[Deck] Aluren

[barcode]

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.

You should have Pernicious Deed to clear out creatures and tokens. Blue Elemental Blast is also quite good, serving as Vindicate/Counterspell in the Burn matchup. It's good for UR Delver, too. You also have to know what your gameplan is. You are the control deck up until you can resolve Aluren and kill them. Chill is reasonable, but you need it on turn 2 every time whereas Blue Blast is excellent on turn 1 and reasonable for following turns since their important spells are red (you shouldn't fear a delver except for the turn 1 delver that flips right away).

[Capt4in]

You should have Pernicious Deed to clear out creatures and tokens. Blue Elemental Blast is also quite good, serving as Vindicate/Counterspell in the Burn matchup. It's good for UR Delver, too. You also have to know what your gameplan is. You are the control deck up until you can resolve Aluren and kill them. Chill is reasonable, but you need it on turn 2 every time whereas Blue Blast is excellent on turn 1 and reasonable for following turns since their important spells are red (you shouldn't fear a delver except for the turn 1 delver that flips right away).

I usually play some mix of pontiff/jitte/deluge for cleaning up the board...isn't deed kind of slow?

I like the idea of Blue blasts though, I may try that on Friday.

[jacethepoopscooper]

OK Cartesian - what's up with the 6 basics and the Sakura Tribe Elder?

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/559604#online

[Cartesian]

It was just a test run that went well. :) Please don't think too much into it. I did like the Tribe-Elders a lot actually, so I might test those again, but maybe not all 3. It helps a lot versus Delver and DnT. I wanted to see how far I could push the basic land count. One of my (many) concerns with the BUG version is it's inherent weakness to Wasteland. Tribe-Elder also gives the deck a few more ways to get Aluren down on turn 3.

[btm10]

It was just a test run that went well. :) Please don't think too much into it. I did like the Tribe-Elders a lot actually, so I might test those again, but maybe not all 3. It helps a lot versus Delver and DnT. I wanted to see how far I could push the basic land count. One of my (many) concerns with the BUG version is it's inherent weakness to Wasteland. Tribe-Elder also gives the deck a few more ways to get Aluren down on turn 3.

I've been very happy with 2 Forest, 1 Island, 1 Swamp, 1 Hierarch, fwiw.

[Moneymakermich]

Have you seen this list?

http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=14590&d=287499&f=LE

I like the fact that it combines FOW and recruiters.
But I miss the decays and would bring them i' the place of intuition and therapies.
I'll give it a try.

[Kobra_D]

Hey Everyone,

I've been playing legacy for a while but just conveniently picked up an aluren in a trade. I would like to build the deck, and from what I've seen it doesn't need the combo to finish (critter beats is fine) but is there a way to skew this any further?

I would rather play this much more focused on the value rather than the combo finish.

If not, and the strix finish is too efficient to pass up I'll understand but I figured if there was anyplace to ask this would be it.

Thanks.

[hofzge]

Played this list to a 3-0-1 finish at LGS:

2x Bayou
2x Forest
2x Island
3x Misty Rainforest
4x Polluted Delta
1x Swamp
3x Tropical Island
2x Underground Sea
3x Verdant Catacombs

4x Baleful Strix
4x Cavern Harpy
4x Deathrite Shaman
2x Glint-Nest Crane
2x Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1x Parasitic Strix
4x Shardless Agent

3x Abrupt Decay
4x Brainstorm
4x Force of Will
2x Ponder
2x Smuggler's Copter
4x Aluren

Sideboard
1x Abrupt Decay
2x Cabal Therapy
2x Carpet of Flowers
2x Engineered Plague
1x Meekstone
4x Surgical Extraction
2x Thoughtseize
1x Umezawa's Jitte

Won against 12Post (2-0), Aggro Loam (2-0), Storm (2-0)
Drew against Miracles (1-1-1)

I love the change from 2 Parasitic Strix and 1 Glint-Nest Crane to 1 Parasitic Strix and 2 Glint-Nest Cranes. I searched multiple times through the entire library for the Strix to kill.
The change to 2 Copters is also great as they singlehandedly won a game against Miracles (still an enormously grindy matchup). Also they make your dorky CITP dudes into threats as well as filtering towards Aluren.

Most games I won by comboing - especially against uninteractive opponents like 12Post or Aggro Loam the deck is just great; against Miracles I won via Copter beats; against Storm I won with Leovold & double Force and Cabal Therapy & Force and then normal beatdown.

I never boarded in either Meekstone or Engineered Plague and maybe one could also cut a carpet of Flowers, but that card is just so good against any Delver deck.

TL DR: I won some and love the current incarnation of the deck.

[Darjeeling]

Went 4-2 this past weekend at our 67 player monthly Legacy event with the BG-focused Recruiter build. Good for 8th on breakers, lost in top 8.

24 Creatures
4 Recruiter of the Guard
4 Baleful Strix
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Shardless Agent
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
2 Arctic Merfolk
1 Cavern Harpy
1 Eternal Witness
1 Parasitic Strix
1 Reclamation Sage

16 Other
4 Brainstorm
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Cabal Therapy
2 Intuition
4 Aluren

20 Lands
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Polluted Delta
2 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
1 Underground Sea
1 Savannah
1 Tundra
1 Volrath's Stronghold
2 Forest
1 Swamp

SB
3 Force of Will
2 Toxic Deluge
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Bone Shredder
1 Ghitu Slinger
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Sylan Library
1 Null Rod
1 Krosan Grip
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Containment Priest
1 Umezawa's Jitte

Beat: Aluren, Imperial Painter, Esper Deathblade, Death and Taxes
Lost to: Sneak and Show x2 (once in Swiss, once in T8), Ad Nauseam Lands

Notes
As expected, fast combo is a bad matchup. Jitte is a hell of a backup plan. D&T is rampant in SoCal, which is why Ghitu Slinger is in the board as it kills Mirran Crusader, Aethersworn Canonist, and Sanctum Prelate which are the only cards they have that matter. I am considering going up to 3 Faeries in the board to abuse Intuition more. I think I still prefer this version to the BUG version as having the threat of a 2 card combo really puts pressure on your opponents.


As for the poster above suggesting just playing a value-based list: You might as well play Shardless BUG. The advantage of playing Aluren is having an "oops, I win" and if you're foregoing that, you should just play the better value-game deck.

[hofzge]

Notes
As expected, fast combo is a bad matchup. Jitte is a hell of a backup plan. D&T is rampant in SoCal, which is why Ghitu Slinger is in the board as it kills Mirran Crusader, Aethersworn Canonist, and Sanctum Prelate which are the only cards they have that matter. I am considering going up to 3 Faeries in the board to abuse Intuition more. I think I still prefer this version to the BUG version as having the threat of a 2 card combo really puts pressure on your opponents.

As for the poster above suggesting just playing a value-based list: You might as well play Shardless BUG. The advantage of playing Aluren is having an "oops, I win" and if you're foregoing that, you should just play the better value-game deck.

How is Shardless BUG a better BUG deck if this deck has Aluren.
While it may not mean win if you play an Aluren and has no recruiter wins, but Cavern Harpy & Glint-Nest Crane or Shardless into Baleful Strix / Brainstorm / Ponder are usually enough to win. I think it is the ageold question of power (recruiter) vs. consistency (BUG and not drawing random Arctic Merfolks / having Force over Cabal Therapy).

As for the combo matchup: If you have 2-3 Thoughtseize, 2-4 Cabal Therapy, 2-3 Leovold and 3-4 Force of Will you should have an ok Storm matchup (Leovold wins there).
I guess Show and Tell is one of the worst matchups, but you can keep an Aluren in hand to put in with Show and Tell, play a Leovold to hinder ther filtering and try to discard Sneak Attack.

If you want to play Recruiter why not play:
1x Bayou
1x Forest
1x Island
4x Misty Rainforest
3x Polluted Delta
1x Swamp
2x Tropical Island
1x Tundra
2x Underground Sea
4x Verdant Catacombs

2x Arctic Merfolk
4x Baleful Strix
1x Cavern Harpy
4x Deathrite Shaman
0-1 Eternal Witness
0-1 Reclamation Sage
2-3x Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1x Parasitic Strix
4x Recruiter of the Guard

4x Ponder
4x Aluren
3x Abrupt Decay
4x Brainstorm
4x Force of Will
2x Intuition

Sideboard
1x Bone Shredder
2x Cabal Therapy
2x Carpet of Flowers
1x Containment Priest
3x Faerie Macabre
1x Orzhov Pontiff
1x Phyrexian Revoker
1x Reclamation Sage
1x Sylvan Library
0-1x Umezawa's Jitte
2x Thoughtseize

I know what you will say: Oh well you managed to even turn the Recruiter deck into a bad Shardless deck

[barcode]

As for the poster above suggesting just playing a value-based list: You might as well play Shardless BUG. The advantage of playing Aluren is having an "oops, I win" and if you're foregoing that, you should just play the better value-game deck.

BUG Aluren is the far better Shardless BUG deck. The only thing they have on us is Jace and Tarmogoyf. We will out draw them and out value them forever. Since we have access to Meekstone we can easily check those Goyfs to let our dorks reign supreme in the skies with a Jitte.

[Moneymakermich]

@hofzge : I like your list which uses both FOW and recruiter, that's what I'm playing myself. With the secret tech academy rector, that I like a lot more than intuition since the recruiter can fetch him ;-)

@ Darjeeling : maybe you could sideboard some hydroblasts : they are great against sneak attack & past in flames & even other decks (blood moon, burn, ...)

@ Those who have tested Smuggler's Copter : (I haven't but) I wonder : do you really prefer to play copter instead of jitte maindeck ?

[Kobra_D]

I know what you will say: Oh well you managed to even turn the Recruiter deck into a bad Shardless deck

I like the look of this a lot more. It still has the "sometime I just need to finish quickly" aspect with the 1 of parasitic strix and cavern harpy, but the rest of it tool boxes a lot more which is what I was looking for.

Thanks a lot, I think this will be a cool place to start.

[hofzge]

I like the look of this a lot more. It still has the "sometime I just need to finish quickly" aspect with the 1 of parasitic strix and cavern harpy, but the rest of it tool boxes a lot more which is what I was looking for.

Thanks a lot, I think this will be a cool place to start.

FWIW I think this is still a worse deck than the BUG lists as it still runs a lot of disjointed creatures. The only bad thing in the BUG lists are additional Cavern harpies, while in this list Arctic Merfolk is not really a card, the recruiters without Aluren are very slow and don't help you find Aluren. In BUG this is the most important advantage of Shardless Agents: Agent -> Brainstorm, Ponder, Baleful Strix, Glint-Nest Crane are all good at filtering through your deck for either Aluren or Parasitic Strix.

If you want to play recruiter you need to find a way to find Aluren with recruiter (a way that does not involve Academy Rector). If you can solve this issue I think the recruiter lists can compete.
Please don't just "use some Intuitions". Intuition is a fine instant speed tutor, but in a time where everyone has 2-4 Surgical Extractions post board and could randomly board them in you might run into a tree with full speed (The recruiter deck is a way worse value deck without Aluren than the BUG version).

[Moneymakermich]

I'm curious why you seem to dislike academy rector that much. My experience with it is ok, better than without. If you cast it with therapy in graveyard you can get alluren that turn, it even cannot be targetted by swords in that case. When it is into play, will the opponent attack with his tarmo/thalia/...? Or even emrakul, since you'll get the aluren into play before taking the damage 'thanks' to annihilator...

Please tell me more than 'it costs 4 so it's too slow'

[fapsik]

Hi,

since the printing of Recruiter of the Guard I have been piloting this deck. Here is my deck list, which is based upon Martin Goldman-Kirst philosophy. I am planning on writting more notes about my plays, tournaments, sideboarding, etc. Here are my thoughts.

4 Aluren
4 Deathrite Shaman
2 Arctic Merfolk
4 Baleful Strix
1 Cavern Harpy
1 Eternal Witness
1 Parasitic Strix
4 Brainstorm
4 Cabal Therapy
2 Thoughtseize
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Sylvan Library
1 Reclamation Sage
4 Recruiter of the Guard
3 Shardless Agent
1 Fatal Push

1 Bayou
2 Forest
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
2 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Island
1 Savannah
1 Volrath's Stronghold

SB: 1 Null Rod (very useful against Jitte, Storm, Sensei and other random artifacts)
SB: 1 Orzhov Pontiff (tutorable sweeper, very nice to have against Elves or Storm + it can pump your guys during lethal attack)
SB: 1 Scavenging Ooze (classic one)
SB: 3 Force of Will (necessary against combo decks)
SB: 1 Containment Priest (perfect versus Show and Tell and Reanimator)
SB: 2 Toxic Deluge (best cheap sweeper)
SB: 1 Garruk Relentless (for longer controlish games, alternative wincon)
SB: 2 Faerie Macabre (mainly due to BR Reanimator but still have other utilities)
SB: 1 Pithing Needle (my favourtie staple against various threads - Jace, Jitte, Sense, Liliana,...)
SB: 1 Meddling Mage (often unexpected answer to a single-minded deck)
SB: 1 Diabolic Edict (versus Land, Reanimator or as another removal)

Best wish,
F.

[TTX]

I'll share my recent list. I've gone back to Thoughtseize over the GSZ mini-package.
Overall I find the deck to be very powerful.

// 60 Maindeck
// 21 Creature
4 Recruiter of the Guard
1 Cavern Harpy
1 Arctic Merfolk
1 Parasitic Strix
4 Baleful Strix
4 Deathrite Shaman
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest (used to be 3, but I'm trying out Edric, who is sometimes better)
1 Quickling (better than Merfolk when not comboing)
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Eternal Witness
1 Edric, Spymaster of Trest

// 5 Enchantment
4 Aluren
1 Sylvan Library

// 7 Sorcery
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Thoughtseize

// 7 Instant
4 Brainstorm
3 Abrupt Decay

// 20 Land
1 Bayou
2 Forest
1 Island
1 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volrath's Stronghold
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Savannah
2 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
2 Polluted Delta

// 15 Sideboard
// 8 Creature
SB: 2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben (Burn, Storm, misc. combo)
SB: 1 Orzhov Pontiff
SB: 1 Bone Shredder (tutorable killer, great against Eldrazi)
SB: 1 Containment Priest
SB: 1 Phyrexian Revoker (I prefer this over Null Rod. Hit's Jace, Sneak Attack, Mother of Runes, etc.)
SB: 1 Scavenging Ooze (good against Punishing Fire strategies and other DRS decks)
SB: 1 Glissa, the Traitor (great against Eldrazi, Elves, and Shardless)

// 2 Enchantment
SB: 2 Carpet of Flowers

// 5 Instant
SB: 1 Abrupt Decay
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 Krosan Grip
SB: 1 Golgari Charm

I like Garruk Relentless, but he's a win more IMHO against matches where you would bring him in.

[hofzge]

I'm curious why you seem to dislike academy rector that much. My experience with it is ok, better than without. If you cast it with therapy in graveyard you can get alluren that turn, it even cannot be targetted by swords in that case. When it is into play, will the opponent attack with his tarmo/thalia/...? Or even emrakul, since you'll get the aluren into play before taking the damage 'thanks' to annihilator...

Please tell me more than 'it costs 4 so it's too slow'

I think you misunderstood me: If you play blue and only blue you need some additional way of tutoring Aluren. I was actually saying that the Rector is a very integral part of the Cabal Therapy lists, but as there is nothing comparable in blue the blue lists need all the Ponders they can get.
If there were a way to have some tutor and Force of Will (Intuition again comes to mind and was played in the Aluren lists of the old days).

[Nonex]

Diabolic Intent does the trick just fine. Doubly so if you run Veteran Explorer.

[Moneymakermich]

Diabolic Intent does the trick just fine. Doubly so if you run Veteran Explorer.

I've read some articles from Martin Goldman-Kirst and another pro-player (forgot his name) where they said Diabolic Intent was really terrible... but I haven't tested it myself.

With veteran it looks attractive indeed, but only if you play 4 veteran (where I would prefer to play 1 + 2-3 green sun zenith) so I guess that with all these green&black cards, this should be part of the non-blue version of the deck