[Deck] ANT (Ad Nauseam Tendrils)

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Originally Posted by BrettF

Patrunkenphat7,

I'd love to hear how you sideboard for each matchup. Would you give a brief overview of your SB card choices? Your board is a-typical and I like it.

I'll post it here so everyone else knows what im referring to:

http://sales.starcitygames.com//deck...p?DeckID=57897

2 Pithing Needle
4 Xantid Swarm
1 Dread of Night
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Disfigure
1 Echoing Truth
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Tropical Island

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Thanks for taking interest in my list and SB. Here are the uses of the following cards and what matchups I bring them in for:

2 Pithing Needle:
I bring these in against Jund and Shardless BUG. I usually board out 1 Therapy and 1 Probe against Shardless and 3 Therapy for the Needles and 1 Inquisition against Jund. The discard in their decks is a minor annoyance, but very easy to beat if they don't have a turn 1 Deathrite. Shutting off their Deathrite or Nihil Spellbomb (or sometimes Liliana of the Veil), makes these games much easier.

2 Disfigure:
Apart from the obvious hatebear answer, this card is really good against Deathblade. Killing Deathrite Shaman or Meddling Mage is an important play post-SB. Killing Bob can also be relevant. I board out a Therapy and a Probe for these against Deathblade. Of course I also board these in against Thalia or Teeg decks.

3 Abrupt Decay:
Everyone should be playing these. I felt like 4 was too clunky, and 3 ended up being fine. Hatebears, MUD, and Counterbalance.

1 Dread of Night:
This is additional Mav/Death and Taxes hate. I think playing 1 or 2 of these is correct. It complements the Disfigures and Decays in these matchups. I don't want to get locked out by their turn 1 Mom draw.

4 Xantid Swarm:
These are specifically for the Show and Tell matchups. The card is just nuts against S+T decks because of their reliance on a combination of Force, Flusterstorm, and Leyline of Sanctity post-SB. I think the S+T matchup is super annoying and high variance post-SB without these, simply because of Leyline of Sanctity. I also board in the 1 Echoing Truth so I can Tendrils combo though Leyline or double Leyline, although sometimes goblins is enough depending on which turn you are on. I board out Therapies first in this matchup just because of the unreliability of this card if you didn't have the Duresses in. Therapies would be bad if you relied on just Probe post-SB to give you information. You are also not always naming Force with Therapy post-SB if they don't have Leyline in play, so 3 Duress and 1 Thoughtseize is safer to leave in. I board out both of my basic Islands in this matchup, because you don't need them and don't have time to durdle around and curve on basic lands. I obviously bring in the 1 Trop, so I am netting -1 land post-SB in this matchup. The Swarms are also very good against Fish, but I am not bring them in against anything competitive other than those 2 archetypes.

1 Echoing Truth:
Playing more than 1 bounce spell wastes slots against S+T, and this card easily answers double Leyline. It's mostly for this matchup. Also bring it in against faster combo playing Empty the Warrens as a miser answer to their fast Empty hand. Bring it in against MUD.

1 Inquisition of Kozilek:
I swap it with Thoughtseize against RUG Delver or fast tempo decks. It comes in against hatebear decks as an additional discard with the maindeck Thoughtseize. It's better than Therapy against Jund or non-blue midrange discard decks. Inquisition is also better than the 2nd basic Island against other combo decks like TES or Reanimator.

My list has evolved over time after tons of testing and playing this deck. After adding the Pithing Needles, I never looked back.

I think sometimes people over-value Therapy post-SB. While it is inherently the most powerful discard spell in the deck, a lot of the time you need consistency and more information post-SB rather than higher variance raw power. It's still one of the best cards against RUG though, and I never board any out against them.

For reference, here is my current list: :)

"Storm"

4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Lotus Petal
4 Lion's Eye Diamond

4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Ponder
4 Brainstorm

4 Duress
3 Cabal Therapy
1 Thoughtseize

4 Infernal Tutor
2 Grim Tutor

1 Past in Flames
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Tendrils of Agony

2 Island
1 Swamp
2 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Bloodstained Mire

SB
1 Tropical Island
4 Xantid Swarm
1 Echoing Truth
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Disfigure
1 Dread of Night
2 Pithing Needle
1 Inquisition of Kozilek

Patrunkenphat7- Im returning to legacy after a long break and I was on storm before I left (well and TA). Anyway I dig your list.

Edit post was lame content removed to save space.. carry on.

I think I'm on to something with this partial sideboard:

1 Tropical Island
3 Xantid Swarm
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Teferi's Realm
5 TBD (2 Ignorant Bliss, 2 Pithing Needle, 1 Discard?)

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Originally Posted by thefringthing

I think I'm on to something with this partial sideboard:

1 Tropical Island
3 Xantid Swarm
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Teferi's Realm
5 TBD (2 Ignorant Bliss, 2 Pithing Needle, 1 Discard?)

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Ok, since I have a giant hard-on for Teferi's Realm, I'll bite.
Hmm, that metaphor took a turn for the strange, moving on.

What specifically do you think you bring it in against, what are you boarding out, and why do you think it's better than a pile of bounce / Virtue's Ruin / Dread of Night / Rebuild / Hurkyl's Recall?

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Originally Posted by phazonmuant

Ok, since I have a giant hard-on for Teferi's Realm, I'll bite.
Hmm, that metaphor took a turn for the strange, moving on.

What specifically do you think you bring it in against, what are you boarding out, and why do you think it's better than a pile of bounce / Virtue's Ruin / Dread of Night / Rebuild / Hurkyl's Recall?

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Hurkyl's Recall does nothing against Gaddock and Virtue's Ruin cannot remove Trinisphere. It's all abnout versatility, and as sb space is limited, versatile cards are good. I need to test the card, the only thing I dislike is the hard-to-get casting mana.

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Originally Posted by phazonmuant

why do you think it's better than a pile of bounce / Virtue's Ruin / Dread of Night / Rebuild / Hurkyl's Recall?

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Because it fills the roles of all those cards combined, potentially freeing up sideboard space for stuff like graveyard hate, Needles, Ignorant Bliss, etc.

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Originally Posted by thefringthing

Because it fills the roles of all those cards combined, potentially freeing up sideboard space for stuff like graveyard hate, Needles, Ignorant Bliss, etc.

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If the current trend is to utilize Sensei's Divining Top along with LDV, then would you consider Devastation Tide as a catch-all (minus Teeg) answer to problematic permanents?

That's an interesting idea. I'm not on the LDV + SDT train just yet, and my initial reaction to Devastation Tide is that it seems pretty cute. It's definitely on the same axis I'm exploring with Teferi's Realm, though.

I don't like it much. Even with SDT in play, it has few weaknesses:
One: Unlike Miracles.dec, if you start with this in hand, you got just Brainstorm to return it on top, we don't play JTMS.
You may use it with LDV, but this little bit limits how exactly you may build the pile.
Next trouble is already mentioned - it doesn't answer Teeg.
I won games against hatebears with this sequence: Rituals+IT (sac LEDs, drop PiF) into Chain/Truth, than flashback PiF. You can't do this that easy with Tide. You may play the IT into LDV and then use SDT, but it's a bit harder.
Also, when in grave, this card's flashback costs a lot, unlike Chain/ET that can be flasbacked for much less.

Otoh, it answers the permanent based hate completely and as such, it's strength is unique. I am very interested in your test results. Maybe some split of Chain/Karakas (for Teeg) and Devastation Tide (for the rest) could be usable.

Also, as long as you play ad Nauseam you don't want to add additional 5 CC spells to your deck since you shouldn't side AN out againt D&T or Maverick.
Also against the decks where you would play devastation tide massacre is almost always better since at least you can play it for free if it's in your hand (the only sitiuation where it's worse is when the cannonist/thalia etc. has a sword/jitte attatched to it).

Non creature based hate is not nearly played enough to negate the downsides of playing devastation tide over massacre.

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Originally Posted by thefringthing

Because it fills the roles of all those cards combined, potentially freeing up sideboard space for stuff like graveyard hate, Needles, Ignorant Bliss, etc.

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I've been liking Teferi's Realm so far. A lands player was incredibly confused, then I won.

That plus Carsten's Lim-Dul's Vault list is enough to get me to pick up ANT again. I just love those "terrible" old cards too much.

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Originally Posted by phazonmuant

I've been liking Teferi's Realm so far. A lands player was incredibly confused, then I won.

That plus Carsten's Lim-Dul's Vault list is enough to get me to pick up ANT again. I just love those "terrible" old cards too much.

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How would you build your sb? I like Pyroclasm/Virtue's Ruin because it gets rid of the creatures immediatelly, and sometimes it is important to not being hit by another attack. Otoh, Teferi's Realm may be played turn3 without thinking and just annoy the opposing player for several turns.
Would you sb it against control for whatever the reason, e.g. to make it act like a pseudo-Geddon? I know that it sucks to not have lands, but we may start the combo with Petals and a land drop, while the opponent (unless he uses manarocks/dorks) sits and stares; well, except for FoW, of course.

Spent the last few days shaking the dust off my storm deck, along the way I threw 2 snapcasters and 2 CoV in the main in lieu of preordain and they have been surprisingly good often mvps. I actually killed a burn player and reanimator with snapcaster beat down.

Tried lim-duls vault again too but I just can't make the card function how I'd like. It just seems to sit there blank or encourage me to wait an additional turn just to use it. Feels like a worse brainstorm more than a 2cc vampiric tutor. What am I missing here?

SCM has me thinking of trying a single entomb again. It should in theory function like a hellbent IT with a SCM in hand or PiF in hand or grave.

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Originally Posted by Tombstalker

Spent the last few days shaking the dust off my storm deck, along the way I threw 2 snapcasters and 2 CoV in the main in lieu of preordain and they have been surprisingly good often mvps. I actually killed a burn player and reanimator with snapcaster beat down.

Tried lim-duls vault again too but I just can't make the card function how I'd like. It just seems to sit there blank or encourage me to wait an additional turn just to use it. Feels like a worse brainstorm more than a 2cc vampiric tutor. What am I missing here?

SCM has me thinking of trying a single entomb again. It should in theory function like a hellbent IT with a SCM in hand or PiF in hand or grave.

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Excuse me? A UB topdeck Tutor is too bad for you, but durdling with CoV + Snapcaster Mages flashbacking BS for a mere 3 mana are MVP's? You consider Entomb + Snapcaster, a 2-card-1UB interaction better than LDV, doing the same or one less card and mana?

You missed a lot, A LOT

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Originally Posted by Bed Decks Palyer

How would you build your sb? I like Pyroclasm/Virtue's Ruin because it gets rid of the creatures immediatelly, and sometimes it is important to not being hit by another attack. Otoh, Teferi's Realm may be played turn3 without thinking and just annoy the opposing player for several turns.
Would you sb it against control for whatever the reason, e.g. to make it act like a pseudo-Geddon? I know that it sucks to not have lands, but we may start the combo with Petals and a land drop, while the opponent (unless he uses manarocks/dorks) sits and stares; well, except for FoW, of course.

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It's been a long time since I've built an ANT sideboard, but here's my starting point. I have Carsten's manabase - 8 fetch, 2 basics, 2 Sea, 1 Volc, 1 Badlands, 1 Trop main - Empty, and no Ad Nauseam, 6 discards. Also 1 Chain of Vapor main.

SB:
1 Ad Nauseam
1 Lotus Petal
1 Chain of Vapor
3 Teferi's Realm
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Xantid Swarm
1 Cabal Therapy
2 flex slots - currently Disfigure, but maybe should be Surgical.

Really not sure how I feel about the Badlands. I'm almost tempted to run a Gemstone Mine in its place.

If Teferi's Realm is good, it's because it can come in against creatures, Chalice, and control. I'd definitely board it in against miracles because they often have both Counterbalance and hate bears.

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Excuse me? A UB topdeck Tutor is too bad for you, but durdling with CoV + Snapcaster Mages flashbacking BS for a mere 3 mana are MVP's? You consider Entomb + Snapcaster, a 2-card-1UB interaction better than LDV, doing the same or one less card and mana?

You missed a lot, A LOT

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I knew id regret those words.. not that entomb is great in fact it probably sucks in storm but it was just an idea.
Snaps otoh is really quite good especially since I dont/wont own grim tutors and im trying a list without BWs that im used to.
Maybe I need to work with LDV longer idk, or then again maybe theres a reason its not already part of the maindeck same with SCM and CoV none are new tech.

Watching the ANT player the in the semi and the finals hurt. Some nice punts though

It looks like we should have an ANT player as a winner. Unfortunately he played LED before rituals which gave his opponent a chance to Wear that LED. This blowout made him forget about SP trigger. So close.

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Originally Posted by Deviruchi

It looks like we should have an ANT player as a winner. Unfortunately he played LED before rituals which gave his opponent a chance to Wear that LED. This blowout made him forget about SP trigger. So close.

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How was this played wrong - active player can keep Priority or so I thought? So why couldn't he cast spells/activate LED before passing Priority?

Please forgive my ignorance as I'm not experienced with ANT but was confused what went wrong there?

Sure you still keep priority but when you cast next spell you give priority for response for that spell its all ok when you cast -> rituals, LED, IT bacause you don't give response window between LED and IT. When you cast in wrong order -> LED, Rituals, IT you give priority with LED on table (for response for Rituals) before casting IT so you can lose LED before IT goes on stack - very stupid mistake.

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Originally Posted by Fatal

Sure you still keep priority but when you cast next spell you give priority for response for that spell its all ok when you cast -> rituals, LED, IT bacause you don't give response window between LED and IT. When you cast in wrong order -> LED, Rituals, IT you give priority with LED on table (for response for Rituals) before casting IT so you can lose LED before IT goes on stack - very stupid mistake.

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Oh, duh, because IT isn't an Instant. I see. Need to familiarize myself more with ANT, I suppose.

Hey Jake here from the scg. I know...I'm going to get crap about this till the end of time. The fact that there was a split in the finals and that the only food I've had were two pieces of beef jerky and a fun sized snicker bar made me play pretty loose. I'll write a report explaining my choices...etc. For some reason thesource blocks me on my laptop but not my phone.

One big question I have is, vs Reanimator. The turn before you Tendrils him for 8, you attack with Xantid swarm. You have Gemstone Mine, Karakas and LED on the board and haven't made your land drop. You ponder seeing another LED. You had IT in hand. Why did you not just take the LED, drop a land and IT into tendrils for the kill that turn? The next turn he cast SNT and ate your 2 swarms with Norn

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Originally Posted by bondfan

Hey Jake here from the scg. I know...I'm going to get crap about this till the end of time. The fact that there was a split in the finals and that the only food I've had were two pieces of beef jerky and a fun sized snicker bar made me play pretty loose. I'll write a report explaining my choices...etc. For some reason thesource blocks me on my laptop but not my phone.

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Why would you get crap about that? You'd played a mentally draining combo deck for hours, did not eat/Drink well/enough and fatigue won in the end. Not a big deal

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Originally Posted by bondfan

Hey Jake here from the scg. I know...I'm going to get crap about this till the end of time. The fact that there was a split in the finals and that the only food I've had were two pieces of beef jerky and a fun sized snicker bar made me play pretty loose. I'll write a report explaining my choices...etc. For some reason thesource blocks me on my laptop but not my phone.

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First off, congrats!

I really wouldn't worry about it because at least you made it all the way to the finals and you already had the split determined.

What I am still fuzzy about is all these gemstone mines in the decklists.

Yes my friend mentioned the led play afterwords. I must have overlooked it. He also questioned me on putting the swarm into play. I put it into play because I was playing around angel your swarm beat you down with angel.

I play two mines because my friends and I concluded two mines are better than two trops. It is a little worse because I play pact, so I don't really need extra green sources. It's up for debate.

Fair. Like has been said, it was after a long day and a split. I personally like the gemstone mines. Producing every color you could ever need is great and you run enough lands that you usually don't have to rely on only then gemstone

Jake (Bondfan) asked me to post his tournament report since he kept receiving a 403 error. I played him in round four with Food Chain (spoiler). In case you were wondering, I ended up going 6-3.

So here it is!

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SCG Minneapolis Legacy 2013-2nd

This report is all from memory so some parts might be incorrect/fuzzy.

I’ve been playing ANT for a while now and I really enjoy the deck. I played TES for a bit but lost many games to variance. (Bricking from 17 in the mirror while my opponent kills me from 12 with a non-foil deck) Dylan Streater (Dark Ritual on the Source) and Alex Olson (Cuthberthecat on the source) convinced me to play ANT and I have been happy with the deck.

I wasn’t planning on coming to the tournament. My friends actually convinced me to go to Wisconsin Dells for this weekend before I go back to school. But things happened, people couldn’t make it and the weather didn’t look good. I scrubbed out at Standard at 2-2. I was shipped a Jund deck and had no clue what I was doing. I was originally going to play Hexproof and hope to mise but I couldn’t find Voices. After 0-2ing the Legacy Challenge losing to UWR Delver and to Shardless BUG after my Duress Vampiric tutored a Force of Will for him. Driving back, I got ready for tomorrow.

I play Slaughter Pact because I really hate boarding in Tropical Island against Wasteland decks. Pact is free which makes your combo turn and your Ad Nausem much better.

The Gemstone Mines I am on the fence about. I’ve debated this with my friends and we agreed that 2 Gemstone Mines are better than two Tropical Islands. It is also nice that it can randomly produce red.

I don’t play Bob because I feel that is not what you want to be doing. I’ve tried him before and have been unimpressed. He shines in the mirror but I am not willing to give up 3+ Sb slots for that.

Round 1-Death and Taxes

G1-My opponent told me he was new to legacy and we talked/joked for a bit. He shows me Thalia and Plains while shuffling. He goes turn 1 Vial go. I cantrip for a few turns while he doesn’t play hate bears. I finally probe, seeing the coast is clear with his vial on 2 PIF him out.

SB: +2 Slaughter Pact +2 Chain of Vapor +1 Karakas. -4 Preordain -1 Duress.

G2-I keep a Gemstone Mine, cantrips and therapy hand hoping to hit land off my 3 cantrips. He goes T1 plains go. I blind Therapy him for Thalia and hit seeing a Mother of Runes and a Wasteland. Confused at why he didn’t play the mother and expecting to get wasted I pass the turn. He looks quite tilted and goes Horizon Canopy go. I Ponder, shuffle, brick. Pass. He cracks canopy EOT and plays NOT wasteland go. I rip a land off the top, cantrip for two more turns and kill him with Ad Nauseam.

1-0 (2-0)

Round 2-RUG Delver

G1-My opponent is also fairly new to legacy. His first turn play is Goose go in which I breathe a sigh of relief. I am able to sculpt and hit land drops while he 1’s me each turn. I finally probe, duress then PiF him out.

SB: +1 Empty the Warrens +1 Tropical Island. -2 Gitaxian Probe.

G2-He told me he was shipped the deck so I expect a stock list with Rough/Tumble. However I put him on not knowing to side these in and go for an Empty plan. My opener has Empty lands and cantrips. Snap keep. He goes T1 Goose so I know my chances this game are high. I hardcast Probe and see Bolt Bolt Fire/Ice Stifle Stifle. I Duress his Fire/Ice and therapy his stifles while he burns me down to 13. I empty for 12, flashback therapy on Goyf and miss. He draws Brainstorm, bricks and dies to my goblins.

2-0 (4-0)

Round 3-Jund

G1-I know my opponent is on Jund and open with a T2 kill on the play. Land pass and I pray he goes t1 Deathrite. He does precisely that and I kill him with Ad Nauseam.

SB: +1 Duress -1 Gitaxian Probe.

G2-He goes T1 Fetch Deathrite go while I keep a hand of Duress+Cantrips. I Duress him and see Chains of Mephistopheles and Liliana. I am forced to take Chains. He slams T2 lily and I pitch a cantrip. This continues for 2 turns with him not hitting any more discard or pressure and me drawing rituals. On the final turn before Lily goes ultimate/I have no hand I cantrip into an Infernal and Ad Nauseam him out.

3-0 (6-0)

Round 4-Food Chain

G1-I’m playing my friend Tyler (metamet) who goes to the same shop as me. I expect him to be on Food Chain combo. He mulligans to 5 while I disrupt him with discard while he is stuck on 1 land Hierarch. I finally probe and seeing the coast is clear PiF him.

SB: +1 Duress +2 Chain of Vapor -3 Preordain.

G2-This game is a little fuzzy. All I remember is getting Thoughtseized and Cliqued. On the final turn I have two Infernal LED and a Cabal Ritual. I know he has Force. I am forced to bait him with an infernal. He tanks for a while. He is a good player so he talks through the possible motions I could do and lets it resolve. I lose.

G3-I turn one Ponder, T2 Duress him seeing 2x Brainstorm Misdirection, Food Chain, Thoughtseize land. I take Misdirection then Therapy his Brainstorms. He discards my tutor but the therapy sets him back. We go draw go while I brick on business and he hits me for 1 with Noble Hierarch each turn with a Food Chain in play. Eventually he goes 4 lands, doesn’t attack with Hierarch go. I hit tutor but pass. He plays Fierce Empath, tutors for Emrakul and passes. I rip Duress and see force but no blue card and proceed to PiF him out. He tells me after he sided out his 1 Aethersnipe which would have won him the game with an Empath/Athersnipe/Griselbrand trick.

4-0 (8-1)

Round 5-Merfolk

G1-My opponent is also new to legacy and this is his first big legacy tournament. I ask him if he is running hot and he tells me he’s running extremely hot. I can’t win. I keep a cantrip heavy hand with an Ad Nauseam. Mutavault Vial go. I cantrip and he hits me for 2. I cantrip while he EOT vials in a curse. He plays a lord and suddenly I am on fast clock. I bait a couple Cursecatchers but I am forced to cast Ad Nauseam from 9 life with a land drop remaining. I hit 1 Lotus Petal but brick on tutor and hit only fetch lands at 1 life. I should have kept going but after I looked at the top card and it was a 1 drop.

SB: +3 Xantid Swarm +1 Tropical island. -4 Gitaxian Probe.

G2-My opening 7 is 3 discard spells 3 petals Gemstone mine. Ship. 6 card no lander. Ship. 5 cards with 2 Xantid Swarms but no green source. My opponent goes Curse go while I struggle to find lands. He forces a Xantid Swarm pitching a Cursecatcher and only has lands at this point (I Duressed him). He peels a lord and shortens the clock by one turn. I am forced to cast Ad Nausem with 0 floating and he promptly Cursecatchers it.

4-1 (8-3)

Round 6-Jund

G1-My opponent looks very serious but after a while I manage to get him to talk/joke around. I don’t really remember the details but he Thoughtseized me once hitting a Tutor. I eventually cantrip into another and kill him with PiF.

SB: +1 Duress -1 Gitaxian Probe.

G2: He goes T1 fetch Deathrite pass. I blind hit his Liliana with therapy and pass. On T3 he casts Deathrite pass, leaving up his first one with a Badlands. I am forced to Ad Nausem as PiF is shut off. I manage to hit my 3 remaining petals and the natural Tendrils. Sometimes you run hot. (See next round).

5-1 (10-3)

Round 7-Omnitell

G1-He cantrips for the first couple of turns while I have the T2 Ad Nauseam. I hold off because he kept both ponders. He kills me t3 and tells me he didn’t have the force. I need to be more updated on decklists.

SB: +3 Xantid Swarm +1 duress +2 Chain of Vapor +1 Tropical island -4 Preordain -1 island -2 gitaxian probe.

G2-After this game I felt I should buy a lottery ticket. I mull all the way down to 4 keeping swarm swarm fetch ponder. He opens with a Leyline of sanctity. I play swarm pass. He Ponders passes. I draw Duress and Ponder keeping a Chain of Vapor on top. He Ponders passes. I draw chain and pass. He casts Show and Tell into Dream Halls into Enter the Infinite. I chain the Dream Halls in response and he doesn’t have the force. He passes. I really don’t know what happened next but I remember him discarding down to hand size pitching an Emrakul to shuffle his deck. All my friends told me he could have easily killed me but maybe I was forgetting something. He passes the turn. Knowing I’m dead on his next turn, I need to hit my last Chain of Vapor to be able to Duress him. I Ponder, shuffle, Chain of freaking vapor. Bounce, Duress him taking his Show and Tell leaving him with Omniscience+Dream Halls+countermagic. We play draw go for 2 turns while he bricks and I hit 2 Cabal Rituals. On the 3rd turn I hit my Ad Nauseam and proceed to kill him. He told me if he kept a Cunning Wish, he would have been able to Trickbind the swarm and not die.

I felt my opponent didn’t realize he could cast Enter the Infinite and put a card back on top. I knew he had Emrakul because he discarded it. I think he thought if he casted it, he would deck himself which is defiantly not the case.

G3-Obviously after what happened G2 he mulls down to 6 with no Leyline and a clunky hand. I have the kill with Swarm protection on T3.

6-1 (12-4)

Round 8-RUG delver.

G1-My opponent looks like a serious PTQ Grinder who would call you on just about anything. We are at a fake feature match table. I know he is on RUG and I saw him talking to my last round opponent so I assume he knows I’m on storm. I blind hit his force and he doesn’t have t1 Delver. After a while I know his hand is Daze, Waste, Ponder. On his turn, he attacks me with Goose and plays Ponder. He keeps and plays a Wasteland off the top. I know his exact hand now and kill him on my turn with PiF.

SB: +1 Empty the Warrens +1 Tropical island

G2-Again he has t1 Goose instead of Delver which gives me infinite time. I blind hit two forces which leaves him with a Daze revealed off a Delver. On my turn I Therapy him. He has daze and unknown. I name Flusterstorm and he has a force. I’m not sure if this was correct but probably not. I have an EOT Ad Nauseam at 6 life and if he counters that, I can PiF him out guaranteed. He attacks me down to 6 plays land and I cast EOT Ad Nauseam. He thinks for a while and forces it. I kill him with PiF on my turn.

7-1 (14-4)

Round 9-Goblins

ID

7-1-1

Quarterfinals-Burning ANT.

http://www.starcitygames.com/events/coverage/quarterfinals_alex_olson_vs_ja.html

G1-Alex Olson is a good friend of mine so this match was very casual. We had quite the crowd and joked around who wouldn’t want to see the storm mirror. He is on the play and we tear our hands to shreds. We both end up in top deck mode and I hit infernal tutor the turn before he draws into brainstorm into the kill.

SB:+1 Duress -1 Preordain

G2-I open with Past in Flames in hand which is the nuts in the mirror. We both therapy/duress each other but I have Past in Flames so I end up winning. After the match, Glenn Jones pointed out it is probably beneficial to be on the draw in this matchup which I somewhat agree with.

Semifinals-Reanimator

G1-I probe him and see SnT, Reanimate Griselbrand. I ponder and pass. He casts careful study and bins Griselbrand. I duress his Reanimate and kill him a few turns later.

SB: +3 Xantid Swarm +2 Chain of Vapor +1 Karakas +1 duress +1 Tropical Island. -1 Island -4 Preordain. I think I took out some number of Therapys and Gitaxian probes also. I have to check the video which is not up currently.

G2-He goes careful study bins two fatties go. I am forced to T1 brainstorm in hopes to hit Petal+Discard and brick. He gets T2 Griselbrand and passes. I take hit down to 10 after he reanimates Elesh Norn. I attempt to Chain of Vapor Griselbrand and he Flusterstorms. I then try to go off but he has the force.

G3-I keep a Xantid, Xantid, LED, Karaks, cantrips hand with karakas as the only land. I go LED Karakas pass. I probably should have held on to the Karakas but I was Thoughtseized so it didn’t matter. The karakas slows him down and he is forced to entomb an Angel of despair with no reanimation spell. Later he casts Show and tell in which I slam Xantid. He puts Griselbrand into play and passes. I bounce griselbrand EOT and he draws 7 and has to discard.

I miss the kill next turn in which I Ponder into a 2nd LED with him at 9 life while I have two mana open for the infernal tutor in my hand. He casts brainstorm into show and tell and I debate whether to put in my 2nd Xantid swarm. I end up putting it in because he could potentially angel of despair, kill Xantid and beat me down. He ends up having Elesh Norn and eats my guys. I bounce EOT and try to go off, saving one LED while pitching a PIF. He lets infernal tutor resolve and I grab Tendrils for 4 copies with him at 8 life. He forces to stay at one life and then concedes to me. I am shocked. I actually cannot kill him and he has 1 surgical in his deck in which he can blow me out with. I guess that’s what 11+ rounds do to you. (see: next round).

Finals-Goblins (Thalia Maindeck)

We agree to split finals so it is very casual. I am at this point on almost 15 hours with little food.

G1-I promptly Turn 2 him with Ad Nausem from 17 while he T1 Tarfires me. Yep.

G2-At this point I am extremely hungry having only eaten two pieces of beef jerky and a fun sized snickers bar. We agreed to split so I really relaxed and we joke around. I have the win in hand but punt two ways. Either way, it was extremely funny.

G3-Obviously Karma comes back to bite me and I keep a petal ponder hand on 6. Why not. I hit island, ponder again and pass after shuffling off ponder. He goes lackey pass and I blind hit his Thalia that he ripped. I brick and it comes to if I can hit my lone Ad Nausem. I hit 2 ponder and after drawing Slaughter Pact, that was it.

My friend Alex Johnson compared my G2 to ice skating on a pond and falling into a hole I could see coming, then after getting out, falling back into the exact same hole. Can’t catch a break.

Overall, it was a really fun experience and a good way to end my summer before classes. 2 of my friends made top 8, Alex Olson and Dana Drew so congrats to them. I’ll never forget to pay for a Slaughter Pact again…

Congrats and thanks for the report!

Thought this should probably be visible in here, too, as it seems like the place people would go if wanting to pick up the deck:

http://www.starcitygames.com/article...g-Regimen.html

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mon,Goblin Chief

Thought this should probably be visible in here, too, as it seems like the place people would go if wanting to pick up the deck:

http://www.starcitygames.com/article...g-Regimen.html

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Quote:

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A good way to get used to these lines is to put two lands into play as well as a Duress, two cantrips, and a fetchland into the graveyard. Once you've done this, draw six or seven cards and try to figure out if there is some way to win. Meticulously check if there is any order to cast your spells in to make the kill happen (assume this is turn 3 so you get to play another land). You don't have to do this a ton of times, just enough to feel comfortable with the basic winning lines the deck provides.

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:smile: Good idea, I think that every starting Stormer should try this. It's better than real goldfish, because you end with a "pre-constructed hand" that doesn't lack mana, already reched one half of threshold and goldfisher may pretend he knows all the info about opponents hand.

I liked the article.

PS: Just a small note: I¨d avoid a usual storm jargon. We all know what this phrase means:
"What you do is Brainstorm your business spell back on top of your deck, put the cantrip on the stack, and in response crack the Lion's Eye Diamond(s)",
but I'm afraid that a new player will mistake cantrip for BS instead of GP and either will shake his head in misunderstanding, or outrgiht sac LEDs in response to BS.

I just found a mistake in Necro-Vault article:

Quote:

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Assuming we see an Infernal Tutor in pile A but not the accelerator we need, we put Infernal Tutor into the bottom three cards of that pile when placing them under our library. If we hit a Cabal Ritual or Lion's Eye Diamond among the next five cards, we can put those into the top two when pushing that pile, ensuring we'll hit the combination we need once we reach the bottom of our original library with Lim-Dul's Vault. Pretty sweet, huh?

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Yep, pretty sweet, but I wouldn't be doing it in sanctioned tournament... :tongue:

"Look at the top five cards of your library. As many times as you choose, you may pay 1 life, put those cards on the bottom of your library in any order, then look at the top five cards of your library. Then shuffle your library and put the last cards you looked at this way on top of it in any order."

Guess where's the trouble.
:wink:

That works fine. You go through the whole deck until you get back to those five you set up, then shuffle the rest and keep the five that have the Tutor and the ritual/LED.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bed Decks Palyer

I just found a mistake in Necro-Vault article:

Yep, pretty sweet, but I wouldn't be doing it in sanctioned tournament... :tongue:

"Look at the top five cards of your library. As many times as you choose, you may pay 1 life, put those cards on the bottom of your library in any order, then look at the top five cards of your library. Then shuffle your library and put the last cards you looked at this way on top of it in any order."

Guess where's the trouble.
:wink:

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I'm fairly sure what he said works. As far as I know you only shuffle after you find a pile you want to keep, not after every 5 cards you see.

Edit: Someone was faster.

The shuffling happens when you Chose your pile, the wording would say shuffle the cards in your library and Look St the Top 5 cards.. If it would be different.

Edit: 3rd

Oh, sry! :frown:
When I first read the article, I did understood it right. But then I looked through it again and something made me think that it was meant like "make a top-five pile, then stack the rest of your library". (That wouldn't work, of course.) But it is possible and legal to make one five-cards pile from the two other piles... :cool:

So I like the cantrip heavy lists (I did play Spiral Tide for a long time) but I hate Gemstone Mine. Here is where I am at with my manabase:

4x Polluted Delta
2x Misty Rainforest
2x Bloodstained Mire
2x Underground Sea
1x Volcanic Island
1x Tropical Island
2x Island
1x Swamp

Plus an additional Bayou in the board. I prefer the Misty/Bloodstained split so that I have additional ways of fetching a basic swamp, considering how much access I already have to blue. Mire doesn't grab Trop but it can get Bayou post-board (which is really the only time I want it anyway). What are other people running? Is Gemstone really superior to this configuration?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by apistat_commander

...manabase...
What are other people running? Is Gemstone really superior to this configuration?

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4x Delta
3x Tarn
2x Mire
2x USea
1x Volc
1x Badlands
1x Trop
1x Bayou

I'm fearless.

I dislike Gemstone: you can't fetch it so the fact that it gives any color is often irrelevant as the land sits somewhere in your library. But I haven't tested it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bed Decks Palyer

4x Delta
3x Tarn
2x Mire
2x USea
1x Volc
1x Badlands
1x Trop
1x Bayou

I'm fearless.

I dislike Gemstone: you can't fetch it so the fact that it gives any color is often irrelevant as the land sits somewhere in your library. But I haven't tested it.

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Damn. So what was that about TES having a worse manabase?

apistat_commander - I'm pretty sure you never want more than 1 black fetch at most. If you're expecting to spend the first 2-3 turns cantripping, you need multiple blue sources. Black should be taken care of by rituals once you go off, so you really don't need that much black early. It also helps your manabase to run more fetches that find all the duals.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by phazonmuant

Damn. So what was that about TES having a worse manabase?

apistat_commander - I'm pretty sure you never want more than 1 black fetch at most. If you're expecting to spend the first 2-3 turns cantripping, you need multiple blue sources. Black should be taken care of by rituals once you go off, so you really don't need that much black early. It also helps your manabase to run more fetches that find all the duals.

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TES is a worse deck in the first place.


Basics are overrated. Crippling your manabase with them won't help you any way.
Look, we win on turn 3-5 after a setup done on turns 1-2. (Subtract "1" from these numbers for supa-dupa hands and/or helpless opponents.) Everyone that tries to Waste my lands on turn 1-2 instead of building his own position is asking for a serious trouble, except for the limited times when I draw (preferably non-LP) one-lander and my many cantrips don't send me another land. Even then I may win, because less lands might just as well mean more DRits/LEDs/Ponders, anything.
Also, having that one (and sometimes even two) sb slots dedicated to lands is not a thing I wish to do.
I may cut one fetch and add an Island to have a possiblity to play my cantrips and laugh at Waste, but as I'm lazy to look for my favourite Chinese Odyssey Island, I'm fine with this setting. In fact, I'll take it to our lgs on Thu and lets see what happens.