When a player thinks of Legacy, Ad Nauseam Tendrils is one of the decks that comes to mind. As one of the most explosive, unfair combo decks in the format, Ad Nauseam Tendrils (ANT) is one of the premier Legacy format archetypes.
ANT abuses fast mana and tons of library manipulation to set up one explosive turn to kill opponents. The two avenues to combo off are to trade life for cards with Ad Nauseam and abusing the graveyard with Past in Flames. Using ritual effects and free artifact mana, ANT builds up a storm count to kill with Tendrils of Agony.
The most important card interaction in the deck is the one between Lion's Eye Diamond and Infernal Tutor, which is effectively a Demonic Tutor. This interaction is necessary to tutor up one of your combo enablers. Without these two cards, it is very difficult to start the combo.
Like all storm decks, ANT relies on building a critical mass of cards to set its combo. Each individual card in the deck is by itself worthless. It is only when they are all intertwined that they possess any value.
Because of this necessary critical mass, hand disruption is one of the most effective answers against ANT. Like all storm decks, there are plenty of hate cards that you need to play around. Some of these answers include Ethersworn Canonist, Leyline of Sanctity, Rule of Law, Chalice of the Void, Pyrostatic Pillar, and Flusterstorm. Savvy use of your hand disruption is imperative for doing well with ANT.
The raw power that the ANT deck provides makes it a very potent deck that is definitely a high tier deck in the format. ANT also has hand disruption to help force through the combo. Even though it has glaring weaknesses, the deck's explosive power still makes it an excellent competitive deck in nearly any meta.
