So we all know the Storm mechanic exists, and we all kind of shy away from it as it's very binary in that you have to go all in on it, and either it works or it doesn't. However, I've been watching some MODO streams and it seemed like there were times where storm decks were successful and fun, so I started considering what I could do with storm in my cube.
Well, I'm not a fan of on or off type cards, like Brain Freeze or say Ignite Memories which can be very strong but if you fail to go off on them and win you're kind of left with very little. The same can be said to some extent about Tendrils of Agony, although it is much more cubeable due to being decently strong even when not committed to storm.
The cards I do like are:
These can all be decent, Mind's Desire less so, with not as big of a commitment to Storm as something like Brain Freeze. They also don't simply win the game unless they go off big, but they advance you close to winning the game nonetheless when cast. They can also be put in the "big mana deck" which likes casting artifact guys off of rocks and ramping into other fun spells.
Let's look at it this way, Hunting Pack is somewhat of a mono colour Broodmate Dragon exchanging Flying for Flash and the blink shenanigans for the potential to generate more than 8 power and toughness right off the bat. It also fits into a rampy deck that can pass with mana open and the ability to cast an additional spell on the opponents turn to generate a 12 power and toughness that will have haste.
Empty the Warrens is less impressive but a lot of the time it will just make 6 1/1 tokens which isn't bad for 4 mana, especially since you're probably playing something in addition to those tokens, even if it's just mana artifacts you've been holding back as you didn't have a bigger spell to play.
Mind's Desire isn't really that good as it can easily miss, but it's a fun card and even hitting two spells off of three total Desires can make up for the cost, even if they aren't great spells. In that sense it's sort of like a Tidings that casts the three cards you drew off of it instead of putting them in your hand, and it can easily give you value if you hit a big spell off of it, which is possible with the ramp you're running in your deck to power up Storm count and cast various big Robots/Dudes. Hitting and Empty the Warrens or Hunting Pack off of Desires is pretty awesome too.
As for support, well a lot of it is already in the cube you have Gush which is a fine draw spell and great to Desire into, while being free to cast. You have Dark Ritual, Grim Monolith, Sol Ring, Mana Vault, Mox Diamond, Chrome Mox and various other ramp spells that both can be held back for Storm or used to cast a different big spell early. You have Frantic Search which helps you dig, along with reanimator strategies, you have Gitaxian Probe which is an amazing aggro card and a method to reduce deck size by 1. Any tutor is also pretty good for Storm, as casting Demonic Tutor for your Storm card both ups the Storm count and gets you the needed card, which is good with the ramp you're using.
I think the Storm deck in this regard would be BUG, splashing red just to cast Empty and maybe a couple of other cards, but it should have a decent amount of fixing due to the green and artifacts. Wrath effects are also fine, specifically Damnation as they aren't bad to Desire in, in order to cast before the big, or simply to stabilize you so you can go off... Plus it's good to clear the way for your Empty tokens.
So what do you guys think, is this possible, or is it just a bit too clunky?
Well, you can play seething song and others mana spells in red. Also, brain freeze and tendrils of agony are really more reliable as a win condition (except that brain freeze dont like eldrazi deck if you run them) because usually at 9 or 10 it is instant kill.
Also, there is a few way to generate storm. Heartbeat of the Spring/Mirari's Wake/Mana flare with Rude Awakening, Palinchron, Turnabout, Early Harvest, Treachery, frantic search.
Dream Halls, Future Sight and stuff like Time Spiral or Whell of Fortune.
Yawgmoth will is pretty good also since you will be replaying dark ritual and cheap cantrips .
Seen a few games with people playing sensei's top with future sight like 10 times then stormed.
We are 8-10 drafting a 450 card cube so almost always all the cards are used. The main problem is that people like storm so much that there were always 2ish players that tried to force it and it's a archtype that can only support 1 deck for sure.
I took most of the specific storm cards out (Like Seething Song, Lion's Eye Diamond, Lotus Pedal etc) but kept in a fringe combodeck that uses Dream Halls, Heartbeat of Springs/Mirari's Wake, Palinchron, Time Spiral and Wheel of Fortune (to name a few) to fuel a big Tendril's of Agony wich is the only storm card left in the cube.
That deck is awesome to play but players don't try to force it like they did when I had a full force storm in the cube.
I'll run storm in 360 if you can get consistently 8 players. I get normally 2-6. And even if I get 8, it's just not something I am interested in playing.
I have to stagger my cube to include storm, so it's at 305 for 6 players, 355 for 7, 405 for 8 and 9, as someone said earlier, to limit variation to allow you and/or another person to have enough finishers and enough enablers.
I've found that freeze is the worst of these to pull off, and that Tendrils is the best/easiest. I don't think the cube gets weaker with stuff like Seething Song/Cabal Ritual in there necessarily.
Short answer: reduce variation, add creature cost reducers.
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Well, I'm not a fan of on or off type cards, like Brain Freeze or say Ignite Memories which can be very strong but if you fail to go off on them and win you're kind of left with very little. The same can be said to some extent about Tendrils of Agony, although it is much more cubeable due to being decently strong even when not committed to storm.
The cards I do like are:
These can all be decent, Mind's Desire less so, with not as big of a commitment to Storm as something like Brain Freeze. They also don't simply win the game unless they go off big, but they advance you close to winning the game nonetheless when cast. They can also be put in the "big mana deck" which likes casting artifact guys off of rocks and ramping into other fun spells.
Let's look at it this way, Hunting Pack is somewhat of a mono colour Broodmate Dragon exchanging Flying for Flash and the blink shenanigans for the potential to generate more than 8 power and toughness right off the bat. It also fits into a rampy deck that can pass with mana open and the ability to cast an additional spell on the opponents turn to generate a 12 power and toughness that will have haste.
Empty the Warrens is less impressive but a lot of the time it will just make 6 1/1 tokens which isn't bad for 4 mana, especially since you're probably playing something in addition to those tokens, even if it's just mana artifacts you've been holding back as you didn't have a bigger spell to play.
Mind's Desire isn't really that good as it can easily miss, but it's a fun card and even hitting two spells off of three total Desires can make up for the cost, even if they aren't great spells. In that sense it's sort of like a Tidings that casts the three cards you drew off of it instead of putting them in your hand, and it can easily give you value if you hit a big spell off of it, which is possible with the ramp you're running in your deck to power up Storm count and cast various big Robots/Dudes. Hitting and Empty the Warrens or Hunting Pack off of Desires is pretty awesome too.
As for support, well a lot of it is already in the cube you have Gush which is a fine draw spell and great to Desire into, while being free to cast. You have Dark Ritual, Grim Monolith, Sol Ring, Mana Vault, Mox Diamond, Chrome Mox and various other ramp spells that both can be held back for Storm or used to cast a different big spell early. You have Frantic Search which helps you dig, along with reanimator strategies, you have Gitaxian Probe which is an amazing aggro card and a method to reduce deck size by 1. Any tutor is also pretty good for Storm, as casting Demonic Tutor for your Storm card both ups the Storm count and gets you the needed card, which is good with the ramp you're using.
I think the Storm deck in this regard would be BUG, splashing red just to cast Empty and maybe a couple of other cards, but it should have a decent amount of fixing due to the green and artifacts. Wrath effects are also fine, specifically Damnation as they aren't bad to Desire in, in order to cast before the big, or simply to stabilize you so you can go off... Plus it's good to clear the way for your Empty tokens.
So what do you guys think, is this possible, or is it just a bit too clunky?
Also, there is a few way to generate storm. Heartbeat of the Spring/Mirari's Wake/Mana flare with Rude Awakening, Palinchron, Turnabout, Early Harvest, Treachery, frantic search.
Dream Halls, Future Sight and stuff like Time Spiral or Whell of Fortune.
Yawgmoth will is pretty good also since you will be replaying dark ritual and cheap cantrips .
Seen a few games with people playing sensei's top with future sight like 10 times then stormed.
To add to Eidolon's point, or aggro decks not supported enough (which I guess really just means them not being fast enough).
360 Uncommons only Cube!
We are 8-10 drafting a 450 card cube so almost always all the cards are used. The main problem is that people like storm so much that there were always 2ish players that tried to force it and it's a archtype that can only support 1 deck for sure.
I took most of the specific storm cards out (Like Seething Song, Lion's Eye Diamond, Lotus Pedal etc) but kept in a fringe combodeck that uses Dream Halls, Heartbeat of Springs/Mirari's Wake, Palinchron, Time Spiral and Wheel of Fortune (to name a few) to fuel a big Tendril's of Agony wich is the only storm card left in the cube.
That deck is awesome to play but players don't try to force it like they did when I had a full force storm in the cube.
My cube
My cube on Cube tutor
I'm OP_Forever. I'll be putting this in my signature for a while so everyone know I change my nickname.
Palinchron, Snap, Turnabout, definitely must-haves, but since you don't want to run the ultra-narrow High Tide, you can run these cost reducers:
Goblin Electromancer
Stormscape Familiar
Nightscape Familiar
I've found that freeze is the worst of these to pull off, and that Tendrils is the best/easiest. I don't think the cube gets weaker with stuff like Seething Song/Cabal Ritual in there necessarily.
Short answer: reduce variation, add creature cost reducers.