Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas was always a card that seemed like it should be super powerful, but never really had a great home. We’ve seen glimpses of Tezzeret in decks like Modern Affinity, or in Ancient Tomb decks in Legacy, but it’s never really had the density of support to succeed in either of those formats. Zac Elsik is looking to change that with this wacky Modern brew:

Esper Tezzerator - Modern | Zac Elsik

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas

• Instants (8)
• 4 Fatal Push
• 4 Whir of Invention

• Sorceries (2)
• 2 Collective Brutality

• Artifacts (24)
• 1 Crucible of Worlds
• 1 Executioner's Capsule
• 1 Pithing Needle
• 1 Relic of Progenitus
• 2 Ensnaring Bridge
• 2 Sword of the Meek
• 2 Welding Jar
• 3 Mox Opal
• 3 Thopter Foundry
• 4 Mishra's Bauble
• 4 Pentad Prism

• Lands (22)
• 1 Swamp
• 3 Island
• 2 Flooded Strand
• 2 Ghost Quarter
• 2 River of Tears
• 2 Watery Grave
• 4 Darkslick Shores
• 4 Polluted Delta
• 1 Academy Ruins
• 1 Inventors' Fair

Buy This Deck

Zac’s solution involves Welding Jar, which can protect key artifacts like Ensnaring Bridge as well as turn on metalcraft for Mox Opal and power improvise. Mishra's Bauble performs a similar function while also providing some much-needed card selection. Finally, Pentad Prism is a fantastic inclusion, since it guarantees you the ability to cast Tezzeret on turn two, as well as providing up to 3 mana toward Whir of Invention.

This deck relies on utilizing [card]Ensnaring Bridge" href="/p/Magic+The+Gathering/Ensnaring Bridge" href="/p/Magic%3A+The+Gathering/%5Bcard%5DEnsnaring+Bridge">[card]Ensnaring Bridge">Ensnaring Bridge" href="/p/Magic%3A+The+Gathering/%5Bcard%5DEnsnaring+Bridge">[card]Ensnaring Bridge to lock down the game against all decks that care about creatures. You have many ways to find the Bridge, Welding Jars which can protect it, and Academy Ruins to make sure you’re never without one for long. In the background, you can create infinite chump blockers with the Thopter Foundry/Sword of the Meek combo. This serves to let you attrition out control decks or just protect Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas while you set up to drain your opponent out. In more attrition-oriented matchups, you can focus on setting up Crucible of Worlds plus Inventors' Fair or Ghost Quarter to grind out your opponents.

On top of all of this, you have powerful utility artifacts like Relic of Progenitus and Pithing Needle, which you can find at instant speed to ruin your opponent’s day. Unlike Trinket Mage, which doesn’t necessarily scale over the course of the game and gives your opponent’s windows to interact with the artifact you tutor up with discard and countermagic, Whir of Invention allows for all manner of devastating tricks.

This deck showcases a number of interesting and exciting combinations. It remains to be seen if there’s too much splash damage from decks like dredge and lantern control for this deck to find a home in the format, but can’t wait to see if this type of deck takes off.