High Tide 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! My horror! So here’s my adaptation of that deck into this new format.

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Is it expensive? Hells yes!

Is it {mal}functional? Damned if I know!

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

I went with Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver [] as the Oathbreaker. As of this article, the only strictly Blue and Black walkers are Ashioks and Tezzerets. We have our choice of Ashiok, Dream Render [], Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver [], Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas [], Tezzeret, Master of Metal [], Tezzeret, master of the Bridge [], and Tezzeret the Schemer []. Take a look at them. The Tezzeret’s don’t fit into the High Tide [] theme that I’m going with. 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. It’s the next best thing to High Tide []. Muck makes all Swamps tap for an additional {B}. It’s important to note that the dual lands ( Underground Sea [], Watery Grave [], and Fetid Pools []) can be tapped for {U}, but will still produce the additional {B}. Take note that you will 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, you either make your opponents draw out their entire deck, or you mill them out (for the uninitiated, milling 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 Suns 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. You can use it to take out multiple opponents. There are several other “target player draws X cards” to go along with Blue Sun.

You generate the mana you need for your X spells 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 Pore 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 it would be 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’m fine with having every Island become an Underground Sea []. I’ve also included a copy of Expedition Map [], and a copy of Tolaria West [] to help fetch it up.

Thanks for going on this romp with me 🙂 This list isn’t optimized yet, but it will get there. It was fun to put together. Let me know if you build it and what improvements you’d make on it.

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