Flooremoji

So most builds of the deck are running two wincons nowadays: Lightning Storm for an instant speed kill, and then Laboratory Maniac as we draw our entire deck and then can cast Serum Visions to immediately win off the trigger.

With this said, a variety of other wincons can be played in the deck, for example Conflagrate via flashing it back and discarding your hand (though here I would always keep Pact of Negation in hand regardless); the problem here is it isn't instant speed and can be hurt by graveyard hate, notably Rest in Peace.

Another somewhat well-known win-con is Seismic Assault which essentially accomplishes the same thing however a real problem with it is the fact that it gets hit and blown out by Abrupt Decay.

That really encompasses the combo based options for the deck but many Ad Nauseam players like to add a little spice to the side in the form of flex slots. Grave Titan is generally the popular plan B out of the side however I have seen many variants where people have tried: Godhead of Awe, Dragonlord Dromoka, Keranos, God of Storms, and even a Gifts Ungiven package for Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite/

You can respond to Abrupt Decay by discarding more lands to Seismic Assault, so I wouldn't say it gets blown out. Krosan Grip is probably the card you meant, but that doesn't really see too much play.

Thanks Oloro_Magic! I will keep this in mind if I ever build this! SynergyBuild, Krosan Grip is seeing more play with the uprising of KCI, but I agree is still mostly unplayed.

Oloro_Magic, could Gideon of the Trials be a possible Phyrexian Unlife replacement? Just a though. =)

Flooremoji:

Whilst Gideon of the Trials could work Phyrexian Unlife is almost always simply better. To better understand we need to consider the conditions under which we play Phyrexian Unlife which is often the turn before or a couple turns before we combo off. It is important to consider that unlike Angel's Grace, when we cast Phyrexian Unlife we more than likely are not winning that turn and when thinking of replacing it we need to consider that fact. The main problem I see with using Gideon of the Trials is the fact that he can be killed by our opponent preventing us from winning if they time it right. They can Lightning Bolt him quite simply or just attack him, and considering we need the emblem to do anything he will only ever be at 3 loyalty. Phyrexian Unlife on the other hand for our deck basically says "gain 10 life and 1-3 turns" as well as being harder to remove and requiring our opponent to play enchantment hate. So to answer your question, yes Gideon of the Trials can work, however in 99% of situations Phyrexian Unlife is just safer and better for this deck as we don't win the turn it comes down.

Thanks!

I was going to recommend Patrician's Scorn! but then I decided against it because of Phyrexian Unlife...

I would argue that Fragmentize or Disenchant are both more powerful than the scorn.

SynergyBuild

As far as individual cards go you are correct both Fragmentize and Disenchant are more powerful than Patrician's Scorn, however my choice of playing Patrician's Scorn is not out of judging what the most powerful enchantment hate I can use in my sideboard is, it's more specifically targeted at a couple of decks in my current local meta where it is very good, notably the advance of R/W prison around here, a deck that has access to a multitude of problem enchantments, notably Card: stony silence, Eidolon of Rhetoric, Blood Moon, Rule of Law, Runed Halo, Banishing Light, and the list goes on as this player really focused on the enchantment side of things, not to mention U/W control seeing more play here with Runed Halo, Card: stony silence, amongst over more fringe tech. Scorn opens up a line in certain scenarios (basically when Rule of Law isn't out) where I can Angel's Grace then scorn removing any obstacle and then casting Ad Nauseam and winning from seemingly nowhere. As such for my current needs a simple Disenchant, while considered, will only serve to solve part of the problem. At a larger tournament I'm more likely to take the Disenchant as you correctly pointed out it's more powerful, but at this point in time Patrician's Scorn is the best option to deal with the problem. Thank you for pointing it out and allowing me to more fully explain the choice!

Is there a reason Godhead of Awe is in the maybeboard? :)

Flooremoji

Until I finish the relevant section of the primer that is currently under construction I am storing all possible sideboard options (mainly the ones I could forget hence the Godhead) in the maybeboard for reference and your amusement ;).

More seriously, Godhead of Awe is a real option against midrange and aggro decks looking to get in a lot of damage via efficient creatures, jund specifically comes to mind. I don't play it but have and others still do so it's a mental note here so I don't forget to mention it.

Sweet deck page! And deck. +1

I made a terrible misplay against this deck: I played a land XD. That literally cost me the game. My opponent also played a land when they didn't need to, but If I haddn't played a land I could have redrectied the damage to my Kalitas, (Leyline) and waited for them to mill out. I think they sided out Lab Man. Darn lands XD.

Flooremoji

I am a bit confused as to what happened? How would the redirect save you assuming the opponent played it correctly and didn't discard all of their lands to Lightning Storm giving you a window? Your opponent presumably would have just discarded a land as well. However judging on how Laboratory Maniac may have been sided out I'm going to assume this player didn't have too much experience as that is one of the few cards I don't touch unless I am on a Lightning Storm in the side but that is very old tech. Maybe if you play this player again you should direct them here XD.

Anyway that is tough, though I don't think its a misplay on your part as you do have an onus to develop fast enough to win the game, seems more dumb bad luck if your opponent did discard all their lands which can't be prepared for anyway.

No, they literally needed to discard more lands then ussual to kill me, because I gained some life with kalitas. I had 5 lands in my hand, (XD) which forced them to discard even more. If I had one more, I could have rederectied it once more :). I was playing a deck with lot's of spot removal, so they probably sided it out so I didn't kill it after they drew there deck.

Flooremoji

Even when our opponent has lots of spot removal it wouldn't have been right to take out Laboratory Maniac so they likely still had it, 1 Pact of Negation can be left in as a failsafe otherwise only having one win-con is much to risky. I'm also curious what were the circumstances in terms of life? So I'm going to use 28 life for example and assume they played 4, so that is 16 lands left in deck depending on build, so they have potential to do 35 damage then, so that means they needed to discard 11 of those to kill you at 24 meaning only 5 lands left in deck and still able to kill you. Was this the kind of situation that presented itself?

Also, I hope you remembered to allow all the discard triggers to resolve first before redirecting or technically all you did was add damage ;)

What about running a single desperate ritual so you can still cast lighting storm even if you spoil away two spirit guides?

mtgwizard56:

Thanks for the comment! So to answer your question I have played with Desperate Ritual before, and while it has it's benefits, it really is unnecessary and poses other problems as well. The situation you describe is really quite rare, in fact it's more likely that I have used two Monkeys over the course of the game than having them lost to Spoils of the Vault , really this comes down to experience and luck. I have only had it happen a handful of times where Spoils of the Vault gets 2 and even then I have never not just had a land drop to rectify this, in fact, unless I have to, I wouldn't play a land before casting Spoils of the Vault if I have the mana to win, and from there it being mean isn't a huge concern. In other words, playing Desperate Ritual is like hedging for a problem that will never present itself, or even worse, admitting that you aren't too comfortable playing Spoils of the Vault as it takes a lot of practice to know how to play that card. Additionally, a huge part of this deck is learning to live with Spoils of the Vault not doing what you want it to do, so sometimes we just have to accept that it didn't work and move on unfortunately.

The other big problem that Desperate Ritual poses is the, "what do you cut?" problem. The consensus by people who play it seems to be one of 3 options which I will list from best to worst: Pentad Prism , Phyrexian Unlife , Simian Spirit Guide . The only one you can make the case for is Pentad Prism in my opinion so I'll focus there, and for me I would rather have the Pentad Prism , having a Desperate Ritual in hand is never really a good thing except in some niche scenarios, whereas with Pentad Prism you gain both a filter, a use that I have won games off, filtering quickly for colors I needed, and the mana sits there. Sure this is a low opportunity cost in that its just 1 card but if the situation presents itself I would rather have as many chances at a filter as I can.

So while Desperate Ritual is a fine card and there is nothing major to be said against playing it, it's problem remains that it is consistently the 61st card, a card we would play if we played 61 but we can't because we want to be as consistent as possible. There is no good cut for it essentially meaning its just a shiny toy that would be nice, but is surplus to requirements.

I hope that answers your question.

I really love the Darkness tech you have here, with the burst damage that Phoenix can put out it makes a much better inclusion than any sorcery speed wrath.

Have you thought about running an Echoing Truth in the main? I generally think it's better than Mystical Teachings when it comes to the meta on MTGO anyway.

lstpcobra:

Thanks for the compliments, Darkness has definitely gotten better with the rise of Phoenix in modern, a lot of games nowadays really come down to being as efficient as possible with your resources and Darkness , in my opinion, while not a permanent solution to any problem, is by far the most flexible.

As for your question, yes and no. For me, Mystical Teachings is not the cut if you want to play Echoing Truth in main as then you would only have 2 tutors in the deck, plus I am a huge advocate for Mystical Teachings and would never register a 75 without it. I have played Echoing Truth in the main at a tournament where I expected a lot of Humans and the cut I made was 1 Pact of Negation , essentially swapping the sideboard Echoing Truth and it. This is where Echoing Truth is best as, without it, we basically concede game one to Humans. That being said in both paper and, to my surprise, on MTGO recently, I haven't played much Humans (thankfully) so the need to play Echoing Truth on main has not been something I have cared much about, I would rather have the extra piece of protection than a card that is functionally dead in many matchups.

Looking at the top of the modern format right now, the only decks that I would consider having Echoing Truth on main would be beneficial for are: 4-Color Prison, Bant Spirits, and Humans (which I include more out on respect than anything else). Against Prison its a nice tool to have access to if they manage to lock me out quick enough, against Spirits it's more of a bonus than anything. And personally, I feel it is wholly unnecessary against most Phoenix builds. So in simpler terms, there really aren't enough decks that I will see on a frequent basis where Echoing Truth is necessary. Pact of Negation and Mystical Teachings will, at the very least, both always have an use. This is not to say that playing an Echoing Truth is by any means wrong or bad, I just don't believe that competitively it needs to be in the main at this moment as there aren't enough decks seeing a high enough percentage of play that demand we play it or just concede.

Thank you for the question, I hope my answer was satisfactory.

I absolutely love this deck in modern and was wondering if you had any tips on how to learn to play it Another question that keeps jumping into my head is the question that is there a possible way to make this more budgety. Would you have any recommendations for either? But amazing primer, definitely a +1 from me and I hope you keep up the great work.

Something I just thought of... do you have any worries of what might come out of "Modern Horizons" and/or "War of the Spark"? Or are you more excited to see what cards might come out to give this archetype a boost?

Artist_of_Cons:

Thank you for the kind words, it's much appreciated. Off the top of my head, the best tip I can give you for learning to play the deck is to not get frustrated. Ad Nauseam is a deck that rewards patience and the ability to move seamlessly from game to game without getting rattled. The most common mistake I see players picking up the deck make is giving up after losing game one and counting themselves out; or yelling when their Spoils of the Vault exiles Lightning Storm and Laboratory Maniac . Like most combo decks the list is made to be consistent but every once and awhile it just doesn't work. You really need to learn to accept this fact and focus on the games ahead.

Another tip I can give you, which I allude to in the primer, is to begin evaluating decks not on what they are, but rather on how they can interact with us. Honestly at this point when I face jund I don't actually write down jund when recording my matchup at a tournament, I usually just write "Discard/life." Evaluating decks in this way makes sideboarding easier, and gives you a better idea of when it is possible to go off. Traditionally, a deck will attack us in 3 ways, via discard, via pressuring our life total, or via counterspells (there are others but these are the most common). The worst matchups are the ones that can attack us on multiple angles, hence why Grixis Death's Shadow, which attacks us on all 3, is a bad matchup, whereas burn, life total, is a good matchup. The deck takes more meta knowledge than most would assume as you really have to know how your opponent is going to interact and beat you.

The final tip I can think of off the top of my head is to be conscious of your sideboard, this is a deck that is very easy to overboard with. Remember we are a combo deck, so our 60 is engineered to be as consistent at possible at getting that combo, introducing new cards compromises that consistency somewhat in order to remove angles of attack that will beat us before we have a chance to win. I still need to find the time to type up my sideboard guide on here for your use but keep that in mind. Sometimes a card like Echoing Truth may look fine in a matchup such as tron, but in reality, is this really better than any other card in our deck? Especially considering we are cutting our worst card in Phyrexian Unlife for the 2 Thoughtseize ? The answer is no, and getting yourself to the point of evaluating what is coming out is key for playing Ad Nauseam.

Of course if you have any more questions or more specific questions about anything from sequencing to Pentad Prism math, I am more than happy to answer, just leave a comment on this page.

As for your budget concerns, can I ask what budget you are working with? My list due to the foils doesn't really accurately depict the price of the deck, with no foils I believe it is about $450-$500 making it one of the cheapest competitive modern decks. If that is still too high I would say the first thing I would do is cut Gemstone Mine for a Dreadship Reef and a basic, you lose some consistency but if you are looking to get in on a budget that would be a start, though in the long term you should invest in those. Leyline of Sanctity is a must in my opinion but if you are dying to play the deck it is one of the most expensive cards, and you can choose a variety of options from my list above, again though I must stress that I would not recommend any of this unless there really is no choice, both "cuts" are really must-haves for the deck. Everything else really is necessary unfortunately or you risk just not having the mana to support what you are doing. I also think Peer Through Depths is cheaper than Spoils of the Vault so you could run that version of the deck. Otherwise, talk to your local meta and ask about maybe proxying a few cards while you learn, tell your opponents they can have the match win if they are strict but get in the game time.

Finally, sorry for the novel, my attitude towards new standard sets like War of the Spark is always to approach it optimistically but, as history holds, we don't get many new toys from these sets, so I'm excited by the potential, but I'm not holding my breath for anything particularly special. Modern Horizons on the other hand is both very exciting, and incredibly scary. To start with the positive side, it's impossible to speculate on what new-designed cards could be in the set so I'll stay away from those, but in terms of reprints, I would love to see Flusterstorm reprinted, I think it would be a consideration for the sideboard as it is in legacy ANT, I also think it would be cool to see cards like Pulverize (a fun toy that could be cool to build with) or especially Xantid Swarm , though both seem unlikely. Flusterstorm I think has a chance so that is what I am holding out hope for, though buying judge foils will suck a little bit. In short, there is a ton of potential for reprints or even new cards that could add to the deck which makes me very excited moving forward. The other edge of the sword with this is that, like most modern decks, there is the risk that the set makes the deck virtually unplayable, that it gets pushed out. I see the chances of this happening being low but the possibility is scary and definitely something to be aware of, if nothing else I am assuming I will have some new hate cards that I have to learn to deal with.

If you made it this far, thank you, I hope that answers your questions, and if you have any more questions let me know as I'm more than happy to answer.

Thank you for the answer Oloro_Magic (I didn't mind the length by the way), and thank you for answering all my questions, they were all very usefull. For the budget wise I don't have any specific budget, it's just a personal... we'll say "challenge" that I do. The recommendations are really helpful for someone who knows literally nothing about the archetype and the current meta. It also doesn't help the fact that the site shows American Dollars while I'm Canadian which probably boosts the price up a good 50$ or so for me. But once again, thank you very much for answering (and taking the time to write that whole paragraph in the first place) and if anymore questions do show up, I will be sure to ask you. Once again, thank you for answering.

Artist_of_Cons:

I am Canadian myself so I know the pain, if I remember correctly in CAD I spent close to $550 when I first made the deck (keeping in mind prices have changed since then)... though it was a long time ago unfortunately and not all my receipts are online for me to check so I can say I spent definitively at least $400. I will say however that if you are looking to buy the deck and are looking for the best prices, face to face has the best prices for a buylist in Canada with the inventory with credit, I would say you average about 10% more credit with them, but their prices are slightly above exchange rate for most of the cards in the deck (at least with foils they are). I honestly don't notice the USD anymore as I deal in cards by USD pretty much exclusively nowadays though I figured it would be nice to have the CAD reference in mind if you are looking to build it in terms of a card for card basis comparing a premier Canadian store and larger US stores such as Card Kingdom or Star City.