GWS Oath revisited

[chrissss]

Creature wise, I have been testing oath a lot in the last month, and my meta has a lot of variety.

Akroma is always number 1, and for number 2 I have tried Razia, DC and the underestimated phantom nishoba. Against red (goblins/sligh) the nishoba is almost instant win. razia hasnt really done anything good for me to be honest. everytime its in play I wish it was a Akroma or a DC.

I have tried regrowth, and sometimes its great, but 80% of the plays, Its a dead card in my hand. I took it out now.

[Pitlord]

The problem with nishoba and DSC is that they lack haste. Oathing up one o them instead of Razia slows your kill down, and either one can chump block the turn they are oathed thanks to Razia having vigilance. Your clock increases by a full turn, making sure that decks like goblins cannot recieve another turn with which to kill you.

[Implacable]

Creature wise, I have been testing oath a lot in the last month, and my meta has a lot of variety.

Akroma is always number 1, and for number 2 I have tried Razia, DC and the underestimated phantom nishoba. Against red (goblins/sligh) the nishoba is almost instant win. razia hasnt really done anything good for me to be honest. everytime its in play I wish it was a Akroma or a DC.

I have tried regrowth, and sometimes its great, but 80% of the plays, Its a dead card in my hand. I took it out now.

Goblins?  In Type 1? 

Seriously, decks like Goblins should be, like, your bestest matchup in the whole wide world.  For God's sake, Oath is one of the biggest reasons that fast aggro isn't part of Type 1!  Razia rocks hardcore against goblins, because you can block a Lackey and zap a Piledriver each time that they attack.

[Kholdestare]

Goblins?  In Type 1? 

Seriously, decks like Goblins should be, like, your bestest matchup in the whole wide world.  For God's sake, Oath is one of the biggest reasons that fast aggro isn't part of Type 1!  Razia rocks hardcore against goblins, because you can block a Lackey and zap a Piledriver each time that they attack.

I don't know if you tested or played against FCG extensively. I did. Should you be unable to locate and cast an Oath of Druids until turn 3, you have pretty much lost the game. I agree, that when you drop an Oath early, the game is yours - most of the time. If you fail to drop Oath early and they start with Goblin Lackey (especially if they won the die roll), you will lose. I do agree however that "Akroma/Razia" is the best creature configuration to run in the mainboard. Nishoba and DSC are just plain bad (for the stated reasons).
To improve the matchup against goblins you have to increase the number of your bombs versus aggro. In game 1 you have 4x Oath. Propaganda will help in games 2 and 3. If you fear REB (which FCG usually doesn't bring in against Oath) run Ghostly Prison instead. Remember also that you might lose randomly to FCG because they manage to draw into a "hand that wins" and combo you out. A starting hand with Oath against FCG should include at least an easy way to get an Oath plus counter backup. Think about mulling aggressively towards Oath.

[Implacable]

Goblins?  In Type 1? 

Seriously, decks like Goblins should be, like, your bestest matchup in the whole wide world.  For God's sake, Oath is one of the biggest reasons that fast aggro isn't part of Type 1!  Razia rocks hardcore against goblins, because you can block a Lackey and zap a Piledriver each time that they attack.

I don't know if you tested or played against FCG extensively. I did. Should you be unable to locate and cast an Oath of Druids until turn 3, you have pretty much lost the game. I agree, that when you drop an Oath early, the game is yours - most of the time. If you fail to drop Oath early and they start with Goblin Lackey (especially if they won the die roll), you will lose. I do agree however that "Akroma/Razia" is the best creature configuration to run in the mainboard. Nishoba and DSC are just plain bad (for the stated reasons).
To improve the matchup against goblins you have to increase the number of your bombs versus aggro. In game 1 you have 4x Oath. Propaganda will help in games 2 and 3. If you fear REB (which FCG usually doesn't bring in against Oath) run Ghostly Prison instead. Remember also that you might lose randomly to FCG because they manage to draw into a "hand that wins" and combo you out. A starting hand with Oath against FCG should include at least an easy way to get an Oath plus counter backup. Think about mulling aggressively towards Oath.

Because of one or two players in my metagame who used to play FCG, I have tested extensively with several decks against FCG, and watched many more games.  Oath just mulligans down to a hand with a turn 1-2 Oath and then wins, becaus there is no way for Piledrivers to hit the Oath player with Razia+Akroma on the board.

[chrissss]

When a Nishoba is in play, attacking with goblins isnt the best idea, but I see the point about it not having haste.

Btw, can you use research//development on creatures that were removed from the game by stps or other removal? lets say both angels were removed using stps, and then to want to use Research to fetch the 2 angels, and the 2 SSS in the sideboard. is this allowed?

Question 2, how many times can you use oath during your turn? My opponent was using it more than once; He didnt find a creature, Geas Blessing triggers, deck shuffles, and then he used it again. Is this allowed? I didnt think it was, since oath has an eretta.

thanks

[Harlequin]

If the creatures are removed "face up"  Meaning they were removed by STP or Uba mask or Jester's Cap then yes, you can research for them.  If they were removed face down, like with memory Jar, then kinda.  Research has no other restriction on it other than the card must be a card.  So If you have a jar hand that is just Razia and Akroma you can research for those cards face down.  If your jar hand is say 7 cards large and there is a Razia and Akroma somewhere in there randomly... then you have to choose up to 4 cards AT RANDOM from those face down cards.  I think you can even mix and match, meaning you can grab 2 SSS off the board and 2 random facedown cards.  But all of this is more or less irrelevant because there are only a handful of card that RFG cards face down (Jar, Necro, Mangara's tomb, ?).


One Trigger per Oath in play.  If there are 2 oaths in play, then you can trigger it twice.  With only one it play you get 1 trigger whether you hit a creature or not.  Also remember that Gaea's Blessing is a triggered ability.  so it cannot resolve INSIDE another ablity that is in the process of resolving.  Once the oath trigger has fully resolved, THEN Gaea's blessing goes on the stack.  At that point both players get priority before the graveyard gets shuffled in. 

[Kholdestare]

Btw, can you use research//development on creatures that were removed from the game by stps or other removal? lets say both angels were removed using stps, and then to want to use Research to fetch the 2 angels, and the 2 SSS in the sideboard. is this allowed?

Yes, this works. Cards outside the game include every card in your sideboard plus every card you own that was removed from the game (Even cards removed from the game temporarily by stuff like Necropotence or Memory Jar are eligible options). Nevertheless I do think that Research/Development is not a good card, although I must confess I haven't tested it. It just doesn't look good on paper.

Question 2, how many times can you use oath during your turn? My opponent was using it more than once; He didnt find a creature, Geas Blessing triggers, deck shuffles, and then he used it again. Is this allowed? I didnt think it was, since oath has an eretta.

This depends on how many Oaths are in play (of course counting yours plus your opponents' Oaths). You can use one Oath just one time. Gaea's Blessing triggers and shuffles your grave into your library - and that's it. Also note that Oath checks for its trigger condition (your opponent having at least one more critter than you have) at the beginning of your upkeep AND upon resolution. So having oathed out an Angel that evens out the creature score (assuming your opponent has one spirit token) renders a second oath activation (from a second Oath of Druids) useless - it will not trigger.

Plus what Harlequin said.