MTG Salvation

I know that Cryptolith Rite + Paradox Engine is a pretty obvious combination, but I wanted to get the discussion going on what is the best way to use this engine. The version that I've put together is a UG energy deck. The goal is to use the combination of Greenbelt Rampager, Minister of Inquiries, Paradox Engine, and any non-land card that can tap to add a green to mill my opponent out. The way the combo works is that you tap your non-land green source (probably a creature) to play Greenbelt Ramapager; Paradox Engine untaps all your non-land permanents; you return Greenbelt to your hand and get an energy; you use that energy to mill your opponent 3 with Minister of Inquiries; rinse and repeat. It also uses the combination of Cryptolith Rite + Duskwatch Recruiter to find its pieces. Here's the initial draft of a decklist:



This is an initial draft, so a lot will probably change as new cards are spoiled. Also, it is worth noting that you have to pay 2 energy if you can for Greenbelt, so managing your energy count is important.

You could play longtusk cub as a way to get you down to 1 energy to start the combo.

Looks like Lifecrafter's Bestiary is an easy 2-3 of in this kind of deck, as every creatures played draws us into more creatures to get all the (many) combo pieces this needs to go off.

I put together a list with Aetherflux Reservoir, then realized you don't even need Minister, making that piece tutorable with Whir of Invention. It can still go infinite using Servant of the Conduit, or Deadlock Trap and a Caravan. Rough draft.

After starting reading this thread I realized. What you were just saying. I'll be paying attention to various build with the engine along with the Resevior. Are Hedron archive and Traverse the Ulvenwald necessary?

Quote from Darksteel_Eye »

Are Hedron archive and Traverse the Ulvenwald necessary?

Traverse might not be necessary, this list started with fewer lands; but if/once you get to delirium, it can search up combo pieces. Hedron Archive lets you net a lot of extra mana with Engine, so you can churn out your artifacts. More importantly, though, it plays well with Prism to give you blue mana to cast Whir to get other combo pieces, or to cycle up green to keep casting the elephant. Deadlock Trap serves as a non-creature outlet for the energy, so the deck can go infinite without a Servant.

I probably will find room for 1 Aethersphere Harvester, since it's an energy dump that doesn't require being tapped. As it also costs three, I'm considering Trophy Mage, which would lead to some other card changes, like Archives may become Magnifying Glass. This opens up some really interesting options: Fabrication Module can turn that Servant/Ornithopter/Harvester infinitely large; Workshop Assistant offers a small amount of protection; Implement of Examination becomes a tutorable draw spell; and we've still got some cards to go on the spoiler.

Alright, I've made some changes based on the final spoiler. With the release of Consulate Turret, we get another piece that can eat through energy and be a win con. Current working list: Categorizing the deck is a little weird. If you include the Traverses, there's actually 11 Lay effects. Inventor's Fair is two more tutors. There are 17 total artifacts. I haven't done any testing yet, but this is where I'll be starting from.

It seems like everyone in here went completely off the rails immediately following the original post. This is what I'm messing around with right now.

I think people were mostly interested in the Paradox Engine/Greenbelt Rampager interaction. Minister is a really good win-con, for sure, but the really interesting interaction is between the two former. That said, I've got a list a bit more direct to this strategy. I water down the main plan a bit to play a few Trophy Mage and a few win-cons it can tutor. Traverse grabs the Elephant, and also Mage to grab win-cons. Quicksmith Spy allows for unlimited card draw while you're going off, if it is necessary.

.:edit:.

Had some second thoughts;

-1 Aethersphere Harvester
-1 Quicksmith Spy
-1 Cogwork Assembler
+1 Trophy Mage
+2 Glint-Nest Crane

The number of ways we have now to accelerate into bigger creatures there's hardly a reason to worry about comboing out. With cards that have built in accelerator benefits as a back up plan the mana-excel into mid range style decks are going to take over pretty fast.