Khaos's Storm
Okay, so a decklist in a thread does not a Primer make. But allow me to reveal what has currently been the Gold Standard for recent Storm decks:[deck=Jon Finkel's Storm 9th-
16th GP Portland]
Creatures 4
4 Goblin Electromancer
Enchantment 4
4 Pyromancer Ascension
Win-Cons 3
3 Grapeshot
Gimme Fuel, Gimme Fire... 33
1 Peer Through Depths
2 Increasing Vengeance
3 Past in Flames
3 Desperate Ravings
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Manamorphose
4 Pyretic Ritual
4 Desperate Ritual
Land 16
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Steam Vents
3 Island
1 Mountain
1 Cascade Bluffs
3 Shivan Reef
Sideboard 15
1 Dispel
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Empty the Warrens
3 Shatterstorm
2 Defense Grid
2 Leyline of Sanctity
[/deck]
[deck]Pro Tour Born of the Gods Top 8 by Christopher Fennell[/deck]
[deck]Pro Tour Born of the Gods by Jon Finkel[/deck]
The point of Storm is to play all the spells. Make tons of mana, draw tons of cards, and then deliver lethal damage with Grapeshot or with a swarm of Goblins, courtesy of Empty the Warrens. Past in Flames turns your Graveyard into an extra (and gigantic) hand, and an active Pyromancer
Ascension is the equivalent of throwing an ocean of gasoline on an already raging wildfire. Once you're on a roll, it's hard to stop. Eventually, you draw the majority of your deck and play everything you have, killing your opponent in the process.
The neat thing about Storm is that you can actually go off as early as Turn 3, provided you have the extremely helpful Goblin Electromancer (Dobby!) online. In rare cases, it can be Turn 2 unaided.
So how do you “go off?” Well, it's simple. And complicated. The basics involve having enough gas (draw) and fuel (mana) to play all the spells available, culminating in a giant Storm count which will either bury your opponent with direct damage from a Grapeshot or a horde of Goblins from an Empty the Warrens.
However, I'm not going to lie to you. You will have games where you never get a chance to do “all the cool stuff.” Sometimes you'll win by attacking with a few Goblin Electromancers and slinging some Burn (Magma Jet). Sometimes you'll win because
your opponent will burn themselves out from their own manabase, allowing you to Grapeshot for a measly 3-4 damage.
And sometimes you just won't win at all.
The key to winning with Storm is finding your lines of play and sequencing them in just the right order to achieve maximum payoff. You win by playing your deck as perfectly as possible.
Also, a little luck helps also.
A good Storm player will be able to goldfish an opponent in a short amount of time. But a great Storm player will be able to change his gameplan and adapt to his opponent's interactions. Judging when the time is right to deviate from the standard Goldfish plan is what will separate the men from the boys.
But you're probably asking yourself, “What the hell, Khaos? I understand what the deck is going to do, but when are you going to teach me to become a man? Er...play the Perfect Storm???”
Storm is one of those “abstract” decks. There really is no “linear” play to it, aside from wanting an early Electromancer and/or
Pyromancer Ascension. Mulligans will be aggressive, however. What you want is a solid mix of cantrips and library manipulation, a la Scry and Sleight of Hand, and some amount of fuel in the form of your Rituals. What really gives the deck its kick is the Electromancer since it allows you to play your spells at a cheaper cost, allowing you to cast more shenanigans. Pyromancer Ascension, when online, contributes tremendous value by copying your spells-
Wait, you mean, I can pay 2 life for a Gitaxian Probe and draw two cards after I peek at my opponent's hand???
Yes, Virginia. You absolutely can.
Just note that “copied” spells do NOT count for your Storm count.
However, you will rarely get there by going Turn 1 Serum Visions, Turn 2 Pyromancer Ascension, Turn 3 Goblin Electromancer with a double Manamorphose + Serum Visions into infinity.
What will happen, more often than not, is that you'll keep hands based on this “nut” opener, only to be disrupted into oblivion by
your Jund or U/W/R opponent.
And then what will you do?
What I will do for you is explain each card's role in the deck and how you can use them outside the Goldfish scenarios into obtaining a victory, and what makes my adjustments to the "current" Gold Standard better for the archetype.
So put your thinking caps on and be prepared to dive in. I must warn you beforehand – this Primer is not for the lazy minds. And if you can make it past this Primer, then be prepared to rack your brain even further when playing the Goldfish game. If you can make it past that, you just may have the mental fortitude to play against a real opponent that is capable of disrupting, and worse, beating you.
You have been warned.
A Storm Is Brewing...
Storm is a deck that aims to win by sequencing a series of spells to attain a huge 'Storm' count. The final blow is delivered by a Grapeshot pointed at you opponent's head,
making a horde of goblin tokens with Empty the Warrens, or by playing enough Lightning Bolts (via copy effects) aimed at your opponent. This is all made possible by three effects: an engine, fuel, and a win-condition.
Listen to That Kitten Purr...
The two most effective Storm engines in Modern are Goblin Electromancer and [card]Pyromancer's Ascension.[/card] Having either one of these on the battlefield greatly increases your chance of winning by allowing you to effectively gain more mileage out of your fuel cards. Sure, it's possible to Storm out without these, but your game will be so much easier with these two cards on board. The third engine for the deck is Past in Flames, a card that turns your gigantic graveyard into an extension of your hand and allows you to reuse every piece of gas you've already consumed.
[card]Goblin
Electromancer[/card]: This nifty little 2-drop is incredibly fragile, but can almost single-handedly win a game for you by reducing the cast of your Ritual cards by one. Suddenly, your Manamorphoses are netting you mana, and your Desperate Rituals are now Dark Rituals (albeit in Red). With Past in Flames now being able to be cast of a single Ritual, it's pretty feasible to be able to combo out on Turn 3.
[card]Pyromancer's Ascension[/card]: Ideally, this is the card you'd love to have out on turn 2. Pyromancer's Ascension rewards you for playing your spells early and often, and, after accumulating enough tokens to make it active, will allow you to draw cards and make mana like a fiend. With each Ritual essentially adding double the mana and your cantrips drawing you 2+ cards, it's almost impossible to lose. The only downside is that the copied spells themselves don't count towards your Storm count, but who
cares? A Manamorphose that adds 4 mana and draws 2 cards is usually good enough to find you more gas to play more spells anyway.
Past in Flames:After playing out a stream of cantrips and Rituals, sometimes you'll inevitably fizzle out. Past in Flames allows you to reuse everything you've already played, allowing you to continue your Storm. Here's a point to remember: Past in Flames is a 'time stamp' card, meaning that when you cast it, it only sees the cards in your graveyard at the time the spell resolves. Basically, upon resolution, Past in Flames looks at the cards currently in your graveyard and grants them flashback and any new cards that are added don't gain that ability (unless you cast another Past in Flames to grant the new cards Flashback). A nifty thing that Past in Flames allows you to do is a trick to turn on your Pyromancer's Ascension. For example, if you've cast two Gitaxian Probes (or
any other card) and accumulated a counter on your Ascension, you can play Past in Flames to flashback one of the Probes from your graveyard to gain a second counter on your Ascension, which turns it “on.” Flashback the second Probe, copy it, and start going to town.
Gimme Fuel, Gimme Fire, Gimme That Which I Desire!
Fuel for the deck is divided into two categories: cantrips and rituals. Rituals provide mana for you to cast cantrips, which draw you into more cards allowing you to cast more rituals and cantrips.
Cantrips
Here is a list of the most commonly played cantrips in Storm. Typically, a Storm deck wants about 12-16 of these cards.
Gitaxian Probe: A “free” cantrip most of the time. It's especially good in that it allows you gain information about the opponent's gameplan, which can be crucial when timing
your big turn to go off.
Serum Visions: A solid 1 cost spell that can set up the next draw you'll make.
Sleight of Hand: Another 1 cost spell that draws you a card. It can be a tricky deciding on which card to take with it, but for better or for worse, Sleight of Hand lets you dig a little deeper than your average “draw a card” cantrip.
Thoughtscour: A new addition to Modern Storm decks. Not only does it draw you card, but it helps fill up your graveyard for a big Past in Flames play.
Desperate Ravings: Two mana to draw 2 cards is pretty good, even with the 'discard 1 card at random' clause. Hey, you'll be casting Past in Flames later, right? Desperate Ravings even has flashback too!
Faithless Looting: This card requires a higher land count than most Storm decks, but it allows you filter out your draws by chucking your excess lands.
When the card is good, it's great. When you're attempting to Storm with a small hand, be careful, as the card can actually provide a disadvantage, but even so, Past in Flames somewhat allows you to overcome this drawback.
Rituals
Pyretic Ritual: Two mana to make three mana doesn't seem like much, but the deck is very mana hungry. Mana makes the word go 'round, and when you're discounting this spell with an Electromancer or copying it with [card]Pyromancer's Ascension[/card], it adds up real fast.
Desperate Ritual: This is a 'strictly' better Pyretic Ritual when you consider that you can 'splice' it onto another Desperate Ritual to make even more mana. Yay for mo mana!
The Best Of Both Worlds
Manamorphose: This card does it all – it fixes your
mana to cast more blue spells, it draws a card, and when discounted, it actually creates more mana. When copied, this spell does so much work for you. Hands down, it is easily the best source of fuel for your deck. It's usually a good idea to save this card for your big turn, but considering its power level within the deck, there's never a bad time to cast this spell.
Win Conditions
Grapeshot: This is your 'go-to' card for your win. Aim it at the face for damage or split it up to clear your opponent's threats to buy some more time. When the spell is copied, it can get a little confusing, but remember this: if your opponent counters it, the copies are also on the stack, so unless your opponent has a ton of mana and a ton of counterspells, you're going to get value from it. Just be aware that the 'storm' copies don't get copied from an active Ascension.
[card]Empty the Warrens[/
card]: This is your alternate win-condition. Usually relegated to the sideboard to be swapped out in other matches (like when you anticipate an opposing Leyline of Sanctity in Game 2), Empty the Warrens can also be maindecked in a small number to provide some pressure to your opponent. The same 'storm' rules that apply to Grapeshot apply to this little token-making card as well.
Lightning Bolt: Usually found in the sideboard as an answer to fast creature decks, this card can also be maindecked to great success. When copied, it's almost as efficient as Grapeshot when it comes to killing your opponent.
Manabase:
A typical Storm deck needs very little land to operate since it makes most of the mana it needs with Rituals. Sixteen lands is usually the right the number since the deck has access to fetch lands like Scalding Tarn and [card]Misty
Rainforest[/card]. Players that want to run Faithless Looting will generally want to run 17-18 land in order to pitch the excess to the 'discard 2' clause.
Currently, the norm is usually a full set of each blue-based fetchland, a small number of Steam Vents, Shivan Reefs, Islands, and a single Mountain. Other choices to consider are a singleton of Cascade Bluffs or Sulfur Falls.
Words of Wisdom from the Wise Ones:
http://www.channelfireball.com/articles ... -by-storm/
http://www.starcitygames.com/article/28 ... odern.html
http://www.channelfireball.com/articles ... ia-report/
-Primer to be finished at the author's convenience-
