Ritual Oath

[The Atog Lord]

I did not try Steel Sabotage instead of the Nature's Claim. I think that would be a reasonable thing to investigate. Nature's Claim is almost certainly better, but the blue count would improve with that. Moreover, if you cut the Claims for Sabotages in the board, the Basic Forest could perhaps become an Island or a Swamp.

[Mindstab_Thrull]

I must admit, I like this list. However, I can't help but wonder if this was a simple matter of "Hey, Griselbrand looks cool. What's the best way to cheat him out? OK, he'll draw an assload of cards. What's the best way to make use of that?" I don't know if that's a good thing or not, but if memory serves me right, most Oathables were just good creatures, or fat creatures that played disruption as well.

Random commentary on some Oath creatures/lists..
Rune-Scarred Demon was cute but all it was was another Demonic Tutor for 1G plus a turn.
Sun Titan at least gave you the ability to assemble Vault/Key without needing Tinker or the like.
Still miss playing with something "fun" like Iona/Don/Emrakul.

Grizzled Oath is the first Oath list I've seen in forever that really doesn't need Tinker->Bot. I suppose if you want Tinker, you could go for the old-school Jar instead, which might help with the Storm plan as well. So glad to see a blue-based Vintage list that doesn't care about assembling Tinker-BSC, who pretty much was the go-to since he got printed (which I absolutely hate! No options anymore!).

Seriously though, if I could build this, I'd be all over it in a Heartbeat of Spring.

Mindstab Thrull
Nomming sanity since 1864 BSE (Before Sarpadian Empires)

[boggyb]

Have you tried a more BUG-like one with duresses instead of force and Lilliana instead of Jace, to maximize your rituals? It seems like duressing after ripping with Griselbrand might be actually better than trying to find force + blue card to protect it if you can't win right there, esp. given the low blue card count in this deck. They help build storm, too, if you're not quite there after only being able to rip 7. They're much worse against shops, though. Something like

4 Dark Ritual
4 Duress
3 Thoughtseize
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Necropotence
2 Tendrils of Agony
2 Griselbrand
4 Oath of Druids
4 Forbidden Orchard
2 Night's Whisper
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Imperial Seal
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
3 Liliana of the Veil
1 Memory's Journey
1 Show and Tell

2 Underground Sea
1 Tropical Island
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Polluted Delta
2 Bayou
1 Swamp
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring

SB: 4 Leyline of the Void
SB: 3 Nature's Claim
SB: 1 Forest
SB: 3 Ravenous Trap
SB: 2 Massacre
SB: 2 Hurkyl's Recall


give or take 8-10 cards.

[msg67183]

If one decides to play something like this without forces and jace, why not just go straight BG

[boggyb]

Because Hurkyl's, Ancestral, Brainstorm, Ponder, Time Walk, Show and Tell, and Memory's Journey are all extremely good and important cards, when either drawing them or dumping them off an Oath trigger for a Yawg win. BG just doesn't have good card filtering/drawing and game against shops at all -- Night's Whisper and Nature's Claim don't cut it. If you're going to go 2-color, might as well go 3 -- could include Jace, but UU is hard to get if your focus is Duresses and Rituals.

[tribet]

to The Atog Lord,

I’m here questioning the role of Jace in your deck. I’m wondering whether it really fits within the Rituals Oath approach you're proposing. I do not believe that your intent is to battle in a control-ish/mid-game manner hence; I’m not sure which gap Jace is actually filling.

For hand and library manipulation, I believe that the following cards are as efficient as Jace during your setup and much more efficient when going off: Preordain, Night whispers, Noxious Revival, Sensei (which also storm-up when paired or when playing Hurkyl’s).

More important, I do not believe that your control package is well balanced, it actually looks rushed compared to the rest of your list. In other words, up to 20% of your list could be concerned (9 permissions + 3 Jace). What's Jace exact role there? Should FOW rely on extra blue count? Which cards do you really want to Misstep:  Acalls, opponent’s Missteps targeting your Acall or your Dark Rituals? How much do you fear Discard?

So, these are the adjustments I'ld first try in your list:

- 1 Nature’s Claim
- 1 Mental Misstep
- 3  Jace
- 1 Lotus Petal or 4th Dark Ritual

+ 2 Preordain
+ 1 Hurkyl’s Recal
+ 2 Flusterstorm
+ 1 Meta Bullet: Steel Sabotage, Divert, Sadistic Sacrament, EE... Balance... Seedtime!

Basically, I believe that without hindering the deck speed and resilience, its numerous one-card-comboes could be backed-up by a much more intimidating permission package.

On a side note, I reckon that Fastbond could be in the list in order to make full use of Griselbrand or Y.Will. Depending on your feedback, I was thinking of cutting the lone Lotus Petal or the 4th Dark Ritual. I realise that the loss of life is adding up, but Fastbond is not necessarily stupid considering you have access to lifelink and small Tendrills to recover.  

I’ve been following TheManaDrain for ages, I just signed up and this is my very first post.

Tom from Aussie


PS: there is also plenty of possible tuning up in the sideboard (should Green be removed all together for Red Chewers, Grudge, etc...? Can you race Dredge? I love Pyroclasm but Leyline is very fragile nowadays. What's your plan in the Mirror or against traditional Oath: Sadistic Sacrament, Mindbreak trap, Cage...?)

[aforce808]

I'm curious, what do you all think of Stifle as a card right now.  It seems pretty good in the mirror match.  You could use it to stop their oath or even from drawing 7 off Grizzelbrand.  Also, isn't Mental Misstep important for stopping turn 1 cage?  I count 15 cages being played in the top 8 of the latest Meandeck Open.  Of course most of those are in sideboards, but that's still a lot of cages.

Doug

[hvndr3d y34r h3x]

I'm curious, what do you all think of Stifle as a card right now.  It seems pretty good in the mirror match.  You could use it to stop their oath or even from drawing 7 off Grizzelbrand.  Also, isn't Mental Misstep important for stopping turn 1 cage?  I count 15 cages being played in the top 8 of the latest Meandeck Open.  Of course most of those are in sideboards, but that's still a lot of cages.

Doug

In the event of cage, you do have removal for it, but mostly you just cast a brand or bargain or storm out.

[Adan]

The issue I have with this deck is that you will find cards like Bargain or Mind's Desire clogging up your opening hand very often.

Furthermore, it might have a high threat density, however, casting a Jace off a Dark Ritual is equal to carddisadvantage against controldecks tgat usually play this setup of countermagic:

4 Force
3 Drain
3 Misstep
2 Flusterstorm

Having a high threat density is also not of much use if you have no permission and can't stop the opponent from jerking off by 1st Turn Land, Lotus Vault-Key or something.
This is all just in a vacuum, but I am not sure whether it wouldn't be better to play Oath in a classic controlshell like Demon Oath and just draw into a fuckload of permission.

[Samoht]

The issue I have with this deck is that you will find cards like Bargain or Mind's Desire clogging up your opening hand very often.

Furthermore, it might have a high threat density, however, casting a Jace off a Dark Ritual is equal to carddisadvantage against controldecks tgat usually play this setup of countermagic:

4 Force
3 Drain
3 Misstep
2 Flusterstorm

Having a high threat density is also not of much use if you have no permission and can't stop the opponent from jerking off by 1st Turn Land, Lotus Vault-Key or something.
This is all just in a vacuum, but I am not sure whether it wouldn't be better to play Oath in a classic controlshell like Demon Oath and just draw into a fuckload of permission.

Bargain doesn't clutter up hands. It is quite easy to cast. Between Ritual and Moxen it ramps fairly quickly. I've already cut the singleton Misstep for a Drain, and that also aids in casting it. forcethewill has cut Mind's Desire, and I may follow his lead. I've gone a step further and cut Necropotence, but that's cause I'm just crazy or something.

I definitely can appreciate the value of permission, as a long time Keeper player. However, I often feel like the older Oath builds that ran RSD or Sun Titan or even the Iona deck were too easily beaten by a prepared and skilled opponent. I definitively believe that the dual threat nature of this build is quite potent. I have played in 2 events since this came out, and top'd both of them. Split in the finals and lost to some nutty Landstill draws. If I had to play someone with my life on the line, I'd much prefer to play this than any other Oath build, and quite possibly anything period.

[Adan]

This build is certainly nice with all the maindeck Grafdigger's Cages coming up, but I still think it does not interact enough with the opponent, meaning it might be "too broken": If your opponent goes 1st Turn Fastbond, Gush, Gush, Gush etc. you might just be able to watch yourself getting slaughtered because your deck is not reactive enough and your only outs to such an issue are just your 4 Force of Wills.

I like brokeness, but it feels awkward for an Oath deck since it has always been a solid controldeck.

[The Atog Lord]

If your opponent goes 1st Turn Fastbond, Gush, Gush, Gush etc. you might just be able to watch yourself getting slaughtered because your deck is not reactive enough and your only outs to such an issue are just your 4 Force of Wills.

Most decks in Vintage can't do anything about a first-turn Fastbond followed by three Gushes beyond casting Force of Will. Workshop and Dredge have nothing whatsoever to stop this if they're on the draw. I suppose you could maindeck Mindbreak Trap if you really wanted. But in general, in Vintage, there are just some games that you're going to lose to broken things. Accept those, and don't warp your deck too much worrying about them. They're generally fairly rare. And the half of the time that you're on the play rather than the draw, you have Thoughtseize.

[Cruel Ultimatum]

I will preface this by saying that oath is a strategy that I dont like or think is generally good. Also, I have never played the ritual deck, only against it.

In my opinion, the reason to play an oath deck is because everyone is cramming flusterstorms and missteps in their blue decks, and you just play oath and they cant stop it. But this deck then adds cards that are specifically weak against misstep and flusterstorm, which in my eyes is not what you want to be doing.

That being said, I can understand a storm deck with an oath plan b, but I really cant buy that this is what that is. Furthermore the changes that samoht and forcethewill (both players thay I respect) made further dilute the storm combo element, making it more of an osth deck with a storm plan b.

I guess the question is this: is gristlebrand good enough to ignore what I believe is a flawed strategy. I think it is fairly obvious that I do not believe so.

[Adan]

If your opponent goes 1st Turn Fastbond, Gush, Gush, Gush etc. you might just be able to watch yourself getting slaughtered because your deck is not reactive enough and your only outs to such an issue are just your 4 Force of Wills.

Most decks in Vintage can't do anything about a first-turn Fastbond followed by three Gushes beyond casting Force of Will. Workshop and Dredge have nothing whatsoever to stop this if they're on the draw. I suppose you could maindeck Mindbreak Trap if you really wanted. But in general, in Vintage, there are just some games that you're going to lose to broken things. Accept those, and don't warp your deck too much worrying about them. They're generally fairly rare. And the half of the time that you're on the play rather than the draw, you have Thoughtseize.

Yeah sure, I have been exaggerating a bit, but you are right, you could replace the scenario with simply playing against Belcher and FoW would still be the only way to survive.
But on the other hand, I can also see some controldecks grinding you out because they have an assload of permission to prevent you to do broken stuff. Ritual Oath definitely has a very high density of threats, but I believe you will 1 to 1 trade them against control (or 2 to 2 if you cast something off an Ritual and it gets FoW'd). BUT controldecks have Confidants to draw enough cards to efford these 1to1 trades. Furthermore they have Snapcasters to replay their permission.

This will also help them to force through their few threats they play (e.g. Vault-Key out of nothing or Tinker-Blightsteel w/ Time Walk). I'd also feel really uneasy to play against Gush-Remora with it's maindeck Remoras, Repeals and Mindbreak Traps. In theory that deck should absolutely destroy Ritual Oath.

Anyway, I should test this deck myself some time. I just have one problem: I don't have Show and Tell. Is that slot mandatory or is there an alternative to it?

[Phoenix888]

I just have one problem: I don't have Show and Tell. Is that slot mandatory or is there an alternative to it?

Elvish Piper

[The Atog Lord]

No, Show+Tell certainly isn't mandatory for the deck. Griselbrand is. Oath is. Not so much Show+Tell.

[Samoht]

No, Show+Tell certainly isn't mandatory for the deck. Griselbrand is. Oath is. Not so much Show+Tell.

Mandatory, no it's not. But I definitely think it's correct. You get to protect your threats with SnT, as well as get through Cages. If you intend on testing boarded games or against anything with MD Cage, you probably want to have 2-4 SnT in your 75. Remember, Oath acts as Worldly Tutor for your SnT if they have a Cage in play.

[Adan]

No, Show+Tell certainly isn't mandatory for the deck. Griselbrand is. Oath is. Not so much Show+Tell.

Mandatory, no it's not. But I definitely think it's correct. You get to protect your threats with SnT, as well as get through Cages. If you intend on testing boarded games or against anything with MD Cage, you probably want to have 2-4 SnT in your 75. Remember, Oath acts as Worldly Tutor for your SnT if they have a Cage in play.

SO... Cabal Ritual IS a viable option. I was thinking about adding that because it also helps me to cheat stuff like Necro, Bargain and Griselbrand into play, especially because it will most likely generate 5 mana after an Oath activation under Cage as you said. Cool.
I'm still quite uneasy with just 4 Force of Wills and 1 Drain/Misstep as permission. I kinda want 3 Drains, but on the other hand, it feels clunky an really annoying to draw such cards in Necro/Bargain.
However, with all these Ritual Oaths top8ing, I should test it. I'll also have a compairison to RSD Oath then.

[Lemnear]

SO... Cabal Ritual IS a viable option. I was thinking about adding that because it also helps me to cheat stuff like Necro, Bargain and Griselbrand into play, especially because it will most likely generate 5 mana after an Oath activation under Cage as you said. Cool.
I'm still quite uneasy with just 4 Force of Wills and 1 Drain/Misstep as permission. I kinda want 3 Drains, but on the other hand, it feels clunky an really annoying to draw such cards in Necro/Bargain.
However, with all these Ritual Oaths top8ing, I should test it. I'll also have a compairison to RSD Oath then.

You already fight through counters, stick an oath to the field, make your opp control a creature, get another turn, oath-up a 7/7 Flying, lifelinking, carddrawing Monster (w/o cage)... And then you discuss an conditional mana accelerator to "cheat bargain or griselbrand into play"?

Why don't you Run nature's claim instead if Cage, workshop, chalice, etc are a problem? It's better than Cabal vs. Cage and useful against a wide array of Decks

[Samoht]

I think the formatting went awry on your post.

Cabal Ritual would make us a stronger Ritual based deck, obviously. It would however dilute our Oath strategy. Also, it is neither blue nor easy to cast under spheres for value. It realistically only would be potent against Dredge or Blue. I'd rather have SnT in both cases.

As far as Claim, it has a large drawback of being 1cmc. This is why the spot we are discussing has become a 2nd Show and Tell for me. Chalice 1 is a favorite play of a Shop Pilot, and despite actually being weak against us, it hoses claim all day. Without 2-4 Missteps of our own to protect it, we can't really afford to get into a battle over a Grafdigger's Cage against blue. First, Cage will 99% of the time resolve, and then when we Claim it, they can just Misstep (we're actually light on 1 drops, so this is one of our only targets). We can either accept the futility of warring over a card that doesn't inherently beat us or just put our broken cards into play without exposing them to counters. I'll take option B.


edit: Just took the quotes out because of formatting error.

[vaughnbros]

If chalice at 1 and cage are such big problems what about more hurkyls or beast within?  Although it is 1 mana mystical tutor also seems like a pretty great card for this deck I'm not sure if you all are running it I know the initial versions didn't.

[Cruel Ultimatum]

If chalice at 1 and cage are such big problems what about more hurkyls or beast within?  Although it is 1 mana mystical tutor also seems like a pretty great card for this deck I'm not sure if you all are running it I know the initial versions didn't.

if shops is running out chalice 1 against a deck revolving around a 2cc card you are in trouble b/c either they are followkng it up with chalice 2 or they dont think you are going to get to 2 effective mana.

Show and tell is good becaude it gives you another avenue to attack.

[Lemnear]

@samoth

Formating fixed. Happens then you write while switching trains. :/

[Samoht]

If chalice at 1 and cage are such big problems what about more hurkyls or beast within?  Although it is 1 mana mystical tutor also seems like a pretty great card for this deck I'm not sure if you all are running it I know the initial versions didn't.

if shops is running out chalice 1 against a deck revolving around a 2cc card you are in trouble b/c either they are followkng it up with chalice 2 or they dont think you are going to get to 2 effective mana.

Show and tell is good becaude it gives you another avenue to attack.

Mike, I was referring to G1 Shop pilots playing Chalice 1 on the draw vs Blue, not as a plan against Oath.

Agreed on the power of SnT

Edit: Additionally, in G2/3, if they resolve Cage against us, after Chalice 2 they look to Chalice 1, and sometimes will lead with it.

[Cruel Ultimatum]

If chalice at 1 and cage are such big problems what about more hurkyls or beast within?  Although it is 1 mana mystical tutor also seems like a pretty great card for this deck I'm not sure if you all are running it I know the initial versions didn't.

if shops is running out chalice 1 against a deck revolving around a 2cc card you are in trouble b/c either they are followkng it up with chalice 2 or they dont think you are going to get to 2 effective mana.

Show and tell is good becaude it gives you another avenue to attack.

Mike, I was referring to G1 Shop pilots playing Chalice 1 on the draw vs Blue, not as a plan against Oath.

Agreed on the power of SnT

Edit: Additionally, in G2/3, if they resolve Cage against us, after Chalice 2 they look to Chalice 1, and sometimes will lead with it.

I was referring to vaughnbros saying hurkyls is the answer you want, but I do not agree with that. Also if your shop opponent plays chalice 1 with a chalice 2 in play, laugh at them

[tribet]

Following up on my comments (see a few posts above), this is the list have been testing for the past month:

Mana:
3 Dark Ritual
4 Forbidden Orchard
2 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
1 Island
1 Swamp
3 Polluted Delta
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Black Lotus
5 Moxen
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt

Disruption:
4 Force of Will
2 Thoughtseize
2 Spell Pierce
2 Flusterstorm
1 Rebuild

Draw/Filter/Cheats:
3 Preordain
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Necropotence
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Memory's Journey
4 Oath of Druids
1 Show & Tell
1 Time Walk

Kill:
2 Griselbrand
2 Tendrils of Agony

Sideboard:
1 Forest
3 Nature's Claim
2 Hurkyl's Recall
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Sadistic Sacrament
1 Flusterstorm
1 Show & Tell
2 Infest


Comments about the Mana:
- I only tested with 3 Dark Ritual and I never felt like it was not enough or too chunky.
- I included the basic Swamp mainly not to expose myself after a first turn Thoughtseize. In some games, I wished it was a Bayou. If this problem becomes recurrent, I may try Bayou. This would certainly streamline my fetchlands split which could be good. Indeed, in some obvious matchups, the basic Forest is directly swapping in with that Swamp.

Comments about the Disruption:
- I'm very happy with the current disrupt package. It is balanced and it's functionning well.
- I recently swapped 2 Mental Misstep for the current 2 Spell Pierce. I realised that Misstep was mainly getting involved to fight for or against ACalls. Spell Pierce has been versatile and very efficient so far. Although I also thought about putting 3 Thoughtseize + 3 Flusterstorm, for now, I will keep the current split 2/2/2.
- I just replaced the main deck Hurkyl's Recall with Rebuild. I ponder on this for a while and I think it will be good. I don't honestly believe that this choice is dramatically changing my game 1 versus Stax matchups. I believe that when played in response to opponent artos (Critter or Prison stuff), the symmetrical effect is absolutely worth the extra CC as it means that you can also storm up immediatelly after. I believe that the cycling is very juicy against many matchups and in the obvious situations after a VT, MT, Ponder,...

Comments about the Draw/Filter/Cheats:
- The main thing here is the inclusion of Preordain in lieu of Jace. In my earlier post, I expressed my concerned about Jace's unclear role in this proposed Ritual-Oath build. I do not believe that we are here piloting a traditional Control Oath deck. Although I haven't tried Jace in that build, I honestly believe that Jace would be chunky. I feel like the mana base is tight but just right. Preordain is amazing, it offers explosivity without compromising the consistancy. Preordain is cheap and easy storm. Also, Preordain is good when digging for sideboard pieces during both the early-game and mid-game.
- I discovered Memory's Journey a month ago and I love it. After a big Oath, How awesome it is to shuffle back the trio Time Walk + Yawmoth's Will + Tendril's back into a tiny library prior to draw 7? How awesome is Journey in response to opponent's Snappies, Dredge Return, Y.Will, Welders, Salvagers...! Also the G flashback is really well designed: it often allows you to save on your precious B and U ressources.
- 1 Show & Tell main deck is necessary. Although, it is clear that you need additional one(s) in the sideboard, I'm not sure I'ld put 2 in the maindeck if I could.

Comments about the Kill:
- Like most Oath targets, Griselbrand is obviously better when you can follow it up with Time Walk.
- Griselbrand and its draw7 make the deck much stronger against the Jace and its sorcery speed bouncing ability
- Griselbrand, being legendary, works well versus opposing φMetamorph (much better than tasteless Colossus)
- Griselbrand doesn't like when your life has been chipped away (bears, bolt, Crypt,...). Less than 9, it shuts off your own Forces and Fetch. Below 10, it shuts VT.
- Remember that "lifelink happens simultaneously than when the damage is dealt". So Griselbrand will save your face versus an army threatening you with less than 7power.
- A small Tendrils can put you back in the game. It's not only a kill. Don't be shy especially when you pair it with bombs such as Griselbrand, Bargain, Necro.

Comments about the Sideboard:
- I think this was the hardest part when putting the above decklist together. Often, there are 3/4 obvious cards to side out but after that, I start becoming worried about disturbing the deck mechanics to much.
- Should I side to protect my own strategy (against Cage, Flusterstorm, Trap, Sower, Leyline of Sanctity...) or should I side to fight my opponent's strategy: Control, Prison, Aggro, Combo. For example, should I race Dredge,...?
- Can I side out the lone artos bounce? Will I miss it if trying to storm up? Will I miss it against widely used Cage tech?
- Can I side out Bargain and Necro? That would be about a quarter of my plans? (remaining plans would be Oath, Show & Tell, Tendrils out of nowhere)
- Should I side out filter cards (read: Preordain) and compensate by increasing the number of cards I can side in?
- I'm very happy with extra Show & Tell. 99% of the time, I remove 1 Oath for it. At first, I wasn't convinced about thinning the number of Oath but I'm now really certain this is correct mainly because of Cage.
- I think Sadistic Sacrament must be there because of Dark Ritual, because it is un-Misteppable, because it is unexpexted and because it is a true bomb (a shame though that you can't search into target player's hand and/or graveyard as well!). Against any other Oath build, I think this is the best sideboard play!

I'ld love some input on the sideboard, typical side plans, worst matchups, etc...

[Adan]

I'd not play without Jace. Not only does he contribute to a much higher threat density, he also serves as an out to opposing Jaces (being outdrawn was always one of Oath's weaknesses) and he let's you get rid of Griselbrand from your hand.
I mean you already have the right tools to accelerate into Jace (probably swap Pierces for Drains?). But this way, your only chance is to SnT in case Griselbrand gets stuck in your hand (or you oath up the other one, but Griselbrand in your hand is most likely not going to help you).

[tribet]

I finished 2nd last week-end at our Australian Masters event running Ritual Oath. This was our biggest Vintage event of the year and 32 Vintage players from all across the Continent gathered and battled fiercely for a Mox Emerald. 5 Rounds Swiss + Top 8. Find tournament report here: http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=44588.0

I have been tinkering the deck for the past 10 weeks (see above posts) and I eventually decided to add 1 Dragon Breath and 1 Bayou in the main deck (respectively cutting 1 Preordain and 1 Tropical Island).

Dragon Breath seemed obvious. Griselbrand, after hitting the board, was too often digging for a TimeWalk. Dragon Breath adds much more consistency and it really acts as a 2nd TimeWalk. At first, I was worried about drawing a dead card, but I was actually happy to hardcast it many times (and I think it saved me once). Also, the pumping ability is very interesting when your critter has lifelink. Dragon Breath seemed too complete not to be run alongside a Lifelinked Griselbrand!

Bayou offered good flexibility all day and I never regretted not running 2 Tropical Islands in the main.

In the sideboard, 2 Massacre Wurm were added in lieu of 2 Infest (I always felt like Infest was not optimum). I discovered the Wurm just recently and it seemed a very good option against fish and dredge matchups. Easy to hardcast (Dark Rituals), not Legendary. I like it.

So this is what took me to the Finale:

Mana:
3 Dark Ritual
4 Forbidden Orchard
2 Underground Sea
1 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
1 Island
1 Swamp
2 Polluted Delta
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Black Lotus
5 Moxen
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt

Disruption:
4 Force of Will
2 Thoughtseize
2 Spell Pierce
2 Flusterstorm
1 Rebuild

Draw/Filter/Cheats:
2 Preordain
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Necropotence
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Memory's Journey
4 Oath of Druids
1 Show & Tell
1 Time Walk
1 Dragon Breath

Kills:
2 Griselbrand
2 Tendrils of Agony

Sideboard:
1 Forest
3 Nature's Claim
2 Hurkyl's Recall
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Sadistic Sacrament
1 Show & Tell
2 Massacre Wurm

So I finished 6th in the Swiss at 3/1/1 and I played against the following decks:
- Bob/Jace Control (Dan Unwin who finished 1st in the Swiss and the Tournament): Win 2/1
- Bob/Jace Control (Graham): Win 2/0
- Bob/Jace Control(Isaac): Loss 2/0
- Cobra/Gush/Tendril (Nick aka Hackling): Win 2/0
- Bob/Jace Control (Aloysius): ID

Quarter VS Bob/Jace Control (Aloysius): Win 2/0
In Semi VS GG Oath (Thomas): Win 2/0 (Sadistic Sacrament for the win!)
Finale VS Bob/Jace Control (Dan Unwin): Loss 2/0

So basically, the field was full of Bob/Jace Control. I think it is a 50/50 match up. My typical sideboard plan against them was:
- 1 Rebuild
- 1 Dragon Breath
- 1 Memory’s Journey
- 1 Oath
 + 1 Hurkyl’s Recall
 + 1 Nature’s Claim
 + 1 Sadistic Sacrament
 + 1 Show & Tell

The idea was to play around their Cages and Vault/Key. I think only Show & Tell was used fully in this matchup. Karl Reeves my teammate playing the same deck won versus Landstill. From memory he didn’t meet Dredge, Stax or Fish either!

I was going to cut out Necro for a 3rd Preordain because Necro was too skill intensive for me during our trainings. Though I won the semi aganst GG Oath after resolving a turn 1 Necro. Drew 9 first turn, Then 7 next turn as I wanted to stay at 3 life in order not to cut myself from FOW, Fetch or VT. I didn't draw broken but Preordains, Brainstorm, etc... helped me find the winning pieces. It was tight though. Game 2, Sadistic Sacramament turn 1 or 2 killed the game!

In the Finale, I think I Thoughtseized on the first turn in both games. Game 2, I made poor choice his hand was:
- Manadrain
- FOW
- Snapcaster
- Lotus
- Land
- Land
- Key (I think)
I took away the Drain... Which he very soon flashbacked using Mage + Lotus! (I'm a noob). Then Mage & spririt tokens attacked my life badly. Oh, and he also drew a blue card for his FOW! Lotus or Mage should have be the discard target I think. I lost this game bitterly. If I remember well, my opening hand after mulliganing was something like: Oath, VT, Brainstorm, Preordain, Thoughtseize, Orchard. But I got mana crewed as well by his sideboard Stripmine and then a 2nd Stripmine Y.Willed from the graveyard!

Best moment of the day was when I won a Game2 in the Swiss out of nowhere after Dan Unwin took 17 damages from his 2 bob flips in the same turn (Blightsteel Colossus + FOW). He was then on 1 life with Jace on the board. So he brainstormed but was unable to put two 0CC on top of his library! I was very cocky on that one but I suppose that’s why my friend Socrates refuses to play Colossus anywhere close from his Bobs.
Then, game 3, I had the opportunity to hard cast Griselbrand turn 1 without protection. Instead, I decided to search for Show and Tell with my Mystical. Should S&T be countered, I would go for the old school hardcast on the next turn. S&T resolves! GG

Worst moment of the day was when I forgot to make a spirit token at EOT so that my Oath could trigger at next upkeep. The game was on a slow tempo, then suddenly, Isaac dropped 2 or 3 harmless spells in a row (land, mox, key) and then said straight after "End turn". I said ok, untapped and drew. I clearly got jedied by a skilled opponent. It was fair play so no harm to him. I'm just a noob once again. Then I lost the match straight after as Isaac assembled Vault/Key out of nowhere.

It was a great week-end, thanks to shrewarmies and all.

[Samoht]

I'm pretty sure that you're better off running Temporal Mastery and Noxious Revival before playing Dragon's Breath.

[median]

Dragon breath isn't bad, it gets around spheres and other workshop shenanigans. The deck is also very mana and life hungry, casting a time walk or paying two life for a noxious revival isn't the best plan. Keep in mind that if you put temporal mastery on top it has to be the first card you draw for the turn. With dragon breath you can oath, draw for the turn, and then draw 14 cards from girselbrand and then cast dragon breath, attack, and draw 7 more cards.