Unpowered Oath

[overseer1234]

Well, I'm only just getting into vintage playing null rod decks (Since i cant afford power), but the feeling those decks give me is that when you play against another hate deck you're just playing with 2 aggro decks that are even worse than a T2 deck... Therefor i wanted to play something with a bit more OOMPH, without needing power (or hope for proxy tournament's). Now when i saw oath i tried giving it a shot and this is what came out:

4x     Chalice of the Void     
We don't play power so we need it, however only good on the play (though null rod is a bit to slow i think)

3x    Sensei’s Divining Top    
Helps to prevent us from drawing our fatty's+I't insane with counterbalance, just like in extended. (does get effected by splash hate from stuf like null rod)

1x    Akroma, Angel of Wrath    
1x    Hellkite Overlord
The fat, finishes the game within 2 turns after oath gets active.

4x    Oath of Druids
Our flagship.

3x    Counterbalance    
Surprisingly good to be honest, and turns the topdeck tutors+brainstorm in hard counters, and we all know how it works with SDT. Not so good against shop tough, but that' a pretty good matchup on itself.

1x    Vampiric Tutor
1x    Crop Rotation
1x    Demonic Tutor
1x    Mystical Tutor
Gets us what we need when we need it, and vampiric/mystical+counterbalance= hard counter
   
1x    Brainstorm
1x    Ponder
restricted filtering, and brainstorm can shuffle away any fat the we drew (brainstorm + counterbalance= hard counter 90% of the time)

4x    Force of Will    
4x    Mana Leak/Negate/Rune Snag
4x    Duress
Protection during sexual intercourse is a must, unfortunately this is alto needed in magic.

1x    Rushing River 
Solution to some of our problems.

4x    Forbidden Orchard
Give our opponent weenie's so we can stomp with our fat

3x    Flooded Strand    
1x     Swamp
3x    Island    
4x    Polluted Delta
2x    Tropical Island
2x    Underground Sea
sufficient amount of basic's, no forest tough, since we only need green for oath and sometimes crop rotation which we get from orchard (use R-River against magus of the moon)

4x    Wasteland    Land    
1x    Strip Mine(A)    
Manabase disruption

1x    Gaea’s Blessing
Keeps us from dying should we need 3 attack steps.


Sideboard isn't realy tested enough but the cards that have to be in are:
1x Blazing Archon
1x Empirial Archangel
helps a ton against goblins and stuff...

Yardhate
the usual suspect's, leyline, crypt, relic, extirpate,... u name em

Other stuff:
Usually consists out of artifact hate like energy flux, or hurkyl's recall, combo hate like stifle and trickbinde, cabal therapy for the mirror/combo, echoing truth against whatever it is that annoys you.
Krosan grip is also something to consider (against tezz for example). Also e set of null rods can be used when you expect a lot of slaver/tezz. but it's pretty slow so don't count on it in the combo matchup.

CB andTop have been amazing to me, CB without top still has some help from the topdeck tutors, and brainstorm (turning into hard counters), but Top on its own is just the best engine this deck can wish for with all the shuffle effects we play since brainstorm got restricted. (okay, gushbond was probably better, but still...)
And CB +Top is just as badass as it was in extended, and still is in legacy.

Anyway, i hope you like the list and i hope you can help me with further development.

Greetzzzz,
Robin.

[honestabe]

I like it, but the search is a little light, and it seems slow.

Maybe a sol ring, or some of the new moxen (Diamond/Chrome)

Also, i'd like to see a scroll rack to hide creatures and work with counterbalance


But I do LOVE the idea of counterbalance

[overseer1234]

Also, i'd like to see a scroll rack to hide creatures and work with counterbalance


But I do LOVE the idea of counterbalance

As soon as I know what to cut I'm putting in scroll rack (never thought of that one ), since the main problem is that without the brainstorms I didn't have a way to get rid of the fatty's, of blessing that i would draw

Thanks a bunch Now that what I call useful advice

Greetzzz,

Robin.

[sWoRdFiSh`]

Thirst for Knowledge + Gaea's Blessing (i.e. Discard the creature to TfK, allow Oath to trigger hopefully revealing a Blessing to shuffle the creature back to the library) is one of the more preferred way of putting drawn creatures back into the library and into play.
You already run a lot of artifacts so it could be worthwhile.
Otherwise, you really need to run at least Impulse to filter your draws.

Good luck with your list! 

[overseer1234]

Thirst for Knowledge + Gaea's Blessing (i.e. Discard the creature to TfK, allow Oath to trigger hopefully revealing a Blessing to shuffle the creature back to the library) is one of the more preferred way of putting drawn creatures back into the library and into play.
You already run a lot of artifacts so it could be worthwhile.
Otherwise, you really need to run at least Impulse to filter your draws.

Good luck with your list! 

And than you rip you blessing with your next draw and you're still screwed scroll rack can handle both of these problems pretty good since I do run more shuffle effects than artifacts.

[sWoRdFiSh`]

Except that Scroll Rack is uber slow and situational compared to both TfK and Impulse.
With TfK, you are always secured of digging 3 cards. With Impulse, 4.
Quite effective if your opening hand doesn't have Oath.
They both don't rely on the amount of dead cards in your hand that you would like to return on your library.
They both doesn't die to Null Rod (which sees frequent play, and which also shuts down your other filter, SDT)
They are also both blue, enabling a more consistent FoW.
Not to mention Rack forces you to tap out on turn 2 when Negate / Oath / Counterbalance should be online.
Then the next turn, you need to invest yet another 1 mana to activate it.
Again, it's too slow.

And if you're too scared of ripping Gaea's Blessing (which has a slim chance of 2% to be drawn after drawing your first seven cards and casting a TfK - very very slim is you ask me) then you can always run a second copy.
You can also run a 3rd creature if you really are scared of not having enough beatsticks to Oath into play.

I would really only consider running Scroll Rack if I have some sort of enabler like Land Tax stuffed in my deck as well.

My 2 cents.

[honestabe]

Yeah impulse is a little too good to not run at least 2 of...

[overseer1234]

Well, I've considers some extra thought to everyone's pointers and well, can't really argue with testing results.

The following changes have been made to the deck:
-3 counterbalance (once it came online it was insane, but it most of the time that was when you're already as good as dead...)
-1 SDT*
+1 Gaea's blessing (really needed since you cant shuffle it back once you draw one since the restirction of brainstorm)
+2 impulse (as suggested it's to good not to run, it speeds up the goldfish + finds FoW in a pinch)
+1 impulse*

The ones with * are optional since top is still really nice, but unfortunately it can't be pitched to FoW, and impulse doesn't die to null rod.

OK, so now the main deck's been worked on I could use some advice on my sideboard since I don't really know where to start... (see opening post for sugestions that I think are OK)

Anyways thanks for all the advice, to bad my CounterTop plan was a fluke, but can't argue with results now can we. .

Greetzzz,
Robin.

[honestabe]

Well, I've considers some extra thought to everyone's pointers and well, can't really argue with testing results.

The following changes have been made to the deck:
-3 counterbalance (once it came online it was insane, but it most of the time that was when you're already as good as dead...)
-1 SDT*
+1 Gaea's blessing (really needed since you cant shuffle it back once you draw one since the restirction of brainstorm)
+2 impulse (as suggested it's to good not to run, it speeds up the goldfish + finds FoW in a pinch)
+1 impulse*

The ones with * are optional since top is still really nice, but unfortunately it can't be pitched to FoW, and impulse doesn't die to null rod.

OK, so now the main deck's been worked on I could use some advice on my sideboard since I don't really know where to start... (see opening post for sugestions that I think are OK)

Anyways thanks for all the advice, to bad my CounterTop plan was a fluke, but can't argue with results now can we. .

Greetzzz,
Robin.

Well, you definitly need something to disrupt the grave yard.  I prefer tormod's cyrpt, maily because it's free.

Extirpate is also a staple.

I always liked oxidize (a cheap way to rid artifacts)

I've also been toying with the idea of Mercy Killing ( a great way to rid pesky creatures, and keep oath activting)

[nineisnoone]

Muddle the Mixture tutors for Counterbalance and Oath.

Edit: Thought I should add that Muddle the Mixture is just a card that I am feverishly trying to work into a legit deck, as I have an affinity for it.  Minimal experience with Oath really.