Hey everyone! It's been a while since I last wrote an article, but I'm back! Today I want to go over one of my favourite decks: Belcher. What is Belcher, you ask? Well, the deck is a storm-like combo deck that uses its namesake card, {Goblin Charbelcher}, to win on turn one. Yes, that's right, turn one. If you think that's cool, get this. The deck runs an average of one land. In my decklist, I actually run one land. What is so fun about Belcher? Being able to kill your opponent without even playing a land is one of the most satisfying and gratifying feelings I have ever experienced. Without further ado, here is our deck list for today:
4x {Chancellor of the Tangle}
4x {Elvish Spirit Guide}
4x {Simian Spirit Guide}
2x {Street Wraith}
4x {Tinder Wall}
4x {Lotus Petal}
4x {Rite of Flame}
4x {Chrome Mox}
4x {Gitaxian Probe}
4x {Manamorphose}
3x {Burning Wish}
4x {Goblin Charbelcher}
4x {Seething Song}
4x {Desperate Ritual}
4x {Pyretic Ritual}
3x {Empty the Warrens}
Sideboard:
1x {Goblin War Strike}
1x {Shattering Spree}
1x {Duress}
1x {Empty the Warrens}
1x {Pyroclasm}
4x {Pyroblast}
1x {Hull Breach}
1x {Reforge the Soul}
4x {Xantid Swarm}
How it plays:
On to the deck explanation. First off, we have cards like {Rite of Flame} and {Chrome Mox} to accelerate us out of the gate. A lot of this deck is knowing what hands to keep- you can cycle a {Street Wraith} or {Gitaxian Probe} your opponent to fix up holes in your mana ramp. {Manamorphose} is a sweet card which nets us a card and fixes our mana if we need it to be fixed (though almost everything preboard costs {R} or colourless!) There are a few ways to win before sideboarding. For one, we can generate seven mana and activate a {Goblin Charbelcher}. As there is no land in the deck, we win when this happens. The second way to win is also a lot of fun. We have three {Empty the Warrens} in the deck, letting us make a lot of little Goblins off of our storm count. This is a fun way to win, and with {Burning Wish} we can fetch the final copy of {Empty the Warrens} if we have no win condition in hand.
So those are our basic win conditions. Outside of those, the deck is full of mox-like cards and red mana accelerants. You have to do some mental math when analysing your hands to see if you can generate enough mana for a high storm {Empty the Warrens} or a {Goblin Charbelcher} + activation.
Sideboard:
The 1 {Goblin War Strike} is just here for when we need to fetch a win condition off of {Burning Wish}
{Shattering Spree and {Hull Breach} are pretty default artifact/enchantment removal spells. Not much to say here.
{Duress} and {Xantid Swarm} are two of our most important sideboard cards. In Legacy, the card that truly stomps our deck is {Force of Will}. If it interrupts our mana generation, there is little we can do to recover. {Xantid Swarm} is a nice way to ensure that you can combo off on your turn without fear of {Force of Will}. {Duress} is a way to flush out a {Force of Will} or to make them discard one altogether. On the draw, {Daze} is just as bad as {Force of Will}.
. {Pyroblast} is a nice answer to {Force of Will} or many of the turn one/turn two plays a blue deck does before we combo off.
The next sideboard card to explain is {Pyroclasm}. This card is here for when we come up against a deck with a lot of small creatures early, a la White Weenie. It's also a nice way to get rid of pesky creatures like {Meddling Mage} after sideboarding.
Finally, we look at the singleton {Reforge the Soul}. This is the newest edition to the deck, and I've been having a fun time with it. Getting the Miracle off of it and forcing your opponent to discard any answer is pretty awesome, as well as the fact that in 7 new cards, you're going to be able to find a win condition or a way to make enough mana to activate that {Goblin Charbelcher}! This card is a lot of fun, but I feel like it needs to be tested a bit more. I include it, but haven't had to sideboard it in much yet.
Some matchup stastistics:
Basically, as stated earlier, {Belcher} gets stomped on by a few decks, but can absolutely wreck a plethora of other decks. Decks which run {Thoughtseize} or {Force of Will} are basically losses for us, because the opponent just needs to mulligan into those cards to win. This means that Jund, Esper, and Merfolk can be pretty tough to win.
On the other side of it, we have Goblins and the many, many, aggro decks that Legacy is known for! These kinds of decks we can win against well, it just depends on your hand. In fact, unless we're facing the deck types listed above, there are few matchups that we are at a disadvantage against initially. Post board, cards like {Leyline of Sanctity} can hurt, but don't forget that our sideboard is designed to be reactive, and {Burning Wish} can do double duty to fetch any we didn't put in.
That's all for now. Have fun Belching! As far as Legacy decks go, this one is fairly cheap as it has no {Lion's Eye Diamonds} or a singleton {Taiga}. I think it is a fun entry deck into Legacy that can steal wins when people aren't prepared for it, and is an exhilarating and unique deck to play.
Nice article! I. Love the deck
Quote from: Iandtormentor on May 25, 2013, 11:56:41 AM
Nice article! I. Love the deck
Thanks! I've been having such a great time playing the deck. No one expects the turn one Belcher mayhem!
The deck sounds extremely interesting and fun to play. I'm relatively new to magic so I don't know much about legacy but turn one wins seems really crazy haha. Well done, Xaol
Quote from: Crisys on May 25, 2013, 01:31:43 PM
The deck sounds extremely interesting and fun to play. I'm relatively new to magic so I don't know much about legacy but turn one wins seems really crazy haha. Well done, Xaol
Thanks! If you're new to Magic, it is honestly a tough deck to pilot! A lot of it is figuring out if your opponent has a counterspell or not, and being able to play around that is honestly one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do in Magic. That being said, it is one of the cheaper Legacy decks, so it's kind of trial by fire for newer players who decide to take it up!
This card could be inspiration for a card in an un-set that encourages players to belch, or have a belching contest or something
Quote from: Birdbrain on May 25, 2013, 03:06:07 PM
This card could be inspiration for a card in an un-set that encourages players to belch, or have a belching contest or something
Hopefully! That would be funny. Replace the activation cost with Belch :)
Quote from: Xaol on May 25, 2013, 04:03:48 PM
Quote from: Birdbrain on May 25, 2013, 03:06:07 PM
This card could be inspiration for a card in an un-set that encourages players to belch, or have a belching contest or something
Hopefully! That would be funny. Replace the activation cost with Belch :)
oh. Instead of having two creatures fight. Both players pick a creature and have a belching contest. The one that can get the most real burps wins and the winner deals damage equal to its power to the loser...
Or instead if clash, its a belching contest
Solidly done Xaol. If I may make one recommendation. This is a truly complex combo deck to play. I think it would be beneficial to include sample hands of what you are looking for in the future. A combo deck like this requires the user to know when to mulligan. I think if you gave some examples of which hands to keep and which hands to mulligan it may help those who are unfamiliar with the deck. Also, a more in depth matchup analysis could be cool. Thanks for the solidly done article. Keep it up.
DG
Quote from: Death Gaara on May 26, 2013, 05:44:58 AM
Solidly done Xaol. If I may make one recommendation. This is a truly complex combo deck to play. I think it would be beneficial to include sample hands of what you are looking for in the future. A combo deck like this requires the user to know when to mulligan. I think if you gave some examples of which hands to keep and which hands to mulligan it may help those who are unfamiliar with the deck. Also, a more in depth matchup analysis could be cool. Thanks for the solidly done article. Keep it up.
DG
Thanks, DG. Wasn't sure how long would be too long! I'll edit the post and elaborate a bit.
Deck looks fun but I have a question. How does {xantid swarm} prevent {force of will} on turn one? Doesn't the swarm need haste to attack?
Quote from: Particle on August 21, 2013, 02:17:06 AM
Deck looks fun but I have a question. How does {xantid swarm} prevent {force of will} on turn one? Doesn't the swarm need haste to attack?
Yes. However, the swarm also can just flush out a Counterspell from them turn one, as once you untap with it, it's usually GG. Sadly there really isn't another card that can protect the deck as well without being a land a la {Boseiju}