[Deck] Aluren

[RobNC]

I made some tests with collective brutality in place of my 2 maindeck thoughtseize
Against creature decks it's very good : being able to kill deathrite shaman / white creatures / elves / delvers + sometimes extra discard against counters is good.
But against other decks it's weak and/or slow. So maybe it's more of a sideboard card ?

Now I would like to test gitaxian probe in that slots.
It looks good to know if the way if free to combo + great interaction with cabal therapy.
I've never seen the card in decklists playing recruiters/therapy version, has anyone tested that ?

Were you often pitching cards to escalate or did you usually cast it for one mode?

Cabal Therapy can play well with this deck because most of the creatures we'd sacrifice have ETB triggers, but unless you're playing one or two Volrath's Stronghold you'd have no way of getting that value back. I love Collective Brutality but I feel it's best at home in Reanimator strategies, where you want something in the graveyard, or something like in Junk/Abzan colors where you can pitch Lingering Souls or extra legendary creatures.

[comix84]

Played yesterday for the first time with the BUG version, considering a few mistakes I still closed with a decent 2-1-1, the draw was against lands in a great game where Leovold was fantastic and the fact that we are playing a lot of flyers gave me the time to find Aluren :) the loss was against DnT that is my nemesis! The 2 wins, one was a bye on round 1 and then I beated elves (god saves the Jitte!)

I felt the deck a lot more consistent compared to the recruiter version, less problems with the mana and I really liked the couple of extra ponders (I am a cantrip lover). The only thing is that I feel the deck could suffer even more than before all the fast combos like Ant.


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[Moneymakermich]

Were you often pitching cards to escalate or did you usually cast it for one mode?

Really depending on the deck and situation.

Death and tax : always -2/-2 only.
Elves : -2/-2 only if I plan to combo on the next (2) turn(s), else escalate for discard hoping to hit natural order or glimpse.
Delver : -2/-2 only if I just want to gain time, escalated with discard if planning to combo the next turn hoping to hit counters or removal. I've experienced that even if the escalated spell gets FOW, it's still a 2 for 2 cards exchange, and the path should then be clear of counters on the next turn anyway...
Storm : once escalated for discard + drain 2 life (which was finally not relevant but it could have been...)

[Fjaulnir]

Question to the guys playing BUG Aluren preferably the ones who've had real results with it so are more experienced.


I've been playtesting it a bit on and off for the last weeks, but now I'm planning on taking it to a real tournament and that's a bit scary the 2 Blue Blasts, are they just against decks like Burn, or would you side them in against something like Grixis too? Stops their Bolts and/or Pyroblasts, possibly against Miracles their Pyroblasts and Blood Moon.
But against Bolts/Blasts, isn't Flusterstorm equally stronk? Or even more so. And Blood Moon isn't really a problem with 4 basics + DRS. So all I can see left is the Burn matchup because of countering Eidolon.


I also notice the Glissa got cut from the sideboards on MTGO recently. Is this due to Eldrazi mostly disappearing? Or was the card not that necessary against Eldrazi anyway because it would be a favourable matchup? Just asking because I haven't had a chance to playtest against Drazi yet, and it seems like it would be a rough matchup (esp on the draw) - I do expect quite a few Drazi/MUD players this weekend, based on the previous tournament by that TO.


With enough people prone to try out Reid Dukes deck, -1/-1 effects seem well positioned too. I was considering Minister of Pain, but saw it never made the 5-0 lists on MODO either. Is Engineered Plague on Merfolk as a continuous effect just better than it being on a creature that also takes Hierarch? It can be bounced by Harpy for cumulative effect if you really need to kill some hate bear like Palace Jailer or whatever random crap DnT can throw at you

[comix84]

Quick one, anyone who has already tried the Hope of Ghirapur in the BUG version? I am still not convinced about it, but happy to listen to proper reports in case :) Ta

[Cartesian]

@Fjaulnir: Hey, and good luck. This is how I would answer your questions:
2 Hydroblast are not for all decks with bolts but for Eidolon, Sneak Attack, burn and the UR Delver deck specifically where many threats are red. Chill is also an option.
You do not want to cascade into Flusterstorm, or anything like that.
Glissa: Leovold is also a 3-drop and an overall stronger card, so that happened. If you expect a lot of Eldrazi bring Glissa, but don't play double basic Island in that case.
Minister of Pain is a good choice, but you will only rarely get an opportunity to abuse it's effect multiple times, so keep that in mind. The best way for us to fight TNN is to ignore it and win.
Remember that paper magic gives you acces to Virtue's Ruin also against DnT.

[Tulkas]

hi guys, i m a modern player that finally decided to build a legacy deck :). i have been reading for two weeks all the threads on this forum and tried some decks on cockatrice and i think i've found the deck i'd like to build (aluren obv xD).
I have seen that lately the bug version is doing very well on mtgo and i would be oriented on this version. do you think that as my only legacy deck would be good or it's a deck that rely from the meta?
I do not think I can buy another deck for a bit 'of time so i'd like to make a safe purchase ^^".

p.s: sorry if i did some mistakes...english is not my first language

[J.Black]

@Tulkas:

If you buy into a BUG version of Aluren, the following will easily transfer to a number of other decks:

Fetches
Duals
Brainstorm
Ponder
Leovold
Abrupt Decay
Force of Will
Shardless Agent
Cabal Therapy

Really, the only things that are specific to Aluren are it's namesake, cavern harpy, and parasitic strix (i won't count glint nest crane as there are millions of them flying around at the moment). Even if you go for the recruiter of the guard version, you're probably only looking at $150 or so of non-transferable cards!

As for Aluren's competitiveness, whilst it is partly meta dependent (and a strong choice atm), it has inherent power and it's ability to win at instant speed makes it a dependable choice. Short of Wizards printing some absurd T1 combo enabler, it's going to be a good deck for a long while!

I do think it's a good deck to learn Legacy with too..... FoW is the best reactive card in the format and gives you a defense against almost any unsuspected shenanigans, believe me, you'll run into a lot of those when learning the format. Therapy is, maybe, the most powerful card in the format but it's a total bastard to learn to use correctly!

[Fjaulnir]

@Fjaulnir: Hey, and good luck. This is how I would answer your questions:
2 Hydroblast are not for all decks with bolts but for Eidolon, Sneak Attack, burn and the UR Delver deck specifically where many threats are red. Chill is also an option.
You do not want to cascade into Flusterstorm, or anything like that.
Glissa: Leovold is also a 3-drop and an overall stronger card, so that happened. If you expect a lot of Eldrazi bring Glissa, but don't play double basic Island in that case.
Minister of Pain is a good choice, but you will only rarely get an opportunity to abuse it's effect multiple times, so keep that in mind. The best way for us to fight TNN is to ignore it and win.
Remember that paper magic gives you acces to Virtue's Ruin also against DnT.

Thanks!! I was totally unaware that V Ruin didn't exist online, that explains why I never see it in sideboards. I own a copy IRL somewhere so I might try that.
The cascade part on Flusterstorm is a good call, didn't think of that yet. And Sneak Attack is definitely a bigger problem than SnT

[twitch]

Normally I play on paper but since moving there isn't that big of a legacy scene around so end up playing online most of the time. When I do I run into quite a lot of storm decks. Leovold is good for this if you have Mindbreak trap in from the side board as you will dig through your deck quite a bit when they trendils you. I've also found Bitter Ordeal to be quite good.

Playing it off a crack fetch and deathrite turn 2 is the best, but its still useful on turn 3. I've also had good success with it against miracles, removing monastery mentor/entreat. And against Show and Tell, removing their emrakul.

[Fjaulnir]

How is it better than either Lost Legacy or Sadistic Sacrament? :-) Sacrament is debatable because running basics makes BBB hard - but you still get to remove 3 cards at least instead of having to hope you get 2 instead of 1.
But lost legacy costing 1BB is already a lot easier, admittedly you can't take 1 Tendrils and 1 ETW but you can take all 4 Show and Tell even if 1 is in their hand, etc.

Gravestorm doesn't seem all that synergistic with Aluren decks, except for fetchlands where you'll *maybe* have one uncracked getting you to 2 Gravestorm?

[TTX]

How is it better than either Lost Legacy or Sadistic Sacrament? :-) Sacrament is debatable because running basics makes BBB hard - but you still get to remove 3 cards at least instead of having to hope you get 2 instead of 1.
But lost legacy costing 1BB is already a lot easier, admittedly you can't take 1 Tendrils and 1 ETW but you can take all 4 Show and Tell even if 1 is in their hand, etc.

Gravestorm doesn't seem all that synergistic with Aluren decks, except for fetchlands where you'll *maybe* have one uncracked getting you to 2 Gravestorm?

Generally I agree, but Cabal Therapy does help out potentially too.


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[twitch]

How is it better than either Lost Legacy or Sadistic Sacrament? :-) Sacrament is debatable because running basics makes BBB hard - but you still get to remove 3 cards at least instead of having to hope you get 2 instead of 1.
But lost legacy costing 1BB is already a lot easier, admittedly you can't take 1 Tendrils and 1 ETW but you can take all 4 Show and Tell even if 1 is in their hand, etc.

Gravestorm doesn't seem all that synergistic with Aluren decks, except for fetchlands where you'll *maybe* have one uncracked getting you to 2 Gravestorm?

Both of those are harder to cast, especially if you want to stick to basic lands. Lost Legacy is probably better, but being able to remove from their hand has never really been that big of an issue for me. If lost legacy is countered, then you get nothing, gravestorm does give you additional copies.

[barcode]

Played FNM tonight with the BUG version. Meekstone won me a game: I cascaded into it and locked down a Delver.

Deck is great when it doesn't flood or get mana screwed, which both happened in the finals, costing me a badlands for 4-0 prize.

I played against Deadguy Ale, Grixis Delver, a Grixis artifact (thopter/sword planeswalker) brew - didnt see tezzeret, Deadguy Ale.

[comix84]

Played FNM tonight with the BUG version. Meekstone won me a game: I cascaded into it and locked down a Delver.

Deck is great when it doesn't flood or get mana screwed, which both happened in the finals, costing me a badlands for 4-0 prize.

I played against Deadguy Ale, Grixis Delver, a Grixis artifact (thopter/sword planeswalker) brew - didnt see tezzeret, Deadguy Ale.

Nice result :)

How many meekstone in the side btw? I like the card (especially considering shardless plus crane that are both "tutor" for it) just wondering what to cut in my side to add it :)

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[barcode]

Nice result :)

How many meekstone in the side btw? I like the card (especially considering shardless plus crane that are both "tutor" for it) just wondering what to cut in my side to add it :)

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Just the one Meekstone. My local meta isn't know for its graveyard shenanigans so I cut a Faerie Macabre. The meta is so out of whack here now: no miracles at all but 3 or 4 deadguy ale.

[Capt4in]

Just the one Meekstone. My local meta isn't know for its graveyard shenanigans so I cut a Faerie Macabre. The meta is so out of whack here now: no miracles at all but 3 or 4 deadguy ale.

I'm in (I think) the same meta as you, and I've been seeing a ton of reanimator lately, so I'm on 4 Leylines right now.

On another note, what can I slot in the board to help with burn and its ilk? I split top 8 in a local 1k today and promptly got smashed by U/R delver in the quarters. I've been finding Burn very tough in general as well. I'm playing several copies of Chill but I'm not sure it's the best option since it is so narrow.

[btm10]

Went a pretty dismal 2-3 today at our 1K, beating BR Reanimator (2-0) and Grixis Delver (2-0), and losing to D&T (0-2, he just had everything in g1 when I cast Aluren and I got mana denialed out in G2), Pox (I probably punted here, 1-2), and Shardless (0-2, I started to go off g1 but flooded out, and my opponent ran basically perfect in g2). Leovold was pretty awful all day. I think he's fine in postboard games when our opponents' cantrips matter more or if they're on combo and we want to buy time more effectively, but he just dilutes the combo plan game 1. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with those two slots, but they're going to be cards that advance the combo plan no matter what.

[comix84]

Went 3-2 today with the BUG version, won against:

- BR Reanimator (2-1)
- Splinter Twin (2-0)
- DnT (2-0)

Lost against:
- BR Reanimator (2-1)
- Tin Fins (2-1)

Made a couple of mistake against Tin Fins (he sided out all the "graveyard sheningans" on game 2 and I didn't want to risk on game 3 so I kept all the hate on G3 - and I was wrong). With BR Reanimator, maybe a i kept a slow hand on G3 but I had a T1 deathrite so I hoped, it didn't work!

Nice one anyway, close 10th at tie breaker. (30 platers tournament)

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[Moneymakermich]

On another note, what can I slot in the board to help with burn and its ilk? I split top 8 in a local 1k today and promptly got smashed by U/R delver in the quarters. I've been finding Burn very tough in general as well. I'm playing several copies of Chill but I'm not sure it's the best option since it is so narrow.

Chill is good VS the pure burn deck, I mean mono red. Against the UR delver I've had some success by siding in removal against their creatures. Delver decks really dont like to see their creatures die, and that gives us enough time to win.

PS: congrats to kaluma for the top8 using 2 copters