Ad Nauseam land combo

[psly4mne]

I've been playing around with a simple Ad Nauseam combo deck. The gameplan is very straightforward - tutor for Ad Nauseam, play it, and win with Sickening Dreams, Conflagrate, or Seismic Assault. Here's the current list:

(edited 1/12)
AN and Tutors:
1 Ad Nauseam
1 Gamble
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Imperial Seal
1 Grim Tutor
1 Cruel Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Intuition
1 Brainspoil
1 Personal Tutor
1 Shred Memory
1 Lim-Dul's Vault

Win Conditions:
1 Sickening Dreams
1 Conflagrate
1 Angel's Grace
1 Glacial Chasm
1 Intervention Pact
1 Seismic Assault

Disruption:
1 Pact of Negation
1 Xantid Swarm
1 Duress
1 Thoughtseize
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Engineered Explosives

Bit of Utility:
1 Tainted Pact
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Serra Ascendant
1 Regrowth

Mana Accel:
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Lotus Bloom
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Diamond
1 Mox Opal
1 Dark Ritual
1 Cabal Ritual
1 Rain of Filth
1 Orcish Lumberjack
1 Exploration
1 Squandered Resources
1 Crop Rotation
1 Chrome Mox
1 Desperate Ritual
1 Rite of Flame
1 Tinder Wall
1 Pyretic Ritual

Utility Lands:
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Strip Mine
1 Kor Haven
1 Reliquary Tower

Mana Lands:
1 Barren Moor
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Tranquil Thicket

1 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Windswept Heath
1 Arid Mesa
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Verdant Catacombs

1 Underground Sea
1 Badlands
1 Taiga
1 Scrubland
1 Bayou
1 Tropical Island
1 Volcanic Island

1 Watery Grave
1 Blood Crypt
1 Stomping Ground
1 Godless Shrine
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Breeding Pool
1 Steam Vents

1 Reflecting Pool
1 Gemstone Mine
1 City of Brass
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Mountain
1 Forest
1 Forbidden Orchard
1 Lake of the Dead
1 Peat Bog
1 Darkslick Shores
1 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Ebon Stronghold
1 Caves of Coilos
1 Llanowar Wastes
1 Sulfurous Springs
1 Underground River
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Snow-Covered Swamp

General:
1 Child of Alara

No particular general seems helpful, but Child of Alara is probably the least useless.

I just put this together because it is kind of fun to goldfish. It has basically no testing behind it, but I think the idea is workable. It probably needs some more disruption in the form of Xantid Swarm and discard. The manabase also needs some work. The deck started out more 5-color, but ended up mostly black with almost no white. Being short on Swamps if I draw Lake of the Dead can be a problem, so I might want to cut some lands for basic swamps, even though it makes Tainted Pact worse. A few other notes on indivivual cards:

Intuition: The most common pile is Vampiric Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Demonic Tutor. If I add Recollect, I can find AN/Regrowth/Recollect, though that costs even more mana.
Brainspoil: A 3-mana direct tutor for AN is very good, but the 5 life hit when it is flipped is painful. I'm pretty sure it's worth it.
Shred Memory: Finds Demonic Tutor, which makes it a slow tutor for AN. Can also find Regrowth in a pinch
Seismic Assault: The RRR cost can be difficult, and this doesn't work as a win condition with 3+ opponents, and doesn't work reliably with 2 opponents.
Treasure Hunt, Mulch: While the card advantage can be nice, these have been pretty weak. They should probably become disruption.
Tainted Pact: While it rarely finds AN, it basically always gets the tutor or acceleration I need. Great card, though it could lose some power if I start running multiple Swamps.
Serra Ascendant: If played early, it can be a monstrous blocking and life-gaining machine. Why not run it?
Rain of Filth, Orcish Lumberjack, Squandered Resources: Kind of unconventional, but they've been very good. The red/green requirements of the Lumberjack make it a dead card sometimes, but then sometimes it singlehandedly enables a turn 2/3 AN.
Reliquary Tower: So far, I have never had to pass the turn after a main phase AN, so this card is on the chopping block.

Other cards I'm considering:
Recollect: It would bring my average mana cost up, but it would open up an Intuition pile of AN/Regrowth/Recollect.
Diabolic Tutor: 4 mana at once is probably too much for a tutor, but it might warrant testing.
Land's Edge, Spiraling Embers: More potential win conditions. I'm happy with the number of win conditions in the deck, but these would take less red mana than Seismic Assault.
More Swamps: They make black mana, they make Lake of the Dead better, they make Tainted Pact worse
Engineered Explosives: Get rid of annoying permanents for a reasonable cost, and doesn't cost life when flipped.
Duress, Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, Xantid Swarm: Good, cheap protection effects.
Orim's Chant, Silence, Abeyance: Having to be played right before AN means these slow you down a little, but might be worth it.
Autumn's Veil, Overmaster, City of Solitude, Dosan the Falling Leaf: More specific disruption
Manabond, Recoup: These two plus an X spell or something could make a good win condition that takes 2 turns but only 1 mana, but they're otherwise not that useful, and other wins are probably better.

I'm open to any suggestions or anything I missed.

[sunshine]

Lim-Dul's Vault seems pretty solid. And Muddle the Mixture is probably worth a look too as Demonic #2 and potential protection.

[94teen]

It's not much, but you could add a Snow-Covered Swamp to up the swamp count without messing with Tainted Pact.

There was a similar list being discussed for awhile on MTGSal, let me see if I can find the thread.

[psly4mne]

Lim-Dul's Vault seems pretty solid. And Muddle the Mixture is probably worth a look too as Demonic #2 and potential protection.
The Vault definitely looks good. The life loss will restrict how much I dig somewhat, but it should be able to find a tutor often enough. My worry with Muddle is that 1UU is not easy to get when I'm focusing on black, unless I don't want to play any other spells. Maybe I'll try it anyway, after I fix up the manabase.


It's not much, but you could add a Snow-Covered Swamp to up the swamp count without messing with Tainted Pact.

There was a similar list being discussed for awhile on MTGSal, let me see if I can find the thread.
Good call on the Snow-Covered Swamp. The MTGSal thread is here (http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=271021). That deck uses Fastbond combo to win, which is not legal under the standard ban list. Fastbond requires far fewer cards post-Nauseam, which lets him get away with a higher average CMC, and also requires only G instead of 1B, 1BW, or RRR for my win conditions. If anyone has any idea for a cheap win that doesn't require pulling 40+ cards off AN, I'd love to hear it.

[sunshine]

Recall might be able to fill the Recollect spot and be pretty useful post combo - I'd consider Call to Mind there as well. Also, Karakas is banned.

[median]

your general should be Maralen of the Mornsong if you wanted to do it right, but that would mean mono black.

[psly4mne]

Recall might be able to fill the Recollect spot and be pretty useful post combo - I'd consider Call to Mind there as well. Also, Karakas is banned.
Recall wouldn't really be useful post-combo, as my mana is typically fairly limited after casting Nauseam, and I only need to cast 1-2 spells to win. It's also worse than Recollect pre-combo, as is Call to Mind. Still looking for a spot for Recollect.
Karakas will be the spot for the Snow-Covered Swamp, I guess.


your general should be Maralen of the Mornsong if you wanted to do it right, but that would mean mono black.
I considered Maralen, but even if I found a good enough win condition in mono-black, she lets my opponent tutor first, which means she's dead if they have any removal in their deck, unless they just use the search to win.

I've made a few changes, and I'm going to edit an updated list into the OP.

[Aggro_zombies]

Recall wouldn't really be useful post-combo, as my mana is typically fairly limited after casting Nauseam, and I only need to cast 1-2 spells to win. It's also worse than Recollect pre-combo, as is Call to Mind. Still looking for a spot for Recollect.
Karakas will be the spot for the Snow-Covered Swamp, I guess.
Nostalgic Dreams is a Recall that only costs two mana.

[94teen]

Land's Edge is a second copy of Seismic Assault. It's a little less color intensive, though a little risky.

Bubbling Muck + Urborg gives you ways to generate large quantities of mana in a single turn, maybe that and/or high tide might make it easier to hit the critical amount you need.

Summer Bloom post Ad Nauseam might make it easier to hit the 3cc color requirements, and makes it easier to ramp up beforehand.

[psly4mne]

Nostalgic Dreams is a Recall that only costs two mana.
I can't really generate GG consistently pre-AN.


Land's Edge is a second copy of Seismic Assault. It's a little less color intensive, though a little risky.
With Land's Edge, I have to worry about my opponent throwing their land and me, though they'll probably have no more than 3, so I'd just have to respond with my own activations if my life is that low. I didn't really want both, since I already have Sickening Dreams and Conflagrate, but maybe Land's Edge should replace Seismic.


Bubbling Muck + Urborg gives you ways to generate large quantities of mana in a single turn, maybe that and/or high tide might make it easier to hit the critical amount you need.I dismissed Bubbling Muck before, but maybe it's worth another glance. Sometimes it does nothing, but it will often net 1-2 mana, which is very good. Gets even better if I up the Swamp count. High Tide will almost never net mana, as I rarely want more than 1 Island.


Summer Bloom post Ad Nauseam might make it easier to hit the 3cc color requirements, and makes it easier to ramp up beforehand.
I had Summer Bloom before. I cut it when I was looking for spots, as it usually does little pre-AN, and if I draw it off AN it costs 2 life whether or not I use it. It definitely did make the post-AN color requirements easier, but I find I can almost always make it with the mana I have.

I've decided to try 5 more basic and snow Swamps, cutting off-color basics and cyclers. Also trying Bubbling Muck and Recollect in place of Yawgmoth's Will and Orcish Lumberjack.