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Rec/Sur Primer by JP “Polluted” Meyer, the Archivist
Survival of the Fittest
1G
Enchantment
G, Discard a creature card: Search your library for a creature card, reveal that card to all players, and put it into your hand. Shuffle your library afterwards
Recurring Nightmare
2B
Enchantment
Sacrifice a creature, Return ~this~ to its owner's hand: Return target creature card from your graveyard to play. Play this ability only any time you could play a sorcery.
They seem OK at first glance, right? You get to turn all your little Elves into big monsters with Survival of the Fittest and if any of those big guns die, you can use Recurring Nightmare to bring them back by sacrificing even more Elves. But what if you include creatures that come back to your hand like Squee, Goblin Nabob and Krovikan Horror with Survival? Now you’ve got a way to Demonic Tutor every turn. And if you include the two enchantments together we can search our deck for any creature and bring it out with Recurring Nightmare.
The name Rec/Sur is a bit of a misnomer. The original Rec/Sur decks were very dependent on Recurring Nightmare because they lacked Krovikan Horror and Squee, Goblin Nabob and were built for Type 2 play, so they could not use dual lands and had somewhat shaky mana bases. The modern decks depend almost entirely on the card advantage gained through the use of Survival of the Fittest and the Horror and Squee.
Rec/Sur has not, however been a popular deck in Type 1. It suffers from two minor problems. The least important (more likely trivial) problem is the "Where's my toys?" syndrome. Rec/Sur players don't get the chance to play many of the Type 1 power cards like Ancestral Recall, Mana Drain, and Juzam Djinn. The more serious problem is its severe weakness to combo decks. Rec/Sur is a little slow to set up and does not play much disruption. However, this is not a huge loss as combo is not very prevalent in Type 1 following the restriction of Necropotence, Time Spiral, and Tolarian Academy.
JP Meyer’s Wheaties
(Add Mox Emerald/Jet to taste)
Creatures (28)
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Wall of Roots
4 Academy Rector
2 Quirion Ranger
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
1 Krovikan Horror
1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Uktabi Orangutan
1 Spike Weaver
1 Spike Feeder
1 Phyrexian Plaguelord
1 Tradewind Rider
1 Deranged Hermit
1 Thrull Surgeon
1 Wood Elves
1 Dwarven Miner
1 Monk Idealist
1 Monk Realist
Spells (10)
4 Survival of the Fittest
2 Recurring Nightmare
1 Moat
1 Opposition
R Demonic Tutor
R Regrowth
Fruity Pebbles Kill (3)
1 Enduring Renewal
1 Goblin Bombardment
1 Shield Sphere
Land (19)
4 Savannah
4 Bayou
4 Taiga
4 Tropical Island
1 Forest
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Volrath's Stronghold
Card by card analysis:
When constructing a Rec/Sur deck, card choice is extremely important. The addition of a single card in some cases can swing the odds wildly in your favor. The above deck is for a fairly generic metagame, but you should make sure to tune yours accordingly.
Land mix- Green mana is extremely important to the Rec/Sur deck. It is not only is it needed to power Survival of the Fittest, but also it is needed cast most the many green creatures in the deck. They also provide excellent synergy with Quirion Ranger. The two legendary lands are for very specific purposes. The Phyrexian Tower is used to sacrifice Academy Rectors, but can also be used in a pinch to fizzle a well-placed Swords to Plowshares, get a creature into the graveyard so Recurring Nightmare can be used, or (albeit rarely) for its intended purpose of generating BB. Volrath's Stronghold serves two purposes. It is used not only to reuse creatures such as Thrull Surgeon that need to die to be useful, but can also be used to fizzle some graveyard removal such as Planar Void (if you stack things correctly) or Phyrexian Furnace.
Survival of the Fittest- This is the key card in the deck. The primary purpose of this card to is fetch Squee, Goblin Nabob and/or Krovikan as soon as possible to gain enormous card advantage. They also can be used to fill up your graveyard to allow for Recurring Nightmare to be used. Four of these are required in any build.
Recurring Nightmare- The usefulness of this card has declined since the deck was first created, however it still plays an important role. It is used to recycle the large amounts of single creatures in this deck. It can also be used to provide another way to kill Academy Rectors. The number of these varies wildly between 1 and 4. Survival decks using Academy Rectors and/or assorted Tutors tend to run only one or two. Rector-less and B/G decks tend to use 3 or 4.
Moat- This powerful enchantment can singe-handedly wins games against many prevalent Type 1 decks. Necro and most beatdown decks may very likely be unable to win when this enters play. Remember though, Moat affects you as well, so you'll need to either win through the Pebbles combo or with a Spike-enhanced Birds of Paradise or Tradewind Rider.
Opposition- Opposition is typically brought out against control decks and other mana-hungry decks. Also, if you manage to survive long enough, Opposition can provide a win against combo decks, provided you can get it into play. Opposition tends to occur as a 1-of in Rector-based Rec/Sur. Other multicolor Rec/Sur decks tend to either run 2 or 3 or none at all.
Demonic Tutor- One of the most powerful search cards in Magic, it's just too good to pass up.
Regrowth- Like Demonic Tutor, it’s simply too powerful to leave out.
The Fruity Pebbles Combo (Enduring Renewal/Goblin Bombardment/Shield Sphere)- This provides a quick way to finish off beatdown decks that have been locked down and slower non-blue based control decks. They also help the deck win within the allotted 50 minutes rounds. Shield Sphere and Goblin Bombardment are also useful by themselves in this deck, as Shield Sphere is a nice blocker and Goblin Bombardment is useful for fizzling Swords to Plowshares or to finish an opponent off. This combo is not needed at all, although it is very useful.
Birds of Paradise- Mana is the lifeblood of this deck, and these are the best card for the job. They are needed to power the spells of every color that the deck plays, and are searchable with Survival. Four are required.
Wall of Roots- These also provide a dual role. The first role is to blunt an aggressive deck's attack. The second is to supercharge your Survivalling. They have the advantage over Vine Trellis as they can be used on both your turn and your opponent's turn. Four are almost always used, and occasionally Vine Trellis is used as a 5th wall.
Academy Rector- This is another extremely important card. These allow your Survival of the Fittest to fetch not only creatures, but enchantments as well. In addition, you can use these to fetch a Survival in the early game if you don’t get one. They also allow for interesting sideboarding choices, such as including single hoser cards. They can also serve as pseudo-Moats against creature decks and are needed to assemble the Fruity Pebbles combo if you wish to pursue that victory condition. My favorite use of Rectors is to sacrifice them to an opposing Abyss and fetch an Enchant World of your own (like In the Eye of Chaos) to destroy the opposing Abyss. The number of these varies based on the number of enchantments you wish to run in your deck. The above deck has 8 different enchantments, so the maximum of 4 are needed, although many decks run either 2 or none at all.
Quirion Ranger- One of the most flexible cards in the deck. One of the reason this deck runs 17 "Forests" is to allow for maximum synergy with this card. It also helps work around turns where you miss land drops by letting you return a tapped Dual to your hand to (usually) untap a Bird, netting you twice as much mana from each. The also stop land destruction and reduce damage from the deadly Price of Progress. In a 5-color deck, 2 or 3 work well, however in a B/G Rec/Sur deck, usually at most 1 are needed, as the color requirements are far more lenient.
Squee, Goblin MACHINE and Krovikan Horror- These are the cards that the engine work. Discard Squee and/or the Horror to Survival and get whatever creature you need. Then get them back and do it again. Also, you can use Squee well with Recurring Nightmare in a pinch if needed. The Horror also provides a nice Plow-fizzling effect and direct damage source to boot. You should have at least 2 of these cards in any combination (1 of each is preferred,) with the possibility of even going as high as 4 Squees.
Gorilla Shaman- A Type 1 staple, with all the Moxen running around, he's practically required. One is all you'll need.
Uktabi Orangutan- Complements the Mox Monkey. While Gorilla Shaman is superior for killing small stuff like Moxen and Zuran Orbs, the infamous Sex Monkey is more effective against aggressive decks for killing their Cursed Scrolls while providing a useful blocker or for dealing with large artifacts like Mirror Universe or Nevinyrral's Disk. You'll probably only need 1, although you could run a second in the board or possibly even use Devout Witness (especially if you already have Gorilla Shaman.)
Spike Weaver- Complements the Moat. While Moat provides a more concrete solution to a creature rush, it takes a little longer to set up due to the Rector sacrificing involved. The Weaver provides you with three beatdown-less turns and can be Recurred when he runs out. One or two should suffice, especially if you run Moat.
Spike Feeder- Another useful anti-beatdown creature. Remember under 6th edition rules you can block an opponent's creature with the Feeder, and in response to damage being placed on the stack, you can sac him to gain 4 life. Be careful with him if you are low on life against a deck with burn. Remove a counter, let the effect resolve, then remove the last counter. If you’re not careful and just drop him into the graveyard and say “Gain 4 life,” you’re opponent may go “Bolt, Bolt, Fireblast” before your lifegain resolves and possibly kill you. He's also useful for transferring counters to the Weaver to keep the Fog going or to Birds of Paradise if you need to fly over a Moat. Either 1 or 2 should be enough, and if you're confident enough with Moat/Weaver or are running cards like Ivory Mask, you might not play with any.
Phyrexian Plaguelord- The big creature remover. In addition to making all of your creatures pseudo-Mogg Fanatics, he himself can take down x/8 creatures by himself. He combos very well with Deranged Hermit and lets you kill your Academy Rectors. He also has the added bonus that his abilities can take down the rare regenerator as well. Lastly, he can beat for 4 if necessary. 1 seems like the right number, although just using Krovikan Horror may be enough as well.
Tradewind Rider- The jack-of-all-trades. The Tradewind provides temporary solutions to almost any permanent your opponent might play. It can also be used to land-lock slower opponents and has amazing synergy with Quirion Ranger and Deranged Hermit. You can also use the Tradewind to bounce your own creatures back to your hand and recast them to reuse any comes-into-play effects they have. The Tradewind is also nice for bouncing Moat or Rising Waters to your hand in a pinch if they begin to affect you too severely. The even provide a way to protect your creatures from Swords to Plowshares. 1, possibly 2 are useful, although they are not by any means required.
Deranged Hermit- Another jack-of-all-trades. He provides beatdown. He makes Nightmare fodder. He power Opposition and Tradewind Rider. He gives you an army of block-happy dorks. He’s just an absolutely amazing card in this deck. One is probably the right number, but if you want, he can be replaced with either Sliver Queen or the Best Fatty Ever Printed, Verdant Force.
Thrull Surgeon- The hand viewing effect of this card is almost as useful as the discard effect. If he can be Recurred, a Control deck will probably not be able to recover. This card also has amazing synergy with Tradewind Rider, as you can power the Tradewind with him and then make them discard the card you just bounced. 1 will be all you'll need.
Wood Elves- This deck only runs 19 land, so it is typical for it to possibly stall at a fairly low number of lands. Wood Elves smooth this out and then provide nice Nightmare fodder or a body to throw in front of a Pup or Juzam. If you're running more than around 22-23 lands or are only 2 colors, you probably won't need him. Otherwise, just play 1.
Dwarven Miner- While the Squirrel Prison of Deranged Hermit/Opposition or the bounce lock of Tradewind/Ranger may be more powerful, Dwarven Miner has an advantage over both: cost. The Miner costs a meager 1R to cast and only 2R to keep most Type 1 decks from raising their land count for the rest of the game. 1 is nice, however if your metagame lacks many multicolored decks, these could be moved to the sideboard or replaced with Avalanche Riders.
Monk Idealist- With all the single copies of enchantments in this deck, this is needed to stop any pinpoint enchantment removal. 1 is needed in Rector-based Rec/Sur, otherwise, you can skip this guy.
Monk Realist- Necropotence, The Abyss, Oath of Druids, Aura of Silence, Blood Moon, Planar Void. All of these can wreck havoc on you. This guy gives you a searchable Disenchant. 1 should be sufficient, although you can experiment with other choices like Elvish Lyrist and Devout Witness.
Card's that didn't make the cut but you might like:
Nekrataal/Bone Shredder- One of the more surprising omissions to some. To me, this guy can't stop large creatures like Juzam Djinn, Phyrexian Negator, and Morphling. The Shredder is even worse because it is an even less effective blocker than Nekrataal. All he can whack are they little guys. However, little guys can be easily killed by Plaguelord or Hermit, or are simply nullified by Rector, Moat, or Weaver.
Duress- Simply put, the only reason I don’t have it in my deck is because I don’t have enough black sources and the mana base is somewhat shaky as it is. If you run a heavier black component or are going B/G, then 3 or 4 are a no-brainer. They are also extremely important against decks packing counterspells, as you can use them to force through a crucial card.
Ashen Ghoul- An old-school Rec/Sur card. These were used before Opposition against decks like Necro and Forbiddian that simply could not handle them forever. These are still usually used in Rector-less Survival decks in numbers of 3 or 4.
Ghitu Slinger/Triskellion- While the Slinger is nice for killing Rectors and weenies, there aren't as many weenies played in Type 1 than there are in say, Extended. Triskellion is even more powerful, but the 6 casting cost is just too unwieldy.
Wall of Blossoms- Some players love having these around to abuse Recurring Nightmare. I feel that the card advantage from Survival of the Fittest should be enough to win the game. Also, Moat and Spike Weaver are better defensive cards and Wall of Roots has a higher toughness.
Sliver Queen/Verdant Force/Spirit of the Night- These fatties can end a game in a hurry. Unfortunately, they have extremely high casting costs and will probably need to be Recurred into play. The Hermit is just as good, if not better for creature generation as well.
Elvish Lyrist- Realist has the advantage that he kills the enchantment RIGHT NOW. The only times I like Lyrist are to hose Trix or in B/G Rec/Sur decks.
Avatar of Woe- In Rec/Sur decks that don’t have the Pebbles combo (and thus will probably need to kill a lot of their opponent’s creatures) and use Ashen Ghouls (to give a larger graveyard) one of these is a natural fit. You’ll meet the reduced cost quite easily.
Rising Waters- I personally consider this card overkill in Survival decks running Opposition, however some people like the lock potential and mana tricks that this card allows for.
Here’s how to get a “free” mana each upkeep using Rising Waters:
1. For this trick to work, you must have all your land untapped.
2. At the beginning of your upkeep, stack Rising Water’s effect.
3. Respond to that by tapping a land
4. The land you tapped will untap. Now you’ve got 1 mana floating, which you should have no problem finding a use for.
Living Death- While it combines extremely well with Survival of the Fittest and stops weenie decks cold, it is expensive (3BB) and cannot be Survivalled for.
Abyssal Horror- Forcing your opponent to discard 2 cards may seem big, but when you remember that your opponent chooses the cards and that this guy costs 4BB, it isn’t as disruptive as it seems.
Radiant’s Dragoons- Some people look at this card and go “Whoa, this is better than Spike Feeder! You get more life and it’s bigger.” Well, it might be bigger and give you more life, but if you consider the Echo cost, it really costs more like 4WW. Also, Spike Feeder is green, and this deck produces tons of green mana. White, on the other hand, can only be produced by 8 different cards, 4 of which being creatures.
Firestorm- With the emphasis taken away from Living Death and Recurring Nightmare, these are just not as useful as they have been. Besides, you beat up beatdown decks anyhow, and it's hard to Firestorm a Negator for more than 1 or 2 when mono-black has been destroying your hand.
Vampiric/Enlightened Tutors- Not needed in this version due to the 4 Rectors, however they are still very useful.
Winter Orb- Some people used this before Rising Waters was printed. It has the advantage of being easily castable and can be tapped to keep it from affecting you, but you need to use a Tutor to fetch it, rather than Survival or Rector.
Gilded Drake- These are popular in Extended. You might use them if you need a way to handle large creatures like Masticore and Juzam Djinn that are otherwise hard to kill.
Meddling Mage- The double colored mana scared me away from him. He is however very powerful. You could fetch multiples of these with Survival and simply shut down all the threatening cards in the opposing deck.
Mystic Snake- This guy may be good in T/S. The double blue in the casting cost is very hard to deal with, but it is a counterspell that can be Survivaled for.
City of Brass/Undiscovered Paradise/Gemstone Mine- This deck is very mana hungry, needing to Survival as well as cast the critters obtained through Survival. Undiscovered Paradise and Gemstone Mine don't seem to stick around long enough and City of Brass often causes a significant amount of damage.
Also remember that any creature with a “comes into play” effect, an effect that triggers when it dies, or just has a cool ability in general might just find a place in your Rec/Sur deck. The same holds true for any nifty enchantments that you might want to fetch with Academy Rector.
Sideboard Possibilities:
One thing to always keep in mind while designing a sideboard is that you have to take out 1 card for every card you bring in. Keep this in mind so you don't put more cards in your sideboard against a certain deck than you can actually put into your deck.
Emerald Charm/Pyroblast/Elvish Lyrist/Devout Witness- If you expect a few combo decks (especially Trix) these guys can help you win that impossible matchup.
Lobotomy- While not searchable, these can simply cripple slow decks.
Light of Day/Choke/CoPs/Compost/Ivory Mask- One use of Academy Rector in this deck is the fact that allows you to use single copies of certain hoser cards (a "CMU Sideboard") against various strategies.
Ivory Mask- While this card’s use against Sligh is apparent, it is far more versatile. It also stops discard spells like Duress and Hymn to Tourach and potentially crippling cards such as Tormod’s Crypt and Jester’s Cap. It even stops any new Aura of Silences from making your enchantments more expensive!
Rootwater Thief- With all the recursion and restricted cards in Type 1, Mike Long can quickly remove your opponent's key spells before they know it. I once used him to remove another Rec/Sur deck's Squee and Horror and an Oath deck's creatures with this.
Chains of Mephistopheles- A potent control hoser, remember that Survival of the Fittest doesn’t trigger the effect, since you’re not “drawing” cards
In the Eye of Chaos- This obscure Enchant World stops countermagic cold if you’ve got a Rector to fetch it with. With all Enchant Worlds, remember that your opponent can destroy yours with one of theirs and vice versa, which is a very good way to rid yourself of an Abyss or Nether Void.
Gate to Phyrexia- Betcha don’t know what this card does. Anyway, if you have artifact-heavy decks in your metagame, such as Teletubbies, a copy of this card in your sideboard (if you’re playing with Rectors) can wipe out all their stuff.
Gate to Phyrexia
BB
Enchantment
Sacrifice a creature: Destroy target artifact. Play this ability only during your upkeep.
Aura Shards- This is another very strong anti-Parfait and anti-Teletubbies card. It becomes next to impossible for Teletubbies to win while this is in play. Parfait can destroy it with Aura of Silence, but this card will destroy all of their permanents until they do.
Playing The Deck
The most important thing to do in the early game is to get out a Survival of the Fittest. If you do not have one, you may wish to mulligan. However, this is not automatic. If you have a strong hand, such as Spikes against beatdown or a Dwarven Miner with Duress backup against control, you should keep your hand. Against beatdown decks, just try to get it out as quickly as possible. Against any deck with counters, try quickly but be wary of Force Spike, Annul, and Force of Will, using Duress or Thrull Surgeon if possible to get information about their hand and strip away their counters. After sideboarding you can bring in more Duresses and possibly Pyroblasts to make this job easier.
So I've got the Survival, now what?
Take the time to analyze the situation. What immediate threats does my opponent have out? What are the key cards in their deck? Can they take out my Survival? Should I be afraid of effects that might remove my creatures from the game?
At this point, I tend to go for Squee. However, watch the board. If my opponent might be able to get off a Disenchant while I'm tapped out and wax my Survival, I might go for Monk Idealist first just to be safe. Now think about the answers you got to the mental questions you should have asked yourself and asses the board position. If you have a fair amount of mana (say 4 or 5,) going for a Weaver or Rector against a burn-less beatdown deck may be enough. Against Burn or Sligh, you might want to first get a Feeder. The Feeder can ruin an entire attack (I'll block your Pup let the Ball Lightning through. Now you have no creatures, took 2 damage from your Pup, and I only took 2 damage total) and costs less mana than the previous two suggestions.
Against Control, the answer isn't so easy. How many Counterspells? A low (8-10) count, ala Keeper, or a high (15-20) count, ala XL-Blue? What are they going to stop you with? A Morphling or The Abyss? Usually, the first thing I'll do is make sure I am Survivalling as much as I can with both Squee and the Horror. Thrull Surgeon is pure gold here as well. Developing your mana base is key as well, and extra Walls and Birds will be useful. You will have to act quickly before they fire off a huge Stroke of Genius or Mind Twist your hand away.
I think I've got the advantage, where do I go from here?
Against beatdown decks, if you've got out Recurring Weaver or a Moat with Idealist backup and make sure to keep burn spells in mind, you've got the game as good as won. The most common route now will be by going to infinity and beyond with the Fruity Pebbles combo. Use your Survival to get two Rectors, the Shield Sphere and a Plaguelord or Horror to kill them. You'll probably need a couple more turns to finish the combo unless you have around 10 mana. Lay the Rector and say done. Weave if necessary and find the other Rector, the Plaguelord or Horror, and the Shield Sphere at the end of your opponent's turn. Untap, get Squee back if you want or think you need to and draw. Now drop the Plaguelord/Horror. Sac the Rector (note, using either of the choices will take 5 mana, although the Plaguelord requires 3BB and the Horror takes 4B) and get Goblin Bombardment. You're probably tapped out, so let your opponent go. Again, Weave and/or get any other parts if necessary. Finally, cast the 2nd Rector, sac it to the Bombardment and get Enduring Renewal. Now play Shield Sphere and count down to 0.
An easier way is possible if you've got Recurring Nightmare in hand. Survival for a Rector, then Survival that Rector for another one (and get Shield Sphere if you haven't already.) If you've got 7 or more mana, you can cast Rector #1, use Nightmare to sac it for Rector #2 (getting Goblin Bombardment in the process of course) and sac that one to the Bombardment for Enduring Renewal.
Against Control, you'll probably need to go into Squirrel Prison mode or some similar situation. Try to force out a Rector, Miner, or Tradewind. The next step is to get out the Horror if you want to go for Squirrel Prison. This is actually quite easy, because if they counter it you can just Survival Squee (on your turn) and get the Horror back at the end of your turn so you can try again next turn. If you can get out a Miner or Tradewind, try to follow up with a Ranger and bounce or destroy all of their lands. If you've got out Opposition, the Hermit is your best choice. Icy Manipulator might not be playable in Type 1, but 5 Icy Manipulators for almost the same cost is some good I hear. If your opponent counters the Hermit, try Survivalling for as many cheap creatures as you can (Birds, Rangers, etc.) If your opponent is being stubborn, you can cement the game with Rising Waters and then use your creatures for what they were meant for: attacking. Unlike the matchup against beatdown decks, you're not under significant pressure to win quickly, so you will in all likelihood not need the Fruity Pebbles combo, and can usually side it out.
Using Recurring Nightmare
Learning how to properly use Recurring Nightmare takes some practice. Recurring Nightmare should be a last resort and not the main strategy. You should first try to hard cast your creatures, using the Nightmare only to bring them back for another use. The only times should try to use Recurring Nightmare as your main way to bring a creature into play is if it is an expensive creature such as Spirit of the Night, Verdant Force, or Sliver Queen.
Another thing to learn is when to cast the Nightmare. Decks like White Weenie that have access to enchantment removal may be able to Disenchant Recurring Nightmare if you leave it in play. Against them you should pretend Recurring Nightmare actually reads like this:
Recurring Nightmare
2B
Sorcery
Buyback-Sacrifice a creature
Return target creature from your graveyard to play.
However, this is not the properly play against a deck like Pox or Nether Void. Against these decks, the Nightmare will be a sitting duck in your hand. You should keep it in play against them, as they probably have no way to get rid of it while it’s in play, but can merely Duress it out of your hand.
Oh no, a combo deck! What do I do?
You're in quite a pickle now. Rec/Sur is just plain bad against combo decks. Unlike Nether Void, it doesn't have the disruption to keep the combo deck at bay. Unlike Sligh, it doesn't have the explosive speed to possibly outrace it. Unlike Keeper, it can't counter the key components. That's not to say that all is hopeless; you'll just have to do some testing.
Here are some suggestions:
3-4 Duress- Vitally important. They disrupt the combo player many times long enough to possibly give you enough time to find another threat as well as letting you know how much of a clock you're against. You may need to slightly tweak your mana base around to provide for the necessary Black mana on turns 1 or 2.
Elvish Lyrist/Emerald Charm/Pyroblast (SB)- Pyroblast is useful since many combo decks are blue-based and this can stop their search cards or counters. Elvish Lyrist and Emerald Charm are useful since many combo decks such as Pandeburst and Pebbles rely heavily on enchantments.
Carrion Beetles- Many Pandeburst decks have cut down the number of killing cards in their decks to 2 or 3 each. This makes the Beetles extremely powerful if they try to Replenish them into play.
Another thing to watch out for is a switcheroo sideboard. If your opponent is smart, they might very well take out their combo and bring in Juzam Djinn, Phyrexian Negators, or Hypnotic Specters. You'll need to just be able to anticipate this. Watch how many cards they bring in. If it seems like a lot, they may be doing this.
Strategies against other common Type 1 decks
Sligh- Sligh can get hairy very quickly. The key is a quick Survival to drop Walls, Spikes, Rectors, and Deranged Hermit in front of their attackers and watching your life total. Phyrexian Plaguelord is very powerful in this matchup. Fetch a Moat with Academy Rector if you are given the opportunity. Once you see an opportunity, go for the combo as quickly as possible without compromising board development. Good sideboard cards against Sligh are additional Spikes, Worship, Ivory Mask, and Circle of Protection: Red. Be wary of Sligh decks that play Blood Moon instead of Price of Progress. Price of Progress is easy to play around with Quirion Ranger and sideboarded CoP: Red or Worship. Blood Moon is VERY hard to deal with. If your Birds/Walls are burned away, you will most likely not be able to produce green mana and have to scoop.
Stompy- Stompy is a fairly easy matchup for Survival. They simply have no way to handle a Spike Weaver that is being brought back from the dead with Recurring Nightmare. This matchup is easier than Sligh since you don’t have to worry about Fireblast and Price of Progress.
White Weenie- White Weenie can be tough. They run 4 Swords to Plowshares and often 8+ Disenchant-type cards. You’ll need to play around Swords to Plowshares with cards like Spike Weaver and Academy Rector. White Weenie does have the important disadvantage though of being the slowest beatdown deck in Type 1, so you will be under less pressure than if you were facing Sligh or Zoo.
Zoo- This varies based on the build of the deck, but is a good matchup. Against the versions running smaller creatures like Jackal Pup and Savannah Lions, play like you would against Sligh. Just keep in mind that they do not have the same burnout potential since they don’t run Fireblast or Price of Progress. The big creature version is slightly easier. Use Academy Rectors as mini-Moats. If they still insist on attacking, calmly fetch Moat or a combo piece. If you want to stop the creatures, you’ll need to use Phyrexian Plaguelord, Nekrataal, Gilded Drake, and Deranged Hermit gang-blocking. Opposition is a very good card to use against Serendib Efreets and Dwarven Miner can hurt their shaky mana base.
Nether Void- This matchup is very draw-dependent. If you can get out a fast Survival and ramp up your mana quickly, you can defend yourself from landkill by using Quirion Ranger and stop Powder Keg with Uktabi Orangutan and Gorilla Shaman. However, if they get a good start they will punish your strained mana base and will seal the game if Nether Void resolves.
fleshreaver.dec- Suicide Black decks can be very dangerous. An early Duress on a Survival and some light landkill might throw you off enough for them to finish you. If you are not completely disrupted, drop a Wall of Roots (to stop Zombies, Knights, and Flesh Reavers) and/or a Survival and you will be in an excellent position. Lock with Weaver or Moat and finish them off however you like.
Keeper- This matchup is tough and basically revolves around Survival of the Fittest resolving. If it does, go to town and Survival with reckless abandon. Drop bomb after bomb (such as Dwarven Miner, Thrull Surgeon, Gorilla Shaman, Tradewind Rider, or Academy Rector) until they run out of counters. When this happens, try to force through any bombs you have left. If you have run out of bombs, just get a nice beatdown creature like Phyrexian Plaguelord (who evades Swords to Plowshares,) Masticore, Verdant Force (who avoids The Abyss) or Deranged Hermit and turn it sideways until Keeper deals with it or dies. Once they do, replace it with another. Watch out for Disenchant and Tormod’s Crypt.
XL-Blue- This is similar to Keeper. While it will be even harder to get Survival to resolve, if it does it will be even more powerful since they will probably lack maindeck ways to remove it. However, they can drop Morphling(s) very quickly. A Gorilla Shaman helps slow them down, and this combined with a Meddling Mage set to Morphling should lock the game. If Tradewind Rider resolves it could possible win you the game by freezing their land and preventing Powder Keg from being useful. If you cut down their Moxen, tricks with Spike counters often become very important. The sideboarded games become very difficult, since XL-Blue will be bringing in Back to Basics. Quirion Ranger helps you get around it, but you will need many additional ways to destroy it, such as Pyroblast, Emerald Charm, and Elven Lyrist.
Deck Parfait- The Parfait matchup is not very difficult, but be wary. Your best bet is to attempt to combo them out as quickly as possible while still playing around Swords to Plowshares. You should also try to limit their ability to use Land Tax with Quirion Ranger and lots of mana creatures. Aura of Silence and Tormod’s Crypt are huge pains, though. You should probably side in Ivory Mask to shut those down.
Other Survival Decks (all were Extended legal prior to April 1
"Traditional" Rec/Sur, Theron "Master T" Martin
Creatures (26)
4 Wall of Roots
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Ashen Ghoul
1 Fyndhorn Elf
1 Quirion Ranger
1 Uktabi Orangutan
1 Spike Feeder
1 Spike Weaver
1 Monk Realist
1 Radiant Dragoon
1 Spirit of the Night
1 Sliver Queen
1 Krovikan Horror
1 Squee, Goblin Machine
1 Tradewind Rider
1 Thrull Surgeon
1 Avalanche Rider
1 Ghitu Slinger
Spells (13)
4 Survival of the Fittest
3 Recurring Nightmare
2 Firestorm
1 Haunted Crossroads
1 Living Death
1 Goblin Bombardment
1 Vampiric Tutor
Land (22)
4 Bayou
3 Taiga
3 Savannah
2 Tropical Island
2 Forest
2 Badland
2 City of Brass
2 Mountain Valley
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Undiscovered Paradise
This type of Rec/Sur deck is the state-of-the-art of the old school style. It is very heavy in both Black and Red components. It lacks Academy Rectors, but uses Vampiric Tutor instead. Also, the lack of Rectors/Pebbles allows the deck to run far more utility creatures, such as Radiant's Dragoons, Spirit of the Night, and Sliver Queen.
TS, as played by Billy “Baby Huey” Jensen
Creatures (21)
4 Wall of Roots
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Tradewind Rider
2 Quirion Ranger
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
1 Deranged Hermit
1 Morphling
1 Uktabi Orangutan
1 Spike Weaver
1 Ophidian
Spells (24)
4 Survival of the Fittest
4 Force of Will
4 Counterspell
4 Land Grant
4 Brainstorm
2 Impulse
2 Mana Leak
Land (16)
6 Forest
5 Island
4 Tropical Island
1 Savannah
A Recurring Nightmare-less take on the theme, this Survival deck works behind a sea of countermagic. It works to set up a quick lock with Tradewind Rider and proceeds to draw cards with Ophidian or to simply beat with Deranged Hermit or Morphling. This deck, while not as versatile as other builds, is far more resilient against combo decks. It is also an excellent choice for Type 1 play since it can counter potentially devastating cards such as Mind Twist and Stroke of Genius AND can cripple decks such as Keeper and Zoo with sideboarded Back to Basics.
Full English Breakfast, Paul Barclay
Creatures (28)
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Wall of Roots
4 Volrath’s Shapeshifter
3 Tradewind Rider
2 Quirion Ranger
2 Phyrexian Dreadnought
1 Elvish Lyrist
1 Flowstone Hellion
1 Morphling
1 Sliver Queen
1 Reya Dawnbringer
1 Gilded Drake
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
1 Bottle Gnomes
1 Uktabi Orangutan
Spells (11)
4 Survival of the Fittest
4 Force of Will
3 Counterspell
Land (21)
6 Island
4 Forest
4 Tropical Island
3 City of Brass
2 Undiscovered Paradise
1 Savannah
1 Taiga
Full English Breakfast is perhaps the most difficult (albeit coolest) tournament-caliber deck ever created. On the surface, it appears to be an awful TS deck. Its strength lies in its abuse of timing rules created by Volrath’s Shapeshifter. Most players do not know the intricate rules regarding the Shapeshifter (Barclay himself is a level III judge) and make game-losing mistakes without knowing it, such as the distinction between continuous and triggered effects and their impact on Volrath’s Shapeshifter (I can tell your brain hurts just thinking about this.) FEB’s other strength lies in the fact that unlike normal TS decks, which take a very long time to kill, FEB can do it in one turn using the following combo:
1. Have Volrath’s Shapeshifter in play (copying Morphling if at all possible.)
2. Use Morphling’s untargettability and flying special abilities. It is important to know when playing this deck that the special abilities gained from one form of the Shapeshifter are carried on to the next.
3. Attack.
4. Since your opponent probably can’t block after blockers are declared, discard Flowstone Hellion (preferably to Survival.)
5. Activate the Hellion’s +1/-1 abilities around 10 times, all in response to each other.
6. Respond to the final activation by discarding Phyrexian Dreadnought.
7. Resolve the stack. You’ll end up with a a 20/4 Trampling, Flying, Untargettable Volrath’s Shapeshifter that is an Artifact Creature with a casting cost of 1 generic mana.
Oh, and Barclay named it “Full English Breakfast” since ‘It’s full of fat and much nicer than boring old cereal.’
Special K, as played by Dave Humpherys
Creatures (23)
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Academy Rector
4 Phyrexian Ghoul
4 Fyndhorn Elves
3 Wall of Roots
2 Krovikan Horror
1 Quirion Ranger
Spells (8)
4 Survival of the Fittest
4 Duress
Combo Cards (7)
3 Goblin Bombardment
2 Pattern of Rebirth
1 Enduring Renewal
1 Shield Sphere
Land (22)
4 Forest
4 Bayou
4 Savannah
4 City of Brass
3 Taiga
2 Gemstone Mine
1 Swamp
This Survival deck runs not one, but two killing combos (hence the cereal-themed name) and is focused on getting them out instead of controlling the board. It runs the Goblin Bombardment/Enduring Renewal/Shield Sphere combo discussed earlier, but it also adds the Phyrexian Ghoul/Academy Rector/Pattern of Rebirth/Saproling Burst combo. This combo works as follows:
1. Turn 1, cast Birds of Paradise of Fyndhorn Elves
2. Turn 2, cast Phyrexian Ghoul
3. Turn 3, cast Academy Rector.
4. Attack with Phyrexian Ghoul.
5. Sacrifice Academy Rector to make Phyrexian Ghoul 4/4 and search your library for Pattern of Rebirth, putting it on your Elf/Bird.
6. Sacrifice the Bird/Elf to make Phyrexian Ghoul 6/6 and use the Pattern’s effect to get an Academy Rector.
7. Sacrifice the Rector to make Phyrexian Ghoul 8/8 and use the Rector’s ability to get a Saproling Burst.
8. Remove 6 counters from Saproling Burst to make 6 1/1 Saprolings.
9. Sacrifice all 6 Saprolings to Phyrexian Ghoul to make it 20/20.
B/G Rec/Sur, as played by Sol “The People’s Champ” Malka
Creatures (23)
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Wall of Roots
3 Elvish Lyrist
3 Spike Feeder
2 Uktabi Orangutan
2 Spike Weaver
1 Cartographer
1 Deranged Hermit
1 Krovikan Horror
1 Phyrexian Plaguelord
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
Spells (13)
4 Survival of the Fittest
4 Duress
2 Recurring Nightmare
2 Vampiric Tutor
1 Oath of Ghouls
Land (24)
12 Forest
4 Swamp
4 Bayou
4 Wasteland
This Rec/Sur loses the flexibility of the multi-color designs, but has an important advantage; it is far more difficult to manascrew. It also is far better against beatdown decks, as it has 3 Feeders, 2 Weavers and runs a large amount of basic land, severely diminishing the power of Price of Progress and Blood Moon against the deck. Another possibility for B/G Survival decks is to add an infinite combo. One that works in B/G is Initiates of the Ebon Hand/Workhorse/Recurring Nightmare/Deranged Hermit. This combo creates infinite mana and Squirrels the following way:
1. Get Workhorse into the graveyard, Recurring Nightmare in hand, and the Initiates and Hermit into play.
2. Recur Hermit for Workhorse.
3. Remove all 4 counters from Workhorse, converting the mana to BBBB through the Initiates.
4. Recur a Squirrel for Workhorse (B still in pool.)
5. Remove all 4 counters from Workhorse, converting the mana to BBBB through the Initiates.
6. Recur a Squirrel for Workhorse (BB still in pool.)
7. Remove all 4 counters from Workhorse, converting the mana to BBBB through the Initiates.
8. Recur a Squirrel for Workhorse (BBB still in pool.)
9. Remove all 4 counters from Workhorse, converting the mana to BBBB through the Initiates.
10. Recur a Squirrel for Workhorse (BBBB still in pool.)
11. Remove 3 counters from Workhorse, converting the mana to BBB through the Initiates.
12. Recur Workhorse for Deranged Hermit, giving you four more Squirrels (BBBB still in pool.)
Repeat this process until you have infinite (OK, "arbitrarily large" mana.) You can then use the "arbitrarily large amount" of mana to switch the Hermit and Workhorse back and forth with Recurring Nightmare to make an "arbitrarily large" number of Squirrels, which can be sacrificed to the Krovikan Horror for an "arbitrarily large" amount of damage. Remember that under 6th edition rules, your opponent will die instantly at 0, so you won’t need to find a way to keep yourself from taking 1,000,000,000,000 points of mana burn.
SqueeBind, Mike Hron
Creatures (26)
4 Squee, Goblin Nabob
4 Wall of Roots
4 Elvish Lyrist
3 Masticore
3 Spike Feeder
2 Uktabi Orangutan
1 Mindless Automaton
1 River Boa
1 Yavimaya Elder
1 Spike Weaver
1 Deranged Hermit
1 Avalanche Rider
Spells (9)
4 Survival of the Fittest
4 Stormbind
1 Hail Storm
Land (25)
10 Forest
4 Mountain
4 Taiga
3 Treetop Village
3 Gaea's Cradle
1 Wasteland
This deck is designed purely to abuse Squee. Not only does he combo with Survival as in previous Survival decks, but he can also be discarded to Masticore and Stormbind as well, ensuring that creatures will not stay on the board. Two Squees can also be pitched to Mindless Automaton to let you draw a card. It needs, however, to run many copies of its creatures, as it has no graveyard recursion.
Stupid Green Deck, JP Meyer
Creatures (28)
4 Fyndhorn Elves
4 Wall of Roots
4 Wall of Blossoms
4 Elvish Lyrist
3 Stampeding Wildebeests
2 Spike Feeder
1 Spike Weaver
1 Blastoderm
1 Uktabi Orangutan
1 Cartographer
1 Deranged Hermit
1 Masticore
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
Spells (14)
4 Survival of the Fittest
4 Eladamri's Vineyard
4 Creeping Mold
2 Gaea's Blessing
Land (18)
10 Forest
4 Wasteland
4 Gaea's Cradle
This deck uses similar principles to the above Rec/Sur decks despite being mono-green. Stampeding Wildebeests perform a similar role as Recurring Nightmare does in reusing your utility creatures. The mana is supercharged and allows for casting and recasting of multiple threats per turn. It can also be used as a victory condition by mana burning your opponent. You can avoid this by dumping into Spikes. It also provides multiple victory conditions, whether through an army of Squirrels, an unfading Blastoderm (the Wildebeests' upkeep effect is not targeted,) standard creature beatdown, decking through Gaea’s Blessing (not likely,) or the aforementioned Vineyard mana burn.
The History of Rec/Sur, Part I: World ’98:
Prior to Worlds ’98, Survival of the Fittest was not seen as one of the power cards in Exodus like Oath of Druids, Hatred, or Cataclysm had. This quickly changed as Survival decks dominated the Type 2 segment of Worlds that year. Scott Johns made the top 8 with this version of Rec/Sur, “Cali Survival” (Top 8 competitors Johns, Alan Comer, Raphaël Levy, and eventual champion Brian Selden all played slightly modified versions of this deck
Creatures (24)
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Wall of Blossoms
3 Nekrataal
2 Spike Feeder
2 Spike Weaver
2 Man-O’-War
1 Hermit Druid
1 Orcish Settlers
1 Shard Phoenix
1 Thrull Surgeon
1 Uktabi Orangutan
1 Spirit of the Night
1 Verdant Force
Spells (14)
4 Survival of the Fittest
4 Recurring Nightmare
2 Firestorm
2 Living Death
2 Lobotomy
Land (22)
9 Forest
4 Underground River
2 City of Brass
2 Undiscovered Paradise
2 Swamp
1 Karplusan Forest
1 Volrath’s Stronghold
1 Gemstone Mine
Erik Lauer, “The Mad Genius of Magic” and Team CMU had their own take for Rec/Sur in the Rath Cycle Constructed portion of Worlds ’98. Dubbed “Horsecraft” (or “Horsecrap” by its detractors) it involved an infinite mana loop with Workhorse, Earthcraft, and (often) a land enchanted with Overgrowth. This produced infinite mana, which would be used to create infinite creatures with Spike Breeder that would be constantly sacrificed to bring back a Mogg Fanatic that could be sacrificed an infinite number of times to do infinite damage, either by being Recurred with said Spike Tokens or by using Corpse Dance.
Creatures (17)
4 Wall of Blossoms
3 Spike Weaver
2 Workhorse
2 Spike Feeder
2 Mindless Automaton
1 Mogg Fanatic
1 Hermit Druid
1 Spike Breeder
1 Stronghold Assassin
Spells (21)
4 Recurring Nightmare
4 Earthcraft
4 Overgrowth
3 Survival of the Fittest
3 Corpse Dance
3 Overgrowth
Land (22)
12 Forest
10 Swamp
Part II: The Combo Winter
With the rotation of Mirage and the inclusion of Urza’s Saga, Type 2 became extremely combo-oriented and very hostile for a slow deck like Rec/Sur. Nonetheless, Zvi Mowshowitz qualified for PT New York ’99 in a High Tide filled field using this combo deck:
Creatures (27)
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Wall of Roots
3 Ashen Ghoul
3 Hermit Druid
2 Wood Elves
2 Thrull Surgeon
1 Great Whale
1 Triskellion
1 Priest of Gix
1 Monk Idealist
1 Monk Realist
1 Krovikan Horror
1 Spike Feeder
1 Uktabi Orangutan
1 Wall of Blossoms
Spells (12)
4 Survival of the Fittest
4 Duress
4 Recurring Nightmare
Land (21)
4 Bayou
4 Savannah
4 Taiga
2 City of Brass
2 Mountain Valley
1 Volrath’s Stronghold
1 Forest
1 Swamp
1 Badlands
1 Tropical Island
His sideboard was also notable for containing 4 Pyroblast, 4 Boil, and 1 Red Elemental Blast to deal with Tide. His plan was to disrupt High Tide very quickly with a flurry of Duress, Blasts, Boils, and Surgeons. Then, while Tide was reeling, he would mill much of his library into the graveyard with Hermit Druid, with the hope that one of those cards would be Recurring Nightmare. He would reclaim the Nightmare using Monk Idealist and combo out tide with the combination of Great Whale/Priest of Gix/Recurring Nightmare/Triskellion.
However, even Rec/Sur decided to hop on the bandwagon during this time and become a combo deck. Dave Humpherys placed 9th at PT Rome using this combo version entitled “Free Whaley:”
Creatures (14)
4 Great Whale
4 Shield Sphere
4 Merfolk Traders
1 Priest of Gix
1 Triskellion
Spells (23)
4 Recurring Nightmare
4 Force of Will
4 Impulse
4 Intuition
3 Duress
2 Counterspell
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Attunement
Land (23)
10 Island
4 Underground Sea
4 Swamp
3 Underground River
2 Mishra’s Factory
This deck went straight for the combo. It dropped Great Whale and/or Priest of Gix into the graveyard using Intuition, Merfolk Traders, or Attunement and Recurred them into play (sacrificing Merfolk Traders, Mishra’s Factory, or Shield Spheres.) This would untap all their lands and could be used to generate infinite mana. From here, the Whaley player would Recur Triskellion for infinite damage or Stroke of Genius the opponent for infinite cards. The Whaley player would also start Recurring Merfolk Traders once the mana loop had been achieved until it drew into either the Stroke of Triskellion.
Part III: Rec/Sur goes into hiding
The March first bannings brought the death knell of Rec/Sur. Its Great Whale/Priest of Gix loop was errataed to only work if those creatures were being cast. This combined with the addition of Frantic Search and Thawing Glaciers to High Tide decks in Extended ended its hops in Extended. Recurring Nightmare was banned along with a slew of combo-based cards in Type 2 at this time as well. Even after Time Spiral was banned it was easily substituted with Yawgmoth’s Will allowing High Tide to be playable at Worlds that year.
Part IV: Extended rotates:
For the September 1999 bannings, the DCI decided to rotate out Revised Edition, Fourth Edition, Fallen Empires, and The Dark, killing High Tide once and for all. This left the kind of wide-open field that Rec/Sur thrives in. Raphael Levy made top 8 at PT Chicago that year with this version of Survival:
Creatures (25)
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Wall of Roots
2 Tradewind Rider
2 Llanowar Elves
2 Merfolk Looter
2 Quirion Ranger
2 Squee, Goblin Nabob
1 Ghitu Slinger
1 Gilded Drake
1 Monk Realist
1 Sliver Queen
1 Radiant’s Dragoons
1 Uktabi Orangutan
1 Peacekeeper
Spells (19)
4 Survival of the Fittest
4 Arcane Denial
3 Winter Orb
3 Opposition
2 Force of Will
2 Fire Whip
1 Vampiric Tutor
Land (16)
4 City of Brass
4 Tropical Island
4 Savannah
2 Taiga
2 Undiscovered Paradise
This version focuses heavily on mana denial as opposed to recursion. Perhaps the most interesting choice is Fire Whip, which allows the deck to kill its opponent while maintaining a Peacekeeper lock!
The Rec/Sur deck from Chicago that made the biggest waves was Your Move Games’ Wheaties deck. While it placed no one in the top 8, it had the highest winning percentage in Chicago. Mark Rosewater originally wanted to call the deck “Trix” as it contained a combo and was loaded with tricks. However, YMG had already settled on the name “Wheaties,” but later used the name Trix for their NecroDonate combo deck.
Creatures (22)
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Wall of Roots
3 Academy Rector
2 Monk Realist
2 Spike Feeder
1 Ghitu Slinger
1 Vine Trellis
1 Shield Sphere
1 Verdant Force
1 Spike Weaver
1 Uktabi Orangutan
1 Krovikan Horror
Spells (14)
4 Survival of the Fittest
4 Recurring Nightmare
2 Duress
2 Goblin Bombardment
1 Enduring Renewal
1 Oath of Ghouls
Land (24)
4 Bayou
4 Savannah
4 Taiga
3 Forest
3 City of Brass
3 Wasteland
2 Phyrexian Tower
1 Grasslands
Part V: Trix dominates
As usual, a combo deck dominated Extended, this time, the powerful combo deck, Trix. Despite this, Rec/Sur decks were still prevalent, with the traditional build, Wheaties, TS, Full English Breakfast, and B/G being represented and performing well. In fact, Survival of the Fittest was probably the second most common card in Extended after the ubiquitous Force of Will.
However, most of the players were beginning to dislike the stagnant format and with Worlds this year having an Extended portion, Survival of the Fittest was banned in Extended along with Necropotence, Demonic Consultation, and Replenish.
The Recurring Survival deck is by far the most versatile deck in the history of Magic. Imagine for a moment a deck that has access to nearly every card in the deck at instant speed. That is the raw power of Rec/Sur.