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Pojo's Magic The Gathering Card of the Day
Daily Since November 2001!


Image from Wizards.com

Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
Mirrodin Besieged

Reviewed Jan. 25, 2011

Constructed: 4.40
Casual: 4.00
Limited: 4.50
Multiplayer: 4.00

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst.  3 ... average.  
5 is the highest rating

Click here to see all of our 
Card of the Day Reviews 

BMoor

Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas

Jace Beleren needs to spend a counter to draw you one card. Tezzeret 2.0's +1 ability basically lets you draw your choice of cards. Sure, there's the possibility that you won't have an artifact in your top five, but if you're running either Tezzeret, you should have enough artifacts that the +1 will rarely whiff. We're only on the first of Tezz's abilities and already we've obsoleted Jace Beleren... of course Jace has already obsoleted his original self.

For -1, Tezz 2.0 can turn any artifact into a 5/5 creature... permanently. Yeah, the Prophetic Prism you used to help cast him? Now it's a 5/5, and will remain thus for the rest of its time on the table. Your Darksteel Axe? The one you put Phylactery Lich's counter on? Well, it can't equip the Lich anymore, because now it's an indestructible 5/5 in its own right. That Spellbomb? Maybe you want to wait to pop it.

And Tezz 2.0's ultimate is a life drain ability for X, where X is the number of artifacts you control. That's pretty good, considering his +1 helps you draw more artifacts. It'd be absolutely amazing in a format where Mycosynth Lattice is legal. And let me point out, that Tezzeret's converted mana cost is 4, his starting loyalty is 3, and his ultimate is -4... same as Garruk's. You cast Tezzeret, use his +1 once, and the very next turn you can go off. And he's blue and black-- colors that work well with proliferate! Heck, you could, with sufficient proliferation, hit Tezz's ultimate the turn you cast him. Do I smell a blue/black Phyrexian-inspired control deck taking shape?

Constructed- 4
Casual- 4.5
Limited- 4.5
Multiplayer- 4

David Fanany

Player since 1995

Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
 
I'm a little frightened at the thought of what this planeswalker could achieve. Tezzeret's earlier incarnation was already a godsend for artifact-based decks, and this new card's -1 and -4 abilities are downright aggressive. And while it's not as good as finding Time Vault, it enables these decks' Plan B much more easily by turning artifact lands and such into dragon-sized threats. The genius of Tezzeret's design is that you can only control one version of him at a time, which sets up a tension in deck design, as sometimes the Seeker's ability to search for any artifact and untap mana artifacts will be more useful and sometimes this version's abilities will be more useful. Either way, you will be seeing much, much more of this card in constructed Magic.
 
Constructed: 4/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer: 4/5

Paul

Magic The Gathering Card of The Day: Tezzeret Agent of Bolas
 
Welcome back readers today's card of the day is the blue black incarnation of Tezzeret, Tezzeret Agent of Bolas. For four mana you get a starting loyalty of 3 and an ultimate that takes only 4 to activate. Being able to nab an artifact card from the top five cards of your deck to assist you in getting more artifacts. The second ability mimics the ability of the first Tezzeret making an artifact a 5/5 beater. The ultimate hoses an opponent for the artifacts you have and could be a decent finishing ability. In standard U/B control decks are hands down the most powerful and if they edit their deck to pack enough artifacts they can play this guy. Packing cards like Everflowing Chalice, Contagion Clasp, Ratchet Bomb, and Lux cannon is not a hard thing to achieve and I think this planeswalker will see a lot of play.
 
In extended this card is good once again for U/B control or decks heavily utilzing artifacts I dont think it will see as much play as it would in standard but still a powerful card. In casual and multiplayer planeswalkers draw a lot of heat and this one is not powerful enough to warrant protecting maybe in a dedicated artifact decks, the most powerful ability is getting the 5/5 creature. In limited if you draft a high enough number of artifacts and are going blue black this is a great pick, its also a chase mythic so take that as you will. Overall a powerful new blue and black planeswalker.
 
Constructed: 4.5
Casual: 3.5
Limited: 4.0
Multiplayer: 3.0

Michael "Maikeruu" Pierno

Today's card of the day is Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas which is a four mana Planeswalker with three abilities.  The first is a +1 that allows you to add an artifact card from the top five cards in your library to your hand.  This isn't bad and helps set up the ultimate, but isn't as impressive as some of the other Planeswalkers.  The second ability can turn any artifact into a 5/5 creature which has quite a bit of potential with the various effects available on different cards.  The ultimate is the real story though as it can be used the turn he comes into play with Proliferate and with the right number of low cost artifacts can make a dramatic impact on the game.  Creatures that generate swarms of tokens like Thopter Assembly and this can win the game if played correctly. 
Overall this needs a well designed deck built around it, but it has potential and may make a run at some tournaments.
 
For Limited almost any Planeswalker is worth a first pick and this is not an exception as the format is very heavily artifact based.  Being able to turn any of your support cards into a 5/5 is a huge benefit and probably the most likely ability to get used.  In Sealed the Blue and Black pools may determine whether or not this can be played, but the stability it can offer with any of the abilities is worth the effort.
 
Constructed: 4.0
Casual: 4.0
Limited: 4.5
Multiplayer: 4.0

John
Shultis
Phoenix
Gaming

Today’s Card of the Day is Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas. Tezzeret has been influenced by new colors of mana in his service to the elder dragon. That’s right, he is now two colors!. The new and very improved in my opinion Tezzeret is now black and blue. For four mana, Tezzeret makes his come back. Two generic, one balck, and one blue. Tezzeret enters okay with three loyalty counters on him. Am I the only one who finds it ironic that Tezzeret would enter with loyalty counters?

Tezzerets abilities are very similar, yet completely different from his former self. His abilities are still about affecting artifacts, since that is what an artificer does. His first ability is a plus one, look at the top five cards of your library, you may reveal an artifact card from among them and put it into your hand, put the rest on the bottom in any order. His second ability is a minus one, and turns any artifact into a 5/5 artifact creature. This ability I should not does not end at end of turn. A nice way to turn you zero cost artifacts into monstrous problems. His last ability specifically signals his new alliance with black mana. His last ability is minus four, meaning the second turn he is out you can pop his final, and says target player loses X life and you gain X life where X is twice the number of artifacts you control. How is that for a final ability?

Obviously he is going to be a very sought after card for standard play. The artifact heavy setting means his final could be devastating in a decent Metalcraft deck. But, seeing how he is black and blue, he may not benefit much from the Metalcraft setting, seeing white and red were the heaviest in Metalcraft. Perhaps we will more see him being exploited in a black/blue control/proliferate deck. As if black/blue control needed any more weapons.
However, like the Hellkite Igniter, I think his truest potential is going to shine in vintage, for the same reason Hellkite Igniter could be overpowered, and that is Mycosynth Lattice. Imagine EVERYTHING you own is an artifact, and then pop off Tezzeret’s final. How much potential damage and life gain is on the stack there?

Casual: 5/5
Multiplayer: 4/5
Constructed: 5/5
Limited: 5/5


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