[[Ad Nauseam|]]
The EPIC Storm (TES) is the best [[Ad Nauseam]] deck in Legacy, this is because TES is optimized to abuse the card. By this I mean that we’ve intentionally lowered the overall converted mana cost of the deck while turning these cards into accelerants, by now you’ve realized I’m talking about: [[Chrome Mox]], [[Mox Opal]], [[Lotus Petal]], and [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]]. That’s not the entire story though, maybe you haven’t realized but TES only plays a single card that can be revealed to [[Ad Nauseam]] that costs more than two mana! This is fairly different from Ad Nauseam Tendrils (ANT), which is actually a [[Past in Flames]] deck, that plays between three and four cards that cost four mana and then even [[Dark Petition]]! It’s fairly easy to see why TES’s optimization of [[Ad Nauseam]] make it a very powerful card.
Something to keep in mind that [[Ad Nauseam]] is an instant, you can cast the spell in response to a [[Brainstorm]] or on an end step. There’s also the “[[Chrome Mox]] trick” — which is to cast [[Chrome Mox]], in response cast [[Ad Nauseam]], and in response to [[Ad Nauseam]] activate [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]]! You do this in order to be able to imprint after [[Ad Nauseam]] has resolved and is only viable if you didn’t have a card you could imprint prior to casting [[Ad Nauseam]].
Opening Hand
[[Dark Ritual|]][[Wishclaw Talisman|]][[Rite of Flame|]][[Underground Sea|]][[Lion’s Eye Diamond|]][[Mox Opal|]][[Lotus Petal|]]
I would definitely keep this opening hand, it’s a turn one Ad Nauseam!
I would start off by playing the [[Underground Sea]] and the following it up by casting [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] (Storm 1).
[[Lotus Petal]] (Storm 2) and then [[Mox Opal]] (Storm 3).
Note: If you cast [[Mox Opal]] last, it doesn’t give your opponent the opportunity to decide to counterspell an artifact to shut you off a mana.
Tap [[Mox Opal]] and cast [[Rite of Flame]] (Storm 4 — ).
Note: You should tap [[Mox Opal]] to cast [[Rite of Flame]] because if you use [[Lotus Petal]] or [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] later on in the turn, you’ll lose Metalcraft, it’s also good to cast [[Rite of Flame]] before [[Dark Ritual]] because [[Dark Ritual]] is an instant which means you can respond to effects such as [[Daze]].
Tap [[Underground Sea]] and cast [[Dark Ritual]] (Storm 5 — ).
Cast [[Wishclaw Talisman]] and activate it, in response, sacrifice [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] for (Storm 6 — ).
Cast [[Ad Nauseam]] (Storm).
Note: I prefer to float mana in most situations because The EPIC Storm has fewer black cards to Imprint onto [[Chrome Mox]] post-[[Ad Nauseam]], where we have plenty of additional other cards in other colors. This change happened when we started playing Wishclaw Talisman over [[Infernal Tutor]] and is relevant because [[Wishclaw Talisman]] cannot be imprinted onto [[Chrome Mox]] due to the fact that it is an artifact.
- [[Chrome Mox]] (20 life)
- [[Polluted Delta]] (20 life)
- [[Echo of Eons]] (14 life)
- [[Burning Wish]] (12 life)
- [[Veil of Summer]] (111 life)
- [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] (11 life)
- [[Lotus Petal]] (11 life)
- [[Rite of Flame]] (10 life)
- [[Rite of Flame]] (9 life)
- [[Wishclaw Talisman]] (7 life)
- [[Dark Ritual]] (6 life)
- [[Burning Wish]] (4 life)
- [[Dark Ritual]] (3 life)
Stop.
Note: I personally like to continue to flip until it’s no-longer safe to flip. This will help you a small percentage of the time if your opponent has something that you didn’t expect, you’ll have additional or spare resources to play around whatever that card may be.
Cast [[Lotus Petal]] (Storm 8) and [[Chrome Mox]] (Imprint: [[Burning Wish]] | Storm 9).
Play the pair of [[Rite of Flame]] (Storm 11 — ) and then both copies of [[Dark Ritual]] (Storm 13 — )
Cast [[Wishclaw Talisman]] and then activate it (Storm 14 — ) for [[Defense Grid]] (Storm 15 — ).
Note: This stops weird things your opponent might be hiding such as [[Force of Vigor]], [[Mindbreak Trap]], etc.
Play [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] (Storm 16 — ), cast [[Burning Wish]] (Storm 17 — ), in response sacrifice [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] for and cast [[Tendrils of Agony]] (Storm 18 — )!
Note: Notice how easy it was to get to eighteen storm? If you ever needed to in this scenario, you could continue to play more spells into [[Grapeshot]] in an effort to play around [[Veil of Summer]].