Intro

Hello, I'm Michael Reed (Eureka22422 on MTGO). I've been having some recent success with the Beseech the Mirror / Urza's Saga Storm deck (editor's note: Mike has literally WON the last two Legacy Challenges with the deck), so I decided to put together an article to help people who want to try out.

Why Play Storm in 2024? 

Right now, the fair decks are playing mostly graveyard hate like Grafdigger's Cage, artifact hate like Meltdown, and the prison decks are getting more aggressive,  and less prison (like Turbo Muxus). I believe this puts Storm in a much better place than it has been for a while. That being said, why play this version of Storm? 

• Strong pivot plan with Urza's Saga 

• Orcish Bowmasters helps support that plan by being another body that punishes cantripping for answers to what you are doing

• Very fast ways to win the game, such as Beseech the Mirror for Gaea's Will into Tendrils of Agony, or Echo of Eons with Entomb and Orcish Bowmasters 

• With the prison decks becoming more aggro, you need to be faster in this format to be competitive and these cards give us the tools to do both.

When Storm typically becomes poorly-positioned, it's because:

• Prison decks become too prevalent 

• Blue decks start playing a lot of permanent hate, like Null Rod, which can be tough to beat. 

In addition, the reason TES has seen success is its ability to beat the Blue decks consistently, and this deck, with the addition of Bowmaster, has the ability to punish Blue decks in a different capacity while giving some additional angles of attack against the rest of the format, like killing a Thalia. Since the deck is so flexible, it's able to beat many different types of hate by pivoting to a plan that sidesteps whatever your opponent is doing.

General Tips and Tricks

• They don't always have it, especially game 1 in the blind. If you have an unprotected turn 1 win, typically just go for it unless your hand has the ability to play a longer game

• Using Bowmaster as Force bait works a lot of the time against blue decks

• If mana isn't your bottleneck, you can sequence Dark Ritual before playing a land or artifact mana to bait out counterspells

• Game 1 Saga is a very strong plan in many matchups due to limited answers played in maindecks, such as sweepers for creatures/artifacts/dress downs

• If you only have one discard spell in hand, you usually want to hold it to cast the turn you intend to win. Since cantrips are so prevalent in the format, it becomes very likely that the opponent could cantrip into relevant interaction between the discard spell and your attempt to combo.

• Sequencing spells is extremely important to play around soft counters/artifact removal/graveyard interaction (more details in some of the specific matchup notes)

Cabal Therapy Tricks

• If you have a creature to flashback Cabal Therapy, naming Brainstorm against blue decks the first time is usually right, so they can't change their hand between casts of Cabal Therapy

• Game 1, Force of Will is the most common card to name

• Post board naming Meltdown etc. when you have a strong Saga hand can be correct

• Entombing Cabal Therapy when you have a creature to flash it back is a useful tool to be aware of

• Pay attention to how the opponent plays to determine when naming Force of Negation, Flusterstorm, or other such cards may be better than Force of Will

Beseech The Mirror Tricks

• Since Beseech wins don't require many resources and can be easy to miss, take your time each turn to check for a Beseech win

• The magic number for this deck is 4: you need 4 mana for Beseech and 4 storm prior to Gaea's Will to tendrils for 20. Make sure you have mana floating or a way to generate initial mana from your graveyard after Gaea's Will resolves.

• You can entomb LED to go up on mana before Beseeching for Gaea's Will

• Pay attention to metalcraft when saccing artifact lands to bargain a Beseech

• With 2 Beseeches in hand, you can build storm count by using the first to find Dark Ritual

• Always look to see if chaining Beseeches is enough storm to avoid having to use the graveyard

• Don't forget to attack with Urza's Saga constructs before you start bargaining artifacts for beseech, sometimes the attack does enough damage to just be able to chain Beseeches into Tendrils

• Don't forget you can Beseech away creature tokens like from Orcish Bowmasters, Urza's Saga, or Empty the Warrens

Echo of Eons Tricks

• It is usually incorrect to play Urza's Saga before Echo of Eons because you want black mana post Echo in order to have a higher chance to win on the spot

• Floating most/all black mana before Echo is normally correct because discard into Beseech is very heavy on black mana. At most, only leave 1 blue unless you have 6+ mana and want to be able to hardcast a drawn Echo of Eons

• Echoing with no mana floating but with some artifacts in play is usually fine because it gets you up on cards against your opponent

• Value playing artifact land over Agadeem's Awakening before casting Echo of Eons because you can imprint Agadeem's Awakening to Chrome Mox and artifact lands help with metalcraft for Mox Opal

• Generally it's better to clear the board before targeting the opponent with Bowmaster triggers unless you are going to wheel again or win the game outright. Also, don't forget about the damage from attacking with the token

• You can Cabal Therapy or Thoughtseize yourself to discard an Echo of Eons from your hand in order to allow you to flash it back 

• You can always target your own bowmaster token when you Echo of Eons to grow it through hate like Leyline of Sanctity/Veil of Summer. It will always survive its own damage.

• You can use Lion's Eye Diamond for mana and then draw a card off Candy Trail if you Scry'd action like a Beseech to the top but are tight on mana.

Mulligan Decisions

Mulligan decisions are one of the most important parts of playing this deck. While some hands are incredibly strong, there are also some trap hands that look good but aren't. Below are examples of both hands that appear good at first look, or are just missing 1 piece to be good versus hands on fewer cards.

What Makes a Hand a Trap?

The easiest way to look at a hand and determine if it is a trap is to ask, does it: 

• Lack mana?

• Lack action?

• Have a cohesive gameplan in the matchup?

• Need more than a single draw step in order to make the hand functional?

If the answer to any of these is yes, then you should be asking yourself whether a mulligan will make it better. Further, what would the mulligan have to look like to make it better?

"Trap Hand" Examples:

Examples of good 6 and 5 card hands that explain why you need to mulligan aggressively:

It is obviously important to take into consideration the matchup to determine what hands are trap hands because they can be different in different matchups.

Matchup Guide

I am going to get into some of the most popular archetypes and explain my thought process for how I approach these matchups. As we talked about, balancing multiple context-dependent plans like Bowmaster, Saga, Echo, and Beseech is tough, and choosing the right path is often the difference between winning and losing.

Sideboarding Notes

Before reading these matchup notes and sideboard recommendations, keep the following in mind:

• The way decks interact with combo decks changes regularly. Sideboards change and players are always innovating the next way to beat you.

• This guide is meant to provide direction if you are lost. If you disagree with a recommendation, use your best judgment.

• Note that variants within various archetypes can demand different sideboarding.

  • For example, if you see a Leyline of Sanctity out of Doomsday, you should board in an answer to it. 

  • If mono red decks go back to Leyline of the Void on top of Unlicensed Hearse, you may want some Feed the Swarms.

  • The amount of answers you should board in are based on how the games play out and how important it is for you to find the answer. 

• Take a look at the ideas behind why I'm talking about certain cards in matchups and how they line up with your experiences. Use the cuts I'm making to determine what else you could cut to make room for those answers. 

• This also means you might want more answers for certain cards based on your own experiences. My sideboard map is a general guide and is dated by the current meta (as of April 24, 2024). As opposing decks change, so does the sideboard map. 

• Test out the changes and see how it works. I am always looking to improve and make changes to the list/sideboarding plans.

• You will notice I don't cut Orcish Bowmasters in most matchups. It's a powerful backup win condition with Echo of Eons so even when the card isn't at its best I like it. That said, some Storm players who I hold in high regard disagree with this, so follow your heart.

• In most matchups, discard spells or fast mana/payoffs are cut for more effective cards in matchups. Discard shines vs blue decks and fast mana shines in matchups where you need to have very fast kills.

• If you're playing Candy Trail, it can be used as a payoff that you can find off Urza's Saga when you have excess mana but are missing a payoff.

RUG Delver

Key Cards

Them: Grafdigger's Cage, Meltdown, Counterbalance, Wasteland

Us: Urza's Saga, discard spells, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Empty the Warrens

Sideboard Plan

In: 1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, 1 Empty the Warrens, 1 The One Ring

Out: 2 Chrome Mox, 1 Echo of Eons

Generally, in game one against Delver, you can just run them out of countermagic by jamming discard and bowmaster on their threats/cantrips. Saga is very strong because they don't have Meltdown yet. Lean heavily on Saga if you want to, as it usually wins the race. Bowmaster is good at clearing early threats and to buy you time because they need to cantrip for extra threats instead of permission to stop your combo. A lot of games end early because they have to keep hands with a threat and typically you can typically make enough mana to play through a Daze. This means you only need to discard a potential Force of Will prior to a Beseech or Echo. 

Postboard they usually have a mixture of Grafdigger's Cage, Meltdown, Counterbalance, and extra countermagic, so it's important to hold back your artifacts to minimize the impact of Meltdown. On the flip side, don't try and drag the game out forever because Counterbalance is hard to play through and they have a lot of card selection. Fast Sheoldred, The One Ring, or Empty the Warrens are graveyard-free ways to win, so don't worry too much out if they t1 Grafdigger's Cage. They do sometimes bring in Pyroblast for Echo so just get blindsided by this.

If you can put a Sheoldred or Empty the Warrens on the stack on Turn 1 or 2, this is ideal. Otherwise, you can get a Bowmaster into play and try to squeeze them with a Saga, forcing them to cantrip into a Meltdown. From there, a small Beseech chain is usually able to close it out.

Grixis Delver 

For Grixis Delver, we board slightly differently because of the presence of Orcish Bowmasters. I don't board in The One Ring versus Grixis because it doesn't line up well into Bowmasters. Otherwise, the matchup plays similarly to RUG, but you just need to be cognizant of Orcish Bowmasters with your play patterns.

Scaminator

Key Cards

Them: Wasteland, Dauthi Voidwalker, Atraxa, Grand Unifier

Us: Urza's Saga, Leyline of the Void

Sideboard Plan

In: 4 Leyline of the Void, 1 Helm of Obedience, 1 Empty the Warrens

Out: 2 Chrome Mox, 2 Entomb, 2 Echo of Eons

Game 1 is similar to (but harder) than Delver because they can reanimate Atraxa and have Orcish Bowmasters. Don't be too afraid to Echo into their Bowmasters; you are Tendrils deck and the only life point that matters is your last. Giving the opponent additional time is usually a mistake, as it risks letting them Reanimate an Atraxa. That being said, if you can beat the board while putting pressure on their ability to reanimate a game-winning threat, this is a reasonable line. While wheeling the blue decks with Forces, Daze, and an Orcish Bowmasters in play absolutely can go wrong, but as you play more, your assessment of these risks against the game state will improve. The best ways to win are generally disrupting their reanimation and winning with Saga or a Bowmaster/Echo line, or winning before they get to reanimate.

Postboard, if you start with Leyline of the Void (Plan A), Empty the Warrens and Urza's Saga race most of their hands. When they have to contend with the Leyline, their threats are slow enough that you also have time to win with a Storm line. The reason Entomb and Echo of Eons are shaved in this matchup is that Grief and Orcish Bowmasters can disrupt or punish this line, so we want to deprioritize it. Dauthi Voidwalker is the only creature that both puts pressure on your life and messes with your Gaea's Will lines, but luckily, with Leyline of the Void in play, Beseech the Mirror for Helm of Obedience is an easy win.

Beanstalk Control

Key Cards

Them: Veil of Summer, Meltdown, Endurance, Surgical Extraction, Force of Vigor

Us: Orcish Bowmasters, Urza's Saga, Empty the Warrens

Sideboard Plan

In: 1 The One Ring, 1 Empty the Warrens, 1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. If you expect Deafening Silence, Stony Silence, or Lavinia, Azorius Renegade, also bring in 1-2 Feed the Swarm.

Out: 2 Chrome Mox, 1 Candy Trail. You can then trim on Entomb and Echo of Eons until you're at 60 cards.

The Game 1 plan against Beans to overload their answers. Given their Game 1 density of white spells that don't stop the Storm combo, Echo of Eons with mana floating for a post-wheel discard will usually be able to win the game. Alternatively, you can pressure them with Bowmasters and Construct tokens, forcing them to find the white cards or die to the beatdown, which can then enable you to combo with minimal resistance. Make sure you use your discard spells to identify their hand's weak points and then leverage them. For instance, if you have 2 Urza's Saga in hand, you can discard their Supreme Verdict and leave the Force of Will. If they have a lot of white cards already, then you would discard the Force of Will and lean into the combo win.

There are so many different variants of Beanstalk control that it's hard for this guide to narrow down specifically what a postboard game will look like. If you win Game 1, you can often use Game 2 to learn more about their chosen sideboard interaction, letting you better configure for Game 3.

Generally, you don't want to let them develop their draw engines, otherwise your discard spells won't be sufficient to punch a hole. If you can, use a discard spell to look at their hand and find out whether Urza's Saga, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, The One Ring, or Empty the Warrens will be sufficient, or if you need to go for a full graveyard-reliant win with Gaea's Will. These games have a large range - they can end quickly with a discard spell into a Tendrils victory, or turn into multiple Urza's Saga grind fests; how they sideboard and what they value in the matchup that dictates how we have to play the game. Flexibility is important to help understand your role. Don't be afraid to reach for some more removal spells such as Feed the Swarm if you see a lot of good targets.

Red Prison 

Key Cards

Them: Chalice of the Void, Trinisphere, Blood Moon

Us: Haywire Mite, Surge Node Empty the Warrens

Sideboard Plan

In: 1 Haywire Mite, 1 Surge Node, 1 Empty the Warrens

Out: 2 Cabal Therapy, 1 Duress

This is one of the harder matchups. Game 1, your hope is that they don't lead on Trinisphere, or soul read you and play a Chalice of the Void on X=0. Chalice on 1 is easier to beat since your discard spells are less necessary, and the ideal situation is they lead on a threat like Goblin Rabblemaster. Once they know what deck you're on, they're able to disrupt you far more effectively, so try to win fast. Against a resolved Trinisphere or Chalice on 0, your best path toward winning is likely Urza's Saga, hoping they don't have Blood Moon to match. When comboing, you can treat your opponent as having no instant-speed interaction; if you can beat what's on board, you're good to go.

Postboard, an early Urza's Saga becomes particularly valuable, eventually tutoring up Haywire Mite or Surge Node, which should be able to help clear the way to a win. On the draw, you're unlikely to be able to beat a Turn 1 of Blood Moon + Chalice of the Void on 0 unless you open with Surge Node. Regarding graveyard reliance, most of the Red Prison lists are on cards like Unlicensed Hearse and Faerie Macabre over Leyline of the Void, which means that Echo of Eons is live as a path to victory. 

If possible, you want to mulligan to a big Turn 1 play, which can be something like Empty the Warrens for 10-16 goblins. Even if you have a Gaea's Will line, it may be safer to go for the Empty the Warrens and play around Faerie Macabre. A mulligan down to LED + Echo is likely better than a Turn 1 Thoughtseize where you may just end up discarding one of two cards that beat you, only to have to pass the turn and lose to the other card.

Fellow Storm enthusiast and Legacy Small Talk podcast co-host, Romario Neto, likes bringing in Leyline of the Void and Helm of Obedience and just sidestepping all of the red deck's lock pieces. To do this, he cuts the rest of the discard spells. It's a reasonable approach - better in some spots, worse in others.

Turbo Muxus

Key Cards

Them: The One Ring, Chalice of the Void, Leyline of the Void

Us: Surge node, Haywire Mite

Sideboard Plan

In: 1 Haywire Mite, 1 Surge Node, 1 [The One Ring, 2 Feed the Swarm

Out: 2 Cabal Therapy, 2 Duress, 1 Candy Trail

Game 1 is similar to Red Prison, but with fewer lock pieces and a faster clock. The Muxus deck tends to keep aggressive creature openings in Game 1, often without a lock piece. Since Muxus can go over the top of Urza's Saga, your plan to Tendrils kill with Beseech the Mirror. Be aware that a lot of these Muxus lists play The One Ring, so use Gaea's Will to take advantage of their lack of graveyard interaction and try to go for lethal when possible, and avoid passing the turn after Echo of Eons.

Postboard play patterns are dependent on their lock pieces. While I have been favoring Feed the Swarm to answer Leyline of the Void, depending on the interaction you see in Game 2, if you don't see Leyline of the Void, it's reasonable to substitute Thoughtseize over Feed the Swarm for Game 3. As with Red Prison, Haywire Mite and Surge Node are your best answer to Chalice of the Void.

Generally, approach this matchup the same way you would Red Prison, but with less resistance from their end and less reliable Empty the Warrens on our end.

Lands

Key Cards

Them: Sphere of Resistance, Deafening Silence, [Crop Rotation, Endurance, and possibly Flusterstorm (if they have blue)

Us: Haywire Mite

Sideboard Plan

In: 1 The One Ring, 1 Haywire Mite

Out: 2 Cabal Therapy

Game 1, the worst thing that can happen is a Turn 1 Sphere of Resistance. Marit Lage is only a threat if you're doing an Orcish Bowmasters / Echo of Eons plan and have to attack a couple of times. Since Tendrils of Agony can ignore Glacial Chasm, this is the safest way to win. Since Maze of Ith can neutralize a large Orc Army, Orcish Bowmasters are relatively low value overall. While going for Gaea's Will, be careful to not get hit by a Crop Rotation into Bojuka Bog, so make sure to clear the way with one of your many discard spells.

Postboard, the main challenge is to sequence properly against Force of Vigor. To do this, don't play out an LED while you still have useful cards in hand, and don't expose Urza's Saga or artifacts without a good reason. Also be aware that they now have Endurance as another way to mess with your graveyard. Fortunately, Echo of Eons lines are mostly immune to targeted graveyard hate, due to the Echo already being on the stack by the time that your opponent has priority.

Haywire Mite should be reserved for answering Sphere of Resistance or Deafening Silence. If that's not possible because Urza's Saga keeps getting destroyed, our own The One Ring can often overpower an opposing Sphere of Resistance.

GWx Depths

Key Cards

Them: Collector Ouphe, Gaddock Teeg, Deafening Silence, and Force of Vigor

Us: Removal spells and Empty the Warrens

Sideboard Plan

In: 2 Dismember, 2 Feed the Swarm, 1 Crippling Fatigue, 1 Empty the Warrens, 1 Haywire Mite

Out:  2 Cabal Therapy, 2 Duress, 1 Candy Trail, 2 Orcish Bowmasters 

Game 1, the plan is to win before they untap with an Elvish Reclaimer or can put Collector Ouphe / Gaddock Teeg into play. It's possible to beat an Ouphe through a few Dark Rituals and a lot of sacrificial artifacts to chain Beseech the Mirror together. Since they have Swords to Plowshares, a large Orc Army is not reliable as a path to victory. Even though it may not deal lethal, Echo of Eons with an Orcish Bowmaster can sidestep an active Elvish Reclaimer, either removing it outright or forcing them to activate it for Sejiri Steppe, meaning it's at least out of commission for this turn.

Postboard, expect a lot of fast interaction from Deafening Silence and Force of Vigor to be supplemented with Gaddock Teeg. Note that with Gadock Teeg in play, Force of Vigor and Green Sun's Zenith are offline, meaning that you can play out your Urza's Saga and other artifacts more safely. Feed the Swarm is probably your best sideboard card in the matchup as it's able to answer any of the problematic creatures, as well as Deafening Silence. Barring a Deafening Silence, a fast Empty the Warrens for 10+ on the play or 14+ on the draw can get around Force of Vigor and Endurance and can be done before Gaddock Teeg or Collector Ouphe can be deployed. 

TES

Key Cards

Them: Veil of Summer

Us: Leyline of the Void

Sideboard Plan

In: 4 Leyline of the Void, 1 Helm of Obedience, 1 The One Ring

Out: 2 Cabal Therapy, 2 Echo of Eons, 2 Entomb

Game 1 is difficult because they're more EPIC than we are. These days that means they have 4 Veil of Summer, a fast win of their own, and you have minimal recourse to their action. One way to beat Veil of Summer maindeck is a large Orc Army attacking for lethal. Remember that you can target the Orc Army with your Orcish Bowmaster triggers, and if you play Lavaspur Boots, the token can even gain haste for a same-turn win. Since Game 1 can go very wrong very quickly, it can be worth making risky plays like Echo of Eons without floating mana if they don't have access to green to cast Veil of Summer, taking full advantage of any window of vulnerability that you can.

Postboard, since TES relies heavily on Echo of Eons and Gaea's Will, Leyline of the Void is a very strong way to slow them down, and I prioritize mulliganing mediocre 6 and 7 card hands to look for the Leyline. This also opens up Helm of Obedience as an easy way to win, even through a Veil of Summer (since Helm of Obedience is colorless).

The reason I trim on Echo of Eons and Entomb is the risk of wheeling them into a Leyline answer (like Boseiju, Who Endures), a Veil of Summer, or their own win, is quite high. Postboard on the play, TES is mostly unable to interact, so it can be right to take a riskier line and try to win before they get their first turn.

BR Reanimator

Key Cards

Them: Dauthi Voidwalker, various Leyline removal spells, Show and Tell

Us: Leyline of the Void, Urza's Saga

Sideboard Plan

In: 4 Leyline of the Void, 1 Helm of Obedience

Out: 2 Duress, 2 Cabal Therapy, 1 Candy Trail

Game 1 we are in a decent position to beat most reanimated creatures, since they don't generally play Iona, Shield of Emeria in the maindeck and Lion's Eye Diamond, Echo of Eons can recover against their discard spells. Orcish Bowmasters does a great job of neutralizing Griselbrand as well. 

Postboard on the play, only keep a hand that either has Leyline of the Void or Echo of Eons + Lion's Eye Diamond. On the draw, mulligan to Leyline of the Void. Since following up the Leyline with a Beseech into Helm of Obedience is fairly compact, you can mulligan relatively low and still pull this off. Alternatively, Urza's Saga constructs can be a solid way to win once the Reanimator deck is weakened. Although things can certainly go wrong, I find this matchup to be overall positive.

Cephalid Breakfast

Key Cards

Them: Orim's Chant, Serenity

Us: [Orcish Bowmasters, Leyline of the Void

Sideboard Plan

In: 4 Leyline of the Void, 1 Helm of Obedience

Out: 1 Candy Trail, 2 Echo of Eons, 2 Entomb

Game 1, this matchup is very difficult and I'm grateful that this deck is weak against the metagame at large. Between Force of Will, Daze, Orim's Chant, and their own fast 2-card combo, they topdeck better than us, so try to win fast by going for an Echo of Eons or through discard into a Beseech the Mirror chain while they're tapped out. Note that Teferi, Time Raveler shuts down the cast timing on the card you get with Beseech the Mirror, so you can't Beseech combo with Teferi in play.

Postboard, Leyline of the Void slows them down quite a bit, since they need to either bounce it with Teferi or get Thassa's Oracle into their hand before assembling the combo. Beware of Serenity. It might be right to bring in Haywire Mite as a way to blow up Serenity between the turn it's cast and the turn it pops. Short of a fast combo win, fast constructs while holding up Orcish Bowmasters to kill their Cephalid Illusionist is a reasonable path to victory. This matchup is hard and a lot of games don't feel winnable, so don't worry too much about losing this one.

Full Sideboard Map (as of April 24, 2024)

More Questions?

Please reach out to me (Mike) on Twitter if you have any feedback or are interested in additional matchup notes. https://twitter.com/Eureka22422_MTG.

Shoutouts and Thank Yous:

• Quentin (Ellaone on MTGO): My list is a modified version of his original version

• Romario: Great sideboard map and matchup feedback