Reservoir Paradogs
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After another week of testing i was able to tinker with the deck a bit, change a few cards and try out some more possibilities.
I got to test a bunch, now including Dredge, where the matchup seems fine, since at least after the sideboard you should be able to buy enough time to combo off. I tested against BUG and i can say: Leovold is a pain to play against and has to die! (i won all games, i was able to handle him, and lost all games where i was not). I also played one match against Doomsday, and won.Here are cards i tried but did not convince me and got cut again:
I tested playing chromatic lantern and 4 mishra's workshop (instead of a 2/2 split with ancient tombs). I was not impressed, casting a lantern didn't feel good, not having a lantern crippled the ability of the deck to generate blue or just enough mana to cast Paradoxical outcome. Bouncing a lantern is rarely profitable.
I tested playing Seat of Synods and as i expected it made the deck way too vulnerable too null rods, stoney silence, wastelands, new thalia and all kind of other hate, that i can play around using basic island. While playing Seat of synod i used Thoughtcasts, which are nice, but do not help with weaker hands at all. I don't think they are needed, and i don't want the deck to be just another tezzcast deck.
I tested Tezzeret the Seeker and deemed him not neccesery since iam not reliable on finding vault/key and i dont need a fifth copy of Aetherflux Reservoir in the deck. 5 mana and double blue is still a lot.
I tested transmute artifact and again i dont think it is neccesery since there are already 4 copies of the main wincondition in the maindeck. UU is not something i want to be reliable on as well.
I tested Mana drain to power out the expensive 4cmc spells, again i didnt feel like i want to be relieable on UU. While it is nice to power out an Aetherflux reservoir, it is actually not profitable to use the generated mana to cast a Paradoxical Outcome. For a useful paradoxical outcome you already want as many mana generating permanents on the board as possible, at which point you don't need the manadrains generated mana. Its nice when it works, but it doesn't happen often enough and too often i had it in my hand without UU up.
I tested Windfall, it rarely seemed useful and only was incredibly powerful when my opponent wasn't able to cast cards (manastuck), or when i already resolved a draw 7 at which point it was mostly a win-more card.
Gitaxian probes just performed worse than preordains. Mystical Tutor always felt awkward.Here is my current list:
Maindeck
Manasources
1x Inventors' Fair
4x Island
1x Minamo, School at Waters Edge
2x Ancient Tomb
Library of Alexandria
2x Mishra's Workshop
1x Tolarian Academy
Black Lotus
Lotus Petal
Mana Crypt
Mox Emerald, Jet, Ruby, Pearl, Sapphire
3x Mox Opal
Mana Vault
Sol Ring
3x Grim Monolith
28 ManasourcesSpells
Ancestral Recall
1x Flusterstorm
4x Mental Misstep
Ponder
3x Preordain
1x Sensei's Divining Top
2x Voltaic Key
Time Vault
Time Walk
1xRepeal
Time Twister
Tinker
3xAetherflux Reservoir
4x Paradoxical Outcome
4x Force of Will
Memory Jar
Mind's Desire
1xWurmcoil Engine
32 Spells60 Cards
Sideboard
1x Echoing Truth
3x Grafdigger's Cage
2x Hurkyl's Recall
2x Flusterstorm
1x Mishras Workshop
2x Tomrod's Crypt
1x Dismember
2x Ceremonous Rejection
1x Myr Battlesphere15 cards
Ok, so here are notable changes:
- added Repeal to the main deck. It just performs the maindeck bounce spell role better than echoing truth, since it isn't as a bad draw if there is nothing problematic to bounce.
- replaced 2x Mindbreak Traps in the sideboard with 2x Flusterstorm. This change improved my matchup against opposing blue decks significantly while still being useful against storm.
- cut the Mind's Desire, which makes me sad, since its one of my favorite cards, but i rarely used it. I would love to find a spot for it again sometime. EDIT: I added it back in, cutting the 4th Reservoir.
- exchanged the Wurmcoil Engine in the Sideboard for a Myr Battlesphere to diversify secondary win conditions.
- added Ceremonous Rejections and a Dismember to the sideboard.
I also tweaked some card amounts.
On my wishlist now is one more blue mana source and still shuffle effects. (Thinking about adding an amount of expedition maps, but i am not thrilled about it)I am pretty happy with the decks power and how it plays at the moment (ofcourse it still needs more work) and having a blast playing it. Feedback and suggestions are always wanted!
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@Evoclipse said:
On my wishlist now is one more blue mana source and still shuffle effects. (Thinking about adding an amount of expedition maps, but i am not thrilled about it)
I am pretty happy with the decks power and how it plays at the moment (ofcourse it still needs more work) and having a blast playing it. Feedback and suggestions are always wanted!
I've been testing steel city vaults a LOT lately which is a very similar shell and game plan to get your win-con on line. In fact I'd almost call this SCV2.0. Regardless - give the expedition map a try. That tutor for the tolarian is amazing. Plus its a 1 drop artifact - cheapy artifact spell that easily increases your spell count - doubly so with paradoxical outcome.
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Have you considered 1 helm of awakening? I know it helps opponents also, but vastly helps you more, allowing keys and tops to be free and Grim Monolith to only be one mana.
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Have you considered 1 helm of awakening? I know it helps opponents also, but vastly helps you more, allowing keys and tops to be free and Grim Monolith to only be one mana.
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@Serracollector said:
Have you considered 1 helm of awakening? I know it helps opponents also, but vastly helps you more, allowing keys and tops to be free and Grim Monolith to only be one mana.
There's the new kaladesh artifact that lets YOUR artifacts cost 1 less. Probably better suited.
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I will echo @Khahan and suggest Expedition Map as well. I've had some success running 4 Expedition Maps in a Tolarian Academy combo deck, which my friend won an event with this week. They are just cheap artifacts you can throw down and find all your fun lands (Academy -> Minamo -> Workshop).
You can also consider increasing the number of Tops you play. They're pretty cool too.
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@Hrishi I want to test expedition maps, but i am not sure what to cut to be honestm i have to try some combinations out. I would probably run a second top if i had reliable shuffle effects. Top gets significantly worse without the ability to shuffle your deck.
@Khahan @Serracollector I have not considered such effects yet, very interesting. Just for artifacts Etherium Sculptor might be the best bet, however i feel like i rather would like to cheapen Paradoxicals as well. Helm of Awakening seems very powerful and incredibly risky to run. Stuff like that feels like the deck would shift more towards powering out the combo as fast as possible and disregarding what your opponents play.
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@Evoclipse Remember that Maps are shuffle effects!
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@Hrishi Yes, but not very efficient ones. Also i don't really want to play 4 of them. Getting specific lands isn't that important to the game plan. Getting to 4 mana is often enough. I will try them nonetheless.
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@Evoclipse said:
@Hrishi Yes, but not very efficient ones. Also i don't really want to play 4 of them. Getting specific lands isn't that important to the game plan. Getting to 4 mana is often enough. I will try them nonetheless.
I run 2 in my scv build and its amazingly consistent getting Tolarian out as I effectively have 3 chances to draw it. If I draw tolarian naturally then it fetches minamo and if I have both or dont need it, t he map is +1 mana for tolarian or +1 spell count from paradoxical. Maybe for testing -1 mox opal +1 expedition map.
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Another option is Metalworker. You can drop him turn 1, then turn 2 barf out your hand, paradox, untap him with a key and continue the fun.
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What about non-artifact permanents? Like Oath of Jace?
Some diversity would help prevent null rod locking you out of filtering.
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@spook In general diversifying the deck so it doesn't just fold to a Null Rod or a similiar effect is definetly important. That is the main reason why i am playing basic islands and not Seat of Synods and why there are 3 different win conditions in the mainboard.
The most powerful and consistent of them is Plan A but suffers from most hate, including Null Rod effects or Sphere Effects. Plan B still wins the game on the spot but is not as consistent to get out, it still suffers from Null rod effects, however it often can ignore taxing effects. Plan C is often the most robust of the win conditions, but it takes a while to win and is not as game ending.
Currently playing basic islands and Preordains fills the filter role and does not suffer from null rod effects. Maybe i should play more of that though. Oath of Jace does not seem powerful enough, especially not for the price. The fact that it is a permanent doesn't really do any good. -
I like how this deck has Mishra's Workshop x2. That's sarcasm if you hadn't noticed. They only cast 8 non-mana cards in your deck. They seem completely worthless. This deck is incredibly gimmicky.
There's a reason some of the bigger names in the format never comment on decks like this. It has NO direction. It's just a bucket of marque cards. You need focus.
I think the Aetherflux Reservoir is completely and utterly terrible. When you're casting a chain of spells unimpeded you can win with a fucking Magma Mine at that point.
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I've been testing vs Aetherflux Reservoir alot online with Paradoxal...and while the Paradoxal card looks impressive at times, I have yet to be impressed by Aetherflux. I generally let the card resolve lol.
I'm curious how it's been for you when you're facing an opposing blue deck with artifact removal and countermagic. I've been very unimpressed
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@Soly
Aetherlfux reservoir is just the win condition. It does not make the deck, you are correct in that. Paradoxical outcome makes the deck and as you said: at the point where you could maybe chain them together and "go off" you could probably win with a few other cards. Tendrils or any of the other playable Storm cards come to mind. I also never stated that Aetherflux would be incredibly good or anything like that. Quote from my very first post:The real powerhouse here is obviously Paradoxical Outcome, Aetherflux Reservoir is just a neat win condition that fits pretty nice if you ask me. The life gain over a few turns often buys a lot of time if you are not able to just win with it, which happens not rarely - this deck is not designed to go off on turn 1 or 2 as often as possible like Belcher, i would rather classify it as Combo - Control. The deck definitely has the potential to play a long game. I am currently playing no tutors, apart from the one Inventor's Fair and Tinker, but a full playset of the Reservoir. I am not sure about that yet, maybe 3 is the better number, it needs more testing. What happens when you draw multiples? Well, you don't really need multiples, but they are also not dead. If you manage to stick 2 of them on the board and then go off, the lifegain effect stacks and you will crack that 50 life mark very fast, however drawing 2 of those also is clunky and reduces the chances of you going off.
That does not make Aetherflux Reservoir "completely and utterly terrible", what an unreasonable and out of proportion thing to write. I chose this win condition because i was interested in what it can do in the right deck and at the moment it performs fine, not broken, but fine. It is a very interesting way to win a game, since it is no spell that you play as a finisher after going off, but a spell that you play while or before going off. It can be played one turn, and win the next one. This, obviesly has its up and downsides and feels a little like Goblin Charbelcher, in which the card can be played and activated in the same turn if your hand supports it, but it can also be put on the table to set up the win next turn.
Your complains about Mishra's Workshop in the deck are based on what? The card plays very nicely in the deck and is responsible for most of the more broken starts the deck can perform. Workshop does a very nice job powering out the Reservoir and spells like Grim monolith or Memory Jar. It is one of the best set-up cards in the deck. It works wonders against opposing taxing decks like shops or hatebears and enables secondary win conditions like hard casting Wurmcoil or Myr Battlesphere, both of which are mostly chosen for this spot because they are hard-castable with the Workshops. I tested the deck without Workshops and the result is a deck that loses a lot of its explosiveness and flexibility.
@tattoocek In the matchup against blue control decks longer games favor the blue control deck (at least in game 1). The superior density of countermagic and ways to find it those decks have is the main problem. To support the combo potential and paradoxical outcome this deck has to play a lot of artifact acceleration, which produce explosive starts, but also empty your hand fast and are terrible draws in a situation when i try to sculpt a hand to go off, and they try to sculpt a hand to stop me. If you empty your hand and cast a paradoxical outcome or draw 7 and then lose the counterwar, the deck tends to suffer a few turns from that until you manage to draw another paradoxical or draw 7 and a way to protect it. In games 2-3 the matchup gets better after boarding in additional countermagic. Artifact destruction is lesser of a problem, mostly because if you are able to go off, you will often find additional copies of the artifacts you need or ways so you wont find them. Permanent artifact hate is another story. Null Rod, Stoney Silence, Kataki and similiar effects are way worse, that is why there are a bunch of bounce spells in the sideboard.
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@Evoclipse Oath of Jace is not great, but there may be other non-artifact cards to consider with PO.
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Trinket Mage and the new 1/3 bird for 1U that gets an artifact out of your top 4 are bouncible objects in blue that could work with Paradox.
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The first time I saw this deck I figured it won with Brain Freeze. Is there a reason you chose the Reservoir over Brain Freeze besides the life gain?
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@Water0 Brain freeze requires a way higher storm count to kill, and while huge storm turns are achievable, Reservoir often still kills if you just cast one moderadly sized paradoxical outcome and are not able to chain them together.
