The summary below was written in response to
this question on reddit.
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.
Pros
- 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.
Cons
- 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.
Pros
- 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.
Cons
- 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.
Pros
- 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.
Cons
- 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.
