A few years back, when I started playing extended… Ok, make that many years back! There was a deck named ‘Tezzerator’ and it was full of artifact control cards to put a stranglehold on the game before eventually winning with Tezzeret, the Seeker’s -5 ability:

Artifacts assemble!

Getting to that point in the game is not going to be easy, but we’ve got just a bit of card draw, some tutoring and a few counters to get there. It’s a little list from a year ago that somewhat performed well online, but it might not be up to snuff for the current Modern metagame. After all, in extended, Tezz’s +1 ability could actually generate mana (artifact lands were not banned at that point). Nowadays, we need a Darksteel Citadel and a Mox Opal to do that kind of thing. Still, his +1 is not just for show…

 

Tezzerator Modern Format Creatures: 9 3 Spellskite 4 Trinket Mage 2 Vendilion Clique Instants: 9 2 Cryptic Command 3 Spell Snare 4 Thirst for Knowledge Sorceries: 2 2 Serum Visions Planeswalkers: 3 3 Tezzeret, the Seeker Artifacts: 13 2 Chalice of the Void 2 Engineered Explosives 1 Ensnaring Bridge 1 Grafdigger’s Cage 1 Mox Opal 1 Pithing Needle 1 Pyrite Spellbomb

1 Relic of Progenitus 1 Torpor Orb 2 Vedalken Shackles Lands: 24 2 Academy Ruins 1 Breeding Pool 1 Darksteel Citadel 1 Forest 8 Island 4 Misty Rainforest 3 Scalding Tarn 2 Steam Vents 2 Tectonic Edge Sideboard: 1 Spellskite 1 Vendilion Clique 4 Firespout 2 Echoing Truth 2 Counterflux 3 Blood Moon 1 Back to Nature 1 Trinisphere

 

The deck is very light on actual threats, so you can’t really go around spamming your artifacts and draw spells. Tezzeret is pretty awesome because he can almost instantly protect himself the turn he comes into play, thanks to this little toy:

Oldie but a goodie

He then stays at 1 loyalty and begins to ramp his way back up ever so slowly. Another thing that’s pretty neat is that you can still get to put artifacts in play with his ability through your own Chalice of the Void. So you can cast say, a Pithing Needle and have it get countered. You then put the Pithing Needle back on top of your deck with Academy Ruins. Lastly, go ahead and -1 Tezzeret, the Seeker to put the Pithing Needle into play from your deck. Tada! It’s magic!

The problem card nowaydays is Abrupt Decay. It can’t really be dealt with in this deck other than spamming Spellskites (also just an awesome card). You can ‘Negate’ one Abrupt Decay per Spellskite, so keep spamming. Also, don’t hesitate to put your Spellskites back on top of your deck with Academy Ruins. You can never have enough out if you need to protect your Ensnaring Bridge. Obviously, you could always just put the Bridge back on top as well. Both cards are also very effective at fighting the Pestermite/Splinter Twin combo, though not 100% fool-roof. You can always lose your Spellskites to Flame Slash or have your Ensnaring Bridge bounced via Cryptic Command. It’s funny actually, because that’s something you end up doing in order to win right before Tezzeret’s ultimate: Cryptic Command to tap their team and bounce Ensnaring Bridge. You then are free to attack past their tapped would-be blockers.

C’est bon!

One thing I really don’t like is the Relic of Progenitus. I believe that a Tormod’s Crypt or Nihil Spellbomb (maybe adding a Watery Grave instead of one of the other duals in the main deck). You can at least recur the Spellbomb and Crypt, but not the Relic. Usually a Relic of Progenitus activation is sometimes enough, but not always. Against a deck like Living End it might not do the job early on and they can always respond to it late game with a Violent Outburst Cascade (into the deck’s namesake : Living End). Unfortunately, even the other graveyard hate card is not efficient in dealing with them. Grafdigger’s Cage does nothing against Living End, since their creatures are exiled before they are put into play. Torpor Orb does a wee bit, but nothing great. Chalice of the Void at 0, however, is pretty darn good. At that point they will need to draw a Beast Within to deal with the Chalice, or just regular cast all their guys.

I haven’t played the deck much to really analyze any of the common match-ups and I feel that it’s always good to let people figure things out on their own. The deck is maybe on some people’s deck-building radar, but probably not a real contender at the moment. Still, the fun is always about trying a bunch of decks out and seeing what fits your play style more or seeing if you can tweak some failed experiments and turn them into success stories. Maybe with he new/old fetchlands becoming Modern-legal, the deck will have new life breathed into it. While I don’t really mind Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas much… I do prefer the original.

Speaking of original…