[Deck Discussion] Lock Down Oath, very good, but needs help

[serracollector]

As I am sure most of you know ppl are going crazy over the Forbidden Orchard/Oath of Druids deck, revitalizing Oath.  So far I have seen a Vintage form of the old Extended Oath (with Cognivores/Reclamation and a bunch of instants i.e. Counters/AK), and I have seen an interesting build that is based on the old Hermit decks in Extended, where your only creature is a Dragon Tyrant, and all those enchantments that give it fear/trample/haste and a bunch of +1/+1's, for a 2-3 turn kill.  These are both descent ideas for Oath, descent.

I, on the other hand was playing around with Oath, as a joke actually, and was playing the new Legend Dragon Spirits from LoK, and Diamond Valley to sac them to use their abilities, when I noticed how broken Yosei, the Morning Star was.  With Oath/Forbidden Orchard, and only Yosei in your deck, you can easily lock your opponent.  Now before I go more on ranting and raving of how good I think this deck is, let me make the current decklist, and explain reasons why I have chosen the cards I have and why I have left some out.

Knight's Legend Lockdown Oath

Draw/Search (16)
1 x Ancestral Recall
4 x Brainstorm
4 x Impulse
2 x Living Wish
1 x Mystical Tutor
1 x Enlightened Tutor
1 x Demonic Tutor
1 x Vampiric Tutor
1 x Crop Rotation

Lock (4)
2 x Yosei, the Morning Star
2 x Diamond City

Combo (12)
4 x Oath of Druids
4 x Forbidden Orchard
4 x Gaea’s Blessing

Counter Base (8)
4 x Force of Will
4 x Mana Leak

Mana (21)
6 x Moxen (include Chrome Mox, first turn mana leak and Oath are important)
1 x Lotus
3 x Tropical Island
2 x Tundra
2 x Underground Sea
4 x Fetchlands (2 Flood/2Polluted for me)
2 x Islands

Side Board (15)
4 x CotV
1 x Diamond Valley
1 x Morphling
1 x Guilded Drake
2 x Arcane Laboratory
3 x Blue Elemental Blast
3 x Red Elemental Blast


Ancestral-duh

Brainstorm-Good with fetches, better with Oath.  Obv choice.

Impulse-  I chose this over the AK engine, as I have 4 Blessings, which is needed to gaurantee that your lock stays.  True it does not net you card advantage, but just like in BBS it finds you that Counter you need, or that Tutor you need to get what you need.  I was gonna play Peer through the depths over this, but the simple fact that it can't grab an Oath or a Orchard/Diamond Valley made it a no go.  Maybe Peer should be played in BBS, but that's a different discussion altogether.

Living Wish- My Kill card and my back up plan.  About the only way to stop this Lock is to 1.)  Stifle the effect for 1 turn and hope you do something I can't counter, or 2.)  StP the dragon in response to me saccing it to Diamond Valley.  If you do StP it, then living Wish get's them back for me.  It can also get the extra Diamond Valley in my Side, as sometimes you don't draw it.  Also Living Wish get's my kill Card, which I decided Morphling or Guilded Drake, stealing whatever you may have gotten on the board (i.e.  Tinkered Collossus/Oath'd Collosus etc)

4 Tutors-They are all restricted for a reason.  I plan on showing that reason.  Yes, even enlightened is well used.  Just cause you have 4 Oath's doesn't mean you'll always have one in your opening hand.

Crop Rotation-Man if only they had unrestricted this card, this deck wold be Uber Sick.  Getting that Orchard or Diamond Valley is so essential, and this guy makes it all possible.  I will mystical for it as any time over Ancestral even, just to ensure my lock.

The Combo peices are evident, so I won't go into depths about them.  Same as the 4 Oath/Orchard/Blessing.  4 Blessing is a must, because if both Yosei end up in your grave, next time you Oath, you will blessing , putting them back into your deck, but you won't have one to sac, thus letting your opponent out of the lock for a turn, which is bad mojo.

Force of Will-It's a free counterspell.

Mana Leak- I played this over mana drain as I have no sinks for it really.  Also the 1U makes it much easier to cast turn one, in case you don't have the first turn Oath.

Chrome Mox-I played this over Sol Ring after testing for a while since I needed Mana for Oath/Mana Leak turn one, and being colored mana helps as well.  If Mana Crypt didn't have such a drawback, I would play it over the Chrome mox, but even with gaining 5 life a turn from DC and Yosei, it's still too risky I beleive.  I maybe wrong, further testing shall tell.

The rest of the mana base is pretty self explanatory, 2 islands in case of Blood moon/B2B, with the Orchards, you only need a few copies of each dual, not 4 of's.  

How to Play:
The deck is disgustlingly simple to play, but fun (for you) none the less.  You simply try to drop Oath ASAP (obv), and then if your opponent does not have a creature, use the Forbidden Orchard to give them one.  You can usually get an Orchard rather quickly with either brainstorm/impulse/one of the 5 tutors (crop counts as a tutor, he's my green one).  After getting Yosei into play, you then get Diamond Valley into play to sac him every turn for 5 life, and to tap 5 of your opp's perms, and they do not get an untap step.  If you don't have a Diamond City at first, do not worry.  With the new legends rule in effect, if you Oath up the second Yosei, they both die, letting you tap 10 perms, and your opp doesn't get an untap step for 2 turns, givng you time to Oath/Blessing the 2 dragons back in, and then start over.  Yes this does give them the option for 2 land drops, but even if this lock is not perfect, it's still a vewry good soft lock.  

Cards to Look out for:

Wasteland/Strip Mine-Everyone is playing these, and losing Diamond Valley is a bitch.  It's a good thing they recur every turn to blessing/Oath.  Maindeck stifle or terefi's response maybe a future development.  

Crucible-this plus a strip effect, well, it hurts about any deck, so eh.

Swords to Plowshares-As I said you got wishes for this, and 8 Counters, and mana leak is a HARD counter when you opponent only has 1 untapped permanent.

Tormod's Crypt-obv.

Cards I Didn't play and Why:

Cunning Wish-at first I had 2 of these, but found that 1.) I never really needed them, and 2.) I never had a lot of mana to use after casting one unless it was late game, which I would rather have a living Wish anyways.  The only thing I would grab would be a BED/REB for Moon/B2B, but I decided to rely on my 8 main counters game 1, and SB those in games 2-3.

Deck Analysis:

Fish-pwnt.  No if's ands or buts.  Even if they stifle a Yosei or Oath effect for a turn, they are (most likely) not going to kill you, and just end up locked again.

4cc-Actually one of the harder matchups as it plays Crucible.  If the get a Crucible out before you get Oath, much trouble.

R/G beatz-Look at fish.

Tog/BBS-All depends on the counter wars and maindeck B2B.  If I get the lock I get the lock, if not, its tough as hell.

TPS/Draw7/DeathLong-Once again this is all about who "combos" first.  even if the do stifle/chain of vapor something, to try and go off, remember you been gaining 5 life a turn form the DC/Yosei, and Tendrils for 20-40 is a lot harder than tendrils for 10.

Cards I am thinking about playing, but don't know where to put them  

Root Maze-Makes it a better lock, its like a Stasis/Kismet Lock Practically.

Trinisphere-this makes it a hard lock

Fastbond-more comboish?

Dampning Matrix-Stops Welders/Togs/METAL WORKERS.  smokestack still works when it's tapped

So anyway, I put Rootmaze in bold, because I REALLY want to fit it in, but what to take out?  So comments, opinions, flames, and suggestions are all welcome.  Thank you, and have fun.

Serracollector

The edited section here is in bold, I left my original post as so that people can see my errors (I am not afraid to say that when I first came up with the deck list it honestly sucked, thats what building and testing is for)

Anyways here is the current decklist:

Knight's Legend Lockdown Oath

Draw/Search (14)
1 x Ancestral Recall
3 x Brainstorm
3 x Impulse
3 x Living Wish
1 x Mystical Tutor
1 x Enlightened Tutor
1 x Demonic Tutor
1 x Crop Rotation

Lock (8)
2 x Yosei, the Morning Star
2 x Diamond Valley4 x Root maze

Combo (11)
4 x Oath of Druids
3 x Forbidden Orchard
4 x Gaea’s Blessing

Counter Base (10)
4 x Force of Will
4 x Mana Leak
2 x Misdirection

Mana (17) (20 count the Orchards)
5 x Moxen
1 x Mana Crypt (still in testing, may end up Petal or Chrome)
1 x Lotus
4 x Tropical Island
2 x Tundra
3 x Island
1 x Forest

Side Board (15)
4 x CotV
1 x Diamond Valley
1 x Morphling
1 x Forbidden Orchard
1 x Guilded Drake
3 x Arcane Laboratory
4 x Annul


The main changes from my original post was going from a soft lock to a hard lock.  By adding Root Maze, unless your opponent places with the pitch disenchant from Mercadian Masques (sorry I do not know the name, if someone could find it I would be most aprreciated) they are locked for good.
 
I added Misdirections as most decks attempt to stop your Oath is going
to be to Counter it, and against Counters MisD is just as good as FoW (better technically since you do not lose 1 life.)  This is my point of view on it anyways, other may have a different approach.

I dropped one of the Orchards main deck in replace of a 3rd Wish.  This is because I almost always have a green source of mana,  and this makes my Orchard count 6 instead of 3 at the cost of 2 mana.  It has been helpful so far, but still, more testing will tell.

I dropped the Brainstorms/Impulses to 3 a peice to be able to fit in more combo peices.  Since they are not actual "draw cards" just "fine tuners" of your hand, have 3 of each is ok.  

Now for cards I do not have in my version, but have been though of that could help:

Cabal Therapy-you could go for a darker version using Vamp T,  Duress, and Therapy so that you can have alternate ways to sac Yosei (I have tried this deck and it is good, but it makes FoW and MisD very hard to use as you need to drop a majority of the blue for black and you have to keep the green (4 blessing/4 rootmaze/ at least 2 wish)  and you cannot pitch black/green cards to them)  Of course the 4 FoW/2 MisD/4 Mana Leak could be droppped altogether for a 4 Duress/4 Therapy/2 Unmask, leaving only ancestral/mystical as your blue cards.  A green/black Oath lock with Yosei is another viable option to go, and black and green have all the answers to the mirror.

Time Walk-There is nothing bad I can say about this card, just what do I drop from my current decklist to include it?  the 3rd Impulse?

Cunning Wish- Great utility card but without mana drain, which my mana base cannot support sometimes, I think its costs to much.  Also what would I drop once again?

Well this is my current idea (s) (if you include the g/b oath I will probably start testing more also and write another post on) and would like feedback.  test the deck, tell me opinions, too slow?  Not enough blue?  Not enough draw?  not enough protection?  Unreliable combo?  Do not just tell me these things but tell me why, it will be most appreciated.  Thank you.

[serracollector]

Oh, sorry, forgot about Stax (and when I say stax it includes anything that involves artifacts/workshop/welders, including the man show/slaver/7-11/5-3/Trinistax, or whatever)-This is only a hard matchup if they get a first turn Trini/Chalice for 2, or first turn Smokestack, but then again, most decks seem to have that problem, so I am not too worried about it.  Energy Flux in the sideboard?  nah, I'll just lockem.

[Sammy]

Wasteland/Strip Mine-Everyone is playing these, and losing Diamond Valley is a bitch.

Well, try playing Crucible yourself then. It will guarentee you have an active Valley, and you could even play Strip effects to hurt the oppenent even more.

Chrome Mox-I played this over Sol Ring after testing for a while since I needed Mana for Oath/Mana Leak turn one, and being colored mana helps as well. If Mana Crypt didn't have such a drawback, I would play it over the Chrome mox, but even with gaining 5 life a turn from DC and Yosei, it's still too risky I beleive.

That really isn't much of a drawback when your gaining 5 life a turn, thats a 2 or 5 life gain compared to a 0 or 3 life loss a turn. That really isnt much of a drawback compared to losing a card in hand to play it.

[Sextiger]

Living Wish gets creatures AND lands, read the card.

[Sammy]

Sorry I havnt read it in a year...fixed

[Team-Judgement]

Sammy read living wish.... it fechtes lands 2(ever wondered why belcher playes it ?)

Why dont you play will.... every deck that can support 2B play this, simply because its the best card ever printed, you also miss time walk

Also try replacing chrome mox with mana crypt, you gain alot of life so it shouldnt be a problem

You should also put a viridian zealot in the sideboard, so u can handle smokestack or stuff life that

3 Reb, but no volcanic  :shock:

How important are chalice ? You could really need some SB naturalize or oxidize, duress and a single collousos against fish

/Rasmus Roar

Your spelling and grammar is simply inexcusable.  Speaking English is a requirement for posting on TheManaDrain.
-Kowal[/color]

[Sammy]

Sammy read living wish

Apparently we both can't read.

[AngryPheldagrif]

TPS/Draw7/DeathLong-Once again this is all about who "combos" first. even if the do stifle/chain of vapor something, to try and go off, remember you been gaining 5 life a turn form the DC/Yosei, and Tendrils for 20-40 is a lot harder than tendrils for 10.

Um, your combo won't be happening for a minimum of 3 turns. I think a better description of this matchup would be "This is all about me not losing before I set up a lock and praying they don't mise some goodness once I do."

And a couple other issues:

1: How exactly do you win?

2: [edit]: Nevermind, you say Diamond City in your decklist, it should be Diamond Valley.

3: What do you do if they Wasteland your Valley?

4: How consistently can you pull one of your Valleys, since Yosei is mostly useless without it.

5: Have you actually tested (m)any of these matchups? Pardon my frankness, but your analyses are absolutely ridiculous. Fish an auto-win? You must be forgetting that for your combo to work, you need to resolve your Oath, and not have your Valley be Wasted. I won't even get started on your utter dismissal of the Artifact (uh, there are a ton of completely different decks) matchups.

Seriously, though, lets see some hard results. This looks disturbingly similiar to Stasis.dec.

-Dan

PS: It's [card]Diamond Valley[/card]. Not Diamond City.

[Limbo]

And this is better then just beating the opponent to death with a colossus because...?

On a rulenote, your opponent won't have a chance to swords your yosei if you have a diamond valley in play, because saccing the creature is a part of the activation, so it will be gone without giving your opponent a chance to kill it.

Now onto discussing the deck itself:

Wouldn't it be better to just play 4 living wish to wish for a diamond valley (or 2 to protect vs wastes) in the side? That would allow you to add some nifty SB tech for the wishes as well.

With 4 impulse, 4 brainstorm (+ fetches), wouldn't it be better to add some kind of drawengine instead of the 4 tutors? AK is nice, since you can cast the AK in response to the blessing trigger, yielding you cards before the AK's in the grave are shuffled back.

Yawgmoth's will is bad because of the blessings.

4 blessing is overdoing it, 2 is plenty, as you can put blessings back on your deck with brainstorms.

Add sacred ground to protect your really important diamond valley / orchard?

Timewalk is kinda good I heard. Maybe add it?

If you want turn1 oath / leak mana, use crypt or even lotus petal instead of the chrome mox. Losing cards to imprint is bad mkay?

[Binary]

And this is better then just beating the opponent to death with a colossus because...?

I think everyone who posts an Oath deck with a win other than Colossus should just explain this before the discussion even starts.

When there's the "I win two turns after I Oath unless you play one of a very limited number of cards" win, then any "comboish" win needs to show that it's either faster (which is certainly possible), or even more resilient (which isn't likely).

And as far as this deck is concerned, I'm just not seeing how it's superior.

[serracollector]

ok, I was extremelty hasty on this, as you can see I frogot time walk, which is in the deck, and also extremely sorry for the Diamond City thing, its is Diamond Valley, thank you. I have honestly tested vs.  the decks I stated though.  After a few more days of testing I found a very easy answer to most of my problems, and that is Root Maze.  This slows down decks such as DeathLong and Stax and Tog to make the matchups much easier for me. With Root Maze in play:

1.) No more mana period, outside of Elvish Spirit Guide.  
2.) No strip Effects to worry about, as the strip lands come into play tapped and will never untap.
3.)  Dropped first turn doesn't really hurt me as much as it hurts the opponent.

 Yes it is a 3rd turn lock, not at the best though, turn 2 is easy with a first turn Orchard/Mox/oath.  With 5 Moxen and now mana crypt (yes with the 5 life gain a turn it is worth it in there, not too mention good for hardcating FoW/2 mana leaks/blessings, or to actually cast a Yosei) its not as hard to get a first turn Oath as one may believe.

Why play it over Collosus?  
1.) Bounce.  Tog/Fish/BBS can all easily play echoing truth or chain of vapor to easily screw him.  Yes I know you can brainstorm him back on top of your library or tinker for him,  but there are a lot more cards that stop him than Just swords.
2.) Stolen. Tog/Fish/BBS, not all are playing it, mostly just BBS, but many of them can easily include it.  I would not be surprised to see a lot more fish playing maindeck guilded drakes.
3.) StP.  That is so easy to discover that it suggests conspicuousness or little need for perspicacity in the observer.

My Dragon, things that could stop it.

1.) Stifle, to give them one turn.

2.) Strip Effect, and actually that doesn't stop it cause even without the Diamond Valley, you can Oath the second dragon into play, making BOTH go to the grave, allowing you to tap 10 premanants, and you opponent does not get an untap step for 2 turns.  Even without the Valley, thats a lock, cause every 2md turn, when they would be able to untap, the 2nd dragon comes into play, triggering the legend rule, and locking your opponent down for 2 turns again.  

Let's look at it even in the mirror.  

Opponent Plays first, gets 1st turn Oath with Orchard, I go drop same, givning him a token.  He then Oaths up collosus, giving me a 2nd token so we are 2-2.  With the Oath trigger on the stack, I make another token in response, Oath up dragon, even with no way to Sac it I can simply block the collosus, take 6, and lock my opponent, espcailly since the can

1.) No Longer attack.

2.) No longer make tokens as there Orchard no longer untaps.

Mind you this is just an example if we both got first turn Oaths/Orchards.

Also, I now am playing Root Maze, all artifacts and lands come into play tapped, which I beleive includes the Collosus, so even if they have a way to give him haste he can't swing.  And remember Root Maze+Dragon+Valley=hard lock.  Then there are only a number of cards to get out of it, such as a double ESG and a naturalize, or the Maques free disenchant (chuck a plains I beleive as alternate CC?).  Thats a cheap lock, with a lot less options to stop it than a Collosus, especially with Guilded Drake, which as you see I sideboarded myself just for the Collossus, I will wish for him in an instant if you get out a Collosus.

As for Gaea's Blessing, 4 is a must of because you need to always have a Dragon in your library to keep the lock.  If both of your dragons come into play without a blessing, then your opponent is going to get an untap step, and no lock=bad thing.

With all thoughts and considerations I made a few changes, and I beleive I have already explained why, this deck is honestly good, try it if you do not beleive me, sometimes looking at something isn't enough to judge it:

Knight's Legend Lockdown Oath

Draw/Search (15)
1 x Ancestral Recall
3 x Brainstorm
3 x Impulse
3 x Living Wish -1 Vampiric Tutor (testing)
1 x Mystical Tutor
1 x Enlightened Tutor
1 x Demonic Tutor  
1 x Crop Rotation
1 x Time Walk

Lock (7)
2 x Yosei, the Morning Star
2 x Diamond City
3 x Root Maze

Combo (11)
4 x Oath of Druids
3 x Forbidden Orchard
4 x Gaea’s Blessing

Counter Base (8)
4 x Force of Will
4 x Mana Leak

Mana (19) (22 with Orchard)
5 x Moxen
1 x Mana Crypt
1 x Lotus
3 x Tropical Island
2 x Tundra
2 x Underground Sea
4 x Fetchlands (2 Flood/2Polluted for me)
1 x Islands

Side Board (15)
4 x CotV
1 x Diamond Valley
1 x Forbidden Orchard (testing)
1 x Morphling
1 x Guilded Drake
2 x Arcane Laboratory
3 x Blue Elemental Blast
2 x Red Elemental Blast


With the 4 Orchards, REB isn't as hard to cast as one may think.  The only thing I side it in against is BBS to try and stop B2B.  I am testing whether it's better to play the Vamp maindeck, and all 4 Orchards maindeck, or if it's better to side one and play 3 Wishes.  I think I may stay with the 3 wishes as it ups my Orchard Count to 6, and my Valley to 5.  Pls continue with the comments, I expected negativity.  Most ppl think of Oath as a combo deck that kills ASAP with Collosus or Dragon Tyrant, I am trying a lock version, it may not be better or it may, I am just testing and giving a new twist on it.  I think a turn 2-5 permanent Stasis lock is some good myself.  Too bad its in the newbie forum now, I doubt anyone in the Vintage Forum will even look at it now, eh oh well.  I just need to win a Tourney or t8 a few times to show ppl then I guess LOL.  [/i]

[Jacob Orlove]

Opponent Plays first, gets 1st turn Oath with Orchard, I go drop same, givning him a token. He then Oaths up collosus, giving me a 2nd token so we are 2-2. With the Oath trigger on the stack, I make another token in response, Oath up dragon, even with no way to Sac it I can simply block the collosus, take 6, and lock my opponent, espcailly since the can

Wow, there's so much wrong going on here. First of all, Orchard is a LEGEND. Once he drops his, you get a token, but dropping yours will kill both well before you can tap it for mana.

Next, Oath will NOT trigger unless you have fewer creatures, and it will only resolve if you still have fewer creatures. You can't tap orchard during your upkeep to activate oath.

[Lybydose]

Wow, there's so much wrong going on here. First of all, Orchard is a LEGEND.

Orchard isn't legendary.

Next, Oath will NOT trigger unless you have fewer creatures, and it will only resolve if you still have fewer creatures. You can't tap orchard during your upkeep to activate oath.

I'm not a judge, so I won't comment on this, but lets assume for a moment that the game plays out like this.  How exactly does blocking the colossus and taking six damage cause a lock?  Sure, you can tap his stuff and prevent untapping next turn, but you'll never win.  Next turn you'll just oath up another dragon, then do...nothing.   He untaps, attacks again.  This will just repeat until he kills you with the colossus.  You can never attack either, since waiting a turn for summoning sickness gives your opponent the chance to untap.

I suppose you could eventually win by playing a diamond valley, then stalling long enough to get a ridiculous amount of life and win from there, but that takes far too long.  Why not just use a few mindslavers and white bringers?  Such a lock is much more effective, as your opponent can't do ANYTHING after the bringer becomes active.

[Jacob Orlove]

Okay, I need to apologize for not double-checking the spoiler text on orchard after it came out, but the oath activation thing still holds.

[Limbo]

Although Jacob is correct concerning the critter stand of with oath (you indeed need less critters at the start of your turn, and when the oath trigger resolves), there is a way to trick the opponent once you both get going with oathing. Assuming you can oath up a yoshei, you just don't block the colossus when it first attacks. Next turn, you oath up the 2nd yoshei, resulting in making the opponent skip 2 untaps, effectively locking him down.

What I don't get though, is that you are trying to prove the "strength" of your deck, discussing a "mirror" match which probably won't come up often (and giving a very flawed exaple at that). Oath has a new tool, but does not yet have the potential to be broken. At least not in this way. So discussing a mirror that won't come up often is not really useful. Better look at matchups vs workshops, combo's, control and aggro that you actually have a decent chance of at encountering them in a tourney.

I myself am working on a very different version, that shows potential but I am still in the testfase, so I won't spam a decklist around here yet.

[Frappie]

With 4cc your concerned about the CoW? I think that swords would also do a number on this deck. I don't see any real reason to run this deck over the normal Oath deck, yeah the lock is cute, but the win is just so unatainable. So all you wanted to do was draw them out?

[serracollector]

Wow, it seems some ppl are confused on this.  This is how the deck plays out:

Drop Root Maze ASAP
Use Oath>Dragon, either sac dragon to Valley to tap 5 permanents, and they do not get an untap step,  or Oath Second dragon into play killing both, making opponent tap 10 permanents and skip 2 untap steps, yes they are cumulative.
With Dragon Lock and Root Maze they no longer have mana or strip effects.  This is a HARD lock.
Use living Wish to grab Morphling, swing for 4 turns.
Decking is not the kill, living wish is.
The deck can lock on turn 2, and wish for Morphling turn 3, play Morphling turn 4, if that is slow, then BBS, fish, slaver and tog are all also slow.

Now, looking at that, this deck is not any worse off than any other Oath deck, it is good, it is consistent, and it works.  I think more of you are making comments and suggestions just by looking at my decklist and comparing it to already existing decklists, not by actually playing the different kinds, seeing the differences by playing the deck, and actually putting any practice behind your comments, try the deck before commenting.

[serracollector]

Wow, it seems some ppl are confused on this.  This is how the deck plays out:

Drop Root Maze ASAP
Use Oath>Dragon, either sac dragon to Valley to tap 5 permanents, and they do not get an untap step,  or Oath Second dragon into play killing both, making opponent tap 10 permanents and skip 2 untap steps, yes they are cumulative.
With Dragon Lock and Root Maze they no longer have mana or strip effects.  This is a HARD lock.
Use living Wish to grab Morphling, swing for 4 turns.
Decking is not the kill, living wish is.
The deck can lock on turn 2, and wish for Morphling turn 3, play Morphling turn 4, if that is slow, then BBS, fish, slaver and tog are all also slow.

Now, looking at that, this deck is not any worse off than any other Oath deck, it is good, it is consistent, and it works.  I think more of you are making comments and suggestions just by looking at my decklist and comparing it to already existing decklists, not by actually playing the different kinds, seeing the differences by playing the deck, and actually putting any practice behind your comments, try the deck before commenting.

[chogg]

I really like the concept of your deck.  It does indeed seem easy to lock someone out.
If I were to play this deck I would make some changes:
 
-2 Diamond Valley +2 High Market
Seems like the life gain doesn't matter since they are locked down anyway and Market taps for mana.

-1 Gaea's Blessing +1 Yosei
If you only run 2 Yosei, you can't lock without High Market or Diamond Valley.  
Ex:   oath Yosei, next turn oath Yosei lock for 2 turns, next turn oath for shuffle, next turn oath Yosie... they get to untap.
3 Yosei should ensure lock without the need for another card.  However you should still play the lands as an answer to Swords and also to possibly lock a turn earlier.
Also good backup in case one gets the Swords and you don't have Wish + Brainstorm

-1 Gaea's Blessing +1 Root Maze
2 Blessing should be enough with 3 Yosei.  While 3 Maze may be enough to hard lock, it is also a valuable tool in that it buys you time to find an oath or orchard against control.  Plus it rapes the combo decks that are faster than you such as Dragon, TPS/Long/Draw7.

-1 Mana Crypt +1 Tropical Island
You don't really have anything that needs 2 or more colorless mana.  Why give your opponent a clock.

I would also find room in the SB for +1 Xantid Swarm to wish for against decks like 4cC and Mono-U.

I question the need to play more than 2 colors.  Root maze + fetchlands = the suck.  I know you have the Orchards, but you are ruining an otherwise solid manabase for 2 cards making cards like Blood Moon and Back to Basics almost game over.  Granted, replacing the tutors with blue draw may not be as optimal; perhaps 2 scroll racks or 2 Sylvan Library?

[bebe]

I agree entirely. I don't see the need for Diamond Valleys main deck. Yosei's and Root Mazes are your win condition. Living Wishes can bring in a Valley from the side or an Orchard. I doubt you will need Morphling often as a Yosei lock should be more than enough.
Have you considered Steely Resolves in the side. Might solve a few problems with StPs.

[Anusien]

The real question, again, is why run this versus the Colossus plan.  And don't tell me about the mirror match.  I understand the deck.  The question is, once you go off and put Yosei into play, assuming you get a sacrifice effect.  You're still going to have to counter everything they play for 2 turns as you would with Colossus (the tap/no untap is more trivial with the amount of free mana around, and decks like Long tending to hold back Moxen until they go off).  However, with this deck, you're going to have to continue to counter spells until they deck out.  You've been fooled by whoever wrote that preview.  Infinite turns (like Mindslaver + Bringer of the White Dawn) is a hard lock, and the correct play is to scoop in response.  Even assuming you get Yosei sacrifice every turn.  You still have to counter everything they play until they deck out (or you fetch your convulted kill mechanism from the board).  And don't tell me Root Maze, because that makes the combo harder to attain and more fragile.  This is the reason by BBS has trouble with the Keeper, and why Stasis isn't viable in T1.  There's too much sheer brokenness out there.  Let's say you're facing 'Tog playing this (or any other deck who's only real answer is countermagic: Stasis, BBS, et al).  They can easily outdraw you.  You could counter Skeletal Scrying and Naturalize, but if they slip through Yawgmoth's Win, they're going to win on sheer brokenness.  I'm going to have to agree with Smmenen here.  The goal of T1 is to play the most broken deck available, and I don't think this cuts it.  You're better off just going for Colossus, play aggro control, and protect the hell out of it for two turns, but I'm not sure how viable even that is.  If anything, you could try it as a better finisher for a control deck.

*When I say BBS, I mean basically, 4FoF, 4Morphling,  18Counterspell, 24Land.dec that I think it's Oscar wrote about on SCG
** I do actually have practical experience with Stasis.dec, in T1.5 though, not T1.  You have any idea how much of a bitch Workshop is?  No Root Maze, it dilutes the deck.  Trust me, when I say it's not viable.  Any deck where drawing cards runs contrary to the deck's aim is a bad, bad idea.

[serracollector]

ok, reasons for replies:

Diamond Valley vs High Market-Diamond Valley nets 5 life, which is importnat against decks such as Tog and Tendrils, as if they do get a chance to "go off" you will haver a much higher life total, thus making it much harder to go off.

Mana Crypt-first turn Oath.  For one mana burn I am ok.  And with gaining 5 life a turn, even if I took 3 a turn, I am ok with this.

You need all 4 Blessings as you need the blessing recursion every turn.  I can't stress this enough it seems.  And yes 2 Yosei is a lock, you need not have 3, because, you go, according to Oath, put 2nd Yosei into play, triggering Legend rule, both die immedialtly, then you drop rest of cards in grave, triggering blessing, and you shuffle both dragons in, meaning you will Oath one up next turn.  This does work I have checked the FAQ.

I have considered the fact that I need 4 Root Maze as it first turn is almost essential.  I have also considered thier negative synergy with Fetchlands.  As I said this is still a grwoing deck, so theri will be changes, thats ok its part of Magic I can't always come up with a perfect deck to go with the ideas immediatly       With these consdierations here is the current Decklist:

Knight's Legend Lockdown Oath

Draw (7)
1 x Ancestral Recall
3 x Brainstorm
3 x Impulse

Search/Utitlity (7)
3 x Living Wish
1 x Enlightened Tutor
1 x Demonic Tutor
1 x Crop Rotation
1 x Time Walk

Combo (17)
2 x Yosei, the Morning Star  
4 x Root Maze  
4 x Oath of Druids
3 x Forbidden Orchard
4 x Gaea’s Blessing

Counter Base (9)
4 x Force of Will
3 x Misdirection
2 x Daze

Mana (20)  
5 x Moxen
1 x Mana Crypt
1 x Lotus
4 x Tropical Island
2 x Tundra
1 x Underground Sea
2 x Islands
2 x Forest
2 x Yavimaya Coast

Side Board (15)
1 x Diamond Valley
1 x Forbidden Orchard
1 x Morphling
1 x Guilded Drake
11 x Metagame slots

I upped the Counterbase by one, and threw in nothing but "free" counters, as I usually need the mana for Oath first turn, and it gives me FoW x 9 instead of 4 more or less (unless they annul or something crazy).  I also am trying the no maindeck DV, and hoping the 3 living Wishes will do for now.  I dropped Mystical Tutor, as the topdeck Tutors are only needed to get Oath, cause after that I "should" be Oathing every turn, making the topdeck tutors more or less useless.  Enlightened is kept as it can be a first turn tutor for Oath/Root Maze, two of the key cards.  As for protecting the combo ro worrying about them "going off"  how are they going to get 2 mana to naturalize or do any counters other than FoW/MisD/Daze when all their mana producers come into play tapped (via Root Maze) and I tap everything down each turn and they do not get an untap step?  I would love to see Tendrils drop all the moxen into play tapped, or their city's into play tapped and still go off.  Or see tog do the same.    This deck is good.  And as you can see it's only getting better.  Thanx for the advice, those who have given it, and I will test some more, if otheres would like to pls do.  Its fun, easy and a good lock/deck.

[Anusien]

Have you, um playtested?

Sample turn.
Long: Swamp, Duress, getting your Root Maze
You: Forbidden Orchard, Mana Crypt, Oath
Them: Win  --OR--
Them: Land
You: Yosei, Living Wish, Diamond Valley, sac (I'm being generous)
Long: response to sac, ancestral.  On their turn: Mox, Land, Lotus, Death Wish, Yawg Win,  Flashback, Draw 7, random brokenness, win...

I can imagine you playing out like that because all your card choices revolve around getting the lock into place.  What you need to realize is that is's subject to disruption.  Have you tested this deck before?  Against somebody like Long, or Belcher, you can't play combo, you need to play Control.  Root Maze should not be part of the combo, it needs to be your stall plan until you can lock and win.

Too much Moxen and fast mana to make any sort of lock viable.

[serracollector]

Lets look at decklist for that answer:

Combo Deck;
4 Duress/4Force of Will/4 Xantid Swarm (being generous here)

Me:
9 Free Counters/4 Root maze

So, both of us equally have a chance of getting the first-2nd turn disruption we need.  And honestly, once a Rootmaze has hit, then only FoW is considered.  yes I have playtested.  Yes a first turn Duress hurts, but it would hurt any Oath deck I would think.  Pls do not say this does badly vs Combo, for it does not.

[Anusien]

Lets look at decklist for that answer:

Combo Deck;
4 Duress/4Force of Will/4 Xantid Swarm (being generous here)

Me:
9 Free Counters/4 Root maze

So, both of us equally have a chance of getting the first-2nd turn disruption we need.  And honestly, once a Rootmaze has hit, then only FoW is considered.  yes I have playtested.  Yes a first turn Duress hurts, but it would hurt any Oath deck I would think.  Pls do not say this does badly vs Combo, for it does not.

Assuming you don't draw it in your opneing hand, you have 5 cards that can tutor out a Root Maze.  Ideally, you'd be able to turn 1 Enlightened Tutor, turn 2 Root Maze.  But realistically, assuming you don't draw it in your opnening grip, Root Maze isn't going to hit consistently until your 2-3 turn.  You have 6 viable counters, and Daze is very conditional, and Death Wish can always go for a Simplify  I'm not saying it's an autoloss, but I think it would be a very hard matchup.

"Yes a first turn Duress hurts, but it would hurt any Oath deck I would think."  - Yes, turn 1 Duress hurts most decks.  That's why Long is viable, and I would argue that it is quickly coming up to Dragon to be part of the "standard" for Combo.  I'm not necessarily sure that you can win faster, and I don't think you have all that great a chance of stopping it.

[serracollector]

I know that I have trouble with Tendrils and BBS, if you read I put this in my original post, thus the reason why I put 4 Chalice of the Void in the Side.  Chalice for 0 really hinders (repeat hinders, I know it does not stop Tendrils) and with 4 Chalice/4 Rootmaze game 2, I am in much better shape.  Same with Belcher, as I can Chalice for 1, and the only thing it kills in my deck is Rootmaze.  If I wanted I could also run Null Rod in the Board.  Now against BBS the only "defense" I could really think of would be Choke, which is a 3cc spell just asking to be drained.  I realize this.  I am not saying this is the win all beat all deck of decks, just that it deserves a little more praise than "the newbie forum".  It can contend with some of the tier 1 decks of the meta, and quite well matter of factly.  Thats all I am saying.  If you like Tog play Tog, if you prefer 11 Collosus's play them, if you like to play lock decks, then maybe mine is for you.  Just don't discredit it and send it straight to the newbie forum cause it doesn't have Tendrils/Welder/Tog/Morphling/Collosus in it.  Some decks can win without those cards.

[Nightwind]

I am not saying this is the win all beat all deck of decks, just that it deserves a little more praise than "the newbie forum". It can contend with some of the tier 1 decks of the meta, and quite well matter of factly.

Not to rain on anyone's parade, but the deck would need to see a lot of hard playtesting before it would be able to go beyond "the newbie forum". It's nothing against you or your playstyle, it's the way this discussion board works.

Way back when 5th Dawn first came out I created an Oath "lock-down" deck and was hurting pretty bad because it needed Funeral Pyres to give my opponents creatures. I still won many games just because of my ability to play well. My deck was "so bad" that it was even moved to the Casual Forum because they decided it didn't even belong in the newbie forum.

Now we live in a Kamigawa world and have Forbidden Orchard to make things so much easier. Here's a LINK to my first post. I've already gone through and made the necessary changes to the decklist so that it would include Forbidden Orchard.

Here's the decklist:

The Combo:
4x Oath of Druids
4x Forbidden Orchard
1x Darksteel Colossus

The Lock:
3x Bringer of the White Dawn
2x Mindslaver

I said no:
4x Force of Will
3x Duress

Removal:
3x Ghastly Demise

Mandatory Vintage Cards:
2x Wasteland
1x Strip Mine

Search:
4x Brainstorm
2x Lim-Dul's Vault
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Crop Rotation
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Time Walk
1x Tinker
1x Vampiric Tutor

Get it back:
1x Regrowth
1x Gaeas Blessing
1x Yawgmoth's Will

Mana-base:
4x Tropical Island
3x Underground Sea
4x Polluted Delta
1x Island
1x Forest
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Diamond
1x Black Lotus

For those wondering why there are 3 Bringers in an Oath deck the answer is because the creature doesn't have any evasion. It's vulnerable to burn and StP. I upped the count to 3 because of this.

Sideboard:
3x Hurkyl's Recall/Stifle (depending on the meta being combo or stacker variants)
3x Oxidize
3x Tormod's Crypt
1x Sundering Titan
1x Plated Slagwurm
1x Ground Seal
3x Naturalize

Discussion:

The object of the deck is to Oath a Bringer of the White Dawn into play with 4 mana on the table and a Mindslaver in the graveyard. The FoW's and Duresses are for the early disruption and control to set up the combo. The Ghastly Demises are main-decked because of the prevalence of Goblin Welder in the area. If using the Mindslaver route as the main lock and kill it may be suggested to main-deck the Naturalizes over the GD's to make sure a main-decked Null Rod doesn't ruin your day. The lone Darksteel Colossus is just beefy and is often a 2-turn clock. I included Tinker in the deck for the Mindslavers, Crucible and Colossus.

Oath was given an early Christmas Gift this year in the form of Forbidden Orchard.

Yeah the deck it looks like it sucks, but it's a blast to play. The only reason I post the decklist here is because you posted your deck with the Title: "Lock Down Oath, very good, but needs help". I like the way your Oath deck locks the opponent down, but I would have to put it together to get a good feel of how it does against stacker normally and combo post-sideboard.

[serracollector]

Re-edited, I hope this does better a 2nd time around with the new Oath decks hitting t1.