Looks like all the Elder Dragons are getting new cards in M19. I really hope Chromium is cmc 5 or less, and has some sweet artifact synergy (speculation basex on his name/picture and color combo) instead of one of the crappiest keyword abilities ever thought up. He was always my favorite dragon as a little kid, and it would make me happy if he ended up being a SB card in Tezz.
Hey guys, don’t wanna jinx myself but I went undefeated day 1 at GP vegas so check out coverage and maybe Tezzerator gets some love on air; Hopefully y’all to get to see it
I am curious in your list. I watched the match where you played against Bring To Light, and it seemed like you had 25 lands. Why didn't they call it Tezzerator though?
I hope you had fun in Vegas though.
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Currently playing: MODERN BRG Jund WU Control UBRG Dredge BG Elves G Tron
Affinity
Building: WR Boros Burn UB Tezzerator
I also play Legacy, and EDH. Follow me at MTGPackFoils on Twitter.
I'm very curious to hear a tournament report. No Padeem in the side, and only 1 decay and 1 pulse to deal with stony is quite interesting. But he has 2 needles main which I like, and a KCI over a sieve which might be a better card than sieve in paper magic. 7 mana rocks and 21 lands seems like a lot of mana sources, and no filtering cards like visions or ideas. Also, he's mainboarded 3 fatal push.
Some of these were probably meta calls, like the pushes and the 2 needles for tron.
All in all, great job! You obviously played very well and got the deck noticed!
Can someone explain to me the altar of the brood sideboard slot? I've seen a bunch of people running it, but it does nothing to combat this deck's greatest post-sideboard problems - stony silence and rest in peace. We're not going to mill anyone out without the combo online, right? I saw Travis's game where he got lucky and milled a bunch of mountains against bring to light - but that seems more like a fluke than anything else.
Ok, so to answer your question about altar. A turn 1 altar incidentally mills a lot, and can put valuable stuff in the yard when playing scapeshift and ad nauseum. It doesn't target (leyline) and doesn't activate (stony). If you get the combo online, it's like you suddenly just cast an ulamog - it doubles your point of attack and really puts combo/control on the back foot. It really does mess with both scapeshift and ad nauseum, and can even mess up storm if you're ready with an exile effect. It's another pesky permanent for players to use removal on.
Against stuff like UW control and lantern, altar CAN straight up win the game without the combo if it's one of those ultimate grind fests. But really it's anti-combo.
I wouldn't play altar without playing a number of surgicals, however. The incidental mill + surgical is a useful combination.
Hello all, just wanted to jump in with a few questions as I'm researching decks to get into Modern. Tezzerator as a concept has fascinated me for a while, but my only Modern experience is U Tron a few years back--I especially loved the toolbox and control styles of the deck and this seems similar in that regard. I've read through the primer but haven't started the main thread yet, and just wanted to pose a couple of broad questions...
How does the deck fit within the meta? With various decks like Affinity, Humans, Tron, Jeskai, and Hollow One running around, how does the deck tend to fare against the linear aggro decks? The Control decks? The Combo decks? Basically, what are the good matchups and which ones are poor?
Mox Opal is expensive! How would you suggest building into this deck on a budget? What would you buy now and what would you save for later?
Thanks for any responses!
EDIT: I forgot my last question. Obviously the deck can be tuned to a high degree to local metagame, etc. Is there a decklist someone can recommend to start for a broad, unknown metagame? Basically just a starting list for someone new to the deck.
I know i've talked up this card already, but with KCI combo and Tron composing 11 of the top 16 decks I really think Phyrexian Revoker is a 2x in the 75. We want to both incidentally draw it and Whir for it. Ceremonious is also likely good enough to play 1-2 in the SB as well.
The list from the GP is interesting. I'm not sure if I can get on board with 0 Serum/Ideas and I don't really know what situations Relic makes sense over Spellbomb. I'll try some Pithing Needle/Fatal Push main again and see how well it performs.
No Tezzeret in the MD is interesting. Also 0 Darksteel Citadel. This would be an interesting jumping off point though.
Yeah, a number of us have run no citadels/tezzes main. Whir is the best card in the deck pretty much, so you have to have a very good reason not to run lands that produce blue, and citadel pretty much just provides ramp for opal - and opal is a card that we're usually enabling turn 3 and later anyway, for improvise and when we get the combo started. Tezz is still a primo walker, but several of us like it better out of the board because Thopter/Sword is so powerful preboard that Tezz is almost not needed then.
Since going to 4 Thopter Foundry and 3 Sword of the Meek, I can assemble the combo by turn 4 more often than not. Probably 70% of the time.
Do you play Serum Visions? And how many copies of the combo pieces?
So, Alpine Moon. 1 mana answer to tron/valakut. I dunno if it's worth the sideboard slots, especially being red. but sure is interesting. I'll probably try it out since my LGS meta is always heavy on Tron
So, Alpine Moon. 1 mana answer to tron/valakut. I dunno if it's worth the sideboard slots, especially being red. but sure is interesting. I'll probably try it out since my LGS meta is always heavy on Tron
I don't want to go into red for such a specific answer. Abrupt decay is just too good, and I don't think we can get away with specific answers in an already stretched-thin sideboard. I'll stick with Damping Sphere since it slows down storm too.
Thanks for the support and very glad y'all got to see the deck on camera! Wish I played better for ya, I didn't know the matchup very well. I'll refrain from commenting on that one until I get to watch it so I can explain my thought process (this is usually the most helpful)
1) Bye
2) Burn: G1 he gets me to 1 life before I go infinite in response to his end step. G2 he helix's me instead of Tezz so I assume he has enough burn to kill me next turn so I battle at the bridge my own Tezz animation to stay above 7 life and win the following turn. 2/0
3) Bye: Technical difficulties resulted in many people getting refunds and avoiding the wait.
4) Hollow One: G1 He gets me to 1 life before I stabilize with thopters. G2 Cage and Nihil lock him out. 2/0
5) Storm: G1 I get cage and get out of range with thopter life gain. G2 TS/Push/CB buy me time into thopters. I whir for Nihil in response to his PIF ftw. 2/0
6) Burn: G1 he gets me to 1 life before thopters are online. I get to 7 life but he spikes spike and Boros charm. G2 I needle a fetch and hit leaving him at 1 land. Thopters stop his 2x Guide/Swift draw 1 lander. G3 double CB lock him out. 2/1
7) Mardu Pyro: G1 I fight through 2 commands and 4 discard in his top 15 cards to still win with thopters. G2 Triple Leyline opener into discard is enough for him. G3 Leyline opener again. This is a long grind where he eventually topdecks a Hazoret swing me to 4 life. I know my outs are limited here but topdeck a Battle. Eventually get there with a few thopters without the combo. Mardu does a lot of damage to themselves the combo isn't as necessary except to match their lingering souls.
8) Burn: G1 He runs me over with 2x GG plus Swift. G2 Thopter sword online turn 3 with jar backup. G3 Mox Bauble Jar 2x Foundry Fair is too fast and resilient. 2/1
8-0 Day 1 is by far the best I've ever done. Lots of Red which I expected.
9) Mardu Pyro: G1 His 3 discard and 2 Commands isn't enough and combo gets there. G2 he plays like 5 discard but I get there without the combo and just 4-5 thopters. This is a common theme against Pyro, their clock is just so slow. 2/0
10) KCI (Matt Nass): I will first admit I've never played the matchup. G1 he gets the combo while I stare at 3 bridges. G2 Damp spher0e with jar/needle backup wrecks him while I combo gets there. G3 I brutality his nature claim seeing another in hand and surgical Pyrite instead of Nature. This was a huge misplay and I learned the hard way about Aether Grid backup plan. I had Damp sphere and would have locked him out with a needle the following turn. 1/2
11) Bring/Shift: 1/2, I'll comment again after I watch it sipping beer and crying.
12) Hollow One: G1 Combo gets there. I don't show bridge (and never do if I can help it g1). G2 his turn 2 Tasigur into Ancient grudges is too fast. G3 Cage into bridge slows him. Maelstrom + Surgical take care of Leylines and I eventually draw the combo.
13) Affinity: G1 thopters and needle do their thing. G2 we draw as he can't answer bridge. He decides to spend 15 min of our time giving his creatures counters each turn and was definitely on tilt. I don't think I've ever lost this match. 2/0
14) Humans: Finally, the deck I've been looking for. G1 Combo is unbeatable, but he kept a slow hand. G2 He turn 2's a Kataki and I play T2 Torpor Orb instead of Battle, sacing an opal or something. Always just play Torpor it wins the game. 2/0
15) KCI (Eli Cassis): Whelp, here it is again. G1 I needle EE and whir for needle naming Pyrite during his combo. He eventually plays emrakul (I didn't know people still played this, he said he added it last second to his deck). I stare at the bridge I didn't prioritize playing in my hand (could have played it instead of foundry I think). G2 kept a mediocre 6 and he turn 3's me. 0/2
12-3 overall losing to 2 pros that eventually made top 8.
Unfortunately didn't get there, and definitely punished for not playing as much lately (3 times a month?). That said I had a blast and getting on camera was the highlight of my magic career so I can't complain at all. Even got asked to sign a playmat. Also as the_nobody's shared my list was shared in a wizard article which is super cool:
I'll share deckbuilding, sideboarding, and future deckbuilding decisions when I get another chance. I still haven't unpacked my bags as life goes on. Cheers!
Again, great job. Drawing red matchups like burn and pyro, while always close, are always winnable outside of nut burn draws. I really like the play where you cast battle on your own animation - sort of like how "always play torpor orb" against humans holds true, so does "always gain life when possible against burn." Sometimes I've taken a turn off to cast a sword or something to set up the combo next turn, only to wish I'd battled a swiftspear instead.
To address the new sideboard cards:
alpine moon: this is a much better bloodmoon for our jeskai/grixis builds, for what we want moon to do, which is shut off certain lands rather than color screw. There's baisically no matchup outside of burn/ad nauseum/girshoalbrand that this wouldn't have a target for, mostly thanks to horizon canopy. I might be going back to Jeskai for this for a while.
Amulet of safekeeping: this hoses our thopters, true, but man does it hose both burn and storm. Worth a 1-of in the board as a low cmc whirrable target. But possibly it's too narrow - against scapeshift, they probably have enough mana to pay 1 for each or most of their valakut triggers.
So this is interesting. I instantly compare it to Monastery Mentor, which has always felt almost good enough, but not quite. This is blue instead of W, so that's good, it's got a big butt so it can't be bolted and can block some relevant stuff, and it makes artifacts instead of monks which helps with improvise, time sieve, tezz, and its own ability. Plus the thopters are colorless, which can make a difference occasionally.
I'm not sure if it's main-deckable, could be a 1-of. The draw ability seems OK, not great. I like that you can sac thopter tokens that are chump blocking. What do you guys think?
(Also, this card seems absolutely nuts in KCI. Even without trawler, just sac your board to KCI, draw a bunch of cards, get a bunch of thopters to chump, turn your colorless into U, sac thopters to draw cards...)
It looks redundant along with Foundry. And one strength of the deck is that it's immune to creature removal G1. At best SB material, plays around Stony and Kommand, and makes better value off a sacrifice than Foundry and plays well with Bridge (while Antiquities War or TKS or Ensoul are nonbos). It might be the best wincon off the SB, since most things we have is subpar in UB.
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Pioneer - A bunch of stuff Modern - Humans Legacy - Grixis Phoenix / Death & Taxes
Well, grid isn't good against Jund or GDS, and grid can be needled and requires the red splash. We're already bringing in Padeem, at least I think we all should be, which already opens up their removal, and Sai gives you immediate value if you follow him up with an artifact. A lot of the time, against Jund especially, you're winning a race on the back of thopter beats after your foundry has been k-commanded for the 3rd time. Same is true with Mardu pyromancer. So getting 2-3 extra thopters from Sai could be the difference in those matchups. He's also another card, on curve, that brings back sword after casting Ideas. The 3 cmc slot is not really very crowded in this deck.
I think, because he doesn't die to K Command like mentor does, or to bolt for that matter, that post-board, he won't see many spells that can get him. How often do people keep push/terminate against us? Also, his trigger is on cast, which might help out a little against all the counterspells that Jeskai packs.
The fact that the draw ability doesn't require tapping him is pretty busted imo. Padeem draws as well, and for free, but is much more passive. I like the idea of using this more proactively to find/be a win con rather than focus on defending prison pieces.
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U/B Faeries
U/B Tezzerator
I hope you had fun in Vegas though.
MODERN
BRG Jund
WU Control
UBRG Dredge
BG Elves
G Tron
Affinity
Building:
WR Boros Burn
UB Tezzerator
I also play Legacy, and EDH. Follow me at MTGPackFoils on Twitter.
Some of these were probably meta calls, like the pushes and the 2 needles for tron.
All in all, great job! You obviously played very well and got the deck noticed!
Here's a link with the list:
https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/gplv18-modern/day-2-highlights-2018-06-16
Against stuff like UW control and lantern, altar CAN straight up win the game without the combo if it's one of those ultimate grind fests. But really it's anti-combo.
I wouldn't play altar without playing a number of surgicals, however. The incidental mill + surgical is a useful combination.
How does the deck fit within the meta? With various decks like Affinity, Humans, Tron, Jeskai, and Hollow One running around, how does the deck tend to fare against the linear aggro decks? The Control decks? The Combo decks? Basically, what are the good matchups and which ones are poor?
Mox Opal is expensive! How would you suggest building into this deck on a budget? What would you buy now and what would you save for later?
Thanks for any responses!
EDIT: I forgot my last question. Obviously the deck can be tuned to a high degree to local metagame, etc. Is there a decklist someone can recommend to start for a broad, unknown metagame? Basically just a starting list for someone new to the deck.
The list from the GP is interesting. I'm not sure if I can get on board with 0 Serum/Ideas and I don't really know what situations Relic makes sense over Spellbomb. I'll try some Pithing Needle/Fatal Push main again and see how well it performs.
MODERN
BRG Jund
WU Control
UBRG Dredge
BG Elves
G Tron
Affinity
Building:
WR Boros Burn
UB Tezzerator
I also play Legacy, and EDH. Follow me at MTGPackFoils on Twitter.
Yeah, a number of us have run no citadels/tezzes main. Whir is the best card in the deck pretty much, so you have to have a very good reason not to run lands that produce blue, and citadel pretty much just provides ramp for opal - and opal is a card that we're usually enabling turn 3 and later anyway, for improvise and when we get the combo started. Tezz is still a primo walker, but several of us like it better out of the board because Thopter/Sword is so powerful preboard that Tezz is almost not needed then.
Do you play Serum Visions? And how many copies of the combo pieces?
Ux Whirza
Rb Goblins
Legacy
U Urza Stompy
Duel Commander
Sai, Master Thopterist
I don't want to go into red for such a specific answer. Abrupt decay is just too good, and I don't think we can get away with specific answers in an already stretched-thin sideboard. I'll stick with Damping Sphere since it slows down storm too.
1) Bye
2) Burn: G1 he gets me to 1 life before I go infinite in response to his end step. G2 he helix's me instead of Tezz so I assume he has enough burn to kill me next turn so I battle at the bridge my own Tezz animation to stay above 7 life and win the following turn. 2/0
3) Bye: Technical difficulties resulted in many people getting refunds and avoiding the wait.
4) Hollow One: G1 He gets me to 1 life before I stabilize with thopters. G2 Cage and Nihil lock him out. 2/0
5) Storm: G1 I get cage and get out of range with thopter life gain. G2 TS/Push/CB buy me time into thopters. I whir for Nihil in response to his PIF ftw. 2/0
6) Burn: G1 he gets me to 1 life before thopters are online. I get to 7 life but he spikes spike and Boros charm. G2 I needle a fetch and hit leaving him at 1 land. Thopters stop his 2x Guide/Swift draw 1 lander. G3 double CB lock him out. 2/1
7) Mardu Pyro: G1 I fight through 2 commands and 4 discard in his top 15 cards to still win with thopters. G2 Triple Leyline opener into discard is enough for him. G3 Leyline opener again. This is a long grind where he eventually topdecks a Hazoret swing me to 4 life. I know my outs are limited here but topdeck a Battle. Eventually get there with a few thopters without the combo. Mardu does a lot of damage to themselves the combo isn't as necessary except to match their lingering souls.
8) Burn: G1 He runs me over with 2x GG plus Swift. G2 Thopter sword online turn 3 with jar backup. G3 Mox Bauble Jar 2x Foundry Fair is too fast and resilient. 2/1
8-0 Day 1 is by far the best I've ever done. Lots of Red which I expected.
9) Mardu Pyro: G1 His 3 discard and 2 Commands isn't enough and combo gets there. G2 he plays like 5 discard but I get there without the combo and just 4-5 thopters. This is a common theme against Pyro, their clock is just so slow. 2/0
10) KCI (Matt Nass): I will first admit I've never played the matchup. G1 he gets the combo while I stare at 3 bridges. G2 Damp spher0e with jar/needle backup wrecks him while I combo gets there. G3 I brutality his nature claim seeing another in hand and surgical Pyrite instead of Nature. This was a huge misplay and I learned the hard way about Aether Grid backup plan. I had Damp sphere and would have locked him out with a needle the following turn. 1/2
11) Bring/Shift: 1/2, I'll comment again after I watch it sipping beer and crying.
12) Hollow One: G1 Combo gets there. I don't show bridge (and never do if I can help it g1). G2 his turn 2 Tasigur into Ancient grudges is too fast. G3 Cage into bridge slows him. Maelstrom + Surgical take care of Leylines and I eventually draw the combo.
13) Affinity: G1 thopters and needle do their thing. G2 we draw as he can't answer bridge. He decides to spend 15 min of our time giving his creatures counters each turn and was definitely on tilt. I don't think I've ever lost this match. 2/0
14) Humans: Finally, the deck I've been looking for. G1 Combo is unbeatable, but he kept a slow hand. G2 He turn 2's a Kataki and I play T2 Torpor Orb instead of Battle, sacing an opal or something. Always just play Torpor it wins the game. 2/0
15) KCI (Eli Cassis): Whelp, here it is again. G1 I needle EE and whir for needle naming Pyrite during his combo. He eventually plays emrakul (I didn't know people still played this, he said he added it last second to his deck). I stare at the bridge I didn't prioritize playing in my hand (could have played it instead of foundry I think). G2 kept a mediocre 6 and he turn 3's me. 0/2
12-3 overall losing to 2 pros that eventually made top 8.
Unfortunately didn't get there, and definitely punished for not playing as much lately (3 times a month?). That said I had a blast and getting on camera was the highlight of my magic career so I can't complain at all. Even got asked to sign a playmat. Also as the_nobody's shared my list was shared in a wizard article which is super cool:
https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/gplv18-modern/day-2-highlights-2018-06-16
I'll share deckbuilding, sideboarding, and future deckbuilding decisions when I get another chance. I still haven't unpacked my bags as life goes on. Cheers!
OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
Again, great job. Drawing red matchups like burn and pyro, while always close, are always winnable outside of nut burn draws. I really like the play where you cast battle on your own animation - sort of like how "always play torpor orb" against humans holds true, so does "always gain life when possible against burn." Sometimes I've taken a turn off to cast a sword or something to set up the combo next turn, only to wish I'd battled a swiftspear instead.
To address the new sideboard cards:
alpine moon: this is a much better bloodmoon for our jeskai/grixis builds, for what we want moon to do, which is shut off certain lands rather than color screw. There's baisically no matchup outside of burn/ad nauseum/girshoalbrand that this wouldn't have a target for, mostly thanks to horizon canopy. I might be going back to Jeskai for this for a while.
Amulet of safekeeping: this hoses our thopters, true, but man does it hose both burn and storm. Worth a 1-of in the board as a low cmc whirrable target. But possibly it's too narrow - against scapeshift, they probably have enough mana to pay 1 for each or most of their valakut triggers.
So this is interesting. I instantly compare it to Monastery Mentor, which has always felt almost good enough, but not quite. This is blue instead of W, so that's good, it's got a big butt so it can't be bolted and can block some relevant stuff, and it makes artifacts instead of monks which helps with improvise, time sieve, tezz, and its own ability. Plus the thopters are colorless, which can make a difference occasionally.
I'm not sure if it's main-deckable, could be a 1-of. The draw ability seems OK, not great. I like that you can sac thopter tokens that are chump blocking. What do you guys think?
(Also, this card seems absolutely nuts in KCI. Even without trawler, just sac your board to KCI, draw a bunch of cards, get a bunch of thopters to chump, turn your colorless into U, sac thopters to draw cards...)
I think, because he doesn't die to K Command like mentor does, or to bolt for that matter, that post-board, he won't see many spells that can get him. How often do people keep push/terminate against us? Also, his trigger is on cast, which might help out a little against all the counterspells that Jeskai packs.