Magic: The Gathering Publisher Wizards of the Coast has officially recognized a new fan-made format called Oathbreaker. The format accommodates 3-5 players and was invented by a Minnesota-based gaming group called Weirdcards Charity Club. A new landing page is now live and provides additional format details.
You might be surprised to learn there’s more than one way to play Magic, the classic collectible card game that launched in 1993. As of March 15, there were actually 23 in all, but most players are drawn to one of three different formats: Standard, Booster Draft, and Order. Commander, the game’s first multiplayer format, has long been considered the most popular way to play Magic. As such, Oathbreaker could significantly increase its appeal to casual groups.
To create an Oathbreaker deck, players must assemble a 60-card deck and build it around their favorite planeswalker – powerful characters from the Magic universe. According to Magic website, decks must not contain duplicate cards. Additionally, players must select a so-called “signature spell”, which must match the color identity of their Oathbreaker planeswalker card. The planeswalker and signature spell start in-game play, and players then fight from there to reduce other opponents at the table from a starting value of 20 life.
From the official description:
If your Oathbreaker is on the battlefield under your control, you may cast your signature spell for its normal costs, plus an additional two mana for each time you’ve cast your signature spell from the command zone this game. When your signature spell resolves, place it in the command zone instead of your graveyard. If your signature spell would go anywhere outside the command zone or the stack, you must place it in the command zone instead.
Each player starts with 20 life points. Before the game begins, players should randomly sit in a circle and place their Oathbreaker and Signature Spell face up in their command zone. Rounds progress one player at a time clockwise around the table.
During play, a player can choose to attack any other player, regardless of their position on the table, and can also choose to attack multiple different players during their attack phase. Permanents, spells, and abilities can also target any player around the table (as long as they don’t explicitly say they are to be used on “you”). A player wins when all other players are eliminated from the game.
No official product has been announced to support the Oathbreaker format, but that’s not at all uncommon. The majority of MagicRetail products from – excluding pre-built Commander decks – are intended to support multiple game formats. For more information on Oathbreaker, including video demos and additional reviews, see the format official site maintained by Weirdcards.
