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So Many Insane Plays – Tezzeret the Unreal, and Other Vintage Tech

Read Stephen Menendian every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Monday, September 15th – Shards of Alara is just around the corner, and one officially spoiled card in particular is kicking up a Vintage stink: Tezzeret the Seeker. Today’s So Many Insane Plays sees Stephen Menendian shake things up with a plethora of Tezzeret decklists, incorporating the Blue planeswalker in a number of tried and tested Vintage strategies…

Moments after Tezzeret was spoiled on the internet, Vintage forums were abuzz with commotion.

Tezzeret is the first planeswalker that will see Vintage play. And he’s Blue.

I bet you’re shocked.

But he’s better than just playable. He’s actually incredible. Tezzeret is going seen in Vintage for years to come for one simple reason: he is the best complement to Time Vault you could reasonably imagine.

Look at how Tezzeret and Time Vault interact:

First, Tezzeret tutors up Time Vault and puts it directly into play.

Second, it untaps Time Vault.

Third, it provides a victory condition once you are taking infinite turns.

In short, Tezzeret does it all. It’s the complete Time Vault package. It’s the Time Vault swiss army knife. The only thing it doesn’t do is give your Time Vault shroud.

It’s difficult to believe that it exists because it fits so well with Time Vault. Each and every single one of Tezzeret’s abilities combos with Time Vault. It just made the quest to restore Time Vault all the more sweet. It has taken years, but they’ve done the right thing, and not a moment too soon!

I honestly saw no reason to pre-emptively restrict Time Vault in Vintage. Of course, it deserved the banhammer in Legacy, just like Flash. But it is a much weaker card than Flash.

First, unlike Flash, Time Vault plus Voltaic Key (or some other untapper) is a two-card combo with garbage for support. Flash had Merchant Scroll, Summoner’s Pact, and, in Legacy, Mystical Tutors and Wordly Tutor. Besides the normal assortment of restricted tutors, there is really nothing for Time Vault plus Key. Second, Flash combo costs two mana at instant speed. Time Vault combo costs four mana at sorcery speed. Third, Time Vault combo is a lot easier to stop. Cards like Pithing Needle, Null Rod, and even Rack and Ruin all wreck face. Although Leyline of the Void was effective against Flash-Hulk, Flash was faster and packed a lot more counter-power. In any case, Flash was hardly tearing up tournaments, and it was, on every measure, better than Time Vault combo would have been. It strains to the imagination to say that Time Vault decks would have torn up Vintage tournaments if Flash couldn’t.

It’s all moot now, and it doesn’t matter anyway. The printing of Tezzeret may have rendered the question of Time Vault’s restriction irrelevant. With Tezzeret, the optimal number of Time Vaults in your deck probably approaches one (I could see two).

Tezzeret is the New Morphling

When Brian Weissman put The Deck meme into the consciousness of Magic players everywhere, he popularized an approach to Magic with tropes that can be found in every format today: Blue countermagic, Blue draw spells, removal spells, and a finisher.

For years that finisher was Serra Angel. Serra Angel was effective because she served as a defensive wall, but also as a win condition. When I returned to Magic in 2000, I was shocked to discover Morphling. It was a massive upgrade over Angel. Not only could he block and attack at the same time, Morphling had all sorts of other built in protection, such as the ability to become untargetable and change power and toughness.

The speed of Vintage and the need for a combo-kill have led to many replacements. First, Psychatog took over as the finisher du jour. Presently, cards like Sundering Titan and Darksteel Colossus are the big finishers, but they generally find their way into play via Tinker.

Unlike Tog or Titan, which are really finishers of more combo-control oriented decks, Tezzeret gives Blue a combo finisher that can actually fit into a control deck.

This is why Tezzeret is the new Morphling.

Look at it this way:

Tezzeret reads: “If you untap with this in play, win the game!”

In short, it’s like a Darksteel Colossus with twenty power.

The only problem is that it has two toughness. The trick with Tezzeret is making sure Tezzeret survives until your next turn. When you play Tezzeret, you will use two loyalty to find the Time Vault. This means that your Tezzeret will be vulnerable to attack for that turn. A 2/2 creature can take it out.

My immediate instinct was to try to put Tezzeret into an Accelerated Blue list. By Accelerated Blue, I mean Aggro-Control, Mono Blue, such was last seen in this format when Morphling was unrestricted:
Legend Blue, 2001

4 Morphling
4 Back to Basics
4 Fact or Fiction
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Counterspell
4 Mana Leak
2 Misdirection
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
2 Powder Keg
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
19 Island

Sideboard
2 Misdirection
2 Powder Keg
2 Nevinyrral’s Disk
4 Hydroblast
4 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Island

The idea behind this deck is obvious: Play Islands, counter some spells until you can resolve a Fact or Fiction. Use Fact or Fiction to accumulate the resources, namely more lands and counterspells, so that you can play a Morphling as quickly as possible and kill your opponent.

It is an Aggro-Control deck. I thought that Tezzeret might make this archetype viable again! What’s more, I wanted to find a home for four Tezzerets. If Tezzeret is as good as I think it will be, surely then it should be used (rather, abused) as a four-of.

With help from teammates, here is what we came up with:

Accelerated Blue

8 Island
3 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy

1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
1 Black Lotus

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Rune Snag
4 Mana Leak
2 Misdirection
4 Impulse
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Brainstorm
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Merchant Scroll
3 Powder Keg
4 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Time Vault

Sideboard:
4 Energy Flux
4 Propaganda
4 Tormod’s Crypt
3 Sower of Temptation

This deck was a failure.

The reason is simple: Fact or Fiction is restricted. Legend Blue worked because Fact or Fiction got you the resources you needed to play, resolve, and protect Morphling. Without four Fact, I had trouble getting the mana or the protection for Tezzeret. If I got him into play it was game over, but getting him into play was not easy.

I tried Black splashes with Dark Confidant and Black tutors, and it still felt weak.

I turned the deck into a different direction.

Here is what I recommend:

Mono Blue Control

8 Island
3 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
4 Wastelands
1 Strip Mine
1 Library of Alexandria

1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
2 Negate
4 Mana Leak
4 Impulse
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
4 Ophidian
2 Back to Basics
3 Powder Keg
3 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Time Vault

Sideboard:
4 Energy Flux
4 Propaganda
4 Tormod’s Crypt
3 Sower of Temptation

The backbone of this list is the deck with which I made Top 8 in the 2004 Vintage Championship.

You can read my tournament report here, and my preparation article here.

Oh, Ophie! The One-Eyed Card Drawin’ Snake! Love that guy! I missed you, Ophie! I know you missed me too!

Back to Basics was amazing in 2004 because the top decks were Fish decks, Workshop decks, and Four-Color Control. Back to Basics isn’t nearly as powerful today. It’s still a beating for Fish decks, it destroys Workshop decks, and it’s amazing against Ichorid post-board. However, you can’t afford to run four.

You could easily have a Red splash, like Tommy Kolowith has done for his Draw-Go list. However, Powder Keg has been testing so well, I decided against that move. I’ve been destroying Moxen and Bridge tokens left and right with Keg. It also acts like a mini-Wrath of God against Fish and Goblins.

No Chalice of the Void?!

In my 2004 article, one of the motivations for playing Mono Blue was Chalice. I describe how Chalice is so amazing because you have so few cards that cost one mana. However, after lots and lots and lots of testing, it was just too hit or miss. Chalice might be amazing, but then it would allow my opponent to beat me in the late game. Or, my opponent might have been on the play and played all his or her relevant acceleration. Or, I’d draw multiple Chalices and find them to be dead cards when I needed a hard counterspell. Chalice was good, but it was a card that required a bit of luck. I discovered that I could survive without it. And I did. I made Top 8 at the Vintage Champs without the use of Chalice, losing only to a well-timed Strip Mine in the Top 8.

I also tested Rune Snag. It was garbage. Negate is, I am sure, much better. Tom LaPille thinks that Negate is even better than Mana Leak. Of that, I remain unconvinced. Nonetheless, he is right that Negate is good.

One other issue is whether to play Augury Adept over Ophidian in the abstract. While I definitely agree that Adept is the better card, Ophie is the better card for this deck for several reasons. First of all, Ophie is one of the few early Drain targets. Second, there are, over time, enough hands with double Moxen or Sol Ring that make Ophie come online sooner than Adept.

Oddly enough, it turns out that this deck destroys Ichorid! Wastelands nail Bazaars, Kegs take out Chalices and Bridge tokens, and the Tormod’s Crypts and Propogandas shut down their entire deck. Sower of Temptation replaces Control Magic in the sideboard.

I love this deck. It is definitely a style thing. But I love playing and crushing control. Tezzeret gives you a win condition that makes this deck so well rounded.

As much as I think Tezzeret will be a great addition to Draw-Go, I’m also aware of the fact that players will probably try to fit it into a multi-color shell.

Designing Mana Drain Tez Decks

Here are the parameters of how I see Tezzeret design going:

1) At least 25 mana sources. This is standard for most Vintage three-color (or more) control decks. Usually the breakdown is 9-10 artifact accelerants and 15-16 lands.

2) At least 1 Tezzeret (probably more) and 1 Time Vault, and at least one other win condition, perhaps two. Probably a Tendrils. However, if they run Tinker, a Darksteel Colossus may also be included.
3) At least 8 Blue countermagic: 4 Mana Drain and 4 Force of Will.
4) 10-11 restricted Blue and Black spells: Ancestral Recall, Time Walk, Brainstorm, Merchant Scroll, Mystical Tutor, Gifts Ungiven, Ponder, Vampiric Tutor, Yawgmoth’s Will, and Demonic Tutor are probably all auto-includes. The pilot may want to include Fact or Fiction.
5) 1-3 Bounce Spells.
6) 4-6 Draw Engine cards. This could be Thirst, Dark Confidant, Deep Analysis, Intuition, Accumulated Knowledge, Skeletal Scrying etc.

So, at a minimum, any control deck is going to look like this:

25 Mana Sources
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Time Vault
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Brainstorm
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Ponder
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
2 Bounce Spells
4-6 Draw Engine Spells
7 other slots

So, no matter how you round out the deck, there are basically 47 slots that are automatic. The variance will be in the unsettled 15 slots slots.

Here are some possible lists:

Brassman Tezzeret

2 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Time Vault

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Fact or Fiction
3 Repeal (Yuck!)
4 Thirst For Knowledge
1 Tinker

1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Pithing Needle

1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth’s Will

2 Volcanic Island
2 Underground Sea
5 Fetchlands
1 Snow-Covered Island
2 Island
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Strip Mine
1 Library of Alexandria
5 Moxen
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Lotus Petal
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus

This decklist is based upon my imagining how Vintage innovator Andy Probasco might approach the concept. His well-known regard for Repeal explains its presence here. He also likes Thirst For Knowledge, which is why I used it here.

Here is another approach:

Team Reflection Tez

2 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Time Vault

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Echoing Truth
4 Thirst For Knowledge
1 Tinker
1 Deep Analysis

1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Engineered Explosives

1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth’s Will

2 Volcanic Island
3 Underground Sea
5 Fetchlands
1 Snow-Covered Island
2 Island
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Library of Alexandria
5 Moxen
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Lotus Petal
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus

And then with Night’s Whispers:

Team Reflection Tez, Model B

2 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Time Vault

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Echoing Truth
4 Thirst For Knowledge
1 Tinker

1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Engineered Explosives

1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
3 Night’s Whisper

2 Volcanic Island
3 Underground Sea
5 Fetchlands
1 Snow-Covered Island
2 Island
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Library of Alexandria
5 Moxen
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus

And then Drain Tendrils approach:

Drain Tendrils Tez

2 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Time Vault

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Rebuild

2 Intuition
4 Accumulated Knowledge
3 Thirst For Knowledge
1 Gush
1 Frantic Search

1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth’s Will

2 Volcanic Island
3 Underground Sea
5 Fetchlands
1 Snow-Covered Island
2 Island
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Library of Alexandria
5 Moxen
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Lotus Petal
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus

Finally, Hybrid Painter/Tez combo:

Painter Tez

2 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Time Vault
1 Grindstone

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Echoing Truth
4 Thirst For Knowledge
1 Tinker

1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
2 Painter’s Servant

2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Pyroblast

1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth’s Will

3 Volcanic Island
2 Underground Sea
5 Fetchlands
1 Snow-Covered Island
2 Island
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Library of Alexandria
5 Moxen
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus

Well, there you have it. There are other ways to build Tezzeret control in Vintage, but I think I’ve just covered about half of them. I’ve also outlined the basic parameters of such design. Picking a style here is probably like selecting wallpaper. Whatever suits you.

Helm Combo

Kevin Binswanger put the Eternal community on notice regarding the Helm combo only a few weeks after we learned about it. Then, last week, Patrick wrote about it too. This combo is also another potential home for Tezzeret. With Tezzeret in play, you can tutor up Helm and activate it the same turn. Good Game if you have Leyline already in play.

That said, it seems like it’s inefficient. Here is an actual list that placed in a tournament:

Obeyline!
Jeff Neilson – 3rd/4th

1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
2 Gilded Lotus
1 Bazaar of Baghdad
4 Mishra’s Workshop
3 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
3 Gemstone Mine
3 City of Brass
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Black Lotus
1 Helm of Obedience
1 Trinisphere
4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Goblin Welder
3 Crucible of Worlds
1 Memory Jar
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Duplicant
1 Triskellion
1 Sundering Titan
1 Karn, Silver Golem
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Smokestack
4 Chalice of the Void

Sideboard
3 Ancient Grudge
3 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast
2 Seal of Cleansing
1 Triskelion
2 Platinum Angel
1 Razormane Masticore
1 Pithing Needle
1 Thorn of Amethyst

Another possible home for the Helm Combo is in a Tezzeret deck. Tezzeret can tutor up Helm, and if you have a Leyline in play, you can activate it and win in the same turn. Since the fundamental limitation needs you to have a Leyline in play, I don’t think that Helm has a suitable home in a Drain deck. I think that the Workshop shell above is probably as good a start as any, but here is another:

Blax

4 Leyline of the Void
3 Helm of Obedience

1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Mishra’s Workshop
4 Underground Sea
1 Underground River
1 Cephalid Coliseum

1 Phyrexian Totem
5 Moxen
1 Mana Crypt
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring

1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Imperial Seal

1 Trinisphere
3 Smokestack
3 Crucible of Worlds
4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Tangle Wire
1 Triskelion
1 Karn, Silver Golem

1 Windfall
1 Memory Jar
1 Tinker
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall

This deck is a return to the original Stax concept. It is far more aggressive and a lot more fun to play. You drop lots of artifacts, draw cards, and combo out. Notice that this deck has no Chalice of the Void. My theory is that you can attack the game from a completely different angle, and that Leyline plus Tangle Wire can produce a similar effect to Chalices. Leyline slows Yawgmoth’s Will just as Chalice does, and much more. I’ve included Windfall over Timetwister since Windfall can simply remove your opponent’s hand from game! Imagine if they are holding critical cards like a Yawgmoth’s Will or a Tendrils! Bam, removed from game sir. Jar produces the same effect. I have omitted Yawgmoth’s Will from the maindeck only because it is very poor in the opening hand. It should be in the sideboard for control matches.

From The Vault

I must be oblivious. I had no idea that cards printed in an “extremely allocated” (‘extremely allocated’ is a term that doesn’t make much sense to me; don’t you mean ‘allocated in extremely low amounts?’) boxed set would actually put new cards into the format. Why didn’t someone tell me about Hellkite Overlord? Team I Can Beat Meandeck (ICBM) noticed it first and won a Black Lotus:

ICBM Hellkite Oath
James King

4 Force of Will
4 Thoughtseize
4 Negate
4 Oath of Druids
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Impulse
1 Hellkite Overlord
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Gaea’s Blessing
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Misdirection
1 Wipe Away
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Scroll Rack
4 Forbidden Orchard
2 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
3 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
3 Underground Sea
1 Tropical Island
1 Island

Sideboard
4 Tormod’s Crypt
3 Oxidize
2 Simic Sky Swallower
2 Arcane Laboratory
1 Massacre
1 Life from the Loam
1 Wasteland
1 Tropical Island

My team was the first to break out Oath after the printing of Forbidden Orchard in 2004. We placed half of the Top 8 at the second StarCityGames.com Power Nine tournament with the Oath deck, using Akroma and Spirit of the Night. Well, it turns out that 8/8 is better than 6/5. With Overlord, you have no trouble dealing 20 damage after the second Oath. It’s probably better than Tyrant Oath as well, (especially since Gush Bond is restricted).

Things are changing quickly in Vintage. The new set, Shards of Alara, looks like it is going to dump a bunch of playables into Vintage, and if history is any indication, that means it will be pretty amazing for other formats as well.

More next week. Until then…

Stephen Menendian