At this point everyone knows about the combo of Acererak the Archlich and Aluren. Cast Aluren and then cast and recast Acererak completing Dungeon of the Mad Mage (and drawing into and casting Laboratory Maniac) or Lost Mine of Phandelver (draining your opponent) over and over until you win. The main discussion around this combo was whether it freed up any space in traditional Aluren decks as it is a more compact combo compared to previous ones.
Recently someone 5-0ed with an Acerarak deck which I think makes it the first one to appear on the competitive stage: https://magic.wizards.com/en/article...-07-10#otaba_-. What is interesting about this list is that it is not similar to a traditional Aluren deck and instead looks like a modified Nicfit with a combo finish (and the inspiration of this thread's name)
The list is below:
Planeswalker (2)
2 Grist, the Hunger Tide
Creature (11)
2 Endurance
3 Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath
3 Veteran Explorer
3 Acererak the Archlich
Sorcery (12)
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Living Wish
4 Ponder
Instant (11)
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
Enchantment (4)
4 Aluren
Land (20)
1 Bayou
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Savannah
3 Snow-Covered Forest
3 Snow-Covered Island
1 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
4 Verdant Catacombs
Sideboard (15)
1 Acererak the Archlich
1 Endurance
1 Grist, the Hunger Tide
1 Academy Rector
2 Carpet of Flowers
1 Crime // Punishment
2 Fatal Push
1 Knight of Autumn
1 Plague Engineer
2 Thoughtseize
Living wish is there to search up Acererak and Grist has been a surprisingly decent walker and can be cast off Aluren as well (or searched up with Living Wish). Whether this type of direction for Acererak is better than slotting him into traditional Aluren is an open question, but thought to put up this thread to explore this combo outside the context of just fitting in the new card into existing Aluren lists.
For example - we can consider if the combo can work in a Sylvan Plug type list (Dungeon Stompy) or even in lists running Enlightened Tutor. If you are running a surplus of silver bullets for the later list then even Urza's Saga might be under consideration. Additionally, this isn't the only 4 CMC two card combo in these color combinations to come out this year. One could consider jamming the Aluren+Acererak combo with Chain of Smog+Witherbloom Apprentice for a double pronged approach (for example, if running 8 cards essentially "guarantees" that you will draw it by turn 3, consider treating Chain+Aluren and one card and Witherbloom/Acererak/Living Wish as another - the chances that one of the two combos will be able to go off by turn 3 looks pretty good).
TL/DR - this thread is for exploring the Acererak+Aluren Combo other than just taking Aluren lists and finding room.