There's now a new way to play digital Magic: The Gathering as Oathbreaker, the game's newest officially recognized casual format.
There's now a new way to play digital Magic: The Gathering as Oathbreaker, the game's newest officially recognized casual format.
This comes as Wizards of the Coast also introduces something they're calling "Freeform Commander" which "unlocks a new suite of online Commander-based Magic formats to enjoy, and a new sandbox in which to tinker with the format-design possibilities of the command zone."
The company says a big driver behind Freeform Commander is authentic digital play of Commander-adjacent formats such as Oathbreaker.
"Oathbreaker in particular...garnered significant acclaim within the Magic community, [is] fully playable on MTGO—provided all players abide by the additional deckbuilding and spellcasting rules they impose," states the company.
WotC says that the best way to play Oathbreaker on MTGO is by challenging a friend the Buddy system and set up a Freeform Commander game with them.
And, as a reminder, here are the deckbuilding and rules basics for Oathbreaker which, like Commander, is a singleton format:
- Decks are 60 cards and consist of one Oathbreaker (planeswalker), one Signature Spell (an instant or sorcery) that is tied to that planeswalker, and 58 maindeck cards.
- All cards must match the Oathbreaker's color identity.
- The Oathbreaker and Signature Spell start the game in the command zone and follow traditional command zone rules.
- The Signature Spell is only allowed to be cast when the Oathbreaker is on the battlefield.
- Cards listed on the Oathbreaker banned list are not allowed.
And, with the addition of Oathbreaker to MTGO comes the question as to whether or not the format would be eventually added to Magic: The Gathering - Arena.
"We hope to see Oathbreaker on [MTG Arena] soon," says Weirdcards, whom are the folks behind the Oathbreaker format. "Obviously, Arena is built for 1v1 with a limited card pool, so it could be an addition of a Spell slot to Historic Brawl."
Along with Oathbreaker, the two-player Duel Commander format was also added to the game.
"We hope the availability of these popular tabletop formats on Magic Online will help them grow and thrive in both worlds," says WotC.
