Throne of Eldraine is finally here, and the race to figure out the best new cards and what works in the post-rotation world is well under way. Much of the early attention has centered on Adventure creatures such as Murderous Rider.
This isn’t crazy (well, Murderous Rider is, but I mean the focus on Adventure creatures). Still, it can be easy to get distracted by the new hotness and be temporarily blinded to stuff that would be outrageously celebrated in most contexts. One creature in particular that springs to mind is Oathsworn Knight.
Oathsworn Knight starts out as a 4/4 for three (thanks to the +1/+1 counters), which is already better than we usually get in black, though it does come with the “drawback” of needing to attack each turn. However, there is that other ability:
This is a pretty intense ability to be tacked on for basically no cost. First of all, what does it even look like for a red deck to face something like this? The turn it comes down, it either halts their attack for the turn or eats a creature. Then it just attacks, basically unstoppably, while your other forces try to hold down the fort.
What about against a green deck? Again, it basically stops a turn worth of attacking, but then how are they stopping this threat?
While it can be bounced, countered, killed directly, exiled, or forced to be sacrificed, it’s not exactly out there on its own.
You know who isn’t scared of Teferi, Time Raveler at all? It turns out, Murderous Rider and another black Adventure card, Order of Midnight, are the perfect team to support Oathsworn Knight. They can get it back when killed, remove a potentially devastating planeswalker or giant blocker, and are quite effective at defeating attrition-based strategies that seek to contain the battlefield with removal.
Why?
A Hero’s Downfall that deals two damage to you would already be playable. One that also draws you a card would be out of this world. While a 2/3 with lifelink that dies to the bottom of your deck isn’t necessarily as reliably good as a card off the top would be, it’s not far off.
As for Order of Midnight, it’s a lot more realistic to just cast without Adventuring, as a 2/2 flier for two is actually pretty good. It can’t block, but that’s a small price to pay for the option to upgrade your Order of Midnight into a better, more flexible Gravedigger.
You can even do the old trick where a second Order of Midnight can be used to get the first one back. Now, if you’re so inclined, you can just hold that one in your hand, threatening to get back the second if it dies, keeping the attack going indefinitely. Even if you’re not trying to slowplay the flyers, each new one you draw can get back all the rest if you’ve got the time and mana.
As if the inherent flexibility and card economy wasn’t enough, Murderous Rider and Order of Midnight, like Oathsworn Knight, have good types. Given that all three of the aforementioned black powerhouses are Knights, one obvious place to start is with them as a package in a dedicated Knight deck.
While a 2/1 with lifelink is definitely not something we’d generally pay two for, it’s not like it’s not worth casting on two in plenty of spots. Besides, we’re only really paying a one-mana premium to buy the option to Curry Favor. With one Knight already on the battlefield, Curry Favor is pretty modest. A one-point drain is barely worth the one mana and definitely doesn’t make up for the understated 2/1 body. However, a drain for two is starting to get somewhere, and by the time we’re up to a three-point drain, we’re talking about some pretty solid reach in a color that doesn’t always have access to it.
There are various ways to build Knight decks, but the first one that jumps out at me is Orzhov. While black has an incredible selection of powerful cards that happen to be Knights, white has a lot of powerful Knight payoffs.
Worthy Knight is a pretty potent threat for just two mana. If it lives long enough for even a single 1/1 token, it’s already ahead of the curve. It’s even easy to cast.
We’re not exactly short on the three-drops, but this card just seems excellent to me. Isn’t this just a 3/3 for three that draws a card with a lot of selection?
Paying an extra mana for our Silvergill Adept is a lot more palatable when we’re also getting double the stats. Besides, generally getting one of the best of our top five can easily be better than “draw a card.” It’s also not like we actually have to go out of our way and play Auras, Equipment, or legendary artifacts if we don’t want to. All we really need is enough Knights to consistently trigger the ability. Even if we had just twenty, we’d be 87% to hit one in the top five. However, there are so many good Orzhov Knights, it’s gonna be trivial to do better than that.
Venerable Knight doesn’t have the biggest impact on the battlefield, but the price sure is right. Vampires was a Tier 1 deck for a long time, and they would have absolutely loved to have a one-drop this solid.
What about something like:
Creatures (33)
- 1 Cavalier of Night
- 4 Knight of the Ebon Legion
- 4 Smitten Swordmaster
- 4 Order of Midnight
- 4 Venerable Knight
- 4 Murderous Rider
- 4 Worthy Knight
- 4 Oathsworn Knight
- 4 Acclaimed Contender
Lands (23)
Spells (4)
Sideboard
I don’t have an inherent problem with playing removal in this strategy, and depending on how the metagame shapes up, Mortify, Disfigure, Liliana’s Triumph, Conclave Tribunal, and more are all on the table.
It’s just that there’s such a good mix of Knights in a curve, it’s hard to not want to play as many of them as we can. Besides, Murderous Rider gives us four versatile removal spells straight-up, and I think we’ve got room for at least four more beyond that.
Isn’t this card really good?
Like, I realize there’s a lot of stuff going on, but just take a minute to walk through how the game plays out. Let’s start with the case where you cast it into an opponent with an empty battlefield. On their upkeep, they can’t meet the demand, so you go up three cards (them -1, you +1, and you get a 2/2), plus you drain them for two life, which isn’t that far off a card, either.
A deck full of beatdown creatures isn’t necessarily the first in line for a draw-four, but this is actually a pretty solid distribution of material. The 2/2 Knight with vigilance helps advance the battlefield, the extra card in hand and them down a card help grind out midrange and control strategies while also hedging perfectly against sweepers, and the extra draining helps stack with the Smitten Swordmaster for game-ending reach. For four mana, that’s an incredible amount of value.
Okay, what about if they have a nonland, nontoken permanent? Remember, it’s not optional. They must sacrifice something, even if all they have is a three-cost planeswalker!
Even if they can sacrifice something, it’s not like this deck is going to have trouble finding creatures to sacrifice to Doom Foretold to keep it going. Besides, if you actually had something you just couldn’t live without, you can always sacrifice the Doom Foretold and still be even on cards (which isn’t the worst way to get a planeswalker off the table).
Speaking of sacrificing something, Cavalier of Night might be well-suited to this new style of Knights. Sacrificing Knight of the Ebon Legion or Smitten Swordmaster is no biggie, and Venerable Knight even pays us for sacrificing it. Even better, if we get Worthy Knight going, the 1/1 token makes the perfect offering.
Then, once we’re brawling with Cavalier of Night, we’re even well-positioned to take advantage of its death trigger, as there is no shortage of good creatures that cost three or less to bring back. The only reason I don’t play more is that we’ve already got a lot of staying power in the form of Order of Midnight, Worthy Knight, Murderous Rider, Acclaimed Contender, and Doom Foretold. Those cards are all just as good, but have the flexibility of being playable earlier.
Just because we’re a Knight deck doesn’t mean we’re looking to play every Knight call-out we can. Wintermoor Commander needs multiple Knights on the table before you’re even ahead of the game on rate, and it’s not even a particularly efficient distribution of stats to begin with. As for the attack trigger, it’s probably quite respectable in Draft, but that’s just not how Constructed games look likely to play out in the months to come.
Another option I’m not sure should just be in the sideboard is Icon of Ancestry. In a deck like this, it’s a Glorious Anthem that ensures we’re never running out of gas late-game. I could easily see this being better than the Cavalier maindeck. The only issue is how steep of competition we’re looking at in the three-spot. I guess the other issue is whether people play artifact destruction, as we may not want to open ourselves up to it.
The Circle of Loyalty is cute, but it sure seems less reliable than Icon of Ancestry. There’s a lot of possibility of just getting stuck with it in hand and not enough Knights to get it down. Then, instead of getting to restock your hand with a diverse mix of threats over time, The Circle of Loyalty just gives you vanillas, and without even a discount. The big advantage would seem to be the free 2/2s you get for playing other legendary spells, but I don’t really want to play legends, at least not in Orzhov.
Similarly, Knights’ Charge is kind of an Anthem, but I don’t think the attacking Knights draining for one is going to be reliable as a good old-fashioned +1/+1. What’s more, the late-game refill option here costs a lot of mana. It’s an awesome dream, but it sure would be nice to get a little extra gas before then. That said, it’s not out of the question as a sideboard threat that hits from a little different of an angle. Of course, so long as we’re built around Doom Foretold, people are going to want to go after our enchantments anyway, so it’s not even that different.
I’m not sure what to make of Witch’s Vengeance in Knight sideboards. The card seems strong to me, even in some control maindecks, but one of the types I’d most want to name is Knight. I’d like to try it here, to see how much mileage I get out of it as another way to break up a ground stall, but I could easily see it not working out for us.
While not a Knight, this card still looks solid. The three-cost removal spell will be much appreciated against green decks, and the tapper we’re left with is kind of great against such decks itself. We do have to be careful, however, as white cards aren’t going to be that easy when they aren’t Knights. We’ve got thirteen sources (assuming we can get away with a full playset of Temple of Silence), so we’re not doing too badly. Still, we can’t just go ham on white cards when we’re relying so much on Tournament Grounds.
Tournament Grounds gives us a much-needed second untapped multicolor land, enabling us to play one-drops in both colors. That it also produces red presents an interesting question. Are we supposed to play Mardu?
At first, it sounds like it’d be a good path. I mean, the mana is pretty easy, all things considered. Between Tournament Grounds and maybe replacing some Swamps and Plains with shocklands, we could totally pull it off.
No, the problem I have with red isn’t that I don’t think the mana works. If you’re willing to pay the life, you can definitely get there. The issue I have with it is that the red cards just don’t look as strong as the Orzhov Knights cards. I mean, what’s supposed to be the draw?
Inspiring Veteran isn’t exactly inspiring. It’s just a pretty industry-standard 2/2 that gives the others of its type +1/+1, which is okay, but nothing special. We’ve already got plenty of two-drops. Why go to all the trouble for this one?
There’s a lot going on here, and a one-drop would be appreciated, but how often are we actually getting more than a Raging Goblin?
I mean, I guess first strike will matter sometimes, but like, we’re probably most excited about the extra point of damage, right? The whole saving three mana to equip is actually the strongest ability, just from a mana-efficiency standpoint, but if we’re just using the card straight-up, it’s kind of a lot to tie together.
Steelclaw Lance seems fine, I guess, at least on rate, but I think I’d want to see us actually being in the market for Equipment before being so quick to force it.
Embercleave isn’t exactly on-plan, but I guess if you were already playing Fervent Champion, there’s extra value.
I considered the idea of Rakdos Knights, but the good payoffs are in white, for the most part. Why even bother focusing on the tribal stuff? For instance, here’s a Rakdos deck that doesn’t even bother:
Creatures (28)
- 4 Rix Maadi Reveler
- 4 Gutterbones
- 4 Knight of the Ebon Legion
- 4 Order of Midnight
- 4 Murderous Rider
- 4 Oathsworn Knight
- 4 Bonecrusher Giant
Lands (23)
Spells (9)
Rakdos seems like it’d make especially good use of Oathsworn Knight, where the unstoppable damage would really add up. We also get to use one of the best cards in the set, Bonecrusher Giant, even if we’ve got to be careful about using it while we have an Oathsworn Knight on the battlefield.
Bonecrusher Giant’s two-damage Adventure is an excellent option, but remember, the damage prevention being turned off cuts both ways. When Stomp is cast, Oathsworn Knight’s invulnerability is turned off and it’s still getting -1/-1 from damage, so even three points of damage will kill it.
This is a much stronger Evolving Wilds, even if we don’t have a bunch of four-drops and five-drops to really capitalize on the extra untapped mana as often. We’ve still got all these Adventures to go on!
Fabled Passage is going to be very important in the months to come, particularly for three-color decks and decks that don’t have access to a Temple. For instance, how would we really build a Dimir manabase without it, especially an aggressive Dimir deck?
Creatures (32)
- 4 Thief of Sanity
- 4 Gutterbones
- 4 Knight of the Ebon Legion
- 4 Order of Midnight
- 4 Murderous Rider
- 4 Oathsworn Knight
- 4 Fae of Wishes
- 4 Brazen Borrower
Lands (24)
Spells (8)
While this build gets to play a lot of cards I’m really into, there’s something not quite right about the Gutterbones into Fae of Wishes opening…
Besides, if you want to play a Dimir Fae of Wishes deck, why not get buck wild?
Creatures (30)
- 4 Midnight Reaper
- 4 Order of Midnight
- 4 Murderous Rider
- 4 Emry, Lurker of the Loch
- 4 Cauldron Familiar
- 4 Fae of Wishes
- 2 Brazen Borrower
- 4 Merfolk Secretkeeper
Lands (23)
Spells (7)
With Merfolk Secretkeeper and Emry, Lurker of the Loch to fill our graveyard, we’ve got a lot of ways to set up the Cauldron Familiar / Witch’s Oven combo.
It’s not some instant win or whatever, but it’s a pretty good plan, particularly if we’ve got Midnight Reaper running too.
Lucky Clover doesn’t have to copy many Adventures before you’ve gotten your money’s worth, right? I mean, the second time you copy an Adventure, you’re basically caught up, assuming it’s something dope like Murderous Rider or Fae of Wishes.
So, what about a green Oathsworn Knight deck?
Creatures (32)
- 4 Pelt Collector
- 4 Growth-Chamber Guardian
- 4 Shifting Ceratops
- 4 Gilded Goose
- 4 Order of Midnight
- 4 Murderous Rider
- 4 Questing Beast
- 4 Oathsworn Knight
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (24)
Spells (2)
Look, sometimes you just want to brawl. You gotta admit, Oathsworn Knight into Questing Beast or Shifting Ceratops is kind of a beating. Maybe the Pelt Collectors are supposed to just be boring old two-drop accelerators, though.
If we were confident the mana would work, the creature I’d really like to use is Barkhide Troll. I’m a little concerned about starting off with a Barkhide Troll into Oathsworn Knight / Murderous Rider curve, but I’m not above it.
At a certain point, you gotta ask yourself, why are you even going to that much trouble for a 4/4 for three with upside when you could be playing Yorvo?
No sooner have Llanowar Elves and Steel Leaf Paladin rotated out than a host of new mono-green options arrive to take their place.
Creatures (32)
- 4 Pelt Collector
- 4 Growth-Chamber Guardian
- 4 Barkhide Troll
- 4 Shifting Ceratops
- 4 Gilded Goose
- 4 Questing Beast
- 4 Yorvo, Lord of Garenbrig
- 4 Syr Faren, the Hengehammer
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (23)
Spells (1)
But I digress.
Where was I?
Oh, that’s right. Black Knights.
What about mono-black?
Creatures (31)
- 4 Gutterbones
- 1 Cavalier of Night
- 4 Knight of the Ebon Legion
- 2 Rankle, Master of Pranks
- 4 Smitten Swordmaster
- 4 Order of Midnight
- 4 Murderous Rider
- 4 Oathsworn Knight
- 4 Blacklance Paragon
Lands (23)
Spells (6)
Even without a second color, we’ve got no problem filling our list with all quality cards. I mean, what’s the biggest stretch here?
It’s not like a 3/1 with flash for two is even “bad,” to say nothing of the deathtouch plus lifelink ability (which is especially nice with first strikers). I actually think there’s a good chance we’re going to want to adopt some number of Blacklance Paragons in some of the above lists. It seems like a pretty respectable removal spell, all things considered, and I’m super into how good it is at pressuring planeswalkers.
I could be underestimating Ayara, but even if we’re mono-black, I don’t really see this being the best we can do for three mana when the bar is set by powerhouses like Murderous Rider and Oathsworn Knight. Maybe if we were playing a more dedicated sacrifice deck, maybe we could be into it. I think we’d probably have to be the sort of deck that’s packing Priest of Forgotten Gods, or else, what’s the point?
That said, you could definitely talk me into a Priest of Forgotten Gods deck…