[Deck] Aluren

[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?