Greetings eveyone :smile:
This is my first post here, I've been navigating through various forums and this is the first time I see a thread about Aluren 13 pages long. I had to register because I couldn't resist.
I've read the entire thread and found lots of ideas, so I'd like to add some of mine just in case they could seem useful.
I've been playing a non-Recruiter version for some months (hoping to become years), starting from the list Toad showed in his article and adapting it to my tastes:
3 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
3 Windswept Heath
2 Tropical Island
2 Bayou
3 Island
1 Underground Sea
5 Forest
4 Wall of Blossoms
4 Wall of Roots
2 Man-o'-War
4 Raven Familiar
3 Cavern Harpy
1 Spike Feeder
2 Eternal Witness
2 Chain of Vapor
4 Aluren
2 Chord of Calling
4 Brainstorm
2 Intuition
3 Cabal Therapy
3 Pernicious Deed
Sideboard:
1 Cabal Therapy
4 Force of Will
3 Hydroblast
1 Harmonic Sliver
2 Research/Development
4 Offalsnout
- Mana base: I've always been obsessed with Wasteland, so I like to have as many basic lands as possible. Besides I saw that having to fetch a Bayou when I just needed :b: could be an unnecessary risk sometimes, so I added a Swamp. Not all fetchlands here can find it, but I think it's still important. I was also playing with 4 Tropical Islands until I had to play in a tournament with only 2 and didn't notice any difference. That Underground Sea looked good on paper for cases where you may need both colors for the following turns, and I fetch it sometimes indeed. 2 Bayous are okay for me.
- Creatures: mostly unchanged, I made room for the last Wall of Blossoms I usually saw in the sideboard. Even being an explanation for that, I've always thought it's rather pointless anyway. IMHO an additional Wall maindeck shouldn't hinder our development.
- Other spells: after sideboarding Force of Will out in all 7 rounds in a tournament for Pernicious Deeds in 6 of them, my conclusion is that Deeds maindeck should win me more games that Force of Will maindeck and I made the change. I think it depends on the metagame, though, but I'm more satisfied with this configuration. I also made room for 2 Chord of Calling and I like them as well. The fact that they put the creature directly into play is amazing and it's key to winning in many situations, especially when you search a Harpy.
- Sideboard: Harmonic Sliver is a dead card without Aluren in play, but I don't think we need it before that. Besides it can come into play via Chord of Calling. I use it as an answer to general hate in the form of artifacts and enchantments (Pithing Needle, Engineered Plague, Rule of Law, etc.) because it's easy to bounce and replay as many times as needed. Force of Will can't be cut entirely because it's necessary against fast combo decks. I started playing Research / Development a long time ago mainly to recover extirpated Alurens, although it could also bring sideboard cards if necessary; now that Extirpate doesn't appear x4 in every sideboard in my metagame, this card is getting gradually useless to me. I'd run just 1 now, or even cut it out completely. Offalsnouts are there to answer Ichorid decks since they're increasing in numbers; I think Leyline of the Void could be equally effective.
About Imperial Recruiter, when I started to see Aluren lists with it I didn't like them. Almost all my main reasons have already been explained, Recruiter is red and adding another color makes the mana base more vulnerable to Wasteland, but what I don't really like is that in contrast to Chord of Calling, the creature you search with a Recruiter goes to your hand. That's a serious drawback for me, since I've won several games thanks to the creature being put directly into play. You can always try building a stable 4-color mana base, but Recruiter's ability can't change.
Despite all of it, I ended up guessing I had to give it a try. A friend of mine had bought 4 Recruiters a long time ago (when they were a lot cheaper) and lends me them if necessary, so I just had to think of a decklist I'd like. I started from the previous list and thinking the lesser elements I cut completely, the better. After looking at some lists again and with some cards I previously knew, I ended up with this:
2 Tropical Island
2 Bayou
1 Taiga
5 Forest
1 Swamp
2 Island
3 Polluted Delta
3 Wooded Foothills
1 Volcanic Island
4 Tinder Wall
1 Cavern Harpy
4 Imperial Recruiter
4 Wall of Roots
1 Spike Feeder
2 Eternal Witness
3 Raven Familiar
2 Arctic Merfolk
1 ??? (Ghitu Slinger / Etched Oracle / Man-O'-War / Bone Shredder)
3 Cabal Therapy
4 Aluren
4 Brainstorm
2 Chain of Vapor
2 Intuition
3 Pernicious Deed
Sideboard:
1 Cabal Therapy
1 Harmonic Sliver
3 Force of Will
2 Offalsnout
3 Hydroblast
3 Pyroblast
2 Etched Oracle
- Mana base: the changes are minimal because red is here just as a little splash. The only card I see as mandatory is Volcanic Island since it's the only interesting Mountain that all fetchlands in the deck can find. That Taiga is there because :r: :g: is interesting, but I think we could replace it with another Tropical Island or fetchland and nothing would happen.
- Creatures: I refuse to run less than 7 Walls, but now that :r: is something more than colorless mana, Tinder Wall is okay to me. It's a Wall that drops earlier than others, blocks any creature except those from Threshold decks if they get big, and kills, for example, any goblin it blocks. Besides it allows almost any other card to be played on turn 2 and I think it's our best weapon game 1 against Ichorid since it removes Bridges from Below pretty easily. I may be wrong cutting Wall of Blossoms though. Apart from that its :r::r: may allow us to cut the Taiga. Regarding that unknown creature that is Arctic Merfolk. Its main duty in the combo being an additional cost makes this Merfolk superior to Dream Stalker IMHO. It's immune to counters and Stifle and its ability has Split Second. Other than that it's a 2/2, worse than 1/5, but I replace that miss with Tinder Walls. Finally there's that slot I don't know what to fill it with. All those listed cards are useful to me, but I don't know if any of them is actually okay.
- Other spells: I miss Chord of Calling, however Recruiters aren't bad substitutes, despite that drawback I'll never like. The rest stays the same. Pernicious Deed still helps, especially against aggro-control.
- Sideboard: I feared cutting Offalsnout completely, but I think I should do it and add the last Force of Will again. IMHO Pyroblast is good against Ichorid, Landstill and maybe IGG, but I must test it. Etched Oracle should be good against discard decks, but still don't know. Most new cards here are untested yet.
About the cons just listed above:
Quote:
- if you do not splash red in your mana base, then you have 3-4 dead draws until you are ready to combo off.
Agreed.
Quote:
- if you splash red in the mana base to not make recruiters dead draws, it makes for a really bad mana base.
I think it doesn't have to. Red as a splash needs just 1-2 lands, and other duals aren't necessary enough to run more than 2 copies. I play with 6 fetchlands, 8 basic lands, 6 duals, and with 8 Walls that produce additional mana. IMHO it's good for a 4-color deck.
Quote:
- I've noticed a lot of recruiter builds ignore familiars, which are a vital draw mechanism, as well as being pitchable to fow, not to mention that they fly.
Completely agreed, it's important not to cut one of the few creatures with flying. Recruiters don't obsolete Ravens since they can find noncreature cards and still combo out if Recruiters aren't there for some reason.
Quote:
- if a goblin player has a goblin sharpshooter in his deck, then you better pray you have a fow when you go off, because if you don't then you lost as soon as your dream stalker hits the stack.
It depends on how many goblin decks are in a tournament, how many of them run Sharpshooters, and how many times the opponent gets to play them. Highly relative situation I guess.
Quote:
- I also noticed a lot of recruiter builds cutting down on the # of harpies. Having more than one in hand is very handy when you need to respond to someones hate.
IMHO Harpies curse the deck. It's paradoxical that the most dead card in the deck while not comboing is also the first one we want to have in hand when Aluren is in play. Aluren should read "When Aluren comes into play, search your library for any number of cards named Cavern Harpy, reveal them, and put them into your hand. Then shuffle your library" in addition to its actual ability. I guess Recruiter versions can run just 1 if they want and do so because they prefer running 1 and play it after all other creatures (thus risking to lose) than running 3 and risking to have some dead in hand long before comboing. I think both ways are correct and both are incorrect. Since we can't reach a middle point with the cards we have right now, we'll have to choose one until Wizards release some sort of a solution. For now I prefer 1 Harpy and use Arctic Merfolk to help.
P.D: Excuse my bad English :tongue:
