[Discussion] The Question of Oath?

[HuntedWumpus]

Since its reintroduction into the vintage format several months ago, Oath has proven its worth and should be considered as a constant contender and piece of the current vintage gauntlet. Several schools of though have arisen basing oath as  control build, or a neo-combo deck featuring a quick strike. Each build of course has an environment that suites it best, but looking at the future with cards such as Pithing Needle sure to alter the format, where should Oath be going from here? Below are good samples of several different, and successful oath builds.


Meandeck Oath (Sorry if this is outdated, I was unable to locate a Current list that reflected the original build)

1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Spirit of the Night
1 Gaea's Blessing
4 Oath of Druids
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Mana Leak
2 Misdirection
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Intuition
4 Accumulated Knowledge
1 Time Walk
2 Impulse
4 Brainstorm

1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Strip Mine
2 Wasteland
4 Forbidden Orchard
4 Blue fetchlands
1 Tropical Island
5 Island

Sideboard
1 Pristine Angel
1 Iridescent Angel
1 Platinum Angel
3 Energy Flux
3 Ground Seal
2 Arcane Laboratory
2 Back to Basics
2 Control Magic

DOA aka BHWC Oath

4 Oath of Druids
2 Gaea’s Blessing
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Spirit of the Night
4 Duress
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
2 Misdirection
4 Brainstorm
2 Skeletal Scrying
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Demonic Tutor
2 Cunning Wish
1 Time Walk
2 Metagame Slots (daze, 1 misd/wish, stifle)

1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
1 Library of Alexandria
4 Forbidden orchard
1 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
3 Island
1 Swamp
3 Polluted Delta
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Black Lotus

Sideboard:
1 Platinum Angel
1 Pristine Angel
1 Ancient Hydra
1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Echoing Truth
1 Stifle
3 Arcane Laboratory
1 Ray of Revelation
3 Rack and Ruin
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Skeletal Scrying


Furnace Oath

4 Oath of Druids
1 Gaea’s Blessing
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Ancient Hydra
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
3 Misdirection
3 Mana Leak
4 Brainstorm
4 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Ancestral Recall
3 Chalice of the Void
3 Phyrexian Furnace
1 Time Walk

1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Black Lotus
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Strip Mine
2 Wasteland
1 Tropical Island
4 Island
4 Flooded Strand
4 Forbidden Orchard

Sideboard:
1 Iridescent Angel
1 Pristine Angel
1 Platinum Angel
3 Rack and Ruin
3 Arcane Laboratory
3 Energy Flux
3 Ground Seal


In my opinion DOA or Furnace are closer to the optimum build for oath in the current state of the metagame. Currently Duress is very strong, and oath packing duress has a much easier time safely playing and winning off the second turn oath. Playing the quick style of game, can turn oath into a potentially very explosive and aggressive deck if need be; however it can still revert back to its control roots.

When looking at the black splash, first you need to decide whether the deck wants better potential for a quick game, or to concentrate on the longer control game. The black splash greatly enhances the early game while sacrificing the greater power found in the blue draw engines, the aspect where DOA is greatly outclassed by Meandeck and Furnace. I feel that Furnace oath has the correct draw engine; Brainstorm in conjunction with TFK is enough search and draw to sustain the deck without committing so many slots to the ever powerful Intuition/AK AND brainstorm + impulse. Granted the Meandeck version has card advantage covered for long term, but the question must be posed . . . If you can win quickly, is such a heavy engine really needed?

This leads into the different counter bases created for each deck. Looking at the above lists, it appears to me that the choices in permissions reflects the different styles of play in each deck. Naturally a long term deck is going to want more hard counters or use mana leak early on, while a combo build wants misdirection and duress. This section of the deck is totally dependent on the game plan and play style.

To chalice or not to chalice? My testing with Chalice is more limited than it should be, however from what I have seen Chalice of the void fits in to Oath very well. Obviously it improves the combo matches, but set for 0 it can be powerful against slaver and other decks with a handful of acceleration. Hitting 0-1, generally the best numbers is easily achievable on turn one and it adds a new layer of potential to oath builds. Personally I would try to work chalice into the optimum Oath build looking at how seamlessly it was integrated into Furnace oath.

One final point of interest is changing the maindeck creature base to Akroma and Ancient hydra. If Oath plays a more controlling game, it may be beneficial to have the utility of Hydra rather than the raw speed kill of Akroma/SotN. I will continue to play with a hydra in the main, unless I really need the speed . . . playing the combo style or a change in the format prompts me to remove him back to the side. Opponents in tourney are usually more worried about the hydra then they would a spirit of the night.

So what are everyones thoughts. I have tested DOA extensively, and will continue to work with Furnace. Lets get a discussion going and formulate and optimum build for oath.

p.s. I Ignored salvagers because I, and those who I have spoken to about the deck feel that it is simply inferior.

[keratinx]

I personally like the DOA Oath and Duress is an amazing card to work with. Granted, DOA Oath is partially a combo deck that have the early game advantage due to Duress.

On top of that, there is a recent cum budget Oath deck played by Greg Hoover during the SCG P9 Series. It featured a 3 creature base in the form of Akroma, Hydra and Plat Angel. I was wondering whether you can have both controllish aspects and raw speed moulded into 1 deck. In that case: SOTN, Akroma and Hydra. Would that be a playable deck in the current metagame?

The deck's counter base is as such:

4 FoW
4 Counterspell
2 Mana Leak
1 Mana Drain
1 Misdirection

Another question, is the main deck Stifle a metagame slot?

[49 Cents]

I personally like the DOA Oath and Duress is an amazing card to work with. Granted, DOA Oath is partially a combo deck that have the early game advantage due to Duress.

On top of that, there is a recent cum budget Oath deck played by Greg Hoover during the SCAG P9 Series. It featured a 3 creature base in the form of Akroma, Hydra and Plat Angel. I was wondering whether you can have both controllish aspects and raw speed moulded into 1 deck. In that case: SOTN, Akroma and Hydra. Would that be a playable deck in the current metagame?

The deck's counter base is as such:

4 FoW
4 Counterspell
2 Mana Leak
1 Mana Drain
1 Misdirection

Another question, is the main deck Stifle a metagame slot?

I haven't seen the list, but I presume there is only 1 Mana Drain in there because he only has 1? I've always been a fan of lots of counters and Duress in a deck.. I think it could be something, be then again, I never tested one of the new lists..

Greetz,

Hugo

[JamesPr]

Hello, I'll try to answer some of the questions as best as I can.

Intuition - Ak to me seems just inferior to Thirst for Knowledge.  An AK with two in the graveyard provides three new cards at the expense of one and five mana.  Thirst for Knowledge provides three new cards at the expense of an artifact that may be useless in that current game state, and one card and three mana.  Intuition - Ak is definitely more explosive in the early game, however after you Ak with two in the grave chances are without a shuffle you'll not draw another Ak the rest of the game.  Thirst, however, provides a card advantage engine that will still be around come the late game.  Deep Analysis is also a consideration in Oath with Intuition, however it's sorcery speed really kills it. 

Black in Oath

I haven't actually tested black in Oath to that large of a degree, however, first turn fetch, underground sea, duress seems like a terrible play if Oath isn't in your opening hand.  What if your opponent strips your land?  I'm also not a big fan of the life loss of scrying.  People have said that life doesn't matter in vintage all too much, but it actually does in many matchups.  If you're sitting across from FCG and you have Akroma, something, out and you have two turns to kill your opponent while at low life scrying would not help.

Furnace - Chalice Oath

I'm in the process of testing this build, and it seems very powerful.  Something I've noticed about the Chalice builds is that they usually only need to run eight counters.  Chalice makes up for that because it's a counter in itself.  I've heard from reading that Chalice and Furnace make many difficult matchups especially against slaver easier.

Something I've been testing and I would like some input in is the addition of Wishes in Oath.  It dilutes room in your sideboard, but it's like a three mana instant demonic tutor midgame.  It also keeps you from having to scoop if your opponent drops something such as a platinum angel.

[KrA0nS]

It sort of depends on your metagame at the time on what build you want to use, Black is outdated and should be kept to Goth Slaver, I'm not saying Black isant good but not right now in Oath, you should be running Chalice and Furnace, for graveyard control and in game control.  Oath doesent need it's moxen so drop Chalice for 0 and play Furnace first turn, that gets rid of anything they may want to dump.  Drop Oath and your pretty much a made man from there on out.

Intuition-This card is not only for AK but that's what most people use it as.  Intuition for 3 Counters or for 3 Orchreds or 3 Oaths or 3 different cards that may help out at the momnet, and even if you don't think that you'll need it then you can pithc it for Force of Will.

Thirst-Run both Thirst and Intuition in your deck, it makes for great deck thinning and getting rid of cards that may be useless later in the match or even now in the match.  Thirst is a great card especially with Chalice and Furnace since you can dump them if it's to late or your don't want to get rid of two cards.

My opinion on this is stated and I hope that you'll be playing Chalice Oath in the future oppoesed to any other Oath deck.  Or even make an Oath build of your own and work with it till you can get the optimal build for you, or just one that wins in some sort of odd way.

[Khahan]

On top of that, there is a recent cum budget Oath deck played by Greg Hoover during the SCG P9 Series. It featured a 3 creature base in the form of Akroma, Hydra and Plat Angel. I was wondering whether you can have both controllish aspects and raw speed moulded into 1 deck. In that case: SOTN, Akroma and Hydra. Would that be a playable deck in the current metagame?

The deck's counter base is as such:

4 FoW
4 Counterspell
2 Mana Leak
1 Mana Drain
1 Misdirection

Another question, is the main deck Stifle a metagame slot?

I'll address each of the points in order:
1. 3 creatures: That turned out to be a mix of proxie and local meta-game choice. I had a 10 proxie version and don't own a spirit of the night (I'm only missing 3 mirage cards for pete's sake and thats one of them!!!).   So replaced it with Plat angel. I would often find that I was just coming up short against a lot of local aggro decks. I don't have a big/developed local meta. But I most often end up playing aggro).   So 3 creatures seemed natural (and I did determine quickly that 4 creatures just clogged things up). 
I messed around with [card]plated slagwurm[/card], but then realized it did not have trample. 
I was getting torn apart by some R/G aggro and discovered Ancient Hydra mentioned in a post or 2 here. It worked and worked well. 
When I got to SCG Richmond, the boards here made it seem like I'd face a gauntlet of r/g aggro, wu-tang fish, U/W fish.  So I kept 3 creatures.

2. 1 mana drain: Yes, I only own 1 mana drain. Its better than mana leak in my eyes. So when I replaced the 4 drains w/ 4 counterspells, I had 3 mana leaks left. I simlpy replaced 1 mana leak with a better counterspell.

3. Stifle was conscious decision and one I don't think I'll be changing.  I was wrestling with a number of cards for the last 2 slots in the deck and they all just felt wrong. I added stifle and have found it to be a great card. At SCG Richmond, I stifled a total of 3 wastelands and 2 fetchlands.  I also stifled 1 belcher activation and won the game on the next turn.
Against Smmemen in round 3, game 3, he played a seal of cleansing against my energy flux. I had the stifle in hand. Unfortunately, he never activated the seal. Instead he dropped more lock pieces and eventually more seals.  It was never a dead card and provided an excellent tempo boost that Oath is missing (of the land kill method).

As for mana drain, I enjoy this build of Oath.  I like the controllish/speed combination of this build and I think going back to 4x mana drain would take that away as I would need intuition/ak as another drain sink.  I'm not knocking any 4x mana drain build. They are definitely effective and helped make Oath a contender in any tournament.
But my build has been holding up rather well. 

As for a few other points brought up:
-I disagree with Chalice (at least maindeck). Its optimal in t1 right now set at 0, 1 or even 2. Guess what....that shuts down oath. Any one of those except maybe 0. But even at 0, you are denying yourself some mana sources.  Of course, if you have oath down, those mana sources are not as important.

-Black I'm not a fan of. But then again, I enjoy a different build. I think its a matter of preference.

[HuntedWumpus]

As for a few other points brought up:
-I disagree with Chalice (at least maindeck). Its optimal in t1 right now set at 0, 1 or even 2. Guess what....that shuts down oath. Any one of those except maybe 0. But even at 0, you are denying yourself some mana sources.  Of course, if you have oath down, those mana sources are not as important.

Oath can readily chalice for 0 and 1. Honestly, In most cases the chalice will hurt them more that you . . . Chalice 1 against combo is a huge play, if its a dark ritual based combo. Also Take chalice 0 is the slaver match. . . Yes you loose the acceleration, but if you play a turn one chalice 0 they it makes it much harder to slave without the complete lock because they will lack the moxen to weld, and secondly it will take them longer to build up the mana necessary to grab all the full lock components and establish the slaver lock.

Black in Oath

I haven't actually tested black in Oath to that large of a degree, however, first turn fetch, underground sea, duress seems like a terrible play if Oath isn't in your opening hand.  What if your opponent strips your land?  I'm also not a big fan of the life loss of scrying.  People have said that life doesn't matter in vintage all too much, but it actually does in many matchups.  If you're sitting across from FCG and you have Akroma, something, out and you have two turns to kill your opponent while at low life scrying would not help.

You will notice that DOA has a swamp for just this occasion where you have land duress go, land (hopefully orchard) oath maybe FoW backup. If your opponent rips a stripmine, great, they are a champ miser but that is one of those things that cannot be prevented. On the other hand, a turn one duress without the oath can be more favorable then holding for the brainstorm in some matches . . . for example combo and control matches. I would absolutely rather have turn one duress, take a counter or combo piece, and know what Im am going to need to play and oath or the ETA for going off.

Furnace - Chalice Oath

I'm in the process of testing this build, and it seems very powerful.  Something I've noticed about the Chalice builds is that they usually only need to run eight counters.  Chalice makes up for that because it's a counter in itself.  I've heard from reading that Chalice and Furnace make many difficult matchups especially against slaver easier.

I too am in the process of giving this build a more serious look. Chalice is very strong here but I disagree to whether the counter base get lowered as a result. Most matches the chalice is going to keep both players a little slower, and in some cases, mainly chalice 1, lower the number of card you MUST counter. However if the chalice is not a early card, its better purpose is often fodder  to the Thirsts, hence I would not feel good with less than my current amount of counters.

[JamesPr]

You will notice that DOA has a swamp for just this occasion where you have land duress go, land (hopefully orchard) oath maybe FoW backup. If your opponent rips a stripmine, great, they are a champ miser but that is one of those things that cannot be prevented. On the other hand, a turn one duress without the oath can be more favorable then holding for the brainstorm in some matches . . . for example combo and control matches. I would absolutely rather have turn one duress, take a counter or combo piece, and know what Im am going to need to play and oath or the ETA for going off.

I too am in the process of giving this build a more serious look. Chalice is very strong here but I disagree to whether the counter base get lowered as a result. Most matches the chalice is going to keep both players a little slower, and in some cases, mainly chalice 1, lower the number of card you MUST counter. However if the chalice is not a early card, its better purpose is often fodder  to the Thirsts, hence I would not feel good with less than my current amount of counters.

Ok, for message one the problem with getting a swamp with a fetch is that you will not be able to Mana Drain the following turn.  Mana Draining into something such as a draw spell is incredibly huge for your tempo in a close match.  I agree with you against an unstable deck such as a combo deck Duress can be key, however those decks aren't usually where you run into the most problems.  You usually can deal with them without playing black for duresses.  I agree with you however that Duress is key to knowing how to play your deck against what your opponent is playing.

Anyway, I believe the reason there isn't really an optimal build for Oath currently is because it is such a metagame dependant deck, and the simple fact that people enjoy playing different variations of the control combo build.  An example would be it may be optimal to play Darksteel Colossus in a metagame without Welders, where in a different metagame with Welders it would not be optimal in the slightest.  In addition, I believe, any build of Oath can be powerful if you know what you're doing.

[JACO]

Black in Oath

I haven't actually tested black in Oath to that large of a degree, however, first turn fetch, underground sea, duress seems like a terrible play if Oath isn't in your opening hand.  What if your opponent strips your land?  I'm also not a big fan of the life loss of scrying.  People have said that life doesn't matter in vintage all too much, but it actually does in many matchups.  If you're sitting across from FCG and you have Akroma, something, out and you have two turns to kill your opponent while at low life scrying would not help.

James, you really need to test the version of Oath with the black components. Food Chain Goblins is damn near a bye for the deck if you are mulliganing properly, as there is nothing they can do to combat your game plan. Drop an Oath, and protect it from Naturalize, and you have won that match. This is why Skeletal Scrying's life loss is negligible. The only match where you need to worry about the life loss is against Tendrils based combo, and if you are playing 3+ Arcane Laboratories in your sideboard, plus all the disruption and counters that DOA provides, the match is definitely in your favor.

To address your other point, if someone is using their first or second turn to Wasteland my Underground Sea or Forbidden Orchard after I Duress them, that's usually not that big of a problem. This allows you to buy more time to search for or draw Oath before they can execute their game plan. This means that you will be along your way to executing your game plan instead, furthering your chances of winning the match. As I've said in the other DOA threads, Oath in particular is a deck where you really need to know when to mulligan, and for what reasons.

EDITZORZ:

with cards such as Pithing Needle sure to alter the format, where should Oath be going from here?

Andrew, just for the record, Pithing Needle will not affect Oath of Druids itself, as Oath is a triggered ability, and Pithing Needle is worded as follows:

As Pithing Needle comes into play, name a card.
Activated abilities of the named card can’t be played unless they’re mana abilities.

[keratinx]

To Khanan:

Thanks for the reply, I really appreciate it.  I've been goldfishing with the deck and I seem to like the draw engine.

Just one question, is Sleight of Hand better than Serum Visions for your deck? Would Pithing Needle see play in your Sideboard?

Lastly, what wound be your sideboarding plans against the gaunlets in T1?

[Khahan]

To Khanan:

Thanks for the reply, I really appreciate it.  I've been goldfishing with the deck and I seem to like the draw engine.

Just one question, is Sleight of Hand better than Serum Visions for your deck? Would Pithing Needle see play in your Sideboard?

Lastly, what wound be your sideboarding plans against the gaunlets in T1?

I think Serum visions is better than sleight of hand.  Being able to dig 1 deeper and arrange where in the deck you want the next 2 spells is just too big a boost.
With that said, you led right into my next thought. My first tinker with the new deck will be -4 serum visions, +4 pithing needle.

Between work, a new house and kids, I've had no time to play test since  the tourney. So unfortunately, I have no idea how that will really play out. The other change I may make is -2 serum visions, +2 pithing needle, +2 sensei's divining top.

As for my sideboard, its pretty standard: arcane labs, ground seal, tormod's crypts, energy flux etc.

I've found Oath basically runs itself. Its a 1 card 'win condition.' The rest of the deck is dedicated to supporting that condition. The sideboard is dedicated to stopping the meta game.

[keratinx]

After playtesting, I found that SDT along with Serum Visions is very good, Especially if your next 2 cards contain one of the three creatures. This might happen as this deck plays 3 creatures. Ancient Hydra allow board conrol against aggro decks like Goblins or FCG. In my opinion, I don't think you should remove your Serum Visions for the Needles as visions is essential in the search and draw engine.

How would your sideboarding be like against the other decks in Vintage? Eg. Control based decks, Combo, Aggro.

Whats with the lone Living Wish in the SB?

Lastly, its regarding the timing of casting Top and Serum Visions. Do you cast it on Turn 1 or wait in the later part of the game?

Crypt vs Ground Seal, I'm not really sure which one is better. Help me on this, thanks. I've been really interested in your deck

[JamesPr]

Black in Oath

I haven't actually tested black in Oath to that large of a degree, however, first turn fetch, underground sea, duress seems like a terrible play if Oath isn't in your opening hand.  What if your opponent strips your land?  I'm also not a big fan of the life loss of scrying.  People have said that life doesn't matter in vintage all too much, but it actually does in many matchups.  If you're sitting across from FCG and you have Akroma, something, out and you have two turns to kill your opponent while at low life scrying would not help.

James, you really need to test the version of Oath with the black components. Food Chain Goblins is damn near a bye for the deck if you are mulliganing properly, as there is nothing they can do to combat your game plan. Drop an Oath, and protect it from Naturalize, and you have won that match. This is why Skeletal Scrying's life loss is negligible. The only match where you need to worry about the life loss is against Tendrils based combo, and if you are playing 3+ Arcane Laboratories in your sideboard, plus all the disruption and counters that DOA provides, the match is definitely in your favor.

To address your other point, if someone is using their first or second turn to Wasteland my Underground Sea or Forbidden Orchard after I Duress them, that's usually not that big of a problem. This allows you to buy more time to search for or draw Oath before they can execute their game plan. This means that you will be along your way to executing your game plan instead, furthering your chances of winning the match. As I've said in the other DOA threads, Oath in particular is a deck where you really need to know when to mulligan, and for what reasons.

JACO, what are your strategies for mulliganing against aggro?  Is it to mulligan into a first/second turn Oath, hopefully with FOW backup if you're lucky?  Maybe that is my problem in the matchup, in testing I haven't been mulliganing too aggressively.  Also, would one Underground Sea be enough for me to test black in Oath effectively?  (I only own one)

[HuntedWumpus]

with cards such as Pithing Needle sure to alter the format, where should Oath be going from here?
Andrew, just for the record, Pithing Needle will not affect Oath of Druids itself, as Oath is a triggered ability, and Pithing Needle is worded as follows:
Quote
As Pithing Needle comes into play, name a card.
Activated abilities of the named card can?t be played unless they?re mana abilities.

Im not that big of a scrub . . .  I know that. I meant it in the sense that Pithing needle will effect other decks in the format and Oath will need to adapt to those changes.

Will chalice still be strong post pithing needle legality, or perhaps will chalice/needle oath be the way to go . . . since Needle and Furnace are often attempting to go after stopping the welder potential. Each card has it own set of advantages and other versatile uses. Thoughts?

Crypt vs Ground Seal, I'm not really sure which one is better. Help me on this, thanks. I've beenr eally interested in your deck

Ground Seal > Crypt.
Ground seal has several huge advantages over Tcrypt. First, they can't try any sauce in response to you using the crypt, granted with the seal they can respond to you playing it, but that is the only opportunity. Additionally, decks like dragon can Bait the crypt, meaning they dump stuff in the yard and cast a reanimate intentionally so you will crypt. That cannot be done to ground seal. Secondly, Ground seal is an enchantment and thus more difficult for many decks to destroy that an artifact would be. Lastly ground seal cantrips, leaving you with the same hand size, that is just added sauce for the card.

Also, would one Underground Sea be enough for me to test black in Oath effectively?  (I only own one)

My list above is very very similar to the DOA that JACO and Nickvos run. I find that 4 basic lands is enough for me, leaving me with 2 Underground's and 1 tropical. There is really no need for more that the one tropical . . . however I like having an added underground for skeletal scrying. Im not sure if Nick and JACO drop the underground for another Island.

Equally important is Library in DOA. JACO you have dropped Library correct? . . . in favor of another MD slot, not and island. Actually that makes pretty good sense because DOA runs so quickly, and cards like duress are going to make keeping library active more difficult.

[Shade]

Has anyone considered running Chalice Oath with Needles instead of Furnaces MD?

[JACO]

JACO, what are your strategies for mulliganing against aggro?  Is it to mulligan into a first/second turn Oath, hopefully with FOW backup if you're lucky?  Maybe that is my problem in the matchup, in testing I haven't been mulliganing too aggressively.  Also, would one Underground Sea be enough for me to test black in Oath effectively?  (I only own one)

James, in my build posted in the DOA mini-primer here, I only play 1 Underground Sea and 1 Swamp. Unlike most other areas right now, my area still sees a good amount of Wastelands. If you haven't read that article, I'd recommend going through and checking it out and all the following conversation, as well as Nick's tournament report from when he won the SCG Chicago $500 side event with the deck.

Equally important is Library in DOA. JACO you have dropped Library correct? . . . in favor of another MD slot, not an island. Actually that makes pretty good sense because DOA runs so quickly, and cards like duress are going to make keeping library active more difficult.

I have not dropped Library, although Nick played without it in the last tourney he played the deck (where he T4ed the DMF Mox Sapphire event). I've been experimenting with some of the slots (such as -2 Daze, or -2 Misdirection, for example), but the vast majority of the deck is identical to the original list I provided.

With everything that's been said, I still feel that DOA is the strongest Oath build right now. Duress Owns All, and if you really want to play Chalice, you can always play it in the sideboard.

[BreathWeapon]

Intuition - Ak to me seems just inferior to Thirst for Knowledge.  An AK with two in the graveyard provides three new cards at the expense of one and five mana.  Thirst for Knowledge provides three new cards at the expense of an artifact that may be useless in that current game state, and one card and three mana.  Intuition - Ak is definitely more explosive in the early game, however after you Ak with two in the grave chances are without a shuffle you'll not draw another Ak the rest of the game.  Thirst, however, provides a card advantage engine that will still be around come the late game.  Deep Analysis is also a consideration in Oath with Intuition, however it's sorcery speed really kills it. 

Finding the fourth Accumulated Knowledge should be irrelevant. You should not cast Intuition in control mirrors for Accumulated Knowledge unless one Accumulated Knowledge is in hand or a  Demonic, Vampiric or Mystical Tutor is in hand.

[Null Rob]

" Ground Seal > Crypt.
Ground seal has several huge advantages over Tcrypt. First, they can't try any sauce in response to you using the crypt, granted with the seal they can respond to you playing it, but that is the only opportunity. Additionally, decks like dragon can Bait the crypt, meaning they dump stuff in the yard and cast a reanimate intentionally so you will crypt. That cannot be done to ground seal. Secondly, Ground seal is an enchantment and thus more difficult for many decks to destroy that an artifact would be. Lastly ground seal cantrips, leaving you with the same hand size, that is just added sauce for the card. "

If Slaver is a match that you are worried about, I would definitely disagree that Ground Seal is better than Crypt.  Many of the top CS players (like Rich Shay) have said that they consider CS to be a Yawgmoth's Will-Based deck, and Seal does nothing to shut off a big Will the way Crypt can.  When combined with Chalice 0, to ensure that an early Mindslaver activation is very unlikely, Crypt is much better as a sideboard option against Control Slaver.  Plus, it costs 0, so it allows you to keep Drain mana up.

[the boogie man]

   I have a question: in an aggro-control type oath build (read: duresses and such) is akroma-collosus a better configuration than spirit-akroma? with spirit akroma, you get the fastest possible kill, but with collossus, you get slower kills and open yourself up to welder, but the tinker you can add will make oath #5, which adds more consistancy to your kill. I still think that the spirit-akroma kill is the best, as it is the most resilient, but I just wanted imput.

   also, I have come to question a slot in my deck. I already run
   4 duress
   4 force of will
   4 mana drain
   and a single misdirection. I don't know about the misdirection though. I already have a misdirection in the side and a single cunning wish main deck, and I never side it in because I already had one maindeck. the problem is that the one in the maindeck isn't always useful. here are some of the other card choices that I'd put in in its stead:
   yawgmoths will: great card, but not as broken in this deck as others. oath shuffles everything into your deck, so there aren't too many things that can really be taken advantage of.
   Impulse: digs real far, but may or may not be powerful enough to warrant a position.
   mystical tutor: great tutoring power, but vamp tutor is already included, so it may or may not be needed.
   4th intuition: The three intuitions have been golden, but is the fourth one needed? they get subsequently worse and worse as the game progresses, unless you have already activated oath and have a creatures swinging.
   there will be more, but my mommy is screaming obscene things at me as we speak. this will get edited a little.

[xrizzo]

yawgmoths will: great card, but not as broken in this deck as others. oath shuffles everything into your deck, so there aren't too many things that can really be taken advantage of.

I have a mini-primer coming out at SCG in the next week or so that shows how to best exploit Yawgmoth's Will in this deck... Yawg, played properly, turns Oath with creatures into a combo deck that wins in 1 turn. 

Also, Akroma/Colossus is nice, but the speed you give up is often not worth the tinker colossus aspect maindeck.  (altough I do recommend the pair in the side as a way to get around the hate they will bring in) 

[forests failed you]

In my testing I have found that Akroma, Angel of Wrath and Ancient Hydra are a very strong maindeck team in Chalice Oath.  If one is playing with Chalice and Furnace in the maindeck, I'm not exactly sure why they would need Pithing Needle in the maindeck.  I understand that it is a really nifty card and everything, but what card or combination of cards do you REALLY need it against that Chalice, Furnace, and Hydra don't already take care of.  The only activated ability that actually scares me in when I'm playing Chalice Oath is an activated Aether Vial with two counters on it, for Meddling Mage, if I haven't resolved an Oath yet.  Other than that, the deck tends to be more explosive and maintain a faster clock than almost any other control deck in the format. 

[keratinx]

This can be a usable sideboard after Saviors come into play

1 Platinium Angel
2 Iridescent Angel
4 Pithing Needle
3 Energy Flux
2 Arcane Laboratory

Initially, I had 2 Naturalize and 2 Back to Basics.

[Shade]

This can be a usable sideboard after Saviors come into play

1 Platinium Angel
2 Iridescent Angel
4 Pithing Needle
3 Energy Flux
2 Arcane Laboratory

Initially, I had 2 Naturalize and 2 Back to Basics.

If you splash red, you can replace the Fluxes with Rack and Ruins.  I would also consider Ground Seal and Oxidize.

[keratinx]

Here's my Oath list. 61 cards. 1 extra Intuition

Mana (23)

1 Lotus
5 SoloMoxen
4/5 Island
2/1 Tropical Island
4 Fetchland
4 Forbidden Orchard
2 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine

Win Condition (8)

4 Oath of Druids
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Spirit of the Night
1 Platinium Angel
1 Gaea's Blessing

Counters (15)

4 FoW
2 Counter Spell
2 Mana Drain
4 Mana Leak
1 Misdirection
2 Metagame Slots (Stifle, Daze, 1 Misdirection/1 Stifle)

Draw/Search (15)

4 Brainstorm
4 AKs
3 Intuition (1 Intuition added to the 60 cards)
2 Impulse
1 Time Walk
1 A Call

Sideboard (15)

1 Iridescent Angel (3/4c Control, anti-spot removal)
1 Pristine Angel (same)
1 Ancient Hydra (welder based decks)
3 Ground Seal (dragon, welder based decks)
2 Naturalize (Anti-SB Hate cards: Aura Fracture, Plat angel, Eon Hub)
3 Energy Flux (stax)
2 Back to Basics (4cC, DeathLong)
2 Arcane Laboratory (TPS, DeathLong)

Even if you're not starting the thread, you need more than just a decklist in your posts. Verbal warning for spam. Please go check out the TMD Rules.
-Jacob