Just Another Boring Paradox Engine Deck
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on June 5, 2019, 7:13 p.m. by Free_Iona
Oh man. Here we go, this deck's got a fun name, a unique commander, it's got a primer! Awesome, I can see what really makes this commander tick, maybe I'll brew something too!! Lets read..
Ok it's XX colours I like that. How does this brew make the most of the commander's ability... oh. Paradox Engine . Isochron Scepter . Dramatic Reversal . Oh. Yawn. Oh well on to the next. How disappointing.
RANT*
I miss the days when people had to be creative with their deckbuilding!! Every deck I see these days, in blue, izzet or literally any other combo, is playing this combo. Its boring. Its unoriginal. I don't think Paradox Engine needs to be banned... but DAMN, just once right now, I want to look at a decklist without it. Show some creativity!
...Rant over
I have 11 edh decks. And only 1 has PEngine and/or Dramatic Scepter, and that's my cedh deck. The reason people run the cards is because they're powerful. Staples become staples because they're good.
June 5, 2019 9:50 p.m.
Its not a personal attack, I apologize if it felt that way.
Feel like I just see it everywhere. And decks are built around PE more than their commander. I dunno.
June 5, 2019 9:55 p.m.
I do understand what you mean when you say its a staple. I understand that. But if the whole strategy relies around that rather than your commander, I mean, why play that commander at all, then?
June 5, 2019 9:58 p.m.
To be fair, Paradox engine can't be your commander. For better or for worse.
June 5, 2019 10:08 p.m.
Gidgetimer says... #7
Because my commander is basically tap to Tinker ? For real though, out of 8 decks I have built exactly 1 uses Paradox Engine and it is Arcum Dagsson . It sounds like you may be looking at the archetypes that want to abuse Paradox Engine . I don't really like using EDHRec as a deck building tool, but I feel that this is the case when what is popular is what we actually want to know. Paradox Engine and Dramatic Reversal are each in 6% of decks. This means that even if they were always in different decks (spoilers, they're not) There would still be about 15 decks without either for each one with one of them. For reference the three color card Thopter Foundry is in 7% of decks.
If you are wanting to see decks without them, tell us what you like and people will be more than happy to share some of their favorite decks from around the site to cleanse your palate. Simply complaining about a card accomplishes nothing outside of baiting contrarians like myself into trying to anecdotally refute your point (as I did before deciding to drop some stats.)
June 5, 2019 10:24 p.m.
Well, I always keep my mind open, and I always appreciate a good statistic. Thank you, Gidgetimer for showing me the way as it were. Good to know, and I'll certainly keep that in mind going forward in the future.
June 5, 2019 10:36 p.m.
Gidgetimer says... #9
Slight correction to my earlier post, EDHrec apparently filters inclusion percentage to only be decks that the card could fit in. It makes my point still, but much less well than if a 3 color card had been strictly more popular.
June 5, 2019 10:39 p.m.
Chhris: They're a consistent combo package that work with a lot of decks and don't need many pieces to make work (since they leverage ramp pieces). It may be boring, but at the end of the day people also play commander for different reasons. Some people enjoy having a consistent deck and the variance coming down to the actual game interaction.
June 5, 2019 11:04 p.m.
Last_Laugh says... #11
Chhris - I'm with you on this one and hate the card. Fortunately I don't see too much of it and choose not to even run it myself in Sisay's Hombres - No Paradox Combos. To me it's sad I have to specify I'm not running the combo in the deck's title but I'm in the minority, especially with a commander that can tutor up PE lol.
June 6, 2019 6:08 a.m.
GhostChieftain says... #12
Don't like paradox engine and isochron sceptre? Well do I have a shameless plug for you! Bloodstone Circle is my karador hulkweaver stax deck. It actually does relatively nicely against the pst strategies, and will only get better with Collector Ouphe
June 6, 2019 11:15 a.m.
I don’t play paradox engine cause it’s too expensive and not satisfying to win with. Also literally any infinite combo.
Evry1sfavteddy says... #2
In my 3 edh decks only one runs Paradox Engine and it doesn't run Scepter or Reversal
June 5, 2019 9:43 p.m.