storm combo (playing magic without playing magic)

I started actually playing magic during my freshman year in highschool at the blue tables (where are the asian nerds sat). Many memorable moments were made and I can even still remember what my metagame was: auriok champon + loxodon warhammer.dec, wellwisher.dec, ball lightning.dec, zombieswarm.dec, and birds.dec. Could it have been any more typical? 

It was also pretty typical of me to get pretty serious about it and go online to find a decklist. The first deck I actually made competitive was a wizard tribal deck. That shit raped many faces, but soon I began to felt the allure of powerful decks. My first constructed deck was MBC, featuring Grid Monitor, Promise of Power, Barter in Blood, and Extraplanar Lense. Keep in mind, the level of play at my table consisted of "OMG haste creatures are SO GOOD", "what's a stack?", and "WHAT YOU CAN'T PLAY BARTER IN BLOOD UNLESS YOU SAC TWO CREATURES TOO!".  /sigh

Let me tell you guys though, as nerdy of a hobby MTG was, it actually changed my mental processing by a great amount. That's actually going to be a whole nother blog post in itself, as I explain how isolating trivial factors and drawing the quickest path to achieving a goal went from being a tactic in MTG to becoming a tactic for everything I do. Today, however, I'd like to talk about what kind of Magic player I am (the kind everyone hates). 

JOHNNY COMBO PLAYER

That's what they call people who try to play Magic without really playing the game (or a retard with really bad combination decks). I was instantly drawn in by the idea of being able to kill your opponent in one fell swoop, and have been in love with the archetype ever since. Our goal is to assemble, as quickly as possible, a combination of cards that results in instant or inevitable victory. I wasn't in the competitive mindset when they introduced the STORM mechanic during Scourge, but now I understand that it was a very important benchmark in the history of combo. 

STORM MECHANIC

When you play this spell, copy it for each spell played before it this turn. You may choose new targets for the copies. 

I'm not sure if they had thoroughly tested this mechanic before it was released, but cards like Tendrils of Agony or Brain Freeze could easily reach lethal storm count by just playing mana acceleration and cantrips, then using the insane number of tutors available to either find your storm card or find the mana needed to produce more storm. Coupled with cards like Yawgmoth's Will or Necropotence, you could instantly win the game within a the first few turns - even backed by protection and through disruption (in fact, disruption actually adds to storm count in many cases lol)!

THE CURRENT STATE OF STORM IN LEGACY (the only relevant format in the game)

Legacy is quite healthy right now. Top 8s are always shifting, and the format is determined by a powerful set of cards that function throughout multiple archetypes. There is a good number of control, aggro-control, pure agrro, and combo - including leeway for lots of improvisational and experimentational decklists. Storm combo thrives in a format that allows access to older mana acceleration and tutors of greater caliber, though of course leaving the most powerful of powerful for Vintage. 

THREE POWERHOUSES: TES, ANT, FT 

Some would argue the inclusion of Belcher and Spanish Inquisition, but both of those are considered "pure speed" variants, with less options and versatility compared to the three former. TES, or The Epic Storm, packs the biggest punch by running a chromatic, threat-dense deck. ANT, or Ad Nauseum Tendrils, features the speediest way to consistently resolve an early Ad Nauseum and draw out ~15-20 cards before comboing off. FT, or Fetchland Tendrils, plays a control route and finds the opportune turn to go off, backed by protection. All three decks carry ~30 or so similar cards, but play completely differently. The thing about storm decks is that they require lots of branched though processing, some math, lots of practice to see all the minor interactions, and reading your opponent. Because games are usually decided in one turn, it is of utmost importance to understand what you're up against and how to achieve your goal with the allotted resources. 

I personally prefer TES because of its inherent threat density. The deck packs 8 tutors, 2 utility tutors, 2 optional storm engines, a prismatic sideboard, and numerable paths to victory that the other archetypes just do not have. The explosiveness generally asks to go off on the average of turn 3 (now turn 2 due to Ad Nauseum) protected by either Duress or Orim's Chant. The current decklist is as follows:

T.E.S. (w/ Mystical Tutor)

by Bryant Cook

Lands
4 Gemstone Mine
4 City of Brass
1 Undiscovered Paradise
1 Forbidden Orchard

Spells
4 Orim’s Chant
4 Dark Ritual
4 Rite of Flame
4 Lion’s Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
4 Infernal Tutor
4 Burning Wish
4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
4 Chrome Mox
2 Mystical Tutor
2 Ad Nauseum
2 Cabal Ritual
2 Duress
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Chain of Vapor

SB:1 Diminishing Returns
SB:1 Ill-Gotten Gains
SB:1 Tendrils of Agony
SB:1 Empty the Warrens
SB:1 Grapeshot
SB:3 Pyroblast
SB:3 Shattering Spree
SB:2 Vexing Shusher
SB:1 Wipeaway
SB:1 Duress 

The only slot I would debate is the Chain of Vapor. It deals with Teeg, yes, but fat chance getting rid of Counterbalance. I'm not even sure if it's needed for the storm count and mana fixing that everyone claims it's so amazing for. In goldfishing, I know it hasn't even helped me once. 

Next blog! MY ARTWORK!!! Be prepared to see some of the most (not) amazing shit in your life! Well actually, I'm a bit too lazy so maybe no artwork yet. BUT! I will probably have some up by next week, I promise. Since school is starting, I'll probably only have like 3 or 4 updates a week, depending on if I have anything to talk about. ALSO - CASSHERN 14 WAS AMAZING.