[Deck] Aluren

[tylerwylie]

Here is a build that was played this year at the second Mana Leak open, which does not run Recruiter. Still a high dollar build, due to the dual land requirement

7th Place
Aluren
Alix Hatfield (ObfuscateFreely)

4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Aluren
4 Raven Familiar
3 Cavern Harpy
3 Man-o-War
3 Intuition
3 Cabal Therapy
4 Wall of Roots
3 Wall of Blossoms
2 Chain of Vapor
1 Spike Feeder
1 Eternal Witness

4 Tropical Island
4 Bayou
3 Wooded Foothills
2 Windswept Heath
2 Polluted Delta
5 Island
1 Forest

Sideboard
3 Disrupt
2 Blue Elemental Blast
2 Hydroblast
3 Pernicious Deed
1 Cabal Therapy
1 Wall of Blossoms
1 Loaming Shaman
2 Duress

Yea I have all those duals, most of the high dollar cards from that list I own. It's just wow Imperial Recruiter costs so much

[Mr.T]

Here is the list that I have been running.
Aluren:
//1cc
4 Brainstorm
3 Cabal Therapy
2 Chain of Vapor
//2cc
4 Wall of Roots
3 Wall of Blossoms
3 Cavern Harpy
//3cc
4 Raven Familiar
3 Intuition
2 Eternal Witness
2 Man-O'-War
1 Spike Feeder
//4cc
4 Aluren
//5cc
4 Force of Will
//Lands
2 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
2 Windswept Heath
4 Tropical Island
4 Bayou
2 Underground Sea
2 Forest
3 Island

[IndyTerminator]

Mr. T, I have a question about your build. I see that you have added Underground Sea. Is this because you were having trouble getting black and blue mana consistently? I know when I have been playing the deck that I wish I had an underground sea to fetch for when I have a Cabal Therapy and Brainstorm in my hand.

[Mr.T]

For the most part, i've never had a problem with the mana base color wise. The Seas just smooth everything out a little nicer when needing that extra black or blue mana after casting aluren. I've had time where i familiar into a therapy or a brainstorm, and have the sea open usually to cast them. otherwise i would either have a bayou or a trop open which doesn't produce either color that i may need at some point.

[georgjorge]

I'm currently trying out a transformational sideboard, mainly against Aggro Black variants (Suicide, Homebrew, Red Death), Fish, and UGw Threshold, but also against various Combo decks (I am slower than other combo decks, so I think it is a better strategy to take out my own combo, and fill the slots with disruption and big beaters). It goes like this...

-4 Aluren
-3 Recruiter
-2 Harpy
-2 Tinder Wall
-1 Feeder
-1 Chain of Vapor
-1 Force (not against combo of course)

+4 Tarmogoyf
+3 Flametongue
+3 Therapy (I play Duress main)
+3 Deed (not against combo, of course)
+1 Duress


It seems to work pretty good, since the controllish deck I play after the transformation has so many tools to beat Aggro-Control, even in game three when they are prepared for it. It's definitely worth trying...

[Toad]

The transformational sideboard is good against Black disruption decks because it trumps their discard plan fairly well and usually lowers your mana curve, making their land destruction less problematic. You shouldnt use this plan against U Based Aggro-Control though, since your Walls and Cabal Therapies do the job here and these matchups are very easy with the Aluren plan.

Flametongue Kavu is not good here. For 4 mana, you could as well drop Aluren, and Aluren on the board negates about 75% of the Black deck arsenal (discard and land destruction). Kavu also makes the deck weaker, because Red is a 4th colour that forces you to diminish the amount of Forests you are running.

Cutting Tinder Walls and Imperial Recruiters Game 2 and 3 is a very smart move.
A smarter move would be to also cut them Game 1.

Regarding one of the previous posts and Underground Sea, I think this dual is unecessary in Aluren. On Turn 1, you do not want to fetch one. Against Aggro, you want Forest to prevent Wasteland, and Black is quite not needed in this matchup. Against Aggro-Control with no Wasteland you want Tropical Island for Brainstorm if needed, and you will not cast Cabal Therapy before Turn 4+ so no need for Black early. Same against Control, you want either Forest or Tropical Island Turn 1, and Bayou late game for the Therapies. For the mid game, as mentionned in the example, situation is similar. Against Aggro you dont need Black because Therapy is crap there, and against Aggro-Control you will cast Therapy the turn you want to resolve Aluren, not the turn you cast Raven Familiar. If you are going off against Aggro-Control or Control, they obviously have no counter spare or they would have used it already, so Therapy is pointless.

[shteev]

Hi guys, I've just picked up Aluren since I've discovered that I own all the cards for it already, and I'm completely choking against Goblins pre-board.... I've won one, out of countless games, and that was from a very, very lucky draw. Any chance of some tips to help me up my game? I've scoured the thread, and while there's a lot written about how difficult this deck is to win with (don't I know it!) there's very little specific advice in it.

[Cait_Sith]

Goblins is a very good matchup for Aluren on the play. You have a 8 walls, plus cards like Raven Familiar, and can clog them up easily. On the draw it is not that great since a Turn 1 Lackey can just steam roll you. Make sure to include maindeck Chain of Vapor, like 1 or 2, so you can have some options to slow down the flood of goblins. Use cards like Spike Feeder, with his ability to gain you life, and Man o War, since he can generate massive tempo swings, carefully. They are strong options, but Goblins can Incinerate them is you aren't careful. The big thing is make sure that you don't play Aluren until you have a good chance to combo out. Goblins has Vial and Ringleader to fill their hand, so letting them drop free Matrons and Warchiefs is just bad business.

[georgjorge]

The transformational sideboard is good against Black disruption decks because it trumps their discard plan fairly well and usually lowers your mana curve, making their land destruction less problematic. You shouldnt use this plan against U Based Aggro-Control though, since your Walls and Cabal Therapies do the job here and these matchups are very easy with the Aluren plan.

Flametongue Kavu is not good here. For 4 mana, you could as well drop Aluren, and Aluren on the board negates about 75% of the Black deck arsenal (discard and land destruction). Kavu also makes the deck weaker, because Red is a 4th colour that forces you to diminish the amount of Forests you are running.

Erm...U-based Aggro-Control is VERY far away from being an easy matchup in my opinion. I don't see how the "Walls and Therapies should do the job there" if they run something like 4 Jitte, 4 Stifle, 4 Force, 4 Duress, and some Disenchants after boarding, like UWb Fish. But that's not even counting the main reason to go transformational - Meddling Mage. If it hits, about your only chance is to resolve a Deed (and not have it Stifled). Bounce really does next to nothing here, as under Aluren they can always replay it at the right time naming Harpy. You CAN grab it with Therapy, but as I said, there are too many targets in their deck for Therapy to be the answer to everything. All in all, the easier path to winning seems just to board the cards that are good against them (Creatures, Deeds, Therapies) and playing cards that can win on their own (Goyf, Flametongue, Lavamancer) instead of having to fight through all their hate to play cards that require other cards to win (Aluren + creatures).

It's true that Flametongue is not meant against Bx aggro but against UW-based aggro, important for taking down those Grunts and Avengers. Also, I've changed the transformational sideboard around a bit, to accomodate

-1 Goyf
-1 Deed
-1 Duress
+3 Grim Lavamancer (good against Mother, Confidant, and lots of stuff)

[Duddelutten]

The imperial Recrutier.. why doesn't anyone play it?

[Van Phanel]

There are two reasons actually:

a) It's a win-more as when you've resolved Aluren against anyone you are probably going to win anyway.
b) It's a dead card if you have no Aluren. Or you'd have to run red mana sources and that would weaken your manabase. Every other card in the deck serves a purpose without Aluren, Recruiter doesn't.

[Parcher]

Erm...U-based Aggro-Control is VERY far away from being an easy matchup in my opinion.)

This is puzzling, as almost all Aluren players have found the opposite. While Black-based Aggro-Control is usually considered Aluren's worst match-up, it hasn't been the same for Blue-based. What specific decks other than Fish are you referring to?

I don't see how the "Walls and Therapies should do the job there" )

Well, Fish has no creatures that can get through the walls, and Threshold has one. The only spell they have that can stop Aluren is Force of Will, as you never have to cast it early due to the aforementioned walls. Therapy rids them of Force of Will. Resolving Aluren wins the game.

if they run something like 4 Jitte, 4 Stifle, 4 Force, 4 Duress, and some Disenchants after boarding, like UWb Fish.)

Jitte is slow as heck and only useful if equipped. Since you can bounce any creature attached to it, even that isn't an issue. Stifle does nothing. Deed gives you so much time that you can guarantee to discard it before activating the Deed. And that is the only card they can use it against. Disenchant does nothing. Period. Aluren runs Force and Therapy. Those tend to cancel out. No wait. They have only one spell we would even consider countering in Meddling Mage. So I think Aluren's discard and countermagic is more valuable, as we can save it. Intuition, Aluren, Therapy, Deed, Eternal Witness, hell even Chain of Vapor sometimes can be a must counter for them.

But that's not even counting the main reason to go transformational - Meddling Mage. If it hits, about your only chance is to resolve a Deed (and not have it Stifled). Bounce really does next to nothing here, as under Aluren they can always replay it at the right time naming Harpy. You CAN grab it with Therapy, but as I said, there are too many targets in their deck for Therapy to be the answer to everything.)

Well you can always Force a Mage. As far as the multiple bounce spells go, I would recommend doing that whole bounce and grab with Therapy before you cast Aluren. Plus the fact that Mage can't actually damage you kind of gives plenty of time to find an answer. A wall and a Harpy is enough to race Fish without the combo if they try the heavy disruption route. And as I mentioned, there are only three possible Therapy targets. Mage, Force, and if a Deed is in play, Stifle.

All in all, the easier path to winning seems just to board the cards that are good against them (Creatures, Deeds, Therapies) and playing cards that can win on their own (Goyf, Flametongue, Lavamancer) instead of having to fight through all their hate to play cards that require other cards to win (Aluren + creatures).

It's true that Flametongue is not meant against Bx aggro but against UW-based aggro, important for taking down those Grunts and Avengers. Also, I've changed the transformational sideboard around a bit, to accomodate

-1 Goyf
-1 Deed
-1 Duress
+3 Grim Lavamancer (good against Mother, Confidant, and lots of stuff)

I can't really understand your sideboard. Therapy is probably the only card that makes this deck viable. Running Duress instead of it might just be a knee-jerk reaction. The whole man-plan thing sounds good against Deadguy types, but with this sideboard you have no chance against TES, IGGy, Belcher, and a slim one against Solidarity. Flametounge is uncastable, and a single Tarmogoyf is far too slow. Plus, adding a fourth color severely worsens a favorable match-up in Goblins.

[Toad]

Blue-based Aggro-Control is overall a pretty good matchup for Aluren if you are a bit experienced with the deck. Meddling Mage is a very minor annoyance that will only prevent you from playing Aluren during the first few turns of the game, which are actually the turns were you do not want to play Aluren anyways, but instead play Control. Winning with Meddling Mage on the stack after playing Chain of Vapor is rather common. Duress can only hit Aluren Game 1, and you can match their 4 Duress with your 4 Brainstorms if you play conservative, which you should in this matchup. The rest of the Control and Combo elements are creatures. Disenchant does next to nothing to Aluren, Aluren does not win the Fish matchup by playing Combo but through Cabal Therapies, Walls, Chain of Vapor and Pernicious Deed, and Disenchant is either weak or bad against these.

Blue-based Aggro-Control matchup is also quite better than before, because metagames where Blue-based Aggro-Control decks are widely played tend to be low on Black-based Aggro-Control decks. This means you can devote about no sideboard card to Black decks in these metagames, which frees 3 or 4 slots in the sideboard. Good bye Divert or Call of the Herd, welcome Massacre. Instead of having to pay 3 (Pernicious Deed) or 4 (Aluren) to win the game, you know have a 0cc win condition against Fish variants.

The only Fish variant I dont really like facing is 4C Threshold, because they can run Red Elemental Blast in the sideboard, but for some reason this deck is underplayed. Its not even a bad matchup for Aluren, overall 50/50.

Your sideboard is fairly original and pretty different from what I would play in mine, so this might be the reason why you have problems against Fish variants. The current Legacy metagame is extremely favourable to Aluren.

Regarding Imperial Recruiter, I find this card bad in Aluren, and I've already expressed my opinion on it earlier in this thread. Some players like it, I dont. Its bad draw if you are 3C, and I like 7 basics and 7 Fetchlands more than Taigas against Goblins.

[georgjorge]

First of all, thanks for taking the time to explain some things about the Fish matchup to me. You also convinced me that the red splash for the sideboard isn't that good after all. I'm not trying to argue that you have a bad matchup in Fish, but trying to find out HOW to play for it to be positive.

I DO try to play Control against U-based Aggro-Control, but I'm still puzzled about how easy the matchup seems to you...

Well, Fish has no creatures that can get through the walls, and Threshold has one.

Fish usually plays Dark Confidant, or Counterbalance, and frequently gets it out on turn two or three, and sitting behind your walls letting your opponent draw two a turn (or counter your spells with Top) seems like a weak plan.

Jitte is slow as heck and only useful if equipped. Since you can bounce any creature attached to it, even that isn't an issue.

Something like first turn Mother, second turn Jitte, third turn equip and swing is not that slow. Especially considering that you DON'T want to go for the fast kill, but set up your Therapies and Wills before playing Aluren, I think they have plenty of time to accumulate counters.

As for Mage...Deed only comes in after the first game, and if you want to overcome a competent opponent with Mage using bounce, you need at least a second Harpy (to go off in response to them dropping Mage as an instant). That would leave us with Force to stop Mage. That works, but a) you still need three cards (Chain + Force + pitch) to stop one, and b) I find Duress to work better almost always in Mage-less matchups, meaning I have to play Forces over better cards for this specific matchup. Since I still have problems with the Mage, I now have replaced one Chain with Ghastly Demise, and a Recruiter with another Witness, allowing me to Intuition for Demise + double Witness and trade with the Mage one-for-one.

[Toad]

Something like first turn Mother, second turn Jitte, third turn equip and swing is not that slow.

If you got a Wall out Turn 2, you are on 20 life Turn 3 and they still cannot blow your Wall Turn 4 before attacking. Also unless they got 3 lands and 2 1-drops, they will only have a Mother of Runes out Turn 4 equipped with a Jitte sitting with 0 counters. Thats not really a clock.

Especially considering that you DON'T want to go for the fast kill, but set up your Therapies and Wills before playing Aluren, I think they have plenty of time to accumulate counters.

Slow kill is Turn 6/7 usually. Accumulating counters is usually irrelevant when you can wipe them out with a single Cabal Therapy.

if you want to overcome a competent opponent with Mage using bounce, you need at least a second Harpy (to go off in response to them dropping Mage as an instant).

Game plan when facing Meddling Mage is usually ramping to 6 mana, Cabal Therapy on Force of Will, Chain of Vapor Meddling Mage. If you have a creature out, flashback Therapy to clear Meddling Mage and drop Aluren. If you dont, drop Aluren, play a creature for free, flashback Therapy and win with Meddling Mage on the stack. If they somehow manage to slip a Meddling Mage through your Aluren in response to one of your Cavern Harpy, you can always chain Raven Familiars and Man'O-Wars in response to dig for a second Cavern Harpy. If you have no Raven Familiar to spare because they went Meddling Mage in response to one, you can also use Man'O-War and Cavern Harpy to trigger a bounce on all their creatures and then Chain of Vapor Aluren back to your hand after dropping creatures to go Aggro on them. If you still have issues about this matchup, Massacres SB should fix it, as well as a single Essence Warden because its easy to go infinite life without Raven Familiar.

If you still want a man plan, Tarmogoyf is nice, Fetchlands and an Instant will turn him 2/3 always which blocks almost all their creatures, and Intuition can fuel it too. It is not really needed though, but has its use against Black Aggro-Control decks.

EDIT : Bone Shredder is better than Ghastly Demise because of the synergy with Cavern Harpy and Man-O'War.

[georgjorge]

Thanks for the explanations, I see how that gameplan would make things easier...

As for Jitte, I wasn't referring to them using Jitte for punching through damage, but for collecting counters, thus being able to kill your creatures in response to Harpy. Jitte can always be bounced beforehand, but you DO only have two Chains in the deck, and also need to use them for Mage if they got it, so I don't think "can be bounced with Chain" does not mean that the card won't cause you any trouble.

On another note...has anyone already tried Chalice in the sideboard ? Good against combo, and potentially deadly against Threshold and others, though I wonder if the loss of Therapies could ever justify it...

[Parcher]

Again, the Jitte counters are only useable when it is equipped. While you only run two Chain of Vapor, it is quite easy to bounce all of their creatures with Man-O-War, reducing Jitte to lifegain.

I have briefly tried Chalice in the sideboard, as well as Null Rod, Disrupt, and Duress to fight Combo. Null Rod will always be a meta choice; if you expect IGGy, TES, and Belcher...run four. Chalice shuts down Therapy. That would be acceptable if it was a zero sum game.

Unfortunately, you lose temporary disruption(Therapy), a combo enabler(CoV), and draw(Brainstorm) to gain a permanent disruption piece that can be worked around. I don't find it needed against Aggro-Control, as it conflicts with Deed. And I have found both Disrupt and Duress almost as good against Combo in conjunction with Therapy and Force. I run Duress if expecting more of the Ritual Combo decks, and Board Control, and Disrupt if expecting Black-based Aggro-Control or Solidarity. Though it is also somewhat useful against Combo and Control, it won't often draw you into more disruption with this deck.

[Zach Tartell]

Again, the Jitte counters are only useable when it is equipped. While you only run two Chain of Vapor, it is quite easy to bounce all of their creatures with Man-O-War, reducing Jitte to lifegain.

I hate to tic-tac-toe the boards like this, but that statement is incorrect. You can remove jitte counters at any time, regardless of equip-ment or not. If you choose the +2/+2 then nothing happens. Otherwise, everything is useable.

[Parcher]

Don't apologize Zach, I'm wrong. I looked it up as opposed to writing when I was tired. You're right about the counters, it was the +2/+2 I was thinking of that doesn't work.

Regardless, the example stands. There is no way they can successfully cast, equip, and gain enough counters on Jitte for it to matter before Aluren can either bounce the creature to stop the accumulation of counters, counter or bounce the stick, sweep the board, or just go off.

Like mentioned previously, a 1/1 carrying a stick with no counters turn 4 at the earliest is simply not a clock.

[georgjorge]

Counterbalance + Top seems to crop up in more and more decks, and - if played properly - can cause this deck problems, since it forces you to go off faster than you might wish, and counters therapy BOTH times rather easily, as well as Chain of Vapor. Therefore, it negates your most important defenses (against Counterspells and Meddling Mage), and even if they don't have a Force for your Aluren, it is still probable that they will be able to counter your Harpy (although you can board in a Harmonic Sliver if you're playing Recruiters). So I'm thinking about sideboarding in stuff against it besides Deed...probably the best cards for that are

Krosan Grip / Wipe Away
Reverent Silence
Spell Snare
Annul

with Spell Snare and Wipe Away probably being the ones with the broadest uses.

Also, since all of my losses seem to come against a) hand destruction b) counterspells c) land destruction, I've taken to sideboarding in two Deep Analysis in various matchups against the first two. It's similar to Therapy in that it is a card for setting up your combo, is great against discard, and also great with Intuition.