A few weeks ago I wrote the first installment in this new series of mine, sharing my musings over a brew with Saheeli, Sublime Artificer, and you can find that article here. “Brainstorming” is a series I am using to discuss mostly-finished brews that I am still tweaking, as well as share my thoughts behind my various inclusions, cuts, and considerations. In contrast to the Saheeli article, this week we’ll be taking a look at an enchantment-based strategy with a bit of a twist.
The Oathbreaker & Signature Spell
I’ve wanted to make an Oathbreaker deck built around Rampage of the Clans work for a while now, and at first glance, Calix seems like a planeswalker that’s perfect for the job. With his +1 ability, Calix can keep the enchantments coming, ensuring that we’ll have plenty of fuel for our Signature Spell. His -7 ability is also a very convenient way to recur all of our enchantments that we’ll destroy after casting Rampage of the Clans.
The biggest challenge in building this deck has been, oddly enough, the card-type it is centered around: enchantments. Unlike with artifacts, it can be difficult to swarm the board with a large number of enchantments. Our Signature Spell does benefit from having both artifacts and enchantments in play, but we’ll need to run a pretty high number of enchantments if we want to benefit from Calix’s +1 consistently.
Fortunately, there are still a number of strong options for enchantments that will net some extra value for us before we cast our Signature Spell. It’s also very fortunate that Rampage of the Clans is an instant, giving us the flexibility of being able to cast it on other people’s turns. Casting Rampage of the Clans before we untap for our turn also means our centaur tokens won’t have summoning sickness, meaning we’ll be able to take immediate advantage of our mass of tokens.
The Deck
Decklist: Calix’s Rampage
If we wanna be able to win the game after casting Rampage of the Clans, we’re obviously going to need to be able to play and generate a lot of artifacts and enchantments. Having access to some early-game mana-ramp will help us play out more enchantments per turn, and there are plenty of enchant-land auras that fill this role perfectly. Card draw will also be important for ensuring we always have something to use our mana for until we work up to our Signature Spell, though Calix already fills this role to some extent.
In some ways, this deck does resemble a traditional enchantress strategy. There are plenty of payoffs for running so many enchantments, in addition to our Signature Spell. This deck also utilizes some cards that will slow our opponents down and give us the time to set up for Rampage of the Clans. It’s also fairly common for enchantress decks to run many of the same enchant-land auras that this deck uses. What most enchantress decks do not plan on doing is blowing up their entire board, and that’s where building around this particular and peculiar strategy gets a bit tricky.
Now that you have a broad view of the deck, let’s take a look at some of the actual card choices.
- The Ramp: This deck is currently running five different mana-producing auras: Utopia Sprawl, Wild Growth, Wolfwillow Haven, Fertile Ground, and Weirding Wood. I wouldn’t normally run Weirding Wood in lists looking for this kind of mana acceleration, but the extra clue token also means we’ll make one more centaur after casting Rampage of the Clans. Omen of the Hunt is a bit of instant-speed ramp that we can also trade-in for a centaur later in the game. Dryad of the Ilysian Grove ramps, blocks and contributes to our enchantment-count, and Starfield Mystic is an additional source of ramp that becomes a greater threat after we cast Rampage of the Clans. Last, but certainly not least, is Smothering Tithe. Although Smothering Tithe is generically powerful in multiplayer formats, this deck actually benefits from keeping its treasure tokens around to make our Signature Spell even more impactful.
- The Staples: Having sources of card advantage, other than our Oathbreaker, will give us something to do with all of our extra mana. Eidolon of Blossoms can conveniently be found with Calix’s +1 ability, and Setessan Champion becomes a threat of its own while it refills our hand. We can also use clue tokens from Tireless Tracker to draw cards if necessary, though we’ll usually want to keep them around for our Signature Spell. Although it isn’t a source of card advantage, Courser of Kruphix will help filter through some of the lands on top of our deck, all while netting us some extra life. Archon of Sun’s Grace and the tokens it produces are another source of incidental lifegain, as well as another legitimate win condition. While we’re setting up, we can slow our opponents’ threats down with cards like Authority of the Consuls, Ghostly Prison and Sphere of Safety. After we do get off Rampage of the Clans, we can also use Replenish to bring back all of our lost enchantments.
- The Spice: This deck is also running an odd array of enchantments that will give us some additional value as we get ready to rampage. A good number of these enchantments are token producers, such as Trial of Strength, Oath of Gideon and Omen of the Sun. The Birth of Meletis nets us both an artifact-creature and an extra land in hand, and Retreat to Emeria will fuel our board so long as we have the lands to trigger it. The creature created by Lightform isn’t technically a token, but it is a body we’ll have around in the air that will also provide a little incidental lifegain. Lifegift is another significant buffer to our life total, especially since it triggers off of any land entering the battlefield, not just our own. We’ll usually be using Citadel Siege as another way to slow our opponents’ creatures down, but we may also choose to use it to buff our own creatures if we’re already well set-up. While we do still have our mass of enchantments around, Destiny Spinner can be another great way to force through some damage, and it’s even an enchantment-creature itself.
The Brainstorming
Similar to the list I went over in my last “Brainstorming” article, this list feels about 90% of the way to where I want it to be in terms of strength and consistency. Despite the similarities to the traditional enchantress archetype, I’ve never built a deck quite like this one before and I wouldn’t be surprised if there are plenty of other strong card-choices that I’m overlooking. In addition to discussing some other possible inclusions for the list, let’s take a look at the current inclusions that I’m most skeptical of, previous inclusions that I cut from the list, and the cuts that I may end up putting back in the list.
- Inclusions I’m skeptical of: There are only three specific card-choices that I’m particularly unsure of. Shapers’ Sanctuary is in the deck because it is a low-mana-cost enchantment that can either disincentivize our opponents from targeting our creatures or help keep our hand full; however, there are only eight actual creatures in this list at the moment. We do have a number of token producers, but most opponents won’t want to spend targeted removal on token-creatures anyways. Oath of Ajani is another low-mana-cost enchantment, but there are times where it feels surprisingly clunky and/or not very impactful. Although it only costs two mana, it’s best when played after we have already developed a board full of creatures that we can buff up, and its static effect doesn’t do much since Calix is the only planeswalker in the list. I’m also feeling a bit iffy on including Wrath of God, but I suspect it’s a necessary inclusion. Having access to at least one wrath-effect is usually a good idea in multiplayer formats, and most of our enchantments are non-creature-enchantments anyways.
- Cards I cut: I tried running Trial of Solidarity and Beastmaster Ascension as a few enchantments to buff our board, but I ultimately decided to cut them and stick with just Overwhelming Stampede. They don’t really do anything unless we already have a lot of creatures, and I don’t think I want to run too many of those types of cards. I’ve also tried out Growing Rites of Itlimoc, but I found it had the same kind of problem as Shapers’ Sanctuary. Given our low creature count, it’s surprisingly difficult to transform the enchantment, or even hit a card off of its enter-the-battlefield trigger. I’m not sure if there’s a huge difference between running Fumigate or Wrath of God, but I’m leaning on the side of mana-efficiency for the time being. I also originally had Open the Vaults in the list next to Replenish as an additional way to recur our enchantments, but it usually felt pretty unnecessary. The high mana-cost and the symmetricalness of its effect are also pretty unappealing.
- Cards I may try again: I’m a big fan of incidental lifegain in Oathbreaker, which is why I had Retreat to Kazandu in an earlier iteration of this list. I ended up replacing it with Lifegift, but there may be a world where I try running both. Answered Prayers is another enchantment that benefits from running a lot of creatures, but this card also benefits from token producers. The incidental lifegain combined with a flying body that dodges sorcery-speed creature removal may make this card strong enough to consider revisiting at some point. I’ve also tried running Starfield of Nyx as a source of enchantment recursion that happens to be an enchantment itself, but again, I’m unsure how many sources of recursion this list actually needs. If I do become convinced the list needs more recursion, this card will likely be the first I try out again.
- Other considerations: Although I’m fairly certain it’s not quite worth it, I am somewhat intrigued by Security Blockade as a (one-time) token producer. The food token created by Fortifying Provisions could also be relevant, though the static effect on the enchantment doesn’t seem particularly strong. Consulate Crackdown could be a spicy way to make our opponents get fewer tokens off of Rampage of the Clans, but artifacts have proven to be not quite as common in Oathbreaker as they are in EDH, in my experience. As far as some added redundancy, I could definitely see using Blind Obedience as another way to slow our opponents down. Sigil of the Empty Throne could be another effective way to take advantage of our high quantity of enchantments, but I would also like to minimize the amount of regular enchantress win conditions I run in this deck, simply out of personal preference. One card that I will likely try out soon is Enchantress’s Presence because I do think the deck could use one or two more sources of card draw. I also wouldn’t be surprised if I eventually add in Burgeoning and/or Exploration as some additional ramp cards, especially if I end up keeping in cards like Retreat to Emeria and Lifegift.
Calix Build, Calix Smash
It’s been fun and interesting to finally take a stab at building around Rampage of the Clans. I don’t think I’d go as far as to say this particular strategy is an “optimal” way to build around this spell, but it does feel pretty fun! I’ve also wanted to try building around Calix since I saw his card previewed, and I was happy to find a shell for him that feels a little different from the typical enchantress or bogles builds.
Have you tried brewing around Rampage of the Clans? What would you add to this list? For future “Brainstorming” articles, I’m going to try something where I give a small shoutout to my favorite brews and card suggestions in response to the previous article. That also means I’ll highlight my favorite responses to this week’s article the next time I post a “Brainstorming” article, so make sure to share your thoughts in the comments or on Twitter!
About the author: My name is Alex Enders. I am a college student that’s been playing MTG for almost eight years, though I only recently began experimenting with writing content. My personal formats of choice are Oathbreaker, EDH, and draft. My other interests include music, education, and most things nerdy. You can find me on Twitter (@AAAEnders) or email me at aenders2112@gmail.com