Today I have my take on a Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas deck.
This deck is not finished, but it's a good starting point. There a few things I like about what it's capable of, so let's start there. First of all, this deck takes advantage of Tezzeret without needing him to win. This is one of the things that I look for in build-around-me cards and strategies. Synergy is fun and powerful, but it feels really bad to have a deck that doesn't do anything when it doesn't draw it's namesake card. Let's take a look at the various game plans when a Tezzeret isn't drawn.
Plan A: Turn 2 mana producer, turn 3 Solemn (or another mana producer) turn 4 Wurmcoil Engine. Plan B: Turn 2 mana rock, turn 3 Solemn/mana rock turn 4 play and activate Vedalken Shackles.
Now picture these plans backed up with a Tezzeret on the table. This guy can come down as early as turn 3, and immediately turn that mana rock you used to play him into a 5/5. Permanently. As long as they can't kill him that turn, he's got a way to protect himself, and you can start generating a serious clock, or lots of card advantage. If they try to add more creatures to the table to pressure Tezzeret, you can follow up with a Shackles and make them very sad.
One of my concerns when I first came up with this deck was drawing too many mana sources. Between lands and mana producing artifacts, there are 35 permanents that make mana. Tezzeret certainly helps by turning signets into 5/5 creatures, but I wanted another way to make sure I didn't lose by drawing too many. This is where Thopter Foundry comes in.
This card is here because it's the perfect compliment to our plan A, which is to protect a Tezzeret and let it win the game on it's own. Spellskite doesn't die to Lightning Bolt, can block Wild Nacatl indefinitely, and can protect Tezzeret from burn spells. The fact that it's an artifact and stops Splinter Twin and the Hexproof/Aura decks in their tracks is just icing on the cake.
Let's take a look at the popular matchups.
Vs. Zoo
We are strongly favored. Ramping into Wurmcoil Engine or Vedalken Shackles backed up by removal is generally lights out for them. Having a planeswalker that makes 5/5's doesn't hurt either. If you have the option of playing and activating Shackles or playing a Wurmcoil Engine, definitely use Shackles first. Losing to Path to Exile isn't fun.
Vs. Affinity
This matchup feels similar, although Shackles gets worse because of Arcbound Ravager. Just make sure to save a dispatch for Ravager if you can. The other tough part is that making 5/5 blockers against affinity doesn't do much since most of their creatures fly.
Vs. WUR Control
I believe this matchup is solid. This is essentially a control mirror, but the Tezzeret deck has a lot more threats and the WUR deck has more counter magic. The trick is to bait their counterspells so that you can resolve a Tezzeret. Once you use his +1 a few times, you should be in good shape. Also, keep in mind that if you use Vedalken Shackles on a Celestial Colonnade, you get to keep it for the rest of the game despite it turning back into a land at the end of turn.
Vs Melira Pod
This is a matchup where Dispatch, Vedalken Shackles and Black Sun's Zenith (from the sideboard) are very important. As long as you can keep them from comboing, Wurmcoil Engine should do a fine job of cleaning up the game.
Vs. Splinter Twin
The same cards are important here. Playing conservatively is very important, so don't try to pressure their life total until you are sure you can keep them from killing you, or you have no other option. However, I think this matchup is better than the Pod matchup because you have Spellskite to help out here in addition to Dispatch and Vedalken Shackles. Keep in mind that Remand is a very good card against Turbo Tezz, so this matchup is not unlosable.
Vs. Storm
Game one is really rough. Game two and three you have lots of copies of Ethersworn Canonist to bring in against them along with graveyard hate to help against Pyromancer's Ascension and Past in Flames.
This deck probably won't be crushing the Pro Tour anytime soon, but I think with some work it could be a strong, fun and interesting deck to bring to local tournaments.
Enjoy!
Path to Exile is one of the most powerful removal spells in Modern. As an artifact-centric deck, you get to run 8 Path to Exile via the inclusion of Dispatch. I would be curious to explore finding room for Path to Exile,at least in the sideboard.
ReplyDeleteI really like having hateful artifacts in your sideboard (eg: Ethersworn Canonist for storm, Spellskite for Twin/Boggles, Relic/Cage for dredge and such) since Tezzeret can find them. For this reason, I wouldn't mind seeing a Torpor Orb and/or a Damping Matrix, as you are a little light on hate for Twin and Pod. Notably, Tezzeret might be a little slow in finding these sideboard cards sometimes, so I would also like to see some Thoughtseize. It's hard to deny the raw power of Thoughtseize, and it's nice to trade one-for-one when you have Tezzeret and Solemn Simulacrum to recreate card advantage.
Now, I've been recommending adding a lot, so presumably something else must get cut. Firstly, I think that we don't need all 29 artifacts in the main. Tezzeret looks at FIVE cards each activation; that's a lot. Pentad Prism strikes me as the weakest artifact, since it is a ramp spell, but only for two activations. I will also cite Tron lists which run only 3 Wurmoil in the main, so it's at least worth considering moving one to the board, although I'm not convinced that is correct.
As a final note, I would certainly replace the Azorius Signet with Dimir Signet. We definitely want all of the mana rocks to be able to produce black mana so that we can cast Tezzeret on turn 3.
Cool deck idea! As with all articles, I hope there is a follow up with testing results and an updated list!