Is there anything more wondrous than achieving a Planeswalker ultimate? That rush of power, that screaming infinity of possibility, that once-in-a-lifetime victory, it's tantalizing as it is exciting in part because of its rarity. In multiplayer, your three foes will do all they can to stop your Planeswalker from transcending.

In Commander, 'Walkers are particularly fragile, compared to the starting life total of forty. You may try to prime them with Doubling Season, but everyone is wise to that scheme and will do all they can to thwart it. In Oathbreaker, everyone starts with a Planeswalker in the command zone, along with a signature spell which they can cast as long as their 'Walker is in play, everything taxed two more each time. With a starting life of twenty and everyone casting Planeswalkers, yours won't seem so exposed, but achieving an ultimate is still elusive, unless of course you're evil.

The easiest way to do it is with The Elderspell and Liliana, The Last Hope. By casting both cards from your command zone in one turn, you can suck the loyalty counters out of two opposing 'Walkers and ultimate immediately. I go deeper into that strategy in this article. It likely should be banned, not because that particular ultimate is too strong, but The Elderspell has a chilling effect on the game: the best strategy becomes for no one to ever play their commander.

This time, we're being more sporting. Our proliferate deck will still allow our opponents to do their thing, while making it very likely for us to obtain the sublime. How would you like to resolve Ancestral Recall and Omniscience in the same breathtaking moment? It's only seven loyalty away.

Ultimate Tamiyo | Oathbreaker | AE Marling

• Locket (2)
• 1 Tamiyo, Field Researcher
• 1 Quandrix Command

• Creatures (24)
• 1 Abzan Falconer
• 1 Benthic Biomancer
• 1 Birds of Paradise
• 1 Champion of Lambholt
• 1 Chasm Skulker
• 1 Conclave Mentor
• 1 Evolution Sage
• 1 Grateful Apparition
• 1 Guildpact Informant
• 1 Hangarback Walker
• 1 Honored Hierarch
• 1 Incubation Druid
• 1 Knight of Autumn
• 1 Managorger Hydra
• 1 Merfolk Skydiver
• 1 Mikaeus, the Lunarch
• 1 Noble Hierarch
• 1 Pir, Imaginative Rascal
• 1 Pollenbright Druid
• 1 Roalesk, Apex Hybrid
• 1 Scavenging Ooze
• 1 Thrummingbird
• 1 Toothy, Imaginary Friend
• 1 Walking Ballista

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 1 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
• 1 Jiang Yanggu, Wildcrafter
• 1 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar

• Instants (4)
• 1 Bant Charm
• 1 Fierce Guardianship
• 1 Flawless Maneuver
• 1 Vastwood Fortification

• Enchantments (2)
• 1 Hadana's Climb
• 1 Ordeal of Nylea

• Artifacts (2)
• 1 Contagion Clasp
• 1 Sword of Truth and Justice

• Lands (23)
• 1 Forest
• 2 Island
• 2 Plains
• 1 Barkchannel Pathway
• 1 Bountiful Promenade
• 1 Branchloft Pathway
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 Bretagard Stronghold
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Flooded Strand
• 1 Gavony Township
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Hengegate Pathway
• 1 Karn's Bastion
• 1 Misty Rainforest
• 1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
• 1 Rejuvenating Springs
• 1 Sea of Clouds
• 1 Seaside Citadel
• 1 Temple Garden
• 1 Windswept Heath

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Though our secret goal is to ultimate Tamiyo, Field Researcher, in the meantime we can win with huge proliferating creatures. A curve of Thrummingbird into Chasm Skulker will quickly go off the deep end of value. Your creatures should give you a strong board presence, allowing you to pressure opposing 'Walkers and intimidate foes from attacking yours. And every turn Tamiyo survives, she gets closer to the ultimate, and you can power up your creatures with your signature spell.

While having great general utility, Quandrix Command specifically has proliferate synergy. It can turn your Thrummingbird into a 3/3 that will become a 4/4 and also the instant can bounce an opposing Planeswalker. The Quandrix College motto of "Math is magic" is itself perfect. We're all about math, specifically counting to seven loyalty. I also like to think they would be keen to theorize about the fractal nature of our growing Managorger Hydra.

If you can't wait until the Strixhaven release date to play, you could substitute in another signature spell that grants +1/+1 counters. Obscuring Haze would be an alternate apt choice, though then I would want a few more cards in the fifty-eight card deck like Oath of Ajani. I'll list that and other budget options later. As is, I spared no expense for this list. I did include Fierce Guardianship over Hardened Scales as a last cut. If you want value above all else, feel free to indulge, though I thought our proliferate strategy was strong enough without it.

You may be tempted with cards like Simic Ascendancy. That's more of a Commander strategy. In Oathbreaker, it's far easier to kill your opponents with your evolved creatures. Likewise, obvious Commander cards like Fertilid aren't essential in Oathbreaker. It's still an option, but I went with other ones. Card draw isn't king in this format, as you need fewer resources to defeat opponents starting at twenty life. For that reason, I didn't prioritize Hydroid Krasis, Armorcraft Judge, or Fathom Mage. I expect Tamiyo to draw us all the cards we need, especially with her ultimate.

I wished our deck to top out its curve at Tamiyo. For that reason, I cut otherwise worthy four-drops like Zegana, Utopian Speaker and Mowu, Loyal Companion. Our only 5-drop is Roalesk, Apex Hybrid. I would love to play him after our Planeswalker because then any board wipe would allow us to ultimate.

You could set up the deck to include some spicy cards, hoping to draw them and cast them for free off Tamiyo's emblem. One in particular is Planewide Celebration, a card that can make your team terrifying or even enable the ultimate. This is a reasonable choice but not a must-play, first because we aren't trying to ramp to seven mana as much as to seven loyalty. Second, if we've ultimated I don't think we need our cards to be above-average in strength to win. We're already in a great position, in Tamyio's celestial library palace.

As I wrote recently, the last thing you need to enjoy casual formats is expensive lands. I've included the cheapest and best options below.

Budget Options | Oathbreaker | AE Marling

• Creatures (4)
• 1 Flux Channeler
• 1 Gyre Sage
• 1 Plaxcaster Frogling
• 1 Rishkar, Peema Renegade

• Instants (2)
• 1 Faith's Shield
• 1 Inspiring Call

• Sorceries (1)
• 1 Contentious Plan

• Enchantments (1)
• 1 Oath of Ajani

• Lands (6)
• 1 Thriving Grove
• 1 Thriving Heath
• 1 Thriving Isle
• 1 Vivid Creek
• 1 Vivid Grove
• 1 Vivid Meadow

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The spells above are cards I considered for the deck. They're excellent, and in the case of Plaxcaster Frogling, beautiful. They would be fine substitutions for the more expensive cards in our list, and situationally, they will even be stronger. You may well wonder why I didn't maindeck such a wondrous frog mutant, or why not Rishkar, Peema Renegade, with the legend's obvious synergy. I ask the same agonizing questions myself, but we already had a glut of 3-drops, and something had to go.

I felt compelled to include a modicum of interaction in Bant Charm and Knight of Autumn. (You could swap the charm for Disenchant if you would rather play a 3cc creature than one of the 2cc's.) We also want evasion from Champion of Lambholt and Abzan Falconer. Then of course we need to hypercharge Tamiyo's loyalty with Evolution Sage and Pir, Imaginative Rascal.

While we do have some boardsweeper protection in Flawless Maneuver and Fierce Guardianship, we have even more Wrath of God insurance in cards like Toothy, Imaginary Friend.

The last 3-drops I couldn't cut are all Planeswalkers, with double synergy with proliferate. We have Jiang Yanggu, Wildcrafter, Ajani, Caller of the Pride, and Nissa, Voice of Zendikar. Two of those also can ultimate, giving us more #goals.

Let's end on a happy thought: Tamiyo and her Planeswalker friends slipping off to Strixhaven, to spend a restful day studying in Quandrix's labs and libraries.