Greetings and salutations once again my fabulous FAB folks! I’m Donnie K, aka some random #fabdad, and today we’re here for another Ultimate Pit Fight brew! On my podcast last week, I asked for a suggestion for this week’s hero. We can all thank “The Armed Pit” for suggesting Enigma, New Moon! While I’m not really an Illusionist player myself, I’m more than happy to give it a shot!

Here we go!

Over the “New” Moon for This One!

Like I said, I may not have much experience with Illusionists, but I’d like to think I have a good eye for fun stuff. Enigma, New Moon was the secret fourth hero from Part the Mistveil and looks like a blast to play. From what I can tell, she also seems ready to do some damage to the Blitz metagame – but that’s not why we’re here. How well does she translate to Ultimate Pit Fight? Like any other hero, it depends.

There are several different ways Enigma can be built. We could go Big Blue with large Phantasm and/or Mystic attacks. Cosmo, Scroll of Ancestral Tapestry encourages us to explore the +1 counter theme. Iris of Reality doesn’t care about counters though, giving all of our auras a base-four attack value and go again. There really are a ton of fun looking options. However, after looking over the card pool for a while, I decided to go with a Spectral Shield theme.

Spectral Shields? Why Spectral Shields?

Like all of my decks, I just think it looks like the most fun. I like the premise of building the board and using a glut of blues to swing several times a turn. (While also being super tanky.) With so many opponents in a game, we have to make sure each card gets max value.

Spectral Shields are easy to create and fit the idea of double value really well. Plus, there’s a few interesting payoff cards that synergize well with them. But, before we get to that, let’s talk about the equipment.

This Should be Good. What Equipment for Enigma?

Considering our hero power, there’s a very specific equipment suite that we want. Technically, we could play whatever we like and just use our Inner Chi to flip them, but at that point we should just be playing the other Enigma. People have been trying to make Diadem of Dreamstate and Celestial Kimono work since their release in Dusk Till Dawn and Dynasty, respectively. Enigma, New Moon makes it possible and in the Ultimate Pit Fight format, we have more opportunities to make them impactful.

When we flip one of our equipment with ward, our hero power gives us three additional Spectral Shields to help protect it. While we won’t get their effects when our Spectral Shields die, this effectively makes three of our equipment slots block for four or five with a beneficial trigger. The only slot that doesn’t have a card with natural ward on it is the feet. So, we’ll use Aqua Laps since it’s already Cloaked, and doesn’t require an Inner Chi to activate.

That’s Awesome! What’s Next?

The Reds

Next, let’s look at the core of the deck, starting with the red cards. Like the other Mystic heroes from Part the Mistveil, Enigma, New Moon requires a lot of blues for her strategy. Any red cards have to really matter if they’re going to make the cut. Spectral Manifestations makes the cut for times when the other players get scared and clear our board. Spectral Prowler and Spectral Rider will make them wish they had. Prismatic Shield gets the nod to spam the board with Shields and we’ll include the best defense reactions available to offset the amount of instants we’re playing.

The Blues

No yellow pitch stripes in this list. Dissolve Reality scales nicely in UPF, but also puts a target on our back. We fold to focused aggression, so let’s try to not antagonize everyone else all at once if we can help it. Dense Blue Mist helps ward off those pesky Ninjas and Unravel Aggression helps with beefier hits. We want to protect our shields when we’re able, so most of the deck needs to block for three.

I’m immediately ignoring that last sentence, but I did say “most.” Water Glow Lanterns only blocks for two, but it can pretty easily make a shield, is blue, and has go again. Auto include. This Round’s on Me is another easy no-brainer. Manifestation of Miragai is one of the best cards Enigma has access to, and if you’ve been on the receiving end of it, you know how crazy it can be. With Iris, it’s not as cheap to attack with, but will always swings for at least six with go again.

Inner Chi

I’ll admit, I’m not completely sure what the perfect ratio of Inner Chi cards would be for this hero. I know we want to Transcend consistently and have access to our Chi as much as possible though. We’ll go with six to start with, and you can let me know if it works for you. I like having options, so other than the “specialization,” we’ll include the ones that are easiest to play or can help with politics.

Logical, as Always. What About the Inventory?

The inventory, as usual, should be tailored to what your group likes to play. One card you should definitely look at though is Heirloom of Rabbit Hide. It has natural ward, so it can be targeted by Enigma’s hero power, or it can be saved for the very last moment of a game for a Hail Mary save. It has a lot of synergy with our hero and could make for some interesting stories. Give it a shot.

To fill space, I’ll include a few more defensive options and Waxing Specter as an extra beater. With that, let’s see it all put together.

The Final List for Enigma

" Rising Moon, Shifting Tides!"

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Hero (1) 1 Enigma, New Moon Weapons (1) 1 Iris of Reality Equipment (4) 1 Aqua Laps 1 Celestial Kimono 1 Diadem of Dreamstate 1 Wave of Reality Main (40) 2 Fate Foreseen red 2 Phantasmal Haze red 2 Prismatic Shield red 2 Sink Below red 2 Spectral Manifestations red 2 Spectral Prowler red 2 Spectral Rider red 1 A Drop in the Ocean blue 2 Dense Blue Mist blue 1 Homage to Ancestors blue 2 Levels of Enlightenment blue 2 Manifestation of Miragai blue 1 Path Well Traveled blue 2 Phantasmal Haze blue 1 Preserve Tradition blue 1 Rising Sun, Setting Moon blue 1 Sacred Art: Immortal Lunar Shrine blue 2 Spectral Prowler blue 2 Spectral Rider blue 2 This Round’s on Me 2 Unravel Aggression blue 2 Waning Vengeance blue 2 Water Glow Lanterns blue Sideboard (7) 2 Battlefront Bastion red 2 Unmovable blue 2 Waxing Specter blue 1 Heirloom of Rabbit Hide

Final Thoughts

This kind of deck is exactly what could kickstart my Illusionist villain arc. It’s resilient, splashy, and looks like a lot of fun to play. Not only that, but as of the time of writing, you can build the whole deck from scratch for right around $100. Swapping Levels of Enlightenment out with some other blue cuts about half of that out too. This is Ultimate Pit Fight, so change whatever you’d like to make the list fun and accessible for you!

Would you have gone more Big Blue like the adult Enigma in Classic Constructed has recently? Do you think Cosmo would have been the better choice over Iris? Have you ever listened to my podcast? Find me on Discord in the Cult of Nuu or on Twitter (@Dracohominis87) to let me know!

Further Reading:

Enigma – Fun or Competitive?

How to Play Enigma, New Moon in Blitz

Battling Burnout in Flesh and Blood

Donnie K.

Donnie is an enthusiastic nerd and family man who grew up playing TCGs, starting when Pokemon cards were the hottest thing on the playground. After playing Yu-gi-oh and then Magic the Gathering for years, he found Flesh and Blood in December of '22, sold all of his other pretty cardboard rectangles, and dived into FAB head first where he discovered a deep love for go-wide strategies involving the use of Ninja cards. Be Like Water is his current favorite card, because he gets to do a terrible Bruce Lee impression every time it's played. (Much to the annoyance of his brother who hears it a lot.) Donnie has been married to his lovely wife since Halloween 2008 and has two beautiful daughters that he couldn't be more proud of.