8 Belches to the Top 8

Just as I think this “Play Belcher All the Time” plan is starting to pan out, the metagame goes and changes on me. Whereas GAT and other Gush decks were the taste du jour during the summer and into late fall, people are coming around to the fact that 9-Sphere MUD and Aggro are terrifically powerful decks. Spheres of Resistance are terrible for Belcher—worse than Force of Will; worse than Duress.

Right now, most of Belcher’s mana producing spells net one mana at a time: Tinder Wall, the first Rite of Flame, Moxen, Lotus Petal, etc. That means that to play around Sphere of Resistance you have to play in stages, use Spirit Guides, blow them out with Channel, or try your hardest to do all three. Winning the die roll helps, but even then you might be stuck with a Belcher and no mana to activate until you’re dead.

Chalice of the Void is no walk in the park either, at times.

In the Eye of Chaos is okay, though.

Anyway, if things keep trending towards more and more Workshops being played, Belcher as it is now just becomes a worse and worse choice. There are some ideas that will help, I think, and I’ll share them towards the end of this report or perhaps in another post.

Around the beginning of the week, I always start looking forward to the following weekend’s tournament. This time was no different as the Hero Zone is my absolute favorite place to play. I seriously feel like I have home-field advantage there. Plus, I had already locked in on Belcher and was looking forward to playing such a fun, powerful deck all afternoon.

There would also be two exciting newcomers to the Hero Zone tournaments—David P. Baum and Stephen Menendian. Dave was coming out of retirement after handing over control of the store and was really looking forward to playing in tournaments again. (I hope he still is). Steve was done being Scrooge and had time in his schedule to attend. Plus, he’s been following this metagame shift pretty closely, so he might have wanted to get some more work done on that.

Steve and a returning newcomer to the Ohio Vintage scene, former Sanduskian Josh Carney, would be riding up with me from Columbus. The most interesting part of that drive was when I turned the wrong way down a one-way street, but that was before anyone else was in the car yet.

We also learned that there have only been 40 black players in the NHL. The first, Boston’s Willie O’Ree, an African-Canadian, is being celebrated this year as having broken the color barrier 50 years ago. Best part is that O’Ree played despite being blind in one eye. Though his time in the NHL was short and unremarkable, he had many great years in WHL, and the San Diego Gulls retired his number there.

Oh, also, my mom brought cookies for everyone, so suddenly and for one brief, shining moment, I was the popular kid.

Here’s what I registered and played:

4x Goblin Charbelcher
4x Empty the Warrens
1x Memory Jar
1x Wheel of Fortune
2x Living Wish
4x Goblin Welder
3x Red Elemental Blast
2x Pyroblast

5x Moxen
4x Tinder Wall
4x Rite of Flame
4x Elvish Spirit Guide
4x Simian Spirit Guide
4x Land Grant
1x Black Lotus
1x Lion’s Eye Diamond
1x Lotus Petal
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Crypt
1x Mana Vault
1x Grim Monolith
1x Chrome Mox
1x Channel
1x Taiga

4x Street Wraith

Sideboard
4x Ingot Chewer
4x Tarmogoyf
1x Mishra's Workshop
1x Ancient Tomb
1x Taiga
1x Bazzar of Baghdad
1x Storm Entity
2x Ancient Grudge

At this point I’ve eaten some cookies and the first of two hardboiled eggs I brought with me, so I’m ready to rock and roll. Pairings go up and I hope I’m not paired against one of my friends, whom I’ll no doubt end up crippling before the tournament even starts.

Round 1 – David P. Baooom! – Baoomfinity 2k8

“Hey, guys, I got the bye!”

Oh, no, no. Dave and I go way back. This was the first tournament Dave had played in nearly five years, which is a long time to be out of competitive Magic. He had been talking Goblins beforehand and was on the edge of a fairly novel, if slightly underpowered, deck. Then he went and took his extended Affinity deck, threw power into it, and played that instead.

Long story short—Dave’s a nice guy, I look forward to him participating in future tournaments, and I hated to crush him like I did. Plus, I know he was looking forward to reading this and hoped he would get more than a few sentences. Here’s another one.

Game one, Dave opens with a Seat of the Synod and Ancestral Recall into a pair of Ornithopters, passing the turn. Unfortunately, my opening hand let me play Lotus Petal into Tinder Wall into two Rites of Flame into Sol Ring into Grim Monolith into Emptying the Warrens seven times. Though Dave was able to throw up some creatures to block, my horde was too sizeable and he scooped on his third turn.

REBs came out for three Ingot Chewers and two Ancient Grudges.

Dave mulliganed in game two and played a land and Phyrexian Walker. I played Memory Jar with Taiga still untapped and a Street Wraith in my hand. I put the cycle on the stack, then broke the jar to draw an extra card. The Jar gave me a Living Wish for a 10/10 Storm Entity off of Lion’s Eye Diamond, and Dave elected not to block. Dave did nothing more of consequence, and I evoked Ingot Chewer to kill his Walker and attack for the win next turn.

Sorry, Dave. I can’t imagine a more difficult matchup for you first turn.

Matches 1-0-0; Games 2-0-0

Round 2 – Josh “The Late JC” Chapple – Mono Red Worshop Aggro

Josh is still looking for his deck, I think, the deck he should play regularly. Right now, he can only win when the tournament isn’t on the line, so I wasn’t worried.

Okay, I lied. Workshop Aggro is a tough matchup since it can run nine Spheres and has a fast enough clock to finish me off. Josh is capable enough to do it too; he crushes me all the time in playtesting.

Game one starts of encouragingly as Josh as mulliganed down to four and I have an opening hand that makes a first turn Belcher off of permanent mana including two Moxes (Pearl and Emerald, if it matters) and a Taiga. My opponent responded with a Wasteland, some mana, and a Mox Monkey. He knocked out my Taiga and I had to find mana or risk losing my activation mana. So, I draw Simian Spirit Guide and win.

The entirety of the anti-Artifact sideboard came in—Goyfs, Chewers, Grudges, and a Taiga for REBs, Wraiths, and Wishes.

Game two Josh started with a mulligan again, this time to find Sphere of Resistance. It wasn’t quite enough, though. My hand began as a first turn win, but with no non-spell mana. Obviously I drew Simian Spirit Guide again, allowing me to play Mana Crypt into Sol Ring into Chrome Mox and Land Grant. Second turn I played Belcher, and I fired on turn three for the win.

Matches 2-0-0; Games 4-0-0

Round 3 – Twaun P. Pwnerton – 5c TwaunStax

Honestly, TwaunStax is just regular Stax only cut a random card for In the Eye of Chaos. It’s still pretty good. At least Twaun is finally playing good cards like Goblin Welder in Stax. Honestly, though, I have a terrible record against Twaun except for when I can knock him out of contention accidentally. I’m not sure what it is.

Game one Twaun opens with a Welder and an In the Eye of Chaos. That buys me a whole turn as long as I don’t let my Belcher get Welded out! The only thing In the Eye of Chaos stops in my deck is Red Blasts, and those are dead anyway. I respond with a Belcher off of Mana Vault, Mox Pearl, and Elvish Spirit Guide. Unfortunately, I’m soon locked out of the game as Tangle Wire keeps me from being able to fire Belcher during my mainphase, and Sphere of Resistance locks me out of playing permanent mana. Smokestack then removes all my stuff and I scoop.

Stax is so, so hard to beat. In testing, it takes an amazing draw by me or a bad draw by my opponent. I bring in the same cards as I did against Josh: Goyfs, Chewers, Grudges and the second Taiga.

I’m on the play in game two and keep a solid opener while Twaun mulligans, deliberating for quite a while. I make it all irrelevant by playing Black Lotus, Land Grant, Elvish Spirit Guide, Tinder Wall and Lotus Petal. Then I sacrifice Tinder Wall, and tap Taiga to play Wheel of Fortune. My Wheel hand, combined with the Lotus and Petal I have from before, is Godlike. I play Belcher and Mana Crypt, removing two Simian Spirit Guides for the win. Welder was in my hand, just in case anything went wrong.

I guess that’s how you beat Stax—kill them before they get a turn.

Game three, things don’t work work out quite that way. I mulligan twice to Empty the Warrens and Tarmogoyf, while Twaun goes to six and opens with Duress (taking Empty) and Chalice at zero. It was the Chalice that clinched it, shutting off the Mox and Black Lotus I have in my hand (it was one hell of a mulligan to five). I am still able to play Goyf but two Welders and a Powder Keg have that plan shut down with a quickness. After that, Welders beat me down and kill me.

Honestly, there’s not a much worse matchup for me.

Matches 2-1-0; Games 5-2-0

Round 4 – Rick Carson – Control Slaver

Michiganders have become a pretty regular sight at the Hero Zone Vintage tournaments, and Rick was one of this month’s crew. He was quiet but friendly, and those are the ones you have to watch out for, eh? He made top eight this time around, and I hope we see him again.

Rick opens game one with Volcanic Island. I lead with Lion’s Eye Diamond, then play Taiga, Rite of Flame, Rite of Flame, Belcher, and sacrifice Diamond for the activation mana and the win. Lion’s Eye Diamond is really good.

I do not sideboard.

We both start game two with mulligans. I play Belcher turn one and have Force of Monkey for his Force of Will. Unfortunately, removing the Spirit Guide also takes me from three activation mana next turn to the two from Sol Ring. I draw no free mana or mana off a colorless source for six or seven turns. Between him Forcing Land Grant, playing Vampiric Tutor, and taking fifteen damage to Mana Crypt, my opponent goes to two life, relying on the Platinum Angel he hardcast and has used to knock me to two life.
Finally, finally, finally, I get a Land Grant through and immediately activate Belcher targeting the Angel.

The bonk might have cost me the game. I realized this during while watching the Metropolitan Opera performance of Macbeth.

Here’s what I should have done: Land Grant resolves, pass the turn.

I needed to shoot the Angel on his turn, after resolving the Mana Crypt trigger. If he loses the flip, he loses the game. If he wins the flip, he can’t attack, so at least I buy another turn. Next turn I shoot the Welder. Turn after that I shoot him. Right? I think that’s right.

Didn’t see it. Maybe next time.

Game three, I’m forced to mulligan twice and count on Street Wraith to get me a mana source. It doesn’t, so I play Taiga and pass with REB in hand. My opponent does not play blue spells, and opens with Welder and Duress. Nuts. He takes his time, increasing control on me, and the only thing I can do is draw one card a turn. He plays Thirst for Knowledge, Slavers me, plays Yawgmoth’s Will and Vampiric Tutor Twice. That sounds like a winning combination. He beats me down with Platinum Angel, though I think he might have been able to win with Welder and a Belcher in my graveyard a turn or two earlier.

Matches 2-2-0; Games 6-4-0

Round 5 – Stephen “The Voice of Vintage” Menendian – Tog 2k3

There was a poll before the tournament trying to determine what Smmenen would be playing, and nobody guessed the five year old control deck. He chose the deck expecting a Workshop metagame and was not disappointed. My deck comes pre-sideboarded against blue control, but I’ll need all the luck in the world to beat Steve. I should also mention that Twaun graciously retrieved a pen for me, so I could take notes.

Did I mention this match would determine a top eight berth?

I open game one on the play with Memory Jar but wait a turn to break it, so I can have the mana from Taiga and, I think, a Mox to work with as well. Steve plays a land. Next turn, I crack the Jar and make a Belcher with a Lotus Petal to spare. I expect a counter, but there is none. I’m not sure why. Steve may have been hoping to counter my activation mana and bounce the Belcher, so it would be discarded with the Jar. Instead, I use the two Spirit Guides in my hand and the Lotus Petal to make uncounterable mana and activate for the win.

Steve opens game one with a surprisingly crippling Mox Monkey. My hand had a first turn Belcher possibility with permanent activation mana off of three Moxen and a Tinder Wall. I also had Living Wish. Steve Forced Tinder Wall and Drained my third turn Living Wish. Then he started drawing cards—Ancestral, AK for three, AK for four, whatever. As Justin Morford said, “Nat Moes does not scoop in the face of overwhelming card advantage.” He Trickbound a relatively small Empty the Warrens and used Psychatog to kill me.

Game three I open a saucy hand that will be really nice if the two Street Wraiths in my hand can turn into two more mana somehow. Unfortunately they don’t, and Steve plays Time Walk, Demonic Tutor, and Mystical Tutor for Yawgmoth’s Will. Somehow I get Welder to stick with Lion’s Eye Diamond and Belcher in hand. I have a plan—all I need is a mana to play the Sol Ring in my hand. Steve plays Psychatog and Ancestral, leaving himself off of Drain mana, and I draw the mana I need. Unfortunately it’s Land Grant, so Steve will see everything.

Oh well. Land Grant resolves. I play Tinder Wall so as to have REB backup for Sol Ring, but it wouldn’t matter; Steve would have countered the Land Grant or the Tinder Wall after looking at my hand. I play Sol Ring and LED, crack LED for activation mana, Weld Ring for Belcher, and win.

Steve handed me that one. I just happened to be in the position to take advantage.

Matches 3-2-0; Games 8-5-0

That’s good enough for top eight. Unfortunately, I’d have to face my old nemesis—Twaun P. Pwnerton.

Top 8 – Twaun P. Pwnerton – 5c TwaunStax

Frankly, the top eight was going to be bad for me. There were three Workshop decks playing at least 20 Spheres between them. The other options were the Slaver deck I lost to earlier, an Oath deck with Null Rods in the side, a Super Long combo deck, and an Ichorid deck that would probably have been my preferred pairing. Oh well.

Twaun wins the die roll and elects to play first.

He opens with turn one Sphere of Resistance. How good for him. Since he has no clock as yet and my hand has been reduced to nothing, I’m forced to pray for Channel and a combination of Spirit Guides or Taiga to play it. No dice. He makes a rapidly increasing number of Welders and Gorillas to take me down, when I would have had to pay five for Channel and eight life for Belcher. Oh well.

I mulligan game two into a hand of five that makes six Goblins off of Lotus and a Chrome Mox. Twaun keeps his hand of seven and is able to play a Lotus of his own, Mox Pearl, and Tolarian Academy. He taps Academy for two blue and sacs Lotus for black, Duressing me (he sees Tarmogoyf and Ingot Chewer) and playing Demonic Tutor for Powder Keg. He plays Powder Keg and kills my guys, leaving me with nothing in play. Then the game proceeds very much like game one.

My hand of seven in game two could make a first turn belcher but would have nothing else in play and no mana to fire it without drawing something. Is that a keepable hand when Stax is focusing everything on preventing you from making mana? I’m not sure.

Anyway, that was my tournament.

I lucked into the top eight after my own play mistake maybe kept me from doing it a turn early. I fired Belcher eight times for the win, made a total of only 22 goblins (not including Welders), and summoned a 10/10 hasty beater from outside my deck. Pretty good, I’d say.

Two of the matches I lost were just about the hardest one I can envision, and Twaun got great hands against me, getting Sphere of Resistance early and being able to Tutor up and play Powder Keg first turn. Not too much I can do about that. I should have noticed the chance I had against Platinum Angel, but at least I’ll see that next time.

Next time is coming up actually. There’s a tournament at RIW in Livonia, Michigan on January 29, and it’s for a Black Lotus!

For more information contact:

RIW Hobbies
29116 Five Mile Road, Livonia MI
(734) 261-7233
www.riwhobbies.net

Hopefully I’ll be able to make it up to that.