[Primer] UR Past in Flames Storm

[Lectrys]

Modern UR Past in Flames Storm Primer

In the right shell, Past in Flames is a one-card combo. Cast a bunch of instant and sorcery spells, cast it, cast the same bunch of instant and sorcery spells again, and start winning the game. Guess what shell is the best to abuse this card? UR Storm, which wants to cast a bunch of instant and sorcery spells anyway. Past in Flames is the better half of Yawgmoth’s Will, it’s in the same colour as all the Modern-legal rituals, and it’s not entirely hosed by targeted discard—which makes it an awesome Storm-generating engine.

The Core
Every good UR Past in Flames Storm deck starts with the core below:

4 Pyretic Ritual
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Seething Song
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Manamorphose
3 Past in Flames
4 Grapeshot
4 Serum Visions


Want to know why the core is the core? Then read below!

Spoiler:

Dig
Serum Visions: Preordain is banned, so this is its closest replacement. Not being able to actually dig for the card you want before you draw a card sucks, but at least you get to fix your next draws (or make them substantially better).

Rituals
Desperate Ritual: It’s the better 2 cmc red ritual, as you can splice these onto each other to produce 2 net mana from 1 card. Only pull off this tactic if you’re not up against countermagic, though.

Seething Song: The most efficient ritual left in Modern, it produces 2 net mana. Too bad it’s 3 cmc.

Pyretic Ritual: It sucks compared to Rite of Flame, but Rite is banned, so this will have to do. It basically does the same thing as Desperate Ritual, except you can’t splice multiples onto each other.

Free Spells
Gitaxian Probe: Draw a card for free, and look at your opponent’s hand to boot? Awesome! Shame paying 2 life to cast this card is actually relevant against aggro. Also, unlike Manamorphose, this card can’t fix your mana colours for you.

Manamorphose: It turns two red mana into two blue mana and draws a card? Sweet! It is a 2 cmc card, though, so unless you have Pyromancer Ascension in your deck, use this mid-combo only.

The Only Reason You’re Playing This Deck
Past in Flames: What was Wizards thinking when they made this card? This card basically returns your graveyard to your hand in this deck. Cast a bunch of rituals and free draw spells, cast this, cast those rituals and free draw spells again (and maybe a cantrip or two), and generate enough Storm to make opponents cry that way. Multiples are pretty much dead, though, which is why this isn’t always a 4-of.

The Storm Spell of Choice
Grapeshot: This is the deck’s Storm card of choice, as it deals the damage immediately, doesn’t discriminate against certain decks (like Ignite Memories favours control), and is very cheap. Multiples are not dead, as it’s much easier to combo off if you have 2 of them. Fighting through Mindbreak Trap is a chore with this card, but it’s still doable, especially if you run Pyromancer Ascension.

The Backup Dancers
Obviously, a 31-card core does not make a deck, and even if you add 18 lands and a fourth Past in Flames, this still leaves you with 10 slots open. What do you fill those slots with? The following should help. Note that you might find the burn spells and other Storm spells in the sideboard instead.

Spoiler:

Dig
Sleight of Hand: Ponder is banned, so this is its closest replacement...maybe. You get to dig 2 cards deep, then select the better card of the two. It’s a shame you can’t opt to keep the other card on top, but them’s the breaks. One tip: if you don’t have Past in Flames or Grapeshot in hand and you see Past in Flames and Grapeshot with this card, always put Past in Flames into your hand and bottom Grapeshot.

Peer Through Depths: This is awesome if you don’t run Pyromancer Ascension and still pretty good if you do. Dig 5 is incredible, especially after we lost Dig 4 and Dig 3. It doesn’t find you lands, though.

Desperate Ravings: This is very good if you run Pyromancer Ascension and okay if you don’t. Unlike all the other options in this section, it’s guaranteed eventual card advantage, and since you only randomly discard 1 card after you draw 2, you still have a relatively sculpted hand after you cast this. Just don’t randomly ditch Pyromancer Ascension and you should be fine.

Ideas Unbound: Drawing 3 cards is awesome. Discarding 3 cards afterward, not so much. This is decent dig, but the card disadvantage may be unattractive. This card gets better mid-combo, as you can keep the cards you draw for longer, and if all else fails, just discard lands. The mana cost may also turn you off.

Muddle the Mixture: A very underrated choice, this card is Grapeshot No. 5 if you’re stuck comboing off without any Storm spells in hand. It’s also a spare Echoing Truth, Magma Jet, Early Frost, or Pyroclasm if you need it post-sideboard. Best of all, it’s also counterspell back-up in a pinch! The part of the Transmute cost is rather harsh, though.

Thought Scour: This is very good if you run Pyromancer Ascension, as it provides fuel for that enchantment for cheap, and is still decent if you don’t, as netting more spells after Past in Flames isn’t shabby. Being an instant also helps its case.

Faithless Looting: For 1 mana, especially when it’s red, drawing 2 cards is great. Discarding 2 cards straight afterwards is not so great. This card has flashback, so you can potentially dig 4 cards deep if you can spare the mana, but again, the card disadvantage may be unattractive. At least you’re able to cast this off ritual mana if you need help mid-combo, though.

Burning Inquiry: About the only thing good about this card is that it wrecks opponents’ hands. Otherwise, drawing 3 cards, then immediately discarding 3 of them at random is pure card disadvantage and wrecks your hand, too. I suppose casting this on Turn 1 wrecks your hand the least.

Goblin Lore: Card parity is good. Turning your hand into random trash is not. If you want to collect a critical mass of spells, play Desperate Ravings.

Izzet Charm: Well, it’s fairly inefficient dig (Ideas Unbound does it 1.5 times better), but it also counters spells and kills hate bears, so it’s a definite option. At least it also digs and does everything at instant speed.

Gifts Ungiven: This is only useful in slower, land-heavy builds, but such a powerful, card advantage-generating tutor pays lots of dividends. Search for three rituals and Past in Flames and you’re well on the way to victory, especially if you can accumulate enough mana to flash this card back.

Other Rituals
Goblin Electromancer: Making spells one mana cheaper is like adding mana to your mana pool. Yes, the mana can be blue instead of red like what those other rituals produce. This ritual on legs is pretty variable and often dies before you can get anything out of it, but at least it draws away general permanent removal like Abrupt Decay, and at least it can “produce” blue mana.

Simian Spirit Guide: It’s not a spell (unless you want 3 less mana and a 2/2 Ape Spirit out of the deal). It also gets exiled if you want free mana. Thus, this gets pushed to the sidelines, but you can still use it to add speed to your deck if you want.

Other Storm Engines
Pyromancer Ascension: Yes, discussion of Past Ascension Hybrid decks is allowed here. As long as you charge it up fast, this baby will let you draw 5+ cards in a single turn. After a Past in Flames and a ritual or two, charging up extras is very, very fast. Heck, charge up the Ascension once, cast Past in Flames, and cast whatever charged up the Ascension again for a quick active Ascension. Pyromancer Ascension and Past in Flames make a sick, sick tag team as long as you construct your deck correctly.

Pyromancer’s Swath: Remember this slightly old tech? This turns each Grapeshot copy into a Lightning Bolt, so you only need to get to 7 Storm to be lethal—and you can dodge graveyard hate with that little Storm. Gaddock Teeg also won’t interrupt this way of comboing off. Sadly, Qasali Pridemage will, so be careful about using this card in an enchantment-unfriendly meta.

Epic Experiment: You’ll have to sink a lot of mana into this puppy (X = 4 is shaky; X = 5 and above is where you start to reliably get the goods), but it’s well worth it when you produce quite a bit of mana and draw a couple of good cards. The fact that it doesn’t use the graveyard at all is a plus.

Reforge the Soul: Do you know how often you don’t end up with 2-3 rituals or a Storm engine after you Draw 7? This is a fairly unreliable Storm engine and begs for Simian Spirit Guides in your deck.

Other Storm Spells
Empty the Warrens: Leyline of Sanctity? Witchbane Orb? Pah, we won’t target the opponent instead with this convenient Storm spell. You need even less Storm than Grapeshot requires for this baby to be effective—5 Storm already produces an impressive 10 Goblins, and 10 Storm means your Goblins will likely be lethal next turn. Too bad those Goblins don’t have Haste and also die to absolutely everything. Being able to profitably use this card at a lower Storm count means that it also basically dodges graveyard hate aimed at Past in Flames.

Ignite Memories: It costs one more mana than Empty the Warrens and requires less mana than Grapeshot, but aggro tends to dump its hand by the time you want to cast this. Thus, this spell is really only good against control—and good luck trying to Storm out against control. Basically, this card is a much worse Tendrils of Agony, and if you keep hitting lands, you aren’t even guaranteed to get any damage out of this card.

Burn
Lightning Bolt: It’s only the most efficient burn spell ever. 3 damage for 1 mana is very sweet. It kills all the hate bears you need it to and fries some hard-hitting creatures like Steppe Lynx and Insectile Aberration to boot. Plus, you can fling it at your opponent’s head mid-combo for the same low price!

Magma Jet: It still kills Ethersworn Canonist, Gaddock Teeg, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, and Meddling Mage, and it also lets you Scry 2 for bonus digging. Too bad it’s 2 cmc and only deals 2 damage, though.

Counterspells
Remand: This is about the only counterspell you should consider in a UR Storm maindeck. Why? Because it’s cheap, it gives you gas if you need to hold off a Tarmogoyf, and you can do some pretty funky stuff with Storm spells with it. If you’d otherwise not have enough Storm or are getting Mindbreak Trapped and have enough mana, just Remand your Grapeshot and cast it again.

Wonky Speed Stuff
Quicken: This is an underrated card choice in a control meta, so you can punish those Teachings or Gifts decks by Storming off in their face when they tap out. Just cast the first one just before Past in Flames and the second one before your Storm spell of choice. This baby also cantrips—too bad it won’t dig.

The Land Selection
Being an uber-lean combo deck, this deck cannot afford to play any lands that don’t produce coloured mana. Thus, cards like Ghost Quarter and Tectonic Edge are out. Also, 16+ lands is a must because of consistency issues, but you can go as high as 18 and still get away with it.

Spoiler:

Coloured Mana
Island: To not get completely hosed by Blood Moon and Magus of the Moon, running these is vital. Run more of these than Mountains, as you need blue mana to cast your dig spells early.

Mountain: It’s good to have a plain old Mountain or two in case you need red mana, fetching a Steam Vents untapped will cost too much life, and fetching that same Vents tapped will frustrate your mana supply.

Steam Vents: It’s an Island. It’s a Mountain. If you pay 2 life, it won’t enter the battlefield tapped. What’s not to like?

Scalding Tarn, Misty Rainforest, Arid Mesa: These fetchlands are in order of preference. Scalding Tarn is best, as it gets both Islands and Mountains. Misty Rainforest is second best, as it gets Islands and you need Islands early in order to cast your dig spells. Arid Mesa is the worst, as it only gets Mountains and you don’t need Mountains until you’re going to combo off (or cast Pyromancer Ascension).

Shivan Reef: This is the only other blue/red dual you should consider, as it produces both blue and red mana on its own the turn you plonk it down. It hurts quite a bit, though.

Cascade Bluffs: Keeping a one-land hand would otherwise be pretty good if that land wasn’t this card. Since it doesn’t produce coloured mana on its own, the resulting tempo loss probably will kill you. I mean, you can’t cast anything in this deck without coloured mana!

Sulfur Falls: Again, keeping a one-land hand would otherwise be pretty good if that land wasn’t this card. Since this enters the battlefield tapped if you don’t already have an Island or Mountain (i.e. another land) on the field, the resulting tempo loss may kill you. It’s pretty cheap, though.

Halimar Depths: It provides decent dig, but it’s guaranteed to ETB tapped. Since the dig it provides is approximately the same as what Serum Visions will dole out, this land isn’t really worth it.

Watery Grave: Only use this if you splash black for sideboard cards like Dark Confidant and Thoughtseize. As UR Storm depends more on blue than red early-game, Blood Crypt is a poor substitute.

Breeding Pool: Only use this if you splash green for sideboard cards like Ancient Grudge and Tarmogoyf. Again, as UR Storm likes blue more than red early-game, Stomping Ground is a poor substitute.

The All-Important Sideboard
Face it: you will be playing a lot of Game 2s and Game 3s. And in those games, your opponent will bring in the most brutal hate. They will stop you from casting more than 1 spell a turn, they will stop you from casting your best spells, they will stop you from abusing your graveyard, and more. Even red and green decks can join in on the fun with Mindbreak Trap, Ravenous Trap, Leylines, graveyard hate rocks, Surgical Extraction, and Thorn of Amethyst. Plus, there are some decks we most likely don’t win Game 1 against, such as Bant, Merfolk, RUG Tempo Thresh, UB Tempo, Fae, and maybe Teachings and Counter-Cat Zoo. You best be prepared for those harrowing times with some of the following cards:

Spoiler:

The “Screw graveyard hate, Meddling Mage, Ethersworn Canonist, Gaddock Teeg, Rule of Law, Nevermore, Thorn of Amethyst, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, and Leyline of Sanctity” Plan
Echoing Truth: Got two Leyline of the Voids staring at you? How about two Ethersworn Canonists or two Nihil Spellbombs? Bounce them all with this cheap spell! If you’re against the mirror and your opponent has cast Empty the Warrens while you weren’t looking, you can also wipe the board for a mere 2 mana with this spell!

Wipe Away: Sick and tired of people activating Tormod’s Crypt or Relic of Progenitus in response to your bounce spells? Use this spell and they’ll never be able to pull off those tricks again! This card’s 3 cmc is a bit steep, though.

Repeal: It’s a rarity: a bounce spell that draws a card! Awesome! It’s also often cheaper than Cryptic Command, so it’s in our books. Beware: this cannot actually expel Gaddock Teeg, as it has X in its mana cost.

Into the Roil: It either bounces a troublesome nonland for cheap or it bounces a troublesome nonland and cantrips for double the price.

The “Screw counterspells, Trickbind, Ravenous Trap, and Surgical Extraction” Plan
Dispel: Let me guess. You’re worried about counterspells. This is a 1 cmc spell that counters counterspells. It’s less restrictive than Guttural Response, so this goes in our books. It’s also a spell that counters opponents’ burn, life gain, graveyard hate spells, removal, and more, so it’s surprisingly flexible for counterspell hate.

Pact of Negation: Mindbreak Trap? Ravenous Trap? Counterspells targeting rituals or Past in Flames? Pah, you’ve got a free counterspell that trumps anything control can throw at you. If you fizzle, you’ll likely lose next turn if you cast this spell, though.

Spell Pierce: This is the best counterspell-screwing option if you’re also worried about Memoricide effects. People can play around the mana tax relatively easily, though.

Defense Grid: Making counterspells prohibitively expensive to cast is fun. Beware of Spell Pierce, Spell Snare, and Pact of Negation, though, as they are cheap enough to sidestep this card.

The “Screw graveyard hate, Leyline of Sanctity, Slaughter Games, and faster decks” Plan
Goblin Bushwhacker: Going all-in on Empty the Warrens post-board? This guy can make your other Goblins hit significantly faster and harder.

The “Screw control, let’s tap their lands” Plan
Gigadrowse: A bit mana-intensive, but tapping every single land your opponent controls that produces blue mana is awesome. Just watch out for Mindbreak Trap, Ravenous Trap, Surgical Extraction, and permanent-based hate afterward.

Early Frost: A lot of UR Storm builds can’t accumulate enough mana to tap out opponents with Gigadrowse. This underrated gem taps three lands for only two mana, and if you’re comboing out on Turn 4, tapping three lands is often enough. Just watch out for Spell Pierce and Spell Snare.

Dreadship Reef, Calciform Pools: Only use these cards with Gigadrowse. They let you untap an unreal number of lands with that Replicate spell. If control doesn’t pack Mindbreak Trap, Trickbind, or Rewind, they’re screwed.

The “Screw control, they sided out their removal so let’s punish them” Plan
Dark Confidant: A lot of decks would kill to be able to use a 2-mana draw engine. I’d like to think we’re one of them. Our curve’s pretty low, anyway, so he shouldn’t hurt us much while he gives us enough gas to go off again and again.

The “We’ll never get past all the hate, and they sided out their removal” Plan
Kiln Fiend: Ah, the old standby. It’s a little inconsistent and can’t stand Ethersworn Canonist and Rule of Law, but it packs a devastating punch as long as you can keep fuelling it with cantrips.

Delver of Secrets: Those people weren’t kidding when they say this is a flying blue Wild Nacatl. This guy has a very high chance of flipping when you run 16-18 lands, 4 of this guy, and 4 of another creature. 3 power for 1 mana cannot be denied if you want to go the man plan.

Goblin Guide: 2 power? For 1 mana? With Haste? I’m so in! …Okay, he’s not as good as Delver of Secrets, but if you need redundancy, this guy will answer the call.

Storm Entity: This guy also can’t stand Ethersworn Canonist and Rule of Law, but at least it gets pretty large on a Storm count of 4 to 6 (so it dodges graveyard hate). Having Haste has to count for something, too.

Vendilion Clique: It’s aggressive—3 power for 3 mana is on curve, especially when this team of Faeries flies. It’s disruptive—you can use its ETB ability to strip counterspells and other hateful cards from your opponent’s hand. It’s an overall good guy. Delver may be just as aggressive two turns faster, but you can definitely use this guy to complement the little blue Human.

Tarmogoyf: Exarch Twin occasionally boards into RUG Tempo Thresh, so why can’t we? I mean, we can probably squeeze in some green mana sources...

Quirion Dryad: This card is to Goyf as Kiln Fiend is to Goblin Guide—more unreliable, but can grow pretty big pretty fast with every spell you cast.

The “Screw Ethersworn Canonist, Rule of Law, and Thorn of Amethyst, we’re casting one devastating spell a turn” Plan
Polymorph: This is the one devastating spell you’re casting that turn. This will cheat out the best creature in the game for a mere 4 mana. Let’s just say that this creature is so good, if your opponent cheats in Progenitus at the same time and attacks first, you still win. …All right, just read what that creature is below.

Emrakul, the Aeons Torn: This is (at least arguably) the best creature in the game. With 15 power, 15 toughness, Flying, and Annihilator 6, there’s no board state she cannot solve…except Grim Lavamancer equipped with Basilisk Collar, Vampire Nighthawk accompanied by 6 other permanents, Mangara of Corondor, hastily assembled Exarch Twin and Melira Pod combos, Mortarpod backed up by Vault of the Archangel, Sorin, Lord of Innistrad with 6+ loyalty, a very untimely Wrath of God, and other nonsense like that. And you can get her out with Polymorph!

Dryad Arbor: It’s a cheap, uncounterable, tutorable creature to Polymorph into a devastating fattie. Make sure to run Misty Rainforests maindeck to get this guy post-board, though.

Deceiver Exarch: This guy? Pestermite? Nearly the same thing, except this guy has 1 power and can actually block things while the Faerie has 2 power and dies to absolutely everything. Redundancy is consistency, though, so try sticking both this guy and Pestermite in your sideboard if you want to board into Exarch Twin.

Splinter Twin: This guy? Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker? Nearly the same thing, except this guy costs 1 mana less and is an Aura while the Kamigawa goblin costs 5 mana and is a creature. Again, if you want some consistency, stick them both in your sideboard for the Exarch Twin plan.

The “Screw this forest of artifacts” Plan
Shattering Spree: Staring down a Relic of Progenitus and a Thorn of Amethyst? Boot them both with this artifact board wipe!

Ancient Grudge: Need to deal with an Ethersworn Canonist fast, but worried you’ll have to smack a later Nihil Spellbomb, too? Use this card, but make sure you can get some green mana to flash this card back!

Shatterstorm: Up against a ton of angry artifact hate rocks and angry artifact creatures? Fuel this card with a ritual and blow them all up!

Vandalblast: Are you worried about Affinity, but still think that you’ll only need to blow apart one artifact a lot of the time? Try this!

The “Screw this army of hate bears” Plan
Pyroclasm: What do Ethersworn Canonist, Gaddock Teeg, and Meddling Mage have in common? They all get in the way of UR Storm’s plans and they all have 2 toughness. This is the cheapest board sweeper in our colours that kills all of them, and this can fry fields of Merfolk to boot.

Firespout: Let’s say you want a sweeper with more meat on its bones. How about Firespout? For 1 more mana, it deals 1 more damage to everything...that doesn’t fly. Hey, those hate bears mentioned above also don’t fly.

Engineered Explosives: It blows up all the hate bears we can think of and hates on Thorn of Amethyst, graveyard hate rocks, and armies of tokens to boot. It might be a little slow, though, especially if you have to blow up 2-cmc stuff. Speaking of 2-cmc stuff, Gaddock Teeg stops this from being cast if he’s already on the board, so this card can’t quite blow him up.

Pyrite Spellbomb: Okay, it only fries one hate bear instead of lots of them, but this is a card that actually permanently deals with Kor Firewalker. Seeing as this guy can nullify at least half a Grapeshot alone, this has to count for something.

The “Screw everything, let’s disrupt them” Plan
Thoughtseize: See a hand with three lands, Spellstutter Sprite, Vendilion Clique, Snapcaster Mage, and Path to Exile and you’ll be glad you cast Thoughtseize. The life loss hurts, though, especially against aggro decks.

Duress: We’re more worried about counterspells and targeted discard than anything else, so Duress is the other targeted discard spell of choice. It also hoses graveyard hate instants and Memoricide effects.

The “Screw targeted discard, the mirror, etc.” Plan
Leyline of Sanctity: Do you hate Inquisition of Kozilek, Thoughtseize, Grapeshot, and Murderous Redcap with a burning passion? Hose them all with this enchantment you likely won’t need to cast! Shame you can’t realistically cast this if you naturally draw into it, though.

The “Screw discard” Plan
Ignorant Bliss: It foils Jund and Death Cloud’s plans to strip your hand, and it still lets you draw a card afterward! Shame it’s 2 cmc, so targeted discard still has a good chance of sneaking in.

The “Screw the mirror” Plan
Mindbreak Trap: It’s pretty hard hate to get around without Pyromancer Ascension, so why don’t we run it ourselves? It’s free when we need it, after all.

Telemin Performance: Dang it, this card mills our entire library for only 1 more mana and far less Storm than Empty the Warrens. So why don’t we use it if we’re expecting another Storm deck? It also has a fairly high chance of hitting Eldrazi against UW Tron and is hilarious against those UW Polymorph Tokens decks.

Deck Lists

Spoiler:

All-In on the Past (Lectrys’s List)

Deck
Lands 4 Scalding Tarn 2 Misty Rainforest 4 Steam Vents 4 Island 2 Mountain Spells 4 Pyretic Ritual 4 Desperate Ritual 4 Seething Song 4 Gitaxian Probe 4 Manamorphose 4 Past in Flames 4 Grapeshot 4 Serum Visions 4 Sleight of Hand 4 Peer Through Depths 1 Muddle the Mixture 3 Lightning Bolt	Sideboard 4 Empty the Warrens 3 Echoing Truth 1 Wipe Away 3 Early Frost 1 Gigadrowse 1 Dispel 2 Pact of Negation

Two Ways to Storm (Florian Pils’s Worlds 2011 List)

Deck
Lands 4 Scalding Tarn 2 Misty Rainforest 3 Steam Vents 3 Cascade Bluffs 4 Island 2 Mountain Spells 4 Pyretic Ritual 4 Desperate Ritual 4 Seething Song 4 Gitaxian Probe 4 Manamorphose 3 Past in Flames 4 Grapeshot 3 Empty the Warrens 4 Serum Visions 4 Sleight of Hand 2 Peer Through Depths 2 Remand	Sideboard 3 Echoing Truth 1 Calciform Pools 1 Dreadship Reef 3 Gigadrowse 2 Lightning Bolt 1 Magma Jet 3 Pact of Negation 1 Shattering Spree

Hybrids Are Unreal (JohnnyHotSauce’s 4-0 Modern Daily List)

Deck
Lands 4 Scalding Tarn 4 Shivan Reef 3 Sulfur Falls 4 Island 1 Mountain Spells 4 Pyretic Ritual 4 Desperate Ritual 4 Seething Song 4 Gitaxian Probe 4 Manamorphose 3 Past in Flames 3 Pyromancer Ascension 4 Grapeshot 2 Empty the Warrens 4 Serum Visions 4 Sleight of Hand 4 Desperate Ravings	Sideboard 2 Empty the Warrens 3 Echoing Truth 2 Early Frost 1 Gigadrowse 4 Lightning Bolt 3 Pact of Negation

Back to the SwathShot Past (Morra’s 20th Place MTGO PTQ Barcelona List)

Deck
Lands 4 Scalding Tarn 3 Misty Rainforest 1 Steam Vents 1 Breeding Pool 4 Shivan Reef 3 Island Spells 4 Pyretic Ritual 4 Desperate Ritual 4 Seething Song 4 Gitaxian Probe 4 Manamorphose 4 Past in Flames 2 Pyromancer’s Swath 4 Grapeshot 4 Serum Visions 4 Sleight of Hand 4 Peer Through Depths 1 See Beyond 1 Dispel	Sideboard 1 Pyromancer’s Swath 3 Leyline of Sanctity 2 Echoing Truth 2 Lightning Bolt 1 Dispel 4 Defense Grid 2 Ancient Grudge

Give Me the Combo (Jose Luis Velasquez del Pozo’s 3rd Place GP Turin List)

Deck
Lands 4 Scalding Tarn 3 Misty Rainforest 2 Steam Vents 3 Sulfur Falls 2 Halimar Depths 1 Shivan Reef 4 Island 1 Mountain Spells 4 Desperate Ritual 3 Pyretic Ritual 4 Seething Song 4 Remand 4 Gitaxian Probe 4 Manamorphose 3 Gifts Ungiven 2 Past in Flames 3 Empty the Warrens 1 Grapeshot 4 Serum Visions 1 Noxious Revival 3 Lightning Bolt	Sideboard 4 Deceiver Exarch 1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker 3 Pestermite 3 Dispel 4 Splinter Twin

The Modern Epic Storm (BrianFRESHlop’s 11th Place MTGO PTQ Dragon’s Maze List)

Deck
Lands 4 Scalding Tarn 3 Misty Rainforest 3 Steam Vents 2 Sulfur Falls 3 Island 1 Mountain Creatures 4 Goblin Electromancer Spells 4 Desperate Ritual 4 Pyretic Ritual 4 Seething Song 4 Gitaxian Probe 4 Manamorphose 3 Past in Flames 3 Epic Experiment 4 Serum Visions 4 Sleight of Hand 2 Peer Through Depths	Sideboard 3 Blood Moon 2 Echoing Truth 3 Empty the Warrens 3 Gigadrowse 2 Lightning Bolt 2 Shatterstorm

After all that, you probably want to smash some faces in with your 20+ spells in a single turn, right? So go ahead and do so! Prepare for tons of hate, stay away from blue-based tempo decks, practice and practice, and you’ll do just fine.

[ThatStoryTeller120]

This deck honestly looks more susceptible to cards like Tormod's Crypt and Relic of Progenitus but as a Pyromancer's Ascension fan I have to say I am very interested in where this deck goes. So fixing the graveyard target issue, how are you playing around that?

[Charm_Master3125]

I like the concept of this deck. You draw lots of cards, run through rituals and explode for massive damage when you need to. It reminds me of the TEPS decks from 2008 extended.

A few things that I'd like your opinion as to why they aren't being played. I haven't been able to test the deck, so I'm sure you'll be able to help show me why these cards aren't in your build.

Desperate Ravings - 2 mana, draw two cards. Having to discard one isn't a major issue seeing as you are just gonna flash it back soon.

Snapcaster Mage - the deck seems to rely on the ability to flashback your bombs. It's not as good as PiF, but if you can't find them, you can still use Tiago to grapeshot for 9 and 11.

Squelch - it's a very odd pick, yes. But as was said before, "exile your graveyard" cards ruin this deck. The three that come to mind are Tormod's crypt, relic of progenitus, and nihil spellbomb. This counters all three, as well as splinter twin/kiki's copy abilities, fetchland cracks, and some other stuff. The cantrip is a bonus. Seems like a good SB card.

Simian Spirit Guide - if we need one more mana, it's there. Otherwise it can serve as a meat shield to buy us another turn. Probably dilutes the deck but still worth experimenting with.

Hope you guys can show me what your reasoning is.

[Lectrys]

Combating graveyard hate:

Plan A: Echoing Truth/Wipe Away/maybe add Repeal. They can pop the graveyard removal in response, but all they're exiling are Serum Visions, Sleight of Hand, Peer through Depths, and the occasional Gitaxian Probe. Isn't it funny that instant-speed bounce is the solution to all of Storm's problems?

Plan B: There's always the Kiln Fiend plan--I knew there was a reason I put it in my sideboard.

Card choices:
Simian Spirit Guide: Fast mana, yes. Synergy, no. It gets exiled and it's not a spell. Pyretic Ritual is my Rite of Flame sub of choice.

Snapcaster Mage: I tried him. I found he just diluted the deck. As a Past in Flames sub, he can't jack up the Storm counts high enough (7 Storm Grapeshot + 9 Storm Grapeshot < 20 damage). He can't be cast with red mana only, and he can't be found with Peer Through Depths.

Desperate Ravings: This deck needs all the dig and filtering it can, and discarding stuff, especially cantrips and dig spells, to it is awful. I could still test it, though.

Squelch: I'll consider it. It's not all that versatile, though.

Telling Time: Rather slow, but it's an option I'm considering.

Ideas Unbound: Another option I'm considering, but I don't like the card disadvantage and mana cost.

[izzetfiend]

After testing this out a little bit, reverberate deserves a couple slots main. Whether you need more peer through depths, or just obscene accel with seething song, it's very good utility

[Charm_Master3125]

Maybe it's me but I don't see how bounce solve the GY hate cards - can't they just retain priority after it resolves to crack it? We can't even wipe away in time to stop it.

As for squelch, I know it's a narrow card. The thing is, there is a narrow subset of effects that screw us over (combos that go off a turn quicker, and cards that exile our graveyard). It's not by any means worth maindeck space, but as a 2-3 of in the board I think it could come in very handy.

As far as ideals unbound, I see two things going for it. One, you choose what to discard. This means that if you don't combo out the turn you cast it, you can set things up for the next turn (by keeping PiF in hand as opposed to randomly binning it.) Second is that it's arcane - you can splice desperate ritual on to it, which basically gives you a 13th ritual to play with.

I feel it's at least worth testing.

[Lectrys]

Originally Posted by Charm_Master3125

Maybe it's me but I don't see how bounce solve the GY hate cards - can't they just retain priority after it resolves to crack it? We can't even wipe away in time to stop it.

As I said earlier, bounce forces them to either take the thing off for one crucial turn or exile my graveyard in response way too early--all they're exiling is Serum Visions, Sleight of Hand, and Peer Through Depths, and I often won't Flashback them while comboing off because they're too expensive. The important part is that I can cast rituals, free cantrips, Past in Flames, and Grapeshot in peace afterwards.

It's sort of like Legacy Dredge and Chain of Vapor--the graveyard hoser's gone for at least one turn, and if it's cracked in response, it ain't exiling much.

Ravenous Trap, though...Kiln Fiend plan it is.

[i-never-smile]

Thoughtseize/Duress/Silence/Pact of Negation/Dispel=No more problems with Ravenous Trap.

Bounce spells/Engineered Explosives/Shattering Spree/Pyroclasm=Solve grave hate and hatebear problems the turn before you go off (or just when it's convenient).

My build does not play 1-mana cantrips because they suck on combo turns (they eat your blue mana up. Instead, I run 4 Compulsive Research and 4 Thirst for Knowledge alongside Locket of Yesterdays and my deck power-draws card advantage to not only draw most of my deck on turn 4, but also have the ability to win attrition wars against control decks/fight through discard with +CA. Because I don't play these cantrips, my deck can dig away almost completely unimpeded by Chalice of the Void for 1. In fact, if the metagame is right, I can maindeck Chalice of the Void in my storm deck.

To compensate for the lack of Ponder effects, I play 4 Halimar Depths and a good count of fetchlands to manipulate some topdecks, I play Storage Lands and Locket to cut corners on mana costs, and I use Remand/Repeal to Time Walk my opponent and dig deeper for combo parts while filling my yard. I also use Chromatic Star, so I have some emergency cyclers available for the early game and I can put them on the table to 'store' cards in hand when I have 7 cards and miss land drops/have resolved a number of draw spells and still have reasons not to go off.

Probably the biggest problem that I have is when someone Thoughtseize-->Extirpates/Cranial Extractions my Grapeshots. I can handily win without my Past in Flames if I build up enough mana. However, if Grapeshot is out of my deck, then I need a crappy alternative like Empty the Warrens or Ignite Memories. I guess Warrens or the man-plan is the way you win through that. I don't really like that, but I haven't figured out anything better, yet.

[Nevar]

Hey INS can you post your list? I am really interested in building this deck (I even pre-ordered the Past In Flames from SSG) and would like to see some higher level players ideas for it. Here is my current version.

Deck
Instant 4x Desperate Ravings 4x Desperate Ritual 4x Manamorphose 4x Peer Through Depths 4x Pyretic Ritual 4x Seething Song Sorcery 4x Gitaxian Probe 3x Grapeshot 4x Past in Flames 4x Serum Visions 4x Sleight of Hand	Land 4x Cascade Bluffs 2x Island 3x Mountain 4x Shivan Reef 4x Sulfur Falls

[Troy_Costisick]

Why not just go the full monty on filling the graveyard with Goblin Lore, Burning Inquiry, and Desperate Ravings? Each is cheap, goes through lots of cards, and can help pull off a huge Past in Flames.

[rahzark]

Originally Posted by Troy_Costisick

Why not just go the full monty on filling the graveyard with Goblin Lore, Burning Inquiry, and Desperate Ravings? Each is cheap, goes through lots of cards, and can help pull off a huge Past in Flames.

Actually, that's not so bad. Specially Burning Inquiry. Think about it, it costs 1 like Ponder or Preordain, you see 3 extra cards, and the ones you discard will still be usable! Even if you discard the PiF you can flashback it!

Gonna try this tonight

[Tone]

Hey, dude. I'm so glad to see that there is someone who is also interested in this card. I've bulit a deck which is similar with yours, UR Storm, using past in flames. But there are only two past in flames in my deck, as it's awlful to have two in hand. And i still have swath in my deck because IMO, it is a little difficult to draw too grapeshot, right?

[Troy_Costisick]

Originally Posted by Tone

Hey, dude. I'm so glad to see that there is someone who is also interested in this card. I've bulit a deck which is similar with yours, UR Storm, using past in flames. But there are only two past in flames in my deck, as it's awlful to have two in hand. And i still have swath in my deck because IMO, it is a little difficult to draw too grapeshot, right?

How difficult is it to draw a Grapeshot and then flash it back? You only need a storm of 9 to win. That's less than tendrills.

[rahzark]

Originally Posted by Troy_Costisick

How difficult is it to draw a Grapeshot and then flash it back? You only need a storm of 9 to win. That's less than tendrills.

Hmm, with Tendrils you need a storm of 9 (plus the tendrils itself). With two grapeshots it's the same: you need a storm of 9 plus the 2 grapeshots for 21 damage. If you have a storm of 8 plus 2 grapeshots you only deal 19 damage Granted, the opponent probably took damage from lands, but for a straight up comparison it's about the same.

The hard part about playing a single grapeshot and the using flashback is that the Grapeshot has to resolve before the PiF. As they are both sorceries, the PiF wouldn't even count for the storm of the original grapeshot.

It would have to be something like this:
8 spells + grapeshot + PiF + flashback grapeshot.

As it's really unlikely someone will have PiF, grapeshot, plus 8 other spells in hand, the PiF will probably be played with just 2/3 mana spells, flashback them all plus all the other spells played in the turn and then grapeshot.

[ravenight]

Originally Posted by Troy_Costisick

Why not just go the full monty on filling the graveyard with Goblin Lore, Burning Inquiry, and Desperate Ravings? Each is cheap, goes through lots of cards, and can help pull off a huge Past in Flames.

I've been fooling around with a deck using those cards, and though it definitely sees tons of cards, the problem is that you really want to be able to hang onto some rituals so that you can have 2 mana left over after PiF. Burning Inquiry is pretty awesome, since it digs deep for cheap, and really messes with the other player's starting hand, but I think Desperate Ravings and Goblin Lore are less ideal.

EDIT: Here's what I'm fooling with now:

Past Inquiry
Mana Spells (16) 4 Desperate Ritual 4 Pyretic Ritual 4 Seething Song 4 Manamorphose Enablers (20) 4 Gitaxian Probe 4 Serum Visions 4 Sleight of Hand 4 Visions of Beyond 4 Burning Inquiry	Win Condition (9) 3 Past in Flames 4 Grapeshot 2 Empty the Warrens Land (15) 4 Island 1 Mountain 4 Scalding Tarn 4 Shivan Reef 2 Steam Vents

It has been quite fast - lot of turn 2/3 kills against my test Zoo deck, where the version with desperate ravings & goblin lore was failing to hit 6 mana in time. But Burning Inquiry seems pretty nasty. Now I just need to test it against a more disruptive opponent.