MTG Salvation

<p> This is one of those "dump your hand and attack" decks, like Affinity or Gruul Zoo. It's extremely fast, capable of consistent turn 4 goldfishes. A few notes on the deck: - Mana I have 21 lands, which is a bit more than usual (most Goblin decks only play 20 or less), but four of them are utility lands, and two ETB tapped. So it kind of evens out. I haven't found a good reason to splash a second color, so the deck is mono-red for now. - Token makers This is, in my opinion, the biggest issue when playing this deck. You're allowed to play twelve cards that make 2 tokens for 2 mana. Play all of them. This is a synergy deck, not a good stuff deck. You have 16 cards that care about having more bodies around (Denizen, Loyalist, Bushwhacker, Chieftain), and 2 Grenades. So, build around them. Throw out your preconceived notions like "I'd rather have a 2/2 than two 1/1s" - in this deck, synergy is king. A 2/2 only pumps Denizen once and becomes 3 power instead of 4 after a lord boost. Small things like this add up. - Lords I think 8 lords (4 Bushwhacker/4 Chieftain) is sufficient. Loyalist is a pesudo-lord, killing things that you'd otherwise trade with. You could play a split of Chieftain/Shared Animosity. Animosity hits harder if you have 3 or more attackers and doesn't die to creature removal. The other lords aren't worth it: Signal Pest doesn't have tribal synergy; Goblin Wardriver can't be casted off Mutavault and forces you to risk it in battle to get the boost; Goblin King only helps you against certain decks. - Reach First off: the 4 requisite Bolts are there. A lot of Goblin players love the Grenade, playing 3-4 copies of it. I chose to split the 3 extra burn slots 2/1 between Grenade and Pillar instead. Grenade is very powerful, but it's mostly a game-ending card. You usually only want it when your opponent has completely clogged up the board, but his life total is low enough to burn out. You wouldn't want to 1-for-2 yourself just to get rid of a Deathrite Shaman, would you? Hence, the maindeck Pillar. I have 2 Smoldering Spires to get past things that you simply can't burn out/power through. If you have to play an ETB tapped land, use Spires, not Teetering Peaks. With this deck, you'll usually attack with your entire team, so clearing the way for everyone is better than giving just one guy +2/+0. You can get more damage through AND lose fewer creatures with Spires. - Beating sweepers This deck has some neat tricks against board wipes. Firstly, Mogg War Marshal leaves behind a token when he dies. If you time it right by playing it when your opponent is going to hit 4 lands (or whatever his board wipe mana threshold is), you get a free token after the dust settles. This deck has plenty of haste creatures, so you can attack right after a board wipe. Mutavault is good for this too. Bushwhacker + any token maker is 6 points of damage for 4 mana. Sandbag this combination and you can hit your opponent for huge damage after a sweep. - Sideboard When sideboarding, never board in more than 4 cards. You'll slow yourself down too much. I usually take out Pillar and 2 token makers first. Blood Moon is for UWR, Tron and Scapeshift. Possible replacements: Molten Rain Smash to Smithereens is for Affinity and any other random artifact decks. Possible replacements: Smelt, Shattering Blow (if you fear Wurmcoil Engine that much), Ancient Grudge if you splash green, Wear/Tear if you splash white. Torpor Orb and Spellskite are for Twin. I like to hedge my SB, so instead of 3 Orbs I have 2 Orb/1 Skite. The Spellskite is also handy against Infect and Bogle. Tormod's Crypt and Grafdigger's Cage are for graveyard-based combo decks, e.g. Living End, Storm, Griselbrand. Do note that Cage does nothing against LE. Cage, however, is playable against Pod. Possible replacements: Relic of Progenitus (I think Crypt is better in an aggro deck though, since it costs less to cast & activate.) Pillar of Flame is for any deck with Voice of Resurgence/Kitchen Finks, mostly Pod and Hatebears. Possible replacements: Magma Spray Dismember is for decks with high-toughness blockers e.g. Wall of Roots, Tarmogoyf, Loxodon Smiter. Possible replacements: Flame Slash (but I don't like how it's sorcery-speed)</p>

I've been playing & tweaking this for a while. Elvish Mystic really gives this deck a boost. It's hard to see how a simple 1-drop increases the consistency of this deck, but just imagine RDW without Rift Bolt or Storm without Seething Song for example. Redundancy matters.

Wolf-Skull Shaman is a great card. It's kind of like Dark Confidant. With almost 2/3 of the deck triggering it, it makes Wolves pretty consistently. Thrun triggers it (the troll is a Shaman), remember.

I'm pretty sure of 56/60 of the maindeck slots. The question marks are the 2 Townships and 2 Thrun. For some time I played 3 Summoner's Pact and 1 Craterhoof Behemoth, but that's quite easy to disrupt if your Heritage Druid or Elvish Archdruid gets killed.

Combo Elves plays only 17 lands, but has Elvish Visionary to help it draw into more lands (which I don't), so I decided to play 2 Townships as extra lands. They're not the most useful at providing mana; they can't be used to cast 1-drops, but everything else is fair game.

Thrun is an out to UWR (any kind). It is invulnerable to almost every countermeasure they have - Lightning Bolt, Lightning Helix, Electrolyze, Path to Exile, Mana Leak, Remand. Even Supreme Verdict can be dodged by regeneration. Only Wrath of God gets it good.

One more change I could make is to replace Horizon Canopy with Razorverge Thicket. Seriously, this deck has a lot of mana sinks, and I don't find myself cracking Canopy that often since that would mean that I don't have a white source for Township.

I also wouldn't fault you for playing a basic Forest over Pendelhaven. A starting hand of Pendelhaven, Horizon Canopy and Arbor Elf is rare, but you'll facepalm when you see it.

How does this deck play out? I'd say in the early game, it's like Affinity. You have plenty of free creatures. You can spit out your hand pretty fast. Your midgame looks more like Tokens', but multiplied by two. You don't have evasion (well, not unless you have Elvish Champion and your opponent plays Forests), but with enough lords, you can just crash through with a bunch of 3/3s, sometimes even 5/5s.

On the defense, this deck has the means to grind out a game. Ezuri is an all-star, since you can just block & regenerate over and over until you gather the mana to Overrun. Wolf-Skull Shaman and Imperious Perfect provide one chump blocker every turn.

The SB is just a bunch of hatebears and 4 Paths. The Paths are needed against Linvala, Keeper of Silence. Other than that, I had 2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben but swapped it out for Thorn of Amethyst because it kept dying to Bolts.

That's about it. Do try this deck out.

(Cloudstone) Combo Elves Guide

1) Introduction
Combo Elves is a fun deck in Modern. The printing of Beck (Beck/Call) has brought new life to this archetype, long forgotten ever since 2 of its key cards were banned (Glimpse of Nature and Green Sun's Zenith).

2) The Combos
There are a lot of Elf-based combos in Modern. Here is a list of all of them:
a) Cloudstone Curio + Heritage Druid
b) 2 Devoted Druid + Ezuri, Renegade Leader
c) Elvish Archdruid + Staff of Domination + 4 other Elves
d) Imperious Perfect + Intruder Alarm + Heritage Druid
In this article, I’m going to discuss the Cloudstone Curio-based combo. I would like to thank Matt Nass for his GP Oakland decklist, which served as the basis for mine. He has also explained some of the combos in his article, which I will go through again here.

3) Decklist and Card Explanations

The most important cards in the deck are:
a) Heritage Druid
This card effectively does two things: give all your Elves the ability to tap for G, and allow them to use this ability as though they have haste.
What this means is that your 1-mana Elves effectively cost 0 mana. This can be abused with ETB effects (e.g. Essence Warden) or to simply generate a dominating board presence, much like Affinity or Empty the Warrens. You will see a lot of 1-drops in Elf combo decks.
b) Nettle Sentinel
This card synergizes well with Heritage Druid, because it will untap when you cast an Elf. Effectively, this causes your 1-drop elves to cost negative 1 mana! With multiple copies of them on the battlefield, you can empty your hand very quickly and generate tons of mana. As an additional bonus, it has above-average stats for an attacker.
c) Cloudstone Curio
This card serves two purposes when it bounces one of your creatures: it effectively untaps them (when you cast them again), and allows you to get more ETB triggers. This enables many infinite combos, which will be explained in the next section.
d) Beck (Beck/Call)
This card is the replacement for Glimpse of Nature. It draws you a card for every creature you resolve. With Heritage Druid essentially letting you cast your Elves for free, you can draw and play your entire library.

The rest of the deck is enablers (1-mana Elves, ETB trigger permanents), tutors and wincons.
Between Llanowar Elves, Arbor Elf and Boreal Druid, Llanowar Elves is the best amongst them. Arbor Elf is second, provided you have a good number of Forests (it cannot untap Pendelhaven or Horizon Canopy, should you choose to include it). Boreal Druid is last, being played purely for redundancy. As it generates colorless mana, it cannot be used to cast 1-drops.
Deathrite Shaman is special, as it needs a land in either player's graveyard to generate mana. Fetchlands are fuel for its first ability. Being able to produce any color of mana is also good, as Beck uses a splash color.
Ezuri, Renegade Leader is a mana sink wincon. I chose him because he is an Elf. Although he effectively costs 8 mana in total to win the game, you can split it 3-5 (3 to cast, 5 for the second ability). His regeneration ability makes attacking unfeasible for your opponent – if they attack, you can block with any Elf, then tap them for mana via their own or Heritage Druid’s ability and activate Ezuri’s regeneration. Other options include Craterhoof Behemoth and Emrakul, the Aeons Torn.

4) Combo Explanation
Cloudstone Combo
With Cloudstone Curio and Heritage Druid, multiple infinite combos are available to you. Here they are:
Infinite Life
Battlefield: Cloudstone Curio, Heritage Druid, 1-drop
Hand: Essence Warden
Mana Pool: G
Cast Essence Warden.
Trigger Curio on the 1-drop. Before Curio resolves, use Heritage Druid to tap all creatures for GGG.
Cast the 1-drop (GG). Trigger Essence Warden (+1 life). Trigger Curio on Heritage Druid.
Cast Heritage Druid (G). Trigger Essence Warden (+1 life). Trigger Curio on Essence Warden.
Repeat from the top.

Every cycle of this combo gives you 2 life. You can start with Essence Warden on the battlefield and the 1-drop in your hand instead.

Infinite Mana
Battlefield: Cloudstone Curio, Heritage Druid, Nettle Sentinel
Hand: 1-drop
Mana Pool: G
Cast the 1-drop.
Trigger Curio on Heritage Druid. Before Curio resolves, use Heritage Druid to tap all creatures for GGG.
Cast Heritage Druid (GG). Trigger Nettle Sentinel. Trigger Curio on the 1-drop.
Repeat from the top.

Every cycle of this combo gives you G. You can start with the 1-drop on the battlefield and Heritage Druid in your hand instead.

Infinite Draw, Visionary
Battlefield: Cloudstone Curio, Heritage Druid, Nettle Sentinel
Hand: Elvish Visionary
Mana Pool: GG (you can start with G)
Cast Elvish Visionary and trigger it (draw 1 card).
Trigger Curio on Heritage Druid. Before Curio resolves, use Heritage Druid to tap all creatures for GGG.
Cast Heritage Druid (GG). Trigger Nettle Sentinel. Trigger Curio on Elvish Visionary.
Repeat from the top.

Every cycle of this combo gives you 1 card. You can start with Nettle Sentinel on the battlefield and Heritage Druid in your hand instead (with G in your mana pool).
You can use this combo to draw cards until you draw a 1-drop, then use the 1-drop to generate infinite mana.

Infinite Draw, Beck
Battlefield: Cloudstone Curio, Heritage Druid, 1-drop
Hand: 1-drop
Mana Pool: G
Effects active: Beck (Beck/Call)
Cast the 1-drop and trigger Beck (draw 1 card).
Trigger Curio on Heritage Druid. Before Curio resolves, use Heritage Druid to tap all creatures for GGG.
Cast Heritage Druid (GG) and trigger Beck (draw 1 card).
Trigger Curio on the 1-drop.
Cast a 1-drop (G) and trigger Beck (draw 1 card).
Trigger Curio on the other 1-drop.
Repeat from the top.

Every cycle of this combo gives you 3 cards. Beck's trigger is optional, so you can choose to draw fewer than 3.
You can use this combo to draw cards until you draw Nettle Sentinel, then use it to generate infinite mana.

The one rule you should remember is “never use Curio to bounce Sentinel”. In these combos, you use Curio to untap creatures for Heritage Druid by bouncing and recasting them. Nettle Sentinel already untaps itself, so it does not need to be bounced.

Eternal Command Lock
With infinite mana and every card in your library at your disposal, you can return every noncreature permanent without shroud or hexproof from your opponent’s side of the field (and his graveyard) into his library using Eternal Witness and Primal Command.
You need the infinite mana combo set up (Cloudstone Curio, Heritage Druid, Nettle Sentinel, 1-drop) Additionally, you need one of the infinite draw combos - Elvish Visionary/Beck/Regal Force. The infinite draw combo creature can be tutored for with Primal Command or Summoner’s Pact. Eternal Witness and Primal Command cannot be both in your graveyard.

Here’s what to do, assuming you have infinite mana:
If Eternal Witness is in your graveyard:
Draw cards until Primal Command is in your hand.
Cast Primal Command, spinning one of your opponent’s permanents, and shuffling your graveyard into your library.
If Primal Command is in your graveyard (this also applies if you previously casted it to get Eternal Witness back in your library):
Draw cards until Eternal Witness is in your hand.
Cast Eternal Witness, returning Primal Command to your hand.
Cast a creature, returning Eternal Witness to your hand with Curio’s trigger. Trigger Curio, bouncing a creature to your hand.

Draw cards until both Eternal Witness and Primal Command are in your hand.
Cast Primal Command, spinning one of your opponent’s permanents, and another mode of your choice.
Cast Eternal Witness, returning Primal Command to your hand. Trigger Curio, bouncing a creature to your hand.
Cast the bounced creature, returning Eternal Witness to your hand with Curio’s trigger.
Repeat from “Cast Primal Command”.

Once you have locked your opponent, victory should follow. He should have nothing left but creatures, and you can play as many chump blockers as necessary and gain as much life as you want.
Note that Primal Command puts the targeted permanent on top of your opponent’s library, so you should spin the least threatening permanent last. Also note that you can shuffle your opponent’s library with Primal Command.

”Warrens” Combo
You can put many Elves onto the battlefield early.
Turn 1: Land, 1-drop
Turn 2: Land, tap both lands for GG, 1-drop, Heritage Druid, tap all creatures for GGG, lord (Elvish Archdruid/Ezuri).

With Elvish Archdruid, you have 4 2/2 creatures on the field now.

Ramp Combo
You can cast a card or activate an effect much earlier than you're supposed to.
Turn 1: Land, mana Elf
Turn 2: Land, Elvish Archdruid
Turn 3: Heritage Druid, 1-drop, tap all Elves for GGGGGGG, Regal Force, draw 5 cards.

Turn 1: Land, mana Elf
Turn 2: Land, Elvish Archdruid
Turn 3: Heritage Druid, 1-drop, tap Elvish Archdruid for GGGG, Ezuri
Opponent's Turn 3: You're free to block any attackers and regenerate the blockers.
Turn 4: Tap Elvish Archdruid for GGGGG, activate Ezuri's Overrun ability, attack for 21 trample damage.

The best part? You can miss land drops on turn 3 and 4, and it still works.

5) Optimization
Cloudstone Combo
Sandbag Elves. Keep them in your hand to avoid losing them to removal, as well as to trigger Curio. Remember that all the infinite combos require a creature to enter the battlefield – you need 1 creature in your hand to start the loop. If all the necessary creatures are already on the battlefield and you have no creatures in your hand with which to trigger Curio, no combo for you.

You can get an infinite combo going on turn 3 with just 2 lands, provided you cast Llanowar Elves/Arbor Elf/Boreal Druid on turn 1. This lets you cast Curio on turn 2, followed by Heritage Druid and Essence Warden/Nettle Sentinel on turn 3. For the infinite draw combo, simply generate infinite mana with Heritage Druid, Nettle Sentinel and the turn 1 Elf, then cast Elvish Visionary to begin drawing.

You can mix things up a bit by using 2 lands and a mana-producing Elf to cast Elvish Archdruid on turn 2. On turn 3, use a land to cast Heritage Druid and tap Elvish Archdruid to cast Curio. Use your final land to cast the third combo piece and begin the combo. This is useful for the surprise factor, since you play Curio on turn 3 instead of turn 2.

”Warrens” Combo
If your first 1-drop is Essence Warden, you gain 3 life.

If your lord is Elvish Archdruid, it can pay for Summoner’s Pact on your next upkeep.

If your first 1-drop can produce green mana, you get to cast 1 extra creature.
Turn 1: Land, Llanowar Elves
Turn 2: Land, tap all mana sources for GGG, Heritage Druid, two 1-drops, tap all creatures for GGG, lord.

If you have a Nettle Sentinel, you get to cast 2 extra creatures.
Turn 1: Land, 1-drop
Turn 2: Land, tap all lands for GG, Heritage Druid, Nettle Sentinel, tap all creatures for GGG, two 1-drops (untapping Sentinel once), tap all creatures for GGG, lord.

If you have two Nettle Sentinels, you can basically cast any Elf that costs 3 or less for free.
Turn 1: Land, Nettle Sentinel
Turn 2: Land, tap all lands for GG, Heritage Druid, Nettle Sentinel, tap all creatures for GGG. Every subsequent Elf untaps the Sentinels. You then tap the two Sentinels and the newly-casted Elf for GGG, allowing you to play more Elves.

The Algorithm (skip steps if inapplicable)
Get Exarch or Conscripts into play
1a) 1+2, 2+2, 3+2, 4+2, Conscripts+2: Pod 2 -> Exarch
1b) 4+2, 4+3, 4+4: Pod 4 -> Conscripts
(You can do 2+4 both ways. Exarch first requires 2 less Pod activations, but Conscripts first wins by infinite 3/3s instead of 1/4s.)
Pod into creatures that untap Pod, of increasing mana cost, until you hit Kiki
2) Pod 1 -> Image, Image copies Exarch, untapping Pod
3) Pod 2 -> Exarch, untapping Pod
4) Pod 3 -> Angel, Angel blinks Exarch/Conscripts, untapping Pod
5) Pod 4 -> Kiki

Identifying a winning game state is up to you - there more than 20 such states, some which are not displayed above (e.g. 2/3/4 + Kiki). Having a 3 in play is not terribly useful, since Angel can't untap Pod by itself.

Made with Cockatrice, MSPaint and Powerpoint.

Some clarifications:
1) This deck doesn't actually play green vanillas.
Gladecover Scout = any 1-drop
Runeclaw Bear = any 2-drop
Centaur Courser = any 3-drop
Roaring Primadox = any 4-drop
The converted mana cost of the representative creatures is equal to that creature's power (or toughness.)
2) Glen Elendra Archmage (or Murderous Redcap) is equivalent to 2 4-drops due to Persist. The same can be said of Strangleroot Geist for 2-drops if you do play it.

Burning-Tree Emissary got me thinking, "is there some way to abuse free creatures in Modern?" Here's the result.
Some cards to consider:
Devastating Summons
Grapeshot
Empty the Warrens
Violent Outburst
Dryad Arbor (for Myr Superion)
Battle Hymn
Geosurge
Lead the Stampede
Domri Rade
Legion Loyalist

Explanation of Sideboard Choices
Leyline of Sanctity: For BR decks, a lot of their hate is stopped by this card (Slaughter Games, Rakdos Charm).
Echoing Truth: For permanent-based hate.
Silence: For spell-based hate.
Pithing Needle: Tutorable with Reshape, stops grave hate artifacts.
Wipe Away: For UW decks. They can land Rest in Peace or Stony Silence and protect it with counterspells. If you don’t get the enchantment off the field, you can’t combo off. Wipe Away guarantees that it leaves.
AEther Spellbomb: For hatebear decks. Echoing Truth cannot beat two hatebears with different names, but this can. Bounce the most troublesome hatebear first, then Sunrise and repeat.
Spellskite: For Infect. That deck is a tough matchup since it goldfishes faster. Spellskite evens the odds.
Leave No Trace: For white decks. Rest in Peace and Stony Silence are troublesome if they are on the battlefield at the same time – Echoing Truth can only get rid of one of them. Leave No Trace kills both of them.
Keep in mind that casting Second Sunrise on the same turn as Leave No Trace will bring the destroyed enchantments back.
Laboratory Maniac: Alternative wincon. Side it in against decks with extraction effects. I find that it’s the best counterpart to Pyrite Spellbomb; Spellbomb’s weaknesses are that it targets and requires Conjurer’s Bauble to win. Laboratory Maniac doesn’t.

General Sideboarding Guidelines
Most of the time, you'll take out Draw B and the counter protection for your anti-hate cards. Against decks with counterspells, take out Draw A instead.
Keep in Mox Opal against aggressive decks and Gitaxian Probe against combo.
Change wincons (or include both) against decks that may have Slaughter Games.

In-Depth Sideboarding Guide
Jund
+4 Leyline of Sanctity
+2 Echoing Truth
+1 Laboratory Maniac
-2 Krark-Clan Ironworks
-1 Ichor Wellspring
-1 Mox Opal
-1 Gitaxian Probe
-1 Defense Grid
-1 Pyrite Spellbomb
Leyline is a house against Jund, stopping Slaughter Games, Jund/Rakdos Charm, and discard spells. Jund can play Rule of Law or Stony Silence out of the sideboard since it splashes white, so board in some Echoing Truth.

Affinity
+3 Echoing Truth
+1 Pithing Needle
-1 Krark-Clan Ironworks
-1 Ichor Wellspring
-1 Mox Opal
-1 Defense Grid
Affinity plays 4 copies of Mox Opal, which is Legendary, so side that out. Keep in 1 Krark-Clan Ironworks and Gitaxian Probe to scout for counterspells.

Infect
+1 Wipe Away
+1 Spellskite
+1 AEther Spellbomb
+2 Echoing Truth
-2 Krark-Clan Ironworks
-1 Ichor Wellspring
-1 Defense Grid
-1 Serum Visions
Wipe Away is good because Infect can’t cast Vines of Vastwood in response to it. AEther Spellbomb is also invaluable at bouncing Inkmoth Nexus.

Naya Pod
+1 AEther Spellbomb
+3 Echoing Truth
+1 Pithing Needle
-2 Krark-Clan Ironworks
-1 Ichor Wellspring
-1 Mox Opal
-1 Defense Grid
Pithing Needle stops Pod and Kiki-Jiki. AEther Spellbomb deals with hatebears.

Scapeshift
+4 Leyline of Sanctity
+2 Silence
-4 Serum Visions
-1 Mox Opal
-1 Gitaxian Probe
Leyline protects you from Valakut and Silence stops counterspells.

UW
+1 Wipe Away
+1 Leave No Trace
+2 Silence
+1 Echoing Truth
-4 Serum Visions
-1 Mox Opal
You need Wipe Away and Leave No Trace to deal with Rest in Peace and Stony Silence.
The maindeck Defense Grid is good against UW’s flash creatures.

Twin
+2 Echoing Truth
+1 Silence
+1 Pithing Needle
+1 Spellskite
-2 Krark-Clan Ironworks
-1 Ichor Wellspring
-1 Mox Opal
-1 Serum Visions
Pithing Needle and Spellskite stop the combo.
Although Twin plays counterspells, it is better to keep in Serum Visions and side out the KCI engine as 1) it also plays discard, 2) the main counterspell they play is Dispel, which KCI cannot pay for (unlike Spell Pierce or Mana Leak) and 3) you don’t want to tap out against them.

UR Storm
+2 Echoing Truth
+2 Silence
-2 Krark-Clan Ironworks
-1 Ichor Wellspring
-1 Defense Grid
Echoing Truth always has good targets in Pyromancer Ascension and Goblin Electromancer. It also beats Empty the Warrens and a transformational Twin sideboard.
Silence is powerful because all of Storm’s must-resolve spells are sorcery-speed: Grapeshot, Past in Flames, Epic Experiment. If you cast it at the right time, they can’t respond to it.

RG Tron
+1 Pithing Needle
+2 Echoing Truth
-1 Krark-Clan Ironworks
-1 Defense Grid
-1 Serum Visions
Tron is very weak to combo. You just have to be able to beat Relic of Progenitus.
Some lists play Slaughter Games so change wincons if you suspect that.

RDW
+4 Leyline of Sanctity
+1 Echoing Truth
+1 Laboratory Maniac
-2 Krark-Clan Ironworks
-1 Ichor Wellspring
-1 Gitaxian Probe
-1 Defense Grid
-1 Pyrite Spellbomb
Same as Jund. Leyline shuts down all of R(akdos)DW’s burn, discard and Rakdos Charm.
Boros is not RDW due to its ability to play Thalia. Against that you should board in AEther Spellbomb.

UWR Delver
+1 Wipe Away
+1 Leave No Trace
+2 Silence
+1 Echoing Truth
-4 Serum Visions
-1 Mox Opal
Same as UW.
RUG Delver is unable to play white hate enchantments, so remove Leave No Trace against them.

Tokens
+1 Leave No Trace
+3 Echoing Truth
+1 AEther Spellbomb
-2 Krark Clan Ironworks
-1 Ichor Wellspring
-1 Defense Grid
-1 Gitaxian Probe
Leave No Trace is very good because it takes out anthems (Honor of the Pure, Intangible Virtue) as well. Echoing Truth doesn’t just bounce, it KILLS tokens, so it’s an obvious include.
Bouncing a Tidehollow Sculler gets back the card that it exiled.

GW Auras
+1 Leave no Trace
+1 AEther Spellbomb
+3 Echoing Truth
-2 Krark-Clan Ironworks
-1 Ichor Wellspring
-1 Defense Grid
-1 Gitaxian Probe
This matchup is like Infect, but better, because they goldfish slower and can't play counterspells.
Leave No Trace is the ultimate trump.

Eggs
+2 Silence
+1 Pithing Needle
-1 Krark-Clan Ironworks
-1 Defense Grid
-1 Serum Visions
Ah, the mirror match. Make minimal changes, it’s just a race to see who combos off first.

Update: Seething Song got banned. Some parts of this article may not be relevant any more.

1) Introduction
You probably already know how Storm works – cast a bunch of spells and Grapeshot for the win. That’s the simple overview of what Storm does. The combo turn is more complicated than that. There are many interactions that are not obvious at first glance, or easily calculable on the spot. This guide is here to teach you those tricks. Learn them, practice goldfishing, and you’ll be on your way to playing Storm optimally.

This guide is written for use with the Epic Experiment build of Storm. Nevertheless, most of the tricks included are applicable to the Pyromancer Ascension build too.

2) Know Your Outs
When playing Storm, there are 3 resources that you need in order to keep going:
a) Cantrips OR spells that let you cast more spells (Past in Flames, Epic Experiment)
b) Red mana, from lands or rituals
c) Blue mana, from lands or Manamorphose
If you have all these in abundance, you can comfortably keep the combo going. When you start running low on any of them, it’s time to consider your outs:
a) Cast 2+ Grapeshots (or cast Grapeshot once, then again with flashback)
b) Cast Grapeshot to destroy your opponent’s creatures.

Always keep these outs in mind! If you’re inexperienced with Storm, you might think that the only way to win with it is to draw your entire deck and cast Grapeshot at 30+ storm. That is not true! It is possible, as mentioned above, to win by casting two Grapeshots at 9 storm, or to use Grapeshot as a Wrath, then rebuild your hand and attempt to combo off again.

For this reason, you should play 3-4 Grapeshot maindeck. Yes, it does not help you draw cards or generate mana, but it is a combo wincon – and unlike most other mana-hungry combo wincons, one which you won’t mind having multiples of.

3) Tricks
a) Goblin Electromancer
Free Storm
When you cast Goblin Electromancer, you pay 2 mana. Thus, if it helps you save 2 or more mana with its effect, it’s already paid for itself.
If you already have a Mancer on the battlefield, and another in hand, it is worth casting the Mancer in hand if you have 2 3+ mana spells in hand (Seething Song, Past in Flames, Epic Experiment). You save 2 mana immediately, and get a free storm count by casting Mancer.

Peer through Depths as ritual
When you have Goblin Electromancer on the battlefield, Peer through Depths effectively becomes a mana generating spell. You cast Peer for U, and if you reveal and cast any of Manamorphose, Pyretic Ritual, Desperate Ritual or Seething Song (remember that all these spells will have reduced costs from Mancer), you either break even or make a net gain of mana.

b)Desperate Ritual
Basic Splicing
Desperate Ritual is strictly better than Pyretic Ritual. Make use of that fact when you can. If you have 2 Desperate Rituals in hand, the first one effectively takes you from 4 mana to 6 mana (+2).
Goblin Electromancer does not reduce splice costs. If you have a Mancer on the field and 2 Desperate Rituals in hand, the first Ritual will take you from 3 to 6.

Splicing onto Peer
Peer through Depths is an Arcane too, meaning you can splice Desperate Ritual onto it. This is very useful with Goblin Electromancer, since you basically get to play Peer for free (it costs 1 mana, and the splicing gives you a net gain of 1 mana).

Multiple Splicing
This won’t come up very often, but it’s possible to splice multiple Desperate Rituals onto the same Arcane. If you have 3 Desperate Rituals in hand, the first will take you from 6 mana to 9 mana (+3).

Splicing with Flashback
You can splice Desperate Ritual onto cards that have been casted via flashback.
If you have two Desperate Rituals in hand and a Past in Flames, it’s better to hold on to the second Ritual for splicing purposes instead of casting it. Follow this:
Cast first Ritual with splice +2 mana
Flashback first Ritual with splice +2 mana
Cast second Ritual +1 mana
Whereas if you had casted the second Ritual instead:
Cast first Ritual with splice +2 mana
Cast second Ritual +1 mana
Flashback both Rituals +2 mana
Both cases give you a net gain of 5 mana. However, in the second case, both of your Rituals will end up in exile. In the first case, you have one Ritual in the graveyard, ready to be reused with another Past in Flames.

c)Manamorphose
Colors to generate
During your combo turn, unless you have untapped lands, Manamorphose will be your only source of blue mana. Most of the time, you should generate UU with Manamorphose, and use only red mana to cast rituals.

Cantrip
Manamorphose draws a card when it resolves. If possible, try to cast it earlier during the combo turn so that you can make better choices. For example, if you cast MM as the last spell before you cast Epic Experiment/Past in Flames, you won’t be thrilled if it draws a Desperate Ritual that you could have spliced earlier on. Likewise if you cast all your rituals, then draw Goblin Electromancer.

d)Epic Experiment
Ordering Spells
Past in Flames <-First on stack (last to resolve)
Manamorphose
Gitaxian Probe
Serum Visions
Sleight of Hand/Peer through Depths
Grapeshot <-Last on stack (first to resolve)
You can resolve flipped rituals and Epic Experiment anywhere between Past in Flames and Grapeshot.
Explanations:
Past in Flames should be the last to resolve in order to give flashback to every other casted spell.
Grapeshot should be the first to resolve in order to maximize storm count.
Serum Visions should resolve before cantrips, in order to set them up for optimal draws with Scry.
Exceptions:
If your combo is cut short due to you missing out on one of the 3 vital resources (see section 2), you need to start digging more aggressively for your outs. Resolve Serum Visions before Sleight of Hand/Peer through Depths. If you don’t see an out in the 2 scryed cards, bottom-deck them.

Example scenarios (after casting Epic Experiment):
i) Lack of card draw - You flip over 0 Past in Flames, and you don’t have cantrips/Epic Experiment in hand. (Out: Epic Experiment, Past in Flames, Grapeshot)
ii) Lack of blue mana - You flip over 0 Manamorphose. (Out: Grapeshot, Past in Flames)
iii) Lack of red mana - You flip over 0 rituals, and only one Manamorphose. (Out: Grapeshot)

Leaving Grapeshot mana
If you have a Grapeshot in hand, it’s worthwhile to not to Experiment for the maximum amount, but to leave enough mana to cast it (1 if you have Goblin Electromancer out, 2 otherwise), in case your Experiment doesn’t hit any rituals. The spells casted from Experiment still count towards Storm.

Update: Seething Song got banned. Most of this article is not relevant any more. Almost every Gifts pile you get includes Seething Song.

Epic Gifts
RTR brought a lot of grave hate to Modern - Rest in Peace and Dryad Militant being the strongest among them. Fortunately, it also brought along two Storm engines: Goblin Electromancer and Epic Experiment. We're going to look over both of them, and see how we can replace pre-RTR Storm to stand a chance.

Engines
Epic Experiment
There is one very compelling reason to use Epic Experiment: It does not use the graveyard. Only one other Storm wincon can claim that, and that is Pyromancer's Swath. Pyromancer Ascension, Gifts Ungiven and Past in Flames all use the graveyard. Unfortunately, Swath does not help you to draw more cards (even in the virtual sense - PA and Past give you extra uses out of your spells, Gifts tutors) and forces you to discard your hand if you can't kill your opponent this turn, basically ensuring that you will never win.

The other two engines
I chose Gifts Ungiven and Goblin Electromancer as the other two engine pieces. They go along very well with each other: Mancer reduces both Experiment's and Gifts' mana costs. Experiment is capable of hitting Gifts for more value. Gifts is capable of tutoring Experiment.

Note that Past in Flames is not really a standalone engine, but part of Gifts. Two is the minimum number to ensure a kill with Gifts: the first one is part of the 15 mana combo, and the second lets you flashback Grapeshot or Epic Experiment if your opponent puts it into your graveyard when you cast the second Gifts. See "Gifts Piles" for more info.

You can use a semi-transformational sideboard plan. If you anticipate grave hate, you can sideboard out the Gifts engine and leave your opponent with blank cards, while still maintaining your ability to win via Experiment. If you do that, you might want to put the maximum number of Experiments in your SB, as well as more dig spells, like Peer through Depths. This is an effective way of beating decks with no ways of dealing with a resolved Experiment (i.e. no blue or Ethersworn Canonist).

You can still include 1 copy of Gifts to find counters to your opponent's hate, instead of as a combo starter.

Comparisons to Regular Storm
Storage Lands
These guys are very important:
1) They give you something to do if you have spare mana at EOT.
2) They allow you to build up mana for a more epic Experiment, or a SBed Gigadrowse.
3) They allow you to filter red mana into blue. Sometimes you'll sink all your mana into Experiment - if you hit a bunch of red rituals, that's fine, but what if you want to cast another Epic Experiment or Grapeshot + Remand to end the game? You need to have either hit Manamorphose with the first Experiment, kept a spare blue source in hand, or one of these babies.

The good thing is that they can generate blue mana even when tapped, so you can tap them for colorless mana, then use the stored blue mana on the same turn.

Only the blue storage lands are worth using, because they let you cast Gigadrowse and the second Epic Experiment. Having a mixture of Calciform Pools and Dreadship Reef is preferred in weird corner cases like Surgical Extraction.

This deck is different from regular (Pyromancer Ascension) Storm. It wants to resolve either Gifts Ungiven, or a huge Experiment. You're not going to do that consistently if you play just 16 lands - in PA Storm, if you have 2 lands and a PA, you can survive off cantrips, but not so for Epic Gifts. Hence, it makes sense to play more lands. Granted, Experiment loses some consistency, but you'd have lost even more games from mana screw.

Peer through Depths vs Sleight of Hand
Since we're playing more lands now, we have to decide what to cut. Sleight of Hand was an easy choice. It's the weakest cantrip, and pretty underwhelming to cast off Epic Experiment (compared to Serum Visions, which sets you up for Manamorphose or Gitaxian Probe off the same Experiment). In its place, we have Peer through Depths, which costs twice as much as Sleight, but digs more than twice as deep.

There are fewer one-mana cantrips, but that isn't as big of an issue since there are more lands (reducing the number of risky one-land hands that rely on cantrips to find the second land). It also has the slight advantage of getting a cost reduction from Goblin Electromancer.

Vs regular Storm, this deck plays -4 Sleight of Hand, +2 storage lands, +2 Peer through Depths.

Gifts Piles
The 15 Mana Combo
When you cast your first copy of Gifts Ungiven, your goal is to execute this combo in order to generate enough mana to kill your opponent (step 2).
Here's the cards you need: Past in Flames, Increasing Vengeance, Pyretic Ritual, Desperate Ritual, Seething Song, Manamorphose. What this means is that you will need at least 2 of those cards in hand, and 1 copy of Gifts Ungiven. You then use Gifts to search out the other 4 pieces.

Note that at least 1 of the cards in your hand must be Pyretic/Desperate Ritual, or Seething Song. This way, you will be able to reach 7 mana to cast Past in Flames and flashback a ritual - at 6, you may flashback Past and be stuck with just 1 red mana. If your hand contains no rituals, your opponent can leave you stranded if he puts Increasing Vengeance and Past in Flames in your hand when you cast Gifts.

You need 5 lands. If you casted Gifts using 4 lands, you just need 1 more. Excess Rituals or Goblin Electromancer can substitute some of the lands.

Here's how to execute the combo:
1) Cast all rituals (including Manamorphose), using Increasing Vengeance as a copy of a ritual if it's in your hand.
2) Cast or flashback Past in Flames.
3) Flashback Pyretic and Desperate Rituals until you have 5 red mana (-1 for every Goblin Electromancer you have).
4) Flashback Seething Song and Increasing Vengeance for 15 mana.
From here on, you can cast Gifts to find your kill conditions:
5) Flashback Manamorphose for 2 blue mana.
6) Flashback Gifts Ungiven using URRR. (This leaves you with 11 mana, 10 red and 1 blue.)

The Kill Combo(s)
This is the second step in using Gifts. Depending on what cards you already have, you can get different cards to win.
If you have Epic Experiment, or Grapeshot + Grapeshot/Remand/Past in Flames in hand:
You cast them from the mana that you generated, and win.
If you have Grapeshot in hand:
Epic Experiment, Grapeshot, Remand, Past in Flames.
If your opponent puts Epic Experiment in your hand, cast it for X=9 and win. Otherwise, you can triple the number of Grapeshots in your hand using Remand and Past to re-cast it.
If you have Past in Flames in your graveyard (i.e. you haven't flashed it back yet):
Epic Experiment, Pyretic Ritual, Desperate Ritual, Seething Song
Your opponent can either put ritual + Epic Experiment in your hand (cast them immediately), or two Rituals (cast them, flashback Past, flashback rituals, flashback Experiment).
If you don't:
Epic Experiment, Pyretic Ritual, Seething Song, Past in Flames
Same as the above.

Decklist