I love a good deck that requires a chart to keep track of things. I couldn't find a good one around the internet so I made this one. The best way to handle it is to either keep a 20 sided die for tracking the number of spells on your turn and then just look for the number and go down based on how many Reservoirs are on the field. You could also just use a pebble or a marker and shift it over on the correct row (if you printed this) and whatever it lands on when you are done is the right total. Of course it gets complicated if you start casting spells and then drop another Reservoir in the middle. Then you'd have to keep track of how many spells you'd already played and then add an amount of life to the total gained equal to spell number you are on. For example, if you play two spells and then another Reservoir (being the third spell) and then play a fourth spell you would have gained 10 life from the first Reservoir and 4 from the second one since it is only triggered once but it is still your fourth spell for a total of 14. If you played a fifth spell you would have gained 15 from the first one and then 9 from the second for a total of 24. It's not impossible to figure out, but the chart helps visualize everything.
I color coded the chart to show two things. The first showing the magic number required to fire the Flux Canon (at least 50 life) and the second to show the difference between having multiples versus just one Reservoir. It really isn't all that necessary to have more than one on the table, but being able to use it with three less cast triggers could be useful. Having a third or even a fourth on the table is not only a lot less likely, but also even less necessary. Each additional Reservoir only reduces the required number of spells by one which as I hope to demonstrate is entirely insignificant. It's also the reason that I ultimately decided to drop the number of Reservoirs from 4 to 3. This particular build doesn't have any issues drawing through itself and getting to at least one or two copies so I really don't need to use up a fourth card slot. In fact, I've gone over the top of this chart several times with more than 16 cast triggers in one turn. The only reason to ever do that is if you are in a multiplayer setting and want to eliminate everyone at the table. That's super fun.
So there seems to be a few variations on how to build around Aetherflux Reservoir. The first method is "Cheerios" or "Eggs". This involves many copies of 0 cost artifacts that can be dropped out of your hand all at once. In Modern there are a TON of possible cards to do this and the deck is very similar to Storm. In Standard there are only a few including
Cathar's Shield
, Bone Saw, and
Endless One
. You can then supplement these with more low cost artifacts by using Foundry Inspector to also include one or two cost artifacts for free from the "discount". So far you aren't locked into any colors at all so these cards work as a great base to start any Reservoir deck. There are some popular decks that take it a step further with Herald of Kozilek for further discounts and take a Red and Blue approach. Being in these colors allows you to play with some draw, counter, and burn which helps control your opponent while you get set up. Another option is to go Black and Blue for Contraband Kingpin so that you get to Scry your way through your deck to make sure you get to the cards you need. It works, and a 1/4 with Lifelink is a great 2 drop to slow down your opponents aggro to again buy you some time. I started down this path but ultimately found it to not quite be as fast as I think this needs to be. The deck screams for card draw. After all, you need to have a hand full of cards in order to stack up cast triggers for the Reservoir. I didn't like the idea of trying to hold onto 6-7 "Eggs" to try and make it happen, especially since I couldn't get there reliably until 12 or more turns had passed. No bueno.
MTG Goldfish revealed that using artifacts with Cantrips like Prophetic Prism and Metalspinner's Puzzleknot for card draw was a fantastic way to get two for one value from your cards. You could also use Blue and possibly Red cards to draw like Anticipate, Glimmer of Genius, Tormenting Voice, Cathartic Reunion, Torrential Gearhulk, and Combustible Gearhulk. I decided to go all-in with artifacts and go with a full set of Prisms and Puzzleknots along with Terrarion and
Filigree Familiar
. The Familiar is nice because it helps both causes coming and going with life gain and card draw. Anyway, look up the videos by MTG Goldfish on YouTube from their "Against the Odds" series that showcases their Izzet Reservoir deck. It ends up with about a 40% win rate, and when it takes off it is quite exciting.
Since I decided that I was not going to muddle the cards by splashing Red I went almost 100% all-in with Blue. Almost everything in the deck is actually completely colorless, but the main card that completely sets things in motion is Paradoxical Outcome. Holy crap. The idea is to play several Prisms, Terrarions, and Puzzleknots over your first 4-5 turns and then you can cast Paradox to return say 4-7 artifacts to your hand which also draws that many cards. If you had 6-7 out then you just refilled your hand by adding 12-14 cards that should be able to all be replayed for 0-1 mana each as long as you have 1-2 Foundry Inspectors on the field. Since almost all of them get you a card back when they ETB, then you should be cycling through nearly a third of your deck all at once (all the while gaining life from the Reservoir(s)). The Terrarions do not gain a card on ETB, but do on "death" so as long as you have two mana to activate and sacrifice you can cycle through all copies that you have. All you need to do is put the two mana gained into the next one to activate it and then keep going until you run out of Terrarion. I've finished several games with less than 15 cards left in my Library.
The black mana from Choked Estuary is a bit of a mind game, but it also supports cards from the Sideboard. You can use it to pay for the Puzzleknot's activated ability to draw a card though you typically won't need to. You're opponent doesn't need to know that. You could always just use the Prism to mana fix or even the Terrarion so the Estuary is completely optional. I like it though in case you want to play the Kingpin on your second turn, but even then that's IF you pulled it in from the Sideboard. Lost Legacy is a sweet Sideboard option to take out an opponent's win condition if they happen to be playing a combo deck like Aetherworks Marvel or something like the Red/Blue Control deck that won the finals that can only win by shutting you down and then eventually killing you with Torrential Gearhulk. You can also use Legacy to target yourself (target player) and remove four copies of something you can't use and then draw 4 cards. Outside the box right there.
Underhanded Designs
seemed like a fun card to use as an alternate win condition if your Reservoirs get shut down. Even without the Reservoirs you can play a lot of artifacts per turn on the cheap and can sink the mana into Underhanded Designs to drain life from your opponent. I like it.
Inventors' Fair is a nice addition that should gain you small bits of life and help negate the minimal loss from Metalspinner's Puzzleknot, but can also be used to tutor for a Reservoir if you need one. Solid land that would be a 4 of or even a 3 of but because of the Legend Rule sits comfortably at 2.
Cards like Negate, Ceremonious Rejection, and
Void Shatter
are the most popular right now for counter spells. I personally like
Disappearing Act
better for this deck since the additional cost fits like a glove. Counter any spell and return a Prism or a Puzzleknot so I can replay it and draw a card? Yes, please.
Since I did go all in artifact draw I have found that Mainboarding a pair of Padeem, Consul of Innovation was the way to go. Hexproof for all makes it a lot harder for your opponent to throw a wrench in your plans. The 1/4 body isn't bad either, but most of the time you'll be drawing an extra card every upkeep which really tilts him over the edge. Great card.
So the final piece that is popular for this kind of deck is Metalwork Colossus. I didn't see why at first, but holy crap. Hedron Archive alone pays for more than half but typically you won't be paying any mana at all. Sanctum of Ugin guarantees you another Colossus from your Library. I wouldn't do it until you are ready for your final shot, but don't be afraid to go ahead and play one Colossus before you are ready. The 10/10 body gets in the way of most attackers, and even if it gets killed you can just buy him back from the graveyard. The best targets to sacrifice to the Colossus for this are the Terrarion and Filigree Familiar since both of them draw you a card when they die. When playing Paradox it's a great idea to drop any and all Colossus first, using Sanctums to play up to 4. Then if you return the four of them along with as many other Prisms or Puzzleknots that you can afford to replay and still get the Colossi for free means that 8+ spells in one turn is absolutely no problem. I've never pulled that off in less than 8 turns, but I have actually gotten all 4 Colossus on the table by turn 6. That's certainly a viable plan B, overrun your opponent with four 10/10's.
The Colossus doesn't work if you go with "Eggs" or "Cheerios", but a great alternative is Gearseeker Serpent since it's cost is reduced by the number of artifacts you have and not their CMC. I don't like it as much, nor do I like all the zeroes since aside from contributing to "Storm" they are completely useless sitting on the field with almost nothing to equip onto (aside from the Serpent if you went that way I guess). I wish the activation cost to make it unblockable was cheaper, but at least it's an option.
That pretty much explains everything, the only other cards are in the sideboard. Crush of Tentacles is sort of like Paradox and Colossus all at once. Sweeping the board and leaving an 8/8 behind lets you reset and rebuild and I've found most of the time it works out in your favor. It certainly can backfire, though. Since it isn't an Instant you probably won't be left with enough mana afterwards to replay what is in your hand now so you'll likely be discarding. This is the main reason that it's in the Sideboard. I like it, but it's difficult to time correctly. Glint-Nest Crane was another that I found harder to time. You never know what you are going to get when you cast him, and most of the time I found myself hitting a very playable artifact, but I almost always found myself having to bury a few things I'd rather not. I will probably come across something else I'd rather have in the sideboard like
Void Shatter
. That's pretty high up on the list.
I'm actually liking Turn Aside since most of the artifact hate is trying to directly target either my artifacts or take out Padeem, which Turn Aside deals with on the cheap. It works better as a one cost than Ceremonious Rejection and Dispel because both of those miss one of the biggest disruptions:
Declaration in Stone
. It's very often that I'll be playing all 4 Colossi on the same turn, especially if I have to try and aggro out the win instead of going for the combo. Declaration completely trashes this strategy for two mana that isn't an Instant and isn't colorless. I don't have much of an answer to straight up counterspells like if my opponent is using
Void Shatter
or Ceremonious Rejection to stop my artifacts from even resolving, but I still like Negate and
Disappearing Act
to take care of those. Lost Legacy if I can hit it on turn 3 is also a great way to just straight up remove Void Shatter from my worry list. I'm currently enjoying the way this is playing out. I took out the Crane to add in Turn Aside since it's the least desirable card in the Sideboard. I'm pretty sure that I'll need to remove the Kingpins as well since I don't find myself using them either and will probably up the quantities of the other cards with those slots, but I've also considered Essence Extraction for the added life gain and control. Not sure yet, that's a lot of double black mana for a predominantly blue mana base.
I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial on some of the ways to play with Aetherflux Reservoir. I found it a very fun card to build around and an interesting win condition to achieve. I love how it brings Metalwork Colossus to life and all the Synergy between cards. This will have struggles against fast and furious decks like Red/White Vehicles, but Mid-Range shouldn't stand a chance. Heavy control and removal will be tough to content with, but that's where siding in extra counter spells will help. Padeem also helps, but straight up counters are always tricky to deal with. Let me know what you think in the comments below and what you might do differently. Thanks for reading :)
