U/B/g/w Combo

[PurlQg]

Posting this to get some feedback, i've been playing it for some time by now and it has gone through alot of testing but theres allways something you miss.

U/B/g/w Oath - Thopter combo

This is my take on trying to use the great amount of tutors for 2cc cards.
Cards like Awakening Zone doubles as acceleration and part of the combo with polymorph.

Combo/Win: 7( 8 )

Oath of Druids
Emrakul, the Aeons Thorn
Thopter Foundry
Sword of the Meek
Crime (part 1 of the split card)
Bitterblossom
Awakening Zone
Polymorph

Search: 13

Idyllic Tutor
Demonic Tutor
Gifts Ungiven
Liliana Vess
Shred Memory
Intuition
Transmute Artifact
Muddle the Mixture
Cruel Tutor
Tezzeret the Seeker
Lim-dúl's Vault
Fabricate
Sterling Grove

Recursion: 6

Regrowth
Reclaim
Recollect
Argivian Find
Reconstruction
Crucible of Worlds


Removal/Protection:28( 29 )

Vindicate
Ensnaring Bridge
Oblivion Ring
Punishment (part 2 of the split card)
Spell Pierce
Damnation
Faiths Fetters
Negate
Condscend
Duress
Delay
Counterspell
Maelstorm Pulse
Maze of Ith
Infest
Thoughtseize
Inquisition of Kozilek
Swords to Plowshares
Go for the Throat
Mana Drain
Mana Leak
Countersquall
Seal of Premordium
Innocent Blood
Turn Aside
Putrefy
Castigate
Logic Knot
Force of Will

Draw/Filter: 9

Ponder
Fact or Fiction
Thirst for Knowledge
Impulse
Compulsive Research
Preordain
Brainstorm
Sensei's Divining Top
Sylvan Library

Mana boost: 4

Talisman of Dominance
Selesnya Signet
Talisman of Unity
Golgari Signet

Lands 32:

Wasteland
Dust Bowl
Academy Ruins
Underground Sea
Watery Grave
Tundra
Scrubland
Breeding Pool
Tropical Island
Polluted Delta
Bloodstained Mire
Flooded Strand
Windswept Heath
Scalding Tarn
Overgrown Tomb
Verdant Catacombs
Bayou
Drowned Catacombs
Temple Garden
Marsh Flats
Savannah
Misty Rainforest
9x Island
3x Swamp

I'm playing with almost no creatures so I can hit Emrakul every time I hit Oath.

Cards I am thinking about cutting:
Fact or Fiction – Gives great advantage, but is slow at 4 mana. Thinking about cutting it for more protection or earlier draw?

Cards I am thinking about adding:
Beast from Within – new card with great synergi with Oath, removes planeswalkers and everything else
Despise – With agro going rampant this new removal from New Phyrexia could be quite good the deck would like a couple of more first turn removal cards.
Noxious Revival – Once again a new card from New phyrexia, I am running Reclaim with success this is even better!
Moat – would love to be able to play this guy but the 2 white mana makes it to difficult! 
Mirri's Guile – Dunno if I need it, top and library is quite good.

The deck can be really fast, first turn discard followed with oath is really, really awesome! Thopter Sword combo is the way to go late game, and the deck wins more then 50% of the time in this way. The Planeswalkers can't be left untouched or you will get to your win cons fast.
Even though the deck looks like a Staxx deck it plays very different. Get to your win cons as fast as possible, protect and disrupt – proceed to win!

Thanks in advance.

Alex

[MMD]

IMO the deck is not focused/fast enough. It is a nice casual deck and I can understand that it can be fun to play IF you draw the right cards in the right combination.

32 Lands and 4 Mana Artifacts is not enough. There is also not enough ramp because you need to answer opponents threads, counter new ones (or protecting yours) and tutor for your semi-combo (or even recursion), which is currently not possible.

Card by Card feedback will really go beyond the scope here as this would conclude in something completely different.

[MarcMagic]

I agree to MMD. Playing Oath + Thopter Combo is fine (kinda like Kassows Stax-Oath) but I'd rather play it as a Control deck. Although I played a lot of Oath back in days I never liked the 1-creature solution and since LftL is banned I don't like playing Oath at all anymore. Thopter-combo + Oath is still quite okay although I prefer playing an UB(w) or UW(b) control build with an artifact theme over your version. UWb got all those control elements like good creatures, lifegain, removal and cardadvantage as well as a great synergy to artifacts. Gifts gets you the whole Thopter Combo on its own, Tezzeret does the same with some backup and you are not as easy disruptable.

I'd never play Oath as a pure Combo deck not even with another possible combo. I used to play an UB-artifacted version with thopter and hexmage/depths combo (Hexmage is even w/o DD a good card imo) because you can include these card very easily and they are tutorable like np (all cc2 transmute spells, fabricate, tolaria west, experdition map, normal tutors, tezzeret, gifts..) without forcing your deck to be combo. Just as an inspiration and alternative for you.

[PurlQg]

I appreciate your comments I really do. Great to get some inputs, I agree with you MMD it's very light on mana, I might squeese in a couple of more lands and mana artifacts.

I were really searching for some ideas for the deck and not suggestions concerning which deck I should play instead? I realize this isn't a tier 1 deck but really in my testing it hasn't been as bad as you make it sound. I've tested it alot against R/G/W aggro and different midrange decks at it has been 50/50 so far.
Blue control is a bitch and the other control deks i have played against have been quite difficult to.

I've tried dark depths + vampire hexmage with the land tutors earlier in a more artifactish approach I found it really bad, the token dies to everything

[PurlQg]

Don't get me wrong you may be right - maybe the deck is a waste when I could play something better.

I used to play an UB-artifacted version with thopter and hexmage/depths combo (Hexmage is even w/o DD a good card imo) because you can include these card very easily and they are tutorable like np (all cc2 transmute spells, fabricate, tolaria west, experdition map, normal tutors, tezzeret, gifts..) without forcing your deck to be combo. Just as an inspiration and alternative for you.

Could you share a decklist with me maybe ? Why did you stop playing it?

[MarcMagic]

Well it's just that you'd probably rather play a pure Oath deck or a pure combo deck because either of these is more fun imo. And if they are more fun and better.. I guess you get the point ; ). I'm not the kind of person who discourages people just because they play - let's say - tier 2 decks but playing piles of cards w/o straight or mixed strategies is rarely a good deal. Sometimes maybe it is but that's a question of point of view and interpretation.

I played the deck only some weeks and it performed very well versus different types of Aggro (most of the time mono-colored to 3-colored, if I remember correctly no 4C/5C-Goodstuffs) and Control (Staxx and heavy Boardcontrol, UGx as well) but none of these decks were 100% competetive I'd say. It was a combination of "UB-Control" and "Mono-U feat. Artifacts" with 2 small combos (thoper + hexmage). The deck is not hard to imagine though. I played those good blue and black creatures (venser, glen, sower, boneshredder, shriekmaw, man-o-war, trinket mage etc pp), artifact ramping (2 moxes + signets/talismans/borderpost), removal + disruption (duress, counter, removal, mass removal), heavy control cards (wurmcoil engine etc), card advantage/quality (preordain, brainstorm, gifts, fact etc), planeswalker (the obv + tezzeret 2.0 which did quite well) and the 2 combos ofc with inclusion of some good tutors. I kept the manacurve as low as possible and cut chunky cards which no1 needs atm. You can play enough basics + artifacts to run Back to Basics and you got enough islands to play Shackles (and as well the Drift to Phantasm tutor for both ). All "Transmute 2" cards can be used for very good spells (both thopter parts, hexmage, counter, removal), Tutors like Fabricate gives you always good stuff as well (again 3 combo parts, shackles, wurmcoil engine (which is nuts)) and Demonic Tutor and Gifts is self-explanatory.

I'd never say that it is a deck to beat but it's definitive a fun deck with some potential. Although I said that mixed strategies are often bad I have to admit that this deck is kinda mixed as well, but except the Dark Depths on its own there are not many dead cards against either Aggro, Control nor Combo.

€: Oh and why I stopped playing this.. there are very few HL players left in Aachen and none of them try to build competitive decks or even upgrade their decks. And besides this I got enough other "fancy" decks which are both fun and strong (enough). I don't need 4 of them.

[Kassow-Rossing]

I agree to MMD. Playing Oath + Thopter Combo is fine (kinda like Kassows Stax-Oath) but I'd rather play it as a Control deck.

I just had to applaud you for this one

I like your deck, Alex. I hope you head towards Lyngby this saturday for testing in the tournament The deck looooooks a little too casual still but the ideas are good. I would play at least two creatures for instance. You really don't wanna lose just by Oathing. As previously mentioned: It is difficult to give a card-by-card advice for this deck. I think what you first of all need to do, is to look at the meta and find a way to break the meta since we are so few (8-30 people each time where only 4-6 players really "matter") and change the deck so it suits the meta. I know that sounds kind of devastating for the format, but I think that's the way to do it as long as we are still so very few active players.

Nice ideas though! Keep up