Three Powerful Oathbreaker Combos

With Oathbreaker becoming an official format recently, I see it coming to more and more players' attention. The extra elements of having Planeswalkers instead of legendary creatures in the command zone and pairing them with an instant or sorcery spell that can be cast anytime you control your Oathbreaker is intriguing and fun.

The possibility of things you can build is nearly endless. There are value-based strategies, aggro pairs, controlling decks, people who pair their pet cards with their favorite planeswalkers and even Varthos builds constructed around a theme, concept, or plane. Today, I'd like to cover a few high-power combo strategies. 

Wrenn And Six & Gamble

Wrenn is one of the most powerful Oathbreakers out there and she enables quite a few combos. This one is perhaps my favorite since it's under the radar, versatile, and powerful. It uses Wrenn in the command zone and Gamble as the signature spell. Here's how it works.

 You want to get Wrenn into play as fast as possible and tutor for a Reality Scramble with Gamble. Once you do, you'll cast Reality Scramble targeting Wrenn and then reveal cards from the top of your library until you come across another Planeswalker. The only other walker in the deck is Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, so you're guaranteed to "shift" into that and put it directly into play.

With the right set up you can achieve this as early as turn three. For example, say you play a land and any mana dork on turn one. Come turn two, dropping a land will allow you to cast Wrenn and Six as well as Gamble, which will grab Reality Shift, which you can cast on turn three, assuming you make your land drop. If you happen to discard Reality Shift when you tutor for it, you can simply "retrace" it on turn three and cast it anyway.

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I play this deck quite often, and a turn-three Ugin is pretty hard to deal with. That said, there are times when he'll get blown up the same turn he enters play. Planeswalker removal isn't scarce in Oathbreaker and once someone knows the combo they'll save it for sure.

Even aside from the combo though, the deck is very good and recurring Strip Mine with Wrenn's +1, and cards like Life from the Loam are effective as well.

 Nissa, Steward of Elements & Nissa's Triumph

This is always my recommendation for players who want to get into the competitive side of the format on a budget. After all, the combination of Oathbreaker and signature spell is around $2 and the cards that support it can be budget-friendly as well. Here's how the combo works.

Nissa's Triumph allows you to fetch two basic forests and put them into your hand. However, if you control a Nissa planeswalker as you cast it, you get to search for any three lands instead. Given that your Oathbreaker is a Nissa planeswalker and you can only cast your signature spell with her in play, you'll always be searching up three lands.

So, what three lands do you get? Usually, the Tron lands - Urza's Power Plant, Urza's Mine, and Urza's Tower, which generate a total of seven mana. If you're familiar with the Tron archetype you know this means dropping things like Eldrazi Titans (Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger, and Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre) or big x spells like Hydroid Krasis or Walking Ballista well ahead of curve.

However, you could also grab combos like Thespian's Stage and Dark Depths to cheat out the 20/20 flying and indestructible token very early too. What's also great is that the Simic color combination gives you access to great ramp, card draw, and control pieces. As well as things like Growth Spiral, Azusa, Lost but Seeking, and Arboreal Grazer to further power out lands.

Jace, Wielder of Mysteries & Paradigm Shift

Here we have the classic combo of a Laboratory Maniac effect, (in this case Jace, Wielder of Mysteries) and a way to remove your library from the game. If you're unfamiliar with this sort of thing, here's how it works - With Jace in play, if you would draw a card while your library has no cards in it, you win the game. Paradigm Shift removes your entire library from the game and replaces it with your graveyard.

Ideally, the deck can use fast mana, get Jace into play early, and have no cards in the graveyard. If this is the case, you can simply cast Paradigm Shift on your following turn, +1 Jace, and win the game. This also works if you have two or fewer cards in the graveyard since Jace will mill them when you activate him. Players will see the combo coming from a mile away but if you play well, this deck will be very kind.

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By play well I mean you'll need to lean heavily into control and pay attention to what your opponents are doing. Trying to go off too early or without giving due respect to opposing strategies can make winning hard. When I play this deck, I try to remember that I only need to cast these two spells to win the game. If I have to spend the first x turns making sure I get to cast and resolve those two spells so be it.

The deck typically plays a lot of counterspells and other control elements that'd you expect. However, cards such as Logic Knot, Set Adrift, Treasure Cruise, and Dig Through Time pull double duty in the deck. Not only do they provide their face value but the delve helps to ensure your graveyard is empty if you have to combo late.

Conclusion

There you have it my friends - A few of my top high-powered Oathbreaker combos. The format is gaining steam and I hope to bring some cool ideas to players who are jumping into the format. That said, these all work for veteran players looking for something fresh to bring to the table too. Regardless of which group you fall into, I hope you've enjoyed my suggestions. If you like to see more competitive Oathbreaker combos comment down below and let me know, I have tons.