2x Empty the Warrens seems wrong. No reason to hurt the Goblins plan.
2x Mox Opal is interesting, is it online often enough? Having a conditionally dead card makes us mulligan more.
If Mox Opal is online often enough, and with Street Wraiths to put on Chrome Moxen, Dark Ritual is at least something to think about. Both the mana to cast it and the mana it gives you are awkward, though. I think I agree with Ragged that this isn't the route to go. Wizards gave us Pyretic Ritual because the love us and they want us to be happy.
Does anyone have Tendrils of Agony in their SB? I'm wondering if it's actually worth a slot. I can't think of a time when I'd be using it for lethal unless I used Diminishing Returns first, and I feel like there are most useful wishboard slots that I could use instead, like for Reverent Silence or Goblin War Strike.
I've had it in at various times; it's never been relevant for me.
My question is if swarm gets countered is there any way that this deck can win through all of the counterspells in merfolk? Blasts, spell pierce, fow, daze. Seems tough...
It is indeed tough. I've beaten Merfolk in a tournament setting, but I got very lucky with my draws. You should not expect to beat Merfolk very often.
A Belcher deck made the Top 8 of the SCG LA Legacy Open this past weekend. That list deviated from the list in the primer by the following sideboard choices: -3 Ingot Chewer, +1 Infernal Tutor, +1 Tendrils of Agony, +1 Pyroblast. (The list from SCG actually had Red Elemental Blast instead of Pyroblast, but this is clearly wrong.) I'm testing this sideboard, and may update the primer to reflect it if the consensus seems to be that the Chewers are no good.
I've recently become a fan of:
+3 Pyroblast +4 Xantid Swarm
-4 Land Grant -1 Taiga -1 Chrome Mox -1 Manamorphose
when sideboarding to beat Force of Will.
DigicoolDad: I think you're conflating "Monoblue Control" (which I have never seen at any Legacy tournament) and "Force of Will" (which is common). It is well-known that Belcher struggles against decks with Force of Will. The stock list has 4x Xantid Swarm and 3x Pyroblast in the sideboard for this reason. Xantid Swarm effectively acts as a Duress effect (since they must counter the Swarm) and Pyroblast is an efficient answer once Force of Will is on the stack. I agree that running these cards in the sideboard is a very good idea. Are you advocating the allocation of more sideboard slots to cards like these? What cards would you use? You've admitted that Pyroblast is better than Gutteral Response and Red Elemental Blast. Would you cut wishboard cards? (Lyme has suggested that you don't understand the importance of the wishboard.)
DigicoolDad: Mono-Blue Control isn't even a competitive deck. You haven't produced very convincing evidence that running a lot of red counterspells is a good idea.
I do really like the Pyroblasts in the sideboard of the "stock" list (the list the primer currently gives). I proposed Artifact Blast over Ingot Chewer a page back, but no one seems to have any opinion they'd like to share.
I see no real reason to run Guttural Response over Pyroblast.
Guttural Response's benefit is that it can be cast with either red or green mana, but we usually be casting our business spells with red mana. Pyroblast can additionally be used to destroy a blue permanent or to increase the storm count.
Any other ideas for the NPH cards currently being spoiled?
A Belcher deck made the Top 8 of the SCG LA Legacy Open this past weekend. That list deviated from the list in the primer by the following sideboard choices: -3 Ingot Chewer, +1 Infernal Tutor, +1 Tendrils of Agony, +1 Pyroblast. (The list from SCG actually had Red Elemental Blast instead of Pyroblast, but this is clearly wrong.) I'm testing this sideboard, and may update the primer to reflect it if the consensus seems to be that the Chewers are no good.
+3 Pyroblast +4 Xantid Swarm
-4 Land Grant -1 Taiga -1 Chrome Mox -1 Manamorphose
when sideboarding to beat Force of Will.
I do really like the Pyroblasts in the sideboard of the "stock" list (the list the primer currently gives). I proposed Artifact Blast over Ingot Chewer a page back, but no one seems to have any opinion they'd like to share.
Guttural Response's benefit is that it can be cast with either red or green mana, but we usually be casting our business spells with red mana. Pyroblast can additionally be used to destroy a blue permanent or to increase the storm count.
There was some discussion of this type of build for Vintage at themanadrain.