100% Sans Red Paradox Scepter Storm

Commander / EDH Combo Competitive GWUB Multiplayer Storm

pawelkata

Instant (29)

• 1x Abrupt Decay
• 1x Ad Nauseam
• 1x Angel's Grace
• 1x Anticipate
• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Cabal Ritual
• 1x Chain of Vapor
• 1x Culling the Weak
• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Dramatic Reversal
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Flusterstorm
• 1x Impulse
• 1x Into the Roil
• 1x Intuition
• 1x Lim-Dul's Vault
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Mental Misstep
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Natural State
• 1x Nature's Claim
• 1x Noxious Revival
• 1x Pact of Negation
• 1x Pongify
• 1x Shred Memory
• 1x Silence
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

Creature (8)

• 1x Arbor Elf
• 1x Auriok Salvagers
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Deathrite Shaman
• 1x Elves of Deep Shadow
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Noble Hierarch
• 1x Walking Ballista

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Carpet of Flowers
• 1x Mystic Remora

Land (27)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Bayou
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Forbidden Orchard
• 1x Gemstone Caverns
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Savannah
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Scrubland
• 1x Tropical Island
• 1x Tundra
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Underground Sea
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Windswept Heath

Sorcery (12)

• 1x Dark Petition
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Gitaxian Probe
• 1x Imperial Seal
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Preordain
• 1x Regrowth
• 1x Timetwister
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Transmute Artifact
• 1x Windfall
• 1x Yawgmoth's Will

Commanders (2)

Artifact (20)

• 1x Astral Cornucopia
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Everflowing Chalice
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Grim Monolith
• 1x Isochron Scepter
• 1x Lion's Eye Diamond
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Mox Opal
• 1x Paradox Engine
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Simic Signet
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Talisman of Progress
• 1x Tormod's Crypt

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This is my take on Lilbrudder's TnT Sans Red Paradox Scepter Storm. The deck is capable of T2/T3 wins, wins off main phase Ad Nauseams and fighting through the different kinds of hate. It's been battle tested in a fairly competitive meta over the past 7 months or so and is most often referred to as "the salt mine". Use with caution ;-)

How to win the game?

The main plan is to generate infinite mana and storm with Dramatic Scepter or Bomberman combos, draw deck with Thrasios, play all the fast mana and shoot down your opponents with Walking Ballista. If you have an opening for a main phase Ad Nauseam, don't be shy to give it a shot -- the deck is designed to take maximum advantage of it.

If the Ballista gets exiled, no problem. You can still perform a Timetwister loop and exile all libraries with Tormod's Crypt.

If you lose both Twister and Reservoir, you can always Ad Nauseam + Angel's Grace into double Windfall.

Graveyard hate on the table (or possible Faerie Macabre)? Assemble Dramatic Scepter or Thrasios + Engine + fast mana. Always remember, that you can fight off one piece of grave hate while going for Bomberman if you manage to leave an extra W (2WW total) - just use Salvager's ability again in response.

Someone blew up your rocks? Play Yawgmoth's Will and get back on track. You can do some crazy mana generating shenanigans with Yawgwin and LED.

The deck also boasts a so-called Intuition package: get anything you want with any combination of the two: Regrowth, Noxious Revival, Yawgmoth's Will. Or just straight up go for 3 counterspells/combo pieces/removal pieces/counterspells if you absolutely positively have to. I even managed to cajole opponents to give me the answer from spell/land/land piles if that would stop someone else from winning.

What to keep?

This is a fast combo deck, therefore the best keepable hands give you a shot at a Turn 2-3 Ad Nauseam (possibly protected). The deck boasts roughly 80% chance of winning from a straight up main phase Ad Naus with zero mana left, though the percentage goes way up if you can spare 1-2 mana or pull it off at opponent's EOT. If you can pull an uncontested AN-AG it's a straight up win.

Remember: you only need 4 mana to use Dramatic Scepter or Bomberman, so hit hard straight out of the gates and switch gears only if opponents give you trouble.

SWOT analysis

SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

Strengths:

• this deck is fast and consistent,
• has cheap answers to almost anything one can throw at it,
• has lots of valid 2-card game plans,
• has very little useless cards,
• Tymna beats is a great source of card advantage.

Weaknesses:

• low land count and relying on artifact mana and creature acceleration can sometimes backfire in Vandalblast/wrath happy metas.

Opportunities

• the deck preys on slower decks,
• can adapt to current situation on the battlefield or answer it,
• you can win at any time of the game, even T1.

Threats

• rule of law effects - deck has lots of answers to these: bounce at EOT or destroy,
• thalia effects - same as above: kill, exile, bounce and - if all fails - deluge,
• heavy control (e.g. facing 3 blue decks) can occasionally give us trouble,
• win with Ad Naus a few times in a meta and people will be gunning at you from the start, despite other decks being on par. This sometimes makes things harder for us.

Changelog (v8-2017/09/04)

Iteration #8 - 2017/09/04:

Removed:

• Sylvan Library - losing life does not help Ad Nauseam plan, irrelevant and slow mid and late game,
• Hurkyll's Recall - it's often a dead card in a deck like this, better in Jeleva Storm,
• Fabricate - it's an expensive and narrow tutor which I haven't missed (yet),
• Tainted Pact - the effect of the card is pretty random, has better uses in other decks, e.g. FCT.
• Realith Shift - the deck boast an unconditional Timetwister loop using Tormod's Crypt already,
• Aetherflux Reservoir - this deck aims to generate infinite mana more than infinite storm, so I'm trying something else in the spot (this is a tech from Thrasios Discord),

Added:

• Astral Cornucopia - does not hurt off Ad Nauseam, free untap for Paradox Engine, mana rock,
• Dark Petition - I'm trying this out as per Lilbrudder's suggestion, should be OK at least,
• Into the Roil - a targetted bounce spell with an attached cantrip mode, seems legit,
• Anticipate - slightly worse, than Impulse, but still dig 3 for 1U at instant speed, which is OK,
• Pongify - a strict update over Reality Shift for taking care of storm hate hatebears,
• Walking Ballista - occasional removal and a win condition, that's free off Ad Nauseam (yay!).

Comments are very welcome!

(description in progress)

Date added	7 years
Last updated	7 years
Exclude colors	R
Splash colors	W
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	11 - 0 Mythic Rares 51 - 0 Rares 19 - 0 Uncommons 19 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	1.49
Tokens	Ape 3/3 G, Bird 2/2 U, Spirit 1/1 C