Subject: [G-Tech]: Oath of Mages Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 17:02:20 GMT From: "David Sanders" Newsgroups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy Man, have I been wanting to break this card (or at least find some "sensible" way to use it, and not "just for the sake of using it" ;). And it's been rough. When does this card become better than something else that also cost 1R, or 2 or R for that matter? Well, a couple of days ago I was just toying with an "extreme" deck for Rath Constructed: a mono-red "Suicide" deck (which I profoundly named, "Suicide Red"). It had all the little tricks: Aftershock, Fireslinger, Spellshock, Jackal Pup, Torture Chamber, you-name-it. And Oath of Mages thrown in to take advantage of all the extra damage. So I go up against a Tradewakening deck, and after I have a couple of early Oaths out, I realize something: I can manaburn myself do bring HIS lifetotal down (ok, this is the "duh" part, but bear with me). What does this MEAN? It means that I can *HOLD ALL MY BURN* so that I can fry his threats and let the Oath do the brunt of the Burn work. Think of it: in a "normal" burn deck, you spend bolt after bolt after bolt, and the only bolt that REALLY matters is the last one. In an Oath of Mages deck, you can let the Oath do 18 points of damage, then Shock the last 2! EIGHTEEN damage for 1R. This means that you can direct all the rest of your burn at their threats (creatures), if you need to. Of course, this is "playing with fire" (pardon the pun): When YOU get that low on life, YOU are vulnerable, too. Well, it's like Weissman said long ago with his Deck: "I don't give a flying damn about the first 19 points of life, it's the 20th that matters." Since you are able to use the vast majority of your burn on their creatures instead of on your opponent, you can keep the creatures off the board very effectively to save your last few life points from being taken away. The only other way they will kill you (by life totals, which is what we're talking about here) is by direct damage. If they aren't packing DD, and you can fry their critters, then you don't really need to worry about your lifetotals!! Well, I think that's a good start in extolling the possible strengths of Oath of Mages. Let's explore some objections to the Oath: 1) Wouldn't Scalding Tongs be better? This is the first question people have been asking me when I first mention the Oath of Mages. But I think they're missing the point: An Oath of Mages deck is NOT your typical Burn deck that empties its hand as fast as possible. The point of the Oath is to allow you to HOLD your Burn, remember? I often have FAR too many cards in hand for a Tongs to be effective. And as long as I can hold my burn, that means that I can protect my life total that much better, allowing me to manaburn myself to levels that would otherwise be considered too dangerously low. 2) Well, then, how about Thumbscrews? Well, what if I HAVE to burn quickly? I would rather not have to worry about playing a spell or not playing a spell for number of cards in hand. I'd rather have a "sure" source of damage (the Oath) so that I can play how I want, while the Oath still does its job (getting the opponent into final burn range) 3) What about weenie decks? I really don't see weenie decks as being that much of a problem. Remember, they can hit me for 19 before I really care (excepting Sligh; see below). Thus, I take and take their hits, until I finally regain control by burning (or blocking) their creatures away. This way, I don't even have to manaburn myself so much for the Oath, as a lot of damage has already been done for me! :) 4) What about opposing Burn? This one is tough, and I'm not entirely certain (yet) exactly how to handle it. My main thoughts right now are this: While they are using their Burn spells on me, my Oath is allowing me to catch up, effectively meaning that THEIR burn spells damage us BOTH, while MY burn can be directed only at THEM. (What I mean here is that I am holding my burn while they are spending theirs, so I will have more burn at game's end so I can kill them before they kill me). Of course, while they play weenies, the Oaths help keep him in check. It's as if his own Fanatic is attacking HIM, too. Burn is still tough, but I think the Oath HELPS, and doesn't HURT, in playing against it, because you at least turn some of their damage against them, and can hold more of your own for offense or defense. Rath Cycle Constructed is where I have been spending the majority of my design time lately. Here is my current Oath of Mages deck: 4 Oath of Mages 4 Shock 4 Kindle 4 Lightning Blast (not Sonic Burst; this is a Control deck; there will be a longer game than "the usual Red deck" wants) 4 Aftershock 3 Torture Chamber (mainly vs Pro-Red or bigger fatties to assist my burn; can also be used to wipe x/1's out very effectively) 3 Portcullis (greatly helps me control the game, in addition to being a good metagame choice vs Recurring Death; with fewer creatures in play, the less burn I have to spend defending myself; if there is a creature stalemate, GREAT! They will have to kill the Portcullis.) 4 Fireslinger 4 Mogg Fanatic (notice that these creatures are also Burn) 4 Watchdog (I'm not sure what should be in this slot. This was originally Wall of Diffusion. I want to stop shadow, esp. WW, in Game One. Stopping Red is also good, but Watchdog is too Shock/Kindle-able. Perhaps Bottle Gnomes or Wall of Diffusion will go back in.) 1 Starke of Rath (he comes in handy! May change for another Seismic, though.) 1 Seismic Assault (nice to have extra, 0-cc Shocks in a Burn deck, eh? :) 2 Ancient Tomb 2 City of Traitors 16 Mountain Sideboard (so far): 1 Boil (surprise, Blue!) 1 Portcullis (Recurring Death) 1 Torture Chamber (WW; may change) 4 Havoc (WW) 4 Spellshock (vs Recurring, Capsize, Blue in general, etc. Plus, imagine effectively having 8 Havocs vs WW...) 4 Apocalypse (never know when need to reset; Recurring Death, Tradewakening, etc) The deck is doing fairly well, but still needs tuning of course. This is just thrown in to give an example of my concept of what an Oath of Mages deck would look like. In playing Oath of Mages, here are my suggestions: 1) HOLD YOUR BURN! Let the Oath do the damage! Kill their creatures only when needed; they can do the damage you would otherwise be manaburning yourself for. 2) Play 4 Oaths; get them early! 3) Manaburn yourself to get them down to a reasonable level (your opponent's deck will dictate what is "reasonable"), then finish them off with your Burn. Anyway, I hope that I have finally "discovered" a REAL use for Oath of Mages. When I get it going, it keeps amazing me in playtesting. Try it out!!! Dave Sanders