Welcome to Game Records, where I go over games of Oathbreaker with my own playgroup and talk about the results! Today I’ll be going over a 3-player game I had with my friends Cody and Mason.
Game Plan:
- Mason went first, running a list they found on TappedOut with Ugin, the Ineffable + All is Dust. This is a pretty classic Eldrazi Tribal deck, running a ton of ramp and a huge top-end. Here is the decklist.
- Cody went second, and he decided to try out my deck with Aminatou, the Fateshifter + Scheming Symmetry. This deck is mostly built around Aminatou’s -1 ability, with a few Miracle cards thrown in for spice. Here is the decklist.
- I went last, and I decided to play my Goblin tribal iteration of Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast + Kuldotha Rebirth. Unlike most Goblin tribal decks, this list is looking to win through sacrificing and recurring its goblins for extra value. Here is the decklist.
Move to Combat:
Cody and Mason both had a bit of a slow start this game, with both of them hitting their first three land drops but not having anything else to play. I played Goblin Chirurgeon on turn one, followed by Impact Tremors on turn two. I also made sure to attack Mason for zero on turn two with my Goblin Chirurgeon to send a message to the opposing tribal deck. After playing a Pyretic Ritual, I got to play and +1 Daretti and sacrifice the token to play Kuldotha Rebirth, all on turn 3. I knew this would probably set a target on my head for the beginning of the game, but I also figured I could afford the risk given Cody and Mason’s slower draws.
Cody and Mason started developing their own board state on turn 4, playing Brago, King Eternal and Empowered Autogenerator respectively. I had another explosive turn, this time starting by playing Goblin Matron to search for Goblin Recruiter. I followed this up with a Brightstone Ritual generating five red mana, which I used to play Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin and Goblin Recruiter. I used Goblin Recruiter‘s enter-the-battlefield trigger to search for Goblin Ringleader, Munitions Expert, Goblin Trashmaster, Wort, Boggart Auntie, Skirk Prospector, and Sling-Gang Lieutenant. If I wasn’t officially the threat before, I definitely was now. Impact Tremors on its own had already dealt a total of 7 damage to each Cody and Mason, and now I was threatening to refill my hand with even more threats with Goblin Ringleader on my next turn.
Cody and Mason each played their respective Oathbreakers on their next turns, both opting to use their respective plus abilities. Cody also attacked me for 2 in the air with Brago, King Eternal. By turn 5 I had run out of lands and rituals to play, so all I could do was play Goblin Ringleader to refill my hand, then attack with Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin to get a few more goblin tokens and a few more triggers off of Impact Tremors. I didn’t have the resources to end the game that turn, but it was clear to all of us that I would be able to win if I got to untap again.
Unfortunately for me, Mason’s big-mana strategy was finally starting to pay off. In one turn they were able to play Warden of Geometries, Reality Smasher, and, most importantly, Akroma’s Memorial. I was unable to block any of Mason’s now hasty attackers due to the evasion given by the Akroma’s Memorial, so I was forced to go down to a measly 7 life. It was all up to Cody now to finish the job.
Cody wasn’t sure if he had any outs to kill me, but he knew he could search his deck for one. He played Scheming Symmetry on his next turn, targeting Mason and himself. Unfortunately for me, Cody found the answer: Oath of Kaya. He used Aminatou’s +1 ability to draw the enchantment after resolving Scheming Symmetry. After playing Oath of Kaya, he went to combat and attacked me with Brago, King Eternal, blinking the enchantment with Brago’s combat damage trigger. And thus the goblin menace was vanquished.
The game ended on Mason’s next turn quickly after they played and resolved Emrakul, the Promised End. After so many turns of the game revolving around a bunch of goblins, the flying spaghetti monster was what ended up deciding the game.
Last One Standing:
This game was a bit on the shorter side for our playgroup, but man was it fun. My goblins deck is built to take advantage of the grindy long-game, but I clearly underestimated how much a turn-two Impact Tremors would speed up the game. I’m used to seeing the card played more in EDH, where it also does a lot of damage but tends to not be quite as dangerous given that everyone starts at 40 life. Impact Tremors on its own did about 20 damage this game, 10 damage to each of my opponents. Cody and Mason were definitely right to team up on me, and I probably should have played a bit more conservatively. I might actually end up swapping out Impact Tremors for some other card after seeing how much damage it dealt here. It paints a bit of a target on my head, and I intended for this deck to not be as aggressive as more traditional goblin builds. Oops.
I was actually really happy to see Cody find the right answer with Scheming Symmetry towards the end there, even though it killed me. Cody had seen this Aminatou deck played before, but he wasn’t particularly familiar with all the specific tutor targets. Oath of Kaya was the only card in the deck that would have finished me off here since Cody was one mana short of being able to search for and cast Gray Merchant of Asphodel. Still, he could have mistakenly gone for something like Detention Sphere or Elite Guardmage to potentially stay alive, but not kill me, so props to him for making the right choice there.
Unfortunately for Cody, there was not a card that could stop both me and Mason. He didn’t really have any room to bargain with Mason either since they were both going to die on my next turn. Maybe he could have tried to make some kind of deal with me, but I can understand why he would opt to take me out instead, given I had been ahead for pretty much the entire game. I guess sometimes you just die to a flying spaghetti monster.
Play of the Game
Even though it did not win him the game, I think my favorite moment from this game is still when Cody found the Oath of Kaya to kill me. It might seem odd for me to choose the moment I lost as my favorite moment, but there are a few reasons for it. For one, sometimes it’s just nice to see your friend pull off something cool, and finding the exact answer needed to stop a goblin horde definitely falls into that category. I also felt kind of bad that Impact Tremors warped the game as much as it did, and thus limited the other two deck’s time to shine. By the last few turns of the game, I was actually kind of rooting for Cody and Mason more than myself. You know a game of Magic was fun if you lost the game and still really enjoyed yourself.
Honorable mention goes to Mason playing the Akroma’s Memorial. That card is legit, and I just might have to find room for it in my own Ugin list. Who would have thought that giving all of your creatures some keyword-soup could be a recipe for success?
I’ve been having a lot of fun writing and reflecting on these games, and I hope you enjoy reading about them!
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