Zendikar Rising preview season has finally come to a close, which also means it’s finally time for me to do my review of the set for Oathbreaker! To be more specific, I’ll be doing a Top 10 article for cards of each color, as well as one for multicolor cards. I’ll also be doing a Top 10 article that will cover the remaining cards of the set along with the new cards from the two new preconstructed EDH decks. My Top 10s are based on 1) how strong I think a card will be in Oathbreaker, and 2) how many different types of Oathbreaker decks I expect the card to see play in. While I do try to be as objective as I can, these are ultimately just my own thoughts/opinions. With all that out of the way, let’s kick things off with my Top 10 Blue cards from Zendikar Rising for Oathbreaker!
#10: Deliberate
This first card on the list is nothing fancy, but it is fairly efficient. I covered Omen of the Sea on a previous Top 10 article, and Deliberate is a very similar card. Preordain already sees plenty of play in the format, and Deliberate‘s slightly higher mana-cost is offset by the flexibility of it being instant-speed. Virtually any blue deck could justify running this card, though I wouldn’t use it as a Signature Spell. Deliberate certainly isn’t anything we haven’t seen before, but I’m sure it’ll see its fair share of Oathbreaker play.
#9: Charix, the Raging Isle
I . . . am honestly not even sure where to start with this big crabby fella. This absolute unit comes with a whopping 17 toughness for the low cost of only four mana, and it even has a little bit of built-in protection. Even still, Charix’s activated ability is definitely the most interesting part of this card to me. Blue has access to many creatures with similar abilities, but most don’t come stapled to a creature with this big of a booty. The most obvious home for this kind of card in Oathbreaker would be sea monster decks that run cards like Whelming Wave. Toughness-matters lists that splash blue (hehe, “splash”) could also make use of a 0/17 quite easily, though Charix’s lack of evasion could be a bit of a hindrance there. This big blue pal may be one of the most unusual cards in the set, but I’m looking forward to seeing how players decide to run it in Oathbreaker.
#8: Sea Gate Stormcaller
Snapcaster Mage this is not, but Sea Gate Stormcaller does come with its own perks. I personally don’t find the kicker cost on this card very appealing, but this two-drop wizard doesn’t need to be kicked in order to provide some decent value. Oathbreaker has its fair share of cheap spells that this card could capitalize on; Demonic Tutor, Fatal Push, Lightning Bolt, and Path to Exile are just a handful of examples I can think of off the top of my head. Since this card is a creature, it can also be blinked later on in the game for even more value, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some convoluted way to go infinite with this card (though if there is a way, I’m not currently aware of it). I can’t say for sure just how widely played Sea Gate Stormcaller will be, but I’m sure it’ll provide some sweet, sweet value for the lists that can make it work.
#7: Jace, Mirror Mage
I have very conflicted feelings over this newest iteration of Jace. On one hand, I’m very excited to see kicker costs being introduced to planeswalkers, especially since it could open up more opportunities for three-color planeswalkers in the future; on the other hand, I don’t find the loyalty abilities on Jace, Mirror Mage to be very exciting. Scrying and drawing cards is nice and all, but blue has no shortage of these effects already. I do think it’s kind of neat how if you pay the kicker cost to get two Jaces, you can use the first Jace to scry and set up for the second Jace to use its 0 ability. I suspect that Jace, Mirror Mage will ultimately show up more in the 58 of various lists than as an Oathbreaker himself, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
#6: Thieving Skydiver
I’ve seen a lot of EDH players get excited about this card, and I suspect it will see its fair share of play in Oathbreaker as well. Although artifacts tend to not be quite as ubiquitous in this format as they are in EDH, Oathbreaker still has a decent number of low-cost artifact staples. Grafted Wargear, Shadowspear, Umezawa’s Jitte, and Sword of Sinew and Steel are all equipment that see a fair bit of play in Oathbreaker (those last two especially). Even outside the world of equipment, Thieving Skydiver can be used to snatch up other powerful artifacts like Heart of Kiran or Smuggler’s Copter. I’ll admit that I’m not 100% sure what kind of decks will want to run this card the most, but I am looking forward to seeing what lists this spicy merfolk will pop up in.
#5: Inscription of Insight
This sorcery is pretty efficiently-costed given its modal versatility and the strength of the individual effects. The only real shortcoming of Inscription of Insight is that it’s a sorcery, but that downside is what’s keeping it this far down on the list. Just about any deck could theoretically make use of this card, but it would likely be most at-home in control strategies. I probably wouldn’t run it as a Signature Spell, and I suspect that situations where you’ll pay its kicker cost will be the exception rather than the rule. Even still, Inscription of Insight will make a fine addition to blue’s ever-increasing array of card draw enablers.
#4: Ruin Crab
Everyone, say hello to Hedron Crab‘s friendly cousin! You may not be able to use Ruin Crab to mill yourself, but it is much more effective at milling out your opponents. One of the biggest downsides of playing mill in a multiplayer format like Oathbreaker is that you often have to be able to mill multiple opponents out of the game. Luckily enough, cards like Ruin Crab can help mitigate that weakness, and this little fella is a deceivingly strong mill card when deployed early in the game. This crabby pal can do a lot of damage (not literally) even if left on board for only a few turns, even more so if it’s paired with fetchlands. Ruin Crab will likely be limited to seeing play solely in dedicated mill strategies, but it will be one heck of a powerhouse in those decks.
#3: Master of Winds
This low-costed sphinx comes with a very interesting mix of abilities. The enter-the-battlefield trigger on Master of Winds would likely have been enough to earn itself a spot on this list, but the fun doesn’t end there. Any instants, sorceries, or wizards you may cast will double as a combat trick for this flying fella, meaning that Master of Winds can shift between offensive and defensive stats at the drop of a dime in the right deck. Blink decks could obviously take advantage of that powerful enter-the-battlefield trigger, but I could also see this sphinx popping up in prowess decks or other blue aggressive strategies (I for one really want to try this out with The Royal Scions). There could very well be other homes in Oathbreaker for Master of Winds that I simply haven’t thought of yet, and I look forward to seeing what brews players will put this card into.
#2: Maddening Cacophony
Now this card looks like a spicy option for a Signature Spell! Maddening Cacophony gets around the multiplayer-mill downside similarly to Ruin Crab, and it does so at a pretty efficient rate. In most games of Oathbreaker, each player will start with 7 cards in hand plus the 1 card they draw at the start of their turn, leaving about 50 cards in each players deck at the start of a game; that means that Maddening Cacophony essentially mills almost twenty percent of each opponent’s deck at its base cost. Kicking this card can also be pretty nuts (especially if you already have Fraying Sanity or Bruvac the Grandiloquent out), but I’d be perfectly happy casting this spell for its normal cost any time. The fact that this card is going to pretty much be limited to dedicated mill decks kept it from a #1 spot, but I expect to see this card popping up in a lot of mill decks in the coming months.
#1: Glasspool Mimic / Glasspool Shore
Glasspool Mimic certainly isn’t the flashiest modal-double-faced card to come out of Zendikar Rising, but it is one of my personal favorites. Cards like Mirror Image and Quasiduplicate are already perfectly playable in Oathbreaker, and this card is essentially a Mirror Image that can double as a tapped blue source when necessary. Self-clone effects have a few typical homes; blink decks sometimes utilize them to double-up on one their better value creatures, and tribal decks can use them to double-up on one of their lords. That being said, one could theoretically run this kind of card in just about any blue list that has a reasonable number of strong non-legendary creatures. Again, there’s nothing earth-shatteringly powerful about this particular card, but I’m sure it will prove to be a fine role player in plenty of blue Oathbreaker decks.
What are your favorite blue cards from Zendikar Rising? Are there any blue cards you’re particularly excited to try out in Oathbreaker? Make sure to tell me in the comments or on Twitter! I’ll be back in a couple of days with my Top 10 black cards from Zendikar Rising for Oathbreaker.
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