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Thread: Black ANT (Mono-Black Ad Nauseam Tendrils)

  1. #1

    Black ANT (Mono-Black Ad Nauseam Tendrils)

    Created by: Daniel Worobec

    Premier Date: March 6, 2019
    Last Updated: March 6, 2019

    Table of Contents

    I. Introduction

    II. Deck List (Primary Option)
    II.2 Main Deck
    II.3 Side Board

    III. Reasons to play Black ANT

    IV. How to play Black ANT
    IV.2 Plan A
    IV.3 Plan B
    IV.4 Plan C
    IV.5 Plan D

    V. The cards of Black ANT
    V.2 Side Board

    VI. Another Option
    VI.2 Main Deck
    VI.3 Side Board
    VI.4 Cards in Option two not in Primary Option

    I. Introduction

    When Gitaxian Probe was banned in Legacy, Strom decks lost a valuable card and have not been the same since. I wondered if I could do something good for Storm players so I gave it some thought and researched some cards and thus began my journey with Black ANT. I believe that I have created a new Storm deck that I would like to name ‘Black ANT’ or ‘Mono-Black Ad Nauseam Tendrils’. In the research I have done I have not found anything like it but would appreciate any input if it is not original. Thank you to theepicstorm.com for influencing Black ANT as much of it is similar to The Epic Storm deck.
    Black ANT is a Legacy Strom deck similar to The Epic Storm (TES) but is uses Tendrils of Agony as its primary win condition instead of Empty the Warrens. Black ANT also utilizes Empty the Warrens as a win condition as well as Auriok Salvagers, the deck can also turn into Bomberman if needed.

    II. Deck List (Primary Option)

    Black ANT is similar to TES but with some changes. Black ANT uses Mastermind’s Acquisition instead of Burning Wish; Urza’s Bauble, Mishra’s Bauble and Lodestone Bauble for drawing cards instead of blue cantrips and Mox Opal instead of Rite of Flame.

    II.2 Main Deck

    //Core Cards
    1x Ad Nauseam
    4x Mastermind’s Acquisition
    4x Infernal Tutor

    //Protection/Disruption
    4x Thoughtseize
    3x Duress
    2x Engineered Explosives

    //Cantrips
    4x Urza’s Bauble
    3x Mishra’s Bauble
    2x Lodestone Bauble

    //Mana Acceleration
    4x Dark Ritual
    4x Lion’s Eye Diamond
    4x Mox Opal
    4x Lotus Petal
    3x Chrome Mox

    //Land
    4x Vault of Whispers
    3x Spire of Industry
    7x Swamp

    II.3 Side Board (Working Progress)

    1x Tendrils of Agony
    1x Auriok Salvagers
    1x Empty the Warrens
    1x Ad Nauseam
    1x Ratchet Bomb
    2x Abrupt Decay
    2x Echoing Truth
    2x Hurkyl’s Recall
    1x Xantid Swarm
    1x Duress
    1x Fatal Push
    1x Massacre

    III. Reasons to play Black ANT

    Black ANT is simpler to play than three color Storm decks because it is Mono Black. Since Black ANT is one color it does not suffer from the difficulties the similar three color Storm decks may have such as not having the right mana to cast the right color spell and is not as vulnerable to non-basic land disruption effects. You only need one of nine cards in the Black ANT for it to work like Ad Nauseam, Mastermind’s Acquisition and Infernal Tutor and not so much worry if you are going to get the right cards for a three colored ANT deck. That is a 70% chance of getting the one card you need to win the game on the opening hand, a 64% chance of getting one after the first mulligan and a 57% change after the second mulligan (sorry I don’t know the cumulative chance after first and second mulligan, maybe someone could post it for me). The total Converted Mana Cost in Black ANT (not including the Ad Nauseam, you will end up casting it) is 35 witch averages to 0.583 life per card in a 60 card deck when using Ad Nauseam. So an average of 32 cards can be drawn with 19 life with an Ad Nauseam, in addition to the cards drawn throughout the game and with Baubles. After I cast an Ad Nauseam I almost always end up with having enough cards to Storm off a killing Tendrils of Agony. After goldfishing Black ANT 100 times, I end up doing 20+ life loss with a Tendrils of Agony at an average of 3.3 turns. By having your win conditions in the Side Board you are free to choose the one best fit for winning the game that you get with Mastermind’s Acquisition. Also by having the win conditions in your Side Board, they do not contribute to loosing life from Ad Nauseam and they are protected from being exiled from your deck. Black ANT also does not rely on using the graveyard as a resource to its primary winning strategy.

    Black ANT also costs less than regular Ad Nauseam Tendrils and The Epic Storm:

    *All dollar amounts are taken from starcitygames.com on March 6th, 2019 in USD
    Cost of Black ANT: $1613.50*
    Cost of Cyrus Corman-gil’s 2nd place ANT deck at Eternal Weekend 2018: $4133.50*
    Cost of TES posted on theepicstorm.com March 6th, 2019: $3654.75*

    ANT costs two and a half times more than Black ANT and TES costs almost two and a third times more than Black ANT, mostly because Black ANT does not use any expensive fetch and dual lands.

    IV. How to play Black ANT

    The combo in Black ANT is similar to TES. Mulligan till at least one Ad Nauseam/Mastermind’s Acquisition/Infernal Tutor is in your hand. If Ad Nauseam is not in your hand then tutor for it. Cast Ad Nauseam to draw cards and then use Mastermind’s Acquisition to get a win condition in the Side Board such as Tendrils of Agony, Empty the Warrens or Auriok Salvagers.

    IV.2 Plan A: Tendrils of Agony

    Tendrils of Agony is the Primary win condition in the deck, one of the namesake cards in a usual storm deck/sideboard.

    IV.3 Plan B: Empty the Warrens

    If Tendrils of Agony is unable to affect the opponent, such as them having Hexproof from a Leyline of Sanctity, then Empty the Warrens is a good alternative solution to winning the game through combat damage. Empty the Warrens can also be added to the deck if you wish or sideboarded in game 2/3 if you feel that you are in danger of not being able to use Mastermind’s Acquisition to get it from your sideboard or f you want to get it with an Infernal Tutor. Empty the Warrens may also be used to kill the opponent through multiple combats if you feel that you do not have enough life for an Ad Nauseam by having a smaller Storm count.

    IV.4 Plan C: Auriok Salvager (Bomberman)

    If plan A or B are not suitable for winning the game or if you just want to win with plan C, Auriok Salvagers is a good choice. Black ANT’s decklist is very similar to Bomberman’s list. The combination to kill your opponent with Auriok Salvagers is already built into the deck, all you need is one Auriok Salvager to win the game. There are several things Auriok Salvager can do for you. When used with Lion’s Eye Diamond you can generate infinite mana of every color. You can then bring back and activate Lodestone Bauble to draw their entire deck during the next upkeep. If you find that you do not have enough life for Ad Nauseam then simply draw as many cards as you like with one of nine Baubles during your opponent’s next upkeep and then win on your next turn with your entire deck in your hand to work with. Engineered Explosives is in the main deck and along with Auriok Salvagers generating all the mana you could ever want and the ability to bring it back from your graveyard with Auriok Salvagers, Explosives can destroy all non-land permanents of converted mana cost 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and/or 5. Auriok Salvagers can also be added to the deck if you wish or sideboarded in game 2/3 if you feel that you are in danger of not being able to use Mastermind’s Acquisition to get it from your sideboard or f you want to get it with an Infernal Tutor. So if you use the combination with Auriok Salvagers right, you can draw your entire deck, make the opponent draw their entire deck, build up infinite Storm, generate infinite mana of every color and destroy all non-land permanents with converted mana costs 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and/or 5 all in the same turn.

    IV.5 Plan D: Anything you want!

    With over 18,000 cards in the game, you have the ability to use just about any win condition you wish. Mastermind’s Acquisition can be used to get anything from your side board and you usually have about five mana in combination of any colors at the end of using an Ad Nauseam with the help of 12 artifacts that can produce mana of any color and three Spire of Industry. One of the reasons I am sharing Black ANT is to encourage innovation is ways I have not thought of. I hope people reading this can find any kind of Plan D. Some of the other options I have considered are Telemin Performance because it has been used as an alternative win condition in TES. Empty the Pits because at the end of an Ad Nauseam you would have lots of mana and plenty of cards to delve because of Lion’s Eye Diamond. My friend Ray suggested Dragonlord Dromoka as a larger creature you can use with flying, lifelink and other protective properties.

    V. The cards of Black ANT

    Ad Nauseam – Draw engine and primary card in Black ANT

    Mastermind’s Acquisition – Tutor for Ad Nauseam then tutor again for win condition in side board after an Ad Nauseam. Tutor for any card in deck and/or sideboard. Good for getting cards out of your side board that are answers to threats and cards that are keeping you from winning the game. For example getting a Hurkyl’s Recall to return all artifact lock pieces to the opponent’s hand.

    Infernal Tutor – Primarily used to tutor for Ad Nauseam, secondary used to find mana sources. If Mastermind’s Acquisition or Ad Nauseam is not in your hand when you have an Infernal Tutor in your hand, it is easy to get to Hellbent with a low amount of land in the deck and being able to empty the rest of your hand with zero and one converted mana cost cards. You can also activate Lion’s Eye Diamond after casting Infernal Tutor to get to Hellbent by discording your hand with the activation. It is often that you will be able to cast Ad Nauseam after using Infernal Tutor to get it in addition to Dark Rituals, and artifact mana. Infernal Tutor also has a decent converted mana cost if some leftover ones are drawn with Ad Nauseam. While Ad Nauseam is in effect and you do not draw a Mastermind’s Acquisition and are at low life, you can use an Infernal Tutor to get a Mastermind’s Acquisition if you have enough mana.

    Duress & Thoughtseize – Seven discard spells for one mana each is used for both protection and disruption in Black ANT. These can be used to protect Black ANT before going off by discarding specific threats the opponent may have and can make the opponent discard cards that are key to their deck’s success. Discarding cards can slow down your opponent witch can make Black ANT faster. Duress and Thoughtseize only cost one mana each there is minimal life loss when using an Ad Nauseam.

    Urza’s Bauble /Mishra’s Bauble / Lodestone Bauble – Nine draw cards for zero mana (with the exception of 2 Lodestone Baubles that require one mana to activate) enables you to draw cards for free and free up your resources to cast discard and tutoring spells. Urza’s Bauble and Mishra’s Bauble also grants you information as to what cards your opponent has, lets you know what your next card is and allows you to get swamps back from your graveyard. Having zero converted mana cost draw cards in Black ANT allows no life loss with Ad Nauseam; allowing more cards to be drawn by sparing life and adding a large boost to the storm count after an Ad Nauseam. The Baubles also help to enable Metalcraft for Mox Opal.

    Dark Ritual – Provides two additional black mana for the cost of one mana. Dark Ritual enables you to cast key spells fast and will add to the storm count. Having a converted mana cost of one is minimal life loss towards Ad Nauseam.

    Lion’s Eye Diamond – Getting three mana of any one color for zero mana is optimal. The penalty of discarding your hand as a cost can be overcome by activating it is response to casting Mastermind’s Acquisition or Infernal Tutor, often providing enough mana to allow you to cast a follow up spell that was tutored for like an Ad Nauseam or win condition such as Tendrils of Agony. Discarding your hand in response to casting Infernal Tutor enables Hellbent so you can search for any card. Lion’s Eye Diamond is often vital after drawing cards from an Ad Nauseam when mana is needed to cast the win condition that you get from your side board with a Mastermind’s Acquisition. Lion’s Eye Diamond can also be used to create an infinite amount of mana of every color in combination with Auriok Salvagers. Having a zero converted mana cost is ideal when Ad Nauseam is resolving and when wanting to cast as many spells as you can to increase storm count.

    Mox Opal – Being able to provide one mana of any color, every turn for zero mana is a very powerful card, just like a Mox should be. The Metalcraft criteria of having to have an additional two artifacts on the battlefield to be able to activate Mox Opal is not much of a concern since there are 26 non- Mox Opal artifacts in Black ANT that are all free to play. There is a 89.5% probability that you will have two non- Mox Opal artifacts in your opening hand of seven cards to turn on Metalcraft. Having a zero converted mana cost allows you to cast all of your Mox Opals in one turn if you like making it very useful after resolving an Ad Nauseam. Mana of any color allows you to cast any color card you may get from Mastermind’s Acquisition. Mox Opal is also ideal for contributing towards storm count and Hellbent.

    Lotus Petal – Like Mox Opal, Lotus Petal is great for adding a free mana of any color. Lotus Petal also contributes towards storm count, zero converted mana cost for Ad Nauseam, getting to Hellbent and Metalcraft and providing mana of any color after getting a card from your sideboard.

    Chrome MoxChrome Mox is like Mox Opal and Lotus Petal but is limited to producing black mana. Also effects storm count, Ad Nauseam, Metalcraft, Hellbent and are free to play like Mox Opal and Lotus Petal. Not being Legendary and not being needed to be sacrificed as part of the activation for mana allows for multiple Chrome Moxen on the battlefield and can be re-used for multiple turns. Exiling a card to Imprint is optional and can help towards achieving Hellbent by removing a colored card in your hand.

    Engineered Explosives – Having permanent removal with a zero converted mana cost is always helpful. Engineered Explosives is great for blowing up permanents with converted mana cost greater than zero because Black ANT does not have any permanents in it with a converted mana cost above zero, so you don’t have to be afraid of destroying your own things. Chalice of the Void is a large threat to Black ANT that is also commonly played in other decks. Casting Engineered Explosives for zero on your first turn is good for getting rid of Chalice and in case Chalice of the Void is already on the battlefield with no counters on it, Spire of Industry can provide colorless mana to raise the converted mana cost above zero so that the Chalice will not counter it. There are also 11 permanents that can produce mana of any color if you need it for Sunburst. Engineered Explosives is also good in combination with Auriok Salvagers as mentioned in Plan C. Engineered Explosives is also good for getting to Hellbent, Metalcraft and life for Ad Nauseam.

    Swamp & Vault of Whispers – Four Vault of Whispers and 7 basic swamps and three other land may not seem like a lot of land for a deck but when combined with four Dark Rituals and 15 artifact mana for a total of 33 mana sources, 14 land should be enough. A smaller amount of land makes it easier to get to Hellbent for an Infernal Tutor. Because Black ANT is a mono-colored deck means you don’t have to have many lands to support multiple colors. Vault of Whispers are included to contribute towards Metalcraft. Since Black ANT uses only 7 non-basic land, as well as 7 basic swamps and mana used from artifact sources, effects and control cards that are used to attack non-basic land are not as effective against Black ANT when compared to decks of two or more colors. Non-Black win conditions such as Empty the Warrens and Auriok Salvagers do require colored mana other than black to use. Having 12 artifacts and three Spire of Industry that can create mana of any color to cast them as well as having 18 cards to help search for those resources in Black ANT, availability of non-black mana is not a concern.

    Spire of Industry – Black ANT may be a mono colored deck but having lands that can produce mana of any color in the main deck can mean that you can play any color in your side board. Having the versatility to produce mana of any color is ideal when being able to tutor for any card with Mastermind’s Acquisition. Having the option to add colorless mana for no loss life and mana of any color with a loss of one life means that you have an option for not having to pay life, very useful when trying to conserve life for an Ad Nauseam.

    V.2 Side Board

    The listed side board is a rough draft and can be altered to the persons liking but Tendrils of Agony, Empty the Warrens and Auriok Salvager are required to be included in the side board in order for Black ANT to work. The other 12 is up to you.

    Tendrils of Agony – Primary win condition, see Plan A. Required in side board.

    Empty the Warrens – Alternate win condition, see Plan B. Required in side board.

    Auriok Salvagers – Alternate win condition, alternate draw engine, see Plan C. Required in side board.

    Ad Nauseam – Back up Ad Nauseam that can be tutored with Mastermind’s Acquisition if something were to happen to the one in the main deck.

    Abrupt Decay – Is a good answer for getting rid of many threats on the battlefield that can’t be countered. Is good for offensive, defensive and control use.

    Echoing Truth – Is a good answer to returning just about any permanent to the opponent’s hand along with copies. Since Black ANT is designed to win on a single turn, getting rid of a permanent for a turn is all that is really needed.

    Hurkyl’s Recall – Artifact prison is commonly played and is of concern when playing Black ANT. Cards like Chalice of the Void, Thorn of Amethyst, Sphere of Resistance, Trinisphere, Lodestone Golem, Damping Sphere and the like are returned to the opponent’s hand at the end of their turn so your next turn can be used to combo off free of artifact disruption.

    Xantid Swarm – Being able to cast spells on your turn without having to fear that the opponent can disrupt your turn with countermagic is a great benefit.

    Fatal Push – There are many creatures that can keep Black ANT from working. Creatures that are a threat that Fatal Push can eliminate are Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Sanctum Prelate, Gaddock Teeg, Ethersworn Canonist, Eidolon of the Great Revel, Lavinia, Azorius Renegade, Aegis of the Gods, Glowrider, Meddling Mage, Vryn Wingmare, Aven Mindcensor, Scab-Clan Berserker, Kambal, Consul of Allocation, Shalai, Voice of Plenty, Council of the Absolute, Eidolon of Rhetoric and Lodestone Golem. Fatal Push is also good utility against early threats that the opponent may have that threaten to bring your life total down before you cast Ad Nauseam. Revolt can be triggered by nine Baubles, Lotus Petal or with a second Mox Opal. Having a converted mana cost of one allows Fatal Push to have minimal life loss with Ad Nauseam and can allow multiple Fatal Push in the deck with having minimal life loss as well with Ad Nauseam.

    Ratchet BombChalice of the Void is probably the largest threat to Black ANT. Chalice can counter all of the 26 zero converted mana cost artifacts in Black ANT and is common in many decks and side boards. Ratchet Bomb can eliminate all Chalice of the Void on the battlefield. Having a converted mana cost of two makes it an unlikely that the opponent will have a Chalice on the battlefield with two counters, is fast to cast and is gentler when resolving an Ad Nauseam. Ratchet Bomb also contributes towards Metalcraft and is versatile in eliminating other threats.

    Massacre – The deck called ‘Death and Taxes’ is popular and has many threats that can stop Black ANT in the main deck such as Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Sanctum Prelate. Other creatures that Massacre is good against include Ethersworn Canonist, Lavinia, Azorius Renegade, Aegis of the Gods, Glowrider, Meddling Mage, Vryn Wingmare and Aven Mindcensor. Death and Taxes is also effective at bringing your life point total down fast that can affect your Ad Nauseam with cheap, fast creatures. Massacre is a good choice to side board against Death and Taxes, can be tutored with Mastermind’s Acquisition and is usually cast for free.

    VI. Another Option

    Here is another Black ANT option that focuses more on being one color. There is not much of a difference when compared to the deck above, it is just another option I was experimenting with. There are some advantages and disadvantages over the two.

    VI.2 Main Deck

    //Core Cards
    1x Ad Nauseam
    4x Mastermind’s Acquisition
    4x Infernal Tutor

    //Protection/Disruption
    4x Duress
    4x Thoughtseize

    //Cantrips
    4x Urza’s Bauble
    4x Mishra’s Bauble
    2x Lodestone Bauble

    //Mana Acceleration
    4x Dark Ritual
    4x Lion’s Eye Diamond
    4x Mox Opal
    4x Lotus Petal
    3x Chrome Mox

    //Land
    4x Vault of Whispers
    2x Ifnir Deadlands
    8x Swamp

    VI.3 Side Board (Working progress)

    1x Tendrils of Agony
    1x Empty the Warrens
    1x Auriok Salvagers
    1x Ad Nauseam
    3x Hope of Ghirapur
    1x Nevinyrral’s Disk
    3x Fatal Push
    2x Ratchet Bomb
    1x Massacre
    1x Culling Scales

    VI.4 Cards in Option 2 that are not in the first deck

    Ifnir DeadlandsIfnir Deadlands is added to the deck in place of basic swamps as solutions to stopping a variety of creature threats that would disrupt or prevent Black ANT from working. Creatures such as Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Sanctum Prelate, Gaddock Teeg, Ethersworn Canonist, Eidolon of the Great Revel and Lavinia, Azorius Renegade are found in many decks and side boards. Other creatures that are sometimes found in decks that are threats to Black ANT include Aegis of the Gods, Glowrider, Meddling Mage, Vryn Wingmare and Aven Mindcensor. Ifnir Deadlands is a solutions to removing all of these threats while having little penalty to Black ANT in being in place of a basic swamp. Ifnir Deadlands can also be used to kill or debuff other creatures.

    Hope of Ghirapur – Can be used to prevent your opponent from casting spells during your second main phase, mostly so that the opponent can’t disrupt with the Storm combination going off with spells such as counter magic. Hope of Ghirapur can be used to almost take away an opponent’s turn, preventing them from casting non-creature spells for a turn. This can be useful when against fast combo decks that might get you that extra turn you need to win the game. Hope of Ghirapur can also be used to turn on Metalcraft and the low converted mana cost means it will have minimal life loss when using an Ad Nauseam. Auriok Salvagers can also be used with Hope of Ghirapur to possibly denying your opponent from casting non-creature spells during all of their turn and all of your second main phases.

    Nevinyrral’s Disk – Is in the side board if needed and can be accessed with Mastermind’s Acquisition. Nevinyrral’s Disk can be used to eliminate multiple threats while having a limited impact on yourself. Disk is most useful in eliminating multiple lock pieces that keep the deck from Storming off, including cards that counter spells (Chalice of the Void, Counterbalance), taxing cards that increase casting cost (sphere effects, Thalia) and cards that keep you from playing cards (Meddling Mage, Ethersworn Canonist). Nevinyrral’s Disk has minimal impact on your permanents when all the permanents you have are artifacts that produce mana. When using Nevinyrral’s Disk, tap all your artifact mana, sacrifice your Baubles and then activate Disk to clear all threats or hold cards in your hand and then cast your artifacts after Disk has been activated. Then use remaining mana to combo off with Storm with a clear battlefield. Nevinyrral’s Disk can also be used to wipe the battlefield if there is are significant threats on the opponent’s side. While disk will eliminate permanent threats on the Battlefield, Duress and Thoughtseize care used to eliminate threats in the opponent’s hand.

    Culling ScalesCulling Scales can be effective against cards that shut down Black ANT, which other side board cards cannot handle such as Null Rod and Stony Silence can be eliminated with Culling Scales. Culling Scales can also be used to also control the battlefield, constantly eliminating threats until you are ready to combo off Black ANT.
    Last edited by Daniel Worobec; 03-08-2019 at 06:33 PM.

  2. #2

    Re: Black ANT (Mono-Black Ad Nauseam Tendrils)

    I feel like this deck would be a bit awkward to use given that your Baubles always set you back a turn to get the cards, and Mastermind's Acquisition is very costly for what it accomplishes (it only saw limited use in Bizarro Stompy, iirc).

    Interestingly, though, you may want to look into a deck Emidln made a while back called "SAINT" (the name is, as far as I know, an amalgam of ANT and SI), which is also a mono-Black Ad Nauseam all-in. While you are trying to build the better ANT/TES list, he was trying to build the better Belcher/SI list, and came up with the idea of Ad Nauseam to create combo turns that always kill on the combo turn (unlike Belcher's EtW) and are much less reliant on chains of spells (SI's draw 4s often had to find 1 or more specific cards to continue the chain).

    You can find his old thread on it on the StormBoards, but here's a decent guess at what a more "present day" list could look like (The 4th Mox / 10th Artifact creature could conceivably be PiF or Diabolic Intent):

    4 Goblin Charbelcher
    4 Ad Nauseam
    4 Infernal Tutor
    1 Tendrils of Agony
    3 Ornithopter
    4 Shield Sphere
    3 Phyrexian Walker
    1 Bayou
    4 Land Grant
    4 Mox Opal
    4 Chrome Mox
    4 Lotus Petal
    4 Lion's Eye Diamond
    4 Dark Ritual
    4 Cabal Ritual
    4 Culling the Weak
    4 Cabal Therapy

    4 Duress
    4 Nature's Claim
    4 Elvish Spirit Guide
    3 Slaughter Pact

  3. #3

    Re: Black ANT (Mono-Black Ad Nauseam Tendrils)

    Regarding the one land version, I think some number of unmask could prove useful, I'm guessing 2 or more. As for the more standard version I think having a tomb of urami or two could be very useful against leyline of sanctity, especially because 1 it is uncounterable, 2 it only takes up land slots, and 3 more than likey your opponent will not have kept in effective removal against it unless they have something like double bolt.

  4. #4

  5. #5

    Re: Black ANT (Mono-Black Ad Nauseam Tendrils)

    For your viewing pleasure, I have updated the post to include pictures of the cards when clicked on.

    Enjoy!

  6. #6

    Re: Black ANT (Mono-Black Ad Nauseam Tendrils)

    Quote Originally Posted by wonderPreaux View Post
    I feel like this deck would be a bit awkward to use given that your Baubles always set you back a turn to get the cards, and Mastermind's Acquisition is very costly for what it accomplishes (it only saw limited use in Bizarro Stompy, iirc).

    Interestingly, though, you may want to look into a deck Emidln made a while back called "SAINT" (the name is, as far as I know, an amalgam of ANT and SI), which is also a mono-Black Ad Nauseam all-in. While you are trying to build the better ANT/TES list, he was trying to build the better Belcher/SI list, and came up with the idea of Ad Nauseam to create combo turns that always kill on the combo turn (unlike Belcher's EtW) and are much less reliant on chains of spells (SI's draw 4s often had to find 1 or more specific cards to continue the chain).

    You can find his old thread on it on the StormBoards, but here's a decent guess at what a more "present day" list could look like (The 4th Mox / 10th Artifact creature could conceivably be PiF or Diabolic Intent):

    4 Goblin Charbelcher
    4 Ad Nauseam
    4 Infernal Tutor
    1 Tendrils of Agony
    3 Ornithopter
    4 Shield Sphere
    3 Phyrexian Walker
    1 Bayou
    4 Land Grant
    4 Mox Opal
    4 Chrome Mox
    4 Lotus Petal
    4 Lion's Eye Diamond
    4 Dark Ritual
    4 Cabal Ritual
    4 Culling the Weak
    4 Cabal Therapy

    4 Duress
    4 Nature's Claim
    4 Elvish Spirit Guide
    3 Slaughter Pact
    Thank you for your response and insight wonderPreaux. Yes Baubles are a bit slower but they do get the job done, they were added to the deck to offset the life cost Mastermind's Acquisition would have on Ad Nauseam. Less and Ad Nauseam Black ANT has a total of Converted Mana Cost (CMC) 35 in the deck that enable you to draw more cards with Ad Nauseam, CMC well below traditional ANT and TES decks. Baubles are meant as filler and to work with Mox Opal and Auriok Salvagers. Getting an Ad Nauseam / Infernal Tutor / Mastermind's Acquisition is mostly done through mulligans since you only need to get one of the nine in your hand for the deck to work and Baubles can also be used to search for key cards if mulligans don't work out.

    Black ANT is much more than just a Storm deck, it can use just about any card to win the game. Mastermind's Acquisition is used for much more than just getting Tendrils of Agony for the win, it can get any card out of your sideboard with enough mana of any color to cast most cards. As I outlined in the article there are three primary win conditions plus you can add in whatever you want in Plan A, B, C, D, and who known where Black ANT can be taken with some more thought and play testing. The first and second win conditions are Tendrils of Agony and Empty the Warrens, the most understood and used Storm cards. The the third win condition is Auriok Salvagers and Black ANT can be played as Bomberman if you choose to. The fourth option is to do anything you want, I came up with examples like Telemin Performance, Empty the Pits and Dragonlord Dromoka. And Mastermind's Acquisition can be used to tutor for sideboard cards for answers for significant threats or cards that keep you from winning. Black ANT is Storm with versatility.

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