This is an "all-in" combo deck which tries to be as fast as possible. Belcher wants to win on turn 1 or 2.
Belcher's win conditions are the namesake Goblin Charbelcher (with only one land in the deck) and a back-up storm strategy using three mainboard Empty the Warrens with another in the wishboard to be tutored for with Burning Wish.
To power out the combo as fast as possible, the deck's other cards are entirely "fast mana" cards.
As of shortly after the release of M11, the "stock" Belcher list consists of the following:
Business:
4 Goblin Charbelcher
Our goal in most games is to win on turn 1 or 2 by playing and activating this artifact using our fast mana. A Charbelcher activation will almost always be lethal.
3 Empty the Warrens
Another win condition. Here we want to drive up the storm count and produce about a dozen 1/1 Goblin tokens we can use to beat down our opponent quickly. The fourth copy of this card goes into the wishboard.
4 Burning Wish
This versatile tutor is usually used as Empty the Warrens 4-7, but can act in a number of other roles as well. More on the wishboard below.
Enabler:
4 Land Grant Land Grant serves the important role of removing the land from our deck to significantly reduce our chances of "whiffing" on a Charbelcher activation. It also drives up our storm count when necessary, or provides a mana source we need to go off either by fetching the land or by being imprinted on a Chrome Mox.
Fast mana:
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
These provide the mana necessary to activate a Goblin Charbelcher. We don't care too much about discarding our hand, since we hope to win on the same turn we play our LED.
4 Rite of Flame
Our third red ritual. Two red mana for the price of one, with a potential to become more efficient if used in multiples.
4 Tinder Wall
A ritual on a stick. This one filters green mana into red mana, as well.
4 Chrome Mox
Turns a dead card into mana, or drives up our storm count for free (since we can simply elect not to imprint a card on it).
Utility:
4 Manamorphose
This filters our mana, and draws us a card, which may be relevant in an emergency.
4 Gitaxian Probe
This draws us a card, shows us our opponent's hand, and adds one to the storm count without costing us any mana.
Land:
1 Taiga
Red and green mana. We're not too worried about revealing this with a Charbelcher activation, since it has the land type Mountain, and thus will double the damage the Goblin Charbelcher deals.
SIDEBOARD
As always, our sideboard will vary depending on our local metagame. Consider the following cards in some mix.
Sideboard proper:
4 Xantid Swarm
A great way to combat Force of Will and Daze: cast one of these on turn one, then swing in on turn two to protect an attempt to go off.
1 Empty the Warrens
And here's our fourth copy of our back-up win condition.
1 Diminishing Returns
Lets us refill for another attempt to combo off, when necessary. We can also use this to get greedy with Empty the Warrens.
1 Hull Breach
Destroys any artifact or enchantment (or both!) that's protecting our opponent from a Charbelcher activation, like a Trinisphere or Leyline of Sanctity.
1 Pyroclasm
Kills an army of dorks when necessary. We don't have any creatures we want to stick around on the battlefield unless we've already gone off with Empty the Warrens, so this won't normally hurt us at all.
1 Shattering Spree
Another way to deal with problem artifacts. This can also be a one-sided board wipe against Affinity.
Belcher tends to do well against creature-based aggro decks and other combo decks. It does poorly against decks packing a lot of counters, especially those which can mulligan aggressively into Force of Will. Here is an article by Carsten Kotter which describes this and other problems with Belcher.
Here are some statistics from SCG - Baltimore, courtesy of Jared Sylva:
# in field: 5, % of field: 2.15, average finish: 139.80, W: 11, L:18, D: 0, win %: 37.93
END NOTE: (Copied from other primers)
This primer is still a work in progress. Feel free to add to discussion whatever you feel is missing or whatever needs adjusting. I will try to update this primer whenever we as a community (more or less) agrees to something that will either improve this archetype and/or primer. Anything from card choices, updated deck lists, deck strategies, and match-up analysis.
I put the stress on the next-to-last syllable (i.e. the first), according to the default English stress pattern. (Which may or may not apply in this context, admittedly.)
Oracle: "10/1/2008: If an effect like that of Leyline of the Void prevents cards from being put into your opponent's graveyard, the process described in the first sentence of Helm of Obedience's effect will never stop. Your opponent's entire library will be exiled, even if X is 1."
DECK STRATEGY:
Belcher's win conditions are the namesake Goblin Charbelcher (with only one land in the deck) and a back-up storm strategy using three mainboard Empty the Warrens with another in the wishboard to be tutored for with Burning Wish.
To power out the combo as fast as possible, the deck's other cards are entirely "fast mana" cards.
Videos:
Cedric Phillips giving a goldfish demonstration of his SCG - Indianapolis list
Lukas Parson vs Daniel Signorini at SCG Richmond (Game 1)
Lukas Parson vs Daniel Signorini at SCG Richmond (Game 2)
Goldfish demonstration of a Classic Belcher deck on MTGO
Tournament Reports:
Matt Hazard, 2nd place at GenCon 2010
Ben Perry, 8th place at SCG LA
As of shortly after the release of M11, the "stock" Belcher list consists of the following:
Business:
4 Goblin Charbelcher
Our goal in most games is to win on turn 1 or 2 by playing and activating this artifact using our fast mana. A Charbelcher activation will almost always be lethal.
3 Empty the Warrens
Another win condition. Here we want to drive up the storm count and produce about a dozen 1/1 Goblin tokens we can use to beat down our opponent quickly. The fourth copy of this card goes into the wishboard.
4 Burning Wish
This versatile tutor is usually used as Empty the Warrens 4-7, but can act in a number of other roles as well. More on the wishboard below.
Enabler:
4 Land Grant
Land Grant serves the important role of removing the land from our deck to significantly reduce our chances of "whiffing" on a Charbelcher activation. It also drives up our storm count when necessary, or provides a mana source we need to go off either by fetching the land or by being imprinted on a Chrome Mox.
Fast mana:
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
These provide the mana necessary to activate a Goblin Charbelcher. We don't care too much about discarding our hand, since we hope to win on the same turn we play our LED.
4 Lotus Petal
It turns one third of a Black Lotus.
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
One free green mana at the cost of a card.
4 Simian Spirit Guide
Elvish Spirit Guide's red brother.
4 Desperate Ritual
Not as efficient as a Dark Ritual and only marginally better than Pyretic Ritual, but this does give us red mana that can pay for more red rituals, Burning Wish, or Empty the Warrens.
4 Seething Song
A more efficient, but more expensive red ritual. We can pay for it using mana from a Desperate Ritual or Pyretic Ritual.
4 Rite of Flame
Our third red ritual. Two red mana for the price of one, with a potential to become more efficient if used in multiples.
4 Tinder Wall
A ritual on a stick. This one filters green mana into red mana, as well.
4 Chrome Mox
Turns a dead card into mana, or drives up our storm count for free (since we can simply elect not to imprint a card on it).
Utility:
4 Manamorphose
This filters our mana, and draws us a card, which may be relevant in an emergency.
4 Gitaxian Probe
This draws us a card, shows us our opponent's hand, and adds one to the storm count without costing us any mana.
Land:
1 Taiga
Red and green mana. We're not too worried about revealing this with a Charbelcher activation, since it has the land type Mountain, and thus will double the damage the Goblin Charbelcher deals.
As always, our sideboard will vary depending on our local metagame. Consider the following cards in some mix.
Sideboard proper:
4 Xantid Swarm
A great way to combat Force of Will and Daze: cast one of these on turn one, then swing in on turn two to protect an attempt to go off.
4 Pyroblast
Another way for us to avoid scooping to Force of Will decks.
Wishboard:
1 Empty the Warrens
And here's our fourth copy of our back-up win condition.
1 Diminishing Returns
Lets us refill for another attempt to combo off, when necessary. We can also use this to get greedy with Empty the Warrens.
1 Hull Breach
Destroys any artifact or enchantment (or both!) that's protecting our opponent from a Charbelcher activation, like a Trinisphere or Leyline of Sanctity.
1 Pyroclasm
Kills an army of dorks when necessary. We don't have any creatures we want to stick around on the battlefield unless we've already gone off with Empty the Warrens, so this won't normally hurt us at all.
1 Shattering Spree
Another way to deal with problem artifacts. This can also be a one-sided board wipe against Affinity.
1 Infernal Tutor
We can use this powerful tutor to find and activate a Goblin Charbelcher in some situations (often involving multiple Lion's Eye Diamonds.)
1 Past in Flames
Wishing for this can give us a second shot at going off if our business spell gets countered the first time.
Here is a compact list:
3 Empty the Warrens
4 Burning Wish
4 Land Grant
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Seething Song
4 Rite of Flame
4 Tinder Wall
4 Chrome Mox
4 Manamorphose
1 Taiga
4 Pyroblast
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Diminishing Returns
1 Hull Breach
1 Pyroclasm
1 Shattering Spree
1 Infernal Tutor
1 Past in Flames
Belcher tends to do well against creature-based aggro decks and other combo decks. It does poorly against decks packing a lot of counters, especially those which can mulligan aggressively into Force of Will. Here is an article by Carsten Kotter which describes this and other problems with Belcher.
Here are some statistics from SCG - Baltimore, courtesy of Jared Sylva:
# in field: 5, % of field: 2.15, average finish: 139.80, W: 11, L:18, D: 0, win %: 37.93
I agree that the Head Judge has the final say, but I suspect a judge who is interpreting that document strictly wouldn't allow the cards.
3 Breeding Pool
3 Hallowed Fountain
4 Watery Grave
4 Marsh Flats
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Dark Confidant
4 Lorescale Coatl
2 Sower of Temptation
Other Spells: 32
4 Counterbalance
4 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Brainstorm
4 Counterspell
4 Daze
3 Duress
3 Ponder
2 Spell Snare
4 Swords to Plowshares
Here's the original version of the deck.