A.O.A.dec (Academy, Oath, and Agony) : by Jhaggs
MANA 231 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
4 City of Brass
4 Gemstone Mine
1 Glimmervoid
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Lion’s Eye Diamond
2 Chromatic Sphere
ENGINE 64 Oath of Druids
1 Academy Rector
1 Gaea's Blessing
ACCELERATION 54 Dark Ritual
1 Fastbond
DRAW 7's 71 Necropotence
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Mind's Desire
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Timetwister
1 Memory Jar
1 Windfall
ANTI-CONTROL 64 Cabal Therapy
2 Duress
DRAW AND SEARCH 111 Ancestral Recall
4 Brainstorm
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Time Walk
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Tinker
1 Windfall
KILL 21 Death/Burning Wish
1 Tendrils of Agony
Side Board 151 Morphling
4 Xantid Swarm
1 Verdant Force
4 Force of Will
2 Stifle
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Diminishing Returns
IntroductionThe motivation behind creating this version of a draw 7 deck was to not only establish a control element in an aggressive combo deck but to also take advantage of an emerging aggro meta. This deck shares numerous similarities with other more prominent decks, Long.dec, twister.dec, Rector Agony, and Oath. However, there are several important differences in which I feel enable A.O.A. (combo) to have more success in matchups that were previously difficult/
The kill condition of this deck is to cast 9 spells in one turn and then cast Tendrils of Agony for the kill as the tenth spell. The entire deck functions around this premise in order to accelerate this process. This deck is slower then twister.dec but it definitely has different control elements thru Duress and Cabal Therapy and a more direct route to Yawgmoth’s Bargain/Necropotence.
The engine of this deck can be seen on two fronts. First, the numerous Draw & Search spells allow for a constant cycling through the deck. By being able to constantly refill your hand, you obtain the ability to cast a high volume of spells on a single turn while you are able to search for Tendrils.
The second engine in this deck is the relationship between Oath of druids and Academy Rector. Oath is a low casting cost “creature search engine” by itself. Academy Rector is a medium casting cost creature, which is a search engine for Yawgmoth's bargain, arguably the most powerful card in magic. It is important to note that once Yawgmoth's bargain hits the table, your chances of winning increase exponentially as you can exchange your life for cards at instant speed.
The reason that Oath of Druids and Academy Rector were selections for this deck is that they can essential act as "draw 7" spells in that they are stream lining towards Yawgmoths Bargain. Yawgmoth's Bargain is the preferred draw engine above every other Draw 7 spell. Its only drawbacks are its high casting cost and its limit of 1 per deck. Oath/Rector attempt to eliminate both of these problems What the Oath/Rector presents is a replacement for a card like Diminishing Returns as scene in standard draw7.dec. While these blue spells allow you to draw multiple cards, Oath/Rector allow you to resolve Yawgmoth's Bargain, which in turn, usually allows you to win immediately. Further, Oath of Druids can be further utilized after sideboarding.
Currently, I feel that considering the rise of aggro in the 2004 meta, having a resolved Oath of Druids in play is extremely advantageous due to the fact the your opponent has creatures in play already or will at some point, have to cast a creature in order to win. Academy rector is a prime creature to use as a chump blocker, have it die, which means Bargain will come directly into play. Further, having a Rector in play can also force your aggro opponent to sit still, fearing that if he attacks you will block with Rector. Either situation favors the combo player.
Oath of Druids also makes matchups that were once incredibly difficult for Combo decks (WMUD, Stax, Trini-stax, ect) due to Sphere of Resistance and now Trinisphere, much more manageable in games 2 and 3. Utilizing a transformational Sideboard can turn the table in favor of A.O.A. Being able to put Verdant Force directly into play against these artifact lock components is extremely advantageous, especially since the mana requirement is only 2 (for the Oath).
The control element of this deck is also attractive. Main decking 2 to 3 Duress and 4 Cabal therapy grants you cheap casting cost spells that fuel Tendrils as well as early game disruption. Cabal therapy's flashback synergy with Academy Rector provides instant speed sacrificing of Academy rector, which in turn can set the table for Yawgmoth's Bargain or Necropotence.
A.O.A.’s Cousin DecksMost of you are well aware of these decks already but I felt their inclusion relevant to demonstrate the thought process of A.O.A. BY looking at previous builds and how they operate you can get a better sense of where I’m coming from and it charts different designs and engines of other top Vintage builds.
Lets take a look at Twister.dec by Stephen Menendian to compare and contrast similar versions of a Tendrils kill deck.
http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15006Twister (posted Feb. 5th, 2004)Lands:
4 Gemstone Mine
4 City of Brass
2 Glimmervoid
1 Tolarian Academy
Acceleration:
1 Fastbond
4 Dark Ritual
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
Mox Jet
Mox Ruby
Mox Pearl
Mox Sapphire
Mox Emerald
Lotus Petal
Black Lotus
Lion's Eye Diamond*
Sol Ring
Mana Crypt
Mana Vault
Mana Fixers:
3 Chromatic Sphere
Setting up/Protecting the Combo:
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will (they are Awseom111!!one)
1 Ancestral
1 Time Walk
Draw 7s Extraodinare:
3 Diminishing Returns
1 Tinker
1 Memory Jar
1 Windfall
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Timetwister
BORKEN!!!PWNED!!!
1 Mind's Desire
1 Necropotence
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Yawgmoth's Will
Tutors:
1 Vamp Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
(no Mystical or Consult)
Finishers:
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Burning Wish
In twister.dec there are some immediate things that jump out at you. First, the 3 Diminishing returns are 3 big draw spells included in the MD. A.O.A. replaces these spells, with 4 Oath of druids. Twister explodes on turn 1 or 2 because of it is riddled with mana sources that fuels its “business” spells which cycle through the deck. Unlike A.O.A, it is not as dependant on resolving Yawgmoth’s bargain because of its increased redundancy in other draw spells. Twister.dec epitomizes how powerful type 1 can really be. It creates mana and draws cards at an incredible rate. Very few can consistently pilot a deck of this complexity.
The second big difference in decks is that twister.deck runs 4 elvish spirit guides as well as 3 Chromatic spheres. These mana sources not only add to your ability to cast multiple spells they also help fix the color mana base of the deck. This is a big plus with twister, which allow it to explode with more consistency in turn 1 or 2 than A.O.A. A.O.A. cannot run Elvish Spirt Guide because it would interfere with the Oath of Druids Searching for Rector. ESG is a fantastic source for mana which is needed to fuel an onslaught of draw spells. A.O.A. attempts to reduce the need for “extra” mana by creating a direct route towards Yawgmoth’s Bargain, a draw engine which requires no mana.
The third difference is found in Force of Will. Due to Diminishing returns, the count of blue cards in the deck is 16, a solid number that makes FOW feasible. A.O.A. touts only 13 blue cards, making FOW much harder to cast for free. Also, A.O.A. must run Cabal Therapy in order to remove Rector from play. If Therapy wasn’t needed to kill Rector, Force of Will would take this spot. It is important to note that I do SB 4 F.O.W. for the control matchups.
Now lets take a look at a version of an Oath of druids deck to explore why the Oath engine is relevant in A.O.A. I will use Kowal’s Oath from Queequeg’s primer as I believe it is the most recent successful tournament version.
http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9090&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0Oath (posted Jan. 20th, 2004)4x Oath of Druids
2x Gaea's Blessing
1x Morphling
1x Spike Weaver
4x Mana Drain
4x Force of Will
2x Mana Leak
1x Daze
1x Misdirection
4x Brainstorm
4x Accumulated Knowledge
2x Deep Analysis
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Sylvan Library
1x Intuition
1x Regrowth
1x Time Walk
2x Back to Basics
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Black Lotus
4x Tropical Island
2x Wooded Foothills
1x Windswept Heath
2x Polluted Delta
1x Forest
7x Island
1x Strip Mine
1x Library of Alexandria
IN this Oath Primer thread Queequeg describes why and when an Oath deck should be a consideration:
"Why an Oath Deck?
Oath of Druids is a metagame deck. In just the same why that Suicide Black and Ankh Sligh are metagame decks, that is to say it is a deck tailored for a particular metagame. In suicides case this is a field dominated by control strategies, whilst for Oath it is a metagame dominated by aggro. In fact if you play in any environment where aggro decks proliferate then Oath is the deck that will see you with a lot success. Oaths weakness comes when faced with control decks and those running few or no creatures. In these circumstances Oath will have to side against these matches, if every other match is OSE then Oath is not the right choice for your field. As a consequence Oath decks tend to shift in popularity with the changing field of Type 1 and with this its status as a Type 1 deck will shift also. In essence Oath can only be considered a viable deck in any field where Aggro makes up the largest percentage of decks to beat. "
This is pretty much the basis for why I decided to build A.O.A. Inside my meta, I see a lot of WMUD, Trini-Stax, Fish, Madness, TnT, and goblin SLigh. I do have a Hulk, and on occasion Keeper decks that I compete with but for the most part my meta is aggro for right now. I am the only combo player right now. My opponent’s early creatures will trigger Oath, which inevitably will put into play Academy Rector. With a Cabal Therapy in the graveyard, the Rector fishes for Bargain which means the game is in your grasp. I do have matchups where Oath is completely useless, namely the control games (Keeper & Hulk). However, you still have a great chance in combo-ing out in game 1 and the SB provides tremendous flexibility for games 2 and 3.
Oath of Druids is utilized best when it can cycle towards a powerhouse creature. Recently, Darksteel Colossus has been thrown out as a possibility to replace morphling as the kill condition of choice inside normal Oath decks. However, dissenters have claimed that having a creature that is uncastable, like the Colossus, is ill advised in case you draw into him. In my view, Academy Rector is an ideal Oath target because it can kill just as fast as a big beat down creature if not faster by allowing you to combo out. Why Oath for Morphling or Colossus when you can just Oath for Rector and win right then an there! Again, sac-ing Rector leads to Bargain, which can spell an immediate victory. Another benefit of Rector is that it is very castable. One white and 3 colors is manageable inside A.O.A. Even if you draw into a rector without an Oath in play, you can still try to resolve it from your hand.
Taking another look at Kowal's Oath build, we can see the inclusion of Gaea's Blessing. Experienced players realize that this sorcery isn't merely dragon hate but instead, it is the necessary recursion card that has synergy with Oath of Druids. With the blessing, you would often have both Yawgmoth's Bargain and Necropotence in the graveyard through Oath’s milling of your own deck until it can find Academy Rector. Queequeg writes:
"Gaea’s Blessing is used to create a recursion effect after Oath-ing. During your upkeep when Oath resolves if Gaea’s blessing is revealed and is placed into your graveyard the Gaea’s Blessing’s trigger is placed on the stack, which resolves and reshuffles your graveyard back into your library. Even If a creature is not revealed and you Oath your entire library Gaea’s blessing will still trigger providing it has been revealed.
The significance of this recursion effect is; 1) it stops the Oath player from milling this entire library once he/she has exhausted their creature supply, 2) It gives the player to opportunity to redraw played cards, 3) It gives the option to re-oath creatures that have passed into his/her graveyard.
The ratio of Gaea’s Blessings run to creatures directly effects the frequency of the recursion effect. If for example 1 Blessing is run to 3 creatures, then when you Oath you are more likely to reveal a creature before the Gaeas Blessing, hence you will commonly leave a large graveyard after Oath-ing. Other recursion effects like Regrowth, Holistic Wisdom, and Flashback can exploit this situation. However the possibility of drawing Gaea’s Blessing requires more than 1 be run in the deck. As a result 2 Gaea’s Blessing’s are run as standard in most Oath Builds. "
I do not MD 2 blessings and it is risky because it is something that you don’t want to draw on your initial 7. When I do, I usually mulligan because a hand of 7 cards that includes Blessing is exactly the same as just having 6 cards.
Now lets move onto a standard Rector build to further examine A.O.A. Here is Rico Sauve's build for Rector.
http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11889Rico Suave
Rector-Tendrils (posted August 5th, 2003)Engine Cards (10)
4 Academy Rector
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Future Sight
1 Necropotence
1 Timetwister
1 Frantic Search
1 Mind's Desire
Disruption (8)
4 Duress
4 Cabal Therapy
Utility (11)
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Brainstorm
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Balance
Kill (2)
2 Tendrils of Agony
Mana (29)
2 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
2 Scrubland
4 Underground Sea
3 Gemstone Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Dark Ritual
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
SB:
1 Island
3 Blue Elemental Blast
2 Seal of Cleansing
2 Plaguebearer
3 Defense Grid
3 Hurkyl's Recall
1 The Abyss
I wanted to include Rico's deck because he clearly has a solid background with the Rector/therapy relationship and I have read a lot of his thoughts on how/why this deck functions. Rico writes:
"Cabal Therapy has revolutionized the concept of Rector decks. It has been stated before several times, but it basically is the crux of the deck in combination with Rector. Being able to strip away a key spell from your opponent's hand in addition to being a means of killing Rector is what has pushed this deck over the edge. 4 Therapy are absolutely necessary. "
Herein lies a major consideration for A.O.A. over some other type of draw 7 deck. Therapy's duel use is unreal at times. Being able to disrupt your opponent’s hand TWICE while sac-ing the Rector to grab Bargain is just disgusting. Unless you have really played this combination out at length, it is impossible to truly understand how devastating this type of play is. 2 Duress and 4 Cabal Therapies can often times represent 10 disruption spells. These black spells complement the aggressive style of the combo deck by being able to rip holes through control to combo out. Further, they are 1 casting cost spells that can feed your kill condition, Tendrils of Agony.
Since Gencon (summer 2003), Rector has just been hated out, much like all combo decks at one point or another. Randy Buehler of Wizards was even rumored to have mentioned a possible Rector restriction which further feed into the initial fear of rector deck. Since then rector based decks and combo decks (Animate Dragon/Long.dec) have been dealt with and ultimately became too risky to play due to the overwhelming hate. Stifle, wastelands, Swords, Tormand's Crypt, Gorilla Shaman, (now) trinisphere, and others make these combo decks unreliable in top level metas. However, A.O.A's Oath engine makes things a bit more interesting because it is a more stable way of getting Rector into play without having to spend mana for the casting cost or having to actually cast it. The inherent recursion built into the engine with Gaea's Blessing is also a bonus which allows you to “reset” enabling you to cast an Tendrils without 9 played spells to gain life and then reshuffle your graveyard into your library. By having the option to rifle through your deck, revealing Blessings can give this combo deck a second go-around if for some reason its first attempt to combo out was stifled by your opponent. Of course, this isn't the most ideal situation but it does mean that you may have a second chance and/or cast a Tendrils that isn't at 10 spells.
Unlike traditional Rector builds, A.O.A. tries a more aggressive approach in trying to get Academy Rector into play. Top players are tentative in opting for a Rector based deck because of the large amount of available hate. A.O.A. tries to overcome this by drawing as fast as it can while trying to get the Rector into play faster than the Rector builds have in the past. By operating in a more explosive manner A.O.A tries to combat an opponent triyng to draw into a Tormand’s Crypt or a Coffin Purge as well as utilizing its MD therapies and Duresses.
The Mana Base Since A.O.A runs all 5 colors, access to every colored mana is critical. Fetchlands and duel lands are just too slow in obtaining the colored mana that you need. Instead, you have to resort to lands like GlimmerVoid, City of Brass, and Gemstone Mine in addition to the battery of artifact mana. If you look closely, you’ll notice that A.O.A.’s manabase is exactly the same as twister.dec (excluding ESG and Chromatic Sphere and 1 glimmer void). Since both decks need access to the same color mana, I’ll defer to the superior player’s mana base, Stephen Menedian.
Some that I test with have claimed that A.O.A. just does not run enough mana sources to function properly. However, it is important to note that A.O.A. doesn’t need as much mana resources as a standard draw7 deck because it does not have to hard cast Academy Rector or Yawgmoth’s Bargain and it doesn’t run 3 diminishing returns.
A Tranformational Side Board:First let me attempt to explain what exactly a transformational sideboard is. Basically, a player attempts to radically change his deck through a massive incorportion of a new theme via the Side board for games two and three. Arguably the most famous example of this comes from Richard Mattiuzzo’s Animate Dragon deck that finished 4th at the 2003 summer GenCon. Richard’s Dragon Sb was:
http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/expandevent.php?Article=5456GenCon SideBoard:
4 Illusionary Mask
4 Phyrexian Negators
4 Phyrexian Dreadnaughts
3 Tormond’s Crypt
For games 2 and 3 Richard had the option of really catching his opponent off guard. Often times, the opponent will side in hate cards that can potentially be comepletely useless as the transformational sideboard player completely changes the outlook of the deck. However, there is one glaring drawback from this type of Sideboard. By dedicating so much of your Sideboard Slots for the one or two matchups that you will utilize the transformational sideboard for, it inevitably negates the use of your SB for all your other matchups. This is a big gamble and you must be aware of what your meta is going to be, otherwise you could have a worthless SB.
For A.O.A. I feel a transformational sideboard is necessary for several crucial matchups that otherwise would be hard to combat. I think Cssamerican was the first to introduce this type of sideboard for a Rector based deck.
http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=118893 x Illusions
2 x Donate
4 x Force of Will (depends on whether already maindecked)
1 x Intuition
1 x Rushing River/Chain of Vapor
4 x Open meta slots
In my transformational sideboard, I am able to forgo the illusions/donate route for the arifact.dec matchups by once again calling on Oath of Druids. Through Druids, I can cycle into Verdant Force and put him directly into play. This is a monster of a creature to be able to have in play against decks that run the sphere/wire/stack/trini locks. Plus, I can also remove cards like the MD tendrils and others to make room for 4 Force of wills. The Academy Rector SB had to dedicate 5 slots for the trix combo. In A.O.A.’s version, we don’t have to do that. Instead, we can just use Verdant to help against artifact.dec and leave the other slots for other matchups.
Here is my transformational Sideboard for right now.
1 Morphling
4 Xantid Swarm
1 Verdant Force
4 Force of Will
2 Stifle
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Diminishing ReturnsI use various creatures to help out against certain matchups. Verdant for artifact decks, Swarms for the control match up, and I am trying out Morphling against control/aggro like U/R Fish. The FOW can also be SB when need as well as Stifle. Hurkyl’s is nice to have in the board when you MD Death Wish over Burning wish to enable you to recast artifacts. Finally, it is always nice to have another wishable kill condition and draw 7 spell in the Board for more redundancy.
While testing with Long and other Tendril variants I investigated how certain combo decks dealt with the tough artifact lock matchups. Once I was testing with Oath in the MD, I re-read dicemanX’s Dragon primer, where I rediscovered Verdant Force. DicemanX writes:
http://www.themanadrain.com/primers/dragon.htmApart from the removal, the SB features Verdant Forces. The Forces are in there because, when Animated, they are near auto-wins against certain decks such as wMUD, Suicide, Sligh.Other Card ConsiderationsFuture Sight: This would have been nice to add considering its synergy with Rector and Fastbond. It can also help if you are low on life and can’t uber break Bargain However, space in the deck is tight and since I have a lot of draw effects I decided against it.
Elvish Spirit Guide: This would have been a great accelerator to use but I could ill afford to have it conflict with Oath of Druids.
Crop Rotation: I have cut this, brought it back, and cut it again. Its great to grab Tolarian Academy but its rough on A.O.A to have to sac a land that can produce gree/red/white.
Krosan Reclaimation: This seems like a natural fit but there just isn’t room.
Cabal Ritual: Here is a link to a thread that thefram started.
http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=14992&highlight=cabal+ritual In this build Helm really helps out with ritual. I must admit that Cabal Ritual is extremely enticing and I will probably try this spell out again. However, A.O.A is such a tight build right now that I’m not sure where to add in the new accelerations.
Match Analysis (my meta)*I would have gone into more depth out what I specifically SB in and out for various matchups but I still vary right now and I am always switching things up. The match breakdown is just to sample what my meta is and how I approach certain match-ups, but is in no way the constant way I approach games 2 & 3.
ControlIn reviewing the control matchup, I feel it’s best to review some of Stephen Menendian’s comments in a couple of his articles about Long.dec.
http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/expandnews.php?Article=5820One caveat to this is: Don't try and force every hand to win early. It is easy to set your expectations for this deck so high that you want every hand to look like a turn 1 win. If you do that, you will be distorting this deck's capabilities and increase your chances of stalling. You do not actually need to win against every deck on turn 1, or even turn 2. In fact, some of our games against Tog demonstrate that slow play (meaning slowing down the game for a turn or two before "going off") may actually pay a large reward.
http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/expandnews.php?Article=5856And here is a point that is perhaps the most important of all: The Long.dec player may want to slow down the game to its advantage or speed it up depending on what it has. Simultaneously, you want to get the Tog player in a position where they have to be the one making difficult decisions. If that happens, you are controlling the tempo of the game and that creates a much greater chance of error on the part of the Tog player, since they are working with imperfect information.
These are really important points to hallmark for your control matchups. You have a little time to set things up against control because they just aren’t pecking at your life like an aggro matchup would. Keep in mind that against an aggro opponent, lost life can equal a loss in cards drawn of Bargain. Here,
For the first game, you really want to make good use of your disruption. Of course, setting up your therapies with an early duress is always nice but that isn’t always the case. Keep in mind that you can go off at any given moment so you really want to be cognicent that when you are able to win, you have disruption to make a clearing. Hulk is definitely the hardest match up. I highly suggest you read Menendian’s articles on how Long approaches Hulk for some great insight. In games 2 or 3 I like to side in Force of Will and a Xanid Swarm to have a more of a control base. Oath is usually SB out and I try to play A.O.A. like a straight draw7 deck.
Artifact.decIn the 1st game, it is definitly winnable with early disruption and by making smart decisions. Wishing for recall tends to help out as well. However, the spheres make things rough to win Tendrils. For games 2 & 3, SB in Verdant Force. Once Verdant hits its usually game. I aggressively mulligan for oath or a way to get to it. A first turn Oath is devastating against and early Welder.
FishThe aggro control matchup is suprisingly tough. Your opponent’s aggro competent helps and hurts you. It’s great because it leads to an early rector, but if you have suffered too much life loss, its tough to draw a lot off bargain. For this match up I have been boarding in morphling for additional support. Oathing into both Morphing and Rector really helps. Also, it allows me to cast an early Tendrils that is less than enough for the kill in order to draw more cards if need. Oathing again will trigger blessing and allow you to reshuffle Tendrils back into the deck. Or you can just kill with Morphling if you can.
TnTTheir early beatdowns equals and early rector from druids. Draw and combo out.
SlighIf you are playing against goblins, mull into oath and you’ll win through the early the rector. Sometimes if you stall, you can lose too much life to effectively bargain. If you must, SB some creatures and then go to work. Keep in mind that once Verdant hit the table you will never be able to Oath Again.
Further AnalysisQuestions on A.O.A.1.
Why did you introduce a heavy green element to draw7.dec? Green is the most powerful color in magic J Seriously though, it really helps improve the artifact matchups. I was tired of rolling over and dying to specific cards that end your game. These cards are things like Sphere of Resistance, Null Rod, Chalice of the Void, ect. Oath grabs the creatures that you need, whether its Rector or Verdant and puts it into play for free. Verdant Force ruins the prison decks and it has allowed me to play combo inside my meta effectively without worrying about losing to the artifact lock on turn one.
2.
If you want to go the combo route why not just play dragon or twister which are much more streamlined? Does’t the Oaths interfere with the combo theme? This is a fair question. I just wanted to try something different, to see if I could improve on an archtype espically with tough matchups. I have never actually seen anyone try the Oath/Rector engine which I found very suprising. It wasn’t until Rico Sauve PM me an old team build of his that I saw that some else had tried this out. These cards have tremendous synergy in realtion to combo decks and so far I haven’t seen too much interference of the Oaths when I try to combo out.
3.
Why not just play draw7.dec and SB in the Oath’s and Verdants? One of my buddies that I play test with advocates this a lot. He thinks I should just SB in Oath/Force for the atifact matchups and stick to a traditional long. Again, the appeal was trying out a new engine AND since I routinely play against decks where Oath would trigger early I just felt the MD Oath’s made sense.
ClosingIf you made it this far, thanks for reading. I decided to write this thread after I was combinging some notes that I had on the builds in this thread. I thought it would make for a good read considering the disccusions of late about t1 innovation. Please son’t hesistate to chime in and give your advise and/or opinion.
James
EDIT: I am currently testing to see if I can get away with 1 Rector as opposed to playing with two. The problem with one rector is that you may Oath Bargain while you are trying to the Rector without triggering Blessing. Only more testing will show if this is a problem but I want to see if I can get a way with it.
