Two cards in this box blink a creature, and both give it back to its owner. The commander is a thief.

Rubinia only borrows, and the box returns what she takes

Rubinia Soulsinger gains control of a creature for as long as you control her and she remains tapped. You may choose not to untap her, so the loan can run all game, but it ends the moment she untaps or leaves the battlefield. Five mana buys a legend who can't tap for anything else while she holds a creature, and everything she took walks home if the table finds an answer to her.

The box has two ways to blink a creature, and both point the wrong way. Momentary Blink exiles a creature you control and returns it under its owner's control. Mistmeadow Witch does the same to any creature at the next end step. Aim either at something Rubinia took and you have handed it back. Stonecloaker carries the same trap: its enter trigger returns a creature you control to its owner's hand, and a stolen creature's owner is somebody else.

Two cheap cards fix it by changing one phrase. Cloudshift and Restoration Angel both return the exiled creature under your control, and the rulings on each say you keep it indefinitely after that. The Angel's ruling names this exact case: a creature you gained control of temporarily won't return to its previous controller. Steal something, flash either card in, and Rubinia stops being a lease. She can untap next turn and take another.

Three details matter. The creature comes back as a new object, so any Auras and counters on it are lost and its enters-the-battlefield ability triggers again, this time for you. It is also summoning sick, which is one reason Concordant Crossroads earns its slot: it gives every creature haste. Your opponents' creatures too, which is worth a look before you cast it. And Restoration Angel can't target an Angel, so a stolen Angel needs Cloudshift.

What are the best Enchantress Rubinia upgrades?

Five purchases, heaviest first. Together the thirteen swaps cost $32.37, with every price the cheapest released printing, which for a few cards is a promo or a Commander reprint.

1. Restoration Angel ($0.31) and Cloudshift ($1.31). The section above. $1.62 turns the commander's loan into a deed, and the box ships no card that does it.
2. Five lands ($23.57 for Hallowed Fountain, Temple Garden, Breeding Pool, Command Tower and Prairie Stream). Seven of the box's lands always enter tapped. Three do after the swaps. Colour sources hold at 22 white and 21 blue, with green one lower at 21, so this buys tempo more than colour. The mana section has the detail.
3. Council's Judgment ($0.39) and Beast Within ($0.57). The box ships seven spot-removal cards and the upgraded list has nine. Judgment doesn't target, so hexproof and protection don't stop it. Beast Within destroys any permanent at instant speed and leaves its controller a 3/3.
4. Sol Ring ($1.25) and Arcane Signet ($0.38). The box counts six ramp pieces and ends with eight, which is the bottom of the usual range.
5. Supreme Verdict ($2.33) and Counterspell ($2.26). The box has no sweeper and no two-mana counter. Verdict can't be countered and resets a board Rubinia can't win alone. Counterspell costs two where the card it replaces cost six.

Two big bodies that spend their lives as land cards

Wirewood Guardian costs seven mana for a 6/6, or two mana to forestcycle for a Forest. Noble Templar costs six for a 3/6 with vigilance, or two to plainscycle for a Plains. The deck runs 39 lands, above the 35 to 38 range, 28 of them basic, and Krosan Tusker already cycles for a basic land and a card. Of the three land-cyclers, the Tusker stays because it also draws.

Overwhelming Intellect is a six-mana counterspell that only hits creature spells. Drawing cards equal to the spell's mana value is a fine payoff against a seven-drop. Counterspell stops anything for two and Hinder is still in the list beside it.

Three small permanents lose to better versions of the same job. Fertile Ground is two mana of ramp that dies with its land, and Arcane Signet takes the slot. Three of the box's 14 enchantments leave in this pass, which leaves 11 for Yavimaya Enchantress to count, along with whatever the table has out. Seal of Cleansing is one of three single-purpose artifact and enchantment answers, beside Kami of Ancient Law and Dismantling Blow, while Council's Judgment and Beast Within answer those cards and everything else. Empyrial Armor is a double-white Aura whose bonus shrinks with each spell you cast from your hand, and it sits on a creature the table can answer one for one.

Relic of Progenitus is a one-mana artifact that does nothing about the board, and the board is this deck's plan.

Seven tapped lands, then three

Coastal Tower, Elfhame Palace, Seaside Citadel and Rupture Spire all enter tapped. The Spire also wants an extra mana when it enters or it is sacrificed. Hallowed Fountain, Temple Garden, Breeding Pool, Command Tower and Prairie Stream replace them, along with a Forest and an Island, so the total goes from 39 lands to 38. Only the three bouncelands always enter tapped now.

The colour counts show what this buys and what it doesn't. White stays at 22 sources and blue at 21. Green drops from 22 to 21. A single pip on turn two still wants 24 and nothing here reaches it. The double-pip spells shift less than the headline suggests: blue keeps four true double-blue cards (Capsize, Confiscate, Hinder and Counterspell, with Azorius Guildmage paid in hybrid) and white goes from four double-white cards to five, because Council's Judgment and Supreme Verdict arrive and Empyrial Armor leaves. That extra white demand is the cost of the removal upgrade.

Prairie Stream enters untapped while you control two or more basic lands, and 26 basics remain. The shocklands cost 2 life to enter untapped, or they enter tapped. The swaps also pull the deck down to an average mana value of 2.84.

Confiscate is the card I argued with longest

Nine cards that look like weak slots stay. Confiscate costs six, and I kept it because it is the only theft in the box that doesn't depend on a tapped commander. Its weakness is that enchantment removal or bounce hands the permanent straight back.

Mirari's Wake costs five and does two things at once: +1/+1 for your creatures, and every land you tap adds a second mana of the same type. In a 38-land deck that is a lot of doubling. Faith's Fetters and Prison Term stay because the deck ends with nine spot-removal spells and these two deal with a creature without killing it: the Fetters gains 4 life, and Prison Term can move to the next creature an opponent plays. Dismantling Blow is conditional, but its kicker draws two for a total of six mana, which makes it the deck's late-game artifact and enchantment answer.

The three bouncelands (Azorius Chancery, Selesnya Sanctuary and Simic Growth Chamber) tap for two mana and replace themselves. Armadillo Cloak is the swap I decided against: +2/+2, trample and lifegain on a creature the table can still kill. If you want a fourteenth swap, Path to Exile ($1.02) takes its place.

What stays out, and why

Two cards I wanted sit outside the list, and both are Game Changers. Cyclonic Rift ($28.93) returns one nonland permanent you don't control for two mana, or every one the table controls for seven. Smothering Tithe ($54.06) pays you a Treasure each time an opponent draws and declines to pay two. The deck already runs two Game Changers, Enlightened Tutor and Rhystic Study. A third would still sit in Bracket 3, so it is price that keeps them out, and Rift is the one I would add first if the budget stretched to $29.

The upgraded decklist

Thirteen cards changed. Hover any name to see the card, then copy the list or send it to the deck builder.

Load into the deck builder Copy decklist Playtest the upgraded deck

“Load into the deck builder” opens this list in your account, pinned to the printings the box shipped, ready to edit or save. “Copy decklist” gives you plain text for Moxfield, Archidekt or Arena, with no account needed.

FAQ

Does Restoration Angel keep a creature I stole with Rubinia?

Yes. Its trigger exiles a non-Angel creature you control and returns it under your control, and the ruling says that if you had temporarily gained control of the creature, it won't go back to its previous controller. Cloudshift works the same way. Rubinia can then untap and take something else.

Why doesn't Momentary Blink make the theft permanent?

It returns the creature under its owner's control, so a stolen creature goes home. Ephemerate and Mistmeadow Witch do the same. Only the blink effects that say under your control, like Cloudshift and Restoration Angel, keep what Rubinia took.

What happens to a stolen creature when Rubinia untaps?

You lose it. The effect lasts only as long as you control Rubinia and she remains tapped, so untapping her, or her leaving the battlefield, ends it. You may choose not to untap her during your untap step, which is how the steal is meant to be held.

Can I buy the Enchantress Rubinia deck?

It was a Magic Online theme deck from August 2009, a digital product, so there is no boxed deck to buy. The 100-card list is on its data page, and the upgraded list above can be copied straight into a deck builder.

Will Supreme Verdict kill my own Rubinia?

Yes. It destroys all creatures, including Rubinia and anything she holds, and it can't be countered. The box ships no sweeper at all, so it is a reset button for a game you are losing. Cast it when the table's board is ahead of yours and Rubinia holds nothing you want to keep.

What bracket is the upgraded Enchantress Rubinia deck?

Bracket 3, the same as the box. Enlightened Tutor and Rhystic Study are the only two Game Changers, both already in the stock list, and none of the thirteen adds is one.

How much do the 13 swaps cost, and will it change?

The adds total $32.37 at the cheapest released printing of each card. Hallowed Fountain, Temple Garden and Breeding Pool make up $23.18 of that, and all three are being reprinted in Star Trek on 13 November 2026, so expect those prices to drop.