Eureka/Oath of Druids Vintage Deck

[Ganza_8503]

Hey everyone,

I am a returning vintage Magic player (I participated in a few vintage world championships in Indianapolis, did not place very high with my red burn deck at the time) after having a few years away from it, and I have been working on a deck that utilizes Eureka to its fullest extent (this also includes Oath of Druids). I have been testing against friends with it, and also testing in MWS to see how it fares against others. Here is the version of the deck as it is now:

Lands:
4x Tropical Island
4x Wooded Foothills
5x Forest
4x Bayou
4x Forbidden Orchard
1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All

Creatures:
4x Darksteel Colossus
1x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1x Spirit of the Night
4x Simic Sky Swallower
1x Akroma, Angel of Fury

Spells:
1x Mana Crypt
1x Tinker
1x Vampiric Tutor
4x Eureka
4x Oath of Druids
4x Show and Tell
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Gifts Ungiven
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Regrowth
1x Chrome Mox
1x Sol Ring
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Diamond
1x Enlightened Tutor
2x Arcane Laboratory

Sideboard:
4x Leyline of the Void
2x Leyline of Singularity
2x Kataki, War's Wage
2x Energy Flux
1x Pyroclasm
1x Avoid Fate
1x Terror
2x Trickbind

This is my deck in its current version, copied directly from Magic Workstation. I have been reading as many vintage articles on TheManaDrain as well as StarCityGames to get a feel for the competitive vintage environment again, and since my deck is different I will explain my card choices and their strengths and weaknesses, and after that post how the deck has done in my testing:

Lands:
The land base of the deck is fairly self-explanatory, with probably the question of why the inclusion of 1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All. This land I am still not sure about maindecking, but it seems like at least 50% if not more of the competitive decks use some type of counterspell effects (ex. Mana Drain, Force of Will, Pact of Negation). Without Crop Rotation, this card is not as strong as it could be. Any suggestions would greatly be appreciated!

Creatures:
4x DarkSteel Colossus He is one of the largest creatures in the entire game, and added to that he is indestructible and has trample. Darksteel Colossus is a great tinker target to boost as well. However, he is vulnerable to removal from bounce or remove from game spells (ex. Swords to Plowshares, Rushing River)

1x Akroma, Angel of Wrath She is one of the strongest creatures in the game as well, having multiple evasion effects in order to stay on the table. Added to these factors, she has haste and vigilance which is always helpful against decks with creatures. She is weak to bounce spells the most (ex. Rushing River)

1x Spirit of the Night He is the "old" version of Akroma, and does not have as many evasion effects as she does. I have been thinking about putting Razia, Boros Archangel in his place perhaps. This slot I am still unsure about.

4x Simic Sky Swallower SSS is a creature that is almost impossible to remove from play, due to his high evasion abilities. Once he hits play the likelihood that he will leave it is very low.

1x Akroma, Angel of Fury The red version, or "angry" Akroma has protection from blue which is very important especially in Type 1. Blue bounce spells seem to be on the rise, which makes her inclusion that much more important

Spells:

4x Eureka Eureka is the heart of how this deck works, and also provides some interesting synergies. I will discuss why I included Arcane Laboratory a little later on, but in the context of Eureka it can make that uncounterable in a sense. If Eureka is not countered, then any additional permanents I wish to play in order to keep my opponent locked and slowed down can come into play as well. The biggest weakness of this card is the power it gives to both players. Many decks that I have looked at (tournament winning/placing decks, decks in the open forum, etc) seem to have a high spell to low permanent count. What I mean by this is, my opponent usually does not place more than 1-2 permanents on the table when I play Eureka.

4x Oath of Druids Oath of Druids is a very powerful card in the format right now, with Tyrant Oath making itself known. One of the best uses for Oath in my deck is that it fetches one of my creatures, or masks my deck in the appearance of a Tyrant Oath deck.

4x Show and Tell Show and Tell is a very powerful and simple card, allowing me to plop down a creature while my opponent can plop down a permanent. It also can be used to place down an Arcane Laboratory or the like "under the radar" so to speak.

2x Arcane Laboratory I have been looking for a card that can suppress the power of combo decks that I will be facing, and I came across Arcane Laboratory. While it is in play, it can shut down Storm decks, and slow down a lot of other decks in the format that make use of a large number of low costed spells. The other strength of this card is that my deck plays relatively few spells per turn, so it would not affect me as much.

The tutors are probably self-explanatory, so I won't discuss them >.> I currently am working on purchasing the power nine to use for this deck (the Mox Emerald I just purchased a few weeks ago, and setting on Mox Sapphire next).

Sideboard:

4x Leyline of the Void This card is very important, especially due to the occurence of Ichorid decks, Dragon combo decks, and pretty much any deck that uses the graveyard to win the game

2x Leyline of Singularity This is a card that can slow down Ichorid quite a bit (especially with Bridge from Below tokens), and can slow down Hulk Flash (assuming they use the sliver strategy)

2x Kataki, War's Wage MUD type decks are hurt quite a bit by this creature, as well as any decks that use a large number of artifacts

2x Energy Flux Another type of artifact removal I felt was important to include to put the pressure on MUD type decks, and the additional benefit to this is that Show and Tell/Eureka can bring this out if need be

1x Pyroclasm I included this card in the case that I face a very fast creature deck (such as Goblins, or even Hulk Flash), to slow down the opponent

1x Avoid Fate I included this card as a way to protect my creatures from instant removal from cards such as (Swords to Plowshares, Rushing River, Echoing Truth)

1x Terror This card was put into place as instant creature kill, and will be changed to Swords to Plowshares once I purchase one

2x Trickbind Storm combo is very difficult to beat, and trickbind is one way to neutralize the threat that it causes

Deck Strengths:
Consistency (in my testing, opening hands have been very consistent with ways of getting creatures into play)
Creature Base (usually when one of the creatures hits play, my opponent is placed on a short clock and has no means to get rid of them for the most part)

Deck Weaknesses:
Combo (Combo decks like Storm and such will absolutely destroy this deck until the sideboard is implemented) This is part of the reason I put in Arcane Laboratory in the maindeck, as its universal effect can help my deck against any opponent
Eureka/Show and Tell/Oath of Druids (the power that these cards give to my deck my opponent can also benefit from, and a possible unbalance in the favor of my opponent could occur)
Acceleration (some hands are very nice, with slow acceleration though. This may be solved once I acquire more of the Moxen/Lotus to put into the deck however)

This is the deck that I have been working on, and any suggestions would be greatly appreciated by me as I try to make it tournament worthy! I know it has far to go to evolve into a force and such, and that is why I am posting here on TheManaDrain. From a lot of testing, the deck seems very consistent but sometimes lacks in mana acceleration (which may be solved once I acquire more of the Power Nine I am thinking). Storm and Combo decks are still a big problem of course also, something I am trying to figure out a way to better counteract.

I just realized that I have not included Fastbond or Balance, two cards that would help out the deck quite a bit as well I believe. Thank you for reading all of this and I look forward to any comments or suggestions that anyone has.

 

[Wise]

It looks to me like you just have to much going on, I am a big fan of Show and Tell, I tried to abuse it in vintage myself, but for The Eureka/Show and tell are just to slow, not to mention they also let your opponent drop free permanents from their hand, which is never good.

The Arcane Laboratory main deck I think is a bit of paranoia, unless your meta is 10 combo decks and you, I think this is highly unnecessary especially where vintage is today, this does not stop Ichorid OR Flash,

Also looking over the deck it looks very susceptible to counter magic, and your running none for disruption aside from the Boseiju, and no draw engine which makes it hard to find creatures if you have show/eureka  in hand or vice versa 

as for your creatures, I see the reasons for running them with the eureka and show and tell but there can be better choices:

Spirit of the night is old news, he retired awhile ago
Akroma, Angel of Fury just isent powerfull enough to be run over a second White Akroma, infact if your isistant on keeping this style of deck 4x Akroma Angel of wrath, 4x Colossus and 4X Simic Sky Swallower, would likely a better choice.

I think while you have the right Idea I would stick to more of a Strict Oath Build this deck is just has way to much going on, I recommend any of the current builds for oath ^_^ 


Here is a good example of a standard oath build

1 Black Lotus
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Darksteel Collossus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Ancestral Recall
3 Brainstorm
1 Echoing Truth
1 Fact or Fiction
4 Force of Will
1 Gush
3 Mana Drain
3 Merchant Scroll
3 Misdirection
3 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Gaea's Blessing
4 Oath of Druids
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath



Lands (15):
2 Flooded Strand
4 Forbidden Orchard
3 Island
3 Polluted Delta
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea


Side:
1 Blazing Archon
1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Crop Rotation
1 Drop of Honey
1 Energy Flux
3 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Repeal
1 Simic Sky Swallower
2 Stifle
1 Trickbind
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will

it plays with some nice creatures you should like!

[dicemanx]

I really love cards like Eureka and Show and Tell, so it is nice to see another individual put in the effort to construct a deck using these cards.

I can offer some suggestions to tinker with, which might or might not be effective but are worth testing out. I am currently doing some testing with my own Eureka/Show and Tell build (which uses Elvish Piper over Oath in all seriousness) and I've noticed some cards that work well in decks like this.

The first issue to address is the manabase - you are running 30 mana cards, and not much of that is acceleration (no Lotus and some Moxes are missing). The number of slots is understandable given that Eureka is so costly, but you pay a heavy price in terms of room for any disruption spells, and there's especially a problem given that your creatures have no disruption abilities. You can address this issue by considering these cards (along with the obvious Black Lotus, which I'm assuming is absent because you're not allowed to use proxies?):

Eladamri's Vineyard
Magus of the Vineyard (obviously not if you stick with Oath)
Ancient Tomb
City of Traitors

SB: Carpet of Flowers (amazing card vs any U-based deck - a must for the SB)

The Vineyard has often been criticized in the past, but this deck attempts to break that symmetry because your beatdown plan is that much more effective than the beatdown plans of most decks in the format. Vineyard's main downside is against combo decks which will slaughter you anyways, so by making your very weak matchup even weaker while strengthening your other match-ups (particularly Aggro-Shop, Fish, and even GAT if they get their beatdown draws insted of their combo draws).

Secondly, you can exploit the mana explosion by running a creature base that is more castable and highly disruptive instead of being pure beatdown. For instance, Sundering Titans can be added, along with Duplicants and Triskelions if you eschew the Oath plan in favor of Elvish Piper (which seems terrible on paper, but it is much, much better than it seems). I also like to run either Brainstorm of Sylvan Library (with lots of fetchlands) to make sure I have some library manipulation which this deck absolutely needs - Sylvans can also draw cards which is a very nice bonus. Alternately, you can run fewer creatures and add Survival of the Fittest (with one maindeck Squee) to ensure that you have the right creature in hand when casting Eureka or using Piper.

For the disruption base (once you make room by scaling back the mana slots) one option is to use some combination of Defense Grid, Null Rod, and/or CotV. Null Rods can be huge in today's meta, and Defense Grids assist your Boseiju (which might be better off as a 2 or 3 of) if forcing through the big spells. I'd cut Arcane Labs as well, since they won't be much help overall against combo (you'll hardly draw then often enough or get them into play fast enough).

In any case, I actually believe that some version of Eureka can be made competitive, particularly with a highly disruptive creature base. I wish you luck in your testing, even if you elect not to use any of these suggestions.

[Ganza_8503]

Thanks for the suggestions so far, I have so many improvements that I can make! Eladamri's Vineyard I actually did try earlier, but I thought it would help the opponent too much. However, you make a good point that the opponent's that it would help the most have a huge advantage anyways over this type of deck.

I am going to work on some updates and revisions and post here tomorrow, keep posting comments and suggestions please!

[kalisia]

I'm happy to see that in this moment, some other people are trying to build something around Eureka as well!
I found the suggestions of Dicemanx very interesting, Sundering Titan and Eladamri's Vineyard seem to be strong choices which need to be tested.
I can't give to much suggestions because I didn't find yet a competitive list with Eureka, but I think the first point should be to identify which is the best "main direction" to explore, I mean:
1) Aggro kill : build a deck where Eureka is used to get creatures
2) Prison kill : Eureka would be used to get on play early a combination of "lock" permanents
3) Combo kill : Eureka used to get on play cards like Bargain or Necro.

Sure, from these 3 directions, most people tried to build only around the first (aggro), may be the other ways are possible...
One detail is obvious, the deck should win very quickly once Eureka played with success, because the spell isn't so easy to cast.
I did see players try combinations like  "Concordant Crossroads" +  big men like DSC or Titan , in order to try to kill on the spot or on the following turn.
So, I wish you luck for this building, keep faith on this idea , I am sure something competitive can be created from the green card!!

[Ganza_8503]

I have been slaving over searching for different Magic cards in order to make this deck competitive and viable, and I know it will take a lot of work but I believe it can be done! The deck in its first version did not abuse the power of Eureka/Show and Tell/Oath of Druids like it could and should have. Here are the changes I have made so far:

-3 Forest
+2 Ancient Tomb
-1 Spirit of the Night
+1 Razia, Boros Archangel
-1 Fact or Fiction
-1 Gifts Ungiven
-1 Mox Diamond
-2 Arcane Laboratory
+1 Mox Jet (my best friend is allowing me to use his Mox for tournaments until I get one)
+2 Concordant Crossroads
+4 Mystic Remora (will explain below)

I have made these changes to the deck so far. I have seen Mystic Remora mentioned on TheManaDrain forums beforehand, and with testing it seems to be very useful for drawing a large amount of cards early on in the game. I am not sure of the benefits between the remora and Sylvan Library, and which would be better to use. The mana acceleration has improved a lot in my testing, as well as the hand composition consistencies.

The biggest disadvantage is the Combo/Storm type of matchup that "wins instantly." Extirpate perhaps could be a powerful addition or way to break the back of the combo player long enough to achieve victory.

The last tournaments that I have checked out near my area do not offer 5-proxy or 10-proxy tournaments, and plus collecting the power nine is always fun and challenging I will continue running tests, goldfish hands and all of that good stuff; thanks for all of the comments so far and please continue to make them!

[AmbivalentDuck]

Why wouldn't you run Tidespout Tyrants to deal with whatever nastiness your opponent drops?  Or Zo-zu the Punisher to deal with the fact that they'll probably respond to Eureka with Gush?

If you're going to do something as crazy as letting an opponent dump their hand into play AND THEN PASS THE TURN you should either mop up their side of the board or limit what they can do.

[Anusien]

What if they put a Duplicant into play?

Because Eureka doesn't put creatures to play from library but from hand, you have to run a lot of sub-par ones like Darksteel Colossus, Red Akroma (P.S., Razia is better than Spirit of the Night).  I don't know if there's a solution, I just wanted to say...

[Ganza_8503]

Thanks for all of the suggestions, I will be working this week on card combinations to try to address these flaws in the current build of the deck.

[Hellsing293]

11 creatures seems like a few too many in my opinion.  I know that you plan is to have one of them in hand and then cast Eureka, but once you have 1-2 on the table, if you're quick enough, you should be all set.  Without a spell just to be able to play them, they are dead cards in your hand.  I feel that maybe you should cut three creatures for protection/drawing.

Also, have you have thought about Worldly Tutor?  Your deck wants creatures in its hand as soon as it has a Eureka etc., so with few creatures but a more efficient way of finding them you might be better off.

[ryc3]

What if they put a Duplicant into play?

Because Eureka doesn't put creatures to play from library but from hand, you have to run a lot of sub-par ones like Darksteel Colossus, Red Akroma (P.S., Razia is better than Spirit of the Night).  I don't know if there's a solution, I just wanted to say...

I'd have to agree with Anusien. Razia, Baros Archangel is better than Spirit of the Night. 11 Creatures in the deck is too much. I ran only 3 creatures in my oath deck. Akroma, Angel of Wrath, Razia, Baros Archangel, and Simic Skyswallower. I usually hate Oath into Swallower first round of milling the deck.