[Deck] ANT (Ad Nauseam Tendrils)

Yes, I'm MDing IGG and I didn't find the pile with Ponder useful/necessary, it's the 1 slot between the 7th Discard or the 4th SSG so it's on the cutting board as far as I'm concerned. Infernal Contract vs. Meditate is preference, I'd rather top deck Infernal Contract over Meditate and I think the deck has so many paths to victory that 4 vs 2 life doesn't really matter.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by emidln

Are you playing with or without IGG in your main? If you play IGG, there is one pile where Ponder isn't required, but is a mana more efficient than anything else (it's a 1 card in hand pass the turn pile). Outside of that Ponder doesn't seem to be strictly necessary, I just don't know something else that I'd rather have in the deck.

Why switch Contract for Meditate in the main. Being able to go off with two life was the primary motivation here. Is this just so you can cast it off a Dark Rit vs control? I've sided out Meditate or something else for Contract against decks likely to have red blast in the past, but I've never really encountered somewhere I had the ability to produce BBBBBB but not BBBBBU due to the deck only playing one non-blue land (6 black of double Dark Rit requires two black lands, one of which would have to be Underground Sea in this list).

I, too, like a full set of Thoughtseize against hate bears. The lists I generally propose run a 4/3 split on Duress/Thoughtseize if they have the space maindeck with the 4th Thoughtseize wishable game one and sideable against blue and hate bears (often for Duress vs the hate bears).

SSG does seem to be a lot better than Rite of Flame. I could see even 4 SSG working really well in a list without IGG. I don't think Chrome Mox can be removed safely (without severely affecting the power of Ad Nauseam), but it would be interesting to see more data on the subject.

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What about cutting AdN entirely and running IT or another DD in its spot. I tried out some kind of Burning Wish DDFT lists and kind of liked them. That seems like it would really make SSG shine, but then this question would come up, is it better than running Cabal Rituals?

I don't really know that maindeck IGG is that necessary in the Rite of Flame/SSG NLS lists. If you look at where IGG is used the most, it's in this DD pile:

SDT in play or Brainstom in hand + 2x cards in hand + 1U

BS/SDT
LED
LED
IGG
Tendrils

The reason this pile is so good is that it only costs 5 mana and one cantrip to start up with to generate generally lethal storm (it does about 10 storm self-contained). If you look at the non-IGG analogue piles:

Brainstorm in hand + 2x cards + UU

BS/Ponder
LED
LED
BS/Ponder
Tendrils

This still gets you 7 storm (counting from DD) so you're pretty close to lethal anyway. Add in some acceleration and you're there. When we were first playing DD, this pile wasn't generally recognized/talked about and thus the IGG pile was default against aggro.

The SDT analogue pile makes one less storm, but only requires 1U:

SDT in play or Brainstorm in hand, 2 extra cards in hand, 1U

BS/SDT
LED
LED
Tendrils
Any Card

Obv if you have SDT you put BS in the pile, if you have BS you put SDT in the pile. Starting from Doomsday, this will get you 6 storm. Of course, if you happen to use Burning Wish as one of your extra cards, you actually make 7 storm + Tendrils (corner case situation, but most people seem to miss it).

IGG is still available in the sb if necessary via Burning Wish in game one piles and could easily be sided it if necessary against something like Zoo or discard (along with the singleton Infernal Tutor).

Dropping IGG has some definite benefits, namely, never drawing the card against blue and never having it clog your hand without Dark Rituals or Brainstorms in other matchups. It lowers your average mana cost while comboing with Ad Nauseam and makes it easy to add in your 7th protection spell making most of your difficult matchups a little better.

I would strongly consider that you test NLS without IGG in the maindeck.

@PF

I don't know that I'd want to give up Ad Nauseam. It's one of the easiest wins available to NLS due to NLS's extremely low average CMC. If you are interested though, I posted a "goldfish" Burning Wish DD list on storm boards that I goldfish during the day while waiting for phone calls. It's a goldfish list because I removed what would be 5-8 protection slots for extra cantrips and acceleration. If you want to try it out, it's actually still pretty fast (it still has a lot of accel and the ETW option and due to the 11 virtual Doomsdays and mass acceleration (except for Chrome Mox, it didn't decrease from normal NLS lists) it can usually win on turn 2-3. I'm sure you'll figure out the obvious cards to cut for protection, but it should be okay.

Yeah, I think I'm sold on cutting IGG, it's always been a security blanket in Storm since the printing of Ad Nauseam and having it be accessible via. Burning Wish is usually enough - ship SSG #4 IMO.

Also, I definitely think you guys should be using D. Returns, it's so easy to kill people when you've got a Top on the board with M.Tutor after your extra 7 cards. I think it speeds up the deck like half a turn if you push for it.

What lists have you guys been testing lately? My friends have been trying to convince me to run Saito's list at an upcomming tourney but I don't think it is as strong as other lists. I personally prefer lists that run Burning Wish although that is not neccessary for me to play a deck. What NON-DD variants have been playing well as of late?

Any just personal thoughts on what I should play going into an unknown meta?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nodahero

What lists have you guys been testing lately? My friends have been trying to convince me to run Saito's list at an upcomming tourney but I don't think it is as strong as other lists. I personally prefer lists that run Burning Wish although that is not neccessary for me to play a deck. What NON-DD variants have been playing well as of late?

Any just personal thoughts on what I should play going into an unknown meta?

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I play this on MWS sometimes. It's very similar to TES/NLS/Tk's ANT/PF's TES. You should be relatively comfortable with it given what I've seen you play in the past:

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

4 Lotus Petal
3 Chrome Mox
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Dark Ritual
4 Rite of Flame

4 Duress
3 Thoughtseize

4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder

4 Mystical Tutor
4 Burning Wish
3 Infernal Tutor

1 Ad Nauseam
1 Tendrils of Agony

// Wishable
SB: 1 Tendrils of Agony
SB: 1 Empty the Warrens
SB: 1 Ill-Gotten Gains
SB: 1 Infernal Tutor
SB: 1 Diminishing Returns
SB: 1 Thoughtseize
SB: 1 Deathmark
SB: 1 Pulverize
// Standard
SB: 1 Chain of Vapor
SB: 1 Hurkyl's Recall
SB: 1 Krosan Grip
SB: 1 Tropical Island
SB: 3 Xantid Swarm

A couple explanations:

Ill-Gotten Gains is wishable and thus not in the maindeck. If you need to win vs aggro you can IT->Wish->IGG for an extra 2 mana. The good thing against aggro is that you have that extra mana since you don't Duress them the turn you win. Side it in for postboard games.

Thoughtseize, Deathmark, and Ill-Gotten Gains are frequently sided in.

There are basics allowing turn one Ponder into turn 2 Brainstorm + Duress without exposing yourself to Wasteland. Being able to interact via discard effects and able to cantrip/tutor is of the utmost importance in several critical matchups such as Merfolk and Tempo Thresh. This list, without chant effects, is somewhat of a dog to Tempo Thresh, but you can beat them with good hands and tight play (although I wouldn't play this in a TT heavy-metagame). You have 11 blue sources from lands even without Badlands and Swamp, which is good enough for TES with the same cantrips and no basics so don't complain.

Xantid Swarm is for insurance against Merfolk and it does force opponents to keep in removal against you, especially TT who would otherwise bring in 4 Spell Pierce, 4 REB and you wouldn't resolve a single spell in the match.

Pulverize is better than any other wishable artifact removal. If you don't believe me, do the match on Pulverize vs Shattering Spree/Meltdown/Shatterstorm vs Trinisphere, Chalice @ 0, Chalice @ 1 and combinations thereof. Hint: Pulverize will win. You have 3 mountains to make this happen, which should be enough most of the time vs Aggro Loam and Dragon Stompy. Stax is rougher since they generally have more LD than Aggro Loam, but you might even get this off vs Stax too.

You have 7 protection available maindeck with the ability to wish into an 8th via 4 wishes. You can side in the 8th protection along with 9-11 if you feel the need. I would not ever add Chant to this particular deck, instead I would recommend playing a different build you feel you need chant/silence protection instead of Duresses and Xantid Swarms. If anyone feels like discussing this point, search the forums for more information as I'm not discussing it currently.

P.S. Total Converted Mana Cost not including Ad Nauseam (1-of): 45. That's a 0.76 average CMC per card off Ad Nauseam.

I would recommend playing NLS with Simian Spirit Guides. I wished I had played NLS at Indy.

Thanks Emidlin. I owe you one. I was having a mini panic attack over what I should be playing. Are you going to the Dupage tourney tomorrow?

Once I feel a bit more motivated I will do a write up from today. Don't hold your breath. I went 3-3. I lost to zoo twice due to terra bad luck and I lost to Merfolk. The folk oppponent threw out lord after lord due to Reejery shenanigans.

***Report***
College of Dupage tourney

Round 1
Burning Tendrils (the name I use for most storm lists with Burning Wish) VS Phu piloting Zoo
Game 1
I am on the play and lead with fetch into Brainstorm my opponent leads with Mancer. Turn 2 I drop fetch and pass the turn. My opponent throws down Grunt (I think) I end step Brainstorm-->break fetch-->Brainstorm and go off on my turn 3 for 12 Goblins fearing a Teeg, I beat him down handily.
Game 2
My opponent mulls to 5 looking for some form of a relevant threat and ends up mana screwed. I kill him on my second turn off of Adnasuem with Duress back up.
1-0

Round 2
VS Skibba (a guy who drove down with me and I taught how to beat Storm....) Zoo
Game 1
I am on the play and pump out out another 12 goblins on turn 3 while facing down Loam Lion and Goyf. The goblins have a delicious dinner...
Game 2
I am on the back step the whole match. He leads Nactal into Teeg into Goyf+bolt... I manage to bounce Teeg and Duress only 2 find 2 Mindbreak Traps waiting... I never found another Duress.
Game 3
I am on the play and note that I could make 12 goblins blind or I could Duress... Pass the turn and make 12 the turn after. I go with the latter and kick myself. Duress reveals an army of men and land. My opponent drops Nactal and passes. I rip an additonal Rite of Flame and chance him ripping one of the two Traps he had access to... Apparently he ripped it off the top.
1-1

Round 3
Anthony playing Trisomy 21 esq deck with Discard instead of critter kill
Game 1
I am on the draw and look at a solid turn 1 protected 10 Goblin hand. Seems good right? Anthony goes turn 1 land Diamond Hymm and rips out the protection and Wish. I quickly realize this is some sort of a Discard ish deck and start dropping artifact mana after artifact mana and wait to rip another tutor and blow him out off of Wish into IGG.
Game 2
Anothny leads off with yet another turn 1 land Diamond into Teeg. I spend my next few turns cantripping and dropping arfticts looking to simply go off from the top after finding a either a Deathmark or bounce for Teeg. The problem is my opponent the followed Teeg up with Cannonist and Toombstalker. I drew a wish and grabbed a Clasm to wipe the board and then went off but drew nothing relevant. I got beaten into a pulp soon there after by the Stalker.
Game 3
I go stupid on turn 1 after a Thoughtseize and pump out 10 goblins that go the distance.
2-1

Round 4
Gregg with Selkie Merfolk (No Vial)
Game 1
I think I started on the draw and simply got blown out. He had basically the perfect curve game 1. Cursecatcher-->Adept-->Reejery-->Soverign-->Soverign with double Force in hand. There was also a wasteland in there to kick out one of my Duals.
Game 2
I mull into oblivion looking for some form of Mana such as a land or Lotus petal but fail to find either after going to 4. My 5 card hand was dog shit to be mild FYI.
2-2 (I should drop but Skibba is 3-1 ATM so I stay in to keep busy)

Round 5
Mathias playing Zoo
Game 1
I do what we do to Zoo and still lose. Apparently my deck decided I still didn't deserve to draw another mana source after my opening one this game. I go to 1 and stop. I pray to rip a ritual off the top from a brainstorm but I still cant find anything. I wouldn't have gotten that low if I wouldn't have drawn Tendrils when I was at 7 but I figured since I was already in bolt range I had to push it and pray. No dice.
Game 2
I go off turn 3 and again, draw dog shit... I revealed 6 2 mana tutors before even hitting a mana source. I am 1 mana short of casting Tendrils for lethal and in hindsight realize I cast 2 Duress in that turn costing me the game. That wouldn't have been an issue if my opponent hadn't had a pridemage in play with an open mana to nuke my first diamond in response to my second though.
2-3 (I stay in to hopefully break even)

Round 6
(I don't know my opponents name, Sorry) playing a Deadguy Ale variant I guess
Game 1
I am on the play and Duress him seeing Fink, Fink, Verdict, Waste, Urborg, fetch, and fetch (I think). I then go off on turn 2 and blow him out.
Game 2
My opponent starts tearing my hand apart on turn 1 and then again on turn 2. Lucky for me he casted Gerrard's Verdict and allowed me to dump the two cards that kept me from being Hellbent and killing him. I kill him on my turn 3 after a Wish for IGG.
3-3

Not my best record at all but I actually had a lot of fun and picked up alot of Legacy foils. Mainly for Storm.

Props
Nick ran a very smooth and quick tournament
500 in trades for myself ditching a bunch of Standard junk for legacy... hmm thats just like standard ATM... Junk...
Slops
My inability to draw mana after seeing like 15 cards twice...
Overall
I can't wait for the next tourney down there. It should be awesome... and I should actually draw mana then.

I ran Saito's GP Madrid list last Friday in our Legacy side event. We had twelve people and four rounds.


Mike Hall, CounterTop
Mike and I split the first two games and he mulled to six on the draw in game three. I go bonkers and empty my hand for storm count six and he Mindbreak Traps the Ad Nauseam. I don't recover fast enough to go off again, and eventually scoop to Goyf.

0-1

Mike Gallo, Goyf-less Zoo
Mike #2 doesn't have Goyfs so he's running Gaddock Teeg main... Saito's list doesn't have an answer main for that. Thankfully I won both G2 and G3, I think with nut draws on turn one.

1-1

Michael Melvin, Reanimator
The match is going fine until I misplay in G3, trying to target Inkwell Leviathan with Echoing Truth. Seeing as he lent me the LEDs and let me change my plays, I would've scooped to him anyhow. Especially considering this is the first time I've played this list and/or used LEDs with ANT in general.

1-2

Mike Haley, Burn
I punt G1 on the play after I miscalculate the math. When it ended I was one mana shy. Had I waited a turn, I would have been golden, even at 16 life instead of 19. G2 I Ad Nauseam and rip the only other Ad Nauseam three cards deep and go to eleven. I proceed to flip flip flip and rip Tendrils to bring me around seven, but still see no Mox or Petals. Flip flip flip, all well within burn range, and kill myself on the flips trying to find an answer.


Yes. I played against four Mikes in four rounds.



After evaluating the deck, I find it needs one maindeck answer to a variety permanents, and an Edict effect in the sideboard against Reanimator's Iona. [cards]Innocent Blood[cards], [cards]Chainer's Edict[cards], [cards]Diabolic Edict[cards], or Curfew?


Each has its own merits.

Diabolic Edict is an instant. Not that Reanimator actually casts its counterspells, but forcing them to make decisions on their turn is always a plus.

Innocent Blood is a decent answer, but we really don't want the creature back in the graveyard if we can help it. It's only a matter of time before they draw yet-another-recursion spell.

Chainer's Edict has flashback. While seven mana is quite expensive, I've found Reanimator games can go on long enough for this to be relevant. >.<

[cards]Curfew[cards] is blue, cheap, and efficient. It also answers Inkwell Leviathan. For whatever reason, the Tier Reanimator decks do not run Oona's Prowler as an efficient beater and discard outlet. This means Thoughtseize and Brainstorm + Entomb are their only outs aside from casting the creature.

I believe Curfew is the strongest, because it is the cheapest spell that isn't the same color as Slaughter Pact, it answers any Reanimator threat except Iona :: Blue, and it is an instant.


Were I playing White Tendrils with Angel's Grace, I would highly consider Intervention Pact


As for maindeck Teeg, I hope someone lends him four Tarmogoyfs instead.

@ nodahero

Sorry to hear about your luck at CoD.

If your opponent reanimates anything short of Iona you just kill them. If they reanimate Iona, you should already be playing Chain of Vapor and/or Echoing Truth and Slaughter Pact and/or Deathmark. Hopefully you have the color they don't name when Iona lands. Playing shitty spells like edicts or Curfew is a waste of sideboard space.

If you want to run a card to hose Reanimator, use Extirpate.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rico Suave

If you want to run a card to hose Reanimator, use Extirpate.

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Extirpate gets there for sure, or else bounce/slaughter pact. What turn did he get Iona out on? I've only played reanimator once, but I was able to go off faster than he did, and it didn't seem too difficult. Plus with all the discard we play, we can definitely slow them down a bunch. Maybe it's worth trying to mulligan a slower hand to try and find duress/thoughtseize?

I would shrug off the bad luck and try again. Countertop is possibly our hardest matchup. As long as you learned from your mistakes, it'll make you a better player and the other matches you can win next time.

These are all valid points.

I played Thoughtseize turn one seeing Force of Will, Daze, Stifle, Reanimate, Reanimate, Exhume, Land, Land. I took Stifle and baited out two more counterspells before Duressing again. He responded with Entomb ->Iona. I used Mystical Tutor to get Extirpate, then used Top to draw it, played Extirpate in response to Duress, took two Iona, and then took Exhume when he revealed Reanimate, Reanimate, Reanimate, and Exhume.

The game progressed for a great many more turns, and he got his combo before I got mine.

I almost want a second Extirpate, but I'd rather learn how to play and sideboard this version of ANT effectively first. >.<



Edit:

In previous versions I tried 2 Crystal Veins and found it to be very strong some of the time. Is there a reason City of Traitors is strictly better? Being able to play a Dark or Cabal Ritual for BBB and use City or Vein for 2 to get under Mindbreak Trap's 3 spell threshhold is amazing. Sacrificing the Vein for 2 is little different than playing another land after tapping City for 2.

What aspects am I missing?

To anyone on the strom boards you've probably already read this. but i didnt want to just put a link to the page so non members couldnt read it

Though its now been a few weeks since indie i thought i should share this with anyone that hasnt read it to help enliten them a little more on the power and versatility of NLS.



my list.

4. polluted delta
2. scalding tarn
1. bloodstained mire
2. underground sea
2. volcanic island
1. badlands
1. tropical island
1. island
1. swamp

4. dark ritual
3. rite of flame
4. LED
4. lotus petal
2. chrom mox

1. tendrils of agony
1. ad nausium
1. doomsday
1. meditate
4. burning wish
4. mystical tutor

4. duress
1. thoughtseize
2. xantid swarm

4. brainstorm
4. top
1. ponder

SB
1. tendrils of agony
1. empty the warrens
1. pyroclasm
1. pulverize
1. krosan grip
2. thoughseize
1. xantid swarm
1. infernal tutor
1. infernal contract
1. chain of vapor
1. echoing truth
1. deathmark
1. doomsday
1. ill gotten gains


Round 1 vs Piper(lands)

i win the die roll and open with fetch into basic island to play top. my apponent plays a manabond and drops his hand of wasteland,factory, and duels into play and i do a little happy dance in my head. turn 2 i fetch a basic swamp with volc in hand
i spend 2 turns spinning top and drawing cards while my apponent does nothing more than attack with a factory. on my fourth turn i play my volc and burning wish for doomsday before passing the turn. he attacks once more and on my turn i go rit, rit, led. doomsday and build typical meditate,led,led,petal,tendrils pile. game 2 i get balsy and ETW for 12 goblins on turn 2 hoping my apponent doesnt find tabernacle. he doesnt and i'm off to a good start(i dont think i even sideboarded)

1-0(2-0)

round 2 vs dan musser (zoo)

my apponent wins the roll and opens with fetch into taiga to play grim lavamancer(happy dance continues). I spend a few turns drawing cards and playing lands as my apponent manages to get 2x pridemage in play and is attacking me for 4. i do same as round one and burning wish for dday. pass the turn and win next turn with the same dday pile as r1g1. I board like this
-2 xantid swarm
-1 duress
+1 thoughseize
+1 deathmark
+1 echoing truth

my apponent leads with turn one lavamancer again and i play turn one volc, petal, dark rit, led,led, burning wish for Infernal tutor, play infernal tutor breaking LEDs in responce. tutor finds ad nausium with 1 black floating and 20 life.. i draw 9 cards and win with petal, dark rit, tendrils. (my apponent was very displeased but keeps his cool) he informs me he could have played pithing needle turn 1 but wanted to wait till i played an led or top..then i inform him needle doesnt stop LED and i'm off to round 3.

2-0(4-0)

round 3 feature match vs AJ (belcher)
i dont know if scg saves these vidio's or of there just live streemed but i'de love to see it as it was my first feature match.

game one starts off kinda slow. i dont remember the exact line of plays due to lack of sleep (had been awake since 5 am saturday)
but somewhere along the way he casts a belcher without enough mana to activate. i play a top and keep duressign him to keep him off the 3 mana to activate. i cant to much and almost mystical on his end stepp but opt not too as there is nothing that would win me the game at this point and playing tutor would reveal that i'm playing combo not black countertop. he finally finds another mana and wins with belcher.

-2 xantid swarm
+2 thoughseize


game 2 i open with top, thoughseize, duress, duress, 2 lands, and peta. i think for a while and decide to keep turn one thoughseize takes his burning wish. he plays a xantid swarm turn 1(glad i didnt give myself away game 1) i spend 2 turns spinning top and keep taking away rituals with duress. he has double seething song in hand but needs to draw 2 initial mana sources + a bomb to win. somewhere around turn 4 i cast rituals into ad nausium from 20 life and draw roughly a billion cards before playing out rituals into a burning wish for tendrils.

-1 duress
+1 echoing truth

game 3 i have land,petal, 2x burning wish, chrome mox,mystical tutor, led. my apponent leads with 8 goblins and passes the turn. i play my fetch and pass. he attacks for 8 and i mystical for echoint truth on his endstep. untap draw. imprint burning wish onto chrome mox. and bounce his dudes. the next turn he does nothing relavent and i ritual out into a burning wish for etw and make 12 dudes. i attack once and pass my apponent draws his card and offers the handshake.(i'm high on life at this point)

3-0(6-1)

round 4 zak (bant survival) fatigue is really starting to kick in at this point.

game 1 he has force or spell stutter sprite for every thing i play and his war monk puts me on a fast clock while also gaining him enough life to get out of lethal range.

-1 adnausium
-2 chrome mox
-1 xantid swarm
+1 empty the warrens
+2 thoughseize
+1 deathmark

game 2 i mull to six and open with thoghtseize taking his survival but seeing Kira the great glass spinner, windborn muse, and other irrelivant creatuers. he topdecks a vial and plays it and i play draw play land pass for a few turns while he establishes a board getting kira+cannonist into play. i eventually burning wish for pyroclasm but have to wait a turn to play it. on his turn he plays a meddeling mage nameing pyroclasm and i'm soft locked out of the game.

3-1(6-3)

round 5 vs jonathan hickerson (dredge)

he opens city of trators into tireless tribe. i'm a little upset at myself for haveing 0 graveyard hate in my board. (but before the tournament i tested against dredge and went 4-4 in preboard games. all 8 games coming down to who was on the play as we each won all 4 of our games on turn 2 and were ready to go off turn 2 in the games we lost). he ends up winning game one after some really good dredges while i was drawing blanks.

-3 duress
+1 echoing truth
+1 chain of vapor
+1 deathmark

game 2 took a long time as he was playing cautios to avoid graveyard hate. he finally dread returns a terestadon blowing up 3 of my lands and giving me 3 eliphants. on my turn i deathmark his terestadon and swing for 9, there are a couple turns of him makeing zombies and me getting one eliphant through he brings back terestadon this time targeting his own lands to give himself 2 eliphants. i play a land and pass with 2 land and an led in play and a land+mystical in my hand. my apponents at 1 from eliphant beats + his own painlands. my apponent makes a few zombies and swings with terestadon+1 eliphant token. at this point i have 2 lines of play i can block just the terestadon take 3 then endstep mystical for burning wish. wish into pyroclasm to clear his field and get one eliphant through. but instead i block both his attackers. mystical for wish. draw wish, play land burning wish for tendrils breaking led storm count 1. tendrils for 4

4-1 (8-4)

round 6 vs joe (bg discrd+hexmage depths)
at this point i'm about to fall asleep in my seat. i keep a one land hand with brainstorm and enough buisness that i can win turn 2. i make a mistake of brainstorming on my turn (lack of sleep messes with you) and dont find another land. my aponent starts of with turn 1 thoughseize taking an led. turn 2 he hym to tourach me getting another led+ dark rit. on his next turn he living wishes for dark depths. plays it and casts a hexmage the next turn. i never see another land

-2 xantid swarm
+1 chain of vapor
+1 echoing truth

game 2 is back and forth duress+thoughseize for a few turns before i have a few lands in play double led in hand and doomsday but no top in play or cantrip, so i play doomsday building meditate,led, led, burning wish, burning wish
on my turn i draw meditate, play my led's. play meditate breaking both led's, with meditate still on the stack my apponent extirpates my led's. when teh meditate resolves i lose the game due only having 2 cards left in my deck

4-2(8-6)

round 7 Jordan(bant)

game one starts off slow for me but not my apponent. he has turn 1 noble hierarch into turn 2 war monk. my turn one xantid swarm gets stp'd and monk starts swinging for an 8 point life swing each turn.

-2 xantid swarm
-2 chrome mox
-1 ad nausium
-1 burning wish
+1 empty the warrens
+2 thoughseize
+1 deathmark
+1 chain of vapor
+1 echoing truth

game 2 i thoughseize turn 1 taking his force. and on turn 2 i make 12 goblins. he plays a war monk, on my turn i death mark it and swing for 12. he draws and scoops for game 3


game 3. goes very scimilar to game 1. i get put under a fast clock and every relavent card i play met a force of will. untill i cast an ad nausium from 11 life with no mana floating and flipped doomsday, meditate, and tendrils

4-3(9-7) final score

after round 7 i dropped as i was out of contention for even top 16. but overall i was verry pleased with the deck. most of my game losses were situations were all pretty common bad situations for storm combo.

a few things of note. i never once missed ill gotten gains. and was very happy knowing i couldnt flip it every time i cast ad nausium. i do wish ihad at least 1/2 pieces of graveyard hate in my board to have something else to board in over duress against dredge.(i still like thoughseize as it can take turn 1 tribe/imp/breakthrough)

overall the deck is completely insane. even as someone less skilled with dday i felt more comfortable casting it than i ever have ill gotten gains. and the lack of gains +rite of flame over cabal ritual ment i was drawing alot more cards every time i cast ad nausium. and thanks to etw in the board the deck is so versatile you dont bend over to one or 2 pieces of hate like strait ant mite.

I think the ability to not bend over to regular hate is generated by Burning Wish as opposed to DDay. DDay is stupid good but the Wish CAN get you DDay if you need it or it can get you the solution to your current predicament. Ever since TK gave me his storm list in Chicago I have never played storm without the Wishes.

@MetalHead

Why did you board out Xantid swarm against Bant and Bant survival? Thats what they are main decked for! Also, I would leave duress in against dredge. Hitting their draw spells can be pretty important.

I took out the swarms because againt vial+sprite or countertop i'de rather have thoughseize as swarm stops neither and 7 discard was more then enough to combat force of will. plus as i was boarding out ad nausium for empty the warrens. its much easier to consistently produce black than green if i'm just trying to use natural storm before casting ETW...was this correct....probably not. its just what my sleep deprived mind was telling me to do. next time i should not let emidln talk me into pulling an all niter before an event. or let him have the comfey seat in the car for that matter.

Posting by request,

MD

1 Tendrils of Agony

1 Ad Nauseam
1 Doomsday

1 Infernal Contract
4 Brainstorm
4 Sensei's Divining Top

4 Burning Wish
4 Mystical Tutor

4 Thought Seize
3 Duress

4 Dark Ritual
4 Simian Spirit Guide

4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
2 Chrome Mox

4 Polluted Delta
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
1 Bad Lands
1 island
1 Swamp

SB

1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Grape Shot
1 Telemin Performance
1 Infernal Tutor
1 Ill Gotten Gains
1 Doomsday
1 Infernal Contract
1 Balance of Power
1 Diminishing Returns
1 Duress
1 Shattering Spree
1 Perish
1 Firespout

1 Echoing Truth


MDing 4 Thought Seize and SBing 1 Duress because of the presence of Spellstutter Sprite, neither IGG or Ponder were missed in the MD and both of the Draw 7's have given the deck additional speed, top decking power and non life based win conditions where you can just explode on your opponent turn 1 or 2 unlike previous incarnations of the deck.

The deck is just insanely fucking good, I have a pretty coin-flop match vs the NO PRO and Balance/Top based decks running rampant in the format and I just don't think they can deal with the deck game 1 with out a lucky Balance or post-board Spell Pierces. Easily the best Storm deck I've piloted since the LED into Nauseam errata equipped with an extremely high skill cap, I've been playing Storm for a long time and some of the decision trees are mind numbing.

How good are 4 SSG so far?

What's up with that sideboard?
- Grapeshot, what's this card good for?
- Telemin Performance, is this to hose combo? If so, why not just run Sadistic Sacrement?
- Balance of Power, seems interesting, but quite expensive. How's this card been?
- Perish, when would you ever want this card?
- Firesprout, why no Pyroclasm?

Telemin Performance is a quick win that isn't affected by mindbreak trap from Lands-style decks. Sad sac is more effective vs combo. Telemin Performance might also be a viable wincondition vs Reanimator, although you can argue whether or not having 3UU after a wish is already winning.

Question about Mindbreak Trap:

I realize that popping the ADN with it may be the best choice, because you deny them from drawing an answer/recovering.

Why do people not see using it to get rid of the multiple storm copies as a viable strategy?

It may be a dumb question, but please answer.