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Oathbreaker Guide: How To Choose A Powerful Oathbreaker & Signature Spell

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Genoslugcs March 26, 2023 11 min
Oathbreaker Guide: How To Choose A Powerful Oathbreaker & Signature Spell

Oathbreaker has been around for a while but was only just now made an official format. It's similar to Commander but instead of a legendary creature at the helm you build around a Planeswalker and you get to choose an instant or sorcery spell to be in the command zone as well. These additions are what make the deck building so interesting.

After all, it's completely unique to Oathbreaker and you have access to nearly all of the spells throughout magic's 30-year history for your signature spell. So, today I would like to go over some of what makes good Oathbreakers, a list of Planeswalkers and how competitive they are, and some do's and dont's when choosing your signature spell.

wrenn andsix

How To Choose A Strong Oathbreaker?

First things first, let's start with the planeswalkers. As of now, there are 275 eligible choices for Oathbreakers and some are much better than others. I say "better" meaning competitive/powerful. Obviously, feel free to play any card that you enjoy. That said, Oathbreakers are generally looked at on a scale from casual to max-power, with a few categories in between.

You May Also Like: How To Play Oathbreaker - MTG's Newest Format: Rules, Banned Cards And More

Things To Avoid

Cards usually fall into this category for a few reasons - The first would be having a very high mana cost. The format is a lot faster than Commander because you have 60-card decks and only 20 life. So, if your walker costs too much you may lose before your deck gets going. But what this really comes down to is how powerful the card is for its mana value.

Higher mana spells that don't have super impactful abilities are obviously something you'll likely want to avoid. A few random examples of this would be things like Liliana, Death Wielderimage, Chandra, Pyrogeniusimage, and Jace, Arcane Strategistimage.

Another thing to take into consideration is the War of the Spark cards that only have minus abilities. Cards such as Arlinn, Voice of the Packimage, Angrath, Captain of Chaosimage, or Kaya, Bane of the Deadimage are going to be hard to build around considering they have no way to plus themselves.

The key takeaway here is to remember that the format can be fast and aggressive and make sure you choose something reasonably costed and impactful.

Mid-Power Options

Moving on from what might be considered poor options you have the mid-power tier. These are cards that I would say avoid everything mentioned above but aren't necessarily top-tier or combo oriented. Anything that is well-costed, has some impactful abilities that you can build around, or can easily reach its ultimate would be in this category.

Competitive Options

Walkers in this section will usually have a few things going for them. I would say the ability to affect the board/game immediately, even aside from their ultimate is a big factor. Next, they often synergize extremely well with a signature spell. An example that I cover more below is Nissa, Who Shakes the Worldimage, which is very powerful alongside Nissa's Triumphimage.

Even all alone, she starts to generate value as soon as she hits the field thanks to her powerful static ability. She also has a plus one that will allow you to cast Nissa's Triumphimage as soon as you play her by untapping a forest and allowing it to tap for an extra mana. And the signature spell itself works perfectly with the static ability and even gets more powerful thanks to Nissa being, well Nissa.

The overall takeaway is that everything works together making the other elements better without having to plus your walker to a high loyalty. In other words, synergy and overall power that goes above and beyond what was mentioned in the mid-power options.

Tier-One/Maximum Power 

Max power Oathbreakers have strong stand-alone presence and high synergy with certain signature spells but also have very high combo potential. Furthermore, many of these walkers feature control and stax elements that help to protect their wincons while at the same time hindering opposing strategies.

I think a good example of this tier is Wrenn and Siximage. There are a few different ways that you can combo with Wrenn that are highly resilient. One popular build is Wrenn as Oathbreaker and Crop Rotationimage as your spell. Crop rotation allows you to sacrifice a land and go get a different land of your choosing. This allows you to play a toolbox-style deck getting what you need when you need it; Which includes game-winning combos.

The distinguishing factor between cards in this category and the one above is the ability to more or less win the game on the spot.

Planeswalker Teir List

liliana deaths majesty

Here's a list of many different Planeswalkers and where the community feels they land based on the criteria mentioned above. Keep in mind, that this shouldn't affect your choice too much unless you're trying to be as competitive. Furthermore, if you choose to play a walker that "isn't competitive", doesn't mean it can't compete with those that are and many Oathbreakers on the casual list can be very fun.

Casual

Mid-Power

High-Power

Competitive

Maximum-Power

How To Choose A Strong Signature Spell?

If it seemed like there were a lot of Planeswalkers to choose from just wait until you start looking for a signature spell. I've seen people break these down into a few categories as well. First, is spells you'll want to cast over and over again. Next, is spells that you'll only want to cast once or twice or "as needed", and finally, there's one you shouldn't play. Let's start off with some things that aren't the best choices from a competitive standpoint. Once again though, feel free to experiment and play whatever you think is fun.

Things To Avoid

We've talked a lot so far about Oathbreakers who have powerful interactions or combos with a given spell and that's good. However, some are better than others, and having an obvious combo in your command zone can do more harm than good because your opponents will know what you're planning right away. And considering that you can only cast your signature spell with your Oathbreaker out, it's easy to play around things.

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The main two examples I see everyone use for this discussion are Narset, Parter of Veilsimage and Windfallimage and some Planeswalker (usually Nicol Bolas, Dragon-Godimage) and The Elderspellimage. These seem like they would both play great; You'll have access to both cards the entire game and the combo will go off without a hitch. Unfortunately, it rarely works out like that and I speak from experience. Nicol Bolas with The Elderspell was the first deck I built. And it didn't work.

People see it coming, they play accordingly, and things rarely work the way you drew it up on paper. Another very important thing to consider is whether or not your combo wins the game. To elaborate, neither pair I mentioned above win you the game even if they do happen. If you want to play strategies like this consider running something more innocuous (or even a tutor) in the command zone and hide your combo piece in the deck and make sure it's impactful.

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Another common mistake I see people make is choosing single target removal or counterspells as their spell. Again, I can see the thought process behind the choices. You think "I'll always have access to interaction and that's good." But it's important to remember the following:

  • You can only cast the spell when your Oathbreaker is out. So, having something you may or may not want/need to cast when they are out isn't ideal.
  • You have to pay commander tax for it. You want your interaction to be efficient and paying three mana for a Lightning Boltimage or four mana for a Counterspellimage isn't great.

Spells You'll Want To Cast Multiple Times

It's important to remember to choose spells that will be valuable whenever they're able to be cast. In other words, you want the effect to be versatile if you're looking to cast it over and over again. Furthermore, avoiding commander tax through cost reduction is a great way to make sure you'll be able to generate lots of value from your spell over the course of a game. There are several different ways to go about this and which is the best for you will depend on your Oathbreaker.

Affinity

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If you're playing a strategy where you're playing tons of artifacts Affinity can be a great option. If your board is consistently filled with artifacts you can often cast spells with Affinity for only their colored mana even through commander tax. Things like Thoughtcastimage and Reverse Engineerimage have effects you'll want at any given point that you have access to them and are particularly good options.

Convoke

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In a similar vein, Convoke cards can be cast multiple times over the course of a game if you're running tons of creatures/making tokens. There are a lot of options for this ability from removal to token makers, and even tutors. Assuming you can keep the board full these can be great options.

Delve

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Assuming your deck is at all capable of filling your graveyard Delve spells can be quite powerful in the command zone. Tresure Cruise and Dig Through Timeimage are obviously great for refilling your hand with cards. And Temporal Trespassimage is an interesting one because the replacement effect of your spell going back to the command zone circumvents the exile effect.

Spells You'll Cast Once Or As Needed

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Moving on from spells you're looking to cast as often as possible we have spells that you'll be looking to get game-changing value off of with a single cast. Tutor spells are a great example of some spells that fit into this category. Another good example is one that I mentioned above - Nissa's Triumphimage when running a Nissa planeswalker. Getting to grab three lands can really change the game in a singleton format where players only have 20 life.

Another type of spell that fits here is the "emergency button" type spell, which usually refers to board wipes or Teferi's Protectionimage. You won't always need Wrath of Godimage but having access to it a high percentage of the time is a very nice failsafe.

Wordly Tutor image

Lastly, tutors are versatile, and being able to grab certain things when you need them can enable a lot of strategies. This also keeps opponents on their toes. You could be running a devoted combo, a toolbox-style creature-based deck, or a controlling deck that can fetch answers at instant speed.

Conclusion

Whether you're a veteran Oathbreaker player or you're just now getting started, I hope you'll find this article helpful. I hope to have given you the tools needed to evaluate Oathbreakers and the spells that you can pair with them. Also, I want to say again, just play what you think is fun or interesting. Don't get too caught up on where something lands on the "tier list" unless you're trying to be as competitive as possible.

Speaking of my list of Planeswalkers - The bulk of it comes from older resources compiled elsewhere which I've added newer Planeswalkers to. That said, it's not a complete list by any means. So, if you notice any that I don't have listed let me know and I'll try and place them in the correct spot.

 

 

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2 comments

Genoslugcs
I would say Geyadrone Dihada would be firmly in the mid-power tier. The static ability combined with the +1 & -3 can all affect the board the turn it comes into play and can be easily built around to make them even better given that Grixis has tons of ways to steal or gain control of other players' stuff and sac it. The fact that it can also steal Planeswalkers is nice. There's plenty of good... The only thing keeping it from being higher is a lack of inherent combo potential.
nerwandaa
Where would you put Geyadrone Dihada on this list?
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