While I was working on the standard version of this with the new cards, I wondered what cards a modern version would have access to. After looking through the modern card pool, I realized that through Engineered Explosives and Briber's Purse, I could run cheap artifacts to bounce for storm count that doubled at stopping aggro decks. Everflowing Chalice and Mox Opal help speed it up, Mishra's Bauble cantrips when we need to, and Welding Jar protects against artifact removal. Out of the sideboard we get more Welding Jars, Tormod's Crypt, Pithing Needle, and Defense Grid. Tying this together is the new tutor Whir of Invention and an absurd draw package capable of drawing half your deck by turn 6. Thoughtcast, Reverse Engineer, and Paradoxical Outcome are the most powerful draw spells in the format bar none in this deck with Serum Visions to help set up. Displacement Wave is a cheap way to bounce our artifacts and also can clear out pesky permanents like Thalia. Metallic Rebuke is another card made absurd by this deck that can come in from the board when we need counters against other combo decks. The deck is capable of winning turn 4, but is good enough at slowing the opponents down that it doesn't need to. Fetches help thin the deck which is a real consideration when you're drawing this many cards. The two shocks are currently just for Engineered Explosives.
Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas is a possible alternate wincon that would be very powerful, but I haven't tested yet.
I've tested about 15 matches with it on Xmage and after tuning, it's performing well.
One thing I've seen is that the deck is only slowed a little by Stony Silence and it's not hard to win through it although it is dangerous if they back it up with a clock.
Well, I was on the same track as you after the launch of aether revolt expansion. Cards like Reverse Engineer and Whir of Invention are very in sync with the Paradoxical Outcome-Aetherflux Reservior combo which is much more viable in modern setup and could be the missing link cards to the hasten the setup of the combo. Thoughtcast is also best for this well, with its affinity mechanic. Your consideration of Displacement Wave, also gives further 'recasting' scenario of cheap artifacts to enable the combo.
You may check the link below of the recent standard tourney in SCG featuring the combo in standard: https://youtu.be/QSfIfWU6cGA
I wasn't able to check the standard decklist but it would seem that the paradoxical outcome combo deck in the video above doesnt utilize the Whir of Invention but instead use Inspiring Statuary to lessen the cost of Paradoxical Outcome and other cards when doing the combo.
Back to modern:
I observed that it would be imperative that an Aetherflux Reservoir must be existing in the battlefield and must be able to activate itself (hence devoid from any disabling effects from the likes of Stony Silence) for a win condition, unless there are other win conditions in placed (such as Ghirapur Aether Grid or Storm mechanic). That is why I am venturing more on the Storm Mechanic build (using Grapeshot) rather than the Aetherflux Reservoir which is prone to negation by artifact destruction and stony silence on post board.
I focused more on Paradoxical Outcome since it would be the best single card for this kind of setup. What setup? Of course in STORM setup, such that it would not only let you bounce the cheap artifacts (for recasting and storm counting purposes) but also lets you draw much as well, for further storm engine scenario (hence, this is best if casted on the opponent's end phase). I chose then for my deckbuild the Noxious Revival route so that I wont be needing to reach an average of 15 storm counts or more before casting a single Grapeshot. Considering the effect of Noxious Revival and numerous draw engines in the deck, you can cast Grapeshot twice in the single turn, provided you have enough mana (at least 4 or 5 mana, or even lesser if the Inspiring Statuary is in play) to do so, in just 7 to 9 storm counts to achieve a lethal storm turn. Single Grapeshot kill is also possible provided an Inspiring Statuary is in the play. Moreover, considering that you have massive drawing spells and artifacts that could draw as well (ie. Mishra's Bauble, Conjurer's Bauble, Pyrite Spellbomb, etc), the frequency of drawing Paradoxical Outcome is more likely. This single card is the engine itself for my Storm setup I currently brewing. I believe this is true as well for the Aetherflux Reservoir build. My deck's goal then is to be able to draw and cast the Paradoxical Outcome with at least 5 cheap artifacts in play to start with the combo. What if Grapeshot is still not at hand? Just repeat casting Paradoxical Outcome using Noxious Revival or cast other draw spells or utilize some artifacts to draw. There are many things to do (but are uninteractive) to draw into the needed cards to storm your way into win. In case, storm play is still not possible or cannot be lethal, just apply Grapeshot strategically (to kill creatures or so) mid-game to control the board while still doing setup and goldfishing. That is why I also put Ghirapur Aether Grid, to at least make use of the numerous artifacts in play to ping some creatures or chip away some life.
Though I'm not against the Aetherflux Reservoir itself, but I take it as not much different when engaging into a Storm mechanic for a win con. In fairness to the card, you would only need at least 9 or more spells to achieve a 50+ life (in this goldfish and non-interactive setup) and activate the card's wincon ability. But as I've said, the card itself would find difficulties post-board since simple artifact destruction cards or a Stony Silence would just spoil the fun. With that, Storm mechanic sorceries would fit in better even in post-board scenarios.
One beautiful part of Displacement Wave is it bounces Stony Silence when you're going off if you cast it for X=2. The same goes for pithing needle and any other permanent or creature based hate.
I have been having a lot of success with a similar style of deck. It abuses the power of Paradoxical Outcome and cheep artifacts alongside Inspiring Statuary. This deck is highly redundant and quite consistent at assembling it's gameplan. While it doesn't use Aetherflux Reservoir as this thread is discussing about, I think Grapeshot is just a cleaner and easier to cast card that serves the same purpose.
The general gameplan is to use Whir of Invention to put in an Inspiring Statuary into play by turn 3 (or cast the artifact if it's in your hand), then combo off on turn 4 by repeatedly casting Paradoxical Outcome through the help of redundant resources such as Merchant Scroll and Snapcaster Mage. The scroll also allows helps find Whir if you dont have it or a statuary. The card also finds valuable defenses such as Pact of Negation for control decks and Repeal for problematic permanents like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben or Eidolon of the Great Revel.
Inspiring Statuary is an incredibly important combo piece, as it makes your spells cost very little mana. This coupled with the fact that our primary draw engine also happens to "untap" our mana sources makes for a very strong engine.
I've toyed around with an Aetherflux Reservoir combo deck, and I can recommend a few things.
-You need at least 1 ensnaring bridge. You will die to creature beats too often without it. Whir can grab it, so there's that.
-Repeal is very good. It can buy you time against aggro, and it is a free 2 spells and draw a card with mox opal. It's good post board against Stony Silence and Needle. I would play 3-4. ALSO, it is instant speed. The more instant tricks you layer on the stack, the more life-gain you get from reservoir.
-Splashing a second color, I would go green. Ancient Stirrings is very good.
-Pentad Prism is great with Improvise. It's also a "free" spell on combo turns if you have access to 2 colored mana of different types.
Been playing a variant of this online. Haven't played in any of the leagues yet, but been in the tournament practice room trying to get the sequencing down. It's a fun deck to play for sure. My list looks something like the following
Probably going to drop the random 0 mana equipment for something else. Displacement Wave is such a good tempo play bouncing an opponents board and then replaying all your 0 mana artifacts.
Hi there, the deck strategy looks very fun and I find it very interesting. Just wanted to trow out some ideas, maybe there are some improvements which you can use.
1. red splash gives some nice additions like mentioned before, grapshot, Giraphur Aether Grid, maybe tricks with trash for treasure. If you splash pentad prism helps colorfixing and gets reservoir out more quick and can be used for improvise
2. Riddlesmith filters through the cards real nice and helps to find combo pieces
3. Golems Heart gives live helps against aggro decks and burn and helps with reservoir kill
Edit: forgot 4. Inventors' Fair helps getting life and searches for reservoir
(sorry no card tags, I'm on my phone here)
So I tested this deck a lot with goldfishing in the last 2 days and found out that the ideas I suggested didn't work as I thought they would and found myself sticking with your list Voltage. It looks nicely tuned atm.
But the splash with black for tezzeret seems to be very (I love tezzi so this could be personal opinion.)
I could imagine that some silver bullets could be good for sideboarding, to fetch with whir of invention, perhaps ensnaring bridge is an option to the others you mentioned before.
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Post by Narah about unbanning Mind Twist in legacy and that this would be evil:
Yeah, but it's really more "Disney Evil" than practical. It's like being a bond villain and giving a monologue rather then just shooting them.
If you want to play on MTGO add me I'm HeskatetAS, playing Modern and Legacy
If we play Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas we need to protect it so maybe Ornithopter could be used to help end the game with tezzi. It is also a 0 mana artifact to combo with and can be used as a jump blocker against aggro decks. In addition with Briber's Purse and Engineered Explosives.
Also the deck seems relatively weak against hand disruption so maybe Monastery Siege is a sideboard option. It makes reservoir or any permanent we ownd harder to kill and is good against burn, could be used as draw engine in some situations...
I want to put in a list with Tezzeret here when I am on my laptop not with the phone.
Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas is a possible alternate wincon that would be very powerful, but I haven't tested yet.
I've tested about 15 matches with it on Xmage and after tuning, it's performing well.
One thing I've seen is that the deck is only slowed a little by Stony Silence and it's not hard to win through it although it is dangerous if they back it up with a clock.
4 Everflowing Chalice
3 Engineered Explosives
3 Briber's Purse
3 Mishra's Bauble
1 Welding Jar
3 Aetherflux Reservoir
4 Thoughtcast
4 Reverse Engineer
4 Whir of Invention
4 Paradoxical Outcome
2 Displacement Wave
4 Polluted Delta
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Watery Grave
7 Island
Sideboard
Modern: UW Spirits
You may check the link below of the recent standard tourney in SCG featuring the combo in standard:
https://youtu.be/QSfIfWU6cGA
I wasn't able to check the standard decklist but it would seem that the paradoxical outcome combo deck in the video above doesnt utilize the Whir of Invention but instead use Inspiring Statuary to lessen the cost of Paradoxical Outcome and other cards when doing the combo.
Back to modern:
I observed that it would be imperative that an Aetherflux Reservoir must be existing in the battlefield and must be able to activate itself (hence devoid from any disabling effects from the likes of Stony Silence) for a win condition, unless there are other win conditions in placed (such as Ghirapur Aether Grid or Storm mechanic). That is why I am venturing more on the Storm Mechanic build (using Grapeshot) rather than the Aetherflux Reservoir which is prone to negation by artifact destruction and stony silence on post board.
I focused more on Paradoxical Outcome since it would be the best single card for this kind of setup. What setup? Of course in STORM setup, such that it would not only let you bounce the cheap artifacts (for recasting and storm counting purposes) but also lets you draw much as well, for further storm engine scenario (hence, this is best if casted on the opponent's end phase). I chose then for my deckbuild the Noxious Revival route so that I wont be needing to reach an average of 15 storm counts or more before casting a single Grapeshot. Considering the effect of Noxious Revival and numerous draw engines in the deck, you can cast Grapeshot twice in the single turn, provided you have enough mana (at least 4 or 5 mana, or even lesser if the Inspiring Statuary is in play) to do so, in just 7 to 9 storm counts to achieve a lethal storm turn. Single Grapeshot kill is also possible provided an Inspiring Statuary is in the play. Moreover, considering that you have massive drawing spells and artifacts that could draw as well (ie. Mishra's Bauble, Conjurer's Bauble, Pyrite Spellbomb, etc), the frequency of drawing Paradoxical Outcome is more likely. This single card is the engine itself for my Storm setup I currently brewing. I believe this is true as well for the Aetherflux Reservoir build. My deck's goal then is to be able to draw and cast the Paradoxical Outcome with at least 5 cheap artifacts in play to start with the combo. What if Grapeshot is still not at hand? Just repeat casting Paradoxical Outcome using Noxious Revival or cast other draw spells or utilize some artifacts to draw. There are many things to do (but are uninteractive) to draw into the needed cards to storm your way into win. In case, storm play is still not possible or cannot be lethal, just apply Grapeshot strategically (to kill creatures or so) mid-game to control the board while still doing setup and goldfishing. That is why I also put Ghirapur Aether Grid, to at least make use of the numerous artifacts in play to ping some creatures or chip away some life.
Though I'm not against the Aetherflux Reservoir itself, but I take it as not much different when engaging into a Storm mechanic for a win con. In fairness to the card, you would only need at least 9 or more spells to achieve a 50+ life (in this goldfish and non-interactive setup) and activate the card's wincon ability. But as I've said, the card itself would find difficulties post-board since simple artifact destruction cards or a Stony Silence would just spoil the fun. With that, Storm mechanic sorceries would fit in better even in post-board scenarios.
Modern: UW Spirits
4 Welding Jar
4 Briber's Purse
4 Engineered Explosives
4 Mishra's Bauble
2 Tormod's Crypt
4 Paradoxical Outcome
4 Inspiring Statuary
3 Whir of Invention
4 Merchant Scroll
2 Snapcaster Mage
1 Pact of Negation
1 Repeal
1 Grapeshot
4 Polluted Delta
1 Steam Vents
9 Island
3 Echoing Truth
1 Emrakul, the Promised End
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Pithing Needle
1 Æther Spellbomb
1 Defense Grid
4 Metallic Rebuke
1 Pact of Negation
1 Whir of Invention
The general gameplan is to use Whir of Invention to put in an Inspiring Statuary into play by turn 3 (or cast the artifact if it's in your hand), then combo off on turn 4 by repeatedly casting Paradoxical Outcome through the help of redundant resources such as Merchant Scroll and Snapcaster Mage. The scroll also allows helps find Whir if you dont have it or a statuary. The card also finds valuable defenses such as Pact of Negation for control decks and Repeal for problematic permanents like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben or Eidolon of the Great Revel.
Inspiring Statuary is an incredibly important combo piece, as it makes your spells cost very little mana. This coupled with the fact that our primary draw engine also happens to "untap" our mana sources makes for a very strong engine.
-You need at least 1 ensnaring bridge. You will die to creature beats too often without it. Whir can grab it, so there's that.
-Repeal is very good. It can buy you time against aggro, and it is a free 2 spells and draw a card with mox opal. It's good post board against Stony Silence and Needle. I would play 3-4. ALSO, it is instant speed. The more instant tricks you layer on the stack, the more life-gain you get from reservoir.
-Splashing a second color, I would go green. Ancient Stirrings is very good.
-Pentad Prism is great with Improvise. It's also a "free" spell on combo turns if you have access to 2 colored mana of different types.
4 Mishra's Bauble
4 Everflowing Chalice
4 Mox Opal
2 Bone Saw
1 Accorder's Shield
1 Tormod's Crypt
3 Engineered Explosives
3 Aetherflux Resevoir
2 Inspiring Statuary
2 Welding Jar
3 Paradoxical Outcome
3 Whir of Invention
4 Reverse Engineer
4 Thoughtcast
3 Displacement Wave
17 Lands
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Polluted Delta
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Breeding Pool
1 Steam Vents
1 Watery Grave
5 Island
Probably going to drop the random 0 mana equipment for something else. Displacement Wave is such a good tempo play bouncing an opponents board and then replaying all your 0 mana artifacts.
1. red splash gives some nice additions like mentioned before, grapshot, Giraphur Aether Grid, maybe tricks with trash for treasure. If you splash pentad prism helps colorfixing and gets reservoir out more quick and can be used for improvise
2. Riddlesmith filters through the cards real nice and helps to find combo pieces
3. Golems Heart gives live helps against aggro decks and burn and helps with reservoir kill
Edit: forgot 4. Inventors' Fair helps getting life and searches for reservoir
(sorry no card tags, I'm on my phone here)
Greetings Heskatet
"Well, then we will at least fight in the shadow"
"There is no glory to be gained in the kingdom of the dead!"
Post by Narah about unbanning Mind Twist in legacy and that this would be evil:
If you want to play on MTGO add me I'm HeskatetAS, playing Modern and Legacy
But the splash with black for tezzeret seems to be very (I love tezzi so this could be personal opinion.)
I could imagine that some silver bullets could be good for sideboarding, to fetch with whir of invention, perhaps ensnaring bridge is an option to the others you mentioned before.
"Well, then we will at least fight in the shadow"
"There is no glory to be gained in the kingdom of the dead!"
Post by Narah about unbanning Mind Twist in legacy and that this would be evil:
If you want to play on MTGO add me I'm HeskatetAS, playing Modern and Legacy
Also the deck seems relatively weak against hand disruption so maybe Monastery Siege is a sideboard option. It makes reservoir or any permanent we ownd harder to kill and is good against burn, could be used as draw engine in some situations...
I want to put in a list with Tezzeret here when I am on my laptop not with the phone.
"Well, then we will at least fight in the shadow"
"There is no glory to be gained in the kingdom of the dead!"
Post by Narah about unbanning Mind Twist in legacy and that this would be evil:
If you want to play on MTGO add me I'm HeskatetAS, playing Modern and Legacy