Bant Oath

cheerlessbear

Trying a take on oath that I haven't seen before. Looking for advice and any suggestions. I am mostly a modern player just starting to get into vintage and would like any help on understanding the format.

Lands:
4x flooded strand
1x misty rainforest
2x tropical island
2x tundra
1x volcanic island
2x Island
2x forbidden orchard
1x library of alexandria

Instants:
1x ancestral recall
1x beast within
1x brainstorm
1x dig through time
1x enlightened tutor
2x flusterstorm
3x force of will
2x gush
3x mental misstep
1x repeal
1x swan song
1x thirst for knowledge
1x mana drain
1x ancient grudge

Sorceries:
1x ponder
3x preordain
1x supreme verdict
1x time walk

Enchantments:
1x moat
4x oath of druids
1x sylvan library

Artifacts:
1x black lotus
1x engineered explosives
1x mox emerald
1x mox sapphire
1x mox pearl
1x mox jet
1x mox ruby
1x sol ring

Planeswalkers:
2x jace, the mind sculptor
1x narset transcendant

creatures:
1x emrakul, the aeons torn
1x dragonlord dromoka

Sideboard:
1x blazing archon
1x blightsteel colossus
1x engineered explosives
2x pithing needle
1x rest in peace
1x stony silence
2x mindbreak trap
2x ravenous trap
2x steel sabotage
2x natures claim

Islandswamp

If I was going to enter a Bant Oath deck in a tournament it would look something like this. https://islandswamp.wordpress.com/2016/11/19/fortress-of-solitude/

cheerlessbear

@Islandswamp I was trying to figure out a way to find a balance between controlling and having a fast finish similar to golden gun oath. The option to board in blightsteel was to mitigate loss to low interaction combo decks by attempting to combo faster, and I feel that enlightened tutor can fill the gap left by the black tutors better than more can trips.

Islandswamp

If there's one card in an Oath of Druids deck that I won't cut, it would be Oath of Druids. Play four. Enlightened Tutor is pretty bad, I hate Vampiric Tutor for the card advantage and reluctantly play it. I considered ONE E.T. for my deck, but ultimately I felt that it just wasn't going to be as good as I needed it to be.

One Oath creature is not enough. You don't have many ways to put it back into your deck if you draw it, and you're never going to cast Emrakul.

Bant is kind of a weak color combination for an Oath deck, although it's very close. I have a Bant Moat Oath deck list I've been working on, but part of me thinks that I'm just wasting time because Salvagers is likely just better. I can't practice salvagers properly online though, so I haven't built it to test with.

2 Narset and 1 Jace should be two jace and probably zero Narset. I almost wanted to try Narset as a way to replay Time Walk, but I'm convinced that's magical Xmas land win-more shtick.

Dragon Breath is good in SOME Oath decks, probably not this one as most of your list looks like it wants to be a control deck.

Are you cutting Moxen because you don't have them or is it because you think it's better that way? The only Oath deck that should ever be cutting Moxen is if it's running Landstill as there is a legit reason (mox topdeck with standstill otb is bad). For any other Oath deck you really want to maximize the number of turn one Oaths you can cast. Usually 5 mox, lotus, and sol ring is fine, but I'm often running Mana crypt instead of Sol Ring (because it's better on turn one with Oath, but worse other times) and I've even played lotus petal just to get those busted opening hands more often.

I love the idea of two copies of Ponder, but the DCI and judges may not be so keen on it.

You have to ask yourself what you gain by playing your list that is better or at least equal to other decks, and I'm not sure I see that. I do like Moat, that's pretty cool. I got the idea to try that from Greg Fenton. I think that there's some merit.

Islandswamp

@cheerlessbear said:

@Islandswamp I was trying to figure out a way to find a balance between controlling and having a fast finish similar to golden gun oath. The option to board in blightsteel was to mitigate loss to low interaction combo decks by attempting to combo faster, and I feel that enlightened tutor can fill the gap left by the black tutors better than more can trips.

well give it a shot, test it out, and tell me how it goes. My gut tells me that you're not going to like enlightened tutor very much though, top deck tutors are really rough on your hand size. Also you should probably shave a Ponder before submitting that deck to a judge.

Islandswamp

Five real Islands is a little rough to have Gush a viable option, and without extra moxen the combination of Gush and the couple expensive cards will make for some serious issues.

I don't want to be all negative though, and I will say that I like some of what you're doing. There are quite a few cards in your list that I've been trying out myself. Specifically Moat and Supreme Verdict.

cheerlessbear

@Islandswamp As I said I am new to the format and I am looking for all the help I can get. All input is greatly appreciated. I made some adjustments to the deck but I still am having trouble with what sort of cards should be in the sideboard and how much of it is meta dependat vs things you need just to avoid getting completely blown out by some decks. Also I forgot to mention the deck was inspired by your article on mtggoldfish.

Islandswamp

@cheerlessbear said:

@Islandswamp As I said I am new to the format and I am looking for all the help I can get. All input is greatly appreciated. I made some adjustments to the deck but I still am having trouble with what sort of cards should be in the sideboard and how much of it is meta dependat vs things you need just to avoid getting completely blown out by some decks. Also I forgot to mention the deck was inspired by your article on mtggoldfish.

Thank you very much. I'm glad I was able to inspire you to try oath. Like I said in my last post, I didn't want to be all negative. I'm truly sorry if it came off that way!

cheerlessbear

A new version of the deck built around the sun titan / saheeli rai combo. I like this inclusion because sun titan is useful even if hard cast and can still win without oath.

Lands:
4x flooded strand
1x misty rainforest
2x tropical island
2x tundra
1x volcanic island
2x Island
2x forbidden orchard
1x library of alexandria

Instants:
1x ancestral recall
1x beast within
1x brainstorm
1x dig through time
1x enlightened tutor
2x flusterstorm
3x force of will
2x gush
3x mental misstep
1x repeal
1x swan song
1x ancient grudge

Sorceries:
1x ponder
3x preordain
1x supreme verdict
1x time walk
1x Gaea's blessing

Enchantments:
4x oath of druids
1x sylvan library

Artifacts:
1x black lotus
1x engineered explosives
1x mox emerald
1x mox sapphire
1x mox pearl
1x mox jet
1x mox ruby
1x sol ring

Planeswalkers:
2x jace, the mind sculptor
3x Saheeli rai

creatures:
1x Blightsteel colossus
1x Sun titan

Sideboard:
1x blazing archon
1x Dragonlord Dromoka
1x engineered explosives
2x pithing needle
1x rest in peace
1x stony silence
2x mindbreak trap
2x ravenous trap
2x steel sabotage
2x natures claim

Islandswamp

Have you been able to test your list yet? There are programs beyond MTGO like cockatrice, untap.in , and xmage that people use.

My hunch is that you're going to find the anti-synergy between Moat and Blightsteel/Sun Titan to be a problem.

I'd encourage you to start with an established list, learn that, then move on to tuning and.tweaking.

cheerlessbear

I didn't even realize the anti synergy there! I got excited because I really like the combo and just modified the deck to add it. I haven't play tested it because it seemed more like a cute idea for now. I want to get some experience with a more standard list before branching out too much.

Islandswamp

@cheerlessbear try that untap.in or cockatrice, they're completely free. I can tag some cockatrice players to play with you if you're interested.

cheerlessbear

Using a free program sounds like it might be a good idea before committing to a deck. Thank you for telling me about that!