Love these types of "advanced" combo decks which really needs a whole deck built around them to work properly. Recently came across a build of this deck at a recent FNM(Didn't play against it but had it at the table next to mine so checked it out) where the win con was Death's Shadow +Fling (Death's shadow got real huge since he had negative life). I myself played a take on the Myr Retriever +Heartless Summoning combo. Don't know if it was luck on his side or its the deck itself but it comboed rather consistantly on turn 4-5. As far as suggestions go i don't really have any since you pretty much covered the whole thing. But maybe additional sideobard against affinity in the form of Kataki, War's Wage ? But maybe this is to much since i don't really know the maychup against affinity for this deck and is just going on that turn 4-5 combo decks are usually pretty weak against affinity.

Once again love the deck and keep up the "good work"! :D +1 upvote ofc

hey Lime.kraft thanks for the upvote ;) they're always appreaciated.

As far as the advanced go I'm not really sure this counts it's not all that convoluted, but there are certain kinks here and there as I tried my best to layout for everybody.

My reasoning for picking Lightning Storm over the combo you mentioned is basically that I can do it during my opponents turn if I need to, though you're right that it is a really nice combo he's got going there I have considered it, but i personally prefer to run the deck with Lightning Storm I suppose it's just personal preference. I wouldn't really say one trumps the other, one is at instant speed, but has counter play the other is socery speed, but isn't as easily dealt with pick your poisen ;).

Surprisingly I have a pretty good win rate vs Affinity, but whether thats due to luck or whatever i don't know, it's definitely one of the worst matchups for the deck though the hardest in my opinion is probably Melira pod.

Kataki, War's Wage seems like it might be worth adding I'll have a look at it what ratio would you suggest? one doesn't seem like enough, but is 3 overkill?

Once again thanks for taking a look as well as the time to comment any help whether it's just encouragement or card suggestions is always much appreciated.

No problem for the suggestion and upvote, like i said its always fun to see a fun deck(obivously).

And as the Kataki, War's Wage is concerned i would believe that 3 is the right amount. Since against affinity you would want the "counter" card as early as possible so they don't go way out of control. But if the win rate is high maybe its an unnecessary addition to the sideboard? Hard for me to tell ;)

And if you have bad matchup against Melira pos maybe Leyline of the Void could be something to have in mind to have in your sideboard? Makes all undying/persist creatures + Eternal Witness much worse and takes away the possibilty of the infinite combos with Melira.

Thanks for the 'good' reply and hope my suggestions help ;)

Hi Lime.kraft I play the Grafdigger's Cage for that matchup it's a little stronger than Leyline of the Void in my opinion as it also deals with birthing pod itself there are upsides to both though so either works.

Though I'm curious what do you mean by good reply? you used to people being rude to you when you try to help them or am I missing some inside joke I should know about ;P.

Well Tynasi, not really that, just that it was a reply that helped further discussion instead of just maybe "Thanks, i'll look into that" or something :P. Always nice when you get to discuss magic with someone apart from your usual "Magic circle".

And can see why Grafdigger's Cage is the better choice for this deck, dont really need to add 4 from the sideboard as with Leyline of the Void for it to be effective. Can't argue with you there

Now for a not so serious suggestion. A fun 'combo' with Angel's Grace is with Isochron Scepter. Some decks can't handle it at all(like combo decks that only play sorcery speed damage) and you can get the free win. Now these types of decks aren't really plenty as most modern decks play some type of instant way of damage but if you have spare place in the sideboard it could be a fun addition. Also goes well with Silence. But this is more for casual play i would say ;)

Wowzers. It took me a fair bit to get through that description, but I trucked through. I think it's neat. I have a deck, with which I'm curious to see how the match up would be. Gray Merchant of Piss on your Grave. Otherwise I don't know what to contribute, I'm still becoming familiar with Modern.

CharlesMandore Yeah the description is a bit long, but you don't really need to read all of it, I just like to be thorough. Glad you like the deck it's quite an old archetype, but it's tons of fun to play, and as far as modern decks go it's not all that expensive.

That's quite an interesting deck you've build there though I have to question it's viability. It seems really slow and doesn't in the testing I've done seem capable of winning turn 4 and even with Gray Merchant of Asphodel on turn 5 it's not guaranteed. it's fun though, it has an awesome theme and it looks nice all around, though I'd cut Griselbrand Sorin Markov and Liliana Vess in favour of some Liliana of the Veil and whatever else you can find that gives decent devotion they just hit the board too late to make an impact in this deck, baring that you get insanely lucky with Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx even so Liliana Vess isn't the right card for a deck like that.

Hope that helps feel free to ask my opinion on any other decks I would be happy to help you out sorry if my thoughts are confusing my prose is quite mediocre. ;).

I've been looking for something to spice up my unlife suicide deck, whether I will find it here idk yet. Either way, super interesting deck +1.

I'm gonna leave the link to my deck here because because.

Death is Destiny

Thanks for up-voting it's always appreciated and I hope you found something you could use since that's what you came for ;)

I'll assume you left the link for me to take a look, so I will do just that :)

If you have any suggestions for the side board or different card ratios based of experience, that would be much appreciated.

needs more Dig Through Time

While Dig Through Time is an amazing card I'd have to disagree with you.

Here's why.

I do not play enough cards in here that could be the target of delve, in total I have 14 cards that I'd most likely find in my graveyard at any given point. 4 fetches 4 Serum Visions 4 Sleight of Hand and 2 Peer Through Depths an average hand would probably have around 2 or 3 of any combination of these cards. The deck doesn't run any counter spells other than Pact of Negation and that one I can't cast too early unless I have a spare Angel's Grace (which would have to have come from a lucky top deck or me choosing not to mulligan a highly risky hand) ideally I need to delve 6 cards for Dig Through Time to give me an advantage. I simply don't have enough delve targets to make the card worthwhile. In a lot of other decks that run both Dig Through Time and Treasure Cruise they have the luxury of having creatures, counter spells, burn spells, discard spells etc. that they can delve this deck doesn't have any of those the 4 of Simian Spirit Guide are what allows the deck to go off after I cast my combo and they're exiled in the process. A lot of my other cards need to stay on the board to fulfill their purpose and Pentad Prism doesn't actually hit the graveyard unless someone destroys it. There are definitely ways you could make it work in here, but I have to say I prefer the way the deck plays right now.

I really thought I was going to see Argentum Armor based on the title. :)

And now I +1 this deck, thank you for the extensive description, I'm just a Standard/EDH player so it's fun to see what wonders can be accomplished in Modern with the awesome number of unique cards that are available. Modern has thus far been too intimidating for me to try and delve into.

Hey Long_Con thanks for the upvote :) always appreciated.

I play a lot of EDH on the side as well so check out my Simic Deck Zegana Syndrome. it's quite impressive even if I do say so myself.

I'm not a huge fan of standard it's just too expensive to keep up with a format that changes so often and so significantly.

Modern doesn't change as much and not nearly as frequently and even when it does you hardly ever see cards that completely warp the format... (okay well khans was the first in a while still true though). You're correct the decks can be quite intimidating if you're not familiar with the cards, I've played it for a while now and still sometimes misjudge my opponents deck, but once you get the hang of it you'll probably like myself be bored by just playing standard.

Standard imo doesn't feel as competitive and I've never really felt motivated to optimize my standard decks 100% because half the time I'd be a mirror match anyway so why bother so long as you have core cards you can do whatever you feel like. When I started playing modern I tried to jump in and just play whatever, but I quickly realized that if you want to win in modern you have to work with your deck, have a plan, and keep trying until it's balanced just the way you like it (it also helps to look at primers for decks that were already made).

Take this deck for example before I started playing Ad Nauseam I used to play eggs. Eggs is an archetype that's fun to play, but boring to play against. I remember a tournament where I ended up playing a friend of mine in the quarter finals and after the game was done he said to me "Damn dude, playing against "eggs" is like a bad first date. You're bored out of your mind waiting for it to end and you never get any action", which was part of the reason why I changed deck. Also they took away Second Sunrise which made eggs considerably less viable it can still work, but it's not as consistent. Here is my deck if you want to take a look Modern and Eggs feel free. Well to get back on track, I got introduced to Ad Nauseam because of a cheeky little move someone used on me with Angel's Grace as I was trying to deck him with Blue Sun's Zenith he cast Angel's Grace and won in his upkeep. I don't remember what he was playing, but I still remember how I lost the match while thinking I'd just won. This got me thinking "I wonder what you can do with Angel's Grace in modern", and that's how I came across Ad Nauseam and I've stuck with it since. I enjoy changing it up sometimes, but I always come back in the end even though it's not top tier it's exactly the kind of deck I like to play.

Okay so yeah I write a lot sue me! What i was trying to say while going so far off topic that i don't even think there's a topic anymore is, just try it if you enjoy combo decks or torturing your opponent then modern is a good place to start before you take the leap into legacy :).

Remember "Magic is only fun if your opponent is miserable!"

(Jokes)

I prefer something more along the lines of "Play to win, but have fun along the way". Now have a nice day and a merry Christmas :).

Thanks, Tynasi, another good read. Thanks for the Eggs link, I recall knowing what Eggs was before from looking it up, but I had forgotten.

So, if I were to try to get into Modern... is it all combo decks? I feel intimidated by Modern because I see the same decks referenced all the time, Melira Pod, Storm decks, Splinter Twin, etc. It seems like these Modern archetypes already have the whole playing field nailed down, and that most winning decks must have been tried already, and perfected to the point that I couldn't make any original changes without decreasing the efficiency.

How flexible is Modern? Would you say that a new deck had better consistently win by turn 4 at the latest, or not bother? Are there still deck types out there that are yet undiscovered? I play Standard because a) that's what they play at FNM, and b) the changing landscape means it's easier to break in with a deck that can win 1st place. I feel like, to play Modern, I'd need to just netdeck, which is boring and uncreative, or bring a new deck that could compete. Hasn't it all been done?

Hey again Long_Con it's nice having a chat with people occasionally. I've got 17 likes on this deck and up until i hit i think something like 10, nobody left me a comment which is really boring ;P.

You bring up some good points and I'll try to answer them to the best of my ability, but keep in mind though that i don't know everything. No it is not all combo decks though those are generally the ones people know because they are the most (in lack of a better word I will say) consistent thats also why I reference them in my discription. There are a lot of other decks out there that use fast creatures or ramp to beat down their opponents such as Affinity, infect, tron, jund junk etc. even exalted is seeing play occasionally. There are some interesting control type decks as well though the most noticable currently would be U/R delver or Blue moon. Burn is also really big at the moment. So as you can see there are a lot of different types of decks and you can pretty much play whatever style you like modern is very free in that sense.

Another thing you need to understand, though this is purely based on my experience is that just because something is a "top tier" deck doesn't mean that a lower tier deck can't beat it. It's a commen misconception that top tier decks is the only way to win.

Okay so admittedly that doesn't make much sense, but top tier is based around how well it matches against other decks and how consistent its game play is (mostly the later one). No deck I've ever seen wins every game or even every second game I know because I've never really played top tier decks, but I've faced off against quite a few (okay so there was a period where eggs was basically top tier, but that was around the time when I changed).

Take this deck for example i actually have a surprisingly good win rate against affinity which is a top tier deck and Ad Nauseam is nowhere near the top. You can throw tons of different variables at that equation, but everything will always come up "snake eyes" at the end of the day it's who uses what they have better. A big part of playing magic as I'm sure you know is knowing how to play your deck efficiently. Picking up a tron deck just because it's top tier wont make you win if you don't understand how to play it and what kind of hand to keep. In magic and any format within magic it's always better to play what you know than to pick up a random deck you've never played before and thinking you can just wing it. Again this is just my experience you can learn how to play different decks, but that takes time and effort and thats really what it's all about.

Well aiming for turn 4 is generally considered appropriate, but not every modern game ends by turn four, a lot of decks can stall past that time if thats what they're build to do. The problem you face when breaking in a new deck is that it has to be able to deal with everything while still being able to win, which is a big reason why combo decks are so good in modern. You're not reliant on what your opponent is doing you can just play your game and pull out the win with your crazy lifegain combo or infinite creatures for that matter. Infinite comboes are better because they're not stopped as easily, for example with this deck if i hit someone for 24 dmg and he goes to 25 life then i lost the game ;).

There are definitely decks to be discovered that's whats so fun about magic! When khans was released a new deck joined the modern pool with the rise to fame of Jeskai Ascendency which in modern has access to so many good cards that it was considered by many to be borderline broken. You're right though it's harder to break out a new deck and go first in a modern competition, but it's possible don't be afraid to try just because you're too focused on taking home the trophy :).

About the whole net decking conundrum, yeah you've just gotta get over that, nothing anybody does has not never been done before, in some way shape or form. This deck is based off of Ad Nauseam if you look at a primer you'd probably see the decks are almost identical with just a few tweeks here and there. Ad Nauseam has been done I knew that when i started playing it. I'd never try to take credit for inventing it, but it's also not very accessable and thats why I put it up here everybody has forgotten Ad Nauseam because other decks have taken the spotlight, but it's hardly fair to forget a deck just because it's yesterdays news.

With regards to the boring and uncreative maybe, but is it fun to go and get completely wrecked because you refused to get help from the material you had access to? I'd argue no. If your goal is to have fun and win find a middle ground. If you want to be an innervater you wont mind losing 100 games to create something unique and awesome. If your main goal is winning then yeah stick to what's working because it's working for a reason don't think that the people who created these decks didn't get beat several times before they started winning. Every deck has to start somewhere and it all begins with someone who sees potential in cards that others overlook.

Now if you've made it to this point then holy shit man! you're pretty damn patient. I don't know why I write so much, but i like being thorough and above all I wanted to give my advice on all the issues you brought up and your doubts. Keep in mind I can only tell you what I know from my experience with Modern I'm not a pro I'm just a someone who enjoys playing in local tournements from time to time. I have the most fun when my opponent is looking at me like he has no idea what just happened ;) and need me to explain it to him because then I feel like I've made him see a new side of magic he didn't know exsisted before. When you get to show people a new side of a game they've played for years sometimes longer than yourself it makes you feel like you're contributing something to that person and if you snack a win from a "melira pod" deck it's always! worth it :D.

I'll stop now hope that helped again have a happy holiday.

ad nauseam unlife is such a fun deck. I would run a copy of Tolaria West instead of a Pact of Negation because it can be used to fetch a whole lot of things.

Tolaria West is a great card, but in this line up it fetches the pacts, lotus and lands that's it so I don't really think it's worth it. Thanks for the suggestion though and glad you like it :) it's a fun deck that I have much love for even if it isn't the strongest.

If you have any other suggestions feel free to flash them here fresh eyes are always helpful.

And if you'd like you could expand on your idea with Tolaria West

4 fetches is a lot. 1: they can cause a significant amount of life loss, and 2: you really only want to fetch on turn 1 or 2 because if you put a non-combo piece on the bottom off a scry and then shuffle you then have a higher chance to draw a non combo piece. I run 2 fetches and i'm considering cutting down.

Why is it Ad Nauseam decks run 4 Angel's Grace and only two Phyrexian Unlife? Wouldn't it be easier to combo of on unlife?

Kjartan good question!

Angel's Grace is a lot more flexible than Phyrexian Unlife it can be used to stop people from killing you or it can be used to negate the negative effect of a pact. It's also easier to combo off if you need to do it in 1 turn, it would cost 8 mana with Phyrexian Unlife and only 6 mana with Angel's Grace.

With Phyrexian Unlife you have to generally know that you have it to play around it, whereas with Angel's Grace this isn't needed. Almost every time Angel's Grace will be the better top deck.

That's at least what I've found I'm almost tempted to cut it half the time it's more in the way than it's actually useful.

Tynasi thank you for the clarification Ad Nauseam is the only modern deck I've actually never played, I was looking forward to trying a proxy version. Also, do you think there could be a space for Remand, for better security in the early-game, and against contro/combol, or would it cut two much away from the combo. I could personally see two Remands instead of maybe a Peer Through Depths and a Mystical Teachings/Mana-producer, but again, I don't know the deck that well.

I'll be honest I've mostly been tinkering with other decks recently so i haven't had much time on my hand for my [Ad nauseam] deck.

Personally i think it makes the deck weaker to play control instead of straight up combo, but that being said there are some variants out there that play a more controlled early game and then just combo a bit later.

Peer Through Depths and Mystical Teachings would be the cuts I'd make if i were trying to change it if you wanna go more control you could cut some mana producers, but always remember that the combo with Ad Nauseam is harder to pull out than say Splinter Twin because you have less options available to you and generally need more mana.

You can try and tinker a little back and forth with it let me know if you think it's worth it should you end up playing it that way.

I love Ad Nuas, it's my paper modern deck. Might I suggest Laboratory Maniac as an alternate wincon incase something happens to storm? If you go off on your main phase, leave 1 blue open, than use 2 simians to get a prism with counter, than the other 2 to cast maniac. Use the leftover blue to cast serum visions and win!

Hey CapnBlagit

It's a good idea and I've added it to the sideboard, thanks for the suggestion. I've never actually had Lightning Storm fizzle, but I do run into trouble against life gain decks and this would take care of that.

If you've got any other ideas or suggestions feel free to flash them here I'm open to suggestions.