[Deck] ANT (Ad Nauseam Tendrils)

[e_hawk77]

I play ANT this weekend at the gp. The deck seems really nuts and think that it can compete even vs counterbalance deck but i/we need to tweek it.

This is the list i played

4 polluted delta
3 flooded strand
2 underground sea
1 tundra
1 scrubland
1 tropical island
1 swamp
1 island

4 brainstorm
4 dark ritual
3 cabal ritual
3 mystical tutor
3 orim's chant
2 ad nauseum
1 krosan grip
1 echoing truth
3 ponder
4 infernal tutor
4 duress
1 ill gotten gains
1 tendrils of agony
3 chrome mox
4 lotus petal
4 lion's eye diamond
1 thoughtsieze

sb
4 dark confidant
3 tendrils of agony
1 krosan grip
1 hurkyls recall
1 rebuild
1 ill gotten gains
2 slaughter pact
1 echoing truth
1 thoughtseize

I went 6-3 playing vs. 1 merfolk, 6 countertop decks (3-3), ichord, and enchantress. I only cast orims chant vs the ichorid deck as time walks and duress/thoughtsieze was the nuts every game and think that i want the full sweet and just cut the white all together.

Also ant deck that made the top 8 he is a very solid player and the deck is very powerful and with the right player behind it can put up great results. It doesn't fit my play style and i dont like playing red due to the fact that i dont like when blue elemental blast is really good against you, but it is definitly somthing to consider.

[emidln]

First GP Trial
*UBGr CB Thresh 2-1
UGBr CB Goyf (Brassman) 0-2 (Brassman draws CB at all the right times)

Second GP Trial
UGR Dreadstill 2-0
*UGB CB Thresh 2-1
"Turn 1 Nether Void.dec" 1-2

Third GP Trial
B/w Pox 2-0
Mono U Merfolk 2-0
Armageddon Stax 2-1
UGR Thrash 1-2


GP Day 1
*UGB CB Thresh 1-2
UGWb CB Counterslivers 2-0
Eva Green 2-0
UGW Prog Thresh 2-0
*URG Dreadstill 1-2
*UGW Prog Thresh 2-1
*UBW Landstill 2-1
*Team America 0-2 (I honestly don't remember if we played a game 3. If we did, then game 2 was really short)
*UB CB PainterPainter 1-1 draw (in game 3 I was a storm short of killing him with Tendrils (thanks to his like 5 duress effects in the first five turns) as we were approaching time in an irrelevant round so I played Grapeshot to nuke his board of 2x Meddling Mage + Trinket Mage for the draw)

In starred matches I went off turn 1 in game 1 with Ad Nauseam and had it Force of Will'd causing me to start the match down 0-1. I believe against Team America, I also had the ability to go off game 2 or 3 (whichever one I lost) turn 1 but backed off because I had the ability to win turn 2 with Chant backup (playing around Daze) but opp lead with Thoughtseize and then played several more.

I played this list the whole weekend:

//maindeck
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
1 Underground Sea
1 Tropical Island
1 Volcanic Island
1 Tundra
1 Scrubland
1 Bayou
1 Snow-covered Island
1 Snow-covered Swamp
4 Lotus Petal
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Dark Ritual
3 Cabal Ritual
4 Orim's Chant
4 Duress
1 Wipe Away
4 Brainstorm
4 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Mystical Tutor
2 Infernal Tutor
2 Doomsday
1 Ad Nauseam
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
1 Meditate
1 Tendrils of Agony

//sideboard
1 Snow-covered Plains
1 Badlands
4 Pyroblast
2 Krosan Grip
1 Helm of Awakening
1 Grapeshot
1 Echoing Truth
1 Rushing River
1 Hurkyl's Recall* (this was Chain of Vapor until Day 1)
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Doomsday

Overall, the list performed fairly well. Had I received matchups like the TES players, I would have easily made day 2, and still only lost out on day 2 to my own play mistake against Dreadstill in g3. I would have rather played straight Doomsday because (a) I lost almost every game I cast Ad Nauseam due to it not resolving and (b) 4x Doomsday lists play extra disruption and 4x Ponder maindeck which, given that I only played against control decks (excepting Eva Green and Pox), would have been a lot better for me on the weekend. Sensei's Divining Top was busted all weekend. Doomsday was by far my most used win condition with Ad Nauseam following that (barring the fact that I only actually won with it twice, neither of which were against blue), and only a couple kills with Infernal Tutor. I think I had more kills from looping Sensei's Divining Tops into Mystical->Tendrils than I did with Infernal Tutor, although Infernal Tutor did earn its slots finding extra disruption or acting as Duress bait (due to its extreme power).

I had a ton of fun in the vintage side event with this list and will definitely play it again at the next vintage event I attend:

4 Bazaar of Baghdad
4 City of Brass
4 Serum Powder
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Stinkweed Imp
4 Golgari Thug
4 Ichorid
4 Bridge from Below
4 Narcomoeba
4 Dread Return
2 Cephalid Sage
2 Flame-kin Zealot
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Unmask
4 Chalice of the Void

SB: 4 Firestorm
SB: 4 Chain of Vapor
SB: 4 Ingot Chewer
SB: 3 Gemstone Mine

[georgjorge]

I went 6-3 playing vs. 1 merfolk, 6 countertop decks (3-3), ichord, and enchantress. I only cast orims chant vs the ichorid deck as time walks and duress/thoughtsieze was the nuts every game and think that i want the full sweet and just cut the white all together.

I'd be interested in some details about how you beat the three CounterTop decks (or did they just not draw their Balances?)!

[B.C.]

I also went 6-3 at the GP, getting my third loss in the 9th round to crush my day 2 dreams.

BUG ANT:

4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Underground Sea
1 Bayou
1 Tropical Island
1 Island
1 Swamp
4 Lotus Petal
3 Chrome Mox
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Duress
4 Thoughtseize
4 Mystical Tutor
4 Brainstorm
3 Infernal Tutor
3 Ponder
2 Ad Nauseam
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Chain of Vapor

SB:
4 Dark Confidant
4 Xantid Swarm
2 Krosan Grip
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Hurkyll's Recall
1 Rebuild
1 Swamp
1 Mox Diamond

Rd 1: Aggro Loam - W
Rd 2: Affinity - W
Rd 3: Goblins - W
Rd 4: Elves - W
Rd 5: UGR Canadian Thresh - L
Rd 6: Ichorid - W
Rd 7: Merfolk - L
Rd 8: Ichorid - W
Rd 9: Merfolk - L

So basically I couldn't lose against non-blue decks and I couldn't win against blue decks, and obviously I got lucky with my matchups. The Thresh match was very close, and I could have won, but Merfolk is a vicious beating. I only won 1 game against Merfolk, and that was only because he kept a fairly shitty hand. Something needs changing.

[kroelai]

I couldn't win against blue decks
....
Something needs changing.

Why don't you splash White for Chant.
It would have helpt you a lot comming into day 2, according to your MU's.

[e_hawk77]

My strategy going in was that everyone was play a blue based counterbalance deck. So i wouldn't start a game without a very explosive start with a ponder, brainstorm or a duress effect. I started at 6 cards almost every game just to find a duress effect. This is why im thinking of adding 2 more thoughtsieze to the main just so i can get that start. The three counterbalance decks and the merfolk deck that i beat was due to duress and the strategy of going off before things get bad. I would write a report but lost my notes, sorry.

[ColeM]

@BC

Was it the mana denial strategy paired with Daze effects and quick dudes that defeated you in those games? Did you resolve Xantid Swarm in any of those games and if so, did it make a significant difference? I find it interesting that you had difficulty against decks deploying those strategies but had success in the past (other tournaments/testing) vs. CounterTop.

I personally think that your land count is an issue in the above matchups, but I could be wrong. Lacking Orim's Chant is detrimental also, but that's a price you pay for running UBg.

[B.C.]

I think the Threshold matchup isn't so bad. It's winnable. It's the Merfolk matchup that I found to be really bad. It's the ability to play Cursecatcher on turn 1 (which happened almost every game) and follow it up with big beats by turn 3 or so. In my round 9 matchup I was eventually able to Ad Nauseam both games, but I was at 7 life in game 1 and 8 life in game 2. Xantid Swarm did help.

[Pulp_Fiction]

Tonight I took this list to my local card shop and went 4-0-1 out of 20 people to a top 4 split:

4x LED
4x Dark Ritual
4x Lotus Petal
4x Duress
4x Mystical Tutor
4x Brainstorm
3x Infernal Tutor
3x Ponder
3x Orim's Chant
3x Cabal Ritual
3x Chrome Mox
2x Ad Nauseam
1x Tendrils of Agony
1x IGG
1x Wipe Away
1x Krosan Grip

4x Flooded Strand
4x Polluted Delta
1x Swamp
1x Island
1x Underground Sea
1x Bayou
1x Tropical Island
1x Tundra
1x Scrubland

Sideboard

4x Serenity
3x Xantid Swarm
2x Slaughter Pact
2x Krosan Grip
1x Plains
1x Rebuild
1x Tranquility
1x Brain Freeze

Here is a short report of what happened.

Round 1 - Andy Probasco's exact list -1 change in the SB
g1: He is late and I get a win!
g2: I suck it up and go for the turn 2 Ad Nauseam and run into Force and die very shortly afterward to double Goyf.
g3: Xantid Swarm comes down on turn 1 ... he loses on turn 3 after I comfortably set up my combo as he has no real answer to the Swarm!

Round 2 - R/W Goblins
g1: My opening hand is Petal, Petal, Mystical, Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Chant, Wipe Away! I easily win on turn 2 VIA Ad Nauseam!
g2: Same thing as game one, I win on turn 2 after double Dark Ritual into Ad Nauseam!

Round 3 - UGw Ninja Thresh w/ Spellstutter Sprite, Force, Daze, and Stifle
g1: I Duress him 3 times and combo off at 2 life VIA IGG and just barely get there!
g2: We both stall on mana and keep our fetchlands, but since he went first I know when I attempt to fetch he will fetch in response and Stifle me and I have no mana! I wait for him to do something and fetch and it gets Stifled. I looked at 10+ cards on the top of my deck and never saw land #2 ... I almost combo out VIA Ad Nauseam after landing a Chrome Mox, but after digging into 20 or so cards in the deck (lots of lands, its ironic) I don't hit a single Petal or Mox ... and lose shortly after.
g3: We both mull to 6 and I finally draw into Xantid Swarm! I Chant him to get Swarm into play (avoiding Spellstutter Sprite) all while trying to assemble the combo. I attack with Swarm with Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual (threshed), and Ad Nauseam in hand and 15 life to spare, he never sees another turn as I resolve Ad Nauseam and Mystical for ToA and Brainstorm into it with storm at 15 or so.

Round 4 - ID

Round 5 - BGw Rock
g1: Opening hand: LED, Ponder, Duress, Mystical Tutor, Chrome Mox, fetch, Infernal Tutor and he mulled to 5 trying to find Thoughtseize and didn't. I win easily on turn 3 after the turn 2 Ad Nauseam reveals fucking bullshit and drops me down to 1 life. I drop my hand, IGG back Tendrils and play it for 22!
g2: He brings in Extirpate and Teeg and I bring in Slaughter Pact. We both mull to 6 and I keep a very iffy hand but it had 2 lands, Mystical, Slaughter Pact, Duress, and Chant. I Duress him on my turn 1 and see lands, Top, and Teeg and in response he Extirpates my Polluted Delta! We play draw go for a little while and I take a couple swings from Teeg. Eventually on turn 5 I have 4 lands in play and Chrome Mox, Infernal, Chant, Mystical Tutor, Pact in hand. During his upkeep I Chant him with kicker and EOT Mystical for Ad Nauseam. Drop Mox imprinting IT and go nuts with Ad Nauseam!

I am absolutely loving this list! Consistent as hell and I LOVE Xantid Swarm and KGrip, Swarm was MVP all night! The SB is still in the works, but I really feel good about everything except Rebuild, it just seems so unneeded. Tranquility makes Enchantress a bye and my meta has a lot of fucking Runed Halos showing up lately! Brain Freeze is my extra wincon that I like to side in against Runed Halos and Extirpates, it just makes things easier! The Wipe Away main is just to add some redundancy to dealing with Counterbalance. KGrip kills it dead and Wipe Away serves the function of removing anything temporarily (including CB)!! Any questions about the list or matchups feel free to ask!

[Fuzzy]

Tranquility makes Enchantress a bye and my meta has a lot of fucking Runed Halos showing up lately!

Ladies and Gentlemans, I present you...



You run 1 more W mana source in your SB, and you will probably board in it + 4 Serenitys in this matchup. So, I think Cleanfall is the right call.

[Pulp_Fiction]

The W is in the board for Stax and Moon variants. But good call, I was just going through my typical combo SB cards when I built the SB and totally forgot about Cleanfall. I ran it a grand total of 1 time in my wishboard for TES.

Now the plains in the SB really has no relevance, BUT, since I run 3 Chant, white is way more likely to be the color imprinted on Chrome Mox which does have relevance.

On another note, I am not sure I am going to stick with a single Rebuild in the SB, I would kind of like a single Extirpate but it just seems kind of lame. Perhaps Rebuild really is the right call?

[Nihil Credo]

While we're at it, Tempest of Light > Cleanfall if you don't run Burning Wish. Or Evermind.

[Fossil4182]

Just a question, but what is the optimal amount of lands ANT looks to run? I know that ANT looks to start the combo between turns 2-3. So that being said, does the deck need to run more than 15 lands? Between 4 Lotus Petals, 4 LEDs and 3-4 Moxen is more than 15 lands necessary? I know each build is going to be different, but I would assume that most builds will have 14-15 lands or is that too much?

Additionally, has anyone found it helpful to run 3 Chrome Mox and 1 Mox Diamond? I ask because it would seem helpful after you use Ad Nauseam to be able to turn those lands for something worth while and single Mox for any color doesn't seem to be a bad idea.

[Dark_Cynic87]

Using Mox Diamond is a risk that shouldn't be taken. When you play ad nauseam you don't need to worry about the lands; they will never have an effect on how many cards you flip. They are irrelevant unless you haven't made your land drop. Playing Mox Diamond is a dead card where Chrome Mox wouldn't be the extreme majority of the time pre-nauseam and no better than Chrome Mox #4 post-ad nauseam.

The land count in my list ranges from 14 to 17 depending on how many colors and basics I play. Right now, my list is 5-c AdN Hybrid, and I run 16 lands due to Blood Moon in my meta. I added another basic to get around it easier.

Pce,

--DC

[zimmerbloke]

I was looking over the decklists from the GP (http://www.thestarkingtonpost.com/?p=463) and I didn't see a single copy of Doomsday in any of the Day 2 lists.

For those of you who played ANT or DDFT at the GP, did you play Doomsday and was it effective? I know its inclusion has been debated, but I've been liking it in testing and wasn't sure if this was a strike against including it in ANT.

[johanessen]

Nauseam won the february and march league in barcelona spain (~80people)

Last list used:

4 Underground Sea
2 City of Traitors
1 Island
1 Swamp
4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
4 Lotus Petal
4 Chrome Mox
4 Dark Ritual
3 Mox Diamond
3 Cabal ritual
2 Sensei’s divining top
2 Tendrils of Agony
2 Ad Nauseam
4 Mystical Tutor
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Duress
4 Pact of Negation
1 Chain of vapor

Side

3 Orim’s Chant
3 Hurkyls recall
3 Angel’s Grace
3 Slaughter Pact
1 Tundra
1 Wipe Away
1 Echoing Truth

won all rounds 2-0 (7 rounds+top8) except quarterfinals for 2-1 against zoo.

[Pulp_Fiction]

Most people who complain about Doomsday being bad have probably just read that from other people and restate it. Others have put together the decks and tried it out and thought it terrible. Doomsday is a seriously skill testing card. It is really fucking hard to play right, read emidln's pages on Doomsday stacks and test it out. It takes lots and lots of goldfishing to figure it out.

I really prefer the hybrid decks since I hate going down to low life and attempting to win VIA IGG. I still play straight up ANT because I feel it is more consistent and Pithing Needle on Top can often times have a serious effect on the game. But, in terms of beating CB and Thresh in general, I think Doomsday is a little more effective.

[emidln]

I went 5-3-1 day one playing the hybrid (2 Doomsday, 1 Ad Nauseam, 4 Duress, 4 Chant md with 4 Pyroblast, 1 Doomsday sb for the control matchup) and was extremely unhappy with the Ad Nauseam in my maindeck/choices that it forced upon me. I started several matches down 0-1 because Ad Nauseam compelled me to combo turn one against an unknown opponent (holding the hand for protection isn't an option when Thoughtseize/Duress/Stifle/Daze/Spell/Chalice of the Void/Trinisphere can all wreck your hand if an opponent gets a land drop). The extra acceleration and lessened protection and cantrips was problematic throughout the day, and being forced to devote sideboard slots to lands against control was a waste of sideboard space. I played against 6 CB decks, 1 Team America, 1 Landstill, and 1 Eva Green day one and every round would have been happier playing straight DDFT.

For what it's worth, I was in contention until round 8 with no byes where I lost to T00L playing Team America with my draw coming in round 9 once I stopped caring. Doomsday was ridiculous all weekend and let me combo out several times in extremely poor situations, often through random hate. I won more games by playing acceleration and looping Sensei's Divining Tops before playing a storm spell than I won by resolving Ad Nauseam (although it wasn't due to a lack of trying).

I don't know if anyone else played Doomsday, but I noticed quite a few people watching my matches and I fielded a ton of questions about the card. Doomsday was instrumental in winning postboard games against blue decks (letting me fight their hate with additional protection while largely ignoring my life total) and even pulled through in the grinders against strange decks like Pox and Stax w/SoR+Null Rod main. I am rather curious if any other Ad Nauseam players ran into even half as many blue decks as I did on the day. I noticed from the TES thread people claiming they lost to jank like Affinity, Goyf Sligh, and Goblins while I couldn't buy a match against a straight aggro deck.

I know that I will not personally be playing Ad Nauseam in my maindeck for FT until Counterbalance or Force of Will get banned. IMO, if you want to play a deck with Ad Nauseam in it, you should seriously look into a TES derivative with Empty the Warrens in an attempt to simply do something -- anything -- before CB and friends hit the table.

[e_hawk77]

Like i said my matches at the gp were: merfolk, uwg thresh, urb painter, uwg thresh, ubg thresh, ichorid, enchantress, ubg thresh, ubg thresh. I went 3-3 vs the decks with counterbalances(all the thresh decks and the urb painter). I was in contension for day 2 until the last round. My list is posted just a bit up and the way i beat the counterbalance decks was to duress then just go balls to the walls and just see what happened. The thresh decks only run force and daze usually to back up their counterbalance so if you can clear a hand then you should be okay. If counterbalance shows up then you maybe screwed but hey it is the best you can hope for.

[Pulp_Fiction]

I found a new SB card that I am not sure if it is worthy of consideration or not:

Virtue's Ruin 2B
Sorcery
Destroy all white creatures

Perhaps a mix of 2x Slaughter Pact and 1x of these? No testing but I have seen Teeg/Cannonist and True Believer on the board at the same time. Not sure if a Perish for white creatures is necessary, but its certainly interesting.