I realize that the Gifts Oath deck is nothing new, and made top 8 at the Chicago SCG event, but I felt that after my hours of testing and play for this past weekend's SCG Rochester, that the Mean Deck version of the deck was significantly stronger and less succeptible to hate after adding Oath than it was before. I know that this is a fairly strong statement, and one which I do not take lightly, but before I get into match-up analysis and the data that I collected, I present the list I played to a 12th place finish over the weekend.
Gifts Oath
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Lotus Petal
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
4 Oath Of Druids
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Razia, Boros Archangel
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Leak
3 Gifts Ungiven
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Krosan Reclamation
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Rebuild
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Time Walk
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Burning Wish
1 Regrowth
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Recoup
1 Tinker
2 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
3 Forbidden Orchard
2 Volcanic Island
2 Underground Sea
1 Tundra
1 Tropical Island
2 Island
1 Tolarian Academy
SB
2 R.E.B
1 Pyroblast
3 Oxidize
2 Annul
2 Ground Seal
2 Pithing Needle
1 Balance
1 Triskelion
1 Tendrils of Agony
The deck is exceptionally resistant to hate, especially given the fact that an early unanswered Oath is incredibly strong right now. As soon as the field begins to seriously prepare for Oath this may change, but with the apparent reemergance of Control Salver as a viable deck choice (did it honestly ever go away?), I don't know if one can prepare to face Stax, Oath, and Slaver at once. In a pick your poison metagame such as what we have seen lately, it appears that Oath is getting the least recognition. As far as match-ups go, this is what I found in my testing.
Control Slaver: The two players I tested with were especially interested in winning the GWS Oath match, and they found that they had a great deal of trouble with the deck running a traditional Slaver build, so in testing we decided to remove Duress and add Swords and Jester's Cap main, and even so, the match-up still went 60-40 in favor of Gifts. The ability to drop an early Oath and then build for a Tendrils kill while Slaver searches for creature answers is HUGE here. Generally, I found all of the Goblin Welder match-ups to be extremely difficult with DSC as the only creature, and as Slaver was the first extensive testing we did, it was that testing that convinced me that duress was an extraneous slot and could be filled by the traditional Oath angels. Once you had a 2/3 shot at hitting a non-weldable creature, this match-up percentage skyrocketed in favor of Gifts Oath. After board you can bring in blasts, needles, and possibly oxidizes, although in my testing I realized that oxidezes were generally overkill and were unnecessary.
Gifts Decks:
In general, this is one of the 2 match-ups where it pays to always be the aggressor. An early Oath is almost game against Gifts, especially if you have any sort of control elements in your hand. Again, the ability to bring Oath up a creature that their colossus cannot block will win you this game, as you get the extra swing, and can chump block with your second angel if necessary to go lethal. Generally the FlameVault version Andy Probasco ran at the tournament has a bit of a better match up, as they have an easier route to victory with engineered explosives main and the time vault kill, however the match should still be largely in your favor. When I played Andy this weekend, I only brought in blasts and needles, as I really don't think anything else will make a difference. I thought about oxidize as an easy way to attack the mana development that Gifts so clearly needs, however I felt it was an unnecessary addition.
5CStax:
This is the match I wanted all day long, as this is where your MD Oath shines. The deck has a horrible time with early, large men, and you have plenty in the board to stunt their early development. I chose oxidize over sacred ground for many reasons, but the main two were that a) it answers a first turn lock piece much more efficiently, and b) it costs 2, which is the number that this decks fears chalice being set to. Ground seal is another possibiity here, but I decided that I only wanted to bring it in games where I was going first, as the chance of hitting ti turn 1 or 2 was where it was best. Later in the game it is still efective, but with ground seal out, you no longer have to worry about welder, and it allows you to be much more aggresive with your counterspells, something you couldn't do if it came down later. Annul was also a bomb in this match, as it gives you 9 ways to answer a first turn lock piece (FOW, Annul, and Oxidize, for those of you playing our home game). While you arre still susceptible to losing to an explosive opening, nothing that you bring in will greatly change that, so I felt fairly confident with this main deck and board plan against the most dominating board control deck in the environment (MidWest excepted). As a side note, rebuild also went into the main as an answer to the 5C and UbaStax problem main deck, in case an early Oath was impossible or was dealt with.
UbaStax:
Sadly, I did not get the amount of testing done I wanted against this, but from the roughly week or so we played this match, it came down to early Oath versus early UbaMask. No cards in this were any different than in the Stax matchup other than UbaMask. Generally, when it succesfully resolved, this match was poor for my deck. However, having the rebuild/tendrils option made this match slightly better preboard, and after we boarded, I felt confident that I had about an even matchup with the deck, and I felt that was about as good as I could get without devoting massive SB space to it. Again, annul and oxidize came in, as did the tendrils. I felt with the amount of disruption UbaStax could generate in the form of null rod and chalice (which would most likely be set at 0 and 2), it was better to have the tendrils main than to try and Wish it out.Â
Oath:
This match-up is fairly close. Game one I found it to be slightly in Oath's favor (to be fair, we only tested against GWS oath, which I felt would be predominant), but again, being able to stalemate with an Oath and then attempt to Tendrils was huge. Having the anglels also meant that you could actually race them if Oath became active, something that Colossus cannot do. In the only Oath Mirror I faced all day, My opponent opened with a First turn duress, took tinker, and then dropped his own Oath of a Lotus, not realizing I was playing Oath myself. I was able to promptly Demonic for Orchard and kill him with his own Oath, as he did not have an Oarchard until his third turn. After board, you bring is triskelion and needle. Wasteland is so key to this matchup, needle is warranted even though it has only 2 real targets (Wasteland and Triskelion). Blasts can be brought in against other Oath variants, but I didn't really see an overwhelming need to do so.
Fish:
Generally, all fish is a good matchup. GENERALLY. UW fish can be problematic, as you have to carefully weigh the options as to whether or not to Oath early, fearing a swords. Generally, I tried to bluff a straight gifts deck in game 1 in both matches, and then in game 2 I played Oath very aggresively, and usually seals and other disenchant effects had been removed, leaving me only swords to deal with. This is not always possible, expecially if fish gets down an early chalice, but it was my game plan and it worked exceptionally well in both matches. I had little to bring in against fish other than the balance and the triskelion, however in retrospect I would have brought in the needles against stormscape apprentice and/or rootwater thief, I think.
Fast Combo: This was the matchup that worried me, and thankfully I did not see a great deal of it. You have no real options here other than racing them, which you are mildly prepared to do. Post board you do not have a lot of answers either, but again, I did not test these matchups much, as I was really hoping it would be sorely lacking in this metagame (luckily, it was almost completely non-existant).Â
Dragon:
This is what I was waiting for. My last 2 run ins with the Canadian Vintage players had taught me to be extremely respectful to the resiliance of Dragon, and I wanted to make sure I was prepared for it. Ironically enough, it was a loss to Dragon that knocked me out of top 8, but I digress. The game 1 matchup is fair enough, and you really want to apply pressure with Oath. I almost completely ignored the Gifts portion of the deck, and focused solely on activating and protecting Oath. SB, you can bring in annul, needle (definitely set to bazaar and compulsion), and ground seal. You do, however, really need to remove your targeted graveyard recursion, as dropping and protecting ground seal is a huge priority. I didn't take it out, and it turned out to be a horrible mistake. Blasts can also come in, as they are another way of allowing you to force through an Oath against their FOW's, but they may not be necessary.
Overall, I was exceptionally pleased with this deck in testing and during the tournament. The fact that the other gift deck I saw running Oath (SB, in that case) made T8 again encouraged me in my belief that I was on the right track with evolving the deck for the current metagame. The changes I made to the maindeck may be a bit controversial, but I never really missed duress, and the fourth gifts (which I removed for a MD rebuild) never mattered either. I only cast gifts more than once during a game on one occasion, the first time gifting for mana against stax, the second time gifting for Oath and recursion. The strength of Oath main is shown in many of Gifts worst matches, and the addition of the 2 angels allows you to aggresively gifts into an opposing welder, something that the deck could not do previously. It also allows you to allow a turn 1 welder to resolve, as this neither a serious threat to your creature base, nor a serious threat on their side of the board. The rebuild allows for much greater ease in casting a lethal tendrils, and gets around chalice at 2, which was nearly an auto-loss for this deck previously, as the only must counter spell left in your deck was tinker. Thoughts and comments would be greatly appreciated, and as always, thanks for paying attention.
