Building an unpowered oath

[Dragondevil]

Hi all, i'm a new member but i read topics on tmd since a long time, first i wanna introduce me in a few lines:
My name is Mathieu and i'm living in France, it's why i want you to forgive me for my bas english and for all the mistakes i'll make in my sentences, i'll try to do my best but sometimes it's very hard.. thx for your pity , I've decided to start this topic because i think that there are excellent players and/or deckbuilders in this website.. i'm building an unpowered oath of druid deck since a few month , but i still have some doubt concerning the best way to optimize it, after a lot of testing and different build, i'll give you the version i play today.. My first question was which version is better to use at a base for my buid:  ICBM oath or GWS oath? I have bought 4 mana drain to build this deck and finally i opt for an ICBM decklist, i'm not sure if my decision is the best or if it's a mistake.. I hope you'll help me and ALL help would be very very appreciated.. I was running food chain gob in tournament since 2 or 3 years now but i'm tired to always play the same deck ( i've done some top8 in France and won some bazaar and worshop with it ..), i'm an absolute fan of control decks but with the lack of the Power9 i know it's nearly impossible to build a very competitive one.. So sometimes i run U/W fish and do a correct job with it, but it doesn't suit perfectly my style of playing..But enough with bothering and useless informations, and time to post the list i'm running today :

Oath unpow by dragondevil :

MAINDECK:

Lands: 21
1 strip mine
4 forbidden orchard
2 polluted delta
3 flooded strand
3 island
2 wasteland
2 tropical island
2 underground sea
2 city of brass

Creatures : 2
1 razia, boros archangel
1 Akroma, angel of wrath

spells : 37
4 brainstorm
3 thirst for knowledge
4 chalice of the void
2 null rod
1 demonic tutor
1 vampiric tutor
4 force of will
4 mana drain
2 misdirection
4 oath of druid
3 duress
1 gaea's blessing
1 sol ring
1 lotus petal
1 darkblast
1 rushing river

SIDEBOARD : 15

2 Simic Sky Swallower
2 Oxidize
2 pithing needle
1 Tinker
1 Darksteel colossus
2 Energy flux
2 Engineered explosives
2 Pyroclasm
1 Balance

Concerning the creatures i love the speed of the 2 angels and i think the speed it gives is the best way pre-side
My main problem is the draw engine TFK+Arto without moxen can be sometimes not optimal, i'm not sure which draw engine i've to use TFK+arto or Intuition+Ak.. there is still a doubt..
Duress Cotv and null Rod: Good job
FOW, Brainstorm, and Drains :  umm Fow, Brainstorm and drains
Darkblast: fish, gob, confidant, welders..
Rushing River: Meddling Mages, Chalice set at 2
Demonic, Vamp: The best tutors
city of brass: Mana fixer, white for balance,Red for pyroclasm, 5 colours for EE

During a long time, i was running Mana crypt with sol ring and petal, but i take enough pts with spirits.. So i cut it for an extra land..
One again, i want to apologize for my approximative english but i'm sure you'll forgive me..  I hope you'll give a lot of suggestion to my build and i'm sure i'll finally build the Most optimal version.. Thanx all

[Harlequin]

I would make 2 adjustments.

Replaced Rushing River with Wipe Away.  Wipe Away is a fantasitic card for answering not only Meddling Mage and Chalice, but for DSC as well.  The decks that normally house these types of threats are generally Control decks.  A control player will know that with a Mage nameing Oath on the board, they need to only hold counterspells to protect the Mage.  Wipe Away gives you uncounterable bounce. 

Replace a Land with Lotus Petal.  Lotus Petal is great for getting up turn 1 drain mana.  Even if you dont have a drain in hand.  Having up double blue will make your opponent play more cautiously
Edit: Reading for the win!  Sorry I missed it down in the spells.

[Dragondevil]

hi Harlequin thanx for your answer, I think you're right concerning wipe away and i'll test with it instead of rushing river, concerning lotus petal, it's already in my decklist..

[AmbivalentDuck]

I'd strongly recommend selling the Drains and buying a poor condition Emerald and Pearl instead.

The Moxen do far more for the deck than Drains do:  they let you resolve Oath or Mana Leak turn 1, give you something to discard to Thirst, and let you cast Energy Flux turn 2 before the opponent has a well-established board.

[houseplant]

Personally I think if you are running a non powered oath you should run chrome mox and mox diamond, because upping the amount of times you can first turn oath is a good thing.

[AmbivalentDuck]

You'd run Mana Crypt over Mox Diamond to enable early Thirst for Knowledge and first turn Oath without sacrificing longterm tempo and defensibility.  They don't cost (much) more than Tropical Islands the last time I checked.  (Which was a long time ago, my French mana crypt cost me $12.)

Also, I'd think hard about maindeck Tormod's Crypt as a pseudo-Mox that can make tempo by slowing your opponent down.

[eXistenZe]

Has anyone tried using research/development in oath? It seems a very good option as it brings solutions from your Sb and also retrieves StP'ed creatures back in game... I can't imagine a single match where I wouldn't want some more options from outside the game...

[AmbivalentDuck]

Has anyone tried using research/development in oath?

Yes, and I've also tried it with Isochron Scepter in Oath.  The answer is that I didn't get postive results.  It's not a horrible Cunning Wish target just to prevent autolosing to Jester's Cap, though.

[49 Cents]

Has anyone tried using research/development in oath?

Yes, and I've also tried it with Isochron Scepter in Oath.  The answer is that I didn't get postive results.  It's not a horrible Cunning Wish target just to prevent autolosing to Jester's Cap, though.

Why? Akroma, Razia and Research / Development is still 3 cards. Or do you mean, that the chance you will have one of those 3 in hand is larger? Both are terrible reasons imo.

[AmbivalentDuck]

If you run multiple Cunning Wish, you exceed three cards that need to be Capped for an autowin without creating additional dead cards in the deck.

I tried it with Isochron since Development is pretty good at 2 colorless mana per turn.

[eXistenZe]

I think scepter is crap in oath... It's just now worth it...
Cunning wish is way too limited...

As for research/developent there are a few reasons to run it (even if with a single copy):
- Bring Sb options
- Bring StP'ed creatures
- Bring pitched spells for FoW
- Bring SSS or other options when you get your creatures in hand
- Bring capped cards (blessing, creatures for ex)

[AmbivalentDuck]

Cunning Wish is *limited*?

It gets Stifle, Misdirection, Research/Devlopment, Ancient Grudge and Rebuild, Wipe Away, and REB.  Expensive yes, limited no.

[eXistenZe]

Do you see any of those cards in this build we are discussing or any other decent build?
Cunning wish does not get capped blessings nor stp'ed creatures, wich is the main reason why research/dev earns a shot.

[Dragondevil]

Thx for all your answers i'll maybe try research/dvlppmt soon in the deck but i'm not sure it works well with my plan.. Concerning Mana crypt i already have one and i've played with it maidecked for a long time but spirits tokens do enough damages, and mana crypt sounds like extra damages and costs me the game too much time it's why i've remplaced it with a basic land..

[eXistenZe]

Try mox diamond instead. It helps alot with 1st turn oath, and costs only a land you will get oathed back.

[Dragondevil]

Ok Existenze i'll try mox diamond, but i don't know if i run enough lands in the deck ( 21 ), I'll try it tonight and post the result, but do you think ( all of you ) that i must run Mana crypt?

[AmbivalentDuck]

You'd run Chrome Mox over Mox Diamond simply to avoid shorting yourself on mana sources with an early Null Rod.

Don't look at Oath's shuffle effect as something that's likely to happen in a game until it no longer matters.  In a well-designed build, Oathing is already roughly synonymous with winning.

As to whether or not I "see any of those cards in this build we are discussing or any other decent build," yes.  Misdirection and Stifle are strong players in the current meta.  Rebuild and REB or more metagame dependent, but successful Oath builds have sideboarded both in the past.  Cunning Wish->REB->Kill Meddling Mage naming Oath is not a weak play.  Nor is Stifling Tendrils.  Cunning Wish is very strong, but it's also very expensive.  It's an instant speed blue tutors for increasingly potent answers.

Mana Crypt, btw, is absolutely necessary by concept.  Oath fundamentally requires huge amounts of tempo because it has difficulty taking control of the game.  The counter-magic is much more about protecting your Oath than about disrupting your opponent.  Unpowered Oath is...well...suboptimal.