Arcane Laboratory vs. Sphere of Resistance (sideboard discussion)

[bedafile]

Having taken Oath to 2 Waterbury tournaments and having played several local tournaments I started to ponder the usefullness of Arcane Laboratory in the sideboard. In all the games I've played I've never faced TPS, 2 Land Belcher, Meandeck Tendrills or some random storm combo deck.  Now perhaps I'm fortunate but I think Oath has a favorable match up with these decks out of the box so why do you need Arcane Laboratory?

Rick Shay wrote an article about Intuition Slaver a few months ago and his sideboard featured Sphere of Resistance.  I found it to be a interesting alternative to Arcane Laboratory. I believe in the current meta Sphere is possibly a better hoser with Gifts and Storm combo. Lets way the pros and cons.

Sphere:
Pros-
2 CC can be easily played on turn 1.
All Spells vs Gifts cost one more => Gift is slowed because if its mana intensive nature.
The card usefull in multiples generally speaking.
Stops Land Grant and slows Dark Ritual.

Cons-
Vs. Gifts with Welder can weld it out if you play poorly.
Bad vs Rack and Ruin (however it will cost them 4 mana)
Not a blue card to ditch to Force.
A fine target for Rebuild when TPS is ready to go off.

Arcane Lab:
Pros-
Almost seals the game vs. Storm combo
A blue card to ditch to Force => multiples are not completely useless.
There's barely any enchantment hate in the meta (none if it wasn't for Oath)
Game vs. Witness/Dragon

Cons-
3 CC is very questionable.
Gifts -> Tinker -> DSC = GG, cannot stop this combo.
In most instances the card stinks in multiples.
Many combo decks can win casting 1 spell a turn.
Not game vs. Dragon/Other win.

I think the answer is not black and white on this one. I think it depends on the meta in a given day. I'm sure I missed a few pro's and cons and that why I brought this up; hope this generates at least some discussion.
John

Edit: This can apply to any deck that runs Arcane Laboratory, not just Oath

[Khahan]

Having taken Oath to 2 Waterbury tournaments and having played several local tournaments I started to ponder the usefullness of Arcane Laboratory in the sideboard. In all the games I've played I've never faced TPS, 2 Land Belcher, Meandeck Tendrills or some random storm combo deck.  Now perhaps I'm fortunate but I think Oath has a favorable match up with these decks out of the box so why do you need Arcane Laboratory?

Don't count on that happening too much longer. I took Oath to SCG and played 4 (yes 4) belcher decks (2 gifts/belcher and a pair of 2 land) and 1 CA.   

Maybe I'm making up for your lack of games against combo decks. 

[oldbsturgeon]

i would probably want the arcane lab more than the sphere as well. Khahan played me in round 7( im the CA player) and he brought in the labs and the match was much more difficult.
i also agree that you will see those decks more. steve wants more good players to play combo so hopefully we will see more of those decks being played. if so the lab would probably be better.

[49 Cents]

Personally, I would stick with the Labs. Oath has TONS of countermagic, so they will have alot of trouble removing it. Maybe it sucks that if you cast an Oath, they are going to bounce your Lab the same turn, but this will not happen alot..

Lab also had the pro that when you play alot of counters, they will have SO MUCH trouble removing it..

Greetz,

Hugo

[Malhavoc]

There is also another very bad thing about Lab: if you don't have a win condition already in play, you of course need to cast it sooner or later. And win condition are usually sorcery speed, such as oath of druids. Once you've cast your win condition, your opponent (let's say: TPS) can bounce your Lab at eot, and you cannot counter his bounce spell, and since it's eot you cannot cast it again. Then it's his turn and he can combo out. I've even seen a guy packing lab and Nether Spirit (reach 8 cards in hand, discard, and enters play) to avoid being forced to cast spells, being in this way always able to counter every threat.

[Eddie]

The choice between Arcane Laboratory vs Sphere of Resistance is highly dependant of the deck you play. CS can run the sphere without too much trouble, whilst other decks will have more problems running it (e.g. Oath). I've played CS for a year and a half now and defiantly prefer the sphere. I think the rebuild is not that big a drawback. I can capitalize on the effect if I slowed the storm combo deck for 2 turns whilst they are searching for the rebuild / optimizing their hand. It doesn't need to be in play all the time. Don't get me wrong: Arcane Laboratory is a great anti-storm card. But you're crippling yourself way too much with it IMHO.

[bedafile]

I don't see Oath as having a problem playing sphere; the most expensive spell you would play is Intuition or Thirst so I don't see it as a huge problem.

How has Sphere VS Gifts been for people? I've never had the chance to play it but I would assume it slows them down a few turns.