DRALNU PARADOX DOOMTIDE

A work in progress...

Dralnu, Lich Lord

  • -Trinket Mage

I felt he was underperforming in my meta. I drew into him three times with no real use other than to tutor up a rock. I had no access to High Tide or Bubbling Muck.

  • +Spell Pierce

The appearance of several Thrasios/X decks in my meta means I'm likely going to need to counter Flash and Reanimate more often.

  • +Island (x2)
  • -Swamp (x2)

Flash Hulk has not reared its ugly head in my meta yet. If it does:

  • +Torpor Orb
  • -Lightning Greaves
  • +Flusterstorm
  • +Island
  • -Spell Pierce
  • -Remand

Initial Decklist

With Paradox Engine, Dralnu, Lich Lord is given the gift of gas.

I opted to include a lot of artifacts. Instead of relying on hatebears like the Paradox Engine lists, we are able to run countermagic so we don't need many silver bullets. Paradox Engine itself is a parity breaker against Stax.

The average CMC can be dropped as low as 1.80 with some changes to the flex slots.

Play like any other control or combo deck, and remain defensive until ready to go off. Dralnu, Lich Lord is not a necessity to win, but he pushes the deck to an absurd limit.


Control

We run plenty of the best countermagic in the format. Dralnu lets us use all of our countermagic twice if he is active.

Counterbalance is a house in Legacy. Sensei's Divining Top, Scroll Rack, and the usual draw suite allow us to manipulate our topdeck. Counterbalance kills Krosan Grip and other split-second cards. It can also be used to lock one problem player out of the game, although we often want to be winning early as well.


Win conditions

1. Tap Top to draw
2. Cast a spell
3. Untap all permanents with Paradox Engine's trigger
4. Tap Top to draw (and tap other rocks)

Top draws itself and an extra card. This is essentially the old Future Sight combo. This works really well with Candelabra of Tawnos and High Tide / Bubbling Muck, or simply Aetherflux Reservoir. This can also work with Scroll Rack, with draw spells either in the 'yard or drawn through the Rack. Dralnu's presence comes in handy if utilizing Scroll Rack.

  • Plan D: Doomsday -> Labman piles. There's a million primers out there since this is the flavor of every UBx deck these days.

  • Alternates: Paradox Engine can also be used with a card like Remand imprinted on Isochron Scepter to draw the library.

Current Flex Slots


Currently Testing

  • Baral, Chief of Compliance - Turns our counterspells into fuel for Dralnu. Unfortunately most of our spells are color-costed.
  • Bubbling Muck - This is a mucktide-like deck, but we care more about blue
  • Counterbalance - Disgusting in the right meta and easy to lock out a problem player
  • Etherium Sculptor - In a build with Baral and Etherium Sculptor vs Snap, we can run Torpor Orb with ease
  • Gilded Lotus - Great off of Paradox Engine, bad hit off of Ad Nauseam and mana-negative
  • Lightning Greaves - Good when we need Dralnu's ability and for his drawback
  • Memory Jar - Great wheel effect, bad hit off of Ad Nauseam
  • Mind's Desire - Great storm spell, bad hit off of Ad Nauseam
  • Mishra's Workshop - Obviously a very powerful card with the amount of artifacts we run
  • Remand - Can give us infinite draw with Paradox Engine and Isochron Scepter, or be merely a tempo play. Works well when storming out.
  • Scroll Rack - Counterbalance fodder and added selection. Works with Paradox Engine too.
  • Snapcaster Mage - Good with the general strategy, not always necessary
  • Trinket Mage - Not good enough for Sharuum, but might be good enough here since we can abuse Candelabra

Meta Calls

  • Nihil Spellbomb - Draw, hate, and utility that is easily tutorable
  • Torpor Orb - This is a serious meta-killer for creature-heavy and ETB combo metas.

Exclusions and Reasoning

  • Bazaar of Baghdad - Draw and graveyard filler, but no mana generation hurts our estranged manabase.
  • Fabricate - A bit more narrow Grim Tutor. Not bad since it tutors most of our wincons, but not really great.
  • Grim Tutor - I do not like this card due to the two black requirement. Not a bad backup tutor, but I have been less than thrilled to draw it.
  • Jace, Vryn's Prodigy   - I do not like JVP in this list due to summoning sickness. I would usually rather just play Snapcaster or any other 2cmc spell, although if running Lightning Greaves there is a bit more to like. Also has the downside of being an ugly flip card.
  • Predict - There are better Doomsday piles to construct usually.
  • Power Artifact - We are not Zur. Cannot tutor this as easily.
  • Timetwister - Great card, out of my budget for now, and shuffling in the graveyard is sometimes counter-intuitive.
  • The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale - Not necessary outside of the most creature-dominant metas and out of budget.

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Date added 7 years
Last updated 6 years
Key combos
Legality

This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

13 - 0 Mythic Rares

41 - 0 Rares

16 - 0 Uncommons

16 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 1.82
Tokens Bird 2/2 U
Folders To Build, New edh, Inspiration, Commander, ETC
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