That was a fantastic article, wappla. I love the color scheme and organization used in the visual breakdown of the NYSE3 metagame. Another card I would draw attention to as a factor in Oath's underperformance is Karakas. I played Salvagers Oath (with one Griselbrand) and went X-3 making it pathetically tied for best performing Oath deck in the event; all losses were to Shops on the draw since in four Shop matches, I couldn't win the play to save my life (in the fourth one, I won the match despite losing the die roll, which v. Shop I guess does happen 15-35% of the time). Griselbrand is the most powerful target so as the standard lists evolved more towards having a singular aim of getting him in play (adding Show and Tells, cutting Jaces and Tezzeret packages), they've gotten very vulnerable to that land in particular. Karakas branched out from Terra Nova into multiple different Shop archetypes, has always been played in WX hatebears, and now is even seen at times in Delver sideboards specifically for Oath targets.
Before the event, Greg whose namesake list is most popular asked me for input on a few last minute md/sideboard considerations. I half-jokingly suggested Tsabo's Web (2 CMC Artifact, Draw a Card when it CITP, Lands with activated abilities that aren't mana sources do not untap). It's an anti Terra Nova card. Rich used it once or twice last year; I sideboarded it a couple times when TN was on the rise locally. We agreed it was probably too narrow. Later in the day, I saw him in a match with a tapped Griselbrand in play, facing down a Meekstone, Karakas, and two Mazes of Ith. "Maybe I should have more seriously urged the use of Tsabo's..." my conscience chimed in.
On Saturday again I saw a fellow Oath player's dominant board go right down the tubes because an opponent had an untapped Karakas and Spirit of the Labyrinth in play. This land is a huge and real problem. LSV Oath addresses both Karakas and Priest by putting Omniscience into play (unaffected by Priest or Cage and Emrakul's "take an extra turn" clause means if they bounce him with Karakas, you just play him again for free with Omni and he will get in there with attacks). I fight Karakas with Auriok and by boarding in nonlegendary monsters like Sphinx of the Steel Wind and Magus of the Moat (which hoses the types of aggro/prison decks who tend to use Karakas) and fight Priest by upping the count of Pyrite Spellbomb at the expense of AEther Spellbomb which is no longer as useful with Tinker on decline.
I think Oath is still a strong choice for Champs and expect to see it well represented again because it preys harder on the non-proxy field than proxy-legal metagames. While Containment Priest is a nuisance, the extreme hate for Griselbrand himself is another arguably more pressing obstacle. Relying on Priest will be insufficient against Omniscience decks and Oath lists that adapt to deal with all of the hate.
I like the Tsabo's web, I can't really play it in Shops because it hurts me too much but its a relevant card. It's currently in my Legacy board to help with Death and Taxes, Lands and Infect matchups.
To OP, really enjoyed the article, thought it was well written and informative.
