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Thread: [Primer/Deck] Belcher

  1. #461

    Re: [Primer/Deck] Belcher

    Quote Originally Posted by WarpWorld View Post
    @muntah How are you boarding?
    My non-wishboard consists of 4 Xantid Swarms, 3 Red Elemental Blast and 1 single Forest as seen above. The Forest comes in against any Wasteland deck. It never won a game alone, but it is great to have a single permanent mana source to do stuff with. It pairs quite nicely with Xantid Swarm on T1.
    4 Xantid Swarms usually come in against everything with FoW. They have to dispose of it or risk being blown away in T2. Despite being not good in this tournament I would play them again, because they have shown to be quite powerful in previous games.
    The 3 Red Blasts were quite the disappointment. Since most FoW decks also pack Wasteland (and we have boarded in the forest), I can only cast the Blast via Lotus Petal (quite the obvious sign for our opponent) or SSG. I personally dislike this card disadvantage and we lose our biggest strength, which is explosive speed. I'd rather wish they were Carpet of Flowers to have some more mana against Daze and Spell Pierce.
    Against non-FoW decks I have so far not changed a single thing, with moderate to great success.

    How do I decide what to keep after sideboarding?
    Having business in my hand is the most important thing. A piece of disruption comes second. Therefore I've kept hands that have a kill, but no protection. If I am on the draw I my hand dictates what mode I have to play
    a) Durdle around: Draw some cards and try to setup a kill with enough mana and/or some disruption
    b) Bait them: Through smart sequencing you can deceive into countering a non-essential spell or they let a spell pass that generates 3 mana. Pitch a Spirit Guide and sneak in Empty the Warrens.
    Honestly: There I feel there is no correct way how to play it, since you can find compelling arguments for all sides (Pushing the combo, waiting for protection, slowrolling/baiting it). It comes down to what your opponent plays (do they have Daze, Spell Pierce in addition to FoW; is an island in play) how his Mulligan was, body language. Therefore my answers to your questions would be:

    Quote Originally Posted by WarpWorld View Post
    Do you keep a 7 with turn 1 win potential but no protection or do you mull?
    I kept most of those hands, if they were capable of a T1 kill. Otherwise I took a Mulligan until I hit business or was down to 4 cards.

    Quote Originally Posted by WarpWorld View Post
    If you keep do you try and bait their counter spells out and take a slower approach hoping to draw protection?
    Playing it slow, with the correct sequencing, you can get a Belcher into play (or 8 Goblins) and win the game without a single piece of disruption.

    (I hope my train of thought was coherent.)
    Last edited by muntah; 05-04-2017 at 05:55 PM.

  2. #462
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    Re: [Primer/Deck] Belcher

    Quote Originally Posted by muntah View Post
    (I hope my train of thought was coherent.)
    @muntah it fine.

    On the non-wishboard I have gone back and forth on what to play over the years. I have played and championed a 1 of forest in the board for the reasons you mentioned in the past. I have also played carpet of flowers with success against soft counters. If I was going to play a forest I would probably add 2 or 3 carpets. I like pyroblast over red blast because of misdirection effects. Right now my paper board looks like this.

    4 Pyroblast
    3 Xantid Swarm
    1 Empty the Warren
    1 Pyroclasm
    1 Tendrils of Agony
    1 Diminishing Returns
    1 Hull Breach
    1 Reverent Silence
    1 Goblin War Strike
    1 Infernal Tutor

    I have been testing with different sideboards online lately. I have the deck minus the infernal tutor due to cost (although that might change). I find I normally don't board more than 4 cards in to fight FOW although what I bring in changes based on play/Draw.

  3. #463
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    Re: [Primer/Deck] Belcher

    played belcher at my weekly. went 3-1 with a somewhat transformational sb:

    beat turbo depths (2-1), lost to czech pile (1-2), beat UR delver (2-0), beat BR reanimator (2-0)


    4 chrome mox
    4 simian spirit guide
    4 elvish spirit guide
    4 rite of flame
    4 seething song
    4 pyretic ritual
    4 desperate ritual
    4 manamorphose
    4 lotus petal
    4 lion's eye diamond
    4 tinder wall
    4 goblin charbelcher
    4 land grant
    4 burning wish
    3 empty the warrens
    1 taiga

    sb:
    1 goblin war strike
    1 diminishing returns
    1 scrap mastery
    1 empty the warrens
    1 telemin's performance
    1 tendrils of agony
    1 reanimate
    2 blood moon
    2 magus of the moon
    1 avaricious dragon
    1 sin prodder
    2 pyroblast


    given that game 1 there aren't too many cards you really desperately need to wish for, you could free up 2 of these slots and with the 2 pyroblasts you could free up 2 more.

    assuming you have 10 cards to transform it might make sense in this greedy meta for:

    4 blood moon
    4 chalice of the void
    2 sin prodder

    siding could potentially cut the wish + led plan. you do have some off chances that you will hit your 1 drops after resolving a chalice, could still be okay.
    -rob

  4. #464

    Re: [Primer/Deck] Belcher

    Quote Originally Posted by muntah View Post
    Honestly: There I feel there is no correct way how to play it, since you can find compelling arguments for all sides (Pushing the combo, waiting for protection, slowrolling/baiting it).
    Just wanted to say that while most of your reasoning was sound, I disagree with this sentiment I quoted. I believe that there is a VERY compelling argument fo going fo it T1 everytime, even without protection, which is that every turn we give to our opponent gives him more time to set up a great defense with more Counterspells etc. The key insight is that most opponents' decks are way more capable of drawing certain cards, while we have no such interactions and just draw random (albeit redundant) pieces off the top.

    If you have a Xantid, great! Play it and wait a turn. But otherwise I think we give up more %-points by waiting then by just going for it.

  5. #465
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    Re: [Primer/Deck] Belcher

    @mistercakes has scrap mastery come up? It seems spicy. I have played goblin welder in the board for to rebuy belcher. I am not sold on the stompy sideboard plan though. We are not a stomp deck and playing a turn 1 blood moon or chalice might be nice but it isn't winning us the game. They can still draw out of it. What does a card like chalice do for us? sin prodder does on the other hand is someting i will test out because drawing cards is always nice.

    Jamming games online when I can. Did get the tutor. I will share some of my experiences and thoughts later when I get home and can sit at a computer.

  6. #466
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    Re: [Primer/Deck] Belcher

    scrap mastery unfortunately only came up in goldfishing.

    if you have belcher + led in hand and can't cast belcher but can somehow cast mastery that's pretty much the situation!
    -rob

  7. #467
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    Re: [Primer/Deck] Belcher

    Hey there folks,

    This last Saturday I've ended 8th in the Catalan Legacy League playing 1 Land Belcher. We were 53 players. Here's the list I've played and a little report:

    1 Taiga
    4 Elvish Spirit Guide
    4 Simian Spirit Guide
    4 Tinder Wall
    4 Land Grant
    4 Lotus Petal
    4 Lion's Eye Diamond
    4 Chrome Mox
    4 Pyretic Ritual
    4 Desperate Ritual
    4 Rite of Flame
    4 Seething Song
    4 Gitaxian Probe
    4 Goblin Charbelcher
    4 Burning Wish
    3 Empty the Warrens

    SB:

    4 Xantid Swarm
    3 Carpet of Flowers
    1 Empty the Warrens
    1 Diminishing Returns
    1 Infernal Tutor
    1 Tendrils of Agony
    1 Pyroclasm
    1 Shattering Spree
    1 Reverent Silence
    1 Goblin War Strike

    I played the deck this Thursday in my LGS, finishing 3-1 and ending 3rd out of 13 players. I lost vs Infect (horrible pairing) and then won vs MUD, a strange BUG concoction and Death & Taxes. This year I'm trying to play a different deck every Catalan Legacy Tournament (so far I've played Omni-Tell, Sneak Show, Big Red, Manaless Dredge and now Belcher), and after the banning of Top I thought that there should be a lot of Elves, Burn and other combo decks, so I decided to pick Belcher and try my luck; the brutal speed of the deck give us a huge edge against Elves, Burn and Death and Taxes, and can take other combo decks like ANT or even Reanimator by surprise. And control is always a difficult pairing, but people keeps thinking that one FoW will be enough and that's not nearly true, as some of my opponents learnt the hard way :)

    The tournament went like this:

    Round 1, vs Isaac w/ Burn

    I won the dice roll, so I choose to start. I'm not sure if my opponent will be playing Burn or Elves. I can (and do) produce 12 goblins turn 1, and he scoops, so I'll have to wait until game 2 to see what I'm facing. Game 2 he mulligans to 6 and I mulligan to 5 to a hand that can produce some goblins. He starts with Mountain, Guide, so I know what I'm playing against at least. I Probe him to see Eidolon, Mountain, Mire, Fireblast and Pyroclasm, so my Goblin plan sinks. He deploys Eidolon and a couple turns later I have to play Burning to Pyroclasm just to stay alive (fun fact: one of the Guide attacking triggers reveals my only Taiga). Anyway I'm very low on life and he finishes me shortly after with Bolt+Fireblast. Game 3 is epic: I Probe him turn 1 to see Mountain, Fetch, double Chain, Price of Progress (yes, really), Pyrostatic Pillar and Eidolon. Great, he doesn't have the Pyroclasm, so I can generate 16 goblins. He Chain Lightning me down to 17, then I attack him down to 4 with the Goblins, and next turn he plays the Pyroclasm he topdecked in his first draw step. Things gets even more difficult when he plays Pyrostatic Pillar, but in his next turn he misplays and fetches and Chain Lightning me instead of playing his Eidolon, so he goes down to 1 and can't play any spell of his deck other than Fireblast. So five or six turns later I can play Empty the Warrens with storm 3 going down to 3 life, generate 6 Goblins and attack with them next turn for the win. Phew!

    Win, 2-1 (no sideboard in games 2 nor 3)

    Round 2, Adrià w/ Elves

    I won the dice roll again, so I choose to start again (my opponent jokes telling me that, had he won the dice roll, he were unsure about letting me start, given that last month I was playing Manaless Dredge). I have the mana to play and activate Belcher turn 1, and he scoops (my Taiga were in the deck, so I could have fizzled, but hey). "How fun", he says (I have enjoyed it a lot, to be true). Again, I have no clue about what could be playing my opponent; I thought it could be ANT, but I were wrong. He mulligans down to five, I keep my seven. He plays fetch, go, and I promptly produce 12 goblins turn 1. In his second turn he plays Visionary IIRC, and I attack with my little Red Army. He untaps, plays a 2nd Visionary, draws the extra card, plays Gaea's Cradle, thinks for a minute and concedes. I think I've spent more time writing this round that actually playing it :)

    Win, 2-0 (no sideboard in game 2)

    Round 3, Víctor w/ Patriot

    This time my opponent wins the dice rolls and chooses to start. I'm not sure about what he will be playing, but it will be some control deck for sure; I ask him "do you play any deck with FoWs?" and he answers asking me "have you ever seen me playing some deck without FoWs?", so this is it. My hand has Probe, double Chrome Mox, cards to imprint on the Moxen, Rite of Flame and Empty the Warrens. He plays land, go, and I Probe him in my first turn to see double FoW, Jace, Jitte, Misty and Tundra. I play Chrome Mox imprinted, Rite of Flame, Chrome Mox imprinted and he lets them to resolve; I exile ESG and play the Warrens with storm 5. He counters one of the copies, so I put onto the battlefield 8 Unglued Goblin Tokens. Next turn I attack (he sends one poor goblin to farm) and put more pressure on him by playing another Elvish Spirit Guide. Next turn I attack again and finish him. This time I have to sideboard: -4 Git Probe -3 Seething Song for +4 Xantid Swarm +3 Carpet of Flowers. This is the standard sideboarding, I've used it every time I sideboarded. He starts and mulligans down to 6; I keep my seven. He plays land, go, and I start with Land Grant (resolves) to Taiga to Carpet of Flowers (resolves), followed in the second main by a chain of rituals + LED + Burning Wish. He Snares the Wish, so I have to pass with an empty hand. In his next turns he's only chaining cantrips (and playing islands, which is great for my Carpet), until I eventually find and play Xantid Swarm, attack with it until I find Charbelcher a couple of turns later, and actívate it for the win next turn.

    Win, 2-0

    Round 4, Damien w/ RIP Miracles

    I won the dice roll, so I went first. I Probe him, see that he doesn't have any counter that could stop me, so I play and activate Belcher; this time I have to reveal cards from my library, as my Taiga is still there and he doesn't scoop. Anyway the land is deep enough, and Belcher deals him 60+ damage (I think damage should be cumulative between games, by the way :) ). I make the standard sideboarding. Game 2 he mulligans to six and I keep my seven. Seeing my notepad I suppose he countered my first thread, because he went down to 19 and I didn't win on the spot :D. Turn 2 he played Energy Field and shortly after Rest in Peace, so I had to Wish for Reverent Silence and destroy all enchantments, including the Carpet of Flowers I had from earlier turns (anyway, I play another Carpet next turn). He plays Clique and starts to beat me down. My Carpet is giving me a lot of mana and I'm drawing even more and more of it, but I don't draw any answer and Clique kills me. Game 3 I have again an early Carpet of Flowers but I can't launch my goblins until turn 3, when my Empty the Warrens with storm 5 finds a Brainstorm and a Flusterstorm from him, letting me with only 3 copies, one of which is countered via FoW. So I'm left with 4 goblins, which starts to hitting him. Sadly, he can play Snapcaster, Containment Priest (IDK why he sideboarded this) and Jace to stop my attack, and he Entreats two Angels and kills me while he's at two life. Had he not countered the 3rd copy of Empty the Warrens, I had won the match. Oh well, it has been fun.

    Lose, 1-2

    Round 5, Miquel w/ Patriot

    An all-time hard-control player, so I knew the round would be hard. He wins the dice roll and wisely chooses to start. He mulligans to 6, and I keep a risky hand that can play Belcher or Warrens depending of his first play if I draw a red source (I had 2 ESGs and lots of red rituals). The red source doesn't show up and I lose without playing not even a simple spell. I sideboard as usual. I mulligan to 6, my opponent goes too down to 6, and I see a hand without any win condition but with first turn Xantid Swarm. I decide to keep it, and my opponent keeps mulliganing down to 4! I play my Xantid that resolves and some turns later, without any interaction from my opponent, I draw Belcher, play if safe through Xantid and next turn activate it for the win. Game three I have a great hand that can win through a FoW. He keeps, plays land, go, and I play Chrome Mox (resolves, I imprint), Chrome Mox (resolves, I imprint), Lotus Petal (resolves), Lotus Petal (countered via FoW), Land Grant (resolves, my opponent sighs), Empty the Warrens for 14 gobbos (thanks FoW!). This seals the deal and I kill him turn 3.

    Win, 2-1

    Round 6, Marcel w/ B/R Reanimator

    We ID, even though we're not 100% sure that the draw will be enough to make Top 8. Anyway I prefer to ID than to play vs Reanimator; he can be faster than me if I have to choose the Goblin path and I don't have sideboard tools (more on this later). So we shake hands and ID. I end the Swiss in 5th position, but he's 9th and misses the top for barely a 2% tiebreaker. Bad luck for him!

    ID, 0-0

    Top 8, Oscar w/ Lands

    When the Top 8 pairings appears, the friends of my opponent says him "you are out, man!" and the like. I know he's on Lands and, even if the pairing is favorable, I'm not so confident as them: If I have to play goblins, he can Crop to Tabernacle and destroy me even before I get a single attack. Anyway the first match is totally different than expected. He will play first, as he ended 4th the rounds; I was 5th. We both mulligan, and I see a hand with Belcher, Empty the Warrens, Probe, Petal, Land Grant and Chrome Mox, so I'm a mana short to play anything. Anyway the hand is a keeper. I scry and see another Belcher, which goes down to the bottom. He plays land, go. I draw another Belcher and Probe him to see 2 Dark Depths, Manabond and Rishadan Port. I draw from the Probe and get the ritual I need to play Belcher, so I play Land Grant, Chrome imprinting EtW, Lotus Petal, Ritual, Belcher. In his turn he plays Manabond and Port. I draw again in my turn: Empty the Warrens. Go. He draws, plays land, and at end of turn puts the 2 Dark Depths from his hand onto the battlefield. One of them is sacrificed, and now I have one turn to draw any of the 33 mana sources (any of them except Seething Song) remaining in the deck to win. Draw for my turn: Empty the Warrens. Go. End of my turn, he summons Marit Lage and I die horribly.

    Sh*t.

    Anyway, let's go to game 2: He mulligans, I play 16 goblins turn 1, he has not the Crop Rotation, he loses. And he starts game 3 with Land, Mox Diamond, Sphere of Resistance. 'Nuff said.

    Lose, 1-2

    I cannot really complain, I've been lucky enough to make it into Top 8 (I will gladly sign that my deck abandons me in the first match of Top 8 for each and every tournament I'll play!)

    Some thoughts about the deck:
    * First the obvious: This deck is hilarious to play. The faces of your opponents when you blast them 1st turn for 60+ damage is priceless!
    * "The deck folds to a FoW": False. I've won a fair share of matches where opponent had the Force of Will and lost anyway. Sometimes he'll try to counter our 4th mana source to get us out of Belcher/EtW, only to find that we can produce that 4th source anyway; sometimes he'll hold his counter for Charbelcher only to find a monster, uncounterable Empty the Warrens, and sometimes he'll mulligan aggresively for his counters; in this case, if he finds them his hand will be badly crippled and we'll have time to recover, and if he doesn't, game is ours anyway. We'll lose games versus FoWs, obviously, but not as much as people thinks.
    * "The deck cannot lose to decks without FoWs": False too. Discard turn 1 if we are on the draw, fast, massive removal (see pyroclasms round 1 or the feared crop-to-tabernacle in the Top 8), pithing naming Belcher, and the fact that usually we cannot really choose the path to victory can be as devastating as counters.

    And some more thoughts about sideboarding:
    * Carpet of Flowers was amazing every time I played it. The other usual sideboard card is Pyroblast, but Blast needs one extra red mana to work, and we can't afford this kind of luxury so often. On the other hand, once we have invested G in Carpet, it will gives us mana turn after turn, until we find the threat we need in order to win, and we'll protect that thread from soft counters with the same mana from Carpet. So I see Carpet like a Pyroblast on steroids (just doesn't protect us against hard counters, but hey, we are here to play).
    * I haven't used Infernal Tutor, Tendrils, Diminishing Returns nor Goblin War Strike not a single time. I can see myself playing the Tutor in a scenario with lots and lots of mana affordable, but Tendrils, Diminishing and GWS seemed deeply rooted in the realm of fantasy. Given the predominance of graveyard decks this days, I'm thinking about replacing them for 3 Surgical Extraction // Faerie Macabre.

    That will be all, please feel free to share your thoughts. Thanks for reading and sorry for my poor English!
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  8. #468
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    Re: [Primer/Deck] Belcher

    Sorry it took so long for me to get to a keyboard.

    On sideboarding I am not really a fan of the ( -4 Git Probe -3 Seething Song for +7) idea. While I feel that probes and songs lose value games 2 and 3 they play both play key roles in the deck as the "+2 mana source" and "free storm count / some information". I like the idea of shaving numbers and going something more like (-1 LED, -2 Probe, -1 Desperate / Pyretic, -2 Song, -1 something) for some number of sideboard cards. I think this gives us the most consistency and resilience in the post board games while keeping us as explosive as possible.

    @gRR!!
    * I haven't used Infernal Tutor, Tendrils, Diminishing Returns nor Goblin War Strike not a single time. I can see myself playing the Tutor in a scenario with lots and lots of mana affordable, but Tendrils, Diminishing and GWS seemed deeply rooted in the realm of fantasy. Given the predominance of graveyard decks this days, I'm thinking about replacing them for 3 Surgical Extraction // Faerie Macabre.
    Having played the deck for a long time I can say that I have wished for everything at one point or another. The cards you list I would keep but i see room in the board.

    Infernal Tutor is good to wish for when you are casting BW with 6 floating to find EW or Belcher depending on the game and matchup
    Tendrils happens when you chain manamorphose and probes to get a 10 storm or the game has gone long and they are not at 20 so a small Tendrils ends the game where EW takes time.
    Diminishing Returns is for when you need to generate storm count. It really shines after mullagans. it can backfire but so can a belcher activation. Worse case is you have a new grip of 7 to try again. Don't forget to remind your opponent they can draw UP TO 7 cards and don't have to draw the full 7. LOL that would be magical Christmas Land.
    Goblin War Strike is nice when you have both EW and BW in hand and 6 mana to wish for strike cast EW and say go. GWS plus attack is game.

    I see cutting the Reverent Silence, Hull Breach, Pyroclasm for other things as these are the least wished for cards and fall into niche roles. One card that has been doing well for me is Leyline of Sanctity. I have been running 3 to good results against Discard because I find it is the most common way people try and hate us out of the board.

  9. #469
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    Re: [Primer/Deck] Belcher

    Hey WarpWorld,

    Thanks for your thoughts! I have to say I'm not a big fan of Seething Song post-board in matches against FoW decks, it's an obvious "must counter" that costs 3 precious mana. About Gitaxian Probe, I see your point, but if I like to replace them by Xantids, so I don't have information but I don't really care :)

    About the sideboard, I've been playing the deck lately with 3 Surgical Extraction instead of Goblin War Strike, Diminishing Returns and Tendrils of Agony. I haven't played versus Reanimator since then, so I'm not really sure if the change has been a good idea (first match last week, I could have played Burning With to Goblin War Strike and then Empty the Warrens for the first time since I play the deck, only to find I didn't play Goblin War Strike anymore). About Tendrils, I don't play Manamorphose, so is too hard for me achieve the 8-10 spells I would need to make it really useful. And I'm afraid to fizzle if I try Diminishing Returns, I tried in goldfishing a couple of times and fizzled both of them. I hadn't realize about the "UP TO seven cards" clause until you write it here, lol.

    This last two Thursdays I played the deck at my LGS, ending 1-3 last week and 3-1 (2nd out of 10 players) this Thursday. This has been a strange tournament: I faced Death and Taxes three times in four rounds (and ended winning the three of them 2-0, 2-0, 2-0), and lost 0-2 versus Dark Depths due to bad mulligans, massive discard and the fact that Crop Rotation decks are usually hard matchups. Anyway, the deck is still a blast to play and I would recommend to anyone crazy enough to play it!
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  10. #470
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    Re: [Primer/Deck] Belcher

    Quote Originally Posted by gRR!! View Post
    Hey WarpWorld,

    Thanks for your thoughts! I have to say I'm not a big fan of Seething Song post-board in matches against FoW decks, it's an obvious "must counter" that costs 3 precious mana. About Gitaxian Probe, I see your point, but if I like to replace them by Xantids, so I don't have information but I don't really care :)

    About the sideboard, I've been playing the deck lately with 3 Surgical Extraction instead of Goblin War Strike, Diminishing Returns and Tendrils of Agony. I haven't played versus Reanimator since then, so I'm not really sure if the change has been a good idea (first match last week, I could have played Burning With to Goblin War Strike and then Empty the Warrens for the first time since I play the deck, only to find I didn't play Goblin War Strike anymore). About Tendrils, I don't play Manamorphose, so is too hard for me achieve the 8-10 spells I would need to make it really useful. And I'm afraid to fizzle if I try Diminishing Returns, I tried in goldfishing a couple of times and fizzled both of them. I hadn't realize about the "UP TO seven cards" clause until you write it here, lol.

    This last two Thursdays I played the deck at my LGS, ending 1-3 last week and 3-1 (2nd out of 10 players) this Thursday. This has been a strange tournament: I faced Death and Taxes three times in four rounds (and ended winning the three of them 2-0, 2-0, 2-0), and lost 0-2 versus Dark Depths due to bad mulligans, massive discard and the fact that Crop Rotation decks are usually hard matchups. Anyway, the deck is still a blast to play and I would recommend to anyone crazy enough to play it!
    Yes there are definitely "bottle neck" spells but any time you go to 0 in pool you are at risk. But Seething song is a plus 2 and it gets you over 4 mana which is key to our success. I do feel it is weaker post board but I wouldn't cut all 4.

    On Diminishing Returns it does have a fizzle rate and sometimes it just sets you up for next turn. You could also try Reforge the soul. It costs 1 more but it is red so it is easier to cast. I tested it for a while and it has a fizzle rate as well but that is how this deck plays.

  11. #471
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    Re: [Primer/Deck] Belcher

    Hello Belcher thread, I've been considering pick up the deck as a fun alternative to trying to grind out Pox matches in bigger tournaments. I definitely prefer the version running Burning Wish, but I did have one question when looking through builds. What's the consensus on the splits between Pyretic Ritual, Chrome Mox, and Manamorphose in Wish builds? I know Manamorphose is good for storm count and color fixing for Tinder Wall, but it doesn't net any mana. Is it still worth running any copies?

  12. #472

    Re: [Primer/Deck] Belcher

    Hey everyone,

    Just got back from playing belcher in my first ever sanctioned Legacy tournament. We only had 16 people but it was a great time. I ended up finishing in 2nd place. Here's my list and a quick write up.


    1 Taiga
    4 Elvish Spirit Guide
    4 Simian Spirit Guide
    3 Tinder Wall
    4 Land Grant
    4 Lotus Petal
    4 Lion's Eye Diamond
    2 Chrome Mox
    4 Pyretic Ritual
    4 Desperate Ritual
    4 Manamorphose
    4 Rite of Flame
    4 Seething Song
    4 Gitaxian Probe
    4 Goblin Charbelcher
    4 Burning Wish
    2 Empty the Warrens


    SB:

    4 Xantid Swarm
    2 Red Elemental Blast
    1 Trash for Treasure
    1 Empty the Warrens
    1 Diminishing Returns
    1 Infernal Tutor
    1 Tendrils of Agony
    1 Pyroclasm
    1 Shattering Spree
    1 Reverent Silence
    1 Goblin War Strike

    Round 1, vs Can't remember his name w/ Grixis Delver

    I'm on the draw. Have a decent starting hand. He has no clue what I'm playing even after showing the land grant. He FoWs the first land grant, dazes the second. I'm stuck with no way to get to 4 mana. I forget how many goblins I get with Empty and only put 5 on the field instead of 10. Game 2. I stupidly keep a hand with no win-con, and i never drew it. Chalk it up to first game nerves and move on.

    Lose, 0-2 (Brought in Xantid Swarms in game 2)

    Round 2, Matt w/ Death and Taxes

    I'm on the play this time. Get a good hand with a probe. See the coast is clear, easy turn 1 belcher. Repeat for game 2. Nothing memorable here really. It was all over in 10 minutes.

    Win, 2-0 (no sideboard in game 2)

    Round 3, Jesse w/ Tezzerator

    Jesse wins the roll. I keep a really good hand but it doesn't matter, as he plays Ancient Tomb, Mox Diamond, Trinisphere. That was quick. Game 2, I play Empty the Warrens on turn 1 generating 16 goblins. He can't outrace that and scoops. Game 3, He mulligans all the way to 4, plays an island and passes, I play spirit guide, tinder wall, ritual, seething song, belcher, LED, and Land grant to fetch the Taiga.

    Win, 2-1 (Xantid Swarms come in)

    Round 4, Sam w/ Burn

    We see the standings. Both of us are in the Top 8 if we ID. Top 8 here we come.

    Draw.

    Top 8
    Round 1, Rob w/ Death and Taxes

    Lose the roll. Keep an okay hand, but eventually lose to a turn 2 Thalia on his side. Game 2, I have a decent hand with Empty. I make 14 goblins and beat him down for the win. Game 3, I keep another good hand with empty and once again turn to the goblin beat down plan. He was very upset and kept saying my deck was bullshit. Oh well. Them's the breaks.

    Win, 2-1

    After the cut to Top 4, everyone still in agreed to split the prizes evenly and just fight for the Eternal Weekend Bye that was up for grabs. My opponent didn't want the bye and was exhausted so he conceded to me and left. I had no intentions of playing in Eternal Weekend either, so I conceded to the winner of the other match. All in all, I finished in 2nd place. This was a fun deck to play, and I got some really favorable hands and matchups. I'm really hoping I'll get to play it again sometime soon.

    Sideboard thoughts: I didn't sideboard much at all. The Xantid Swarm only ever hit the table once. Other than those, I only Burning Wished for Empty the Warrens. I do think that the blasts are relatively useless as Xantid Swarm is just a better option. I thought about going the Tendrils route at one point, but i realized that I would have been one mana short so I just got the goblins instead. It would have been a nice play, I was just short a mana.

  13. #473
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    Re: [Primer/Deck] Belcher

    Game 3, He mulligans all the way to 4, plays an island and passes, I play spirit guide, tinder wall, ritual, seething song, belcher, LED, and Land grant to fetch the Taiga.

    If this is how you sequenced it, I would recommend this :

    Land grant, LED, Belcher.

    This way if they had a chain of vapor you wouldn't get stuck with a Belcher in your hand. I suppose you could crack the led in response to it, but you would need to use the mana to cast the Belcher.
    -rob

  14. #474

    Re: [Primer/Deck] Belcher

    How come recent lists are not running any copies of Pyroblast or Red Elemental Blast in their sideboards?

  15. #475

    Re: [Primer/Deck] Belcher

    Quote Originally Posted by TheYoungPyromancer View Post
    How come recent lists are not running any copies of Pyroblast or Red Elemental Blast in their sideboards?
    From my relatively small sample size, I never sided them win once. Xantid swarm was just better and the blasts wouldn't have done much. I'd rather utilize that spot for some more wish board spots or Carpet of Flowers.

  16. #476
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    Re: [Primer/Deck] Belcher

    Quote Originally Posted by TheYoungPyromancer View Post
    How come recent lists are not running any copies of Pyroblast or Red Elemental Blast in their sideboards?
    As erevans444 said Swarm is better and the slots are useful for other things. The big draw back is that they take an extra mana on the turn you are going off. Plus they are useless against flusterstorm which is basicly everywhere.

  17. #477

    Re: [Primer/Deck] Belcher

    Quote Originally Posted by WarpWorld View Post
    As erevans444 said Swarm is better and the slots are useful for other things. The big draw back is that they take an extra mana on the turn you are going off. Plus they are useless against flusterstorm which is basicly everywhere.
    What about Autumn's Veil in the Xantid Swarm slot?


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  18. #478
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    Re: [Primer/Deck] Belcher

    Quote Originally Posted by AtticusBlaqk View Post
    What about Autumn's Veil in the Xantid Swarm slot?


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    Eats Pierces/Flusterstorms and forces you to have an extra the turn you're going off. Plus, if we play Xantid and opponent knows, he will be forced to keep some creature removal in his deck postboard.
    Colorless is the new blue
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  19. #479

    Re: [Primer/Deck] Belcher

    Quote Originally Posted by gRR!! View Post
    Eats Pierces/Flusterstorms and forces you to have an extra the turn you're going off. Plus, if we play Xantid and opponent knows, he will be forced to keep some creature removal in his deck postboard.
    I can get behind the argument that Swarm requires our opponents to diversify their answers.

    I love how cleanly Autumns Veil answers a Flusterstorm so I'm always trying to find reasons to play it over Swarm. Thanks for the explanation.


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  20. #480
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    Re: [Primer/Deck] Belcher

    Quote Originally Posted by AtticusBlaqk View Post
    I can get behind the argument that Swarm requires our opponents to diversify their answers.

    I love how cleanly Autumns Veil answers a Flusterstorm so I'm always trying to find reasons to play it over Swarm. Thanks for the explanation.


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    I would play it along side Swarm instead of blast. It suffers from the same down side of costing one more on the combo turn but the up side it higher.

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