True about Rings. One other thing, I feel should be dropped is Thopter Foundry. It is nice for turning our flood into dudes, but if we are already Poxing our lands, I don't think we will want to turn mana rocks into thopters. Also probably 4x Pox if that is what we are building the deck around. Could possibly move another Damnation to the sideboard since we will have a bit more creature kill.
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Modern: Tezzeret
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Legacy:
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Tezzeret, aka. Dack in Black
On 4x Pox, though: because of my interest in a Tezz/smallpox build (never got to actually build it though), I've been reading through the whole 8-rack thread. What these guys say, at least, is that Smallpox can really screw your own game up when running 3 or more. So they settled on 2. And that's coming from a deck with a ridiculously low-mana curve. Yet they don't run mana rocks. So according to their experience, indeed with a different deck, testing at three is already a bit of a leap.
I personally would build up from 3. We are going to have numbers fun, people
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I'm really not fond of smallpox in tezz. Pox is a card that recquires to be built around. Losing lands when we try to resolve 4+cc stuff like tezz, batterskull and damnation seems pretty bad. We don't have life from the loam or flagstones of trokair to abuse it, we can play crucible but it costs 3 mana meaning we get value back possibly too late. Also i'm not a fan of saccing my spellskite or batterskull token. At least lili lets us choose if we want to discard or not, we don't always have things to send to the graveyard to maximize pox, stuff like lingering souls or bloodghast, we don't play any of those. At that point if we want more edict/discard effects just play a 4th lili...
I'm really not fond of smallpox in tezz. Pox is a card that recquires to be built around. Losing lands when we try to resolve 4+cc stuff like tezz, batterskull and damnation seems pretty bad. We don't have life from the loam or flagstones of trokair to abuse it, we can play crucible but it costs 3 mana meaning we get value back possibly too late. Also i'm not a fan of saccing my spellskite or batterskull token. At least lili lets us choose if we want to discard or not, we don't always have things to send to the graveyard to maximize pox, stuff like lingering souls or bloodghast, we don't play any of those. At that point if we want more edict/discard effects just play a 4th lili...
I guess when playing a tezz pox you have to adapt your build, so you're obviously not going to rely on CMC5 stuff. But my idea is: can we break the symetry of smallpox? Yes. And keep in mind that smallpox is just here as a 2-3-of; an occasionnal, (ideally) early disruption that can screw them hard. And choosing the timing is always key, for symetrical effects. See: Balance.
1. Sac a creature: we don't rely so much on them. This hurts them way more than us. Fact: sacc'ing a 5/5 Citadel kills it, damn. We got to be cautious there, but its not that bad. This favors Bitterblossom play. And manlands play.
2. Sac a land: hurts them more than us since we have mana rocks to fall back onto. If we add Crucible of worlds, that can screw midrange and control players hard. If we keep our curve low (topping at tezz) and adjust our mana rock number, I think we can damp the land loss.
3. Discard: This helps bridge plays. Helps the rack line of play. If we play 1 or 2 of Raven's crime and Darkblast (maybe?) we can get value out of them late game. Question is: should we add more discard, for this particular element. Fact: snapcaster mage can reuse discarded stuff. What do we do about this?
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MODERN Blue Lantern, UBx Tezzerator. OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
I'm really not fond of smallpox in tezz. Pox is a card that recquires to be built around. Losing lands when we try to resolve 4+cc stuff like tezz, batterskull and damnation seems pretty bad. We don't have life from the loam or flagstones of trokair to abuse it, we can play crucible but it costs 3 mana meaning we get value back possibly too late. Also i'm not a fan of saccing my spellskite or batterskull token. At least lili lets us choose if we want to discard or not, we don't always have things to send to the graveyard to maximize pox, stuff like lingering souls or bloodghast, we don't play any of those. At that point if we want more edict/discard effects just play a 4th lili...
I guess when playing a tezz pox you have to adapt your build, so you're obviously not going to rely on CMC5 stuff. But my idea is: can we break the symetry of smallpox? Yes. And keep in mind that smallpox is just here as a 2-3-of; an occasionnal, (ideally) early disruption that can screw them hard. And choosing the timing is always key, for symetrical effects. See: Balance.
Snip
You pretty much hit it right on!
I just want to add also that we aren't trying to be a "graveyard" strategy deck...it just happens that we can play Academy Ruins and Crucible in this deck. So Lingering souls, Life of the Loam etc isn't what we are trying to do.
Like Radouf put it so perfectly is all about symmetrical effects.
More often than not I see myself casting not wanting to drop tezz turn 4...most of the time I just want to damnation or start controlling the game via Bridge or Lili. Ideally I want to disrupt your t2 play t1, drop a rock t2, then smallpox on t3.
I even made a judgement call and pox'd a storm player t2 after inquisitioning t1...putting him back to 1 land and removing is most relevant spell.
Making mistakes doe as not tapping for mana the land I'm going to sacrifice before poxing.
Still learning how to abuse this card, but I think our deck can...also as you see I removed the Seeker and Batterskull.
But after playing for awhile I realize even after Pox, my rocks still allow me to have the mana I need...I might put Batterskull back in...wish I could upload some videos...either way, back to testing.
Ever since i've been playing any iteration of this deck (basically ever since modern existed) i never ever sided out a single copy of tezz, and i can't think of any situation were i would.
Hi group! I been goldfishing in trying to achieve the best balance on the tezz smallpox idea. I will be taking my build to a local event tomorrow, and unfortunately I dont have the time the write to full decklist for now, but i'll provide it along with results tomorrow. Just thought I'd let you know about some interesting numbers beforehand.
Starting from a classic Tezz build, without the big drops (no Tezz the Seeker, Batterskull or Trading post or Wurmcoil engine). Then: 2 Smallpox, 3 trinket mages, 2 bitterblossom, 1 The Rack and one Raven's crime along 1 IoK and 3 Thoughtseize, 3 lilis with maindeck Crucible of worlds and 3 GQ's, 1 Tec edge and 3 fetches. Also added a fifth mana rock to allow consistant reach of the fourth mana and opted to keep in one Thirst for knowledge instead of going all the way up to four Trinket mages as it has been discussed. Anyways, more details tomorrow! Cheers.
The Modern PTQ season is upon us, perfect time to put the deck to the real test. I'll be heading to a PTQ this weekend, going to be running my list in the main post, thinking about the following tweaks:
1 Chalice moved to SB: Zoo is definitely less popular, Living End and other Tier 2s where chalice is great are probably less likely to be seen at a PTQ, Against storm a turn 4 chalice is usually a bit too late, especially on the draw
+1 Thopter Foundry: Adding back in the Thopters, I've realized a lot of people online scoop up earlier than in regular competitive settings, I want a closer and some more resiliency against Leyline of Sanctity
Sideboard:
-2 Defense Grid: Great when it comes down on turn 2, pretty crappy otherwise, I think it's time to beef up on the discard, Scapeshift seems to be making some more splashes recently
2/1 split (Duress or Thoughtseize) / Extirpate: Not sure which one to run 2 of, but I think its going to be the Discard, 1 of Extirpate for the occasional Tron blowout. I like being able to side into 6 discard spells against control and Twin. Although more discard makes Extirpate stronger, so maybe 2 Extirpate 1 Discard is better.
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Modern: Tezzeret
???
Legacy:
Imperial Painter aka. Strawberry Shortcake
Tezzeret, aka. Dack in Black
I think 2x smallpox is the way to go.
How many artifacts total are you playing main?
Remember we still want minimum 18 imho.
Also I found I had to rework my mana to include more colored sources.
Did you add a fifth rock in terms of a Talisman or Signet?
With 2x Bitterblossom, 3x Thoughtseize and 2x Smallpox you're plucking away at your life total pretty fast...with only tezz -4 to gain life. You many want to trim a Thoughtseize for another Inquisition instead. Or even include a Trading Post just to balance it all...Tezz and Damnations still cost 4, so I don't think Post is out of reach.
Maybe even an Elixir of Immortality? But that's anti-recursion...and I tend not to like reshuffling fetchlands.
Either way just some ideas, let us know how it turns out!
Here we go: played at a local event where there was about 32 players. Finished very well with the Tezz Smallpox build with 3-0-1 (Top 4'ed! Best score I've ever got in this store's meta / Facetofacegames.com !)
Note: as I said before, this is a Tezz including 2x Bitterblossom for lots of value tokens, the Crucible package and 2x Smallpox for ressource denial, and 1x The Rack as an alternate trinket win-con; justified by going back up to 3 Trinket mages to make sure we hit the 4th mana for a timely Tezz even though there are Pox(en?) flying around.
Breakdown: 23 lands, 9 colorless and 14 colored; 19 artifacts, including the citadels (one too few, I know).
Report: Match-up 1 was vs Kiki-pod, ended up 2-0 for me.
Game 1: Opening into Thoughtseize, followed by Raven's crime, into turn 3 Liliana and then topdeck the rack, which slowly but surely grinded away 2-3 life points per turn AND/OR make him NOT play his spells. Couple of turns of 1-on-1 card trades passed and he cast Wall of roots and Pod, podded it into a Finks immediately because he needed to stabilize hard at that point. I top deck Trinket mage into needle for pod, then proceed to win. /The Rack
Game 2: T1 Thoughtseize, T2 Bitterblossom, T3 Lili edict, chump block on a faerie, T4 Tezz for +1, T5 Talisman + attack with a couple faeries + bridge + grafdigger's cage + tezz's ultimate = he's dead.
Match-up 2 was against Kiki-pod, ended up tie 1-1.
Game 1: T1 Thoughtseize, T2 Talisman / you cast a creature, T3 Smallpox, T4 Lili. I took the ressource denial plan, and it work. Landed a The Rack turn 4 and it won me the game. This thing works, guys.
Game 2: T1 Thoughtseize -- he's got Ancient grudge, Quasali pridemage, harmonic sliver and Voice of resurgence in hand. He wins, thought I could battle around with not even relying that hard on artifacts. He eventually did what Kiki-pod does, though, and combo-ed out of nowhere.
Game 3: Super grindy match where I had to play around a Glen-Elendra archmage, and where I ended up spellskite'ing his Zealous conscript combo thing. We went to time as I'd say I was in a better board position than he was; hidden behind bridge with Lili, Blossom, and Skite. Tie.
Match-up 3 was against Boggle, I won 2-0.
Game 1: I just damnation'ed the heck out of his board (twice) and he never recovered. I went to town with a Tezz / Citadel beatdown.
Game 2: Spellskite. Creeping tar pit. GG.
Match-up 4 was against Living End, I won 2-1.
Game 1: Cast Nihil spellbomb and wait for Living end to be cast. Proceed to citadel beatdown.
Game 2: Misplayed real bad. I'm not even telling you guys what I did. But he did side-in some artifact removal so he blew up my bridge after he managed to Live End. That was the end of me. For this game, at least.
Game 3: Trinket mage into Chalice of the Void on zero = lulz. Shout out to T4 Clique who helped heaps in beating him down in time before he could cycle into artifact removal.
Finishing results: 3-0-1.
Noteworthy: Im very happy with the build, and the results. The build gives us a serious third stance, I'd say. Before, I could be Bridge lockdown into Tezz's ultimate, or I could be control Citadel beatdown. Now, I also can be ressource denial + the rack out right from the start. Really fun. It's worth nothing that the rack can be fetched any time from the 3x Trinket mages and adds INEVITABILITY to the damage output from our deck (and/or makes them NOT want to play spell. That's kind of very good, too!) Did at least 8 to 10 damages to a couple of players, 2 or 3 games.
Bitterblossom gave me the ability to chump-block like a champ, to protect my planeswalkers, at least 2-3 times. It also proved efficient to attack for like 2 each turn for a couple of turn, becoming really significant when it's all you need to Tezz's ult for lethal, or to finish-off someone who managed to stabilize after a Rack Attack.
2x Smallpox has proven very good. Even against persistent, swarming and resurgence-ing boards like Kiki-pods, the sac effect becomes relevant once you add it to a Lili's ultimate and finish off whatever's left with an Executioner's capsule. The land sac and discard is just, just so brutal, and in discarding the right thing and relying on mana rocks, never have I been cut from casting a timely Tezz.
Trinket mage: plays and amazing role here. He is the stance-switcher. The Rack enabler. Or the mana-for-tezz fetcher. Just, nice. Three is good, four (in testing) felt like wayyy too many.
I didn't get mana screwed once even with Lili, Pox and Clique that I all cast. But that involved sometimes Ghost quarter'ing my citadels to fetch for basics, which is fine. I know, I'd like to put another basic swamp in there. And also maybe put Glimmervoid back in to enable better explosives. But, with bitterblossom, you need less to wipe the board. Just chump block.
No energy left to talk about sideboard. It's pretty straightforward and diverse. Though, as you said, streetmage, the Elixir of Immortality is there to damper the lot of life loss.
Bottom line: Heck yeah. Opponents were good. Top-notch decks. Amazingly synergetic maindeck, capable sideboard. 3-0-1. Super happy. Tezz + Pox (and Blossom and The Rack, really) seems very, very playable. Maybe it's the little push we need to go one bit further! What do you all think?
Here we go: played at a local event where there was about 32 players. Finished very well with the Tezz Smallpox build with 3-0-1 (Top 4'ed! Best score I've ever got in this store's meta / Facetofacegames.com !)
Bottom line: Heck yeah. Opponents were good. Top-notch decks. Amazingly synergetic maindeck, capable sideboard. 3-0-1. Super happy. Tezz + Pox (and Blossom and The Rack, really) seems very, very playable. Maybe it's the little push we need to go one bit further! What do you all think?
Great results man, I'm sure you realize this is a very skill intensive deck...that's why I love it.
You've peeked my interest in bitterblossom.
Did you side in Crucible at all, what matchups would you consider using it?
Great results man, I'm sure you realize this is a very skill intensive deck...that's why I love it.
You've peeked my interest in bitterblossom.
Did you side in Crucible at all, what matchups would you consider using it?
His Crucible is maindeck, awesome synergy with Pox and Ghost Quarter.
Also, yeah I really want to see if I can pick up a Bitterblossom or 2 before the PTQ this weekend instead of the Thopter foundry just to try it out, much stronger when you drop it on turn 2.
Also I added the Pox deck to the decklists.
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Modern: Tezzeret
???
Legacy:
Imperial Painter aka. Strawberry Shortcake
Tezzeret, aka. Dack in Black
Am I the only one that finds Thirst for Knowledge always underwhelming? I'm currently at 2, but I may just cut it completely and add other things that I've considered.
It is underwhelming when you already have a sweet hand, but when you really need to dig for an answer, win-con, or land it is great. Looking at 3 cards is amazing and it also comes with card advantage and instant speed for control matchups. I think 2 is a solid place to be, in a deck that already runs a lot of 1 ofs, we need at least some card selection.
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Modern: Tezzeret
???
Legacy:
Imperial Painter aka. Strawberry Shortcake
Tezzeret, aka. Dack in Black
His Crucible is maindeck, awesome synergy with Pox and Ghost Quarter.
Right on. This, and Fetches, and singleton Tec Edge. And Liliana's discard, and Raven's crime. And Thirst for knowledge (you can get back ditched citadels). This is starting to feel very well knit-together!
Also, yeah I really want to see if I can pick up a Bitterblossom or 2 before the PTQ this weekend instead of the Thopter foundry just to try it out, much stronger when you drop it on turn 2. Also I added the Pox deck to the decklists.
Please do! Nice, thanks.
Streetmage: thanks!
Anaestheticz: I was skeptical at first, about Thirst for Knowledge. But give it a little time of play. It really gives you some steam and filtering; example: hold a citadel or un-useful trinket you draw knowing you're going to ditch it to Thirst. My main issue with thirst is that, for it to be efficient, we need to have TIME for it. So either it's a post-stabilization play, or we're just playing against control. Otherwise, I agree I've been unhappy of seeing it along Lili, Tezz and other stuff in my opening hand. It shines especially mid to late game. In the pox build, I replaced one with a third Trinket mage, which is wayyy more relevant in that context.
Note to all: will probably take the deck out to another event friday. I encourage you guys to also post event results in here !
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Relic exiles your graveyard as well :/ [Academy ruins, Trading post, Crucible, etc.] And Spellbomb cantrips just as well. Even better, if sacc'ed, you can pay the B and draw. So in duel, I guess its almost as efficient.
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MODERN Blue Lantern, UBx Tezzerator. OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
Alright, what about Nihil Spellbomb vs Relic of Progenitus? Why do we run Nihil Spellbomb over the Relic?
Nihil can worst case cycle, which is why it is usable in the maindeck. Relic is best against Tarmogoyf, but it nonbos with Academy Ruins and Trading Post. Nihil can pop for no mana (nice against Storm). Downside to Nihil is colored mana, but only for the card draw, no incremental GY hate.
EDIT: Oh yeah, Nihil spellbomb is also recurrable, Relic exiles itsself.
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Modern: Tezzeret
???
Legacy:
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Tezzeret, aka. Dack in Black
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Modern:
Tezzeret
???
Legacy:
Imperial Painter aka. Strawberry Shortcake
Tezzeret, aka. Dack in Black
On 4x Pox, though: because of my interest in a Tezz/smallpox build (never got to actually build it though), I've been reading through the whole 8-rack thread. What these guys say, at least, is that Smallpox can really screw your own game up when running 3 or more. So they settled on 2. And that's coming from a deck with a ridiculously low-mana curve. Yet they don't run mana rocks. So according to their experience, indeed with a different deck, testing at three is already a bit of a leap.
I personally would build up from 3. We are going to have numbers fun, people
OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
I guess when playing a tezz pox you have to adapt your build, so you're obviously not going to rely on CMC5 stuff. But my idea is: can we break the symetry of smallpox? Yes. And keep in mind that smallpox is just here as a 2-3-of; an occasionnal, (ideally) early disruption that can screw them hard. And choosing the timing is always key, for symetrical effects. See: Balance.
1. Sac a creature: we don't rely so much on them. This hurts them way more than us. Fact: sacc'ing a 5/5 Citadel kills it, damn. We got to be cautious there, but its not that bad. This favors Bitterblossom play. And manlands play.
2. Sac a land: hurts them more than us since we have mana rocks to fall back onto. If we add Crucible of worlds, that can screw midrange and control players hard. If we keep our curve low (topping at tezz) and adjust our mana rock number, I think we can damp the land loss.
3. Discard: This helps bridge plays. Helps the rack line of play. If we play 1 or 2 of Raven's crime and Darkblast (maybe?) we can get value out of them late game. Question is: should we add more discard, for this particular element. Fact: snapcaster mage can reuse discarded stuff. What do we do about this?
OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
You pretty much hit it right on!
I just want to add also that we aren't trying to be a "graveyard" strategy deck...it just happens that we can play Academy Ruins and Crucible in this deck. So Lingering souls, Life of the Loam etc isn't what we are trying to do.
Like Radouf put it so perfectly is all about symmetrical effects.
More often than not I see myself casting not wanting to drop tezz turn 4...most of the time I just want to damnation or start controlling the game via Bridge or Lili. Ideally I want to disrupt your t2 play t1, drop a rock t2, then smallpox on t3.
I even made a judgement call and pox'd a storm player t2 after inquisitioning t1...putting him back to 1 land and removing is most relevant spell.
Making mistakes doe as not tapping for mana the land I'm going to sacrifice before poxing.
Still learning how to abuse this card, but I think our deck can...also as you see I removed the Seeker and Batterskull.
But after playing for awhile I realize even after Pox, my rocks still allow me to have the mana I need...I might put Batterskull back in...wish I could upload some videos...either way, back to testing.
Thanks for the great feedback guys!
Twitch: gamerchamp
Modern: UGrand Architect, UBTezzeret Control, UBWRG Bridge From Below (Dredge)
Legacy: UWGTrue-Name Bant
Twitch: gamerchamp
Modern: UGrand Architect, UBTezzeret Control, UBWRG Bridge From Below (Dredge)
Legacy: UWGTrue-Name Bant
OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
Starting from a classic Tezz build, without the big drops (no Tezz the Seeker, Batterskull or Trading post or Wurmcoil engine). Then: 2 Smallpox, 3 trinket mages, 2 bitterblossom, 1 The Rack and one Raven's crime along 1 IoK and 3 Thoughtseize, 3 lilis with maindeck Crucible of worlds and 3 GQ's, 1 Tec edge and 3 fetches. Also added a fifth mana rock to allow consistant reach of the fourth mana and opted to keep in one Thirst for knowledge instead of going all the way up to four Trinket mages as it has been discussed. Anyways, more details tomorrow! Cheers.
OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
1 Chalice moved to SB: Zoo is definitely less popular, Living End and other Tier 2s where chalice is great are probably less likely to be seen at a PTQ, Against storm a turn 4 chalice is usually a bit too late, especially on the draw
+1 Thopter Foundry: Adding back in the Thopters, I've realized a lot of people online scoop up earlier than in regular competitive settings, I want a closer and some more resiliency against Leyline of Sanctity
Sideboard:
-2 Defense Grid: Great when it comes down on turn 2, pretty crappy otherwise, I think it's time to beef up on the discard, Scapeshift seems to be making some more splashes recently
2/1 split (Duress or Thoughtseize) / Extirpate: Not sure which one to run 2 of, but I think its going to be the Discard, 1 of Extirpate for the occasional Tron blowout. I like being able to side into 6 discard spells against control and Twin. Although more discard makes Extirpate stronger, so maybe 2 Extirpate 1 Discard is better.
Modern:
Tezzeret
???
Legacy:
Imperial Painter aka. Strawberry Shortcake
Tezzeret, aka. Dack in Black
Few ideas, awesome your trying Smallpox.
I think 2x smallpox is the way to go.
How many artifacts total are you playing main?
Remember we still want minimum 18 imho.
Also I found I had to rework my mana to include more colored sources.
Did you add a fifth rock in terms of a Talisman or Signet?
With 2x Bitterblossom, 3x Thoughtseize and 2x Smallpox you're plucking away at your life total pretty fast...with only tezz -4 to gain life. You many want to trim a Thoughtseize for another Inquisition instead. Or even include a Trading Post just to balance it all...Tezz and Damnations still cost 4, so I don't think Post is out of reach.
Maybe even an Elixir of Immortality? But that's anti-recursion...and I tend not to like reshuffling fetchlands.
Either way just some ideas, let us know how it turns out!
Twitch: gamerchamp
Modern: UGrand Architect, UBTezzeret Control, UBWRG Bridge From Below (Dredge)
Legacy: UWGTrue-Name Bant
Note: as I said before, this is a Tezz including 2x Bitterblossom for lots of value tokens, the Crucible package and 2x Smallpox for ressource denial, and 1x The Rack as an alternate trinket win-con; justified by going back up to 3 Trinket mages to make sure we hit the 4th mana for a timely Tezz even though there are Pox(en?) flying around.
Here's the decklist:
2x Creeping tar pit
3x Darkslick shores
1x Island
1x Swamp
1x Marsh flats
1x River of tears
1x Urborg, tomb of Yawgmoth
2x Verdant catacombs
2x Watery grave
4x Darksteel citadel
3x Ghost quarter
1x Tectonic edge
1x Academy ruins
1x Dimir signet
Control
2x Spellskite
2x Ensnaring bridge
1x Crucible of Worlds
1x Raven's crime
1x Inquisition of Kozilek
3x Thoughtseize
2x Smallpox
2x Bitterblossom
2x Damnation
1x Thirst for Knowledge
3x Trinket mage
1x The Rack
1x Engineered explosives
1x Nihil spellbomb
1x Pithing needle
1x Executioner's capsule
Planeswalkers
3x Liliana of the Veil
4x Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
1x Ensnaring bridge
1x Spellskite
1x Pithing needle
1x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Hurkyl's Recall
2x Torpor orb
2x Chalice of the Void
2x Vendilion Clique
1x Elixir of Immortality
3x Dispel
Breakdown: 23 lands, 9 colorless and 14 colored; 19 artifacts, including the citadels (one too few, I know).
Report: Match-up 1 was vs Kiki-pod, ended up 2-0 for me.
Game 1: Opening into Thoughtseize, followed by Raven's crime, into turn 3 Liliana and then topdeck the rack, which slowly but surely grinded away 2-3 life points per turn AND/OR make him NOT play his spells. Couple of turns of 1-on-1 card trades passed and he cast Wall of roots and Pod, podded it into a Finks immediately because he needed to stabilize hard at that point. I top deck Trinket mage into needle for pod, then proceed to win. /The Rack
Game 2: T1 Thoughtseize, T2 Bitterblossom, T3 Lili edict, chump block on a faerie, T4 Tezz for +1, T5 Talisman + attack with a couple faeries + bridge + grafdigger's cage + tezz's ultimate = he's dead.
Match-up 2 was against Kiki-pod, ended up tie 1-1.
Game 1: T1 Thoughtseize, T2 Talisman / you cast a creature, T3 Smallpox, T4 Lili. I took the ressource denial plan, and it work. Landed a The Rack turn 4 and it won me the game. This thing works, guys.
Game 2: T1 Thoughtseize -- he's got Ancient grudge, Quasali pridemage, harmonic sliver and Voice of resurgence in hand. He wins, thought I could battle around with not even relying that hard on artifacts. He eventually did what Kiki-pod does, though, and combo-ed out of nowhere.
Game 3: Super grindy match where I had to play around a Glen-Elendra archmage, and where I ended up spellskite'ing his Zealous conscript combo thing. We went to time as I'd say I was in a better board position than he was; hidden behind bridge with Lili, Blossom, and Skite. Tie.
Match-up 3 was against Boggle, I won 2-0.
Game 1: I just damnation'ed the heck out of his board (twice) and he never recovered. I went to town with a Tezz / Citadel beatdown.
Game 2: Spellskite. Creeping tar pit. GG.
Match-up 4 was against Living End, I won 2-1.
Game 1: Cast Nihil spellbomb and wait for Living end to be cast. Proceed to citadel beatdown.
Game 2: Misplayed real bad. I'm not even telling you guys what I did. But he did side-in some artifact removal so he blew up my bridge after he managed to Live End. That was the end of me. For this game, at least.
Game 3: Trinket mage into Chalice of the Void on zero = lulz. Shout out to T4 Clique who helped heaps in beating him down in time before he could cycle into artifact removal.
Finishing results: 3-0-1.
Noteworthy: Im very happy with the build, and the results. The build gives us a serious third stance, I'd say. Before, I could be Bridge lockdown into Tezz's ultimate, or I could be control Citadel beatdown. Now, I also can be ressource denial + the rack out right from the start. Really fun. It's worth nothing that the rack can be fetched any time from the 3x Trinket mages and adds INEVITABILITY to the damage output from our deck (and/or makes them NOT want to play spell. That's kind of very good, too!) Did at least 8 to 10 damages to a couple of players, 2 or 3 games.
Bitterblossom gave me the ability to chump-block like a champ, to protect my planeswalkers, at least 2-3 times. It also proved efficient to attack for like 2 each turn for a couple of turn, becoming really significant when it's all you need to Tezz's ult for lethal, or to finish-off someone who managed to stabilize after a Rack Attack.
2x Smallpox has proven very good. Even against persistent, swarming and resurgence-ing boards like Kiki-pods, the sac effect becomes relevant once you add it to a Lili's ultimate and finish off whatever's left with an Executioner's capsule. The land sac and discard is just, just so brutal, and in discarding the right thing and relying on mana rocks, never have I been cut from casting a timely Tezz.
Trinket mage: plays and amazing role here. He is the stance-switcher. The Rack enabler. Or the mana-for-tezz fetcher. Just, nice. Three is good, four (in testing) felt like wayyy too many.
I didn't get mana screwed once even with Lili, Pox and Clique that I all cast. But that involved sometimes Ghost quarter'ing my citadels to fetch for basics, which is fine. I know, I'd like to put another basic swamp in there. And also maybe put Glimmervoid back in to enable better explosives. But, with bitterblossom, you need less to wipe the board. Just chump block.
No energy left to talk about sideboard. It's pretty straightforward and diverse. Though, as you said, streetmage, the Elixir of Immortality is there to damper the lot of life loss.
Bottom line: Heck yeah. Opponents were good. Top-notch decks. Amazingly synergetic maindeck, capable sideboard. 3-0-1. Super happy. Tezz + Pox (and Blossom and The Rack, really) seems very, very playable. Maybe it's the little push we need to go one bit further! What do you all think?
OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
Great results man, I'm sure you realize this is a very skill intensive deck...that's why I love it.
You've peeked my interest in bitterblossom.
Did you side in Crucible at all, what matchups would you consider using it?
Twitch: gamerchamp
Modern: UGrand Architect, UBTezzeret Control, UBWRG Bridge From Below (Dredge)
Legacy: UWGTrue-Name Bant
His Crucible is maindeck, awesome synergy with Pox and Ghost Quarter.
Also, yeah I really want to see if I can pick up a Bitterblossom or 2 before the PTQ this weekend instead of the Thopter foundry just to try it out, much stronger when you drop it on turn 2.
Also I added the Pox deck to the decklists.
Modern:
Tezzeret
???
Legacy:
Imperial Painter aka. Strawberry Shortcake
Tezzeret, aka. Dack in Black
Modern:
Tezzeret
???
Legacy:
Imperial Painter aka. Strawberry Shortcake
Tezzeret, aka. Dack in Black
Please do! Nice, thanks.
Streetmage: thanks!
Anaestheticz: I was skeptical at first, about Thirst for Knowledge. But give it a little time of play. It really gives you some steam and filtering; example: hold a citadel or un-useful trinket you draw knowing you're going to ditch it to Thirst. My main issue with thirst is that, for it to be efficient, we need to have TIME for it. So either it's a post-stabilization play, or we're just playing against control. Otherwise, I agree I've been unhappy of seeing it along Lili, Tezz and other stuff in my opening hand. It shines especially mid to late game. In the pox build, I replaced one with a third Trinket mage, which is wayyy more relevant in that context.
Note to all: will probably take the deck out to another event friday. I encourage you guys to also post event results in here !
OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
Nihil can worst case cycle, which is why it is usable in the maindeck. Relic is best against Tarmogoyf, but it nonbos with Academy Ruins and Trading Post. Nihil can pop for no mana (nice against Storm). Downside to Nihil is colored mana, but only for the card draw, no incremental GY hate.
EDIT: Oh yeah, Nihil spellbomb is also recurrable, Relic exiles itsself.
Modern:
Tezzeret
???
Legacy:
Imperial Painter aka. Strawberry Shortcake
Tezzeret, aka. Dack in Black