Rector-Trix help!!

[enigmuh]

hello ppl, i am fairly new to type 1 and i have decided to try Rector-trix. i am not new to magic, and i can understand how the deck works i just need some help with my build. this is basically copied striaght from another website. here is what i have currently:

Enchantments:
1x Necropotence
1x Yawgmoth's Bargain
3x Illusions of Grandeur

Creatures:
4x Academy Rector

Non-Mana Spells:
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Vampiric Tutor
4x Duress
4x Cabal Therapy
4x Force of WIll
4x Brainstorm
3x Donate
1x Yawgmoth's Will
1x Rushing River
1x Time Walk

Mana:
1x Tolarian Academy
3x Gemstone Mine
1x Mon Pearl
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Sol Ring
1x Black Lotus
1x Mana Vault
1x Mana Crypt
4x Dark Ritual
2x Flooded Strand
3x Polluted Delta
2x Srubland
4x Underground Sea

this should be 61 cards (i read an article that said that 61 cards shuffles better or something). anyways, i realized that if a chalice for 3 resolves, i cant win, except by decking. it stops me from rushing river, as well as donating the illusions. PLEASE HELP!!!

thanx
tom
skaterinmontana@hotmail.com

[Cpkrug]

I played the deck a while back and i didnt find myself ever needing three donates.  A lot of times I found myself going through a lot of trouble to get the combo off.  I found rector tendrills to be much easier to get off mostly because of dark rituals and the protection of duress.  Just my thoughts.  Good luck.

[Didor]

A chalice for three is not very likely to happen... chalice for one would be more propable, and surely more anoying.
If you choose to play the deck today, I would highly recomend using some basic lands, as wastelands could ruin your day... Maybe you could try to cut some Gemstone Mines.
By the way, I don't think 61 cards does improve your suffling in any way... where did you hear that ?

[Necrologia]

If the Chalice for 3 really scares you that much, just replace the Rushing River with a Hoodwink or something.

[Bram]

this should be 61 cards (i read an article that said that 61 cards shuffles better or something).

Untrue. If you shuffle correctly (there are many ways to go about this), it's completely indifferent. More than 60 cards in a deck decrease the chances of pulling off your combo. 61 cards are run sometimes, but there's no pressing reason to do so.

anyways, i realized that if a chalice for 3 resolves, i cant win, except by decking.

Thsi requires 6 mana. With you packing 12 hand disruption spells and 4 free counterspells, this will likely never happen.

I played the deck a while back and i didnt find myself ever needing three donates.

I second that. I found 3 Illusions / 2 Donates to be optimal. I've seen people run 4 Illusions is certain metas.

I like the rest of your deck. The mana base seems OK. Cut 1 Donate and you're in business

[enigmuh]

here is the page where i read that 61 cards shuffles better....

http://photobooks.com/~j/FAQ/

here is the exact wording:

Why does that deck you published have 61 cards in it?
Many of the decks I publish have 61 cards in them....

...the last good reason is that the way people shuffle (especially if you pile shuffle like I do) playing a odd prime number of cards in a deck makes it easier to pseudo-randomize the deck. In other words people shuffle odd prime numbers of cards much better than they do even numbers.

anyways, appreciate the help!

this week i am expecting lots of chalice troubles, as ppl know what i am playing, and they are using mishra's workshops to play the chalice early as turn 2. anyways, i dont think it should be to bad...

what kinda sideboard would u reccomend? i definitely need some graveyard hate... i have tormods crypt in mind, but maybe use coffin purge. also, i was contemplating using ground seal, as i have the gemstone mines to pay for it, which i get out consistantly. finally, would it be possible to throw in a couple of cunning wish?

let me know !

thanx

[Bram]

In between games, I shuffle like this:

Five riffle shuffles.
One pile shuffle (seven piles)
Five riffle shuffles.

IN between rounds, I do an additional 2 pile shuffle. Note that if you make an odd amount of piles, you will never end up with cards in the same place. It's irrelevant if you do this with 60 or 61 cards (statistically, even, it becomes harder to randomise a given amount of cards as it becomes larger, so it'd even be harder to do it with 61 than with 60. This difference is quite marginal, however

As for sideboarding, I used:

4x Phyrexian Negator
3x Coffin Purge
2x Blue Elemental Blast
3x Seal of Cleansing
1x Island
2x Abeyance
1x Balance
 
Please note that this was a little while ago already.
- The Negators came in against control (as an additional win condition combo with Riruals, NOT as a replacement for the original combo)
- The Purges were mirror hate and possibly for Dragon as well.
- The Seals are insane Dragon hate (and perform well vs. Chalice, too if you fear those).
- The Island is for decks that run either maindeck Blood Moon or are expected to side them in against you
- The Blue Blasts are obv. meant to take out any Blood Moons and fucntion as random countermeasures vs. Sligh as well.
- Abeyance was there for the mirror match and various Long-type combo decks.
- Balance is for random Aggro.

I havent played RTrix in today's meta but it still seems to stand it's ground, especially in environments that have little power. If you're really worried about the Chalices, you might wanna put a Hurkyl's Recall in the SB.

[c9h13no3]

I've found that wasteland is one of your biggest problems with this deck.  Being that this deck's most critical turn is turn 2 (the turn that you get your B and W sources of mana up and running) running a basic swamp in the deck might not be a bad idea if you suspect wastelands.  That would allow you to avoid some of the wasteland problems while still being able to play your hand kill turn 1.

And secondly, I've noticed that the basic idea of this deck is drop a rector as fast as possible.  With that being the goal, a lotus petal should probably be in this deck, since the limiting factor for that is usually the 2 colors of mana that you need (B for Rit, W for rector).  More search besides the 4 brainstorms might be warranted as well, since first turn you either want to disrupt their hand, or ensure that you have the cards to drop rector second turn.

Hope that helps.

[mrieff]

I always included 2 Form of the dragon SB, against decks where that would be enough for the kill.
It saves up slots, whcih can be used to add Negators, or other threats.

[c9h13no3]

I always included 2 Form of the dragon SB, against decks where that would be enough for the kill.
It saves up slots, whcih can be used to add Negators, or other threats.

Usually if you can rector out form of the dragon, that means you can rector out bargain, which is usually good enough to win it.

[P]

if you really wish to stay at 61, id cut a donate for a seal of cleansing, its rector fetchable and only 2CC if you are that affraid of challice@3.

also, running a few basic lands might be to considered, as a null rod/blood moon can really lock you down.

on another note, im currently thinking of trying out regress in my build instead of rushing river, without any way to remove an opposing tolarian i feel im playing *race for the academy*, and now with rogue artifact decks more rampant, i wouldnt be surprised to see the academy even more played, if thats humanly possible.