"Tezzeret the Schemer: Scheming with the Schemer"

"Tezzeret the Schemer: Scheming with the Schemer"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

This whole Esper deck started when I bought my own brothers Tezzeret the Schemer just to add it to my Planeswalker collection. I bought a pack and lo and behold I got another Tezzeret! When one of our players Jus came by the clinic he also had a lone Tezzeret in his binder. I am a big believer in signs and the latter two was enough for me.

Tezzeret is a 4 mana planeswalker that enters the battlefield with 5 loyalty counters on him. You won't be able to shock him but against aggro decks those 5 loyalty counters aren't going to protect him all that much. And the whole field in Standard features a lot of beaters that could do the job. I wrote this probably to look at the card more and see what it can do.

Tezzeret's first ability doesn't really impress you since it just adds an Etherium cell in play and another loyalty counter on him. The Etherium cell can be sacrificed to add mana of any color however and this can serve as ramp so that you could use a 6 mana spell on turn 5. It can also add another artifact in play that could help you plop down a Gearseeker Serpent or Improvise to summon a Herald of Anguish.

Tezzeret's 2nd ability is a -2 one that gives +X/-X to target creature for each artifact you control. Needless to day Tezzeret needs a deck that has tons and tons of artifacts. In my deck he has Servo's from Servo exhibition and Cogworker's puzzleknot. He had Metalspinners Puzzleknot and Prophetic prism as well. More draw for me. In my test plays I really seem to have too many artifacts that I can kill a 5 or 6 powered creature as soon as Tezzeret arrive on the board. I still want to be able to pump my bigger creatures but I am afraid that I don't have anything that has a bigger toughness that 6. 

His ultimate ability is something that many players believe is the watered down version of another Tezzeret. I do agree that that other Tezzeret would be really brutal on the plane of Kaladesh.But heck this is what I get so this is what I will work with. In the right circumstance once you have reached this -7 ultimate it is usually lights out for your opponent. Even before casting this planeswalker you might have been able to take advantage of his 3 mana costing Touch. In which case a couple more hits ought to do the trick and with the abundance of artifacts on your side of the battlefield there won't ever be a shortage of targets for the emblem.

While scheming with the schemer might not be every one's cup of tea when it comes to the GP Manila 2017. I will run this deck and see where it leads me. And now some more play testing are in order.