Legacy Aluren

By Melissa DeTora

Melissa is a former Magic pro player and strategy writer who is now working in R&D on the Play Design team.

There are lots of combo decks in Legacy, but none of them are quite like Aluren. I remember Aluren from the days of Extended (a now-retired format), and it was always a deck you had to be prepared for. These days, Aluren is not very popular, mostly due to too much removal being played in Legacy, but regardless, the combo is still powerful.

Aluren allows you to cast any creature spell with converted mana cost 3 or less for free, so with enough enters-the-battlefield triggers it's really easy to set up a win. This deck wins by casting Parasitic Strix a large number of times until the opponent is dead. Cavern Harpy is the card you need to make this combo work, as it allows you to bounce the Strix back to your hand, and it bounces itself as well, so you can replay these guys as many times as you need to.

This deck has a surprising amount of consistency. Baleful Strix and Brainstorm help you dig to what you need, while Imperial Recruiter can tutor up any creature in the deck. Another great thing about this combo is that it's pretty hard to disrupt, because Aluren allows you to play your creatures at instant speed. If your opponent tries to do something in response to you comboing off, you can just cast a Dream Stalker to save your guy or an Eternal Witness to get back whatever your opponent killed.

The best thing about playing Aluren is that you can wait until your opponent taps out, and you can even win at the end of their turn! Thoughtseize and Cabal Therapy give you information about your opponent's hand so you know when the coast is clear. Just watch out for Force of Will.

Alex Barnett’s Aluren

Decklist Stats Sample Hand

Creature (21)

1 Parasitic Strix 4 Deathrite Shaman 4 Baleful Strix 4 Shardless Agent 1 Scavenging Ooze 1 Dream Stalker 1 Eternal Witness 1 Cavern Harpy 4 Imperial Recruiter

Sorcery (9)

4 Thoughtseize 4 Cabal Therapy 1 Diabolic Intent

Instant (5)

1 Dig Through Time 4 Brainstorm

Enchantment (4)

4 Aluren

Land (21)

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

60 Cards

Sideboard (15)

1 Izzet Staticaster 4 Abrupt Decay 1 Grafdigger's Cage 1 Nihil Spellbomb 1 Faerie Macabre 1 Magus of the Moon 1 Pithing Needle 1 Plaguebearer 2 Dread of Night 2 Reclamation Sage