[Deck] ANT (Ad Nauseam Tendrils) Storm Combo

[Sloshthedark]

I was going to ask if you ever mull any hand, but this suprised me even more than keeping the other hands. What makes you mull this and why is it different with Preordain over Brainstorm?



You feel like turn one goblins plus discard is better than turn two Past in Flames with discard? Interesting.


Also, I still feel I haven't gotten an explanation why hands #1&2 are dependant on the deck list. I don't see how it matters if I run it with the intent to draw it or not when I have already drawn it. It doesn't matter why it is there, it matters what it does, and in my eyes you are throwing away a win condition in order to look for a win condition, which just doesn't make sense. It's like shuffling away Nimble Mongoose to search for Delver when you already have threshold.

I don't mulligan unless I have to - hand is nonsense in the MU or unresonable nonlander (that's why/how I goldfish keeping every hand as you could see some time back)... Brainstorm - it's different because I'd keep that sometimes - it's a mull 6 with 11 card selection most of which are already great (It probably does not make sense mathematicaly)

True, do you think T2 PiF is more probable to succeed given the number of cards that interact? with EtW there is only FoW, Terminus and combo something - you have discard for that and I'd do that not having the discard too

I think Jamie gave a good explanation, I have a difficulty with Grinding station in the awkward times I have to respect additional ToA and GP/cantrips in hand, that is a mode I enter in certain situations not on T1 as a no.1. plan because of having ToA, it's the same like playing towards Ad Nauseam you have in an opener mindlessly... I think it's better to keep spinning the wheels than holding the Probe majority of time, if not played T1 I'd play it 100% before the T2 Brainstorm, which you might not even play if you just passed, for me those hands suggest T2/3 goldfish, for you a grind =)

In other news, this week, LSV's "What's the Play" is a scenario with Storm: http://www.channelfireball.com/artic...egacy-edition/
I'm inclined to think you have no business winning that game, but eh.

lol at the list, given the info - I'd Sdt Extract Sdt ... not that it matters, it's like predicting what happens in 2035

[CabalTherapy]

lol at the list, given the info - I'd Sdt Extract Sdt ... not that it matters, it's like predicting what happens in 2035

Apart from the SB (uber lol), the deck allows for easy Flooded Strand > Bayou > Ponder lines.

[nevilshute]

In other news, this week, LSV's "What's the Play" is a scenario with Storm: http://www.channelfireball.com/artic...egacy-edition/
I'm inclined to think you have no business winning that game, but eh.

Man I'm too distracted with questions over that sideboard. Why are we running a Blue Blast in the board? I might be missing something obvious but I can't really see a scenario where that's relevant. Blast PiF in the Mirror? Blast a Pyromancer? Blast a Burning Wish? Blast a Pyro/red blast? None of this feels remotely good.

Also, why are we running 3 Tormod's Crypt? There are other things. This feels relevant to me because I'm trying to figure out why we are boarding in Surgical Extraction against Miracles in the first place. I guess it's not strictly a bad place to be, but still...

Okay, so attempting to make the best of it, I think the follwing of the different options (all assuming that we want to use our Surgical Extraction immediately):

-Take Force of Will with Duress and then Extract it. This seems by far the least appealing option as we are letting our opponent make both Top and Counterbalance and we aren't getting any additional cards out of their hands. Verdict: definitely not.

-Take Counterbalance with Duress and Extract it. They can't force the surgical due to no blue card to pitch and we get rid of CB forever. Congratulations, we now have a dead Abrupt Decay in hand and they have a top next turn plus a force. They might still have relevant decay targets such as Meddling Mage or Ethersworn Canonist but it's not a given. I'd say this is a lot better than the previous scenario but it's still not really desirable. Verdict: probably not.

-Take a Top with Duress and then attempt to Extract it. No matter what happens from here, they will begin their first turn with 4 cards in hand. Casting Surgical on their Top will likely cause them to cast Force of Will pitching Counterbalance to protect their other two tops. If they do so then we are leaving with one less of both Force and CB, 2 less cards in hand and we have a decay in case they find another CB. They get to keep two tops (but we can't really stop that in any scenario) and will be able to dig, but will need to assemble both protection in the form of more counter magic, a clock and preferably also a new CB. This will take time, and yeah, we have the decay to answer at least their first CB/Hatebear.

There's also the chance that they let Surgical Extraction resolve. In this case we leave them with a 4 card mulligan of force, CB, 2x land plus they will never resolve a top making their CB quite a bit worse. Also, us having a decay and them not having top to dig with means there's a chance they'll never find CB#2 after we decay the first. Also, with us being on the play they won't be able to resolve their CB before our 2nd turn and we will at least get to cast our Ponder with no CB in play for annoying blind flips. Verdict: acceptable play.

[Jonathan Alexander]

This was my comment to the article:

First off, I think it would be good to know what you boarded out, although I don't think it makes much difference here. Further, I don't think you are winning this game at all plus I don't think you should cast Duress turn one. Anyway, my assessment of the situation:

If you take Top, that achieves nothing if you don't follow up with Surgical.
If you take Counterbalance, that turns off Force, but this way they only need to find a blue card in their next five cards to have it online again by turn two.
If you take Force, they are also without countermagic for two turns at most. Sure, you have Decay, but that costs two mana and you're already low on mana because you have no ritual effects.

The problem with letting them keep Top is that this list can never beat a Flusterstorm that's floated on top, because there's only one Tendrils (which they might or might not suspect, depends on whether they saw Ad Nauseam game one). The only way to cast two Tendrils is to cast a lethal Tendrils, get that Flusterstormed, then cast Past in Flames (likely on the flashback) and cast another Tendrils. By the time that's a possibility, they have probably found all the interaction in the world.
Another way to beat them floating Flusterstorm is by resetting their Library with Surgical in your combo turn, but as other posters have pointed out, this hand is super slow, so it's highly likely your opponent will find additional interaction by the time you get to go off. Also, your opponent has two Tops anyway, so if they cast bost, as they should, they could just draw the Flusterstorm with one Top and then let Surgical resolve.

I think you have to take Top, then cast Surgical, which they are about 100% to Force. (You're losing here anyway, might as well fish for the misplay, which is the most likely way they're going to lose this game). If they don't misplay, you are hoping to race them finding a Flusterstorm, which is still the best you can do here.

[nevilshute]

So, recorded another Daily Event with ANT/Grinding Station / Fullhouse Storm

My list was my GP list with some changes to the sideboard.

I faced:

Lands, Burning Wish Omni, Mentor Miracles and the mirror.

Hope you enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?act...vRKM0LLnNMQToF

[Tav]

Getting ready for a 1k this weekend and then SCG DC in a few weeks, finding myself super torn on my 75

4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Gitaxian Probe
1 Preordain
4 Cabal Therapy
1 Duress
1 Thoughtseize
4 Infernal Tutor
1 Grim Tutor
2 Past in Flames
2 Tendrils of Agony
1 Empty the Warrens
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Island
1 Swamp
2 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
1 Badlands
1 Tropical Island

SB:
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Chain of Vapor
2 Xantid Swarm
2 Flusterstorm
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Massacre
1 Pyroclasm
1 Burning Wish
1 Ad Nauseam


Grim Tutor might have to be something else this weekend (mine is in the mail since I just had it altered), so I will probably try out a Dark Petition in its slot.

The sideboard is a mess and has some odd choices imo, mainly the Pyroclasm and the Burning Wish, but I hate the idea of siding in multiple Massacres in a matchup like DnT, it feels so counterproductive to be bringing in multiple 4 cmc spells when the whole reason Ad Nauseam is in the side is because of the 4 cmc cards that I am siding out in that matchup.

[Sloshthedark]

Apart from the SB (uber lol), the deck allows for easy Flooded Strand > Bayou > Ponder lines.

a list complimenting previous LSV storm vids

So, recorded another Daily Event with ANT/Grinding Station / Fullhouse Storm

My list was my GP list with some changes to the sideboard.

I faced:

Lands, Burning Wish Omni, Mentor Miracles and the mirror.

Hope you enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?act...vRKM0LLnNMQToF

Thanks for the vids, I often do not have enough time to watch them on time/properly comment, but sure it gets appreciated, so thanks again

one has to love the M4G2...
would have played quite different against Miracles G2

[JDK]

Hope you enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?act...vRKM0LLnNMQToF

I like that you are offering your thought processes (thanks!), but it was tedious sometimes.

M4G1 when he played Ad Nauseam you were already dead when he flipped the Lotus Petal but you say that you are not dead yet and he continues to flip. He had storm 8 with the Ad Nauseam, B in his pool. He flips a Dark Ritual (storm 9, BBB), Tendrils and a Petal (storm 11, BBBX) => dead. Or did I miss something?
M4G2 with two turn 1 kills, lol.

[Lans89]

I've had some fun with storm today! Last time I played the finals with Deathblade and I've made use of some DTT decks lately (love to cast that card). 6-3 no byes with Omnitel at the GP, with that awful game 3 vs stormtrooper Slosh :). But I always try to play something different in the monthly's. JamieW89 and another storm guy were not participating today, so I decided to dust of my Tendrills. I tested some lists with 2 DP first, but wasn't satisfied for now. I then decided to try out a 'grinding station' type of list, very similar to what some of you guys are playing:

Maindeck
4 Lotus Petal
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Infernal Tutor
4 Dark Ritual
3 Cabal Ritual
1 Rain of Filth
4 Cabal Therapy
1 Thoughtseize
1 Duress

4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Gitaxian Probe
2 Preordain

2 Past in Flames
2 Tendrills of Agony
1 Empty the Warrens

4 Polluted Delta
3 Scalding Tarn
1 Bloodstained Mire
2 Underground Sea
1 Tropical Island
1 Volcanic Island
1 Badlands
1 Swamp
1 Island

Sideboard
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Carpet of Flowers
1 Ad Nauseam
1 Surgical Extracion
2 Flusterstorm
2 Xantid Swarm
2 Massacre
2 Chain of Vapor
3 Abrupt Decay

Round 1: Elves
Game 1: I loose the die roll and mull a no lander to a mediocre 6. One turn before I was able to win I saw 2x No with my Duress, so we had to move to game 2.
+1 Ad nauseam +2 Chain of Vapor +2 Flusterstorm (I know some of you don't like fluster, but I stopped a lot of hate & wincons through time ^^)
-1 Empty -1 PiF -1 Tendrills -1 Rain of Filth -1 Swamp (not sure)
Game 2: There was a turn where I played a land and was able to Ad Nauseam using a petal. Or I could play Duress (1 unknown card), or pass with Petal in play and Ad Nauseam eot or in response to discard. What would you do? I tend to play safe so chose to play Duress, which saw a fetch. He didn't topdeck and I won the turn after.
Game 3: I think I mulled again and had a win with Ad Nauseam from 14, already had LED and floating mana.
2-1 --> 1-0 and happy to switch to normal ANT postboard

Round 2: BUG Delver with Stifle AND Hymn
Game 1: I loose the die roll and mulligan.. The game goes long. He has 5 cards in hand, I Therapy and he Forces pitching Daze. Seeing Delver cast from Sea, I think I should have continued winning.. The turn after I even had a line with a PiF Flashback insurance. But I'm the safe chicken and passed twice, Bayou + Hymn took my Infernal and LED. I was able to make some Goblins, but was too late. Could have been an easy win.
I was not sure how to board, but kept the Grinding Station I believe.
Game 2: My opponent had shitty hands or was scared of the dark stormy cloud and mulled to 3 (yeah, gg). Turn 1 Delver and Turn 2 Deathrite was impressive. But I was able to win with a Top in play and a natural chain after spinning.
I switched my sb plan again. This list is confusing.. How would you side? Different on the play or on the draw?
Game 3: I mulligan again.. Believe it or not, I rly had to all those games. I was durdling a bit and was under preassure. We go to extra time. He can't kill me and we go to extra turns. He then says with 1 drawn card and some info of my hand that I'm not able to win. My Probe sees Mindbreak Trap and gives me just enough for Threshold. So in his turn I cabal Ritual into Ad Nauseam after he casts a Goyf (otherwise he was able to hardcast Trap I believe). I then win in my turn with discard on trap.
2-1 --> 2-0

Round 3: Grixis Delver with Swiftspear
Game 1: I loose the die roll again, and ofc mulligan. I got very close but loose to his aggressive creatures.
In this matchup I felt the main was OK because of the lifeless Grixis takes, and the aggro versions make Ad Nauseam bad. +1 Carpet +1 Top +2 Chain of Vapor -1 Cabal Ritual -2 Preordain -1 something I think (CoV to protect the graveyard and slow them down/extra storm etc) or I did something else with Fluster on the play but not on the draw.
Game 2: Mulligan.. The turn before lethal I just go for it and have a sick Past in Flames cantrip line again.
Game 3: Kinda manascrewed but able to get a turn 2 protected win of petal. Nice to see it going easy one time.
2-1 --> 3-0

Round 4: Omnitell
Game 1: I kept my 7 :D! But guess what, I lost the 4th roll.. He made his second land drop and has Show and Tell + Omniscience and more land in hand. I Brainstorm and then I'm able to make 12 goblins, cracking LED and discarting 2 Therapy's to flashback and destroy his hand. But then noticed I had a PiF line so I put 1 therapy on top. I miscounted the PiF line, so I discard a second infernal and only 1 therapy with my LED crack and was only able to get rid of the Show and Tell.. Fingers crossed :S what a mistake! But I got there in 2 turns anyway.
+2 xantid +2 fluster +1 surgical -1 Tendrills -1 empty -1 pif -1 rain of filth -1 swamp
Game 2: Probe revealed 2 Pierce, I play Xantid Swarm. I have LED, IT and Ad Nauseam too, but found no rituals lol. I do find discard and destroy his hand before i finally found Dark Ritual.
2-0 --> 4-0

Round 5: ID
4-0-1 and 1st place after the swiss. After loosing 4 die rolls I can finally play first in top 8! A lot of mulligans too.. Way more then I'm used to. Was a rough road to get 1st!

Quarters: Deathblade
Game 1: I mulligan and keep an iffy 6. My opponent mulls to 5. Turn 2 I probe and see nothing relevant, but he had to keep because of the mana he did found. I have trouble finding my stuff... So he gets a TNN with Jitte and already 2 counters lol. He could also cast Batterskull next turn. Man, how could he still be in the game! He has 2 swords + X, but tapped out. I felt like I had to go for it.. Now or never.. But this should have been a free win already! I ritual a lot into Past in flames with 1 probe and 1 ponder to find me the win. I got there :$ But had 6 outs & LED's could have helped for more cantrips.
Sideboarding was hard, but I know he has Mages. +3 Decay +2 Massacre +1 Carpet +1 Top -1 tendrils -1 empty -1 pif -1 cabal ritual -2 preordain -1 swamp
Game 2: I keep a weird hand, forgot exactly but multiple Decays, a Carpet and BS + fetch as an excuse. He goes turn 1 Deathrite and I draw my lone Tendrils for the turn. Now I got scared because when I test Deathblade (I love the deck) I often win with discard + extraction, now He could discard and shaman extract my Tendrils :S! Soo I fetch Trop and play Carpet, then get 1 blue mana in my second main phase and cast a terrible turn 1 BS hitting Massacre as additional removal. I put Massacre first and Tendrils second from top. He takes his turn, played a land and cast Thoughtseize. Man, how happy I was being such a scared chicken ;)! He takes a Dark Ritual (1 dr, 3 decay left and X + the cards on top, this is going nowhere...). I draw and make 1 black again to Decay Deathrite. He gets a new Deathrite and I do it again. He makes a Liliana and I used my 3th. He fetches scrubland and such to make carpet only a Decay harpoon. My hand develops and I'm able to make a natural Tendrils if he counters something. He has 2 FoW and 1 Fluster in hand and eats my Therapy and I name Fluster. I know I have Past in Flames on top so don't risk wasting rituals and also feel safe vs 2 FoW. I draw PiF and he Cliques it away... Shit. He has 15 life and I only count to a Tendrils for 14 a couple of times, then noticed that Clique was storm 1. If he countered my Cabal Ritual I could't win that turn, but he didn't and was doomed. I had 1 unknown cards, thats why he did say ok pretty fast, it was the massacre which also made 1 free storm gg.
2-0 --> 5-0-1

Semifinal: Lands. We split top 4, even while I faced Lands. But now 1 guy in the other final could scoop and go home, while my friend would move to the finals, gain ranking points and a secured pay-out :)!
Game 1: I'm able to win with Past in Flames but know he has Crop Rotation, I wasn't sure if he has Bojuka Bog. 'Safe guy keeps passing the turn'. I later try to go off and see the Bojuka Bog in response to Cabal Ritual. I now had to make some weird PiF loop but got there with just enough mana.
+1 ad nauseam +2 chain of vapor +3 Decay -1 empty -1 pif -1 tendrils -1 cabal ritual -2 not sure.
Game 2: I feel comfortable with my Chain of Vapor for his pretty fast Marit Lage and later win with a nice Ad Nauseam. I was able to win with piF instead but kept counting to 9.. Guess I was too tired or the 10 beers from last night finally showed little effect.
2-0 --> 6-0-1

Finals: Grixis Control
Game 1: He has Lethal and I have to go for it. Past in Flames with 9million black mana and only 1 blue mana for ponder and 1 of the 2 probes because I was at 4. I find a fetch land with ponder to fetch for sea and cast another ponder. I see one of my 2 Tendrils for the win.
-1 pif -1 tendrills -1 swamp -1 cabal ritual -2 preordain (not sure) +1 top +2 fluster +ad nauseam +1 chain of vapor +1 carpet or something
Game 2: Grixis is soo painful when it goes wild with therapy's, surgical on infernal, spell bomb and elecktrickery...
Game 3: Same goes for this match. I discard a Pyromancer and Zombiefish to get more time. It felt bad but worked out well. At last I have Carpet in play (+3), 4 lands + infernal, cabal ritual and rain of filth I believe. He just discards my 2 petals with therapy. Reason: he is at 17 life, has a cage in play and elecktrickery, counterspell + snapcaster (for fluster) in hand. I'm at 4 life. So this way I wasn't able to win with PiF, Ad Nauseam, Goblins or natural tendrils.. Or so he thought (we, to be honest :P). I draw a probe and it gets therapy. Therapy for storm 2 (he has 4 mana, if he says 'ok' I loose and if he does something I can continue) he cast Counterspell (3). I get a lot of mana with carpet and my rituals and go into infernal tutor (6 storm) and was shocked that I was able to find 2 more infernal into a lethal Tendrils for 9 . Well, shouldn't have won that one. But when I watch storm guys playing I always see them winning vs opponents who feel so uncomfortable vs combo that they make such mistakes. And it was 19:00.. The store owners already ordered some food while waiting for us to finish.. time to go home!
2-1 --> 7-0-1

Wauw 7-0-1, nice score to take home! Had a great day and went 22 points up to earn the number 1 spot in the ranking for the end of the year invitational :D. Was a while ago that I played storm at a tournament, but I always test with and against ANT, so I have some experience. But today I noticed that I had no clue how to sb with Grinding Station.. vs some decks it's hard to choose for speed or the original plan, and if so, do we protect pif lines with vapors on cages and stuff or not? When do we overboard? Do we swap between plans if we are on the play or draw, like I did vs BUG Delver and often with Flusters? Grinding Station was a good excuse to play a main Empty, but I swapped to a 'normal' list a lot! When I test 2 DP I also tend to cut them first.. I do believe Grinding Station is awesome vs Miracles, but it isn't played too much here. Hope to learn some more in the coming weeks :)! Quite a long report I notice..

[cheerios]

Storm with RIP maindeck?

http://sales.starcitygames.com//deck...p?DeckID=88267

Cheers

[nevilshute]

Storm with RIP maindeck?

http://sales.starcitygames.com//deck...p?DeckID=88267

Cheers

An error on the part of SCG I'd guess. Guessing it's actually PiF. No white-producing lands and no other white cards to imprint the mox with. PIF in the board too.

Having said that, congrats to Richard Johnson for top-8ing the event. Nice to see a TNT list for once. I wonder if he was expecting a Gaddock Teeg heavy meta or if it was just a matter of experience/preference.

[Togores]

So, back from the MKM series in Toulouse. Was quite ok on results but not as good as I would wish. Ended 4-3 in legacy with ant, 5-2 in modern with ant and 4-2 in vintage with mentor. More or less near the top.
I played The list ok Kai with -1 preordain +4th cabal ritual, I was just missing mana for pif loops.
Also my sb was quite weird. Because as I told in the forums I wanted to cut my sb hate for white decks. The deck almost is not existent. And its just some roge matchup like it is mud or reanimator and we dont side targeted slots for this decks in wich hurkil or surgical effects would be great.
So my sb ended being so:
2 flusterstorm
2 carpet
4 decay
2 grip
3 xantid
2 ECHOING TRUTH
Yes I know its weird but I took out the chains for echoing truth. The thing behing that is that against reanimator its just a bit less good vs iona. But agianst loam wich gave a quite lot of them on friday its better than chain. Befause they usualy have chalice on 1 and tegg. So making eot decay the tegg is quite hard because after that your green land gets wastelanded. And doing it with chain is q no go because of chalice. So you bounce tegg and go for the easy no cmc1 kill. It also has use agaimst chaman because you bounce all and go for pif (and elves in sb take out 3 symbiote usualy is they are good players and usualy they will use symbiote in his turn and then BAM!), also multiple white leylines, multiple spheres or trinispheres from mud and lands and so on...
I was quite happy with the card.


So that where my matchups:
R1 mud 0-2
Why the fuck do I have always to play against the fucking mud decks... i have played it in all but not one Gp I have played and always lost. Its just a so bad matchup...
G1 he starsts cloupost I pray it for bein eldrazi post and t2 trinisphere comes. I resolve a nauseam but in 19 lifes it brings 0 cabal rituals and I loose.
G2 he kuldotha for blighsteel and I echoing it in response to greaves. He resplays it and I decay greaves. So he kuldotha the colosus and his tormonds and field away to Sundering my 2 lands. I have 2 turns to draw tutor because my hand is 4 dark ritual 2 led and a land. Its turn 9 And I havent draw more than 1 cantrip and also not a tutor and die.


R2 miracles 2-9
My opponent drops a t2 balance after I see his hand and and has no for. I play anther gitaxian and he balances a fow. A third gitaxian and I go for a pif loop with quite of mana buy oy 3 gitaxian as outs. But the game is not getting better after he untaps. So i play gitaxian 1st card is infernal and so gg.
G2 he has no top or counterbalance but 2 fluster, pyro and 1 fow. I play 2 ponder, 2 gp and 3 brainstorm and he never used his t1 blast until the last bs in the kill turn. After I grinded him out of his counters and pif did the job.


R3 reanimator 2-1
Also really 3 mud 2 reanimator in over 100 players and i have to play them? Big events joke at me. Its just the 2 matchups I like the less to face.
G1 I play 2 cantrips and she ionas for blue after the mulls to 6 and seizes herself for iona t2 . I have mana but no bussines and die.
G2 i get to fluster his first reanimate on griselbrand and xantid and when she atacks I just swing back and go for the kill.
G3 she echoings my xantid and seizes him going to 6. After the had reanimated iona wich I bounce with echoing. Then she is low on cards but exumes griselbrand I bring back my xantid and go for a tendrills for 5 because she has iona + 1 card (daze) and i have spare mana for it. But I also could atack and make a tendrills for 8.


R4 miracles 1-2
He is on the play and has land ponder.
My keep is:
Petal
Gp
Brainstorm
Bayou
Duress
2 dark ritual
The card for the turn is tendrills.
So i make some thoughts and decide to go for it. Gitaxian sees fow and I draw another petal. The I drop the petal and brainstorm. Thats shows infernal, cabal ritual and tropical. Put tendrills and tropical back.
Storm 3
I bayou into duress for fow.
Then petal into 3 rituals and infernal for tendrills for 10 gg.
G2 I keep a good one lander but i didnt find a land after a ponder until its too late and he is to much up.
G3 he drops t1 top t2 balance t3 balance. I have infernal copy my decay but have to use it on a clike. And then I die due to giving him to much time.


R5 against omnitell 2-0
G1 He wrong pierces my t1 ponder and dies t2.
G2 he keeps a bad ponder and dies to not having fow. Or may be having one and getting discarted.
R6 miracles feature match 0-2
I just could do nothing. He has mull to 6. And island go. I gitaxian and he has 4 lands brainstorm and balance. So i just wait he brainstorms and drops balance t2. I play preordain. He had brainstorm. I play a stone and he plays brianstorm and counters. I play ponder and he fetches and has a cmc1 then he finds top and I die.
G2 i hace a t1 swamp. Get to decay and grip his 2 balance. Then after 2 gp, 4! Ponder and 2 brainstorm I atack (like every other turn) and now he clickes. Gets my infernal and I decay the clike. Then 4 turn later i draw puf atack and he has a second clicke and I decay it again. He takes pif and i juts draw the rest of the game just mana while a mentor kill me.

R7 golddiger 2-0
Its a to slow matchup. Both games a few discards and pif + flashback plus a backbreaking g2 flusterstorm on his dig gives me the game easy.

So the deck worked well and the diference between echoing and chais was not inportant. But also never faced anythingn of the explained before, so ai still thing is a right decision.


Now to storys of the day:
Another guy playing ant vs one on uwr blade.
Blade:
1 island
1 tundra
1 volcanic
Batterskull with no token and sfm with jite and 2 counters.
Nauseam with mana and 2 life.
Nauseam played is dead. He masacres and his opp leta the sfm die.
Next turn ant player plays probe, and opponent tapind his 2 dual lands plays dig so that storm player can see what he gets pretty cool, he shows with 1 mana up fluster and pierce and a lot of shitt. Ant draws brainstorm and finds therapy. The therapies with 2 lands up. Blade player plays fluster now shields down and dies for a tendrills of 40 while having his opp 30 life.
GOOD PLAYED! Yeah!
Hope I play against this oponent all my life again and again in events hahahaha.


So thats it. Thanks guys for reading, see you soon.

[nevilshute]

So, back from the MKM series in Toulouse. Was quite ok on results but not as good as I would wish. Ended 4-3 in legacy with ant, 5-2 in modern with ant and 4-2 in vintage with mentor. More or less near the top.
I played The list ok Kai with -1 preordain +4th cabal ritual, I was just missing mana for pif loops.
Also my sb was quite weird. Because as I told in the forums I wanted to cut my sb hate for white decks. The deck almost is not existent. And its just some roge matchup like it is mud or reanimator and we dont side targeted slots for this decks in wich hurkil or surgical effects would be great.
So my sb ended being so:
2 flusterstorm
2 carpet
4 decay
2 grip
3 xantid
2 ECHOING TRUTH
Yes I know its weird but I took out the chains for echoing truth. The thing behing that is that against reanimator its just a bit less good vs iona. But agianst loam wich gave a quite lot of them on friday its better than chain. Befause they usualy have chalice on 1 and tegg. So making eot decay the tegg is quite hard because after that your green land gets wastelanded. And doing it with chain is q no go because of chalice. So you bounce tegg and go for the easy no cmc1 kill. It also has use agaimst chaman because you bounce all and go for pif (and elves in sb take out 3 symbiote usualy is they are good players and usualy they will use symbiote in his turn and then BAM!), also multiple white leylines, multiple spheres or trinispheres from mud and lands and so on...
I was quite happy with the card.


So that where my matchups:
R1 mud 0-2
Why the fuck do I have always to play against the fucking mud decks... i have played it in all but not one Gp I have played and always lost. Its just a so bad matchup...
G1 he starsts cloupost I pray it for bein eldrazi post and t2 trinisphere comes. I resolve a nauseam but in 19 lifes it brings 0 cabal rituals and I loose.
G2 he kuldotha for blighsteel and I echoing it in response to greaves. He resplays it and I decay greaves. So he kuldotha the colosus and his tormonds and field away to Sundering my 2 lands. I have 2 turns to draw tutor because my hand is 4 dark ritual 2 led and a land. Its turn 9 And I havent draw more than 1 cantrip and also not a tutor and die.


R2 miracles 2-9
My opponent drops a t2 balance after I see his hand and and has no for. I play anther gitaxian and he balances a fow. A third gitaxian and I go for a pif loop with quite of mana buy oy 3 gitaxian as outs. But the game is not getting better after he untaps. So i play gitaxian 1st card is infernal and so gg.
G2 he has no top or counterbalance but 2 fluster, pyro and 1 fow. I play 2 ponder, 2 gp and 3 brainstorm and he never used his t1 blast until the last bs in the kill turn. After I grinded him out of his counters and pif did the job.


R3 reanimator 2-1
Also really 3 mud 2 reanimator in over 100 players and i have to play them? Big events joke at me. Its just the 2 matchups I like the less to face.
G1 I play 2 cantrips and she ionas for blue after the mulls to 6 and seizes herself for iona t2 . I have mana but no bussines and die.
G2 i get to fluster his first reanimate on griselbrand and xantid and when she atacks I just swing back and go for the kill.
G3 she echoings my xantid and seizes him going to 6. After the had reanimated iona wich I bounce with echoing. Then she is low on cards but exumes griselbrand I bring back my xantid and go for a tendrills for 5 because she has iona + 1 card (daze) and i have spare mana for it. But I also could atack and make a tendrills for 8.


R4 miracles 1-2
He is on the play and has land ponder.
My keep is:
Petal
Gp
Brainstorm
Bayou
Duress
2 dark ritual
The card for the turn is tendrills.
So i make some thoughts and decide to go for it. Gitaxian sees fow and I draw another petal. The I drop the petal and brainstorm. Thats shows infernal, cabal ritual and tropical. Put tendrills and tropical back.
Storm 3
I bayou into duress for fow.
Then petal into 3 rituals and infernal for tendrills for 10 gg.
G2 I keep a good one lander but i didnt find a land after a ponder until its too late and he is to much up.
G3 he drops t1 top t2 balance t3 balance. I have infernal copy my decay but have to use it on a clike. And then I die due to giving him to much time.


R5 against omnitell 2-0
G1 He wrong pierces my t1 ponder and dies t2.
G2 he keeps a bad ponder and dies to not having fow. Or may be having one and getting discarted.
R6 miracles feature match 0-2
I just could do nothing. He has mull to 6. And island go. I gitaxian and he has 4 lands brainstorm and balance. So i just wait he brainstorms and drops balance t2. I play preordain. He had brainstorm. I play a stone and he plays brianstorm and counters. I play ponder and he fetches and has a cmc1 then he finds top and I die.
G2 i hace a t1 swamp. Get to decay and grip his 2 balance. Then after 2 gp, 4! Ponder and 2 brainstorm I atack (like every other turn) and now he clickes. Gets my infernal and I decay the clike. Then 4 turn later i draw puf atack and he has a second clicke and I decay it again. He takes pif and i juts draw the rest of the game just mana while a mentor kill me.

R7 golddiger 2-0
Its a to slow matchup. Both games a few discards and pif + flashback plus a backbreaking g2 flusterstorm on his dig gives me the game easy.

So the deck worked well and the diference between echoing and chais was not inportant. But also never faced anythingn of the explained before, so ai still thing is a right decision.


Now to storys of the day:
Another guy playing ant vs one on uwr blade.
Blade:
1 island
1 tundra
1 volcanic
Batterskull with no token and sfm with jite and 2 counters.
Nauseam with mana and 2 life.
Nauseam played is dead. He masacres and his opp leta the sfm die.
Next turn ant player plays probe, and opponent tapind his 2 dual lands plays dig so that storm player can see what he gets pretty cool, he shows with 1 mana up fluster and pierce and a lot of shitt. Ant draws brainstorm and finds therapy. The therapies with 2 lands up. Blade player plays fluster now shields down and dies for a tendrills of 40 while having his opp 30 life.
GOOD PLAYED! Yeah!
Hope I play against this oponent all my life again and again in events hahahaha.


So thats it. Thanks guys for reading, see you soon.

Wow, seems like som rough beats against Miracles in the feature match and yeah, it absolutely sucks having to play against MUD, I fucking hate that deck.

Something has been gnawing at me lately regarding Flusterstorms. Since a little while ago I've been playing 2x Flusterstorm in the sideboard again. Mainly to bring in against Miracles but they are also pretty sweet against the Mirror. However, I've been bringing them in against Omni as well and I've not liked them. I feel like Xantid Swarm is much better and as such still want to bring in the 3 swarms I'm playing in my sideboard. Also needing to bring in 1 Ad Nauseam I'm suddenly finding that removing 6 cards from the main deck feels problematic. Also, the Flusterstorms just feel mediocre in this matchup. I don't think we should even be trying to take a control role here. Not only do I think our progressive game plan is stronger against Omni; going long against them also happens to translate into them having more lands and as such being more likely to just play through a single Flusterstorm. What are people's thoughts here?

[Togores]

Flusterstorm has been great to me.
I side it against:
Elves
Storm
Show and tell
Golddiger
Dredge
Reanimator
Infect

I dont side it against miracles at all.

Pascal sided 2 iona 1 flusterstorm 1 xantid he said more cards are not necesary.

It has seems quite good vs all this matchups. To gain time vs discard and to stop his big and fast wins.
Also omnitell if you give them time they are gonna win you usualy play therapy or so. They dig and you counter the dig.

[Jonathan Alexander]

For whatever it's worth, I don't think Flusterstorms are good without Top. As Martin said, you tend to board out a lot of cards when boarding Flusterstorms, so you need to cut something you don't usually want to cut. Top allows you to cut cantrips while still having access to a cantrip every turn, more or less. I have not liked Flusterstorms since I switched to Preordains.
Further, I also think taking an aggressive approach vs. Omni with 2-3 Swarms is the way to go. It's just super annoying to go long vs. Dig Through Time.

[cheerios]

What's a good sideboard for a meta with lots of reanimator? Should I go for xantid or gy hate like surgical and crypt?

Cheers

[CabalTherapy]

What's a good sideboard for a meta with lots of reanimator? Should I go for xantid or gy hate like surgical and crypt?

Cheers

The best plan is to cross your fingers and hope that you won't get paired against them. On a more serious level: I like 2 Xantids, 2 Flusterstorm and 1 Extirpate. However, I don't like Chain of Vapor here because if they get to reanimate a dude they should be able to win the match (Iona: black, counter your Chain and so on), whereas Chain doesn't do anything beforehand (not mentioning generating storm). Furthermore, I like to go in aggressively because it is better to decide one's own fate than to die to they lucky draw.



@above Flusterstorm discussion: I like it against Tempo too. On Saturday, I was able to puch my combo through against Burg Delver's FoW and Spell Pierce because of Flusterstorm. Something like: Cabal Ritual (2 lands untapped) > resolved > Cabal Ritual > resolved > Past in Flames (ToA on top and SDT in play) > Force > my Flusterstorm > resolved > flashback orgy > win.

[nevilshute]

The best plan is to cross your fingers and hope that you won't get paired against them. On a more serious level: I like 2 Xantids, 2 Flusterstorm and 1 Extirpate. However, I don't like Chain of Vapor here because if they get to reanimate a dude they should be able to win the match (Iona: black, counter your Chain and so on), whereas Chain doesn't do anything beforehand (not mentioning generating storm). Furthermore, I like to go in aggressively because it is better to decide one's own fate than to die to they lucky draw.



@above Flusterstorm discussion: I like it against Tempo too. On Saturday, I was able to puch my combo through against Burg Delver's FoW and Spell Pierce because of Flusterstorm. Something like: Cabal Ritual (2 lands untapped) > resolved > Cabal Ritual > resolved > Past in Flames (ToA on top and SDT in play) > Force > my Flusterstorm > resolved > flashback orgy > win.

I do love me a good flashback orgy

I do feel like Flusterstorm has a pretty high ceiling when facing decks mainly looking to interact on the stack and if we are playing a a multiple tendrils list.

Regarding the Reanimator question: I'd Echo Robert's initial sentiment and just kinda hope to not face them, and then if you do, hope that they kinda lose to themselves (not completely unreasonable). Be on the lookout for hands that can either kill really fast (like turn 1) or hands that have a lot of disruption (like 2+ discard spells). I'd try and stay away from cantrip heavy do-nothings. I'd bring in some Xantid Swarms and here I actually like bringing in Flusterstorms whereas I like it much less against Omni.

Even then, you are the underdog.

Also as a sidenote I'd be tempted to keep in 2 or more tendrils after board as killing them with a baby-tendrils after they've resolved Reanimate on Griselbrand and activated him is not unheard of but you pretty much need to have a tendrils in hand, or have a high enough chance to hit it on that one cantrip you might get to fire off, for that to really be possible.

[Lemnear]

If thats the upcoming direction of ANT, I wonder if Lotus Petal is even required anymore...

[Darkness]

Currently playing slothinthedarks's list (Grinding Station Variant) and I cut down to 3 lotus petals, I really haven't had a problem with only playing three. They are really only great with Ad Nauseam. I don't miss the 4th one.