MTG Salvation

Leaked Spoiler! Our Anti-Tron prayers have finally paid off!

Damping Sphere
2
Artifact
If a land is tapped for two or more mana, it produces C instead of any other type and amount.
Each spell a player casts costs 1 more to cast for each other spell that player has cast this turn.

Thank goodness. A cheaper bloodmoon we can protect with jar and STORM TECH STAPLED ON. I knew we were due for something to make decks like ours chomp tron.

I'm so happy. My head is spinning.

Guys. What if tron just. Goes away?

So, I’d really like to know, is the 2-3 split the correct answer in this deck? Don’t get me wrong I was running 3/4 for a long time, and yeah it feels great naturally drawing it against aggro decks and especially burn where bridge isn’t as relevant. But I feel more and more it creeping up on me that I want those 2 extra slots. So can someone tell me if I’m just dumb and should never have been playing 3-4 or is it right and not to stray?

Quote from mjg94 »

So, I’d really like to know, is the 2-3 split the correct answer in this deck? Don’t get me wrong I was running 3/4 for a long time, and yeah it feels great naturally drawing it against aggro decks and especially burn where bridge isn’t as relevant. But I feel more and more it creeping up on me that I want those 2 extra slots. So can someone tell me if I’m just dumb and should never have been playing 3-4 or is it right and not to stray?

I have been testing 2/4 and I am really happy with it. I ran 2/3 forever but I decided that I want to setup the combo in nearly all my game 1 match ups ASAP. In the games where I don't need it as fast I sideboard out 2 thopter foundry.

For a second I thought mox amber turned on from any legendary permanent. Goodbye cool opal/azcanta/urborg/oboro/minamao/inventor's fair/academy ruins build. Crit or PW seems like this is geared toward casual. Never underestimate a mox though.

Yeah it’s unfortunate it doesn’t have applications in tezzerator, and it for sure doesn’t fall into any current modern decks unless maybe GW coco adds a bunch more legendary cards to turn it on. All in all it doesn’t seem like too much of a restriction and I think it will see some play

So is this card good enough to run in the main board by the way? You know the one. Seems great against tron and storm, decent against elves is there anything I’m missing or will it’s main application be to beat tron and storm but if that’s not meta leave it to the sideboard?

Damping Sphere is a total wet-dream for us. It is absolutely a main deck card, at least as a 1-of, replacing grafdigger's cage for a number of us.

Matchups we'd want Orb in:
-Tron, duh, all types
-Storm, duh
-Snapcaster decks (UW control less so, UWR tempo more so)
-Amulet Titan
-BR Hollow One

Mactchups we'd board it out:
-Jund
-Affinity
-Burn
-Valakut Decks
-Coco decks most likely

The bottom half are matchups we're already taking out utility artifacts anyway, and the top half are matchups we scramble to find relevant SB answers.

Also of note is a funny Tezz-impersonator enchantment called "The Antiques War" that costs 3U and basically reads: Turn you play it, Tezz AoB +1, next turn Tezz AoB +1, Next turn, Tezz the Seeker Ultimate and sacrifice it.

Are you sure we’d board it out against burn? Seems like it could just naturally help us stall the game, like turn 2 on the play it slows them down a ton

In my experience if you don't either collective brutality or have turn three thopter sword against burn you're probably going to lose - so that artifact would probably be a touch too slow to keep in for that m/u.

The tez enchantment is no slouch, and I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't make this list as at least a one of. Having an enchantment recurring search/clock that taxes their disenchant effects is a valuable weapon for us, especially against stony in SB games.

This set seems like it might give us some gems.

I feel like if I’m playing a 4 mana card it’s goig to be tezz

Reading the entire English spoiler. Other cards of some note...

Navigator's Compass
1
Artifact
When Navigator's Compass enters the battlefield, you gain 3 life.
T: Until end of turn, target land you control becomes the basic land type of your choice in addition to its other types.


Rona, Disciple of Gix
1UB
Legendary Creature, Human Artificer
2/2
When Rona, Disciple of Gix enters the battlefield, you may exile target historic card from your graveyard. (Artifacts, legendaries, and Sagas are historic.)
You may cast nonland cards exiled with Rona.
4, T: Exile the top card of your library.

Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
3WU
Legendary Planeswalker, Teferi
4
+1: Draw a card. At the beginning of the next turn's upkeep, untap 2 lands.
-3: Put target nonland permanent into its owner's library 3 from the top.
-8: You get an emblem with: "Whenever you draw a card, exile target permanent an opponent controls."


The compass is intriguing as just a 1-mana improvise/metalcraft artifact that allows for mana-smoothing while incidentally hosing burn and aggro. If you play a few, it may allow for more utility lands in whir builds, or even blood moon. The artificer is probably not strong enough, but might be a value-option from the board as it basically cantrips with bauble and can grind behind a bridge. The plainswalker does what I've found Nahiri to do well, which is a "permanent" answer to stony silence or problem creatures while offering other value along the way. She definitely wins from behind a bridge and may be a reason to play Esper.

I feel like Rona and Teferi are pretty slow tbh. Teferi seems way more like a draw go sort of planes walker, and I actually think he will see play in UWX, might even make them include some lands that tap for 2 idk. And Rona is just ehh. They’re going to have removal in hand against us and she dies to literally all of it. I feel like she’s just a meh academy ruins that will insta die, and the card advantage she provides seems terribly slow.

True on some of those points about Rona, though I did say Rona would be a SB option when your opponent likely has taken out creature removal. Rona dies to K Command, though, which is bad.

Teferi is probably one of the best behind-a-bridge walkers I've seen, Tezz being the best. And he does what Tezz can't. Removes creatures, messes with other walkers, and answers problem hosers, all while threatening to win the game. He's not just draw-go, just imagine that he didn't have the "untap lands" part of the +1.

But it just seems we don’t run enough instant speed cards to make him worth it, his plus one without the untapped 2 seems meh tbh at 5 mana, if you’re going to be running him I can’t see how you wouldn’t have to take advantage of that

The point of including Teferi in Tezz wouldn't be to take advantage of the untap-lands clause. Though, if you had to use it, that's just more mana for thopters. The point is to have him be a SB card that answers Stony Silence, repeatedly, while offering value/wincon as alternatives. I would much rather pay extra mana for a remove-target-permanent spell from my SB if that spell has other uses. We need SB cards dedicated to answering problem permanents, and while Teferi is slow, typically decks that threaten Stony aren't banging on our doors with super fast clocks.

I'm not saying Teferi should replace all the enchant/artifact removal in a Tezz SB, but could replace 1-2 pieces of it. Having a diverse portfolio of win-cons is a always a good thing.

Yeah, usually SB configs slow the opp down a lot and give time for repeated value engines like teferi to shine. I think our manabase will be a lot more flexible because we can take pressure off GQ and Field of Ruin to even give us a prayer in the tron matchup. Plus white is the other thopter color so it's a pretty clean fit to have some white floating around.

Quote from the nobodys »

The point of including Teferi in Tezz wouldn't be to take advantage of the untap-lands clause. Though, if you had to use it, that's just more mana for thopters. The point is to have him be a SB card that answers Stony Silence, repeatedly, while offering value/wincon as alternatives. I would much rather pay extra mana for a remove-target-permanent spell from my SB if that spell has other uses. We need SB cards dedicated to answering problem permanents, and while Teferi is slow, typically decks that threaten Stony aren't banging on our doors with super fast clocks.

I'm not saying Teferi should replace all the enchant/artifact removal in a Tezz SB, but could replace 1-2 pieces of it. Having a diverse portfolio of win-cons is a always a good thing.

Amen. But between this guy and JaceTMS, as well as the Whir set, arent we stretching ourselves a bit too high on the curve? How do we make up for this?

Has salvage titan been discussed?