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Matchup Mulligan: Aluren


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Final Madness Hand Answer

Hand No. 10: (on the draw)

[[Lotus Petal|]] [[Dark Ritual|]] [[Lion’s Eye Diamond|]] [[Wishclaw Talisman|]] [[Prismatic Ending|]] [[Ad Nauseam|]] [[Burning Wish|]]

Keep

This is one of those hands where you need to just accept if your opponent has one of their two copies of [[Mindbreak Trap]]. Put [[Echo of Eons]] on the stack and hope for the best, sometimes you can’t afford to beat everything.

Aluren

Pre-board

Hand No. 1: (on the draw)

[[Burning Wish|]] [[Burning Wish|]] [[Wishclaw Talisman|]] [[Rite of Flame|]] [[Verdant Catacombs|]] [[Tropical Island|]] [[Polluted Delta|]]

Mulligan

While [[Aluren]]-based combo decks are slower than Storm combo, you can’t just disrespect them. They are a turn 4-5 combo deck on average that also plays [[Fore of Will]]. This hand is incredibly slow, and doesn’t really beat any sort of interaction from the opponent’s side. If you think how this game will play out, you’ll cast three two-mana spells for consecutive turns while praying that they don’t win the game in the meantime.



Hand No. 2: (on the play)

[[Dark Ritual|]] [[Lotus Petal|]] [[Lion’s Eye Diamond|]] [[Wishclaw Talisman|]] [[Rite of Flame|]] [[Taiga|]] [[Mox Opal|]]

Keep

We’re going old-school! By that, I mean pre-Modern Horizons. [[Aluren]] doesn’t typically play main deck copies of [[Force of Negation]] (sideboard copies are fairly standard) which means that we’re back to the classic, “they’re only 40 percent to have [[Force of Will]].” It’s time to make the opponent have it!



Hand No. 3: (on the draw)

[[Lion’s Eye Diamond|]] [[Lion’s Eye Diamond|]] [[Chrome Mox|]] [[Ponder|]] [[Ponder|]] [[Ad Nauseam|]] [[Burning Wish|]]

Mulligan

Initially, this hand seems fine, but when you really break it down, it gets shaky around the edges. Not only do you need to play [[Chrome Mox]] (Imprint: [[Ponder]]) to cast [[Ponder]]. That Ponder needs to find another mana source at the bare minimum for [[Burning Wish]], but also needs a protection spell and a second mana source to cast the disruption spell. All of this is just to resolve an [[Echo of Eons]] which could fizzle. I see the allure of a pair of [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]], but you shouldn’t be blinded by it.



Hand No. 4: (on the play)

[[Orim’s Chant|]] [[Veil of Summer|]] [[Wishclaw Talisman|]] [[Lotus Petal|]] [[Chrome Mox|]] [[Taiga|]] [[Scalding Tarn|]]

Keep

This hand is great! While double protection spell may seem like a bit much, this hand just needs to draw mana in order to win the game which is the easiest ask in this deck. The secret benefit here is that [[Orim’s Chant]] can be used proactively if need be to disrupt the opponent from trying to win the game. Alternatively, if they have one of their three main deck copies of [[Abrupt Decay]], you can use the [[Veil of Summer]] to protect the [[Wishclaw Talisman]] and then have the [[Orim’s Chant]] as protection. It’s interesting how versatile this simple hand actually is!



Hand No. 5: (on the draw)

[[Echo of Eons|]] [[Lotus Petal|]] [[Lion’s Eye Diamond|]] [[Orim’s Chant|]] [[Burning Wish|]] [[Brainstorm|]] [[Dark Ritual|]]

Keep

The worse case scenario here is we don’t draw a mana off the top of the deck for our draw step. If that is the case, you have a protected first turn [[Echo of Eons]] which means you’re essentially starting the game with 3 free Storm. But if you do, it’s now four Storm plus floating. This seems like a no-brainer!



Post-board

Recommended sideboarding:

IN

[[Abrupt Decay|]] [[Abrupt Decay|]]

OUT

[[Chrome Mox|]] [[Mox Opal|]]


Hand No. 6: (on the play)

[[Lotus Petal|]] [[Mox Opal|]] [[Chrome Mox|]] [[Orim’s Chant|]] [[Ponder|]] [[Rite of Flame|]] [[Veil of Summer|]]

Mulligan

What does this hand really do well? Cast [[Ponder]]? Lose to the copies of [[Force of Vigor]] that our opponent just brought in? The main message here is that in post-board games don’t fall in love with heavy artifact decks against the deck with [[Force of Vigor]] and [[Collector Ouphe]].



Hand No. 7: (on the draw)

[[Abrupt Decay|]] [[Abrupt Decay|]] [[Wishclaw Talisman|]] [[Burning Wish|]] [[Chrome Mox|]] [[Badlands|]] [[Brainstorm|]]

Keep

This hand is really close. I value having the answer to [[Collector Ouphe]] and then plenty of action, but it’s really lacking mana as well as protection. The game does slow down post-board when the opponent brings in copies of [[Force of Negation]] from the sideboard, which is why I am leaning towards keeping but this hand could be very risky against a [[Force of Vigor]]. What I’d be looking to draw is at least one land plus [[Dark Ritual]] as well as [[Veil of Summer]].



Hand No. 8: (on the play)

[[Ponder|]] [[Brainstorm|]] [[Dark Ritual|]] [[Veil of Summer|]] [[Veil of Summer|]] [[Polluted Delta|]] [[Polluted Delta|]]

Keep

You do not need to open a tutor every game! Hands like this are perfectly acceptable against the turn 4-5 combo deck with 6-to-7 “Force effects” (Sorry, this doesn’t count [[Force of Negation]]). I would actually keep this hand a large portion of the time across the Legacy field.



Hand No. 9: (on the draw)

[[Burning Wish|]] [[Rite of Flame|]] [[Mox Opal|]] [[Lion’s Eye Diamond|]] [[Badlands|]] [[Tundra|]] [[Wishclaw Talisman|]]

Keep

It’s key to look at “tutor effects” as what they could be. While [[Burning Wish]] can’t get a protection spell, [[Wishclaw Talisman]] can. What I see here is a very likely turn-three [[Echo of Eons]] with [[Veil of Summer]] back-up or even [[Peer into the Abyss]] given a few pieces of acceleration for our draw steps. Keep your options open and don’t commit too early!



Hand No. 10: (on the play)

[[Dark Ritual|]] [[Dark Ritual|]] [[Ad Nauseam|]] [[Underground Sea|]] [[Burning Wish|]] [[Tendrils of Agony|]] [[Rite of Flame|]]

Stay tuned for the next article!

I’ll provide my answer in the next article. For now, make sure to post your thoughts!