[Deck] Oath

[rBt]

Hi all,

First let me introduce myself, my name is Robbert, aka rBt and I'm from the Netherlands.

I'm currently playing with an Oath deck, I haven't encountered any real problems yet, but tips are always welcome.

This is the deck:

Kill:
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Razia, Boros Archangel

Engine:
4 Oath of Druids
1 Gaea's Blessing
1 Timetwister
1 Regrowth

Tutors:
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Crop Rotation
1 Gifts Ungiven

Draw Engine:
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Brainstorm
3 Impulse
1 Library of Alexandria

Counters:
4 Force of Will
4 Manadrain
2 Misdirection

Rest:
1 Capsize
1 Time Walk
1 Leyline of the Void

Mana:
5 Moxes
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Sol Ring
4 Forbidden Orchard
4 Polluted Delta
1 Strip Mine
4 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
2 Underground Sea

Sideboard:
3 Leyline of the Void
1 Blazing Archon
2 Simic Skyswallower
3 Krosan Grip
4 Stifle
2 Chalice of the Void

Well you probably all know the drill, so I wont bother with tactics. But I do want to explain to you is some card choices I made, since there are some odd cards in it.

I splash white for Enlightened Tutor, this for two reasons:
- It's an extra chance to get your Oath (7 in total)
- An extra chance to get a Leyline of the Void, which is awesomo in the mirror.
- There used to be a 3th reason, Engineered Plague, but that was because I played against a weird Elf deck from time to time.

I run only one Gifts Ungiven, I used to run 3 of these, but I just don't like the card(in this deck).

Crop Rotation, a true monster(^^):
- Get your Forbidden Orchard
- Get your Stripmine to blow up the Tolarian Academy
- Get your Library of Alexandria

Capsize:
Just a nice card to run, a good way to use up your Mana Drain mana.

Impulse:
Basically a bit of nostalgia. And I find it one of the best cards to make sure your Angels are on the bottom of your library(sometimes in combo with Brainstorm)

Leyline of the Void:
I maindeck one, I had a spare slot.

Sideboard:
3 Leyline of the Void, for the mirror/other decks that intensively use their graveyard.

1 Blazing Archon, VS aggro Decks (usually Razia Goes out).

3 Krosan Grip, mainly boarded in against artifact decks/enchantment decks/decks that use Chalice of the Void. So you need a card which costs 1more or 1 less then your Oath.

2 Simic Sky Swallower, VS targeted creature removal(Swords etc)

4 Stifle, Trickbind might be better here.

2 Chalice of the Void, still in doubt whether or not to mainboard them.


I basically tried to have an answer for most of the situations I could get into, that's why I run cards like a single Leyline of the Void and a Capsize.

My my, that was a long story!

Hooi rBt

EDIT:
Ok quick explanation how it works:
Turn 1/2 drop Oath of Druids with a forbidden orchard(opponent gets a token)
Turn 2/3 get your first big angel
Turn 3/4 get your 2nd big angel
Turn 4/5 kill

You use the moxes/lotuses to get your Oath out asap.

Gaea's Blessing makes you shuffle your graveyard back into your library again, in case you draw the card, no worries, you have timetwister/regrowth.

[netherspirit]

Two cards stick out to me at the moment: Capsize and Leyline of the Void.

Capsize would be much better as another bounce spell with an "easier" mana cost; most likely Rushing River as Echoing Truth is hit by Chalice@2 (which is the only Chalice setting you're particularly bothered about) and Chain of Vapor allows your opponent a bounce as well. It could also be another draw spell though.

While 'yard hate is always a nice inclusion in a deck, you really need more than one Leyline to make it possible to drop it for free; instead I'd run Tormod's Crypt.

Also, why the Strip Mine? It's nothing particularly good without Wastelands as well; maybe replace it with Tolarian Academy or another fetch land?

Anyway, that's just my opinion; good luck!

  netherspirit

[rBt]

Thanks for the Reply Netherspirit,

About Capsize:
100% of my (mana) lands give me blue mana, so Rushing River and Capsize are as easy to cast in this deck.
The only difference is the kicker ofcourse, hmm something to think about.

About Leyline:
I agree with you on the free part, I will test the crypt the upcoming days.

About Stripmine:
Strip Mine can be fetched for with Crop Rotation/tutor, to kill off a big land threat.

Hooi!

[Metman]

I have just a couple questions for you to stir the pot up. 

How has the mana base been treating you?  Do you face Wastelands?  The lack of basics makes me a bit concerned.  You probably don't need a full set of Tropicals.  I have always liked Wastelands in Oath; they help to hinder the opponent's gameplan.  This could also warrent the inclusion of Life from the Loam.  I testing partner of mine has really liked his when his game plan goes sour or the game goes longer than anticipated.  It has served as a soft lock attacking the opponents mana base as well as help to protect yours if need be. 

I don't like Library in a deck that doesn't do a lot of drawing to ensure that it is fully utilized.  Impulse, Brainstorm, and Vamp don't help in this way.  My suggestion would be to either cut the topdeck type search/tutors and add draw to make Library better or to cut the Library all together in favor of Wasteland (my suggestion). 

Capsize seems way to expensive to be used to its fullest.  Echoing Truth or Rushing River are better choices.  Have you tested anything other than Capsize in the bounce slot?

If you don't like Gifts Ungiven in the deck than just cut it.  You aren't going on the combo route that some Oath builds do.  There are far more efficient spells that serve as bombs in Oath. 

It's already been touched on but I'll say it again.  1 Tormod's Crypt is better than 1 Leyline of the Void if you want grave hate md. 

I don't like Enlightened Tutor in Oath.  It's the only White card and you are playing black already for tutoring power.  Play Imperial Seal if you want another tutor.  It will save on your mana base too. 

Regrowth is "meh" in my opinion in Oath.  What are your most common targets?  Again this isn't combo.  I think the card could be better served as more utility as opposed to grabbing stuff that got countered.  Merchant Scroll has proved useful for grabbing much needed utility spells.

[netherspirit]

I don't like Enlightened Tutor in Oath.  It's the only White card and you are playing black already for tutoring power.  Play Imperial Seal if you want another tutor.  It will save on your mana base too. 

Regrowth is "meh" in my opinion in Oath.  What are your most common targets?  Again this isn't combo.  I think the card could be better served as more utility as opposed to grabbing stuff that got countered.  Merchant Scroll has proved useful for grabbing much needed utility spells.

I certainly agree with you about Enlightened Tutor; but Regrowth is amazing in Oath. After Oath-ing up a creature it's pretty much another Demonic Tutor; which is definitely very useful.

Also, rBt, another reason I would include River instead of Capsize is that casting River off Mana Drain mana allows you to leave UU open for another Mana Drain; but of course it comes down to personal preference.

And I agree that Gifts should be cut; maybe replace it with Fact or Fiction?

[rBt]

The mana base is nice as it is atm, but I agree with you on the fact that I'm lacking basics, the inclusion of a forest, island and a swamp is good of course.

About disrupting the opponents mana base, this deck is designed to kill fast, life from the loam can be cool in combination with an Oath of course.

Library is a bit of a "dead drop" in the game yes, I might remove this one for a basic land. Tolarian Academy isn't a really good card in Oath, at least not in this version.

Capsize was the only card I've tested so far, I usually end up casting it without the buyback. I think I'll go for Rushing River for now, due to it's mana cost.
But again: the current mana base only has lands that give U mana. So UU1 or U2 doesnt matter in that case.

Tormod's Crypt is being tested at this moment. I do like the 3 copies in my SB tho, great in the mirror.
note: in the mirror it should never get to the point your oppo can utilize his/your oath ofc.

Fact or Fiction might be a good replacement for Gifts yes, or maybe Imperial Seal.

I used to run 3 Swords to Plowshares in this deck too. Imperial Seal is nice, but it's a sorcery, white is very easy to get with 4Forbidden Orchard, 1Mox P, 4Polluted Delta and a Crop Rotation. But then again, it never hurts to test it.

Regrowth is insane in this deck. It's your 2nd Timetwister. Because in the worst case scenario you can turn all your possibilities to shuffle your gy back into your library, in your gy. Other then that, it's always nice to get a free pick from your turned cards. Hmm this is a bit vague, let me give you an example:
I use my Oath:
1st Card: Timetwister
2nd Card: Demonic Tutor
3rd Card: Vampiric Tutor
4th Card: Imperial Seal
5th-9th Card: Random stuff
10th Card is an Akroma

Cards in my Hand:
Gaea's Blessing, Regrowth

I grab the Timetwister out of the GY and shuffle all the cards, including Gaea's Blessing back into my library.
Also: it has happend more then once that some wiseguy stiffled/trickbinded my Gaea's Blessing trigger, where my Timetwister was already in my GY, including 40other cards of my deck. That's why this deck is running only one Gaea's Blessing.
Note: If you happen to draw Gaea's Blessing, you save it for reshuffling Regrowth+Timetwister back in your deck.

I'll post a new decklist tomorrow morning, since it's 10:30pm here in the Netherlands, and I got some other stuff to do.

Thanks for the input!

[rBt]

First of all: Sorry for the double post.

So here's the 2nd decklist:

Kill:
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Razia, Boros Archangel

Engine:
4 Oath of Druids
1 Gaea's Blessing
1 Timetwister
1 Regrowth

Tutor Department:
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Imperial Seal
1 Crop Rotation

Card Draw:
4 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
3 Impulse
1 Fact or Fiction

Counters:
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
2 Misdirection

Disruption:
1 Time Walk
1 Stripmine
1 Rushing River
1 Tormod's Crypt

Mana:
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Sol Ring
4 Forbidden Orchard
4 Polluted Delta
1 Windswept Heath
2 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
1 Forest
1 Island
1 Swamp

Sideboard:
4 Trickbind
3 Tormod's Crypt
1 Blazing Archon
2 Simic Sky Swallower
3 Krosan Grip
2 Chalice of the Void

Ok since I don't have much else to do today, I will take a look at every card in the deck.

Akroma/Razia: They're just good, Akroma is the better of the 2 ofcourse, but Razia can protect itself too.

Oath of Druids: In combination with Forbidden Orchard, you are pretty much guaranteed to have a creature out the turn after.

Gaea's Blessing/Timetwister/Regrowth: This card is usually only used for it's trigger, so you get your gy back in your library. If you happen to draw it, no worries, just keep on milling until you turn either regrowth or timetwister. If any of the two get into your gy due to Oath, you shuffle m back with Blessing.
So in a way your Timetwister is an extra Blessing. Regrowth is also a nice card after you've used your Oath of Druids, because it will act as a Demonic Tutor(Like Netherspirit said before).

Tutors: You use the tutors to get both Oath and Orchard in play. After that they can be used to get any of your disruption cards.

Ancestral Recall: The best draw card out there, down side is of course that your oppo can Misdirect it to him/herself.

Brainstorm: Just insane, this card has three major uses:
- Getting the right cards in your hand
- Protecting your Oath/other cards from a Duress
- Putting an Angel on the top of your library, when it's stuck in your hand.

Impulse: Impulse is just another card to make sure you get all your cards needed. But If there happens to be an angel with those 4 cards, you're sure you will never draw it and your Gy will be shuffled back into your library. Pretty good deal.

Fact or Fiction: I personally find this card a bit too slow, but I'm going to give it a try. The entire deck is based around 1/2 mana spells, with a couple of exceptions of course.

Counters: Force of Will and Mana Drain are just insane, Misdirection is to protect your creatures/oath, or to take advantage of an opponent's spell at the right situation.

Time Walk: Having a Black Lotus, Forbidding Orchard, Time Walk, Oath of Druids, FoW and a random Blue card is probably the best hand you can get.
Since you will have a 6/6 or 6/3 flier out there before your opponent could do anything.
A couple of turns later you're sure to attack twice, which is good especially vs all the combodecks out there.

Stripmine: I decided to give this one another try, you can search for it with a Crop Rotation.

Rushing River: After Capsize I decided to give this one a try, Wipe Away is a good one too, since most of the lands produce blue mana. As long as the bounce spell is 3 mana, it's good. Since most Chalice of the Voids are cast for 2.

Tormod's Crypt: I decided to test this one now, good VS any deck that uses it's yard. Insane in a mirror


Moxen and Lotuses: The 5 Moxen, Lotus Petal, Black Lotus are all in the deck to make sure you can drop an Oath in turn 1, or Turn 2.

Forbidden Orchard: Since there are only a few decks in Vintage that uses a lot of creatures, Forbidden Orchard is your guarantee to have a creature out next turn.

The rest of the lands: I've added an extra fetchland (windswept) to get to the Forest, and an extra chance to get a tropical Island.


Sideboard

Trickbind: Stifle is good, Trickbind is better, because it has Split Second.

Tormod's Crypt: More 'yard hate!

Blazing Archon: In case your opponent has a creature heavy deck, this is a good way the opponent's deck down.

Simic Sky Swallower: Can't be targeted, good VS any targeted Removal (Swords to Plowshares, brrrr)

Krosan Grip: Artifact/Enchantment hate with split second is good.

Chalice of the Void: Extra hate vs sligh/stompy type of decks, or just cast it for 0 and slow the game down.

[netherspirit]

Regrowth is also a nice card after you've used your Oath of Druids, because it will act as a Demonic Tutor(Like Metman said before).

Hehe, Metman said Regrowth was "meh", I said it acted like Demonic Tutor.

Anways, have you ever considered Frantic Search? I've used it in most of my Oath decks and it's always been amazing. It allows you to give your opponent more Spirit tokens which is always useful, and it allows you to filter through any dead cards; which I've always found Oath has, usually a spare land or two.

Beings you have all 5 colors available to you, you could try Recoup as another way to get Timetwister; it also allows you to grab Time Walk from the graveyard.

Nice looking deck so far though!

  netherspirit

[Metman]

Regrowth in Oath serves to find already redundant answers.  Oath doesn't play the bombs like the other decks that run Regrowth.  Sure it's good when you grab Ancestral, Timetwister, or the countered Oath.  But after the Oath activation all you need to do is survive long enough to let the girls do their thing.  I have found it better replaced by utility or even some dredge spells. 

[Oedipus]

Replace Akroma and Razia with Tidespout Tyrant. The bouce effect is so powerful that you don't have to worry about, Locks, Combo, Control, or Mirror. When you have Razia or Akroma in play, you're basically a sitting duck until you kill with damage. There is too much of a gap between the time they are Oathed into play to the time you win. Tyrant takes care of this in the event of maybe your opponent will win next turn in any combo deck. Simply return any key cards. Or against a Colossus, when that thing is back in their hand it won't do anything. What if your opponent has Platinum Angel in play. You really cant do anything with Akroma and/or Razia then. But Tyrant does the job right. So play Tyrant it is just better and it catches most opponents by surprise.

[Implacable]

Replace Akroma and Razia with Tidespout Tyrant. The bouce effect is so powerful that you don't have to worry about, Locks, Combo, Control, or Mirror. When you have Razia or Akroma in play, you're basically a sitting duck until you kill with damage. There is too much of a gap between the time they are Oathed into play to the time you win. Tyrant takes care of this in the event of maybe your opponent will win next turn in any combo deck. Simply return any key cards. Or against a Colossus, when that thing is back in their hand it won't do anything. What if your opponent has Platinum Angel in play. You really cant do anything with Akroma and/or Razia then. But Tyrant does the job right. So play Tyrant it is just better and it catches most opponents by surprise.

At the end of the day, what matters is that Tyrant kills in 5 turns.  That is mindbogglingly slow.  Against many decks, bouncing their board just means that they can go off more easily with Storm.  Furthermore, if your opponent lets you just chain together a bunch of spells after you Oath, haven't you already won?

[Largent]

2 Chalice of the Void, still in doubt whether or not to mainboard them.

I really like 4x chalice in the maindeck of oath, not only is it insane against just about every deck in the field it is also a good way to spend that drain mana.

[Nehptis]

I actually run Chalice Oath without Drains.  I find that Mana Leaks are almost always a hard counter and it's much easier to have 1U open then UU.

Also, you don't need the forest and swamp.  I also find Petal and Sol Ring to be unnecessary.   I'm running a BUG Oath list with this land base:

3 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
3 Island
1 Underground Sea
1 Tropical Island
4 Forbidden Orchard
1 Strip Mine
2 Wasteland

The Rest.  I chose to go the tutor route instead of the TFK/draw route.  IMO tutors are better since they grab the EXACT card that is needed AND are shuffle effects.  The one card that I flip/flop on is Mishra's factory.  Should it be there as a 2 of instead of the Wastelands?  But, Waste-->Shop/Bazaar/Academy/Orchard is so good.  Cards that are debatable are labeled below.

1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Crop Rotation

4 Mana Leak
4 Force of Will
3 Misdirection
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Phyrexian Furnace***Love this card in how well it can disrupt Yawg Will combo and Welder decks.  Kinda annoys Grunts, too!

4 Brainstorm
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Sensei's Divining Top***Open spot.  Since I'm light on draw this seemed better than a 1 shot spell like TFK or Impulse.


1 Smother**** Metagame choice.  It could be another bounce spell or some green Artifact hate.
1 Rushing River

4 Oath of Druids
1 Gaea's Blessing
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Razia, Boros Archangel

1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl

Thoughts welcome!

[Seraphim3577]

Null rods have been the primary "extra" card in those slots that you mentioned for the basic reasoning that they can easily shutoff the mana in combo decks.  It also facilities the tfk draw engine in being able to pitch useless rods + artifact mana you draw late game.

Lotus petal is almost a necessity considering its ability to give turn 1 oath.  If you are looking for something to use that gives better draw, I would go for gifts ungiven, fact or fiction, or impulse.  All of those cards would be really good at searching out oath / disruptions.  I prefer gifts due to its ability to help post board when you bring in loam and factories or singletons like darkblast to beat up on welders / xantids.

Just my opinion.

Good luck with your deck, though.

[Nehptis]

Point taken.

RE: Petal
With Chalice/ Control Oath, turn one Oath is not always the right play.  It's better to build up a controlling position with COTV and a hand full of Counters and then drop Orchard + Oath and win in 2-3 turns.  In this regard I don't like Lotus Petal.  If I had an empty slot then I'd consider it.

RE: Null Rods
These definitely have a place in Oath.  In my build I'd have to remove the Furnaces for the Rods due to their conflicting nature.  Currently, I like the Furnace over Rods or even Crypts.

Re: Gifts
Gifts and FOF are too mana intensive unless I switch back to Drains.  But, I hate losing a counter war because I have only 1U up and not UU.  Maybe I need Petal...lol!

RE: SB
In which matchups do you bring in Loam and/or Factories?

[Holmes]

Have you ever considered Tidespout Tyrant as an Oath target? Bouncing all of opponent's permanents on turn 2 can be extremely gamebreaking as all your counters act as bounces also.

EDIT: this has already been mentioned, I see. At least I'm not alone.

[Bob The Builder]

@nehptis:
I'd go for the factory's.  Let me explain why:  In my experience palying oath an early wasteland is used for mana, a late Waste is oft to late.  An early factory is used for mana, a late factory can beat you to an alternate win.  Also, with Factory on the table, you keep opp from beating you with small sticks (welders) and you have a win on the table.  With factory on the table you can play the beatdown and keep your opp. busy with fake attempts to put oath on the table (you don't really need to oath if you can beat with factory so keep your counters for his essential stuff)
At least that's how our team looks at the whole waste vs factory issue.

[verduran]

Hi guys! I love discussing oath as it's the deck I've been playing on MWS over the last couple of weeks.

In building my own deck, I was inspired by this list.

Christian Schäfer

Hate-Oath

4x Oath of Druids
1x Gaea's Blessing
1x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1x Razia, Boros Archangel
1x Crop Rotation
4x Force of Will
4x Mana Drain
4x Brainstorm
3x Duress
2x Null Rod
4x Chalice of the Void
4x Polluted Delta
2x Underground Sea
4x Forbidden Orchard
2x Tropical Island
2x Wasteland
2x Island
1x Strip Mine
1x Tolarian Academy
1x Swamp
1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Emerald
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Vampiric tutor
1x Mind Twist
1x Time Walk
1x Ancestral Recall
2x Misdirection
1x Echoing Truth
1x Thirst for Knowledge

Sideboard:

3x Ley-Line of the Void
2x Massacre
1x Simic Sky Swallower
1x Duplicant
3x Energy Flux
2x Pernicious Deed
2x Extract
1x Trickbind


(which came from http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=31638.0).

What I'm currently running is this:



Mana

1  Black Lotus
4  Polluted Delta
1  Flooded Strand
1  Lotus Petal
1  Mox Emerald
1  Mox Jet
1  Mox Sapphire
2  Underground Sea
2  Tropical Island
1  Snow-Covered Island
1  Island
1  Swamp
4  Forbidden Orchard

   

The Win

1 Bogardan Hellkite
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
4 Oath of Druids

 Protection

4 Force of Will
2 Misdirection
2 Mana Leak
4 Duress
1 Echoing Truth

Draw/Tutor/Utility

4  Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Crop Rotation
1 Gaea's Blessing
   
Hate   

2 Null Rod
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
   
Sideboard

1 Simic Sky Swallower
1 Tinker
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Massacre
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Echoing Decay
1 Stifle
1 Pithing Needle
1 Trickbind
1 Oxidize
1 Naturalize
1 Darkblast


I'm not running the off color moxen, because I don't like getting stuck under my own chalice (0) or null rod. Lotus petal is there though, because I do like getting the right color of mana. Not having the full set of moxen is one reason for me not to include Academy, aswell as not having a thing to spend blue mana on late game except for FoW's and hardcasting critters...

I've fallen in love with the Bogardan Hellkite main. So far I have not lost a game when I got to Oath... this did have something to do with killing Confidants once in a while...  A maindeck copy of Darkblast might give the Oath player with the ability to do this but the Darkblast could get countered...

As you can see, I don't like mana drain. 'Double blue I often don't have or it forces me to make too many orchard tokens. There's nothing to sink that mana into any way.

4 Duress have been so good to me, as have the Wastes...

Sideboard could use some help... What can come out of the maindeck, and which cards would be good in the sideboard to combat the Stax players I've lately been encountering in large numbers on MWS?

[Judge_Julez]

I always loved Capsize as well, but this seems to have been replaced with WIPE AWAY
it replaces the [3] casting cost bounce; and is uncounterable

Last time I played my OATH deck; I found that I shoved most of the library in the graveyard.
I have one Yawmgoth's Will maindecked and I found that I cast it; followed up with Mox, Mox, Mox, Lotus and hard cast the Akroma that had been killed off.

I had also found the 4 Mana Drains did little more than give me Mana Burn; so I am currently running 4x FoW, 4x Mana Leak and 4x Muddle the Mixture as a counter heavy build, and with the inherent tutoring ability to go fetch an Oath.

[Nehptis]

@Verduran

I think your main deck is good.  I'm intrigued with the Dragon over Razia.  I like it becuase with the 5 CIP damage it can either clear the board of pesky creatures or just go straight to the head as if the Dragon had haste.

@All

What are other Oath players views on Bogardan Hellkite vs. Razia?  Should it be a Main Deck replacement or simply a SB strategy vs aggro / creature decks?

If I'm doing the math right and assuming all Dragon spit goes to the head then after Oathing:

Akroma + Dragon ='s 1st Turn 6, 2nd Turn 6+5-->17
Dragon + Akroma ='s 1st Turn 5, 2nd Turn 5+6-->17

vs.

Akroma + Razia ='s 1st Turn 6, 2nd Turn 6+6-->18

[meadbert]

If you want to run Enlightened Tutor you might not need to splash white since you are mostly likely only going to ET for Oath if you already have an Orchard.

If you do splash white then Argivian Find is the best reason to do it.  Argivian Find gets back a countered/Duresses Oath.

Argivian Find allows Intuition to be a fully instant speed Tutor. With 4 mana up you can:
EOT: Intuition (Oath, Find, Find), Find out Oath.
Next Turn: Play Oath.

EDIT:  This is better than Intuitioning for 3 Oaths because it still leaves 3 Oath of Druids in your library.  If you Intuition for 3 Oaths and one is countered then you only have 1 win condition left.


Also Argivian Find is wonderful in that it can get back a countered Chalice on turn 1.  Imagine you open with Chalice@0 versus Pitch Long and it is countered.  Being able to drop a Fetch, get Savannah/Tundra and then play Argvian Find to replay your Chalice@0 is pretty huge.

The downside is that because Argivian Find has a cc of 1 it makes setting Chalice@1 worse.

If you Oathed once and have Find in your hand then you can Find out Chalice and play it to keep a combo deck from comboing out in your face with one Angel on the table.

[Redlew]

@All

What are other Oath players views on Bogardan Hellkite vs. Razia?  Should it be a Main Deck replacement or simply a SB strategy vs aggro / creature decks?

If I'm doing the math right and assuming all Dragon spit goes to the head then after Oathing:

Akroma + Dragon ='s 1st Turn 6, 2nd Turn 6+5-->17
Dragon + Akroma ='s 1st Turn 5, 2nd Turn 5+6-->17

vs.

Akroma + Razia ='s 1st Turn 6, 2nd Turn 6+6-->18

I think I'll stick with Razia, you've already done the math. That one point can really make a difference if you want to win fast.
Although I like using the dragon for shooting down welders en confidants I'm definitely going to test that.

[Nehptis]

I agree.  I think the dragon is more suited for the SB.  I think 1 Dragon and 1 SSS is a good Oath SB.

[Harlequin]

Find and E-Tutor are interesting. However if thats all your going to do, then splashing black for DT and Vamp (and presumably Duress) seems better.  Intuition for Oath, Find Find seems bad because you end up running too many ... well fairly terrible cards.  Where DT, Vamp in place of Intuition, and Duress x2 might end up getting the job done more dirrectly.

However I think the strongest card in white for Oath is definately Balance.  Maindeck Balance can be huge esp because of oath's take on creatures. 

As far as "mono-blue" oath decks go I have had past success with 4 FOW, 2 Misdirrection, 4 Drain, 3 Muddle.  I think Drain helps you muddle, and muddle is amazing with Gaea's blessing(x2) and Time walk.  I also ran 2 Lat-Nam's Legacy for added shuffles and added "omg i hate drawing creatures"  because the biggest challenge for control oath is that it tends to draw its creatures more (because it draws more cards and takes a few more turns to get rolling).

[verduran]

Control Oath huh? My build is more of a tempo Oath. How do you justify playing Oath as a control heavy deck when Gifts is around as an alternative? Is it just that Oath isn''t bothered by graveyard hate?

Also, I tested Razia/Akroma but in practice it never killed in two turns, so I decided for me the Dragon is better (MWSplay isn't a meta where opponents deal themselves 2 that often. Annoying creatures run rampant, though).

[Harlequin]

Control Oath huh? My build is more of a tempo Oath. How do you justify playing Oath as a control heavy deck when Gifts is around as an alternative? Is it just that Oath isn''t bothered by graveyard hate?

Also, I tested Razia/Akroma but in practice it never killed in two turns, so I decided for me the Dragon is better (MWSplay isn't a meta where opponents deal themselves 2 that often. Annoying creatures run rampant, though).

I was careful to say "Past success."  Basically I agree with you on that level. I don't think I would oath at all right now with gifts about.  Personally I think oath as a win condition can fit into two shells. 

#1 - Control.  In this case your basically playing oldschool mono-blue, but with a stronger win condition.  Just pack in as much counterspells and draw as you can and pray you can hold the game long enough to resolve an oath and win the game.

#2 - Pure combo.  In this -theoretical- build I would run x4 dragon tyrant x4 oaths and x4 Sneak attacks.  Problably give up on Blue all together and run GRB or something like that.  -Or- As a combo-enabler like with Witness/Yawg or Tidespool/freeze.

Neither of the above decks are decks that would actually play... because as you stated... beter options exsist in both the control and the combo realms.  However in the world of tempo or denial, you can basically say the same thing.  why play UBG oath when you could just play UB(g) fish?  you'd have more actual win conditions with little to no dead cards.

Right now, to me, Oath feels like a win-condition with no good home.  In the combo and control worlds, it is inferior to Storm.  In the tempo world, it is inferior to running tempo/denial creatures (meddling mage, withered wretch, Dark confidant). 

Personally its not first choice right now.  That I would agree with you on.  However that doesn't mean I can't say what I would do if I were to run the deck.

[verduran]

Indeed it doesn't. My comments werent meant to keep you from sharing your thoughts on Oath.

Got a good sideboard in mind?

On fish having less dead cards: sure, those creatures you can play at any time, but their abilities will be dead some of the time and they kill so much slower that I wouldn't say Fish is  that better off than Oath dead card wise.

[Harlequin]

For control oath, I run 2 maindeck Gaea's Blessing (because I want to muddle for Timewalk as often as I can.  and I run 1-2 maindeck Reasearch//Development.  As well as 1-2 Maindeck Wipe Away and/or 1-2 Miandeck Repeal

Maindeck creatures I run the x2 angel tag team.  But I can always R//D for protection or utility creatures.  So my board is:

3 Extract
2 Energy Flux or Oxidize

3 Null Rods (also I dont run jet or pearl)
2 Extra Bounce spells (Ethruth, repeal and/or wipe away)

1 Simic Sky Swallower
1 Blazing Archon
1 Ancient Hydra

1 Tinker
1 DSC

I have always been a huge fan of Anceit Hydra.  And even with the new Hellkite, I think the Hydra might be at least as good.  The thing that I really like about him is that he can do some really neat tricks.  Aslo at a cost of   with a little push from drain he is easily hardcastable.
Trick 1: the upkeep fireball! -  The idea is that if Hydra is the only creature left in your deck, you oath and if you hit Blessing then you spend mana to deal X divided any way you choose and then spend to have the hydra shoot himself.  Now he will get shuffled back for next turn.  This is a good techy way to get around Ensnaring bridge. 
Trick 2: Un-Bounceable, Un-RFG-able.   If Hydra is in play and you have mana up then he can basically never be swords or duped.  When ever danger strikes just have him shoot himself to dodge the attack.

[Kirika]

Its been a long time since I played Oath in vintage. Oath is one of those decks I play when I take a break from playing Control Slaver since my local shop has alot of aggro.  I think I might give Oath a shot at the next vintage tourney instead of my normal slaver.

I really don't like Timetwister in non combo decks as it gives you opponent cards.

I really like Mishra's Factory as an alternate win.  Yes it hurts a little on the colored mana but it provides another method of winning if your Oath is countered and Extirpated and Factories are really good these days since alot of decks don't pack wastelands anymore.  Even if they do Life from the Loam makes Mishra's Factory really great since there isn't Keeper with Swords to Plowshares anymore.

I also feel that you want Strip mine and some number of Wastelands against Bazaar, Library and other problem lands.  With fetches it really doesn't hurt the mana base that much.

Crucible of Worlds combos well with Mishra's Factory, Strip Mine, Wastelands, Fetchlands and is nice for control match ups and decent against Stax.

I run 2 Blessings because I hate losing to getting decked.  It happens sometimes.

I run Akroma and Razia because they are hasty and flying and win fast.  Don't like Collosus cause he can be welded away and has to fight through whatever land lubbers are around.  Hellkite might be worth a try instead of Razia but is not hastey and does not have Vigilance.

I like Thirst for Knowledge as additional draw for control mirrors.

I choose Echoing Truth as the bounce of choice because of the new Empty the Warrens tech it bounces all the Goblin Tokens if this isn't popular in your area you might want to just go with Wipe Away.

Sideboard is mainly against ichorid, control and stax.   Depending on your meta you might want to change this.  Only thing I really miss is Duress, they good against control and combo.  Other sideboard consideratons are Darkblast to kill Welder, confidant, spirit tokens among other things.   Also considering Bogardan Hellkite or Ancient Hydra sideboard against aggro but Akroma Razia works pretty well as is.  Sideboard Platinum Angel was removed because of Sudden Death.



Artifacts (12)
1 Black Lotus
4 Chalice Of The Void
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Null Rod


Black (2)
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor

Blue (20)
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Brainstorm
1 Echoing Truth
4 Force Of Will
4 Mana Drain
2 Misdirection
3 Thirst For Knowledge
1 Time Walk

Gold (1)
1 Razia, Boros Archangel

Green (7)
1 Crop Rotation
2 Gaea's Blessing
4 Oath Of Druids

White (1)
1 Akroma, Angel Of Wrath

Lands (18)
2 Flooded Strand
4 Forbidden Orchard
2 Mishra's Factory
2 Polluted Delta
1 Strip Mine
3 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
2 Wasteland

Sideboard (15)
1 Damnation (aggro)
1 Hurkyl's Recall/Rebuild (stax)
4 Leyline Of The Void (ichorid)
2 Life From The Loam (control/too much enchantment hate)
2 Oxidize (artifacts)
2 Pithing Needle (welder, bazaar, etc)
2 Simic Sky Swallower (targeted removal)
1 Mishra's Factory (control / too much enchantment hate)

[Phele]

I really like your build, just a few points:

- I would add at least a Basic Island, maybe two. You don't need that many Dual lands. 2 Trops and 1 Underground should be enough.

- As far as Echoing Truth is nice against Empty, as bad is it against Chalice on Two, which would hurt your deck a lot.

- With 1 Null Rod and 1 Crucible main I would seriously think about Imperial Seal. Especially because it also finds Strip Mine.

But nice list, I will give it a try with a few modifications