Oath of Chandra and Five Friends
Oath of Chandra is a potential Role Player from Oath of the Gatewatch
In this episode of Top Level Podcast, Mike (Resident Genius Michael J. Flores) and Patrick (Pro Tour Champion and Pro Tour Hall of Famer Patrick Chapin) shake up the usual format… Mike asks Patrick about some new cards from the new set and Patrick tells him what he thinks!
Hmmm… Well, maybe that’s not so much of a divergence from our usual show; but we think you’ll like it 🙂
Oath of Chandra is one of the centerpiece cards in this podcast.
Arguably the weakest of the Oath of the Gatewatch namesakes, Oath of Chandra still has some interesting applications as a Constructed playable spell; possibly as a Role Player; possibly (as Mike suggests) as a sideboard card a la Volcanic Hammer in Patrick’s Regional Championships Korlash deck from close to a decade ago.
Oath of Chandra is kind of a more restrictive Volcanic Hammer on its face. Like Volcanic Hammer, it can deal three damage to a creature for two mana… But unlike Volcanic Hammer, it can’t (immediately) be pointed straight at the opponent’s dome.
However!
Oath of Chandra has additional text:
At the beginning of each end step, if a planeswalker entered the battlefield under your control this turn, Oath of Chandra deals 2 damage to each opponent.
Because of this, if you get even one Planeswalker trigger, Oath of Chandra moves from a kind of bad (but possibly still applicable) Volcanic Hammer to Searing Blood range. Like Searing Blood this card will now deal five damage over one creature and one player for two mana, making it pretty good on rate. If you get any additional triggers from Oath of Chandra (i.e. from any future Planeswalker triggers) the rate payback on that two mana only gets better and better.
Like the other Oaths we’ve discussed, Oath of Chandra is a Legendary Enchantment, so a second copy hitting the battlefield will put one into the graveyard. But that may or may not be a strict disadvantage given a pretty cool interaction Patrick points out in this podcast.
What is it?
You’ll have to listen to “Oath of Chandra and Five Friends” to find out!