[DECK] Tezzerator (U/x Trinket Toolbox)

[Mr. Froggy]

I find Trinket Mage to be one of the best cards in the deck - I started with 2, then upped it to 3, then upped it to the full playset, and have never looked back. I think for me, it's so good because Pithing Needle and EE so good. Especially Needle - there are just so many incredible targets in all of the best decks - DRS, Liliana, and the man-lands in Jund, Karn, O-Stone and Eye of Ugin in Tron, and Cranial Plating, Arcbound Ravager, Steel Overseer, and the manlands in Affinity. I have seen very few lists with 2 Needles, but I find them to be one of the best bullets in the deck, and vital to it's strategies. For instance, the hard-lock against Tron is Needle on Karn, Needle on O-Stone, and Ensnaring Bridge. Game 1, they have zero cards in the deck that beat this. Without the second Needle, one of their 4 copies of O-Stone will kill you eventually.

I haven't been super excited about Chalice - I find that it's more of a bonus than a core piece of the strategy. Back when UWR Delver and the various Burn decks were more popular (their curve is really low, mostly 1's and 2's), this card was close to an auto-win. Nowadays, most of the good decks like Jund and Birthing Pod are more midrangey and have a wider curve, making the card less effective, especially when Chalice on 2 doesn't stop Abrupt Decay. Back when Kenny Oberg Top 8'd PT Berlin with a similar list, Elves was very popular, and a Chalice on 1 was basically an auto-win. I've been thinking about moving my only copy to the SB, but I'm not sure what I'd replace it with, so I've kept it in.

As far as Scapeshift goes (someone mentioned something about SB for it earlier I think), Blood Moon is obviously good against them, but I find the matchup to be one of the decks worst overall. I think you also bring in the Torpor Orb to stop Titan activations, and I also have a Witchbane Orb in the SB for this reason as well. Even then, the matchup seems very bad, and I wonder if it's not better to just get rid of the Orb and concede that the matchup is just very bad! I've been working on my list for a long time (before Jund was the boogeyman, even), and it's shockingly similar to (nameless ones)'s. Here it is for reference:

Land (24)
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Steam Vents
1 Hallowed Fountain
8 Island
1 Darksteel Citadel
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Miren, the Moaning Well
1 Academy Ruins

Creatures (6)
4 Trinket Mage
2 Spellskite

Planeswalkers (3)
3 Tezzeret the Seeker

Other (27)
4 Galvanic Blast
4 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Spell Snare
2 Izzet Charm (One of these used to be a Cryptic Command, but I no longer really love that card in the deck)
1 Mox Opal
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Pithing Needle
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
2 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Vedalken Shackles
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Chalice of the Void
2 Engineered Explosives

Sideboard (15)
4 Blood Moon
3 Pyroclasm
1 Defense Grid
1 Counterflux
1 Torpor Orb
1 Threads of Disloyalty
1 Elixir of Immortality
1 Batterskull
1 Wear//Tear
1 Witchbane Orb

I might try -1 Chalice of the Void (perhaps moving it to the SB) +1 Expedition Map. I have liked that card quite a bit, but had trouble finding room for it. In the SB, I'd like another card for Jund, but I'm not sure what's best. Right now I'm bringing in all of the Blood Moons, Threads, and Batterskull. Maybe that's actually enough...

I was thinking the same about Chalice, I just can't see its merit in Modern... In Legacy its amazing, but I find combo is dead in Modern..

[Canarias4life]

Why not Mindscensor aven against Scapeshift? I have 2 Mindscensor in Sideboard against Scapeshift, Tron, Control, Pod...

[Mr. Froggy]

I've come to the conclusion that I don't like Swan Song.. at all... maybe I should go back to Spell Snare?

[(nameless one)]

I think Spell Pierce is better.

I used to use Spell Snare but it was too conditional. I would rather counter a Liliana than a Goyf any day.

I recently played a small event for a commander 2013 deck. Basically, if you go 4-0, you get to one. It was a $5 event so I wasn't expecting hard nose competitiveness but I was proved wrong.

I went to beat Jund, U/B Mill (apparently its a real deck) and Slaver Tron (my buddy borrowed my deck which is kinda shitty).

I lost to a U/W/R Midrange deck.


Any advise on dealing with U/W/R Delver and Midrange strategies?

I will write a mini-report on this when I get time.

[Arsenal]

As a UWR Geist player, my gameplan versus most non-counterspell decks is play Geist turn 3 (hopefully on the play), then bounce/burn/remove/counter whatever my opponent plays for 3 turns. It seems dumb, but it's pretty effective. When I get to untap with Geist still in play, I feel unbeatable as I'm holding a grip of countermagic + removal spells. How specifically did you lose?

[(nameless one)]

Permission and Burn.

I feel that I have game against Geist from EExplosives to Bridge.

Also, Firespout off the board goes in (along with Blood Moon).

I remember when I play a lot of monoU Tron, I would try to stick Chalice at two but I feel that UWR has diversified in terms of CMC.

[Phoenix Ignition]

Generally a chalice at 1 or 2 (either, doesn't matter) can be enough to take out 1/3 of their deck other than lands. Pithing Needle for Ajani and Celestial Collonnade is good to have in to fetch.

I play UB so Thoughtseize is a great way to clear a path for my bombs, but I don't think you are playing black so it's going to be harder. Ricochet Trap? May be too bad but could provide clearance for your major threats to land.

[Mr. Froggy]

My latest list:

1 Academy Ruins
2 Darksteel Citadel
1 Hallowed Fountain
7 Island
1 Miren, the Moaning Well
3 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Steam Vents
2 Tectonic Edge

4 Trinket Mage
2 Spellskite

3 Tezzeret, the Seeker

4 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Izzet Charm
3 Spell Snare
2 Chalice of the Void

1 Elixir of Immortality
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Mox Opal
2 Pithing Needle
1 Torpor Orb
2 Vedalkan Shackles
2 Pyrite Spellbomb


SB:
2 Aven Mindcensor
4 Pyroclasm
4 Blood Moon
1 Wear//Tear
2 Defense Grid
1 Witchbane Orb
1 Chalice of the Void

I switched out the Firespouts for Pyroclasms because the difference between 2CMC and 3CMC is too huge of a commitment.

[(nameless one)]

Why remove Relic of Prgenitus?

I think it's a great early answer to a lot of things in Modern, from DRShaman to Goyfs.

[Mr. Froggy]

I like Cage because it shuts off decks and creature decks are stopped by Ensnaring Bridge.

[TonyRo]

I would much rather have no Elixir (what the?), 1 Spellbomb, or no Torpor Orb MD than leave Relic out G1. I hate having Torpor Orb MD though (it has literally no value against some decks and shuts down Trinket Mage - at least Relic cycles), so that's just me. I also don't have having more than one Chalice in my 75 to be particularly great. It's generally win-more, and fwiw, I think 3 is insane. Why do you need all of those!? For a while I was on no Chalice, and barely wanted the first copy.

I also really like a Welding Jar in the SB - in basically every matchup you have some prescribed set of cards you eventually want to find, e.g. against Tron, you want Needle on Karn, Needle on O-Stone, and Bridge, and they can't win. It's the same in Game 2, except they'll have Nature's Claim or the like. Welding Jar is better than Force of Will against whatever their first attempt to break up the lock is, and is tutorable via Trinket Mage. I've been very happy to bring it in in almost every matchup Games 2 and 3.

[(nameless one)]

How do you guys deal with your opponent's Shatterstorm postboard?

Personally, I'm thinking of boarding into a Polymorph into something strategy. But I know that will be a clunky strategy.

[TonyRo]

I have been thinking about the Tezzerator SB for a long time now, and I wonder about what the best way to deal with artifact hate is. I have added a Welding Jar and liked it, and I think I'm basically bringing it in against every deck but the Mono-Black infect deck, because literally everyone has good artifact hate in their 15 somewhere. That doesn't help vs. Shatterstorm, but not much does. The only deck I've seen with the card is Jund, and it's normally two copies. You might just have either commit all-in in post-board games or try and play around it by not committing too much to the board quickly.

The other thing I've been thinking about (and I've started to do this a little bit already) is to move into non-artifact cards in my SB. If decks like Jund are bringing in Shatterstorm (and better yet, perhaps SB-ing out Bolt), why not bring in Thragtusk? It's bigger than almost all of their guys in the early game, is an automatic two-for-one, and they might only have 1-2 things that remove it in games 2 and 3. If you wanted a SB card against Jund besides Blood Moon, most people are bringing in Batterskull or Wurmcoil Engine, but both of those run right in to Grudge and Shatterstorm again. Now, you have to have access to green to play this card, but you could likely find similar cards in White.

The same with Splinter Twin - I find game 2 and 3 to be unfavorable - everything they do is at instant speed, and we're mostly sorcery speed. Torpor Orb messes up our Trinket Mages, and they've got all the time in the world to slowly build a board presence. I've had games where I've literally had Spellskite, Torpor Orb, Needles on Deceiver Exarch and Kiki-Jiki, Shackles, and lost to things like EOT Cryptic bouncing something and Ancient Grudge on two things, untap Ancient Grudge on two things + Splinter Twin. They've just got all the time in the world, and Desolate Lighthouse can slowly creep up on you. I'd like to switch to SB options that dodge a lot of this kind of stuff.

I don't like Gifts + Unburial Rites or Polymorph that much though. Gifts is pretty weak against decks that have counterspells - I can't image ever trying to resolve Unburial Rites against a deck like Faeries, Scapeshift, UWR, Splinter Twin, etc...and it takes up a huge number of slots if you really want to go all-in on it. Polymorph requires you to SB out Trinket Mages (which is one of the best cards in nearly every matchup imo), and then how many cards are you bringing in to reliably make token creatures quickly and 4 Polymorphs? It seems like too much.

The more I play the deck, the more I want more cards like Thragtusk and Blood Moon. Really strong, surprising answers to decks that aren't artifacts.

[Mr. Froggy]

I would much rather have no Elixir (what the?), 1 Spellbomb, or no Torpor Orb MD than leave Relic out G1. I hate having Torpor Orb MD though (it has literally no value against some decks and shuts down Trinket Mage - at least Relic cycles), so that's just me. I also don't have having more than one Chalice in my 75 to be particularly great. It's generally win-more, and fwiw, I think 3 is insane. Why do you need all of those!? For a while I was on no Chalice, and barely wanted the first copy.

I also really like a Welding Jar in the SB - in basically every matchup you have some prescribed set of cards you eventually want to find, e.g. against Tron, you want Needle on Karn, Needle on O-Stone, and Bridge, and they can't win. It's the same in Game 2, except they'll have Nature's Claim or the like. Welding Jar is better than Force of Will against whatever their first attempt to break up the lock is, and is tutorable via Trinket Mage. I've been very happy to bring it in in almost every matchup Games 2 and 3.

3 Chalice was a typo, sorry, supposed to be 2 between both MD/SB.

I went and added a Crucible to the deck, makes reusing Tec Edge and Fetches so much fun!

[Mr. Froggy]

Alright, so I cut an Island for a Tolaria West (Transmute is too good, being able to search up for Academy Ruins/E. Explosives/Chalice, etc. is amazing)

A card that I have found I like, and call me crazy is Epochrasite. I only search for it when I'm sure I'm controlling the game though.

As for Thragtusk, I like your thinking TonyRo but I find W for SB options too versatile.

Tell us how your testing has been.

[Canarias4life]

Is someone playing the deck? Im playing the deck again, and I have two questions:
Is better Spell snare than Izzet charm?
Is better Remand than Mana leak?

What do you think?

[(nameless one)]

I like Izzet Charm because of versatility.

As for Remand vs Mana Leak, have you tried Spell Pierce instead?

[Canarias4life]

I was playing Spell pierce over Izzet charm because I could counter liliana in turn 2 and it only costs U. But in a meta game which there are zoo, merfolk, affinity I think that Izzet could be better. I like to play Mana leak because it counters everything(Maelstrom pulse, Gifts ungiven, Sphynxs of revelation, Cryptic Command...)but I dont know if Remand could be better in this deck because people say that the cantrip is better. Control really hurts this deck because they have better late game cards(Sphynxs, Cryptic command..)so that's why I like Mana leak.

[Phoenix Ignition]

Posting this list too since I've been playing around with it for a few months but lost interest in modern in general:


1 Academy Ruins
1 Buried Ruin
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Island
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Scalding Tarn
1 Swamp
2 Tectonic Edge
4 Watery Grave

1 Chalice of the Void
1 Executioner's Capsule
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Pithing Needle
4 Thoughtseize

2 Reshape
1 Thopter Foundry
2 Contagion Clasp
4 Dimir Signet
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Sun Droplet

4 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Trinket Mage
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Vedalken Shackles

2 Damnation
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
1 Tezzeret the Seeker

SB
1 Elixer of Immortality
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Pithing Needle
1 Relic of Progenitus
3 Negate
2 Go for the Throat
3 Shadow of Doubt
1 Shirekmaw
2 Torpor orb


This deck does a good job of getting artifacts out and controlling the board with them. It has a lot of bomb artifacts like Vedalken Shackles or Ensnaring Bridge, alongside some specific synergies (Crucible of Worlds + Thopter Foundry + Darksteel Citadel) that can win you the game. A lot of decks in modern get completely shut down by a Chalice, which at x=1 doesn't hit us too hard. Reshape can find whatever you need, but usually finds a shackles or E bridge.

Post board artifact removal hurts us a ton, but you can also tune which artifacts you have to be more geared toward whichever deck you're facing so it's generally a wash, unless they're playing something like shattering spree or another "destroy all artifacts" effect. Even Stony Silence isn't the biggest problem as Tezzeret can turn them into 5/5s.

Blood moons are bad against Dimir Signets.

[(nameless one)]

Has anyone been tinkering with this deck. I saw a U/W/r list that features Seeker and Auriok Salvagers. I personally have no clue what the meta is which plays a huge factor in using which hate artifacts.