Bruna Light of Alabaster Card Draw

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Bruna, Light of Alabaster

#1 Jul 7, 2012

Introduction
UPDATE: So I held off editing the main post because ~~I'm lazy~~ I was pretty sure the Commander Rules Committee will end up repealing their announcement about the tuck rule. It's been MONTHS, and everyone seems to have settled on it staying gone... so HOORAY! THE WITCH IS DEAD! Anyway, as anyone who has read this primer before knows, getting your commander tucked is a lot more crippling to this deck compared most others. That's not a problem anymore.

Also, Tragic Arrogance came out with Magic Origins, and it's probably the most relevant addition to the strategy in years. It will be replacing Spectra Ward, which is fancy and everything, but not really all that powerful. - Mark, 7/30/15

How time flies! Avacyn Restored came out over two years ago and I made this deck not long after then. My heartfelt thanks go out to everyone who has contributed their suggestions and experiences, and I'm so happy that a lot of people out there have taken this commander and staved many opponents' faces in with it. With this writing comes the largest batch of changes in the decklist ever. Partially, that's because M15 gave us a whopping THREE new cards to play with! The bigger reason is I've decided to share some of the more expensive cards among my decks. Anyway, much of the general philosophy behind the deck (and, therefore, the text in this primer) remains the same. If there are any inconsistencies between the list and the text, I apologize in advance. I'll try to weed them out bit by bit in the following weeks.

Why Bruna?
From the card text alone, I think it's pretty obvious that you'll be winning games by getting a lot of quality auras on Bruna and sending her in the general direction of your opponents like a very, very pretty freight train, Voltron-style.

Having white/blue as her color identity provides you with the means to protect her (shroud auras, totem armor, countermagic) and yourself (defensive auras, …countermagic), which a lot of other Voltron Commanders are short on. More importantly, white and blue have a few cards that prevent your opponents from meddling during your turn. Three Dreams and Intuition are in these colors, so that's cool.

You'd enjoy this deck if:
-You like putting the fear of God into your opponents because you can eliminate a player out of nowhere without resorting to some infinite loop that wipes the entire table.
-You like how aura effects interact apart from making your dudes bigger.
-You like to play with auras, generally, and would like for them to be more appreciated instead of being considered one of the worst card types (if not the worst outright).
-You used to enjoy Uril, but you can't get over how easily he gets Hinder'd.
-You thought you'd like Zur, but then your friends complained about how annoying he is.

This deck might not be for you if:
-You just can't get over how using lots of auras can feel like shooting yourself in the foot.
-You can't get over using Read the Runes and Tunnel Vision instead of Sphinx's Revelation and Rhystic Study.

PROs
Bruna has the crazy ability to take all the auras in play, in your hand, and in your graveyard. No need to pay for them. No three CMC limit. Just turn her sidew—OH RIGHT, she has vigilance. Bruna's ability extends to your graveyard, so the main weakness of auras—that they die along with the creatures they enchant, thus risk massive card disadvantage—is mitigated.

CONs
What I would give to trade Bruna's vigilance and flying for hexproof and haste! A good part of my efforts goes into getting Bruna attacking as soon as possible and protecting her from Doomblade and its ilk. Her cost is also somewhat problematic (she's one of the more expensive Voltron Commanders), but six isn't that big of a number in this format, right? There's also the issue of needing to have a lot of auras, which are considered by many to be the worst cards in Magic because of the card disadvantage thing I mentioned. Thankfully, Bruna gets around this rather well.

Mass land destruction could be a kick in the gut, but when has it never been so? The deck tries to prepare for this with mana rocks, land tutoring, and countermagic, but that can only do so much.

My personal reasons for playing Bruna are relatively shallow: I already have a relatively developed W/U card pool and I love the art.

Pedigree
Bruna hails from a prestigious line of enchantment-based Commanders, which in turn hails from a broader line of Commanders who want to have stuff attached to them and charge into the red zone. We'll just discuss the enchantment-based ones. I also already mentioned that Bruna is not exactly better than either Zur or Uril. Picking her is all a matter of preference.

Zur the Enchanter – Zur is considered by many to be one of the most insufferably broken Commanders in the format. Being in the notorious Esper colors is bad enough, but Zur is able to tutor a Necropotence directly into play, which fills your hand with answers. Forever.

In my opinion, Zur's only weakness is he's TOO powerful. The person running him can easily find himself the target of the entire table the moment he declares his Commander. Still, a good Zur player fending off three opponents isn't exactly unheard-of.

Uril, the Miststalker – Uril is the Timmy player's dream. He has inherent protection against those mean control players and their targeted removal, grows bigger with each aura you put on him, and is conveniently in the colors of Runes of the Deus and Shield of the Oversoul: two of the most un-subtly awesome auras available. His weakness: mass removal, especially of the Hallowed Burial variety.

Bio
I'm Mark. I'm 27 31, and I live in the Philippines. I used to play Standard, but had to quit because of school. Even when I was playing, I constantly felt bad about needing to replace my deck because of the rotations and back then, my LGS played Standard almost exclusively.

Years later, some friends introduced me to Commander. I actually didn't want to try it at first, but they eventually convinced me to cobble together a deck from their pool. I picked the first legend that seemed plausible: Grand Arbiter Augustin IV. I think they mildly regret that whole affair.

Anyway, that's the intro stuff. Let's get on to what you came here for:

Typical Game Plan
Mulligan Concerns
As you draw your opening hand, be on the lookout for ways to draw and ramp. Starting with a few lands and only auras might not be a good idea because they'd just end up doing nothing. That said, the deck contains a lot of card draw so I rarely find myself in a situation where I'd really need to mulligan--the deck naturally operates as though almost each card in it has cycling.

Opening Play
The plan for the first few turns is to establish a mana base. Ideally, this would involve playing some mana rocks, or pushing a few land drops ahead with Walking Atlas. It's very important to not miss any land drops, so if you have any looting spells, don't hesitate to cycle auras so you can draw into lands. Bruna can get those back later, anyway.

Don't be afraid to play Bruna early if you can sense that your opponents are lacking in removal or if you have countermagic in spades. Otherwise, don't rush her in because cards like Hinder and Spin into Myth exist. Instead, play one of the other creatures in the deck and enchant it with an aura or two. Most of the time, even something as innocent as Weathered Wayfarer can turn into a beast when you stick some good auras on him.

If Bruna DOES get tucked, you're going to have to rely on your other guys to win. Thankfully, as stated in the previous paragraph, each one of your creatures can become a legitimate threat. Additionally, the deck contains enough aggressive card drawing, so force a shuffle by using a tutor effect and you stand a good chance of drawing into Bruna herself or into a continuous supply of threats.

Sometimes, you'll get insane ramp, Force of Will, and Intuition. If you want to win more games, you may consider holding off until you can safely wipe everyone out. Sometimes you may just feel like putting the fear of god into the table and eliminate a player early. Even if the table panics into dogpiling you, maybe it's worth it. And maybe you can still manage to wipe them all out. Depends on how gung-ho you feel.

Another thing: graveyard hate exists. The deck doesn't have any direct answers to cards like Tormod's Crypt aside from countermagic, and they can put a big dent on your plans. Discard key auras sparingly if you can help it, but I've determined by playing the deck over and over that the best solution to graveyard hate is to be continuously aware that there's always a possibility of getting your graveyard exiled.

In short, never overextend. Each one of your creatures has the potential to force a board wipe and that's one less spell to worry about when Bruna comes in later on, hopefully with haste and shroud/hexproof. Never overextend the auras in your graveyard, either. Play carefully, but always be alert for a chance to play Bruna and knock out that guy holding all the removal while he's tapped out from playing Time Stop or whatever on some other dude. Then, take out that other dude.

Late Game
If you haven't wiped everyone out yet, you probably won't reach the late game because it's likely that the table has panicked and dogpiled on you. If you do reach the late game, it's probably because Bruna got neutered somehow, or you took the route good players (unlike myself) take and waited things out as your opponents spend their answers on each other while you gather enough mana and countermagic to play an utterly unanswerable Bruna. With haste.

Card Selections

Draw and Discard
The deck includes a wide array of blue cards that let you draw cards at the expense of discarding some. While this is seen to be inferior to straightforward card draw (something that blue does well already), Bruna's ability makes your graveyard an extension of your hand. In this regard, Bruna is more similar to The Mimeoplasm or Karador, Ghost Chieftain than the other aura-based Commanders.

Notable cards: Compulsive Research, Fact or Fiction, Read the Runes, Intuition, Memory Jar, Frantic Search, Cephalid Coliseum, Windfall

Tutors
And then there are the tutors. This deck had the dubious honor of being the only deck I know of that actually uses Tunnel Vision to tutor for something. It's not in the deck at the moment, but it's great gimmick that you might want to try. There are also some land-specific tutors because Hall of the Bandit Lord gives Bruna much-needed haste.

Notable cards: Three Dreams, Enlightened Tutor, Totem-Guide Hartebeast, Intuition.

Haste Enablers
A lot of the cards serve to protect Bruna until she can attack or giving her haste so she can attack immediately (or both!). Alternatively, you can wait for your opponents to tap out and sneak Bruna in via Scout's Warning.

Notable cards: Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, Hall of the Bandit Lord, Scout's Warning

Ramp and Other Lands
Bruna can get pretty mana-intensive because it would be foolish not to answer her, so her mana cost does tend to go up. Besides, Bruna does take 6 mana to cast the first time, so ramp is pretty important. It's not always necessary to hurry into getting Bruna out, but there's always something to do with a lot of early mana.

I actually want to prioritize basic Islands and Plains over mana-fixing duals because accelerating via Terrain Generator is more important and the deck has enough card draw to smoothen out the colors--and not everyone can afford the more expensive duals. Speaking of expensive cards, the deck would greatly benefit from Mana Crypt, and I do urge anyone who has it to include it (although I hate you forever and ever). This is no longer true for the current list, as I have sold one of my kidneys for a Mana Crypt, and shared my Azorius duals from my other deck. Still, if you're on a budget, Terrain Generator will do a lot of work with a list heavy with basics.

So far, Walking Atlas has been great. He functions as the Exploration that doesn't care about color identity. He can wear auras, chump block, and do lots of other fun stuff small, unassuming creatures do. A neat trick is to slip Hall of the Bandit Lord in at the end of an opponent's turn for some hasty Bruna action. Along the same vein, you can use Frantic Search to untap the Halls and get a surprise attack.

High Market and Homeward Path get a slot because it would be very, very bad for you if Bruna gets stolen.

Notable cards: Gilded Lotus, Azorius Signet, Wayfarer's Bauble, Sol Ring, Expedition Map, Walking Atlas, Temple of the False Gods, Mana Vault, Hall of the Bandit Lord, Homeward Path, High Market, Ancient Tomb, Thawing Glaciers.

The Auras
Here are the specific aura choices I made, and the notable interactions among them:

Eldrazi Conscription, Corrupted Conscience, Battle Mastery – These three are the main kill auras. More often than not, if Bruna slams into someone with any of these on along with some others, that guy's not getting up. Never forget that you can use Corrupted Conscience to steal an opponent's creature.

Pariah, Unquestioned Authority – Renders you immune to creature damage. Pariah can double as creature removal in a pinch--just slap it onto someone else's creature and it'll be dead in a few turns. If it survives, that probably means nobody attacked you. Unquestioned Authority makes Bruna unblockable, too. And draws you a card, which I value over the +1/+1 that Spirit Mantle provides.

Alexi's Cloak, Eel Umbra – Flash makes these auras invaluable to keeping Bruna alive. They serve as limited counters. It's usually a good idea to keep these in your hand instead of discarding them because they can act as emergency "counterspells" if somebody tries to off Bruna before she gets all the auras.

Flickerform, Vanishing – Also along the lines of keeping Bruna alive, this time against mass removal and similar kinds of non-targeting nastiness. You can attach these to enemy creatures too, as somewhat expensive removal. Flickerform on Totem-Guide Hartebeast, Heliod's Pilgrim, Boonweaver Giant or Auratouched Mage is pretty awesome, too, because you get to recycle their enter-the-battlefield abilities.

Vow of Duty, Vow of Flight – Aim your opponent's guys at other players! Bruna can absorb these later for a damage boost. It kinda irks me that the two vows that are available to Bruna provide abilities she already has, but the +2/+2 has been relevant at times. A Vow of Hexproof would be nice for the next Commander product, but I'm happy with the ones we have now. Vow of Duty is especially strong because it gives so much incentive for your opponent to attack with the enchanted creature.

Spectra Ward, Steel of the Godhead – These are generic good auras that provide a pump bonus, lifelink, or unblockabilty. Fliers are common enough in Commander that Bruna can benefit from being unblockable reasonably often (although not often enough to warrant Robe of Mirrors. Ew. If anyone has tested Rogue's Passage with success, please tell me about it.

Other Creatures
While the deck does mainly rely on Bruna, I've included some creatures that can function as smaller versions of her in case she gets tucked (or I just need a blocker). Note that a reasonable amount of pump auras plus Corrupted Conscience can still kill anyone out of nowhere. Pariah and Unquestioned Authority can turn any of your creatures into a little forcefield against attackers.

Notable cards: Totem-Guide Hartebeast, Auratouched Mage, Sovereigns of Lost Alara

Countermagic
Ideally, I would like to limit Bruna's counterspells to ones that can be cast for free, since I want to be able to cast Bruna, and then attack with her. Forbid is exceptionally good in the deck, though, because you can just pitch a couple of auras and expect Bruna to get it back.
Notable cards: Misdirection, Pact of Negation, Forbid, Force of Will

Notable Exclusions
Mesa Enchantress, Kor Spiritdancer – These seemed to be obvious inclusions, and they actually were part of the deck when I put it together for the first time. However, I quickly realized that I almost never cast my auras. They also pale in comparison to the card drawing that blue already provides.

Umbra Mystic – I noticed that protecting Bruna from being targeted or countering spells is usually more effective than just protecting her from being destroyed at the cost of a marginally useless creature taking up a slot, but I cut the Mystic out mainly because a lot of the effects that remove Bruna don't go through the "destroy" route. She's still a very good card, though. I might test with her in place of one of the redundant auras from time to time.

Flux, along with every other draw X then discard X card ever – There are lots. I can make an entire deck with ONLY these cards. I'd like to believe I narrowed out the best (I did play with Ancestral Memories, though). Any suggestions would be welcome. You can also play Three Wishes, since it does something the deck wants to do AND you get to play with both Three Dreams and Three Wishes in one deck!

Sigil of the Empty Throne – This was one of the cards I originally wanted for the deck. As I already mentioned, I find myself actually casting enchantments very rarely, so I never pursued this card.

Faith Healer - I've seen this being used as a life engine, taking advantage of Bruna resurrecting boatloads of enchantments with each combat step. While I think the interaction is cute, by the time Bruna's doing that, your opponents should already be dropping like flies.

1v1 Gameplay
Bruna does really well on single player matchups, although I don't think I've fought a deck that's specifically tuned for 1v1. I suspect to have trouble with faster, even more aggressive decks, but I'm sorry to say that I really don't know and can give very little input other than try to ramp Bruna out and hope to have counters for their counters.

There always is the chance of getting hit with Bojuka Bog, Relic of Progenitus, or whatnot. Most of the time, it doesn't really cripple you because there are always more auras in your deck. It may be a good idea to take it easy on discarding key auras if there's a chance of a graveyard nuke.

Conclusion
Well, there you have it. I hope you enjoy reading through my rambling and I would love to get some suggestions to make the deck better.

PS: So, the forums has a like function now. I know it probably doesn't mean much of anything, but in a blatant plea for validation, please like this post if it's not too much trouble (and if you do like it, of course).

Last edited by jylichan: Jul 17, 2016

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Augustin, Rasputin, Bruna, Brago, Ojutai
#2 Jul 8, 2012

Some combination of False Demise and Fool's Demise might be good. I'm testing a copy of the former in Zedruu, and they act as good redundancies with Eel Umbra. They can also be used to nab your opponents' best guys in a pinch.

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EDH - currently playing:

stuff

Also, watching people rifle shuffle decks, then chapin spaz their hand when playing with beta duals makes me want to punch them.
#3 Jul 8, 2012

Your example of blinking the Iridescent Drake with your Parallax Wave would not work since that Aura gives pro-creatures which you wave would be thanks to the Opalescence.

You might also consider Hakim, Loreweaver as a backup Bruna in case she gets tucked/stolen. He is a bit more mana intense but can carry all those Auras just as well. No Sensei's Top? It helps set up a lot of plays. Three Wishes can also be used a dig or fill your graveyard.

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"You are what you pretend to be, so you must be careful what you pretend to be" from Mother NightFirst posted EDH deck: Hakim, Beardmaster
#4 Jul 8, 2012

Some combination of False Demise and Fool's Demise might be good. I'm testing a copy of the former in Zedruu, and they act as good redundancies with Eel Umbra. They can also be used to nab your opponents' best guys in a pinch.

I have to second the Demise cards.

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#5 Jul 8, 2012

Your example of blinking the Iridescent Drake with your Parallax Wave would not work since that Aura gives pro-creatures which you wave would be thanks to the Opalescence.

You might also consider Hakim, Loreweaver as a backup Bruna in case she gets tucked/stolen. He is a bit more mana intense but can carry all those Auras just as well. No Sensei's Top? It helps set up a lot of plays. Three Wishes can also be used a dig or fill your graveyard.

You're right! D: And here I thought I was being clever with that. I haven't really managed that yet, and I don't think putting in Traveler's Cloak /just/ to enable this play is worth it.

I've put in Nomad Mythmaker instead of Hakim, Loreweaver, replacing Hanna, Ship's Navigator. The Mythmaker is cheaper and doesn't have the one aura at a time thing. Plus, the haste stuff can usually get him active sooner and an active Mythmaker gives more incentive to playing the Demise cards.

I may still put Hakim, depending on further playtest. :B

I don't have a Top yet. ;_; And Three Wishes is a GREAT idea. Thanks! Additionally, I like that I'd be playing both Three Somethings cards.

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Augustin, Rasputin, Bruna, Brago, Ojutai
#6 Jul 10, 2012

I'm wondering if there are enough auras in the deck (leaning on 'there aren't enough'), but I don't know for sure. I'm wondering if I'm growing to rely on tutoring too much, or if this is more of a 'I /shouldn't/ rely on tutoring too much' introspection thing because the deck functions well enough (as 'well' as establishing a boogeyman reputation that echoes throughout multiple games).

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Augustin, Rasputin, Bruna, Brago, Ojutai
#7 Jul 10, 2012

I think the pool of aura's in UW is too small to play more than 15 of them. I think you have enough Abduction is a great card in Bruna - it functions as a mind control early on and as a fool's demise once you have Bruna. Geist of Saint Traft is good as another backup for Bruna. You could think about adding Angelic Destiny as well.

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#8 Jul 10, 2012

I think the pool of aura's in UW is too small to play more than 15 of them. I think you have enough Abduction is a great card in Bruna - it functions as a mind control early on and as a fool's demise once you have Bruna. Geist of Saint Traft is good as another backup for Bruna. You could think about adding Angelic Destiny as well.

In the earliest incarnations of the deck, I had Angelic Destiny in just because it was a pretty decent pump aura. I took it out soonafter because there are auras that fulfill more integral roles.

Good call on Abduction, though. I think I can replace False Demise with it. I don't think I'll be able to use False Demise to steal a creature, what with the only spell I have that can destroy creatures... ignores enchanted ones. o_o

I'd like to test out Geist of St. Traft, but sadly it's still a bit too expensive. If I could borrow one somehow, I'll happily try it out.

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Augustin, Rasputin, Bruna, Brago, Ojutai
#9 Jul 13, 2012

Finally found a Greater Auramancy. \o\

...now I'm pretty sure it'll mess up a Parallax Wave/Opalescence lock somehow. :B

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Augustin, Rasputin, Bruna, Brago, Ojutai
#10 Jul 15, 2012

Found some odds and ends (thank you, M13, for reviving the availability of cheap Reliquary Towers). Can't wait to try out the new toys. :B

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Augustin, Rasputin, Bruna, Brago, Ojutai
#11 Jul 27, 2012

Notes:
It's a good idea to not be greedy with dumping enchantments in the 'yard. Getting Bojuka Bog'd really cripples the deck only if all the good auras got removed, when one is more than enough to scare someone into popping their gy nuke. GY hate is just too diverse to be worth defending against with stuff like Leyline of Sanctity or True Believer.

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Augustin, Rasputin, Bruna, Brago, Ojutai
#12 Aug 9, 2012

I've been piloting the deck for a while and I believe the build is already stable (of course, future expansions will bring in fresh cardboard).

Some notes on multiplayer:
- The deck is the right blend of intimidating and vulnerable. The entire table should know that once Bruna starts attacking, heads will start rolling, and yet there's a chance that Bruna will kill off the biggest threats and leave the rest of the table to gang up on her.

- More often than not, the deck has enough ways to push a lethal attack through one opponent's defenses, but not when EVERYONE starts pitching in. I think it's good that the deck isn't so infallible in this regard--although with the way some of the cards interact, Bruna can be pretty invincible. I like that I can present that tension between being used as a convenient gunman to being too dangerous to keep around.

- I think I'll be removing the Parallax combo soon. It's a cool alternate win condition, but winning with it doesn't seem to be much in theme with what the deck wants to do. Besides, some people might not enjoy battling back Bruna only to be sideswiped by a totally unrelated combo. Instead, would it 'feel' better if I put in stuff like Armageddon instead, so I can nuke everyone's lands after I play Bruna? Is that a valid synergy with say Academy Researchers + /any pumpy aura/?

- I don't know if this is just me being a /bad player/ or something, but I really dislike the games when I feel that the best play is to wait until everyone's expended their answers on everyone else, and then I just bonk the survivors. This is just a personal preference, but as much as possible, I'd just like to drop Bruna as soon as possible and keep resummoning her.

- Maybe I should replace Consecrated Sphinx, as well. That creature is ridiculously strong, but it doesn't really push the deck's theme.

Last edited by jylichan: Aug 9, 2012

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Augustin, Rasputin, Bruna, Brago, Ojutai
#13 Aug 9, 2012

Even after reading your reasoning, I do not understand your exclusion of Diplomatic Immunity. Your premise is that you can use another spell to save her when she's targeted for removal, yet if you were running DI, that wouldn't happen. Diplomatic Immunity was one of the most important auras of my build, and yours would benefit from DI all the same.

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#14 Aug 9, 2012

Actually, Diplomatic Immunity had always been under consideration, but got cut because of a shortage of slots. It was more of choosing the flash shrouders over it instead of excluding it altogether. Now that I've decided to free up some space, I'll definitely test it. :B

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Augustin, Rasputin, Bruna, Brago, Ojutai
#15 Sep 18, 2012

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#16 Sep 18, 2012

I may test Retether, but I've always thought there's not much need for it because Bruna manages its effect for free.

Why Caged Sun? I've always thought it was more of a mono color card. o_o

[UPDATE]
I'm stripping the combo from the deck. It's not that it's bad or it never does its job. I just feel that it's just so cheap and I never really felt great pulling a surprise win from it.

Anyway, more space for auras! There's a couple of recently spoiled ones from RTR that I'm looking forward to testing:

Ethereal Armor W
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 for each enchantment you control and has first strike.

It's like half an Auramancer's Guise at a quarter of the cost. It also counts non-Aura enchantments, and although it might not matter much 99% of the time, it's something. First strike is also another not-so-relevant ability--it's more overkill than anything, but I'm pretty sure I'll be thankful whenever it DOES make a difference.

Righteous Authority 3 W U
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 for each card in its controller's hand.
At the beginning of the draw step of the enchanted creature's controller, that player draws an additional card.

Just as Ethereal Armor is a mini-Auramancer's Guise, Righteous Authority is Empyrial Armor's big brother! The extra card draw is really nice, especially if it's on another creature.:tongue:

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Augustin, Rasputin, Bruna, Brago, Ojutai
#17 Sep 18, 2012

I may test Retether, but I've always thought there's not much need for it because Bruna manages its effect for free.

I tried it in Uril where my commander doesn't pull auras from the grave and it wasn't good enough there so no reason to bother with it here I think.

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#18 Sep 18, 2012

Replenish once turned an Academy Rector (of all creatures) into a monster, but I'm pretty sure that's a corner case.

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Augustin, Rasputin, Bruna, Brago, Ojutai
#19 Sep 19, 2012

I may test Retether, but I've always thought there's not much need for it because Bruna manages its effect for free.

Why Caged Sun? I've always thought it was more of a mono color card. o_o

Well, Caged Sun basically doubles your mana. I guess it's more of a card that is just helpful rather than necessary.

Also what do you think of Omniscience? I'm running Bruna as well, and I recently got an Omniscience to stick in. High Market Academy Rector on turn 4 in my first playtest.

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#20 Sep 19, 2012

Well, Caged Sun basically doubles your mana. I guess it's more of a card that is just helpful rather than necessary.

Also what do you think of Omniscience? I'm running Bruna as well, and I recently got an Omniscience to stick in. High Market Academy Rector on turn 4 in my first playtest.

It doesn't double my mana if half of it is another color, and the minor creature pump is hardly notable for me.

I've never considered Omniscience, and now that you brought it up, I still don't think I'll make room for it. The deck intrinsically 'cheats' so much mana already, just with Bruna's combat triggers that Omniscience just seems like overkill. It's spectacular whenever you pull it off, though.

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Augustin, Rasputin, Bruna, Brago, Ojutai
#21 Oct 13, 2012

I am currently running a Bruan deck as well; a little bit different than this one, but this one looks pretty solid.

If you were looking for something to double your mana i would recommend Doubling Cube.

And Winding Canyons is another great haste enabler that I use in mine.

Although I disagree with running the more defensive auras such as Fool's Demise and False Demise.

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#22 Oct 16, 2012

I am currently running a Bruan deck as well; a little bit different than this one, but this one looks pretty solid.

If you were looking for something to double your mana i would recommend Doubling Cube.

And Winding Canyons is another great haste enabler that I use in mine.

Although I disagree with running the more defensive auras such as Fool's Demise and False Demise.

I actually didn't run those at first. I just run them for testing's sake. For the most part, Abduction does the exact same thing, and could steal a creature in a pinch.

Winding Canyons is a great mid/late game choice, and I thought to have it in this deck when I first made it, but didn't have extra copies. Heck, I'll just use it in and test it out this weekend, then update the primer with the results.

Doubling mana isn't really a concern for the deck. In fact, it means to be as tight on mana as possible--if you could afford everything, Bruna's ability would be less amazing.

I'd love it if you shared your list here, or just share the major differences between our decks.

I'm also thinking of streamlining the deck to focus more on being less of a 'combo deck'. It might mean less disruption and more cards that support auras. Still thinking how to go about it, though.

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Augustin, Rasputin, Bruna, Brago, Ojutai
#23 Oct 16, 2012

I actually didn't run those at first. I just run them for testing's sake. For the most part, Abduction does the exact same thing, and could steal a creature in a pinch.

Winding Canyons is a great mid/late game choice, and I thought to have it in this deck when I first made it, but didn't have extra copies. Heck, I'll just use it in and test it out this weekend, then update the primer with the results.

Doubling mana isn't really a concern for the deck. In fact, it means to be as tight on mana as possible--if you could afford everything, Bruna's ability would be less amazing.

I'd love it if you shared your list here, or just share the major differences between our decks.

I'm also thinking of streamlining the deck to focus more on being less of a 'combo deck'. It might mean less disruption and more cards that support auras. Still thinking how to go about it, though.

Posted my deck up. Should be able to just check it out through my sig, but I do run more removal than you and I also run a couple land destruction cards.

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#24 Oct 21, 2012

Posted my deck up. Should be able to just check it out through my sig, but I do run more removal than you and I also run a couple land destruction cards.

This is a very good list, actually. It's more of a control approach (keep people from killing you, finish with Bruna), which I think is a much safer way to play a Bruna deck. The smaller aura count shouldn't matter much because of the control and resource denial. :B

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Augustin, Rasputin, Bruna, Brago, Ojutai
#25 Oct 22, 2012

This is a very good list, actually. It's more of a control approach (keep people from killing you, finish with Bruna), which I think is a much safer way to play a Bruna deck. The smaller aura count shouldn't matter much because of the control and resource denial. :B

Thanks man! And the lower auras don't hurt me at all since I never go all in; like say a Traumatize myself and attach everything from my hand and the cards in my gy to Bruna... when most of the cards in my gy at that time can get the job done, and I can save my hand if need be. And I like the pillowfort; it has kept me from dying so many times its not funny. Thinking of pulling Crawlspace out for Silent Arbiter. Any thoughts on this?

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