Soon after Mirrodin Besieged was released, I went all in on [card]Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas[/card], trading most of my Jaces for a playset of the new walker and [card]Inkmoth Nexus[/card]. Since he was spoiled, I have been enamored with Tezzeret and the way his abilities seem to mesh so well. His abilities are extremely powerful, but to maximize them, he requires a deck be built around him.
While both Patrick Chapin and Brian Kibler have had success with Tezzeret in their 75, I think the best build is still lurking out there, waiting to be brewed. I’ve played the deck off and on since it became legal and, with its primary reliance on artifacts, it has an amazing ability to adapt to the metagame.
Since artifact destruction spells still seem to be hiding in sideboards (and in less than impressive numbers) I think this may be the time for a dedicated Tezzeret deck to make a push for Tier 1 status.
With the release of New Phyrexia, the deck was given a variety of new answers and toys.
[deck title=The Tezzmanian Devil]
[Artifacts]
4 Everflowing Chalice
1 Mox Opal
2 Contagion Clasp
3 Tumble Magnet
1 Ratchet Bomb
[/Artifacts]
[Artifact Creatures]
2 Hex Parasite
3 Spellskite
2 Phyrexian Metamorph
3 Moltensteel Dragon
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Myr Battlesphere
[/Artifact Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Go for the Throat
2 Dismember
3 Tezzerets Gambit
1 Lifes Finale
[/Spells]
[Planeswalkers]
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
[/Planeswalkers]
[Lands]
4 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Inkmoth Nexus
3 Verdant Catacombs
5 Swamp
1 Forest
3 Island
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
4 Wall of Tanglecord
2 Ratchet Bomb
1 Spellskite
4 Memoricide
2 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Precursor Golem
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
Card Choices
[card]Hex Parasite[/card]: While not a great “answer” to Planeswalkers, he does an effective job of keeping them under control, and destroys opposing Magnets/Chalices/Ascensions.
[card]Spellskite[/card]: You should be aware of this one by now. He stops the Twin combo, makes life difficult for spot removal, and is an all-around pain in the ass for the opposing player.
[card]Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas[/card]: The engine that drives the deck. The deck runs 20+ artifacts, making Tezz’s Impulse ability extremely reliable, and his ultimate ability often ends the game. Tezz’s first ability lets you play around with the numbers on the artifacts in the deck, increasing the likelihood that you’ll be able to hit what you need when you need it.
[card]Moltensteel Dragon[/card]: An active dragon, a few artifacts, and Tezzeret’s ultimate ability can result in a one turn clock for an opposing deck. It seems that many players are leaning on [card]Go for the Throat[/card], since it can’t be redirected to [card]Spellskite[/card], making this guy (and Wurmcoil/Battlesphere) a good bit harder to kill.
[card]Wurmcoil Engine[/card]/[card]Myr Battlesphere[/card]: The un-exciting finishers. Wurmcoil is fantastic at shoring up the life totals, and I’ve won many games by just playing Battlesphere and using Tezzeret’s ultimate ability.
[card]Lifes Finale[/card]: Token wrath effect. If you snag a [card]Deceiver Exarch[/card] on board when you cast this, you can destroy the decks ability to combo off. I’m still debating on this versus [card]Black Suns Zenith[/card].
[card]Go for the Throat[/card]/[card]Dismember[/card]: As mentioned, GftT is [card]Spellskite[/card] proof, but I chose to run [card]Dismember[/card] as a backup instead of [card]Doom Blade[/card] (sorry DoomBladeGuy). The ability to cast [card]Dismember[/card] for 1 mana (off of a Nexus if need be) gave it the nod (evein if it can’t kill a Titan or [card]Consecrated Sphinx[/card]). Both manage to kill a turn two [card]Lotus Cobra[/card] (along with [card]Contagion Clasp[/card]).
[card]Tezzerets Gamble[/card]: This could be [card]Preordain[/card], but the extra card and the proliferate work so well that I can’t see replacing it. Late game, you can drop a Tezzeret, let him Gamble, and then ultimate on the spot.
[card]Wall of Tanglecord[/card]: In my experience, this card can give Caw decks fits. It blocks Hawks and Mystics and [card]Batterskull[/card]s all day, dodges [card]Condemn[/card] and GftT, and couldn’t care less about what Protection an equipped Sword grants. Unfortunately, not good enough for the main now that we have [card]Spellskite[/card].
[card]Ratchet Bomb[/card]: They are to combat Vampires and the other decks that want to unleash hell with little dudes on turns 2-4.
Other cards to consider
[card]Preordain[/card]/[card]Inquisition of Kozilek[/card]: If you run Islands or Swamps, you have to take a look at these cards. For this deck, I think they are best served in the sideboard. Tezzeret requires a high artifact count to run optimally, and your slots for spells come at a premium.
[card]Surge Node[/card]: I had a pair of these in the main up until the final decklist. It works so well with Chalice (turn one Node into turn two Chalice can ramp right up there with Valakut decks) and Magnet. Murder your darlings, indeed.
[card]Into the Roil[/card]: This card has proven its worth versus a variety of decks.
[card]Sphere of the Suns[/card]: I’ve seen a lot of Tezzeret decks go up to 6 or even 8 turn two mana accelerators (Sphere/Chalice), but whenever I’ve tried them they tend to get irrelevant fairly fast. Chalice plays the best with proliferate, and this version is light on required mana symbols, so I’ve left the Spheres on the sidelines.
Swords/[card]Batterskull[/card]: Batterskull was ok, but I didn’t have enough creatures to make any of the Swords worthwhile.
[card]Jace Beleren[/card]/The Mind Sculptor: The biggest exclusion in many eyes, I’m sure. Jace is nuts, but this is not the deck for him. I started the deck wanting to run at least 20 artifacts, 4 Tezzeret, and 25 lands. This leaves me with only 10-11 space to play with. I couldn’t find a way to make Jace fit. Feel free to experiment.
Overall, I’ve been getting good results with this deck. It can fight the good fight against Caw blade and [card]Splinter Twin[/card] combo. It is weak to Valakut, but can race with a favorable draw. I haven’t tested a great deal against Vampires or Hawkward (Caw blade and [card]Splinter Twin[/card] seem to be everywhere), but the deck has the tools to combat aggro.
With New Phyrexia arriving, the meta seems poised for a shift. Valakut seems weaker, Caw blade seems static, and [card]Splinter Twin[/card] is a new player. Now may be the perfect time to gamble on Tezzeret.
Travis Hall is a resident Mana D rogue deck brewer with an unhealthy addiction to Heartless Summoning and Birthing Pod.
