Thought you guys would enjoy this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxYFX1Mhetg

EDIT: It has occured to me that my initial reply to this was a bit short and failed to address the issue of a warning entirely. In short, there just wasn't time. I fully expected Andrew to put the drawn card back on top of his library when I pointed to his tutored card on the table. Instead he immediately scooped up his board into his hand and began shuffling up. So I say again...

I agree, this is a harsh thing to do to yourself.

All I Won For Christmas
S2D Vintage Champs Tournament Report
12/19/2009
William J Cuttler

I received one of my Christmas gifts early this year.
The Annual Kentucky State Vintage Championship is held at Something 2 Do Games in the Oxmoor Center Mall every year the weekend before Christmas. As this tourney also doubles as the Christmas party we had cupcakes and pizza for everyone.
Last year we had 30+ players for Vintage Champs. This year was no different. The weather was less than cooperative with snow in the evening forecast and we still averaged the same turn out. Having the prize support being a Time Walk for first place and Time Vault for second adds a little incentive to get out the door and into the cold.

Oath
Will Cuttler

Main:
4 Oath of Druids
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Hellkite Overlord
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
4 Force of Will
4 Impulse
4 Spell Pierce
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Brainstorm
1 Lim-Dul's Vault
1 Misdirection
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Wipe Away
3 Thoughseize
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Duress
1 Gaea's Blessing
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Ponder
1 Time Walk
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Forbidden Orchard
2 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
2 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
1 Island
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Strip Mine
1 Volcanic Island
1 Wasteland

Side:
3 Ravenous Trap
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Pithing Needle
1 Echoing Truth
1 Empyrial Archangel
1 Firespout
1 Krosan Grip
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Spawning Pit
1 Trinisphere

Maybe because I don’t like trends or maybe because I dislike the ease with which one can win with it, but I don’t like Time Vault. It’s for this reason (among others) that I’m not playing it. Unlike Matt Elias, who played Time Vault in his Aggro Oath list, I see Vault/ Key as a speed bump on my road to Oath. Drawing one-half the combo sucks when you need duress/counter to resolve Oath. Drawing Key when you need disruption is like finding a spoon when you need a knife.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I always get psyched for the Vintage Champs because it’s always a fun time and this year was no different. We had most of our regulars there and some out-of-towners braved the weather as well, namely the St. Louis crew w/ Vroman. Tiffany Gaddis baked up a whopping 90 cupcakes and when Josh Palmer came in carrying a steaming, wobbling tower of pizza boxes, I knew it was gonna be a good day. After I gorged myself on cheese and sugar the first round started, so I checked the pairings and found my seat.
Round 1- Caleb w/ANT
Game 1- A tense moment passes whn he plays a bunch of artifact mana then I Force of Will an Ad Nauseum. I then cast Oath w/Orchard. It resolves and he's unable to answer the creatures.
I board in Empyrial Archangel and Trinisphere.
Game 2- A Sadistic Sacrament on the first turn wrecks my world. I Oath the Archangel up but can’t find disruption enough to stop him from comboing off.
Game 3- We duress each other’s hands away. I stick an Oath but can’t find an Orchard. I do find Trinisphere and that’s enough to keep him from building a lethal Tendrils.
0-0-1

Round 2- James w/Tezzeret
Game 1- I thanked him for playing Bob then cast Oath and resolve it through a counter war. Akroma gets in there a couple of times before being bounced to my hand. Then Hellkite Overlord takes it home.
I board in Red Elemental Blast, Pithing Needles, and Krosan Grip.
Game 2- I land Oath early with back up and find Orchard in time for Iona to lock him out.
1-0-1

Round 3- Chris w/Affinity
Game 1- I keep a counter-heavy hand. I Force of Will his Skullclamp and Spell Pierce his Cranial Plating. Ornithopter resolves. I cast Oath and again thank my opponent for playing creatures.
I board in Ancient Grudges and Krosan Grip.
Game 2- 3 Ravagers and a Frogmite stomp a mud hole where my head was.
Game 3- We race each other’s life totals. My 8/8 dragon wins.
2-0-1

While waiting for pairings, I notice this fella wearing what looks like a glove on his foot! I ask him about it and he tells me all about Vibram Five Fingers. Check em out. They're dope.
Round 4- Ben w/Tezzeret
Wouldn’t you know it? I sit down and tell him I had no idea we were gonna be paired up.
Game 1- I counter multiple welders while trying to get Oath online. He wins the counter war and resolves Tezzeret into Time Walk and swings with 5/5 artifacts.
I board in Red Elemental Blast, Pithing Needles, and Krosan Grip.
Game 2- I let a Welder resolve and save my counter to resolve an Oath. Before I can get to the trigger he casts Gifts Ungiven end-of-turn for the win!
2-1-1

I have to win out from this point to stay in contention for Top 8. I feel my confidence level depleted a bit and to make matters worse, I lost a six sided die.

Round 5- Andrew w/Dark Depths
Game 1- My opponent vamp tutors at my end step and sets the card on the table in front of him. He shuffles up his deck and draws a card for turn. I point to his tutored card and he scoops em up.
Since I have not a clue what he’s playing, I board in Pithing Needles expecting some permanent type hate (Seals, Explosives, etc.) and Empyrial Archangel for Sadistic Sacrament.*
Game 2- I misdirect the Sad Sac and he pulls some mana out of his deck. I have the Archangel but I have learned from my match with ANT in Round 1 that having only one Oath target blows. While being stuck on two mana, I get the Hexmage beatdown. I have Strip Mine keeping him from playing Dark Depths. My other land is Tropical Island which allows me to cast either Oath of Druids or Merchant Scroll from my hand. My life total gets low and I don’t draw into mana. So I cast Merchant Scroll. He responds with Crop Rotation. I don’t have an answer to the spell nor the 20/20 legendary token.
Game 3- This was an eventful game. Oath flips up Empyrial Archangel. Then Marit Lage enters the battlefield. My opponent doesn’t attack with the 20/20. After Akroma arrives he never gets the chance. The Angel of Wrath has protection from black and blocks the black token all day.
3-1-1

Round 6- Scott w/Tezzeret
I start to shuffle up when I notice the worst torn sleeve I’ve ever seen. I pull the card out of the sleeve. The sleeve was ripped along the side, not in the corner seperating the clear plastic from the opaque, but both the clear and opaque was ripped in the center of the leftside like some one took a pair a pliers to it or something. This was just odd. I re-sleeved the card and continued shuffling.
Game 1- I quickly get the Trinket Mage and Spirit token beatdown. With my life total dropping fast I squeeze in an Oath through lots of counter. I barely win the race with my life total at 3.
I board in Red Elemental Blast, Pithing Needle and Krosan Grip.
Game 2- He repeals my Oath, I replay it with back up. It sticks long enough to Oath up the win.
4-1-1

Top 8- Ben w/Tezzeret
When Josh read off the Top 8 I was thrilled to hear I was paired against Ben, again. The swiss rounds weren’t even close. I had high hopes for this round.
Game 1- I have a strong opener with Black Lotus, Mox Jet, Fetchland, Oath, Vamp Tutor, and Thoughtseize x2. I win the roll and lead with Lotus for black into Thoughtseize. He reveals Mana Vault, Mana Leak, Mana Drain x2, Red Elemental Blast, and Tropical Island. I take the Vault and then use another black to Thoughtseize the Leak. I crack the fetch for Tropical and play the Oath with the remaining black and the trop. He does little to stop my upkeep Vamp Tutor for Orchard. He tries to set up the win but the fatties beatdown was faster.
I board in the usual: REB, Peedle, Grip.
Game 2- I lost a pivotal counter war over Oath and couldn’t recover before the 5/5 artifacts swing FTW.
Game 3- He has an active welder in play when he passes turn. I untap then declare Oath trigger and start flipping cards. I flip Iona and my opponent groans. I name blue and lock him out. After the game he exlains that he wanted to cast Intuition for Vault combo before the Oath trigger. I explain that I had plenty of counter.

Seated at the Top 4 table was Korey Age, Tiffany Gaddis, Bobby Graves and myself. This is most of our playgroup! As I sit down across from Korey he says “Yeah! We’re keeping this thing local.” I think he was talking about the Time Walk. This is the same group that went to the Meandeck Open 11/22/09 and took up half of the Top 8.
Top 4- Korey w/Tezzcast
Game 1- I keep a fair hand with turn 1 Thoughtseize followed by a turn 2 Oath with back up.  My Thoughtseize revealed triple Spell Pierce! He only has two blue sources, some off-color moxen and a Voltaic Key when I set up the Oath for resolution. I draw into a Spell Pierce of my own and figure he can only cast two Pierces so I can win this counter war. Wrong! I cast Oath. He Pierces. I Force. He Pierces. I Pierce back. He activates Key to untap Seat of Synod and taps a mox to pay the Pierce cost. He only needed two of his Pierces to counter my Oath and set up Vault/ Key next turn.
I board in the usual: REB, Peedle, Grip.
Game 2- I open with Sensei’s Top. Turn 2 I play Needle. He counters it so I play another one. I name Time Vault. He tutors and draws a card. I top, putting Thoughtseize on top and leaving Oath below it. I draw the Thoughtseize and cast it, taking Force of Will leaving Yawg Will in hs hand. This cleared the way for me activate Top, drawing Oath and putting Top on top. I cast and resolve Oath. During his turn, he casts Transmute Artifact and I respond with a Spell Pierce. He pays the 2 which leaves him tapped out. He grabs Black Lotus and sacs it for black. He casts Yawg Will but doesn’t win. He draws a shit-ton of cards and casts Tezzeret. He activates Tezzeret and grabs Sensei’s Top. He digs a bunch but doesn’t find any answers before he passes turn. I Oath up Akroma and she takes out the Planeswalker. On his turn he keeps digging but comes up empty handed.
Game 3- Korey leads with Time Vault. I start with Top, again. He turn 2 Tinkers leaving 1 colorless floating after sacing a mox. I look at my hand of Impulse x2, Gaea’s Blessing and Land. No help there. Well, let’s spin the Top and see the top three. What’s behind door number 1? Land, damn. Door number 2? Ponder. Good but not right now. Door number 3? Force of Will! Hell yeah! Put Force on top. Activate Top. Draw Force, put Top on top and counter the win. I draw the Top and replay it. He must have been all in on that Vault/ Key play because I resolve Oath shortly after and win.

Robert “Bobby” Graves was the reigning Vintage Champ and the store was awarding anyone who beat Bobby in the swiss rounds with a booster pack. I regret to inform you that the finals game was rather anti-climatic.
Finals- Bobby w/The Deck
Game 1- I mulligan into the nuts. Mox, Orchard, Oath, Force, Mystical, Fetch. He plays a land, Mox and a Mana Crypt. I play Mox, Orchard, Oath of Druids. He forces and I Force back. He casts Gifts Ungiven. It resolves. He fans these four out: Yawg Will, Mystical Tutor, Regrowth, and Black Lotus. I note that he has no black source. I give him Yawg Will and Mystical Tutor. Regrowth and Lotus go to the yard. I anticipated a Mystic Tutor during his upkeep but it never came. Before he can set up the win, Akroma and Hellkite end it in two.
I board in Red Elemental Blast, Pithing Needle, Krosan Grip and Empyrial Archangel.
Game 2- Bobby tries for the mana denial strategy by blowing my land up and I draw more to replace them. I land a Peedle that I almost misname as Strip Mine but catch myself in time to name Wasteland (he already played and saced his Strip). I Oath up Hellkite Overlord and during my upkeep Bobby casts Diabolic Edict so I sacrifice the dragon. I am holding Akroma in my hand. Both my hasters are tied up so I know I’ll Oath into either Iona or Archangel next. Bobby is mana screwed as I flip up the Archangel. I see lots of different colored spells and a City of Brass on his side, so when Iona flips up I don’t know what to name right away. Thinking back to Game 1 when he almost Gifts FTW, I name blue. By the time the next trigger rolls around I have Time Walk in hand and Hellkite Overlord gets shuffled back in and Oathed back out to close the curtain on this shindig.

Props
-Bobby Graves for being a good sport about losing his title despite disparaging remarks from the spectators.
-Josh Palmer for hosting this event every year and providing pizza and great prizes.
-Tiffany Gaddis for making all those yummy cupcakes.
-James “Bluetooth Guy” who cheered me on throughout the finals even when warned by the Judge to keep comments to a minimum.  
-Korey Age for helping me sculpt my Sideboard before the tourney. I am not on a team, but if I were Korey would be my team captain. This guy knows his stuff.
-Everyone who came out to play in the snow.

Slops
- James “Bluetooth Guy” who had too much to say about the finals game and spoke up when he shouldn’t have and pissed off Bobby.
-The weather for snowing and putting a damper on the tournament turn out. Next year we’ll have over 60 players! Wooh!

Tezzeret is not a player. Tezzeret is a planeswalker. As such, he is not a legal target for Tendrils of Agony.

If you haven't declared an attack phase and haven't declared your second main phase you are still in your first. Your drain mana (like the card reads) will be added to your mana pool when you declare your second main phase.

I agree whole-heartedly with the above statement.
I remember not so long ago when just about everyone was complaining that tournament attendance was down and vintage was dying.
Alot of people on here said that not enough new players were entering the format to compensate the loss of others leaving the format.
The reasoning in the highlighted section above is very sound.

That's Julia Roberts! She can post in any thread she pleases!
You should be grateful she chose to confide in you here on TMD.
She's having a hard time with marketing right now, have a heart!

I play there and we don't have those problems. Everyone there is friendly. We had 30+ people last time and i had a blast. I encourage everyone who can attend to make it to this.

Well I consider White Castle a tastey laxative. If your plumbing gets stopped up, have a couple sliders and in moments you'll be free flowing. Having this remedy at your disposal is definitely a plus.

To bring this point further off topic, I would like to know what came first: the slang term Kudos, or the granola bars by the same name?

BTW following the thread and loving the deck idea. REB sounds like a great fit for the above said reasons

I like the idea of Stifle. Although, Progenitus has the DSC shuffle back in effect when it goes to the grave, making it difficult to animate. I thought animating Inkwell was touched on already but I can't find it to quote. The end result was that Inkwell will remain in play with the animate enchantment attached as it doesn't target in the current wording. Something was also said about it being different then having pro-black. Probably in reference to Akroma.

EDIT: Reply #9 by Harlequin explains the ruling in question.

Reply #10.

Okay let's focus on what Ponder does. It's a sorcery that draws one card. One card that sometimes, like you said, is a mystery card. I don't see how this defeats Duress. Rearranging your top 3 cards won't get you your Oath back. Sure it MIGHT find you another, or it might just blind draw you into an Oath target!
I like Ponder, it is a good card. Don't get me wrong. I just like Brainstorm more, especially in Oath.

You said it best. Okay Ponder is a good deal, no doubt. It draws a card, cost effective, sure. Being able to put 2 back, negative.

You mean the four Ponder days when running four Brainstorms was also legal?
In 'those days' you could use almost any other draw engine you liked (Ponder included). You need not worry over silly matters such as getting rid of Oath targets in your hand or mana fixing, or a ton of other stuff (Duress, etc.). You have four Brainstorms.

No, I wouldn't run 4 Ponders if legal. Ponder does not help with getting rid of drawn Oath targets, and neither does Serum Visions. If you are having problems drawing jank, stop playing with jank.

@FlyByFry
I think you missed something here:
I think you may have read this:
and got confused.
Although I would've thought this explained it:

@ Hex: Provided the Edict resolves and that I have a single creature, the clock very well could be 4 turns, but most likely 3. I flip Progenitus [turn 1]. In response to my Oath trigger, you Edict. Progenitus is saced and shuffles back in. Progenitus is flipped back up (with or without LD Vault aid) [turn 2]. Magister Sphinx flips up your life total is 10. Attack with Progenitus. Your dead. [turn 3]

Edicts and Wrath do nothing but post-pone death, like you say 'he goes to the deck' so he's coming back...and soon. Mass bounce cards are going to be the real problem for Progenitus. Which are not being played right now in Vintage.


I believe both the creature selection and the replacement of Impulse with TFK has solved the problem of drawing cards in a cost effective way while tossing back the drawn targets. The synergy with the creatures and Thirst is really amazing. Although, if you have discovered something even better please fill us in.


You will be pleased with the deck. Rather than 2-3 methods of recycling Oath targets you now have 6, in addition to not fearing targeted removal. Enjoy.

After much consideration and debate. I must retract this statement:


Reading this thread, the controversy seems to be over Hellkite versus Magister Sphinx as Oath targets.
Magister Sphinx only needs to come into play. He need not attack. Go ahead and Swords him, Red Elemental Blast him, he's already done his job. Your life total is 10.
However, this ability is Stifle-able. How many decks run Stifles? Probably the same decks running Swords and such.
When Hellkite flips up he needs to attack and when he does he swings for 8, maybe more with red mana. Unlikely to bring your opponent to less then 10 life.
Another reason I am not playing Hellkite is that he is difficult to get rid of once he's in your hand. Even running Thirst for Knowledge, Hellkite is neither an artifact nor does he shuffle back into your library right away.
Magister Sphinx discards to Thirst for Knowledge by himself being an artifact. Progenitus discards to Thirst with another card, but he shuffles back in immediately, ready to be flipped again.
As for Progenitus as an oath target, sure he doesn't have haste, but even on the rare occasion when I may flip him second, the opponent will have one turn to find an answer. What can they do? If the answer isn't Tendrilling off right then, they've lost. FYI, I haven't played against Tendrils in a while, but that's my meta.

I must have missed this thread...
I had a blast playing this Oath variant recently in a 30 player Tournament.

http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=37345.0

The Sphinx is not optimal me thinks. Hellkite Ovelord and Progenitus is probably the best combination of Oath targets. I am considering that Magister Sphinx can be Stifled and Red Blasted. Although, he can also be pitched to Thirst for Knowledge which was handy in many games.

Oath is one of my favorite decks to play. So when my friend Korey came up with this list for Progenitus Oath, I got psyched. After we learned that the ‘pro everything’ hydra avatar was legendary (no running two), we settled on Magister Sphinx as his partner.
Disliking Impulse for not netting you any cards, he added Thirst for Knowledge instead. This added synergy in that Progenitus has that nifty DSC shuffle effect when he is discarded.
Oathing up Progenitus first means you have your opponent on a 2 turn clock, same as Hellkite Oath. If you hit Sphinx first the clock does become 3 turns, however having Lim-Dul’s Vault dig into Progenitus and placing him securely on top ensures you hit him first. Of course Brainstorming/Scroll racking him on top (if you happen to draw him) works too.

The Dynamic Duo
1 Progenitus
1 Magister Sphinx

Disruption
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Misdirection
4 Duress
4 Force of Will
3 Negate

Other Stuff
1 Lim-Dul’s Vault
1 Scroll Rack
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
3 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Lat-Nam’s Legacy
1 Brainstorm
4 Oath of Druids
1 Time Walk
1 Gaea's Blessing
1 Wipe Away
1 Echoing Truth

Mana
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
4 Forbidden Orchard
4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
2 Island
1 Underground Sea
1 Bayou
2 Tropical Island

Sideboard
1 Volcanic Island
1 Trinisphere
2 Pyroblast
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Thoughtseize
2 Spawning Pit
2 Seal of Primordium
3 Tormod’s Crypt

Our meta seems to be highly diverse, but still light on Combo and heavy on Aggro. Which means lots of Oath fun for me!
30 People showed up to play for a Library of Alexandria!

Round 1: Clay with Tez
I believe this is the first time I have played against Clay. I have seen him play at the store before and he wrecked the field with a vicious Tez build.
Game 1: I Thirst and A-Call into heavy counter magic. He tries to get Tez through but the seeker finds the grave. An Orchard gives him a token, the Oath gives me two big guys who end the first game.
In: 2 Ancient Grudges, 2 Pyroblasts, 1 Volcanic Island, 1 Tormod’s Crypt
Game 2: My Duress grabs his counter. His Relic of Progenitus stares down my Oath, but an Ancient Grudge zaps it and the Voltaic Key he plays afterword. Oath ushers in the clean up crew.
2-0

Round 2: Trevor with Slaver
Trevor and I always have a fun match, usually full of laughs. He plays Belcher a lot and occasionally Slaver. This is one of those occasions. 
Game 1: Holding an Orchard back, I tutor for Oath. Trevor Thirsts dropping Trike in his grave. I Orchard and Oath with Force backup. He can’t find an answer.
In: 2 Pyroblast, 2 Ancient Grudge, 1 Tormod’s Crypt, 1 Volcanic Island.
Game 2: This game is rather uneventful after I neuter his hand early with multiple Duresses then sit on Tormod’s Crypt. He gets stuck on 5 mana while holding up Sharuum and we time out.
3-0-1

Round 3: Jeremy with Painter
Jeremy has been playing here at the store long before me. We usually get paired up at most large events at the store. I remember the outcomes being a bit different though.
Game 1: I Duress him and he answers with Mana Drain!? Instead of just letting it go, I allow curiosity to get the best of me and return with a Force. He reveals a Thirst for Knowledge and a Merchant Scroll. With no Force backup, I get my Oath countered and then get the beat down.
In: 2 Pyroblasts, 1 Volcanic island.
Game 2: I mulligan down to these 6- Lotus, Mox Pearl, Magister Sphinx, Tropical, Fetch, and Duress. I’m thinking ‘If they don’t draw or tutor into counters I can maybe swing this.’ A 5 card hand could be a little better, but could be a whole lot worse. I keep. I fetch and grab Underground Sea. I Duress away his only Force, seeing Thirst and Grindstone. He plays a land. I rip a Sol Ring and proceed to hard cast Magister Sphinx turn 2! He Thirsts and looks for answers while I swing and bring Jeremy down to 5 life. He tries to Demonic Tutor which I Negate. He then plays and zaps the graves to draw a card. Pyroblast! Bye bye Magister…With Jeremy having no hand I get an Oath down easy and Mystical for Demonic. I plan to grab the Orchard I need to trigger Oath. He Grindstones the Demonic right into the grave. Frown. Town. I hear time called. Shrug and peel back the top card to see Forbidden Orchard! Wooh!
4-1-1

Round 4: Jason with Tez
Before I knew any better, I had thought that the name of Team Angry must have come primarily from this member. He is very funny but often seen choke slamming fools through tables!
Game 1: He leads with land, Mana Crypt, Tinker, with Force backup. On to game 2.
I consider that Jason has played Tez a lot lately and side accordingly.
In: 2 Pyroblasts, 2 Ancient Grudges, 1 Tormod’s Crypt, and 1 Volcanic Island.
Game 2: Mox, Orchard, Oath, go. Game 3?
Same board.
Game 3: He plays Voltaic Key early while I tutor up an Orchard. A well placed Negate keeps Vault off table. Time restriction would have turned this match into a draw had it not been for a Time Walk after I finally Oath.
6-2-1

Top 8
Quarterfinals: Alex with Hellkite Oath
This fella had on the greatest outfit ever! He was wearing a striped pink polo shirt, a rainbow wrist band, blue nail polish, and he was shuffling up pink sleeves. I never look forward to an Oath mirror match. This wasn’t my first and I came prepared.
Game 1: I give him spirit tokens early on while trying for Oath on first turn. A big Force of Will from Alex brings me to frown town as the token beat down ensues.
In: Spawning Pit and Seal of Primordium.
Game 2: I am able to give him a token after he plays Oath and he gets Progenitized.
Same board.
Game 3: We may have been able to finish the tourney inside the store if this game had not taken century. I mean I know Oath mirrors usually take a bit longer but whoa.
Alex tapped his Forbidden Orchard to play a first turn Duress, snatching my Vampiric Tutor out of my hand. I make an Oath trigger unlikely with my seal of primordium and spawning pit. This painfully long match finally ends with that one lonely spirit token beating his little heart out for the win!

Semifinals: Troy with R/G Beats
Troy makes an appearance once a month to play in our weekly games at the Do. He has been running Menendian’s R/G Christmas Beats lately. If he still is, this should be a good matchup.
Game 1: I tutor up a 2nd turn Oath with an Orchard token for Troy. Gg.
Troy doesn’t disappoint with the deck choice. I look but decide not to side.
Game 2: I Duress to see Deglamer, Moment’s Peace, Goyf and some other critters. I take Deglamer. The coast is clear for my Oath. Progenitus is flipped up, though I know he may not deal damage right away. Troy plays Goyf and friends. I end-of-turn Thirst, discarding Magister Sphinx. Goyf is pretty big until Gae’s Blessing shuffles the Sphinx back in. Progenitus tries to swing Troy plays a Moment’s Peace. I counter it then he flashes it back. No damage this turn. He draws and frowns. No answer but good game.

Finals: John A. with Fish
Our local fisherman; if it does not have Magus of the Moon, Back to Basics, or other mana denial tech, John isn’t interested. We play almost every week and John told me once that he hates Oath and always packs a vicious sideboard for it. I have only defeated John once with Oath and felt very lucky to do so. Let’s hope I have the same luck this time around.
Game 1: His Nullrod shuts me out of the game as I have no lands but a broken hand full of artifact mana. Goyfs do me in.
In: 2 Pyroblasts and 1 Volcanic island
Game 2: I open with Oath and back it up with Force. Magister Sphinx flips up and puts him at 10 life. He Krosan Grips my Oath before Progenitus can join the party, but the Sphinx alone was enough to put him away.
Game 3: I smile when I fan open a hand of Time Walk, Demonic Tutor, Force of Will, Forbidden Orchard, Polluted Delta, Wipe Away, and Mox Emerald. I draw another Force and play Polluted Delta. I tap and sac the Delta, running right into Stifle! I pause to think, then choose to Force the Stifle, removing Wipe Away. Stifle is countered and I fetch an Underground Sea. Then I play Mox Emerald and tutor for Oath. John plays Wasteland and zaps my Underground. Next turn I play Orchard into Oath, which meets his Force of Will. I win the counter war with another Force and place my Oath firmly on the table. John buys himself time to find answers as he stifles my oath triggers twice! However, as his mini Time Walks run out without finding the goods, Progenitus then Magister win me a Library of Alexandria!

Like I said, I always enjoy playing Oath, but now that enjoyment has reached new heights. I made a few play mistakes but the ridiculousness of Progenitus more than compensated. I truly believe my opponents inability to deal with him alone won me games. He is just a beast.

Many, many, many thanks to Korey Age for the badass deck. A big thanks to Josh Palmer for running events like this and keeping Vintage alive and thriving here in Louisville, KY, and thanks to Bobby and Tommy Graves for cheering me on in the finals, sorry John.

Better yet, why don't you persuade her to play as well? My wife will be in attendance! Yeah, I'm proud to say that. 

Edit
With a 5$ entry fee tourney for a Library of Alexandria right around the corner, I am getting excited! 

I was inspired by this deck and tried to run a build similar to this in a recent Legacy tourney. I ended up scrubbing out real fast.
I ran 2 reanimates and 2 threads of disloyalty main deck. I used thoughtseize in place of duress (hoping to reanimate a goyf). I chose to use standstills over TFK (I couldn't ignore the synergy with factories and bitterlossom). Sadly though it turns out my build was highly suicidal and I was my own destructor the whole day. Between the thoughtseizes, bitterblossoms, and fetchlands my opponents need'nt do too very much to win. I wish I realized this flaw earlier during testing, but that's where the prob is I believe, not enough testing.
Overall, I regretted using black altogether. Sure, I may feel differently and had more success if I had chosen duress instead of thoughtseize, but I think if/when I try this again I will go with a blue and white build using decree of justice and it'll have that classic landstill feel to it.
I feel this deck is geared more torward Legacy as Oath is just better IMO. I do really like this deck though and will most likely play it again.

Not so brutal, very helpful actually.
I understand evrything but this:


I thought this was just a bonehead mistake by not wasting the bazaar when I could. What did you mean eager? Am I not seeing yet another dumb play I didn't know I made?
I appreciate the great advice Soly, especially about the Sower, thanx a bunch.

I’m not sure how I did this, but I managed to top 4 this week, despite making play mistake after play mistake all night long. Here’s how this fiasco unfolded.
1st Match: Jeremy- Ichorid
Game 1- He bridges in 3 zombies that start the beats when my Oath triggers and ends this game in two.
Game 2- Sloppy, sloppy, I held onto a Wasteland and an Orchard looking at a Bazaar dredging away trolls and imps. I see a Cabal Therapy in his yard yet still Merchant Scrolled for an A-call, yeah. Even with all my bad plays, I still managed to outrace the zombies. 2-0
2nd Match: Jordan- Squirrels (yes squirrels)
Game 1- The all-powerful manascrew leads the Chattering squirrels ftw!
Game 2- I lead with Cotv @1 which slows the game to draw go. Backing up a chalice @3 (earthcraft costs 2 btw) with a Force, leaves me no answer to his lethal Biorhythm. 0-2
3rd Match: Gene- Affinity
Game 1- His Trinket Mage triggers Oath- gg
He Sowers my Akroma, I Wipe Away the Sower only to see it next turn with no answer, go figure- gg
We didn’t play game 3 because he dropped, (didn’t have points enough for top 8) giving the match to me. (Thanks) 2-0
Top 8: Alex- Stax Combo
Game 1- Starts off well, I play Oath after he plays Welder and Oath up Hellkite. He Thirts and discards Tangle Wire. I’m holding a counter when he casts a Tangle Wire then I count my permanents and say okay…he welds in the other and I cuss. Naturally this slows things down until he welds in a countered Grindstone and plays a Painter Servant then tries to deck me. Gae’s Blessing saves the day.
Game 2- He refuses to play Welder and I can’t find an Orchard. I counter enough until I can hardcast the dragon ftw.
Top 4: Korey- Dark Gifts
Game 1- An early Fact or Fiction into Gifts leads to a counter war, which I somehow manage to win. This leaves both of us bare handed and winded. I top deck Orchard and Oath and we move to game 2.
Game 2- I try to fight through the counters with multiple Oaths and not enough backup. Spirit tokens swing all day ftw.
Game 3- Long counter wars and lots of Scroll Racking drag this game on. He lets me hardcast Akroma then plays Platz and Tendrils for lethal next turn.
And so ends the night. I was thankful to make it as far I as did, playing as badly as I was.

I voted for Vintage.

I would be disappointed and probably will not attend, if this tournament ends up as a Legacy event.
 

I have been playing Vintage now for about 6 months here at the Do and have not been able to settle on a deck yet. I switch just about every week or so, until I tried HellkiteOath. The “Timmy” in me loves this deck. A bad ass angel and a dragon, plus being armed to the gills with disruption, oh yeah! So for the last few weeks I have been rocking this list:

4 Force of Will
4 Negate
4 Oath of Druids
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Impulse
3 Thoughtseize
2 Misdirection
1 Hellkite Overlord
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Duress
1 Gaea's Blessing
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Wipe Away
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Scroll Rack
4 Forbidden Orchard
2 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
3 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
3 Underground Sea
1 Tropical Island
1 Island


Side Board:
4 Tormod's Crypt
3 Oxidize
2 Empyrial Archangel
2 Arcane Laboratory
1 Massacre
1 Life from the Loam
1 Wasteland
1 Tropical Island
This is damn near James King's Oath list BTW.

Saturday Night Vintage @ The Do 11-22-2008
Here is my report of the night.
I saw some new faces and a lot of familiar regulars, I had a great time as usual. Attendance has been good, let's hope it stays that way. 



Round 1 Jordan- Ad Nauseum Tendrils
Game 1- I win the roll and open with an Orchard. I hold onto my Oath until I find back up. In retrospect a mistake because when I do, I find I didn’t need it. He proceeds to Nauseum and we both get a laugh when I try to Misdirect it. No “target” heh. He goes lethal.
I board out a pair of Impulses for Arcane Labs.
Game 2- I settle on a hand with an Oath and lots of draw, hoping to find an Orchard or Arcane Lab. I don’t have time he drops early Nauseum which I can’t find an answer to. He reveals down to 2 life and plays a bunch of artifact mana. He digs but he can’t find a Tendrils and passes turn. I can’t find either Orchard or Lab but his Mana Crypt does him in.
Game 3- Time is called as we draw our hands. He is turn 0. He Duresses my Force. Turn 1 I play a land Mox go, holding up Impulse. Turn 2 He plays Necropotence and resolves it through my counter-empty Impulse and draws a quarter of his deck EOT. Turn 3 I play the COTV @ 0 hoping to keep his artifact mana at a minimum and waste a black dual. Turn 4 he skips his draw and plays Sol Ring. Having only one black mana source keeps him from going off. He Time Twisters but it still doesn’t help his situation. He Time Walks but I Force it with my fresh hand. Turn 5 I draw into nothing and we draw. 1-1-1

Round 2 Max- Fish
Game 1- He wins the roll and plays Tundra go. I draw a mox and play Orchard and Oath go. Akroma followed by Hellkite = GG
I sideboard in Massacre and two Empyrial Archangels I pull out Hellkite and a pair of Impulses.
Game 2- He plays an early A-call followed by Counterbalance which I respond to with Impulse into my own A-call. Which he steals with Misdirection! I laugh and un-sleeve my custom proxy and trade him for his BEB A-call proxy. I hope WOTC doesn’t find out. The game looked grim from there. I sneak Oath into play past the Counterbalance, although I don’t have an Orchard to trigger it. He drops a Factory and begins to beat face through the Oath. I play a Scroll Rack through the Counterbalance and dig up an Orchard. Once I give him a token, Bob joins the party. Akroma follows. She goes right to work but only gets one swing, as she is Swords’d next turn. Drawing mana doesn’t help my hand support but an Archangel helps, gotta love shroud. Max Demonic Tutor’s then Diabolic Edicts me. Ouch! He summons Meddling Mage to the table and could have sealed the game by naming Empyrial Archangel but he names Hellkite Overlord instead, so the 2nd Archangel ends the round. 2-0

Round 3 John A.- I Like Big Butts
Game 1- I win the roll and open with land drop COTV@0 and pass. He plays land go. At his EOT, I Vamp Tutor for oath. Draw the Oath and play a land. I then play COTV@1 and he responds with Mystic Tutor for Mana Drain. I pass turn. He draws the Mana Drain and plays another land. John now has a Volcanic Island and an Island on the board. He passes turn. I draw an Orchard but I play a Wasteland and waste his volcano. I win the counter war and put Oath of Druids in play. The game is over shortly after.
I don’t have much to board against the hate so I grab another Wasteland and side out an Underground Sea.
Game 2- He opens with a land suspending a Greater Gargadon. I play a Mox Jet and Thoughtseize him, revealing a FOW, Magus and a couple Mana Drains. I want to resolve my A-call I have in hand, so I choose the Force. I play a sea and A-call myself drawing both Gae’s Blessing and Hellkite! Damn. I pass turn. He draws and plays a land go. I draw and play Wasteland. I tap and sac it to destroy a Volcanic Island, he responds by sacrificing it to his suspended Gargadon. He plays more land. Another Thoughtseize pulls the Magus before he gets the mana for it. Duress snags one of his Drains. I play the Oath with Negate back up for his last Drain. Gargadon crawls out of suspension and goes head to head with Akroma while I try to dig for a way to put Hellkite and Blessing back. Akroma comes out on top before it matters. 2-0
*This is the round I put the most effort into playing the tightest games I could. Last time John and I played, “Big Butts” utterly wrecked me.

Top 8 Gene- Ichorid
Game 1-He won the roll but mulled to 1. He plays COTV@0 and passes. I hold a hand with Oath and a bunch of draw. The game grows stagnant as neither of us draw into our needed lands. I finally tutor up an Orchard and end the grind.
I board in Tormod’s Crypts and pull out the Thoughtseizes and Duress.
Game 2-He keeps a seven hand. Uh oh. I have Tormod’s, Force of Will and a blue card to pitch plus an Orchard. He plays Cotv@0 I Force it. He Unmasks pulling the Crypt. Uh oh. He activates a Bazaar dropping a couple of Trolls and a Stinky Imp in the grave. Uh oh. The rest is what should’ve happened game1.
Game 3- While shuffling and cutting decks, we joke about how he had to mulligan to 1 card before game 1. I make a jest about giving him bad luck so it would happen again this game…my bad. 
He mulligans to 1 again then scoops.

Top 4 Korey- Repeal Gifts
Game 1- I am holding a hand full of counters, draw and a Wipe Away. He casts Tinker, instead of letting it go and bouncing the robot EOT, I FOW it and get into a full blown counter-war. To make matters worse, I RFG the Wipe Away for the Force! I could see Carlos Mencia leaning over my shoulder yelling “De-de-de!”
He Yawg’s the Tinker back and DSC rolls me over.
I sideboard in Arcane Labs and pulled a pair of Impulses.
Game 2- Engineered Explosives set at 2 and his endless counters kept Oath off the board. My own Arcane Lab proved to be my prison cell while tokens beat face. Spirit tokens FTW! 0-2
I have to find the reason why it is that as soon as I reach the top 4 bracket, I begin to play like an over-excited toddler with a brand new box of crayons. Although if I have to lose, i'm glad it is to Korey. We always have good games and productive conversations, even when he is suffering from sever sleep depravation.

I found both lavamancer and fastbond to be disappointments. Lavamancer trampled all over crucible. I was left choosing between pinging or land recursion. Fastbond just wasn't as explosive as I wanted it to be. On occasion the bond allowed first turn big bots. Although late game it became a dead card. The sword of fire and ice on the other hand is an entirely different story.
Welders made their way back in to my list. I am now trying to find other ways to integrate key disruption methods. I am leaning toward a u/w/r build. Complete with canonist (if she is sucking, weld her out for either titan or platz) and maybe balance?
What tech would you recommend with welders now that I am running 2 trikes, a titan and plat angel with 2 bazaars. With crucible, welder, and undiscovered paradise, I feel the bazaars provide that tech I need. They toss to diamond, provide welding targets, and land tossed to bazaar can be played off crucibles. Maybe bump em' up to 3?

It's also the name of a rap artist. Nonetheless, a good name. Thanks.

Duress attacks their hand. Which I am not. I am concentrating on not letting them cast their hand. Although worth concideration depending on how undiscovered paradise works out. Chain of vapor will probably make the cut. Extirpate prob won't because it only targets non-basic land and artifact mana (of what I'm concerned with 'mana'). The most played 4 of non-basic land is wasteland which only produces colorless mana. On second thought it could be used to target duals. Duress/extirpate would work only if duress could target lands. I'm definitely gonna up the Karn count.
Fastbond may find it's way in here I see a lot of abuse there. I really like the undiscovered paradise suggestion. I hope that works out.
As SiegeX already pointed out, I don't want to run out of gas and topdeck. So cutting TFK prob isn't gonna happen.
Yes. Grim Lavamancer. He is boss! Although the drawback of graveyard munching might step on the Crucible's toes. Still, he might be the answer. Thanks.
The sword could be cool if I can find room, bad ass monkeys rule.

http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=36566.0

I know you aren't playing stax and this is a MBC thread but I thought this would help. There is some benificial card discussion that sounds similar to where this is going.