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"Ashiok, Dream Render" Deck Tech – "Magic: The Gathering"

Hello, loyal readers! It's time again for another Magic: The Gathering Oathbreaker deck tech. Oathbreaker, for those who have not been caught up on the subject, is a 60-card singleton format made by the WeirdCards Charitable Club, and inspired by Commander and similar formats.

"Ashiok, Dream Render" Deck Tech - "Magic: The Gathering"
Source: Wizards of the Coast

Oathbreaker games represent a conflict between Planeswalkers and as such, Planeswalkers are the "commander" cards in this game (they're called Oathbreakers, however, to avoid confusion). Furthermore, each Oathbreaker has a "Signature" instant or sorcery spell at this disposal for use.

But let me just get into the nitty-gritty. I've discussed Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded, Sorin, Lord of Innistrad, Arlinn Kord, and Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage already, all for the spookiness of October (or is that "Oath-tober"?). Today, I'll be showing just how mean of a reanimator deck I can make for Magic: The Gathering. And for that, I'm going to be making a deck based around Ashiok, Dream Render, with Scheming Symmetry as their Signature Spell.

"Ashiok, Dream Render" Deck Tech - "Magic: The Gathering"
Source: Wizards of the Coast

The decklist as discussed in this article can be found here.

The strategy is to use the most resource-efficient tutor in the game (and the one with, in my opinion, the best art) to tutor up cards like Recurring Nightmare (recently unbanned!), Exhume, and Reanimate, in order to then recur big scary creatures which we have dumped into the graveyard with a variety of effects.

Notable Inclusions

Recurring Nightmare – This monster of a reanimation spell is the bread and butter of this build and the main reason we are running Scheming Symmetry as the Signature Spell

Exhume – Exhume is a great card for additional cheap recursion which is made one-sided by Ashiok's presence on the battlefield.

Token ProductionBitterblossom and Dreadhorde Invasion are there to ensure we have fodder for Recurring Nightmare.

"Ashiok, Dream Render" Deck Tech - "Magic: The Gathering"
Source: Wizards of the Coast

Nim Deathmantle, Ashnod's Altar – These cards make up a combo with minion-bringing creatures like Grave Titan or Wurmcoil Engine for infinite recursion of anything of yours that you'd like to recur.

Archaeomancer, Mnemonic Wall – These creatures are able to bring back the sorceries needed to recur even more creatures to the battlefield at your behest.

Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur – Jin-Gitaxias just happens to be in here strictly to ruin someone's day. It doesn't matter whose day you'll ruin – you will just do it automatically when he hits the field. There's not much that can be said additionally about such a monstrous card, except that you can dump more creatures into the graveyard with its draw effect.

Laboratory Maniac – The Lab Man is to be used as a last resort in case of a mill deck ruining your own day. Or, you know, you can go a few steps too far on your own, and mill yourself down to zero cards. It's your deck, so it's your call.

Conclusion

I haven't tested this yet but based on other reanimator builds I've seen and used, this seems pretty sound. Try it out and let us know what you think! Magic: The Gathering has never been such a prolific community, and comments just help to strengthen that.

"Ashiok, Dream Render" Deck Tech - "Magic: The Gathering"
I mean, look at this! It's beautiful. Source: Wizards of the Coast

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Joshua NelsonAbout Joshua Nelson

Josh Nelson is a Magic: The Gathering deckbuilding savant, a self-proclaimed scholar of all things Sweeney Todd, and, of course, a writer for Bleeding Cool. In their downtime, Josh can be found painting models, playing Magic, or possibly preaching about the horrors and merits of anthropophagy. You can find them on Twitter at @Burning_Inquiry for all your burning inquiries.
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