Modern Musings: Ad Nauseam in 2022

Caleb Gordon
August 10, 2022
0 Comments

 

Last weekend at an RCQ, I borrowed a friend's Tron deck and piloted it to the finals. Along the way, I ran into two combo decks: Song of Creation, and Ad Nauseam. I was struck by the similarities between the two, as both aim to gain critical mass before their opponents beat them into submission. The primary difference I found was that Ad Nauseam can afford to go a few turns longer thanks to Phyrexian Unlife and Angel's Grace. We'll talk more about Song of Creation in the future, but this week is devoted to Modern's loveliest, maddest combo deck, Ad Nauseam.

Ad Nauseam revolves around two card mechanics: Angel's Grace/Phyrexian Unlife, so that you don't lose the game, and Spoils of the Vault/Ad Nauseam, so that you can put your whole deck into your hand. The interaction here is that damage is not equal to life loss, ergo losing life and going to -30 is not as much of a drawback for you as it is for other players. The pinnacle of winning with Ad Nauseam is watching your opponent's confusion as they say “wait, you're at -30?” and knowing that it doesn't matter. Angel's Grace means that you will still drop, but you can't lose the game this turn, so it doesn't matter. Phyrexian Unlife says that damage dealt below zero life becomes poison counters, however, life loss is not damage, and so we have the same effect. Once our deck is in hand, we can win either by playing Thassa's Oracle, or by casting Lightning Storm, holding priority, and discarding enough lands to kill our opponents. If we need extra mana, we can cast Intervention Pact, then counter it with An Offer You Can't Refuse, netting us two treasures.


As a combo deck, we have favorable matchups against many aggro/tempo decks. Burn is usually an easy win, as they struggle to pull you below one life. Importantly, Phyrexian Unlife is worded such that you must be dropped below 1 life for its second ability to kick in. If you are at one life, and your opponent swings for 200 damage, you are now at -199 life, and still kicking. It's the 10 damage after this moment that kills you. The deck also packs 4 Pact of Negation for protection, and the gameloss trigger can be responded to in your upkeep if you have the combo, or an Angel's Grace can nullify the loss.


Finally, a note on the land base. Back in the day, someone ran the numbers, and realized that due to randomization, fetchlands are detrimental to our gameplan, as we are more likely to find our combo pieces if we keep a static deck and draw/scry through it, instead of shuffling repeatedly.

The main problem that Ad Nauseam runs into in today's meta is that it is a turn slower than most other decks. This means that most wins need an extra Angel's Grace, or a Phyrexian Unlife in play, to survive long enough to find the combo. Math is on our side, as digging for a 4-of with Spoils of the Vault is likely to find what we're looking for before killing us. The issue is that probabilities are fickle, and it stings when you murder yourself looking for a card on Turn 1.
Also, Humans. Humans is a deck built specifically to cause pain to Ad Nauseam players. I've won the matchup once, but my opponent had a huge misplay, casting two Meddling Mage and naming Ad Nauseam both times. One Spoils of the Vault later, and we've won.

Sideboard

  

The sideboard choices are all about protecting your combo from whatever is trying to kill it. Leyline of Sanctity keeps us safe from Thoughtseize, Burn, and other targeting effects intent on disrupting our hand. Veil of Summer is perfect in control matchups, functioning as additional protection on our combo turn. Prismatic Ending and Fracture are great against any non-creature permanents our opponents bring in (typically Chalice of the Void, Teferi, or Blood Moon effects) and Slaughter Pact is brought in against troublesome creatures. Just remember that it only deals with nonblack creatures!

    Fracture (STX)   

Ad Nauseam has been in the meta for a decade, always ready to teach new players about the stack, loss of life, and how Split Second works. It's a deck I advocate for many players who are serious about getting into Modern should pilot, if only so they can understand all the interactions that are present. 

Skill testing question: a player who has Phyrexian Unlife on the field has been reduced to -10 life. They are then attacked by a 10/10 creature. They play Angel's Grace during the Declare Attackers step – what happens? Let me know your responses @Melitius!