5CC-Oath-X

[dicemanx]

After a few months of success with my version of Keeper, I have decided to post it here on TMD. I do so because I'm planning to stop playing the deck in my meta for a while, and also because I know that if I come back to it in my meta it will be almost of no advantage to my opponents if they know the list. The deck is flexible enough that it cannot really be metagamed against. First, the list:


5CC-Oath-X
========

the combo (8)
=========

4x Oath of Druids
1x Tinker
1x Darksteel Collosus
1x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1x creature #3 (see below)


disruption/removal (13)
===============

4x Force of Will
4x Mana Drain
2x Cunning Wish
3x Swords to Plowshares


Tutors/card drawing/utility (13)
====================

1x Ancestral Recall
1x Time Walk
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Yawgmoth's Will
4x Brainstorm
1x Fact or Fiction
2x Skeletal Scrying
1x Crucible of Worlds

Mana (27)
=======

1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Pearl
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Emerald
1x Sol Ring

1x Library of Alexandira
4x Wasteland
1x Strip Mine

4x Forbidden Orchard
1x City of Brass
4x Polluted Delta
1x Underground Sea
1x Tundra
1x Volcanic Island
1x Tropical Island
1x Island


SB (15)
=====

1x Skeletal Scrying
1x Swords to Plowshares
1x Disenchant
1x Blue Elemental Blast
2x Red Elemental Blast
2x Rack and Ruin
2x Engineered Explosives
2x Energy Flux
2x Tormod's Crypt
1x Platinum Angel

other SB options:

Ground Seal
Ancient Tomb (see below)

For creature #3, I have tried Spirit of the Night, Crosis the Purger, and Exalted Angel. I would also consider Ancient Hydra and Morphling.


So why 5CC-Oath?
============

It is very difficult these days to make a pure control deck work, especially one so vulnerable to non-basic hate. To be successful, control decks need to run some sort of combo in order to maintain some flexibility and have a so called "two pronged attack". They can either strive to outdraw and outcontrol the opposing deck, or they can try to combo out and end the game quickly. We've seen the successes that control-combo decks have had, both in the past (Hulk), and more recently (Control Slaver, Meandeck Oath). Keeper has tried to go down this path in a number of ways, from attempting to abuse Grim Monolith/Power Artifact,  "going off" with Future Sight, quickly beating down with unmorphed Exalted Angels, or even squeezing in the Tinker-Collosus combo. I have attempted to use the Oath engine in Keeper while retaining much of the flexibility. The Oath engine overlaps nicely with the Tinker-DSC combo, and the deck still retains its Keeper identity (in other words, its still very much a Yawgmoth's Will deck, along with maintaining the balance between counterspells and removal). The Tinker/Oath is probably the best answer to two problem areas for Keeper - mana denial/non-basic hate, and fast aggro strategies, including Workshop aggro decks. Sometimes the best solution to a given problem is not to keep fighting to establish control, but just combo off and win. Such flexibility comes at a price of course. The mana base is especially fragile in this deck, and the color requirements can be problematic at times. Despite this, the allure of this deck for me is both the challenge in playing it, and the fact that it is very difficult to fight against, and even properly sideboard against. Access to all five colors gives the deck some very powerful tools, and you're not so dependent on your Oath mechanism to win.  


Explanation of card choices
==================

1. The Tinker/Oath combo mechanism - As I mentioned, there is a very nice overlap between the Tinker Collosus and Oath combo. This makes DSC a given in the deck, although I like to have at least two other non-artifact creatures to help avoid any issues with Welders if I find that I cannot locate my removal in time. I choose to run a third creature over a Gaea's Blessing in the deck, not only because of Yawgmoth's Will, but also because I want to  make sure I can win past at least two StP or Maze of Ith. I also want to play a castable creature in addition to Akroma, which is why I have used both Exalted or Crosis in the deck as creature #3 in the past. I wouldn't hesitate to play Morphling in the deck though, as it would ensure that I wouldn't have any issues with targeted removal/Mazes. The Tinker component of the combo ensures that I do not have to rely on Oaths to win; furthermore, if DSC is in play already or in my hand, fetching a Crucible of Worlds or Black Lotus with Tinker to power a Yawgmoth's Will gives Tinker additional things to do.


2. Card drawing "engines" - While the deck might seem light on card drawing at first glance compared to a deck like Meandeck Oath, it has a number of resources available to gain card advantage. Aside from the obvious LoA, Ancestral Recall, and Fact or Fiction, there are two Skeletal Scryings with access to another via the two Cunning Wishes. Yawgmoth's Will is another obvious mass card advantage card, and the signature card of any Keeper deck. Finally, there is the Crucible of Worlds, which alone is capable of gaining substantial card advantage and even comboing out your opponent via mana denial. CoW can also ensure that you will win any LoA or Forbidden Orchard wars, which are quite important in "mirror" matches or any other control on control matches. I actually wish I could run at least two more CoWs in this deck, but there is nothing I'd want to cut for them at this time.

3. The disruption - One advantage that Keeper has over a deck like mono-U or U/G-Oath is the fact that Keeper runs counterspells *and* removal for anything that slips through in the early part of the game. This means that a resolved Welder or Waterfront Bouncer, or any other problematic permanent including Oathed/Tinkered up creatures can be dealt with via either StP or Cunning Wish.  I have a very high StP count because pin-point removal is very strong right now. Aside from combo, every other major archetype runs creatures, so maindeck StP are hardly a wasted slot. The are not even a complete waste in some match-ups against combo, as they have the ability to generate a life buffer if Tinker or Oath with Orchard can be played early enough. They are obviously excellent against Dragon as well, a powerful combo deck that continues to be largely ignored despite its amazing successes when it actually gets played by competent players.

Post SB, the deck gets even stronger as far as the removal is concerned. Of note are the Engineered Explosives, a very underused card in the environment right now. Explosives can not only help deal with problematic creatures (Welder in particular), but they can remove problem enchantments, especially Blood Moon and opposing Oaths if they gain an Orchard advantage over you. They are also effective in dealing with less frequently seen archetypes that can always pose some problems, such as Parfait and Affinity. Aside from Explosives, there is access to some powerful artifact hate, which can be supplemented with even more copies of RnR or Flux if need be. To circumvent the Trinisphere problem (if the number of Workshop decks are high in the environment), a perfect choice for the SB would be 3-4 copies of Ancient Tomb along with sufficient copies of RnR/Flux. Tombs are another option of fighting past Trini without having to play a huge number of basic lands. With Tombs, you only really need a fetchland followed by a Tomb and you're in business.

The astute reader might notice that this deck is quite weak against non-Dragon combo decks. This is a calculated risk on my part. Tendrils-based Combo is not played frequently in my local metagame as there aren't too many players competent enough to pilot Tendrils based decks properly, and furthermore there are enough problematic hate cards played in the environment (Null Rod, CotV, Trinisphere, etc) that discourages it from being played. If it ever starts to get played in sufficient numbers, either this deck would have to be abandoned, or some powerful anti-combo tools would have to be introduced into the SB (with most likely Arcane Lab leading the way behind the REBs, although CotV and even Null Rod are definite possibilities, as Keeper runs a *huge* number of mana sources - 27!). I do have Platinum Angel in there as a safety precaution right now, and if I were to face Deathlong or Doomsday I'd have to try to make a fight out of it by SBing in the Angel and the REBs.

4. The mana base - this is certainly the weak point in the deck. The good news is that Keeper runs 27 mana sources, with a high land count, so even if the mana is disrupted (via Null Rod or Wastes for example), you have a good chance of top-decking into more land. Furthermore, the Oath combo gives you the chance to fight CoW locks by just winning past the non-basic hate. Alternately, the lone CoW and the Tinker can contribute to some mana stability. The lone Island is of some help, allowing you to at least use your Cunning Wish to fetch a BEB if there are issues with Blood Moon game 1. In any case, as I said above, the rickety mana base is a calculated risk. Sometimes it will come back and bite you in the behind, but the hope is that the flexibility in having access to all colors and the powerful win mechanism will more than make up for it.



The Match-ups
==========

There is little sense in presenting deck by deck analysis of match-ups with all of the major archetypes when it comes to Keeper-style decks. Apart from Tendrils-based combo decks (and only becuase of SB metagame decisions), 5CC-Oath-X is designed to go at least 50/50 with every deck archetype, with those numbers pushed in your favor depending on how you decide to metagame against the field. Keeper grants you the opportunity to outplay your opponent and survive anything they throw at you either via your disruption/removal, or through your combo kill(s). The flexibility can also be quite confusing to your opponent - he might be trying to fight your Oath mechanism with his sideboarding choices only to end up losing to Yawgmoth's Will, Crucible lock, or Tinker-Collosus. The fact that 5CC-Oath is highly customizable makes it difficult to meta against, which is why I'm not too bothered by releasing the decklist. Some might argue that the deck tries to do too much and loses some focus, but I look at it another way - the deck is highly focused in the sense that it only plays cards that either generate broken plays or combos, or plays cards that disrupt your opponent in his attempt at going broken. The only difference is that this deck has many avenues of attack and defense, which makes it not only a blast to play (with all the variety) but makes games much more interactive and actually requires some thought and foresight.  



Cards that I sometimes miss MD
=====================

Gaea's Blessing (I very rarely miss this card, but I did have some odds-defying loses because of a lack of Blessing recently)

Krosan Reclamation (without a Blessing, sometimes you mill cards that might be too important, especially Yawgmoth's Will - I'd run the Reclamation just for the Will alone, although it is really just a win-more card so not in Keeper's style - its only useful once you're actually comboing off)

Mind Twist (I miss the early game brokenness that this card gives on occasion, and the opportunity that it gives you to clear removal from your opponent's hand in the early-mid game)

CoWs #2-3 (CoWs are very powerful in any control deck playing fetchlands and a full set of Wasteland/Strip Mine - I am always trying to find room for more. CoW is hardly bothered by opposing basic lands. It doesn't just have a "lock" function - it serves primarily as a mana stabilizer/card advantage engine that almost rivals LoA, and with a Wasteland it serves as pinpoint removal to either cut off an opposing color or win Orchard/LoA/Wasteland wars)

[Negator13]

Have you ever tried cutting the CoB, 1-2 Wastelands, and maybe another non-land card for 3-4 more Islands? As it is, I don't see how you'll be able to win through a resolved Blood Moon, B2B, or Crucible.

I like the idea behind the deck but I think you're running too many creatures. If you Oath up a DSC then haven't you defeated the purpose of running Akroma/SotN (to get a two-turn kill).

Maybe you should try cutting a color (probably red) to ease mana and consistency issues.

But, hey, you said you've been running it like this for a few months successfully so maybe it works for you the way it is.

[dicemanx]

Have you ever tried cutting the CoB, 1-2 Wastelands, and maybe another non-land card for 3-4 more Islands? As it is, I don't see how you'll be able to win through a resolved Blood Moon, B2B, or Crucible.

Whether I have 1 Island in play or 2-3 won't make much of a difference if I'm cut off from other colors. This deck seems to have just enough adequate resources to fight past the hate, including just winning (via Oath) or via the SB artifact/enchantment hate or BEB/REBs.

I like the idea behind the deck but I think you're running too many creatures. If you Oath up a DSC then haven't you defeated the purpose of running Akroma/SotN (to get a two-turn kill).

You don't need a turn 2 Akroma/SotN kill to win. In fact, in all of my matches, I don't recall any instances where I regretted not being able to kill so quickly. I debated whether to cut the Tinker and DSC and add a Blessing, but the Tinker is just too good to omit and gives you another avenue of attack.

Maybe you should try cutting a color (probably red) to ease mana and consistency issues.

But, hey, you said you've been running it like this for a few months successfully so maybe it works for you the way it is.

I debated cutting colors, but then I'd just end up with either Meandeck Oath or Jaco's BUG version. There's actually little sense in cutting just a *single* color. The trick is to not be so overdependent on a color in case you get cut off from it. But, as I said, and as you pointed out again, it somehow has been working well enough so far, and while I certainly do lose the occasional game due to my mana-base, I feel that the flexibility has more than made up for it. I haven't faced too many B2B (because mono-U never succeeded here and Meandeck Oath just doesn't do well at all), but my environment is rife with MD Blood Moons, CoWs, and Wastelands.

[ump]

I think rather than cutting CoB, you should be adding CoB (by at least one or two) to stop being blocked off by colors.  It would probably be blaphemy if I suggested cutting a Wasteland or Library of Alexandria for it, so how about cutting Volcanic Island?  I am not suggesting cutting off red completely, because you would still have the Orchards and the CoB.  You just won't be able to fetch for a red land.  Oxidize isn't a bad substitute for Rack and Ruin, and then you only have Red Elemental Blast that needs the red support.

One other choice that I question is Fact or Fiction over Intuition.  Intuition gets you the card you need and has helped immensely in the traditional Oath decks (especially to get Orchard or Oath).

I probably shouldn't even mention the 61 cards over 60...

[ruken]

Rather than buggering with fetchlands and duals, why not just lean more heavily on 4x City of Brass and 4x Forbidden Orchard, then some basic islands and whatnot?  This'll make you more resistant to Sundering Titan than 4/5cc has any right to be.

Other than that, I don't like Library of Alexandria, but that's in decks that run 2-3 five color mana producers, not 8.

It's funny, but Keeper used to be the 'broken stuff' deck.  Its current incarnation looks positively balanced, and all the other decks are doing the broken stuff.

Kevin

[dicemanx]

I think rather than cutting CoB, you should be adding CoB (by at least one or two) to stop being blocked off by colors.  It would probably be blaphemy if I suggested cutting a Wasteland or Library of Alexandria for it, so how about cutting Volcanic Island?  I am not suggesting cutting off red completely, because you would still have the Orchards and the CoB.  You just won't be able to fetch for a red land.  Oxidize isn't a bad substitute for Rack and Ruin, and then you only have Red Elemental Blast that needs the red support.

The deck did originally have 2 additional CoB (instead of a Wasteland and Island). The suggestion of cutting the Volcanic is always a thought, although RnR is sometimes necessary to overcome CotV for 1 or 2 so being able to fetch out a red color is of some importance. The idea of just dropping the RnRs and upping the Flux count (along with adding the Ancient Tombs) is always something I consider. The only problem with that strategy is that I might want to be siding in RnRs against decks that aren't so artifact heavy (Landstill, for example), but still run artifacts that are very dangerous (primarily CoW and CotV).

Again, the are many possible metagame decisions that could be made with this deck. The MD and SB are hardly set in stone, and I in fact tinker with this deck quite often depending on what I expect to face.

One other choice that I question is Fact or Fiction over Intuition.  Intuition gets you the card you need and has helped immensely in the traditional Oath decks (especially to get Orchard or Oath).

I think that Intuition makes more sense in the more single-minded Oath decks that run the AK draw engine. I'm not entirely sure it would be such a great fit here, and FoF is a tough card to cut. Perhaps if I ramped up the CoW count to 3, then Intuition would gain in value, although it would always compete with Vampiric Tutor in function.

I probably shouldn't even mention the 61 cards over 60...

This isn't too much of an issue in Keeper-style decks, where having access to a wide array of threats/answers can supercede the maximization of the probabilites of drawing any one card. There is nothing I'd really want to cut, although the first card on the chopping block would likely be a mana source (Sol Ring most likely).

[CSeraph]

I've toyed with somewhat similar 5C decks, but my meta is not competitive so I can't say I've developed them... have you considered Gifts Ungiven? I don't think the card has been properly exploited as yet, and the 5C base offers a lot of potential power.

At minimum, a good default choice is four moxen. Explosive vegetation isn't type 1 playable, but having it as an option on a card that plays eot or off a drain, gets the mana untapped, thins your library of 4 mana, sets up Will and is blue makes it a lot better.

If mana-fixing is the issue, Gifts for Delta/Strand/City of Brass/Forbidden Orchard gives you any color you need.

Against non-control decks, Gifts at end of turn for Card X/Black Lotus/Regrowth/Will is at minimum a tutor that pays for the tutored card, if they give you X and Lotus, or more than that if they give you something else... giving you Regrowth/Lotus will usually set off Will, and any other combination is pretty incredible.

'X' can be a lot of broken stuff in this deck - balance, tinker, crucible, rack and ruin or isochron scepter all come to mind as options.

Against control, the generic +1 card advantage is unexciting but solid... whether you try to do something broken (and risk dropping a bunch of bombs in the grave) or just get mana/brainstorms will depend on the situation, although eot fetching some bombs and blessing, and blessing back the bombs after use is cute .