Disenchant over Wear // Tear because:
1- You might not have a red mana to spend, even with Pentad Prism, SSG or Gemstone Mine. But you surely have white, especially with a fetch manabase.
2- Wear // Tear can target artifact or enchantment, but it cots 3 and 1 red ; not many decks around play artifact and enchantment that would hose us down (like Stony Silence and Blood Moon in the same deck, I only think of Thing Ascension which is fringe and maybe UWR).
3- Disenchant is easier to cast.
Wear // Tear is a good card and if a deck could run one in the sideboard, it's us without a doubt. I just prefer Disenchant for the reasons above.
Also, on a record note, I'm 8-1 I think in the last 9 games I played, so I'm back playing and in shape!
I'd happily test out Torrential Gearhulk in the side to have a big body that serves also as a Snapcaster Mage, that can be tutored with Mystical Teachings and serve as a backup plan for protection and beatdown. Maybe that in conjunction with a manland (Creeping Tar Pit / Celestial Colonnade) could give us a good beatdown plan / shield to gain some time.
I played a few games against BGx and am treating gearhulk a bit like a sixth ad nauseam for games where you don't have leyline in your opener but should keep/a good way to flash in and one-shot a liliana. It won be like 2 of 5 or so sideboard games in testing simply by being a topdeck.
I've recently decided to start building Ad Nauseam, and I didn't really like the sideboard that I got the list from. So I started making changes to it but still need ideas. Tron, burn, and zoo are what I see a lot of and every once in awhile combo elves. Any ideas on what I should run? Any kind of help would be great.
Disenchant over Wear // Tear because:
1- You might not have a red mana to spend, even with Pentad Prism, SSG or Gemstone Mine. But you surely have white, especially with a fetch manabase.
2- Wear // Tear can target artifact or enchantment, but it cots 3 and 1 red ; not many decks around play artifact and enchantment that would hose us down (like Stony Silence and Blood Moon in the same deck, I only think of Thing Ascension which is fringe and maybe UWR).
3- Disenchant is easier to cast.
Wear // Tear is a good card and if a deck could run one in the sideboard, it's us without a doubt. I just prefer Disenchant for the reasons above.
Also, on a record note, I'm 8-1 I think in the last 9 games I played, so I'm back playing and in shape!
Cheers!
One other thing to note is that Disenchant isn't affected by Chalice of the Void (atleast not nearly as easily) as an opponent wouldn't use chalice of the void for two against ad nauseam but Chalice of the Void for 1 is very effective against us and Wear//Tear would also be stopped by that.
I recently top 4ed at a local invitational tournament and wrote a report. Two things to note, I was on the draw during every match on game 1 and if I say a game is a “standard game” it means that I was able to win the game by using ramp and then casting either angel’s grace + ad nauseam or phyrexian unlife and then ad nauseam the turn after on either turns 4 or 5 without being disrupted.
Merfolk is a pretty strong matchup for us, they do not have much interaction with us outside of Curse Catcher game 1 and can only board in things like Negate or Spell Pierce during games 2-3. Merfolk is too slow to consistently beat Ad Nauseam in a race and doesn't really have a way to disrupt the combo.
Game 1: Was a pretty standard game, he didn't have any ways to interact with me and I was able to combo off on turn 5.
Sideboard: +3 Ethereal Haze, -1 Serum Visions, -1 Spoils of the Vault, -1 pentad prism
Game 2: Mulliganed to 6 and kept a hand with two lotus blooms, a phyrexian unlife, angel's grace, and a land. Despite a reasonable mull to 6, I was unable to find ad nauseam for the entire game and lost before being able to combo off.
Game 3: Was another standard game, comboed off on turn 4 with enough mana to pay for Curse Catcher.
After this match, I was able to get an idea regarding what the meta for this tournament would be like. It seemed like a very bad meta for ad nauseam due to the abundance of decks like Jund and Death and Taxes along with a few Infect players as well. Blue control variants also seemed fairly common, which despite a few exceptions, are a pretty strong matchup for ad nauseam.
Match 2: Blue Moon. 2-1
Blue Moon is a rough matchup. They have an abundant of counterspells along with blood moon make it very difficult to combo off. Blood moon is a great answer for Ad Nauseam as we run very few basic lands and zero fetches.
Game 1: He was able to get a blood moon out on turn 3 after countering my pentad prism. This made it very difficult to combo off, but I was able to eventually get a lotus bloom suspended. He was able to get out a Batterskull, which attacked me enough times to get him a life total of 26; which made it impossible to lightning storm him for reasons I will explain later. I was able to resolve a lotus bloom using a pact of negation to counter a remand and on my main phase, tapped the lotus bloom to cast spoils of the vault naming plains in order to get a white source to cast a phyrexian unlife. I was at 12 life and only had two plains in the deck, so the chances of dying to this was high, but it was my only out against a blood moon game 1. I was able to find the plains after exiling six cards, but five of the six cards were lands and I already had 6 lands out in play, meaning I no longer had enough lands to win with a lightning storm. I was able to resolve both the phyrexian unlife and ad nauseam, but did not have enough mana to win with laboratory maniac through a blood moon, so I casted the lab manic hoping to win with it next turn. After discarding, I kept a hand with angel's grace, my last pact of negation, serum visions, pentad prism, and three other cards that weren't relevant. This was a risky play, but it was the only out I had against him as I didn't have a way to pay for the pact of negation I played to protect the lotus bloom and I couldn't win the game at all without the lotus bloom. Unfortunately, he had a hand that consisted of two lightning bolts, dismember, and a snap and I lost the game shortly after his next turn.
Sideboard: +3 Collective Brutality, +2 Disenchant, + 1Pact of Negation, +1 Bosiju, -3 Phyrexian Unlife,-2 Sleight of Hands, -2 Serum Visions, -1 Spoils of the Vault.
Game 2: I keep a reasonable hand with ramp, collective brutality and spoils of the vault. I played collective brutality turn 2 over pentad prism hoping to either snatch a counterspell or that he would counter it, he uses a Spell Snare on it and then Molten Rains one of my lands. I am able to then freely cast double pentad prism on my next turn, giving me enough mana to combo off. He taps out to play a creature and I am able to combo off next turn with ad nauseam + angel’s grace with spoils of the vault as protection.
Game 3: I kept a pretty slow hand with a pact of negation, disenchant, and an angel’s grace. The first few turns were pretty slow, with neither of us doing much of anything, I kept mana up to disenchant a blood moon on turn 3, but this plan became less viable as the game went on. My goal was to craft a hand with both combo pieces and several pact of negations. Eventually I am able to get a hand with ad nauseam, angel’s grace, a pact of negation, simian spirit guide, and a spoils of the vault: from here I would either want to wait for him to cast something on my end step or get a collective brutality to both see if it was safe to combo and to take a counterspell. I eventually scry a second pact of negation and keep it on the top, he casts a vendillion clique at the end of that turn, so I decided to combo off in response as I would lose regardless: I cast angel’s grace and used four lands and the simian spirit guide to cast ad nauseam in order to have the mana to spoils of the vault if necessary (I only had one mana left). He only had two counterspells in his hand, so I was able to win the game from here.
Match 3: Grim Jund. 1-2
This is one of my worst matchups, they have atleast six discard spells mainboard, liliana of the veil which makes it very hard to win if I don’t have the combo turn 4, and mainboard artifact and enchantment disruption in the forms of abrupt decay and maelstrom pulse, making it even more difficult to combo off against them.
Game 1: I kept a reasonable hand with, spoils of the vault, angel’s grace, phyrexian unlife, and ramp, but he had a turn one inquisition of kozilek. To my surprise, he decided to take angel’s grace over spoils; this seemed like an odd move as it still technically left me with both combo pieces. The only way I see this making sense is if he had an abrupt decay, which he did, but he decided to use it on the pentad prism I played instead later in the game. I managed to get the phyrexian unlife out, but he inquisitioned me again taking my spoils of the vault. I was unable to recover from this and he killed me through the phyrexian unlife.
Sideboard: +4 Leyline of Sanctity, -2 Phyrexian Unlife, -2 Pentad Prism.
Game 2: I had a reasonably strong hand with both combo pieces, cantrip, and a leyline. The leyline was pretty useful this matchup as it turned out he had several discard cards in his hand. I didn’t have any relevant mana rocks this game, but was able to get enough mana to combo off just before he was able to kill me.
Game 3: I mulliganed a hand that had six lands and a cantrip into a decent hand with 3 cantrips, some ramp and a land. While it was unfortunate not to get a leyline, they usually are less necessary in game 3 as the Jund player are usually more tentative about keeping hands heavy on discard after facing a leyline. However, he had a turn 1 inquisition and took my lotus bloom. I was able to get more lands and both combo pieces, but he was able to inquisition an angel’s grace from me. Eventually I reach a point where I am at 8 life (he is tapped out) and has 5 damage on board and had to decide between casting ad nauseam for value (I had two copies in hand) with a lotus bloom or casting leyline so I wouldn’t die to lightning bolt. I decided to go with leyline as the ad nauseam play seemed very risky, as I had to get multiple angel’s graces or get an angel’s grace before taking 3 damage (very unlikely) in order to win. He however had an abrupt decay for my lotus bloom meaning I didn’t have enough mana to combo off even with a good top deck, and I lost shortly after. In hindsight, it might have been better to take the riskier play there as the leyline really only prevented me from losing rather than giving me a more realistic chance to win even if both situations are pretty unfavorable.
Match 4: RG Breach. 2-0
This is a very strong matchup for ad nauseam. We have eight mainboard answers for their win conditions along with pact of negations if we have no other way to stop a win con. RG Breach really doesn’t have many ways they can interact with us game 1. During postsideboard matches, they have access to cards like nature’s claim, chalice of the void, and spellskite, giving them some forms of interaction, but these usually aren’t enough.
Game 1: This was a standard game; I was able to win on turn 5 without being disrupted. I did use a pact of negation on their primeval titan the turn before I comboed off, but beyond that, there isn’t a lot to say about this game.
Sideboard: +4 Leyline, -2 Serum Visions, -2 Pentad Prism
Game 2: This was also a standard game, I was able to win on turn 4 before they assembled their combo.
Match 5: UWR Control. 2-1
UWR control, unlike Blue Moon is a strong matchup for ad nauseam. Without blood moon’s to disrupt us, they are reliant only on counterspells which alone are fairly weak against ad nauseam as we can combo off at instant speed and we have pact of negations as protection even if they do try to counter us. Unlike Blue Moon, UWR control generally has less counterspells in their deck and instead have more disruption for creature based decks, making it even easier for us. Games 2 and 3 we have to watch out for Blood Moon’s and Stony Silences.
Game 1: I kept a reasonable hand with pact of negation, ad nauseam and ramp and was able to get enough mana and both combo pieces fairly quickly. At this point, all I need to do is wait until he taps some of his mana to combo off. Eventually, he casts a snapcaster + bolt on my end step and I am able to combo off in response and win.
Sideboard: +2 Disenchant, +1 Pact of Negation, +1 Bosiju, -2 Phyrexian Unlife, -1 Pentad Prism, Gemstone Mine.
Game 2: I mulliganed to six and kept a decent hand with ramp and spoils of the vault. He established a clock quickly with snap caster mage and vendillion clique and I wasn’t able to assemble the combo fast enough to stop him from killing me.
Game 3: I kept a solid hand with bosiju, ramp, and both combo pieces. On turn 4 I had enough mana to combo safely, but I wanted to wait to see if he would tap atleast one mana ( he had three lands) in order to play around counterflux as there was effectively no reason not to do so (it’s the only way I could lose at that point). He does attempt to cast lightning bolt, but I am able to combo off in response and win.
Match 6: Intentional Draw.
Top 8 was the following: Zooicide, Jund, Jund, UWR Control, Ad Nauseam, Merfolk, Dredge, Blue Moon. This top 8 seems very polarizing for ad nauseam; about half of those decks (UWR Control, Merfolk, and Dredge) are all very strong matchups for ad nauseam while the other half (Jund, Blue Moon) are poor matchups.
Quarter Finals: UWR Control. 2-1
This was a different UWR Control player, but the matchup is still in our favor.
Game 1: I kept a strong hand with ramp and both combo pieces and was able to combo off fairly quickly after he tapped out without any disruption.
Sideboard: +2 Disenchant, +1 Pact of Negation, +1 Bosiju, -2 Phyrexian Unlife, -1 Pentad Prism, -1 Gemstone Mine.
Game 2: I mulliganed to 6 and kept a fairly strong hand with two lotus blooms, land, cantrip and angel’s grace. I was able to get both lotus blooms resolved, but was unfortunately not able to find a copy of ad nauseam before he used a Engineered Explosives for 0 to destroy both of my lotus blooms. I wasn’t able to get enough mana from that point to combo off and eventually lose the game to his manland.
Game 3: I mulliganed to six and kept a fairly risky hand with cantrip and several temple lands and a bosiju as I figured I would be able to afford to play slowly against UWR control. I was able to assemble enough lands and the combo in my hand on turn six, but my opponent played a spellskite. I misplayed and decided to combo off with angel’s grace + ad nauseam (with bosiju) on the turn I played my sixth land, as I didn’t have enough lands to win with lightning storm nor did I have enough lands to win with laboratory maniac. In order to avoid losing, I decided to use two of my simian spirit guides to play a pentad with one counter and used that and two more spirit guides to play a phyrexian unlife. When I moved to discard, I kept a hand with four pact of negations, a serum visions, a laboratory maniac, and an angel’s grace. On his turn, I pact of negationed two wear and tears, and on my upkeep used angel’s grace to avoid losing to the pact triggers and draw trigger. I then played laboratory maniac, pacting a remand attempt and then using serum visions to win the game.
This last game is making me question whether or not comboing off without a guaranteed win on that turn is always wrong outside of the ad nauseam mirror as it seems like we can effectively prevent the opponent from doing anything on their next turn with very few exceptions (abrupt decay). It is something that I will have to think about more.
After this, we split top 4. The other top 4 decks were Jund, Grim Jund, and Blue Moon, all of which are pretty bad matchups for ad nauseam. I felt like I played well for the most part despite not playing for about a month and the deck performed as well as it usually does. I am considering making changes to the sideboard, as it seems like I really need an answer to BGx midrange decks, although I am not sure if that is possible without making my other matchups disproportionally worse.
Thanks for your detailed report! I agree with most lines you followed during the tournament, everything sounds pretty neat! This one above is especially good in my book, even if you could probably have waited one more turn to at least open up instant speed win to better play around counterflux (as you correctly did in another game in your report). The only thing I don't know is if you did see any Ghost Quarter during the match, which would also have been a reason to go off as soon as possible with Boseiju.
It's difficult to theorize around the pros and cons of going-off and aiming at winning after cleanup. It depends a lot on matchups, cards that opponent play/might play, board state (e.g. you can't do that without a fog if the opponent has more than 10 power on the board)... It's a possibility that should be evaluated case by case and require a deep metagame knowledge. But true that I (we?) should at least ponder the possibility a bit more often!
Edit : Not sure I got your point, but against the mirror, going off as soon as possible and setup a perfect cleanup / labman kill is definitely the way to go.
Thanks for the compliments. I should have mentioned it, but he didn't have any red mana in play when I attempted to combo off. Although he could have played a red source doing his next turn even though he didn't that game. He did have a ghost quarters last game, although the only thing he did with it was discard to for hand size. Also, that was what I was getting at with the ad nauseam mirror.
Congratulations, great results. Always a shame to see most of the reports lately ending in splitting Top4 or Top2, which are probably the most interesting matches to play. I can see what you try to do with collective brutality and that looks like a strong cards. However there is quiet a bunch of hate cards that you miss: blood moon, chalice of the void, eidolom of rethoric, stony silence, liliana, gaddock teeg, meddling mage... overall I would still prefer a good old thoughtseize unless proven otherwise. And the fact that it is one mana is more flexible to go discard + combo against counter spell decks.
I went 2-2 yesterday in my weekly modern event.
2-0 vs Bant Eldrazi
1-2 vs Spirits
2-1 vs Jeskai Ascension
1-2 vs Jeskai Control (Nahiri version)
Blue. Blue everywhere.
Bant Eldrazi remains an ok match-up for us, TKS is the main problem but fortunately he cannot run more than 4, and we will match it with leyline game 2-3. I would not go as far as saying that the match-up is good, because the deck can turn out to be very quick and pressure us to get good opening hands and draws.
The spirits match-up looks all right as well, I would put it a slightly favorable, the have a bunch counter spell and taxes effects which is usually not enough especially post side. However, the interaction comes from bodies, which puts us under pressure to find our way to combo ASAP. I lost mainly because I had to dig way to far to grab the combo pieces.
Jeskai Ascension looks like an slightly favored match-up as well. I have to scoop to blood moon game 2 given the situation (no rocks, no basics) but I manage to get there both other games. Mainly because while playing blue, they are mainly a combo deck, and don't want to rely on counter spell, which is good news for us.
Jeskai Control... I used to love that match-up, I remember going 8-0 for my first 4 matches against it when Nahiri just came out. Now I am on a losing streak against the deck. I really feel like it heavily depends on the player skills. My opponent told me that he has played ad nauseam almost 2,000,000 times and I could feel that he knew what he was doing. I really like his turn 2 snapcaster mage play, which gives him an early clock while it's still safe to tap out, pretty much holding as many counter spell as possible while building on mana. His version was running vendillon clique, which cost me both games (associated with snap caster the clock is getting quickly out of control, and the discard effect puts me back on top deck mode. Both times he ignored the combo and "discard" the pact of negation).
I am struggling to find the right pace with ad nauseam lately. I was playing a vanilla spoils version and I will be trying a glittering wish version next week. It feels like my meta is right for it, very very few face aggro, I don't expect to be punished to hard from the greedy mana base. Blood moon is a very common card in my meta, which is obviously not great, but I feel like both version (wish or no wish) are equally bad against it. The possibility to cast a wargate turn 3 to lotus moon on the play could even be a (very) slight advantage compared to non-wish.
Overall I still struggle to find the right sideboard cards, the reason is that pact of negation and leyline are so powerful, that anything else looks quite underwhelming in comparison. I recently tried grave titan/wipe away/dromoka etc... but I feel like my losses always come to 2 things: could not match my opponent counter spells war, or got discarded too much. Wich is why I am thinking simply focusing that sideboard on that 2 elements even more. Maybe a second boseiju or a gigadrowse against counterspell, and a nephalia academy main board for discard effect.
I just feel that the list is as stock as it can be. I really want to try out things, like having a Creeping Tar Pit and a Snapcaster Mage in the side in place of Teferi and maybe a Horizon Canopy to have extra cycling! These would be ultimate tech. I've talked also with guys at the LGS and they've told me that with my list, they feel that I always have something to do : either respond using the counters on Prism with Peer or use Teachings to search for what I miss, even using various Pacts and techy interactions to find a way out. I'd like to see Jonathan Benson, Derk Chad and Bill Ragle post up results to see what these guys are up to now (I've seen Benson a couple of months ago with some awesome lists)!
Also, congrats for Top 4 Dizdo! And keep it going Deeprod, results are on the way
You are on fire Did you just do 3-0 / 3-0 / 4-0?
How did the mirror match played out? I have not faced it yet and it looks dreadful.
Thanks I was 3-0, 3-1 and 4-0 for the last 11 match, being I think 22-6 for the games(kind of a GP run)!
The mirror match is boring from the outside, but really interesting from the inside : you need to win through Laboratory Maniac, using Phyrexian Unlife and Ad Nauseam (Angel's Grace in response will cause you to lose, so it's a no-go)! You can also use Simian Spirit Guide to have a beatdown plan as well as Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir which I run. Some tech:
1) Use Teachings to fetch Teferi, because he has flash!
2) Use Tolaria to fetch a Pact to negate the opponent's plan.
The mirror is very long, it goes to time most of the matches. I won because of beatdown (2 SSG and Teferi for the first game).
Collective Brutality is actually a great out against creature hate like Thalia, Gaddock Teeg, Meddling Mage, Tidehollow Sculler... It's a pretty good card to have at our disposal, as the -2/-2 mode can be handy in a lot of situations.
My Bad, it is indeed versatile enough to handle Gaddock and Meddling mage and other hate creatures. I'll consider that card in my next build
Nephalia Academy mainboard has been very good for me in a non-wish list. Very little opportunity cost to have two colorless lands on 21 (Nephalia + Mikokoro), and does a decent impression of a fifth leyline against BGx when you're on the play. It has become a surefire slot for me in a non-wish list.
I am glad to hear that about Nephalia, I have included one in my mainboard for my next run on non-wish. Given that I still insist on the fetchless mana base, I will pass on Mikokoro for now and remain at only one brown mana in the deck.
I've been playing Wish intensively and if Wargate is a slight advantage indeed, playing fetchlands is what really makes Blood Moon a small annoyance at best. You get 6 pseudo basic lands, 4 prisms and 4 lotus, which is good enough. You can also just wish for a Wear/Tear preventively, which is a great out as well. Blood Moon only becomes an issue when opponents combine it with land destruction
I am very excited about trying out the wish list, do you have a sample of your mana base with a wish list? I have only seen deck pre-kaladesh without the new enemy fast lands and I believe that we could make use of UG fast lands.
You are on fire Did you just do 3-0 / 3-0 / 4-0?
How did the mirror match played out? I have not faced it yet and it looks dreadful.
Thanks I was 3-0, 3-1 and 4-0 for the last 11 match, being I think 22-6 for the games(kind of a GP run)!
The mirror match is boring from the outside, but really interesting from the inside : you need to win through Laboratory Maniac, using Phyrexian Unlife and Ad Nauseam (Angel's Grace in response will cause you to lose, so it's a no-go)! You can also use Simian Spirit Guide to have a beatdown plan as well as Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir which I run. Some tech:
1) Use Teachings to fetch Teferi, because he has flash!
2) Use Tolaria to fetch a Pact to negate the opponent's plan.
The mirror is very long, it goes to time most of the matches. I won because of beatdown (2 SSG and Teferi for the first game).
Cheers!
Thanks for the insight, I was expecting that you to get a significant edge against mirror because of Teferi.
Thank you very much about this epdt. I will try it out live next tuesday as I have all the cards. Very exited about that build.
Otherwise I started a league yesterday and I went very poorly with double 0-2 for the first two match. Played Jeskai Control + Eldrazi Hatebear and It was 4 straight loss. Got simply blood mooned turn 3, game 1 and 2 against Jeskai. Multiple tide hollow sculler game 1 ans TKS turn 2 / displacer turn 3 against eldrazi.
I planned to start a casual channel on youtube when I broadcast my ad nauseam mtgo matches, but I feel terrible starting with these two videos. I don't think I have made any mistakes (aside the mulligan decision which is always very debatable) but that's painful to watch
I did also beat Jund and Dredge 2-0 on the side (not league, 1v1 competitive) which is always good to have. I am always impressed how the deck can go through jund despite multiple discard turn 1 and 2 and lili turn 3. The deck can be extremely resilient on some lucky draw. I like how the deck is placed against dredge (4-0 against dredge for me so far).
On a side note, I got really impressed by spoil of the vault. I feel like I was playing it wrong the whole time in the past. I was seeing it as the 5-7 ad nauseam but it is MUCH more than that. I guess it requires to be very bold and take your chance with spoils at the first opportunity. It needs to be seen as a 1cmc tutor, not a 5-7 ad naus.
I was playing against an aggro deck and I was still at 17 life but my opponent just cast a few creatures and has at least 10 damage on the board. AS far as i know I might be dead next turn if he pulls up some tricks that i don't know. The opponent ends his turn, I have only 5 lands and 1 mana untapped, ad naus and spoils in hand. So I decide to go for it and spoils for phyrexian unlife, I manage to grab it without exiling to death and removing precious cards. Untap to cast unlife, pass turn, opponent gets me to negative and just cast ad naus for the win on my next turn.
It felt very powerful and versatile as even a mystical teaching would not have done it, as with 5 lands I was obliged to go the unlife way.
On the other hand, i also died from spoils another game while using it to grab ad naus after casting angel grace: Exile 15 cards and remove to many SSG. But in a fetch less manabase, it means that I would have to wait 15 turns to draw it. So spoils did not make me lose the game, the game was lost already after I finished shuffling the deck, but I just did not know it, so spoils here make you realized the hard truth faster.
What are the best sideboard cards for the Jund matchup? I hear people using cards like Elspeth, Sun's Champion or Grave Titan. I have also heard people talking about Torrential Gearhulk as an option against Jund and fair control decks. What are the pros and cons of each of these? Torrential on paper seems like a worse finisher because it is an artifact, making it weak to sideboard hate those decks would bring in regardless but its enter the battlefield ability seems relevant for being able to combo against Jund.
Hey guys, long time reader, first time poster here.
I've just built ad nauseam, I've played two FNMs with the deck so far, gone 3-1 in both. These are the first modern tournaments I've played in since 2014 lol. I'm loving the deck, just thought I'd share my decklist.
FNM Number 1 went: Round 1: Beat Burn 2-0. Round 2: Beat Jeskai Nahiri 2-1, Round 3: Lose to Pyromancer's Ascension UR Storm 2-1, Round 4: Beat BUG Delver 2-0.
FNM Number 2 went: Round 1: Bye, Round 2: Beat Tooth and Nail 2-0, Round 3: Lose to Abzan Company 2-0, Round 4: Beat UWR Thing Ascension 2-0.
I'm quite happy with how the two nights went, Storm was just a turn too fast for me in the first FNM and I lost to my own deck against Abzan last night.
P.S:
I'm only running 3 of each speed land just because I currently only have three of each lol
Hi mate, congratulations and welcome back to modern tournaments.
Your deck list is very strong and TomCournay here has been running a very similar list with huge success lately.
As a side note, I would highlight that you have been paired against decks with neutral to favorable match-ups so far, which means that Ad Nauseam seems to be a very good choice for your meta. There might be time when things get uglier when you are not paired as you were last 2 FNMs.
What are the best sideboard cards for the Jund matchup? I hear people using cards like Elspeth, Sun's Champion or Grave Titan. I have also heard people talking about Torrential Gearhulk as an option against Jund and fair control decks. What are the pros and cons of each of these? Torrential on paper seems like a worse finisher because it is an artifact, making it weak to sideboard hate those decks would bring in regardless but its enter the battlefield ability seems relevant for being able to combo against Jund.
Not too sure about Elspeth and Grave Titan. They look both very good against jund but it seems very narrow overall. End if you end up losing game one and somewhat surprise them with one of them game 2, it will be catered for game 3.
FYI, I have tried Nephalia Academy and it did not help me to win even by playing it turn 1 on the play with combo in opening hands.
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1- You might not have a red mana to spend, even with Pentad Prism, SSG or Gemstone Mine. But you surely have white, especially with a fetch manabase.
2- Wear // Tear can target artifact or enchantment, but it cots 3 and 1 red ; not many decks around play artifact and enchantment that would hose us down (like Stony Silence and Blood Moon in the same deck, I only think of Thing Ascension which is fringe and maybe UWR).
3- Disenchant is easier to cast.
Wear // Tear is a good card and if a deck could run one in the sideboard, it's us without a doubt. I just prefer Disenchant for the reasons above.
Also, on a record note, I'm 8-1 I think in the last 9 games I played, so I'm back playing and in shape!
Cheers!
Aggro: Naya Burn RWG
Combo: Scapeshift RG
Control: Jeskai Control UWR
Legacy
Control: Miracles UW
Aggro: Burn R
Cheers!
Aggro: Naya Burn RWG
Combo: Scapeshift RG
Control: Jeskai Control UWR
Legacy
Control: Miracles UW
Aggro: Burn R
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RGTron
UGInfect
URStorm
WUBRAd Nauseam
BRGrishoalbrand
URGScapeshift
WBGAbzan Company
WUBRGAmulet Titan
BRGLiving End
WGBogles
One other thing to note is that Disenchant isn't affected by Chalice of the Void (atleast not nearly as easily) as an opponent wouldn't use chalice of the void for two against ad nauseam but Chalice of the Void for 1 is very effective against us and Wear//Tear would also be stopped by that.
Here is the list.
3 Spoils of the Vault
4 Angel's Grace
4 Phyrexian Unlife
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Pentad Prism
4 Lotus Bloom
3 Pact of Negation
1 Lightning Storm
1 Laboratory Maniac
4 Seachrome Coast
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Gemstone Mine
4 Temple of Deceit
2 Temple of Enlightenment
2 Plains
4 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Collective Brutality
3 Ethereal Haze
2 Disenchant
1 Pact of Negation
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Slaughter Pact
Match 1: UW Merfolk. 2-1
Merfolk is a pretty strong matchup for us, they do not have much interaction with us outside of Curse Catcher game 1 and can only board in things like Negate or Spell Pierce during games 2-3. Merfolk is too slow to consistently beat Ad Nauseam in a race and doesn't really have a way to disrupt the combo.
Game 1: Was a pretty standard game, he didn't have any ways to interact with me and I was able to combo off on turn 5.
Sideboard: +3 Ethereal Haze, -1 Serum Visions, -1 Spoils of the Vault, -1 pentad prism
Game 2: Mulliganed to 6 and kept a hand with two lotus blooms, a phyrexian unlife, angel's grace, and a land. Despite a reasonable mull to 6, I was unable to find ad nauseam for the entire game and lost before being able to combo off.
Game 3: Was another standard game, comboed off on turn 4 with enough mana to pay for Curse Catcher.
After this match, I was able to get an idea regarding what the meta for this tournament would be like. It seemed like a very bad meta for ad nauseam due to the abundance of decks like Jund and Death and Taxes along with a few Infect players as well. Blue control variants also seemed fairly common, which despite a few exceptions, are a pretty strong matchup for ad nauseam.
Match 2: Blue Moon. 2-1
Blue Moon is a rough matchup. They have an abundant of counterspells along with blood moon make it very difficult to combo off. Blood moon is a great answer for Ad Nauseam as we run very few basic lands and zero fetches.
Game 1: He was able to get a blood moon out on turn 3 after countering my pentad prism. This made it very difficult to combo off, but I was able to eventually get a lotus bloom suspended. He was able to get out a Batterskull, which attacked me enough times to get him a life total of 26; which made it impossible to lightning storm him for reasons I will explain later. I was able to resolve a lotus bloom using a pact of negation to counter a remand and on my main phase, tapped the lotus bloom to cast spoils of the vault naming plains in order to get a white source to cast a phyrexian unlife. I was at 12 life and only had two plains in the deck, so the chances of dying to this was high, but it was my only out against a blood moon game 1. I was able to find the plains after exiling six cards, but five of the six cards were lands and I already had 6 lands out in play, meaning I no longer had enough lands to win with a lightning storm. I was able to resolve both the phyrexian unlife and ad nauseam, but did not have enough mana to win with laboratory maniac through a blood moon, so I casted the lab manic hoping to win with it next turn. After discarding, I kept a hand with angel's grace, my last pact of negation, serum visions, pentad prism, and three other cards that weren't relevant. This was a risky play, but it was the only out I had against him as I didn't have a way to pay for the pact of negation I played to protect the lotus bloom and I couldn't win the game at all without the lotus bloom. Unfortunately, he had a hand that consisted of two lightning bolts, dismember, and a snap and I lost the game shortly after his next turn.
Sideboard: +3 Collective Brutality, +2 Disenchant, + 1Pact of Negation, +1 Bosiju, -3 Phyrexian Unlife,-2 Sleight of Hands, -2 Serum Visions, -1 Spoils of the Vault.
Game 2: I keep a reasonable hand with ramp, collective brutality and spoils of the vault. I played collective brutality turn 2 over pentad prism hoping to either snatch a counterspell or that he would counter it, he uses a Spell Snare on it and then Molten Rains one of my lands. I am able to then freely cast double pentad prism on my next turn, giving me enough mana to combo off. He taps out to play a creature and I am able to combo off next turn with ad nauseam + angel’s grace with spoils of the vault as protection.
Game 3: I kept a pretty slow hand with a pact of negation, disenchant, and an angel’s grace. The first few turns were pretty slow, with neither of us doing much of anything, I kept mana up to disenchant a blood moon on turn 3, but this plan became less viable as the game went on. My goal was to craft a hand with both combo pieces and several pact of negations. Eventually I am able to get a hand with ad nauseam, angel’s grace, a pact of negation, simian spirit guide, and a spoils of the vault: from here I would either want to wait for him to cast something on my end step or get a collective brutality to both see if it was safe to combo and to take a counterspell. I eventually scry a second pact of negation and keep it on the top, he casts a vendillion clique at the end of that turn, so I decided to combo off in response as I would lose regardless: I cast angel’s grace and used four lands and the simian spirit guide to cast ad nauseam in order to have the mana to spoils of the vault if necessary (I only had one mana left). He only had two counterspells in his hand, so I was able to win the game from here.
Match 3: Grim Jund. 1-2
This is one of my worst matchups, they have atleast six discard spells mainboard, liliana of the veil which makes it very hard to win if I don’t have the combo turn 4, and mainboard artifact and enchantment disruption in the forms of abrupt decay and maelstrom pulse, making it even more difficult to combo off against them.
Game 1: I kept a reasonable hand with, spoils of the vault, angel’s grace, phyrexian unlife, and ramp, but he had a turn one inquisition of kozilek. To my surprise, he decided to take angel’s grace over spoils; this seemed like an odd move as it still technically left me with both combo pieces. The only way I see this making sense is if he had an abrupt decay, which he did, but he decided to use it on the pentad prism I played instead later in the game. I managed to get the phyrexian unlife out, but he inquisitioned me again taking my spoils of the vault. I was unable to recover from this and he killed me through the phyrexian unlife.
Sideboard: +4 Leyline of Sanctity, -2 Phyrexian Unlife, -2 Pentad Prism.
Game 2: I had a reasonably strong hand with both combo pieces, cantrip, and a leyline. The leyline was pretty useful this matchup as it turned out he had several discard cards in his hand. I didn’t have any relevant mana rocks this game, but was able to get enough mana to combo off just before he was able to kill me.
Game 3: I mulliganed a hand that had six lands and a cantrip into a decent hand with 3 cantrips, some ramp and a land. While it was unfortunate not to get a leyline, they usually are less necessary in game 3 as the Jund player are usually more tentative about keeping hands heavy on discard after facing a leyline. However, he had a turn 1 inquisition and took my lotus bloom. I was able to get more lands and both combo pieces, but he was able to inquisition an angel’s grace from me. Eventually I reach a point where I am at 8 life (he is tapped out) and has 5 damage on board and had to decide between casting ad nauseam for value (I had two copies in hand) with a lotus bloom or casting leyline so I wouldn’t die to lightning bolt. I decided to go with leyline as the ad nauseam play seemed very risky, as I had to get multiple angel’s graces or get an angel’s grace before taking 3 damage (very unlikely) in order to win. He however had an abrupt decay for my lotus bloom meaning I didn’t have enough mana to combo off even with a good top deck, and I lost shortly after. In hindsight, it might have been better to take the riskier play there as the leyline really only prevented me from losing rather than giving me a more realistic chance to win even if both situations are pretty unfavorable.
Match 4: RG Breach. 2-0
This is a very strong matchup for ad nauseam. We have eight mainboard answers for their win conditions along with pact of negations if we have no other way to stop a win con. RG Breach really doesn’t have many ways they can interact with us game 1. During postsideboard matches, they have access to cards like nature’s claim, chalice of the void, and spellskite, giving them some forms of interaction, but these usually aren’t enough.
Game 1: This was a standard game; I was able to win on turn 5 without being disrupted. I did use a pact of negation on their primeval titan the turn before I comboed off, but beyond that, there isn’t a lot to say about this game.
Sideboard: +4 Leyline, -2 Serum Visions, -2 Pentad Prism
Game 2: This was also a standard game, I was able to win on turn 4 before they assembled their combo.
Match 5: UWR Control. 2-1
UWR control, unlike Blue Moon is a strong matchup for ad nauseam. Without blood moon’s to disrupt us, they are reliant only on counterspells which alone are fairly weak against ad nauseam as we can combo off at instant speed and we have pact of negations as protection even if they do try to counter us. Unlike Blue Moon, UWR control generally has less counterspells in their deck and instead have more disruption for creature based decks, making it even easier for us. Games 2 and 3 we have to watch out for Blood Moon’s and Stony Silences.
Game 1: I kept a reasonable hand with pact of negation, ad nauseam and ramp and was able to get enough mana and both combo pieces fairly quickly. At this point, all I need to do is wait until he taps some of his mana to combo off. Eventually, he casts a snapcaster + bolt on my end step and I am able to combo off in response and win.
Sideboard: +2 Disenchant, +1 Pact of Negation, +1 Bosiju, -2 Phyrexian Unlife, -1 Pentad Prism, Gemstone Mine.
Game 2: I mulliganed to six and kept a decent hand with ramp and spoils of the vault. He established a clock quickly with snap caster mage and vendillion clique and I wasn’t able to assemble the combo fast enough to stop him from killing me.
Game 3: I kept a solid hand with bosiju, ramp, and both combo pieces. On turn 4 I had enough mana to combo safely, but I wanted to wait to see if he would tap atleast one mana ( he had three lands) in order to play around counterflux as there was effectively no reason not to do so (it’s the only way I could lose at that point). He does attempt to cast lightning bolt, but I am able to combo off in response and win.
Match 6: Intentional Draw.
Top 8 was the following: Zooicide, Jund, Jund, UWR Control, Ad Nauseam, Merfolk, Dredge, Blue Moon. This top 8 seems very polarizing for ad nauseam; about half of those decks (UWR Control, Merfolk, and Dredge) are all very strong matchups for ad nauseam while the other half (Jund, Blue Moon) are poor matchups.
Quarter Finals: UWR Control. 2-1
This was a different UWR Control player, but the matchup is still in our favor.
Game 1: I kept a strong hand with ramp and both combo pieces and was able to combo off fairly quickly after he tapped out without any disruption.
Sideboard: +2 Disenchant, +1 Pact of Negation, +1 Bosiju, -2 Phyrexian Unlife, -1 Pentad Prism, -1 Gemstone Mine.
Game 2: I mulliganed to 6 and kept a fairly strong hand with two lotus blooms, land, cantrip and angel’s grace. I was able to get both lotus blooms resolved, but was unfortunately not able to find a copy of ad nauseam before he used a Engineered Explosives for 0 to destroy both of my lotus blooms. I wasn’t able to get enough mana from that point to combo off and eventually lose the game to his manland.
Game 3: I mulliganed to six and kept a fairly risky hand with cantrip and several temple lands and a bosiju as I figured I would be able to afford to play slowly against UWR control. I was able to assemble enough lands and the combo in my hand on turn six, but my opponent played a spellskite. I misplayed and decided to combo off with angel’s grace + ad nauseam (with bosiju) on the turn I played my sixth land, as I didn’t have enough lands to win with lightning storm nor did I have enough lands to win with laboratory maniac. In order to avoid losing, I decided to use two of my simian spirit guides to play a pentad with one counter and used that and two more spirit guides to play a phyrexian unlife. When I moved to discard, I kept a hand with four pact of negations, a serum visions, a laboratory maniac, and an angel’s grace. On his turn, I pact of negationed two wear and tears, and on my upkeep used angel’s grace to avoid losing to the pact triggers and draw trigger. I then played laboratory maniac, pacting a remand attempt and then using serum visions to win the game.
This last game is making me question whether or not comboing off without a guaranteed win on that turn is always wrong outside of the ad nauseam mirror as it seems like we can effectively prevent the opponent from doing anything on their next turn with very few exceptions (abrupt decay). It is something that I will have to think about more.
After this, we split top 4. The other top 4 decks were Jund, Grim Jund, and Blue Moon, all of which are pretty bad matchups for ad nauseam. I felt like I played well for the most part despite not playing for about a month and the deck performed as well as it usually does. I am considering making changes to the sideboard, as it seems like I really need an answer to BGx midrange decks, although I am not sure if that is possible without making my other matchups disproportionally worse.
Thanks for the compliments. I should have mentioned it, but he didn't have any red mana in play when I attempted to combo off. Although he could have played a red source doing his next turn even though he didn't that game. He did have a ghost quarters last game, although the only thing he did with it was discard to for hand size. Also, that was what I was getting at with the ad nauseam mirror.
I went 2-2 yesterday in my weekly modern event.
2-0 vs Bant Eldrazi
1-2 vs Spirits
2-1 vs Jeskai Ascension
1-2 vs Jeskai Control (Nahiri version)
Blue. Blue everywhere.
Bant Eldrazi remains an ok match-up for us, TKS is the main problem but fortunately he cannot run more than 4, and we will match it with leyline game 2-3. I would not go as far as saying that the match-up is good, because the deck can turn out to be very quick and pressure us to get good opening hands and draws.
The spirits match-up looks all right as well, I would put it a slightly favorable, the have a bunch counter spell and taxes effects which is usually not enough especially post side. However, the interaction comes from bodies, which puts us under pressure to find our way to combo ASAP. I lost mainly because I had to dig way to far to grab the combo pieces.
Jeskai Ascension looks like an slightly favored match-up as well. I have to scoop to blood moon game 2 given the situation (no rocks, no basics) but I manage to get there both other games. Mainly because while playing blue, they are mainly a combo deck, and don't want to rely on counter spell, which is good news for us.
Jeskai Control... I used to love that match-up, I remember going 8-0 for my first 4 matches against it when Nahiri just came out. Now I am on a losing streak against the deck. I really feel like it heavily depends on the player skills. My opponent told me that he has played ad nauseam almost 2,000,000 times and I could feel that he knew what he was doing. I really like his turn 2 snapcaster mage play, which gives him an early clock while it's still safe to tap out, pretty much holding as many counter spell as possible while building on mana. His version was running vendillon clique, which cost me both games (associated with snap caster the clock is getting quickly out of control, and the discard effect puts me back on top deck mode. Both times he ignored the combo and "discard" the pact of negation).
I am struggling to find the right pace with ad nauseam lately. I was playing a vanilla spoils version and I will be trying a glittering wish version next week. It feels like my meta is right for it, very very few face aggro, I don't expect to be punished to hard from the greedy mana base. Blood moon is a very common card in my meta, which is obviously not great, but I feel like both version (wish or no wish) are equally bad against it. The possibility to cast a wargate turn 3 to lotus moon on the play could even be a (very) slight advantage compared to non-wish.
Overall I still struggle to find the right sideboard cards, the reason is that pact of negation and leyline are so powerful, that anything else looks quite underwhelming in comparison. I recently tried grave titan/wipe away/dromoka etc... but I feel like my losses always come to 2 things: could not match my opponent counter spells war, or got discarded too much. Wich is why I am thinking simply focusing that sideboard on that 2 elements even more. Maybe a second boseiju or a gigadrowse against counterspell, and a nephalia academy main board for discard effect.
4 Simian Spirit Guide
1 Laboratory Maniac
Lands (20)
2 Flooded Strand
2 Gemstone Mine
2 Island
2 Polluted Delta
2 Temple of Deceit
2 Temple of Enlightenment
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1 Plains
1 Tolaria West
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Swamp
1 Watery Grave
4 Ad Nauseam
4 Angel's Grace
4 Lotus Bloom
4 Pentad Prism
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
3 Pact of Negation
3 Phyrexian Unlife
2 Peer Through Depths
1 Mystical Teachings
1 Lightning Storm
1 Slaughter Pact
4 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Thoughtseize
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Echoing Truth
1 Patrician's Scorn
1 Silence
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
I just feel that the list is as stock as it can be. I really want to try out things, like having a Creeping Tar Pit and a Snapcaster Mage in the side in place of Teferi and maybe a Horizon Canopy to have extra cycling! These would be ultimate tech. I've talked also with guys at the LGS and they've told me that with my list, they feel that I always have something to do : either respond using the counters on Prism with Peer or use Teachings to search for what I miss, even using various Pacts and techy interactions to find a way out. I'd like to see Jonathan Benson, Derk Chad and Bill Ragle post up results to see what these guys are up to now (I've seen Benson a couple of months ago with some awesome lists)!
Also, congrats for Top 4 Dizdo! And keep it going Deeprod, results are on the way
Cheers!
Aggro: Naya Burn RWG
Combo: Scapeshift RG
Control: Jeskai Control UWR
Legacy
Control: Miracles UW
Aggro: Burn R
How did the mirror match played out? I have not faced it yet and it looks dreadful.
Thanks I was 3-0, 3-1 and 4-0 for the last 11 match, being I think 22-6 for the games(kind of a GP run)!
The mirror match is boring from the outside, but really interesting from the inside : you need to win through Laboratory Maniac, using Phyrexian Unlife and Ad Nauseam (Angel's Grace in response will cause you to lose, so it's a no-go)! You can also use Simian Spirit Guide to have a beatdown plan as well as Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir which I run. Some tech:
1) Use Teachings to fetch Teferi, because he has flash!
2) Use Tolaria to fetch a Pact to negate the opponent's plan.
The mirror is very long, it goes to time most of the matches. I won because of beatdown (2 SSG and Teferi for the first game).
Cheers!
Aggro: Naya Burn RWG
Combo: Scapeshift RG
Control: Jeskai Control UWR
Legacy
Control: Miracles UW
Aggro: Burn R
My Bad, it is indeed versatile enough to handle Gaddock and Meddling mage and other hate creatures. I'll consider that card in my next build
I am glad to hear that about Nephalia, I have included one in my mainboard for my next run on non-wish. Given that I still insist on the fetchless mana base, I will pass on Mikokoro for now and remain at only one brown mana in the deck.
I am very excited about trying out the wish list, do you have a sample of your mana base with a wish list? I have only seen deck pre-kaladesh without the new enemy fast lands and I believe that we could make use of UG fast lands.
Thanks for the insight, I was expecting that you to get a significant edge against mirror because of Teferi.
Otherwise I started a league yesterday and I went very poorly with double 0-2 for the first two match. Played Jeskai Control + Eldrazi Hatebear and It was 4 straight loss. Got simply blood mooned turn 3, game 1 and 2 against Jeskai. Multiple tide hollow sculler game 1 ans TKS turn 2 / displacer turn 3 against eldrazi.
I planned to start a casual channel on youtube when I broadcast my ad nauseam mtgo matches, but I feel terrible starting with these two videos. I don't think I have made any mistakes (aside the mulligan decision which is always very debatable) but that's painful to watch
I did also beat Jund and Dredge 2-0 on the side (not league, 1v1 competitive) which is always good to have. I am always impressed how the deck can go through jund despite multiple discard turn 1 and 2 and lili turn 3. The deck can be extremely resilient on some lucky draw. I like how the deck is placed against dredge (4-0 against dredge for me so far).
I was playing against an aggro deck and I was still at 17 life but my opponent just cast a few creatures and has at least 10 damage on the board. AS far as i know I might be dead next turn if he pulls up some tricks that i don't know. The opponent ends his turn, I have only 5 lands and 1 mana untapped, ad naus and spoils in hand. So I decide to go for it and spoils for phyrexian unlife, I manage to grab it without exiling to death and removing precious cards. Untap to cast unlife, pass turn, opponent gets me to negative and just cast ad naus for the win on my next turn.
It felt very powerful and versatile as even a mystical teaching would not have done it, as with 5 lands I was obliged to go the unlife way.
On the other hand, i also died from spoils another game while using it to grab ad naus after casting angel grace: Exile 15 cards and remove to many SSG. But in a fetch less manabase, it means that I would have to wait 15 turns to draw it. So spoils did not make me lose the game, the game was lost already after I finished shuffling the deck, but I just did not know it, so spoils here make you realized the hard truth faster.
Overall I am very impressed with the card.
Hi mate, congratulations and welcome back to modern tournaments.
Your deck list is very strong and TomCournay here has been running a very similar list with huge success lately.
As a side note, I would highlight that you have been paired against decks with neutral to favorable match-ups so far, which means that Ad Nauseam seems to be a very good choice for your meta. There might be time when things get uglier when you are not paired as you were last 2 FNMs.
Not too sure about Elspeth and Grave Titan. They look both very good against jund but it seems very narrow overall. End if you end up losing game one and somewhat surprise them with one of them game 2, it will be catered for game 3.
FYI, I have tried Nephalia Academy and it did not help me to win even by playing it turn 1 on the play with combo in opening hands.