Source: Inquest #19 (Nov 1996), pp.24-25; author: Jeff Hannes

"Perhaps one of the strangest cards that *doesn't* suck is the Alliances artifact Storm Cauldron.  At five mana, it's a bit expensive to play, but once it hits the table it has a couple of very interesting global effects.  The first is that it allows everyone to play an extra land each turn.  While useful, this ability is usually overlooked in favour of the real meat of the Storm Cauldron - whenever a land is tapped for mana, it returns to its owner's hand.

Unlike the popular Type 1.5 decks that use Fastbond to abuse the Storm Cauldron's special ability, this bizarre Type II deck utilises the Cauldron in a much more sinister form - it screws with your opponent's ability to make their deck work the way it's supposed to.

Sure, by itself, the mere presence of a Storm Cauldron makes you think twice about tapping your lands for mana, but what if there were an Ankh of Mishra on the table as well?  Suddenly the entire nature of the game has changed.  Mana becomes a precious commodity, and for the one who is not prepared, death awaits them with nasty, big, pointy teeth.

Fortunately, with 12 nonland sources of mana and several ways of gaining life, this deck is equipped to handle the grim Ankh / Storm Cauldron combination. Getting this combination out will usually mean the game, especially if you can follow up with a Black Vise, Storm Seeker or Erhnam Djinn.  Meanwhile, your Sol Grails, Dark Rituals and Llanowar Elves allow you to continue playing cards as normal with minimal interference from the Cauldron.

The tricky part is surviving long enough to set up the combo and, if necessary, being able to win without it.  Fortunately, the deck is loaded with strong defensive cards and methods of gaining life.  The primary use of the Icy Manipulators is to hold back your opponent's creatures until you can deal with them more efficiently, and Serrated Arrows can knock off annoying pumpable knights, as well as mana-producing critters like Elves and Birds.  You do *not* want these guys on the table when you play your Storm Cauldron.

But the creature repression doesn't stop there.  For just one black mana, Paralyze is an incredibly efficient way of dealing with creatures.  It affects more critters than Terror and Dark Banishing, and can be played on the first turn... with only one small drawback - it doesn't actually get rid of the creature.  However, once you get a Storm Cauldron out, your opponent will have to spend all of their resources untapping their creature.  If you get an Ankh out too, your opponent can forget about it.  That creature might as well be a coaster - it ain't goin' anywhere.

But wait, there's more!  There's only one white card in the main deck - Balance.  Besides saving your butt from an onslaught of creatures, Balance can also screw with your opponent's lands.  Once you've got a Cauldron out, tap all your lands for mana and then play Balance.  Your opponent will be forced to chuck their lands or take some mana burn by tapping them to bounce 'em back to their hand.  If you've got an Icy in play, tap your opponent's land before you play the Balance to *really* limit their options.

For life gaining, you've got the Ivory Tower, Zuran Orb and Sheltered Valley.  Once you get a Cauldron out, you won't need much land, and you shouldn't have any problem filling your hand up to seven cards.

An important strategy to this deck is to play the Ankhs early and play them often.  Don't worry about the life they'll cost you... you gain it back with the Zuran Orb, Ivory Tower or Sheltered Valley.  And if you really get into a bind, you can Crumble one of your big artifacts.  Once you've got an Ankh out or two on the table, the effectiveness of your Black Vise and Storm Seekers will increase dramatically.

For permanent sources of damage, whack your opponent with Erhnams, Ihsan's Shade and even puny little elves if your opponent doesn't have any blockers out.  But the coup de grace is Titania's Song.  In the true spirit of the Halloween we all know and love, the Song lets all your artifacts don the guise of creatures.  However, this is no masquerade.  A 5/5 Storm Cauldron can do serious damage.

The sideboard will help to arm you against some popular decks.
Against Necro, go for the extra two Serrated Arrows and another Storm Seeker.  You don't want to get hammered by a Nevinyrral's Disk either, so be sure to include the Disenchants.  This deck can have problems with lots of big, bad creatures if it gets off to a slow start, so throw the Terrors in if your opponent is toting the likes of Erhnams and Balduvian Hordes.  If you think your opponent might have good sideboard counters to your deck (like, *gasp*, Energy Flux) don't hesitate to get the Jester's Cap into your deck.

Finally, just because you've got white in your deck doesn't mean you can't play with Gloom.  Gloom can cripple a player relying heavily on white, especially if you get a Storm Cauldron out.  If you think your opponent is using a bunch of Disenchants, protect your artifacts with Gloom and forget about your white stuff.

The most successful thing about this Storm Cauldron deck is that it will usually catch your opponent completely off-guard... This alone can give you a tremendous advantage."