Played An mcq to top 8 today.
List can be found here later today https://www.channelfireball.com/top-8-decklists-of-the-sunday-mcq-at-magicfest-birmingham/ (Bart horré)
The deck felt really powerful. Had game vs everything.And easily plays around extraction and graveyard hate. Never faced Stony silence though.
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Member for 14 years, 8 months, and 2 days
Last active Mon, Jul, 12 2021 19:41:28
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Saggarath posted a message on UBx Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas ControlPosted in: Control -
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the nobodys posted a message on UBx Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas ControlYay, I finally got a 5-0 with Grizis Urza Thopter Sword! And the deciding match was a tense one against the dreaded Hogaak Vine! Needling Altar saved my butt game 3. Echoing Truth was very good against them, bouncing a leyline so I could infinite, and bouncing a huge carrion feeder. Game one I won by infiniting with exactly 1 life left.Posted in: Control
A few notes:
-If you're playing online, and you assemble infinite with Urza, make sure to remember that you can grow your Urza token for lethal, which can save a lot of time against something like storm or tron. (Rather than drawing your deck to grab whatever).
-Tooled around with Aether Grid, moving a Sai to the board, for 1 Grid 1 Sai main, and another Grid and Sai SB. Grid can tick down on annoying walkers like Teferi, and having one main deck means having your "finisher" for Urza be a utility pinger otherwise. Not sure about the grid maindeck yet, but I'll probably keep it in for now.
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vandertroll posted a message on Urza, Lord High Artificer (Command Zone Preview)I AM NOT FEELING WELL. I THINK I AM HAVING A PANIC ATTACK.Posted in: The Rumor Mill -
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dustycrumbz posted a message on UBx Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas ControlBtw, I've continued to test a bunch of different shells/theories (builds with Chalice main/side, 3-4x Chalice vs Zan's 1x Chalice in the board, Cantrips vs no Cantrips, Cutting black to go Jeskai (even played Saheeli/Felidar postboard), Sultai/Esper vs straight UB, etc.), some of which were things I had previously established I preferred but just wanted to revisit to ensure I wasn't tunnel visioned into in a theory that could have changed based on an evolved meta (mainly the Serum Visions/Green Spell slots and re-testing EE which I've previously disliked alongside ThopterSword).Posted in: Control
After some careful considerations, I took this list for a spin at an FNM (4-0 beating Tron of all things in the final round), cut the singleton Chalice in my board from Friday for another alt-wincon slot, and went undefeated at an IQ this weekend. Here's the list:
Some recent changes were cutting the cantrips (which historically I have not liked doing but mitigated the need for them by lowering my curve, playing more artifacts, playing 21st land again, and playing 2 Azcanta to play the role Serum provides mid-late game/providing mana later on), testing EE again in place of 3rd Push (I had only recently reintroduced push again since humans has been creeping back up), and the Tolaria/Inventor's Fair package to go along with that. Here's the report:
R1: 2-1
TRON
Got paired against one of the guys I came with and I was anything but thrilled at first.
G1: Double Needle (O-Stone, Karn) into Whir for Sphere, bought me enough time to get Time Sieve lock online.
G2: Close game but ended up losing to beats without a bridge
G3: LOTV into Tez beat downs closed the game.
R2: 2-1
GB Rock
G1: Had to keep an ok hand with a good ratio of spells to lands (knew what he was on before game 1 so I didn't want to mulligan even a suboptimal hand). Unfortunately got flooded with land draws.
G2-3: Early Jar (or two) into turn 3 Bridge to lock both wins.
R3: 2-0
Bant Knightfall
G1: Locked combat with bridge, eventually killed with Thopters
G2: Bridge into Torpor Orb
R4: 1-1-1
The Rack
G1: Tight lines lead me to whir for EE (for 0), break it, Ruins to put it back on top, cast it for 1 (but not enough mana open at this point to activate), and unfortunately died to a Mutavault hit plus second Affliction
G2: Got to Time Sieve Lock the turn before I would have died
G3: Was behind most of the game, but went to turns and just had to fade a funeral charm off the top (which would have pumped his Mutavault for the kill on Turn 5)
R5: 2-0
4-C Whir (Cloyle's most recent 5-0 list, noticed from the sideboard numbers during game 2 when I cast an Ego)
Note: We played a "Foiled Whir Mirror" lol
G1: He gets to Jar/Chalices then Bridge/Cloister, but doesn't see a Spyglass. I manage to get the Time Sieve lock on him, then proceed to get EE/Academy Ruins, blow up his jars, then his Chalice, then find a 3rd color source to blow up the bridge.
G2: Despite all the recent exposure/articles written about both base-versions of the Whir decks, nobody seems to want to address the approach to the mirrors. I've been working on a postboard gameplan that doesn't interfere with my postboard plans against the rest of the field (which is more important), and it really shined for me here.
My opponent came out the gates with double Spyglass (first naming Thopter Foundry when he saw I had Foundry/Sword/Whir in hand, the second naming EE). I got an Ego to strip the remaining 2x Spyglasses from his deck and wrote down the remaining avenues to victory left for my opponent. I also had a live Azcanta, which really gave me the advantage to lock the rest of the game. With it, I am able to find a Needle (name Jester's Cap), Whir (find Witchbane Orb to stop Ipnu and Tez Ult - his list didn't have Grid and he didn't bring in Sai), and then another Ego (strip Academy Ruins) into another needle for Tez (prevent 5/5 beats). We draw-go forever but I know I have him locked. Azcanta then finds LOTV and Ashiok which eventually get locked by Witchbane, but I didn't worry about prioritizing Witchbane with second Ego cuz I was already up a game, knew he had no ways to win once I lock Tez with the Needle, and stripping his ruins with Ego rather than a Spyglass/Needle meant that I could not get decked, but he now could. Once he realized it was over, he extended the hand.
R6: ID
-- TOP 8 --
We all decide to split the prize money evenly and just play for the invites.
Qtrs: Affinity
My opponent doesn't care about the invite, but wants to see how things play out for fun. I land T2 Foundry into T3 Whir for Sword. He saw enough and didn't want to play games 2-3.
Semis: Amulet Titan
My opponent tells me congrats cuz she already is queued and just wants to go home lol
Finals: Dropped
I would have liked to play for 1st place/bragging rights, but I was 2 hours away, the tournament started later than I'm used to, plus my friend (who I was holding hostage) and I both worked early the next day, so I was more than happy to just dip after my semi-opponent signed the slip. There was no extra money in it plus I got what I came for - the invite.
As always, I just want to note that my 75 isn't nearly as locked in as the 4-c Whir Prison's list (at least they seem to have settled on about 72 of the slots right now) and am constantly moving stuff around. I do still really like Serum Vision's impact on mulligan implications (and being able to keep 1-land hands, which I tend to almost never keep without Serum), however having the 2x Azcanta to fill a similar role when you're running out of gas in the mid-late game was pretty nice. It's also been a really nice "threat" to have against GBx/GDS as another impactful turn 2 play that you can squeeze in around their hand disruption. Again, not some revolutionary slot I think everyone MUST try, but the role it's been playing for me in tandem with the adjustments I've made have been pretty positive overall.
This just scratches the surface to how I came to a lot of the numbers I settled on, but let me know if you have any questions and hopefully I'll reply in a timely manner!
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MRdown2urth posted a message on Bond of PassionThis should be an instant at that cost.Posted in: The Rumor Mill -
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Broccoli posted a message on Jace Wielder of Mysteries, Paradise DruidPosted in: The Rumor MillQuote from hyalopterouslemur »Why does Jace's -8 have the same ability as his static?
Because if you ult at 8 loyalty, he hits the bin before his ability resolves. -
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dustycrumbz posted a message on UBx Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas ControlHaving missed last weekend's Baltimore Open for unrelated personal reasons, I sleeved up the list I had ready for that tournament for my RPTQ yesterday. Here's my most recent list and a tournament report:Posted in: Control
dustycrumbz TezzeratorMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards Spells
3 Serum Visions
3 Fatal Push
3 Collective Brutality
4 Whir of Invention
Enchantments
1 Search for Azcanta
Artifacts
4 Mishra's Bauble
3 Mox Opal
2 Welding Jar
1 Pithing Needle
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Damping Sphere
1 Time Sieve
3 Sword of the Meek
4 Thopter Foundry
3 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Bottled CloisterLands
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
2 Watery Grave
1 Breeding Pool
2 Spire of Industry
3 Island
1 Swamp
1 Academy RuinsSideboard
1x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Pithing Needle
1x Phyrexian Revoker
1x Spellskite
1x Torpor Orb
1x Witchbane Orb
2x Thoughtseize
2x Abrupt Decay
1x Damnation
1x Liliana of the Veil
1x Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
2x Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
I was testing a few things throughout my flex slots to give myself the highest amount of overall win percentage amongst what I perceived to be the most likely archetypes I'd see amongst the top local grinders in the region. Here's how my day played out:
R1) 1-1-1: Grixis Whir
Not thrilled to start my day off against this deck, but I was certain I knew 74 of the 75 cards he was playing, have played the matchup before, and figured my opponent had little/no experience against me and that may give me a slight edge in spots. Game 1 is easy for him to lock me due to being all-in on the ThopterSword plan, plus I had to mull to 5 on the draw. Game 2 I manage to strip his only payoff with a Thoughtseize (Whir) and left him with nothing. I proceeded to beat down with Tezzeret until bridge came down, but then managed to ultimate before he could find a Needle effect. Game 3 was drawn out and we each managed to lock nearly everything important between both of our decks. However, the time was posted incorrectly and were told we had about 17 mins left from a judge, but then the head judge called time shortly after. My opponent was a bit upset because to be fair, he was pulling ahead with the Crucible/Rivulet engine online but I had too many cards left in my deck. He asked for a concession but I explained that I was drawing to multiple outs (my last Needle to lock Rivulet, both Decays to unlock Tez and immediately win, Academy Ruins to prevent getting milled), plus he had all of his Needle effects already on board and EE was locked. It wasn't the most graceful end to a match, but I'll take a draw rather than a loss. I was just hoping it'd help more than hurt down the road.
R2) 2-0: Bant Spirits
I was hoping I'd find a window of opportunity to land a bridge by incentivizing my opponent to tap out on their turn. I baited a spell queller on a push in his last combat step, then slammed bridge the following turn, which bought me enough time to assemble the combo. In game 2, it was much of the same song/dance, but I knew he'd have about 2-3 non-creature counterspells coming in along with the enchantments/Knight of Autumn. A turn 3 Thoughtseize snagged CoCo and showed me he had no interaction. Bridge slowed him down, interactive spells picked off the Hierarchs/Image copying Hierarch, Torpor Orb took out his only way to get bridge off the board. I get fortunate and assembled the combo before he saw any of his 5-6 enchantments.
R3) 2-0: Affinity
This matchup can be a bit close for comfort but I have so many reps under my belt as the Affinity pilot, which I feel sometimes helps me navigate through some tough turns they can present. Anyway, Game 1 I manage to get Bridge, Needle the Plating, then assemble ThopterSword before he finds Ravager. Game 2 he gets me to 10 with a known Galv Blast in hand. I find a bridge and he hits me to 6 in response. I take a couple hits from Etched Champion before I find a Bridge. He slams a Karn but it's luckily a bit too slow to get to what he needs before I lock out the game with ThopterSword.
R4) 2-0: Grixis DS
This is another close matchup that I have a lot of experience with from both ends, but they've been playing less and less K commands in the main (and overall 75 for that matter) which helps our Game 1. Game 1 was very tough to navigate but I manage to strip Battle Rage from his hand and see 2x Gurmag and a Snap, keep my life total high enough to not die to a single swing of DS with Snap/Battle Rage, and force him into a spot where he felt the need to exile his yard to play a Gurmag and a snap. I can't find a Bridge/Whir/Sword but I have 3x Foundries and a couple artifacts that I sac to make thopters. I eventually out-tempo him in the air to win through the skin of my teeth. Game 2 I get a bridge online and find a Welding Jar before he finds a second shatter effect, then Whir for Spellskite to seal his hand, and combo for the win.
R5) 1-2: Burn
I win game 1 by getting early ThopterSword online, despite being on the draw. Game 2 we get into a spot where I have Witchbane Orb but my life total is low and he had Stony locking the combo since turn 2. I know his had is 2x Skullcrack and he topdecks/plays Swiftspear, but I take the line of getting a Spellskite instead of taking the hit and Whirring for my only postboard Bridge because I wasn't confident I could get hellbent before I die to a 1/x creature/only gets worse if he sees a shatter effect/Eidolon. I had been thinking about how some people here like to trim most/all Bridges for games 2-3 vs me who likes to keep 1-2, so I decided to try keeping just 1 but bumped back up to 2 in game 3 since I was on the play. Game 3 he topdecked a Stony for his turn 2 Play, which locked out my hand that had Foundry/Sword, and he proceeded to burn me out.
R6) 2-0: MartyrProc
Unfortunately me and my friend had to play each other for the win-and-in to top 8 (we joked that it'd come to this on the way down). Game 1 is super grindy as he slams double Ghostly Prison, but I get the ThopterSword + Time Sieve lock online right after he uses his last GQ on board. I proceed to tell him that I locked him out of turns and can pay the 4x mana to let a single thopter swing into his only 2x blockers (2x Hawks), but then will eventually get Academy Ruins so that I don't mill myself. He scoops and we proceed to game 2. He lands an early enchantment, I get a bridge lock online, he finds his singleton copy of Cleansing Nova and leaves me with 3x Land and a Tezzeret. I brutally rip another Bridge off the top and lock out combat. I rebuild my board, Revoker on Martyr, Needle on Hex Parasite, and get to a point where I can Ult Tez back to back for the win.
Top 8 (Top 4 Qualify):
2-0: Burn
I was nervous both being on the draw as the 7th seed, as well as knowing how close this matchup can be and that it was my only loss from earlier today. Game 1 I land a turn 2 Azcanta, turn 3 Sword into Push, then Azcanta filters me into Thopter Foundry on my turn 4 and I stabilize before he can get to enough mana to multi-spell me to death. Game 2 he mulls to 5 (Scry to bottom) and I keep a semi-risky hand that could pay off and has half of the combo. He passes with a Tarn. I decided to play a turn 1 Needle to see if I can catch him off guard (I almost did but he corrected himself quickly). He finds a guide and swings for 2. I Brutality with all 3x modes to kill his only guy, undo the attack, and strip a wear/tear to leave him with 3x uncastable spells (he's stuck on 1 land with 2x Eidolon and a Exquisite Firecraft, which also showed a lack of experience against us and was great). He remains stuck on 1 land, I slam sword and find Foundry and lock the win 3x turns later.
So I'm obviously incredibly stoked to be going to my first Pro Tour after years of grinding, but getting to accomplish this on the back of a deck that I've held near and dear to my heart since I was a casual-competitve player in my early days at my first LGS years ago makes this journey all the more rewarding. Again, I've said it before and I'll say it again - the community on this forum and the various testing that's gone on with this archetype has been an invaluable resource. Despite the many subtleties amongst our lists that play to the strengths of each pilot, we all know that the core of this archetype has legs and I'm hoping to be able to show the world that this deck is the real deal. I've already been locked on playing at GPNJ in January (limited), so I will be buckling down on the new limited format once it hits next month, as well as doing my best to keep up with the slight meta shifts/determining what the actual PT field is likely to look like. I've had quite the journey with this deck through the years and I'm so thrilled that it isn't over yet. While my expectations aren't high, I've already gotten so much farther than I ever thought I would with Tez when I look back at when this all started for me personally.
TezCommunity - many thanks again for all of your help! -
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the nobodys posted a message on UBx Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas ControlGood looking list, magpie842. I like the engineered explosive as the flex spot. I personally always find myself regretting not running a time sieve maindeck, to help shore up all the combo matches, but that's just me.Posted in: Control
@racing089 - I think your list with the updates you mentioned looks tight. Instead of going for a 22nd blue land, why not run a talisman? If you're consistently hitting 2 mana on turn 1, talisman is a great play, and since you're running 4 cmc walkers, the ramp is even more worthwhile.
I should also be going to regionals. I'll be sorely tempted to run a chalice/planeswalker heavy list, (over ideas unbound build) because I own all the expensive cards in paper and never get a chance to play with them, but I feel like I'd be out of practice with that strategy. Besides, I predict a higher Jund presence in paper (as opposed to online), and the lingering souls would be really nice to have.
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On another note, I made a grixis list and went 4-1 with it online. Beat UR control, bogles, humans, and titanshift, lost to GW value town (their SB is ridiculous against us, with stony, kataki, choke, and rec sage). As I expected, faithless looting turn 1 was almost always a really sweet value play. The mana, however, was noticeably bad compared to Esper. Really fairly bad. Having to run 4 Spirebluff Canal to enable looting meant I had to rely on fetches for watery grave. I also forgot/neglected to put in a basic swamp, which almost cost me a game against UR thing in the ice control. Now that I think about it, I could have just gone with 4 darkslick shores, and relied more heavily on fetches for steam vents, but I'm not sure. I think I want to maximize access to R for looting, so that I can cast it turn 1.
List for reference:
I'm sure I'll continue to test this, but I really missed detention sphere (or any permanent removal) against GW's problem permanents. Once again, Altar won me a match against Titanshift. -
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the nobodys posted a message on UBx Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas ControlPosted in: ControlQuote from Catherine Cook »I mean, this topic has Tezzeret's name in its very title. Is removing him an option at all?
Talk to affinity -
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illakunsaa posted a message on Gavin Varhey confirms change of course for Masters sets.Inb4Posted in: The Rumor Mill
Quote from fake news »So if Masters 25 wasn't your jam, keep your eyes out for Dominaria. The set is fantastic and I think you'll really enjoy it. - To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
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In the meanwhile, Modern is likely to be "eternal 2.0". They can augment the power level and balance of the format with Modern Horizons style supplemental products and have an "eternal" format without the mar of the reserved list.
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I have preferred Time Sieve up until now, but I am testing ironworks because I have noticed there are some hands where I can easily whir for it with 3-4 mana sources and go infinite, whereas I might have to wait a few turns for Time Sieve to be online. So not as strong game closer, but it can be more immediately accessible, worth trying.
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The format is great for getting people into Magic because new players like to crack packs and opening one awesome card in a pack gets you all the copies of that card that you need.
So it's accessible, while being cheaper than Standard and it's a lot of fun.
The format was a good fit here because the most popular format here is Duel Commander.
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I will be playing it in Standard though.
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1
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Collective Brutality
3 Serum Visions
4 Whir of Invention
3 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Executioner's Capsule
4 Mishra's Bauble
3 Mox Opal
1 Nihil Spellbomb
4 Pentad Prism
1 Pithing Needle
2 Sword of the Meek
3 Thopter Foundry
1 Time Sieve
2 Welding Jar
1 Academy Ruins
1 Breeding Pool
4 Darkslick Shores
1 Darksteel Citadel
1 Flooded Strand
2 Island
4 Polluted Delta
3 Spire of Industry
1 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
1 Collective Brutality
2 Damnation
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Herald of Anguish
2 Lost Legacy
1 Padeem, Consul of Innovation
1 Pithing Needle
1 Spellskite
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Will post my list tomorrow.
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This new approach makes spring blocks much less attractive to buy in to.
Rotating by block makes a lot of sense.
Making standard 3 blocks was too greedy. Make it 5 blocks and you have a standard which is only marginally larger than the previous standard format, the equivalent of 2.5 old blocks.
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It could be that a format which already is played casually could become sanctioned.
Highlander? Canadian Highlander? Duel Commander? Pauper?
A singleton eternal format would be more accessible even with current card availability issues. This would allow them to avoid dealing directly with the reserved list for a few more years.