[Deck] ANT (Ad Nauseam Tendrils)

[Rune]

Chant is strictly better than Silence, although playing a 2/2 split of them is reasonable. I've only had Chant misdirected to my face once, but the kicker has saved me from losing many times against decks like Ichorid and Goblins.

You can quickly tell if you can IGG loop someone for 20 life by meeting these requirements:

- having Infernal Tutor in hand
- being able to get 4 storm before resolving the hellbent Infernal Tutor
- having 12 mana in total (including any mana you might return with IGG)

If you Burning Wish for IGG, you will need another Wish in hand to complete the loop, or just an Infernal Tutor.

[Brad Herbig]

Also, my favorite way to IGG loop with Burning Wish is as follows (P.S. IGG loops aren't infinite, just enough to kill them)

Cost: 2RB
Storm: 10

Hand: Infernal Tutor, Burning Wish, LED

Infernal for another LED (1)
Play both LEDs (2) (3)
Burning Wish for IGG, sacing LEDs for BBBBBB (4) (one has to be black, the second doesn't matter)
IGG for both LEDs and Infernal (5)
Play both LEDs (6) (7)
Play Infernal, sacing LEDs for BBBRRR (8)
Get Burning Wish (9)
Wish for Tendrils (10)

Note: Any acceleration can easily both bring the cost down and increase storm, but this holds together pretty well.

[AriLax]

Figured I should post here regarding my list.

1. Contrary to what was posted, I did face blue decks day 1, just nothing with CB Top. The non-CB blue match up is favorable. I was 3-1 against it at the GP (7-3 in games), and of the games I lost I directly punted 2.

2. Grim Tutor sucks compared to Infernal, but you need it to make the deck work in 2 colors. 4 Tutors is not enough. 6 is. Other options like Personal Tutor and Lim-Dul's Vault don't cut it as they don't work with an IGG loop. It also is nice in slow match ups (ie. Landstill) as more Duresses.

3. Losing to a MD Canonist or Teeg isn't a concern. No one actually main decks those cards besides some Zoo decks with a couple Teegs, and Teeg sucks in every other match up to the extent people will cut it.

4. Chrome Mox sucks. It really doesn't help much on the speed end or the long range end. It was only good post Ad Nauseum in rare scenarios. On the subject killing with Ad Nauseum is more difficult than before, but it really is the worst way to win anyways. People kill with it too often.

5. Didn't board in Bob for the mirror as too often I found games ending on 3. I felt Preordain would be better at just racing or dodging Duresses. It would have been good in maybe 1 of the games of the mirror I played at the GP.

The UB version probably lacks a bit of the raw power of the Burning Wish builds, but in exchange I never lose to Wasteland. Ever. From my experiences with the 5 color builds Wasteland decks can randomly just get you for no reason. The power you lose I also found irrelevant. You still kill before Zoo, which was the main concern, and very few other match ups come down to raw speed. My one reason to switch would be that it is possible the extra half a turn makes the CB match up winnable, I haven't tested.

Chant didn't make the cut as against Force of Will decks you can just win without IGG (or get back a Duress) and the only times it wasn't just a bad Duress were

1. Against Stifle or Mindbreak Trap.
2. In rare scenarios against counter decks where you had to IGG after Duressing all their counters (most of the time this is impossible without having 6 Duresses/8 post board anyways).

One last thing about the list: Cabal Ritual is almost always full powered due to the 12 cantrips + 10 fetches. This makes the blue match ups much easier as you can often just build up extra mana to Tutor chain into a Tendrils.

[Mon,Goblin Chief]

I love the 12 cantrip concept, this has been insane in testing. So much control over your hand is amazing, as is powering up C-Rit. Grim Tutor was incredibly clunky, though, but I'll still have to test some more with it to see if I feel it's "worse enough" to justify the red splash for Wish to replace it.

Also the reason I really want Chants in the deck is the same reason I always preferred Do Anh's list from Madrid to the Saito-version. With only discard as protection you're basically cold to an early SDT even without CB if the opponent knows to keep a FoW/other counter on top (or you're forced to run headfirst into the possible in-hand FoW as soon as you see the Top, counteracting the sweet power of cantripping into a protected win on turn 3-4, hopefully before they've also found a CB for the lock). Only it's even worse now as the reliance on Infernal instead of Mystical means you can't hold anything back on the first try. I think a combination of Duress (to snag CB early) and Chant (to dig into against Top alone) is probably the most powerfull protection-package given the fact that you can't run FoW yourself.

[mort-]

Well, I am not a fan of 3 or 4 color manabases. That's why I decided to stay UB. And because I don't have Doomsdays (kind of "Oh.. I could buy them today" and then don't-thing) I am testing a 12 cantrip list.

[deck]

2x Ad Nauseam
2x Tendrils of Agony
1x Ill-Gotten Gains (probably gonna change with a 4th Infernal)
3x Infernal Tutor

4x Lion's Eye Diamond
4x Lotus Petal
2x Chrome Mox
4x Dark Ritual
3x Cabal Ritual

4x Brainstorm
4x Ponder
4x Preordain
2x Sensei's Divining Top

4x Duress
2x Thoughtseize

4x Polluted Delta
3x Misty Rainforest
2x Flooded Strand
2x Underground Sea
2x Island
2x Swamp
[/deck]

Sideboard:
[deck]
4x Dark Confidant
1x Tropical Island
3x Krosan Grip
2x Smother
2x Hurkyl's Recall
1x Rebuild
1x Chain of Vapor
1x Slaughter Pact
[/deck]

Sadly, I could not test against counterbalance yet. What I did play against was Canadian Thresh, LEDless Dredge and Merfolk (Saitou's UB list with Standstill). Allthough it is a bit slower then lists with Mystical, it's still pretty resiliance and finds the cards you need pretty fast. In testing, it was almost every game faster then Dredge. While Merfolk is the worst matchup (at least with Standstill I think) it did pull positive results, same with Canadian Thresh.
So, I do like this list very much, and it seems to like me ;D I'll take it to the German Nationals this weekend, so hopefully I'll have some positive results to post here :)

[Brad Herbig]

The only problem I have with 12 (14?) cantrips is that it seems like you will spend most of your time cantripping into more cantrips. I guess that large amount of fetches will help with your ability to shuffle, but it feels like the large amount of cantrips really dilute the deck.

[mort-]

The only problem I have with 12 (14?) cantrips is that it seems like you will spend most of your time cantripping into more cantrips. I guess that large amount of fetches will help with your ability to shuffle, but it feels like the large amount of cantrips really dilute the deck.

Yeah, that might be. But most of the time you'll be able to pick some good cards up on the way. For example playing the Ponder/Preordain you found with a Dark Ritual in your Brainstorm to put 2 bad cards back into your library and looking a bit deeper with every Cantrip.
Even with bad cantrips, you kill turn 4 at latest, most of the time with double or triple protection.
As of now, I did not have any problems finding the cards I need fast and unproblematic :)

[mort-]

Ok, short report incoming, it's all of the top of my head, because we got a bit (read: very) drunk and I don't have my notes right here.

First round I went against UB Faeries. In the first game he keeps a one-lander while I Duress him (holding double LED and Infernal) and take a Force, then Ponder, find Duress and Thoughtseize and take his two Dazes. He finds a land and plays Bitterblossom, I start storming and reveal my two Tendrils, going to 5 in the process and having no rituals, but LED, Brainstorm and Preordain (first and only time it was better then Mystical ;D). Long story short: Brainstorm, put one Tendrils back, Preordain, float LED and storm him for 9. He dies on his upkeep.
Second game is almost the same, except he has lands. Well.. I have Confidants and beat him down to ten with double Confi, then kill him with a lethal Tendrils.
Second round is against Doomsday. He wins the roll and duresses me. I duress him seeing Mana, B.Wish and Doomsday. I take the Wish. He duresses me again, I do so too and see 2x Doomsday - meh. I take one and shortly after am dead to Emrakul.
Next game is Confibeatdown + lethal Tendrils. Got to love those guys.
For the last game I hold a hand with only mana, but think that I have ~20 outs that i can draw to get my engine going, so I keep. He gets the Duress and takes one Ritual. I draw Ponder, find Nauseam (but let it stay on top because I'm one mana short thanks to the Duress). I'm not going to see it again because he just kills me on his next turn.
Third turn was against Countertop I think. He stalls on one land, but has a top, while I cantrip through my library, find Duress and take a Force from him. So I think I'm pretty save to kill now. Nope, he hid a Force on top after my first Duress - well played.
I don't really get into the second game and just lose.
Really don't know what i played against in round four, but I won.
Round five is against merfolk. After punting REALLY hard (he got one hand card left, I go for the Ritual instead of the Duress first and am one mana short after he pierces it), I lose the first game.
Second game he stalls on one land and I beat him down with triple confidant, taking only four damage over two turns.
Third game is close, I start storming on twelve or so I think, make a plan on how to go to storm 10, play everything this way, then think I only got storm 9, recount, recount again, still come to nine, and almost announce Tendrils for 9, then see the lonely Petal I missed all the time - for 10 it is.
Next round I'm up to Dreadstill. Great. First game he wins pretty fast, second game I beat down with Confidants, kill two of his Factories with Krosan Grips and set up a mini storm for the win.
In the last game he I try to storm him out with a Tendrils for four, Infernal for Tendrils, Tendrils for six, but he obvisiously has the Stifle for the last one. Damn.
Round seven is really epic, probably the single most awesome thing that has happened to me while playing storm. I'm up against UWBR Countertop. First game is short: R1 Top, Force for my Duress, R2 Counterbalance. I try to storm while he has to reveal blind, but there is (of course) something for two on top.
Second game is smiliar. I Duress, he forces, I play Confidant, he Balance. Meh. I try to Grip it and he reveals a Warmonk on top - how lucky. I duress on his next turn, he draws a card with Top. Then he gets greedy, plays Top, looks, switches and swords my Confidant. Ok, I take that one. Tendrils for 10 without playing any 1cc spell ends the game.
Third game is were it gets awesome. He taps his two mana, I say "Yeah, you got that Counterbalance", but he plays Teeg instead. Quick thinking, yeah, I boarded in Smother. So I cantrip a bit while he plays Vendilion Clique. Shortly thereafter, I am at six life, have a hand with Infernal (one other Infernal on top), LED, Petals and a Dark Ritual. He has lethal on board and two cards in hand. So after drawing my second Infernal, I go for Thoughtseize and announce "I'm going to play this out really professional now". He pierces. Ok, I'm staying on six then. I try for my 3 petals - resolves. LED? Ok. Rit? Yes. Infernal, withoug saccing my LED. He plays Spell Snare - yay me. So he has no cards left and I'm going for Smother with my last Infernal, playing it with four mana left in my pool. I bet you can see where this is going. I tell him that I didn't do the math right because I can't look top 3 and still have mana for Tendrils (for storm 12), so I have to flip blind. Tendrils. Awesome.
Round eight is against lands, which I win pretty fast.
So off into the last round, playing Zoo. Game one I kill him on turn two or so, wasn't much to tell. Game two he goes for Lynx, Lynx (I smother one), Bolt, Bolt, Blast and that's it.
I have a good hand game three but am missing Business (anything wins. Infernal, Nauseam or even IGG). I play Brainstorm, shuffle, Ponder, shuffle, Brainstorm, shuffle, Ponder, shuffle, don't find anything and then he kills me.
So I went 5-4, which wasn't too bad because I started drinking around round four. Didn't miss Mystical one second (well, Preordain got boarded out against Confidants in almost any game). It's really sad you can't play the Confis main, stupid removal heavy legacy ;)

[egosum]

RANT (Red Ad Nauseam Tendrils)

1-Motivation
2-Introduction
2.5-Main differences with TES
3-Main Scheme
4-Card Selection
5-Why Should I even try it?
6-Match-up

1-Motivation

My history with CCG comes since 1996 when I frst met Magic: the Gathering, from that point I ‘ ve been playing (with some success) most of other popular (and not so popular) CCG’s: L5R, LotR (movie version), Star wars (classic and other versions, youg jedi…), Shadowfist, Warlord, Vampire the Eternal struggle, Warlord, Yu Ghi Oh, The Simpsons CCG, among others. And in every single game I played I ‘ve fallen in love with all the combo archetypes, this is why I decided to play storm ehn I came back to magic. I’ ve played Spring Tide, Solidarity, ANT, DD-ANT, TES, Belcher, NLS. For the last 4-5 months I sleeved my TES again and realized that after the Mystical trauma this deck rocks for the metagame but has some weak points that should be tuned for my specific metagame (whish actually is full of tempo and land still, and this means wasteland + massive removal).

2-Introduction

So this is RANT, a three color deck heavily inspired in TES (designed by Bryant Cook and the EPIC Syndicate) that has a primary gameplan to resolve an Ad Nauseam in the very early turns of the game (so it can be seen as an Hybrid between TES and the former 2 color Ad Nauseam) and Tendrils your opponent out of this world.

2.5 Main differences with TES

TES is designed to be a 4-5 color deck with a very flexible gameplan, which provides great adaptability but turns into its very big weakness is some games, RANT has a similar land sctructure to AND playing the 2 basic lands and more fetchalnds than TES. While the latter lists of TES play with EtW main deck, in RANT you have it in the board waiting the right moment toappear, this may deny you the ability to fill the table of goblins as regularly as TES but it also makes you less vulnerable to massive removal. Another big difference that RANT and TES have is the protection suite, being 3 colored makes RANT unable to play “Chant effect”, instead of that they have been replaced with more duress effects, and this is not strictly detrimental since having mor e spot discard makesthat you can use it after a ritual and gives you better chances against your biggest enemy: Conter Top, just because you have a better chance to have a “duress” in first turn to pick it out of your opponent’s hand.

3-Main Scheme

Maindeck 60 (23/08/10)

4x Brainstorm
4x Ponder

4x Rite of Flame
4x Burning Wish

4x Dark Ritual
4x Infernal Tutor
4x Duress
3x Thoughtseize
2x Ad Nauseam
1x Tendrils of Agony

4x Lion’s Eye Diamond
4x Lotus Petal
4x Chrome Mox
1x Mox Diamond

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

Sidebaord 15

3x Pyroblast
2x Empty the Warrens
1x Grapeshot
1x Pyroclasm
1x Shattering Spree
1x Pulverize
1x Diminishing Returns
1x Echoing Truth
1x Wipe Away
1x Tendrils of Agony
1x Ill-Gotten Gains
1x Deathmark

4-Card Selection

Mana acceleration: being Ad Nauseam oriented determines this a lot, you have to keep the mana curve very low so you can resolve ADN in extreme situations and this is why all the “ritual effects” must have CC 1, the addition of the 5th Mox has the same purppose and it also makes the mana development more stable, at the cost of card disadvantage (which is no longer hurting as much as it hurts to TES since a single card will end the game).

The tutors: having the 4 Infernal tutor in the main deck is important so you can go more consistantly into LED + IT. Burning wish provides flxibility for possible hate and grants you brokne plays that otherwise you couldn’t have (IGG, EtW and extra tendrils)

Cantrips: the regular Legacy cantrips are also here so you can sculpt the hand in the earlier stage of the game in order you can go for broke with enough confidence.

Mana base: this is what makes RANT special in the actual legacy. RANT is provided with a very stable mana base with some basic lands which give s you the edge in the tempo match up (specially), also the big number of fetchlands make brainstorms and Ponders more efficient.

Protection Suite: as I said before RANT uses 7 “Duress effects” maindeck which are easier to cast and gives you better 1st game against counterbalnce + Top.

5- Why Shuold I even try it?

I’m not saying that this deck is revealing anything, not even saying this deck is the best storm deck ever but it is an storm deck with an strong mana base, easy to cast protection suite and vey high chances of 1st turn/2nd turn kills (so its very fast). So if you used to play 2 color ANT just give it a try, and if you are a TES player and your metagame is full of Engineered explosives, pernicious deed, firespout, give it a try.

6-Match-up

I’ m going to talk about the most relevant legacy decks of actual metagame:

-Goblins/Zoo/Survival (no blue)/ Loam Decks (43 lands, garden)


This should be an easy match you’ll just cantrip for 1-2 turns and will resolve ADN for lethal, they are not fast enough to race you.

You can Sideboard like this:

+1x Deathmark
+1x Echoing Truth

-2x Duress

Against the Loam decks you may add

+1x Shaterring Spree

And cut

-1x Thoughtseize

To battle chalice of the void

-Merfolk/Bant aggro

Another favorable match it could only be hard if they have a perfect curve, their countermagic is too weak and their clock is not that fast, you have to take card of Curscatcher and Rhox War Monk, this are the only real threats they maindeck against you.

You can sideboard like this:

+3x pyroblast
+1x Empty the Warrens

-1x Infernal Tutor
-1x Ad Nauseam
-1x Chrome Mox
-1x Mox Diamond

-Counter Top

The greatest Foe. If they can resolve the CB+Top softlock you are almost out so the plan is to race as much as you can, in this match you’d waqnt to take risky hands if they seem just fast enough.

You can sideboard like this:

+3 Pyroblast
+1x Wipe Away
+1x Empty the Warrens

-1x Ad Nauseam
-1x Chrome Mox
-1x Mox Diamond
-1x Ponder
-1x Infernal Tutor

-Landstill

Strong Coutnermagic (they normally pack spell snare maindeck) but really slow clock, so just build the correct hand cantripping and go off confidently. The first land that should come to table is island (for being the one that allows you to cantrip and is basic).

You can sideboard like this:

+2x Pyroblast

-1x Chrome Mox
-1x Burning Wish


-FaeStalker/Canadian/Team America/New Horizons

Tempo is tempo, I mean you know, they can start denying every single resource or just cantripping fishing fo the answer the will not find. It can be very nasty if they go in the former way (stifle + wasteland+Daze), if they don’ t go this way it should be prettey confortable. This is a match in which is specially relevant to fetch for the basics, this match will go for long so you will get the red mana when you need it.

You can Sideboard like this:

+3x Pyroblast

-1x Chrome Mox
-1x Infernal Tutor
-1x Ponder

If they don’ t pack EE/Firespout:

+3x Pyroblast
+1x Empty the Warrens

-1x Chrome Mox
-1x Mox Diamond
-1x Infernal Tutor
-1x Ad Nauseam

-Mirror (Storm)

Nothing to say here the one who draws the meat is the one who gets the game. Keeping hands with a lot of disruption is excellent for this match.

You can sideboard like this:

+2x Pyroblast
+1x Empty the warrens

-1x Ad Nauseam
-1x Mox Diamond
-1x Chrome Mox

-Show and Tell

I have actually never played against this but it seems that you ‘ll outrace them very easily since thy are not that fast and you have enough disruption to fight them.

I would sideboard like this:

+3x Pyroblast

-1x Chrome Mox
-1x Burning Wish
-1x Ponder

Greetings,

Iñaki.-

[emidln]

Why is there a separate thread for this? Back when I debuted this a couple months ago we considered it the same deck. It uses the same ratios with all of the key card types (mana, business, protection). You didn't mention the primary motivation for testing the deck, the two most common sideboard plans, or why you cut a perfectly good land for absolute garbage like Mox Diamond.

(1) This should be in the TES thread.

(2) It should discuss strategies where Duress/Thoughtseize is superior to other combinations involving Duress, Thoughtseize, Orim's Chant, Silence, Xantid Swarm, Pyroblast/REB, Pact of Negation.

(3) Why did you cut the absolute best artifact hate spell in Pulverize? It is better than Shattering Spree or Meltdown in any scenario in which you have 2 mountains barring something outlandish like Chalice @ 6. If it's inconsistency, perhaps you should revisit the part where you cut valuable lands from my manabase for irrelevant artifacts.

(4) It should be discussing the sideboard plans better. In particular, why do you deviate from my tried, tested, and proven Chain of Vapor/ETruth + Doomsday package against CB? (I have a very good reason why I don't run it anymore, but why don't you?) What games do you lose with Pyroblast that you would win with Doomsday plan or Xantid Swarm plan and vice versa.

(5) Cutting Ad Nauseam in the mirror is wrong. It's one of the strongest, if not the strongest spell you can play since, barring a mini tendrils from them, it is an auto-win given they have no countermagic.

[Fatal]

Hi i want to introduce some of thoughts about ANT new toolboxes which was tested last weeks by me.

First of all i posted here not in TES thread because Empty the Warrens isn't so effective (to often post sideboard games is much harder), more over, it has to high AVG in deck ruin AdN plan more often. This deck is more focused on fast AdN Tendrils wins.

My local meta is full of Pernicous Deed controls/Merfolks with Echoing Truth main (Landstill etc) keep that in mind.

Deck is 5c so mana base is hard to establish.

New tools:

1.
Nostalgic Dreams - i found this card is brilliant before and post AdN. It helps u a lot like IGG but without drawback (no more FoW's from grave etc).

Useable:
-LED on opening hand before AdN to cast more spells and produce 2 more mana from one LED.
-Post AdN when u don't have LED as a discard outlet and more storm bringer, also as last chance grave returner (when IGG with Tendrils are in grave).

2. Mana fixer's and new toolbox:
3 Summoner's Pact
1 Tinder Wall
1 Elvish Spirit guide
1 Wild Cantor

This toolbox has 0,83 AVG mana cost. It's very helpful to avoid dazes while combo and can filter your mana R/B/G. Also if u need more mana every Pact can add G from 1 Pact or RR from 2 Pact's.
It has drawback - when failed u lose - but mostly fail mean lose in combo so this drawback is minor.

3. Tutoring

I started use Personal tutor (2 in main) to search IT or some disruption, i also kept one Burning Wish as last chance button.

4. Disruption

I'm using Duress and Orim's Chant - specially Chant's give u time, and some more disruption vs Control player (i.e Dreadnought + stifle mean - Dreadnought ... eot)

Ok this is my decklist:


3 [mtg]Summoner's Pact[/mtg]
1 [mtg]Elvish Spirit Guide[/mtg]
1 [mtg]Wild Cantor[/mtg]
1 [mtg]Tinder Wall[/mtg]
1 [mtg]Nostalgic Dreams[/mtg]
4 [mtg]Dark Ritual[/mtg]
4 [mtg]Rite of Flame[/mtg]
1 [mtg]Burning Wish[/mtg]
4 [mtg]Infernal Tutor[/mtg]
2 [mtg]Ad Nauseam[/mtg]
2 [mtg]Personal Tutor[/mtg]
1 [mtg]Tendrils of Agony[/mtg]
1 [mtg]Ill-Gotten Gains[/mtg]
4 [mtg]Lotus Petal[/mtg]
4 [mtg]Lion's Eye Diamond[/mtg]
4 [mtg]Duress[/mtg]
3 [mtg]Orim's Chant[/mtg]
4 [mtg]Brainstorm[/mtg]
4 [mtg]Gemstone Mine[/mtg]
4 [mtg]City of Brass[/mtg]
1 [mtg]Undiscovered Paradise[/mtg]
3 [mtg]Polluted Delta[/mtg]
1 [mtg]Underground Sea[/mtg]
1 [mtg]Bayou[/mtg]
1 [mtg]Volcanic Island[/mtg]

SB: 1 [mtg]Massacre[/mtg]
SB: 1 [mtg]Deathmark[/mtg]
SB: 1 [mtg]Tendrils of Agony[/mtg]
SB: 1 [mtg]Empty the Warrens[/mtg]
SB: 1 [mtg]Hull Breach[/mtg]
SB: 1 [mtg]Morningtide[/mtg]
SB: 3 [mtg]Xantid Swarm[/mtg]
SB: 1 [mtg]Grapeshot[/mtg]
SB: 1 [mtg]Pyroclasm[/mtg]
SB: 1 [mtg]Nature's Claim[/mtg]
SB: 1 [mtg]Echoing Truth[/mtg]
SB: 1 [mtg]Shattering Spree[/mtg]
SB: 1 [mtg]Chain of Vapor[/mtg]

Comments please.

[Piceli89]

Yesterday I played a 15-men tourney in a friendly environment, as I wanted to try out the consistency of my latest ANT build. Also, because I wanted to test if the deck was really dead or it was just weakened, and how much of the Mystical loss would have affected "tournament" performances. Everybody has quite abandoned this archetype thinking that the lack of such a powerful piece would have left in our hand a tier-2 combo. Only a few people are experimenting with Grim Tutors, but frankly I find that card to be horrible.

/ Lands
2 [A] Underground Sea
1 [B] Scrubland
1 [B] Tundra
4 [ON] Polluted Delta
4 [ON] Flooded Strand
1 [OD] Island (3)
1 [PT] Swamp (2)
1 Tropical Island


// Spells
4 [TE] Lotus Petal
4 [TO] Cabal Ritual
1 [SC] Tendrils of Agony
3 [PS] Orim's Chant
4 [FNM] Brainstorm
4 [DIS] Infernal Tutor
4 [MI] Lion's Eye Diamond
4 [LRW] Ponder
4 [A] Dark Ritual
4 [M11] Preordain
4 [FNM] Duress
2 [ALA] Ad Nauseam
1 [US] Ill-Gotten Gains
2 [MR] Chrome Mox

// Sideboard
SB: 2 [ON] Chain of Vapor
SB: 1 [FUT] Slaughter Pact
SB: 1 [10E] Hurkyl's Recall
SB: 1 [A] Tropical Island
SB: 3 [SC] Xantid Swarm
SB: 2 [TSP] Krosan Grip
SB: 1 [DS] Echoing Truth
SB: 1 [TSP] Wipe Away
SB: 1 [UL] Rebuild
SB: 1 [LRW] Thoughtseize
SB: 1 [SC] Brain Freeze/open slot


Guess what it turned out?
That ANT is still alive, and it's as fast as before, if not, paradoxally, faster. The lack of MT doesn't allow to tutor for the missing piece to combo off, this is true, but in a proper build with 12 cantrip, it's astonishingly good how fast you can dig for your combo pieces in just 1-2 turns.Also, sometimes the problem in older ANT lists was that opening with 2 Mysticals slowed you down very much.
In those tests I have cast something like 5 cantrips on avg in the first 3 turns, and then I went off. Contrarily to the conventional beliefs people seem to have on here, playing such a large quantity of blue cheap spells doesn't make you draw another, just because you manage to filter the redudant ones you see very easily. And Preordain is so amazing in doing this, it's just like a Ponder that does not require a fetch to take the good card and get rid of the other 2, and acts like a shuffle effect after, guess what, a cantrip. It's just plain smooth good in increasing your odds to see the bomb, which this version is kinda low on (6 + IGG + Tendrils, contrarily to TES who plays 10-11). In a certain way, I found that I liked more having Preordain and investing 1 to filter, than having Burning Wish with which, if used as a bait spell or a protection/bomb tutor, I had to tap myself and play 3 to cast , say, a Thoughtseize, leaving me susceptible to Daze way more. It's true that we do no longer have access to a orm of MD bouncer and that decks playing hatebears or Iona maindeck trump us, but I'll take the risk.
I know I haven't discovered anything new and that Ari Lax and other guys already went up with this, but really, believing that ANT is dead is just plain bullshit, it can work really well and be consistent even without MT and without Grims. I never had trouble finding a bomb very quickly.

Another interesting thing I noticed in my goldfishes and tests is that you don't want usually SDT maindeck. The card was-and is-phenomenal at slowrolling blue and discard decks, but I found that in such an explosive configuration you want to be as fast as possible and be really low on mana investments, so Preordain is>SDT; at least, in the non-CB, non-tempo MUs. You also want to be as fast as possible pre-side, because your Ad Nauseam has got slightly worse due to playing 2 instead of 1, and you want to avoid people setting up nasty shit or aggroing you out.
Of course it can be played in the sb, but personally I don't find space.

I played against Dredge thrice (2-0,2-0, 2-0), Merfolk (2-1), Big Zoo (2-1), Landstill (2-1). Countertop is still an issue, though. I hope 5 discard and 2 grips +1 wipe away help, but it's still not enough.

The deck, anyways, is not dead at all.

[Arsenal]

Has the BUG version of ANT fallen out of flavor due to no MT? You still have Swarm and that new Autumn's Veil in addition to the SB staple Krosan Grip.

[Rune]

You can't cast AdN as fast as before, so against blue decks you need a back-up plan in form of Chant+IGG. Autumn's Veil loses to Stifle, which is why it's generally considered to be bad.

[Arsenal]

But doesn't Swarm give you an out versus blue decks? And doesn't Grip deal reasonably well with CounterTop?

[JonBarber]

Swarm is underwhelming, and you can no longer tutor up the singleton grip. Therefore to ensure you draw it vs CB, you need to 2-3, and adding 9 cmc to the deck post board is bad. Also, the deck is much slower because there simply aren't enough tutors in the BUg version. Hence all the recent success from TES.

[zmattk]

Hey guys, I've just started playing the deck and I've really been liking it so far. Right now I'm playing the version with burning wish and orim's chant/silence. The only thing I'm iffy about right now is my mana base.

4 Gemstone Mine
2 City of Brass
1 Polluted Delta
1 Bloodstained Mire
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island

I don't like the lack of basics and my weakness to wasteland. I would like to play a mana base similar to egosum's above but then orim's chant and silence become much weaker cards in the deck. Would you recommend changing my lands around or is my build optimal right now?

Also I have not tested the 12 cantrip version yet. What are the pros and cons to each deck?

[Rune]

Your deck is actually TES and not ANT (people often get these mixed up). ANT plays 2-4 colors but never dips into the red splash, unlike TES. The decklist above that you're referring to is actually a 3c TES list and it shouldn't really be in here.

In the TES thread there is a lot of discussion about basics vs no basics, you can read all about it there. I personally like basics because they nullify part of the opponent's disruption, and if you play correctly, they'll never be a hindrance.

The 12 cantrip deck (ANT) generally has a better matchup vs Merfolk than 5c TES because its mana base is extremely stable, but in most other matchups you'd rather be playing TES since Burning Wish is a very versatile tutor that acts as a solid replacement for Mystical Tutor.

[Mon,Goblin Chief]

In the TES thread there is a lot of discussion about basics vs no basics, you can read all about it there. I personally like basics because they nullify part of the opponent's disruption, and if you play correctly, they'll never be a hindrance.

The 12 cantrip deck (ANT) generally has a better matchup vs Merfolk than 5c TES because its mana base is extremely stable, but in most other matchups you'd rather be playing TES since Burning Wish is a very versatile tutor that acts as a solid replacement for Mystical Tutor.

I'm playing the 12 cantrip-version with a minor W splash (for Chants) and I disagree with the assessment that you'd rather play TES in most non-merfolk matchups. The deck is very consistent (mass-cantripping is really insane), the stable manabase rocks and you are still so fast that you don't really care about any of the non-blue decks you might play against. There is imo exactly one matchup in which you'd rather be TES: Counterbalance. Against Counterbalance, they either don't find CB (which means you're basically playing against a worse version of Merfolk because they don't have the manadenial and you're actually favored) or they do (in that case you pretty much just want to win ASAP). As you don't know which kind of hand they'll get, your main plan is to try to kill them ASAP - preferably before they get a second turn - with a single back-up spell, which TES does better, hence its advantage in the matchup. Access to ETW helps there, too.

[RWeber]

Background information: I am fairly new to playing ANT I played it for a few tournaments before the banning of mystical tutor. I have tried TES for a few tournaments but I don't like it nearly as the Ari Lax build because it feels really clunky to me.

Question part:
Okay, so I recently built Ari Lax's ANT build and have been really enjoying it. The mana is what I enjoy most about it and the 12 cantrips have seemed extremely powerful in the 4 weeks I have been playing. The thing I am having most trouble with is sideboarding. I have absolutely no clue how to sideboard the deck, when mystical tutor was around it was pretty easy since the sideboard was mostly 1 ofs. So here is Ari Lax's list that I have been using if you are not familiar.

1 Ad Nauseam
4 Brainstorm
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Dark Ritual
4 Duress
2 Grim Tutor
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
4 Infernal Tutor
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
1 Tendrils of Agony
2 Thoughtseize
3 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
2 Swamp
2 Underground Sea
2 Verdant Catacombs

3 Chain of Vapor
4 Dark Confidant
2 Krosan Grip
2 Rebuild
1 Reverent Silence
2 Thoughtseize
1 Tropical Island

I seem to slow myself down a lot after board. Here are my sideboard plans in certain match ups.

Merfolk/UW Tempo -
+2 Thoughseize
-1 Ill-Gotten Gains
-1 Preordain

Zoo -
+3 Chain of Vapor
-2 Grim Tutor
-1 Duress

Bant Vengevine Survival -
+3 Chain of Vapor
-1 Ill-Gotten Gains
-2 Preordain

Goblins -
+3 Chain of Vapor
+1 Rebuild
-4 Duress

CounterTop -
+4 Dark Confidant
+2 Krosan Grip
+1 Reverent Silence
+1 Tropical Island
-1 Ill-Gotten Gains
-4 Preordain
-2 Cabal Ritual
-1 Island

These are the decks that my metagame is focused around. My metagame is pretty good for the deck since there is only 1 counterbalance. There are about 3 merfolk and am running about 50/50 against them. Based on Saito this is a pretty favored matchup in my favor but I think I just need get a hang of the matchup. The rest of the field I pretty much dominate though.

I believe I am bringing the right things in my matchups, the problem is I really do not know if I am taking the right things out, which in this deck I think is a huge problem because every card is essential to your combo. If anyone has any tips or ideas on sideboarding with this deck that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks