Ad Nauseam Tendrils
Last updated 02/11/2018
NOTE: The old ANT thread can be found here.
Table of Contents
- I. What is the deck?
- II. What does the deck look like?
- III. How do I play the deck?
- IV. What do the cards do?
- V. What do my matchups look like?
- VI. FAQs
- VII. Useful Links
I. What is the deck?
Ad Nauseam Tendrils is a combo deck that focuses on leveraging the storm mechanic to cast a game-winning Tendrils of Agony. This is made possible by the combination of powerful ritual effects, excellent tutors, powerful Storm-generating engines, and a discard suite for protection, all of which will be discussed in upcoming sections. This deck is strong and consistent, and has been placing in big tournaments for years. If you want a strong combo deck that has a long history of success, this is the deck for you.
II. What does the deck look like?
Here is a sample build of the deck and a great starting point for new players. To keep up with the latest played builds and newest tech, check this link.
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
4 Brainstorm
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Dark Ritual
1 Rain of Filth
1 Ad Nauseam
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
2 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
1 Swamp
2 Island
3 Duress
3 Cabal Therapy
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Ponder
2 Preordain
4 Infernal Tutor
1 Dark Petition
1 Past in Flames
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Tendrils of Agony
3 Chrome Mox
2 Chain of Vapor
2 Echoing Truth
2 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Wipe Away
2 Fatal Push
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Cabal Therapy
1 Thoughtseize
III. How do I play the deck?
ANT typically wins on turn 3-4, with occasional turn 2 wins and rare turn 1 wins. This means that for the first few turns of the game, you want to be digging for your combo pieces with your cantrips and disrupting your opponent with discard. When you have your pieces and the coast is clear, you will start to cast ritual effects, draw spells, and storm engines until you have amassed adequate storm count to finish them off with Tendrils of Agony. The biggest obstacle to learning storm combo is learning how and when to combo off. Failing to learn this will cause you to keep bad hands, to get hated out by the opponent, to fizzle, or to wait longer than you should. Therefore, outlined below are some simple combo routes to get you started. Be sure to read the Cards section below for more in-depth info on when and how each card should be used. Let it be said, however, that the best way to learn is to watch skilled pilots play the deck, and to goldfish it yourself. Practice, practice, practice!
Legend
#StormCount CardName(ManaFloating)(Notes)
All examples assume player has out 1 Swamp, 1 Island, and 1 Underground Sea
All examples assume player has 5 cards in grave, with 2 fetches and 3 draw/discard
Past in Flames Engine
1 Gitaxian Probe(Opponent has no disruption)
2 Lion's Eye Diamond
3 Dark Ritual(BBB)
4 Cabal Ritual(BBBBBB)(Threshold)
5 Infernal Tutor -> Crack Lion's Eye Diamond(BBBBRRR)(LED for Red, Tutor for Past in Flames)
6 Past in Flames(BBB)
7 Cabal Ritual(BBBBBB)(Flashback)
8 Dark Ritual(BBBBBBBB)(Flashback)
9 Infernal Tutor(BBBBBB)(Flashback, Tutor for Tendrils of Agony)
10 Tendrils of Agony(BB)(20 damage)
Tutor Chain Engine
1 Gitaxian Probe(Opponent has castable Force of Will)
2 Cabal Therapy(Naming Force of Will)
3 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
5 Dark Ritual(BBB)
6 Cabal Ritual(BBBBBB)
7 Infernal Tutor -> Crack both Lion's Eye Diamond(BBBBBBBBBB)(LEDs for Black, Tutor for another Tutor)
8 Infernal Tutor(BBBBBBBB)(Tutor for another Tutor)
9 Infernal Tutor(BBBBBB)(Tutor for Tendrils of Agony)
10 Tendrils of Agony(BB)(20 damage)
IV. What do the cards do?
Cantrips
- Brainstorm, run 4 - Instant speed cantrip with many uses. Cast in response to discard to hide away valuable cards. Cast in coordination with shuffle/scry effects from Fetches, Tutors, and (worst-case scenario) other cantrips to sculpt a new hand. This card has many uses, and one defining element of a good Legacy player is proper use of the card. Casting Brainstorm without any of its enablers is not getting full value of it, and should only be done in a pinch or if the extra power is not necessary.
- Gitaxian Probe, run 4 - 0 mana cantrip which gives us information on the opponent's hand. Useful for determining when it is safe to combo and also allows us to get more value out of Cabal Therapy.
- Ponder, run 4 - A strong cantrip which, much like Brainstorm, becomes much stronger in coordination with shuffle effects which allow you to take however many of the 3 you wish and shuffle away the rest. Don't be afraid to shuffle if the cards are not exactly what you need.
- Preordain, run 0-2 - Our weakest cantrip. Can be used to be rid of leftover cards from Brainstorm/Ponder in a pinch. Generally the first card to cut when sideboarding or trying new tech.
Discard
- Cabal Therapy, run 3-4 - Very strong discard which demands knowledge of opponent's deck to use properly. If you are not confident naming something blindly, don't be afraid to save it until you can Duress or Probe your opponent to make an informed decision. With appropriate preparation, this card gets rid of everything that threatens us. See FAQ section below for more information on what to name.
- Duress, run 2-4 - Great against combo and control, useless against creature decks. Very effective way to get rid of key enemy cards easily without threatening our life total like Thoughtseize does, and easily sided out in creature-based matchups like D&T. You generally want 6 discard, so balance the numbers on this out with your Cabal Therapy.
- Thoughtseize, run 0-1 - Useful in that it gets rid of everything that is threatening to us, but the life cost is relevant. If you main Ad Nauseam, you should not main this card. Otherwise, 1 is worth considering.
Mana Acceleration
- Lotus Petal, run 4 - Free storm, free mana, good card.
- Lion's Eye Diamond, run 4 - Free Storm and mana if you use it right. Obviously you can't go casting cards in your hand with LED, but there are some tricks of the trade. Note, however, that as of 2010 I believe you can't carry mana over from the upkeep to the draw step. So, if you're reading info from before then, don't be tempted by those shenanigans. So, to make the most out of this, keep the following tricks in mind. For one, this card works extremely well with Infernal Tutor. Most of the time you crack a LED, it will be for that interaction. This is sometimes a source of confusion, so pay attention. You cast LED and pass priority (assume it resolves). Then, you cast Infernal Tutor and crack LED in response without asking your opponent "k?". If you ask for a response to IT before cracking LED, they can just say "k" and suddenly you can't crack LED anymore until IT does its thing. Other benefits of doing the above listed procedure is that it makes your LED safe from Instant-speed permanent removal. Your opponent never has priority while LED is a permanent, so cards like Abrupt Decay are useless. If you have Past in Flames in hand or in the bin, this card can help you cast it easily. When you cast Ad Nauseam with these out, think about your goals. If you have enough mana floating to reasonably win the game with the cards you draw, keep your LEDs in case you get lots of lands with your Tutors. Otherwise, crack them so you have enough mana to at least set yourself up with an awesome hand and a clear field for next turn. Also, these empower your Cabal Rituals. Cast Tutor, respond with CRit, then crack LED to reach Threshold for tons of mana.
- Dark Ritual, run 4 - 1 mana for 3 mana. Instant speed is relevant, can be used in response to taxing counters like Spell Pierce to pay for them.
- Cabal Ritual, run 4 - Again, don't forget this card is an Instant. You can cast it in response to taxing counters to surprise your opponent. Before threshold this card is meh, but given the nature of this deck, we are likely to reach Threshold by the time we cast this card. After Threshold, this card provides massive mana acceleration.
- Rain of Filth, run 0-1 - Essentially another ritual with the drawback of losing your lands. On the victory turn this is free mana and Threshold count, but if you do not win losing land is a major setback. Use with caution.
Business
- Ad Nauseam, run 0-1 - Ah, the namesake of the deck. Do keep in mind, however, that this card is not your primary or even your secondary route to victory (those are Tutor Chaining and PiF "loops", respectively). You use this if you need to pull a win out of nowhere, which it can and will do for you, or if you only need a couple cards and know this will get them for you. Never get too greedy with this card. Don't go down to 3 if the opponent has a Mountain untapped. Don't take any more cards once you hit 4 life unless you must. Just be wary of what your opponent can do to you when you cast this. Also, don't forget it's an Instant, meaning that you can cast it EoT on your opponent's turn to set up your combo turn, or in response to something that your opponent casts that would otherwise screw you over.
- Infernal Tutor, run 4 - Interacts nicely with Lion's Eye Diamond to reach Hellbent. See the combo routes in the above section to see what to fetch and what to crack LED for. Remember, this card can fail to find things if you use its first ability, which is helpful if you have a hand with 2 Tutors and not enough mana for a full chain. You can use this early to fetch up more acceleration to combo off, if needed. Also, if your opponent hits you with discard, this is what they usually will (and should) get first. For the love of all that is holy, don't let this get Surgical Extraction'd. Use Brainstorm to protect this card, as it is extremely valuable.
- Past in Flames, run 1-2 - Fabulous card. This makes comboing out much easier. See the above combo routes section for more info on how to use this card. Beware, of course, that this card means that opposing grave hate actually becomes relevant, so be ready to play through or around that. Also, when you're Flashbacking everything, keep in mind to cast Cabal Ritual again while you still have Threshold, and to use your tutors before you Flashback cantrips.
- Dark Petition, run 0-2 - Expensive 5 mana cost up-front, but upon resolution is only a net loss of 2 mana for any card in your deck. Devastating if this card is countered or if your grave is nuked, but if you can afford the mana cost and fulfill the Spell Mastery condition, this is more effective than your other tutors.
- Tendrils of Agony, run 1-3 - Our wincon, and the ugliest card in our deck (unless you have the FNM promo version, of course). When casting this card, keep in mind how the opponent can interact with it. Countermagic will only counter one of the many copies of this card, but that also means that you need more Storm to kill them. Also, the opponent can do tricky things like Swords to Plowshares-ing their own dudes. Be vigilant and prepared. Also, while this card is pretty resilient to countermagic, it is still vulnerable to the likes of Flusterstorm and Mindbreak Trap, so be sure to get rid of that stuff. Also, do not forget, the Storm trigger can be Stifle'd. Grinding Station lists run more than one, otherwise run a singleton.
Common Sideboard Options
- Ad Nauseam - Decks which do not run this card main should include it in the side to give the deck more speed against matchups where that is needed.
- Extirpate, Surgical Extraction - In coordination with discard, this card is absolutely devastating, particularly against combo decks. Extirpate is more effective against control and counters, but is more restrictive. Surgical Extraction is much more flexible, but is easier to deal with. Consider running 1-2 in combo (particularly Show & Tell) or control heavy metas.
- Xantid Swarm - A resolved Swarm is backbreaking against counter-heavy decks without removal. It also serves as a body to Flashback Cabal Therapy. Against any blue meta, you should always have 2 of these.
- Carpet of Flowers - Another anti-blue card which shines in Delver matchups. Provides lots of mana in both main phases to power through their taxing counters while avoiding their removal. If you're meta is Delver heavy, consider 2-3 of these.
- Abrupt Decay - Kills most hatebears and artifacts, and simply gets rid of problem permanents. Incredibly useful, and completely changes several matchups for the better.
- Chain of Vapor - Compared to Abrupt Decay, this is cheaper, on color, and hits more things, like Leyline of Sanctity, at the cost of being counterable. Bouncing instead of destruction usually isn't a problem, as you'll tend to cast this when your opponent will not be receiving another turn to recast their beloved permanent. Also, you can be tricky with this. Bounce your own free Artifacts, sac your tapped lands, and then get your opponent's stuff. This provides you with more free storm and potential artifact protection. Don't forget this is an instant, you can cast this EoT before combo turn or in response to lethal. You should always have 2-3 of these.
- Empty the Warrens - This is your alternate win-con. This is where the sideboarding metagame really comes into play. On the one hand, much of the hate for Tendrils is blanked by this card (e.g. Leyline of Sanctity), and you can go off both earlier and with lower Storm counts (12-14 goblins is usually adequate), but on the other hand, these tokens will die if you breathe on them too hard, and Batterskull will ruin your day. Typically, though, your average opponent won't go creature hate on you, so this is a useful thing to throw into your deck post-board to deal with the hate you anticipate for your opponent to bring in. Furthermore, this allows you full value from your Therapies, so that will help keep you safe. If you don't have one in your main, you should have one in your side.
- Tendrils of Agony - An extra Tendrils is included in some sideboards to add even more resilience to the deck and to improve the control matchup and matchups with discard and grave hate (minus Extirpate and Surgical Extraction). Consider running 1 against slow, grindy metas.
V. What do my matchups look like?
Caleb Scherer has kept up an amazing blog in which he has detailed his list modifications, matchup notes, and sideboard strategies, which can be found here. I would highly encourage you visit it and take a look!
VI. FAQs
Why do we play Ad Nauseam with so many high CMC cards?
Dark Petition is a common 2-of in many lists these days, which certainly appears to be a non-bo with Ad Nauseam. Before I go any further, I need to make it clear that yes, there will be games where you flip 2 Petitions and just die. I also need to point out, however, that the risk has proven to be worth it. Dark Petition is a very powerful tutor. If you can put together the mana to cast it after Ad Nauseam, you are very likely to find a route to victory, whereas its counterpart Infernal Tutor almost requires LED to perform the same function. Therefore, while Petition will zap you for more, it will also on average allow you to get away with smaller, aka less risky, Ad Nauseam piles.
What do I name with Cabal Therapy against an unknown opponent?
A lot of the decision making with Cabal Therapy comes from knowing what your opponent is playing. However, sometimes you just don't know, and in those situations using your Therapies properly can be tricky. In many cases, it is advisable to hold on to discard until you are ready to go off against an unknown deck. That said, there are also cases where you might be encouraged to use them early, for instance hands with multiple Therapies or which will not have the ability to cast discard on the combo turn. In these situations it can be advisable to just play the numbers game and name some of the most common cards in Legacy: Force of Will and Brainstorm. If I have multiple discard in hand, I like to name Brainstorm, as it leaves the opponent with less of an ability to sculpt their hand and play around future discards. If I'm casting it early because of mana restraints in a turn 1 Therapy turn 2 combo situation, I'll name Force of Will. Again though, try to remember that if you can wait to cast the card against an unknown opponent, you probably should so you can get a better idea of what to name.
VII. Useful Links
- Old ANT thread, lots of useful discussion to read through here
- Examining Variance, article by Jeff Hoogland
- Storm Training Regimen, article by Carsten Kotter
- Storm Boarding, article by Carsten Kotter
- The Legacy Laser, article by Timo Schunemann
- How to Convince Your Opponent to Hand You the Game, article by Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
- Bluffing, article by Jacob Wilson
- The Art of Sideboarding, article by Sam Black
- Legacy Storm Primer, article by Adam Prosak
- The Epic Storm, website by Bryant Cook
- The Storm Box, article by Jonathan Alexander
- How to Beat Storm, video for people looking to, well, beat our deck
- The Weather Channel, so you can have more Storm knowledge than anyone else
Last edited by bjholmes3; 02-11-2018 at 01:21 PM. Reason: Another update right quick
Great job on the new thread - much more befitting such an established and popular deck.
Thank you, I think that having a "what to sideboard out" guide would be appreciated as well. I would love to hear what people like to side out in specific matchups since it hasn't been a problem to bring stuff in, but take stuff out.
I think you overrate the Elves matchup. Elves is about as fast as ANT, IMO - the difference G1 is that in ANT that fundamental turn includes discard, in Elves it doesn't. G1 is obviously horrible as a result. G2/G3 depends a lot on who wins the die roll, obviously, and on what Elves can bring in. Mindbreak Trap is a bad card against a smart ANT player IMO, which is why many people run Thorns/Thalia. The fundamental turn can increase a lot with Ruric Thar - T2 NO isn't usually done G1 because the Hoof isn't lethal, but Ruric is vs. Storm. Furthermore, Gaddock Teeg is a possibility, turning GSZ=2 into something nasty. The typical MO is boarding out Symbiotes and Visionaries, basically turning into a prison-combo deck. You pull enough fast kills and highly disruptive hands with that that the postboard matchup is pretty even, IMHO. Still overall in your favour.
Originally Posted by Lemnear
Missing informations:
- Dark Confidant and Cabal Therapy interaction
- Grim Tutor over Burning Wish in Past in Flames perspective
MU / SB in Mirror
I agree that Elves are very favorable only G1, G2/G3 is much harder.
Updated card sections on Burning Wish, Grim Tutor, Empty the Warrens, and Bob. Also, reworded the Elves! matchup to make it seem less exaggerated. :)
Unless I put my opponent on either Canonist or Meddling mage post board I would never bring in removal against blade decks. Decay doesn't kill the only thing we care about (Batterskull) and their clock isn't anywhere near fast enough to dilute the deck. Swarms I would consider for game 3 only if I saw an excess of flusterstorms and such and still only if I expect the player to keep a hand with only counters.
Dark Confidant is less common these days but definitely deserves a spot in the primer.
Also how is URW delver an old deck and BUG control a new kid on the block?...
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In the section on cabal therapy you should probably mention synergies with xantid swarm, dark confidant and empty the warrens. And even main deck I totally flash back therapy with PIF!
When I said Therapy's flashback wouldn't be used, I meant, well, its flashback. I worried that wasn't clear though. I'll touch it up.
The second half was a joke, but I do think the other synergies are worth noting
The opening post is great, but one thing I would tweak would be to remove some of the strong opinions about some of the card options and leave everyone else to decide for themselves what they think is best. An example of this is when you list Inquisition of Kozilek and come to the conclusion that people should not play it. I think that card is a perfectly reasonable SB option against Jund and hatebear decks, so I wouldn't wanted anyone immediately discounting it. I think the bias towards a more stock "Prosak Storm" list sort of comes out in the writing.
I also think it would be cool to have like a stock list with flex options like I see in some opening posts. This would help new players sort of build their list using some starting numbers for mandatory cards and card options. Example maindeck breakdown:
4 Lotus Petal
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Gitaxian Probe
0-4 Preordain
2-4 Duress
2-4 Cabal Therapy
0-2 Thoughtseize
4 Infernal Tutor
0-2 Grim Tutor
0-3 Burning Wish
0-2 Lim-dul's Vault
0-2 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Past in Flames
0-1 Ad Nauseam
0-1 Empty the Warrens
4 Polluted Delta
3-5 Blue fetchland
0-2 Bloodstained Mire
1-2 Island
1-2 Swamp
2-3 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
0-1 Badlands
0-1 Tropical Island
0-1 Bayou
0-2 Gemstone Mine
There are also some different SB options that you might want to explore - like if you are going to mention Wipe Away, you probably want to list Echoing Truth. Mentioning different types of discard like Tseize or Inquisiton in the SB might be helpful in explaining how these cards could be more useful than Duress and Therapy in certain matchups. Instead of saying "etc" next to Massacre and friends, you probably want to list out Disfigure, Deathmark, Virtue's Ruin, Toxic Deluge, Infest, and Pyroclasm. If you are going to list Trop, you might as well also list Bayou. Random stuff like Pithing Needle to deal with Spellbombs, Deathrites, and Lily in Jund might be worth mentioning. We just want there to have a ton of different options listed in the opening post. Thanks for doing all this work; it is looking great!
So what's the plan against Pox? I know it's not super popular, but still may be worth putting in the Primer.
I tested a match with it yesterday and besides a Turn 1 kill on the play one game, it wrecked me. Granted, I'm very new but it felt tough trying to fight through discard and land destruction.
Prosak sided Ignorant Bliss...would that be a decent option here? Are we mostly reliant on our own disruption to deal with them? If we can't win by Turn 3 it gets pretty grim.
Sure, I can add a Pox section. :)
Ignorant Bliss is just a horrible card for storm!
The plan is: (if you can't go off T1), play your LED's and petals. Let them kill your hand, topdeck tutor -> win.
They have one of the slowest clocks ever so you will get tons of time. The matchup isn't actually that hard but you have to play tight. You'll get there
Played at the Finnish champs, went 3-3 and dropped because friends had already dropped and wanted to go get some drinks and go to sauna so they pressured me to give up and leave with them. Wins were R1 Patriot, R4 Elves, R5 Spanish Inquisition and losses were to R2 Jund, R3 Shardless BUG and R6 Jund. I learned how annoying discard and deathrite shamans can be, the metagame here could really call for more than just one Dark Confidant. Playing against elves was fun, t2 ad nauseam from 20 life to 4, played 4 ponders, two-four preordains/brainstorms and used SDT at every chance when it was relevant, got to 16 mana, 17 storm and my deck had only 13 cards left, including 3 infernals, PiF and Tendrils, but couldn't find any of them. I think I should have just stopped at safe(r) lifetotal played out my artifact mana and then storm him out the next turn. Games 2 and 3 I was faster, g3 including storming with Chain of vapor, two petals, led and infernal for lethal 18.
My R2 loss could possibly have been prevented if I didn't receive a game loss for forgetting to write my Dread of Nights to the sideboard... I could also have played better against Shardless BUG, first game I decided to just go for it, I knew he was packing discard and possibly Hymn, he had two cards in hand and I had enough mana for Ad Nauseam while I have plenty of mana floating, good life total and no land played. He did have the force of will. Game two he pressured me with Deathrite Shamans keeping my graveyard small, while doing 2-4 damage a turn. I had plenty of cards in hand and found Tendrils of Agony. He had a good amount of cards in hand while I had cabal therapy, I counted that I could have made exactly 20 life if he plays nothing from his hand. 22 if he plays Force of Will. He's at 17 life and he has two active shamans with two Shardless Agents in the graveyard. I go for it, he doesn't play force of will even though he has it and I can't go for it, cause I'll do 20 damage and he will then just exile the tendrils. I'm at 7 life and he activates DRS twice in my end, then again after he has untapped. GG! At first I kind of regretted not going for it, I had few cabal rituals in hand and I could have possibly make him waste DRS activation on something in my graveyard. On the other hand, I know he plays ANT also and would have played very carefully until the end.
I haven't tested against Jund a lot, but I think I did all the right things, not keeping hands with business that could be discarded and then surgicaled, saving brainstorms, laying down artifact mana (LED did get R2 t2 decayed then surgicaled...) and playing very carefully. All the games ended 2-1 in their favor and I did just fine in my opinion. Playing the deck was extremely fun and all my opponents were really nice, especially the Elves! player in round four. Max Sjöblom also played ANT and piloted it all the way to the top 4, losing to Jund and making me feel a little bit better about my two losses against Jund.
Tops:
+Meeting a lot of great people, there should be more big events where to play in!
+Starting the tournament with 2-0 victory over Patriot
+Doing better than (most) my friends ;)
+Every time when I or my opponents used something to watch opponents hand, people were willing to play with their hands open until a brainstorm
+After the tournament shitEDH, Death and Taxes vs. Maverick games for fun and all the people that I traveled with
+My friends loaning me better fetches, the missing bayou and tropical.
+Deck was a blast to play
Flops:
-I don't know how to write deck lists and my friends public shaming about it
-Hymn to Tourach hitting so well.
-Discard
-Didn't use Swarms or Dread of Nights from the sideboard even once during the tournament
-After inspecting what kind of decks were played in the tournament, I discover that there was only 6 Jund decks in the tournament of 100 players, and I got to play against two of them. Just my luck!
Thanks to every judge, organizer, participant and opponent I got to face in the tournament, hopefully I'll get to meet you soon once again!
what's the best strategy to fight discard with graveyatd hate? Aside from going off early, I've been relying on the goblins plan lately versus this kind of deck. I find it hard to reach 10 storm. Any advise experienced storm troopers?
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