So as some of you may know a couple of years ago I missed the top 8 at champs on breakers with a Gush Tendrils list running Oath out of the sideboard to have some sort of gameplan in games 2 and 3 against shops. This deck list was basically my favorite deck of all time, but even with the tricksy sideboard, good shops players would take their surprise loss game 2 side in the cards they would against oath and still crush me, as I didn't really have a good plan for them.
Fast forward about a year, and I after getting frustrated with the current decks available start talking with some friends about my favorite list. I mention that I sided in Oath in all my g2s at champs, and we realized that it might be reasonable to just start with Oath in the main anyhow. Thus the first version of Gush OAth Tendrils (GOAT) was born. I played this for awhile in the Team Serious Ohio meta, but I still felt like some of the cards weren't quite right. One of the biggest reasons was that Gush + fastbond didn't feel as strong as it once had. With more cards that didn't allow you to continue the chain, the GushBond plan just didn't come up that often.
Since that was already bad against shops I decided to focus on some other more bomb-like cards, specifically in the form of some more tutors and Gifts Ungiven (which thankfully allows me to keep calling the deck GOAT).
For the past month I have been testing this version, and found it to be very good. Still a little inconsistent, but overall very powerful and able to interact with many of the decks in the format. Thank goodness everyone started running creatures.
Deck: The GOAT! v 2.0 {U}{B}{G}
Main:
- 4 Preordain {U}
- 1 Treasure Cruise {7}{U}
- 1 Dig Through Time {6}{U}{U}
- 1 Ancestral Recall {U}
- 1 Brainstorm {U}
- 3 Thoughtseize {B}
- 1 Flusterstorm {U}
- 1 Hurkyl's Recall {1}{U}
- 1 Chain of Vapor {U}
- 1 Noxious Revival {G/P}
- 1 Regrowth {1}{G}
- 1 Time Walk {1}{U}
- 1 Snow-Covered Island
- 4 Oath of Druids {1}{G}
- 1 Griselbrand {4}{B}{B}{B}{B}
- 1 Memory's Journey {1}{U}
- 1 Yawgmoth's Will {2}{B}
- 2 Gifts Ungiven {3}{U}
- 1 Vampiric Tutor {B}
- 1 Demonic Tutor {1}{B}
- 1 Tendrils of Agony {2}{B}{B}
- 2 Misty Rainforest
- 4 Polluted Delta
- 3 Forbidden Orchard
- 1 Island
- 1 Tropical Island
- 2 Underground Sea
- 1 Black Lotus {0}
- 1 Lotus Petal {0}
- 1 Mox Emerald {0}
- 1 Mox Jet {0}
- 1 Mox Pearl {0}
- 1 Mox Ruby {0}
- 1 Mox Sapphire {0}
- 1 Dark Petition {3}{B}{B}
- 1 Dark Ritual {B}
- 1 Cabal Ritual {1}{B}
- 1 Tolarian Academy
- 1 Mana Crypt {0}
- 1 Swamp
- 1 Nihil Spellbomb {1}
- 2 Duress {B}
- 1 Cabal Therapy {B}
Sideboard:
- 1 Blazing Archon {6}{W}{W}{W}
- 3 Hurkyl's Recall {1}{U}
- 3 Nature's Claim {G}
- 3 Defense Grid {2}
- 1 Forest
- 3 Nihil Spellbomb {1}
- 1 Tormod's Crypt {0}
So really quickly, I wanted to just talk about the basics of what this deck is trying to do, if it isn't obvious. The idea is that you can function as either a storm combo deck or an oath deck and that those strategies are not necessarily mutually exclusive, since Oath is basically Bargain in this deck. One thing that has been nice, is that cards like containment priest are a lot less irritating than they might be normally for an oath deck, since setting up memory's journey post 2nd oath and just comboing out is also a very quick way to win.
The oath plan can either be to make storm happen or to just beatdown depending on the situation. While we aren't playing force, you should be able to wreck face with duress effects post oath, and they do allow for a reasonable turn 1 play to help determine which way to focus.
Gifts Ungiven in this deck can be very flexible in this list, and the ability to get Oath + Tim Walk is reminiscent of Tinker Time Walk in older versions of the deck. One of my favorite piles thus far involves a regrowth effect in hand and gifts for Ritual Ritual Dark Petition DT. This should allow for an easy storm kill for the low price of maximally 4 mana (assuming the card in hand is regrowth).
Postboard the deck can get more controlling or more combo focused depending on the matchup.