[Deck] Aluren

[Fade]

Has anyone tried a list with Veteran Explorer? It seems that the ramp would be welcomed by getting the basics you need for Aluren.

[Nonex]

There are lists with them, with the Terapies and Diabolic Intent. It's sort of a sidegrade, performing no better or worse than other lists, just different.

[dameus]

I admit, all my experience is w/ the Recruiter version of this deck. Nonetheless, if you're worried about going off at low life total, why not play Essence Warden instead of 2nd Stryx. It solves the problem you mention, but also can be played pre-combo as a counter sponge, chump blocker, life gainer, etc. Also, if you want an accelerator in your SB, consider Carpet of Flowers. I don't recommend Deed in this deck; I'd much rather have Inquisition of Kozilek. IoK is strong vs the match-ups you mentioned as problems (+ combo), and makes your Therapies much stronger, too.

[Cacks]

Hi All,

I've been trying to rebuild aluren to play in the current tempo / mana denial (i.e. wasteland heavy) meta that exists right now. None of the main three decks (Maverick, RUG and Stoneblade) are amazingly fast, so I decided to maximise mana stability and aim for a usual turn 4 - 5 win with stronger control capacity. Frequently the deck will go off with two counters back up (or counter plus mana to pay for daze) on turn 4, without falling over to a single wasteland. The deck also has the smallest combo package of any combo deck out there at the moment (12 cards + 1 witness), and no extraneous creatures so as to maximise the value of stranding removal in the opponent's hand. Thus my love affair with BoP has ended.

It is of course slower, and therefore has to rely on its counters against faster combo. And is a desperate dog to dredge!

I also run a wish SB, to so as to answer particular problems (e.g. ravenous trap or extraction vrs graveyard decks) or fetch another counter (pact) to punch through the combo.

4 aluren
4 recruiter
1 harpy
2 dream stalker
1 parasitic strix
1 eternal witness

4 brainstorm
4 ponder
2 preordain
4 force of will
4 spell pierce
3 intuition
3 cunning wish

2 island
2 forest
3 tropical island
1 volcanic island
3 ancient tomb
2 city of traitors
4 misty rainforest
3 scalding tarn
3 wooded foothills

SB:

1 pact of negation
1 mindbreak trap
1 sudden shock
1 wipe away
1 ravenous trap
1 surgical extraction
1 harmonic sliver
8 other stuff (currently mixes of pithing needles [mainly for quasali pridamage], engineered explosives [for a catch all, and to set at 2 to remove pridemages and G Teeg] and grafdigger's cage)

Rather short on sideboard for RUG, but I am not sure what is really worth bringing in.

The red splash is to chain recruiters as chump blockers, and for the sudden shock to wish for. This is to get round a virtual lock of pridemage or Teeg plus mother of runes. The other concern is a stoneblade player with swords, snapcaster and 2 mana (which is enough to double swords the dreamstalkers once Aluren makes the snapcaster free). Not sure of the answer to that yet, save for more counters! An alternative splash would be for one underground sea and slaughter pact in the SB - but that can be kolded with a mother of runes.

With 10 cantrips and 10 fetch, it plays out a bit like the old U/B storm (if slower): ponder / brainstorm / fetch for a turn or two, tutor up something with intuition or wish for protection, then go off. Ideally your land drops will be something like: T1: fetch --> island, T2: fetch ---> forest (if the shuffle is needed), T3: another forest, T4: sol land to go off with U available to pay for daze or for spell pierce back up. Hopefull with a force of will, or pact, available too.

The idea was for a deck that even Ari Lax would not hate (10 cantrips, 10 fetch, good protection) - although I make no claim to have succeeded!

This is a fun and reasonably competative build, not not necessarily optimal, and I'd be interested if anyone has any thoughts.

[dameus]

Sorry, Cacks. I see this deck list as a step backwards. 10 cantrips is too many. Make those Preordains more distruption or acceleration. And Cunning Wish has no business being in there. If you want a jack-of-all trades, Chain of Vapor or more counters (maybe Flusterstorm) would be better.

[oRen]

engineered explosives [for a catch all, and to set at 2 to remove pridemages and G Teeg]

nice. explosives to handle teeg.

[swoop]

chain, or even therapy + that other card..

no wishes, no preordain. ttyl

[Jabari]

Have you all seen the new Strix form planechase? Looks like a good swap for Wall of Blossoms, pitches to force and serves as a better blocker. Any ideas on a list?

[DireLemming]

Coiling Oracle is probably still better: the colours are less awkward (don't forget you need double G for Aluren) and it can [sometimes] accelerate you and/or enable Brianstorms and CoV whilst going off (that is searching for Harpy & kill). Either way the most important thing either one has over Wall of Blossoms is the "Necropotence" interaction with Harpy. In a similar vain, Vendilion Clique is an interesting (i.e. it has it's problems, namely the nonland clause and the double U) protection/draw-engine combo.

[Raggedjoe]

The way I see it, there are 0 reasons to play Strix. I mean, it's more fragile, harder to cast, and doesn't ramp. As far as this deck is concerned, it's a strictly worse card

[Cacks]

nice. explosives to handle teeg.

Ah yes, embarassing that one..... Nobody's pefect.

[kiblast]

I'd say its a decent alternative to Wall of Blossom, you can now run up to 8 2 cc creatures which pitch to fow and let you go off with an Aluren and an Harpy. Sometimes blue count is a problem, and more or less you never want to block with your creatures more than once, so yeah, I'd play the Strix over Wall. Coiling still stays as a 4 of obviously.

[theBloody]

Tested Baleful Strix instead of Wall of Blossoms in Recruiterless version.

Pros:
- you can go off with it
- can block delver
- pitchable to FoW
- kill everything

Cons:
- deck become dual land heavy
- you can't cast it, pass turn, block and sacrifice it next turn to therapy
- die to everything (eg. cycled Gempalm)

Main problem is that it become almost impossible to play without duals because black and green card count are nearly equal. You want early black mana which was unnecesary in Blossom build (you just casted therapy before you go off).

What about your experiences with Strix guys?

[swoop]

http://sales.starcitygames.com//deck...p?DeckID=47479

This was the most common, normal and effective build.
1 off Venser is a bit odd, and rest is pretty usual.

I hate it. it has recruiters.

[kiblast]

So here we have this list, which is a reelaboration of the old Explorer/ Intent lists we were brewing 2 years ago.

1 Parasitic Strix
4 Cavern Harpy
4 Coiling Oracle
4 Selkie Hedge-Mage
4 Veteran Explorer

2 Chain of Vapor
3 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm

3 Diabolic Intent
3 Gitaxian Probe
4 Cabal Therapy


4 Aluren

1 Bayou
1 Swamp
2 Island
2 Underground Sea
2 Verdant Catacombs
4 Forest
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Tropical Island

2 Chain of Vapor
2 Krosan Grip
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Pernicious Deed
4 Spell Pierce

I really like this list (top 16 on 100ish players in spain), although the 3rd Intent seems a bit overkill. No Raven Familiar makes me cry a bit, but we'll see.

Anyways I need to test the full set of Selkie. Bouncing flipped Delvers seems good. I think I might want the 21st land though.

I'm going to test it, I think it's a very good starting point in this meta (RUG / Maverick essentially). More thoughts to follow.

[Nonex]

So they covered the top16 instead of just the top8, nice.

By that I mean you just posted my list. I am the one who placed 14th in that tournament.

I lost to MUD and BUG Landstill, MUD overloaded me with Golems one game and a topdecked Wasteland in the other, and BUG won by sticking a Liliana and me getting mana flooded. I won against GW Zenith, Canadian Threshold, BGW Rock, UW Delver and Sneak&Show -> this is why I picked Aluren, to drop one with his own S&T, which I did, and then I comboed in response to him paying 7 life.

The list is straightforward, but very, very fragile to my tastes. I didn't like Probes that much, I mean, Therapy has always been good on its own provided you know what to name, and there should be something better than just cycling for 2 life. I didn't face a single Surgical Extraction from blue decks, which could have been a nightmare, and Sword of Body and Mind is essentially an unblockable threat that wins the game automatically if Strix gets milled.

I was told to try without Ravens because "they are too slow" and I said why not, but then I found myself having to be overly conservative with Oracles. I also noted I had less creatures than usual for extra sacrifice effects, therefore I missed not having a Dryad Arbor.

Overall I'm not satisfied with this list, it's fast, goes off reliably and Oracles counter the bad synergy between Chain of Vapor and Selkies, but it feels like it has too many vital points exposed and I must rely on my opponents not knowing they are there. Perhaps this one is just not my style, but I hate seeing how more controllish versions are too slow for the current format. It definitely needs something to speed it up, though, and both Explorers and Intents are damn good at this.

Don't let my opinions cloud your mind, though. Test the list first and tell us how you see it.

[kiblast]

Well Nonex, what else can I say, congrats on getting top16 with Recless Aluren. I'm definitely going to test your build.

Probes: they should be important in the Ubased.deck matchup, for example RUG delver and UW miracles. This is something coming from the UR dreadstill list (Rood's build) : peek their hands, get information, adapt your gameplan to what they have. Moreover you have Therapy.

Aluren always relied on opponent not knowing properly where they are and what they're playing against.

Would you mind posting a detailed report?

[Alexeezay]

less Intents and more raven familiars & that list is the nuts I guess :)

[kiblast]

less Intents and more raven familiars & that list is the one we built in this thread 2 years ago

Fixed that for you.

I guess it's time to test different builds/solutions. Therefore congrats to Nonex to bring that innovative build in a competitive environment and doing well. I'm going to test it. Again, it's a very good starting point.

[theBloody]

Even if I prefer control builds it is nice to see recruiterless build going well in such big tournament. Gratz to you.

I disagree with need of familliar. Harpy + Oracle seems enough to go off. You just find selkie and draw your library.

Nonex: Didn't you have problem with protection? Seven spells seems low for fast build.