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Apr 30 2009 9:22am
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Explorations #25 - Fighting Storm Combo in Classic

Last time out I talked about how to battle the Counterbalance-Top combo in Classic, today I want to talk about how to fight a different type of combo: storm.  Check out the latest issue of Eternal Wisdom (which you can read here) to get an idea of how many combo decks are running around the format these days, many of which are based around the storm mechanic.

The power level of storm combo in any sort of Eternal format is generally unmatched, and if you hope to succeed while battling these "unfair" decks then it's important to run a strategy that can keep this insane power level in check.  Thankfully, there are many different tactics available to implement this type of strategy.  Today I'm going to briefly discuss four different storm combo decks in Classic (Classic Perfect Storm, NecroSpike, Belcher, and Ad Nauseam Tendrils) and then go over some available options to for those who oppose Magic's broken mechanic.

What We're Up Against

The face of combo in Magic changed completely with the release of Scourge in 2003.  Instead of being forced to assemble awkward combinations of otherwise inefficient cards into a sweet combination, combo players now had the blessing direct from Wizards of the Coast:  cast a bunch of spells, and it will be good.

Here are the main weapons that came from Scourge:

Tendrils of Agony Brain Freeze Mind's Desire

Casting ten spells in a single turn to win off of Tendrils of Agony may seem tough, but in a deck that's dedicated to this goal - it proved to not be very difficult.  Brain Freeze requires even more spells, and isn't quite an instant-kill, but proved to be dangerous as well.  Mind's Desire is one of the most powerful enablers of all time.  If you resolve a few spells into this huge Sorcery, then get ready to unload a bunch of the cards from you deck for freeze.  And who knows, maybe a few of those will have storm as well!

The most ubiquitous application of storm combo throughout the world of Magic is the deck known as "The Perfect Storm".  Variations have been played all the way from Standard through through to Vintage, and TEPS (The Extended Perfect Storm) just finished putting up some strong finishes in the last Extended season including a top eight at Grand Prix Kobe.  Here's a decklist that has had some success in Classic in the past:

 

This deck uses a very low land count paired with fast mana (Lotus Petal, Chrome Mox, Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Lion's Eye Diamond), a strong set of tutors (Infernal Tutor, Mystical Tutor), cheap card draw and disruption (Ponder, Brainstorm, Duress, Thoughtseize) to power out a high storm count.  The Classic Perfect Storm aims to either fire off Mind's Desire to fuel the finishing blow, or simply to storm its way into a lethal Tendrils of Agony.

The Perfect Storm has not been a popular deck in Classic for some time.  It's largely ignored in favor of some of the other combo decks that I'll be discussing below.  That being said, it's a fantastic example of what we're up against when battling storm combo.  Can your deck handle one that's capable of casting four or five spells (including Duress or Thoughtseize), Mind's Desire, four or five more spells, and then lethal Tendrils of Agony all on turn one?

One weakness of The Perfect Storm is that it utilizes an extremely focused plan.  The only win conditions in the deck are Tendrils of Agony, and there's no way to emerge victorious without successfully building up a serious storm count.  Storm combo evolved in order to address this issue, using some new tools from Time Spiral - a block that revisited each and every pre-Mirrodin mechanic, including Storm.  Here are the prime time spells that were created as a result:

Empty the Warrens Dragonstorm Grapeshot Ignite Memories

Dragonstorm first came to be in Scourge, but the pairing with Bogardan Hellkite really pushed it to the next level.  Dragonstorm combo won the World Championships in 2006 as a result, and then made another serious run in 2007 alongside buddies Spinerock Knoll, Grapeshot, Empty the Warrens, and Ignite Memories.  Dragonstorm and Ignite Memories never really made the jump into Eternal formats, and although Grapeshot has been used in some decks - the real winner for Eternal out of this list is definitely Empty the Warrens.

When your entire plan revolves around Tendrils or Brain Freeze, then you HAVE to get there storm-wise in order to win the match.  Even something devastating like Tendrils for fourteen would often leave you with a crippled opponent and no way to finish them off.  Empty the Warrens introduced a new sort of flexibility into this strategy.  Casting Empty the Warrens for fourteen goblin tokens is a fine plan!  It may take a couple of turns, but unless your opponent has a sweeper then those goblins are eventually going to get there.  This attribute can turn a combo fizzle into an enormous amount of pressure for you to deal with.

Here's a Classic deck that utilizes this plan:

 

You'll notice that this deck has also taken the low land count of The Classic Perfect Storm to an extreme - there are only two in the entire deck!  Instead of land, Charbelcher Storm runs a combination of artifact mana and the pitch-mana-source Spirit Guides.  The main reason to go to such an extreme is to enable Charbelcher's namesake win condition:  Goblin Charbelcher.  With such a small amount of land in the deck, four mana to cast the Goblin Charbelcher and then three mana to activate it usually creates a lethal amount of damage.

There are four paths to victory in this deck:

  • Generate seven mana, resolve and activate Goblin Charbelcher.  Cross your fingers and hope to do enough damage for the win.  Note that Lion's Eye Diamond can produce three mana for the activation cost on Charbelcher.
  • Generate a high storm count, cast Empty the Warrens and attack with goblin tokens for the win.
  • Generate a high storm count, cast Tendrils of Agony for the win.
  • Cast out Simian Spirit Guide and/or Elvish Spirit Guide and bring those 2/2s into battle.  This is not an easy way to win.

Note that this deck also runs a full playset of Burning Wish, as well as one copy each of Empty the Warrens and Tendrils of Agony in the sideboard.  This allows the combo pilot to search up the appropriate spell, as well as building up storm count, for the cost of 1R.  Burning Wish also provides access to a toolbox of Sorcery spells in the sideboard, in order to get this deck out of some tough spots.

Putting Charbelcher side-by-side with the Classic Perfect Storm, you can see how the Charbelcher deck has diversified its threats while still remaining inside the same combo shell of: cast spells, generate mana, resolve a huge threat.

Not all storm combo is about diversification however.  When Ad Nauseam was released in Shard of Alara, the next logic step forward for the Classic Perfect Storm became evident.

 

If you're interested in playing a Perfect Storm-ish deck in Classic, then I'd say that Ad Nauseam Storm is your best option today.  Both decks use low land counts, fast mana, and tutors in order to fuel their need for speed.  The main functional switch is that instead of storming your way into Mind's Desire, the goal here is to accelerate into Ad Nauseam and draw fifteen or so cards.  With this full grip, winning becomes a matter of stringing together as many spells as possible and finishing with Tendrils of Agony.

One of the best additions to Ad Nauseam Storm wen compared to The Classic Perfect Storm is definitely Demonic Consolutation.  This tutor is incredibly powerful, and in a deck packed with redundancy, becomes somewhat of a Demonic Tutor for just a single black mana.

Note that Ad Nauseam Storm doesn't run any sort of plan B, and if it isn't able to storm into Tendrils of Agony then it doesn't really have any way to win.

The final deck that I want to talk about uses one of the most powerful spells of all time, Necropotence, to fuel its combo:

NecroSpike
prolepsis9 - Classic Legal
Creatures
0 cards

Other Spells
4 Brainstorm
3 Cabal Ritual
4 Dark Ritual
4 Daze
4 Demonic Consultation
4 Duress
4 Force of Will
4 Lotus Petal
4 Necropotence
4 Ponder
4 Soul Spike
4 Tendrils of Agony
47 cards
Lands
3 Bloodstained Mire
1 Overgrown Tomb
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
4 Underground Sea
13 cards

Necropotence

 

This is my personal favorite combo deck out of the four, and this is the deck that I believe is the strongest one in current day Classic.  I may not run this exact configuration (I prefer maindeck Tombstalker), but if I had to play a match of Classic against an unknown opponent for my very soul...  then I'd be shuffling up some sort of NecroSpike combo.

NecroSpike plays a bit like Ad Nauseam in that it requires resolving a card draw powerhouse (in this cast Necropotence) before going off.  Here's the standard plan for NecroSpike:

  1. Resolve Necropotence.  The best way is off of turn one Dark Ritual.
  2. Pay a bunch of life to Necropotence, as much as 19 (depending on the machup).
  3. At the end of your turn, draw a bunch of cards.
  4. Resolve as many copies of Soul Spike as you can.  On a decent draw you should be able to resolve two copies, which will likely bring your opponent down to around twelve or so life.
  5. Out of your remaining cards, discard down to a hand that includes Tendrils of Agony and will allow you to win on your next turn - preferably with protection.

Steps four and five can be tricky and require a lot of practice to get right.  You're often dealing with twenty or so cards, and it's like putting together a puzzle to figure out how you can sculpt this hand into a victory.  Ideally you want your hand to include something like Duress and/or something like Daze in order to force your way through to the win.  The need for protection must be balanced with enough storm to Tendrils to victory.  Remember that you don't draw under Necropotence, and everything that you discard is removed from the game.  Think VERY hard here and make sure you choose the hand that gives you the best chance for victory.

Out of the combo decks that we've discussed, NecroSpike is probably the toughest one to disrupt.  It's able to run maindeck playsets of Daze, Force of Will, and Duress.  I've played this deck a decent amount, and it's not uncommon to play turn one Necropotence with Daze and Force of Will backup!

Tombstalker is used as an alternate win condition in NecroSpike in order to diversify the threats, either in cases where the storm route has been cut off or when an early game 5/5 flying monster is good enough to win.  If your opponent has sided out their Swords to Plowshares in order to battle storm, then they may be powerless.  My personal favorite play with the deck is to cast a Tombstalker for BB in order to build storm count for a lethal Tendrils.  Nasty!

Alright, that's that.  Four different lists that utilize storm combo to win in Classic.  Now that we know what we're up against, how do we fight back?

Options For Battle

There are tons of cards available if you're interested in fighting against storm combo.  There are so many options, that it can be hard to know where to start.  What I've done is compile a serious list of cards that fit the bill and grouped them by function.  My goal here is to create a reference sheet of options for decks looking to fight back against storm.  Not all of these choices are optimal, and you'll need to take a look at your particular build in order to decide which anti-storm piece is right for you - but I think that this list is a pretty good starting point.  There's commentary along with each group in order to go over the strategic implications of that particular choice.  

Note that there are many more options in lots of these categories than the ones I listed.  I tried to hit most of the important ones, listing them all would have been very cumbersome.

Time to get started!

Attack the Combo in Hand with Discard

Duress
Thoughtseize
Cabal Therapy
Hymn to Tourach
Raven's Crime

Hand disruption can be an absolute nightmare for storm combo decks.  One well-placed Duress, Thoughtseize, or Cabal Therapy can turn a fantastic opening hand into complete garbage.

On the other hand, there's nothing more discouraging than tapping out on turn one for Duress, and then seeing that your opponent is able to win regardless of your ability to strip away a card.

Stop the Storm Trigger

Stifle
Trickbind

I'm sure most readers are well aware of this rule, but if you're unfamiliar with the storm mechanic, there's a subtlety that can be somewhat easy to miss:  Storm is a triggered ability that fires off when the spell is cast.  If you're sitting there holding a Force of Will when your opponent plays Tendrils of Agony with storm fifteen, then you're in big trouble.  You'd need one counterspell for each copy of Tendrils on the stack if you want to stop the spell completely.

OR you can use something like Stifle to counter the storm triggered ability.  No matter how high the storm count is, if you Stifle or Trickbind that storm trigger then all you're looking at is the original copy of the spell.

Counterspells

Force of Will
Daze
Counterspell
Force Spike
Spell Snare
Chalice of the Void

As mentioned above, counterspelling their storm spell doesn't make  lot of sense - but that doesn't mean you can't counterspell their leading cards!  Do the math and figure out how much mana your opponent needs.  If this ritual gives him enough mana to case Ad Nauseam, then try to counterspell it.  If your opponent lands turn one Necropotence, then do whatever it takes to stop it.

You can't effectively use counter magic to stop a card with storm, but you can definitely use it preemptively to reduce their ability to use Tendrils/Empty the Warrens/etc.

Chalice of the Void is an interesting case.  If you can get it into play set at one or zero to stop acceleration, then it can be tough for your opponent to resolve enough spells to storm their way to a win.  It's worth noting that even if you manage to set Chalice to two, for example, that all of the storm copies of Brain Freeze will still go onto the stack.  Chalice will only counter the original copy.

Prevent Specific Spells From Being Cast

Gaddock Teeg
Meddling Mage

The most common kill card in storm combo is probably Tendrils of Angony followed by Empty the Warrens.  Both of these spells cost four mana.  If you are able to resolve Gaddock Teeg, then your opponent will need to find some way to deal with this 2/2 before winning with either of these two cards.  Meddling Mage fills a similar role, but requires you to name the correct threat.

Prevent Multiple Spells From Being Cast

Rule of Law
Arcane Laboratory
Ethersworn Canonist

If your opponent can't string together a bunch of spells, then they can't effectively utilize storm combo.  Rule of Law and Arcane Laboratory are difficult to remove, and Ethersworn Canonist is easier to remove but is cheaper and fits in better with a beatdown plan.

It's worth noting that the Canonist doesn't prevent your opponent from storming with artifacts, so it's conceivable that they could piece something together with enough storm to win.  This is not likely, but something to be aware of.

Stop All Spells For the Turn

Orim's Chant
Abeyance
Silence - M10

Orim's Chant and Abeyance (and Silence in M10) can be absolute disasters for your storm-wielding opponent, assuming that you're able to time things correctly.  Let's assume that your opponent has done something like this during their big turn:

Cast Lotus Petal
Cast Lotus Petal
Cast Dark Ritual
Cast Dark Ritual
Cast Cabal Ritual

... and you have Orim's Chant in your hand.  All that you need to do is respond to that final Ritual with the Chant, and they are totally hung out to dry.  Assuming that your opponent's next play is Tendrils of Agony, he will be unable to respond to your Chant with the game-ending sorcery.  Not only do all of their Rituals go to waste, but they will also mana burn for a ton.  Talk about a backbreaker!

Either of these cards can also be used as a pseudo-Time Walk in a pinch.

Raise the Cost of Spells

Trinisphere
Glowrider
Thorn of Amethyst
Sphere of Resistance - Exodus
Aura of Silence

There are many different options to raise the cost of spells, depending on what exactly you're looking for.  The most popular choice here is probably Trinisphere, which comes into play on turn one off of a Mox plus Ancient Tomb often in Stompy decks - but all of these cards serve a similar purpose:  slow the game down!

Most of these cards make it next to impossible for a storm deck to combo off without first finding a way to get their low casting costs back.  Glowrider and Thorn of Amethyst specifically target noncreature spells, so those play better with a beatdown plan.  Aura of Silence only targets artifacts and enchantments, but doubles as removal.  Sphere of Resistance, which comes out with Exodus, and Trinisphere are the most generic options.

Sabotage Their Spells

Brain Freeze
Pyrostatic Pillar
Mystic Remora
False Cure
Rain of Gore

If you can't prevent them from casting their business spells, then one thing you can try is to sabotage them.  The sneakiest thing here is to piggyback on their storm count with a spell of your own: Brain Freeze is the only relevant instant available.  Not only will you need to resolve your Brain Freeze, but you'll need to make sure that your opponent draws out before you die from your opponent's threat.

Pyrostatic Pillar is the often used in burn decks, and makes your opponent take damage from just about every card that they would use to build their storm count.  Mystic Remora has recently seen some play in Vintage, and can be used to draw many, many cards as your opponent tries to combo off.  Maybe there's something in there that can save you?

False Cure and Rain of Gore are targeted specifically at Tendrils of Agony.  If your opponent is losing life along with you (or at a 2 to 1 clip) as each Tendrils copy resolves, then it really changes the dynamics of the game.

Attack Supplemental Permanents

Pithing Needle
Krosan Grip
Disenchant
Suppression Field

NecroSpike relies on Necropotence, and one of Charbelcher Storm's kills relies on the deck's namesake artifact.  Each of these permanents is vulnerable, and a target for attack if you're up against one of these decks.

Pithing Needle comes down for just one mana and hoses each of these combo-enablers - although the Needle does require correct naming.  Krosan Grip or Disenchant (or something similar) can be used to take either of these cards out completely.  If you have a way to take out Necropotence, then make sure to do so AFTER they pay a bunch of life but BEFORE they actually draw their cards.

Suppression Field is a personal favorite of mine, and a card that I've been messing around with building around for Classic.  This increases the activation cost of about a million cards in Classic, including Necropotence and Goblin Charbelcher.

Attack Their Mana

Blood Moon
Magus of the Moon
Wasteland
Ghost Quarter
Smallpox
Null Rod

The decks discussed above generally run a very small number of lands, so attacking their lands doesn't necessarily hit a high number of targets.  You will notice though, that just about every land included is non-basic - so non-basic hate like Blood Moon or Wasteland can keep them off of a few crucial points of mana.  Smallpox can take down a land while also stripping away a card, which seems a bit better.

Attacking lands may not seem terribly exciting, so what about attacking the artifact mana?  Null Rod is the obvious choice here, this two mana artifact shuts off every Mox, Petal, and Diamond in storm combo's deck - not to mention Goblin Charbelcher.  Some combination of these techniques can be considered when trying to hold your opponent off of the necessary mana to combo off.

Prevent Library Searching

Aven Mindcensor
Shadow of Doubt
Mindlock Orb

Many decks based on storm combo rely on searching the library aggressively.  Limiting their ability to find what they need (when they need it) can really impede their path to victory.  Aven Mindcensor is probably the most exciting option here.  It sticks around, applies a beatdown plan, and flashes into play.  Shadow of Doubt cantrips and is cheaper - but only works once.  Mindlock Orb is expensive for Classic, but may someday find a home in a Tezzeret or Affinity deck.

One thing to point out is that these cards also prevent players from searching up lands with fetchlands, which 90% of Classic decks use aggressively.

Attack the Graveyard

Extirpate
Leyline of the Void
Tormod's Crypt
Relic of Progenitus
Faerie Macabre
Wheel of Sun and Moon 

The storm combo decks discussed here for Classic don't rely on the graveyard as much as others running around Eternal, so attacking the graveyard isn't a super-powerful tactic.  That doesn't mean graveyard hate doesn't have its place.  Most storm decks lean heavily on Cabal Ritual, and if you can keep them off of hitting threshold for BBBBB then it can slow them down quite a bit.  Against NecroSpike, attacking the graveyard can keep your opponent off of Tombstalker delve manner.

All of these cards are some variety of graveyard removal (and there's plenty more out there), but Extirpate is in a class by itself.  Storm combo decks utilize heavy redundancy, and Extirpating something like Dark Ritual as your opponent combos off can throw a monkey wrench into their plan.

Remove Yourself as a Target

Runed Halo
True Believer
Gilded Light
Ivory Mask

If your opponent is trying to win with Tendrils of Agony or Grapeshot, then casting something like Ivory Mask or True Believer will move them off of their plan - at least temporarily.  Note that Tendrils of Agony cannot target creatures, so if your opponent wants to remove a True Believer then he'll need a different plan.  Gilded Light is a solid instant option that also cycles when unneeded.

Runed Halo is a tricky option that is similar to Meddling Mage in that it requires you to figure out the spell that's going to kill you.  Note that none of these options can stop Empty the Warrens.  The Goblin-maker doesn't target you, and there's nothing valid to name for Runed Halo.

Deal With Goblin Tokens

Echoing Truth
Echoing Decay
Volcanic Fallout
Pyroclasm
Engineered Plague
Propaganda
Ghostly Prison
Moat
Windborn Muse
Magus of the Tabernacle
Sphere of Law

If your opponent is playing Empty the Warrens, then there are many options available to take out a horde of 1/1 Goblin tokens.  You can bounce them all to oblivion with Echoing Truth, send them to the great token graveyard in the sky with Echoing Decay, Volcanic Fallout, or Pyroclasm, get in for a little genocide with Engineered Plague, or hold off their attack with Propaganda, Ghostly Prison, Moat, or Windborn Muse.  Magus of the Tabernacle presents an upkeep cost that your opponent won't be able to match.  Sphere of Law costs four, but holds off Goblin tokens like a champion.

Prevent Your Death

Gaea's Blessing
Angel's Grace
Children of Korlis 

If your opponent is bringing Brain Freeze to battle, then a copy or two of Gaea's Blessing can frustrate your opponent big time.  Note that your opponent can play around this with another copy of Brain Freeze or some other card draw while the triggered ability of Gaea's Blessing is still on the stack, but it's still somewhat of a roadblock.

Children of Korlis and Angel's of Grace can both keep you alive until the end of the turn, but aren't really very exciting when it comes down to it.  Note that Angel's Grace doesn't do anything against Tendrils of Agony, since Tendrils causes loss of life and Angel's Grace only prevents damage.  You'll be able to live until the end of turn, but no longer.

The End

So there's the list.  Hopefully this rundown has given you a few things to think about when it comes to either playing with or against storm combo.  Did I forget anything major?  Do you have any tech that I don't know about?  Let me know!

Thanks for reading! 

Steve Gargolinski
spgmtgo@gmail.com
youtube.com/mtgexplorations
twitter.com/sgargolinski

11 Comments

you forgot by whiffy at Thu, 04/30/2009 - 10:36
whiffy's picture
5

There is another catagori to stopping storm in classic. Beatdown! even something as small as 4 damage with light disruption is a very real way to win because of how the current classic storm decks obtain victory. Every damage you get through is one less card for necro and makes adn riskyer.

Yep that's definitely true, by spg at Thu, 04/30/2009 - 10:54
spg's picture

Yep that's definitely true, if you can get some early damage through then it's much harder for those decks to seal the deal. Good call!

Suppression Field is also by platipus10 at Thu, 04/30/2009 - 11:53
platipus10's picture

Suppression Field is also great at disrupting mana since fetch lands are not a fan of suppression field in play.

true this card is awesome, by LOurs at Thu, 04/30/2009 - 14:16
LOurs's picture

true
this card is awesome, but in a competitive build, it is hard to abuse of its symetrical effect in a way you are unaffected

I really liked the formatting by Anonymous (not verified) at Thu, 04/30/2009 - 13:00
Anonymous's picture

I really liked the formatting of your article when it came to the battle options part, with card links and nice headers and a quick description. It was very easy to digest the information.

another crazy useful article by LOurs at Thu, 04/30/2009 - 14:12
LOurs's picture
5

another crazy useful article m8 ;)

I would add the bomberman which is also a pretty nice combo win condition to complete the overview.

go on man & take care

You say "If you have a way to by Anonymous (not verified) at Thu, 04/30/2009 - 17:20
Anonymous's picture

You say "If you have a way to take out Necropotence, then make sure to do so AFTER they pay a bunch of life but BEFORE they actually draw their cards."

I tried this once (guy activated Necropotence in his first main phase, I disenchanted it in his second main phase) and he STILL drew all the cards that were RFG'ed by the now dis-enchanted necropotence.

Was that a bug or is that how its supposed to work?

If it was a bug, can anyone else confirm it happened to them and if it has been fixed?

Yep you're right, that's my by spg at Thu, 04/30/2009 - 17:25
spg's picture

Yep you're right, that's my mistake:

"Removing Necropotence from play will not stop the cards from the life-payment ability from being put into your hand at the end of turn."

Whiffy knows everything. by Anonymous (not verified) at Fri, 05/01/2009 - 01:19
Anonymous's picture

Whiffy knows everything.

? by whiffy at Fri, 05/01/2009 - 02:07
whiffy's picture

?

Fighting Storm by Katastrophe at Sat, 05/02/2009 - 06:44
Katastrophe's picture
5

Wow, I didn't know there were so many decent card choices out there. I missed Odyssey-Ravnica so I never knew Suppression Field existed.

Children of Korlis seems like a good idea. It basically says "W, 1/1, sac this permanent to gain 10 life". And that should either make it easier for them to fizzle or cause them to wait longer to combo off. Although, against Grapeshot, the first Grapeshot will ping it, then the next 20 will be aimed at you. And I am SO MAD that Angel's Grace is a failure because they'll never revisit split second. An uncounterable spell that says "Counter target one big turn" would be nice at a cost lower than 4UU.

Stopspell and discard for me. :) I like your articles because I think fears of Counterbalance/Top and storm are discouraging people from trying classic. By showing people how to play around storm you're making it seem not so hopeless. (Of course, Classic still suffers from expensive staples. Countertop isn't the biggest problem.)