Post by ckangas on Aug 16, 2012 2:38:23 GMT -5
Frantic (Familiar) Storm Primer
Note: This primer will likely change as I tune the list. Also, I likely add in a general "how to" in regards to running the deck
I. Introduction
Pauper has historically been a balanced format. Despite the calls for banning invigorate, cloudpost and delver, meta-game analysis has consistently demonstrated that most decks hover around the 50% match win mark. Decks rise and fall, but eventually the online pauper meta shifts, and the format once again becomes balanced.
A notable exception to this historical trend was Frantic Storm. Personally, I picked up the deck before it witnessed its meteoric rise. While it was slower than other forms of storm (TPPS being the most notable at the time), it was consistent and difficult to disrupt. MBC was perhaps the most commonly played deck at the time. While it could pick apart TPPS with duress and rat-based discard, Frantic Storm laughed at MBC's futile attempts; discarding deep analysis to ravenous rats, and following up with a mulldrifter next turn.
Eventually, the deck became too popular for its own good. Although it was difficult to pilot and susceptible to land destruction and bounce, the deck was amazingly consistent and resistant. My own win ratios with the deck were around 75%. And while I often achieve similar numbers in limited or standard, I have not encountered anything close in pauper since the deck's heyday.
The deck became overplayed. Worse, it was a miserable deck to play against. People tend to hate playing against combo decks where they have a low level of interaction. Frantic storm not only played solitaire for 5 minutes, it then required to swing with small bodies for the next few turns while looping the combo. While games went long on time, patience ran thin.
All of this would lead to the banning of Frantic Search. The banning was unique for several reasons, and represented wizards delving into pauper in a more serious manner than before. Their actions were fruitful. Without frantic search, Frantic Storm declined and then disappeared.
Yet, with Avacyn Restored the deck gained a powerful card in Ghostly Flicker. M13 saw another useful addition in the form of Archaeomancer. These cards have enabled the nightmare which was Frantic Storm to once again come alive. Despite the deck being relatively scare, it has posted good results with 4-0s and 3-1s in the dailies.
II. The Deck
~The Mana Base
The land selection remains similar to before frantic search was banned. The largest exception is the lesser reliance on karoo lands to combo off. Although they are certainly helpful, the deck can achieve infinite mana with two familiars, a cloud of fairies, and an archaeomancer in play and a ghostly flicker in hand. Alternatively, a single karoo and a single familiar also works. Personally, I run 6 karoos (3 UW and 3 BU). More karoos helps the deck combo off more consistently and hit land drops. Yet, it also makes the deck very vulnerable to land bounce and destruction. Karoos can also lead to mulligans, as you need a non-karoo land in your starting hand.
A sample mana base.
[22 lands, 6 karoos, 8 fetches]
3 Azorius Chancery
3 Dimir Aqueduct
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Terramorphic Expanse
6 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
This gives 12 possible black and white sources and 20 possible blue sources. Typically, one black and white source is sufficient, while numerous blue sources are desired. You may certainly opt to run fewer sac and more basics to increase speed. Personally, I prefer the consistency achieved with 8 fetches. Having access to blue and white with 2 nightscape familiars in hand can be a terrible situation.
~Acceleration
Snap
Cloud of Faeries
These cards double dip on both karoo lands and familiars. Each nets a mana if you have either a karoo or a familiar. They will net 2 mana with one of each or two karoos, and 3 mana with a familiar and two karoos. Snapping a cloud of faeries allows you to essentially double the amount of mana netted.
Although you will often be using snap as mana acceleration with cloud of faeries, it is important to pay attention to the cards other uses. Snap is a great defensive card against aggro decks, it can save your creatures from removal and it can be used for draws by snapping back a mulldrifter or archaeomancer to your hand. Similarly, cloud of faeries cycles; don't be afraid to cycle to find more draw against slower decks. Also, don't forget that you can evoke your mulldrifter and snap (or ghostly flicker) it back to your hand before you are required to sacrifice it.
~Familiars
Nightscare Familiar
Sunscape Familiar
These two creatures make the deck possible. They reduce the cost of all blue spells in the deck by one. Eventually, they allow you to combo off and create infinite mana. With this infinite mana and two archaeomancers you can infinitely recast spells. With temporal fissure you can infinitely bounce any permanents your opponent controls, and swing in with your mulldrifters, sea-gate oracles, and nightscape familiars.
~Draw and Deck Manipulation
Compulsive Research: This card is excellent. It draws deeply by hitting 3 cards, and discarding a land is often not a draw back, since you will be bouncing them to your hand with karoos. The casting cost of 2U also makes good use of non-blue karoo mana, fits the deck's curve nicely, and can be reduced twice by familiars.
Sea Gate Oracle: In terms of draw, this card is inferior to compulsive research. It also breaks the concept of bulk card draw instead of filtering. Still, the body is useful against aggro decks. You won't require much help against green stompy and WW, but the blocker is very relevant against infect. Also, he is another attacker once you reach your soft-lock with temporal fissure and eats removal from poor pilots. Due to the curve and synergy with flicker/snap and body, Sea Gate Oracle is an all-around solid card in the deck.
Deep Analysis: Discarding a land and a deep analysis to frantic search, and then flashing back your DA was always a great combination. Without frantic search, however, you will normally be casting this card from your hand first - outside rats/specters and when you're forced to discard back to 7 because of a bounced land from a karoo. Compulsive research can discard this, but ideally you will want to be ditching a land instead. This card basically reads draw 4 cards for 4UU and 3 life. It is still quite good against control, but is ponderous against combo and potentially dangerous against aggro. Furthermore, the flashback and expensive original CC do not play well with archaeomancer. The double U required for the loop (and the single colorless on the flashback) does not work well with karoos and familiars. Still, "draw 4" is a powerful effect.
Sea Gate Oracle vs Deep Analysis
One of the major choice you will have to make in your 60 cards is how many Sea Gate Oracles and how many Deep Analysis you will run. Sea Gate generally fits the deck better, and is a flexible role player. Yet, the power level remains below that of deep analysis; Sea Gate can't completely change the course of the game like a deep analysis can, and will hit bad draws since it doesn't dig deeply (double land when you're already flooded). It effectively cantrips/cycles and doesn't actually net you a card. Deep analysis nets you +3 - that's three divinations if you're keeping track. Generally speaking, Sea Gate Oracle is better against aggro, while deep analysis shines against control. Main decking the one best suited towards the expected meta and keeping the other in your SB is probably the best approach. A 2/2 split is also reasonable.
Foresee: It digs deep and nets you a card in the process. It is especially useful to avoid flooding in your later turns. The 3U casting cost is expensive, but plays well with karoos and familiars. Do not let the fact that it only nets you one card fool you; foresee filters exceptionally well, and the two cards you receive will be of high quality.
Mulldrifter: A blue staple and a great card in pauper. The 5 CC casting cost is expensive, but it plays well with karoos and familiars. It can be evoked to be an impromptu divination, and can even be flickered/snapped before you are required to sacrifice it. The 2/2 flying body helps the deck's slow clock. It is the only draw card that nearly all decks play 4 copies of.
Honorable Mention: Sift. This card used to fill a role as a 1-2 of after the playset of foresee.
Some combination of the above is required to fuel the mana the deck creates. Generally speaking, bulk draw is good - you are searching for any non-land cards. Typically, you are not searching for a final piece to your combo, but are wanting to draw more mana acceleration and draw spells. That being said, despite the draw power and fetch lands, the deck will flood. At times, scrying 3 lands to the bottom of your library and drawing 2 cards is more useful than drawing 4.
~The Combo Pieces
Ghostly Flicker: The new card that enables the deck. It can be used as acceleration, by flickering cloud of faeries or lands. Alternatively, it can be used as card advantage to flicker sea gate oracles, mulldrifters, or archaeomancers. Additionally, it plays an important defensive role by protecting your creatures from removal. Finally, it enables an infinite mana combo with any combination of two karoos or familiars and a cloud of faeries and an archaeomancer on board. Flickering two archaeomancers or an archaeomancer and a sea gate oracle also allows finite draws/spells.
Temporal Fissure: Boomerang as a storm mechanic. Once the mana engine is set up with karoos and familiars, this card allows all sorts of broken plays. You can use it to bounce all of your opponents permanents as well as an archaeomancer so you can do it all over again next turn. Bouncing sea gate oracles and mulldrifters replenish your draws, and bouncing cloud of faeries generates mana and builds your storm count.
III.The Deck Lists
The archetype is still quite new, and I have only found one other person running a list in the dailies. Still, it is safe to assume that multiple people are presently working on different lists. I've only done 20ish matches in the tournament practice room and one daily event going 3-1 (beating zombies, UR Post and UR Storm and losing to TPPS). If people are interested, I can add a tournament report. The list is largely the old Frantic Storm list with archaeomancer and ghostly flicker added in. The list (and especially the sideboard) needs to be tuned. I will update this post as I fidget with the list.
Frantic Storm by Charles Kangas
[22 land]
6 Island
3 Azorius Chancery
3 Dimir Aqueduct
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Plains
1 Swamp
[21 creatures]
4 Nightscape Familiar
4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Sunscape Familiar
4 Mulldrifter
3 Sea Gate Oracle
2 Archaeomancer
[17 instants and sorceries]
4 Snap
4 Foresee
3 Compulsive Research
2 Deep Analysis
2 Temporal Fissure
2 Ghostly Flicker
[15 Sideboard]
4 Benevolent Unicorn
3 Echoing Truth
3 Prismatic Strands
2 Deep Analysis
1 Sea Gate Oracle
1 Complusive Research
1 Sift
[Notes on the Sideboard]
Potentially, 8 fetches gives you the freedom to splash any sideboard color your heart desires. Yet, normally against aggro you don't want to clunk up your draws and engine in an already good matchup. Against control you would like to see some more card draw out of your board, but you don't have all that much acceleration to cut. You can replace Sea Gate Oracle with more powerful draw spells such as DA, but that tends to be a fairly marginal upgrade.
The current sideboard is pretty ugly. 2 4-ofs and 10 cards dedicated to storm isn't particularly healthy. I'd also like to test arcane denial. Boarding in a counterspell into a combo deck seems bad, but it does cantrip and people certainly aren't expecting it; although it still gets hit with duress. Curfew is a potentially powerful card against infect, but the archetype seems to be on the decline.
IV. The Match-ups
Expected matchup win ratios are listed after the name. For example, [Burn] - 60/40 means that Frantic Storm has roughly a 60% chance to win a given match against burn.
A note on sideboards. I board in differently nearly every game, depending the information I saw the first game, if what I find in an online deck-list, and many other factors. Therefore, I don't have a strict list and formula for boarding. The information below is an example and a rough guideline.
[White Weenie] - 70/30
Newer and improved versions are more dangerous to frantic storm, but most variants of WW are focused on being midrange decks with a slow clock. Their removal costs 2cc and is at sorcery speed, and you typically have until turn 5 or 6 to develop at will. The deck interacts poorly with you pre and post board.
-1 Deep Analysis, +1 Sea Gate Oracle
(for the extra blocker, and curve reasons)
[Delver] - 40/60
Delver is a strong deck, and one of my favorites to pilot. It represents a decent clock, lots of counter backup, and a high degree of interaction. In the tournament practice room, the deck tends to suffer from poor pilot skill. In actual daily events, however, most pilots seem to range from decent to good.
One of the most important thing to consider in this matchup is which spells are most valuable to get through. Typically, they won't be able to counter all your familiars *and* your draw spells. While they have access to bounce, the deck runs light on removal and curse of chains is poor against all your creatures. Piracy charm kills your black familiar, but is moot against most of your deck. If you can stick a familiar and ram through a draw spell (and aren't flooded in the process) you have a good chance of winning the game. If your opponent flips his delver on turn with a ton of counterspells in his hand, your odds are not good.
Good delver pilots aren't going to fully tap out after the first few turns, and you have to accept that you will be playing directly into counters. That being said, try to play around daze when the island bounce won't hurt them, and keep an eye on their fairy count for spellstutter. You're going to get hit with counterspell (and if they run deprive). Try to avoid getting hit with daze/spellstutter/mana leak/etc. Lead in with your weaker spells first to deplete their counters. Finally, google your opponent's name and try to find a decklist while you play (and especially when you have time during SB between games). Delver deck lists vary considerably, and many don't run daze/leak/other counters. You don't want to be playing around a spell they don't have.
-1 Temporal Fissure, +1 Sea Gate Oracle
(mostly for curve reasons)
[MUC] - 55/45
Delver and MUC bleed into eachother, but by MUC I am referring to the slower varieties that are less aggressive and tend to run more counter magic. The slower the variant, the better your match up is. This may sound odd, since counterspells seem so strong against familiar storm. Ultimately, however, counterspells are only good when combined with a clock. If the game drags on, you will eventually get a spell through. When you do, you will often draw into spells that will generate even more draw...and eventually be able to combo off. Do not be afraid to cycle away cloud of fairies against slower control decks. If you're given a free turn, take full advantage of it and try to combo off. Most matches, however, you will be making slow and incremental progress via card advantage and board state. Keep an eye on the clock, as both players may time out.
-1 Cloud of Faeries, -1 Snap, -1 Temporal Fissure, -1 Sea Gate Oracle
+2 Deep Analysis, +1 Sift, +1 Compulsive Research
[UR/UB Post] - 60/40
The two archetypes appear to be just a color preference concerning splashing, but they actually play out more differently than they appear. UB tends to be a better matchup, since their curve is higher and earth rift can ruin your day post board. UB lists have access to sands/ice quake, but LD generally seems more prevalent in UR versions.
The post matchup is all about knowing when to push, and when to wait. The pressure is on them to hit the right combination of removal/counters and develop a board state you can't recover from. Try to punish them for tapping out for something large, like a mulldrifter or a crusher. Yet, be mindful of how badly you need your archaeomancers, cloud of fairies, and especially familiars to stay in play. If you can't afford to lose one, try to keep a snap or a ghostly flicker handy. Landing a decent size temporal fissure is usually game over. Don't be afraid to use your temporal fissures as tempo gains before you can fully combo off. Even 3-4 land bounces can devastate post decks - especially when cloud posts are involved. This works particularly well when they are saving a counter for what they perceive to be a mulldrifter. Be patient and make good use of your opportunities.
-3 Sea Gate Oracle, -1 Cloud of Faeries
+2 Deep Analysis, +1 Compulsive Research, +1 Sift
[Stompy] - 70/30
This is another good matchup you're always happy to see. The combat math can be difficult to predict, and you may have to err on the side of caution or die to a well placed pump spell or two. That being said, the deck lacks removal and interaction. Its clock is decent, but most games you will be able to combo off before they land the killing blow. It plays out as a slightly more random WW matchup. Don't be afraid to use snap defensively, but beware of vines of the vastwood. For this reason, it is often the correct play to snap on your turn, instead of waiting to play games during the combat phase.
+1 Sea Gate Oracle
-1 Deep Analysis
(Note, you can board in strands against mono-colored aggro decks for a 2-turn time-walk. I prefer keeping my list tight, however.)
[Infect] - 40/60
They are effectively a combo deck with a clock that is a full turn (or more) faster than yours. Thankfully, you have snap and a few blockers main deck, and curfew post board. Normally, good infect pilots will play around curfew post board. But being you're basically a combo deck, infect is often forced to race. Curfew can be quite back-breaking because of it. This matchup will often come down to hand quality and variance.
+2 Echoing Truth, +2 Prismatic Strands, +1 Sea Gate Oracle
-1 Archaeomancer, -1 Foresee, -1 Compulsive Research, -1 Ghostly Flicker, -1 Mulldrifter
[TPPS] - 40/60
This is not a matchup you want to see. With a good pilot, TPPS goes off fairly reliably on turn 4. This is fast enough to beat your goldfish, and fast enough to avoid interaction. As with delver, knowing your opponent's decklist is very important. Some versions only run a grapeshot kill, where others will have a full set of empty the warrens. Try to play fast and aggressive, hope your opponent fizzles, and mulligan aggressively into hate post board.
Boarding is going to vary widely based on their specific version; the following assumes grapeshot only.
-3 Sea Gate Oracle, -1 Archaeomancer, -1 Mulldrifter, -1 Foresee
+3 Benevolent Unicorn, +3 Prismatic Strands
[UR Storm / Deluxe Red] - 40/60
Both of these are also decks you do not want to see. Their fizzle chance is much lower, but they do not run grapeshot, so they are easier to hate out. If you get a bad pilot for an opponent, they will often equate untapped blue lands with counterspells, and they will be hesitant to try to go off. Also, some UR storm decks will make the mistake of boarding in a ton of hate against you, such as pyroblast, dispel, spell pierce, etc. All of the extra hate will gunk up their deck enough to allow you to beat them to the punch. Mulligan aggressively into your hate and hope to get lucky. If the opposing pilot plays well and gets decent draws, there isn't much you can do. The MU gets better after the board.
-3 Sea Gate Oracle, -1 Archaeomancer, -2 Mulldrifter
+3 Echoing Truth
+3 Prismatic Strands
[Affinity] - 60/40
This matchup again depends on what version they are running. The slower the version - the better. There isn't too much you can do outside snap to affect their gameplan, but your goldfish will still usually beat theirs. If they see exceptional hands, there isn't too much you can do to survive. Thankfully, affinity tends to have a finicky mana back. Not much in the format can stop affinity god games, but the deck tends to be inconsistant and mulligan poorly. Try not to keep slow hands, and keep a snap ready if they appear close to lethal on a atog/fling combo.
+1 Sea Gate Oracle
-1 Deep Analysis
[MBC] - 70/30
Outside of timely crypt rat activations, great discard mixed with shinobi, or mana flood, there isn't all that much MBC can do to meaningfully interact with frantic storm. Be mindful that if you don't play your familiar/fairies, then the MBC player can not kill them. Cards like mull drifter and foresee can reverse the damage that MBC has been doing to your hand. Their clock is slow, so focus on card advantage and keeping your hand fully stocked. Don't overextend into a board sweeper unless you can draw enough cards to make it worth your while. Deep analysis obviously plays well with mire's toll/ravenous rats/liliana's specter/wrench mind.
+2 Deep Analysis, +1 Compuslive Research
-1 Cloud of Faeries, -1 Snap, -1 Ghostly Flicker
[Zombies/Suicide Black] - 65/35
This falls into the same category as WW and stompy. They actually have removal, so watch out for snuff-out/vendetta/doom blade/victim of the night/etc. Determine if the creature living is necessary to you going off. If it is, try to hold back a snap or a flicker. Their clock is fast, but yours should be faster - even facing some disruption.
+1 Sea Gate Oracle
-1 Deep Analysis
(Board out foresees if you suspect you will be facing non-selective discard)
[Goblins] - 60/40
This matchup varies greatly on the list goblins is running. Their clock can actually be pretty fast, and they have access to quality removal. If they're running SB hate aimed at post it can be a rough match; a turn 2 raze on a karoo can often mean game over. Still, they are an aggro deck and you're favored against most lists.
+1 Sea Gate Oracle
-1 Deep Analysis
(Prismatic Strands is also an option against faster lists)
Note: This primer will likely change as I tune the list. Also, I likely add in a general "how to" in regards to running the deck
I. Introduction
Pauper has historically been a balanced format. Despite the calls for banning invigorate, cloudpost and delver, meta-game analysis has consistently demonstrated that most decks hover around the 50% match win mark. Decks rise and fall, but eventually the online pauper meta shifts, and the format once again becomes balanced.
A notable exception to this historical trend was Frantic Storm. Personally, I picked up the deck before it witnessed its meteoric rise. While it was slower than other forms of storm (TPPS being the most notable at the time), it was consistent and difficult to disrupt. MBC was perhaps the most commonly played deck at the time. While it could pick apart TPPS with duress and rat-based discard, Frantic Storm laughed at MBC's futile attempts; discarding deep analysis to ravenous rats, and following up with a mulldrifter next turn.
Eventually, the deck became too popular for its own good. Although it was difficult to pilot and susceptible to land destruction and bounce, the deck was amazingly consistent and resistant. My own win ratios with the deck were around 75%. And while I often achieve similar numbers in limited or standard, I have not encountered anything close in pauper since the deck's heyday.
The deck became overplayed. Worse, it was a miserable deck to play against. People tend to hate playing against combo decks where they have a low level of interaction. Frantic storm not only played solitaire for 5 minutes, it then required to swing with small bodies for the next few turns while looping the combo. While games went long on time, patience ran thin.
All of this would lead to the banning of Frantic Search. The banning was unique for several reasons, and represented wizards delving into pauper in a more serious manner than before. Their actions were fruitful. Without frantic search, Frantic Storm declined and then disappeared.
Yet, with Avacyn Restored the deck gained a powerful card in Ghostly Flicker. M13 saw another useful addition in the form of Archaeomancer. These cards have enabled the nightmare which was Frantic Storm to once again come alive. Despite the deck being relatively scare, it has posted good results with 4-0s and 3-1s in the dailies.
II. The Deck
~The Mana Base
The land selection remains similar to before frantic search was banned. The largest exception is the lesser reliance on karoo lands to combo off. Although they are certainly helpful, the deck can achieve infinite mana with two familiars, a cloud of fairies, and an archaeomancer in play and a ghostly flicker in hand. Alternatively, a single karoo and a single familiar also works. Personally, I run 6 karoos (3 UW and 3 BU). More karoos helps the deck combo off more consistently and hit land drops. Yet, it also makes the deck very vulnerable to land bounce and destruction. Karoos can also lead to mulligans, as you need a non-karoo land in your starting hand.
A sample mana base.
[22 lands, 6 karoos, 8 fetches]
3 Azorius Chancery
3 Dimir Aqueduct
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Terramorphic Expanse
6 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
This gives 12 possible black and white sources and 20 possible blue sources. Typically, one black and white source is sufficient, while numerous blue sources are desired. You may certainly opt to run fewer sac and more basics to increase speed. Personally, I prefer the consistency achieved with 8 fetches. Having access to blue and white with 2 nightscape familiars in hand can be a terrible situation.
~Acceleration
Snap
Cloud of Faeries
These cards double dip on both karoo lands and familiars. Each nets a mana if you have either a karoo or a familiar. They will net 2 mana with one of each or two karoos, and 3 mana with a familiar and two karoos. Snapping a cloud of faeries allows you to essentially double the amount of mana netted.
Although you will often be using snap as mana acceleration with cloud of faeries, it is important to pay attention to the cards other uses. Snap is a great defensive card against aggro decks, it can save your creatures from removal and it can be used for draws by snapping back a mulldrifter or archaeomancer to your hand. Similarly, cloud of faeries cycles; don't be afraid to cycle to find more draw against slower decks. Also, don't forget that you can evoke your mulldrifter and snap (or ghostly flicker) it back to your hand before you are required to sacrifice it.
~Familiars
Nightscare Familiar
Sunscape Familiar
These two creatures make the deck possible. They reduce the cost of all blue spells in the deck by one. Eventually, they allow you to combo off and create infinite mana. With this infinite mana and two archaeomancers you can infinitely recast spells. With temporal fissure you can infinitely bounce any permanents your opponent controls, and swing in with your mulldrifters, sea-gate oracles, and nightscape familiars.
~Draw and Deck Manipulation
Compulsive Research: This card is excellent. It draws deeply by hitting 3 cards, and discarding a land is often not a draw back, since you will be bouncing them to your hand with karoos. The casting cost of 2U also makes good use of non-blue karoo mana, fits the deck's curve nicely, and can be reduced twice by familiars.
Sea Gate Oracle: In terms of draw, this card is inferior to compulsive research. It also breaks the concept of bulk card draw instead of filtering. Still, the body is useful against aggro decks. You won't require much help against green stompy and WW, but the blocker is very relevant against infect. Also, he is another attacker once you reach your soft-lock with temporal fissure and eats removal from poor pilots. Due to the curve and synergy with flicker/snap and body, Sea Gate Oracle is an all-around solid card in the deck.
Deep Analysis: Discarding a land and a deep analysis to frantic search, and then flashing back your DA was always a great combination. Without frantic search, however, you will normally be casting this card from your hand first - outside rats/specters and when you're forced to discard back to 7 because of a bounced land from a karoo. Compulsive research can discard this, but ideally you will want to be ditching a land instead. This card basically reads draw 4 cards for 4UU and 3 life. It is still quite good against control, but is ponderous against combo and potentially dangerous against aggro. Furthermore, the flashback and expensive original CC do not play well with archaeomancer. The double U required for the loop (and the single colorless on the flashback) does not work well with karoos and familiars. Still, "draw 4" is a powerful effect.
Sea Gate Oracle vs Deep Analysis
One of the major choice you will have to make in your 60 cards is how many Sea Gate Oracles and how many Deep Analysis you will run. Sea Gate generally fits the deck better, and is a flexible role player. Yet, the power level remains below that of deep analysis; Sea Gate can't completely change the course of the game like a deep analysis can, and will hit bad draws since it doesn't dig deeply (double land when you're already flooded). It effectively cantrips/cycles and doesn't actually net you a card. Deep analysis nets you +3 - that's three divinations if you're keeping track. Generally speaking, Sea Gate Oracle is better against aggro, while deep analysis shines against control. Main decking the one best suited towards the expected meta and keeping the other in your SB is probably the best approach. A 2/2 split is also reasonable.
Foresee: It digs deep and nets you a card in the process. It is especially useful to avoid flooding in your later turns. The 3U casting cost is expensive, but plays well with karoos and familiars. Do not let the fact that it only nets you one card fool you; foresee filters exceptionally well, and the two cards you receive will be of high quality.
Mulldrifter: A blue staple and a great card in pauper. The 5 CC casting cost is expensive, but it plays well with karoos and familiars. It can be evoked to be an impromptu divination, and can even be flickered/snapped before you are required to sacrifice it. The 2/2 flying body helps the deck's slow clock. It is the only draw card that nearly all decks play 4 copies of.
Honorable Mention: Sift. This card used to fill a role as a 1-2 of after the playset of foresee.
Some combination of the above is required to fuel the mana the deck creates. Generally speaking, bulk draw is good - you are searching for any non-land cards. Typically, you are not searching for a final piece to your combo, but are wanting to draw more mana acceleration and draw spells. That being said, despite the draw power and fetch lands, the deck will flood. At times, scrying 3 lands to the bottom of your library and drawing 2 cards is more useful than drawing 4.
~The Combo Pieces
Ghostly Flicker: The new card that enables the deck. It can be used as acceleration, by flickering cloud of faeries or lands. Alternatively, it can be used as card advantage to flicker sea gate oracles, mulldrifters, or archaeomancers. Additionally, it plays an important defensive role by protecting your creatures from removal. Finally, it enables an infinite mana combo with any combination of two karoos or familiars and a cloud of faeries and an archaeomancer on board. Flickering two archaeomancers or an archaeomancer and a sea gate oracle also allows finite draws/spells.
Temporal Fissure: Boomerang as a storm mechanic. Once the mana engine is set up with karoos and familiars, this card allows all sorts of broken plays. You can use it to bounce all of your opponents permanents as well as an archaeomancer so you can do it all over again next turn. Bouncing sea gate oracles and mulldrifters replenish your draws, and bouncing cloud of faeries generates mana and builds your storm count.
III.The Deck Lists
The archetype is still quite new, and I have only found one other person running a list in the dailies. Still, it is safe to assume that multiple people are presently working on different lists. I've only done 20ish matches in the tournament practice room and one daily event going 3-1 (beating zombies, UR Post and UR Storm and losing to TPPS). If people are interested, I can add a tournament report. The list is largely the old Frantic Storm list with archaeomancer and ghostly flicker added in. The list (and especially the sideboard) needs to be tuned. I will update this post as I fidget with the list.
Frantic Storm by Charles Kangas
[22 land]
6 Island
3 Azorius Chancery
3 Dimir Aqueduct
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Plains
1 Swamp
[21 creatures]
4 Nightscape Familiar
4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Sunscape Familiar
4 Mulldrifter
3 Sea Gate Oracle
2 Archaeomancer
[17 instants and sorceries]
4 Snap
4 Foresee
3 Compulsive Research
2 Deep Analysis
2 Temporal Fissure
2 Ghostly Flicker
[15 Sideboard]
4 Benevolent Unicorn
3 Echoing Truth
3 Prismatic Strands
2 Deep Analysis
1 Sea Gate Oracle
1 Complusive Research
1 Sift
[Notes on the Sideboard]
Potentially, 8 fetches gives you the freedom to splash any sideboard color your heart desires. Yet, normally against aggro you don't want to clunk up your draws and engine in an already good matchup. Against control you would like to see some more card draw out of your board, but you don't have all that much acceleration to cut. You can replace Sea Gate Oracle with more powerful draw spells such as DA, but that tends to be a fairly marginal upgrade.
The current sideboard is pretty ugly. 2 4-ofs and 10 cards dedicated to storm isn't particularly healthy. I'd also like to test arcane denial. Boarding in a counterspell into a combo deck seems bad, but it does cantrip and people certainly aren't expecting it; although it still gets hit with duress. Curfew is a potentially powerful card against infect, but the archetype seems to be on the decline.
IV. The Match-ups
Expected matchup win ratios are listed after the name. For example, [Burn] - 60/40 means that Frantic Storm has roughly a 60% chance to win a given match against burn.
A note on sideboards. I board in differently nearly every game, depending the information I saw the first game, if what I find in an online deck-list, and many other factors. Therefore, I don't have a strict list and formula for boarding. The information below is an example and a rough guideline.
[White Weenie] - 70/30
Newer and improved versions are more dangerous to frantic storm, but most variants of WW are focused on being midrange decks with a slow clock. Their removal costs 2cc and is at sorcery speed, and you typically have until turn 5 or 6 to develop at will. The deck interacts poorly with you pre and post board.
-1 Deep Analysis, +1 Sea Gate Oracle
(for the extra blocker, and curve reasons)
[Delver] - 40/60
Delver is a strong deck, and one of my favorites to pilot. It represents a decent clock, lots of counter backup, and a high degree of interaction. In the tournament practice room, the deck tends to suffer from poor pilot skill. In actual daily events, however, most pilots seem to range from decent to good.
One of the most important thing to consider in this matchup is which spells are most valuable to get through. Typically, they won't be able to counter all your familiars *and* your draw spells. While they have access to bounce, the deck runs light on removal and curse of chains is poor against all your creatures. Piracy charm kills your black familiar, but is moot against most of your deck. If you can stick a familiar and ram through a draw spell (and aren't flooded in the process) you have a good chance of winning the game. If your opponent flips his delver on turn with a ton of counterspells in his hand, your odds are not good.
Good delver pilots aren't going to fully tap out after the first few turns, and you have to accept that you will be playing directly into counters. That being said, try to play around daze when the island bounce won't hurt them, and keep an eye on their fairy count for spellstutter. You're going to get hit with counterspell (and if they run deprive). Try to avoid getting hit with daze/spellstutter/mana leak/etc. Lead in with your weaker spells first to deplete their counters. Finally, google your opponent's name and try to find a decklist while you play (and especially when you have time during SB between games). Delver deck lists vary considerably, and many don't run daze/leak/other counters. You don't want to be playing around a spell they don't have.
-1 Temporal Fissure, +1 Sea Gate Oracle
(mostly for curve reasons)
[MUC] - 55/45
Delver and MUC bleed into eachother, but by MUC I am referring to the slower varieties that are less aggressive and tend to run more counter magic. The slower the variant, the better your match up is. This may sound odd, since counterspells seem so strong against familiar storm. Ultimately, however, counterspells are only good when combined with a clock. If the game drags on, you will eventually get a spell through. When you do, you will often draw into spells that will generate even more draw...and eventually be able to combo off. Do not be afraid to cycle away cloud of fairies against slower control decks. If you're given a free turn, take full advantage of it and try to combo off. Most matches, however, you will be making slow and incremental progress via card advantage and board state. Keep an eye on the clock, as both players may time out.
-1 Cloud of Faeries, -1 Snap, -1 Temporal Fissure, -1 Sea Gate Oracle
+2 Deep Analysis, +1 Sift, +1 Compulsive Research
[UR/UB Post] - 60/40
The two archetypes appear to be just a color preference concerning splashing, but they actually play out more differently than they appear. UB tends to be a better matchup, since their curve is higher and earth rift can ruin your day post board. UB lists have access to sands/ice quake, but LD generally seems more prevalent in UR versions.
The post matchup is all about knowing when to push, and when to wait. The pressure is on them to hit the right combination of removal/counters and develop a board state you can't recover from. Try to punish them for tapping out for something large, like a mulldrifter or a crusher. Yet, be mindful of how badly you need your archaeomancers, cloud of fairies, and especially familiars to stay in play. If you can't afford to lose one, try to keep a snap or a ghostly flicker handy. Landing a decent size temporal fissure is usually game over. Don't be afraid to use your temporal fissures as tempo gains before you can fully combo off. Even 3-4 land bounces can devastate post decks - especially when cloud posts are involved. This works particularly well when they are saving a counter for what they perceive to be a mulldrifter. Be patient and make good use of your opportunities.
-3 Sea Gate Oracle, -1 Cloud of Faeries
+2 Deep Analysis, +1 Compulsive Research, +1 Sift
[Stompy] - 70/30
This is another good matchup you're always happy to see. The combat math can be difficult to predict, and you may have to err on the side of caution or die to a well placed pump spell or two. That being said, the deck lacks removal and interaction. Its clock is decent, but most games you will be able to combo off before they land the killing blow. It plays out as a slightly more random WW matchup. Don't be afraid to use snap defensively, but beware of vines of the vastwood. For this reason, it is often the correct play to snap on your turn, instead of waiting to play games during the combat phase.
+1 Sea Gate Oracle
-1 Deep Analysis
(Note, you can board in strands against mono-colored aggro decks for a 2-turn time-walk. I prefer keeping my list tight, however.)
[Infect] - 40/60
They are effectively a combo deck with a clock that is a full turn (or more) faster than yours. Thankfully, you have snap and a few blockers main deck, and curfew post board. Normally, good infect pilots will play around curfew post board. But being you're basically a combo deck, infect is often forced to race. Curfew can be quite back-breaking because of it. This matchup will often come down to hand quality and variance.
+2 Echoing Truth, +2 Prismatic Strands, +1 Sea Gate Oracle
-1 Archaeomancer, -1 Foresee, -1 Compulsive Research, -1 Ghostly Flicker, -1 Mulldrifter
[TPPS] - 40/60
This is not a matchup you want to see. With a good pilot, TPPS goes off fairly reliably on turn 4. This is fast enough to beat your goldfish, and fast enough to avoid interaction. As with delver, knowing your opponent's decklist is very important. Some versions only run a grapeshot kill, where others will have a full set of empty the warrens. Try to play fast and aggressive, hope your opponent fizzles, and mulligan aggressively into hate post board.
Boarding is going to vary widely based on their specific version; the following assumes grapeshot only.
-3 Sea Gate Oracle, -1 Archaeomancer, -1 Mulldrifter, -1 Foresee
+3 Benevolent Unicorn, +3 Prismatic Strands
[UR Storm / Deluxe Red] - 40/60
Both of these are also decks you do not want to see. Their fizzle chance is much lower, but they do not run grapeshot, so they are easier to hate out. If you get a bad pilot for an opponent, they will often equate untapped blue lands with counterspells, and they will be hesitant to try to go off. Also, some UR storm decks will make the mistake of boarding in a ton of hate against you, such as pyroblast, dispel, spell pierce, etc. All of the extra hate will gunk up their deck enough to allow you to beat them to the punch. Mulligan aggressively into your hate and hope to get lucky. If the opposing pilot plays well and gets decent draws, there isn't much you can do. The MU gets better after the board.
-3 Sea Gate Oracle, -1 Archaeomancer, -2 Mulldrifter
+3 Echoing Truth
+3 Prismatic Strands
[Affinity] - 60/40
This matchup again depends on what version they are running. The slower the version - the better. There isn't too much you can do outside snap to affect their gameplan, but your goldfish will still usually beat theirs. If they see exceptional hands, there isn't too much you can do to survive. Thankfully, affinity tends to have a finicky mana back. Not much in the format can stop affinity god games, but the deck tends to be inconsistant and mulligan poorly. Try not to keep slow hands, and keep a snap ready if they appear close to lethal on a atog/fling combo.
+1 Sea Gate Oracle
-1 Deep Analysis
[MBC] - 70/30
Outside of timely crypt rat activations, great discard mixed with shinobi, or mana flood, there isn't all that much MBC can do to meaningfully interact with frantic storm. Be mindful that if you don't play your familiar/fairies, then the MBC player can not kill them. Cards like mull drifter and foresee can reverse the damage that MBC has been doing to your hand. Their clock is slow, so focus on card advantage and keeping your hand fully stocked. Don't overextend into a board sweeper unless you can draw enough cards to make it worth your while. Deep analysis obviously plays well with mire's toll/ravenous rats/liliana's specter/wrench mind.
+2 Deep Analysis, +1 Compuslive Research
-1 Cloud of Faeries, -1 Snap, -1 Ghostly Flicker
[Zombies/Suicide Black] - 65/35
This falls into the same category as WW and stompy. They actually have removal, so watch out for snuff-out/vendetta/doom blade/victim of the night/etc. Determine if the creature living is necessary to you going off. If it is, try to hold back a snap or a flicker. Their clock is fast, but yours should be faster - even facing some disruption.
+1 Sea Gate Oracle
-1 Deep Analysis
(Board out foresees if you suspect you will be facing non-selective discard)
[Goblins] - 60/40
This matchup varies greatly on the list goblins is running. Their clock can actually be pretty fast, and they have access to quality removal. If they're running SB hate aimed at post it can be a rough match; a turn 2 raze on a karoo can often mean game over. Still, they are an aggro deck and you're favored against most lists.
+1 Sea Gate Oracle
-1 Deep Analysis
(Prismatic Strands is also an option against faster lists)