Extended Oath deck

History of Oath of Druids in Extended 1999-2003

The Oath of Druids archetype grew in response to the metagame in early 1999. Memory Jar and High Tide were the decks that were dominating the Extended PTQs during winter of 1998-1999, known as Combo-Winter. From the playgroups of the University of Illinois, Mike Stuller suggested using Oath of Druids for creature control along with the Enlightened Tutor Silver Bullet concept. Utilizing the Silver Bullet Concept, the deck uses Enlightened Tutors to quickly find the enchantment or artifact to crush the particular opposing deck.

A single Arcane Laboratory would shut down combo. Oath of Druids trumped most creature strategies. If the opponent refused to play creatures, Mishra's Factory and the Conclave would beat down.

There were several Oath of Druids decklists online that utilized various creature configurations. I decided to go with Morphling/Triskellion/Feeder. One key ability was that each of these creatures could kill themselves if needed. The following deck made Top 8 without a swiss match loss at a 130 person PTQ where 5 of the 7 opposing decks were either High Tide or Memory Jar. The only loss was in the top 8 to High Tide.

Oath of Druids Played by Ped Bun Top 8 PTQ Shaumburg, IL 3/20/1999

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4 Enlightened Tutor

4 Force of Will

4 Counterspell

3 Disrupt

1 Forbid

4 Brainstorm

2 Oath of Druids

2 Gaea's Blessing

3 Impulse

1 Sylvan Library

1 Triskellion

1 Morphling

1 Spike Feeder

1 Mox Diamond

3 Arcane Laboratory

2 Mishra's Factory

1 Fairy Conclave

1 Wasteland

4 Flood plains

16 Assorted Dual lands and basic lands

Sideboard (15)

1 Crater Hellion

1 Peace Keeper

3 Warmth

3 Sand Golemn

1 Disrupt

1 Telepathy

1 Hailstorm

1 Null Rod

2 Oath of Druids

1 Aura of Silence

At GP Kansas City, I used the following decklist. Bob Maher was watching me play some practice games with Adrian Sullivan. I shared my deck list with Bob and he changed 3 sideboard cards. I placed 33rd with an 8-4 record. Bob made top 8.

Oath of Druids Ped Bun/Bob Maher. GP Kansas City 3/27-3/28/1999

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4 Enlightened Tutor

4 Force of Will

4 Counterspell

3 Disrupt

1 Forbid

1 Aura of Silence

4 Brainstorm

2 Oath of Druids

2 Gaea's Blessing

3 Impulse

1 Sylvan library

1 Abundance

1 Triskellion

1 Morphling

1 Spike Feeder

1 Mox Diamond

3 Arcane Laboratory

2 Mishra's Factory

1 Fairy Conclave

1 Wasteland

3 Flood plains

4 Tropical Island

4 Tundra

4 Volcanic Island

3 Savannah

1 Adarkar Waste

Sideboard (15)

1 Warmth

1 Circle of Protection: Red

1 Disenchant

1 Pyroblast

1 Crater Hellion

1 Shattering Pulse

2 Sand Golem

1 Telepathy

2 Oath of Druids

2 Wasteland

1 Peace Keeper

1 Null Rod

Later that year, Bob Maher took the following deck to win Pro Tour Chicago in one of the most exciting finals of all time against Brian Davis's Necropotence deck. [1]

Maher Oath - BOB MAHER, JR. Pro Tour Chicago Champion Dec 3-5, 1999

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CREATURES (3)

1 Shard Phoenix

1 Morphling

1 Spike Feeder

SPELLS (34)

1 Abundance

1 Aura of Silence

4 Brainstorm

4 Counterspell

1 Disrupt

4 Enlightened Tutor

1 Forbid

4 Force of Will

2 Gaea's Blessing

3 Impulse

1 Ivory Mask

1 Null Rod

2 Oath of Druids

1 Powder Keg

1 Sylvan Library

2 Swords to Plowshares

1 Trade Routes

LAND (23)

1 Faerie Conclave

3 Flood Plain

1 Reflecting Pool

1 Savannah

3 Treetop Village

4 Tropical Island

4 Tundra

2 Volcanic Island

4 Wasteland

Sideboard (15)

1 Aura of Silence

1 Sacred Ground

1 Crater Hellion

1 Phyrexian Furnace

1 Powder Keg

1 Circle of Protection: Red

2 Oath of Druids

1 Swords to Plowshares

1 Gaea's Blessing

1 Compost

1 Light of Day

2 Mana Short

1 Peacekeeper

Bob Maher later wins GP Seattle with the following decklist.

aher Oath - Bob Maher GP Seattle Champion Jan 15-16, 2000

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CREATURES (3)

1 Morphling

1 Spike Feeder

1 Spike Weaver

SPELLS (34)

1 Abundance

1 Aura of Silence

4 Brainstorm

4 Counterspell

1 Disrupt

4 Enlightened Tutor

1 Forbid

4 Force of Will

2 Gaea's Blessing

3 Impulse

1 Ivory Mask

1 Null Rod

2 Oath of Druids

2 Swords to Plowshares

2 Sylvan Library

1 Trade Routes

LAND (23)

1 Adarkar Wastes

1 Faerie Conclave

3 Flood Plain

2 Island

1 Savannah

3 Treetop Village

4 Tropical Island

4 Tundra

4 Wasteland

Sideboard (15)

3 Annul

1 Aura of Silence

1 Circle of Protection: Red

1 Compost

1 Crater Hellion

2 Mana Short

2 Oath of Druids

1 Phyrexian Furnace

2 Powder Keg

1 Sacred Ground

Around this time, a new Oath of Druids deck named Turbo-Land emerged created by Zvi Mowshowitz. This deck utilizes Oath of Druids to set up creature control. Exploration and Horn of Greed ensures card drawing. Eventually a situation is set up where Zvi can take infinite turns through recursion of Time Warp. Zvi played the following at the Master's in 2000. It was to become a major Oath of Druids archetype over the next several years.

Turbo Land - Zvi Mowshowitz Oct 1, 2000 Master's

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4 Force of Will

4 Counterspell

4 Impulse

4 Gush

1 Scroll Rack

2 Gaea's Blessing

1 Morphling

1 Spike Feeder

1 Spike Weaver

4 Oath of Druids

4 Exploration

4 Horn of Greed

2 Time Warp

1 Treetop Village

4 Tropical Island

14 Island

5 Forest

For the next several years, Oath of Druids continued to be a major archetype in Extended. Eventually there was a major extended rotation, taking out everything prior to Tempest including the Dual Lands. Weatherlight left the format taking Gaea's Blessing. Krosan Reclamation became the standard recursion. Justin Gary won Pro Tour Houston with the following deck. Cognivore became the creature of choice.

Gary Oath - Justin Gary Pro Tour Houston Nov 8-10, 2002

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2 Forest

7 Island

4 Polluted Delta

1 Swamp

4 Treetop Village

2 Underground River

4 Yavimaya Coast

2 Cognivore

4 Accumulated Knowledge

4 Brainstorm

4 Counterspell

3 Fact or Fiction

1 Foil

2 Forbid

3 Force Spike

2 Intuition

1 Krosan Reclamation

2 Living Wish

1 Mana Leak

4 Oath of Druids

3 Pernicious Deed

Sideboard (15)

2 Dust Bowl

3 Engineered Plague

2 Gilded Drake

2 Masticore

2 Naturalize

2 Palinchron

2 Powder Keg

The Turbo-Land Variant gave Zvi Mowshowitz a Grand Prix win in New Orleans. The single Battlefield Scrounger could quickly set up Time Warp recursion. With infinite turns and lots of mana on the board, Capsize would remove potential blockers and the Scrounger and Treetop Village would finish off the opponent.

Turbo-Land Zvi Mowshowitz Grand Prix New Orleans Champion Jan 2-4, 2003

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5 Forest

14 Island

1 Treetop Village

4 Yavimaya Coast

1 Battlefield Scrounger

4 Accumulated Knowledge

1 Capsize

4 Counterspell

4 Exploration

2 Gush

4 Horn of Greed

2 Intuition

2 Krosan Reclamation

3 Moment's Peace

4 Oath of Druids

2 Scroll Rack

3 Time Warp

Sideboard (15)

1 Capsize

3 Deep Analysis

1 Dust Bowl

1 Gainsay

1 Intuition

1 Misdirection

1 Naturalize

2 Powder Keg

3 Ravenous Baloth

1 Thwart

The next major Extended event was at Pro-Tour New Orleans, Oct 31-Nov 2, 2003. Oath of Druids had a significant day 2 presence, but was edged out of the top 8 by Mana Severance/Belcher and Tinker. After New Orleans, the DCI took significant steps to reduce combos and any cards that limited player interaction. Oath of Druids became a casualty of the bannings in December of 2003.

- Ped Bunsongsikul 2/4/2008