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Author Topic: [Budget] Oath  (Read 3965 times)
Shade
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« on: April 04, 2005, 11:12:24 am »

Okay, here's my first stab at Forbidden Oath.  I used to play Oath quite a bit before the days of Akroma and Forbidden Orchard, so I have a basic understanding of how the deck works.  However, before I go plopping down about $200 on the deck, I'd like to optimize it as much as possible.  This deck is also going to be sideboardless, so I need to make it as effective at 60 cards as possible.  I have a mostly unpowered meta, so it shouldn't be too bad, and at least Oath is fun to play. Smile

Here we go...

ENGINE (6):
2 Gaea’s Blessing
4 Oath of Druids

BEATS (3):
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Platinum Angel
1 Spirit of the Night

DRAW/SEARCH (14):
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Brainstorm
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Impulse
1 Vampiric Tutor

DISRUPTION (14):
4 Counterspell
4 Duress
4 Force of Will
2 Misdirection

UTILITY (2):
1 Crop Rotation
1 Fastbond

MANA (21):
1 Chrome Mox
4 Flooded Strand/Polluted Delta
4 Forbidden Orchard
5 Island
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Diamond
1 Strip Mine
2 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea

Cards that I have considered, but ultimately decided against:

- Daze - I just like MisD more.  I've never been too fond of conditional counters, which is why I run vanilla Counterspells over Mana Leaks.  I'd run Drains if I could afford them, but alas, I cannot. Sad

- Lim-Dul's Vault - Too conditional for my tastes, and not really enough room in the deck. I prefer the 14 draw/search spells I currently have over the Vault.

- Wasteland - There just simply isn't enough room for it in the deck.  Hopefully, the sole Strip will help if a Library/Academy, or other monstrosity gets out of control.  I also added a Crop Rotation to fetch the Strip if need be, or an Orchard against a creatureless deck.

Have at it! Smile
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Mark_Story
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« Reply #1 on: April 04, 2005, 11:25:35 am »

I don't really understand the inclusion of fastbond? or crop rotation.  I can understand crop rotation more than fastbond, but is it really necessary.  If you are in a highly un-powered meta, your opponents have to play creatures.  

Another thing I would consider playing is maindeck bounce.  Either a echoing truth, rushing river, etc.  You have no way to deal with an opposing platinum angel, ensaring bridge, eon hub, etc.  Maindeck bounce will solve that.

Also I would reconsider the platinum angel maindeck.. She is slower than akroma or the spirit.  Only use her if you are having people tendrils you out, or affinity combo.  Other wise I would put her in your sideboard when it gets built.
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« Reply #2 on: April 04, 2005, 11:50:30 am »

Since you're running Accumulated Knowledge, why not Intuition? Without Intuition, AK is a slow, inconsistent draw engine that can even help your opponent if they're playing AK as well. Personally, I think that Skeletal Scrying would work much better, considering that you get just as many or more cards for less mana, and your opponent can't benefit from it.

Also, why Mox Diamond/Lotus Petal/Chrome Mox? Is it so that you can drop a first-turn Oath? If so, I'd think that those slots would be better utilized as Wastelands, as a first-turn Oath is usually only good with Forbidden Orchard, and that's not exactly reliabe.

Anyway, good luck with the deck!
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« Reply #3 on: April 04, 2005, 11:58:45 am »

Fastbond is mostly in the deck for the brokenness that can stem from it's acceleration.  It's not a "must-have" by any means, but I had an open slot anyway, so...

Crop Rotation is in to search out my Strip if need be, or an Orchard, or basically to fix my mana.  It's cheap, too, so it seems to be a good fit.

Platy I put into the MD because I don't have a SB, and I figured there are going to be games where I'm going to want her protection.  Not a "must-have" either, though.

I went with Diamond/Petal/Chrome for a shot at a first-turn Oath, and Crop Rotation to help get an early Orchard if I don't have one.  If I cut Platy and Fastbond, I could always add a couple Wastes, I guess.

I didn't really consider Scrying, though I do like the ability to pitch AK to FoW if need be.  I don't like too many non-blue cards in the deck if I have to rely heavily on an early FoW.

As for MD bounce, I really wouldn't know what to run.  Truth?  Boomerang?
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Green Knight
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« Reply #4 on: April 04, 2005, 01:03:17 pm »

Okay to start off with you do not need 2 blessings, 1 is fine.
As far as the creature base, I would drop the Platinum so you kill faster.
Also the Impulse is a nice card, however you need a draw engine. My suggestion would be to drop the Impulse, Blessing and Platinum for three Intuition’s.  Now you can AK/Intuition consistently.
21 Mana sources seems really low and as you mentioned you could not find room for Wastelands. Drop the Fastbond for a Waste and I’d drop the Vampiric as well for another waste.
That is a start and will help streamline things for you.
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Shade
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« Reply #5 on: April 04, 2005, 01:29:42 pm »

Quote from: Green Knight
Okay to start off with you do not need 2 blessings, 1 is fine.
As far as the creature base, I would drop the Platinum so you kill faster.
Also the Impulse is a nice card, however you need a draw engine. My suggestion would be to drop the Impulse, Blessing and Platinum for three Intuition’s.  Now you can AK/Intuition consistently.
21 Mana sources seems really low and as you mentioned you could not find room for Wastelands. Drop the Fastbond for a Waste and I’d drop the Vampiric as well for another waste.
That is a start and will help streamline things for you.


Is Intuition fast enough for a budget build?  There are no Drains or SoLoMoxen to accelerate it out.
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Machinus
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« Reply #6 on: April 04, 2005, 01:43:39 pm »

I won a small power tournament back in december with my build of budget oath. My metagame is mostly unpowered, and there are a lot of aggro decks, like sligh and affinity. There are some good control decks also, and one or two combo, but absolutely no workshops.

The build I used ran black but it was more controlling, since in a slower metagame you can afford to develop your manabase, draw cards, and control the board until you are ready to combo them out.

Here is the decklist I used:

4 Orchard
4 Undergroud Sea
3 Island
4 Delta
2 Tropical
3 Wasteland
1 Strip
1 Library
1 Sol Ring
4 Force
4 Drain
4 Brainstorm
4 Duress
2 Deep Analysis
2 Intuition
4 AK
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Disk (Yes, Nevinyrral's Disk)
4 Oath
2 Blessing
2 Colossus

SB:

2 Crucible
4 Mana Leak
4 Chill (I expected a LOT of sligh, and one FCG)
1 Wasteland
1 Mind Twist
3 Tormod's Crypt


Without drains, you should make some modifications, but not huge ones. I would start with your permission base:

4 FoW
4 Duress
4 Counterspell

This is probably enough, unless you are really worried about control matchups, in which case you could run 1-2 Misdirections in the sideboard. They are not very good maindeck.

My draw engine was a little reliant on drains, but you can certainly run the same cards without them.

4 Brainstorm
2 Intuition
4 AK
2 Deep
1 Demonic Tutor

This is 13 cards. You don't have Intuition in your list, but you really need to run this card in Oath. If you can't, or don't have them, your draw engine will have to change significantly. The deeps could easily be switched for something else, like Impulse, but they get milled often, which is really great.

Board Control:

4 Disk

You don't have to run disk, if the extra turn is significant in your meta. Drains help get these out quicker, so if you are up against faster aggro decks, you might consider some faster answers. You could take these out for some combination of cunning wish and removal. Disk is an extremely powerful card, especially when you have very few artifacts in your deck. One of the strongest ways to win is to play control, get a disk out, use it at the end of their turn, untap, oath, and swing with lots of counters in your hand. Most of the time you can protect your kill long enough to win.

This leaves the kill and the manabase. I seriously advocate 2 blessings for this style of deck, since without moxes, you are NOT a good combo deck. You are slow, and you play control. The second blessing is needed so you dont kill yourself, since you might end up casting one, and you don't always have brainstorm. Platinum angel is horrible maindeck, but she is good in the sideboard.

4 Oath
2 Blessing
1 Akroma
1 Spirit

The manabase is probably the hardest part to design with budget constraints. Depending on your meta, you might be able to get away with many fewer basic lands, or you might really need to run wastelands. If nonbasic hate isn't a big problem, you should run a few strip effects just so your deck can handle maze or random stuff, and so you can make better use of crucible in the sideboard.

4 Orchard
4 Underground
3 Tropical
3 Island
4-5 Fetch
1 Sol ring
1 Strip Mine
1-2 Wasteland

There is a some room left to design the deck, but really with budget constraints, the deck is far too slow to operate as a combo deck. You need to play for the control role, and only combo people out early if you have a really good opportunity. You can't afford to run suboptimal acceleration, and cards like vamp just aren't as useful without powerful cards like walk and will. If your meta is control heavy, black is a good choice. However, if you have a lot of aggro decks, consider white, as the power of BALANCE in addition to swords and seal can make your deck exceptional against those strategies.

The tournament was really small, but you can read my old report here.
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Shade
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« Reply #7 on: April 04, 2005, 02:25:37 pm »

Thanks for the advice so far everyone.  I have made some modifications, and feel this is stronger than the previous build.

ENGINE (5):
1 Gaea’s Blessing
4 Oath of Druids

BEATS (2):
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Spirit of the Night

DRAW/SEARCH (16):
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Brainstorm
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Impulse
3 Intuition

DISRUPTION (12):
4 Counterspell
4 Duress
4 Force of Will

UTILITY (1):
1 Crop Rotation

MANA (24):
1 Chrome Mox
4 Flooded Strand/Polluted Delta
4 Forbidden Orchard
5 Island
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Diamond
1 Strip Mine
2 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
3 Wasteland

I'm debating cutting the Rotation for a 2nd Blessing, but I really like the Rotation so far.  I also like the Moxen and Petal as well, so they're still in there ATM.  If I cut them, I imagine it would be for 2 more Trops and 1 more Sea.
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garlick
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« Reply #8 on: April 04, 2005, 02:46:37 pm »

I'm trying a budget version of oath with B/U/G too, but I strongly think that Intuition+Ak is too mana-intensive for a deck without mana drain. Intuition+Ak in one turn costs 5 mana! You really can't afford to wait until turn three to cast an intuition EOT and then wait another whole turn to cast an AK.

I prefer to run Skeletal Scrying, which can't be blasted, and takes less slots.
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Green Knight
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« Reply #9 on: April 04, 2005, 03:19:47 pm »

I do like the new build better than the prior one.
Machinus had some great suggestions; honestly I have not played much budget.
I really do like the Sol ring in there for additional acceleration. And I myself have run with the 2 Deep Analysis Plan, it is effective. At the very leased I’d run the Sol ring over an Island.
I really do think you can get away with 3 Intuition however.
Perhaps take out Impulses for 2 DA and a Sol Ring. This will give you a little more acceleration and more draw. Ideally you’d play the DA from the yard, so you don’t have to tap out main phase. Also this gives you more Intuition targets.
As far as removal mines mostly all sideboard, in the past I have run either 1 Engineered Explosives or 1 Pernicious Deed main deck. Other times I did play with the Cunning Wish build. I can not speak to the effectiveness of Disk as I’ve never run it in Oath.

I hope this hepls. Good luck!
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Shade
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« Reply #10 on: April 04, 2005, 03:58:19 pm »

I have removed the Impulses and added a 2nd Blessing and 3 Deep Analysis to the deck.  I'm not sure how I feel about the Analysis just yet though, so I may swap 3 Impulses back in for them later.

I'm not sold on Sol Ring in the deck just yet.  It seems to have a minimal effect in the early game, and is not very useful late game.  The other acceleration I have at least provides colored mana.  The only colorless sources my version runs so far are the strip effects.
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Khahan
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« Reply #11 on: April 04, 2005, 10:04:11 pm »

Good move adding back in the 2nd blessing.  In a budget deck, you do not have [card]timetwister[/card] to reshuffle a drawn blessing.
You simply need 2 of them.

I've been playing proxy meandeck oath with some minor changes. The biggest is the inclusion of a 3rd creature. In an unpowered metagame, I would think (as mentioned above) that you are facing a lot creature based decks.

I've simply found 3 creatures to be more stable. I've lost the occassional random game w/ out 2 creatures because I lacked that 1 more body. I have yet to lose a game because I had 1 too many (though going over 3, I feel increases the chances of putting a creature in hand and decreases the chances that you'll get the creature you need).

The [card]crop rotation[/card] (in my opinion) is not needed. I included 1 in my build initially, wondering how Meandeck had missed it. I'm guessing they play tested and found the same thing I did...it was often a dead card.
I would cut that for either plat angel or DSC.  I've also found that Phantom Nishoba can be quite good, but I think maybe the angel and DSC are simply better choices.
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Shade
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« Reply #12 on: April 07, 2005, 08:50:57 am »

I'm currently in the process of possibly acquiring some Power for the deck (Lotus and Big Blue).  If I'm able to pull it off, I'll need to modify my decklist.  I was thinking something along the lines of...

ENGINE (6):
2 Gaea’s Blessing
4 Oath of Druids

BEATS (2):
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Spirit of the Night

DRAW/SEARCH (15):
4 Accumulated Knowledge
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Brainstorm
1 Demonic Tutor
2 Impulse
3 Intuition

DISRUPTION (12):
4 Counterspell
4 Duress
4 Force of Will

UTILITY (1):
1 Time Walk

MANA (24):
1 Black Lotus
1 Chrome Mox
4 Flooded Strand/Polluted Delta
4 Forbidden Orchard
4 Island
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Diamond
1 Strip Mine
2 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
3 Wasteland

This feels really tight to me. Smile
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« Reply #13 on: April 07, 2005, 09:20:09 am »

So all of a sudden you have a lotus?

You realize that this makes your deck SO much better.  However, you also need Lion's Eye Diamond, and I feel certain you will transition to auriok salvagers/oath as soon as you playtest it.  Because you have a Black Lotus, the Salvagers build is now available, and you can go immediately to that build.  All that will involve is taking out SotN and Akroma, and other random placeholders, and putting in 4 Auriok Salvagers, LeD, and 2x Pyrite Spellbomb.  Sorry dude, but since you have the lotus now your only excuse not to run the salvagers build is gone.  Now run one of the most powerful decks in the universe!!!!!
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Shade
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« Reply #14 on: April 07, 2005, 04:56:33 pm »

Quote from: warble
So all of a sudden you have a lotus?

You realize that this makes your deck SO much better.  However, you also need Lion's Eye Diamond, and I feel certain you will transition to auriok salvagers/oath as soon as you playtest it.  Because you have a Black Lotus, the Salvagers build is now available, and you can go immediately to that build.  All that will involve is taking out SotN and Akroma, and other random placeholders, and putting in 4 Auriok Salvagers, LeD, and 2x Pyrite Spellbomb.  Sorry dude, but since you have the lotus now your only excuse not to run the salvagers build is gone.  Now run one of the most powerful decks in the universe!!!!!


I'm selling a friend's collection for him, so he may be hooking me up with a Lotus, Ancestral, and Walk at a good price ($1000 for all 3).

I'm actually not familiar with the Auriok Salvager version of Oath.  Is there somewhere I can read up about this?
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« Reply #15 on: April 07, 2005, 05:44:39 pm »

Quote from: Shade
Quote from: warble
So all of a sudden you have a lotus?

You realize that this makes your deck SO much better.  However, you also need Lion's Eye Diamond, and I feel certain you will transition to auriok salvagers/oath as soon as you playtest it.  Because you have a Black Lotus, the Salvagers build is now available, and you can go immediately to that build.  All that will involve is taking out SotN and Akroma, and other random placeholders, and putting in 4 Auriok Salvagers, LeD, and 2x Pyrite Spellbomb.  Sorry dude, but since you have the lotus now your only excuse not to run the salvagers build is gone.  Now run one of the most powerful decks in the universe!!!!!


I'm selling a friend's collection for him, so he may be hooking me up with a Lotus, Ancestral, and Walk at a good price ($1000 for all 3).

I'm actually not familiar with the Auriok Salvager version of Oath.  Is there somewhere I can read up about this?


Basically, it's a build of Oath that seeks to Oath out their Salvager and combo out with a Lotus or LED in the graveyard... you can read more about it here: "A Better Creature Set for Oath" -- TheManaDrain Forums
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Shade
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« Reply #16 on: April 09, 2005, 03:04:39 pm »

Whoa, new template! :shock:

Anyway, I'm still in limbo right now about the power cards, so I'll post my "final" budget Oath:

ENGINE (6):
2 Gaea’s Blessing
4 Oath of Druids

BEATS (2):
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Spirit of the Night

DRAW/SEARCH (16):
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Brainstorm
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Impulse
3 Intuition

DISRUPTION (12):
4 Counterspell
4 Duress
4 Force of Will

MANA (24):
1 Chrome Mox
4 Flooded Strand/Polluted Delta
4 Forbidden Orchard
4 Island
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Diamond
1 Strip Mine
2 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
4 Wasteland

I tried out the Deep Analysis, but just wasn't impressed with it.  It felt slow and clunky, and I didn't like the life loss, either.

I'm still not sure about Skeletal Scrying, either.  I just like Intuition/AK more.

If I end up getting the Power, should I maybe trade the Walk or Recall for a playset of Drains?
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TheAlpha
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« Reply #17 on: April 10, 2005, 04:55:56 am »

Have you tried out Mana Crypt? I'm actually going to test it myself in my oath build. Playing first turn oaths/intuitions is quite strong.
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Mark_Story
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« Reply #18 on: April 10, 2005, 01:34:43 pm »

If you end up with the power, and have to trade one of them for drains, I would trade the walk.  I feel ancestral is much stronger than walk, and usually makes a greater impact on the game.  Plus walk for a playset of drains is a more fair trade money wise as well.

This kind of comment should be kept to PM
-Jacob
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Shade
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« Reply #19 on: April 13, 2005, 06:57:00 pm »

Well, I've decided to go with Scryings instead of Intuition/AK.  It's just too slow an engine, especially w/o Drains.

Problem is, what to replace the AKs with?  3 Scryings come in for the 3 Intuitions, but that leaves 4 spots open.  How about...Cabal Therapy?  The only other options that come to mind are Mana Leak and Sleight of Hand.  Thoughts?

ENGINE (6):
2 Gaea’s Blessing
4 Oath of Druids

BEATS (2):
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Spirit of the Night

DRAW/SEARCH (12):
4 Brainstorm
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Impulse
3 Skeletal Scrying

DISRUPTION (16):
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Counterspell
4 Duress
4 Force of Will

MANA (24):
1 Chrome Mox
4 Flooded Strand/Polluted Delta
4 Forbidden Orchard
4 Island
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Diamond
1 Strip Mine
2 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
4 Wasteland
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Mark_Story
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« Reply #20 on: April 14, 2005, 10:32:15 am »

Instead of adding therapies, have you thought about adding maindeck bounce?  There are quite a number of hate cards for oath that are permanents, Ensaring bridge, spawning pool, ring of gix, oath destruction, worship.  Furthermore, it can helps slow your opponents down, bouncing a seasinger, control magic.  Just something to think about.  I've always found that one of oath's weaknesses was that it had no way to deal with permanents that slip throught the counter wall.
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« Reply #21 on: April 15, 2005, 08:22:46 am »

I've been testing a similar version of Budget Oath and I have found that either Rushing River or Echoing Truth does infact help the deck. I strongly would advise you to play one of those two.
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Shade
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« Reply #22 on: April 16, 2005, 01:20:10 am »

I don't know how "budget" this is anymore, but I managed to get the "Big Blue" and am likely going to sell/trade it to build my powerless Oath w/a set of Drains (right now, I only have about $50 worth of the cards for the deck).

Here's my revised version.  Now that I have the ability to get Drains, Intuition/AK is going back in. Smile

ENGINE (6):
2 Gaea’s Blessing
4 Oath of Druids

BEATS (2):
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Spirit of the Night

DRAW/SEARCH (16):
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Brainstorm
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Impulse
3 Intuition

DISRUPTION (12):
4 Duress
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain

MANA (24):
1 Chrome Mox
4 Flooded Strand/Polluted Delta
4 Forbidden Orchard
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Diamond
1 Strip Mine
4 Tropical Island
4 Underground Sea
4 Wasteland

So, any more suggestions, or should I roll with this?  Is there any real reason to play basic Islands over a set of Trops/Seas?  What should I start to look at in terms of a sideboard (assume a fully-powered meta w/the best decks available; I like to prepare for all possibilities Wink ). Smile
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Machinus
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« Reply #23 on: April 16, 2005, 01:23:16 am »

Now that you are getting drains, your available cardpool is almost exactly what mine was in December. I would consider several of the cards I ran in that list, especially Disk. Disk is incredible against aggro and artifact acceleration.
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« Reply #24 on: April 16, 2005, 10:55:25 am »

Now that you are getting drains, your available cardpool is almost exactly what mine was in December. I would consider several of the cards I ran in that list, especially Disk. Disk is incredible against aggro and artifact acceleration.

What would I pull for it?  Also, why Disk over Deed, since the deck runs both B and G?
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Machinus
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« Reply #25 on: April 16, 2005, 11:13:20 am »

Disk is better because you can lay it with drain mana and still be able cast a counter or draw spell. Deed takes 2 turns to activate anyway since you have to pay the 3 and then the X. Disk comes down and completely clears the board, and actually is much easier to cast in a deck like this.

Disk is also superior against decks running stifle. That isn't actually much of a bonus but you need as much resiliency as possible in an unpowered deck. Disk takes their entire board, and none of yours. Budget oath is not combo, it is a control deck. Sometimes you can duress/brainstorm and then lay the oath and overpower them, but your main plan of attack should be to develop your manabase, draw cards, and counter/disk their threats. Then you oath, while keeping control.

EDIT: Here is the direction I think you should take the deck.

-4 Impulse
-1 Lotus Petal
-1 Chrome Mox
-1 Mox Diamond
-2 Tropical Island

+4 Disk
+2 Deep Analysis
+1 Sol Ring
+1 Blue Fetch
+1 Island

You need at least one basic island. Also, you don't need green mana except for Oath, and you have orchards for that, so you can cut some trops. Sol Ring really helps with the draw spells, and getting a disk out a turn earlier. Impulse just isn't as good without moxes, and there is enough draw for a control deck like this. Depending on whether you see more control & combo or aggro & workshop decks, you could cut either the fourth duress or fourth disk for another mana source.
« Last Edit: April 16, 2005, 03:48:43 pm by Machinus » Logged

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« Reply #26 on: April 17, 2005, 12:21:28 pm »

Y'know, I was just thinking today about Null Rod.  This deck runs very few necessary artifacts (thus the lack of a present Academy).  Rather than run Disk, why not run Rod?  In fact, if I cut the 2 NewMoxen and Petal, there are no artifacts at all in this deck! :shock: Cool

ENGINE (6):
2 Gaea’s Blessing
4 Oath of Druids

BEATS (2):
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Spirit of the Night

DRAW/SEARCH (12):
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Brainstorm
1 Demonic Tutor
3 Intuition

DISRUPTION (16):
4 Duress
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Null Rod

MANA (24):
6 Flooded Strand/Polluted Delta
4 Forbidden Orchard
3 Island
1 Strip Mine
2 Tropical Island
4 Underground Sea
4 Wasteland
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« Reply #27 on: April 18, 2005, 11:50:32 am »

I'm also working on a super-budget U/G version of the deck, sans Drains.  In fact, there's not really much that you can Drain into with this deck, so it may be a bit of a detriment to run it (blasphemy, i know Wink ).

Anywho, here it is.  I'd really like advice on this one:

ENGINE (6):
2 Gaea’s Blessing
4 Oath of Druids

BEATS (2):
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Spirit of the Night

DRAW/SEARCH (12):
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Brainstorm
4 Intuition

DISRUPTION (16):
4 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Leak
4 Null Rod

MANA (24):
4 Flooded Strand
4 Forbidden Orchard
7 Island
1 Strip Mine
4 Tropical Island
4 Wasteland

I think pretty much everything is self-explanatory.  The only unusual additions to the deck are Null Rod and Mana Leak.  The Leak is not too bad, but I'm wondering if I should replace it with some MD bounce instead?  The Rods haven't been tried yet, but I can't help but think they could be nice tech against a powered meta, especially since this deck runs no artifacts itself.  Should I try to make room for Impulse to dig faster into the deck?

Also, is there any real reason not to run a full set of Trops?  How many could I safely get away with at a minimum?  I don't think i would feel comfortable with any less than 2 against decks running a full set of Strips/Wastes.

Has anyone considered running a solitary Crucible of Worlds to replay used Strips/Wastes?  Or is the card too narrow?
« Last Edit: April 18, 2005, 12:03:46 pm by Shade » Logged
JamesPr
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« Reply #28 on: April 18, 2005, 07:16:43 pm »

I'd like to add that playing using only one Tropical Island in U/G Oath hasn't been that difficult in my testing.  If you're budget, usually all you need to do is fetch up a Tropical Island when you're in need of a green source, which usually only happens when you want to play Oath, and you're all set.

Also, how crucial is it to run two Gaea's Blessings?  Help recurring your Oathed creatures is powerful, but can adding another one do more harm than good?
« Last Edit: April 18, 2005, 07:25:48 pm by JamesPr » Logged

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« Reply #29 on: April 18, 2005, 08:47:37 pm »

I'd like to add that playing using only one Tropical Island in U/G Oath hasn't been that difficult in my testing.  If you're budget, usually all you need to do is fetch up a Tropical Island when you're in need of a green source, which usually only happens when you want to play Oath, and you're all set.

Also, how crucial is it to run two Gaea's Blessings?  Help recurring your Oathed creatures is powerful, but can adding another one do more harm than good?

Being unpowered, I think 2 Blessings is a necessity.  At the very least, I feel better having 2 in there. Wink

I think I may cut to 2 Trops.  I'm just weary of all my Orchards and Trops getting Striped/Wasted.  This will give me 6 green sources to 5 strip effects.

I'm working on adding Echoing Trth to the MD, and moving the Rods to the SB, as I expect a primarily aggro-based meta.  Some other SB ideas include:

1 Irridescent Angel
4 Null Rod
1 Platinum Angel
1 Pristine Angel
4 Stifle

I'm not really sure what else to run. Confused
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