[Deck] Aluren

As the metagame - at least online- has moved to much faster combo like sneak and show variations and storm, I've gone back to a recruiter build that also plays 4 Fow (23 blue cards)

I went 4-1 in the last league with it, losing in the last round to Grixis delver.

It still can grind well and I like the 1-card combo aspect to steal games.

I'm not playing any off-color duals (currently playing 3x White recruiter- so I can run chill in the board, but no white duals)

I'm also up to 1 birds as a 5th deathrite to help with the speed and rise of wasteland/delver decks.

Just some thoughts.

I also play recruiter version with FOW and blue count of 23. Having more room now that I don't have to play decay anymore, I also removed shardless to enter gitaxian probe + cabal therapy. Need more testing though.

Haven't seen any activity here in a while. How are people feeling about this deck now that the post-miracles metagame is taking shape?

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Originally Posted by limbo

Haven't seen any activity here in a while. How are people feeling about this deck now that the post-miracles metagame is taking shape?

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Aluren was fringe-ish even when it was a "foil" to previous Miracles, so it's not surprising that it's dropped out of favor quite a bit after the Top ban.

While other combo decks may be more powerful and well set-up currently (see Storm, BR reanimator, Sneak&Show), I think Aluren is still pretty great and I also just enjoy piloting it.

As I alluded to above, I've gone away from the pure value BUG deck to playing a Recruiter version to speed up the deck's kill.

It's also noteworthy that Cartesian continues to carry the flag for the deck as I saw he came in 17th in the latest legacy challenge, playing his value-BUG list.

Here's the list I got a 4-1 with again last night (the quest for a 5-0 continues).

Creatures (20):
4x Deathrite Shaman
1x Birds of Paradise
2x Cavern Harpy (acts as '4th' Recruiter as those who have played the pure BUG value lists know)
4x Baleful Strix
1x Arctic Merfolk
1x Parasitic Strix
2x Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1x Shardless Agent
1x Eternal Witness
1x Vendillion Clique
3x Recruiter of the Guard

Instants/Sorceries (16):
4x Brainstorm
4x Force of Will
3x Ponder
3x Thoughtseize
2x Abrupt Decay

Enchantments (4):
4x Aluren

Lands (19):
4x Misty Rainforest
3x Verdant Catacombs
3x Polluted Delta
2x Bayou
2x Tropical Island
1x Underground Sea
2x Forest
1x Island
1x Swamp

SB:
2x Mindbreak Trap
1x Vendillion Clique
1x Abrupt Decay
1x Pithing Needle
1x Null Rod
1x Chill
1x Toxic Deluge
1x Engineered Plague
2x Diabolic Edict
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Reclamation Sage
1x Carpet of Flowers

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Originally Posted by Absolutflipz

Aluren was fringe-ish even when it was a "foil" to previous Miracles, so it's not surprising that it's dropped out of favor quite a bit after the Top ban.

While other combo decks may be more powerful and well set-up currently (see Storm, BR reanimator, Sneak&Show), I think Aluren is still pretty great and I also just enjoy piloting it.

As I alluded to above, I've gone away from the pure value BUG deck to playing a Recruiter version to speed up the deck's kill.

It's also noteworthy that Cartesian continues to carry the flag for the deck as I saw he came in 17th in the latest legacy challenge, playing his value-BUG list.

Here's the list I got a 4-1 with again last night (the quest for a 5-0 continues).

Creatures (20):
4x Deathrite Shaman
1x Birds of Paradise
2x Cavern Harpy (acts as '4th' Recruiter as those who have played the pure BUG value lists know)
4x Baleful Strix
1x Arctic Merfolk
1x Parasitic Strix
2x Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1x Shardless Agent
1x Eternal Witness
1x Vendillion Clique
3x Recruiter of the Guard

Instants/Sorceries (16):
4x Brainstorm
4x Force of Will
3x Ponder
3x Thoughtseize
2x Abrupt Decay

Enchantments (4):
4x Aluren

Lands (19):
4x Misty Rainforest
3x Verdant Catacombs
3x Polluted Delta
2x Bayou
2x Tropical Island
1x Underground Sea
2x Forest
1x Island
1x Swamp

SB:
2x Mindbreak Trap
1x Vendillion Clique
1x Abrupt Decay
1x Pithing Needle
1x Null Rod
1x Chill
1x Toxic Deluge
1x Engineered Plague
2x Diabolic Edict
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Reclamation Sage
1x Carpet of Flowers

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Ironically I'm going to be playing the deck for the first time tonight. I've been flip flopping between Food Chain and Aluren. Played Food Chain last week and it was pretty cool, time to give Aluren a chance.


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A mistake I made in the above Recruiter list is that I did not play a second Arctic Merfolk or a first Quickling in addition to the Arctic Merfolk.

Having a 2nd copy of Arctic of Quickling (i.e 1 Arctic + 1 Quickling, or 2 Arctic, or 2 Quickling) lets you beat a removal spell when comboing off from a "naked" board state where you have Aluren out and start chaining out from only a Recruiter in hand.

The pinch point for a removal spell to interrupt is when you get your last Recruiter, which then fetches Arctic Merfolk --- Arctic ---> Bounce and Replay Recruiter ---> Get Harpy --- Play Harpy -- have your Arctic Merfolk StP'ed, Decay'ed, etc...so if you fetch the Quickling out first you'll have 2 Blue bouncers in play when you go for the Harpy, thus making them need 2 removal spells to interrupt the Harpy getting the chain further along to the combo.

It adds another slot to the deck, which is annoying, and I've only had it come up recently (which is why the lightbulb went on that I need another of that effect), but it shows that it is pretty relevant, even if it's not coming up a lot.

Eternal Witness is less necessary, though, since you're on a single Parasitic, it does help a lot from getting your combo dismantled by an early discard.

FWIW I would cut the 1 Sharldess for +1 Quickling.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Absolutflipz

A mistake I made in the above Recruiter list is that I did not play a second Arctic Merfolk or a first Quickling in addition to the Arctic Merfolk.

Having a 2nd copy of Arctic of Quickling (i.e 1 Arctic + 1 Quickling, or 2 Arctic, or 2 Quickling) lets you beat a removal spell when comboing off from a "naked" board state where you have Aluren out and start chaining out from only a Recruiter in hand.

The pinch point for a removal spell to interrupt is when you get your last Recruiter, which then fetches Arctic Merfolk --- Arctic ---> Bounce and Replay Recruiter ---> Get Harpy --- Play Harpy -- have your Arctic Merfolk StP'ed, Decay'ed, etc...so if you fetch the Quickling out first you'll have 2 Blue bouncers in play when you go for the Harpy, thus making them need 2 removal spells to interrupt the Harpy getting the chain further along to the combo.

It adds another slot to the deck, which is annoying, and I've only had it come up recently (which is why the lightbulb went on that I need another of that effect), but it shows that it is pretty relevant, even if it's not coming up a lot.

Eternal Witness is less necessary, though, since you're on a single Parasitic, it does help a lot from getting your combo dismantled by an early discard.

FWIW I would cut the 1 Sharldess for +1 Quickling.

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Thank you for laying that out clearly. I was saying this 9 months ago. The pinch can be real.
Also, Quickling is a lot better when not in the combo. It saves creatures and is a surprise blocker. I stand by the 1 Merfolk 1 Quickling split if you're playing the white Recruiter version of the deck.


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Originally Posted by TTX

Thank you for laying that out clearly. I was saying this 9 months ago. The pinch can be real.
Also, Quickling is a lot better when not in the combo. It saves creatures and is a surprise blocker. I stand by the 1 Merfolk 1 Quickling split if you're playing the white Recruiter version of the deck.


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Yeah, no prob - it is definitely a thing and I agree on the 1 Arctic/1 Quickling split.

What I really wanna know from Cartesian is how did the Magus of the Will work out? It looks super sweet...especially with Copter and just after a long grindy game, land Aluren with 3 mana leftover to basically then have a 20 card hand or something.

Did Magus of the Will play well or was it Win-More and just a worse Eternal Witness?

Magus of the Will is good. I highly recommend it.

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Originally Posted by Dutch253

Ironically I'm going to be playing the deck for the first time tonight. I've been flip flopping between Food Chain and Aluren. Played Food Chain last week and it was pretty cool, time to give Aluren a chance.


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What did you think? I built Aluren (BUG, no recruiter) and Food Chain, and I think I like Aluren a bit more. I like it's mid range plan a bit better, and have hit some good value off of Shadless. I may have to try the Recruiter version before making a decision, but I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Does anybody Know the lost of the player made top 32 at Vegas?

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Originally Posted by Cartesian

Magus of the Will is good. I highly recommend it.

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I'm a little new to Aluren, and I'm wondering if you can expand on Magus's place in the deck?
Also, it doesn't look like there's any consensus in where to start building the deck - even within micro archetypes of recruiter vs bug builds. Is there a recommended base or core to the build, beyond 4 DRS, 4 Aluren, 4 Brainstorm? Even within your recent lists on mtgtop8, there's quite a bit of variance!

Heard about a list with 8 spirit guides, 8 recruiters and I'm assuming a ton of hand hate. Any thoughts on possible lists for something like this?

I was thinking Lotus Petals, spirit guides, some amount of City of Traitors and/or Ancient Tombs. Apparently Julian Knaab (elves guy) played against it at Vegas and I kind of want to jam 8 recruiters for that quick win aspect.

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Originally Posted by CanyonMinotaur

I'm a little new to Aluren, and I'm wondering if you can expand on Magus's place in the deck?
Also, it doesn't look like there's any consensus in where to start building the deck - even within micro archetypes of recruiter vs bug builds. Is there a recommended base or core to the build, beyond 4 DRS, 4 Aluren, 4 Brainstorm? Even within your recent lists on mtgtop8, there's quite a bit of variance!

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I would also be interested

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Originally Posted by Rekk

I would also be interested

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I'm no Cartesian, but I've tried his Magus some and just from the card itself I'd say it's kind of the ultimate grindy card. In a game that goes long or involves lots of discard (e.g. hymns from BUG) or when you flood out, Magus represents usually a rebuy of a land, ponder/brainstorm, deathrite and a decay on average. It's also a fairly must-answer card in many situations. Now, if you end up trading forever and stick an Aluren at some point and don't have the combo in hand (whether on the BUG value list or Recruiter-BUG), Magus of the Will represents an insane potential topdeck with Aluren out.


Also, this list that plays all 8 recruiters and Spirit Guides, Petal, Tombs/Cities sounds like you should just play Belcher at that point....or you know a good ritual-based combo deck like Storm.

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Originally Posted by Absolutflipz

I'm no Cartesian, but I've tried his Magus some and just from the card itself I'd say it's kind of the ultimate grindy card. In a game that goes long or involves lots of discard (e.g. hymns from BUG) or when you flood out, Magus represents usually a rebuy of a land, ponder/brainstorm, deathrite and a decay on average. It's also a fairly must-answer card in many situations. Now, if you end up trading forever and stick an Aluren at some point and don't have the combo in hand (whether on the BUG value list or Recruiter-BUG), Magus of the Will represents an insane potential topdeck with Aluren out.


Also, this list that plays all 8 recruiters and Spirit Guides, Petal, Tombs/Cities sounds like you should just play Belcher at that point....or you know a good ritual-based combo deck like Storm.

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This makes sense to me. I guess my concern was running one in the board seemed to have similar appeal to a Sylvan Library, but the way you describe it sounds like it's a lot more explosive advantage if you untap with it. Would you run a 21st land or 5th dork to be sure you have plenty of mana when you use it? It seems best if you have a karakas already in the board to up the land count.

Hey so I'm not a big Aluren player, only messed around with the strictly BUG leovold version for a month or so.

But what do we think of the new Uncage the Menagerie? Finds the creature combo we're missing and then just casts em for free?

X=2 finds cavern harpy and baleful strix, which should win the game. X=3 gets parasitic, leovold, rec Sage, recruiter, shardless, etc.

It's a bad cascade target, apart from that I could see it work...

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Originally Posted by Fjaulnir

It's a bad cascade target, apart from that I could see it work...

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Ah true completely overlooked that. Hm. Still seems interesting.

Is Cascade worth playing then, if you can tutor the win?

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