My head is spinning! The Hype Train is already barreling towards Kaladesh station, and I am still trying to get off at Conspiracy Junction.
There are so many sweet new cards and awesome reprints, Conspiracy has enough gas to keep my brewers brain running for months. I honestly had a hard time choosing which spicy deck I wanted to talk about today, but ultimately I settled on an old favorite, Aluren.
Look how friendly it is! Who would guess instant speed death is right around the corner!
The wonderful Kate Donnelly wrote about traditional Aluren a few weeks ago in her Hope Eternal column. If you are looking for a rundown about how the combo functions, I highly recommend you check that article out. Today we are going to look towards the future to see what changes are in store.
“I’m sorry I.P. but I have found someone else, and we need to break up”
A huge factor that has always held Aluren back from being more common in the metagame is the price tag. Imperial Recruiter is a mandatory part of the deck, and also desperately in need of a reprint. It’s only printings are in a 1999 supplementary product (Portal:Three Kingdoms) and a 2013 Judge Promo. There are not a lot of these cards in existence, so they fetch a pretty $330 each on the market. While Legacy players will grudgingly pay $330 for an Underground Sea that will fit into several dozen different decks, few are willing to shell out that kind of money for a card that goes into Aluren, Painter’s Servant, and nothing else.
“I’m not the reprint Gotham needs, I’m the reprint Gotham Deserves”
While it is not the reprint we begged for, Recruiter of the Guard is close enough that it gains our attention. We get to swap the red Recruiter for a white Recruiter and shave about $1250 off of the cost of the deck. Not too shabby. As an added bonus, switching colors allows us to pivot the deck from a red splash, to a much more versatile white splash.
Let’s take a look and see what new Aluren may end up looking like.
Aluren
First of all I want to say thank you to Andrew Wright and Sean Calvo for their help brewing up this list. Both of them are among the rare breed who have been playing traditional Imperial Aluren for some time now. They let me in on a few tricks and secrets that I want to now share with you.
The Combo
In its most simple form, the deck is a two card combo. Find Aluren, find Recruiter of the Guard, win the game. Getting to the win can get a bit complicated though. Here is a quick rundown for the deck once you have Aluren in play and Recruiter of the Guard in hand.
See its an easy two card combo guys! …Guys? ….Guys!?
Recruiter –> Recruiter –> Recruiter –> Recruiter –> Arctic Merfolk (picking up Recruiter) –> Recruiter –> Cavern Harpy (picking up Arctic Merfolk). Here you pay 1 life and put Harpy in your hand. –> Merfolk (picking up Recruiter) –> Recruiter –> Parasitic Strix –> Cast Harpy, return the Merfolk. Now cast the Strix, always with Merfolk in hand to avoid removal –> Chain Harpy and Strix to win the game.
Because Aluren gives all your cheap creatures flash, you should never really have to worry about removal as long as you chain your bounce creatures correctly. Most inexperienced opponents will try to kill the Cavern Harpy or Parasitic Strix to disrupt your combo. By this point it is too late, Cavern Harpy can bounce itself at any time for just one life, and at this point you should have Arctic Merfolk in hand to save Strix from any removal. Even if your opponent is smart and kills the Arctic Merfolk at the beginning of the combo to disrupt you, you can just use the Recruiter to find Eternal Witness and restart the chain.
Bird Law at its finest.
Plan B
Aluren is my favorite type of combo deck: one that can win without ever getting off the combo. When we are unable to find Aluren, or our opponent has a way to shut down the combo, the deck can easily shift into a Bant-style beatdown deck.
Deathrite Shaman and Noble Hierarch provide much needed ramp. While providing an annoying threat to our opponents in protracted games. The addition of white to the deck allows us to add in a Stoneforge Mystic Package. Noble Hierarchs look a whole lot more scary when they are holding an Umezawa’s Jitte.
Pay one life to bounce itself turns out to be preeeeeety good
Baleful Strix is a great wall that can be combined with Volrath’s Stronghold to form a blocker that keeps coming back, or with Cavern Harpy to draw all the cards. Shardless Agent acts as Recruiter of the Guard numbers five and six. Shardless Agent is not as accurate, but with Cavern Harpy you can cascade through your deck over and over until you find what you need.
Cabal Therapy is a bit of a flex spot. It is a great addition as the creature density in this deck will allow you to flash it back whenever you want. This helps clear the way for the combo and give much needed information. But if your metagame is much more aggro focused and you find yourself getting run over by creature decks, I suggest switching out some number of Cabal Therapy for Swords to Plowshares to supplement Abrupt Decay in the removal department.
Sideboard Considerations
Adding white opens up many possibilities in sideboard considerations. Swords to Plowshares most certainly will be taking up a few slots. I think it might even belong in the main deck. Taking full advantage of Recruiter of the Guard gives you a suite of value creatures: Meddling Mage, Snapcaster Mage, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Kira, Great Glass-Spinner and Flickerwisp all jump to mind as spicy silver bullets.
The Spicy 61st
I could not limit myself to just one awesome Conspiracy card this week. Leovold, Emissary of Trest is a sweet new card that looks like he will make a few waves in Legacy. He is a prime example of a card that is actually much better than at first glance. His first ability is pretty huge in Legacy considering all the Brainstorms, Ponders, Sensei’s Divining Tops, and Griselbrands running around. His second ability is where he earns his salt, though. At his very worst he will replace himself with a fresh card if your opponent tries to kill him. At his best he makes Wasteland, removal spells, Rishadan Port, and pretty much all discard spells a losing strategy for your opponents. He certainly will be interesting to watch in the months to come.
Thanks for joining me today as we dive into Aluren. I hope you are as excited about the deck’s future as I am. Who knows what the deck will evolve into, but I for one can’t wait to find out.
Jerry Mee is a Boston native who has been playing Magic since Onslaught Block. Primarily a Legacy player, he co-hosts the weekly Leaving a Legacy Podcast found on Mtgcast.com. He can be reached on Twitter at @Jmee3rd