Brainstorm in Doomsday

Preamble

Brainstorm is one of the most powerful spells available in the Legacy format at this time. There have been numerous articles written on this seemingly innocuous at first glance one mana cantrip. We'll assume you know the basics of casting Brainstorm, and instead focus on the specifics of using it as a part of — or to initiate — your Doomsday piles. In many cases it can be used as any other cantrip, but it has unique applications to Doomsday piles by allowing you to swap cards in hand for cards in the pile.

One of the more difficult things of playing Doomsday Storm combo is recognizing situations where you have the resources to win. Beginning players often start out with learning only a few piles by heart. While this helps with getting started, there will be many chances to win that they will miss out on.

Brainstorm can act as a simple cantrip into a pile, but it can do more interesting things as well.

Let's discuss some examples:

Example 1

If you have a win condition in hand, you can Brainstorm to insert it into the pile, swapping it for additional mana.

BS, BW in hand - + - 8 Storm

1. Cast Doomsday and build the above pile
2. Cast BS, draw LED, IU, SW and put back BW, IU
3. Cast LED
4. Activate SW, hold priority cracking LED for , draw IU
5. Cast IU, draw BW, LP, LED
6. Cast LED
7. Cast LP
8. Cast BW, hold priority and crack LED for , get ToA
9. Cast ToA

You can see that this not only decreases the total cost of the pile by 1 mana, but also drastically reduces the amount of blue mana needed. This is useful, since it lets Brainstorm act almost like a ritual, effectively producing mana for Ideas Unbound. It also increases the Storm count by 1 compared to the basic pile, since you get an extra spell in the pile.

Example 2

The extra card in hand need not be a win condition; any card that you want in your pile can be swapped in with Brainstorm.

BS, LP in hand - + - 9 Storm

1. Cast Doomsday and build the above pile
2. Cast BS, draw IC, DR, BW, put back BW, LP
3. Cast DR, IC, draw LP, BW, LED, LED
4. Cast LED, LED, LP
5. Cast BW, hold priority and crack LEDs for , get ToA
6. Cast ToA

In this example, you can see that the Storm count is again increased, as well as the amount of black mana needed decreased. Here, Brainstorm is letting you swap the Petal for a DR to cast IC.

Example 3

Cards in hand need not even be "useful" at all. Dead cards can be traded in as well.

BS, Land in hand - +

1. Cast Doomsday and build the above pile
2. Cast Brainstorm, draw LED, SW, Ponder, put back Land, then Ponder
3. Cast LED, cycle SW, holding priority to crack LED for
4. Draw Ponder and cast it to draw Oracle
5. Cast Oracle
6. Oracle triggers with 2 cards left in the deck to win

While this pile is vulnerable to removal on Oracle, its also extremely cheap and works with a rather bad hand.

Example 4

The Brainstorm can even be in the pile, if you have another cantrip to retrieve it.

Ponder, Land in hand - +

1. Cast Doomsday and build the above pile
2. Cast Ponder to draw Brainstorm
3. Cast Brainstorm, draw LED, SW, Ponder, put back Land, then Ponder
4. Cast LED, cycle SW, holding priority to crack LED for
5. Draw Ponder and cast it to draw Oracle
6. Cast Oracle
7. Oracle triggers with 1 cards left in the deck to win

After you Ponder into the pile, this one is identical to the previous example. At the cost of only 1 more mana you can turn your mere Ponder into a fancy Brainstorm to then turn your dead cards into live ones.

Conclusion

1. You can use BS to exchange resources between your hand and the pile
2. These resources need not be mana or wincons; dead cards/slots in your pile are resources in this sense.
3. Be judicious with your Brainstorms pre-combo, as they can be powerful enablers for your combo turn.