[Deck] T.E.S. - The EPIC Storm

Tested again against Miracles. I went I think 2 : 6 or something. There is so much reading the opponent and the situation when playing this deck. Taking more time and thinking of different lines to play. I have to practice way more to get a good routine going.

We played with sideboards. I boarded out 3 Ponder and boarded in 2 Xantid Swarm and 1 Abrupt Decay. I liked this combination, a 1:2 didnt do as well for me. At the moment I am looking for advice on what to board out without restricting the decks game plan too much. Of course it depends on the match up, but what are the common targets when sideboarding?

Thanks for the help in advance! :)

P.S.: This goddamn counterbalance, i really dont like it.

you should board 3-4 Abrupt Decays vs Miracles. Maybe your CB weakness will be solved then.

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Originally Posted by OliverFist

Tested again against Miracles. I went I think 2 : 6 or something. There is so much reading the opponent and the situation when playing this deck. Taking more time and thinking of different lines to play. I have to practice way more to get a good routine going.

We played with sideboards. I boarded out 3 Ponder and boarded in 2 Xantid Swarm and 1 Abrupt Decay. I liked this combination, a 1:2 didnt do as well for me. At the moment I am looking for advice on what to board out without restricting the decks game plan too much. Of course it depends on the match up, but what are the common targets when sideboarding?

Thanks for the help in advance! :)

P.S.: This goddamn counterbalance, i really dont like it.

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Why wouldn't you board in all the abrupt decays then?

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Originally Posted by d0nkey

Why wouldn't you board in all the abrupt decays then?

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Yes, I will try that. But what do I board out if I want to board in xantid swarm as well? All Ponders and a Duress? What do you board out aganist Miracles?

You don't have to board Xantids. They do nothing with Counterbalance on the table. You remove all Moxen and enough Ponders to fit in all your Decays and additional hate (like Xantids).

Personally I board: -2 Moxen, -4 Ponder, +4 Decay +2 EtW (3 in the SB; 4 in the 75)

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Originally Posted by Lemnear

You don't have to board Xantids. They do nothing with Counterbalance on the table. You remove all Moxen and enough Ponders to fit in all your Decays and additional hate (like Xantids).

Personally I board: -2 Moxen, -4 Ponder, +4 Decay +2 EtW (3 in the SB; 4 in the 75)

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So you play 4 EtW? Can I see your decklist online somewhere? At thr moment I am playing the one Bryant plays. So you try to fill the board in several waves wothbEtW or why do you play 4 overall?

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Originally Posted by OliverFist

So you play 4 EtW? Can I see your decklist online somewhere? At thr moment I am playing the one Bryant plays. So you try to fill the board in several waves wothbEtW or why do you play 4 overall?

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4 Abrupt Decay
2 Xantid Swarm
2 Chain of Vapor
1 Past in Flames
3 Empty the Warrens
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Massacre
1 Dark Petition

I play 4 for cheaper, natural playlines against MUD, D&T and Tempo decks. In addition you can stress Miracles' mass removal with mini-EtWs and force them into a more active role instead of just piling up stack-interaction. If they clear your ~6 goblins (which don't eat up too many resources), you can drop the next bunch. All you have to do is keeping Counterbalance off the table and thats why I have the 4 Decays you also side in addition to the CoVs against stuff like MUD or Chalice.dec in general

The latest TES Mailbox: http://www.theepicstorm.com/tes-mailbox-5/

http://media-dominaria.cursecdn.com/...1343102406.png

Also interresting ... somehow: http://www.mtgsalvation.com/cards/co...s-of-the-wheel

So more expensive PIF and cheaper Magus of the Jar? Meh, still waiting for a Red Sorcery Silence.

At first it seemed to me ok, but it is a tough 8 mana ... PIF is just better IMHO.
as B.W. or I.T. target it is too much mana... and on its own, well you have Griselbrand which is the same cost.
maybe it is a card to be played as a 4 of in a different deck, just chaining I.T. to more mana and cast this finally to win... but seems to have the same problem as D.P. in my Shitty Deck around D.P. - too much mana to be played...

EDIT: Anyway, I'll test this... as this seems that if you have 10 mana and I.T. or another B.W. or you are able to find it you will just win.

still waiting for uncounterable Pyros...

Stormtroopers: We're setting up a group picture before the event Saturday morning at 9am.

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Originally Posted by Bryant Cook

Stormtroopers: We're setting up a group picture before the event Saturday morning at 9am.

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Good luck! Would love to join you!

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Originally Posted by Lemnear

http://media-dominaria.cursecdn.com/...1343102406.png

Also interresting ... somehow: http://www.mtgsalvation.com/cards/co...s-of-the-wheel

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Love the synergy with Dark Petition.

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Originally Posted by Bryant Cook

Stormtroopers: We're setting up a group picture before the event Saturday morning at 9am.

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I felt pretty bad... I wanted to come say hey and thank you for the work you've done with this deck. I got to the venue late, but when I found you playing your x/1 match and started flipping for Ad Nauseum only to have it hit the Empty the Warrens for the loss.. I thought that would be a bad time.

Sorry for the bad luck, my bad.

If I look at Fröhlich, Cheon and Hear this about Bryant, it looks like this GP was a good place for flipping 4cc Sorceries to Ad Nauseam

Is it too soon to call the end of the 4x Empty the Warrens experiment, following this month of tournaments?

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Originally Posted by d0nkey

I felt pretty bad... I wanted to come say hey and thank you for the work you've done with this deck. I got to the venue late, but when I found you playing your x/1 match and started flipping for Ad Nauseum only to have it hit the Empty the Warrens for the loss.. I thought that would be a bad time.

Sorry for the bad luck, my bad.

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No worries, I had some pretty bad luck three rounds in a row. I'm going to write about that in my next article, Ad Nauseam was definitely rough on Saturday.

It's always nice to meet other TES pilots, maybe next time.

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Originally Posted by LDX

Is it too soon to call the end of the 4x Empty the Warrens experiment, following this month of tournaments?

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Did anyone even play it to drop a statement at all?

Fröhlich & Cheon played Sorcery speed ANs w/o a single mana float in their ANTs, hoping to draw into 1/3 remaining Petals plus a Ritual to win off 14 life (Cheon). Both died to flipping their single ToA. While Cheon had the option to play his AN eot, untap and win, but did not see the option

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Originally Posted by Lemnear

Did anyone even play it to drop a statement at all?

Fröhlich & Cheon played Sorcery speed ANs w/o a single mana float in their ANTs, hoping to draw into 1/3 remaining Petals plus a Ritual to win off 14 life (Cheon). Both died to flipping their single ToA. While Cheon had the option to play his AN eot, untap and win, but did not see the option

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How did you get to know this information? I could not find any information on the event. I don't even know the name...
Edit: Ah I see, GP Seattle. But how do you know about the Ad Nauseam outcomes?

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Originally Posted by OliverFist

How did you get to know this information? I could not find any information on the event. I don't even know the name...

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I watched the Stream/Replays of this weekends GP SeaTac :)

Cheon (Who played ANT) even showed his fundamental understanding of the storm supertype by hinting at "the slower Storm deck playing Burning Wishes and Empty the Warrens" despite him playing 2 in his own SB (from what I have seen).

Edit: all in all I have seen/read/heared about a lot of miserable An Nauseams this weekend. I haven't taken notice of ANYONE playing with 4 EtW in the 75 so the initial question of if the approach is Ad acta can't be answered. All we have data for is that the Multi-EtW in ANT Sideboards do their work in the matchups they are in for and I asume it would not be different in TES if we can get beyond the fact that flipping these to AN when you look for Mana + Wish. -> ToA is obviously suboptimal

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Originally Posted by Lemnear

I watched the Stream/Replays of this weekends GP SeaTac :)

Cheon (Who played ANT) even showed his fundamental understanding of the storm supertype by hinting at "the slower Storm deck playing Burning Wishes and Empty the Warrens" despite him playing 2 in his own SB (from what I have seen).

Edit: all in all I have seen/read/heared about a lot of miserable An Nauseams this weekend. I haven't taken notice of ANYONE playing with 4 EtW in the 75 so the initial question of if the approach is Ad acta can't be answered. All we have data for is that the Multi-EtW in ANT Sideboards do their work in the matchups they are in for and I asume it would not be different in TES if we can get beyond the fact that flipping these to AN when you look for Mana + Wish. -> ToA is obviously suboptimal

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Ah ok, thanks for the information! :) 4 EtW against Miracles and which decks?

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Originally Posted by Bryant Cook

No worries, I had some pretty bad luck three rounds in a row. I'm going to write about that in my next article, Ad Nauseam was definitely rough on Saturday.

It's always nice to meet other TES pilots, maybe next time.

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Looking forward to that article. Been a TES pilot for years. I started playing ANT when mystical tutor was around, then stopped playing storm when mental misstep came around. When that got banned, I found TES and haven't looked back.

You'll get 'em next time.

Report from GP: Seattle – http://www.theepicstorm.com/my-weeke...c-11-6-9-2015/

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Originally Posted by OliverFist

Ah ok, thanks for the information! :) 4 EtW against Miracles and which decks?

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d&t, MUD, every Delver, etc.

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Originally Posted by OliverFist

Ah ok, thanks for the information! :) 4 EtW against Miracles and which decks?

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From TES Mailbox #5

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Did you end up testing three copies of Empty the Warrens in the sideboard? How was it? Would you recommend it?

Would I recommend it? No. The reason being is that The EPIC Storm is known as an Empty the Warrens (ETW) based deck, hate like Terminus, Maelstrom Pulse, Golgari Charm and even things like Izzet Staticaster come in against TES. Where Ad Nauseam Tendrils (ANT) is known as a deck that rarely plays ETW, often giving them a surprise advantage. Against a deck like Miracles where the overloading game plan is supposedly at its best, they already keep in their Terminus for Xantid Swarm and the possibility of goblin tokens. You're not really doing anything other than playing into their hate cards that would otherwise be dead. Not to mention, by doing this plan, you're making Ad Nauseam an awful engine by adding in high casting cost cards while removing Chrome Mox from the deck. In a matchup where otherwise, Ad Nauseam would shine. The same thing could be said for Death and Taxes (regarding Ad Nauseam flips, less so on the creature hate). I did test this game plan for a little over a week before abandoning it all-together, it just isn't worthwhile in my eyes.

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Originally Posted by Bryant Cook

Report from GP: Seattle – http://www.theepicstorm.com/my-weeke...c-11-6-9-2015/

Rite of Flame, Rite of Flame, Lotus Petal, Lion's Eye Diamond, Chrome Mox. In response to the Chrome Mox imprint trigger, Ad Nauseam. In response to Ad Nauseam, sacrifice Lion's Eye Diamond for three black mana.

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I love this play.

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Originally Posted by d0nkey

I love this play.

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Can you explain why it is of use to respond to the different triggers? The opponent can react to those anyway.
Thanks!

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Originally Posted by OliverFist

Can you explain why it is of use to respond to the different triggers? The opponent can react to those anyway.
Thanks!

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So you can still imprint after your ad nauseam flips right

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Originally Posted by Lans89

So you can still imprint after your ad nauseam flips right

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Thats actually a really sweet play! Thanks for pointing that out! :)

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Originally Posted by OliverFist

Can you explain why it is of use to respond to the different triggers? The opponent can react to those anyway.
Thanks!

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Originally Posted by Lans89

So you can still imprint after your ad nauseam flips right

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You cast AN with Chrome Mox' imprint trigger on the stack, which means, you can imprint any card you have in your hand after AN is resolved. Its is nothing different to breaking LED with Infernal on the stack or responding to Infernal by casting Dark Ritual/Cabal Ritual (to get around V. Clique)

The play is only relevant if you have Ad Nauseam in hand, a Chrome Mox without a card to imprint AND a Lion's Eye Diamond (otherwise you would just hold the mox in your hand).

Hm so I played a little bit against Mono U Control today. What do you opt for if you have more than one tutor in your hand? I had 2 BW and 1 IT, LED, Bayou, Dark Ritual. With the IT I looked for a second LED. One BW I used a turn after to get a Ponder (postboard) and lost the game next turn because my last burning wish got countered. I could have won though - With the right path.
My question: Would have been the right play --> BW for Thoughseize, Cast; Next Turn IT for 2nd LED, and BW into win? (lets say we're in an ideal world in which the opponents last counterspell was removed by thoughtseize).

I felt like using the IT in a non combo turn was wasted. My conclusion would be to hedge the risk of Counters by keeping the two tutors until the combo turn.

What do you think?

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Originally Posted by OliverFist

Hm so I played a little bit against Mono U Control today. What do you opt for if you have more than one tutor in your hand? I had 2 BW and 1 IT, LED, Bayou, Dark Ritual. With the IT I looked for a second LED. One BW I used a turn after to get a Ponder (postboard) and lost the game next turn because my last burning wish got countered. I could have won though - With the right path.
My question: Would have been the right play --> BW for Thoughseize, Cast; Next Turn IT for 2nd LED, and BW into win? (lets say we're in an ideal world in which the opponents last counterspell was removed by thoughtseize).

I felt like using the IT in a non combo turn was wasted. My conclusion would be to hedge the risk of Counters by keeping the two tutors until the combo turn.

What do you think?

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That scenario leaves me clueless how you cast BW without a red source. If I suspect you had a volcanic in addition to the named cards, you could skip the thoughtseize and DR-IT(LED)-LED-LED-BW-DP-EtW turn 2 or wish for TS and DR-TS-LED-BW-EtW turn 3. Of course it all delends on your drawn cards in addition to what you have written. Playlines vary if you draw more mana for example and that case would favor the path with Thoughtseize

Edit: if you fear sweepers, you can play draw go here and try to overload his counters a la TS->counter, Wish->counter, wish#2->ToA and kill directly

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Originally Posted by Lemnear

That scenario leaves me clueless how you cast BW without a red source. If I suspect you had a volcanic in addition to the named cards, you could skip the thoughtseize and DR-IT(LED)-LED-LED-BW-DP-EtW turn 2 or wish for TS and DR-TS-LED-BW-EtW turn 3. Of course it all delends on your drawn cards in addition to what you have written. Playlines vary if you draw more mana for example and that case would favor the path with Thoughtseize

Edit: if you fear sweepers, you can play draw go here and try to overload his counters a la TS->counter, Wish->counter, wish#2->ToA and kill directly

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Hey, yeah I forgot to mention I head VIsland and USea in play. It was in a later stage of the game already, I think turn 3.. Thanks for the help! :)
Nearly every Deck I play has EtW Hate Maindeck, for example Echoing Truth. Thereby I almost try to finish every game with ToA...

Jacob Redfern made Top8 in Coopersburg with TES. Here his decklist. Congrats!

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Originally Posted by OliverFist

Jacob Redfern made Top8 in Coopersburg with TES. Here his decklist. Congrats!

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Old news. I was 11th in that event. It was a 3 or 4 weeks ago.

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Originally Posted by Bryant Cook

Old news. I was 11th in that event. It was a 3 or 4 weeks ago.

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Whoops, didn't see that. Only saw the top 8.

So I've been playing TES recently and cut Chrome Mox altogether for 15 Lands, 4 Polluted Delta, 4 Bloodstained Mire, 3 Underground Sea, 2 Volcanic Island, 1 Bayou, 1 Swamp, and I'm starting to think that TES is just ANT with weaker acceleration in exchange for stronger threats at this point. I don't think 2 accelerants that you want to board out every game vs Island.dec is worth losing the MD and SB space any more, and the interesting thing about playing 15 lands is that you can comfortably cast Krosan Grip instead of Abrupt Decay in order to have a way around both Counterbalance and Sensei's Divining Top in a single card.

I think the threat of our speed to our opponent is more important than us realizing it in game, opponent's still mulligan aggressively for Force of Will and we can just grind them out with land drops and Cabal Therapy. I also think counter intuitively to boarding in +2 Empty the Warrens, you're better off boarding out Empty the Warrens and Ad Nauseam in favour of Past in Flames and Tendrils of Agony and playing a second Tendrils of Agony in the board for Burning Wish -> Infernal Tutor natural play lines for 2xTendrils of Agony kills. The thing about Storm is staying unpredictable in terms of whether or not you are going to put Goblins on the board or utilize the graveyard as a resource, that way they are always gambling on what hate to bring in.

For that reason, I've been messng around with cutting wet blankets like SB Thoughtseize and Chain of Vapour for more and more threats, like 3 Empty the Warrens and 2 Tendrils of Agony just to keep adjusting my angles of attack vs Island.dec and relying more on the initiative of the coin flip, stability of Swamp and speed thru' threat density of Empty the Warrens vs D&T.

SB looks like this ATM,

2 Tendrils of Agony
3 Empty the Warrens
1 Dark Petition
1 Past in Flames
1 Bribery
1 Void Snare
1 Massacre
1 Reverent Silence
4 Krosan Grip

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Originally Posted by Final Fortune

So I've been playing TES recently and cut Chrome Mox altogether for 15 Lands, 4 Polluted Delta, 4 Bloodstained Mire, 3 Underground Sea, 2 Volcanic Island, 1 Bayou, 1 Swamp, and I'm starting to think that TES is just ANT with weaker acceleration in exchange for stronger threats at this point. I don't think 2 accelerants that you want to board out every game vs Island.dec is worth losing the MD and SB space any more, and the interesting thing about playing 15 lands is that you can comfortably cast Krosan Grip instead of Abrupt Decay in order to have a way around both Counterbalance and Sensei's Divining Top in a single card.

I think the threat of our speed to our opponent is more important than us realizing it in game, opponent's still mulligan aggressively for Force of Will and we can just grind them out with land drops and Cabal Therapy. I also think counter intuitively to boarding in +2 Empty the Warrens, you're better off boarding out Empty the Warrens and Ad Nauseam in favour of Past in Flames and Tendrils of Agony and playing a second Tendrils of Agony in the board for Burning Wish -> Infernal Tutor natural play lines for 2xTendrils of Agony kills. The thing about Storm is staying unpredictable in terms of whether or not you are going to put Goblins on the board or utilize the graveyard as a resource, that way they are always gambling on what hate to bring in.

For that reason, I've been messng around with cutting wet blankets like SB Thoughtseize and Chain of Vapour for more and more threats, like 3 Empty the Warrens and 2 Tendrils of Agony just to keep adjusting my angles of attack vs Island.dec and relying more on the initiative of the coin flip, stability of Swamp and speed thru' threat density of Empty the Warrens vs D&T.

SB looks like this ATM,

2 Tendrils of Agony
3 Empty the Warrens
1 Dark Petition
1 Past in Flames
1 Bribery
1 Void Snare
1 Massacre
1 Reverent Silence
4 Krosan Grip

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I would much rather have something that is guaranteed to kill a counterbalance at end step. Krosan grip doesn't necessarily do that.