Pioneer: Selesnya Auras - Deck Tech & Sideboard Guide

Auras has had a long history in Pioneer: from a potential archetype in Orzhov versions, it became one of the main contenders in the Metagame when Lurrus of the Dream-Den was legal, competing with Boros Burn for the title of best deck. Since its ban, however, Auras has disappeared for a long time.

At Pro Tour Phyrexia, Benton Madsen reached the finals of the tournament piloting the Selesnya version of Auras after it gained several additions in 2022, putting the deck back on the radar. Now, Auras is resurfacing with a new version in Magic Online Leagues and Challenges, taking advantage of the cards it received in Duskmourn to create a consistent and interactive game plan.

This is the list I used last week and the version that has been appearing in Leagues and Challenges recently. It works with almost the same logic that Auras always had in Pioneer, but with the addition of powerful new enchantments and also with a free mana package with Mox Amber, which benefits from the fact that 12 of our 16 creatures are legendary.

The core of this archetype is based on two plans: enchanting Gladecover Scout with Ethereal Armor or All That Glitters and other Auras to transform it into a Megazord, or using the interaction of Light-Paws, Emperor’s Voice with enchantments to create a versatile toolbox of abilities that, added to Skrelv, Defector Mite for protection, guarantee an almost free pass to win the game in few turns.

Maindeck

Our creatures.

Gladecover Scout is the only cheap creature with Hexproof available in Pioneer, and it’s unlikely we’ll get another copy of it in the future now that that ability is commonly replaced by Ward. With it in play, we need to worry less about cards like Fatal Push and should focus on using as many Auras as possible on it, unless the game demands diversifying enchantments on creatures for some reason.

Skrelv, Defector Mite is the Mother of Runes we have at home. It protects our creatures from removal and ensures that they are free to attack without blockers in the way. With it in play, the opponent needs two removals to deal with our threats.

Light-Paws, Emperor’s Voice is one of the best upgrades Auras has ever received. With it, we have a very efficient toolbox package that allows us to focus only on the best enchantments and put other cards as one-of or two-ofs, increasing the diversity of ways to win the game or protect the creatures.

Sram, Senior Edificer is the closest we have to Kor Spiritdancer and guarantees a draw for all the Auras we cast. He will hardly be the main target of enchantments, unless we lack more appropriate options.

With 12 legendary creatures, Mox Amber is almost as good as Mox Pearl in this deck, and we can use it for more explosive turns in the early game to the detriment of a slightly worse topdeck.

Our “stackers”.

Both are Auras that we use to exponentially increase the power of our creatures and can seek out different targets with Light-Paws to help in the game, either with Audacity or with Sheltered by Ghosts.

Our evasion.

It seems self-explanatory, but Audacity is our primary target when we expect the opponent to have blockers anyway. It tends to be the main choice in most games because many decks have Flying blockers, but Gryff’s Boon is an option when we need to get over the top to deal lethal damage, in addition to being a card that we can resort from the graveyard in longer games.

The new cards.

Sheltered by Ghosts does a bit of everything: it grants lifelink against Aggro, it is a board interaction in any match, and it also gives a precious Ward to the enchanted creature. With it, Light-Paws can search for Ethereal Armor for greater damage range and, consequently, transform the enchanted creature into the Aggros' nightmare.

Shardmage's Rescue grants Hexproof for one turn to any creature. With it resolved, we can go "All-in" against the opponent and play Aura after Aura on the enchanted creature to deal lethal damage that same turn.

Sentinel's Eyes is another cheap enchantment that we can search for with Light-Paws and reuse from the graveyard to trigger Sram and Light-Paws. There are games where we want to search for it to guarantee an efficient blocker while keeping the pressure on.

Kaya’s Ghostform offers extra protection against removals and is a recommended target if you enchant Light-Paws with an Aura.

Our mana base is self-explanatory: we need the most consistency possible with the fewest tapped lands we can have, while avoiding too many conditional cards. Enter a full set of Brushland, Razorverge Thicket and Temple Garden, plus a copy of Mana Confluence for a bit more manafixing and the rare risk of drawing Kaya’s Ghostform.

Boseiju, Who Endures and Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, in addition to being lands, also function as board interaction and take advantage of the number of legendary creatures we have in the deck.

Sideboard

Rest in Peace is our main answer against graveyard-heavy decks like Izzet Phoenix and Jund Sacrifice. It can be used in a few other matchups, but it's widely played against those two archetypes.

Torpor Orb stops half of the Cauldron Familiar combo with Ygra, Eater of All and also the ETBs of decks like Spirits and Humans while not hurting any of our cards.

Portable Hole is our cheap interaction against Aggro decks like Humans, Prowess, or Selesnya Company. Some players like to use it against Jund Sacrifice, but I think the slot concession to include it on top of the other cards in the deck is already a bit too big for us to maintain a consistent plan.

Invasion of Gobakhan is the best answer we have for games against Control, where we need to respect sweepers.

The “Leyline plan” is a Modern classic that arrived in Pioneer. The idea is that, due to this archetype’s weakness against Thoughtseize, we need to protect our hand from discard spells, since a deck like Rakdos Demons has problems dealing with large and well-protected creatures.

It also works against the new iterations of Lotus Combo that try to win with Lightning Strike because it takes away this win line and forces the opponent to search and loop to win with Thassa’s Oracle.

Alpha Authority is a resource against go-wide strategies that can chump block even with our creature having Trample with Audacity, where we limit the blockers to increase the damage that the combination of Auras can cause.

Izzet Phoenix

IN

OUT

Jund Sacrifice

IN

OUT

Rakdos Prowess

IN

OUT

Rakdos Demons

IN

OUT

Azorius Control

IN

OUT

That’s all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!