This Week in Legacy: Alluring
Howdy folks! It's time yet again for another edition of This Week in Legacy! I'm your host, Joe Dyer, and this week we're going to be taking a look at Aluren and Tell! In addition to that we've got some Challenge data, including our first weekly event wrap-up.
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
Alluring and Telling
Since the release of Lorwyn Eclipsed one thing has been pretty clear about Legacy: Lorwyn always has something for this format. And in some cases, it comes in one of the most unlikely of places. In this case, it came from a card that a lot of people had eyes on already because its a World Champs card and that is Formidable Speaker.
Most of these kinds of effect (what we tend to call Survival of the Fittest or Fauna Shaman effects) require you to pitch a creature card in order to go look for something. What makes Speaker so good is that doesn't require you to pitch a creature, it just requires you to pitch any card. Quickly a number of folks identified that not only is this pretty good, but Formidable Speaker is also a three mana value creature... which brings to mind the card Aluren.
In the past, Aluren has always been sort of a weird midrange-style control/combo deck, playing a number of cards like Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath and a combo of Cavern Harpy and any blue/black creature that drains life from the opponent on ETB. At one point, Acererak the Archlich was introduced and while it did see some measure of play as an infinite combo (we will explain that combo in a moment here so sit tight), it never fully caught on. But now that you have a ready made tutor piece that can grab it, well, that is a very different story. However, Aluren didn't need to be just some sort of derpy combo/control deck anymore. General player understanding led those working on the deck to realize the effectiveness of the card Show and Tell.
With Show and Tell, the deck now had a two pronged approach to getting an Aluren into play. It could always hard cast the Aluren, as four mana isn't that hateful to get to in these decks. You can also Show and Tell an Aluren into play. From there, you can use Formidable Speaker to go find Acererak the Archlich and cast it.
When Acererak enters, his ETB has a pretty unique condition. Basically if you have never completed the dungeon known as "Tomb of Annihilation", you return Acererak to hand and then venture into the dungeon. From there, NEVER CHOOSE THE TOMB OF ANNIHILATION. That's the dungeon that will end up completing Acererak's condition and stop the chain entirely. Instead select the "Lost Mine of Phandelver" dungeon. It doesn't really matter which way you go from here. Typical progression can be to go from Cave Entrance -> Mine Tunnels -> Dark Pool -> Temple of Dumathoin for each run through the dungeon you make. On MTGO, one of the best things to do with this is to yield to pretty much all of the individual Dungeon triggers. You can in some ways respond to the venture into the Dungeon trigger by re-casting Acererark a bunch and getting a bunch of them before you do this, that is certainly a thing you can do to try to save clicks and yields. It's still going to be a bit of clicking but for the most part you don't have to do too much for your opponent to get the point that you get to drain their life and draw a bunch of cards.
Alternatively, if you have a creature that you want to make bigger and punch through that way you could also do Cave Entrance -> Goblin Lair -> Storeroom -> Temple of Dumathoin, but that's an exceedingly rare situation. The added bonus of doing this all via Aluren and not through Omniscience is that you could win at instant speed when your opponent tries to interact with you, and that in of itself is kind of sweet.
However, winning with Aluren and Acererak the Archlich is not the only thing this deck can do. Like most Show and Tell decks, you can put in Omniscience and cast an Emrakul, or cast a Speaker to go grab an Emrakul or an Acererak to win the game with. In a real pinch, Formidable Speaker is a 2/4 that untaps permanents, and just sticking a bunch of 2/4s into play that can turn sideways can close a game out in short order if you really have to do it. In addition, since they are 2/4s they can hold down ground combat quite well.
There's a lot of prongs here that lets this deck win games, which is what I think makes the deck so interesting. Like Sneak and Show, that deck has the added bonus of Sneak Attack as another way it can sidestep using Show and Tell and maybe getting blown out by whatever the opponent puts into play. In this case, the Sneak Attack is your Aluren, and it lets you also do functionally the same thing that Sneak Attack does. I like that multiple prong option of ways to win games, and it makes this deck a really fun and attractive option for Legacy at the moment.
Weekly MTGO Recap
Last week I asked for some feedback on how this article presents Challenge data every week, with the intent of reshaping this series so that it doesn't feel as much like a deck dump. You can find the feedback form here. I've gotten a few hits on it so far, but even more feedback is always helpful. One thing that did stick out from initial feedback is that the Weekly Recap was something people would like to see, but not everyone could agree beyond that on whether the individual event coverage should stay the same or change. For now I plan to have that part stay the same as before until I have seen more overall feedback.
However, I am also going to begin doing weekly recaps of the MTGO events for the week. You can find the weekly recap data sheet here. Please keep in mind that sample size is what it is on these, as we have generally five Challenges a week, and some weeks we may have five Challenges and another event like a Showcase Challenge or RC Qualifier. Those weeks tend to provide more data overall.
Let's look at this past week's graphical data.
One thing worth noting is that over the past week we had some Unknown Deck data due to an issue collecting a bunch of decks for one of the Challenge events (specifically the second 3/1 event, so if you may know any of those lists please let me know and I can update it on our end), so that does show up here. Most of those entries are 0-1 to 0-2 drops so they don't impact too much.
The most played deck of the week was indeed Dimir Tempo at 28 pilots, followed by Oops at 20, Sneak and Show at 16, and Izzet Tempo at 14. Dimir did fairly okay on the week, rounding out at a 53.1% non-mirror win rate. Dimir is one of the decks a lot of people tend to gravitate toward in terms of just "I want to play a Tempo deck in Legacy", but I don't fully buy into it being the best Tempo strategy personally. There's a number of misbuilt Dimir Tempo lists that end being copied from other pilots who have made choices that work specifically for them, and it tends to skew things a little, but overall I think Dimir could be better, but people are honing in on how to beat it by playing decks that play against it well.
Oops had a very solid week at 20 pilots, with a 56.8% non-mirror win rate. Being able to track how this deck does week to week is going to be interesting, because quite often I believe people will see it make a Top 8 or even win an event and scream from the rooftops that the deck needs banned, but having hard data from week to week can tell us how realistic that is. That being said, 56.8% non-mirror is quite good, and throughout these events Oops did have a very good performance and did well in multiple events on the week.
Sneak and Show had a really great run at a 63.3% non-mirror win rate with 16 pilots. Much of this deck's success I attribute a lot to Hexing Squelcher's presence in Legacy. The card has simply proven to be one of the best combo protection cards in a long time, leading even to decks main-decking the card as well, which is really telling of how good it actually is. These decks are playing at least one but sometimes up to three copies of this card, and in multiples its a real beating.
Izzet had the worst win rate out of the Top 4 of the week on 14 pilots with a 44.2% non-mirror win rate. I do think much of this can be attributed to other decks having a strong matchup against Izzet, but also a lack of clear identity in the lists. Some people are still playing Questing Druid, while some are fully on the Cori-Steel Cutter game plan. Unifying a little could help this deck, but I think it's more than likely just other decks are proving to be strong against it and winning more over it.
I think once we get into a few more of these week to week we can start to pick up some of the trends of what's really going on, and that will be interesting to see what happens then.
Legacy Challenge 32 2/26/2025
The first Challenge event of the week was actually on Thursday instead of Wednesday due to issues with the Wedenesday MTGO deployment. This event had 32 players in it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Oops was the most played deck of the event, and it had good Top 8 representation but rode the middle of the line in win rate. Dimir Tempo looked good here too, as did Beans.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Oops! All Spells | 1st | SuperCow12653 |
| Aluren & Tell | 2nd | AFX |
| Sneak and Show | 3rd | TheGrimLavamancer |
| Oops! All Spells | 4th | xDingusKhan |
| Dimir Tempo | 5th | Venom1 |
| The EPIC Gamble | 6th | TonyScapone |
| Dimir Reanimator | 7th | boytriton |
| Beanstalk Control (Non-Yorion) | 8th | SpockVidaLoka |
Fair bit going on here, but overall the event was won by Oops.
This looks quite a bit like the choutin style of list, with only two Narcomoeba. Reanimate is pretty good as a simple "get it in one" spell.
In Second Place we had Aluren & Tell.
We talked a bit about this list in today's feature topic, so I won't rehash what we said there, just that I think this deck is pretty good and does some really powerful things.
Also in this Top 8 we had The EPIC Gamble.
This is a pretty cool list. I do love Reforge the Soul as a playable Legacy card. Super sweet.
Legacy Challenge 32 2/27/2026
The second Challenge event of the week was the Friday event. This event had 46 players on it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Both Dimir and Oops were well played, with Dimir having a middle of the road win rate, while Oops had a very good win rate. Sneak and Show did extremely well here.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Sneak and Show | 1st | snoopy-magic |
| Colorless Painter | 2nd | XanaZero |
| Oops! All Spells | 3rd | silencsong |
| Infect | 4th | Geodude_Jared |
| Saga Storm | 5th | Pankakese |
| Red Stompy | 6th | SiL3nTGoaT |
| Grixis Tempo | 7th | azmyk1231 |
| Stoneblade | 8th | jankyb |
Fair bit of combo in this Top 8. At the end of the event, it was Sneak and Show that won.
Pretty straightforward list here. Hexing Squelcher in multiples is really strong in the sideboard.
In Second Place, we had Colorless Painter.
Tezzeret, Cruel Captain being able to fetch Grindstone as well as Karn being able to get it too means you have over twelve ways (with also having Urza's Saga) to get a Grindstone into play.
Also in the Top 8, we had Infect.
Haven't quite seen an Infect list in a hot minute, this is pretty cool. Stock Up looks great here to refill if you need it. I love the miser copy of Stifle.
Legacy Challenge 32 2/28/2026
The third Challenge event of the week was the Saturday event. This event had 53 players on it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Dimir Tempo was the most played deck of the event, and it had a pretty good win rate overall. Doomsday also looked good, as did Izzet. Oops did not do well here.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Sneak and Show | 1st | snoopy-magic |
| Beanstalk Control (Non-Yorion) | 2nd | kyataoka |
| Dimir Tempo | 3rd | PekkaChu |
| Doomsday | 4th | m_himukai |
| Doomsday | 5th | wumbowizard |
| Dimir Tempo | 6th | Venom1 |
| Dimir Tempo | 7th | DarthSyhr |
| Colorless Cloudpost | 8th | Scooby_Snacks |
Good amount of Tempo and Doomsday in this Top 8. At the end of it all it was the same pilot (snoopy) on Sneak and Show that won.
Same list as the previous event, but it is quite strong. Squelcher may be one of the cards that really has pushed how good Sneak and Show can be. Giving it an uncounterable effect that is very strong is extremely good.
In Second Place, we had Beans.
Phlage is an interesting slot here. I think in general, though, Quantum Riddler is definitely such a powerful card, but it's even better when paired with Beans. Paying 1U to draw possibly 3-4 cards is very powerful, but even just getting one card out of Riddler and getting a 4/6 flier in the late game is good too.
Outside of the Top 8 we had some Mardu Energy action.
Three each of Squelcher and Voice of Victory makes for some really solid protection for your team. Multiple Squelchers makes it extremely difficult for your opponents to 1-for-1 your threats.
Legacy Challenge 32 3/1/2026 - 1
The fourth Challenge event of the week was the first Sunday event. This event had 39 players on it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Dimir Tempo was again the most played deck, but its overall win rate was not great despite one Top 8 appearance. Oops did very well here, as did Red Stompy and Mystic Forge.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Oops! All Spells | 1st | manohito |
| Dredge | 2nd | MyPotatoes |
| Dimir Moonshadow | 3rd | nekoyama2 |
| Mystic Forge Combo | 4th | Will_Split |
| Sneak and Show | 5th | snoopy-magic |
| Dimir Tempo | 6th | wowqqqa |
| Red Stompy | 7th | jibeta |
| Izzet Tempo | 8th | EsperWTB |
Fairly interesting Top 8. At the end of the event it was Oops that won.
Usually, we see the Memory's Journey / Jack-o'-Lantern package in the main deck, not the sideboard, so that's sort of strange to see a list with it in the sideboard. Seems to me like you'd want it main deck too.
In Second Place, we had Dredge.
Seems like a pretty straightforward list. Overwhelm your opponent with Zombies and win the game is pretty good.
Outside of the Top 8, we had some Stiflenought action.
Very interesting list. The sideboard here has some wild things to it. Being able to move more into a Miracles-style control list with Triumph of Saint Katherine is pretty interesting.
Legacy Challenge 32 3/1/2026 - 2
The final Challenge event of the week was the second Sunday event. This event had 51 players on it thanks to the MTGO website. This event had a bunch of Unknown Decks due to an error in data collection.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Sneak and Show as the most played deck, and it had a pretty good win rate. Beans did well too, as did Dimir.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| The EPIC Storm | 1st | Vash963 |
| Sneak and Show | 2nd | wingzeronfc |
| Beanstalk Control (Non-Yorion) | 3rd | bcs8995 |
| Oops! All Spells | 4th | Bawer |
| Affinity Stompy | 5th | ecobaronen |
| Mono Black Reanimator | 6th | SuperCow12653 |
| Dimir Tempo | 7th | xfile |
| Stoneblade | 8th | ehstar |
Fairly diverse Top 8 all around. At the end of the event, it was The EPIC Storm that won.
Squelcher has certainly managed to improve the position of many combo decks like Storm. Giving these decks some amount of uncounterable functionality is pretty good.
In Second Place, we had Sneak and Show.
Lot of one-ofs in the sideboard here, but I dig the miser Squelcher in the main and also the miser Stifle. Lots of ways to protect your combo with this.
Also in this Top 8, we had Beans.
Haven't seen the whole Leyline of the Guildpact style beans in a hot minute. Bello, Bard of the Brambles is kind of cute to turn your Leylines and Leyline Bindings into 4/4s in the late game.
Around the Web
- Fenruscloud is playing some Izzet Prowess. Check it out here.
- The Legacy Archive has some Moonshadow vs Affinity action. Check it out here.
The Spice Corner
Now that Leagues are posted throughout the week, let's find some Spice!
Hogaak Moonshadow is quite sweet.
Wrapping Up
That's all the time we have this week folks! Thanks for continuing to support the column and join us next week as we continue our journey into Legacy!
As always, you can reach me at all my associated links via my Link Tree! In addition I'm always around the MTGGoldfish Discord Server and the MTGLegacy Discord Server.
Until next time!
