Hey everyone, this is a deck I've been brewing on and off for a little while now. I always wanted to jam Show and Tell with Academy Rector to put in Hive mind and Omniscience. After many failed attempts I decided to move on, OR SO I THOUGHT.
Queue Nyx Fit, and along with it a great idea for the top end of enchantments; Thus, RectorStill was born from the ashes.
//Creatures
4 Academy Rector
//Instants
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
2 Swords to Plowshares
//Sorceries
4 Ponder
4 Cabal Therapy
2 Spell Pierce
1 Replenish
//Planeswalkers
2 Jace, The Mind Sculptor
//Enchantments
4 Standstill
2 Porphyry Nodes
1 Curse of Death's Hold
1 Cruel Reality
1 Overwhelming Splendor
1 Omniscience
1 Form of the Dragon
//Lands
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strands
2 Tundra
2 Scrubland
3 Island
2 Plains
1 Swamp
//Sideboard
2 Flusterstorm
2 Massacre
2 Seal of Cleansing
2 Leyline of the Void
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Gilded Drake
2x Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 In the Eye of Chaos
Card Choices and Deck goals:
The name of the game with this deck is to slow the early turns down for our opponents by playing Standstill and or using our removal/counter/discard suite. If we can invalidate our opponents answers and sculpt our hand by turn for to cast Academy Rector then we can usually shore up a win.
Form of the Dragon has been my go to closer in a lot of the games I have played.
Some games can be closed out by playing as Psuedo-Standstill
A lot of the match-ups we play as a control deck, so we prioritize blue mana and then white mana against wasteland decks (Also depends a little on our draws).
To Be Continued.
Some notes:
The Swamp or one of the Scrublands should probably be an Underground Sea, though I don't currently own one and have yet to run into any issues so far as the deck is mainly a U/W deck. It surprisingly has a lot of game against Control and Delver decks as it grinds very well with the threat of a combo at any point. It struggles against Storm specifically, I haven't had any luck but feel like I should mix around with a lot of the sideboard cards. My main areas for improving the sideboard to deal with Storm would be to take out Gilded Drake and Massacre and add in Leyline of Sanctity and Engineered Plague; possibly Mindbreak Trap.
I also am on the fence about Replenish being in the 75. It's nice to draw against control and combo to put back Standstill or another early enchantment to delay the game. I just feel the slot could be used as a main deck Leyline of Sanctity or something more relevant.
Tournament Report 12/21/17 (Weekly LGS)
2-2
Match 1: Eldrazi Stompy 1-2
Game 1 I had a turn four rector with a therapy in the bin, searched for Form and won the game quickly after that.
Game 2 I lost to a quick Endless One, Reality Smasher and Thought-Knot Seer
Needed a land in game 3 and instead top decked a Jace. Early on I had a hand with Therapy, Brainstorm, Force, Rector, Cabal, Land, Land. I decided to play Therapy and named TKS, it revealed a bunch of lands including a Cavern and Endless one/Reality Smasher. The cavern quickly nullified my Force and then I failed to draw the fourth land in time.
I boarded out a Standstill and Replenish to bring in the two Seal of Cleansing to deal with Chalice
Match 2: Grixis Control 2-0
Out valued and won with the combo around turn 4-6 each game.
Porphyry Nodes dealt with DRS handily in both games and he was forced to play into Standstill multiple times. Rector and Form won me both games while using the extra therapies to strip away lightning bolts.
I sided out 3 forces, Replenish, and one rector. I boarded in 2 Leyline of the void, 2 Fluster Storm, 1 In the Eye of Chaos
Match 3: ANT 0-2
Rough matchup, got tendril'd and emptied both games. My opponent was new to storm, and pretended to not know the difference between ANT and TES (which I did an awful job of attempting to explain the difference). He was playing pretty slow, though it's FNM so I'll almost never call someone out; especially when they're learning the ropes of a new deck. He made a mistake that almost won me the game, but I didn't draw the answer soon enough.
I sided out 2 Swords, 2 Nodes, 1 Standstill, 1 Replenish, and 1 Jace. I boarded in 2 Leyline, 2 Surgical, 1 In The Eye of Chaos, 2 Flusterstorm and 2 Eidolon of Rhetoric
Match 4: Sneak and Show 2-0
Game one I double forced his early Show and Tell and proceeded to rector/therapy in a Cruel Reality for the win.
We both showed in Omniscience game 2, but my cantrips led to a dead end and he won on his turn.
Game 3 I win off Mishra's factory and Overwhelming Splendor just before time. We drew most of our decks and I was hard casting Cruel Reality at that point. I almost got him with a Gilded Drake earlier in the game but he showed in an Omniscience which was a blank with no creatures.
I sided out Replenish (Which would have helped in game 3 surprisingly), 1 Rector, 1 Standstill, 1 Jace. I boarded in 2 Gilded Drake and 2 Flusterstorm (Seal of Cleansing might have been good to deal with Omni, but I didn't bring them in)
I will add in the details and sideboard info tomorrow, but I need some sleep before work
Last edited by Sg Schultz; 12-22-2017 at 11:28 PM.
This looks really fun and interesting!!
Have you considered other Academy Rector sac/kill outlets, like Phyrexian Tower, Collective Brutality, or Innocent Blood? Porphyry Nodes is an interesting choice but I'm worried it's too slow at its jobs (a - killing opponent's creatures, b - killing Academy Rector) to be worth a slot in the main. Do you ever plan to Rector for one? If so, then leaving 1 in seems fine, but otherwise (on paper) I'm looking toward Innocent Blood.
The biggest problem I've had with Academy Rector in other decks is Deathrite Shaman eating it out of the yard before its trigger resolves. Seems to me like dealing with Deathrite is going to be a primary concern not only for that reason, but also because it can kill us under a Standstill.
If you are finding a single huge enchantment strong enough to win off of, I wonder if Entomb + Replenish is worth considering in addition to (or instead of?) Rector?
This made me comment - oh how I understand this oneOriginally Posted by Sg Schultz
Keep up with the deck and good luck
Thanks man!
I have, mainly Diabolic Intent. The issue is we really only have Rector to sac (Sometimes we have Factory, but that's not ideal). Nyx Fit has nine-ten creatures to sac to all of their outlets and so I believe they have fewer feel bad moments on that front.
Porphyry Nodes does a surprisingly good job of dealing with DRS and Young Peezy. Against a lot of fair decks it really cripples board development in the early turns. Standstill and Nodes are this decks equivalent to Veteran Explorer, in the sense that I'm trying to get the necessary lands into play to cast my Rector. Innocent Blood seems good, but it would require a deeper splash into Black, as the list right now runs pretty heavy into U/W with a minimal black splash. With that said I think it could easily be adjusted with an Underground Sea or two.
I agree, though in the games I've played Swords and Nodes have done a good job of dealing with DRS. I've even forced a DRS after therapying for an opposing Force/Daze. I see Standstill as a draw spell in this deck, especially against decks running DRS. Most players will almost immediately play into an onboard Standstill, and if they don't I feel that we can sculpt a protected combo hand pretty well.
That could be a nice back up plan, but requiring two cards that can be countered seems trickier to pull off. With Rector and Therapy, we can hold priority if the Rector resolves and go off from there. I can imagine a scenario where playing an Entomb turn on, grabbing a Cruel Reality or Form of the Dragon, and then turn four replenishing it onto the battlefield could be pretty back breaking. I guess either variant will struggle against grave hate, but it would be cool to weigh the pro's and con's of the two approaches.
Supreme Verdict could be a nice addition : on colour, uncouterable, kills rector and good if you're in a bad spot (reset-button).
I was thinking either Supreme Verdict, Detention Sphere, or Leyline of Sanctity in the Replenish slot. Then in the side having 2 Leyline of Sanctity, 1 Verdixt/Sphere, and 1 Engineered Plague
FNM Report, 1-2-1, TLDR: Leyline of Sanctity should definitely be in the 75 and 22 lands might be too much.
It's cold in New England so the brews were flowing and the spice cabinet was swung completely open at FNM tonight.
Round 1: Luis on Burn 0-2
He had me dead on turn three and four both games with double Goblin Guide and or double Eidolon. Rough beats, Leyline would have been the bees knees since I had cards to deal with his creatures if we went long.
My sideboard didn't matter much, I brought out some FoW and Replenish; I believe I brought in In the Eye of Chaos and Flusterstorm.
Round 2: Ben on Pox 0-2
Last time I played him he was on Maverick so I was expected some type of non-blue deck and boy oh boy was I right. Turn one I played a Tundra and held up a swords to plowshares hoping to hit an early DRS. He goes swamp, Ritual, Lili the last hope and I think to myself "Is this mono-B reanimator or some weird Vampire Knighthawk type brew". On my turn I play a Scrubland and name DRS with Cabal Therapy. He reveals Hymn, Sinkhole, Wasteland, Small Pox, Swamp. I believe I laughed when I saw that and said "Yup, those are cards." The game played out like one would think.
Game two I sideboard in Surgical and Flusterstorm and side out 1 Jace, Swords and 1 Standstill. I cabal'd and stripped a Hymn and then surgical'd it out of the game, however he still had double sinkhole with wasteland backup. It was a slow death from the zombie hoard as Liliana.dek beat me to a pulp.
Round 3: David on the craziest Daretti brew I've seen 1-1-1
Before we even talk about this matchup, his deck was BR with discard, bitterblossom, Vampiric Rites, LiquiMetal Coating and Ingenious Iconoclast and then a bunch of artifact destruction and ways to steal artifacts.
Game one was a beating with Chandra and bitterblossom, my payoff card Form of the Dragon did nothing with faeries in the air and the Chandra about to Ult; so instead I ran out an Omniscience and played a curse of death's hold. Chandra continued on to feast on my soul.
Game two was a quick win with Omniscience, Form of the Dragon, and Cruel Reality. I boarded out Force of Will and Form, boarded in Fluster and Surgical.
Game three was a slow and steady war of attrition. It got to a point where I had Curse of Death's Hold to nullify his Bitterblossom, however he had the ability to blow up my lands with Daretti and Liquimetal coating. We went to turns both of us durdled and it could have gone to either of us if we had a little more time; but such is life.
Round 4: Tom on Mill 2-0
He's roommates with David and so he watched our match and knew my deck. He wanted it to be somewhat fair in the name of sports so he told me he was on mill. Turn one I play a Scrubland and play a Cabal naming Mind Funeral as I had no idea what I should be naming. I could not have been further off. This game continued to play out and eventually he got me down to 11 cards left in Deck with the spiciest of cards Haunting Echoes; however at this point I had assembled the nuts and had Omni, Form, Curse, Splendor and a Jace. My Jace Ult outpaces his mill plan and I pull out the win from the brink of destruction.
Game two I debated what I should bring in, originally I was going to board in Surgical and Fluster and bring out a few cards. After a little I look at Tom and go, "You know what, I have an Idea" and I put my whole sideboard into my deck and present that after shuffling. He asked if that was legal, and I said unfortunately yes. My starting hand was Leyline, Gilded Drake, Island, Overwhelming, Brainstorm, Academy Rector, and something. I went on to draw all of my land drops and even stole his game winning combo creature Duskmantle Guildmage and Mindcrank with Gilded Drake on accident. The game goes long and Replenish brings in almost all of my enchantments (StandStill, 2 Porphyry, Cruel Reality, Form, Curse, Eidolon, Leyline, In the Eye). The game was quickly over from there.
My thought from the night are potentially going down to 20 lands and definitely picking up an Underground Sea. Even though Replenish was sweet, I still believe 3 Leyline of Sanctity in the 75 will be sweet. Massacre is useless, however I've yet to really playing D&T. I think they should Verdicts and Engineered as I have stated previously. More sac outlets might be nice, however that hasn't been too bad of an issue. Even against Tiered decks I've been able to grind for a Cabal.
Played in a casual tournament with friends. Went 1-1 and decided to sling some modern Etron as our payout was top heavy. I proxied up an Underground Sea and put it in the place of one of the Scrublands and it felt much better. One of my Islands I decided to make into a Leyline of Sanctity which felt awesome mainboard against Storm. I also went with 2 Leyline of Sanctity, 1 Supreme Verdict and 1 Detention Sphere.
Round 1: Kayla on Grixis Delver 1-2
Historically I haven't had too much of an issue with this matchup. Game three could have been closer, I decided to payoff with a Form of the Dragon instead of a Cruel Reality as she only had one Delver and DRS. However, she proceeded to play a second Delver out and I had to spend my turns burning down the two. She eventually drew a lightning bolt and the DRS got there. Looking back I should have gone with Cruel Reality as I would have stayed at 16 life, but I like to gamble away my wins.
I'm not too sure about my sideboard plan. I've been taking out Force's and one or two other cards and then boarding in In the Eye, Fluster, and Detention Sphere. I feel I need to play as a combo deck and keep in more forces; maybe go down on the Replenish plan and up on the Sanctities.
Round 2: Chris on ANT 2-0
The new sideboard plan feels awesome! Leyline of Sanctity with Cabal and my combo is back breaking. I also can easily deal with goblins, so I'm happy with the direction that is taking. It felt awesome to Rector 1 into Sanctity and then Rector 2 into Cruel Reality to seal the game up all in one turn.
Early Bonus Round: Chris again on Turbo Depths 2-0
Game one I'm expecting the worst but cabal and counters help me get there turn four with Cruel Reality. Game two is the same story and I rip some important cards and then land a Jace to deal with his creatures.
We never played a sideboard game, but I don't think I'd board in and out too much.
Besides that I've been mulling over some other easy sac outlets. I'm kind of thinking Phyrexian Tower in place of one of the Factories. Another cool idea would be diabolic intent like Nyx Fit or even something like Dance of the Dead/Shallow Grave. Shallow grave would be a hilarious way to answer a DRS, but it might be too cute.
I also really like the new card for RIX that's the artifact version of Ground Seal. That could help deal with some DRS issues which is always helpful. Maybe if Wizards could unban Flash and ban Protean Hulk, this Esper Academy Rector deck would be insane. In that scenario I would completely drop the Standstill and become a more combo focused deck (No show and tell non-sense, but it might be a cool backup plan). So with all this said I think there are a lot of ways this deck can go.
I’ve been testing out different Bomberman/UWR combo/TES lately, however some changes for this deck came to mind.
-2 Porphery Nodes +2 Innocent Blood
-1 Replenish +1 Leyline of Sancitity
-1 Factory +1 Tabernacle (I know, crazy)
-1 Plains/Island +1 Underground Sea
Sideboard:
-2 Massacre +2 Silent Gravestone
-2 Gilded Drake +2 Leyline of Sanctity
-2 Leyline of the Void +1 Flusterstorm +1 Surgical
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