After making my previous variant, The Darkest Timeline, I've been testing a lot for the best way to make a Storm deck work. This is what I've come up with. Behold, The Adequate Storm! (name comes from the MTG archetype, Perfect Storm)
Disclaimer: This deck is not meant to be good. Just fun.
The Combo
The ultimate goal is to get at least 1
Workshop Forge out and then use
Glimpse the Possibilities to essentially cycle through your deck and burn your opponent to the ground.
[TheMath]
x4
Char: 2 x 4 = 8
x4
Signal Flare: 2 x 4 = 8
x4
Torch: 3 x 4 = 12
x4
Kaleb's Favor 2 x 4 = 8
with
x1
Bladerang: (8 + 8 + 8 + 12) x 2 = 36 x2 = 72 potential damage
and
x4
Granite Monument + x4
Shugo Standard: (4+4) x 4 = (8) x 4 = 32
so
72 + 32 = 104 potential damage. This is assuming you hit all your spells with Bladerang, obviously, but that obviously won't happen every time. But unless your opponent has had a LOT of Lifesteal before you combo, you're usually okay. Any time I have gotten the combo to go off smoothly, it has killed the opponent.
The Power Problem
So, if you've tried playing with
Glimpse the Possibilities already, you know that the biggest issue is finding power on the top of the deck. Here's how I've minimized that issue as much as humanly possible:
Standards and Monuments
First of all, you can't get stuck on power if the power is no longer in the deck. By using Transmuting power cards like the Monuments and Standards, you can avoid being stuck on a power because they become units and spells. The drawback is that they now cost more, but I'll get to that later.
Favor and Seek
By having x4
Seek Power, x4
Kaleb's Favor, and x4
Talir's Favored, you can theoretically blow through your 10 sigils pretty easily. All 3 cards cost 2 or less, so they're free with Forge out. These will thin out your deck of the remaining powers (no crests, banners, or seats for this reason) and allow you to push through everything else as you burn your opponent and fill your board.
Unlimited Power
What happens when you run out of power to play the 3+ cost cards? Well, we have x4
Packbeast and x4
Talir's Sanctum to play the aforementioned power, and x4
Kindle to hopefully keep pushing our max power up. And if you're lucky enough to hit 3 Forges, congratulations, you can play the whole deck all the way through!
The Market
Praxis Banner - For the off chance that you need more power. I've considered putting x1
Kindle in, but I don't know what to put in the main board if I do.
Excavate - It's not worth keeping in the main board due to the recent "bugfix" on Glimpse, but it's nice to have in the market in case you get
Auralian Merchant mid-combo and aren't gonna be able to win the game with just the one combo. Recursion is nice.
Glimpse the Possibilities - Combo piece #1!
Bladerang - Once you hit 4 red influence, this is what you want to grab with
Ixtun Merchant. If you skillfully play this card mid-combo, it'll help you burn through your opponent even faster, and maybe even take out a unit so your units can push through more damage. Between your Kindles and multiple powers per turn, it's not as hard to mix in as you'd think. Very useful when they've gained a lot of life as well.
Hojan, Crownbreaker and
Vara, Vengeance-Seeker would basically ruin this deck without it. Alternatively,
Factory Quota can work if you play it early, I think, but you really don't want to be in a situation where an early Factory Quota is necessary over Forge anyway.
Workshope Forge - Combo Piece #2!
General Tips and Tricks
Try to start with both combo pieces or appropriate merchants as much as possible. Keeping Glimpse is preferable over keeping Forge, as you can fetch Forge with both merchants but only Auralian Merchant can get you Glimpse.
Having low power is almost never an issue, as you have 12 power tutors in the deck. As long as you have 1 of each influence, you should be fine.
If you have 3 power left, a
Kindle in hand, and a 3+ cost card on top of the deck, always play Kindle first JUST IN CASE. You never want to have to assume what the next card will be.
Using burn in your hand to clear units (ESPECIALLY LIFESTEAL UNITS) is worthwhile. You'll probably kill the opponent with what's in your deck anyway, so using 3 or 4 burn spells to preserve yourself and keep them from gaining life is completely fine. Also,
Signal Flare to face for the Scout can be worth as well if you're desperately digging for combo pieces.
In general, you actually
don't want to proc
Talir's Sanctum's Onslaught because if a non-power is beneath it in the deck, you want to play it discounted from Forge. Only go for the Onslaught if there's a power in your way, but always be cautious.
Torch,
Char, or
Signal Flare cast from your hand for the
Kindle Spark proc is worth, you get face damage and get the same amount of power back. It's preferable to get Spark from the deck, obviously, but it doesn't hurt if it's your only option.
Let me know how the deck works for you, and give me feedback if you have any!
Currently running 3x Brenn's Scrying in place of the Glimps' and Bore in the board vs the Bladerang until I can craft those. Let me know if you have any suggestions.