A Storm Hybrid

Over the last few weeks I’ve been testing a hybrid storm list, a mix between The EPIC Storm (TES) and Ad Nauseam Tendrils (ANT). Basically, TES with a Past in Flames engine built in. I’ve been receiving a lot of questions from individuals who’ve caught my sporadic games on cockatrice, let’s answer some of them! The lists are below, with List A being traditional TES and List B being our Hybrid.

List A

 

The more standard of the two lists. The idea here is that your resources in Chrome Mox support both game plans quite well – Empty the Warrens and Ad Nauseam. Providing initial mana sources post-Ad Nauseam or that extra mana after a Ponder or Brainstorm to continue combing into Empty the Warrens. The focus here is to be incredibly fast and combo-out before the hate comes down.

The synergy between Empty the Warrens and Cabal Therapy is more relevant with List A.

This list is much better against Prison based strategies, blazing fast decks (Dredge, Reanimator, Storm) and non-blue based strategies (Elves, Painter, Burn).

List B

 

The thought process is a fast engine and a slow(er) engine may be better than two fast ones (Ad Nauseam & Empty the Warrens) as once one becomes weak due to a low life-total, the other becomes stronger.

Ideally with List B, you would float more mana into Ad Nauseam due to less initial mana sources. The Past in Flames are incredibly powerful due to the ten “Ritual” effects.

Obviously, there’s a lack of win-conditions in the main deck. Meaning you’ll have to side in Tendrils of Agony/Empty the Warrens versus decks with Surgical Extraction or Meddling Mage. (If they’re bring in tons of Graveyard hate, the game plan becomes to side out the Past in Flames package)

One thing this list is capable of doing is effectively playing “Grind Station” in slower match-ups with effectively two copies of Past in Flames and access to storm cards making it better against blue-based decks (Miracles, Delver Variants and Shardless BUG). This is much easier after sideboarding, which brings me to my next point.

No Xantid Swarm, with little Show and Tell in the metagame the insects are tough to justify as the only other real applications are Miracles (Where it’s average) or Infect. These slots are now Surgical Extraction due to being able to be an impact card in match-ups like the Storm, Dredge and Reanimator where our speed may not be enough.

Both Lists

List A and List B are capable of playing the other list’s strength, after all, it is the same deck. Each list can win with Empty the Warrens through Burning Wish paired with Cabal Therapy, Ad Nauseam and/or Past in Flames is capable kill engine in both deck lists.

Fundamentally, they’re still very similar except each list has a metagame it would like to attack. I don’t think one list is better than the other, it’s really only a three card difference. I have two weeks of testing with List B but months of testing with List A, which is why you can find me playing games more recently with List B. I’m always just trying to find the best storm deck I can and I believe strongly that means including Burning Wish.