[Deck] T.E.S - The EPIC Storm

[Basaka]

The correct way will be:

cast Tendrils
cast AdN from graveyard
cast all your rituals from AdN
flashback PiF (creates a new timestamp that makes all the rituals you just cast have flashback)
cast the rituals still in your yard

[Dark Ritual]

When you flashback dark ritual and company after casting past in flames they're exiled so you can't cast them again. But Basaka had it right in terms of how to grapeshot for nearly 60 damage or so depending on how much storm you generate.

[Trentemoller]

I decided to play TES for the first time in my life at a reasonable sized tournament, went 5-2 and wrote a report, you can find it here:

Tournament Report

Considering the amount of FoWs, Chalices, Chants, Duresses, Cannonists and Cliques I saw and the lack of experience and sleep I am very happy with the result. I enjoyed the deck a lot and I'm certainly going to play this deck more often. Going to test it and tweak some lists!

[thefringthing]

Tournament Report

Your list strikes me as sort of sketchy. I don't mind cutting the fourth Chrome Mox and the running a maindeck Empty the Warrens, but cutting stuff like the fourth Infernal Tutor for Gitaxian Probes doesn't seem very good.

As I think you realized, your issues with Chalice could have been solved by playing a different mix of bounce spells in the sideboard.

Nice work overall.

[KevinTrudeau]

I won a Tundra at a ~forty man Big 1.5 this past Saturday (top four split) with the old standard 4/4 Duress/Chant allocation and Deathmark over Silent Departure in the sideboard. Everything went smoothly up until the top eight match, where I did my best to punt away the set, yet still won. I beat (in chronological order) UW Stoneblade (2-0), Belcher (2-0), Zoo (2-1), Nic Fit (2-0), intentionally drew rounds five and six, and then beat Imperial Painter (2-1). Highlights included:

-Duressing my round one opponent in game one, leaving two Spell Snare in hand, and then subsequently Chanting into the win the following turn.
-Getting somewhat lucky against Belcher during game two by only taking eight off of the initial Charbelcher activation on turn two, and then winning soon after.
-Casting Echoing Truth, targeting my two LEDs, for the sole purpose of storm for the first time ever (was a necessary action, no showboating whatsoever). I lost that game to a Mindbreak Trap I couldn't afford to play around, but ended up winning what turned out to be a very close and exciting match against Zoo.
-Not having a heart attack against my Nic Fit opponent, who said it was the only way he was winning game one.
-Getting to use the Chrome Mox trick, for the first time ever in a tournament, during round four.

Disappointments (however slight they may be) included:
-Being slightly less comfortable during the entirety of the tournament due to not wearing Zubaz.
-Not ever casting Diminishing Returns; I usually cast it at least once in every tournament I play TES in.
-Not finding the two Time Spirals and three Flusterstorms via trade I needed to complete Spiral Tide, nor the Jace, Glen Elendra, Vendilion Clique, and Palinchron that're still missing from my Azami EDH deck.

My top eight match, against Imperial Painter, was incredibly close. I made three punts, one in game one and two in game three. The first one was not casting one of the two Rite of Flame I had in hand to guarantee my Shattering Spree could destroy both parts of the Painter/Grindstone tandem he had in play. I sent a 2/1 split at Painter/Grindstone respectively while he had a lone Mountain untapped; the notion of generating four mana to dodge an REB came up, but I quickly dismissed that excellent thought with a 'meh'. He then countered the copy targeting Grindstone with a Pyroblast, dropped a second Painter the following turn, and won on the turn after that (Blood Moon had been in play since his second turn if you're wondering, stifling both of our manabases and explaining how I had all of that red mana). The second punt occurred when, on my turn three, on the draw, with a hand of Ad Nauseam, Infernal Tutor, Lion's Eye Diamond, Lion's Eye Diamond, Wipe Away, Burning Wish, Rite of Flame, and Chrome Mox, I chose to discard the Mox (he'd a Leyline of the Void and Chalice of the Void set at zero in play, with another Chalice and a Thorn of Amethyst in hand) after he'd cast a Blood Moon on his third turn. The third and most embarrassing one was when I forgot to play both LEDs after blowing up both Thorn and the Chalice at zero with Shattering Spree, him having a Blood Moon in play and still having held back on the second Chalice. I just quickly said, "Go" after having plotted for several turns to lay down both immediately after eventually Wishing for Spree, but alas, it was not to be. Thankfully enough, he cast the Chalice the following turn at one, and I topdecked a Lotus Petal the turn after that to Ad Nauseam from sixteen life for the win.

I was very satisfied with the 4/4 split. If I were to play TES at a larger event though, such as a Grand Prix, I would definitely consider the 3/5 split and Silent Departure over Deathmark/Wipe Away, although I still think I'd like the sideboard discard spell to be Thoughtseize instead of the fourth Duress. One thing I am certain of now is that Shattering Spree is probably better than Meltdown, due to that last match.

[Dark Ritual]

You know I have 2 time spiral's and a lone flusterstorm to trade to you right lol. Overall good job, if you had lost to imperial painter though...at least you didn't, as I despise imperial painter as it's just a bastard child of dragon stompy IMHO that isn't winning with rakdos pit dragon and is trying to win with painterstone instead.

On the gitaxian probe TES list. I haven't tried it out so I'm not sure whether it's better than standard TES or not. Probe is a nice card, but this deck revolves around ad nauseam and the 2 life can potentially matter with ad nauseam if you aren't lucky with flipping cards.

[Trentemoller]

Gitaxian Probe was very good for me all day. Sure sometimes the 2 life can make the difference with Ad Nauseam but it can also help you when you flip them with Ad Nauseam. Say you Ad Nauseam without mana floating, and you get 2 LEDs, a Chrome Mox, a random blue card, Burning Wish, Brainstorm and a Probe (or you had one of those on hand before resolving it) you can play the mox, imprint a blue card, brainstorm the wish on top, play the two leds probe and in response sac the LEDs for BBBRRR and draw the wish. This happened to me twice in the tournament. Not saying this is that common but it's certainly not irrelevant and shows that it can actually help you kill with drawing less cards from Ad Nauseam. Also the information is very useful. You know how much time you have, how much counters they have, your cantrips get a lot better if you know what you have to battle because you know what you are looking for. If they have an aggressive hand without disruption you need to find the win asap, if they have a pierce, a fow and a snare you need to find protection etc. I was really happy with them. I borrowed a few cards from a friend and bought some others and now have the deck complete on MTGO as well :) I'm 2-1 at 2-mans while facing 2 chalice decks which was nice.

In game 2 vs the Jace/Tezz Stax deck I mulled to 6 and knew he played 8 sol lands and 4 mox diamonds while also playing 4 chalice and 4 trinisphere and maybe more hate. I get the following cards: Brainstorm, Underground Sea, LED, LED, Petal, Chrome Mox. I kept and went all-in on the brainstorm, figuring that is my best shot at winning this tough game. I had three draws for an infernal tutor, a burning wish or the empty the warrens with perhaps a redraw from a ponder or another brainstorm. Is this the correct line? I got there with 14 tokens which was sweet.

[Final Ritual]

In game 2 vs the Jace/Tezz Stax deck I mulled to 6 and knew he played 8 sol lands and 4 mox diamonds while also playing 4 chalice and 4 trinisphere and maybe more hate. I get the following cards: Brainstorm, Underground Sea, LED, LED, Petal, Chrome Mox. I kept and went all-in on the brainstorm, figuring that is my best shot at winning this tough game. I had three draws for an infernal tutor, a burning wish or the empty the warrens with perhaps a redraw from a ponder or another brainstorm. Is this the correct line? I got there with 14 tokens which was sweet.

Why didn't you just go for it on turn two? Brainstorm turn 1 put back infernal tutor and wish and play both LED's in case he sets chalice to zero. Draw tutor play chrome mox imprinting EtW play infernal tutor crack both LEDs for bbbuuu grab AdN pay and float U.

[akmalik]

In game 2 vs the Jace/Tezz Stax deck I mulled to 6 and knew he played 8 sol lands and 4 mox diamonds while also playing 4 chalice and 4 trinisphere and maybe more hate. I get the following cards: Brainstorm, Underground Sea, LED, LED, Petal, Chrome Mox. I kept and went all-in on the brainstorm, figuring that is my best shot at winning this tough game. I had three draws for an infernal tutor, a burning wish or the empty the warrens with perhaps a redraw from a ponder or another brainstorm. Is this the correct line? I got there with 14 tokens which was sweet.

39% that you find a Wish, EtW or Infernal in the first Brainstorm
37% you fail to find a cantrip or winoption

If you hit another bs (16%) you win only with 16% in this cantrip.
with ponder (21%) its about 29%
Not really sure about the math...

I think in this matchup its just better to play some artefacts and wait. With all the Mana in play there are only a few things that can disrupt you (chalice @2, Revoker on LED or other crappy things).

[AriLax]

Highlights of Wednesday night Legacy:

-Enchantress opponent had T0 Leyline of Sanctity game two, untapped with Enchantress 2-3 times that game, and had Aura of Silence, 2 Leyline, Solitary up at the start of my turn. He immediately died to Chain Aura -> Ad Naus -> Past in Flames -> dead.
-Game 1, turn one Maverick off Dim Ret (he was on the play with a Noble + only could Empty for 12 which isn't enough to beat a Stoneforge). Game two, we both mull, then he goes to 3. He passes on one, I look at top card then flip the Infernal to go with my Dark Rit, land, 2 LED hand.
-Actually pulled off the Chrome Mox trick. BUG opponent Inquisitions on 1, taking Ponder out of 2x Bstorm, Sea, Duress, Chrome Mox, Ponder. I Duress, he has Bob, Bob, Snapcaster. He taps out for Bob, I Brainstorm, stack Ad Naus on top, land, LED, LED, Mox, trigger on the stack Bstorm, sac LEDs in response, draw Ad Naus, cast with trigger on etc.
-Vs. Burn I lead Ritual, Infernal for Ritual, Duress, he Bolt + Fireblasts me in response to empty his hand with 2 lands left and me at 3 life. I Ritual -> Ritual -> Tendrils for 8 storm after he had Flame Rifted. Thanks for the help!

[thefringthing]

Cook's Kitchen - Updating Storm

I wonder what Bryant thinks of Ari's suggestion of running additional copies of Empty the Warrens over Pyroblast in the sideboard to bring in against non-SFM blue decks. I tried that plan at a GPT this weekend and liked it. (Though an awful blunder of saying "both black" out of habit while cracking LEDs lost me a critical game. Obviously my opponent in the next round, one of the co-inventors of Canadian Threshold, is on a Countertop homebrew.)

[lorddotm]

I've stopped taking Magic seriously at all and I'm going to sell most/all of my collection. Now you can stop PMing me about my decklist. Thanks.

[thefringthing]

I've stopped taking Magic seriously at all and I'm going to sell most/all of my collection. Now you can stop PMing me about my decklist. Thanks.

I'll buy your deck for a hundo. ;)

[Trentemoller]

I played EtW 2x in my SB, it's your best weapon against Tempo Thresh, just drawing it naturally makes it a lot easier to win through taxing counters and even regular counters. Making 10 goblins is usually game unless they can race you with a flipped Delver. I'm going to make some changes to my list. Could you guys post your current list? I'm not very impressed with Xantid Swarm, pyroblast seems a bit better, online Counterbalance has become a little bit more popular and it seems pretty good in that matchup.

[Tammit67]

I played EtW 2x in my SB, it's your best weapon against Tempo Thresh, just drawing it naturally makes it a lot easier to win through taxing counters and even regular counters. Making 10 goblins is usually game unless they can race you with a flipped Delver. I'm going to make some changes to my list. Could you guys post your current list? I'm not very impressed with Xantid Swarm, pyroblast seems a bit better, online Counterbalance has become a little bit more popular and it seems pretty good in that matchup.

Read the opening post. Its always up to date

[Trentemoller]

No offense to Bryant Cook, but I'm more interested in your lists. I don't like straight copying a list unless I have no clue about the deck. Seeing some different lists helps me get ideas for my own build and what works for me and why people chose for certain choices for their deck. Or is everybody just playing every new update Bryant is playing?

[Goin Aggro]

I've stopped taking Magic seriously at all and I'm going to sell most/all of my collection. Now you can stop PMing me about my decklist. Thanks.

If you're really bailing out, I'd be interested in offering/purchasing on your FBB/Pimp stuff.

Let me know, I'm a local player, so we can always meet in person if you'd like.

[thefringthing]

It's always up to date.

It's usually not. Bryant updates the list occasionally, but the rest of the post has been out of date forever.

No offense to Bryant Cook, but I'm more interested in your lists.

My list is currently Bryant's maindeck with the following sideboard: 1 Tendrils of Agony, 1 Ill-Gotten Gains, 1 Past in Flames, 1 Diminishing Returns, 1 Deathmark, 1 Duress, 1 Shattering Spree, 1 Silent Departure, 1 Pyroclasm, 2 Echoing Truth, 1 Chain of Vapor, 3 Empty the Warrens

[Bryant Cook]

It's usually not. Bryant updates the list occasionally, but the rest of the post has been out of date forever.

My list is currently Bryant's maindeck with the following sideboard: 1 Tendrils of Agony, 1 Ill-Gotten Gains, 1 Past in Flames, 1 Diminishing Returns, 1 Deathmark, 1 Duress, 1 Shattering Spree, 1 Silent Departure, 1 Pyroclasm, 2 Echoing Truth, 1 Chain of Vapor, 3 Empty the Warrens

Let me start out by saying this thread has one of the best opening posts on the forum. Don't knock it until you write and compile something better.

The actual content doesn't need to be updated very often, really only the deck list does. Although, I like to believe that I'm kind enough to update it frequently enough for people. Whenever there's a change to the deck list it's on the opening post, same could be said for links, reports, and articles.

I don't care if people don't run my list. I just don't want to hear it if they're losing. I don't run the ETW plan for a reason, it's bad right now.

Bringing in a card that has problems with Stifle in a Stifle infested meta game is a good idea? Not to mention, it's only good versus non-Stoneforge decks. SFM is still quite popular. I like my cards to be a bit more versatile.

I'm done ranting, it's time to watch Californication.

[Tammit67]

TES top 8's under a pilot who doesn't have -that- much experience with the deck. People need to play more Dark ritual