Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Decklists
3. Card Choices
4. Play
5. References
1. Introduction
I always dreamed about a consistent Rector deck in Legacy. Since 2017, a friend and I started to develop a combo deck based on the interaction between Academy Rector and an old and forgotten card: Mask of the Mimic.
Mask of the Mimic allows the Academy Rector to trigger at instant-speed, in a reactive way. Moreover, if the Mask resolves, you can put an additional Rector in play, allowing interactions between 2 or more Enchantments.
The main weakness of the deck used to be Deathrite Shaman, so now that it's banned I see additional opportunities for this deck.
2. Decklists
This is the original list that I played since 2017 up to the ban of Gitaxian Probe.
3. Card Choices
The combo is based on a couple of Academy Rector triggers. The more consistent way to achieve this is to resolve a Mask of the Mimic, however we putted 4 Cabal Therapy in the mix not only to be more consistent, but also to protect the combo.
How the deck wins? The best option to win a game is to put a Form of the Dragon in play. The enchantment is usually a win by itself against BGx decks, and it is a clear win in combination with Overwhelming Splendor against any deck requiring an attacking creature to win a game. Against creature-less decks the plot thickens. Our initial selection is a Dovescape in combination with Overwhelming Splendor, but this solution is far too slow against fast combos like storm. After lot of testing, we've come up with Decree of Silence. If putted in play in early-game can slow an opponent down enough to be backed by a Solemnity or a Hex Parasite. In order to consistently put Hex Parasite in play, we added a couple of Trinket Mage, which are good in combination with Mask of the Mimic, at the point that we moved Solemnity to the side and included Engineered Explosives and Walking Ballista to the main list in order to be more consistent against aggro deck.
Moving to the sideboard, it is basically a toolbox of artifacts and creatures that Recruiter of the Guard and Trinket Mage can find, plus the option to transform the deck in a combo-less Monastery Mentor Esper deck.
4. Play
So far, I'm really consistent with this deck. I'm more interested in deckbuilding than in organized play, however I managed to achieve 3 Top 4s in a local Legacy league in 2017 and 2018, 4 FNM wins and 3 Top 4s and even a 2nd place in a local league season finale (invitational). Overall, I missed the Top in just 2 tournaments. To be fair, the success is partially due to the surprise factor, especially post-side when my Monastery Mentor surprised an handfull of Rest in Peace.
Yet another turn 1 deck! Greetings, I want to share a deck on which a friend and I are working since the release of Modern Horizon. The new-printed card that captured our immagination is Echo of Eons, with its interaction with both Lion's Eye Diamond and Entomb. The idea is a turn 1 kill kind of deck, more inspired by Vintage storm decks than it is on Belcher.
There are a lot of interactions in the resulting list, letting the deck to be consistent on turn 1-2.
New Updated List:
1 Bayou
1 Tropical Island
1 Taiga
Free Mana
2 Chrome Mox
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
3 Land Grant
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Dark Ritual
4 Rite of Flame
Tutors
4 Entomb
3 Infernal Tutor
3 Personal Tutor
Draw Effects
4 Echo of Eons
2 Faithless Looting
4 Manamorphose
4 Street Wraith
3 Thoughtseize
Kill
1 Tendrils of Agony
I also defined the sideboard:
2 Empty the Warrens
4 Veil of Summer
4 Serum Powder
4 Leyline of Anticipation
Game 2 SB strategy:
Vs. Control decks:
Out -> 2 Chrome Mox
Out -> 1 Infernal Tutor
Out -> 1 Personal Tutor
Out -> 1 Entomb
In <- 4 Veil of Summer
In <- 1 Empty the Warrens
Vs. Turn 1 Chalice decks (on the draw)
Out -> 3 Land Grant
Out -> 1 Bayou
Out -> 1 Taiga
Out -> 1 Tropical Island
Out -> 3 Thoughtseize
In <- 4 Serum Powder
In <- 4 Leyline of Anticipation
In <- 1 Empty the Warrens
Vs. Thalia decks
Out -> 2 Chrome Mox
Out -> 1 Entomb
In <- 1 Void Snare
In <- 2 Empty the Warrens
That's it!
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Decklists
3. Card Choices
4. Play
5. References
1. Introduction
I always dreamed about a consistent Rector deck in Legacy. Since 2017, a friend and I started to develop a combo deck based on the interaction between Academy Rector and an old and forgotten card: Mask of the Mimic.
Mask of the Mimic allows the Academy Rector to trigger at instant-speed, in a reactive way. Moreover, if the Mask resolves, you can put an additional Rector in play, allowing interactions between 2 or more Enchantments.
The main weakness of the deck used to be Deathrite Shaman, so now that it's banned I see additional opportunities for this deck.
2. Decklists
This is the original list that I played since 2017 up to the ban of Gitaxian Probe.
1 Cavern of Souls
4 Flooded Strand
2 Island
1 Marsh Flats
1 Plains
3 Polluted Delta
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Swamp
3 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
1 Hex Parasite
2 Recruiter of the Guard
2 Trinket Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Walking Ballista
4 Brainstorm
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Force of Will
2 Gitaxian Probe
3 Mask of the Mimic
3 Ponder
3 Swords to Plowshares
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Form of the Dragon
1 Overwhelming Splendor
The updated list is very close to the original one:
1 Cavern of Souls
4 Flooded Strand
2 Island
1 Marsh Flats
1 Plains
3 Polluted Delta
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Swamp
3 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
1 Hex Parasite
2 Recruiter of the Guard
2 Trinket Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Walking Ballista
4 Brainstorm
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Force of Will
3 Mask of the Mimic
4 Ponder
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Form of the Dragon
1 Overwhelming Splendor
Sideboard
1 Containment Priest
2 Disenchant
1 Extirpate
1 Force Bubble
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Monastery Mentor
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Pithing Needle
1 Solemnity
2 Spell Pierce
1 Toxic Deluge
3. Card Choices
The combo is based on a couple of Academy Rector triggers. The more consistent way to achieve this is to resolve a Mask of the Mimic, however we putted 4 Cabal Therapy in the mix not only to be more consistent, but also to protect the combo.
How the deck wins? The best option to win a game is to put a Form of the Dragon in play. The enchantment is usually a win by itself against BGx decks, and it is a clear win in combination with Overwhelming Splendor against any deck requiring an attacking creature to win a game. Against creature-less decks the plot thickens. Our initial selection is a Dovescape in combination with Overwhelming Splendor, but this solution is far too slow against fast combos like storm. After lot of testing, we've come up with Decree of Silence. If putted in play in early-game can slow an opponent down enough to be backed by a Solemnity or a Hex Parasite. In order to consistently put Hex Parasite in play, we added a couple of Trinket Mage, which are good in combination with Mask of the Mimic, at the point that we moved Solemnity to the side and included Engineered Explosives and Walking Ballista to the main list in order to be more consistent against aggro deck.
We also added more creatures that are good with Mask of the Mimic: Recruiter of the Guard and Vendilion Clique. The first can tutor an Academy Rector, while the Clique is good to protect the combo or slow-down the opponent.
Moving to the sideboard, it is basically a toolbox of artifacts and creatures that Recruiter of the Guard and Trinket Mage can find, plus the option to transform the deck in a combo-less Monastery Mentor Esper deck.
4. Play
So far, I'm really consistent with this deck. I'm more interested in deckbuilding than in organized play, however I managed to achieve 3 Top 4s in a local Legacy league in 2017 and 2018, 4 FNM wins and 3 Top 4s and even a 2nd place in a local league season finale (invitational). Overall, I missed the Top in just 2 tournaments. To be fair, the success is partially due to the surprise factor, especially post-side when my Monastery Mentor surprised an handfull of Rest in Peace.
5. References
Yet another turn 1 deck! Greetings, I want to share a deck on which a friend and I are working since the release of Modern Horizon. The new-printed card that captured our immagination is Echo of Eons, with its interaction with both Lion's Eye Diamond and Entomb. The idea is a turn 1 kill kind of deck, more inspired by Vintage storm decks than it is on Belcher.
There are a lot of interactions in the resulting list, letting the deck to be consistent on turn 1-2.
2. Deck list
1 Bayou
1 Tropical Island
Free Mana
2 Chrome Mox
3 Elvish Spirit Guide
2 Land Grant
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Dark Ritual
4 Rite of Flame
Tutors
3 Entomb
1 Quiet Speculation
3 Infernal Tutor
3 Personal Tutor
4 Echo of Eons
4 Faithless Looting
4 Manamorphose
4 Street Wraith
Protections
4 Thoughtseize
Kill
1 Tendrils of Agony
3. Card Choices
The main reason this deck exists is Echo of Eons. Being the strategy heavely centered on the card, We need more free-mana in hands after resolving Echo of Eons. For this reason, we selected a mana base consisting of just 2 lands + Land Grant (the card can be tutored so 2 copies should be enough). The free-mana cards are the usual Chrome Mox, Elvish Spirit Guide, Land Grant, Lion's Eye Diamond, Lotus Petal, Simian Spirit Guide, plus Manamorphose to color-fix the mana.
In order to draw a consistent combo, we added Faithless Looting for its interaction with Lion's Eye Diamond and also Street Wraith.
Being a Vintage-inspired deck, it strongly relies on tutors. 3 Entomb and 1 Quiet Speculation to find a flashbackable Echo of Eons, 3 Infernal Tutor due to Lion's Eye Diamond and 3 Personal Tutor (really good in combination with Street Wraith). I also considered Catalyst Stone to transform Echo of Eons in a blue Contract from Below.
For the side slots, I'm playing:
2 Chain of Vapor
1 Void Snare
3 Defense Grid
3 Empty the Warrens
3 Xantid Swarm
3 Surgical Extraction
4. Record
I home-tested the deck, and result is a more consistent turn 1 win than Belcher. I'm looking forward to test the deck at a regular tournament.