Hi everyone! I like the idea of Paradox Engine letting wizards do all sorts of sneaky stuff, but my card knowledge is a bit limited when it comes to the tribe. I know that I want ramp and draw and sneaky wizard stuff, but I have no idea how to optimize.
Arcum Dagsson is busted since he ostensibly reads "tap, you win the game." I realize that he's not a Wizard but it doesn't matter. The card is straight bonkers.
Trophy Mage isn't where you want to be since she's too niche. I'd much rather have a card like Fabricate.
If you want Paradox Engine to literally end the game then you need cards like Laboratory Maniac, Blue Sun's Zenith, Beacon of Tomorrows, etc. It's still good without them obviously but from what I can tell your deck doesn't have an "I win" line just yet. Then again maybe Supreme Inquisitor does the job just fine as long as he's not too far down.
Cantrips and Counterspells are still useful even though you're building a tribal/combo deck.
Captain of the Mists + Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx will let you basically go infinite if you land a paradox engine. Even without going infinite it is damn near close considering how many wizards are humans.
Surgespanner can be used to remove pesky permanents or bounce your own stuff to recast over and over again/protect from removal.
I like the Arcum Daggson suggestion better than simple tribal - I could see going nuts with him and awesome artifacts. Can I get help with an artifact theme instead? I have a couple ideas for the shell, but no ideas for pay-off.
Err, I feel like you're missing the part where Arcum Dagsson can only bin artifact creatures. You basically have to pair him with things like Hangarback Walker, Myr Retriever, Nuisance Engine and Junk Diver if you want to do truly busted (and/or infinite) sequences in which you plop a ton of Artifacts into play. Inkmoth Nexus and Trading Post are obviously fine but you'll need more than that.
Your creatures can't be used to cast your draw spells which is a bit of a nonbo if you ask me. After all, that's one of the strongest interactions at your disposal.
Everflowing Chalice is kind of a weird ramp spell because you can't (happily) cheat it into play.
3 Azami, Lady of Scrolls
4 Thought Courier
4 Glen-Elendra Archmage
2 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Trinket Mage
1 Trophy Mage
1 Supreme Inquisitor
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
2 Gilded Lotus
4 Coalition Relic
4 Trade Secrets
Sea Scryer, Deranged Assistant and Apprentice Wizard are all very good.
Trophy Mage isn't where you want to be since she's too niche. I'd much rather have a card like Fabricate.
If you want Paradox Engine to literally end the game then you need cards like Laboratory Maniac, Blue Sun's Zenith, Beacon of Tomorrows, etc. It's still good without them obviously but from what I can tell your deck doesn't have an "I win" line just yet. Then again maybe Supreme Inquisitor does the job just fine as long as he's not too far down.
Cantrips and Counterspells are still useful even though you're building a tribal/combo deck.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
Arcanis the Omnipotent is fun.
My meta: 3 or 4 player free for all, anything goes but boring games or broken decks cause a vote to end that game.
Doesn't work with the Paradox Engine package and it's way less broken.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
Ertai, Wizard Adept isn't too bad either
Don't forget about Sage of Fables to combo with Glen Elendra Archmage.
Captain of the Mists + Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx will let you basically go infinite if you land a paradox engine. Even without going infinite it is damn near close considering how many wizards are humans.
Surgespanner can be used to remove pesky permanents or bounce your own stuff to recast over and over again/protect from removal.
Vedalken Æthermage is a nice tutor for any wizard at instant speed.
Or Master of Waves if you want to the devotion route.
2 Thousand-Year Elixer
3 Trading Post
4 Mycosynth Wellspring
4 Everlasting Chalice
2 Contagion Engine
4 Arcum Daggson
4 Grand Architect
4 Preordain
4 Swan Song
4 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Darksteel Citadel
10 Island
Your creatures can't be used to cast your draw spells which is a bit of a nonbo if you ask me. After all, that's one of the strongest interactions at your disposal.
Everflowing Chalice is kind of a weird ramp spell because you can't (happily) cheat it into play.
I'm not exactly sure what Contagion Engine is supposed to do in a deck with no counters or PWers. I get that you can pair it with Everflowing Chalice but then you do what exactly? No Magistrate's Scepter, no Darksteel Reactor, no Tezzeret the Seeker, etc.
Do you need 4x Arcum and 3x Engine in a deck that also has 4x Ponder and 4x Thirst for Knowledge?
FWIW my payoffs tend to either be Aetherflux Reservoir or infinite mana combos such as Rings of Brighthearth + Basalt Monolith or Staff of Domination + Metalworker. The nice thing about Basalt Monolith combos is that this deck is already happy to play 4 of them as a generic ramp spell given how busted the card interacts with Engine. In that sense adding 1 Rings is trivial because you are just legitimately happy to have 4x Basalt Monolith in your Paradox Engine shell.
EDIT: For clarity's sake winning with infinite mana is easy using things like Sensei's Divining Top, Blue Sun's Zenith, etc. and you can obviously pair Top with Rings of Brighthearth and Basalt Monolith to first generate infinite mana and then use Top to draw your entire deck by doubling the draw ability thus drawing a card and the Top itself every iteration. From there you can jam all of your mana rocks (Gilded Lotus is good for this) and use them to cast 1x Blue Sun's Zenith and then just deck everyone by constantly re-drawing the Blue Sun's Zenith using your Preordains, Prophetic Prisms, etc. Alternatively you just Laboratory Maniac for the win. Alternatively you ignore all of this crap and Death Star the table by casting 10+ spells on the same turn which is easily do-able when you have Prophetic Prism and Basalt Monolith reducing the cost of your spells to (literally) 0. Just chain Ponders into Prophetic Prisms into Thirst for Knowledges while untapping and activating Merfolk Looters in between each spell being cast on and on and on.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold