Arena Rector Control

Hi All,

It has been some time since I've posted on these forums.
I would like to present a pet-deck of mine which I have almost solely played in real life; and also testing with colleagues on Cockatrice.

Arena Rector has been reviewed on here previously, but seemingly it has not found a permanent home; not usurped its older relation Academy Rector as a fringe competitor.

Both cards have the same function at their core; tutor to battlefield game ending permanents.

In the case of Rector: a) Omniscience, b) Yawgmoth's Bargain, followed by whatever cards are in your hand or library.

The engine is built around Academy Rector and a) Flash, b) Cabal Therapy, c) Innocents Blood... and many others. The ultimate combo being a two card one, with the third card being a Will or Omni.

Arena Rector follows the same trajectory, however in my opinion allows you to play with 'less-than-subpar' cards to draw.

The following is my current build.

1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet

1 Library of Alexandria
1 Strip Mine
2 Underground Sea
3 Tundra
1 Island
4 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
1 Cavern of Souls

4 Arena Rector
1 Spellseeker

1 Moat

1 Ancestral Recall
4 Force of Will
3 Mental Misstep
1 Brainstorm
1 Dig Through Time
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Flash
1 Mystical Tutor

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

1 Ponder
4 Preordain
1 Time Walk
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Gitaxian Probe
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Cabal Therapy
1 Innocent Blood
1 Balance

SB:
2 Tormod's Crypt
3 Containment Priest
1 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
2 Mindbreak Trap
2 Swords to Plowshares
3 Fragmentize
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Innocent Blood

The deck attempts to reduce the greediness of the manabase by being a three color deck, with two un-castable PW (except with Mox Ruby).

I hope this stimulates discussion and hope to see you guys around.

NBA84

volrathxp

I heard the words Arena Rector. I'm already on board.

GutoCmtt

This deck sounds ridiculous...ly cool!

About the walkers, there's only bolas that's uncastable, right?

Have you given a shot at this? I'm pretty tempted to do so, as teferi is the only expensive card I don't have to play at mtgo (and which I'm still not really sold at for vintage). Spellseeker sounds a pretty cool new toy to this, being a tutor for broken stuff that can flashback therapy.

Also, I get the possibility for broken stuff turn 1 with moxen, but I think you have lots of 4cmc+ things that you'd probably only be able to cast turn 2+, I think it'd be good also playing sol ring.

One thing I've noticed is that you have 2 tutors and no demonic. I think that 1 extra mana is worth the investment to not lose card advantage. I may be wrong, given that the extra mana may imply in 1 more turn without the payoff walkers, but this deck sounds good for the long game too (which would make the card disadvantage a real drawback).

And with that many expensive spells and broken stuff your opponents will have I'd give a shot at mana drain (md probably 1 at least), and flusterstorm (sb).

wfain

@gutocmtt I was also thinking Drain makes sense. Actually makes sense on both ends. Casting Rector off Drain is quite good too!

babau

deck is really cool and funny to play but omniscience/emrakul is better that any planeswalker exist in this moment.

@wfain of course, but the question is instead of what?

the general theory posits that you either play discard spells or counter spells. it seems that cabal therapy is a prerequisite. Thus mana drain, the quintessential counterspell seems counter intuitive.

also, from my testing the difficulty arises in sacrificing rector; not casting it

wfain

@nba84 I think you could probably stand to cut Mental Misstep actually. The reason I say this is you’re gameplan doesn’t revolve around resolving 1cmc spells nor does it fold to opposing 1cmc spells (in the same way Outcome doesn’t play them). Further, your deck isn’t exactly vulnerable to very many cards in the Jeskai control decks, so them resolving a Recall or Brainstorm isn’t likely to actually result in a real advantage for them. Beyond that- you’ve got Therapy as a tool to make sure you aren’t losing counter wars and a way of having quality information about when you can afford to not leave Drain up.

babau

i play rector / omniscience and show and tell is absolutely essential.
win more games thanks to show that thanks to the rector.
right now I'm playing a UB version without rectors.

John Cox

@babau said in Arena Rector Control:

i play rector / omniscience and show and tell is absolutely essential.
win more games thanks to show that thanks to the rector.
right now I'm playing a UB version without rectors.

You can't put a Planeswalker into play off a [[Show and Tell]].

babau

yes you are right

@wfain your suggestion has proved absolutely correct so far in my testing. the missteps have been replaced with two drains and elsewhere a volcanic has been brought in for the potential Bolas casting.

the only spell that has been difficult to deal with without misstep has been StP

Khahan

@nba84 said in Arena Rector Control:

@wfain your suggestion has proved absolutely correct so far in my testing. the missteps have been replaced with two drains and elsewhere a volcanic has been brought in for the potential Bolas casting.

the only spell that has been difficult to deal with without misstep has been StP

This is simply a play adjustment. Just wait to play rector until you have a therapy in the yard. With therapy in the yard, you can cast rector and they have no opportunity to stp it before you can sac it as a cost to flashback therapy.

wfain

@nba84 Glad I could help! I think people just assume their FoW deck wants 3-4 MM most of the time, but there are certain strategies that approach games differently where MM doesn’t hurt you and your opponent resolving Ancestral isn’t likely to help them.

Hello all,

I thought I would re-instate this list.

Brian Kelly (who's manadrain tag I can't find, apologies) put forward a 1/4 of this deck on the VSL, thank you.

None the less Lavinia has made non-0-creature spells quite the premium. Thus let me present a updated version, with the addition (in the form of removal) from what @wfain suggested

Here we go:
// 60 Maindeck
// 8 Artifact
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal

// 9 Creature
3 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
4 Arena Rector
1 Spellseeker
1 Monastery Mentor

// 15 Instant
2 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
2 Flusterstorm
1 Flash
1 Dig Through Time
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Gush
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Mystical Tutor

// 16 Land
2 Underground Sea
3 Tundra
1 Island
1 Strip Mine
4 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Library of Alexandria

// 4 Planeswalker
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker

// 8 Sorcery
3 Cabal Therapy
1 Time Walk
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Fragmentize
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Innocent Blood

// 15 Sideboard
// 4 Artifact
SB: 4 Tormod's Crypt

// 2 Creature
SB: 2 Containment Priest

// 2 Enchantment
SB: 2 Energy Flux

// 3 Instant
SB: 1 Mindbreak Trap
SB: 1 Flusterstorm
SB: 1 Hurkyl's Recall

// 1 Planeswalker
SB: 1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion

// 3 Sorcery
SB: 3 Fragmentize

I welcome critique above all else.

Wfain is correct, misstep is wrong. Thank you.

Since the deck is quite obscure I cant explain all selections, but if anything makes little sense please ask me,

All the best,
NBA83