I'm really looking to play RUG pod post rotation, the only list I can seem to find is on the opening page. Could someone pleas help me out a bit? It'd be much appreciated.
I. Overview
II. History
III. Decklist
IV. Card Choices
a.) Manabase
b.) Acceleration and Mana
c.) Tutors and Draw
d.) Win Conditions and Bombs
e.) Protection/Utility
f.) Sideboard Options V. Cards That Didn’t Make the Cut
a.) Manabase
b.) Acceleration and Mana
c.) Tutors and Draw
d.) Win Conditions and Bombs
e.) Protection/Utility
f.) Close Cuts VI. Reasons to Play The EPIC Storm Over Other Storm Combo
a.) ANT – Ad Nauseam Tendrils
b.) Belcher
c.) Doomsday Variants
d.) SI – Spanish Inquisition VII. Sample Hands and Sample Plays
a.) Sample Hand One
b.) Sample Hand Two
c.) Sample Hand Three
d.) Sample Hand Four
e.) Sample Hands For You VIII. Additional Data
a.) Diminishing Returns Percentages
b.) Infernal Tutor Percentages IX. Match-ups
a.) Countertop
b.) Merfolk
c.) Goblins
d.) Ichorid
e.) Landstill (UWx or BUG)
f.) Zoo
g.) Chalice Aggro
h.) Reanimator
i.) New Horizons
j.) Team America
k.) Painter
l.) UW Stoneforge
m.) UGx Natural Order
n.) BW/x Discard/Junk X. Additional Information
a.) Readings
b.) Major Tournament reports from TES players
c.) Feature matches including The EPIC Storm
d.) Articles discussing The EPIC Storm
e.) Other
I. Overview
The EPIC Storm was created by me – Bryant Cook, along with assistance from The E.P.I.C. Syndicate.
The EPIC Storm (TES) is a deck with win conditions that use mechanic storm; mainly Tendrils of Agony and Empty the Warrens. Lists play Grapeshot in the sideboard as utility to get around hate and as an alternative win condition. The deck’s first and primary goal is to reach nine storm then cast Tendrils of Agony; however, it’s not always that simple. Often there’s problems in counter magic or not having enough resources, rest assured it’s not a problem because of Empty the Warrens - our secondary win condition. The EPIC Storm is a deck based around Tutors which are found in Burning Wish and Infernal Tutor. One of the deck’s strengths is the utilization and flexibility of Burning Wish. The EPIC Storm really came to power with the release of Coldsnap and Timespiral, when it received another powerful acceleration piece and win condition. Recently, the deck has changed its face due to a new powerful storm engine in Ad Nauseam. The EPIC Storm has gone from a niche deck to a powerhouse played all around the world, with some impressive Top 8’s (see reports below).
II. History
Back in march of 2006, I became fascinated with storm combo playing everything from Nausea in legacy to Pitch Long in Vintage. I began realizing flaws in each and every deck I tested, which caused me to shelve each one of them. Although, along this road I started to see the strengths and weaknesses in each deck became apparent. I decided I’d try and add all of the strengths into a single deck and have the fewest weaknesses that I could. Then in August 2006, I posted my first version of the deck ShLong (****list Long). The deck opted to use creatures such as Priest of Gix and Trinket Mage (to find Lion’s Eye Diamond) for acceleration; Helm of Awakening and Second Sunrise were also used to “Go crazy”. As time went on I created a creatureless list about six months after my original incarnation, at this point in time I began to realize how creatures were under performing. Right about this time is when a new set was released, Coldsnap.
Coldsnap was a huge step in the right direction when I saw the card Rite of Flame. Rite of Flame was a consistent ritual effect that had potential to be equal to or greater than Dark Ritual. This card replaced Priest of Gix, which was only good with a Helm of Awakening or two in play.
With the printing of Time Spiral, TES gained 2 new Storm weapons - Grapeshot and Empty the Warrens. Grapeshot was the secondary win condition that I set eyes on, not Empty the Warrens. It wasn’t until much later that it became apparent that it wasn’t really needed; Grapeshot generally was used to kill creatures like Meddling Mage and True Believer. Now Grapeshot is a sideboard card used to win around problem cards such as Meddling Mage or Runed Halo. Adam Barnello (Nightmare) was the first person to recommend Empty the Warrens in TES, The EPIC Syndicate saw a serious powerhouse in this card. It improved all of the difficult matchups for the deck, Landstill, Threshold, Solidarity, and even Mono Blue Control. With Empty the Warrens, you had the option of keeping hands that couldn’t or weren’t capable of creating storm ten. With Empty the Warrens you have the option of putting 6-10 goblins into play turn 1 and ride them to victory. Many of the decks at the time weren’t prepared for that many creatures one turn one and very rarely played anything that wasn’t spot removal. Because of this these blue decks were becoming much more favorable.
Later on in time I started to realize that The EPIC Storm was starting to become inconsistent with its draws. Cards such as Brainstorm, Careful Study, Serum Visions and Grim Tutor were tried at this time. Brainstorm ended up filling this niche nicely even with very few shuffle effects. Sometime after I won the second Mana Leak Open, The EPIC Storm became hated on. Cards such as Xantid Swarm and Defense Grid were no longer getting the job done. An outsider was called – Orim’s Chant, Chant to this very day is still one of the most powerful cards in TES. With new set after new set, cards are tested and added. Thoughtsieze was printed and ran for sometime over Duress. Cards such as Draw 4’s – Cruel Bargain, Infernal Contract, and Slithermuse were being used as additional bombs to compliment Diminishing Returns and Ill-Gotten Gains.
Then Ad Nauseam happened… Ad Nauseam changed the name and face of storm combo all on its own. Lists were thrown everywhere, however, The EPIC Storm adapted like many other decks to the card. First extra storm engines were shelved, Diminishing Returns, Slithermuse, and Infernal Contract. Empty the Warrens was originally shelved with the other cards, but was later added back into the main deck because of its strength and ability to beat blue decks. Thoughtsieze’s life loss was too much, Duress once again found a spot in the main deck. Simian Spirit Guides were cut for less damage for Ad Nauseam.
While the set M10 was being spoiled and right before it’s release, Wizards of the Coast made some rules changes. Two of these rules effected The EPIC Storm, the first rule being that Wishes could no longer retrieve cards that were removed from the game or “exiled”. Meaning the deck can no longer remove our Rite of Flame on a Chrome Mox and Burning Wish for them later. The second rule hurt the EPIC Storm quite badly, but it’s survived and gone on. This new rule being that we can no longer float mana through the upkeep into the draw step to cast spells. Meaning players can no longer break Lion’s Eye Diamond in our upkeep to cast Ad Nauseam during our draw step. This made Mystical Tutor much worse, going from a 3-4 of in many lists down to 2 or none. With the lack of Mystical Tutors in the deck, slots such as Chain of Vapor became weaker. Chain of Vapor left the main deck because of this and Empty the Warrens found it’s old home in the main deck.
With the banning of Mystical Tutor, the 4th Infernal Tutor found it’s way back into the main deck along with Silence (4th Orim's Chant Effect). Keeping threats in the deck was important, players don't want to be stuck searching for cards during their opening turns. Players should be focused on winning, not destroying Gemstone Mines playing cantrips. A new mana base was eventually included consisting of four fetchlands and three duals, including five color lands. However, Simian Spirit Guide had to leave in order to make this happen. Below is the current incarnation of the EPIC Storm…
a.) Manabase - Since The EPIC Storm is technically a five color deck, it needs to able to support all five colors. I ported the Grim Long mana base to Legacy, obviously removing Tolarian Academy and adding the Legacy legal lands – Underground Sea and Volcanic Island. Forbidden Orchard and Undiscovered Paradise were cut because of their drawbacks. Often games and sometimes even rounds were lost because of these drawbacks. I decided to cut Simian Spirit Guide due to damage on Ad Nauseam and wanted more lands, since there aren't any other great five color lands I added four “fetchlands” to go with the few duals. These “Fetchlands” were Polluted Delta, Bloodstained Mire, and Scalding Tarn.
b.) Acceleration and Mana - 4 Dark Ritual, 4 Lion’s Eye Diamond, 4 Lotus Petal, 4 Chrome Mox, and 3 Rite of Flame are a necessity. There has been discussion to where the fourth Rite of Flame belongs. I personally believe that Rite of Flame in the sideboard is not worth it. Players are better off increasing potential turn 1 and 2 wins. Another debate for fast-mana is the number of Chrome Mox, I believe the best chance of winning on turn 1 and the best chance of winning after an Ad Nauseam is with the most possible Chrome Moxen. If Ad Nauseam doesn’t reveal 0cc mana players must pass the turn. The deck needs to play the maximum amount of 0cc artifacts.
c.) Tutors and Draw - Burning Wish along with Infernal Tutor were auto includes into The EPIC Storm because well, paired with Lion’s Eye Diamond they might be the most broken plays in Legacy. For a while Plunge into Darkness was included but it became apparent that it was a weakness in the deck. Plunge into Darkness was later replaced with Ponder. Which happens to be Brainstorm 5-8 in The EPIC Storm, digging for tutor effects is huge in TES. Don't forget that with Ponder it is possible to shuffle away and draw a new card. Turn one, Brainstorm or Ponder? If it’s possible the hand can win on turn 1 with 1 or 2 different cards Brainstorm is the right card; otherwise Ponder. With the banning of Mystical Tutor, people are looking at Pre-Ordain. I think it's just better to play the additional Infernal Tutor main deck to increase threat density and then side it out making Infernal Tutor a Burning Wish target.
d.) Win Conditions and Bombs - Tendrils of Agony is the primary win condition - a must include. Empty the Warrens was a huge addition to The EPIC Storm, for a while it was a 3 of in the main deck. However, times change and the metagame adapted to Empty the Warrens. Players had to cut back, currently Warrens is in the deck as a one of. Tutors in The EPIC Storm are used mainly to find one of two cards- Ad Nauseam or Empty the Warrens. Since this format has no Yawgmoth’s Will, I guess T.E.S will settle for the next best thing in Yawgmoth’s Bargain in Ad Nauseam. This card is often our “engine” in the combo. There’s also our former engines in Diminishing Returns and [Yawgmoth’s W]Ill-Gotten Gains in the sideboard to help in sticky situations or if Burning Wish is in hand. By engine I mean they ramp our storm count high enough for the deck to win the game, since chaining Infernal Tutors won’t always win the game. People like to use Ad Nauseam because it’s easy, however, not always necessary. Don’t forget the deck can always Ill-Gotten Gains loop to win.
e.) Protection/Utility - In the early days of The EPIC Storm the deck relied on laying down a Xantid Swarm and winning the turn after. Blue decks adapted to answer X/1 creatures on turn 1, meaning that the deck had to adapt to compete. Xantid was cut for Orim’s Chant, but is often in and out of the main deck to compliment Orim’s Chant. Also complimenting Chant is Duress, Duress is there to protect Orim’s Chant or to take problematic cards like Counterbalance out of the opponent’s hand. Out of the sideboard the deck plays Red Elemental Blast and/or Pyroblast to deal with Force of Will on Orim’s Chant mainly. However, it can also be used to kill a Counterbalance- a huge threat to The EPIC Storm. Recently with the printing of Silence, many people opt for a split between Orim’s Chant and Silence because of cards that name cards, such as – Runed Halo, Meddling mage, Cabal Therapy, ect.
f.) Sideboard Options – The sideboard needs to be a mixture between business, utility, and cards to be sided in. For business theres two win conditions, Tendrils of Agony and Empty the Warrens, and then two Storm engines in Diminishing Returns and Ill-Gotten Gains, these are necessary because they provide a storm engine that doesn’t require life. They also are sorceries while Ad Nauseam is not, meaning they can be Wished for.
For Utility there’s Duress, Meltdown, Shattering Spree, and Grapeshot. Sometimes players don’t draw protection, so Burning Wish might as well find it. Other times there’s problematic artifacts, T.E.S doesn’t play anything wishable to destroy Enchantments. This is because there are no Enchantments game one that the deck cares about besides Counterbalance, Counterbalance will just counter whatever kills it. That and there isn’t a great card for the deck to remove Enchantments with. Then there’s Grapeshot, Grapeshot is used to kill problematic creatures as well as provide an alternative win condition for cards such as Runed Halo. People are always trying to play Pyroclasm over this card, it’s just wrong. Grapeshot often provides outs where Pyroclasm doesn’t, where Tendrils wasn’t able to finish off an opponent, Grapeshot steps in to hit them for that additional few damage. Often the deck will draw hands with Tendrils and a Wish, Wish for Grapeshot, play out the hand and cast them both. Take away the luck element of Storm Engines and just win. There’s other scenarios too, but I personally use it most to showboat up to storm twenty and Wish for it.
Lastly, cards that are sided in. I like to play bounce because it’s versatile in dealing with whatever random card opponents bring in to hinder chances of comboing. For bounce there’s 2 Echoing truth and a Wipeaway, Wipeaway will answer that pesky Counterbalance. Currently there’s four cards for blue, 2 Xantid Swarm and 2 Pyroblast. These slots are often in flux for the metagame.
V. Cards That Didn’t Make The Cut
a.) Manabase - Tarnished Citadel, Undiscovered Paradise, Forbidden Orchard, Glimmervoid, Cabal Pit, Tomb of Urami, Chrystal Vein.
b.) Acceleration and Mana – Elvish Spirit Guide, Simian Spirit Guide, Manamorphose, Channel of the Suns, Priest of Gix, Culling the Weak, Helm of Awakening, Desperate Ritual, Seething Song, Tinder Wall, Mox Diamond, Carpet of Flowers.
c.) Tutors and Draw – Mystical Tutor, Death Wish, Grim Tutor, Plunge into Darkness, Rhystic Tutor, Spoils of the Vault, Pre-Ordain, Infernal Contract, Cruel Bargain, Lim-Dul’s Vault, Meditate, Trinket Mage, Diabolic Intent, Night’s Whisper, Dark Confidant, Sensei’s Diving Top.
d.) Win Conditions and Bombs – Slithermuse, Doomsday, Storm Entity, Goblin Charbelcher, Hunting Pack.
e.) Protection/Utility- Defense Grid, Wipe Away, Washout, Repeal, Snap, Rushing River, Cabal Therapy, Inquisition of Kozilek, Sudden Death, Pyroclasm, Tranquility, Cleanfall, Reverent Silence, Hull Breach.
f.) Close Cuts- Thoughtsieze, Cabal Ritual, Abeyance, Krosan Grip, Deathmark, Chain of Vapor, Red Elemental Blast, Silence.
There are some cards I choose to leave off this list because they we’re tried a very long time ago and didn’t work out, then some others that just seemed ridiculous.
VI. Reasons to Play The EPIC Storm Over Other Storm Combo
a.) Why play The EPIC Storm (TES) over Ad Nauseam Tendrils (ANT)? TES has no clear cut game plan; it’s very versatile and can end things many ways – unlike ANT. Ad Nauseam Tendrils is often forced to go for Ad Nauseam because lists don’t play Orim’s Chant (some lists do, but few). Without Orim’s Chant their Ill-Gotten Gains is shut off. Leaving them with one path to victory. TES because it plays five color lands has all of the best protection available (Orim’s Chant, Xantid Swarm, Duress, and Pyroblast), while various ANT lists play 2 of the 4, it’s hard for them to play all of these without destroying their mana base. Playing four colors on duals and fetches can hurt. Especially against the tempo decks of today, the stifle wasteland package already hurts ANT, while it doesn’t affect TES as much because there’s less Stifle targets. TES I feel has an edge on ANT because of the speed factor also, TES plays less land and more acceleration in order to win faster. While ANT goes for a more controlling feeling against blue (Which always doesn’t work), post-board the deck have 2 less protection spells than ANT. A marginal difference, I’ll take speed and protection against just two more protection spells. The most important reason to play TES over ANT is Burning Wish and it’s raw power. Burning Wish acts as an Infernal Tutor that doesn’t need Hellbent that can get answers to help out in sticky situations. Where ANT lists play more cantrips such as preordain.
b.) Why play The EPIC Storm (TES) over Belcher? TES is fast, resilient, and has main deck protection and can fight through the hate. Many people played Belcher for awhile because it’s a fundament turn faster than TES, until they realized the unstableness and how fragile the deck was; The EPIC Storm doesn’t have to go for Empty the Warrens. Belcher often can’t choose what win condition to go for; it’s whatever it draws, not with TES. The player chooses between Tendrils or Empty the Warrens and sometimes Grapeshot. Because of this you will win more games due to the fact there is so many Engineered Explosives running around. Belcher doesn’t play any main deck protection whatsoever; here in TES there are 4 Orim’s Chant/Silence and 3/4 Duress to make sure the deck has a fighting chance to beat Countertop. One last reason to play TES over Belcher is that if the deck somehow manages to fizzle The EPIC Storm recovers a lot faster than Belcher thanks to storm engines in Ad Nauseam, Ill-Gotten Gains and mainly Diminishing Returns.
c.) Why play The EPIC Storm (TES) over Doomsday combo? Mainly because Sensei’s Diving Top is a slow card in nature, which means that Doomsday combo in nature is slow. Slow combo decks aren’t good because decks like Zoo or Goblins now stand a chance, this is a mistake that players learned from Solidarity. On top of being slow, there are many “pass the turn” piles. Losing half of your life to Doomsday and passing the turn is a very dangerous thing to do but is necessary sometimes with Doomsday variants. My largest problem with the current Doomsday decks is their alternative routes to beating Countertop. Using a comes into play tapped land, forces a player to pass the turn, now the combo is susceptible to wasteland and stifle. Increasing the amount hate against the deck is just something I don’t think is worth doing. TES is faster, doesn’t pass the turn, and doesn’t lose to a Wasteland.
d.) Why play The EPIC Storm (TES) over Spanish Inquisition (SI) variants? SI variants are very much like the belcher decks where their turn one percentages are higher, but they’re more likely to lose to Force of Will and other blue cards. This comes from not playing protection, something TES prides it’s self on. SI can also lose from not drawing a zero casting cost creature to sacrifice to Culling the Weak or Diabolic Intent. These decks relate to the Doomsday Variants in that they need to lose half of their life in order to win, sometimes, multiple times in order to draw a Tendrils of Agony. Meaning that a well-timed Lightning Bolt/Fireblast could take them out of the game. Because these decks rely on draw four cards such as Infernal Contract and Cruel Bargain the fizzle rates are much higher than a resolved Ad Nauseam from TES.
VII. Sample Hands and Sample Plays “Keep, Mulligan, or I’d play it like this…”
a.) Sample Hand One:
Underground Sea, Brainstorm, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Dark Ritual, Infernal Tutor, Chrome Mox, Gemstone Mine.
[Keep]
Underground Sea, Dark Ritual (BBB), Lion’s Eye Diamond, Chrome Mox (Brainstorm), Infernal Tutor – Break Lion’s Eye Diamond for BBB (BBBB). Tap Mox. Ad Nauseam.
Ad Nauseam (Revealing: City of Brass (20), Brainstorm (19), Ponder (18), Empty the Warrens (14), Dark Ritual (13), Rite of Flame (12), Burning Wish (10), Lotus Petal (10), Chrome Mox (10), Rite of Flame (9), Infernal Tutor (7), Burning Wish (5). Stop.)
Lotus Petal, Dark Ritual, Chrome Mox (Empty the Warrens), Rite of Flame, Rite of Flame, Burning Wish, Tendrils of Agony for 22.
b.) Sample Hand Two:
Gemstone Mine, Lotus Petal, Infernal Tutor, Infernal Tutor, Burning Wish, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Rite of Flame.
[Keep]
Gemstone Mine, Lotus Petal, Rite of Flame, Lion's Eye Diamond, Infernal Tutor (RBBB), Empty the Warrens (10 Goblins).
10.) Duress, Tendrils of Agony, Gemstone Mine, Bloodstained Mire, Dark Ritual, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Burning Wish.
VIII. Additional Data
a.) Diminishing Returns Percentages
Situation
-One Burning Wish is exiled.
-You have two tapped gold lands in play (Gemstone Mine, and City of Brass.)
-The opponent is at 20 life.
-The storm count is four (including DR.)
-You are at a safe life total for Ad Nauseam.
-You haven't played a land yet this turn.
5.9344% 2 infernal drawn 4 in deck 7 card hand 60 card deck
0.3804% 3 drawn 4 in deck 7 card hand 60 cards
0.0072% 4 drawn 4 in deck 7 card hand 60 cards
= 39.95% chance of drawing total
3 Infernal Tutor in deck
28.1882% 1 drawn 3 in deck 7 card hand 60 card deck
3.2525% 2 drawn 3 in deck 7 cards 60 card deck
0.1023% 3 drawn 3 in deck 7 cards 60 card deck
= 31.5430% chance of drawing
IX. Match-Ups
a.) Countertop - (45%-55%)
- Does the hand have protection? What game is it? If it’s game one concentrate on winning before Counterbalance hits the table. Generally an open hand Duress helps out in this match-up taking away a Counterbalance. If the hand doesn’t have a Duress, Xantid, or Orim’s Chant there’s always Burning Wish for Duress. Keep in mind that on top of Counterbalance they have Force of Will, Mental Misstep, and Daze. It’s a rough match-up, but if the opening hand has a Duress and/or Xantid Swarm it makes the match-up a bit easier.
- What is the path to victory? Is it Ad Nauseam or Ill-Gotten Gains off of Burning Wish? Cast Ad Nauseam at a safe life total, it can be very risky to cast at a life total lower that 13, any lower and the risk of killing yourself becomes much greater. This is a situation where Ill-Gotten Gains comes in handy. Although, without Orim’s Chant or Xantid Swarm, Ill-Gotten Gains can be risky, your opponent can get back Force of Will or Mental Misstep. Lastly, there’s Empty the Warrens, this card really shines in this match-up. Most lists don’t often play an answer and it comes down before Counterbalance, consider it an easy plan B if it isn’t possible to Ad Nauseam in this match-up.
- Unlike Countertop variants, Merfolk doesn’t play Counterbalance. What Merfolk does play is Force of Will, Mental Misstep, Daze, Cursecatcher, and Spell Pierce (out of the sideboard). Xantid Swarm absolutely shines in this match-up, if it’s possible to play him out and get him to stick; it’s difficult to lose the game. A key to winning this match-up is to be aware of their “soft” counterspells in Daze, Cursecatcher, and Spell Pierce. Play those Dark Rituals and Rite of Flames first, don’t try to cast that Orim’s Chant with two lands untapped. Empty the Warrens can be good in this match-up since they don’t play removal, but they do play a bunch of Creatures. This means that if Empty the Warrens is the play, make sure it’s for ten or more Goblins to get the job done.
- Post board the deck brings in two additional Xantid Swarms and two Pyroblast to combat their counterspells. All Merfolk brings in is Spell Pierce, don’t worry about boarding in Echoing Truth for permanent based hate.
-This match-up is pretty basic; game one all the only thing Goblins has is wasteland. Don’t walk into it, hold the land in your hand if need be. Play cantrips, find more land or artifact mana. Don’t wait for the sake of waiting because they’re not putting on pressure, life total points matter for Ad Nauseam in this match-up. If Burning Wish happens to be in hand, Ill-Gotten Gains is a very good option since it doesn’t require a life total.
-Games two and three, watch out for Mind Break Trap. If they’re playing R/b watch out for Thoughtsieze and Cabal Therapy too. Some lists might also play Chalice of the Void or Pyrostatic Pillar in addition to the previous cards mentioned. It’s acceptable to play out artifact mana to avoid it getting discarded, countered, or making you take damage.
-This match-up is based on who can win faster – much like the combo mirror. Watch out for Cabal Therapy/Unmask, this means playing down artifact mana early or holding Brainstorm to hide crucial spells. Orim’s Chant can be used proactively in this match-up, use it on their upkeep in early turns or later on use it to stop massive attacks. What T.E.S doesn’t want to see on the other side of the table is Iona coming into play off of a Dread Return.
-Postboard, watch out for Leyline of Sanctity, that’ll force the deck to win with Empty the Warrens tokens against Bridge from Below Tokens. I don’t see this happening. But luckily, Ad Nauseam is still an option. Cast Ad Nauseam and reveal, hopefully an Echoing Truth will appear to bounce Leyline. Echoing Truth can also be used to bounce a bunch of Zombies in a squeeze. I’d be weary of Firestorm, I’d count the number of cards in their hand and how many targets are in play. Then I would cast Ad Nauseam and try to stop around the number plus one.
Sideboarding
-2 Xantid Swarm
-1 Empty the Warrens
-1 Orim’s Chant
+2 Echoing Truth
+2 Pyroblast
e.) Landstill (UWx or BUG) (60%)
- The deck wants to sculpt a hand that can plow through 2-3 counterspells, meaning finding a few Duress/Chant effects and run them over. Xantid Swarm probably won’t get the job done in this match-up due to their excessive amounts of removal. Landstill doesn’t create a threatening clock or have any cards such as counterbalance that are going to be deadly if they hit. Don’t be afraid to sit underneath standstill. If Tendrils of Agony is in hand, I’d try to create a hand that uses their countermagic for storm then to just lay the Tendrils. Another option is going for a speedy kill, if Landstill doesn’t stop the deck, great! If they do manage to stop the combo, there’s an entire game to recover since their clock is non-existent. It’s not uncommon for these decks to be playing Engineered Explosives or Pernicious Deed, meaning Empty the Warrens probably isn’t the greatest option. Neither is putting down artifact mana to get blown up.
-Postboard, be prepared for anything from Runed Halo, Meddling Mage, Counterbalance, addition counterspells in negate, and Rule of Law. All of this permanent based hate means sideboarding in the bounce spells.
Sideboarding
+2 Pyroblast
+2 Echoing Truth
+1 Wipe Away
-1 Empty the Warrens
-2 Xantid Swarm
-1 Infernal Tutor
-1 Chrome Mox
f.) Zoo (75%)
- Pretty basic and simple match-up, don’t go low enough on Ad Nauseam for them to Bolt, Bolt, Fireblast or Price of Progress for that matter. Beware of main deck Gaddeck Teeg as it’s seeming to become a popular trend especially with Green Sun’s Zenith.
- The biggest piece of hate they’ll have is Gaddeck Teeg and/or Ethersworn Cannonist, after that they may have Mind Break Trap. What T.E.S players should so is bring in bounce and the extra Duress. As Duress can take away Burn spells as well as Mind Break Trap, where Xantid and Orim’s under perform in this match-up.
- By far the deck’s worst match-up, with Trinisphere, Chalice, Sphere of Resistance, and other problematic cards, there’s not much the deck can do other than win as past as possible. This is one of those match-ups that Empty the Warrens is golden. One thing I’ve done in the past is win with Trinisphere on the table. Let them kill themselves with Ancient Tomb, then get off a weak Tendrils for 3-4 Storm. This can get the job done. Use Duress to rip apart their hand and Orim’s Chant to stall until it’s possible to combo out.
-Post board, they won’t bring anything too useful in. However, the T.E.S sideboard has answers in bounce and Shattering Spree/Meltdown. The artifact hate spell brought in is really up to personal preference.
- Not a bad match-up, not a great one either. Reanimtor has Thoughtsieze, Force of Will, Mental Misstep, and Daze for disruption. It's tough, but winnable. Their only animation target we really care about is Iona and we can win around her. Empty the Warrens is a great option if they've already landed her, it's a great option if they haven't too. Most reanimator lists don't play Echoing Truth main deck. You can also Diminishing Returns to get around Iona on black. It is possible to win without casting black cards. The other target they have is Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur, this is threatening because it allows the reanimator player to draw an entirely new hand full of Counters and Disruption. Luckily for us, it’s possible to Pyroblast it after game one. Xantid Swarm is our best piece of protection, if he sticks, he’s not coming off the table due to their lack of removal.
- Post board, reanimator doesn’t have much to bring in. The T.E.S player will want to bring in the Additional Xantid Swarms, Pyroblast, and bounce.
Sideboarding
+2 Xantid Swarm
+2 Pyroblast
+2 Echoing Truth
+1 Wipe Away
-3 Orim’s Chant
-1 Ponder
-1 Chrome Mox
-1 Infernal Tutor
-1 Empty the Warrens
i.) New Horizons (60%)
- Force of Will, Mental Misstep, Daze, Wasteland. To us, it's Merfolk with different creatures, there isn’t a worry about additional soft counters in Cursecatcher or Pierce. The deck doesn’t have to worry about Counterbalance/top, which is a huge bonus.
- Postboard, they’ll bring in Spell Pierce, the deck brings in the regulars to combat.
Sideboarding
+2 Xantid Swarm
+2 Pyroblast
-1 Empty the Warrens
-1 Infernal Tutor
-1 Chrome Mox
-1 Ponder
j.) Team America (50%)
- Much like the New Horizon’s match-up, although, they have discard in Thoughtsieze and Hymn to Tourach. This means laying down artifact mana so that it’s not discarded. Xantid Swarm is huge in this match-up since Protection in hand loses a lot of value due to the discard.
- Postboard, same as New Horizons.
Sideboarding
+2 Xantid Swarm
+2 Pyroblast
-1 Empty the Warrens
-1 Infernal Tutor
-1 Chrome Mox
-1 Ponder
k.) Painter (70%)
- Painter is just another combo deck, except they have the benefit of Force of Will, although they’re slower. Much like other decks lacking removal, Xantid Swarm really shines here.
- Postboard, bring in the regulars but Echoing Truth and a Spree to fight off their combo. It’s important to cast Echoing Truth in crucial situations, make them activate before bouncing, buy some time in order to combo. Pyroblast can become Vindicate with their Painters.
Sideboarding
+2 Xantid Swarm
+2 Pyroblast
+2 Echoing Truth
+1 Shattering Spree
-3 Orim’s Chant
-1 Empty the Warrens
-1 Infernal Tutor
-1 Chrome Mox
-1 Ponder
l.) UW Stoneforge (50%)
- This match-up is a lot like Landstill except that they have a faster win condition in Stoneforge for Batterskull. Batterskull can race a horde of Empty the Warrens tokens, don’t try this at home.
- Postboard, some lists have Enlightened Tutor packages, this are pretty bad for the deck, The ones that don’t aren’t that bad. The tutor packages usually consist of Nullrod and Cannonist. Bring in bounce.
Sideboarding
+2 Echoing Truth
+1 Wipeaway
+2 Pyroblast
-1 Empty the Warrens
-1 Infernal Tutor
-1 Chrome Mox
-1 Ponder
-1 Rite of Flame
m.) UGx Natural Order (60-65%)
- Force of Will, Mental Mistep, Daze, Wasteland. Much like the other UGx variants, except a different win condition. Empty the Warrens is a little stronger against these variants due to less creatures because of Natural Order and Green Suns Zenith. Some of these decks if not most are cutting Force of Will, if this is true the chances of success are much greater.
- These decks play Thoughtseize, Hymn, Wasteland, and Vindicate. They play more hand disruption than permanent destruction. Because of this, it’s better to play out artifact mana and sit there until the deck draws an Infernal or Burning Wish into a Storm Engine.
- Postboard, board in bounce for whatever permanent based disruption they play. As of late it’s been Phyrexian Revoker.
Because you know the source hasn't innovated the format or anything. Look at some of the best decks in the past. Solidarity, TES, ATS, Threshold (Hatfields and Bardo), Landstill (created by Jander78 in the old format), Red Death, and the list can keep going.
Yeah, wooohooo Death and Taxes and Vial Horror huge innovation and improvements to the format. (Nothing against Finn, I respect what you.)
I have considered this however, Brainstorm allows for more turn 1 wins seeing more cards to actually play with. Brainstorms huge advantage is it puts cards such as Diminishing Returns or Ill-Gotten Gains on top of the library.
The EPIC Storm
The EPIC Storm was created by me – Bryant Cook, along with assistance from The E.P.I.C. Syndicate.
The EPIC Storm (TES) is a deck with win conditions that use mechanic storm; mainly Tendrils of Agony and Empty the Warrens. Pasts lists have often used Grapeshot. The deck’s first and primary goal is to reach nine storm then cast Tendrils of Agony, however, it’s not always that simple. Often there’s problems in counter magic or not having enough resources, rest assured it’s not a problem because of Empty the Warrens our secondary win condition. The EPIC Storm is a deck based around Tutors which are found in Burning Wish and Infernal Tutor. One of the deck’s strengths is the utilization and flexibility of Burning Wish. The EPIC Storm really came to power with the release of Coldsnap and Timespiral, when it received another powerful acceleration piece and win condition. The EPIC Storm has gone from a niche deck to a powerhouse played all around the world, with some impressive Top 8’s (see reports below).
History
Back in march of 2006, I became fascinated with storm combo playing everything from Nausea in legacy to Pitch Long in Vintage. I began realizing flaws in each and every deck I tested which caused me to shelve them. Although, along this road I started to see the strengths and weaknesses in each deck became apparent. I decided I’d try and add all of the strengths into a single deck and have the fewest weaknesses that I could. Then in August 2006, I posted my first version of the deck ShLong (*****list Long). The deck opted to use creatures such as Priest of Gix and Trinket Mage (to find Lion’s Eye Diamond) for acceleration, Helm of Awakening and Second Sunrise were also used to “Go crazy”. As time went on I created a creatureless list about six months after my original incarnation, at this point in time I began to realize how creatures were under performing. Right about this time is when a new set was released, Coldsnap.
Coldsnap was a huge step in the right direction when I saw the card Rite of Flame. Rite of Flame was a consistant ritual effect that had potential to be equal to or greater than Dark Ritual. This card replaced Priest of Gix which was only good with a Helm of Awakening or two in play.
With the printing of Time Spiral, TES gained 2 new Storm weapons - Grapeshot and Empty the Warrens. Grapeshot was the secondary win condition that I set eyes on, not Empty the Warrens. It wasn’t until much later that it became apparent that it wasn’t really needed; Grapeshot generally was used to kill creatures like Meddling Mage and True Believer. Adam Barnello (Nightmare) was the first person to recommend Empty the Warrens in TES, The EPIC Syndicate saw a serious powerhouse in this card. It improved all of the difficult matchups for the deck, Landstill, Threshold, Solidarity and even Blue ********. With Empty the Warrens, you had the option of keeping hands that couldn’t or weren’t capable of creating storm ten. With Empty the Warrens you have the option of putting 6-10 goblins into play turn 1 and ride them to victory. Many of the decks at the time weren’t prepared for that many creatures one turn one and very rarely played anything that wasn’t spot removal. Because of this these blue decks were becoming much more favorable.
Later on in time I started to realize that The EPIC Storm was starting to become inconsistent with its draws. Cards such as Brainstorm, Careful Study, Serum Visions and Grim Tutor were tried at this time. Brainstorm ended up filling this niche nicely even with very few shuffle effects. Sometime after I won the second Mana Leak Open, The EPIC Storm became hated on. Cards such as Xantid Swarm and Defense Grid were no longer getting the job done. An outsider was called – Orim’s Chant, Chant to this very day is still one of the most powerful cards in TES. With new set after new set, cards such as Simian Spirit Guide and Ponder were added. Duress was outclassed by Thoughtsieze in the sideboard, being able to hit Breakfast’s creatures. Recently cards such as Draw 4’s – Cruel Bargain and Infernal Contract, are being used as additional bombs to compliment Diminishing Returns and Ill-Gotten Gains.
The Decklist
Lands
4 Gemstone Mine
4 City of Brass
2 Undiscovered Paradise
Manabase - Since The EPIC Storm is technically a five color deck we need to be able to support all five colors. I ported the Grim Long manabase to Legacy, obviously removing Tolarian Academy and adding the Legacy legal land - Undiscovered Paradise. I’ve tested plenty of lands and the ones chosen are the best for the job.
Acceleration and Mana - 4 Dark Ritual, 4 Lion’s Eye Diamond, 4 Lotus Petal, 4 Simian Spirit Guide, 2 Cabal Ritual, and 3 Rite of Flame are a necessity. There has been discussion to where the fourth Rite of Flame belongs. I personally believe that Rite of Flame in the sideboard is not worth it, you’re better off increasing your potential turn 1 and 2 wins. Another debate for fast-mana is the number of Chrome Mox. I believe you want the best chance of winning on turn 1 and the best chance of winning after a Diminishing Returns or Draw 4. To do this you need to play the maximum amount. Cabal Rituals were taken out for an extended period of time but were added to support Draw 4’s. Cabal Ritual with Threshold is often greater than Lion’s Eye Diamond.
Tutors and Draw - Burning Wish along with Infernal Tutor were auto includes into The EPIC Storm because well, paired with Lion’s Eye Diamond they might be the most broken play in Legacy. For awhile Plunge into Darkness was included but it became apparent that it was a weakness in the deck. Plunge into Darkness was later replaced with Ponder. Which happens to be Brainstorm 5-6 in The EPIC Storm, however, too much of a good thing can be a problem. Don’t get caught up in how broken or dumb a card is; casting Brainstorm on turn 1 can be amazing or devastating. With too many cantrip effects it becomes hurtful, because you draw into more instead of drawing into what you need. I would include Draw 4’s in here but they are more of a “Bomb” card than draw.
Win Conditions and Bombs – Tendrils of Agony the primary win condition was clearly one of the cards since the beginning of the deck- a must include. Empty the Warrens was a huge addition to The EPIC Storm, for awhile it was a 3 of in the maindeck. However, times have changed and the metagame has adapted to Empty the Warrens. We have to cut back. Tutors in The EPIC Storm are used mainly to find one of two cards- Diminishing Returns or Ill-Gotten Gains. Since this format has no Yawgmoth’s Will, I guess we settle for the next best thing [Yawgmoth’s W]Ill-Gotten Gains and an effective Time Twister in Diminishing Returns. These two cards are often our “engine” in the combo. By engine I mean they ramp our storm count high enough for us to win the game, since we can’t always win by chaining tutors. Draw 4’s – Cruel Bargain and Infernal Contract, are what I consider a Half-Engine. I don’t rely on them to be my engine, however, it can often turn out to raise the storm count high enough to win the game. This is why I consider them Half-Engines, the other half being a set-up card. Often cast on turn one to set up a turn two win.
Protection- In the early days of The EPIC Storm the deck relied on laying down a Xantid Swarm and winning the turn after. These days are over, in today’s day in age we use Orim’s Chant. Blue decks have adapted to answer X/1 creatures on turn 1, we must adapt with the metagame. Orim’s Chant single handily shuts down the combo mirror and if it resolves against blue you generally win the game. Out of the sideboard we play Red Elemental Blast and Pyroblast to deal with Force of Will on Orim’s Chant mainly. However, you can also use it them to kill Counterbalance- a huge threat to The EPIC Storm. Burning Wish -> into Thoughtsieze is also a great way to protect your Orim’s Chant.
Cards That Didn’t Make The Cut
Basically I’m tired of people asking, “Have you tried this?” this list will answer your questions.
Grim Tutor, Rhystic Tutor, Plunge Into Darkness, Defense Grid, Duress, Serum Visions, Slight of Hand, Portent, Mental Note, Impulse, Meditate, Thirst for Knowledge, Careful Study, Ideas Unbound, Extract, Inuition, Merchant Scroll, Gifts Ungiven, Echoing Truth, Chain of Vapor, Wipe Away, Rebuild, Hurkyl’s Recall, Washout, Repeal, Eye of Nowhere, Snap, Rushing River, Morning Tide, False Dawn, Swords to Plowshares, Abeyance, Trinket Mage, Priest of Gix, Helm of Awakening, Culling the Weak, Diabolic Intent, Chromatic Sphere/Star, Night’s Whisper, Skeletal Scrying, Doomsday, Leyline of the Void, Massacre, Spoils of the Vault, Street Wraith, Living Wish, Minion of the Waste, Cabal Therapy, Recoup, Cabal Pit, Second Sunrise, Sudden Shock, Sudden Death, Grapeshot, Earthquake, Rough/Tumble, Cave-In, Meltdown, Dark Confidant, Echoing Ruin, Goblin War Strike, Seething Song, Firebolt, Storm Entity, Elvish Spirit Guide, Cleanfall, Tinder Wall, Krosan Grip, Mox Diamond, Engineered Explosives, Goblin Charbelcher, Conjurer’s Bauble, Predict, Pernicious Deed, Lim-Dul’s Vault, Mystical Tutor, Hull Breach, Crime/ Punishment, Bound/Determined, Wild Cantor, Duals, Fetches, Cephalid Coliseum, Glimmervoid, Tomb of Urami, Forbidden Orchard, Darkblast, Compost, Coffin Purge, Desperate Ritual, Incendiary Command, Death Wish, Molten Disaster, I’m sure there’s more.
Reasons to Play The EPIC Storm Over Other Storm Combo
Playing The EPIC Storm over other combo in the format is a good idea for many reasons mainly because TES is fast, resilient, has maindeck protection and can fight through the hate. Many people played CRET Belcher for awhile because it’s a fundament turn faster than TES, until they realized the unstableness and how fragile the deck was; The EPIC Storm doesn’t have to go for Empty the Warrens. Belcher often can’t choose what win condition to go for, it’s whatever it draws, not with TES, you choose between Tendrils or Empty the Warrens. Because of this you will win more games due to the fact there is so many Engineered Explosives running around. Belcher doesn’t play any maindeck protection whatsoever, here in TES we play 4 Orim’s Chant to make sure we have a fighting chance to beat Threshold. One last reason to play TES over Belcher is that if you somehow manage to fizzle The EPIC Storm recovers a lot faster than Belcher.
The reason to play The EPIC Storm over Iggy-Pop is TES is a turn and a half faster and just as consistent. Iggy-pop was a reference that I used to build TES, however, I left the weaknesses behind. The deck plays too many set-up spells and not enough gas (acceleration) to get the car going. The EPIC Storm has Empty the Warrens to its advantage, the Iggy-pop list that do play Empty don’t have the tools to really make it good.TES also has a better blue based control match-up and agro control match-up due to more protection in the maindeck and sideboard. A huge difference is the utilization of Burning Wish in TES giving it an edge against Iggy-Pop, not having to waste maindeck slots on answers. Burning Wish is just a powerhouse and without it, winning becomes harder and harder for storm combo.
Sample Hands and Sample Plays
“Keep, Mulligan, or I’d play it like this…”
Sample Hand One:
City of Brass, Lotus Petal, Lotus Petal, Orim’s Chant, Orim’s Chant, Chrome Mox, and Cruel Bargain.
[Keep]
City of Brass, Lotus Petal, Lotus Petal, then Cruel Bargain into…
Infernal Contract, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Gemstone mine, Cabal Ritual [Pass Turn]
[Draw - Infernal Tutor]
Gemstone Mine, Cabal Ritual, Infernal Contract into…
Chrome Mox, Dark Ritual, Lotus Petal, Ill-Gotten Gains
Chrome Mox [Imprint: Orim’s Chant], Orim’s Chant, Lotus Petal, Dark Ritual, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Chrome Mox [No Imprint], Infernal tutor [Cracking LED for BBB], Tendrils of Agony.
Sample Hand Two:
Chrome Mox, Infernal Tutor, Burning Wish, Brainstorm, Orim’s Chant, Lotus Petal, and Simian Spirit Guide.
[Mulligan]
Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Chrome Mox, Orim’s Chant, and Lotus Petal.
[Mulligan]
Simian Spirit Guide, Rite of Flame, Burning Wish, Lion’s Eye Diamond, and Simian Spirit Guide.
[Keep]
[Remove: Simian Spirit Guides] Rite of flame, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Burning Wish [Cracking LED for UUU] into…
Diminishing Returns into…
[Removing: Ill-Gotten Gains, Empty the Warrens, Undiscovered Paradise, Simian Spirit Guide, Rite of Flame, Cruel Bargain, Dark Ritual, Orim’s Chant, Burning Wish and Brainstorm]
Lotus Petal, Undiscovered Paradise, Cabal Ritual, Infernal Contract, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Rite of Flame and Chrome Mox.
Undiscovered Paradise, Lotus Petal, Cabal Ritual Infernal Contract into…
Brainstorm, Ponder, Rite of Flame, Burning Wish.
Rite of Flame, Chrome Mox [Imprint: Ponder] Brainstorm into…
City of Brass, Gemstone, Rite of Flame.
Rite of Flame, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Burning Wish [Crack LED for BBB], Tendrils of Agony.
Sample Hands For You
Lotus Petal, Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Infernal Tutor, Burning Wish, Lotus Petal, and Chrome Mox.
Brainstorm, Brainstorm, Orim’s Chant, Dark Ritual, Cruel Bargain, Lotus Petal and Chrome Mox.
Simian Spirit Guide, Simian Spirit Guide, Ill-Gotten Gains, Ponder, Lotus Petal, Lion’s Eye Diamond and City of Brass.
Lion’s Eye Diamond, Rite of Flame, Simian Spirit Guide, Gemstone Mine, Dark Ritual, Infernal Tutor, and Infernal Tutor.
Gemstone Mine, Undiscovered Paradise, Chrome Mox, Ponder, Diminishing Returns, Dark Ritual, and Ill-Gotten Gains.
Match-Ups
Threshold/Gro - (45%-55%) – Results vary with list and skill of opponent
Things to Consider:
- Do you have Orim’s Chant or Burning Wish?
- Try and win as fast as possible.
- Does your hand win with Tendrils or Warrens?
- How are you winning? Are you using Diminishing Returns or Ill-Gotten Gains? Are you using Empty the Warrens or Tendrils?
- Do they play Engineered Explosives?
- How many turns do you have left?
- Keep in mind if they play Counterbalance.
- Do they play Stifle?
- Lastly, this is the most important question; can you read a bluff? Reading your opponent is HUGE when trying to figure if you’re brave enough to win on turn one or two.
Goblins (70%)
Things to Consider:
- Aim to keep a hand with more acceleration than tutors.
- If your hand generally has more than one piece of protection (Orim’s Chant) mulligan.
- Try and win as fast as possible
- If keeping a one land hand, be hesitant to play that land unless combo-ing out that turn.
- Chrome Mox is good in this match-up, as an un-disruptable mana source.
Lies. FNM is never prettier or better than the origonal. Suck it up and find real Fire/Ices; If you can't I'll sell/trade you mine. As for PIMP my TES deck is very beautiful.
Is it possible for you to update the initial post?
To be honest I can rarely post since I'm very busy in college. I have time for short posts and thats about it, re-doing an intro to a thread would just take too much time. Maybe on the next long break I get. I'm glad to see you're interested, though.
I see your Grim Iggy and Bryant's TES lists heading to a similar convergance.
We were actually talking about this since TES started playing two draw 4's in the deck.
As for TES's poor showing, I think combo is played more in certain areas of the country to be honest. In the north east TES is huge, downwards on the east coast (VA area) Breakfast is huge, in Ohio Iggy is big, ect.. If Gencon made the prizes better EPIC would've went (Which is why TES didn't have a great showing). But driving 13 hours in a car to play for oversized cardboard didn't seem worth it.
I. Overview
II. History
III. Decklist
IV. Card Choices
a.) Manabase
b.) Acceleration and Mana
c.) Tutors and Draw
d.) Win Conditions and Bombs
e.) Protection/Utility
f.) Sideboard Options
V. Cards That Didn’t Make the Cut
a.) Manabase
b.) Acceleration and Mana
c.) Tutors and Draw
d.) Win Conditions and Bombs
e.) Protection/Utility
f.) Close Cuts
VI. Reasons to Play The EPIC Storm Over Other Storm Combo
a.) ANT – Ad Nauseam Tendrils
b.) Belcher
c.) Doomsday Variants
d.) SI – Spanish Inquisition
VII. Sample Hands and Sample Plays
a.) Sample Hand One
b.) Sample Hand Two
c.) Sample Hand Three
d.) Sample Hand Four
e.) Sample Hands For You
VIII. Additional Data
a.) Diminishing Returns Percentages
b.) Infernal Tutor Percentages
IX. Match-ups
a.) Countertop
b.) Merfolk
c.) Goblins
d.) Ichorid
e.) Landstill (UWx or BUG)
f.) Zoo
g.) Chalice Aggro
h.) Reanimator
i.) New Horizons
j.) Team America
k.) Painter
l.) UW Stoneforge
m.) UGx Natural Order
n.) BW/x Discard/Junk
X. Additional Information
a.) Readings
b.) Major Tournament reports from TES players
c.) Feature matches including The EPIC Storm
d.) Articles discussing The EPIC Storm
e.) Other
I. Overview
The EPIC Storm was created by me – Bryant Cook, along with assistance from The E.P.I.C. Syndicate.
The EPIC Storm (TES) is a deck with win conditions that use mechanic storm; mainly Tendrils of Agony and Empty the Warrens. Lists play Grapeshot in the sideboard as utility to get around hate and as an alternative win condition. The deck’s first and primary goal is to reach nine storm then cast Tendrils of Agony; however, it’s not always that simple. Often there’s problems in counter magic or not having enough resources, rest assured it’s not a problem because of Empty the Warrens - our secondary win condition. The EPIC Storm is a deck based around Tutors which are found in Burning Wish and Infernal Tutor. One of the deck’s strengths is the utilization and flexibility of Burning Wish. The EPIC Storm really came to power with the release of Coldsnap and Timespiral, when it received another powerful acceleration piece and win condition. Recently, the deck has changed its face due to a new powerful storm engine in Ad Nauseam. The EPIC Storm has gone from a niche deck to a powerhouse played all around the world, with some impressive Top 8’s (see reports below).
II. History
Back in march of 2006, I became fascinated with storm combo playing everything from Nausea in legacy to Pitch Long in Vintage. I began realizing flaws in each and every deck I tested, which caused me to shelve each one of them. Although, along this road I started to see the strengths and weaknesses in each deck became apparent. I decided I’d try and add all of the strengths into a single deck and have the fewest weaknesses that I could. Then in August 2006, I posted my first version of the deck ShLong (****list Long). The deck opted to use creatures such as Priest of Gix and Trinket Mage (to find Lion’s Eye Diamond) for acceleration; Helm of Awakening and Second Sunrise were also used to “Go crazy”. As time went on I created a creatureless list about six months after my original incarnation, at this point in time I began to realize how creatures were under performing. Right about this time is when a new set was released, Coldsnap.
Coldsnap was a huge step in the right direction when I saw the card Rite of Flame. Rite of Flame was a consistent ritual effect that had potential to be equal to or greater than Dark Ritual. This card replaced Priest of Gix, which was only good with a Helm of Awakening or two in play.
With the printing of Time Spiral, TES gained 2 new Storm weapons - Grapeshot and Empty the Warrens. Grapeshot was the secondary win condition that I set eyes on, not Empty the Warrens. It wasn’t until much later that it became apparent that it wasn’t really needed; Grapeshot generally was used to kill creatures like Meddling Mage and True Believer. Now Grapeshot is a sideboard card used to win around problem cards such as Meddling Mage or Runed Halo. Adam Barnello (Nightmare) was the first person to recommend Empty the Warrens in TES, The EPIC Syndicate saw a serious powerhouse in this card. It improved all of the difficult matchups for the deck, Landstill, Threshold, Solidarity, and even Mono Blue Control. With Empty the Warrens, you had the option of keeping hands that couldn’t or weren’t capable of creating storm ten. With Empty the Warrens you have the option of putting 6-10 goblins into play turn 1 and ride them to victory. Many of the decks at the time weren’t prepared for that many creatures one turn one and very rarely played anything that wasn’t spot removal. Because of this these blue decks were becoming much more favorable.
Later on in time I started to realize that The EPIC Storm was starting to become inconsistent with its draws. Cards such as Brainstorm, Careful Study, Serum Visions and Grim Tutor were tried at this time. Brainstorm ended up filling this niche nicely even with very few shuffle effects. Sometime after I won the second Mana Leak Open, The EPIC Storm became hated on. Cards such as Xantid Swarm and Defense Grid were no longer getting the job done. An outsider was called – Orim’s Chant, Chant to this very day is still one of the most powerful cards in TES. With new set after new set, cards are tested and added. Thoughtsieze was printed and ran for sometime over Duress. Cards such as Draw 4’s – Cruel Bargain, Infernal Contract, and Slithermuse were being used as additional bombs to compliment Diminishing Returns and Ill-Gotten Gains.
Then Ad Nauseam happened… Ad Nauseam changed the name and face of storm combo all on its own. Lists were thrown everywhere, however, The EPIC Storm adapted like many other decks to the card. First extra storm engines were shelved, Diminishing Returns, Slithermuse, and Infernal Contract. Empty the Warrens was originally shelved with the other cards, but was later added back into the main deck because of its strength and ability to beat blue decks. Thoughtsieze’s life loss was too much, Duress once again found a spot in the main deck. Simian Spirit Guides were cut for less damage for Ad Nauseam.
While the set M10 was being spoiled and right before it’s release, Wizards of the Coast made some rules changes. Two of these rules effected The EPIC Storm, the first rule being that Wishes could no longer retrieve cards that were removed from the game or “exiled”. Meaning the deck can no longer remove our Rite of Flame on a Chrome Mox and Burning Wish for them later. The second rule hurt the EPIC Storm quite badly, but it’s survived and gone on. This new rule being that we can no longer float mana through the upkeep into the draw step to cast spells. Meaning players can no longer break Lion’s Eye Diamond in our upkeep to cast Ad Nauseam during our draw step. This made Mystical Tutor much worse, going from a 3-4 of in many lists down to 2 or none. With the lack of Mystical Tutors in the deck, slots such as Chain of Vapor became weaker. Chain of Vapor left the main deck because of this and Empty the Warrens found it’s old home in the main deck.
With the banning of Mystical Tutor, the 4th Infernal Tutor found it’s way back into the main deck along with Silence (4th Orim's Chant Effect). Keeping threats in the deck was important, players don't want to be stuck searching for cards during their opening turns. Players should be focused on winning, not destroying Gemstone Mines playing cantrips. A new mana base was eventually included consisting of four fetchlands and three duals, including five color lands. However, Simian Spirit Guide had to leave in order to make this happen. Below is the current incarnation of the EPIC Storm…
III. Decklists
The EPIC Storm
Decklist as of 7/5/11
IV. Card Choices
a.) Manabase - Since The EPIC Storm is technically a five color deck, it needs to able to support all five colors. I ported the Grim Long mana base to Legacy, obviously removing Tolarian Academy and adding the Legacy legal lands – Underground Sea and Volcanic Island. Forbidden Orchard and Undiscovered Paradise were cut because of their drawbacks. Often games and sometimes even rounds were lost because of these drawbacks. I decided to cut Simian Spirit Guide due to damage on Ad Nauseam and wanted more lands, since there aren't any other great five color lands I added four “fetchlands” to go with the few duals. These “Fetchlands” were Polluted Delta, Bloodstained Mire, and Scalding Tarn.
b.) Acceleration and Mana - 4 Dark Ritual, 4 Lion’s Eye Diamond, 4 Lotus Petal, 4 Chrome Mox, and 3 Rite of Flame are a necessity. There has been discussion to where the fourth Rite of Flame belongs. I personally believe that Rite of Flame in the sideboard is not worth it. Players are better off increasing potential turn 1 and 2 wins. Another debate for fast-mana is the number of Chrome Mox, I believe the best chance of winning on turn 1 and the best chance of winning after an Ad Nauseam is with the most possible Chrome Moxen. If Ad Nauseam doesn’t reveal 0cc mana players must pass the turn. The deck needs to play the maximum amount of 0cc artifacts.
c.) Tutors and Draw - Burning Wish along with Infernal Tutor were auto includes into The EPIC Storm because well, paired with Lion’s Eye Diamond they might be the most broken plays in Legacy. For a while Plunge into Darkness was included but it became apparent that it was a weakness in the deck. Plunge into Darkness was later replaced with Ponder. Which happens to be Brainstorm 5-8 in The EPIC Storm, digging for tutor effects is huge in TES. Don't forget that with Ponder it is possible to shuffle away and draw a new card. Turn one, Brainstorm or Ponder? If it’s possible the hand can win on turn 1 with 1 or 2 different cards Brainstorm is the right card; otherwise Ponder. With the banning of Mystical Tutor, people are looking at Pre-Ordain. I think it's just better to play the additional Infernal Tutor main deck to increase threat density and then side it out making Infernal Tutor a Burning Wish target.
d.) Win Conditions and Bombs - Tendrils of Agony is the primary win condition - a must include. Empty the Warrens was a huge addition to The EPIC Storm, for a while it was a 3 of in the main deck. However, times change and the metagame adapted to Empty the Warrens. Players had to cut back, currently Warrens is in the deck as a one of. Tutors in The EPIC Storm are used mainly to find one of two cards- Ad Nauseam or Empty the Warrens. Since this format has no Yawgmoth’s Will, I guess T.E.S will settle for the next best thing in Yawgmoth’s Bargain in Ad Nauseam. This card is often our “engine” in the combo. There’s also our former engines in Diminishing Returns and [Yawgmoth’s W]Ill-Gotten Gains in the sideboard to help in sticky situations or if Burning Wish is in hand. By engine I mean they ramp our storm count high enough for the deck to win the game, since chaining Infernal Tutors won’t always win the game. People like to use Ad Nauseam because it’s easy, however, not always necessary. Don’t forget the deck can always Ill-Gotten Gains loop to win.
e.) Protection/Utility - In the early days of The EPIC Storm the deck relied on laying down a Xantid Swarm and winning the turn after. Blue decks adapted to answer X/1 creatures on turn 1, meaning that the deck had to adapt to compete. Xantid was cut for Orim’s Chant, but is often in and out of the main deck to compliment Orim’s Chant. Also complimenting Chant is Duress, Duress is there to protect Orim’s Chant or to take problematic cards like Counterbalance out of the opponent’s hand. Out of the sideboard the deck plays Red Elemental Blast and/or Pyroblast to deal with Force of Will on Orim’s Chant mainly. However, it can also be used to kill a Counterbalance- a huge threat to The EPIC Storm. Recently with the printing of Silence, many people opt for a split between Orim’s Chant and Silence because of cards that name cards, such as – Runed Halo, Meddling mage, Cabal Therapy, ect.
f.) Sideboard Options – The sideboard needs to be a mixture between business, utility, and cards to be sided in. For business theres two win conditions, Tendrils of Agony and Empty the Warrens, and then two Storm engines in Diminishing Returns and Ill-Gotten Gains, these are necessary because they provide a storm engine that doesn’t require life. They also are sorceries while Ad Nauseam is not, meaning they can be Wished for.
For Utility there’s Duress, Meltdown, Shattering Spree, and Grapeshot. Sometimes players don’t draw protection, so Burning Wish might as well find it. Other times there’s problematic artifacts, T.E.S doesn’t play anything wishable to destroy Enchantments. This is because there are no Enchantments game one that the deck cares about besides Counterbalance, Counterbalance will just counter whatever kills it. That and there isn’t a great card for the deck to remove Enchantments with. Then there’s Grapeshot, Grapeshot is used to kill problematic creatures as well as provide an alternative win condition for cards such as Runed Halo. People are always trying to play Pyroclasm over this card, it’s just wrong. Grapeshot often provides outs where Pyroclasm doesn’t, where Tendrils wasn’t able to finish off an opponent, Grapeshot steps in to hit them for that additional few damage. Often the deck will draw hands with Tendrils and a Wish, Wish for Grapeshot, play out the hand and cast them both. Take away the luck element of Storm Engines and just win. There’s other scenarios too, but I personally use it most to showboat up to storm twenty and Wish for it.
Lastly, cards that are sided in. I like to play bounce because it’s versatile in dealing with whatever random card opponents bring in to hinder chances of comboing. For bounce there’s 2 Echoing truth and a Wipeaway, Wipeaway will answer that pesky Counterbalance. Currently there’s four cards for blue, 2 Xantid Swarm and 2 Pyroblast. These slots are often in flux for the metagame.
V. Cards That Didn’t Make The Cut
a.) Manabase - Tarnished Citadel, Undiscovered Paradise, Forbidden Orchard, Glimmervoid, Cabal Pit, Tomb of Urami, Chrystal Vein.
b.) Acceleration and Mana – Elvish Spirit Guide, Simian Spirit Guide, Manamorphose, Channel of the Suns, Priest of Gix, Culling the Weak, Helm of Awakening, Desperate Ritual, Seething Song, Tinder Wall, Mox Diamond, Carpet of Flowers.
c.) Tutors and Draw – Mystical Tutor, Death Wish, Grim Tutor, Plunge into Darkness, Rhystic Tutor, Spoils of the Vault, Pre-Ordain, Infernal Contract, Cruel Bargain, Lim-Dul’s Vault, Meditate, Trinket Mage, Diabolic Intent, Night’s Whisper, Dark Confidant, Sensei’s Diving Top.
d.) Win Conditions and Bombs – Slithermuse, Doomsday, Storm Entity, Goblin Charbelcher, Hunting Pack.
e.) Protection/Utility- Defense Grid, Wipe Away, Washout, Repeal, Snap, Rushing River, Cabal Therapy, Inquisition of Kozilek, Sudden Death, Pyroclasm, Tranquility, Cleanfall, Reverent Silence, Hull Breach.
f.) Close Cuts- Thoughtsieze, Cabal Ritual, Abeyance, Krosan Grip, Deathmark, Chain of Vapor, Red Elemental Blast, Silence.
There are some cards I choose to leave off this list because they we’re tried a very long time ago and didn’t work out, then some others that just seemed ridiculous.
VI. Reasons to Play The EPIC Storm Over Other Storm Combo
a.) Why play The EPIC Storm (TES) over Ad Nauseam Tendrils (ANT)? TES has no clear cut game plan; it’s very versatile and can end things many ways – unlike ANT. Ad Nauseam Tendrils is often forced to go for Ad Nauseam because lists don’t play Orim’s Chant (some lists do, but few). Without Orim’s Chant their Ill-Gotten Gains is shut off. Leaving them with one path to victory. TES because it plays five color lands has all of the best protection available (Orim’s Chant, Xantid Swarm, Duress, and Pyroblast), while various ANT lists play 2 of the 4, it’s hard for them to play all of these without destroying their mana base. Playing four colors on duals and fetches can hurt. Especially against the tempo decks of today, the stifle wasteland package already hurts ANT, while it doesn’t affect TES as much because there’s less Stifle targets. TES I feel has an edge on ANT because of the speed factor also, TES plays less land and more acceleration in order to win faster. While ANT goes for a more controlling feeling against blue (Which always doesn’t work), post-board the deck have 2 less protection spells than ANT. A marginal difference, I’ll take speed and protection against just two more protection spells. The most important reason to play TES over ANT is Burning Wish and it’s raw power. Burning Wish acts as an Infernal Tutor that doesn’t need Hellbent that can get answers to help out in sticky situations. Where ANT lists play more cantrips such as preordain.
b.) Why play The EPIC Storm (TES) over Belcher? TES is fast, resilient, and has main deck protection and can fight through the hate. Many people played Belcher for awhile because it’s a fundament turn faster than TES, until they realized the unstableness and how fragile the deck was; The EPIC Storm doesn’t have to go for Empty the Warrens. Belcher often can’t choose what win condition to go for; it’s whatever it draws, not with TES. The player chooses between Tendrils or Empty the Warrens and sometimes Grapeshot. Because of this you will win more games due to the fact there is so many Engineered Explosives running around. Belcher doesn’t play any main deck protection whatsoever; here in TES there are 4 Orim’s Chant/Silence and 3/4 Duress to make sure the deck has a fighting chance to beat Countertop. One last reason to play TES over Belcher is that if the deck somehow manages to fizzle The EPIC Storm recovers a lot faster than Belcher thanks to storm engines in Ad Nauseam, Ill-Gotten Gains and mainly Diminishing Returns.
c.) Why play The EPIC Storm (TES) over Doomsday combo? Mainly because Sensei’s Diving Top is a slow card in nature, which means that Doomsday combo in nature is slow. Slow combo decks aren’t good because decks like Zoo or Goblins now stand a chance, this is a mistake that players learned from Solidarity. On top of being slow, there are many “pass the turn” piles. Losing half of your life to Doomsday and passing the turn is a very dangerous thing to do but is necessary sometimes with Doomsday variants. My largest problem with the current Doomsday decks is their alternative routes to beating Countertop. Using a comes into play tapped land, forces a player to pass the turn, now the combo is susceptible to wasteland and stifle. Increasing the amount hate against the deck is just something I don’t think is worth doing. TES is faster, doesn’t pass the turn, and doesn’t lose to a Wasteland.
d.) Why play The EPIC Storm (TES) over Spanish Inquisition (SI) variants? SI variants are very much like the belcher decks where their turn one percentages are higher, but they’re more likely to lose to Force of Will and other blue cards. This comes from not playing protection, something TES prides it’s self on. SI can also lose from not drawing a zero casting cost creature to sacrifice to Culling the Weak or Diabolic Intent. These decks relate to the Doomsday Variants in that they need to lose half of their life in order to win, sometimes, multiple times in order to draw a Tendrils of Agony. Meaning that a well-timed Lightning Bolt/Fireblast could take them out of the game. Because these decks rely on draw four cards such as Infernal Contract and Cruel Bargain the fizzle rates are much higher than a resolved Ad Nauseam from TES.
VII. Sample Hands and Sample Plays
“Keep, Mulligan, or I’d play it like this…”
a.) Sample Hand One:
Underground Sea, Brainstorm, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Dark Ritual, Infernal Tutor, Chrome Mox, Gemstone Mine.
[Keep]
Underground Sea, Dark Ritual (BBB), Lion’s Eye Diamond, Chrome Mox (Brainstorm), Infernal Tutor – Break Lion’s Eye Diamond for BBB (BBBB). Tap Mox. Ad Nauseam.
Ad Nauseam (Revealing: City of Brass (20), Brainstorm (19), Ponder (18), Empty the Warrens (14), Dark Ritual (13), Rite of Flame (12), Burning Wish (10), Lotus Petal (10), Chrome Mox (10), Rite of Flame (9), Infernal Tutor (7), Burning Wish (5). Stop.)
Lotus Petal, Dark Ritual, Chrome Mox (Empty the Warrens), Rite of Flame, Rite of Flame, Burning Wish, Tendrils of Agony for 22.
b.) Sample Hand Two:
Gemstone Mine, Lotus Petal, Infernal Tutor, Infernal Tutor, Burning Wish, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Rite of Flame.
[Keep]
Gemstone Mine, Lotus Petal, Rite of Flame, Lion's Eye Diamond, Infernal Tutor (RBBB), Empty the Warrens (10 Goblins).
c.) Sample Hand Three:
Gemstone Mine, Lotus Petal, Infernal Tutor, Infernal Tutor, Burning Wish, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Rite of Flame.
[Keep]
Gemstone Mine, Lotus Petal, Rite of Flame, Lion's Eye Diamond, Burning Wish (RUUU), Diminishing Returns.
(Remove 10 cards from the game)
Scalding Tarn, Underground Sea, Lotus Petal , Lotus Petal, Chrome Mox, Dark Ritual, Tendrils of Agony.
Lotus Petal , Lotus Petal, Chrome Mox, Dark Ritual, Tendrils of Agony for 20.
d.)Sample Hand Four:
Scalding Tarn, Dark Ritual, Infernal Tutor, Tendrils of Agony, Chrome Mox, Lion's Eye Diamond, Burning Wish.
[Keep]
Scalding Tarn, Volcanic Island, Chrome Mox (Imprint: Tendrils of Agony), Dark Ritual, Infernal Tutor, Lion's Eye Diamond, Lion's Eye Diamond, Burning Wish. Ill-Gotten Gains, Lion's Eye Diamond, Lion's Eye Diamond, Infernal Tutor, Burning Wish, Tendrils of Agony for 24.
e.) Sample Hands For You
1.) Brainstorm, Brainstorm, Chrome Mox, Chrome Mox, Duress, Infernal Tutor, Lion’s Eye Diamond.
2.) Underground Sea, Bloodstained Mire, Chrome Mox, Dark Ritual, Duress, Burning Wish, Infernal Tutor.
3.) Chrome Mox, Chrome Mox, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Lotus Petal, Scalding Tarn, Dark Ritual, Rite of Flame.
4.) Polluted Delta, Ponder, Ponder, Brainstorm, Gemstone Mine, Burning Wish, Burning Wish.
5.) Ad Nauseam, Ponder, Brainstorm, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Rite of Flame, Volcanic Island, Polluted Delta.
6.) Duress, Xantid Swarm, Gemstone Mine, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Lotus Petal, Dark Ritual, Burning Wish.
7.) Lion’s Eye Diamond, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Rite of Flame, Rite of Flame, Burning Wish, Empty the Warrens, Lotus Petal.
8.) Lotus Petal, Dark Ritual, Rite of Flame, Gemstone Mine, Infernal Tutor, Chrome Mox, Duress.
9.) Xantid Swarm, Orim’s Chant, Underground Sea, Burning Wish, Infernal Tutor, Chrome Mox, Tendrils of Agony.
10.) Duress, Tendrils of Agony, Gemstone Mine, Bloodstained Mire, Dark Ritual, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Burning Wish.
VIII. Additional Data
a.) Diminishing Returns Percentages
Situation
-One Burning Wish is exiled.
-You have two tapped gold lands in play (Gemstone Mine, and City of Brass.)
-The opponent is at 20 life.
-The storm count is four (including DR.)
-You are at a safe life total for Ad Nauseam.
-You haven't played a land yet this turn.
Mana Floating/Win Percentage
None: 18%
U: 38%
R: 42%
B: 42%
UU: 54%
UR: 66%
UB: 66%
RR: 54%
RB: 66%
BB: 60%
(U/B/R): 48%
(U/B/R) (U/B/R): 70%
U (U/B/R): 66%
R (U/B/R): 70%
B (U/B/R): 70%
b.) Infernal Tutor Percentages
4 Infernal Tutor in deck
33.6280% 1 infernal drawn, 4 in deck, 7 card hand, 60 card deck
5.9344% 2 infernal drawn 4 in deck 7 card hand 60 card deck
0.3804% 3 drawn 4 in deck 7 card hand 60 cards
0.0072% 4 drawn 4 in deck 7 card hand 60 cards
= 39.95% chance of drawing total
3 Infernal Tutor in deck
28.1882% 1 drawn 3 in deck 7 card hand 60 card deck
3.2525% 2 drawn 3 in deck 7 cards 60 card deck
0.1023% 3 drawn 3 in deck 7 cards 60 card deck
= 31.5430% chance of drawing
IX. Match-Ups
a.) Countertop - (45%-55%)
- Does the hand have protection? What game is it? If it’s game one concentrate on winning before Counterbalance hits the table. Generally an open hand Duress helps out in this match-up taking away a Counterbalance. If the hand doesn’t have a Duress, Xantid, or Orim’s Chant there’s always Burning Wish for Duress. Keep in mind that on top of Counterbalance they have Force of Will, Mental Misstep, and Daze. It’s a rough match-up, but if the opening hand has a Duress and/or Xantid Swarm it makes the match-up a bit easier.
- What is the path to victory? Is it Ad Nauseam or Ill-Gotten Gains off of Burning Wish? Cast Ad Nauseam at a safe life total, it can be very risky to cast at a life total lower that 13, any lower and the risk of killing yourself becomes much greater. This is a situation where Ill-Gotten Gains comes in handy. Although, without Orim’s Chant or Xantid Swarm, Ill-Gotten Gains can be risky, your opponent can get back Force of Will or Mental Misstep. Lastly, there’s Empty the Warrens, this card really shines in this match-up. Most lists don’t often play an answer and it comes down before Counterbalance, consider it an easy plan B if it isn’t possible to Ad Nauseam in this match-up.
+2 Pyroblast
+1 Wipeaway
-1 Ponder
-1 Chrome Mox
-1 Infernal Tutor
b.) Merfolk – (50%)
- Unlike Countertop variants, Merfolk doesn’t play Counterbalance. What Merfolk does play is Force of Will, Mental Misstep, Daze, Cursecatcher, and Spell Pierce (out of the sideboard). Xantid Swarm absolutely shines in this match-up, if it’s possible to play him out and get him to stick; it’s difficult to lose the game. A key to winning this match-up is to be aware of their “soft” counterspells in Daze, Cursecatcher, and Spell Pierce. Play those Dark Rituals and Rite of Flames first, don’t try to cast that Orim’s Chant with two lands untapped. Empty the Warrens can be good in this match-up since they don’t play removal, but they do play a bunch of Creatures. This means that if Empty the Warrens is the play, make sure it’s for ten or more Goblins to get the job done.
- Post board the deck brings in two additional Xantid Swarms and two Pyroblast to combat their counterspells. All Merfolk brings in is Spell Pierce, don’t worry about boarding in Echoing Truth for permanent based hate.
Sideboarding
+2 Xantid Swarm
+2 Pyroblast
-1 Infernal Tutor
-1 Brainstorm
-1 Ponder
-1 Chrome Mox
c.) Goblins - (70%)
-This match-up is pretty basic; game one all the only thing Goblins has is wasteland. Don’t walk into it, hold the land in your hand if need be. Play cantrips, find more land or artifact mana. Don’t wait for the sake of waiting because they’re not putting on pressure, life total points matter for Ad Nauseam in this match-up. If Burning Wish happens to be in hand, Ill-Gotten Gains is a very good option since it doesn’t require a life total.
-Games two and three, watch out for Mind Break Trap. If they’re playing R/b watch out for Thoughtsieze and Cabal Therapy too. Some lists might also play Chalice of the Void or Pyrostatic Pillar in addition to the previous cards mentioned. It’s acceptable to play out artifact mana to avoid it getting discarded, countered, or making you take damage.
Sideboarding
-2 Xantid Swarm
-2 Orim’s Chant
-1 Empty the Warrens
+2 Echoing Truth
+1 Wipeaway
+1 Duress
+1 Ill-Gotten Gains
d.) Ichorid (60-65%)
-This match-up is based on who can win faster – much like the combo mirror. Watch out for Cabal Therapy/Unmask, this means playing down artifact mana early or holding Brainstorm to hide crucial spells. Orim’s Chant can be used proactively in this match-up, use it on their upkeep in early turns or later on use it to stop massive attacks. What T.E.S doesn’t want to see on the other side of the table is Iona coming into play off of a Dread Return.
-Postboard, watch out for Leyline of Sanctity, that’ll force the deck to win with Empty the Warrens tokens against Bridge from Below Tokens. I don’t see this happening. But luckily, Ad Nauseam is still an option. Cast Ad Nauseam and reveal, hopefully an Echoing Truth will appear to bounce Leyline. Echoing Truth can also be used to bounce a bunch of Zombies in a squeeze. I’d be weary of Firestorm, I’d count the number of cards in their hand and how many targets are in play. Then I would cast Ad Nauseam and try to stop around the number plus one.
Sideboarding
-2 Xantid Swarm
-1 Empty the Warrens
-1 Orim’s Chant
+2 Echoing Truth
+2 Pyroblast
e.) Landstill (UWx or BUG) (60%)
- The deck wants to sculpt a hand that can plow through 2-3 counterspells, meaning finding a few Duress/Chant effects and run them over. Xantid Swarm probably won’t get the job done in this match-up due to their excessive amounts of removal. Landstill doesn’t create a threatening clock or have any cards such as counterbalance that are going to be deadly if they hit. Don’t be afraid to sit underneath standstill. If Tendrils of Agony is in hand, I’d try to create a hand that uses their countermagic for storm then to just lay the Tendrils. Another option is going for a speedy kill, if Landstill doesn’t stop the deck, great! If they do manage to stop the combo, there’s an entire game to recover since their clock is non-existent. It’s not uncommon for these decks to be playing Engineered Explosives or Pernicious Deed, meaning Empty the Warrens probably isn’t the greatest option. Neither is putting down artifact mana to get blown up.
-Postboard, be prepared for anything from Runed Halo, Meddling Mage, Counterbalance, addition counterspells in negate, and Rule of Law. All of this permanent based hate means sideboarding in the bounce spells.
Sideboarding
+2 Pyroblast
+2 Echoing Truth
+1 Wipe Away
-1 Empty the Warrens
-2 Xantid Swarm
-1 Infernal Tutor
-1 Chrome Mox
f.) Zoo (75%)
- Pretty basic and simple match-up, don’t go low enough on Ad Nauseam for them to Bolt, Bolt, Fireblast or Price of Progress for that matter. Beware of main deck Gaddeck Teeg as it’s seeming to become a popular trend especially with Green Sun’s Zenith.
- The biggest piece of hate they’ll have is Gaddeck Teeg and/or Ethersworn Cannonist, after that they may have Mind Break Trap. What T.E.S players should so is bring in bounce and the extra Duress. As Duress can take away Burn spells as well as Mind Break Trap, where Xantid and Orim’s under perform in this match-up.
Sideboarding
-2 Orim’s Chant
-2 Xantid Swarm
+2 Echoing Truth
+1 Wipe Away
+1 Duress
g.) Chalice Aggro (40-45%)
- By far the deck’s worst match-up, with Trinisphere, Chalice, Sphere of Resistance, and other problematic cards, there’s not much the deck can do other than win as past as possible. This is one of those match-ups that Empty the Warrens is golden. One thing I’ve done in the past is win with Trinisphere on the table. Let them kill themselves with Ancient Tomb, then get off a weak Tendrils for 3-4 Storm. This can get the job done. Use Duress to rip apart their hand and Orim’s Chant to stall until it’s possible to combo out.
-Post board, they won’t bring anything too useful in. However, the T.E.S sideboard has answers in bounce and Shattering Spree/Meltdown. The artifact hate spell brought in is really up to personal preference.
Sideboarding
-2 Xantid Swarm
-1 Infernal Tutor
-2 Orim’s Chant
+2 Echoing Truth
+1 Wipe Away
+1 Shattering Spree
+1 Duress
h.) Reanimator (50%)
- Not a bad match-up, not a great one either. Reanimtor has Thoughtsieze, Force of Will, Mental Misstep, and Daze for disruption. It's tough, but winnable. Their only animation target we really care about is Iona and we can win around her. Empty the Warrens is a great option if they've already landed her, it's a great option if they haven't too. Most reanimator lists don't play Echoing Truth main deck. You can also Diminishing Returns to get around Iona on black. It is possible to win without casting black cards. The other target they have is Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur, this is threatening because it allows the reanimator player to draw an entirely new hand full of Counters and Disruption. Luckily for us, it’s possible to Pyroblast it after game one. Xantid Swarm is our best piece of protection, if he sticks, he’s not coming off the table due to their lack of removal.
- Post board, reanimator doesn’t have much to bring in. The T.E.S player will want to bring in the Additional Xantid Swarms, Pyroblast, and bounce.
Sideboarding
+2 Xantid Swarm
+2 Pyroblast
+2 Echoing Truth
+1 Wipe Away
-3 Orim’s Chant
-1 Ponder
-1 Chrome Mox
-1 Infernal Tutor
-1 Empty the Warrens
i.) New Horizons (60%)
- Force of Will, Mental Misstep, Daze, Wasteland. To us, it's Merfolk with different creatures, there isn’t a worry about additional soft counters in Cursecatcher or Pierce. The deck doesn’t have to worry about Counterbalance/top, which is a huge bonus.
- Postboard, they’ll bring in Spell Pierce, the deck brings in the regulars to combat.
Sideboarding
+2 Xantid Swarm
+2 Pyroblast
-1 Empty the Warrens
-1 Infernal Tutor
-1 Chrome Mox
-1 Ponder
j.) Team America (50%)
- Much like the New Horizon’s match-up, although, they have discard in Thoughtsieze and Hymn to Tourach. This means laying down artifact mana so that it’s not discarded. Xantid Swarm is huge in this match-up since Protection in hand loses a lot of value due to the discard.
- Postboard, same as New Horizons.
Sideboarding
+2 Xantid Swarm
+2 Pyroblast
-1 Empty the Warrens
-1 Infernal Tutor
-1 Chrome Mox
-1 Ponder
k.) Painter (70%)
- Painter is just another combo deck, except they have the benefit of Force of Will, although they’re slower. Much like other decks lacking removal, Xantid Swarm really shines here.
- Postboard, bring in the regulars but Echoing Truth and a Spree to fight off their combo. It’s important to cast Echoing Truth in crucial situations, make them activate before bouncing, buy some time in order to combo. Pyroblast can become Vindicate with their Painters.
Sideboarding
+2 Xantid Swarm
+2 Pyroblast
+2 Echoing Truth
+1 Shattering Spree
-3 Orim’s Chant
-1 Empty the Warrens
-1 Infernal Tutor
-1 Chrome Mox
-1 Ponder
l.) UW Stoneforge (50%)
- This match-up is a lot like Landstill except that they have a faster win condition in Stoneforge for Batterskull. Batterskull can race a horde of Empty the Warrens tokens, don’t try this at home.
- Postboard, some lists have Enlightened Tutor packages, this are pretty bad for the deck, The ones that don’t aren’t that bad. The tutor packages usually consist of Nullrod and Cannonist. Bring in bounce.
Sideboarding
+2 Echoing Truth
+1 Wipeaway
+2 Pyroblast
-1 Empty the Warrens
-1 Infernal Tutor
-1 Chrome Mox
-1 Ponder
-1 Rite of Flame
m.) UGx Natural Order (60-65%)
- Force of Will, Mental Mistep, Daze, Wasteland. Much like the other UGx variants, except a different win condition. Empty the Warrens is a little stronger against these variants due to less creatures because of Natural Order and Green Suns Zenith. Some of these decks if not most are cutting Force of Will, if this is true the chances of success are much greater.
- Postboard, bring in the regulars.
Sideboarding
+2 Xantid Swarm
+1 Pyroblast
-1 Infernal Tutor
-1 Chrome Mox
-1 Ponder
n.) BW/x Discard/Junk (40%)
- These decks play Thoughtseize, Hymn, Wasteland, and Vindicate. They play more hand disruption than permanent destruction. Because of this, it’s better to play out artifact mana and sit there until the deck draws an Infernal or Burning Wish into a Storm Engine.
- Postboard, board in bounce for whatever permanent based disruption they play. As of late it’s been Phyrexian Revoker.
Sideboarding
+2 Echoing Truth
+1 Wipeaway
-2 Xantid Swarm
-1 Orim’s Chant
X. Additional Information
a.) Readings:
First Thread
Second Thread
Third Thread
The Definition of "Combo" - Do Storm Decks Count?
Combo Summer
TES vs. Iggy Pop
What is the Best Current Combo Deck?
The EPIC Storm (TES) vs. Fetchland Tendrils - The Competition
Would the format be more interesting without Tendrils of Agony?
Combo vs. Synergy
Shattering Spree vs.Trinisphere
Shattering Spree vs. Chalice of the Void
Are there too many different combo decks in Legacy?
City of Brass - Painting the Town REB by Andy Probasco
b.) Major Tournament reports from TES players:
01-01-2007 Brandon Adams's (Emidln) 4th place finish
02-12-2007 Florian Fischer's (Flod0) 1st place finish
02-18-2007 Bryant Cook's (Bryant Cook) 15th place finish
02-20-2007 Jesse Krieger's (Krieger) 16th place finish
03-05-2007 Bryant Cook's (Bryant Cook) 1st place finish
04-05-2007 Gnesotto Carlo's (Jegger) 2nd place finish
07-29-2007 Carl Wauer, Jr's (Carlos El Salvador) 2nd place finish
08-07-2007 Bryant Cook's (Bryant Cook) 4th place finish
10-08-2007 Bryant Cook's (Bryant Cook) 1st place finish
05-25-2008 Bryant Cook's (Bryant Cook) 1st place finish
07-20-2008 Bryant Cook's (Bryant Cook) 4th place finish
10-20-2008 James Peyton's (Jrp) 2nd place finish
01-04-2009 Bryant Cook's (Bryant Cook) 3rd place finish
05-31-2009 Bryant Cook's (Bryant Cook) 10th place finish
09-20-2009 Bryant Cook's (Bryant Cook) 1st place finish
10-18-2009 Bryant Cook's (Bryant Cook) 2nd place finish
01-03-2010 Bryant Cook's (Bryant Cook) 8th place finish
01-26-2010 Derrick Cabrera's (tgDC$) 8th place finish
06-13-2010 Bryant Cook's (Bryant Cook) 4th place finish
06-28-2010 Bryant Cook's (Bryant Cook) 3rd place finish
07-12-2010 Iñaki Puigdollers's (egosum) 1st place finish
08-02-2010 Bryant Cook's (Bryant Cook) 5th place finish at GP: Columbus
08-23-2010 James Higginbottom's (Lebron Jim) 8th place finish
08-25-2010 Bob Yu's (Clown of Tresserhorn) 5th place finish at StarCityGames: Denver
09-16-2010 Rolf Symons' (Diprivan) 1st place finish
09-21-2010 Albert's (Albert) 1st place finish
09-22-2010 Adam D's (Gorky) 1st place finish
10-12-2010 Iñaki Puigdollers's (egosum) 5th place finish
11-09-2010 Derek Brown's (technogeek5000) 9th place finish
12-13-2010 Ken Koepplinger's (naarou) 3rd place finish
12-16-2010 Liam Kane's (lorddotm) 1st place finish
02-24-2011 Rolf Symons' (Diprivan) 8th place finish
03-29-2011 Liam Kane's (Lorddotm) 3rd place finish at StarCityGames: Los Angeles
04-18-2011 Weston Brown's (COBBLER) 1st place finish
06-03-2011 Bryant Cook's (Bryant Cook) Day 2 finish GP: Providence
06-15-2011 Bryant Cook's (Bryant Cook) 8th place finish
07-03-2011 Bryant Cook's (Bryant Cook) 11th place finish at StarCityGames: Baltimore
c.) Feature matches including The EPIC Storm:
06-26-2010 Bryant Cook vs. Matt Kadilak
07-24-2010 Bryant Cook vs. James Rynkiewicz
03-30-2011 Liam Kane vs. Patrick Sullivan
04-02-2011 AJ Kerrigan vs. Robert Cuellari
06-11-2011 Bryant Cook vs. Ryan Mckinney
05-31-2011 AJ Kerrigan vs. James Rynkiewicz
d.) Articles discussing The EPIC Storm:
Unlocking Legacy- A Metagame Update By Chris Coppola (Machinus)
Unlocking Legacy- The Pet Deck By Adam Barnello (Nightmare)
Unlocking Legacy- Combo: The Missing Link By Chris Coppola (Machinus)
Unlocking Legacy- Extending a hand By Adam Barnello (Nightmare)
Unlocking Legacy- Design Patterns By Anwar Ahmad (Anwar101)
Unlocking Legacy- Emerging Decks By Chris Coppola (Machinus)
Unlocking Legacy- "The Engine of Storm" By Anwar Ahmad (Anwar101)
So Many Insane Plays – A Bird’s Eye View of Legacy: The Engines of Legacy By Steven Menendian (Smmenen)
Playing TES (a Demystifying Guide) By Brandon Adams (Emildn)
Ill-Gotten Pains (Vacrix)
Arnold Palmer: Daily MTG By Mike Flores
Legacy's Allure - GenCon and Columbus Trends By Doug Linn (HiVal)
Ideas Unbound - The Tendrils/Merfolk Matchup By Max McCall (Frogboy)
The Long and Winding Road – Legacy Storm (Don't Call It A Comeback) By Matt Elias (Voltron00x)
The Long and Winding Road – The New Kings of Legacy By Matt Elias (Voltron00x)
The Long and Winding Road – You, But Better By Matt Elias (Voltron00x)
Ideas Unbound - So You Want To Kill Your Opponent On Turn One By Max McCall (Frogboy)
Ideas Unbound - The Process Of Actually Killing Someone On Turn One By Max McCall (Frogboy)
The Long and Winding Road – Legacy Combo: It's Whats For Dinner By Matt Elias (Voltron00x)
So, You Want To Play Storm Combo... by Silent Requiem (Silent Requiem)
Ideas Unbound - One Game Remix: Tendrils vs. U/G Survival by Max McCall (Frogboy)
Storm Academy: Becoming a Storm Pilot by Silent Requiem (Silent Requiem)
Storm Academy: Anatomy of Storm by Silent Requiem (Silent Requiem)
TES (The EPIC Storm) Primer Article by Liam Kane (lorddotm)
Tracking the storm - NPH Effects on Legacy Storm by AJ Kerrigan
e.) Other:
Pimp Legacy Decks - TES
Thank you for reading.
In the Mail: Foil Japanese Tendrils of Agony, 2x Foil Japanese Shattering Spree, 1x Foil Japanese Vexing Shusher, and 1x Foil Japanese Grapeshot.
Now for the finale...
A Double backed Magic: The Gathering Card! If anyone is interested in it let me know!
This is my deck, The EPIC Storm.
Yeah, wooohooo Death and Taxes and Vial Horror huge innovation and improvements to the format. (Nothing against Finn, I respect what you.)
The EPIC Storm was created by me – Bryant Cook, along with assistance from The E.P.I.C. Syndicate.
The EPIC Storm (TES) is a deck with win conditions that use mechanic storm; mainly Tendrils of Agony and Empty the Warrens. Pasts lists have often used Grapeshot. The deck’s first and primary goal is to reach nine storm then cast Tendrils of Agony, however, it’s not always that simple. Often there’s problems in counter magic or not having enough resources, rest assured it’s not a problem because of Empty the Warrens our secondary win condition. The EPIC Storm is a deck based around Tutors which are found in Burning Wish and Infernal Tutor. One of the deck’s strengths is the utilization and flexibility of Burning Wish. The EPIC Storm really came to power with the release of Coldsnap and Timespiral, when it received another powerful acceleration piece and win condition. The EPIC Storm has gone from a niche deck to a powerhouse played all around the world, with some impressive Top 8’s (see reports below).
History
Back in march of 2006, I became fascinated with storm combo playing everything from Nausea in legacy to Pitch Long in Vintage. I began realizing flaws in each and every deck I tested which caused me to shelve them. Although, along this road I started to see the strengths and weaknesses in each deck became apparent. I decided I’d try and add all of the strengths into a single deck and have the fewest weaknesses that I could. Then in August 2006, I posted my first version of the deck ShLong (*****list Long). The deck opted to use creatures such as Priest of Gix and Trinket Mage (to find Lion’s Eye Diamond) for acceleration, Helm of Awakening and Second Sunrise were also used to “Go crazy”. As time went on I created a creatureless list about six months after my original incarnation, at this point in time I began to realize how creatures were under performing. Right about this time is when a new set was released, Coldsnap.
Coldsnap was a huge step in the right direction when I saw the card Rite of Flame. Rite of Flame was a consistant ritual effect that had potential to be equal to or greater than Dark Ritual. This card replaced Priest of Gix which was only good with a Helm of Awakening or two in play.
With the printing of Time Spiral, TES gained 2 new Storm weapons - Grapeshot and Empty the Warrens. Grapeshot was the secondary win condition that I set eyes on, not Empty the Warrens. It wasn’t until much later that it became apparent that it wasn’t really needed; Grapeshot generally was used to kill creatures like Meddling Mage and True Believer. Adam Barnello (Nightmare) was the first person to recommend Empty the Warrens in TES, The EPIC Syndicate saw a serious powerhouse in this card. It improved all of the difficult matchups for the deck, Landstill, Threshold, Solidarity and even Blue ********. With Empty the Warrens, you had the option of keeping hands that couldn’t or weren’t capable of creating storm ten. With Empty the Warrens you have the option of putting 6-10 goblins into play turn 1 and ride them to victory. Many of the decks at the time weren’t prepared for that many creatures one turn one and very rarely played anything that wasn’t spot removal. Because of this these blue decks were becoming much more favorable.
Later on in time I started to realize that The EPIC Storm was starting to become inconsistent with its draws. Cards such as Brainstorm, Careful Study, Serum Visions and Grim Tutor were tried at this time. Brainstorm ended up filling this niche nicely even with very few shuffle effects. Sometime after I won the second Mana Leak Open, The EPIC Storm became hated on. Cards such as Xantid Swarm and Defense Grid were no longer getting the job done. An outsider was called – Orim’s Chant, Chant to this very day is still one of the most powerful cards in TES. With new set after new set, cards such as Simian Spirit Guide and Ponder were added. Duress was outclassed by Thoughtsieze in the sideboard, being able to hit Breakfast’s creatures. Recently cards such as Draw 4’s – Cruel Bargain and Infernal Contract, are being used as additional bombs to compliment Diminishing Returns and Ill-Gotten Gains.
The Decklist
Lands
4 Gemstone Mine
4 City of Brass
2 Undiscovered Paradise
Creatures
4 Simian Spirit Guide
Spells
4 Orim’s Chant
4 Dark Ritual
4 Rite of Flame
4 Lion’s Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
4 Chrome Mox
4 Infernal Tutor
4 Burning Wish
4 Brainstorm
2 Ponder
2 Cabal Ritual
1 Infernal Contract
1 Cruel Bargain
1 Diminishing Returns
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Empty the Warrens
SB:1 Diminishing Returns
SB:1 Ill-Gotten Gains
SB:1 Cruel Bargain
SB:1 Tendrils of Agony
SB:1 Empty the Warrens
SB:1 Thoughtsieze
SB:1 Tranquility
SB:1 Pyroclasm
SB:1 Shattering Spree
SB:1 Red Elemental Blast
SB:2 Xantid Swarm
SB:3 Pyroblast
Card Choices
Manabase - Since The EPIC Storm is technically a five color deck we need to be able to support all five colors. I ported the Grim Long manabase to Legacy, obviously removing Tolarian Academy and adding the Legacy legal land - Undiscovered Paradise. I’ve tested plenty of lands and the ones chosen are the best for the job.
Acceleration and Mana - 4 Dark Ritual, 4 Lion’s Eye Diamond, 4 Lotus Petal, 4 Simian Spirit Guide, 2 Cabal Ritual, and 3 Rite of Flame are a necessity. There has been discussion to where the fourth Rite of Flame belongs. I personally believe that Rite of Flame in the sideboard is not worth it, you’re better off increasing your potential turn 1 and 2 wins. Another debate for fast-mana is the number of Chrome Mox. I believe you want the best chance of winning on turn 1 and the best chance of winning after a Diminishing Returns or Draw 4. To do this you need to play the maximum amount. Cabal Rituals were taken out for an extended period of time but were added to support Draw 4’s. Cabal Ritual with Threshold is often greater than Lion’s Eye Diamond.
Tutors and Draw - Burning Wish along with Infernal Tutor were auto includes into The EPIC Storm because well, paired with Lion’s Eye Diamond they might be the most broken play in Legacy. For awhile Plunge into Darkness was included but it became apparent that it was a weakness in the deck. Plunge into Darkness was later replaced with Ponder. Which happens to be Brainstorm 5-6 in The EPIC Storm, however, too much of a good thing can be a problem. Don’t get caught up in how broken or dumb a card is; casting Brainstorm on turn 1 can be amazing or devastating. With too many cantrip effects it becomes hurtful, because you draw into more instead of drawing into what you need. I would include Draw 4’s in here but they are more of a “Bomb” card than draw.
Win Conditions and Bombs – Tendrils of Agony the primary win condition was clearly one of the cards since the beginning of the deck- a must include. Empty the Warrens was a huge addition to The EPIC Storm, for awhile it was a 3 of in the maindeck. However, times have changed and the metagame has adapted to Empty the Warrens. We have to cut back. Tutors in The EPIC Storm are used mainly to find one of two cards- Diminishing Returns or Ill-Gotten Gains. Since this format has no Yawgmoth’s Will, I guess we settle for the next best thing [Yawgmoth’s W]Ill-Gotten Gains and an effective Time Twister in Diminishing Returns. These two cards are often our “engine” in the combo. By engine I mean they ramp our storm count high enough for us to win the game, since we can’t always win by chaining tutors. Draw 4’s – Cruel Bargain and Infernal Contract, are what I consider a Half-Engine. I don’t rely on them to be my engine, however, it can often turn out to raise the storm count high enough to win the game. This is why I consider them Half-Engines, the other half being a set-up card. Often cast on turn one to set up a turn two win.
Protection- In the early days of The EPIC Storm the deck relied on laying down a Xantid Swarm and winning the turn after. These days are over, in today’s day in age we use Orim’s Chant. Blue decks have adapted to answer X/1 creatures on turn 1, we must adapt with the metagame. Orim’s Chant single handily shuts down the combo mirror and if it resolves against blue you generally win the game. Out of the sideboard we play Red Elemental Blast and Pyroblast to deal with Force of Will on Orim’s Chant mainly. However, you can also use it them to kill Counterbalance- a huge threat to The EPIC Storm. Burning Wish -> into Thoughtsieze is also a great way to protect your Orim’s Chant.
Cards That Didn’t Make The Cut
Basically I’m tired of people asking, “Have you tried this?” this list will answer your questions.
Grim Tutor, Rhystic Tutor, Plunge Into Darkness, Defense Grid, Duress, Serum Visions, Slight of Hand, Portent, Mental Note, Impulse, Meditate, Thirst for Knowledge, Careful Study, Ideas Unbound, Extract, Inuition, Merchant Scroll, Gifts Ungiven, Echoing Truth, Chain of Vapor, Wipe Away, Rebuild, Hurkyl’s Recall, Washout, Repeal, Eye of Nowhere, Snap, Rushing River, Morning Tide, False Dawn, Swords to Plowshares, Abeyance, Trinket Mage, Priest of Gix, Helm of Awakening, Culling the Weak, Diabolic Intent, Chromatic Sphere/Star, Night’s Whisper, Skeletal Scrying, Doomsday, Leyline of the Void, Massacre, Spoils of the Vault, Street Wraith, Living Wish, Minion of the Waste, Cabal Therapy, Recoup, Cabal Pit, Second Sunrise, Sudden Shock, Sudden Death, Grapeshot, Earthquake, Rough/Tumble, Cave-In, Meltdown, Dark Confidant, Echoing Ruin, Goblin War Strike, Seething Song, Firebolt, Storm Entity, Elvish Spirit Guide, Cleanfall, Tinder Wall, Krosan Grip, Mox Diamond, Engineered Explosives, Goblin Charbelcher, Conjurer’s Bauble, Predict, Pernicious Deed, Lim-Dul’s Vault, Mystical Tutor, Hull Breach, Crime/ Punishment, Bound/Determined, Wild Cantor, Duals, Fetches, Cephalid Coliseum, Glimmervoid, Tomb of Urami, Forbidden Orchard, Darkblast, Compost, Coffin Purge, Desperate Ritual, Incendiary Command, Death Wish, Molten Disaster, I’m sure there’s more.
Reasons to Play The EPIC Storm Over Other Storm Combo
Playing The EPIC Storm over other combo in the format is a good idea for many reasons mainly because TES is fast, resilient, has maindeck protection and can fight through the hate. Many people played CRET Belcher for awhile because it’s a fundament turn faster than TES, until they realized the unstableness and how fragile the deck was; The EPIC Storm doesn’t have to go for Empty the Warrens. Belcher often can’t choose what win condition to go for, it’s whatever it draws, not with TES, you choose between Tendrils or Empty the Warrens. Because of this you will win more games due to the fact there is so many Engineered Explosives running around. Belcher doesn’t play any maindeck protection whatsoever, here in TES we play 4 Orim’s Chant to make sure we have a fighting chance to beat Threshold. One last reason to play TES over Belcher is that if you somehow manage to fizzle The EPIC Storm recovers a lot faster than Belcher.
The reason to play The EPIC Storm over Iggy-Pop is TES is a turn and a half faster and just as consistent. Iggy-pop was a reference that I used to build TES, however, I left the weaknesses behind. The deck plays too many set-up spells and not enough gas (acceleration) to get the car going. The EPIC Storm has Empty the Warrens to its advantage, the Iggy-pop list that do play Empty don’t have the tools to really make it good.TES also has a better blue based control match-up and agro control match-up due to more protection in the maindeck and sideboard. A huge difference is the utilization of Burning Wish in TES giving it an edge against Iggy-Pop, not having to waste maindeck slots on answers. Burning Wish is just a powerhouse and without it, winning becomes harder and harder for storm combo.
Sample Hands and Sample Plays
“Keep, Mulligan, or I’d play it like this…”
Sample Hand One:
City of Brass, Lotus Petal, Lotus Petal, Orim’s Chant, Orim’s Chant, Chrome Mox, and Cruel Bargain.
[Keep]
City of Brass, Lotus Petal, Lotus Petal, then Cruel Bargain into…
Infernal Contract, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Gemstone mine, Cabal Ritual [Pass Turn]
[Draw - Infernal Tutor]
Gemstone Mine, Cabal Ritual, Infernal Contract into…
Chrome Mox, Dark Ritual, Lotus Petal, Ill-Gotten Gains
Chrome Mox [Imprint: Orim’s Chant], Orim’s Chant, Lotus Petal, Dark Ritual, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Chrome Mox [No Imprint], Infernal tutor [Cracking LED for BBB], Tendrils of Agony.
Sample Hand Two:
Chrome Mox, Infernal Tutor, Burning Wish, Brainstorm, Orim’s Chant, Lotus Petal, and Simian Spirit Guide.
[Mulligan]
Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Chrome Mox, Orim’s Chant, and Lotus Petal.
[Mulligan]
Simian Spirit Guide, Rite of Flame, Burning Wish, Lion’s Eye Diamond, and Simian Spirit Guide.
[Keep]
[Remove: Simian Spirit Guides] Rite of flame, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Burning Wish [Cracking LED for UUU] into…
Diminishing Returns into…
[Removing: Ill-Gotten Gains, Empty the Warrens, Undiscovered Paradise, Simian Spirit Guide, Rite of Flame, Cruel Bargain, Dark Ritual, Orim’s Chant, Burning Wish and Brainstorm]
Lotus Petal, Undiscovered Paradise, Cabal Ritual, Infernal Contract, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Rite of Flame and Chrome Mox.
Undiscovered Paradise, Lotus Petal, Cabal Ritual Infernal Contract into…
Brainstorm, Ponder, Rite of Flame, Burning Wish.
Rite of Flame, Chrome Mox [Imprint: Ponder] Brainstorm into…
City of Brass, Gemstone, Rite of Flame.
Rite of Flame, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Burning Wish [Crack LED for BBB], Tendrils of Agony.
Sample Hands For You
Lotus Petal, Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Infernal Tutor, Burning Wish, Lotus Petal, and Chrome Mox.
Brainstorm, Brainstorm, Orim’s Chant, Dark Ritual, Cruel Bargain, Lotus Petal and Chrome Mox.
Simian Spirit Guide, Simian Spirit Guide, Ill-Gotten Gains, Ponder, Lotus Petal, Lion’s Eye Diamond and City of Brass.
Lion’s Eye Diamond, Rite of Flame, Simian Spirit Guide, Gemstone Mine, Dark Ritual, Infernal Tutor, and Infernal Tutor.
Gemstone Mine, Undiscovered Paradise, Chrome Mox, Ponder, Diminishing Returns, Dark Ritual, and Ill-Gotten Gains.
Match-Ups
Threshold/Gro - (45%-55%) – Results vary with list and skill of opponent
Things to Consider:
- Do you have Orim’s Chant or Burning Wish?
- Try and win as fast as possible.
- Does your hand win with Tendrils or Warrens?
- How are you winning? Are you using Diminishing Returns or Ill-Gotten Gains? Are you using Empty the Warrens or Tendrils?
- Do they play Engineered Explosives?
- How many turns do you have left?
- Keep in mind if they play Counterbalance.
- Do they play Stifle?
- Lastly, this is the most important question; can you read a bluff? Reading your opponent is HUGE when trying to figure if you’re brave enough to win on turn one or two.
Sideboarding
+3 Pyroblast
+1 Red Elemental Blast
+2 Xantid Swarm
-2 Ponder
-2 Cabal Ritual
-2 Simian Spirit Guide
Goblins (70%)
Things to Consider:
- Aim to keep a hand with more acceleration than tutors.
- If your hand generally has more than one piece of protection (Orim’s Chant) mulligan.
- Try and win as fast as possible
- If keeping a one land hand, be hesitant to play that land unless combo-ing out that turn.
- Chrome Mox is good in this match-up, as an un-disruptable mana source.
Sideboarding
None
Additional Reading
First Thread
Second Thread
Combo Summer
TES vs. Iggy Pop
Major Tournament reports from TES players:
Bryant Cook's (Wastedlife) 1st place finish
Bryant Cook's (Wastedlife) 1st place finish
Florian Fischer's (Flod0) 1st place finish
Gnesotto Carlo's (Jegger) 2nd place finish
Carl Wauer, Jr's (Carlos El Salvador) 2nd place finish
Bryant Cook's (Wastedlife) 4th place finish
Brandon Adams's (Emidln) 4th place finish
Bryant Cook's (Wastedlife) 15th place finish
Jesse Krieger's (Krieger) 16th place finish
Articles discussing The EPIC Storm:
Unlocking Legacy- A Metagame Update By Chris Coppola (Machinus)
Unlocking Legacy- The Pet Deck By Adam Barnello (Nightmare)
Unlocking Legacy- Combo: The Missing Link By Chris Coppola (Machinus)
Podcasts discussing The EPIC Storm:
I@n Degraff of Vintage’s ICBM interviews Bryant Cook(Wastedlife), creator of TES
Thank you for reading.
4 City of Brass
4 Gemstone Mine
2 Undiscovered Paradise
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Dark Confidant
1 Diminishing Returns
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
1 Tendrils of Agony
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Infernal Tutor
4 Burning Wish
4 Dark Ritual
4 Rite of Flame
1 Empty the Warrens
4 Brainstorm
4 Chrome Mox
4 Lotus Petal
4 Orim's Chant
2 Abeyance
Sideboard
1 Diminishing Returns
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Cruel Bargain
3 Pyroblast
1 Hull Breach
3 Shattering Spree
1 Goblin War Strike
1 Cave-In
1 Red Elemental Blast
I took 1st Place at the EPIC DLD with this list. If I were to make any changes it would be -1 Goblin War Strike +1 Duress in the sideboard.
We were actually talking about this since TES started playing two draw 4's in the deck.
As for TES's poor showing, I think combo is played more in certain areas of the country to be honest. In the north east TES is huge, downwards on the east coast (VA area) Breakfast is huge, in Ohio Iggy is big, ect.. If Gencon made the prizes better EPIC would've went (Which is why TES didn't have a great showing). But driving 13 hours in a car to play for oversized cardboard didn't seem worth it.