The Complete Guide to Ad Nauseam Tendrils

There's so much more information than one person could gather in an article. But the following is a summary of a decade of playing , discussing the deck with many great players, and learning from mistakes. It's a piece of my own legacy as a player, a love letter to this deck and its community.

Why Should One Play ANT?

There are many powerful combo decks in Legacy and one could argue that more often than not …

• ANT is extremely difficult to hate. We don't need the graveyard, we can use it. We don't need life points, we utilize them. We don't need board presence, we can almost always ignore it. Even as a storm deck, we typically don't need too many cards in hand. By running three (BUG) or, more commonly, four (plus red) colors, we have enough answers to deal with most, if not everything that Legacy has to offer.

• ANT is resilient. ANT is well balanced in terms of its mana/business/protection ratio. It's by far not the fastest combo deck out there, but it capitalizes on its consistent draws, great mulliganing, and powerful postboard adaptation.

• ANT plays powerful cards. We are talking Legacy, shouldn't all decks be playing powerful cards? Well, it's not that simple. Some decks have to make concessions to their strategy and play cards that are quite situational. A does nothing against us preboard, Elves run cards that only become powerful in a group or when paired with , and a is rendered useless in the face of or a .

• ANT omits the combat step. Apart from the occasional all in with Ooze or Goblin tokens, personally, this is my favorite feature of ANT. Not having to attack in a world full of , , Murktide Regents, and can only be a positive thing. Let them have the battlefield and nuke them from above.

• ANT is a spell-based critical mass combo deck, but can win off a single card. Usually, we need a certain number of cards in hand to combo off; typically, two rituals, a , and a tutor. In contrast to strategies like Show and Tell or Doomsday, which can win with only two or even one card in hand, it is necessary for ANT to have resources in the graveyard for to inflict comparable damage. Only a timely drawn is capable of winning on its own. In that regard, any tutor demands a certain amount of spare mana.

• ANT is versatile. Too many players adjust their decks too slowly. Guilty of doing it myself, just like the meta changes, we have to adapt to changes ourselves. ANT is quite a flexible deck, but it only has so much wiggle room to switch cards around. If there's too much hate flying around, one should opt to play a faster deck or something that ignores most interactions.

Decklist

Most ANT lists share a core that should not be touched. Eight cantrips hold it together, as well as eight rituals, eight mana artifacts, and around seven or eight protection spells.

The remaining slots can be filled to create one of the most common types of ANT (and everything in between):

• Four-Color ANT: The most popular version of ANT combines the power of Past in Flames and with the best sideboard cards in green, such as or .

• Grixis ANT/TNT: Burning Wish ANT, formerly known as TNT, stays strictly Grixis and runs a heavy wishboard that includes , , and .

• BUG ANT: With the addition of , it is theoretically possible to cut red and run alongside and .

• Domain ANT: There might be a very strange world where ANT with , , and sees play.

The sideboard usually consists of around six removal spells, around two to four anti-combo cards, such as Surgical Extraction or , and additional protection spells like Veil of Summer or Xantid Swarm.

There is a huge list of cards to consider when building a specific sideboard, from lightly fringe options like Pernicious Deed, , and to heavy fringe ones, such as and . There are no limits and ANT can adapt to a particularly one-sided meta better than other combo decks.

Playing ANT

There are a couple of golden rules one should adhere to. Traditionally, ANT has always been a slower, less explosive but more consistent and resilient storm deck than TES—even during the time when both decks looked very similar. When changing decks or picking up ANT for the first time, one has to adjust their own playing style to truly develop this deck's potential.

Finding Play Patterns

One of the most important and overlooked concepts when playing a proactive combo deck, is to establish play patterns and try to repeat them as consistently as possible. By play patterns I mean repetitive lines of play that lead to winning a game. Having Empty the Warrens in the deck allows for a combo line with only one ritual, a tutor, and a Lion's Eye Diamond; assuming we have two lands in play and a discard spell to clear the coast, this play pattern creates ten Goblins on turn two. A couple of questions have to be answered here to evaluate if this pattern deserves play: How often do we win with ten Goblins and one discard spell? Is this pattern adjustable? Are there any cards that can be changed or played in between? How often does this pattern see play?

It's easy to see that a deck like Belcher wants to play and activate on turn one as often as possible or put some Goblins into play. While not being as limited as Belcher, ANT also wants to maximize on its most powerful play and common play pattern: A protected turn two win. In contrast to Belcher, ANT has the ability to decelerate and turn into a tank preparing a late game win or try to find the occasional turn one combo kill.

Speaking of Combo Kills, These Are Our Options

• Tutor Chain: That's the cleanest kill because it does not involve specific engines. One simply builds enough mana to chain a couple of hellbent s into to win the game.

• Past in Flames: Using the graveyard to recast rituals and a tutor is the easiest way to create enough storm.

• Ad Nauseam: ANT is a bad deck because we don't play that many initial mana sources and have a relatively high mana value average for a storm deck. However, sometimes one has to cross their fingers and hope for the best.

• Empty the Warrens: The Goblins have slightly fallen out of favor, but are still a powerhouse because it's a potentially lethal storm spell that can be cast from hand using limited resources.

• Burning Wish, Living Wish: Wishes are, again, a big part of ANT. The much more common can grab , Empty the Warrens, Tendrils of Agony, or a that plays around nicely. utilizes , , or among many other possible targets.

• Aeve, Progenitor Ooze: The newest storm spell addition is, in my opinion, not a great card. Of course, it can win the game quickly and overpower almost every board state, but it's almost impossible to play from hand without searching for it with a tutor. When playing against tempo or control decks, this becomes a rather huge problem; also, it's somewhat dependent on .

Always ask yourself the following questions in this specific order:

1. Do I have enough mana to search up multiple Infernal Tutors and then go for lethal Tendrils?
2. Is a Past in Flames kill possible?
3. Can I cast Ad Nauseam and how can my opponent interact with my life totals this turn?
4. Can I cast Empty the Warrens and will it be enough to outrace my opponent's clock?
5. Do I have enough mana to go for a Burning Wish for Peer into the Abyss line?
6. Can I search up Aeve, Progenitor Ooze and will it secure the win in one attack?
7. Do I need my opponent to add to the storm count or change their life totals?
8. Is there really no way I can win this game?

When to Combo off: Patience Versus Bravery, the Turn One Dilemma

Take your chance if you have an unprotected turn one kill. Nowadays, some decks run up to eight Force effects. Magic is a game of big numbers, and it's never about that one time where the opponent had one Force and nothing else in hand. In most cases, deciding on one's own fate actively is a better plan and going for it on turn one still makes for a solid play. There are many decks that can lock out ANT from the beginning or combo off themselves. Does a turn one sculpting the hand really improve the odds, or are the chances higher that the opponent cannot interact with a turn one Ad Nauseam?

Memorizing Patterns

It's crucial to have winning lines memorized and not waste time on thinking through potential loops. Usually, a couple of basic lines are enough because they are easily adjustable by changing a card or two. Once in mind, one will execute combo kills faster and with more confidence.

Time is the only real equalizer we have, the only absolute term that is true for everyone and it's extremely important not to give away that we are playing a combo deck by starting to think and count before playing a cantrip. The easiest thing to remember is that two , , and searching up Past in Flames enable a draining for 18 life without spare mana.

Pen and Paper, Dice, and the Mind

Some players like to use dice to keep track of their storm and mana counts. I would advise not to do that because dice can get knocked over and it also discloses the same amount of visible information to the opponent. In contrast, this method can be used to play mind games with the opponent when taking out fancy storm counters and dice while playing a cantrip and then passing the turn.

Writing dashes for storm and letters for mana is the safest way to visualize the combo kill. Keep in mind that opponents are not allowed to look at your notes midgame but can ask you how many spells have been played and so on.

The best way is to memorize mana and storm without writing something down. While this can be quite tricky, one can put spells that were cast this turn slightly offset to the previous ones in the graveyard. Especially for Empty the Warrens lines, it should be noted that the less the opponent suspects a combo, the more impactful the outcome.

The Issue with Ad Nauseam

When evaluating potential cards or a specific list, it's pretty easy and obvious to dismiss cards because of their mana values. On the one hand, life loss is somewhat relevant, but the card should only have a limited impact on this decision. Ad Nauseam is not this deck's first engine, and it sometimes functions as a value spell to refill the hand.

Don't forget that it's an instant. In a meta that demands faster and more consistent Ad Nauseam kills, one could build toward a more optimized list with , , and even a second Ad Nauseam main.

Mana Versus Storm

When playing ANT, I count mana first, then storm. Mana is the enabler for almost anything, and without mana, there'll be no storm, which should be quite obvious. However, since ANT is a spell-based combo deck, it's tempting to keep some zero-mana artifacts in hand.

Generally speaking, it is correct to play out Lion's Eye Diamonds against decks with discard. It's simply better having such a powerful card in play and disregarding storm counts than potentially losing it to a .

Tips and Tricks

There are various play patterns that might not be obvious at first sight, but appear regularly. It is highly important to memorize multiple winning lines and play quickly. The typical Past in Flames loop that every ANT player needs to know consists of two Dark Rituals, a Lion's Eye Diamond, and an Infernal Tutor. But there are so many more possibilities; almost an infinite number of plays. The following list contains a couple of useful tips to keep in mind.

• The Threshed Cabal Ritual: If one has four mana floating, but fewer than seven cards in the graveyard, one can put Infernal Tutor on the stack, respond with , and then sacrifice Lion's Eye Diamond. That way, one may discard spare cards to achieve threshold before the ritual resolves.

• Hail Mary Ponder: Sometimes one has to go for risky moves, but it's usually better to try to win the game proactively before allowing the opponent to have another turn. It's totally fine to go all in with a cantrip and respond by sacrificing multiple Lion's Eye Diamonds for thre black, blue, or red mana.

• The End-of-Turn Ad Nauseam: Let's not forget that Ad Nauseam is an instant and it can be correct to power it out via rituals during the opponent's end step. Against Death and Taxes, Burn, or Elves—generally speaking, against decks that cannot interact on turn one—an end-of-turn Ad Nauseam puts one in a great position, untapping with 20+ cards in hand; even though it may not come up that often. Cycling Veil of Summer and bluffing a bit can also enable an Ad Nauseam in the end step.

• Chaining Storm: is not only a great bounce spell, but can create a decent storm count by targeting plastic mana, meaning and Lion's Eye Diamond, and sacrificing lands to keep the chain going. This was not an uncommon line back in the days when two or three Chain of Vapor were the gold standard in Storm sideboards.

• Value Past in Flames: Even if there is no winning line available, Past in Flames can be played just to recast a discard spell or a cantrip.

• Magic Number Nine: This is the crucial number of cards one needs in the graveyard to flashback Cabal Ritual with threshold after a loop with Past in Flames already in hand. Infernal Tutor searches for Cabal Ritual while Past in Flames gets discarded via Lion's Eye Diamond. Then one needs nine cards because Past in Flames is the first that gets flashbacked, bringing the graveyard down to eight cards, which are necessary for the Cabal Ritual that's on the stack next.

Fighting Hate and Playing Against ANT

Before talking about matchups against specific archetypes, it is productive to discuss general concepts of fighting hate pre- and postboard. If the opponent doesn't pressure our life totals with creatures or threatens to have a combo on their own, we will always be in a good position to win the game.

Fighting hate is all about picking the correct battles. A Dark Ritual can test the waters and draw a counter out of the opponent's hand. Currently, it's advisable to start every game with a turn one discard spell because there are much more noninteractive decks running around than a couple of years ago.

Let's not forget that we cannot beat everything. A fast clock with two angles of attack usually means that we are in a pretty rough spot. The hardest opponent to win against is a fellow ANT player on another deck because they understand the subtle nuances that hold the deck together. When playing correctly, they can make ANT crumble to pebbles.

When facing Tempo, one should always opt to include permanents against ANT in the sideboard. Not long ago, cards such as were heavily undervalued in a meta where ANT was the premier combo deck. If your deck consists of hate permanents, you definitely should think about . Just imagine playing Storm against an opponent with a on one and a Mindbreak Trap in hand; things happen sometimes.

There have been times where a transformational sideboard kind of worked, using or , but unlike Doomsday, ANT needs a critical mass of noncreature spells to combo off properly, and topdecking a creature when a ritual is really needed is quite a bad feeling.

Matchups

This section is kind of generalized, but there have been decisive factors in respective matchups that need to be achieved; sub-plots, so to speak, that make a win possible. It's all about reaching the higher ground. In the following, I will not write about specific decks but focus on more universal approaches.

Tempo/Aggro

Mana base is key here! Having both basics or at least the Island in play, and the opponent not playing a turn one creature, is a huge factor. In certain situations, with the typical no-cantrip, all-black spells starting hands, it's obviously correct to go for the Swamp first. Getting a cantrip dazed sometimes is a way to get ahead on board. The more red blasts are played, the better ANT gets. Less common are hate permanents like or , but once resolved they can swing the game in tempo's favor.

Bringing in or any other potential removal can be game-winning because it gets rid of the clock and the occasional or .

Blue Control

Traditionally, one of ANT's best matchups, ANT is built to fight those blue-based control decks. Running and many other useless cards makes them one of the easiest decks to beat preboard. After boarding, the longer the game lasts, the higher the chances that we get outvalued with , , , and a stream of .

A decent way to combat them is to bring in or and hope that they don't have multiple answers; alongside Abrupt Decay. Usually, cards to cut are ones that bring less value to the table, such a , , or even a .

Prison

Going first helps and dodging these decks is a great way to have a relaxing afternoon. Unfortunately for us, it's harder than a coin flip matchup and , , , and are tough to beat when paired with enough pressure.

There will always be at least one playable prison deck in Legacy and we have to be prepared to face it. Apart from our removal spells, going fast for Goblins is a potent line. Sometimes we can sweep the board at some point using , , , or , but these situations are rare.

Boarding out some discard spells, a couple of cantrips, and off-color cards should help postboard. Some prison decks play , which becomes quite a problem when paired with taxing permanents. From my experience, it's more common to win through a Thalia than a Chalice on one because cantripping becomes vital to find Cabal Rituals and Lion's Eye Diamonds as fast as possible.

Combo

Formerly taking on the control role in many combo matchups, ANT sometimes has to go fast against other combo decks. Usually, discard spells clear the way to victory for both parties. Since ANT is not as explosive as other combo archetypes, it is beneficial to run as many disruptive elements as possible. Oftentimes, there's not much space left in the sideboard, but a mix of , , and Veil of Summer should do the trick. Preventing the opponent from comboing off is a good first step because ANT usually is better at rebuilding resources.

Nonetheless, other combo decks are rather strong against ANT due to their speed and explosiveness. Black-Red Reanimator can easily win against a Surgical Extraction and we cannot afford to make land drops and cantrip as if we had all the time in the world.

Rogue

This category consists of all the other decks that see play, rotate in and out of the format, and sometimes put up decent results. It'd be impossible to list them all and discuss in detail. But let's not underestimate those decks because they can be rather well-positioned against Storm decks due to their surprise factor. Since ANT usually lets them play for a couple of turns, the unknown becomes the scariest part.

Our sideboard should contain suitable answers, and most of the time, ANT has the better game plan. Occasionally, however, one loses to that singleton or flashed in .

The Future of Spell-Based Combo in Legacy

Legacy has been changing quite a bit. Once incredibly powerful cards such as , , , or even are getting pushed out of the format. Permanents have become much more powerful over the last couple of years, while instants and sorceries reached their peak in 1993. There'll never be a better draw spell than , a better red removal spell than , and a stronger accelerator than Dark Ritual. Obviously, a highly exaggerated statement, but you get the idea.

Usually, the instants and sorceries in a Legacy deck are older than the permanents; the exception to this rule are the original dual lands. Following this notion, one could argue that spell-based combo decks have seen better days and it'd be difficult to negate this thesis entirely. There is always room for innovation: Going fast using , , , and as protective spells or leaving them out just like Belcher has been doing for many years, or merging strategies—having a strong plan B, so to speak—like Painter's beatdown plan.

Ignoring the battlefield has always been a strong part of ANT. Blanking opponents' removal and leaving them stranded with dead cards in hand is becoming more and more difficult these days. Long gone are the days of and other simple beatdown creatures. Slowing down and trying to grind out games like in 2015 seems almost impossible. Certain play patterns, once a feature of ANT's consistency, appear rather fragile in the context of today's Legacy: Passing the turn after playing a fetch land or cantripping on turn one without impacting the board state or interacting with the opponent are no longer as desirable as they used to be.

Finally, I'd like to acknowledge the many Storm players I have met over the years, on- and offline, with whom I shared thoughts and exchanged ideas. Without the Storm community, the deck wouldn't have been explored in such great depth by many great minds of the game.

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Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, not of Cardmarket.