For my last “Mana Clash” article (linked here), I went over artifact-based strategies in Oathbreaker for the second time. This week’s “Mana Clash” is another blast from the past. I did an article on tribal decks in Oathbreaker (also linked here) about four months ago, but there’s plenty of ground left to cover.
Similar to my “Part 2” article on artifact decks, I’ll be skipping the “archetype discussion” that I’d normally do at the beginning of these articles since I would just be repeating my own words from my first article on tribal lists. There are a lot of different creature types in MTG, and even though they do not all have much in the way of tribal support, there’s still a very large variety of ways to build these types of decks. I covered lists on cats, dragons and zombies in my first tribal article, and I’ve got three different creature types in three different color combinations to focus on for this second go around.
Build #1: Golgari Elves
Decklist: Nissa’s Shady Elves
Elves are primarily a mono-green creature type, but elf tribal has also received a lot of support in Golgari colors lately. Although not an elf tribal card herself, Nissa of Shadowed Boughs fits this sort of strategy fairly well for a few reasons; 1) her +1 ability adds even more support to our ramp package, which is what elves are all about, and 2) her -5 ability typically won’t have any trouble cheating an elf into play since elves tend to be pretty low-costed. Instead of running something Collected Company or Genesis Wave as a Signature Spell, I’ve decided to play it safe with this list by going with good old Heroic Intervention. This instant will help prevent our board from being wiped away easily, and it won’t be very difficult to hold up this spell on the same turn we resolve our Oathbreaker.
- Mana Acceleration: Like just about any elves list out there, this deck has more than its fair share of mana ramp. Utopia Sprawl and Wild Growth are two of the best ramp enablers to have access to early in the game, especially when we pair them with the likes of Arbor Elf and our Oathbreaker. Other ramp pieces at the one-drop slot include Elvish Mystic, Fyndhorn Elves, Llanowar Elves and Heritage Druid. In case our mana acceleration wasn’t already explosive enough, we have access to creatures like Elvish Archdruid and Priest of Titania that are made for this type of deck. Elvish Guidance is a land aura that offers a similar effect, and Marwyn, the Nurturer will add more mana as she becomes stronger. Another piece of ramp that pairs particularly well with our Oathbreaker is Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, especially since our deck relies so heavily on its green cards.
- Tribal Support: Dwynen’s Elite will help us fill up our board in the early game, and Lys Alana Huntmaster will add even more to the pile as we get the tribal train running. Lifegain has always been powerful in Oathbreaker, and we can use our mass of elves to buffer our life total through cards like Wellwisher, Nissa Revane and Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen. A lot of our elves also happen to come with powerful tap abilities that can be further capitalized on with Quirion Ranger and Wirewood Lodge. If all of this doesn’t make our board large enough, we can give it all an extra boost with Joraga Warcaller. We can also tutor for whatever piece of the puzzle we may need with the versatile Elvish Harbinger. To top it all off, our ramp can help us put the rest of the table behind with the devastating Kindred Dominance.
- Win Conditions: Elf tribal certainly has no shortage of ways to win the game, especially since we’re running Golgari colors. Our mass of elves will help build up massive threats like Abomination of Llanowar, Drove of Elves and Heedless One that let us go tall. We can also easily go wide by boosting our board with the activated abilities on Allosaurus Shepherd and Ezuri, Renegade Leader, or with the classic triggered ability on Craterhoof Behemoth (a longtime honorary elf). I’ve also decided to diversify some of this list’s win conditions with cards that work outside of combat. With all of the mana that we’re producing, we should have no trouble decimating our opponents’ life totals by funneling that mana into Exsanguinate or Torment of Hailfire. If one of our opponents happens to be left standing after the dust settles, we can easily finish them off with Shaman of the Pack.
Build #2: Rakdos Vampires
Decklist: Angrath’s Angry Vampires
Orzhov-colored vampire decks are no stranger to Oathbreaker, but I wanted to try out the less-popular Rakdos variety. Although there’s plenty of tribal support in these colors, there isn’t any Oathbreaker that’s particularly well-suited to this specific strategy. I’ve opted to go with Angrath, Captain of Chaos for this list, almost entirely for his static ability. As for a Signature Spell, there were many vampire-themed cards that I considered using, but I ultimately settled on Stensia Banquet. I honestly had no idea that this card even existed until I started to do research for vampire tribal, but it fits surprisingly well in a vampire Oathbreaker deck. It’s important to note that this card’s oracle text does specify that it can target opponents or planeswalkers, which is relevant in our format for obvious reasons. Even with the “draw a card” part stapled on the end, this card definitely isn’t the most “competitive” of Signature Spell options for this strategy, but boy is it flavorful (as every banquet should be).
- Discard/Madness Support: Although this deck is not a dedicated discard-themed list, it’s still running a number of the madness cards that Rakdos vampires are known for. Olivia’s Dragoon and Stromkirk Condemned are definitely this deck’s best discard outlets since they work at instant-speed and are easily repeatable, though Call the Bloodline is a pretty close 3rd. Key to the City is another pretty handy enabler since it allows us to easily attack opposing Oathbreakers. We can give Furyblade Vampire a momentary boost on each of our combat steps by discarding a card, while Heir of Falkenrath can give itself a one-time boost and turn itself into Heir to the Night. Not all of our vampires come with a madness cost, but Falkenrath Gorger will change that just by sitting in play. If we ever find ourselves empty-handed, creatures like Anje’s Ravager and Asylum Visitor can help refill our hand a little.
- +1/+1 Counter Boosts: This list isn’t really themed around +1/+1 counters specifically, but a lot of our cards happen to grant boosts through +1/+1 counters. Knight of the Ebon Legion will passively grow on its own as we clobber our opponents, and creatures like Markov Blademaster will boost themselves after dealing combat damage. To add insult to injury, we’ve got Rakish Heir and Stensia Masquerade to grant the same effect to all of our vampires (and yes, these effects stack). Drana, Liberator of Malakir will boost all of our attacking creatures after she deals combat damage, which is an effect that pairs very well with her first strike. Olivia, Mobilized for War is a bit more reserved in dealing out +1/+1 counters, but she does come with the additional upsides of granting haste and acting as a discard outlet. Perhaps most mana-efficient of all, we’ve got the low-costed Blade of the Bloodchief to help pile on the counters to whatever vampire we choose to attach it to. The Ozolith is the only way for this deck to capitalize on +1/+1 counters specifically, but it is a very handy card to have in case of mass removal (and yes, it will collect any counters from fallen Army tokens created by Angrath).
- Other Tribal Synergies: This type of strategy has access to regular lord effects like Stromkirk Captain, as well as more ambitious board-wide buffs like Bloodline Keeper/Lord of Lineage. We can also potentially catch our opponents off guard mid-combat with a timely Vampiric Fury, and Olivia’s Bloodsworn will make sure all of our attackers are coming in hot ‘n hasty. If regular buffs aren’t enough to get the job done, we can try to drain our opponents out with cards like Sanctum Seeker and Malakir Bloodwitch. Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord can supply us with a targeted drain effect, you know, whenever he isn’t buffing our vampires or cheating vampires into play from our hand. Finally, we’re packing a bit of added resiliency in the form of Patriarch’s Bidding in case we get hit with a lot of mass removal.
Build #3: Izzet Pirates
Decklist: Royal Piracy
To be completely honest, I didn’t really expect to be covering pirate tribal in Oathbreaker any time soon; however, that was before I learned that Commander Legends brought along a fair bit of pirate support in Izzet colors! Pirates definitely seem to specialize in being aggressive, so I decided to lean into that tendency with this list. The Royal Scions don’t care about pirates specifically, but they are an excellent choice of Oathbreaker for any Izzet deck looking to get frisky in combat. As for this deck’s Signature Spell, I’ve decided to go with a bit of an oddball choice: Volcanic Salvo. Reducing the cost of this spell definitely won’t be effortless, but it’s far from unobtainable. Our Oathbreaker’s second +1 ability will help boost our board a little, and this deck is already leaning more towards the aggressive side of the spectrum. On top of that, having planeswalker interaction in the command zone will allow us to focus our attackers more on our opponent’s life totals and less on their Oathbreakers. In other words, our pirates will be turning their (volcanic?) cannons on our opponents’ threats to help clear the way for a boarding party.
- Pirate Support: Pirate tribal hasn’t had a lot of time to receive much in the way of support, but there are certainly a few hidden gems in there. Dreamcaller Siren can be great for tapping down any opposing attackers/blockers, and Fiery Cannonade is an instant-speed Pyroclasm that will leave our pirates unharmed. Commander Legends has also given us newer cards like Corsair Captain, a new pirate “lord”. Captain Vargus Wrath can also give our whole board a little boost when he attacks as long as we’ve already cast our Oathbreaker (casting our Signature Spell does not contribute to this effect). Combat will become even more profitable for us when we have Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator to net us some treasure or Breeches, Brazen Plunder to net us some card advantage. If our pirate-count is ever running a bit low, we can briefly change that by yoinking an opposing creature with Coercive Recruiter. As a tribal deck, we can also take advantage of any “universal” cards that care about creature types, such as Distant Melody.
- More Power!: Since our Signature Spell does care about the overall power of our board, it’ll be a good idea to pack a few more ways to add a little “oomph” to our boarding party. Coastline Marauders starts with 0 power, but it can grow to be pretty huge after attacking. We can also double up on our beefier non-legendary creatures with cards like Protean Raider and Quasiduplicate. If necessary, we can further arm our fleet with equipment like Shadowspear or Grafted Wargear. Vehicles also pair pretty well with Volcanic Salvo, and every pirate crew needs a ship, so we’re naturally running Heart of Kiran and Skysovereign, Consul Flagship to help us set sail.
- Other Fun Pirates: A number of our pirates come with some built-in evasion, which is particularly helpful with keeping opposing Oathbreakers in check. Storm Fleet Sprinter can avoid blockers entirely, and Departed Deckhand is nearly as effective. Daring Saboteur‘s evasion comes at a price, but it does come with the added value of looting. The one-and-only Ghost of Ramirez DePietro comes with their own interesting form of evasion, and their triggered ability pairs oddly well with the first +1 ability on our Oathbreaker. To give us even more of an edge in combat, we can use Warkite Marauder‘s triggered ability to weaken our opponent’s best blocker. If that weren’t enough, Port Razer can easily give us an extra combat step (after being buffed by The Royal Scions) to cause even more devastation with our pirate fleet. Conversely, Emberwilde Captain will help deter opposing attackers all while drawing us extra cards. Also, we’re running Hullbreacher because apparently, on top of everything else, that card is a pirate.
Shared Cards
Here’s a quick overview of what notable cards each of the lists share with each other.
- Vampires & Pirates: Anger, Shadowspear and Squee, Goblin Nabob
- Elves, Vampires & Pirates: Unclaimed Territory
So an Elf, a Vampire and a Pirate Walk Into a Bar . . .
Since finishing article on tribal decks in Oathbreaker, I deliberated a lot on what the second installment would have in store. Fortunately for me, Commander Legends presented the perfect opportunity by providing plenty of new tribal support for elves and pirates. I was pleasantly surprised with how well the pirates deck came out, in particular, since I’m so used to that tribe being pretty ineffective in multiplayer formats.
I’ve decided to take a bit of a vacation from writing articles over the holidays. and I likely won’t be posting again until 2021; however, I am also going to be joining in on a charity event next month where several different players—myself included—will be taking part in some live streamed games of Oathbreaker! You can find more information about the event and how do donate to it here. I’m really excited to help raise money for charity by playing Oathbreaker, so please come join in if you can!
Have you played any tribal decks in Oathbreaker? What planeswalker do you/would you play and build an tribal deck around? Make sure to share your thoughts and brews with me on Reddit 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