I went over a spicy “chonky red” list in my last “Brainstorming” article (linked here), which was built around Chandra, Torch of Defiance and Volcanic Salvo. For this week, we’re switching things up a little and taking a look at some three-color spice. Jeskai is still a pretty new color combination to the world of Oathbreaker, and this week’s article will be delving a little more into this area. I already covered a handful of Jeskai decks in my Narset New Perspectives article, but today’s build is pretty different from the lists I covered there.
The Oathbreaker & Signature Spell
Narset of the Ancient Way is currently the only Jeskai Oathbreaker that is available, but fortunately enough, her abilities are versatile enough to allow her to fit into a variety of strategies. Since this iteration of Narset only recently came out in Ikoria, she’s still pretty new to the format, with only 50 decks on EDHrec at the moment. Even with this fairly limited quantity of lists, a quick glance at her Oathbreaker page shows that Narset is being played in control decks, cycling decks, reanimator decks, and many other kinds of strategies. I’m sure even more variants of Narset decks will show themselves in the coming months, and today I’ll be adding a bit of my own brewing to the mix.
Flicker, despite being a much older card than Narset, has even less Oathbreaker decks built around it; it is currently the Signature Spell for only 5 decks. I’m not too surprised by this small number since there are so many options for blink spells, but Flicker does come with the added flexibility of being able to target any nontoken permanent (even an opponent’s if you wanted too). This upside means that Flicker can blink artifacts and enchantments for extra value, as well as reset planeswalkers. It’s probably not the kind of Signature Spell you’ll want to be casting more than a couple of times per game, but that description fits most Signature Spells, in my experience.
Being able to flicker any kind of permanent opens up a lot of possibilities for a blink strategy, and it coincidentally works pretty well with Narset herself. Since we’ll have noncreature blink enablers and blink targets, we won’t have much trouble finding uses for the mana from Narset’s +1 ability. The added lifegain from this ability will also help us stay alive long enough to get our game plan online.
The Deck
Decklist: Narset Blinks
I’ve covered a handful of blink decks in previous articles, but this list has been my first attempt at tackling the archetype in Jeskai colors. This particular deck is primarily looking to flicker its creatures, but it can also flicker other kinds of permanents for additional value. In this sense, the deck is actually somewhat similar to an Aminatou, the Fateshifter blink strategy, with a few key differences; for one thing, Jeskai colors obviously give this list access to a slightly different set of tools than an Aminatou deck would have. This deck also doesn’t rely on its Oathbreaker as much as a typical Aminatou list. Although we’d certainly rather have access to our Oathbreaker/Signature Spell than not, the deck is very capable of functioning on its own without their help. This list has no shortage of repeatable blink enablers, as well as one-off blink spells.
- Repeatable Blinkers: We can only cast our Signature Spell so many times in a game, so we’ll want to have access to plenty of additional ways to flicker our cards repeatedly. Soulherder and Thassa, Deep-Dwelling are two blink enablers that pair very well with our value creatures, and they can both become very solid attackers over the course of a game. As far as flickering our other permanents, we can use the +2 ability on Venser, the Sojourner to net an extra enter-the-battlefield trigger on each of our turns. The triggered ability on Brago, King Eternal is even more devastating since it will often net us at least two extra enter-the-battlefield triggers from our other nonland permanents. We can also use Shipwreck Dowser to get multiple uses out of some of our other one-time flicker effects, such as Displace, Eerie Interlude, Ephemerate, and Ghostly Flicker.
- The Staples: Since we’re already in the market for extra blink enablers, we’re running Charming Prince, Felidar Guardian, and the infamous Yorion, Sky Nomad, all of which are pretty common in this archetype. I also think of Time Wipe as a pseudo-blink enabler since it bounces one of our creatures back to our hand, giving us the chance to replay it for more value. As for flicker targets, we’re trying out the still new Barrin, Tolarian Archmage as another way to interact with opposing Oathbreakers. I also always like including Lavinia of the Tenth in these types of builds, whenever possible, as an easy way to keep most of the board locked down. We can even create infinite mana with the help of Peregrine Drake paired with Ghostly Flicker/Displace and Shipwreck Dowser. Even when we’re not going infinite, Peregrine Drake will still be a nice way to ensure we have enough mana to hold up our instant-speed tricks.
- The Spice: In addition to running many of the typical blink enablers, I’ve decided to include Flicker of Fate and Teferi’s Time Twist for their added versatility in targeting-potential. We also have access to some interesting noncreature blink targets in Arcum’s Astrolabe, Dovin’s Acuity, Elspeth Conquers Death, and Omen of the Sea. Since we’re playing Jeskai colors, I figured this list would also be a good opportunity to try out some creatures I don’t normally get to play in my current blink builds. Pramikon, Sky Rampart is another interesting blink target that we can use to steer all opposing attackers away from us. On the more aggressive end of the spectrum, we have Terror of the Peaks as a generically strong threat; however, it will become even more deadly when we start flickering all of our creatures to cause extra triggers.
The Brainstorming
This list has gone through quite the transformation since its first draft. The deck was originally built with the intention of taking infinite turns, similar to bant Soulherder lists that occasionally pop up in Modern. Since then, I’ve gone down on the combo support in favor of a more generic value-based game plan. I made this decision since the original combo I had in mind required 1) an abundance of mana, which is a tad difficult for Jeskai colors, and 2) the ability to consistently dig for a few specific creatures. This second job could normally be made easier with the help of creature tutors, but Jeskai colors aren’t great at tutoring for creatures either. There is still the possibility to go infinite with Peregrine Drake, but the deck isn’t built around achieving that combo. Overall, I am much more satisfied with where the list is at now, though I’m sure it could use some more tweaking.
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: I’ve included Echo of Eons in just about every Jeskai Narset list I’ve covered since it can easily be pitched to her -2 ability. Having a Timetwister that can also be used as spot removal is usually pretty handy, but it’s felt surprisingly awkward in this particular list. I suspect this is the case since this list doesn’t actually rely on Narset very much, so we’re a bit less likely to have her in play when we have Echo of Eons in hand. The only other card I’m not super keen on at the moment is, oddly enough, Terror of the Peaks. As powerful as this card is, it sometimes doesn’t feel very impactful since many of the creatures in this deck have very low power. This issue may be more related to the deck’s lack of true win conditions than it is to Terror of the Peaks specifically, so swapping out some other cards may solve the problem. As far as blink targets, Hanged Executioner hasn’t felt very exciting to me. 1/1 flyers are nice, but they are ultimately still just 1/1s. As nice as its activated ability is, it’s still not something I ever feel like spending that much mana on.
- Cards I cut: As I mentioned earlier, this deck used to feature a different infinite combo involving take infinite turns. Time Warp was my extra turn spell of choice for this combo, and I even included Thassa’s Oracle as a guaranteed way to win after drawing my whole deck. Since I ultimately decided to not run this combo, these cards no longer had a place in the deck. I also eventually chose to cut Ghostway and Oath of Teferi in favor of more blink targets. My justification for cutting these two specifically is that 1) this deck doesn’t run nearly enough walkers to capitalize on Oath of Teferi, and 2) Ghostway is every so slightly worse than its counterpart, Eerie Interlude.
- Cards I may try again: Strangely enough, I only have one card in this category, and it’s a card that I used to have as the Signature Spell of this list. Mystical Tutor seemed like a solid Signature Spell option back when this deck was more combo-centric since it could be used to tutor for Time Warp. I’ve since decided that I like having Flicker in the command zone more, but Mystical Tutor may still have a place somewhere in the 58 of this list. Being able to tutor for a board wipe or one of our numerous blink spells is a pretty strong effect, and it can be easily cast off of Narset’s +1 ability. I still think finding a few more win conditions is a higher priority for this list, but I could see myself trying out Mystical Tutor again somewhere further down the road.
- Other considerations: As far as other possible win conditions for this deck, two specific cards come to mind for me. Elspeth, Sun’s Champion and Cloudgoat Ranger are both very solid token producers that can quickly generate a massive board presence in this type of list. There’s also a pretty good chance I’ll try to find room for Mnemonic Wall at some point, since it’s functionally the same as Shipwreck Dowser as far as combo-ing is concerned. Aside from those possibilities, there’s a whole myriad of other strong options for a Jeskai blink deck. Cavalier of Dawn, Flametongue Kavu, and Reflector Mage all offer their own forms of spot removal, and Zealous Conscripts can be used a pseudo-spot removal. Some other lower-powered cards I’m keeping my eye on for this build are Niambi, Esteemed Speaker, Servo Schematic, Thraben Inspector, and Vendilion Clique.
WUR You Blinking?
Building this particular list was a very interesting challenge for me. I’m still not very familiar with playing Jeskai colors, but I am very well acquainted with the idea of blinking/flickering my cards for extra value. Even still, I definitely had more difficulty brewing this deck than I would with, say, an Aminatou, the Fateshifter deck. I don’t typically have to try multiple different Signature Spells when building Oathbreaker lists, but this deck proved to be one of those few exceptions.
Have you tried playing Narset of the Ancient Way in Oathbreaker, yet? Do you have a blink deck of your own, or do you have any other suggestions for this list? Send me your Narset and/or blink 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