Thanks! I can't speak for the other Oath players, but I hadn't met any of the other players thee previously. All my testing was on magic online, and most of it consisted of playing other decks.



  Nice meeting you as well! Was definitely not happy to see that first turn Library, I got very lucky that game. I definitely plan on attending future Cleveland and Columbus events, hope to see you there!

Hi! My name is Chad. Long time lurker here, but this is my first report. A little background before moving on to the report: I used to play Vintage fairly regularly back in the days of Gro-a-Tog, Psychatog, Control Slaver, and Long.dec. I quit and sold most of my stuff, and recently got back into the format when Vintage Masters was released on modo. I spent most of my time online testing UR Delver and Burning Oath, so naturally at the last minute I decided to play a deck I liked better in theory but had very little practice with: BUG Oath. Here is what I sleeved up:

4 Force of Will
2 Mana Drain
2 Mental Misstep
1 Flusterstorm
1 Swan Song
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Thoughtseize
1 Demonic Tutor
2 Griselbrand
4 Oath of Druids
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Show and Tell
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Black Lotus
4 Forbidden Orchard
3 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
1 Island
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Gaea's Blessing
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Voltaic Key
1 Time Vault
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Misdirection

Sideboard
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Show and Tell
1 Griselbrand
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Duress
2 Nature's Claim
1 Flusterstorm
1 Ravenous Trap
1 Tormod's Crypt

 Online, at least, there is a lot of hate for Oath. Rather than loading up on Abrupt Decays to fight through cages, I decided to SB an extra Show and Tell + Griselbrand.  It worked fairly well for me, and I think I ended up boarding them in almost every match. On to the tournament!

  13 players arrive at Kidforce Collectibles in Berea, OH to battle Vintage. Four rounds with cut to top 4, 1st place is a Library of Alexandria, 2nd-4th get store credit.

  Round 1: Eric with Gush Pyromancer Ascension

  Game 1 I open a no lander (I think I had 2 moxen but they were off color) and mull into an all mana hand and end up going to five. I ended up with some lands in play and a few counters in hand. At end of my turn Eric goes for Ancestral, which I misdirect. He forces, and I am left with a decision. I have flusterstorm: do I counter the ancestral to make sure it is countered, or his force so that I can draw 3? I ended up countering his force, hoping he didnt have another counter. He had another force and got to draw 3. He mostly draws mana off the ancestral and we play draw go for a while. I know I had an orchard at some point, and he eventually played Pyromancer's Ascension.  The turn after Ascension hits I topdecked Oath; he had no answer and was unable to go off before I oathed up Griselbrand and won handily.

Game 2 I had a very early Oath + Orchard. My opponent cast an eot Vampiric Tutor, but I believe he had misplayed his lands such that he couldn't cast Abrupt Decay. He instead tried a desperation Yawgwill but wasn't able to go off and he scooped after I found Griselbrand next upkeep.

2-0, 1-0


Round 2: Nam with MUD

  Nam won the die roll and lead with first turn Chalice on 2, shutting off the Oath in my hand. Luckily for me I had some artifact mana (as well as an Orchard) and a turn one or two Show and Tell putting Oath into play.  I drew a bunch of cards off Griselbrand, Decayed the chalice at some point, and attacked for the win.

 Game 2 Nam mulled to five, and I think I mulled to six. He opened with Leyline of Sanctity (shutting off my Oath and Hurkyl's in hand) and Workshop into Staff of Domination. I had a couple moxen and a first turn Sensei's Divining Top, but when he Wasted my only land (an Orchard) I drew nothing for several turns, and by the time I had Show and Tell set up, he had a Duplicant in hand for my Griselbrand. I scooped when he gained infinite life off double Staff of Domination.

Game 3 I again had a bunch of artifact mana (I believe 2 mox and a crypt that I played turn 1 to avoid having it stuck in my hand by a chalice for zero). I also had an early top again. My opponent had kept a mana light hand (strip mine + wasteland) on another mull to five. He eventually drew Workshop and played a Smokestack (which resolved) and a Lodestone Golem (which I forced). We went to time, and in extra turns I got Griselbrand into play and attacked for the win.

2-1, 2-0


  Round 3: Brendan with BUG Oath.

   Game 1, Brendan wins the roll and Thoughtseizes away my Griselbrand. I have first turn Library but draw mostly mana off it. He casts DT at some point and plays a Lotus. I get the feeling that he is trying to hardcast Griselbrand. I have lots of card advantage but no counters for a Griselbrand if he hits eight mana. Eventually I cast Jace; he hardcasts FoW but has to sac Lotus to do so, which strands the Griselbrand in his hand. I finally find an Oath, and with my Library drew into double Orchard to his single Orchard and won shortly after finding Griselbrand.

   I sided out all but one Oath and sided in my control stuff (Duress, Flusterstorm) as well as an extras Show and Tell and an extra Griselbrand.  I don't remember much early in game 2 other than I had Show and Tell + Grisel in hand. I thoughtseize him and see Griselbrand, Yawgwill (with only 4 mana in play and nothing exciting in the yard), and Oath. Neither of us had an Orchard so I took Griselbrand. On his next turn he cast Gaea's Blessing, which I Swan Songed. On my next turn I played Show and Tell and won handily from there.

2-0, 3-0


  Round 4: Sam with BUG Oath

  We are the only two at 3-0, so we ID.

  0-0-1, 3-0-1

  Top 4:  Nat with Bomberman

  Game 1 I remember Thoughtseizing and seeing mana, FoW, Drain, and double Auriok Salvagers. I took the Drain, thinking he had plenty of mana and that the force would at least cost him a card. He ate away at my life total with a Salvagers and some Orchard tokens. I eventually resolved Oath, but was at  a low enough life total that I couldn't draw cards off him. I passed, and he drew, played the second Salvagers, and passed back. I attacked with Griselbrand, but decided against drawing seven since if I whiffed I was dead to his counterattack. He played a Trinket Mage on his turn (which my MisD couldn't counter...) and got Spellbomb which made short work of my Griselbrand. On to Game 2!

   Game 2 Nat had turn 1 Library which is bad news for me. Fortunately he drew all mana off it and no counters so he had no answer for my Show and Tell into Griselbrand. I drew a bunch of cards. He attempted to Echoing Truth Griselbrand but I had several counters by that point and was able to Vamp for Time Walk to close out the game.

  Game 3 I think Nat mulled to six and I kept my seven, which included Vault + Key.  I tried an early top that got misstepped.  We played a little draw-go, and I eventually cast Thoughtseize and saw something like mox, mox, crypt, and FoW. I took the force and played time vault, and on my next turn resolved key. He scooped after I drew and played Jace.

  2-1, 4-0-1


  Finals:  Eric with UW Angels

  Game 1 I kept a 7 with a turn 1 Oath but no Orchard and not much else going on. I played land, mox, Oath (which resolved) and passed. Eric played land, mox, mana crypt. I played a land and passed, and Eric cast an eot FoF, followed by another the next turn. He was outdrawing me by a wide margin while I continued to look for an Orchard. Eventually he resolved a Jace (I had tried to force pitching jace but he forced back) and began by fatesealing me and bottoming the card. Naturally I topdecked Orchard and played it. He kept brainstorming with Jace and had running StPs for the first two Orchard tokens, and eventually played a Stoneforge after finding a Karakas (which, I might add, I have zero answers for in my 75...) I oath for Griselbrand, putting over half my deck in my graveyard in the process, including Lotus, Vault, and Key. I drew seven in response to his attempt to Karakas Griselbrand. Lucky for me I had Yawgwill in my hand all game, and the seven I drew gave me enough counters to protect it and play Vault + Key for the win.

  Game 2 I keep a seven with turn 2 Oath + Orchard with two forces. On turn two, I cast Oath, he spell snares, I force, he forces back, and I force again. Oath resolves, he draws his card for turn and scoops.

  2-0, 5-0-1

  
  Overall, I was pleased with my deck. I am not sold on the Academy, though I only drew it once or twice and was never severely punished by having it unable to tap for mana.  I have seen some lists not run Library, and I do not understand it. It was fantastic for me all day, and phenomenal in the mirror. I would like to add an extra 1-2 Mental Missteps, but I have no idea what I would cut. Possibly the Swan Song or MisD.

 Anyways, the tournament was a blast. All of my opponents were awesome and it was great meeting everyone. Thanks to Kidforce Collectibles for running a great event, and Team Serious for setting it up, getting a Vintage event 15 minutes from where I live, and donating the Library for prize support.

As far as Darksteel Colossus goes, I agree with Breathweapon--I've really only found it useful against Fish, since they really have no way of dealing with it.  
   That said, I would never cut Time Walk.  Besides being randomly amazing with Necropotence, it is just a generally useful card.  Games don't always end when you want them to (like turn 1-2), and Time Walk can be awesome when you have 3-4 lands out and can set up for another turn.
    Also, I haven't heard anyone mention one of the biggest Consultation targets: land (usually CoB).

Great article, Steve.  I've been playing this deck (or something very close to it) for a few moths now, and I definitely think it is a contender.  Hopefully your articles will convince others to at least give this deck a shot.

    Right now, I'm testing 4 Orchards over 1 City, 1 Gemstone, 1 Viod and 1 Sea.  Have the Orchards been working for anyone else?  In limited testing, they seem good, but 4 may not be the right number.
    Also, has anyone removed the Crop Rotation?  I was never happy with it, so I cut it... any thoughts on what to add?  I've been testing a lone Intution, which seems expensive a lot of time, but is randomly amazing.

I have been playing with the Colossus plan for some time now (generally, I have had the Colossus in the board to side in against Fish, as well as a few other decks).
    The Colossus is obviously bad against 4CC, but the 4CC matchup is not nearly as hard as the Fish matchup, and Fish cannot deal with a turn 1-2 Colossus.

   I still am unsure about how to SB with this deck, as up to this point I have been doing mostly pre-SB testing.  I definitely would NOT remove Duress against Fish, it is really strong there.  Perhaps -1 Crop Rotation, -1 Mox Diamond, -1 ???? (against 4CC, the Colossus if it is maindecked)  

    It seems to me that swarm would definitely come in against 4CC, Tog, and Control Slaver (decks with 4 FoW, 4 Drain).  I am not sure that it would be as useful against Fish, though, since a) it doesn't stop Null Rod, and b) they have lots of ways of dealing with it (lavamancer, blocking with Spiketails/Clouds).

    The card I have been testing lately has been Intuition.  For testing purposes, I added 3 to the maindeck, removing 1 D Wish (going down to 4 total), Mystical Tutor, and Tinker (SBing it, with the intention of either finding something else to cut to move it back in, or maindecking the Colossus).  At times, Intuition has been absolutely amazing.  It looks kinda bad, with the casting cost of 3, but if you have Intuition + Wish in your hand, its extremely powerful at setting up a good Will.  The nice thing about it, though, is that it is very rarely dead--even when you cannot use it in conjunction with Wish (which is ideal), it still can fetch, say, 3 Draw7s for next turn.  Plus it doesn't put the card on top of your library, like Mystical Tutor does (which is REALLY annoying).

    -nietzreznor

Personally, I prefer Snuff Out to either Ghastly Demise or Plaguebearer.

   I really do not think that REB can kill an entire deck.  I mean, it doesn't hit YawgWill or Twist (two total bombs), and it can always be Duressed away.

  @ Ultima:  I like the idea of the MD B2B (since it hoses the two most populr decks, Fish and 4CC).  Why only 22 mana source, though?  It seems that, even with 5 basics, 22 mana is kinda light against waste-heavy decks.  And, even with B2B in the main deck, I would still find a way to squeeze LoA in.

    Stifle seems kind of narrow right now (unless Tendrils combo comes back big).  A SB Crucible might be interesting; however, with 5 basics, I am not sure that it is necessary.  Crucible will only be devastating if they manage to draw Strip Mine.  

     -nietzreznor

I definitely still think Tog is still a viable option--I'm not sure why some people think the deck is dead just because it didn't perform well at the SCG tourney, or because a particularly bad matchup (Fish) is popular right now.

    I think going back to the three color build is a very interesting idea.  I had thought about it at some point, but dismissed it mostly because I really liked Artifact Mutation and things like Firestorm.  However, since Fish is extremely popular right now, and B2B is really strong against it, 3 colors doesn't seem like a bad idea.
 
   One question about your decklist:
 
     Why 4 Duress?  It seems like, if Fish is one of the biggest problems, we should cut down to at least 3 (if not 2) Duress, since Duress is horrible against Fish.  Personally, I hate not running Twist, but even if one didn't run it, I'm not sure that 4 Duress is necessary.

   Anyways, I'm glad to see not everyone has given up on Tog...

    -nietzreznor

Steve: I noticed that you have gotten rid of both the Chromatic Spheres and the Cabal Rituals--do you miss those at all?  I have been contemplating getting rid of the Spheres--I HATE drawing them when I don't specifically need them, and they often seem to slow down the deck too much.  The Cabal Rituals, though, have been okay--not spectacular, but solid (especially after Wheel or Windfall).

    I have to agree on the Duress vs. FoW issue.  I've tried both, and Duress has been great so far.  The downside is that you cannot stop a turn 1 3sphere, etc. if you are drawing, but it seemed rare that I would not only have the Force, but also a blue card I could afford to pitch.

   Do you really think that FoW and Wasteland are that big of a problem?  In testing against, say, 4CC, they were never a huge problem.  Wasteland often seemed to slow, unless combined with Null Rod or 3sphere/ Sphere of R.  3sphere seems like the biggest problem so far.

     -nietzreznor

I too have been playing with Death Long quite a bit lately.  The version I have been testing with looks much more like old Long with -3 LED, +3 Cabal Ritual.  
   
    How has Pentad Prism been working for you?  I must admit, I never even thought of using that.  Right now I'm still running the Sphere, but only 2 because there is less need for color fixing with only 1x Burning Wish.  Also, how has the Chrome Mox been?  I was running in my first build, and ended up cutting it for Mox Diamond.  It just seemed like there was never anything I really wanted to remove for Chrome, or, if there was, it was the wrong color.

    I really would like to fit in the 4 ESG's, as you have done, but a) I like Cabal Ritual a LOT more, and b) I just can't see adding that much more mana.  In testing I have found 4 Duress (or 4 FOW) to be very important.

    As of yet, I have not tested Spoils of the Vault.  I understand the logic behind using it--i.e., you use it to find Death Wish (or, if you already have that, possibly Dark Ritual), then Wish afterwards.  My biggest problem (other than finding the space for it) is that there will be times when you need to blow an early Death Wish on removal of some sort.  Spolis kind of sucks after that.  Of course, the same could be said of Necro/Bargain, but they just win games.  I should also say that I haven't really had trouble finding Wishes before--maybe I'm just lucky...

   Diminishing Returns in the MD is also an interesting idea (I believe Smmenen has already tried this?)  I haven't added one because I still like running Mystical Tutor, and I can't really think of anything else to cut.

    One idea I have been toying with is either a MD or a SB Colossus.  There are quite a few decks, I think, that would have a VERY difficult time dealing with a turn 1-2 Colossus.  It wouldn't be a bad idea (certainly worth testing, at least) to side out Tinker (or leave it in main?), side in the Colossus (and Returns if you take out Tinker to Wish for), and go for the early 11/11 against decks with no real way of removing/racing him.

   Really, though, I think this deck has a LOT of potential.  I haven't sone the necessary testing, and I haven't won tournaments to verify this, but it seems promising.  It's good to see that someone else feels the same way.

    -nietzreznor

@DragonFire:  Echoing what JP said, the difficult part about Tog is not necessarily the tactical decisions, but rather adopting the correct gameplan.  Anyone can sit there and drain stuff and cast draw spells; the <tricky> part is knowing what role you should be adopting in a particular matchup.  And hence why some people seem to find the matchup against Stax unfavorable...

I think people are making trinisphere and Smokestack sound like greater threats than they actually are.  Obviously, if they come out early, in multitude, Stax will win (Stax wins if it goes broken).  But, normally, neither of these two does enough against Tog.  Trinisphere doesn't affect the cost of Tog or Cunning Wish, and all Smokestack really does is put a few more cards in Tog's graveyard (ie, adds a few more damage).

It's good to let your opponent redraw mana.  While your opponent draws lands, you can draw damage/business and beat him up.

First off, I would take out the fake moxes and lotus petal--they're just not very useful in this deck.  I would also make room for 1 or 2 more Misdirections, maybe remving a Duress and a Wish, or the Sight.  I personally wouldn't play Intuition--it's just not as good in a deck more focused only playing cheap cantrips and counters.  Rituals are not good in this deck, as the deck has relativately few mana sinks and only a handful of black spells.

@Kowal:  You are right about Ninja Mask, I forgot about the Brainstorms.  The problem, though, is that Chains ISN'T always useful, like against TNT (which will have maybe 1 Wheel or Jar, and possibly Simacrulems, which shouldn't be a factor anyways), and against Spoils mask, which has zero draw (outrside of Necro, which gets around Chains anyways).  
     I agree that Chains does a great job shutting down a Bazaar engine, especially against Dragon, but the only problem is that it is only minimally effective against something like Madness.  Madness has almost no "business" to discard... all the stuff it wants to play (outside of Mongrel, which usually hits play early anyways)-- Arrogant Wurm, Rootwalla, Deep Analysis, Roar--all want to be discrded anyways.
    I'm not saying that Chains isn't a strong choice--I happen to be very much interested in this build.  But the metagame HAS to be considered; Keeper is a metagame deck.

I'm not sure how useful Chains is against bazaar-based aggro.  I can see its utility against Dragon, but Madness uses Bazaar as much as a discard outlet as a draw engine, and Big O has Survival that it can use.
    So, if this deck is built for a very control heavy metagame, I can understand the choice.  But if one is expecting TNT, Madness, Mask, then I'm not sure how useful it would be.

Not all control decks pack Misdirection.  If you are expecting lots of GAT, Fish, and Landstill, then Hymns may be bad, but they're great against Keeper and Hulk.

I agree about cutting the Braingeyser, the MisD, and the Underground Paradise.  I would definitely NOT cut Balance.  Its still one of Keeper's strongest weapons, and a prime tutor target.  As for Decree, I would run all 3; the card is amazing, and its quite good against aggro.  Early on, it cycles, letting you look at more cards for answers.  It also doubles as removal, as you can cycle it and take out some weenies, or chump if need be.

One question--  Why Regrowth?  Your deck seems pretty redundant as is, and you already have petrified fields (presumably so that you could return wasted bazarrs, otherwise they'd be more wastes).  I'm not sure what regrowth adds...

3 STP seems like a lot.   Granted, it may be better than stifle against most aggro decks, but getting your hand flooded with swords in matchups where they're not that great is annoying.  A 3rd decree wouldn't be bad, though, and with 3 decrees a third swords probably isn't as necessary.

"Theory without playtesting is empty, playtesting without theory is blind."

       I think this spin on Kant's famous quote (since we seem to be using many philosophical references) sums up the relationship between CA/tempo theory and playtesting.   We can't seriously think that we could playtest without any theory whatsoever.  How would we ever get started?  Without basic concepts like CA and tempo (BOTH of which are important), we wouldn't be able to play test.  Hell, even if we had decks given to us to test, how could we play the individual cards without a bascis theory on how to win?
    But, as the quote suggests, all of this is only useful in the context of actual decks and actual cards.  Playtesting ccan help us determine whether or not a tempo boost is worth the CA disadvantage that comes with it.  Maybe this differs from match to match.

   The point is, I'm not sure there is really anything such as "defying theory," or "useless theory," or anything like that.  We might have some cards in our deck that are there with seemingly no theoretical justification, just because "they win."  But that does not mean that theory cannot explain them.  An average player may do just this: he may net-deck, then use cards only because they seem to do well, without any idea WHY they work so well.  A great player, I would think, would always be able to analyze such a situation, and understand the theoreticla reasosn for the success of a given card/deck.  He can do this, because the actual playing/testing, and the theory, aren't foreign concepts.  They are related--we need them both to even begin playing.

I definitely would not remove the Misdirections.  DA is not all that necessary, but if you insisted on playing it, I would find something to remove other then MisD.  The card is too strong in this deck to take out, as it is a real weapon in forcing through your creatures and draw spells, keeping your dryads/togs alive, etc.

I'd probably side out the Hymns first, then maybe some Unmasks.  For one thing, if a welder is resolved, Hymn becomes pretty weak.  Also, a chalice set at 2 (which the opponent might gun for in an attempt to shut out mask) will also hit your hymns.

Yeah, Duress would be a lot better MB than Sleight of Hand.  The AKs should definitely stay in over the Opts.  Without AK (and since Gush is restricted), you'd have nothing to really DRAW cards, onoly cantrips.  You definitely need a cheap spell that actually puts some cards in your hand, and thats AKs job.

     As far as Mana Drain vs. Counterspell, I've always liked Drain when I've played GAT.  Thats not to say, though, that its the right choice.  I have seen many people turn to regular counterspells to avoid the burn mana, and that makes sense, as there really are not many large mana sinks in the deck (outside of Yawgwill, Cunning Wish, and possibly Twist).  If you're taking lots of burn (and that burn is costing you games), I would definitely replace them with counterspells.

I would definitely re-find room for Damping Matrix (it's good versus so many decks).  This would be yet another reason to run decrees over moprphling/masticore, and lose the abyss.

The Power 9 always have been, and always will be, the backbone of t1 decks.  That doesn't mean you can't ever win without them.  But many decks in t1 just cannot be played effectively without power, and many 'budget decks' just are not tier one.

I would definitely consider some faster mana.  Off-color moxen should be added, I think.  I would also replace Vault with a Mana Crypt.  If you're adding red, the only real things I'd use would be artifact destruction (sb) and blood moon.