I will defenetly try this deck, i've already seen a guy playing it and it was really really good. ~

I'm curious, what do you sideboard Slaughter Pact in for?

Well, for one, it is free removal with an upkeep Angel's Grace, and still can be payed for, the matchups it is good in can be things like the mirror, to remove a Laboratory Maniac on the win-turn, or affinity when they swing with an 18/18 Arcbound Ravager or something, plenty of decks really just are going to swing in with one creature for a kill that can be stopped by it. Honestly 1 or 2 in the mainboard isn't even uncommon.

Ph0b1a:

I really hope you do!!!!! I will warn you though that we have some awful matchups, most notably infect, but if you do make the deck and ever need any advise feel free to ask me I would be more than happy to discuss!!!!!!

Flooremoji:

SynergyBuild covered some of the basics with what Slaughter Pact is good against. To be a bit more broad and specific, pact comes in against pretty much every aggro deck bar Hollow One and Vengevine and even then there is an argument for it just for tempo's sake. A key matchup for it is infect. Infect is already by far our worst matchup however the important thing to note about that deck is that it tends to go all out on one creature, Slaughter Pact is our quick, often painless with Angel's Grace, answer to this problem and has the potential to steal a game postboard, a feat that is nearly impossible for us against infect. Affinity, as mentioned previously has the potential to kill in one hit with Arcbound Ravager or the other notable option being Inkmoth Nexus, pact answers these. Personally I am a fan of bringing it in against humans for a couple reasons: first, it can wipe out a large Champion of the Parish. Some additional lines are very interesting, for example let's say our opponent has a Meddling Mage naming Ad Nauseam in play, we have 6 mana with Angel's Grace and Ad Nauseam in hand (or alternatively already have Phyrexian Unlife in play. On our opponents end step, or when they commit, we can Slaughter Pact the Meddling Mage unlocking the combo and win at instant speed. In other words, Slaughter Pact makes it so we don't need to fear the most disruptive parts of modern's most played deck. This same line of thinking can be applied with a Thalia, Guardian of Thraben in play though with this it should be noted that 7 mana if comboing with Angel's Grace and 6 if Phyrexian Unlife is in play is needed as Pact will cost 1. Other problem creatures it can deal with efficiently before we win are Eidolon of Rhetoric, Phyrexian Revoker, Gaddock Teeg, and Ethersworn Canonist. I hope that answers your question some. In many ways it is there for cheap removal, but its being free also has certain implications as outlined above.

Thanks SynergyBuild and Oloro_Magic!

No Problem, it is perfectly fine to ask!

Flooremoji:

No thank you for the comment, I love talking about this deck as you can probably tell. If you ever have any questions feel free to ask.

SynergyBuild:

Thank you for aiding in responses your insights are always appreciated! :)

What happens if two Simian Spirit Guides are already in exile (possibly through the effect of spoils) and you don't have any available mana left?

Flooremoji:

First off; thanks for the upvote!!! It's much appreciated. As for your question the problem you are mentioning is really a non-issue in most scenarios. It really is up to the pilot and their own awareness. It essentially means we have to wait an extra turn to combo off if we have no mana other than the two available in my build of the deck--more on that to come. The times at which we play Ad Nauseam also become interesting as we technically can't do it at our opponents end step anymore with no mana up. A minor inconvenience but workable. Having two guides out can suck but if it happens you just have to be aware and make sure you have the necessary mana to go off. As mentioned earlier however there are other ways of combating this, one notable example being that some lists play a Desperate Ritual to combat this problem; this allows us a further way of winning that turn but in my opinion is surplus to requirements.

Got it!

Are there any other possible win cons? Other then Lightning Storm?

Flooremoji

So most builds of the deck are running two wincons nowadays: Lightning Storm for an instant speed kill, and then Laboratory Maniac as we draw our entire deck and then can cast Serum Visions to immediately win off the trigger.

With this said, a variety of other wincons can be played in the deck, for example Conflagrate via flashing it back and discarding your hand (though here I would always keep Pact of Negation in hand regardless); the problem here is it isn't instant speed and can be hurt by graveyard hate, notably Rest in Peace.

Another somewhat well-known win-con is Seismic Assault which essentially accomplishes the same thing however a real problem with it is the fact that it gets hit and blown out by Abrupt Decay.

That really encompasses the combo based options for the deck but many Ad Nauseam players like to add a little spice to the side in the form of flex slots. Grave Titan is generally the popular plan B out of the side however I have seen many variants where people have tried: Godhead of Awe, Dragonlord Dromoka, Keranos, God of Storms, and even a Gifts Ungiven package for Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite/

You can respond to Abrupt Decay by discarding more lands to Seismic Assault, so I wouldn't say it gets blown out. Krosan Grip is probably the card you meant, but that doesn't really see too much play.

Thanks Oloro_Magic! I will keep this in mind if I ever build this! SynergyBuild, Krosan Grip is seeing more play with the uprising of KCI, but I agree is still mostly unplayed.

Oloro_Magic, could Gideon of the Trials be a possible Phyrexian Unlife replacement? Just a though. =)

Flooremoji:

Whilst Gideon of the Trials could work Phyrexian Unlife is almost always simply better. To better understand we need to consider the conditions under which we play Phyrexian Unlife which is often the turn before or a couple turns before we combo off. It is important to consider that unlike Angel's Grace, when we cast Phyrexian Unlife we more than likely are not winning that turn and when thinking of replacing it we need to consider that fact. The main problem I see with using Gideon of the Trials is the fact that he can be killed by our opponent preventing us from winning if they time it right. They can Lightning Bolt him quite simply or just attack him, and considering we need the emblem to do anything he will only ever be at 3 loyalty. Phyrexian Unlife on the other hand for our deck basically says "gain 10 life and 1-3 turns" as well as being harder to remove and requiring our opponent to play enchantment hate. So to answer your question, yes Gideon of the Trials can work, however in 99% of situations Phyrexian Unlife is just safer and better for this deck as we don't win the turn it comes down.

Thanks!