Aura Blight

Concept

Aura Blight is a control-midrange deck that seeks to disrupt the opponent's strategy and win by leveraging powerful enchantments.

Game Plan

The deck aims to slow down the game by disrupting the opponent's plans and resources, while simultaneously building up its own board presence and hand advantage thanks to enchantment-based synergies. 

To do this, it uses a variety of removal spells to get rid of the opponent's threats, as well as hand disruption spells to disrupt the opponent's plans.

The deck includes a large number of enchantments and a suite of powerful enchantment payoffs, which leverage the bestow and constellation mechanics.

Eventually, it hopes to win the game by deploying powerful creatures like Celestial Archon to swing the game in its favor.

Deck Composition

The deck is organized in four main packages:

• disruption 

• utility

• enablers

• payoffs/finishers

It is important to note that several cards fit more than one package, which gives the deck extra flexibility and strength.

The disruption package

includes a variety of spells that can deal with the opponent's permanents (mainly creatures) on the board or with cards in hand.

The largest majority of these spells duplicate as enablers for the enchantment-powered synergies that fuel the deck. They come in the form of Auras like Dead Weight, Pacifism or Thopter Arrest, and Pillory of the Sleepless, Enchantment Creatures like Brain Maggot, or enchantment-enabled payoffs such as Blightcaster.

These spells help the deck to keep the opponent's board and hand in check and prevent them from gaining an advantage in the early/mid-game.

The disruption package normally includes 12 to 18 cards, the largest majority of which are enchantments and therefore duplicate as enablers.

The utility package

includes spells the provide resilience and card advantage like Auramancer, which can recycle enchantments from your graveyard, or bestow creatures like Baleful Eidolon, Hopeful Eidolon, that can be played as creature enhancing auras, or Harvestguard Alseids, which can offer protection from damage to your creatures on the battlefield.

The utility package normally includes 4-8 cards, most of which duplicate as enablers.

The enablers package

includes a wide variety of enchantments. The beauty of this deck is that all enablers also duplicate as disruption, or utility and sometimes as finishers as well. There is not a single card in the deck that only plays the enabler's role.

There are disruptive enablers that attack creatures on the battlefield like Pacifism, Dead Weight, and Doomwake Giant, or those that attack cards in hand, such as Brain Maggot or Thoughtrender Lamia. Utility enablers include various Creature Enchantments like Baleful Eidolon, Hopeful Eidolon, or Harvestguard Alseids. Some finisher/payoff cards also duplicate as enablers like Grim Guardian, Answered Prayers, and Herald of Torment.

The payoffs/finishers package

includes few copies among a variety of very powerful creatures like Blessed Spirits, Celestial Archon, Sigil of the Empty Throne, Nighthowler, Underworld Coinsmith, or Eidolon of Countless Battles, which can rapidly end the game once the deck has established control.

The finishers attack along different lines. Blessed Spirits, and Nighthowler go high and focus on making one very large creature, while Sigil of the Empty Throne, which produces endless 4/4 fliers, and Eidolon of Countless Battles, which pumps all your creatures, go wide. With Underworld Coinsmith and Grim Guardian instead, the focus is on inflicting damage directly to the opponent. 

The package normally takes 5 to 8 slots using a combination of 3 to 4 different cards, focusing on the various attack lanes.

Conclusion

Aura Blight is a control-midrange deck that seeks to disrupt the opponent's strategy and win with powerful enchantment-based synergies. 

It has a strong removal suite and uses hand disruption spells to help survive until it takes control of the board and can move onto the offensive with its powerful finishers. 

However, it may struggle against decks that are able to go wide or apply a lot of pressure, as its removal suite, while powerful, does not have many ways to deal with a large number of smaller threats.

Signature Cards