I am normally not a big fan of standard but since paradox engine and reservoir are both legal I wanted to see if I could make a reasonable deck. I play censor mainly as a 1 drop for the deck to cycle out and turn grafstone online giving the deck potential turn 4 kills and more frequent turn 5 kills. it also gets us enough rocks to actually make good use of paradox. I opted not to use Whir because in testing at 8 mana it was simply too slow and not very good otherwise. The idea is simple play ramp stones and cantrips drop paradox engine start playing more stones and cantrips to make tons of mana play the draw spells trying to get off a large pull getting you essentially infinite. The SB either needs work or is just not that important as I found when I side boarded I never wanted to bring in more than 5 cards almost always less and almost always wanting counter spells of one kind or another for game 2 negate is by far the best card in the SB stopping the most important cards including game ending cards like the one that exiles both your reservoirs we can play an ulamog to give us a true 2nd kill condition but its clunky and id prefer to snag key spells with negate. The deck has a decent land count and raw draw power so its can go late vs control passing back to them often to push through your combo on the back of pull or burying them in CA and finding your own counters. Baral's and engulfs and essence scatters can help slow down agro decks that kill turn 4-5 allowing you to stall until your ready to kill them. The deck plays 0 creatures so all your opponents creature kill spells are blanks unless they can go to the dome and anything that's not fast aggro has to deal with potential early reservoirs stalling them out. So far I have had a lot of fun playing it on mtgo the past 3 days. As a side note /bonus the deck is pretty cheap you don't even need the ulamog in the Sb the most expensive card is the engine.
The deck looks like fun. Would Catalog be more reliable than Reverse Engineer?
Also, Paradoxical Outcome seems like a complete blowout once you have Paradox Engine on board. Returning all draw rocks to your hand and drawing off of it seems like a quick way to finish your opponent off.
I also feel like Terrarion or Seer's Lantern would be better than Caravan because of how much hate there is right now for vehicles.
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"I hope to have such a death... lying in triumph atop the broken bodies of those who slew me..."
You don't call "dying to removal" if the removal is more expensive in resources than the creature. If you have to spend BG (Abrupt Decay), or W + basic land (PtE) to remove a 1G, that is not "dying to removal". Strictly speaking Goyf dies to removal, but actually your removal is dying to Goyf.
I haven't had too much issue with vehicle hate on mtgo yet but it's very important that it makes colored mana so I can't see myself replacing those. I did in fact test paradoxical which if resolved mid combo was in fact good game every time I resolved it. However the only slot I can play it in is reverse /barals. Reverse is less exciting but much more reliable so far in my testing and your still making use of the cantrip rocks are in that they reduce its cost the way I intended whir too when I had it in but at an actually reasonable cost. My original Version used more barals no reverse and used outcomes but reverse is much better at grinding and much better before the combo turn and thus far sufficient at chaining up to pull on the combo turn. You could I guess MD another reverse or a singleton paradox and kick the the last Barals but it kind of acts like paradox in the use of bouncing cantrips and while it's not as good for combo turn as outcome it can buy you a turn when you don't have an engine on the field cast reservoir or archive at the same time. That being said I have tested this deck only 3 days I did get 40+ games in but many/most were not at my current configuarition this is where I'm at now and I'm just getting the hang of the format / just now feeling like this decks good enough to compete. I can see pull going up it's a very good card l.
Anticipate is nice its a little bit better of a cantrip in general and better supports the control lines helps turn on the 2 rock. barrels not as good with less prisms reverse just gets the job done even on only 4x prism many times I'm even down to 2x prism is still just always solid and bridges the draw card gap tp pulls. malking ballista is a better kill than ulamog for if I think they will try to strip reservoir or saw them do it in g2 for g3. negate is MD material only 1 for now but multiple decks I'm bringing in all 4 copies its really good. Decks feels pretty good worst MU seems to be snake combo its miserable on the draw they can grow past engulfs and can come down before essence scatter has a fast clock. I can beat control at their own game most times those mu's seems easy. marvel seems ok too with negates though their is a fair bit of variance their sometimes they do nothing problably ulamogs drawn. others times ulamogs on the stack t4 -t5 and your wrecked I did manage to disallow a hardcast ulamog trigger from a ramp deck that was hilarious. Best card in the deck is without a doubt pull 4x all MUs all times its gross.
So I ended up completely changing the deck after tons of testing. Now I'm winning way more games than I'm losing and nothing feels like an auto loss anymore. I realized that caravan was horrible because it cost 3 I started playing pyramid instead because its was better for both going off and playing control and gave the deck a real card to play turn 1. full anticipate dropped all the prisms they were just too slow and not good enough cards on their own anticipate is way better. harnessed lighting in the extra cantrip slots lets me shore up the problem the deck had with creatures game 1 drawing even one buys the deck another turn against creature damage decks all the time. Glimmer digs better than reverse did by 1 card and cost less is instant makes harness even better. The cards better at both control and combo it was a strict upgrade. Sb changes the englufs never worked the way I needed them too and are unplayable with the red splash anyway and now that I have that splash I can put in some magma sprays for more 1 drops agsint fast creature decks alongside a playset of scatters for these kinds of decks where I need to trade multiple times with creatures to get the time the deck needs. 4 negates and 3 and a disallow let us play a mean game against control and lets us beat them at their own game or push through our combo. having lots of different counterspell options lets me pick the absolute best counters for game 2 without over side boarding in some MUS and lets me board in mass spell based or creature based hate in others. On a side not having way more fun in this format than I ever thought I would.
Hey, I've been trying similar idea few weeks ago and my last decklist looked this way: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/ur-paradox-combo
Some points:
1. Whir of Invention allows you to tutor for Paradox Engine when control is tapping out for Torrential Gearhulk EOT.
2. Bunch of instants + Fall of the Titans as wincon allows to win with Torrential Gearhulk still on stack.
3. Commit // Memory is backup 'draw 7' card for going off which also doubles as counterspell to push combo through or removal to stall game a bit.
4. During one game I was able to combo out with charged Pyramid of the Pantheon, Paradox Engine and 6 lands in game only (starting with Commit // Memory), so I have some doubts if we really need other mana stones.
5. I view this deck not as combo deck but as control with combo wincon instead of 'bash with gearhulk' plan which doesn't always gets there.
Yea I can see that your more control . Personally I've found control mirror like games super easy post board with dispel and negates they haven't been a problem at all. I went 5-1 in the tournament practice room today though I think I dropped a game in every win but 1 where the guy scooped after g1 for whatever reason. I played a sweet grinder vs mono black zombies. I've found it only takes 1-2 control plays to buy time for a turn 5-6 kill. However many times it is indeed an ok plan to just stabilize. I did beat a snake deck today which is great the harness was great. I got stomped by blue white spirits but I don't see that deck often. Spell queller is just a huge pain in the ass and mausoleum wanderer turn 1 is really annoying.
This is my bastardization of the idea. I have been playing something close to this since I found out how powerful the Pyramid can be when snowballing thru. One of my earlier versions ran Traverse as well and 1st turn Pyramid into 2nd turn activate and cast Traverse makes you feel great as you know the next couple of turns are going to start snowballing. I may add Traverse back in because I miss it so much in the first couple turns.
Later in the game you put Oracle down and tick it up to 3 brick counters and start going through your deck.
Check it out. SB into a package of 2 anguish, 2 dissenter, 4 ceremonious, 1 Lost Legacy, for Marvel decks and never be scared again of that dang deck.
Just about all other decks just need a removal spell/board wipe to stabilize on the aggro decks.
Ramping into Approach with mana to dig and play again because of paradox and oracle's (which actually casts the spells) is pretty easy to have happen
Yeah, but Conley Woods is the Dredge of Magic players. Everything that is good and reasonable in the world says his style of play and type of deckbuilding shouldn't work, but it does. It. Just. Works.
He's not just out of the box, he defies any sort of geometric shape. He's that special kind of certifiably-insane evil genius.
No problem that's great. I personally like glimmer way more than illumination despite getting another 1 drop for grafstone lines the fact it can dig up to 4 cards made it a much stronger combo card and card in general even if your not using energy. As with anything test it first my current stack looks nothing like what it started at and there is no good substitution for play testing. Looking at your list the main issue I see is trying to use comit / memory and illusion over glimmer and max pull. I would just test it to make sure it works. Without harness some number of essence scatter in the side is a good idea.
13 Island
1 Inventors' Fair
4 Aether hub
4 Spirebluff Canal
Spells 38
4 Pyramid of the Pantheon
4 Anticipate
4 Censor
4 Harnessed Lightning
4 Corrupted Grafstone
4 Hedron Archive
4 Glimmer of Genius
2 Aetherflux Reservoir
4 Paradox Engine
4 Pull from Tomorrow
2 Magma Spray
4 Essence Scatter
4 Negate
3 Dispel
1 Disallow
1 Walking Ballista
Damia http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=410191
DDFT Legacyhttp://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=505247
Domain Zoo http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=10212429#post10212429
Pull From Tomorrow is climbing in price as well.
The deck looks like fun. Would Catalog be more reliable than Reverse Engineer?
Also, Paradoxical Outcome seems like a complete blowout once you have Paradox Engine on board. Returning all draw rocks to your hand and drawing off of it seems like a quick way to finish your opponent off.
I also feel like Terrarion or Seer's Lantern would be better than Caravan because of how much hate there is right now for vehicles.
"I hope to have such a death... lying in triumph atop the broken bodies of those who slew me..."
Damia http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=410191
DDFT Legacyhttp://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=505247
Domain Zoo http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=10212429#post10212429
Md changes
3x puzzle knot > 3x anticipate.
1 MD barals > 4th reverse engineering
1 magnifying glass > 1 negate
Sb
1 ulamog > 1 walking ballista
1 baral > 3rd engulf
Anticipate is nice its a little bit better of a cantrip in general and better supports the control lines helps turn on the 2 rock. barrels not as good with less prisms reverse just gets the job done even on only 4x prism many times I'm even down to 2x prism is still just always solid and bridges the draw card gap tp pulls. malking ballista is a better kill than ulamog for if I think they will try to strip reservoir or saw them do it in g2 for g3. negate is MD material only 1 for now but multiple decks I'm bringing in all 4 copies its really good. Decks feels pretty good worst MU seems to be snake combo its miserable on the draw they can grow past engulfs and can come down before essence scatter has a fast clock. I can beat control at their own game most times those mu's seems easy. marvel seems ok too with negates though their is a fair bit of variance their sometimes they do nothing problably ulamogs drawn. others times ulamogs on the stack t4 -t5 and your wrecked I did manage to disallow a hardcast ulamog trigger from a ramp deck that was hilarious. Best card in the deck is without a doubt pull 4x all MUs all times its gross.
Damia http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=410191
DDFT Legacyhttp://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=505247
Domain Zoo http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=10212429#post10212429
Damia http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=410191
DDFT Legacyhttp://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=505247
Domain Zoo http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=10212429#post10212429
Some points:
1. Whir of Invention allows you to tutor for Paradox Engine when control is tapping out for Torrential Gearhulk EOT.
2. Bunch of instants + Fall of the Titans as wincon allows to win with Torrential Gearhulk still on stack.
3. Commit // Memory is backup 'draw 7' card for going off which also doubles as counterspell to push combo through or removal to stall game a bit.
4. During one game I was able to combo out with charged Pyramid of the Pantheon, Paradox Engine and 6 lands in game only (starting with Commit // Memory), so I have some doubts if we really need other mana stones.
5. I view this deck not as combo deck but as control with combo wincon instead of 'bash with gearhulk' plan which doesn't always gets there.
Damia http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=410191
DDFT Legacyhttp://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=505247
Domain Zoo http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=10212429#post10212429
Damia http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=410191
DDFT Legacyhttp://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=505247
Domain Zoo http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=10212429#post10212429
1 Kefnet the Mindful
1 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Spells
1 Commit/Memory
4 Spring/Mind
4 Pyramid of the Pantheon
2 Dissenter's Deliverance
4 Cultivator's Caravan
1 Ruinous Path
1 Anguished Unmaking
3 Oracle's Vault
1 Mechanized Production
1 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
3 Paradox Engine
3 Descend Upon the Sinful
4 Approach of the Second Sun
4 Aether Hub
3 Botanical Sanctum
1 Canopy Vista
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Forest
1 Inventors' Fair
3 Island
2 Scattered Groves
3 Swamp
2 Fumigate
4 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Sphinx of the Final Word
2 Lay Bare the Heart
1 Lost Legacy
2 Ruinous Path
2 Yahenni's Expertise
1 Anguished Unmaking
This is my bastardization of the idea. I have been playing something close to this since I found out how powerful the Pyramid can be when snowballing thru. One of my earlier versions ran Traverse as well and 1st turn Pyramid into 2nd turn activate and cast Traverse makes you feel great as you know the next couple of turns are going to start snowballing. I may add Traverse back in because I miss it so much in the first couple turns.
Later in the game you put Oracle down and tick it up to 3 brick counters and start going through your deck.
Check it out. SB into a package of 2 anguish, 2 dissenter, 4 ceremonious, 1 Lost Legacy, for Marvel decks and never be scared again of that dang deck.
Just about all other decks just need a removal spell/board wipe to stabilize on the aggro decks.
Ramping into Approach with mana to dig and play again because of paradox and oracle's (which actually casts the spells) is pretty easy to have happen
Damia http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=410191
DDFT Legacyhttp://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=505247
Domain Zoo http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=10212429#post10212429