It seemed like a lot of people were angry when Eternal Weekend was moved to Columbus, but that was honestly fine with me. Columbus is great; it’s reasonably close to me, there’s a ton of stuff to do, and the food is generally awesome. I didn’t want to play in the Vintage event this year(because screw playing against various flavors of Mentor all day), so after everyone had finished work on Friday we all piled into my car and drove in. We weren’t going to arrive until after side event registration had closed, so we decided to go to the arcade instead.
If you’ve been to Columbus, like video games, and haven’t been to Gotcha Gachapon, you’re missing out. The place is BYOB, so after grabbing a growler of Seventh Son Obsidian porter from the local brewery around the corner, we drank some beer and jammed some games of other varieties instead of playing Magic all night. I even got to play the first public credit on their brand-new Museca cab, which was super sweet. Can’t wait for the Round1 to open in Exton so I can play some more of that between rounds of SDVX.
Back to the hotel and with alcohol easing my worries regarding last-minute changes to my decklist, I decided to just register the SB I’d been playing for the last few weeks. Here’s what I ended up playing:
I put some nonzero amount of effort into making my deck look pretty too, so here’s a picture:Code:Dack in Black 4 Baleful Strix 4 Dack Fayden 3 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas 4 Force of Will 2 Transmute Artifact 4 Chalice of the Void 4 Thopter Foundry 3 Sword of the Meek 2 Ensnaring Bridge 4 Mox Diamond 2 Dimir Signet 1 Academy Ruins 4 Ancient Tomb 1 City of Traitors 2 Bloodstained Mire 4 Polluted Delta 2 Island 1 Swamp 3 Volcanic Island 3 Underground Sea 3 Wasteland SB: 1 Helm of Obedience 4 Leyline of the Void 1 Chains of Mephistopheles 2 Lodestone Golem 1 The Abyss 2 Toxic Deluge 2 Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast 1 Engineered Explosives 1 Padeem, Consul of Innovation
I somehow forgot to include my Abyss in this picture but it's in the list nonetheless.
Some sleep, coffee, and a short drive later, the tournament began:
Round 1: Wade with UW MiracleBlade (feat. Mentor)
After Wade starts off with Plains, Island, SFM into Batterskull, I’m thinking that he’s on UW Stoneblade and begin to play accordingly. I discard my Forces with my Dack Fayden and draw into mono lands, and he follows up shortly after with… Mentor into Top into loads of cantrips. Unable to find anything other than lands and other mana sources with Dack, I quickly die to his army of large monk tokens. Chalice makes short work of him in G2 when he plays more of a traditional Miracles game, and I end up succumbing to his creatures in G3 when I keep a sweet hand with one colored source and never draw another before I die.
SB: -2 Baleful Strix, +1 Chains of Mephistopheles, +1 Helm of Obedience
0-1
Not terribly enthused about this tournament after dropping the first match against one of my best matchups, I didn’t really bother keeping great notes for the rest of the tournament, so a lot of the rest of this is just what I remember about my matchups. Sorry if you happen to be one of these players and I’m remembering something wrong.
Round 2: Matt with UG 12 Post
Matt looks like a man who likes to attack with creatures named Delver of Secrets, so I keep a hand with a quick Ensnaring Bridge with Force backup. He opens up with a Bojuka Bog targetting my empty graveyard on T1, and my suspicions are quickly quashed. After following up with a Cavern on Giant the next turn, I’m left wondering what the hell he’s playing after Wastelanding that Cavern until his next turn, when he plays Cloudpost.
Oh. Right. There is a deck that plays both of these cards, isn’t there?
His mana explodes over the next few turns, though after forcing a Titan I feel pretty good about my board position; I have both a Thopter army and Tezzeret threatening lethal next turn, and not even Ulamog can save him. Unfortunately, Ugin does have that capability, and I die in short order. Game 2 ends in short order when I play Lodestone Golem on turn 2 and Wasteland him twice (and here I thought I skipped the Vintage tournament), and game 3 is decided when I play Chalice on T2 and follow up with Dack to send his Top to the top of his deck.
SB: -1 Ensnaring Bridge, -1 Sword of the Meek, +2 Lodestone Golem
Take this SB plan with about an entire shaker of salt; I in no way have a concrete plan against this deck besides “kill them before they make a thing”
1-1
Round 3: Alex with Grixis Delver
It happens to the best of us; you arrive at a large event, excited to be paired against your next opponent, when you look at the pairings and see your name across from someone who you play against occasionally at your LGS. Alex is a good player (Pro Tour competitor/SCG Invi winner), so I’m not terribly thrilled to be paired against him. He murders me in game 1 with a Pyromancer, I murder him in game 2 with a Chalice, and two Delvers do to me what they tend to do to most in game 3. Grixis Delver is about a 50/50 matchups in my experience, so I’m neither surprised nor happy about this outcome.
SB: -4 Force of Will, -2 Tezzeret, +2 Toxic Deluge, +2 Daretti, +1 Engineered Explosives, +2 Chains of Mephistopheles
1-2
Alex was also nice enough to remind me that I had apparently won two byes to this tournament at a GP earlier in the year. Many thanks to you, my faultless memory. It’s at about this point that I consider dropping and playing side events for the rest of the day, but decide not to after using the copious amounts of extra time in the round to treat myself to a tilt-induced soft pretzel and bubble tea from the North Market. As it turns out, that was the right choice.
Round 4: Spencer with Grixis Delver
I win the die roll and lead on an Ancient Tomb into a Chalice on 1, and the look on my opponent’s face leads me to believe that I was probably correct to make that choice. He fetches a Sea and proceeds to cast two Probes and a Brainstorm into my Chalice to fuel his yard, but a follow up Wasteland on my part prompts a concession on his. He runs into some mana problems in game 2 which were somewhat mitigated by his Deathrite Shaman, but my Toxic Deluge annihilates his board presence and a Thopter army makes quick work of his life total.
SB: -4 Force of Will, -2 Tezzeret, +2 Toxic Deluge, +2 Daretti, +1 Engineered Explosives, +2 Chains of Mephistopheles
2-2
Round 5: Mike with Grixis Delver
My only notes for game 1 read “nut draw” in his life total column, and the Delver into Pyromancer into double Force I remember reflect that. Game 2 was a bit of a grind as each of our life totals dwindled close to zero but when I flip a Thopter Foundry off the top of my deck on the last possible turn to pair with my onboard Sword, I’m able to take the game. Thopter/Sword comes together much more quickly in game 3, and he succumbs to a legion of 1/1s.
SB: -4 Force of Will, -2 Tezzeret, +2 Toxic Deluge, +2 Daretti, +1 Engineered Explosives, +2 Chains of Mephistopheles
3-2
Round 6: Zi Le with Death and Taxes
Death & Taxes is a strange matchup. In game 1, at least, the result of the game hinges entirely on Phyrexian Revoker. It’s a potent card in the matchup, and I’m somewhat limited in ways to deal with the card preboard. Unfortunately for me, my opponent finds my favorite Pithing Beetle in droves, and I’m unable to mount much of a resistance. I hide under a Bridge for a bit in game 2 while I assemble my (already Revoked) Thopter/Sword combo, and eventually Dack finds the Toxic Deluge to re enable my preferred win condition. In game 3 Daretti proved his worth by coming down on turn 2 and sniping some of his key creatures until Thopter/Sword arrived to seal the deal.
SB: -4 Chalice of the Void, -2 Force of Will, -1 Sword of the Meek, +2 Toxic Deluge, +2 Daretti, +1 The Abyss, +1 Engineered Explosives, +1 Helm of Obedience
4-2
Round 7: Gary with Death and Taxes
Gary seems like a pretty cool guy, and we make some light conversation about whether or not he’s trying to fake me out with this Thalia playmat while shuffling up for game 1. It turns out he’s not when he leads with Plains into Mother of Runes, followed up by a Spirit of the Labyrinth. I’m able to land two Bridges to stabilize at 4 life, but my Dack is pretty useless aside from discarding Forces thanks to his Spirit. He eventually draws into 2 Flickerwisp while I draw bricks to end the game. Games 2 and 3 both end when my Thopters are turned back on thanks to some combination of Dack+Transmute Artifact, Deluge, and Daretti.
SB: -4 Chalice of the Void, -2 Force of Will, -1 Sword of the Meek, +2 Toxic Deluge, +2 Daretti, +1 The Abyss, +1 Engineered Explosives, +1 Helm of Obedience
5-2
Round 8: Allen with Death and Taxes
Allen wins the die roll, and Death and Taxes does what it does best when he has Thalia into mana disruption to prevent me from doing too much of anything before my life total hits zero. Game 2 ends up being a very drawn out affair; I quickly land The Abyss, but his Gideon is able to create a creature every turn to mostly neutralize it. I’m thankfully able to kill his Gideon with a few miscellaneous artifacts-turned-Thopters around the same time he tutors for his copy of Mangara, which threatens to start combining with his Karakas and Vial to grind me out of the game. Luckily for me, Daretti arrives to delay that by a few turns, and when he finally taps his Karakas on his turn I’m able to sweep away all of his problem permanents in a Deluge. Game 3 has him stumble a bit at the beginning, and some 5/5 artifacts close out the game from there.
SB: -4 Chalice of the Void, -2 Force of Will, -1 Sword of the Meek, +2 Toxic Deluge, +2 Daretti, +1 The Abyss, +1 Engineered Explosives, +1 Helm of Obedience
6-2
Round 9: Travis with Eldrazi
For the second time in the day, I’m tempted into keeping what would be the nut with another colored mana source; something like Force, Foundry, Tezzeret, Chalice, Fetch, Tomb, Wasteland. I’m on the play and run out my Chalice on 1, which is proven to be wholly ineffective against his Eldrazi Temple into Mimic. He proceeds to play Cavern into Matter Reshaper and Thought-Knot Seer over the next few turns, and I never draw the other colored mana source to turn my hand on before I die. Luckily he had no clue what I was actually playing based on the cards I showed him, so when I play a Bridge on turn 2 in game 2 he has no way to deal with it. Game 3 ends similarly as I hide behind a Bridge and eventually assemble Thopter/Sword.
SB: -4 Chalice of the Void, -1 Force of Will, +2 Toxic Deluge, +2 Daretti, +1 The Abyss
7-2
Round 10: Scott with Shardless BUG
I sit down across from Scott and make some small talk about the spaciousness of the VIP play area that he gets to play in, and am relieved that he’s playing something I haven’t played against yet when he leads on Swamp into Deathrite Shaman. Shardless BUG isn’t a great matchup, but it’s definitely winnable. I manage to resolve Bridge and Chalice on 0 for his Visions, but Dack fails to find anything relevant before multiple Deathrite Shamans do their best Tendrils of Agony impression. Daretti showed his worth yet again in Game 2 when he keeps a hand based on the strength of a Null Rod which is dispatched for the low cost of a Sword of the Meek, and Padeem showed up to the party to protect my stuff from the many Abrupt Decays in his hand. The last game of the tournament is quickly decided when he keeps a slow hand that isn’t able to deal with Tezzeret into an army of 5/5 creatures.
SB: -4 Force of Will, -3 Chalice of the Void, +2 Toxic Deluge, +2 Daretti, +1 The Abyss, +1 Engineered Explosives, +1 Padeem
8-2
I’m pretty happy to have rattled off 7 wins in a row after a discouraging start, but thanks to those early losses my tiebreakers were terrible and I ended up in 30th rather than in top 16.
A group of us celebrated our collective successes with a trip to Melt where we gorged ourselves on “grilled cheese” and beer before heading back to our hotel. Sunday was spent doing some last minute shopping (and I managed to find some sweet Chinese cards I’ve been looking for) and on another trip to GGPon. All in all, this weekend was great and I was happy with my result. It's been awhile since I last placed well with this deck, and it's good to break the streak.
Props:
- Dack for helping me to steal games time and time again
- The deck for showing up most of the time
- My opponents for being pleasant people
Slops:
- My memory
- Jeni’s for being closed after we finished eating at Melt
- More than 9 rounds in one day
Nice run on a gorgeous deck. I didn't run into you in the champs, but I did get completely smashed by another Tezz player on Sunday. Dack is pretty decent against MUD . . .
R7, spirit... Shouldn't you just dack him? Or is it too risky?
-rob
just to ask, this dexk is capable of playing every possibile card with 1 Island and 1 Dimir Signet or Mox Diamond under a Blood Moon.
Why don't you play 4?
Thanks!Originally Posted by Stuart
He had a grip full of cards for a large portion of that exchange. I had some confidence that I would manage to naturally draw something before he got his Flickerwisps, and though he would have gone down by one card each time I kind of just wanted to play it safe.
I actually have played Moons in my sideboard in metagames more filled with BGx decks, but that's not really the case right now. This deck can certainly cast all of its spells under a moon pretty easily, but it also can't really capitalize on it because it generally takes some time to apply pressure.
Are you the dude I know that shows up and plays Tezzerator in Mid-Ohio events?
Congrats on the strong streak to finish the tournament.
I'm a U/R/b painter player that's been really happy using Dack & Tezz in my painter build. Right now I'm disappointed with my Eldrazi matchup, and have been hoping to transition decks. I'm looking to pick up the last few cards for Tezzerator right now.
I was hoping that you could enlighten me on how you decide to board out Chalice vs. not. I noticed they all came out vs. D&T. It just seems so strong on the play that I wasn't sure what makes it the right play.
Another question was whether you think Daretti is strong enough to transition over to the 60. Thanks and congrats again.
Probably? I don't think there are that many of us and I go to localish tournaments when I can.
It might be strong on the play if you have it, but you have to remember that games against D&T almost always go very long. If you don't have it in your opening hand and they have Vial/Cavern, the card is useless, and drawing it late game is about as bad as it gets. You're also not blanking that many (important) spells even if it does hit something; their threats are mostly on 2 mana, and we absolutely cannot Chalice for 2. I've talked about Daretti some in the Tezz thread - tl;dr, not good enough in the maindeck. He's awesome against D&T and BGx decks, and generally has very little text against Miracles/combo/etc.
I would've sat next to you in a players meeting for the main event
So with Daretti and Dack being real magic cards is there any point in playing just UB tezz? What are your thoughts on a more prison oriented version of Tezz e.g. like the one that nedless did well with a while back at an SCG open?
You'll have to say something next time!
I think each of the flavors of this deck have their own merits; Grixis is definitely a better Thopter/Sword deck, but if dropping Trinispheres is going to win the day you definitely want to play UB, as that's a better prison deck (generally a little less color intensive so it can run more CoT, Jace is more synergistic with that playstyle than Dack/Daretti).
Could you talk a bit more about the differences between the two decks? I sort of cross posted in the Tezz section but would love to hear more about it. I had Grixis together and just switched it back to UB to give it a try. I rocked moggcatcher stompy for awhile so am fairly familiar with prison style decks.
What makes one the better thopter foundry vs prison style deck? What are the strengths and weakness of each or one vs the other?
That's honestly a pretty deep question; the decklists contain many of the same cards but the playstyle difference is a lot like the difference between various flavors of Delver.
As I like to say, UB is a Tezzeret deck with Thopter/Sword, and UBr is a Thopter/Sword deck with Tezzeret.
The main differences are in the mana and what that allows the deck to use as a primary threat. UB plays more sol lands, talismans, and signets, which allows it to more easily hit 4 mana on turn 2/3 for Jace or Tezzeret at the cost of some occasional color instability. Because they're more readily able to play those cards, the other cards in the deck tend to support those as a win condition over Thopters - more bridges, more lockpieces, etc. The deck is constructed with the intent of somehow winning with a planeswalker, and the card selection choices support that. UBr is built not to win primarily with planeswalkers, but with Thopter/Sword. Sol lands aren't as important in this usage case, and the deck instead plays Diamond to hit 2 colored mana as quickly as possible (i.e. turn 1 when it can) to play out early Thopter/Sword pieces. Other cards in the deck (Dack Fayden) are also included not as win conditions, but rather because they find your win conditions and synergize with them to some extent. This is a bit of a simplistic view, but if you play a few games with each build of the deck with your primary win condition in mind I think you'll feel the difference.
That makes perfect sense. Thanks for the explanation! Ive been trying grixis tezz for a couple of weeks now and its quite fun but not the easiest deck to learn.
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