In my last “Brainstorming” article, I went over an interesting little Jeskai Flicker deck that I had been working on (linked here). The deck I’m looking at this week has a theme that’s a bit more . . . unusual. I’ve covered a few different “keyword tribal” lists before, more specifically trample tribal and vigilance tribal; this time around, I’ve decided to finally take a stab at building deathtouch tribal in Oathbreaker!
The Oathbreaker & Signature Spell
I was initially very surprised to see that Vraska, Swarm’s Eminence is currently the 2nd most popular golgari-colored Oathbreaker with a whopping 143 decks, with the 3rd most popular option being Garruk, Cursed Huntsman at a distant 72 decks. Upon further reflection, this disparity is a bit more understandable to me; she may not seem like the most exciting planeswalker at first glance, but Vraska, Swarm’s Eminence actually has a lot going for her. Her static ability is worded in a way that’s relevant to Oathbreaker (since it triggers upon hitting planeswalkers), and the tokens she creates are excellent on both offense and defense. To top it all off, she’s also a four-drop planeswalker with an uncommon-rarity, making her a decent option for budget builds.
This iteration of Vraska is clearly geared towards deathtouch tribal, but I had a bit more difficulty pinning down an option for a Signature Spell. I ultimately settled on Obscuring Haze for a few reasons; 1) its cost-reduction effect makes it easy to cast multiple times in a game if necessary, and 2) one-sided fogs are powerful, especially when your creatures are almost 100% guaranteed to kill whatever creatures they end up connecting with. It’s true that having this kind of instant in the command zone can take away some of the “surprise factor” of it; however, in my experience people tend to forget about the Signature Spells of janky decks fairly quickly, and I’d say deathtouch tribal squarely falls into that category.
When covering my first two keyword tribal lists on this blog, I ended up using Oathbreakers/Signature Spells that coincidentally shared some sort of synergy with the deck’s main strategy. Fortunately for me, this time around there’s actually an Oathbreaker made specifically for this archetype! Tackling this particular challenge has also been exciting for me because of the many sweet deathtouch creatures that have come out in the past year. While the deck’s goal as a whole may seem a bit janky, deathtouch tribal actually has access to some pretty powerful tools nowadays.
The Deck
Decklist: Vraska’s Death-Haze
It’s fairly common to include a +1/+1 counter subtheme when building deathtouch tribal with Vraska, Swarm’s Eminence because of her triggered ability, but I’ve opted to not go with that plan. As powerful as cards like Hardened Scales are, they’ll really only be useful for us if either 1) Vraska is in play, which isn’t a guaranteed, or 2) we have enough additional +1/+1 counter enablers. I want to avoid diluting the deck too much, so I’ve decided to include more deathtouch creatures over any additional +1/+1 counter synergies for the time being. If we really want to take advantage of creatures with deathtouch then we’ll need to have a high number of hits, and this list runs a whopping 21 creatures with deathtouch (22 if you count Hissing Quagmire). Buffing up our creatures will certainly turn them into better threats, but we can accomplish that goal without going all-in on the +1/+1 counters plan.
- The Staples: There aren’t many staples exclusive to “deathtouch tribal” as an archetype, but there are plenty of Oathbreaker staples that slot well into this kind of strategy. Questing Beast is arguably the best green creature in the format thanks to its novel’s-worth of rules text, and Hooded Blightfang‘s unique deathtouch synergy seems like it was practically designed for Oathbreaker. Chevill, Bane of Monsters is another deathtouch-er that fits very well in a multiplayer setting, even more so when our deck is filled to the brim with other deathtouch-ers. This particular keyword also pairs very well with trample enablers like Shadowspear, and any creature wearing Sword of Sinew and Steel will be even less appealing to block than usual thanks to deathtouch. We’re also running The Elderspell as a way to refill Vraska’s loyalty count after we tick her down for a few tokens.
- The Spice: Nature’s Way is essentially this deck’s equivalent of Doom Blade, except it comes with the bonus of temporarily giving one of our threats vigilance and trample. The -3 ability on Vivien, Arkbow Ranger can be used to similarly deal with an opposing creature or planeswalker, and her +1 ability pairs particularly well with deathtouch creatures. When needed, we can also give our creatures a trampling boost with Rancor or the +1 ability on Garruk, Unleashed. Heroic Intervention is a generically strong way to protect our board, but in this list it doubles as a card that can (sort of) fill in for our Signature Spell, if necessary. Even still, my personal favorite way to capitalize on this deck’s strategy is with Vivien, Champion of the Wilds. She’s clearly very handy for the card advantage she provides, but her +1 ability is an especially effective means of defense when used on a deathtouch creature. On top of that, her static ability essentially turns almost every creature in this list into an Ambush Viper.
- The Other Deathtouch-ers: Gifted Aetherborn, Grimdancer, and Vampire Nighthawk will all help keep our life total nice and healthy while we pressure our opponents, and their lifegain coincidentally pairs very well with Witch of the Moors. If we need more help with turning our tinier creatures into better threats, we can give them a bit of a boost with God-Eternal Rhonas and Rhonas the Indomitable (both of which are sizable deathtouch-ers in their own right). At the top of our curve, we have creatures like Grave Titan and Wurmcoil Engine to help close out the game. The former will gum up the board with more and more tokens as long as it stays in play, and the latter will leave behind a couple of tokens if our opponents ever manage to kill it.
The Brainstorming
At this point in my “Brainstorming” articles, I can usually find some specific part of the decklist to criticize, but not this time. I know that I’m not 100% satisfied with where the deck currently stands, but I can’t quite pinpoint why I feel that way. I’ve actually tried tackling deathtouch tribal a few different times outside of my blog work, and this list is certainly my personal favorite version that I’ve managed to brew up thus far; having said that, this deck’s strategy is also still a bit on the stranger side, and I could certainly be missing some other ways to capitalize on running a bunch of deathtouch-ers.
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: As much as I enjoy playing Grafted Wargear in Oathbreaker, I also realize that it’s become one of those cards that I’ll just stick into almost any list if I can’t come up with a better replacement. The power buff it offers is certainly helpful, but there’s chance that there’s a better card to fill its spot here. I’m also not 100% sold on running Nature’s Lore and Sakura-Tribe Elder in this list. They’re some of the only pieces of ramp in the deck, and the list itself doesn’t demand much in the way of acceleration (though Sakura-Tribe Elder does at least pair well with Bone Picker and Narnam Renegade). The only deathtouch creature I don’t especially enjoy in this list is Witch of the Moors, mostly because all of this deck’s lifegain is incidental, not intentional.
- Cards I cut: When I searched the word “deathtouch” on Scryfall, I was initially scrolling through so quickly that I didn’t really read Hunted Nightmare‘s rules text closely enough. While strong, this creature doesn’t really belong in a deathtouch tribal deck for obvious reasons, so it quickly became my first cut to the list. I also eventually cut Deathcap Cultivator since this deck runs a surprisingly small amount of graveyard synergy for a golgari-colored list. Without being able to consistently turn on delirium, Deathcap Cultivator is just a lackluster mana-dork, and this particular list is not very well-equipped to support that mechanic.
- Cards I may try again: Funnily enough, I did have Mire Triton in the first draft of this deck, but I eventually cut it due to the deck’s lack of graveyard synergies. The fact that it’s a two-power two-drop that nets a little extra life is still notable, so there is a small chance that I may revisit the card in the future. A much later cut to the list was Overwhelming Stampede, which I swapped out in favor of Garruk, Unleashed; however, I could definitely see myself adding it back in if I find myself looking for more finishers in the future. I also eventually swapped out Ochran Assassin for Bone Picker, favoring the evasion over the assassin’s “provoke” effect. Even still, cards like Ochran Assassin certainly have their uses, so I’m not ruling out the possibility of trying it out again at some point down the line.
- Other considerations: There are a lot of other deathtouch creatures out there, but there are only a few more that I’m keeping my eye on at the moment. Given this deck’s lack of graveyard synergy, I doubt that Embodiment of Agonies would be that strong in this list, but I also realize that I shouldn’t underestimate the power of flying. Ohran Frostfang‘s static ability is almost useless for this list, but it’s triggered ability could net this deck a lot of extra cards. As far as other deathtouch-based synergy goes, I’ve considered adding in Rabid Bite as an additional removal spell for this deck. I could also try out a card like Viridian Longbow as a way to turn any of my creatures in a repeatable source of spot removal. There may also be room in this list for a few more generically strong cards like Manifold Key or Skullclamp. Being able to make a creature unblockable is always a handy effect to have around in Oathbreaker, and Skullclamp would make trading with our creatures even less appealing to our opponents.
The Magic (the Gathering) Touch
Vraska, Swarm’s Eminence is a planeswalker that players have been brewing around since Oathbreaker’s surge in popularity back when War of the Spark first released, and I’m a little surprised it’s taken me this long to write an article about her. As janky as the deck may seem, deathtouch tribal has gotten a lot of fun new toys in the last year, and I greatly look forward to see what future cards may be added to the pile.
Have you tried playing Vraska, Swarm’s Eminence 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