Tezzeret's appearance on the MM2015 spoiler leads me to believe he'll be the central character of an upcoming block (possibly the one after BFZ).
The original Modern Masters included Elspeth, Knight Errant and Sarkhan Vol. Both were fairly off the radar at the time (much like Tezzeret is now) but then were the headliners of Theros and Khans of Tarkir.
In a lot of ways, Tezzeret has a similar trajectory to Sarkhan. Both first appeared in Shards of Alara. Both fell into the service of Nicol Bolas. Both made a second appearance in a later block as minions of Bolas, now with black mana as part of their color identities.
We last saw Tezzeret in New Phyrexia, but I'll defer to the flavor gurus on whether Test of Metal precedes or follows those events. We had last seen Sarkhan on Zendikar, but the block he headlined was elsewhere. A new Tezzeret-centered block could be set anywhere.
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On MTGO as Protoman.
On 7/14/10, broke 1900 mark! <3 ROE.
Test of Metal precedes new Phyrexia... if it exists at all. It involved a ridiculous amount of time travel and alternate timeline shenanigans, and was really bizarre overall, as well as sorta resurrecting the dead Baltrice, and conflicting with the more official online free comics.
I'd go with Test of Metal not being included in MtG canon, it was largely mis-handled in terms of fitting with other plot stuff. It could be something that happened in alternate timelines, but it isn't what 'really' happened with Tezzeret for the purposes of mainline MtG lore, at least that is how I'd handle it, and go with what happens in the online comics instead, however minimal that was. You can take _some_ stuff from it perhaps, minor background details on Tezzeret and such, but for the most part, it's best to pretend it never happened.
Still, I think I might like a Tezzeret focused block. I'd be kinda annoyed if it followed the same 'break free of Bolas plot' too closely with Sarkhan though, Tezzeret did so once before, prior to Agents of Artifice, when he took the Infinite Consortium (or at least a chunk of it) from Bolas, but Bolas likely took measures against such after rebuilding Tezzeret's mind after he got Jace'ed, in a similar, but certainly not the same (given the comics) way he did to Test of Metal (probably made it so he could track Tezzeret easily so he can't hide from Bolas from the looks of things in the comics).
I could actually see Tezzeret getting corrupted by the philosophies and power of New Phyrexia, without actually being corrupted by the glistening oil, going off on some plot to gather personal power and master phyrexian techniques away from that plane since his work for Bolas is done there, but he can't keep things up under the eyes of the Praetors, doing his own experiments, and he winds up being caught doing experiments on people by Karn on another world, but Karn, after defeating him, takes pity on him or something kind of like that, and guides him through a philosophical process that causes Tezzeret to realize that what he is doing is wrong, and then frees Tezzeret from Bolas somehow?
I'd be kinda annoyed if it followed the same 'break free of Bolas plot' too closely with Sarkhan
Thanks for all the flavor knowledge. When I read up on Test of Metal, I was too confused to know what to make of it.
I agree with the notion that this should not just be another straightforward redemption arc for Tezzeret. It's too boring and predictable to follow Sarkhan so closely, especially since they had such similar starting points.
And just comparing them in terms of character, I really don't think Sarkhan was ever a bad dude (just crazy), whereas Tezzeret sort of IS. Even aside from being manipulated from Bolas, he's selfish, wrathful, and scheming. He'd make a fine villain on his own; maybe the block could explore him coming into his own right as one. Either way, for at least the sake of variety, I hope his return wouldn't be another straightforward redemption.
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On MTGO as Protoman.
On 7/14/10, broke 1900 mark! <3 ROE.
Tezz having to do with the metal plane Mirrodin/New Phyrexia is possibe. Question is.. Will etherium help beat the infection or will Tezz spread it into other planes?
Tezz was given something in the comics to prevent him from becoming infected by an agent of Bolas, presumably it was some kind of serum made with the help of Melira, or something Bolas himself or some who were working for him came up with.
Edit: or not, it was just something to slow it down, but Bolas ordered him to find a way to stop it
It Bolas your talking about it was just another lie, another method to keep Tezzeret under control. How do we know? A) its Bolas offering seemingly beneficial help & B)Planeswalkers are immune to the oil seeing as Elspeth, Koth & Venser where constanly getting exposed to tons of it during battles with Phyrexians. Yet a few years later Elspeth is on Theros perfectly fine.
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WOut of the ground,I rise to grace...W BAfter the lights go out on you, after your worthless life is through. I will remember how you scream...B
They weren't actually naturally immune, at least according to the Scars of Mirrodin novel. They got their immunity from Melira after rescuing her and Venser accidentally activating her ability.
EDIT: In reply to the Tamiyo reference above (quote function didn't seem to work the way I thought it did).
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Level 2 Judge
Currently playing:
Standard: Superfriends!
Legacy: Nic Fit / Pod
Pauper: Delvar; Tron; Flicker Stuff
Commander: Riku ("Some weird doubple spell thing happened"); Keranos ("I did a Gatherer search for 'random' and 'flip a coin.'"); Superfriends!
Can we please just have a block where Chandra is a main character? The last time she was a main character was Zendikar and even then most of the spotlight was stolen by Jace.
The original Modern Masters included Elspeth, Knight Errant and Sarkhan Vol. Both were fairly off the radar at the time (much like Tezzeret is now) but then were the headliners of Theros and Khans of Tarkir.
In a lot of ways, Tezzeret has a similar trajectory to Sarkhan. Both first appeared in Shards of Alara. Both fell into the service of Nicol Bolas. Both made a second appearance in a later block as minions of Bolas, now with black mana as part of their color identities.
We last saw Tezzeret in New Phyrexia, but I'll defer to the flavor gurus on whether Test of Metal precedes or follows those events. We had last seen Sarkhan on Zendikar, but the block he headlined was elsewhere. A new Tezzeret-centered block could be set anywhere.
On 7/14/10, broke 1900 mark! <3 ROE.
OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
I'd go with Test of Metal not being included in MtG canon, it was largely mis-handled in terms of fitting with other plot stuff. It could be something that happened in alternate timelines, but it isn't what 'really' happened with Tezzeret for the purposes of mainline MtG lore, at least that is how I'd handle it, and go with what happens in the online comics instead, however minimal that was. You can take _some_ stuff from it perhaps, minor background details on Tezzeret and such, but for the most part, it's best to pretend it never happened.
Still, I think I might like a Tezzeret focused block. I'd be kinda annoyed if it followed the same 'break free of Bolas plot' too closely with Sarkhan though, Tezzeret did so once before, prior to Agents of Artifice, when he took the Infinite Consortium (or at least a chunk of it) from Bolas, but Bolas likely took measures against such after rebuilding Tezzeret's mind after he got Jace'ed, in a similar, but certainly not the same (given the comics) way he did to Test of Metal (probably made it so he could track Tezzeret easily so he can't hide from Bolas from the looks of things in the comics).
I could actually see Tezzeret getting corrupted by the philosophies and power of New Phyrexia, without actually being corrupted by the glistening oil, going off on some plot to gather personal power and master phyrexian techniques away from that plane since his work for Bolas is done there, but he can't keep things up under the eyes of the Praetors, doing his own experiments, and he winds up being caught doing experiments on people by Karn on another world, but Karn, after defeating him, takes pity on him or something kind of like that, and guides him through a philosophical process that causes Tezzeret to realize that what he is doing is wrong, and then frees Tezzeret from Bolas somehow?
Thanks for all the flavor knowledge. When I read up on Test of Metal, I was too confused to know what to make of it.
I agree with the notion that this should not just be another straightforward redemption arc for Tezzeret. It's too boring and predictable to follow Sarkhan so closely, especially since they had such similar starting points.
And just comparing them in terms of character, I really don't think Sarkhan was ever a bad dude (just crazy), whereas Tezzeret sort of IS. Even aside from being manipulated from Bolas, he's selfish, wrathful, and scheming. He'd make a fine villain on his own; maybe the block could explore him coming into his own right as one. Either way, for at least the sake of variety, I hope his return wouldn't be another straightforward redemption.
On 7/14/10, broke 1900 mark! <3 ROE.
EDH:
Niv-Mizzet
Legacy:
The Rack
Modern
Venser, the Sojourner Control
I'm also curious if the FTV Tinker art is canon regarding Tezzeret's future form. I sure hope so.
Edit: or not, it was just something to slow it down, but Bolas ordered him to find a way to stop it
BAfter the lights go out on you, after your worthless life is through. I will remember how you scream...B
EDIT: In reply to the Tamiyo reference above (quote function didn't seem to work the way I thought it did).
Currently playing:
Standard: Superfriends!
Legacy: Nic Fit / Pod
Pauper: Delvar; Tron; Flicker Stuff
Commander: Riku ("Some weird doubple spell thing happened"); Keranos ("I did a Gatherer search for 'random' and 'flip a coin.'"); Superfriends!
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.