Onakke Oathkeeper – Commander Masters
Date Reviewed: August 9, 2023
Ratings:
Constructed: 2.25
Casual: 4.75
Limited: N/A
Multiplayer: 3.50
Commander [EDH]: 3.63
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
The “Superfriends” archetype is a figure of frustration to some players, but it still gets support – and it’s easy to see why, when the central cards in it are charismatic and character-based rather than “end of turn, Fact or Fiction, you lose”. Of course, charisma is an individualized perception, which just adds another layer of argument to the whole thing! If you are a Superfriends player yourself, you’ll want to at least consider Onakke Oathkeeper, because it adds two layers of protection to your characters – a 0/4 is a decent blocker against some decks, and the taxing effect gets worse the more your opponent tries to swarm around your blockers. That double defense, plus the reanimation ability, also helps it in multiplayer, where cards that do only one thing can struggle. It might make you a target, but if you’re playing a Superfriends deck, you should be used to that!
Constructed: 2.5
Casual: 4.5
Limited: N/A (see also James’ comment on this below)
Multiplayer: 3.5
Commander [EDH]: 3.5
Where do I stand on the whole planeswalker-decks-as-moral-question thing? Put it this way: I love me some Chandra and I know I’m not alone, but Tales of Middle-earth has no planeswalkers and is already the second best-selling set of all time, and Magic needs its space for wicked cool stuff like mice with swords and cowgirl Vraska.
One of the chronic issues of planeswalkers in Commander is that there are many players who can team up to dispose of planeswalkers before they can be an Issue. Onakke Oathkeepers looks to alleviate that somewhat by taxing offensive attempts against them. It’s not an impressive body on its own, but it can hold off a couple of smaller creatures in a pinch, and forcing them to pay to attack them means that…they’ll probably just attack your face, truth be told. But the push and pull of responding to attacks with resources can often pay off if you can protect a planewalker long enough to get off, so there is that.
The other ability may seem pricey, a six-mana reanimation spell for planeswalkers, but keep in mind that this does not cost you an additional card slot, and it can be popped at instant speed to minimize the exposure they have to your opponents. This is also the color of Pull from Eternity, which probably has been thought of in this context.
I feel like Onakke Oathkeepers is a decent support card with the issue of supporting an archetype that might need a bit more to get going in a given game. Still, if you love planeswalkers, this can help buy them more space to do their Thing, and a second shot of one in a late game can pay off massively.
Constructed: 2 (Superfriends is not a Thing in Legacy, and this doesn’t do enough to be more than a two-mana 0/4)
Casual: 5
Limited: N/A (probably a 1.5 or 2 in this context; this is not War of the Spark or even Phyrexia)
Multiplayer: 3.5
Commander [EDH]: 3.75
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