cEDH Fire-Storm Hulk

Commander / EDH

ShadowMizzix_cEDH

Instant (27)

• 1x Ad Nauseam
• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Cabal Ritual
• 1x Chain of Vapor
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Dispel
• 1x Dramatic Reversal
• 1x Flash
• 1x Flusterstorm
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x High Tide
• 1x Hurkyl's Recall
• 1x Lightning Bolt
• 1x Lim-Dul's Vault
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Mental Misstep
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Nature's Claim
• 1x Noxious Revival
• 1x Pact of Negation
• 1x Pyroblast
• 1x Retract
• 1x Summoner's Pact
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Creature (6)

• 1x Baral, Chief of Compliance
• 1x Firebrand Archer
• 1x Notion Thief
• 1x Protean Hulk
• 1x Sylvan Safekeeper
• 1x Tandem Lookout

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Carpet of Flowers
• 1x Curiosity
• 1x Keen Sense
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Necropotence

Land (28)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Badlands
• 1x Bayou
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Gemstone Caverns
• 4x Island
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Taiga
• 1x Tropical Island
• 1x Underground Sea
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Volcanic Island
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills

Sorcery (12)

• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Gitaxian Probe
• 1x Imperial Seal
• 1x Merchant Scroll
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Summer Bloom
• 1x Sylvan Tutor
• 1x Timetwister
• 1x Wheel of Fortune
• 1x Windfall
• 1x Winds of Change
• 1x Yawgmoth's Will

Commanders (2)

Artifact (20)

• 1x Astral Cornucopia
• 1x Candelabra of Tawnos
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Engineered Explosives
• 1x Everflowing Chalice
• 1x Grim Monolith
• 1x Isochron Scepter
• 1x Jeweled Amulet
• 1x Lion's Eye Diamond
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Mox Amber
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Mox Opal
• 1x Paradox Engine
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Tormod's Crypt
• 1x Voltaic Key

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Maybeboard

Instant (15)

• 1x Abrupt Decay
• 1x Autumn's Veil
• 1x Frantic Search
• 1x Gut Shot
• 1x Impulse
• 1x Intuition
• 1x Manamorphose
• 1x Rebuild
• 1x Slaughter Pact
• 1x Snap
• 1x Spell Pierce
• 1x Spell Snare
• 1x Stifle
• 1x Surgical Extraction
• 1x Winds of Rebuke

Sorcery (3)

• 1x Bonus Round
• 1x Energy Tap
• 1x Rite of Flame

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Sigil of Sleep

Creature (2)

• 1x Cloud of Faeries
• 1x Deathrite Shaman

Artifact (1)

• 1x Scroll Rack

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Primer: Layered C... Storm!?

Welcome to the mash-up of Storm, Flash-Hulk, Paradox Engine/Dramatic Scepter, and Firebrand-Curiosity into one deck.

For anyone who loves to do busted things, Flash Hulk, cast tons of spells, make infinite mana, draw tons of cards, assemble combos, and win spectacularly... this deck has it all.

In short, the deck runs the usual storm suspects in fast mana and draw (wheels, Necro, and Ad Nauseam), High Tide, Isochron Scepter and Dramatic Reversal, and adds to that Flash-Hulk for the Ancestral-Curiosity combo (Firebrand Archer + Curiosity effect such as Tandem Lookout) with cheap, free, and net mana positive spells to chain a win (this requires having a spell to start the chain).

The Goal is synergy with multiple plans (layers) that can be pursued. The key is that each plan wants mana-positive rocks, rituals, and spells that are cheap. This plays very well into a deck that revolves around those staples of cEDH and provides multiple avenues of attack.

While unusual, Paradox Engine, Isochron Scepter, and Candelabra of Tawnos actually work synergistically rather than competing with the lines(s) in this deck, whereas most decks must choose choose between Candelabra + High Tide versus Paradox Engine and/or Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal.

Plans 1-5

1. Firebrand Archer + Curiosity/Keen Sense/Tandem Lookout: Our draw engine and win condition in one. More on this below.
2. Flash + Protean Hulk: Typically used to secure a win, in our deck it is used to fetch the Ancestral Curiosity combo by grabbing Firebrand Archer + Tandem Lookout (and Sylvan Safekeeper for protection).
3. Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal (or Paradox Engine): Producer(s) of unlimited mana, needing only some mana rocks to function, with Thrasios this is an easy backdoor to the win.
4. Ad Nauseam or Necropotence: Great for low-cost decks, and decks that have lots of mana. Often secure a win by drawing many cards and mana sources. These massive draw engines win via traditional storm lines and assembling Ancestral Curiosity to go off.
5. Notion Thief + Winds of Change or any wheel: Draw tons of cards similar to Ad Nauseam while crippling opponents. Flashing (or Flash Hulk) Notion Thief into play in response to opponents wheeling for the same outcome.

Flash Hulk

While most Hulk decks aim to win with a resolved Flash and no additional resources, we aim to find our Ancestral Curiosity draw engine and promptly storm off.

Thus our primary targets are Firebrand Archer, Tandem Lookout, and Sylvan Safekeeper to assemble and protect our engine.

Once Soulbonded, each noncreature spell will trigger Firebrand Archer, dealing 1 damage to each opponent. Then, Tandem Lookout or Curiosity will trigger to draw us a card for each opponent in the game. This means that in typical pods of 4, we draw 3 cards per noncreature spell cast.

Side Note: Sometimes we can sandbag Flash Hulk for a surprise Notion Thief + Firebrand Archer in response to a wheel (or if we have one in hand, it can be our proactive plan); the goal is to use Flash Hulk to start a chain that will draw through huge portions of our deck, securing a win. Having additional options adds layers to our ability to engage the Storm plan.

The "Storm" in Firestorm Hulk

Now that we have a damage dealer and Curiosity effect on it, we get to the storm part of the deck.

The simple formula is as follows: 1 Noncreature Spell = 1 Damage to each opponent + 1 card per opponent.

This means Ancestral Curiosity is simultaneously the win condition and draw engine. Meaning, casting enough noncreature spells wins the game.

To understand the deck's goal of doing this successfully, we need to take a look at some numbers to help frame the plan for successfully storming off.

1. Total cards that cost 0 or Phyrexian mana, excluding counterspells (e.g. Mox Opal, Tormod's Crypt, Gitaxian Probe): 15
2. Cards costing 1 or 2 that net positive mana (e.g. Sol Ring, Carpet of Flowers): 9
3. Cards costing 1 or 2 that bounce or untap mana rocks (e.g Chain of Vapor, Voltaic Key, Retract): 5
4. Cantrips costing 1 (Brainstorm, etc.): 3
5. Colorless Ancestral Recall with Buyback (Sensei's Divining Top): 1

That is a total of 24 free or net positive mana cards and 8 more extremely cheap ways to rebuy/reuse artifacts for more mana/cards, cantrip... plus Sensei's Divining Top.

Each time Sensei's Divining Top is cast, we draw 3 cards. Then tap the Top, draw a card, put it on our deck, and cast another spell to draw Top again along with 2 more cards (and a 3rd when we tap Top again). This turns Top into a repeatable colorless Ancestral Recall. Basically, Ancestral Curiosity combo tears through our deck with shocking speed and consistency, requiring only mana to win.

Mana Engines

With Ancestral Curiosity in play and some mana rocks, free artifacts, and free spells on board, in hand, and/or our deck, there is still no guarantee of winning.

The most powerful mana engines in existence facilitate the goal of continually casting spells:

1. Yawgmoth's Will allows us to double up on Lotus Petal, LED, rituals, and free spells.
2. Retract, Hurkyl's Recall, and Chain of Vapor all rebuy our mana-positive and free artifacts. With even two free or net positive artifacts, each of these cards reads, "draw 9 cards, then add some mana to your mana pool."
3. High Tide and Candelabra of Tawnos (+Summer Bloom) makes our Islands tap for extra mana and double up via Candelabra of Tawnos. With multiple ways to untap or bounce Candelabra of Tawnos, this engine quickly produces tons of mana.
4. Paradox Engine makes every spell untap our mana artifacts, usually winning on the spot.
5. Isochron Scepter and Dramatic Reversal with mana rocks goes infinite, and Thrasios translates that into a win.

Due to these engines we often need to stop ourselves from drawing cards to avoid decking. Between Engineered Explosives, Lightning Bolt, and Chain of Vapor (among others), we can address that issue.

Discussion: Why should I play this deck?

In one sentence: Speed, consistency, and raw power. Many choices, lots of fun to work out how to use our resources to win.

The Flash-Hulk combo is one of the quickest and most potent. Ancestral Curiosity is both a blast to play and survives very well on low mana and low resources due to its ability to explode seemingly out of nowhere. Putting them together enables us to merge the powers of Storm and Hulk.

Ancestral Curiosity actively moves towards winning with every spell cast along the way by both drawing and dealing damage to opponents. This aspect of the deck cannot be overstated. The draw engine and the kill condition are one and the same.

Necro and Ad Nauseam are two powerhouse draw engines. We take advantage of them maximally in this deck, with nearly half of our turn 2 wins coming from casting one of these with blazing speed (Necro on Turn 1 or Ad Nauseam main phase Turn 2 does the trick). The other half of our blazing fast wins mostly come from assembling Ancestral Curiosity manually or via Flash Hulk With a few of the other plans (Dramatic Scepter, Notion Thief + Wheel, YawgWill + LED, etc).

Yawgmoth's Will and LED provide the traditional Storm lines to put the combo into play, cast everything we need, and kill opponents. High Tide and Candelabra of Tawnos provide more mana than we could ever need, especially along with Summer Bloom to put more Islands into play as we draw, draw, draw. Paradox Engine sometimes just wins with a bunch of rocks; Dramatic Reversal on Isochron Scepter draws our deck via Thrasios and produces the mana and spells to win with Firebrand Archer.

Thus, the composition of our deck allows us to shape a win out of the ridiculous card draw and flexible game plans. Every piece of the deck fits together to support every one of the many plans. All that power clocks in at the lowest Avg. CMC (1.50) outside of a nano-bond deck.

As a result, this deck both has incredible speed and dodges the most common hate in the current field with its variety of plans and backup options. We can often craft a plan around the typically played Hate-Bears and interaction.

For example, Rule of Law effects, which usually cripple storm, can slow -but not stop -us. Having so many cheap instants means we can continue to draw 12 cards per turn cycle and though that is slower, digging so effectively helps us find interaction to remove the permanent to continue.

Even if we find the damage dealers after a large Ad Nauseam (or Necro into Flash-Hulk or manual Ancestral Curiosity), we can easily drop one, then play a pile of free rocks, Retract, do it again, Hurkyl's Recall, do it again, and end the game almost instantly.

That we can cast 10+ free or mana-positive artifacts three times for a mere 3 mana makes our plan extremely dangerous even with fewer resources (and thus combo through Null Rod, Stony Silence, and Root Maze).

We also have an edge over other storm decks. If we find ourselves exhausted of resources but have not put together a win (aka "whiffed"), we can defend ourselves until we can untap, at which point we can pick up right where we left off with Ancestral Curiosity.

The win condition being embedded into the draw engine itself is a double plus and eliminates the need for extra slots dedicated to winning the game. We even have a back-up kill plan in two ways via Lightning Bolt:

1. Twister loops (Noxious Revival, Timetwister, and Lightning Bolt)
2. Lightning Bolt + Isochron Scepter + Paradox Engine

Discussion: Variance Theory on Storm VS Combo

What makes this better than existing Hulk or Storm decks?

Let's consider the benefits of this deck over other Hulk variants and storm variants.

Having a guaranteed win if our own spells and abilities resolve is one approach (e.g. Ballista or Breakfast Hulk), but the trade-off is that the pieces required often introduce their own variance in terms of drawing them, having decreased utility or usefulness for the game plan individually, or being expensive to cast on their own (e.g. Mike, Devourer in Hulk decks). Additionally, many times these decks require a number of pieces (usually 3-6 cards) to ensure the combo kill. To be clear such combos lead to a win, but they typically need other specific cards in the deck to deterministically win. Often, these pieces are necessary to win but don't need to be drawn and cast, and are not wanted in hand (e.g. Dread Return, Narcomeba, Mike in Hulk).

The other way is to design and build a synergy deck that more smoothly integrates the pieces (e.g. 20+ dorks and rocks plus tons of tutors for Dramatic Scepter combo) and has more consistency that way, thereby reducing variance from individual draws or pieces that contribute to the win plan as they work together more effectively and are actively useful in hand. The trade-off is that often there is some chance that resolving the combo or core spell(s) will not achieve the goal (in Dramatic Scepter, because we didn't draw enough rocks).

The elegance of having Flash Hulk and Ancestral Curiosity together is that individual pieces are inexpensive and thereby valuable on their own since we can cast them to storm off. Creature tutors find either of the Ancestral Curiosity combo pieces or Hulk and the instant-searching tutors can find Flash to combo, Retract once Ancestral Curiosity is online, Dramatic Reversal, or Ad Nauseam depending on what the situation calls for.

Therefore, a higher percentage of cards are valuable to have in hand, on the field, or in our deck (e.g. compared to Ballista or Breakfast Hulk). The result is higher consistency and since more cards are useful in hand and contribute to an active game plan when drawn (e.g. Ancestral Curiosity combo pieces).

Once established, the entire focus is to just cast spells (since doing so will draw cards and deal damage to opponents), so the majority of the deck is dedicated to putting the Ancestral Curiosity combo on board or enabling us to continue casting spells (with backup plans, some interaction, and protection sprinkled in).

Deck Weaknesses

1. The Ancestral Curiosity combo requires one or more creatures to stick in order to win, making us hold up protection or fold to creature removal (unless protected by Sylvan Safekeeper via Flash Hulk).
2. We play a tad less interaction overall and focus more on defensive and low cost rather than disruptive counterspells and interaction, so we have fewer opportunities to disrupt other players.
3. We mulligan more hands that contain lots of mana and/or free cards but may not have the tools (tutors and/or engine pieces, Necro or Ad Naus) to produce a win.
4. Flash-Hulk and YawgWill lines are susceptible to common graveyard hate (e.g. Leyline, RiP).
5. None of our plans deterministically win, even though we have high efficiency and consistency.

100 Sample Test, Results, Method, and Discussion

After many long hours, the 100-sample hand goldfish test has been completed. The results are as follows:

Avg. Turn Win: 2.96

Win Frequencies by Turn:

T1: 1

T2: 31

T3: 49

T4: 16

T5: 1

T8: 1

T9: 1

I wanted to note how much a T2 win depends on our opener; we need a mix of mana and one (or both, for 2-card combos) of the relevant spells, with cheap tutors increasing consistency of having those. Interestingly, that is often possible with 6 and 5 card openers, and even a 4 card hand once. When aiming for T3, having both mana acceleration and tutors/combos seemed fairly likely and often involved having extra mana and/or interaction, but trying to push a T2 win really required enough mana plus one of the major business spells/combos or the right tutor(s) to find them. A large number of the T4 (and bunch of the T3) wins involved getting the Ancestral Curiosity combo out, but "whiffing" and having to wait for our next untap to win.

Most T2 wins came from the following (in order of how often they occurred, though Ad Nauseam and Ancestral Curiosity wins were nearly identical in frequency):

1. T2 main phase Ad Nauseam (Mana/rituals plus a tutor or Ad Nauseam in the opening hand; this was once achieved off a mulligan to 4 via Ancient Tomb, Fetch, Dark Ritual, and Imperial Seal)
2. T2 Ancestral Curiosity (with 1-2 free spells in hand; this includes Flash Hulk to assemble the combo on T2)
3. T1 Necro (off of Dark Ritual or Cabal Ritual)
4. Some combination of T2 Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal and/or Rocks + Paradox Engine (and the T1 was a mythical hand of rocks + IsoRev)
5. Notion Thief + Wheel (once, casting Notion thief T1 followed by a wheel on T2)

Disclaimer(s):

The goal of the sample hands was to test the deck's speed, and there was certainly pilot choice/error involved. I sometimes did mulligan hands that were T3 or T4 wins with interaction, looking for a T2 hand. The 2-3 very late wins came from mulligans to oblivion. In one case, I mulliganed a turn 3 hand (2 tutors and enough mana) which resulted in a mulligan to oblivion and the subsequent T9 result came from from that mistake.

In real games, I probably would generally hold onto a 5-6 card hand with mana and spells rather than go down to 4 or less, unless I'm feeling especially greedy or trying to out-race several fast combo decks at once.

Additionally, there were several changes made in the middle of the test, e.g. cutting both redundant pingers, Paradoxical Outcome and adding Yawgwill, Bolt, Winds of Change etc. Notably, prior to making those changes, none of those cards contributed to T2 or T3 wins in a meaningful way. Notably, there were no fast Yawgwill or Winds of Change based wins, possibly due to the absence of those cards for more than half of the test.

The test did not consider holding up interaction, disrupting opponents (eg. with counters, wheels, etc.) or protecting its own combo.

I split the goldfishes almost evenly between paper and computer games. Though I did not keep track of it exactly, the T2 wins were about 2/3 from computer games, and the T4 and T5 wins were about 3/5 from paper games, making online a bit better with regard to overall speed. Variance from paper shuffling vs. computer RNG may explain the difference.

Finally, the average win went up and down a lot throughout the set of 100 goldfishes. To give an idea, at ~40 games it was 2.73, by ~60 games it was 2.93, at 80 games it was at 2.78, and it went back up to 2.96 during the final 20 goldfishes. I know the point is to get a large sample size, and I may add another 100 goldfishes at some point to address some of the noted methodological issues, for comparison, and to track whether there may be a trend.

Improvement Opportunities

1. More (red) rituals: Both to jump start and continue snowballing spells pre- and post-Ancestral Curiosity combo. This deck is a storm deck at heart, after all...
2. More free spells: Whether interaction (Gut Shot, Surgical Extraction, Slaughter Pact, Snuff Out) or draw (Frantic Search), having useful free spells increases consistency and likelihood of stopping opponents and winning.
3. Mucktide: Going deeper into swamp territory with Urborg, Lake of the Dead, Bubbling Muck, and possibly even Rain of Filth. Probably would replace High Tide and Islands with more Swamps (or swamp-based Shocks) to compensate, and it remains to be seen if that path is more consistent.
4. More interaction: I may have a soft spot for Stifle and Spell Snare right now, especially with the popularity of Hulk decks, but those are two cards that I always want to make room for.
5. Suggestions?? I am always open to your feedback and thoughts!

Changelog

1. Added Manamorphose (cut Exploration). Manaporphose fits naturally into this deck, helping cast our heavy black spells and effectively costing no resources. In its place, Exploration was cut as it is most helpful early with multiple lands in hand which is rare and usually undesirable and otherwise played the role of effectively free semi-filter from green mana. Manamorphose is a superior replacement since it does the same (even better since it has a more flexible cost and can filter colorless mana too) and can even generate mana with Baral in play.
2. Added Baral (cut Intuition). Baral is quite helpful in the storm plan, making nearly all of our key spells cheaper (and fighting a tax effect admirably). Being able to grab both Baral and Notion Thief makes Flash Hulk into Wheel another backup line that has a similar effect to Ad Naus or Ancestral Curiosity Combo. Intuition was cut in its place as a semi-tutor that has been less than reliable.
3. Added Lightning Bolt (Removed Guttersnipe): Removal and win condition makes this card exceptional. It lowers our curve and as a win condition gives us the freedom to cut the other redundant (and inferior) Firebrand Archer effect. (Side Note: Gut Shot may be a card that has similar utility as a kill condition but costing Phyrexian makes it an effectively free spell. However, less damage reduces its effectiveness as removal. It's likely a meta choice, with Bolt being more useful as removal and Gut Shot increasing consistency of Ancestral Curiosity storming.)
4. Added Yawgwin (Removed Paradoxical Outcome): Yawgmoth's Will is an iconic storm card capable of producing swift wins on its own, especially with LED and rituals. Paradoxical Outcome was a win-more card in most situations and Yawgmoth's Will adds an entire dimension to both storm and Intuition lines.
5. Added Winds of Change (removed Reckless Fireweaver): WoC Fits this deck like a glove, both in Ad Nauseam and Ancestral Curiosity lines. It adds another (cheaper and more efficient) Notion Thief line that independently wins, and it can be a backup Flash Hulk plan at a low cost too. Cut one of the redundant pingers.
6. High Tide and Candelabra of Tawnos added (reduced land count to 28): To generate massive mana, as it has proven powerful time and again in classic storm decks. It requires changes to the mana base and the lines of play and is presently in testing.
7. Added Sylvan Safekeeper (removed Impulse): To protect our precious Ancestral Curiosity combo, fetched along with Firebrand Archer and Tandem Lookout with Flash Hulk to give us a (semi)protected line, and add a second target for Summoner's Pact.
8. Added Lim Dul's Vault (removed Dark Petition): To reduce the cost of tutors, and open up the possibility of casting more cards post Ancestral Curiosity. It also has the benefit of being able to sift through the top cards and find a pile with several free spells (especially mana sources) to continue chaining mid-combo.

Other Directions: Control?!

It would be interesting to consider another style given the power and efficiency of Ancestral Curiosity, specifically control.

Curiosity Control Draft

Drawing 3 for each spell literally means that trading our spell for an opponent's always breaks parity. This opens up the possibility of playing a draw-go control style of deck.

However, the draw engine and win condition that is Ancestral Curiosity also has significant constraints and requirements to reliably get online.

The idea is still exciting, and I believe there is still so much unexplored deck design space there.

Credit

Thanks to Lilbrudder for testing and feedback, and of course Cobblepot for the development of several decks with the Ancestral Curiosity combo that spawned the FireStorm Hulk deck.

Top Ranked	Achieved #9 position overall 6 years ago
Date added	6 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	14 - 0 Mythic Rares 51 - 0 Rares 18 - 0 Uncommons 13 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	1.50
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U
Folders	To test, Cool EDH Decks, Saved Decks, Yidris (UBRG), cEDH decks to review., CEDH decks (+), Interesting Commander Decks, Play test, 2- Deck-Ideen, cEDH