I’ve found 8rack to be pretty easy: basically just play TF and then hold every card until you get sword discarded. Then start cranking tokens. You only need 2-3 lands in play (Whir). Play needle naming Lily. Game 2 play around surgical and try to play 2 swords to play around extirpate.
Blue tron = early exit to grab food. Needle is very strong here and you have to wait and get a critical mass of threats in hand before you try to push through their countermagic.
I agree. I vividly remember a game against 8rack where I let him do anything he wants including ulting a LotV which resulted in me taking Tezz or everything else. I took tezz and won easily with no other permanents.
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U/B Tezzeret Control
Sultai Midrange
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Hey everyone, new to the thread but I've been reading for a long time. Tezz has been my favorite Modern deck for a while now in paper, and all of your discussions have been invaluable. Love this group. So thank you!
My question is in regards to the Thopter/Sword combo on MTGO. I am fairly new to MTGO, so I'm still getting the keyboard shortcuts down, but I am finding it REALLY annoying (and super time consuming) to activate the Thopter/Sword combo. I can't seem to get the "Always Yes to This" and "Always Yield to This" buttons to work, even after customizing the inputs.
Does anyone have any tips on playing this deck on MTGO? Any shortcuts that help for all of the clicking involved? Thanks in advance!
Hi, welcome! I play this deck online a LOT. While I can't get SotM to always "yes" I do have it auto-yield, so that I can click "3" to say yes. So I use "W" for paying cost of activation, then switch my finger to 3 and then repeat. It gets super-easy with practice, especially when opponent is yielding to end-step.
As to 8-rack, I've found the matchup to be fairly easy when you identify what to keep. You want to preference starting with more lands than you normally want, so as to avoid getting choked off by smallpox. Also, you want to keep a sword over anythibg, because the sword is "immune" to discard, and then all you need to do is topdeck a foundry or whir. Typically they can either shred your hand or set-up win cons, but rarely can they do both with any quickness.
Edit: blue tron is really annoying, agree. Inquisition is good against them, actually, because they rely on counter magic early and cards like treasurw mage. Goyf has also been good in this matchup for me, because he can actually race their end game. But it's still tough.
Hey everyone, new to the thread but I've been reading for a long time. Tezz has been my favorite Modern deck for a while now in paper, and all of your discussions have been invaluable. Love this group. So thank you!
My question is in regards to the Thopter/Sword combo on MTGO. I am fairly new to MTGO, so I'm still getting the keyboard shortcuts down, but I am finding it REALLY annoying (and super time consuming) to activate the Thopter/Sword combo. I can't seem to get the "Always Yes to This" and "Always Yield to This" buttons to work, even after customizing the inputs.
Does anyone have any tips on playing this deck on MTGO? Any shortcuts that help for all of the clicking involved? Thanks in advance!
Welcome to Forum! Happy to have you.
I have been playing on MTGO and once you get use to the combo it is quite easy. The only thing you have to look out for is accidentally double clicking the foundry. There is a safety message asking if you are sure but it looks a lot like the message to yield to the sword trigger and it is easy to click through it. It should be 3 clicks per a loop once you have set to always yield to the sword trigger. Thopter Foundry/Sword/Yes and your done.
I probably win close to 10@ of my competitive matches on MTGO due to my opponent timing out. My win rate on MTGO is about 10% higher then in paper because in paper these all translate to draws.
I don't play with a 3rd infinite combo piece because I think it is unnecessary but I would imagine that would make it a lot more difficult to click through.
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U/B Tezzeret Control
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@bardils: I played 8rack for 2 years before switching over to tezzerator which I have been on since before Sword of the Meek unban. That being said I have a really good idea of how to navigate this match up and I think Tezzerator is heavily favored. Understanding 8 rack makes understanding the match up so much easier.
The Strategy: Don't. Play. Your. Cards. Seriously. It is that simple. To win the game you only need to play 4 lands and a Tezzeret. If they are on a version that is not main decking ensnaring bridge, 2 lands + Thopter foundry and any artifact are all you have to play (you can discard the sword for free). I mentioned in a post early given the decision to keep my combo, all my artifacts, lands or just Tezzeret off a Liliana ultimate, I took Tezzeret and won easily. Drawing an extra card a turn is not something they can beat. Post board you get to side out a ton of dead cards for literally anything and get better. If they are playing creature heavy versions with pack rat and mutavault it can be more challenging but you just keep your ensnaring bridges in that case.
If you have any specific questions I'd be happy to help.
GR or GB Tron is a nightmare, Eldrazi Tron is unvavorable, Blue Tron varies greatly on the composition of both decks but tends to be a 60-40 in trons favor. Other versions of tron still manage 1+1+1=7 so they are at best 45-55.
Strategy: Against GR tron your only hope is to Pithing Needle Expedition Maps and beat there face in with Tezzeret 5/5's before they get Tron online. I mulligan aggressively to hands that can do one of these things because I figure I am losing without them. Eldrazi Tron is easy besides the Karns and Walking Balistas. Try to needle these and combo them out or kill with a tezz ultimate before they can find a way through, Against blue Tron you bait their counter magic as many ways possible with hand disruption and Tezzerets. Once you stick a Thopter Foundry you are heavily favored to win.
My sideboard consists of an extra Pithing Needle specifically for Tron as well as Negates. Negate could be Ceremonious Rejections but I like Negate more in other match ups so I play it instead. Beating up their lands tends to be too slow of a strategy in Modern as of now.
If you catch Radouf's attention I know he spent some time testing the match up specifically and he may be of more help than me. But Tron is easily one of our worst match ups.
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I have to add I don't know how that list beats tron. The only win-cons are tezz ultimate (and 1 ballista). That list absolutely smashes midrange and aggro, but against big mana... racing to an infinite combo is the way to go in my oppinion.
@the_nobodys Have you played with the deck? I roll through tron opponents. Game one you have mainboard needles, inquisitions and lillies. G2 you add four crumble to dust. It's the first time I've been playing tezzeret and felt like a favorite against tron/valakut. Biz tezzeret ult is a win con as well, and a lilly ult might as well be a win. I have never lost following one.
Also players concede to the deck a lot because it locks oit so efficiently.
As a general note to the thopter/sword, vs basic grind tezzeret build I have some thoughts.
Thopter sword version.
Pros: Crazy powerful, can do busted stuff. Has great matchups for most G1s
Cons: can be clunky, games two and three are staggeringly difficult because our combo leans on the two most hated-out areas in Modern (aritfacts and GYs), just loses to decks that ramp toward one giant bomb (tron, valakut)
Grind version
Pros: Extremely interactive. Extremely efficient at thwarting degenerate decks from game 1. One of if not the best grind deck in the format. Sideboard hate very minimally impacts the strategy.
Cons: Your games go long. Everyone in the room sees your whole deck because by g2 or 3 all your matches are done anf your whole deck is on the table. Can require convoltued/complicated win lines (requires creativity).
Overall I think modern is a format where fun stuff is possible and can Put up results, but law of averages is going to go to decks with the most powerful and simple lines of play. Tezzeret is a great engine, if he finds a bunch of artifacts he can create an even crazier engine in thopter sword, but law of averages makes that plan fall apart over three games or a long tournament. I just had to decide that Tezzeret generating advantage was good enough for me, and I've been winning like crazy since letting the thopter/sword dream go.
I'm on this forum as a Tezzeret lover, so I just want to pursue the shell that plays him and wins the most. I think Meltiin's grind is that deck right now.
Overall I think modern is a format where fun stuff is possible and can Put up results, but law of averages is going to go to decks with the most powerful and simple lines of play. Tezzeret is a great engine, if he finds a bunch of artifacts he can create an even crazier engine in thopter sword, but law of averages makes that plan fall apart over three games or a long tournament. I just had to decide that Tezzeret generating advantage was good enough for me, and I've been winning like crazy since letting the thopter/sword dream go.
I'm on this forum as a Tezzeret lover, so I just want to pursue the shell that plays him and wins the most. I think Meltiin's grind is that deck right now.
So long for trading out my lilies last month, then.
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MODERN Blue Lantern, UBx Tezzerator. OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
@bardils: I played 8rack for 2 years before switching over to tezzerator which I have been on since before Sword of the Meek unban. That being said I have a really good idea of how to navigate this match up and I think Tezzerator is heavily favored. Understanding 8 rack makes understanding the match up so much easier.
The Strategy: Don't. Play. Your. Cards. Seriously. It is that simple. To win the game you only need to play 4 lands and a Tezzeret. If they are on a version that is not main decking ensnaring bridge, 2 lands + Thopter foundry and any artifact are all you have to play (you can discard the sword for free). I mentioned in a post early given the decision to keep my combo, all my artifacts, lands or just Tezzeret off a Liliana ultimate, I took Tezzeret and won easily. Drawing an extra card a turn is not something they can beat. Post board you get to side out a ton of dead cards for literally anything and get better. If they are playing creature heavy versions with pack rat and mutavault it can be more challenging but you just keep your ensnaring bridges in that case.
If you have any specific questions I'd be happy to help.
GR or GB Tron is a nightmare, Eldrazi Tron is unvavorable, Blue Tron varies greatly on the composition of both decks but tends to be a 60-40 in trons favor. Other versions of tron still manage 1+1+1=7 so they are at best 45-55.
Strategy: Against GR tron your only hope is to Pithing Needle Expedition Maps and beat there face in with Tezzeret 5/5's before they get Tron online. I mulligan aggressively to hands that can do one of these things because I figure I am losing without them. Eldrazi Tron is easy besides the Karns and Walking Balistas. Try to needle these and combo them out or kill with a tezz ultimate before they can find a way through, Against blue Tron you bait their counter magic as many ways possible with hand disruption and Tezzerets. Once you stick a Thopter Foundry you are heavily favored to win.
My sideboard consists of an extra Pithing Needle specifically for Tron as well as Negates. Negate could be Ceremonious Rejections but I like Negate more in other match ups so I play it instead. Beating up their lands tends to be too slow of a strategy in Modern as of now.
If you catch Radouf's attention I know he spent some time testing the match up specifically and he may be of more help than me. But Tron is easily one of our worst match ups.
Thanks, this is really helpful information that I will try to apply tonight at the FNM. As for Blue Tron, problem is whatever the control you have on the table, they can bounce it back to your end when they are ready and go for a kill. I can't prevent that from happening overtime.
@Reedy26: I agree with a lot of things you pointed out except for one. Thopter/Sword doesn't make us the beatdown in any match up. The only time we really become the beatdown deck is when tezzeret makes 5/5's and goes face. Thopter/Sword is what it is, a combo finish. You wouldn't call splinter Twin combo beat down.
However you are absolutely right in that "Jack of all Trades, Master of None" has been our problem for a long time. We are a worse combo deck than storm, a worse control deck than jeskai, a worse prison deck than lantern, a worse beat down deck thatn 90% of decks, a worse ramp deck than tron/valakut, a worse synergy deck than affinity. But we are 80% as good as all these strategies. This is why Whir of Invention and Tezzeret are so good for us. They allow us rapidly switch archetypes.
Since Meltin's list is getting so much attention I am going to chime in on that real quick as well. I don't think it is good. The deck is basically 4 Ensnaring Bridges plus 11 planeswalkers. That is fine but it loses to so many decks in the current metagame. It has pretty lopsided match ups and can run hot to spike a small event but for every time that happens you get obliterated by any deck that can beat an Ensnaring Bridge. This is Modern, when do you have time to play 4 Temple of Deceit in your deck?
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Since Meltin's list is getting so much attention I am going to chime in on that real quick as well. I don't think it is good. The deck is basically 4 Ensnaring Bridges plus 11 planeswalkers. That is fine but it loses to so many decks in the current metagame. It has pretty lopsided match ups and can run hot to spike a small event but for every time that happens you get obliterated by any deck that can beat an Ensnaring Bridge. This is Modern, when do you have time to play 4 Temple of Deceit in your deck?
You're looking at it wrong. It's not Ensnaring bridge + planeswalkers. It's lantern control with walkers instead of mill rocks. I haven't played it yet myself, but I can see from years of experience with tezz and control that the strategy is sound. I recommend giving it a shot before you dismiss it. It looks a house, and my guess is you're missing out on a ton of free credit while this deck still flies under the radar.
Quick FNM report and overall update. I 4-0'd winning every game by a wide margin.
G1 vs Mardu Pox
g1, I got a bridge and lily, then a tez, then a tez, then an azcanta. Ultimate'd Tez.
g2 he slaughter games'd my bridges, I got a tez then a tez, then a lily. A few turns of digging behind 5/5 darksteel citadel and talisman (his removal was boarded out), ultimate big tez swing for 35
Rd 2 vs infect
g1 he gets an infect creature on my turn 2 I play talisman and pass. He goes almost all in on his creature and attacks, fearing the fatal push (he has apostle's blessing in hand). I untap, cast damnation. He untaps plays an infect critter. I untap play lilly make him sac and the game is over.
g2 is basically the same thing but less close. night of soul's betrayal is good against infect.
rnd 3 UW control
G1 on draw turn one temple tapped, bottom a land. turn 2 I play inquisition take a d sphere, inquis again take a gideon. Turn 3 I play lily and the game is over. We wrestle over a few dualing search for azcantas but ulitmately the relic I play keeps him from flipping and I flip mine and we win.
g2 he just doesn't have enough stuff to SB out agianst us so I inquis him t1 and he has path and verdict in hand, he may have well mulled to three. It's not a good game from there. I win with tezAoB ult, play tezAoB, tick up, ult.
rnd 3 Eldrazi tron
G1 I land an early bridge, then a lilly, then a tez and I proceed to tick up tez to hit needles for everything else he plays. I get a big tez, tick it up once, ult him, then downick lily and sac my bridge to swing with 6 or 7 artifacts.
g2 I have crumble bridge tez lilly land land land when he thoughtknot sees me, takes crumble. I just get behind a bridge, then get lily azcanta, then tez, after a few turns flip azcanta, flood the board with needles and damping matrix, crumble his tower, tez AoB ult, tez AoB ult.
GGs
It takes certain faith in your package to run UW control with snappys, gideon and colonnade as your wins. This deck is the same thing. It has never ever once failed to get me what I needed once I slowed the game down.
Overall my record is 13-2-1 in a very competitive Madison modern scene. The two games I lost were on the first night I played it. Both were because I didn't use big tez to get a witchbane orb against valakut and storm g1. Learning mistakes.
The draw I had the win on board at the end of turns and the guy refused to concede to me because he insisted that I was cheating because the deck so miraculously gets what it needs when it needs it.
Since Meltin's list is getting so much attention I am going to chime in on that real quick as well. I don't think it is good. The deck is basically 4 Ensnaring Bridges plus 11 planeswalkers. That is fine but it loses to so many decks in the current metagame. It has pretty lopsided match ups and can run hot to spike a small event but for every time that happens you get obliterated by any deck that can beat an Ensnaring Bridge. This is Modern, when do you have time to play 4 Temple of Deceit in your deck?
You're looking at it wrong. It's not Ensnaring bridge + planeswalkers. It's lantern control with walkers instead of mill rocks. I haven't played it yet myself, but I can see from years of experience with tezz and control that the strategy is sound. I recommend giving it a shot before you dismiss it. It looks a house, and my guess is you're missing out on a ton of free credit while this deck still flies under the radar.
Disagree with this assessment. It's not Lantern Control with with walkers instead of mill rocks. It's a deck whose CMC is overloaded at the 3-4-5 spots (rather than running extremely low to the ground), has no cantrips or tutors like lantern, and quite frankly must have run like god not to get mana-screwed or flooded in the event. To say "I don't think this deck is optimum or very good" doesn't mean anyone's dismissing its overall strategy - I've been playing 3 Liliana main with Damnations in my build, and have tried multiple walkers + bridges many times. I think in comparison to a deck with the thopter/sword combo + whir, it's game looks inferior vs a lot of the field. Just my 2 cents.
Now if people are running it and getting good results, great! Maybe the 4 bridges main is correct, and the 4 Lilis. I actually think a lot of iterations of Tezz or Thopter control are feasible and would put up good results if more people just played them. I'm something like 14-6 over my last 4 online leagues, and rarely seem to go worse than 3-2.
@djjedijeff I'm running Meltiin's list and the only change I'm thinking of is running another Search for Azcanta, though am reticent to change anything about this list. One of the most tuned lists I've ever played.
Planeswalker (11)
4 Liliana of the Veil
3 Tezzeret the Seeker
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
Land (23)
1 Academy Ruins
1 Blood Crypt
2 Bloodstained Mire
1 Ghost Quarter
2 Inventors' Fair
1 Island
1 Marsh Flats
4 Polluted Delta
1 Spire of Industry
4 Swamp
4 Temple of Deceit
1 Watery Grave
It looks like it does nothing, but basically most of the deck is designed to put your opponent into trying to solve a very difficult set of circumstances. Their hand isn't safe so they can't turtle up, they can't load up the board because of sweepers/bridge, and all of your artifacts cut off one of their relevant angles for a degenrate strategy. After you've basically disabled thier game plan, you're still applying downward pressure with lillies but you land one of the Tezzerets or an azcanta into an uncontested board state, which for my money is the best sensation that MtG has ever synthesized. Oh and you win right away when it happens.
I agree. I vividly remember a game against 8rack where I let him do anything he wants including ulting a LotV which resulted in me taking Tezz or everything else. I took tezz and won easily with no other permanents.
Sultai Midrange
Anything Innovative
My question is in regards to the Thopter/Sword combo on MTGO. I am fairly new to MTGO, so I'm still getting the keyboard shortcuts down, but I am finding it REALLY annoying (and super time consuming) to activate the Thopter/Sword combo. I can't seem to get the "Always Yes to This" and "Always Yield to This" buttons to work, even after customizing the inputs.
Does anyone have any tips on playing this deck on MTGO? Any shortcuts that help for all of the clicking involved? Thanks in advance!
As to 8-rack, I've found the matchup to be fairly easy when you identify what to keep. You want to preference starting with more lands than you normally want, so as to avoid getting choked off by smallpox. Also, you want to keep a sword over anythibg, because the sword is "immune" to discard, and then all you need to do is topdeck a foundry or whir. Typically they can either shred your hand or set-up win cons, but rarely can they do both with any quickness.
Edit: blue tron is really annoying, agree. Inquisition is good against them, actually, because they rely on counter magic early and cards like treasurw mage. Goyf has also been good in this matchup for me, because he can actually race their end game. But it's still tough.
Welcome to Forum! Happy to have you.
I have been playing on MTGO and once you get use to the combo it is quite easy. The only thing you have to look out for is accidentally double clicking the foundry. There is a safety message asking if you are sure but it looks a lot like the message to yield to the sword trigger and it is easy to click through it. It should be 3 clicks per a loop once you have set to always yield to the sword trigger. Thopter Foundry/Sword/Yes and your done.
I probably win close to 10@ of my competitive matches on MTGO due to my opponent timing out. My win rate on MTGO is about 10% higher then in paper because in paper these all translate to draws.
I don't play with a 3rd infinite combo piece because I think it is unnecessary but I would imagine that would make it a lot more difficult to click through.
Sultai Midrange
Anything Innovative
So if anyone have some tips about how to play vs 8 rack and specially vs tron, you are more than welcome to post it
The Strategy: Don't. Play. Your. Cards. Seriously. It is that simple. To win the game you only need to play 4 lands and a Tezzeret. If they are on a version that is not main decking ensnaring bridge, 2 lands + Thopter foundry and any artifact are all you have to play (you can discard the sword for free). I mentioned in a post early given the decision to keep my combo, all my artifacts, lands or just Tezzeret off a Liliana ultimate, I took Tezzeret and won easily. Drawing an extra card a turn is not something they can beat. Post board you get to side out a ton of dead cards for literally anything and get better. If they are playing creature heavy versions with pack rat and mutavault it can be more challenging but you just keep your ensnaring bridges in that case.
If you have any specific questions I'd be happy to help.
GR or GB Tron is a nightmare, Eldrazi Tron is unvavorable, Blue Tron varies greatly on the composition of both decks but tends to be a 60-40 in trons favor. Other versions of tron still manage 1+1+1=7 so they are at best 45-55.
Strategy: Against GR tron your only hope is to Pithing Needle Expedition Maps and beat there face in with Tezzeret 5/5's before they get Tron online. I mulligan aggressively to hands that can do one of these things because I figure I am losing without them. Eldrazi Tron is easy besides the Karns and Walking Balistas. Try to needle these and combo them out or kill with a tezz ultimate before they can find a way through, Against blue Tron you bait their counter magic as many ways possible with hand disruption and Tezzerets. Once you stick a Thopter Foundry you are heavily favored to win.
My sideboard consists of an extra Pithing Needle specifically for Tron as well as Negates. Negate could be Ceremonious Rejections but I like Negate more in other match ups so I play it instead. Beating up their lands tends to be too slow of a strategy in Modern as of now.
If you catch Radouf's attention I know he spent some time testing the match up specifically and he may be of more help than me. But Tron is easily one of our worst match ups.
Sultai Midrange
Anything Innovative
Also players concede to the deck a lot because it locks oit so efficiently.
Thopter sword version.
Pros: Crazy powerful, can do busted stuff. Has great matchups for most G1s
Cons: can be clunky, games two and three are staggeringly difficult because our combo leans on the two most hated-out areas in Modern (aritfacts and GYs), just loses to decks that ramp toward one giant bomb (tron, valakut)
Grind version
Pros: Extremely interactive. Extremely efficient at thwarting degenerate decks from game 1. One of if not the best grind deck in the format. Sideboard hate very minimally impacts the strategy.
Cons: Your games go long. Everyone in the room sees your whole deck because by g2 or 3 all your matches are done anf your whole deck is on the table. Can require convoltued/complicated win lines (requires creativity).
Overall I think modern is a format where fun stuff is possible and can Put up results, but law of averages is going to go to decks with the most powerful and simple lines of play. Tezzeret is a great engine, if he finds a bunch of artifacts he can create an even crazier engine in thopter sword, but law of averages makes that plan fall apart over three games or a long tournament. I just had to decide that Tezzeret generating advantage was good enough for me, and I've been winning like crazy since letting the thopter/sword dream go.
I'm on this forum as a Tezzeret lover, so I just want to pursue the shell that plays him and wins the most. I think Meltiin's grind is that deck right now.
OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
Thanks, this is really helpful information that I will try to apply tonight at the FNM. As for Blue Tron, problem is whatever the control you have on the table, they can bounce it back to your end when they are ready and go for a kill. I can't prevent that from happening overtime.
However you are absolutely right in that "Jack of all Trades, Master of None" has been our problem for a long time. We are a worse combo deck than storm, a worse control deck than jeskai, a worse prison deck than lantern, a worse beat down deck thatn 90% of decks, a worse ramp deck than tron/valakut, a worse synergy deck than affinity. But we are 80% as good as all these strategies. This is why Whir of Invention and Tezzeret are so good for us. They allow us rapidly switch archetypes.
Since Meltin's list is getting so much attention I am going to chime in on that real quick as well. I don't think it is good. The deck is basically 4 Ensnaring Bridges plus 11 planeswalkers. That is fine but it loses to so many decks in the current metagame. It has pretty lopsided match ups and can run hot to spike a small event but for every time that happens you get obliterated by any deck that can beat an Ensnaring Bridge. This is Modern, when do you have time to play 4 Temple of Deceit in your deck?
Sultai Midrange
Anything Innovative
You're looking at it wrong. It's not Ensnaring bridge + planeswalkers. It's lantern control with walkers instead of mill rocks. I haven't played it yet myself, but I can see from years of experience with tezz and control that the strategy is sound. I recommend giving it a shot before you dismiss it. It looks a house, and my guess is you're missing out on a ton of free credit while this deck still flies under the radar.
Tonight FNM result :
round 1) won 2-0 vs mono red control. First game he was on the play and managed to put a chandra turn one while I had pithing in my opening hand
round 2) won 2-0 vs ponza
Round 3) lost 2-0 vs burn
round 4) won 2-0 gren/white vizier combo
I am giving myself 2 months of practice and if things keep improving, I might try it at the nest GP in february
G1 vs Mardu Pox
g1, I got a bridge and lily, then a tez, then a tez, then an azcanta. Ultimate'd Tez.
g2 he slaughter games'd my bridges, I got a tez then a tez, then a lily. A few turns of digging behind 5/5 darksteel citadel and talisman (his removal was boarded out), ultimate big tez swing for 35
Rd 2 vs infect
g1 he gets an infect creature on my turn 2 I play talisman and pass. He goes almost all in on his creature and attacks, fearing the fatal push (he has apostle's blessing in hand). I untap, cast damnation. He untaps plays an infect critter. I untap play lilly make him sac and the game is over.
g2 is basically the same thing but less close. night of soul's betrayal is good against infect.
rnd 3 UW control
G1 on draw turn one temple tapped, bottom a land. turn 2 I play inquisition take a d sphere, inquis again take a gideon. Turn 3 I play lily and the game is over. We wrestle over a few dualing search for azcantas but ulitmately the relic I play keeps him from flipping and I flip mine and we win.
g2 he just doesn't have enough stuff to SB out agianst us so I inquis him t1 and he has path and verdict in hand, he may have well mulled to three. It's not a good game from there. I win with tezAoB ult, play tezAoB, tick up, ult.
rnd 3 Eldrazi tron
G1 I land an early bridge, then a lilly, then a tez and I proceed to tick up tez to hit needles for everything else he plays. I get a big tez, tick it up once, ult him, then downick lily and sac my bridge to swing with 6 or 7 artifacts.
g2 I have crumble bridge tez lilly land land land when he thoughtknot sees me, takes crumble. I just get behind a bridge, then get lily azcanta, then tez, after a few turns flip azcanta, flood the board with needles and damping matrix, crumble his tower, tez AoB ult, tez AoB ult.
GGs
It takes certain faith in your package to run UW control with snappys, gideon and colonnade as your wins. This deck is the same thing. It has never ever once failed to get me what I needed once I slowed the game down.
Overall my record is 13-2-1 in a very competitive Madison modern scene. The two games I lost were on the first night I played it. Both were because I didn't use big tez to get a witchbane orb against valakut and storm g1. Learning mistakes.
The draw I had the win on board at the end of turns and the guy refused to concede to me because he insisted that I was cheating because the deck so miraculously gets what it needs when it needs it.
Open to any questions.
What list are you running? Has it changed since August (the last post I see from you on the subject)?
Disagree with this assessment. It's not Lantern Control with with walkers instead of mill rocks. It's a deck whose CMC is overloaded at the 3-4-5 spots (rather than running extremely low to the ground), has no cantrips or tutors like lantern, and quite frankly must have run like god not to get mana-screwed or flooded in the event. To say "I don't think this deck is optimum or very good" doesn't mean anyone's dismissing its overall strategy - I've been playing 3 Liliana main with Damnations in my build, and have tried multiple walkers + bridges many times. I think in comparison to a deck with the thopter/sword combo + whir, it's game looks inferior vs a lot of the field. Just my 2 cents.
Now if people are running it and getting good results, great! Maybe the 4 bridges main is correct, and the 4 Lilis. I actually think a lot of iterations of Tezz or Thopter control are feasible and would put up good results if more people just played them. I'm something like 14-6 over my last 4 online leagues, and rarely seem to go worse than 3-2.
Planeswalker (11)
4 Liliana of the Veil
3 Tezzeret the Seeker
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
Creature (1)
1 Walking Ballista
Sorcery (10)
4 Collective Brutality
3 Damnation
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
Artifact (13)
1 Darksteel Citadel
4 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Pithing Needle
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Talisman of Dominance
1 Witchbane Orb
Enchantment (2)
2 Search for Azcanta
Land (23)
1 Academy Ruins
1 Blood Crypt
2 Bloodstained Mire
1 Ghost Quarter
2 Inventors' Fair
1 Island
1 Marsh Flats
4 Polluted Delta
1 Spire of Industry
4 Swamp
4 Temple of Deceit
1 Watery Grave
It looks like it does nothing, but basically most of the deck is designed to put your opponent into trying to solve a very difficult set of circumstances. Their hand isn't safe so they can't turtle up, they can't load up the board because of sweepers/bridge, and all of your artifacts cut off one of their relevant angles for a degenrate strategy. After you've basically disabled thier game plan, you're still applying downward pressure with lillies but you land one of the Tezzerets or an azcanta into an uncontested board state, which for my money is the best sensation that MtG has ever synthesized. Oh and you win right away when it happens.