Happy Holidays, Legacy Storm Players! We are back with the final Infernal Tutoring article of the year! Since our last article, the legacy meta has stayed relatively stagnant with no real interesting meta changes. It seems like people are still adjusting to a world where there is no Wrenn and Six. The new spicy deck on the block that everyone is talking about is none other than The EPIC Storm! There have been some pretty big changes to the deck that players have been experimenting with, which has caused the Legacy player-base to tremble in fear as the new best Storm deck takes its throne (I’m only sort of kidding). What does the new The EPIC Storm look like? The main deck Empty the Warrens has been cut for an Echo of Eons. The discard spells have been replaced with Veil of Summer and Defense Grid. Infernal Tutor has been replaced with Wishclaw Talisman. While it is weird to play with no main deck win condition, this deck has some insane potential. The deck can grind as hard as a Past in Flames deck, and it doesn’t feel like you have to go “all in” on your combo turn. It is definitely a strange new world, and I encourage everyone to give the new list a try!
Special Guest
Stefan Schütz
Stefan had his first contact with Magic: The Gathering at the age of nine and he immediately fell in love with the game. It didn’t take him very long to find enjoyment in playing Legacy as well where he discovered various archetypes like Storm and Dredge which would accompany him for the first few years. Whilst he branched out to other formats on the competitive scene and found success like a GP Top 8, a PTQ win and others, he still tries to be on top of the Legacy metagame and also Storm strategies.
Deck List
Main Deck
- 4 Burning Wish
- 4 Wishclaw Talisman
- 4 Brainstorm
- 4 Ponder
- 4 Veil of Summer
- 2 Defense Grid
- 1 Chain of Vapor
- 1 Ad Nauseam
- 1 Echo of Eons
- 4 Polluted Delta
- 4 Bloodstained Mire
- 1 Underground Sea
- 1 Volcanic Island
- 1 Badlands
- 1 Bayou
- 1 Swamp
Sideboard
SITUATION No. 1 – U/R Delver
U/R Delver is the Delver of Secrets deck that has the fastest clock along with a very consistent two color mana base. Playing against U/R Delver can be challenging for The EPIC Storm because they can kill us very quickly, and they are also known for playing lot of disruption and counter magic. While U/R Delver often struggles to beat an early Empty the Warrens, many lists are now playing answers in the sideboard.We just started off our turn with a Lotus Petal, a Rite of Flame, a Lion’s Eye Diamond, a Burning Wish, which our opponent attempted to counter using Force of Will, and then a Veil of Summer that resolved. We were originally going for an Echo of Eons line, but now we are safe to cast Empty the Warrens for 14 Goblin Token. What would you get with Burning Wish and why?
Special Guest
Stefan Schütz
Since our opponent tried to counter Burning Wish and not wait for the spell we would be getting with it (which is the correct play a fair amount of the time), I’d say we can deduce that they were afraid of us getting Empty the Warrens from the very start. As it’s also game one, they are very unlikely to have a clean answer to 14 Goblin Token which means this has to be better than going for an Echo of Eons with one land untapped even when we have the Veil of Summer protection for this turn.
#TEAMTES
Josh Hughes
In this scenario, I think I would spin the wheel with Echo of Eons. While 14 Goblin Tokens seems like a lot, against UR Delver you can easily lose 11 life with Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, and the already flipped Delver of Secrets. I think if the Veil of Summer didn’t resolve I would choose Goblins in a heart beat.
Bryant Cook
This is really close. I’m tempted to just say, “screw it!” and just jam Goblin Token off of Empty the Warrens. This would leave us dead to two direct damage spells from our opponent. Otherwise, the Goblin Token race Delver of Secrets. What are the odds that our opponent is sitting on two burn spells or one and a cantrip? Fairly high. I wish I could see the other two cards in their graveyard. Empty the Warrens is certainly very risky which makes me open my eyes to Echo of Eons. We have an untapped land and a land drop available, which likely makes this the more desirable line in my opinion.
AJ Kerrigan
Echo of Eons is ballpark 50 percent to win here. At first glance, it might seem like Empty the Warrens wins a lot more consistently because our opponent needs a specific combination of cards to beat it, but if we actually think about what our opponent’s possible cards are, it becomes a lot less clear. It’s highly unlikely any of their remaining cards are counter spells, unless it is Force of Will plus two red cards. Most combinations of two red cards beat us, such as two Lightning Bolts or Lightning Bolt and Dreadhorde Arcanist. It is possible that some number of them are Brainstorm or Ponder, and a lot of hands with Ponder here also have at least one Lightning Bolt. It could be a True-Name Nemesis, but they just exiled one so that’s less likely. Honestly, I think our opponent’s range of cards here are fairly tight, and more than 50 percent of the combinations with the random draw steps actually kill us in two turns. I’m inclined to Echo of Eons here. Being under Veil of Summer means we are protected, so it’s just a coin flip for us.
Anthony LaVerde
Between giving your opponent a new hand of seven, and the fail rate of Echo of Eons, I think it is a bit risky. Empty the Warrens only loses to a Stifle, a board wipe, or a combination of Lightning Bolts and a second Delver of Secrets. That says to me that going for goblins is the higher percentage play.
Landon Sworts
I’d go for Goblins. Echo of Eons is powerful, but it does leave a lot to chance. I would put 14 Goblin Token into play and attack aggressively.
Alex Poling
I think the 14 Goblin Tokens will be good enough here. They race the Delver of Secrets with burn spells pretty easily, and they don’t have any wrath effects in their deck. Echo of Eons would be pretty dangerous here if we can’t win off of it this turn.
Daniel Lee
Making 14 Goblin Token here gives our opponent two turns to kill us from 11 life, which is comically easy for UR Delver to do especially with an Insectile Aberration already on the battlefield. I would get Echo of Eons in this situation.
Alex McKinley
This situation asks if the odds of our opponent finding a pair of Lightning Bolts over their next couple of draw steps is higher than finding a kill from of Echo of Eons. UR Delver also can play a couple of Stifle so that is also a consideration. Given all of that, casting Echo of Eons with a mana available to attempt to find a winning line this turn.
SITUATION No. 2 – Lands
Lands is a prison deck that, as its name implies, plays mostly lands to lock down and imprison its opponent. Lands looks to take advantage of decks that have a greedy mana base with land destruction (Wasteland & Ghost Quarter) that can be recurred with Life from the Loam. Lands is also capable of creating a 20/20 Marit Lage Token token very quickly which can catch players off guard. While lands is generally a great match up for The EPIC Storm, there are times where they can lock you out of the game, especially in sideboard games where they can bring in Sphere of Resistance.
HOW I SIDEBOARDED:
-3 Ponder, -2 Defense Grid, +2 Crash, +1 Chain of Vapor, +1 Echoing Truth, +1 Rite of Flame
We are currently in game two on the draw. Our opponent chose to mulligan to five, but still found a hand that is heavy on mana denial. How can you win, or put yourself into a winning situation?
Special Guest
Stefan Schütz
This situation might seem very easy at first glance. Even though the execution will be almost the same regardless of how long you think about it here, there are a fair number of relevant realizations to make. First, we can’t go off this turn which is fairly obvious. Even if we had Empty the Warrens in our deck at this time (which we don’t), we would just be giving our opponent a Wishclaw Talisman activation which then makes them able to search for The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale and neutralize our Goblin army. Secondly, we can set up for an Ad Nauseam (as it is an Instant) in our next upkeep to make our opponent’s Rishadan Port activation less relevant. Play Chrome Mox and Imprint Veil of Summer, play the Bayou and cast Wishclaw Talisman. If they don’t play a lock piece or have a Force of Vigor right away, they will use Wasteland on Bayou and then probably upkeep Rishadan Port on our Swamp. We will be able to then activate Wishclaw Talisman with our Chrome Mox mana and double Dark Ritual for Ad Nauseam (using the Swamp mana) which should be extremely likely to get there as we still have two copies of Rite of Flame left.
#TEAMTES
Josh Hughes
I think this scenario really highlights the power of Wishclaw Talisman being able to tutor at instant speed. The line I would take is play out the Chrome Mox imprinting Veil of Summer. Then play Bayou for Wishclaw Talisman. I’m assuming that our opponent is going to Wasteland us, and then port our Swamp in the upkeep phase. This would give us a chance to respond to the Rishadan Port Trigger with Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Activate Wishclaw Talisman for Ad Nauseam, and then play Ad Nauseam using the Chrome Mox as your fifth mana source. Hopefully that will be enough to kill the opponent!
Bryant Cook
Fun fact: Wishclaw Talisman says, “on your turn” and not “as a sorcery”. Because of this, I would play Chrome Mox (Imprint: Veil of Summer — also, why is this in the deck post-board? Especially over Ponder.) and then Bayou. Cast Wishclaw Talisman and pass. Our opponent next turn is going to Wasteland the Bayou and then upkeep Rishadan Port us. This is where the instant speed comes in: float a black mana, cast two Dark Ritual, tap the Chrome Mox, activate Wishclaw Talisman and cast Ad Nauseam. At this point, you then get a draw step, and then in your main phase you can win the game. This line loses to a Sphere of Resistanceeffect, but this hand doesn’t beat them anyway so there’s no reason to try and play around it.
AJ Kerrigan
The line that I think gives us the best shot of winning quickly here is to play Bayou and play Chrome Mox imprinting Veil of Summer. Play Wishclaw Talisman and pass the turn. Our opponent will Wasteland us and then in our upkeep, when they Rishadan Port us, we can use Chrome Mox to activate Wishclaw Talisman for Ad Nauseam, play both Dark Rituals, and play Ad Nauseam in our upkeep. We then start our turn with a Rite of Flame, a land drop, a fresh card for our draw step, and any cards from Ad Nauseam, which is a spot we should easily be able to win from. In the cases where something goes wrong like with a Ghost Quarter, or a Sphere of Resistanceoff the top, we can simply continue to wait until we are in a position to win rather than activating Wishclaw Talisman right away.
Anthony LaVerde
I’d play Bayou and then Chrome Mox, imprinting a copy of Rite of Flame. Then I’d play out the Wishclaw Talisman. If your opponent uses Wasteland on the Bayou and then tries to use Rishadan Port on your Swamp on your upkeep, you can actually respond with both Dark Rituals and then activate the Wishclaw Talisman to get Ad Nauseam and cast it with the Rishadan Port trigger on the stack.
Landon Sworts
We currently only have access to seven mana. For Wishclaw Talisman into Ad Nauseam we need eight mana, so I would just discard Veil of Summer during our cleanup and hope to draw an additional piece of mana on the following turn.
Alex Poling
I would play the Bayou and Chrome Mox to imprint Rite of Flame and cast Wishclaw Talisman. The opponent will probably Wasteland the Bayou and tap down the Swamp on the next turn. That would be an okay play because it would still put a permanent red and black source into play that is Wasteland proof and a Wishclaw Talisman in play to get us closer to combo-ing off. The opponent is nowhere near a combo themselves, so my goal would be just to set up and position my mana sources for a late game.
Daniel Lee
I would play the Bayou, then the Chrome Mox ((Imprint: Rite of Flame), then cast Rite of Flame, Wishclaw Talisman, activate for Ad Nauseam, and pass. Opponent will very likely use Wasteland on our Bayou. On our next turn, in response to the Rishadan Port activation on our Swamp, we can cast Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Ad Nauseam to set up a winning turn.
Alex McKinley
I am not sure why there is a Veil of Summer in the deck post-board (especially over Ponder!). But for this turn, I would Bayou, Chrome Mox (Imprint: Rite of Flame) and then play Wishclaw Talisman, then pass the turn. This gives us the best chance to draw a black or a red source next turn to win the game, assuming that the opponent uses their Wasteland and Rishdan Port.
SITUATION No. 3 – Elves
Elves is a deck that mostly disappeared off the face of the earth when Wrenn and Six was in its heyday. Elves generally looks to kill its opponent by flooding the board with a lot of Elves, and then casting Natural Order to kill the opponent with a Craterhoof Behemoth. Elves is typically a great matchup for The EPIC Storm, but with the recent sets they got some new toys; Veil of Summer and Collector Ouphe. If you keep a relatively fast hand that doesn’t depend on Empty the Warrens, you should have very little trouble winning the match.
HOW I SIDEBOARDED:
-2 Defense Grid, -1 Ponder, +1 Chain of Vapor, +1 Echoing Truth, +1 Rite of Flame
We are currently in game three on the draw. Our opponent was able to disrupt us with an early Collector Ouphe that slowed us down. After a couple of cantrips, we were able to form a hand that can take some action. Being at 10 life against elves is pretty terrifying, so what would you do to either win or put yourself in a winning situation?
Special Guest
Stefan Schütz
This is a classic example of “many ways lead to Rome.” There is a line that can potentially play around certain cards our opponent could have via Burning Wish into Ponder. There is also a line that tries to completely blank our opponents Veil of Summer which uses Grapeshot and Empty the Warrens. You could also just Tendrils of Agony them in addition to Grapeshot. I would resolve things the following way: play Lotus Petal, Chrome Mox (Imprint: Veil of Summer), Rite of Flame off Volcanic Island and Dark Ritual off Underground Sea, and then cast Burning Wish No. 1 (Storm 5 — ). If your opponent then doesn’t respond in any way, grab Grapeshot. Then proceed to cast Burning Wish No. 2 getting Empty the Warrens, cast the other Dark Ritual and then Grapeshot using Badlands and one of our floating mana (Storm 8 — ). Grapeshot kills all of their Creatures and deals the three remaining to the opponent (bringing them down to 16) which will activate our artifact mana and makes us able to Empty the Warrens for 18 Goblin Token. They might draw out of this one with a top-deck Glimpse of Nature as they can save their Quirion Ranger with Wirewood Symbiote in response to Grapeshot and are also able to fetch another Dryad Arbor at the end of their turn. This line does, however, play around Veil of Summer which I prefer. My line also loses to a timely Abrupt Decay or Force of Vigor, which they might have sideboarded in because of Wishclaw Talisman, so if you think they might bring those cards you could wait with your Lotus Petal and Chrome Mox until you got rid of Collector Ouphe first. I value the two extra damage from Grapeshot somewhat highly here as it hedges a little against them playing blockers or top-decking Elvish Visionary/Glimpse of Nature. As I haven’t been playing this match myself until this exact point, I am obviously lacking some information that could lead me to believe that they are less likely to have enough space to bring certain cards (e.g. answers for Empty the Warrens, Veil of Summer or answers for Artifacts), and therefore alter my line a bit.
#TEAMTES
Josh Hughes
At first glance, this seems like a scenario where we can’t quite kill our opponent because the Collector Ouphe Stifles our artifact mana. If we think through it, however, there is actually a very straightforward line. Start by tapping the Underground Sea for both copies of Dark Ritual (Storm 2 — ). Tap the Volcanic Island for Rite of Flame (Storm 3 — ). Play Chrome Mox, Imprinting Veil of Summer and Lotus Petal (Storm 5 — ). Play both copies of Burning Wish for Grapeshot and Tendrils of Agony (Storm 7 — ). Tap your Badlands for Red and play Grapeshot for eight, pointing two damage at Ouphe and six at our opponent (Storm 8 — ). Play Tendrils of Agony using the Artifact mana that now can be used to finish your opponent.
Bryant Cook
Tap Underground Sea, cast the pair of Dark Ritual (Storm 2 — ), Tap Volcanic Island to cast Rite of Flame (Storm 3 — ), Chrome Mox (Storm 4 — ) (Imprint: Veil of Summer — Why is this in the deck over Ponder?!?!!), Lotus Petal (Storm 5 — ), Burning Wish (Storm 6 — ) for Grapeshot. Burning Wish (Storm 7 — ) for Tendrils of Agony (If you’re worried about Veil of Summer you can get Empty the Warrens). Tap Badlands and cast Grapeshot (Storm 8 — ) killing the Collector Ouphe, their team, and the remainder at the opponent. At this point, tap the Chrome Mox and activate the Lotus Petal to cast either Tendrils of Agony or Empty the Warrens (Storm 9).
AJ Kerrigan
I unfortunately don’t see a great way of playing around Veil of Summer here, so I’m going to start by assuming we can’t. Play both Dark Rituals, the Rite of Flame, and a Burning Wish, getting Grapeshot. Cast the Grapeshot for five, targeting all of the creatures for lethal except Quirion Ranger (they can freely save it with Wirewood Symbiote anyway) and target our opponent for one damage, putting them to 18. We should have four mana left, and now we can play Lotus Petal and Chrome Mox (Imprint: Veil of Summer) to get to six mana. We can then play Burning Wish for Tendrils of Agony, which should be for exactly 18. This line also gets hurt significantly by Abrupt Decay on Chrome Mox, and I’ve chosen this sequencing assuming it shouldn’t be in their deck. If you want, you can play the Chrome Mox earlier to try and bait Abrupt Decay to determine if they have it and also generate extra storm for the Grapeshot which could theoretically matter if this game ends up going longer.
Anthony LaVerde
I’d cast Rite of Flame, Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Chrome Mox (No imprint), Lotus Petal, Burning Wish grab Grapeshot, Burning Wish getting Empty the Warrens, and then Empty the Warrens for 16 Goblin Token. Use Grapeshot next turn to clear one or more creatures depending on your draw.
Landon Sworts
We have access to 10 mana. Cast Rite of Flame from Volcanic Island, both Dark Ritual from Underground Sea, cast Lotus Petal, Chrome Mox (Imprint: Veil of Summer). Cast Both Burning Wish leaving three black mana floating, retrieve both Grapeshot and Tendrils of Agony. Cast Grapeshot with one floating and red from Badlands at Storm eight to kill off the opponents entire field including Collector Ouphe with the remaining copies of Grapeshot pointed at the opponents life total which makes our four available mana and Tendrils of Agony lethal.
Alex Poling
I would play out all of the artifacts and the rituals and that would get me up to eight mana, not counting the artifacts that can’t be used. I’d then cast both copies of Burning Wish for a Grapeshot and an Empty the Warrens, leaving me with four mana. Then I would cast Empty the Warrens for 16 Goblin Tokens and keep the Grapeshot in hand. This would allow me to race and attack through the elves but also keep back a removal spell for the following turn.
Daniel Lee
Tap Underground Sea for Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, tap Volcanic Island for Rite of Flame (Storm 3 — ). Cast Burning Wish for Grapeshot (Storm 4 — ). Cast Lotus Petal, Chrome Mox (Imprint: Veil of Summer), Burning Wish (Storm 7 — ). This Burning Wish should get either Tendrils of Agony to kill this turn or Empty the Warrens to play around Veil of Summer. If you get Tendrils of Agony, then use the Badlands to cast Grapeshot on the Collector Ouphe and send the other six copies at your opponent, then use the Lotus Petal and Chrome Mox to cast Tendrils of Agony for the kill. If you get Empty the Warrens, then use the Grapeshot to clear their board and send the last three copies to their face. Then make 18 Goblin Token for lethal next turn. Since they only have one card in their hand, I recommend going for Empty the Warrens.
Alex McKinley
I would start by casting all of the copies of Dark Ritual and Rite of Flame, as well as the artifacts, with Chrome Mox imprinting Veil of Summer (Storm 5 — ). Then I would cast Burning Wish for Grapeshot (Storm 6 — ). Grapeshot then targets Collector Ouphe twice and the opponent five times (Storm 7 — BBB). Because of the Quirion Ranger and the Wirewood Symbiote, targeting the rest of the creatures is a pretty fruitless effort. This turns on all the artifacts! I would then cast Burning Wish and make a decision about whether or not I believe the opponent has Veil of Summer. If I thought they did, I would cast Empty the Warrens for nine Storm. Otherwise, I would just cast a lethal Tendrils of Agony. Given that the opponent did not cast a spell last turn (or so it seems), I would make Goblin Token.
As we wrap up the year, I want to wish everyone a Happy Holidays! I hope that everyone’s New Year Resolutions come true, and that The EPIC Storm continues to get stronger as the community continues to collaborate and try new things! Keep Storming On!
