diff --git a/src/plugins/Starboard.ts b/src/plugins/Starboard.ts
index 1992a559..96f9a4a4 100644
--- a/src/plugins/Starboard.ts
+++ b/src/plugins/Starboard.ts
@@ -99,9 +99,11 @@ export class StarboardPlugin extends ZeppelinPlugin {
       }
 
       emoji = allEmojis[0];
-      if (emoji.match(customEmojiRegex)) {
+
+      const customEmojiMatch = emoji.match(customEmojiRegex);
+      if (customEmojiMatch) {
         // <:name:id> to name:id, as Eris puts them in the message reactions object
-        emoji = emoji.substr(2, emoji.length - 1);
+        emoji = `${customEmojiMatch[1]}:${customEmojiMatch[2]}`;
       }
     } while (emoji == null);
 
diff --git a/src/utils.ts b/src/utils.ts
index 36a8fa7f..a0f67a11 100644
--- a/src/utils.ts
+++ b/src/utils.ts
@@ -168,10 +168,10 @@ export function getInviteCodesInString(str: string): string[] {
 }
 
 export const unicodeEmojiRegex = emojiRegex();
-export const customEmojiRegex = /<:(?:.*?):(\d+)>/;
-export const anyEmojiRegex = new RegExp(`(?:(?:${unicodeEmojiRegex.source})|(?:${customEmojiRegex.source}))`);
+export const customEmojiRegex = /<a?:(.*?):(\d+)>/;
+
+const matchAllEmojiRegex = new RegExp(`(${unicodeEmojiRegex.source})|(${customEmojiRegex.source})`, "g");
 
-const matchAllEmojiRegex = new RegExp(anyEmojiRegex.source, "g");
 export function getEmojiInString(str: string): string[] {
   return str.match(matchAllEmojiRegex) || [];
 }