This is the second build, of my first attempt, at making a storm deck in EDH that does not win through use of a combo or infinite mana.
Storm is an interesting mechanic that I have never tried to build before, in any format. I was spurred to create this deck by the coming in of a Mizzix storm player to our local meta. Specifically I found that his so-called "storm" deck was actually an infinite combo deck utilizing Reiterate, Reality Spasm, and Gutshot to kill the table. Making infinite storm count from the combo was little more than a coincidence. Thus, I decided to try my hand at making a real storm deck that doesn't utilize a combo and wins from a boardstate generated by pure storm.
After looking at the available storm cards in Magic, a few options came to mind. Tendrils was weak unless using combo. Permanent bounce was boring, and without a combo for the kill the game would simply drag on with no way to close it. Mill is bad in EDH, IMO. Empty the Warrens showed some potential but that was quickly overshadowed. The moment I considered making a storm deck that won via combat damage, Dragonstorm seemed perfect. Easy to grant haste, built in evasion, ping triggers, massive power, ETB and on-attack triggers. Dragons are scary, held back by the sole weakness of being expensive to cast and easy-ish to kill when faced one at a time.
History:
The deck began life as a Grixis deck helmed by Crosis, the Purger. Mostly because I wanted a Grixis spellslinger deck for a while and because I had a foil Crosis begging to be used. I built the deck up with staples - spells that untap lands, permanents that make spells cheaper, cheap artifacts that generate mana, and rituals. It did alright for a few games but I found two very glaring weaknesses. Artifact destruction was a game ender. Shatterstorm turn 4 and I was done for good. The other was that it folded to defensive combat spells. Having 500 power on deck and swinging is answered by Fog or Cyclonic Rift handily, and the deck didn't have space for a robust counter package. Enter Dragonlord Dromoka, who says my opponents cannot cast spells on my turn. Unfortunately she was in the two colors I wasn't, so by necessity the deck became a 5c deck. I helmed it with Cromat for a couple games until decided that I might as well go all out for Dragons and picked up Scion. Since the deck now included green, I took the opportunity to drop all the lesser artifact ramp I had been using and replace it with green land ramp spells, keeping only the cream of the artifacts and greatly reducing that weakness.
Strategy:
The deck wins by storm, and the strategy begins before the game even starts. The ideal hand will have at least 2 lands, one of which taps for green, a mana rock or two, a land ramp spell or two, and a spell that draws cards. Something like (Swamp, Savage Lands, Mana Crypt, Anticipate, Cultivate, Rampant Growth, Windfall) is an almost perfect starter. The green ramp spells do more than just ramp, we rely on them for color fixing. The slow tricolor taplands are just there to get us started, and you will seldom play more than one or two and only in the first couple turns.
The deck should make its first major plays around turn 4 or 5 depending on how much ramp you drew. The basic storm line is Rituals > Draw Spells > GET Storm. What I mean by GET is that you can tutor for it, discard it and cast it from the yard, draw it off a draw spell or otherwise fish it out to cast it. The trick and skill is to balance your spells so that you GET to Dragonstorm with either the 9 mana needed to cast it, or an alternative like Mizzix's Mastery-ing it from the graveyard without running out of gas. Sometimes I've even cast it off a big Mind's Desire.
The wincon is based around 4 cards. The two Kolaghans, Scourge of the Throne, and Utvara Hellkite. These four give the board Haste, each creature gets +1/+0 for each attacking dragon, so +4 base, you get a 6/6 dragon token per attacking dragon, so 4 base, and you get an extra combat step after you attack. The deck uses a suite of painlands to help keep you off the throne to guarantee Scourge triggers. By stacking the attack triggers you can give the +1/+0 bonuses to the 6/6 tokens as well, who will then get to swing in the second combat step where they become 18/6s in addition to your other dragons' power. This is easily, easily enough to kill 2-3 opponents and this is only the basic Storm-4 fire. The ideal game winner is casting Dragonstorm for six, grabbing the four dragons above plus Dragonlord Dromoka and Atarka, World Render. Now your opponents are almost powerless to stop your combat as they can't cast spells, and all your dragons gain double strike in addition to the other buffs.
Bladewing is there to grab one of your dragons out of the yard if you're missing a key piece. Perpetual Timepiece does work, as its second ability allows you to return only your dragons to the library, leaving all your instants and sorceries for a timely Yawgwill or Mizzix's Mastery.
The Chaff:
The remainder of the deck is composed of a couple mana doublers, cost reducers, and a very light but critical package of answers. A Swords, a Snap, a Force of Will. Insidious Will does double duty as a copy spell or a counter, and Toxic Deluge is the most mana efficient wipe in the game. Pyroblast gets rid of all kinds of nasty permanents and can counter a counterspell. Crosis's Charm is one of the most versatile spells in all of Magic.
Weaknesses:
Summary Dismissal, an overloaded Counterflux, or Time Stop in response to Dragonstorm are devastating. A critical early ramp spell being countered can mana short you for the rest of the game, and having a wheel countered on an empty hand will lock you out so bad that it justifies the addition of the Dragon Mage simply to be a Scion target. Propaganda effects and stax taxes make life very miserable. Certain combo decks, namely Prossh and Mizzix, can equal or beat you in speed. Cards that punish spellslinger decks like Ruric Thar will outright shut you down. Stupid "your creatures enter tapped" cards like Blind Obedience are also backbreaking, which is the main reason I included Amulet of Vigor. Untapping trilands is just a bonus.
Improvements:
In a perfect world, the trilands would be replaced with fetches, shocks, and duals. I once had this manabase in a 5c control deck, but wound up building Sultai and Bant which used most of my duals and fetches/shocks and I'm not going to spring for another set for what is an experimental deck. The Increasing Ambition should probably be a Demonic Tutor. It lacks Mystical, et. al because so far I prefer to-the-hand tutors rather than relying on a draw but this may change in a later build.
Happy brewing!
