My up and downhills with Oath

[Squirrelman]

This is the first topic I start to this site, so hopefully it won't get locked right away. If somethig is wrong with the article then tell me and I'll try to fix it. The article is about my favourite deck of all the time, Oath. I know it isn't that playable or recent anymore, but I like it, a lot. Lets first take a look to the past and see how we got here.

1998 as Exodus was released and it gave us a card, Oath of Druids. Actually it gave two. Reffering to Spike Weaver which can be used with Spike Feeder and Oath of Druids to make an infinite foging effect. It was used with Gaea's Blessing to bring your graveyard back every time you Oath. Other cards were basic control cards of that time Force of Will and so on.
And as Urza's Saga was released Morphling made a good kill creature for the deck.

As Alliances and Mirage block rotated out, Oath dindn't seem that playable anymore. Even as it appeared in different forms in some tournaments it didn't do too well until Justin Gary won Pro Tour Houston with his deck that used a massive Cognivore to kill opponent. Here is link to view the decklist and to read some material about PT Houston writen by the sideboard staff:

Turbo Oath decklist by Justin Gary
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=sideboard/pthou02/t8decks

Live coverage of 2002 Pro Tour Houston
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=sideboard/events/pthou02

For a while that was perhaps the only really playable built. Until Zwi Mowshowitz introduced us his Turboland which abused Oath of Druids to get his Battlefield Sqounger to play for free and then went infinite. Name of the deck comes from turboland engine (Exploratin/Horn of Greed) used in the deck to draw out Time Warps. Below is a link to Zwi's decklist he used to win the Pro Tour of New Orelans in 2003.

Live coverage of 2003 Pro New Orelans
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=sideboard/events/gpno03

Turboland decklist by Zvi Mowshowitz + a little article about Turboland
http://www.mtgnews.com/F/Topic/1078456137169_HIT_THE_DECK___Turboland_Oath__A_Loo.html

Then in December 2003 Oath of Druids got banned in Extendet among with Tinker, Ancient Tomb, Grim Monolith, Hermit Druid and Goblin Recruiter. Here is what Randy Buehler says about the banning and a friend of mine in Finland with who I agree says about the banning:

Buehler:
"Oath of Druids was by no means the most powerful deck in New Orleans. However, it has been one of the defining cards in the Extended environment for years now. While it doesn’t always win tournaments, it wins them often enough that all serious players have to think about it when they’re playtesting. Everyone knows that Oath will show up in some form or another and thus many players feel forced to stay away from creature decks. The impact that Oath of Druids has on Extended just isn’t fun or healthy. Our stated goal is to slow the environment down enough that creature beatdown decks become relevant again and the presence of Oath threatened to undo all that good work. Control decks shouldn’t be winning the game on turn 2 either. I think of this banning as a Lifetime Achievement Award and I think the environment will be much better off now."

Friend:
"Oath wins only aggro decks and agrro decks suck anyway"

During that time I was playing Zwi's Turboland and was really pissed off 'cause of the banning. So the only way to play the deck I love was to head towards t1. I have played many builds of Oath in t1, but these two have been the best ones:
The Classical Oath and the Oathstill. I'll post the declist of my own version of the Classical Oath. It is by no means optim, and that's where I'll need your help. It's a budget build 'cause I'm not going to buy power very soon.

Classical Oath

//Mana: 24
4xTropical Island
3xTundra
3xWasteland
1xStrip Mine
1xSol Ring
3xFloodet Strand
1xWindsweapt Heath
4xMishra's Factory
3xIsland
1xForest

//Engine: 9
4xOath of Druids
2xGaea's Blessing
1xMorphling
1xSpike Weaver
1xSpike Feeder

//Permission: 8
4xForce of Will
4xMana Drain

//Draw & Search: 13
4xBrainstorm
4xAccumulated Knowledge
1xIntuition
2xCunning Wish
2xSylvan Library

//Removal: 4
2xSwors to Plowshares
1xBalance
1xPowder Keg

//Other Stuff
1xRegrowth
1xMoat

sb:2xNull Rod
sb:1xStroke of Genius
sb:1xGush
sb:1xBlue Elemental Blast
sb:1xDisenchant
sb:1xFact or Fiction
sb:1xSwors to Plowshares
sb:1xMisdirection
sb:1xPowder Keg
sb:2xCoP Red
sb:1xFuneral Pyre

The Deck should be very easy to understand. Suggestions about the deck please!
And next probably the worst matchup analysis ever:

Madness/Stompy/WW: Good matchup. Infinite fogging, Moat and Removal shut them down quite well. This should be no problem to you.

Slight/FCG: The bad thing is, they can hurt you over your Moat, and Weaver prevent's only creature damage. The good thing, you have counters for them, and BeB and Misdirection to wish for. After game 1, you can side in the CoPs which helps a lot. Also a pretty easy matchup, but hardest aggro.

Sui: Totally messes up control, what Oath is. Quick Weaver helps a lot.

Fish: Same as other aggro decks over this one, exept this one has counters of its own. Manlands are bad 'cause they don't trigger the oath. Get them a creature, and stop them from damaging you.

GaT/Hulk: Really Bad matchup. They have more permissions than you, and they don't have to play a creature until it kills you right away.

Slaver both: First one is quite bad for you. Side in Nulls Rods and it'll help a lot.

4CC: If theyplay an Angel, counter it or remove it. Getting them out leaves them whit no winning options, unless they are playing Decrees. Not a good matchup for you. Thought you could also try to win via Weaver.

Draw 7/Dragon/Belcher: A FoW in opening hand is a must. Mulligan if you don't have one. Funeral pyre works well against dragon as graveyard hate, but it also gives them a creature. Also if they are playing Caller of the Claw as the kill, bears don't fly over Moat. Against Belcher side in Null Rods to shut them down.

So that was it. Give me comment about the text and the decklist. And sory about my bad English, but if you can write this good in Finish... well then you can.

[Kasuras]

First off: what is your opinion on using darksteel colossus as beater instead of morphling? A sideboard berserk could end it right away, since you also run cunning wish. This would be a 2 turn clock, at the least. You can even put in some artifacts and add a tinker.

And if the darksteel boy isn't your choice: what about psychatog? Together with oath: he can grow gigantic. And have you considered the Krosan Reclamation + Yawgmoth's Will combo in this deck? You can play every spell you like from your deck that way.

And, second last, why are you playing powder keg over pernicious deed? I see no reasoning in that at all.

And finally: what about red as an additional color? Red is very strong with its Red Elemental Blast and other stuff.

I hope you could explain these things to me, that way: I can help you a lot more.

[AngryPheldagrif]

Is there really a point to playing this over Tog? You're effectively using 9 spaces for your kill instead of 3 or 4, and Oathing out a Morphling is a 4 turn clock that ties up your mana. Not exactly spectacular.

At very least, Oath out something like Darksteel Colossus or Platinum Angel. Both of those are immune to Null Rod and very nice against things without StP. You could even try the Cognivore route if you're not too worried about removal.

Overall, this doesn't seem like a very strong choice in the metagame. The only matches that are really good for you are aggro, and that's not exactly Tier 1 right now. Fish will still eat you alive with counters and manlands. You need a way (more than just Cunning Wish for a single Funeral Pyre) to make your opponent trigger Oath.

-Dan

[edit]: @Sammy: No, Oathing out Tog is not good. Running Tog is good. But not Oathing it out. If you're Oathing out Mr. "Teeth," than you may as well Oath out Mr. "I'm an 11/11 that can only be removed by StP and can be Berserked anyways, but I don't kill you if they spring a random Fog or something."

[Sammy]

Kasuras is right, If you drop the Blessing, and run Tog, with Berzerk in board, thats a right quick death right there.

[dad]

These are just suggestions:

If you are going multicolor with your Oath deck, I would add red.  Check Kai's Portugal Grand Prix deck as a frame of reference.  Red adds REB, Fire/Ice, and Rack and Ruin.

Reconsider the Oathstill build, as it will probably do better against control then your classic build will.

Another direction would be to maindeck the Null Rods (they are good in Type 1) and perhaps go U/G and maindeck Back to Basics.  B2B is underutilized now, but at one time was the basis of a very successful archetype (this is probably the direction I would take Oath if I were to play it again).

Finally, I would definitely cut Moat (perhaps for Fact or Fiction) and probably Regrowth (for Stifle).

[Squirrelman]

First to karasus: I have Considered DC over Morphling, but I like him a lot. Main proble is that he's very mana addictive, and thats not a good thing. Mayby I should reconsider DC. Psychatog isn't that good in this deck 'cause he's destroyed too easily. I'm not playing Will or Deed 'cause my deck isn't playing black. If I added black The manabase would be too unstable I think, mayby not. I've added red to this deck once but didn't like it much.

AngryPheldagrif: I'm not playing tog 'cause I don't want to. I want play Oath. And as you said tog is no good in Oath. And Morphling can swing for more than five if you put counters on it from weaver/feeder. when it's 4/4 it swings for 7, 5/5 for 9 and so on. And when my meta being pretty heavy aggro it fits that meta quite well. But I need tips about how to win control with this deck.

And last to dad: I would go for black, but that might not be the best way to go. I have still that Oathstill build, but I didn't post it here 'cause it has been discussed lately. Where could I find that deck of Kai?

Thanks to the commments so far. I have to reconsider DC.

[Plognark]

One dirty trick I tried recently in a 1.5 game was to pack darksteel colossus with drop of honey and verdant touch to get the oath moving. Afterwards, the drop of honey turned into a land killer against the animated lands, turn after turn.

With the colossus, to avoid StoP (and bounce, since hard casting a colossus is unlikely), I packed in diamond valley. This allowed me to cut the spike feeder, since I could use a colossus for a hefty chunk of 11 life at a pop, and the colossus really doesn't need to be bigger than he is already so moving counters isn't important.
I'm still up in the air over spike weaver....the only reason i'd want him is for FCG or a ton of soldier tokens, and frankly, packing a decent amount of counter and a couple of stifles are a better answer to those decks than getting a wimpy, non-threatening 3/3 when I really want an 11/11 monster. I kept him in sideboard, and really found that he's not important when the build shifts that much. In the next 1.5 i'll be cutting him out entirely.

As for this deck in T1...it's not tier 1, of course, but I also am a fan of oath, so it would be nice to see someone put such a fun card to good use.

[mylkhead]

I love playing Oath.  It's by far the most fun deck I have played in all of my years playing Magic.  Here is my current decklist: (We are allowed up to 10 proxies at my local tournaments).

// NAME: Landstill Oath //

// Mana Base = 24 //
        4 Tropical Island (proxied)
        4 Gemstone Mine
        4 City of Brass
        1 Forest
        1 Black Lotus (proxied)
        1 Sol Ring
        1 Mox Emerald (proxied)
        1 Mox Sapphire
        1 Mox Pearl
        4 Mishra's Factory
        2 Faerie Conclave

// Oath Engine = 12 //
        4 Oath of Druids
        2 Darksteel Colossus
        2 Gaea's Blessing
        2 Dragon Breath
        2 Funeral Pyre

// Board Control = 12 //
        4 Force of Will
        2 Stifle (proxied)
        2 Nevinyrral's Disk
        2 Null Rod
        1 Balance
        1 Chain of Vapor

// Draw/Search = 11 //
        4 Brainstorm
        2 Standstill
        1 Ancestral Recall
        1 Demonic Tutor
        1 Enlightened Tutor
        1 Mystical Tutor
        1 Cunning Wish

// Other = 2 //
        1 Time Walk
        1 Yawgmoth's Will

// Sideboard = 15 //
SB:  2 Red Elemental Blast
SB:  2 Pyroblast
SB:  2 Teferi's Response
SB:  2 Energy Flux
SB:  2 Chill
SB:  2 Chalice of the Void
SB:  1 Misdirection
SB:  1 Swords to Plowshares
SB:  1 Aura Fracture

Mana Base: I currently don't have any Fetch Lands, so I run 4x City of Brass and 4x Gemstone Mines.  I recently traded my Tropicals overseas to a guy I found out is on the Bad Trader Alert so I most likely will not see those cards again.  But so far, this mana base has worked great.  The life loss from the Cities of Brass usually doesn't mean much because as soon as I get a Colossus out, it's usually game in the next 2/3 turns.

Man Lands:  4x Mishra's Workshop and 2x Faerie Conclave.  I choose not to have 4x Conclaves because most of the time they are too slow and too much mana to activate.   I have found that this combination works pretty well.  These are also great cards to play underneath Standstill as we all know.  

Oath Engine:    Typical Nu Oath Engine here.  No Morphlings, Feeders, or Weavers because they are inferior to the Darksteel Colossus.  I sacrifice the board control of the Spike Weavers because Darksteel kills in 2/3 turns.  Most of the time I just Trample over opposing creatures.  The Darksteel kills fast enough that I don't need to worry about fogging every turn or controlling the board to drop a Morphling.  No other creatures besides Darksteel.  I don't want to Oath out anything else.  It makes the deck more consistent.  

I have 2x Dragon Breath here.  These have been awesome so far.  I has helped so many times.  It's great when you get the combination of Dragon Breath and Blessing.  You get a Hasty Firebreathing Colossus (I have the mana base to support the firebreathing IF, I said IF I need it.  Most of the time the 11 damage is enough.  

2x Funeral Pyre are there to trigger the Oath.  A lot of times I drop an early Oath (first or second turn) and that usually controls the board.  The opponent knows that if they play any creatures they are just gonna die in a few turns to a Colossus.  So a lot of times, the Oath just stays in play while I build card advantage.  Attack with manlands.  Draw cards from Ancestral, Brainstorms, Tutors, or Standstill.  Or build up my mana base.  Just dropping an Oath with the threat of a Darksteel Colossus is enough to make your opponent immediately play defensively.

I was also thinking about running 1x Tinker.  I play with enough artifacts that this would work.  If for some reason I couldn't get Oath to stay on the board (Naturalize, Emerald Charm, Disenchant) I could tinker for the Darksteel.  I usualy just need Oath out for a turn to get the Colossus and then it's usually game after that.

Board Control:  4x Force of Wills are obvious.  The Null Rods have been GOLDEN even though I run 7 other artifacts.  More often than not, Null Rods WRECK the opposing deck enough where it doesn't matter if I can't blow up my disk.  Not being able to use my Moxen is a fair trade if I can stop my opponents Affinity/Mindslaver/Pentavus/Moxen/Mana Crypts/Mana Vaults/Monoliths, etc.  And most of the time I need only a few mana to cast my spells.  Everything in the deck is 3 mana or less to cast.  Moxen are there for the early first turn drops.  If I could find a way to add Tinker, that makes my Moxen easy targets.

2x Nevinyrral's Disk prove to be enough.  Dropping a disk with the threat of ManLands and/or a Darksteel either on the table or imminent with Oath in play is very threatening to the opponent.  Disk gets rid of annoying Platinum Angel and other Affinity based decks.  If they swarm you with creatures early, a disk is usually enough to blow them away.  

2x Stifles are a recent addition.  I don't own any at the moment, so they are proxied.  They were great in the last tournament I played in.  Stifleing Goblin Welder was fun.  There are many good uses for this card.  Sometimes, I can stifle my opponents Oathing ability.  This also comes in handing against Tendrils of Agony and Dragon.

Balance is obvious.

Chain of Vapor is better than Swords to Plowshares I think in this deck.  Most of the time I can trample over anything with Darksteel and deal some damage.  I don't want to give them life beacuse that gives them an extra turn to find an answer.  Chain of Vapor gives me so much more options.  It's great to hit them below zero life when they have a Platinum Angel out and then I Chain of Vapor their Angel.  Chain also removes Welded out artifacts and other threats.  And most of the time I only need them removed for a turn because of Darksteel.

draw/search:Obvious choices here.  I play both Enlighted and Mystical Tutor.  Enlighted fetches me Oath, Null Rod, Disk, Standstill, Engery Flux and Chill  (after sideboarding).  It may be slow but it's always efficient enough to get what I need.  Mystical Tutor gives me Ancestral, Time Walk (so I can hit them twice with Darksteel without them having an answer) and Yawgmoth's Will.

I have only one Cunning Wish at the moment, but I don't have a sideboard full of Instant utility really.  This has proven to be enough most of the time.  I am not sure what I would take out to add more Wishes.

other:  Time Walk is obvious.  It is great after Oath out a Darksteel.  Even greater after Oathing out a Hasty Darksteel with Dragon Breath.  Yawgmoth's Will is a no brainer.  After dumping lots of cards into the grave with Oath, there is plenty to choose from.  It's not the most effecient in this deck as it is in other decks (like running dark rits) but it serves its purpose good enough.  It's definitley good to recur lost Ancestrals and Time Walks and other tutors.

Sideboard:  My meta game consists of affinity, slavery, tooth n nail, burn, slivers, madness, mono Black LD, tendrils, and other random decks.  My sideboard so far seems like it's good.  Energy Flux has been Golden.  Instant scoop against Slavery, Affinity and other artifact based decks.  That with Null Rod are pure evil.  

So there is my decklist and card choices for Oath.  I want to find room for Tinker.  Not sure what to take out.  I also want to add some fetch lands so I can smooth out my mana base and utilize Brainstorm better.

I also like the comment of adding Diamond Valley as a way to sacrifice Darksteel if I need to.  Neat card choice.

Library of Alexandria also seems like a good choice.  But again, not sure what I would remove.  

Hope I provided some insight and any suggests or comments about my deck are of course appreciated.

[Plognark]

Chain of Vapor is better than Swords to Plowshares I think in this deck. Most of the time I can trample over anything with Darksteel and deal some damage. I don't want to give them life beacuse that gives them an extra turn to find an answer. Chain of Vapor gives me so much more options. It's great to hit them below zero life when they have a Platinum Angel out and then I Chain of Vapor their Angel. Chain also removes Welded out artifacts and other threats. And most of the time I only need them removed for a turn because of Darksteel.

I actually found that the smart players I faced would simply sack a land in glee and bounce my colossus back to my hand, knowing it would be stuck there for a while. I think chain of vapor is a great card, but in this case, the incentive for your opponent to drop a land to get rid of the colossus (or bounce oath for a turn of breathing room) is far too tempting.

Thinking back on it, I wish I had run nevi-disk instead of engineered explosives. Explosives is good, but nevi-disk is broken

Another excellent card i've found is compulsion, especially when mixed with a crucible of worlds. You can pitch a land to draw a card and then play the land, and compulsion allowed me to pitch a colossus in hand back to the graveyard -> deck when I knew I wasn't going to get a chance to hard-cast the sucker.
This card also works well with a single (or perhaps 2) sterling grove, although my last build didn't run them. The grove allows you to fetch the oath of druids or the compulsion if needed.

I still prefer accumulate knowledge in this deck over standstill, simply because oathing will often dump one or two into your graveyard.

My meta packs a lot of graveyard hate because of a few dragon decks creeping around, so stifle is absolutely key in my area to deal with tormod's crypt.

[mylkhead]

I actually found that the smart players I faced would simply sack a land in glee and bounce my colossus back to my hand, knowing it would be stuck there for a while. I think chain of vapor is a great card, but in this case, the incentive for your opponent to drop a land to get rid of the colossus (or bounce oath for a turn of breathing room) is far too tempting.

True, but you have to know what to bounce and what not to.  Swords is limited to creatures.  And this deck NEEDS some kind of removal to deal with the random annoyance (like Platinum Angel which you CAN swords anyway and others you can't like Mindslaver, Smokestacks, etc).   You have to think before you Chain of Vapor anything, "Do I NEED to bounce that or can my Colossus trample over and win anyway?  Is the target I want to bounce going to prevent me from trampling over with my Colossus in two turns?"  If not, then you don't need to bounce it.  A lot of times I save my Chain for emergency use only.  And you want to at least attack before you do it just in case they decide to bounce back your Colossus.  Colossus can get through almost anything, but also, if they try to swords your Colossus, you can Chain it back to your hand if you wish.  Chain also works as a utility card as well for yourself.  Lets say they end up blowing up a disk, deed, or whatever, you can Chain back your Oath or whatever you have back and more if you sac lands.  

Point is, Chain is better than Swords in my opinion by its versatility.  You have to be smart to play it.  If they have a Platinum Angel out and you Chain it before you attack that is dumb.  They WILL bounce back your Colossus and laugh at you.  But attack, they take the damage and survive under zero life and say, "Haha okay I'm still alive!"  And then you Chain their Angel and be like "what now!"  Then you laugh at them,

I do run Swords in my sideboard however.  Its a good wish target if you really need it.  Also, Chain is good against opposing Colossuses too.

EDIT:  How could I forget using CoV against Trix?!  It's quite fun when your opponent drops an Illusions of Grandeur and you respond with the coming into play ability on the stack and Chain it.   It leaves play without them ever gaining 20 life.  And then they lose 20 life and the game.

I still prefer accumulate knowledge in this deck over standstill, simply because oathing will often dump one or two into your graveyard.

My only problem with AK in this deck is that it lacks synergy with Gaea's Blessing.  Too often it gets shuffled back into the deck.  With Standstill, you can put your opponent on edge and make them stall a few turns.  It keeps them from casting their stuff while you beat down with manlands.  However if you don't run the manlands (which I don't see why not) then Standstill really isn't needed.  AK would probably be better.  Because what else could you do under a Standstill if you couldn't hit em with manlands?

My meta packs a lot of graveyard hate because of a few dragon decks creeping around, so stifle is absolutely key in my area to deal with tormod's crypt.

Yes Stifle is a great card.  It comes in handy an awful lot.

[Squirrelman]

Mylkhead, your build looks pretty solid exept the manabase (you explained the reasen allready). It looks pretty much like my own Oathstill, but I play weaver in it. Also I play md StoPs and few other differences like that.