[Deck] Aluren

[Philipp2293]

Anybody else unhappy with the Carpets in the SB? They are basically for Delver decks, and in this MU they rarely pulled their weight so far, since with careful play I almost always assemble a stable mana supply and if I die, it's mostly because I flood out/draw too little action. I'm looking to switch them with a one-off Jitte and another removal, either a Shriekmaw (traverse-able) or maybe a Diabolic Edict.

[TTX]

Anybody else unhappy with the Carpets in the SB? They are basically for Delver decks, and in this MU they rarely pulled their weight so far, since with careful play I almost always assemble a stable mana supply and if I die, it's mostly because I flood out/draw too little action. I'm looking to switch them with a one-off Jitte and another removal, either a Shriekmaw (traverse-able) or maybe a Diabolic Edict.

I like Jitte to get that grind advantage. But I find Carpet to be more critical against Storm and Miracles. I will be keeping the two Carpets for sure


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[.dk]

I like Jitte to get that grind advantage. But I find Carpet to be more critical against Storm and Miracles. I will be keeping the two Carpets for sure


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After experimenting for a while without Carpet, I have to agree. That said - I don't typically bring them in against Storm. Don't have enough stuff I want to take out in that matchup to not dilute my own plan.

[neckfire]

seems like the discussion on this page just died.
how has everyone been doing with aluren? taking it to the GP?

[yoshipwnz]

Last tournament that I got to play in was the SCG, but yeah I'm still taking Aluren to the GP. SB changes, but nothing special.

[btm10]

I haven't played much since last Friday. Still trying to find thr best way to distribute my Leovolds and how much/what kind of anti-combo cards are best. I'm considering Mausoleum Wanderer/Judge's Familiar insteas of Therapy. One Leovold is definitely replacing Eternal Witness. That's all I've got so far.

[limbo]

What do you all consider the pros and cons of the BUG ponder Aluren verses the Recruiter Aluren builds? Any significant differences between that white verses red recruiter lists in terms of play style? Thanks!

[Moneymakermich]

Hi, I've been playing aluren for some months and my prefered build is the one using white recruiters and veteran explorer. A 2 cards combo is powerful in a deck like this that has also a solid midrange matchup, and my biggest issue has always been a mana race so veteran helps a lot.
I didn't have a lot of success with the shardless agents cascades so one day I decided to swap them with green sun zenith. I've been very happy with these so I'm surprised to see that nobody seem to consider it.

My green package looks like this:
3 green sun zenith
1 veteran explorer
1 leovold
1 dryad arbor
4 deathrite shaman

The main advantages I've experienced:
- 1 veteran is really enough, drawing multiple is usually bad
- Dryad arbor can help for acceleration turn1 or block or flashback cabal therapy
- Getting extra shamans can make the difference in long games
- Zenith allows the get a shaman or explorer under chalice of the void on 1

I also play reclamation sage and obstinate baloth in sideboard. Eternal witness has been removed because slow and often useless.

Did anyone try zenith? Or what do you think about it?

[Moneymakermich]

What do you all consider the pros and cons of the BUG ponder Aluren verses the Recruiter Aluren builds? Any significant differences between that white verses red recruiter lists in terms of play style? Thanks!

Like I said in my previous post, I play the white recruiter version. I prefer it for the power of 2 cards combo over the blue version, where FOW is also often a pain as card disadvantage. Too often with this version I draw into another draw into cascade into more draw etc... And during that time I get beaten by aggro. And about the red version: the white gives me 1 academy rector main deck which I like a lot + very good sideboard cards like swords, canonist, rest in peace,...

[comix84]

Like I said in my previous post, I play the white recruiter version. I prefer it for the power of 2 cards combo over the blue version, where FOW is also often a pain as card disadvantage. Too often with this version I draw into another draw into cascade into more draw etc... And during that time I get beaten by aggro. And about the red version: the white gives me 1 academy rector main deck which I like a lot + very good sideboard cards like swords, canonist, rest in peace,...

Hi :) I have the same feeling about the recruiters, I like the idea to have a 2 cards combo. Also I am quite interested in your list with the GSZ :) I thought a lot about them in the past (I used to love the living wish version), but I am not sure if we have enough green creatures to justify GSZ :-\ Especially removing shardless agent

[limbo]

Hi :) I have the same feeling about the recruiters, I like the idea to have a 2 cards combo. Also I am quite interested in your list with the GSZ :) I thought a lot about them in the past (I used to love the living wish version), but I am not sure if we have enough green creatures to justify GSZ :-\ Especially removing shardless agent

GSZ and zenith don't interact favorably in either direction (cascade doesn't trigger when shardless is put into play, and cascading into GSZ is terrible), so that cut makes sense if you want zenith. If you are just meaning shardless is a higher value card that GSZ then I could agree with that depending on deck construction.

[comix84]

GSZ and zenith don't interact favorably in either direction (cascade doesn't trigger when shardless is put into play, and cascading into GSZ is terrible), so that cut makes sense if you want zenith. If you are just meaning shardless is a higher value card that GSZ then I could agree with that depending on deck construction.

You are totally right about the interaction :) Sorry, I was barely counting the number of green creature that we can fetch with GSZ and Shardless was one of them, but I totally agree that cascade with Shardless in a GSZ would be pretty annoying! :)

[Quasim0ff]

Anybody else unhappy with the Carpets in the SB? They are basically for Delver decks, and in this MU they rarely pulled their weight so far, since with careful play I almost always assemble a stable mana supply and if I die, it's mostly because I flood out/draw too little action. I'm looking to switch them with a one-off Jitte and another removal, either a Shriekmaw (traverse-able) or maybe a Diabolic Edict.

Hi,

I'm speaking from the side of Miracles:
Carpet is arguably the most scary card in sideboard games. The mana advantage you get is often enough to win the game/put you so far ahead it's hard to recover.

I will be smiling if the carpets gets cut.

[dinosaurus]

GSZ and zenith don't interact favorably in either direction (cascade doesn't trigger when shardless is put into play, and cascading into GSZ is terrible), so that cut makes sense if you want zenith. If you are just meaning shardless is a higher value card that GSZ then I could agree with that depending on deck construction.

I was just thinking of a gsz list as well (replacing shardless agent)

Maybe something like this:

4 deathrite shaman
4 baleful strix
4 recruiter of the guard
2 arctic merfolk
1 academy rector
1 cavern harpy
1 coiling oracle
1 parasitic strix
1 veteran explorer
1 gaddock teeg
1 Léopold

4 aluren

4 brainstorm
4 cabal therapy
3 green sun zenith
3 abrupt decay
1 thoughtseize

20 lands (inc. dryad arbor)

This has more green targets: dryad arbor, explorer, Léopold, deathrite, coiling oracle and gadock teeg. Réclamation sage and others are good options depending on the meta.

Not claiming it's necessarily better than shardless, just want to explore options. This version is likely better at ramping and has more consistent access to disruption through Léopold, deathrite and teeg. Thanks!

One more option if one wants to go deep on gsz is to replace parasitic strix by shaman of the pack + eternal warden, although that's a bit clunky.

[dinosaurus]

I was just thinking of a gsz list as well (replacing shardless agent)

Maybe something like this:

4 deathrite shaman
4 baleful strix
4 recruiter of the guard
2 arctic merfolk
1 academy rector
1 cavern harpy
1 coiling oracle
1 parasitic strix
1 veteran explorer
1 gaddock teeg
1 Léopold

4 aluren

4 brainstorm
4 cabal therapy
3 green sun zenith
3 abrupt decay
1 thoughtseize

20 lands (inc. dryad arbor)

This has more green targets: dryad arbor, explorer, Léopold, deathrite, coiling oracle and gadock teeg. Réclamation sage and others are good options depending on the meta.

Not claiming it's necessarily better than shardless, just want to explore options. This version is likely better at ramping and has more consistent access to disruption through Léopold, deathrite and teeg. Thanks!

One more option if one wants to go deep on gsz is to replace parasitic strix by shaman of the pack + eternal warden, although that's a bit clunky.

Sorry autocorrect, meant leovold and essence warden of course

[Moneymakermich]

Dinosaurus : you have nearly got my list!
I just cannot decide myself over the lands count, always between 20 and 21... (I should probably go for 20 but this list has 21)

Here is what I'm currently playing :

2 thoughtseize
1 veteran explorer
4 deathrite shaman
4 brainstorm
3 green sun zenith
4 cabal therapy
1 arctic merfolk
4 abrupt decay
1 cavern harpy
4 baleful strix
1 leovold
1 parasitic strix
4 recruiter of the guard
1 academy rector
4 aluren

4 verdant catacombs
4 misty rainforest
1 dryad arbor
2 forest
1 swamp
1 island
1 bayou
1 savannah
1 scrubland
2 tropical island
1 tundra
1 underground sea
1 phyrexian tower

Side:

2 enlightened tutor
2 ensnaring bridge
1 aegis of the gods
1 aethersworn canonist
3 swords to plowshares
2 faerie macabre
1 golgari charm
1 reclamation sage
2 thoughtseize

[comix84]

Dinosaurus : you have nearly got my list!
I just cannot decide myself over the lands count, always between 20 and 21... (I should probably go for 20 but this list has 21)

Here is what I'm currently playing :

2 thoughtseize
1 veteran explorer
4 deathrite shaman
4 brainstorm
3 green sun zenith
4 cabal therapy
1 arctic merfolk
4 abrupt decay
1 cavern harpy
4 baleful strix
1 leovold
1 parasitic strix
4 recruiter of the guard
1 academy rector
4 aluren

4 verdant catacombs
4 misty rainforest
1 dryad arbor
2 forest
1 swamp
1 island
1 bayou
1 savannah
1 scrubland
2 tropical island
1 tundra
1 underground sea
1 phyrexian tower

Side:

2 enlightened tutor
2 ensnaring bridge
1 aegis of the gods
1 aethersworn canonist
3 swords to plowshares
2 faerie macabre
1 golgari charm
1 reclamation sage
2 thoughtseize

This is very similar to what I had in mind... maybe -1 Thoughtseize main deck +1 Coiling Oracle (or Recl. Sage).
Out of curiosity, how much do you miss the FoW in the sideboard?

[btm10]

Hi,

I'm speaking from the side of Miracles:
Carpet is arguably the most scary card in sideboard games. The mana advantage you get is often enough to win the game/put you so far ahead it's hard to recover.

I will be smiling if the carpets gets cut.

Cutting Carpet seems like a horrible idea in general. It's the best way to beat soft permission, too.

[Moneymakermich]

1 coiling oracle seen as target for GSZ is useless in my expérience (has been tested). When you have the opportunity to GSZ you want something with more impact. Reclamation sage could make it, still hesitating ;-)

Hard to say for FOW since I could not play it even in SB because of low count of blue cards.
I think that for the matches where I'd like it (i.e. mostly combo decks) I have enough with the package enlightened tutor and its targets (bridge, canonist, aegis).

[comix84]

1 coiling oracle seen as target for GSZ is useless in my expérience (has been tested). When you have the opportunity to GSZ you want something with more impact. Reclamation sage could make it, still hesitating ;-)

Hard to say for FOW since I could not play it even in SB because of low count of blue cards.
I think that for the matches where I'd like it (i.e. mostly combo decks) I have enough with the package enlightened tutor and its targets (bridge, canonist, aegis).

Just noticed that you are also not playing the Carpet of Flower :-o I have always found it very nice especially with Miracle (but even with Wasteland-decks like all the delvers)... Interesting list btw, I think I'll try something similar next Tuesday at my legacy weekly event :)

[adreena]

For the BUG Leovold lists, I've noticed a couple recently going 5-0 with 3 Leovold main and down to 3 Cavern Harpy. I've been playing some practice games and so far 3 harpies seems totally fine. Anyone else testing different numbers of main deck creatures? These lists also seem to have 2 Glint-Nest Crane too, rather than 1.

Having 2 of the cranes makes your sideboarded artifacts easier to find. Jitte seems popular, with some lists even running 2. How come I've not seen any recent lists running Null Rod, Grafdiffer's Cage and Pithing Needle in the sideboard?

I also miss the 2 Toxic Deluge from the recruiter lists. How come BUG lists have dropped it? I guess this version is more creature focused and less combo.

One 5-0 deck had a couple of Meekstone in the sideboard, which is pretty sweet, but perhaps too narrow a sideboard card. Other than Eldrazi, I cant think of many match-ups where you would bring it in. I guess it taps down goyfs, delvers, TNN, anglers etc.

[Cartesian]

Like I said in my previous post, I play the white recruiter version. I prefer it for the power of 2 cards combo over the blue version, where FOW is also often a pain as card disadvantage. Too often with this version I draw into another draw into cascade into more draw etc... And during that time I get beaten by aggro.
How cool is it that there are so many options still left to explore with Aluren. I like the approach with GSZ and 1 Veteran Explorer it is probably what I would try too, if I wasn't so involved in the BUG version now. I just want to point out that I think fizzling a combo win with Harpy and Shardless Agent is almost a non issue, if you:
- Run at least 1 Glint-Nest Crane. Earlier version of the deck with only Coiling Oracle could fizzle by running out of cascade targets.
- Run 2 Parasitic Strix (although lately I have been questioning the necessity of the second, since just cascading for value so often wins the game anyway)
- Pay attention to the number of cascade targets left in deck, and the cards you know are on the bottom of library from cascades/Crane
- Shuffle on Ponder when necessary, for example if all Parasitics are on the bottom
- Get dead cascade targets out of the way, for example if there are no good targets for Abrupt Decay, cast it on your Harpy while holding priority, and return Harpy
- When you cascade into Baleful Strix, don't always resolve the Strix draw immediately. Often it is better to stack more cascades on top of those draws, because you are likely to get closer to Parasitic.

Good luck to anyone playing any version of Aluren at GP Louisville.

[neckfire]

moneymakermich can you post how you would sb with the white version? ive focused all my efforts on the bug version but i wouldnt mind putting your version on modo and trying it out.

[RobNC]

...
- When you cascade into Baleful Strix, don't always resolve the Strix draw immediately. Often it is better to stack more cascades on top of those draws, because you are likely to get closer to Parasitic.
...
Can you elaborate on this one a little more?

[comix84]

Can you elaborate on this one a little more?
I think he means with 2 shardless? No other way otherwise as Shardless would still be on the stack while belaful strix resolve and put his own trigger on the stack :-/

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[Cartesian]

Yes I mean with 2 Shardless sorry that wasn't clear. And that will often be the case. If you have Shardless on the bf already and cascade into Baleful Strix, rather than resolve the Strix draw, keep it on the stack and replay Shardless. Because random single draws are likely to hit something worthless like a land or another Aluren, while if you cascade some of those cards to the bottom first, as long as you have enough good cascade targets left, Brainstorm or Ponder, and save the Strix draws on the stack for a latch ditch effort to find Parasitic. At least that is what my intuition tells me, but maybe I need to think some more about it, because I can't atm give a simple proof. Anyway, just hit the Crane and you are fine. :)

[Manipulato]

Hey guys,
would someone be willing to update the primer? The current one is from the stone ages :wink:

Would be cool. Good luck at GP Louisville!

[RobNC]

Yes I mean with 2 Shardless sorry that wasn't clear. And that will often be the case. If you have Shardless on the bf already and cascade into Baleful Strix, rather than resolve the Strix draw, keep it on the stack and replay Shardless. Because random single draws are likely to hit something worthless like a land or another Aluren, while if you cascade some of those cards to the bottom first, as long as you have enough good cascade targets left, Brainstorm or Ponder, and save the Strix draws on the stack for a latch ditch effort to find Parasitic. At least that is what my intuition tells me, but maybe I need to think some more about it, because I can't atm give a simple proof. Anyway, just hit the Crane and you are fine. :)

I'm assuming you have Aluren out for this to have instant-speed Shardless.

By cascading again don't you also risk just cascading away Parasitic Strix to the bottom of your library (since it's 3CMC), rather than drawing into it? Seems less useful than the Baleful Strix draw, in which case you can either draw one closer to Parasitic or actually draw it.

[Cartesian]

I'm assuming you have Aluren out for this to have instant-speed Shardless.

By cascading again don't you also risk just cascading away Parasitic Strix to the bottom of your library (since it's 3CMC), rather than drawing into it? Seems less useful than the Baleful Strix draw, in which case you can either draw one closer to Parasitic or actually draw it.
Sure, this is with Aluren out. Yes there is a risk of cascading both Parasitic to the bottom. The we shuffle on the next Ponder. I look at it this way: drawing a random card from my library (and hoping that is is Parasitic) works better the more cascade targets I remove from the deck first. But I might be wrong.

[kaluma]

- Get dead cascade targets out of the way, for example if there are no good targets for Abrupt Decay, cast it on your Harpy while holding priority, and return Harpy

this is a neat one that I hadn't thought of.

I've been on the BUG version since BR reanimator started showing up everywhere on MTGO, and having force of will in the deck seemed important. I've been playing 2 cranes and 1 jitte main (down to 2 ponders), because why not shape your deck around the worst card in it? smaller thing - i play 4 basics: island, swamp, double forest. I know cartesian and others like two islands instead, but i like knowing i can fetch basics and cast aluren if i have to. could be wrong, as second forest is (very) occasionally awkward.

as for carpet of flowers, i love that card and probably wouldn't cut it ever. I was up to 3 for a while when there was a ton of delver on MTGO. I do trim a land when i bring it in against grindy decks (usually second forest).

good luck everyone at the GP!

[Moneymakermich]

moneymakermich can you post how you would sb with the white version? ive focused all my efforts on the bug version but i wouldnt mind putting your version on modo and trying it out.

I admit that I haven't tried carpet and probably should because of all good feedback I read about it.

Storm: +2 elightened tutors, canonist, aegis, -decay
Big créatures (show n tell, darkdepth): +2 enlightened tutors, ensnaring bridge, -decay
Fair decks/creature (delver, elves, junk): +3 swords, -discard spells
Réclamation sage obviously when there are targets
Faerie macabre for graveyard combos
Golgari charm against enchantments or death and taxes
Etc...

I'm mostly happy with ensnaring bridges that can win games by themselves, great card and often unexpected.

Currently testing 2 collective brutality instead of thoughtseize. Looks very versatile

[comix84]

Any good news from the GP?? :) The lack of coverage is very annoying :-/

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[neckfire]

Any good news from the GP?? :) The lack of coverage is very annoying :-/

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

unless aluren is in the "other" portion of the the metagame breakdown none made day 2.

[Fjaulnir]

http://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/gplou17/day-two-metagame-breakdown-2017-01-08

"Of the 22 decks that fit into the "other" category, we saw a smattering of strategies, from Burn to Lands to Maverick to Storm to Enchantress to Eldrazi, with some truly rogue decks thrown in as well. That includes a Food Chain deck that went undefeated on Day One, a Canadian Threshold deck that looks like it was taken straight from 2010 (someone broke the Nimble Mongoose out of cold storage), a Big Red turbo Blood Moon deck, and rarely seen archetypes like Painter's Servant-Grindstone and Aluren."

So less than 2, more than 0 ;)


EDIT: but judging from this, I guess it's the recruiter version (unless they photographed a lower table day 1 which seems unlikely?)
https://twitter.com/magicprotour/status/818168714461847553?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

[Philipp2293]

Pascal Maynard tweeted that he went 11-4 with Sultai Aluren, so at least one pro did reasonably well with it.

[mike1987]

Pardon my noobish comment:

regarding the workings of the combo (cavern harpy and strix), when is the best window for an opponent to plow/decay your creatures to foil the combo and how do you guys play around it?

I would imagine once Aluren is in play, you will play the strix first, followed by harpy bouncing the strix with its ability resolving, cast strix again, pay 1 life to return harpy and the cycle continues, did i miss anything?

[uohoo]

To avoid single removal the correct sequence is cast harpy with the bounce hability on stack retain priority, then cast the creature you want bounce, resolve creature hability, resolve harpy bounce hability return the value creature to hand, return harpy to hand and repeat the process.

This process can lead with single spell removal.

Enviado desde mi A0001 mediante Tapatalk

[Whitefaces]

Pardon my noobish comment:

regarding the workings of the combo (cavern harpy and strix), when is the best window for an opponent to plow/decay your creatures to foil the combo and how do you guys play around it?

I would imagine once Aluren is in play, you will play the strix first, followed by harpy bouncing the strix with its ability resolving, cast strix again, pay 1 life to return harpy and the cycle continues, did i miss anything?

The best window to use removal is when there is a Cavern Harpy on the stack, otherwise each removal spell will be trading for 1 life, to put it simply.

If you have just Strix and Harpy, lead on the Harpy and respond to the ETB trigger with Strix, you don't get blown out then on a removal spell on the Strix.

[Absolutflipz]

I played in GP Louisville and finished 10-5 with no byes coming in. I played BUG with Imperial Recruiters and no red duals and played 2 Birds of Paradise as mana-dorks 5&6 which were great all weekend (also,won me games blocking a marit laige and an inkmoth in another to let me untap and win).

I had 2 bad losses to what was basically Mono Blue pauper faeiries where I mulliganed into oblivion all games and then against Belcher where my opponent bricked ok t1 Belcher activation and then drew one his three remaining LEDs to go off again the turn before I could go off.

I also lost to Elves on a topdecked Natural Order when I knew his hand was all lands from a Thoughtseize and I had the combo in hand if he missed.

Matches were-
Sneak and show - L
Lands- W
Blue Pauper Faeries- L
UW stoneforge - W
Infect- W
Belcher- L
Sneak and Show - W
Belcher- W
Eldrazi- W
Jund- W
Food Chain- L
Bant Truename/Stoneforge- W
Sneak and Show- W
Elves - L
Lands - W

I can post a list later if people are interested. I really liked my sideboard and the Birds of Paradise were great. Deck was super sweet to play and I got some cool wins at instant speed including against resolved show and tell and sneak attack activations.

[comix84]

I played in GP Louisville and finished 10-5 with no byes coming in. I played BUG with Imperial Recruiters and no red duals and played 2 Birds of Paradise as mana-dorks 5&6 which were great all weekend (also,won me games blocking a marit laige and an inkmoth in another to let me untap and win).

I had 2 bad losses to what was basically Mono Blue pauper faeiries where I mulliganed into oblivion all games and then against Belcher where my opponent bricked ok t1 Belcher activation and then drew one his three remaining LEDs to go off again the turn before I could go off.

I also lost to Elves on a topdecked Natural Order when I knew his hand was all lands from a Thoughtseize and I had the combo in hand if he missed.

Matches were-
Sneak and show - L
Lands- W
Blue Pauper Faeries- L
UW stoneforge - W
Infect- W
Belcher- L
Sneak and Show - W
Belcher- W
Eldrazi- W
Jund- W
Food Chain- L
Bant Truename/Stoneforge- W
Sneak and Show- W
Elves - L
Lands - W

I can post a list later if people are interested. I really liked my sideboard and the Birds of Paradise were great. Deck was super sweet to play and I got some cool wins at instant speed including against resolved show and tell and sneak attack activations.

Happy to see the list and congrats for the good result! :D

[Absolutflipz]

Happy to see the list and congrats for the good result! :D

Decklist-
4 Deathrite
2 BoP
4 Baleful Strix
1 Coiling Oracle
1 Dream Stalker
1 Cavern Harpy
3 Shardless Agent
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
4 Imperial Recruiter
1 Parasitic Strix
1 Eternal Witness

4 Aluren

4 Cabal Therapy
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Traverse the Ulvenwald (was solid in all modes, incl added shuffle for brainstorms)
4 Brainstorm

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

SB-
3 Force of Will
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Null Rod
1 Pithing Needle
1 Thoughtseize
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Bone Shredder
1 Sylvan Library
1 Disfigure
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Dread of Night

[comix84]

Decklist-
4 Deathrite
2 BoP
4 Baleful Strix
1 Coiling Oracle
1 Dream Stalker
1 Cavern Harpy
3 Shardless Agent
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
4 Imperial Recruiter
1 Parasitic Strix
1 Eternal Witness

4 Aluren

4 Cabal Therapy
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Traverse the Ulvenwald (was solid in all modes, incl added shuffle for brainstorms)

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

SB-
3 Force of Will
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Null Rod
1 Pithing Needle
1 Thoughtseize
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Bone Shredder
1 Sylvan Library
1 Disfigure
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Dread of Night

Missing 4x Brainstorm right? ;-p

Would you change anything from your list after the GP? :)

[Absolutflipz]

Ha yes, how could I forget the 4x Brainstorm.

I would not change the main-- and I like the sideboard, but that's obviously always in flux and dependent on online vs paper (online metagame a lot more streamlined and trackable than paper).

The only thing I'd like to try is the ponder/FoW main builds (still keeping recruiter and bop) but I liked the way the mana works out better (and being better against wasteland) when playing the therapies. You're able to fetch mainly green and black (including basics) for your early turn plays better than with ponder involved. I'm curious to test it in actual play to see the difference though.

Surgical, FoW, and Needle were my best SB cards fwiw in the 15 matches I played.

[Moneymakermich]

Congrats! But some questions:

Never missed a red dual land? Any reason to not play one?

Birds is great I've tested it also, except againt miracles and their board sweepers. I've noticed you did not play against it in GP. Experience against that deck?

In which matchup do you side in the sylvan library?

Thx :-)

[Robot]

I've been considering buying into this deck for a while and trophy mage has got me really interested. What do you guys think about adding it to the deck to tutor shardless when we dont have the combo and bird when we do?

[Absolutflipz]

Congrats! But some questions:

Never missed a red dual land? Any reason to not play one?

Birds is great I've tested it also, except againt miracles and their board sweepers. I've noticed you did not play against it in GP. Experience against that deck?

In which matchup do you side in the sylvan library?

Thx :-)

The deck is a very color-intensive BUG deck and there's no need to make yourself worse against wasteland and harder to cast decay/strix etc by playing a red dual. You've got 6 mana dorks to cast Recruiter and a lot of the time you want Recruiter in your hand anyway to instantly go off with Aluren.

Miracles is a fine matchup - not exceptional, not bad. Aluren the card is great against them and you play not to lose
to terminus - so just pressure them some and don't overcommit and then they have to answer your small clocks one terminus at a time.
Sylvan is for any grindy matchup- it's a great card advantage card and the last card I wanted in the main but decided to lean a little more combo in the main since the deck already has lots of card advantage built-in.

[Fry]

I played the following list at the GP and went 3-3, my meta choice of main board Minister of Pain came in handy a couple times, Mesmeric Fiend too

Main:
4 Brainstorm
2 Dreamstalker
1 Parasitic Strix
4 Cabal Therapy
1 Duress
1 Mesmeric Fiend
1 Minister of Pain
4 Imperial Recruiter
4 Aluren
1 Eternal Witness
1 Reclamation Sage
2 Sylvan Library
2 Abrupt Decay
4 Baleful Strix
1 Cavern Harpy
4 Deathrite Shaman
3 Leovold, Emissary of Trest

1 Volrath's Stronghold
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Polluted Delta
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Bayou
1 Taiga
1 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
1 Island
1 Swamp
2 Forest

Side:
1 Bone Shredder
1 Duress
1 Mesmeric Fiend
2 Toxic Deluge
2 Carpet of Flowers
2 Krosan Grip
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Abrupt Decay
2 Null Rod
1 Tsabo's Web


Round 1: 2-0 Miracles
Game 1: Flash back Therapy on his FoW turn 7 or 8 and jam Aluren/win, Leovold is a wonderful card!
Game 2: He ends up playing a Blood Moon with 1 basic Island in Play and 1 Basic Plains... I rec Sage his Counterbalance and he can't use his Counterspell due to the Moon. I end up killing him a couple turns later when I draw the Recruiter for my jammed Aluren.

Round 2: 0-2 UR Delver
Game 1: Cast Minister twice in the same turn to kill a flipped Delver and a Swiftspear by sacing a Baleful, Dreamstalker it back, then recast killing the Stalker... He top decks a second PoP to match the one a couple turns earlier for the last 4 life he needed for the win. I had the win next turn (wouldn't have known it, but the Sylvan Library I had in play had the Aluren as the 3rd card down and the Recruiter was already in hand from the previous turn).
Game 2: He just gets a few really good draws in a row after I wreak his hand with Duress, Mesmeric Fiend, and a Therapy (Flashed back too).

Round 3: 2-1 ANT
Game 1: Discard does a lot of excellent work here and that's pretty much the story and I combo ^_^
Game 2: He gets me on turn 3, I don't really do too much other than discard an Infernal and he draws a Grim Tutor to go along with his couple Dark Rituals.
Game 3: I get a Duress turn one to take his main board Tendrils ^_^ end up comboing on turn 3 off a Carpet of flowers turn two and double DRS in main phase 2.

Round 4: 1-2 BUG Control
Game 1: He gets a Goyf turn 2 and I don't end up stopping it in time when he also adds in the usual suspects.
Game 2: I just get him on the ropes with a few early Baleful Strix and 2 DRS drain him down to oblivion.
Game 3: He has discard, double DRS like I did the previous game, and the removal to keep my blockers away.

Round 5: 2-0 ANT
Game 1: I'm beating him down a bunch with a Leovold and a couple Stix, there was a Duress thrown in there too... First time in a long time where I've been drained 16 life and still lived long enough to blow up my opponent, removed the Tendrils at the end of his turn via DRS, continue beats for a couple more turns and win.
Game 2: I make him discard everything with my opening hand that had Duress, Therapy, Therapy, DRS, and a Library. Well, he never had enough cards to do anything other than get killed.

Round 6: 0-2 Belcher
Game 1: I win the die roll and Duress away an EtW, but he has Wish in hand and combos for 12 gobos, I don't get my meta call Minister in the next two turns and die a truly gruesome death.
Game 2: I Therapy away the Empty, hit one, but he has Belcher in hand with being shy 1 mana to combo out... His turn he top decks the mana source, and the singleton Taiga is much too far down for it to matter and get turn 1ed

At this point being 3-3, I don't want to bullshit day two (D2 will always be 7-2 or better in my book :wink:) so I drop and do some trading in and selling for some goodies that I've had my eyes on for a little while.

I could go into a little more detail, at little perhaps, but I wasn't really keeping much track of how each game went, gave a briefer blurp on my local MTG page that I referenced here.

Mesmeric Fiend got a lot of weird looks, but having an instant discard via Aluren is wonderful.

Leovold is an all star as everyone now knows.

Having Duress instead of Thoughtseize is what kept be alive that extra little bit to survive game when last desperation Trendrils drained me for 16. I like it mainly because the decks where you want to have a lot of discard is primarily against combo decks and blue decks, not being able to hit a creature is an extreme rarity when it matters, not losing that 2 life matters more often than the critter bit.

Minister of Pain was a meta call and it saved me for a couple turns anyway in round 2 game 1. In testing it's been a house against D&T variants and it loves killing Young Peezy/tokens... Not to mention crippling Mentor tokens.

Reclamation Sage is a staple for me, it blows up S&T stuff like Dream Halls, Omniscience, Sneak Attack, AEther Vial, Equipment, and other random things like Sylvan Library and Canonist.

Eternal Witness can be slow, but it's fantastic when you can get back wonderful things like Aluren :smile:

I can explain any of my other choices if desired

[TTX]

I played in side events (for a variety of reasons) with my version of Aluren.

4 Recruiter of the Guard
1 Cavern Harpy
1 Arctic Merfolk
1 Parasitic Strix
4 Baleful Strix
4 Deathrite Shaman
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1 Quickling
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Eternal Witness
1 Academy Rector

4 Aluren
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Brainstorm
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Sylvan Library
2 Green Sun's Zenith

1 Bayou
2 Forest
1 Island
1 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volrath's Stronghold
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Savannah
2 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
1 Veteran Explorer
1 Phyrexian Tower

SB: 2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
SB: 1 Orzhov Pontiff
SB: 1 Toxic Deluge
SB: 1 Bone Shredder
SB: 2 Carpet of Flowers
SB: 1 Abrupt Decay
SB: 1 Containment Priest
SB: 1 Phyrexian Revoker
SB: 1 Scavenging Ooze
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 Krosan Grip
SB: 1 Glissa, the Traitor

I've seen several lists around where people are playing a single Dream Stalker/Arctic Merfolk/Quickling. Are you gambling on your opponent not having removal/not knowing when to interrupt you?
Because a well time StP or Abrupt Decay can break up the combo. Anyway, for the white version, 1 Merfolk 1 Quickling is the best way to play it in my opinion.

Win 2-1 vs. RG Lands
Win 2-1 vs. UWr Miracles
Loss 0-2 vs. Turbo Depths
Loss 0-2 vs. BR Reanimator
Win 2-0 vs. White Aluren
Tie 1-1-1 vs. Elves!
Win 2-0 vs. UW Miracles
Loss 1-2 vs. Eldrazi Stompy

Eldrazi Stompy was very close, and I almost stabilized in G3, but double Reality Smasher was just enough.
BR Reanimator treated me to T1 Sire of Insanity both games.
Turbo Eldrazi gave the turn 3 Marit Lage game 1 and 2 with Sejiri Step both games to get through Strix and Harpy each a
turn before I was laying an Aluren.
Elves is not a great Matchup, but Leovold is fantastic against Glimpse, Visionary, and Sylvan Library.
Let me know if you have any questions about this list. I think it's a great list, but not in the current meta with so much super fast combo flying around.
I have switched to Grixis Tezzerator recently because it shits on Reanimator and Miracles alike.
Cheers.

[barcode]

4-4-1 at the GP with BUG Aluren. I picked up a draw in round 3 from a shitty Miracles player who refused to concede to my lethal attack (with counterspell backup) if he just passed the goddamn turn.

I forgot Meekstones for my sideboard at home and so I got wrecked by giant Goyfs all day.

On a lark, later in the day against yet another Miracles player in the draw bracket I brought in Karakas to protect Leovold. It turns out to have been pretty good and I will definitely test that sideboard plan going forward.

[.dk]

I played in side events (for a variety of reasons) with my version of Aluren.

4 Recruiter of the Guard
1 Cavern Harpy
1 Arctic Merfolk
1 Parasitic Strix
4 Baleful Strix
4 Deathrite Shaman
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1 Quickling
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Eternal Witness
1 Academy Rector

4 Aluren
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Brainstorm
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Sylvan Library
2 Green Sun's Zenith

1 Bayou
2 Forest
1 Island
1 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volrath's Stronghold
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Savannah
2 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
1 Veteran Explorer
1 Phyrexian Tower

SB: 2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
SB: 1 Orzhov Pontiff
SB: 1 Toxic Deluge
SB: 1 Bone Shredder
SB: 2 Carpet of Flowers
SB: 1 Abrupt Decay
SB: 1 Containment Priest
SB: 1 Phyrexian Revoker
SB: 1 Scavenging Ooze
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 Krosan Grip
SB: 1 Glissa, the Traitor

I've seen several lists around where people are playing a single Dream Stalker/Arctic Merfolk/Quickling. Are you gambling on your opponent not having removal/not knowing when to interrupt you?
Because a well time StP or Abrupt Decay can break up the combo. Anyway, for the white version, 1 Merfolk 1 Quickling is the best way to play it in my opinion.

Win 2-1 vs. RG Lands
Win 2-1 vs. UWr Miracles
Loss 0-2 vs. Turbo Depths
Loss 0-2 vs. BR Reanimator
Win 2-0 vs. White Aluren
Tie 1-1-1 vs. Elves!
Win 2-0 vs. UW Miracles
Loss 1-2 vs. Eldrazi Stompy

Eldrazi Stompy was very close, and I almost stabilized in G3, but double Reality Smasher was just enough.
BR Reanimator treated me to T1 Sire of Insanity both games.
Turbo Eldrazi gave the turn 3 Marit Lage game 1 and 2 with Sejiri Step both games to get through Strix and Harpy each a
turn before I was laying an Aluren.
Elves is not a great Matchup, but Leovold is fantastic against Glimpse, Visionary, and Sylvan Library.
Let me know if you have any questions about this list. I think it's a great list, but not in the current meta with so much super fast combo flying around.
I have switched to Grixis Tezzerator recently because it shits on Reanimator and Miracles alike.
Cheers.

I played in the main and side events with a very similar list. Maindeck was a few cards off above:

2 Arctic Merfolk (not the split)
2 Veteran Explorer
0 Dryad Arbor
1 Tundra

Sideboard was 1 card different of:
-1 Glissa
+1 Revoker

The main event saw me get some awful variance and terrible matchups until I dropped:

Rnd 1 - iPainter
2 Mulls to five coupled with 4 blood moon effects saw me lose this very quickly. Didn't have a chance. I think the matchup should actually be good (particularly if you're running veteran explorers), but mulling to 5 is not.

Rnd 2 - OmniTell
Won game 1 off of his show and tell putting in aluren. Lost the second game, and won the third with some excellent therapy snipes.

Rnd 3 - Dredge
This was actually someone staying with me. Bummer. He won the die roll, and therefore the match. I wrecked him game 2, but he had good dredges turn 1 both game 1 and 3 off of faithless looting which allowed him to tear apart my hand with Therapies. Tried to mull to a hateful hand game 3, but ended up with a 5 card deathrite scooze hand that was just too slow. I didn't stand a chance, particularly considering he knew what I was playing.

Rnd 4 - Burn
I always struggle with this matchup. It was very very close - I've learned a lot of things over the past couple months of playing that helped. But he won the die roll, and I was 1/2 turn off from killing him game 1 and 3. Thems the breakers.

Rnd 5 - Elves
This isn't an awful matchup, but it's not stellar either. Therapy hit 4 Natural Orders, 3 Glimpse of Natures, and a Wirewood Symbiote over the course of the match. I proceeded to just draw land after land and die. Seemed like just variance to me. At one point in game 3, I only had 6 lands left in my library, and still drew another. It was pretty unreal.

Then I dropped because that was frustrating, and proceeded to 4-0 a Legacy side event with the same list. I think the list is great, but bad luck got me in the main. I was hoping for more death and taxes, delver, shardless, etc. Got none of that. Thats the stuff I faced in the side (as well as 12-post). I needed to be playing against the Tier 1 decks. Oh well.

It did let me play Vintage on Sunday, so worked out just fine. ;)

[Moneymakermich]

Thanks for the reports.
What did you think about the green sun zenith's?

[TTX]

Thanks for the reports.
What did you think about the green sun zenith's?

I think it's a fantastic inclusion. I very much prefer the proactive nature of playing GSZ over Thoughtseize.
However, in a combo heavy meta, I missed the higher density of early disruption.
So for this event, I think Thoughtseize would have been better. Once the meta adjusts to the Reanimator crap
(by increasing Deathblades, Delvers, and Miracles, GSZ in this deck will shine).

[kaluma]

so... silly idea that might not be terrible: smuggler's copter.

i've been playing BUG aluren with 2 cranes and 1 jitte maindeck (over the 3rd ponder) to have crane be a little better precombo. what if you go one step further and up the artifact count with smuggler's copter? this card only really came on my radar bc of the recent standard ban, but you almost always have a random idiot around to make a 3/3 flying that loots. i slotted in 2 to test it out (over 4th force of will and 4th harpy, which is almost certainly too many copters but want to draw it and see). is this just super dumb? thoughts?

[Moneymakermich]

so... silly idea that might not be terrible: smuggler's copter.



No idea but interested in your test results. I think that if you play the blue version you should already have enough draw. If the goal is to add artifact I would rather play an extra jitte.

[.dk]

Thanks for the reports.
What did you think about the green sun zenith's?

I liked having access to 4 Veteran Explorers, 4 Leovold, 3 Eternal Witness, and 3 Rec Sage. GSZ for all of those targets happened over the weekend, and were stellar every time. This deck can make a lot of mana with Explorer - having GSZ around for utility was awesome.

[Cartesian]

so... silly idea that might not be terrible: smuggler's copter.

i've been playing BUG aluren with 2 cranes and 1 jitte maindeck (over the 3rd ponder) to have crane be a little better precombo. what if you go one step further and up the artifact count with smuggler's copter? this card only really came on my radar bc of the recent standard ban, but you almost always have a random idiot around to make a 3/3 flying that loots. i slotted in 2 to test it out (over 4th force of will and 4th harpy, which is almost certainly too many copters but want to draw it and see). is this just super dumb? thoughts?

I did some testing with Smuggler's Thopter, and I think the card is good in the grindy creature matchups, but otherwise slow. Card might be too slow for Legacy.
I feel like we should be looking at that new Xantid artifact thing from the new set. Seems good for timewalking against combo, and for ignoring counterspells the turn we cast Aluren.

[TTX]

I feel like we should be looking at that new Xantid artifact thing from the new set. Seems good for timewalking against combo, and for ignoring counterspells the turn we cast Aluren.

Yes! Also may warrant Trinket Mage inclusion for more board utility.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[comix84]

I did some testing with Smuggler's Thopter, and I think the card is good in the grindy creature matchups, but otherwise slow. Card might be too slow for Legacy.
I feel like we should be looking at that new Xantid artifact thing from the new set. Seems good for timewalking against combo, and for ignoring counterspells the turn we cast Aluren.

Hum... Question.. why should we want to play Hope of Ghirapur over the classic Xantid Swarm? :) what am I missing here...? :-D

[Whitefaces]

Hum... Question.. why should we want to play Hope of Ghirapur over the classic Xantid Swarm? :) what am I missing here...? :-D

It can be found off Crane, for one.

[comix84]

It can be found off Crane, for one.

That's a good point, I haven't played the BUG version yet (playing the white splash one for the moment) and my mind still doesn't think about that card!

[Moneymakermich]

It can be found off Crane, for one.

Also, it can beat down :-)
That's a common way of winning with Aluren, beating with small dudes + DRS activations...

[kaluma]

I did some testing with Smuggler's Thopter, and I think the card is good in the grindy creature matchups, but otherwise slow. Card might be too slow for Legacy.
I feel like we should be looking at that new Xantid artifact thing from the new set. Seems good for timewalking against combo, and for ignoring counterspells the turn we cast Aluren.

so after a number of games here are my thoughts on Copter. I like it. Maybe it's the way i like to play the deck as a grindy creature deck first with combo as a backup plan in most matchups (not the ones where you just need to race). Turning your summoning sick guys or generally weak idiots into a credible flying threat is good, having a legit flying blocker is strong against delvers even if it just trades, and being able to threaten planeswalkers is a big plus as BUG decks generally struggle against them. The looting is also very good when you really need to dig. Anecdotally, crane seems to miss less often and i even pick up copter over things like shardless on occasion. it is also less mana intensive than jitte in an already mana hungry deck. copter also seems to be a lightning rod for bolt/plow/decay, which tells me that it's probably pretty good :)

downsides - can force you to overextend a little bit into instant speed terminus. needs another creature to do anything (same as jitte here). it's another grindy card in a deck full of grindy cards, but that's not nec the worst thing. i slotted in 2 of them over ponder #3 and parasitic strix #2 moving my maindeck jitte to the board.

not sure what you want that xantid artifact guy against. are you trying to protect your own combo? i'd rather bring in removal and carpet of flowers against delver, and grindy cards against miracles.

[kaluma]

oh another thing - i've shaved a fetchland for a 5th basic land: 2 island, 2 forest, 1 swamp. It's great to be able to ignore wasteland against delver and loam which are abundant on MTGO right now. most people seem to be going the other way on basics though..

[neckfire]

using the bug version of the deck (here is the list i am using https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/540537#online) its cartesian latest list
How do I beat miracles? i am 1-5 vs that deck. Thats not where i want to be vs one of the best decks in legacy. Am i boarding wrong?
any help would be appreciated i want to play aluren in the challenge this weekend and need to figure out how to beat that matchup.

[kaluma]

using the bug version of the deck (here is the list i am using https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/540537#online) its cartesian latest list
How do I beat miracles? i am 1-5 vs that deck. Thats not where i want to be vs one of the best decks in legacy. Am i boarding wrong?
any help would be appreciated i want to play aluren in the challenge this weekend and need to figure out how to beat that matchup.

here is my take on miracles matchup: pace your threats to apply pressure without leaving you dead to a terminus. usually ~2 cantipping guys is good. save force and decays for their important cards, not their removal spells. the important ones are (1) jace, (2) mentor/ entreat, (3) counterbalance. sometimes you don't even need to worry about counterbalance. I usually don't try to jam the combo unless I need to or have a clear opening.

the way I would board with that list is add carpet of flowers, needle, decay, kgrip, and plague if you see mentors. in my lists i have a thoughtseize or two i like to bring in also, as well as a miser surgical extraction. the cards i like to cut are 1 land, 2-3 alurens, 1 harpy, 2-3 deathrite shaman. post board you don't need to land aluren to gain a big mana advantage if you have carpets. strategy remains largely the same, except you have less threats that just get swept away without generating value (deathrite) and some better answers to their cards.

matchup should be favorable i think, but there are some miracles draws that are very hard to beat. GL!

[neckfire]

has anyone thought about updating the primer for the deck? its been so long. there are a few guys in here who are really knowledgeable about the deck and would help newbies to it.

[RobNC]

Played for the first time last night and I had an absolute blast with this deck. The whole time I was playing I felt like the combo was my Plan B, but most of my wins were due to the combo.

0-2 Shardless BUG (I couldn't keep up!)
2-0 UR Delver
1-1 D&T (long games)
2-0 BUG Lands Control aka Dr. Evil


Ended up with this board state against D&T when he had Pithing Needle on Cavern Harpy, and I wasted my last Abrupt Decay on a Jitte (if the picture link doesn't work then I will find somewhere to host it).
https://scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/15995148_10101338416953836_2081951686154115180_o.jpg?oh=82a20468e6768ed0588c7f0d69e034b1&oe=58D65315


I was always boarding out my Force Of Wills, but I also played only fair decks. The card I typically liked seeing the least was Ponder, so I'm not sure if I'll keep that in there. It's clear many of you are having success with it in the BUG lists but I feel like I may switch to discard. I also may go up to 4 Cavern Harpy from the 3 I ran last night, as the utility of it was wonderful even without Aluren in play, such as blanking a Jitte or Batterskull attack.

[Moneymakermich]

If you're not happy with force of will and ponder, maybe you should try the other version using recruiters and cabal therapy ;-)

[RobNC]

It wasn't that I wasn't happy with FOW, it's that I just happened to not need it against the four decks I played. The Ponder was probably the only card I wasn't happy to see.

I leaned towards the BUG version over Recruiter primarily for the better mana base (I have a Wasteland heavy meta), and last night had no issues regarding color screw by fetching all basics first. However, I really love the redundancy of having multiple combo pieces - digging with Shardless Agent, Baleful Strix, and Brainstorm was fine to get the creatures I needed and the only issue I had last night was digging for Abrupt Decay, which Recruiter wouldn't find anyways. Also, Leovold is fun :smile:

I may try Cabal Therapy next time over Ponder, or even toss FOW in the sideboard as the default.

[Moneymakermich]

I made some tests with collective brutality in place of my 2 maindeck thoughtseize
Against creature decks it's very good : being able to kill deathrite shaman / white creatures / elves / delvers + sometimes extra discard against counters is good.
But against other decks it's weak and/or slow. So maybe it's more of a sideboard card ?

Now I would like to test gitaxian probe in that slots.
It looks good to know if the way if free to combo + great interaction with cabal therapy.
I've never seen the card in decklists playing recruiters/therapy version, has anyone tested that ?

[RobNC]

I made some tests with collective brutality in place of my 2 maindeck thoughtseize
Against creature decks it's very good : being able to kill deathrite shaman / white creatures / elves / delvers + sometimes extra discard against counters is good.
But against other decks it's weak and/or slow. So maybe it's more of a sideboard card ?

Now I would like to test gitaxian probe in that slots.
It looks good to know if the way if free to combo + great interaction with cabal therapy.
I've never seen the card in decklists playing recruiters/therapy version, has anyone tested that ?

Were you often pitching cards to escalate or did you usually cast it for one mode?

Cabal Therapy can play well with this deck because most of the creatures we'd sacrifice have ETB triggers, but unless you're playing one or two Volrath's Stronghold you'd have no way of getting that value back. I love Collective Brutality but I feel it's best at home in Reanimator strategies, where you want something in the graveyard, or something like in Junk/Abzan colors where you can pitch Lingering Souls or extra legendary creatures.

[comix84]

Played yesterday for the first time with the BUG version, considering a few mistakes I still closed with a decent 2-1-1, the draw was against lands in a great game where Leovold was fantastic and the fact that we are playing a lot of flyers gave me the time to find Aluren :) the loss was against DnT that is my nemesis! The 2 wins, one was a bye on round 1 and then I beated elves (god saves the Jitte!)

I felt the deck a lot more consistent compared to the recruiter version, less problems with the mana and I really liked the couple of extra ponders (I am a cantrip lover). The only thing is that I feel the deck could suffer even more than before all the fast combos like Ant.


Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[Moneymakermich]

Were you often pitching cards to escalate or did you usually cast it for one mode?



Really depending on the deck and situation.

Death and tax : always -2/-2 only.
Elves : -2/-2 only if I plan to combo on the next (2) turn(s), else escalate for discard hoping to hit natural order or glimpse.
Delver : -2/-2 only if I just want to gain time, escalated with discard if planning to combo the next turn hoping to hit counters or removal. I've experienced that even if the escalated spell gets FOW, it's still a 2 for 2 cards exchange, and the path should then be clear of counters on the next turn anyway...
Storm : once escalated for discard + drain 2 life (which was finally not relevant but it could have been...)

[Fjaulnir]

Question to the guys playing BUG Aluren :smile: preferably the ones who've had real results with it so are more experienced.


I've been playtesting it a bit on and off for the last weeks, but now I'm planning on taking it to a real tournament and that's a bit scary :tongue: the 2 Blue Blasts, are they just against decks like Burn, or would you side them in against something like Grixis too? Stops their Bolts and/or Pyroblasts, possibly against Miracles their Pyroblasts and Blood Moon.
But against Bolts/Blasts, isn't Flusterstorm equally stronk? Or even more so. And Blood Moon isn't really a problem with 4 basics + DRS. So all I can see left is the Burn matchup because of countering Eidolon.


I also notice the Glissa got cut from the sideboards on MTGO recently. Is this due to Eldrazi mostly disappearing? Or was the card not that necessary against Eldrazi anyway because it would be a favourable matchup? Just asking because I haven't had a chance to playtest against Drazi yet, and it seems like it would be a rough matchup (esp on the draw) - I do expect quite a few Drazi/MUD players this weekend, based on the previous tournament by that TO.


With enough people prone to try out Reid Dukes deck, -1/-1 effects seem well positioned too. I was considering Minister of Pain, but saw it never made the 5-0 lists on MODO either. Is Engineered Plague on Merfolk as a continuous effect just better than it being on a creature that also takes Hierarch? It can be bounced by Harpy for cumulative effect if you really need to kill some hate bear like Palace Jailer or whatever random crap DnT can throw at you :smile:

[comix84]

Quick one, anyone who has already tried the Hope of Ghirapur in the BUG version? I am still not convinced about it, but happy to listen to proper reports in case :) Ta

[Cartesian]

@Fjaulnir: Hey, and good luck. This is how I would answer your questions:
2 Hydroblast are not for all decks with bolts but for Eidolon, Sneak Attack, burn and the UR Delver deck specifically where many threats are red. Chill is also an option.
You do not want to cascade into Flusterstorm, or anything like that.
Glissa: Leovold is also a 3-drop and an overall stronger card, so that happened. If you expect a lot of Eldrazi bring Glissa, but don't play double basic Island in that case.
Minister of Pain is a good choice, but you will only rarely get an opportunity to abuse it's effect multiple times, so keep that in mind. The best way for us to fight TNN is to ignore it and win.
Remember that paper magic gives you acces to Virtue's Ruin also against DnT.

[Tulkas]

hi guys, i m a modern player that finally decided to build a legacy deck :). i have been reading for two weeks all the threads on this forum and tried some decks on cockatrice and i think i've found the deck i'd like to build (aluren obv xD).
I have seen that lately the bug version is doing very well on mtgo and i would be oriented on this version. do you think that as my only legacy deck would be good or it's a deck that rely from the meta?
I do not think I can buy another deck for a bit 'of time so i'd like to make a safe purchase ^^".

p.s: sorry if i did some mistakes...english is not my first language

[J.Black]

@Tulkas:

If you buy into a BUG version of Aluren, the following will easily transfer to a number of other decks:

Fetches
Duals
Brainstorm
Ponder
Leovold
Abrupt Decay
Force of Will
Shardless Agent
Cabal Therapy

Really, the only things that are specific to Aluren are it's namesake, cavern harpy, and parasitic strix (i won't count glint nest crane as there are millions of them flying around at the moment). Even if you go for the recruiter of the guard version, you're probably only looking at $150 or so of non-transferable cards!

As for Aluren's competitiveness, whilst it is partly meta dependent (and a strong choice atm), it has inherent power and it's ability to win at instant speed makes it a dependable choice. Short of Wizards printing some absurd T1 combo enabler, it's going to be a good deck for a long while!

I do think it's a good deck to learn Legacy with too..... FoW is the best reactive card in the format and gives you a defense against almost any unsuspected shenanigans, believe me, you'll run into a lot of those when learning the format. Therapy is, maybe, the most powerful card in the format but it's a total bastard to learn to use correctly!

[Fjaulnir]

@Fjaulnir: Hey, and good luck. This is how I would answer your questions:
2 Hydroblast are not for all decks with bolts but for Eidolon, Sneak Attack, burn and the UR Delver deck specifically where many threats are red. Chill is also an option.
You do not want to cascade into Flusterstorm, or anything like that.
Glissa: Leovold is also a 3-drop and an overall stronger card, so that happened. If you expect a lot of Eldrazi bring Glissa, but don't play double basic Island in that case.
Minister of Pain is a good choice, but you will only rarely get an opportunity to abuse it's effect multiple times, so keep that in mind. The best way for us to fight TNN is to ignore it and win.
Remember that paper magic gives you acces to Virtue's Ruin also against DnT.


Thanks!! I was totally unaware that V Ruin didn't exist online, that explains why I never see it in sideboards. I own a copy IRL somewhere so I might try that.
The cascade part on Flusterstorm is a good call, didn't think of that yet. And Sneak Attack is definitely a bigger problem than SnT

[twitch]

Normally I play on paper but since moving there isn't that big of a legacy scene around so end up playing online most of the time. When I do I run into quite a lot of storm decks. Leovold is good for this if you have Mindbreak trap in from the side board as you will dig through your deck quite a bit when they trendils you. I've also found Bitter Ordeal to be quite good.

Playing it off a crack fetch and deathrite turn 2 is the best, but its still useful on turn 3. I've also had good success with it against miracles, removing monastery mentor/entreat. And against Show and Tell, removing their emrakul.

[Fjaulnir]

How is it better than either Lost Legacy or Sadistic Sacrament? :-) Sacrament is debatable because running basics makes BBB hard - but you still get to remove 3 cards at least instead of having to hope you get 2 instead of 1.
But lost legacy costing 1BB is already a lot easier, admittedly you can't take 1 Tendrils and 1 ETW but you can take all 4 Show and Tell even if 1 is in their hand, etc.

Gravestorm doesn't seem all that synergistic with Aluren decks, except for fetchlands where you'll *maybe* have one uncracked getting you to 2 Gravestorm?

[TTX]

How is it better than either Lost Legacy or Sadistic Sacrament? :-) Sacrament is debatable because running basics makes BBB hard - but you still get to remove 3 cards at least instead of having to hope you get 2 instead of 1.
But lost legacy costing 1BB is already a lot easier, admittedly you can't take 1 Tendrils and 1 ETW but you can take all 4 Show and Tell even if 1 is in their hand, etc.

Gravestorm doesn't seem all that synergistic with Aluren decks, except for fetchlands where you'll *maybe* have one uncracked getting you to 2 Gravestorm?

Generally I agree, but Cabal Therapy does help out potentially too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[twitch]

How is it better than either Lost Legacy or Sadistic Sacrament? :-) Sacrament is debatable because running basics makes BBB hard - but you still get to remove 3 cards at least instead of having to hope you get 2 instead of 1.
But lost legacy costing 1BB is already a lot easier, admittedly you can't take 1 Tendrils and 1 ETW but you can take all 4 Show and Tell even if 1 is in their hand, etc.

Gravestorm doesn't seem all that synergistic with Aluren decks, except for fetchlands where you'll *maybe* have one uncracked getting you to 2 Gravestorm?

Both of those are harder to cast, especially if you want to stick to basic lands. Lost Legacy is probably better, but being able to remove from their hand has never really been that big of an issue for me. If lost legacy is countered, then you get nothing, gravestorm does give you additional copies.

[barcode]

Played FNM tonight with the BUG version. Meekstone won me a game: I cascaded into it and locked down a Delver.

Deck is great when it doesn't flood or get mana screwed, which both happened in the finals, costing me a badlands for 4-0 prize.

I played against Deadguy Ale, Grixis Delver, a Grixis artifact (thopter/sword planeswalker) brew - didnt see tezzeret, Deadguy Ale.

[comix84]

Played FNM tonight with the BUG version. Meekstone won me a game: I cascaded into it and locked down a Delver.

Deck is great when it doesn't flood or get mana screwed, which both happened in the finals, costing me a badlands for 4-0 prize.

I played against Deadguy Ale, Grixis Delver, a Grixis artifact (thopter/sword planeswalker) brew - didnt see tezzeret, Deadguy Ale.
Nice result :)

How many meekstone in the side btw? I like the card (especially considering shardless plus crane that are both "tutor" for it) just wondering what to cut in my side to add it :)

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[barcode]

Nice result :)

How many meekstone in the side btw? I like the card (especially considering shardless plus crane that are both "tutor" for it) just wondering what to cut in my side to add it :)

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

Just the one Meekstone. My local meta isn't know for its graveyard shenanigans so I cut a Faerie Macabre. The meta is so out of whack here now: no miracles at all but 3 or 4 deadguy ale.

[Capt4in]

Just the one Meekstone. My local meta isn't know for its graveyard shenanigans so I cut a Faerie Macabre. The meta is so out of whack here now: no miracles at all but 3 or 4 deadguy ale.

I'm in (I think) the same meta as you, and I've been seeing a ton of reanimator lately, so I'm on 4 Leylines right now.

On another note, what can I slot in the board to help with burn and its ilk? I split top 8 in a local 1k today and promptly got smashed by U/R delver in the quarters. I've been finding Burn very tough in general as well. I'm playing several copies of Chill but I'm not sure it's the best option since it is so narrow.

[btm10]

Went a pretty dismal 2-3 today at our 1K, beating BR Reanimator (2-0) and Grixis Delver (2-0), and losing to D&T (0-2, he just had everything in g1 when I cast Aluren and I got mana denialed out in G2), Pox (I probably punted here, 1-2), and Shardless (0-2, I started to go off g1 but flooded out, and my opponent ran basically perfect in g2). Leovold was pretty awful all day. I think he's fine in postboard games when our opponents' cantrips matter more or if they're on combo and we want to buy time more effectively, but he just dilutes the combo plan game 1. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with those two slots, but they're going to be cards that advance the combo plan no matter what.

[comix84]

Went 3-2 today with the BUG version, won against:

- BR Reanimator (2-1)
- Splinter Twin (2-0)
- DnT (2-0)

Lost against:
- BR Reanimator (2-1)
- Tin Fins (2-1)

Made a couple of mistake against Tin Fins (he sided out all the "graveyard sheningans" on game 2 and I didn't want to risk on game 3 so I kept all the hate on G3 - and I was wrong). With BR Reanimator, maybe a i kept a slow hand on G3 but I had a T1 deathrite so I hoped, it didn't work!

Nice one anyway, close 10th at tie breaker. (30 platers tournament)

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[Moneymakermich]

On another note, what can I slot in the board to help with burn and its ilk? I split top 8 in a local 1k today and promptly got smashed by U/R delver in the quarters. I've been finding Burn very tough in general as well. I'm playing several copies of Chill but I'm not sure it's the best option since it is so narrow.

Chill is good VS the pure burn deck, I mean mono red. Against the UR delver I've had some success by siding in removal against their creatures. Delver decks really dont like to see their creatures die, and that gives us enough time to win.

PS: congrats to kaluma for the top8 using 2 copters

[barcode]

I'm in (I think) the same meta as you, and I've been seeing a ton of reanimator lately, so I'm on 4 Leylines right now.

On another note, what can I slot in the board to help with burn and its ilk? I split top 8 in a local 1k today and promptly got smashed by U/R delver in the quarters. I've been finding Burn very tough in general as well. I'm playing several copies of Chill but I'm not sure it's the best option since it is so narrow.

You should have Pernicious Deed to clear out creatures and tokens. Blue Elemental Blast is also quite good, serving as Vindicate/Counterspell in the Burn matchup. It's good for UR Delver, too. You also have to know what your gameplan is. You are the control deck up until you can resolve Aluren and kill them. Chill is reasonable, but you need it on turn 2 every time whereas Blue Blast is excellent on turn 1 and reasonable for following turns since their important spells are red (you shouldn't fear a delver except for the turn 1 delver that flips right away).

[Capt4in]

You should have Pernicious Deed to clear out creatures and tokens. Blue Elemental Blast is also quite good, serving as Vindicate/Counterspell in the Burn matchup. It's good for UR Delver, too. You also have to know what your gameplan is. You are the control deck up until you can resolve Aluren and kill them. Chill is reasonable, but you need it on turn 2 every time whereas Blue Blast is excellent on turn 1 and reasonable for following turns since their important spells are red (you shouldn't fear a delver except for the turn 1 delver that flips right away).

I usually play some mix of pontiff/jitte/deluge for cleaning up the board...isn't deed kind of slow?

I like the idea of Blue blasts though, I may try that on Friday.

[jacethepoopscooper]

OK Cartesian - what's up with the 6 basics and the Sakura Tribe Elder?

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/559604#online

[Cartesian]

It was just a test run that went well. :) Please don't think too much into it. I did like the Tribe-Elders a lot actually, so I might test those again, but maybe not all 3. It helps a lot versus Delver and DnT. I wanted to see how far I could push the basic land count. One of my (many) concerns with the BUG version is it's inherent weakness to Wasteland. Tribe-Elder also gives the deck a few more ways to get Aluren down on turn 3.

[btm10]

It was just a test run that went well. :) Please don't think too much into it. I did like the Tribe-Elders a lot actually, so I might test those again, but maybe not all 3. It helps a lot versus Delver and DnT. I wanted to see how far I could push the basic land count. One of my (many) concerns with the BUG version is it's inherent weakness to Wasteland. Tribe-Elder also gives the deck a few more ways to get Aluren down on turn 3.

I've been very happy with 2 Forest, 1 Island, 1 Swamp, 1 Hierarch, fwiw.

[Moneymakermich]

Have you seen this list?

http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=14590&d=287499&f=LE

I like the fact that it combines FOW and recruiters.
But I miss the decays and would bring them i' the place of intuition and therapies.
I'll give it a try.

[Kobra_D]

Hey Everyone,

I've been playing legacy for a while but just conveniently picked up an aluren in a trade. I would like to build the deck, and from what I've seen it doesn't need the combo to finish (critter beats is fine) but is there a way to skew this any further?

I would rather play this much more focused on the value rather than the combo finish.

If not, and the strix finish is too efficient to pass up I'll understand but I figured if there was anyplace to ask this would be it.

Thanks.

[hofzge]

Played this list to a 3-0-1 finish at LGS:

2x Bayou
2x Forest
2x Island
3x Misty Rainforest
4x Polluted Delta
1x Swamp
3x Tropical Island
2x Underground Sea
3x Verdant Catacombs

4x Baleful Strix
4x Cavern Harpy
4x Deathrite Shaman
2x Glint-Nest Crane
2x Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1x Parasitic Strix
4x Shardless Agent

3x Abrupt Decay
4x Brainstorm
4x Force of Will
2x Ponder
2x Smuggler's Copter
4x Aluren

Sideboard
1x Abrupt Decay
2x Cabal Therapy
2x Carpet of Flowers
2x Engineered Plague
1x Meekstone
4x Surgical Extraction
2x Thoughtseize
1x Umezawa's Jitte

Won against 12Post (2-0), Aggro Loam (2-0), Storm (2-0)
Drew against Miracles (1-1-1)

I love the change from 2 Parasitic Strix and 1 Glint-Nest Crane to 1 Parasitic Strix and 2 Glint-Nest Cranes. I searched multiple times through the entire library for the Strix to kill.
The change to 2 Copters is also great as they singlehandedly won a game against Miracles (still an enormously grindy matchup). Also they make your dorky CITP dudes into threats as well as filtering towards Aluren.

Most games I won by comboing - especially against uninteractive opponents like 12Post or Aggro Loam the deck is just great; against Miracles I won via Copter beats; against Storm I won with Leovold & double Force and Cabal Therapy & Force and then normal beatdown.

I never boarded in either Meekstone or Engineered Plague and maybe one could also cut a carpet of Flowers, but that card is just so good against any Delver deck.

TL DR: I won some and love the current incarnation of the deck.

[Darjeeling]

Went 4-2 this past weekend at our 67 player monthly Legacy event with the BG-focused Recruiter build. Good for 8th on breakers, lost in top 8.

24 Creatures
4 Recruiter of the Guard
4 Baleful Strix
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Shardless Agent
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
2 Arctic Merfolk
1 Cavern Harpy
1 Eternal Witness
1 Parasitic Strix
1 Reclamation Sage

16 Other
4 Brainstorm
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Cabal Therapy
2 Intuition
4 Aluren

20 Lands
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Polluted Delta
2 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
1 Underground Sea
1 Savannah
1 Tundra
1 Volrath's Stronghold
2 Forest
1 Swamp

SB
3 Force of Will
2 Toxic Deluge
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Bone Shredder
1 Ghitu Slinger
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Sylan Library
1 Null Rod
1 Krosan Grip
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Containment Priest
1 Umezawa's Jitte

Beat: Aluren, Imperial Painter, Esper Deathblade, Death and Taxes
Lost to: Sneak and Show x2 (once in Swiss, once in T8), Ad Nauseam Lands

Notes
As expected, fast combo is a bad matchup. Jitte is a hell of a backup plan. D&T is rampant in SoCal, which is why Ghitu Slinger is in the board as it kills Mirran Crusader, Aethersworn Canonist, and Sanctum Prelate which are the only cards they have that matter. I am considering going up to 3 Faeries in the board to abuse Intuition more. I think I still prefer this version to the BUG version as having the threat of a 2 card combo really puts pressure on your opponents.


As for the poster above suggesting just playing a value-based list: You might as well play Shardless BUG. The advantage of playing Aluren is having an "oops, I win" and if you're foregoing that, you should just play the better value-game deck.

[hofzge]

Notes
As expected, fast combo is a bad matchup. Jitte is a hell of a backup plan. D&T is rampant in SoCal, which is why Ghitu Slinger is in the board as it kills Mirran Crusader, Aethersworn Canonist, and Sanctum Prelate which are the only cards they have that matter. I am considering going up to 3 Faeries in the board to abuse Intuition more. I think I still prefer this version to the BUG version as having the threat of a 2 card combo really puts pressure on your opponents.

As for the poster above suggesting just playing a value-based list: You might as well play Shardless BUG. The advantage of playing Aluren is having an "oops, I win" and if you're foregoing that, you should just play the better value-game deck.

How is Shardless BUG a better BUG deck if this deck has Aluren.
While it may not mean win if you play an Aluren and has no recruiter wins, but Cavern Harpy & Glint-Nest Crane or Shardless into Baleful Strix / Brainstorm / Ponder are usually enough to win. I think it is the ageold question of power (recruiter) vs. consistency (BUG and not drawing random Arctic Merfolks / having Force over Cabal Therapy).

As for the combo matchup: If you have 2-3 Thoughtseize, 2-4 Cabal Therapy, 2-3 Leovold and 3-4 Force of Will you should have an ok Storm matchup (Leovold wins there).
I guess Show and Tell is one of the worst matchups, but you can keep an Aluren in hand to put in with Show and Tell, play a Leovold to hinder ther filtering and try to discard Sneak Attack.

If you want to play Recruiter why not play:
1x Bayou
1x Forest
1x Island
4x Misty Rainforest
3x Polluted Delta
1x Swamp
2x Tropical Island
1x Tundra
2x Underground Sea
4x Verdant Catacombs

2x Arctic Merfolk
4x Baleful Strix
1x Cavern Harpy
4x Deathrite Shaman
0-1 Eternal Witness
0-1 Reclamation Sage
2-3x Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1x Parasitic Strix
4x Recruiter of the Guard

4x Ponder
4x Aluren
3x Abrupt Decay
4x Brainstorm
4x Force of Will
2x Intuition

Sideboard
1x Bone Shredder
2x Cabal Therapy
2x Carpet of Flowers
1x Containment Priest
3x Faerie Macabre
1x Orzhov Pontiff
1x Phyrexian Revoker
1x Reclamation Sage
1x Sylvan Library
0-1x Umezawa's Jitte
2x Thoughtseize

:cool: I know what you will say: Oh well you managed to even turn the Recruiter deck into a bad Shardless deck :tongue:

[barcode]

As for the poster above suggesting just playing a value-based list: You might as well play Shardless BUG. The advantage of playing Aluren is having an "oops, I win" and if you're foregoing that, you should just play the better value-game deck.

BUG Aluren is the far better Shardless BUG deck. The only thing they have on us is Jace and Tarmogoyf. We will out draw them and out value them forever. Since we have access to Meekstone we can easily check those Goyfs to let our dorks reign supreme in the skies with a Jitte.

[Moneymakermich]

@hofzge : I like your list which uses both FOW and recruiter, that's what I'm playing myself. With the secret tech academy rector, that I like a lot more than intuition since the recruiter can fetch him ;-)

@ Darjeeling : maybe you could sideboard some hydroblasts : they are great against sneak attack & past in flames & even other decks (blood moon, burn, ...)

@ Those who have tested Smuggler's Copter : (I haven't but) I wonder : do you really prefer to play copter instead of jitte maindeck ?

[Kobra_D]

:cool: I know what you will say: Oh well you managed to even turn the Recruiter deck into a bad Shardless deck :tongue:

I like the look of this a lot more. It still has the "sometime I just need to finish quickly" aspect with the 1 of parasitic strix and cavern harpy, but the rest of it tool boxes a lot more which is what I was looking for.

Thanks a lot, I think this will be a cool place to start.

[hofzge]

I like the look of this a lot more. It still has the "sometime I just need to finish quickly" aspect with the 1 of parasitic strix and cavern harpy, but the rest of it tool boxes a lot more which is what I was looking for.

Thanks a lot, I think this will be a cool place to start.

FWIW I think this is still a worse deck than the BUG lists as it still runs a lot of disjointed creatures. The only bad thing in the BUG lists are additional Cavern harpies, while in this list Arctic Merfolk is not really a card, the recruiters without Aluren are very slow and don't help you find Aluren. In BUG this is the most important advantage of Shardless Agents: Agent -> Brainstorm, Ponder, Baleful Strix, Glint-Nest Crane are all good at filtering through your deck for either Aluren or Parasitic Strix.

If you want to play recruiter you need to find a way to find Aluren with recruiter (a way that does not involve Academy Rector). If you can solve this issue I think the recruiter lists can compete.
Please don't just "use some Intuitions". Intuition is a fine instant speed tutor, but in a time where everyone has 2-4 Surgical Extractions post board and could randomly board them in you might run into a tree with full speed (The recruiter deck is a way worse value deck without Aluren than the BUG version).

[Moneymakermich]

I'm curious why you seem to dislike academy rector that much. My experience with it is ok, better than without. If you cast it with therapy in graveyard you can get alluren that turn, it even cannot be targetted by swords in that case. When it is into play, will the opponent attack with his tarmo/thalia/...? Or even emrakul, since you'll get the aluren into play before taking the damage 'thanks' to annihilator...

Please tell me more than 'it costs 4 so it's too slow'

[fapsik]

Hi,

since the printing of Recruiter of the Guard I have been piloting this deck. Here is my deck list, which is based upon Martin Goldman-Kirst philosophy. I am planning on writting more notes about my plays, tournaments, sideboarding, etc. Here are my thoughts.

4 Aluren
4 Deathrite Shaman
2 Arctic Merfolk
4 Baleful Strix
1 Cavern Harpy
1 Eternal Witness
1 Parasitic Strix
4 Brainstorm
4 Cabal Therapy
2 Thoughtseize
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Sylvan Library
1 Reclamation Sage
4 Recruiter of the Guard
3 Shardless Agent
1 Fatal Push

1 Bayou
2 Forest
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
2 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Island
1 Savannah
1 Volrath's Stronghold

SB: 1 Null Rod (very useful against Jitte, Storm, Sensei and other random artifacts)
SB: 1 Orzhov Pontiff (tutorable sweeper, very nice to have against Elves or Storm + it can pump your guys during lethal attack)
SB: 1 Scavenging Ooze (classic one)
SB: 3 Force of Will (necessary against combo decks)
SB: 1 Containment Priest (perfect versus Show and Tell and Reanimator)
SB: 2 Toxic Deluge (best cheap sweeper)
SB: 1 Garruk Relentless (for longer controlish games, alternative wincon)
SB: 2 Faerie Macabre (mainly due to BR Reanimator but still have other utilities)
SB: 1 Pithing Needle (my favourtie staple against various threads - Jace, Jitte, Sense, Liliana,...)
SB: 1 Meddling Mage (often unexpected answer to a single-minded deck)
SB: 1 Diabolic Edict (versus Land, Reanimator or as another removal)

Best wish,
F.

[TTX]

I'll share my recent list. I've gone back to Thoughtseize over the GSZ mini-package.
Overall I find the deck to be very powerful.

// 60 Maindeck
// 21 Creature
4 Recruiter of the Guard
1 Cavern Harpy
1 Arctic Merfolk
1 Parasitic Strix
4 Baleful Strix
4 Deathrite Shaman
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest (used to be 3, but I'm trying out Edric, who is sometimes better)
1 Quickling (better than Merfolk when not comboing)
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Eternal Witness
1 Edric, Spymaster of Trest

// 5 Enchantment
4 Aluren
1 Sylvan Library

// 7 Sorcery
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Thoughtseize

// 7 Instant
4 Brainstorm
3 Abrupt Decay

// 20 Land
1 Bayou
2 Forest
1 Island
1 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volrath's Stronghold
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Savannah
2 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
2 Polluted Delta

// 15 Sideboard
// 8 Creature
SB: 2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben (Burn, Storm, misc. combo)
SB: 1 Orzhov Pontiff
SB: 1 Bone Shredder (tutorable killer, great against Eldrazi)
SB: 1 Containment Priest
SB: 1 Phyrexian Revoker (I prefer this over Null Rod. Hit's Jace, Sneak Attack, Mother of Runes, etc.)
SB: 1 Scavenging Ooze (good against Punishing Fire strategies and other DRS decks)
SB: 1 Glissa, the Traitor (great against Eldrazi, Elves, and Shardless)

// 2 Enchantment
SB: 2 Carpet of Flowers

// 5 Instant
SB: 1 Abrupt Decay
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 Krosan Grip
SB: 1 Golgari Charm

I like Garruk Relentless, but he's a win more IMHO against matches where you would bring him in.

[hofzge]

I'm curious why you seem to dislike academy rector that much. My experience with it is ok, better than without. If you cast it with therapy in graveyard you can get alluren that turn, it even cannot be targetted by swords in that case. When it is into play, will the opponent attack with his tarmo/thalia/...? Or even emrakul, since you'll get the aluren into play before taking the damage 'thanks' to annihilator...

Please tell me more than 'it costs 4 so it's too slow'

I think you misunderstood me: If you play blue and only blue you need some additional way of tutoring Aluren. I was actually saying that the Rector is a very integral part of the Cabal Therapy lists, but as there is nothing comparable in blue the blue lists need all the Ponders they can get.
If there were a way to have some tutor and Force of Will (Intuition again comes to mind and was played in the Aluren lists of the old days).

[Nonex]

Diabolic Intent does the trick just fine. Doubly so if you run Veteran Explorer.

[Moneymakermich]

Diabolic Intent does the trick just fine. Doubly so if you run Veteran Explorer.

I've read some articles from Martin Goldman-Kirst and another pro-player (forgot his name) where they said Diabolic Intent was really terrible... but I haven't tested it myself.

With veteran it looks attractive indeed, but only if you play 4 veteran (where I would prefer to play 1 + 2-3 green sun zenith) so I guess that with all these green&black cards, this should be part of the non-blue version of the deck

[limbo]

Was expecting to see a room full of delver and BUG midrange, which there was, so I played a pretty stock BUG Aluren version at the classic this weekend. Ended up 5-3. Two Fourth Bridge Prowlers and one diabolic edict in the board were impressive.

Losses to burn, grixis delver, and lands. Burn guy drew well, played tight and killed my creatures at appropriate moments. Grixis delver had probe-therapy both games with a clock and I saw zero baleful strix. Against lands I lost game 1 to mulligans and game 3 to T1 sphere, T2 second sphere. Wins against D&T, Wb D&T, Miracles, Burn, and Eldrazi. I haven't played against burn twice in a tournament in a long time. Good weekend. I have a little trouble deciding when to aggressively flood the board without Aluren. I think I could have gotten a game against the better burn player if I had thrown down a parasitic strix for no value and attempted to clock him, but I was too focused on paths for his victory and thought I should hold the strix for a turn or two to hopefully draw a black creature. Because of the matchups I saw, I only used about half my board cards (only brought in grave hate against lands, didn't bring in mindbreaks or CTherapy at all). I played one Kgrip in the board, which I know is not super popular, but it is a favorite of mine and was solid in the matchups I faced. Thanks to the posters on this thread, it is enjoyable.

[cheerios]

How important is Leovold to this deck? I'm building this deck right now, but I can't find any copies of Leovold near me.

[fapsik]

How important is Leovold to this deck? I'm building this deck right now, but I can't find any copies of Leovold near me.

Generally speaking, Leovold is a great card, which can steal many games. IMO when you play recruiter version, Leovold is worse because you can't tutor for it and playing more copies makes your deck more unconsistent. But if you are building Blue Aluren as a kind of value deck, it's great to play two of them.

[limbo]

How important is Leovold to this deck? I'm building this deck right now, but I can't find any copies of Leovold near me.

I would add that, non-recruiter version, besides being a generally good card, Leovold is a nice piece for protecting/insulating the win when you attempt to win via combo. If I have Leo and harpy but not parasitic strix, I flash him in first to turn off opponents search and reduce effectiveness of removal then proceed to start digging. With the full combo in hand, you can either, attempt to go off and flash in Leo in response to a brainstorm, or play him first and hope they don't brainstorm in response. I tend to lead with him to maximize my redraw potential should the opponent attempt to interact, others chime in if you think this is wrong. If you can't find any, I would recommend replacing him with vendilion clique, as that is an instant speed disruption spell which can serve similar roles in protecting your plan or disrupting your opponent's.

[Hanzalot]

Played this list to a 3-0-1 finish at LGS:

2x Bayou
2x Forest
2x Island
3x Misty Rainforest
4x Polluted Delta
1x Swamp
3x Tropical Island
2x Underground Sea
3x Verdant Catacombs

4x Baleful Strix
4x Cavern Harpy
4x Deathrite Shaman
2x Glint-Nest Crane
2x Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1x Parasitic Strix
4x Shardless Agent

3x Abrupt Decay
4x Brainstorm
4x Force of Will
2x Ponder
2x Smuggler's Copter
4x Aluren

Sideboard
1x Abrupt Decay
2x Cabal Therapy
2x Carpet of Flowers
2x Engineered Plague
1x Meekstone
4x Surgical Extraction
2x Thoughtseize
1x Umezawa's Jitte

Won against 12Post (2-0), Aggro Loam (2-0), Storm (2-0)
Drew against Miracles (1-1-1)

I love the change from 2 Parasitic Strix and 1 Glint-Nest Crane to 1 Parasitic Strix and 2 Glint-Nest Cranes. I searched multiple times through the entire library for the Strix to kill.
The change to 2 Copters is also great as they singlehandedly won a game against Miracles (still an enormously grindy matchup). Also they make your dorky CITP dudes into threats as well as filtering towards Aluren.

Most games I won by comboing - especially against uninteractive opponents like 12Post or Aggro Loam the deck is just great; against Miracles I won via Copter beats; against Storm I won with Leovold & double Force and Cabal Therapy & Force and then normal beatdown.

I never boarded in either Meekstone or Engineered Plague and maybe one could also cut a carpet of Flowers, but that card is just so good against any Delver deck.

TL DR: I won some and love the current incarnation of the deck.

Cool list. But 62 cards?

[ashent]

I played a Cartesian-ish list on my Monday weekly to an undefeated record with this list (notably it was my first time cutting Ponders and the second Parasitic Strix to add a Sakura-Tribe Elder, a Coiling Oracle, and a second Glint-Nest Crane.)

20 Lands

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

23 Creatures

4 Deathrite Shaman
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Coiling Oracle
4 Baleful Stix
4 Cavern Harpy
3 Shardless Agent
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1 Parasitic Strix

13 Instants

2 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Force of Will

4 Enchantments

4 Alluren

Sideboard

1 Karakas
2 Carpet of Flowers
2 Dread of Night
1 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
2 Faerie Macabre
2 Fatal Push
1 Abrupt Decay
2 Hydroblast
2 Cabal Therapy

The second Crane felt great. So did the Coiling Oracle. I never got to cast a Sakura-Tribe Elder but he seems great as a way to combat both Blood Moon and Wasteland and also accelerate into a turn 3 Aluren where possible. I played against Miracles and Maverick and True-Name BUG, the last being the most difficult match of the night. My Miracles match-up feels great.

[mike1987]

Has anyone been trying trophy mage in the place of glint nest crane?

It can find shardless agent or strix at a much higher accuracy. Think i will be playing one copy at my lgs to see how she performs.

[hofzge]

Has anyone been trying trophy mage in the place of glint nest crane?

It can find shardless agent or strix at a much higher accuracy. Think i will be playing one copy at my lgs to see how she performs.

I think she is ok, but the difference between 2 and 3 mana is quite big and having more 3 drops cannot be that helpful, except if you play things like Ensnaring bridge, Crucible, Trinisphere and Vedalken Shackles.

[Darjeeling]

How is Shardless BUG a better BUG deck if this deck has Aluren.
If you want to play Recruiter why not play:
1x Bayou
1x Forest
1x Island
4x Misty Rainforest
3x Polluted Delta
1x Swamp
2x Tropical Island
1x Tundra
2x Underground Sea
4x Verdant Catacombs

2x Arctic Merfolk
4x Baleful Strix
1x Cavern Harpy
4x Deathrite Shaman
0-1 Eternal Witness
0-1 Reclamation Sage
2-3x Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1x Parasitic Strix
4x Recruiter of the Guard

4x Ponder
4x Aluren
3x Abrupt Decay
4x Brainstorm
4x Force of Will
2x Intuition


This actually looks pretty cool. I'll give this a try as I've been unhappy with Shardless Agent lately.

[abombdiggity]

Hey, I'm planning on bringing Aluren to a win-a-dual this weekend. The maindeck that I'm running will probably be http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=14753&d=288796&f=LE although I'm planning on switching up the SB for the expected meta down there. It's been a year or two since I last sleeved up Aluren- is the straight BUG version where I want to be? I own Imperial Recruiters, and had a lot of luck with the red splash giving me access to a few spicy SB cards (BBE vs Miracles, Staticaster, etc), but the secondary gameplan of the straight bug lists look much stronger, and I know the red splash will have some difficulty against a field with multiple RG lands players.

The ability to run FoW definitely makes me excited for this list- previous versions I've run have only run 1/each of the combo pieces (kind of a bummer- now I have to find two other matching foil japanese cavern harpies?) and forced us to run a more proactive discard suite rather than the countermagic. How does this alter our gameplan against the format's other combo decks? I know I'll be less able to rely on spicy 1-ofs out of the board, but are there any other hints/tips/tricks you'd suggest for someone transitioning to the newer BUG version?

[kingtk3]

I'm curious why you seem to dislike academy rector that much. My experience with it is ok, better than without. If you cast it with therapy in graveyard you can get alluren that turn, it even cannot be targetted by swords in that case. When it is into play, will the opponent attack with his tarmo/thalia/...? Or even emrakul, since you'll get the aluren into play before taking the damage 'thanks' to annihilator...

Please tell me more than 'it costs 4 so it's too slow'

First you need to get her in the grave, then you need to actually keep her in the grave until her trigger resolves.

This means that you need a reliable sac outlet (and I personally think that 4 cabal therapy are too few) and that your opponent doesn't use grave hate against you, because if Rector is removed from the grave before her triggers you don't get to fetch.

[TTX]

I have played quite a bit with Rector in a list with 4 Therapies and Phyrexian Tower and Veteran Explorer. I decided to cut because it doesn't help against decks you struggle against. It's pretty much a cute win more.


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[kingtk3]

I have played quite a bit with Rector in a list with 4 Therapies and Phyrexian Tower and Veteran Explorer. I decided to cut because it doesn't help against decks you struggle against. It's pretty much a cute win more.


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On this note: what are the decks Aluren struggle against? I've got little experience with the deck

[Moneymakermich]

On this note: what are the decks Aluren struggle against? I've got little experience with the deck

Fast combo and mana denial

[bodea1981]

So been playing Aluren for the past 2 weeks... with the BUG build circa http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=14644&d=287952&f=LE I have a few variances in the main...I love the deck. I'm gonna try the new list that Cartesian put up... cause it seems to post good results.... My issues come with the sideboard plan... I feel like the deck needs grafdiggers cage in the board for reanimator and elves... does anyone else know the strategy against eldazi cause it just feels unwinable... I had no idea what to sideboard.... currently 4-2 with the deck with losses to eldrazi and elves... beat DNT 2x, BR reanimator, and grixis delver.

So my local meta is Death N Taxes (at least 4 players), miracles (2-3 players), storm(1-2 players), elves (2-3 players), shardless bug (Reid duke version) (3 players) , grixis delver (2 players), ur delver (1 player), eldrazi (1 player), RUG delver (2 players), lands (2 players) , BR reanimator(3 players), dredge (1 player) and burn (1 player)... advise on sideboard plans with this in mind... I know my local meta is pretty diverse and large.. we get around 12-16 players for FNM legacy.. and they starting give EE points for Legacy events on Saturdays which is cool...Thx in advance to everyone.

Actually my list looks like this now.. apparently main is pretty standard (I don't like tribe elder and would like leovold back to the main and play the 20th land but I'm gonna try next week for now)
4 deathrite shaman
4 shardless agent
4 cavern harpy
4 baleful strix
2 Sakura tribe elder
2 glint nest crane
2 parasitic strix
4 force of will
4 brainstorm
4 aluren
3 abrupt decay
3 ponder
1 sensei's diving top
4 polluted delta
3 misty rainforest
2 verdent catacombs
2 underground sea
2 island
2 swamp
2 forest
1 bayou
1 tropical island

Sideboard
1 abrupt decay
2 dread of night
1 faerie macabre
2 fatal push
1 grafdiggers cage
1 hydroblast
2 leovold,emissary of treat
2 mindbreak trap
2 pernicious deed
1 tormod's crypt

[hofzge]

Actually my list looks like this now.. apparently main is pretty standard (I don't like tribe elder and would like leovold back to the main and play the 20th land but I'm gonna try next week for now)
4 deathrite shaman
4 shardless agent
4 cavern harpy
4 baleful strix
2 Sakura tribe elder
2 glint nest crane
2 parasitic strix
4 force of will
4 brainstorm
4 aluren
3 abrupt decay
3 ponder
1 sensei's diving top
4 polluted delta
3 misty rainforest
2 verdent catacombs
2 underground sea
2 island
2 swamp
2 forest
1 bayou
1 tropical island



So my local meta is Death N Taxes (at least 4 players), miracles (2-3 players), storm(1-2 players), elves (2-3 players), shardless bug (Reid duke version) (3 players) , grixis delver (2 players), ur delver (1 player), eldrazi (1 player), RUG delver (2 players), lands (2 players) , BR reanimator(3 players), dredge (1 player) and burn (1 player)...

Don't you want to play Leovolds main? If you have them I think they would rock against your expected meta: They are great against Storm, Miracles and Elves, good against Grixis Delver, UR Delver, ok against Lands, D&T, Burn and BUG and just bad aginst Eldrazi and Dredge.



Sideboard
1 abrupt decay
2 dread of night
1 faerie macabre
2 fatal push
1 grafdiggers cage
1 hydroblast
2 leovold,emissary of treat
2 mindbreak trap
2 pernicious deed
1 tormod's crypt

I am not a big fan of Faerie Macabre in this deck - For Tormod's Crypt / Grafdigger's you have Tutors in Glint-Nest and Surgical would extract all creatures. If you struggle against Eldrazi, play 1-2 Toxic Deluges instead of some dread of Night and Fatal Push.

[bodea1981]

Don't you want to play Leovolds main? If you have them I think they would rock against your expected meta: They are great against Storm, Miracles and Elves, good against Grixis Delver, UR Delver, ok against Lands, D&T, Burn and BUG and just bad aginst Eldrazi and Dredge.



I am not a big fan of Faerie Macabre in this deck - For Tormod's Crypt / Grafdigger's you have Tutors in Glint-Nest and Surgical would extract all creatures. If you struggle against Eldrazi, play 1-2 Toxic Deluges instead of some dread of Night and Fatal Push.

Ok I will make the switch back... that will give more flexibility in board but I have to add 20th land so that means I have to cut a harpy or a ponder.

I agree I am not a fan of macabre either but it is every sideboard of the good performing aluren decks

Thanks for the advise!

[Moneymakermich]

A quick report and some lessons learned. I played a 6 rounds tournament using my previous build using 4 recruiters, 4 therapies, no FOW, no shardless, 1 academy rector, 3 green sun zenith and 1 veteran explorer.

Manaless dredge : won. Deathrite shaman is hard for them to play around and after sideboarding it's even worse... the matchup is quite easy, they have only some cabal therapies to stop us otherwise it's a race.

Merfolk : lost. Both games I was mana screwed, and he countered my few useful spells, and all his creatures were unblockable (true name nemesis and/or island walk).

Lands : won. First game I controlled his graveyard long enough with deathrite shaman. Second game his 20/20 could not pass my ensnaring bridge, which was a great sideboard for this match.

UW stoneforge mystic-snapcaster-counters : draw unfinished. I hate to play against any sort of UW decks because it goes so often to time... It was very long since we both played value decks. Elspeth knight errant was a pain. Since then I've bought 2 carpet of flowers, which would have helped a lot I guess.

UR delver burn : won. Burn is always very close. When I've had enough early removal against his creatures, it allowed me to buy enough time. Removal was key in this matchup.

BW stoneforge mystic-thalia-discard : lost. I consider this deck as a fair one so I thought it would be an easy one but between the thalia's and the land destruction, I've lost both games with the combo in hand but being each turn 1 mana too short.

My lessons learned:
- next time I want to try the blue version mostly for ponder (stabilization) and FOW. But I currently cannot imagine the deck without the recruiters, so my list looks +/- like a classical BUG with: -2crane -2harpy +4recruiters
- academy rector was not that great and even if I like the card, I think I will cut it. I agree with TTX : it helps only in matchups that are already favorable.
- the green sun zenith package was a pleasure to play but I feel it is too fair / not competitive enough. I won't play it anymore.
- cabal therapy can be very powerful, but is really hard to play. Sometimes it's too much luck oriented, I should feel better with FOW instead.

[FFreak]

Sooo ^^ I was on a torunament last sunday :)

Was quit awsome I played a BUG list kinda simmilar to the list posted here.
Had some bad luck and missed top 8 but thats not the thing.
I just wanted to talk a bit about some cards.

So I just thought about our combo . Just think about going to 3 harpy ; instead of parasitic strix --> Kalastria Healer .
I rly love Glint Nest Crane, BUT on that tournament I fizzled about 70% finding nothing with it (I played 2).

And mainly I just it to find the parasitic and finfish. And against DnT , the crane got realy nice stats.

Parasitic is an awsome beater indeed, but I played it as a one off and therefore playing it was always a hard desition, because it it get removed I couldn comobo off.

with Kalastria Healer we could cut the creanes going all in on shardless and therfore play some other beater to have a goot plan B.

What u think :)

[Absolutflipz]

A quick report and some lessons learned. I played a 6 rounds tournament using my previous build using 4 recruiters, 4 therapies, no FOW, no shardless, 1 academy rector, 3 green sun zenith and 1 veteran explorer.

Manaless dredge : won. Deathrite shaman is hard for them to play around and after sideboarding it's even worse... the matchup is quite easy, they have only some cabal therapies to stop us otherwise it's a race.

Merfolk : lost. Both games I was mana screwed, and he countered my few useful spells, and all his creatures were unblockable (true name nemesis and/or island walk).

Lands : won. First game I controlled his graveyard long enough with deathrite shaman. Second game his 20/20 could not pass my ensnaring bridge, which was a great sideboard for this match.

UW stoneforge mystic-snapcaster-counters : draw unfinished. I hate to play against any sort of UW decks because it goes so often to time... It was very long since we both played value decks. Elspeth knight errant was a pain. Since then I've bought 2 carpet of flowers, which would have helped a lot I guess.

UR delver burn : won. Burn is always very close. When I've had enough early removal against his creatures, it allowed me to buy enough time. Removal was key in this matchup.

BW stoneforge mystic-thalia-discard : lost. I consider this deck as a fair one so I thought it would be an easy one but between the thalia's and the land destruction, I've lost both games with the combo in hand but being each turn 1 mana too short.

My lessons learned:
- next time I want to try the blue version mostly for ponder (stabilization) and FOW. But I currently cannot imagine the deck without the recruiters, so my list looks +/- like a classical BUG with: -2crane -2harpy +4recruiters
- academy rector was not that great and even if I like the card, I think I will cut it. I agree with TTX : it helps only in matchups that are already favorable.
- the green sun zenith package was a pleasure to play but I feel it is too fair / not competitive enough. I won't play it anymore.
- cabal therapy can be very powerful, but is really hard to play. Sometimes it's too much luck oriented, I should feel better with FOW instead.


What does this list look like, and wouldn't you also need a Dream Stalker (or likewise Quickling, Arctic Merfolk) in order to enable the "1-card combo" of Imperial Recruiter/Recruiter of the Guard off Aluren?

You also really gotta look at the blue card count here with a Recruiter version incorporating FoW.

Also, looks like a bad impostor Brad Nelson posted below.

[cheerios]

Is it ok to just run 1 Underground Sea? I'm planning to use 1 Underground Sea, 2 Bayou, 2-3 Tropical Island.

[swoop]

It's enough, just be smart while playing.

[nargluj]

I see that almost all decks run Parasitic Strix as the combo enabler. What's your opinion on Kalastria Healer?

I think it has a worse body than the strix but is much easier to find with Aluren + Harpy + Shardless on the table (or just Shardless in general). Is it worth it for the slight upside of being easier to find, or is it even an disadvantage of accidently cascading into Kalastria Healer early on and getting it exiled? Is it remotely relevant in a specific corner case that the combo doesn't gain you infinite life? Not targeting should be far more relevant ( >.> Leyline of Sanctity).


I've only played the deck for a couple of tournaments. The version with white Recruiters.

[J.Black]

Yeah, cascading into it is not great... also, it doesn't pitch to force

[barcode]

Parasitic Strix is blue and is a 2-power flier. Thus it pitches to Force of Will and trades with a flipped Delver of Secrets.

I'll stay with the Strix.

[ChristoferV]

Hello everyone!

I played at a 40~ player Legacy tournament this weekend and chose to play Aluren.
I really enjoy playing the red version with Imperial Recruiters and with the list that I ended up playing this weekend I also thought that it was a strategic pick for the predicted meta.

Here's my list:

4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Baleful Strix
1 Cavern Harpy
2 Dream Stalker
1 Eternal Witness
4 Imperial Recruiter
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1 Parasitic Strix
2 Shardless Agent
4 Brainstorm
4 Cabal Therapy
2 Thoughtseize
4 Abrupt Decay
1 Kolaghan's Command
4 Aluren
1 Badlands
1 Bayou
2 Forest
1 Island
2 Misty Rainforest
3 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
1 Taiga
2 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volrath's Stronghold

Sideboard:15
1 Bone Shredder
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Dread of Night
2 Flusterstorm
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Null Rod
1 Toxic Deluge

I cut the library to add a Kolaghan's Command in the main which ended up being very good. The increase of Leovold decks made me want to try it out and I really liked how flexible it is. I also added REB and Pyroblast to my sideboard which felt great to have vs Leovolds/TNN etc.

I went 5-0-1 in the swiss playing vs:
DnT 2-0
Elves! 2-1
Jeskai Blade 2-0
BUG Delver 2-0
Shardless BUG 2-1
Eldrazi ID

Quarterfinals:
2-1 vs Burn
I was on 1 life when I pulled out the W in game three. All three games were intense. I always struggle with this MU because Eidolon and Vortex not allowing me to gain life. Rec sage pulled through g2 and saved me from a nasty situation where I was on 5 and my opponent had a Vortex in play.

Semifinals:
0-2 vs BR reanimator.
I got utterly destroyed two games in a row. Mulled to 6 game one and 5 game two but found no GY hate nor any good interaction. Found discard that did not end up mattering that game.

This list was very fun though. Kolaghan's Command is great right now against a lot of decks and having REB/Pyro in the sideboard is very nice. I've played the red version for quite a while now but I've never tried it with these modifications. Would recommend it to fellow Imperial fans.

[Cyanhur]

Where Did you do this tournament ? I am curious because, i played bug aluren version at a tournament around 35 players this week.

Witch version is the best between BUG or 4C aluren when the meta game is Bug deck or blue deck?

[ChristoferV]

Where Did you do this tournament ? I am curious because, i played bug aluren version at a tournament around 35 players this week.

Witch version is the best between BUG or 4C aluren when the meta game is Bug deck or blue deck?

It was in Stockholm, Sweden.
I felt like the version with Imperial recruiters was very effiecient vs BUG matchups. Being able to string together a kill with only one card and a resolved Aluren is powerful when you've been grinding again your opponent for a while already. I really thought that the REB and Pyroblast made a big difference in those matchups as well.

Kolghan's Command was really great vs decks like DnT but also in a really grindy game when you can rebuy a good creature (shardless/Leovold/recruiter) and make your opponent discard in their drawstep or killing something on board won me a lot of matches.

Not sure which is better due to me having limited experience with the BUG list but the list I played felt great in those matches.

[Cyanhur]

Did you have a side table? To compair with bug version ?
Thanks

[Fjaulnir]

I just saw Cartesian finished 5-0 with a list featuring 1 mb 1 sb Lotus Bloom... that seems pretty spicy as either a turn 1 play or to cascade into, before you have Aluren mana, but would it be otherwise worth it?

Also, if reading here: did you win thanks to, or rather despite the card? What situations were you glad or sad to see it?

Edit: guess it's also a way to get extra mana off Glint-Nest, but that would also work with arti lands or petal

[Cyanhur]

When your meta game is delver deck (UR, bug delver, grixis delver...) witch version is better BuG or with imperial version?

Ofc i can not ignore the other match up (miracle, dnt, reanimator).

[fapsik]

Hi guys, still playing Aluren as my pet deck :-) I attended two tournaments and I got very good results. First tournament at LGS I have won 4:0 and today I got to top 8 without a loss - then I was defeated by Miracles.

Here is my deck list:


4 Aluren
4 Baleful Strix
1 Cavern Harpy
1 Eternal Witness
1 Parasitic Strix
4 Brainstorm
3 Cabal Therapy
1 Bayou
2 Forest
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
2 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
3 Verdant Catacombs
4 Deathrite Shaman
2 Arctic Merfolk
1 Island
4 Recruiter of the Guard
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
4 Ponder
4 Force of Will
1 Tundra
1 Intuition
1 Abrupt Decay

SB: 1 Toxic Deluge
SB: 2 Faerie Macabre
SB: 2 Diabolic Edict
SB: 1 Sylvan Library
SB: 1 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 2 Flusterstorm
SB: 1 Pithing Needle
SB: 3 Abrupt Decay
SB: 2 Carpet of Flowers


I decided to play a strictly combo oriented version combining Recruiter and Leovold and it went super well. I resigned to play grindy midrange matchup, because our Prague scene is full of "card-advantage-value" 4C decks, which we hardly beat. The only problem I faced was Miracles matchup, especially if the opponent is a good one. I would change the sideboard and add Garruk Relentless and Painful Truths to improve the matchup.


I beated decks like Show and Tell, various Delvers, Death and Taxis, Lands or Burn. Miracles is my most difficult matchup.

Anyway, this deck is super cool and can dooooo stuff :-)


M.

[TTX]

That's odd. I find Miracles to be an easy matchup for Recruiter Aluren. I however do play 3 Decay main and 1 side.


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[fapsik]

That's odd. I find Miracles to be an easy matchup for Recruiter Aluren. I however do play 3 Decay main and 1 side.


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it can be the diference, on the other hand our Miracles players are very skilled and playing the deck for years in row, so my experience can be little shifted. And I don't play Shardless Agent which is usually played in Recruiter versions and which can be a nice alternative wincon against them. I will be more practicing to sign your statement in a while ;-)

[Fry]

I love the Miracles match up with my Recruiter list

Main: 60
4 Brainstorm
2 Dreamstalker
1 Parasitic Strix
4 Cabal Therapy
1 Duress
1 Mesmeric Fiend
1 Minister of Pain
4 Imperial Recruiter
4 Aluren
1 Eternal Witness
1 Reclamation Sage
2 Sylvan Library
2 Abrupt Decay
4 Baleful Strix
1 Cavern Harpy
4 Deathrite Shaman
3 Leovold, Emissary of Trest

1 Volrath's Stronghold
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Polluted Delta
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Bayou
1 Taiga
1 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
1 Island
1 Swamp
2 Forest

Side: 15
1 Bone Shredder
1 Duress
1 Mesmeric Fiend
2 Toxic Deluge
2 Carpet of Flowers
2 Krosan Grip
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Abrupt Decay
2 Null Rod
1 Tsabo's Web

[limbo]

Played EE6 in Baltimore with my BUG Aluren deck. It was a great choice. Cashed the tournament despite an extreme variance loss and two rounds with questionable lines on my part leading to loses. This was an excellent deck for the room.

R1: D&T 0-2 G1 My opener had brainstorm, force, strix, deathrite and 3 lands. When this game ended I had cast shardless, 2x strix, brainstorm and ponder, he wastelanded me twice, and I finished the game with 6 lands in play and 6 in my hand. I had shuffled continuously throughout the players meeting and before the game, so I think this was just one of those games. Game 2 our board was at parody. I cast a cabal therapy naming Thalia because my mana was a bit soft. He only had a jailer, so I flashed back, sacing my strix and pulled the jailer. He next draw was Thalia, followed by stoneforge, then wasteland and port. Just not going to win those two games. This is the first time in seven tournament matches I have lost to D&T, so I like the matchup, but I didn't even get to play magic in this one.

R2: Elves 2-0 Inexperienced elves player. G1 I stalled the board for a while, using my shaman to keep his from making mana, wasting his arbor and decaying a ranger, to give me time to develop my mana. I was able to counter his glimpse ~T5 but he was building a board so I committed the aluren on my next turn without a wincon but was able to harpy-strix loop and find everything I needed. G2 he kept a hand with 2 caverns and a cradle. I had both of my prowlers and a harpy, so he was never able to establish a board presence, and I just beat down with a hoard of idiots.

R3: BUG Delver 2-0 Neither of his draws were very aggressive and he only saw one hymn throughout both games, so this match was fairly easy. Baleful strixes were enough to stall him until I could combo in G1 and in G2 I boarded out all but one Aluren and just went for maximum grinding and disruption.

R4:Manaless Dredge 2-0 I won the roll and chose to go first because I didn't know what he was on. Luckily I had a T1 deathrite and a force to adequately disrupt him and keep him from every getting the engine really going. Game 2 he had a slightly more robust start, cycling a wraith when I tried to eat the only dredger in his yard. He built a decent yard so I was forced to surgical his ichorids to buy some time and eventually won on the back of three deathrites eating everything in sight.

R5: Grixis Delver 1-2 This was an interesting back and forth match. I lost G1 when he had a T2 TNN on the play and some descent disruption for the combo. On the play G2 I kept in 3 Aluren but won grinding him out. In G3 on the draw I took out all the alurens, intending to play a longer game. I thought I had stabilized but he pulled three bolts in a row and I died. Here I think I could have played for a longer game by playing to gain life with my shaman early in the game rather than trying to pressure him. I retrospect I was playing the wrong role there, not really sure why, but it cost me.

R6: Grixis Delver 2-1 Learned my lesson from the previous round. Lost G1 to 2 TNNs. G2 and G3 I took out all the Alurens, played slow and ground him out with little difficulty.

R7: Eldrazi w/ Walking Ballista: 2-1 I lost game 1, again choosing to be agressive with my DRS, and he hit me for exact damage the turn before I had lethal. Diabolic edict was great in both post board games and were my string of strixes. This matchup feels really good.

R8: LED Dredge 1-2 Really solid player here. I somehow won G1 but mulligans to 6 and 5 coupled with a timely street wraith (which I hadn't seen in G1) and multiple discard outlets allowed him to get the engine going quickly in G2 and G3.

5-3 overall. Loved the deck choice for the room. My grixis loss definitely could have been a win, no hope in that D&T match, and the last dredge match had a lot of play so I am sure there was room for improvement. Definitely love the deck for the paper metagame right now. I didn't even get to play miracles, which is also a matchup I have had good success with recently.

[Cabs]

limbo - are you able to share you decklist and sideboarding guide?

I plan to play BUG Aluren at the European Eternal Weekend and any advice etc would be greatly appreciated :)

My list is pretty standard I think although I'm playing a single Traverse the Ulvenwald in the main.

Also currently trying to decide whether I want 2 Glint-Nest Crane and 1 Parasitic Strix, or 1 Crane and 2 Strix. And the effect this may have on my sideboarding choices re increased number of artifacts etc

[Parcher]

R8: LED Dredge 1-2 Really solid player here. I somehow won G1 but mulligans to 6 and 5 coupled with a timely street wraith (which I hadn't seen in G1) and multiple discard outlets allowed him to get the engine going quickly in G2 and G3.

Game one I dredged three times turn 2, and hit not a single creature. Game three, we BOTH mulled to five. Of course, that's not really symmetrical between decks. Game two, though, was excellent. You took a line that after I discarded two dredgers, would allow you to remove both before I got the turn back. I did this, of course, because I had the Wraith. Which gave me just enough tempo to win the race. The reason you missed them in game one is because I only have them in the board. Specifically for the BUG Deathrite/Surgical decks. Which in broad terms, probably applied to 40% of the room. Funniest part of the match I think, to someone watching anyway, was my naming Aluren three times with Therapy during the course of the match, and missing. I was happy to in this case. Since every time I had to do so because you had enough to combo out on board and/or in hand. Dunno if you even kept them in. But great playing either way.

[limbo]

Game one I dredged three times turn 2, and hit not a single creature. Game three, we BOTH mulled to five. Of course, that's not really symmetrical between decks. Game two, though, was excellent. You took a line that after I discarded two dredgers, would allow you to remove both before I got the turn back. I did this, of course, because I had the Wraith. Which gave me just enough tempo to win the race. The reason you missed them in game one is because I only have them in the board. Specifically for the BUG Deathrite/Surgical decks. Which in broad terms, probably applied to 40% of the room. Funniest part of the match I think, to someone watching anyway, was my naming Aluren three times with Therapy during the course of the match, and missing. I was happy to in this case. Since every time I had to do so because you had enough to combo out on board and/or in hand. Dunno if you even kept them in. But great playing either way.

Awesome! Thank you for the much better report than I could remember. I didn't take notes other than lifepad and my memory of the weekend was more overshadowed by vintage on Sunday. Wraiths out of the board makes total sense. I should have played around that at least a little, but targeting the smaller dredger first (stinkweed rather than the troll). The therapies were indeed funny, though I agree with you, it was a solid line since that was one of the few ways I could catch up when I was behind on board.

Edit:
@ Cabs
I am happy to post my list and some matchup thoughts/boarding strategies. I will update this post soon, hopefully later tonight.

Some super quick thoughts on board building and boarding:
- Against most midrange matchups I think BUG Aluren is favored, so I normally just want to have 4 sideboard cards to bring in for my forces.
- Against delver I like trimming or even completely cutting the aluren. They cannot compete with the card advantage, so keeping forces, bringing in discard and removal all line up well with what they are trying to do. Attack their threats and assuming you don't flood you should have a good shot.
- Fourth Bridge Prowler is awesome! But 2 in the board is plenty.
- Most of my board is dedicated to combo of various sorts. When I don't think I have a good axis to interact on I will try to combo quickly, but mostly I trim an aluren and some other creatures to take on a control role.

Edit 2:
Current list:
4 Aluren
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Cavern Harpy
4 Baleful Strix
4 Shardless Agent
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1 Glint-nest Crane
2 Parasitic Strix
4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
1 Traverse the Ulvenwald
4 Force of Will
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Forest
1 Island
1 Swamp
3 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
2 Bayou
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
2 Verdant Catacombs

Sideboard
2 Carpet of Flowers
2 Cabal Therapy
2 Duress
2 Mindbreak Trap
2 Fourth Bridge Prowler
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Diabolic Edict

The maindeck is very stock. I have played with 1 clique in place of a leo and in place of a harpy. I have tried 2 crane, 1 PStrix, and vice versa. I tried the 4 decay, 4 ponder. I haven't tried some of the more exotic builds with VExplorer, tribe-elder, etc. I have changed the board up a ton, but come back to something pretty closely resembling the consensus board. On 2 cranes one strix: Crane is the better creature, but having the strix removed (pitched to force, plowed, thoughtseized, etc) in matchups where comboing is important was problem that I didn't think the extra efficiency was worth. It is also occasionally nice to have both PStrix in a game just for life gain, as it was for me on two occasions this weekend. I don't fault people who play for the more efficient card, but this is the way I like the deck. Clique is really nice and great when comboing. I like it in place of one harpy most of the time but when the metagame is aggressive, not having the 4rth combo enabler is risky. Having a harpy you can't cast feels bad but dying because you can't find one feels worse. I love clique and if I was going to play 61 cards I would play the clique ahead of the 4rth decay or 4rth ponder.

Match-up guide (just my opinions, don't take as canon):
BUG Delver - Hymn is the card I am most scared of here, followed by a quick TNN. Carpet of flowers is the best board card here. Leo, decay, and edict are also strong. When I go full control mode, I cut 4 aluren, 1 harpy, 1 Pstrix. Can also cut forces for discard.

Grixis Delver - Pretty similar to BUG delver, though the prowlers may be more valuable here as they sometimes have Young Pyromancer. I generally don't bring them in unless I see a YP. When I see YP I also typically board out edict, and just accept that I have to race a TNN if it sticks.

BUG Midrange (Shardless, Noble-TNN, good stuff control, etc) - These matchups are fun but I think Aluren is considerably favored. It is perfectly reasonable to not board, but all 4 forces is probably not ideal, especially against shardless. Forces are best against Noble-TNN because of the Jaces and TNN. I typically cut the forces for leo, decay, and discard. For TNN I bring the edict and often cut a PStrix or ponder.

Lands - Cavern Harpy is the best card here, followed by deathrite. Looping a harpy and baleful strix is a great way to buy time against a marit lage and build. They bring in Kgrip to cut off aluren and to kill random creatures, so pay attention to their open mana post board if you plan to try to combo. I generally bring in 2 surgical, decay, leo and edict for force and 1 ponder/aluren/don't bring in Leo 3 depending on build.

Miracles - There is a ton of play to this matchup. Don't over commit to the board. 3-4 power is enough to force a terminus. Forces have a lot of value, even post board. The value of decay changes a lot depending on what your opponent does. I haven't seen anyone board out the counterbalances when they know I am playing Aluren but when game 1 looks like shardless, sometimes they will. Mentor can be fast enough to beat us so watch out for that. I typically cut 2 aluren and a PStrix for Leo and duress with the intention of just grinding them down while preserving the fear of the combo. Be aware of blood moon. You don't have to worry too much about it, as most miracles players won't bring it in if you show them basics in G1, but if they think you are shardless pay close attention to the post-board lands you fetch. The games go long so you can normally afford a few awkward mana turns if you go for basics.

D&T - Think this matchup is favored for Aluren. Prowler is outstanding. I normally cut 4 forces for 2 prowler, decay and edict, then I trim 2 cards to make room for therapy. I bring in therapy because they are likely to have hatebears to mess up combo turns (revoker, canonist, relic-warder)

Elves - Only played this match a few times. Prowlers are great. I just bring in 2 prowlers, decay and edict for baleful strixes. This makes comboing a bit more difficult but it also cleans up cascades a ton so you should be able to find crane/ponder/brainstorm off of cascades to combo.

Eldrazi - 4 strix and decays are tough for them. +edict and decay, -1 force, -1 traverse

Sneak and Show - Especially G1, you can get free wins by disguising yourself as shardless, then putting in Aluren off of their show and tell. Post board I shave creature numbers and a decay to bring in discard

BR reanimator - This one is tough. If you want to beat it consistently, you need different grave hate than I run, but I don't think leyline or macabre are worth it. +2 surgicals, +2 duress, +2 mindbreak trap, +2 therapy -1 tropical island, -3 decay, -3 shardless, -1 strix

Storm - Similar sideboard to BR reanimator but better matchup overall.

Dredge - My board is probably 1-2 cards short of having appropriate dredge hate, but until this weekend I hadn't seen much of it, and two surgicals do a lot of work elsewhere. I brought in the prowlers and surgicals. Prowler can kill itself to clear bridges from the opponent's yard. I cut 1 trop, 2 agent, 1 traverse. There is an argument for going in on leos and more removal (mostly for your own creatures) but I opt for the more combo centric approach here.

Burn - This matchup is bad. I tried 2 blue blasts, I tried 2 chills. Ultimately I decided the best strategy, especially for paper was to hope to dodge. I bring in my 2 duress, fourth decay, 2 therapy, 1 leo cutting bayou, 1 aluren, 1 harpy, 2 agent, 1 traverse. I am sure this is suboptimal, I don't really have a plan here other than buy some time for my more powerful spells.

Most of that is pretty general, but I hope it helpful.

[Cabs]

@ Cabs
I am happy to post my list and some matchup thoughts/boarding strategies.


Thanks - much appreciated. I'm surprised you don't have Jitte in the board. Seems really good to me :)

[limbo]

Thanks - much appreciated. I'm surprised you don't have Jitte in the board. Seems really good to me :)

I use the prowlers in that spot. Jittes would improve the burn matchup but against most other creature decks where jittes would be brought in, I don't think you need the help.

[fapsik]

Playing this deck on MTGO:


4 Deathrite Shaman
2 Arctic Merfolk
4 Baleful Strix
1 Cavern Harpy
1 Eternal Witness
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1 Parasitic Strix
4 Recruiter of the Guard
3 Shardless Agent

4 Aluren

4 Brainstorm
3 Abrupt Decay

1 Bayou
2 Forest
1 Island
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Polluted Delta
1 Savannah
1 Swamp
2 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volrath's Stronghold

4 Cabal Therapy
2 Thoughtseize
1 Night's Whisper



SB: 1 Containment Priest
SB: 2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
SB: 2 Faerie Macabre
SB: 2 Carpet of Flowers
SB: 1 Sylvan Library
SB: 1 Abrupt Decay
SB: 2 Diabolic Edict
SB: 1 Garruk Relentless
SB: 1 Thoughtseize
SB: 2 Toxic Deluge


I have quite a good balance with this deck, especially with Miracles and Delver, which is good. I changed my sideboard little bit and it helped me with theese matchups. It is little weaker against extra fast combo (Belcher or Storm) because I don't have FoW, but against many other matchups it is good not to have them. I love Carpet of Flowers now, it has won me many games both against Delvers and Miracles. Night's Whisper is a sweet addition, maybe better than Painful Truths because it can be hit with Shardless - I am considering two of them.

I would love to make a new Primer and a sideboard guide, because I think much has changed since the last one. I played each version of Aluren and I have some notes. Hope it will be appriciated and critically commented when it is out :-)

[Cythare]

I've been playing this deck for a number of months at this point (since July or so), but never got around to posting here. Seems as good a time as any with SCG Worcester coming up. Here's my current deck:

2 Baleful Strix
1 Cavern Harpy
2 Coiling Oracle
4 Deathrite Shaman
2 Dream Stalker
1 Eternal Witness
4 Imperial Recruiter
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1 Parasitic Strix
2 Shardless Agent

4 Aluren

3 Abrupt Decay
4 Brainstorm
3 Force of Will

4 Cabal Therapy

1 Bayou
2 Forest
1 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
1 Taiga
2 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
3 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volcanic Island

Sideboard:
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Carpet of Flowers
1 Dread of Night
1 Engineered Plague
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Fire Imp
1 Force of Will
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Minister of Pain
1 Null Rod
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Scavenging Ooze

Up until recently, I held off on including Leovold, Emissary of Trest because I didn't want an untutorable creature in the maindeck, but after testing, realized that I was wrong because he's just that good (surprise). Those two slots used to be another Coiling Oracle and an Edric, Spymaster of Trest. The Dread of Night used to be a second Carpet of Flowers, but I want to be able to have some game in the semi-mirror while also shoring up D&T for next weekend.

On a related note, I've wished that I could find room for the third Coiling Oracle again. With the prevalence of Leovold decks locally, having a "draw" that both ramps and also skirts his draw restriction has been amazing, and I can't recommend the card enough.

[fapsik]

I've been playing this deck for a number of months at this point (since July or so), but never got around to posting here. Seems as good a time as any with SCG Worcester coming up. Here's my current deck:

2 Baleful Strix
1 Cavern Harpy
2 Coiling Oracle
4 Deathrite Shaman
2 Dream Stalker
1 Eternal Witness
4 Imperial Recruiter
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1 Parasitic Strix
2 Shardless Agent

4 Aluren

3 Abrupt Decay
4 Brainstorm
3 Force of Will

4 Cabal Therapy

1 Bayou
2 Forest
1 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
1 Taiga
2 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
3 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volcanic Island

Sideboard:
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Carpet of Flowers
1 Dread of Night
1 Engineered Plague
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Fire Imp
1 Force of Will
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Minister of Pain
1 Null Rod
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Scavenging Ooze

Up until recently, I held off on including Leovold, Emissary of Trest because I didn't want an untutorable creature in the maindeck, but after testing, realized that I was wrong because he's just that good (surprise). Those two slots used to be another Coiling Oracle and an Edric, Spymaster of Trest. The Dread of Night used to be a second Carpet of Flowers, but I want to be able to have some game in the semi-mirror while also shoring up D&T for next weekend.

On a related note, I've wished that I could find room for the third Coiling Oracle again. With the prevalence of Leovold decks locally, having a "draw" that both ramps and also skirts his draw restriction has been amazing, and I can't recommend the card enough.

Great to hear another active Aluren player :-) how do you feel about number of blue cards, when you are playing FoW maindeck? And two Baleful Strix - why so?

[Cythare]

Great to hear another active Aluren player :-) how do you feel about number of blue cards, when you are playing FoW maindeck? And two Baleful Strix - why so?

I haven't had any issue with the number of blue cards. If I ignore Cavern Harpy and Parasitic Strix (so that I don't turn off the combo), there are still 17 blue cards including the 3 FoW, which is fine. There are times where I have a Force but not another blue card, but not often enough that I'd consider removing them. They're not as proactive as Thoughtseizes, but I like that they can perform double duty to counter problem spells reactively and help push through the combo game 1 if need be.

Regarding Baleful Strix, I have a split between that and Coiling Oracle. Coiling Oracle's ramping has been pretty sweet as an additional way of potentially comboing on t3 if I don't have a Deathrite Shaman active, and even if it doesn't hit a land, it lets me gain card advantage without worrying about Leovold. There isn't enough room for more Strix/Oracle, especially with Leovold in the deck now. I used to run 3 Oracle/2 Strix. I also don't feel bad at all throwing Coiling Oracle to a Cabal Therapy flashback.

[Fgi_88]

Hi all, it's my first post here on The Source.

I've played this list last sunday in a 44 players tournament


4 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
3 Verdant Catacombs
2 Forest
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Bayou
2 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Baleful Strix
4 Shardless Agent
4 Cavern Harpy
2 Parasitic Strix
1 Glint-Nest Crane
1 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1 Vendilion Clique
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
2 Ponder
4 Aluren
1 Sylvan Library
1 Traverse The Ulvenwald
3 Abrupt Decay

Sideboard
1 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Chill
1 Dread of Night
2 Duress
2 Hymn to Tourach
1 Garruk Relentless
2 Mindbreak Trap
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Pernicious Deed

R1: 4C Loam 2-0
R2: D&T 2-1
R3: Miracles 2-0
R4: Mono Red Prision 2-0
R5: Bonanni on Mentor Miracles 0-2
R6: Burn ID
Top8
Show&Tell 1-2

Was my first tournament with Aluren, i bought the missing cards the day before the event. I felt like the deck was a real thing but i was unlucky in my match against Show&Tell (g1 he went t1 ponder into t2 show&tell deploying Omniscence with cunning wish and Fow In hand... I had the combo in hand but his hand was perfect and countered my key pieces) anyway i won a Plateau.

[Moneymakermich]

What about chill VS blue elemental blast?

[Cythare]

http://i.imgur.com/lisu9uy.png

Is anyone else excited about this spoiled card (specifically in the Imperial Recruiter build)? The possibility of a cascadable edict effect that can be bounced by Dream Stalker seems promising to me, although it may ultimately not make the cut.

[Chainer, Dementia Master]

What do folk normally sideboard in/out against the various Delver Match ups?

I've been playing BUG Aluren at my LGS in the past few weeks. Deck has felt pretty good so far. I'm playing 6 basic lands and 2 Sakura tribe elders, otherwise my maindeck is fairly stock. Dodging Wasteland, Price of Progress, and Blood Moon has been pretty good so far, and we haven't lost a game yet to not having correct available mana. I'll be playing again tonight. In testing against delver I'm just south of 50/50.

Overall in the actual tournament matches so far:
2-0 vs Miracles
0-1 vs Elves
1-1 vs R/G Lands
1-0 vs Infect
1-0 vs G/B Stax
2-0 vs Burn
1-0 vs Shardless

[Cythare]

While I'm on a different build, I usually board like this for Delver:

-3 Force of Will

+1 Carpet of Flowers
+1 Fire Imp
+1 Magus of the Moon

If I see Pyromancer, I'll usually take out two Cabal Therapy and a Coiling Oracle and bring in Engineered Plague, Izzet Staticaster and Minister of Pain, and if I see Gurmag Angler, I'll take out a Cabal Therapy and add in Scavenging Ooze. If I see both, I usually take out 2 Cabal Therapy and a Coiling Oracle and make a judgment call on which of the above 4 not to add, but that's not very common these days.

[Chainer, Dementia Master]

Played again last night. Playing the excess amount of basics hit me pretty hard this event (R1 Loss Miracles, R2 Win Grixis Delver, R3 Win Pox, R4 Loss Grixis Delver). My loss to miracles was because I could not find a second green source, drawing too many basic lands which could not cast Aluren. I grinded the first Delver match in dust and killed him with bird aggro. 2nd match against Delver I ended up with Island/Island/Swamp and several green spells in hand, dying with a full grip. I played a match against pox which was fairly comical. After getting hit by triple hymn to tourach, followed by innocent blood on 2 of my deathrite shamans, I managed to make 4 land drops and cast Aluren hellbent. I proceed to get wastelanded, raven's crimed, poxed, and finally liliana ultimated, where my opponent made the piles Aluren and everything else (like 2 lands, a shardless agent, a glint nest crane and a baleful strix). I managed to win on the back of being a complete luck sack, ripping shardless agent, responding to liliana uptick with shardless agent, into baleful strix, into shardless agent, into baleful strix, into deathrite shaman. Game 2 we dismantle him with card advantage and bird aggro.

Going to try the manabase next week with only 1 of each basic, and maybe a BOP in the main.

Overall in the weekly tournament matches so far:
2-1 vs Miracles
0-1 vs Elves
1-1 vs R/G Lands
1-0 vs Infect
1-0 vs G/B Stax
2-0 vs Burn
1-0 vs Shardless
1-1 Grixis Delver
1-0 Pox

[Cythare]

I'd still highly recommend keeping a second basic Forest in the deck just to be able to Wasteland-proof casting Aluren. It especially helps to shore up the Lands matchup. That Pox game sounds awesome, though!

[Ghiwo]

Hey everyone guys!

I'm new to the deck and I'm trying to learn it as fast as possible. Because of that I'd like to ask you if you know about some article/updated primer or some videos/streaming of good players, like Cartesian, playing the deck.
So that I can learn quickly the basics of the deck, how to play the various match ups and how to sideboard.

Thanks a lot!!

[Fry]

I'm new to the deck and I'm trying to learn it as fast as possible. Because of that I'd like to ask you if you know about some article/updated primer or some videos/streaming of good players, like Cartesian, playing the deck.
So that I can learn quickly the basics of the deck, how to play the various match ups and how to sideboard.


A lot of this first needs answered in are you going with BUG, Imperial Recruiter, or Recruiter of the Guard. All three versions play a bit differently from each other.

[MrFrowny_]

Hey guys, I've always been an active observer of TheSource but I haven't made an account until today. Anyways, I've been playing BUG Aluren for a few months now and this is the list I'm running. What do you think?

Creatures
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Baleful Strix
4 Shardless Agent
3 Cavern Harpy
2 Glint-nest Crane
2 Parasitic Strix
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1 Coiling Oracle

Spells
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
3 Ponder

Enchantments
4 Aluren

Lands
3 Tropical Island
2 Bayou
2 Underground Sea
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
2 Verdant Catacombs
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Forest

Sideboard
1 Glissa, the Traitor
1 Minister of Pain
1 Carpet of Flowers
2 Cabal Therapy
1 Meekstone
1 Pithing Needle
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Krosan Grip
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Mindbreak Trap
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Fatal Push

[TTX]

I like it. I'm not a huge fan of Recruiterless Aluren decks, but I always recommend 1 Volraths Stronghold


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Ghiwo]

A lot of this first needs answered in are you going with BUG, Imperial Recruiter, or Recruiter of the Guard. All three versions play a bit differently from each other.

You're definitely right, my bad.

I'm going first for the BUG version, which seems to me to be the most straightforward, have the best manabase and the best at being able of playing a real game of magic. Am I wrong?

I'm going to start trying Cartesian lists, I even saw i made 5-1 at the Legacy Challenge without even playing the combo.

Also, my first question to this community is: I think we struggle a lot vs Show & Tell decks, don't we? So, what are the consensus best card in the sideboard to fight it, aside from the obvious Leovold and Vendilion Clique I saw in Cartesian's latest list?

Thanks a lot for your help!

[MrFrowny_]

I like it. I'm not a huge fan of Recruiterless Aluren decks, but I always recommend 1 Volraths Stronghold


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah, I fully intended to build a recruiter version of the deck from the beginning, but I began with the BUG version, for budget reasons, and pick up the recruiters after. But I like the straight BUG version more than the combo version for a few reasons. For one, you can win easier without getting your combo, so if for some reason they surgical your alurens, parasitic strix, or cavern harpys, you can use the shardless grind and amass a large board that your opponent won't be able to deal with. Another thing I like about the BUG version is that if they find a way to interrupt you mid-combo, you can just find another one of your duplicate combo pieces.

Also about the Volrath's Stronghold, from my experiences, the deck is very color demanding and having a colorless land in the deck could really screw you over sometimes. But I haven't tested with it at all so I could be wrong. Just my two cents.

[TTX]

Yeah, I fully intended to build a recruiter version of the deck from the beginning, but I began with the BUG version, for budget reasons, and pick up the recruiters after. But I like the straight BUG version more than the combo version for a few reasons. For one, you can win easier without getting your combo, so if for some reason they surgical your alurens, parasitic strix, or cavern harpys, you can use the shardless grind and amass a large board that your opponent won't be able to deal with. Another thing I like about the BUG version is that if they find a way to interrupt you mid-combo, you can just find another one of your duplicate combo pieces.

Also about the Volrath's Stronghold, from my experiences, the deck is very color demanding and having a colorless land in the deck could really screw you over sometimes. But I haven't tested with it at all so I could be wrong. Just my two cents.

Recruiter of the Guard is pretty budget. The 2-card combo is fairly difficult to disrupt (if you sequence it correctly). I've never lost once getting Recruiter + Aluren. Canonist or Krosan Grip can slow you down, but they are not silver bullets. The Recruiter versions also can play Shardless Agent if they wish, I prefer Leovolds however.
Also, the Recruiter versions of the deck are much better against Sneak and Show decks since you can just wait for them to Show and Tell your Aluren into play, wait for them to pass priority with some haymaker on the stack and win in response. The Recruiter versions are also better against Miracles since you can more easily win at instant speed off fewer cards. Though I agree the deck is color hungry, playing 1 Savannah instead of an Underground Sea or Fetchland does not really have any drawbacks, Volrath's Stronghold on rare occasions has been an issue. It however tends to be a Wasteland magnet which is nice, and looping Baleful Strixs, Leovolds or Recruiters is quite good in the late game. Because the deck is inherently good at grinding with surprise combo finish, I think the deck is very well positioned in the current meta as more midrange control decks begin to take over. Simply watch out for fast combo in the sideboard and the rest of the metagame is taken care of in the main, whichever version of Aluren you intend to play.

Cheers.

[Cythare]

I think that both the Recruiterless and Recruiter versions have decent ways of grinding out the opponent if the combo is interrupted - BUG has more redundancy in additional combo pieces, but Eternal Witness is pretty big game as well, and the flexibility afforded by a Recruiter allows you to play some pretty rough silver bullets to help you out of matchups even if you're unable to combo. If I have a Recruiter but haven't seen an Aluren, depending on the matchup, I'll often just run the Recruiter out to find a sideboard card I've brought in. Game 1, this is not necessarily as strong, but you can still amass a pretty sizeable force with any version.

[MrFrowny_]

I agree that BUG has more redundancy, I also agree that the recruiter version requires less in your hand to win. For instance, in the BUG version you have to have: aluren+harpy+parasitic, in your hand at one time to win. Or you have to have pieces in play to help you search for the other half of your combo. Whereas the recruiter version, whichever one, you just have to have: aluren+recruiter, and you basically win. I do like the toolbox that the recruiter version allows also, that's the one thing I wish I had for the BUG version.

I'll have to pick up the pieces for the recruiter version so I can play IRL, because I've only been playing on cockatrice playtesting with a few friends so I probably don't have the best judgement on the deck yet.

Do you have a recruiter list that you'd be willing to let me look at?

[Fry]

Do you have a recruiter list that you'd be willing to let me look at?

Here's the one I use that I posted a couple pages back, the main board doesn't tend to change very much or often unless it's a meta call like the Minister of Pain being main board vs the side. I also don't much care for Thoughtseize as the cards you normally care about aren't creatures anyway, but counterspells and removal of various types, and I like the tutorable Mesmeric Fiend for instant hand disruption off an Aluren, or just tutor it up sometimes. Main board Rec Sage is pretty awesome against S&T, especially the Omnitell variant, and it getting pesky things like Chalice, Trinisphere, or Counterbalance can be quite nice as well. I used to play 3 Shardless Agent, but tried Leovold in those slots and never looked back. Agent is nice and all, but Leovold just holds so much more power, at least with my build.


Main: 60
4 Brainstorm
2 Dreamstalker
1 Parasitic Strix
4 Cabal Therapy
1 Duress
1 Mesmeric Fiend
1 Minister of Pain
4 Imperial Recruiter
4 Aluren
1 Eternal Witness
1 Reclamation Sage
2 Sylvan Library
2 Abrupt Decay
4 Baleful Strix
1 Cavern Harpy
4 Deathrite Shaman
3 Leovold, Emissary of Trest

1 Volrath's Stronghold
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Polluted Delta
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Bayou
1 Taiga
1 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
1 Island
1 Swamp
2 Forest

Side: 15
1 Bone Shredder
1 Duress
1 Mesmeric Fiend
2 Toxic Deluge
2 Carpet of Flowers
2 Krosan Grip
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Abrupt Decay
2 Null Rod
1 Tsabo's Web

[fapsik]

Do you have a recruiter list that you'd be willing to let me look at?


I add my own decklist:


4 Deathrite Shaman
2 Arctic Merfolk
4 Baleful Strix
1 Cavern Harpy
1 Eternal Witness
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1 Parasitic Strix
4 Recruiter of the Guard
3 Shardless Agent
4 Aluren
1 Sylvan Library
4 Brainstorm
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Bayou
2 Forest
1 Island
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Polluted Delta
1 Savannah
1 Swamp
2 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volrath's Stronghold
4 Cabal Therapy
2 Thoughtseize

SB: 2 Faerie Macabre
SB: 2 Carpet of Flowers
SB: 1 Fatal Push
SB: 1 Abrupt Decay
SB: 2 Diabolic Edict
SB: 3 Force of Will
SB: 1 Garruk Relentless
SB: 1 Thoughtseize
SB: 2 Toxic Deluge


My deck is based on classic Martin Goldman-Kirst one, adapted to Recruiter of the Guard. I think that the Fry´s deck up is cool and very juicy, but I would consider Force of Will SB. Faster combo deck are pain for Aluren and FoW is very important cards. I tried Thalias and Containment Priest, it was fine, but I always return to FoW. Leovold is "must-have" in current meta, I agree with that :)

[Fry]

@fapsik I've skipped on the counterspells in favor of the additional discard spells from the board. I don't much like the forces removing a blue card I'd much rather be playing, and the discard helps a lot vs control decks to check if the way is clear to go for the combo win.

[TTX]

@fapsik I've skipped on the counterspells in favor of the additional discard spells from the board. I don't much like the forces removing a blue card I'd much rather be playing, and the discard helps a lot vs control decks to check if the way is clear to go for the combo win.

I agree with this. I don't think Aluren hosts counterspells well, especially force of will. I prefer the discard mode, especially Cabal Therapy.
Here's my list for your reference:


// 60 Maindeck
// 22 Creature
4 Recruiter of the Guard
1 Cavern Harpy
1 Arctic Merfolk
1 Parasitic Strix
4 Baleful Strix
4 Deathrite Shaman
3 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1 Quickling
1 Eternal Witness
1 Reclamation Sage

// 5 Enchantment
4 Aluren
1 Sylvan Library

// 7 Sorcery
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Thoughtseize

// 7 Instant
4 Brainstorm
3 Abrupt Decay

// 20 Land
1 Bayou
2 Forest
1 Island
1 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volrath's Stronghold
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Savannah
2 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
2 Polluted Delta

// 15 Sideboard
// 7 Creature
SB: 2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
SB: 1 Orzhov Pontiff
SB: 1 Bone Shredder
SB: 1 Containment Priest
SB: 1 Scavenging Ooze
SB: 1 Glissa, the Traitor

// 2 Enchantment
SB: 2 Carpet of Flowers

// 6 Instant
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 Golgari Charm
SB: 1 Mindbreak Trap
SB: 1 Abrupt Decay
SB: 1 To the Slaughter

[fapsik]

@fapsik I've skipped on the counterspells in favor of the additional discard spells from the board. I don't much like the forces removing a blue card I'd much rather be playing, and the discard helps a lot vs control decks to check if the way is clear to go for the combo win.

I agree pretty much, but discard is not a full replacement of FoW. In my metagame, where there are BR Reanimator, Storm, Elves, I feel the need for free counterspell. Usually it does not matter if you pitch a blue card against Reanimator or Storm, because you still need only a creature to win (Shardless, Leovold, Strix), not the fast combo. I switch from combo win to a fair win with the possibility of Aluren win during one turn. But I think both versions have their own strenght...

[Cythare]

I also posted this a few pages back, but here's the list that I'm on, that does run MB Force of Will. I don't think that discard is a replacement for it.

//60 Maindeck
21 Creature
2 Baleful Strix
1 Cavern Harpy
2 Coiling Oracle
4 Deathrite Shaman
2 Dream Stalker
1 Eternal Witness
4 Imperial Recruiter
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1 Parasitic Strix
2 Shardless Agent

//4 Enchantment
4 Aluren

//4 Sorcery
4 Cabal Therapy

//10 Instant
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Brainstorm
3 Force of Will

//21 Land
1 Bayou
2 Forest
1 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
1 Taiga
2 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
3 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volcanic Island

Sideboard:
//8 Creature
1 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Fire Imp
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Minister of Pain
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Scavenging Ooze

//4 Enchantment
1 Carpet of Flowers
1 Dread of Night
1 Engineered Plague
1 Pernicious Deed

//1 Artifact
1 Null Rod

//2 Instant
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Force of Will

[MrFrowny_]

Why are you running a Bloodbraid Elf in the sideboard?? I've never seen that before, just curious

[Cartesian]

You're definitely right, my bad.

I'm going first for the BUG version, which seems to me to be the most straightforward, have the best manabase and the best at being able of playing a real game of magic. Am I wrong?

I'm going to start trying Cartesian lists, I even saw i made 5-1 at the Legacy Challenge without even playing the combo.

Also, my first question to this community is: I think we struggle a lot vs Show & Tell decks, don't we? So, what are the consensus best card in the sideboard to fight it, aside from the obvious Leovold and Vendilion Clique I saw in Cartesian's latest list?

Thanks a lot for your help!
@Ghiwo
It depends on what you mean by a real game game of magic. The BUG version runs better creatures on average, is fully capable of winning without Aluren, and routinely does so, I would expect this to happen more often with the BUG version than with Recruiter versions. As you correctly noticed I tried to play without Parasitic Strix or other wincon and did OK (5-0'd a league, and top 16'ed the legacy challenge). The interesting thing is, just resolving Aluren and having a Harpy and a value creature wins the game most of the time. Not instantly, but the card advantage generated is simply too much for most decks to handle. I am back to playing 1 Crane and 1 Parasitic now, and I think this might be the correct number of both creatures - simply because they are not essential for winning. The Vendilion Clique turned out to be very good, so I am keeping that around, alongside 2 Spellstutter Sprite (1 main, 1 sb). This gives the BUG version some much needed additional disruption.

The Recruiter versions run 1 mana discard spells, and while that is slower against very fast combo, it is excellent T1 against other fair decks compared to FoW, so that is something to keep in mind. Anyway, I think it is fair to say that the Recruiter version is better at getting Aluren on the battlefield consistently, and also more dependent on it.

The matchup between the BUG version and Sneak and Show is very interesting. They have a much better cantrip suite and will quickly sculp the perfect hand while we cast some mostly irrelevant creatures. Leovold is worth slamming down at the first opportunity - it is the only creature they care about. We have Aluren, which means that casting Show and Tell can be dangerous for them, as TTX pointed out Aluren can win first - the BUG version is fully capable of this as well. So often what you need to do is keep Aluren in hand as "insurance" against S&T - if you try to hardcast it they will often just FoW/Pierce it and win on their turn. Sneak Attack is therefore the most dangerous card they have, and for this we only have 2 Hydroblast.

Good luck with the deck, whichever version you decide on.

@Cythare Interesting list, almost a hybrid. Maybe try -1 recruiter +1 harpy? ;-)

[Jesture]

@Ghiwo
It depends on what you mean by a real game game of magic. The BUG version runs better creatures on average, is fully capable of winning without Aluren, and routinely does so, I would expect this to happen more often with the BUG version than with Recruiter versions. As you correctly noticed I tried to play without Parasitic Strix or other wincon and did OK (5-0'd a league, and top 16'ed the legacy challenge). The interesting thing is, just resolving Aluren and having a Harpy and a value creature wins the game most of the time. Not instantly, but the card advantage generated is simply too much for most decks to handle. I am back to playing 1 Crane and 1 Parasitic now, and I think this might be the correct number of both creatures - simply because they are not essential for winning. The Vendilion Clique turned out to be very good, so I am keeping that around, alongside 2 Spellstutter Sprite (1 main, 1 sb). This gives the BUG version some much needed additional disruption.

The Recruiter versions run 1 mana discard spells, and while that is slower against very fast combo, it is excellent T1 against other fair decks compared to FoW, so that is something to keep in mind. Anyway, I think it is fair to say that the Recruiter version is better at getting Aluren on the battlefield consistently, and also more dependent on it.

The matchup between the BUG version and Sneak and Show is very interesting. They have a much better cantrip suite and will quickly sculp the perfect hand while we cast some mostly irrelevant creatures. Leovold is worth slamming down at the first opportunity - it is the only creature they care about. We have Aluren, which means that casting Show and Tell can be dangerous for them, as TTX pointed out Aluren can win first - the BUG version is fully capable of this as well. So often what you need to do is keep Aluren in hand as "insurance" against S&T - if you try to hardcast it they will often just FoW/Pierce it and win on their turn. Sneak Attack is therefore the most dangerous card they have, and for this we only have 2 Hydroblast.

Good luck with the deck, whichever version you decide on.

@Cythare Interesting list, almost a hybrid. Maybe try -1 recruiter +1 harpy? ;-)

Current list moving forward? What would you trim to make room for 1x Glint Nest Crane and 1x Parasitic Strix in the main?

[Fjaulnir]

@Ghiwo
It depends on what you mean by a real game game of magic. The BUG version runs better creatures on average, is fully capable of winning without Aluren, and routinely does so, I would expect this to happen more often with the BUG version than with Recruiter versions. As you correctly noticed I tried to play without Parasitic Strix or other wincon and did OK (5-0'd a league, and top 16'ed the legacy challenge). The interesting thing is, just resolving Aluren and having a Harpy and a value creature wins the game most of the time. Not instantly, but the card advantage generated is simply too much for most decks to handle. I am back to playing 1 Crane and 1 Parasitic now, and I think this might be the correct number of both creatures - simply because they are not essential for winning. The Vendilion Clique turned out to be very good, so I am keeping that around, alongside 2 Spellstutter Sprite (1 main, 1 sb). This gives the BUG version some much needed additional disruption.


When seeing your finishing lists I was indeed wondering about the Spellstutters; at first I thought it was a cool combo with Harpy, but then I realised bouncing & recasting it doesn't increase the CMC of the spells you can counter (as there'll still be only 1 Faerie, if you don't randomly have Clique out).

How does the Spellstutter Sprite usually play out? It seems like you usually would want other things to do turn 2 (play Baleful Strix or Agent, decay their chalice/counterbalance) so unless when you're playing against combo, isn't BUG Aluren usually a tap out during your own turn kind of deck? That's at least how I play it/like to play it. It can protect your combo as well while going off, but in that perspective it doesn't seem better than having a 2nd Cavern Harpy in hand to play around their disruption.

[Cythare]

Why are you running a Bloodbraid Elf in the sideboard?? I've never seen that before, just curiousIt's a hasted threat against Miracles that's hard to Counterbalance, kills Jace really well, and generates cascade value. It can't be Recruited, but it's fine as-is to increase the diversity of the threats brought in against them.


@Cythare Interesting list, almost a hybrid. Maybe try -1 recruiter +1 harpy? ;-)I can't say I've considered it, but I really like Recruiting for random stuff, and feel I'd miss that. I'll take it for a spin at my next weekly, though!

[Fry]

I agree pretty much, but discard is not a full replacement of FoW.

In my metagame, where there are BR Reanimator, Storm, Elves, I feel the need for free counterspell. Usually it does not matter if you pitch a blue card against Reanimator or Storm, because you still need only a creature to win (Shardless, Leovold, Strix), not the fast combo. I switch from combo win to a fair win with the possibility of Aluren win during one turn. But I think both versions have their own strenght...

I do completely agree that discard doesn't equal FoW, but my list I have tried it before and was always displeased when I had to pitch something I would much rather play, though yes it did help sometimes, I've always been much more pleased with additional counterspells, I play 5 cmc1 discards, and a cmc 2, with 2 more discards in the board for the combo match ups. So yes, being on the draw and my opponent goes off on turn 1, I'm screwed, but I would be too if I didn't mull down to Force + blue card. I also play a happy little package of silver bullets in the main board which does cut down on my blue card count... I really like the package though, Random things like Rec Sage are surprisingly good. Minister does a lot of work against D&T too, along with the Young Pyro decks, and to a degree Mentor.

[Cartesian]

Current list moving forward? What would you trim to make room for 1x Glint Nest Crane and 1x Parasitic Strix in the main?
Coiling Oracle. Right now I play 2 Leovold, 1 Crane, 1 Parasitic, 1 Sprite, 1 Clique (22 creatures).


When seeing your finishing lists I was indeed wondering about the Spellstutters; at first I thought it was a cool combo with Harpy, but then I realised bouncing & recasting it doesn't increase the CMC of the spells you can counter (as there'll still be only 1 Faerie, if you don't randomly have Clique out).
Yes, this is mainly for countering cc1 spells. Like Glimpse of Nature, Cabal Therapy, Pyroblast, Deathrite to name a few.


How does the Spellstutter Sprite usually play out? It seems like you usually would want other things to do turn 2 (play Baleful Strix or Agent, decay their chalice/counterbalance) so unless when you're playing against combo, isn't BUG Aluren usually a tap out during your own turn kind of deck?
That is true in general, but it is not unusual to keep up 2 mana for a Decay or a Deathrite activation.

[Darjeeling]

You're a madman, Cartesian. In a good way.

[Chainer, Dementia Master]

Played at my weekly Legacy tournament again, continuing to play the BUG list. I'm playing 2x Parasitic Strix, 2x Glint Crane, 2x Leovold, and 1 BOP. My maindeck is pretty standard besides that. Switched from last week to only 4 basics, removed the tribe elders, and added some fatal push to the sideboard to give me some more game versus Delver and Infect.

We went 3-0-1, splitting in round 4 with infect. I only resolved an Aluren once all night, which I used to cast a single Deathrite Shaman.

Round 1 was versus Lands Splashing blue for Tolaria West, Academy Ruins, and what I believe was 4x engineered explosives maindeck. Win game 1 on the back of Deathrite Shaman, lose game 2 to wastelands + tabernacle, and being unable to find a second fetchland or basic for 4-5 turns. Win game 3 on the back of Deathrite Shamans and Parasitric Strix beats.

Round 2 was versus Grixis Delver. Game 1 is very close, racing a true name nemesis and 2x Deathrite shamans with levold and some Parasitic Strixs in the air. Game 2 I kill Pyromancer, like 7 tokens, and a True Name Nemesis with a golgari charm and win pretty easy from there.

Round 3 was versus Miracles. Game 1 we go deathrite into parasitic strix, which go all the way as my opponent fights over some of my other spells, but fails to find a terminus to save himself. Game 2 I manage to pithing needle top, and draw 3x deathrite shamans, 2x getting swords'd immediately. My opponent eventually has to Jace bounce a parasitic strix to survive another turn, needing a blind counterbalance flip to stop my strix, but I have abrupt decay and we head home for the night.

Overall in the weekly tournament matches so far:
3-1 vs Miracles
0-1 vs Elves
2-1 vs R/G Lands
1-0 vs Infect
1-0 vs G/B Stax
2-0 vs Burn
1-0 vs Shardless
2-1 Grixis Delver
1-0 Pox

[MrFrowny_]

Played at my weekly Legacy tournament again, continuing to play the BUG list. I'm playing 2x Parasitic Strix, 2x Glint Crane, 2x Leovold, and 1 BOP. My maindeck is pretty standard besides that. Switched from last week to only 4 basics, removed the tribe elders, and added some fatal push to the sideboard to give me some more game versus Delver and Infect.

We went 3-0-1, splitting in round 4 with infect. I only resolved an Aluren once all night, which I used to cast a single Deathrite Shaman.

Round 1 was versus Lands Splashing blue for Tolaria West, Academy Ruins, and what I believe was 4x engineered explosives maindeck. Win game 1 on the back of Deathrite Shaman, lose game 2 to wastelands + tabernacle, and being unable to find a second fetchland or basic for 4-5 turns. Win game 3 on the back of Deathrite Shamans and Parasitric Strix beats.

Round 2 was versus Grixis Delver. Game 1 is very close, racing a true name nemesis and 2x Deathrite shamans with levold and some Parasitic Strixs in the air. Game 2 I kill Pyromancer, like 7 tokens, and a True Name Nemesis with a golgari charm and win pretty easy from there.

Round 3 was versus Miracles. Game 1 we go deathrite into parasitic strix, which go all the way as my opponent fights over some of my other spells, but fails to find a terminus to save himself. Game 2 I manage to pithing needle top, and draw 3x deathrite shamans, 2x getting swords'd immediately. My opponent eventually has to Jace bounce a parasitic strix to survive another turn, needing a blind counterbalance flip to stop my strix, but I have abrupt decay and we head home for the night.

Overall in the weekly tournament matches so far:
3-1 vs Miracles
0-1 vs Elves
2-1 vs R/G Lands
1-0 vs Infect
1-0 vs G/B Stax
2-0 vs Burn
1-0 vs Shardless
2-1 Grixis Delver
1-0 Pox

Do you mind sharing your list? I also run BUG Aluren so I'm curious to see what other people play

[Chainer, Dementia Master]

Do you mind sharing your list? I also run BUG Aluren so I'm curious to see what other people play

Sure.

Creatures 22
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Baleful Strix
4 Shardless Agent
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
2 Parasitic Strix
4 Cavern Harpy
1 Birds of Paradise
2 Glint-nest Crane

Enchantment 4
4 Aluren

Instant 13
4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Force of Will

Lands 20
4 Polluted Delta
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Tropical Island
2 Bayou
2 Underground Sea
2 Island
1 Forest
1 Swamp

Sideboard
2 Pulse of the Murasa
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Thoughseize
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
2 Fatal Push
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Golgari Charm
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Pithing Needle
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Sylvan Library

[Fjaulnir]

Sword of Fire / Ice seems like an odd choice :-) in which matchup do you side it in and how/when has it performed well+badly so far?

[Chainer, Dementia Master]

Sword of Fire / Ice seems like an odd choice :-) in which matchup do you side it in and how/when has it performed well+badly so far?

I bring it in against Grixis Delver, U/R Delver, RUG Delver, Burn, Punishing Maverick and Jund (All of which are in my local metagame).

It's been fairly successful in the games I've brought it in. Most of the time it is just to protect my creatures from burn spells while making them into a more significant clock. Having a threat that can survive the punishing fires, lightning bolts and forked bolts has been good. I'm not sure it is better than just playing a Jitte. It's helped push damage through True Name Nemesis on a Shardless Agent once or twice, and won some games where I could not combo due to an Eidolon of the Great Revel and a Pyrostatic Pillar against burn.

[limbo]

How are folks responding to miracles new configurations with 3-4 snapcaster and 4 REB effects in the board? I am finding this one much tougher than other forms of miracles and I haven't found a gameplan I like (combo in, combo out, forces in, forces out, sideboard mix, etc). I am toying with hydroblast and hymn at the moment, and have even considered going to green threats like garruk, huntmaster and thrun. I would appreciate some insight as to how others are approaching this matchup.

Edit: SoFaI is an option I hadn't thought about until scanning the previous few posts, though it looks like the original poster might not use it in the miracles matchup.

[Fjaulnir]

How are folks responding to miracles new configurations with 3-4 snapcaster and 4 REB effects in the board? I am finding this one much tougher than other forms of miracles and I haven't found a gameplan I like (combo in, combo out, forces in, forces out, sideboard mix, etc). I am toying with hydroblast and hymn at the moment, and have even considered going to green threats like garruk, huntmaster and thrun. I would appreciate some insight as to how others are approaching this matchup

It's the only miracles build I've ever played Aluren against (my playgroup has been on "8-Reb Miracles" forever/didnt know it was a "new" build?), and preboard I seem very favoured and postboard seems very bad indeed.

The only miracles-specific card I am consistently adding to my SB is Painful Truths. Seems great but can't say much more yet except that they FOWed it all 3 times I've cast it since running it. Seems like a good addition then tho if they want to 2-for-1-counter it :wink:

Hydroblast just to stop Rebs sounded too weak and situational for me so I've always refrained from doing so. Horrible cascade target too in this MU

I've considered bringing in 1 Surgical to randomly tag a Terminus or Reb, but my miracles friends split 2/2 between their Pyro/Red blasts so that seemed shaky too.

Garruk relentless sounded okay, but I generally don't have spots for him in the SB. At 4 mana just to make tokens he seems worse than Painful Truths digging you deeper to an actual combo win and not losing to Eot Entreat after making 2-3 2/2s. His -1 seems great to tutor up missing combo pieces, but making him flip isnt easy against miracles unless you can ping a snapcaster.
He seems better agains slowt Decay decks than against miracles.

I'm currently considering NullRod for Mira/Dnt/Storm if anyone still plays that - mostly DnT/Miracles but then I probably cut Jitte, making Elves/Burn worse.

I cut Carpet for more actual business & due to impopularity of delver in Belgium, but when I ran Carpet I'd cut some Alurens for Carpets as a way to overload the board, but in a no-Carpet build I like to keep 2-ish Alurens in instead of 1

Other cards to consider: Pithing Needle (Dnt, Lands,...), Dread of Night if they run Mentor, Grafdigger's cage. Last time I beat Miracles it was with Dread + Cage on the board and them drawing into a bunch of Snapcasters/Mentors.

Another one I almost forgot: I always bring in 2 Thoughtseize. Also against DnT. 2 decks/reasons why I play it over Cabal therapy; snagging a Reb, Snapcaster,... before it blows you out is just better than 2-for-1ing with Force of will and only getting your Fow investment REBed too.


An example of how I'd board with this version (I already cut Traverse and added Peedle over Trap nr 2 but it's close enough)
http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=15088&d=291348&f=LE

+Pithing Needle
+Grafd Cage
+Ratchet Bomb/Powder Keg (unsure about this one)
+Dread of Night
+2 Thoughtseize
+Painful Truths
If you have Carpets, adding 1-2 and cutting 1 more Aluren works too

-2 Force of Will
-2 Aluren
-1 Traverse the Ulvenwald - when replacing it with Library like I will soon, obv u dont side Library out :wink: then I'd cut a subpar creature like Parasitic Strix
-1 Land (like Bayou or Trop, not a basic as I've been blown out by From the ashes once too often)
-1 Abrupt decay unless they're on 3-4 Mentor and /or dont side Counterbalance out. My playtesting group usually boards out most CB game 2 tho like against most Bug decay decks)

[limbo]

It's the only miracles build I've ever played Aluren against (my playgroup has been on "8-Reb Miracles" forever/didnt know it was a "new" build?), and preboard I seem very favoured and postboard seems very bad indeed.


Sorry if there was confusion here, I mean the cantrip and predict versions that have now maxed out snapcasters and gone to 4 reb effects in the board, with 1-2 EtA as their main win con, as opposed to mentor miracles and legend miracles which have until recently been the predominant forms around me.

Thanks for your thoughts. I do like discard against them in limited amounts, but 1 for 1 often isn't enough or buys at most 1 turn of breathing room (I run 2 duress and 2 therapy in my current board). I like but don't love null rod. Turning off top is definitely good, but I don't really fear equipment from other decks and most of the miracles players I have talked to aren't too concerned about top being turned off, especially in the cantrip based versions, unless their hand and board are being pressured as well. I guess fundamentally it comes down to the fact that miracles is an answer deck, and as the deck gets more efficient it become harder, as the deck attempting to do something, to generate a question they can't answer, hence their feeling that you need multiple things to disrupt them, or even make them nervous.

Anyone else have some guidance?

[Chainer, Dementia Master]

Pithing needle on Sensei's Divining Top is the way to beat miracles. Without a way to filter their draws, that deck can't keep up. I normally only see them having 1-2 wear/tear, 0-1 EE, and 0-1 council's judgement to remove Pithing Needle.

My sideboard plan against miracles is normally something similar to:

-4 FoW
-2 Aluren
-1 Parasitic Strix

+1 Pithing Needle
+1 Pernicious Deed
+1 Sylvan Library
+1 Abrupt Decay
+1 Surgical Extraction
+2 Thoughtseize

In testing the match up has been very favorable for me.

[Fjaulnir]

Pithing needle on Sensei's Divining Top is the way to beat miracles. Without a way to filter their draws, that deck can't keep up. I normally only see them having 1-2 wear/tear, 0-1 EE, and 0-1 council's judgement to remove Pithing Needle.

My sideboard plan against miracles is normally something similar to:

-4 FoW
-2 Aluren
-1 Parasitic Strix

+1 Pithing Needle
+1 Pernicious Deed
+1 Sylvan Library
+1 Abrupt Decay
+1 Surgical Extraction
+2 Thoughtseize

In testing the match up has been very favorable for me.

Interesting to see you bring in +1 Abrupt Decay.

Do the Miracles players in your region usually keep in Counterbalance post-board? The 2 Miracles players I usually play against (=our 2 national legacy champions of the last 2 years who top 4 like 70-80% of tourneys they play in / aka they should be pretty knowledged and good players) seem to board them out, hence my plan of actually going -1 Decay in my previous post.
They board like +4 Reb, +2 W/T and maybe some other stuff for -3/4 CB -2/4(?) STP etc., don't remember exactly what.


Not sure if it's the good call, but I tend to leave in 2 FOWs against Miracles with most decks I play, so I don't die to a random EOT Entreat while I was winning the game, or to counter a Terminus when I have nothing in hand to recover. I'd rather cut 1 land since they don't run Wasteland and you're cutting some 4 mana spells/Alurens anyway.

[Chainer, Dementia Master]

Interesting to see you bring in +1 Abrupt Decay.

Do the Miracles players in your region usually keep in Counterbalance post-board? The 2 Miracles players I usually play against (=our 2 national legacy champions of the last 2 years who top 4 like 70-80% of tourneys they play in / aka they should be pretty knowledged and good players) seem to board them out, hence my plan of actually going -1 Decay in my previous post.
They board like +4 Reb, +2 W/T and maybe some other stuff for -3/4 CB -2/4(?) STP etc., don't remember exactly what.


Not sure if it's the good call, but I tend to leave in 2 FOWs against Miracles with most decks I play, so I don't die to a random EOT Entreat while I was winning the game, or to counter a Terminus when I have nothing in hand to recover. I'd rather cut 1 land since they don't run Wasteland and you're cutting some 4 mana spells/Alurens anyway.


The miracles players in my area tend to leave in counterbalance and try to overload my abrupt decay with additional targets. Monastery Mentor, Counterbalance, and Blood Moon.

Cutting a land in the match up sounds interesting. I may try out that plan this Wednesday.

[Fjaulnir]

The miracles players in my area tend to leave in counterbalance and try to overload my abrupt decay with additional targets. Monastery Mentor, Counterbalance, and Blood Moon.

Cutting a land in the match up sounds interesting. I may try out that plan this Wednesday.


Derp, I totally forgot while posting all of the above.

I also tend to cut 1-2 Deathrite Shaman in this matchup very often instead of a land (depending on the amount of sideboard cards to bring in).

He's nice against Snapcaster or as turn 1-2 ramp, but he often won't live long enough to do enough real damage to their Snapcaster targets so often it's just a mana dork (while cutting half of your 4 mana enchantments) that's a dead cascade later in the game. I prefer to keep as many creatures in that are either disruptive (Leo, Clique) or 2 for 1's, giving better value off my Shardless + Harpy engine.

[Moneymakermich]

Thanks for your thoughts. I do like discard against them in limited amounts, but 1 for 1 often isn't enough or buys at most 1 turn of breathing room (I run 2 duress and 2 therapy in my current board). I like but don't love null rod. Turning off top is definitely good, but I don't really fear equipment from other decks and most of the miracles players I have talked to aren't too concerned about top being turned off, especially in the cantrip based versions, unless their hand and board are being pressured as well. I guess fundamentally it comes down to the fact that miracles is an answer deck, and as the deck gets more efficient it become harder, as the deck attempting to do something, to generate a question they can't answer, hence their feeling that you need multiple things to disrupt them, or even make them nervous.

Anyone else have some guidance?

Personnally I enter the 4th decay + 2 carpets, and try to go "beatdown" as primary plan

[Darjeeling]

I don't think I can agree with cutting any number of Deathrites vs. Miracles. In the mid to late game he's a very real threat that they need to deal with. Dr. S + one other creature is sufficient pressure to force out a Terminus usually.

[cheerios]

I used to play Meddling Mage in Shardless BUG before to combat combo decks. Do you guys think it's any good in Blue Aluren? Or is it just cute? The old shardless BUG builds used to have an extra land in SB for Meddling Mage.

[MrFrowny_]

I used to play Meddling Mage in Shardless BUG before to combat combo decks. Do you guys think it's any good in Blue Aluren? Or is it just cute? The old shardless BUG builds used to have an extra land in SB for Meddling Mage.

You could run it in the white-recruiter of the guard versions for sure, but I think the BUG version is too mana hungry to splash for a 4th color.

[cheerios]

I played Blue Aluren the first time last weekend in my local shop. I ended with a 2-2 record. Wins were from RUG lands and DNT. Both loses were from big eldrazi. Not sure if it's correct to remove the agents and put in some thoughtseizes in this match up since I don't think I can outgrind them. I think we are too slow to beat them using the fair way, but an early TKS and Wurmcoil could be a beating.

[Absolutflipz]

Credit to Cartesian's idea of having another disruptive element to the deck in playing the Spellstutter Sprites, so I tried them out (I've also gone back and forth between 2 and 3 Leovolds).

I found the Spellstutters fine enough, but it lead me to look at another 2-drop creature that is disruptive and very good with Aluren - Mesmeric Fiend.

Also, I find lots of games where you resolve Aluren in the BUG version you aren't immediately able to combo off and having Mesmeric Fiend and a Cavern Harpy allows you to lock your opponent out of cards in their hand/their draw step by bouncing the Fiend with the "exile a card" trigger on the stack just like Fiend Hunter/O-ring permanent exile trick. This gives another good "combo" element to the deck.

It's been a solid proactive 2-drop and also, against tougher MUs like Storm/Sneak&Show , which don't have MD removal, it just nabs the card for good.

Currently, I'm running 2 Mesmeric, 2 Leovold, 1 Vendillion (and 2nd clique in the sb) as disruptive creatures in the main.

Worth looking into imo.

[Fry]

Credit to Cartesian's idea of having another disruptive element to the deck in playing the Spellstutter Sprites, so I tried them out (I've also gone back and forth between 2 and 3 Leovolds).

I found the Spellstutters fine enough, but it lead me to look at another 2-drop creature that is disruptive and very good with Aluren - Mesmeric Fiend.

Also, I find lots of games where you resolve Aluren in the BUG version you aren't immediately able to combo off and having Mesmeric Fiend and a Cavern Harpy allows you to lock your opponent out of cards in their hand/their draw step by bouncing the Fiend with the "exile a card" trigger on the stack just like Fiend Hunter/O-ring permanent exile trick. This gives another good "combo" element to the deck.

It's been a solid proactive 2-drop and also, against tougher MUs like Storm/Sneak&Show , which don't have MD removal, it just nabs the card for good.

Currently, I'm running 2 Mesmeric, 2 Leovold, 1 Vendillion (and 2nd clique in the sb) as disruptive creatures in the main.

Worth looking into imo.

I posted a couple pages back that I've been playing 1 Mesmeric Fiend main and 1 board for a little while now and that I love the card as it's a pseudo instant discard spell with Aluren in play. My discard suite is currently 4 Therapy, 1 Duress, and 1 Fiend main and a second Duress and Fiend in the board.

[Absolutflipz]

I posted a couple pages back that I've been playing 1 Mesmeric Fiend main and 1 board for a little while now and that I love the card as it's a pseudo instant discard spell with Aluren in play. My discard suite is currently 4 Therapy, 1 Duress, and 1 Fiend main and a second Duress and Fiend in the board.

Good stuff, man.

Being able to permanently exile a card with Aluren and Cavern Harpy (O-ring/Fiend Hunter trick) is very valuable too.

[Capt4in]

Went 5-0 at FNM last night, with what I felt was a pretty stock BUG list, good for a Tropical Island.

List:
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Cavern Harpy
4 Baleful Strix
1 Glint-Nest Crane
4 Shardless Agent
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
2 Parasitic Strix

3 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
4 Abrupt Decay
4 Aluren
4 Force of Will

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

Sideboard:
2 Hymn to Tourach
2 Duress
2 Carpet of Flowers
4 Leyline of the Void (Reanimator and dredge are reasonably popular in my meta, and other combo decks have a very small meta share relative to fair decks)
2 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Toxic Deluge
1 Diabolic Edict

Beat DnT x2, Esper Unearth (a homebrew full of 2-for 1s like Unearth, Baleful Strix, Snapcaster), BUG Delver, and Infect.

I've been enjoying the fourth Decay in the mainboard, but I am not sure that I'm happy with all 3 ponders. I kind of want to switch one for a flex slot, and was considering maindecking a deluge with the popularity of fair/creature based decks in my meta. I've also found that although my matchup is generally favourable, I drop a lot of Game 1s to Death and Taxes, especially when they know what deck I am on. I feel like it would shore up some of the tougher game 1s while not screwing me up when I'm trying to go off, as I can cascade past it. Has anyone else experimented with Deluge in the main?

I've also found that while I find the BUG version much stronger and more consistent, I often miss some of the bullets from the 4-color version, especially Eternal Witness. Anybody tried running her in the straight BUG build?

[limbo]

With top gone, what changes are people planning for the short term?

I run BUG. I expect more fast combo, so I am thinking I want 2 thoughtseize main, along with my forces, and a bit of extra combo disruption in the side (cutting my second PStrix and something else in the main). I expect more delver and elves as well. Might add a GCharm to my board or some other -1/-1 card just in case while things shake out.

[Cythare]

For the Imperial Recruiter build, I don't really feel much is changing. At least for now, the maindeck stays exactly the same (aside from removing the nonsense 61st card Reclamation Sage I was trying in the main deck for a bit).

For the sideboard, the only card that's an easy cut for me is Bloodbraid Elf, which only came in against Miracles, which is being swapped for a second Engineered Plague.

If Delver decks don't become too large a part of the meta, then I might cut Carpet of Flowers and test either Harsh Mentor or Trial of Ambition.

Otherwise, I don't think there's much room left with this sideboard. I almost cut Null Rod but it's still super good against D&T, and Pernicious Deed is an option but not knowing where the format is going means it's a great catch-all card:

1 Abrupt Decay
1 Carpet of Flowers
1 Dread of Night
2 Engineered Plague
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Fire Imp
1 Force of Will
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Minister of Pain
1 Null Rod
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Scavenging Ooze

[Darjeeling]

I'm cutting my Sylvan Library and 4th Harpy for 2 maindeck Thoughtseizes and then seeing how the format shakes out.

[TTX]

With Top gone, Counterbalance is thus no longer an issue, I think I'll convert my 3 main Abrupt Decays to 2 Fatal Pushes and 1 Sylvan Library. What do you guys think of Abrupt Decays role moving forward?


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[Cythare]

I can't see myself cutting Decay entirely, but I could see trimming it down. I still think it has its uses as a random catchall. After some tinkering, I think I'm going to be going down to 1 Decay main, 1 Decay SB. Caveat that since I'm going on vacation soon, I won't actually be able to test this for a month, but this is what I'm thinking:

Creatures
2 Baleful Strix
1 Cavern Harpy
3 Coiling Oracle
4 Deathrite Shaman
2 Dream Stalker
1 Eternal Witness
4 Imperial Recruiter
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1 Parasitic Strix
2 Shardless Agent

Spells
4 Aluren
4 Cabal Therapy
1 Abrupt Decay
4 Brainstorm
1 Fatal Push
3 Force of Will

Lands
1 Bayou
2 Forest
1 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
1 Taiga
2 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
2 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volcanic Island
1 Wooded Foothills

Sideboard
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Dread of Night
2 Engineered Plague
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Fire Imp
1 Force of Will
1 Harsh Mentor
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Minister of Pain
1 Null Rod
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Scavenging Ooze

[Moneymakermich]

I would stay with 3 decays because it's so good against many things. I expect to see more delvers too and also chalices, and decay is great against both. Fatal push will just eat daze or something else.

[comix84]

Hey guys, from a 10th place on a Sunday league (35ish players, 6 rounds) playing the BUG version, to a bad 1-3 yesterday in my normal weekly tournament... my first impression after the ban of top is that the meta is now faster, i have noticed more combo and aggro/tempo... I have the feeling that the bug version as it is, it could be a bit slow unless we find a way to slow down the other decks too...

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[FFreak]

Maybe we need more disruption in form of counterspell like things ?
Spellstutter are a good way to go.

I think there will be more Storm, Show n' Tell and maybe some more reanimate.

And we cant fasten our combo more.

[Cythare]

I already run Forces in the main in addition to the Cabal Therapies, but have started considering adding a few Thorn of Amethyst to my SB for Storm. It makes Aluren cost 5, but otherwise doesn't impact the combo.

[Moneymakermich]

And we cant fasten our combo more.

I have to disagree with this. Up to now, the path of midrange/"control" was followed and therefore the deck plaid force of will, abrupt decay, thoughtseize, etc... But if you want to become a faster combo deck, try to replace some of these with cards like elvish spirit guide, gitaxian probe, or some other fast mana.
I don't say that it will make the deck better, but it will certainly be faster.

[Darjeeling]

I still like Decay for the reasons outlined above. It's good at killing Delvers, lock pieces (chalice, 3ball, blood moon, etc), and random things. I have cut the 4th copy from my sideboard, however. Just cranked out a league with 2 maindeck Thoughtseizes in addition to 4 Forces and they felt pretty good.

[comix84]

I have to disagree with this. Up to now, the path of midrange/"control" was followed and therefore the deck plaid force of will, abrupt decay, thoughtseize, etc... But if you want to become a faster combo deck, try to replace some of these with cards like elvish spirit guide, gitaxian probe, or some other fast mana.
I don't say that it will make the deck better, but it will certainly be faster.
I agree with you, I have a friend who even played sol lands in the past. Not sure as you were saying that is the right way to go but technically we could try.
I was also thinking at something a bit more on the prison side like some was suggesting with T.of the Amethyst or even Thalia if we want to splash white.
Currently I am playing 4 Fow and 2 Thoughtseize.
Maybe moving back to the Therapy - Veteran Explorer could be the way to go?

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[Moneymakermich]

I agree with you, I have a friend who even played sol lands in the past. Not sure as you were saying that is the right way to go but technically we could try.
I was also thinking at something a bit more on the prison side like some was suggesting with T.of the Amethyst or even Thalia if we want to splash white.
Currently I am playing 4 Fow and 2 Thoughtseize.
Maybe moving back to the Therapy - Veteran Explorer could be the way to go?

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I'm thinking about such a version since a long time, but did not find something really nice yet.
Basically I would like to replace ponder by gitaxian probe, then play cabal therapy + 1-3 veteran explorer + 1 phyrexian tower and even maybe 1 academy rector
The issue is that will all these non-blue cards, my blue count would be too low for FOW, and I would like to keep at least 3 maindeck...
Trying to find a balance in that
But I feel that explorer could be great because most of my losses seems to be due to mana issues (including consequences of Thalia, wasteland, etc etc...)

[GradStudent]

Hi all, new to Aluren. Was wondering what were the advantages/disadvantages to the different variations out there right now? I wasn't aware there was a BUG version without recruiters. I've also been out of the loop in legacy :)

[comix84]

I'm thinking about such a version since a long time, but did not find something really nice yet.
Basically I would like to replace ponder by gitaxian probe, then play cabal therapy + 1-3 veteran explorer + 1 phyrexian tower and even maybe 1 academy rector
The issue is that will all these non-blue cards, my blue count would be too low for FOW, and I would like to keep at least 3 maindeck...
Trying to find a balance in that
But I feel that explorer could be great because most of my losses seems to be due to mana issues (including consequences of Thalia, wasteland, etc etc...)
I could try to build something similar for Tuesday (weekly legacy day), maybe increasing the discards and cutting FoW completely?
I also really love the surprise effect of Living Wish (especially with shardless)

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[TTX]

I'm thinking about such a version since a long time, but did not find something really nice yet.
Basically I would like to replace ponder by gitaxian probe, then play cabal therapy + 1-3 veteran explorer + 1 phyrexian tower and even maybe 1 academy rector
The issue is that will all these non-blue cards, my blue count would be too low for FOW, and I would like to keep at least 3 maindeck...
Trying to find a balance in that
But I feel that explorer could be great because most of my losses seems to be due to mana issues (including consequences of Thalia, wasteland, etc etc...)

I prefer the recruiter lists, and not Force of Will. This list includes a little bit of the NicFit package. GSZ can only retrieve Veteran, DRS, Witness, or Leovold. After sideboard, Scooze, Rec Sage, and Glissa. With the Veteran inclusion is it possible to achieve a turn 2 win with discard protection. Anyway, let me know what you guys think!

// 60 Maindeck
// 21 Creature
4 Recruiter of the Guard
4 Baleful Strix
4 Deathrite Shaman
3 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1 Quickling
1 Eternal Witness
1 Veteran Explorer
1 Cavern Harpy
1 Arctic Merfolk
1 Parasitic Strix

// 5 Enchantment
4 Aluren
1 Sylvan Library

// 6 Instant
4 Brainstorm
2 Abrupt Decay

// 19 Land
1 Bayou
2 Forest
1 Island
1 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volrath's Stronghold
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Savannah
2 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
1 Polluted Delta
1 Phyrexian Tower

// 9 Sorcery
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Thoughtseize
2 Green Sun's Zenith

// 15 Sideboard
// 8 Creature
SB: 2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
SB: 1 Orzhov Pontiff
SB: 1 Bone Shredder
SB: 1 Containment Priest
SB: 1 Scavenging Ooze
SB: 1 Glissa, the Traitor
SB: 1 Reclamation Sage

// 1 Enchantment
SB: 1 Carpet of Flowers

// 6 Instant
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 Golgari Charm
SB: 1 Mindbreak Trap
SB: 1 Abrupt Decay
SB: 1 To the Slaughter

[Moneymakermich]

I prefer the recruiter lists, and not Force of Will.



Maybe I'm greedy but I want to play recruiter AND force of will.

Current list:

20 lands (including 4 basics & 1 phyrexian tower)

4 aluren
4 force of will (blue count= 22)
4 ponder
4 brainstorm
3 abrupt decay
2 green sun zenith

1 arctic merfolk
1 parasitic strix
1 leovold
1 veteran explorer
1 coiling oracle
2 cavern harpy
4 baleful strix
4 deathrite shaman
4 recuiter of the guard

The only thing I'm not sure with this list is the fact I don't play cabal therapy... But I like to have FOW (and a blue count of 22 is ok) and I certainly like the power of having the 2 cards combo with recruiter.

[Darjeeling]

Hi all, new to Aluren. Was wondering what were the advantages/disadvantages to the different variations out there right now? I wasn't aware there was a BUG version without recruiters. I've also been out of the loop in legacy :)

BUG
+More grind power
-Not a guaranteed 2-card combo (nutty Agent Cascades will do it, though)

Recruiter
+2-card kill
-Low blue count for Force of Will

[csanders]

Looking to possibly move to BUG Aluren (long time Tezzerator player), but unsure how the meta stacks up against it. Are there any matchups I should be particularly concerned with?

Local meta (from yesterday's weekly event):

Pox
Mono Red Sneak
W Eldrazi
3 Grixis Delver
2 BUG Midrange
U/W Stoneblade
Omnisneak
Food Chain
Merfolk
Burn
U/B Reanimator
2 TES

Thanks!

[limbo]

Looking to possibly move to BUG Aluren (long time Tezzerator player), but unsure how the meta stacks up against it. Are there any matchups I should be particularly concerned with?

Local meta (from yesterday's weekly event):

Pox
Mono Red Sneak
W Eldrazi
3 Grixis Delver
2 BUG Midrange
U/W Stoneblade
Omnisneak
Food Chain
Merfolk
Burn
U/B Reanimator
2 TES

Thanks!

My quick read on your metagame is it is ok for BUG aluren but not outstanding.
The good matchups for you in that list are: Grixis Delver, stoneblade, and BUG midrange.
The close matchups are: Merfolk, Food Chain, W Eldrazi (if no thalias then it is a good matchup)
The poor matchups are: UB reanimator, TES, Burn, Omni, mono red

The deck can beat all of these decks, but the combo decks are where your board needs to focus. As an example, here is my BUG Aluren current board built for a similar metagame (I see also see elves, D&T and lands regularly):
4 duress
2 diabolic edict
2 surgical extraction
1 pithing needle
1 abrupt decay
2 carpet of flowers
1 parasitic strix (only 1 in the main. I use this when I need a faster combo or life gain)
1 fourth bridge prowler
1 minister of pain

The decay in the board could easily be made into additional combo hate, but it becomes hard to find the cards to take out. With 2 TES and a reanimator player you might consider -1 duress, -1 decay, +2 mindbreak trap. Sideboarding is the area where I think the BUGw with recruiter deck has a big advantage because you get all the hatebears and are slightly less reliant on cascade making other spells like flusterstorm possible, if still sub-optimal inclusions. If delver pushes out the combo decks, then I would definitely recommend BUG but if the metagame is pretty fixed, based on card availability, etc, I would consider the white splash for recruiter and the hatebears in the board.

[ratninja]

I have played Aluren a few times now and have some questions. Why aren't these cards played:
1. ancestral vision
2. Kalastria Healer (doesn't target, shardless finds it)
3. Evolutionary leap

[Lord_Mcdonalds]

1. Too slow and clunky for a deck with a lot of clunky cards

2. Worse draw than Strix overall, yes you can cascade into it but you really don't want to.

3. Other cards that can do what this deck wants that to do but better.

[tescrin]

I have played Aluren a few times now and have some questions. Why aren't these cards played:
1. ancestral vision
2. Kalastria Healer (doesn't target, shardless finds it)
3. Evolutionary leap

I played a list the other day with a 1-of Healer; presumably for Shardless. I think it's just so that if you can't land a recruiter, their's a mindcensor, or similar, that you can cascade into it making more boardstates viable.

I can see that being an OK thing to do; though it's notable that Strix, while hardly legacy worthy; is actually a reasonable card. Attaching drain to a flyer makes him somewhat aggressive if you're on a beatdown plan, potentially speeding up your kill-clock by a turn. Flying is relevant, as is trading with Delver.

[andrewtheegreat]

Bad ideas but hear me out...

Aetherflux Reservoir
Nissa, Steward of Elements

Testing these as one-ofs and they seem to be GREAT.

Relevant cards I'm running:
4 agents
3 cabal therapy
1 Volrath's stronghold
4 Force of will
3 Harpy (might bump to 4 and down to 1 parasitic strix)

Justification:
AR - This deck casts multiple spells, almost every turn and we just need to stay alive until we can combo out. If for whatever reason I can't combo out, AR and harpy are AWESOME buddies and I often end up cast 3-4 spells by bouncing it or DRS and re-casting. Three spells a turn means 6 life, which isn't bad when I'm top decking lands (I run 20) and have nothing else to do. Once I hit Aluren, instant win. If I have Therapy in the yard, thats more fuel for life gained. Agents mean minimum 3 life and 2 spells for 3cmc.

Nissa - I haven't had a chance to really test this out much yet but we need scry anytime we can get it to filter for the combo. Them dedicating damage to killing it means we're not taking it and we at LEAST get a scry out of it. Brainstorms and Volrath's mean we have the top deck manipulation to cheat stuff in without paying for it, or allowing it to be countered. Mid-late game we dump a bunch into it and have 2 lands that can beat in for 10.

I figure I need to draw, disrupt, or delay until I can combo out.

Thoughts?

[Moneymakermich]

Kalastria Healer VS Strix : an additional point is that the strix is blue.

Aetherflux Reservoir & Nissa, Steward of Elements : I will quote Lord_Macdonalds : Too slow and clunky for a deck with a lot of clunky cards

[Navsi]

Cascading into Nissa seems like a pretty bad thing to have happen.

[Fry]

Kalastria Healer VS Strix : an additional point is that the strix is blue.


Conversely though, Strix targets and Healer doesn't

[andrewtheegreat]

Has anyone tried playing with Rishadan Cutpurse?

Seems like it could be brutal with Harpy, wiping the board with Aluren and Harpy. Also blue and lower value than other force pitches. T2 with DRS on T1 seems gross.

Goldfishing I've also noticed that my agents dig deeper through the deck now that it passes all the 3 drops and right into harpy, brainstorm, baleful, ponder, or cabal therapy.

Thoughts?

[tescrin]

Has anyone tried playing with Rishadan Cutpurse?

Seems like it could be brutal with Harpy, wiping the board with Aluren and Harpy. Also blue and lower value than other force pitches. T2 with DRS on T1 seems gross.

I don't see why wiping the board with Harpy would be better than having a Strix or Healer here. You could've won, but opted to rub salt in the wound of the other player while also managing to not guarantee a win. Presumably the things that keep you from winning when you have a card in hand that combos with Harpy, Aluren in play, etc.. is that they have a battlefield presence that stops the combo from working or a creature/counter/removal that stops it from working (Sudden shock, potentially Clique, force, Canonist, etc.)

Specifically, what is the difference between doing this and just winning, with respect to the reason you'd play this card over a card that wins? Leyline of Sanctity? Wouldn't Healer be sufficient?

Put another way, why is this in the deck instead of more combo pieces? Getting the occasional T2 "kill a permanent" will probably feel bad in a field of SFMs and Strixes, where you're merely cancelling CA by killing the bad part of the CA and getting a 1/1.

[andrewtheegreat]

I don't see why wiping the board with Harpy would be better than having a Strix or Healer here. You could've won, but opted to rub salt in the wound of the other player while also managing to not guarantee a win. Presumably the things that keep you from winning when you have a card in hand that combos with Harpy, Aluren in play, etc.. is that they have a battlefield presence that stops the combo from working or a creature/counter/removal that stops it from working (Sudden shock, potentially Clique, force, Canonist, etc.)

Specifically, what is the difference between doing this and just winning, with respect to the reason you'd play this card over a card that wins? Leyline of Sanctity? Wouldn't Healer be sufficient?

Put another way, why is this in the deck instead of more combo pieces? Getting the occasional T2 "kill a permanent" will probably feel bad in a field of SFMs and Strixes, where you're merely cancelling CA by killing the bad part of the CA and getting a 1/1.


My thinking was that Strix is the awesome silver bullet but also tends to be hidden or protected in a sense. I don't want it going to the yard by putting it out early or having to exile it to Force. I don't mind blocking with cutpurse and certainly don't mind pitching it to Force. Just putting more Healers in might actually be a much better solution. I'll test with both and see... I'm just thinking of different things to play with that have interesting ETB effects and saw Cutpurse in a Leovold EDH deck with Aluren.

[ashent]

Interesting that no one commented on Cartesian's newest crazy card choices:

http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=15476&d=294275&f=LE

Viscera Seer + Marang River Prowler for infinite scries with Aluren?

============

I'm sleeving Aluren back up now as my second deck and while I'm not going to use the above, I am gearing the decklist towards a lot of non-blue matchups (notably Lands, which is difficult to near-impossible for my normal deck choices like 4c Delver or 4c Control) and could use some advice on a really sturdy BUG decklist that isn't necessarily super fast (no storm in my meta or anything) and can hang in super grind fests.

Meta is: Lands, Loam, Stompy variations, Noble BUG, Sneak and Show, UB OmniTell, Burn, Elves.

This is what I'm likely going to start with, with a few changes I haven't decided on yet:

http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=15136&d=291715&f=LE

[swoop]

How is infinity scries better than draw? Dunno needs testing... Looks interesting though

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[Secretly.A.Bee]

Maybe a response to a leovold-dominated meta? Can scry all you want, though.

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[Ish]

How is infinity scries better than draw? Dunno needs testing... Looks interesting though

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IMO it's not better. However it costs 0 life to do. We don't a actually get infinite draws with strix... We get a draw per life point. Usually enough... But that is s difference.

I think throwing more cards that need eacither to work in the deck is an awful idea. The nice thing now I'd the synergies of cards without an alluren while we play midrange, or setting up the combo. I already frown when stuck with a parasitic strix in hand and no alluren.


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[Cartesian]

Marang River Prowler was an experiment. The infinite scry is very powerful indeed, and Viscera Seer is actually a good creature, so there is that. I was hoping for the Prowler to be at least relevant outside of the combo, as an unblockable 2 power threat, or as a way to get Harpies into play if nothing else is at hand. But those things never really came up very often in testing, and the card is very slow, and can't defend. I have tried a slight red splash for Goblin Bombardment + Aluren + Marang River Prowler which is an alternative instant win that doesn't use Cavern Harpy, which is interesting, if nothing else. Maybe a consideration for the Imperial Recruiter version?

Right now with BUG Aluren, if Abrupt Decay is no longer necessary in the maindeck, I think a Living Wish version is where I want to be.

[tescrin]

I think that given you have:
3-4 Baleful Strix
2-4 Cavern Harpy
2-4 Parasitic Strix

and others, wouldn't just doing 2x Jitte as a backup be fine? Parasitic wont' feel so bad if you just spam them and hit the person like normal when your combo fizzles. I could see just going for a beatdown plan with the deck by flying-equips being a main-plan and then just having Aluren be the thing that says "the game dragged out too long."

For only a couple card slots I think you could build a solid plan out of that idea. They can't even kill your primary sword carrier (Harpy) because you just bounce it. Going a step further, it makes your equips "must remove" reducing combo disruption maybe? And gives more removal for things like Canonist who goof up your flow.

Just a thought

[Fjaulnir]

Is there a consensus on not needing maindeck Decay anymore?

Does this only hold true for MTGO meta, or for paper as well? (given that there's a difference between the two usually, with both more random janky decks IRL (in my experience) and almost no DnT online (whereas in my paper meta it can be like 10-15% depending on the tourney).

I won't say Decay is particularly *good* against DnT by the way, but apart from having FOW in your opening hand, a resolved/Vialed Mom, Thalia and Revoker are all very annoying and impossible to deal with.
(actually without Decay Thalia might not even be that annoying anymore, as it'll only hit Aluren/Ponder/BS anymore)


And isn't it also a necessary evil against Leovold? Even if we don't need Strix to draw into a wincon, they'll still draw like 7-8 cards off Parasitic to get them a Fow for the Harpy/Strix.
(agreed we'll be ahead on board + life total by that time usually, but if they've drawn 7 extra cards chances are reasonable they can find an out to your boardstate like a Deluge or so)

[Cartesian]

I don't think there is a consensus on not running Abrupt Decay in the main, but I do think it is a possibility, and something we need to consider now.
I have been running my Decays in the SB since the Miracles ban.

Leovold is mostly a problem because it shuts down Baleful and Brainstorm. It usually isn't a problem when comboing off, as long as you can manage to find Parasitic (via Glint-Nest, Living Wish, or somehow), because: 1) You might just have your own Leovold, and 2) Unless opponent's life total is more than twice your life total, you can respond to each Leovold trigger with a new Parasitic trigger. Once you have a lethal amount of triggers on the stack, they will draw a lot of cards, but by then it will be too late.

[limbo]

Is there a consensus on not needing maindeck Decay anymore?


I am running 2 decays and am very happy with it at the moment. It gives outs to opponents' G1 Leos, back to basics, etc. I have 2 thoughtseize and only one parasitic strix.

[Ish]

Who has tried living wish? How many main? What does your sideboard look like?


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[pocari79]

I was playing the BUG version of this deck a couple of months ago and throught the deck felt really good. However, I kept on losing against UR Delver and Burn. I know Burn is a bad matchup to begin with but I thought I'd do better against Delver decks. I was wondering if I could get any advice on what the game plan is against the heavy burn delver decks? I was boarding out 3-4 Alurens since I felt like I couldn't combo as my life total is always under pressure so I was just trying to flood the board but then I'd get wrecked by sideboard cards like Pyroclasm or Sudden Demise. Should I just try to jam Alurens as soon as possible in the post board games and try to build up a big board that way? I find that I usually win game 1s without casting Alurens at all but lose miserably in the sideboard games.

[limbo]

I was playing the BUG version of this deck a couple of months ago and throught the deck felt really good. However, I kept on losing against UR Delver and Burn. I know Burn is a bad matchup to begin with but I thought I'd do better against Delver decks. I was wondering if I could get any advice on what the game plan is against the heavy burn delver decks? I was boarding out 3-4 Alurens since I felt like I couldn't combo as my life total is always under pressure so I was just trying to flood the board but then I'd get wrecked by sideboard cards like Pyroclasm or Sudden Demise. Should I just try to jam Alurens as soon as possible in the post board games and try to build up a big board that way? I find that I usually win game 1s without casting Alurens at all but lose miserably in the sideboard games.

When piloting BUG Aluren, I found that the BUG and Grixis Delver matchups are extremely good, RUG is close, and UR is negative, as you described.

First thing is to play around price of progess as much as you can by getting your basics or holding open fetches, then focus on creatures. It is ok to force a swiftspear, delver, or storm chaser mage. Your first strix will usually eat a removal spell, so you need to get to the second one before you can expect to trade with their creatures. Decays are outstanding, when targeting creatures use them during combat for maximum value. Good opponents won't throw spells during combat for extra damage when you have decay mana open, but unless your life total is very high you can rarely afford to take the hit. Waiting until combat at least gives the opponent the chance to waste a spell.

Post-board I have tried going max-combo and max-disruptive. I like the disruptive route. Post-board I want to do a few things. 1) board down on Aluren because it is slow. 2) bring in all of my disruptive spells (decay, edict, duress, mindbreak, cabal therapy, etc - whatever I have that day) 3) bring in any life gain (I run a second parasitic strix in the board), and 4) improve my cascades. This latter one means I often trim 2-3 cavern harpy, since cascading into them on an empty board sucks, especially when your opponent is trying to burn you and you need a clock. A dead cascade can cost you 4+ damage. With my current build I go -3 aluren, -2 harpy, -1 Ponder, -1 bayou, + 1 p. strix, +2 duress, +1 decay, +2 therapy, +1 edict. Of note, in my experience the UR players typically remove 2-4 daze and 3-4 forces post-board, opting for only a couple pierces, blood moon, and/or burn. For this reason, if I draw my post-board aluren with any value in hand, I cast it with little fear, and almost never try to find protection for it first. Occasionally the board is close enough that you can hold it in favor of other value plays from your hand, but if you are behind it is a good, and normally safe last ditch effort. Despite their more limited disruption post-board, I favor siding out alurens because drawing multiple alurens caused me several losses when I could not get enough business to stabilize.

[Darjeeling]

So after some time has passed, I've really liked maindecking Thoughtseize. Might go to 3 copies by cutting the 2nd Parasitic.

[TTX]

So after some time has passed, I've really liked maindecking Thoughtseize. Might go to 3 copies by cutting the 2nd Parasitic.

This.
I always go with 4 Cabal Therapy, 2 or 3 Thoughtseizes.


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