Strip Nine

[wjcuttler]

I have been experimenting with ways to abuse Mindlock Orb. I think this card is really under rated, even with the  casting cost. This blue artifact shuts down a list of cards far longer and far more powerful then Null Rod. (True Null Rod's casting cost is half as much and is colorless. This I know.) After trying a few things and taking some suggestions I settled on Maralen and Ghost Quarter to back up the Orb. And this is what I came up with.

Artifacts
4 Mindlock Orb
4 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Trinisphere
4 Mox Diamond
1 Black Lotus
5 Moxen


Creatures
4 Juggernaut
2 Maralen of Mornsong

Instants
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
1 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
2 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Dark Ritual

Land
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
4 Underground Sea
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Mishra's Workshop


With Mindlock Orb on line: Maralen locks up the game and Ghost Quarter becomes Strip Mine 2-5.
I thought Juggernaut is always a great beater. The Diamonds are there for help with dropping a first turn Mindlock. The Dark Rituals are needed to even land a Maralen with her  casting cost. Despite my efforts, this list isn't testing as well as I anticipated. Maybe I'm not seeing something? Some cards I haven't thought of? Some cards I don't need? Something?
I expected (and I am meeting with) difficulty with this deck because of the odd casting costs. However, I believe there is a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow.

[TopSecret]

The numbers for your manabase seem a bit off.
I don't think you would be able to consistently cast Mana Drain or Maralen.
You only have 10 blue sources and 9 black sources of permanent mana, counting Mox Diamond.

You only have 18 lands and four mox Diamond. That seems like too few.

You only have 17 cards to pitch to Force of Will, which is very minimal.

Looking at your deck, I think it would have issues with consistently casting relevant cards,
so a lot of fine tuning needs to be done. I think that this deck should go in a different direction,
but that's up to you.

Your deck has a lot of costly fast mana, but it doesn't do much with it.
First turn Mindlock Orb doesn't lock anyone out of the game.
It would probably be better as additional disruption in a deck, and not the center piece, since it doesn't end the game when it hits.
Maralen doesn't seem that good either, since she's pretty bad until you have Mindlock Orb out.
If your deck doesn't do much until you get both Maralen and Mindlock Orb out, I think there's a problem.

I think you should drop Maralen from your deck entirely, since she's awful until you have Orb out.

If you're committed to playing a deck like this,
I'd make these tentative suggestions:

- Make room for more lands, specifically fetchlands and basics,
so that you can more consistently cast Mana Drain, Maralen, Mox Diamond, and not get destroyed by opposing Wastelands coupled with Nullrods.

- Add some Crucible of Worlds, so that you can replay your strips from the graveyard and help make Mox Diamond a little better

- Add Sol Ring and Mana Crypt, since they are better than Dark Rituals, which you are already playing

- Consider adding Demonic and possibly Vampiric Tutor even though they're bad once you get out Mindlock Orb

- Consider adding Nethervoid as another use of all your excelleration, and perhaps some Mishra's Factories

Good luck!

[SiegeX]

I think you should drop Maralen from your deck entirely, since she's awful until you have Orb out.

True that, without the orb she is a free Grim Tutor for your opponent each turn to find either 1) A win condition or 2) an answer to wreck your gameplan.

[nineisnoone]

To be honest, I would rather run Slyvan Scrying + Crucible than Mindlock Orb + Ghost Quarter.  Scrying can get Mishra's, Strip, Academy.  Crucible works with fetches, Strip, and Waste.  Mindlock and Ghost Quarter really only work well with each other.

Aven Mindcensor is a better option if you wanted to go the 9 Strip option.  It's cheaper and more importantly it has Flash.  You should also have some Anti-Mox cards to complete the mana denial or else they can get a Mox or two and play off that.

[timp]

i think a cool route to check out would be a 9 strip 9 Sphere deck
but as previously suggested run the Aven Mindcensor over mindlock
Aven Mindcensor only blocks off your opponents tutoring and maralen can just get you into a bunch o' trouble if unaided (but o man if she is left to do her business it spells trouble fast)
but if you really want to run maralen i would assist her with a duress/thoughtseize set to pin them down
the lack of maralen and inclusion of mindcensor allows you to run fetch lands no problem

so overall i would cut black and go WU
maybe look into meddling mage for even more stoppage
crucible is great in your style of play
perhaps tinker-colossus (or for even more mana denial tinker-titan)

p.s. if i were to name this deck using my new suggestions i would call it pocket nines
also thanks for the comment and i will let you know the revisions after next week in the thread

[SimonCopp]

I think you need to reduce the number of Ghost Quarters. Having four situational strips in additional to the five "hard" strips is too much. You should try and look into Trinket Mage plus some equipment to speed up your clock. Plus Trinket Mage can help you get Mindlock into play.

I would also get rid of Workshop and Juggernaut in favour of something like Ancient Tomb and Etherium Sculptor as part of your ramp. Master Of Etherium is also a good clock. Check this out http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=36684.0

[nineisnoone]

I think you need to reduce the number of Ghost Quarters. Having four situational strips in additional to the five "hard" strips is too much.

When you have Crucible, Ghost Quarter is actually very useful to search out your own basic lands. 4 is a bit much, but sometimes I've found that to be particularly useful.

[BruiZar]

You're running Mana Drain ( ) Workshop ( Artifact Only), and Maralen of Mornsong (  ). That's asking for a poor mana base. This is a combo deck yet you don't run any tutors. Why? If you don't hit a Mindlock Orb/Maralen, your deck does nothing.

I would either remove the Mana Drains or the workshops, they don't go well together. Do you really want to pay  (Trinisphere / Thorns) to counter a spell? Because alot of the times, that's going to be the board position with spheres. Juggernaut's are completely redundant. They do nothing for you. Maralen is your clock/win condition, not juggernaut.

In the end, you need to figure out what direction you want to take this deck. Choose ritual, drain or workshop but don't try to mesh them all in one deck, even though it looks like the deck can support it, it can't

[xycsoscyx]

I think you need to reduce the number of Ghost Quarters. Having four situational strips in additional to the five "hard" strips is too much.

Also keep in mind that Ghost Quarter keeps them off their extra colors (typically just getting and Island), plus most decks don't run more than a couple basics to begin with.  If they fetch a dual, they typically need that extra color, keeping them off it can also slow them down.

[wjcuttler]

I think you need to reduce the number of Ghost Quarters. Having four situational strips in additional to the five "hard" strips is too much.

Also keep in mind that Ghost Quarter keeps them off their extra colors (typically just getting and Island), plus most decks don't run more than a couple basics to begin with.  If they fetch a dual, they typically need that extra color, keeping them off it can also slow them down.

Precisely why I cut black altogether, cut the counters (Mana Drain), and added red (Gorilla Shaman and Goblin Welder). I found a new direction, I decided to focus on manalocking them out and beating with Juggernaut. Its much less a combo deck and much more a u/r workshop aggro deck. I feel it is better then most other aggro decks because the shamans and the 9 strip start denying mana sources right away and don't let up. Not sure if I have the optimal build just yet but here's what I have so far.


Creatures
4 Juggernauts
1 Triskelion
1 Karn
4 Goblin Welder
4 Gorilla Shaman

Artifacts
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Trinisphere
3 Mindlock Orb
3 Crucible of Worlds
4 Mox Diamond

Sorcery
1 Time Walk

Instants
1 Ancestral Recall
3 Thirst for Knowledge

Land
9 Strip
4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Volcanic Island
3 Mishra's Factory
3 Bloodstained Mire
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Barbarian Ring

This is testing much better, thanks to all for the great advice. 

With the welders able to weld the orb in and out, I was thinking maybe I could try adding tinker and titan/colossus or maybe even a crop rotation and bazaar?
How about artifact land? They meet criteria for welders, the academy and mox diamond (also tinker if added)?   

[BruiZar]

This list looks much more viable. I'll try it myself.

How are the mindlock orbs (when you're not hitting strips). Is the ability good by its self? In other words, do you think that no tutor for an answer wins you matches you would have otherwise not won?

[BruiZar]

ps: How does this list play against red shop aggro with blood moons and magus of the moon?

[wjcuttler]

As I already mentioned in the first post, Mindlock Orb is great by itself. It stops Fetchlands, Tinker, Tutors, and a lot of other stuff. I absolutely believe that I 've won matches because the opponent could not search for an answer. So yes.
As for red shop aggro. Its a race for control. I think I am in a better position to leverage the amount of control and otherwise answer his/her Magus and Nullrods while keeping the beaters coming. Crucible and Barbarian Ring (Even Mishra's Factories) really shine in this match up.

[nineisnoone]

I like this new list a lot more.  It looks like an UbaStax list -Uba, +Mindlock. 

Questions:
How necessary is Mox Diamond?  I would run Tombs before Diamonds.  I suppose it works with Crucible and discards excess Strips, but call me skeptical.

Why the Barbarian Ring?  Just seems kinda random and definitely not better than Tinker (Tinker out your own Mindlock, you have Welder anyways).  And you can't answer Magus with Barbarian Ring or race with Factories... they are mountains...

I don't think Artifact land is necessary.  I've been working on a lot of blue shop lists and a card that always comes up is Cursecather. 

How good is TFK?  It seems somewhat weak.  I would rather run 3 Negates or Uba Mask.

[Bill Copes]

I think running fetches and mindlocks in the same deck is counter-intuitive.  Perhaps this type of deck would be better suited with a 5-color manabase, as it would allow for more utility cards coming from the sideboard (Ancient Grudge, Swords to Plowshares, Balance, Pyroclasm, etc.).

Example:

Creatures
4 Ethersworn Canonist  (Best artifact creature you can run right now -- trumps sphere effects)
2 Triskelion
2 Karn
3 Goblin Welder
3 Gorilla Shaman
4 Juggernaut

Mana
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Diamond (Unnecessary to run 4 if you have access to 5-color lands)
7 Strip (9 seems like way too many, especially with an active crucible -- split: 1 Strip Mine / 3 Wasteland / 3 Ghost Quarter)
4 Mishra's Workshop
3 City of Brass
3 Gemstone Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Barbarian Ring

Locks
1 Trinisphere
3 Mindlock Orb
4 Thorn of Amethyst
3 Crucible of Worlds

Sorcery
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker

Instants
1 Ancestral Recall

[serracollector]

Why not just go with a mono-artifact version, like the old fashion stax decks?  Something along the lines of:

9 Strip
4 Workshop
Ancient Tomb/Mishra's Factory
5 mox
Crypt
Lotus
Sol
Vault
Grim
X Metal Worker??

4 Sphere
Trini
4 Thorn
3-4 Crucible
Tangle Wire/Smokestack??

Random Kill (karn, jug, suchi, w/e)

Grafted Skullcap/Mindstorm Crown

Couldn't this just as easily be made?  True it would fall to Null Rod/Katami/Energy Flux/Blood Moon,  but it wouldn't be facing much it hasn't before, and Stax seemed to do just fine before, and this time it has an extra 4 strips on top of recursion with crucible and Smokestack.  If you want to add a color add a few mountains and Welders, otherwise I don't really see a necessity of other colors.  Ghost quarter IS 4 more strips in t1, as 99% of the decks either have A.) 0 basic lands or B.) 1-3 basic lands, which with Crucible in play you can just strip again, and then they can't find jack.  Just my 2 cents.

[BruiZar]

AbdullahTheButc:

I'd run diamonds because you want to make sure you hit a mindlock asap. First turn mindlock can steal a game right there when someone's sitting on a sole strand or delta.

[wjcuttler]

And you can't answer Magus with Barbarian Ring or race with Factories... they are mountains...

Son of a- yeah I goofed there.

Which does bring up a point. I want a maindeck answer for Magus. I'm thinking fire/ice. That will also answer bobs, opposing welders, etc. I don't want to bank on my lone trike. I could try to find room for another one I guess. Although I would rather have a colored answer as well that I can cast if I don't draw into shops.
What to cut? One welder and the barbarian ring me thinks.

[wjcuttler]

How good is TFK?  It seems somewhat weak.  I would rather run 3 Negates or Uba Mask.

Very good actually. Especially with Welders. Plus TFK is essentially my only draw mechanic (other than A-Call) and it helps me toss away useless lands. I cut my counters. Screw it. If the opponent counters my juggernaut I'll weld him back in.

Why not just go with a mono-artifact version, like the old fashion stax decks?

I don't want to run stax. I am running this mana scarfing, head thumping, u/r workshop aggro monster. 

I think running fetches and mindlocks in the same deck is counter-intuitive.

Actually running the fetchlands helps a great deal. Retrieving colored mana on first turn is useful to not only drop a shaman or a-call but after adding the fire/ice, it's almost mandatory. Also if I can't use em I can always toss em' to the diamonds or the TFKs.

p.s. if i were to name this deck using my new suggestions i would call it pocket nines
also thanks for the comment and i will let you know the revisions after next week in the thread

Hmm...pocket nines? I may need more explanation but I like the sound of that.

[SiegeX]

Hmm...pocket nines? I may need more explanation but I like the sound of that.

Probably in reference to Hold'em Poker, that is having a pair of nines as your two hole cards.

Anyway, I have a much better name for this deck, been sitting on it for awhile but migh as well throw it out there...Tech Nine.  Its a play on words for the machine gun called the 'Tek Nine' and 'Tech' in this case is technology and nine is, well you know what that is.

[BruiZar]

You should add 4x extirpates, 4xduress, 1xchain of vapor, +2 karns, -4 juggs.

Juggernaut:
Your plan is mana denial. Juggernaut isn't going to give any mana denial. They do nothing but beat. -4

Karn:
Mox Monkey 5-7, plus turns mindlock orbs into 4/4 beat sticks and crucibles in 3/3's.

Duress: First turn mox diamond duress helps you circumvent counters or bombs, follow up by workshop crucible or trinisphere and you've got a nice position. Also duress helps you know what kind of lands your opponent plays.

Chain of Vapor:
Best bounce to remove nasty perms. They can copy it, and they will have to sacrifice a land. That should only help you thin their mana.

Extirpate:
Remove FoWs, Drains, and better yet, Mana. Thin their deck so they draw less mana. Duress and strips help feed the grave with targets.

[BruiZar]

Also add Fastbond, remove thirst for knowledge and welders. You don't have enough ways to put artifacts in the grave and to be honest, your artifacts aren't that expensive. If you would be running sundering titans and mindslavers it would be a different story but you don't have expensive permanents nor the tech to fool around with welders.

Remove fetch and volcs, replace for gemstones and cities.
-4 Welder
-3 TfK
+1 Fastbond
-4 Volcanic Island
-3 Bloodstained Mire
+3 Gemstone Mine
+3 City of Brass
(An argument could be made for Undiscovered Paradise if you want to play tech with mox diamond and crucible.)

[SiegeX]

I like the synergy of undiscoverd paradise and mox diamond, I think thats worth a shot.

Removing the TFK's makes me worried because then you just have Recall as your only draw spell.  I fear that this deck will hit hard but then run out of gas and go into top deck mode allowing the opp to found an out.  I think you need something in here to keep the pressure on.

[nineisnoone]

And you can't answer Magus with Barbarian Ring or race with Factories... they are mountains...

Son of a- yeah I goofed there.

Which does bring up a point. I want a maindeck answer for Magus. I'm thinking fire/ice. That will also answer bobs, opposing welders, etc. I don't want to bank on my lone trike. I could try to find room for another one I guess. Although I would rather have a colored answer as well that I can cast if I don't draw into shops.
What to cut? One welder and the barbarian ring me thinks.

If you're keeping Red, I think the best answer would be Grim Lavamancer.  It's red so you know that there will be no lack of Mountains in play to win with him.  He is also strong against the aggro match-ups which can win on superior beats and minimal land.  You don't need to bother with Trike when you have better color options.  Duplicant/Angel might be better options.

I think you want more Karn's as well.  At least 2, if not 3.  He works too well your denial strategy, plus animating your Cruicible/Orb is not bad beats.

I agree with BruiZar that TFK and Welder don't seem that great. You don't run that many great Welder targets really.  (Undiscovered Paradise seems HOT with Diamond/Crucible...) Negate was a bad idea.  Hurkly's/Rebuild doesn't really do that much against you.

For card draw, you are running 12-14 Creatures so the 2-4x Sword of Fire and Ice is definitely an option.  It's also turns Mox Monkey into a bad ass.

So yeah:
-4 Welder + 4 Lavamancer,
-3 TFK, +3 SoFI
-1 Trisk, +1 Karn

[wjcuttler]

Anyway, I have a much better name for this deck, been sitting on it for awhile but migh as well throw it out there...Tech Nine.  Its a play on words for the machine gun called the 'Tek Nine' and 'Tech' in this case is technology and nine is, well you know what that is.

It's also the name of a rap artist. Nonetheless, a good name. Thanks.

You should add 4x extirpates, 4xduress, 1xchain of vapor, +2 karns, -4 juggs.

Juggernaut:
Your plan is mana denial. Juggernaut isn't going to give any mana denial. They do nothing but beat. -4

Karn:
Mox Monkey 5-7, plus turns mindlock orbs into 4/4 beat sticks and crucibles in 3/3's.

Duress: First turn mox diamond duress helps you circumvent counters or bombs, follow up by workshop crucible or trinisphere and you've got a nice position. Also duress helps you know what kind of lands your opponent plays.

Chain of Vapor:
Best bounce to remove nasty perms. They can copy it, and they will have to sacrifice a land. That should only help you thin their mana.

Extirpate:
Remove FoWs, Drains, and better yet, Mana. Thin their deck so they draw less mana. Duress and strips help feed the grave with targets.

Duress attacks their hand. Which I am not. I am concentrating on not letting them cast their hand. Although worth concideration depending on how undiscovered paradise works out. Chain of vapor will probably make the cut. Extirpate prob won't because it only targets non-basic land and artifact mana (of what I'm concerned with 'mana'). The most played 4 of non-basic land is wasteland which only produces colorless mana. On second thought it could be used to target duals. Duress/extirpate would work only if duress could target lands. I'm definitely gonna up the Karn count.

Also add Fastbond, remove thirst for knowledge and welders. You don't have enough ways to put artifacts in the grave and to be honest, your artifacts aren't that expensive. If you would be running sundering titans and mindslavers it would be a different story but you don't have expensive permanents nor the tech to fool around with welders.

Remove fetch and volcs, replace for gemstones and cities.
-4 Welder
-3 TfK
+1 Fastbond
-4 Volcanic Island
-3 Bloodstained Mire
+3 Gemstone Mine
+3 City of Brass
(An argument could be made for Undiscovered Paradise if you want to play tech with mox diamond and crucible.)

Fastbond may find it's way in here I see a lot of abuse there. I really like the undiscovered paradise suggestion. I hope that works out.
As SiegeX already pointed out, I don't want to run out of gas and topdeck. So cutting TFK prob isn't gonna happen.

And you can't answer Magus with Barbarian Ring or race with Factories... they are mountains...

Son of a- yeah I goofed there.

Which does bring up a point. I want a maindeck answer for Magus. I'm thinking fire/ice. That will also answer bobs, opposing welders, etc. I don't want to bank on my lone trike. I could try to find room for another one I guess. Although I would rather have a colored answer as well that I can cast if I don't draw into shops.
What to cut? One welder and the barbarian ring me thinks.

If you're keeping Red, I think the best answer would be Grim Lavamancer.  It's red so you know that there will be no lack of Mountains in play to win with him.  He is also strong against the aggro match-ups which can win on superior beats and minimal land.  You don't need to bother with Trike when you have better color options.  Duplicant/Angel might be better options.

I think you want more Karn's as well.  At least 2, if not 3.  He works too well your denial strategy, plus animating your Cruicible/Orb is not bad beats.

I agree with BruiZar that TFK and Welder don't seem that great. You don't run that many great Welder targets really.  (Undiscovered Paradise seems HOT with Diamond/Crucible...) Negate was a bad idea.  Hurkly's/Rebuild doesn't really do that much against you.

For card draw, you are running 12-14 Creatures so the 2-4x Sword of Fire and Ice is definitely an option.  It's also turns Mox Monkey into a bad ass.

So yeah:
-4 Welder + 4 Lavamancer,
-3 TFK, +3 SoFI
-1 Trisk, +1 Karn

Yes. Grim Lavamancer. He is boss! Although the drawback of graveyard munching might step on the Crucible's toes. Still, he might be the answer. Thanks.
The sword could be cool if I can find room, bad ass monkeys rule.

[SiegeX]

I took the ideas and suggestions from the thread so far and put this list together and gave it a go on MWS last night.

// Creatures
4 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Triskelion
2 Karn
3 Gorilla Shaman
4 Juggernaut

// Mana
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Strip Mine
3 Wasteland
3 Ghost Quarter
4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Mox Diamond
4 Undiscovered Paradise
3 Gemstone Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Barbarian Ring

// Draw
2 Sword of Fire and Ice

// Locks
1 Trinisphere
3 Mindlock Orb
4 Thorn of Amethyst
3 Crucible of Worlds

// Sorcery
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker

// Instants
1 Ancestral Recall

All I can say is that Mindlock Orb is the shiznitto bang snip snap sack!  This card is very underrated, I had a player concede when I pulled it out first turn.  I also had some guy ragequit when I tinkered it out saying "lol noob, tinker is for artifacts not blue cards."  That was pretty funny.   Anyway, my thoughts on some of the cards

Ethersworn Canonist: I didn't really feel that she added much to my game.  Yes she stops storm but so does my mana denial.  Where she really shines is making it so your opp can't counter a bomb after you bait them.  Problem is I often didn't have the bait, or if they saw the Mindlock game1, they wouldn't take the bait game 2.  Duress might make her shine but I don't know if we want to go that direction.

Undiscovered Paradise & Mox Diamond:  The synergy of these two is great, I never had a dead Mox Diamond in my hand, even without crucible.  I would keep these in for sure.  This deck only needs one colored mana most times anyway, so the paradise does its duty on its own.

Tinker This needs to be in here.  A combo player is likely to let it come down because they think you'll just get DSC and they'll have 2 turns to combo you out so its a non-issue.   Throwing a mindlock on the table is a total kick in the balls.

Sword of Fire and Ice:  I put these in here because I took out the TFK + Welders.  They really didn't do much for me, I think I would rather have the TFK's but I'm not sure if I would bring the welders back.  This deck isn't trying to be CS with swapping robots/slaver in.  It might be a good SB option for stax though.

Juggernaut: I agree, I think this guy needs to be something else.  I would maybe up the Karn count to 3 and throw in some TFK's.  If you remove the Sword's you can throw some Duress in here too.

Ghost Quarter:  This card can cut off a needed color on its own and its just crazy stupid with Mindlock.  You'll notice that I took the advice and did a 1/3/3 split for a total of 7 strips.  I feel this is the right number, I was never wanting of more strips, especially with the crucibles.  I'm still calling it Tech Nine though =p

All in all, I think this deck has potential for Tier-1 status with some more fine tuning.

[nineisnoone]

Undiscovered Paradise & Mox Diamond:  The synergy of these two is great, I never had a dead Mox Diamond in my hand, even without crucible.  I would keep these in for sure.  This deck only needs one colored mana most times anyway, so the paradise does its duty on its own.

This is seriously a great find for Stacks.  Crazy good, I would almost say it should be a staple in all of them as even MUD builds would like the additional Moxen for fast mana, if not colors.

[swawagon]

I don't see any evidence in current oracle or anywhere else a synergy with Mox Diamond and Undiscovered Paradise. One: the Paradise has to be tapped for mana for the 'drawback' to trigger'. Second: the Paradise must be in play for it to return to it's owners hand, in the grave it's 'drawback'  has no affect. Please show me if I'm wrong but I don't believe it works like you think it does.

However I like how this deck is moving and I do think Crucible, Mox Diamond, Mindlock, Karn, Ghost Quarters, Mishra's Workshops, and Mishra's Factories together are very strong. There must be a deck in there somewhere! I definitely think Karn belongs here.

Welders, Null Rod, Duplicant, Bazaar, Uba Mask; just some more top-of-the-head stax pieces that could potentially round this deck out.

[nineisnoone]

I don't see any evidence in current oracle or anywhere else a synergy with Mox Diamond and Undiscovered Paradise. One: the Paradise has to be tapped for mana for the 'drawback' to trigger'. Second: the Paradise must be in play for it to return to it's owners hand, in the grave it's 'drawback'  has no affect. Please show me if I'm wrong but I don't believe it works like you think it does.

Maybe I overstated it, but it does work well together.  Typically you don't need a constant color mana source, so the drawback isn't that big.  It should read more, Mox Diamond + Cruicible, and Paradise + Mox Diamond.  Then cycling back to Crucible.  Crucible lets you discard discard lands early for Mox.  And a Paradise in play gives you another land in hand to discard for Mox Diamond.  Which lets it be replayed via Crucible.  You could do it without Paradise, but Paradise just gives you another land "in hand" if you need to discard for Mox rather than relying on one actually in hand.

[SiegeX]

ya, that's exactly right. On turn one having mox diamond come down along side a workshop means we could get that 1st turn orb.  Later in the game when I draw a diamond I will attempt to use a paradise on the board so I can trade it with a diamond next turn; I'll even take a point of burn on my opp EOT to make sure I can do this. Having crucible out too is just icing on the cake.

On a seperate note, thanks for reminding me about Duplicant. I forgot to mention in my post above that I think he should be swapped in for Trisk. My list had no bounce and on two occasions my opp was able to get a DSC out off a tinker and I had no answer for that. A Chain of vapor would probably be a good include too.