Modern Horizons 3 brought anti-Storm cards that are here to stay. Both [[Vexing Bauble]] and [[Consign to Memory]] have become mainstays of the format, but not even because of Storm! The archetype is receiving splash damage because other archetypes that these cards primarily target are powerful. This is actually a good thing for The EPIC Storm. Both of these cards are beatable, and they decrease the number of hard Storm sideboard cards, like [[Null Rod]] and [[Chalice of the Void]].
Vexing Bauble
[[Vexing Bauble]] has found a home as a main deck card in non-blue decks and some combo decks. It acts as a mini [[Defense Grid]] that can be found by [[Urza’s Saga]]. It is most popular in [[Painter’s Servant]] combo, Eldrazi, [[Doomsday]], [[Show and Tell]], and some [[Urza’s Saga]] Storm Decks. For The EPIC Storm, [[Vexing Bauble]] disrupts the zero-mana artifacts the same way that a [[Chalice of the Void]] on zero does, and it counters cards that were cast for free off a Bargained [[Beseech the Mirror]]. [[Burning Wish]] and [[Song of Creation]] tend to be the best ways to win the game, strictly going around [[Vexing Bauble]]. Zero-mana spells can still be cast into a [[Vexing Bauble]] to build Storm or trigger [[Song of Creation]] to dig for an answer to [[Vexing Bauble]]. This even works in game one! TES plays four main deck answers to [[Vexing Bauble]] in [[Veil of Summer]]. [[Veil of Summer]] still does not care that the source of the effect trying to counter a spell is not Blue or Black. It will cleanly answer all the copies of [[Vexing Bauble]] an opponent plays.
Post-board, this means that [[Veil of Summer]] stays in the deck more often than it used to. Against Painter, [[Veil of Summer]] becomes one of the best cards in the matchup to answer both [[Vexing Bauble]] and [[Painter’s Servant]]-enabled [[Pyroblast]]s. Even though the sideboard has removal spells for [[Vexing Bauble]], if you suspect that your opponent only has [[Vexing Bauble]] as permanent-based disruption, [[Veil of Summer]] is better than the removal spells because it can answer multiple copies of [[Vexing Bauble]].
The other option that is always available is using [[Burning Wish]] to find the new Bloomburrow removal spell [[Wear Down]]. Being able to answer multiple cards and multiple types of cards, even at the cost of giving the opponent a (much less useful) card back, is more powerful than previous options. Cards that have been in this slot in the past such as [[Pulverize]] or [[Hull Breach]] are more specific and narrower. [[Void Snare]] was the card occupying this slot most recently. The problem with [[Void Snare]] is it can only remove one permanent and only as a bounce spell, meaning it must be played on the combo turn. [[Wear Down]] can be played beforehand and undo the lock piece snowball to provide windows on future turns.
Consign to Memory
Magic’s newest [[Stifle]] variant was created to fight against Eldrazi, and it is currently being played to do just that. Unfortunately, [[Consign to Memory]] can also counter a [[Tendrils of Agony]] trigger. Most blue decks are playing at least one copy and up to the full four. Traditionally, one of the best ways to beat [[Stifle]] effects is to bait opponents into using it on fetch lands or other triggers that do not matter. The current play against blue decks involves casting [[Galvanic Relay]] to get around countermagic. [[Consign to Memory]] can answer a [[Galvanic Relay]] all on its own. While problematic, this is not the end of the world. Comboing when opponents are tapped out becomes more important. Because [[Consign to Memory]] costs mana, opponents tapping out creates more urgent windows than it used to. They may also hard tell that they have a [[Consign to Memory]] by leaving up that extra mana in odd spots. [[Consign to Memory]] is a sideboard card, which means that we also get access to sideboard copies of [[Thoughtseize]] to push through [[Consign to Memory]]. ANT players will be familiar with the pattern of using [[Thoughtseize]] to take a [[Force of Will]] and then looping back the discard spell to take the [[Stifle]]. Because [[Consign to Memory]] does not interact with the core engine pieces, it can be ignored until the [[Tendrils of Agony]] is about to be put on the stack.
While the [[Stifle]] part of [[Consign to Memory]] is the main mode of the card in the matchup, it can also be used to counter colorless spells like [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]]. It does not come up often, but this means that opponents are more likely to interact with artifacts on the stack because they believe they might not get an opportunity to actually use the card in [[Stifle]] mode. [[Veil of Summer]] does work when the opponent uses [[Consign to Memory]] to counter an artifact, making [[Consign to Memory]] more like a blast than a [[Stifle]].
Post-Ban Legacy & Closing
I’m writing this just before the August 26th ban announcement. No matter what WOTC bans, [[Consign to Memory]] and [[Vexing Bauble]] will be mainstays of the format. [[Vexing Bauble]] is a reason to continue to play [[Veil of Summer]] as the best piece of protection. [[Consign to Memory]] is a neat piece of sideboard tech that will stay around as long as the best prison decks are colorless rather than Red. It requires The EPIC Storm to plan around it some and shift sideboard plans. If you’re interested in a sideboard guide for TES, join Patreon or look at the shop. I am always happy to answer messages on Twitter or in the Storm Discord.
