The Oathbreaker format

Oathbreaker is a new format that was recently recognized by Wizards. It is similar to Brawl where you have a Planeswalker as your Oathbreaker and you have a signature spell which is an instant or sorcery in its colours. You build a sixty card Singleton deck in your Oathbreaker’s colours. I have built a Tevesh Szat deck with Szat’s Will and a Kiora Master of Depths deck with explore.

The first step to creating your Oathbreaker deck is picking a Planeswalker. Then you pick an instant or sorcery in its colours, preferably something that has synergy or combo potential with your Oathbreaker. You can pick a spell that compliments your Planeswalker abilities or that combos with them. For example, Teferi cards are often about drawing cards so you could have a X draw spell as your signature spell, such as Sphinx's revelation for the blue white Teferi cards. Or if you are running Jeska thrice reborn, you can play a pump spell to take advantage of her damage tripling ability. You could also run a burn spell.

Once you have your Oathbreaker and signature spell, you should decide if you want to be aggro, midrange or control. Aggro will run lots of cheap aggressive creatures, some removal, pump spells and maybe a few board wipes. A midrange deck will run mid sized threats with ways to protect them. A control deck has counterspells, draw and removal with some finishers. You could also include recursion for your Oathbreaker. Of course any deck needs ramp, whether spells or artifacts.

Consider that Oathbreaker is a multiplayer format with 3-5 players. Players start at 20 life. This means you will have to deal 40 to 80 damage to defeat all your opponents. If you want to include infinite combos as a win condition, you might consider some tutors to find your pieces. A good tutor in green is Shared Summons. It is less than $5 and gets two creatures to your hand after revealing them. A more expensive option in green is Tooth and Nail. This card puts two creatures on the battlefield immediately and can end the game. You could opt for a infinite mana combo and a burn or drain spell or even make everyone draw out their libraries if you have more cards. Having at least one way to win instantly is a good way to have a means to end the game quickly. A few tutors can turn a losing position into a win with combos.

Another part of multiplayer formats is politics. Some people don't like this but you can make deals and agreements during the game. If someone is winning you can team up. You can trade favours for not attacking or letting someone hit you for a trigger. It's up to you whether to keep your deals, but I think it's more important to be seen as an honorable player than to play dirty just to win. No one likes people they perceive as cheaters, so I don't recommend backing out of a deal you made.

All things considered I think Oathbreaker is an interesting alternative to Commander. Focusing on Planeswalkers feels unique. I don't know if it will edge out commander at FNM any time soon but I recommend trying it out with your friends.

Have fun playing magic and till next time,

David