While our opponent’s deck does have four copies of [[Thoughtseize]], keeping this [[Veil of Summer]] when on the draw is almost pointless. This means that we need our opponent to not open on [[Thoughtseize]], and we’re playing the game where we ask our deck to draw the 34 percent action spell off the top. If our Elves opponent didn’t open on [[Thoughtseize]], there’s a good chance that they kept a hand that puts [[Collector Ouphe]] onto the battlefield on the second turn. We can do better than keeping low-odds of success hands.
Not every hand needs to be fast! While it may not seem like it, this hand is very reasonable due to [[Burning Wish]] giving us access to the sideboard copy of [[Pulverize]]. The game plan here would be to cast [[Wishclaw Talisman]] on the second turn assuming that nothing goes poorly for us. After that, you can use [[Burning Wish]] for [[Pulverize]]. At this point, you should be able to untap and win the game!
Moon Stompy has no free instant speed interaction — remember this! Put that [[Ad Nauseam]] on the stack.
Cast [[Lotus Petal]], [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]], [[Mox Opal]], tap [[Mox Opal]] to cast [[Rite of Flame]], sacrifice [[Lotus Petal]] to play a pair of [[Dark Ritual]], and then cast [[Wishclaw Talisman]]. Discard our hand to [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] to generate , activate [[Wishclaw Talisman]] to find the [[Ad Nauseam]], and cast it!
While speed isn’t everything, you do need to know what kinds of slower hands you can afford to keep. This hand is great at facing a “fairer” portion of the Legacy metagame. That said, against the [[Chalice of the Void]], [[Trinisphere]], and [[Blood Moon]] deck. this hand can be a real liability. Especially if these lock pieces are backed by [[Goblin Rabblemaster]] or [[Legion Warboss]]. At best, this hand is a turn-three kill assuming that no prison pieces are cast, AND our opponent didn’t open on a fast Goblin draw. If this are what we’re asking for, you need to ask yourself, “what would the opponent keep?”
Realistically, there are such a small amount of opening hands in which this is a possibility. Don’t be afraid to leverage the London Mulligan.
Please, do not keep bad hands on the back of [[Brainstorm]]. Yes, it’s one of the most powerful effects in the Legacy format, but it’s not a savior to every opening hand. I also understand the allure of a pair of [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]], but when you break this hand down into what we need, the ask is very high. Let’s see what we would need to win this game:
A non-fetchland blue mana source plus another cantrip to be able to set up a play where we go all-in on [[Ad Nauseam]]
An initial mana source, [[Rite of Flame]], and [[Burning Wish]]
An initial mana source, [[Dark Ritual]], and [[Wishclaw Talisman]]
Draw into the singleton [[Echo of Eons]]
Why take such a risk when we can just London Mulligan?
Hand No. 5: (on the draw)
[[Veil of Summer|]] [[Lion’s Eye Diamond|]] [[Lion’s Eye Diamond|]] [[Lotus Petal|]] [[Polluted Delta|]] [[Ponder|]] [[Rite of Flame|]]
Keep
[[Chalice of the Void]] will always be a possibility when you’re on the draw. You can’t mulligan very reasonable hands because you’re afraid of the card, but we also don’t know which number they’ll set the [[Chalice of the Void]] to. In hands where our opponent doesn’t open with [[Ancient Tomb]] or [[Simian Spirit Guide]], they may settle for zero counters for the [[Chalice of the Void]]. If this is the case, we have [[Veil of Summer]] to break the rules.
While it may not seem obvious, [[Veil of Summer]] doesn’t care about if a spell is blue or black for the line, “Spells you control can’t be countered this turn.” This means we can play our copies of [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] or [[Lotus Petal]] directly into the [[Chalice of the Void]]. After that, cast the [[Ponder]] looking for [[Burning Wish]] or [[Wishclaw Talisman]].
Post-board
Recommended sideboarding:
IN
[[Abrupt Decay|]] [[Abrupt Decay|]] [[Chain of Vapor|]] [[Chain of Vapor|]]
OUT
[[Veil of Summer|]] [[Veil of Summer|]] [[Defense Grid|]] [[Galvanic Relay|]]
Hand No. 6: (on the play)
[[Lion’s Eye Diamond|]] [[Echo of Eons|]] [[Rite of Flame|]] [[Dark Ritual|]] [[Burning Wish|]] [[Wishclaw Talisman|]] [[Brainstorm|]]
Mulligan
These hands are not keepable! Too often, I see players keeping these sorts of hands since [[Echo of Eons]] bails them out. I would rather have a sculpted six-card hand than a random seven, especially when our opponent’s deck is an archetype that is well-known for playing [[Leyline of the Void]].
Please be more disciplined and leverage the London Mulligan.
Hand No. 7: (on the draw)
[[Abrupt Decay|]] [[Abrupt Decay|]] [[Taiga|]] [[Verdant Catacombs|]] [[Burning Wish|]] [[Chain of Vapor|]] [[Veil of Summer|]]
Mulligan
Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing! This hand is simply too reactive. You can spend turn after turn answering your opponents lock pieces, but eventually they’ll begin to double-spell a lock-piece with a [[Goblin Rabblemaster]] effect. Not to mention, a [[Blood Moon]] or [[Magus of the Moon]] is actually just lights out.
We need to keep hands with focus, responding to their threats for several turns is not a game plan.
Hand No. 8: (on the play)
[[Rite of Flame|]] [[Rite of Flame|]] [[Burning Wish|]] [[Badlands|]] [[Dark Ritual|]] [[Chrome Mox|]] [[Abrupt Decay|]]
Keep
[[Badlands]], cast [[Chrome Mox]] (Imprint: [[Abrupt Decay]]), [[Rite of Flame]], [[Rite of Flame]], [[Dark Ritual]], [[Burning Wish]], and then [[Empty the Warrens]]!
In post-board games, you can assume that our opponents have sided out [[Fury]]. That said, [[Fiery Confluence]] is still a card to be aware of. It’ll be difficult for them to cast in time, but still possible.
This hand does not care about [[Chalice of the Void]] on one or [[Blood Moon]]. This hand is certainly worth the risk as we can resolve [[Ad Nauseam]] with a land drop hoping to hit [[Abrupt Decay]] and then win the game in the same turn.
Cast [[Lotus Petal]], [[Mox Opal]], [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]], [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]], [[Chrome Mox]] (Imprint: [[Brainstorm]]), [[Wishclaw Talisman]], sacrifice both copies of [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] to create , activate [[Wishclaw Talisman]], search for [[Ad Nauseam]] and cast it!
Hand No. 10: (on the play)
[[Burning Wish|]] [[Chain of Vapor|]] [[Mox Opal|]] [[Lotus Petal|]] [[Lotus Petal|]] [[Volcanic Island|]] [[Veil of Summer|]]
Share your answer in the comments below!
I’ll provide my answer in the next article. For now, make sure to leave a comment with your thoughts!
Bryant Cook
Bryant Cook has one Grand Prix Top 8 as well as nine Star City Games Top 8s (two wins). You can find Bryant's daily sweet Storm videos for every format on our YouTube Channel, including some recent videos featuring The EPIC Storm.
Bryant is also a host of The Eternal Glory Podcast, as well as a Web Designer, New York Mets fan, and all-around nerd.
If you enjoyed this article, consider joining The EPIC Storm Patreon! Our staff creates terrific combo content out of their love for Storm and the game. We compensate them for all of the quality content they produce through our Patreon.
We're asking for your help to keep creating these articles.
Support your favorite TES Site writer, like Bryant Cook, today!
This awesome mini token set is printed on actual playing cards! A superior smooth 330gsm quality card-stock with a high-quality finish!
These tokens are literally half the size actual cards (44.45 × 63.5mm) and will not fit in standard size sleeves! But you wouldn’t want them to any way — they’re double-sided and have creature tokens on the backs!