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Tezzeret is one of the many Planeswalkers withinMagic: The Gathering. He is an artificer who isattuned to blue and black mana. Capable of bringing artifacts to life to serve him, Tezzeret has often been a villain within the story.
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While being a villain, Tezzeretoften found himself working under greater villains such as Nicol Bolas and the Phyrexians. Despite this, Tezzeret is someone who is always looking after himself above all else. He has a short temper, and this often leads to violent outcomes. Tezzeret is conniving and not above turning against his allies if it means increasing his odds of survival.
Early Life And Spark
Tezzeret was born in theEsper shard of Alarato two abusive parents. They cared so little for him, they did not even name him upon his birth. He wasgiven his name Tezzeret by his friends, and it means “improvised weapon.“As a young child, Tezzeret’s mother was killed and his father told him that those who were the strongest were the ones who got what they wanted from those weaker. He told Tezzeret that the mages of Esper were more powerful than anyone else, andTezzeret vowed tobecome an Esper magehimself.
As Tezzeret grew older, he began to steal etherium to sell to the highest bidder. Once he had acquired enough to flee his home, Tezzeret did so and left his father behind.
Tezzerettook up an apprenticeship under a skilled artificerbut mastered the skills much faster than expected. He sought to learn how to use magical artifacts instead of simple ones, something he mastered by the time he was 19.Tezzeret cut off one of his arms and replaced it with one made of etheriumand was granted the rank of Master by the guildmasters.
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Tezzeret sought to join theSeekers Of Carmot, a group of mages that believed carmot was needed to create etherium. However, Tezzeret was denied at every turn to join despite his best efforts. He broke into their vaults, but was discovered and severely beaten. They were almost successful in killing Tezzeret, but the trauma of the beatingcaused his planeswalker spark to igniteand allowed him to planeswalk away.
Agent Of Bolas
After his spark ignited, Tezzeret landed on theGrixis shard of Alara. He was attacked but managed to work his way to thedragon Planeswalker Nicol Bolas, who offered Tezzeret power in exchange for service. Tezzeret joined Nicol Bolas’Infinite Consortiumand replaced everyone who was working directly under Bolas with people who were serving Tezzeret instead, as he took full control of it.
Tezzeret recruited thePlaneswalker Jace Belerento join him to make use of his powers of telepathy, to make sure none of Bolas' servants worked their way back into the Infinite Consortium. Jace eventually managed to break free from Tezzeret, who began to hunt the mind mage for betraying him. He succeeded in capturing him, but upon a second escape, the two engaged in combat and Jace was victorious. Jace used his magic todestroy Tezzeret’s mind, allowing him to flee. Nicol Bolas took the incapacitated Tezzeret back to his home on theMeditation Plane.
Nicol Bolas assigned Tezzeret the task ofgoing to Mirrodin to see how New Phyrexia was affecting the Plane. He was given a special serum that made him immune to phyresis - the infection that caused an organism to turn into a Phyrexian. Tezzeret worked his way into the circle of thecorrupted golem Planeswalker Karn- the creator of Mirrodin. He worked to try and claim Karn’s throne for his own but ultimately failed. He temporarily assisted members of theMirran Resistanceby showing them the Surgical Bay but double-crossed them when they got close to Karn’s throne room.
Tezzeret returned to Nicol Bolas after the Phyrexian Praetors ascended andtransformed Mirrodin to New Phyrexia. He told him that they had not gained the power to travel across Planes, but would be a threat to the dragon in the future - leading to Nicol Bolas vowing to wipe out New Phyrexia once he ruled.
Later, Tezzeret was sent to thePlane of Kaladeshwhere he infiltrated theInventors' Fairas its Head Judge. Tezzeret awarded theelf Rashmifirst place for her teleportation device. He was made aware of the rebel faction of the Plane -the Renegades- and noticedPia Nalaarwas its leader. He attempted to kill her but was interrupted by the timely arrival of her daughterChandra Nalaar. Tezzeret didn’t waver until theGatewatch- a group of Planeswalkers who vowed to protect the Multiverse - arrived and forced Tezzeret to flee.
Due to the increasing rebellion on Kaladesh, Tezeret was given emergency powers to hold them back. The scientists of the Inventor’s Fair were forced to work under him, with failure punishable by death. He took great interest in Rashmi, who converted her device into thePlanar Bridge, which allowed for non-Planeswalker travel through the Multiverse. Rashmi was able to escape before Tezzeret could harm her, and he began to build up a defense against the Renegades.
At the Planar Bridge,the Planeswalker Lilianaarrivedand fought Tezzeret. Using theChain Veil, Liliana was able to overpower Tezzeret’s mind and force him to tell her the location of Bolas. The Gatewatch was successful in destroying the Planar Bridge, but Tezzeret was able to get the core and escape with it - and merge it with his body.
During theWar Of The Spark, Tezzeret was the key totransporting Nicol Bolas' army of eternals from Amonkhet to Ravnica. A group of Planeswalkers traveled to Amonkhet to attack Tezzeret, succeeding indisabling the Planar Bridgethrough an explosion in Tezzeret’s chest. Tezzeret was able to heal the hole but was thankful for the act as he wanted Bolas to fall so he didn’t need to work under him anymore. He planeswalked away before they could attack him again. The dragon Niv-Mizzet assigned thePlaneswalker Ral Zarekto assassinate him for working with Bolas but failed in this task.
Working With New Phyrexia
Once Bolas was defeated, Tezzeretreturned to New Phyrexiatostrike a deal with the leader of the Plane - the Phyrexian Praetor Elesh Norn. In exchange for helping her, Elesh Norn would gift him a body of indestructible darksteel. This was something Tezzeret needed as the Planar Bridge inside him was slowly killing him. He opened up the Planar Bridge for thePraetor Vorinclex to send him to Kaldheimbut was hands-off, outside of transportation.
Tezzeret was much more active when he took thePraetor Jin-Gitaxias to the Plane of Kamigawa.In the past, Tezzeret had been to Kamigawa before where he set fire to a Nezumi village and attempted to steal theReality Chip. However, due to its unstable nature, the Reality Chip only managed to ignite the spark ofthe Wanderer- the Emperor of Kamigawa.
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On the trip with Jin-Gitaxias, he helped the Praetor research the kami of the Plane to further knowledge of spirits. He fought with thePlaneswalkers Kaito, Tamiyo, and the Wandererand was bested and captured by them. However, Tezzeret was able to escape thanks to the many artificial beings on the Planes andkidnapped Tamiyo in the process. He took her to Jin-Gitaxias, where hesuccessfully compleated Tamiyoand turned her into a Phyrexian - something that was previously thought impossible.
Despite working with Elesh Norn and her conquest,Tezzeret assisted Urabrask by taking him to New Capennato study the magical substanceHalo. Urabrask was planning on leading a rebellion against Elesh Norn, and Tezzeret sought to play all sides to ensure he would come out on the winning team. He alsohired thePlaneswalker assassin Kayato kill Vorinclex on Kaldheimandinformed Jace about Koth and his resistance on New Phyrexiato further spread his contingency plans.
After the Phyrexians were successful in creating theRealmbreaker- which would allow them to invade the Planes of the Multiverse - Elesh Norn followed through with her end of the bargain. Tezzeret was sent to the Surgical Bay so that Jin-Gitaxias could perform the surgery to give Tezzeret his new body. The procedure was successful, but Jin-Gitaxias trapped Tezzeret and told him the last step was exposure toGlistening Oil- which induced phyresis. Tezzeret was able to escape and fled to Esper.
Upon his arrival, he saw that the Phyrexian invasion had begun. He warned one of the locals to tell the Bant knightRafiqthat the angels would be the strongest against the Phyrexians. Tezzeret briefly returned to Kamigawa to find his safehouse but was attacked byTamiyo’s adopted son Nashi. However, he came out on top. He left Nashi alive and told him while Tamiyo was alive, that he’d wished she was dead after seeing what had become of her.
Tezzeret escaped to an unnamed Plane that the Phyrexians had not yet infiltrated. It was the home to the base of operations for the leader of the Infinite Consortium. Jace had erased its knowledge from Tezzeret’s mind previously, but he managed to find it again. He decided to stay there until the war with Phyrexia had blown over, striking the winning team while they were still weakened.
