Omniscient Academy - Let's make it a real deck!

[MaximumC]

Omniscience. What’s it doing for you lately? At the moment, it’s just stinking up Show and Tell lists, existing as an unnecessary, un-hard-castable intermediary between your Show and Tell and Emrakul. What if there were a way to pop a singleton copy of Omniscience in your deck that enabled instant-win two card combos with playable cards? Wouldn’t that be hella better?

The answer to all of your problems is Academy Rector. Consider the following:

1) Cast Academy Rector.
2) Cast Altar of Bone OR Diabolic Intent, sacrificing Rector.
3) Rector’s ability on the stack, resolve to fetch Omniscience.
4) Resolve the tutor to get Sparkcaster.
5) Cast Sparkcaster 20 times, bouncing itself to win.

OR

1) Cast Knight of the Reliquary.
2) Next turn, cast Academy Rector.
3) Tap Knight, sacrifice a plains to grab Phyrexian Tower // High Market // Diamond Valley.
4) Sac Rector to your land; fetch Omniscience.
5) Cast Eldrami’s Call to find Emrakul, cast and win on your free turn.

OR

1) Cast Academy Rector.
2) Opponent Shows and Tells you about Progentius / Emrakul !
3) Cast Tariff, killing the rector and the enemy’s fattie.
4) Rector’s ability on the stack, resolve to fetch Omniscience.
5) Cast Eldrami’s Call to find Sawtooth Loon, Do The Loon many times until you find a Brainfreeze, win.

What I find so exciting about Rector -> Omniscience is that it enables two-card, instant wins for 6 mana that can be spread out over two turns. That compares reasonably well to other combos that already see play, like Leyline-Helm, Painter-Stone, or even Sneak Attack + fattie. While the combo is vulnerable to countermagic, it is relatively immune from creature removal (Swords to Plowshares being the big problem) because killing Rector merely accelerates you. Rector also becomes a very scary wall for aggro players once he’s on the board, even if you’re not comboing out. Finally, you can mix up your win condition depending on what you’re likely to face. Anti-storm hate? Emrakul them over two turns. Ensnaring Bridge? Blast em with Sparkcaster. Runed Halo (or practically any other offensive permanent) Loon yourself up removal, then go Loony for the win.

Here’s my thought process on this deck so far. First, you want to be in White for Academy Rector. This color also gives you access to Tariff, a criminally under-used white version of Innocent Blood, which is a way to sac your Rector while also nut punching decks that cheat large monsters into play.

Next, I suspect you very much want to be in green. This gives you access to another criminally underused card, Eldarmi’s Call, and it’s mentally-challenged brother, Altar of Bone. Call gets you Rector if you need him, and wins once Omniscience resolves. The hilarious thing here is that, unless you have to play around hate, Altar of Bone + Academy Rector is a two-card win condition. Worldly Tutor costs less mana, but since it’s topdeck only, it’s slower; I do not know if that is a fair trade. But wait, there’s more! Once you are in green and white it’s not a hard sell to include Knight of the Reliquary. With Knight, you can run a singleton Phyrexian Tower // High Market // Diamond Valley for the awesomesauce curve of KotR into Rector into win.

From there, I can see arguments for blue, black, or red as the third color.

If you go Blue, then you get countermagic to protect your win and superior card draw. Your win condition here might be Sawtooth Loon, which has the advantage of letting you access your whole deck to deal with any amount of anything (at sorcery speed) once you are trying to win. “But wait, doesn’t Loon loot in equal amounts?” Yes, it does, but since all your spells are free, as long as you have one other card in your hand you can Loon into any card draw spell you’re playing anyway - Brainstorm, Ponder, etc - and that puts you up a few cards. So if you need two or more pieces of removal? Easy peasy. Chain of Vapor your Runed Halo aaaaand Extract your Gaea’s Blessing before I Brain Freeze you, thankyouverymuch.

Red gives you more really great ways to kill your own Rector and deal with creature decks like Merfolk, Elves, Maverick and Delver: Forked Bolt, Pyroclasm, Earthquake (Rolling or otherwise) etc. Your win condition here might be Sparkcaster, who kills (like Loon) without an attack step, but doesn’t let you find removal or disruption to finish the job.

Even though you’d think Black would be a strong contender, what with Innocent Blood, Cabal Therapy, and suchlike, I think it’s the weakest of the options. I messed around with a WB build in Vintage for awhile, and even there, where you have more tutors, the deck had very little game until it was comboing out. Yea, Black gives you more copies of Altar of Bone in Diabolic Intent.... but as cute as it is, I don’t think you want more than two copies of that card anyway. It’s great when you combo and crappy otherwise. In Legacy especially, white and green give you the best tutors for this particular job already.

With that in mind, here are the two possible builds I’m messing with for the next two weeks. I lean towards Naya, if only because I feel like the aggro plan is easier to fall back on than a control plan. I’d love comments or suggestions from people who are doing something similar!

Omniscient Academy - Naya
(Goal : Compete with ramp and aggro decks by burning out their mana dorks / early drops and accelerate into your midrange threats or combo. Borrow a page for Nic Fit and run Explorer to make your early board wipes lopsided. Run maindeck hate for your biggest problems, faster combo decks, in the form of edict and yard hate. Use sideboard to go more aggressive, perhaps instead of combo, against decks with too many counterspells to allow combo.)


Creatures (21)
4 Veteran Explorer
3 Quasali Pridemage
3 Scavenging Ooze
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Academy Rector

Tutor Suite (6)
4 Eldrami’s Call
2 Altar of Bone

Equipment (1)
1 Sword of Fire and Ice (Why Sofi? In addition to being awesome, it kills Rector in a pinch.)

Removal (7)
4 Pyroclasm
3 Tariff

Win Conditions (2)
1 Omniscience
1 Sparkcaster

Lands’n’Mana (23)
1 Mox Diamond (uncertain about this; could be another Sav.)
3 Windswept Heath
3 Arid Mesa
2 Savanna
1 Tiaga
1 Plateau
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Phyrexian Tower (making 2 more mana off of your Veteran Explorer is sexier than gaining life)
2 Maze of Ith
2 Plains
3 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Bojuka Bog

Sideboard:
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn (alt win con)
3 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Batterskull
2 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Qusali Pridemage
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Tariff
2 Grafdigger’s Cage


Omniscient Academy - Bant
(Goal : Use traditional blue filtering to find your combo pieces when you want to find them, protecting the combo with permission. Snapcaster allows smaller tutor and rector counts because you can tutor for rector, then regrow the tutor to win with. Loon is probably a superior win condition because it can go grab the removal you need to finish the match, but then it does also require another slot to finish the game.)


Creatures (16)
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Quasali Pridemage
2 Snapcaster Mage
4 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Academy Rector

Tutor /Draw Suite (7)
2 Eldrami’s Call
1 Altar of Bone
4 Brainstorm

Permission (8)
4 Force of Will
2 Daze
2 Spell Pierce

Removal (4)
2 Tariff
1 Wrath of God
1 Echoing Truth

Win Conditions (3)
1 Omniscience
1 Sawtooth Loon
1 Brainfreeze

Lands’n’Mana (23)
3 Windswept Heath
3 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
2 Savanna
2 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Maze of Ith
2 Plains
2 Forest
1 Island
1 Bojuka Bog

Sideboard:
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn (alt win con)
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Qusali Pridemage
2 Wrath of God
2 Tariff
3 Grafdigger’s Cage (less maindeck grave hate = more in yard)
3 Faerie Macabre


That’s my current thinking, anyway. Thoughts and comments appreciated!

[UnsungHero]

Blue is a must because it allows you to but Omniscience back into the deck with brainstorm in case you would draw it.

[alderon666]

I have a UBW shell.

4x Brainstorm
4x Ponder
4x Show and Tell

4x Force of Will
4x Cabal Therapy
2-3x Dark Intent

3x Augur of Bolas
4x Emrakul, the Aeon's Torn
4x Academy Rector
1-2x Omniscience

[theillest]

Why is inserting this combo into a midrange deck better than focusing solely on powering out the combo?

[slave]

Yeah I would have thought the same thing.
Black has some pretty good cards to achieve putting out Rector on the first turn, then Diabolic Intent 2nd turn and do whatever form there.
In a WB deck build, cards like Diabolic Intent, Enlightened Tutor etc. and plenty of field control cards like Infest/Mutilate etc. Iw ouldn't think a turn 3 Omni would be too hard.

[Telperion]

Why is inserting this combo into a midrange deck better than focusing solely on powering out the combo?

Cavern of souls into rector seems worth considering. Second, dedicated combo decks fail to have a backup plan and are sometimes "clunkier" for it.

[Versatilebeats]

Here is my version of the deck I'm working on.

4 thoughtseize
4 cabal therapy
4 inquisition of kozilek
4 innocent blood
4 academy rector
4 brainstorm
4 ponder
2 thirst for knowledge
1 omniscience
2 dream halls
1 sanguine bond
1 illusions of grandeur
4 death wish
Sb
4 emerakul
4 show and tell
1 conflux
2 omniscience
1 illusions of grandeur
1 sanguine bond
1 griselbrand

So here you are filled with disruption in the form of discard, you could also go counters and fow. Control until rector hits then flashback therapy or cast innocent blood get omniscience death wish for emerakul or conflux cast and win. Conflux package can be anything I prefer the illusions/bond combo. Sb is your wish board. Conflux and emerakul. The rest makes you transform into traditional snt. Although I've never done it in fact I haven't played too many game 2s with the deck as most quit after losing 1.
[/LIST]

[Razorwynd]

I started working on a deck built around this idea, thought I never went very far with it.

It involved an intuition package of:
1) Academy Rector
2) Unburial Rites
3) Cabal Therapy

Regardless of what card you get, you have access to omniscience the following turn for either 4-5 mana.

I know it costs a total of 7-8 mana but it is over the course of two turns and is a pseudo-one-card combo (intuition) to get omniscience into play.

Just thought I would plant the seed here incase anyone wanted to try and water it to bring it to life.

[Versatilebeats]

I tested with the intuition unburial rites package after your postand I'm definitely putting it in the deck.

-2 thirst for knowledge
-1 dream halls
-1 ponder
+3 intuition
+1 unburial rites

Now the deck effectively plays 7 rectors 7 therapies and 4 rites. Nice addition thanks

[MaximumC]

The White-Black version is not consistent enough and has no backup plan, in my experience. You play a very aggressive discard-control deck most of the time, meaning Goblins, Merfolk, and Maverick overwhelm you early on. The combo also has lots of dead pieces; after you Rector for Omniscience and get a tutor, you need to assemble both Illusions and Sanguine Bond to win. If you wanted to run the black version, I would maindeck Emrakul and ditch the Illusions-Bond combo entirely. If you must run a combo like this, I think you need a one-of Loon or Petals of Insight so that you can win immediately after tutoring by fetching the rest of the pieces.

I have been refining the Naya version I made, because I like a lot of what it does. My gauntlet involves Elves, Dragon Stompy, Doomsday Combo, Show and Tell, Reanimator, Goblins, and Belcher. I think this is a nice cross-section of the metagame. Here’s what I have refined:

Creatures (22)

4 Veteran Explorer
3 Quasali Pridemage
3 Scavanging Ooze
1 Tarmagoyf
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Academy Rector


Tutor Suite (4)

2 Eldarami’s Call
2 Altar of Bone


Equipment (1)

1 Sword of Fire and Ice


Removal (8)

2 Pyroclasm
3 Arc Trail
3 Tariff


Win Conditions (2)

1 Omniscience
1 Sparkcaster


Lands’n’Mana (23)

1 Mox Diamond
3 Windswept Heath
3 Arid Mesa
2 Savanna
1 Tiaga
1 Plateau
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Maze of Ith
3 Plains
3 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Bokjuka Bog


Sideboard

4 Pyrostatic Pillar
2 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
2 Pyroclasm
3 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Batterskull
2 Grafdigger’s Cage


This version of the deck is soft to reanimator, but makes up for it by have oodles of goodies against other popular decks. Some thoughts:

(1) Why these colors?

Well, like I said in the first post, I like GW for Altar of Bone and Eladrami’s Call. Call in particular is a very versatile, unrestricted Demonic Tutor in this deck. Im going into Red because it helps my plan to burn out my Rectors and Explorers while giving me great sideboard options.

(2) Why Sparkcaster as the win?

I think the only serious options for win conditions with Rector-Omniscience are one-card win conditions. Without other support, only Emrakul and Sparkcaster fit this definition. Emrakul giving you a Time Walk makes him very difficult to answer, but on the turn you combo he can sometimes be hit with Mindbreak Trap. If they keep a few permanents, there is always a risk that they get another turn to cast Gilded Drake or something else stupid. And, of course, more and more people are packing Ensaring Bridge.

Sparkcaster, on the other hand, wins on the spot. If they have a counterspell, chances are they will blow it trying to stop your Rector. Sparkcaster loses to Runed Halo and Urza’s Armor-type effects, but I don’t know how often you’ll see those. Finally, unlike Emrakul, you can use Caster as a simple fat beater if it comes to that. I therefore like Sparkcaster at the moment. This might be wrong.

(3) Why use an aggo-control shell?

So I can change the deck when up against something like Landstill. You are never comboing out if your opponent is running a 12 counter package. You just can't protect it. The black, all-in combo version posted above tries to avoid this with discard, but I am skeptical that this is a reliable plan. Plus, you're doing nothing while you get ready to go off. If you want a two-card combo that wins on the spot in a control shell, why arn't you playing Showing and Tell?

When you run heavy control with this deck, the sideboard plan is to drop the cute combo and focus instead of playing a disruptive Naya aggro deck.

-4 Rector, -1 Academy, -1 Sparkcaster, -2 Altar of Bone
+4 Red Blasts, +1 Batterskull, +3 Stoneforge Mystic

(4) Why borrow from Nic Fit midrange instead of going more Maverick?

To maximize the synergy of your removal. Rector needs lots of ways to kill him to work. I like Pyroclasm and Tariff, because they both can deal haymakers to different strategies. That means you don’t want to run your own mana dorks, as there is a high risk you’ll torch them in the process. Explorer, however, loves getting burned.

(5) Why Arc Trail?

Because in testing I loved the heck out of this card against any opposing aggro. Usually it’s just as good as Pyroclasm if you’re casting it turn 2. And, there are times when you have a Pridemage or Ooze and want it to survive after you burn out an opposing Lackey + Warchief or something.

(6) Why reduce the number of tutors?

You need a tutor to instant-win after Rector. With four in the deck, though, you’re likely to find at least one reasonably early each match. I found them clogging up my hand in multiples too often when running more of them. Remember, you could naturally draw Sparkcaster, too. So really, once you Rector, you have five “I win” cards in your deck, four of which help you find answers or combo pieces before you win.

(7) What are the sideboard plans?

Ah, the payoff for going red. You get sideboard options against all decks. Against blue control, you go Naya Stoneforge. Against blue combo or storm, like Hive Mind, Belcher, High Tide, Show and Tell, Storm, Doomsdaty, etc, you bring in the Red Blasts and/or Pillars. Against weenie-reliant decks like Goblins, Merfolk, Maverick, or Elves, bring in the Pyroblasts.

Realistically you’re a dog to Dredge and Reanimator, sadly. The game plan is to resolve Cage, hopefully slowing them down long enough to get KotR online to fetch a Bog or resolve Ooze to stop them from winning. Tariff also helps against Reanimator, killing everything they could reasonably animate.

(8) Why only one Mox Diamond?

You are happy to see Diamond in the first few turns, but never thereafter. Im not even sure it should remain in the deck at all, but it leads to such explosive starts that I kind of like it there just for random variance wins.

[kwis]

Shouldn't you have something like brainstorm to put omni in your deck if you draw it? Maybe I missed something.

[MaximumC]

Shouldn't you have something like brainstorm to put omni in your deck if you draw it? Maybe I missed something.

Ideally, yes. However, you'll only draw Omni in 1 out of 53 to 40 games or so, and I can live with that if it means I get the advantages of the three colors I chose without the disadvantages of going to a four-color manabase. Also, frankly, how often are you gonna win when you have to spin your wheels finding a way to reshuffle omni before comboing off? Now, if there were good ways to replenish the combo in G, W, or R, I might look at it. The best I got was that you can use Faithless Looting, but that only gets Omni into your yard.

Remember, it isn't like this deck has no plan if the combo is thwarted. In fact, in my testing, most times this deck just blasts the opponent's efficient openers and then grinds them down. The ideal win goes something like this:

T1: Forest, Explorerer, go.
T2: Mountain, Arc Trai/Pyroclasm, get two plains. (sets back aggro decks on the play in a big way)
T3: Academy Rector
T4: Altar of Bone ftw

Or, it curves out like this:

T1: Forest.
T2: Mountain, Arc Trial/Pyroclasm
T3: Plains, KotR
T4: Land, Academy Rector; tap KotR to fetch Phyrexian Tower, sac Rector, fetch Omni, cast tutor ftw

But notice that in either case if the combo part doesn't happen, you have a perfectly respectable midrange aggro opener.

[Finn]

Yes, he should. This deck seems like it has to have blue.

Also, Culling the Weak probably fits the idea rather well, and to a lesser extent Phyrexian Tower. So it seems like black has a good claim. In that case, the deck could be a quasi stormish thingie. You could also possibly use Priest of Gix, though its uses seem less obvious.

[Versatilebeats]

You don't need to assemble anything after omniscience. You only need a wish. Wish for conflux nets you casting conflict and retrieving your win cons similar to dream halls or wish for Emmy If aggro sac extra turn will win the game. Basically you're running maverick plus omniscience dilluting both the combo and the aggro approach. I've yet to play against Merfolk, maverick is tough because of teeg, pridemage and Thalia but I've yet to lose vs goblins

[MaximumC]

Yes, he should. This deck seems like it has to have blue.

Also, Culling the Weak probably fits the idea rather well, and to a lesser extent Phyrexian Tower. So it seems like black has a good claim. In that case, the deck could be a quasi stormish thingie. You could also possibly use Priest of Gix, though its uses seem less obvious.

You may be right, but I hesitated because I believe Black's tutors and sacrifice effects are a false idol here. The problem is that (Cabal Therapy aside) they have no other effective use or are bad. Red and White give you some ways to off your Rector that are also perfectly respectable cards when you're not comboing. That's what I'm trying to maximize here; no dead cards. Rector is a win con, the removal is disruption, and the tutors are always tutors regardless of what you're doing. Interlapping synergy so that you can play a solid game no matter what you're up against; but they don't really know what iteration of your deck to expect.

For those who think this needs to be in an Esper shell totally dedicated to combo: What does this combo offer that other combo or storm decks don't already do better?

[kwis]

Shouldn't you have a bunch of silver bullet enchantments in your sideboard since you're playing with Rector? Thinking something along the lines of Choke, Stony Silence, Elephant Grass, Moat, etc...

[ra_2_soldier]

Just a thought but maybe throwing in pattern of rebirth with some protean hulk/progenitus shenanigans may be a direction this deck wants to take. It would give the deck another angle of attack.

[MaximumC]

Shouldn't you have a bunch of silver bullet enchantments in your sideboard since you're playing with Rector? Thinking something along the lines of Choke, Stony Silence, Elephant Grass, Moat, etc...

Why is playing hate off of Rector be better than just winning? I feel like you want your hate to be 4-ofs, or creatures to fetch with Call, because Rector is actually very expensive and slow to get out there. I don't want to have to combo out just to slow down my opponent!


Just a thought but maybe throwing in pattern of rebirth with some protean hulk/progenitus shenanigans may be a direction this deck wants to take. It would give the deck another angle of attack.

What sort of list were you thinking of? At the moment, my combo package is pretty small. I suspect that adding a second combo on top of the aggro plan and existing combo might get very clunky. Is there enough synergy in these other combo pieces to make them worth playing? Basically, if I mix and match 7 random pieces from both combos, do I get a game plan or a big mess?

[kwis]

My main question is just how plausible it is to go off without holding dead cards in hand. Perhaps I'm not appreciating this 3-4 card combo.

You need rector in play to get the enchantment when it dies.
You need spark to come into play, which is optimally accomplished by throne on rector.
You need the creature to stay alive for its comes into play effect to resolve.
You need the opponent to not stifle the creature bouncing itself.
You need the creature not to be countered upon trying to re-cast it.
You need the opponent to be a legal target.

That seems like an awful lot of conditions to meet unless the opponent has an empty hand. When does this become more than a win-more strategy in a deck going for a completely different game-plan? Doesn't rector just dilute your draws and make your early-midgame weaker than if you played a more classic build without the combo? It just seems incredibly brittle to me.

[MaximumC]

My main question is just how plausible it is to go off without holding dead cards in hand. Perhaps I'm not appreciating this 3-4 card combo.

You need rector in play to get the enchantment when it dies.
You need spark to come into play, which is optimally accomplished by throne on rector.
You need the creature to stay alive for its comes into play effect to resolve.
You need the opponent to not stifle the creature bouncing itself.
You need the creature not to be countered upon trying to re-cast it.
You need the opponent to be a legal target.

That seems like an awful lot of conditions to meet unless the opponent has an empty hand. When does this become more than a win-more strategy in a deck going for a completely different game-plan? Doesn't rector just dilute your draws and make your early-midgame weaker than if you played a more classic build without the combo? It just seems incredibly brittle to me.

Point taken. Some of these concerns are specific to using Sparkcaster as the win condition, though; you could switch to Emrakul, Loon, or perhaps others I have not thought of. Perhaps the better way to put it is: what commonly played cards disrupt the combo?

Starting with your critique of Sparkcaster:
1. Countermagic / Discard on Rector
2. Countermagic on Sparkcaster
3. Lighting Bolt, Swords to Plowshares, Dismember, etc. on Sparkcaster
4. Stifle on Sparkcaster's return-to-hand trigger
5. Runed Halo and friends.

Well, what if we went with Emrakul:
1. Countermagic / Discard on Rector
2. Mindbreak Trap on Emrakul (sometimes)
3. Stifle on Emrakul's Time Walk trigger
4. Permanent removal / steal for Emrakul (assuming they survive a turn)

Putting it side by side like that, it does seem like Emmy is superior...

[kwis]

I definitely agree that the more brute forced approach with the stable win condition is likely the way to go. You get around Karakas because you're actually able to cast him and it will be tapped the second time.

I have the same problems with loon that I had with spark, except that now you also added another weak point which is the brain freeze. Some other things that you might want to consider is that you actually have to get to the graveyard in order for rector to be useful. This means that Leyline/Samurai of the Pale Curtain shuts you down pretty hard. Since everyone is always hating on dredge it's not unlikely that you would encounter that. Additionally it means Swords/Path is better than rector unless you have an instant speed sac outlet, which begs the question "what are you waiting for?"


Perhaps this combo is best played as a game 1 cheese that baits out sideboard cards while you switch into a more traditional and direct approach? If you don't reveal the combo in game 1 by all means keep it in. Or perhaps the combo is resilient enough that you can deal with hate, I'm not sure.

[catmint]

very nice opening post & thread. There are so many different directions you can take this.
All the colors have something to offer, but what feels important is beeing immune to removal. On the GW tutors it reads: "sacrifice a creature" when it resolves. You can respond to that with submerge & swords. Isn't it better to have an effect like altars reap where it is part of the costs, so it is immune to counters & removal once the rector is in play? For that of course it is necessary to find the wincon in some other way....


crazy thing is:
you need white
you want green, because of acceleration & tutor
you want blue... obv
you want black for cabal therapy, discard, altars reap, reanimate...


looking forward to the results of everyone...

[kwis]

very nice opening post & thread. There are so many different directions you can take this.
All the colors have something to offer, but what feels important is beeing immune to removal. On the GW tutors it reads: "sacrifice a creature" when it resolves. You can respond to that with submerge & swords. Isn't it better to have an effect like altars reap where it is part of the costs, so it is immune to counters & removal once the rector is in play? For that of course it is necessary to find the wincon in some other way....


As an additional cost to cast Altar of Bone, sacrifice a creature.
Search your library for a creature card, reveal that card, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.

For reference, this is the oracle text.

[MaximumC]

Perhaps this combo is best played as a game 1 cheese that baits out sideboard cards while you switch into a more traditional and direct approach? If you don't reveal the combo in game 1 by all means keep it in. Or perhaps the combo is resilient enough that you can deal with hate, I'm not sure.

That is certainly what I'm trying to do. If I'm up against something I expect to be able to disrupt the combo easily, then I swap the entire combo package out for the Stoneforge package. This is primarily a response to blue control decks, but I could see swapping out the combo against someone maindecking 4x Swords to Plowshares, too. I really do NOT think this combo is resilient enough to fight through specific hate. What it DOES fight through just great are creature removal effects that "kill" creatures.



I definitely agree that the more brute forced approach with the stable win condition is likely the way to go. You get around Karakas because you're actually able to cast him and it will be tapped the second time.


Right, Karakas is not a concern for Emrakul in this deck. However, Ensnaring Bridge and kin would be big fat roadblocks.



I have the same problems with loon that I had with spark, except that now you also added another weak point which is the brain freeze. Some other things that you might want to consider is that you actually have to get to the graveyard in order for rector to be useful. This means that Leyline/Samurai of the Pale Curtain shuts you down pretty hard. Since everyone is always hating on dredge it's not unlikely that you would encounter that. Additionally it means Swords/Path is better than rector unless you have an instant speed sac outlet, which begs the question "what are you waiting for?"


The point about dredge hate is very well taken, and I hadn't thought of that much. Even so, only a small subset of dredge hate stops Rector - just Leyline, Samurai, and Planar Void. Crypt, Cage, Faerie, Extripate, Extraction, Jailer, Relic, Spellbomb... these all do nothing. Plus, you can swap out the combo game 3 if specific hate comes in against you.

[catmint]

So here is the list I have been playing around with. Won't become a tier deck, but could be good for a surprise factor.

////Mana: Basics most of the time.

1 Tundra
1 Tropical Island
1 Savannah
1 Bayou
1 Underground Sea
1 Island
1 Forest
1 Swamp
3 Polluted Delta
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Verdant Catacombs


////Mana Acceleration
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Noble Hierarch

////Disruption
4 Vendilion Clique
//alternative win/cycle dead cards & omniscience

4 Force of Will
1 Dispel
4 Cabal Therapy
// supporting combo engine

////Filter
4 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
1 Sylvan Library

////Combo & hate toolbox
2 Cunning wish
// For Eladarmis Call for Rector or Emrakul, Altars Reap to sac or hate

4 Living Wish
// Finds Rector, Emrakul, Altars Reap or hate

////Combo maindeck
1 Omniscience
3 Academy Rector
1 Emrakul
// does not hurt to draw it!

2 Altar of Bone
// can get Rector maindeck if desperate

////Sideboard (first draft, not given too much thought):
2 Thoughtseize
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Gaddock Teeg
// ?? vs. combo?

1 Mindbread trap
// Cunning wih target vs. combo

1 Altars Reap
1 Eladramis Call
1 Emrakul
1 Sparkcaster
1 Academy Rector
1 Bojuka Bog
// Living wish as GY hate

1 Faerie Macabre
// Living wish as GY hate

1 Noxious Revival
// Cunning wish target to get discarded omniscience

1 Phyrexian Tower
// LIving wish as Sac outlet




Deck is a lot of fun for me.
My first experiences:

1)The games I played i never won with vendilion clique, however I never played against combo. Besides from that my favourite line of play is:
forest - birds of paradise
island - vendilion clique
then: cabal therapy, wish/Filter, oops i win

2)It has some "oops i win moments" on turn 4, but the goldfish will be slow which requires the disruption package to slow down other fast kill decks (also fast aggro & burn).

3)However the wish cards can be used very flexible which makes it consistent and resilient.

4)It does not have that many "i beat myself draws" like show&tell but of course a much lower "raw" power level. Once disrupted it draws better from the top...

5)The discard enables good defense versus countermagic and you can play around swords to plowshares.

6) Not much space to sideboard (needs all maindeck cards), but plenty of space for good wish targets.

Deck runs virtually:
11 Rector: 3 Maindeck, 4 Living Wish, 2 Cunning wish for Eladramis Call, 2 Altar of Bone saccing vendilion or mana-dork
9 win-conditions 2 Altar of Bone, 2 Cunning wish, 4 Living Wish, 1 Emrakul
7 of this win-conditions need rector to die: so either a cabal therapy flashback or another wish

Love to hear some thoughts...

[phazonmutant]

Found this link (http://amclegacy.sakura.ne.jp/AMC_120.html) in the comments to an SCG. Looks like someone got second in a big legacy tournament in Tokyo with Academy Rector + Omniscience:

3 Lotus Petal
3 Gitaxian Probe
4 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Living Wish
4 Show and Tell
3 Force of Will
3 Academy Rector
3 Griselbrand
3 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
2 Omniscience

4 Polluted Delta
1 Verdant Catacombs
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Cavern of Souls
2 Underground Sea
3 Island
1 Swamp
1 Tundra
1 Tropical Island

// Sideboard
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Academy Rector
1 Pernicious Deed
2 Nature's Claim
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Force of Will
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Viridian Shaman
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre

Looks like an interesting take on the deck.

[kwis]

It makes very much sense to use the S&T for the oops I won moments. I also the like wishes a lot.

[dameus]

Ideally, yes. However, you'll only draw Omni in 1 out of 53 to 40 games or so, and I can live with that ...

Umm ... except that isn't close to the odds. There's an 11.7% chance of having it in your opening 7. If you consider the first 3 rds, there's a 1 in 6 chance of starting with it or drawing it. It's much better to play 2 Omni's - and have Brainstorm : )


... Red and White give you some ways to off your Rector that are also perfectly respectable cards when you're not comboing.

I wouldn't put Tariff in the 'perfectly respectable' category. What else does white have to do this?? Caregiver at least dodges StP, but is weak otherwise.

Sorcery speed sac'ing with StP everywhere should not be your plan A. The best way is when it's a cost so it can't be responded to, like Cabal Therapy or Phyrexian Tower.

[Mr Miagi]

erm, hate bo be a party pooper, but you're saying all of these deck that don't pack emrakul or grisebrand loose to a well timed krosan grip, disenchant and quasali pridemage?

lol? :eyebrow: