Wallace
02-04-2008, 07:51 PM
The Severance Package!
So the deadline for entry into the CANGD 2 is all most here and I have a late addition. This deck “The Severance Package” is a combo control deck that uses the Counter Top lock to gain control of the game and Goblin Charbelcher to win it. Now you might be asking yourself; “How a deck that need to run mana to gain control of the game can support the Charbelcher”? Well there’s a card for Tempest that solves this problem and will let you win the first time you activate the Belcher, Mana Severance.
Mana Severance + Goblin Charbelcher = Win!!
http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/TE/en-us/Card4710.jpg (http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=4710#)http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/MRD/en-us/Card49771.jpg (http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=49771#)
Now at :1::u: this sorcery is easy to cast and allows you to leave mana open to keep control of the game.
The List:
4 Counterbalance
3 Sensei’s Divining Top
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Counterspell
2 Mana Severance
2 Goblin Charbelcher
3 Vedalken Shackles
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Wrath of God
4 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
3 Tropical Island
5 Islands
3 Plains
1 Academy Ruins
Card Choices:
Counterbalance & Sensei’s Divining Top: These to cards were a simple addition to the deck. I needed heavy control to sit under and this combo fit perfectly, I know how much of a bitch the counter top combo can be.
Force of Will: This is a control deck and there’s really no better counterspell than FoW. The deck plays plenty of blue cards to feed the Alternative cost too, easy choice.
Counterspell: At :u::u: Counterspell has been a great answer for a long time now. I really didn’t want to run Daze and Spell Snare is to Situational, counterspell it is.
Brainstorm & Ponder: Much like FoW, brainstorm is a staple of any blue deck, drawing cards and setting up counterbalance in a pinch. Ponder was a late addition to the deck, I wanted another draw spell but couldn’t figure out which one. Ponder does what I need it to do, dig 3 cards deep searching for a Belcher or Severance when needed or shuffling away the crap on top of your deck. At :u: Ponder is cheep enough to allow your mana sources to stay open.
Vedalken Shackles: Shackles is a great answer to almost any creature, stealing that big Goyf or robbing your opponent of a creature just to use it as a blocker. The fact that all of the mana producing land in this deck (-Ruins) are islands make Shackles fit right in.
Swords to Plowshares: Another easy choice for me, STP has been king of the single creature removal spells since the beginning. :w: is all it costs to deal with any dude, then it also removes the creature from the game which can factor in later. The life your opponent will gain is really no big deal because when you activate belcher you should be doing at least 30 damage.
Wrath of God & Engineered Explosives: Wrath is a great answer to a fast start by an opposing Aggro deck. Wrath also answers the ETW combo if it manages to go off. Yeah at :2::w::w: it’s not really fast enough to beat ETW every time but it can help. Engineered Explosives however can beat a turn 1 or 2 ETW. EE is a great addition to the deck, providing a controlled board sweeper that can deal with permanents CC 0 to 3. The ability to be used multiple times via Academy Ruins is nice too.
Mana Severance & Goblin Charbelcher: Ok now to the combo and eventual win condition of this deck. Goblin Charbelcher is one of my favorite cards, I love playing CRET Belcher. The problem is that to many people are playing islands no days and belcher has a problem with that. We’ve tried to combat the problem with adding main deck blasts and packing 4 more in the board, Belcher has problems. With “The Severance Package” you can combat the control with well…more control. Setting up the board to drop belcher and if/when it hits you can protect it for almost anything (Stupid Grip).
Mana Severance is an old school card that has been around since Tempest. I used to rock this card in every deck from MBC to Burn, as a matter of fact I have been testing it in burn recently. That is really how I came across the idea for this deck, I was testing my burn list running severance and ran into a belcher deck. After losing to my worst match up (Any combo deck is my worst btw) I thought to myself “wow I wonder what would happen if I added Mana Severance to a Belcher combo Deck?” Well this is the result, after resolving belcher you simply cast a severance and ride your deck of all the land that would normally get in belcher’s way. The only problem is after you remove all the land from your deck you have to activate belcher rite away or you will risk no killing them with on activation (Due to the low number of cards that will be left in your Deck)
Academy Ruins: Ruins was an easy choice, it gets back EE and can bring back a countered or destroyed Belcher. Be in able to cast EE again and again is nice as is recasting belcher after its countered.
Sideboard:
To me sideboards are very Meta dependant, for this deck I wanted to include an alternate win condition in the board. The deck runs 3 Tropical Islands for 2 reasons, Tarmogoyf and Mongoose in the board and Krosan Grip. By siding in the creature you may catch your opponent off guard and with no removal. The Grips are a staple in almost every sideboard now days and combat so many different cards. Other cards I would look at for the board are Spell Snare, Chill, Stifle, and Moat. I really wouldn’t run any Red Elemental or Hydro Blasts, the Counter/Top lock will do the job, most of the time. Here is a possable SB, prob. what I would play if I were going to play this deck right now.
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Nimble Mongoose
4 Krosan Grip
3 Chill
I really haven’t done any play testing as of yet but would imagine that the match ups would be similar to MUC or a straight counter/top deck. I will post some results when I have them, until the let me know what you think!!!
So the deadline for entry into the CANGD 2 is all most here and I have a late addition. This deck “The Severance Package” is a combo control deck that uses the Counter Top lock to gain control of the game and Goblin Charbelcher to win it. Now you might be asking yourself; “How a deck that need to run mana to gain control of the game can support the Charbelcher”? Well there’s a card for Tempest that solves this problem and will let you win the first time you activate the Belcher, Mana Severance.
Mana Severance + Goblin Charbelcher = Win!!
http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/TE/en-us/Card4710.jpg (http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=4710#)http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/MRD/en-us/Card49771.jpg (http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=49771#)
Now at :1::u: this sorcery is easy to cast and allows you to leave mana open to keep control of the game.
The List:
4 Counterbalance
3 Sensei’s Divining Top
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Counterspell
2 Mana Severance
2 Goblin Charbelcher
3 Vedalken Shackles
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Wrath of God
4 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
3 Tropical Island
5 Islands
3 Plains
1 Academy Ruins
Card Choices:
Counterbalance & Sensei’s Divining Top: These to cards were a simple addition to the deck. I needed heavy control to sit under and this combo fit perfectly, I know how much of a bitch the counter top combo can be.
Force of Will: This is a control deck and there’s really no better counterspell than FoW. The deck plays plenty of blue cards to feed the Alternative cost too, easy choice.
Counterspell: At :u::u: Counterspell has been a great answer for a long time now. I really didn’t want to run Daze and Spell Snare is to Situational, counterspell it is.
Brainstorm & Ponder: Much like FoW, brainstorm is a staple of any blue deck, drawing cards and setting up counterbalance in a pinch. Ponder was a late addition to the deck, I wanted another draw spell but couldn’t figure out which one. Ponder does what I need it to do, dig 3 cards deep searching for a Belcher or Severance when needed or shuffling away the crap on top of your deck. At :u: Ponder is cheep enough to allow your mana sources to stay open.
Vedalken Shackles: Shackles is a great answer to almost any creature, stealing that big Goyf or robbing your opponent of a creature just to use it as a blocker. The fact that all of the mana producing land in this deck (-Ruins) are islands make Shackles fit right in.
Swords to Plowshares: Another easy choice for me, STP has been king of the single creature removal spells since the beginning. :w: is all it costs to deal with any dude, then it also removes the creature from the game which can factor in later. The life your opponent will gain is really no big deal because when you activate belcher you should be doing at least 30 damage.
Wrath of God & Engineered Explosives: Wrath is a great answer to a fast start by an opposing Aggro deck. Wrath also answers the ETW combo if it manages to go off. Yeah at :2::w::w: it’s not really fast enough to beat ETW every time but it can help. Engineered Explosives however can beat a turn 1 or 2 ETW. EE is a great addition to the deck, providing a controlled board sweeper that can deal with permanents CC 0 to 3. The ability to be used multiple times via Academy Ruins is nice too.
Mana Severance & Goblin Charbelcher: Ok now to the combo and eventual win condition of this deck. Goblin Charbelcher is one of my favorite cards, I love playing CRET Belcher. The problem is that to many people are playing islands no days and belcher has a problem with that. We’ve tried to combat the problem with adding main deck blasts and packing 4 more in the board, Belcher has problems. With “The Severance Package” you can combat the control with well…more control. Setting up the board to drop belcher and if/when it hits you can protect it for almost anything (Stupid Grip).
Mana Severance is an old school card that has been around since Tempest. I used to rock this card in every deck from MBC to Burn, as a matter of fact I have been testing it in burn recently. That is really how I came across the idea for this deck, I was testing my burn list running severance and ran into a belcher deck. After losing to my worst match up (Any combo deck is my worst btw) I thought to myself “wow I wonder what would happen if I added Mana Severance to a Belcher combo Deck?” Well this is the result, after resolving belcher you simply cast a severance and ride your deck of all the land that would normally get in belcher’s way. The only problem is after you remove all the land from your deck you have to activate belcher rite away or you will risk no killing them with on activation (Due to the low number of cards that will be left in your Deck)
Academy Ruins: Ruins was an easy choice, it gets back EE and can bring back a countered or destroyed Belcher. Be in able to cast EE again and again is nice as is recasting belcher after its countered.
Sideboard:
To me sideboards are very Meta dependant, for this deck I wanted to include an alternate win condition in the board. The deck runs 3 Tropical Islands for 2 reasons, Tarmogoyf and Mongoose in the board and Krosan Grip. By siding in the creature you may catch your opponent off guard and with no removal. The Grips are a staple in almost every sideboard now days and combat so many different cards. Other cards I would look at for the board are Spell Snare, Chill, Stifle, and Moat. I really wouldn’t run any Red Elemental or Hydro Blasts, the Counter/Top lock will do the job, most of the time. Here is a possable SB, prob. what I would play if I were going to play this deck right now.
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Nimble Mongoose
4 Krosan Grip
3 Chill
I really haven’t done any play testing as of yet but would imagine that the match ups would be similar to MUC or a straight counter/top deck. I will post some results when I have them, until the let me know what you think!!!