In my last “Brainstorming” article, I built a blink/discard deck around the underrated Kaya, Ghost Assassin, which you can find here. This article was unfortunately made before M21/Jumpstart previews, so new goodies like Tinybones, Trinket Thief are not included in the deck, but I look forward to seeing what the Oathbreaker community brews up with those new toys. For this week, I’ve prepared a mono-red list built around an Oathbreaker I’ve wanted to build around for a while now, along with a spicy new Signature Spell from Core 2021.
The Oathbreaker & Signature Spell
Chandra, Torch of Defiance might be one of my most favorite planeswalkers that I haven’t actually gotten to play very much in paper. She also seems to be very popular with the rest of the Oathbreaker community since she’s currently the top mono-red Oathbreaker on EDHrec with a whopping 188 decks. This iteration of Chandra is also used in a fairly wide variety of mono-red Oathbreaker strategies, such as aggro/burn builds, big red decks, and even goblin tribal. This amount of variety isn’t very surprising to me since Chandra is useful for both mana ramp and card advantage. Her -3 ability isn’t the best removal ability out there, but it can still be very handy for dealing with a pesky creature every now and then. Chandra’s ultimate is also certainly a game-winner, though today’s deck will mainly be looking to use here two +1 abilities.
Whereas Chandra, Torch of Defiance has been popular in Oathbreaker for a while now, Volcanic Salvo is a brand new piece of red tech. I mentioned in my recent Top 10 Red Cards for Core 2021 that Volcanic Salvo has some real potential as a Signature Spell, and it didn’t take me very long to find a deck to try it out in! It’s easiest to capitalize on Volcanic Salvo‘s cost reduction effect in decks that can easily put a lot of power on board with only a handful of creatures, and today’s decklist has no shortage of high-power threats. To top it all off, we can even cast this sorcery off of only Chandra’s mana ability if we have 10 or more power on board. I realize that Volcanic Salvo may seem like a bit of a “win more” card, but it’s always nice to have access to planeswalker interaction in the command zone, especially if you want to focus your attacks on your opponents’ life totals.
The Deck
Decklist: Chonky Red
My favorite style of mono-red decks has always been “big red” decks, or “chonky red”, as some players started calling it a couple of months ago. Unlike typical low-to-the ground aggro decks or burn strategies, big red decks look to ramp into higher-cost threats to stomp their opponents into the ground. In other words, chonky red is essentially a ramp-based midrange strategy. Chandra, Torch of Defiance is an excellent Oathbreaker for a chonky red deck since she can provide both mana acceleration to reach our top-end threats and card advantage to ensure we don’t run out of gas. Volcanic Salvo‘s job in this deck is to clear away our opponents’ threats, allowing us to keep up the pressure on our opponents’ life totals with our chonky creatures.
- The Ramp: Even though our Oathbreaker already provides a bit of mana ramp, we’ll still want some other enablers for this kind of cost-heavy strategy. Arcane Signet, Mind Stone, and Ruby Medallion can all help us ramp into our Oathbreaker, as can the temporary boost from Pyretic Ritual. We also have Runaway Steam-Kin at the two-drop slot, which fits perfectly here since it both ramps us and boosts its own power. In addition to Chandra herself, this deck has plenty of ways to burn the rest of the table, and Neheb, the Eternal can turn all of this burn into even more mana. We’re also running Fires of Invention as another way to turn up the heat, even though red doesn’t have much in the way of land ramp. To top it all off, we can use the classic Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx to help our red threats snowball (or Fireball?) out of control.
- The Staples: Blasphemous Act is one of the best red wraths in the format, and this desk is also running other Oathbreaker all-stars like Heart of Kiran and Shadowspear. Large threats like Glorybringer, Stormbreath Dragon, and Inferno Titan are all go-to options for big red decks in other formats, and they’re just as effective here in Oathbreaker. Tectonic Giant is a more recent addition to red’s midrange threats, and its triggered ability is particularly effective in a multiplayer format where life totals only start at 20. Torbran, Thane of Red Fell is another four-drop that pairs very well with the elemental giant, as well as a whole slough of other inclusions, most notably Chandra.
- The Spice: Although not quite as potent as Torbran, Embermaw Hellion can give all of our red damage-dealers a little extra punch. Grafted Wargear provides a solid power buff that coincidentally lowers the costs of our Signature Spell, and the equip cost couldn’t be lower. Our creatures will be even more threatening when we can consistently give them haste with the likes of Crashing Drawbridge, Footfall Crater, and Hanweir Battlements. We can even burn out most opponents with Price of Progress if necessary, and this deck only runs four nonbasic lands in order to minimize the backlash. Even still, my personal favorite spicy inclusion is Chandra’s Regulator. This red artifact allows us to double up on all of our Chandra abilities, whether that Chandra be our Oathbreaker or our Chandra, Flamecaller in the 58.
The Brainstorming
Since Core 2021 previews only finished around three weeks ago, I obviously haven’t had that much time to brew around Volcanic Salvo. Even still, I’m pretty happy with how this list has turned out thus far. I’ve taken a stab at brewing big red Oathbreaker decks a couple of other times on my own, so I already feel fairly well-acquainted with the archetype as a whole. This particular decklist is definitely my personal favorite draft of big red I’ve tried thus far, partially because of all the new goodies from Core 2021. Having said that, there are still a handful of cards I’m not totally sold on.
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.
- Cards I’m skeptical of: Oddly enough, the card I feel the most unsure of at the moment is a pretty minor inclusion; Mind Stone. Mana rocks are very helpful for this kind of big-mana strategy, and two-drop rocks are ideal since they can ramp us into Chandra by turn three. Mind Stone is typically a go-to mana rock for this type of deck, but there have been a handful of times when only being able to produce colorless mana has been surprisingly inconvenient. I’ve also gone back and forth a lot on whether to run Chandra, Flamecaller or Chandra, Awakened Inferno in the deck. I’ve currently settled on Chandra, Flamecaller since her +1 ability reduces the cost of our Signature Spell, but I could see myself changing my mind again at some point.
- Cards I cut: I permanently cut Fiery Emancipation from the list pretty early on in testing. As cool as the card is, it often felt like even more of a “win more” card than our Signature Spell. Oddly enough, I also ended up taking Seething Song out of the deck even though chonky red is exactly the type of strategy this card typically slots into. I ultimately replaced it with Pyretic Ritual since I’ve found this deck is typically better at capitalizing on two-drop rituals on turn 3 than it is at capitalizing on Seething Song during later turns. It’s also convenient that Pyretic Ritual can be cast off of only Chandra’s mana ability, if necessary.
- Cards I may try again: Koth of the Hammer is another popular Oathbreaker choice for big red strategies, and I originally had him in the 58 of this list. In addition to having a very powerful -2 ability, Koth can reduce the cost of our Signature Spell just by using his +1 ability. I’ve taken him out of the list for the moment since I don’t think the deck requires very much extra mana ramp at the four-drop slot, given our Oathbreaker; however, I could definitely see myself trying him out again given the sheer strength of his abilities. Cavalier of Flame was a chonky creature I tried out early on, mainly due to its activated ability and high devotion to red. While having an additional haste enabler can be handy, the other effects stapled onto the cavalier haven’t felt particularly helpful. I’ve swapped it out for Ilharg, the Raze-Boar for now, and I may or may not swap it with another threat in the future. I’ve also tried running Ignite the Future as another means of card advantage, and it can certainly pack quite the punch when flash-backed from the graveyard; however, the card has felt very hit-or-miss when played for its regular cost, and I’m not fully convinced it’s the type of card this deck is looking for.
- Other Considerations: Fire Diamond isn’t typically card I would be excited to play in Oathbreaker, but it is another mana rock that could fit quite nicely in this type of strategy. There’s also an argument for running another ritual effect or two, such as Desperate Ritual or Irencrag Feat. Repeated Reverberation can also be used as a pseudo-ritual when paired with Chandra’s mana ability, and it works very well with Chandra in general. As for other potential threats, there are a handful of other dragons I’m keeping my eye on. Thunderbreak Regent is very cost-efficient, and it shares some incidental synergy with the other dragons in the deck. Verix Bladewing is another four-drop that scales very well into the late game, even if it is a bit less flashy. The chonkiest threat I’ve considered running is definitely Drakuseth, Maw of Flames, and it’s attack trigger is certainly a powerful effect in a multiplayer, planeswalker-centric format like Oathbreaker.
Chonky Red Deck Go BRR!
I’ve tried using other Signature Spells in big red lists before (Repeated Reverberation is the first that comes to mind), but I think Volcanic Salvo may be my personal favorite option I’ve tried thus far. I’ve always been a fan of having access to planeswalker interaction in the command zone, and cost reduction effects stapled to Signature Spells has always had the potential to be powerful. Volcanic Salvo isn’t the next Thoughtcast, by any means, but it is certainly a spicy new tool for red creature-based strategies.
A. E. Marling also wrote an article on a mono-red Volcanic Salvo Oathbreaker deck recently (linked here) with Koth of the Hammer as the Oathbreaker of choice. Although there are a handful of cards that overlap between our two lists, the two decks as a whole are surprisingly different, and I’d highly recommend checking out his build as well!
Have you built any Oathbreaker decks around Chandra, Torch of Defiance or Volcanic Salvo? Are there any particular cards you would try out in this kind of deck? Send me your Chandra and/or Volcanic Salvo brews and suggestions in the comments or on Twitter, and I’ll highlight my favorite responses at the beginning of my next “Brainstorming” article!
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