[Deck] ANT (Ad Nauseam Tendrils) Storm Combo

[Sloshthedark]

I think there will actually be more GY hate now that people aren't trying to fuel their own DTTs.

gy hate for what?

[jim111589]

Rug, reanimator, bgx shells, lands

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[Tav]

haven't caught myself up on this topic in quite some time, was hoping that maybe I'd find some decent discussion and progress


nah just siding in xantids vs lightning bolts and wondering if shocks are a fine mana base....

never change, source <3

[bjholmes3]

At least people stopped advocating LDV *shudder*

[Le Chuck]

Hi guys, now that DTT is gone for good, there will be a sensible increase of BUG based deck on the field, so I would like to ask, how do you guys generally approach the game? And what's your sideboard plan?
I know that is a tricky question, most of the times it depends on the kind of bug that we are facing, shardless, tourachless, with stifle ecc,

[bjholmes3]

Swarm and Top are valuable against BUG, I'd expect at least 1 Top main to be more common again.

[Le Chuck]

Usually how many decay do you plan to board in? and how do you interact with Deathrite Shaman? do you consider them a threat that has to be removed or do you always try to bypass them when it's possible?

[Jonathan Alexander]

People, don't board Swarm vs. discard.

[CabalTherapy]

Hi guys, now that DTT is gone for good, there will be a sensible increase of BUG based deck on the field, so I would like to ask, how do you guys generally approach the game? And what's your sideboard plan?
I know that is a tricky question, most of the times it depends on the kind of bug that we are facing, shardless, tourachless, with stifle ecc,

Flusterstorm.

People, don't board Swarm vs. discard.

This should be quoted in the primer.

[JamieW89]

Hi guys, now that DTT is gone for good, there will be a sensible increase of BUG based deck on the field, so I would like to ask, how do you guys generally approach the game? And what's your sideboard plan?
I know that is a tricky question, most of the times it depends on the kind of bug that we are facing, shardless, tourachless, with stifle ecc,

Tops are good, I think Empty is good vs BUG Delver. Ad Nauseam is a really strong card versus shardless though.
If you're expecting a ton of Hymns you could try Divert also, it never really amazed me but I've ran it before.

What do you guys think about DoN vs Massacre in the new meta? I assume there will be more blade and UWR Delver (and even 4c Shardless with hatebears) and you don't need to run 3-4, but DoN is stronger than it used to be versus DnT because of Vryn.

I would probably start with a sideboard like:
4 Abrupt Decay
1 Krosan Grip
1 Sensei's Divining Top (1 main)
2 Flusterstorm
1 Carpet of Flowers (2nd if a ton of RUG, probably not needed)
2 Xantid Swarm (3 if Sneak/Rean become really popular)
1 Chain of Vapor (Question is if we need a 2nd)
2 Massacre
1 Empty the Warrens (EtW main fits better with DP's, but I think AdN main might be stronger in the meta and fits in better with playing 2 green duals)

I sort of want to squeeze in a Hurkyl's Recall (replacing the SB top I guess?) since there is quite a lot of hatedecks such as Lands, 4c Loam and MUD right now, but those numbers might dwindle a bit.

[Togores]

Lately I have been playing echoing truth instead of chain of vapor.
Ita quite good vs chalice decks because you can bounce theyr chalices and also a tegg or canonist if they have it.

Also im right now with this problems:
Before dig ban I played 2 preordains, 2 tendrills, nauseam and no tops.

Now Im not sure if I want a top md and for what to replace it.

Now my sb is:
4 decay
3 xantid
2 echoing
2 dread of night
2 flusterstorm
2 carpets

I hope chalice decks to die but I have other 5 cards I would like to fit in my sb:
1 grip
2 hurkil
1 top
3rs dread.

Im also thinkin on whats better now. Obviusly dread is better because vrym pegasus but it still dosnt kill revoker, ot slows them down and we can kill canonist / revoker with decay or so.
Also masaacre makes your ad nauseam worser but its better against blade, shardless (with mages), patriot and so.

Im in real strugle what to play in this 2 spots...

[bjholmes3]

I've actually been using Disfigure, with the added benefit of killing those filthy shamans.

[Togores]

Disfigure is ok but dosnt get rid of mother of runes in any way.
Also just kills 1 guy. Its ok vs deathrite but I board decay for that kind of decks. Just because null rod and gravedigger cage is also a thing. Even if I dont like too much to fetch for green.

[Le Chuck]

Perhaps now that bug based deck and miracles will be more present on the field, pithing needle could be a valid option in our sideboard? i have to admit that i don't like it much, but, if it does the job..
someone has some feedback about needles? feelings?

[Sloshthedark]

Perhaps now that bug based deck and miracles will be more present on the field, pithing needle could be a valid option in our sideboard? i have to admit that i don't like it much, but, if it does the job..
someone has some feedback about needles? feelings?

not sure about my SB atm but I used to like 3x PN quite a lot a year ago, great vs S+T and Miracles, decent vs. Deathrite

[sunlith42]

I'm fairly new to playing storm. In my local LGS there are 2 players that play discard decks, monoblack with hymns, and BG with cabal therapy and veteran explorer. My question is what can i sideboard to improve these match-ups which have been going terribly for me?

I have the 2 flusterstorm in my SB, I was thinking 2 additional spell pierce and maybe 2 misdirection.
Main deck is fairly stock,
SB:
3 abrupt decay
2 pithing needle
2 flusterstorm
2 carpet of flowers
2 xantid swarm
2 surgical extraction
1 massacre
1 chain of vapor

[davelin]

I'm fairly new to playing storm. In my local LGS there are 2 players that play discard decks, monoblack with hymns, and BG with cabal therapy and veteran explorer. My question is what can i sideboard to improve these match-ups which have been going terribly for me?

I have the 2 flusterstorm in my SB, I was thinking 2 additional spell pierce and maybe 2 misdirection.
Main deck is fairly stock,
SB:
3 abrupt decay
2 pithing needle
2 flusterstorm
2 carpet of flowers
2 xantid swarm
2 surgical extraction
1 massacre
1 chain of vapor

Top is good for discard decks, a second PiF as well. However you dont want to over SB here, you should combo them out quickly versus their interaction.

[ScottW]

Does ANT just concede to reanimator? Is the deck not present enough to consider?

[Ronald Deuce]

Hello! I've been following the thread for a little while, but this'll be my first post here. I'm considering running ANT, but I've got a few questions and notes from my testing. Note that I have NOT played this deck yet (Sunday will be its trial by fire), but I have been goldfishing and testing to try to get an understanding of the deck's workings. So if I ask any stupid questions, by all means point out what I've missed. Here's the list I'm running right now:

Lands:
4x Polluted Delta
3x Scalding Tarn
2x Underground Sea
1x Volcanic Island
1x Badlands
1x Bloodstained Mire
1x Island
1x Swamp

Engine and tutors:
4x Infernal Tutor
1x Ad Nauseam
1x Dark Petition
1x Past in Flames
1x Tendrils of Agony
1x Empty the Warrens

Cantrips:
4x Brainstorm
4x Ponder
4x Gitaxian Probe
2x Preordain

Discard:
4x Cabal Therapy
3x Duress

Accelerants:
4x Lion's Eye Diamond
4x Dark Ritual
4x Cabal Ritual
4x Lotus Petal

Sideboard is under construction, but here's what I've been kicking around to date:
3x Abrupt Decay
2x Chain of Vapor
2x Carpet of Flowers
2x Xantid Swarm or Surgical Extraction
1x Massacre
1x Pyroclasm or Drown in Sorrow
1x Dark Petition
1x Tropical Island
1x Krosan Grip
1x Duress

Here's what I've discovered so far:

-Having fewer than thirteen cantrips or more than seven pieces of discard in the main makes it very hard to combo without waiting around for several turns or mulliganing more than is comfortable. I keep finding that I'm a ritual away from the combo, but I run out of cantrips and keep drawing extra Duresses. (N.B.: I'd consider Sensei's Divining Top to be a cantrip for the purpose of this discussion.) It seems like a natural assumption that we'll be playing slightly slower games when the Preordains come out, but I'm wondering whether people have found siding them out to be counterproductive.

-Dark Petition absolutely should replace Grim Tutor one hundred percent of the time. Grim goes really poorly with Ad Nauseam, it's often mana-intensive enough to set us back a turn, and for those of us who are concerned (I'm trying to move some cards to buy the Duals for this deck) it's about a hundred times more monetarily expensive. Sure, the initial life-loss of drawing Petition is higher than it is with Grim, but if you expect to cast the tutor you've drawn, Grim both costs one extra life in total and one additional mana. Spell mastery is extremely easy to achieve in this deck, but one question I've been turning in my mind is whether we'd want to side out Petition against opponents who run graveyard hate. It doesn't have problems with Grafdigger's Cage and its ilk, but without spell mastery Petition becomes the worst card in the deck. I'd not recommend running two Petitions in the main with Ad Nauseam, but I'm keeping a second copy in the sideboard pending further discussion.

-I'm keeping a singleton Ad Nauseam in my mainboard. I keep encountering situations in which it'd be the best tutor target because I haven't got a critical mass of rituals in the yard for Past in Flames to get me where I need to be (don't get me wrong; I know there are matchups in which AdN absolutely must go). Empty the Warrens can do the job sometimes, but I've had enough experience in Legacy and Modern to know that a barrel'o'goblins isn't nearly as effective as draining 20 life. Especially when there's a Batterskull lurking.

Here are my questions:

-Has anyone else run into problems when they've cut Ad Nauseam from the maindeck? It seems like some of the newer posts advocate running double-Dark Petition instead, but I keep finding that it's tough to cast Petition and leave enough mana open to continue the combo pretty often. If there's a line of play that I'm missing because I'm new to the deck, I'd love to hear it.

-Do targeted removal cards like Disfigure work well for people who've been using them? I'm worried about decks like Maverick that can blank spot removal or decks that just barf out a ton of elves/gobbos/Thaliaddocks quickly. What's the current thinking on Dread of Night?

-Getting to Threshold for my Cabal Rituals is often a very close shave. If Deathrite Shamans are on the field, and they often are in my meta, is it a viable strategy to ride them out for a turn to dump more fetches/cantrips? Delver of Secrets appears to be the strongest attacker in the format, and I've been encountering the two in concert pretty regularly.

-Has anyone considered sideboarding Mindbreak Trap? What about Daze? I've been playing and posting about All Spells for a while now, and though I know it's by no means a top-tier deck, I've been able to beat significantly stronger decks (Maverick, Elves) with it pretty regularly simply because they don't have any answers to fast combo in the main or the sideboard. Belcher, TES, and the aforementioned all seem capable of powering through one or two discard effects without too much trouble. Aside from a couple of copies of Surgical Extraction, which we aren't likely to draw in an opener game 2 or game 3, we don't seem to have a lot of answers for lightspeed combos.

Any feedback would be welcome, and I hope I'm not retreading old ground too much (this is a LONG thread).

[Jonathan Alexander]

Does ANT just concede to reanimator? Is the deck not present enough to consider?

Pretty much. The matchup is not great, but Xantid Swarm does work. You can also sometimes kill them if you naturally draw Tendrils and they get a little too greedy with Griselbrand. That being said, nobody plays Reanimator. I think I faced it about twice in the last two years.