The last few nights I have run into a lot, almost ready to just play Prossh with all blue hate.

This deck looks sweet, might just be the shell for my next combo deck!

Lilbrudder, am I correct that the only graveyard hate (pseudo in this case) in the deck is Deathrite Shaman? Has this been an issue? If your meta has either a Karador/Boonweaver or Hermit Druid (seeing some 4 color builds lately) build, what would you advise? I am assuming Everflowing Chalice would be the cut and Tormod's Crypt would be the addition.

I try to make my online decks meta free, so specific hate cards are almost never included. If you were to add some gravehate tormod's crypt would be an ideal inclusion. Another solid option is Shred Memory as it can double as a tutor for dramatic scepter.

The game Lilbrudder mentionned is here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/124305547

The mistake he mentions is a severe tilt/brainfart on my part, in which I forgot to cast Chain of Vapor before the End Step, with an active Jin Gitaxias in play, as well as a Null Rod and an Eidolon of Silence.

The game is a bit long (1h40+), but is well worth the watch.

--

As far as changes to the deck are mentioned, I have to keep my own tournament list intact until the end (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/paradox-scepter-storm/), since no changes are allowed after registration. I'm still closely watching Lilbrudder's changes.

I like the idea of playing Everflowing Chalice in place of Urza's Bauble. My problem with both Mishra and Urza's baubles are that they draw the card the turn after, which is only good if you drop them on the turns before going off. The problem is that you also want them in your hand when you play Paradox Engine, play them for 0 to untap your rocks, and go off the same turn. I also found I wanted more 'Sol Rings' in the deck to go with Isochron Scepter (which requires at least 2+ mana to go off). Everflowing Chalice is just as good as the baubles on combo turn (since you are never going to draw that card), but can help setup the win as well.

I'm of the opinion that more wheels is really good, even at 4 CMC, so Whispering Madness is really a card I like in principle. IMHO, card draw + discard adds consistency, fill the grave, and acts as a pseudo-tutor for solutions. I just don't know what to cut for it, since I also want Candelabra and Lim-Dl's Vault, and I've already cut Llanowar and Urborg. I might end up cutting the weakest mana rock, like you did, but at the same time I find myself wanting slightly more rocks, not less. I like Candelabra on combo turn, since it fixes my colors, and I owe a few wins on Lim-Dl's Vault's "mega scry". YMMV.

I'm also unsure about Waste Not. It seems like a card I'd love to have before resolving a wheel, but not one I'd be enthusiastic to top deck. My fear is that since our deck is utterly vulnerable to Null Rod, tax effects, Rule of Law effects, Gaddock Teeg, and Spirit of the Labyrinth effects, I'd rather have polyvalent answers/removal for them than more explosive results. Targeted removal can also trigger Paradox Engine only if it finds a target; I really wish there were more cards like Abrupt Decay!

Lilbrudder and BarbeChenue, five counterspells is fewer than I am used to seeing for competititive lists. Dan's Doomtide Thrasios plays eight and Skuloth's Zur list uses eleven. BarbeChenue, are you finding that number sufficient in the tournmanent? If I wanted to add two additional counters which cards would you guys remove?

BarbeChenue: Thank you for posting the video and good luck this week :-) I am not a huge fan of candlestick but it hurt to cut lim dul's. If waste not proves to be too situational then I will probably bring it back but having more removal may be better. What do you think about Ancient Grudge and Pyroclasm? They are super cheap and can take out many of the big threats to our gameplan. I know you use Vandalblast and it has dome good work for you.

Frank_Glascock I already gave my opinion on this issue on the discord so I will let BarbeChenue provide his experience as he has more hands on experience with the deck than me. Im more of a magical theorist.

Currently 2-2 in the cEDH tourney after last night's win! I did however notice quite a few misplays on my part post-game.

Highlights: Bloody hell is the deck resilient! Despite the setbacks, I managed to pull through once more. Fire Covenant is an absolute all star choice, destroying everyone's hatebears and mana dorks, creating a nightmare scenario. Following it immediately with Vandalblast is just pure undiluted schadenfreude, with both opponents reduced to two lands each.

A common theme of the deck is getting bogged down by hatebears for a while, but still managing to pull through. Having a ton of mana rocks and dorks makes it hard to cut into the mana base all at once. As a more midrange player, I feel very comfortable with games going longer. Certain hate pieces scare me more than others, but what I'm really afraid of is someone comboing ahead of me despite stax in play, while I'm left unable to react. If I can sculpt a hand with decent answers to the worst hate cards, I'm forcing the others to deal with me rather than develop their board or further their game plan because I threaten to win.

All that said, my assessment may very well change depending on future matchups. Stax decks playing blue like Grand Arbiter and Teferi seem very well positioned to counter the deck, and faster combos -- like Food Chain Tazri -- might prove to be difficult to interact with. Time will tell!

Awesome! Thank you for the Update and GG.

Frank_Glascock & BarbeChenue: Here is my completely untested no greed list for more interactive games

Lilbrudder, do you have plans to combine both lists? Better put, are you working towards making a list that you would play in a competitive tournament. I realize BarbeChenue is in the process of doing this.

I think if I were to enter a competitive tourney this would be my go too list. It has more answers and more ways to fight through disruption. Every game Barbechenue has played in the tourney has been a grind so a more resilient deck is needed that can answer multiple stax pieces and disrupt other people's combo turns. I will keep both lists, because I love the all in nature of yawgmoth's engine. It will likely be my Trice list for random pods as it is more explosive. Having 2 lists gives people more idea of what changes to make to cater thier deck if they want to be more proactive or reactive. In other words, having two lists deliniates the essential vs. borderline cards.

I want to build a competitive deck, but I am not sure which one, I have most of the pieces except Twister/Seal/Candelabra/Grim. I really like your lists, I was tempted to play your FC Sidisi, but it looks like you have moved past that one. In your opinion which would be the most competitive without the 4 expensive staples I listed above, and don't say Yisan, my meta is heavy creature hate, so that would not would not work at all.

trancer99: Thank you :-) Yeah in the end food chain sidisi is just a bad food chain Tazri. Now that does not make it a bad deck by any means as FC Tazri is amazing, there is just no reason to play Sidisi over Tazri besides novelty and suprise factor. My Paradox storm decks are almost a full turn faster on average. Yawgmoth's Engine is a legit turn 2-3 deck whereas food chain sidisi is a turn 3-4 deck. It is better in almost every possible way.

Losing the 4 cards you mentioned does not hurt the deck much at all as none of them are essential and all of them have budget replacements.

Timetwister is my least favorite wheel by a wide margin. It is easily replaced with Whispering Madness which goes better with Waste Not.

Imperial Seal can be replaced with Lim-Dul's Vault.

Candelabra of Tawnos Isn't even worth a spot in this list imo so replace it with literally anything.

Grim Tutor can be replaced by Dark Petition or Praetor's Grasp, which goes in and out of my list.

These changes simply make the deck a bit slower and less consistent at times, but you will still have the ability to pull off turn 2-4 wins with great consistency as well as grind out slower wins. It is so much better than any other deck I have made. It also makes for a very competitive budget brew

Lilbrudder, can you go over the rationale behind the changes from Yagmoth's Engine to this decklist? For example, I assume Copy Artifact was omitted because it can be situational.

It would be of great benefit to me to learn which of the interactive cards was your last to include. So, if I wanted to add Lim-Dul's Vault, the weakest removal card could be taken out of the list.

How much of BarbeChenue's experiences in the tournament shaped the transition from the Yagmoth's Engine list to this more interactive list?

Your percentage of counterspell backup in your combo turns was around 15-20% with Yagmoth's Engine. Did you find that was to inconsistent outside of gold fishing?

Yeah the color requirement for copy artifact makes it uncastable at times. The reason why I updated this list had less to do with being unhappy with Yawgmoth's Engine and more with giving people a playstyle option. Not everyone likes to play so aggressively and yes the tourney has heavily influenced this list. The biggest factor though is if you look at the top combo decks in the format, they have plenty of interaction, so I wanted to make the deck on par with the best on that dimension. If you want to cut a card for lim dul's vault I would suggest into the roil or natural state.

Heya. Why drop Sylvan Library? Surely that's a useful card.

Glad to see JVP in both lists. One of the best cards in the format.

... Also, if you like "interaction" in "top combo decks," may I suggest...

Breya Ad naus?

mmcgeach: Sylvan Library is very good no doubt. I cut it for baby jace, but the argument could be made to include both. Breya Ad Naus is definitely one of the top combo decks too. It deserves far more recognition than it is currently getting. Breya has more risky combos and is a little slower than Thrasios, but the tutor density and interaction suite is top notch. I will take a look at your list again later today.

I try very hard to ensure I never put a land into play with Thrasios' ability. This deck hates lands. Lotus cobra is a very good card. It just doesn't fit well here.

I have decided to build a similar deck (never ran storm before, but your list was very inspiring). Out of curiosity, do you think it would be worth including a backup win condition in case Aetherflux Reservoir somehow gets exiled? And if so, what would you cut for it? I play against Eldrazi quite a bit and I would be very sad to see an Oblivion Sower take my only win condition. I saw in your other list a discussion for Codex Shredder which seemed compelling enough to warrant my attention. And I guess Laboratory Maniac is also a possibility but he doesn't really synergize with anything in the deck other than if you have already made infinite mana and drawn your entire library. Either way +1 for the excellent primer.

Decrepit_Angel: Thank you! I personally always like a plan B. If you play against eldrazi Codex Shredder probably won't work due to the original legends shuffle effects. Fortunately you have plenty of options in that department. I really like Walking Ballista because its a 0 cost spell for ad naus and engine untap but can also serve as overcosted creature removal. It only wins once we go infinite but that pretty easily achieved.

Labman isn't great but he does 2 card combo with a staple in this list Tainted Pact so hes not useless outside his backup win condition.

If you know your meta well and your opponents have cards you can use to win the game (i.e reservoir, ballista, labman, tendrils, grapeshot,comet storm; exsanguate, stroke of genius etc) then praetor's grasp is the best possible card for a backup win condition as it replaces it self and serves as a grim tutor with upside. You can steal opponents mana crypt, felwar stone, wheel of fortune effects, ad nauseam, or even interaction spells depending on your needs. It is by far the most useful card on its own.

Lastly one other option that produces no "dead cards" is a timetwister loop scenario. You can keep looping Reality Shift to exile all opponents libraries. Reality Shift can do this on its own if imprinted on scepter with engine in play as long as your opponents play alot of creatures. If you truly have no budget, Candelabra of Tawnos can be used instead of Beast Within as an enabler it can untap Forbidden Orchard on the combo turn to "gift" an opponent a creature.

If you play in a creature heavy meta then I would suggest reality shift. If you play in a UBx style spellslinger meta use grasp.

Lilbrudder, can you explain how this works?

"Lastly one other option that produces no "dead cards" is a timetwister loop scenario. You can keep looping Reality Shift to exile all opponents libraries."

1) Ok so go infinite and draw your deck with Thrasios, which will put forbidden orchard into play tapped.

2) untap it with candlesticks a couple times if necessary to give every opponents a creature.

3) Now cast reality shift to exile a creature from opponent A they manifest the top card of thier library.

4) Cast timetwister draw your deck again until you get reality shift and timetwister to hand

5) Repeat step 3 and 4 until opponent A has no library and a 2/2 creature in play

6) Repeat steps 3-5 until opponents B and C are in a similar predicament.

7) Pass turn

8) gg

Honestly that is the hard way. The easy way is imprint reality shift on scepter once engine is in play and just exile everything all at once. The fact that I can replace a card I hate (codex shredder) and my worst removal spell (natural state) with another ok removal spell a color fixer and still have a solid backup win condition in case reservoir goes bye bye makes me think this is what I will do.

Does it involve Thrasios + infinite mana = draw your entire deck? Then you can cast Reality Shift and Timetwister and repeat using Thrasios to again draw your entire deck.