I'm looking for ways to fix this deck to make it more consistent. There are a lot of cards in the deck that could be doing more relevant things, but this is a start. One of my main problems with other Tezzeret decks is that they do nothing without him; this deck still can do some amount of damage without the planeswalker, even if it is minimal right now. My goal is to find ways to make the normal damage more consistent, while still making Tezzeret a great way to overwhelm the opponent in consistent beaters.
Grand Architect is here as a back up plan to Tezzeret, since it can tap to play creatures and provide a pump to my artifact creatures. I'll agree that it isn't very strong, but it is a plan. Grand Architect also works extremely well with Molten-tail Masticore. Some options that aren't here that I am considering are:
1) Swords. Any of the swords, though War and Peace or Body and Mind seem like they would be best in this list. Body and Mind provides protection from Vapor Snag, illusions, and most WRR creatures, while War and Peace deals more consistent damage. Feast and Famine doesn't seem like it would provide that great of a benefit for me.
2) Etched Champion. The main reason that I haven't included him in the 60 is that, once he achieves metalcraft, you can't turn him into a 5/5 or turn him blue. This makes him extremely awkward with Tezzeret and Grand Architect being my main pump spells. He does work with a sword strategy, so if I switch to that type of game plan, he could be very good. And he survives slagstorm, so I can have a strong beater even if I lose most of my other creatures.
4) Removal. This is a problem that I want to fix. I feel that this deck could do better as a type of fast tempo deck, but I am having trouble figuring out how to put it all together. In the process of getting Mox Opal active quickly, I removed my removal with the plan of putting it back in the future. I would prefer the more consistent gameplan that will need removal, but first I want to figure out how to get some sort of deck to work.
I really like Tezzeret and I think that he could be great in an aggressive deck. His -1 provides a steady stream of beaters and his +1 provides a steady stream of gas. If you get the opponent to a relatively low life (let's say 10), his ultimate just ends the game. One of the difficulties that I am having with him, though, is that his +1 doesn't really get me that great of an effect since so many of my creatures are wimpy 1/1's. It may not be possible to remedy this problem, but I just wanted to make note of it.
I appreciate any help that I can get. Thank you in advance for your advice and ideas. Please don't post saying that you don't think the deck will work unless the comment is followed by well thought out critics of the idea and explanation of what you think the problem is.
Based on how you replied, I don't think you understood the goal of the deck that I was trying to put together. I'm not trying to build another Tezzeret control deck. Tezzeret can be aggressive enough to be supported in an aggro deck, imo. I was a little confused on how I wanted to do it, I will admit that, but the goal of the deck was to play a lot of cheap creatures and deal damage, with Tezzeret there to pump them and to search up more attackers. I do agree that I need to have more utility artifacts in the deck, but I want to make sure that my artifacts do something even if I don't draw a Tezzeret.
After doing some more research, I was reminded of Brian Kibler's U/B aggro Tezzeret list from last standard season. The list had a lot of faults, but it was aggressive and it made good use of Tezzeret. Here's the list he ran at GP Singapore last year:
Some of the main problems of this list was the lack of removal and the fact that it wasn't as quick as Caw-blade. With standard moving a little slower now, with less of a turn 2 blowout, this type of Tezzeret Aggro may be able to work. This isn't exactly where I want it to be, but a similar standard-legal version of this list might be this:
I like this list a lot more than I liked my original list. I hope that this helps to make it more clear what I'm trying to do with this deck. I don't know if it will be competitive, but I think that it could be powerful and fun to play.
etched cahmpion is just crazy good in my opinion to be left out. I personally am running a BUG tezzeret pod deck and he is insane. Granted, he can´t become a 5/5 if you -1 tezz and have metalcraft, but still. He becomes and unblockable untargetable almost indestructible beatstick that can still carry swords.
The one of contagion clasp looks wierd though, and i don´t think there is a reason NOT to run trinket mage here. Seaches up your memnites, parasites, chimeric mass AND mox opal. I´d also play 4 myrs, that way, the chances of having a turn 1 myr and turn 2 tezz increase (supposing you have a memnite in hand). That way, if you´re on the play... it would be looking pretty nice for you. But that´s just my 2 cents.
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etched cahmpion is just crazy good in my opinion to be left out. I personally am running a BUG tezzeret pod deck and he is insane. Granted, he can´t become a 5/5 if you -1 tezz and have metalcraft, but still. He becomes and unblockable untargetable almost indestructible beatstick that can still carry swords.
The one of contagion clasp looks wierd though, and i don´t think there is a reason NOT to run trinket mage here. Seaches up your memnites, parasites, chimeric mass AND mox opal. I´d also play 4 myrs, that way, the chances of having a turn 1 myr and turn 2 tezz increase (supposing you have a memnite in hand). That way, if you´re on the play... it would be looking pretty nice for you. But that´s just my 2 cents.
Yeah, my problem with Etched Champion is his lack of synergy with Tezzeret or Grand Architect. However, I could easily be wrong, so I'll do some testing with him. It just felt like a 2/2 beat stick for 3 isn't very relevant, but it does make for a good sword carrier. I don't usually like putting cards into decks that require specific synergies, but it could easily be good enough here to make it work.
I agree on the contagion clasp, it's there more of as a conditional removal spell that can also pump Tezzeret and count towards Metalcraft. My problem with Trinket Mage is that none of my 1 mana or less artifacts, outside of Mox Opal and possibly Hex Parasite, do anything that really affects the game. If I had better answer cards or cards that had an actual impact for that slot, I would run the mage. I may consider running a pair of Nihl Spellbombs, since they can hurt control decks, cantrip, plus be cheap enough to help achieve early metalcraft. If I decide to go that route, then Trinket Mage would be a good option to run.
Originally my plan was to focus on trying to get out a turn 2-3 Tezzeret, using the mana myr as the ramp of choice, since they could at least attack if not doing anything else. After a couple of test matches, I realised that turn 2 Tezzeret was so unrealistic that I decided to take a lot of focus off that plan. The mana myr are one of the big things that I will slowly move back up, since getting a turn 2-3 Tezzeret can be back breaking against a lot of the other aggro decks. But I want to be able to keep the deck resilient and consistent, so I'm trying to use some strategies that don't require as many do little artifacts.
The main problem that I'm finding with Tezzeret (and metalcraft for that matter) is that a lot of the cheap artifacts have very restricted effects. I know that it was partially due to the negativity of Affinity in the original Mirrodin set, but it really hurt the playability of this mechanic in SoM.
The Kibler list used Veldalken Certarch, but I'm having mixed results with it. Some games, its the best thing ever, since I can practically time walk the opponent by tapping their land turn 2 or 3, thus keeping them from doing anything. Other games it just sits there as a 1/1 do nothing that doesn't even help my metalcraft. I'll probably drop the count to 2.
So, I've been testing this deck quite a bit. The majority of the people that I've been playing have been playing Illusions, but the games have given me pretty good insight on how the deck functions.
This the deck that I was using during the testing:
This isn't a finished deck, but it did give me a lot of valuable information. From my testing, I can tell that the deck has a ton of power and potential; it just needs to be heavily tuned. I won all my games against Illusions, except for one which was completely a play errror on my part. I also lent the deck to another player to play, and he also had similar success with the deck.
The people who suggested Etched Champion were correct. He is just a huge beating in this deck. Between him and Molten-tail Masticore, there is a lot of inevitability in this deck. Grand Architect was also able to show its promise by allowing me to pump my creatures to survive combat, help them kill larger creatures, and make MTM a huge beating on my opponent.
I decided to go with Sphere of the Suns over Silver Myr, because I hardly ever attacked with the myr and SotS doesn't have the risk of being hit with a gutshot.
However, the deck feels awkward. Mox Opal hasn't been consistently active in the first few turns, and therefore winds up either slowing me down or just acting as a legendary land. Since the deck will perform better if it moves faster, I will probably work on finding some strong ways of getting it active in the first 2-3 turns.
Edit: I may make Chimeric Mass a four-of in the deck. It works well as an early 0 drop or late game when I can use Grand Architect and others to pump it to have 6+ counters. I am planning on cutting Spined Thopter as soon as possible. Some of the suggested replacements are Glint Hawk Idol and more 0-drops.
I myself have been trying to make a BUG Tezzeret deck but I like your list. I usually spend my resources bettering my BV deck, but want to have fun with Tezz before he is cycled out and before he becomes a BA Legacy type guy. Have you thought of adding Tezzeret's Gambit? The proliferate effect seems great for this. Pump your Spheres, Tezzerets, and Chimaric Mass.
Also, since you only run 2 colors, Mox Opal isn't the best option. I know it is another card for Tezzeret's Ultimate, but it seems you got plenty of fuel for that if that is something that you get to use a lot in games.
I can't see why you wouldn't run Wurmcoil Engine. Also you were saying you were worried about Tez's +1 only grabbing small creatures to which I say card advantage is card advantage.
As someone who has pulled off a T2 tez with relative consistancy I'd recommend the myr, but I think that because your manabase can support it, run inkmoth nexus as a 2 or 3 of. This way you can give someone a 2 turn clock, a small mana sink and tough decisions. If thats the case run Plague Myr as well. Your opponant will have to make some tough decisions as not every deck runs an army of chump blockers and you could be swinging for 10 poison by T3.
T1 land mox memnite mass plague myr
T2 nexus Tez Tez-1 on myr
T3 activate nexus -1 nexus, Vapor Snag a blocker, and bring the pain.
This is no great loss to the deck as you said you rarely swing with the myrs anyway.
Don't get me wrong, infect can be the secondary wincon, but its a very aggressive one.
Also ditch spined thoptor, just too easily killed in this meta.
Contagion clasp could find a slot in this deck with an extra proliferatable counter.
Just my 2c worth.
Also if you disagree with everything I've said, you could always splash red instead. Whipflare, up the mox to 4 and run 4 Kuldotha Rebirth for chump blockers saccing mox to it when you draw too many.
As someone who has pulled off a T2 tez with relative consistancy I'd recommend the myr, but I think that because your manabase can support it, run inkmoth nexus as a 2 or 3 of. This way you can give someone a 2 turn clock, a small mana sink and tough decisions. If thats the case run Plague Myr as well. Your opponant will have to make some tough decisions as not every deck runs an army of chump blockers and you could be swinging for 10 poison by T3.
I like your other ideas (minus Wurmcoil Engine) but I wanted to focus on a couple of your points here. I am planning on adding infect as a secondary wincon in the deck. The only reason its not there now is budgetary issues. I like the idea of using Plague Myr to fulfill this role. The only problem I have with Plague myr is the fact that it is mana ramp that dies to gut shot, but it is essentially a 2/2 for 2 that taps for mana, so that's really good.
You also mentioned being able to consistently play Tezzeret turn 2. I want to be able to do that, but I can't do it with any type of consistency. Could you provide some pointers or allow us to see your mana base/deck list, so we can gather ideas off of it. Turn 2 Tezzeret seems to me to be one of the best plays in standard, and I would love to do that.
Overall thanks for the ideas.
@ DconNexus: the point of Mox opal is to be a free mana ramp spell. Right now it isn't working as well as I would like it to as ramp, but I know that's what it is capable of doing and should be doing. The problem is with how I built the deck, not with the card itself. However, if I start to slow the deck down, Mox Opal will become less reliable as mana ramp, and then I will agree with taking it out.
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4x Memnite
4x Signal Pest
4x Vault Skirge
4x Silver Myr
3x Leaden Myr
3x Spined Thopter
3x Molten-tail Masticore
3x Grand Architect
Artifact (6)
3x Mox Opal
3x Chimeric Mass
Planeswalker (4)
4x Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
Other (3)
3x Gitaxian Probe
3x Inkmoth Nexus
4x Darkslick Shores
3x Drowned Catacombs
7x Island
2x Swamp
I'm looking for ways to fix this deck to make it more consistent. There are a lot of cards in the deck that could be doing more relevant things, but this is a start. One of my main problems with other Tezzeret decks is that they do nothing without him; this deck still can do some amount of damage without the planeswalker, even if it is minimal right now. My goal is to find ways to make the normal damage more consistent, while still making Tezzeret a great way to overwhelm the opponent in consistent beaters.
Grand Architect is here as a back up plan to Tezzeret, since it can tap to play creatures and provide a pump to my artifact creatures. I'll agree that it isn't very strong, but it is a plan. Grand Architect also works extremely well with Molten-tail Masticore. Some options that aren't here that I am considering are:
1) Swords. Any of the swords, though War and Peace or Body and Mind seem like they would be best in this list. Body and Mind provides protection from Vapor Snag, illusions, and most WRR creatures, while War and Peace deals more consistent damage. Feast and Famine doesn't seem like it would provide that great of a benefit for me.
2) Etched Champion. The main reason that I haven't included him in the 60 is that, once he achieves metalcraft, you can't turn him into a 5/5 or turn him blue. This makes him extremely awkward with Tezzeret and Grand Architect being my main pump spells. He does work with a sword strategy, so if I switch to that type of game plan, he could be very good. And he survives slagstorm, so I can have a strong beater even if I lose most of my other creatures.
3) Wellsprings/Relic. Ichor Wellspring, Mycosynth Wellspring, and Darksteel Relic are the type of cards that I was talking about, in that they do little without Tezzeret. I could be wrong, but I am currently not impressed by them.
4) Removal. This is a problem that I want to fix. I feel that this deck could do better as a type of fast tempo deck, but I am having trouble figuring out how to put it all together. In the process of getting Mox Opal active quickly, I removed my removal with the plan of putting it back in the future. I would prefer the more consistent gameplan that will need removal, but first I want to figure out how to get some sort of deck to work.
I really like Tezzeret and I think that he could be great in an aggressive deck. His -1 provides a steady stream of beaters and his +1 provides a steady stream of gas. If you get the opponent to a relatively low life (let's say 10), his ultimate just ends the game. One of the difficulties that I am having with him, though, is that his +1 doesn't really get me that great of an effect since so many of my creatures are wimpy 1/1's. It may not be possible to remedy this problem, but I just wanted to make note of it.
I appreciate any help that I can get. Thank you in advance for your advice and ideas. Please don't post saying that you don't think the deck will work unless the comment is followed by well thought out critics of the idea and explanation of what you think the problem is.
After doing some more research, I was reminded of Brian Kibler's U/B aggro Tezzeret list from last standard season. The list had a lot of faults, but it was aggressive and it made good use of Tezzeret. Here's the list he ran at GP Singapore last year:
2 Argent Sphinx
4 Etched Champion
2 Hex Parasite
1 Leaden Myr
3 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Phyrexian Revoker
3 Spellskite
4 Steel Overseer
4 Vedalken Certarch
4 Ichor Wellspring
3 Mox Opal
Planeswalkers - 4
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
Lands - 22
1 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Darkslick Shores
2 Drowned Catacomb
4 Inkmoth Nexus
9 Island
2 Swamp
2 Batterskull
1 Bonehoard
2 Dismember
4 Perilous Myr
1 Spellskite
3 Stoic Rebuttal
2 Torpor Orb
Some of the main problems of this list was the lack of removal and the fact that it wasn't as quick as Caw-blade. With standard moving a little slower now, with less of a turn 2 blowout, this type of Tezzeret Aggro may be able to work. This isn't exactly where I want it to be, but a similar standard-legal version of this list might be this:
3x Memnite
2x Hex Parasite
3x Veldalken Certarch
4x Vault Skirge
2x Spellskite
2x Silver Myr
3x Grand Architect
1x Molten-Tail Masticore
3x Mox Opal
1x Chimeric Mass
1x Contagion Clasp
2x Sword of Body and Mind
1x Sword of War and Peace
Planeswalker (4)
4x Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
Other (8)
3x Ponder
3x Mana Leak
1x Dismember
1x Doom Blade
4x Darkslick Shores
3x Drowned Catacombs
10x Island
3x Swamp
I haven't put together the side board yet, but I know that it will probably include some Phyrexian Revoker, Torpor Orb, Witchbane Orb, and an Argent Sphinx or two.
I like this list a lot more than I liked my original list. I hope that this helps to make it more clear what I'm trying to do with this deck. I don't know if it will be competitive, but I think that it could be powerful and fun to play.
The one of contagion clasp looks wierd though, and i don´t think there is a reason NOT to run trinket mage here. Seaches up your memnites, parasites, chimeric mass AND mox opal. I´d also play 4 myrs, that way, the chances of having a turn 1 myr and turn 2 tezz increase (supposing you have a memnite in hand). That way, if you´re on the play... it would be looking pretty nice for you. But that´s just my 2 cents.
A huge thanks to Argetlam and the guys at Hakai studios for this awesome banner
Yeah, my problem with Etched Champion is his lack of synergy with Tezzeret or Grand Architect. However, I could easily be wrong, so I'll do some testing with him. It just felt like a 2/2 beat stick for 3 isn't very relevant, but it does make for a good sword carrier. I don't usually like putting cards into decks that require specific synergies, but it could easily be good enough here to make it work.
I agree on the contagion clasp, it's there more of as a conditional removal spell that can also pump Tezzeret and count towards Metalcraft. My problem with Trinket Mage is that none of my 1 mana or less artifacts, outside of Mox Opal and possibly Hex Parasite, do anything that really affects the game. If I had better answer cards or cards that had an actual impact for that slot, I would run the mage. I may consider running a pair of Nihl Spellbombs, since they can hurt control decks, cantrip, plus be cheap enough to help achieve early metalcraft. If I decide to go that route, then Trinket Mage would be a good option to run.
Originally my plan was to focus on trying to get out a turn 2-3 Tezzeret, using the mana myr as the ramp of choice, since they could at least attack if not doing anything else. After a couple of test matches, I realised that turn 2 Tezzeret was so unrealistic that I decided to take a lot of focus off that plan. The mana myr are one of the big things that I will slowly move back up, since getting a turn 2-3 Tezzeret can be back breaking against a lot of the other aggro decks. But I want to be able to keep the deck resilient and consistent, so I'm trying to use some strategies that don't require as many do little artifacts.
The main problem that I'm finding with Tezzeret (and metalcraft for that matter) is that a lot of the cheap artifacts have very restricted effects. I know that it was partially due to the negativity of Affinity in the original Mirrodin set, but it really hurt the playability of this mechanic in SoM.
The Kibler list used Veldalken Certarch, but I'm having mixed results with it. Some games, its the best thing ever, since I can practically time walk the opponent by tapping their land turn 2 or 3, thus keeping them from doing anything. Other games it just sits there as a 1/1 do nothing that doesn't even help my metalcraft. I'll probably drop the count to 2.
This the deck that I was using during the testing:
4x Signal Pest
4x Vault Skirge
2x Spellskite
3x Grand Architect
4x Etched Champion
3x Spined Thopter
3x Phyrexian Metamorph
2x Molten-tail Masticore
3x Mox Opal
2x Chimeric Mass
1x Sword of War and Peace
Planeswalker (3)
3x Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
Other (6)
3x Ponder
3x Mana Leak
4x Darkslick Shores
3x Drowned Catacombs
11x Island
2x Swamp
This isn't a finished deck, but it did give me a lot of valuable information. From my testing, I can tell that the deck has a ton of power and potential; it just needs to be heavily tuned. I won all my games against Illusions, except for one which was completely a play errror on my part. I also lent the deck to another player to play, and he also had similar success with the deck.
The people who suggested Etched Champion were correct. He is just a huge beating in this deck. Between him and Molten-tail Masticore, there is a lot of inevitability in this deck. Grand Architect was also able to show its promise by allowing me to pump my creatures to survive combat, help them kill larger creatures, and make MTM a huge beating on my opponent.
I decided to go with Sphere of the Suns over Silver Myr, because I hardly ever attacked with the myr and SotS doesn't have the risk of being hit with a gutshot.
However, the deck feels awkward. Mox Opal hasn't been consistently active in the first few turns, and therefore winds up either slowing me down or just acting as a legendary land. Since the deck will perform better if it moves faster, I will probably work on finding some strong ways of getting it active in the first 2-3 turns.
Edit: I may make Chimeric Mass a four-of in the deck. It works well as an early 0 drop or late game when I can use Grand Architect and others to pump it to have 6+ counters. I am planning on cutting Spined Thopter as soon as possible. Some of the suggested replacements are Glint Hawk Idol and more 0-drops.
Also, since you only run 2 colors, Mox Opal isn't the best option. I know it is another card for Tezzeret's Ultimate, but it seems you got plenty of fuel for that if that is something that you get to use a lot in games.
As someone who has pulled off a T2 tez with relative consistancy I'd recommend the myr, but I think that because your manabase can support it, run inkmoth nexus as a 2 or 3 of. This way you can give someone a 2 turn clock, a small mana sink and tough decisions. If thats the case run Plague Myr as well. Your opponant will have to make some tough decisions as not every deck runs an army of chump blockers and you could be swinging for 10 poison by T3.
T1 land mox memnite mass plague myr
T2 nexus Tez Tez-1 on myr
T3 activate nexus -1 nexus, Vapor Snag a blocker, and bring the pain.
This is no great loss to the deck as you said you rarely swing with the myrs anyway.
Don't get me wrong, infect can be the secondary wincon, but its a very aggressive one.
Also ditch spined thoptor, just too easily killed in this meta.
Contagion clasp could find a slot in this deck with an extra proliferatable counter.
Just my 2c worth.
Also if you disagree with everything I've said, you could always splash red instead. Whipflare, up the mox to 4 and run 4 Kuldotha Rebirth for chump blockers saccing mox to it when you draw too many.
I like your other ideas (minus Wurmcoil Engine) but I wanted to focus on a couple of your points here. I am planning on adding infect as a secondary wincon in the deck. The only reason its not there now is budgetary issues. I like the idea of using Plague Myr to fulfill this role. The only problem I have with Plague myr is the fact that it is mana ramp that dies to gut shot, but it is essentially a 2/2 for 2 that taps for mana, so that's really good.
You also mentioned being able to consistently play Tezzeret turn 2. I want to be able to do that, but I can't do it with any type of consistency. Could you provide some pointers or allow us to see your mana base/deck list, so we can gather ideas off of it. Turn 2 Tezzeret seems to me to be one of the best plays in standard, and I would love to do that.
Overall thanks for the ideas.
@ DconNexus: the point of Mox opal is to be a free mana ramp spell. Right now it isn't working as well as I would like it to as ramp, but I know that's what it is capable of doing and should be doing. The problem is with how I built the deck, not with the card itself. However, if I start to slow the deck down, Mox Opal will become less reliable as mana ramp, and then I will agree with taking it out.