High Time for Oathbreaker

Necessity, as they say, is the mother of invention.

For my first foray into Oathbreaker, I decided to put some Oathy goodness into an old favorite. My very first Legacy deck was mono-Red Burn. But my second one was High Tide. I was going to build a High Tide Oathbreaker deck, but, ALAS! High Tide is banned! Imagine my dismay! So here’s my adaptation of that deck into this new format.

Is it expensive? Hells yes!

Is it functional? Damned if I know!

So let’s muck through the Swamp together, shall we?

I went with Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver as the Oathbreaker. The only strictly Blue and Black walkers are Ashiok and Tezzeret, and obviously Tezzeret really doesn’t make sense in a deck like this. I went with Nightmare Weaver over Dream Render, because he seemed more functional overall, however, both of them are mostly there to set the colors for the deck. Any additional Milling they do is incidental. Although, if you can ultimate Ashiok, you might be able to clear your opponent’s hand of possible counterspells or other disruption.

High Tide Bubbling Muck is the Signature Spell, and the one around which the deck is crafted. Muck makes all Swamps tap for an additional {B} - of note, the dual lands (Underground Sea, Watery Grave, and Fetid Pools) can be tapped for {U}, but will still produce the additional {B}. It didn’t occur to me at first how relevant it is that you’ll have this in your Command Zone each time after you cast it. The more frequently you can fire this off, the more explosive your deck will be. We’re going to use all that Swampy goodness to fuel the “X” cost in our spells.

So how does this deck win? Well, basically you either make your opponents draw out their entire deck, or you Mill them out (Milling, for the uninitiated means putting cards from your Library into your Graveyard, named after the original card which did this, Millstone).

One of the most useful cards in this deck is Blue Sun’s Zenith, because as part of the resolution, it shuffles back into your deck. That means that you can draw out cards to fuel your combo, but still have it in your deck to use as a win con. Also, you can use it to take out multiple opponents. There’s several other “target player draws X cards” to go along with Blue Sun.

The way you generate the mana you need for your X spells, is by first casting Bubbling Muck, and then untapping your lands. Cards like Mind over Matter, Time Spiral, and Finale of Revelation take care of this for you.

There’s only a handful of creatures in the deck. Snapcaster Mage for value. Cloud of Faeries, untaps lands. If you’re generating enough mana, Palinchron can be cast and bounced repeatedly, untapping seven lands each time, and actually netting more mana with each cycle. Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, combined with cards like Pour over the Pages, Mind over Matter, and Frantic Search, it will shuffle your entire Graveyard back into your Library, to let the fun continue.

I’ve also included a few lost-CMC milling enchantments to help you on your way to victory, and a Cyclonic Rift, just in case your opponents’ board states get out of hand.

With High Tide banned, we have to rely on Bubbling Muck, and our Blue Mana production is not as good as in a mono-colored build. To help this out, I’ve included a copy of Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, which adds the Swamp land type to all of our Islands. I’ve also included a copy of Expedition Map, and a copy of Tolaria West to help fetch it up.

Well, thanks for going on this romp with me :) This list probably isn't optimized, but it was fun to put together. http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/high-tea/

I’m Tweeting now @23rdPlayable. I’m also occasionally streaming on Twitch as 23rdPlayable. And, as always, you can find me on Facebook in the MTG Arena Players group, where I’m a mod.

Have fun, Play on, and Be kind to one another.

London has Fallen

In July we get Core Set 2020, and along with that - the London Mulligan. 

The rules on Mulligans have changed greatly over the years. Back in the day, the way it worked was that if you had all lands, or no lands in your opening hand, you could reveal it, shuffle and draw 7 again. Now, not only did this not allow you to dump poor hands that still had a land or two, in formats like Legacy and Vintage, there were Combo decks which could abuse this. When you have a deck called “Oops All Spells”, it’s pretty easy to hit a hand with no Lands, LOL. 

The longest running Mulligan rule we had was the Paris rule, where you’d Mulligan down one card each turn. This was accidentally adopted at PT Paris in 1997, because Wizards neglected to take it out of the player’s information for the event. In 2015 we adopted the Vancouver Mulligan, where you got to Scry after you kept.

Now, we have a new system coming, and the wording of the rules can be a little confusing, but it basically works this way. Each time you Mulligan, you draw 7 new cards. Then after you decide to keep, you no longer get to Scry, but you put cards from your hand onto the bottom of your library (in any order), so you actually start with the same number of cards you’d have with the old Paris and Vancouver systems. 

So if you - 

• Mulligan once, you put one card on the bottom, and start with six.
• Mulligan twice, you put two cards on the bottom, and start with five.
• Mulligan thrice, you put three cards on the bottom, and start with four. 

Etc…

So what does all this mean for Arena players? 

Basically, all good stuff. By digging one card deeper each time you Mulligan, you’re getting more card selection. You’re increasing your odds of getting a playable starting hand. This will mean fewer non-games from having to keep a mediocre Mulligan. 

I have some concerns about how the London Mulligan may impact formats like Legacy, Vintage, and maybe Commander. It seems possible that it will favor Combo decks, which rely much more heavily on getting a good opening hand, and in some cases, can even pull off a turn 1 win with the right combination of just a few cards. But, Wizards has been testing it extensively on MTGO (Magic the Gathering Online), and so far the data doesn’t seem to indicate any major problems. 

One pitfall you should watch out for - just because Mulligans are going to be a little more forgiving, that doesn’t mean you should Mulligan more aggressively, or Mulligan hands you might have kept under the old system. The card disadvantage from tossing your first opening hand is still a huge detriment. 

I believe that the London Mulligan is a welcome improvement to Magic, and especially to Arena. It’s going to allow us all to just play more Magic, and that is always a good thing. 

I’m Tweeting now @23rdPlayable. I’m also occasionally streaming on Twitch as 23rdPlayable. And, as always, you can find me on Facebook in the MTG Arena Players group, where I’m a mod. 

Have fun, Play on, and Be kind to one another.