Storm is a classic MTG strategy that has existed for decades. By casting a flurry of spells on the same turn, you’re able to maximize unique win conditions like Grapeshot and Tendrils of Agony.
Most Storm decks utilize cards such as Underworld Breach or Past in Flames alongside “Rituals” and other mana producers to help build Storm count. However, the recent unbans in Modern have unlocked a really unique Storm variant that is already picking up steam.
Rather than relying on a high density of instants and sorceries, this deck features a whopping 20 zero-mana equipment spells. These equipment pair nicely with a duo of card-drawing creatures. Drawing your entire deck and winning the game on turn two is a surprisingly common outcome for this archetype, so let’s take a closer look at exactly what this deck, best known as “Cheerios” is trying to accomplish.
Equipment Meets Card Advantage
The basis for this deck revolves around two specific cards: Puresteel Paladin and Sram, Senior Edificer. The presence of these two cards is what allows this deck to function. In most games, if you’re choosing to play this deck, you’ll want to mulligan aggressively to find one of these two creatures.
With either of them in play, all of your seemingly useless equipment suddenly become free cantrips. Whether you’re casting Bone Saw or Cathar’s Shield, the end result is the same: you get to draw a card. With so many free equipment spells in the deck, chances are, you’ll be able to chain together a handful of equipment cards before eventually running out of free spells to play.
As you continue to draw cards, your goal is to find a copy of Retract. Retract is a very simple card, but it plays a crucial role during your combo turns. All of the free equipment you cast already; you then get to bounce back to your hand to recast all over again. You’ll draw a ton of extra cards in the process, likely finding you a second Retract to keep your engine rolling.
Eventually, you’ll find your one-of copy of Grapeshot to end the game. If uninterrupted, this deck is extremely fast and more consistent than you might expect. This begs the question: why has it made so little noise over the past few years?
The Importance of Mox Opal
The answer to this question is rather simple: the deck largely disappeared when Mox Opal was originally banned. Mox Opal is an essential element of this deck that is irreplaceable for the most part. Now that Mox Opal has been unbanned, players are free to give Cheerios another shot.
The fact that Mox Opal costs zero mana and can tap for any color of mana immediately makes it much easier to combo off early in the game. On turn two, after playing Sram or Puresteel Paladin, you have free rein to play out your equipment if your opponent doesn’t have removal at the ready. The problem is that you don’t have any untapped lands to help you cast Retract as you’re going off.
Mox Opal solves this problem entirely. You don’t have to worry about Metalcraft during your combo turns, since you are bound to have plenty of equipment to play. When you run out of equipment, you can cast Mox Opal, use it to cast Retract, and bounce Mox Opal along with your equipment back to your hand.
That same copy of Mox Opal can be used to cast future copies of Retract. By the time you find Grapeshot and have cast enough spells to win the game, you should have another copy of Mox Opal rolled up to cast the two-mana win condition.
The fact that Mox Opal taps for any color is a huge boon. This makes it easier to maximize sideboard cards like Ghirapur Aether Grid. Mox Opal does it all, and no card comes close to filling its role.
Resiliency is Key
Obviously, Cheerios gets a lot of its power from sheer speed. Most decks will struggle to race a turn two win. The big reason why this deck hasn’t been more popular, even when Mox Opal was legal years ago, is that it isn’t the most resilient.
You only have eight card-drawing creatures in total. If you keep a hand with one creature and that creature immediately dies to removal, you’re now stuck until you draw a replacement. Matchups like Dimir Murktide that can apply pressure and have access to Fatal Push and Spell Snare as interactive elements can be quite tough as a result.
Even so, Cheerios is a bit more robust than a lot of people think. Typical artifact hate cards aren’t always that effective. Meltdown is heavily played but doesn’t accomplish much here as long as you can win the game in one turn. Sorcery speed removal spells like Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury fall short all the same.
Against decks with removal and Counterspells at the ready, Pact of Negation out of the sideboard can be a complete game changer. Leyline of Sanctity performs a similar task versus decks that rely on discard spells.
It’s unlikely that Cheerios will become one of the most played decks in Modern. Nonetheless, it can definitely be a strong metagame choice if players aren’t prepared. Make sure to keep Cheerios on your radar, or you risk losing before you even know what hits you.
