Great Article.

I was wondering somehow u didn't mentioned Oath. Double Dragon Oath is relatively easy to play, can easily be played/build in a 10-proxy torney and ur one of the people knows most about the deck.
But I understand that its not really a Gateway deck
although years ago when Double Angel Oath (Akroma+ Razia) was pretty popular many many guys played the deck unpowered here.

2nd place: unpowered rogue.

sweet!!! ^^

booah... -.-
i think fish is really strong enough already, right?.. =/

u didnt actuallly read what i wrote right?

I bet u fire off a lethal tendrils in round3 EVERY freakin game.... -.-
well, u dont said that? and its not true whatsoever?
ok... soooo.. u need the 8 duress then. seriosly.

you are right with the lands. fetches and wastes are pretty good with ordeal. although the other cards mentioned doesnt make a difference. a blotus gives one storm and also only one gravestorm.
and a wasteland gives "only" 2 gravestorm. (2 lands go to the yard..)

and how often do u have a minimum of 3 cards played and THEN played the ordeal?
IMO its not very comon with this deck. it avoids counters thtas true and its a bit easier to play but u need alot afford to have the same effect as a a sacrament.

yeah as said.....
its ALTERNATE win condition.... its not that u want to find and resolve a lethal tendrils ASAP and at all costs. it just happens sometimes...

wheras u need the dures effects to actually STAY IN THE GAME against most decks.
i.e. there are essential for the decks success.

dont know if the letter is less important to u... oO'

well, i think your forsee that the 8 duress effects is the best u can do in a recent suicid build!!

tendrils is a nice alternate win condition than can easily be blown off via  few rituals and will.
this has nothing to with th power of thoughtseize over therapy....

cabal therapy is a good adition. but at maximum as discard effect #9-11. IMO there is no way not to play 4 duress + 4 thoughtseize. u always wanna disrupt AND know whats going on in your oppenents hand...

low enough??

u realized he gets better the less life u have?

i love the fact that max win shows that 4 sacrements is not the way to go main.
seriousl its only good against like 50% of the metagame. and just read how often he boarded it out...

though i would question the edicts over gatekeeper and needle over rod, but its fine as u then have the helm as another wincondition.

further more i will test the green splash more, as it offers more options to practically every matchup. especially against stax and aggro.


btw.: has everyone saw the possible new creatur fom worldwake?

Death's Shadow
B
Creature - Avatar    Rare
Death's Shadow gets -X/-X where X is your life total.
13/13

well, i dont know.

how many ".. u lose XY life.."-spells u really can play in this deck?
the mana curve in general is pretty low for the bob's life loss, but adding 4 thoghtseize seems really be enough loss one can take, if you have many many games in mind and u dont want to lose mainly because of your own life los. so adding necro or even 3-4 nights whispers, although really great cards, could never ever be the way to go IMO.

To be honest I dont know why to play 4 Sacrements in this deck MAIN.
its good against what?

tezz, tps, oath... and?.. yeah thats it.. against everything else its just worthless and u wish they were extirpates..
not saying one should swap the sacrements with extirpates though...
fish is the most played deck in the moment, at leat in my area, so why add more cards that are dead in certain MU's? Null Rod alone is dead more times it should be..

please tell me what u are doing with the sacs against these deck.

greez

nice! =D

true words...

well, tbh i think thats the problem. we dont play blessing so its likely we wil not have access to the lonely BS in midgame, so one more card to shuffle back crap can be really nice. of course its not essebtially though.

and yeah, one dragon alone could be a 2turn-clock thats why i really like iona in an unknown/ very mixed meta as a back up.

I'm really pleased now with my recent list. =)

"Spells" [30]
4 Force of Will
4 Thoughtseize
4 Spell Pierce
1 Mana Drain
1 Wipe Away
1 Engineered Explosives

4 Impulse
1 Lat Nams Legacy
1 Sensei Divining Top/LDV
R Ancestral Recall
R Brainstorm
R Ponder
R Merchant Scroll
R Demonic Tutor
R Vampiric Tutor
R Mystical Tutor
R Regrowth
R Yawgmoths Will

Enchantments [4]
4 Oath of Druids

Creatures [3]
2 Hellkite Overlord
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria

Mana (23)
R Sol Ring
R Lotus Petal
4 Forbidden Orchard
4 Polluted Delta
1 Misty Rainforest
3 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
2 Island
1 Swamp
R Strip Mine
3 Wasteland


maybe i will get rid of the delta/ swamp thing, but then all i would do is playing 4 different U-Fetches and one more island. I'm really not sure, but it really sucks to thoughtseize a fish 1st turn and then get ur sea wasted.. and so on.. =/ the swamp really comes in handy from time to time.

I cut back to only Anc as my only Power, as I'm not playing thaaat often competetively anymore, and so no need to have a 2500 € deck. so i get rid of all the moxen and the blotus and even time walk, the latter hurts most. =/
if i would be forced to cut the anc too, i would switch anc and scroll for 1-2 nights whisper. =)

Sol Ring was alway pretty nice for me. I liket it more back when i played mana leak/ neagte, so u can oath+leak togehter a turn faster than normaly. but now we have spell pierce and more duress effects, so maybe the ring is obsolet. i really liked the crypt for the same reasons, but the life loss is imo to heavy with thougtseize and spirit tokens.
i really wished there would be something like a ESG, without being a creature..

funny that u want to cut the lat nam.. ^^ I squeezed it back in my version lately.

all i now have to complain is, that i really want another hard counter like a single leak or drain.. maybe i find room for it soon.. ^^

well i dont wanna tell u what to play or not. oath has many viable choices, but no combination will be perfect for every situation. just wanna point out certain scenarios need to be kept in mind.
personally I'm not even sure about the sol ring and mana crypt.. ^^ they come in handy from time to time, but i guess it wouldnt be worse wthout them..

Deed is tottally fine, would even be better with a hand full of Drains IMO. =)
But I'm in love with the lonely EE. =)

just to make it clear: Ancient Grudge does NOT hit a Chalice@2. Wether hardcast (obvious) nor via Flashback (casting cost is still 2!!). (If I'm not totally mistaken!!)
So basically a chalice early will let you scoop painfully...

That why i play wipe Away and EE.

And EE fullfills most of the things u mentioned about ET.. Just think about it.. AND it makes your Spell Pierces better.

well it looks solid for a powered version.

WHAT I find extremely strange is that u have NO card at all main against Chalice@2.

Echoing Truth is a no go in oath IMO, as mentioned earlier.But well.

If u play many green spells Sb, Forest could(!) make sense, otherwise...
I do play 2 Oxidize and 2 Energy Flux against Staxx, plus maybe Needle, Crypt ect.. so no need for a forest, that is mainly a colorless land most of the time, if u topdeck it.
and firesprout.. well, i rather play 2 Smother here! =)

cause u wanna win ASAP!!

playing shrouded dudes giveyour oppenent too many turns to race you with his own goyfs or whatever or find key/ vault. or lock u down via workshop-outlets..

thats why we stil play hasty dudes.

what i was thinking about, but havent tetsed yet:

Iona + Empirial archangel.

hitting iona first gives a good shot against combo/ tezz/ UB-stuffdecks. and the archangel gives u a good shot at fish and spot removal.
but its soooo bad against stax.. oO

of course u are not suppoosed to play 1 swamp and 4 rainforst.. LOL. omg ^^

what i obviously (!) meant was playing 4 deltas plus swamp. so u have the possibility to fetch for a swamp and go with duress 1st turn. of course if u wanna safe mana for pierce go for island/ sea.. this should be a no brainer..

but the swamp offers so much more than the forest with this. of course in the end u wana play the oath and need G - but theres absolutely no problem using orchard/ tropical. in my experience the forest is sooo much less relevant than a techy swamp.
i know rainforst is shiny and new and it seem to fit better, but in the end G is only a splash color in this deck to be able to pay for your wincondition. and this green mana u need only one time!! like against stax - u only need the green source the vey last moment, when u cast oath...
(ecept using ancient grudge etc..)
being able to thoughtseize/ vamp consistently even against wasteland decks is really esential. and u confirm with me if i see it correctly, we play oath pretty much the same way. (as u can see our lists are pretty identical)

and ur right with akroma. its meta dependant. and if u get oath online ur near the finish line anyway.. just wanna show an alternative.. =)

the list looks solid IMO.

what i question is the forest that definetely should be a swamp with 5 duress effects that u often want to cast 1st turn..
4 u-seas seems a bit overkill, but well it doesnt hurt either i guess..

lat nam and senseis top are cards that often go in and out of my deck either..

one big question: why akroma?
the dragons do the job much better cause even only one dragon can make the game in 2 turns often: 9+9 =18 dmg.
plus she doesnt have really protection from anything relevant. pro:red/ black is pretty useless tbh.. ^^

i really love iona here. (shes a angel too.. ^^)
she is often game if hits table with 1st oath activation, and seals the deal with second activation. plus u can lim dul or vamp for the second dragon if u need it more than iona..

I see what u mean. And of course in a "fully unpowered" oath, I wouldnt even play Regrowth. But with Anc in deck these cards (will, regrowth) are really really good in my experience. thats why i reccomendet trading the sapphire into anc. =) IMO its the best card ever printed and especially in oath that doesnt have a draw engine, its a must IMO.
and overall will is just a very good lategame card. if i wouldnt play will i would play the blessing.. and thats really.. meh.. ^^

and of course it isnt the best way playing tinker with the named artifacts, just wanted to show that it is at least possible to play tinker maybe as a SB PLan-B option or anything. i dont like it either tbh.

hm, maybe I#m adding the 5th duress effect to my build?

I have to disagree her.
Will is awesome as it is. Even if u can just Duress and Anc again, its an enormous Boost ind card qualitity and quantity. Same for just Brainstorm + Duress etc.

Tinker IS playable without Moxen:

he already has the sapphire. so:

Sapphire
Petal
Sol Ring
Mana Crypt
Senseiy Top
EE

are all cards that fit into his list and may allow tinker.. And personally I really reccoment playing the lonely E!!! It could(!) solve so many Problems. AND it has synergys with spell pierce, by cuting your opp off Jewelery..

oh boy... didn't see the tendrils in the list... right..

I have a question:

U 100% Oath iona in play and then.... doing what? waiting 4 turns?

soooo - this is better than a build with bazaar why?

u need entomb/gorger in hand+discard, a reanimate spell AND something that lets you draw your deck. to an opposing bazaar + reanimate spell ind hand..

or am i  mistaken?

well, i dont see any good point playing that random forest. most of the time green mana comes from orchards, or if u need it u fetch for tropical.
i always loved to play 4 polluted deltas. your opps never know what u play if u lay one of them 1st turn.. ^^ plus with 5 duress effects u really want one of them 1st turn from time to time (get swamp). and to be honest, i dont know whats wrong with all these full powered oath dudes... who play NO basic island at all.. i dont get it.

and tinker - yeah good idea, but what 5-6 artifacts do u want to play to suport it?

repeal is pretty nice i have to admit. echoing truth is a no-go in oath. u only want bouce that also bounces a chalic@2.

and the most important thing: if u can afford a mox sapphire - def trade it for a anc!!!! its soooo much more important!

for reference: my recent oath Build:


4 Force of Will
4 Spell Pierce
3 Thoughtseize
1 Duress
1 Mana Leak
1 Wipe Away
1 Engineered Explosives

4 Impulse
1 Lim Duls Vault
R Ancestral Recall
R Brainstorm
R Ponder
R Merchant Scroll
R Demonic Tutor
R Vampiric Tutor
R Mystical Tutor
R Regrowth
R Yagmoths Will
R Time Walk


4 Oath of Druids
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
2 Hellkite Overlord


R Mana Crypt
R Sol Ring
R Lotus Petal
4 Forbidden Orchard
4 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
3 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
1 Island
1 Swamp
R Strip Mine
3 Wasteland

well, half of the time the breath will not be in the graveyard if u oath for iona... and next turn its useless ansyway. plus it does absolutely nothing for u if it is stuck in your hand, unline blessing, that can cycle or disrupt a little...

Gotta love the english and spanish mixed card names... xD

(doesnt make any sense at all)