[Discussion] Lotus or Recall?

[Shade]

As some of you may have seen, I've been working on a U/G Oath deck, but I have a dilemma.  I have a Black Lotus and Ancestral Recall, but no Mana Drains.  I have no more $$$ to sink into the deck, and won't for quite some time, and I plan on playing in some tourneys soon.  So, I'm wondering if the deck would be stronger if I let one of these go to acquire a playset of Drains.  Should I do this, or is the deck stronger with the Lotus and Recall instead?  If I get rid of one of my pieces of Power for some Drains, which one should go?

Here's the current deck list:

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

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

DRAW/SEARCH (17):
4 Accumulated Knowledge
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Brainstorm
2 Cunning Wish
2 Impulse
4 Intuition

DISRUPTION (12):
4 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Leak

MANA (24):
1 Black Lotus
2 Flooded Strand
4 Forbidden Orchard
5 Island
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Diamond
2 Polluted Delta
1 Sol Ring
1 Strip Mine
2 Tropical Island
4 Wasteland

SIDEBOARD (15):
1 Ancient Hydra
2 Echoing Truth
3 Ground Seal
1 Iridescent Angel
2 Misdirection
2 Naturalize
1 Platinum Angel
1 Pristine Angel
2 Stifle

Any help would be appreciated.  I'd like to finish this deck ASAP so the faster the response, the better.

[crazynlazy]

IMO you should trade the lotus and (provided it's in good condition) trade it for a few drains and a mox or something. In your other thread you said something about trading your ancestral for a set of drains, don't do it that's like giving someone 500$ for their 360$. Also unless the other person is trading way up don't trade your power.

[Machinus]

The recall is much much better. Sell the lotus and buy drains and another piece of power.

[Shade]

So, the consensus seems to be to definitely keep the Recall and move the Lotus for Drains and more Power, or $$$.

If I were to go after another piece of Power, which would be better in the deck -- Walk or Sapphire?

[Machinus]

Sapphire.

[Ben Kossman]

Keep them both and just proxy the Drains. If I had Lotus and Recall I'd be pretty happy.
Be patient and you'll get the drains eventually...

[Freelancer]

I would keep them as well, drains aren't the most essential parts in oath.

[Corndog]

If your build of oath, Mana Drains are very lack luster. You have very few sources to pump the colorless into. I'd run counterspell over drain. It would help fuel your impulses/aks and cunning wishes. But that would all be done during your main phases. It "can" lead to a broken tun, but more often then not you'll just end up burning.

Even with the intuition/ak or Intuition deep analysis version, drain mana wasn't always good cause it meant using mana on my own turn, which is really bad unless its oath.

[virtual]

I think the answer here is hard to give, because it really depends on yours situation.   

Is this the deck that you will be playing for the next 3 months?  The next 3 years?    (Some tog players haven't ever
quit)

If this is the deck that you think you'll be playing, then maybe you can say that Drains might not be optimal (or in this deck, perhaps this isn't the optimal deck for drains ((Note, I don't necessarily agree that oath doesn't use drain mana well, but thats another topic))  )  Are you going to move towards other blue-based control decks?  If so, maybe you want to get drains.  Lotus is pretty much good in anything, with everything else being varying degrees of usefullness depending on what sort of decks you choose to play.  If you know a particular decklist, or archetype, etc that you want to tend towards, go that route.

How many proxies is your meta-game.  How close are you to that.  Will diversifying into more cards help you play your deck the way you choose?  Is this not a concern?

In the future, assuming you care to obtain all of the power, is your income going to be more suited towards single purchases of large pieces of power (perhaps from scholarship money, or gifts), or will you be getting a little at a time and have to earn it.  (mc-job style)  How good are you at saving up for a large purchase like a lotus

If selling down is going to make you never get your lotus back, but patience is going to end you up with both, consider that. 

Break the problem down, look at the variables, logically and emotionally, then determine your best course of action.
-Virtual

[Shade]

I plan on playing this deck for quite some time.  I really like the U/G version and don't want to go the route of having to add black for Skeletal Scrying, so I'm a bit worried that the Intuition/AK and Wish method will be too slow in a Drainless deck.  I'm also not allowed any proxies.

So, am I overrating Drains?  Can I get by w/o them?

[Khahan]

Shade,
I own 1 mana drain and play the U/G Oath. I cut the intuitions down to 2 and am tinkering with replacing Ak with Serum Visions.  I've gotten mixed results. Generally, the Serum visions is better than ak. However, there are times when I'd prefer not to have to play to serum visions on my turn 1. It loses a tad of flexibility since its a sorcery.

My deck is pretty solid and works really well. Its done just fine in mirror matches and great in all other play testing.
I would say put counterspell in place of the drains if you run out of proxy space. Cut the Intuitions down to 2 and cut the cunning wishes.  That gives you 3-6 (depends on how many intuitions and wishes you ran) card slots with which to tighten up you deck. If your deck is tightened up, then you don't need to rely on the cunning wish to pull stuff from your SB for a win.

I'm not advocating cutting AK for Serum Visions as my play testing has not convinced me of which is better (though visions is pretty nice). But its just a good example that you have a lot of options to use in those cards slots you are opening up.

[Geet]

never never never ever get rid of your power.  I can guarantee that you will regret it at some point.  This comes from personal experience, trust me.  Get a 2nd job, sell some plasma, pick up pennies off the street, sell your type 2 collection, or whatever to get the drains.  But trust me, DO NOT sell/trade the power.

[Yawgmoths_Dummy]

Here is another thought.
It would be a real bummer to off the Lotus for 4 Drains and some other T1 goodness, just to have the Drains get restricted later on down the road. I know they are not restricted now, I don't even think they are on the watch list?? But how many people have posted on how Drain needs to be banned? And since I've been playing Magic, (1995), Lotus, nor Recall have gone down in price.
I played U/G Oath for awhile without Drains, with very good results, and never really missed 'em that bad.