[Discussion]TES...a real replacement for ANT?

[Antonius]

I think the recent success of TES is more due to the rise of Vengevine, and the way Vengevine crushes CB.

As a side note, I have to say, beating TES and Doomsday with Land Destruction is a lot easier than beating ANT was. Good job on hitting up Mystical, wizards! =)

[maxflow2]

The latest SCG Open had an ANT list in the top 16. Albeit with an... unconventional sideboard. It also seems very short on tutors.

I think the rise of TES lately has been the result of three things: the deck was hurt a lot less from the loss of Mystical than other storm variants, people are packing less hate for storm than they were before the ban, and the increasing number of Survival and Merfolk decks have been beating up on Counterbalance decks that haven't been tuned for the new metagame.

I personally prefer storm decks with red for Burning Wish and Empty the Warrens (TES variants), but I think that UB, UBw, and UBg are all just as viable and might even be a better choice depending on the metagame. I know a lot of people swear by their Doomsday brews, but I've never been a fan as I feel that the DD plan just slows the deck down (it often requires more mana, forces you to play top, hold cantrips in hand...) and that Doomsday often has a "danger of cool things" effect on people. That's not to say it isn't viable - the Shelldock Isle into Emrakul plan is sweet against decks without Wasteland, and the uncertainty of AN is significant - but I don't think the gains eclipse the losses overall.