[Deck] ANT (Ad Nauseam Tendrils) Storm Combo

[Lemnear]

I'm wondering about our sideboard,is there a reason why there aren't 2-3 copies of defense grid?
Very similar to xantid Swarm,but you can cast it and then just continue comboing.
Many players leave some removal spells in their deck because they fear swarm so it would be great to make those cards dead.
Usually they don't board in decay.


- Team RUG-STAR Berlin -

I can imagine a lot. Don't expect too much from a list I threw together yesterday morning before heading to work. There was no testing and stuff; just brainstorming over 3 basic lands between door and street :)

[Lordofthestringz]

I'm wondering about our sideboard,is there a reason why there aren't 2-3 copies of defense grid?
Very similar to xantid Swarm,but you can cast it and then just continue comboing.
Many players leave some removal spells in their deck because they fear swarm so it would be great to make those cards dead.
Usually they don't board in decay.


- Team RUG-STAR Berlin -

I have seen some lists that play it, Eric Rill used it on his last top 4 at a SCG event.

I only side Xantid against Sneak and Show and Merfolk, and it is so goooooooood in those matchups, but i agree that Defense Grid might be worth testing.

[Machahiko]

Defense Grid is good against taxing counters, but doesn't do a thing against the worst offender - hard counters. Xantid Swarm and silence effects break them both, Carpet of Flowers/rituals kill off taxing counters. I'm not too happy about having another SB option against taxing counters when they're already so weak because our deck is already "full of mana".

[jtos84]

While it is probably technically not wrong to play defense grid I can see some problems with it. You run the risk of not being able to cast infernal tutor in certain situations if it still in your hand. You might have to use a ritual or a petal to play it. It could actually keep you from protecting your hand with brainstorm on your opponents turn. That is a definite drawback.

I think it all comes down to your experience with the deck. S/bing can be a mess while learning to play the deck really well. In this meta I think Xantid swarm of some number is the right call. Of course this is a difficult meta for storm, so you might as well try out whatever you think can work.

[Disciple of Skulls]

I've always disliked playing a fourth color in my storm deck, so I've been playing with defense grids from the beginning. The second Grid you draw isn't bad either. It might cost you the turn to cast it, but there is no way anyone in legacy can muster up 6 mana to pay for a counter the turn after.

Another advantage is that it also is counterable by spellsnare, taking one more hard counter away from Infernal tutors. It's fun dropping it off show and tell as well.

I guess the current advantage I have with the grid is that next to no one expects it, I have no idea how counter magic based decks adapt once it becomes a more popular choice amongst decks.

[Royce Walter]

Another advantage is that it also is counterable by spellsnare, taking one more hard counter away from Infernal tutors.

This is a disadvantage. Chant effects make Spell Snares blanks. Grid does not.

[JamieW89]

I don't really like Defense Grid in a storm deck without Silence effects, since discard + grid does not beat multiple counters like chant + grid would.

4-0'd a local event last Sunday, with practically the same MD as BoM, played a third Decay and Top in the board because I expected a fair amount of Miracles. I beat Deathblade (2-0), UW Miracle Blade (2-1), U Omnishow (2-1) and UB Tezzeret Control (2-1). Had a pretty sweet play versus Tezz, when he cast Transmute Artifact with a Chalice@0 & Baleful Strix in play with 1 open mana (planning to get 3sphere from Strix). I decayed the Strix in response, which forced him to sac the Chalice@1 for a Chalice@0, after which I was able to set up a win.

[sawatarix]

Thank you all for your feedback to defense grid.

Next,i wanna know from you how you beat these 3 decks in particular because i have the most trouble with them:

- UW Miracle

- Reanimator

- Team America


Do we need specific sideboard cards against them? (my buddy suggested pithin needle -> senseis devining top)
Please give me some feedback on that, i just need some input concerning these 3 matchups.

Thank you !


- Team RUG-STAR Berlin -

[Jin Gitaxias]

you just listed our 3 worst matchups, it is pretty normal that you won't win a lot of those but I will try to give you a short guide anyway

Miracles:
Game 1 I think you are favoured because they do not have that much disruption, prevent them from setting up balance+ top and you should be fine. After sideboard I board in confidants, carpet of flowers and abrupt decay. Abrupt decay should be pretty self explanatory, dark confidant makes it really easy for you to natural tendrils them when they are at 16 our lower and the added card advantage makes it easier for you to overload their counters. The added cabal therapy flashback is also really good vs this matchup, even more so then others. Carpet of flowers is also good if the plan is to overload their counters. It generally makes enough mana to allow you to cast past in flames twice in 1 turn, and that should be enough.

Reanimator is a combo mirror, and these matchups are usually a coinflip. Because of their combination of both discard and countermagic the coin is slightly weighted in their favor. Game 1 is a pure race wich you are likely to lose if they untap after reanimating Griselbrand. Post sideboard I bring in 3 xantid swarms because it lets you ignore griselbrand's draw when you are ready to go off. I also happen to have 1 karakas in my deck wich is really good vs them.

As for Team America, I just give up on this matchup because I can not find a way to get a win percentage over something like 30 or 40%.

For reference, my list:
4 misty
4 delta
2 sea
1 volcanic
1 tropical
1 bayou
1 island
1 swamp

4 dark rit, cabal rit, petal, LED,tutor,cabal therapy,brainstorm,ponder,gitaxian probe
3 duress
2 preordain
1 PiF, tendrils, ad nauseam, sensei's divining top

SIDEBOARD
3 xantid swarm
3 abrupt decay
2 chain of vapor
2 dark confidant
2 carpet of flowers
1 karakas
1 empty the warrens
1 massacre

[sawatarix]

Thank you for the input.

Today i tested a lot against miracle with the following sideboarding:

-4 infernal tutor
-4 lions eye diamond
+3 tendrils of agony
+2 empty the warrens
+3 abrupt decay

After sideboarding the games went like this:
We both grind a lot until i have 2 stormspells in hand (2 tendrils or tendrils+empty)3-4 rituals and a decay to deal with counterbalance or canonist .8 spells into tendrils is also fine.
At end of his turn i decay the hate permanent and then play either double tendrils through countermagic or tendrils - empty
Well it worked,the mu felt like at least 50:50 postboard,maybe even better.
The strategy is also called grinding station which is invented by my buddy jona.
(Sidenote: i'm not a big fan of empties,should be dark confidants to fill the hand as quickly as possible)

G1 against miracle still feels horrible,if they resolve top the game is almost in their favour because they can now hide a counterspell on top of library,that really sucks.





- Team RUG-STAR Berlin -

[JPoJohnson]

Thank you for the input.

Today i tested a lot against miracle with the following sideboarding:

-4 infernal tutor
-4 lions eye diamond
+3 tendrils of agony
+2 empty the warrens
+3 abrupt decay

After sideboarding the games went like this:
We both grind a lot until i have 2 stormspells in hand (2 tendrils or tendrils+empty)3-4 rituals and a decay to deal with counterbalance or canonist .8 spells into tendrils is also fine.
At end of his turn i decay the hate permanent and then play either double tendrils through countermagic or tendrils - empty
Well it worked,the mu felt like at least 50:50 postboard,maybe even better.
The strategy is also called grinding station which is invented by my buddy jona.
(Sidenote: i'm not a big fan of empties,should be dark confidants to fill the hand as quickly as possible)

G1 against miracle still feels horrible,if they resolve top the game is almost in their favour because they can now hide a counterspell on top of library,that really sucks.





- Team RUG-STAR Berlin -

I'm assuming no Ad Nauseam in the mainboard in this instance?

[Azdraël]

Miracle after side is a really good match-up.

Side-in Decay, all your Empty ( I love having 2 copies of it in my sb), more tendrils, Bobs, xantids and even an extra nauseam as an EOT lure. They won't be able to cope with all our threats.

[jtos84]

I was thinking defense grid cost three mana, but it is only two. Against miracles it is probably good, but I think the storm hate is a little over the top anymore. I played in a tournament and went 3-1-2. I lost to Esperblade game one because my tendrils was removed by a shaman; won game two because they mulled into leyline of sanctity with only a karakas for many turns, then lost game three to two deathrite shamans, leyline of sanctity, and meddling mage. Against miracles I lost to a karakas clique repeat effect (which is not that bad) after I stripped three or four counters and a counterbalance out of their hand. Game two I lost to double ethersworn canonist. I could have gotten it, but my chain of vapor was spell pierced. Its fairly difficult to play storm in the first place, but when you know that is what you face all day no matter where you play it is not to awesome.

[Azdraël]

Nothing to do with the latest posts but I came up with Notion Thief as a x2 sideboard tech. Has anyone been really testing it so far?

[Bed Decks Palyer]

Nothing to do with the latest posts but I came up with Notion Thief as a x2 sideboard tech. Has anyone been really testing it so far?

Slosh. PM him.

Defense Grid is good against taxing counters, but doesn't do a thing against the worst offender - hard counters.

Pardon? Force of Will for and a card to pitch is brutal. More so is Force for
I don't know what other hard counters are played (except for a singleton Counterspell here and there), but Grid is good against any of them.

[Sloshthedark]

Nothing to do with the latest posts but I came up with Notion Thief as a x2 sideboard tech. Has anyone been really testing it so far?

2x in my sideboard since it's release, until the tech gets spread and expected I do not feel a need for change

why? - Ant is the only deck which can reasonably catch T2 BS ~oops I win, I play it instead of Dark Confidant it's better vs. combo, mirrors especially (usually there are multiple Ant players in your LGS), faster, more impact, has synergy with my list, I do not play Ad Nauseam so CC is not a problem, is absolutely unexpected, is a fun card to play

application
- Miracles, hard control - prevents SDT counters, slows down opps development, Jace, 2-attacks make in Hand ToA reasonable strategy, sometimes catches lategame BS, unfortunately gets weaker with REBs
- U based combo - gives you strong edge through entire game

I do not usually use it vs. blue based "midrange" - not enough targets, not enough impact



...actually I had a really long post ready yesterday until blue death stifled my computer... maybe I'll find some time next week

[Azdraël]

I'd indeed appreciate if you could develop it more, thx!

[jtos84]

For those that might be interested, I think this is the correct s/b for the meta game.

2 Chain of Vapor
1 Karakas
4 Abrupt Decay
1 Dread of Night
1 Massacre
3 Xantid Swarm
1 Grim Tutor
2 Ignorant Bliss

Ignorant bliss comes in for TA, or anything running heavy discard. Grim Tutor is for matches like reanimator, esperdeathblade, or anything not running a bunch of spell pierces. Xantid swarm is for heavy counter obv. Massacre is for pretty much anything blue anymore since hatebears are all over. Dread of Night is for death of taxes, only if you are running Vault in the main in my opinion. Abrupt decay x4 for chalice decks, and miracles. Karakas for reanimator, death and taxes, and show and tell (If you feel like it). Chain of Vapor x2 in nearly every game 2 and 3 against any deck except the mirror.

As good as dark confidant is, I cannot really justify using it in this meta. The matches where it was good were already in our favor, so knowing the ins and outs of the deck is more important than using Bob right now I would say.

[davelin]

For those that might be interested, I think this is the correct s/b for the meta game.

2 Chain of Vapor
1 Karakas
4 Abrupt Decay
1 Dread of Night
1 Massacre
3 Xantid Swarm
1 Grim Tutor
2 Ignorant Bliss

Ignorant bliss comes in for TA, or anything running heavy discard. Grim Tutor is for matches like reanimator, esperdeathblade, or anything not running a bunch of spell pierces. Xantid swarm is for heavy counter obv. Massacre is for pretty much anything blue anymore since hatebears are all over. Dread of Night is for death of taxes, only if you are running Vault in the main in my opinion. Abrupt decay x4 for chalice decks, and miracles. Karakas for reanimator, death and taxes, and show and tell (If you feel like it). Chain of Vapor x2 in nearly every game 2 and 3 against any deck except the mirror.

As good as dark confidant is, I cannot really justify using it in this meta. The matches where it was good were already in our favor, so knowing the ins and outs of the deck is more important than using Bob right now I would say.

Ignorant Bliss seems like old SB tech for discard heavy decks. Holding up 2 mana to Bliss instead of casting your 'trips doesn't seem like what we want to do.

[Sloshthedark]

For those that might be interested, I think this is the correct s/b for the meta game.

2 Chain of Vapor
1 Karakas
4 Abrupt Decay
1 Dread of Night
1 Massacre
3 Xantid Swarm
1 Grim Tutor
2 Ignorant Bliss

Ignorant bliss comes in for TA, or anything running heavy discard. Grim Tutor is for matches like reanimator, esperdeathblade, or anything not running a bunch of spell pierces. Xantid swarm is for heavy counter obv. Massacre is for pretty much anything blue anymore since hatebears are all over. Dread of Night is for death of taxes, only if you are running Vault in the main in my opinion. Abrupt decay x4 for chalice decks, and miracles. Karakas for reanimator, death and taxes, and show and tell (If you feel like it). Chain of Vapor x2 in nearly every game 2 and 3 against any deck except the mirror.

As good as dark confidant is, I cannot really justify using it in this meta. The matches where it was good were already in our favor, so knowing the ins and outs of the deck is more important than using Bob right now I would say.

which metagame? for example my Thursday had - 3x ANT (Including me), Canadian Threshold, BURG America, Team America, 4c Deathblade, UWR tempo, Mono W hatebears, Death and Taxes, Merfolk, BWg Deadguy, GWr Enchantress, Goblins, Burn, Mono R Sneak Attack, UGr Cloudpost, Eva Green (bold are top 5 performers)

If I had a Grim tutor I'd MD it, Ignorant Bliss doesn't make much sense for me same as Vault-DoN argument - I like LDV as a general setup spell not a singleton tutor (I rarely went for more than 1 spin), G splash is heavy I would not play that without 2 G lands, actually Dark Confidant could be interesting here instead of 2 bliss+tutor and trim 1 AD in favor of a storm spell...

It's all about personal preference+playstyle after all

@Azdraël - look up