Played against 3 different decks, first two were rogue deck, not really optimal, so I won them easily.
The third one was a Tribal Flame deck.
I record the replay so you can have a better look at the kind of gameplay.
Game 01, lost by a "let's-take-a-look-what's-going-to-happen-Error", but still ... was winning : http://youtu.be/R48Qdm9Lgrw
Kool! And thanks for the replays buddy, they give a good glimpse of what we're in for running Goyf-BUG.
Further looking at your list, there's still a tiny bity of tweaky i'd suggest.
1. Im not a goyf player myself, but i hear its a friggin' powerhouse. Maybe even for testing's sake, id keep 4 in for now. Given this list's artifact count of 19, you can still afford to go down one artifact (18 has been my go-to number for months. Its not a Metalcraft number, but it works with Tezz and Thirst and lets you run powerhouse cards outside of artifacts). I could see you drop a Talisman (painful & fast) or a Signet (heavy fixer but slower) because its a two drop; the slot where you may wanna be casting the goyf. Less mana rocks = less dead topdecks. And since your curve is so "full" of goodstuff, you dont *need* four mana before you start doing anything, like some of us (sad myself?).
2. Isn't Abrupt decay strictly better than Smother? Drop a Smother, go up to four decay, and switch a Watery grave and a basic Island for Verdant Catacombs for improved fixing (potentially giving you access to any BUG colored mana, yet may be more - or less - painful than a shockland) & reliable access to Decay mana. IF it's an issue at all.
I think I'd favor Talismans over signets, because you wanna be fast, dont you? And theyre faster (ex.: T2 Talisman into IoK). The better fixing provided by the signets can (theory-crafting) be achieved by upping the fetch count, like i said. And to ease the pain, I'd take out one Creeping tar pit to +1 on Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth (all fetches now = swamps). YES Tar pit is amazeballs and I love it. But between Citadels, Goyfs, Shackles, Batterskull, and still a Tar pit, youve got plenty of wincons, no? Urborg also is faster in not ETB' tapped; and gives you better access to double black for, say, Damnation.
Bottom line: I keep looking at the list and still cant believe how packed with good stuff it is and how right the numbers are... Full set of discard. [Potentially] full set of Goyf. Full set of Thirst and Tezz. 2x Shackles along 15 islands/fetches. 18+ Artifacts. Full set of citadels for brutal pressure. I just love what i see, truly.
Thanks @radouf
I would replace a Smother by a Go for the Throat before a Decay I think.
Creeping won me many late games already, I'm not a fan of putting only one.
And what about Everlasting Torment or Erebos, God of the Dead in sideboard?
Is thirst for knowleadge really still better than treasure cruise? I get we don't have can trips to fuel it but we have a stack of fetches and some cheap removal.
All of CFB has a "TC is busted play it in everything" attitude and thats getting to me. We don't have any time sensitive cards that require instant speed and even then Dig through time is still the same rate as thrist.
@Fyzder: I think that attacking Pod decks by neutralizing their lifegain is not a bad idea. The cards appear narrow to me, however. And Everlasting torment kills your citadels. Grafdigger's cage and Torpor orbs both are artifacts and hose the whole pod deck pretty well, while synergizing better with our deck and being cheaper. And sometimes do work against other decks. Give them a spin!
@Narvutien: Thirst is avalaible way sooner than TC, or DTT. The way i see it, Thirst is an enabler, an early-game engine that allows us in the sick lategame we already have with Tezz and other inevitable wincons. In my opinion, we need that more than the endgame re-steam that TC is known for (Tezz + Thirst do a decent job at it, also, while being more flexible); our weakness is not in missing steam in the late stages of the game, its in the early stages; before we get to stabilise and cast our high impact cards.
That being said, TC and DTT are indeed busted. A 3/2 split with Thirst could be good, but being a deck that mostly relies on permanents, we don't fuel the cards as fast as cantrip decks do. The inclusion of cheap removal (and not only relying on boardwipes and Ensnaring bridges) is relatively recent, coming from Shoota's GP Kobe list. Being a recent change, we're still fiddling and testing around different configurations ; uping the cheap spell count may enable delving but we have to do so while keeping the artifact count high too, so its a tricky game.
What we've done already: run 1-2 Dig through time, since we rely on high impact cards and specific answers and sideboard silver-bullets, the deeper digging appeared a better fit. Instant speed is also totally relevant for we have not only removal but Thirsts, Clique, and sideboard countermagic to hold up.
But what do we also get with artifact utility? Relics and Spellbombs. I've dropped the DTT myself with in mind the idea of super hating all graveyards instead. Im still going back and forth on this idea, but dying to burn while looking at a stranded Dig in hand is awful. That's where i take the "it doesnt help the early game" from. We need stabilizer cards.
Is thirst for knowleadge really still better than treasure cruise? I get we don't have can trips to fuel it but we have a stack of fetches and some cheap removal.
All of CFB has a "TC is busted play it in everything" attitude and thats getting to me. We don't have any time sensitive cards that require instant speed and even then Dig through time is still the same rate as thrist.
We use the graveyard to recur with Academy Ruins, that doesn't meant we can't run treasure cruise but it makes it not as good. As radouf mentioned we also dont run lots of cantrips to enable delving out a cruise on turn 2-3.
Is thirst for knowleadge really still better than treasure cruise? I get we don't have can trips to fuel it but we have a stack of fetches and some cheap removal.
All of CFB has a "TC is busted play it in everything" attitude and thats getting to me. We don't have any time sensitive cards that require instant speed and even then Dig through time is still the same rate as thrist.
From my personal experience, it is yes that we do not have many cantrips cards but also that many decks are running Remand. Getting a Remand on a "tried to search for key cards" and not being able to cast it next turn is almost like loosing the game.
So i was thinking of maybe running cantrips instead of IoK, i've been kind of dissapointed by the card lately and it is yet another bad topdeck. Maybe something like gitaxian probe for the info or serum visions. Also i'll try 2x shadow of doubt, would really help vs tron and scapeshift, and pod is everywhere. At worst it gets random fetchlands and cantrips.
Hey everyone, I played Tezz/glissa in standard a few years ago and am looking to convert the deck to a modern deck now that I'm getting back into magic. I plan on removing glissa/green and just going straight UB. But my question is in the lands department, is there a major reason to run Academy Ruins over Buried ruins? I mean obviously the academy doesnt sac itself but is that something that makes a huge difference? especially seeing as I'm considering having crucible in the board. My budget is a bit tight and was just thinking it might be a way to save a bit of cash if the impact of the change isn't that big.
academy ruins is a solid investment, if you want to save money you could cut other stuff that have a higher money cost: efficiency, like lili, island mana base for shackles, damnation, clique etc.
I could live without academy ruins. Especially if the options are to not have shackle, damnation, or liliana. You could probably dial back on fetches, though polluted delta isn't too spendy.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern UB Tezzerator UBW Gifts B 8Rack
Legacy RB Goblins
Ok, here I have a little question about Vedalken Shackles :
If I declare attack, opponent declare block and then I steel a declared blocking creature.
Is the creature still doing damages on my attacking one?
Ok, here I have a little question about Vedalken Shackles :
If I declare attack, opponent declare block and then I steel a declared blocking creature.
Is the creature still doing damages on my attacking one?
No, when you gain control of a creature it is removed from combat. Your creature will still be blocked, but it will not deal or receive damage to the creature that you stole (which was blocking it)
Xmas Present from my brother-in-law. Check out this alt-art beauty he created. I can almost hear his cry after being summoned forth with a Proteus Staff.
On the teferi/knowledge pool issue: I'm a huge fan of Teferi and I mulled over the combo. I mean, it's a hard lock. I think if that's how you want to go with that you'd need to tune to hit it faster and more resiliently, otherwise it would be more of a 'win more' deal. I mean, it doesn't stop anything already on the board, so if opponent already has batterskull or celestial colonnade (or a slew of YP tokens), you still need to deal with those, and if you are you're already in a good spot. Plus, the combo closes off whatever else you want to do. So you can't just damnation after the combo is out, you have to time it right. In a lot of ways I like possibility storm better, because it still locks with teferi, and you could build the deck to storm into emrakul, ala polymorph.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern UB Tezzerator UBW Gifts B 8Rack
Legacy RB Goblins
I've really developed a love of playing Tezzeret. I'm currently playing Esper Tezzeret, but I'd love to try Grixis Tezz or even Sultai Tezz or 4-color Tezz (please unban Deathrite Shaman) this upcoming year. I finally took the time to try Dig Through Time and Liliana of the Veil in my Esper Tezz deck. Below is the list I was playing.
All in all, I think this is a fine list. However, Dig Through Time is a very situational card. I feel like I almost never draw it when I'm in an extended game with a large graveyard, but I do have it in plenty of opening hands that struggle to fill my graveyard just so I can get an expensive Dig off which often doesn't quite give me what I'm looking for since I'm behind. I also happen to have it in plenty of opening hands where I'm winning and eventually it's good. However, these hands don't tend to need it as much. I would say that Nihil Spellbomb and Liliana of the Veil are probably requirements to playing Dig Through Time in a Tezzeret deck. As for those cards, well... Relic of Progenitus is better than Nihil Spellbomb unless you're playing Dig Through Time. It is definitely a real cost, even if just a small one to playing Dig Through Time. Liliana of the Veil is pretty unwieldy. First, I can get double black by turn three most of the time, but it comes at the cost of sometimes delaying white when I'd like to have white for Path to Exile or Timely Reinforcements. I could play a little less blue and cut the Vedalken Shackles, but to be honest, even without Tezzeret, Vedalken Shackles is better on average. With Tezzeret, it isn't even close. Often the mana works well, but Liliana still tends to die the turn after coming out. Moreover, I'm faced with awkward situational moments with Liliana all the time. Do I tick up and discard a good spell? Do I tick down and guarantee she dies the next turn? Do I let her rot in my hand when I need to be getting action out of that card slot in my deck? The other day I ticked her up to five against a mono black discard deck, only to find Engineered Explosives with my Tezzeret which allowed me to kill my Trinket Mage, Vedalken Shackles and my opponents Ensnaring Bridge. I had been throwing away cards for turns, only to 4 for 1 myself but it let me win in 2 turns. Afterwards, I wondered why Liliana, even when she seems like she's being quite good (which was rare for me) was worse than 4 for 1'ng myself. If I'd stayed with the Lily plan that game, in 2 more turns I could have made my opponent choose between his permanents. He would probably have kept the Bridge and made me tick Lily up again before finally coming down to a clock decision. I know that Lily sometimes just breaks BG Midrange's back (as well as a few others, if they can't find Abrupt Decay), but I'm of the opinion that she is not relevant often enough to matter. Franky, Lily isn't worth cutting Shackles for, and I'm of the opinion that Dig is not really better than Thirst for Knowledge in this deck, even after the real costs of putting Nihil Spellbomb and Liliana of the Veil in my deck.
As you can see, I get to play a 2nd Vendilion Clique in my board since I'm not forced to cut a main copy of Path to Exile while making room for Liliana of the Veil. Thirst for Knowledge is so easy to cast, and often lets you draw three cards at the minor cost of getting rid of a sub-par artifact that wasn't very relevant. I believe these changes help me improve my main deck matchup against most aggro decks, while allowing my sideboard to be better against combo. It's likely I'm losing a little something against control and some mid-range decks with this build (Dig is very good against Pod since they blow your permanents up and make you discard cards as well post board). However, Relic is better against Pod than Spellbomb, as is Path than Liliana making the trade pretty close to even. As for the occasional control deck or rogue midrange deck that isn't Pod, they don't come along frequently enough to be worth the sacrifice. As for actual play experience, I got a few hours in last night with this list. I absolutely loved playing with Thirst for Knowledge again. It's just very hard to play that card and not feel like it's great, whereas I have to convince myself that Dig is good and I just got unlucky by not drawing it (or drawing it) whatever the latest experience has been. After a 100+ games, that just got real old and I'm glad I'm back to playing Thirst.
About Celestial Colonnade, I decided that I wanted to cut back on mulligans and flooding late in games and cut two mana artifacts for the man land. It turns out that Colonnade is great in a world that plays Lightning Bolt. It is true that more mana artifacts give more explosive starts, and so far I can only say that the even though the change may look small, it is noticeable, and I think a small improvement. As an additional consolation prize, I got to move Pithing Needle to the main (which helps against Ascendancy and Pod) while getting the 2nd Clique in my board (Yay! Clique is awesome in the right matchups).
Afterwards, I wondered why Liliana, even when she seems like she's being quite good (which was rare for me) was worse than 4 for 1'ng myself. If I'd stayed with the Lily plan that game, in 2 more turns I could have made my opponent choose between his permanents. He would probably have kept the Bridge and made me tick Lily up again before finally coming down to a clock decision
I forgot to mention that my mono black opponent had a Leyline of Sanctity in play. Therefore, Tezz's ultimate wasn't on the table like it usually is when Bridge is trying to stall the game.
Made some little tune up with @radouf and we ended up with something like this :
3 Engineered Explosives
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Talisman of Dominance
2 Batterskull
4 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Spellskite
2 Vedalken Shackles
1 Executioner's Capsule
1 Smother
1 Go for the Throat
1 Dismember
1 Academy Ruins
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Polluted Delta
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Verdant Catacombs
2 Island
1 Swamp
1 Forest
2 Breeding Pool
2 Watery Grave
2 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Torpor Orb
2 Dispel
2 Damnation
2 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Witchbane Orb
1 Dismember
4 Disdainful Stroke
Played against 3 different decks, first two were rogue deck, not really optimal, so I won them easily.
The third one was a Tribal Flame deck.
I record the replay so you can have a better look at the kind of gameplay.
Game 01, lost by a "let's-take-a-look-what's-going-to-happen-Error", but still ... was winning :
http://youtu.be/R48Qdm9Lgrw
Game 02, won with a "High-pressuring-Goyf-Start" :
http://youtu.be/FAJpRd5V24o
Game 03, won with 2 Batterskul and a Citadel :
http://youtu.be/aVMegypxjr0
Let's roll!
PS: Here's a extra against Burn, http://youtu.be/cvMUqafxKPs Enjoy!
Further looking at your list, there's still a tiny bity of tweaky i'd suggest.
1. Im not a goyf player myself, but i hear its a friggin' powerhouse. Maybe even for testing's sake, id keep 4 in for now. Given this list's artifact count of 19, you can still afford to go down one artifact (18 has been my go-to number for months. Its not a Metalcraft number, but it works with Tezz and Thirst and lets you run powerhouse cards outside of artifacts). I could see you drop a Talisman (painful & fast) or a Signet (heavy fixer but slower) because its a two drop; the slot where you may wanna be casting the goyf. Less mana rocks = less dead topdecks. And since your curve is so "full" of goodstuff, you dont *need* four mana before you start doing anything, like some of us (sad myself?).
2. Isn't Abrupt decay strictly better than Smother? Drop a Smother, go up to four decay, and switch a Watery grave and a basic Island for Verdant Catacombs for improved fixing (potentially giving you access to any BUG colored mana, yet may be more - or less - painful than a shockland) & reliable access to Decay mana. IF it's an issue at all.
I think I'd favor Talismans over signets, because you wanna be fast, dont you? And theyre faster (ex.: T2 Talisman into IoK). The better fixing provided by the signets can (theory-crafting) be achieved by upping the fetch count, like i said. And to ease the pain, I'd take out one Creeping tar pit to +1 on Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth (all fetches now = swamps). YES Tar pit is amazeballs and I love it. But between Citadels, Goyfs, Shackles, Batterskull, and still a Tar pit, youve got plenty of wincons, no? Urborg also is faster in not ETB' tapped; and gives you better access to double black for, say, Damnation.
Bottom line: I keep looking at the list and still cant believe how packed with good stuff it is and how right the numbers are... Full set of discard. [Potentially] full set of Goyf. Full set of Thirst and Tezz. 2x Shackles along 15 islands/fetches. 18+ Artifacts. Full set of citadels for brutal pressure. I just love what i see, truly.
OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
Thirst for Knowledge % to hit artifact
I would replace a Smother by a Go for the Throat before a Decay I think.
Creeping won me many late games already, I'm not a fan of putting only one.
And what about Everlasting Torment or Erebos, God of the Dead in sideboard?
All of CFB has a "TC is busted play it in everything" attitude and thats getting to me. We don't have any time sensitive cards that require instant speed and even then Dig through time is still the same rate as thrist.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
@Narvutien: Thirst is avalaible way sooner than TC, or DTT. The way i see it, Thirst is an enabler, an early-game engine that allows us in the sick lategame we already have with Tezz and other inevitable wincons. In my opinion, we need that more than the endgame re-steam that TC is known for (Tezz + Thirst do a decent job at it, also, while being more flexible); our weakness is not in missing steam in the late stages of the game, its in the early stages; before we get to stabilise and cast our high impact cards.
That being said, TC and DTT are indeed busted. A 3/2 split with Thirst could be good, but being a deck that mostly relies on permanents, we don't fuel the cards as fast as cantrip decks do. The inclusion of cheap removal (and not only relying on boardwipes and Ensnaring bridges) is relatively recent, coming from Shoota's GP Kobe list. Being a recent change, we're still fiddling and testing around different configurations ; uping the cheap spell count may enable delving but we have to do so while keeping the artifact count high too, so its a tricky game.
What we've done already: run 1-2 Dig through time, since we rely on high impact cards and specific answers and sideboard silver-bullets, the deeper digging appeared a better fit. Instant speed is also totally relevant for we have not only removal but Thirsts, Clique, and sideboard countermagic to hold up.
But what do we also get with artifact utility? Relics and Spellbombs. I've dropped the DTT myself with in mind the idea of super hating all graveyards instead. Im still going back and forth on this idea, but dying to burn while looking at a stranded Dig in hand is awful. That's where i take the "it doesnt help the early game" from. We need stabilizer cards.
We need Baleful strix
OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
We use the graveyard to recur with Academy Ruins, that doesn't meant we can't run treasure cruise but it makes it not as good. As radouf mentioned we also dont run lots of cantrips to enable delving out a cruise on turn 2-3.
Thirst for Knowledge % to hit artifact
From my personal experience, it is yes that we do not have many cantrips cards but also that many decks are running Remand. Getting a Remand on a "tried to search for key cards" and not being able to cast it next turn is almost like loosing the game.
UB Tezzerator
UBW Gifts
B 8Rack
Legacy
RB Goblins
If I declare attack, opponent declare block and then I steel a declared blocking creature.
Is the creature still doing damages on my attacking one?
No, when you gain control of a creature it is removed from combat. Your creature will still be blocked, but it will not deal or receive damage to the creature that you stole (which was blocking it)
Thirst for Knowledge % to hit artifact
On the teferi/knowledge pool issue: I'm a huge fan of Teferi and I mulled over the combo. I mean, it's a hard lock. I think if that's how you want to go with that you'd need to tune to hit it faster and more resiliently, otherwise it would be more of a 'win more' deal. I mean, it doesn't stop anything already on the board, so if opponent already has batterskull or celestial colonnade (or a slew of YP tokens), you still need to deal with those, and if you are you're already in a good spot. Plus, the combo closes off whatever else you want to do. So you can't just damnation after the combo is out, you have to time it right. In a lot of ways I like possibility storm better, because it still locks with teferi, and you could build the deck to storm into emrakul, ala polymorph.
UB Tezzerator
UBW Gifts
B 8Rack
Legacy
RB Goblins
3x Polluted Delta
3x Flooded Strand
2x Watery Grave
2x Hallowed Fountain
7x Island
1x Swamp
1x Plains
1x Celestial Colonnade
2x Darksteel Citadel
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Mox Opal
4x Talisman of Dominance
1x Talisman of Progress
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
3x Executioner's Capsule
2x Path to Exile
2x Engineered Explosives
2x Vedalken Shackles
2x Liliana of the Veil
Card Draw/Tutoring
2x Trinket Mage
2x Dig Through Time
Win Conditions
4x Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
2x Batterskull
Other
2x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Pithing Needle
2x Spellskite
2x Timely Reinforcements
1x Dispel
2x Spell Snare
3x Stoic Rebuttal
1x Vendilion Clique
2x Shadow of Doubt
2x Thoughtseize
1x Path to Exile
1x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Spellskite
All in all, I think this is a fine list. However, Dig Through Time is a very situational card. I feel like I almost never draw it when I'm in an extended game with a large graveyard, but I do have it in plenty of opening hands that struggle to fill my graveyard just so I can get an expensive Dig off which often doesn't quite give me what I'm looking for since I'm behind. I also happen to have it in plenty of opening hands where I'm winning and eventually it's good. However, these hands don't tend to need it as much. I would say that Nihil Spellbomb and Liliana of the Veil are probably requirements to playing Dig Through Time in a Tezzeret deck. As for those cards, well... Relic of Progenitus is better than Nihil Spellbomb unless you're playing Dig Through Time. It is definitely a real cost, even if just a small one to playing Dig Through Time. Liliana of the Veil is pretty unwieldy. First, I can get double black by turn three most of the time, but it comes at the cost of sometimes delaying white when I'd like to have white for Path to Exile or Timely Reinforcements. I could play a little less blue and cut the Vedalken Shackles, but to be honest, even without Tezzeret, Vedalken Shackles is better on average. With Tezzeret, it isn't even close. Often the mana works well, but Liliana still tends to die the turn after coming out. Moreover, I'm faced with awkward situational moments with Liliana all the time. Do I tick up and discard a good spell? Do I tick down and guarantee she dies the next turn? Do I let her rot in my hand when I need to be getting action out of that card slot in my deck? The other day I ticked her up to five against a mono black discard deck, only to find Engineered Explosives with my Tezzeret which allowed me to kill my Trinket Mage, Vedalken Shackles and my opponents Ensnaring Bridge. I had been throwing away cards for turns, only to 4 for 1 myself but it let me win in 2 turns. Afterwards, I wondered why Liliana, even when she seems like she's being quite good (which was rare for me) was worse than 4 for 1'ng myself. If I'd stayed with the Lily plan that game, in 2 more turns I could have made my opponent choose between his permanents. He would probably have kept the Bridge and made me tick Lily up again before finally coming down to a clock decision. I know that Lily sometimes just breaks BG Midrange's back (as well as a few others, if they can't find Abrupt Decay), but I'm of the opinion that she is not relevant often enough to matter. Franky, Lily isn't worth cutting Shackles for, and I'm of the opinion that Dig is not really better than Thirst for Knowledge in this deck, even after the real costs of putting Nihil Spellbomb and Liliana of the Veil in my deck.
Therefore, I've updated my list again.
3x Polluted Delta
3x Flooded Strand
2x Watery Grave
2x Hallowed Fountain
7x Island
1x Swamp
1x Plains
1x Celestial Colonnade
2x Darksteel Citadel
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Mox Opal
4x Talisman of Dominance
1x Talisman of Progress
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
3x Executioner's Capsule
3x Path to Exile
2x Engineered Explosives
2x Vedalken Shackles
Card Draw/Tutoring
2x Trinket Mage
3x Thirst for Knowledge
Win Conditions
4x Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
2x Batterskull
Other
2x Relic of Progenitus
1x Pithing Needle
2x Spellskite
2x Timely Reinforcements
1x Dispel
2x Spell Snare
3x Stoic Rebuttal
2x Vendilion Clique
2x Shadow of Doubt
2x Thoughtseize
1x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Spellskite
As you can see, I get to play a 2nd Vendilion Clique in my board since I'm not forced to cut a main copy of Path to Exile while making room for Liliana of the Veil. Thirst for Knowledge is so easy to cast, and often lets you draw three cards at the minor cost of getting rid of a sub-par artifact that wasn't very relevant. I believe these changes help me improve my main deck matchup against most aggro decks, while allowing my sideboard to be better against combo. It's likely I'm losing a little something against control and some mid-range decks with this build (Dig is very good against Pod since they blow your permanents up and make you discard cards as well post board). However, Relic is better against Pod than Spellbomb, as is Path than Liliana making the trade pretty close to even. As for the occasional control deck or rogue midrange deck that isn't Pod, they don't come along frequently enough to be worth the sacrifice. As for actual play experience, I got a few hours in last night with this list. I absolutely loved playing with Thirst for Knowledge again. It's just very hard to play that card and not feel like it's great, whereas I have to convince myself that Dig is good and I just got unlucky by not drawing it (or drawing it) whatever the latest experience has been. After a 100+ games, that just got real old and I'm glad I'm back to playing Thirst.
About Celestial Colonnade, I decided that I wanted to cut back on mulligans and flooding late in games and cut two mana artifacts for the man land. It turns out that Colonnade is great in a world that plays Lightning Bolt. It is true that more mana artifacts give more explosive starts, and so far I can only say that the even though the change may look small, it is noticeable, and I think a small improvement. As an additional consolation prize, I got to move Pithing Needle to the main (which helps against Ascendancy and Pod) while getting the 2nd Clique in my board (Yay! Clique is awesome in the right matchups).
I forgot to mention that my mono black opponent had a Leyline of Sanctity in play. Therefore, Tezz's ultimate wasn't on the table like it usually is when Bridge is trying to stall the game.
Vs Zoo (counter-cats)
G001 - http://youtu.be/_IscU5BZWGw
G003 - http://youtu.be/ZrSSZ6eQzq4
Vs Azban (Junked)
G001 - http://youtu.be/-MHfPYqCGoA
G002 - http://youtu.be/lhI0qzsGHgI
Enjoy!
3 Engineered Explosives
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Talisman of Dominance
2 Batterskull
4 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Spellskite
2 Vedalken Shackles
1 Executioner's Capsule
1 Smother
1 Go for the Throat
1 Dismember
1 Academy Ruins
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Polluted Delta
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Island
1 Swamp
1 Forest
1 Overgrown Tomb
2 Breeding Pool
2 Watery Grave
2 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Vendilion Clique
2 Torpor Orb
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Witchbane Orb
2 Damnation
2 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
1 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Dispel
3 Disdainful Stroke