Reservoir Paradogs
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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.
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Also, Brain Freeze must be cast on the turn of your kill. If you kill on turn N, that means your opponent has N turns to find a non-permanent-removing answer (e.g., Flusterstorm, Mindbreak Trap, Duress).
By contrast, Reservoir can be cast before the turn of your kill, say, turn K. If K<N, your own opponent has fewer chances to find non-permanent-removing answers.
Of course, once Reservoir is in play, it is susceptible to permanent-removing answers, while Brain Freeze is not. But such answers are typically less common.
This is the same principle behind why a Yawg Will deck would much rather face a sideboard of Ravenous Traps than a sideboard of Tormod's Crypts. Tormod's Crypt can be cast before the turn of its usage, which makes it harder to answer.
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I want to clarify that i am not incredibly attached to Reservoir as a win condition, i just thought it would be interesting to try it out,and so far it worked pretty good.
I am convinced that Paradoxical outcome is a very powerful card in a shell like this with a bunch of fast mana artifacts. The card could of course also work in a deck that does not play workshops, uses another win condition and even cards like snapcaster mage to build a control shell, rather than a combo deck.
Now that i tried 3 Aetherflux Reservoirs instead of four i feel the deck is more flexible, maybe even only 2 of them is the correct amount. With a deck like this that needs a critical mass of Mana Artifacts to funkction, it is hard to find the perfect balance between those, business spells, card selection and interaction. That is one of the great weaknesses of this deck: Drawing mana acceleration is often just a dead draw, when you much rather would need to find a business spell or countermagic.I am excited if Paradoxical Outcome finds a home in Vintage, as i think the card itself is definitely powerful enough, but might not fit in the meta game at the moment.
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If you have never played "land, go" for four turns, and on turn four your opponent combos out, only for you respond with Brain Freeze, Brain Freeze, then you have never lived.
I would probably test cutting 2x Workshops and 1x Wurmcoil for a Brain Freeze, Merchant Scroll and a fetch land.
