The EPIC Storm (T.E.S.)
Created by Bryant Cook (Wastedlife), Developed with assistance from The E.P.I.C. Syndicate
The EPIC Storm (TES) is a Tendrils of Agony – based combo deck, which tries to play as close to Vintage Long as possible, without sacrificing stability for speed. It’s primary path to victory lies in casting Dark Ritual effects and Lion’s Eye Diamonds, enabling it to utilize Burning Wish or the Hellbent ability of Infernal Tutor to generate 9 storm before casting a lethal Tendrils. What separates this deck from other, similar Tendrils decks in Legacy, such as IGGy Pop, is TES’s 5 color manabase, allowing it to utilize the most powerful effects available in the cardpool. With the printing of the Coldsnap and Time Spiral sets, TES received a powerful accelerant and win condition, making red a dominant force in Storm combo. Embracing this development has allowed TES to go from a niche deck played by a few individuals, to a powerhouse in consistent combo, seeing multiple top 8’s in 50+ player events.
History
This story opens with a rather humble beginning. In August of 2006, Bryant Cook posted a thread discussing a creature-based Tendrils list, soon after the DCI removed the power-level errata on Priest of Gix. This deck, found here, used Trinket Mage as a mana-neutral tutor for Lion’s Eye Diamond, and Helm of Awakening or Second Sunrise to “go crazy” with LED and Priest of Gix mana. Combining the draw power of returning Chromatic Spheres with the tutoring power of Infernal Tutor, Burning Wish, and Diabolic Intent, the deck had no small amount of paths to a lethal Tendrils. However, the instabilities of the deck became apparent over time. The creatures continued to under perform. Once they were removed, cards like Culling the Weak, Diabolic intent, and Second Sunrise became worse. A saving grace came in the form of Coldsnap.
Coldsnap brought an important inclusion to the deck, in Rite of Flame. Rite was a consistent replacement for the mediocre acceleration of Priest of Gix, who was only really good with two Helms of Awakening in play.
With the printing of Time Spiral, TES gained 2 new Storm weapons - Grapeshot and Empty the Warrens. Grapeshot was a secondary win condition, generally utilized to kill Fish-y creatures like Meddling Mage and True Believer before Tendrils won the game. It has fallen out of favor since the creatures pose less of a threat to modern builds. In Empty the Warrens, The EPIC Syndicate saw a serious threat to the most difficult matchups for the deck, the white/blue agro-control decks. With Empty the Warrens, you had the ability to raise the storm to a mere 3 or 4 before casting Warrens, allowing you to dump 8-10 Goblins in play. These decks have only a few spot removal spells available, and have an extremely difficult time finding an answer to this play when made early. Paired with the 2-3 turn clock, it improved this matchup immensely.
More recent innovations to the deck include the addition of Brainstorm, increasing the number of cards you see turn 1 as well as the stability of early kills; and Diminishing Returns in the maindeck and sideboard as a potential answer to the Stifle problem and a storm generator/card advantage spell.
The Decklist
Lands
4 City of Brass
4 Gemstone Mine
2 Undiscovered Paradise
1 Tomb of Urami
Creatures
4 Xantid Swarm
Spells
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
4 Chrome Mox
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
4 Burning Wish
2 Tendrils of Agony
4 Dark Ritual
3 Cabal Ritual
4 Infernal Tutor
4 Plunge into Darkness
1 Diminishing Returns
4 Rite of Flame
2 Empty the Warrens
4 Brainstorm
Sideboard
SB: 1 Ill-Gotten Gains
SB: 1 Tendrils of Agony
SB: 1 Diminishing Returns
SB: 1 Empty the Warrens
SB: 1 Tranquility
SB: 1 Hull Breach
SB: 3 Shattering Spree
SB: 4 Dark Confidant
SB: 1 Earthquake / Rough//Tumble
SB: 1 Duress
Discussion of card Choices
Manabase – This manabase is a direct port of the GrimLong manabase from Vintage, adapted to the Legacy metagame. Originally it included Forbidden Orchard and Cabal Pit, which were replaced with Undiscovered Paradise once we came to the realization that the tokens do matter, and Meddling Mage wasn’t a significant problem anymore. The Tomb of Urami represents a threat that can be online turn 1 vs. decks that may not have the speed to deal with it, like Survival variants.
Rituals – 4 Dark Ritual, 4 LED, 4 Lotus Petal, 3 Cabal Ritual, and 3 Rite of Flame are a given. There has been some debate over whether the fourth Rite of Flame belongs in the Maindeck or Sideboard as a Burning Wish target. Generally speaking, using a Burning Wish – the most versatile tutor – on a Ritual effect is a weak play, as the second Rite of Flame is mana neutral, and only the third Rite generates mana. This is different than using a non-hellbent Infernal Tutor to find a second Rite, as that play both thins your deck, can shuffle a bad Brainstorm, and converts black mana to red. With no Rites in the graveyard it is a mana neutral play, and with any in the grave it generates mana.
Another debate for fast-mana is the number of Chrome Moxen. We believe you want to maximize your mana producing potential from Diminishing Returns, and so include the maximum number.
Tutors – 4 Burning Wish and 4 Infernal Tutor is possibly the strongest Tutor package ever allowed in constructed Magic, when paired with unrestricted Lion’s Eye Diamond. Even so, the threat density required another tutor. Plunge into Darkness wasn’t the first card that came to mind, but testing showed it to be an extremely strong choice. While the life loss can be an issue at times, situations occur where you utilize the second ability of the card, or entwine it. The fact that you can tutor for a type of card, rather than a specific card, enables you to Plunge for a smaller number, and makes it better than Spoils of the Vault. Maintaining card parity (rather, not losing your draw step, and putting the card in hand immediately) is important, and gives it an edge over Mystical Tutor. It’s instant speed allows it to be a setup card, played end step of the turn before you “go off.”
Wishboard – IGG, Tendrils, EtW, and Diminishing Returns are all integral combo pieces that can be used when needed. Tranquility is there specifically to deal with situations like a Solitary Confinement and Tranquil Grove, or more than a single Rule of Law, etc. Hull Breach deals with a single threat of that type, or multiple forms of hate such as Chalice of the Void at 0 or 1 plus Ivory Mask. Shattering Spree allows you to take down many artifacts at the same time, and is in multiples to allow you to sideboard some in if needed. Duress allows you additional protection if you know you need to fight through hate, or if you need to get a feel for what hate your opponent may throw at you. Earthquake and/or Rough//Tumble both allow you to take out opposing creature-based disruption while not interfering with your Xantid Swarms. While Boom can take out a Mystic Enforcer, Earthquake can potentially be used to win or draw the game.
Dark Confidant – Bob is utilized as a card advantage engine that hits for a Tendrils copy each turn he is left unchecked. Often coming in to replace the Xantid Swarms vs. non-permission opponents, he allows you to find the perfect hand to win, and makes winning easier at the same time. As often as he is sided in, people often ask why he isn’t maindeck to begin with. Simply put, he improves our marginal matchups into great ones, while Xantid Swarm makes our difficult matchups marginal. Both creatures die to basically every removal spell ever printed, but game 1 vs. an unknown opponent, the protection provided by Xantid is invaluable.
Why play TES, specifically over other Tendrils based combo?
TES, as said above, has 2 distinct advantages over other Tendrils based decks: Speed, and card selection. IGGy Pop is a turn 3-4 combo deck, as described by it’s creator, Mike Bomholt (bomholmm on TML, blarknob on MTS). TES is renowned by it’s ability to finish the game on turn 2 to turn 3 on average. This is congruent to the ability to generate a small storm count for Empty the Warrens on turn 1 or 2, and finish the game in 1 to 3 turns thereafter. TES’s full compliment of mana acceleration spells are responsible for this, allowing it to power out early threats ahead of most opponents. This deck can play “Do you have the Force of Will?” just as well as IGGy Pop, and when leading with turn 1 Xantid Swarm, can completely disregard the opponent entirely. This leads to the second point, card selection.
Even IGGy has come to the conclusion that more protection is needed by the combo decks in this format. Recent lists in the upper tables of large events show IGGy players splashing green for Xantid Swarm or white for Orim’s Chant. TES has had this protection built in from day 1, due to its relationship to Vintage GrimLong. Xantid Swarm has a distinct advantage over Orim’s Chant in TES, in being cast the turn before it wins. This conserves mana for the fundamental turn, and allows the disruption to be autonomous from the combo itself. This is something Orim’s Chant cannot do, and that Duress is only marginally good at. Aside from Xantid Swarm – which IGGy players are fully able to utilize, you gain an immense amount of benefit from access to red mana. Burning Wish is restricted in Vintage, as a direct correlation to LED, and their ability to pair together to find Yawgmoth’s Will. While we don’t have access to that spell (can you imagine how ridiculous this deck would be if we did?), we have access to an effective replacement in [Yawgmoth’s W]Ill-Gotten Gains, and an effective Timetwister in Diminishing Returns. IGGy’s graveyard dependency disallows it access to D-Returns, both for its recycling as well as its drawback, as IGGy has no ability to access the removed cards. If part of the IGG engine is removed, the ability to combo is severely hampered. This is not true of TES, as it has access post-removal, and has concentrated on removing the yard dependency that makes IGGy vulnerable.
Red also provides access to the second best Ritual effect in the deck, Rite of Flame. As discussed above, Rite can be as good or better than Dark Ritual when it comes to pure mana generation, and allows you the ability to concrete yourself in a two color combo. Without Rite, plays like Wish for Empty the Warrens would be significantly more difficult, as finding multiple sources of a non-black mana source would be much more difficult. Rite allows the deck to truly be a 2 color base with a splash for green and blue.
Empty the Warrens is probably the most significant card you gain access to by playing TES. This card allows a near infinite amount of versatility to the deck, by allowing it to play a more aggressive game with two win conditions that, while similar in nature, win the game in such different means that many decks have an extremely difficult time dealing with both at the same time. Often decks have a plan against Tendrils (True Believer, Children of Korlis, etc.), but fold to an early EtW. Other decks can handle EtW (Engineered Explosives, Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale, etc.) but have literally no game against Tendrils whatsoever. This disparity between win conditions is what sets TES head and shoulders above less versatile decks. The ability to choose which plan of attack you utilize is one of the most pertinent advantages TES has against decks that can neutralize one or the other.
Matchup Analysis vs. the “Big Three”
Threshold/Gro - (45%-55%) – Results vary with list and skill of opponent
Things to Consider:
- Do you have Xantid Swarm? If so play it as quickly as possible.
- Try and win as fast as possible.
- Does your hand have a Tendrils or Warrens?
- How are you winning? Are you using Diminishing Returns or Ill-Gotten Gains? Are you using Empty the Warrens or Tendrils?
- Do you have the double Tendrils option?
- How many turns do you have left?
- Keep in mind what Meddling Mage is chanting.
- Do they play a singleton Engineered Explosives?
- Do they play Stifle?
- Lastly, this is the most important question; can you read a bluff? Reading your opponent is HUGE when trying to figure if you’re brave enough to win on turn one or two.
Sideboarding
-3 Plunge into Darkness
-1 Cabal Ritual
+4 Dark Condifant
Solidarity (50%)
Things to Consider:
- Do you have Xantid Swarm? If so play it as quickly as possible.
- Try and win as fast as possible.
- Win before they get three islands.
- Do they have mana for Remand?
- Don’t be afraid to be aggressive. In this match-up you can afford to be since they don’t have Daze or Counterspell.
- Is your Empty the Warrens large enough to race Cunning Wish -> Echoing Truth?
Sideboarding
- None
Goblins (70%)
Things to Consider:
- Aim to keep a hand with more acceleration than tutors.
- If your hand generally has more than one piece of protection (Swarm) mulligan.
- Try and win as fast as possible
- If keeping a one land hand, be hesitant to play that land unless combo-ing out that turn.
- Chrome Mox is good in this match-up, as an un-disruptable mana source.
Sideboarding
-4 Xantid Swarm
+2 Dark Confidant
+2 Shattering Spree
Additional Reading
Old thread can be found here.
Combo Summer thread
TES vs. Iggy Pop thread
Major Tournament reports from TES players:
http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showp...11&postcount=1 - Bryant Cook's (Wastedlife) 1st place finish
http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showp...&postcount=393 - Florian Fischer's (Flod0) 1st place finish
http://boards1.wizards.com/showpost....6&postcount=78 - Andrew Weinberger's (Andrew777) 1st place finish
http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5470 - Gnesotto Carlo's (Jegger) 2nd place finish
http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showp...33&postcount=1 - Brandon Adams's (Emidln) 4th place finish
http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showp...08&postcount=1 - Bryant Cook's (Wastedlife) 15th place finish
http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showp...81&postcount=1 - Jesse Krieger's (Krieger) 16th place finish
http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showp...36&postcount=1 - Carl Wauer, Jr's (Carlos El Salvador) 2nd place finish
Articles discussing The EPIC Storm:
http://www.starcitygames.com/php/new...cle/13782.html - By Chris Coppola (Machinus)
http://www.starcitygames.com/php/new...le/14088.html- By Chris Coppola (Machinus)
Podcasts discussing The EPIC Storm:
http://feed.teamicbm.com/ - I@n Degraff of Vintage’s ICBM interviews Bryant Cook, creator of TES
Last edited by Nightmare; 07-30-2007 at 03:04 PM.
Alright, where to begin? This article is here to teach you everything there is to know about The EPIC Storm. The EPIC Storm was created by me Bryant Cook, along with my team The EPIC Syndicate, as an attempt to make a valid storm based deck. The mechanic Storm was first printed in the set Scourge; storm copies the spell that is cast for how many spells are played before it that turn. You may be saying,”…And I care why?” You see certain cards with the mechanic storm can be used as win conditions - such as the win conditions Tendrils of Agony and Brain Freeze. When The EPIC Storm was created the only valid win condition for sorcery speed combo was Tendrils of Agony. This means you’d need a storm count of ten to kill someone with Tendrils of Agony. This is accomplished by playing zero casting cost artifacts, acceleration, and tutors. Innovation on The EPIC Storm really started with the release of Cold Snap and Time Spiral; these two sets gave The EPIC Storm the endurance it needed to survive with cards such as Rite of Flame and Empty the Warrens.
General History
One of the initial problems of The EPIC Storm was that reaching a storm count of ten was impossible with your 7 card hand; to solve this problem we knew we had a few options. Either A) Add draw to the deck, B) Add tutors to the deck or C) Add “Win now” cards to the deck (Ill-Gotten Gains and Diminishing Returns). To help us we decided to utilize tutors, eventually we did all 3 options in separate time frames. The preliminary list of the deck contained only tutors. Although this solved the problem of reaching a storm count, then there were no “Bombs” or a real reason for tutors to be in the deck. With the addition of Diminishing Returns and Ill-Gotten Gains the deck had strong tutor cards outside of Tendrils of Agony. Draw was added much later in the evolution of The EPIC Storm; the deck in its infancy went through millions of changes and cuts.
The deck ran different ways of producing mana until Cold Snap came out and the inclusion of Rite of Flame was added, making the deck even faster while freeing up slots in the main deck. With the ever exciting release of Cold Snap I was ecstatic along with other members of EPIC; this set gave The EPIC Storm the cards it needed to man handle the control match-up. With the Addition of Grapeshot the deck had a way around a troublesome card Meddling Mage, while gaining another win condition. Grapeshot was the card that shined out to me personally, then was cut later in time. Then Adam Barnello (Mr. Nightmare) of the EPIC Syndicate advised me to test Empty the Warrens. I was skeptical at first and then astonished; this card allows you do ridiculous things to the Threshold match-up while allowing you to combo out more easily. At this point in time there were debated slots in the deck and this is when draw option A was included with Brainstorm.
Choosing The EPIC Storm
“Why play The EPIC Storm?” It’s a logical question. I sure won’t pick up a deck without good reason. The EPIC storm has something that other combo decks just don’t have – no, not good-looks - but being both fast yet stable. Most combo decks trade one for the other or settle for a slower average win while having both. You’re probably still thinking “…And why do I care?” am I right? There’s one blistering fact about The EPIC Storm that separates it from the rest - its ability to not care about all the hate thrown at it. The deck can win through the million obstacles put in its way. I would list the millions of hate cards that people play but more than likely I would forget one and people will assume I lose to it so I won’t. However if the deck is piloted by a strong player the deck can fight through anything.
Many combo decks have to face the dreaded Meddling Mage, but with The EPIC Storm the Meddling Kids aren’t truly scary. The EPIC Storm has options that other storm based combo decks don’t have and one of them is simply winning with another card; between Tendrils of Agony AND Empty the Warrens, you should never have a problem with Meddling Mage. Another option is the multitalented card Burning Wish; you’ll Burning Wish for Earthquake/ Cave-In to deal with multiple chants from Mages.
Finally my reason to play The EPIC Storm is the fact it is challenging to play and I dislike decks that you can play on “Auto-Pilot.” This deck takes time and practice to learn how to play correctly and it can only increase your playskill. That may turn people/players away, but decks that require skill to play are generally thought provoking and complicated and if someone can’t handle it they shouldn’t have mounted the bull anyways. If you’re prepared to grab the bull by the horns and are ready for the long run continue reading.
The Deck List
The EPIC Storm
Lands
4 City of Brass
4 Gemstone Mine
2 Undiscovered Paradise
Creatures
4 Xantid Swarm
4 Simian Spirit Guide
Spells
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
4 Chrome Mox
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
4 Burning Wish
1 Tendrils of Agony
4 Dark Ritual
4 Infernal Tutor
2 Plunge into Darkness
1 Diminishing Returns
4 Rite of Flame
3 Empty the Warrens
4 Brainstorm
2 Orim's Chant
Sideboard
SB: 1 Ill-Gotten Gains
SB: 1 Tendrils of Agony
SB: 1 Diminishing Returns
SB: 1 Empty the Warrens
SB: 1 Cruel Bargain
SB: 3 Shattering Spree
SB: 2 Orim's Chant
SB: 1 Duress
SB: 1 Goblin War Strike
SB: 2 Defense Grid
The Deck Breakdown
The Mana Base
Since The EPIC Storm is a four color deck it cannot run on dual lands which means we will need an alternative source of many colors of mana. Lands such as City of Brass, Gemstone Mine and Undiscovered Paradise are key factors to The EPIC Storm for their ability to produce any color of mana. “But why is more than one color important?” Well you see being able to cast first turn Xantid Swarm then second turn Plunge into Darkness is a key factor, this is one of many examples. Not being able to cast cards in the deck
Are ten lands really enough? Believe it or not ten lands is plenty with twelve artifact mana producing cards and eight ritual effects, and four Simian Spirit Guide. Ten lands works out perfectly.
Tutors and Draw
To play The EPIC Storm you must play tutors since the deck is (duh!) tutor based. This goes back the beginning with reaching that special storm number… what was it again? I believe it was ten. Let’s get onto the point. Tutors are what make this deck go round and without tutors that suit this deck, you’ll never reach a storm of ten. You need certain tutors for this deck because not all tutors work the same way as one another. Tutors such as Infernal Tutor synergize with other cards in your deck.
Infernal Tutor is one of the most synergistic cards in the deck as you may or may not know. The card has incredible synergy with Lion’s Eye Diamond, Rite of Flame, and Ill-Gotten Gains. Lion’s Eye Diamond let’s your Infernal Tutor have Hellbent. This is accomplished by putting Infernal Tutor on the stack and using Lion’s Eye Diamond to discard your hand. Rite of Flame is also savagely good with Infernal Tutor, finding another Rite of Flame to increase your mana and increasing storm count is never a bad idea. Infernal Tutor with Ill-Gotten Gains may not seem like a “Combo” or very synergistic to you but it’s the only tutor in the deck that can come back reliably with Ill-Gotten Gains without causing too much harm. You see Burning Wish removes it’s self from the game and Plunge into Darkness can be very risky.
Burning Wish may be the most powerful tutor of Legacy; I’m aware this is an opinion but the card has no drawback and is very powerful and versatile. The card allows broken turn one and two wins, while only increasing power in the middle to late game. It lets you access answers for problems that might occur with answers such as Shattering Spree, Earthquake/ Rough/tumble/ Cave-In, Duress, Goblin War Strike, Hull Breach and Empty the Warrens. While Burning Wish is not able to comeback with Ill-Gotten Gains it can however keep bringing back Ill-Gotten gains. This is important for ramping up your storm count; the more storm the better off you’ll be. The most tutored for cards off of Burning Wish are Diminishing Returns, Ill-Gotten Gains, Tendrils of Agony, and finally Empty the Warrens.
The most thought provoking card in this deck is Plunge into Darkness. This card is the most frequently mis-played cards in the deck for many reasons. People often don’t know when to cast Plunge into Darkness, or how much life to pay with Plunge. All of your questions will be answered AND you’ll learn how to play it correctly!
Plunge into Darkness has no one proper time to play it; it has many opportune times based on the hand you’re given. Here’s an example.
It’s turn one on the play; your opening hand consists of Chrome Mox, City of Brass, Rite of Flame, Plunge into Darkness, Forbidden Orchard, Ill-Gotten Gains and Infernal Tutor. You have a few options here when it comes to Plunge into Darkness.
Option A) Play a Land, pass the turn. Next turn play the other land, Plunge during their end step.
Option B) Play a Land, play Chrome Mox (Removing: X) then casting Plunge into Darkness during your opponent’s end step.
These two are the choices you’ll be deciding on, the question is “What’s more optimal?” Well Option A) is kind of slow, but is more stable While Option B) Lets you attempt to win turn two, and is slightly less stable. The correct choice is Option B) why though? With The EPIC Storm you will want to win as fast as possible if you have no idea what they’re playing. Now that you know one example, start practicing more and more until your arms get tired of shuffling. Practice makes perfect, don’t forget it.
Now for the never ending question, “How much life do I pay with Plunge?” I hope this finally answers your questions so that my migraine will go away. “Well… how much do I pay?” it’s a simple question with many complicated answers. To correctly understand how to play Plunge into Darkness you will need to know many things. First off, what is your opponent playing? What turn is it? What is my life total? Am I winning next turn or now? Is Burning Wish in my hand? Is there anything I don’t want removed? How much mana do I have and of what colors? Am I using Plunge into Darkness as a set-up card or tutor? Lastly do I have another Plunge into Darkness? These are the questions you will need to be asking yourself in that order if you want to play The EPIC Storm correctly.
If your opponent is playing Vial Goblins you generally pay less life than you would pay against Solidarity. This is because of goblins somewhat speedy starts. Goblins’ speedy starts are often irrelevant because The EPIC Storm is much faster, but slow hands do occur. Well, how much is “less life than against Solidarity?” There’s no answer for this because of what turn you are casting Plunge; if you are casting Plunge into Darkness as a set-up during the end step card of the goblin player’s turn one ask yourself, “Do I have another tutor in hand.” if no; you’ll be going anywhere for 8-10 depending on your life total, looking for a better tutor or a “Win now” card. If yes, is that tutor Burning Wish? You don’t want to remove too many cards from the game with Plunge into Darkness; you’ll end up removing important cards such as the “Big Five” which are Lion’s Eye Diamond, Tendrils of Agony, Empty the Warrens, Diminishing Returns and Ill-Gotten Gains. These cards are the most tutored for cards in the deck. You often don’t want to remove them from the game because you’ll need a Burning Wish to have access to them again. Keep track in your head what turn you will be combo-ing out. If you are casting Plunge into Darkness as a set-up card and you’re not winning on your next turn or turn one I’d recommend doing it for 3-4. Using Plunge into Darkness as a tutor is probably the easiest thing about the card since you are looking for a specific card or another tutor to find that card. Just remember what color mana is in your mana pool and be very wary of your life total. This applies for other match-ups also.
Against Solidarity you can generally Plunge into Darkness for as much as you’d like since they deal you zero damage. But don’t forget about the “Big Five” while doing it; you may be cursing yourself later if you go too far into your deck. I know this seems so short compared to the information given to you on goblins but most of the details I gave you cover most match-ups. Although during this match-up Xantid Swarm and Orim's Chant are relevant so casting Plunge into Darkness during your own turn would more than likely be more optimal.
When your opponent is playing Threshold you want to always play Plunge into Darkness during the end step as a set-up card. When you do, only pay 3-5 life; you rarely cast Plunge as a tutor against Thresh since if they make you fizzle you are more than likely going to lose. The same things listed under goblins all apply here, but now you have to worry about counter magic as well.
Brainstorm is a very different card when it is played in The EPIC Storm. Brainstorm’s ability to fix somewhat unplayable hands into turn two hands and its ability to be incredibly flexible is why it was chosen to be in The EPIC Storm. “When do I Brainstorm?” There are two opportune times to Brainstorm. Obviously one time is turn one; I mean C’mon who doesn’t want to see if they can win turn one? This changes if your opponent is playing swamps, discard is generally a bad match-up and you don’t want valued cards lost. The other opportune time to cast Brainstorm is with a Plunge into Darkness or a Burning Wish on the stack and then sacrificing Lion’s Eye Diamond. I don’t highly recommend trying to win off of Brainstorm and Lion’s Eye Diamonds. Not only is it terribly vulnerable but extremely risky.
Acceleration
Whether it’s Dark Ritual or High tide, acceleration is another key factor to any storm based deck. Without acceleration the deck cannot begin to “go off” so to speak, because you’ll be sitting there with a handful of dead cards. Cards such as Dark Ritual, Simian Spirit Guide, and Rite of Flame all have something in common. And what is that? Besides the fact that they’re all in this deck… It’s that they all produce more mana than their cost. They add mana to your mana pool so you can continue to ramp that storm count and continue casting spells. Dark Ritual is pretty much a given in this deck, but Simian Spirit Guide is a little bit different. Simian Spirt Guide only adds one mana at the costs of 0, "Why is that good?" it's basically another mana source instead of a 'Ritual' effect that reiably casts Rite of Flame. Rite of Flame is a little different than Dark Ritual or Rite of Flame because it messes up peoples math when it comes to combo-ing because it produces red mana and not black. Keep in mind that for each Rite of Flame in the graveyard, the card produces an additional red; the expression the more the merrier is actually true.
“This can’t be the only acceleration, can it?” You’re absolutely correct, there’s no way The EPIC Storm could possibly be consistent with only eight “Ritual” effects. We need something else; but what? “Artifact mana?” Exactly; With The EPIC Storm artifact mana is just as important as “Ritual” mana if not more important. Cards such as Lion’s Eye Diamond, Lotus Petal, and Chrome Mox are very crucial to The EPIC Storm because they are a free means of ramping up that storm count while producing mana.
The card Lion’s Eye Diamond is very tricky card with this deck, because it has the ability of being Black Lotus or the ability to lose you the game. “Well, which one is it?” It all depends on how you play your cards with Lion’s Eye Diamond. Many people forget about using Lion’s Eye Diamond properly and by this I mean many things. People often forget that you MUST sacrifice Lion’s Eye Diamond before passing priority you may be saying. In order to use Lion’s Eye Diamond you have to do it before your opponent gets a chance to have priority to do anything or your opportunity at winning that game was more than likely loss. “Well why can’t I do it after my opponent says it resolves?” Here is why: after both players pass priority, a spell resolves and priority isn’t passed back to you. This isn’t the only thing people mess up; many people forget that you can put more than one spell on the stack then use Lion’s Eye Diamond. Putting multiple spells on the stack and then using Lion’s Eye Diamond is the best way of squeezing the juice out of it. For example, you have a Burning Wish on the stack, Lion’s Eye Diamond on the stack and a red, four black mana and an untapped City of Brass. In hand is Plunge into Darkness, Brainstorm, and Diminishing Returns. To do this correctly before passing priority you must in response cast Plunge into Darkness, then respond with Brainstorm, respond to that by sacrificing Lion’s Eye Diamond. That gives you the best means of abusing Lion’s Eye Diamond, while the order of Brainstorm or Plunge into Darkness may not matter but Burning Wish must be the first spell since it is a sorcery.
After Lion’s Eye Diamond there’s Lotus Petal and Chrome Mox. There’s not much to be said about Lotus Petal, but Chrome Mox has a few things to be said on it; if you ever have a hand of 3 or 4 Chrome Mox, mulligan. “Why Chrome Mox?” Chrome Mox’s inclusion was decided on the fact that this deck needs all the mana it can get. “Is the card disadvantage worth the one mana?” Actually yes it is; you see Chrome Mox requires you to remove a card. Chrome Mox is extremely helpful when trying to be Hellbent with Infernal Tutor when you don’t have a Lion’s Eye Diamond. “What if I imprint Xantid Swarm and can’t cast anything?” This is your own fault. I will say it again and again and people won’t listen, think before you act with this deck it will only help you. I’ve never gone to time in the round because I’ve had to think about a play - neither will you. Even if there is a Mox Emerald on the table you can still tap it for a green; meaning you play cards that have 1 before the black or red.
Protection
The EPIC Storm plays protection much like any other deck out there, but there’s something different about The EPIC Storm’s protection than most decks. The EPIC Storm plays protection that lasts through different effects. Cards like Duress and Cabal Therapy only take away cards from one hand; while cards such as Xantid Swarm and Orim's Chant allow you to go off completely unhindered. Cards like Ill-Gotten Gains and Diminishing Returns changes the game state by giving both players completely new hands which those Duress’s and Therapies were completely wasted. With Xantid Swarm and Orim's Chant they can’t even cast any of the cards that were given to them by Ill-Gotten Gains or Diminishing Returns. Duress in the sideboard is there to help protect your Orim's Chants resolving and keep your Xantid Swarms alive. Another option is Defense Grid but has proven to be weaker than these two so it is only in the sideboard.
Huge threats
You may be wondering, “What am I accelerating and Tutoring into?” You see every storm based deck needs a card to be better than others and win you the game. The EPIC Storm has several of these to make your life easier, they are; Diminishing Returns, Ill-Gotten Gains, Empty the Warrens and last and foremost Tendrils of Agony. Why are these important? Without a way to gain a massive storm count by either Diminishing Returns or Ill-Gotten Gains combo-ing out in the early turns would be incredibly harder; making the deck less consistent.
Let’s first start out with Diminishing Returns. Legacy’s Time Twister has an amazing level of power that is indescribable but I’ll do my best to try. “Why Diminishing Returns? I mean it costs UU?” Its mana cost makes up for the cards ability to simply win games. “What are some common ways of getting UU?” You could always take the slow route of using two lands to tap for U. Lotus Petals also work very fine, but the big one is Lion’s Eye Diamond and a tutor effect to cast Diminishing Returns. “When is the appropriate time to cast Diminishing Returns?” The right time to cast Diminishing Returns is when you can’t win off of Ill-Gotten Gains or if your opponent has something that will disrupt you. Another time to cast Diminishing Returns is when your opponent plays graveyard hate. “Doesn’t removing ten cards hurt?” Well, define “hurt.” The deck is very dense with threats that removing ten cards often doesn’t hurt unless you are terribly unlucky and remove all Burning Wishes, Tendrils of Agony, and the 3 Empty the Warrens.
Ill-Gotten Gains is a card that is so terribly easy to play I wonder how people mess it up. The key to playing Ill-Gotten Gains is being able to create up to six mana and having a tutor effect. But what are your prime targets? The most optimal targets for Ill-Gotten Gains are two Lion’s Eye Diamond and Infernal Tutor/Burning Wish. Against what decks is Ill-Gotten Gains better than Diminishing Returns? Goblins and non-blue decks. You see Stifle and cards like free counters (Daze, Force of Will) can be very troublesome if your opponent recurs them.
The win conditions for The EPIC Storm are pretty simple: Tendrils of Agony and Empty the Warrens. When casting Tendrils of Agony you will need a storm count of ten and for Empty the Warrens on turn one you will need a storm count of five without blockers six with blockers per turn.
Playing the Deck
Playing The EPIC Storm may not be as easy as it seems; get to ten spells and win, right? No. The EPIC Storm is much more difficult to play; because of this I will walk you through a few games. Keep in mind the two sample games are completely random hands.
Opening hand one (on the play):
Undiscovered Paradise
City of Brass
Rite of Flame
Chrome Mox
Burning Wish
Infernal Tutor
Empty the Warrens
Turn One: Cabal Pit, Chrome Mox (Imprinting: Empty the Warrens). Tap both mana sources Infernal Tutor revealing Rite of Flame.
Turn Two: [Draw: Lotus Petal] City of Brass. Play Lotus Petal, Tap Chrome Mox play Rite of Flame one then play Rite of Flame two(RRRR), cast Burning Wish -> Diminishing Returns(RR). Tap City of Brass, sacrifice Lotus Petal (RRUU untapped Cabal Pit) Cast Diminishing Returns.
Removing ten from the game:
City of Brass
Gemstone Mine
Tendrils of Agony
Undiscovered Paradise
Xantid Swarm
Burning Wish
Cabal Ritual
Brainstorm
Orim's Chant
Infernal Tutor
Drawing seven:
Gemstone Mine
Xantid Swarm
Lion’s Eye Diamond
Lion’s Eye Diamond
Plunge Into Darkness
Rite of Flame
Chrome Mox
Play Chrome Mox (Imprinting: Rite of Flame), play Lion’s Eye Diamond, play Lion’s Eye Diamond. Tap Undiscovered Paradise, tap Chrome Mox; cast Plunge into Darkness in response sacrifice both Lion’s Eye Diamond (RRRBBB) (Your life total is currently seventeen) [Pay sixteen life with Plunge into Darkness]
Plunge into Darkness cards:
3x Brainstorm
3x Lotus Petal
2x Chrome Mox
2x Dark Ritual
2x Plunge into Darkness
Lion’s Eye Diamond
Burning Wish
Simian Spirit Guide
Diminishing Returns
[Selecting: Burning Wish, Removing: The rest]
Casting Burning Wish-> (RBBB) Tendrils of Agony for twenty two.
Opening hand two (on the Draw):
Undiscovered Paradise
Lotus Petal
Dark Ritual
Simian Spirit Guide
Simian Spirit Guide
Empty the Warrens
Lotus Petal
[Draw: Brainstorm]
Turn one: Undiscovered Paradise, Lotus Petal; Tap Paradise, Brainstorm (Lotus Petal, Tendrils of Agony and Diminishing Returns) (Putting back Tendrils of Agony and Empty the Warrens). Play Lotus Petal, Lotus Petal then Dark Ritual, Remove 2 Simian Spirit Guides (BBBRR possible UU) Cast Diminishing Returns
Removing ten from the game:
Tendrils of Agony
Simian Spirit Guide
Xantid Swarm
Orim's Chant
Lion’s Eye Diamond
Infernal Tutor
Chrome Mox
Chrome Mox
Burning Wish
City of Brass
Drawing seven:
Plunge into Darkness
Plunge into Darkness
Plunge into Darkness
Burning Wish
Dark Ritual
Simian Spirit Guide
Tendrils of Agony
Play Dark Ritual and Remove Simian Spirit Guide (BBBBRR), If you so choose cast Plunge into Darkness; Tendrils of Agony for twenty two, twenty four, or twenty six.
Match-ups against “The Big Three”
Threshold/Gro (45%-55%) Dependant on the list and Player.
Key Factors:
- Do I have Xantid Swarm or Orim's Chant? If so play it as quickly as possible.
- Try and win as fast as possible.
- Does my hand have a Tendrils or Warrens?
- How am I winning? Am I using Diminishing Returns or Ill-Gotten Gains? Am I using Empty the Warrens or Tendrils?
- Do I have the double Tendrils option (Burning Wish)?
- How many turns do I have left?
- Keep in mind what Meddling Mage is chanting.
- Do they play a singleton Engineered Explosives?
- Do they play Stifle?
- Lastly, this is the most important question; can you read a bluff? Reading your opponent is HUGE when trying to figure if you’re brave enough to win turns one–two.
Sideboarding
-2 Plunge into Darkness
-2 Simian Spirit Guide
+2 Defense Grid
+2 Orim's Chant
Solidarity (60%)
Key Factors
- Do I have Xantid Swarm or Orim's Chant? If so play it as quickly as possible.
- Try and win as fast as possible.
- Win before they get three islands.
- Do they have mana for Remand?
- Don’t be afraid to be aggressive. In this match-up you can afford to be since they don’t have Daze or Counterspell.
- Empty the Warrens Destroys them, try and play it turn one for 8-10 goblins.
Sideboarding
-2 Plunge into Darkness
-2 Simian Spirit Guide
+2 Defense Grid
+2 Orim's Chant
Goblins (70%)
Key Factors
- Aim to keep a hand with more acceleration than tutors.
- If your hand generally has more than one piece of protection (Swarm or Chant) mulligan.
- Try and win as fast as possible
- If keeping a one land hand, be hesitant to play that land unless combo-ing out that turn.
- Chrome Mox is pretty good in this match-up as an unkillable mana source that dodges wasteland and port.
Sideboarding
-4 Xantid Swarm
-2 Orim's Chant
+3 Shattering Spree
+2 Orim's Chant
+1 Cruel Bargain
Additional Reading
1st Thread - http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4612
Combo Summer thread - http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6037
TES vs. Iggy Pop thread- http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showt...&highlight=TES
Major Tournament reports from TES players:
http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showp...11&postcount=1 - Bryant Cook's (Wastedlife) 1st place finish
http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showp...35&postcount=1 - Bryant Cook's (Wastedlife) 1st place finish
http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showp...&postcount=393 - Florian Fischer's (Flod0) 1st place finish
http://boards1.wizards.com/showpost....6&postcount=78 - Andrew Weinberger's (Andrew777) 1st place finish
http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5470 - Gnesotto Carlo's (Jegger) 2nd place finish
http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showp...36&postcount=1 - Carl Wauer, Jr's (Carlos El Salvador) 2nd place finish
http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showp...09&postcount=1 - Bryant Cook's (Wastedlife) 4th place finish
http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showp...33&postcount=1 - Brandon Adams's (Emidln) 4th place finish
http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showp...08&postcount=1 - Bryant Cook's (Wastedlife) 15th place finish
http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showp...81&postcount=1 - Jesse Krieger's (Krieger) 16th place finish
Articles discussing The EPIC Storm:
http://www.starcitygames.com/php/new...cle/13782.html - By Chris Coppola (Machinus)
http://www.starcitygames.com/php/new...le/14088.html- By Chris Coppola (Machinus)
http://www.starcitygames.com/php/new...cle/14837.html By Adam Barnello (Nightmare)
http://www.starcitygames.com/php/new...cle/14902.html By Chris Coppola (Machinus)
Podcasts discussing The EPIC Storm:
http://feed.teamicbm.com/ - I@n Degraff of Vintage’s ICBM interviews Bryant Cook(Wastedlife), creator of TES.
Last edited by Bryant Cook; 10-25-2007 at 09:19 PM.
How many lands do you prefer?
10
How many storm spells, which ones?
4 (2 Tendrils of Agony, 2 Empty the Warrens)
Which protection spells, and how many of each?
4 Xantid Swarm
Which acceleration, Rite of Flame or Simian Spirit Guide?
4 Dark Rit, 4 Cabal Rit, 4 Rite of Flame, 4 LED
What's your "Wish board"?
1 Tendrils
1 ETW
1 Diminishing Returns
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
1 Shattering Spree
1 Tranquility
1 Earthquake
1 Duress
1 Cabal Therapy
Sideboard cards outside your "Wishboard"?
4 Dark Confidant
2 Shattering Spree (in addition to the 1 WB)
Do you aggresively Mulligan?
Yes
Diminishing Returns, Why or why not?
Diminishing Returns is essential to going off in situations where you lack the storm for Lethal Tendrils. I despise casting ETW after turn 1, and look to win now as often as possible.
Hand #1: Mulligan. This won't do anything interesting until turn 3, without protection, with extreme card disadvantage.
Hand #2: I'd mull this against anything that isn't stax.
Hand #3: I'd go off turn 1 with this hand on the play, while I'd brainstorm on the draw.
Last edited by Di; 04-06-2007 at 04:39 PM.
BZK! - Storm Boards
Been there, tried that, still casting Doomsday.
Drawing my deck for 0 mana since 2013.
Here is how I would play these hands.Originally Posted by wastedlife
Hand #1: Keep, and hope to draw a land or lotus petal.
Play the land or lotus petal that you drew, play both chrome moxes (removing plunge and burning wish), use mox and petal/land to play infernal (getting another rite of flame), play rite of flame using mox giving RR floating with a storm count of 4/5 (4 if you drew a land, 5 if you drew petal), use R to play the other rite of flame giving RRRR floating then play empty the warrens with a storm of 6/7.
Hand #2: If I know I am playing against a deck without StP and a slow clock, then I would keep this hand and try to kill with Tomb of Urami. Otherwise I would mulligan.
Hand #3: I would keep this hand, use brainstorm and hope to draw into another mana source to go off the next turn. @Emidln: I don't think you can combo out first turn with this hand sans a really good brainstorm.
Hand#1: GTFO. Em said it best I believe: "This won't do anything interesting until turn 3, without protection, with extreme card disadvantage."
Hand#2: Keep. 3rd Turn DReturns plus whatever the two cards were that I drew. I'm hoping to draw some heavy accel and one non-Plunge tutor. If the DReturns sucks - but not too bad - I can try again turn 4.
Hand#3: Keep. I almost always gamble with single-land/Brainstorm hands. I'm clearly hoping for Lands first, then Petals in the Brainstorm. A really bad Brainstorm will probably cause a loss with this hand.
I disagree when on the draw. On the play I'd mull it. Scenario one, you Mox(Burning Wish), Mox(Plunge), then Infernal Tutor -> Rite of Flame. 2nd Turn Warrens, that's assuming you didn't draw a mana source in a deck crammed with them or else it'd be turn one.
Scenario 2, I'd Mulligan.
Scenario 3, keep.
I guess this shows how different results occur, with a few different views on keeping/mulliganing.
Can we discuss Duress vs. Xantid Swarm still?
Or how much Tomb of Urami is such fucking ass, does nothing to help you combo, is too random as a 1-of to help vs control, and should just be replaced by the 4th Cabal Ritual?
I just don't know about this. 6 tokens on turn 2 doesn't sound too impressive to me. Now of course, there is a chance that your draw allowed you to make 8 or 10 tokens - a little better, indeed. It seems too risky to me.
But why? Can you explain what your strategy would be for hand 3?Scenario 2, I'd Mulligan.
Scenario 3, keep.
Last edited by Peter_Rotten; 04-07-2007 at 07:58 AM. Reason: did my math again...
-How many lands do you prefer?
I personally run 11. I've considered 12, but would not go to 10, as the times I've drawn 1 land too few have far far far outnumbered the times I've drawn too many lands.
-How many storm spells, which ones
I run just two MD win conditions, a single copy of Tendrils and a single copy of Empty the Warrens. If I were to run anymore, it would be an additional copy of EtW, in a control/aggro-control heavy metagame.
-Which protection spells, and how many of each?
Currently, 4 MD Xantid Swarm, with a Duress as a Burning Wish target. I've been testing on and off with a single copy of Orim's Chant MD as the 5th protection spell.
-Which acceleration, Rite of Flame or Simian Spirit Guide?
Rite of Flame. I also run two copies of Seething Song.
-What's your "Wish board"?
Tendrils, EtW, Iggy, D-Returns, Duress, Earthquake, Shattering Spree, Tranquility
-Sideboard cards outside your "Wishboard"?
Defense Grid x 4, Echoing Truth x 3
-Do you aggresively Mulligan?
Depends on the matchup. I'm more likely to mulligan games 2 and 3 if I anticipate the opponent bringing in powerful hate cards. In those situations, I'll often mulligan into a very aggressive hand that can go off early, to pre-empt the hate cards coming down.
-Diminishing Returns, Why or why not?
I rarely use it, but I wouldn't want to not have it. It's a very powerful card, and typically when you resolve it with a decent amount of mana floating, you will win. It's risky, though.
TEAM DRAGONFORCIA-
Ghost ridin' the whip like we invented that shit.
TEAM UNICORN
We're going for number four!
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