[Deck] Aluren

[oarsman]

Indeed, I was wrong.

[swoop]

Played with some good success while testing against Espher blade with shamans.
Some less success against maverick with kotr/darkdepts combo.

our monthly tourney was cancelled due to location being too close to EU entrance shenenigans and homoerotics in zagreb

[The Duressed]

Well I tested Baleful Strix today, and it was absolutely incredible. I was blown away by how good that card is and how much better it was for me than Coiling Oracle. My local event was 4 rounds of swiss with no cut to top 8. There was even one game where I was playing against BUG tempo, and I was able to use Volrath's Stronghold and Baleful Strix to address all 4 of the opponent's threats.

I was very impressed by that card. I highly recommend testing it.

[swoop]

Finished 4:0 a tournament in my LGS.

M1 2:1 against MUD

G1 he mulls to 4 I beat him down with critters as I do not draw Aluren or mana
G2 he beats me with early chalice + trinisphere
G3 he puts on chalice on 1, before that I therapied 1. then he puts down Trinisphere and Lodestone. And that's it for the whole game.

I beat him down with Shardless and Eternal Witness to oblivion. A turn before he'd kill me, or two.

M2 2:1 against UR Delver
G1 I managed to press him and finally kill him without casting Aluren. Critters FTV
G2 We stall for a long time, play around and when I finally have all it takes on board (except strix) he manages to burn me in response to my Harpy while I'm at 5. Bolt for 3 and Price of progres for 4. If I were 1 life higher I could've bounced lands via Dream Stalker.
G3 I manage to push Aluren and protect it so normal game tbh

M3 2:0 against WBUG Maverick or whatever.
G1 he does whatever, I just aluren for win, tries to STP harpy.
G2 same thing basically... it just took a little longer.

I was lucky he didn't draw wasteland or hand distruption

M4 2:1 (we ID'ed actually for split prizes) against some GB junk
Fun games but nothing special. Happened. His veteran explorers actually helped me more than him. and he paid for that a bit later.

My advantage was that no one knew what I was playing, but hey. you can keep that card up your sleeve only so long.

4 Coiling Oracle
3 Imperial Recruiter
1 Dream Stalker
2 Cavern Harpy
1 Parasitic Strix
1 Eternal Witness
4 Shardless Agent
2 Wall of Roots
1 Wall of Blossoms
2 Vendilion Clicque
1 Manowar
1 Selkie Hedge Mage

4 Aluren

4 Brainstorm
3 Cabal Therapy
2 Intuition


4 Force of Will


2 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
1 Bayou
1 Taiga
1 Breeding Pool
2 Island
1 Swamp
3 Forest
1 Misty Rainforest
3 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept heath
1 Volrath's Stronghold

[sumbahdy]

Hey man tried out the deck as I've been really wanting to play this since the Recruiters were already a bit cheaper. Tried out your list and I here's a couple of questions:

1) How are the Coiling Oracles as the only "ramp/acceleration"? Missing a land on the flip means you still have to wait until turn 4 before you can cast Aluren.
2) About SHardless Agent: I know he is strong but doesn't it add randomness in your draws? I could understand in BUG where it would shine but here it's just meh.

I would like to remove Shardless Agent and add the 4th Recruiter and maybe 3 Ponders? Maybe adding 2 Ancient Tomb also could help. Tried using the deck against Stifle.dec (RUG, BUG and URW) to see how resilient the deck could be and if it can reach 4 mana in time to pull off and combo against all that hate.

[swoop]

Hey man tried out the deck as I've been really wanting to play this since the Recruiters were already a bit cheaper. Tried out your list and I here's a couple of questions:

1) How are the Coiling Oracles as the only "ramp/acceleration"? Missing a land on the flip means you still have to wait until turn 4 before you can cast Aluren.
2) About SHardless Agent: I know he is strong but doesn't it add randomness in your draws? I could understand in BUG where it would shine but here it's just meh.

I would like to remove Shardless Agent and add the 4th Recruiter and maybe 3 Ponders? Maybe adding 2 Ancient Tomb also could help. Tried using the deck against Stifle.dec (RUG, BUG and URW) to see how resilient the deck could be and if it can reach 4 mana in time to pull off and combo against all that hate.

1. Tbh I love oracles, you might swap them with Baleful strix if you have those, I dont and I didn't try them out yet. Oracle is a great card still.

2. try removing some cards and add up to 3 living wishes. so you can go Agent > cascade > living wish. This card is also very strong as it won me few matches on last tourneys.

I don't have 4 recs, just 3. I tapped out buying these so I'm putting my foot down now. Tombs and Ponders are unnecessary.

[swoop]

oh yeah played also 3x Chain of Vapor in SB, boarded in in 4th against nic fit with deeds.

Agent post or before aluren into Chain of vapor is nice. very nice

[sumbahdy]

Thanks for the reply. Will try what you suggested and also what am planning to add. I'll report back what happens.

[swoop]

Thing with the Aluren is that you don't have the "right" build. It all varies with what you feel at home with, whats on metagame and your play style

[sumbahdy]

Should there be a back-up plan when Aluren gets Extracted? I read somewhere a Natural Order board plan. Your thoughts?

[swoop]

I used to play that plan back in the days. Now I just beat the crap out of them plain and hard.

Try not to get it extracted ;)

[sumbahdy]

Just finished a big tournament here in the Philippines playing Aluren to a 4-3 record. Match-ups are as follows:
Rd 1: URW Miracle 0-2
Rd 2: BYE
Rd 3: Manaless Dredge 2-1
Rd 4: GW Mav 1-2
Rd 5: Junk 2-1
Rd 6: Nine Post (Forgemaster combo) 0-2 (In 1 game, Intuition EOT and while it is on the stack, Forgemaster into Sundering Titan. BAM no lands and just chump blockers. GG)
Rd 7: Burn 2-1

The list:
1x Bayou
2x Forest
2x Island
3x Misty Rainforest
1x Swamp
1x Taiga
3x Tropical Island
1x Underground Sea
4x Verdant Catacombs
2x Windswept Heath
1x Cavern Harpy
4x Coiling Oracle
1x Dream Stalker
1x Eternal Witness
4x Imperial Recruiter
1x Man-o’-War
1x Parasitic Strix
2x Wall of Roots
4x Aluren
4x Brainstorm
4x Cabal Therapy
1x Echoing Truth
4x Force of Will
4x Gitaxian Probe
2x Intuition
2x Repeal

SB:
3x Abrupt Decay
1x Karakas
4x Leyline of Sanctity
1x Naturalize
1 Nature’s Ruin
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Thoughtseize
2x Vendilion Clique

Some thoughts:
1) The main deck bounce has been great. This gives me a way to interact with my opponent especially against MD hate.
2) I tested this list against URW Delver(Stifles main) and concluded that the deck has a hard time to get to 4 mana to be able to cast Aluren. The Wall of Roots were okay but I think Wall of Blossoms is better since it replaces itself.
3) Should have ran silver bullet creatures to maximize the Recruiters. So far can’t think of a Harmonic Sliver replacement found in BUG colors.
4) Selkie Hedge-Mage should have been in my SB. It’s a utility card and I would like to put it back MD if I had the space.
5) Had to explain the loop when I was already going to combo. It was fun watching my opponents read all the pieces as I searched and played the pieces


@swoop
My Aluren were not extracted but the Recruiters got hit. Luckily I won through a Vendilion Clique beatdown. The deck is a blast to play and would play it again the next time around. Did not get a chance to use the Natural Order plan as it requires 6 board slots so I will have 9 remaining for other match-ups.

[kiblast]

3) Should have ran silver bullet creatures to maximize the Recruiters. So far can’t think of a Harmonic Sliver replacement found in BUG colors.

Stern Proctor? Not exactly the same, but it's ok if you need to deal with pesky permanents and then go off.

[sumbahdy]

Stern Proctor? Not exactly the same, but it's ok if you need to deal with pesky permanents and then go off.

That could work thanks. I've had several instances that I can't interact with my opponent when a Leyline of Sanctity.

[The Duressed]

If stern proctor is good enough, just play Venser.

[FTW]

If stern proctor is good enough, just play Venser.

This is an Aluren deck....

read Aluren, and then read Venser, Shaper Savant...

[EpicLevelCommoner]

Any advice for this list? Kind of a mash-up between Nic Fit ramp, Aluren combo, and Shardless dig.

4x Veteran Explorer
4x Green Sun's Zenith
1x Dryad Arbor
4x Cabal Therapy
3x Force of Will
1x Diabolic Intent
4x Ancestral Visions
4x Brainstorm
4x Shardless Agent
4x Coiling Oracle
1x Augury Owl
2x Cavern Harpy
1x Parasitic Strix
3x Aluren
3x Forest
3x Island
2x Swamp
4x Misty Rainforest
2x Polluted Delta
2x Verdant Catacombs
2x Tropical Island
1x Bayou
1x Underground Sea

[sumbahdy]

Isn’t it a bit ambitious jamming all three decks together in one shell? The Nic Fit accel package is nice but the deck will have a hard time determining which role it would be using. I would suggest going down to 2 mix Aluren with either shardless or Nic Fit. I THINK somebody toyed with the idea of Nic Fit and Aluren somewhere back. Or maybe move one of the deck pieces to the Sb for another plan of attack dependingon the match up

[swoop]

GSZ is useless other than going t1 for arbor.

Visions outside Cascade is useless.

Intent + explorer = could be used

Also, Owl? why?

[kiblast]

3x Aluren