I think your line is fine there, but Personally I really prefer taking out the kataki in most situations. unless that was your last sword, kataki eating your board is in my mind worse than losing only one sword. But again, that's contingent on if you have another sword in deck. Especially with bridge down, that's the kind of situation where I prefer to turtle up and wait for reinforcements from the top of my deck. Fracturing gust is, of course, a beating though
Earlier today I got to play some great games against Grixis Death's Shadow on MTGO. Throughout the game I found myself making a lot of decisions and I felt like if I got any of them wrong I could have lost the game. I think I have pretty sound understanding of how the match up plays out and I wanted to provide a more in depth look at how we should be approaching the most represented deck in Modern.
The video is about 30 minutes long and follows 2 games I played against Death's Shadow at an accelerated rate while I keep pausing the video and explaining my choices and varying lines in the match. There is a lot of information here for anyone who is new to the archetype but I think there are also many opportunities for Tezzerator veterans to discuss which moves are optimal given there are so many choices over the duration of game against Grixis Death's Shadow.
I think your line is fine there, but Personally I really prefer taking out the kataki in most situations. unless that was your last sword, kataki eating your board is in my mind worse than losing only one sword. But again, that's contingent on if you have another sword in deck. Especially with bridge down, that's the kind of situation where I prefer to turtle up and wait for reinforcements from the top of my deck. Fracturing gust is, of course, a beating though
Yeah my original plan was:
Grid, ping kataki, let scooze eat sword. Sit behind bridge with foundry+bridge+grid and hope to topdeck well.
The line I took instead gambled a bit that I would draw a land - but once I do I'm now looking at a board of thoptersword, bridge, and grid, which should be virtually unbeatable (gust notwithstanding)
I think my real mistake was probably laying bridge instead of grid when I had the chance. I was thinking bridge to stop the beats and buy time to do whatever else I needed, but it was not really necessary against a board of scavenging ooze and nothing else. The grid in play would have stopped the kataki cold.
It was a little embarrassing to lose from a situation of damnation into bridge thoptersword grid against elves, but I guess the hate cards are real and if your opponent hits multiple copies of kataki/stony/gust in tandem with things like pridemage/ooze/rec.sage you can't really be favoured to win.
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Modern
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
@Racing089: Outstanding, congrats! Really good content. Actual great content, even. And indeed the sound is fixed, too!
Two things come to mind, then:
- MTGO Replay speed is crazy fast like, too much. It kind of makes the visuals difficult to follow. What is it, 2x? 3x? A way to fix this would be to export the replay (normal speed) into some video editor and record your commentary controling from there. Then you can use a speed setting (1.5x perhaps) where we can see what is actually happening rather than just witness the board jumping from one state to another. You could even use slow motion sometimes (0.75-0.5x) rather than going full stop, and the effect could be nice; slowing things down but keeping the flow. My thoughts anyways.
/e: Here's a great example of basic third-party editor manipulations and how they can enhance the viewer's experience. Lol but, you don't have to go as far as Peasant Kenobi 'cause really his content is over the top (aimed at being entertaining), but it could certainly be of inspiration for ya. https://youtu.be/M1sHSdO-rT4?t=3m40s
- Also, if we're talking PR you should probably put a link to the MTGS Tezzerator Primer in each YouTube video description, with a «Join the Tezzerator community!» or smtg along it.
this deck is one of the few where variables matter a lot and SB bullets really hurt. We have practically everything to out our situation but lines of play from earlier in the match can actually prevent us from winning. the fact we get cross over hate from other decks being good is also a disadvantage. i would almost always take the ability to remove threats than turtle, obviously eldrazi match excluding since those threats are massive and we really dont have a way to deal with them outside of damnation. I honestly dont mind getting beat down while playing this deck to much as i know that one of the main win cons can bring us back out of dark situations.
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Tooth & Nail........Grishoalbrand....Living Dominance....Tezzerator.........Vannifar Pod
My Decks that have been BANNED
DRS Jund | Kiki-Pod | Bloom Titan | Splinter Twin | KCI
Round 1 - (Bx Zombies): Game 1 deployed early Chalice and locked him out from using Gravecrawler or casting his Viscera Seer and Dread Wanderer. Followed up with Bridge and Tezz Ult for game. Game 2 is a repeat except instead of Chalice I used Cage. Easy 2-0.
Round 2 - (Green Tron): Kept a pretty decent hand Game 1 and my opponent drew nothing but lands and sphere-effects. Eventually he gets Karn and sacs his three Sanctum of Ugin to tutor for NUlamog, New Emmy, and Wurmcoil Engine. Couldn't draw a way out of it and lost. Game 2 he drops a Chalce on 2 and 3! Thought the game was lights-out. Draw into Tezz and proceed to animate some 5/5s and win the game. I guess he was all in on the lockout plan Game 3 was very close, but he eventually finds an answer for my Padeem, Consul of Innovation and Bridge. Lost the Match 1-2.
Round 3 - (Big Abzan): Friend of mine was getting back into modern and wanted to build Abzan. He decided to just throw in huge beaters like Siege Rhino,Sigarda, Host of Herons, and Grave Titan with dorks to accelerate the plan. Long story short he also packed his deck with anti-artifact cards. Won game 1. Got Krosan Grip and Kataki, War's Wage out of the 2nd game. Ran out of time Game 3. Match 1-1-1.
Round 4 (Eldrazi Taxes): Game 1 assemble the three piece combo and take infinite turns. Game 2 I take away a Stony only for him to draw into another one anyway. He proceeds to lock me out by using Ghost Quarter and Leonin Arbiter. Game 3 I take away Stony again, but my opponent draws into RiP and plays out early Thought-Knot Seer. Couldn't find a single bridge or whir that game to save myself. Lost 1-2.
Round 5: Dropped. Was pretty down after losing another match and figure I would rather get an early drive home.
Final Record: 1-2-1
I suppose the question for you guys is that has anyone missed playing Fatal Push? My matches that I seem to lose that I can control are the ones where my opponent plays a creature that stunts my progress. I have seen Scavenging Ooze, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, and Harsh Mentor really put me in a squeeze where I basically pray the top card of library is Collective Brutality. These aren't even all of the offenders, but these are the 3 I see the most among my meta. I just don't know if I should commit to more creature removal or not. I keep my deck attuned for what I would expect at a large event, and if these types of creatures are going to keep on cropping up I just want to make the best deck optimizations moving forward.
Round 1 - (Bx Zombies): Game 1 deployed early Chalice and locked him out from using Gravecrawler or casting his Viscera Seer and Dread Wanderer. Followed up with Bridge and Tezz Ult for game. Game 2 is a repeat except instead of Chalice I used Cage. Easy 2-0.
Round 2 - (Green Tron): Kept a pretty decent hand Game 1 and my opponent drew nothing but lands and sphere-effects. Eventually he gets Karn and sacs his three Sanctum of Ugin to tutor for NUlamog, New Emmy, and Wurmcoil Engine. Couldn't draw a way out of it and lost. Game 2 he drops a Chalce on 2 and 3! Thought the game was lights-out. Draw into Tezz and proceed to animate some 5/5s and win the game. I guess he was all in on the lockout plan Game 3 was very close, but he eventually finds an answer for my Padeem, Consul of Innovation and Bridge. Lost the Match 1-2.
Round 3 - (Big Abzan): Friend of mine was getting back into modern and wanted to build Abzan. He decided to just throw in huge beaters like Siege Rhino,Sigarda, Host of Herons, and Grave Titan with dorks to accelerate the plan. Long story short he also packed his deck with anti-artifact cards. Won game 1. Got Krosan Grip and Kataki, War's Wage out of the 2nd game. Ran out of time Game 3. Match 1-1-1.
Round 4 (Eldrazi Taxes): Game 1 assemble the three piece combo and take infinite turns. Game 2 I take away a Stony only for him to draw into another one anyway. He proceeds to lock me out by using Ghost Quarter and Leonin Arbiter. Game 3 I take away Stony again, but my opponent draws into RiP and plays out early Thought-Knot Seer. Couldn't find a single bridge or whir that game to save myself. Lost 1-2.
Round 5: Dropped. Was pretty down after losing another match and figure I would rather get an early drive home.
Final Record: 1-2-1
I suppose the question for you guys is that has anyone missed playing Fatal Push? My matches that I seem to lose that I can control are the ones where my opponent plays a creature that stunts my progress. I have seen Scavenging Ooze, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, and Harsh Mentor really put me in a squeeze where I basically pray the top card of library is Collective Brutality. These aren't even all of the offenders, but these are the 3 I see the most among my meta. I just don't know if I should commit to more creature removal or not. I keep my deck attuned for what I would expect at a large event, and if these types of creatures are going to keep on cropping up I just want to make the best deck optimizations moving forward.
If your meta is particularly infested with random hatebears you could play some number of fatal push. Even in your board if those matchups aren't extremely common. It's not like Fatal Push is a bad card. Nobody here is going to argue that it is, it simply has less utility in this deck compared to most.
My best suggestion however would be sweepers. If your list is current with the link in your signature than I would cut Padeem, Damnation, and Flaying Tendrils from the main to play Radiant Flames. It is efficient and likely easier to cast than either of the BB cards for you and kills pretty much everything those cards would. If Padeem has been putting in work for you I would move it to the sideboard instead of cutting it completely. Also keep the Damnation in your sideboard because of Eldrazi Tron. Access to consistent sweepers against these go wide creature vial decks is invaluable.
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Anything Innovative
Xremag: For your meta, you could also look into running up to two Engineered Explosives MB? Tricks with it include casting with UU to set it on one through Chalice for ex. or paying the Thalia tax mana with a coloured mana so its actually taken into account in the Sunburst count.
And I really wouldnt feel comfortable running a 32-mana sources list with this little filtering, for dead topdecks and all. Consider Glint-Nest Crane perhaps? Finds your EE, combo, Bridge and bullets while pushing unwanted SSG's out of the way, on top of conveniently eating all the weenies. Equip with Sword to surprising resiliency and maximum troll factor. In small creatures metas, it really does wonders.
Hi all,
Just took Tezzeret to a 4-2, 13th place finish at a 1k. 50 players were in attendance. There was a TON of burn represented, a disproportionately high amount of Elves, and plenty Eldrazi Tron. Only like 3 DS players.
Match 1: Eldrazi Tron
Game 1 is a grindfest. Bridge does heavy lifting while I Crane and SV my way to the combo. By the time I assemble the combo, Endbringer has gotten me in the danger zone. A timely All Is Dust kills my first round of thopters and my foundries, so the game becomes hunting for another Foundry or Needle before Endbringer pings me to death. I do not get there.
Side in Ashiok and Witchbane Orb for Ballista and Relic.
Game 2 My 7 include Crucible, GQ, Ashiok, and Talisman. I play the talisman on turn 2. By turn 3 the opponent had no board presence, so I wanted to get an engine going with my moment to breathe. I wasn't going to be able to play Crucible and play a land from GY that turn, so instead I thought I'd play Ashiok and GQ on turn 3--next turn I'd be able to play Crucible and then re-play last turn's GQ from the bin. Welp, I didn't respect the Thought-Knot Seer and he played a Temple to rip Crucible on his t3. That cost me an easy victory... but then fast forward many turns. I've found a Bridge and gotten Tezz to 5 while my opponent has again found an Endbringer and started in on my life total. All Is Dust has killed a foundry, and I have Sword and Academy Ruins in play with 6 mana untapped. I just... missed putting the Foundry back on top with Ruins. Didn't see it. And I lost to Endpinger. 0-1.
Match 2: Temur Scapeshift--No titans
Game 1 I'm on the play. He drops a Young Pyromancer on turn 2 so I have no idea what he's on. I untap and casually LotV, -2 her, and Pyromancer avoided being a thing. Then he just plays lands forever. Many of my spells get countered while a beatdown Sakura-Tribe Elder keeps my LotV in check, but I finally peel a Tezz and make a hasty 5/5 Talisman. That turn, the Elder swings at Tezz But next turn I just make another hasty creature and they put him away.
Side in 2 Lost Legacy, Swan Song, and Witchbane Orb. Out: Relic, Needle, Ballista, 1 Damnation
Game 2 I don't find enough interruption. He's heavy on countermagic, but Academy Ruins is ******* MVP. I let him blow some counters on swords (lol) and when he had EVEN MORE COUNTERS for the Foundries, I bought em back twice with Ruins. Buuut then he just Scapeshifted me from 18.
Game 3 Academy Ruins again super all-star. I stupidly didn't side out Bridges because I thought he had titans, but I should have learned those were not in his deck after game 2. Well, he D-Revs me 2 times while also countering Foundries and 2 Bridges. He Snapcasters another D-Rev on my bridge, so I'm hurting. The snapcaster beats me to 5 before I Academy Ruins myself a Bridge, which ended up actually being relevant to stop Snapcaster beats. I find a Lili to give me a clock, then a Witchbane Orb to save both our asses (mine and Lili's, ofc). Eventually find combo and get there at 28 life. 1-1.
Match 3: Elves
Game 1, he's too fast. I'm on the draw, I scoop turn 4 staring down mega lethal. He has seen a Sword at this point unfortunately, but after it was clear I'm not winning, I revealed nothing else.
Side in 2 Fatal Push and Cage. Side out Crucible, Relic, and Thoughtseize.
Game 2 I keep a hand with 2 SV, a Sword, LotV, and 3 lands. Turn 1 SV finds Foundry. Turn 2 play Foundry; he plays More Dudes. Turn 3, drop a Sword, he plays More Dudes. Turn 4, Damnation. He's emptyhanded. Felt great. Thopters take it home real quick.
Game 3 I get annihilated. He was too fast. I had Damnation and would have had the mana to cast it, but he takes turn 3 after playing a million dudes to Druid them into GGG for Choke. My Watery Grave doesn't untap and I don't hit a 5th land for Damnation in time. 1-2.
Match 4: BW Eldrazi and Taxes
Game 1 saw Wasteland Strangler as he took his deck out. He plays Vial on turn 1 so I'm careful to play and crack my fetchlands fast before Arbiter. Speaking of which, he does play for mana on his turn 3, while pathing a Crane. So on my turn, he's tapped out, and yours truly is a troll who plays 3 GQs main, so I strip mine him to his own Arbiter. Thopters soon after thanks to SV, and they show him the door.
Sideboard: saw white, figured games 2/3 would be an uphill battle. Brought in Herald and Ashiok, took out Relic and Crystal Ball. Probably didn't need Ashiok here but I was expecting to need to find nonartifact ways to win the game.
Game 2 I just land early combo thanks to Serum Visions. Destroyed him shortly, but I casted Herald just to say I did. He got a card discarded for me, and he turned a Map that was just sitting there (thopters are a better mana sink after all) into killing Tidehollow Sculler that had taken my Damnation. Thopters and Herald beat real quick. 2-2.
Match 5: B Devotion splash R for Kolaghan's Command
Game 1 nobody knows better than me how screwed black decks are against artifacts. He's dropping Gifted Aetherborn, Geralf's Messenger, and Phyrexian Obliterator on curve, while I'm dropping the combo. Block and kill Aetherborn before he learned the combo. Don't bother blocking Obliterator--I'm gaining that life back and chunking him every turn. Bridge not required. He did play a BR land on his last turn, so I know to expect at least some resistance after boarding.
Side in Ashiok, take out Ballista.
Game 2 he just doesn't draw the K-commands. Bridge keeps him at bay with his great curve of creatures while I land a Tezz and uptick. He has gained a lot through Aetherborn so a Tezz ult, even after I land the combo and spew thopters, is not lethal in 1 turn. HOWEEEEVER mah girl Ashiok has been ticking up since turn 3 and has a Geralf's Messenger in her wallet. I toss that into play and the drain is enough to make Tezz lethal. Thanks, Ashiok. 3-2.
Match 6: Burn
Game 1 - He is on the play. I keep a 1-lander cause it has Serum Visions and natural combo. He leads on mountain, Goblin Guide, put a land in my hand. I play a tapped Watery Grave, being careful with my life, and with combo already I didn't feel the need to play SV. Turn 2, swiftspear, bolt me, swing for another 4 (draw me a land). I'm looking pretty ****ed. I play Brutality, go 3 modes, have a Sword to discard and at this point an extra land to pitch thanks to the Goblin Guide extras, and then play combo and seal the deal.
Sideboard in Padeem, Trinisphere, Trading Post, Witchbane Orb. Take out Lili and Tezz (what good are they if I'm dead), crystal ball (no time for that!) and relic. I see now Needle would have been a better side-out than the LotV.
Game 2 I miraculously find the Brutality and combo in my opening 7. He opens with Lava Spike. My turn is Delta, which I crack on his end step for a tapped Watery Grave after he spends turn 2 playing a land and passing. My turn 2, it's Brutality City. Only 2 modes cause there's no creature to get this time. He responds by skullcracking me, and I'm able to duress a Bolt. So I basically threw away a card, but it's all about staying alive, not maximizing efficiency. His turn 3, plays Swiftspear and chunks me for 1; I untap and play Lili as an Assassinate. His turn 4 he bolts Lili, which may not have been what cost him the game, but it was not correct either way. I drop the combo; he's now the one on the clock. On his turn he thinks for a while, plays Eidolon, then realizes I will not be casting spells for the rest of the game. I finally do something clever instead of dumb on my next turn: I make a thopter in my main phase, to which he responds with skullcrack to prevent the lifegain. I'm like, cool pass turn, then I just do all my thopter making and lifegain on his turn, skullcrack having only prevented the gain of a single life instead of all of it if I had waited until his turn to begin. Thopter life gains me back into the teens and he scoops. 4-2.
Thoughts
Crane, y'all. Block dudes from hitting Lili, find me lands (citadels), make assembling the combo super easy. Also even when I didn't plan on casting whatever Crane drew, I'd just grab a junk artifact to throw away to Lili's +1 or Brutality. 1000% on the Crane plan.
LotV is amazing. On hands without the combo, she's a 1-card wincon, which is a very strong thing-that-isn't-the-combo to be doing. Only ever felt I didn't want her against Elves, and even then, a slow edict that gains me a few life when they swing at her isn't awful.
Crucible lock is real. I goofed up and missed my chance to get a free Eldrazi Tron win with it, but I got it online in some other grindy game and just recurred a few Deltas, which was great.
Tezzeret did less work than I expected. Not that he wasn't amazing when I could cast him, but I was so worried for my life total in many games that I had to put all of my energy into getting a bridge or thopter lifegain going, and he would not get cast if I was able to start the combo. His time of most importance was as a topdeck against the Scapeshift guy just to steal the game with hasty 5/5s.
Collective Brutality is amazing. I am dumb to only have 1 copy in my 75. I feel like I want 2 more copies, maybe 1 main and 1 side.
Map and Relic were lame. Guess I'm happy to have them for curve reasons, but whenever I cast them they just sat there. I think, even considering they occupy an important slot on the curve, I found myself often taking turn 1 to play a tapped Grave or fetch for a tapped Grave to preserve my life. A common play for me was to save life by not shocking on turn 1, playing whatever colorless land turn 2 into Talisman, then using the Talisman to play the 1 drop I skipped earlier.
GQing my own Citadel for a painless fetch happened a few times. On that note, my mana was totally fine despite all the colorless lands, but I do give a lot of that credit to talisman.
Academy Ruins did a ton of work. Buying back foundries and bridges through destructive revelry was way strong, and I should have been able to win an Eldrazi Tron game by Ruins-ing a foundry back.
Leaving Fatal Pushes in the side felt fine. BUT I think that was only made ok by having LotV and Damnation main. Felt great not having to rely -only- on bridge.
Going forward, I am definitely cutting Culling Scales from the side, and maybe Herald (my build doesn't power it out very quickly), for a Brutality. Then I might shift Ballista to the side and put another Brutality in its place maindeck. Ballista was really only there as a Crane-findable extra removal spell for combo dorks, and I never got to use it.
So I've been on turbo for a little bit now, and need to refine my list. I apologize I'm terrible w/ deck tags. It's essentially a standard turbo list except there's 2 Spellskites and 3 Fatal Push and the land base is uncertain.
I keep seeing people playing discard like IoK over push, which I can't get behind. I'd rather top deck a push later in the game than discard, and it not interacting well w/ Bridge doesn't quite make sense. Spellskite I could definitely cut, I just haven't found anything I would prefer.
Are there any artifacts that are a little left field that have over performed for you guys? I think coming to a consensus on the most important artifacts to main would be beneficial, although it's a little meta-dependant.
Earlier today I got to play some great games against Grixis Death's Shadow on MTGO. Throughout the game I found myself making a lot of decisions and I felt like if I got any of them wrong I could have lost the game. I think I have pretty sound understanding of how the match up plays out and I wanted to provide a more in depth look at how we should be approaching the most represented deck in Modern.
The video is about 30 minutes long and follows 2 games I played against Death's Shadow at an accelerated rate while I keep pausing the video and explaining my choices and varying lines in the match. There is a lot of information here for anyone who is new to the archetype but I think there are also many opportunities for Tezzerator veterans to discuss which moves are optimal given there are so many choices over the duration of game against Grixis Death's Shadow.
Enjoy!
Also, I believe I fixed the sound issue!
Thanks for the videos, some feedback and questions:
The sound effects from magic online add virtually nothing to this playthrough and distract from your great commentary. I'd just mute those entirely, most videos I see from captured MTGO stuff have it muted.
Also, could you maybe explain something about your decklist choices? You seem to be running the 'turbo version' of the deck, using few silver bullets main, no time seive or KCI to go big, and a lot of ramp and 0 mana-artifacts. The entire deck seems to be focused on getting the combo fast, or the bridge fast, to get the combo safely again, but then you choose to play the 3-2 split on the combo. I don't understand this very well, it seems like you would want to give this version of the deck the utmost chance to just draw into it ASAP.
I'm asking this because I'm very choked on slots in my version and I'm running a very similar list besides that, so being able to shave off 2 slots would give me some much needed wiggle room, but as of now I don't feel like I can do that yet. I also really dislike going down below 4 moxen and 4 prisms, but that I'm more willing to do than shaving off the combo at the moment.
"Could you explain your decklist choices?"
Sure! Deck construction is my favorite partof Magic and this deck in particular given how unique it is.
I do not like running KCI or Time Seive because I can count on 1 hand the number of games I have assembled thopter/sword and did not win the game. Of those games that I didn't win I would have won maybe half of those if I had a third combo piece in my deck. The cost of drawing the third piece and it doing nothing is too great in my opinion.
I can understand why it may look like the deck is all about getting to a fast Thopter/Sword or a fast Ensnaring Bridge, and you would be partially correct, but that is more accurately the ends and not the means. The day Whir of Invention was spoiled I came to this community and said "Hey guys, cards totally busted, this is the future" many disagreed but here we are now. My reason for this short humble brag is that SO many people are misunderstanding that the deck IS a Whir of Invention deck now. Everything the deck is trying to do involves powering up a Whir of Invention and then using it to greatest effect. Much like Chord of Calling decks that have existed since Modern's inception. We have to trade away the ability for the things we are tapping to produce color but everything else about the card makes it WAY more powerful than Chord of Calling. Lets break it down this way:
Mox Opal = Birds of Paradise that isn't summoning sick and more resistant to removal.
Pentad Prism = A 1 mana better version of Wall of Roots that is resistant to removal and isn't summoning sick.
Thopter/Sword/KCI= Melira/Kitchen Finks/Viscera Seer but resistant to spot removal and can win without a third piece. Half of which can freely return from the grave.
Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas = Collected Company. It can be better or worse depending on the match but nevertheless a 4 mana card advantage engine.
Any further comparisons would be a stretch but you get the picture. Being able to constantly rely on Whir of Invention gives us a deck that looks more like this:
7x Thopter Foundry
6x Sword of the Meek
7x Ensnaring Bridge
6x Welding Jar
5x Pithing Needle
6x Relic of Progentius
That sounds terrible until you consider the fact that you only have 4 more copies of each when you want them. You almost never want the second copy of any of these cards in the top ten cards of your deck and therefore you play less than 4 copies. But when you need them you NEED them and that is the power Whir of Invention brings to the deck.
I am playing 3 Mox Opal and 3 Pentad Prism for the same reason. The first one is good but the second does nearly nothing.
Also, every artifact you play in your deck is "strictly" worse than another cards you could be playing. Running a large number of artifacts is a handicap and the more we can mitigate that and play more "real" cards the better our deck is going to be. Mishra's Bauble gets to be an artifact, and then it can be cashed in for a real card once it had finished serving it purpose of enabling a Mox Opal, Tezz Ult, or Whir of Invention.
TlDR: Whir of Invention builds the deck and cuts the fat. Go all in on maximizing Whir and don't look back.
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Sultai Midrange
Anything Innovative
I split top 4 of a 72 person 1k this weekend. Titan games and hobbies was the shop. I played versus a tezz compatriot as well! The coverage team demanded I was on camera because they were getting a lot of excitement about the deck.
Their coverage commentary wasn't exactly spot on, but everyone enjoyed it "(why doesn't he play an engineered explosives so he can whir for it?...oh yeah I guess that wouldn't work would it)"
Quick tournament report and key elements to my success:
Round 1: Tezz mirror. 2/1
He was much better set up for the mirror with EE and academy ruins which he locked me with 2 games, but in the final game I whirred for 4 with his EE in play (poised to blow up my needle on thopter foundry) to get another pithing needle. This is one of my favorite tricks in the deck and I use it often. I then drew a tezz before he did.
Round 2:
Grixis Death Shadow. 2/0
Dumped my hand of baubles/relic and drew cards when I had time rather than get eaten by his discard.
I also played around surgical very hard for multiple turns stuck on 3 mana with swords and got him for it.
Round 3:
Burn. 2/1
Chalice on 2 wins long games. So does an early collective brutality.
Round 4:
Burn. 1/2
I only lost this matchup as game 3 I mull to 5 and keep fetch, visions, foundry, sword, mox. Very good 5. I then visions into 3 non lands, draw my only colorless land, play sword and have 4 turns to find an artifact or black land and I do not.
Round 5:
Druid Coco. 2/0
Collective brutality was insane here. So was main deck cage. my opponent had infinite mana, coco, chord, and infinite life combo but a main deck cage stopped everything. Game 2 I do the whir for 3 trick behind a bridge to get needle and name his 2 balista's in play to buy 5 turns of time from his noble hierarch beats.
Round 6:
Blue Jund 2/1
This was on coverage versus my car mate. Game 1 I infinite turns him, game 2 he out grinds me by off the top 1 of chandra stuck behind a bridge, and game 3 I play tight and beat him by needle on chandra (which he drew again) and thopter combo.
Round 7 - ID
Top 8:
Living End 2/0
This matchup seems pretty good for it. Thopter combo doesn't just win without a lot of lands, but bridge and protecting it or a timely relic does.
Game 2 she aggressively spirit guides a fulminator to kill my land, but I play a fetch, don't crack it to get to my turn and have 2 mana to play an artifact and turn on mox. Then chord for relic when she taps out and the rest of the game is just finding a way to win.
Afterward commentary asked me for my decision to not include academy ruins and I said that I feel it would need to take a spell slot as a colorless land is not ideal when needing UUU and 2 colors of mana on turn 2. I'm very happy with 20 lands in the deck as is also. Thopter combo with 3 lands doesn't always win the game.
I have been very happy with the configuration of my build and I'll be playing this 75 at the Invitational this weekend. Anyone who's there keep an eye out for me!
Hey I'm in the process of building this deck for some upcoming pptqs. How does this list look? I'm thinking about going the route with early removal to survive tell the combo gets online. Comments and suggestions are welcomed.
@Molz: Awesome, 'grats! Sounds like solid plays you pulled off! Can we see the feature match anywhere? YouTube?
@crssherman1990: two things. Minor thing is 22 lands, along 3x SVs and the full set of Bauble, seems one too many land. Possibly two if you were to just switch one for the fourth Opal (which would need you to run a couple more artifacts to be worthwhile, FYI) -- EDIT: 21 lands, I can't count apparently -- Which brings up the second, more serious issue;
While the Push/Brutality/IoK in the board plan seems strong in covering all the angles, you WILL run into the issue of wanting to sideboard in all the answers you have to white decks (3x Decays, 4x IoK, 1x Pulse, perhaps EE, 1-2 Cage for Chord/CoCo and a Damnation. And Herald!). And then you won't have enough goodies to cut from the maindeck WHILE maintaining a decent artifact count (for Opal notably, which needs to be reliably on otherwise your mana-base setup goes down the drain) and a working game plan in Thopter/Sword and powered-up Tezz.
In other words: I suspect you will be short on slots when SB'ing, because there's a choking effect or tension between:
1. Our good cards we wanna bring in;
2. Our answers to their answers (Stony Silence & al.), and;
3. Stuff you can afford to take out from the MB.
SB'ing is one of the hardest part and it really is experience that will make you realize this principle is driving every SB decision you make. There are only so many slots that you can open. That's why you see Push and IoK fight for the same slots in most of our builds.
/e: @Ladennifer: congrats too! Loving the old school vibe. Have you ever gotten value out of Crystal Ball? You must be looking forward to Sunset Pyramid, are you? Also, I do like Tezz against Burn, if I get at least another turn. Then it often plays as your last resort Stirrings to hit the thopter-sword piece you're missing. And if they don't answer Tezz, suprise 6-10 life you can squeeze out of his ult can give you a window allowing you to claw back into the game.
@CausticKorg:Yeah but I still like my IoKs in the face of Stony Silence or in a counterspell-heavy meta! There are arguments for both, really.
@crssherman1990: two things. Minor thing is 22 lands, along 3x SVs and the full set of Bauble, seems one too many land. Possibly two if you were to just switch one for the fourth Opal (which would need you to run a couple more artifacts to be worthwhile, FYI), which brings up the second, more serious issue;
While the Push/Brutality/IoK in the board plan seems strong in covering all the angles, you WILL run into the issue of wanting to sideboard in all the answers you have to white decks (3x Decays, 4x IoK, 1x Pulse, perhaps EE, 1-2 Cage for Chord/CoCo and a Damnation. And Herald!). And then you won't have enough goodies to cut from the maindeck WHILE maintaining a decent artifact count (for Opal notably, which needs to be reliably on otherwise your mana-base setup goes down the drain) and a working game plan in Thopter/Sword and powered-up Tezz.
In other words: I suspect you will be short on slots when SB'ing, because there's a choking effect or tension between:
1. Our good cards we wanna bring in;
2. Our answers to their answers (Stony Silence & al.), and;
3. Stuff you can afford to take out from the MB.
SB'ing is one of the hardest part and it really is experience that will make you realize this principle is driving every SB decision you make. There are only so many slots that you can open. That's why you see Push and IoK fight for the same slots in most of our builds.
Hey thanks for the reply. Unless I miscounted I believe there are only 21 lands. Should I go down to 3 Mishra's Bauble?
@crssherman1990: You're right! I can't count. This being said while writing my original comment I was somewhat relevantly thinking that we could maybe each do an individual effort when posting decklists to write the # of lands instead of everyone achingly counting them up one line at a time ... if you do. I know I do. Even if I can't do it properly
In the same vein, I must say that I also count your artifacts, all. Perhaps we could take a line to write that up too?
RE: Cut Bauble. Absolutely not, Bauble is a synergistic swiss-army knife in this deck!
RE: More Visions. I like visions, but it's a personal preference. They do improve your ability to topdeck, while slowing you down just a bit. They also help in finding the combo. Then again some people rather run more control elements, which theoretically buys them time which results in finding the combo also.
Round 1 - (Bx Zombies): Game 1 deployed early Chalice and locked him out from using Gravecrawler or casting his Viscera Seer and Dread Wanderer. Followed up with Bridge and Tezz Ult for game. Game 2 is a repeat except instead of Chalice I used Cage. Easy 2-0.
Round 2 - (Green Tron): Kept a pretty decent hand Game 1 and my opponent drew nothing but lands and sphere-effects. Eventually he gets Karn and sacs his three Sanctum of Ugin to tutor for NUlamog, New Emmy, and Wurmcoil Engine. Couldn't draw a way out of it and lost. Game 2 he drops a Chalce on 2 and 3! Thought the game was lights-out. Draw into Tezz and proceed to animate some 5/5s and win the game. I guess he was all in on the lockout plan Game 3 was very close, but he eventually finds an answer for my Padeem, Consul of Innovation and Bridge. Lost the Match 1-2.
Round 3 - (Big Abzan): Friend of mine was getting back into modern and wanted to build Abzan. He decided to just throw in huge beaters like Siege Rhino,Sigarda, Host of Herons, and Grave Titan with dorks to accelerate the plan. Long story short he also packed his deck with anti-artifact cards. Won game 1. Got Krosan Grip and Kataki, War's Wage out of the 2nd game. Ran out of time Game 3. Match 1-1-1.
Round 4 (Eldrazi Taxes): Game 1 assemble the three piece combo and take infinite turns. Game 2 I take away a Stony only for him to draw into another one anyway. He proceeds to lock me out by using Ghost Quarter and Leonin Arbiter. Game 3 I take away Stony again, but my opponent draws into RiP and plays out early Thought-Knot Seer. Couldn't find a single bridge or whir that game to save myself. Lost 1-2.
Round 5: Dropped. Was pretty down after losing another match and figure I would rather get an early drive home.
Final Record: 1-2-1
I suppose the question for you guys is that has anyone missed playing Fatal Push? My matches that I seem to lose that I can control are the ones where my opponent plays a creature that stunts my progress. I have seen Scavenging Ooze, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, and Harsh Mentor really put me in a squeeze where I basically pray the top card of library is Collective Brutality. These aren't even all of the offenders, but these are the 3 I see the most among my meta. I just don't know if I should commit to more creature removal or not. I keep my deck attuned for what I would expect at a large event, and if these types of creatures are going to keep on cropping up I just want to make the best deck optimizations moving forward.
If your meta is particularly infested with random hatebears you could play some number of fatal push. Even in your board if those matchups aren't extremely common. It's not like Fatal Push is a bad card. Nobody here is going to argue that it is, it simply has less utility in this deck compared to most.
My best suggestion however would be sweepers. If your list is current with the link in your signature than I would cut Padeem, Damnation, and Flaying Tendrils from the main to play Radiant Flames. It is efficient and likely easier to cast than either of the BB cards for you and kills pretty much everything those cards would. If Padeem has been putting in work for you I would move it to the sideboard instead of cutting it completely. Also keep the Damnation in your sideboard because of Eldrazi Tron. Access to consistent sweepers against these go wide creature vial decks is invaluable.
Xremag: For your meta, you could also look into running up to two Engineered Explosives MB? Tricks with it include casting with UU to set it on one through Chalice for ex. or paying the Thalia tax mana with a coloured mana so its actually taken into account in the Sunburst count.
And I really wouldnt feel comfortable running a 32-mana sources list with this little filtering, for dead topdecks and all. Consider Glint-Nest Crane perhaps? Finds your EE, combo, Bridge and bullets while pushing unwanted SSG's out of the way, on top of conveniently eating all the weenies. Equip with Sword to surprising resiliency and maximum troll factor. In small creatures metas, it really does wonders.
@racing089: The Radiant Flames doesn't sound like a bad idea actually. I have used it before in a Grixis Shell so maybe it is about time I try it out again.
@radouf: I used to use Glint-Nest Crane in my previous shell when it was purely a 4x Chalice/4x Bridge deck and it worked wonders then, however that list was more like the older list that ran mana rocks and 0 Whirs. I don't think I can go back to that list when I believe Whir is just the better card to play.
I think for this week I'll re-sleeve Serum Visions and Inquisition of Kozilek and reintroduce the silver bullets. I may just be trying to slot too many prison cards for a deck that just wants to combo off instead. Will record my results and let everyone know how it goes!
I split top 4 of a 72 person 1k this weekend. Titan games and hobbies was the shop. I played versus a tezz compatriot as well! The coverage team demanded I was on camera because they were getting a lot of excitement about the deck.
Their coverage commentary wasn't exactly spot on, but everyone enjoyed it "(why doesn't he play an engineered explosives so he can whir for it?...oh yeah I guess that wouldn't work would it)"
Quick tournament report and key elements to my success:
Round 1: Tezz mirror. 2/1
He was much better set up for the mirror with EE and academy ruins which he locked me with 2 games, but in the final game I whirred for 4 with his EE in play (poised to blow up my needle on thopter foundry) to get another pithing needle. This is one of my favorite tricks in the deck and I use it often. I then drew a tezz before he did.
Round 2:
Grixis Death Shadow. 2/0
Dumped my hand of baubles/relic and drew cards when I had time rather than get eaten by his discard.
I also played around surgical very hard for multiple turns stuck on 3 mana with swords and got him for it.
Round 3:
Burn. 2/1
Chalice on 2 wins long games. So does an early collective brutality.
Round 4:
Burn. 1/2
I only lost this matchup as game 3 I mull to 5 and keep fetch, visions, foundry, sword, mox. Very good 5. I then visions into 3 non lands, draw my only colorless land, play sword and have 4 turns to find an artifact or black land and I do not.
Round 5:
Druid Coco. 2/0
Collective brutality was insane here. So was main deck cage. my opponent had infinite mana, coco, chord, and infinite life combo but a main deck cage stopped everything. Game 2 I do the whir for 3 trick behind a bridge to get needle and name his 2 balista's in play to buy 5 turns of time from his noble hierarch beats.
Round 6:
Blue Jund 2/1
This was on coverage versus my car mate. Game 1 I infinite turns him, game 2 he out grinds me by off the top 1 of chandra stuck behind a bridge, and game 3 I play tight and beat him by needle on chandra (which he drew again) and thopter combo.
Round 7 - ID
Top 8:
Living End 2/0
This matchup seems pretty good for it. Thopter combo doesn't just win without a lot of lands, but bridge and protecting it or a timely relic does.
Game 2 she aggressively spirit guides a fulminator to kill my land, but I play a fetch, don't crack it to get to my turn and have 2 mana to play an artifact and turn on mox. Then chord for relic when she taps out and the rest of the game is just finding a way to win.
Afterward commentary asked me for my decision to not include academy ruins and I said that I feel it would need to take a spell slot as a colorless land is not ideal when needing UUU and 2 colors of mana on turn 2. I'm very happy with 20 lands in the deck as is also. Thopter combo with 3 lands doesn't always win the game.
I have been very happy with the configuration of my build and I'll be playing this 75 at the Invitational this weekend. Anyone who's there keep an eye out for me!
Got a link to that coverage? :]
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U/B Tezzeret Control
Sultai Midrange
Anything Innovative
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I think your line is fine there, but Personally I really prefer taking out the kataki in most situations. unless that was your last sword, kataki eating your board is in my mind worse than losing only one sword. But again, that's contingent on if you have another sword in deck. Especially with bridge down, that's the kind of situation where I prefer to turtle up and wait for reinforcements from the top of my deck. Fracturing gust is, of course, a beating though
Video Link
The video is about 30 minutes long and follows 2 games I played against Death's Shadow at an accelerated rate while I keep pausing the video and explaining my choices and varying lines in the match. There is a lot of information here for anyone who is new to the archetype but I think there are also many opportunities for Tezzerator veterans to discuss which moves are optimal given there are so many choices over the duration of game against Grixis Death's Shadow.
Enjoy!
Also, I believe I fixed the sound issue!
Sultai Midrange
Anything Innovative
Yeah my original plan was:
Grid, ping kataki, let scooze eat sword. Sit behind bridge with foundry+bridge+grid and hope to topdeck well.
The line I took instead gambled a bit that I would draw a land - but once I do I'm now looking at a board of thoptersword, bridge, and grid, which should be virtually unbeatable (gust notwithstanding)
I think my real mistake was probably laying bridge instead of grid when I had the chance. I was thinking bridge to stop the beats and buy time to do whatever else I needed, but it was not really necessary against a board of scavenging ooze and nothing else. The grid in play would have stopped the kataki cold.
It was a little embarrassing to lose from a situation of damnation into bridge thoptersword grid against elves, but I guess the hate cards are real and if your opponent hits multiple copies of kataki/stony/gust in tandem with things like pridemage/ooze/rec.sage you can't really be favoured to win.
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
Two things come to mind, then:
/e: Here's a great example of basic third-party editor manipulations and how they can enhance the viewer's experience. Lol but, you don't have to go as far as Peasant Kenobi 'cause really his content is over the top (aimed at being entertaining), but it could certainly be of inspiration for ya. https://youtu.be/M1sHSdO-rT4?t=3m40s
- Also, if we're talking PR you should probably put a link to the MTGS Tezzerator Primer in each YouTube video description, with a «Join the Tezzerator community!» or smtg along it.
Oh and, great games
OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
Tooth & Nail........Grishoalbrand....Living Dominance....Tezzerator.........Vannifar Pod
My Decks that have been BANNED
DRS Jund | Kiki-Pod | Bloom Titan | Splinter Twin | KCI
Round 2 - (Green Tron): Kept a pretty decent hand Game 1 and my opponent drew nothing but lands and sphere-effects. Eventually he gets Karn and sacs his three Sanctum of Ugin to tutor for NUlamog, New Emmy, and Wurmcoil Engine. Couldn't draw a way out of it and lost. Game 2 he drops a Chalce on 2 and 3! Thought the game was lights-out. Draw into Tezz and proceed to animate some 5/5s and win the game. I guess he was all in on the lockout plan Game 3 was very close, but he eventually finds an answer for my Padeem, Consul of Innovation and Bridge. Lost the Match 1-2.
Round 3 - (Big Abzan): Friend of mine was getting back into modern and wanted to build Abzan. He decided to just throw in huge beaters like Siege Rhino,Sigarda, Host of Herons, and Grave Titan with dorks to accelerate the plan. Long story short he also packed his deck with anti-artifact cards. Won game 1. Got Krosan Grip and Kataki, War's Wage out of the 2nd game. Ran out of time Game 3. Match 1-1-1.
Round 4 (Eldrazi Taxes): Game 1 assemble the three piece combo and take infinite turns. Game 2 I take away a Stony only for him to draw into another one anyway. He proceeds to lock me out by using Ghost Quarter and Leonin Arbiter. Game 3 I take away Stony again, but my opponent draws into RiP and plays out early Thought-Knot Seer. Couldn't find a single bridge or whir that game to save myself. Lost 1-2.
Round 5: Dropped. Was pretty down after losing another match and figure I would rather get an early drive home.
Final Record: 1-2-1
I suppose the question for you guys is that has anyone missed playing Fatal Push? My matches that I seem to lose that I can control are the ones where my opponent plays a creature that stunts my progress. I have seen Scavenging Ooze, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, and Harsh Mentor really put me in a squeeze where I basically pray the top card of library is Collective Brutality. These aren't even all of the offenders, but these are the 3 I see the most among my meta. I just don't know if I should commit to more creature removal or not. I keep my deck attuned for what I would expect at a large event, and if these types of creatures are going to keep on cropping up I just want to make the best deck optimizations moving forward.
UBx Tezzeret: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/18-06-17-ub-tezzeret/
If your meta is particularly infested with random hatebears you could play some number of fatal push. Even in your board if those matchups aren't extremely common. It's not like Fatal Push is a bad card. Nobody here is going to argue that it is, it simply has less utility in this deck compared to most.
My best suggestion however would be sweepers. If your list is current with the link in your signature than I would cut Padeem, Damnation, and Flaying Tendrils from the main to play Radiant Flames. It is efficient and likely easier to cast than either of the BB cards for you and kills pretty much everything those cards would. If Padeem has been putting in work for you I would move it to the sideboard instead of cutting it completely. Also keep the Damnation in your sideboard because of Eldrazi Tron. Access to consistent sweepers against these go wide creature vial decks is invaluable.
Sultai Midrange
Anything Innovative
And I really wouldnt feel comfortable running a 32-mana sources list with this little filtering, for dead topdecks and all. Consider Glint-Nest Crane perhaps? Finds your EE, combo, Bridge and bullets while pushing unwanted SSG's out of the way, on top of conveniently eating all the weenies. Equip with Sword to surprising resiliency and maximum troll factor. In small creatures metas, it really does wonders.
OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
Just took Tezzeret to a 4-2, 13th place finish at a 1k. 50 players were in attendance. There was a TON of burn represented, a disproportionately high amount of Elves, and plenty Eldrazi Tron. Only like 3 DS players.
Here's the list I took:
1x Crucible of Worlds
1x Crystal Ball
4x Ensnaring Bridge
1x Expedition Map
1x Pithing Needle
1x Relic of Progenitus
3x Sword of the Meek
3x Talisman of Dominance
4x Thopter Foundry
1x Walking Ballista
Planeswalker (6)
3x Liliana of the Veil
3x Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
Creature (4)
4x Glint-Nest Crane
1x Collective Brutality
2x Damnation
4x Serum Visions
1x Thoughtseize
Land (22)
1x Academy Ruins
3x Darksteel Citadel
3x Ghost Quarter
1x Inventors' Fair
2x Island
4x Polluted Delta
2x Swamp
1x Underground River
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4x Watery Grave
1x Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
1x Culling Scales
1x Dispel
2x Fatal Push
1x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Herald of Anguish
2x Lost Legacy
1x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Padeem, Consul of Innovation
1x Swan Song
1x Trading Post
1x Trinisphere
1x Witchbane Orb
Match 1: Eldrazi Tron
Game 1 is a grindfest. Bridge does heavy lifting while I Crane and SV my way to the combo. By the time I assemble the combo, Endbringer has gotten me in the danger zone. A timely All Is Dust kills my first round of thopters and my foundries, so the game becomes hunting for another Foundry or Needle before Endbringer pings me to death. I do not get there.
Side in Ashiok and Witchbane Orb for Ballista and Relic.
Game 2 My 7 include Crucible, GQ, Ashiok, and Talisman. I play the talisman on turn 2. By turn 3 the opponent had no board presence, so I wanted to get an engine going with my moment to breathe. I wasn't going to be able to play Crucible and play a land from GY that turn, so instead I thought I'd play Ashiok and GQ on turn 3--next turn I'd be able to play Crucible and then re-play last turn's GQ from the bin. Welp, I didn't respect the Thought-Knot Seer and he played a Temple to rip Crucible on his t3. That cost me an easy victory... but then fast forward many turns. I've found a Bridge and gotten Tezz to 5 while my opponent has again found an Endbringer and started in on my life total. All Is Dust has killed a foundry, and I have Sword and Academy Ruins in play with 6 mana untapped. I just... missed putting the Foundry back on top with Ruins. Didn't see it. And I lost to Endpinger. 0-1.
Match 2: Temur Scapeshift--No titans
Game 1 I'm on the play. He drops a Young Pyromancer on turn 2 so I have no idea what he's on. I untap and casually LotV, -2 her, and Pyromancer avoided being a thing. Then he just plays lands forever. Many of my spells get countered while a beatdown Sakura-Tribe Elder keeps my LotV in check, but I finally peel a Tezz and make a hasty 5/5 Talisman. That turn, the Elder swings at Tezz But next turn I just make another hasty creature and they put him away.
Side in 2 Lost Legacy, Swan Song, and Witchbane Orb. Out: Relic, Needle, Ballista, 1 Damnation
Game 2 I don't find enough interruption. He's heavy on countermagic, but Academy Ruins is ******* MVP. I let him blow some counters on swords (lol) and when he had EVEN MORE COUNTERS for the Foundries, I bought em back twice with Ruins. Buuut then he just Scapeshifted me from 18.
Game 3 Academy Ruins again super all-star. I stupidly didn't side out Bridges because I thought he had titans, but I should have learned those were not in his deck after game 2. Well, he D-Revs me 2 times while also countering Foundries and 2 Bridges. He Snapcasters another D-Rev on my bridge, so I'm hurting. The snapcaster beats me to 5 before I Academy Ruins myself a Bridge, which ended up actually being relevant to stop Snapcaster beats. I find a Lili to give me a clock, then a Witchbane Orb to save both our asses (mine and Lili's, ofc). Eventually find combo and get there at 28 life. 1-1.
Match 3: Elves
Game 1, he's too fast. I'm on the draw, I scoop turn 4 staring down mega lethal. He has seen a Sword at this point unfortunately, but after it was clear I'm not winning, I revealed nothing else.
Side in 2 Fatal Push and Cage. Side out Crucible, Relic, and Thoughtseize.
Game 2 I keep a hand with 2 SV, a Sword, LotV, and 3 lands. Turn 1 SV finds Foundry. Turn 2 play Foundry; he plays More Dudes. Turn 3, drop a Sword, he plays More Dudes. Turn 4, Damnation. He's emptyhanded. Felt great. Thopters take it home real quick.
Game 3 I get annihilated. He was too fast. I had Damnation and would have had the mana to cast it, but he takes turn 3 after playing a million dudes to Druid them into GGG for Choke. My Watery Grave doesn't untap and I don't hit a 5th land for Damnation in time. 1-2.
Match 4: BW Eldrazi and Taxes
Game 1 saw Wasteland Strangler as he took his deck out. He plays Vial on turn 1 so I'm careful to play and crack my fetchlands fast before Arbiter. Speaking of which, he does play for mana on his turn 3, while pathing a Crane. So on my turn, he's tapped out, and yours truly is a troll who plays 3 GQs main, so I strip mine him to his own Arbiter. Thopters soon after thanks to SV, and they show him the door.
Sideboard: saw white, figured games 2/3 would be an uphill battle. Brought in Herald and Ashiok, took out Relic and Crystal Ball. Probably didn't need Ashiok here but I was expecting to need to find nonartifact ways to win the game.
Game 2 I just land early combo thanks to Serum Visions. Destroyed him shortly, but I casted Herald just to say I did. He got a card discarded for me, and he turned a Map that was just sitting there (thopters are a better mana sink after all) into killing Tidehollow Sculler that had taken my Damnation. Thopters and Herald beat real quick. 2-2.
Match 5: B Devotion splash R for Kolaghan's Command
Game 1 nobody knows better than me how screwed black decks are against artifacts. He's dropping Gifted Aetherborn, Geralf's Messenger, and Phyrexian Obliterator on curve, while I'm dropping the combo. Block and kill Aetherborn before he learned the combo. Don't bother blocking Obliterator--I'm gaining that life back and chunking him every turn. Bridge not required. He did play a BR land on his last turn, so I know to expect at least some resistance after boarding.
Side in Ashiok, take out Ballista.
Game 2 he just doesn't draw the K-commands. Bridge keeps him at bay with his great curve of creatures while I land a Tezz and uptick. He has gained a lot through Aetherborn so a Tezz ult, even after I land the combo and spew thopters, is not lethal in 1 turn. HOWEEEEVER mah girl Ashiok has been ticking up since turn 3 and has a Geralf's Messenger in her wallet. I toss that into play and the drain is enough to make Tezz lethal. Thanks, Ashiok. 3-2.
Match 6: Burn
Game 1 - He is on the play. I keep a 1-lander cause it has Serum Visions and natural combo. He leads on mountain, Goblin Guide, put a land in my hand. I play a tapped Watery Grave, being careful with my life, and with combo already I didn't feel the need to play SV. Turn 2, swiftspear, bolt me, swing for another 4 (draw me a land). I'm looking pretty ****ed. I play Brutality, go 3 modes, have a Sword to discard and at this point an extra land to pitch thanks to the Goblin Guide extras, and then play combo and seal the deal.
Sideboard in Padeem, Trinisphere, Trading Post, Witchbane Orb. Take out Lili and Tezz (what good are they if I'm dead), crystal ball (no time for that!) and relic. I see now Needle would have been a better side-out than the LotV.
Game 2 I miraculously find the Brutality and combo in my opening 7. He opens with Lava Spike. My turn is Delta, which I crack on his end step for a tapped Watery Grave after he spends turn 2 playing a land and passing. My turn 2, it's Brutality City. Only 2 modes cause there's no creature to get this time. He responds by skullcracking me, and I'm able to duress a Bolt. So I basically threw away a card, but it's all about staying alive, not maximizing efficiency. His turn 3, plays Swiftspear and chunks me for 1; I untap and play Lili as an Assassinate. His turn 4 he bolts Lili, which may not have been what cost him the game, but it was not correct either way. I drop the combo; he's now the one on the clock. On his turn he thinks for a while, plays Eidolon, then realizes I will not be casting spells for the rest of the game. I finally do something clever instead of dumb on my next turn: I make a thopter in my main phase, to which he responds with skullcrack to prevent the lifegain. I'm like, cool pass turn, then I just do all my thopter making and lifegain on his turn, skullcrack having only prevented the gain of a single life instead of all of it if I had waited until his turn to begin. Thopter life gains me back into the teens and he scoops. 4-2.
Thoughts
Crane, y'all. Block dudes from hitting Lili, find me lands (citadels), make assembling the combo super easy. Also even when I didn't plan on casting whatever Crane drew, I'd just grab a junk artifact to throw away to Lili's +1 or Brutality. 1000% on the Crane plan.
LotV is amazing. On hands without the combo, she's a 1-card wincon, which is a very strong thing-that-isn't-the-combo to be doing. Only ever felt I didn't want her against Elves, and even then, a slow edict that gains me a few life when they swing at her isn't awful.
Crucible lock is real. I goofed up and missed my chance to get a free Eldrazi Tron win with it, but I got it online in some other grindy game and just recurred a few Deltas, which was great.
Tezzeret did less work than I expected. Not that he wasn't amazing when I could cast him, but I was so worried for my life total in many games that I had to put all of my energy into getting a bridge or thopter lifegain going, and he would not get cast if I was able to start the combo. His time of most importance was as a topdeck against the Scapeshift guy just to steal the game with hasty 5/5s.
Collective Brutality is amazing. I am dumb to only have 1 copy in my 75. I feel like I want 2 more copies, maybe 1 main and 1 side.
Map and Relic were lame. Guess I'm happy to have them for curve reasons, but whenever I cast them they just sat there. I think, even considering they occupy an important slot on the curve, I found myself often taking turn 1 to play a tapped Grave or fetch for a tapped Grave to preserve my life. A common play for me was to save life by not shocking on turn 1, playing whatever colorless land turn 2 into Talisman, then using the Talisman to play the 1 drop I skipped earlier.
GQing my own Citadel for a painless fetch happened a few times. On that note, my mana was totally fine despite all the colorless lands, but I do give a lot of that credit to talisman.
Academy Ruins did a ton of work. Buying back foundries and bridges through destructive revelry was way strong, and I should have been able to win an Eldrazi Tron game by Ruins-ing a foundry back.
Leaving Fatal Pushes in the side felt fine. BUT I think that was only made ok by having LotV and Damnation main. Felt great not having to rely -only- on bridge.
Going forward, I am definitely cutting Culling Scales from the side, and maybe Herald (my build doesn't power it out very quickly), for a Brutality. Then I might shift Ballista to the side and put another Brutality in its place maindeck. Ballista was really only there as a Crane-findable extra removal spell for combo dorks, and I never got to use it.
I keep seeing people playing discard like IoK over push, which I can't get behind. I'd rather top deck a push later in the game than discard, and it not interacting well w/ Bridge doesn't quite make sense. Spellskite I could definitely cut, I just haven't found anything I would prefer.
Are there any artifacts that are a little left field that have over performed for you guys? I think coming to a consensus on the most important artifacts to main would be beneficial, although it's a little meta-dependant.
"Could you explain your decklist choices?"
Sure! Deck construction is my favorite partof Magic and this deck in particular given how unique it is.
I do not like running KCI or Time Seive because I can count on 1 hand the number of games I have assembled thopter/sword and did not win the game. Of those games that I didn't win I would have won maybe half of those if I had a third combo piece in my deck. The cost of drawing the third piece and it doing nothing is too great in my opinion.
I can understand why it may look like the deck is all about getting to a fast Thopter/Sword or a fast Ensnaring Bridge, and you would be partially correct, but that is more accurately the ends and not the means. The day Whir of Invention was spoiled I came to this community and said "Hey guys, cards totally busted, this is the future" many disagreed but here we are now. My reason for this short humble brag is that SO many people are misunderstanding that the deck IS a Whir of Invention deck now. Everything the deck is trying to do involves powering up a Whir of Invention and then using it to greatest effect. Much like Chord of Calling decks that have existed since Modern's inception. We have to trade away the ability for the things we are tapping to produce color but everything else about the card makes it WAY more powerful than Chord of Calling. Lets break it down this way:
Mox Opal = Birds of Paradise that isn't summoning sick and more resistant to removal.
Pentad Prism = A 1 mana better version of Wall of Roots that is resistant to removal and isn't summoning sick.
Thopter/Sword/KCI= Melira/Kitchen Finks/Viscera Seer but resistant to spot removal and can win without a third piece. Half of which can freely return from the grave.
Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas = Collected Company. It can be better or worse depending on the match but nevertheless a 4 mana card advantage engine.
Any further comparisons would be a stretch but you get the picture. Being able to constantly rely on Whir of Invention gives us a deck that looks more like this:
7x Thopter Foundry
6x Sword of the Meek
7x Ensnaring Bridge
6x Welding Jar
5x Pithing Needle
6x Relic of Progentius
That sounds terrible until you consider the fact that you only have 4 more copies of each when you want them. You almost never want the second copy of any of these cards in the top ten cards of your deck and therefore you play less than 4 copies. But when you need them you NEED them and that is the power Whir of Invention brings to the deck.
I am playing 3 Mox Opal and 3 Pentad Prism for the same reason. The first one is good but the second does nearly nothing.
Also, every artifact you play in your deck is "strictly" worse than another cards you could be playing. Running a large number of artifacts is a handicap and the more we can mitigate that and play more "real" cards the better our deck is going to be. Mishra's Bauble gets to be an artifact, and then it can be cashed in for a real card once it had finished serving it purpose of enabling a Mox Opal, Tezz Ult, or Whir of Invention.
TlDR: Whir of Invention builds the deck and cuts the fat. Go all in on maximizing Whir and don't look back.
Sultai Midrange
Anything Innovative
3 sword of the meek
4 whir of invention
3 ensnaring bridge
3 tezzeret agent of bolas
4 Pentad prism
4 Mishras bauble
3 Mox opal
4 serum visions
3 collective brutality
1 time seive
1 grafdiggers cage
1 relic of progenitus
2 welding jar
4 polluted delta
4 flooded strand
3 island
1 swamp
2 watery grave
1 breeding pool
4 darkslick shores
1 inventors Fair
3 chalice of the void
2 thought seize
2 herald of anguish
1 damnation
2 Pithing needle
2 abrupt decay
2 Maelstrom pulse
1 Witchbane orb
I split top 4 of a 72 person 1k this weekend. Titan games and hobbies was the shop. I played versus a tezz compatriot as well! The coverage team demanded I was on camera because they were getting a lot of excitement about the deck.
Their coverage commentary wasn't exactly spot on, but everyone enjoyed it "(why doesn't he play an engineered explosives so he can whir for it?...oh yeah I guess that wouldn't work would it)"
Quick tournament report and key elements to my success:
Round 1: Tezz mirror. 2/1
He was much better set up for the mirror with EE and academy ruins which he locked me with 2 games, but in the final game I whirred for 4 with his EE in play (poised to blow up my needle on thopter foundry) to get another pithing needle. This is one of my favorite tricks in the deck and I use it often. I then drew a tezz before he did.
Round 2:
Grixis Death Shadow. 2/0
Dumped my hand of baubles/relic and drew cards when I had time rather than get eaten by his discard.
I also played around surgical very hard for multiple turns stuck on 3 mana with swords and got him for it.
Round 3:
Burn. 2/1
Chalice on 2 wins long games. So does an early collective brutality.
Round 4:
Burn. 1/2
I only lost this matchup as game 3 I mull to 5 and keep fetch, visions, foundry, sword, mox. Very good 5. I then visions into 3 non lands, draw my only colorless land, play sword and have 4 turns to find an artifact or black land and I do not.
Round 5:
Druid Coco. 2/0
Collective brutality was insane here. So was main deck cage. my opponent had infinite mana, coco, chord, and infinite life combo but a main deck cage stopped everything. Game 2 I do the whir for 3 trick behind a bridge to get needle and name his 2 balista's in play to buy 5 turns of time from his noble hierarch beats.
Round 6:
Blue Jund 2/1
This was on coverage versus my car mate. Game 1 I infinite turns him, game 2 he out grinds me by off the top 1 of chandra stuck behind a bridge, and game 3 I play tight and beat him by needle on chandra (which he drew again) and thopter combo.
Round 7 - ID
Top 8:
Living End 2/0
This matchup seems pretty good for it. Thopter combo doesn't just win without a lot of lands, but bridge and protecting it or a timely relic does.
Game 2 she aggressively spirit guides a fulminator to kill my land, but I play a fetch, don't crack it to get to my turn and have 2 mana to play an artifact and turn on mox. Then chord for relic when she taps out and the rest of the game is just finding a way to win.
Afterward commentary asked me for my decision to not include academy ruins and I said that I feel it would need to take a spell slot as a colorless land is not ideal when needing UUU and 2 colors of mana on turn 2. I'm very happy with 20 lands in the deck as is also. Thopter combo with 3 lands doesn't always win the game.
I have been very happy with the configuration of my build and I'll be playing this 75 at the Invitational this weekend. Anyone who's there keep an eye out for me!
3 Serum Visions
4 Whir of Invention
3 Fatal Push
3 Collective Brutality
1 Damnation
3 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Thopter Foundry
2 Sword of the Meek
3 Pentad Prism
3 Mox Opal
4 Mishra's Bauble
2 Welding Jar
1 Pithing Needle
1 Relic Progenitus
3 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
3 Darkslick Shores
4 Polluted Delta
4 Verdant Catacomb
3 Watery Grave
1 Breeding Pool
2 Spire of Industry
1 Academy Ruins
2 Island
1 Swamp
SideBoard
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Witchbane Orb
1 Trinisphere
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Herald of Anguish
1 Damnation
@crssherman1990: two things. Minor thing is 22 lands, along 3x SVs and the full set of Bauble, seems one too many land. Possibly two if you were to just switch one for the fourth Opal (which would need you to run a couple more artifacts to be worthwhile, FYI) -- EDIT: 21 lands, I can't count apparently -- Which brings up the second, more serious issue;
While the Push/Brutality/IoK in the board plan seems strong in covering all the angles, you WILL run into the issue of wanting to sideboard in all the answers you have to white decks (3x Decays, 4x IoK, 1x Pulse, perhaps EE, 1-2 Cage for Chord/CoCo and a Damnation. And Herald!). And then you won't have enough goodies to cut from the maindeck WHILE maintaining a decent artifact count (for Opal notably, which needs to be reliably on otherwise your mana-base setup goes down the drain) and a working game plan in Thopter/Sword and powered-up Tezz.
In other words: I suspect you will be short on slots when SB'ing, because there's a choking effect or tension between:
1. Our good cards we wanna bring in;
2. Our answers to their answers (Stony Silence & al.), and;
3. Stuff you can afford to take out from the MB.
SB'ing is one of the hardest part and it really is experience that will make you realize this principle is driving every SB decision you make. There are only so many slots that you can open. That's why you see Push and IoK fight for the same slots in most of our builds.
/e: @Ladennifer: congrats too! Loving the old school vibe. Have you ever gotten value out of Crystal Ball? You must be looking forward to Sunset Pyramid, are you? Also, I do like Tezz against Burn, if I get at least another turn. Then it often plays as your last resort Stirrings to hit the thopter-sword piece you're missing. And if they don't answer Tezz, suprise 6-10 life you can squeeze out of his ult can give you a window allowing you to claw back into the game.
@CausticKorg:Yeah but I still like my IoKs in the face of Stony Silence or in a counterspell-heavy meta! There are arguments for both, really.
OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
Hey thanks for the reply. Unless I miscounted I believe there are only 21 lands. Should I go down to 3 Mishra's Bauble?
In the same vein, I must say that I also count your artifacts, all. Perhaps we could take a line to write that up too?
/e: Example, using my lastest rig.
3x Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
4x Whir of Invention
4x Mishra's Bauble
4x Serum Visions
4x Thopter Foundry
3x Sword of the Meek
Bullets
1x Pithing Needle
1x Relic of Progenitus
3x Ensnaring Bridge
2x Welding jar
Disruption
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
3x Mox Opal
4x Pentad Prism
1x Inventors' Fair
4x Polluted Delta
2x Flooded Strand
2x Watery Grave
1x Breeding Pool
1x Steam Vents
2x Spire of Industry
4x Darkslick Shores
2x Island
1x Swamp
1x Pithing Needle
1x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Defense Grid
1x Torpor Orb
1x Trinisphere
1x Witchbane Orb
1x Thoughtseize
3x Collective Brutality
2x Maelstrom Pulse
1x Damnation
1x Ghirapur Aether Grid
1x Liliana of the Veil
RE: More Visions. I like visions, but it's a personal preference. They do improve your ability to topdeck, while slowing you down just a bit. They also help in finding the combo. Then again some people rather run more control elements, which theoretically buys them time which results in finding the combo also.
OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
@racing089: The Radiant Flames doesn't sound like a bad idea actually. I have used it before in a Grixis Shell so maybe it is about time I try it out again.
@radouf: I used to use Glint-Nest Crane in my previous shell when it was purely a 4x Chalice/4x Bridge deck and it worked wonders then, however that list was more like the older list that ran mana rocks and 0 Whirs. I don't think I can go back to that list when I believe Whir is just the better card to play.
I think for this week I'll re-sleeve Serum Visions and Inquisition of Kozilek and reintroduce the silver bullets. I may just be trying to slot too many prison cards for a deck that just wants to combo off instead. Will record my results and let everyone know how it goes!
UBx Tezzeret: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/18-06-17-ub-tezzeret/
Got a link to that coverage? :]
Sultai Midrange
Anything Innovative