Hey all! This is my take at a competetive rakdos control Oathbreaker deck. This deck is based heavily off of mmcgeach's Xantcha Combo-Control C-EDH deck. If you are interested in seeing that deck. You can find it here: Xantcha Combo-Control.
Likewise, this deck is designed to be a combo-control deck aswell. Utilizing a wide range of control aspects and reanimator effects to help tilt the game into our favor. Let's begin!
The Gameplan
The basic game plan is fairly straightforward. We control our opponents boardstate by using spells like
By Force
, and
Rolling Earthquake
. Since we don't run many artifacts, and virtually no creatures. These cards are perfect for getting rid of multiple opponents permanents that are giving us trouble.
As we are controlling our opponents boardstate's, the goal is to start assembling our Worldgorger combo pieces. After we assemble the "combo", we are able to produce an "infinite" amount of mana. After this is achieved you can cast the signature spell
Lightning Bolt
enough times necessary to ping our opponents life totals down and ultimately win the match regardless of what life our opponents are at.
Worldgorger Combo Explained
This combo works by getting
Worldgorger Dragon
into the graveyard (somehow), then reanimating it with
Animate Dead
or
Necromancy
or
Dance of the Dead
. When the dragon enters the battlefield, all permanents you control leave the battlefield, including
Animate Dead
. Then since
Animate Dead
isn't animating
Worldgorger Dragon
anymore, it dies. This brings all your permanents back into play. They all come into play untapped, so you can tap all your lands / artifacts for mana (unless they're permanents that enter the battlefield tapped). It also brings the
Animate Dead
back into play, which is required to enchant a creature in a graveyard (without using the stack). So you pick
Worldgorger Dragon
, and repeat this, generating infinite mana in the process. Assuming you have permanents that tap for mana of both colors without causing you damage, you then can produce infinite mana.
So the basic requirements are: Dragon in the graveyard, a reanimation enchantment, lands / rocks that enter untapped and can tap for both colors (and don't require exiles or something like
Chrome Mox
), and a second creature in someone's graveyard, or Daretti in play.
This sounds like a lot, but it actually can happen really fast.
Like turn 1 Entomb + Worldgorger Dragon
, turn 2
Animate Dead
.
If
Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast
is on the battlefield already,
you will be able to win the game at "instant speed" by casting the Signsture Spell
Lightning Bolt
. If you pull off the combo before Daretti is out, you need to be able to stop the loop so you can cast
Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast
, and use the Signature Spell
Lightning Bolt
. To end the loop you either need a creature in an opponents graveyard, or a creature in your graveyard. You target the new creature when the enchantment re-enters in the loop, and instead of targeting the dragon you target the new creature.
The only other creature in the deck, and in our list is
Sire Of Insanity
.
Utilizing the draws and discard outlets
This deck runs a plethora of ways to discard the dragon into our graveyard. Most of our draw spells have a condition of discarding cards. Some of these cards for an example are
Faithless Looting
, or
Burning Inquiry
.The only other creature in the list is
Sire Of Insanity
, and it essentially is another back up discard outlet that will also affect our opponents aswell.
This deck also runs several "spell reanimator" effects, that allow you to recast cards in our graveyards. These cards for an example are
Yawgmoth's Will
,
Past in Flames
or
Finale of Promise
. These cards give all our draw and removal spells seemingly "extra" value.
Bonus Round synergies
Bonus Round
works wonders with rituals, tutors, and card draw, which there's a lot of in Red/Black. There's a specific line that starts with 5 mana and
Bonus Round
and a tutor and a ritual. The tutor can be any 1 of
Demonic Tutor
,
Grim Tutor
or
Dark Petition
and the ritual can be either
Dark Ritual
or
Cabal Ritual
. First:
Play
Bonus Round
.
Then play the ritual (let's say Dark Ritual ), making six mana.
Play the tutor (let's say Demonic Tutor ). Use the tutor and the copy of the tutor to get Animate Dead + Entomb
. 4b remaining. Spend a B, to cast
Entomb
searching for
Worldgorger Dragon
then spend 1B, to
Animate Dead
it. If
Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast
is out, then congratulations. You have just won.
Dealing with other competetive decks
Chains of Mephistopheles
is an excellent answer to the Narset, Parter of Veils + Windfall
combo. The chains reads kind of confusing, but the errata makes it a little easier to understand. Here’s what happens when
Chains of Mephistopheles
replaces a player’s draw: — If that player has at least one card in their hand, they discard a card and then draws a card. — If that player’s hand is empty, they put the top card of their library into their graveyard. The player doesn’t draw a card at all. So if a player windfalls they will not be able to continually draw because after they discard their hand, they will have zero cards in hand. So instead, they will mill the top card for each card drawn.
The Elderspell
is another excellent low cmc removal of opponents Oathbreakers. It helps slow down other faster decks that have "one card combos" or have Signature spells that work insanely efficiently with their Oathbreakers. Some of these include
Ral, Storm Conduit
,
Jace, Wielder of Mysteries
, and
Narset, Parter of Veils
which was mentioned above.
The Elderspell
also can be recast from the graveyard or "reanimated" with the spells
Yawgmoth's Will
, or
Past in Flames
, or
Finale of Promise
for extra use.
If you liked this primer, make sure to give the deck a +1 upvote! Thanks for reading!
