U/B Paradoxical Reservoir (Modern)

This is a variation on some of the Aetherflux Reservoir decks out there already, the base of which began like Zapirhys U/B Paradoxical Outcome deck https://deckstats.net/decks/34990/630377-paradoxical-outcome/en . The splash of Black in this primarily Blue deck helps cycle through your deck to get to those cards you really need.

The base of this deck involves three cards: Aetherflux Reservoir, Paradoxical Outcome, and any 0 cost spells. Having out a Reservoir is really important, with 4 being ideal, but 2-3 working really well. With the Reservoirs out, cast your free spells and start getting that exponential life gain. With enough mana, you could play your 0 cost artifacts, then tap and play a Paradoxical Outcome and get those free spells back and play them again. Getting to 50+ life might not always be a cakewalk, but I've had this deck play pretty resiliently.

The creatures that really help make this deck work are Glint-Nest Crane and Contraband Kingpin. Glint-Nest Crane helps by netting you an artifact and helping you cycle through your deck a bit more. And having a flying creature out is useful for blocking. Attach a Cathar's Shield to them, and you'll have a flying blocker who can survive most early creature attacks. Contraband Kingpin also helps cycle to get to the cards you need, with him netting you a free scry for each artifact hitting your field. With 2 or 3 of him out and you casting 0 cost artifacts, its a really nice way to send the less useful cards to the bottom of your deck and make your next draw more valuable. And his life link can be pretty helpful when you add a Bone Saw or 2 to him.

Playing a Crush of tentacles early is very helpful, bouncing up any free spells you've cast and clearing your opponents field.This can set you back as well, if you had a Reservoir out already, but it may be worth it if your opponent was really filling up their field. Plus, playing a spell before casting Crush of tentacles (say one of your 0 cost artifacts) will allow you to play it for the surge cost of 3 and two islands, and this will get you an additional 8/8 Octopus. Just imagine that, nothing out but an 8/8 on your side. Pretty sweet board clear.

The Prophetic Prisms are great for mana fixing (which you won't need too much) and the draw, but pair them with Contraband Kingpin, and suddenly that draw becomes so much more valuable, as you can trigger Contraband Kingpin first and scry for before the draw to make sure you get more bang for your buck. And having more Contraband Kingpins means more scrying before the draw if you need it.

I run 1-2 Inventor's Fair just because you play a lot of artifacts out and the extra lifegain can help. You'd rarely need to sack it for the artifact search, but it's nice to know it's available. And the 1-2 Geier Reach Sanitarium also helps with giving you an extra draw. The drawback of ditching a card and giving your opponent a draw and ditch will probably be balanced out with your draw if you play your scrys right.

Anticipates are really great early game plays to get the Reservoirs and artifacts you need. I will run more once I get some more copies. Adding in some counterspells is invaluable, as once your opponents see the worth of your Reservoirs, they will target them. Turn Aside is a cheap way to protect them, and Disappearing Act can help with bouncing a 0 cost artifact back to your hand.

With the release of the Aether Revolt block and the Tezzeret Planeswalker deck, I decided to buy the Tezz deck and see what it had that could help, given it is U/B and Tezz helps with artifacts. Tezzeret, Master of Metal himself is decent, with his +1 helping you search for your artifacts much like Kingpin and Glint-Nest Crane do. And his -3 could work very well after his -8, as his -8 nets you control of all the artifacts your opponent has, and his -3 has your opponent lose life equal to the number of artifacts you have under your control. Tezzeret's Betrayal can be pretty decent, giving you a way to not only destroy a creature your opponent has that might be giving you problems, but also helping you get Tezzeret out faster by adding him to your hand. The Ornithopter in this deck is also really great to add as now you have a free creature to play out.

I was lucky with the booster packs I got as I managed to get a second Ornithopter, and an Inspiring Statuary. The Statuary may very well make this deck that much faster, as it would allow you to tap the reservoirs and the statuary itself to play out Tezz, the betrayals, the crushes, Paradoxicals, or crane's for significantly less land mana.

Prior to Aether Revolt, the deck ran really well with just 8 zero cost artifacts and 4 Paradoxical's, playing well against a pretty good U/R Fevered Visions/Thermo-Alchemist/Stormchaser Mage deck. I'm hoping there might be more from Aether Revolt that will make this deck run better and more fun to play with.

Try this out, let me know what you think.

Update as of 1/23/17:
Managed to get another inspiring statuary, which should help with consistency, and I added a Gonti's Aether Heart. I mean, it's just so easy to play out 2 other artifacts after it, and then sac it for the extra turn. And with 1 or 2 paradoxical returns, the lifegain would be crazy.