[Report] Traviscon Top 4 Split with Oath

As I've previously mentioned, it's important to make consumer decisions that support responsible commercial enterprise. While I missed the first monthly event by Travis & Co., I was determined to make the next one. And so, the usual band of Vintagers got together the night before in preparation to pursue Type One glory once again.

Round 1 vs. Jeff Carpenter, Staxless Stax

Game 1. I mull to 6 and Jeff opens with Workshop, Coalition Relic. I'm able to chain Night's Whispers together using a Lotus, and from there my manabase gets established. We each hold one Vault/Key component for a while, with Jeff using Top to dig and me holding back counters to make sure the game doesn't slip away. In the final turns, I Force of Will a Memnarch and then play Gifts Ungiven, setting up the other piece.

SB: -1 Repeal, -1 Regrowth, -1 Gifts Ungiven, -1 Thoughtseize, -1 Tezzeret, +2 Seal of Primordium, +1 Oxidize, +1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind, +1 Empyrial Archangel

Game 2. Knowing Jeff's deck doesn't attack permanents through Smokestack, but does interfere with mana through Spheres and Strips, I decided that the better plan was to win through Oath of Druids rather than through Vault/Key/Twister recursion. He opens with Trinisphere, which I'm able to stop, and I tutor up an Oath of Druids to go with a Forbidden Orchard shortly thereafter. I pitched Sphinx to Force, so I have Iona and Archangel left in the deck. I get Iona and name black, to stop Jeff's tutors from finding an answer. I knock Jeff to very low life with Iona, but she can't finish the job herself.

He digs into Duplicant, for which I have an Oxidize. Next up is Empyrial Archangel. It gets through for 5, which between Iona and Jeff's Mana Crypt and painlands puts him at 1. At this point he has effectively no outs. Vault/Key won't get there because Mana Crypt will eventually hit him before he's able to get rid of Archangel and do 16 to me. Welder won't get there because Duplicant can't stop Archangel. He scoops.

Round 2 vs. Jesse Martin, TPS

Game 1. Not an easy day for me so far. I won this game purely on account of the die roll. I opened with Orchard, Lotus, Oath, holding Spell Pierce and Force of Will in hand. Jesse opens with land, Lotus, which I Spell Pierce, and he has the Ritual to pay for it. He uses the other black to Imperial Seal, and then pops Lotus for Ancestral, which I Force. The turn ships back to me and I get in Iona. Now this is a tough situation. Did he Seal for a bounce spell, or a threat? I decide he probably Sealed for a threat and name black. I was right, and Thoughtseize clears the only relevant playable card in his hand. Everything falls into place shortly thereafter.

SB: -1 Regrowth, -1 Repeal, +2 Mindbreak Trap

Game 2. This game was a nail-biter. I mulled to 6 and kept a hand with Ponder, Spell Pierce, double Orchard. Thankfully I drew into a fetchland and so I didn't need to pump out Spirit tokens quite as early. Jesse Duresses away a Thirst for Knowledge, instead of Mindbreak Trap a few turns later, suggesting more control resources in his hand.

The game goes back and forth for a long time; I sap his Force of Wills by playing Oath of Druids and bluffing additional countermagic. I manage to buy enough time to draw into Force, Spell Pierce, Mindbreak Trap and use those to keep him pinned down. He plays Vamp and the end of my turn and then Grim Tutor on his own. He plays Lotus, Necropotence from his hand. Now the question is, was the Lotus one the cards he tutored for? I decide it's not the worth to presume that it was and that Necro was a bluff spell. Plus, Jesse was at 9 by this point so Necro wasn't going to do a whole lot. I let Necro in and Jesse draws 6.

On my turn I run out Timetwister with Force of Will backup. Ordinarily this would be a very risky play against combo, but after Necropotence I'm behind on cards and if he does have Will in his hand, I need to stop it at all costs. Twister gets there and I draw into a ton of counters. From there I take it home. What a close one.

Round 3 vs. Chris Roberts, Ichorid

Game 1. After he Serum Powders on the play, I don't even bother mulling for a better hand.

Game 2. I open with Pithing Needle on Bazaar of Baghdad, which slows him down considerably. I have Spell Pierce for his bounce spell and later Ravenous Trap for his dredgers in his yard.

Game 3. I mull to 6 and my hand includes Extirpate, something that ordinarily buys a lot of time against Ichorid. According to plan, he flips a Bridge from Below into his graveyard and I Extirpate it. My hand doesn't come together as quickly as I hoped and he gets Bloodghasts into play. He tries to Dread Return, and I have Krosan Reclamation to block it, but he has the dredging land to return his Bloodghasts. I don't get there in time. What a heartbreaker.

Round 4 vs. Sam Best, Tezzeret

Game 1. I don't remember this match as well. In this game, he stopped an early Oath and I took a great deal of damage from Orchard tokens. I got Tez onto the board at the last opportunity, and he drew FOF which flipped over DT. I split the piles so as not to make it obvious that he could just DT for Vault and win, but that's what happened.

SB: -1 VT, -1 Regrowth, +2 Seal of Primordium

Game 2. I Oath out my library with Iona in hand, and assemble the Vault/Key/Timetwister package out of the graveyard.

Game 3. He has a ton of control magic early, and my hand has Oath, Oath, DT, Vault. I play out the Oath without an Orchard, and he Forces. I drop the second Oath to deplete his counters, but it gets through. He still has a ton of cards and Drain mana open, so I opt not to press the offensive surge and try for Vault/Key. I run out the DT, and get an Orchard. I guess he was expecting something different. Iona names blue, but it's not over yet.

I'm reading him on Yawgmoth's Will, and I know Duress could get it in past my one Force. His graveyard is stocked, so the loss of blue might not be enough to keep him off the win. I play Timetwister, only to have it meet Red Elemental Blast. Well then. Luckily there's not enough followup on his side of the table to get there afterwards.

Round 5 ID Bill Copes, Tezzeret

Top 8 vs. Bill Copes, Tezzeret

Game 1. My hand is pretty fast, with Oath coming down quickly with DT behind it. Bill hopes I don't have Orchard, but that's what DT ensured would happen next turn. Iona on blue is tough for Remora-Repeal-Tez to deal with. He had maindeck REB to try to stop my Twister, but I found the blue card for my Force with the Top.

Game 2. Iona hits after being Brainstormed back, but this time she meets with Diabolic Edict. He doesn't have drain mana open the next turn and there's nothing I have in my hand that will pull me ahead, so I try for KRec -> Will, but it gets Forced.

Game 3. I don't remember this game particularly well. I dropped Oath very early, and this time I had counters to back it up. I think Thoughtseize knocked out Bill's only gas, and from there Iona went the distance.

The Top 4 split was $80 and a draft set, which was good enough for me.

Finally, my list and some reflections on the deck.

4 force of will
4 spell pierce
4 oath of druids
3 nights whisper
1 iona shield of emeria
1 krosan reclamation
1 sensei's divining top
1 repeal
1 tezzeret the seeker
1 lim dul's vault
1 voltaic key
1 ancestral recall
1 timetwister
1 time walk
1 time vault
1 demonic tutor
1 vampiric tutor
1 yawgmoths will
1 regrowth
1 brainstorm
1 ponder
1 merchant scroll
1 gifts ungiven
1 thirst for knowledge
1 thoughtseize
4 forbidden orchard
3 flooded strand
2 polluted delta
3 underground sea
2 tropical island
2 island
5 mox
1 black lotus
1 mana crypt
1 sol ring
sb:
3 pernicious deed
2 mindbreak trap
2 ravenous trap
2 seal of primordium
1 tinker
1 sphinx of the steel wind
1 empyrial archangel
1 oxidize
1 extirpate
1 pithing needle

Obviously this list is an attempt to hybridize my previous build of Oath with vroman's version. The main difference being Night's Whisper, a card I continue to love. I cut Lat-Nam's Legacy, thinking that having only 1 creature in the deck would mean the odds of it getting stuck in my hand were small. Nevertheless, I think I drew Iona at least once in every match I played (with the possible exception of round 2), and once in every game of some matches. In theory, this shouldn't be a huge problem because KRec -> Will is available, but without Iona for insurance against counters, you're risking losing to your deck running out.

Which brings me to my next point. Spell Pierce was nice, but the real champion in terms of control resources was the singleton Thoughtseize, which won me game 3 against Bill Copes and game 1 against Jesse. The information it gives you is key to whether the risk of Krosan Reclamation is worth it. Also, the metagame is starting to adjust to this deck. Sam Best ran REB. Bill Copes ran maindeck REB and sideboard Diabloic Edict. I sideboarded Ravenous Trap for the mirror. KRec is getting to be a bigger risk.

That having been said, running Oath of Druids still means the ability to turn many cards in Vintage that would ordinarily be assets into liabilities. It also allows you to more or less ignore Fish when designing a sideboard. Those are significant advantages in themselves, and Oath provides one of the most powerful early threats in the format. All in all, I was impressed with this deck, but I wonder if it will continue to perform in another few months at the level it's on now.