If this is real, it is disgustingly good. Card advantage and tempo with every hit, relevant protections, +2/+2. Very very solid card that should see quite a bit of play.
The deck has 15 artifacts and it seems to play pretty good so far, but it needs alot more testing done of course.
How does distortion strike actually play in this deck? It is a card I have never really liked because it offers no value and does not further your board position. Does it kill quick enough often enough to be worth including?
I feel the new tezz doesn't belong in this deck. You are only running 10 artifacts. Granted, Tezz's -1 ability on the infect artifact dudes is pretty sick, but it doesn't seem as consistent as you may want it to be.
The odds of having one of them by turn 4 is over 84%. If I don't the odds of having one in the top 5 cards is over 68%. If I include chalice the odds go up even more. Now I'm not saying you are entirely wrong, as I think without chalice it won't do as much as I hope, the odds are pretty high for it being very relevant. Also, I only have the 2 so it is more a later game card to make the artifact infect dudes relevant again after the first few turns have past. That is my thoughts on the card anyway, and I could be very wrong.
The ideal T2 play is plague myr to accelerate out the beefier cards in the deck. Plague stinger or necropede may become something like everflowing chalice instead. The main idea though is to get to the beefier infectors where the real damage is.
The idea here is to build more of a powerful midrange deck with hard to kill creatures and value cards. I never did like the old infect ideas which seemed rather gimmicky with their quick kills but nothing else. I think this direction with the new powerful cards we have available in the archetype is more the way to go.
Black infect creatures: I think these represent most of the powerful infect cards in the format, much better than what green has to offer this style infect deck.
Artifact infect creatures: These are mainly here for the value they provide in achieving the deck's goal, and because they become very powerful if a Tezzeret hits the board.
Corrupted Conscience: Removes a blocker and adds another infect guy to your side. Hits on the value and added power of infect. Imagine taking a titan with this...
Removal Counters: Removal keeps the beating going early and the mana leaks are mainly for later in the game when they try to stabilize with a powerful card.
Tezzeret: Makes your artifact infect guys huge. Can draw into more infect guys. All around good.
What about a more controlling route that still allows for reletively consistent T4 Wurmcoil Engines? (T2 signet, T3 3 drop, T4 Grand Architect Wurmcoil) It also has the controlling aspect to stop faster decks and Tez because he is simply amazing in an artifact based deck.
Here is a slightly updated list that I think will be better than my first. It has the Darksteel Ax as a nice trinket mage target when you have tez. The wurmcoil engines offer another very solid win con that can be ramped into play with the 6 signets. I think that 2 forgemasters may be better than 3 with 3 preordains to dig for the stuff you need. I think Tezzeret is going to work better in this deck than JTMS to be honest which is why the numbers are still the same. Tezzeret digs faster than Jace while still drawing cards. It puts unwanted Colossus's on the bottom of the deck, and can make beefy blockers. Personally, I think this deck might be pretty awesome with multiple paths to victory that are intertwined and the numbers are flexible to fit the metagame.
Axe becomes a 5/5 indestructible to guard tezz was my thought...
Ahh ok I misread Tezzeret entirely there lol. I still thought he was sweet and now he is even better. I can see a 1 of ax to be fetched with trinket mage for this purpose. That way the 5/5 indestructible is there but also there won't be too many dead cards if you don't have a Tez in hand.
this is decent... more jaces for sure... maybe a 3/3 split with tezz...
I might go doom blade main over grasp...
and even out the swamp to island ratio more... I see blue being the main color...
also, I'd probably pull out the trinkets and masses and replace with darksteel axes
I can see the doom blades for grasp. The main idea there was if infect becomes a deck, grasp takes down the crusader and it also helps with grave titan. It also kills weenies just as well.
Swamp to Island ratio was a mistake, it should be the other way around.
As for Darksteel Ax, they really don't do enough in my opinion to be worth inclusion. The idea here is every card has a secondary purpose over joust getting the combo going.
Other options include: Mitotic Manipulation
Different Removal/Counter packages
More Jaces
And a lot more I haven't thought of. This is a first draft obviously.
(and even some of the mechanical ones—Scars block has a returning mechanic from Mirrodin block—and it just might not involve +1/+1 counters) are straight from Mirrodin.
I went 5-1 at my prerelease with BR. I had some great removal in corpsehatch and 2 Induce dispair which could take down eldrazi no problem, since I had 2 Hand of Emrakul's. I loved how most games ended with an eldrazi on the board. Annihilator feels so foolish but is soooo good. It is funny how much it can actually matter, killing all of those opposing spawns and keeping them off their eldrazi.
I played against smite a few times and that was crazy good for removal. In the end though, Lord of Shatterskull Pass won me most of my games by himself. With 6 pieces of prime removal spells, he killed people really quick. On the same note, in sealed Null Champion is awesome as well as it beats for 4 on turn 3.
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How does distortion strike actually play in this deck? It is a card I have never really liked because it offers no value and does not further your board position. Does it kill quick enough often enough to be worth including?
The odds of having one of them by turn 4 is over 84%. If I don't the odds of having one in the top 5 cards is over 68%. If I include chalice the odds go up even more. Now I'm not saying you are entirely wrong, as I think without chalice it won't do as much as I hope, the odds are pretty high for it being very relevant. Also, I only have the 2 so it is more a later game card to make the artifact infect dudes relevant again after the first few turns have past. That is my thoughts on the card anyway, and I could be very wrong.
Yeah I know I edited my first post asking a mod to move it.
4 Phyrexian Crusader
4 Phyrexian Vatmother
3 Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
3 Necropede
4 Plague Myr
4 Plague Stinger
3 Corpse Cur
3 Mana Leak
2 Corrupted Conscience
2 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
2 Grasp of Darkness
2 Doom Blade
Lands:
4 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Darkslick Shores
3 Tectonic Edge
2 Island
7 Swamp
Card choices:
Black infect creatures: I think these represent most of the powerful infect cards in the format, much better than what green has to offer this style infect deck.
Artifact infect creatures: These are mainly here for the value they provide in achieving the deck's goal, and because they become very powerful if a Tezzeret hits the board.
Corrupted Conscience: Removes a blocker and adds another infect guy to your side. Hits on the value and added power of infect. Imagine taking a titan with this...
Removal Counters: Removal keeps the beating going early and the mana leaks are mainly for later in the game when they try to stabilize with a powerful card.
Tezzeret: Makes your artifact infect guys huge. Can draw into more infect guys. All around good.
Thoughts?
4 Grand Architect
4 Treasure Mage
3 Wurmcoil Engine
Spells:
4 Preordain
4 Everflowing Chalice
2 Sphere of the Suns
2 Doom Blade
4 Mana Leak
2 Disfigure
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Drowned Catacomb
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Verdant Catacomb
6 Island
3 Swamp
What about a more controlling route that still allows for reletively consistent T4 Wurmcoil Engines? (T2 signet, T3 3 drop, T4 Grand Architect Wurmcoil) It also has the controlling aspect to stop faster decks and Tez because he is simply amazing in an artifact based deck.
2 Blightsteel Colossus
3 Trinket Mage
2 Wurmcoil Engine
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Everflowing Chalice
2 Sphere of the Suns
2 Contagion Clasp
1 Darksteel Ax
1 Chimeric Mass
4 Mana Leak
3 Grasp of Darkness
3 Preordainl
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Darkslick Shores
3 Tectonic Edge
7 Island
3 Swamp
Here is a slightly updated list that I think will be better than my first. It has the Darksteel Ax as a nice trinket mage target when you have tez. The wurmcoil engines offer another very solid win con that can be ramped into play with the 6 signets. I think that 2 forgemasters may be better than 3 with 3 preordains to dig for the stuff you need. I think Tezzeret is going to work better in this deck than JTMS to be honest which is why the numbers are still the same. Tezzeret digs faster than Jace while still drawing cards. It puts unwanted Colossus's on the bottom of the deck, and can make beefy blockers. Personally, I think this deck might be pretty awesome with multiple paths to victory that are intertwined and the numbers are flexible to fit the metagame.
Ahh ok I misread Tezzeret entirely there lol. I still thought he was sweet and now he is even better. I can see a 1 of ax to be fetched with trinket mage for this purpose. That way the 5/5 indestructible is there but also there won't be too many dead cards if you don't have a Tez in hand.
I can see the doom blades for grasp. The main idea there was if infect becomes a deck, grasp takes down the crusader and it also helps with grave titan. It also kills weenies just as well.
Swamp to Island ratio was a mistake, it should be the other way around.
As for Darksteel Ax, they really don't do enough in my opinion to be worth inclusion. The idea here is every card has a secondary purpose over joust getting the combo going.
2 Blightsteel Colossus
3 Trinket Mage
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Everflowing Chalice
2 Sphere of the Suns
3 Contagion Clasp
2 Chimeric Mass
4 Mana Leak
3 Grasp of Darkness
3 Stoic Rebuttal
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Darkslick Shores
3 Tectonic Edge
3 Island
7 Swamp
Other options include:
Mitotic Manipulation
Different Removal/Counter packages
More Jaces
And a lot more I haven't thought of. This is a first draft obviously.
(and even some of the mechanical ones—Scars block has a returning mechanic from Mirrodin block—and it just might not involve +1/+1 counters) are straight from Mirrodin.
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/mm/106
I wonder if this could possibly be affinity back again? Another one I found in a quick gatherer check was entwine.
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/521
looks interesting, but I don't know how good they will actually be.
I played against smite a few times and that was crazy good for removal. In the end though, Lord of Shatterskull Pass won me most of my games by himself. With 6 pieces of prime removal spells, he killed people really quick. On the same note, in sealed Null Champion is awesome as well as it beats for 4 on turn 3.