History:
The Tezzerator was a deck originally designed by Kenny Öberg for Pro Tour Berlin and the old extended format. The deck used Tezzeret the Seeker and Trinket Mage to search up artifacts to lock the opponent out of the game. Kenny went 8-0 day 1 and finished the tournament as the first seed going into the top 8 where he lost to the eventual victor, Luis Scott-Vargas. In that extended season the deck was an excellent choice. It had two decks place in the top 8 of Grand Prix Singapore (where both decks were nearly identical) and was run by team Channelfireball in the extended portion of Worlds. Sadly, this style of deck hasn't been too successful in Modern because Chrome Mox and Sword of the Meek, two vital cards for the deck, are banned.
Why Play The Tezzerator?
Besides having one of the best names for a deck in Modern the Tezzerator is probably the most entertaining deck to pilot in Modern. This is because every game is a puzzle and the pilot must find the solution to that puzzle by using every Engineered Explosives, Chalice of the Void, and Ensnaring Bridge at their disposal. The deck is extremely rewarding for players who learn the intricacies of it allowing them to come out of seemingly unwinnable situations with smart play. Not only that, the deck runs some of the strongest hate cards in modern. This deck can run Grafdigger's Cage, Chalice of The Void, and Torpor Orb all in the maindeck! This means that even some bad matchups like burn can be won by drawing the right hate piece.
Card Choices:
Core Cards:
Thirst for Knowledge: Thirst for Knowledge is one of the few good card advantage spells left in Modern. It allows the deck to discard deck cards like Vedalken Shackles against Storm while digging for answers.
Trinket Mage: I'd consider the Tezzerator to be more of a Trinket Mage deck than a Tezzeret the Seeker deck. Trinket Mage can answer almost any threat that an opponent presents while putting a 2/2 into play. It's card advantage and tutoring attatched to a creature. In a way, it's the closest you can come to casting Stoneforge Mystic in Modern.
Tezzeret the Seeker: Tezzeret the Seeker is a super Trinket Mage. It searches for everything Trinket Mage searches for and puts them onto the battlefield and it can search up powerful artifacts like Ensnaring Bridge or Vedalken Shackles when the situation demands it. Not only does Tezzeret answer whatever the opponent is doing, he also is the best kill condition in the deck; Tezzeret’s ultimate is usually game over because the deck runs so many artifacts.
Artifacts:
Trinkets:
Chalice of the Void: Chalice of the Void is an extremely powerful card and can prevent decks from casting any of their important spells. It also lets the Tezzerator beat artifact hate quite easily. The most powerful hate cards (Ancient Grudge, Stony Silence) are completely hosed by Chalice. Sadly, Abrupt Decay doesn’t care about Chalice at all. Chalice of the Void with two counters is probably the best for this deck. The deck runs very few two-drops (usually only spellskite) and most other decks rely heavily on two mana spells to progress their game.
Engineered Explosives: Engineered Explosives is probably the best Trinket Mage target in the deck. It destroys a multitude of problem permanents and can completely stop an enemy assault. It also has great synergy with Academy Ruins and when they work together all of the opponent's creatures will probably die in an explosion. Even though most Tezzerator lists are close to mono-blue they will splash 2 or 3 colors just for Engineered Explosives
Mox Opal: Mox Opal is a terrible replacement for Chrome Mox because it can’t accelerate the deck consistently early in the game. Still, it’s a mana source that can be found by Trinket Mage that adds any color for the sunburst of Engineered Explosives.
Welding Jar: Welding Jar is protection against artifact destruction spells when you’re relying on one artifact to survive. (Usually that artifact is Ensnaring Bridge.) I like to think of it as a free Spellskite with less utility.
AEther Spellbomb: AEther Spellbomb is a great card to search for with Trinket Mage. It’s never dead because it can always be sacrificed for a card and the unsummon ability comes up quite a bit. If you wan’t to ultimate a Tezzeret but your Ensnaring Bridge is preventing you from attacking, you can bounce it with AEther Spellbomb after the Bridge becomes a creature.
Elixir of Immortality: Elixir of Immortality is a great card for reusing your bullets that get destroyed or for gaining enough life to get out of burn range against aggro decks. Tezzeret can tutor it for every turn because it shuffles back in.
Expedition Map: Expedition Map lets the deck to have a consistant way of getting Academy Ruins onto the battlefield. It can also search up Tectonic Edge if you need to.
Pyrite Spellbomb: Pyrite Spellbomb is another good spellbomb that the deck can run. It's better against early creatures than AEther Spellbomb but it requires red mana to be effective. The deck will usually have at least one Steam Vents for Engineered Explosives so it's rarely a problem.
Hate Artifacts:
Grafdigger's Cage / Nihil Spellbomb / Relic of Progenitus / Tormod's Crypt: all of these card are powerful graveyard hate artifacts that can be searched up by Tezzeret or Trinket Mage. They all have their pros and cons. Relic of Progenitus doesn’t work well with Academy Ruins. Grafdigger’s Cag and Tormod’s Crypt can both be dead cards in the maindeck. Nihil Spellbomb needs black mana to be effective. I’d recommend running at least one in the maindeck, either Grafdigger’s Cage or Nihil Spellbomb.
Pithing Needle: Pithing Needle is a super versatile and cheap answer to many powerful cards in Modern. It’s required that you run at least one in the maindeck and another in the sideboard.
Torpor Orb: Torpor Orb shuts off many strategies in modern without hurting this strategy too much. It does suck that Trinket Mage and Vendilion Clique with it on the battlefield but it's usually worth it. It is possible to run it in the maindeck to be tutored for by Tezzeret.
Trinisphere: Trinisphere can shut down decks that rely on casting multitudes of cheap cards like Bogles. It is a little slow for what it does but when it works it's brutal.
CMC 2+ Artifacts:
Crucible of Worlds: Crucible of Worlds combined with Tectonic Edge gives the deck a great plan against Scapeshift. It is also a good value card and lets the deck hit its land drops every turn with just a fetchland in the graveyard. It also gives the deck a way to get Academy Ruins back in case it gets destroyed.
Ensnaring Bridge: Ensnaring Bridge is probably the glue that holds the deck together. The deck can aggressively trade one-for-one maybe gain some card advantage off of Thirst for Knowledge and Trinket Mage until it can slam a Tezzeret down and search for Ensnaring Bridge. Most decks can't beat an Ensnaring Bridge and the ones that can usually aren't prepaired to deal with all of the other lockdown and protection at the same time.
Vedalken Shackles: Repeatable control magic isn't fair. Repeatable control magic that can be tutored for is less fair. Vedalken Shackles has a tendency to win games by itself and to put the opponent into situations where they have to choose between playing a creature and getting it stolen or doing nothing. It is a slow card but it's absurdly difficult for a deck like Jund to win against an active Vedalken Shackles.
Phyrexian Metamorph: Phyrexian Metamorph is an extra copy of every artifact in the deck. This is useful when it's needed to have two Pithing Needles or two Ensnaring Bridges (the second as insurance against Abrupt Decay). It's takes up a lot less space in the deck than a bunch of extra copies of cards and can randomly copy a giant creature from the opponent.
Batterskull: Batterskull can be run as an ananswerable threat that can be constantly recurred by Academy Ruins if the opponent can destroy or counter it. It's a more resilient threat than Tezzeret at 5 mana but it's not nearly as powerful.
Creatures:
Spellskite: Spellskite protects important lock pieces like Ensnaring Bridge from enemy removal (even Abrupt Decay!). It's a good card by itself too. A 0/4 it big enough to block most aggressive creatures and the redirection ability can randomly hose entire strategies. I would personally run between two and three Spellskites.
Vendilion Clique: Vendilion Clique disrupts opponents while being a 3/1 flier. Combined with Trinket Mage, the deck can put a fast clock on the opponent if it's impossible to lock the opponent out.
Lands:
Academy Ruins: Academy Ruins is the best land in the deck by a wide margin. It allows the deck to cast threats every turn against opponents with counter magic and reuse Engineered Explosives indefinitely. Sadly, it's legendary so running one or two is the way to go.
Darksteel Citadel: Darksteel Citadel is a land that can be tutored for by Trinket Mage of Tezzeret. It's great to have the utility of fetching a land because the deck can be very mana hungry and missing land drops could spell doom.
Inkmoth Nexus: Inkmoth Nexus is a reliable (but slow) method of killing the opponent when they're locked out. It is a colorless land and having too many of them can hurt Vedalken Shackles.
Island: The deck is almost mono-blue and it does have Vedalken Shackles. So, having a bunch of Basic Islands is a requirement for the deck. Additionally, Blood Moon is a sideboard card this deck can run and it won't be hurt because of all the basics
Misty Rainforest / Scalding Tarn: The blue fetchlands allow for splashes for sideboard cards and Engineered Explosives without hurting Vedalken Shackles.
The Shocklands: Running 2-3 Shocklands to get the most amount of utility out of Engineered Explosives is pretty much required. The shocklands also allow for easy splashes of cards like Blood Moon, Pyroclasm, and Lightning Bolt.
Tectonic Edge: Tectonic Edge is great against Tron and Scapeshift while also dealing with opposing manlands and specialty lands. It in combination with Crucible of Worlds can prevent any land based shennanigins from happening.
Spells:
Cryptic Command: Cryptic Command does everything. There are somethings that fall through the cracks and have to be deal with and Cryptic Command is probably the easiest way to deal with it. It's never dead and is the answer to almost any situation
Spell Snare: Spell Snare is a great card because it's a hard counter for one mana. Most two mana spells are worth countering anyways so the "drawback" of only being able to counter one mana spells is irrelevant. It's important for the deck to have some form of early interaction and Spell Snare is probably the most versatile and powerful of those options
Remand: Remand is purely a tempo play but can help give this deck breathing room against decks like Tron. Spell Snare is usually the better secondary counterspell because it is great on the play and on the draw but Remand can have its merits
See Beyond: See Beyond is a bad Thirst for Knowledge because it doesn't have any way of becoming pure card advantage like Thirst. It's still a good card in the deck because digging for answers and shuffling back in irrelevant cards is never a bad thing.
Pyroclasm: Pyroclasm can be run as an answer to early creatures. It's garbage against all of the combo decks but it's one of the best possible ways to survive the early turns against an agressive opponent. Firespout can be run if you're afraid of 3 toughness creatures.
Galvanic Blast / Lightning Bolt: These cards are better at answering individual threats than Pyroclasm and Firespout but they’re worse against multiple creatures. Galvanic Blast is usually better than Lightning Bolt because late game it will almost always be a 4 damage spell.
Sideboard Cards:
Blood Moon: Blood Moon shuts down what seems to be like half the decks in Modern by itself. The Tezzerator is a perfect choice for running this card in the sideboard because it has a lot of baisic islands and usually splashes red because of Engineered Explosives.
Witchbane Orb: Witchbane Orb is a decent sideboard card. It's a "win condition" against burn because they can almost never beat it. Additionally it needs to be removed before Scapeshift can win.
Sowing Salt: Sowing Salt is a narrower, more red heavy, and slower way to deal with theTronLands. It can potentially exile a Valakut but that rarely happens.
Slaughter Games: Scapeshift is a truely absymal matchup and if you're splashing both Black and Red you can have a great trump card in the matchup. It's also useful against decks like Storm who rely on one card to win.
Tezzerator was a deck originally designed by Kenny Öberg in 2008, and it piloted Brad Nelson to a top 8 in PT Honolulu. The deck was later adapted by Luis Scott-Vargas, who wrote an extensive article on the U/W Version, which can be found here.
The deck is very subtle and extremely difficult to pilot. This isn't Jund, where the correct mana curve is all you need to steal free wins. It's very difficult to play without mastering the field, so once you become familiar with the top decks in the format, there is a strong chance you can predict their hand and proactively halt their strategy.
This deck has play against some of the most difficult decks in the format, namely Twelvepost and Zoo, and it is very resilient to all reanimator decks, but it is weak to Bant and Mono Red.
Many cards in this deck are banned, namely Thopter Foundry and Chrome Mox. However, Kenny Öberg did not use either of these cards when he and Brad Nelson used this in 2009. Thus, it ports extremely well to modern, since a field of reanimator, combo, and substantial amounts of Kibler Punishing Fires Zoo is exactly what we have.
Same meta, same toolbox deck!
Control is a new animal in Modern, since the diversity of your answers needs to be extremely robust. Here's my take on the Tezzeret list to be running, which is based almost card-for-card on the list proposed by Gavin Vernhey on SSG.com, who has been running MTGO's Overextended for months:
Pithing Needle- Answers Planeswalkers, Knight of the Reliquary, and unexpected permanents.
Relic of Progenitus- Turns off Punishing Fire, Tarmogoyf, Living End, Pyromancer Ascension, Breach Protean Hulk, and several sub-T1 strategies that abuse the graveyard.
Engineered Explosives- Debatably the strongest card in the deck, your best numbers are 0, 2, 3, and 4. Most of the deck can be withheld in your hand, so almost any number of Sunburst counters won't cripple you.
Chalice of the Void- Best use is for 1 against Zoo, since it turns off half their deck. Explosives for 2 afterwards is a hewer. Using it for 1-2 against all other control decks stops entire oppositions, and you can play it for 0 to stop Protean Hulk pacts, Living End, and Restore Balance.
Crucible of Worlds- Allows you to recur Ghost Quarter against Twelvepost, gets back Academy Ruins for more explosives recurrence, and lets you use fetch lands to thin your deck.
Ensnaring Bridge- Stops Eldrazi, Titans, and big Knight of the Reliquary/Tarmogoyf. There's also the random games where you can cast your whole hand and have it sit there for 0, stopping all attacks. Against mono-red, finding a way to spend your hand is very profitable.
Vedalken Shackles- After a good Explosives, this can wreck an opponent's recovery.
Elixir of Immortality- Extremely underrated. Against Aggro, you can use Tezzeret's -1 to gain 5 life per turn, which has been the #1 way to beat mono-red and fast zoo. I'm never upset to see it, and it was Gavin Verney's idea. In a few builds in 2009, Sunbeam Spellbomb was used.
Sideboard:
Mindbreak Trap- This card stops Protean Hulk's Turn 1 combo even on the draw, and it's a house against most combo decks. It also exiles Emrakul, so you aren't dead to a Turn 5 octopus from Twelvepost. It's very good in Modern.
I highly suggest reading LSV's article on the archetype, as this deck has very little play if you can't make decisions on a very high level. It's a difficult, but vastly rewarding deck that requires practice and patience, and the ability to guess an opponent's hand or deck design based on the information you have. It is frustrating when an incorrectly guessed Explosives for 1 forces a loss, but it is highly rewarding when a Chalice for 2 shuts off 6 cards in their hand.
Don't forget Cryptic Command's bounce ability for re-buying Explosives that you need on a different number, and don't forget the power of 0. I'll post more strategy when I become more familiar with the deck myself. Happy Hunting!
Yeah I played against a Tezzerator deck last night. It MD'd Blood Moon which demolished my chances. You are also missing possibly THE BEST artifact to play.
Phyrexian Metamorph absolutly housed me. I thought I was good w/ a T5 Sun Titan, he cloned it and got more land back.
It all depends on what you're going for, but I could see Phyrexian Metamorph being a strong card main-deck. One nice thing about the deck is the fact that Tezzeret can tutor for everything, and Phyrexian Metamorph would kill him. I'll have to test it before I commit.
Spellskite seems theoretically good against Mono-Red, but eating one Flame Javelin is not THAT good, since they'll rarely let your skite absorb more than one spell.
I was thinking about playing Etched Champion as a win-con since he's easy to turn on in this deck and is really easy to protect but he might be too cute. Also what about Aether Spellbomb over Pyrite Spellbomb?
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On Mono Black in Commander:
Quote from BlackJack68 »
But whomever your commander is, Cabal Coffers is really in charge.
Aether Spellbomb is neat, and it all comes down to what you have trouble with. Noble Heirarchs, Qasali Pridemages, and Goblin Guides in the first few turns of the game made me want a burn spell, but if I find a way to shore up the fastest matchups, Aether could be a very big player. There are a lot of 1-2 toughness dudes in the control decks, too, like Bloodbraid Elf, Dark Confidant, and Vendilion Clique. So I really don't know!
LSV Mentioned Engineered Explosives is the best thing a mono-blue deck can do with it's lands in this week's Top 8 Modern cards.
I thought about the other colors, but Vedalken Shackles loves islands and it's honestly one of the better cards in the deck, probably worth cutting down a bunch of Ghost Quarters at some point.
Secondly, being immune to Blood Moon means that I can not only avoid an entire section of meta hate, but I also have the opportunity to SB it myself if it's a good meta call.
I think the list does need 1 more Mox Opal (since I can just pitch spares to Thirst) but can you honestly think of a better removal spell than Path? I can't. Dispatch isn't even as good, since it can't stop a T1 Hulk combo or an early Goblin.
Also, Punishing Fires is just "ok." It's definitely the real deal, worthy of all it's salt, but, well, take a look at your deck, Bant. Knight of the Reliquary, Tarmogoyf, Rhox War Monk, Wild Nacatl/Loam Lion/Kird Ape (If you run them)- they all avoid Punishing Fires completely. It's good against some decks but useless against others, and the break in synergy does not seem worth it to me.
Mindbreak Trap is the only counter I can think of to Emrakul and Boseiju, Who Shelters All, and it's also the only way I feel I can profitably stop turn 1-3 wins. If you have a better idea that serves the same purpose, I would love to hear it- no sarcasm, I love suggestions.
I think running Etched Champion with a Sword (probably FaI) in your MD can really help; Being able to tutor up an unblockable (essentially) creature with protection from everything aside from mass removal that you can equip a Sword of Fire and Ice to seems like a decent clock against opposing control; as well as a way to generate some serious CA vs. Aggro.
a Vendillion Clique or 2 could make it MD as well; I think she's one of if not THE best creature in Modern.
The blood moon argument is valid, I hadn't considered it.
Dismember might be worth thinking about. The main things it doesn't kill are Knight and Primeval Titan, on the other hand it would lower the dependency on nonbasic lands if that's the direction you want to go (It also has some minor synergy with Trinisphere).
Can you win a control mirror in time? Your only way appears to be Trinket Mage beatdown and Tezzeret's ultimate if your opponent's not playing a creature deck. It might be worth adding a couple of either Wurmcoil or Batterskull to the sideboard, similar to the sideboard Baneslayers in the LSV build.
I'd give serious thought to Gifts. Personally I'd cut the Opals and a couple of Trinket Mage bullets (meta dependant on which ones), and add some Gifts and a Brittle Effigy. You might be left slightly light on artifacts for Thirst, but it's probably worth testing.
How have the Opals been? They don't seem great in the list, but I might be missing something. If your subbing them in for Chrome Mox, I don't think they serve the same function (reliably getting two mana on turn one).
I like everything you're talking about.
As for Dismember, it doesn't kill Primeval Titan and it doesn't get rid of Protean Hulk, since when that dies they go infinite and win. Path is good there. I have been happy with Path, and I usually have no life to spare.
As for Gifts, it's looking better and better. The only Trinket Mage bullet I feel I should cut is Pithing Needle, but even that's good in 1/2 my games, so I am on the ropes.
Tezzeret is a pretty good win-con, since you eventually lock the control player out completely. However, in the control matchup I do want one or more cards. I am thinking about Sphinx of Jwar Isle or Wurmcoil Engine, or maybe Draining Whelk.
I like Mox Opal, a lot, and I probably want a third. It has been very good for setting up explosives while leaving blue untapped for Cryptic Command, and there have been several games where it was my only way to cast Path (which I have then since remedied with 6 fetches, up from 4, but it will probably still happen)
It's certainly no chrome mox, but it's definitely worth a 2-of, and probably a 3-of since I can pitch spares to Thirst for Knowledge.
Thanks for the feedback! I'll probably be adding a bomb to my SB.
I think running Etched Champion with a Sword (probably FaI) in your MD can really help; Being able to tutor up an unblockable (essentially) creature with protection from everything aside from mass removal that you can equip a Sword of Fire and Ice to seems like a decent clock against opposing control; as well as a way to generate some serious CA vs. Aggro.
a Vendillion Clique or 2 could make it MD as well; I think she's one of if not THE best creature in Modern.
I don't really like the idea of Etched Champion. The way the deck plays out right now, I find myself tapping down almost every turn until I'm already controlling the game, at which point a clock seems irrelevant. This plan seems off-focus to me, as aggroing them out is not what I want to be doing.
Vendilion Clique is probably good! This list can support it, and it was in the original build back in 2009 as well.
You mentioned that it is very crucial for this deck to guess the right numbers for Explosives or Chalice,what about adding some Gitaxian Probe? It would provide crucial information for "free" and also draws a card...
I have two answers; the first is, there's no room. This may or may not be correct, but I have found the list to be too tight to bother with a cantrip. The second is to just use your head; If they play a U/B land, prepare for Dark Confidant. If they pitch a Monstrous Caryatid, get a Chalice on 0 for their Living Death. If they play a Wild Nacatl, best get ready for Tarmogoyf, etc. etc. Most decks are readable to some extent, so I think the deck will function better if it's left to the pilot to do the probing, mentally. I intend to practice towards this goal before I run the spell.
I absolutely love this Deck. Thopterator was my archetype when it was available in the old extended, as he has answer for all the threats are coming along in the field...
Some suggestion on the posted list: i'd like to add a singleton of Tolaria West, in order to transmute for chalice/engineered (namely trinket number 4/5), and point out that a chalice at 0 doesn't stop Hive Mind to close games with a pact.
Another strong addition to the toolbox deck you are shaping could be Gifts Ungiven, that multiplies option on your field;
Another tips: when playing in the old extended season with this deck, i realize that the worst MU were AiR (all-in red, or Demigod Stompy) and Teachings, who still has a lot more answer to our threat and is more proactive in plays...
My two cents.
Tolaria West seems great. You have a lot of insight on this archetype. I guess Chalice for 0 doesn't stop Hive Mind pacts because I still cast them on my side, correct? Didn't think of that... I'll remove it from the O.P.
Teachings is a deck I'm not so familiar with. Is it the 5CC list with teachings that was all over that season?
I played a very similar list. The deck is terrible without sword of the meek which is banned.
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Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.
I tried porting Kenny Oberg's list to Modern, and losing Stifle sucks. Trickbind is 2 cmc; aren't we supposed to be avoiding 2 cmc cards? Besides, people often crack fetchlands on Turns 1-2, not Turns 2-3.
Relic of Progenitus- Turns off Punishing Fire, Tarmogoyf, Living End, Pyromancer Ascension, Breach Protean Hulk, and several sub-T1 strategies that abuse the graveyard.
How does Relic of Progenitus turn of Pyromancer Ascension? Pyromancer ascension's gain a counter trigger is off playing the spell, not resolving it. The only way for it to work is pro-actively, and then the ascension player just keeps on playing his cantrips once you've killed his yard.
Against 12-post, Ensnaring Bridge stops everything. If you can table it before their Primeval Titan, you can start Ghost Quartering all of their cloudpost lands with Crucible. The fact that Emrakul can never attack you is nice, but obviously, game 2 they'll have artifact removal and you won't always draw it. Try and counter as much as you can.
I do like Elixir of Immortality, it works really great.
@Blatch, they'll have to activate Pyro and then kill me in the same turn, and after board, we have more counters than they do. It's not impossible, but there is inevitability on the Pyromancer's side. If you're on the play and you slam Relic of Progenitus, and untap with Spell Snare (not too hard to do) you're in good company.
Chalice of the Void for 1 is also great against them, it turns off the whole deck, including the Repeal they'd use to stop it. Worth losing your own 1-drops.
I have all the mainboarded cards posted on the opening post but the Ravnica Shocklands. I am trying to build a secondary (preferably control) Modern deck for our local store league.
Anyways, I was wondering if Filterlands would work. I know its main purpose to ramp up EE. I have the Fetchlands but with Filterlands, would it still work?
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I am convinced that WotC is "dumbing" the game because of all the stupid posts they come across on MTG-related forums
I have all the mainboarded cards posted on the opening post but the Ravnica Shocklands. I am trying to build a secondary (preferably control) Modern deck for our local store league.
Anyways, I was wondering if Filterlands would work. I know its main purpose to ramp up EE. I have the Fetchlands but with Filterlands, would it still work?
It would be tough because fetchlands also enable vedalken shackles without too many non-islands in play.
Isn't sunbeam spellbomb strictly better than elixir of immortality? its a cantrip when thh life gain is worthless and isn't anti-synergistic with academy ruins and gifts ungiven.
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In life all we can do is try to make things better. Sitting lost in old ways and fearing change only makes us outdated and ignorant.
Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.
Albert Einstein
Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.
It's because they allow you to get your splash colors and still have maintain your island count. So while the filters can color fix they don't content towards your island count which hurts a lot.
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On Mono Black in Commander:
Quote from BlackJack68 »
But whomever your commander is, Cabal Coffers is really in charge.
I do like Elixir of Immortality, it works really great.
@Blatch, they'll have to activate Pyro and then kill me in the same turn, and after board, we have more counters than they do. It's not impossible, but there is inevitability on the Pyromancer's side. If you're on the play and you slam Relic of Progenitus, and untap with Spell Snare (not too hard to do) you're in good company.
Why do they have to activate it and kill you in the same turn?
Wouldn't they just need to activate it? Then you're effective number of counters gets divided by two, because every spell they play is double. As for playing and activating it in the same turn -- that doesn't seem too hard to me. (Keep in mind I haven't tested either deck, so this is pure theory on my part).
It's because they allow you to get your splash colors and still have maintain your island count. So while the filters can color fix they don't content towards your island count which hurts a lot.
I think theres a misunderstanding there. I guess you mean both Fetchlands and Shocklands instead of just Fetchlands right?
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I am convinced that WotC is "dumbing" the game because of all the stupid posts they come across on MTG-related forums
Shock lands let you depend on fetchlands. You then only need 1 of each to ramp up EE. On top of that, they count as islands towards your shackles. Those two jobs make them very important to the deck. if you try running without them, shackles becomes a lot less good.
As for the Pyro matchup, I still don't know.
I've been testing Gifts and it seems a lot worse when you can't get the thopter combo. I think I'll be cutting white again, maybe altogether but probably a splash for path.
Spellbomb V. Elixir of Immortality, I like Elixir because you can keep looping it with Tezzeret to gain more life, while the spellbomb's only method of loop is with Academy Ruins, costing you more mana and draw phases.
The jury isn't out on this one, but I like elixir better.
I played a very similar list. The deck is terrible without sword of the meek which is banned.
throw in a sharding sphinx its pretty good for making tons of thopters. despite not being as quick as the sword combo.
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Shock lands let you depend on fetchlands. You then only need 1 of each to ramp up EE. On top of that, they count as islands towards your shackles. Those two jobs make them very important to the deck. if you try running without them, shackles becomes a lot less good.
This ^^
As for the Pyro matchup, I still don't know.
A few counterspells, EE, and a hexparasite make it pretty easy.
I've been testing Gifts and it seems a lot worse when you can't get the thopter combo. I think I'll be cutting white again, maybe altogether but probably a splash for path.
If nothing else gifts is card draw. You honestly need to design the deck around it, but adding a few little tricks with gifts makes your deck a lot stronger. For example I run 1 wrath of god, 1 day of judgment, and 1 hallowed burial with gifts. This guarantees a sweeper once I hit 5 mana. Also gifts can help you set up your academy ruins,crucible of worlds,ghost quarter, and ensnaring bridge. I also run a 1 of batterskull which is pretty much the nuts in a deck with academy ruins.
Spellbomb V. Elixir of Immortality, I like Elixir because you can keep looping it with Tezzeret to gain more life, while the spellbomb's only method of loop is with Academy Ruins, costing you more mana and draw phases.
The jury isn't out on this one, but I like elixir better.
With gifts and academy ruins the spellbomb is better. Also honestly if you can use tez's - ability multiple times then you shouldn't need the life. In my experience you shouldn't cast tez unless your opponent has no board position.
^^^^
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In life all we can do is try to make things better. Sitting lost in old ways and fearing change only makes us outdated and ignorant.
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Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.
I've been running 1 Day, 1 Wrath of God. However, adding the hallowed burial as well seems iffy to me.. At that point, it seems like you're just set up to draw wraths naturally.
Still, I like gifts, and I want to use it. I think I will consider sticking in the spellbombs and Gifts, and give that a whirl.
In life all we can do is try to make things better. Sitting lost in old ways and fearing change only makes us outdated and ignorant.
Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.
Albert Einstein
Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.
Thomas Jefferson
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History:
The Tezzerator was a deck originally designed by Kenny Öberg for Pro Tour Berlin and the old extended format. The deck used Tezzeret the Seeker and Trinket Mage to search up artifacts to lock the opponent out of the game. Kenny went 8-0 day 1 and finished the tournament as the first seed going into the top 8 where he lost to the eventual victor, Luis Scott-Vargas. In that extended season the deck was an excellent choice. It had two decks place in the top 8 of Grand Prix Singapore (where both decks were nearly identical) and was run by team Channelfireball in the extended portion of Worlds. Sadly, this style of deck hasn't been too successful in Modern because Chrome Mox and Sword of the Meek, two vital cards for the deck, are banned.
Why Play The Tezzerator?
Besides having one of the best names for a deck in Modern the Tezzerator is probably the most entertaining deck to pilot in Modern. This is because every game is a puzzle and the pilot must find the solution to that puzzle by using every Engineered Explosives, Chalice of the Void, and Ensnaring Bridge at their disposal. The deck is extremely rewarding for players who learn the intricacies of it allowing them to come out of seemingly unwinnable situations with smart play. Not only that, the deck runs some of the strongest hate cards in modern. This deck can run Grafdigger's Cage, Chalice of The Void, and Torpor Orb all in the maindeck! This means that even some bad matchups like burn can be won by drawing the right hate piece.
Core Cards:
Trinket Mage: I'd consider the Tezzerator to be more of a Trinket Mage deck than a Tezzeret the Seeker deck. Trinket Mage can answer almost any threat that an opponent presents while putting a 2/2 into play. It's card advantage and tutoring attatched to a creature. In a way, it's the closest you can come to casting Stoneforge Mystic in Modern.
Tezzeret the Seeker: Tezzeret the Seeker is a super Trinket Mage. It searches for everything Trinket Mage searches for and puts them onto the battlefield and it can search up powerful artifacts like Ensnaring Bridge or Vedalken Shackles when the situation demands it. Not only does Tezzeret answer whatever the opponent is doing, he also is the best kill condition in the deck; Tezzeret’s ultimate is usually game over because the deck runs so many artifacts.
Trinkets:
Engineered Explosives: Engineered Explosives is probably the best Trinket Mage target in the deck. It destroys a multitude of problem permanents and can completely stop an enemy assault. It also has great synergy with Academy Ruins and when they work together all of the opponent's creatures will probably die in an explosion. Even though most Tezzerator lists are close to mono-blue they will splash 2 or 3 colors just for Engineered Explosives
Mox Opal: Mox Opal is a terrible replacement for Chrome Mox because it can’t accelerate the deck consistently early in the game. Still, it’s a mana source that can be found by Trinket Mage that adds any color for the sunburst of Engineered Explosives.
Welding Jar: Welding Jar is protection against artifact destruction spells when you’re relying on one artifact to survive. (Usually that artifact is Ensnaring Bridge.) I like to think of it as a free Spellskite with less utility.
AEther Spellbomb: AEther Spellbomb is a great card to search for with Trinket Mage. It’s never dead because it can always be sacrificed for a card and the unsummon ability comes up quite a bit. If you wan’t to ultimate a Tezzeret but your Ensnaring Bridge is preventing you from attacking, you can bounce it with AEther Spellbomb after the Bridge becomes a creature.
Elixir of Immortality: Elixir of Immortality is a great card for reusing your bullets that get destroyed or for gaining enough life to get out of burn range against aggro decks. Tezzeret can tutor it for every turn because it shuffles back in.
Expedition Map: Expedition Map lets the deck to have a consistant way of getting Academy Ruins onto the battlefield. It can also search up Tectonic Edge if you need to.
Pyrite Spellbomb: Pyrite Spellbomb is another good spellbomb that the deck can run. It's better against early creatures than AEther Spellbomb but it requires red mana to be effective. The deck will usually have at least one Steam Vents for Engineered Explosives so it's rarely a problem.
Pithing Needle: Pithing Needle is a super versatile and cheap answer to many powerful cards in Modern. It’s required that you run at least one in the maindeck and another in the sideboard.
Torpor Orb: Torpor Orb shuts off many strategies in modern without hurting this strategy too much. It does suck that Trinket Mage and Vendilion Clique with it on the battlefield but it's usually worth it. It is possible to run it in the maindeck to be tutored for by Tezzeret.
Trinisphere: Trinisphere can shut down decks that rely on casting multitudes of cheap cards like Bogles. It is a little slow for what it does but when it works it's brutal.
Ensnaring Bridge: Ensnaring Bridge is probably the glue that holds the deck together. The deck can aggressively trade one-for-one maybe gain some card advantage off of Thirst for Knowledge and Trinket Mage until it can slam a Tezzeret down and search for Ensnaring Bridge. Most decks can't beat an Ensnaring Bridge and the ones that can usually aren't prepaired to deal with all of the other lockdown and protection at the same time.
Vedalken Shackles: Repeatable control magic isn't fair. Repeatable control magic that can be tutored for is less fair. Vedalken Shackles has a tendency to win games by itself and to put the opponent into situations where they have to choose between playing a creature and getting it stolen or doing nothing. It is a slow card but it's absurdly difficult for a deck like Jund to win against an active Vedalken Shackles.
Phyrexian Metamorph: Phyrexian Metamorph is an extra copy of every artifact in the deck. This is useful when it's needed to have two Pithing Needles or two Ensnaring Bridges (the second as insurance against Abrupt Decay). It's takes up a lot less space in the deck than a bunch of extra copies of cards and can randomly copy a giant creature from the opponent.
Batterskull: Batterskull can be run as an ananswerable threat that can be constantly recurred by Academy Ruins if the opponent can destroy or counter it. It's a more resilient threat than Tezzeret at 5 mana but it's not nearly as powerful.
Vendilion Clique: Vendilion Clique disrupts opponents while being a 3/1 flier. Combined with Trinket Mage, the deck can put a fast clock on the opponent if it's impossible to lock the opponent out.
Darksteel Citadel: Darksteel Citadel is a land that can be tutored for by Trinket Mage of Tezzeret. It's great to have the utility of fetching a land because the deck can be very mana hungry and missing land drops could spell doom.
Inkmoth Nexus: Inkmoth Nexus is a reliable (but slow) method of killing the opponent when they're locked out. It is a colorless land and having too many of them can hurt Vedalken Shackles.
Island: The deck is almost mono-blue and it does have Vedalken Shackles. So, having a bunch of Basic Islands is a requirement for the deck. Additionally, Blood Moon is a sideboard card this deck can run and it won't be hurt because of all the basics
Miren, the Moaning Well: Miren works very nicely with Vedalken Shackles and turns it into a recursive removal spell with a little life gain. It's weak on it's own so Tectonic Edge is usually a better choice.
Misty Rainforest / Scalding Tarn: The blue fetchlands allow for splashes for sideboard cards and Engineered Explosives without hurting Vedalken Shackles.
The Shocklands: Running 2-3 Shocklands to get the most amount of utility out of Engineered Explosives is pretty much required. The shocklands also allow for easy splashes of cards like Blood Moon, Pyroclasm, and Lightning Bolt.
Tectonic Edge: Tectonic Edge is great against Tron and Scapeshift while also dealing with opposing manlands and specialty lands. It in combination with Crucible of Worlds can prevent any land based shennanigins from happening.
Spell Snare: Spell Snare is a great card because it's a hard counter for one mana. Most two mana spells are worth countering anyways so the "drawback" of only being able to counter one mana spells is irrelevant. It's important for the deck to have some form of early interaction and Spell Snare is probably the most versatile and powerful of those options
Remand: Remand is purely a tempo play but can help give this deck breathing room against decks like Tron. Spell Snare is usually the better secondary counterspell because it is great on the play and on the draw but Remand can have its merits
See Beyond: See Beyond is a bad Thirst for Knowledge because it doesn't have any way of becoming pure card advantage like Thirst. It's still a good card in the deck because digging for answers and shuffling back in irrelevant cards is never a bad thing.
Pyroclasm: Pyroclasm can be run as an answer to early creatures. It's garbage against all of the combo decks but it's one of the best possible ways to survive the early turns against an agressive opponent. Firespout can be run if you're afraid of 3 toughness creatures.
Galvanic Blast / Lightning Bolt: These cards are better at answering individual threats than Pyroclasm and Firespout but they’re worse against multiple creatures. Galvanic Blast is usually better than Lightning Bolt because late game it will almost always be a 4 damage spell.
Witchbane Orb: Witchbane Orb is a decent sideboard card. It's a "win condition" against burn because they can almost never beat it. Additionally it needs to be removed before Scapeshift can win.
Sowing Salt: Sowing Salt is a narrower, more red heavy, and slower way to deal with the Tron Lands. It can potentially exile a Valakut but that rarely happens.
Slaughter Games: Scapeshift is a truely absymal matchup and if you're splashing both Black and Red you can have a great trump card in the matchup. It's also useful against decks like Storm who rely on one card to win.
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Steam Vents
1 Breeding Pool
1 Watery Grave
7 Island
2 Darksteel Citadel
1 Academy Ruins
1 Miren, the Moaning Well
1 Tectonic Edge
Creatures (6)
4 Trinket Mage
2 Spellskite
Other (30)
4 Galvanic Blast
3 Spell Snare
2 Cryptic Command
4 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Mox Opal
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
2 Pithing Needle
1 Crucible of Worlds
2 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Vedalken Shackles
1 Chalice of the Void
2 Engineered Explosives
4 Blood Moon
4 Slaughter Games
3 Firespout
2 Defense Grid
1 Torpor Orb
1 Elixir of Immortality
Pro Tour Berlin deck Tech with Kenny Öberg.
A recently written article by Glenn Jones about Tezzerator
Original Post: (all credit goes to Mdilthey for this):
Learn about Deckbuilding History...
I'll start you off with the original Pro Tour Berlin Deck Tech:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNDSfV0jKm4
Tezzerator was a deck originally designed by Kenny Öberg in 2008, and it piloted Brad Nelson to a top 8 in PT Honolulu. The deck was later adapted by Luis Scott-Vargas, who wrote an extensive article on the U/W Version, which can be found here.
The deck is very subtle and extremely difficult to pilot. This isn't Jund, where the correct mana curve is all you need to steal free wins. It's very difficult to play without mastering the field, so once you become familiar with the top decks in the format, there is a strong chance you can predict their hand and proactively halt their strategy.
This deck has play against some of the most difficult decks in the format, namely Twelvepost and Zoo, and it is very resilient to all reanimator decks, but it is weak to Bant and Mono Red.
Here's the list LSV used in Extended:
2 Thopter Foundry
1 Sword of the Meek
3 Engineered Explosives
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Vedalken Shackles
1 Aether Spellbomb
3 Chrome Mox
1 Tormod's Crypt
Planeswalkers:
2 Tezzeret the Seeker
Creatures:
2 Trinket Mage
Spells:
4 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Cryptic Command
2 Mana Leak
3 Spell Snare
3 Path to Exile
1 Wrath of God
1 Day of Judgment
2 Gifts Ungiven
1 Muddle the Mixture
3 Arid Mesa
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Steam Vents
1 Mystic Gate
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Academy Ruins
1 Tolaria West
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Ancient Den
3 Island
3 Snow-Covered Island
1 Plains
1 Snow-Covered Plains
3 Baneslayer Angel
3 Meddling Mage
2 Glen Elendra Archmage
2 Negate
1 Path to Exile
1 Tormods Crypt
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Pithing Needle
Many cards in this deck are banned, namely Thopter Foundry and Chrome Mox. However, Kenny Öberg did not use either of these cards when he and Brad Nelson used this in 2009. Thus, it ports extremely well to modern, since a field of reanimator, combo, and substantial amounts of Kibler Punishing Fires Zoo is exactly what we have.
Same meta, same toolbox deck!
Control is a new animal in Modern, since the diversity of your answers needs to be extremely robust. Here's my take on the Tezzeret list to be running, which is based almost card-for-card on the list proposed by Gavin Vernhey on SSG.com, who has been running MTGO's Overextended for months:
3 Trinket Mage
Planeswalkers:
3 Tezzeret the Seeker
Spells:
4 Cryptic Command
4 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Spell Snare
3 Path to Exile
Artifacts:
3 Engineered Explosives
2 Mox Opal
2 Vedalken Shackles
1 Expedition Map
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
1 Pithing Needle
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Elixir of Immortality
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Academy Ruins
2 Darksteel Citadel
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Steam Vents
1 Breeding Pool
2 Ghost Quarter
3 Scalding Tarn
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Tolaria West
Basic Land:
10 Island
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Trinket Mage
1 Trinisphere
4 Mindbreak Trap
2 Threads of Disloyalty
3 Firespout
1 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
The Toolbox:
Pithing Needle- Answers Planeswalkers, Knight of the Reliquary, and unexpected permanents.
Relic of Progenitus- Turns off Punishing Fire, Tarmogoyf, Living End, Pyromancer Ascension, Breach Protean Hulk, and several sub-T1 strategies that abuse the graveyard.
Engineered Explosives- Debatably the strongest card in the deck, your best numbers are 0, 2, 3, and 4. Most of the deck can be withheld in your hand, so almost any number of Sunburst counters won't cripple you.
Chalice of the Void- Best use is for 1 against Zoo, since it turns off half their deck. Explosives for 2 afterwards is a hewer. Using it for 1-2 against all other control decks stops entire oppositions, and you can play it for 0 to stop Protean Hulk pacts, Living End, and Restore Balance.
Crucible of Worlds- Allows you to recur Ghost Quarter against Twelvepost, gets back Academy Ruins for more explosives recurrence, and lets you use fetch lands to thin your deck.
Ensnaring Bridge- Stops Eldrazi, Titans, and big Knight of the Reliquary/Tarmogoyf. There's also the random games where you can cast your whole hand and have it sit there for 0, stopping all attacks. Against mono-red, finding a way to spend your hand is very profitable.
Vedalken Shackles- After a good Explosives, this can wreck an opponent's recovery.
Elixir of Immortality- Extremely underrated. Against Aggro, you can use Tezzeret's -1 to gain 5 life per turn, which has been the #1 way to beat mono-red and fast zoo. I'm never upset to see it, and it was Gavin Verney's idea. In a few builds in 2009, Sunbeam Spellbomb was used.
Sideboard:
Mindbreak Trap- This card stops Protean Hulk's Turn 1 combo even on the draw, and it's a house against most combo decks. It also exiles Emrakul, so you aren't dead to a Turn 5 octopus from Twelvepost. It's very good in Modern.
I highly suggest reading LSV's article on the archetype, as this deck has very little play if you can't make decisions on a very high level. It's a difficult, but vastly rewarding deck that requires practice and patience, and the ability to guess an opponent's hand or deck design based on the information you have. It is frustrating when an incorrectly guessed Explosives for 1 forces a loss, but it is highly rewarding when a Chalice for 2 shuts off 6 cards in their hand.
Don't forget Cryptic Command's bounce ability for re-buying Explosives that you need on a different number, and don't forget the power of 0. I'll post more strategy when I become more familiar with the deck myself. Happy Hunting!
Phyrexian Metamorph absolutly housed me. I thought I was good w/ a T5 Sun Titan, he cloned it and got more land back.
Spellskite came in from the sb as well.
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=519290
Spellskite seems theoretically good against Mono-Red, but eating one Flame Javelin is not THAT good, since they'll rarely let your skite absorb more than one spell.
LSV Mentioned Engineered Explosives is the best thing a mono-blue deck can do with it's lands in this week's Top 8 Modern cards.
Secondly, being immune to Blood Moon means that I can not only avoid an entire section of meta hate, but I also have the opportunity to SB it myself if it's a good meta call.
I think the list does need 1 more Mox Opal (since I can just pitch spares to Thirst) but can you honestly think of a better removal spell than Path? I can't. Dispatch isn't even as good, since it can't stop a T1 Hulk combo or an early Goblin.
Also, Punishing Fires is just "ok." It's definitely the real deal, worthy of all it's salt, but, well, take a look at your deck, Bant. Knight of the Reliquary, Tarmogoyf, Rhox War Monk, Wild Nacatl/Loam Lion/Kird Ape (If you run them)- they all avoid Punishing Fires completely. It's good against some decks but useless against others, and the break in synergy does not seem worth it to me.
Mindbreak Trap is the only counter I can think of to Emrakul and Boseiju, Who Shelters All, and it's also the only way I feel I can profitably stop turn 1-3 wins. If you have a better idea that serves the same purpose, I would love to hear it- no sarcasm, I love suggestions.
Thanks for the help! And the games.
a Vendillion Clique or 2 could make it MD as well; I think she's one of if not THE best creature in Modern.
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I like everything you're talking about.
As for Dismember, it doesn't kill Primeval Titan and it doesn't get rid of Protean Hulk, since when that dies they go infinite and win. Path is good there. I have been happy with Path, and I usually have no life to spare.
As for Gifts, it's looking better and better. The only Trinket Mage bullet I feel I should cut is Pithing Needle, but even that's good in 1/2 my games, so I am on the ropes.
Tezzeret is a pretty good win-con, since you eventually lock the control player out completely. However, in the control matchup I do want one or more cards. I am thinking about Sphinx of Jwar Isle or Wurmcoil Engine, or maybe Draining Whelk.
I like Mox Opal, a lot, and I probably want a third. It has been very good for setting up explosives while leaving blue untapped for Cryptic Command, and there have been several games where it was my only way to cast Path (which I have then since remedied with 6 fetches, up from 4, but it will probably still happen)
It's certainly no chrome mox, but it's definitely worth a 2-of, and probably a 3-of since I can pitch spares to Thirst for Knowledge.
Thanks for the feedback! I'll probably be adding a bomb to my SB.
I don't really like the idea of Etched Champion. The way the deck plays out right now, I find myself tapping down almost every turn until I'm already controlling the game, at which point a clock seems irrelevant. This plan seems off-focus to me, as aggroing them out is not what I want to be doing.
Vendilion Clique is probably good! This list can support it, and it was in the original build back in 2009 as well.
I have two answers; the first is, there's no room. This may or may not be correct, but I have found the list to be too tight to bother with a cantrip. The second is to just use your head; If they play a U/B land, prepare for Dark Confidant. If they pitch a Monstrous Caryatid, get a Chalice on 0 for their Living Death. If they play a Wild Nacatl, best get ready for Tarmogoyf, etc. etc. Most decks are readable to some extent, so I think the deck will function better if it's left to the pilot to do the probing, mentally. I intend to practice towards this goal before I run the spell.
Tolaria West seems great. You have a lot of insight on this archetype. I guess Chalice for 0 doesn't stop Hive Mind pacts because I still cast them on my side, correct? Didn't think of that... I'll remove it from the O.P.
Teachings is a deck I'm not so familiar with. Is it the 5CC list with teachings that was all over that season?
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Pyrite Spellbomb not only kills creatures, it also slowly damages the opponent with Academy Ruins once you have an Ensnaring Bridge lock. I highly recommend it as a win condition.
How does Relic of Progenitus turn of Pyromancer Ascension? Pyromancer ascension's gain a counter trigger is off playing the spell, not resolving it. The only way for it to work is pro-actively, and then the ascension player just keeps on playing his cantrips once you've killed his yard.
I do like Elixir of Immortality, it works really great.
@Blatch, they'll have to activate Pyro and then kill me in the same turn, and after board, we have more counters than they do. It's not impossible, but there is inevitability on the Pyromancer's side. If you're on the play and you slam Relic of Progenitus, and untap with Spell Snare (not too hard to do) you're in good company.
Chalice of the Void for 1 is also great against them, it turns off the whole deck, including the Repeal they'd use to stop it. Worth losing your own 1-drops.
I have all the mainboarded cards posted on the opening post but the Ravnica Shocklands. I am trying to build a secondary (preferably control) Modern deck for our local store league.
Anyways, I was wondering if Filterlands would work. I know its main purpose to ramp up EE. I have the Fetchlands but with Filterlands, would it still work?
Thanks for spiderboy4 of High~Light_Studios for the kick ass avatar.
Thanks for DarkNightCavalier of HotPS for the exceptional signature.
Isn't sunbeam spellbomb strictly better than elixir of immortality? its a cantrip when thh life gain is worthless and isn't anti-synergistic with academy ruins and gifts ungiven.
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Thomas Jefferson
Thanks for spiderboy4 of High~Light_Studios for the kick ass avatar.
Thanks for DarkNightCavalier of HotPS for the exceptional signature.
Why do they have to activate it and kill you in the same turn?
Wouldn't they just need to activate it? Then you're effective number of counters gets divided by two, because every spell they play is double. As for playing and activating it in the same turn -- that doesn't seem too hard to me. (Keep in mind I haven't tested either deck, so this is pure theory on my part).
I think theres a misunderstanding there. I guess you mean both Fetchlands and Shocklands instead of just Fetchlands right?
Thanks for spiderboy4 of High~Light_Studios for the kick ass avatar.
Thanks for DarkNightCavalier of HotPS for the exceptional signature.
As for the Pyro matchup, I still don't know.
I've been testing Gifts and it seems a lot worse when you can't get the thopter combo. I think I'll be cutting white again, maybe altogether but probably a splash for path.
Spellbomb V. Elixir of Immortality, I like Elixir because you can keep looping it with Tezzeret to gain more life, while the spellbomb's only method of loop is with Academy Ruins, costing you more mana and draw phases.
The jury isn't out on this one, but I like elixir better.
throw in a sharding sphinx its pretty good for making tons of thopters. despite not being as quick as the sword combo.
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[I]Some call it dig through time, when really your digging through CRAP!
Merfolk! showing magic players what a shower is since Lorwyn!
^^^^
Albert Einstein
Thomas Jefferson
Still, I like gifts, and I want to use it. I think I will consider sticking in the spellbombs and Gifts, and give that a whirl.
3 Gifts Ungiven
3 Path to Exile
3 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Mana Leak
3 Tezzeret the Seeker
2 Remand
2 Cryptic Command
1 Wrath of God
1 Day of Judgment
1 Noxious Revival
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Talisman of Progress
1 Batterskull
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Expedition Map
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Sunbeam Spellbomb
1 Vedalken Shackles
1 Breeding Pool
1 Forest
1 Ghost Quarter
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Mystic Gate
1 Plains
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Snow-Covered Island
1 Tolaria West
3 Ghost Quarter
2 Negate
2 Spell Snare
2 Flashfreeze
1 Into the Roil
1 Hallowed Burial
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Hex Parasite
1 Echoing Truth
Albert Einstein
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