Jace Beleren needs to spend a counter to draw
you one card. Tezzeret 2.0's +1 ability
basically lets you draw your choice of cards.
Sure, there's the possibility that you won't
have an artifact in your top five, but if you're
running either Tezzeret, you should have enough
artifacts that the +1 will rarely whiff. We're
only on the first of Tezz's abilities and
already we've obsoleted Jace Beleren... of
course Jace has already obsoleted his original
self.
For -1, Tezz 2.0 can turn any artifact into a
5/5 creature... permanently. Yeah, the Prophetic
Prism you used to help cast him? Now it's a 5/5,
and will remain thus for the rest of its time on
the table. Your Darksteel Axe? The one you put
Phylactery Lich's counter on? Well, it can't
equip the Lich anymore, because now it's an
indestructible 5/5 in its own right. That
Spellbomb? Maybe you want to wait to pop it.
And Tezz 2.0's ultimate is a life drain ability
for X, where X is the number of artifacts you
control. That's pretty good, considering his +1
helps you draw more artifacts. It'd be
absolutely amazing in a format where Mycosynth
Lattice is legal. And let me point out, that
Tezzeret's converted mana cost is 4, his
starting loyalty is 3, and his ultimate is -4...
same as Garruk's. You cast Tezzeret, use his +1
once, and the very next turn you can go off. And
he's blue and black-- colors that work well with
proliferate! Heck, you could, with sufficient
proliferation, hit Tezz's ultimate the turn you
cast him. Do I smell a blue/black Phyrexian-inspired
control deck taking shape?
I'm a little frightened at the thought of what
this planeswalker could achieve. Tezzeret's
earlier incarnation was already a godsend for
artifact-based decks, and this new card's -1 and
-4 abilities are downright aggressive. And while
it's not as good as finding Time Vault, it
enables these decks' Plan B much more easily by
turning artifact lands and such into
dragon-sized threats. The genius of Tezzeret's
design is that you can only control one version
of him at a time, which sets up a tension in
deck design, as sometimes the Seeker's ability
to search for any artifact and untap mana
artifacts will be more useful and sometimes this
version's abilities will be more useful. Either
way, you will be seeing much, much more of this
card in constructed Magic.
Magic The Gathering Card of The Day: Tezzeret
Agent of Bolas
Welcome back readers today's card of the day is
the blue black incarnation of Tezzeret, Tezzeret
Agent of Bolas. For four mana you get a starting
loyalty of 3 and an ultimate that takes only 4
to activate. Being able to nab an artifact card
from the top five cards of your deck to assist
you in getting more artifacts. The second
ability mimics the ability of the first Tezzeret
making an artifact a 5/5 beater. The ultimate
hoses an opponent for the artifacts you have and
could be a decent finishing ability. In standard
U/B control decks are hands down the most
powerful and if they edit their deck to pack
enough artifacts they can play this guy. Packing
cards like Everflowing Chalice, Contagion Clasp,
Ratchet Bomb, and Lux cannon is not a hard thing
to achieve and I think this planeswalker will
see a lot of play.
In extended this card is good once again for U/B
control or decks heavily utilzing artifacts I
dont think it will see as much play as it would
in standard but still a powerful card. In casual
and multiplayer planeswalkers draw a lot of heat
and this one is not powerful enough to warrant
protecting maybe in a dedicated artifact decks,
the most powerful ability is getting the 5/5
creature. In limited if you draft a high enough
number of artifacts and are going blue black
this is a great pick, its also a chase mythic so
take that as you will. Overall a powerful new
blue and black planeswalker.
Today's card of the day is Tezzeret, Agent of
Bolas which is a four mana Planeswalker with
three abilities. The first is a +1 that
allows you to add an artifact card from the top
five cards in your library to your hand. This
isn't bad and helps set up the ultimate, but
isn't as impressive as some of the other
Planeswalkers. The second ability can turn
any artifact into a 5/5 creature which has quite
a bit of potential with the various effects
available on different cards. The ultimate
is the real story though as it can be used the
turn he comes into play with Proliferate and
with the right number of low cost artifacts can
make a dramatic impact on the game.
Creatures that generate swarms of tokens like
Thopter Assembly and this can win the game if
played correctly.
Overall this needs a well designed deck built
around it, but it has potential and may make a
run at some tournaments.
For Limited almost any Planeswalker is worth a
first pick and this is not an exception as the
format is very heavily artifact based.
Being able to turn any of your support cards
into a 5/5 is a huge benefit and probably the
most likely ability to get used. In Sealed
the Blue and Black pools may determine whether
or not this can be played, but the stability it
can offer with any of the abilities is worth the
effort.
Today’s Card of the Day is Tezzeret, Agent of
Bolas. Tezzeret has been influenced by new
colors of mana in his service to the elder
dragon. That’s right, he is now two colors!. The
new and very improved in my opinion Tezzeret is
now black and blue. For four mana, Tezzeret
makes his come back. Two generic, one balck, and
one blue. Tezzeret enters okay with three
loyalty counters on him. Am I the only one who
finds it ironic that Tezzeret would enter with
loyalty counters?
Tezzerets abilities are very similar, yet
completely different from his former self. His
abilities are still about affecting artifacts,
since that is what an artificer does. His first
ability is a plus one, look at the top five
cards of your library, you may reveal an
artifact card from among them and put it into
your hand, put the rest on the bottom in any
order. His second ability is a minus one, and
turns any artifact into a 5/5 artifact creature.
This ability I should not does not end at end of
turn. A nice way to turn you zero cost artifacts
into monstrous problems. His last ability
specifically signals his new alliance with black
mana. His last ability is minus four, meaning
the second turn he is out you can pop his final,
and says target player loses X life and you gain
X life where X is twice the number of artifacts
you control. How is that for a final ability?
Obviously he is going to be a very sought after
card for standard play. The artifact heavy
setting means his final could be devastating in
a decent Metalcraft deck. But, seeing how he is
black and blue, he may not benefit much from the
Metalcraft setting, seeing white and red were
the heaviest in Metalcraft. Perhaps we will more
see him being exploited in a black/blue
control/proliferate deck. As if black/blue
control needed any more weapons.
However, like the Hellkite Igniter, I think his
truest potential is going to shine in vintage,
for the same reason Hellkite Igniter could be
overpowered, and that is Mycosynth Lattice.
Imagine EVERYTHING you own is an artifact, and
then pop off Tezzeret’s final. How much
potential damage and life gain is on the stack
there?
