Three Decks In One?! | $100 Budget Storm, Force of Nature Deck Tech | BRBMTG
Storm, Force of Nature | Illustrated by Magali Villeneuve
Lightning Bolt | Illustrated by Christopher Moeller
Hey, nerds! Wizards announced some of the new Marvel cards coming in a Secret Lair drop, and one of these sparked my interest: Storm, Force of Nature. As her name suggests, she gives your instants and sorceries storm, and while you could build a generic storm deck, I think the more fun option is building something I call a modular deck.
The basic idea is you have a core of cards, then you swap out some number of them each game. This is great if you're like me and have trouble cutting cards from decks or want to lean hard into a theme. I did a similar deck tech featuring The Ninth Doctor and Clara Oswald. So let's jump in and see what modular Storm can do!
The Core
Let's kick things off with the core cards of the deck. These are the 80 that won't be changing between games. The idea with these was to include cheap spells to increase our storm count and provide value if cast them with storm. Cantrips, such as Gitaxian Probe, Ponder, and Opt, make it easy to up the storm count while keeping our hand full, and cheap ramp with Farseek, Rampant Growth, and Nature's Lore will help get the spells out of your hand.
If we can get Storm to hit with double strike, our spells will have storm twice. We can also cast an instant in between the first instant of damage and the second, so Temur Battle Rage and Psychotic Fury felt like no-brainers here. Expedite, Swiftfoot Boots, and Lavaspur Boots provide much needed haste and some protection. While Bear Umbra can make massive storm turns a breeze.
While most of these cards will be pretty standard, I want to highlight one: Prologue to Phyresis. I've been playing a lot of Poison Storm in Pauper, where I got the idea for this card. Notably, I didn't include any other ways to proliferate, but it isn't unimaginable that there will be situations that this can win you the game on the spot, especially if you manage to get storm twice on it. This shouldn't be the spell you try to win with every game, but I like including an easy way to close out games when needed.
The Burn Module
Let's kick things off with the burn package. You'll notice some crowd favorites, like Grapeshot, Lightning Bolt, and Gut Shot, here, but I want to showcase some of the fun options with Playful Shove, Atarka's Command, and Prismari Command. These are great if you don't have quite enough storm to close out the game or you just want to generate some value. Notably, Prismari Command can act as a ritual thanks to the Treasure tokens, and if you have double strike, you could cast this after first strike damage, then use the Treasures to cast a bigger spell that also has storm.
I also added six creatures and an enchantment to this pile. They keep the curve low and provide additional chip damage throughout the game. Bonecrusher Giant is technically there to be a burn spell, but you can cast it if need be. I didn't want to add Thermo-Alchemist or Unruly Catapult as they felt way too slow to be worth adding in most decks.
The Mill Module
Next, up is the mill module. This one was actually pretty easy to put together. I added 19 instants and sorceries that can mill... and Ruin Crab. Crab might seem odd here, but we have a lot of ways to get lands into play from our library, so it turns cards like Crop Rotation, Harrow, and Growth Spiral into mill spells. I also wanted to add Brain Freeze, which is an OG storm payoff. Plus, the new-ish Sorcerous Squall is incredible here. Not only do we get to mill everyone, but we can also keep adding to our storm count. I did want to add Underworld Breach to this package, but it was too expensive to add right now. However, it is only $11 at the time of writing, and I think it's worth picking up.
The Token Module
Our final module is tokens. I've always loved the idea of playing a creature-based spellslinger deck that uses tokens to win the game, and some of the token generation already has storm such as Elemental Eruption, Chatterstorm, and Empty the Warrens, giving us potentially triple storm in a single turn. Elemental Eruption along with Goblin Wizardry gives our tokens with prowess, allowing us to grow our army before attacking.
Giving storm to spells not designed for it can be incredibly broken, especially with extra turn spells, and while I didn't make an extra turn module, which could be cool, Alrund's Epiphany makes tokens and also gives us at least two extra turns if we hit Storm. We can also add a little infect to get around infinite life with Carrion Call. Finally, Impact Tremors and Molten Gatekeeper can help close out the game with a giant storm turn.
Other Module Options
There were a few other ideas I wanted to build modules for, but I didn't think there was enough support or they were too salt-inducing, like extra turns, extra combats, and land destruction. Casting Relentless Assault, Great Train Heist, and Seize the Day with storm can easily lead to some crazy turns. The same is true for Walk the Aeons, Time Stretch, and Expropriate if you want to take a ton of extra turns. Finally, Stone Rain and Ice Storm effects to destroy your opponents' lands.
If you're looking for a less salt-inducing option with plot and foretell cards. You could try Jace Reawakened to give any cheap spell plot. Or you can draw a bunch of cards with a free Lock and Load. For foretell, we recently got a secret lair Delayed Blast Fireball, which would be fun to beat the table with.
Upgrades
There are some great upgrades if you're looking to spend some more money. I wanted to add Bria, Riptide Rogue to the token module, but over $20 at the time of writing, I couldn't justify it. Exalted Flamer of Tzeentch is great to add to the burn module and could be worth including in the main deck. We also have Roaming Throne to get quadruple storm with double strike, which isn't something I thought I'd ever say.
Other Fun Cards & Ideas
I also asked my community what cards they thought would be fun to add and wanted to share some of them here.
Chandra's Fury
Arcbond
Cerebral Vortex
Doppelgang
Make Your Own Luck
Worldsoul's Rage
Molten Psyche
Storm King's Thunder
Guided Passage
Hew the Entwood
