Tezzeret , Master of Metal : Rock On!"

Tezzeret , Master of Metal : Rock On!"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Since the introduction of planeswalker duel decks starting from the Kaladesh block Wizards of the coast has set the expectation that their would be a weaker version of a current standard planeswalker that will be included in almost all of the incoming planeswalker decks.

At least that is what some thought at first. I have seen the two Tezzerets that will be appearing in Aether Revolt and it seems that the one who appears weaker is actually the one that will have more uses than the standard playable(if it will be playable) one.

Tezzeret , Master of Metal holds more promise for me than Tezzeret the Schemer. Yes he is 4 colorless and Dimir colors to cast but this would not matter much in a dedicated artifact deck that can have him as a Commander like in Sparks wars. With the amount of "Rocks" in any given EDH deck 6 mana would not be any problem at all. 

The 5 starting loyalty counters is solid because it means he doesn't die to small creatures or any redirected damage from spells like lightning bolt.

Now on to the abilities. The first one makes you reveal cards until you reveal an artifact card.You put the card in your hand and the other cards are put in the bottom of your library in random order (so as not to set up any Goblin Charbelcher shenanigans I assume). 

Granted that your opponent/s can see what you have in your hand and it just might be another mana producing rock or a big creature that you might not even be able to cast at the moment. Still you have a card that otherwise would not be in your grasp.A specific card advantage and in an artifact this would really matter.

Now remember that artifact you got from the first ability? If you managed to play it this turn Tezzeret , Master of Metals next ability , a -3 will be all that relevant. You need to do a little bit of counting. All of the artifacts that you control and once you have done that your target opponent loses life equal to this amount.20 artifacts in play? Dead in a casual standard game. 40 artifacts in play? One EDH opponent down. 

This second ability might influence your decision in playing Tezzeret , Master of Metal. You might wait until you have the sufficient artifact threshold for a lethal kill or you could play him to look for an artifact to add to this count.

These two abilities work well with each other but the ultimate ability is something else. This time you need to look at all the things your opponents have and you have to decide who's toy you want more. Since the -8 of Tezzeret , Master of Metal involves gaining control of all artifacts and creatures target opponent controls. All of it. 

But wait if Tezzeret is a master of metal how can he control organic things? The answer is Iron. We all have a little bit of metal in us. He will pull off a Magneto effect in the magic  sense. It is hard to resist someone who could just remove all the ferric contents of your blood. Let us call him a bloodbender too. 

So what do you do when you suddenly steal someone Else's army? 1 opponent is now wide open for an attack(since you got all of his guys on your side). You could attack the said defenseless opponent since it is the path of least resistance or you could attack a stronger one to whittle away at their defenses. 

After writing this I find this version of Tezzeret better and hoped that this was the one in Standard even if it a bit slow to cast and might be swallowed by Eldrazi's or swarmed by copters.

Now all he needs is a guitar. Someone give the guy a guitar and some wicked riffs. Let's make him a true master of Metal.