[Deck] ANT (Ad Nauseam Tendrils)

[alderon666]

Gonna be trying this version out. Got a bit tired of playing Bryant's list and drawing into Sea + Fetch with Chants and Xantids in hand. Going for the straight UBR version with a couple Tops in the main and some odd sideboard choices. I also like playing a bit more lands.

1x Island
1x Swamp
4x Polluted Delta
2x Underground Sea
2x Volcanic Island
1x Badlands
4x Scalding Tarn

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

2x Sensei's Divining Top (accounts for the loss of the 4th IT and helps you grind out those longer games)
4x Ponder
4x Brainstorm

1x Tendrils of Agony
2x Ad Nauseam

3x Infernal Tutor
4x Burning Wish

3x Thoughtseize
4x Duress

SB:
1x Diminishing Returns (actually kinda bad with 15 lands, but oh well)
1x Thoughtseize
1x Echoing Truth
2x Chain of Vapor
1x Empty the Warrens
1x Rite of Flame (sometimes you need to get hellbent, this helps turning a BW into something that adds mana and helps you going off the next turn with Infernal Tutor)
1x Ill-Gotten Gains
1x Infernal Tutor
1x Pulverize (actually good against GW that has Mom and Canonist in play, you can wish for it, pass and go off the next turn ignoring both Mom and Vial @2)
2x Pyroblast
1x Tendrils of Agony
1x Hurkyl's Recall
1x Grapeshot

[thefringthing]

That's a lot of red sources.

[GoboLord]

On a side note, would anyone consider - with either a UB ANT list or a TNT list, putting 4 x chant and 1 x Tundra/Scrubland in the SB against super heavy blue decks?

Yes, I'm doing this ever since, and I don't see a reason to cut them from board. Only difference: I run 3-4 Silence + 1 Tundra in SB.
Silence is better since you don't use the kicker too often anyway. Silence is unaffected by Misdirection and Leyline of Sanctity.

Well I never tried Xantid Swarms in board. though they seem like an nice replacement for Chant-effects. Then again I think it's easier to get rid of a creature than an instant.

Has anyone oppinions on Silence vs. Swarm?
I really like Silence a lot for the Canadian Thresh MU. Here Swarm is far worse. Don't know about other MUs though.

[Chikenbok]

Yes, I'm doing this ever since, and I don't see a reason to cut them from board. Only difference: I run 3-4 Silence + 1 Tundra in SB.
Silence is better since you don't use the kicker too often anyway. Silence is unaffected by Misdirection and Leyline of Sanctity.

Well I never tried Xantid Swarms in board. though they seem like an nice replacement for Chant-effects. Then again I think it's easier to get rid of a creature than an instant.

Has anyone oppinions on Silence vs. Swarm?
I really like Silence a lot for the Canadian Thresh MU. Here Swarm is far worse. Don't know about other MUs though.

I guess the reason I would go with silence/chant over Swarm is simply to blank any form of removal they might have. Most players understanding how ANT works will leave in some means of removal for bobs or swarms and I feel like chant just plays around all of that in the long run.

[emidln]

I know that I've been forced to side in Xantid Swarm for non-ideal situations (e.g. Hive Mind or UW Landstill) due to knowing I need protection in the face of Leyline of Sanctity. Silence along with Flusterstorm has been on my radar although I haven't had much time to test lately.

[alderon666]

Top 8'ed with the list I posted above in a 66 people tournment.

Only differences were
-1 Ad Nauseam +1 Empty the Warrens on the maindeck
-1 Rite of Flame +1 Deathmark on the sideboard.

I don't have much insight to share about the list. I made a lot of mistakes, kept bad hands and basically only won because I faced 5 nonblue decks. But I'll share some thoughts:

- SDT is a double edged sword, most of the time I simply didn't have enough mana to activate it. And would just go off without actvating it. On the longer games it was MVP finding protection and gas with all the shuffling effects.
- Cabal Ritual is great, played it for 5 black many times. It also helps avoiding Misstep after Ad Nauseam.
- Sideboard Infernal Tutor was awesome. Against most aggro deck I could just grind it a bit, Wish for IT and Ad Nauseam with a load of mana in my pool.
- I think that 15 lands is way too much. Basically everytime I played a cantrip or activated Top I would see a land, and most of the times I didn't need anymore land. It helps avoiding mulligans and losing to a single Wasteland, but I think 15 is kind of excessive.

[mort-]

So, I went 6-2 on the german nationals this weekend, playing the following list and only missing out on a top 16 spot because of the bad opponent score:

4x Polluted Delta
4x Misty Rainforest (Should be Scalding Tarns, but I don't have them atm, was also never an issue)
2x Swamp
1x Island
1x Underground Sea
1x Tropical Island
1x Volcanic Island
1x Badlands
4x Lion's Eye Diamond
4x Lotus Petal
1x Ad Nauseam
4x Dark Ritual
4x Cabal Ritual
4x Brainstorm
4x Thoughtseize
4x Duress
4x Ponder
4x Preordain
4x Infernal Tutor
3x Burning Wish
1x Tendrils of Agony

Sideboard:

4x Dark Confidant
2x Krosan Grip
1x Hurkyl's Recall
1x Chain of Vapor
1x Rebuild
1x Reverent Silence
1x Grapeshot
1x Ill-Gotten Gains
1x Deathmark
1x Eye of Nowhere
1x Tendrils of Agony

Small report out of my head:

Round 1: Marc with UW Landstill incl. CounterTop

G1: He wins the roll and stops making landdrops after he gets two lands in play. Yeah.. I play three TS, they all get misstepped. I'm guessing he still has the Force in his hand, so I don't try to go off (he tells me after the game that he had it). He lands Standstill, I'm drawing Rituals + LEDs for six rounds (and start to discard fastmana) while he lands a Factory. I try to go off at 7 life, but he has enough countermagic and lands a CB / Top shortly after to seal the deal.
G2: I duress and he has 4 Lands, Standstill and 2 Forcen. I take Standstill and proceed to cantrip into a hand with Ad Nauseam and Infernal within the next turns. Two turns later he flashes Clique at my EoT, I resp with Ad Nauseam, which he forces (pitching his second Force). He then takes my Infernal, rips the third Force from the top and Clique beats me down while I only find lands.
0:2 - 0|1

Round 2: Benjamin with UR Painter

G1: I Duress and see Intuition, Trinket Mage, Grindstone and 2 Lands with im having SDT in play already. I take Intuition. He finds a painter shortly after but his mana is completely tapped, so I go for Nauseam without fastmana available. I proceed to deck 8 CC 2 spells (from 17), LEDs and Lands (having my landdrop already). With two petals left in the deck I decide that I'm dead either way and deck the next card, which is a petal. That makes me realize that I seem to be indestructible, at least for this round, which becomes a common theme in the tournament ;)
G2: I keep a no-lander with Petal, Rit, TS and Confidant. I would mull normaly, but I'm one game up, he doesn't seem to be too experienced playing storm and the hand could regenerate rather fast (and also: I was indestructible). I land the Confidant, he gives me more lands, a second Confidant and the win.
2:0 - 1|1

Round 3: Dennis with RUG Order

G1: I cantrip, then duress. He doesn't Brainstorm, so I take the Force and leave him with Daze, Ponder, Brainstorm, Lavamancer and Goyf. He ponders and lands a Goyf, which starts the Beatdown. I try to go off but he has a second Force from the top (after shuffling with Ponder). Next turn I ponder, seeing Cabal Rit and Ad Nauseam, taking the Rit. He attacks (I'm on 7) and passes, I play Cabal Rit and in response he plays Vendilion Clique, taking my Nauseam, so I concede.
G2: I snapkeep my six and he tells me that this can't be and that he's quite confused because no one keeps his six that fast. I tell him that it's because I have everything and am also indestructible. Despite having a misstep in his hand (he tells me after the match) he doesn't counter my ritual, so Confidant lands. He doesn't find a red land for his Lightning Bolt in 2 turns, so by the time he does, the first Confidant did good work already and I did also play a second one. He bolts the second one, plays a Goyf and I'm assuming he has lots of countermagic in his hand, due to him not playing anything. So I keep the Tendrils in my hand instead of shuffling them and wait for my hand to contain seven spells - which is a few turns later enough to kill him.
G3: He again lands an early Goyf and starts beating down. I don't know much more, I see his hand with a duress and take a Brainstorm, leaving him with Force, 2x Daze and a Lightning Bolt, then duress again next turn taking his Force and killing him with the three Cabal Rituals in my hand.
2:1 - 2|1

Round 4: Klaas with Maverick

G1: He starts with Fetch, Forest, Hierarch and I'm glad for hitting a non-blue matchup for the first time this tournament. I thoughtseize to see if there are any GSZs waiting for Teeg, but find nothing but small Critter, so I kill him next turn with a Infernal -> BW -> Iggy -> Infernal -> Tendrils.
G2: Again, Thoughtseize reveals only creatures as he didn't want to mulligan for hate agressivly. I take a KotR, take three beats from a Pridemage to go to seven and then kill him with a BW on Iggy again.
2:0 - 3-1

Round 5: Paul with Merfolk

G1: I play Thoughtseize and see 2x Waste, 2x Island, Daze and Silvergil, taking the latter. He wastes my nonbasic (couldn't fetch) and I don't draw a second blue for some time, while he starts the beats. I can finaly Ad Nauseam on nine life with three black floating, LED and BW in my hand but don't find one of four petals or an Infernal, so I fizzle.
G2: He has the fast beats hand but no countermagic. I have no fastmana so I have to ANT with one floating from 11. Again, I only find CC2 spells and fizzle. I declare that I'm playing Progenitus in the Nauseam slot next time and that the indestructible mode seems to rest one game in four.
0:2 - 3|2

Round 6: Jörg with Hivemind

G1: I cantrip, then duress to see Force, 2x Pact of the Titan, Emrakul and City of Traitors, playing then my Petal so I could fetch for a red source and pay for both red pacts should he topdeck Hivemind. He doesn't and I kill him shortly after.
G2: I board nothing, he mulligans to five, there isn't more to tell.
2:0 - 4|2

Round 7: Christian with UWR Stoneblade (Visions, no Standstill)

G1: I don't remember much. I duress like five times, he counters about four. Then I kill him with Nauseam.
G2: I start with Land, Rit, Confidant, which he didn't expect. He goes for T2 Stoneforge (got a Grip in my grip already), fetches out Skull and I grip it a turn later. He plays Else and gets me to eight (I revealed the Tendrils). He's on fifteen, so I thoughtseize two times to take Misstep and Counterspell, play the rest of my hand, brainstorm the Tendrils on top, Ponder and float mana from LED in resp, draw Tendrils, get him to one. And there is the good, unblocked Confidant.
2:0 - 5|2

Round 8: Gabriel with Enchantress

G1: He sat next to me the round before so I know exactly what he is playing and couldn't be happier. I have time enough to cantrip in the perfect hand, while he lands Confinement. I go for ANT from 17 to four, with enough floating, BW for Silence, destroy his whole board and proceed to Tendrils for storm about 15.
G2: He mulls to six and starts with Leyline. I have the chain already, but he has just two mana and is playing Enchantresses, so I have a bit of time. He plays Teeg, I chain Teeg, grip Leyline and that's game.
2:0 - 6|2

So, in retrospect, I thought about cutting the Grips because I didn't use them most of the time, but they where really good this tournament, so I guess they're staying in the 75. The report is really from the top of my head, not counting all the misstepped Duress' and details I may have forgotten.

[Olesch]

Not much of activity here, a pitty for such a good deck.

Anyway, I attended a very small tourney last week. I was not supposed to play since I have had some problems lately to find myself a good and fun deck to play. But my friend offered me to play his ANT deck (Scott Limoges build) and out of 4 rounds I went 3-1. I have not played ANT before so I was a little bit rusty in the first round and I lost due to some bad missplays like fetching the wrong land, not cantripping correctly etc. But the other rounds went on quite good.

I must say that I really like this deck and I thought it died when Mystical Tutor was banned. One of my friends used to play an LED less ANT deck (spanish version with Pact, Grace, Chant etc.) back when MT was legal and rocked quite well with it.

Due to the fun level I had last week I took the decision to put the standard Ari build (UB, Grim Tutor) together. I will receive all the cards tomorrow and I will start going it through and goldfish some.

So how come the lesser activity in this thread?

[Chikenbok]

Not much of activity here, a pitty for such a good deck.

Anyway, I attended a very small tourney last week. I was not supposed to play since I have had some problems lately to find myself a good and fun deck to play. But my friend offered me to play his ANT deck (Scott Limoges build) and out of 4 rounds I went 3-1. I have not played ANT before so I was a little bit rusty in the first round and I lost due to some bad missplays like fetching the wrong land, not cantripping correctly etc. But the other rounds went on quite good.

I must say that I really like this deck and I thought it died when Mystical Tutor was banned. One of my friends used to play an LED less ANT deck (spanish version with Pact, Grace, Chant etc.) back when MT was legal and rocked quite well with it.

Due to the fun level I had last week I took the decision to put the standard Ari build (UB, Grim Tutor) together. I will receive all the cards tomorrow and I will start going it through and goldfish some.

So how come the lesser activity in this thread?

Simply put, now is a rough time to be a storm pilot. While the deck is anything but dead (I myself play UBg ANT) it has become much more skill intensive and requires well, just a shit ton of work to get the job done nowadays. You're fighting in a world where people are playing 16+ counterspells in their decks with Jaces and Visions allowing them to continue to develop hate and threats.

The deck still shows up on top 8's and 16's here and there but piloting a deck like this through 10+ hours of magic is much more demanding on the brain than turning tarmogoys sideways.

And that is, at least why I keep my thread activity down to a minimum. There are no great breakthroughs to be had right now and no cards that require consideration or discussion. Tournament results pop up so we can evaluate metagames and trends but there is no "which card is the best for x,y,z" discussion. If you play the deck, you know how to play the deck, and when to act on certain things - just understand that its becoming more and more difficult to take this deck to the top tables through the myriads of hatred being printed and since the turn 1 mystical tutor setup isn't exactly viable right now well... you get the picture.

Storm will never die, it'll just get harder to pilot through a meta where B/W decks are packing free counterspells.

[Olesch]

Something I was a little insecure of when playing was when to crack a fetch?

I know it is hard to answer, but a general guideline for this deck would be good.

Since it contains alot of cantrips/digging, would it make sence to crack fetches just to slim the deck on lands in order to get the desired cards with the digging cards? Or am I only supposed to crack it when I absolutely need it for mana or a shuffle effect?

[Chikenbok]

Something I was a little insecure of when playing was when to crack a fetch?

I know it is hard to answer, but a general guideline for this deck would be good.

Since it contains alot of cantrips/digging, would it make sence to crack fetches just to slim the deck on lands in order to get the desired cards with the digging cards? Or am I only supposed to crack it when I absolutely need it for mana or a shuffle effect?

Uhm.. When you need a land or when you need a shuffle. Perhaps when you just want to win and/or bait out a stifle?

I guess I'll try and answer this reasonably - When to crack a fetch land.

1. When you require a land to play your spells
2. When you've previously used a cantrip, looked at the top few cards of your library, and decided that you do not want to draw them.
3. If you're interested in seeing whether or not your poorly playing opponent has a stifle in his/her hand.

You NEVER in this deck crack a fetch to 'thin' the deck - you're running at most what, 16 lands? You crack it when you need it, you crack it when it helps you - every spell in this deck is utility, even your lands.

[OurSerratedDust]

I would go as far as to say that you shouldn't usually use a brainstorm without a fetch available. Turning cantrips into Ancestral Recalls is what will really win games for you.

[Olesch]

Uhm.. When you need a land or when you need a shuffle. Perhaps when you just want to win and/or bait out a stifle?

I guess I'll try and answer this reasonably - When to crack a fetch land.

1. When you require a land to play your spells
2. When you've previously used a cantrip, looked at the top few cards of your library, and decided that you do not want to draw them.
3. If you're interested in seeing whether or not your poorly playing opponent has a stifle in his/her hand.

You NEVER in this deck crack a fetch to 'thin' the deck - you're running at most what, 16 lands? You crack it when you need it, you crack it when it helps you - every spell in this deck is utility, even your lands.

Thanks alot for your input. All input is welcome so one can develope as a good pilot with this deck.

[Olesch]

Uhm.. When you need a land or when you need a shuffle. Perhaps when you just want to win and/or bait out a stifle?

I guess I'll try and answer this reasonably - When to crack a fetch land.

1. When you require a land to play your spells
2. When you've previously used a cantrip, looked at the top few cards of your library, and decided that you do not want to draw them.
3. If you're interested in seeing whether or not your poorly playing opponent has a stifle in his/her hand.

You NEVER in this deck crack a fetch to 'thin' the deck - you're running at most what, 16 lands? You crack it when you need it, you crack it when it helps you - every spell in this deck is utility, even your lands.

Thanks alot for your input. All input is welcome so one can develope as a good pilot with this deck.

[Chikenbok]

This is the most recent build I've been working on. Pretty straight forward UBg ANT but I've decided to give the probes another run about. And, well - so far I've been incredibly happy with the way they work.

Having Duress, probe, and chant has opponents constantly considering what to counter and when to react. Chant is the only way to fight through against heavy blue opponents as discard really doesn't cut it anymore - it also allows for IGG to work when it needs to. Probe is just great turn 1 and honestly I'm happy with any free card that increases storm count and replaces itself.

On to the list:


Win Stuff:
1 Ad Nauseam
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
4 Infernal Tutor
1 Tendrils of Agony

Find Win Stuff:
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
3 Preordain

Prevent Opponent from Winning Stuff:
4 Duress
4 Orim's Chant
3 Gitaxian Probe

Accel into Win Stuff/Free Stuff for Win Stuff:
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Dark Ritual
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal

Land:
1 Island
2 Misty Rainforest
3 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
2 Underground Sea
2 Tundra
3 Flooded Strand
1 Scrubland - might just turn into a plains...

SB: 1 Ad Nauseam
SB: 2 Chain of Vapor
SB: 2 Echoing Truth
SB: 1 Tendrils of Agony
SB: 1 Rebuild
SB: 2 Xantid Swarm
SB: 1 Tropical Island
SB: 1 Hurkyl's Recall
SB: 1 Nature's Claim
SB: 3 Thoughtseize

[mort-]

Wow. Is there no Maverick at all in your Meta?
I can't think about lists without Burning Wishes, the play T1 Hierarch, T2 Zenith into Teeg is very common here and you are basicly throwing G1 away.

[Dia_Bot]

@ Chikenbok: I play a similar maindeck except for 2 Grim tutor and an extra preordain in the 3 probe slots.
Have you ever felt like a probe would be better of being an extra tutor/kill condition/preordain?

@Mort: Maverick is still a good matchup with a proper sideboard because you should win G2 and 3. They can autowin G1 but most of the time if you are careful with not giving to much information they won't tutor up teeg until its to late (Aven minesensor is a bitch G1 though).

[Chikenbok]

@ Chikenbok: I play a similar maindeck except for 2 Grim tutor and an extra preordain in the 3 probe slots.
Have you ever felt like a probe would be better of being an extra tutor/kill condition/preordain?

@Mort: Maverick is still a good matchup with a proper sideboard because you should win G2 and 3. They can autowin G1 but most of the time if you are careful with not giving to much information they won't tutor up teeg until its to late (Aven minesensor is a bitch G1 though).

I've never been upset that I've had a probe in my hand. There are times where I would want to see an extra preordain but if that becomes a significant case, the first thing I'm going to cut is the 15th land. There is a chance I would like to see something like a single grim tutor in the deck but ad nauseum has become an incredibly powerful kill condition (despite being the least appropriate at any given time) and flipping G tutor simply sucks.

I'm not planning on playing Burning Wish anymore - I was never happy the way that TNT performed and I'd rather splash white for protection rather than splash red for a few more win conditions. Also, what kind of player is going to give up what deck they're playing against an unknown opponent so they can go tutor for their Teeg? More over, whose to say I haven't killed them by then. Without dedicating 90% of your board space to wish targets, your games 2 and 3 become that much more flexible and reliable.

@Dia_Bot I'd like to do some testing with/without grim tutors in the deck, I'm not sure if you play online at all but I'd be interesting in running some batch numbers with/without the tutors. Lemme know if you've got a list you'd like to share and perhaps wanna play.

Peace.

[mort-]

@Mort: Maverick is still a good matchup with a proper sideboard because you should win G2 and 3. They can autowin G1 but most of the time if you are careful with not giving to much information they won't tutor up teeg until its to late (Aven minesensor is a bitch G1 though).

No, I think we should win G1. You and Chiken are obv correct about the unknown opponent thing. Just doesn't happen to me anymore because everybody knows I'm on combo (at our local monthly event at least). It can happen pretty fast, fetch on Basic Island and Preordain will certainly give you away as a combo player.

Still, I do think that Burning Wishes are the strongest hate / antihate package you can currently bring, so the argument about white isn't as strong.

On another note, went 5-1 and won the monthly Legacy event here, got mostly nonblue decks (1 Reanimator, 1 UWR Cawblade, 1 Junk, 1 Rock, 1 Lands, losing to Belcher in the last round). Short report if you're interested.

[13reaper666]

Short report if you're interested.

I'd love to read it.