Not that long ago, I followed deep into the woods a Green Oathbreaker deck focused on protecting potent creatures. This is an all-star strategy that pushes hard in one direction and excludes more conventional strategies like Rampant Growths into Avenger of Zendikar. If you're the sort of druid who prefers winning with lands and plants, then you'll consider this article a triumph.

Ever notice how casual players can't stop playing Demonic Tutor? That's adorable, that they would sell their soul for a single card. And isn't it quaint how Tron players will cast Sylvan Scrying and be content getting only one-third of Tron? With Nissa's Triumph, you can find all three at once.

In this archetype, you gain massive amounts of mana through Tron or simply by putting multiple lands into play each turn with cards like Exploration. From there, you can win in any number of amusing ways. First, we will look at a goodstuff version of the deck. Then we'll push it closer to Legacy Lands, with a Dark Depths combo. A third list will be mono-Green, but I prefer to play Nissa's Triumph in Simic.

Nissa's Triumph | Oathbreaker | AE Marling

• Locket (2)
• 1 Nissa, Steward of Elements
• 1 Nissa's Triumph

• Creatures (18)
• 1 Arboreal Grazer
• 1 Avenger of Zendikar
• 1 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
• 1 Birds of Paradise
• 1 Coiling Oracle
• 1 Courser of Kruphix
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Evolution Sage
• 1 Hydroid Krasis
• 1 Llanowar Elves
• 1 Oracle of Mul Daya
• 1 Prophet of Kruphix
• 1 Rampaging Baloths
• 1 Ramunap Excavator
• 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1 Tatyova, Benthic Druid
• 1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
• 1 Wayward Swordtooth

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Nissa, Who Shakes the World

• Instants (6)
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Brainstorm
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Crop Rotation
• 1 Cyclonic Rift
• 1 Growth Spiral

• Sorceries (5)
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Explore
• 1 Finale of Devastation
• 1 Green Sun's Zenith
• 1 Kodama's Reach

• Enchantments (2)
• 1 Burgeoning
• 1 Exploration

• Artifacts (1)
• 1 Crucible of Worlds

• Lands (25)
• 1 Island
• 4 Forest
• 1 Snow-Covered Island
• 3 Snow-Covered Forest
• 1 Botanical Sanctum
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Dryad Arbor
• 1 Field of Ruin
• 1 Field of the Dead
• 1 Flooded Grove
• 1 Hinterland Harbor
• 1 Lumbering Falls
• 1 Simic Growth Chamber
• 1 Tranquil Thicket
• 1 Urza's Mine
• 1 Urza's Power Plant
• 1 Urza's Tower
• 1 Waterlogged Grove
• 1 Yavimaya Coast

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I chose Nissa, Steward of Elements as our Oathbreaker because she comes down quickly and synergizes with our high land count. We will most often play her for x=1. From there we will likely +2, but you could zero her and try to put a land into play right away. If we are light on action in our hand or we are afraid of her getting pinged to death, go ahead and plus her a few times. In the late game, after you have umpteen mana, you can play here for X = 6 or more and immediately ultimate.

In Oathbreaker, if your planeswalker is in play you can cast their signature spell, taxed two more each time. Unless they kill Nissa in response, Nissa's Triumph will be the triple-land tutor you always dreamed of. If you can, wait until you have 5 mana so you can play her and immediately triumph. The first resolved signature spell will put you on the road to victory. If your opponents kill your Nissa and prevent you from ever triumphing, you may well be taking a one-way trip to defeat.

Once you resolve your signature spell, you can get Tranquil Thicket if you need to draw, Dryad Arbor if you need a chump blocker, and or Field of the Dead for lots of chump blockers. You have a variety of options, but all roads lead to Rome. And, yes, as any historian will tell you, Rome was a titanic empire of ceaseless hunger.

For win conditions, I picked an Eldrazi titan and Rampaging Baloths, along with Avenger of Zendikar. To answer your next question, yes, you can include that high-cost finisher you've always wanted to trounce people with. Almost anything will work. Some people even play Mass Manipulation. That's a hard spell to cast, unless you a resolve a single Nissa's Triumph.

You don't need too many victory conditions beyond your Oathbreaker. Remember, players start at 20 life in this format. It's much easier to eliminate opponents than in Commander. Nissa's ultimate hits for half a life total by itself. Or she can kill an opposing planeswalker or two. Before we move on, though, let's take a moment to imagine what a 5/5 flying Elemental land looks like. Since Nissa is on Amonkhet, I'm going to picture them as flying pyramids, moving at the speed of storms. They shadow your foes, who look up in time to see the sky falling. Boom!

More important than the finishers you choose are your land enablers. Exploration effects will put a spring in your step. We're playing lots of them. Burgeoning is the most powerful, if you cast it on turn one. The new Dryad of the Ilysian Grove will help you cover twice as much ground and can protect your planeswalker. You can also play key lands out of the graveyard with Ramunap Excavator.

You can find the creature enabler you need with Green Sun's Zenith or Finale of Devastation. The former can also ramp you with Dryad Arbor. The latter can win you the game outright for the low price of 12 mana. Both cards will often search up Avenger of Zendikar.

Because the majority of our creature enablers cost three, and so does our planeswalker if we want to field her quickly, one-mana accelerators are important to allow you to cast a strong spell on turn two. That's why we're playing non-land ramp like Birds of Paradise. The next deck also plays Wild Growth for the same reason, as one of its few nonland cards.

Nissa's Lands | Oathbreaker | AE Marling

• Commander (2)
• 1 Nissa, Steward of Elements
• 1 Nissa's Triumph

• Creatures (9)
• 1 Avenger of Zendikar
• 1 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
• 1 Birds of Paradise
• 1 Dryad of the Ilysian Grove
• 1 Fyndhorn Elves
• 1 Llanowar Elves
• 1 Ramunap Excavator
• 1 Terastodon
• 1 Titania, Protector of Argoth

• Instants (6)
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Crop Rotation
• 1 Cyclonic Rift
• 1 Disallow
• 1 Read the Runes
• 1 Tale's End

• Sorceries (7)
• 1 Animist's Awakening
• 1 Breakthrough
• 1 Echo of Eons
• 1 Life from the Loam
• 1 Nissa's Triumph
• 1 Rude Awakening
• 1 Scapeshift

• Enchantments (4)
• 1 Burgeoning
• 1 Exploration
• 1 Manabond
• 1 Wild Growth

• Artifacts (2)
• 1 Crucible of Worlds
• 1 Mirage Mirror

• Lands (31)
• 1 Island
• 2 Forest
• 1 Alchemist's Refuge
• 1 Ash Barrens
• 1 Blast Zone
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Dark Depths
• 1 Desert of the Indomitable
• 1 Field of the Dead
• 1 Flooded Grove
• 1 Glacial Chasm
• 1 Lonely Sandbar
• 1 Maze of Ith
• 1 Misty Rainforest
• 1 Simic Growth Chamber
• 1 Slippery Karst
• 1 Strip Mine
• 1 Temple of Mystery
• 1 Thespian's Stage
• 1 Tolaria West
• 1 Tranquil Thicket
• 1 Urza's Mine
• 1 Urza's Power Plant
• 1 Urza's Tower
• 1 Vesuva
• 1 Waterlogged Grove
• 1 Snow-Covered Island
• 2 Snow-Covered Forest

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A deck that plays Manabond is taking the lands strategy to the next level. This is more of a combo deck than the last one, with Dark Depths and Thespian's Stage. You can also make a 20/20 by copying the land with Mirage Mirror. (Note: copying Dark Depths with Vesuva doesn't work as it will come into play with counters.) And if you are on the back foot, you can stay alive by hiding in a Glacial Chasm.

Brrrr! These lands are stone-cold killers. You can maintain Glacial Chasm, or replay a destroyed Dark Depths, with Crucible of Worlds, Ramunap Excavator, or Titania, Protector of Argoth.

The best way to reclaim lands is Life from the Loam. You can find this key sorcery with Breakthrough and Read the Runes. Don't worry about discarding your hand. Life from the Loam rebuys your Dark Depths combo or can keep you safe forever in the Glacial Chasm. When you're in there, be aware that you'll be leaving Nissa out in the cold. She can still be attacked and killed, but if you've resolved her signature spell once, you likely have all you need.

Often you'll decline to play the upkeep cost of Glacial Chasm and recycle it from your graveyard every turn. But sometimes it will be most convenient to stay down there for a while. When that's the case, you won't be attacking, but you can still stop opposing planeswalkers from ultimating with Disallow or Tale's End.

Now, I'm going to close this article out with a bonus decklist. No, it's not another Hydra list with Unbound Flourishing. Good guess, though, that's awesome, but I built that tribe recently with Vivien. You can piece that one together yourself. Instead I thought it more important to highlight a Green-Colorless Eldrazi version.

Nissa v. Eldrazi | Oathbreaker | AE Marling

• Locket (2)
• 1 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
• 1 Nissa's Triumph

• Creatures (18)
• 1 Arbor Elf
• 1 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
• 1 Birds of Paradise
• 1 Boreal Druid
• 1 Elvish Mystic
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Evolution Sage
• 1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
• 1 Llanowar Elves
• 1 Oracle of Mul Daya
• 1 Reality Smasher
• 1 Reclamation Sage
• 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1 Sakura-Tribe Scout
• 1 Thought-Knot Seer
• 1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
• 1 Wayward Swordtooth
• 1 World Breaker

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Ugin, the Ineffable

• Instants (3)
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Crop Rotation
• 1 Krosan Grip

• Sorceries (6)
• 1 All Is Dust
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Explore
• 1 Green Sun's Zenith
• 1 Harmonize
• 1 Regrowth

• Enchantments (3)
• 1 Burgeoning
• 1 Exploration
• 1 Sylvan Library

• Artifacts (3)
• 1 Expedition Map
• 1 Mind Stone
• 1 Skullclamp

• Lands (24)
• 13 Forest
• 1 Dark Depths
• 1 Eldrazi Temple
• 1 Eye of Ugin
• 1 Prismatic Vista
• 1 Sanctum of Ugin
• 1 Strip Mine
• 1 Thespian's Stage
• 1 Tranquil Thicket
• 1 Urza's Mine
• 1 Urza's Power Plant
• 1 Urza's Tower

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