Tezzeret's Gambit

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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Archenemy Legal
Arena Legal
Block Constructed Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Gladiator Legal
Highlander Legal
Historic Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Modern Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Planechase Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Tezzeret's Gambit

Sorcery

( can be paid with either or 2 life.)

Draw two cards, then proliferate. (Choose any number of permanents and/or players, then give each another counter of a kind already there.)

nuperokaso on Help me Man the Lux Cannons!

3 months ago

Back when Scars of Mirrodin was in Standard, I had very similar deck: UG Proliferate . I will explain how my deck worked:

  • The central card of my deck was the Everflowing Chalice. Without it I simply don't have enough mana to play the cards and abilities. As such, I played 4 Trinket Mage, 4 Ancient Stirrings to find them (literally the reason why I played those two cards) and 3 Voltaic Key to untap them for more mana. For me, it was absolutely imperative to find the Chalice, so I believe you should be playing more Trinket Mage.
  • In my original build, I tried Semblance Anvil and Throne of Geth, but removed them as they cause card disadvantage. I had lot of mana, so I preferred expensive artifacts such as Contagion Engine that stay on board rather than cheap one-shot effects such as Ichor Wellspring.
  • Tezzeret's Gambit was phenomenal - it both provides another Proliferate I was missing, and it draws cards, so you won't run out of steam later in the game. The phyrexian mana worked great - at the start of the game, I am willing to pay life, because I need speed. At the end of the game, you have little life but extra mana is good. It's million times better than the Trigon of Thought you are playing.
  • I also played Prototype Portal, but it's actually a weak card. I started with 4, then went down until I played 1. It's slow - basically any game where you have mana and time to activate it three times to get to +1 card out of it was won anyway... However, there's a reason I play one - it enables you to go to stars should the game be locked. Imprinting Voltaic Key enables you to make a copy of Key, which will then untap the Portal. Withing five turns, you have thousands of mana and Keys, which enable repeated activation of all your artifacts.
  • Sphere of the Suns is not best, but a reasonable play. I may have made a mistake to play 0. You don't want to draw multiple, but 1-2 may be a good call. It speeds you up and we both know the deck is slow. Mox Opal would be better if it weren't expensive.
  • Voltaic Key is another really powerful card - it doubles your Everflowing Chalice mana, enables multiple activations of Contagion Clasp, Contagion Engine, Lux Cannon and Tumble Magnet. You can use the Key to untap Elixir of Immortality in response to it's activation to activate it multiple times and gain more life.
  • Tumble Magnet was the "removal" in my deck. Not very good, but made the opponent's equipment useless.
  • Golem Foundry was the win-condition of my deck, but it was simply horrible. I didn't want to play Emrakul, the Aeons Torn and the like, because it I get to 15 mana, I win anyway. If I don't get to that mana, Emrakul is a dead card.
  • Finally I played Necropede, with 2-3 probably a better choice than 1. They provide early blocking against aggro decks, capable of destroying two creatures for just 2 mana. Just proliferate. However, unlike other removal spells, this won't be dead if opponent has nothing on board. If you ever score a hit, you can proliferate your opponent to death.

I had a lot of fun with the deck. It was cheap (Contagion Engine cost 50 cents back then), unique, and you had permanently things to do - placing counters was 50% of the game time. It had problems if the opponent played Planeswalkers such as Elspeth Tirel, burn spells or +1/+1 counters (since they cancel the -1/-1 counters and then you can't proliferate to kill enemy creatures).

sprink7 on HELP! NEWB DECKBUILDER CANT FIGURE IT OUT -Toxrill

5 months ago

Some simple swaps I'd recommend which are low budget (I think?). These are things that directly serve the same purpose, but better.

Armilliary Sphere => Thaumatic Compass  Flip Thaumatic Compass serves the purpose you're using the sphere for, probably?, but with the bonus of extending in strength into the mid to late game as it turns into a Maze of Ith.

Sign in Blood => Tezzeret's Gambit 1 more mana, but proliferate and easier mana requirement. Or two more mana and no life cost.

Sisay's Ring => Thran Dynamo Self explanatory.

Fleetfeather Sandels => Swiftfoot Boots Hexproof is usually better than flying. The Equip cost is lower.

Leaden Myr => Dimir Signet Doesn't die to the next field wipe, which could be yours.

Some general cuts that are either working against you, not doing enough, or just to make space for other things. Cuts:

  • Crowded Crypt (Meh mana rock, not stellar token maker)
  • Illness in the Ranks (kills your slugs, could be kept with the right win cons)
  • Infernal Genesis (too expensive, opponents get to use it first)
  • Genesis Chamber (expensive, gives opponents creatures before you)
  • Gifted Aetherborn (too small, low impact)
  • Royal Assassin (Same)
  • Cabal Ritual (-1 card for speed. Gotta get a lot out of this for it to be in deck.)
  • Dark Ritual (Same)
  • Mana Leak (Great early game, but dead draw midway and on usually.)
  • Dispel (Good enough, but I needed to make space)
  • Fuel for the Cause (Same)
  • Dramatic Reversal (I don't see a combo with this in deck)
  • Morbid Opportunist (slow draw)
  • Altar's Reap (I don't see enough excess creatures until commander is in play, so you might as well turn it into a draw engine instead, see below)
  • Village Rites (Same)

Add: 6 lands. Duals are preferable, but basics are just fine as well. Harvester of Souls (draw engine) Vampiric Rites (draw engine) Mass Diminish (wipe) Mirkwood Bats (win con) Zulaport Cutthroat (win con) Bastion of Remembrance (win con) 2+ Mana rocks from list below

Some mana rocks to consider Arcane Signet Talisman of Dominance Mind Stone Worn Powerstone Replicating Ring Astral Cornucopia Everflowing Chalice

Slightly Higher cost stuff that goes really well with what you're doing.

  • Black Sun's Zenith => Infest (It's better usually, even at 3 mana)
  • Massacre Wurm => Vampire Nighthawk (Vampire is good enough, just not pulling weight at this point)
  • Asinine Antics => Grim Affliction (Another Polymorphist's Jest, but permanent)
  • Skullclamp => Slum Reaper (You already kill everything consistently, and this gives a S* load of draw) (Add a Trinket Mage to tutor it)

Mortlocke on The Song of Phyresis

1 year ago

AscendedLandfalls,

Thanks for explaining the issues behind the Competitive algorithm. I am still dwelling on the pros and cons on including Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus vs. Tezzeret's Gambit. Tekuthal, compliments the decks themes overall but feels "greedy" in that it hurts consistency. Having a great static effect might mean little to nothing if I'm hurting for cards or need an actual proliferation trigger on the stack.

Am I off with this assessment? What do you think?

Mortlocke on The Song of Phyresis

1 year ago

Idraxus,

Hello and welcome to the conversation. I'm very pleased to hear that this deck inspired you to create your own! I love Poison and I'm always pleased to see more players embracing it. You do bring up a valid point about Venerated Rotpriest as my initial assessment of it was a tool purely devoted to deterring spot removal. But beyond that, I'd need a deck that has more pump spells, or a means of recurring pump spells to really get the most value out of Toxic/Rotpriest. Ultimately, I think cutting it is the way to go - but if I were to try and make room for it i'd probably cut the Sensei's Divining Top if I absolutely had to.

I love the aesthetic of Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus, and I think really do want to try and make room for it. I'm leaning more toward cutting the burst draw/proliferation of Tezzeret's Gambit - but when I do Tappedout's "competitive" algorithm for my deck rates it lower. I'm not exactly sure why, but it feels like i'm doing something wrong lol. I mean, it's a similar CMC, the only difference is that Tekuthal demands two pips. If you had to cut a cmc (or higher) card from this deck, what would you cut to make room for a possible Tekuthal? Should I just cut Tezzeret's Gambit anyway? Weird random algorithm be damned? lol

Mortlocke on The Song of Phyresis

1 year ago

Vlasiax,

What're your thoughts on Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus? Seems like it would be a good inclusion in this build, but I have no idea what to cut to make room for it? I'm leaning toward wither Prologue to Phyresis or Tezzeret's Gambit. Both spells are great for setting up a boardstate, and are important for different reasons. Maybe I should cut something else? Also, I don't think Venerated Rotpriest would be a good inclusion - I only have 2 spells in the deck that I could target my own creatures with - i'm going to slot back in Glistener Elf.

White Sun's Twilight is an interesting spell, but when I saw that I had an extra Smothering Tithe I knew what I had to do.

Kret on Muldrotha: Budget Elemental Tribe!

1 year ago

Soul of the Harvest, Fertilid, Mulldrifter and Shriekmaw are good budget elementals.
Wolfbriar Elemental is a nice mana sink in the late game.
Consider adding backgrounds like Master Chef or Scion of Halaster.
You are running Joint Exploration. Consider similar cards like Explore or Growth Spiral. They can let your deck gain some early velocity.
If you play multiple elementals with evoke then a card like Village Rites becomes useful because you can cast it in response to the evoke trigger and draw 2. Card like Evolutionary Leap could also be used in response to evoke trigger to draw a fresh elemental
Zendikar's Roil can let you go wide with elementals.
Tatyova, Steward of Tides makes your lands into 3/3/ elementals
Kenrith's Transformation is a great removal spell that replaces itself and can be recurred.
Tezzeret's Gambit draws 2 cards and proliferates.
Nissa, Voice of Zendikar puts counters on each creature for just 3 mana

Cards I would replace:
- cards with kicker and Vine Gecko (they are generally worse cards than regular budget ramp spells like Rampant Growth or Cultivate)
- 6 forests because you have low mana curve (I would cut the land count to something like 36 lands, but you could also swap them for dual lands with basic land types from Kaldheim - Woodland Chasm, Dominaria United - Haunted Mire, Temple cycle - Temple of Malady or bounce lands - Golgari Rot Farm
- Titania, Protector of Argoth because there is only one card -> Harrow that can proc her ability to make elementals
I would also cut some of the elementals that don't have any useful abilties like Jaddi Lifestrider, Healer of the Glade, Glade Watcher, Floodhound, Offalsnout, Smolder Initiate and Slitherwisp.

Hope you find some of the suggestions helpful.

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