[Deck] ANT (Ad Nauseam Tendrils) Storm Combo

[Narcind]

No more Bazaar of Moxen? When did that happen? ;___;

They're going to focus more on hosting GP's this next year, so there won't be a real BoM. They're hosting GP Lille though, which is legacy, so it's almost the same thing.

[nevilshute]

They're going to focus more on hosting GP's this next year, so there won't be a real BoM. They're hosting GP Lille though, which is legacy, so it's almost the same thing.

Link to something official about this?

[flrn]

They're going to focus more on hosting GP's this next year, so there won't be a real BoM. They're hosting GP Lille though, which is legacy, so it's almost the same thing.

There will be a tournament in Milan at the date, where BoM used to be.

[CabalTherapy]

Yesterday at the local event.

Miracles opponent after game 1: "Oh, things get worse for Robert now!"
> Turn 2 City of Solitude
> Turn 3 win
Me to the Miracles dude: "That was a bit too easy."

This card becomes better and better from tournament to tournament. And it's not even that cluncy and wins on its own. Like a green Show and Tell.

[Surfinbird]

Robert, have you tested city of solitude against tempo decks like canadian or Uwr delver? I imagine that the 3 cmc is too high against pierces and dazes, but maybe it works.

[CabalTherapy]

Robert, have you tested city of solitude against tempo decks like canadian or Uwr delver? I imagine that the 3 cmc is too high against pierces and dazes, but maybe it works.

No, but I won't recommend playing it against tempo or uwr Delver. City shines where we aren't in a need to win very fast. Canadian, Burg and Uwr Delver can deploy fast clocks and in addition screw our manabase with Wasteland and sometimes also Stifle. Plus, as you already mentioned: City is bad against taxcounter because we usually aren't in a situation against these decks where we can play a cc3 spell daze- or pierce-proof. Further, against decks with Wasteland I don't like boarding in cards which can't be played via Swamp or Island.

You see, I am a big for of that card (at least at the moment it does its job nicely) but it isn't my idea. I have heard about this possibility from Kai who has told me about Martin's (nevilshute) SB including City of Solitude.

[sawatarix]

Yep, thanks to Martin for this great innovation !
But i have to mention that i'm not such a huge fan of city of solitude as robert, simply because it's a card for a very limited part of the legacy metagame.
Namely miracle control and the bbd deck.

Still on the defense grid train, because it is also a tool against any delver deck without discard (ur/uwr/canadian).
But the card is - as you see - slightly worse than city of solitude if it resolves. Still won me a lot of games so far.
Last but not least: The shiny version of Urzas Legacy Defense Grid is so f***** beautiful that there is no way to not play it ;D

[Surfinbird]

Actually i'm running this sideboard (2 preordains, 7discard, 1 Grim tutor maindeck) :

3 Abrupt decay
3 Xantid swarm
2 sensei's divining top
2 chain of vapor
1 Pyroclasm
1 Massacre (both work well with grim tutor)
1 Krosan grip
1 Flusterstorm (meta call)
1 Empty the warrens (i love it against miracles)


I like the idea of 3 city of solitude, but my side is already worKing fantastically against miracles... I hardly ever lose the g2 and 3. I might try it but i don't think i'll make any changes

[phazonmutant]

I split the top 4 of a 42-person event in Seattle this weekend. List was similar to here, except for some slight sideboard changes. -1 Extirpate, -1 Xantid Swarm, -1 Massacre, +2 Surgical Extraction, +1 Sensei's Divining Top. I've been finding the Miracles matchup tough when they can stick an early Counterbalance and I don't have a Decay. Top has proven to be good at coming down under Counterbalance and is good against discard of course. I was unhappy with Extirpate and wasn't even bringing it in against Miracles - like what am I going to do, mess up their top of library when they flip top? That's pretty underwhelming. Against ANT and the combo decks, it's way better to be able to Duress and still hold up additional disruption turn 1.

R1 Grixis Control 1-2. He had a pile of Counterspells, Hymns, and even a Spellbomb maindeck. Tough matchup.
R2 Canadian Threshold 2-0. He didn't understand how to fight storm - kept a no-lander with Crypt and Force game 2 on the play.
R3 Mono-W HATERADE 2-1. See the next couple posts for more details.
R4 ANT 2-1. I won the die roll, and I'm undefeated in the mirror when I win the die roll. Surgical wasn't enough to stop him g2 - I prevented him from killing me with Past in Flames by exiling Cabal Ritual, but he drew some mana and flashed it back a couple turns later.
R5 RUG Counter-Top Lands 2-0. Kind of a brew. He was mana constrained both games, but I still had to fight through 3+ counterspells. I didn't realize he was more Lands than Miracles since I only saw like 10 cards from him game 1, so boarded as if against Miracles. His double Grafdigger's Cage made things awkward, but I killed his Counterbalance and then used my 8 spells in hand + Top to natural Tendrils him.
R6 UWR Stoneblade 2-1. I lost game 1 to yet more maindeck Counterspells, Pierces, Forces, and card draw. It was close but he always had the answers. Games 2 and 3 were some of my finest games in months. I'll go into more detail below.
Quarters UWR Stoneblade (Gerry T) 2-1. I've alternated between Storm and other decks for the past month or two, but every time we play I'm on Storm and he's on some UR(x) deck. I'm 3-0 or 4-0, can't remember. He too had Counterspell maindeck, but I kept making him have the answers until he ran out. Then game 2 he had pressure, counterspells, and Cage. Tough. Game 3 I slogged through about 5 counterspells of various sorts with discard, tutoring for Past in Flames, etc. He drew a Meddling Mage to shut off the Past in Flames flashback for the win, but I tutored for a Chain of Vapor and won. Tough opponent, and his draws weren't great, but I feel like the matchup is favorable for storm.

So about round 6 - this was against a local who I know to be a competent magician. Game 1 I went for an upkeep Ad Nauseam, but forgot I had to sac Lotus Petal to get threshold until I cast Cabal Ritual. He countered, as expected. But then when I went for my Past in Flames line the next turn, I forgot that I didn't have the extra mana from Petal, and couldn't flash back Cabal Ritual to kill him. Not my finest. I made up for it games 2 and 3 though. We both mulliganed, and I saw that he kept a stinker - couple of equipment, Stoneforge, and a Flusterstorm, which I took. My hand was going to take a while to come together too, so I ended up taking his Stoneforge with a Therapy. He drew into True-Name Nemesis and then the next turn passed without playing his Sword of Fire and Ice. I had the kill, but his play seemed suspicious. I blind-Therapied Counterspell, hit, and tutored to set up a double-Tendrils line that killed with one Tendrils even if he Forced a mana spell (as he did). Then game 3, I had boarded out all my Chain of Vapors and Abrupt Decays because it didn't seem like he had any hate permanents. I discarded a couple of counterspells, but then he top-decked and tapped out for his one-of Meddling Mage, which named Ad Nauseam. This seemed suspicious. I had the kill again the next turn, but it relied on Past in Flames. So I blind Therapied him, named Surgical Extraction, and hit again! I had to feel good about two game-winning blind hits to lock top-8.

Overall thoughts - I used Ad Nauseam for a maindeck kill several times. It's not great, but it's an essential tool to have access to, especially now that so many decks seem to be going for a bunch of counterspells, card draw, and very few threats. The board was fine, although I didn't cast Empty at all. There were a bunch of Stoneblade decks and few tempo decks, so maybe that slot would be better served as a City of Solitude to shore up the Miracles matchup. The Miracles players all got knocked out early though, so maybe the field is turning against them. At least here in Seattle, it continues to be a good time to be a Storm player.

EDIT: added in round 3 details.

[ThomasDowd]

I split the top 4 of a 42-person event in Seattle this weekend. List was similar to here, except for some slight sideboard changes. -1 Extirpate, -1 Xantid Swarm, -1 Massacre, +2 Surgical Extraction, +1 Sensei's Divining Top. I've been finding the Miracles matchup tough when they can stick an early Counterbalance and I don't have a Decay. Top has proven to be good at coming down under Counterbalance and is good against discard of course. I was unhappy with Extirpate and wasn't even bringing it in against Miracles - like what am I going to do, mess up their top of library when they flip top? That's pretty underwhelming. Against ANT and the combo decks, it's way better to be able to Duress and still hold up additional disruption turn 1.

R1 Grixis Control 1-2. He had a pile of Counterspells, Hymns, and even a Spellbomb maindeck. Tough matchup.
R2 Canadian Threshold 2-0. He didn't understand how to fight storm - kept a no-lander with Crypt and Force game 2 on the play.
R3 I'm drawing a blank. I think I won very quickly.
R4 ANT 2-1. I won the die roll, and I'm undefeated in the mirror when I win the die roll. Surgical wasn't enough to stop him g2 - I prevented him from killing me with Past in Flames by exiling Cabal Ritual, but he drew some mana and flashed it back a couple turns later.
R5 RUG Counter-Top Lands 2-0. Kind of a brew. He was mana constrained both games, but I still had to fight through 3+ counterspells. I didn't realize he was more Lands than Miracles since I only saw like 10 cards from him game 1, so boarded as if against Miracles. His double Grafdigger's Cage made things awkward, but I killed his Counterbalance and then used my 8 spells in hand + Top to natural Tendrils him.
R6 UWR Stoneblade 2-1. I lost game 1 to yet more maindeck Counterspells, Pierces, Forces, and card draw. It was close but he always had the answers. Games 2 and 3 were some of my finest games in months. I'll go into more detail below.
Quarters UWR Stoneblade (Gerry T) 2-1. I've alternated between Storm and other decks for the past month or two, but every time we play I'm on Storm and he's on some UR(x) deck. I'm 3-0 or 4-0, can't remember. He too had Counterspell maindeck, but I kept making him have the answers until he ran out. Then game 2 he had pressure, counterspells, and Cage. Tough. Game 3 I slogged through about 5 counterspells of various sorts with discard, tutoring for Past in Flames, etc. He drew a Meddling Mage to shut off the Past in Flames flashback for the win, but I tutored for a Chain of Vapor and won. Tough opponent, and his draws weren't great, but I feel like the matchup is favorable for storm.

So about round 6 - this was against a local who I know to be a competent magician. Game 1 I went for an upkeep Ad Nauseam, but forgot I had to sac Lotus Petal to get threshold until I cast Cabal Ritual. He countered, as expected. But then when I went for my Past in Flames line the next turn, I forgot that I didn't have the extra mana from Petal, and couldn't flash back Cabal Ritual to kill him. Not my finest. I made up for it games 2 and 3 though. We both mulliganed, and I saw that he kept a stinker - couple of equipment, Stoneforge, and a Flusterstorm, which I took. My hand was going to take a while to come together too, so I ended up taking his Stoneforge with a Therapy. He drew into True-Name Nemesis and then the next turn passed without playing his Sword of Fire and Ice. I had the kill, but his play seemed suspicious. I blind-Therapied Counterspell, hit, and tutored to set up a double-Tendrils line that killed with one Tendrils even if he Forced a mana spell (as he did). Then game 3, I had boarded out all my Chain of Vapors and Abrupt Decays because it didn't seem like he had any hate permanents. I discarded a couple of counterspells, but then he top-decked and tapped out for his one-of Meddling Mage, which named Ad Nauseam. This seemed suspicious. I had the kill again the next turn, but it relied on Past in Flames. So I blind Therapied him, named Surgical Extraction, and hit again! I had to feel good about two game-winning blind hits to lock top-8.

Overall thoughts - I used Ad Nauseam for a maindeck kill several times. It's not great, but it's an essential tool to have access to, especially now that so many decks seem to be going for a bunch of counterspells, card draw, and very few threats. The board was fine, although I didn't cast Empty at all. There were a bunch of Stoneblade decks and few tempo decks, so maybe that slot would be better served as a City of Solitude to shore up the Miracles matchup. The Miracles players all got knocked out early though, so maybe the field is turning against them. At least here in Seattle, it continues to be a good time to be a Storm player.

R3 was Z. Eagle i believe on mono white hate.
G1 was won through a leonin arbiter, thalia and suppression field. after you took his 3 ball the turn prior you had volc/trop in play and used lotus for initial black and then had the million rituals + IT, LED-> PiF.
g2 i believe he said he went double chalice?
g3 i believe he said he went to 6 and kept hoping to draw a mana source and you just killed him on 2.

[phazonmutant]

R3 was Z. Eagle i believe on mono white hate.
G1 was won through a leonin arbiter, thalia and suppression field. after you took his 3 ball the turn prior you had volc/trop in play and used lotus for initial black and then had the million rituals + IT, LED-> PiF.
g2 i believe he said he went double chalice?
g3 i believe he said he went to 6 and kept hoping to draw a mana source and you just killed him on 2.

Oh god that match. You're exactly right. I must have tried to blank the hate from my memory. Yep, game 1 took 7 mana spells and an Infernal Tutor to win, and still required using Past in Flames to get enough mana
Game 2 I kept a sketchy no-lander with no anti-hate that could win on turn 1 if he didn't have a Chrome Mox into hate opening. Unfortunately he did have the Chalice on 1 turn 1.
Game 3, you summed it up.

I'll edit my post above with the matchup.

[nevilshute]

Whenever I, or another storm player, beats a chalice player - especially if said player has several hate pieces on the board - it's like a little piece of heaven

Nice outing Phazon. Glad to hear you are still stormin'.

[JamieW89]

There will be a tournament in Milan at the date, where BoM used to be.

Do you have any details on this or have they not been published yet?

[Firefight]

Hi Guys,

I'm a new Storm Trooper, and just finished building ANT, but I have questions that I have not been able to answer by checking on the threads , post , SCG articles, or maybe I have not payed enough attention, if you please care to explain me I will be glad with you. Thank you

I have questions regarding the Mana Base, My build is an exact copy of Royce Walter third place at GPNJ, even the sideboard is the same.

Why ANT does not play Gemstone Mine anymore? Like the 2013 Adam Prosak build.

Is it really required to have 2 island or can I add another dual? If yes, what is it better, Bayou or Badlands? Is this a budget situation in the builds?

8 Fetchlands is the way to go? or is it meta call?

Why there are builds with 12 lands that are not TES ?

Thanks

[wonderPreaux]

Hi Guys,

I'm a new Storm Trooper, and just finished building ANT, but I have questions that I have not been able to answer by checking on the threads , post , SCG articles, or maybe I have not payed enough attention, if you please care to explain me I will be glad with you. Thank you

I have questions regarding the Mana Base, My build is an exact copy of Royce Walter third place at GPNJ, even the sideboard is the same.

Why ANT does not play Gemstone Mine anymore? Like the 2013 Adam Prosak build.

Is it really required to have 2 island or can I add another dual? If yes, what is it better, Bayou or Badlands? Is this a budget situation in the builds?

8 Fetchlands is the way to go? or is it meta call?

Why there are builds with 12 lands that are not TES ?

Thanks

The lack of Gemstone Mine is due to it being fundamentally underwhelming to a deck that draws great strength from just chilling out, hitting land drops and having consistent mana. This is also a large explanation for lists running 8+ fetches, stifles are few and far in between and it's really easy to manage basics and splash-duals with fetche.

If you add another dual that is a splash color, make it the one most important to your splash, so usually Bayou because of Xantid Swarm/Decay. However, there is a decent argument to be made that the additional non-U land is more trouble than it's worth since having a hand full of cantrips doesn't mesh well with cards like Swamp, I often switch between Bayou and a 3rd Underground Sea for that reason.

[Kanti]

@phazmo; If I read correctly you saw (Probed/discard) that your opponent had a Stoneforge in hand before casting Therapy. Woudn't it be better to just wait here and have your opponent cast SFM, and just Therapy away their Batterskull? After playing NicFit for a bit I started leaning towards that strategy as it's easier to run into another Mystic, but not as easy to get a Batterskull out of the graveyard. The downside to this is that they have no resolved Mystic of course, and might have the BSkull in hand, or can play with Brainstorm.

edit: nvm, just re-read the post. He had more equipments in hand. Therapy that damn SFM away.

[Togores]

Help guys.
Lately I had a littl inside fight.
I play 2 chain of vapor and 2 krossan grip.
Anticipating leyline I would side one of both. Usualy chain.
But grip can be casted on the omniscense without respinse. And now that they usualy only play one enter abd multiple digs.
You guys thik this is worth to try to catch them so? Or its a bad plan? Grip also makes nauseam not so good. But its usualy always from 17 life so a cc3 is not so bad.

Opinion?

[guillemnicolau]

Help guys.
Lately I had a littl inside fight.
I play 2 chain of vapor and 2 krossan grip.
Anticipating leyline I would side one of both. Usualy chain.
But grip can be casted on the omniscense without respinse. And now that they usualy only play one enter abd multiple digs.
You never have the priority when the omniscience touches the battlefield, so they can play Emrakul or ETI instantly and the grip will do nothing (yes, if they play ETI they won't be able to combo the same turn without omniscience, but they can always Cunning Wish into Noxious Revival to combo de next turn, with fow backup because they have the whole library in hand. It's true that if they play DTT they will probably cast it to search the WC, but there's the probability that after some cantrips they have it in hand...
You guys thik this is worth to try to catch them so? Or its a bad plan? Grip also makes nauseam not so good. But its usualy always from 17 life so a cc3 is not so bad.
Uhm, are you saying that you usually have 17 life when you play AN?
Opinion?

Answered in post, with bold text. I wouldn't change the sideboard to play against omnitell, you have discard and your deck can combo before omnitell, so it's not worth it to waste SB slots for it IMO.

[Togores]

Yeah but if they dont have the wincon like enter or emrakul in hand it puts them back to square one. If they have one of this 2 cards u just loose. U can respond to one of theys cantrips or cunning or dig destroying his enchantment.


Also yes its not the same strting from 17 life with a Cc3 in deck tan starting from 13 or so doe to some random creature beats.

[elroy]

They can also have another Omni (or Dream Halls) which they should play first and prevent the K Grip plan working. If you are siding in 2 bounce spells for leyline, I would go one of each (Chain + Grip) as while Omnitell has several outs to Grip they don't always have them and in that case you've probably bought yourself 2 turns. Grip over the second chain due to FoW/Pact of Negation/Flusterstorm.

Overall the match-up should be favourable for ANT.