Legacy: Tezzeret Painter - Deck Tech and Sideboard Guide

Greetings, Legacy community! We've already reviewed Edge of Eternities and Spider-Man, so now we're back to our regular schedule: deck techs with the latest set!

One of the most exciting cards for Legacy in this set certainly didn't disappoint us: Tezzeret, Cruel Captain has been making some noise. In fact, it immediately found a home in one of the strongest decks in the format: Forge Combo.

Most lists just found some space to fit 4 of this new planeswalker and moved on with their plan to draw infinite cards with The One Ring and drain the opponent's life with Glaring Fleshraker. But one particular list was different enough to stand out to me, and that's the list we'll discuss today.

Today's list made it all the way to the finals of a Magic Online Challenge 32 in the hands of XanaZero. It is also fundamentally a Forge Combo list with a small twist: it doesn't play Mystic Forge!

The card that names this archetype actually isn't even the most important card in standard lists (that's The One Ring), but the name stuck. These lists are currently playing 2 or 3 Forges, but today's list completely gave up this card for more Keys (Manifold Key, Voltaic Key, and Basalt Monolith). The most glaring difference is up next.

To attack through a different angle, our list swaps the 4 Glaring Fleshraker for 3 Painter's Servant and 1 Grindstone and adds one copy of each to the sideboard. Once in your sideboard, you can conveniently find them with Karn, the Great Creator. This 3-mana Eldrazi might be great with the rest of the deck and can end the game quite fast with Kozilek's Command, but it can't end the game on the spot as the Painter duo can.

As this deck can create a lot of mana at once, you'll often have the 6 mana you need to play the two pieces of the combo and activate Grindstone all at once. Furthermore, Tezzeret, Cruel Captain is another way to find your 1-mana artifact, as is Urza's Saga and the aforementioned Karn. As a result, this deck can give up Forge. Particularly because one of the ways it wins games with Fleshraker is by using Mystic Forge to play multiple colorless spells, create tokens, and drain the opponent's life. And why do that when you can simply mill your opponent's entire deck all at once?

Forge was, almost undeniably, the strongest combo deck in the format until Vexing Bauble was banned. After that hit, it had to restructure and climb back to the top of the tiers from rock bottom. Tezzeret, Cruel Captain was perhaps just what it needed to start dominating the format again.

One of the reasons you should use the list above and not the standard version is that it has an advantage in the mirrors. It can combo all at once and is more consistent compared to the other lists because of the extra Key and Monolith. Ever since Tezz came along, most lists only use 5 Keys and 5 Monoliths.

Obviously, a Karn, the Great Creator will stop your combo, but this card is so strong in the mirror that it usually wins by itself regardless if you play Painter's Servant or Glaring Fleshraker. So, if you want to play one of the best decks in the format but attack through an unusual angle, this is the deck for you.

Once again, we have to point to the board: "you're playing a combo deck, mulligan after your combo!". This deck might play a direct combo (Grindstone + Painter's Servant), but we are not talking about that one. Instead, you should look for a combination of acceleration and engines (The One Ring, Tezzeret, Cruel Captain, or Karn, the Great Creator) that will eventually lead you to game states your opponent can't deal with. The Painter combo is just a shortcut to end games and make sure your opponent can't answer you as easily.

Let's see a few opening hands:

This hand seems decent, but it relies too much on the top of your deck because it doesn't do anything by itself until turn 3. It is slow for what this deck wants to do and quite vulnerable. You should mulligan it.

This hand does create a lot of value by drawing cards, but it is also slow. You could keep it against control decks because you can just bury their answers with your cards. Against all other decks, though, you can't keep it.

This hand is interesting. It can play the combo on turn 3 and has resources if your opponent answers it: on turn 1, Planar Nexus and Soul-Guide Lantern (and this is already a way to defend yourself against graveyard decks). On turn 2, with the Tower, you'll have 4 mana. You can use 3 for Tezzeret, who'll then tutor Grindstone for you. After you play the stone, you have Mox (metalcraft is active) and Painter. All of this will give Tezzeret three counters, and you can win on the way back. If your opponent answers you, on turn 3, you can draw with the Lantern and activate Tezz to find more things, like Mishra's Research Desk, for instance. Verdict: you should keep it.

This hand is pretty straightforward. It's exactly what this deck wants. It's not as absurd as playing Karn on turn 1, but it has acceleration and resources to put the game in your hands as early as turn 2. Verdict: you should keep it.

As this deck plays Karn, the Great Creator, most of its sideboard is cards Karn can get for you. Interestingly, the original list gave up basic combos with Karn, like Liquimetal Coating and Mycosynth Lattice, and prioritized the Painter combo.

It also includes Tormod's Crypt for graveyards and Perilous Snare and Disruptor Flute as generic answers. Furthermore, this deck has extra copies of Flute in case you want some after game 1. Paradox Engine is usually a threat and ends up taking Mycosynth Lattice's place as the card that ends the game on the spot.

As for cards that have nothing to do with Karn but are still in this sideboard, there is Leyline of the Void for graveyard matchups. This is a direct reflection of the online meta, where Oops is still relevant, and, as such, these enchantments are still the best answer for decks that don't play Force of Will.

If the goal was to beat Dimir Reanimator in particular, cards like Faerie Macabre, Surgical Extraction, or Grafdigger's Cage would be more efficient.

There is also a pair of Boseiju, Who Endures to answer lock pieces like Trinisphere, Chalice of the Void, or Blood Moon. Please note that this deck can create green mana with Planar Nexus, or in Moon's case, Lotus Petal or Mox Opal.

Finally, there is Eldrazi Confluence, which lets you answer a good amount of creatures all at once. You can use it to answer creatures with problematic abilities, like Archon of Emeria or Magus of the Moon, or smaller creatures that put pressure on your life points, like Dragon's Rage Channeler and Delver of Secrets.

Dimir Reanimator

The secret is overwhelming their defenses and eventually pushing The One Ring on the board. They can refill their resources, but they'll have to defend themselves first. Playing Urza's Saga into Soul-Guide Lantern and Karn, the Great Creator into Tormod's Crypt will reduce the time they have to put their reanimation plan in motion. Even a reanimated Atraxa, Grand Unifier can't end the game for sure. They'll just have another protective layer you'll have to go through.

Orcish Bowmasters can disrupt The One Ring, but you can play around them. For instance, you can use Kozilek's Command or activate it several times with Manifold Key when you have protection.

In:

Out:

Dimir Aggro

In a way, you could use the same plan as above to beat this matchup: overwhelm their defenses. They won't be able to cheat out a monster into play earlier, but they're faster.

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Out:

Mirror

The key card in this matchup is Karn, the Great Creator, as it basically disables your opponent's entire deck (and yours as well). You should mulligan hands that could have potential against other opponents to go after this planeswalker.

Post-side, if you don't start playing, you could use Disruptor Flute to disable cards on both sides. As long as this buys time for you and prevents Karn from entering play or The One Ring from getting out of control.

In:

Out:

Red Stompy

Blood Moon used to be a nightmare before they changed the rules for Sagas, but now it is much easier to deal with. Chalice of the Void can disrupt some of your opening hands, depending on the cost they name, but it doesn't do anything if your opponent names a cost that doesn't align to what you have (Chalice for 0 when you have several Keys, or Chalice for 1 if you have lots of Lotus Petals). Pithing Needle usually buys a lot of time when you name Broadside Bombardiers, as that's one of the ways they have to end games faster.

In:

Out:

Show and Tell

This matchup is like facing a Reanimator list, but it's easier: they don't have Thoughtseize or Orcish Bowmasters, and you have Pithing Needle in the main deck to lock down Sneak Attack. Even Show and Tell could be dangerous for them if you accelerate a card for free to try to play the combo once it's your turn again.

On the other side, as they already have Emrakul, the Aeons Torn in the main deck, you'll have to rely on Soul-Guide Lantern or Tormod's Crypt to finish the combo.

The idea is to suffocate them with the cards you'll have through The One Ring to try to push everything. Against this opponent, the Glaring Fleshraker version is better.

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Forge decks have proved to us they're the big winners of the new set, and Tezzeret is a war machine! So, a version that has an ounce of advantage in the mirror match is obviously quite interesting. I believe this version should start performing really well, really soon.

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!