Enchantments aren't usually a card type that makes a huge splash in Magic: The Gathering, but 2022 may have changed all of that. Throughout the year, decklists across every archetype have featured powerful enchantments that have changed the way many players look at this old card type.
This change of perspective is due in part to iterations on the relatively new saga mechanic really finding their stride in recent sets, but a number of other enchantments were printed with abilities unseen by the enchantment card type previously. Between these two forays into a new frontier for enchantments, the card type has experienced more success in multiple metagames than arguably ever before. Let's take a closer look.
8 Ranger Class
Ranger Class was a pivotal card in Mono-Green Aggro decks in Standard during the first half of this year. The enchantment provided a reliable body on turn two while also scaling into the late game as you sunk more mana into it. In particular, the extra counter you got to add to a creature of your choice when going to combat often made blocking incredibly difficult for opponents.
In longer games against midrange or control decks, the last level of Ranger Class could provide your deck with the extra bit of card advantage it needed in order to close out the game. All in all, it's an impressive enchantment that will hopefully be well remembered by the design team for modeling similar enchantments in the future.
7 Kumano Faces Kakkazan
Speaking of sagas, Kumano Faces Kakkazan has been a huge boon for Mono-Red players since it was printed with Kamigawa. In fact, it's probably not going too far to say that Mono-Red wouldn't be near as competitive without the addition of this enchantment.
Kumano provides incremental value turn after turn from multiple angles by getting the ball rolling with a single point of damage, buffing a creature with a counter, and then turning into a creature itself. The exile clause on the creature side of Kumano has turned out to be incredibly relevant in Standard as well, which is a surprisingly strange boon for Mono-Red decks. This card also combos quite well with the recently released Mechanized Warfare.
6 Spreading Seas
Spreading Seas has returned to the fore of Modern play as the Merfolk tribal deck started making waves in the format once again. The deck's return to glory is thanks to the recently printed lord Vodalian Hexcatcher, but Spreading Seas has always been an important card in the deck's gameplan and remains to be to this day.
In a format drowning in nonbasic lands, Spreading Seas can be an absolute beat on an opponent's manabase if employed on the right land at the right time. Proper usage of this enchantment does require good knowledge of the format's metagame, however, you can look at this aspect in a positive light as learning the metagame will increase your win rate no matter what cards you're playing.
5 Sigarda's Aid
Sigarda's Aid is another Modern player, acting as an important piece of the Hammer Time deck. The ability to skip equipping costs on this enchantment is one of the routes by which the deck manages to throw a Colossus Hammer on one of its many creatures in the early turns of the game.
This enchantment is much more in the vein of the enchantment cards we've known and loved in Magic for so long. It's a strangely niche card that makes for a very powerful effect when properly utilized. Another example of this style of card is the enchantment Hardened Scales. As enchantments continue to grow into a new design space, we hope that these good old-fashioned printings aren't forgotten. After all, they have been key pieces in some of the best decks in both Modern and Standard formats.
4 Meathook Massacre
An enchantment acting as a board wipe is entirely new territory, and Meathook Massacre may have been so successful at it that we never see the likes of this kind of card again. Massacre was banned in Standard with the October 10th Banned and Restricted Announcement after the card nearly made aggressive strategies all but unplayable.
Granted, it's probably not the design space of an enchantment wiping the board as much as it was the specific workings of Meathook that led to it being so powerful. The one saving grace for aggressive decks facing a board wipe is that their creatures have already reduced their opponent's life total. Unfortunately, Meathook changed all of that. It was a welcome ban for the health of the format to be certain, but we'd still like to see another enchantment board wipe printed in the future.
3 Wedding Announcement
This token-generating enchantment has been the lynchpin of Esper decks ever since its release. Alongside Raffine, Scheming Seer, Wedding Announcement provides some pretty oppressive lines due to the way Raffine's connive works with multiple attacking creatures. Beyond Esper Midrange, Wedding Announcement appears to be showing up in just about any Standard White deck that's not aggro-oriented.
This includes decks like RW (red/white) Invoke Justice, BW (black/white) Control, and Selesnya (green/white) Enchantments. As it turns out, pumping out three creatures for two generic and a white and then receiving a constant anthem effect on your board is a pretty good deal. Even better, this enchantment can also be used as a draw engine though it's very rarely better than simply generating more creatures.
2 Leyline Binding
Splashing into Modern Control decks everywhere, Leyline Binding might just be the best removal tool Modern Control decks have seen in years. This enchantment provides a great incentive for extending your mana base to four or even five colors as it eventually becomes an instant speed answer to any nonland permanent for a single white mana.
Thanks to dual and tri lands that provide multiple basic types, Leyline Binding can be cast for a single white mana as early as turn two. We guess manlands are back on the menu, boys. Really though, manlands are one of the very few cards that can actually punish players for running too many of these.
1 Fable Of The Mirror-Breaker
Last and certainly not least, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker has surprised just about everyone with how ridiculously good it really is. The 2/2 Goblin token creature that this enchantment provides on the first turn it comes down pretty much demands an answer from your opponent unless they want to gift you free mana for multiple turns. Then, the optional discard and draw option on the second turn allows you to smooth out your draws significantly. It's very relevant that this is an optional mode as you can simply ignore it whenever you happen to open a nutted hand.
Whenever you're facing down an opposing Fable, it just feels bad that you're actively hoping that your opponent will loot for two. If they don't, you know that they've already got everything they need in hand to beat you. Finally, when Fable flips it provides you with a potentially game-ending threat as long as you're running the right creature suite. It's not like this suite is an exclusive club either, as pretty much any nonlegendary creature with an enter the battlefield trigger will do. All things considered, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker really does feel like a fairy tale magic card, especially for a card type like enchantments.