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Mana Clash: Control Strategies

My last two “Mana Clash” articles focused on Token Strategies and Stompy Strategies, respectively, both of which were largely creature-centric. It only seems fair to let some noncreature-centric lists share the spotlight, so for this week’s article we’ll be taking a look at a few different kinds of control strategies in Oathbreaker. As always with this series, I’ll discuss the archetype as a whole and share three different Oathbreaker builds, all using different Oathbreakers/Signature Spells.

The Archetype

There’s a pretty wide variety of control decks out there, but at their core, they all have the same basic game plan in mind: (1) avoid dying by controlling the board as much as possible with varying forms of interaction, and (2) deploy your win condition when the coast is clear and you’re ready to close the game out. Many control decks rely on spot removal, board wipes, and/or counterspells in order to stay in control of the board; however, other kinds of control decks may choose to utilize other methods, such as mass discard and prison effects. As far as actually winning the game, there are many options open to control players. Winning via planeswalker ultimates, infinite combos, or milling are just a few examples of how a control player can (eventually) end the game.

Given the inherit variety within this broad archetype, it’s no surprise that there are numerous flavors of control strategies one can play in Oathbreaker (far too many to cover in a single article, unfortunately). Planeswalkers can net players a lot of extra value, and many can even win the game on their own when left unchecked. Since most control decks are already looking to dictate the pace of the game as much as possible, the Oathbreaker slot in a deck is the perfect build-around opportunity for many different control strategies. Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God and Narset, Parter of Veils are two of the more notorious Oathbreaker options for a control deck, but they are far from the only options.

The most common weakness of control decks is their inherent slowness. Most control lists are built to play the long game, not to win early on. This lack of speed can leave control decks vulnerable to other decks that are particularly aggressive, and the starting life total of 20 in a multiplayer format like Oathbreaker only exacerbates this vulnerability. A secondary weakness of some control decks is their ability to end the game swiftly, or rather, their inability to do so. Control players sometimes focus so much on building their decks to answer their opponents’ threats that they forget to put in enough win conditions. Admittedly, frustrating your opponents to the point that they concede could technically be considered a win condition, though it’s one that I wouldn’t rely on, especially if I wanted to play more than one game with a group of players.

Now that we’ve gone over the general archetype, let’s look at the specific builds I have prepared for today.

Build #1: Jeskai Noncreature Spell Tribal

Decklist: Narset Mystical Control

I started this article by saying I wanted to focus on an archetype that wasn’t creature-centric, and I decided to go all-in on that idea with this particular decklist. Narset of the Ancient Way is the perfect Oathbreaker for a deck running zero creature-spells, and she’s pretty well-suited to a control strategy in general. Her +1 ability will give our life total a nice buffer, and we can always use her -2 for some more card advantage and/or spot removal when necessary. After much consideration, I ultimately decided to run Mystical Tutor as the Signature Spell for this list, primarily since it can immediately be cast off of Narset’s +1 ability. There’s no shortage of powerful instants and sorceries in Jeskai colors, whether it be interaction, card advantage, or win conditions, making this one-mana tutor a very versatile Signature Spell option.

  • Interaction: This deck can take advantage of mass creature removal even more than most control decks, given our self-imposed deck building restriction. Anger of the Gods and Mythos of Vadrok are typically at their best in the early-to-mid turns of the game, though the Mythos can also be useful for temporarily neutralizing opposing Oathbreakers. Storm’s Wrath can be similarly useful as a pseudo-Languish that also hits planeswalkers. If we need a wrath effect that can get rid of larger creatures, we can always use the tried-and-true Blasphemous Act and Supreme Verdict to clean the board up. We’re also running a number of spot removal options that can hit opposing planeswakers, such as Grasp of Fate and Imprisoned in the Moon.
  • Win Conditions: This deck is primarily looking to win through combat damage, despite the fact that we aren’t running any creature spells. Elspeth, Sun’s Champion and Celestial Colonnade are two fairly common win conditions for white/blue control strategies, though we also have access to a few spicy spells that can take out an opponent out of nowhere. We can use Reins of Power and Master Warcraft turn our opponents’ strength against them, and they can even be used for political benefit if we decide to temporarily team up with an opponent. If we can’t close the game out through combat damage, we can also peck away at our opponents with emblems created by Chandra, Awakened Inferno.
  • Other Tutor Targets: We aren’t completely reliant on our instants and sorceries, but we do have our fair share to sweet tutor targets for our Signature Spell. Call the Coppercoats and Timely Reinforcements are two cheap ways to produce chump blockers, and they function particularly well in a multiplayer format like Oathbreaker. We’re also running our fair share of card draw spells, such as Drawn from Dreams and Echo of Eons. The latter of these two works especially well when paired with Narset’s -2 ability. Even still, I think the funnest tutor target in this list is Inspired Ultimatum, a flashy Jeskai spell that we can reasonably expect to cast thanks to Narset.

Build #2: Esper Flicker Control

Decklist: Aminatou Flicker Control

Strong instants/sorceries are nice and all, but who needs those when you you’ve got powerful permanents? This deck is looking to capitalize on a variety of different permanents by flickering them with Aminatou, the Fateshifter and our Signature Spell of choice, Flicker. There are many different enter-the-battlefield triggers out there that are very well-suited to a control strategy, and Esper colors pack plenty of general utility cards to support our game plan. Most control decks centered around Aminatou are more reliant on the Miracle mechanic, and this deck does run Terminus as one of its board wipes; however, I personally find controlling the board via enter-the-battlefield value to be a bit more fun, so Flicker Control it is!

  • Redundant Blink Effects: Even though we have access to two different flicker-enablers in our Command Zone, it won’t hurt to have some redundant enablers in store just in case. Felidar Guardian and Flickerwisp both have their own different blink effects stapled to their respective enter-the-battlefield triggers, and Flickerwisp‘s trigger can even be used to target your one of your opponent’s permanents. Venser, the Sojourner is another planeswalker that can blink any permanent we own, and both he and Aminatou will become even more effective when backed up by Oath of Teferi. Even still, the most powerful blink effect we have access to in this list is definitely Yorion, Sky Nomad. On top of being able to blink any number of our other nonland permanents with Yorion, we can actually repeat this effect on each of our turns thanks to Aminatou’s -1 ability; in other words, Aminatou can flicker Yorion, whose enter-the-battlefield trigger can blink and reset Aminatou’s loyalty count at the end of turn.
  • Win Conditions: To absolutely no one’s surprise, the power of this deck’s win conditions primarily stem from our ability to flicker them for additional value. Kiora Bests the Sea God is one of our more straightforward routes to victory, though we can also steal our opponents’ win conditions for the same mana cost with Agent of Treachery. Planeswalkers also have inherent synergy with this kind of strategy since we can flicker them to gain extra activations, making Ashiok, Nightmare Muse and Sorin, Grim Nemesis even more deadly in the long run. Although it doesn’t technically count as a win condition, I think Mnemonic Wall deserves a mention here given how helpful it is by recurring key powerful spells like Demonic Tutor, The Elderspell and Time Wipe.
  • Other Flicker Targets: Even though they aren’t all game-ending effects, we have no shortage of solid value cards to flicker repeatedly. Some of these cards are simple cantrip effects, such as Baleful Strix, Wall of Omens and Omen of the Sea. Other cards, like Elspeth Conquers Death and Lavinia of the Tenth, are very handy for removing opposing permanents and/or locking down the board. We also have access to plenty of incidental lifegain to keep ourselves healthy through cards like Omen of the Sun, Oath of Kaya and Basilica Bell-Haunt.

Build #3: Jund Seasons Past

Decklist: Scheming Windgrace

For those that many not be aware, years ago in Standard (around the time of Shadows over Innistrad/Eldritch Moon) there was a green/black control archetype completely built around Seasons Past. The main game plan of the deck was to play like a typical control deck, up until you could cast Dark Petition to search for Seasons Past, then play Seasons Past to refill your hand with gas, including Dark Petition. You’d then go on to rinse and repeat this process until either you eventually killed your opponent, or until your opponent conceded out of sheer misery (this actually happened to me multiple times when I played the deck in Standard). Seasons Past is also my second favorite MTG card, so it only felt right to include it in an article dedicated to different control archetypes.

Although green/black is the typical color combination for this strategy, I’ve always been a fan of Jund colors for this kind of deck, and I believe playing Jund is especially advantageous in Oathbreaker. We’ll have access to even more forms of planeswalker removal by adding red to the mix, as well as have an even wider variety of win conditions. Lord Windgrace will help us filter through extra lands and ensure we have enough mana to cast Seasons Past, and Scheming Symmetry is a Signature Spell that can tutor for whatever we need, all while currying political favor with one of our opponents.

For this particular list, I’ve also opted to utilize a house rule of my own playgroup for 10-card wishboards, in this case to pair with Mastermind’s Acquisition. My playgroup allows the use of wishboards as long as we avoid building them for “unfun” reasons. It’s also important to note that not all playgroups are okay with this type of house rule, so make sure to check in with your playgroup before bringing this kind of deck to a game night. Worst case scenario, you can always just replace your “wishing” card with one of your wishboard cards when playing with people that don’t like wishboards.

Shared Cards

Here’s a quick overview of what notable cards each of the lists share with each other.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

I’ve played my fair share of control decks in various formats, but before now I had never really tinkered with the archetype in Oathbreaker. Building around the self-imposed no-creature restriction with the Narset deck felt particularly rewarding, and it was very fun for me to revisit my favorite Standard deck ever, this time in Oathbreaker form.

Have you played any control decks in Oathbreaker? What planeswalker do you/would you play and build a control deck around? Make sure to share your thoughts and brews with me 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