Urza Ascendancy / Paradoxical Urza is a blue based artifact deck that uses card advantage and fast mana to develop an unbeatable board state.
What distinguishes Paradoxical Urza from the Whirza archtype is that the Thopter-Sword combo (and the associated cards like Whir of Invention and Goblin Engineer) is abandoned in exchange for Paradoxical Outcome and far more cheap 0 mana artifacts, which combine wonderfully with the other lynchpin of the deck, Urza, Lord High Artificer.
With the release of Throne of Eldraine, the deck got significantly stronger due to the addition of Emry, Lurker of the Loch. Emry will typically only cost 1 mana, and along with the other legends the deck runs it makes Mox Amber significantly stronger. Running both Mox Opal and Mox Amber enables the deck to be extremely explosive, as both fit in with the Paradoxical Outcome plan perfectly. Furthermore, in the Jeskai variant, Emry goes infinite with Jeskai Ascendancy very easily - all you need is a Mishra's Bauble, Welding Jar, Tormod's Crypt or two Mox Amber or Mox Opals across the play and graveyard zones. Even without Emry, Jeskai Ascendancy works extremely well with Urza or Outcome and a bunch of cheap artifacts.
As of late Oct 2019, the Ascendancy variant of the deck has been become more common than the original Esper variant known as Paradoxical Urza.. Many of these variants are now splashing green, mainly for Oko, Thief of Crowns in the sideboard.
Core Artifacts
These are usually all 4-ofs, except Mox Amber which is typically a 2-4 of.
Engine
These are the core engine pieces that make the deck hum - you typically play 3-4 of Urza, Outcome, Emry and Ascendancy (if you're running it) while Saheeli and Sai are typically 1-3 ofs.
Flex Spots
A variety of cards are used to fill up the remaining slots - usually you play a 1-3 of these and play 1-3 of each.
Alternative Win Conditions
These cards are typically a 1-of in the main deck and you typically only play 1 of them.
I'm seeing an increase in green splashes for sideboard Oko, Thief of Crowns; he's both an alt win con and anti-hate, which puts him in a good position. For that reason, I support renaming this as plain old "Paradoxical Urza".
The most common win con I see in Paradoxical Urza decks nowadays is Nexus of Fate, which neither of your deck lists have and which you barely acknowledge in the primer; this has the advantage of working even if Emry mills it (which is why I cannot recommend Fae of Wishes instead in Emry decks despite loving those Fae in non-Emry decks).
I'm seeing an increase in green splashes for sideboard Oko, Thief of Crowns; he's both an alt win con and anti-hate, which puts him in a good position. For that reason, I support renaming this as plain old "Paradoxical Urza".
The most common win con I see in Paradoxical Urza decks nowadays is Nexus of Fate, which neither of your deck lists have and which you barely acknowledge in the primer; this has the advantage of working even if Emry mills it (which is why I cannot recommend Fae of Wishes instead in Emry decks despite loving those Fae in non-Emry decks).
Thanks for the reply! I
1) Changed the title to just Paradoxical Urza
2) Mentioned this green variant at the top under versions and mentioned it briefly under the history section
3) Added Oko, Thief of Crowns in the sideboard planeswalker section (along with Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas and Teferi, Time Raveler).
3) Moved Nexus of Fate up to a more prominent position in the alternative win cons.
4) I mentioned Nexus of Fate as an example of an alternative win con in step c) of the Gameplan section (how you win).
If you have a link to an example decklist that uses green that would be great!
One point quickly with regards to Nexus of Fate - while it's a fine card, I've personally found Saheeli, Sublime Artificer to be an extremely underrated win-con, as animating a random artifact into a 30/30 hasty Karnstruct works pretty well and she serves as both engine and win-con in much the same way Urza does.
Also, I would imagine in the Jeskai list where you still have the Urza/Saheeli win con plus the extra Jeskai Ascendancy win con, Nexus of Fate would be a bit overkill.
If you have a link to an example decklist that uses green that would be great!
One point quickly with regards to Nexus of Fate - while it's a fine card, I've personally found Saheeli, Sublime Artificer to be an extremely underrated win-con, as animating a random artifact into a 30/30 hasty Karnstruct works pretty well and she serves as both engine and win-con in much the same way Urza does.
Also, I would imagine in the Jeskai list where you still have the Urza/Saheeli win con plus the extra Jeskai Ascendancy win con, Nexus of Fate would be a bit overkill.
Wouldn't you need to get all the blockers out of the way for the Karnstruct (or Emry) to connect for lethal? I'm not completely confident in my ability to Engineered Explosives everything out of the way (especially without blowing up my win cons), especially if I'm not on the Emry Ascendant plan. That's why I still support the Nexus of Fate plan.
What distinguishes Paradoxical Urza from the Whirza archtype is that the Thopter-Sword combo (and the associated cards like Whir of Invention and Goblin Engineer) is abandoned in exchange for Paradoxical Outcome and far more cheap 0 mana artifacts, which combine wonderfully with the other lynchpin of the deck, Urza, Lord High Artificer.
There are at least three version of the deck:
However, the core engine and cards are the same all versions of the deck
1) An Esper variant with many example decklists variable here: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/modern-paradoxical-urza-101142
2) A more Jeskai variant that abuses Jeskai Ascendancy and Emry, Lurker of the Loch with many example decklists available here: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/modern-urza-ascendancy#paper
3) Some versions are starting to splash green for Oko, Thief of Crowns in the sideboard.
History of Paradoxical Urza
The first variant of the deck to start posting competitive results is the Esper variant that is almost monoblue and generally does not run any black cards in the maindeck, with a tiny while splash for Teferi, Time Raveler. However, black cards such as Fatal Push,Thoughtseize and Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas feature prominently in the sideboard. This deck starting posting strong online results in September 2019, almost three months after Modern Horizons released the key card for the deck, Urza, Lord High Artificer. A couple lists that posted strong early results include:
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/2284321#paper
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/2297849#paper
With the release of Throne of Eldraine, the deck got significantly stronger due to the addition of Emry, Lurker of the Loch. Emry will typically only cost 1 mana, and along with the other legends the deck runs it makes Mox Amber significantly stronger. Running both Mox Opal and Mox Amber enables the deck to be extremely explosive, as both fit in with the Paradoxical Outcome plan perfectly. Furthermore, in the Jeskai variant, Emry goes infinite with Jeskai Ascendancy very easily - all you need is a Mishra's Bauble, Welding Jar, Tormod's Crypt or two Mox Amber or Mox Opals across the play and graveyard zones. Even without Emry, Jeskai Ascendancy works extremely well with Urza or Outcome and a bunch of cheap artifacts.
A couple successful examples of the Ascendancy based decks include:
http://www.starcitygames.com/decks/133703
http://www.starcitygames.com/decks/133701
The remainder of the deck tends to consist of powerful value engines such as Sai, Master Thopterist and Saheeli, Sublime Artificer along with cantrip cards like Arcum's Astrolabe, Serum Visions and Wishing Well. Everflowing Chalice and Engineered Explosives are also key 0 mana artifacts, the later of which gives the deck some control game as well, and works particularly well given that the deck runs almost no zero or one drops. The Jeskai variant, of course, also runs Jeskai Ascendency as a maindeck card.
As of late Oct 2019, the Ascendancy variant of the deck has been become more common than the original Esper variant known as Paradoxical Urza.. Many of these variants are now splashing green, mainly for Oko, Thief of Crowns in the sideboard.
The Decks
Here's a few example decklists that illustrate some different variants of the deck.
Many other lists can be found at https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/modern-paradoxical-urza-101142.
4 Snow-Covered Island
1 Snow-Covered Mountain
1 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Breeding Pool
4 Flooded Strand
1 Prismatic Vista
1 Sacred Foundry
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
Creatures
4 Emry, Lurker of the Loch
1 Sai, Master Thopterist
4 Urza, Lord High Artificer
2 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
4 Engineered Explosives
1 Everflowing Chalice
4 Mishra's Bauble
1 Witching Well
4 Jeskai Ascendancy
2 Mirrodin Besieged
4 Paradoxical Outcome
3 Mox Amber
4 Mox Opal
4 Arcum's Astrolabe
2 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Disdainful Stroke
3 Galvanic Blast
3 Mystical Dispute
1 Weather the Storm
3 Oko, Thief of Crowns
1 Teferi, Time Raveler
3 Everflowing Chalice
4 Mishra's Bauble
4 Mox Opal
3 Mox Amber
4 Engineered Explosives
3 Serum Visions
1 Pithing Needle
4 Arcum's Astrolabe
1 Ichor Wellspring
4 Paradoxical Outcome
Creature
3 Emry, Lurker of the Loch
2 Sai, Master Thopterist
4 Urza, Lord High Artificer
2 Teferi, Time Raveler
2 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
Land
1 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
3 Prismatic Vista
1 Watery Grave
1 Hallowed Fountain
6 Snow-Covered Island
1 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Snow-Covered Swamp
2 Fatal Push
2 Thoughtseize
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Spell Pierce
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Collective Brutality
1 Dampening Sphere
1 Defense Grid
1 Timely Reinforcements
1 Dead of Winter
2 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
3 Everflowing Chalice
4 Mishra's Bauble
4 Mox Opal
4 Mox Amber
4 Engineered Explosives
1 Pithing Needle
4 Arcum's Astrolabe
4 Paradoxical Outcome
Enchantment
3 Jeskai Ascendancy
Creature
4 Emry, Lurker of the Loch
1 Sai, Master Thopterist
4 Urza, Lord High Artificer
1 Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain
1 Teferi, Time Raveler
2 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
Land
1 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
3 Prismatic Vista
1 Steam Vents
1 Hallowed Fountain
6 Snow-Covered Island
1 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Snow-Covered Mountain
3 Path to Exile
2 Galvanic Blast
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Spell Pierce
1 Pithing Needle
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Dampening Sphere
1 Defense Grid
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 Teferi, Time Raveler
The Gameplan
A) Dump your handle and ideally play an Emry, Lurker of the Loch as soon as possible, e.g. turn 1.
B) Use your fast mana to ramp into either Urza, Lord High Artificer, Paradoxical Outcome or Jeskai Ascendancy and combo off from there to gain absurd card advantage
C) At this point, there are a multiple of options on how to finish of the game. You could use any of the "Alternate Win Cons" mentioned below (like Nexus of Fate and attack for the win), just naturally wait a turn and attack with a giant army of tokens and huge Karnstructs, or use Saheeli, Sublime Artificer to turn any artifact that doesn't have summoning sickness into a hasty Karnstruct. Alternatively, in the Jeskai version, Emry, Lurker of the Loch + Jeskai Ascendancy combos off with any of Mishra's Bauble, Welding Jar, Tormod's Crypt, or two of Mox Opal or Mox Amber across the play and graveyard zones.
Core Artifacts
These are usually all 4-ofs, except Mox Amber which is typically a 2-4 of.
Engine
These are the core engine pieces that make the deck hum - you typically play 3-4 of Urza, Outcome, Emry and Ascendancy (if you're running it) while Saheeli and Sai are typically 1-3 ofs.
Flex Spots
A variety of cards are used to fill up the remaining slots - usually you play a 1-3 of these and play 1-3 of each.
Alternative Win Conditions
These cards are typically a 1-of in the main deck and you typically only play 1 of them.
Fringe Cards
These cards rarely show up in lists.
Sideboard
360 card powered Chicago cube:
https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/e7r
2020 Numerical Power Rankings:
https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/the-cube-forum/cube-card-and-archetype/817969-2020-numerical-cube-power-rankings
2018 CubeTutor Power Rankings:
https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/the-cube-forum/cube-card-and-archetype/803301-cubetutor-power-rankings-2018-by-color-and-cmc
I'm seeing an increase in green splashes for sideboard Oko, Thief of Crowns; he's both an alt win con and anti-hate, which puts him in a good position. For that reason, I support renaming this as plain old "Paradoxical Urza".
The most common win con I see in Paradoxical Urza decks nowadays is Nexus of Fate, which neither of your deck lists have and which you barely acknowledge in the primer; this has the advantage of working even if Emry mills it (which is why I cannot recommend Fae of Wishes instead in Emry decks despite loving those Fae in non-Emry decks).
Thanks for the reply! I
1) Changed the title to just Paradoxical Urza
2) Mentioned this green variant at the top under versions and mentioned it briefly under the history section
3) Added Oko, Thief of Crowns in the sideboard planeswalker section (along with Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas and Teferi, Time Raveler).
3) Moved Nexus of Fate up to a more prominent position in the alternative win cons.
4) I mentioned Nexus of Fate as an example of an alternative win con in step c) of the Gameplan section (how you win).
If you have a link to an example decklist that uses green that would be great!
One point quickly with regards to Nexus of Fate - while it's a fine card, I've personally found Saheeli, Sublime Artificer to be an extremely underrated win-con, as animating a random artifact into a 30/30 hasty Karnstruct works pretty well and she serves as both engine and win-con in much the same way Urza does.
Also, I would imagine in the Jeskai list where you still have the Urza/Saheeli win con plus the extra Jeskai Ascendancy win con, Nexus of Fate would be a bit overkill.
360 card powered Chicago cube:
https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/e7r
2020 Numerical Power Rankings:
https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/the-cube-forum/cube-card-and-archetype/817969-2020-numerical-cube-power-rankings
2018 CubeTutor Power Rankings:
https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/the-cube-forum/cube-card-and-archetype/803301-cubetutor-power-rankings-2018-by-color-and-cmc
Oliver Tomajko just Top 8'd the lastest StarCityGames Modern Open with this Emry Ascendancy Green Splash Paradoxical Urza list!
4 Snow-Covered Island
1 Snow-Covered Mountain
1 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Breeding Pool
4 Flooded Strand
1 Prismatic Vista
1 Sacred Foundry
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
Creatures
4 Emry, Lurker of the Loch
1 Sai, Master Thopterist
4 Urza, Lord High Artificer
2 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
4 Engineered Explosives
1 Everflowing Chalice
4 Mishra's Bauble
1 Witching Well
4 Jeskai Ascendancy
2 Mirrodin Besieged
4 Paradoxical Outcome
3 Mox Amber
4 Mox Opal
4 Arcum's Astrolabe
2 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Disdainful Stroke
3 Galvanic Blast
3 Mystical Dispute
1 Weather the Storm
3 Oko, Thief of Crowns
1 Teferi, Time Raveler
There's also this more traditional green splash Emry Ascendant list from Zan Syed--he got 10th place in the same SCG Open:
4 Snow-Covered Island
1 Snow-Covered Mountain
1 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Breeding Pool
4 Flooded Strand
1 Prismatic Vista
1 Sacred Foundry
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
Creatures
4 Emry, Lurker of the Loch
2 Sai, Master Thopterist
4 Urza, Lord High Artificer
2 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
4 Engineered Explosives
4 Mishra's Bauble
1 Witching Well
4 Jeskai Ascendancy
1 Nexus of Fate
4 Paradoxical Outcome
4 Mox Amber
4 Mox Opal
4 Arcum's Astrolabe
1 Pithing Needle
2 Blood Moon
2 Disdainful Stroke
3 Galvanic Blast
2 Mystical Dispute
1 Weather the Storm
4 Oko, Thief of Crowns
Wouldn't you need to get all the blockers out of the way for the Karnstruct (or Emry) to connect for lethal? I'm not completely confident in my ability to Engineered Explosives everything out of the way (especially without blowing up my win cons), especially if I'm not on the Emry Ascendant plan. That's why I still support the Nexus of Fate plan.