Dark Oath

[Shade]

Smmenen posted a decklist for a budget black/green Oath concoction that took 21st place in a recent French Vintage tourney, which can be found here:

http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/index.php?topic=23287.0

The deck looks like it has a lot of potential, and it would be nice to run an Oath deck w/o having to throw down the $$$ on Drains, FoWs, Intuitions, and blue duals.  The following is the original decklist:

4 Oath of Druids

1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Spirit of the Night
1 Woodripper

1 Crop Rotation
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Living Wish
1 Necropotence
1 Vampiric Tutor

4 Chalice of the Void
3 Choke
4 Crucible of Worlds
4 Duress
1 Null Rod

4 Bayou
4 Dark Ritual
4 Forbidden Orchard
1 Forest
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Diamond
4 Polluted Delta
1 Sol Ring
1 Swamp
1 Tropical Island
4 Wasteland

SIDEBOARD:
2 Chains of Mephistopheles
1 Choke
1 Gilded Drake
2 Ground Seal
3 Null Rod
2 Oxidize
1 Strip Mine
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Uktabi Orangutan
1 Withered Wretch

Now, the idea is to tweak the deck to make it a bit more universal and a bit less metagame dependant.  The current build is obviously built to hate out blue and artifact-based decks.  I'm sure we can tighten this deck up considerably to perform better against a less narrow field.

The following is my revised version of the deck, along with my rationale for the changes:

4 Oath of Druids

1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Ancient Hydra
1 Spirit of the Night

1 Demonic Tutor
1 Necropotence
4 Night's Whisper
1 Regrowth
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will

4 Cabal Therapy
3 Chalice of the Void
4 Duress
3 Null Rod
3 Pithing Needle

4 Bayou
4 Dark Ritual
4 Forbidden Orchard
1 Forest
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Diamond
1 Sol Ring
1 Strip Mine
1 Swamp
1 Taiga
4 Wasteland
4 Wooded Foothills

SIDEBOARD:
3 Choke
3 Ground Seal
2 Naturalize
2 Oxidize
3 Root Maze
1 Withered Wretch
1 Woodripper

-1 Woodripper - too situational; replaced w/Hydra
-1 Crop Rotation - too often a dead card
-1 Demonic Consultation - too suicidal
-4 Living Wish - LWish tricks are nice, but it's too slow at sorcery speed, and w/o Brainstorms, too hard to put the creaturess back into the library to Oath up
-3 Choke - moved to the SB
-4 Crucible of Worlds - though a neat trick, there is better disruption that can be run
-1 Chalice of the Void - cut to make room for more Rods
-2 Mana Crypt/Vault - less useful with Crucible gone; want to use life to draw cards

+1 Ancient Hydra - 3rd creature; MD Platz/Welder hate
+4 Night's Whisper - the deck felt way too light on draw, and this is the deck available after Necro/Demonic/Vampiric
+1 Regrowth - why not?  Lots of cards are going to the graveyard, anyway
+1 Yawgmoth's Will - this deck was practically built for Will; can be replaced by Blessing in a more control-oriented build
+4 Cabal Therapy - Duresses 5-8; replaces Crucible
+2 Null Rod - too good to be only a 1-of in the MD
+3 Pithing Needle - nice, diverse hosery
+1 Strip Mine - with Wishes out, Strip moves to the MD

The Chains' were removed to make the deck a truly "budget" deck.  To optimize, add Lotus, Jet, Emerald, and a pair of Chains' in the Needle spots.

[xrizzo]

I agree about running Yawgmoth's Will over blessing.  This deck looks to just play a super-hate card and then win.  (I presume)

Most decks that run null rod + 5 strips should be able to utilize crucible of worlds well.  I think that Chalice + Null Rod is a little excessive and would ditch the chalices for crucibles. 

I like the rest of the changes you made, but all this commentary is theoredical, so it will depend on how this thing actually plays out.  It looks like there is enough disruption, and enough draw.  With crucible and the opportunity to fetch our your whole deck Skeletal Scrying may still work in a couple slots.  (cut Regrowth?)