[Free Article] Tyrant Oath

[Vegeta2711]

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/15513.html

I go over Reflection's Tyrant Oath list along with boarding plans and why the deck is configured like it is. Little less in-depth than I had wanted, but Craig needed this ASAP to fill Lapile's slot.

[Aardshark]

Great article Josh. Quick question.

Last night on MWS I was playing Codi's drain tendrils list against ELD with Tyrant.  On paper I'd thought Tyrant Oath would have the advantage (it only has to force through one cheap spell to win), so I was surprised to win two matches in a row 2-0.  Obviously this is not a statistically significant sample, and I have a feeling ELD drew rather poorly.

Have you tested this matchup? If so, who do you think it favors, and how would you board?

[Nehptis]

I appreciate the article on Tyrant Oath.  But, I feel that this question needs to be answered.  What does the Team Reflection build do against Wasteland?  (I understand that you can avoid Waste with Gush.   But, that's not optimal against 9Sphere unless you have Fbond in play.  Post SB, I'm guessing that you hope for an early Needle.)  Are these strategies really enough?

Furthermore, this bolded part is not accurate.....your build only runs 1 Basic Land.  It should say, "fetching your lone Basic Land and praying it doesn't get stripped"...

Shop Red
This is a more difficult match then MUD due to Magus of the Moon and Goblin Welder, but the gameplan stays the same. If your deck does its job, you should win the majority of games, just need to go out your way to accommodate the potential non-basic hosers. Meaning fetching basics is of more importance and preemptively Scrolling for Fire/Ice post-board aren’t the worst ideas in the world.

[Vegeta2711]

What does the Team Reflection build do against Wasteland?

Play oath before it matters, play Pithing Needle on it, go off with Gush-Bond in which case Wasteland doesn't do jack. Etc. I've never had an issue with Shops decks and none of my teammates have reported any issues with it, so without evidence to the contrary, I'll say yes; it's enough.

It should say, "fetching your lone Basic Land and praying it doesn't get stripped"...

Correct, I'm used to writing out basics after writing infi Extended article. Why would I pray about them drawing a 1-of though? Seems ridiculous, if they have it, they have it and thank god they aren't casting it on the lands that make the green or red.

Great article Josh. Quick question.

Last night on MWS I was playing Codi's drain tendrils list against ELD with Tyrant.  On paper I'd thought Tyrant Oath would have the advantage (it only has to force through one cheap spell to win), so I was surprised to win two matches in a row 2-0.  Obviously this is not a statistically significant sample, and I have a feeling ELD drew rather poorly.

Have you tested this matchup? If so, who do you think it favors, and how would you board?

I think as a collective whole we've only tested like 12 games against Drain Tendrils, it wasn't a big concern for us. The results were something like 5-7 in favor of Drain Tendrils, I do think it favors them slightly as combo isn't favorable in general. The deck however doesn't have a big edge since it typically isn't comboing out before us consistently. There's no boarding plan at this time and since I don't expect the deck I'm not going to just pretend to have one. 

[Grand Inquisitor]

Although you claim this is plan B, I found this to be a very strong article, Josh.  Observations had breadth and depth, and I have great respect for the refinements Reflection made to an already strong list by Jeremiah & Co.

I think that Oath popularity opens an interesting chapter for the 4x Gush metagame with more room to navigate for combo, although, I expect, not enough to become problematic.  This has the possibility to lure fish back, and the stax side of workshop decks.

[hvndr3d y34r h3x]

stax oriented decks really have posed no problem to just about any configuration of gush oath