@Bahamuth: I love the Swarm, always have and unless they print a better creature that chants without ever even hitting the opponent I will keep playing it. Here is what is so great about Swarm, sometimes I won't even board him in, instead I will put in EtW or something like that and because my opponents at the card shop I play at know I only play combo they expect Xantid and may keep in 4 Swords. That is just 4 more dead draws they have in their deck. And when playing just 2x Swarm, they are running 3-4 answers for it and I will take those odds anyday.

I totally understand not liking the Swarm, it is all preference. I used to hate the card as well, but oftentimes the threat of Xantid is enough for your opponent to unnecessarily play cards to answer it. Xantid also draws out Force of Will like a boss! Plus I have additional protection spells in the deck! I can see where you are coming from though, I hate Serenity with a passion but others will swear by it, perhaps you had bad experiences/luck with the card in the past.

I board out Ad Nauseam because it is garbage in the blue matchup IMOP. Especially because I have to board out Chrome Mox. I used to take out Ponders and go down to 1x Cabal Ritual but I feel this is a terrible mistake. Doomsday allows me to take my time and setup and Ad Nauseam forces me to have high life points where as you only need 2 for Doomsday! The card is just great against blue and the 4x blast 4x chant DDFT builds fuck CB thresh up hard, but they suffer from serious speed issues in the aggro matchups. DD is just a lot better because it allows you to sculpt your hand and preiodically test defenses while your life is being whitted away by Goyf and Ad Nauseam just becomes useless after turns 4-6.

I play kicked chant maybe 1/7-10 aggro matchups I encounter and I do think it is relevant, especially if you have the AdN setup for next turn. In general it is not a common play, I will agree there, but the kicker is relevant. Either way, play whatever manabase you feel comfortable with, there is no correct manabase with the lists, because we will all argue whatever works for us is better; but if you almost never lose games due to mana issues and feel confident playing against wasteland and the occassional Moon effect then thats the right manabase!

I never much kept track of my matchups after I write a tournament report, but in general I am roughly 50-50 lifetime VS CB with combo. With DDFT (the Hybrid list posted above morphs into this after SB) I am about 55/60% against them. It is only CB though that gives these lists a hard time, I don't think I have ever lost a matchup to Landstill with the Hybrid list or DDFT, or TES for that matter.

I can't ever get behind the blast plan, and if they don't have Top then they will BS in response and put a 1 drop on top or Force your blast and proceed to lock you out of the game. Very rarely will a 1 CC spell remove CB. Krosan Grip is the best answer. Now, if you want to play blast, chant, and grips ... even better! I found it to be complete overkill and top activations reveal a little more useless spells than it should but the matchup is damn good! The blast plan just puts more of an emphasis on speed (much like AdN) and opening hand. Grip is all about setup and timing and doesn't have to be in the opening hand to remove CB which is crucial IMOP when deciding which is better at dealing with that fucking enchantment! They both have their merits but if I had to choose one over the other I will take Grip everytime.

@spankme: Stay as far away from Doomsday as you can. Play regluar ANT lists with IT, LED, and IGG. Probably the best way to learn storm combo. If you have questions about how to play a hand or think you can win but don't know how post a scenario and we will help you out. Best way to learn though is goldfishing over and over and over again.