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  1. #1

    Paradox Engine Combo

    Yo, I had this idea in mind for ages, but I never managed to get a "decent" build (which means that this deck is currently pretty underwhelming), hope to get some help and maybe to spark some interest.


    The idea is to abuse Paradox Engine in combination with artifacts that have busted tap abilities.

    Firstly Grim Monolith and Basalt Monolith are busted in this scenario and are able to provide all the mana we need, we could possibly run Metalworker also.

    Then, and this is much harder, we need a decent way to chain our spells, the best options I found are Planar Portal, Temple Bell, Tapestry of the Ages, Hedron Archive, Coveted Jewel and Mind Stone.

    Is important to understand that we don't need much to win if we get the portal running, if we have enough mana (2 monoliths) to activate it freely we can cast our entire deck, also, the downside of temple bell is not that big of a deal during the combo because even if our opponent draws counters we can keep drawing and chaining spells.
    To help getting the portal going I also run at least two free mana sources (Lotus Petal and Mox Opal), this way we can search for them and get the mana to cast a Grim Monolith, then we can cast all the mana rock and then all the deck.

    Given that we won't always have Engine in play we should play more cards able to untap our artifacts, Voltaic Key is great (but then we can't play Chalice) and Clock of Omens is also pretty decent.

    To end the game we can go for a giant Walking Ballista or nuke with Aetherflux Reservoir, we should also run a Spine of Ish Sah because we can play it (get a full untap) to destroy itself, which allows to easily go infinite as long as we have the mana to cast it endlessly.

    To protect the combo we have lock pieces, Defense Grid has to be a 4x, we can also run Trinisphere.

    The best lands we can run are all the sol lands (including Crystal Vein), Inventors' Fair and Blasted Landscape.

    Maybe we could run Serum Powder, we could also make use of it's mana rock ability.

    I'm giving you a sample list:


    4 Grim Monolith
    4 Basalt Monolith
    4 Voltaic Key
    4 Paradox Engine
    4 Temple Bell
    4 Defense Grid
    2 Clock of Omens
    1 Aetherflux Reservoir
    1 Spine of Ish Sah
    1 Mox Opal
    4 Planar Portal
    3 Hedron Archive
    2 Lotus Petal
    3 Trinisphere
    1 Walking Ballista
    4 Ancient Tomb
    4 City of Traitors
    4 Crystal Vein
    2 Inventors' Fair
    4 Blasted Landscape


    We could also consider to splash white for Enlightened Tutor, or blue for Thoughtcast, Thirst for Knowledge and more.
    "You either die a Onesto-Player, or live long enough to see yourself become a Dredger"

  2. #2
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    Re: Paradox Engine Combo

    i like the idea. even though it's a nonbo with trinisphere, i do like temporal aperture with paradox engine.

    i would also run 4 trinisphere over 4 grid, since you don't have chalice it will steal some more games.
    -rob

  3. #3

    Re: Paradox Engine Combo

    Just throwing out some thoughts here...

    Isochron Scepter with an imprinted card such as Fire//Ice should be GG with Engine and a Monolith ... then again you would need atleast a light blue splash and enough imprintables to make it worthwhile. Staying colorless; Warping Wail would also do the trick in the above scenario, as in creating infinite 1/1 spawns.

    The upside of blue is getting access to Power Artifact + Monolith as another route to infinite mana, but that's UU and a heavy splash... which might be too much for mana consistency.

    Likely, staying colorless and playing Chalice + Trinisphere + Ensnaring Bridge to stall until comboing off is the correct way to go about it. More card draw or filtering is needed... Azor's Gateway is the cheapest one for filtering.

  4. #4
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    Re: Paradox Engine Combo

    Voltaic Key supercharges Ratchet Bomb, so I would likely include that in your 75. I made an underwhelming brown Tron list for modern that used Key, Bomb, Icy Manipulator, Lodestone Golem, and Myr Battlesphere. It was janky as hell and incredibly fun. The most surprising interaction I discovered was Ratchet Bomb + Voltaic Key. Bomb is usually too slow, but Key brings it online very quickly. If you're already committed to a set of Voltaic Key I think Bomb is a serious consideration.
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    Re: Paradox Engine Combo

    Is Voltaic Key good enough here to not run Chalice of the Void? Chalice just wins games.

    What about running creatures like Metalworker and Kuldotha Forgemaster? Could this combo be fit into a MUD shell?

    MUD Paradox


    //Lands: 18
    4 Ancient Tomb
    4 City of Traitors
    4 Crystal Vein
    4 Darksteel Citadel
    2 Inventors' Fair

    //Creatures: 12
    4 Metalworker
    3 Lodestone Golem
    3 Kuldotha Forgemaster
    1 Walking Ballista
    1 Blightsteel Colossus

    //Artifacts: 30
    2 Lotus Petal
    2 Mox Opal
    2 Lightning Greaves
    4 Chalice of the Void
    4 Defense Grid
    4 Grim Monolith
    3 Temple Bell
    4 Paradox Engine
    3 Planar Portal
    1 Trading Post
    1 Spine of Ish Sah


    Even if you stick with the original shell instead, I really like Trading Post in this deck. It has so many relevant modes and gets very powerful with repeated untaps! You can discard extra lands into life, make Goat tokens and sacrifice them to return Lotus Petals (to get more untaps), sacrifice extra artifacts to draw, recycle Spine of Ish Sah if you need to blow up multiple lock pieces, recur dead combo pieces, etc. It also combos with Spine of Ish Sah to give you infinite draws if your rocks can generate 8 mana, at which point you can trivially win the game.
    Last edited by FTW; 01-18-2019 at 11:47 AM.

  6. #6
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    Re: Paradox Engine Combo

    Hmm... Trading Post going infinite with Spine of Ish Sah (or any lower CMC recurring artifact) gives me a better idea.

    Instead of running jank like Temple Bell and running 4 Planar Portal (expensive), why not make the main draw engine based around Trading Post recursion?

    Trading Post + 2 Myr Retriever + 3 mana (e.g. 1 Grim Monolith) creates a loop with Paradox Engine where you draw a card each time. As soon as you hit a 2nd Monolith or a Mox Opal, you start generating extra mana to cast spells. You draw your deck and cast whatever you need to win.

    Another appealing card is Scrap Trawler, which also loops with a Myr Retriever (and recycles a Lotus Petal to compensate for the extra mana cost).


    //Lands: 19
    4 Ancient Tomb
    4 City of Traitors
    4 Darksteel Citadel
    4 Cavern of Souls
    2 Inventors' Fair
    1 Island

    //Mana Rocks: 12
    3 Mox Opal
    4 Lotus Petal
    4 Grim Monolith
    1 Basalt Monolith

    //Engine: 8
    4 Trading Post
    4 Paradox Engine

    //Creatures: 12
    4 Myr Retriever
    4 Scrap Trawler
    4 Trophy Mage

    //Other Artifacts: 9
    4 Chalice of the Void
    1 Ensnaring Bridge
    1 Trinisphere
    1 Temple Bell
    1 Walking Ballista
    1 Spine of Ish Sah

    //Sideboard: 15
    4 Tormod's Crypt
    3 Trinisphere
    1 Caltrops
    1 Ensnaring Bridge
    1 Tangle Wire
    3 Temple Bell
    2 Planar Portal


    You might have to have a transformational sideboard to avoid getting hit by gravehate. Or stuff like Silent Gravestone.

    Ensnaring Bridge answers a lot of creature-based threats and conveniently can be found by Trophy Mage. Caltrops is a jank card nobody plays in any format, but it conveniently kills a lot of pesky weenies that sneak under Ensnaring Bridge and can let your Retrievers suicide in a pinch, so it might be worth a slot?

    Trophy Mage might also be better as Fabricate so it can get Engine/Trading Post instead of just auxiliary stuff. Then -4 Caverns +4 Seat of the Synod.

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