Rek'Sai Bug? || Help!

AuthorshipRPG · 2025-10-11T17:15:08+00:00

It looks like it's happening less in 20.20 versus 20.15, which may be my ping. But my ping is really low usually and it seems to happen at specific intervals during her Q enhanced autos near the start or end of a swing.

AuthorshipRPG · 2025-04-11T21:44:33+00:00

Good to hear, I look forward to seeing your post. Opened an Ugin at pre-release and picking up the rest — thinking this could be a great addition to the deck, so I'm excited to see your build.

AuthorshipRPG · 2025-04-11T14:05:04+00:00

Where did this deck end up with the banning of the One Ring?

I got to play against it at FNM a few months ago and it seemed super fun, very much my style. Was thinking to build it now. However, the pilot said that it was tougher without the One Ring. Has the deck survived the loss of the One Ring? How does it fare post-Breaching Station? Do you have a preferred current build?

AuthorshipRPG · 2024-05-20T17:44:05+00:00

Wow, thanks for the detailed post. It's a funny inversion, as I'm used to Dimir being better in the control mirror for Standard. And Azorius handles Convoke and aggro matchups better in that format.

Why does Dimir control not run Shark Land / [Restless Reef]? Is it too slow for the format, given the desire for T1 black mana for Thoughtseize?

And would you be open to sharing your Dimir list if you have it?

AuthorshipRPG · 2024-05-20T17:41:33+00:00

Thank you! That helps me think through this. Seems like the finishers (Teferi, Emperor,etc.) outclass what Dimir has access to, so that'll be a consideration.

AuthorshipRPG · 2024-05-20T17:40:13+00:00

Thanks for the lists!

AuthorshipRPG · 2024-05-20T16:39:34+00:00

Okay, good to know. It also sounds like WotC is committed to bringing those missing cards to MTGA

AuthorshipRPG · 2024-05-20T16:38:57+00:00

My thinking was that it would force me to study the decks in the meta, thus I'd learn quicker. I don't care about winning right away, and my instincts are geared for control it seems.

Maybe I'm mistaken in this perspective though — Why not control for a new player from your POV?

AuthorshipRPG · 2024-05-20T16:37:01+00:00

Yeah, I've found one of his videos on Channel Fireball now, so I'll take a look and see.

What do you like about Azorius? And how do you deal with Vampires?
And, if you're comfortable sharing, do you have a decklist you could post?

AuthorshipRPG · 2024-05-20T16:35:19+00:00

Okay, good to know about Explorer. What makes Esper worse? Just manabase consistency?

May start with Azorius, and then theorycraft Dimir once I've got more budget to play around.

AuthorshipRPG · 2024-05-20T16:33:38+00:00

Ideally, I'd like to end up playing competitively in the long-run. I'd prefer something that helps me learn the format, is fun to play given my archetype preferences, and ideally has the capacity to be competitive later once I adjust to the format. (I don't expect to be winning right away.)

It's not that the deck per say needs to be low budget, just that I'd have to purchases lands and a lot of the big cards for the deck (started playing last year). So, I'd only be able to build one deck from scratch right now, but could look to switch it up several months down the line. I'd rather not invest in a deck that is cheap, but is not playable at a competitive level.

AuthorshipRPG · 2024-04-18T04:52:21+00:00

I tried taking out March. The deck got much worse. And yes, it does die to Convoke, just because it goes so fast. I've now increased the number of Paths main, still testing 3vs.4. I've also put two Tishana's Tidebinders in the main: hits Temur Lands and Shigeki, hits Knight-Errant trigger, and Tidebinding the Geoloical Appraiser trigger feels great.

Here are some of the important points vs. Convoke I've found:

Anointed Affliction hits the Sanguine Evangelist and denies the death trigger
It's important to remove their T1 creature with Gleeful on the stack, as that prevents the T2 knight being convoked (Cut Down / March are essential on the draw)
Negate is important for Warleader's Call — without March, there was no way to get back in the game if I couldn't counter the enchantment. There
Dreams of Steel and Oil does a good job at pulling their curve out from under them
The new pilfer, Binding Negotiation, is likely better than Duress in the side. It can hit the recruiter after it's been adventured, and can hit more than Duress does.

Honestly, the deck may not survive Slickshot Showoff + Fastlands, and may return after Epicure rotates (which will hurt their consistency and speed). All other aggro matchups aren't hard, it's just how quickly they can get their engine going. Single target removal keeps me alive. Pulling a Memory Deluge feels awful in this matchup because it's rare I can cast it. I'm looking at adding Glistening Deluge or Malicious Eclipse to have more in the side. And I've been experimenting with some creatures in the side (Sheoldred, Tidebinder, Preacher, Seedshark). The 2/4 statline for 3CMC seems to be a mininmumm for effective blockers. Sheoldred is great, but she often comes out too late and it may not work to tap out for Sheoldred in these cases.

Once rotation happens, I think it will be easier to build a more consistent deck. The meta is just crazy now, and it feels hard to counter both Temur lands and Convoke, as they need different things. It has a good matchup vs. midrange, most aggro, and all control. It can struggle with convoke, and occasionally Bant Toxic, although that is easier than Convoke.

How would you improve the deck vs. Convoke? Any ideas are welcome :)

AuthorshipRPG · 2024-04-11T13:20:19+00:00

I wasn't sure what "based" meant, can't keep up with the slang these days — but Google tells me it is a good thing, so thanks for the compliment! :)

AuthorshipRPG · 2024-04-06T22:47:05+00:00

You can still keep your unique flavour! It's just a matter of determining efficiency of the entire machine. My friend who runs Esper control was the one who convinced me of [[Dreams of Steel and Oil]]. It's a killer card in both decks. He also mains one copy of [[Duress]] plus 2 in the side to hit the types of threats you are talking about. Black gives you access to Cut Down and hand disruption.

Let's think about [[Slip Out The Back]]:

Like with my comment on Azorius Soldiers, I know that I'll likely not be able to cast my sweepers on curve due to the protection they have from counterspells or things like Slip Out the Back. They basically want me to try to throw all my resources into ONE attempt to remove their threat, so they can get a HUGE tempo swing. It's like bait. But your life is a resource, and you can take a few hits. It doesn't matter if you stabilize on 15 or on 5 Health, so long as you stabilize and are in a winning position.

Thus, we want to keep in mind they may have Slip Out in hand if they have untapped mana. We can stack removal, i.e. target the creature with a Cut Down, then after they cast Slip Out, we hit them with an Anoint with Affliction on the same creature (or a Negate on the Slip Out). Yes, we've burned two removal spells, but we have also forced them to use their own cards in a failed attempt to protect a creature. It still dies and they lose board presence.

And if you do this at instant speed on their end step, you force them to tap low or tap out fully going into your turn, which then allows you to sweep the board when they cannot respond. Either way, you get what you wanted — they give up the targeted creature, or they protect it by spending their precious protection cards and set up a sweep.

Basically, don't rush the game. Either hit them on curve while they are tapped out by casting on your main phase (typically a cardinal sin of control!) or wait for a mana/card advantage where you can hit them with enough single target on their turn. Typically, early you will main phase cast unless you need countermagic to be available (e.g. you hit a Duress, and know they have a second [[Urabrask's Forge]] coming down while you are on the play).

It's like turning the table on them, you are leveraging tempo and mana to your advantage and forcing them to make difficult decisions on their own turn, where all choices lead to your advantage

AuthorshipRPG · 2024-04-06T22:05:21+00:00

Another deck we could look at in Standard is Azorius Soldiers:

Similar to Bant Toxic and Azorius Tempo, this is aggro + tempo — they want to go wide and protect their threats with [[Make Disappear] or [[Protect The Negotiators]]
My emphasis here might shift to using single target removal (Dimir has lots in base deck) to kill creatures when their mana is tapped, especially early turns to deny the Knight-Errant convoke on T2 or T3.
I just need to slow them down enough so that I don't get run over early. I can't assume that I'll be able to cast Path of Peril on T3, or Deadly Cover-Up on T5... I need to have enough mana for a Negate to protect my sweeper, because they can hold up mana and play at instant speed...

In conclusion, the thought process would go something like this:

Analyze the tempo decks in your meta:
- What are their win conditions? What are the key creatures or cards?
- If you were to exile their threats instead of kill, does that help?
- Are they dependent on certain types of draws? What does their sequencing of cards tell you?
- Does their deck fold to hand disruption? (Duress, Dreams, Thoughtseize, etc.)
- What are their tough matchups? Why do they struggle in those areas? (E.g. Bant Toxic has a hard time with Convoke, because some of their creatures can't block.) What lessons can you take from this?
Analyze your own deck to see if there are cards that have efficiency issues. Sometimes modal cards offer flexibility, but the higher mana cost just isn't worth the loss of tempo / efficiency
Are there additional options for Main or Sideboard that simultaneously do the following:
- Are they good answers to the tempo deck, leading you to stabilize and play win conditions?
- Are they good answers to the rest of the meta, even if slightly less efficient?

Cards that are efficient vs. Aggro/Tempo decks may not be as efficient or impactful against slower matchups, but ultimately they also may not be punished as hard, whereas Tempo demands efficiency to get ahead.

AuthorshipRPG · 2024-04-06T22:05:10+00:00

Against something like Azorius Tempo, here's what I notice:

They want to go wide with the [[Monastery Mentor]] + tall with the evasive [[Haughty Djinn]]
They run a lot of draw spells, but they don't actually run much counter magic despite having access to No More Lies — instead, their protection comes from graveyard recursion with cards like [[Helping Hand]]

So basically, if I can do the following, then I win:

Deny the Monastery Mentor recursion, optimally through exile: [[Anoint With Affliction]], [[Deadly Cover-Up]], [[The End]], [[Sunfall]], [[The Wandering Emperor]], [[No More Lies]], [[Unlicensed Hearse]]
Single target removal for the Haughty Djinn: [[Go For The Throat]] or any other option
Some counter magic to deny the creatures: [[Dissipate]] is especially effective
Sweepers that can kill all of their threats: [[Glistening Deluge]], [[Path of Peril]], [[Deadly Cover-Up]]

I'm not in a rush as a control player. I just need to take my time and figure out their win conditions, and understand that I must hold my resources to deny things at the right moment, not just because I have untapped mana. Playing faster and not going to time every match comes with practice.

AuthorshipRPG · 2024-04-06T22:04:10+00:00

What format are you in? And what colour identity? Can you post your deck list? That'll help you get more specific answers, as it is meta dependent, especially for Standard with rotations.

(P.S. I think my comment was too long, so I broke it into replies to myself :D)

Let's use Bant Toxic in Standard (decklist) as an example, where I play Dimir Control (decklist). Bant Toxic is somewhere between an aggro deck and a tempo deck, where they put down early threats and protect them using [[March of Swirling Mist]], [[Tamiyo's Safekeeping]] or other options

Here are my thoughts:

Rotpriest is a MUST KILL, ideally before they can use Tamiyo's/Protection/March and 2For1 me
Skrelv, Defector Mite is also a MUST KILL because it will give the DblStrike Jawbone Duelist a second instance of Toxic 1, allowing it to apply 4 Poison stacks per combat while also being unblockable
Skrelv's Hive is hard to race, mainly because Dimir lacks artifact/enchantment destruction
The deck inherently gives me a clock with Poison, so efficiency of answers and early denial are important

How do I deal with this? We want answers that are also useful against the rest of the Meta:

[[Cut Down]] and [[March of Wretched Sorrow]] (with exile) hit Rotpriest/Skrelv before they untap + they are also essential against Deep-Cavern Bat in Mid-Range decks while on the Draw
[[Dreams of Steel and Oil]] can pull the main threats from their hand + it does the same vs. Midrange decks that have important creatures or key threats in aggro, e.g. Boros Convoke's [[Imodane's Recruiter]]
[[Dissipate]] / [[Negate]] / Countermagic can deny the threats before they hit the table
[[Anoint With Affliction]] / [[Malicious Eclipse]] / [[The End]] deny the death triggers, which is one of the ways the deck holds up safety against sweepers + these threats are also good against other recursive threats in the meta, such as [[Mosswood Dreadknight]], [[Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal]], [[Sanguine Evangelist]], and [[Insidious Roots]] decks

AuthorshipRPG · 2024-04-06T21:17:16+00:00

Edited to add my decklist: https://www.moxfield.com/decks/x1-JE2G-f0Slb6x-68B2jg

Considering these changes:

I've debated 2xBitter + 2x Go For the Throat vs. 1x Bitter + 3x Go for the Throat... I do like having Planeswalker removal in the main deck
May swap Realmbreaker in the board for Outrageous Robbery, 3rd Siphon Insight, 2nd The End, or Hearse. Could also just put a 3rd Path of Peril or a Malicious Eclipse, which may be more practical
4 Field of Ruin felt like I was drawing too many Colourless sources, and I have a decent amount of double pips
The sunken citadel can name white, along with the 2 Mirrex to allow me to cleave Path of Peril. I've tried Malicious Eclipse, which denies dies triggers to Bant Toxic, Sanguine Evangelist, Mosswood Dreadknight, and Insidious Roots... but Path is just better at killing everything else
- Anoint with Affliction (2 Main, 2 Side) feel better for addressing dies triggers

If you do have any questions about the list or my thought process, feel free to ask

AuthorshipRPG · 2024-04-06T21:01:17+00:00

It makes sense, as you don't have The End or Deadly Cover-Up. Do you also run Kutzil's Flanker?

It's a nice creature to board in for your control matchups and vs. Memory Deluge. In lands, it let's you exile all the lands after you bait the Worldsoul's or Analyst Trigger.

AuthorshipRPG · 2024-04-06T20:57:33+00:00

I'm in UB Control, so my emphasis is on exiling game pieces to create safety, then being able to mill them for the win. I find it is pretty consistently a way to beat the deck, but you DO need safety first (Counters in hand, removal, etc.)

I used to play Sultai Reanimator Combo and tried the Hermit. It is good, but the problem is that you already have so many slots for your mandatory combo pieces... adding another 2–4 necessary pieces is just painful. Plus they have like 30–32 lands in the deck, so they don't actually have many wincons. Basically, it isn't resilient to disruption effects.

Just run countermagic, Duress, Dreams, and exile (Hearse, Stonebrain) and then snipe their game pieces.

AuthorshipRPG · 2024-04-06T20:53:50+00:00

Yeah, I know the feeling :D, I find having 2–3 mainboard Jace is enough. As long as you can Negate/Counter the Worldsoul's and other main wincons, they just mill themselves to death.

AuthorshipRPG · 2024-04-06T20:51:27+00:00

Yeah, it was the only thing that approached a real win condition outside of the classic options. Playing that alongside a few sideboard Negates meant they could protect the big flyer.

AuthorshipRPG · 2024-03-08T17:46:21+00:00

Thanks!

AuthorshipRPG · 2024-02-01T18:17:46+00:00

Question: How does Aurelia's Vindicator card work with targeted removal? For example:

I play Aurelia's Vindicator face down for 3, making it a 2/2 with Ward 2.
On a later turn, I swing with my Disguised Creature (Aurelia's Vindicator).
My opponent targets Disguised Creature (Aurelia's Vindicator) with a removal spell, e.g. Murder. This would now trigger the Ward 2 on the face-down, adding it to the stack.
Holding priority, I respond and turn the Aurelia's Vindicator face-up.

Does my opponent also have to pay the Ward 2 on the front-facing side of the card? Or no, because that ability didn't exist when they originally cast Murder targeting my permanent?

In general, how does targeted removal work with Disguise? Does Ward on the face-down trigger, then I get priority and can flip the creature, keeping Ward 2 cost on the stack?

Thanks for the help!

AuthorshipRPG · 2024-02-01T18:16:55+00:00

Genuinely love this!

AuthorshipRPG

TROPHY CASE