I'm asking because I've started putting together an Alois vs. Undecided Duel Deck. I'm thinking lots of bounce and flicker, some artifacts, effects that save your creatures and probably a truckload of Allies. Anything I'm missing? What should I focus on?

Here are my candidates so far if you'd like to critique them:

Any other cards you think are shoe-ins?

Well, this seems like the sort of thing I should respond to.

So! A few things to keep in mind with Ms. Hartley! The first is this: Lands and Exile. Those are her things, for the most part, so sticking with that theme is a good idea. You've already got a solid handle on that, so fair game so far.

Path to Exile, Cloudshift, and Explore are all some of the best cards to represent Aloise's abilities.

Creature, preferably, should be benign or beneficial towards your game plan, rather than harmful to your opponents. Stonecloaker is an excellent addition to any deck themed around Aloise, and I like the idea of Allies featuring prominently in the deck - except that she had never personally visited Zendikar, so I'm not sure how much sense that makes.

A diversity of creature types shows her ability to make friends. Loxodons, Rhox, Humans, Elves, Merfolk, Leonin, Kithkin, Treefolk, and so on. Anything that gains life, gives protection, or otherwise keeps your stuff safe is certainly a good addition. Loxodon Hierarch and Rhox Faithmender come to mind.

As for finally winning the game, getting their via evasion and teamwork between creatures should do the trick. Aloise would be more interested in keeping her friends safe than participating directly in the nitty-gritty of the fight.

Test of Endurance, Felidar Sovereign, and Epic Struggle are interesting alternate win conditions.

Evangelize also strikes me as a pretty interesting choice.

Hope this helps!

As someone who regularly builds theme decks, both of the prime canon and extended, I feel I can weigh on this. So long as they avoid proper names, I find any card can be flavorfully applied multiversally. Somewhere out there, there are more allies. They just aren't from Hada or Sea Gate.

When I think about Aloise, one of the first things which always leaps to mind for me is her pack full of gear. She always has the right tools on hand to be prepared for an adventure, and she collects artifacts wherever she goes. So I think you could pick a lot of different artifacts which would be flavorful and mesh nicely with the themes that you and Ruwin and Barin already identified.

Adventuring Gear would be a literal fit, but I don't think aggressive creature pump is the best flavor match.

Expedition Map would be a natural.

Otherworld Atlas makes sense as well.

Druidic Satchel would mesh really nicely with the lifegain and land ramp aspects of the deck.

Mystic Compass would make a ton of sense, but might be a little unexciting.

Traveler's Amulet seems like another possibility.

Among spells, Explore, Exploration, Travel Preparations, and Map the Wastes all seem like they'd be thematically appropriate and would play nice with land ramp and creature buff.

Borderland Ranger is a real card, you know.

I could see her dabbling in the Aubedore cards...

...no idea which spells she would use, though.

Everyone here has given excellent advice.

I especially liked OL's suggestion for Druidic Satchel. That's just great, to be honest.

Hey, Ruwin. How's it going?

I'll send you a PM.

Yeah, looks like I've been neglecting the ramp/exploring parts of the deck. Glad to know the basic concept works.

@Ruwin: Aloisyas it is I'll probably skip the alt win cons. It's just too limiting for a duel deck. Well, I guess I could throw one in, but it couldn't be the main win con.


I'll raise you a Star Compass.


Yes, but I was putting together an NGA decklist in cockatrice. On that note, how do I go about making my own XML files?