You should always keep your promises.

Bailing on your cousin after saying you'd help him move may result in nothing more than awkward apology at Thanksgiving. That's easy enough to get over with enough turkey. But sometimes a broken promise can result in a cursed afterlife stuck in a cave with a few thousand of your buddies. That's decidedly more difficult to recover from. You've gotta wait for the next in the line of mortal kings to reforge a broken sword and demand an apology.

And when the guy finally shows up, he's downright rude. Haughty fella just walks right on into your lair and acts like he owns the joint. Who's this ranger who thinks he can order around your troops? Though his offer is tempting: Help in one last battle (cause' you sure as hell didn't last time), and you're free to move onto the afterlife.

Not a bad deal. Especially when an Orcish blade passes straight through your spectral form. Phasing is helpful like that. No worries about removal or exile. You and your men simply cease to exist until the danger passes. And once the coast is clear, you might as well bring some extra buddies along to help finish the fight. It worked wonders at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. Shuffle up with King of the Oathbreakers as your general, and your opponents will face a similar power. How are they to kill that which vanishes before their very eyes? Targeted removal immediately loses its target. Mass-removal is an option, but a wise deck-builder already has that angle covered via spells that target multiple spirits simultaneously. Your foes will likely hesitate to even drop a 'wrath effect whilst you've free mana open. Too risky. Too much of a chance that your army will simply take a brief vacation, then return with friends.

Guardian of Faith by Brian Valeza

"No worries, my liege. I got this."

Spirits may not be as obviously-popular as dragons and elves, but they've been around since Magic's inception and are numerous on a variety of levels. Not only are there literally hundreds of the ghostly guys to call upon, but they also include a large variety of Legendary creatures to call commander. On top of that, dozens of cards produce 1/1 Spirit Tokens. Clearly, vengeance from beyond the grave involves a crowd, but we're not even done yet. Not all spirits are the world-bound souls of the dearly departed. Some are mystical beings who exist between the veil of the mortal and spiritual world. On the plane of Kamigawa, these wisps introduce us to another useful tool. A mechanic long forgotten, and thus aptly named: Arcane.

Considered too parasitic an ability, Arcane was a central theme limited to only the original Kamigawa block. Creatures with the spirit type often rewarded you for casting their kin or spells with the Arcane subtype. Arcane spells enabled a unique form of card advantage via the Splice ability, which allowed you to stack another arcane spell's effect onto an arcane spell you were in the middle of casting. Rather than use up a card, you could keep that spell in hand and keep 'casting' it so long as you had another arcane spell to splice it onto. Unfortunately, the mechanic wasn't developed and further (Splicer's Skill doesn't count), so Arcane largely fell into obscurity. Until today, where we brave brewers will step up to restore its honor. Just as we will for King of the Oathbreakers, himself.

How perfectly fitting, then, that a great many Arcane spells target creatures. Creatures who we already want to be targeting anyway. I say it's time we call the King of the Oathbreakers out of the Paths of the Dead and into the light, and along with him, a mechanic just as lost to time.

Let's explore further!

1. Multi-Targeting Matters: Opposing targeting removal readily causes our Commander to phase out, but our enemies will know that and likely point their kills spells elsewhere. It's up to us to target King of the Oathbreakers and as many other spirits as possible in order to fully protect them from non-targeted removal, 'wrath effects, and opposing abilities. The best way to accomplish this is via spells that can target multiple creatures like Cauldron Haze, Touch of Darkness, and Remedy. One important rules aspect to remember: If there are no valid targets for a spell that multi-targets upon resolution, the spell will fizzle and no effect will occur. If your only goal is to phase out your spirits, this isn't really a big deal. Chances are you were casting that Remedy more for the phasing side-effect than you were damage prevention. However, in the case of something like Niveous Wisps, the spirited target would phase out before the spell could resolve, resulting in no cantrip for you.

2. Phasing Matters: Though King of the Oathbreakers and a few spells do a fine job protecting the team, remember that there are plenty of other ways to mass-phase out an army. We'll receive fresh spirit tokens no matter where the source of the phasing comes from as long as our Commander out. This makes already fantastic protective spells like Teferi's Protection and Guardian of Faith even better, as now their defensive qualities gain an offensive edge via adding to our army. In many cases, this phase-in, phase-out effects will occur all at once, but in occasions where the phasing is staggered, such as with Out of Time, make sure to phase King of the Oathbreakers back into play first, otherwise you'll miss out on the free tokens later. Unlike blink-effects, Phasing works with token creatures without killing them, and allows Equipment like Anduril, Flame of the West to remain equipped, but doesn't allow us to recycle ETB-abilities. Skyclave Apparition is still an excellent typal removal spell, but phasing won't allow it to repeatedly shoot down enemy permanents.

3. Spirit and Arcane Matters: The ancient lore of Kamigawa brings with it a multitude of ways to target our own creatures while gaining card advantage via the Splice mechanic. Spells like Blessed Breath, Candle's Glow, and Hundred-Talon Strike cheaply hop onto other Arcane spells while staying in our hand. This enables us to continue building our army (Spiritual Visit), remove enemy creatures (Horobi's Whisper), or recur our general (Goyro's Vengeance) while gaining additional advantage via phasing out other creatures. Footsteps of the Goyro and Goyro's Vengeance also enable a neat trick with King of the Oathbreakers, as we can target a revived creature with any other targeted-spell and it'll phase out before the sacrifice clause at the end of turn, allowing us to bypass it and permanently keep our creature.

4. Go-Wide Matters: For all our intangible trickery, we still need a way to win. Most spirit tokens already have evasion built in, but their numbers and/or stats will need to be amplified to take out three opponents. King of the Oathbreakers starts the spirit-engine going, but he's further bolstered by more token production like Haunted Library, Thalisse, Reverent Medium, and Black Market Connections. Spirit tokens are just as able to phase in and out as normal cards, allowing your tokens to produce even more 1/1 flyers via the King's ability. After building an army, it'll also be vital to boost them up, so our deck packs a ton of anthem-effects both on typal creatures (Metallic Mimic, Adaptive Automaton, Drogskol Reinforcements) and classic go-wide cards like Cathars' Crusade and Intangible Virtue. There are also plenty of card-advantage outlets that play very well with token production, with cards like Skullclamp, Staff of the Storyteller, and Plumb the Forbidden ensuring we don't run out of gas.

Altogether, we have a resilient general who extends a defensive ability to the rest of his army, then builds up said army into an even more dangerous force. All we have to do, other than decide what to do with the time that given to us, is supply the King with a steady stream of targeting-spells and payoffs for going wide. Our strategy is one that's defensive for most of the game, only shifting to offensive we've enough lethal damage to take out one or more players. Things may start off slow, but King of the Oathbreakers expands our army exponentially, resulting in a spectral snowball effect.

King of the Oathbreakers | Commander | Matthew Lotti

• Commander (1)
• 1 King of the Oathbreakers

• Creatures (19)
• 1 Adaptive Automaton
• 1 Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
• 1 Banshee of the Dread Choir
• 1 Beckoning Will-o'-Wisp
• 1 Crypt Ghast
• 1 Drogskol Reinforcements
• 1 Guardian of Faith
• 1 Harmonious Archon
• 1 He Who Hungers
• 1 Horobi, Death's Wail
• 1 Kagemaro, First to Suffer
• 1 Killian, Ink Duelist
• 1 Mavinda, Students' Advocate
• 1 Metallic Mimic
• 1 Mirkwood Bats
• 1 Mirror Entity
• 1 Mondrak, Glory Dominus
• 1 Skyclave Apparition
• 1 Thalisse, Reverent Medium

• Instants (24)
• 1 Blessed Breath
• 1 Candles' Glow
• 1 Cauldron Haze
• 1 Clever Concealment
• 1 Eerie Interlude
• 1 Embolden
• 1 Goryo's Vengeance
• 1 Hagra Mauling // Hagra Broodpit
• 1 Heaven's Gate
• 1 Horobi's Whisper
• 1 Hundred-Talon Strike
• 1 Kabira Takedown // Kabira Plateau
• 1 Kaya's Guile
• 1 Malakir Rebirth // Malakir Mire
• 1 Otherworldly Journey
• 1 Plumb the Forbidden
• 1 Pollen Remedy
• 1 Remedy
• 1 Rend Flesh
• 1 Scapegoat
• 1 Sejiri Shelter // Sejiri Glacier
• 1 Spiritual Visit
• 1 Teferi's Protection
• 1 Touch of Darkness

• Sorceries (7)
• 1 Agadeem's Awakening // Agadeem, the Undercrypt
• 1 Damn
• 1 Footsteps of the Goryo
• 1 Hex
• 1 Terashi's Grasp
• 1 Toxic Deluge
• 1 Vanquish the Horde

• Enchantments (7)
• 1 Anointed Procession
• 1 Black Market Connections
• 1 Cathars' Crusade
• 1 Etchings of the Chosen
• 1 Haunted Library
• 1 Intangible Virtue
• 1 Out of Time

• Artifacts (10)
• 1 Anduril, Flame of the West
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Archaeomancer's Map
• 1 Halo Fountain
• 1 Heraldic Banner
• 1 Mind Stone
• 1 Orzhov Signet
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Staff of the Storyteller
• 1 Talisman of Hierarchy

• Battles (1)
• 1 Invasion of New Capenna // Holy Frazzle-Cannon

• Lands (31)
• 6 Swamp
• 8 Plains
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Castle Locthwain
• 1 Caves of Koilos
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
• 1 Fetid Heath
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Isolated Chapel
• 1 Marsh Flats
• 1 Minas Tirith
• 1 Phyrexian Tower
• 1 Shattered Sanctum
• 1 Silent Clearing
• 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
• 1 Vault of Champions
• 1 Vault of the Archangel
• 1 Westvale Abbey

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As effective as our Commander is at both protecting himself and providing an eventual win-condition, his gameplan is not subtle. Opponents will be well-aware of our endgame and attack our plans accordingly. King of the Oathbreakers may be tricky to remove, but anyone who sees him across the table is going to know phasing-effects and token swarms are involved. Our use of Arcane spells will likely come as a surprise, but they still serve the larger goal of making as many spirits as possible while keeping our hand full.

The Grey Host: This may come as a shock, but most of our creatures are spirits. I know, who'd of thought? As mentioned earlier, the spirit creature type has been around since the beginning of the game, and as such, offers a tremendous amount of typal support. Anthem-effects abound via Beckoning Will-o'-Wisp, Drogskol Reinforcements, Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit, Metallic Mimic, Adaptive Automaton, and the ever-scary Mirror Entity, who even extends the spirit type onto our non-spirit creatures for added strength or protection. Other ghosts come with removal, be it the targeted- (Skyclave Apparition) or mass-variety (Kagemaro, First to Suffer). For further disruption, He Who Hungers can utterly tear apart enemy hands with enough tokens. Soulshift 4 also fits the King's casting cost, allowing the demonic Pac-Man to recur our commander should he find his way to the graveyard.

And then there's Horobi, Death's Wail. Oh boy, let's talk about Horobi.

I want to give a massive shout-out to @demon_ralphy and @hocks42 for bringing this sweet interaction to my attention. As a fellow spirit, Horobi, Death's Wail benefits from the King of the Oathbreakers' phasing-trigger. Horobi turns any one of your spells and abilities that could target a creature into a removal spell, but he's normally just as vulnerable to this ability as everything else. Not anymore. With King of the Oathbreakers on your side, you can order the targeting-triggers to pull Horobi (and you other spirits) out of harm's way before Horobi's ability has the chance to destroy them. You still reap the full benefit of axing enemy creatures via Horobi's effect, but so long as you're able to phase away the spirit to safety, you'll suffer none of the drawbacks. Your Heaven's Gate, Touch of Darkness, Cauldron Haze, and other mass-target spells all just transformed into one-sided 'wrath effects that'll make you an army on the next turn.

Another fun interaction comes from combining King of the Oathbreakers with Banshee of the Dread Choir. Normally, the Myriad ability would cause the attacking token copies of the banshee to disappear at the end of combat, but if you're able to target the copies before combat ends, they'll phase out before getting exiled. Next turn, not only do the banshee copies phase back in for good, but they too possess Myriad, letting you exponentially grow a banshee-army with enough mass-targeting spells. All the while, your opponents will be fending off 4/4's that tear apart their hand while increasing in number.

Head back to the world of the living, and you find a few mortal troops filling out the rest of our ranks. Thalisse, Reverent Medium, Mirkwood Bats, and Mondrak, Glory Dominus all reward us for making spirit tokens. Harmonious Archon may appear an odd inclusion, but it provides three useful effects. Not only does it bring along two 3/3 creatures for free, but it effectively adds +2/+2 to all our spirit tokens atop any other +1/+1 counters or other status-boosting effects. Finally, it can drastically shrink large enemy creatures to much more manageable 3/3s, of which the Archon easily blocks along with his two other 3/3 Human buddies. Another synergistic inclusion is the woefully underrated Mavinda, Students' Advocate. Last time I wrote about Mavinda, we focused on generating value by recuring blink spells. Now we're interested in the targeting aspect of our spells as they relate to Phasing, but in practice, Mavinda works the same way. She's happy to recycle our spells at their original price so long as they're targeting something of ours. On that note, Killian, Ink Duelist is on hand to make that deal even better, cutting the cost of our signature spells.

Spectral Synergy: In the non-creature realm, we continue many of the same trends, only this is where the majority of our multi-targeting spells enter the fray. Damage prevention like Pollen Remedy, Embolden, and Remedy go from underpowered to excellent utility via King of the Oathbreakers. Having these spells fizzle is of little consequence, as their inclusion lies in the mass-targeting moreso than simple damage prevention. Heaven's Gate and Touch of Darkness function on a similar level, meant more to target our own creatures than worry about color-shifting shenanigans. Scapegoat and Cauldron Haze offer a bit more resilient defense against sweeper spells. Be they an enemy's or your own. But we'll get to that in a minute.

On the Arcane front, we've a variety of effects to take advantage of. Some arcane spells (Rend Flesh, Otherworldly Journey, Footsteps of the Goyro, etc.) offer only their own effects alongside a vehicle to splice other spells onto. It's the cards with Splice like Blessed Breath, Spiritual Visit, and Hundred-Talon Strike that offer the opportunity for card advantage when piggy-backed onto other Arcane spells. These will allow you to get repeated Phasing-triggers from King of the Oathbreakers and your other spirits, further building up your army of fliers as you do so.

And seeing as we're in the business of army-building, it only makes sense to pack even more Anthem-effects like Etchings of the Chosen, Intangible Virtue, and Cathars' Crusade. Invasion of New Capenna // Holy Frazzle-Cannon allows us to trade in a token for a Bone Splinters-effect, then flips into a tommy gun that puts counters on all our spirits. Even our ramp gets in on the action, with Heraldic Banner providing our a power boost alongside extra mana. Anointed Procession, Black Market Connections, Haunted Library, Andúril, Flame of the West, and Staff of the Storyteller add even more ghosts (and card advantage) to the garrison.

When it comes to mass-removal, I try to include at least 2-3 spells in every Commander deck I build. King of the Oathbreakers packs six. This is due to how easy it is to turn any one of our sweeper spells into a one-sided effect with our Commander's phasing ability. Snap off a multi-target spell ([Ex. Embolden) or mass-phasing effect (Ex. Guardian of Faith), and you're able to drop a Vanquish the Horde, Toxic Deluge, or overloaded Damn without fear of losing many (or any) creatures. Our other three 'wrath effects come with a bit of nuance. Out of Time doesn't permanently clear the board, but it buys you ample time from enemy creatures while also producing extra spirit tokens. Kagemaro, First to Suffer scales in both combat and destructive prowess with your hand size. And then there's Hex. The prospect of killing six creatures for six mana sounds phenomenal, functionally acting like a one-sided board wipe in a lot of cases. The drawback being you can't cast the spell unless there are six viable targets. There's no "up to" clause. It's six creatures dead or nothing. Fortunately, King of the Oathbreakers allows us to to target our own creatures without fear, turning Hex's drawback into a strength, as not only will we more easily be able to cast the spell and kill the intended enemy targets, but our own returned spirits will make tokens as they enter back into existence.

Supporting Spells: Many a deck features the get-out-of-jail-free pass that is Teferi's Protection, but we also bring in Eerie Interlude and Clever Concealment for added defense and spirit-production. Modal spells like Hagra Mauling // Hagra Broodpit, Sejiri Shelter // Sejiri Glacier, Malakir Rebirth // Malakir Mire, and Kabira Takedown // Kabira Plateau offer useful removal / protection on a targeted effect or a land in a pinch, making them utility that only takes up a land spot. Kaya's Guile provides a multitude of useful abilities for whatever the situation calls for. And the ever-important card advantage is handled via Plumb the Forbidden, Skullclamp, the aforementioned Staff of the Storyteller and Black Market Connections, and an alternate win-condition by the name of...

King of the Oathbreakers produces spirit tokens that come into play tapped. Normally, this would be a drawback, but with Halo Fountain in the mix, the condition turns into a benefit. Most often, you'll simply untap a pair of spirits to draw a card, but with enough ghosts, Halo Fountain becomes an alternate win condition. Fifteen creatures is no small number, but remember: the King works in exponentials, making the challenge far easier to achieve with only a few supporting spells.

Mana Support and Rocks: We turn to the usual blend of mana rocks (Arcane Signet, Archaeomancer's Map, Orzhov Signet) to ramp up our mana, so no real surprises there. Our mana base spices things up a bit on the utility front. Castle Locthwain and Minas Tirith both provide repeated card advantage. The go-wide nature of our deck also provides Phyrexian Tower and Westvale Abbey far more fuel, with the latter land even becoming a potential win condition if we're able to flip it. A 9-power Indestructible creature isn't impossible to deal with in Commander, but it demands an immediate answer and provides a huge life-swing with each attack.

Westvale Abbey by Min Yum

Spirits: Part of a balanced breakfast

Budget Options

Being a spectral entity cursed for who-knows-how-many ages is no excuse for excess spending. I can't imagine there was much to purchase along the Paths of the Dead, but the principle remains evergreen. So, to help out our wallets just as honest as our promises, let's explore some budget options. All cards over $20 will be noted and recommended for swap-outs. If anything seems interesting, regardless of price tag, give them a roll in the main! Creativity is a oft-forgotten cornerstone of Commander. One of the aspects that makes it special. Mix and match card choices to your heart's content!

Creatures: Only Mondrak, Glory Dominus breaks the budget charts among our creature count, and while a token-doubling effect is hard to lose, an entire host of spirits are on deck to fill the void. Drogskol Calvary, Ao, the Dawn Sky, Yosei, the Morning Star, Oyobi, Who Splits the Heavens, and Faithbound Judge // Sinner's Judgment all provide powerful stats and abilities, with the latter even acting as a win-condition in the late game. If you're more interested in utility-spirits, look to the likes of Drumbellower, Remorseful Cleric, Hanged Executioner, and Urborg Scavengers. Making lots of tokens also synergizes well with Aristocrat-style strategies, so cards like Priest of Forgotten Gods, Teysa, Orzhov Scion, Twilight Drover also warrant a look.

Supporting Spells: Toxic Deluge has thankfully received recent reprints, bringing it into budget range, but we do lose Teferi's Protection, Black Market Connections, Anointed Procession, Heaven's Gate, and Touch of Darkness. That's a rough handful of cards to lose, as the first three are incredibly powerful all-around effects and the latter two synergize with our strategy. To compensate for the loss of card advantage, look to go-wide sources like Horn of the Mark, Idol of Oblivion, and Dawn of a New Age. Robe of Stars offers an additional source of Phasing that may not be on-masse, but is repeatable each turn. Choice of Damnations serves as another platform to splice Arcane spells, and can put your opponent into a thorny dilemma depending on the number chosen. Speaking of Spirit and Arcane, Long-Forgotten Gohei serves as both anthem-effect and 'mana rock' for your spiritual forces. For additional sources of targeting, spells like Profane Command, Excavation Technique, and Glimpse the Sun God.

Mana Options: Marsh Flats remains under the $20 mark, making Pyrexian Tower our only land that breaks budget. It's not a huge loss, so don't hesitate to fill its spot with the myriad of White/Black dual lands like Concealed Courtyard, Temple of Silence, or Tainted Field. If you're looking for a bit more utility, consider additional card-advantage lands like Windbrisk Heights, Howltooth Hollow, and War Room.

Intangible Virtue by Clint Cearley

As you recruit more and more spectral soldiers into your ranks, let them serve as a reminder to not break your promises. Sure, they're useful to have on hand now. An army of evasive spirits can make short work of an opponent. But it took them ages to wait on you to hold them to that oath. And remember, once the battle is though, you'll have to relieve them of duty so they can move onto the afterlife. I'm not sure what effort that entails, but I imagine it involves a lot of paperwork.

Thanks for reading, and may you always keep your promises!

-Matt-

@Intrepid_Tautog