This is the first time I try to build a deck from the ground up like this. I decided to take a look at the decklist conglomerate by the LabManiacs, look at all the mono-U decklists there, and try to build my deck according to the cards played in those decks. Basically, if a card is in every blue deck ober there, it pretty much is an auto-include in a blue deck no? For sure a lot of cards will also differ, since I will be playing a specific deck, but I want to start by creating kind of a strong mono-U shell that will put me on the good way. Then I will fill the rest of the deck with cards specific to my build. After that process (I also decided I would play at least 30 lands, since this is the minimum lands in those mono-U decks in
Arcum Dagsson
), I ended up with a shell of 55 cards (commander included), which means I still have 45 slots to play with. Here will be the list of those cards in raw, fore backup purposes:
1x Brainstorm1x Chain of Vapor1x Chrome Mox1x Cyclonic Rift1x Dig Through Time1x Fellwar Stone1x Flooded Strand1x Force of Will1x Impulse26x Island1x Lotus Petal1x Mana Crypt1x Mana Drain1x Mana Vault1x Mental Misstep1x Misty Rainforest1x Mox Diamond1x Mox Opal1x Mystic Remora1x Mystical Tutor1x Pact of Negation1x Polluted Delta1x Ponder1x Preordain1x Scalding Tarn1x Snapcaster Mage1x Sol Ring1x Swan Song1x Timetwister1x Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign CMDR
After building the mono-U shell, I needed to take a look at the actual win condition of my deck. The main combo with Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereignis to play it with Paradox Engine on the battlefield, which will allow you to untap all the mana rocks you have and let you play the sphinxes you have in hands to rinse and repeat, possibly allowing you to draw your entire deck this way. What you want then is to cast Laboratory Maniac with protection (with your entire deck in hands it should not be that difficult to protect), then cast any card draw spell left in your hand to win the game. So this means I neede to include (over the previous built shell) Paradox Engineand Laboratory Maniac, the actual win conditions for this deck.
The next step was to take a look at the cards played in other Paradox Engine decks that could empower mine. What would help improving the combo? I need to be able to reliably tutor and have enough mana rocks to be able to actually cast the sphinxes. I kept Azami and Arcum as reference decks from the mono-U decks. Even if they are quite different in their playstyle (one being more control and the other being fast combo), they both have winning lines involving Paradox Engine. I decided to go for another shell right there. All the cards that were common to both decks had to be inclusions. This is what I came up with:
1x Hurkyl's Recall1x Back to Basics
Also, I needed to include the most efficient sphinxes. By most efficient I mean either the sphinx can help advance the gameplan by itself (like for example Consecrated Sphinx), either the sphinx is really cheap (like
Vexing Sphinx
). I found out that the cheapest cost available for a sphinx, with my commander's reduction, was 1 for one sphinx, but 2 for all the others. So, those cheap sphinxes are sure to be included, given the amount of slots I need to reserve to sphinxes to make the combo 'consistent'. Here are the cards included under those criterions:
1x Vexing Sphinx1x Argent Sphinx1x Conundrum Sphinx1x Curator of Mysteries1x Jwar Isle Avenger1x Consecrated Sphinx
Up to 65 cards, we are slowly getting there! After adding the cheapest sphinxes, I found another way to include real cheap sphinxes... Changelings! They are sphinxes even in our hands, letting us cast them with the discount of our commander. Even the fatest changeling comes in at 2 mana with our commander discount, making it as good as the cheapest sphinxes. Worth an inclusion anytime! Unfortunately there are only 5 blue changelings available, but here they are, all 5 included in the deck:
1x Mothdust Changeling1x Amoeboid Changeling1x Shapesharer1x Mistform Ultimus1x Turtleshell Changeling
Not enough cards yet... Including also all the sphinxes that will come in at 3 with the reduction of my commander:
1x Belltower Sphinx1x Glyph Keeper1x Guardian of Tazeem1x Master of Predicaments1x Ominous Sphinx1x Prognostic Sphinx1x Serra Sphinx1x Sphinx of Lost Truths
78 cards... Still not enough creatures. I decided to include the next cheapest CMC creatures that can be used to great effects... Clones! I know they are not reduced by our commander, but some can come in as cheap as if they were. Since they come into play as sphinxes, they will trigger our commander's ability. They can even be used to copy our commander on ETB, giving us two triggers at the cost of sending them to the graveyard. Also in a pinch, they can be used to copy the best creature on the battlefield, if that can help you win. Here are the clones used in this deck:
1x Phantasmal Image1x Phyrexian Metamorph
Being left with this shell, there are two things I know for sure: I will need some more mana rocks, because I have not enough right now to combo properly with Paradox Engineand ramp fast enough to combo, and I will need some more tutors. Arcum and Azami can both afford to play less tutors, because one is a tutor itself and the other is an amazing card draw engine with redundant combo pieces, so they need to devote less slots to tutoring. My commander is nothing of that, so I need to devote some more slots to card draw/tutoring. So for both sections (rocks and tutors), here is what I came up with:
Basalt Monolith1x Gilded Lotus1x Grim Monolith1x Inventors' Fair1x Muddle the Mixture1x Thran Dynamo1x Tolaria WestPrismatic Lens
Now, I am not yet finished, but every card I add brings me closer to completion... I will add two other creatures that are not sphinx, but they are better than sphinxes that will cost 4 after reduction, costing 4 themselves but enabling some pretty nice interactions:
1x Clever Impersonator1x Sakashima the Impostor1x Stunt Double1x Vizier of Many Faces1x Gigantoplasm1x Sakashima's Student1x Clone
Just found out that another combo might be interesting for this deck, and it also can combo with Paradox Engine that is already present in the deck... Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal. I will add tutors for the combo simply for that reason, but I think this as some potential. Generate infinite mana, cast your commander, then you simply have to chain sphinxes until you have your entire deck in your hand ->win. Also, Scepter + Paradox and any >2cmc instant is game over also, making some nice redundant win conditions here.
1x Isochron Scepter1x Dramatic Reversal1x Merchant Scroll1x Fabricate1x Transmute Artifact1x Whir of Invention
