For the sake of discussion, I thought I'd post a Red Tezz list. It may be total codswallop, but maybe it isn't - who knows. No testing yet, just ideas.
Again, this is probably absolute dross, but why not throw it up there and see if there's any viable tech. No sideboard yet, as this deck is untested. Feel free to rip it to shreds, guys.
- Dimir Keyrune probably is the biggest head-scratcher, but I feel like having acceleration and a post-Wildfire threat in one card could be pretty good.
- We probably can't enable metalcraft till turn 3, so I'm not sure how effective Galvanic Blasts will be.
- I don't know how many Ensnaring Bridges are optimal. I'm gonna try 2 main 1 SB.
- Thopter Foundry allows us to sacrifice excess rocks to make flyers that slip under the Bridge and gain some life to stabilize. Plus, they can always become 5/5s.
Bow of Nylea – (...) And all our creatures also have deathtouch so we simply chumb block attackers to death. (...)
Just to specify, bow gives ATTACKING creatures deathtouch so it is useless for blocking. Still an interesting option but i think the double green in the cost makes it hard to cast
@the monster: i'd try to change your mana rocks choices, having 6 signet can lead to awkward situations were you don't have the mana to activate signet. I think 4 talisman of dominance instead of dimir signet and 2 izzet signet would be better.
On the red splash, i don't think we want blood moon, we have too many useful nonbasics. I think slaughter games is a better sideboard option. I've noticed that very often, when ensnaring bridge is bad, slaughter games is good. It can help us win against some difficult matchups such as scapeshift.
Blood moon is also good vs tron, but honestly i don't think we need it. Pithing needle is amazing, usually you need 2: one for o-stone and one for karn. Bridge locks eldrazis and wurmcoils. Ghost quarter can buy some time. Post board is more difficult because of artifact hate. I always bring in my 4th needle and my welding jar (you can namely regen a key artifact in response to an o-stone activation). You can side out explosives and capsule for them and some slaughter games. MD spellskites also help.
I think one ofs are fine because tezz digs for 5 each turn and also thirst for knowledge dig for 3. But i agree trinket mage would be very good in this list.
Hi guys! Just finished digging into the whole SCARS block, looking for some angles.
Questions that have come up to me:
Painless manabase: ACE, how big of a deal is it to have a painless manabase? Do we need that, meaning, the very peculiar landbase (River of tears & al.)? Most modern decks play fetches + shocks. Have you felt that big of a difference when you made the switch?
I have been considering sticking to fetches + shocks (which I have, as opposed to Glimmervoid and River of tears I don't) and maybe even throwing some Thoughtseize in the mix, which implies significant life-loosing. I thought maybe I could compensate with a couple of lifegain goodies, such as a singleton Batterskull or (getting very creative here) Vault skirge in a more creature-oriented shell.
Besides that, since we seem to agree on the effectiveness of Inkmoth nexus, has anyone considered going all-out toward Infect wins? That could include some Plague myr, Ichorclaw myr and potentially a green splash for pumspells and or more weenies, putting us in an aggro-control posture.
Painless manabase: ACE, how big of a deal is it to have a painless manabase? Do we need that, meaning, the very peculiar landbase (River of tears & al.)? Most modern decks play fetches + shocks. Have you felt that big of a difference when you made the switch?
I've been using my painless manabase ever since the early stage of the creation of my deck and i must say i practically never have color issues. The only times i was screwed were because of the colorless lands, not the other lands.
Keep in mind i use 4x terrarions, 2 talismans, 2 opals and 2 glimmervoids. Also, the deck is mostly colorless so you can always cast your colorless spells anyways. The question is not why i use a painless manabase but why wouldn't i, especially if there are no opportunity cost. Against burn decks not shocking yourself is virtual card advantage since all of their spells are damage spells. Against scapeshift you force them to scapeshift one turn later since they must deal more than 18 damage. And against all midrange decks i often stabilise with low life totals so the lifeloss from mana might actually be relevant sometimes.
I do use painless mana because i can, and if i played the more spell heavy version with a splash i would use fetches + shocks for sure.
Besides that, since we seem to agree on the effectiveness of Inkmoth nexus, has anyone considered going all-out toward Infect wins? That could include some Plague myr, Ichorclaw myr and potentially a green splash for pumspells and or more weenies, putting us in an aggro-control posture.
I wouldn't do that, one of the pros of the deck is to partly blank your opponent's removal spells and sweepers by playing few creatures. Infect is only good when it is focused, having the option of two-shoting your opponent with inkmoth and tezz -1 is good enough, but focusing too much on infect would make the deck a bad infect deck in my opinion.
Hey, y'all. I've been working on a base red Tezzeret deck that ramps into Wildfire, then uses Tezz to animate our mana rocks for the win. I have no idea if it's any good, but, on paper, it looks powerful. Here's a list just to get discussion started:
Again, SUPER rough sketch. No sideboard yet because of no testing, but it will most likely include more Pithing Needles, Torpor Orb, perhaps Chalice of the Void, permanent bounce like Repeal, maybe Damnation, etc. Feel free to poke holes in this pile!
- I eschewed countermagic because I feel that this deck wants to tap out to play rocks and sweepers. When I used to play MonoU Tron, I grew frustrated when I had to choose between leaving up Remand or playing a Talisman of Dominance. This list avoids that.
- Eight rocks seems like a lot, but I think that number is necessary if we expect to recover post-Wildfire. The choice of particular rocks requires testing, but I think a singleton Mind Stone can help us in a pinch. I may consider a 3-drop rock like Izzet Keyrune or Dimir Keyrune as another way to grind out a win.
- Boom // Bust + Darksteel Citadel or Scalding Tarn seems like a decent tempo play early if we don't have a rock. They lose a land, and we don't. (Citadel is indestructible, and we can crack the Tarn in response to Boom.)
- I may want to make room for more Inkmoth Nexus because of the two-shot kill with Tezzeret. I already have six colorless lands, though. Plus, they can attack under Ensnaring Bridge.
- How many Thirst for Knowledge should we play with Ensnaring Bridge in our deck? I'm trying three but may go down to two.
One thing I like about the list in the OP is that it's pretty resilient vs artifact hate. It only runs 6 mana rocks (including Darksteel Citadel), so Stony Silence doesn't do much against it, and maindeck Spellskite and Wurmcoil Engine both provide a lot of resilience vs destruction effects. It also has game vs noncreature permanents thanks to Maelstrom Pulse.
Crucible of Worlds seems like cool tech when combined with Ghost Quarter or fetches. The Thopter Foundry/Trading Post package is also a great idea, though it might be a bit slow.
I think Trinket Mage is alright, but it needs a better removal target for it to feel more useful. Maybe remove one Pyrite Spellbomb for an Executioner's Capsule. I think your list would also do well to have maindeck Spellskite.
Ah, Stony Silence - the bugaboo. Good point, pktt. After testing, I'll find the sweet spot for rocks so we can keep playing Magic after Wildfire. Since we're not seeing Stony Silence till game 2, I feel like we should devote our sideboard to dealing with artifact hate. Maybe we can go deep and play a Spine of Ish Sah and sac it to Trading Post for recurring permanent destruction. Additional targeted discard and/or Slaughter Games are possibilities, too. Perhaps we play Spell Pierces in the side as well. What would you suggest?
Crucible of Worlds not only "Wasteland" locks our opponent, but it also helps us play our lands destroyed by Wildfire. I'm excited to try it. Thopter Foundry/Trading Post turns our extra rocks into win conditions which can attack under Ensnaring Bridge if we don't have Tezzeret. It's grindy, but those are the types of games I expect.
I have been thinking a lot about Tezzeret in Modern, I am not sure where I want it to be though. There are so many paths that this deck can go down. I really like the idea of these three: Just straight UB Tezzeret, BUG Tezzerret, and a Gifts Tezzeret. I am thinking I like gifts a lot. It allows you to search out the hate cards you need, or a board wipe, removal spells, ect. It can also give you the most "free" wins with Gifts and Unburial Rights. There are also piles that you can get such as, crusible of worlds, ghost quarter, academy ruins, Xxx, for the control matchup or even against decks like Jund and Scapeshift. You just have to have just the right list of cards though for this kind of list to work. A good balance of artifacts to make your Tezzeret still a win con, and the right number of spells to disrupt your opponent.
Lately i've been pondering on radouf's suggestion of thoughtseize and i think they are needed. Yesterday i tested some gitaxian probe and seeing my opponent's hand for no mana really helps, but sometimes we just need to get rid of something in order so survive the first few turns until we can lock down the board.
Yesterday i went 1-1-1.
Round one I could have avoided the draw by not losing game two because of a misplay on my part. I lost round two to the new amulet of vigor deck, both losses were due to hive mind into pacts, there really isn't much this deck can do against that. This is an example of why i think thoughtseize is needed.
In my version the lifeloss is not very relevant because i lose no life from my lands and i have plenty of lifegain. I've modified my mana base to accommodate the loss of terrarions and to ensure turn one or two black mana for thoughseize. I cut two inkmoth nexus, two is enought and i can tutor for them if need be.
Regarding the Thoughtseize, this is me taking your usual mindset: «Yes, nice. But a couple of life points are sometimes really relevant!» And since you say our biggest challenge is to get to the point of stalling the board, wouldn't Inquisition of Kozilek be good, maybe as a split?
Having removed the Terrarions (#sadpanda): is the full playset of Slaughter games still fluidly cast? And having put the Thoughtseizes in, having some Lilis, wouldn't it be good to rely on and/or go for a split with Surgical extraction?
It's true that your no-pain manabase gives you a life advantage. Life being a ressource after all, it seems a good idea to have the possibility to exploit it, just like you said with cards such as Gitaxian probe that can be cast using phyrexian mana / life points. One more point in favor of maybe Surgical extraction.
Finally, how useful has Trading post been? Late game engine, isn't it? And how efficient has been the artificer's intuition you've been trying out?
Cheeeeerz.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MODERN Blue Lantern, UBx Tezzerator. OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
I play the Tezz Seeker list and would love to see Bolas do well too, but having 1 ofs above 1 CMC seems like it would be too inconsistent. The legacy Bolas list has Transmute Artifact and the Thopter combo to give it crazy amounts of power.
So I guess I'm more curious how Trading Post and Thopter Foundry are fairing? Can you effectively lock down opponents? I'd build this deck, however I lack of Lilianas on MTGO.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MTG Brewmaster - The fastest deck builder around (Please PM me with comments or problems!)
Modern: Tezzeret
???
Legacy:
Imperial Painter aka. Strawberry Shortcake
Tezzeret, aka. Dack in Black
The thing is we can easily deal with cards under 3cc, with engineered explosives, spellskite, pithing needle, etc. So sometimes inquisition won't do enough. Thoughtseize is more reliable for when it really matters.
Trading post is fine as a one of, all the abilities are useful. With the acceleration sometimes you can cast and activate it the same turn. We can also dig for win conditions by saccing less useful cards and under a bridge we can discard extra lands for life points. I've found the lifegain very good as a way to keep us safe from damage to the face. The recursion ability is also good to keep the board locked by getting back spellskites and welding jars to protect bridges against dedicated hate. I wouldn't play more than one though, and arguments can be made for a 4th tezzeret instead.
Artificer's intuition is amazing, it has largely exceeded my expectations. The interaction with elixir of immortality has saved me many times. This interaction also allows you to shuffle back your artifacts into your library so you can search for them again. Doing this won me a game where i needed to use executioner's capsule many times and needed to gain some life too. I just cycled useless artifacts for capsule, then elixir, then capsule, etc. Also, when you side chalices in and set it on one (the most common play with them) you can get rid of your one mana artifact for zero cc stuff like more chalices or explosives or darksteel citadels. It also allows us to search for specific hate from our sideboard. I'd play more than one if it was an artifact and i could pitch extra copies to the first (like fauna shaman), but sadly it isn't so only one does the job.
I play the Tezz Seeker list and would love to see Bolas do well too, but having 1 ofs above 1 CMC seems like it would be too inconsistent. The legacy Bolas list has Transmute Artifact and the Thopter combo to give it crazy amounts of power.
So I guess I'm more curious how Trading Post and Thopter Foundry are fairing? Can you effectively lock down opponents? I'd build this deck, however I lack of Lilianas on MTGO.
My reasonning for non tutorable singletons is the principle of diversity. Would i rather draw 3 thopter foundry or one foundry, one intuition and one post? The answer is easy. Sometimes you want a card only one time. This is why some jund decks play non tutorable singletons as well, such as one blightning, one olivia, one of a specific planeswalker, etc. Adding those cards to the deck gives you an extra edge that playing all 4x wouldn't give you. This becomes even more true if you have ways of drawing/digging as you will see more cards in a game.
Interesting deck, but seems more like a modified UW tron deck, not really the same as is being discussed in this thread.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MTG Brewmaster - The fastest deck builder around (Please PM me with comments or problems!)
Modern: Tezzeret
???
Legacy:
Imperial Painter aka. Strawberry Shortcake
Tezzeret, aka. Dack in Black
Yeah i read the article a while ago. I like the deck but i fail to see how ensnaring bridge is more situational than 6 wrath effects... I also don't see which matchups are improved in this version and how it solves «tezz being eaten by a karn». I like it tough and i think it could be included in the primer.
I kinda like it. It's closer to what I used to play when I first got into Tezz. It's still Tezz, just a little more gifts-y and wayyyy lighter on the black. But I guess it could deserve a spot in the primer. White can definitely fit the overall strategy.
I mean, it's at least worth analysing. Some new ideas might emerge. So, brains... Do we think this list is optimized? ::)
So I decided to make a Bolas deck out of mostly cards I had already (ie. not Liliana). I really wanted to get a Thopter combo in there, Salvaging Station is actually kind of silly in this deck if you can cast it, since it is so good I might try to squeeze in 4 signets.
Only played against a few janky brews on MTGO so far, but won 3 games. Beat an aggro goblin deck, budget Living End (chalice on 0 is pretty good), and a mono white tron. I might change around the sideboard to make it better and take it into 2 mans to see what happens.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MTG Brewmaster - The fastest deck builder around (Please PM me with comments or problems!)
Modern: Tezzeret
???
Legacy:
Imperial Painter aka. Strawberry Shortcake
Tezzeret, aka. Dack in Black
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
2 Darksteel Citadel
3 Inkmoth Nexus
2 Darkslick Shores
3 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Steam Vents
2 Blood Crypt
2 Scalding Tarn
1 Academy Ruins
3 Mountain
2 Island
1 Trinket Mage
2 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Steel Hellkite
Planeswalkers (4)
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
Artifacts (16)
1 Mox Opal
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Pyrite Spellbomb
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Pithing Needle
2 Dimir Signet
2 Talisman of Dominance
2 Izzet Signet
1 Thopter Foundry
1 Dimir Keyrune
2 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Galvanic Blast
2 Pyroclasm
3 Mana Leak
2 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Wildfire
Again, this is probably absolute dross, but why not throw it up there and see if there's any viable tech. No sideboard yet, as this deck is untested. Feel free to rip it to shreds, guys.
- Dimir Keyrune probably is the biggest head-scratcher, but I feel like having acceleration and a post-Wildfire threat in one card could be pretty good.
- We probably can't enable metalcraft till turn 3, so I'm not sure how effective Galvanic Blasts will be.
- I don't know how many Ensnaring Bridges are optimal. I'm gonna try 2 main 1 SB.
- Thopter Foundry allows us to sacrifice excess rocks to make flyers that slip under the Bridge and gain some life to stabilize. Plus, they can always become 5/5s.
Just to specify, bow gives ATTACKING creatures deathtouch so it is useless for blocking. Still an interesting option but i think the double green in the cost makes it hard to cast
@the monster: i'd try to change your mana rocks choices, having 6 signet can lead to awkward situations were you don't have the mana to activate signet. I think 4 talisman of dominance instead of dimir signet and 2 izzet signet would be better.
Blood moon is also good vs tron, but honestly i don't think we need it. Pithing needle is amazing, usually you need 2: one for o-stone and one for karn. Bridge locks eldrazis and wurmcoils. Ghost quarter can buy some time. Post board is more difficult because of artifact hate. I always bring in my 4th needle and my welding jar (you can namely regen a key artifact in response to an o-stone activation). You can side out explosives and capsule for them and some slaughter games. MD spellskites also help.
What is great about slaughter games is that i don't even need red lands/mana rocks. I have 2 glimmervoids, 2 mox opals and 4 terrarion, all of which i can fetch with either trinket mage, artificer's intuition, expedition map or tolaria west. With any mana rock i can cast it turn 3 naming scapeshift against valakut decks of naming cryptic command against UWR control.
EDIT: we can also use slaughter games as a counter-side vs pesky cards such as:
etc
Questions that have come up to me:
Painless manabase: ACE, how big of a deal is it to have a painless manabase? Do we need that, meaning, the very peculiar landbase (River of tears & al.)? Most modern decks play fetches + shocks. Have you felt that big of a difference when you made the switch?
I have been considering sticking to fetches + shocks (which I have, as opposed to Glimmervoid and River of tears I don't) and maybe even throwing some Thoughtseize in the mix, which implies significant life-loosing. I thought maybe I could compensate with a couple of lifegain goodies, such as a singleton Batterskull or (getting very creative here) Vault skirge in a more creature-oriented shell.
Besides that, since we seem to agree on the effectiveness of Inkmoth nexus, has anyone considered going all-out toward Infect wins? That could include some Plague myr, Ichorclaw myr and potentially a green splash for pumspells and or more weenies, putting us in an aggro-control posture.
/Brainstorming
OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
I've been using my painless manabase ever since the early stage of the creation of my deck and i must say i practically never have color issues. The only times i was screwed were because of the colorless lands, not the other lands.
Keep in mind i use 4x terrarions, 2 talismans, 2 opals and 2 glimmervoids. Also, the deck is mostly colorless so you can always cast your colorless spells anyways. The question is not why i use a painless manabase but why wouldn't i, especially if there are no opportunity cost. Against burn decks not shocking yourself is virtual card advantage since all of their spells are damage spells. Against scapeshift you force them to scapeshift one turn later since they must deal more than 18 damage. And against all midrange decks i often stabilise with low life totals so the lifeloss from mana might actually be relevant sometimes.
I do use painless mana because i can, and if i played the more spell heavy version with a splash i would use fetches + shocks for sure.
Thoughtseize is fine, seeing your opponent's hand can help make correct decisions on how to use pithing needle, explosives and so on.
I wouldn't do that, one of the pros of the deck is to partly blank your opponent's removal spells and sweepers by playing few creatures. Infect is only good when it is focused, having the option of two-shoting your opponent with inkmoth and tezz -1 is good enough, but focusing too much on infect would make the deck a bad infect deck in my opinion.
1 Academy Ruins
2 Darksteel Citadel
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Inkmoth Nexus
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Darkslick Shores
1 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Scalding Tarn
1 Blood Crypt
1 Steam Vents
1 Watery Grave
2 Mountain
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Trinket Mage
1 Wurmcoil Engine
Planeswalkers (4)
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
Artifacts (18)
1 Mox Opal
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Pithing Needle
2 Pyrite Spellbomb
1 Nihil Spellbomb
4 Talisman of Dominance
1 Rakdos Signet
1 Izzet Signet
1 Mind Stone
1 Thopter Foundry
2 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Trading Post
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
2 Boom // Bust
2 Pyroclasm
3 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Wildfire
Again, SUPER rough sketch. No sideboard yet because of no testing, but it will most likely include more Pithing Needles, Torpor Orb, perhaps Chalice of the Void, permanent bounce like Repeal, maybe Damnation, etc. Feel free to poke holes in this pile!
- I eschewed countermagic because I feel that this deck wants to tap out to play rocks and sweepers. When I used to play MonoU Tron, I grew frustrated when I had to choose between leaving up Remand or playing a Talisman of Dominance. This list avoids that.
- Eight rocks seems like a lot, but I think that number is necessary if we expect to recover post-Wildfire. The choice of particular rocks requires testing, but I think a singleton Mind Stone can help us in a pinch. I may consider a 3-drop rock like Izzet Keyrune or Dimir Keyrune as another way to grind out a win.
- Boom // Bust + Darksteel Citadel or Scalding Tarn seems like a decent tempo play early if we don't have a rock. They lose a land, and we don't. (Citadel is indestructible, and we can crack the Tarn in response to Boom.)
- I may want to make room for more Inkmoth Nexus because of the two-shot kill with Tezzeret. I already have six colorless lands, though. Plus, they can attack under Ensnaring Bridge.
- How many Thirst for Knowledge should we play with Ensnaring Bridge in our deck? I'm trying three but may go down to two.
Let me know what y'all think, and thanks!
Crucible of Worlds seems like cool tech when combined with Ghost Quarter or fetches. The Thopter Foundry/Trading Post package is also a great idea, though it might be a bit slow.
I think Trinket Mage is alright, but it needs a better removal target for it to feel more useful. Maybe remove one Pyrite Spellbomb for an Executioner's Capsule. I think your list would also do well to have maindeck Spellskite.
Crucible of Worlds not only "Wasteland" locks our opponent, but it also helps us play our lands destroyed by Wildfire. I'm excited to try it. Thopter Foundry/Trading Post turns our extra rocks into win conditions which can attack under Ensnaring Bridge if we don't have Tezzeret. It's grindy, but those are the types of games I expect.
The only reason I didn't play Spellskites was because they die to Wildfire. But you're probably right, they might be necessary, especially as a way to protect Tezzeret. I don't like Trinket Mage all that much, but getting an Engineered Explosives, Pyrite Spellbomb, or Executioner's Capsule seems good. It can probably be cut for Spellskite, though. I'm gonna try 2 main.
Thanks for the input!
What do you guys think?
Yesterday i went 1-1-1.
Round one I could have avoided the draw by not losing game two because of a misplay on my part. I lost round two to the new amulet of vigor deck, both losses were due to hive mind into pacts, there really isn't much this deck can do against that. This is an example of why i think thoughtseize is needed.
In my version the lifeloss is not very relevant because i lose no life from my lands and i have plenty of lifegain. I've modified my mana base to accommodate the loss of terrarions and to ensure turn one or two black mana for thoughseize. I cut two inkmoth nexus, two is enought and i can tutor for them if need be.
My new list:
1 expedition map
1 elixir of immortality
1 artificer's intuition
1 thopter foundry
1 trading post
3 tezzeret, agent of bolas
control: 19
1 executioner's capsule
3 engineered explosives
3 pithing needle
3 ensnaring bridge
3 liliana of the veil
1 nihil spellbomb
4 thoughtseize
1 duress
2 spellskite
4 trinket mage
accel: 4
2 mox opal
2 talisman of dominance
lands: 23
1 urborg, tomb of yawmoth
1 sunken ruins
4 darkslick shores
4 river of tears
2 glimmervoid
2 island
2 swamp
2 inkmoth nexus
2 darksteel citadel
2 ghost quarter
1 academy ruins
4 extirpate
4 defense grid
4 chalice of the void
1 pithing needle
1 grafdigger's cage
1 welding jar
EDIT: extirpate in the board added
Regarding the Thoughtseize, this is me taking your usual mindset: «Yes, nice. But a couple of life points are sometimes really relevant!» And since you say our biggest challenge is to get to the point of stalling the board, wouldn't Inquisition of Kozilek be good, maybe as a split?
Having removed the Terrarions (#sadpanda): is the full playset of Slaughter games still fluidly cast? And having put the Thoughtseizes in, having some Lilis, wouldn't it be good to rely on and/or go for a split with Surgical extraction?
It's true that your no-pain manabase gives you a life advantage. Life being a ressource after all, it seems a good idea to have the possibility to exploit it, just like you said with cards such as Gitaxian probe that can be cast using phyrexian mana / life points. One more point in favor of maybe Surgical extraction.
Finally, how useful has Trading post been? Late game engine, isn't it? And how efficient has been the artificer's intuition you've been trying out?
Cheeeeerz.
OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
So I guess I'm more curious how Trading Post and Thopter Foundry are fairing? Can you effectively lock down opponents? I'd build this deck, however I lack of Lilianas on MTGO.
Modern:
Tezzeret
???
Legacy:
Imperial Painter aka. Strawberry Shortcake
Tezzeret, aka. Dack in Black
Yes i will make the switch for surgical extraction as soon as i get some.
Trading post is fine as a one of, all the abilities are useful. With the acceleration sometimes you can cast and activate it the same turn. We can also dig for win conditions by saccing less useful cards and under a bridge we can discard extra lands for life points. I've found the lifegain very good as a way to keep us safe from damage to the face. The recursion ability is also good to keep the board locked by getting back spellskites and welding jars to protect bridges against dedicated hate. I wouldn't play more than one though, and arguments can be made for a 4th tezzeret instead.
Artificer's intuition is amazing, it has largely exceeded my expectations. The interaction with elixir of immortality has saved me many times. This interaction also allows you to shuffle back your artifacts into your library so you can search for them again. Doing this won me a game where i needed to use executioner's capsule many times and needed to gain some life too. I just cycled useless artifacts for capsule, then elixir, then capsule, etc. Also, when you side chalices in and set it on one (the most common play with them) you can get rid of your one mana artifact for zero cc stuff like more chalices or explosives or darksteel citadels. It also allows us to search for specific hate from our sideboard. I'd play more than one if it was an artifact and i could pitch extra copies to the first (like fauna shaman), but sadly it isn't so only one does the job.
EDIT:
My reasonning for non tutorable singletons is the principle of diversity. Would i rather draw 3 thopter foundry or one foundry, one intuition and one post? The answer is easy. Sometimes you want a card only one time. This is why some jund decks play non tutorable singletons as well, such as one blightning, one olivia, one of a specific planeswalker, etc. Adding those cards to the deck gives you an extra edge that playing all 4x wouldn't give you. This becomes even more true if you have ways of drawing/digging as you will see more cards in a game.
http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/legacy-weapon-modern-brew-contest/
Interesting deck, but seems more like a modified UW tron deck, not really the same as is being discussed in this thread.
Modern:
Tezzeret
???
Legacy:
Imperial Painter aka. Strawberry Shortcake
Tezzeret, aka. Dack in Black
I mean, it's at least worth analysing. Some new ideas might emerge. So, brains... Do we think this list is optimized? ::)
OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
4 Trinket Mage
2 Treasure Mage
1 Wurmcoil Engine
Artifacts
1 Executioner's Capsule
1 Chalice of the Void
3 Dimir Signet
2 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Pithing Needle
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Mox Opal
1 Engineered Explosives
Combo
1 Salvaging Station
2 Thopter Foundry
1 Flayer Husk
2 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
2 Tezzeret the Seeker
Spells
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
4 Thirst for Knowledge
Land
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Island
1 Academy Ruins
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Darkslick Shores
2 Darksteel Citadel
3 Watery Grave
2 Vedalken Shackles
2 Spellskite
1 Pithing Needle
1 Welding Jar
1 Elixir of Immortality
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Victim of Night
4 Extirpate
2 Infest
So I decided to make a Bolas deck out of mostly cards I had already (ie. not Liliana). I really wanted to get a Thopter combo in there, Salvaging Station is actually kind of silly in this deck if you can cast it, since it is so good I might try to squeeze in 4 signets.
If you haven't seen it, the combo is sac Flayer Husk with Thopter Foundry, which untaps Salvaging Station, bring back Flayer, repeat for all the mana you have.
Only played against a few janky brews on MTGO so far, but won 3 games. Beat an aggro goblin deck, budget Living End (chalice on 0 is pretty good), and a mono white tron. I might change around the sideboard to make it better and take it into 2 mans to see what happens.
Modern:
Tezzeret
???
Legacy:
Imperial Painter aka. Strawberry Shortcake
Tezzeret, aka. Dack in Black