[Deck] 8Tezz.dec - UB Tezzeret

[Sisyphos]

Probably siding out Thopter/sword against Gobbos, because I want to stack my sweepers and I generally am planning to win with a Big Tezz ult. But YMMV.

So there's a question for everybody - if I want to bring in 4-5 cards against Gobbos, what are YOU taking out?

If you're running the silver bullet plan main, I'd start with stuff like Nihil Spellbomb, which is completely useless, then I would go to Jace as Undomian suggested. Considering Chalice as a card to take out, would vary if I'm on the draw or on the play. On the play I'd probably keep the Chalices, as you can blank Lackey and Vial. On the draw the card gets much weaker. As our removal is mostly sorcery based (especially the sweepers), Vial especially can be a pain. EOT Warchief into Ringleader on their turn with all their mana up can lead to disgusting comebacks. I'm also quite likely to shave a Thirst if I need an extra card, but I never liked the card anyway, so maybe that's just me.

I think you can find 4-5 cards that are weaker then ThopterSword, even if you want to bring in 4+ sweepers. I also often found it quite hard to get Tezz ultimate big enough to kill without at least some help of ThopterSword. You're latest list plays 19 artifacts main without ThopterSword (if I count correctly). Relying purely on Tezz means getting nearly 50 % of your artifacts onto the board. ThopterSword makes this much easier while reducing the risk of being too low and dying to random haste creatures.

[Undomian]

Time to push this thread up with some match results! I ended up splitting my local monthly legacy event with the following:

4 Baleful Strix

3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas

2 The Abyss

4 Force of Will
2 Transmute Artifact

4 Chalice of the Void
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Sword of the Meek
3 Thopter Foundry
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Trading Post

4 Mox Diamond
2 Dimir Signet

1 Academy Ruins
4 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Traitors
1 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Island
2 Misty Rainforest
3 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
1 Tropical Island
3 Underground Sea
3 Wasteland

SB:
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Pithing Needle
1 Golgari Charm
3 Toxic Deluge
1 Trinisphere
1 Helm of Obedience
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Lodestone Golem

Unfortunately, I forgot to bring a notepad to this event, so I can't provide any sort of detailed match info.

R1: UWR Delver (0-2)
R2: UWR Delver (2-1)
R3: UWR Delver (2-0)
R4: Deadguy Ale (2-1)
R5: Elves (2-0)
T4: UB Tezzeret (2-0)
Finals: Split w/ Elves guy.

In the wake of the deck's recent results, it seems like a lot of people have jumped ship from their usual decks in favor of UWR Delver. Barring any abysmal draws (see Round 1), this matchup seems to be in our favor as it is with most Delver decks. This one even has a slower clock and less artifact hate postboard, which is nice. I locked up my Deadguy match with Ensnaring Bridge in both of the games that I won, so the second bridge added to the SB definitely pulled its weight. The elves matchup was nothing unexpected, and was over pretty quickly. In the top 4, I faced another Tezz deck. His build was very different from mine, with 4 Phyrexian Revoker mainboard. He actually sided into Null Rod in our match, and I know he had the capacity to transform into Painter Stone (though I didn't see it). Unfortunately, the Null Rod ended up hurting him far more than it did me due to my draw in that game, and I ended up taking the match. The finals were split because the prize for 1st/2nd was the same, and he had to leave.

[Undomian]

Double post because it's been awhile. Took down a 16-man at a new store yesterday to the tune of a shiny new Volcanic Island. I was defeated by Shardless Bug (2-0) in round 4 of the swiss after defeating Dredge (2-0), Spiral Tide (2-0), and UW Helm (2-0), putting me in to the T8 in 2nd. I then battled against TinFins (2-1), Merfolk (2-0), and Reanimator (2-0) to win the tournament. The Leylines in the board were excellent, and easily resolidified their place there.

[Sisyphos]

Nice going Undomian! I take it you played the 75 from your last post? Guess I have to try out a Mox-build again. Last time I did, I ran into mana problems in nearly every round. Guess it was just variance or my list was crap.

Couple of questions about your list:

How did the Trading Post work out? Has it convinced you or would you consider it a flex slot?
Most lists run a 2/2 split between Foundry/Sword. Any particular reasons for the change to 3/1?
You run 10 colorless lands, yet no Urborg which is a commonly played card in most lists without Wastelands. Did you try out an Urborg instead of the third basic or do you find the fixing unnecessary?
Why the second Misty instead of the fourth Delta? Simply to confuse opponents and against Extraction? Seeing as Misty does not fetch all your lands while Delta does.
I'm always curious about Pithing Needle instead of Phyrexian Revoker. In your experience, do you prefer Needle because of the amount of sweepers you play even though it is worse with Chalice and even though you lose some utility against Storm decks? I guess it also depends on which matchups you plan to use the effect in, aka if you want Needle against decks you also want sweepers against. What matchups do you board in Needle usually?

[Undomian]

Nice going Undomian! I take it you played the 75 from your last post? Guess I have to try out a Mox-build again. Last time I did, I ran into mana problems in nearly every round. Guess it was just variance or my list was crap.

Couple of questions about your list:

How did the Trading Post work out? Has it convinced you or would you consider it a flex slot?

I'm still testing it, but it has actually been pretty fantastic in testing. One of the biggest issues with Bridge is the fact that sometimes, you can't play everything you draw, and Post fixes that pretty easily. It has also been an all-star in grindy matches for obvious reasons. I don't think I would be playing it if I didn't have at least 2 Bridges in the 75, though.

Most lists run a 2/2 split between Foundry/Sword. Any particular reasons for the change to 3/1?

I used to run 3/2, but went to 3/1 when my meta shifted to contain less creature-centric decks (i.e. Fish/D&T) as the combo was not as necessary. This is really just personal preference, but I prefer to have the extra Foundry because having one of those Decayed is a lot more common than having your Sword eaten by an Ooze or something. It is nice to have backups, and having the extra blue card is awesome sometimes too.

You run 10 colorless lands, yet no Urborg which is a commonly played card in most lists without Wastelands. Did you try out an Urborg instead of the third basic or do you find the fixing unnecessary?

In the past, I played 1 Island/1 Swamp/1 Urborg, but since a few people where I play like to cast Blood Moon (we had 4 people in a 30-ish person tournament playing Imperial Painter one time...), and also since Urborg seemed to be too 'cute' when I did draw it, I just put the second basic in.

Why the second Misty instead of the fourth Delta? Simply to confuse opponents and against Extraction? Seeing as Misty does not fetch all your lands while Delta does.

I should probably be playing the fourth Delta over the second Misty. The real reason for this is probably that I don't own a Chinese one.

I'm always curious about Pithing Needle instead of Phyrexian Revoker. In your experience, do you prefer Needle because of the amount of sweepers you play even though it is worse with Chalice and even though you lose some utility against Storm decks? I guess it also depends on which matchups you plan to use the effect in, aka if you want Needle against decks you also want sweepers against. What matchups do you board in Needle usually?

I bring in Needle against storm combo and the like, but it is never my first priority as Trinisphere/LSG is almost always better. Needle is in my board because (in my experience at least) this deck can't beat a Liliana on turn 2 if we don't have a Force or a nut draw with Tezzeret. I tend to side Chalice out against Liliana decks, so that interaction is almost never relevant. It is also more probable that I would Transmute for the Needle (which doesn't give my opponent a chance to respond if they don't know what I'm transmuting for) than actually cast it, which gets around Chalice as well. Sweepers are also brought in against said Liliana decks, so my reasoning is basically what you were thinking.

[Undomian]

If anyone cares to watch, Joe Lossett has been streaming dailies with this deck on MODO recently. You can find the videos in his archives.

http://www.twitch.tv/oarsman79

[xdavisx]

If anyone cares to watch, Joe Lossett has been streaming dailies with this deck on MODO recently. You can find the videos in his archives.

http://www.twitch.tv/oarsman79

Good lookin out. I've been becoming more and more intrigued with the deck and it's good to see some fresh content.

[oarsman]

Last round of the legacy daily. You guys might get a kick out of this.

http://www.twitch.tv/oarsman79/c/3523644

[Darkenslight]

Last round of the legacy daily. You guys might get a kick out of this.

http://www.twitch.tv/oarsman79/c/3523644

Yeah, that was amusing. Carry Away FTW.

[kingtk3]

Last round of the legacy daily. You guys might get a kick out of this.

http://www.twitch.tv/oarsman79/c/3523644

Your exultation was the best! That's how real magic should be: kick people faces with underrated cards!!!

[Undomian]

Turns out this deck is still ridiculously good right now. Took down a 26-man local tournament today, battling through 8 rounds of magic to take home the prize. That's usually a non-sea dual land of your choice, but I just got store credit and used it toward a Time Vault. One more step toward Vintage, woo!

[kingtk3]

Turns out this deck is still ridiculously good right now. Took down a 26-man local tournament today, battling through 8 rounds of magic to take home the prize. That's usually a non-sea dual land of your choice, but I just got store credit and used it toward a Time Vault. One more step toward Vintage, woo!

Gratz on the finish, I'm sure the vault was especially sweet ;)

[klaus]

Hey guys,
first post on this thread if I'm not mistaken.
I fooled around with "Turbo Prison" over in the N&D thread and have eventually ended up with something UBW Tezzerator-ish after some serious tweaking. Thought I'd post my list here for some food for thought.
Let me know what you think!

4 Jace
1 Tezzeret (used to be a 3/2 split - wanted to see Jace 99% of the time though, thus 4/1 - no offense but Tezz hardly ever had the impact I was hoping he had)
4 FoW
4 Supreme Verdict (SV actually makes the deck tick, with all those Spell Pierce decks around these days)
4 Chalice
1 Moat (wins games on it's own (also I like that it cannot fall victim to AD), could be replaced by EE though)
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Crucible of Worlds (I have actually tinkered with Loam, which nicely puts more land and artifacts in the yard which later can be Academy Ruin'ed, adding G seems lack luster though)
3 TfKnowledge
3 Thoughtcast
2 Baleful Strix
1 Intuition (more than 1 seems excessive - I love C/A but often felt - damn I'd rather have a spell that did something NOW)
2 Thopter Foundry
1 Sword of the Meek
(32)

3 Mox Opal (3 color mana fixer, why isn't this part of your core?)
2 Mox Diamond
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Ancient Den
4 Glimmer Void
1 Academy Ruins
4 Vault of Whispers
2 City of Brass
3 Ancient Tomb
1 Wasteland
(28)

SB:
4 Ethersworn Canonist (another goodie white makes possible, w/o Canonist, the combo MU seems so so)
2 Arcane Lab (not sure about this, but I feel the Aggro & Control MU is generally slightly favorable, thus: moar combo hate - Sphere of resistance could be an option too though)
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Toxic Deluge
2 Swords to Plowshares (specifically against Delver Tempo)
2 Oblivion Ring

[kingtk3]

Hi klaus, nice to see you here ;)

I sleeve tezzeretor from time to time and I found that I had more than enough card advantage with the walkers to justify Thirst for knowledge.

Your list is admittely lighter on walkers, but you also have Thoughtcast, so I have the feeling that thirst is not needed.

What you lack, instead, is a solution for the deck's number 1 enemy: gaddock teeg. If he hits the table you can only hope to assemble thopter-sword.

I'd make these changes: -3 thirst, -1 supreme verdict, +1 toxic deluge, +1 tezzeret aob, +2 dimir charm (which help against combo too).

It would be nice to fit a couple of transmute artifact too, but at this point I don't know what you could take out: maybe as you test the deck you'll find some un-needed/suboptimal card.

Let us know about your progresses!

EDIT: in the side I'd try to diversify combo hate. You already have 4 fow maindeck (and 2 dimir charm if my suggestion catches your immagination), so I'll add some flusterstorm (which works even under chalice@1) instead of 2 arcane labs and 1 canonist: they are useful only against storm and their effects overlap, and arcane lab is slow if you don't draw mox or tomb.
It would be nice to play some discard too, even if it conflicts with chalice: in the past I played 1 or 2 duress in the side because you don't always draw chalice and if you have drawn it you are already good shape.

[klaus]

Hi klaus, nice to see you here ;)

I sleeve tezzeretor from time to time and I found that I had more than enough card advantage with the walkers to justify Thirst for knowledge.

Your list is admittely lighter on walkers, but you also have Thoughtcast, so I have the feeling that thirst is not needed.

What you lack, instead, is a solution for the deck's number 1 enemy: gaddock teeg. If he hits the table you can only hope to assemble thopter-sword.

I'd make these changes: -3 thirst, -1 supreme verdict, +1 toxic deluge, +1 tezzeret aob, +2 dimir charm (which help against combo too).

It would be nice to fit a couple of transmute artifact too, but at this point I don't know what you could take out: maybe as you test the deck you'll find some un-needed/suboptimal card.
Let us know about your progresses!

EDIT: in the side I'd try to diversify combo hate. You already have 4 fow maindeck (and 2 dimir charm if my suggestion catches your immagination), so I'll add some flusterstorm (which works even under chalice@1) instead of 2 arcane labs and 1 canonist: they are useful only against storm and their effects overlap, and arcane lab is slow if you don't draw mox or tomb.
It would be nice to play some discard too, even if it conflicts with chalice: in the past I played 1 or 2 duress in the side because you don't always draw chalice and if you have drawn it you are already good shape.

Thanks for your feedback and also for recommending this thread despite my white splash, I think there are enough identical choices to at least take a little dip - hope the rest agrees.

Dimir Charme looks sexy on paper, but the color requirement is not to be underestimated. UB is easier to assemble for non-splashed lists - I run 9 non-UB land and no fetches. Could be a 1of, but then again Strix #3 might perform better overall for the same casting cost, despite serving an entirely different purpose.
I did run Fluster Storm in my board and it might actually make a comeback. FS definitely feels stronger that discard.

As for Gaddock - with Maverick still on the decline, I don't see too many atm and tend to ignore him for deck building aspects. Going -1 SV +1 Deluge seems feasible though - if only for a smoother casting cost.

I think I prefer Thoughtcast & TfK over Transmute Artifact, simply because that kind of C/A finds non-artifact solutions plus is easier to cast (again UU..).
I could see Transmute Artifcat being included as a one-of though, as it's never really random due to it's tutor nature.

[kingtk3]

Thanks for your feedback and also for recommending this thread despite my white splash, I think there are enough identical choices to at least take a little dip - hope the rest agrees.

Dimir Charme looks sexy on paper, but the color requirement is not to be underestimated. UB is easier to assemble for non-splashed lists - I run 9 non-UB land and no fetches. Could be a 1of, but then again Strix #3 might perform better overall for the same casting cost, despite serving a entirely different purpose.
I did run Fluster Storm in my bord and it might actually make a comeback.

As for Gaddock - with Maverick still on the decline, I don't see too many atm and tend to ignore him for deck building aspects. Going -1 SV +1 Deluge seems feasible though - if only for a nicer casting cost.

I think I prefer Thoughtcast & TfK over Transmute Artifact, simply because that kind of C/A rocks by enabling to find
non-artifact solutions plus being easier to cast (again UU..).
I could see Transmute Artifcat being included as a one-of though, as it's never random due to it's tutor nature.

I didn't take in account the manabase because I think it can be easily accomodated to include more black cards, as long as they don't have double colored casting costs: you're already playing so many raimbow sources that I don't feel deckbuilding should be restrained.

Obviously the third strix is an option as well: it depends on the meta.

I'm still unsure if thirst and thoughtcast are both needed in three copies, it may be that I'm accustomed to my version (4 tezzeret and 4 jace give you plenty of cards), but I think that at least one copy of transmute artifact should be played to give consistency to your 1-of artifacts, especially ensnaring bridge which is a priority in some matchups.

[klaus]

I didn't take in account the manabase because I think it can be easily accomodated to include more black cards, as long as they don't have double colored casting costs: you're already playing so many raimbow sources that I don't feel deckbuilding should be restrained.

Obviously the third strix is an option as well: it depends on the meta.

I'm still unsure if thirst and thoughtcast are both needed in three copies, it may be that I'm accustomed to my version (4 tezzeret and 4 jace give you plenty of cards), but I think that at least one copy of transmute artifact should be played to give consistency to your 1-of artifacts, especially ensnaring bridge which is a priority in some matchups.

I agree. Here are some more suggestions, which I incorporated:

4 Jace
1 Tezzeret
4 FoW
4 Supreme Verdict
1 Toxic Deluge
4 Chalice
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Crucible of Worlds
3 TfK
2 Thoughtcast
1 Transmute Artifact
2 Baleful Strix
1 Intuition
2 Thopter Foundry
1 Sword of the Meek
(32)

3 Mox Opal
2 Mox Diamond
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Ancient Den
4 Glimmer Void
1 Academy Ruins
4 Vault of Whispers
2 City of Brass
3 Ancient Tomb
1 Wasteland
(28)

SB:
4 Ethersworn Canonist (another goodie white makes possible, w/o Canonist, the combo MU seems so so)
2 Fluster Storm
3 Tormod's Crypt
1 Toxic Deluge
2 Swords to Plowshares
2 Oblivion Ring

[kingtk3]

I agree. Here are some more suggestions, which I incorporated:

4 Jace
1 Tezzeret
4 FoW
4 Supreme Verdict
1 Toxic Deluge
4 Chalice
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Crucible of Worlds
3 TfK
2 Thoughtcast
1 Transmute Artifact
2 Baleful Strix
1 Intuition
2 Thopter Foundry
1 Sword of the Meek
(32)

3 Mox Opal
2 Mox Diamond
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Ancient Den
4 Glimmer Void
1 Academy Ruins
4 Vault of Whispers
2 City of Brass
3 Ancient Tomb
1 Wasteland
(28)

SB:
4 Ethersworn Canonist (another goodie white makes possible, w/o Canonist, the combo MU seems so so)
2 Fluster Storm
3 Tormod's Crypt
1 Toxic Deluge
2 Swords to Plowshares
2 Oblivion Ring

Nice, but you're missing a card in the side ;)

[klaus]

Nice, but you're missing a card in the side ;)

Oops. Let's make it the META slot then.

While optimizing my list with your smart help, I realized that what used to be a TurboPrison variant has turned almost into mainstream Tezz.dec, which is cool though.
I still think the white splash is worth exploring further. At this point at least, I feel that Supreme Verdict alone makes the splash appealing. With all that rainbow mana available EE should probably also be at least a 1of too.

[kingtk3]

Oops. Let's make it the META slot then.

While optimizing my list with your smart help, I realized that what used to be a TurboPrison variant has turned almost into mainstream Tezz.dec, which is cool though.
I still think the white splash is worth exploring further. At this point at least, I feel that Supreme Verdict alone makes the splash appealing. With all that rainbow mana available EE should probably also be at least a 1of too.

It's a pleasure to elaborate in concert ^_^

EE is definetely an option! While it cannot be cast through Teeg and cannot be transmuted for (if you want X > 0), it's a solid card and a catch all solution versus permanents, something that this deck may have trouble with at the moment (of course I'm meaning non-creature permanents).

Good call.