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New Perspectives: Narset of the Ancient Way

In my last “New Perspectives” article, I went over some ways to build around a long-established Oathbreaker, Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God, and you can find that article here. Now I’ve decided to take a stab at brewing some Jeskai decks, a color combination that’s brand new to Oathbreaker thanks to this newest version of Narset! Jeskai is, admittedly, my least favorite 3-color combination, but I am still very excited to see new deckbuilding possibilities being opened up in Oathbreaker. Best of all, Narset of the Ancient Way is a pretty versatile planeswalker that can easily be used in a variety of different strategies.

The Oathbreaker:

Let’s begin by taking a look at the individual abilities on Narset of the Ancient Way.

As far as +1 abilities go, Narset’s seems pretty fair. There are plenty of different deck archetypes that could easily put the extra mana to good use, and you can always use it to help pay for your Signature Spell, if nothing else. Incidental lifegain is also a pretty strong effect to have access to in Oathbreaker, so even just using this ability to gain 2 life a turn wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. The lifegain half of this ability also pairs very well with cards like Ajani’s Pridemate, so Narset could even prove to be a decent Oathbreaker for certain lifegain strategies.

This second ability of Narset’s is worded in a pretty interesting way. The “discard” part of the ability is optional, so it can always be used as a simple -2 to draw a card. If you do decide to discard a nonland card, then this -2 ability turns into a looting-effect plus a removal spell. The fact that this ability can target planeswalkers is particularly relevant since it means Narset can be used to take down an opposing Oathbreaker when necessary. Even the discard requirement to this ability isn’t that much of a downside, especially in strategies that are already looking to fill up their graveyard.

I’ve really been digging the new direction WOTC has been taking with planeswalker ultimates lately, making them cost less loyalty to use and less likely to win the game on the spot. This -6 ability is pretty easy to get to since Narset starts at 4 loyalty, and blue has plenty of proliferate cards that could get you there even sooner. Even though this emblem usually won’t end a game very quickly, it will definitely be a nice edge to have over the rest of the table. Oathbreaker life totals do only start at 20, so it’s certainly possible to burn an opponent out of the game with this emblem, especially if you’re already applying additional pressure to their life total on-board. I still don’t think this ultimate ability is necessarily one to build a deck around, but it’s a decent payoff for keeping Narset’s loyalty count high.

This iteration of Narset actually reminds me a bit of Tamiyo, Field Researcher, in that her abilities don’t force you in any particular direction. These abilities can certainly be capitalized on in a variety of archetypes, but they don’t shoehorn you into any specific strategy. This versatility, combined with the fact that Narset of the Ancient Way is the first Jeskai Oathbreaker, means that there’s no shortage of ways to build around her; however, for this article, I will only be looking at three different builds, as always.

Build #1: Jeskai Auras

Decklist: Narset’s Ancient Auras

I haven’t spent much time tinkering with aura-based strategies in Oathbreaker, but I thought that this new Narset presented the perfect opportunity. Jeskai isn’t the most common color combination for this kind of deck, but it isn’t unheard of either. In the case of this specific list, our gameplan is based on buffing our creature-threats with beneficial auras and using our Oathbreaker/Signature Spell as some late-game support. Enlightened Tutor is the perfect kind of Signature Spell for this deck since it can tutor for pretty much any kind of effect we may be looking for, and it can even be immediately cast off of Narset’s +1 ability. Artifacts and enchantments make up about a third of this entire deck, so we’ll have no shortage of tutor targets.

  • The Threats: Kor Spiritdancer is a pretty traditional inclusion for this kind of deck both for the card advantage it provides and its potential to become a threat very quickly. Champion of the Flame is a very similar creature, though it comes with added evasion instead of added card advantage. Given the number of spells we’ll be targeting our own creatures with, heroic creatures like Favored Hoplite and Hero of Iroas will come in very handy, and Seeker of the Way will (temporarily) get larger whenever we cast any noncreature spell. Adanto Vanguard and Geist of Saint Traft are two creatures that can easily swing in for a lot of damage without being easily removed. Being able to avoid opposing blockers is another key part of this strategy, so Gingerbrute will make another fine target for our auras (and it can even be tutored for with our Signature Spell!). Invisible Stalker can’t be blocked nor targeted by our opponents, making it the best auras target in this deck by far.
  • The Protection/Evasion: Since this deck is looking to pile up so many auras on only a few creatures, we’re going to have to be able to avoid getting blown out by opposing removal. We run a few auras that are helpful in this regard, such as Squee’s Embrace and Hyena Umbra, but we also have other means of protecting our creatures. Alseid of Life’s Bounty is an enchantment-creature that can function as a one-time Mother of Runes, and Karametra’s Blessing doubles as both a protection spell and a pump spell. Still, building our creatures up and keeping them on the board won’t mean much if we can’t get through for damage, so we’re also running a number of auras that grant our creatures evasion. Arcane Flight, Gryff’s Boon, and Angelic Destiny all buff the enchanted creature’s power and get them into the air. Other auras like Aqueous Form and Spirit Mantle will help our creatures bypass opposing blockers entirely.
  • The Other Auras: Even in a singleton format like Oathbreaker, there are plenty of strong auras at our disposal. Ethereal Armor, All That Glitters, and Daybreak Coronet have all become staples in aura-based strategies in other formats and they’re just as powerful here. Sage’s Reverie comes at a higher mana-cost, but it will also refill our hand more often than not. The blue offered by Jeskai colors also allow us to play Curious Obsession, Staggering Insight, and Sea-Dasher Octopus as additional means of card advantage. If our first threats are ever dealt with, we can also recur auras like Sentinel’s Eyes and Escape Velocity to slowly build up another creature. With all that being said, my personal favorite aura in this list is Invocation of Saint Traft, which can turn any of our creatures into a pseudo-Geist of Saint Traft.

Build #2: Kuldotha Jeskai

Decklist: Narset Artifacts

This next decklist delves into the world of artifacts, and it might be my personal favorite of the three decks in this article. In many ways, this deck feels like a cross between two of my current Oathbreaker decks: Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast/Kuldotha Rebirth and Saheeli, Sublime Artificer/Thoughtcast. This deck utilizes a lot of the same artifact synergies as my Saheeli and Daretti decks, though it also feels much fairer than the typical Saheeli list. Kuldotha Rebirth is a great spell to pair with Narset since it can be immediately cast off of her +1 ability, and the 1/1 goblins can act as fine blockers to defend Narset, if nothing else. Jeskai also has its fair share of artifact payoffs that lend some real extra power behind all of the value this deck can generate.

  • The Card Draw: Narset may be able to draw us an extra card every once in a while, but this deck has plenty of ways to churn through its cards. Arcum’s Astrolabe and Ichor Wellspring are both fine pieces of sacrifice fodder for our Signature Spell, or we can always pick them up and replay them with the help of Glint Hawk or Kor Skyfisher. Cards like Idol of Oblivion and Skullclamp can help us keep our hand full after we start filling our board with tokens, created by our Signature Spell or otherwise. We’re also running a few pseudo-Timetwister effects that can refill our hand entirely when needed. Midnight Clock acts as a fine mana rock for a few turns while we empty out our hand, and we can discard Echo of Eons to Narset’s -2 ability so we can play it for its low flashback cost.
  • The Muscle: Given how small a lot of our creatures are, we’re going to need some ways to turn them into some real threats. Equipment like Grafted Wargear, Batterskull, and Umezawa’s Jitte will turn even our lowly 1/1s into an effective fighting force, and they pair especially well with Gingerbrute in this list. We can also use our creature to crew Smuggler’s Copter, or similarly use Narset’s loyalty to crew Heart of Kiran. If we need some more help pushing through combat damage, we can use The Royal Scions to give our biggest creature trample, or we could always just use them for card filtering if we don’t need the extra push. We can also easily use our mass of creatures to suddenly take an opponent out of the game entirely with direct damage through Burn at the Stake.
  • The Artifact Payoffs: As I mentioned earlier, Jeskai has access to a number of payoffs for artifacts-based strategies. Ensoul Artifact is a great way to turn one of our tiny artifacts into a decent threat, and the construct tokens made by Karn, Scion of Urza can get even larger than that. Akiri, Line-Slinger is another creature that will grow as we develop our board, while Mizzium Tank can quickly become a massive threat in a deck with this many non-creature spells (34 in this deck, including our Oathbreaker and Signature Spell). Some of our payoffs, like Thoughtcast and Tezzeret, Artifice Master, are here to help keep our hand full, while other payoffs like Shrapnel Blast are just here to help us close out the game as quickly as possible.

Build #3: Jeskai Goat-Reckoner

Decklist: Narset Damage

This list is definitely the most . . . unusual out of the three presented in this article. In my Top 10 White Cards from Ikoria, I briefly mentioned some of the wacky things you can do with a card like Stormwild Capridor, and that’s exactly what this deck is built to do. There are a variety of creatures in MTG that benefit from being dealt large amounts of damage, and most of them happen to fit in Jeskai colors. Most of these creatures deal damage equal to the damage that they take, but some can even use damage to draw extra cards. Blasphemous Act is the perfect Signature Spell for this type of strategy since it allows us to easily deal massive amounts of damage to our own creatures, all while keeping our opponents’ creatures off the board. It won’t be too difficult to keep Blasphemous Act‘s mana-cost low, especially since Oathbreaker is a multiplayer format, and it can be surprisingly easy to take one or more opponents out of the game entirely after casting this Signature Spell only once.

  • The Firepower: I already mentioned Stormwild Capridor, which can become an obscenely large threat in this deck, but there are plenty of other creatures that can help us end the game. Boros Reckoner, Mogg Maniac, Spiteful Sliver, Spitemare, and Truefire Captain can all deal a ton of direct damage to our opponents after getting hit by Blasphemous Act or any of our other damage sources. Stuffy Doll is another creature that can fill the same role, though it is limited to only throwing damage at one particular opponent. Conversely, we can also turn Blasphemous Act into a massive lifegain spell with the help of Soulfire Grand Master‘s static ability.
  • The Card Draw: The primary weakness of this deck is that it heavily relies on its heavy hitters, like Stormwild Capridor and Boros Reckoner, to close out the game, so we need to be able to dig for those cards when we don’t draw them naturally. This deck runs a lot of the typical cantrips you’d expect to see in these colors, like Brainstorm, Ponder, and Preordain, though we also have Faithless Looting, Impulse, and Echo of Eons to dig even deeper when necessary. On top of these typical inclusions, we also have a few creatures that will refill our hand after getting hit by one of our massive damage-dealers. Swans of Bryn Argoll is a fairly-costed flyer that’s commonly run in these types of strategies, and Illusory Ambusher is a similar card that can even be used to ambush an opponent’s creature mid-combat.
  • Redundancy/Protection: In this kind of narrowly-focused strategy, we’ll need all the redundant “combo-pieces” we can get. Deafening Clarion and Chain Reaction can each deal a fair bit of damage to our creatures and, by extension, our opponents, even if they’re not quite as effective as our Signature Spell. All of our damage-dealing creatures are in red and white, but blue can contribute more in this area as well with self-cloning effects like Quasiduplicate and Mirror Image. Even with this kind of redundancy, we won’t always be able to take out the entire table in one shot, so we’ll want to have some protections effects like Boros Charm, Selfless Spirit, Flawless Maneuver, and Brought Back to give us more than one chance to hit our creatures with a blast from our Signature Spell.

Shared Cards

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

This Is The Way

I’m so glad to finally see a new three-color combination make its way into Oathbreaker, and I hope we’ll get even more printed in the near(ish) future. I’ve had a lot of fun brainstorming different ways to build around Narset, even though I’m typically much of a Jeskai player. New color combinations mean new deckbuilding possibilities, and I look forward to seeing all the different ways that players try to utilize Narset of the Ancient Way in Oathbreaker!

How do you want to play Jeskai in Oathbreaker? Do you already have any decks brewed up with the new Narset? 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