the epic Storm

As mentioned previously, this is 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.

We’ve talked about how it’s important to hold priority when casting this card and using Lion’s Eye Diamond in response, but I can’t stress it enough! It’s also crucial to remember that you can cast it for a secondary copy of something in your hand. I’ve watched other Storm pilots completely blank on this in the middle of a game with tunnel vision.

When I’m revealing a card to Infernal Tutor, it’s usually some sort of mana or protection spell. Sometimes, it’s just to shuffle my deck after a Brainstorm or a Ponder.

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?

Times have changed. The most common question I’ve heard when it comes to Thoughtseize is, “What about the life-loss, is it an issue?.” The quick answer is no.

Storm decks for the last seven years have ran four copies of Gitaxian Probe and have done just fine. The trade-off of two life and being able to hit anything instead of “non-creature, non-land” is why you see four copies of Thoughtseize in every list, while lists fluctuate between three and four copies of Duress. Being able to have a guaranteed hit against Thalia, Guardian of Thraben or Ethersworn Canonist without question is extremely valuable compared to a blind Cabal Therapy against a deck like Death & Taxes or guessing the proper counterspell against blue decks.

While The EPIC Storm will miss the synergies between Cabal Therapy, Gitaxian Probe, and Goblin tokens, I’m a firm believer that Thoughtseize will carry us into the future.

A card that truly shines in combo metagames. Duress’ inability to discard creatures such as Thalia, Guardian of Thraben has traditionally been an issue with the card, which is why in the past Cabal Therapy has fought for this slot. With the printing of Force of Negation and having to guess more accurately what disruption your opponent has, I believe that Duress is the correct choice. More recently, I’ve found Duress’ weakness to be more involved with Echo of Eons rather than anything else. This is why you’ll see it sharing time with Defense Grid.

A protection spell that often replaces Duress in lists of The EPIC Storm that support Mox Opal. 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.

I’ve already said so much about this card, but let’s reiterate. TES opts to play Empty the Warrens over Tendrils of Agony because Empty the Warrens is rarely a dead draw. The issue with Tendrils is it does absolutely nothing until it’s lethal. Meanwhile, casting Empty the Warrens with 6-7 storm will easily win a game. Having a win condition in the deck that needs less storm and costs less than five (Ad Nauseam) dramatically increases the speed of TES often giving it games where we appear belcher-esque.

One of the deck’s best synergies is the combination of Empty the Warrens and Cabal Therapy! Start by disrupting the opponent’s hand, combo off, and then discard their sweeper or Batterskull by sacrificing a Goblin token. It’s very powerful and will win you a lot of games.

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.

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). Revealing Rite of Flame off of Infernal Tutor is one of my favorite things to do, especially with a line to cast Past in Flames. Often times Rite of Flame acts as a Dark Ritual and in certain situations is even better!

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 post-board games with lists that play cards like Abrupt Decay!

A card that divides TES from ANT. We opt to take the faster route as a trade off to late-game consistency. Chrome Mox provides additional early mana to allow for quick Empty the Warrens or Ad Nauseams. Chrome Mox is a huge part of why we have such an incredibly high success rate post-Ad Nauseam as it acts as an initial mana source to continue “combo-ing” out for the turn. Lists have recently bounced back and forth on the number of Chrome Mox in the main deck. At the moment, I prefer four to maintain our blazing-fast speed.

After the banning of Gitaxian Probe, The EPIC Storm had felt like it lost a step so-to-speak. It felt just slightly slower, but that was the nature of losing a free card in the deck.

Since then we’ve tried a bunch of things after just accepting we would be a slower deck, where Empty the Warrens may not be as powerful. Mox Opal has changed that! Mox Opal provides blazing fast speed, while mana fixing for the deck — something we haven’t exactly had before. One of my favorite things about the new Mox is to cast Brainstorm or Ponder AND THEN shuffle your deck with Bloodstained Mire or Polluted Delta on turn one (often followed by a discard spell). That said, Mox Opal certainly comes with some costs associated with it.

The EPIC Storm doesn’t actually play that many artifacts in the deck, generally, anywhere between 14-19 (main deck Hope of Ghirapur) depending on the list. Meaning it won’t always be active on the first turn, but something people forget is that it doesn’t need to be. Having your Mox Opal turned on and ready to tap for any color of mana on turn two or three a cantrip is just fine or in the worst case, post-Ad Nauseam. Which is just fine, providing another initial mana source is a big deal when the deck often requires red and black mana in order to win the game.

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.

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 it’s other storm counterpart.

You’ll notice there’s two copies of Bloodstained Mire and two copies of Scalding Tarn as the deck’s secondary “fetchlands.” This is for consistency between both basic lands. While this split may seem strange with eight one mana cantrips and only six discard spells, keep in mind that cantrips are frequently sided out. In a format like Legacy, there’s decks where you need to be able to cast discard on turn one and not worry about a Wasteland staring you down (I’m looking at you Death & Taxes and/or RUG Delver).

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 it’s other storm counterpart.

Diversity can be a real thing, I’ve had a few occasions where Scalding Tarn not being Polluted Delta or Bloodstained Mire has mattered when it came down to a timely Surgical Extraction or Pithing Needle. That said, it’s main function is to find basic Island, with eight one mana cantrips I felt like the deck needed an extra search effect for the basic.

There’s more to Scalding Tarn 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 it’s other storm counterpart.

A searchable land that provides two of the deck’s primary colors without any drawbacks. Sometimes we’ll play a second copy of Badlands over Island to support Pulverize in the sideboard, as an answer to problematic artifacts.

Fortunately, we’re in a metagame where the most popular Chalice of the Void deck provides us with Mountains. That could change, however, and we want three Mountains to support Pulverize just in case. I often pair Badlands with the basic Island in order to be able to tap for any of the three colors.

Originally, Badlands was added to the deck over a second copy of Volcanic Island, and I have to say there’s no looking back. What’s nice is that you can tap Underground Sea to cast a cantrip, then search for Badlands, cast a discard spell off of it, and then still have red mana on the following turn.

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

This is the only “dual land” I don’t see myself playing more than one of, it’s the one I search for the least, unless I’m trying to pair it with the basic Swamp.

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

In lists with fourteen lands, I tend to prefer a second copy of Underground Sea as it does more for the deck between cantrips and discard spells.

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 valuable in basic Island is being able to cast one of your ten cantrips turn one while not having to worry about your land being destroyed.

In post-board games the value of basic Island goes way up as it helps you cast Echoing Truth and Chain of Vapor against hate pieces, while these decks often try to mess with your mana.

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 valuable in basic Swamp is being able to cast a Thoughtseize or Duress on turn one while not having to worry about your land being destroyed.

There’s additional gains to be had in lists playing Massacre as Swamp guarantees your ability to cast it for free.