I took a look at various different kinds of artifact strategies for Oathbreaker in my last “Mana Clash” article (linked here). Similar to that topic, this week’s archetype is very broad and often overlaps with many other narrower archetypes, regardless of what format you’re playing. As always, I’ll be taking a look at three different decklists in this article, all with different Oathbreakers/Signature Spells.
The Archetype
At the end of the day, all tribal decks have one thing in common; they’re all built around (usually only) one specific creature type. Different creature types from across MTG’s history have their own sets of strengths and weaknesses, so there’s naturally a very large variety of tribal decks out there. Some tribal decks are low-to-the-ground aggressive strategies. Others may aim to win the long game through attrition, or they may simply ramp to the point of going over the top of their opponents. Regardless of what specific tribal deck you’re looking at, it’s more-than-likely built to assemble a large group of one subtype of creature on-board that all synergize with one another.
It’s not surprising that tribal strategies have carved themselves out a home in Oathbreaker. There’s an inherent appeal to creature-based decks in the format since having a board full of creatures generally makes it easier to pressure opposing Oathbreakers and defend your own. There are also some Oathbreakers/Signature Spells that are themed around a specific creature type, though having access to these types of cards in the command zone isn’t always necessary to make a tribal list work. Sarkhan, Fireblood, Sorin, Vengeful Bloodlord, and Arlinn Kord are three popular examples of tribal Oathbreakers, but there are plenty of other options available.
Since there are so many different styles of tribal decks, it’s difficult to pin down any shared weaknesses. Board wipes are effective against many tribal decks, especially ones that are low-to-the-ground, since they often rely heavily on creature-based synergies. Other tribes that are a bit higher in cost, such as dragons or eldrazi, may suffer more from early mana disruption. There are also cards designed to hate on named creature types, such as Plague Engineer and Witch’s Vengeance, but most players choose to not run such options since they’re very narrow in focus.
Now that we’ve gone over the general archetype, let’s look at the specific builds I have prepared for today.
Build #1: Temur Dragons
Decklist: Sarkhan’s Stampede
I’ve covered a few different dragon tribal lists before on this blog, but I’ve never built one in temur colors before. Sarkhan Unbroken is one of the most on-point dragon tribal Oathbreakers from a flavor perspective, and he’s a fairly strong Oathbreaker for this strategy in terms of actual gameplay. Being able to immediately tick down to create a 4/4 dragon is a generically strong effect, and it’s even more powerful in a deck built specifically around dragons. Most dragon tribal support falls under red’s slice of the color pie, but it isn’t the only important color for this particular list. Adding green to the mix gives us access to the best mana ramp in the format, which will help make up for our dragons’ high mana costs. On top of that, green also gives us access to a pretty powerful Signature Spell: Selvala’s Stampede. Sarkhan’s +1 ability will both help us ramp into our stampede and help ensure we have enough cards in hand to cheat into play.
- Mana Ramp: This list is running an abundance of mana acceleration to ramp into our horde of dragons, our Oathbreaker, and our Signature Spell. Our only pieces of creature ramp are Arboreal Grazer and Sakura-Tribe Elder since we want as most of our creatures to be big hits for our Signature Spell. Farseek, Nature’s Lore and Rampant Growth are all excellent ramp spells to play on turn 2, as is Arcane Signet. Utopia Sprawl and Wild Growth are even cheaper forms of acceleration, and they’re even more potent when paired with the likes of Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner. Even still, our most powerful “ramp” spell is definitely Fires of Invention, which will make it even easier for us to repeatedly cast Selvala’s Stampede and completely overwhelm our opponents.
- Dragons Matter: Dragons are probably one of MTG’s most supported tribes, regardless of what color combination you’re playing. Dragon Tempest turns all of our dragons into hasty threats while netting us a little extra damage, similar to Scourge of Valkas. Dragon’s Hoard is useful for both mana ramp and card advantage, whereas Sarkhan, Fireblood is handy for mana ramp and card filtering. We can use the static abilities on Icefall Regent and Thunderbreak Regent to help protect our threats, the former with a mana tax and the latter with a burn tax. Our horde of dragons will grow even faster when we have Lathliss, Dragon Queen in play, and we can even use Sarkhan the Masterless to turn our planeswalkers into extra dragons. To top it all off, Atarka, World Render will ensure victory by giving all of our dragons double strike when we attack our opponents.
- Other Dragons: Glorybringer and Stormbreath Dragon are two classic, hasty five-drops that will help us keep up the pressure on our opponents. Although not hasty, Terror of the Peaks can also net us a lot of extra damage with its triggered ability (especially after a Selvala’s Stampede). Nesting Dragon is another solid five-drop that gives us a bit of insurance against opposing board wipes, and it pairs very well with all of our land ramp. If we really want to go big with our mana in the late game, we can drop Dragonlord Atarka on the board and take out an opposing Oathbreaker in the process. Verix Bladewing is another pseudo-seven-drop that can also be played as a plain old 4/4 early on, if necessary. Even still, our flashiest threat is probably Niv-Mizzet, Parun. While its mana-cost is pretty restrictive, this deck doesn’t have much trouble with mana fixing, and this card’s abilities are more than worth the cost.
Build #2: Mono-Black Zombies
Decklist: Liliana’s Apocalypse
This deck is actually a slightly modified version of a list I worked on way back when I first started playing Oathbreaker. The first time I sat down and tried to brainstorm ideas for flashy Signature Spells, it didn’t take me very long to think of Zombie Apocalypse. The high cost on this sorcery certainly isn’t the most appealing, but I think it’s still an excellent choice of Signature Spell for a zombie tribal deck. Aside from the fact that it’s oozing with flavor, Zombie Apocalypse can easily win games out of nowhere, and it’s high mana-cost can make it easy for your opponents to forget about. Liliana, Untouched by Death is the perfect Oathbreaker to pair with this spicy spell, for multiple reasons. Her +1 ability alone is enough of a reason to run her since it both fills the graveyard and drains our opponents, which is a deceivingly powerful effect. The -3 ability also packs quite the punch, and it’s a perfectly reasonable alternative if we don’t have the mana for Zombie Apocalypse.
- Filling the Graveyard: Our Oathbreaker will be doing most of the self-milling for us, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have a few other ways to keep our graveyard well-stocked. Mire Triton and Stitcher’s Supplier are two cheap creatures that will make fine chump blockers and/or sacrifice fodder, and they’ll mill us in the process. We can repeatedly mill ourselves with Liliana, Death’s Majesty, all while adding to our zombie horde. We can also discard our zombies, if necessary, with threats like Rotting Regisaur and Smuggler’s Copter. These kinds of discard enablers work especially well when we have zombies in hand that are easy to reanimate, like Dread Wanderer, Gravecrawler, and Scourge of Nel Toth, or cards that otherwise synergize with the graveyard, like Vengeful Pharaoh.
- Zombies Matter: Zombies have received a lot of tribal support over the years, even if you’re only considering mono-black options. Cemetery Reaper, Death Baron, Lord of the Accursed, and Undead Warchief are all excellent “lords” that come with their own additional upsides. Relentless Dead is a cheap threat that pairs very well with these power buffs, and it won’t be easy to get rid of thanks to its triggered ability. We can also turn our zombie horde into extra cards with the help of Cryptbreaker and Undead Augur. If we need to cut our opponents’ creatures down to size while we build our board, Noxious Ghoul is the perfect zombie for the job since it’s essentially a Doomwake Giant for zombies. Meanwhile, we can disincentivize our opponents from wiping our board with Vengeful Dead, or simply use it to kill our opponents right away with a sacrifice outlet like Carrion Feeder.
- Other Zombies: Changeling Outcast is a creature I include in pretty much every black tribal Oathbreaker list I make, solely because it’s so effective at pressuring opposing planeswalkers. Stromgald Crusader can also be a nice way to pressure our opponents thanks to its activated abilities, and it coincidentally comes with protection from one of the best colors in the format. Diregraf Colossus can, oddly enough, be good at going both tall and wide, depending on the situation. We can also refill our board pretty quickly by running out a Rot Hulk while our graveyard is full. If we can’t take out an opponent via combat, we can also drain them out with cards like Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Loyal Subordinate, and Vindictive Lich. Last, but not least, is Murderous Rider, our Hero’s Downfall that also counts as a zombie.
Build #3: Green/White Cats
Decklist: Ajani’s Kitty Maneuver
Not too long ago, cats were considered to be one of the funnier/jankier tribes in MTG’s recent history; however, cats have received a lot of support in the last few years that’s left the tribe feeling surprisingly strong. Green and white are the go-to colors for cats, and when looking at green/white Oathbreakers for a cat tribal list, there was one clear choice to me. In addition to being a flavor win, Ajani, the Greathearted has abilities that are very well-suited to an aggressive-midrange cat tribal list. Giving vigilance to your entire board is a pretty strong effect on its own, and Ajani can give a permanent +1/+1 buff to your board (multiple times, if necessary) on top of that. This particular list is looking to go fairly wide, which will also leave us especially vulnerable to board wipes; however, we’ll be able to mostly circumvent this issue with Flawless Maneuver as our Signature Spell. This list is also running a tiny bit of +1/+1 counter and lifegain synergy since 1) those themes are fairly common among MTG cats, and 2) Ajani’s loyalty abilities fit right in with those themes.
- Cats Matter: Although they’re still a relatively new tribe, cats have their fair share of “lord” effects. Feline Sovereign, Kaheera, the Orphanguard, and Regal Caracal all offer a nice +1/+1 buff, along with their own additional bonuses. King of the Pride gives an even bigger buff, and Hungry Lynx can permanently buff our board over the course of a game as we give our opponents rats for our cats to hunt down. Conversely, Pride Sovereign buffs itself based on how many cats we have, and we can even tap it to add some tokens to our board. We’ve also got Arahbo, Roar of the World at the top end of our curve. At worst, this big kitty will passively give one of our cats a +3/+3 buff on each of our turns; at best, he’ll do that and help some of our cats trample over opposing blockers with that second triggered ability of his.
- Incidental Synergies: In addition to the more traditional tribal synergies, this deck is running a number of cards that simply pair very well with our Oathbreaker. Pridemalkin and Scrounging Bandar work very well with Ajani’s -2 ability, as well as our other +1/+1 counter enablers, such as Basri’s Acolyte. We can also capitalize on our Oathbreaker’s +1 ability with the tokens made by Ajani, Strength of the Pride, or we can use the OG Ajani’s Pridemate. We can even use Frondland Felidar to get even more value out of Ajani’s static ability! To top it all off, we’re also running Keeper of Fables as an easy way to refill our hand.
- Other Cats: Adorned Pouncer pairs very well with all of our various power buffs, and it can even be eternalized if need be. Also at the two-drop slot, Bronzehide Lion and Fleecemane Lion both put Watchwolf to shame thanks to their respective forms of resiliency. Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist will be very helpful with getting around opposing blockers, even if her second ability is a bit of a “non-bo” with Ajani’s static ability. We can also fill out our board with kitties even further with the help of Brimaz, King of Oreskos, Cubwarden, and Leonin Warleader.
Shared Cards
Here’s a quick overview of what notable cards each of the lists share with each other.
- Dragons & Cats: Wild Growth, Once Upon a Time, Farseek, Nature’s Lore, Arboreal Grazer, and Sakura-Tribe Elder
Dragons, Zombies, & Cats, Oh My!
It was difficult for me to narrow down the list of creature types to cover for this article, but I feel very happy with how these decklists turned out. I’m sure I’ll do at least one more “Mana Clash” article on tribal strategies in the future since there are still so many strong options for Oathbreaker to explore; spirits, merfolk, goblins, elves, and vampires are just a handful I can think of off the top of my head!
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 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