Sidisi Ad Nauseam Combo EDH
This deck has one real goal: Resolving Ad Nauseam! I tagged this deck as competitive because it doesn't try to durdle around and have fun, it goes for the win pretty quickly and efficiently. However, it's not as cutthroat as it could be; I still like to have some fun with some of the card choices. This deck can potentially win on turn 2 or 3 with a good hand, and has multiple routes for lethal depending on the situation.
Piloting the Deck:
Tutor - You're gonna want to ramp up first. Using any tutor for Ad Nauseam is fine. Sidisi is our backup in case we don't have any others. Sac Sidisi to herself for the exploit. Don't cast most of your 0-cost spells before Ad Nauseam; you will want to save these for storming off later.
Cast Ad Nauseam - Doing this during opponent's end step is fine. Draw your entire deck. You may have to leave a few cards in your library if your opponents have a way to force you to draw on the field, such as a Temple Bell.
Win - You can do this with either Sickening Dreams, Tendrils of Agony, or Exsanguinate.
3a. Sickening Dreams - Save your land drop for your turn for a Glacial Chasm to not die. If you couldn't, this method won't work very well.
3b. Tendrils of Agony - There is a pretty good storm package in here. Drop all your 0-cost things, use all of your rituals, cast Tendrils, then Yawgmoth's Will and do it all over again. You will want to playtest this a few times, to make sure you can easily get off lethal with Tendrils. With the current iteration of this deck, you can easily cast 60+ copies of Tendrils.
3c. Exsanguinate - Use your rituals to put out a Skirge Familiar. This card will let you use your entire hand as mana for a gigantic Exsanguinate. The best part about this route is that you can still use the Skirge Familiar to power out more spells and try another method, in case this one failed somehow.
Protecting your Combo:
Boseiju, Who Shelters All An all-star, really. Try to grab this with Expedition Map before casting Ad Nauseam. No other land is as good as this one when you fear the counterspells.
Cavern of Souls Really only used to ensure that Sidisi can be cast in the cases of extreme control hate. However, it does its job very well!
Imp's Mischief This derpy little card was an amusing find for me. It works like a Misdirect on counterspells, allowing you to redirect them to the Imp's Mischief. Can also be used to deny other spells that could cause you some trouble, such as targeted discard.
Strip Mine Can allow you to get a Sickening Dreams off if your opponent is running a Glacial Chasm, or can be used to delete some other annoying land that could impede your progress. The necessity of this card is very niche, but you never know until you need it!
Managing your Life Total:
This deck pays a lot of life for its effects. A LOT. If you can help it, try to keep track of the CMC of spells you've used or drawn before Ad Nauseam; the total possible life loss from every card in this deck from drawing off of Ad Nauseum is 36. Keep this in mind, as things such as Mana Crypt, Imp's Mischief and Boseiju all potentially cost life. You can use things such as Zuran Orb to eat some lands in order to use a Boseiju an additional time on Tendrils/Exsanguinate/Sickening Dreams.
Changes You Can Make!
I know that this deck is not the most optimal, and that is mostly for budget reasons. If this deck is too expensive or unwieldy for you, you can slim it down by a lot. In fact, you can replace most (if not all) of the cards you don't like with Swamps, and this deck will function essentially the same. On the other hand, you can also beef up the power level with some interesting inclusions listed below...
Potential Cuts:
Skirge Familiar/Exsanguinate Combo: This deck has, essentially, 3 win conditions. This one is not necessary to the deck, and actually increases the risk of playing the deck due to increasing the cost of Ad Nauseam by 7 life! So, why did I include it in the deck? This is the easiest of the combos to resolve, in my opinion, and Skirge Familiar already helps generate obscene amounts of mana should something go wrong. (Can't cast/activate artifacts, for example)
Mana Crypt/Mox Diamond/City of Traitors: These cards, while bonkers as mana accel, are definitely able to be cut for budget reasons. You can just replace these cards with swamps, and you'll still have access to every win condition in the deck, even Tendrils!
Brainspoil: This card is used for the transmute into Ad Nauseam, but is a weaker link. It costs you 5 life if you haven't already drawn into it from Ad Nauseam, and could be replaced. However, I find the nearly uncounterable ability to tutor for Ad Nauseam fairly valuable.
Potential Adds:
Walking Atlas/Lightning Greaves: Adding these cards in (and removing some other cards to keep the life cost of Ad Nauseam low) will allow you to drop an additional land on your combo turn, such as a Lake of the Dead, Glacial Chasm or Boseiju. Remember! Use Amulet of Vigor before the tapped lands so you can use them immediately!
Immortal Coil: The combo of this with Sickening Dreams is awesome! Works similarly to Glacial Chasm, but make sure you only drop this on the turn you're ready to win, or you could eat a Bojuka Bog and die. Very vulnerable to a Relic of Progenitus / Tormod's Crypt, however. Also has anti-synergy with Yawgmoth's Will, if you want to keep that option available to win.
Any number of other tutors I'm missing: A lot of the more powerful tutors are very expensive, money-wise. You could up the power level of this deck by including them as well, but be careful as they will add to the life cost of Ad Nauseam.
Notable Exclusions:
Dark Petition: While a great tutor, this adds a life cost of 5 to Ad Nauseam, and I'd rather not run that. Low mana costs are key!
Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed: Powerful recursion, but 4 mana can be a pretty steep life cost from Ad Nauseam. I've never needed this card before, either; the deck does a pretty good job of protecting its key spells.
Let me know what you think!
please give credit to Professor Cactus
