Historic - NeoStorm Talisman

18 4 12 12
24 16 0 20
Combo

Why this version? 

I used my own version of the Temur NeoStorm deck to succesfully climb the Historic Bo1 Ranks from Platinum to Mythic less than 100 games total with a phenomenal 71% winrate during the October 2020 season.
The deck is under constant development and I made some changes to the removal suite during the November 2020 season in which I got to Mythic again within 100 games.

I decided to splash black for Wishclaw Talismanimage to reliably fetch the combo by turn 4 and often enough even with extra mana to safely fetch only on the turn I combo off without granting the opponents a wish themselves.
The splash is actually quite easy to achieve as all I needed to do is replace the 8 shock lands in Temur colors with those of Sultai colors. So I'm basically only replacing red with black. In order to still have red mana avaiable if needed I run the full playset of both Pathways and 8 mana dorks.

The Wishclaw Talismanimage also allows you to fetch Pact of Negationimage to protect the combo or Into the Roilimage to deal with annoying creatures like Hushbringerimage or artifacts like Grafdigger's Cageimage end of turn or just in genral to buy some time bouncing the opponents good stuff while possibly also drawing a card. You just have to be careful to not give your opponent an opportunity to replay them or getting multiples of those on the battlefield when handing the Wishclaw Talismanimage over to them.

An argument can be made to run a different split of Pact of Negationimage and Into the Roilimage or even replace the later with Abradeimage. However considering the manabase in this version of the deck and "hate" artifacts not being that common in Bo1, I prefer Into the Roilimage which also has the upside of dealing with enchantments. I prefer the 2-2 split because this gives you the best chances of drawing both cards naturally or with Shimmer of Possibilityimage. It is also possible to use Optimage instead for more card draw but the Wishclaw Talismanimage is such a powerful fetch engine that I don't feel the need for it in this deck. 
You can find all those cards I tested or used in previous versions of the deck in the Maybeboard.

Click the link for some pictures showing the stats of my climb from Platinum 4 to Mythic and the final end of season stats and rankings.
I finished the season on Mythic Rank #575 after I stopped playing once I peaked at #488 with only a couple of hours left. The deck also got featured in the Historic deck section on MTG Arena Zone.
I managed to repeat my success with this deck in the November 2020 season reaching Mythic #19 on day 4 in exactly 100 games with a 71% winrate and another feature on MTG Arena Zone.
 

The Combo 

The actual combo involves casting a Neoformimage by sacrificing any 2-cost creature and while the Neoformimage is on the stack copying it with Dualcaster Mageimage which copies the Neoformimage again and then fetching another Dualcaster Mageimage or Glasspool Mimicimage. Repeat this until none are left in the library and finish with Tuktuk Rubblefortimage to give all creatures Haste and Combat CelebrantimageExert the Combat Celebrantimage when declaring attackers to get a second attack phase.
With 8 Dualcaster Mageimage and the Combat Celebrantimage it is possible to deal 53 damage out of nowhere before blockers.

There are 3 ways to start the combo:

1. Sea Gate StormcallerimageNeoformimage (usually on turn 4)

You need UU X

Play Sea Gate Stormcallerimage followed by Neoformimage sacrificing the Sea Gate Stormcallerimage (or Paradise Druidimage) and fetch Dualcaster Mageimage.

This is the easiest way to start the combo and usually what you aim for when fetching cards. It can happen on turn 4 from an empty board but you can go off even earlier if you have mana dorks in play. 

2. Gilded GooseimageNeoformimageNeoformimage (can be done on turn 3)

You need G U G/U (plus missing U/G from Gilded Gooseimage) or GGG UU on an empty board.

Tap the Gilded Gooseimage for the missing mana and then cast Neoformimage sacrificing the Gilded Gooseimage and fetch Sea Gate Stormcallerimage. Then cast the second Neoformimage sacrificing the Sea Gate Stormcallerimage and fetch Dualcaster Mageimage.

This doesn't happen very often because it requires 2 copies of Neoformimage and is more specific on the mana aswell. You rather want to fetch Sea Gate Stormcallerimage than the second Neoformimage but keep this combo path in mind if you happen to draw 2 copies of Neoformimage.

3. Paradise DruidimageNeoformimageDualcaster Mageimage (can be done on turn 4)

You need G U RR X

Tap the Paradise Druidimage for the missing mana and cast Neoformimage sacrificing the Paradise Druidimage. While Neoformimage is still on the stack flash in Dualcaster Mageimage

This method is generally inferior to the other two because it is slower (requires more mana) and is the only one that needs red mana.
However it can happen when you don't draw the Sea Gate Stormcallerimage but have a Dualcaster Mageimage in hand and Paradise Druidimage in play.
It might also be your only way to start the combo if you were forced to mill a lot of cards and don't have enough Dualcaster Mageimage / Glasspool Mimicimage left in the deck to kill your opponent.
Lastly it can be used in the mirror match flashing in the Dualcaster Mageimage on your opponent's last Neoform trigger when they try to combo on their turn. With a bit of luck you can fetch more creatures than they have, block enough to avoid dying and then swing back for lethal on the return.


General gameplay advice
 

You want at least 1 combo piece (Neoformimage is better than Sea Gate Stormcallerimage), 1 cantrip (Wishclaw Talismanimage or Shimmer of Possibilityimage) and 2 lands (with the matching colors for the cantrip) in your opening hand. It's okay to mulligan down to 5 or even 4 cards if you have to. Also mulligan every hand that includes both copies of Tuktuk Rubblefortimage or Combat Celebrantimage. And keep in mind that a mana dork is worthless if you don't have the green mana to actually cast it.

The ideal opening hand and play sequence looks like this: Watery Graveimage, Breeding PoolimageRiverglide Pathwayimage, Sea Gate StormcallerimageNeoformimage, Wishclaw Talismanimage and Paradise Druidimage. The latter two could easily be Pact of Negationimage or Gilded Gooseimage instead.

Turn 1: Watery Graveimage (tapped)
Turn 2: Breeding Poolimage (untapped) + Paradise Druidimage
Turn 3: Riverglide Pathwayimage (blue mana) + combo 

Against an opponent with counter spells you need to draw another land (or Pact of Negationimage) and alternate your turn 3.

Turn 3b: Any land + Wishclaw Talismanimage
Turn 4b: Riverglide Pathwayimage (blue mana) + fetch Pact of Negationimage + combo

Be careful with your lands and how you play them out. You only need 1 land producing green mana. Once you have that Cragcrown Pathwayimage should be played as red land, although you will never need more than 2 red mana in one turn either. Riverglide Pathwayimage is usually played as blue land because you need multiple blue mana sources for your combo and the cantrips. If you don't need the mana immediately avoid shocking yourself but it's almost always the right play to shock if that means you can play the cantrip or mana dork that turn.

When you have the choice of playing a mana dork or a cantrip it is usually better to play the mana dork first because it potentially allows you to go off a turn sooner if you draw your combo normally.

Don't be afraid to tap the Paradise Druidimage on your turn if you have no other way to generate black mana for the Wishclaw Talismanimage. You are likely to find more lands anyway and being able to fetch what you need is worth much more than having the mana dork.

If you know your opponent runs hand disruption or counter spells it is usually better to wait until you have enough mana to fetch the missing combo piece or a Pact of Negationimage on the turn you want to go off. Don't fetch early if your opponent is in blue or black and could fetch something themself to disrupt your combo. You also have to be mindful about burn spells that could take our your Sea Gate Stormcallerimage before you can sacrifice it to Neoformimage.

This version of Temur NeoStorm has a hard time beating decks that prevent you from searching the library or exile non-token creatures who enter the battlefield without being cast. But this is a risk worth taking in order to find the combo earlier and combo off on turn 3-5 almost every game.
There are only 2 copies of Into the Roilimage in the deck to deal with Grafdigger's Cageimage, Hushbringerimage or Yasharn, Implacable Earthimage but you need to time the bounce at the end of your opponents turn to not give them an opportunity to replay those before you combo off. A flashed in Containment Priestimage is usually game over as well unless you have Pact of Negationimage in hand. 
Luckily in Bo1 neither of those hate card is extremly popular with Hushbringerimage being the most common one you'll see. I also found out that running the shock lands in Sultai colors instead of Temur disguises our combo deck a little bit and many opponents do not know what kind of deck they are facing until it is too late.


Closing words
 

I don't think this version of NeoStorm can be adapted into Bo3 because it loses the surprise factor and the 4th color is too much of a burden. Artefact removal is present in sideboards and ruins the Wishclaw Talismanimage fetch plan. Grafdigger's Cageimage is also very common in sideboards which then forces us make more room for artefact removal ourselves. As a result of this the shocklands with swamps need to be replaced with mountains and those alone are just too many cards to fit into a viable sideboard. 
I have to admit that I didn't really try either because I actually enjoy playing Bo1 more anyway.

This turned out to be much more detailed than I initially intended so thank you for reading all of it.
I hope you enjoy the deck and have as much success playing it as I had climbing the Rankings.

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tmGrunty
Last Updated: 10 Nov 2020
Created: 03 Oct 2020
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