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

[itrytostorm]

My biggest problem with playing other storm variants is the damage from AN. I just miss the low curve as I'm getting hit with all the >1CMC spells. I think I'll stick with TES for the GP with everyone gearing for fair decks.

[Lemnear]

My biggest problem with playing other storm variants is the damage from AN. I just miss the low curve as I'm getting hit with all the >1CMC spells. I think I'll stick with TES for the GP with everyone gearing for fair decks.

TES is the only storm deck where Ad Nauseam usually means winning the game the same turn. In ANT it's more of a Necropotence a la drawing 7 fresh cards and win once you untap. Being too greedy with AN in ANT is a sin

[culby218]

Today is the day I am less than 3 hours away from batteling at SCG Columbus. I settled in Bryant's list with bayou in the main. It's been doing well in testing with very little wastelands to deal with. I am going with a 3/1 swarm chain split in the board because columbus has a high number of sneak decks. My name is Dustin Culbertson if you want to follow my progress.

[itrytostorm]

Today is the day I am less than 3 hours away from batteling at SCG Columbus. I settled in Bryant's list with bayou in the main. It's been doing well in testing with very little wastelands to deal with. I am going with a 3/1 swarm chain split in the board because columbus has a high number of sneak decks. My name is Dustin Culbertson if you want to follow my progress.

Good luck, sir!

[culby218]

Well not my weekend round 1 vs a weird maverick brew and over 2 games he was 10 for 10 on cabal therapy. Round 2 vs d&t get wasteland t1 and played 2nd one but got ported with Thalia never saw another land. G2 therapy hit gat teag. Rips Thalia wand wastelands my only other land after a mull to 5. Love the deck will play again just hoping for more luck next time.

[Bryant Cook]

I'm very jealous of everyone going to the GP. This is a great metagame for storm and I'm pretty upset that I can't punish UR Delver players all day.

[itrytostorm]

I'm very jealous of everyone going to the GP. This is a great metagame for storm and I'm pretty upset that I can't punish UR Delver players all day.

What have you found to be the best SB strategy for that match? I am currenty taking out 2 Ponder for Tendrils and IT.

[Bryant Cook]

What have you found to be the best SB strategy for that match? I am currenty taking out 2 Ponder for Tendrils and IT.

Not that. I rarely side in Tendrils, when I do it's generally against Miracles. I don't think you sideboard at all.

[Damoxx]

I'm very jealous of everyone going to the GP. This is a great metagame for storm and I'm pretty upset that I can't punish UR Delver players all day.

Dang. Was hoping to watch that shiny deck on camera multiple times over the weekend.

[itrytostorm]

Can't wait to face all the Stompy decks now that it's getting some attention. Turn 1 chalice and turn 2 3-ball are not super. And Rabble is a actually a quick clock.

[Tom T]

So the past few weeks me and my friend played TES in a couple of tournaments.

He tested the Silence build and I tested the discard build. The first tournament the meta was pretty scattered. My friend made a meta analysis and in 30 decks the most played decks were MUD and Izzet Delver (3x each).
Our lists for reference:

My build:
Main:
4 Burning Wish
3 Infernal Tutor
1 Ad Nauseam
1 Empty the Warrens
4 Duress
3 Cabal Therapy
4 Dark Ritual
4 Rite of Flame
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Polluted Delta
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
1 Bayou

Sideboard:
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Past in Flames
1 Infernal Tutor
1 Cabal Therapy
1 Void Snare
1 Massacre
1 Grapeshot
1 Chain of Vapor
3 Xantid Swarm
3 Abrupt Decay

His build:
Main:
3 Burning Wish
4 Infernal Tutor
2 Ad Nauseam
1 Empty the Warrens
2 Duress
2 Cabal Therapy
3 Silence
4 Dark Ritual
4 Rite of Flame
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Gitaxian Probe
3 Misty Rainforest
2 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
4 Gemstone Mine
2 Mana Confluence


Sideboard:
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Past in Flames
1 Diminishing Returns
1 Cabal Therapy
1 Void Snare
1 Massacre
1 Grapeshot
1 Chain of Vapor
2 Xantid Swarm
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Bayou



The first tournament I went 4-2 missing top8 and he went 5-1 loosing to Instant High Tide (Solidarity?) in the quarters.
I played against ANT, Infect, 2x UR Delver, BUG Delver, Pros Bloom and lost against ANT and Infect.
He played against Goblins, D&T, Elves, Infect, UW Control, High Tide and lost against Elves. I lost two games because the Bayou should be a Tropical Island and I really liked the sideboard Infernal, but I missed the 10th business spell more. He played a second Ad Nauseam instead of the fourth Burning Wish and he lost at least one because of it. The upside was hard to say.

The second tournament was a complete failure for me. My friend put his 4th Wish back instead of the second Ad Nauseam. I replaced the Bayou with the Tropical Island.
There were 9 players. The first I lost against MUD, followed by a bye. The third round I lost against UR Delver, the fourth I won against UR Delver and the 5th my friend scooped to me because he would be top4 nonetheless. I missed top 4 by 3 percent.
He won against 3 UR Delver decks and Merfolk before scooping to me. He lost against MUD in the semi's.

After this I'm considering swapping the main deck Tropical Island with the sideboard Infernal Tutor. Also, there are a lot of Chalices running around in Merfolk and MUD. So we swapped the Grapeshot with a Shattering Spree / Meltdown. Which is the best of the two still isn't clear.

Nationals is coming up this weekend. So we will be storming again. He swears by the Silences and I am loving the 7/8 fetches. But we'll see.

~Tom

[Lemnear]

Thanks for the breakdown, Tom. I dunno why you guys dislike the 4 Therapies

[Asthereal]

I dunno why you guys dislike the 4 Therapies

Duress requires less play skill?
Therapy is the best card as Wish target?

For a Silence list it also makes sense not to play a full set if you often get into trouble with the fact that Probe is the only peek effect you have apart from burning your first Therapy. That was for me the main reason not to run 4x Therapy in my old Silence list.

[CabalTherapy]

TES is the only storm deck where Ad Nauseam usually means winning the game the same turn. In ANT it's more of a Necropotence a la drawing 7 fresh cards and win once you untap. Being too greedy with AN in ANT is a sin

"In ANT it's more of a Necropotence a la drawing 7 fresh cards and win once you untap." I had to read this several times... and...
concerning ANT this assumption is not true. TES has a straighter line of play once AdN resolves, whereas ANT demands some cantripping > LED > Tendrils moves (see what happened during the SCG 2 weeks ago, also covered in Carsten's excellent article). "Being too greedy with AN in ANT is a sin" True BUT you just have to stop when you see the kill line or there is simply no way of winning this turn. So, it is not about greed but stupidity. I would not leave home without my AdN in my Storm deck because the percentage of winning during the same turn are very high and if mana is floating somewhere, it usually predicts a certain kill. Life should be above 13 or something in this spectrum to win without problems.

Edit: Good luck to all the stormy players @ GPNJ. Also to the TES group.

[davelin]

"In ANT it's more of a Necropotence a la drawing 7 fresh cards and win once you untap." I had to read this several times... and...
concerning ANT this assumption is not true.

I'm not quite sure how what you said is different than what Lem said.

[Bryant Cook]

My issue with the all fetch manabase is that Decay isn't nearly reliable enough. With a pair of Gemstones, it's castable without a Petal theoretically in Chalice match-ups.

[Mastikor]

I don't know why you are cutting the Gemstones now that Wasteland is on it's minimum.

[Tom T]

Thanks for the breakdown, Tom. I dunno why you guys dislike the 4 Therapies

I love it! But I hate the Thoughtseize, so I've put the Cabal Therapy as a wish target.

I don't know why you are cutting the Gemstones now that Wasteland is on it's minimum.

I'm not cutting Gemstone Mines because they're Gemstone Mines, but more because they're not fetch land.

[Bryant Cook]

I love it! But I hate the Thoughtseize, so I've put the Cabal Therapy as a wish target.

I will never understand this. Cabal Therapy is our best discard spell, especially when we're an ETW deck. We're reducing naturally drawing our best discard spell to be able to Burning Wish for a copy with the additional mana requirement, when half the time we would rather get a different spell. Which is why I ultimately decided to cut the discard spell, it's very low impact and often a wasted slot in the sideboard.

[wonderPreaux]

I will never understand this. Cabal Therapy is our best discard spell, especially when we're an ETW deck. We're reducing naturally drawing our best discard spell to be able to Burning Wish for a copy with the additional mana requirement, when half the time we would rather get a different spell. Which is why I ultimately decided to cut the discard spell, it's very low impact and often a wasted slot in the sideboard.

Bryant, I've been wondering, how do you handle storm combo mirrors with no Thoughtseize in board? Given how bad EtW is, I tended to swap it for Tendrils or PiF, but with no discard spell to Wish for, I think the only viable card to side in would be Tendrils. It's just too awkward having nothing really impactful to Wish for if you side the PiF in and have no Seize. As I've tested more, I've founded boarding in Tutor to be hit-or-miss, but Tendrils seems just ok as well.

Also, for you or anyone else using the more current list, does anyone else side out a discard spell against control, to open it up as a Wish target? I've enjoyed it, especially in games where I'm waiting on Decay or bringing Swarm in anyway.