Wise words indeed.
What would you guys board out against combo to put 4 Chalice in?
I would take out Vials because I think they're too slow and happen to be the only non-goblins in the deck so the amount of goblins are not lessened.
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Wise words indeed.
What would you guys board out against combo to put 4 Chalice in?
I would take out Vials because I think they're too slow and happen to be the only non-goblins in the deck so the amount of goblins are not lessened.
Weirdings, Scourger, Incinerators obv.
It depends on the type of zoo. For zoo with pridemages, goyfs, and knights chalice stays at home. But the more sligh type zoo that plays more burn and more 1cc stuff, chalice actually has a significant effect.
Yeah, weirdings and stingscourger is usually my cut. Vial can actually be effective in pumping out two goblins a turn. Obviously not as ideal as lackey turn 1, but it can still provide a speedy kill.
I play MonoR. I completely forgot about Incinerators and Stingscourger, they can go out vs non dredge combo indeed. Would you also take (some of) them out vs dredge?
Post a list and SB, than we cab give some insight.
Agains Dredge, I usual take out Piledrivers, Ringleaders, Chieftains...
Vial is good, since it allows you to use Waste and Port.
I would not take out Sting or Gempalm, because they can Kill/Bounce Putrid Imp, delaying they're combo, and can remove Bridges, by dieing or killing your own goblins (I even hesitate on take Weirdings out here, but that depends on how many cards we have to bring in).
For the record, I was playing Planar Void, but now Faerie Macabre has became my yard hate of choice now. Being uncounterable, free, instant, not a spell, is so good. It's not awesome against Ichorid, but its already very nice, since they usually don't are luck enough to keep a hand with 3+ Dredgers. And it great against Survival, Loam, Reanimator, and even Combo (if they go for Igg loop (It works trough Orim's Chant!!)).
Trolling? i wrote a 4 paragraph post. How is that Trolling?
And going 2-2 had nothing to do with my mana base in any game. Really, I'm not just making things up.
I'm serious about crowdsourcing information to optimize my build and play. If you are so dogmatic in your approach to deckbuilds that you can only see a suggestion of running a card 3 instead of 4-of as Trolling then I don't see why you'd bother contributing to the conversation at all.
That being said, in the games I played last night against Zoo Matron was invaluable in keeping my hand stocked, which is the only way to grind out a win against Zoo. I believe that a Goblin deck that can beat Zoo is most well positioned in the meta. So I will be running 4-of Matrons from here on out.
I played against Epic Storm last night and went 2-0 against it. She kept a hand game one with 3 Ponders that she thought could get there, and I killed her turn 4. I got lucky with that one (actually, turn 4 kill is entirely expected from Goblins; she was unlucky). Game 2 I sided in 3 thorn and 3 Mindbreak traps. I had an opening hand of Vial, Thorn, Thorn, Tinkerer and lands. She played a land. I played Vial. She played another land. Go. I had a chance. I played Thorn. She said "Shit". She payed 3 to cast 3 Lotus Petals. I payed 3 to cast another Thorn. She payed 2 to cast a Chrome Mox, but didn't imprint. The game was over shortly thereafter. Had I played Chalice for 0 turn one she would have had much less chance to get back in the game, and I think in this scenario I would have been strickly better off running Chalice. Also, i'm intrigued by the idea of running Chalice against Zoo occassionally.
HOWEVER, my caveat against Chalice comes from none-other than GP Columbus Top 8...
http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazin...ol10/welcome#1[Deck]-Vial-Goblins/page253
Tom Martell, Jason Ford, Korey Age, and Christopher Gosselin all played decks where a Chalice at 0 or 1 would not take them out of the game. Bryant Cook was the only top 8er whose deck was running 12 0cc spells, against which Chalice would be exceptional. The results speak for themselves, I think. Of the top 8 decks at GP Columbus, half could be severly slowed down with Thorn by itself. Couple Thorn with classic Goblin mana denial (i.e. Ports and Wastes) and suddenly resolving Show and Tell, Seathing Song, Sneak Attack, FOW, Jace, Deed, Doomsday, Ad Nauseum, Solitary confinement, K-GRIP, Cunning Wish, Oblivion Ring, FIRESPOUT, becomes much, much more difficult. Against half the field of the top 8 Thorn is definitely better than Chalice. It is more versatile against a wider variety of decks, and therefor more likely to be of help in the SB, if also less likely to really lock an opponent out of the game.
The difference in running Chalice v Thorn probably comes to a matter of perspective. Chalice tries to lock an opponent out. Thorn tries to slow them down, making every subsequent spell they play less efficient/economical (Would you play Brainstorm if it cost U1?). Chalice is certainly better at locking an opponent out of the game, but only if their mana curve is ridiculously low. And, if you're facing a Storm deck, Chalice doesn't actually prevent them from casting their spells. They can still play 4 0cc spells, they just all get countered, but casting them still adds to the Storm count. Thorn denys them the ability to cast the spell in the first place.
So, in summation, Thorn is more versatile against many more decks than Chalice, if slightly slower. But versatility is paramount in Magic, so I believe Thorn is ultimately the more robust SB choice.
Mindbreak Trap on the other hand? Well, it's the only card we can run that will keep us from being comboed on turn 1 when we're on the draw. I know this is a piss-poor reason to run it, but I cannot stand thinking that I have no chance against a T-1 Belcher game 2 or 3. That's all. I've got no excuse for running it besides thinking that there are games where it is literally my only hope.
So, just wanted to share what I've been currently thinking with goblins.
As much as I love my Rb version, theres 1 thing that gets me down: All my SB cards are non-goblins.
That means, every single g2 and g3 I play, Ringleader is worse than g1.
After having a lot of Ringleader disappoint me after SBing 8-10 cards, I wanted to change something.
With that in mind, I wondered if there could be a list (monoRed here), that could change goblins for goblins in the MU's we needed.
Let me explain what I'm talking about.
First off, list:
4 Wasteland
4 Rishadan Port
15 Mountain
4 Aether Vial
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin Warchief
4 Goblin Ringleader
4 Mogg Warmarchall
4 Gempalm Incinerator
2 Stingscouer
3 Boartusk Liege
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
1 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Goblin Piledriver
1 Tuktuk the Explorer
So, here we have a strong plan against pretty much every agroo deck.
It is also good against Firespout decks and sweepers from Zoo, as well as E.Plague, due to 3 Liege and 1 TukTuk.
Now, what do I want with my sideboard?
1- to have something good against Counterbalance.
2- to have something good against against Folk.
3- to have something good against Combo.
4- to have something good against Survival (and grave-based decks).
So, to adress all those points, here's what I came up:
4 Warren Instigator
2 Goblin Piledriver
4 Grave hate of choice (mine is Faerie Macabre)
3 Combo hate of choice (don't have one specific)
1 TukTuk Scrapper
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
- adressing point 1: 4WI, 2Driver, instead of 4MWM, 1Shooter, 1Tuktuk. That makes the deck way stronger against CB, without diluting.
- adressing point 2: 2Driver, 1 Shooter, for 1MWM, 1Port, 1Sting. 2 Shooters and 3 Drivers, with 4 Gempalms fuck with folk really good. Cand bring Scrapper for Jitte also.
- adressing point 3: 4 Faeries, 4WI, 2 Driver, 3 Combo, take out Ringleaders, Gempalm, whatever. Here you can dilute, since you're not going to win via CA.
4- Macabre.
What do you guys think?
This deck have a strong plan against a big chunk of the field. Also, if you want to improve certain MU's, you don't have to make Ringleaders worse. Against Emrakul, you can up the Stinger count. Against Elves, Folk, mirror, the Sharpshooter. Sweepers? Tuktuk Explorer... Goyf problem? Change Faerie for Relics.
In all MU's it matters, the goblins count stay in an average of 30.
Well, thats it for now.
Any thoughts?
Boarding thorn against heavy spell based decks just seems bad. Your diluting your ringleaders to make your opponents spells cost more. Your attempting to make an aggro deck far more controllish than you should be. We run the mana denial because we have vial and ways to cheat guys into play, but when your diluting the deck to disrupt your opponent that just seems weak. Whether your oppenent's firespout costs 3vs4 really isn't that big of an issue. The fact still remains that they are going to firespout you. Also, most decks are already bringing in artifact hate for your vials, its not like they won't have a way to blow up your thorns.
We have different, more specific maindeck or sb cards for those matchups. We have a naturally good matchup vs fish (hence saito's 6 hate cards), very good matchup vs counterbalance (hence the maindeck firespout), and we bring in grave hate for survival based decks (things like this is why I prefer planar void type gravehate solutions) and other bad matchups. I don't think boarding in thorns vs any of these decks is the correct call.
From past experience playing belcher, mindbreak trap is easy to play around. You just drop your artifact mana t1, T2 drop belcher and activate. Chalice on the other hand does not allow that luxury.
It would be great if we didn't have to resort to non-goblin answers for the sb, but theres a reason they are there. Goblin cards simply aren't good enough.
Also, zero piledrivers maindeck? Hes what makes this deck insane, especially vs blue decks. Liege seems like a very weak maindeck card. Also, siege-gang commander is insane, you definitely need at least two.
When playing mono-r, I prefer to run instigators maindeck because you rarely have a problem reaching RR, and then play 3 scg to get the most out of it.
Reading is tech:
Also, I've seen (mostly by M3d1A (forgot the nick)), and played myself, some piledreverless lists that had no problems defeating folks...
And what version of goblins play 4 Instigators MD? Here, if you want, you can play them, and have the MWM side. Its up to you.
Also, you can easely cut Tuktuk and Sharpshooter for more SGC. It's also up to you.
What I'm wondering is: Is maximazing the deck consistency by always running 30+ goblins worth the lost of cards like P.Needle, ReB and Knesis.
I think that, with our 15 SB slots we can make it work. The only problem is that that aren't goblins that remove graveyards, or that stop combo (yeah, there's Earwig Squad, but I'm trying to keep monored).
Sorry, I'd just like to point oout that the cards you bolded for the reasons thorn is more useful is kind of pointless. Those cards are only played in countertop decks which we have a good match up against, so I don't think we'd be bringing them in.
THe point of chalice is not versatility, it is effectiveness against combo. Chalice makes them search for a solution instead of go for combo peices in the first few turns which buys us time. Thorn doens't hit until turn 2, which means that the combo player is comfortable to kill you until then. The strategy being played by playing chalice is that you are relying on chalice tto be a psychological threat while your goblins do the real job. Thorn is also a psychological threat, but it comes down much later and you are relying more heavily on it from dying. If you are also using port/wastelands in conjunction with thorn, then you probably aern't casting very many goblins.
Thorn against Ad Nauseum is also laughable since Ad Nauseum is an instant. Thorn just hurts the mana producers which chalice is better at doing.
Yeah we all want that. We are just waiting for wizard to print us out some better cards.. LOL. Unless we get double piledriver we aren't hating out combo and unless we get a goblin macebre, we aren't hating out the yard. You just have to learn to rely less on Goblin Ringleader game 2/3 and more on Goblin Matron for your card advantage.
You shouldn't play subpar sideboard cards just because they are Goblins and you shouldn't move mainboard cards just so you can board in stuff. 3x boartusk leige in the main does seem like a very bad idea. He's a very big investment with almost litle return. Well, not little, he's just too defensive for the goblin strategy. Maybe pyromancer in his place is better = )
I disagree with your reasonings. Yes, we have a great match-up against CounterTop, but CounterTop is nowhere near the ONLY deck running the cards listed and highlighted. And I wasn't listing the cards to make the case that Thorn boosts our chances against CounterTop! I was illustrating that 5 of the top 8 decks were 75%+ Non-Creature spells. Against these decks Chalice would be mostly useless (with the noted exception of Bryant Cook's ANT). HOWEVER, Thorn against these decks can slow them down considerably, and when combined with mana-denial it can take them out of the game.
I don't think Chalice is effective against combo. It cannot stop the mechanics that make combo go off. All it can stop is Petal, Chrome Mox, and LED. Those are the only 3 cards Chalice could ever come in against. That means it's only useful against a very narrow range of decks. Thorn slows the pace way, way down, which gives Goblins more time to get their Mojo going.
Psychological threat? Well... If I played a deck that tried to cast 10 spells in one turn I'd be more concered about coming up with 10 extra mana than I would be about 2 of those spells being countered...
Also, you seem to concede that Chalice is only good against Belcher and ANT, since you are advocating playing it for 0. Both those decks can easily play around Chalice without having to get rid of it. Belcher has Land Grant, Simian Spirit Guide, and Elven Spirit Guide to get the ball rolling. And ANT has Brainstorm and Ponder to sculpt a hand that can go off with Dark Ritual and the like.
Thorn isn't good against Ad Nauseum?...
You do realize that you're supposedly advocating Chalice as a stronger card choice than Thorn, right? Or did I just make the classic error of assuming that people who take the time to write would have also taken the time to think about what they're writing? The statement "Thorn against Ad Nauseum is also laughable since Ad Nauseum is an instant," makes NO SENSE WHATSOEVER. Chalice does diddly-squat against Ad Nauseum! Thorn makes it cost 1 more! That's the whole point to running Thorn! It effects all those expensive cards that Chalice will never ever ever touch.
" Thorn just hurts the mana producers which chalice is better at doing."
NO! Thorn hurts everything NON-CREATURE in a COMBO deck. Chalice turn 0 stops only 3 cards that are ever played.
I have not been convinced that Chalice is better for anything other than countering Petal, LED, and Chrome mox. What I have been convinced of, however, is that when people see the word "Counter" in conjunction with "Spell" that they automatically assume that's the best possible outcome.
This is fair enough. We're not going to out-control control decks. I'm not saying we should blindly throw Thorns in just because a deck has a low percentage of creatures! I'm saying that Combo is more diverse, and that since it is now more diverse the solution to it should be more flexible. Thorn is more flexible than Chalice, so I think it's a better pick.
However, I'm also not against playing Thorn against control decks. There are plenty of maindeck goblins that become much less useful in a control matchup, such as Stingscourger, Incinerator, etc. I would (for the time being) try boarding in Thorn in those matchups, because I think it would be possible to disrupt their game with a mana denial strategy.
I changed it a bit since the last time. I have taken out 1 War Marshal and 2 Chieftains and added 1 Stingscourger and 2 Warchiefs.
Right now this is it:
//Creatures
4 Goblin Lackey
3 Mogg War Marshal
4 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Matron
4 Gempalm Incinerator
2 Goblin Chieftain
4 Goblin Ringleader
2 Siege-Gang Commander
2 Sting Scourger
4 Goblin Warchief
//Artifacts
4 AEther Vial
//Lands
4 Wasteland
4 Rishadan Port
15 Mountain
Sideboard:
1 Mogg War Marshal
2 Faerie Macabre
2 Relic of Progenitus ( Maybe make this Tormod's Crypt)
3 Blood Moon
3 Pyrokinesis
and
4 Chalice of the void - But I dont know if I will keep these in. I'm thinking maybe making these Warren Instigators to side in against combo but I don't know if thats good enough.
I did play Gobbos at German Nationals Sideevent, ending 46th of 208 Players. Maybe ill try to get the plays together tomorrow. Now im goin to sleep after a 22h day xD
Funny story. I played ANT at vestal today, and faced goblins. Game 2 they went land go. I went land duress. I took the thorn sitting their hand. I then went on to go off and kill them the next turn. Had they dropped chalice, it would have been a very different game.
Hey!
I've been there too, ending 31st of 208 :-D
Didn't realize you've been there.
I saw 5 Goblin-decks in total
- one that was piloted by a French guy called "Vincent"
- one guy with short hair who had every Goblin in foil
- one guy with mutavaults MD
- one with whom I talked about using Pyrokinesis or not (after playing against Vincent)
- and me
Welcher von denen warst du?
I'm planing to report, too.
Thorn actually helps a lot against burn and enchantress. It slows them down just enough to kill them.
About Chalice: It definitely is the best combo hate card available to us. It has a strong enough effect to let us race combo and can be dropped for 0. I play 4 chalice and 2 thorn in my sb vs combo.
Always play 4 warchiefs! 1-2 chieftains are fine as 4 haste lords sometimes is not enough but cost reduction is so much better for us then +1/+1. I play 4 warchiefs and 2 chieftains as well.
Why not play instigator main and 4 chalice in the sb? Except against zoo maybe, he is way stronger then MWM.
I would play crypt/macabre over relic in sb for the same reason as chalice: They do not slow you down and you need a fast win.
I've seen a lot of lists playing ports. I do not really get how to use them on the draw. In my testings port just sucked on the draw, especially if not having vial in my opening hand.
Simple scenario vs zoo: He drops a land and nacatl. We drop a mountain+vial. He drops a pridemage and swings for 4. Now port him or put down a goblin? If I port him I might not even deny a 2cc drop because he might have the 3rd land. In my playtestings port was bad on the draw, I want to put down an instigator or piledriver turn 2 to get my tempo going not waste a turn to eventually deny his second 2cc drop. The same mostly applies to the turn after, I want to drop a warchief or chieftain, despite of the possibility not being able to cast him at all due to the lack of RR, I want to drop a goblin, especially warchief who provides so much tempo.
I even thought about cutting wasteland. I had not so few games where my opponent just had enough mana so waste would not hurt him but the colorless denied me of dropping as many goblins as I wanted (those vial matron -> drop 2 piledrivers with warchief for the win moves).
About pyrokinesis against zoo:
With the banning of mystical tutor good zoo lists do not play loam lion anymore. There are only 2 situations where you can trade 2vs2 (assuming he will be smart and won't drop a small goyf): Lavamancer is on the board, 2 pridemages are on the board.
Now if my opponent is on the draw (happens pretty often vs zoo): When testing pyrokinesis I had those situations where I drew 3 land, vial, 2 goblins, pyrokinesis. If you use the pyrokinesis (mostly at 2vs1) and draw another land and cannot find a ringleader you are very much dependent on lucky topdecks. If you had to mull or even draw 2 pyrokinesis, thinks look even worse to me. I ran out of threats because of pyrokinesis fairly often in my testing, especially when my opponent is on the draw. That made me loose because I could not keep up with his tempo and threats, it hurts if there are no goblins to make use of the tempo gain of pyrokinesis.
Ok, here a shhort report how i played yesterday. Since i was very tired, cant remember the details :( We started at 4.30am to drive to the event.
Here is the list i played:
// Lands
2 [LRW] Auntie's Hovel
3 [B] Badlands
4 [ON] Bloodstained Mire
2 [MM] Rishadan Port
4 [IA] Snow-Covered Mountain
1 [IA] Snow-Covered Swamp
4 [MPR] Wasteland
2 [JGC] Wooded Foothills
// Creatures
1 [EVG] Gempalm Incinerator
3 [M10] Goblin Chieftain
4 [US] Goblin Lackey
4 [EVG] Goblin Matron
4 [ON] Goblin Piledriver
4 [AP] Goblin Ringleader
4 [FNM] Goblin Warchief
3 [TSP] Mogg War Marshal
2 [EVG] Siege-Gang Commander
2 [PLC] Stingscourger
// Spells
4 [DS] AEther Vial
3 [MOR] Warren Weirding
// Sideboard
SB: 4 [MR] Chalice of the Void
SB: 1 [ON] Goblin Sharpshooter
SB: 2 [U] Lightning Bolt
SB: 3 [TE] Perish
SB: 3 [US] Planar Void
SB: 1 [AL] Pyrokinesis
SB: 1 [ALA] Relic of Progenitus
Match1 vs GW
G1: I mulligan to 6, starting with Lackey who gets Stp, he drops MoR, then 2 Kitchen Finks and a KotR. Loss
G2: I start with Lackey tho connect bringing Shapshooter than a few more Goblins. He has a Goyf I guess but gets overwhelmed
G3: I mulligan to 5, keeping a hand with 2 Land, Lackey, Vial, Piledriver. He starts with Land, Go, I play Lackey who gets the Sword. Then he plays 2 MoR, following with Goyf, KotR, Finks, plays E.Tutor for Jitte. No Chance
2-1
0-1-0
Match2 vs Ugr
I cant remember much. Both games he gets flooded with Goblins. I can waste and port him his R, so he cant get Firespout. He only has 2 Cliques to block. His deck was some hybrid of Canadian Thresh and Jacecontrol.
2-0
1-1-0
Match3 vs NO-Bant-Counterbalance
G1: This game took 30min, because he played extremely slow, but i manage to kill him in the end. So we start with only 15min left. I was thinking to stall the 2nd game into win, but in the end i decided to play fair.
G2: I start with Lackey tho gets Swords, then he plays CB. I play Piledriver, he reveals Stoneforge Mythic. In the next four turns he is able to counter all my Gobs, because he has 4 Brainstorms. Then he gets Top, a Goyf and a Jitte who can kill me in the 3rd extra turn. - I should have stalled :(
1-1
1-1-1
Match4 vs Survival
Both games end quite quick, since he cant get any real use of his Survival.
G1: i bounce a Noble, Weirding a KotR and kill him.
G2: He starts with Land, I play Vial. He gets Pridemage. Im a 2nd Vial. Then he plays a Noble, but in fear of my Vials never attacked. I just ramp the counter on my Vials, because I only have 2 Ringleader in hand. He plays a survival, I vial in Ringleader, getting me 4 cards. In my turn I vial a 2nd Ringleader, getting me 4 cards again. I vial a Chieftain and play lots of stuff - he scoops.
2-0
2-1-1
Match5 vs UWb Landstill
G1: He has Swords and Counters for my plays, but then i get some meat who beats him, since he doesnt get one of his 2 Moat, 3 Deed, 2 Wrath - probalby because he isnt playing Brainstorms. Since he was quite unexperienced he just built his own version of Landstill and couldnt figure the use of it.
G2: This was the weirdest game of the day. He starts with Factory, I play Vial. He drops a 2nd Factory attacking me with the 1st. I put a counter on my Vial. He drops a 3rd Factory attacking me for 3. I put a counter on my Vial. He attacks me for 3. I vial in Piledriver eot, in my turn vial Warchief and attack for 5. He drops an Island, attacking for 4. I play some more Goblins and kill him :D
2-0
3-1-1
Match6 vs Ugr Jacecontol
I cant remember anything, but i won 2-0. Had a Chalice1 in the 2nd Game.
4-1-1
Match7 vs Aggroloam
G1: I start with Lackey, he stars with Land Mox, Goyf then were starting to flood the table. He with Crusher, KotR, Dark Confidant. Me with Warchief, Chieftain, Piledriver, Commander. When i manage to bounce the KotR and shoot the Confidant with Commander i swing for 15, while he is on 14.
G2: Mulligan on 5 :( After he is getting a Kotr with Jitte and me getting nothing, I scoop
G3: I need a fast start or Planar Void, because the time is ticking. I mulligan to 5, holding a hand with 2 Mountain, 2 Planar Void, 1 Gob. He starts with Mox, Confidant and has everything in hand to beat me quite quick. I think he got the perfect hand to beat me anyway.
1-2
4-1-2
Match8 vs UR Siflenought
G1: 2nd turn Nought and force for my Weirdings, following with Spellsnare for my Scourger
G2: I overrun him, since I waste him Volcanic.
G3: Very complicated match, I guess I did a serveral mistakes here. I have Chalice, Wasteland, and Weirdings in hand, Lackey in play and possible somehow to manage to kill his Mishra or let him stifle to tap out, Weirdings his Trinketmage who got Nought and connect with lackey. But since I overlook the Mishra he sacrifice it and getting Nought. Somehow could have manged to get the Chalice earlier, but I was quite tired. :(
1-2
4-1-3
Match 9 vs UWr Landstill
G1: I start beating him, then he gets Humility but i have Warchief, MWM and a token to continue beating him for 3, he gets a Jace bouncing MWM, I weirding my token to attack for 3, then for 2, he gets a 2nd Jace. EoT i Vial in a gob, nabbing his last point of life.
G2: He scoops turn 3 after a wasted Volcanic and a missed Landdrop despite his Brainstorm.
2-0
5-1-3
Conclusion:
I had a nice day, facing friendly opponents. Location was good. More Legacyplayers than Standardplayers :D
-Never missed Incinerators, never used the 1-of i played.
-Chieftain is very strong, i recommend 3
-Never get use of Pyrokinesis, but boarded the Bolts agains Control
-Stingscourger is good, but I only played 2 because i expected more Emrakul
I think Ill kick the Bolts to put Jitte in the SB. A resolved Jitte against me is pain in the ass and resolved one one my side of the table is very good too.
@Gobolord. I guess im the short hair/Foilcard Player, was sitting next to your Mirrormatch I guess. Cant wait to finally get the FTV Relics Vial :D But I heared there was another Gobplayer who had Japanese Foil Matrons :o