U/G Oath - A metagame deck

[Zherbus]

Quote Zherbus: How well does boarding in an extra Spike Feeder do against Sligh post-board?  I would think that a 3rd keg would work better post-board, but I could be wrong.  Have you tried out a third keg post-board instead of a third feeder?

Its not Sligh's critters I am worried about, its the burn. Also, as sub-optimal as it may be, some 'Sligh' decks run 4 Fanatics and 4 Ball Lightnings and life gain that doesnt die to Shaman is nice.

Quote Having played against CHAIN5 a bunch of times during GP: Cleveland, I'm wondering how you deal with fast aggro that presents enchantment hate.  I was going somewhere close to even against a similar list with my R/G/w Gun with 4 Wax/Wane maindeck, and Oath should be a practical auto-loss for me.

If I am not mistaken, isnt CHAIN5's Oath 4 Color? Which means he is probably less redundant. Its not uncommon for me with all the search to be able to replace a lost Oath. I also probably run more counters (as my version is less flexable, I sort of have to) to stop those from happening. The way I see, that should be the only must counter in your deck. The rest can be dealt with with Keg, Spikes, and Morphling.

[kirdape3]

I'm pretty sure that it was U/G with like maybe 2 or 3 off color cards.  All I remember was blowing up Oaths a lot and then burning a Morphling or two to win  

[-CF-]

Spike Feeder is such an incredibly useless card in many matchups. I have never played Feeder in my t1 Oath variants and I have never missed it. It's that simple. Double Weaver is often absolutely imperative (like against Mask or some swarm of fatties). My keeperoath variant relied on getting Morphling or Masticore out, neutralize their attack by blocking or pinging and just race them. It was quite successful, but it had nothing against Mask (shot myself in the leg with that archetype ;o)

Double Weaver is at least something you should be able to do post SB. I hear Woodripper kicks ass too.

--
Chris

[Zherbus]

Quote SB: 1 Woodripper
SB: 2 Naturalize
SB: 1 Morphling
SB: 3 Ophidian
SB: 1 Capsize
SB: 1 Spike Feeder
SB: 1 Teferi's Response
SB: 1 Misdirection
SB: 1 Stroke of Genius
SB: 3 Back to Basics

Woodripper is the first card in there.

As far as the Feeder goes, I would expect more burn than anything. With Feeder you can still throw both counters onto Weaver and fog every turn if Morphling is in play (or Hand). Maybe its just my stubborn refusal to lose to bad burn decks, but not only does the maindeck Feeder stay in my build, but the Sideboarded one has never been regretted and probably wont be.

However, as the title of the thread states, its 'A Metagame Deck' and you can change Weaver to Triskellion or Feeder to Hellion for however good it will do you.

On an unrelated note, I have taken the Cunning Wish out and replaced the maindeck with Stroke of Genius. The sideboard has free'd up some slots, so perhaps another Weaver will find its way it.

Right now its:
SB: 1 Woodripper
SB: 1 Spike Feeder
SB: 1 Morphling
SB: 3 Naturalize
SB: 4 Ophidian
SB: 1 Powder Keg
SB: 1 Misdirection
SB: 3 Back to Basics

[TunaBoo]

I don't think it is a generally good idea to metagame a metagame.

Of course you could pick perfect, and rule the floor. Every game you play is a good matchup, and you win all of them.

However, decks that are double metagames are not always "good decks". By this I mean in and of themselves, they are not really good decks. Try playtesting vs random decks - go way off in left field and try 1.X or type 2 decks. If a deck truely is a "good deck" you should be able to beat down all these different decks consitantly.

Even if gencon is 20% keeper and 40% keeper-hate, you still have hard match-ups for the 20% keeper games, and 40% other games. Is basing a deck around the oath engine and hurting your matchups against the decks you will likely see in the finals anyway be a good idea (TnT, keeper).

If nothing else, wouldn't you be better to cut cunning wish from keeper while keeping it a solid keeper build, and use the newely freed up slots in the SB to run a transformational SB? I am not a huge fan of transformatioal SB's, but it seems like you could put a nice piece of creature-hate-oath-engine in there in around 8 slots. Without cunning wish, you still have 7 real SB slots for your REB's etc.

But then you are losing cunning wish maindeck which is bad. I still think keeper has access to so many cards, it is just a matter of time until the exact right mix of stuff is found that a) keeps control match-ups good and b) Smokes aggro like a 2 cent joint.

Just my 1 cent...

[Zherbus]

A field that large that would be 20% Keeper would be pretty wierd. Look at the results from the other tournaments, and you'll see maybe 1 Keeper in the top 8. By itself, this deck is a good deck with its only weak (game 1) matchup being Keeper. I dont autolose to it, by any stretch. Btw, How exactly is the Oath Engine hurtful against TnT? Last I knew, recurring Fog or lifegain was a good thing against it.

Anyways, Keeper can abuse Cunning Wish since its 4-5 colors and has better options to wish for. Blue and Green are pretty limited as neither colors has an instant that kill creatures (a reasonably priced answer anyways) or attack a graveyard. Also, there was 'room' for only one maindeck and it was more random than anything in a deck that is this consistant. Not only that, it was never more than just 'Ok' everytime I drew it.

EDIT:

I think one thing to point out is while Keeper is the best deck in terms of having no unwinnable matchups, there are many out there with X-0 potential. That is to say, win all day long. In a large scale tournament, sometimes that the better choice over fighting through tough (not unwinnable) matchups and hate all day long. While you will likely win many tough matches, you can only go so long before crapping out.

[-CF-]

Only weak matchup = keeper?

How are you going to deal with 12/12s? You have 2 kegs and a Wish for Naturalize and that's it. You can't recur and keep a Weaver alive when I only have one critter. Oath without weaver recursion is the best matchup Mask can get, at least out of the blue control ones.

--
Chris

[TunaBoo]

Quote (Zherbus @ Nov. 21 2002,13:10)A field that large that would be 20% Keeper would be pretty wierd. Look at the results from the other tournaments, and you'll see maybe 1 Keeper in the top 8. By itself, this deck is a good deck with its only weak (game 1) matchup being Keeper. I dont autolose to it, by any stretch. Btw, How exactly is the Oath Engine hurtful against TnT? Last I knew, recurring Fog or lifegain was a good thing against it.

Anyways, Keeper can abuse Cunning Wish since its 4-5 colors and has better options to wish for. Blue and Green are pretty limited as neither colors has an instant that kill creatures (a reasonably priced answer anyways) or attack a graveyard. Also, there was 'room' for only one maindeck and it was more random than anything in a deck that is this consistant. Not only that, it was never more than just 'Ok' everytime I drew it.

EDIT:

I think one thing to point out is while Keeper is the best deck in terms of having no unwinnable matchups, there are many out there with X-0 potential. That is to say, win all day long. In a large scale tournament, sometimes that the better choice over fighting through tough (not unwinnable) matchups and hate all day long. While you will likely win many tough matches, you can only go so long before crapping out.

I made up the 20% number obviously   I have seen tourney reports of huge tournies with 0-1 keepers, and with ~50% keepers (how many ppl had keepers at gencon? )

So you have a small disadvantage against keeper.

In oath vs TnT I would rather have the tubbies than the oath. If you get fog guy great - but how often will you get the gain 4 lifer? Gaining 4 life and 1 block isn't much when they are putting out huge fat. Also - they will not be punished for overextending (balance).

I have run meta-hate decks in different environments with mixed results. But my general feeling has been "I want to play a deck that is good and of itself. It can be aggro. It can be control. But I want it to be a "good deck" before I worry about specific match-ups."

[Zherbus]

First off, I originally presented this deck as a metagame consideration. This was well before Keeper got fetchlands and allowed me to personally build my Keeper to be more resiliant to hate. This is no longer my personal top choice for the Gencon or Origins metagame. I simply posted an update to my deck since the topic was again brought up. (Check to dates on the original string of posts)

Secondly, Weaver recursion isnt that impossible. It can be done fairly commonly. I'm not presenting 'Sapphire Oath 2002' as a pissing match, so lets not turn it into one CF. Im also not saying everything but Keeper is a stroll in the park, but I would say that Mask is certainly a 'do-able' matchup. TnT and Mask will give me fits (I said fits, not enough trouble lose consistantly to it), but we arent playing on #bdchat here, we are playing in the real world.

Tunaboo, your missing the whole point. I play Keeper in just about every tournament as well as Void. These are easier to get higher placement in a 4-5 round Swiss tournament, but in a longer tournament you need to aim to get a better overall record.

[specialk]

how is Keeper a bad matchup for Oath especially U/g Oath you have 1 extra counter and 1 extra misD(misdirection) and all you have to do is either stop morphling or drop an Oath because he has to deal with the oath to win and you can drop Oath first turn/second turn before keeper builds up its power.  With Gaea' blessing you shouldn't deck your self should it come down to a long game and shuffling back waste/strip AND HOLY CRAP I just noticed you aren't playing Library of Alexandria(maybe add one to help with the control match up).  Shuffling stuff like Ancestral and Fact or Fiction back in to have End of turn Counter wars will always slow give that control player headaches.

Some changes I would make is add 2 factories for the last 2 off color moxes because they are uncounterable and can be blessinged back after they are wasted.  I really don't think transformational side board is the way to go aganist control because just droping an early oath then beating with factories is going to push them to play creatures and you have more counter magic then keeper.

But as you said this is a metagame deck and these are the ways that i would approach the field.  hope it helps

[Zherbus]

Well the seemingly 'no-brainer' card just didnt seem to work in a deck that aggressively searches for its Oath. If I could abuse the off color moxen more, I can see it working nicely. I have hard enough time looking for room for Wastelands. It just hasnt worked for me, though I may be trying it again.

As for Oath being weak against Keeper, its because Keeper doesnt rely on creatures to achieve control. It has the advantage of not running as many dead cards in the matchup since Oaths doesnt directly give any board advantage. When Keeper finds itself in a position to win, itll simply clear out the Oath and swing a few times. Really, find a good Keeper player and try to beat him with Oath.

The Factories over the off colored Moxen IS a possibility. Ive considered it, but havent been able to test it. As for the sideboard, it is the best way to go. Especially if Keeper sideboards out removal when I bring Ophidians in. Also, never confuse a deck with more counterspells as having the advantange.

[-CF-]

I am not pissing on anyone. You say it has only one bad matchup and I am allowed to disagree and voice my opinion. Why are you so incessantly defensive all the time? I can't even edit a typo in a post without you throwing theories about alterior motives at me. *sigh*

Quote Secondly, Weaver recursion isnt that impossible. It can be done fairly commonly

You have Oath out. I play 12/12. Explain how you will solve this situation with your Oath engine. Oathing up Weaver gives you three turns. Then what? Oath up Feeder, take 4 life and then pray you get Weaver again? Even if I have two creatures, a Morphling/Feeder/Weaver layout can, if you're unlucky with the creatures/blessings flipped/drawn, allow for a window of opportunity so the aggro player can bypass things and murder you.

Quote TnT and Mask will give me fits (I said fits, not enough trouble to lose consistently to it), but we aren't playing on #bdchat here, we are playing in the real world.

Even before the two articles recently published, Mask appeared at Origins and that VA tourney. I don't expect it to suddenly fade away. It might not be present in your metagame though. The price-increase on Workshops on ebay also strongly signals that TnT is on the rise - and is a deck you should be prepared for.

And if you're not expecting Mask and TnT, what -are- you expecting, apart from your 'single bad matchup'? )

BTW, I didn't notice this was an update to an older deck. Thanks for clearing that up.

--
Chris

[Smmenen]

Basically, I have been watching Chain5 progress with the Oath deck and I feel qualified to make some comments becuase his deck is very, very close to your Steve.  

First Mask v. Oath:

Mask is a problem matchup game one.  Game two you get to bring in Woodripper: which is excellent, Kegs, and possibly other stuff.  Keven has been using Dominate against Mask as well.  

But more problematic is Masks really high level of discard: they can snag the Oath quite easily - and even if you do get Oath into play, your chances of getting the right card aren't good: Kevin' has a 50-50 shot of weaver or morph - if it's morph you take alot of trample damage - and even if it is weaver, eventually the weaver has got to die and you are left with a vulnerable turn unless you have two oaths.  


Second: Oath in General:
I think that Oath is one of those ideas that seems very, very strong in theory (sort of like Parfait actually), but in actual tournament play, it doesn't pan out.  

I don't know whether it is simply the nature of type one or what, but as a control deck, Oath has too many weaknesses.  Kevin (Chain5) has been 1-2 in matches versus the local Sligh player in actual tournament play at side events.  He beat me, becuase Multani's Presence kicks mono blue's ass and what are ophidians supposed to do against Oath - the spell is too easy to resolve with as much counterback up as oath runs, and it only needs to slip one into play to completely negate the mono blue engine.

Kevin also used four flooded Strands and they were friggen incredible against Back to Basics: he was able to get islands into play as a way to negate that card advantage early.  

This is one of the motivators for my recent addition of four wastes/strips in my mono blue - When I tested Keeper against his Oath, I won all but one game by going crazy with Wastes/strips, LOA, and Shaman.  I would get massive card disadvantage using vampiric, etc - but I would come out ahead becuase he would very few permanents in play.  

I have gone from thinking of Oath as a tier one deck to thinking much less highly of it.  It is a very rough matchup for my mono blue deck because it is so draw dependant for both decks

It's hard to articulate exactly my feelings on it - but one of the most precise ways I can think of is that this deck has decent chances, but not good enough given the available options etc.  It is just too risky of a deck.  

Kevin's SB is very good too - I like it much better than yours (but don't ask me all the cards, I don't remember -- woodripper, 2 multani's Presence, 1 Dominate, 1-2 kegs?, feeder?, I don't remember what else.)

[Zherbus]

Quote I am not pissing on anyone. You say it has only one bad matchup and I am allowed to disagree and voice my opinion. Why are you so incessantly defensive all the time? I can't even edit a typo in a post without you throwing theories about alterior motives at me. *sigh*

I apologize if it was unwarrented.

As for Weaver recursion, I would move the feeder tokens to the Weaver.

[-CF-]

Quote As for Weaver recursion, I would move the feeder tokens to the Weaver.

But to do this you need both creatures in play! I have only one, so no oathing for you. Do you hard-cast the 2nd? )

--
Chris

[FeverDog]

Ok, a few questions for you Zherb:

1- Why only 2 Wooded Foothills? I cant see why you wouldnt run 4, it smooths your mana and helps fetch basics vs B2B.

2- Why no Brainstorms? I always thought one or two worked very well in Oath, and with a few fetch lands, they are even better.

3- This may have been answered already, but how do you sb vs Keeper? Do you bring in the Phids?

Thank you.

[K-Run]

If Spike Feeder's role is to secure a win vs Sligh, then wouldn't Ravenous Baloth be better ? At CTM, most Oath players switched to the Baloth as it is bigger, trades with TnT creatures and nets you the same amount of life.

Granted, you lose a few "tricks" but the card won't be as "dead" as the Feeder in some matchups.

[mordraid]

I agree with K-run on that one, the baloth is a bit better than the feeder.  Having test myself, i can say that the 2 power more is really worth the colorless mana it cost. After all, he cost the same amount of colored mana that the feeder, and Hardcasting a feeder 3rn turn or a baloth 4th turn isn't really different. In an oath deck the difference between hardcasting a feeder 3rd or 4th turn is about the same. So why using the feeder when we can have a feeder on steroids ??

[aargyle]

Ah, the power of Powder Keg.

This regarding the discussion of a 12/12 and three turns:
I run 2-3 kegs in any oath build, and it can save you, big time. I let an opponent get out a turn _one_ serra avatar (ritual/entomb/animate, I let him know it's illegal but we play to see how it goes). That's a turn one 20/20, a little more scary than a little 12/12.

Thanks to my turn one oath, I oath into weaver and let it save me a few turns. Then Morphling to chump block. Then get the weaver again. On turn two, I have already found powder keg, thanks to all the draw in oath (normal restricted blue drawing +some combination of Impulse and Brainstorm).

I live with the chumping all the way up to turn 8, having lost zero life, countering anything else on the way. Blow the keg to kill the avatar. Well in control at this point, oath steamrolls from there, leaving my opponent with little doubt how powerful this control deck really is.

Just one example of how oath can deal with a quick fattie.



My take on feeder/baloth:

1) When it comes down to the mirror, or against BBS or Keeper or whatever, and it's time to have morphling wars, it's more than a little handy to be able to move counters over and make your morphling bigger. Or move your counters over to weaver against aggro and fog another couple of turns. also, makes him not worthless as an attacker agianst moat/void/ect. positive for feeder

2) Who drops feeder or Baloth? CC doesn't matter at all, you are going to oath in to them or drop them late game when you are in control, not needing the life as much as an attacker, and man-lands would do fine for you then. (and again, get around void problems) about even.

3) baloth is a bigger butt. Nice to block with an early oath vs stompy, again, mostly useless against blue control (but better vs negator!) postive for baloth

4) Feeder now comes in foil promo, to go along with the oaths/blessings/stroke/counters/impulse. Feeder wins!

now if only they'd foil out our other two oath critters...




BTW: Anyone like living wish that much in oath? I've been trying it to get a second morphling or masticore game one, and not worry about pitching morphling to a force early. So far, it's never been a problem (again, you would want to cast later usually anyway), but it could be another counter slot itself. Thoughts?

[mordraid]

I can't figure out that you put the feeder ahead because it comes in foil promo !!  Maybe you are rich or somewhat else, for my counterpart, i wouldn't pay much for a card that does exactly the same, and that is still black border. ( my opinion )

Foil promo are made for people who don't really want to plya, they want to be "hot" with theirs rares cards. Knowing that the feeder comes in foil makes me hates him furthermore !!!

Baloth rulz .!.

[Grollub]

Quote (Smmenen @ Sep. 08 2002,17:38)In my big post I suggested in the third paragraph that Multani's Presence should be used in the SB.  Now I emphasize this point with play experience to back it up.  
This is why Multani's Presence is good and I'll explain the way to get around it.  

You play key spell with Presence in play, say  Oath.  They counter, you counter, they counter, you counter, they counter.  Then you say, ok your counter resolves: draw.  then you let the other resolve and draw. Then you use one of your new counters to counter and your Oath resolves.

The way around it is if you go: Oath, and your opponent goes: Counter, Counter, Counter, Counter.  But that would be an immense waste unless your opponent knew: a) you were desprate to get that Oath in play which is conditioned on the fact that b) your opponent knows you have alot of counters.

Stephen Menendian

Erm, wouldn't a smart player not just counter keyspell, then you counter their counter and they just counter the keyspell with a new counter, that way only letting you draw one card?

Please shoot me if I've been misunderstanding the way the stack works all this time...

[j_orlove]

Quote
Erm, wouldn't a smart player not just counter keyspell, then you counter their counter and they just counter the keyspell with a new counter, that way only letting you draw one card?

Please shoot me if I've been misunderstanding the way the stack works all this time...

Sure, they can have both their counters target oath if they want--and with presence out, that does reduce the number of cards you draw.  

[Zherbus]

Quote (FeverDog @ Nov. 22 2002,10:29)Ok, a few questions for you Zherb:

1- Why only 2 Wooded Foothills? I cant see why you wouldnt run 4, it smooths your mana and helps fetch basics vs B2B.

2- Why no Brainstorms? I always thought one or two worked very well in Oath, and with a few fetch lands, they are even better.

3- This may have been answered already, but how do you sb vs Keeper? Do you bring in the Phids?

Thank you.

1. I don't need anymore green. If I put more of a green element in, I could easily tweak the manabase to fit in a few more.

2. Brainstorms dont dig nearly deep enough. Impulses are needed to find those Oaths NOW.

3. Yeah I did. Its transformational, kinda like Emerald Alice. It just guns for aggro first, then control second. Like this:

-4 Oath of Druids
-1 Spike Weaver
-1 Spike Feeder
-2 Powder Keg

+4 Ophidian
+3 back to Basics
+1 Morphling

Quote If Spike Feeder's role is to secure a win vs Sligh, then wouldn't Ravenous Baloth be better ? At CTM, most Oath players switched to the Baloth as it is bigger, trades with TnT creatures and nets you the same amount of life.

Granted, you lose a few "tricks" but the card won't be as "dead" as the Feeder in some matchups.

I'll have to test it as a SB card. It might just work better.

Quote But to do this you need both creatures in play! I have only one, so no oathing for you. Do you hard-cast the 2nd? )

I see where you are going. If thats the case, and I can only Oath one badass (as Smmenen mentioned, I would totally ride Woodripper for all hes worth game 2 and 3) up at a time, then I suppose I would have to hard cast it Or rely on the 2 Kegs (3 post SB). Maybe more testing will tell me I need 4 in total.

Quote BTW: Anyone like living wish that much in oath? I've been trying it to get a second morphling or masticore game one, and not worry about pitching morphling to a force early. So far, it's never been a problem (again, you would want to cast later usually anyway), but it could be another counter slot itself. Thoughts?

Its funny you should mention that. My thoughts for the next revision are to cut the 2 leaks and add 1 Living Wish (Already I can get Ophidian, Morphling, Woodripper, and Feeder) and another Keg.

[FeverDog]

Two questions for you Zherb:

1) Has it been decided that UG is superior to 4 and 5 color Oath? I know you lose the ability to board B2B, but does that single card outweigh all the possible brokeness you could be running?

2) Have you thought about siding Gilded Drake vs Mask? It seems like it could really cause them some problems.

[Zherbus]

1) Manabase stability is the number 1 reason. Keeper can get away with a 4-5 color manabase because its more broken, but 4-5 Oath is just worse against control (non-BBS) and still suffers against non-basic hate.

2) That would be a definite possibility. Its at least duress-proof.

[TunaBoo]

Why play the fog game with sligh/stompy type decks. The feeder get's shot by sligh pretty fast, and unless you also have a keg stompy  will wait until you run out of fogs and charge in.

I say if you are going against aggro, just be done with it and oath up a phantom nishoba. Huge life gain, blocks 7 turns, and is just an all around beatstick.

I guess I am partial to splashing white for swords and green/white beatsticks, but I like oath as a faster combo deck to get a turn 3 nishoba than a slow control deck. If you can get it done with fast, do it.

[Acolytec]

I tinker about every now and then with T1, and oath is definitely the deck that I would play.  Curiously enough, the deck I would play is almost exactly the same as yours.  I think we think very similarly- no X drawers or alexandria, but 4 impulse 4 oath and thus the required moxen to run it.  Gotta love redundancy.

I still want to test dryads in the sideboard though. Just for the hell of it.  Phids play the same role though effectively.

Why the undiscovered?

I personally think that oath should do ok against mask and I would think against TnT (although I am not very up to date with T1 at the moment).  They are critter/artifact based decks and well, UG oath is very good at stalling the first and destroying the second.  I would think that a solid sideboard would be able to overcome the disruption very much in the same way that blue based decks easilly beat sligh through overloading threat removal.  Woodripper, naturalize, counters, keg and recursion would seem to provide a very strong defense.

The idea of a phantom nishoba for the board is curious.  he trades positively against everything at least, but he is another turn before you can get the life against burn.  Seems like balroth would be better as a board card.

Acolytec\n\n

[Zherbus]

Quote I tinker about every now and then with T1, and oath is definitely the deck that I would play.  Curiously enough, the deck I would play is almost exactly the same as yours.  I think we think very similarly- no X drawers or alexandria, but 4 impulse 4 oath and thus the required moxen to run it.  Gotta love redundancy.

Yeah, well over a year ago we worked together on Oath, but then we both threw it away with the restriction of FoF. That, and we both recognize the difference in play styles between standard Oath and U/G Oath.

Quote Why the undiscovered?

Because I hadn't messed with the fetchlands enough

Quote Why play the fog game with sligh/stompy type decks. The feeder get's shot by sligh pretty fast, and unless you also have a keg stompy  will wait until you run out of fogs and charge in.

Because, at worst, its a free card that drains their hand of burn. Red doesnt exactly have much in the way of card advantage (or at least anything that should resolve).

I'll just pretend your comment about Stompy doesn't actually exist since we all know just how much removal they run.

[PsychoCid]

Yeah, good ol' Acoly is one of two people who got me into playing Oath in type 1 (previously I played it in 1.x).

Just a couple months ago, I went back to U/G (as opposed to 4-5 Color) and then discussed it with Zherbus, whose build was further along in it evolution process.  Not once have I missed the capabilities of the offcolor brokenness more than I was pleased to have such a redundant deck.

One thing it took me quite a while to come to grips with, after the restriction of FoF, was that I didn't need to be playing Keeper-style when I had Oath, so I felt it should be mentioned here.  You won't, nearly as often, have 7 cards in hand (remember that an Oath on the board >>> one more card in hand) and thus leaving LoA out is not worth a big WTF.

When I have run X spells, it has been only 1 or 2 (2 if I have black--Mind Twist) and it has mainly been because they work well with Mana Drain.  Aside from that, an advantage Oath has over many other control decks is that the deck, as a whole, runs optimally on much less mana.

Really, I think Oath is a deck that works best when you forget about adding extra frills and brokenness and just milk its powers for all they are worth.  Zherbus mentioned his next version might test dropping 2 counters, which I, at the moment, am highly opposed to--but that's why we test.

[fdzero]

@Zherbus: Does this deck works well without Power, or is worse than the 4-Color one? If I had to make the substitutions, what about this?

-1 Ancestral Recall
-1 Merchant Scroll
-1 Cunning Wish
-1 Time Walk
-5 LoMoxen

+3 Brainstorm
+1 Mana Leak
+2 Island
+2 Forest
+1 Wooded Foothills