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Looking back, this period in Magic history will be nothing but a short mistake. I’m sure a year from now, I won’t be thinking about it. As almost everyone knows, Extended will soon be hit by another sweep of bannings, attempting to even out the field and bring the format back to a semblance of regular Magic. As it is now, everyone is either packing their deck with artifacts, Tinkers, and Ancient Tombs, or they’re packing them with cards to destroy them - much more so than usually would ever be played. How often do decks main-deck four copies of Rack and friggin’ Ruin. However, this time, The DCI decided to go one step further and take some advice from our new foreign policy and “preemptively” ban another card, one that hits home much more than Tinker or Hermit Druid ever could - my good ol’ standby Oath of Druids. While the Oath isn’t exactly broken currently, and I honestly never saw it coming, it still doesn’t surprise me per se. I won’t be celebrating its departure, but I won’t be shedding any tears either. Nonetheless, this 13th of December marked the last local tourney that I’d ever get to play Oath in Extended. So, despite my dislike for the current build, I just had to throw together Cognivore Oath, and give the ol’ girl one last run.
4 Oath of Druids
2 Cognivore
4 Brainstorm
4 Chrome Mox
4 Fire / Ice
4 Isochron Scepter
4 Counterspell
3 Cunning Wish
2 Fact or Fiction
1 Forbid
2 Krosan Reclaimation
2 Mana Leak
3 Moment’s Peace
2 Forest
1 Mountain
6 Islands
2 Shivan Reef
4 Treetop Village
2 Wooded Foothills
4 Yavimaya Coast
It’s a pretty standard build. Solid, just like Brain Kibler recommended. However, I’m not a huge fan of Kibler’s “Bullets” deck from Brainburst. And as a funny side note, do notice he decided to go with a tricked out version of Tog instead at Grand Prix Anaheim.
My sideboard, however, is much different than what they list on the net.
1 Fact or Fiction
3 Chill
1 Orim’s Chant
1 Stifle
1 Hunting Pack
4 Naturalize
1 Shattering Pulse
2 Bribery
1 Moment’s Peace
Originally, there were 4 Chills and no Stifle. But, being the ass that I am, and knowing Chris Shumard was playing Mind’s Desire, I noticed that it was a terrible matchup for me. I sighed, didn’t feel like losing to my own cards (which I loaned to him) and decided to throw the Stifle in, since I had reason to suspect my Chills would be active at all. I can’t even remember the last time red was that big at Casey’s. But, my last minute swap was warranted, as it turns out my first round opponent would be, of course, Christopher M. Shumand, DCI number 7421849, or something like that.
Game one gets going with a decent hand for me, but after I start countering a few Familiars, I’m left with just Cunning Wish. I cast it and get Stifle, with a light apology on my part. I draw into some more lands, which are always nice, but not when I don’t have an offense. Chris gets enough time to set up, and turnabouts me. He doesn’t fizzle, and after a long turn, I concede to what I counted as the mathematically inevitable.
Second game gets going much quicker. I wish for an Orim’s Chant end of his second turn, and thanks to a Mox, have a Scepter set to Chant which buys me a shit load of turns. He spends a lot of resources trying to get out from under it, and fortunately, isn’t able to go off right away. I have Treetops, and he has Snaps, but the damage is inevitable, and he falls…very, very slowly.
Before the third game, I look at the clock and, alas, realize we probably won’t finish. My only real method of winning is Treetop. I don’t have quite as many dead cards after siding out the Moment’s Peace for Natualize, but after I peek at an opening hand that is good for drawing the game out, nothing more, I’m forced to keep and pray I can just stop him. I do for long enough, and the game ends in a draw.
Me vs. Chris Shumard 1-1
Round Two brings me the Mexican. Rudy and I haven’t played very much in the last year, and last tournament, he beat me. This time I’m out to avenge myself. I see Rudy shuffling a Thirst for Knowledge, so I’m rather confused, as I know he doesn’t have Tinker. But, with Rudy, you can never tell. I’ll give him the originality factor, and he gets those wins sometimes, but I disagree with some of those choices sometimes.
Game one he starts going with a Careful Study, which signals U/G Madness, sort of. It still has Thirst for Knowledge. I’m so confused that I, having kept my four land hand, lay a Wooded Foothills, having all the Forests and Mountains in my hand. I “play it off” as intimidation, confusing Rudy. However, it’s not enough, and he promptly lays some creatures and beats me with them. No Oath and no land aren’t a good situation for me.
Games two and three are much more my cup of tea. I get the multiple Oath hands and the back ups as well. As a matter of fact, I get a triple Oath draw third game, with multiple ways of counter backup. Rudy still manages to remove the Oaths, but only after I get the ‘vore. Good ol’ Coggie munches away at Rudy in the extra turns to give me a 2-1 win against the Mexican.
Round three is “classic matchup” between the Rock and Oath. Unfortunately, this isn’t the Pro-Tour Houston days of last year. I am stuck with less card drawing, no alternate method of winning, and more permanents that are easily Deeded away. It’s still not a happy matchup for Eric, piloting Rock, but it’s a lot less impossible. Honestly, it’s probably not great either way, but Eric, knowing not to play into the Oath, has it a lot easier. Both games go pretty much the same. I have mediocre hands that are picked at by minor discard that hurts well more than it should. Then I am left to play around Deeds that are otherwise minor obstacles. Sigh. Even though I lose 0-2 to Eric, I can’t feel too bad. I can still make top four, and I’m letting Oath play free one last time.
As a little interlude, my spirits are also lifted by the fact that I discover it’s snowing as we go to lunch. I love snow, I can’t be in a bad mood when it’s snowing.
Round Four I am brought before the legendary Travis Florio. MIA for longtemps, that’s French for a fucking long time, I am happy to learn that I’ll get to play him again in what will probably be a much more casual atmosphere than it otherwise could be. I also recall from earlier in the day that he’s playing Suicide. Content with that matchup, I eagerly keep opening hands with Oath and Brainstorm. He gets rid of one Oath, but I find another and play it. He then Blackmails me. I could help but laugh at the way he said it slowly and held the card as though to state, yes, it’s called Blackmail, and I’m casting it on you. I FoF in response and end up showing him two lands and a Chrome Mox. One simple casting of the card proves that, yes, indeed it’s nothing that I should worry about. But, it was the first time I’ve ever been Blackmailed. I actually end up fairly low on life in our second game. He played a first turn Planar Void, and I didn’t side in my Naturalizes. He gets a Negator, and I’m forced to waste time cunning wishing for a Naturalize. I have the Oath out, so I’m able to get a Coggie, who turns up as a 2/2. Frown, not much of a match for a Negator with two Unholy Strengths. I block his black monstrosity and put myself at three. He casts Crypt Rats (Rudy Tech), which would be lethal next turn. I use the other Cunning Wish in my hand to grab a Fire / Ice that was Duressed away earlier and removed via the Void. I hit his Rats and Negator for one each, and he chooses to sac the Negator so he can Oath during his turn, trying to find a quick way of dealing with my new big Coggie. He ends up with a Flesh Reaver, not the best for the situation. What’s even worse was his top card he Oathed away was a Cursed Scroll, which prompted a pause and a “damn it.” These games were fun, more so than any other match in the day.
2-0 vs. Travis Florio
My last round is against Psychatog piloted by Chris Talbert. Talby has been very curious recently, and asks so many random questions about Magic. Granted, he sometimes has a point, but a lot of the time, it’s just so random, I don’t know what to say. Currently he’s asking about post bannings ManaBelcher. I have no idea, as deck building isn’t my forte. Magic theory is much more in my spectrum and I try and explain why a controlish version wouldn’t work, as it would just be inferior to Psychatog, as it would be forced to run either fewer counters, less card drawing, or at least sacrifice the difficulty to disrupt, and at least would be too slow to compete against a lethal tog, even mid game. If you go combo, go all out. Then he got on the topic of the Scepter-Oath vs. Psychatog matchup. He seems to think that’s it’s terrible for me. However, I then am forced to note that he does not own Mox’s, which give me a free turn to cast Oath. Without Upheaval main, he’s missing his greatest bomb. He also didn’t care for Fact or Fiction, and really liked Vampiric Tutor, which I think is just crazy. But apparently Brian Kibler didn’t think so, as his Grand Prix Anaheim deck shows. But I doubt that any number of Bullets is worth giving up good card drawing and a solid deck.
After all of this I end up in third, losing to Andrew playing Green Power, and Eric with the Rock. I give the Oath deck one last Top Four, which is about as much as I could hope for. Congrats to Andrew for ending the year on an up for him, and congrats to Eric for winning PotY. I’ll finish out with some props/slops, and of course, some quotes.
Props:
Casey’s, for giving a box to us for Player of the Year, very generous, very nice.
Andrew, for winning when he wanted to the most.
Snow, for being so awesome.
Dave and Travis, for coming back, even if it’s just for a bit.
Slops:
Eric, gotta love running jokes.
Talby, where would I start? Hey, at least I bought you a Coke.
Low showing, for sucking.
Quotes:
“Hey, don’t make fun of Test of Endurance, it’s in a deck” - Talby
“Andrew, with my dashing good looks and your sharp wit, none of the girls could resist us.” - Me, to my brother.
“Adam, two wrongs don’t make a right” - Andrew, in reply.
“Hey, Andrew, do you know what we could do instead of playing Wolfenstein?” - Me
“Um, not go to the mall.” - Andrew
“I just don’t see why Psychatog wouldn’t want to run four Vampiric Tutors.” - Talbert
“Listen, as Shuey knows, you just don’t mess with my hat.” - Talbert
“What?” - Chris, when I told him.
“Tell Adam that I need to talk to him” - Talbert to Chris at the front door
“Why” - Chris
“I need the Perfect Dark cheat codes.” - Talbert
“…but there aren’t any” - me, to Chris after he comes back and tells me about the convo.
“Exactly.” - Chris
We really should start a book of these quotes and inside jokes. We’ve lost so many from our memory already. Soon, Oath shall also fade from our memory. Magic’s about to change once again as it always does. Enjoy it while it lasts, and then enjoy the changes - both in Magic, and in the New Year.
-Adam Whitlatch-
awhitlat@knox.edu
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