Rector Trix, by Westerdale

[MolotDET]

Our long lost Westerdale got in touch with me today and asked me to post this for him.  It is, what he said is the final version of his Rector Trix deck.  He is quite proud of it and after giving it a good looking at and playing more than a few games with it myself I can say with some assurance that it is quite strong.  If it catches on it should absolutely be one of the decks you are thinking about when you are building your sideboard.
     I personally don't support using a multi-colored version of Trix but this deck should be good in a standard meta-game and awesome in a jank one.

So here is WesTrix…

Quote There has been a lot of talk about Rector Trix lately. It is certainly a strong contender in today's metagame, being able to combo out aggro quickly yet still pack a tremendous amount of punch against controlling strategies.  Since there has been a lot of buzz going around but nothing concrete, we figured we'd post our latest decklist.

Rector Trix aka WesTrix
Engine (12)
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Necropotence
4 Academy Rector
3 Illusions of Grandeur
2 Donate
1 Rushing River

Disruption (12)
4 Duress
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Force of Will

Search/recursion (9)
4 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Lim-Dul's Vault
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Demonic Tutor

Mana (27)
4 Dark Ritual
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
3 Gemstone Mine
4 Polluted Delta
4 Underground Sea
3 Scrubland
1 Tolarian Academy

SB:
1 Balance
1 Mind Twist
2 Abeyance
3 Seal of Cleansing
3 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Island
4 Additional Slots

It should be noted that this is for a general metagame and should be adjusted to fit your metagame as appropriate.

Best Regards,
   Brad Granberry (Rico Suave)
   Max Joseph

Have fun,

MolotDET

[Pyromaniac]

I've been playing this deck as well, and have been posting pretty good results with it. I dunno if there's a lot of room in the deck for improvement, but it's pretty solid as it is now.

I still have a few cards to try out, and will let ppl know if they're interested in the results of this. The only changes I have at the moment is that I'm running a 4th illusions and only 3 Seas, with the 4th place being taken by a Mox Diamond atm, but I'll also try other cards in that slot.

[pernicious dude]

I'd love for Wicketsnatcher to chime in here with a comparison to his Donate deck.
It has most of the same elements, but a few very different choices.

Cabal Therapy/ Academy Rector is nice.
Therapy's usefull on its own, unlike Diabolic Intent.

[wicketsnatcher]

While I have a lot of experience playing multi-color Trix that utalizes Rectors, L[ich]D[onate] and Rector Trix are very different decks.  I think it comes down to deck building style and personal preference (for the record, this has 24 different cards than LD).

Rector Trix seems to be a very stable control/combo deck.  Personally, I think that running 4 Duresses and 4 Therapies is a bit redundant, and if any other cards should be included, one or two Duresses should be looked at to make room.

I think one thing this deck is missing is a Mystical Tutor (and/or Vampiric for that matter) - especially while running only 2 Donates.  With the amount of card drawing (Brainstorms, Bargain, Necro, etc.) the card disadvantage is trully minor.  It's especially nice if you're searching for a way to kill your Rector (meaning grab a Therapy).

Mana Crypt is an interesting choice.  Interesting in the sense that I wouldn't want to touch it with a ten foot pole.  I think that when Yawgmoth's Bargain/Necropotence is a big part of the deck that extra three damage means three fewer cards you can draw.  This isn't needed, especially while running Dark Rit #4.  I would not hesitate to replace this with a Mox Diamond.  The Diamond is AMAZING while "going off" with a Bargain, as it provides the blue mana that rituals do not.

I think that Rector Trix is, like I said, a more stable deck and will perform much better against a control heavy metagame, but I still think there is a little room for improvement.  I like it better than mono-U, too.

-J:tD

[Rico Suave]

The deck originally had Mystical Tutor and Vampiric Tutor at different points in time, but they were replaced by Lim-Dul's Vault.  Vamp doesn't pitch to FoW and Mystical doesn't fetch Rector or Necro/Bargain, whereas Lim-Dul does both and can also set up a bunch of must-counters all in a row.

If Mana Crypt sticks around for a while and deals a lot of damage, it's because the deck stalled and probably isn't going to win.  There have been some times where Mana Crypt lost me the game, but I've won an equal number of games by Donating Mana Crypt.  In other words it's really rare either way.

Mox Diamond is fine when going off, but losing a land in the early game is back-breaking.  Notice how the deck only has 4 Moxen because it wants to run enough land.

[Dreisgen]

You could also cut Mana crypt for Scrubland#4 or Gemstone mine #4 or another land (basic island maybe?)

Is 2 donate enough?  If opponent has some way to gain life (Zorb, for example), doing 20 might not be enough, and you may have to give donate an illusions again...

Drains could be good too (even if they are more controlish than comboish).  Rectors, Donate, Illusions all have lots of colorless in their mana cost... Hmmm, probably not good enough to change the mana base for more U...

Another controllish idea would be The Abyss, in the SB maybe?  It kills rectors and helps u survive when they pay the upkeep of illusions...

[Pyromaniac]

Dreisgen: 2 Donates are enough. If need be, you can draw your entire deck with 2 Illusions and then Donate both of them. Will is a good card for this too, so in a real pinch, you can even pitch 1 Donate to FoW.

Drain is a good card, but really not needed. Between 4 Duress, 4 Therapy and 4 FoW you have all the control you need.

Switching the Mana Crypt for something else is a move I can't really understand, the damage shouldn't matter anyway, so why switch it? I haven't had any real problems with colored mana sofar, except the occasional mana screw which doesn't happen very often.

[Sauron]

Just a wee question: would Decree of Silence have any application in this deck?

[Dr_Nuxvomica]

This deck is a blast to play/play against.It reminds me a little of the bargain decks (Illusions being the Soul Feasts) with the brokeness of going off like an Academy deck does.Fun,fun.

 I also built another version that uses the Oath of Druids/Gaeas Blessing engine.It's pretty fun to play unless you hit a creatureless deck.The mana base is a little different with a few Tropicals/Bayous and I took out :
Mana Crypt/Mana Vault/Lim Dul's/Tolarian/and the Rituals

Blessing shuffles the Bargain if it gets sent to the grave prematurely.(one bonus)
Sometimes gets you a Cabal too and other times just shuffles it back in.Saving the Therapy  until needed has been my approach although every game is different.

 Although it's a different approach to get the Rector in play it has been fun just the same.

[Rico Suave]

Decree of Silence has no application in this deck.  It's completely useless without Rector, and fetching Bargain gives you more counters anyway.

Explosive speed does the same thing as Oath against creatures, except with speed over Oath you can still win the matches where you don't see creatures early on.  I tried Oath for a little bit but I ironically ended up losing more to aggro than if I didn't have Oath, oftentimes out of mana-screw.

[psyduck]

also a card to consider is diabolic intent

1b sorcery sacrifice a creature as part of its cost, search your library for any card and put it in your hand. (i.e. demonic tutor effect)

[MolotDET]

I have also been playing around with this deck and let me tell you that it is absolutely awesome.
     The failings of this deck in the past were that that it couldn't balance between disruption and control and that even if you could get a Rector into play, you would have to be running some jankass way to bury it.
     The Cabal Therapys solve these problems very nicely.  And serve the point of the deck very nicely.  Were it not for this card, the deck would still be hovering somewhere near the middle of the pack.  But, Thanks to Therapy and our new mostly aggro meta-game, this deck is right near the top of the pack.
     Unfortunately, if this deck does do extremely well, Illusions might get that erata that it has been waiting for.

[pernicious dude]

You can't even cast Diabolic Intent unless you have a Rector out.
If you have a Rector out, you're well on your way to winning.
The four Cabal Therapies and something else of your choice,
be it Phyrexian Tower, Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale, Despotic Scepter or whatever,
is plenty of Rector saccing.
Each of these provides an additional benefit with the Rector,
and none is dead without.

[Andreas]

Maybe I have missed something, but in the decklist posted by MolotDET I can only find 4 ways to get rid of your own Academy Rector (the 4 Cabal Therapies).

Thinking back to the time I played Rector/Bargain in T2 this seems a little low, 6 would be a number I would feel more comfortable with. But then this is T1 and I might be wrong.

And, umm, where is the Mox Ruby?

[Rico Suave]

With the search/draw of this deck, it's not too rare to come upon a Therapy when needed.  Necro in play practically auto-finds one, and Brainstorm/tutors are always an option.  Even then, a Rector in play is a Moat which buys enough time to find the Therapies.  And don't forget that after boarding you'll pretty much always have more ways to kill the Rectors.  

The missing Mox was because the land count wants to be high.  Compare it to Academy, the 11 land versions can win faster, but the 13 land ones still put out better results.  You can go ahead and use the Ruby if you'd like, just keep track of the number of times you lose while having Ruby but not enough colored mana.  It's surprising how much it comes up.  Besides, the deck has a lot of acceleration as is.

Actually, instead of Illusions getting errata, I'd find it funny if Rector was the first creature to hit the restricted list.

[urza's child]

Quote (Rico Suave @ May 14 2003,11:10)Actually, instead of Illusions getting errata, I'd find it funny if Rector was the first creature to hit the restricted list.

The thing about errating this deck, how can you possibly eratte rector? theres no need for it to be banned/restricted, its not like it controls the environment, so why do anything to it? If they want to do anything they will errata the illusions saying "You may only lose this life" or something like that

[Rico Suave]

Quote (urza's child @ May 14 2003,08:57)If they want to do anything they will errata the illusions saying "You may only lose this life" or something like that

No, the last time they tried to fix Trix they restricted the engine.  And they'd do it again.

Anyway, I was just responding to Molot's statement at the end of his last post, where he says "if this deck does extremely well."

[Fishhead]

OK, here is a very mini report with Van De Logt's Rector Trix.  

Rector Trix Report

At the end I talk about the changes I would make to it; rather unsurprisingly they line up somewhat with what Westerdale has done.  More land, more Brainstorms.  Less off-color artifacts and certainly no Mox Diamond.  I've never played a 29 mana-source deck that felt so off-balance.

[Toast]

I have also recently been playing (or attempting to play) rector trix and have been having a lot of trouble with consistancy, I always seem to either get a hand that is total ass, or have my hand quickly turn into total ass.

Most of the trouble I have run into is manascrew....and card screw. I never draw into a therapy when I have a rector or a rector when I have a therapy, when I have a card which is vital for me to cast, I never have the right colored mana to do so. I get lots of hands with expensive cards and no mana, force of will with no other blue, discard with no draw/tutor to gain momentum and no combo pieces. Then again combo decks have always hated me.

I have heard lots of people talking about how good this deck is, and even saw the potential it has to be good with the 1 or 2 good hands I drew, but overall I have had no luck with it.

Are most of the people who are having success with this deck playing the build in this thread, or is there some other build that might like me a little better?

[Saucemaster]

Toast, I tried Rector Trix in two separate tournaments (Fishhead and I play in the same metagame) about two months ago.  I ran a build with a little more land, four Brainstorms, etc... and I had exactly the same problems that you and Fishhead mentioned.  With the exception of a SINGLE MATCH between two tournaments (10 matches total), I never won a match 2-0, no matter the matchup, because I lost at least one game a match to my own deck.  I made a few play errors, one that cost me a match, so that hurt my impression of the deck, but generally I had huge issues with the manabase and was reduced to topdecking far more frequently than I wanted to be.  I mentioned to our local Academy player that the deck mulligans like Academy, and he asked if it ran any draw 7's--when I said "no," he looked a little surprised and said, "well... that definitely makes mulliganing much worse."

On the other hand, obviously some people are having success with the deck.  I'd be very interested to hear their thoughts and see their current builds.  And to see if they've had similar experiences.

[bebe]

As Rico already knows, I have been heavily testing Trix lately. I think I suggested the Lim Dul's Vault as i needed some search badly at times. I use one as well.

Rico really helped me tweak the deck. I like his build. This deck is not getting a lot of looks but that's okay. No one is really sideboarding hate for it yet. Depending on the metagame  - I've tested against jank, control and aggro-control, you could consider a Balance in the Duress spot.

I've also been siding three Tendrils as a defense against control and aggro-control. They love to bring oin ReBs and such to mess wioth the Illusions. The deck then becomes a Bargain deck with the Tendrils as the win condition and it is very strong.

As to the mulligans - yes. I seem to mulligan a bit more than I like, but overall I liked the performance of the deck. I will be playing this deck as my deck of choice when I return to the tournament scene.

Antway, i've retired for now, so I'll let Rico and others discuss the deck as it is their creation.

[Radagast]

Has anyone tried playing Tendrils maindeck instead of the combo? It's nearly uncounterable, takes up fewer slots, gains similar amounts of life, and you don't need an otherwise useless card to kill with it. The drawbacks are it can't be pitched to FoW and you generally need to have a Necro/Bargain out to be able to get the Storm big enough (whereas Illusions+Donate works on its own, in the unlikely circumstance that you draw it without Necro/Bargain).

[Saucemaster]

Quote Has anyone tried playing Tendrils maindeck instead of the combo? It's nearly uncounterable, takes up fewer slots, gains similar amounts of life, and you don't need an otherwise useless card to kill with it.

Radagast (and bebe), that's a very interesting idea.  The slots you gain by cutting Illusions/Donate means more search or possibly a few draw-7's, which helps the mulliganing; you probably have to cut FoW, but you could go heavy on Black and add Unmask in its place, which has the added bonus of being another free spell for Tendrils' Storm.  You probably still want Blue for draw and search.  The idea is interesting enough to test at least.  If only Tendrils could target creatures, and therefore become another way to kill your Rector/recover from an early creature rush....  My initial instinct is that it may not be as good as Illusions/Donate, but I'll test it anyway.

Very interesting.  The Dark Rituals get better this way, too.  The main problem I see is that for your four mana, if you're low on life, you don't just get an additional 20 cards to draw with Bargain--there may be times when you only get an extra 4-6 life, and it might not be enough if you're really low on life by the time you get out Bargain.

[bebe]

In the testing that I did, Tendrils did not merit a maindeck spot. They came in when I was up against eight blast sligh, UrPhid, and Uw builds with seals. Otherwise it is just a 'win more' card in the deck. Once Bargain hits you should have no problem winning with Illusions/Donate.

Illusions/Donate can be hardcast with disruption and counter backup so overall I think it is a much better route. I've also been stuck occasionally with a Bargain in my hand and have been able to Rector up the Illusions and Donate it.

Twister comes in from the side but it is another card that I would rather not main deck. Draw 7s are two-edged swords. I really like the work and advice that Rico and Westredale put into this deck. I would change the sideboard a bit - we each have our metas, but the main deck looks pretty solid to me.

[Kheoinn]

I believe he was suggesting taking the "Trix" part out completely, but that would lead to a completely different deck. It might be viable, but it probably shouldn't be discussed on this thread.

[Rico Suave]

This was said before, but Illusions fuels Bargain so you can draw many cards, whereas Tendrils doesn't help you draw anything.  One of the reasons it does so well against aggro is because 20 life is quite the booster.  Not to mention the combo is blue, so you can pitch it early game while Tendrils just sits there.

I used to play Lim-Dul's Vault over the Vampiric Tutor slot, but eventually dropped it because Vamp is really good and speedy.  The thing is, the deck is so tight that I can't find room for anymore search.  

As for inconsistencies, it happens.  Brainstorm helps to smooth this, and it's one of the biggest factors in determining whether to keep a hand or mulligan.  That's a big reason to play 4.

[Fishhead]

Quote Rico really helped me tweak the deck. I like his build.

I don't see a current Rico list.  Is it much different than the Westerdale list at the front of this article?  If so, can you link to the relevant article or post the list for discussion?

[Fever]

I believe that Rico and Westerdale were collaborators on this deck, so Rico's list would be nearly identical.

[Mattdog]

I have been doing alot of testing with this deck and i think that it is a very strong deck. The only problem with the deck that I see is that I feel that it need more tutor power. I'm thinking of adding some Wish's to the Deck to see how that works.

I'll post my results latter.

   

[Fishhead]

I posted a winning report in the Reports Forum.  I'm very impressed with the deck in the GAT matchup, it's surprisingly good.  Here's the link:

Forum C&Js Rector Trix Report

Feedback is encouraged; especially from those who have been keeping on top of the development of this deck.