Right now I'm of the opinion that there are 3 major storm variants that are viable in the metagame. TES, ANT, TNT. Since I have no idea how much you know about each of them, I'll give a quick overview and my perceptions of their strengths and weaknesses.
TES (The Epic Storm)
Overview
- TES is a 5 color storm deck that intends to cast Empty the Warrens for more than 10 goblins by turn 2 or 3. Turn 1 is definitely possible.
- Because it's trying to go off so fast, it uses Rite of Flame instead of Cabal Ritual, since Threshold is harder to attain that early, and it can use Silence which is easier to go off quickly with than discard.
- Empty the Warrens is plan 1, Tendrils of Agony is plan 2. The deck is not constructed to reach ten storm as consistently as other options.
- TES is the best Ad Nauseam deck in the format. It plays cards like Chrome Mox which are much worse when trying to storm naturally because it's card disadvantage, but much better after an Ad Nauseam because you'll have extra spells to use for the imprint.
- Probably the fastest storm deck that actually protects itself. You can get faster with Belcher or Spanish Inquisition, but not with the protection that TES features.
- Because of the 5 color manabase, it can play Silence instead of Duress. Not all variations do, it depends on the metagame (it's less popular right now), but sometimes that's an advantage.
- More all-in than something like ANT or TNT. Since Empty the Warrens is plan one, you can combo off, make a bunch of tokens, and lose a race to a Batterskull. If you make 12 tokens on turn 2 on the play, and they play stoneforge on turn 2 on the draw, they win the race (even if they crack two fetches or crack 1 fetch and force once)
- Substantially more vulnerable to all of the TNN/Elves hate out there. Most decks are playing Zealous Persecution, Golgari Charm, Rough/Tumble, Pyroclasm, Massacre, etc.
- Typically runs 0 basics, so more vulnerable to wasteland. Since it can go off from 1 land, that's not always a big issue, but one land + ponder hands can get dangerous quickly.
ANT (Ad Nauseam Tendrils)
Overview
- Despite it's name, ANT is a Past in Flames deck. It's critical turn is a full turn later than TES, aiming for turn 3-4 instead of turn 2-3.
- ANT is essentially a two color deck with two small splashes. With only one color of rituals (black), it only needs red for Past in Flames or the occasional Empty the Warrens, and green out of the board for Xantid Swarm, Carpet of Flowers, and Abrupt Decay.
- As a result of the later intended critical turn, ANT plays Cabal Ritual over Rite of Flame. It intends to cantrip for an extra turn and therefore is more likely to turn on threshold.
- Tendrils of Agony is plan 1. Often it's the only plan, sometimes you'll see Empty the Warrens in the deck but not consistently.
- More consistent than something like TES, which runs fewer cantrips and fewer lands.
- Because the deck is built to cast Tendrils for 20, you tend to win when you successfully combo off, which isn't true of all storm decks because most other storm win conditions are easier to interact with than tendrils.
- More consistent manabase means you can fight things like Blood Moon and Wasteland a little more effectively. Typically ANT runs 1 Island and 1 Swamp to fetch for.
- Significantly less explosive than TES.
- As a result, hate bears like thalia, meddling mage, ethersworn canonist, and gaddock teeg are more effective against ANT than they are against TES because your opponent more reliably gets a turn 2 to deploy them.
- Running fewer win conditions makes it more difficult to react to unexpected cards from your opponent. If you have Tendrils as the only win condition in your deck and your nonwhite opponent puts a Leyline of Sanctity into play that you weren't expecting, you might just be dead. As a result, you typically have to sideboard something like Chain of Vapor in for most/all matchups to prevent those situations from killing you. TES and TNT both manage to avoid this problem by playing Burning Wish and diversifying their threats.
TNT (Burning ANT)
Overview
- TNT is a bit of a hybrid between ANT and TES. Essentially it's ANT with Burning Wish. The slots typically occupied by Preordain/Sensei's Divining Top/Grim Tutor become ~3 Burning Wishes. This decreases the quality of your cantrips (because the Preordains that are good turn 1 plays become Burning Wishes that might clutter your hand), but increases your threat density.
- Increased Threat Density. Playing 4 Infernal Tutors and 3 Burning Wishes means you're substantially less vulnerable to discard.
- Burning Wish provides access to game 1 hate answers, so you're not just dead to a game 1 Gaddock Teeg or a game 1 Thalia.
- Sideboarding doesn't change your deck as much because you still use burning wish for access to most of your hate answers, even if you side in 1 or 2 cards your general plan stays together
- Access to Empty the Warrens out of the board as a plan 2 means you don't have to side in Chain of Vapor in instances where you don't expect Leyline but it's possible.
- The Big One - Burning Wish can't get a storm engine. If you're comboing off and all you have is Burning Wish, there's no good engine to wish for. Since Ad Nauseam is an instant and the burning wish exiles itself and is therefore not available to be flashed back with Past in Flames, it's a pretty mediocre card. Most successful TNT lists have a Grim Tutor in the board to wish for, but it requires a LOT of mana for that to work. Some lists run 4 Burning and 3 Infernals with the 4th in the board, but I personally don't like that at all, since Infernal is your best card, I want access to them all without wishing.
I've ignored DDFT (Doomsday Fetchland Tendrils), SI (Spanish Inquisition), and Belcher, all of which are variant storm decks that have the occasional good showing but that I don't think are as good as these three. Also pretty much everyone who plays storm seriously is brewing with Treasure Cruise to try and find the Treasure Cruise storm list. I don't think anyone has succeeded yet, but I won't be surprised if there's a Cruise list in the near future that puts up a few results.
They're all good decks, and if you want to play storm they all share most of the same expensive cards, so I recommend picking one to start with but picking up the pieces to build all of them. I'd choose each deck for a different metagame.
TES - Best in a metagame full of countermagic and hate because of it's speed. If people are prepared for you as the game goes longer, playing the fastest version is the best way to do it.
ANT - Best in a wide open metagame where you don't know what to expect. It's the most consistent deck but the least versatile. It's the hardest to hate out by non-blue decks because of it's lack of reliance on Empty the Warrens.
TNT - Best in a metagame full of discard. As I discussed in it's Cons section, Burning Wish can't get Past in Flames and win from there. However, if most of your opponents are playing Thoughtseize and putting Infernal Tutors in your yard, the Burning Wish CAN find an engine. Also since you're getting thoughtseized more, you'll want the threat density so you can show them hands with no single card that shuts you down.
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