4th place with Ad Nauseum - Boulder, CO

[aosquirrels]

After playing Stax for the past 2 years I decided to try something new for this event.  Steve Menendian's article on Ad Nauseum was enough for me to give this a whirl.  I made a few changes from his Meandeck list which I put in bold in my decklist below. 

Carl Van Laethem
4th place (32 players - 5 rounds w/T8)

Main
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Lotus Petal
4 Ad Nauseum
4 Duress
4 Chain of Vapor
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Chrome Mox
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Tendrils of Agony
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Necropotence
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Mystical Tutor
4 Polluted Delta
2 Underground Sea
1 Bayou
2 Island
2 Swamp

Sideboard
3 Tormod's Crypt
3 Yixlid Jailer
4 Xantid Swarm
1 Bayou
1 Tropical Island
3 Hurkyl's Recall

The changes I made were to replace an Imperial Seal with a Mox Emerald.  I don't own a Seal (never needed one while playing Stax) and I don't play with proxies.  Imperial Seal really really needs to be in this build (IMHO).  I also replaced the 4 Thoughtseizes with Chromatic Spheres.  Two mistakes here: the first is that I should have kept in the Thoughtseizes instead of Duress.  Second mistake was to include 4 Chromatic Spheres.  My decision to use Chromatic Spheres was due to a limited amount of playtesting a few days before the event in which I was drawing too many Duress effects and was getting a bit pissed off about it.  On a positive note, the Chromatic Spheres were key in winning two games and possibly caused one loss.

Round 1 - Cate Lankenau (FLASH)
Yes, Flash!
Game 1: I win the roll.  Cate mulls to 5.  I play a turn 1 Duress finding nothing to indicate that she's playing Flash.  I Ad Nauseum on turn 2 for the win.
Game 2: She plays a turn 1 Mystical Tutor revealing Flash!  I look at my hand a say....F$#K.  She wins next turn with the Disciple of the Vault and artifact dudes combo trick thingy.
Game 3: Fortunately, Cate doesn't have a quick win and my turn 2 Necro wins me the game on turn 3.  I did have to Duress her Trickbind before playing Tendrils in this one.
Score after round 1: 1-0-0

Round 2 - Philip Epstein (ICHORID)
Game 1: Philip gets a game loss for having illegal proxies.  Too many others were guilty of this as well. 
Game 2: We both mulligan to 6.  Philip was visibly nervous and missed at least one Ichorid trigger and also forgot that tokens don't trigger Bridge from Below.  In anycase, after surviving a couple of Cabal Therapys I managed to combo off on about turn 5.
Score after round 2: 2-0-0

Round 3 - Adam Ramsay (BOMBERMAN)
Adam is a teammate of mine.  He's also my Magic coach (maybe that's why I suck at this game) and the best player on Team Black Gold.  This was a matchup I was not thrilled about playing.  Anyway.....
Game 1: I think he mulls to 6.  I Duress him on turn 1 and yank his Mystic Remora and proceed to Ad Nauseum on turn 2.
Game 2: I mull into crap (shoulda mulled more I think).  Adam drops an early Chalice to 1 and I proceed to lose to Aven Mindcensor / Trinket Mage beats.
Game 3: I make my first bonehead play of the day in this game.  I mull to 6 keeping a Black Lotus, Ponder, Mystical Tutor and two other cards.  I play Black Lotus and then Ponder.  Ponder nets me nothing relevent and Mystical gets me an Ancestral Recall.  Why the f&#K I didn't Mystical first is beyond me.  Actually, no.  It's typically how I play this freaking game.  Regardless, Adam was holding a Force of Will so my Ancestral Recall wouldn't have resolved anyway.  Just like in game 2 an early Chalice to 1 and my lack of topdecking skills seals the deal for Adam.
Score after round 3: 2-1-0

Round 4 - Albert Brown (something with Tarmogoyf, Tinker and Trinisphere)
Game 1: I win the roll and again a turn 1 Duress is followed with a turn 2 Ad Nauseum for the win.
Game 2: I keep a hand that wins on turn 2 but was foiled by Albert's turn 2 Trinisphere.  His next turn Tarmogoyf was enough to make quick work of me.
Game 3: My turn 1 Ancestral Recall gets MisD'd.  OUCH!  I was expecting a quick loss after that.  However, the Magic gods were with me and Albert drew three dead cards (land).  Even after Albert plays Time Walk and Impulse followed by a next turn Yawg's Will, I'm still in the game.  Albert's rolling of the eyes seemed genuine.  I'm thinking he has a full grip of mana sources.  I was pretty close.  As time is called, Albert drops a Trinisphere.  All I have in hand is a Tendrils and an Ad Nauseum with 5 open mana on the table.  Albert has now only 2 cards in hand.  I play my only chance to win....an EOT Ad Nauseum.  It sticks!!!!!  I get a shitload (that's a lot) of awesome cards of which two were Chain of Vapor!  I take my turn and tap three for Chain of Vapor which he Forces!!! WTF!!!  Why didn't he Force my Ad Nauseum on the previous turn?  So I drop a land and play my other Chain of Vapor and then combo off easily.  Albert is now on my Xmas card list.
Score after round 4: 3-1-0

Round 5 - Sean Piazza (?)
We ID'd to make T8
Score after round 5: 3-1-1


T8 - Lou Christopher (Ad Nauseum)
This was my first encounter in the mirror match.  More importantly, I win the die roll with a 20!  Suck on that Lou!
Game 1: I play a turn 1 Necro and take 11 card putting me at 9 life.  The next turn I whiff on winning by one freaking black mana.  So much for winning the die roll.
Game 2: A turn 1 Ad Nauseum wins it for me
Game 3: Lou mulls to 6.  I don't even remember if Lou dropped a land on his first turn.  Didn't matter.  I had another turn 1 Ad Nauseum for the win!

T4 - Travis Spero (Ad Nauseum)
I win the die roll again!
Game 1:  I go for another turn one kill.  However my Ad Nauseum was not so kind to me this time.  I end one black mana short and finish my turn with a Duress and a winning grip for turn 2.  My Duress took Travis's only colored mana source (Lotus Petal).  Travis plays draw/go and I win the next turn.
Game 2:  This game features another one of my great moments of stupidity.  I play a turn 1 Demonic Consultation and name Dark Ritual.  I miscounted my available mana (counting to 5 is hard sometimes when you are 50 years old) and realized that I was one mana shy of playing Ad Naueum on my first turn.  If I had named Black Lotus (it was about the 10th card down) I would have had enough mana to cast Ad Nauseum on turn 1 and likely win the game and match.  Travis Duresses and Therapy's my hand into my yard and wins shortly thereafter.
Game 3:  I mull to 6 and got scared to go any further (another mistake).  Travis easily wins this one as I was still fuming (in my mind) over game 2 (another mistake).

Travis goes on to defeat Adam Ramsay in the finals.  Great job Travis!

In retrospect.  I really like this deck.  It is fast and strong.  My decision to use Chromatic Spheres may not be correct but was most definately interesting.  It was key to at least two wins where my Ad Nauseum yielded my only a Mox Emerald and Mox Sapphire as free sources of mana.  Even though they saved my ass a few times they may not be right for this build.  I'm also not totally sold on 8 Duress effects.  Somthings missing.  I'm not a deckbuilder but I'm glad I gave something a try and it didn't turn out too bad.

PROPS:
Ed for hosting the event.  It was waaay better than the first event I attended at your store.  Keep up the good work.

SLOPS:
Whoever was farting all day long.  Take it outside dude!
All the players who got game losses for improper proxys. 

Thanks for reading,
Carl
         

[DoubleDrain]

Congrats on the top 4 and great games Carl. Aren't rituals so much more fun than workshops

[aosquirrels]

Congrats on the top 4 and great games Carl. Aren't rituals so much more fun than workshops

Thanks Travis.  I find it amazing and a bit silly what you can do with one black mana.

[JewLightning]

Congrats on placing 4th Carl. Did you not consider Chromatic Star from Time Spiral it's the same thing as Sphere, but you get to choose your color after you've drawn, and also if it would go to the graveyard by other means like it was destroyed it's draw trigger would go off. Good to see you play spells that produce mana and win you the game instead of lands that produce tons of mana and may or may not get their with creatures. 

Brennen

[Caladan]

Actually, since it is a mana ability it will not use the stack, resolving immediately.  Then the draw trigger will go on the stack and wait to resolve.  Also, chromatic sphere does have the advantage of drawing cards post-yawgmoth's will, unlike chromatic star due to the star requiring it go to graveyard to trigger.

Carl, have you tried sensei's top? You could go to seven duress effects to make room since you have said eight may be too many, and it works well with the topdeck tutors.  I also suggest trying out LED.  It has been awesome for me.

Congrats on the finish.

[aosquirrels]

@jew lightning:  Chromatic Star was suggested to me during the tournament.  I had totally forgotten about it and although a minor difference in the two cards it is probably a better choice.

@catadan:  I agree, Sensei's Top is another card worthy of testing.  I'm not sold on LED.  Other than working with Yawgmoth's freeking Will which I rarely won with, how else is it good?  I'm still trying to grasp all of the nuances of storm decks.

[M.Solymossy]

I'm not sold on LED.  Other than working with Yawgmoth's freeking Will which I rarely won with, how else is it good?  I'm still trying to grasp all of the nuances of storm decks.

Allowing you to play a topdeck tutor and then Play Ad Naseum.

Cast Vamp/Mystical/Imperial Seal.   Go into your upkeep.  Hit LED for BBB.  Go into draw.  Draw your card.  DO not pass priority.  Add to the stack ad naseum.

[aosquirrels]

I'm not sold on LED.  Other than working with Yawgmoth's freeking Will which I rarely won with, how else is it good?  I'm still trying to grasp all of the nuances of storm decks.

Allowing you to play a topdeck tutor and then Play Ad Naseum.

Cast Vamp/Mystical/Imperial Seal.   Go into your upkeep.  Hit LED for BBB.  Go into draw.  Draw your card.  DO not pass priority.  Add to the stack ad naseum.

Gotcha!  Makes sense now.  One's success in a tournament is knowing, inside and out, these little tricks.  Thanks.

[DoubleDrain]

I'm not sold on LED.  Other than working with Yawgmoth's freeking Will which I rarely won with, how else is it good?  I'm still trying to grasp all of the nuances of storm decks.

Allowing you to play a topdeck tutor and then Play Ad Naseum.

Cast Vamp/Mystical/Imperial Seal.   Go into your upkeep.  Hit LED for BBB.  Go into draw.  Draw your card.  DO not pass priority.  Add to the stack ad naseum.

Sick play Mike - never thought of using LED like that. I'll need to test it some more now...

[The_spooky_kid]

LED isnt good in this deck at all.  The scenario you pointed out soly is the only scenario that you could potentialy use it or while ad nauseam was on the stack crack it.  I wouldnt run the card personally.

[M.Solymossy]

LED isnt good in this deck at all.  The scenario you pointed out soly is the only scenario that you could potentialy use it or while ad nauseam was on the stack crack it.  I wouldnt run the card personally.

I didn't say it was good Jeremy, I was just pointing out a scenario where it would be good.

[Smmenen]

LED isnt good in this deck at all.  The scenario you pointed out soly is the only scenario that you could potentialy use it or while ad nauseam was on the stack crack it.  I wouldnt run the card personally.

I think LED is fine.  I didn't run it because of hte opportunity cost, not because it isn't good. 

[aosquirrels]

I made the following adjustments to the maindeck from what I played this past weekend...

-1 Mox Emerald
-4 Chromatic Sphere
+1 LED
+1 Sensei's Divinging Top
+3 Thoughtseize

The deck performed a bit better in that Ad Nauseum netted me less clunky (no chr. spheres) cards.  Out of about 15 games I played, LED was key in only one win but was never a factor in losing.  So I think LED may be a good choice for the deck.  The big surprize for me was the Sensei's Divinging Top.  3 games were won strickly on this card!  Twice it netted me Demonic Tutor and the other was Black Lotus.  My last change will be to add a Imperial Seal (which I should get sooon) and take out either the LED or a Duress.

[Grand Inquisitor]

LED...these little tricks

Does this also work with your regular draw step, since it's an instant?  E.g., with LED in play, mystical at end of opponent's turn for AdNaus and then crack it in response to your draw during your draw step?

[Webster]

LED...these little tricks

Does this also work with your regular draw step, since it's an instant?  E.g., with LED in play, mystical at end of opponent's turn for AdNaus and then crack it in response to your draw during your draw step?

You have to crack LED in your upkeep step and float the mana through into your draw step because neither player gets priority before the active turn's draw. You can also think of it like this:

'at the beginning of upkeep' triggered abilities --> upkeep step.
normal draw for turn --> draw step.

In each case, no player receives priority before each event happens in its respective step.

[Smmenen]

LED...these little tricks

Does this also work with your regular draw step, since it's an instant?  E.g., with LED in play, mystical at end of opponent's turn for AdNaus and then crack it in response to your draw during your draw step?

You can't respond to your draw in your draw step.  The draw in the draw step does not use the stack.  it is the first thing that happens in the draw step. 

Also, and in case you've forgotten this, mana carries from the upkeep through the draw step.   So you break LED in your upkeep, move to your draw step, draw AN, and play it. 

[aosquirrels]

LED...these little tricks

Does this also work with your regular draw step, since it's an instant?  E.g., with LED in play, mystical at end of opponent's turn for AdNaus and then crack it in response to your draw during your draw step?

No you can't.  You Mystical/Imperial Seal/Vamp T. either at the end of your opponent's turn or during your upkeep.  Then, you must activate LED BEFORE your draw.  Your actual draw doesn't use the stack therefore it can't be responded to.  

EDIT:  Sorry about the redundant answer. The previous two posts beat me to the punch!

[Ramses]

I can't start a new topic in this board, so I guess I'll piggy-back on this one.  Here's my Tournament Report from the Boulder Mox Jet Tournament.  2nd Place with Bomberman.

Here's the deck I ran:

1 Aether Spellbomb
1 Black Lotus
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Pithing Needle
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
2 Repeal
2 Negate
4 Mystic Remora
1 Time Walk
2 Augury Adept
3 Trinket Mage
3 Auriok Salvagers
3 Aven Mindsensoor
2 Misdirection
4 Flooded Strand
4 Island
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Plains
1 Polluted Delta
1 Tolarian Academy
3 Tundra

Sideboard:
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Pithing Needle
1 Tinker
1 Seal of Cleansing
2 Serenity
3 Swords to Plowshares
1 Tormod's Crypt
2 Stifle
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Rebuild

Round 1: Kyle -- Elves
Kyle is one of the regulars at Black Gold, so I'm very used to playing with him.  He usually plays Elves, and I'm guessing  that he will have just proxied up a couple pieces of power and stick with his regular deck.
Game 1:
He leads with Llanower Elves, confirming my guess.  He proceeds to play a bunch of elves while I set up the recurring bombs.  I combo out when he has lethal on the field.
Game 2:
My opening grip includes salvagers, lotus, and trinkets.  He plays a couple elves, and I combo off.

Round 2:  Lou -- Ad Nauseam
I always look forward to playing Lou at these events.  We always seem to play, and they're always good games.  It's kind of a friendly rivalry.  I'm guessing he's on some kind of storm deck.  Probably Ad Nauseam, which is good for me.  Playtesting has shown that to be very much in my favor.
Game 1:
I resolve an early Augury Adept and start the beats.  He's at around 10 life when he casts Mystical Tutor and I respond with Aven Mindcensor.  He asks if he can fail to find, I tell him that he can, and he does.  The bird and adept finish it.
Game 2:
I get an early Sensei's Top out, and I think also a remora.  What I really remember about this game is that I have things more or less in hand, and have the combo in my hand.  He casts Thoughtseize, which I Misdirect and see that the only business spell in his hand is Demonic Tutor.  I'm holding Mindcensor, Lotus, Salvagers, Trinket Mage, and Mana Drain.  When he casts his Demonic Tutor, I make a colossal play mistake and respond with the Mindcensor instead of Drain.  If I drain Demonic, I win.  Instead he demonics into Ancestral which gives him a dark rit and a tendrils, and he pulls it out.  At some place in here, I also see that he's boarded in Oath of Druids.
Game 3:
We both do some more sideboarding, as I prepare for Oath as well as Tendrils.  I have the combo pretty early if I can survive the first couple turns.  I remember allowing an Oath to resolve knowing that I'm playing combo this game, and not fish.  Trinket Mage finds the Lotus into Salvagers and another Trinket Mage.  After a lot of trash talking Lou concedes.

Round 3:  Carl -- Ad Nauseam
So now I get matched against my teammate.  I know Carl's on AN.  This is still in my favor.
Game 1:
My notes for this game are sketchy.  He cracks a Polluted Delta, casts duress and takes my Remora.  An early Ad Nauseam knocks my lights out.  So it goes.
Game 2:
I get an early Trinket and cast Chalice set to 1.  A second mage joins the first, and I start the beats.  He casts a couple small tendrils along the way, but chalice keeps them from being lethal.  Mindcensor joins the magi of Trinkets and my team of men bring it home for me.
Game 3:
Carl opens with Lotus, casts Ponder which I allow.  He then casts Mystical Tutor.  We have a discussion about the order of these two spells and we both agree that he should have tutored first.  I was holding Force, so I don't know how the game would have gone if he'd played it right.  Anyway, he proceeds to burn for 1, and not drop a land.  I set an early chalice to 1 which pretty much seals the deal for me.

Round 4/5:  I don't remember who I get paired agianst, but I double ID into the Top 8.

Top 8:  Misty -- Doran Beats
Misty has come to many of these events, and she usually plays BG Beats with Goyf and Root Maze.  Having not seen any of her games, I'm guessing she's on the same thing.
Game 1:  She drops a turn 2 Ethersworn Canonist.  I'm not too concerned about the Canonist, as I thought about playing them, so I let it go.  Pretty soon a handful of other guys join the fray, and I find myself being trampled.
Game 2:  I get out an early Augury Adept and use my creature hate/counterspells to keep the adept going.  She Seeks out DSC and gains 11 life.  I continue my beats.  She seeks 2 more times in this game hitting Auriok Salvagers.  I resolve a couple more guys, and the card advantage of the adept allows me to keep her creatures off the table.
Game 3:  The game starts much like game 2.  I get the adept down, she seeks out the DSC.  Adept reveals Trinket Mage and then Salvagers, and I combo off.  We shake hands and I congratulate her on her first top 8.

Top 4:  Sean -- Dredge
I really don't know what Sean's playing, but for some reason I think it involves Mana Drain.   I'm guessing maybe Tez.
Game 1:  I keep a hand that looks pretty decent if he's on Tez.  He plays first and drops Bazaar.  I look at it amazed.  I misjudged that one badly.  He starts dredging and I succumb quickly to the dead men.
Game 2:  The only mana in my opening grip was mox pearl, but I had Tormod's Crypt and Pithing Needle.  I drop both and he drops Dryad Arbor.  He proceeds to start beating with his ambling terrain while I wait to draw some mana.  Eventually I get a couple mana, drain an Unmask and turn it into a Salvagers.  Once I demonstrate that I can use Tormod's Crypt every turn, he concedes.
Game 3:  Very uneventful.  He mulligans to 1 without hitting a Bazaar or a Serum Powder.  I lead with a crypt.  A needle follows quickly, and eventually I find some men to actually win it for me.

Finals:  Travis --  Bob Nauseam
We discuss a split, but can't figure out a good way to split it.  We decide to play.  I feel pretty good about it, knowing he's playing Ad Nauseam combo.
Game 1:  He drops an early bob.  Bob beats me for a bit, while revealing Mox, Dark Rit, and Tendrils.  Tendrils finishes me off.
Game 2:  I certanly make a couple play mistakes here.  It's 8:30, and I'm just ready to be done.  I keep a very suspect hand, and proceed to play it badly.  I go turn 1 Lotus, Augury Adept, land, pass.  I look down at my hand as he's drawing, and realize that I forgot to play my Mystic Remora.  I'm now holding nothing as he bounces my adept, and drops a turn 1 bob.  Failure to draw a third mana does me in as Bob beats me down.
I haven't playtested against this deck with Bobs, so maybe it was just bad luck, but usually when playing against Ad Nauseam, I feel like I'm playing the entire game on the edge, but I always feel like I'm on top.  Here, the Bobs quickly had me off balance, and I was playing the whole game from behind.  Good job, Travis.

I took a deck that I expected to do well against Ad Nauseam and Tez.  I didn't see Tez all day, but it performed pretty much as expected against Ad Nauseam.  So I walked away with a Grim Tutor.  I liked the way the deck ran, and I loved Mystic Remora all day.