List:

4 Workshop
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Wasteland
3 Mishra's Factory
2 City of Traitors
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy

4 Lodestone Golem
2 Karn, Silver Golem
2 Phyrexian Metamorph
3 Phyrexian Revoker

5 Mox
1 Mana Crypt
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Trinisphere
4 Sphere of Resistance
3 Crucible of Worlds
4 Smokestack
4 Tangle Wire
2 Staff of Nin
4 Chalice of the Void

Side:

4 Grafdiggers Cage
3 Witchbane Orb
2 Maze of Ith
2 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Razormane Masticore
2 Ratchet Bomb
1 Phyrexian Revoker


Match 1:
Mono Green Stompy
Game 1:
I already knew this player and his deck. Only thing my deck had to do was to drop a Chalice at one or resolve a Sphere effect. We roll the dice and it rolled in his favor. I kept a hand with 2 Workshops, 1 Trinisphere, 1 Sphere of Resistance, 1 Phyrexian Metamorph and 2 more lands. This was a keep because the game would be mine if. I dropped the Trinisphere. He opened with a Land Grant and a Root Maze so that I would be slowed down. He shipped the turn and I dropped my Mishra's Workshop. He then played a land and a Scavenging Ooze. I dropped a Trinisphere and shipped. There were a few turns of kicking with his Ooze and dropping Forest. I put down a few spheres and did not too much. He then played a Hidden Guerillas and shipped the turn. I had to play a creature now so because I would be kicked to death by his Scavenging Ooze so I played a Phyrexian Revoker. His Hidden Guerillas became a 5/3 beater and I had to copy it with my Phyrexian Metamorph. It came tapped into play because of the Root Maze so I had only two turns left. I passed the turn, he kicked with his creatures and shipped it. I played a land and passed. He then played Rancor and I died because of the extra power that Rancor generated. Shit, I had to win this matchup.

Game 2:
Sideboard:
In:
- 2 Maze of Ith
- 2 Ratchet Bomb
- 2 Wurmcoil Engine

Out:
- 2 Karn, Silver Golem (too slow and Wurmcoil is better)
- 3 Crucible of Worlds (he is playing 9 basic Forests)
- 1 Smokestack (just slow)

We both kept our first hand, I did it because I saw a Mishra's Workshop and a Chalice of the Void. This was a keeper. I dropped Chalice at one and that was game. I also dropped a few Sphere effects and locked him out of te game. This might work out alright now!

Game 3:
Same sideboard, same plan. I kept a 6 card hand with a turn one Chalice of the Void. I dropped a few Spheres and a Lodestone Golem and that was game. Succes! Let's go to round two.



Round 2:
Belcher
Game 1:
I knew that I had to play against combo beforehand because I saw him playing round one. I also knew Belcher was an easy to disrupt deck if you play spheres so I would be in a good place. We rolled and I won the dice roll. I kept a hand with a Mox, Ancient Tomb, Mishra's Factory, P. Revoker, Lodestone Golem and double Chalice. This was a perfect hand against him. I opened with Mox, Tomb and drop double Chalice ot zero and one. He wouldn't have fast mana and all his rituals and cantrips were shutdown. He played Land Grant and showed his hand. He had kept a hand with Windfall, Vampiric Tutor, Burning Wish, Manamorphose, Rite of Flame, Yawgmoth's Will and Black Lotus.He then played the land and said go. I dropped a Revoker at Belcher and said go. He couldn't do much and the game was over when I dropped a Lodestone Golem.

Game 2:
Sideboard
In:
1 Phyrexian Revoker (obvious against his wincons)
3 Witchbane Orb (obvious against his Belcher)

Out:
2 Karn, Silver Golem (too slow)
2 Crucible of Worlds (too slow)

I keep a hand with enough mana, Chalice of the Void, a sphere effect and Phyrexian Metamorph. He starts and drops Lion's Eye Diamond and Black Lotus. He then ships the turn and I drew a Phyrexian Revoker. I drop the Chalice at one and the Revoker at Belcher. With a Sphere-effect and a Smokestack few turns later he scoops. 2-0! I made a slight mistake tho which I notice now while I'm writing this report. I also had to board 2 Ratchet Bombs against his Empty the Warrens tokens. Bit of a misplay but it turned out all right for me.



Round 3:
Storm with Bazaars
Game 1:
This was going to be another combo game. He played a wacky storm combo deck with 3 Bazaar of Baghdads. We talk a bit because we've seen each other before on other tournaments a few years earlier. We roll and I may begin. I kept a hand with a Workshop, a few mana artifacts, Tangle Wire, a Sphere and a Wasteland. This hand seems alright. I drop the Sphere and said go. He dropped a land and it was my turn. I then wasted his land and we did not much for a few turns. Then the action came back when I drew a Lodestone Golem. I dropped the Golem and the Tangle Wire in the same turn. I kept tapping his permanents with a Phyrexian Metamorph that copied my Tangle Wire. He died soon after.


Game 2:
Sideboard:
In:
3 Witchbane Orb (against Hurkyll's Recall and Tendrils)
1 Phyrexian Revoker (enough targets to hit)

Out:
2 Karn, Silver Golem (a tad slow)
1 Crucible (it's good but also a bit slow)
1 Phyrexian Metamorph (while it was good, I didn't think it's was better than the cards I had to board. Don't know if this was the right call)

He began and dropped a land, Mana Cryt, Black Lotus and Duress turn one. He saw a Wasteland, Sol Ring, double Chalice, Phyrexian Revoker, Witchbane Orb and a Sphere of Resistance. He chose the Sphere and said go. I was glad he didn't said Sol Ring because this was a tricky hand. I drop the Wasteland, Sol Ring and Chalice at zero. I dropped the Revoker at Black Lotus and said go. He then dropped a Bazaar and started with digging for answers against my deck. I drew another land and played the Chalice at 1 and another Revoker at Necropotence. I then started kicking him down. Next turn he didn't do much and I drew Tangle Wire. This sealed the deal and it was game.



Round 4:
ANT
We both choosed to do an intentional draw and I went to get some food. I would have had to play against ANT so I wasn't really afraid of playing but it's always better to do an I.D. than playing and risking I would lose. I'm at 3-0-1 now and feeling confident about the top 4. There was atleast one combo player and another Shop player but I had Wurmcoil Engines in my sideboard where he didn't have them so I felt good if I got paired against Shops.



Round 5 (Top 4):
Mirror
Game 1:
I did get paired against Shops. We rolled and he won. He then opened with Metalworker and albeit I did have a good hand I didn’t win. If only I had Revokers so that I could stop his Metalworker but no, I didn’t have them. He then started to drop threats faster than I could handle and I died after a few turns of blocking with Mishra's Factories. This really sucked for me because I didn't want to get kicked out of the top 4.


Game 2:
Sideboard:
In:
2 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Maze of Ith
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Razormane Masticore

Out:
1 Trinisphere (he runs Workshops as well)
4 Chalice of the Void (he runs then as well, I’m on the draw and I can’t drop them turn 1, are not as good as in other match ups)
1 Smokestack (he plays them as well so 8 Stacks are a bit much)

My memory is getting a bit hazy after 5 rounds of playing so I don’t know my hand that I kept. We do a few turns not much interesting. Then a Smokestack enters play. He turns it up to 2 and he forces me to sacrifice enough permanents to leave me with only mana. He then drops a Razormane Masticore and I answer that with a Phyerxian Metamorph. He had to sacrifice his own Smokestack because he would be locked out of the game otherwise. We both have creatures now and he started attacking me. I kick him back because I have a Tangle Wire and he didn’t have that much permanents. I lock him out of the game with another Tangle Wire and I kick him to 0 with the Masticore.

Game 3:
I left the sideboard the same. He plays a Metalworker and I drop a Phyrexian Revoker naming Metalworker. This turns out pretty okay because he had a mana light hand and I take the board over pretty quickly. I drop a Smokestack and this is too much for him. A few turns later he died with not much permanents on the board and not much life left either. And with that I entered the finals.



Round 6 (Finales):
Bomberman
Game 1:
I heard other players saying that he was playing Bomberman. This was going to be the first (and only) blue based control deck that I would encounter that day. I kept a hand that had mana, a Revoker, a Chalice and a Smokestack. It was an okay hand. I had won the dice roll and dropped a Mox, Chalice and the Revoker. Revoker resolved and I named Jace, the Mindsculptor. This because I didn’t expect he would have the whole Auriok Salvagers combo in hand and I was more afraid of Jace which could get all the pieces for him. He then dropped 3 Moxes, a land, a Trinket Mage which fetched Black Lotus and he played the Auriok Salvagers. Well, that went wrong.. Thankfully he didn’t have any white mana so he still didn’t have infinite mana. I dropped Karn and Strip Mined his land. We didn’t do much the next turns, I only ate his Moxes and left him with two creatures on the board. A few turns later I resolved a Lodestone Golem and I took game 1.


Game 2:
Sideboard:

In:
2 Wurmcoil Engine (big and bad ass)
1 Revoker (for Jace and Auriok Salvagers)

Out:
2 Phyrexian Metamorph (not as good as the cards that I’m boarding)
1 Karn, Silver Golem (not really usefull, he could go infinite before I could turn his Lotus into a creature)

It didn’t go very good for him and my deck did what I had to do. I wrecked his board with the Wasteland + Crucible of Worlds lock and Smokestack. Then I tried to resolve a Tangle Wire which got countered. This was fine by me because I could now play my Wurmcoil Engine next turn. He didn’t have any counters and with that card I won the tournament!



I was really happy with the way my deck worked. I only had a few iffy hands and I felt that I played most things correctly. I wasn’t too quick with playing my threats but wasn’t too slow and I fell in love with Shops again. There were a few cards in the deck like Staff of Nin which I played in these games but I don’t know anymore when I played them so I didn’t write about it in the report. I got 70$ of prize money and with that I bought a foil old layout Crucible of Worlds promo. I want to get a playset of them so this is a good start. I still have some store credit left but I don’t know what I’ll buy with that, I’ll see.

Samoth: This was in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

WhiteDragon: I'll move it then and yeah, you're right, I had easy matchups. The Bazaar Storm player wasn't a bad player because I know that he's won a quit few tournaments. He told me that he made his deck the same morning and that he just tried to do something different this time. I just think he made a bad call at that moment. Later on he told me that he was more afraid of the Sphere than the Chalices, which I found strange because my hand would suck if he discarded the Ring. I couldn't drop the Sphere then without Sol Ring.

Just say if this is not the place to post this or this isn't appreciated then I'll remove it.

List:

4 Workshop
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Wasteland
3 Mishra's Factory
2 City of Traitors
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy

4 Lodestone Golem
2 Karn, Silver Golem
2 Phyrexian Metamorph
3 Phyrexian Revoker

5 Mox
1 Mana Crypt
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Trinisphere
4 Sphere of Resistance
3 Crucible of Worlds
4 Smokestack
4 Tangle Wire
2 Staff of Nin
4 Chalice of the Void

Side:

4 Grafdiggers Cage
3 Witchbane Orb
2 Maze of Ith
2 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Razormane Masticore
2 Ratchet Bomb
1 Phyrexian Revoker


Match 1:
Mono Green Stompy
Game 1:
I already knew this player and his deck. Only thing my deck had to do was to drop a Chalice at one or resolve a Sphere effect. We roll the dice and it rolled in his favor. I kept a hand with 2 Workshops, 1 Trinisphere, 1 Sphere of Resistance, 1 Phyrexian Metamorph and 2 more lands. This was a keep because the game would be mine if. I dropped the Trinisphere. He opened with a Land Grant and a Root Maze so that I would be slowed down. He shipped the turn and I dropped my Mishra's Workshop. He then played a land and a Scavenging Ooze. I dropped a Trinisphere and shipped. There were a few turns of kicking with his Ooze and dropping Forest. I put down a few spheres and did not too much. He then played a Hidden Guerillas and shipped the turn. I had to play a creature now so because I would be kicked to death by his Scavenging Ooze so I played a Phyrexian Revoker. His Hidden Guerillas became a 5/3 beater and I had to copy it with my Phyrexian Metamorph. It came tapped into play because of the Root Maze so I had only two turns left. I passed the turn, he kicked with his creatures and shipped it. I played a land and passed. He then played Rancor and I died because of the extra power that Rancor generated. Shit, I had to win this matchup.

Game 2:
Sideboard:
In:
- 2 Maze of Ith
- 2 Ratchet Bomb
- 2 Wurmcoil Engine

Out:
- 2 Karn, Silver Golem (too slow and Wurmcoil is better)
- 3 Crucible of Worlds (he is playing 9 basic Forests)
- 1 Smokestack (just slow)

We both kept our first hand, I did it because I saw a Mishra's Workshop and a Chalice of the Void. This was a keeper. I dropped Chalice at one and that was game. I also dropped a few Sphere effects and locked him out of te game. This might work out alright now!

Game 3:
Same sideboard, same plan. I kept a 6 card hand with a turn one Chalice of the Void. I dropped a few Spheres and a Lodestone Golem and that was game. Succes! Let's go to round two.



Round 2:
Belcher
Game 1:
I knew that I had to play against combo beforehand because I saw him playing round one. I also knew Belcher was an easy to disrupt deck if you play spheres so I would be in a good place. We rolled and I won the dice roll. I kept a hand with a Mox, Ancient Tomb, Mishra's Factory, P. Revoker, Lodestone Golem and double Chalice. This was a perfect hand against him. I opened with Mox, Tomb and drop double Chalice ot zero and one. He wouldn't have fast mana and all his rituals and cantrips were shutdown. He played Land Grant and showed his hand. He had kept a hand with Windfall, Vampiric Tutor, Burning Wish, Manamorphose, Rite of Flame, Yawgmoth's Will and Black Lotus.He then played the land and said go. I dropped a Revoker at Belcher and said go. He couldn't do much and the game was over when I dropped a Lodestone Golem.

Game 2:
Sideboard
In:
1 Phyrexian Revoker (obvious against his wincons)
3 Witchbane Orb (obvious against his Belcher)

Out:
2 Karn, Silver Golem (too slow)
2 Crucible of Worlds (too slow)

I keep a hand with enough mana, Chalice of the Void, a sphere effect and Phyrexian Metamorph. He starts and drops Lion's Eye Diamond and Black Lotus. He then ships the turn and I drew a Phyrexian Revoker. I drop the Chalice at one and the Revoker at Belcher. With a Sphere-effect and a Smokestack few turns later he scoops. 2-0! I made a slight mistake tho which I notice now while I'm writing this report. I also had to board 2 Ratchet Bombs against his Empty the Warrens tokens. Bit of a misplay but it turned out all right for me.



Round 3:
Storm with Bazaars
Game 1:
This was going to be another combo game. He played a wacky storm combo deck with 3 Bazaar of Baghdads. We talk a bit because we've seen each other before on other tournaments a few years earlier. We roll and I may begin. I kept a hand with a Workshop, a few mana artifacts, Tangle Wire, a Sphere and a Wasteland. This hand seems alright. I drop the Sphere and said go. He dropped a land and it was my turn. I then wasted his land and we did not much for a few turns. Then the action came back when I drew a Lodestone Golem. I dropped the Golem and the Tangle Wire in the same turn. I kept tapping his permanents with a Phyrexian Metamorph that copied my Tangle Wire. He died soon after.


Game 2:
Sideboard:
In:
3 Witchbane Orb (against Hurkyll's Recall and Tendrils)
1 Phyrexian Revoker (enough targets to hit)

Out:
2 Karn, Silver Golem (a tad slow)
1 Crucible (it's good but also a bit slow)
1 Phyrexian Metamorph (while it was good, I didn't think it's was better than the cards I had to board. Don't know if this was the right call)

He began and dropped a land, Mana Cryt, Black Lotus and Duress turn one. He saw a Wasteland, Sol Ring, double Chalice, Phyrexian Revoker, Witchbane Orb and a Sphere of Resistance. He chose the Sphere and said go. I was glad he didn't said Sol Ring because this was a tricky hand. I drop the Wasteland, Sol Ring and Chalice at zero. I dropped the Revoker at Black Lotus and said go. He then dropped a Bazaar and started with digging for answers against my deck. I drew another land and played the Chalice at 1 and another Revoker at Necropotence. I then started kicking him down. Next turn he didn't do much and I drew Tangle Wire. This sealed the deal and it was game.



Round 4:
ANT
We both choosed to do an intentional draw and I went to get some food. I would have had to play against ANT so I wasn't really afraid of playing but it's always better to do an I.D. than playing and risking I would lose. I'm at 3-0-1 now and feeling confident about the top 4. There was atleast one combo player and another Shop player but I had Wurmcoil Engines in my sideboard where he didn't have them so I felt good if I got paired against Shops.



Round 5 (Top 4):
Mirror
Game 1:
I did get paired against Shops. We rolled and he won. He then opened with Metalworker and albeit I did have a good hand I didn’t win. If only I had Revokers so that I could stop his Metalworker but no, I didn’t have them. He then started to drop threats faster than I could handle and I died after a few turns of blocking with Mishra's Factories. This really sucked for me because I didn't want to get kicked out of the top 4.


Game 2:
Sideboard:
In:
2 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Maze of Ith
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Razormane Masticore

Out:
1 Trinisphere (he runs Workshops as well)
4 Chalice of the Void (he runs then as well, I’m on the draw and I can’t drop them turn 1, are not as good as in other match ups)
1 Smokestack (he plays them as well so 8 Stacks are a bit much)

My memory is getting a bit hazy after 5 rounds of playing so I don’t know my hand that I kept. We do a few turns not much interesting. Then a Smokestack enters play. He turns it up to 2 and he forces me to sacrifice enough permanents to leave me with only mana. He then drops a Razormane Masticore and I answer that with a Phyerxian Metamorph. He had to sacrifice his own Smokestack because he would be locked out of the game otherwise. We both have creatures now and he started attacking me. I kick him back because I have a Tangle Wire and he didn’t have that much permanents. I lock him out of the game with another Tangle Wire and I kick him to 0 with the Masticore.

Game 3:
I left the sideboard the same. He plays a Metalworker and I drop a Phyrexian Revoker naming Metalworker. This turns out pretty okay because he had a mana light hand and I take the board over pretty quickly. I drop a Smokestack and this is too much for him. A few turns later he died with not much permanents on the board and not much life left either. And with that I entered the finals.



Round 6 (Finales):
Bomberman
Game 1:
I heard other players saying that he was playing Bomberman. This was going to be the first (and only) blue based control deck that I would encounter that day. I kept a hand that had mana, a Revoker, a Chalice and a Smokestack. It was an okay hand. I had won the dice roll and dropped a Mox, Chalice and the Revoker. Revoker resolved and I named Jace, the Mindsculptor. This because I didn’t expect he would have the whole Auriok Salvagers combo in hand and I was more afraid of Jace which could get all the pieces for him. He then dropped 3 Moxes, a land, a Trinket Mage which fetched Black Lotus and he played the Auriok Salvagers. Well, that went wrong.. Thankfully he didn’t have any white mana so he still didn’t have infinite mana. I dropped Karn and Strip Mined his land. We didn’t do much the next turns, I only ate his Moxes and left him with two creatures on the board. A few turns later I resolved a Lodestone Golem and I took game 1.


Game 2:
Sideboard:

In:
2 Wurmcoil Engine (big and bad ass)
1 Revoker (for Jace and Auriok Salvagers)

Out:
2 Phyrexian Metamorph (not as good as the cards that I’m boarding)
1 Karn, Silver Golem (not really usefull, he could go infinite before I could turn his Lotus into a creature)

It didn’t go very good for him and my deck did what I had to do. I wrecked his board with the Wasteland + Crucible of Worlds lock and Smokestack. Then I tried to resolve a Tangle Wire which got countered. This was fine by me because I could now play my Wurmcoil Engine next turn. He didn’t have any counters and with that card I won the tournament!



I was really happy with the way my deck worked. I only had a few iffy hands and I felt that I played most things correctly. I wasn’t too quick with playing my threats but wasn’t too slow and I fell in love with Shops again. There were a few cards in the deck like Staff of Nin which I played in these games but I don’t know anymore when I played them so I didn’t write about it in the report. I got 70$ of prize money and with that I bought a foil old layout Crucible of Worlds promo. I want to get a playset of them so this is a good start. I still have some store credit left but I don’t know what I’ll buy with that, I’ll see.

@Shrewarmies: I'm going to do that. I often see people playing it like 2/10 so it won't be that bad

I agree with you about the Death's Shadow. That's what I thought about them when I was thinking of Shadow. With Leyline, you've got more ways to kill so the opponent needs more kind of removal to slow you down. That's why I'm going -4 Shadow, +4 Leyline MB. I've to fit in a Helm somewhere and I'm also going to try to fit in a Peedle somewhere in the MB, but I'm not sure about what I have to remove for Peedle. Anyone any suggestions what to remove?

I changed my list and it brings me to this:


Main:

Land:

2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Dark Depths
4 Wasteland
1 Stripmine
10 Swamp

Creatures:

4 Dark Confidant
4 Vampire Hexmage
3 Hex Parasite

Artifacts:

1 Null Rod
1 Crucible of the Worlds
1 Lotus Petal
1 Helm of Obedience

Enchantments:

1 Necropotence
4 Leyline

Sorcery:

4 Thoughtseize
4 Duress
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Imperial Seal

Instants:

1 Vampiric Tutor
2 Diabolic Edict
4 Dark Ritual
1 Demonic Consultation

Planeswalkers:

1 Liliana of the Veil



Side:

4 Mental Misstep
1 Sadistic Sacrament
3 Null Rod
1 Pithing Needle
1 Helm of Obedience
4 Emissary of Despair
1 Phyrexian Tower

Well, here's the list. As you would see, with and I removed one Hex Parasite. Don't really know what else to remove, so think this the best. I couldn't fit Peedle in, so he's going SB untill I find a place mainboard.


(from Shrewarmies)

Wait, what? What I want to do against Shops (since I don't run Gate to Phyrexia + Blossom) is to drop Emmisary of Despair as early as possible. So that's why I run 4. The MU against Shops sucks with this deck, so why would you run it less than 4 times?

Cheers,

I agree with Yukon. She isn't a win con, she just helps you to win. And she does that job very well.

What do you think of this list? Just made it.

Main:

Land:

3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Dark Depths
4 Wasteland
1 Stripmine
9 Swamp

Creatures:

4 Dark Confidant
4 Vampire Hexmage
4 Hex Parasite
4 Death's Shadow (still not sure about that one)

Artifacts:

1 Null Rod
1 Crucible of the Worlds
1 Lotus Petal

Enchantments:

1 Necropotence

Sorcery:

4 Thoughtseize
4 Duress
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Imperial Seal

Instants:

1 Vampiric Tutor
2 Diabolic Edict
4 Dark Ritual
1 Demonic Consultation

Planeswalkers:

1 Liliana of the Veil



Side:

4 Mental Misstep
1 Sadistic Sacrament
4 Leyline of the void
1 Helm of Obedience
4 Emissary of Despair
1 Phyrexian Tower
 

I'm not sure about the Death's Shadows. I still have to try them but I think that they can be good occasionally. Maybe I can cut to 2 Urborg and go to 10 Swamps (cause I don't have any power yet) or one Peedle MB as tutor target.

Feel free to comment

@Nineisnoone:

Yep, no Power. That's because I don't own them and because I wanted to go for the best non powered deck (I could have borrowed the cards).
Necro is just insane. It's an auto include. Don't argue the card, it's restricted for a reason.
The reason that I don't run Leyline mainboard is for two reasons. First it's 4 life with Dark Confidant en probably a dead topdeck.
Second of all, I play Null Rod as a four off (so no combo with helm) and maybe Null Rod isn't as good as it used to be there, but here it's doing it's job and I think it's just worse then Null Rod against Storm Combo, Shops and basically almost anything except Dredge. Ofcourse, they can't win on Will anymore in Storm Combo but they've got others ways to win. I just don't think Leyline is better than Null Rod mainboard.

Also, I don't wanna go like this: Null Rod, go. Next turn, topdeck Helm (with Leyline in play) and fail.

Why no fetches? Well, that's because I didn't think of fetch and I think it's not nessecary. I can try them but maybe it's going to be a little problem with the lifeloss. Not sure about that though, I would have to try it. It's not that I'm scared of Magus of the Moon or such things.



I've tried Trinisphere in my sideboard for a while but I'm not really impressered by Sphere in this deck. Of course, it's a good card against Storm Combo but I think that it ruins your game plan too much. I play 8 discard spells, 4 Null Rod and 4 Mental Misstep SB to win from Storm Combo. Think that's enough and also, you just don't want to be that slow. Everything in your deck is 1, 2 or 3 mana and you don't want to be that slow.

I'm thinking of playing Parasite and Death's Shadow. I like the idea. Only Null Rod would make Hex Parasite useless, so maybe just do something like this:

-3 Null Rod
-1 Something

+4 Hex Parasite

And that I have one Null Rod as tutor target. I'm going to update my list and I'll give it to you guys here soon.

Cheers,

I've read al your messages and I will post again, but on monday because I've got a massage course right now (yay for mobile internet) and typing on your mobile phone isn't that handy if you want to write properly and to read other posts (atleast, not on my Nokia N900, it's just too damn small). So cheers and have fun!

Bitterblossom can chump block Lodestone Golems, tap tokens for Tangle Wire and can be used as permanent for Smokestack. You can also use it with Gate To Phyrexia in the SB against Shop decks so you can destroy there game plan.

It's also a good card against control match ups. Drop it and you've got a token machine that kicks your opponents ass.

My intent was that Mental Misstep sucks against Shop decks (barely no CMC1 spells) and Blossom is good against Shop decks (see my reasons above) so that's why I moved Blossom MB. I also like the syngergy between Gate to Phyrexia and Bitterblossom to destroy artifacts.

I hope I gave you enough information . If not, give a shout.

Edit: I'm on my phone, so if my answes are bit short you know why.

I think that Misstep would be a good card for in a combo heavy meta. If it is a shop heavy meta, just forget about the Missteps and go for Bitterblossom or even maybe Emissary of Despair (tricky, but if you can resolve it turn 1 you win from Shops). So I think it's a meta call.

Interesting move to include Parasite and Death's Shadow. Didn't expect that Shadow would enter Dark Times. Hex Parasite is also good against Planeswalkers so it's more natural to me that you would include Parasite than Shadow. But is it worth to take Null Rod to the sideboard to include Hex Parasite/Death's Shadow? Rod slows down lots of decks and sometimes completely stops them. It's an auto include in my Dark Times list and I dropped it pretty often at the Dutch Open Vintage Championships and most of the times my opponents sighed when I dropped it. So, is it worth it to move Null Rod to the Sideboard?

This is my list from the Dutch Championship last month. I became 22nd of 48 people (I thought it was 48).

Land

 4 Wasteland
 1 Strip Mine
 3 Dark Depths
 3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
 10 Swamp

Creatures

 4 Dark Confidant
 4 Vampire Hexmage

Other

 4 Dark Ritual
 4 Thoughtseize
 4 Duress
 4 Null Rod
 3 Bitterblossom
 2 Diabolic Edict
 1 Liliana of the Veil
 1 Necropotence
 1 Demonic Tutor
 1 Vampiric Tutor
 1 Demonic Consulation
 1 Imperial Seal
 1 Yawgmoth's Will
 1 Crucible of Worlds
 1 Lotus Petal

Sideboard

 4 Leyline of the Void
 4 Mental Misstep
 4 Emissairy of Despair
 1 Helm of Obedience
 1 Phyrexian Tower
 1 Sadistic Sacrament
 
What do you think of this list? I went 3-3 and lost from Dredge, Gush and another deck. Dunno anymore. Liliana was a real monster for my opponents. I activated her ultimate twice and also used her as a Diabolic Edict, so she's staying in. She's really really good. Null Rod was also a big deal for my opponents, so he's staying in. I removed the Missteps and moved them sideboard because they aren't doing a thing against MUD, so I wanted to have Bitterblossom so I can chump the Golems and have a better sac outlet. I can always put them mainboard if the meta is going to be combo decks. So far I saw lot's of Gush decks but not enough to move the Missteps mainboard. Gush can play around Misstep if they want to (Gush was still 5 mana the last time I checked). So, give your comments please

Cheers,

Maarten


 

Yeah, that would be pretty bad if that happens. Was just a thought, the reason why I said it was because I missed Serum Powder on the previous decklist of Voltron00x.

Hmm, maybe I'm saying something really weird. But isn't it an idea to play Crop Rotation as a one or 2 off? Because, you don't any Serum Powders so there has to be a Bazaar in your hand. Just as one off, if you're playing 16 lands orso, you can sac a land to tutor for Bazaar. Or am I now just saying nonsense.

I don't wanna be a dick, but that are 2 different topics. I don't play Opal, and I play 2 land. So the only other topic that I saw later on, was that of a topic out of 2008, so, I can move my post to there, but I don't think that will help a lot because nobody responded there.

Hello everyone,

I wasn't sure if there was already a topic for the 1 or 2 land Belcher decks, but I wasn't really looking forward to search 63 pages so if there's a topic about it, could some one mention me or move this post.

So, about Belcher. A few years ago, when I got a bit into Vintage, one of the first decks that I saw was Belcher. It immediately spoke to me and now I'm finally going to make. I've got TPS, Dark Times (Unpowered) and Dredge (Powered), so I'm kinda combo player. I've made an Unpowerd list (got 2 Powered decks, 2 Unpowered, just keeping it balanced).

It's BGRU, and here it is:


Everything that has some business with mana

4 Land Grant
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Tinder Wall
4 Manamorphose
4 Rite in Flame
4 Dark Ritual
3 Chrome Mox
2 Cabal Ritual
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Lion's Eye Diamond
1 Channel
1 Taiga
1 Bayou
                        41

Search, Draw and things like that

4 Gitaxian Probe
2 Street Wraith
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Necropotence
1 Windfall
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Memory Jar
                        13


Combo

4 Goblin Charbelcher
1 Empty The Warrens
                        5


Everyting else
1 Yawgmoth's Will
                        1        60



Sideboard

4 Leyline of the Void
4 Dark Confidants
2 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Rebuild



So, this is the list. I don't think that I have to explain some options. The reason that I'm not running Tormod's Crypt is that I can pitch a double Leyline to a Chrome Mox for the black mana, same as the Street Wraith, if necessary, I can pitch it to the Mox.

I'm kinda stuck on the Sideboard. What shall I include? I thought of 4 Cabal Therapies because I can remove some counters or Spheres so that I can drop my Belcher without any restrictions but I'm not sure about that. And yeah, well, I'm stuck. Somebody please help? Also, I'm sure there are some options that would make the mainboard better, so please share them too. Just remember that it's unpowered.

Cheers,

Maarten

@Xouman: I don't think that 4 SEize, 4 Duress and 1 Liliana is too much against half of the field. 8 Discards are just fine against any deck (O sure, discard your Golem/Oath/watever). I don't think I'm going to use Lili as much as a hardcore discarder, but more of a Diabolic Edict on a Stick.

I'm not sure if I'm going to play her once or twice. She is a bit slow against Staxx or decks like that, but she's also good in card negation. I think the best idea is to play her as  a one off, so you can tutor her, so she won't get stuck in your hand due to Spheres or that you have another Lili in your hand.

About Crucible, it's got a good synergy with Liliana, but isn't it a bit slow? Ofcourse, it's makes recurring Depths/Wasteland happen but it's 3 mana which I can put into a Hexmage/Duress or a Tutor to <insert threat>. But the only thing I can change in my list for something like Crucible is Grim Discovery. And yeah, well, that's kinda the same effect + you can get Bob or Hexmage back. And that all for just 2 mana (w00t). It's not as good as Crucible + Liliana but I think it's better to keep Disco in the deck than to put Crucible in.

So, maybe I'm going to put in another tutor, and then cut something, but Seal is just so expensive. It's like 300$ here in Holland, so I'm not sure about that one. Still, does somebody else got some recommendations on my deck?

I'm thinking of playing Lili in my DT. It's a damn good card and I think that she can be game winning on the long turn. If you and your opponent both draw nothing, you can win on the ultimate of her. Also it's a Diabolic Edict and.. last but not least, people can attack her, instead of you. Ofcourse, that's not always what you want, but if your low on life you'll be happy.

What do you think of this list:

Mana

1 Lotus Petal
4 Dark Ritual
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
3 Urborg
9 Swamp

Draw/tutors

4 Dark Confidant
1 Bazaar of Bagdad
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Necro

Combo

4 Hexmage
3 Dark Depths

Protection

4 Duress
4 THoughtseize
4 Mental Misstep
3 Diabolic Edict (or 1 Liliana)

Random

1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Sadistic Sacrament
1 Grim Discovery
4 Null Rod




Sideboard

4 Emissary of Despair
4 Yixlid Hailer
4 Phyrexian REvoker
1 Engineered Plague
1 Darkblast
1 Sadistic Sacrament

Cheers,

It's a pretty damn good card. It's just a removal without any restrictions, and it can enable Oath. It's also good in 5c Stax, so what else do you want

I want to try Unpowered first. If I want to play Tendril + Wil, I'll go for TPS or something like that. As I said, I'm going to run this list first, and then I'll add some power to it. I don't think it's too bad for the meta right now. Maybe I wouldn't reach to the top 1 at a big tournament, but that's okay for now. I've also got some other decks that need attention .

Hi hi,

What do you think of this list:

Dark Times V1.0

Mana:

1 Lotus Petal
3 Dark Ritual
3 Dark Depths
1 Strip Mine
10 Swamp
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Wasteland

Kill:

1 Helm of Obedience
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Vampire Hexmage

Disruption:

4 Duress
4 Thoughtseize
1 Null Rod
1 Pithing Needle

Other stuff:

1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Grim Discovery
1 Extirpate
1 Necropotence
3 Bitterblossom
4 Dark Confidant
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Demonic Tutor

Sideboard:

3 Null Rod
3 Pithing Needle
1 Trinisphere
2 Emissary of Despair
2 Yixlid Jailer
1 Engineered Plague
1 Darkblast
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Sadistic Sacrament


It's a pretty standard list, but I enjoy playing it. The only big thing that I didn't see in other lists (yet) is Grim Disco. I'm playing that because it's pretty nice to play Hexmage and Depths, sac Hexmage and return them back to your hand so if Marit Lage is gone, you can play it again instead of waiting for a Tutor/what ever.

The reason why I play unpowered is because I want to have the Lotus, Mox and Seal not proxied, so, until I've got them, I play unpowered.

Do you guys here have some advise or comments?


Cheers,

Maarten

@Marske: Ah, okay. I talked with Martin and he advised me to swtich from MUD to Espresso, cause Espresso was a lot stronger than MUD, so maybe I'm gonna switch. I don't know yet, what I like about MUD is it's fast clock, and I don't really see that with Espresso Staxx. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's just not that explosive as MUD is.

Is it really worth it, switching from MUD to Espresso Staxx? Is it really that much stronger?

This should have been a PM, I'd gladly continue this discussion there or on AIM/MSN (check my profile). Marske

That's true. Which decktype is played the most in Europa? MUD or Espresso Staxx/Staxx?

Well, I don't really know. I was just play testing and I thought: "Let's do that, see what's going to happen", and most of the times you want to draw a non-Sphere thing, and you draw a Thorn or another Sphere. So I"m gonna remove 1 Sphere and add 1 Duplicant. It's better for the flow of the deck.

Yeah, I made a mistake, I run 3 Thorns. This is my list:

Mana:

1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
5 Mox
1 Sol Ring
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Mishra's Workshop
3 Rishadan Port
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Wasteland

Lock parts:

4 Chalice of the Void
4 Smokestack
4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Tangle Wire
3 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Trinisphere

Creatures:

1 Duplicant
3 Karn
4 Lodestone Golem

Other stuff:

3 Crucible of Worlds
4 Serum Powder


Sideboard:

3 Pithing Needle
1 Duplicant
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Ghost Quarter
3 MAze of Ith

Lol yeah, probably. It looks pretty similar to the list I build, only I ran 4 Thorns, you run 2.

Hello,

What do you guys think of this list:

Land:

4 Bazaar
4 City of Brass
4 Undiscovered Paradise
1 Dakmore Salvage
2 Petrified Field

Creature:

2 Golgari Thug
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Stinkweed Imp
4 Bloodghast
2 Ichorid
1 Protean Hulk
4 Narcomoeba
1 Sun Titan
1 Flame-Kin Zealot

Shit 'n Giggles:

4 Bridge from Below
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Darkblast
2 Nature's Claim
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Serum Powder
3 Dread Return


Sideboard:

1 Woodfall Primus
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Serenity
1 Darkblast
3 Chain of Vapor
4 Unmask

I changed the list today. These are the changes I made:

-1 Iona MB
-1 Darkblast SB
-1 Chain of Vapor SB

+1 Sun Titan
+2 Serenity

Why? Well, it's pretty obvious to me. Iona isn't that good anymore with the MUD/Staxx-invasion so I cut it for a Sun Titan. Titan can recurr my Bazaar to dredge again and really go off on that turn. Also against mono Brown, it can recur my Serenities, so I'm sure that my path will stay clear so I can go off without having to care about Spheres. I think that Serenity also better is against mono Brown than Chain of Vapor, that's why I removed one of it from my sideboard.

So, maybe you're thinking: "Why Protean Hulk". Well, I tested the card and it was really nice to Dread Return it, then flashback it with Cabal Therapy, get some Zombies, and return Flame-Kin Zealot. Unfortunatly, that didn't happen that much, so I'm going to remove it again. But now
I'm doubting about a few options.

1st option: Woodfall Primus. Yeah, it's my first choice and probably the best one because you can get rid of things. I'm pretty sure that it's the best choice. The only down I see is that it doesn't really stop combo. The "non-creature'' part isn't that bad, you just overwhelm your opponent with tokens.

2nd option: Iona. It's a good card, no doubt. Say black and almost every combo player scoops. So maybe a good sideboard card if Primus goes main. Also, it's an instant win against Dark Times.

3rd option: Angel of Despair. Okay, well, I've got Primus so why would I take Angel of Despair. To remove that one creature? It's a bit useless, because most of the times I've got enough creatures to overwhelm the opponent. Yeah, it's a good one against Lodestone Golem, but if I'm playing against mono Brown, I'll switch to the back up plan that contains Ichorid and Bloodghast.

4th option: Terastodon. Yeah, same thing as above. Only the bad part about Terastodon is that he doens't have flying or trample. So, a Bitterblossom-token can block him each turn, it's just too bad because I already run 1 Woodfall Primus sideboard (maybe mainbord and with a sac outlet it's another Primus).

5th option: Ancestor's Chosen. A good card against decks that can deal your lot's amount of damage in 1 turn, and if there's a case that I'm not gonna win this turn and they will probably kill me with lethal damage next turn, I can put that into play and hopefully survive.

Other options:

Ichord? Running a third Ichorid so I can get more tokens and have a better match up against mono Brown.
Golgari Thug? Another Dredge outlet and food for Ichorid.

Sideboard talk: What shall I do, just cut Darkblast and run 4 Chains, because I already run 1 mainboard, so I probably find it quick enough to kill a Dark Confidant or a Welder. And if I remove the Primus, what's the best thing to put back into the sideboard? An Iona against TPS/Grim Long/combo in general, or shall I take that 4th Chain of Vapor because I already have Leyline of the Void mainboard, so they won't go off that quickly on Yawgmoth's Will and just hoping that I'm faster.

So, what shall I do? Which card will I take? What do you think? What's the best solution, just take Woodfall Primus from my sideboard, move it to mainboard, or shall I take another one.


Give your opinion and give me some help with this little problem,

Cheers,

Maarten van Tol

Cool, I'm looking forward to it

I'm pretty interested in a Shop-combo topic. Espresso and Metalworker are pretty famous in my opinion, but I didn't read that much articles about a Shop-combo. So it would be great if there's gonna come a Shop-combo topic, because almost everyone knows the other MUD builds .

Yeah, I'm sure it will be clearer if we make multiple threads for the different MUD designs. The difference between Espresso Stax and Aggro MUD is pretty big. Big enough for another thread in my opinion.

@Madmanmike: Yeah, was thinking the same about the Ratchet Bomb/Powder Keg. Now I just have to find another card in SB. Perhaps Duplicant? I don't know why I just play 1 Engine. It looked to me that if I would draw it, I would be happy and if I wouldn't draw it, it isn't a game loss. It's not a creature that ruins a whole archetype, so it's not that important if I draw a Hellkite or an Engine (maybe in some games it is, but in the end it isn't).

EDIT: Maybe it isn't so stupid to just add an extra Crucible of Worlds and a Razormane Masticore to the Sideboard for the mirrormatch. I've got no cards that could tutor, so with one extra CoW I would increase my changes. And with the Masticore I can shoot the opponent's Golems.

Oops, I forgot to put the CotV in my list. Well, here's the good list:


Mana:

1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Workshop
2 City of Traitors
4 Mishra's Factory
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
1 Tolarian Academy

Creature:

4 Lodestone Golem
2 Razormane Masticore
3 Steel Hellkite
1 Wurmcoil Engine

Spheres and shizzle:

4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Tangle Wire
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Trinisphere
4 Sculpting Steel
2 Ratchet Bomb

Sideboard:

4 Null Rod
3 Pithing Needle
3 Powder Keg
2 Tormod's Crypt
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Crucible of Worlds

Yeah, I changed it a bit. I got rid of Karn (now finally), because, Hellkite is beter in my opinion. It flies, is also eats moxes, it's a better blocker. Ofcourse, if you block another Golem, you're both dead, but if Karn blocks a creature, it turns into a wall. Even if it's an 1/1, so that why I changed it. I've also removed 2 Engines and included 1 extra Hellkite. Why? Well, I don't actually know. My feeling about the deck wasn't that good, I didn't enjoy playing it anymore with 3 Hellkites and 3 Engines. I don't know why, even tho this build may be a bit worse, I'm not changing it because you've got to like your deck. And I don't enjoy playing with my deck with 3 Hellkites and 3 Engines. Again, why? I don't know.

I've also removed 1 Tormod's Crypt and 1 Duplicant and I've added 2 Crucible of Worlds. That because I'm more afraid now for another MUD/Staxx decks here in Europa then of Dredge/GY based decks. So I thought that the Crucible would increase my chances of winning against the mirror match then a Duplicant would do.

What do you think of this list? Better now with 4 Chalices. What do you think of the Sideboard.

Cheers,

Maarten van Tol

Yeah, that's what I propably gonna do. I don't really like Metalworker, I've got the Masticore in that spot with the 4 Sculpting Steel. I don't need the mana from Metalworker. I tested him in the very beginning, but it didn't work out. Then I got the Null Rod's mainboard and yeah, Worker becomes useless then.

Maybe I'm gonna try Ratchet Bomb mainboard, just 2 times for Engine. Because, the last few times I drawed him, I wasn't that happy with him. Or I couldn't play it, or I was already winning. Ofcourse, if you're winning, it's useless to draw a Bomb, but it's good to remove all the little crap on the field so you can go for gold and pulverise my opponent like I've always wanted to.

I've got only 1 spot left, maybe just a single Engine, or an extra Hellkite. We'll see,

Cheers,

Maarten