I couldn't find any strategy articles covering how to play Aluren - which surprised me a bit. So I thought it was about time someone posted an article about it.

I started playing with Aluren when it was a sleeper deck at PT: New Orleans, so I already had some experience with it before PT: Houston declared it as a competitive deck. There were many versions of Aluren that showed up in Houston, but only one that made it to the top 8. Perhaps an overview and some history will make this strategy article a bit more entertaining.

The key to an Aluren deck, obviously, is to play the Aluren; the kill takes a little bit more looking. In general, modern Aluren decks use Cavern Harpy and Wirewood Savage or Raven Familiar to search through the deck to find a Cloud of Fairies - a.k.a. Free Fairies - in order to generate massive amounts of mana and use Stroke of Genius to deck their opponent. Let us sojourn into the past and look at a deck from Pro Tour: New Orleans last November, where combo decks revolved around damage in twenty-point increments:

Raisin Bran - Patrick Chapin
4x Aluren
4x Cavern Harpy
2x Man-o'-War
4x Raven Familiar
2x Spike Feeder
4x Wall of Roots
1x Arcane Denial
4x Brainstorm
4x Force of Will
4x Impulse
1x Stroke of Genius
4x Vampiric Tutor
4x Bayou
1x Forest
4x Island
1x Mountain Valley
4x Tropical Island
4x Underground Sea
4x Yavimaya Coast

Don't be scared off by Chapin's deck. Instead, take a deep breath while we go over exactly how the combo goes off. Patrick enchants his world with the mystical Aluren. Pat now summons his Raven Familiar with no considerable strain, then peruses the top three cards of his library searching for a Spike Feeder. What? Pat didn't find a Spike Feeder? Ah, but this is no problem - for Pat now summons a Cavern Harpy (for free), recalling the Raven Familiar to his hand. Pat once again sends his Raven Familiar back into play and finds the Spike Feeder he is looking for. The Spike Feeder is summoned to join the Raven Familiar and Cavern Harpy. Pat takes some pain as the Cavern Harpy nicks him on the way back in and immediately orders it back into action recalling the Raven Familiar. By now, the Raven Familiar and Cavern Harpy are starting to get slightly annoyed with Pat and just wish he would just make up his mind. The Raven Familiar grudgingly flies back into play, while Pat starts searching for his Wall of Roots and Stroke of Genius. After finding the spells, the Raven Familiar contently flops to the ground. Oh, how the Cavern Harpy envies the Raven Familiar!

Patrick turns his attentions to his new Wall of Roots. The Wall of Roots nets Patrick one green mana every time he summons it. A Man-o'-War is summoned to return the Wall of Roots. The royally-ticked-off Cavern Harpy now recalls the Man-o'-War and is recalled itself. One life becomes one green mana. The Cavern Harpy's nasty habit of doing one point of damage every time it's returned has taken its toll on Patrick. Patrick feeds off his Spike Feeder, but only once. The Cavern Harpy returns the Man-o'-War and the Man-o'-War is summoned to return the Spike Feeder who immediately comes back into play fully refreshed. The exhausted and enraged Cavern Harpy glares at the Spike Feeder, who pleasantly healed his slave-driving master.

Cavern Harpy bounces the Man-'o'-War, Cavern Harpy is returned for one life, Pat gains two life from the Spike Feeder, Spike Feeder is returned by Man-'o'War. One life becomes two life and you get infinite amounts of mana. Pat's opponent dies due to a massive Stroke.

Get all that? Yeah. It's a bit convoluted, but it worked.

One large weakness was that Pat would have to pay one life every time he bounced the Raven Familiar until he found both a Man-o'-War and a Spike Feeder. While this was not a problem if he was at ten or twelve life, as soon as you were down to five life, you ran into problems.

Another weakness was that Patrick Chapin wasn't Kai Budde, but I digress.

Post-rotation Aluren decks are a bit different in that they lost Man-o'-War, but gained significant power with Wirewood Savage and Living Wish. The Wirewood Savage now lets the player draw their deck without paying 1 life each time they want to bounce their Cavern Harpy. Play Cavern Harpy, draw a card, gate Harpy to itself until you find your Soul Warden. With Wirewood Savage, the Aluren player can go off even at one life. Also, if you don't have the Wirewood Savage, you now can use your Raven Familiars to dig for either a Soul Warden or a Wirewood Savage. In a sense, post-rotation Aluren gets one more full turn to try to go off.

Living Wish gives the player a creature tutor which helps find a Cavern Harpy, Raven Familiar, or Soul Warden when they need it. It also allows a toolbox sideboard with a Monk Realist, Uktabi Orangutan, and Academy Rector. Both the Monk Realist and Academy Rector gives the Aluren player a plan against Pernicious Deed.

Now let's take a look at Mattias Jorstedt's top 8 Aluren deck from Houston. Mattias Jorstedt's deck is streamlined towards finding the combo pieces using Intuition, and foregoes the"typical" Houston build that extensively used black for Vampiric Tutor and Tainted Pact, as well as Eladamri's Vineyard for a potential second-turn kill. Between Intuition and Living Wish Jorstedt was playing with 8 copies of Aluren and 11 Copies of Cavern Harpy, Wirewood Savage and Raven Familiar.

Why is Aluren so resistant to disruption? Well, there are two main reasons that I have found through testing: Brainstorm and Aluren. Yes, if your opponent goes first, a Duress still gets through and if that same opponent follows it up with a Cabal Therapy or two, you're not going to win. But if you go first, it's probably in your best interest to hold back a Brainstorm to hide your important spells from discard; your opponent can't make you discard the top card of your library, after all. Any deck counting on discard to take care of enchantments may be in for a rude surprise as a first-turn Brainstorm can keep Aluren out of your hand until you go off two turns later.

Since Aluren lets one play creatures as instants, your opponent only has limited options for disrupting the combo. The only time the opponent can play anything to stop the combo is when a Cavern Harpy is on the stack - and even that only works when the Aluren player isn't holding another Cavern Harpy, Wirewood Savage, or Raven Familiar.

Examples: I play Aluren. You have a Naturalize in hand.

(1) You cast the Naturalize now. I can respond by playing Cavern Harpy and Wirewood Savage at instant speed and still Stroke you out.
(2) I play Wirewood Savage, then announce Cavern Harpy. With Cavern Harpy on the stack, you play Naturalize targeting Aluren. I play Cavern Harpy #2 and I Stroke you out at instant speed.
(3) I play Wirewood Savage, then announce Cavern Harpy. With Cavern Harpy on the stack, you play Naturalize targeting my Aluren. Aluren is destroyed; I draw a card and bounce my Cavern Harpy.

I play Aluren. You have Shock in hand.

(1) I play Wirewood Savage. You play Shock, targeting Wirewood Savage. I respond with Cavern Harpy and Stroke you out at instant speed.
(2) I play Wirewood Savage and announce Cavern Harpy. You respond with Shock targeting the Wirewood Savage. I respond to Shock with Cavern Harpy #2 and Stroke you out at instant speed.
(3) I play Wirewood Savage and announce Cavern Harpy. You respond with Shock targeting the Wirewood Savage. Cavern Harpy bounces to my hand and I play Wirewood Savage #2 and Stroke you out.
(4) I play Raven Familiar, you play Shock, targeting Raven Familiar. I respond with Cavern Harpy, bouncing Raven Familiar and paying 1 life to bounce Cavern Harpy. Shock is countered by game rules and I proceed to Stroke you out.
(5) I play Wirewood Savage and announce Cavern Harpy. You respond with Shock, targeting the Wirewood Savage. Cavern Harpy bounces to my hand, combo stops.

Whether you chose to play an Aluren deck or you are sitting across from one, knowing the timing rules is essential. Just repeat to yourself,"respond with Cavern Harpy on the stack." Make it your mantra on tournament day, or you may be sitting on the wrong end of a judge's ruling.

If you're playing Aluren and you have two Cavern Harpies in hand, you're going to win the game (or lose both of them to Cabal Therapy, I suppose). If you don't fear Cabal Therapy, I would advise waiting for - or casting a Living Wish for - a second Cavern Harpy before trying to go off. Finally, if your opponent has 2U untapped and you think Cunning Wish for Misdirection is a possibility, Living Wish for the Maggot Carrier out of the sideboard and cause your opponent to lose twenty life. This isn't much more complicated that getting infinite mana. With a Maggot Carrier in hand and a Soul Warden on the table, you can play your Maggot Carrier causing each player to lose one life, then you gain one life off of your Soul Warden. Use your Cavern Harpy to gate the Maggot Carrier back to your hand, gain one life from your Soul Warden and pay one life to return the Cavern Harpy to your hand; repeat until your opponent dies an embarrassing death to Maggot Carrier.

How does Aluren lose? Sometimes you just don't have that second Cavern Harpy or they do get a Duress to resolve and you lose your Aluren. Other times your opponent gets out a Verdant Force, or a hasted Sutured Ghoul on turn 2, and you die before you can go off. Still other times your opponent has a Pernicious Deed on the board and a Naturalize in hand with six mana on the table and destroys both the Aluren you cast and the one you fetched with your dead Rector. At least this combo deck can't fizzle if you have started going off.

Even without Eladamri's Vineyard, Jorestedt's Aluren has a turn 2 kill:

1st turn: Hickory Woodlot.
2nd turn: Island, City of Brass, or Yavimaya Coast. Tap Woodlot and other land, play Cloud of Fairies, floating (G) in your pool, untap Hickory Woodlot + other land, drop Aluren, Cavern Harpy and Wirewood Savage/Raven Familiar.

It requires an opening hand of Hickory Woodlot, blue-producing land, Cloud of Fairies, Aluren, Cavern Harpy, Wirewood Savage/Raven Familiar - not likely, but possible.

So that was a bit long-winded, but you have a pretty good idea of how clever (or annoying based on your point of view) the combo can be. It's worth noting that Arctic Merfolk can play the role of Man-o'-War from the old deck (you can pay kicker costs on Aluren-ed creatures), but it's not really necessary since the Cavern Harpy is the only way to go"infinite." Also, if you can't Stroke your opponent out (Solitary Confinement, Ivory Mask or True Believer, fear of Misdirection), you can always Living Wish for the Maggot Carrier in your sideboard.

So how are you going to be playing this deck when faced with a specific opponent?

If any of the top decks change as few as four cards in any one of the top decks will change the way you play against them. A good example is the Rock and its variants that are being played. While almost everyone is likely going to be going with four Cabal Therapies now, don't be surprised to play against a deck that runs River Boa in its place for some added aggression against control decks and protection against beatdown. Against Cabal Therapy, the Aluren player will be struggling to find and hold combo pieces, but the clock is a bit slower. If a River Boa hits on second turn, followed up by a third-turn Yavimaya Elder, the Aluren Player doesn't have the luxury of time and should be playing for a fast Aluren.

Jorstedt played with his own set of four Cabal Therapies in the main deck, which may have given him the edge in a mirror match. Cabal Therapy is also a useful way of sacrificing an Academy Rector to find an Aluren for the win. I have taken the time to list a few distinctive lands, first-turn plays, and disruption available in the first game for each of the top decks. The lands and first-turn plays should give you some idea as to what to call with a"blind" Cabal Therapy.

The Rock
Notable lands: Llanowar Wastes, Treetop Village
Opening spells: Duress, Cabal Therapy, Birds of Paradise, Llanowar Elves

Available Disruption: Duress, Cabal Therapy, Pernicious Deed, Naturalize, Diabolic Edict

I've tested mostly against Cabal Therapy versions - and this can be a tough match when they draw their discard. Cabal Therapy can just be brutal. An active Pernicious Deed on the board (with four mana untapped) is also a problem, since the Deed can be activated with a Cavern Harpy on the stack. One answer is to Living Wish for the Academy Rector from your sideboard. The Rector will hold off all attacks until the Rock player can find a Deed or Naturalize.

There are two tricks worth knowing about for this match in particular: You can Living Wish for the Academy Rector after it has been removed from the game when you search to find Aluren; If the Rock player casts Vampiric Tutor, be aware of the possibility of a single main deck Naturalize and remember to look for it if you draw a Cabal Therapy before you try to combo off.

After sideboard you can expect such hate as Stronghold Taskmaster/Urborg Shambler and Engineered Plague (set to"Beasts"), all of which will stop your combo cold (your Cavern Harpy comes into play as a 1/0 Beast in both cases and dies as a State-Based Effect). For Engineered Plague, you have a Monk Realist in the sideboard to Wish for and you'll want to bring in your own Pernicious Deeds to deal with Stronghold Taskmaster. Any Rock player playing Living Wish will have access to Stronghold Taskmaster in the first game - and then your only hope is Cabal Therapy.

Turbo Oath
Notable lands: Yavimaya Coast, Treetop Village
Opening Spells: none
Available Disruption: Pernicious Deed, countermagic

In my opinion, the main difference between playing against Turbo Oath and Psychatog is whether you play out your Birds of Paradise. If your opponent plays out a Yavimaya Coast, it may be in your best interest to hold off on dropping a Birds of Paradise. In the first game, your only hope is to exhaust their counter magic and combo out. Cabal Therapy can be a big help in this match (don't forget that you can play any creature and sacrifice it on the same turn to flashback your Cabal Therapy).

After sideboarding, you will want to bring in your Orim's Chants to try to stymie any counter magic or disenchant effects. Expect to confront a slew of Naturalizes, Pernicious Deeds, and Engineered Plagues.

Reanimator
Notable lands: Polluted Delta, Underground River, City of Traitors
Opening Spells: Careful Study, Duress, Cabal Therapy
Available Disruption: Duress, Cabal Therapy, Last Rites, Diabolic Edict, Visara the Dreadful

Coming in both mono-black and blue-black flavors, Reanimator will be a cakewalk... Provided they don't Mind Twist you over the first two or three turns (Duress, Cabal Therapy, Cabal Therapy). This is still probably your easiest match, because if they spend their time disrupting you, they aren't putting nasty creatures in their graveyard and they're not reanimating them. If you do get caught staring down a turn-2 Verdant Force, you can always Living Wish for a Gilded Drake and turn the tables.

After sideboarding you can expect Engineered Plagues and Stronghold Taskmaster. See notes about the Rock above.

Psychatog
Notable lands: Polluted Delta, Underground River, Cephalid Coliseum
Opening Spells: Duress
Available disruption: Duress, Engineered Plague, counter magic, Diabolic Edict, Misdirection

Psychatog players at Houston differed on how much black you should play in the main deck. You can expect anything from Psychatog being the only spell requiring black mana, all the way to the opposite extreme of a deck packing four Duresses, four Diabolic Edicts and three Engineered Plagues. I like to think of Psychatog as a mono-blue deck with a potential fifth-turn kill (think, Intuition/Accumulated Knowledge and Gush). Exhaust their counters through Cabal Therapies or other means, and try to go for the combo. Don't be afraid to Intuition for three Cabal Therapies if you have a critter or two on the board. If your opponent has three mana untapped, make sure you kill with the Maggot Carrier from the sideboard - losing to Misdirection is just plain sloppy. You can always try to Gilded Drake their Psychatog as a last-ditch effort at survival.

After sideboarding, you will almost definitely see Engineered Plagues and maybe a Stronghold Taskmaster. Do you see a trend forming? Your Pernicious Deeds can be particularly effective in this match, since pitching cards won't save Mr. Toothy from a Deed.

Angry Ghoul/Angry Hermit - Part 2
Notable Lands: Just about any non-basic land ever printed
Opening Spells: Mox Diamond, Duress, Cabal Therapy
Available Disruption: Duress, Cabal Therapy

This match is all about speed. Neither of you is likely playing all that much disruption, and both decks are capable of second-turn kills and will both definitely go off by fourth turn. I'm just sorry that I can't give you better advance than"draw better than they do." My sparse playtesting indicates that this match favors the Hermit Druid player.

After sideboarding, you can expect just about anything, but don't be surprised to see Engineered Plague and Naturalize. You could side in your Orim's Chant to try to stop them from reanimating their Ghoul, but I think your resources are best spent trying to go off before they do. The second and third games will play very much like the first.

Aluren - Mirror Match
Notable Lands: Hickory Woodlot, Havenwood Battleground
Opening Spells: Birds of Paradise, Cabal Therapy
Available Disruption: Cabal Therapy

I admit that I haven't tested this enough, yet, but it is a very strange situation, I can guarantee that much. I can also guarantee that this can be a pretty stupid mirror match. Since Aluren is symmetric and instant speed, both players can go off from the same Aluren. If you're playing Cabal Therapy, then you can count yourself lucky, as it should give you the edge in the match. Ensuring your opponent isn't holding a Wirewood Savage or Raven Familiar/Cavern Harpy can allow you to happily go off without worry of losing to your own Aluren (since Wirewood Savage is also symmetric). Again, don't be afraid to Intuition for three Cabal Therapies if you're ready to go off the following turn. If you do both start going off on the same Aluren, you will want to keep very careful track of the stack and resolving spells to avoid a rules disqualification; you may want to go so far as to call over a judge to make sure everything is played correctly. The first person that finds both a Free Fairy and Stroke of Genius is the winner. Flip a coin.

After sideboarding, I haven't decided if the Pernicious Deeds come in, but I am sure the Orim's Chants come in. You are still casting the creatures when you use Aluren's ability; it just doesn't cost you any mana. An Orim's Chant will prevent your opponent from comboing you out on your own Aluren. Remember, though, that Orim's Chant isn't a counterspell, so if they drop an Aluren and you cast an Orim's Chant, they can respond by dropping by Stroking you out at instant speed with your lowly Orim's chant still on the stack.

Suicide Black
Notable Lands: Wasteland
Opening Spells: Sarcomancy, Carnophage, Duress, Cabal Therapy, Unmask
Available Disruption - Duress, Cabal Therapy, Unmask, Diabolic Edict

Suicide Black and all other beatdown matches come down to speed more than anything else and the Aluren player has the edge. Suicide Black can come up with some impressively quick kills, but unless they Mind Twist you, you will probably go off before they can bring you down to zero.

After sideboard you can expect the Engineered Plagues and perhaps a Cursed Totem as the only line of defense. You will probably want to bring in Pernicious Deeds and even some Orim's Chants in lieu of your Cabal Therapies as they're as good as dead in this match. The Uktabi Orangutan in the sideboard will be happy to eat a Cursed Totem.

Sligh
Notable Lands: Mountain, Shivan Reef

Opening Spells: Goblin Lackey, Mogg Fanatic, Raging Goblin, Jackal Pup

Available Disruption: Tangle Wire, Shock, Fire / Ice, Lava Dart

An early Tangle Wire can be a major problem for you, but as long as you can play around burn for your creatures (as per the examples described above) you should do okay in this match. As soon as the Sligh player realizes you're playing Aluren, he or she should always be holding back mana to threaten Shock. This is a match that the Aluren Player can generally afford to wait until the last possible turn to try to combo out.

The Sligh player has very little to bring in against you, with off-the-wall designs possibly bringing in counter magic like Annul. Your Deeds will only be effective if you see them immediately, so I would still stick with trying to combo your opponent out.

There are other decks out there, I know, but that covers many of the common matches you can expect to see. One other card that you may see that is worth mentioning: The only way around a Meddling Mage set to Aluren is to Living Wish for an Academy Rector. The Rector can legally fetch the Aluren from your library, since the Meddling Mage only prevents you from casting it. If the Meddling Mage comes into play naming Cavern Harpy, you can start shuffling for the next game and bring in as many Pernicious Deeds as you have in your sideboard. Yes, this is a weakness of the deck, and you are really concerned you can drop a Bone Shredder (or any of his close cousins) in your sideboard.

What am I going to be playing at the PTQs? Psychatog - but only because I don't have the cards to play Aluren. After many playtesting sessions, I don't believe there is any one"best" deck right now. I also believe that there are a number of decks that haven't been discovered, yet can prosper in the current metagame. White weenie splashing blue for Meddling Mage has only one real problem in Pernicious Deed, though a fourth-turn Armageddon will nearly always mean a win. Regardless of what you choose to play, if you're not playing Duress, Cabal Therapy, or counter magic you are more than a little crazy. Comments and questions are welcome.

David Kadonsky
ecocdavid@yahoo.com