Esper Arena Rector (Esper friends/Esper gladiators)

[drude1]

Esper Arena Rector
(a.k.a. Esper Friends/Esper Gladiators)

The purpose of this thread is to start building around the card Arena Rector from the Battlebond set recently released. The deck I have been working on has been in an Esper shell. I started off trying to build it in the Nyx Fit shell, just replacing the enchantments with strong planeswalkers, but the deck just didn’t work, particularly as the planeswalkers don’t lock up the game the way the enchantments did, and the deck isn’t that strong with the enchantment build. I took more of a Miracles shell and added black for sacrifice outlets (eg. cabal therapy). The deck plays primarily as a control deck with the ability to fetch out incredibly powerful planeswalkers that are appropriate for the game state. Here is where I am at with the deck so far:

Esper Gladiators

2 Island
4 Flooded Strand
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Scrubland
4 Polluted Delta
1 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
2 Phyrexian Tower – sac outlet for Rector or can add a couple black mana off of other creatures when needed
2 Cavern of Souls – naming human, obviously
3 Snapcaster Mage – not only an amazing card on its own, but gives another body to sac to Phyrexian Tower for mana or to a cabal therapy to clear the way
3 Arena Rector
2 Monastery Mentor – good finisher, human, makes guys to sac as above
4 Force of Will
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
1 Far/Away – this or the 4th terminus. It deals with 20/20 avatars and spaghetti monsters, and it kills our rector for trigger
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Gitaxian Probe – plays well with therapy and looks for interaction from opponent (surgical on rector) when trying to trigger. Could be some other cantrip if
you wanted to see more cards.
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
3 Fatal Push – over swords to plowshares main because it kills/triggers our rector
1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria – quite good. Answers any permanent and draws cards.
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon – amazing sweeper in most match-ups
3 Terminus
1 Search for Azcanta

// Sideboard
SB: 2 Swords to Plowshares
SB: 2 Meddling Mage – Good for the decks this type of deck isn’t naturally favored against, such as storm, eldrazi ramp, etc.
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
SB: 2 Disenchant
SB: 2 Flusterstorm
SB: 1 Null Rod
SB: 1 Ethersworn Canonist – anti-combo
SB: 2 Containment Priest – anti show & tell and graveyard
SB: 1 Lost Legacy – again, good against combo and graveyard based strategies

As for the Planeswalker choices, I think this is a good mix and this combination can be strong against most decks in the format. Obviously, none are great against combo but Liliana’s discard effect isn’t bad. I originally had 2 Jaces and Ugin in the SB but this is definitely a mistake. Ugin is fetched for first in multiple match-ups and quickly made it to the main. I also considered Ob Nixilis due to the fact that he doesn’t die to a red blast, but he just isn’t nearly as good as Teferi or Nicol Bolas. Speaking of Teferi, this card is REALLY good. Get your copies now.

Also, I did start with 4 copies of Deathrite Shaman since he can ramp you up a turn, sac to therapy and is a main deck answer to graveyard stuff. I ended up cutting him for the probes and the far/away as I just felt like I needed to get to the good stuff faster and therefore needed more cantrips. You might also notice that I am only playing 3 copies of rector. That very well could be wrong but most of the Planeswalkers you can just outright cast on their own and I didn’t feel like 4 were necessary. Having said that, I think making room for the 4th rector is probably right.

I did take this list to my local LGS this week and went 3-1, beating Show & Tell, Lands, and goblins and losing in 3 to dredge. One game against show and tell my opponent plays show and tell and puts in emrakul and I put in rector. I’m at 17 life. He actually doesn’t swing for 2 turns and when he does I sac rector and get Nicol Bolas, steal his emrakul on my turn and he scoops. Against dredge, obviously the deathrites would have been good in that MU. I had Containment Priest down in one game but couldn’t find a rector before he just beat me down with the zombies he was making from just naturally playing creatures and sacrificing them. Again, I would probably just be better off playing the 4th Rector. Also considered playing Leyline of the Void in the SB vs the other cute stuff, as it is definitely better against dredge as well as BR reanimator and other turn 1 graveyard decks. However, the other stuff (surgicals, containment priest, lost legacy) goes wider so for now I’m sticking with those…judgement call.

Anyway, looking to tune this deck further and any input would be welcome. The deck seems competitive and the union of control and combo elements make the deck much fun to play.

[Hellraiser157]

Hi drude1,

it's great to see someone else trying out Arena Rector as well. I've been tickering around with a Rector Deck for a couple of weeks now. I had the crazy idea of playing all of the 4 Rectors. I've read the threads about NicFit and how they came to the conclusion, that Arena Rector is not really needed for this type of deck.
I took your list and tested it in cockatrice and i think you are on to something. Brainstrom and Cabal Therapies are definitely the way to go with a Arena-Rector-only-Build.

Here is my List. You have to know, i'm a Chalice Player by heart. :)

Let's play ALL THE RECTORS!!! ;-)

// TURBO RECTOR a.k.a. Double Dragon

// 61 Maindeck

// 14 Artifact
4 Mox Diamond (Quick Ramp to get T1 Chalice, Signet, Trinisphere or Recruiter)
3 Orzhov Signet (helps to get T2 Rectors, mana fixer)
4 Chalice of the Void (we all know what it does)
3 Trinisphere (T1 or T2 slows down quite a lot of decks)

// 11 Creature
4 Academy Rector (gets all the good enchantments)
4 Arena Rector (gets all the dragons)
2 Recruiter of the Guard (gets the old ladies or a ballista or revoker)
1 Walking Ballista (mana sink, deals with DRS, kills old ladies if necessary)

// 3 Enchantment
1 Overwhelming Splendor (shuts down creatures, fetchlands, wastelands and planeswalkers)
1 Curse of Death's Hold (combos with Splendor)
1 Cruel Reality (flex spot, kills really fast)

// 25 Land
4 Phyrexian Tower (you always need one)
4 City of Traitors
2 Cavern of Souls (they are all humans)
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Plains
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Swamp
3 Wasteland
1 Fetid Heath

// 3 Planeswalker
2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon (board sweeper and win con, 2 ugins because if one is in hand i can still search him up)
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker (vindicate on a stick and win con)

// 5 Sorcery
3 Collective Brutality (very important, kills DRS(!) and takes specific instants/sorceries out of opponents hands)
2 Toxic Deluge (kills DRS)


// 15 Sideboard (is still in the works)
// 3 Artifact
SB: 2 Silent Gravestone (against DRS and Extraction)
SB: 1 Sorcerous Spyglass (against DRS and Vial)

// 9 Enchantment
SB: 3 Leyline of Sanctity (Storm, Burn)
SB: 4 Leyline of the Void (Reanimator, Lands)
SB: 1 Circle of Protection: Red (Burn)
SB: 1 Dovescape

// 1 Instant
SB: 1 Disenchant

// 1 Planeswalker
SB: 1 Karn, Scion of Urza (great in the main board as well)

// 1 Sorcery
SB: 1 Collective Brutality

============================================

This is more an all-in approach. I took the old Stax Idea and combined it with the 4 Rectors. It's a lot of fun to play!
The Deck Idea is to play a lock piece as early as possible, kill early DRS and try to land a Rector turn 2 or 3.

From playing this deck idea with different set ups i found:

Pros:
- T2 Ugin or Bolas!
- T2 or T3 Overwhelming Splendor
- Chalice and Trinisphere to stop a lot of decks
- everything can be cast, except Nicol Bolas (unless u have a lot of mox diamonds....)

Cons:
- f**k DRS! ;-)
- died to Burn many times
- Aether Vial and Cataclysm are a huge problem
- no Brainstorms or Ponder to get rid of PW's or Enchantments in hand
- needs to mulligan often

i'm still working on this deck. it has all the flaws and benefits stompy decks have.

- Philip

[drude1]

So, we are obviously going in different directions with the deck. As for your list, I think you need more sac outlets for your rectors. I would try to squeeze in a couple Liliana of the veil. I would also run a mistveil plains so you can get the enchantments back into your library from your graveyard. I would also definitely be running a main deck omniscience. That way if other enchantments or Planeswalkers are in your hand you can just play them out. Otherwise, interesting direction to go. I'm also a fan of prison strategies and chalice is a hell of a card.

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[lucacip88]

Hello everyone, I'm interested in creating a deck around the arena rector card, the fact of taking a planeswlker from the deck is too good, to control the field and/or the opponent's hand with Jace, Ugin, Karn, Nicol Bolas, Liliana of the veil.
this is my 4c control planeswalker version:

3 arena rector
4 deathrite shaman
3 snapcaster mage

1 abrupt decay
4 brainstorm
1 diaboilc edict
4 force of will
2 swords to plowshares

1 bayou
2 flooded strand
1 forest
2 island
1 phyrexian tower
1 plains
2 polluted delta
1 savannah
1 scrubland
1 swamp
1 tropical island
1 tundra
1 underground sea
2 verdant catacombs
2 windswept heath

2 jace, the mind sculptor
1 karn liberated
1 liliana of the veil
1 nicol bolas, planeswalker
1 ugin, the spirit dragon

4 cabal therapy
3 gitaxian probe
3 hymn to tourach
2 ponder

Sideboard
1 ensnaring bridge
1 pithing needle
1 containment priest
1 abrupt decay
1 blue elemental blast
1 diabolic edict
2 flusterstorm
1 hydroblast
2 surgical extraction
1 elspeth, sun's champion
1 nicol bolas, god-pharaoh
1 maelstrom pulse
1 thoughtseize


Is still in the test phase, to be tested a lot, but in the end, for the few games I did on cockatrice, it is not badly.
let me know what you think, thanks :smile:

[drude1]

This is very similar to my original list. I was originally playing deathrites as well. They were pretty good but I'm playing terminus so they didn't play well together. The nice thing about deathrites is they can speed up things by a turn but they usually eat a piece of early removal. I added more cantrips in their place but I can't argue against deathrites. Can't say I love the 2 ponder (vs 4). I also feel like you are a little short on ways too kill a rector. You basically have the 4 therapies and 1 edict and the 1 tower. Again, with only 2 ponder you will have a harder time finding them. Why Karn? You should look at the new teferi as well. Probably better than the second Jace.

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[drude1]

So I've continued to work on this deck. For some reason it wasn't playing well after the ban so I tinkered with it a little and ended up adding more discard in the form of inquisition of kozilek. Since this change, the deck has performed EXTREMELY well. Admittedly, I've really only been playing it in the practice room of MTGO but it really is performing well. I'm still playing a couple numbers a little bit, but in general, here is where I'm at...

2 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Arena Rector
1 Search for Azcanta
4 Brainstorm
2 Fatal Push
4 Force of Will
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
4 Ponder
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Terminus
1 Cavern of Souls
4 Flooded Strand
2 Island
2 Underground Sea
1 Marsh Flats
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scrubland
2 Swamp
2 Tundra

SB
1 Null Rod
2 Containment Priest
1 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Monastery Mentor
1 Meddling Mage
2 Disenchant
1 Flusterstorm
1 Echoing Truth
3 Surgical Extraction
1 To the Slaughter

I had moved the 2 ensnaring bridge in and out of the deck but have recently seen a lot more eldrazi and other hyper-aggressive strategies so I've decided to keep them in. I would like to work in another copy of fatal push in to the main and would likely cut an inquisition for it, but inquisition has just been so good that it's hard to do. I have also played with cutting a land and playing and extra cantrip (4 brainstorm, 3 ponder and 2 preordain) but I end up a lot more mulligans at 20 lands. I did cut the liliana as it just was never doing enough. The only time I would fetch it is against combo and the inquisitions have solidified that match up. BTW, I actually tend to side out all of the rectors and planewalkers and bring in all the hate bears in the combo match ups (eg. storm). Could probably consider adding either a second meddling mage or canonist to the board. Finally, I ended up moving the mentors out of the main completely and bring them in as an "alt win con" when my opponent loads up on graveyard hate during sideboarding. This has worked surprisingly well. Speaking of which, the sideboard is also in flux but the esper combo has such an amazing selection of sideboard cards it's easy to plug in what you need based on meta decisions.
Anyway, anyone else still putting any work into this deck? Always interested in seeing other ideas.

[drude1]

I guess I'm just going to keep replying to my own thread here. BTW, if anyone knows that someone is working on a similar deck in a different thread, please let me know. I just can't believe there isn't more interest in this deck as Arena Rector is just so powerful of an effect. I've been doing very well online with the deck and last night went 3-1 at my LGS, beating T.E.S., Esper Stoneblade and a Naya Foodchain deck. I actually lost to OmniShow which is funny because I would probably consider that my best match up. Well, I haven't lost yet to sneak and show online as I can just drop a rector or bridge to show and tell and even if they attack with Emrakul I sac rector, get Nicol Bolas and steal their monster. However, I just didn't see either card in two games and lost...variance happens. I have changed the list again a little bit, adding some more cantrips, changing the lands a little bit and changing the SB moderately...

// Esper Rector

// 60 Maindeck
// 2 Artifact
2 Ensnaring Bridge

// 7 Creature
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Arena Rector

// 1 Enchantment
1 Search for Azcanta

// 11 Instant
4 Brainstorm
3 Fatal Push
4 Force of Will

// 20 Land
1 Cavern of Souls
4 Flooded Strand
3 Island (added 3rd island/6th basic due to heavy number of wastelands I've been seeing)
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scrubland
2 Swamp
1 Tundra
2 Underground Sea

// 4 Planeswalker
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

// 15 Sorcery
3 Ponder
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Terminus
2 Preordain (added these by cutting one ponder and a land. Really like them)


// 16 Sideboard

SB: 1 Null Rod
SB: 2 Containment Priest
SB: 1 Ethersworn Canonist
SB: 2 Disenchant
SB: 2 Flusterstorm (this has been good so added a second)
SB: 1 Echoing Truth
SB: 3 Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 Far // Away
SB: 1 Lost Legacy / Meddling Mage (see below)
SB: 1 Hoofprints of the Stag/Bitterblossom/Luminarch Ascension/Heliod, God of the Sun (see below)

I have to questionable sideboard slots and would like some input. The first is the lost legacy vs. meddline mage. This is for combo decks like storm, sneak & show, etc. or in situtuations where I just don't want them to be able to play a certain card (eg. life from the loam, surgical extraction, etc). Meddling Mage comes down a turn faster and can hit artifacts. But it is more fragile and dies to pretty much every creature removal in legacy. A lot of times creature removal gets sided out against me, but not all of it. It is a body though so can attack against decks like storm while still producing it's effect. On the other hand, Lost Legacy gets the job done a lot better, but is a turn slower, is two black mana and can't hit artifacts (although can really only think of painter decks and chalice but chalice is usually already on the table at this point). Leaning towards lost legacy but could be talked into either.

The last spot is for some sort of enchantment based alt win condition (thinking token generator). I have not been liking Monastery Mentor as it just dies too easily, often to my own terminus. I want to replace it with something else that produces token or wins in another way. I listed some options above. I also considered splashing red for Assemble the Legion or Keranos. The red would also allow me to cast Nicol Bolas out of my hand, which has come up once or twice. I just don't know if I want to spread my mana that thin. I like heliod because it is nearly impossible to get rid of. However, it's really slow. I'm leaning more toward hoofprints or bitterblossom. Bitterblossom works a lot faster but I'm not a huge fan of the life loss. Hoofprints is slower but makes 4/4s which is pretty good. And with 9 cantrips, jace and teferi, I am drawing a lot of cards. Again, any input is welcome.
Guess I'll just keep plugging along....


addendum: after a little gold fishing, it's either going to be hoofprints or bitterblossom and leaning toward hoofprints. Might even get 2 copies in the SB

[TLK]

I guess I'm just going to keep replying to my own thread here. BTW, if anyone knows that someone is working on a similar deck in a different thread, please let me know. I just can't believe there isn't more interest in this deck as Arena Rector is just so powerful of an effect. I've been doing very well online with the deck and last night went 3-1 at my LGS, beating T.E.S., Esper Stoneblade and a Naya Foodchain deck. I actually lost to OmniShow which is funny because I would probably consider that my best match up. Well, I haven't lost yet to sneak and show online as I can just drop a rector or bridge to show and tell and even if they attack with Emrakul I sac rector, get Nicol Bolas and steal their monster. However, I just didn't see either card in two games and lost...variance happens. I have changed the list again a little bit, adding some more cantrips, changing the lands a little bit and changing the SB moderately...

// Esper Rector

// 60 Maindeck
// 2 Artifact
2 Ensnaring Bridge

// 7 Creature
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Arena Rector

// 1 Enchantment
1 Search for Azcanta

// 11 Instant
4 Brainstorm
3 Fatal Push
4 Force of Will

// 20 Land
1 Cavern of Souls
4 Flooded Strand
3 Island (added 3rd island/6th basic due to heavy number of wastelands I've been seeing)
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scrubland
2 Swamp
1 Tundra
2 Underground Sea

// 4 Planeswalker
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

// 15 Sorcery
3 Ponder
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Terminus
2 Preordain (added these by cutting one ponder and a land. Really like them)


// 16 Sideboard

SB: 1 Null Rod
SB: 2 Containment Priest
SB: 1 Ethersworn Canonist
SB: 2 Disenchant
SB: 2 Flusterstorm (this has been good so added a second)
SB: 1 Echoing Truth
SB: 3 Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 Far // Away
SB: 1 Lost Legacy / Meddling Mage (see below)
SB: 1 Hoofprints of the Stag/Bitterblossom/Luminarch Ascension/Heliod, God of the Sun (see below)

I have to questionable sideboard slots and would like some input. The first is the lost legacy vs. meddline mage. This is for combo decks like storm, sneak & show, etc. or in situtuations where I just don't want them to be able to play a certain card (eg. life from the loam, surgical extraction, etc). Meddling Mage comes down a turn faster and can hit artifacts. But it is more fragile and dies to pretty much every creature removal in legacy. A lot of times creature removal gets sided out against me, but not all of it. It is a body though so can attack against decks like storm while still producing it's effect. On the other hand, Lost Legacy gets the job done a lot better, but is a turn slower, is two black mana and can't hit artifacts (although can really only think of painter decks and chalice but chalice is usually already on the table at this point). Leaning towards lost legacy but could be talked into either.

The last spot is for some sort of enchantment based alt win condition (thinking token generator). I have not been liking Monastery Mentor as it just dies too easily, often to my own terminus. I want to replace it with something else that produces token or wins in another way. I listed some options above. I also considered splashing red for Assemble the Legion or Keranos. The red would also allow me to cast Nicol Bolas out of my hand, which has come up once or twice. I just don't know if I want to spread my mana that thin. I like heliod because it is nearly impossible to get rid of. However, it's really slow. I'm leaning more toward hoofprints or bitterblossom. Bitterblossom works a lot faster but I'm not a huge fan of the life loss. Hoofprints is slower but makes 4/4s which is pretty good. And with 9 cantrips, jace and teferi, I am drawing a lot of cards. Again, any input is welcome.
Guess I'll just keep plugging along....


addendum: after a little gold fishing, it's either going to be hoofprints or bitterblossom and leaning toward hoofprints. Might even get 2 copies in the SB

Check the Nic Fit thread.

[drude1]

Check the Nic Fit thread.Yeah, I started with the nic fit shell and hated it. Esper is just much better at controlling the board and then taking over the game. This deck plays more like miracles. I would definitely consider those two very different decks.

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[Ralf]

You can play a BANT Nic Fit version of this deck.

1 Forest
2 Plains
3 Island
1 Tundra
2 Savannah
2 Tropical Island
3 Windswept Heath
3 Flooded Strand
4 Misty Rainforest

4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Perilous Research
4 Force of Will

3 Arena Rector
4 Veteran Explorer

2 Engineered Explosives

3 Ground Seal

1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

2 Supreme Verdict
4 Swords to Plowshares

2 Living Wish

SB: 2 Flusterstorm
SB: 1 Negate
SB: 1 Ethersworn Canonist
SB: 1 Disenchant
SB: 1 Eternal Witness
SB: 2 Blessed Alliance
SB: 2 Path to Exile
SB: 1 Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 Cavern of Souls
SB: 1 Faerie Macabre
SB: 1 Thragtusk
SB: 1 Reclamation Sage

SB is just a pile at the moment but you should get the idea.

Perilous research is a very nice addition as it is quite synergistic with the entire deck while providing CA:
- sac veteran
- sac rector
- sac ground seal
- sac a permanent in response to a removal (land with wasteland, etc...)

Numbers might have to be tweaked on a long run.

From a pure PW point of view I cannot think something better than those 3.
We could argue that none of them are good against combo decks but they will apply pressure or provide CA.

Obviously resolving Bolas' ultimate should be game 99 % of the time.

A light "living wish" package gives the edge against many decks by providing solutions against any archetype of the format. Here again number would have to be tweaked as should be the sideboard.

Regards,

Ralf

[Ceralyst]

Hey all,
I've been wanting to put together a list with arena rectors since they came out, but have not had a chance to do so until now. I'm utilizing an esper control shell for this deck, but manipulating it so the rectors can be played. I have not had any chance to test this list yet, but I really like the build, and seems like it can contend based on it's available tools.

Esper rector friends
Creatures
3 baleful strix (great blocker in the early game, and replaces itself)
3 snapcaster mage (always good to recast your spells from the GY)
3 arena rector (the namesake of the deck)

Enchantments
1 bitterblossom (recurring creatures, great for continuous blockers, and sac outlet for therapy if needed.)

Planeswalkers
Teferi, hero of dominaria (just a bad ass dude in any control deck)
Jace, the mind sculptor (auto include)
Liliana of the veil (castable, and cause sometimes u need to search up a planeswalker to remove peaty creatures)
Liliana, the last hope (can help against small creature decks, and can recur your rector or snap from the GY)
Ugin, the spirit dragon (one of the best planeswalkers to include to finish a game)
Nicol bolas, planeswalker (see ugin, the spirit dragon)

Instants
4 brainstorm (helps to put your planeswalkers back into the deck so they can be searched with rector)
3 Fatal push (easily one of the best removal spells in the format, and can kill ur own rector)
4 force of will (we are playing blue)
1 spell pierce (wasn't sure if I should play flusterstorm, spell snare, or spell pierce)
1 counterspell (its counterspell!)
2 diabolical edict (a 2 mana way to sac our rector. Chalice is a thing, and helps against other hard to remove creatures)

Sorcery
3 ponder (more cantrips)
4 cabal therapy (recurring discard, and helps us sac the rector.)
2 supreme verdict (I see some of you with terminus, and I get it, but this is uncounterable, pitches to force, and also can kill our rector. I'm in.)

Lands (exact mana base can still be altered. I went with a slightly heavier basic mana base. It allows me to be able to cast everything in my deck except the nicol bolas.)
4 flooded strand
3 polluted delta
1 marsh flats
3 underground sea
2 tundra
1 scrubland
2 island
2 swamp
2 plains

SB will def contain atleast 3 surgicals, 2 flusterstorm, a karakas, and 2 disenchants. The rest is still up in the air.
Thoughts and comments would be greatly appreciated!

[drude1]

Hey all,
I've been wanting to put together a list with arena rectors since they came out, but have not had a chance to do so until now. I'm utilizing an esper control shell for this deck, but manipulating it so the rectors can be played. I have not had any chance to test this list yet, but I really like the build, and seems like it can contend based on it's available tools.

Esper rector friends
Creatures
3 baleful strix (great blocker in the early game, and replaces itself)
3 snapcaster mage (always good to recast your spells from the GY)
3 arena rector (the namesake of the deck)

Enchantments
1 bitterblossom (recurring creatures, great for continuous blockers, and sac outlet for therapy if needed.)

Planeswalkers
Teferi, hero of dominaria (just a bad ass dude in any control deck)
Jace, the mind sculptor (auto include)
Liliana of the veil (castable, and cause sometimes u need to search up a planeswalker to remove peaty creatures)
Liliana, the last hope (can help against small creature decks, and can recur your rector or snap from the GY)
Ugin, the spirit dragon (one of the best planeswalkers to include to finish a game)
Nicol bolas, planeswalker (see ugin, the spirit dragon)

Instants
4 brainstorm (helps to put your planeswalkers back into the deck so they can be searched with rector)
3 Fatal push (easily one of the best removal spells in the format, and can kill ur own rector)
4 force of will (we are playing blue)
1 spell pierce (wasn't sure if I should play flusterstorm, spell snare, or spell pierce)
1 counterspell (its counterspell!)
2 diabolical edict (a 2 mana way to sac our rector. Chalice is a thing, and helps against other hard to remove creatures)

Sorcery
3 ponder (more cantrips)
4 cabal therapy (recurring discard, and helps us sac the rector.)
2 supreme verdict (I see some of you with terminus, and I get it, but this is uncounterable, pitches to force, and also can kill our rector. I'm in.)

Lands (exact mana base can still be altered. I went with a slightly heavier basic mana base. It allows me to be able to cast everything in my deck except the nicol bolas.)
4 flooded strand
3 polluted delta
1 marsh flats
3 underground sea
2 tundra
1 scrubland
2 island
2 swamp
2 plains

SB will def contain atleast 3 surgicals, 2 flusterstorm, a karakas, and 2 disenchants. The rest is still up in the air.
Thoughts and comments would be greatly appreciated!

We are very close on our lists actually. Here's my $0.02....

I like the baleful strix and honestly didn't really consider them. I have two ensnaring bridge main that serve a similar function. They don't draw a card but are a more solid answer to fatties from sneak & show, eldrazi, etc. and are harder to answer. Running both wouldn't be bad if we can make the room. In my list I would substitute them for the preordains. I also like the idea of edict effects and ended up adding far/away to my list. I think either is fine. Away's edict effect costs one more but the far can still answer 20/20 avatar tokens if they have another creature in play and it can bounce a meddlesome creature like scavenging ooze or our own snapcasters (or in your case baleful strix) back to hand for re-use. It is also blue so pitches to FoW. I play terminus where you play supreme verdict. I think they each have their pros and cons. I agree with your assessment of supreme verdict and I do like the fact that it pitches to FoW and kills our rectors. However, I am usually trying to "go off" at 4 mana and want to cast my board sweepers sooner than that. I also don't like the double white. In general, I think either is fine though. You have a couple more counterspells where I have inquisitions. I personally like inquisitions because they give you information about the opponent's hand, both to know that the coast is clear to sac rector (eg. no surgical) and to help the therapies hit. I love going inquisition turn 1. therapy turn 2, snapcaster inquisition and therapy turn 3. Very strong against combo decks. Problem with counterspells is they tend to get stripped from your hand by decks like storm. But again, this is a play style preference more than anything. I do like the bitterblossom a lot and as you may have seen above I was talking about either that or hoofprints in my deck as well. Had my copy in the board but main makes sense as well.

The two cards I think you really aren't going to like are the lilianas. I started with lili of the veil main and lili of last hope in SB but have since cut them both. The benefit is that you can cast them relatively easily but I had so many turns where I wouldn't activate lili of the veil because I didn't want to discard a card. Or she would kill one creature and then get wrecked. As for answering a troublesome creature, she doesn't really do anything that one of our other planeswalkers can't already do. Also, neither would ever be a planewalker I recruit for given my other choices. Lili of last hope sadly has become much more irrelevant since this ban. She is still good against D&T and maybe against elves but really does nothing against the current popular delver decks, stoneblade decks or eldrazi and is pretty useless against combo. Yes, she can get back creatures and maybe with strix in the deck this makes more sense. Rectors get exiled though so unless they are just getting discarded by your opponent you can't recur them. The only other benefit they have is that they don't die to a red blast, but again there are probably better alternatives (eg. Ob Nix). I thought Lili of the Veil may be good against combo, and it isn't terrible. Just didn't feel like enough though, especially when we kinda play like a combo deck as well. If you are going to play Lili of the Veil I would definitely switch out the counterspells for more discard as you likely won't be able to keep the counterspells in your hand.

Finally, I will also say that I started with 3 copies of rector and quickly moved up to 4. Also added the 2 preordain because you will find that you REALLY WANT TO FIND A RECTOR. The card is so broken. Especially against show and tell decks where you really want one in your hand by the time they cast show and tell. It's really hard for them to deal with that card (or the Nicol Bolas that you get when she goes to the yard). As for sideboard, I think we have similar ideas. Flusterstorm has been really good and I moved up to 2. Surgicals are obviously good. I also play containment priest as Silent Gravestone has become popular. The two decks that I have had trouble with are Turbo Depths and eldrazi. Both can be too fast for our usual removal. I would concentrate a couple SB cards for those MUs in particular. I've actually been playing around with Leyline of Sanctity in the board, as the real problem in those MUs is that they strip your answers from your hand before you get a chance to use them. In general I am seeing a lot of discard now (especially thoughtseize) and leylines are good against all of those and has good splash effect against burn and storm.

Anyway, glad someone else is on esper rector. I do think the deck has some serious potential and I have been doing pretty well with it so far. Looking forward to hearing more of your thoughts.

[walked]

I've been playing an abzan build but I like Diabolic Intent more than Edict in the rector builds. With looking into

[drude1]

I've been playing an abzan build but I like Diabolic Intent more than Edict in the rector builds. With looking intoDiabolic intent is kinda spicy. You would definitely need to play more creatures so strix makes even more sense. Obvious sac outlet for rectors. Definitely a card to consider.


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[Ceralyst]

Diabolic intent is kinda spicy. You would definitely need to play more creatures so strix makes even more sense. Obvious sac outlet for rectors. Definitely a card to consider.


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Here's my current list. Haven't had a chance to try it yet, but I am taking in some suggestions and running with them.
https://m.imgur.com/gallery/pRDtLJ0

[drude1]

Here's my current list. Haven't had a chance to try it yet, but I am taking in some suggestions and running with them.
https://m.imgur.com/gallery/pRDtLJ0We are on almost the exact same 75 now. I ended up cutting the terminus completely and am running 3/2 split of fatal push/far//gone along with 3 strix. I will probably play 1/2 sweepers main but would more likely be Marsh casualties or toxic deluge. Anyway, let me know what you think.


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[itrytostorm]

We are on almost the exact same 75 now. I ended up cutting the terminus completely and am running 3/2 split of fatal push/far//gone along with 3 strix. I will probably play 1/2 sweepers main but would more likely be Marsh casualties or toxic deluge. Anyway, let me know what you think.


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I have no idea why anyone would run Push over STP. One of the biggest advatanges of white. Their life total doesnt matter. Let's make sure we can kill any creature. Also, We have no walkers to help against combo, God-Pharoah helps with this a bit. We can splash a Volc and cast them both.

[Tristin183]

You can play a BANT Nic Fit version of this deck.

1 Forest
2 Plains
3 Island
1 Tundra
2 Savannah
2 Tropical Island
3 Windswept Heath
3 Flooded Strand
4 Misty Rainforest

4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Perilous Research
4 Force of Will

3 Arena Rector
4 Veteran Explorer

2 Engineered Explosives

3 Ground Seal

1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

2 Supreme Verdict
4 Swords to Plowshares

2 Living Wish

SB: 2 Flusterstorm
SB: 1 Negate
SB: 1 Ethersworn Canonist
SB: 1 Disenchant
SB: 1 Eternal Witness
SB: 2 Blessed Alliance
SB: 2 Path to Exile
SB: 1 Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 Cavern of Souls
SB: 1 Faerie Macabre
SB: 1 Thragtusk
SB: 1 Reclamation Sage

SB is just a pile at the moment but you should get the idea.

Perilous research is a very nice addition as it is quite synergistic with the entire deck while providing CA:
- sac veteran
- sac rector
- sac ground seal
- sac a permanent in response to a removal (land with wasteland, etc...)

Numbers might have to be tweaked on a long run.

From a pure PW point of view I cannot think something better than those 3.
We could argue that none of them are good against combo decks but they will apply pressure or provide CA.

Obviously resolving Bolas' ultimate should be game 99 % of the time.

A light "living wish" package gives the edge against many decks by providing solutions against any archetype of the format. Here again number would have to be tweaked as should be the sideboard.

Regards,

Ralf

I like this list. I think it's important to have veteran explorer or at least noble hierarch (maybe both?). At what point does sacrificing ground seal become important?

Almost begs the question of why not play nic fit? How is this deck, esper or bant, better? That shell would be the best for the rector with more mana and sac outlets.

[drude1]

First, if you want to play nic fit Rector, play nic fit rector. There are all sorts of posts in that thread. Go check it out. I just like playing with brainstorm, ponder, FoW, etc. Again, I did initially start my testing of Arena Rector with the nic fit build but personally didn't like it. I also tried playing nyx fit for a month or so but eventually gave up on that deck as well.

Second, the reason I play a split between 2 Swords/2 fatal push over 4 swords (in my most recent iteration of the deck) is that I can target my own rector with fatal push, and this is something that certainly comes up (it did this weekend).

I have updated my list a little bit (see below). I played in the side events at GP Minneapolis with this deck and went 5-0-1 on the day, beating URW stoneblade, burn, sneak and show, grixis (4 color) control and goblins. I.D.'d the last round of the last event against burn. Here is the list I played...

2 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Arena Rector
3 Baleful Strix
4 Brainstorm
2 Fatal Push
4 Force of Will
2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Echoing Truth
4 Flooded Strand
3 Island
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scrubland
2 Swamp
1 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
1 Karakas
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
3 Ponder
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Preordain

Sideboard:
1 Silent Gravestone
2 Containment Priest
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Disenchant
2 Flusterstorm
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Far // Away
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Lost Legacy
1 Toxic Deluge

As you can see, quite a few changes here. I cut the terminus for a few more spot removal spells and strix. I've actually cut down to 3 planewalkers in the main, as I really only ever found myself searching for these 3. As such, I actually moved the echoing truth to the main in order to deal with annoying things like chalice or main deck rest in peace (enchantress).

As for not having a planeswalker that's good against combo, I kind of agree. I do think N.B. God-Pharaoh could be good but I'm not sure how to slot it in. You would basically have to choose which Nicol Bolas you want to use. You definitely want the other Nicol Bolas against decks like sneak and show or eldrazi, but otherwise either could be good I guess. In truth, I generally side out the rector package entirely against decks like storm in order to bring in the hate pieces and would just win with small creature beats (this is how I beat burn).

I changed my mind on lili of last hope in the board. She is actually a pretty good "alternative win condition" against sideboarded games where your opponent is really just concentrating on not letting you resolve a rector trigger. One of the biggest benefits of this deck right now is that people just don't know how to deal with it. Also, the discard in the deck is crucial. I always try to hold one discard spell for the turn I go off in order to clear the way of surgicals, etc. It is also really good against the combo decks. This is why I would not personally switch to the bant list, as it looks to have a horrible combo match up.

The deck really performed extremely well for me over the weekend and I think I am pretty close to where I want to be. A couple changes I would make would be to cut the silent gravestone from the sideboard for either a third surgical or a grafdigger's cage. Surgical is better against reanimator decks and other combo decks (storm) but grafdigger's cage is definitely better against dredge and has splash damage against decks like elves. But I also already have the containment priests for that. Will probably play the third surgical for now as the cage also does not play well with snapcaster.

[CovenantElite30]

First, if you want to play nic fit Rector,...

Some comments and feedback from playing this deck.

1. Why not play thoughtseize, maybe 1 or 2? I had a situation in a game where I Inquisition them and they respond with a brainstorm. After they brainstorm they reveal 2 Force of Wills and a Jace. Was a very feel bad situation.

2. This deck feels like it wants Cavern of Souls, however the mana is very color specific so not sure how I would fit that in.

3. I had trouble with sideboarding, maybe you could do a write up? I wasn't sure if I take the combo out or not.

4. Drawing your 2 powerful planswalkers is a nightmare. However, Brainstorm and Jace help with that.

5. Sometimes I felt very threat light.

6. I get why your playing Ensaring Bridge, but that to me feels more like a sideboard card? I'm going to try moving them to the side and swap them for Liliana and a Clique.


Other than that the deck felt very powerful. The Phyrexian Tower was amazing and definitely a great include.

[drude1]

Some comments and feedback from playing this deck.

1. Why not play thoughtseize, maybe 1 or 2? I had a situation in a game where I Inquisition them and they respond with a brainstorm. After they brainstorm they reveal 2 Force of Wills and a Jace. Was a very feel bad situation.

2. This deck feels like it wants Cavern of Souls, however the mana is very color specific so not sure how I would fit that in.

3. I had trouble with sideboarding, maybe you could do a write up? I wasn't sure if I take the combo out or not.

4. Drawing your 2 powerful planswalkers is a nightmare. However, Brainstorm and Jace help with that.

5. Sometimes I felt very threat light.

6. I get why your playing Ensaring Bridge, but that to me feels more like a sideboard card? I'm going to try moving them to the side and swap them for Liliana and a Clique.


Other than that the deck felt very powerful. The Phyrexian Tower was amazing and definitely a great include.

Umm yeah, I was thinking about these exact same things actually. I originally didn't want to play thoughtseize because of the life loss but I've experienced the same thing now a couple times. Usually you can either bait out forces or get them with a therapy but not always.
I keep going back and forth with cavern. I had swapped it out for the karakas when I added the cliques but had a game yesterday where I really wish I hadn't.
Not much you can do about drawing your big Planeswalkers other than shuffling them away with brainstorm like you said. However, this is one of many reasons I like this version over nic fit.
Let me get back to you on a sideboard guide. I'm actually considering switching out Nicol bolas to God-Pharaoh but then would have to probably bring a teferi back in. Could see moving the Bridges to the board and adding teferi and another removal spell or v.clique.
Thanks for the feedback.

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[CovenantElite30]

Umm yeah, I was thinking about these exact same things actually...

I made some changes to your list based on our conversations. Here is where I'm at:

Maindeck (60)
3 Baleful Strix
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Arena Rector
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
4 Brainstorm
4 Cabal Therapy
2 Fatal Push
4 Ponder
2 Swords to Plowshares
4 Thoughtseize
1 Echoing Truth
4 Force of Will
2 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Cavern of Souls
4 Flooded Strand
2 Island
1 Karakas
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scrubland
2 Swamp
1 Tundra
2 Underground Sea

Sideboard (15)
2 Containment Priest
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Flusterstorm
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Disenchant
1 Far // Away
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Silent Gravestone

[Ceralyst]

Here's where Iam currently at with my build as well...
I've decided to go with the Thoughtseize as well because of the same issues you have described. I have also included the 2/2 split of swords and fatal push. However, I am experimenting with 2 vindicate in the main instead of the teferi, and echoing truth. I like the thought of being able to kill any problematic permanent I need (including my rector). I'm Not sure how it's going to pan out yet, but I'm curious to find out.

Creatures
4 Arena rector
3 baleful strix
3 snapcaster mage

Planeswalkers
1 Ugin, the spirit dragon
1 Nicol Bolas planeswalkers
1 Jace, the mind Sculptor

Removal
2 fatal push
2 swords to plowshares
1 supreme verdict
2 vindicate
1 diabolic edict

Cantrips
3 ponder
4 brainstorm

Discard
4 cabal therapy
3 Thoughtseize

Counter-magic
4 force of will

Lands
1 phyrexian tower
1 karakas
2 island
1 swamp
1 plains
2 tundra
3 underground sea
1 scrubland
4 flooded strand
4 polluted delta
1 marsh flats

SB
1 spell pierce
2 flusterstorm
1 diabolic edict
1 supreme verdict
1 null rod
2 disenchant
1 echoing truth
3 surgical extraction
1 pithing needle
1 back to basics
1 bitterblossom

[CovenantElite30]

Here's where Iam currently at with my build as well...
I've decided to go with the Thoughtseize as well because of the same issues you have described. I have also included the 2/2 split of swords and fatal push. However, I am experimenting with 2 vindicate in the main instead of the teferi, and echoing truth. I like the thought of being able to kill any problematic permanent I need (including my rector). I'm Not sure how it's going to pan out yet, but I'm curious to find out.

Creatures
4 Arena rector
3 baleful strix
3 snapcaster mage

Planeswalkers
1 Ugin, the spirit dragon
1 Nicol Bolas planeswalkers
1 Jace, the mind Sculptor

Removal
2 fatal push
2 swords to plowshares
1 supreme verdict
2 vindicate
1 diabolic edict

Cantrips
3 ponder
4 brainstorm

Discard
4 cabal therapy
3 Thoughtseize

Counter-magic
4 force of will

Lands
1 phyrexian tower
1 karakas
2 island
1 swamp
1 plains
2 tundra
3 underground sea
1 scrubland
4 flooded strand
4 polluted delta
1 marsh flats

SB
1 spell pierce
2 flusterstorm
1 diabolic edict
1 supreme verdict
1 null rod
2 disenchant
1 echoing truth
3 surgical extraction
1 pithing needle
1 back to basics
1 bitterblossom

Have you tested this deck out yet? Have you put up previous results with older builds?


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[CovenantElite30]

Been playing my list for the past couple of days. The deck is very powerful, however it seems to struggle versus the grindy matchups like Miracles. I’m considering taking out the Jace and playing a Teferi. What do you all think?


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[drude1]

Been playing my list for the past couple of days. The deck is very powerful, however it seems to struggle versus the grindy matchups like Miracles. I’m considering taking out the Jace and playing a Teferi. What do you all think?


Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkHey, was on vacation so no updates, sorry. I did play around with my list and ended up moving the Bridges to the SB to add the teferi back and added the toxic deluge to the main as well. Then switched Nicol bolas to god-pharoah. Will post the entire list tomorrow.

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[drude1]

So here is the list I'm going to try for a while:

// Esper Rector

// 60 Maindeck
// 10 Creature
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Arena Rector
3 Baleful Strix

// 1 Enchantment
1 Search for Azcanta

// 13 Instant
4 Brainstorm
2 Fatal Push
4 Force of Will
2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Echoing Truth

// 20 Land
4 Flooded Strand
3 Island
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scrubland
2 Swamp
1 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
1 Cavern of Souls

// 4 Planeswalker
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria

// 12 Sorcery
4 Ponder
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Thoughtseize
1 Toxic Deluge


// 15 Sideboard
SB: 2 Ensnaring Bridge
SB: 2 Containment Priest
SB: 1 Vendilion Clique
SB: 4 Leyline of Sanctity
SB: 2 Disenchant
SB: 3 Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 Liliana, the Last Hope

I really wanted to try Nicol Bolas - God Pharaoh for the combo and control MUs. I figure Ugin can take care of opponents where there is a heavy board presence and god-pharaoh can do the rest. It isn't nearly as good as the other Nicol Bolas against show and tell so I did add teferi back in to deal with pesky larger or colorless permanents. So, I moved the ensnaring bridges to the board (it seemed like they were getting answered a lot anyway) and went from the 3/2 split of ponder and preordain back up to 4 ponder and 1 search for azcanta. The search should help in the Miracles MU and is just so good with teferi that it's hard not to play. I'll see how that goes. I might end up going back to the preordains though. Speaking of the Miracles MU, I haven't played it much but it seems like it should actually be a good MU. All of our main threats are planeswalkers, which are hard for them to deal with. I really haven't had any problems in the few times I've played it. Just make sure you are fetching basics and hold a discard spell for when you want to play the rector. The match up I've had some trouble with is the discard heavy decks like Grixis control. I'm going to try leyline of sanctity in the board to try to shore up that MU as well as STORM and burn. I'll see how that goes.

[CovenantElite30]

So here is the list I'm going to try for a while:

// Esper Rector

// 60 Maindeck
// 10 Creature
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Arena Rector
3 Baleful Strix

// 1 Enchantment
1 Search for Azcanta

// 13 Instant
4 Brainstorm
2 Fatal Push
4 Force of Will
2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Echoing Truth

// 20 Land
4 Flooded Strand
3 Island
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scrubland
2 Swamp
1 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
1 Cavern of Souls

// 4 Planeswalker
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria

// 12 Sorcery
4 Ponder
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Thoughtseize
1 Toxic Deluge


// 15 Sideboard
SB: 2 Ensnaring Bridge
SB: 2 Containment Priest
SB: 1 Vendilion Clique
SB: 4 Leyline of Sanctity
SB: 2 Disenchant
SB: 3 Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 Liliana, the Last Hope


I like the changes. I've been considering Search for Azcanta. I found against miracles if they get counter balance out I tend to run out of cards as they are able to counter most of spells. I found Ensnaring Bridge to be awesome in the main, it's saved my A$$ more times than not. Teferi has been an ALL-Star, I took out a Jace for it. The sideboard I'm still trying to figure out. You might want to try Ethersworn Canonist in your side. That card has been great in a lot of the combo heavy matchups.

[drude1]

I like the changes. I've been considering Search for Azcanta. I found against miracles if they get counter balance out I tend to run out of cards as they are able to counter most of spells. I found Ensnaring Bridge to be awesome in the main, it's saved my A$$ more times than not. Teferi has been an ALL-Star, I took out a Jace for it. The sideboard I'm still trying to figure out. You might want to try Ethersworn Canonist in your side. That card has been great in a lot of the combo heavy matchups.Yeah, I'm still struggling with bridge main vs SB. It feels kinda clunky but sometimes it can be very good. At three mana, it tends to get stepped or countered more easily. Depends on how popular Eldrazi stays.
The other deck I play routinely is R/W painter, so I love me some canonist. However, in this deck it shuts off snapcaster so I ended up cutting it from my original list. Gonna see how these leylines work for now.


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[CovenantElite30]

Yeah, I'm still struggling with bridge main vs SB. It feels kinda clunky but sometimes it can be very good. At three mana, it tends to get stepped or countered more easily. Depends on how popular Eldrazi stays.
The other deck I play routinely is R/W painter, so I love me some canonist. However, in this deck it shuts off snapcaster so I ended up cutting it from my original list. Gonna see how these leylines work for now.


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So you have a sideboarding guide? Also I want to put together a list of Cabal Therapy targets to blindly call out.


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[Ceralyst]

Have you tested this deck out yet? Have you put up previous results with older builds?
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This is the first time I really got to test the deck.
Went 3-1 with it beating grixis shadow 2-0, maverick 2-1, and elves 2-1, but then losing to eldrazi 0-2.

Matchup 1 vs Grixis Death shadow: I was on the play.
G1: came down to controlling the threats on board with my removal, and finishing the game with a rector into nicolbolas, stealing my opps deaths shadow while I was at 6 life, and then attacking with it for lethal the following turn.
In:back to basics, echoing truth, spell pierce, bitterblossom
Out: 3x Thoughtseize, arena rector,
G2: he thoughtseized me taking rector, and then surgical extracted my rectors. Turn 3 or 4 I had bitterblossom and back to basics in my hand. I valued the creature generation over the ability to tap down his lands, so I lead with back to basics when he was just about tapped out which forced him to FOW my back to basics. I followed it up next turn with a bitterblossom which stuck. I then had enough creatures and removal to deal with his threats, and dealt enough damage with my creatures to win through his own self mutilation.

Matchup 2 vs Maverick: I was on the draw.
G1: he went turn 2 gaddock teeg. I had an arena rector out on turn 4, but drew my ugin the turn I was going rector it into play (I also had Jace in hand). I ended up getting Nicol Bolas to take out his jitte, but he then played a sword of fire and ice which he attached to one of his creatures and was able to kill nicol in one attack phase. I had a chance in the next 2 turns if I could find a supreme verdict or brainstorm, but came up short.
In: pithing needle, supreme verdict, 2 x disenchant, back to basics, 2 x surgical extraction, bitterblossom.
Out: 3x Thoughtseize, diabolic edict, 4 x force of will
G2: on the play. Game played out much smoother where my draws came together to where I was able to cabal therapy for swords to plowshares on turn 4, I missed, but he had a surgical extraction. I held a rector for next turn with a phyrexian tower in hand, So I played my snapcaster mage while tapped out and targeted ponder. No responses...Then flashed back therapy. not sure why opp didn't cast the surgical in response to the snapcaster, maybe he didn't think I was going to sac it to play the therapy? Could be lack of knowledge about my deck? I'm not sure, either way next turn I landed my rector, sacrificed it to the tower and got ugin. GG

G3:
Opp mulled to 6, I kept 7
He played a dryad arbor and passed, I played a fetch, went for a swamp and fatal pushed the arbor. Turn 2 he played a Savannah and passed. I played another fetch for an island and played a strix - pass, turn 3 he plays wasteland pass. I go scrubland vindicate the Savannah pass. He plays another wasteland, wastes my scrubland then passes. I playout another fetch, search for my plains, ponder, then cabal therapy him for surgical extraction. I miss, but he has 2 StP's. I gamble that he doesn't find a white source next turn, so I attack and pass. He misses his land drop, I play out rector flashback therapy naming stp get ugin and it's GG.

Match 3 vs Elves:
Game 1:I was on the play, and I have have enough discard and spot removal to slow him down then draw into my supreme verdict to Wipe the rest of the creatures off of the board. He's down to 1 card in hand and I get my rector out, sac it and get ugin. He concedes.
In: supreme verdict, echoing truth
Out : Thoughtseize, diabolic edict
Game 2: I mulled to 5, and he has a broken start and kills me turn 3.
Game 3: basically the same scenario as game one.

Match 4 vs eldrazi stompy
Game 1: he was on the play and goes turn 1 chalice and passed. My hand was filled with cantrips and spot removal. No good against chalice. I wait a few turns to see how the game develops before conceding.
In: 2 x disenchant, supreme verdict, back to basics, echoing truth
Out: 3 x Thoughtseize, ugin, 1 force of will
Game 2: I lead off with a fetch and passed. He played an eye of ugin and a mimic then passed. Turn 2 I played another fetch played a strix and passed. He played a cavern of souls and a matter reshaper, and passed. Turn 3 I played an underground sea, pondered, shuffled and drew a card - still no removal- pass. He plays a sol land and endless one for 5, and attacks for his mimic and matter reshaper. I tradethe 5/5 mimic with my strix. Turn 4 I play arena rector and pass. I have no way to put it into the graveyard other than a block from an attack. He then casts dismember on the rector. And I concede.

All in all, the deck felt solid. The only match where I felt like I was truly out of it was eldrazi. I'm not sure if it's correct to be taking my discard out in so many matchups, but it seemed like the worst card. I'm not sure if my sideboarding was even correct in general. This was my first time taking her out for a spin, so It should only get better with time. I had a few opponents remark that the deck was really cool though.

[CovenantElite30]

This is the first time I really got to test the deck.
Went 3-1 with it beating grixis shadow 2-0, maverick 2-1, and elves 2-1, but then losing to eldrazi 0-2.

Matchup 1 vs Grixis Death shadow: I was on the play.
G1: came down to controlling the threats on board with my removal, and finishing the game with a rector into nicolbolas, stealing my opps deaths shadow while I was at 6 life, and then attacking with it for lethal the following turn.
In:back to basics, echoing truth, spell pierce, bitterblossom
Out: 3x Thoughtseize, arena rector,
G2: he thoughtseized me taking rector, and then surgical extracted my rectors. Turn 3 or 4 I had bitterblossom and back to basics in my hand. I valued the creature generation over the ability to tap down his lands, so I lead with back to basics when he was just about tapped out which forced him to FOW my back to basics. I followed it up next turn with a bitterblossom which stuck. I then had enough creatures and removal to deal with his threats, and dealt enough damage with my creatures to win through his own self mutilation.

Matchup 2 vs Maverick: I was on the draw.
G1: he went turn 2 gaddock teeg. I had an arena rector out on turn 4, but drew my ugin the turn I was going rector it into play (I also had Jace in hand). I ended up getting Nicol Bolas to take out his jitte, but he then played a sword of fire and ice which he attached to one of his creatures and was able to kill nicol in one attack phase. I had a chance in the next 2 turns if I could find a supreme verdict or brainstorm, but came up short.
In: pithing needle, supreme verdict, 2 x disenchant, back to basics, 2 x surgical extraction, bitterblossom.
Out: 3x Thoughtseize, diabolic edict, 4 x force of will
G2: on the play. Game played out much smoother where my draws came together to where I was able to cabal therapy for swords to plowshares on turn 4, I missed, but he had a surgical extraction. I held a rector for next turn with a phyrexian tower in hand, So I played my snapcaster mage while tapped out and targeted ponder. No responses...Then flashed back therapy. not sure why opp didn't cast the surgical in response to the snapcaster, maybe he didn't think I was going to sac it to play the therapy? Could be lack of knowledge about my deck? I'm not sure, either way next turn I landed my rector, sacrificed it to the tower and got ugin. GG

G3:
Opp mulled to 6, I kept 7
He played a dryad arbor and passed, I played a fetch, went for a swamp and fatal pushed the arbor. Turn 2 he played a Savannah and passed. I played another fetch for an island and played a strix - pass, turn 3 he plays wasteland pass. I go scrubland vindicate the Savannah pass. He plays another wasteland, wastes my scrubland then passes. I playout another fetch, search for my plains, ponder, then cabal therapy him for surgical extraction. I miss, but he has 2 StP's. I gamble that he doesn't find a white source next turn, so I attack and pass. He misses his land drop, I play out rector flashback therapy naming stp get ugin and it's GG.

Match 3 vs Elves:
Game 1:I was on the play, and I have have enough discard and spot removal to slow him down then draw into my supreme verdict to Wipe the rest of the creatures off of the board. He's down to 1 card in hand and I get my rector out, sac it and get ugin. He concedes.
In: supreme verdict, echoing truth
Out : Thoughtseize, diabolic edict
Game 2: I mulled to 5, and he has a broken start and kills me turn 3.
Game 3: basically the same scenario as game one.

Match 4 vs eldrazi stompy
Game 1: he was on the play and goes turn 1 chalice and passed. My hand was filled with cantrips and spot removal. No good against chalice. I wait a few turns to see how the game develops before conceding.
In: 2 x disenchant, supreme verdict, back to basics, echoing truth
Out: 3 x Thoughtseize, ugin, 1 force of will
Game 2: I lead off with a fetch and passed. He played an eye of ugin and a mimic then passed. Turn 2 I played another fetch played a strix and passed. He played a cavern of souls and a matter reshaper, and passed. Turn 3 I played an underground sea, pondered, shuffled and drew a card - still no removal- pass. He plays a sol land and endless one for 5, and attacks for his mimic and matter reshaper. I tradethe 5/5 mimic with my strix. Turn 4 I play arena rector and pass. I have no way to put it into the graveyard other than a block from an attack. He then casts dismember on the rector. And I concede.

All in all, the deck felt solid. The only match where I felt like I was truly out of it was eldrazi. I'm not sure if it's correct to be taking my discard out in so many matchups, but it seemed like the worst card. I'm not sure if my sideboarding was even correct in general. This was my first time taking her out for a spin, so It should only get better with time. I had a few opponents remark that the deck was really cool though.

Nice write up. How do you like the back to basics in the side?

Having main deck Ensnaring Bridge will help sure up your Eldrazi matchup.

[CovenantElite30]

About ready to call it quits on this deck. I’m 15 Matches in and I have a match win rate of 25%. I will say my first game win rate is around 55%. What I’ve found with this deck is it tends to just shit on itself. The deck has terrible opening hands sometimes where you get all of your planswalkers. I’ve also noticed that any mana disruptive decks can really mess with our game plan. When the deck works it does so very well. The sideboard is a bit of a mess as well. I’m going to tweak the deck a little. But unless I start figuring out what the heck I’m doing wrong I may have to move on from this.

Here is my current list:

Maindeck (60)
3 Baleful Strix
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Arena Rector

1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

4 Brainstorm
4 Cabal Therapy
2 Fatal Push
1 Innocent Blood
3 Ponder
2 Swords to Plowshares
2 Thoughtseize
1 Echoing Truth
2 Supreme Verdict
4 Force of Will
2 Search for Azcanta

4 Flooded Strand
3 Island
1 Phyrexian Tower
2 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scrubland
2 Swamp
1 Tundra
2 Underground Sea

Sideboard (15)
2 Containment Priest
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Flusterstorm
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Disenchant
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Massacre



Shared via TopDecked MTGhttps://www.topdecked.me/decks/0193f679-832d-4ede-b4b3-df4e79b43a79


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[drude1]

About ready to call it quits on this deck. I’m 15 Matches in and I have a match win rate of 25%. I will say my first game win rate is around 55%. What I’ve found with this deck is it tends to just shit on itself. The deck has terrible opening hands sometimes where you get all of your planswalkers. I’ve also noticed that any mana disruptive decks can really mess with our game plan. When the deck works it does so very well. The sideboard is a bit of a mess as well. I’m going to tweak the deck a little. But unless I start figuring out what the heck I’m doing wrong I may have to move on from this.

Here is my current list:

Maindeck (60)
3 Baleful Strix
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Arena Rector

1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

4 Brainstorm
4 Cabal Therapy
2 Fatal Push
1 Innocent Blood
3 Ponder
2 Swords to Plowshares
2 Thoughtseize
1 Echoing Truth
2 Supreme Verdict
4 Force of Will
2 Search for Azcanta

4 Flooded Strand
3 Island
1 Phyrexian Tower
2 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scrubland
2 Swamp
1 Tundra
2 Underground Sea

Sideboard (15)
2 Containment Priest
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Flusterstorm
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Disenchant
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Massacre



Shared via TopDecked MTGhttps://www.topdecked.me/decks/0193f679-832d-4ede-b4b3-df4e79b43a79


Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkThat's strange. I've still actually been doing really well with the deck and yesterday went undefeated against grixis shadow twice, RUG delver and d&t. Just make sure you Mulligan appropriately and fetch basics. I will say the leylines have been really good as a lot of people are on discard with all the shadow decks now popular. The first thing I would tell you is increase your can trip count to increase consistency. In your list I would take out 1 search for azcanta and maybe move one of your removal spells to the board for 2 preordain. That will help you find lands or necessary answers to things.

One other change I am trying right now is 2 copies of collective brutality. So I am on...
2 x thoughtseize
2 x collective brutality
4 x cabal therapy

Another thing I was thinking about was the Japanese style semi-transformational SB with 4 x thing in the ice and 2-3 x v.clique. this would be good against creature heavy decks.

Anyway, hope you have better luck.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[CovenantElite30]

That's strange. I've still actually been doing really well with the deck and yesterday went undefeated against grixis shadow twice, RUG delver and d&t. Just make sure you Mulligan appropriately and fetch basics. I will say the leylines have been really good as a lot of people are on discard with all the shadow decks now popular. The first thing I would tell you is increase your can trip count to increase consistency. In your list I would take out 1 search for azcanta and maybe move one of your removal spells to the board for 2 preordain. That will help you find lands or necessary answers to things.

One other change I am trying right now is 2 copies of collective brutality. So I am on...
2 x thoughtseize
2 x collective brutality
4 x cabal therapy

Another thing I was thinking about was the Japanese style semi-transformational SB with 4 x thing in the ice and 2-3 x v.clique. this would be good against creature heavy decks.

Anyway, hope you have better luck.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

Do you think it would be too radical of a move to play 8 Leylines in the board? Sounds like in the currently meta I could just side out 4 force of wills and just play 4 of whatever Leyline is better for the matchup. Thoughts?

[drude1]

Continuing to work on the deck. Here is my current list:

// Esper Rector

// 60 Maindeck
// 10 Creature
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Arena Rector
3 Baleful Strix

// 14 Instant
4 Brainstorm
2 Fatal Push
4 Force of Will
3 Swords to Plowshares
1 Echoing Truth

// 20 Land
4 Flooded Strand
3 Island
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scrubland
2 Swamp
1 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
1 Cavern of Souls

// 3 Planeswalker
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

// 13 Sorcery
3 Ponder
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Thoughtseize
2 Preordain
1 Collective Brutality (probably swapping for a board sweep such as supreme verdict or deluge or a bridge)


// 15 Sideboard

SB: 2 Ensnaring Bridge (may do 1/1 split with a Dread of Night)
SB: 1 Containment Priest
SB: 1 Vendilion Clique
SB: 4 Leyline of Sanctity
SB: 2 Disenchant
SB: 3 Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 Liliana, the Last Hope
SB: 1 Lost Legacy

Deck is still performing well overall. I did notice a real problem with Eldrazi Post decks. So, reverted back to Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker and cut the Teferi and Search for Azcanta...again. The deck really needs consistency so I'm up to 4 brainstorm, 3 ponder, 2 preordain. I actually really like the preordain since it buries the planewalkers you don't want to draw. In that sense it's almost better than ponder. Of course ponder just lets you see more cards. I did add a collective brutality as a combo creature removal/discard spell and it's been pretty good. It can also kill a rector which is something I like. However, may need more of a mass creature control card there like verdict/deluge/bridge. Am also trying lost legacy in the board as it helps shore up combo matchups, gets Ulamogs out of the eldrazi post decks and doubles as graveyard hate for things like loam, bridge from below, ichorid, etc.

BTW, I am planning on going to GP Richmond and will either be on this deck or painter, and right now this deck is performing much better.

@covenantelite: I did see your PM and replied.

[Rook1e]

I really want Arena Rector to be a thing, and for the most part, I like where you are going with your list. However, I find it pretty ambitious to only play 20 lands when the entire gameplan is to resolve a 4-drop. Do you ever find yourself short on lands?

EDIT: Also, I think it is wrong not to play the full 3 Strix. That card is secretly the best card in Legacy, and playing anything less than 4 just seems wrong.

[drude1]

I really want Arena Rector to be a thing, and for the most part, I like where you are going with your list. However, I find it pretty ambitious to only play 20 lands when the entire gameplan is to resolve a 4-drop. Do you ever find yourself short on lands?

EDIT: Also, I think it is wrong not to play the full 3 Strix. That card is secretly the best card in Legacy, and playing anything less than 4 just seems wrong.


I will say that I keep a lot of 1-2 land hands just because I have a lot of cantrips in the deck. I mostly fetch for basics so I usually don't get wasted out. It would be resonable to go down to 8 cantrips (not counting strix) and add a 21st land if you wanted to. I honestly haven't had that much of an issue so far though. In fact, I just finished beating goblins 2-0 and in game one kept a one lander but had 3 cantrips in my opener.

As for strix, yes, a very good card but given the amount of creature removal most decks play, it is only live against my strix and snapcaster so mine don't stay on the board very long. Not to mention Liliana, the last hope is getting really popular again and strix just sucks against her. Honestly, I just don't have the room for the 4th.

Also, I am definitely cutting the brutality for a deluge in the main.

[CovenantElite30]

I will say that I keep a lot of 1-2 land hands just because I have a lot of cantrips in the deck. I mostly fetch for basics so I usually don't get wasted out. It would be resonable to go down to 8 cantrips (not counting strix) and add a 21st land if you wanted to. I honestly haven't had that much of an issue so far though. In fact, I just finished beating goblins 2-0 and in game one kept a one lander but had 3 cantrips in my opener.

As for strix, yes, a very good card but given the amount of creature removal most decks play, it is only live against my strix and snapcaster so mine don't stay on the board very long. Not to mention Liliana, the last hope is getting really popular again and strix just sucks against her. Honestly, I just don't have the room for the 4th.

Also, I am definitely cutting the brutality for a deluge in the main.

How's the deck been performing? I'm going to be taking this deck to a 1k I have at the end of the month. Still not set on the specific configurations yet. Have you ran this deck through any leagues online yet?

[drude1]

Played the deck again at my LGS last night. Went 3-1 but tie breakers got me into top 4 so cashed. Beat nyx fit, jeskai stoneblade and grixis control and lost to infect in 3. Played sloppy but learned a lot about valuing cards and sequencing lands. Will post my newest list and more details tomorrow. Best compliment I got was from grixis player saying "I've never seen this deck. I have no idea how to even play against it". Think I'll be running it at GP. However, bad news is i did lose a game against jeskai AFTER resolving a rector trigger.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[Mr. Headshot]

Looking forward to your new decklist and comments

[Tristin183]

My list in testing right now
61 cards:

22 Lands

3 strand
3 delta
2 heath
2 trop
2 tundra
2 u sea
1 savannah
1 scrubland
1 plains
1 swamp
1 island
1 phyrexian tower
1 karakas
1 cavern

12 Creatures

1 snapcaster
3 strix
4 noble hierarch
4 arena rector

24 Spells

4 force of will
2 pierce
1 counterspell
4 BS
3 ponder
4 StP
2 cabal therapy
2 tendrils of despair
1 fatal push
1 crop rotation

3 PW

1 Jace
1 Ugin
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker

SB
3 mentor (or maybe TNN?)
2 thoughtseize
2 zealous persecution
2 surgical
1 graffdigger's cage
1 ground seal
2 flusterstorm
2 krosan grip

Green splash for crop rotation and nobles to get our rector faster and with cavern for miracles and counter heavy games. Maybe I will cut a ponder to get down to 60 cards. Nobles, Snapcaster, and Rector are all human for cavern. It was originially birds, but I felt that black was not as important as much as a higher chance to get the dork.

I want mentor or TNN in the deck to speed up the clock and shift gears if I need. Maybe that is the wrong play for the deck. Maybe is should be some utility walkers like Elspeth, Sun's Champion or Liliana, Veil or Last Hope, These are still possible, but not as game-winning in some regards. SB Is kind of bogus. I think ground swell is important because it allows rector triggers to still happen while blanking their cards. Maybe adding a Supreme Verdict would be good in the board.

[Ralf]

For the record: you can bolt your own rector with Ugin to get Bolas on the board.

Happened quite a few times.

[drude1]

Here's my newest list:

// Esper Rector

// 60 Maindeck

3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Arena Rector
3 Baleful Strix
4 Brainstorm
1 Fatal Push
4 Force of Will
3 Swords to Plowshares
1 Echoing Truth
1 Murderous Cut
3 Ponder
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Thoughtseize
2 Preordain
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
4 Flooded Strand
3 Island
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scrubland
2 Swamp
1 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Volcanic Island


// 15 Sideboard

SB: 2 Ensnaring Bridge
SB: 1 Null Rod
SB: 1 Containment Priest
SB: 1 Vendilion Clique
SB: 4 Leyline of Sanctity
SB: 1 Disenchant
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 Liliana, the Last Hope
SB: 1 Lost Legacy
SB: 1 Toxic Deluge

Swapped out a fatal push for a murderous cut as more of a catch all and something that plays around Sanctum Prelate and still hits angler while more easily hitting my rector. Added my 21st land (volcanic island to hard cast Nicol bolas. It's come up a couple times), cutting the collective brutality. Sideboard is a little different as well as I'm trying to fortify the Eldrazi matchup some.

[lucacip88]

mtggoldfish has put on this list

Creatures (10)
4 Veteran Explorer
3 Academy Rector
3 Arena Rector
Planeswalkers (5)
1 Karn Liberated
1 Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Spells (15)
4 Cabal Therapy
1 Thoughtseize
3 Collective Brutality
4 Living Wish
3 Eureka
Enchantments (8)
1 Evolutionary Leap
1 Sylvan Library
1 Curse of Death's Hold
1 Dovescape
1 Cruel Reality
1 Overwhelming Splendor
1 Sandwurm Convergence
1 Omniscience
Lands (22)
1 Ancient Tomb
2 Bayou
4 Forest
2 Phyrexian Tower
1 Plains
1 Savannah
1 Scrubland
2 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath

Sideboard (15)
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Karakas
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
2 Thoughtseize
2 Reclamation Sage
1 Academy Rector
1 Arena Rector
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

I tried it and I must say that it runs very well :wink:

[deragun]

I've been monitoring this thread for a while, and decided to put the deck together. I sleeved up @drude1's latest list without any changes.

Made the unwise decision to play the deck at a local monthly tournament having only done a handful of goldfishing, thus I was really figuring out the deck as I went. So, unsurprisingly, I didn't do particularly well, but I did better than expected honestly. First game was against D&T, and drew (only 5 min to try for game 3 and got into pretty even stalled boardstate, but overall MU seems good). Then beat UB Shadow (stole DS with both us of at 3 and he only had an angler otherwise, then blind hit 2x gurmag with a T2 therapy in G2). Lost to Grixis Delver in 2 (bitterblossom MD was lights out), then lost to an esper control deck in 3 (Search/Lingering Souls/Jace proved very hard to deal with), lost against Grixis Control in 2 (LtLH was a huge problem), and got a bye for final round.

Deck was TONS of fun, and I plan to keep going with it for the forseeable future. However, I have some questions for anyone that's played the deck more than I have.

1) How are you all dealing with go-wide strategies? Bitterblossom/LtLH/Souls/etc all wrecked me. Maybe I shouldn't take out the thoughtseize G2/G3 as much, but I really felt like I wanted more sweepers or general permanent removal frequently. Otherwise it seems like FoW, or Echoing Truth + Therapy are the only options.

2) How do you board against Grixis Control (and other MUs you want the leylines for anti-discard)? I swapped thoughtseizes and a FoW for the 4 leylines to blank their added discard, but then got wrecked by the go-wide cards.

3) @drude1, can you explain why you went down to 1 Tower when you originally had 2? I didn't have much trouble getting to 4 mana, but did have trouble getting to 5 in time (so I could TS/Therapy the turn I try to go off or cast rector and push/cut/etc). So the more frequent ramp potential seems really enticing to me. Was it purely to reduce wasteland hits? Or does the ramp not work out in practice how good it seems in theory?

4) Also, @drude1, I'm curious to hear more detail on your switch from terminus to more spot removal...where I'm sitting with my limited experience is that having more sweepers seems so necessary with so many people running these go-wide cards MD.


I'll be running it again at my usual weekly tonight with just a few changes. Planeswalkers/Enchantments being frequent trouble, I'm going to try Councils' Judgement instead of Cut. I'm not sold on the Volc as so far I've never gotten to 8 lands anyway, and since I didn't seem to have mana screw issues with all the cantrips, I'll try running just 20 lands and put in a Deluge MD. Only SB change I'm trying is a 2nd LtLH in place of 4th Leyline. As she buys back a discarded Rector it seems to somewhat serve a similar purpose and she's either a great alt win-con, or guaranteed counter bait to clear the way for next turn Rector.

Anyway, thanks to all for the work put into this esper version so far!

[drude1]

Sorry I haven't been contributing much to the thread recently. Been busy with other endeavors. Anyway, I did end up playing the deck at the Richmond GP and didn't do very well. What I realized is that, although the deck is generally very good at controlling the board, it's a little short on win conditions and sometimes planeswalkers alone don't get the job done. Had one MU against Merfolk in particular where my opponent couldn't keep any creature on the board but ended up killing me with man-lands. So, I've since made a couple changes as well. Primarily I added back the 2 monastery mentors to the main, cutting one rector and one snapcaster. I also did work a search for azcanta back into the main, cutting 1 preordain. Finally, I changed SB around quite a bit. I cut the leylines again to add flusterstorms, back to basics and 2 bridges. This is my current SB:

1 containment priest
1 vendilion clique
2 flusterstorm
3 surgical extraction (would consider cutting one for the lost legacy, depending on meta)
2 disenchant
1 null rod
2 ensnaring bridge
1 liliana, the last hope
1 toxic deluge
1 back to basics

Kinda wanting to move the echoing truth to the board and playing one main engineered explosives as well.

@deragun:

Glad you at least enjoyed yourself playing the deck:). As for your questions...
1. go wide strategies - This is part of the reason I wanted the mentors. board sweepers aren't that great unless you are playing against elves or goblins. Sources like bitterblossom just start over. The most obvious answer is Ugin. Ugin is by far the most common planeswalker I fetch with rector as it always turns around a bad position. bridges and deluge also help out of the SB if you are getting swarmed quickly. Most popular strategies in legacy now though like delver or death's shadow are best dealt with using spot removal. This is why I didn't like terminus in my initial testing. I would rather just use spot removal as needed than trying to set up the perfect terminus. As for siding out thoughtseize, I never ever do this. In fact, another idea I'm playing with is cutting down to 3 FoW for 4 thoughtseize. The card has been really impressive and makes the therapies so much better.

2. against Grixis control - this was probably the main reason I was playing leylines as they are really good against that deck. Having said that, with my current build I usually bring in back to basics, liliana, and 2 flusterstorm and cut a couple FoWs, the search and maybe the preordain. Try to fluster or hide your important cards against their discard. They don't have a whole lot of threats so usually you can control their side of the board until we hit a rector or planeswalker. This is probably the matchup that I have straight out hardcast the Nicol Bolas (did it in a match today) and why I still play with a volcanic in the deck.

3. why 1 tower - I went down to 1 tower because it's mostly a colorless mana. That and it dies to wasteland and back to basics, both of which are really gaining in popularity. Right now my lands look like this:

9 fetches
3 island
2 swamp
1 plains
4 duals (one of each color combo plus the volcanic.)
1 tower
1 Cavern of Souls
(1 Search for Azcanta)

This is 21.5 lands by my calculation. If I were to cut a land it would be the volcanic to add another preordain so that I can find my land drops. I was just finding that occasionally I would be getting land screwed. Don't think I would cut a land for another "business spell" though. I don't feel like I have to get to 5 land as I like to strip my opponent's hand with thoughtseize/therapy on the first couple turns while killing their creatures and cantriping and then drop an answer on turn 4, either a rector with flashback therapy or mentor plus spell to make a monk. Obviously not every game goes like this but that's best case scenario. I don't know what piece of ramp I would play. I certainly don't want to add green just for a mana dork. I like playing more of a control style game (like Miracles) for the first few turns and just don't miss land drops if possible.

4. terminus switch - think i addressed this above.

If I implement all the changes I want, this would be my most current list:
// Esper Rector

// 60 Maindeck
// 1 Artifact
1 Engineered Explosives

// 10 Creature
2 Snapcaster Mage
3 Arena Rector
3 Baleful Strix
2 Monastery Mentor

// 1 Enchantment
1 Search for Azcanta

// 13 Instant
4 Brainstorm
2 Fatal Push
4 Force of Will
3 Swords to Plowshares

// 21 Land
4 Flooded Strand
3 Island
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scrubland
2 Swamp
1 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Volcanic Island
1 Marsh Flats

// 3 Planeswalker
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

// 11 Sorcery
3 Ponder
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Thoughtseize
1 Preordain


// 15 Sideboard

SB: 2 Ensnaring Bridge
SB: 1 Null Rod
SB: 1 Containment Priest
SB: 1 Vendilion Clique
SB: 1 Back to Basics
SB: 1 Disenchant
SB: 3 Surgical Extraction
SB: 2 Flusterstorm
SB: 1 Echoing Truth
SB: 1 Liliana, the Last Hope
SB: 1 Toxic Deluge

[JackaBo]

Hello
I’m putting this together due to how many uw decks there are right now. This deck most certainly should beat up the control mirror while still being decent versus the rest of the field.
My plan is to play only strix and rectors mainboard. Strix are great vs fair and can Flashback therapy versus unfair.
I dont think the main plan is good vs unfair though, thus 3 mentors and 2 cb will be in the board. Im planning on only playing Ugin as a high end PW and Teferi as a castable PW. Then 2 Jace and 2 last hopes.

[deragun]

@JackaBo

That seems like it could work to me. Vs Shadow I haven't found Ugin to be too good as they usually can get a shadow and gurmag out by the time we can sac a rector, and then the options are symmetical board wipe, or they keep an angler. I've been instead going for NB, Pwkr to steal the larger of the 2 (depending on your life total), and have won all 3 matches I've faced so far with this line. But Teferi's -3 might be a good enough replacement if you have a fast enough clock otherwise.

Also, I completely agree with @drude1's assessment that previous versions of the list need a few more threats. You might want 1-2 of the mentors main. I unlocked a new life achievement last week while running the mentor-less version....a G1 draw vs Miracles. We just kept trading back and forth. I dealt with 2 near ult ready Jaces in time, and by the time he got the 3rd online, he had to ult himself to keep his library from fully depleting. He had 1 card in his library after drawing on turn 5 of turns. With the added threats of Mentor/LtLH this should be shored up.

[drude1]

Yeah, I really think you are going to want one of the bolas' main. If you are worried about non-fair decks like STORM, etc, then play NB God-Pharaoh so you can just have them start discarding 2 a turn. NB, planeswalker is really good against creature-cheat decks like reanimator and show and tell. They play show and tell. You drop rector and next turn steal their fatty. I've done it many times. I do actually like Teferi quite a bit as well and wouldn't begrudge anyone for playing it. I've gone back and forth. If you are playing that many planeswalkers you might be able to get by with the mentors in the SB but you definitely want them somewhere. Definitely interested in what you come up with.

[JackaBo]

Thanks for the feedback. Regarding NB how often have you been annoyed with not being able hade cast him?


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[drude1]

I actually play a Volcanic in my list so that I can hard cast him. It doesn't come up a ton but it does definitely come up. I was also gonna mention that NB is definitely you're premature path of winning against eldrazi decks which is one of the deck's worst match ups.

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[deragun]

Figured I'd put in an update as I've been running the deck at my local weekly since my last posts. I have yet to face Eldrazi myself, but I can say in my experience many artifact heavy decks can be a pretty bad matchup as well. I've lost to both Stax and Mono-R Painter where it didn't feel like I had much of a shot due to lack of ability to interact. But otherwise I feel like I'm getting a better handle on the deck, and many other matchups feel pretty good.

Last night I went 3-0 (4-0 if you count a for fun match before tournament started). I was able to beat a weathered wayfarer/fathom seer based UW Blade list (in 3, G2 he got double TNN out too quick for me to race), then beat D&T, and finally beat Legacy Humans. Mentor has been critical in so many ways. Baited out FoW for a clear Rector next turn, one of my wins against D&T was by winning the race with Mentor/Monk beats, and it let me stall the game long enough to find an answer G3 against D&T where he landed a RIP T4. The for fun match was against UW delver and was able to win in 2.

I've been running the latest list @Drude1 posted with 1 difference. I don't have a Search for Azcanta, so I'm running the 4th rector instead. All 3 decks I faced last night were wasteland decks, and I really didn't feel any trouble developing my mana, so for now I think I like keeping the 4th Rector.

Now I just can't wait until they print a planeswalker with either a + ability that destroys/takes control of a colorless permanent, or has a board wipe effect for colorless permanents! :laugh:

[drude1]

Nice finish! I'm still playing the deck and it had been performing well. I've actually been going back and forth between playing the mentors in the main vs the board. Having them in the boards makes the deck feel a little more "transitional" as sometimes opponents with cut some creature removal after game one if they haven't seen the mentors. They almost always come in games post-sideboard though. I might do a one/one split. I have been playing with Liliana in the main as she is just really good. Hey interaction with snapcasters and strixes in the yard is really good. I have also been having better luck against eldrazi lately. The back to basics and null Rod are important. Would consider playing a second null Rod in the board. It's been really good. Haven't been playing any paper tournaments lately but I am going to eternal weekend. Just not sure what I'm playing yet.

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[oOOoOphidian]

Been playing this list for a while now to good results. Locally the deck almost never loses, though online I run into a lot more dazes/wastelands so my results are more even. Oddly enough I have yet to play against miracles or grixis control online despite them being very popular decks.


Land (19)
4x Flooded Strand
2x Island
1x Marsh Flats
1x Phyrexian Tower
1x Plains
4x Polluted Delta
1x Scrubland
1x Swamp
2x Tundra
2x Underground Sea
Instant (11)
4x Brainstorm
4x Force of Will
3x Spell Pierce
Sorcery (15)
4x Cabal Therapy
2x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Ponder
4x Preordain
1x Thoughtseize
Planeswalker (4)
1x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1x Liliana, the Last Hope
1x Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Creature (11)
4x Arena Rector
4x Baleful Strix
1x Recruiter of the Guard
2x Snapcaster Mage
Sideboard (15)
1x Containment Priest
1x Council's Judgment
1x Disenchant
1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Ensnaring Bridge
1x Flusterstorm
2x Monastery Mentor
1x Nihil Spellbomb
2x Surgical Extraction
2x Swords to Plowshares
1x Toxic Deluge

https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/esper-arena-rector-control/

Recently I've been considering moving Lili last hope to the sideboard for more discard spells, removing council's judgment entirely for something like Echoing Truth, and removing Elspeth (it's only really intended vs Eldrazi or decks that load up on Pyroblast, but it is so marginal). I'm also seriously considering getting rid of Baleful Strix for Lotus Petal or Accumulated Knowledge, though I'm not sure about it yet.

Had some fun in particular against Reanimator, which is a very good matchup.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DujxbPwVAAAcuil.png

[drude1]

Awesome that someone else is still on this. I've been playing it a good amount in the practice room and still doing well with it as well. Your list is a little different. I am running more lands and 4 x swords to plowshares main. Your aren't getting Mana screwed on that land count?

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[oOOoOphidian]

I initially had 20 lands with 4 ponder/4 brainstorm, but decided I needed more consistency so went to 19 lands with 16 cantrips (4 preordain added) instead, cutting a fetch/jace/2 collective brutality. I typically only get mana screwed if an opponent opens on turn 1 chalice of the void or has multiple wasteland/rishadan port, but it's still less common than it was when the deck had 0 preordain and 20 lands.

I did see a player stream some competitive leagues with a list that had 4 STP and was less focused on Arena Rector, which is definitely a viable option, but I don't see a major need for STP maindeck - it's mostly in there to beat Marit Lage or disrupt something like a Griselbrand. You really don't need any removal other than Ugin or Bolas in most matchups, which is why the deck is built around a lot more hand and spell disruption instead. I'd highly recommend the list, as I typically only feel the need to modify a small number of cards from it after dozens of matches. I have gone 4-1 in 3 competitive leagues with the list so far out of 6 leagues played, so close to a few trophies but had some disastrous luck that kept the 5th win away. Maybe I'll stream some leagues as well in the near future.

My results and statistics are listed here, both for paper and mtgo: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lgM2obkdAH1Ehf1-A-eJvN7266MuDhqsdhNbOrkiS9w/edit#gid=81442632

[oOOoOphidian]

Got a 3-2 earlier today and a 4-1 just now against some great competition.

https://i.imgur.com/pTGUCMn.png https://i.imgur.com/v6cPiib.png

Having 8 discard spells and 3 pierce main has really helped a lot. My stats show that aggro (delver, dnt, goblins) is unfavorable in general, which isn't too surprising. It's kind of leading me toward trying out Lotus Petal in place of Baleful Strix, since the strix often does nothing (mom, piledriver, or instantly gets hit by spot removal game 1). I'd also really rather opponents not leave in Abrupt Decays or push/stp because I want to bring in Mentor and other 3 cost permanents. I'll have to test it out, but it should help a lot against daze/wasteland and just faster decks that don't interact on the stack. I'm also considering adding an extra sweeper to the sideboard, since many of the aggro matches come down to either getting a deluge or ugin.

[drude1]

@Oophidian: Sorry it's been quite a while since I've been active on this board. I've actually been playing the deck quite a bit, mostly because it is definitely the deck I have the best win percentage with. My list is a little different than yours. I do like the Recruiter of the Guard tech and have been playing that for a while. I may however switch it out for 1 x Lim Dul's Vault. We'll see. Here is my current list:

// Esper Rector

// 60 Maindeck

// 10 Creature
2 Snapcaster Mage
3 Arena Rector
3 Baleful Strix
1 Monastery Mentor
1 Recruiter of the Guard

// 11 Instant
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
3 Swords to Plowshares

// 14 Sorcery
3 Ponder
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Thoughtseize
3 Preordain
1 Council's Judgement

// 4 Planeswalker
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

// 21 Land
4 Flooded Strand
2 Island
2 Phyrexian Tower
2 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scrubland
1 Swamp
1 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Volcanic Island
1 Marsh Flats


// 15 Sideboard

SB: 1 Containment Priest
SB: 1 Disenchant
SB: 3 Surgical Extraction
SB: 2 Flusterstorm
SB: 1 Echoing Truth
SB: 2 Stoneforge Mystic
SB: 1 Umezawa's Jitte
SB: 1 Batterskull
SB: 1 Supreme Verdict
SB: 1 Damping Sphere (trying this as a card against storm and Eldrazi. Vote's not in)
SB: 1 Terminus

I really only side in the batterskull against burn or Miracles so I might cut it for something else. Might want a pithing needle/spyglass. You don't find you are having difficulty against creature based decks? Looks like you lost to ninjas. I've been focusing more of my SB against those kinds of MUs. Anyway, that's where I'm at these days.

[oOOoOphidian]

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mtgo-standings/legacy-challenge-2019-02-11

This list got top 16 in the challenge:

Planeswalker (4)
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Creature (8)
3 Arena Rector
3 Baleful Strix
2 Snapcaster Mage
Sorcery (14)
4 Cabal Therapy
1 Council's Judgment
3 Ponder
3 Preordain
3 Thoughtseize
Instant (12)
4 Brainstorm
1 Diabolic Edict
4 Force of Will
3 Swords to Plowshares
Land (21)
1 Cavern of Souls
4 Flooded Strand
2 Island
1 Marsh Flats
2 Phyrexian Tower
2 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scrubland
1 Swamp
1 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
Other (1)
1 Lim-DA?l's Vault
60 Cards
Sideboard (15)
1 Containment Priest 1 Damping Sphere 1 Disenchant 1 Echoing Truth 2 Ensnaring Bridge 2 Flusterstorm 1 Monastery Mentor 1 Null Rod 1 Supreme Verdict 3 Surgical Extraction 1 Unmoored Ego

[drude1]

Yeah, that was me. Decided to give it a try. First challenge I've ever played actually. Lost round 1 to turn 1 BR reanimator draws in 2 games and then lost my win and in against miracles in 3 games. Went 5-2. I do feel like the deck needs some SB hate against miracles. Otherwise it had been performing really well lately.

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[oOOoOphidian]

Ah, congrats. In my experience Miracles is quite an easy matchup, though I do load up on pierces which shut down a lot of their scarier draws like early counterbalance and/or jace. Lately I've been playing a few Lingering Souls in the board and they would also help.

[drude1]

I actually stole a little tech from a guy I saw streaming and playing the miracles mirror. He was playing palace jailer in the board. They are ridiculously good in the miracles match up because they just don't have many threats. If you stick a jailer your are likely drawing an extra card the rest of the game as long as you can control their 3-4 cards that actually can do combat damage. Hope much discard are you playing?


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[Guitarnewf]

Hey all, recently put together this deck. I am really liking it, but I am finding the sac outlets for arena rector are a little light. I find myself always digging and digging. Anyone else find this? Trying to think up some extra sac outlets that don't weigh the deck down.

Incredibly tempted to try something like viscera seer, or splash green for evolutionary leap. Just some thoughts.

[apple713]

throwing my .02 in here and this deck just screams nic fit. Not sure why it's being jammed into blue. Your combo color's aren't blue. This deck revolves around 7 cards that I'm seeing. 4 rector and the 3 planes walker targets for it. Nic fit can make this deck work faster, provide alternate win cons, and naturally support it with the creature base and sac outlets. It can also hard cast planeswalkers in a bind.

Also, this seems either too slow or not powerful enough for legacy meta, but it does seem like it would do alright in modern.

[drude1]

@guitarnewf: I get what you are saying. My original iteration of the deck had more of a split of creature removal such as edict and fatal push so that I could target rector. At this point though with 14 cantrips I can usually find a sac outlet. One card I did consider was diabolic intent but you would probably have to increase your creature count to make it viable. I don't think I would add another color though. There's plenty in Black to send rector to the bin.

@apple: I think we are all well aware of the nic fit build using arena rector and frankly it sucks. Sure blue isn't in the colors of the combo but the same could be said about storm. Brainstorm, ponder and force are pretty strong cards and there is a reason they are the backbone of most combo decks in legacy. Also, this deck often plays more as a control deck. Cantrips allow you to find the cards you need, including your combo pieces. Nic fit is just a different deck and in my opinion is just too fragile and not consistent enough.

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[drude1]

So in case anyone still has interest in this type of deck, Andrea Mengucci ran a somewhat similar list in his Channel Fireball YouTube video here: https://youtu.be/oaoqc6dARfg

This is more of a Miracles build of the deck running more countermagic over thoughtseize main along with Terminus and a Counterbalance in the main. He is not running baleful strix. Sounds like he got the list from somewhere else where someone finished high at a tournament with the deck. Honestly, I can get behind this build as strix has not been good lately. It does cantrip but does not act very well in defense. There is so much creature removal in the format now that it just never gets a chance to block. So, I'm going to port over to a similar Miracles list and see how that runs. I still however like one copy of Lim-Dul's Vault in the main as it has been really really good for me. He is also playing NB, God Pharaoh over NB, Planewalker which I just hate. It's better against STORM decks, but that's about it.
Also, I think the new Teferi will also be good in the list. It will allow us to combo off without pesky counterspells or surgicals getting in the way. It will also let us terminus at instant speed on our opponent's turn off of a ponder or preordain, and it will bounce troublesome permanents so that we can therapy them away. Looking forward to this upgrade.

I think after the new set comes out, my list will look something like this:

// Esper Rector

// 60 Maindeck

// 6 Creature
2 Snapcaster Mage
3 Arena Rector
1 Monastery Mentor

// 12 Instant
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
3 Swords to Plowshares
1 Lim-Dul's Vault
1 Spell Pierce

// 16 Sorcery
4 Ponder
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Preordain
3 Terminus

// 1 Enchantment
1 Counterbalance

// 5 Planeswalker
2 Teferi, Time Raveler
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

// 20 Land
4 Flooded Strand
3 Island
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scrubland
1 Swamp
2 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Volcanic Island

SB is still a work in progress and will depend on how the meta shapes up after the new set. I have actually been play Leyline of Sanctity in the board and with the new mulligan rule it's not bad. I know it won't be a popular choice for most people though. Anyway, interesting to see some pros take on the deck. Admittedly I was really have a hard time with hoard decks like goblins and such but hopefully the 3 terminus main will help those match-ups. We shall see.

[oOOoOphidian]

The list Mengucci played in the veedio is one that top 8'd the recent Legacy Premier on MTGO.

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1787530#paper

I'm not a fan of some of the choices, particularly the sideboard, but it's overall fairly similar to some of the lists I've run. I agree it's a pure mistake to play Bolas GP instead of Bolas Planeswalker, it makes no sense really and somewhat explains why the pilot claimed S&S is a really hard matchup for them. I haven't had any opportunities to play in the past few months, but I'm looking forward to trying out my stoneblade hybrid version soon, as well as giving the miracles style build a try again too after this result.

[oOOoOphidian]

This one got 9th in the recent challenge:

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1831184#paper

I like the Ancient Tomb, wonder how it worked out. Some matchups it can be really difficult to get to 4 mana.

[drude1]

So he basically cut one preordain for the 1 x ancient tomb. Yeah, the mana acceleration would be nice. Although it usually takes me at least 3-4 turns to find everything I need. It's basically a 2 -card combo with arena rector and a way to sac it.
I have been playing with the deck a decent amount and it really is performing well. I don't want to get in too deep until the next set comes out. I will definitely be adding 2 x teferi and 2 x thoughtseize to the main. Going up on Teferi and thoughtseizing at the end of opponent's draw step seems decent.

I have also been playing 4 x leyline of sanctity online and it has over-performed. Again, probably wouldn't play them without the London mulligan rule in effect. But they really swing the grixis control match up heavily in our favor. I'm also still on 1 x lim-dul's vault and only playing 1 x mentor. I like that configuration as the vault gets you anything you need and is amazing at setting up a terminus when needed. It is card disadvantage though, like an tutor, so I'm still only on one. I'll see where I'm at in 2 weeks.

[Guitarnewf]

Played at our weekly legacy event last night. Went with the esper shell that's been discussed on the last couple of pages. Ended up splitting for first place.

Round 1
Nic Fit

Ended up going 2-0. Early hand disruption, baleful strix put in the work until I landed arena rectors both games. Game two I took his huntmaster of the fells with nico bolas, and ugin on board.

Round 2
Pox

2-0. First game nico gets out to destroy ensnaring bridge, and then works on his lands. game two, he played lost legacy, taking my rectors. I hard cast jace, after fowing two liliana's. Jace's uptick controls the deck while he had no cards in hand.

Round 3
Grixis delver

1-1-1. This match went to time. First game got ugin out, next turn, ugin uptick to hit my second rector, get bolas, take his gurmag. Game two, rector gets countered, proceeded to get mana flooded, and died to a single delver. Game three, he surgicals my rectors, but we ended up going to turns. Sword his pyro, he can't make enough tokens in time to kill me in turns. I couldn't hit any disruption or fows in the third game.


I need more thoughtsieze. Deck felt great against grixis, shut off all his creature removal due to rector. Stop the surgicals, and I can't see grixis being a big trouble for the deck.

[Mr. Headshot]

Can you share your list?

How many rectors? How many baleful strixes?
Terminus or not? Counterbalance of not?

[Guitarnewf]

Can you share your list?

How many rectors? How many baleful strixes?
Terminus or not? Counterbalance of not?

Sure. No terminus, and no counterbalance.

3x Arena Rector
3x Baleful Strix
4x Brainstorm (MMQ)
4x Cabal Therapy (JUD)
4x Flooded Strand (ONS)
4x Force of Will (ALL)
1x Inquisition of Kozilek (ROE)
3x Island (LEA)
1x Jace, the Mind Sculptor (WWK)
1x Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker (CON)
1x Phyrexian Tower (USG)
2x Plains (LEA)
4x Polluted Delta (ONS)
4x Ponder (M12)
1x gurmag angler
1x lim-dul's vault
1x Scrubland (3ED)
1x search for azcanta
2x Snapcaster Mage (ISD)
2x Spell Pierce (ZEN) *F*
1x Swamp (LEA)
4x Swords to Plowshares (3ED)
2x Thoughtseize (THS)
1x Tundra (3ED)
1x karakas
1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
1x Underground Sea (3ED)
1x Vindicate
1x Volcanic Island


Sidedboard:

1 nico bolas, god pharoah
1 gideon
1 toxic deluge
2 monastery mentor
1 gurmag
2 surgical extraction
2 silent graveyard
1 supreme verdict
2 disenchant
2 flusterstorm

I really want to up to 4 thoughtsieze, and keep the fows for the arena play. Maybe add a cavern of souls. I need to play around with the list more. So many different esper control shells out there. Can really taylor it to your meta.

***EDIT: 2 preordain was in the first version. I sinced changed it to a gurmag, and lim-dul's vault, main board.***

[drude1]

Played at our weekly legacy event last night. Went with the esper shell that's been discussed on the last couple of pages. Ended up splitting for first place.

Round 1
Nic Fit

Ended up going 2-0. Early hand disruption, baleful strix put in the work until I landed arena rectors both games. Game two I took his huntmaster of the fells with nico bolas, and ugin on board.

Round 2
Pox

2-0. First game nico gets out to destroy ensnaring bridge, and then works on his lands. game two, he played lost legacy, taking my rectors. I hard cast jace, after fowing two liliana's. Jace's uptick controls the deck while he had no cards in hand.

Round 3
Grixis delver

1-1-1. This match went to time. First game got ugin out, next turn, ugin uptick to hit my second rector, get bolas, take his gurmag. Game two, rector gets countered, proceeded to get mana flooded, and died to a single delver. Game three, he surgicals my rectors, but we ended up going to turns. Sword his pyro, he can't make enough tokens in time to kill me in turns. I couldn't hit any disruption or fows in the third game.


I need more thoughtsieze. Deck felt great against grixis, shut off all his creature removal due to rector. Stop the surgicals, and I can't see grixis being a big trouble for the deck.

In your list, you have an *F* next to spell pierce. Is this like a grade for the card? Angler is kinda interesting. Not sure I love it but I understand why you decided to go with it. What is Karakas for? Just opponent's legendary creatures?
How have strix been? I personally have moved away from them on to the Terminus just because it A: blanks their creature removal even more and B: strix was just so fragile for me.
New Teferi does shut off surgical. It also makes thoughtseize better because you can play it at end of opponent's draw step at instant speed. The only I have noticed is that it is a little fragile and it is much better when you are already ahead on board or at least stabilized on board. Something else to try.

Deck is still a lot of fun and quite competitive.

[Guitarnewf]

In your list, you have an *F* next to spell pierce. Is this like a grade for the card? Angler is kinda interesting. Not sure I love it but I understand why you decided to go with it. What is Karakas for? Just opponent's legendary creatures?
How have strix been? I personally have moved away from them on to the Terminus just because it A: blanks their creature removal even more and B: strix was just so fragile for me.
New Teferi does shut off surgical. It also makes thoughtseize better because you can play it at end of opponent's draw step at instant speed. The only I have noticed is that it is a little fragile and it is much better when you are already ahead on board or at least stabilized on board. Something else to try.

Deck is still a lot of fun and quite competitive.


The F is foil. I copied it from my tappedout profile, haha. That single Gurmag has done so much for me that it will stay mainboard. It's turned games around that I shouldn't have won. People focus on the rector, that when they get countered, feeds the angler, and they have no removal or counters left for him.

Strix has been great. My meta is filled with a lot of delver, and other nuisance flyers. I always leave them up for blocking, and a couple of times I have flashbacked a therapy, saccing the strix to name surgical, to clear the way for rector off phyrexian tower. I find strix such a great utility, and since I don't play the preordain, it's card advantage at worse. If it gets countered, one less counter to worry about for rector. If it doesn't, block all day long, or eat removal. It's a great card.

Karakas is there for opponents. A lot of legendary creatures in my meta, and he works great with gideon as well. Animate gideon, swing, bounce him with karakas to avoid removal, or to play him again, and plus him to add a token in the second main phase. Great little trick.

I will be testing 4 thoughtseize, and the new teferi for sure. Also looking at the new bolas, as he is hard castable. I have also tested the older ashiok, which is a pet card of mine, I love it. I have managed to exile griselbrand, and take him for myself a couple of time with her. Few cards in the new set I will be trying.

[Tristin183]

Is this deck able to hold up in W6 meta?

[drude1]

Is this deck able to hold up in W6 meta?Honestly haven't played it in a little while.

[Guitarnewf]

Is this deck able to hold up in W6 meta?

I can't see why not. With prismatic vista, mana base becomes more wasteland protected. There are a fair number of answers to w6. I haven't played any magic over the summer, and am now planning on revisiting the deck. Need to go through the last couple of sets that were released and see what to add. I do want to add teferi though. Shutting off instants really helps the sacc'ing of rector, and being able to instant speed thoughtseize on their draw step is pretty sweet. Narset can be explored as well.

Lots of ideas floating around, just need to get the time to go through them and see what works.

[drude1]

My latest iteration of the deck included snow lands and Dead of a winter which was good. The biggest problem with the deck I had was getting run over by tribal decks (goblins in particular). I also added the new nicol bolas which was also surprisingly good