Subject: Tournament report: Static Oath deck Date: Thu, 03 Sep 1998 20:53:57 +0200 From: Nouveau To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com August 23rd, I was in Deauville, a French touristic resort on the west coast of France. There was a type 2 tournament, The paradise Tour, in 6 rounds of Swiss pairing. 33 players showed up. I was unsure of what to expect, but the day before the oath of druid in my trading binder didn't attract much interest, and most of the player I saw were casual players. Therefore, I thought oath of druid decks were not expected, and I took my static oath deck. Here is the current version of the deck. 4 Impulse 2 Mana Leak 4 Counterspell 2 Forbid 3 Propaganda 2 Legacy's Allure 1 Power Sink 3 Static Orb 2 Lobotomy 4 Oath of Druid 3 Gaea's Blessing 1 Spike Feeder 1 Verdant Touch 2 Sylvan Library 2 Creeping Mold 1 Spirit of the Night 1 Archangel 7 Island 6 Forest 2 Wasteland 1 Stalking Stone 2 Rootwater Depths 3 Undiscovered Paradise 2 Quicksand A few comments about this deck: This version of Oath deck is aimed at slowing down the opponent (static orb, propaganda, counter…) until I play an oath of druid. Then, I'm usually get a fat creature, which enable me to kill my opponent in 3 to 5 turns. I' don't want to gain zillion of life, I want to kill my opponent quickly. So I play with just one feeder. The main deck lobotomies are useful against those recurring nightmare decks The legacy allure may look counterproductive, but is usually a way to gain some time and to deal with tradewind riders. Impulse, sylvan library and gaea's blessing work well together, allowing me to get the oath or the counter to protect it early. When I play this deck, unless I face a green or black weenie, I usually wait to have a counter in hand and 4 mana before playing the oath: I don't want a disenchant/disk to ruin my day. Unless I've got a second oath in hand. In this case, I just use the first one as disenchant fodder. I also wait for my opponent to cast a creature before playing the oath. As I try to play blue or multicolored land only, then often mistake this deck for some kind of blue golem deck. Round 1 versus Arnaud BEBIN A player who was so nervous and aggressive that it became funny. I was told later that in the night side events, he got very upset by his opponent playing a CoP, telling everyone that CoP were unfair on so on... He was playing a R/W deck. Duel 1: I chose to begin and had to mulligan twice. My opponent was smiling and told me he would kill me, that I had no chance to recover from 6 a card disadvantage. Well, I get 2 lands, an impulse and a mana leak. I fetch an oath get a land, and by turn four I had a protected oath in play. I got an archangel, declined to block my opponent two creatures, get insulted for that by my opponent, which made everybody around laugh (including me), and then put a spirit of the night in play. Game over, with an opponent complaining to the laughing judge about me not blocking his creatures :-) Duel 2 He has a strong start, bringing me to 2 and playing an ensnaring bridge while I was waiting for an oath. I survived by playing a spike feeder, recursing it with a blessing and casting it again (lucky me). I manage to play an oath, which gave me an archangel, counter a second bridge, mold the first one and administer beatdown. Duel 2-0 Matches 1-0 I usually respect my opponents, but this time the word scrub really came to my mind. Round 2 versus Laurent PAGOREK from Mishra Team One of the best French player, laurent is a multi pro tour participant... I expected him to play big blue, but he was having fun with a G/R Land destruction deck. Duel 1: I don't get an oath while he destroy my lands and play the wildebeest :-( I get stomped...) Duel 2: Three oath in starting hand...I play the first one which get molded, the second one which is removed immediately by a tranquil domain, and the third one stay in play (by that time, I had drawn a fourth one !) he had some walls in play, so I get my creatures and administer beatdown. Duel 3: Same as duel 2, with only 2 oath in starting hand... Duel 2-1 Matches 2-0 Round 3 versus Julien MEURISSE Duel 1: Green stompy deck. He began by playing some creatures, I respond by casting an oath of druid, get my fatties and kill him in a few turns. Duel 2: No oath but three static orb in starting hand. Well, I used them as antiartefact bait. He destroyed the first one, but I follow by another and a propaganda. He played a city of solitude, and I followed by some legacy allure, eventually alluring his spike feeders which couldn't be sacrified bon account of his city :-) Eventually, I played an archangel, paying the whole 7 mana and administer archangel beatdown :-) Duel 2-0 Matches 3-0 Round 4 versus Dominique YVERT A Player I've often seen at various tournament in the area, with average result. I didn't expected him to be much of a problem, but I was wrong. Duel 1: I mulligan once, keep my hand , and drew two creatures and no land while he was pounding me with his critters. Duel 2 he play a soltari priest, followed by an armor, and killed me in three turns, destroying the two propaganda I played with 2 aura of silence :-( Duel 0-2 Matches 3-1 Round 5 versus Thomas COURDILLE This time, a W/G deck with Armageddon, wall of flowers and stampeding wildebeest. Duel 1: I mulligan, but that's not enough and get run over by wildebeest. Well, I know what to sideboard, while he hasn't seen anything from my deck. Duel 2: I had a good starting hand and have sylvan, static orb, propaganda and oath of druid in play by turn 5 :-) I fetch the archangel and spirit of the night and administer beatdown. Duel 3 I have two ice floe in starting hand, with a static orb. As he mulligan I keep my hand, but he get the wall of flower/stampeding wildebeest in play early. I slowed him with floe and a second orb (he disenchanted the first one), cast an oath while at 5 life, and get a spirit of the night. Thanks to the orb, I manage to survive the two cursed scrolls, and slowly kill my opponent. Duel 2-1 Matches 4-1 round 6 versus ? My last round opponent was playing a strange deck, W/R with a lot of direct damages, CoP red and the red enchantment dealing two damages for each spell cast successfully. Duel 1: after some early direct damage, he managed to get two damage dealing enchantment in play. It was too much for me to deal with, and I had to concede. Duel 2: This time he put a creature in play: the ogre shaman with the stormbind effect... I use my static orb to slow him down, get an oath in play, and kill him while I was at one life ! This game was very close... Duel 3: This time he has a strong start, with a creature enchanted by the armor (and 5 or 6 cards in hand) versus my archangel...He attacks while I'm at 2, versus his 4 life. I planned to lose my archangel in blocking, getting the spirit next turn and winning with it, but after I declared my blocker he disenchanted the oath of druid.... I'm about to lose in a few turns (I used verdant touch to get some creatures) when the match is stopped by the time limit. So the duel ended in a draw, even with the strong surprise value of my opponent 's deck. Duel 1-1 Matches 4-1-1 I expected low tiebreakers on account of my round one opponent, and was surprised to make it to the top 4: My last round opponent finished 5th, I got very lucky on that one. Semi finals versus ? from the Temps X team A survival of the fittest/recurring nightmare/living death deck. Duel 1: I didn't knew what he was playing, so I was a bit careful. He taped out to play a scragnoth which I followed by a lobotomy, removing all living death before playing the oath. A few turns later, a newly cast oath and the archangel it gave me won me the duel. Duel 2 He has a strong start, with his combo, but a static orb followed by the oath gave me some time and eventually the control of the game. His spike weaver gave him a few turns, and he played a first living death, followed a second one. It took me some time winning. Final versus ? A black weenie deck... Duel 1 He has a strong start, and finish me by turn 4, with 4 creature and a bad moon in play. I couldn't do anything Duel 2 He played a turn one dark ritual/hidden horror. I impulse, impulse again, play an oath and get an archangel while at 4 life. I felt better, but with a big smile he cast a drain life. And I didn't have a counter :-/ Well, I thought that an oath of druid deck should win against a black suicide, but obviously I'm wrong. Anyway, I was quite happy with the performance of my deck this time, but contemplate adding some demonic tutor or intuition: Basically, if I get the oath early I win, if I don't I'll have some trouble Moreover, demonic tutor or intuition are useful to get a counter for protecting the lock. And intuition works fine with the sylvan :-) Well, congratulation for reading the report so far, and don't hesitate to contact me for further informations/discussions about this deck. Regards, Cedric Nouveau nouveau@nol.fr