the epic Storm

One of the defining features of The EPIC Storm (TES). An incredibly powerful and resourceful element that is quite diverse in what it can do. Burning Wish allows TES to not play answers for problematic cards by either providing a solution or an alternative route to victory. One of the greatest things Burning Wish does for this deck is it allows us to not have to play Tendrils of Agony in our main deck as it tends to be a dead card in most games. This can be said for a couple of the cards in our sideboard, that’s the true beauty of Burning Wish — its whatever we need it to be.

Our “wish board” is comprised of Storm engines, win conditions, protection, and a few solution-based cards. We try not to play an entire sideboard full of Burning Wish targets as it doesn’t create the greatest value out of our available slots. Generally, I try to have no more than 6-7 Burning Wish targets. Lastly, having included Burning Wish into our deck, our threat density is very high in comparison to other Storm decks meaning that we spend less time finding our threats with cantrips which leads to a faster kill.

A recent addition to The EPIC Storm over Infernal Tutor. This change was one of the bigger innovations to the deck in the last few years, primarily because it raised the artifact count high enough to finally support Mox Opal!

A common play pattern with this list is to actually cast Wishclaw Talisman on turn one using Mox Opal or Chrome Mox, this allows a six mana line on the second turn instead of needing seven mana into your copy of Ad Nauseam.

Unlike Infernal Tutor, the search on Wishclaw Talisman isn’t tied to a stipulation. This means you’re able to search for anything, such as a sided in copy of Chain of Vapor. Because of this, you’re incentivized to run powerful singleton copies of cards to search for like Abrupt Decay to answer a Counterbalance for example.

An incredibly tough-to-play spell that can make or break a game all on its own. Brainstorm can often fix hands needing two specific types of cards and finding them both at once or simply putting a few situational cards back.

An important feature of this card is that in matchups with discard, it is very relevant to preserve these and use them to protect the best cards in your hand. When playing TES, sequencing your cantrips is extremely important, but there are also games where you’re one card off from winning on turn one. I’m all about the first turn of the game casting Brainstorm in the main phase. I’ve received scoffs from some players, but it’s perfectly acceptable in my eyes. The situation needs to call for it, however. I wouldn’t just snap off a Brainstorm for the sake of it.

I tend to Ponder before I Brainstorm a majority of the time. Collaborating with a shuffle effect is generally the way to go with Brainstorm so that you’re not drawing dead spells or lands. There are times when sitting on Brainstorm for multiple turns while you continue to draw spells just to put back worse ones is the correct thing to do.

Our cantrip with the best odds of finding the card(s) we’re looking for! Ponder digs the deepest out of the cards we opt to play, unlike Brainstorm or Preordain – Ponder can see up to four unique cards. Because of this, in hands where we have both Brainstorm, Ponder, and Preordain – its usually best to cast Ponder first.

For more information on proper cantrip sequence, I recommend checking out AJ Kerrigan’s article “Reading the Ropes – Draw Spells.”

Like Brainstorm, the best utilization of Ponder is often with a Polluted Delta or another fetchland. Ponder, like a fetchland, can be used as a shuffle effect for Brainstorm as well, it’s just not as ideal. I’d like to note that I’m very aggressive with my shuffling off of Ponder. Players often think that I must’ve been looking at bad cards often because my decision doesn’t take too long. But if those cards aren’t what the hand needs, why contemplate?

The EPIC Storm is the best Ad Nauseam deck in Legacy. Between Chrome Mox to act as additional copies of Lotus Petal as well as a lower average converted mana cost, Ad Nauseam has an increased power level here. Our primary Storm engine and game plan, we’ve catered our deck to maximize its potential.

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.

Previously Echo of Eons was only a Burning Wish target. That changed when The EPIC Storm added Wishclaw Talisman to the deck, there’s more reason than ever to play two copies in your seventy-five. The difference-maker was Wishclaw Talisman’s ability to consistently find Lion’s Eye Diamond to pair with the copy of Echo of Eons (either naturally drawn or retrieved by Burning Wish). Echo of Eons works very well with Lion’s Eye Diamond, which is why Wishclaw Talisman’s ability to find it is so important. First you play Burning Wish to retrieve Echo of Eons, then play your Lion’s Eye Diamond (this plays around artifact disruption), discard your hand and add three blue to flashback your pseudo Timetwister.

Another way of getting Echo of Eons into your graveyard is to Thoughtseize yourself, while not ideal, it is a “build your own Diminishing Returns!” Something to keep in mind is that Echo of Eons is symmetrical, which means your opponent will also draw a fresh seven card hand off of Echo of Eons. This is an issue against blue decks. To offset this, cards such as Veil of Summer, Defense Grid, and even sideboard options such as Hope of Ghirapur or Xantid Swarm I would recommend over discard spells opening up another engine versus counterspell archetypes.

One of my favorite things about it is that it’s the first three mana storm engine that’s been legal in Legacy that’s playable, this helps quite a bit against Prison strategies or decks trying to lock you out of the game like Maverick or Death & Taxes.

Veil of Summer’s inclusion into The EPIC Storm is for many reasons. The first is its ability to act as a pseudo Silence effect against blue decks, unlike Silence, it’s very effective against targeted discard which was always a weakness of the white instant. In a pinch, Veil of Summer can usually cycle to draw a card against most decks in the Legacy Format.

On top of what I’ve already mentioned, it can protect your copies of Hope of Ghirapur or Wishclaw Talisman against Abrupt Decay or even Oko, Theif of Crowns. Veil of Summer can even be a complete blow-out against certain match-ups such as Ad Nauseam Tendrils since they will be forced to pass the turn since Tendrils of Agony is unable to target us.

As for synergies within The EPIC Storm, Veil of Summer’s most desirable trait is how it interacts with Echo of Eons. Thoughtseize has the issue of not protecting you from countermagic drawn after Echo of Eons resolves, which means we could be giving our opponents new countermagic to stop us. Not with Veil of Summer, we’re able to ignore countermagic for an entire turn. I would like to mention, Veil of Summer says, “Spells you control can’t be countered this turn.” This means Counterbalance, Chalice of the Void, Chancellor of the Annex, and other effects. This clause is not relegated to colors blue or black.

A protection spell that has recently replaced Thoughtseize with the added benefit of supporting Mox Opal. Like Veil of Summer, Defense Grid does not care about opposing copies of Veil of Summer which is a huge reason to choose to play the two mana artifact in the current metagame. Defense Grid’s primary function is to prohibit opponents from casting multiple cards in the same turn such as Stifle, Flusterstorm, Force of Will, and Force of Negation.

Keep in mind, our opponents can still cast spells with a Defense Grid in play, but it typically taxes our opponents enough where we can plow through the first counterspell and eventually kill the opponent. One of my personal favorite things about the card is its ability to shut off the symmetry of Echo of Eons against blue decks when Echo of Eons is refilling the opponent’s hand.

One of the best bounce spells ever printed, efficiently answering cards like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Gaddock Teeg, Sphere of Resistance and Leyline of Sanctity. The only downside of this card is that Chalice of the Void on one is very popular, causing this otherwise perfect bounce spell to be not great at times.

A “cool trick” you can do with Chain of Vapor is to use it to generate mana and storm — a pseudo “storm engine” so to speak. When you have a bunch of artifact mana (Chrome Mox, Lotus Petal, and Lion’s Eye Diamond), you can target your own artifact, sacrifice a land, and then copy it. When you have enough lands and artifacts, it can be the cause of your opponent’s demise. I find myself doing this post-Ad Nauseam in scenarios where I’m low on resources. Maybe you needed to cast a few cantrips or protection spells, after that, you can bounce all of your copies of Chrome Mox and replay them and imprint with the extra cards from Ad Nauseam — you’ve created mana with a bounce spell!

The reason we’ve included a copy of Chain of Vapor to the main deck is that we can search for it with Wishclaw Talisman, which makes it more reliable than in the past. The built-in “Storm engine” aspect doesn’t hurt either.

A defining characteristic of The EPIC Storm, this card is one of the reasons this deck is blazing fast. The fact that it costs one mana is important for two reasons – the first being that it’s easier to cast in comparison to other “Ritual” effects available that cost two and the second reason would be its converted mana cost’s impact on Ad Nauseam. Something that is often overlooked when viewing Rite of Flame and is the ability to make two red mana which is important because it generates just enough to meet the red mana requirement for both Burning Wish and Empty the Warrens in a single turn. Two Rite of Flame is also the perfect amount of mana to cast Empty the Warrens! Things become a little more interesting when you have more than two Rite of Flames (see below).

Mana Generated by Rite of Flame
Cast off a single red mana source, in one turn.

• 1 Rite of Flame – Two red mana.
• 2 Rite of Flame – Four red mana.
• 3 Rite of Flame – Seven red mana.
• 4 Rite of Flame – 11 red mana.

One of the most powerful cards in this deck and Legacy as a whole. If I have multiple “Ritual” effects in my hand, including a Rite of Flame, I will cast Dark Ritual second as it is an instant. This is incredibly helpful when it comes to playing around Daze, Spell Pierce and sometimes Flusterstorm.

Mana Generated by Dark Ritual
Cast off a single black mana source, in one turn.

• 1 Dark Ritual – Three black mana.
• 2 Dark Ritual – Five black mana.
• 3 Dark Ritual – Seven black mana.
• 4 Dark Ritual – Nine black mana.

The card is responsible for most turn one wins and is a total game changer. When using Lion’s Eye Diamond it’s crucial to know that you must maintain priority and activate it in response to your other spell before passing priority/checking to see if there are any responses. When using Lion’s Eye Diamond paired with Infernal Tutor, it’s important to note that you can cast Infernal Tutor with card in hand and then use Lion’s Eye Diamond to become hellbent by activating the artifact.

Try to cast Lion’s Eye Diamond at opportune times, I play this card very differently depending on the matchup. Sometimes I let it sit on the table and threaten the opponent while in other situations I hide it in my hand or on top of my deck. I typically play it right before my Infernal Tutor or Burning Wish, to maintain priority, this way it cannot be destroyed by effects like Abrupt Decay or Kolaghan’s Command.

Initial mana sources with no drawback that are almost always a pleasure to see — especially off of Ad Nauseam. They, like Chrome Mox, enable speedy early turn combos and generate storm for free. Something to keep in mind that Lotus Petal can also fix our mana, especially in more recent lists playing four colors for Veil of Summer and Abrupt Decay

The EPIC Storm finally has enough artifacts to support Mox Opal! This change happened when we realized we were able to swap Infernal Tutor for Wishclaw Talisman, with this swap it brought our total number of artifacts up to 18-21 artifacts (this number fluctuates on if you’re running main deck Defense Grid). With over a third of The EPIC Storm being artifacts, you’re more likely than ever to have Mox Opal be active on the first turn. This helps significantly when trying to cast a first turn Wishclaw Talisman and then passing the turn.

One of my favorite things about Mox Opal is to cast Brainstorm or Ponder AND THEN shuffle your deck with Bloodstained Mire or Polluted Delta on turn one, this allows you to then cast another spell such as an additional cantrip or a business spell. A cool trick you can do with Mox Opal and Chrome Mox is to play Mox Opal first, cast your Chrome Mox, with the imprint ability on the stack cast Brainstorm (or even Ad Nauseam!) and then imprint onto Chrome Mox after gaining new information/cards. While on the topic of Chrome Mox, even playing it for no-imprint cost now adds extra value with Mox Opal, which is something that should be mentioned for newer Storm pilots.

A card that divides TES from ANT. Chrome Mox provides additional early mana to allow for Ad Nauseam or Empty the Warrens. A huge part of why we have such an incredibly high success rate post-Ad Nauseam is that Chrome Mox acts as an initial mana source to continue “combo-ing” out for the turn.

One of the better uses of Chrome Mox in my opinion is to allow a first turn Wishlcaw Talisman meaning that your second turn combo-ing often only needs six mana. There’s also the fact that Chrome Mox helps enable Mox Opal very early. Lists have recently bounced back and forth on the number of Chrome Mox in the main deck. At the moment, I prefer three copies as drawing multiples can often hurt and Mox Opal’s function is very similar while not creating card disadvantage.

The best “fetchland” in our primarily blue and black Storm deck. The reason it’s the best is that it gets either of our two basic lands which is something the other fetchlands cannot do. Polluted Delta is also the only fetchland in the deck that can get every land. There’s more to Polluted Delta and the other fetchlands as well as they provide shuffle effects for cards like Brainstorm or Ponder which help with the quality of our draws. Fetchlands protect our mana from effects like Wasteland or Rishadan Port, which is key considering TES is a deck with fewer lands than its other storm counterpart.

You’ll notice there’s four copies of Bloodstained Mire and zero copies of Scalding Tarn as the deck’s secondary “fetchlands.” This is because the reliance on black mana is more important than blue, but also because when we added Bayou you don’t want a “fetchland” in your deck that doesn’t find two of your lands. While this split may seem strange, other land configurations create tensions with the deck. There’s more to Bloodstained Mire and the other fetchlands as well, they provide shuffle effects for cards like Brainstorm or Ponder which help with the quality of our draws. Fetchlands protect our mana from effects like Wasteland or Rishadan Port, which is key considering TES is a deck with fewer lands than its other Storm counterpart.

A searchable land that provides two of the deck’s primary colors without any drawbacks.

In these lists, I wouldn’t consider Underground Sea to be my primary fetchland target anymore. Due to the four-color nature of the deck, I’ve found myself more often searching up Volcanic Island more frequently.

A searchable land that provides two of the deck’s primary colors without any drawbacks.

Volcanic Island is more desirable now more than ever as it pairs extremely well with Bayou to deliver all four of our colors or even the basic Swamp for additional stability. A trick for playing with your red “dual lands” is to sit back on your “fetchlands” and make sure they don’t get hit by Wasteland if you’re in position where you need to cast Crash or Pulverize.

A searchable land that provides two of the deck’s primary colors without any drawbacks.

Originally, Badlands was added to the deck over a second copy of Volcanic Island, and I have to say there’s no looking back. A trick for playing with your red “dual lands” is to sit back on your “fetchlands” and make sure they don’t get hit by Wasteland if you’re in position where you need to cast Crash or Pulverize.

The preferred “dual land” for the green splash for Veil of Summer. This is because it’s the only land that provides green while being searched for by all of our fetchlands, we’ve tried lists with either Taiga (provides a third Mountain for Crash and Pulverize as well) or Tropical Island (additional blue source, pairs well with Underground Sea to cast Abrupt Decay).

With the aforementioned “dual lands”, in order to support them you cannot run Bloodstained Mire. Now you’re priced into using Scalding Tarn or Misty Rainforest which don’t search for all of the lands in the deck, including the basic Swamp which creates quite a few questionable situations.

Essentially an indestructible mana source that is searchable in the face of Wasteland. With the rise in Ghost Quarter in the last few years, it’s difficult to justify not having a basic land or two. The real value in basic Swamp is being able to cast Wishclaw Talisman off of a basic Swamp and a Chrome Mox or Mox Opal in the face of Wasteland. There are additional gains to be had in lists playing discard spells such as Thoughtseize or Duress on turn one to be able to once again, ignore Wasteland. For those of you that enjoy Massacre, Swamp guarantees your ability to cast it for free.