"This is one of the most unique Modern decks I've seen, and I wish anyone playing it good luck in releasing a giant belch as quickly as possible."
-Luis Scott-Vargas
Introduction Charbelcher is Modern legal. Cabal Ritual/Elvish Spirit Guide/Chrome Mox and other Legacy staples that make the Belcher deck tick are not. How do we make Belcher work? Some crappy attempt to use Manamorphose and Pyretic Ritual that gets ripped apart by Thoughtseize? Sounds pretty Desperate Ritual to me. Maybe something mono white with Endless Horizons? Sounds slower than an Eggs players combo turn. So how do we get the deck to work then??
FORESTS! Forest Belcher or Land Thinning Belcher uses super cheap, super efficient land thinners and acceleration to get all the lands out of your deck and then fire off a lethal Belcher. No lands in your deck? MAX DAMAGE BELCHER. The deck can also use its acceleration to power out a turn 3 Wurmcoil Engine/Batterskull if it can't find the deck's namesake. With a great matchup against grindy midrange control decks and a ton of powerful cards, Forest Belcher is a super interesting and innovative combo deck for every Modern with a Johnny heart. So if you like playing unfair and firing 45 damage green belches at your opponent, then this is the deck for you.
Speaking of Johnny's, a huge, giant, enormous thanks to JohnnoCox for brainstorming up this deck and for being a part of the discussion for so long. He started the deck, started the primer, and got us to where we are today!
Decklists
Here are two different takes on Forest Belcher, a more explosive green-red version (my preference) and a more consistent mono green version.
How the heck does this work??
The best way to understand Forest Belcher is to see some sample hands in action. Here are two goldfish scenarios below that show how the deck works.
The deck won't always work like this but with an average win turn of 3.5-4 against Abzan decks, this is much more common than it looks on paper.
In essence, Forest Belcher is aiming to do three things:
Ramp to 5-6 mana by turn 3
Thin deck of lands to ensure lethal Belcher
Drop a huge threat on turn 3-4
With a ton of redundant and overlapping effects, Belcher is remarkably resilient to selective discard spells like TS and IoK. It also makes it very consistent although not quite as explosive as a deck like Storm or Amulet Bloom. Belcher won't always WIN on turn 3-4, but it should always have some serious board presence by that time.
In pursuit of your giant Belch (or Wurm/BSkull), the deck has a bunch of tricks, play-lines, and synergies it can draw on.
All of these different interactions give Belcher a surprising amount of consistency and redundancy. But don't take my word for it! Try out the deck in your own playgroup or local events and see how it runs!
Deck strengths/weaknesses
STRENGTH!: Multi-mode combo deck with both explosive and gradual win conditions STRENGTH!: Non-interactive game 1 can be very strong against some decks that want to interact STRENGTH!: Favorable matchup against grindy decks STRENGTH!: Relevant threats and win conditions in a huge range of matchups STRENGTH!: Powerful sideboard cards that can come down on turn 2 (Choke, Blood Moon, etc.) STRENGTH!: Super incredibly fun! (STRENGTH: Unlikely to ever be hit by the banhammer!)
Weakness...: Challenging aggro matchup Weakness...: Non-interactive game 1 can be difficult against some decks Weakness...: Plays lots of low-power cards Weakness...: Win conditions aren't always relevant in some matchups Weakness...: Sometimes defeats itself with bad opening hands/mulligans Weakness...: Mana creatures very vulnerable to removal, especially in burn-heavy formats
Card Choices
Win Conditions Goblin Charbelcher - The reason all of us are here in the first place! It's a noncreature win condition that dodges both Abrupt Decay and Inquisition of Kozilek, capable of winning all on its own as a 1 card combo. It can also be used to control the board if you are not confident in one-shot-kill activations. Some versions of the deck run red to take advantage of the double-damage clause on Belcher if you flip a mountain.
Wurmcoil Engine - Our secondary win condition. Although Wurmcoil has become worse in an era where Abzan has replaced Jund and Path to Exile has replaced Terminate/Lightning Bolt, Wurm is still a very strong card. It's particularly strong if dropped early against Burn or really any other deck that tries to send creatures across the board. Depending on the metagame, you will run a different split between Wurm and Skull.
Batterskull - Tertiary win condition. Much more resilient to removal than Wurmcoil but also much grinder. Don't forget about the synergy between BSkull and our dorks, especially BoP which can fly across for an 8 point life swing and still sit around as a blocker. Also note that although a regular 4/4 Germ token can't tangle with the average Rhino or Goyf, any of our dorks can wield the Skull and become a total monster. As above, depending on the metagame, you will run a different split between Wurm and Skull.
Hangarback Walker - Scales well throughout the game and is a powerhouse against grindy decks that try to remove our creatures at parity. Critically, can be found off Ancient Stirrings. Inconsistent against aggressive strategies. On the one hand, the landlocked Walker can't typically engage Affinity's and Infect's attackers. On the other, Walker gives us plenty of turns against Burn or Zoo aggressors. As a bonus, can be cast at XX=0 to get an artifact and creature in the graveyard for enabling delirium on Traverse the Ulvenwald!
Acceleration/Thinning Lay of the Land/Caravan Vigil - 8 of the 12 most important cards in this deck. Without the thinning power of these hyper-efficient "land handers" the deck wouldn't even exist. If you are running 7 lands, you absolutely need to run all 8 of these (and then 4 more of the Quests below). If you are up to 8-9 lands, you can consider cutting 1, but anything more than that is going to really screw with your mulligans. Note that neither of these spells can fetch nonbasics, which sort of limits the deck's ability to splash. Also note that Vigil has a very solid combo with Sakura Tribe Elder that you should be looking to use if possible.
Traverse the Ulvenwald - The strict upgrade to Lay of the Land that we won't always use as a strict upgrade. Lacking fetchlands and lots of instants, Belcher can struggle to fulfill delirium, although our maindecked artifacts do help us get there. Even if you only reach delirium once every ten games, the upside is still huge, whether in tutoring a Wurmcoil to finish the game, an Eternal Witness to recur a dead Belcher, etc. You can also improve your chances of going delirious with smart deckbuilding, which makes Traverse a more regular Plan B.
Safewright Quest - The other 4 land-handers are actually more important than the first 8 because they enable a splash. Without these cards, we couldn't reliably run cards like Fabricate, Thoughtseize, Blood Moon, or any of the other splashable technology that players have tried in this deck. Absolutely not cuttable in any splashed version of the deck.
Ancient Stirring - Although Lay/Vigil/Quest were the inspiration for this deck, it is Stirring that makes it viable. It's a 1 mana quasi-tutor that gets us our win conditions, gets us mana, and thins our deck. It also finds many of our sideboard cards once games 2/3 start. This is another card that I view as non-negotiable. Without Stirring, the deck just doesn't have the redundancy it needs. There might be versions out there that cut Stirring but unless you are replacing it with a comparable (and cheap) cantrip, it's just not going to be worth it.
Rampant Growth/Into the North - One important shortcoming of the 12 landhanders is that they don't really accelerate you. They just thin the deck and ensure land drops in later turns. Growth and North actually get you a turn ahead. Be cautious in using too many of these; there are numerous opening hand configurations where these won't be castable right away. They also don't chain well into other cards because the land enters the battlefield tapped. North is included as an option for those decks using Snow lands.
Search for Tomorrow - Unlike Growth/North, Search actually brings the land into play untapped. Also unlike Growth/North, it is often castable on turn 1, even if you won't reap the benefit until turn 3. This makes it a little inconsistent, especially in hands where a suspended Search prevents you from doing anything meaningful with your turn 2. But in hands where you can efficiently use your turn 2 mana and wait patiently for that turn 3 land, Search can be a very powerful way of ensuring that you hit the necessary 5-6 mana by turn 3.
Harrow - Playable as a 2-of in the 8 land versions of the deck. Riskier in the 7 land builds because you can get yourself in a situation where you only have six lands in play and can no longer draw and activate Belcher in one turn. Harrow is unplayable in Remand-heavy metagames, as the mana and resource blowout is too heavy. Harrow also gets significantly better with Traverse, adding both an instant and a land to your graveyard. Belcher isn't getting those types normally, so this will often turn on delirium right away.
Recross the Paths - On the surface, this just looks like a somewhat mediocre Search for Tomorrow. It brings the land into play untapped, can actually flip nonbasics, and can be reused if needed. But Recross's real strengths aren't in its ability to get lands. They are in its ability to stack your deck however you want if it has no more lands in it. This gives you a Goblin Recruiter style effect that can give you a string of threats, turn after turn, to play in the right matchup. Very strong against super grindy or controlling decks when you need to overwhelm their defenses to land a final threat. I recommend not going too deep into this card if for no other reason than that it is almost never castable on turn 1.
Oath of Nissa - Green Ponder won't hit a lot of lands in your deck, but about 50% of your cards are still either creatures or lands in the average build. Depending on how many cards you've drawn by the time you drop Oath, this will typically give you at least a 55% of finding something. That's not awesome on its own, but gets a bit better if you're going up the threat curve to Karn Liberated, and/or trying to maximize delirium on Traverse: extra Oaths kill existing ones, adding enchantment to the graveyard.
Vessel of Nascency - Great effect, bad activation cost. Unlike Oath, Vessel also hits Belcher itself, which makes it much better in the average game. Vessel also sacrifices to contribute to delirium without drawing a second enchantment to trigger legendary rules. That said, you really don't want to spend three mana on this effect, so I'd keep this at a 1-2 count if you include it at all.
Acceleration and Dorks Chancellor of the Tangle - On turn 1 this is either a substitute for a land or a free Elvish Spirit Guide that will help you ramp up with insane speed. Going turn 1 Chancellor into Land into Utopia Spraw into Wall of Roots into Quest/Lay/Vigil is not unheard of and will all but guarantee a turn 3 win condition. Chancellor also doubles as a win condition in a pinch and is very hard for BGx Midrange to profitably interact with.
Wall of Roots - The best mana creature in the deck. It soaks up aggro and pays back some of its own cost. It gives you ramp for multiple turns and can't just be bolted on the turn it hits play. Most importantly, you can use its ability once on your turn and once on an opponent's to more effectively activate Belcher. For example, with 5 mana and a Wall open, you can tap 3 and use Wall to cast belcher, and then tap the remaining 2 and reactivate Wall to activate Belcher during your opponent's upkeep. An overall awesome card.
Utopia Sprawl - A bolt-proof dork with haste that color fixes. If Wall is the best mana creature, Sprawl is the best mana accelerator we have. When paired with Arbor Elf, things can get really crazy.
Sakura-Tribe Elder - One of our most important life-lines against aggro. Steve stonewalls a swiftspear, Guide, or Goyf for a turn and then ramps us for our next main phase. Elder also has awesome synergy with Vigil on your own turns.
Birds of Paradise - The original mana dork itself and they still don't get much better. BoP enables us to play splashed cards (alongside Quest/Sprawl), accelerates us, and is an invaluable blocker against Affinity decks that try to race us with 5+ power Inkmoths. Although "bolt the bird" is always a danger when using BoP, that's at least one less bolt aimed at you and 3 more damage you can work with to get out your big guns. Also, never underestimate a 4/5 Flying, Vigilance, Lifelink birds.
Arbor Elf - A metagame choice. In metagames with lower Bolt/Electrolyze/Forked Bolt counts, Arbor is an absolute powerhouse in tandem with Sprawl. This two card combo alone will enable turn 2 Batterskulls with the right hand or turn 3 Chancellors/Belcher activations. But in the wrong metagame, Elf has all the weaknesses of BoP without any of its strengths.
Simian Spirit Guide - When it comes to speed, accept no substitutes. SSG is also a metagame call in that the explosive mana generation is important when you need to race. This is not really a card you want against a control deck past turn 3, but is outstanding when you are trying to race aggro or midrange when it goes into beatdown mode. Coupled with Wall, Sprawl/Elf, and all the other acceleration strategies, SSG is another card that really guarantees your turn 3 threats.
Sideboard Choke - One of the scariest cards in the entire format for a blue deck to face down. We will regularly land this on turn 1-2 assuming a decent hand. On the play, that will be too early for almost any deck to respond, short of those packing Pierces. It won't automatically win the game the Belcher player, but it will make things way easier from that point forward.
Blood Moon - Another 8th Edition 3 mana enchantment that can win games on the spot. Unlike Choke, however, Moon can actually just end the game period if landed on turn 1-2. Some decks, Junk in particular, just don't have the manabase to work around this card. That should give you more than enough time to get ahead and make things happen. Moon is also great random sideboard hate in the format; it hits a lot of decks and is strong in unknown metagames.
Spellskite - Versatile hatred against Infect and Bogles. Findable off Stirrings and castable on turn 1. What's not to love?
Kitchen Finks - Linear aggro is a thing, and Burn is not a deck you want to play against. Thankfully, turn 2 Finks is a great play against your average Burn deck, especially against openings with Guide.
Fracturing Gust - Affinity is played enough that you need dedicate hate for this matchup. A turn 3 Gust will almost always obliterate Affinity's day. Add Ancient Grudge and Nature's Claim for earlier, spot-removal answers.
Scavenging Ooze - Strong answer to graveyard decks that also maximizes our mana. Unlike the less-vulnerable Relic of Progenitus, Ooze doesn't screw our own graveyard and turn off Delirium. Useful against Tarmogoyf decks, Snapcaster Mage strategies, and any graveyard strategy such as Grishoalbrand, Thopter/Sword combo, Abzan Company, etc.
Splashing other colors
The primer assumes either a Mono Green Belcher or a RG Belcher splashing mostly for Simian Spirit Guide, some removal, and potentially Blood Moon. That said, there are plenty of other options out there. Here are some of the best (and worst) in all the non-green colors.
Gameplay and tips
When running Forest Belcher, here are some important interactions and play lines that everyone should be aware of.
G 1. Knowing how to mulligan G
Before we can get into the detailed interactions between cards, we need to talk about how to keep your opening hand in a deck that only plays 7-8 lands. The best way to think about this is to follow three rules. Like most rules, there are exceptions and complications to these rules, but they are great general guidelines that will carry you through most of your games. IN ORDER (order matters with these rules!), ask yourselves the following questions:
(a. Does my hand have 5 cards? If yes, keep. If no, proceed to b)
b. Does my hand have Stirrings, Recross, or a win condition? If yes, proceed to c. If no, mull and return to a.
c. Can my hand make 1+ mana on turn 1? If yes, proceed to d. If no, mull and return to a.
d. Can my hand cast a SPELL on turn 1 with that mana? If yes, keep. If no, mull and return to a.
The number one reason people lose with this deck is keeping hands that have no action. In a metagame where Infect, Burn, and Affinity make up about 25-30% of the collective Modern deckpool, you cannot afford to keep durdly hands. Your hand needs to make SOMETHING happen by turn 3-4, and keeping a hand without threats is a surefire way to "lose to bad luck". But, as most experienced players will tell you, "bad luck" is often a function of bad decisionmaking. In this deck, whether to keep or mull is often the first decision that sets you up to win or lose a game. This is why it is so important to keep hands that do something and not rely on a topdeck.
Once your hand can win, you need to make sure your hand can actually cast that win condition. The most basic prerequisite of that is that it can make 1+ mana on turn 1. Following from that, you need to use that turn 1 mana to cast a spell of some kind. If you can't cast a spell on turn 1, chances are good that your turns 2 and 3 plays won't be big enough to get a turn 3 or turn 4 win condition active. And if that doesn't happen, you are probably going to lose this game.
In general, you should be keeping a lot of your 7 card hands and almost all of your 6 card hands. Mulling to 5 is bad news, but you will do it if you have to do it. Just remember that you want to keep hands that do something. Hands that just put lands into play are surefire ways to lose to someone who is actually trying to kill you.
G 2. Wall of Roots and Goblin Charbelcher G
Arguably the most important non-intuitive interaction in the deck. Wall's ability is only useable once per turn, but Belcher can be activated at instant speed. So if you use Wall to pay for 1 mana of the Belcher's casting cost, you can use Wall again on the opponent's upkeep to pay towards the Belcher's activation. This allows you to go off with one less land than you would otherwise need.
G 3. Killing creatures/planeswalkers with Goblin Charbelcher G
Remember that Belcher doesn't always win on the spot. Sometimes you activate it with 2-3 lands still in your deck and you flip a Forest on the 13th card down. Then, before you untap, you die horribly to Grishoalbrand/Burn/Infect/whatever else your opponent is trying to kill you with. In such a situation where victory is not guaranteed, you can use Belcher as an uncounterable removal spell. This is particularly valuable against decks which typically have no way of actually killing a resolved Belcher but can feasibly race it if you get unlucky flips. So in that scenario, ask yourself whether you want to blow up your opponent, or blow up their game winning creature to buy yourself a turn to guarantee the win. Also, remember that Belcher can target walkers; always valuable to stop an ult or prevent an opponent from removing a key card of yours with the PW.
G 4. Maximizing Ancient StirringsG
When it comes to digging with Stirrings, every little card helps. So you generally don't want to Stir for your win conditions until you have a) exhausted all your land searching effects for this turn and the next, b) have leftover mana that you can't do anything with AND are being raced, and/or c) have enough mana to cast a win condition (probably Batterskull) if you had it in hand. But on the flipside, there are also scenarios where you do not want to Stir. The most common of these is against Junk and BGx decks. Generally, don't play Stirrings on turns 1-2 if you can avoid it against decks that use Thoughtseize. The exception to this is against something like Affinity that boarded the card in where racing really matters. But against a slower deck like Junk, don't Stir until you can cast the card. Similarly, don't put yourself in a situation where Lilly can wreck your hand. If you Stir for a win condition, be sure you can keep it there for next turn. In general, it needs to be one of 3 cards to guarantee that. If you Stir and keep a 2 card hand, you open yourself to either double Lilly or IoK paired with Lilly.
G 5. Dont be scared! G
I should probably say this before giving you the option of using Belcher as a control card, but I think it's important to understand Belcher's modes before going #yoloswag360noscope with the deck. But now, here it is: Sometimes you just need to #yoloswag360noscope. Just go for it. Playing around imaginary removal and countermagic is not an option against decks that are clocking you. This is particularly true against Junk, which actually only runs 1 card (Pulse) that can kill a Belcher at all in game 1. Even against decks that have more answers (Cryptic Command, Pridemage, etc.), you sometimes just need to play into this stuff if you are under pressure. The chances of your opponent having that one card now are probably lower than your opponent having 2 cards in a few turns, especially if they are pressuring you with damage in that time.
Sideboarding concepts
Sideboarding is hard in Modern. You need to board in cards to handle the opponent's main game plan, board in cards to handle their sideboarded bullets, and not dilute your own deck while doing it! As anyone who has played combo decks like Forest Belcher can attest to, this is particularly challenging in tightly built engines that require redundancy and don't have a lot of obviously bad cards. But as Modern players also know, sideboarding is extremely important in this format. Games 2 and 3 will make or break a matchup much more than game 1, and these are also the games where you have more information about your opponent. That's good news and bad news for Forest Belcher. Good news because we can bring in some awesome technology that most decks will be unprepared for. Bad news because our opponents know what we are trying to do, probably saw our whole deck off a Belch in game 1, and are ready to wreck our carefully built gameplan.
I don't believe in matchup-by-matchup sideboarding tips. There is a dynamic element to sideboarding that is lost there, which is why I prefer to give guidelines and principles instead of hard rules. So in that spirit, here are the tips you can use to be successful when sideboarding for Forest Belcher.
Note: All tips will use the RG Belcher list from the OP as an example. Here it is again for reference
GConcept 1: Slash or trim?G
When you sideboard, you generally have two options: Slash playsets or trim your cards. -4 BoP is an example of slashing. -1 Elder, -1 Wall, -1 Recross is an example of trimming. The advantage of slashing is in freeing slots for cards you know are critical to winning, and/or getting rid of cards you know are terrible. The disadvantage is that you totally lose access to those cards which eliminate an entire line of play that would otherwise be open to you. The advantage of trimming is in making room for important cards without compromising the core of your deck. The disadvantage is in losing consistency when you cut down on key cards. Knowing when to slash or trim is part rule, part science, and part art, so the best way to introduce it is through four more guiding sideboarding concepts.
GConcept 2: Know your opponent's deck pre/post sideboardG
Most decks in Modern have multiple playlines, and you need to know all of them both before and after sideboarding. Is this a deck that boards in artifact hate? Stony Silence in Jeskai and Abzan, Ancient Grudge in Affinity and Jund, Nature's Claim in Infect, and Destructive Revelry in Burn, just to name a few examples, can be serious day-ruiners for your Belcher and artifact-heavy gameplan. Opponents may even mulligan to these cards to try and lock you out of the game early! You can either try combating this with removal for cards like Silence or discard/protection for cards like Claim, or you can try getting ahead of it with other cards. Did the opponent probably bring in lots of artifact hate? Board out a few artifacts and add Blood Moon for a turn 1-2 shutout.
GConcept 3: Know the function of your own cardsG
Every card in your deck has a purpose, which is why we put them there in the first place. It's easy to forget this when sideboarding and inadvertently remove a critical piece of your deck's engine. For instance, let's say we cut 1 Vigil, 1 Lay, and 1 Quest to squeeze in some of our anti-Affinity cards. Although it might not seem like we have removed a lot of cards (we still have dozens of ways to get mana on turn 1), we've actually probably impacted our chance at a decent opening hand. That's less of an issue against a durdly deck where we have a few turns to smooth out a subpar draw, but it's absolute death against a fast deck like Affinity where we need 5 mana to even use our best hate spell. Similarly, Recross is our inevitability that carries us in protracted games. But if you are up against Infect or Burn, that inevitability doesn't even matter if you can't survive to reach turn 4. That makes Recross an easy slash in those matchups.
MatchupsUpdated 2/11/2015)
Here's how Forest Belcher matches up against some of the most common decks in the field. Also included are some gameplay and sideboarding strategies for these matchups.
Deck pilots started by familiarizing themselves with the lists, running 5 game 1s and 5 games 2/3s before recording results. Belcher also got at least 50 goldfishes just so we understood how the newest list played and mulliganed. Players were experienced Magic slingers with extensive tournament and Modern experience.
For Game 1, preboard, we ran 15 games on the play and 15 on the draw, selecting the player with the most Challenger deck experience for Challenger, and the most combo experience for Belcher. For the sake of speed, all 30 games for game 1 were done in Magic Workstation instead of paper; it is much quicker to shuffle in that program, and Belcher has a LOT of shuffle effects. Although this may introduce some odd randomization elements, it is probably no different than the paper matchups (And almost certainly no different from the MTGO ones).
For Game 2, postboard, we also ran 15 games on the play and 15 on the draw. Before we started the postboard games, we played a few sample rounds just to see what cards would be important and how best to sideboard. Our sideboard substitutions are discussed below.
Alright, so me and my friends finished our tests against BGw Rock (BG Souls) the other day. For reference, we used the 2nd place BGw Rock list from GP Brisbane. For our Belcher list, we used the one below. The most controversial part of this list will probably be the 7 lands instead of 8, which decreases the chance of having at least one mana source in our opening hand from roughly 81% to only 78%. In exchange, we get to thin quicker, use Recross/Abundance earlier, and have a lethal Belcher more often.
The sideboard was picked to give us answers against the widest range of decks in the metagame. Nature's Claim was given the nod over Deglamer, Naturalize, or Quiet Disrepair because it is so cheap. It means that we often have the mana needed to both cast Belcher and kill a Stony Silence (more on Silence later...). It's not set in stone but it's a good starting point.
TEST PARAMETERS
Deck pilots ran 5 game 1s and 5 games 2/3s before recording results, just to familiarize themselves with the decks. Belcher also got 20 goldfishes just so we understood how the deck mulliganed and how its decision tree worked out. Players were experienced Magic slingers with extensive tournament and Modern experience.
For Game 1, preboard, we ran 15 games on the play and 15 on the draw, selecting the player with the most Jund experience for BG Souls, and the most combo experience for Belcher. For the sake of speed, all 30 games for game 1 were done in Magic Workstation instead of paper; it is much quicker to shuffle in that program, and Belcher has a LOT of shuffle effects. Although this may introduce some odd randomization elements, it is probably no different than the paper matchups (And almost certainly no different from the MTGO ones).
For Game 2, postboard, we also ran 15 games on the play and 15 on the draw. Before we started the postboard games, we played a few sample rounds just to see what cards would be important and how best to sideboard. Our sideboard substitutions are discussed below.
OVERALL RESULTS
Thin Belcher has a very strong game 1 against BG Souls, but a very weak games 2 and 3.
Game 1 win rate: 76% (23/30) Average game 1 win turn: Turn 5
Game 2 win rate: 40% (12/30) Average game 2 win turn: Turn 5
In game 1, BG Souls has a tough time interacting with our game plan. Edge doesn't hit our lands. Most of our creatures aren't worth removing (Steve, Gatecreeper) or are too redundant to matter (dorks). Discard hurts, but Recross/Abundance lets us hide cards on top of our deck for use on the next turn. Souls also doesn't play enough Pulses to kill a resolved Belcher. The big fear in game 1 is a turn 2 Lilly, especially on the draw, which quickly threatens her ultimate. But for the most part, this is an easy game.
Then comes games 2 and 3; not favorable for the Belcher pilot. This is almost entirely due to one card in the sideboard of the Souls deck: Stony Silence. As I will talk about later, the BG Souls player resolved Silence in 10 of the 30 games. Belcher won exactly 0 of the games in which Stony resolved; stated another way, Belcher lost 100% of games where the Souls player resolved Silence. Add that to the additional pressures of Souls and you have a recipe for disaster.
GAME 1 DISCUSSION
The key to game 1 is that many Souls spells just aren't very good against our deck. Decay hits our mana acceleration, but almost all of it costs 1 mana, so the 2 mana removal spell is rarely a favorable trade for an opponent. Same with Dismember and Throat. IoK is similarly pretty bad against us because it doesn't hit Belcher (nor does Decay). TS is always a strong card, but Recross/Abundance lets us hide cards on top of our deck.
Game 1 win rate: 76% (23/30) Game 1 mulligan rate: 30% (9/30) Average mulligan: 5.5 Win rate when mulliganing? 56% (5/9) # of games when IoK'd or TS'd: 15/30 Win rate when IoK'd/TS'd: 87% (13/15)
Even with 7 lands, I wasn't mulling a lot. And when I did mull, I was still winning; I won a game after mulling to 4 with a topdecked Belcher on turn 4. I also ate a discard spell in half of my games (maybe more if we forget to make a note of it), but it didn't affect my win rate at all. If anything, the discard spell was something I could easily ignore, so it ended up being worse for my opponent to keep hands with it.
Almost all of my losses were to turn 2 Lillys or turn 3 Lillys with Souls on the play. If you get a slow start and can't race her to 6 loyalty, then you are going to lose. I managed to win 2 games that I should have lost to her ult by deciding to fire a Belcher at her instead of at the opponent. In both games, my deck wasn't thinned enough to guarantee lethal, but a Lilly ult would definitely spell game over.
Here are some quick notes on game 1:
Holding vs. playing Belcher
If your opponent already fired a TS, then it doesn't matter whether you hold or play Belcher; most Souls lists pack 3 TS and 2-3 Pulse, leaning towards 2. But if your opponent has not fired a TS, then never keep it in your hand. The chances of them drawing a TS are higher than those of drawing a Pulse.
Only block 4+ power Goyfs
Don't waste your chump blockers on chump damage, especially if it adds creatures to the yard. If you block a 3 power Goyf on turn 3 and prevent 3 damage to you, Goyf could tick up to 4 power next turn. Then you take 8 damage over the next 2 turns. If instead you let that Goyf slip through twice, you are still only down 6 damage and can now block the third attack to be ahead.
Swing at Lilly to keep her off 6 loyalty
If Lilly ults, we lose. In both games 1 and 2/3, I lost 100% of games where Lilly ulted. If Steve or Llanowar Elves can poke her and keep her off loyalty, that is often better than directly thinning your deck for land. Obviously, don't attack suicidally. But turn 2 Lilly can often be attacked by something, as can turn 3 Lilly.
Try and save Recross to tutor
In the 7 land version, you can often use Recross on turn 4 as a tutor, or even on turn 3 with some hands. Try and save it for that purpose even if it means wasting a single turn waiting for another land searcher. We only have 4 Recross in the deck. We have about 25+ other thinners. Wait for the thinner and use Recross to find your win. You can also gamble on a Recross Clash because our average mana cost is much higher than that of an opponents (we only play 7 lands).
CHANCELLOR BEATZ
I won two games in game 1 because of Chancellor either beating down or serving as a blocker. 6/7 is absolutely massive and he can kill all but the scariest Goyf. Vigilance lets him pressure an opponent and keep you alive, and Reach lets him swat Souls tokens. If your opponent has Confidant online, in addition to TS/Fetch/Shock damage, he can't afford to let this guy connect.
GAMES 2/3 DISCUSSION
This game revolved entirely around Stony Silence. If it resolved, I lost. If it didn't resolve, I probably won. The big issue here is that Silence is a permanent, proactive answer to Belcher. The other big issue is that all of our ways of killing it (Claim and Beast) need to stick around in our hand to be relevant. Remember our relative immunity to IoK and TS in game 1? It's gone. Now we are majorly at the mercy of those cards.
Games 2/3 win rate: 40% (12/30) Games 2/3 mulligan rate: 27% (8/30) Average mulligan: 5 Win rate when mulliganing? 25% (2/8) Stony Silence games: 10/30 Stony Silence game win rate: 0% (0/10) Non-Stony Silence game win rate: 60% (12/20)
Stony Silence sucks. I hate that card. Because we don't have any hand disruption in our own deck, the BG Souls player can just hold it back until turn 3 and trick us into thinking a win is in sight. Killing Silence is easy in theory, but in practice it forces us to rely on holding cards in hand over many turns, which opens us up to targeted discard.
The problem with Stony is that the Souls player drops it and then advances on with their game plan. We have to stop everything to remove the card, which turns our deck from a 1 card combo into a 2 card combo with fewer ways of finding the removal half of the combo. All it takes then is 1 Goyf plus a DRS to clock us to 0 in 4-5 turns (And DRS never has any shortage of pinging fuel).
Adding in the 5 removal spells from the board also made me a bit less explosive, so there were games when I couldn't answer a turn 3 Lilly ticking up to her ult. It was nice to have additional answers to Arenas when they resolved, but my removal was often either discarded by targeted spells or pitched to Lilly +1 to keep better cards in my hand.
Here are some notes from games 2/3:
Never hold Belcher
Souls players will probably board in their additional TS in games 2 and 3, especially if they anticipate our removal being brought in to handle Silence. But that's additional vulnerability for our Belchers in hand. So as soon as you get one, play it. Moreover, we need to maximize our mana; if you ever draw a removal spell to kill an active Stony, you need to be able to activate the Belcher immediately because you were already probably on the clock.
Try and play Chancellor
The Souls player will almost definitely board out a bunch of creature removal in games 2 and 3, which makes Chancellor even better. We tend to have enough random dudes on our board to keep Chancellor safe from Lilly, and even if they chump it with Goyf/Confidant/Scooze and Dismember, we are still up a card from that exchange. Chancellor also doesn't give a crap about Stony Silence (Even if the thing in the picture looks like it could be related).
When making Recross stacks, alternate Belcher/Removal/Belcher/etc.
In most games against Souls, the Souls player had out either Bob or Arena. That's a lot of card draw and the Souls player will tend to get Pulse/Silence by the time you get Belcher. In anticipation of either threat, make sure your Recross tutoring will alternate Belcher and removal, maximizing your chances of punching through whatever the Souls player throws at you. If you stack 2 Belchers and they Silence, you just double timewalked yourself. If you stack 2 removal with no belcher, you have no win condition if they are just holding pulse.
Don't mulligan aggressively
If your hand looks semi-playable, then play it. Even if it doesnt have removal or Belchers, it's better than a grip of 6 or 5 with only one of those cards. Why? Lilly and the other discard spells. It's almost always better to maximize your hand and thin through your deck than focus on specific cards. If Lilly puts you behind too early, then you won't recover from a mull to 6, especially if backed up with IoK/TS.
CONCLUSIONS
This deck has a lot more potential than some people are giving it credit. It's very hard to interact with in game 1 and surprisingly resilient to all but the most dedicated sideboard cards in games 2/3 (and even then, 40% win rate isn't that terrible). Based on my experience with BG Souls, here are the changes I would make to the deck:
-4 Birds of Paradise
+4 Elvish Mystic OR +1/2 Mystic/+3/2 Arbor Elves
Birds are probably there to enable some splashed hate in the board, like Grudge or Decay or something similar. But because we don't have a reliable way of finding the lands to cast those cards, I would advise against it. Once we don't have BoP, then we want some 1 power dudes in this deck. Why? Pinging Lilly and chumping Bob. This can buy us a solid 1-3 turns against Souls /Jund/Junk/Rock lists. If we find a more elegant/consistent way of getting out something like Stomping Ground or Overgrown Tomb, then we can keep the Birds to enable cards like Grudge/Decay/TS in the board. But if not, then the 1 power on the Elves is going to be better.
The rationale for adding Arbor would be the combo with Sprawl, but we also don't want Arbor if we don't also have a Forest. So a 1/3 split between Mystic/Arbor is probably better, or 2/2.
Transformational board?
When facing a card like Stony Silence, maybe we don't want to screw around trying to remove it. I failed at that in 10 of my 10 games facing it. Chancellor was a much more viable win route, even if he ended up losing for lack of real evasion or trample. Instead of going all-in on Belcher in games 2/3, maybe we should try and pump out a serious threat with our mana acceleration and win off of that. Dungrove Elder is an option, but his lack of evasion makes me hesitant to use him. Wurmcoil wouldn't be too terrible here. Maybe even Khalni Hydra, which we can definitely resolve around turn 4. Just some random thoughts. We can also use Recross to find Belcher if we want to win with that instead (keeping 1-2 copies in the deck).
7 vs. 8 lands
When you have 7 lands, you mulligan in 4% more games than if you have 8. Your Harrow is also a little riskier. In exchange, you guarantee lethal Belcher in more games, and you can Recross as a tutor a turn earlier on average. I'm not sure which is better because there is a complex mix of probability and non-probability factors at work here. 7 worked out fine for me in game 1 of my Souls series, but the additional mulls were problems in games 2/3. For reference, the chance of having at least 1 mana source in your opening 7 is around 81% with 8 lands and 4 Chancellor, and 78% for 7 lands and 4 Chancellor.
For reference, I used the Affinity list played by Justin Robb at GP Brisbane to a 1st place finish. For Forest Belcher, I used the following list and sideboard:
This list incorporated a few points that we had talked about over the last week. The biggest change is the removal of Ancient Stirrings, a card that was at best a necessary evil and, at worst, just plain bad. It adds in Fabricate in its place as our Belchers 5-6 on top of our Recrosses. The list also totally ditches the Harrow/Cultivate/Kodama's Reach spells in favor of the leaner 2 CMC Growth effects. Finally, it adds in Simian Spirit Guide for some explosiveness.
As with my other tests, deck pilots started by familiarizing themselves with the lists, running 5 game 1s and 5 games 2/3s before recording results. Belcher also got at least 50 goldfishes just so we understood how the newest list played and mulliganed. Players were experienced Magic slingers with extensive tournament and Modern experience.
For Game 1, preboard, we ran 15 games on the play and 15 on the draw, selecting the player with the most Affinity experience for Affinity, and the most combo experience for Belcher. For the sake of speed, all 30 games for game 1 were done in Magic Workstation instead of paper; it is much quicker to shuffle in that program, and Belcher has a LOT of shuffle effects. Although this may introduce some odd randomization elements, it is probably no different than the paper matchups (And almost certainly no different from the MTGO ones).
For Game 2, postboard, we also ran 15 games on the play and 15 on the draw. Before we started the postboard games, we played a few sample rounds just to see what cards would be important and how best to sideboard. Our sideboard substitutions are discussed below.
OVERALL RESULTS
Forest Belcher isn't consistently fast enough to compete with Affinity in game 1, which often comes down to who goes first and whether or not Affinity has a below-average start. But game 2 the matchup is dead even, with our sideboard cards being much more effective than those of Affinity. Overall it's a very fun and interactive matchup with a lot of subtleties.
Game 1 win rate: 40% (12/30) Average game 1 win turn: 4.75
Games 2/3 win rate: 50% (15/15) Average game 2 win turn: 4.75
The Affinity matchup revolves around 3 things. The first is speed, unsurprisingly, which is why game 1 is tougher than game 1. We are pretty much banking on being on the play and getting a decent hand. Or hoping that Affinity gets a below average one. We are fast enough to race Affinity, sort of, if some of those conditions are met. But on the draw, or against a very strong Affinity hand, don't expect it. In game 2 and 3 it's quite a bit better because our sideboard cards help out with stalling until that critical turn 4 (or 5).
The second important part of the Affinity matchup is the almighty Birds of Paradise. This card is invaluable against Affinity and there are times where I wish I had 4 instead of 3. He's our only chump blocker that can save us from an Inkmoth or a Plating-equipped Skirge. Affinity only plays 4 removal spells and the chances of them drawing the removal and drawing the killer Ravager/Inkmoth or Plating/Skirge (or Plating/Inkmoth) combo is much lower than our chances of drawing a Bird.
Finally, the Affinity post-board matchup is all about Fog. This card is nuts against Affinity and is often just a flat out Time Walk if used intelligently.
GAME 1 DISCUSSION
Don't expect to win game 1, especially if you are on the draw, and especially if you mulligan on top of being on the draw. You need an above-average hand to beat Affinity, and the key is often going to be dropping the turn 3 Belcher into a turn 4 Activation.
Game 1 win rate: 40% (12/18) Game 1 win rate on the play: 47% (7/15) Game 1 win rate on the draw: 33% (5/15) Game 1 mulligan rate: 17% (5/30) Average Belcher win turn: 4.75 Average Affinity win turn: 4.5
The numbers above just show how bad it is to be on the draw against Affinity. That's probably true of any deck, but it's particularly true for us because we don't have strong tools to hold the line against Affinity. Almost the entire Affinity deck flies, so our Elder and Wall just aren't as good as blockers. We also have no removal in game 1 so the Affinity player can be a lot more aggressive with Ravager and Inkmoth.
The speed of the matchup dictates a lot of different play trees and decisions you have to make. All of these issues might also arise against slower decks but, because Affinity is so fast, you often have less time to deal with them here. So here are some tips and situations that came up in our games:
Belching a creature vs. an opponent
Against slower decks, it's almost always a better idea to Belch a player than a creature. That's true even if you think you might miss on your activation (if, say, you have 2 lands left in your deck). But against Affinity, there's no room for error. If your Belcher activation doesn't kill an opponent, chances are good that their next attack will kill you. The good news is that Belcher, if aimed at a creature, can often buy you another turn to get a few more deckthins out. But you have to weigh that against the chance that an opponent can win even if you Belch his key creature. For example, if you Belch the big Inkmoth but then he instant speed reattaches Plating to something else, you might lose anyway. Or maybe he topdecks another Ravager and puts the counters on his 2nd Inkmoth and wins with that. It's a complex probability calculation you have to do on the fly, but its integral to winning this matchup.
Vault Skirge gains a lot of life in not a lot of time. Make sure you account for that when Belching. It's easy to think "Well I only have 1 land left in my deck so that will probably be lethal" and ignore the fact that your opponent has 32 life.
BoP is your go-to blocker
BoP is your mini-fog in game 1, so you need to make sure that the birdy sticks around until you need it. Sometimes that means holding back a BoP in your hand just to tempt your opponent into wasting burn on an Arbor Elf or Wall. Other times that means not using BoP to cast one more spell in order to save him as a blocker. The key in all situations is trying to predict what the Affinity player has in his hand or what he will draw. Affinity can explode out of nowhere with a topdecked Ravager or Plating or Thoughtcast into either of those two cards, so make sure your Bird is ready for that at all times.
Gamble on speedy topdecks
There are a lot of cases where you can cast a turn 2 Fabricate for Belcher but then maybe not have the mana to play it on turn 3. But if you wait to Fabricate for the Belcher until turn 3, you can't cast and activate it until turn 4 because you don't have enough mana either. At that point, you might as well have Fabricated on turn 2. If you topdecked an SSG or Land or Sprawl and you had an Arbor Elf out, then you can cast Belcher right away. And if not, then you are still casting Belcher on turn 4 which is exactly what you would have done if you played it cautiously. Except, against Affinity, slow play leads to game losses, especially if you are on the draw. So when in doubt, set yourself up to use your land/SSG topdecks.
GAMES 2/3 DISCUSSION
These games were a lot better because of one card: Fog. Affinity really doesn't have a lot of great options against Fog short of Thoughtseize out of the board. As long as you are playing stuff on the turn before you are fogging, the card is great. Nature's Claim is also awesome here because Affinity needs to play aggressively to win, which means putting lots of resources into tight plays. Claim can break those plays wide open, especially when aiming at a Plating or Inkmoth. And if the Affinity player plays more cautiously, then you can win on turn 5 inevitability alone.
Whipflare is obnoxious and makes our Arbors a lot worse. Thoughtseize is strong but, because Affinity doesn't have the full 4 like BGx decks, it isn't nearly as scary. Grudge is the scariest card of the lot because it basically prevents us from a) playing Belcher without the mana to activate it or b) using a single Belcher multiple times. This changes how you play the deck, but it doesn't outweigh the impact of Fog in this game.
Games 2/3 win rate: 50% (15/15) Games 2/3 win rate on the play: 60% (9/15) Games 2/3 win rate on the draw: 40% (6/15) Games 2/3 mulligan rate: 23% (7/30) Average Belcher win turn: 4.75 Average Affinity win turn: 5
Everything got better in games 2 and 3, which suggests to me that we gain more from our sideboard than Affinity does from theirs. Fog is just so strong in this matchup because we have so many ways of getting Belcher by turn 5 and we just need to hold out until then. Fog buys us one turn on its own. BoP can buy us a second if used correctly. On the play, that means we will have a pretty good chance of winning so long as we have the Fog ready to go by turn 4. On the draw it's not as strong because we need to be ready to Fog on our turn 3 in preparation for our pending turn 4, and sometimes that isn't enough to win.
Here are some of my important notes from games 2/3:
Don't cast Belcher until you can activate it
The chances of your Affinity opponent having Grudge and/or Wear in their hand are higher than their chances of having TS in their hand. Assuming they boarded in all 4, they have a 40% of having at least one removal spell in their opening hand alone. In many senses, it's the equivalent of a Fog; we have to delay playing Belcher until we are sure we can activate it, and we are sure we can win with it. But in a deck that, in effect, runs 10 Belchers between all of our tutors, this is easy for us to play around, because we can almost always find a Belcher by turn 4 for a turn 5 cast/activation. The big exception to this is if you have 2+ Belchers and can cast one to force the Affinity player to spend mana to kill it.
Don't overextend into Whipflare
It's easy to remember not to overextend blockers into RG Tron because everyone knows about Pyroclasm. Whipflare is the sort of card you might forget, so watch out for it. Remember that a Wall of Roots can get killed by a post-combat mainphase Whipflare if he blocks a big enough guy.
Fog is our strongest card in this matchup. Any opening hand with a Fog that is semi-playable is totally keepable. Why? Fog buys you a turn and this deck can do a lot with just one more turn. As a sort of obvious tip, make sure you aren't using Fog to prevent anything short of a lethal attack. You want to save it as long as possible. Also, remember that you can tap out and still cast Fog as long as you also have a Wall of Roots active. Just be careful for an EOT Galvanic on the Wall.
CONCLUSIONS
The deck performed very well over the course of our testing and I am excited to see where it goes next. Fog was so unbelievably strong against Affinity in games 2/3 that I am tempted to increase the count in the board to 4. My guess is that this card will be just as gamebreaking against all the other aggro decks except probably Burn. Claim was also strong against Affinity. I would be hesitant to run 2 CMC answers to Affinity (e.g. Hurkyll's Recall because their price tag generally prohibits us from maximizing our intervening turns. Also, spells like that are generally easy for Affinity to recover from, especially with Opal and Drum and all their other acceleration.
Fabricate was mostly a strong card except in the 3 games where I didn't have the blue mana to cast it and it sat around awkwardly in my hand. I really wish that there was a tutor in this format that could get Belcher for 2 mana instead of 3, but all of the black options (Spoils and Plunge) just cost too much life. They would have been worthless against Affinity. It's a damn shame that a card like Diabolic Intent isn't legal in Modern. All that said, it's still miles better than Stirrings.
Simian Spirit Guide is awesome in this deck. He powers out a lot of plays ahead of the curve, including turn 1 Wall of Roots, turn 2 Belcher, turn 3 Chancellor, and a whole bunch of other stuff. He's also hard to predict for an opponent so he can mess with their math. 4 copies would be too many and 3 seems a little high, but 2 would probably be too few. There was only one game of my 60 total where I had too many SSGs and it was a problem.
Wall of Roots is probably the best mana producer in the deck solely because of its ability to cheat out Belcher and activate it ahead of schedule. This was invaluable against Affinity, especially when I was aiming a Belcher at an opponent's creatures and not necessarily at an opponent. If you combine that with Walls chump blocking power, its synergy with SSG for a turn 1 Wall, and the nuttiness of multiple Walls with Belcher, you have a deck staple.
The Twin vs. Belcher test was the roughest of my three so far because it was just so unpleasant to play through as the Belcher pilot. But finish it we did and here are the results of those matches. For reference, we used the 1st place Twin list from GP Antwerp, as piloted by Patrick Dickmann. I understand that this is more a Tempo Twin list than a traditional UR Combo Twin list, but it's the FOTM on MTGO and the FOTM in paper, so I think it's representative. Our Belcher list is given below. It's very similar to the list that I used in the Affinity matchup, but I added one maindeck Pithing Needle to give us some game in other matchups. Although it wasn't amazing vs. Twin, it has been very solid in game 1 against Melira Pod and RG Tron, while still having some effect on the Twin matchup. The sideboard was also updated for the games:
We knew we were going to be using Torpor Orb for games 2/3 against Twin because it's the "best" card you can board in against them. Twin players can solve it with Boomerang, Command, or Grudge, but it's a serious enough roadblock that it buys us time to do our own thing. It's also a proactive threat to Twin, not a reactive one, which lets us play it on turn 1 or 2 and then forget about it while we deckthin.
As with my other tests, deck pilots started by familiarizing themselves with the lists, running 5 game 1s and 5 games 2/3s before recording results. Belcher also got at least 50 goldfishes just so we understood how the newest list played and mulliganed. Players were experienced Magic slingers with extensive tournament and Modern experience.
For Game 1, preboard, we ran 15 games on the play and 15 on the draw, selecting the player with the most Twin experience for Twin, and the most combo experience for Belcher. For the sake of speed, all 30 games for game 1 were done in Magic Workstation instead of paper; it is much quicker to shuffle in that program, and Belcher has a LOT of shuffle effects. Although this may introduce some odd randomization elements, it is probably no different than the paper matchups (And almost certainly no different from the MTGO ones).
For Game 2, postboard, we also ran 15 games on the play and 15 on the draw. Before we started the postboard games, we played a few sample rounds just to see what cards would be important and how best to sideboard. Our sideboard substitutions are discussed below.
OVERALL RESULTS
Twin is a nightmare. It's about as bad a matchup as you could reasonably have for a deck that is trying to be competitive. In trying to combo out on turn 4, Twin is basically doing the same thing that we are. Except they are way more consistent in doing it, and they can actually interact with our game plan in the process. Games 2/3 were slightly better if only because of Torpor Orb. Ancient Grudge from the Twin board was a big problem when they had it, but we were generally benefiting more from the sideboard than Twin. Still, the game is overall a very bad one for us and it needs some work.
Game 1 win rate: 33% (10/30) Average game 1 win turn: 5.5
Games 2/3 win rate: 40% (12/30) Average games 2/3 win turn: 7
The big problem with Twin is speed. Turn 4 wins are the straight up norm in that deck, especially if the Twin pilot doesn't have to worry about interaction. Just being on the draw against Twin is a death sentence, and even on the play we need a good had to race them. Interaction is also a huge problem. While we mess around in thinning our deck and finding Belcher, they can throw all the Remand, Izzet Charm, Cryptic Command, and Vendilion Clique at us that they want. Oh, and both Mite and Exarch tap down our permanents which can be a big problem if we are relying on a Sprawl.
Games 2/3 were better because of Torpor Orb. Every game where I drew Orb was better than a game where I didn't. Even when I lost the game, it was still more winnable with Orb than had I not drawn it. Sure, there were games where Twin had the Grudge in their hand, but they still needed to spend an extra turn killing the Orb before they can combo out. So, at worst, it's like Fog in the Affinity matchup. At best, however, it totally shuts down all their Snappys and Mites and Cliques and stalls them for multiple turns.
My Belcher wins were slower in games 2/3 chiefly because you can never play Belcher without the mana to activate it; with 3 Grudge in the board plus tons of cantrip effects, you can't risk playing Belcher into a Grudge. I also found myself Fabricating for Orb instead of Belcher and then dropping the Orb in the leadup to my main kill card. This didn't always pay off with a win, but it almost always bought more turns.
GAME 1 DISCUSSION
Remember how Affinity was a game you weren't going to win on the draw? It's even worse in Twin. Against Affinity, our on-the-draw win rate was 33% (5/15). Against Twin, it's down to an almost comical 13% (2/15). And one of those wins was because of a lucky Needle. Things are a lot better on the play, especially if you can stick a Belcher under Remand or Charm. Remember: Belcher can blow up creatures too, which can be the difference between life and death.
Game 1 win rate: 33% (10/30) Game 1 win rate on the play: 53% (8/15) Game 1 win rate on the draw: 13% (2/15) Game 1 mulligan rate: 17% (5/30) Average Belcher win turn: 5.5 Average Twin win turn: 5
I hated playing this game on the draw against Twin. It was intensely frustrating because there was almost nothing you could do. You are basically guaranteed to lose any Twin game where your opponent has either Charm/Remand and Twin + Exarch/Mite, because you can't afford to have a Belcher or Fabricate countered. Heck, you are probably screwed if they just have the Exarch/Mite because that single tapped down land can completely wreck an otherwise productive turn. It's even worse when a Sprawled land gets tapped. Twin is the epitome of the turn 4 deck in Modern, and we are just a half-turn too slow to effectively race them in game 1.
Being on the play was much better. The key here was resolving turn 2-3 Belchers and then using them correctly. Knowing when to Belch an opponent vs. saving the Belcher for a creature is critical. An active Belcher can and will interact with the Twin combo; just be careful of redundant Twin/Kiki effects if the game goes too long.
The other issue with this matchup was when Twin switched to beatdown mode and just won on burn and fliers alone. This didn't happen a lot but it happened enough to leave an impression (4 games in all for game 1). Our chump blockers are pretty useless against Mite and Clique, and Lavamancer is a general pest throughout the game. This was really only relevant when I was slow getting a Belcher out, but it was still something to be careful for
That Lavamancer point merits repetition. This dude is a real pain. Burn is bad enough but recurring burn is just awful. It's games like this that want me to lower our Elf/BoP count, but then again, Lavamancer just doesn't appear enough to overreact that much.
Some tips and reflections on game 1. Sadly, the game is mostly luck (do you go first? Okay, do you have a good hand? Okay, you might win. If not, you probably lose). But these tips can help a little in navigating the game.
Belching a creature vs. an opponent
This was important against Affinity but it is critical against Twin. As a general rule, I never aimed Belcher at an opponent unless I had 1 land left in the deck AND they had <17 life, or I had zero lands in the deck period. If you miss on Belcher, it's not like you get a chance to chump an Inkmoth with BoP or barely survive a Goyf attack. You miss with Belch and they combo out and you lose outright. It's very hard for non-Boomerang Twin to interact with the resolve Belcher, so just bide your time and wait the extra turn for lethal damage.
Name "Pestermite" for Needle
Most Twin lists go heavy on Pestermite and light on Exarch; he's just a better beater if you don't have the other half of the combo. Naming Mite gives you about a 50% chance of stopping the combo. Of course, if you already see the resolved Exarch then definitely name him. But otherwise, Needle is just a quick, dirty, and not terribly effective way to hopefully stall the game.
Cast Belcher as soon as possible
There are two schools of thought when dealing with decks packing counterspells. The first is to wait until you can stack redundant tutors/threats and then try and overwhelm them. The second is to throw caution to the wind and just freely cast into permission, praying that the opponent doesn't have it. In the game 1 Twin case, you always want to be casting Belcher immediately. If your Belcher eats a Remand then it was going to eat it next turn anyway, so you might as well burn through it. Twin only runs 2-3 Charm, so chances are better than not that they don't have one in their hand (especially if you have already seen one as a burn or looting effect). And Command is, well, Command, but you don't need to worry about it until turn 4. Overall, just remember that the only way you are going to win this match is with a bit of luck and aggression. If the game drags out, Twin will beat you down, combo you out, and/or lock you down. Just go for broke in game 1 and hope for the best. Odds tend to be on your side.
Watch Wall of Roots' toughness
Using Wall to power out a Belcher and then enable a Belcher activation on the next turn is important for winning this match. But that doesn't work if Wall gets too low that a Lavamancer or Charm can blow it up. As a general rule, only use Wall once. Ideally, you don't want to use Wall AT ALL if possible, so you can be guaranteed to use it to cast and activate Belcher without fear of Bolt. But using Wall just once is also okay if you don't care about Bolt and just want to deal with Lava/Charm.
Don't get frustrated
It's frustrating to lose to Twin on turn 4 with literally zero chance of doing anything. Just shrug, sideboard, shuffle up, and move on with a good attitude.
GAMES 2/3 DISCUSSION
Thank god for Torpor Orb. I don't think I could have sanely made it through another 30 games against Twin without this card, and even in matches where I lost, the games were a lot more interesting and interactive.
Needle is not a good card in this matchup, even if it is our subpar preboarded answer to the deck in game 1. Orb is much better so we bring in all 3. We also add in Spellskite as a sort of mini-Orb #4 and because, if we get it out, it prevents Lavamancer and burn from massacring our dorks. For Twin, Grudge was an obvious inclusion, and we added in Lavamancer because he was so strong in game 1. We considered going up on the Rain count, but it just isn't good against Belcher unless you also hit a Sprawled land. We have a lot of mana generation as is so you really need to be actively targeting mana as part of your gameplan for it to hurt. Also, Twin does not want to tap out against Belcher, so sorcery-speed Rain wasn't that good.
Games 2/3 win rate: 40% (12/30) Games 2/3 win rate on the play: 47% (7/15) Games 2/3 win rate on the draw: 33% (5/15) Games 2/3 mulligan rate: 20% (6/30) Average Belcher win turn: 7 Average Affinity win turn: 7 Games where I saw Torpor Orb: 16 Win rate in Orb games: 7/16 (44%)
Overall, games 2/3 were better because of the increased interaction. Games were also won and lost fairly early, depending on how I decided to play my hand. In general, dropping a fast Orb was always better than dropping a fast Belcher. If they have the Grudge, you are going to lose the Belcher anyway. If they don't, you stall them indefinitely while you win with our namesake. But once you are in the game, the games easily drag past turn 7 as you both work to establish an advantage.
The "win rate in Orb games" number, which appears low actually underestimates the importance of this card in the matchup. Many of those games were lost just because I didn't also have a Belcher, even after a half dozen turns of stalling. It felt like bad luck, especially when I had lots of thinning going on simultaneously. Moreover, I can't even imagine how this matchup would have looked if Twin gained Grudge and we didn't gain Orb; that would have been a true 0/30 nightmare.
Some notes and thoughts on the post-sideboard games:
Never cast Belcher with less than 7 mana
Izzet Charm alone means you can't cast Belcher unless you have 5 mana. Add in Grudge and now you need to cast and activate it on the same turn. With 4 total copies of those cards in the deck, your opponent has about a 50% chance of seeing one of them by turn 3 (especially with their shuffles/cantrips). You do not want to be playing Belcher into a coin toss against Twin in games 2/3. In game 1, you might as well go for it because you weren't winning anyway. But in games 2/3, our added Orbs/Kites give us a lot more interactivity.
Always drop Orb before Belcher
Turn 1 Orb is a major problem for Twin in this matchup. Turn 2 is bad too. If they have a Grudge in their hand, they were going to use it anyway, so you might as well just get it over with immediately. But if they don't have 1 of their 2-3 Grudges in their hand, then Orb will completely lock down the game. No Clique. No Snappy. No Exarch/Mite. This buys you multiple turns to assemble your combo. As an extension of this, if you can resolve a turn 2 Fabricate, always fetch the Orb. Going turn 2 Fabricate into turn 3 Belcher to see it eat a Remand/Charm/Grudge is game over. But turn 2 Fabricate into turn 3 Orb is much better. If they have Grudge, you were screwed anyway. But if they had Charm/Remand, you can pay the 2 or recast it and stick your artifact.
Mulligan to Belcher, Fabricate, Recross, Spellskite, and/or Orb
If your hand doesn't have any of these 4 cards in it, then it isn't keepable. You need one of these cards to be in the game. A "playable" 7 card hand without any of these cards is going to be entirely dependent on a lucky topdeck over the next 2 turns. If you miss that topdeck, even the best manaramping hand is going to just lose to Twin's consistency. As long as your hand has at least one of these cards (and, obviously, the mana to use them), then you are good to go. That said, don't mulligan below 5 to find these cards. 4 card hands are losing propositions even with the Orb.
Don't let Recross get countered
Games 2/3 tend to drag longer because of Orb. That makes Recross the best card in our deck as a 3 mana, painless, multiple-card Vampiric Tutor. A resolved Recross will guarantee you punch through countermagic and/or set up an Orb shield. So don't cast Recross into Command or Charm unless you are baiting the counter for something better like Belcher or Orb.
CONCLUSIONS
I don't see a lot of ways to improve the Twin matchup. Adding black would help (Thoughtseize) is a great catchall for Twin and other matchups). Maybe going up to 4 Orb is the answer, especially if we can justify the added slot because of Twin's prevalence. But there definitely aren't a lot of ways to improve game 1, which means we are already entering games 2/3 at a disadvantage in the match.
I will use this matchup to weigh in on some other cards and strategies that people have been discussing.
Dungrove Elder/Thrun, the Last Troll
In game 1, these cards would be god awful (obviously, but I say it anyway). They don't interact with the Twin gameplan in any way and aren't going to race their strategy unless they have the worst topdeck luck in Magic history. In games 2/3, however, these cards become a bit better. Sticking a turn 1 Orb into a turn 2 Dungrove would be a serious threat for the Twin player. They just don't have the chump blockers to handle that guy, and he clocks you down in roughly 4-5 turns. Orb is always best when paired with an active threat, and perhaps Elder/Thrun could be that active threat in games 2/3. You wouldn't want to ditch all your Belchers for these guys, but you could drop 1 and a few other dudes for your 3-4 beaters. Then again, Elder/Thrun are major dilutions to our gameplan, and maybe what the Twin matchup needs is a more focused gameplan, not a less focused one.
Simian Spirit Guide
Outrageously good in this matchup. Enabled turn 1 Orbs, turn 1/2 Fabricates, tricked them into casting Izzet Charm to counter, and got out turn 2/3 Belchers. 3 is definitely the right number. Too bad we don't have the ape's Elvish counterpart.
Beseech the Queen
I can't think of a tutor I would want less against Twin. We regularly lose BoP to burn which means Beseech is going to cost 6 mana or 5 with a Sprawl. At 5-6 mana, we get majorly shut down by Remand, Izzet Charm, and Snapcaster Mage recursion of those cards. The turn 1-2 Fabricate into a turn 2-3 Orb was a critical play in these games, and Beseech is never going to be cast before turn 3 unless you had a really nutty Arbor Elf/Sprawl opening hand that went unanswered by Bolt. If we went straight BG and added some discard/removal to the board, then sure, I'd ditch the Fabricates for the Beseech. But on the basis of the Twin matchup alone, Beseech is almost always going to be worse than Fabricate.
Arbor Elf/Utopia Sprawl
I have heard some doubts about these cards, either both or one or the other, so let me do away with those. Arbor Elf/Sprawl is nuts if the opponent misses its removal. And even if they do kill the Elf, that's still mana they had to spend during their turn that couldn't go to something else. Of course, if you untap with this 2 card combo in play, you are in business for a huge turn. Twin doesn't have that much removal at its disposal, so I often got to use Elf/Sprawl at least once or twice. Getting an Elf hit by Izzet Charm is also a really good feeling and a real waste for your opponent, even if they have no choice to avoid a 4 mana acceleration. Also, looking to the BGx matchup, Elf threatens a turn 2 Lilly to prevent her from ulting early, and he deters a Bob swing. Finally, we don't want to go too heavy on land-thinning effects because it makes our turn 4+ topdecks worse. Drawing a Gatecreeper/Sylvan Ranger on turn 6 is a terrible feeling. At least Arbor Elf is still adding to our mana and letting us build to a Chancellor, Fabricate --> Belcher, or Belcher --> activation.
Overall, Twin is just one of those bad matchups that we might have to live with. Adding a 4th Orb to the board would help but it wouldn't really "solve" the matchup in the same way that Fog was so crazy against Affinity. The alternate win condition might be the way to go, but it might need to be stronger than just Elder/Thrun.
So the deck was moving in a direction where elves didn't matter anymore and that's fine, but I thought it would be fun to make the Elves still matter, so basically what you do is if you are successful game 1 with Charbelcher and your opponent has a sideboard they are going to be bringing in all the Leyline of SanctityStony SilencePithing NeedleAncient GrudgeShatter SpreeMana LeakSyncopate or anything else they can to shut down your Charbelcher, because that is obviously how you win.
(They'll also probably board out their creature removal)
While they are doing that you will be boarding out your CharbelcherRecross the Paths and Ancient Stirrings for your Elf Board. (If they have a particularly troubling Planeswalker or other activated ability you can board out some of your Cultivate or Harrow for Pithing Needle)
And now you are running a completely different deck that they shouldn't be prepared for.
! denotes "not recommended".
(With updates and commentary from me)
Mana dorks Llanowar Elves-- Simple effective mana dork, and as a bonus you probably have like 30 of them. Elvish Mystic-- Llanowar Elves pt 2 Birds of Paradise-- Can help splash other colors
!Arbor Elf-- He just isn't a mana dork if you drop him off of Chancellor of the Tangle
!Boreal Druid-- No need for snow mana here, can't see a reason he should beat Llanowar Elves
!Deathrite Shaman-- You might have one land in your graveyard after Harrow but other than that you are just hoping for your opponent to feed you lands. However you do drop a lot of sorceries, might be worth considering but not as a mana dork.
~Treefolk Harbinger-- A safer option for a turn 1 drop off of Chancellor of the Tangle you still have your mana even if they have a bolt. Also a very meaty blocker. Could slow you down though as he costs one draw.
2 mana land tutors Traveler's Amulet-- Not using forests? Try a colorless land fetcher. It's one turn slower... but if you have a reason not to use Forests it might be handy. Wanderer's Twig-- And look it comes in a set of 8. Sylvan Ranger-- Chump blocker with a side of land. Gatecreeper Vine-- It's like a Sylvan Ranger that might chump block twice, also fits a possible defender build and can fetch gates if you want to splash on a budget. Viridian Emissary-- Sylvan Ranger in reverse. You might get in a few shots if they know how much they don't want to let you fetch lands. Pale Recluse, Valley Rannet & Friends-- Great option with the shocklands especially if you are running Nourishing Shoal.
!Ordeal of Nylea-- Could have some synergy with Viridian Emissary but it's probably going to get hit with whatever removal your opponent has before you get 3 counters.
!Sylvan Bounty-- It's like Sylvan Ranger without the Sylvan Ranger... You might gain 8 life off it... but if you do you are probably grasping at straws. You've heard of win more cards? This is a lose less card.
!Sylvan Scrying-- Might be nice if you are using shock lands... but you may as well just use one of the Forestcylcing guys.
!Mycosynth Wellspring-- If you crack a colorless artifact sacrificing version this might be worth it... other wise its not so great. (then again it is an option grab with Ancient Stirrings)
!Khalni Heart Expedition-- This would be great if it came out super early, useless once you have 4 lands in play. And might be disenchanted.
!Evolution Charm-- It's modal... but we aren't interested in it's modes.
3 mana ramp Search for Tomorrow-- This is a card with good versatility early on you can suspend it, or later in the game you can grab that one last Forest. Harrow-- Best thing to do in this deck with 3 mana. Cultivate-- 2 for the price of one Kodama's Reach-- Cultivate's pappy. Recross the Paths-- Not only for ramp but also stacking your deck with Goblin Charbelcher on top. Clash means you can use it again or at the very least scry 1. Wood Elves-- Chump block for 3, bonus the land comes into play untapped (and can search for shocks.)
!Journey of Discovery-- Usually worse than Cultivate, but if you have one land left in your deck and 5 mana on the board (with Charbelcher out) it suddenly becomes better.
!Farhaven Elf-- Only basic comes into play tapped it's just a wanna be Wood Elves
!Growth Spasm-- Farhaven Elf with a saccable chump blocker. If you are running basic it might be almost as good as Wood Elves if you are running multicolor basic (which I do not recommend) it might be better than Wood Elves
!Realms Uncharted-- You'd have to get creative here it's a possible grab for four lands out of your deck... But different names.. it might work, be careful.
Off Color Tutors for Belcher Infernal Tutor-- Adding it in plus a few minor tweeks made the deck just about equally consistent. Fabricate-- Straight up grabs your win con, but zero versatility. Beseech the Queen-- A bit more expensive but has the option of being played mono green. Has the potential of costing only BBB but will usually cost 2BB or 4B but what makes it better than Diabolic Tutor in this deck is that it can also be played for 6 enabling it in a mono green deck. You need atleast 4 lands to search for Goblin Charbelcher. Diabolic Tutor-- Gives you what you need, a bit costly though
! Distant Memories-- Risky bluff card.
!Plunge into Darkness-- When it works it's great, but when it doesn't it's a lot worse than whiffing on Ancient Stirrings
!Spoils of the Vault--Fun when it works, kills you when it doesn't
!Archmage Ascension-- Not a lot of extra draw in this deck (perhaps in a can-trip variant)
!Maralen of the Mornsong-- You'd really have to want her in here to make her work in here.
!Arcum Dagsson-- No build as of yet has artifact creatures... but that doesn't mean a build couldn't
General Tips
- Some cards let you put lands onto the battlefield untapped.
Examples:
Caravan Vigil
Search for Tomorrow
Harrow
Recross the Paths
Wood Elves
- Some cards mention “Forest” in their text. Shocklands with the Forest type also count as Forests.
Examples:
Safewright Quest
Arbor Elf
Utopia Sprawl
Cards with Forestcycling
Wood Elves
Snow-Covered Forest
- This counts as a basic land and a Forest. You may play more than 4 copies of it in your deck. This lets you play Into the North as Rampant Growths #5-8.
Simian Spirit Guide
- The ability is a mana ability.
Caravan Vigil
- If you sacrifice a Sakura-Tribe Elder before casting this, the criterion for Morbid is satisfied.
Arbor Elf
- This can be used to untap a Utopia Sprawl-enchanted Forest, giving you 2 (or more!) mana instead of the usual 1.
- The ability is not a mana ability.
Utopia Sprawl
- This card can only enchant Forests.
- When possible, enchant this on untapped lands. It’ll pay for itself on the same turn you cast it.
- Once you choose a color, you have to stick to it. Utopia Sprawl doesn’t produce one mana of any color; it produces one mana of the chosen color.
- This isn’t going to be relevant often, but: choosing the color is not a triggered ability. Generating the extra mana is, however.
Search for Tomorrow
- Your upkeep comes before your draw step, so if this is about to resolve and you have some card on top of your deck (e.g. after Recross the Paths), it gets shuffled to a random position in your library.
- Casting this card is mandatory as soon as the last time counter is removed.
- This card has a converted mana cost of 3, even if it was cast through Suspend.
Ancient Stirrings
- Lands are colorless (other than Dryad Arbor), so you can reveal a land and put it into your hand.
Sakura-Tribe Elder
- You can block with this before sacrificing it. The attacker deals no damage to you unless it has trample.
Wall of Roots
- You can add mana on the turn you play this card.
- You can add mana on your opponent’s turn. If you have 5 lands and 1 Wall, this allows you to cast & activate Belcher before your next turn. Tap 3 lands and activate Wall to cast Belcher, then on your opponent’s turn, tap 2 lands and activate Wall to activate Belcher.
Farseek
- This card can search for shocklands.
Edge of Autumn and other cyclers
- Cycling is an activated ability, so it cannot be countered by spells that say “counter target spell”. Only spells that say “counter target (activated) ability” may counter it.
- You may cycle at instant speed, even if the card with cycling cannot be casted at instant speed.
Harrow
- Sacrificing a land is a cost. If Harrow is countered, you do not get the sacrificed land back.
Recross the Paths
- If you reveal a shockland with this card, you have to pay 2 life if you want the shockland to enter the battlefield untapped.
- If you reveal your entire library and it contains 0 land cards, you rearrange it however you like, then clash. Use this to put Belcher on top.
Goblin Charbelcher
- You do not sacrifice this card when you activate it.
- Shocklands with the Mountain type (e.g. Stomping Ground) count as Mountains.
Historical Primer
So I'd seen a couple of Charbelcher decks for Modern but they all seemed to be trying to do things the way Legacy does it, but Modern is missing a lot of important tools for a Legacy deck. So I crafted this deck which I feel is a much more Modern approach to Belcher. The key to a belcher deck in any format is to belch with no lands in the deck. Legacy solves this with a hand full of free mana, Modern doesn't have that option so I immediately knew that thinning out lands was the way to go. Now I'm in love with artifacts, so my first inclination was to see what I could do with expedition map and theUrzaTron. A lot of the colorless land searchers look for basic land, so at first I thought mountains for the Belcher bonus. But then I remembered that Sylvan Scrying exists, and I started leaning towards green, if I was playing green anyway, it only seemed reasonable to switch my twigs for Lay of the Land which led me to take out tron for the consistency of mono green. Now I'm adding elves to make up for the ramp I lost taking out tron and boom I land on Elvish Charbelcher, the first public version of this deck.
Hardly anytime after posting this deck I got my first piece of helpful advice (and an introduction to Chancellor of the Tangle) Chancellor was so good in the deck that I really couldn't see ever moving out of green again. Now I was in love with the transformative nature of the original deck, pop out a crazy combo and then game 2 when your opponents board against it surprise them with a completely different beatdown deck. (Stony Silence isn't feeling like such a good choice now is it?) But the good people of this forum showed me something even more exciting a consistent 3rd or 4th turn win. So Elvish Charbelcher became Forest Belcher. It's been quite a journey, and we've caught some attention all around the Magic community. To see where we are at this point have a look at ktkenshinx's excellent primer above. If you want to see where we came from, have a look through the thread starting with the historical Primer below:
Why Play it?
If you like wacky janky combo decks, but still want a shot at winning: this deck might be for you.
If you've been dying to play Belcher in Modern: this deck is probably for you.
If you love G and want to trample all over your opponents face with huge creatures: this deck probably isn't for you, but you may enjoy main boarding some of the sideboards.
What does it do?
In a fishbowl I blast with Belcher for about 40 between turn 4 and 7 usually turn 5. In actual games, it's about the same.
Most Game 1 losses are a result of not drawing our one card combo not drawing a replacement or not drawing it soon enough. Tutors especially Fabricate (or Beseech the Queen for monogreen) help to mitigate that problem.
Mulligans
The mulligan especially hurts this deck, while a mulligan cost most decks a card it often costs this deck a turn. If you mulligan to 5 your turn 4 or 5 win could be coming on turn 6 or 7. But we can usually keep our opener:
Twin is a confirmed bad match-up it's just faster than us. And even when we turn off their combo they can simply switch into aggro mode. Watch out for Twin. Mill has been a bad matchup not only are we actively helping them reach their goal, they are taking ammunition out of our cannon, but Wheel of Sun and Moon should fix all of that
Since everyones meta is diverse and there isn't going to be one best sideboard for everyone I'm just going to have posted possible sideboard inclusions (for nontransformative sideboards) and in this section I'll post why you might want that card. Torpor Orb helps with our most difficult matchup (Twin) as well as shutting down a myriad of other shenanigany decks. Graffdigger's Cage hurts Pod, Re-animator, anything using Snapcaster Mage and a few other tricky fringe decks. Spellskite helps a lot against combo (ie Twin) and infect. Also works as a Bolt sponge. To deal with Stony Silence and other Enchantments/Artifacts that put the Kibash on our deck:
For opening hands, just make sure you can get to 2 mana. If you're going to be stuck on 1 mana for a long time, ship it.
Some keepable hands:
a) 2 lands
b) 1 land, 1 Chancellor/SSG, 1 Rampant Growth
c) 1 land, 1 Chancellor/SSG, 1 Wall
d) 1 land, 1 Sprawl
e) 1 land, 1 Lay
If you know your opponent has no way to kill Arbor Elf (at least, before you hit your second land), a 1 land/1 Elf hand is keepable too.
if I know I am playing against an aggressive deck, I will always mulligan an opening hand that doesn't have either Belcher, Fabricate, or Recross. If you don't have one of those cards in your opening 7, you have a better chance of drawing it in your next 6 than if you just go into topdeck mode for the next 4 turns.
Special Thanks
Spitlebug-- For recommending Chancellor of the Tangle.
Honor Basquiat-- For a whole slew of recommendations and a heap of enthusiasm
izzetmage-- For starting the Brewer's Help list and General Tips
RogueOS-- For finding Abundance and testing and ruling out (for now) paintutors and Summer Bloom
Modorra-- For making what I've dubbed "Speed Belcher"
ktkenshinx-- For testing vs BGw Rock and affinity
And everyone for your contributions.
First incarnation rundown saved for comparative/historical purposes:
Stop the Presses!
This is one of my very favorite Magic decks and I'm sure you'll love it as much as us. But hey, don't take our word for it see what these guys have to say about it:
"This is one of the most unique Modern decks I've seen, and I wish anyone playing it good luck in releasing a giant belch as quickly as possible." Luis Scott-Vargas
"It's a lot of fun." TableTop Magic
"This deck was far too interesting not to have a further look at." Oliver Law
"Is 7 lands low enough for you?" Christopher Giovannagelo
"...it plops the belcher down, and BOOM!" Volker Kirstein
"The deck is shocking to look at and hilarious to play. Surprisingly consistent and resilient."TravisWoo
"It comes out of left field, noone is expecting it." LanternMTG
"I don't know any other deck where I'm so happy to topdeck a Forest midgame." TheCommunistManatee
Belcher in Action
Videos of Forest Belcher in action:
So the deck was moving in a direction where elves didn't matter anymore and that's fine, but I thought it would be fun to make the Elves still matter, so basically what you do is if you are successful game 1 with Charbelcher and your opponent has a sideboard they are going to be bringing in all the Leyline of SanctityStony SilencePithing NeedleAncient GrudgeShatter SpreeMana LeakSyncopate or anything else they can to shut down your Charbelcher, because that is obviously how you win.
(They'll also probably board out their creature removal)
While they are doing that you will be boarding out your CharbelcherRecross the Paths and Ancient Stirrings for your Elf Board. (If they have a particularly troubling Planeswalker or other activated ability you can board out some of your Cultivate or Harrow for Pithing Needle)
And now you are running a completely different deck that they shouldn't be prepared for.
! denotes "not recommended".
(With updates and commentary from me)
Mana dorks Llanowar Elves-- Simple effective mana dork, and as a bonus you probably have like 30 of them. Elvish Mystic-- Llanowar Elves pt 2 Birds of Paradise-- Can help splash other colors
!Arbor Elf-- He just isn't a mana dork if you drop him off of Chancellor of the Tangle
!Boreal Druid-- No need for snow mana here, can't see a reason he should beat Llanowar Elves
!Deathrite Shaman-- You might have one land in your graveyard after Harrow but other than that you are just hoping for your opponent to feed you lands. However you do drop a lot of sorceries, might be worth considering but not as a mana dork.
~Treefolk Harbinger-- A safer option for a turn 1 drop off of Chancellor of the Tangle you still have your mana even if they have a bolt. Also a very meaty blocker. Could slow you down though as he costs one draw.
2 mana land tutors Traveler's Amulet-- Not using forests? Try a colorless land fetcher. It's one turn slower... but if you have a reason not to use Forests it might be handy. Wanderer's Twig-- And look it comes in a set of 8. Sylvan Ranger-- Chump blocker with a side of land. Gatecreeper Vine-- It's like a Sylvan Ranger that might chump block twice, also fits a possible defender build and can fetch gates if you want to splash on a budget. Viridian Emissary-- Sylvan Ranger in reverse. You might get in a few shots if they know how much they don't want to let you fetch lands. Pale Recluse, Valley Rannet & Friends-- Great option with the shocklands especially if you are running Nourishing Shoal.
!Ordeal of Nylea-- Could have some synergy with Viridian Emissary but it's probably going to get hit with whatever removal your opponent has before you get 3 counters.
!Sylvan Bounty-- It's like Sylvan Ranger without the Sylvan Ranger... You might gain 8 life off it... but if you do you are probably grasping at straws. You've heard of win more cards? This is a lose less card.
!Sylvan Scrying-- Might be nice if you are using shock lands... but you may as well just use one of the Forestcylcing guys.
!Mycosynth Wellspring-- If you crack a colorless artifact sacrificing version this might be worth it... other wise its not so great. (then again it is an option grab with Ancient Stirrings)
!Khalni Heart Expedition-- This would be great if it came out super early, useless once you have 4 lands in play. And might be disenchanted.
!Evolution Charm-- It's modal... but we aren't interested in it's modes.
3 mana ramp Search for Tomorrow-- This is a card with good versatility early on you can suspend it, or later in the game you can grab that one last Forest. Harrow-- Best thing to do in this deck with 3 mana. Cultivate-- 2 for the price of one Kodama's Reach-- Cultivate's pappy. Recross the Paths-- Not only for ramp but also stacking your deck with Goblin Charbelcher on top. Clash means you can use it again or at the very least scry 1. Wood Elves-- Chump block for 3, bonus the land comes into play untapped (and can search for shocks.)
!Journey of Discovery-- Usually worse than Cultivate, but if you have one land left in your deck and 5 mana on the board (with Charbelcher out) it suddenly becomes better.
!Farhaven Elf-- Only basic comes into play tapped it's just a wanna be Wood Elves
!Growth Spasm-- Farhaven Elf with a saccable chump blocker. If you are running basic it might be almost as good as Wood Elves if you are running multicolor basic (which I do not recommend) it might be better than Wood Elves
!Realms Uncharted-- You'd have to get creative here it's a possible grab for four lands out of your deck... But different names.. it might work, be careful.
Off Color Tutors for Belcher Infernal Tutor-- Adding it in plus a few minor tweeks made the deck just about equally consistent. Fabricate-- Straight up grabs your win con, but zero versatility. Beseech the Queen-- A bit more expensive but has the option of being played mono green. Has the potential of costing only BBB but will usually cost 2BB or 4B but what makes it better than Diabolic Tutor in this deck is that it can also be played for 6 enabling it in a mono green deck. You need atleast 4 lands to search for Goblin Charbelcher. Diabolic Tutor-- Gives you what you need, a bit costly though
! Distant Memories-- Risky bluff card.
!Plunge into Darkness-- When it works it's great, but when it doesn't it's a lot worse than whiffing on Ancient Stirrings
!Spoils of the Vault--Fun when it works, kills you when it doesn't
!Archmage Ascension-- Not a lot of extra draw in this deck (perhaps in a can-trip variant)
!Maralen of the Mornsong-- You'd really have to want her in here to make her work in here.
!Arcum Dagsson-- No build as of yet has artifact creatures... but that doesn't mean a build couldn't
General Tips
- Some cards let you put lands onto the battlefield untapped.
Examples:
Caravan Vigil
Search for Tomorrow
Harrow
Recross the Paths
Wood Elves
- Some cards mention “Forest” in their text. Shocklands with the Forest type also count as Forests.
Examples:
Safewright Quest
Arbor Elf
Utopia Sprawl
Cards with Forestcycling
Wood Elves
Snow-Covered Forest
- This counts as a basic land and a Forest. You may play more than 4 copies of it in your deck. This lets you play Into the North as Rampant Growths #5-8.
Simian Spirit Guide
- The ability is a mana ability.
Caravan Vigil
- If you sacrifice a Sakura-Tribe Elder before casting this, the criterion for Morbid is satisfied.
Arbor Elf
- This can be used to untap a Utopia Sprawl-enchanted Forest, giving you 2 (or more!) mana instead of the usual 1.
- The ability is not a mana ability.
Utopia Sprawl
- This card can only enchant Forests.
- When possible, enchant this on untapped lands. It’ll pay for itself on the same turn you cast it.
- Once you choose a color, you have to stick to it. Utopia Sprawl doesn’t produce one mana of any color; it produces one mana of the chosen color.
- This isn’t going to be relevant often, but: choosing the color is not a triggered ability. Generating the extra mana is, however.
Search for Tomorrow
- Your upkeep comes before your draw step, so if this is about to resolve and you have some card on top of your deck (e.g. after Recross the Paths), it gets shuffled to a random position in your library.
- Casting this card is mandatory as soon as the last time counter is removed.
- This card has a converted mana cost of 3, even if it was cast through Suspend.
Ancient Stirrings
- Lands are colorless (other than Dryad Arbor), so you can reveal a land and put it into your hand.
Sakura-Tribe Elder
- You can block with this before sacrificing it. The attacker deals no damage to you unless it has trample.
Wall of Roots
- You can add mana on the turn you play this card.
- You can add mana on your opponent’s turn. If you have 5 lands and 1 Wall, this allows you to cast & activate Belcher before your next turn. Tap 3 lands and activate Wall to cast Belcher, then on your opponent’s turn, tap 2 lands and activate Wall to activate Belcher.
Farseek
- This card can search for shocklands.
Edge of Autumn and other cyclers
- Cycling is an activated ability, so it cannot be countered by spells that say “counter target spell”. Only spells that say “counter target (activated) ability” may counter it.
- You may cycle at instant speed, even if the card with cycling cannot be casted at instant speed.
Harrow
- Sacrificing a land is a cost. If Harrow is countered, you do not get the sacrificed land back.
Recross the Paths
- If you reveal a shockland with this card, you have to pay 2 life if you want the shockland to enter the battlefield untapped.
- If you reveal your entire library and it contains 0 land cards, you rearrange it however you like, then clash. Use this to put Belcher on top.
Goblin Charbelcher
- You do not sacrifice this card when you activate it.
- Shocklands with the Mountain type (e.g. Stomping Ground) count as Mountains.
You'll want to do a little better math on the number of lands required. I can tell you that without Chancellor of the Tangle you will need 12 lands to guarantee you won't have to aggressively mulligan to win games.
12 Lands will ensure that you are likely to have at least one (1) basic land in your opener. You can't guarantee 100%, but the number is somewhere near 75%-80%. These are based on my calculations from the Restore Balance thread here:
The problem with 12 lands is that your average Charbelcher activation will be every 4.81 cards to hit a land after your opening hand.
So, assuming you reduced the number of lands to 8, you will need at least four (4) Chancellors to have a shot at a T1 play. Again, this assumes that your T1 mana dork doesn't get bolted.
I think you are on the right track with land thinning though.
*Edit* Also, having fetches doesn't hurt unless you are dead set on working basics. Even Terramorphic Expanse and Evolving Wilds doesn't hurt that bad.
If you run Chancellor, Nourishing Shoal in the side or main may keep you alive long enough to get there.
This is very very sexy, I'll be keeping tabs on this deck and I'm rooting for you. I want this to work, it's very creative and budget. I would love for you to do some more goldfishing and report back again now that you have Chancellor of the Tangle.
I've been goldfishing with great success. I don't know how I feel about Arbor Elf, there were a couple situations where I had Chancellor of the Tangle in my hand along with an Arbor Elf, and I'm forced to mulligan where if I had an Elvish Mystic, I would have been fine. Are there instances where Arbor Elf is better than Elvish Mystic, because if not, Birds of Paradise would probably be a better choice. I do understand that Birds of Paradise doesn't have synergy with Elvish Archdruid, but I don't know if Elvish Archdruid is even necessary, and from goldfishing, it seems to be the card I don't enjoy drawing, is there something I missing? What is that card here for? Maybe we could cut it for a Fog or lifegain effect. Kodama's Reach is also an option.
I have, I found that the cards Greenseeker was throwing away either did what she was doing anyway or something better. I could of course drop forests to her and that sounds pretty tempting, but then that puts the deck on shaky ground vs creature removal. She could pitch some Chancellors but I've been playing with Nourishing Shoal and it feels really good to toss them to that. I'll have to try her again though as the deck changes.
Treefolk Harbinger is interesting, not sure how I feel about it exactly, but I guess in a way, it's Caravan Vigil with legs. Hows it working out for you? I find that sometimes I'm hardcasting Chancellor of the Tangle before I go off, are you doing that too? Its a kick ass blocker, and we can swing with it. Or are you tossing it with Nourishing Shoal? Do you ever hard cast Nourishing Shoal? I'm not entirely sure about it. Smart to substitute the Sylvan Ranger with Gatecreeper Vine. As a defender, it is strictly better.
Treefolk Harbinger is so far so good. 0/3 Body is really nice for blocking in the early turns, good damage sponge. You do lose a draw when playing it for the purposes of Caravan Vigil which is unfortunate... but when it puts you 1/8th closer to your goal, I feel like it's worth the draw. I'm not sure on him yet either though.
I've had a couple of times when I've cast Chancellor of the Tangle and it's always fun, though that happens more often with the Elvish Archdruid build.
I like Nourishing Shoal, I hardcast it once (for 6) when I was in topdeck mode. It's never really mattered any time it's come up though. Perhaps it's right for this deck, but it's always the first thing I board out so maybe not. Jury is still out. Nourish might be a good idea, even though I hardly ever hardcast Nourishing Shoal the GG might be worth the consistency and I often have that much extra mana around.
I don't think Healing Leaves is a card I want though Fog works out better in almost every situation. That said (since I often only get 3 out of Nourishing Shoal) Maybe this deck wants Fog.
I've been testing out Healing Leaves and I like it so far. It basically counters Lightning Bolt, which can hurt if if they hit one of our mana dorks early game. Fog is interesting, certainly worth testing out. There's also Blunt the Assault, but I think it might have too high of a CMC.
Am I missing something or is Kodama's Reach strictly better than Harrow in this context? I can't think of a situation where I'd want cast instant speed Harrow.
Am I missing something or is Kodama's Reach strictly better than Harrow in this context? I can't think of a situation where I'd want cast instant speed Harrow.
This one is actually easy to answer since Cultivate is a functional reprint of Kodama's Reach, and I've chosen to play Harrow over Cultivate a good number of times. Harrow drops both lands into play so it only ends up costing a cumulative of G. So lets say it's turn 3 and I have 4 mana open (Elvish Mystic and a land drop each turn) I have Harrow and Kodama's Reach in hand. If I play Kodama's Reach I get one forest into play tapped and one in my hand, I'm left with one mana open and that's probably it. If I play Harrow I get two forests into play untapped leaving me with three open mana to cast the Kodama's Reach now I've only got one land in my library instead of 3.
Behold the power of Harrow.
Hmmm... that is intriguing.
I'd love to have that turn 1-3 with a forest in play.
It's theoretically a better play than Cultivate or Harrow on turn 4 or 5 with only one straggler land left.
It can't do the work of Lay of the Land or Caravan Vigil because playing it turn 1 off a Chancellor of the Tangle leaves you twiddling your thumbs for two turns.
If we just want to speed things up it could easily take Nourishing Shoal's spot. Winning a turn earlier is another way to gain 6 or 7 life.
It's certainly worth considering.
Good catch Systemfeind.
Stomping Ground to double GCarbelcher damage and running both would reduce our Basic Lands too much.
If you go with Stomping Ground try Safewright Quest in place of Lay of the Land. With that and Treefolk Harbinger I think you should be able to fish out all the Stomping Ground, save one that you might want in there anyway, pretty easy.
I've considered dropping 4 of my forests for 4 Grounds... but I'm not sure if it's worth the extra 4 damage or so you might run into.
So I was thinking about the adding of Stomping Ground a bit more and I can't see the sense in adding it. It only helps when it's in the library and there it might change 40 damage to 80 or it might change 3 to 6, sure it might make 10 into 20 which would be great, but in most cases it will either be overkill or you'll still need another turn to finish them off. I don't think it's the way to go...
However, thinking about it did help me solve another problem, one of the biggest reasons the deck stalls is not drawing Belcher or Paths early enough. I needed another 4 placeholder cards, but something like Paths that could be used to fetch lands as well. Presenting: Infernal Tutor
Enabled by: Overgrown Tomb
It takes some creative play knowing which card to play first and for what.
I'm still undecided on whether Treefolk Harbinger is buying me as many turns as it's costing me... I'm dropping him down to 3 and see how that goes.
I don't like Stomping Grounds. I'd rather have ~40 guaranteed damage over what can possibly be 4x2 damage and 100% Charbelcher on top from Lay of the Land over the possibility of not seeing it due to the Stomping Grounds being in the deck.
Infernal Tutor is awesome. I love it in Top Control, I wish I can play it in Cherri0s, and Legacy ANT is my favorite jank deck.However, with the mana acceleration spells that put lands into our hand, it's questionable whether we can get Hellbent by turn 5 100% of the time.
I'll be on the lookout for tutors that put cards on the top of the library.
Beseech the Queen? We don't need to cast it for 3 black, we can cast it for 5.
But casting for 5 hurts.
BUT it gets pretty much anything once all 8 lands are in play.
But the one thing that sucks is that we have to reveal the card, so it allows the opponent to play around it/disrupt it.
What about Spoils of the Vault? If we are gaining life, then Spoils becomes more relevant and consistent. Or maybe Plunge into Darkness? Shoaling away Chancellor of the Tangle will make these 2 tutors more and more viable.
Stomping Grounds doesn't make any sense, we should be going off with the Goblin Charbelcher when the deck has zero lands to ensure death. The deck doesn't really need black either. One think I'm having trouble with is knowing when to block with my creatures and when not to block.
The stomping grounds make it so you really just need to bring the deck down to 3 lands to have a good chance of a lethal activation, although it often goes to less. I'm trying to make it less mana dork reliant. Any ideas?
The Infernal Tutors aren't ideal in this deck. We have too many spells that out cards into our hand.
Having Harrow with no more lands to fetch is gross, and having Recross the Paths going back to your hand sometimes is the worst. Having ramp spells with no more lands to fetch is crappy and it makes me sad.
How about we use Plunge into Darkness and Spoils of the Vault while we casually gain life with Nourishing Shoal/Primal Command/Fog effects? Hey, Plunge into Darkness actually gives a use for those dorks we have left over to good use.
@modorra I really like the Farseek there. Sylvan Scrying not so much, and I really feel like Utopia Sprawl should be replaced with a one mana spell that gives us more land instead of mana. Gitaxian Probe I can see being useful. Edge of Autumn sucks if we draw it late, same with Serum Powder.
What do you guys think of Sakura-Tribe Scout? Azusa? Oracle of Mul Daya? Summer Bloom?
Summer Bloom, Azusa and Oracle of Mul Daya would be very bad. We are talking about a deck with only 8 lands here. There would be numerous instances where those cards would be terrible, especially in top draw mode.
Here's the build I'm working with now, and I like it a lot, it feels very consistent. Caravan Vigil has excellent synergy with Sakura-Tribe Elder because of the Morbid. Healing Leaves is better than Fog because it hurts burn more, prevents certain removal, hurts aggro. The dorks are good because once we have several lands out we can just chump block with them.
If you run 8 lands + 4 Chancellor of the Tangle you should have about an 80% chance of having at least 1 land in opening.
12 lands doesn't work, there's not enough time to removal all the lands. If you Charbelcher into Stomping Grounds, it could literally be the first card you reveal and not deal fatal damage. Relying on Stamping Grounds is very inconsistent.
It can race other combo decks, this deck generally should win by turn 5, and can win on turn 4. That's faster than most decks in Modern win on average.
"This is one of the most unique Modern decks I've seen, and I wish anyone playing it good luck in releasing a giant belch as quickly as possible."
-Luis Scott-Vargas
Introduction
Charbelcher is Modern legal. Cabal Ritual/Elvish Spirit Guide/Chrome Mox and other Legacy staples that make the Belcher deck tick are not. How do we make Belcher work? Some crappy attempt to use Manamorphose and Pyretic Ritual that gets ripped apart by Thoughtseize? Sounds pretty Desperate Ritual to me. Maybe something mono white with Endless Horizons? Sounds slower than an Eggs players combo turn. So how do we get the deck to work then??
FORESTS! Forest Belcher or Land Thinning Belcher uses super cheap, super efficient land thinners and acceleration to get all the lands out of your deck and then fire off a lethal Belcher. No lands in your deck? MAX DAMAGE BELCHER. The deck can also use its acceleration to power out a turn 3 Wurmcoil Engine/Batterskull if it can't find the deck's namesake. With a great matchup against grindy midrange control decks and a ton of powerful cards, Forest Belcher is a super interesting and innovative combo deck for every Modern with a Johnny heart. So if you like playing unfair and firing 45 damage green belches at your opponent, then this is the deck for you.
Speaking of Johnny's, a huge, giant, enormous thanks to JohnnoCox for brainstorming up this deck and for being a part of the discussion for so long. He started the deck, started the primer, and got us to where we are today!
Decklists
Here are two different takes on Forest Belcher, a more explosive green-red version (my preference) and a more consistent mono green version.
6 Forest
1 Stomping Ground
Win: 9
4 Goblin Charbelcher
2 Wurmcoil Engine
3 Batterskull
Dudes/Dorks: 19
4 Chancellor of the Tangle
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Wall of Roots
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Lay of the Land
4 Caravan Vigil
4 Safewright Quest
Utility: 6
4 Ancient Stirrings
2 Recross the Paths
3 Lightning Bolt
2 Choke
2 Blood Moon
2 Nature's Claim
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Spellskite
2 Fracturing Gust
3 Kitchen Finks
1 Wurmcoil Engine
7 Forest
Win: 9
4 Goblin Charbelcher
3 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Batterskull
Dudes/Dorks: 18
4 Chancellor of the Tangle
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
3 Arbor Elf
3 Birds of Paradise
4 Wall of Roots
4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Caravan Vigil
4 Lay of the Land
4 Safewright Quest
2 Search for Tomorrow
1 Rampant Growth
Utility: 7
3 Recross the Paths
4 Ancient Stirrings
2 Choke
2 Pithing Needle
1 Defense Grid
3 Nature's Claim
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Spellskite
1 Tangle Golem
2 Fracturing Gust
How the heck does this work??
The best way to understand Forest Belcher is to see some sample hands in action. Here are two goldfish scenarios below that show how the deck works.
Scenario 1
Turn 1: Reveal Chancellor of the Tangle, play Forest, Utopia Sprawl the Forest, cast Wall of Roots, remove Wall counter to cast Safewright Quest
Turn 2: Play Forest, cast Sakura-Tribe Elder, cast Ancient Stirrings to find Belcher, sacrifice Elder to get a third land.
Turn 3: Tap 2 Forest (1 with Utopia Sprawl) and activate Wall, cast Goblin Charbelcher
Opponent's Turn 3: Exile Simian Spirit Guide, tap remaining Forest, activate Wall of Roots, FIRE THE BELCHER!
Scenario 2
Turn 1: Forest, Utopia Sprawl
Turn 2: Lay of the Land, Forest, Arbor Elf, Caravan Vigil
Turn 3: Forest, Wurmcoil Engine (using Elf/Sprawl to generate 4 mana)
The deck won't always work like this but with an average win turn of 3.5-4 against Abzan decks, this is much more common than it looks on paper.
In essence, Forest Belcher is aiming to do three things:
In pursuit of your giant Belch (or Wurm/BSkull), the deck has a bunch of tricks, play-lines, and synergies it can draw on.
Deck strengths/weaknesses
STRENGTH!: Multi-mode combo deck with both explosive and gradual win conditions
STRENGTH!: Non-interactive game 1 can be very strong against some decks that want to interact
STRENGTH!: Favorable matchup against grindy decks
STRENGTH!: Relevant threats and win conditions in a huge range of matchups
STRENGTH!: Powerful sideboard cards that can come down on turn 2 (Choke, Blood Moon, etc.)
STRENGTH!: Super incredibly fun!
(STRENGTH: Unlikely to ever be hit by the banhammer!)
Weakness...: Challenging aggro matchup
Weakness...: Non-interactive game 1 can be difficult against some decks
Weakness...: Plays lots of low-power cards
Weakness...: Win conditions aren't always relevant in some matchups
Weakness...: Sometimes defeats itself with bad opening hands/mulligans
Weakness...: Mana creatures very vulnerable to removal, especially in burn-heavy formats
Card Choices
Goblin Charbelcher - The reason all of us are here in the first place! It's a noncreature win condition that dodges both Abrupt Decay and Inquisition of Kozilek, capable of winning all on its own as a 1 card combo. It can also be used to control the board if you are not confident in one-shot-kill activations. Some versions of the deck run red to take advantage of the double-damage clause on Belcher if you flip a mountain.
Wurmcoil Engine - Our secondary win condition. Although Wurmcoil has become worse in an era where Abzan has replaced Jund and Path to Exile has replaced Terminate/Lightning Bolt, Wurm is still a very strong card. It's particularly strong if dropped early against Burn or really any other deck that tries to send creatures across the board. Depending on the metagame, you will run a different split between Wurm and Skull.
Batterskull - Tertiary win condition. Much more resilient to removal than Wurmcoil but also much grinder. Don't forget about the synergy between BSkull and our dorks, especially BoP which can fly across for an 8 point life swing and still sit around as a blocker. Also note that although a regular 4/4 Germ token can't tangle with the average Rhino or Goyf, any of our dorks can wield the Skull and become a total monster. As above, depending on the metagame, you will run a different split between Wurm and Skull.
Hangarback Walker - Scales well throughout the game and is a powerhouse against grindy decks that try to remove our creatures at parity. Critically, can be found off Ancient Stirrings. Inconsistent against aggressive strategies. On the one hand, the landlocked Walker can't typically engage Affinity's and Infect's attackers. On the other, Walker gives us plenty of turns against Burn or Zoo aggressors. As a bonus, can be cast at XX=0 to get an artifact and creature in the graveyard for enabling delirium on Traverse the Ulvenwald!
Lay of the Land/Caravan Vigil - 8 of the 12 most important cards in this deck. Without the thinning power of these hyper-efficient "land handers" the deck wouldn't even exist. If you are running 7 lands, you absolutely need to run all 8 of these (and then 4 more of the Quests below). If you are up to 8-9 lands, you can consider cutting 1, but anything more than that is going to really screw with your mulligans. Note that neither of these spells can fetch nonbasics, which sort of limits the deck's ability to splash. Also note that Vigil has a very solid combo with Sakura Tribe Elder that you should be looking to use if possible.
Traverse the Ulvenwald - The strict upgrade to Lay of the Land that we won't always use as a strict upgrade. Lacking fetchlands and lots of instants, Belcher can struggle to fulfill delirium, although our maindecked artifacts do help us get there. Even if you only reach delirium once every ten games, the upside is still huge, whether in tutoring a Wurmcoil to finish the game, an Eternal Witness to recur a dead Belcher, etc. You can also improve your chances of going delirious with smart deckbuilding, which makes Traverse a more regular Plan B.
Safewright Quest - The other 4 land-handers are actually more important than the first 8 because they enable a splash. Without these cards, we couldn't reliably run cards like Fabricate, Thoughtseize, Blood Moon, or any of the other splashable technology that players have tried in this deck. Absolutely not cuttable in any splashed version of the deck.
Ancient Stirring - Although Lay/Vigil/Quest were the inspiration for this deck, it is Stirring that makes it viable. It's a 1 mana quasi-tutor that gets us our win conditions, gets us mana, and thins our deck. It also finds many of our sideboard cards once games 2/3 start. This is another card that I view as non-negotiable. Without Stirring, the deck just doesn't have the redundancy it needs. There might be versions out there that cut Stirring but unless you are replacing it with a comparable (and cheap) cantrip, it's just not going to be worth it.
Rampant Growth/Into the North - One important shortcoming of the 12 landhanders is that they don't really accelerate you. They just thin the deck and ensure land drops in later turns. Growth and North actually get you a turn ahead. Be cautious in using too many of these; there are numerous opening hand configurations where these won't be castable right away. They also don't chain well into other cards because the land enters the battlefield tapped. North is included as an option for those decks using Snow lands.
Search for Tomorrow - Unlike Growth/North, Search actually brings the land into play untapped. Also unlike Growth/North, it is often castable on turn 1, even if you won't reap the benefit until turn 3. This makes it a little inconsistent, especially in hands where a suspended Search prevents you from doing anything meaningful with your turn 2. But in hands where you can efficiently use your turn 2 mana and wait patiently for that turn 3 land, Search can be a very powerful way of ensuring that you hit the necessary 5-6 mana by turn 3.
Harrow - Playable as a 2-of in the 8 land versions of the deck. Riskier in the 7 land builds because you can get yourself in a situation where you only have six lands in play and can no longer draw and activate Belcher in one turn. Harrow is unplayable in Remand-heavy metagames, as the mana and resource blowout is too heavy. Harrow also gets significantly better with Traverse, adding both an instant and a land to your graveyard. Belcher isn't getting those types normally, so this will often turn on delirium right away.
Recross the Paths - On the surface, this just looks like a somewhat mediocre Search for Tomorrow. It brings the land into play untapped, can actually flip nonbasics, and can be reused if needed. But Recross's real strengths aren't in its ability to get lands. They are in its ability to stack your deck however you want if it has no more lands in it. This gives you a Goblin Recruiter style effect that can give you a string of threats, turn after turn, to play in the right matchup. Very strong against super grindy or controlling decks when you need to overwhelm their defenses to land a final threat. I recommend not going too deep into this card if for no other reason than that it is almost never castable on turn 1.
Oath of Nissa - Green Ponder won't hit a lot of lands in your deck, but about 50% of your cards are still either creatures or lands in the average build. Depending on how many cards you've drawn by the time you drop Oath, this will typically give you at least a 55% of finding something. That's not awesome on its own, but gets a bit better if you're going up the threat curve to Karn Liberated, and/or trying to maximize delirium on Traverse: extra Oaths kill existing ones, adding enchantment to the graveyard.
Vessel of Nascency - Great effect, bad activation cost. Unlike Oath, Vessel also hits Belcher itself, which makes it much better in the average game. Vessel also sacrifices to contribute to delirium without drawing a second enchantment to trigger legendary rules. That said, you really don't want to spend three mana on this effect, so I'd keep this at a 1-2 count if you include it at all.
Chancellor of the Tangle - On turn 1 this is either a substitute for a land or a free Elvish Spirit Guide that will help you ramp up with insane speed. Going turn 1 Chancellor into Land into Utopia Spraw into Wall of Roots into Quest/Lay/Vigil is not unheard of and will all but guarantee a turn 3 win condition. Chancellor also doubles as a win condition in a pinch and is very hard for BGx Midrange to profitably interact with.
Wall of Roots - The best mana creature in the deck. It soaks up aggro and pays back some of its own cost. It gives you ramp for multiple turns and can't just be bolted on the turn it hits play. Most importantly, you can use its ability once on your turn and once on an opponent's to more effectively activate Belcher. For example, with 5 mana and a Wall open, you can tap 3 and use Wall to cast belcher, and then tap the remaining 2 and reactivate Wall to activate Belcher during your opponent's upkeep. An overall awesome card.
Utopia Sprawl - A bolt-proof dork with haste that color fixes. If Wall is the best mana creature, Sprawl is the best mana accelerator we have. When paired with Arbor Elf, things can get really crazy.
Sakura-Tribe Elder - One of our most important life-lines against aggro. Steve stonewalls a swiftspear, Guide, or Goyf for a turn and then ramps us for our next main phase. Elder also has awesome synergy with Vigil on your own turns.
Birds of Paradise - The original mana dork itself and they still don't get much better. BoP enables us to play splashed cards (alongside Quest/Sprawl), accelerates us, and is an invaluable blocker against Affinity decks that try to race us with 5+ power Inkmoths. Although "bolt the bird" is always a danger when using BoP, that's at least one less bolt aimed at you and 3 more damage you can work with to get out your big guns. Also, never underestimate a 4/5 Flying, Vigilance, Lifelink birds.
Arbor Elf - A metagame choice. In metagames with lower Bolt/Electrolyze/Forked Bolt counts, Arbor is an absolute powerhouse in tandem with Sprawl. This two card combo alone will enable turn 2 Batterskulls with the right hand or turn 3 Chancellors/Belcher activations. But in the wrong metagame, Elf has all the weaknesses of BoP without any of its strengths.
Simian Spirit Guide - When it comes to speed, accept no substitutes. SSG is also a metagame call in that the explosive mana generation is important when you need to race. This is not really a card you want against a control deck past turn 3, but is outstanding when you are trying to race aggro or midrange when it goes into beatdown mode. Coupled with Wall, Sprawl/Elf, and all the other acceleration strategies, SSG is another card that really guarantees your turn 3 threats.
Choke - One of the scariest cards in the entire format for a blue deck to face down. We will regularly land this on turn 1-2 assuming a decent hand. On the play, that will be too early for almost any deck to respond, short of those packing Pierces. It won't automatically win the game the Belcher player, but it will make things way easier from that point forward.
Blood Moon - Another 8th Edition 3 mana enchantment that can win games on the spot. Unlike Choke, however, Moon can actually just end the game period if landed on turn 1-2. Some decks, Junk in particular, just don't have the manabase to work around this card. That should give you more than enough time to get ahead and make things happen. Moon is also great random sideboard hate in the format; it hits a lot of decks and is strong in unknown metagames.
Spellskite - Versatile hatred against Infect and Bogles. Findable off Stirrings and castable on turn 1. What's not to love?
Kitchen Finks - Linear aggro is a thing, and Burn is not a deck you want to play against. Thankfully, turn 2 Finks is a great play against your average Burn deck, especially against openings with Guide.
Fracturing Gust - Affinity is played enough that you need dedicate hate for this matchup. A turn 3 Gust will almost always obliterate Affinity's day. Add Ancient Grudge and Nature's Claim for earlier, spot-removal answers.
Scavenging Ooze - Strong answer to graveyard decks that also maximizes our mana. Unlike the less-vulnerable Relic of Progenitus, Ooze doesn't screw our own graveyard and turn off Delirium. Useful against Tarmogoyf decks, Snapcaster Mage strategies, and any graveyard strategy such as Grishoalbrand, Thopter/Sword combo, Abzan Company, etc.
The primer assumes either a Mono Green Belcher or a RG Belcher splashing mostly for Simian Spirit Guide, some removal, and potentially Blood Moon. That said, there are plenty of other options out there. Here are some of the best (and worst) in all the non-green colors.
W White W
Path to Exile -
U Blue U
Fabricate -
B Black B
Abrupt Decay -
R Red R
Blood Moon -
Gameplay and tips
When running Forest Belcher, here are some important interactions and play lines that everyone should be aware of.
G 1. Knowing how to mulligan G
Before we can get into the detailed interactions between cards, we need to talk about how to keep your opening hand in a deck that only plays 7-8 lands. The best way to think about this is to follow three rules. Like most rules, there are exceptions and complications to these rules, but they are great general guidelines that will carry you through most of your games. IN ORDER (order matters with these rules!), ask yourselves the following questions:
(a. Does my hand have 5 cards? If yes, keep. If no, proceed to b)
b. Does my hand have Stirrings, Recross, or a win condition? If yes, proceed to c. If no, mull and return to a.
c. Can my hand make 1+ mana on turn 1? If yes, proceed to d. If no, mull and return to a.
d. Can my hand cast a SPELL on turn 1 with that mana? If yes, keep. If no, mull and return to a.
The number one reason people lose with this deck is keeping hands that have no action. In a metagame where Infect, Burn, and Affinity make up about 25-30% of the collective Modern deckpool, you cannot afford to keep durdly hands. Your hand needs to make SOMETHING happen by turn 3-4, and keeping a hand without threats is a surefire way to "lose to bad luck". But, as most experienced players will tell you, "bad luck" is often a function of bad decisionmaking. In this deck, whether to keep or mull is often the first decision that sets you up to win or lose a game. This is why it is so important to keep hands that do something and not rely on a topdeck.
Once your hand can win, you need to make sure your hand can actually cast that win condition. The most basic prerequisite of that is that it can make 1+ mana on turn 1. Following from that, you need to use that turn 1 mana to cast a spell of some kind. If you can't cast a spell on turn 1, chances are good that your turns 2 and 3 plays won't be big enough to get a turn 3 or turn 4 win condition active. And if that doesn't happen, you are probably going to lose this game.
In general, you should be keeping a lot of your 7 card hands and almost all of your 6 card hands. Mulling to 5 is bad news, but you will do it if you have to do it. Just remember that you want to keep hands that do something. Hands that just put lands into play are surefire ways to lose to someone who is actually trying to kill you.
G 2. Wall of Roots and Goblin Charbelcher G
Arguably the most important non-intuitive interaction in the deck. Wall's ability is only useable once per turn, but Belcher can be activated at instant speed. So if you use Wall to pay for 1 mana of the Belcher's casting cost, you can use Wall again on the opponent's upkeep to pay towards the Belcher's activation. This allows you to go off with one less land than you would otherwise need.
G 3. Killing creatures/planeswalkers with Goblin Charbelcher G
Remember that Belcher doesn't always win on the spot. Sometimes you activate it with 2-3 lands still in your deck and you flip a Forest on the 13th card down. Then, before you untap, you die horribly to Grishoalbrand/Burn/Infect/whatever else your opponent is trying to kill you with. In such a situation where victory is not guaranteed, you can use Belcher as an uncounterable removal spell. This is particularly valuable against decks which typically have no way of actually killing a resolved Belcher but can feasibly race it if you get unlucky flips. So in that scenario, ask yourself whether you want to blow up your opponent, or blow up their game winning creature to buy yourself a turn to guarantee the win. Also, remember that Belcher can target walkers; always valuable to stop an ult or prevent an opponent from removing a key card of yours with the PW.
G 4. Maximizing Ancient Stirrings G
When it comes to digging with Stirrings, every little card helps. So you generally don't want to Stir for your win conditions until you have a) exhausted all your land searching effects for this turn and the next, b) have leftover mana that you can't do anything with AND are being raced, and/or c) have enough mana to cast a win condition (probably Batterskull) if you had it in hand. But on the flipside, there are also scenarios where you do not want to Stir. The most common of these is against Junk and BGx decks. Generally, don't play Stirrings on turns 1-2 if you can avoid it against decks that use Thoughtseize. The exception to this is against something like Affinity that boarded the card in where racing really matters. But against a slower deck like Junk, don't Stir until you can cast the card. Similarly, don't put yourself in a situation where Lilly can wreck your hand. If you Stir for a win condition, be sure you can keep it there for next turn. In general, it needs to be one of 3 cards to guarantee that. If you Stir and keep a 2 card hand, you open yourself to either double Lilly or IoK paired with Lilly.
G 5. Dont be scared! G
I should probably say this before giving you the option of using Belcher as a control card, but I think it's important to understand Belcher's modes before going #yoloswag360noscope with the deck. But now, here it is: Sometimes you just need to #yoloswag360noscope. Just go for it. Playing around imaginary removal and countermagic is not an option against decks that are clocking you. This is particularly true against Junk, which actually only runs 1 card (Pulse) that can kill a Belcher at all in game 1. Even against decks that have more answers (Cryptic Command, Pridemage, etc.), you sometimes just need to play into this stuff if you are under pressure. The chances of your opponent having that one card now are probably lower than your opponent having 2 cards in a few turns, especially if they are pressuring you with damage in that time.
Sideboarding concepts
Sideboarding is hard in Modern. You need to board in cards to handle the opponent's main game plan, board in cards to handle their sideboarded bullets, and not dilute your own deck while doing it! As anyone who has played combo decks like Forest Belcher can attest to, this is particularly challenging in tightly built engines that require redundancy and don't have a lot of obviously bad cards. But as Modern players also know, sideboarding is extremely important in this format. Games 2 and 3 will make or break a matchup much more than game 1, and these are also the games where you have more information about your opponent. That's good news and bad news for Forest Belcher. Good news because we can bring in some awesome technology that most decks will be unprepared for. Bad news because our opponents know what we are trying to do, probably saw our whole deck off a Belch in game 1, and are ready to wreck our carefully built gameplan.
I don't believe in matchup-by-matchup sideboarding tips. There is a dynamic element to sideboarding that is lost there, which is why I prefer to give guidelines and principles instead of hard rules. So in that spirit, here are the tips you can use to be successful when sideboarding for Forest Belcher.
Note: All tips will use the RG Belcher list from the OP as an example. Here it is again for reference
6 Forest
1 Stomping Ground
Win: 9
4 Goblin Charbelcher
2 Wurmcoil Engine
3 Batterskull
Dudes/Dorks: 19
4 Chancellor of the Tangle
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Wall of Roots
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Lay of the Land
4 Caravan Vigil
4 Safewright Quest
Utility: 6
4 Ancient Stirrings
2 Recross the Paths
3 Lightning Bolt
2 Choke
2 Blood Moon
2 Nature's Claim
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Spellskite
2 Fracturing Gust
3 Kitchen Finks
1 Wurmcoil Engine
When you sideboard, you generally have two options: Slash playsets or trim your cards. -4 BoP is an example of slashing. -1 Elder, -1 Wall, -1 Recross is an example of trimming. The advantage of slashing is in freeing slots for cards you know are critical to winning, and/or getting rid of cards you know are terrible. The disadvantage is that you totally lose access to those cards which eliminate an entire line of play that would otherwise be open to you. The advantage of trimming is in making room for important cards without compromising the core of your deck. The disadvantage is in losing consistency when you cut down on key cards. Knowing when to slash or trim is part rule, part science, and part art, so the best way to introduce it is through four more guiding sideboarding concepts.
G Concept 2: Know your opponent's deck pre/post sideboard G
Most decks in Modern have multiple playlines, and you need to know all of them both before and after sideboarding. Is this a deck that boards in artifact hate? Stony Silence in Jeskai and Abzan, Ancient Grudge in Affinity and Jund, Nature's Claim in Infect, and Destructive Revelry in Burn, just to name a few examples, can be serious day-ruiners for your Belcher and artifact-heavy gameplan. Opponents may even mulligan to these cards to try and lock you out of the game early! You can either try combating this with removal for cards like Silence or discard/protection for cards like Claim, or you can try getting ahead of it with other cards. Did the opponent probably bring in lots of artifact hate? Board out a few artifacts and add Blood Moon for a turn 1-2 shutout.
G Concept 3: Know the function of your own cards G
Every card in your deck has a purpose, which is why we put them there in the first place. It's easy to forget this when sideboarding and inadvertently remove a critical piece of your deck's engine. For instance, let's say we cut 1 Vigil, 1 Lay, and 1 Quest to squeeze in some of our anti-Affinity cards. Although it might not seem like we have removed a lot of cards (we still have dozens of ways to get mana on turn 1), we've actually probably impacted our chance at a decent opening hand. That's less of an issue against a durdly deck where we have a few turns to smooth out a subpar draw, but it's absolute death against a fast deck like Affinity where we need 5 mana to even use our best hate spell. Similarly, Recross is our inevitability that carries us in protracted games. But if you are up against Infect or Burn, that inevitability doesn't even matter if you can't survive to reach turn 4. That makes Recross an easy slash in those matchups.
Matchups Updated 2/11/2015)
Here's how Forest Belcher matches up against some of the most common decks in the field. Also included are some gameplay and sideboarding strategies for these matchups.
TEST PARAMETERS
For Game 1, preboard, we ran 15 games on the play and 15 on the draw, selecting the player with the most Challenger deck experience for Challenger, and the most combo experience for Belcher. For the sake of speed, all 30 games for game 1 were done in Magic Workstation instead of paper; it is much quicker to shuffle in that program, and Belcher has a LOT of shuffle effects. Although this may introduce some odd randomization elements, it is probably no different than the paper matchups (And almost certainly no different from the MTGO ones).
For Game 2, postboard, we also ran 15 games on the play and 15 on the draw. Before we started the postboard games, we played a few sample rounds just to see what cards would be important and how best to sideboard. Our sideboard substitutions are discussed below.
6 Snow-Covered Forest
1 Breeding Pool
Creatures: 20
4 Chancellor of the Tangle
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
3 Arbor Elf
3 Birds of Paradise
4 Wall of Roots
3 Simian Spirit Guide
Spells: 33
4 Goblin Charbelcher
4 Caravan Vigil
4 Lay of the Land
4 Safewright Quest
4 Recross the Paths
4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Rampant Growth
1 Into the North
2 Fabricate
1 Pithing Needle
2 Spellskite
3 Fog
3 Torpor Orb
3 Nature's Claim
3 Defense Grid
1 Autumn's Veil
BGw Rock
AFFINITY
Twin
Variants
Elvish Charbelcher
8x Forest
Creature (24)
4x Elvish Archdruid
4x Elvish Mystic
4x Chancellor of the Tangle
4x Llanowar Elves
4x Sakura-Tribe Elder
4x Sylvan Ranger
4x Ancient Stirrings
4x Caravan Vigil
2x Cultivate
2x Kodama's Reach
4x Lay of the Land
4x Recross the Paths
Instant (4)
4x Harrow
4x Goblin Charbelcher
2x Ezuri Renegade Leader
3x Imperious Perfect
3x Jagged-Scar Archers
3x Copperhorn Scout
4x Pithing Needle
So the deck was moving in a direction where elves didn't matter anymore and that's fine, but I thought it would be fun to make the Elves still matter, so basically what you do is if you are successful game 1 with Charbelcher and your opponent has a sideboard they are going to be bringing in all the Leyline of Sanctity Stony Silence Pithing Needle Ancient Grudge Shatter Spree Mana Leak Syncopate or anything else they can to shut down your Charbelcher, because that is obviously how you win.
(They'll also probably board out their creature removal)
While they are doing that you will be boarding out your Charbelcher Recross the Paths and Ancient Stirrings for your Elf Board. (If they have a particularly troubling Planeswalker or other activated ability you can board out some of your Cultivate or Harrow for Pithing Needle)
And now you are running a completely different deck that they shouldn't be prepared for.
Fabricate Belcher
Credit HaryF
1x Breeding Pool
6x Forest
Artifact (10)
4x Goblin Charbelcher
2x Torpor Orb
2x Pithing Needle
2x Defense Grid
Sorcery (19)
4x Caravan Vigil
4x Fabricate
4x Lay of the Land
3x Recross the Paths
4x Safewright Quest
3x Utopia Sprawl
Creature (21)
4x Birds of Paradise
3x Arbor Elf
4x Chancellor of the Tangle
3x Sylvan Ranger
4x Sakura-Tribe Elder
3x Simian Spirit Guide
4x Fog
4x Nature's Claim
2x Elixir of Immortality
2x Grafdigger's Cage
2x Spellskite
1x Silent Arbiter
http://octgn.net/sd/johnnocox/forestbelcher
Beatdown Belcher
Credit Izzetmage
1 Stomping Ground
4 Chancellor of the Tangle
3 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Safewright Quest
4 Caravan Vigil
4 Lay of the Land
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Utopia Sprawl
2 Arbor Elf
4 Rampant Growth
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Wall of Roots
4 Goblin Charbelcher
4 Wurmcoil Engine
3 Defense Grid
2 Spellskite
2 Torpor Orb
2 Fog
3 Nature's Claim
3 Dismember
Speed Belcher
Credit Modorra
2 Forest
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Stomping Ground
2 Breeding Pool
Creatures
4 Chancellor of the Tangle
4 Simian Spirit Guide
3 Birds of Paradise
3 Wild Cantor
4 Caravan Vigil
4 Recross the Paths
4 Fabricate
4 Sylvan Scrying
4 Safewright Quest
4 Farseek
2 Search for Tomorrow
4 Nourishing Shoal
Enchantments
4 Utopia Sprawl
Artifacts
4 Goblin Charbelcher
Big Belcher
Credit izzetmage
6x Forest
2x Stomping Ground
Artifact (4)
4x Goblin Charbelcher
Sorcery (20)
4x Ancient Stirrings
4x Caravan Vigil
4x Lay of the Land
4x Recross the Paths
4x Safewright Quest
4x Chancellor of the Tangle
4x Pale Recluse
4x Sakura-Tribe Elder
4x Valley Rannet
Instant (4)
4x Nourishing Shoal
Enchantment (8)
4x Fertile Ground
4x Utopia Sprawl
4x Dramatic Entrance
4x Summoning Trap
4x Progenitus
3x Worldspine Wurm
Another Transformer Sideboard deck.
Hydra Belcher
8x Forest
Artifact (4)
4x Goblin Charbelcher
Instant (4)
4x Harrow
Creature (20)
4x Birds of Paradise
4x Chancellor of the Tangle
4x Sakura-Tribe Elder
4x Gatecreeper Vine
4x Scute Mob
4x Utopia Sprawl
Sorcery (20)
4x Ancient Stirrings
4x Caravan Vigil
4x Lay of the Land
4x Safewright Quest
4x Recross the Paths
4x Kalonian Hydra
4x Primordial Hydra
3x Mistcutter Hydra
4x Pithing Needle
Plains Belcher
4x Knight of the White Orchid
4x Perimeter Captain
4x Pride Guardian
4x Stalwart Shield-Bearers
4x Weathered Wayfarer
4x Recross the Paths
4x Safewright Quest
4x Endless Horizons
4x Judge Unworthy
4x Path to Exile
8x Plains
4x Temple Garden
I'm thinking Endless Horizons gives a 12 land variant a chance.
(With updates and commentary from me)
Mana dorks
Llanowar Elves-- Simple effective mana dork, and as a bonus you probably have like 30 of them.
Elvish Mystic-- Llanowar Elves pt 2
Birds of Paradise-- Can help splash other colors
!Arbor Elf-- He just isn't a mana dork if you drop him off of Chancellor of the Tangle
!Boreal Druid-- No need for snow mana here, can't see a reason he should beat Llanowar Elves
!Deathrite Shaman-- You might have one land in your graveyard after Harrow but other than that you are just hoping for your opponent to feed you lands. However you do drop a lot of sorceries, might be worth considering but not as a mana dork.
~Treefolk Harbinger-- A safer option for a turn 1 drop off of Chancellor of the Tangle you still have your mana even if they have a bolt. Also a very meaty blocker. Could slow you down though as he costs one draw.
G Tutors
Ancient Stirrings-- Can help search out Goblin Charbelcher or a land, even if you don't hit anything you are potentially 5 cards closer to hitting something next turn.
Lay of the Land-- Basic Forest fetcher, and how great is the name: "I don't have a land to lay... but I do have a Lay of the Land
Caravan Vigil-- upgraded Lay of the Land works great with Sakura-Tribe Elder
Safewright Quest-- Beautiful Lay of the Land variant if you are considering Shocklands.
Rampant Growth effects
Sakura-Tribe Elder-- Chumpblock before you Rampant Growth or give Caravan Vigil a boost.
Into the North-- Because Snowcovered Forest is a basic land too.
Rampant Growth-- It's Rampant Growth!
Farseek-- Rampant Growth for shocks.
!Edge of Autumn-- Pretty risky in my estimation, most of my games its useless pretty fast and with only 8 lands in the deck it's cycle effect is not tempting. (Might be worth it in 12 land variants)
2 mana land tutors
Traveler's Amulet-- Not using forests? Try a colorless land fetcher. It's one turn slower... but if you have a reason not to use Forests it might be handy.
Wanderer's Twig-- And look it comes in a set of 8.
Sylvan Ranger-- Chump blocker with a side of land.
Gatecreeper Vine-- It's like a Sylvan Ranger that might chump block twice, also fits a possible defender build and can fetch gates if you want to splash on a budget.
Viridian Emissary-- Sylvan Ranger in reverse. You might get in a few shots if they know how much they don't want to let you fetch lands.
Pale Recluse, Valley Rannet & Friends-- Great option with the shocklands especially if you are running Nourishing Shoal.
!Ordeal of Nylea-- Could have some synergy with Viridian Emissary but it's probably going to get hit with whatever removal your opponent has before you get 3 counters.
!Sylvan Bounty-- It's like Sylvan Ranger without the Sylvan Ranger... You might gain 8 life off it... but if you do you are probably grasping at straws. You've heard of win more cards? This is a lose less card.
!Sylvan Scrying-- Might be nice if you are using shock lands... but you may as well just use one of the Forestcylcing guys.
!Mycosynth Wellspring-- If you crack a colorless artifact sacrificing version this might be worth it... other wise its not so great. (then again it is an option grab with Ancient Stirrings)
!Khalni Heart Expedition-- This would be great if it came out super early, useless once you have 4 lands in play. And might be disenchanted.
!Evolution Charm-- It's modal... but we aren't interested in it's modes.
3 mana ramp
Search for Tomorrow-- This is a card with good versatility early on you can suspend it, or later in the game you can grab that one last Forest.
Harrow-- Best thing to do in this deck with 3 mana.
Cultivate-- 2 for the price of one
Kodama's Reach-- Cultivate's pappy.
Recross the Paths-- Not only for ramp but also stacking your deck with Goblin Charbelcher on top. Clash means you can use it again or at the very least scry 1.
Wood Elves-- Chump block for 3, bonus the land comes into play untapped (and can search for shocks.)
!Journey of Discovery-- Usually worse than Cultivate, but if you have one land left in your deck and 5 mana on the board (with Charbelcher out) it suddenly becomes better.
!Farhaven Elf-- Only basic comes into play tapped it's just a wanna be Wood Elves
!Growth Spasm-- Farhaven Elf with a saccable chump blocker. If you are running basic it might be almost as good as Wood Elves if you are running multicolor basic (which I do not recommend) it might be better than Wood Elves
!Realms Uncharted-- You'd have to get creative here it's a possible grab for four lands out of your deck... But different names.. it might work, be careful.
Wall Package
Wall of Roots
Overgrown Battlement-- In my opinion the reason you would run the wall package.
Vine Trellis
Sylvan Caryatid
Plains Belcher?
Path to Exile
Safewright Quest
Weathered Wayfarer
Gift of Estates
Knight of the White Orchid
Knight of the Reliquary
Endless Horizons
Kor Cartographer
Gleam of Resistance
Sanctum Plowbeast
Off Color Tutors for Belcher
Infernal Tutor-- Adding it in plus a few minor tweeks made the deck just about equally consistent.
Fabricate-- Straight up grabs your win con, but zero versatility.
Beseech the Queen-- A bit more expensive but has the option of being played mono green. Has the potential of costing only BBB but will usually cost 2BB or 4B but what makes it better than Diabolic Tutor in this deck is that it can also be played for 6 enabling it in a mono green deck. You need atleast 4 lands to search for Goblin Charbelcher.
Diabolic Tutor-- Gives you what you need, a bit costly though
! Distant Memories-- Risky bluff card.
!Plunge into Darkness-- When it works it's great, but when it doesn't it's a lot worse than whiffing on Ancient Stirrings
!Spoils of the Vault--Fun when it works, kills you when it doesn't
!Archmage Ascension-- Not a lot of extra draw in this deck (perhaps in a can-trip variant)
!Maralen of the Mornsong-- You'd really have to want her in here to make her work in here.
!Arcum Dagsson-- No build as of yet has artifact creatures... but that doesn't mean a build couldn't
- Some cards let you put lands onto the battlefield untapped.
Examples:
Caravan Vigil
Search for Tomorrow
Harrow
Recross the Paths
Wood Elves
- Some cards mention “Forest” in their text. Shocklands with the Forest type also count as Forests.
Examples:
Safewright Quest
Arbor Elf
Utopia Sprawl
Cards with Forestcycling
Wood Elves
Snow-Covered Forest
- This counts as a basic land and a Forest. You may play more than 4 copies of it in your deck. This lets you play Into the North as Rampant Growths #5-8.
Simian Spirit Guide
- The ability is a mana ability.
Caravan Vigil
- If you sacrifice a Sakura-Tribe Elder before casting this, the criterion for Morbid is satisfied.
Arbor Elf
- This can be used to untap a Utopia Sprawl-enchanted Forest, giving you 2 (or more!) mana instead of the usual 1.
- The ability is not a mana ability.
Utopia Sprawl
- This card can only enchant Forests.
- When possible, enchant this on untapped lands. It’ll pay for itself on the same turn you cast it.
- Once you choose a color, you have to stick to it. Utopia Sprawl doesn’t produce one mana of any color; it produces one mana of the chosen color.
- This isn’t going to be relevant often, but: choosing the color is not a triggered ability. Generating the extra mana is, however.
Search for Tomorrow
- Your upkeep comes before your draw step, so if this is about to resolve and you have some card on top of your deck (e.g. after Recross the Paths), it gets shuffled to a random position in your library.
- Casting this card is mandatory as soon as the last time counter is removed.
- This card has a converted mana cost of 3, even if it was cast through Suspend.
Ancient Stirrings
- Lands are colorless (other than Dryad Arbor), so you can reveal a land and put it into your hand.
Sakura-Tribe Elder
- You can block with this before sacrificing it. The attacker deals no damage to you unless it has trample.
Wall of Roots
- You can add mana on the turn you play this card.
- You can add mana on your opponent’s turn. If you have 5 lands and 1 Wall, this allows you to cast & activate Belcher before your next turn. Tap 3 lands and activate Wall to cast Belcher, then on your opponent’s turn, tap 2 lands and activate Wall to activate Belcher.
Farseek
- This card can search for shocklands.
Edge of Autumn and other cyclers
- Cycling is an activated ability, so it cannot be countered by spells that say “counter target spell”. Only spells that say “counter target (activated) ability” may counter it.
- You may cycle at instant speed, even if the card with cycling cannot be casted at instant speed.
Harrow
- Sacrificing a land is a cost. If Harrow is countered, you do not get the sacrificed land back.
Recross the Paths
- If you reveal a shockland with this card, you have to pay 2 life if you want the shockland to enter the battlefield untapped.
- If you reveal your entire library and it contains 0 land cards, you rearrange it however you like, then clash. Use this to put Belcher on top.
Goblin Charbelcher
- You do not sacrifice this card when you activate it.
- Shocklands with the Mountain type (e.g. Stomping Ground) count as Mountains.
Stop the Presses!
Making a mark in online Magic articles this deck has been featured at:
Dailymtg
Table Top Magic
Becoming a Modern Man
The Modern Perspective
Slug's Lair
So I'd seen a couple of Charbelcher decks for Modern but they all seemed to be trying to do things the way Legacy does it, but Modern is missing a lot of important tools for a Legacy deck. So I crafted this deck which I feel is a much more Modern approach to Belcher. The key to a belcher deck in any format is to belch with no lands in the deck. Legacy solves this with a hand full of free mana, Modern doesn't have that option so I immediately knew that thinning out lands was the way to go. Now I'm in love with artifacts, so my first inclination was to see what I could do with expedition map and the UrzaTron. A lot of the colorless land searchers look for basic land, so at first I thought mountains for the Belcher bonus. But then I remembered that Sylvan Scrying exists, and I started leaning towards green, if I was playing green anyway, it only seemed reasonable to switch my twigs for Lay of the Land which led me to take out tron for the consistency of mono green. Now I'm adding elves to make up for the ramp I lost taking out tron and boom I land on Elvish Charbelcher, the first public version of this deck.
Hardly anytime after posting this deck I got my first piece of helpful advice (and an introduction to Chancellor of the Tangle) Chancellor was so good in the deck that I really couldn't see ever moving out of green again. Now I was in love with the transformative nature of the original deck, pop out a crazy combo and then game 2 when your opponents board against it surprise them with a completely different beatdown deck. (Stony Silence isn't feeling like such a good choice now is it?) But the good people of this forum showed me something even more exciting a consistent 3rd or 4th turn win. So Elvish Charbelcher became Forest Belcher. It's been quite a journey, and we've caught some attention all around the Magic community. To see where we are at this point have a look at ktkenshinx's excellent primer above. If you want to see where we came from, have a look through the thread starting with the historical Primer below:
Why Play it?
If you like wacky janky combo decks, but still want a shot at winning: this deck might be for you.
If you've been dying to play Belcher in Modern: this deck is probably for you.
If you love G and want to trample all over your opponents face with huge creatures: this deck probably isn't for you, but you may enjoy main boarding some of the sideboards.
What does it do?
In a fishbowl I blast with Belcher for about 40 between turn 4 and 7 usually turn 5. In actual games, it's about the same.
What's the Biggest Weaknesses?
Missing Belcher
Most Game 1 losses are a result of not drawing our one card combo not drawing a replacement or not drawing it soon enough. Tutors especially Fabricate (or Beseech the Queen for monogreen) help to mitigate that problem.
Being a one card combo is really strong, but it does open you up to one card answers. Leyline of Sanctity/Witchbane Orb/Stony Silence/Pithing Needle all say sideboard or lose.
Twin is a confirmed bad match-up it's just faster than us. And even when we turn off their combo they can simply switch into aggro mode. Watch out for Twin.
Mill has been a bad matchup not only are we actively helping them reach their goal, they are taking ammunition out of our cannon, but Wheel of Sun and Moon should fix all of that
7x Forest
Artifact (4)
4x Goblin Charbelcher
Creature (18)
4x Chancellor of the Tangle
4x Sakura-Tribe Elder
3x Gatecreeper Vine
3x Arbor Elf
4x Wall of Roots
4x Utopia Sprawl
Sorcery (27)
4x Ancient Stirrings
4x Caravan Vigil
4x Lay of the Land
4x Safewright Quest
4x Recross the Paths
4x Search for Tomorrow
3x Rampant Growth
1x Torpor Orb
1x Defense Grid
1x Fog
1x Nature's Claim
1x Graffdigger's Cage
1x Wheel of Sun and Moon
1x Spellskite
1x Silent Arbiter
1x Quiet Disrepair
1x Melira, Sylvok Outcast
1x Elixir of Immortality
1x Autumn's Veil
1x Dismember
1x Noxious Revival
1x Beast Within
Sideboard Explained
Since everyones meta is diverse and there isn't going to be one best sideboard for everyone I'm just going to have posted possible sideboard inclusions (for nontransformative sideboards) and in this section I'll post why you might want that card.
Torpor Orb helps with our most difficult matchup (Twin) as well as shutting down a myriad of other shenanigany decks.
Graffdigger's Cage hurts Pod, Re-animator, anything using Snapcaster Mage and a few other tricky fringe decks.
Spellskite helps a lot against combo (ie Twin) and infect. Also works as a Bolt sponge.
To deal with Stony Silence and other Enchantments/Artifacts that put the Kibash on our deck:
To deal with Counterspells
To deal with Aggro
To deal with Mill
Incase Infect is a big thing where you play
How it Plays
(3 consecutive fishbowls)
Scenario 1
Turn 1: Forest Utopia Sprawl
Turn 2: Safewright Quest Forest Utopia Sprawl Sakura-tribe Elder sac for Forest
Turn 3: Safewright Quest Forest Sakura-Tribe Elder sac for Forest Caravan Vigil Forest into play Pithing Needle
Turn 4: Arbor Elf
Turn 5: Lay of the Land
Turn 6: Recross the Paths stacking Belcher on top.
Turn 7: Play and activate Goblin Charbelcher for 40.
Scenario 2
(Two Chancellor of the Tangle in hand)
Turn 1: Forest Utopia Sprawl Caravan Vigil Caravan Vigil Ancient Stirrings for Belcher
Turn 2: Forest Search for Tomorrow hardcast for Forest in play
Turn 3: Forest Safewright Quest Belcher
Turn 4: Forest Recross the Paths activate Goblin Charbelcher for 24.
Scenario 3
Mulligan
Turn 1: Forest
Turn 2: Forest Sakura-tribe Elder sac for Forest
Turn 3: Forest Lay of the Land Recross the Paths for Forest in play.
Turn 4: Forest Utopia Sprawl Gatecreeper Vine
Turn 5: Play and activate Goblin Charbelcher for 46.
Opening Hand
Special Thanks
Spitlebug-- For recommending Chancellor of the Tangle.
Honor Basquiat-- For a whole slew of recommendations and a heap of enthusiasm
izzetmage-- For starting the Brewer's Help list and General Tips
RogueOS-- For finding Abundance and testing and ruling out (for now) pain tutors and Summer Bloom
Modorra-- For making what I've dubbed "Speed Belcher"
ktkenshinx-- For testing vs BGw Rock and affinity
And everyone for your contributions.
First incarnation rundown saved for comparative/historical purposes:
Turn 1: Forest Lay of the Land
Turn 2: Forest Sylvan Ranger
Turn 3: Forest Cultivate
Turn 4: Forest Sakura-Tribe Elder sac for Forest(Tapped) Caravan Vigil for a Forest(Untapped) Recross the Paths to stack the deck with Charbelcher on top.
Turn 5: Draw Charbelcher play and tap for the win.
Scenario 2
Turn 1: Forest Ancient Stirrings that flops
Turn 2: Caravan Vigil Forest
Turn 3: Forest Harrow Sakura-Tribe Elder sac for Forest
Turn 4: Cultivate Forest Recross the Paths to stack the deck with Charbelcher
Turn 5: Draw Charbelcher play and tap for the win.
Scenario 3
(had to Mull to 5)
Turn 1: Forest Ancient Stirrings that flops
Turn 2: Caravan Vigil Forest Ancient Stirrings for Forest
Turn 3: Forest Elvish Archdruid
Turn 4: Sylvan Ranger Forest Arbor Elf Cultivate
Turn 5: Sylvan Ranger Forest
Turn 6: Forest Arbor Elf (In top deck mode)
Turn 7: Elvish Archdruid
Turn 8: Llanowar Elves
Turn 9: (if we're still alive) Draw Charbelcher play and tap for the win.
You see the trouble it has with mulligans.
Stop the Presses!
This is one of my very favorite Magic decks and I'm sure you'll love it as much as us. But hey, don't take our word for it see what these guys have to say about it:
"This is one of the most unique Modern decks I've seen, and I wish anyone playing it good luck in releasing a giant belch as quickly as possible." Luis Scott-Vargas
"It's a lot of fun." Table Top Magic
"This deck was far too interesting not to have a further look at." Oliver Law
"Is 7 lands low enough for you?" Christopher Giovannagelo
"...it plops the belcher down, and BOOM!" Volker Kirstein
"The deck is shocking to look at and hilarious to play. Surprisingly consistent and resilient."Travis Woo
"It comes out of left field, noone is expecting it." LanternMTG
"I don't know any other deck where I'm so happy to topdeck a Forest midgame." TheCommunistManatee
Belcher in Action
Videos of Forest Belcher in action:
Elf Belcher vs
Forest Belcher vs RDW
Forest Belcher vs Fourcolor Control
Forest Belcher Vs UW Geists (From Geists Perspective)
GModern Belcher
GGreen Deck Wins
3I'm the King
RBlazeTron
Elvish Charbelcher
8x Forest
Creature (24)
4x Elvish Archdruid
4x Elvish Mystic
4x Chancellor of the Tangle
4x Llanowar Elves
4x Sakura-Tribe Elder
4x Sylvan Ranger
4x Ancient Stirrings
4x Caravan Vigil
2x Cultivate
2x Kodama's Reach
4x Lay of the Land
4x Recross the Paths
Instant (4)
4x Harrow
4x Goblin Charbelcher
2x Ezuri Renegade Leader
3x Imperious Perfect
3x Jagged-Scar Archers
3x Copperhorn Scout
4x Pithing Needle
So the deck was moving in a direction where elves didn't matter anymore and that's fine, but I thought it would be fun to make the Elves still matter, so basically what you do is if you are successful game 1 with Charbelcher and your opponent has a sideboard they are going to be bringing in all the Leyline of Sanctity Stony Silence Pithing Needle Ancient Grudge Shatter Spree Mana Leak Syncopate or anything else they can to shut down your Charbelcher, because that is obviously how you win.
(They'll also probably board out their creature removal)
While they are doing that you will be boarding out your Charbelcher Recross the Paths and Ancient Stirrings for your Elf Board. (If they have a particularly troubling Planeswalker or other activated ability you can board out some of your Cultivate or Harrow for Pithing Needle)
And now you are running a completely different deck that they shouldn't be prepared for.
Fabricate Belcher
Credit HaryF
1x Breeding Pool
6x Forest
Artifact (10)
4x Goblin Charbelcher
2x Torpor Orb
2x Pithing Needle
2x Defense Grid
Sorcery (19)
4x Caravan Vigil
4x Fabricate
4x Lay of the Land
3x Recross the Paths
4x Safewright Quest
3x Utopia Sprawl
Creature (21)
4x Birds of Paradise
3x Arbor Elf
4x Chancellor of the Tangle
3x Sylvan Ranger
4x Sakura-Tribe Elder
3x Simian Spirit Guide
4x Fog
4x Nature's Claim
2x Elixir of Immortality
2x Grafdigger's Cage
2x Spellskite
1x Silent Arbiter
http://octgn.net/sd/johnnocox/forestbelcher
Beatdown Belcher
Credit Izzetmage
1 Stomping Ground
4 Chancellor of the Tangle
3 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Safewright Quest
4 Caravan Vigil
4 Lay of the Land
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Utopia Sprawl
2 Arbor Elf
4 Rampant Growth
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Wall of Roots
4 Goblin Charbelcher
4 Wurmcoil Engine
3 Defense Grid
2 Spellskite
2 Torpor Orb
2 Fog
3 Nature's Claim
3 Dismember
Speed Belcher
Credit Modorra
2 Forest
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Stomping Ground
2 Breeding Pool
Creatures
4 Chancellor of the Tangle
4 Simian Spirit Guide
3 Birds of Paradise
3 Wild Cantor
4 Caravan Vigil
4 Recross the Paths
4 Fabricate
4 Sylvan Scrying
4 Safewright Quest
4 Farseek
2 Search for Tomorrow
4 Nourishing Shoal
Enchantments
4 Utopia Sprawl
Artifacts
4 Goblin Charbelcher
Big Belcher
Credit izzetmage
6x Forest
2x Stomping Ground
Artifact (4)
4x Goblin Charbelcher
Sorcery (20)
4x Ancient Stirrings
4x Caravan Vigil
4x Lay of the Land
4x Recross the Paths
4x Safewright Quest
4x Chancellor of the Tangle
4x Pale Recluse
4x Sakura-Tribe Elder
4x Valley Rannet
Instant (4)
4x Nourishing Shoal
Enchantment (8)
4x Fertile Ground
4x Utopia Sprawl
4x Dramatic Entrance
4x Summoning Trap
4x Progenitus
3x Worldspine Wurm
Another Transformer Sideboard deck.
Hydra Belcher
8x Forest
Artifact (4)
4x Goblin Charbelcher
Instant (4)
4x Harrow
Creature (20)
4x Birds of Paradise
4x Chancellor of the Tangle
4x Sakura-Tribe Elder
4x Gatecreeper Vine
4x Scute Mob
4x Utopia Sprawl
Sorcery (20)
4x Ancient Stirrings
4x Caravan Vigil
4x Lay of the Land
4x Safewright Quest
4x Recross the Paths
4x Kalonian Hydra
4x Primordial Hydra
3x Mistcutter Hydra
4x Pithing Needle
Plains Belcher
4x Knight of the White Orchid
4x Perimeter Captain
4x Pride Guardian
4x Stalwart Shield-Bearers
4x Weathered Wayfarer
4x Recross the Paths
4x Safewright Quest
4x Endless Horizons
4x Judge Unworthy
4x Path to Exile
8x Plains
4x Temple Garden
I'm thinking Endless Horizons gives a 12 land variant a chance.
(With updates and commentary from me)
Mana dorks
Llanowar Elves-- Simple effective mana dork, and as a bonus you probably have like 30 of them.
Elvish Mystic-- Llanowar Elves pt 2
Birds of Paradise-- Can help splash other colors
!Arbor Elf-- He just isn't a mana dork if you drop him off of Chancellor of the Tangle
!Boreal Druid-- No need for snow mana here, can't see a reason he should beat Llanowar Elves
!Deathrite Shaman-- You might have one land in your graveyard after Harrow but other than that you are just hoping for your opponent to feed you lands. However you do drop a lot of sorceries, might be worth considering but not as a mana dork.
~Treefolk Harbinger-- A safer option for a turn 1 drop off of Chancellor of the Tangle you still have your mana even if they have a bolt. Also a very meaty blocker. Could slow you down though as he costs one draw.
G Tutors
Ancient Stirrings-- Can help search out Goblin Charbelcher or a land, even if you don't hit anything you are potentially 5 cards closer to hitting something next turn.
Lay of the Land-- Basic Forest fetcher, and how great is the name: "I don't have a land to lay... but I do have a Lay of the Land
Caravan Vigil-- upgraded Lay of the Land works great with Sakura-Tribe Elder
Safewright Quest-- Beautiful Lay of the Land variant if you are considering Shocklands.
Rampant Growth effects
Sakura-Tribe Elder-- Chumpblock before you Rampant Growth or give Caravan Vigil a boost.
Into the North-- Because Snowcovered Forest is a basic land too.
Rampant Growth-- It's Rampant Growth!
Farseek-- Rampant Growth for shocks.
!Edge of Autumn-- Pretty risky in my estimation, most of my games its useless pretty fast and with only 8 lands in the deck it's cycle effect is not tempting. (Might be worth it in 12 land variants)
2 mana land tutors
Traveler's Amulet-- Not using forests? Try a colorless land fetcher. It's one turn slower... but if you have a reason not to use Forests it might be handy.
Wanderer's Twig-- And look it comes in a set of 8.
Sylvan Ranger-- Chump blocker with a side of land.
Gatecreeper Vine-- It's like a Sylvan Ranger that might chump block twice, also fits a possible defender build and can fetch gates if you want to splash on a budget.
Viridian Emissary-- Sylvan Ranger in reverse. You might get in a few shots if they know how much they don't want to let you fetch lands.
Pale Recluse, Valley Rannet & Friends-- Great option with the shocklands especially if you are running Nourishing Shoal.
!Ordeal of Nylea-- Could have some synergy with Viridian Emissary but it's probably going to get hit with whatever removal your opponent has before you get 3 counters.
!Sylvan Bounty-- It's like Sylvan Ranger without the Sylvan Ranger... You might gain 8 life off it... but if you do you are probably grasping at straws. You've heard of win more cards? This is a lose less card.
!Sylvan Scrying-- Might be nice if you are using shock lands... but you may as well just use one of the Forestcylcing guys.
!Mycosynth Wellspring-- If you crack a colorless artifact sacrificing version this might be worth it... other wise its not so great. (then again it is an option grab with Ancient Stirrings)
!Khalni Heart Expedition-- This would be great if it came out super early, useless once you have 4 lands in play. And might be disenchanted.
!Evolution Charm-- It's modal... but we aren't interested in it's modes.
3 mana ramp
Search for Tomorrow-- This is a card with good versatility early on you can suspend it, or later in the game you can grab that one last Forest.
Harrow-- Best thing to do in this deck with 3 mana.
Cultivate-- 2 for the price of one
Kodama's Reach-- Cultivate's pappy.
Recross the Paths-- Not only for ramp but also stacking your deck with Goblin Charbelcher on top. Clash means you can use it again or at the very least scry 1.
Wood Elves-- Chump block for 3, bonus the land comes into play untapped (and can search for shocks.)
!Journey of Discovery-- Usually worse than Cultivate, but if you have one land left in your deck and 5 mana on the board (with Charbelcher out) it suddenly becomes better.
!Farhaven Elf-- Only basic comes into play tapped it's just a wanna be Wood Elves
!Growth Spasm-- Farhaven Elf with a saccable chump blocker. If you are running basic it might be almost as good as Wood Elves if you are running multicolor basic (which I do not recommend) it might be better than Wood Elves
!Realms Uncharted-- You'd have to get creative here it's a possible grab for four lands out of your deck... But different names.. it might work, be careful.
Wall Package
Wall of Roots
Overgrown Battlement-- In my opinion the reason you would run the wall package.
Vine Trellis
Sylvan Caryatid
Plains Belcher?
Path to Exile
Safewright Quest
Weathered Wayfarer
Gift of Estates
Knight of the White Orchid
Knight of the Reliquary
Endless Horizons
Kor Cartographer
Gleam of Resistance
Sanctum Plowbeast
Off Color Tutors for Belcher
Infernal Tutor-- Adding it in plus a few minor tweeks made the deck just about equally consistent.
Fabricate-- Straight up grabs your win con, but zero versatility.
Beseech the Queen-- A bit more expensive but has the option of being played mono green. Has the potential of costing only BBB but will usually cost 2BB or 4B but what makes it better than Diabolic Tutor in this deck is that it can also be played for 6 enabling it in a mono green deck. You need atleast 4 lands to search for Goblin Charbelcher.
Diabolic Tutor-- Gives you what you need, a bit costly though
! Distant Memories-- Risky bluff card.
!Plunge into Darkness-- When it works it's great, but when it doesn't it's a lot worse than whiffing on Ancient Stirrings
!Spoils of the Vault--Fun when it works, kills you when it doesn't
!Archmage Ascension-- Not a lot of extra draw in this deck (perhaps in a can-trip variant)
!Maralen of the Mornsong-- You'd really have to want her in here to make her work in here.
!Arcum Dagsson-- No build as of yet has artifact creatures... but that doesn't mean a build couldn't
- Some cards let you put lands onto the battlefield untapped.
Examples:
Caravan Vigil
Search for Tomorrow
Harrow
Recross the Paths
Wood Elves
- Some cards mention “Forest” in their text. Shocklands with the Forest type also count as Forests.
Examples:
Safewright Quest
Arbor Elf
Utopia Sprawl
Cards with Forestcycling
Wood Elves
Snow-Covered Forest
- This counts as a basic land and a Forest. You may play more than 4 copies of it in your deck. This lets you play Into the North as Rampant Growths #5-8.
Simian Spirit Guide
- The ability is a mana ability.
Caravan Vigil
- If you sacrifice a Sakura-Tribe Elder before casting this, the criterion for Morbid is satisfied.
Arbor Elf
- This can be used to untap a Utopia Sprawl-enchanted Forest, giving you 2 (or more!) mana instead of the usual 1.
- The ability is not a mana ability.
Utopia Sprawl
- This card can only enchant Forests.
- When possible, enchant this on untapped lands. It’ll pay for itself on the same turn you cast it.
- Once you choose a color, you have to stick to it. Utopia Sprawl doesn’t produce one mana of any color; it produces one mana of the chosen color.
- This isn’t going to be relevant often, but: choosing the color is not a triggered ability. Generating the extra mana is, however.
Search for Tomorrow
- Your upkeep comes before your draw step, so if this is about to resolve and you have some card on top of your deck (e.g. after Recross the Paths), it gets shuffled to a random position in your library.
- Casting this card is mandatory as soon as the last time counter is removed.
- This card has a converted mana cost of 3, even if it was cast through Suspend.
Ancient Stirrings
- Lands are colorless (other than Dryad Arbor), so you can reveal a land and put it into your hand.
Sakura-Tribe Elder
- You can block with this before sacrificing it. The attacker deals no damage to you unless it has trample.
Wall of Roots
- You can add mana on the turn you play this card.
- You can add mana on your opponent’s turn. If you have 5 lands and 1 Wall, this allows you to cast & activate Belcher before your next turn. Tap 3 lands and activate Wall to cast Belcher, then on your opponent’s turn, tap 2 lands and activate Wall to activate Belcher.
Farseek
- This card can search for shocklands.
Edge of Autumn and other cyclers
- Cycling is an activated ability, so it cannot be countered by spells that say “counter target spell”. Only spells that say “counter target (activated) ability” may counter it.
- You may cycle at instant speed, even if the card with cycling cannot be casted at instant speed.
Harrow
- Sacrificing a land is a cost. If Harrow is countered, you do not get the sacrificed land back.
Recross the Paths
- If you reveal a shockland with this card, you have to pay 2 life if you want the shockland to enter the battlefield untapped.
- If you reveal your entire library and it contains 0 land cards, you rearrange it however you like, then clash. Use this to put Belcher on top.
Goblin Charbelcher
- You do not sacrifice this card when you activate it.
- Shocklands with the Mountain type (e.g. Stomping Ground) count as Mountains.
GModern Belcher
GGreen Deck Wins
3I'm the King
RBlazeTron
12 Lands will ensure that you are likely to have at least one (1) basic land in your opener. You can't guarantee 100%, but the number is somewhere near 75%-80%. These are based on my calculations from the Restore Balance thread here:
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=350326&page=30
The problem with 12 lands is that your average Charbelcher activation will be every 4.81 cards to hit a land after your opening hand.
So, assuming you reduced the number of lands to 8, you will need at least four (4) Chancellors to have a shot at a T1 play. Again, this assumes that your T1 mana dork doesn't get bolted.
I think you are on the right track with land thinning though.
*Edit* Also, having fetches doesn't hurt unless you are dead set on working basics. Even Terramorphic Expanse and Evolving Wilds doesn't hurt that bad.
If you run Chancellor, Nourishing Shoal in the side or main may keep you alive long enough to get there.
My Modern decks:
B/R/G Living End G/R/B
G/R Tron R/G
U/W/G/R Gargageddon R/G/W/U
R/W/G Naya Burn G/W/R
I've been goldfishing with great success. I don't know how I feel about Arbor Elf, there were a couple situations where I had Chancellor of the Tangle in my hand along with an Arbor Elf, and I'm forced to mulligan where if I had an Elvish Mystic, I would have been fine. Are there instances where Arbor Elf is better than Elvish Mystic, because if not, Birds of Paradise would probably be a better choice. I do understand that Birds of Paradise doesn't have synergy with Elvish Archdruid, but I don't know if Elvish Archdruid is even necessary, and from goldfishing, it seems to be the card I don't enjoy drawing, is there something I missing? What is that card here for? Maybe we could cut it for a Fog or lifegain effect. Kodama's Reach is also an option.
UBRKess, Dissident MageUBR - Controlling Dissidents
GRhonas the IndomitableG - Indomitable Four Drops
WUBOloro, Ageless AsceticWUB - Loot & Renanimate
Chancellor is doing great in the deck btw.
GModern Belcher
GGreen Deck Wins
3I'm the King
RBlazeTron
GModern Belcher
GGreen Deck Wins
3I'm the King
RBlazeTron
What about testing Nourish or Healing Leaves over Nourishing Shoal? Nourish is always going going to be 6 life. Healing Leaves gains us three, and allows us to block with a creature twice essentially.
UBRKess, Dissident MageUBR - Controlling Dissidents
GRhonas the IndomitableG - Indomitable Four Drops
WUBOloro, Ageless AsceticWUB - Loot & Renanimate
I've had a couple of times when I've cast Chancellor of the Tangle and it's always fun, though that happens more often with the Elvish Archdruid build.
I like Nourishing Shoal, I hardcast it once (for 6) when I was in topdeck mode. It's never really mattered any time it's come up though. Perhaps it's right for this deck, but it's always the first thing I board out so maybe not. Jury is still out.
Nourish might be a good idea, even though I hardly ever hardcast Nourishing Shoal the GG might be worth the consistency and I often have that much extra mana around.
I don't think Healing Leaves is a card I want though Fog works out better in almost every situation. That said (since I often only get 3 out of Nourishing Shoal) Maybe this deck wants Fog.
GModern Belcher
GGreen Deck Wins
3I'm the King
RBlazeTron
Am I missing something or is Kodama's Reach strictly better than Harrow in this context? I can't think of a situation where I'd want cast instant speed Harrow.
UBRKess, Dissident MageUBR - Controlling Dissidents
GRhonas the IndomitableG - Indomitable Four Drops
WUBOloro, Ageless AsceticWUB - Loot & Renanimate
This one is actually easy to answer since Cultivate is a functional reprint of Kodama's Reach, and I've chosen to play Harrow over Cultivate a good number of times. Harrow drops both lands into play so it only ends up costing a cumulative of G. So lets say it's turn 3 and I have 4 mana open (Elvish Mystic and a land drop each turn) I have Harrow and Kodama's Reach in hand. If I play Kodama's Reach I get one forest into play tapped and one in my hand, I'm left with one mana open and that's probably it. If I play Harrow I get two forests into play untapped leaving me with three open mana to cast the Kodama's Reach now I've only got one land in my library instead of 3.
Behold the power of Harrow.
GModern Belcher
GGreen Deck Wins
3I'm the King
RBlazeTron
I'd love to have that turn 1-3 with a forest in play.
It's theoretically a better play than Cultivate or Harrow on turn 4 or 5 with only one straggler land left.
It can't do the work of Lay of the Land or Caravan Vigil because playing it turn 1 off a Chancellor of the Tangle leaves you twiddling your thumbs for two turns.
If we just want to speed things up it could easily take Nourishing Shoal's spot. Winning a turn earlier is another way to gain 6 or 7 life.
It's certainly worth considering.
Good catch Systemfeind.
GModern Belcher
GGreen Deck Wins
3I'm the King
RBlazeTron
If you go with Stomping Ground try Safewright Quest in place of Lay of the Land. With that and Treefolk Harbinger I think you should be able to fish out all the Stomping Ground, save one that you might want in there anyway, pretty easy.
I've considered dropping 4 of my forests for 4 Grounds... but I'm not sure if it's worth the extra 4 damage or so you might run into.
GModern Belcher
GGreen Deck Wins
3I'm the King
RBlazeTron
I'll test this, why not? I'll see if there are cards that will interest you guys.
Finally, a playable Belcher deck in Modern!
Modern: Top Control -- UWx Titan -- Loam Pox -- Footsteps Hulk
Legacy: Doomsday -- Death and Taxes -- UR Stasis -- Sylvan Plug
Pauper: UB Teachings -- UR Nivix Control
However, thinking about it did help me solve another problem, one of the biggest reasons the deck stalls is not drawing Belcher or Paths early enough. I needed another 4 placeholder cards, but something like Paths that could be used to fetch lands as well. Presenting:
Infernal Tutor
Enabled by:
Overgrown Tomb
It takes some creative play knowing which card to play first and for what.
I'm still undecided on whether Treefolk Harbinger is buying me as many turns as it's costing me... I'm dropping him down to 3 and see how that goes.
GModern Belcher
GGreen Deck Wins
3I'm the King
RBlazeTron
Infernal Tutor is awesome. I love it in Top Control, I wish I can play it in Cherri0s, and Legacy ANT is my favorite jank deck.However, with the mana acceleration spells that put lands into our hand, it's questionable whether we can get Hellbent by turn 5 100% of the time.
I'll be on the lookout for tutors that put cards on the top of the library.
Modern: Top Control -- UWx Titan -- Loam Pox -- Footsteps Hulk
Legacy: Doomsday -- Death and Taxes -- UR Stasis -- Sylvan Plug
Pauper: UB Teachings -- UR Nivix Control
But casting for 5 hurts.
BUT it gets pretty much anything once all 8 lands are in play.
But the one thing that sucks is that we have to reveal the card, so it allows the opponent to play around it/disrupt it.
What about Spoils of the Vault? If we are gaining life, then Spoils becomes more relevant and consistent. Or maybe Plunge into Darkness? Shoaling away Chancellor of the Tangle will make these 2 tutors more and more viable.
Modern: Top Control -- UWx Titan -- Loam Pox -- Footsteps Hulk
Legacy: Doomsday -- Death and Taxes -- UR Stasis -- Sylvan Plug
Pauper: UB Teachings -- UR Nivix Control
UBRKess, Dissident MageUBR - Controlling Dissidents
GRhonas the IndomitableG - Indomitable Four Drops
WUBOloro, Ageless AsceticWUB - Loot & Renanimate
2 Forest
2 Verdant Catacombs
4 Stomping Ground
t1 mana
4 Chancellor of the Tangle
4 Simian Spirit Guide
2 Llanowar Elves
4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Caravan Vigil
4 Recross the Paths
4 Goblin Charbelcher
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Serum Powder
4 Sylvan Scrying
4 Safewright Quest
4 Gitaxian Probe
2 Edge of Autumn
4 Farseek
The stomping grounds make it so you really just need to bring the deck down to 3 lands to have a good chance of a lethal activation, although it often goes to less. I'm trying to make it less mana dork reliant. Any ideas?
UBRKess, Dissident MageUBR - Controlling Dissidents
GRhonas the IndomitableG - Indomitable Four Drops
WUBOloro, Ageless AsceticWUB - Loot & Renanimate
Having Harrow with no more lands to fetch is gross, and having Recross the Paths going back to your hand sometimes is the worst. Having ramp spells with no more lands to fetch is crappy and it makes me sad.
How about we use Plunge into Darkness and Spoils of the Vault while we casually gain life with Nourishing Shoal/Primal Command/Fog effects? Hey, Plunge into Darkness actually gives a use for those dorks we have left over to good use.
@modorra I really like the Farseek there. Sylvan Scrying not so much, and I really feel like Utopia Sprawl should be replaced with a one mana spell that gives us more land instead of mana. Gitaxian Probe I can see being useful. Edge of Autumn sucks if we draw it late, same with Serum Powder.
What do you guys think of Sakura-Tribe Scout? Azusa? Oracle of Mul Daya? Summer Bloom?
Modern: Top Control -- UWx Titan -- Loam Pox -- Footsteps Hulk
Legacy: Doomsday -- Death and Taxes -- UR Stasis -- Sylvan Plug
Pauper: UB Teachings -- UR Nivix Control
Theres no need to splash any color. I don't like Farseek/Rampant Growth, it's essentially strictly worse than Sakura-Tribe Elder. I don't understand why Recross the Paths going back to hand is bad?
Here's the build I'm working with now, and I like it a lot, it feels very consistent. Caravan Vigil has excellent synergy with Sakura-Tribe Elder because of the Morbid. Healing Leaves is better than Fog because it hurts burn more, prevents certain removal, hurts aggro. The dorks are good because once we have several lands out we can just chump block with them.
4x Caravan Vigil
4x Lay of the Land
4x Chancellor of the Tangle
4x Cultivate
4x Harrow
4x Recross the Paths
4x Gatecreeper Vine
4x Llanowar Elves
4x Sakura-Tribe Elder
4x Goblin Charbelcher
4x Healing Leaves
8x Forest
UBRKess, Dissident MageUBR - Controlling Dissidents
GRhonas the IndomitableG - Indomitable Four Drops
WUBOloro, Ageless AsceticWUB - Loot & Renanimate
12 lands doesn't work, there's not enough time to removal all the lands. If you Charbelcher into Stomping Grounds, it could literally be the first card you reveal and not deal fatal damage. Relying on Stamping Grounds is very inconsistent.
It can race other combo decks, this deck generally should win by turn 5, and can win on turn 4. That's faster than most decks in Modern win on average.
UBRKess, Dissident MageUBR - Controlling Dissidents
GRhonas the IndomitableG - Indomitable Four Drops
WUBOloro, Ageless AsceticWUB - Loot & Renanimate