[Deck] Charbelcher Combo 2004

[LucienStormcrow]

I have finally found a unique deck that I really think has the potential (maybe with a little bit more work) to defeat the top type 1 decks.  It is a combo style deck that only runs one land and goblin charblechers.  This deck can be extremely fast, and can usually go off every game around turn two-three.  

//Search
3 Spoils of the Vault
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
4 Land Grant

//Disruption
3 Duress
3 Unmask
2 Cabal Therapy

//Acceleration
1 Black Lotus
5 Moxen
1 Sol Ring
1 Chrome Mox
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Grim Monolith
1 Lion's Eye Diamond
1 Lotus Petal
4 Dark Ritual
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Tinder Wall
4 Eladamri's Vineyard
4 Chromatic Sphere

//The Broken
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Necropotence
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Channel

//Land
1 Bayou

//Kill
4 Goblin Charbelcher

I have already thought of several things to do with it:

First, the thing you always want to do with a new deck, add blue.  However, I would probably only use it for Time Walk, Ancestral Recall, and TInker, and I don't think that  is enough cards to add another color and probably another land to support it.  

Another thing I have thought of is Memory Jar.  I admit it would be really good, but I do not think it is necessary, tell me what you think.  

Next, I have considered taking the one Bayou out, but when you get it, and you usually do, it is huge mana acceleration.  When I do not get it though it can turn a second turn kill into a third turn kill.  So, if I take it out it opens 5 spots in the deck (probably for more disruption), but may slow it down in the long run.  

Finally, I have thought about changing the disruption.  I would like to run a fourth Unmask, but I like the one drop disruption, and I am against taking out the Cabal Therapies because the only card I am afraid of is Force of Will and if this card takes two of them first turn it's game.  The therapies can also be flashed backed when I am going off via Tinder Wall.

I do not have much of a side board built, but one thing I would have is 4 Illusionary Masks, 4 Dreadnaughts, and 3-4 Negators.  If you have any other ideas for the board, please mention them.

Please Reply
Thanks,
Clyde

[Eastman]

if a one land combo deck can be made to work, that land will be tolarian academy. Charbelcher combo might be possible, but you'll want to do it with Academy. Mehaps Sylvan Scrying could replace land grant.

[LucienStormcrow]

That is a very good point, and I wanted my one land to be academy, but did not know a card like Sylavan Scrying exsisted.

Thanks a lot Academy is now in the deck.

[BreathWeapon]

Woah, another Warlord player on The Manadrain ... swank.

How well can you support Unmask? It seems a little questionable. Wouldn't MD Swarms be better?

[Sytupal]

That was rather quickly changed without taking note on reasons....   Land grant is used simply because it can fetch a taiga or bayou without the spending of mana.  Scrying first, costs mana, second, is unecessary in the deck.  Combo Belcher is not very stable in the first place.  Slowing down an alreadyunstable combo with a 3 cc card to fetch your land is a mistake.  

A properly built Belcher can go off on turn 1 or 2. and is a constant go on turn 3 unless completely porked.  Obviously this is without testing against any sort of control deck or any deck sporting forces/drains.  I don't see belcher as a defining deck or a supporting deck in the current metagame where force of will and mana drain have started dominating.  

Also.  The Necropotence is a waste of space.  The yawgmoth's will is a crucial card and necropotence just says "no" to it.  It's an unecessary addition.  


Your belcher deck is a little more stable.. albeit much less consistant.  The 8 disruption slows down your deck considerably and unmask doesn't help the issue.   3 duress/ 3 cabal therapy help dramatically, however what are you going to remove for the unmask? it is unecessary as well simply because you want to get rid of their forces...even if they reveal no forces and reveal drains.. oops.. same effect.  These 2 slots are crucial to help with some acceleration.   Upping the spoils of the vault count to 4 wouldn't be a bad idea as sometimes all you need is that dark ritual you have yet to find in 2-3 turns.  

if you're reluctant to take out anything, at least consider the necropotence.  the triple black only comes out with a dark ritual that you don't always get in hand 1.


Those are just my thoughts

-Rich.

[Smmenen]

Where is your living wish tech with Workshop and Academy SB and Scavenger Folk.  I am not joking.

Steve

[Wollblad]

Scavenger Folk and Living Wish  OK, might work. Another comment: Blue or not? In my experience, this deck, as most other decks with ESG, works much better with draw 7's. Tinker rocks in this deck as do Windfall and Timetwister. Necropotence on the other hand is just to hard to cast.

My experince from Eladamri's Vineyard is everything but good. It's too symmetric. Counting Land Grant, Chromatic Shpere and Channel, you have 39 cards just to produce mana in some way. That'll render you too few business spells, so you can probably just take the Vineyards away and replace them with something that's actually a threat, for example some broken blue cards. I never really liked Grim Monolith to much either. It produces just one mana and is another card that is nullified by Null Rod.

You disruption base is a bit, well not funny, but rather weird. Cabal Therpy? I can see your thought here but often it will jus be an inferior Duress. Why not Xantid Swarm and Duress only? Too slow?

[Sytupal]

Cabal therapy, without a doubt, rocks.   The xantids swarms slow down your win by a turn.  Simply because you usually need every single mana producer to go off usually.  You're already slowing yourself down by throwing therapies and duress' at them.  

The vineyards are everything but NOT useful.  They provide you the mana that you don't have otherwise.  Definitely no joke there.  The green mana giving to an aggro deck doesn't matter.  The only place it hurts you is against tnt, or maybe  a slaver/prison deck. however in this case you don't need to worry about disruption games 2/ or 3 and therefore can work on going off sooner and not disrupting them.

[bebe]

Belcher decks are viable, I believe. And I maindeck both two Xantids and two Welders for the control match up. Against control going off turn three or four instead of turn two or three is not an issue.

I tested both Yawg's Bargain and Necropotence and eventually dumped both. I rarely needed them and with draw sevens and search already in place they made no sense as their mana requirements are heavy.

I will generally play a Tinder Wall over a Vineyard. I use two Vineyards now and three Walls. Vineyards are good but can bite you in the ass once in awhile.

Draw sevens are needed. Jar, Windfall, Wheel and Twister are all used in my deck.

I use three lands. Grants nearly always reduce thios to one land by the time I go off.

I use three wishes - two Living and one Death. I find this about right. I can bring lands in from the side - either Gemstone Mine or Tolarian. Ican also bring in a Xantid, Pack, Balance, Zealot, Orangutan, Assasssin, etc. I like the tool box sideboard and it is needed.

Blue is tech - Brainstorms, Ancestral, Twister, Tinker and Windfall are all goodness.

You need a secondary win condition.
You have two choices ... Tendrils or Hunting Pack (do not laugh at the Pack). Since I play Vineyards (two) and always have a lot of mana early, I prefer the sutprise of the Pack ( as a bonus it is an instant and you need only four -six spells for it to be successfull generally ).

Some general notes ... we tried the Spoils/disruption route. It is not nearly as flexible or consistent as a four color build - wow, four colors and only three lands, sounds like it cannot be. But in fact it runs smoothly on three lands.

[Lucentspirit]

Hello all,
     I know what I'm about to say is old news to some of you that have read it in other forums, but, I have my own version of Belcher that I built with Frimble and it has already shown it's muster coming in 3rd in a fully powered tournament a few weeks ago. You can see the results and deck list at:

 http://www.morphling.de/coverages/top8decks.php?id=94

   This deck goes off 80% of the time by turn 2 and 95% of the time by turn 3. There is no doubt belcher has allot of potential. I find control decks are the hardest matchup, but, since the build does so well against all other mathups there is a huge amount of space in the SB for control bullets like xantid, duress, and welder.... not to mention toolbox accesories!
     The theory is if you can drop a belcher before they land 2 blue on the table you've won game 1 (i.e. speed is critical and cards like vinyard, unmask, and duress slow you down)... If they have the FOW and you can't recover from it... don't sweat it.... side in your control hate and win 2 and 3.

[frimble]

The Black and Green (1-land) versions that I have seen tend to be inconsistent and weaker.  In these builds there are not nearly enough "must-counters".  Even a bad control deck can stop the kill cards.  Add the stability of blue and it starts to come together.  In this combo deck, it is great to be able to play Tinker, Twister, Ancestral, etc.  I have come to agree with Lucentspirit that Duress and friends just slow the deck down.

He and I have decided that the 2-land BuGr Belcher is the way to go.  It combines the speed offered by Black with the resiliency/consistancy of Blue and the utility given by Green.  Red is for the Wheel and the Welders (which are heck on control decks).

I like how with the use of the sideboard you can really put the pressure on a control deck.  The sideboard allows for a sort of conversion from SPEED cards to QUALITY cards.

Though, I do remain open to tested ideas and helping this deck become better.  However, "better" is subjective.  Some will try for faster while others will try for more consistent.  I am trying for a healthy balance.

[Hi-Val]

Lucent, are you Mike? This is Doug from the tourney, I played Gay Red...

I have been toying with the deck. Goblin Welders are clutch, believe it or not. And I have found that Tinker is key, especially since it grabs Belchers as well. I find myself instinctively going for Jar when I realize I can kill with Belcher!

Seriously though, Tinker and Ancestral are great reasons to splash blue. Forget about Time Walk, you don't need it.

[Lucentspirit]

Hi Doug,
     Yes, I'm Michael from the columbus mox tournament.  I think it's  awesome you've been toying with belcher. Your Gay Red deck is hella good. I'd love to know what changes you might make to improve belchers chances against it.

       
Tinker rocks in this deck..... It really is like having a 5th belcher. I also agree about not having timewalk in the deck. It was one of my first cuts when playtesting. Since you will probably play it turn 1 or 2 all you get from it is 1 or 2 untapped land and you get to draw 1 card..... Which is the same amout of resources it took to cast it in the first place.... Beleive it or not this deck is better off without it.

Another cut I made that may seem a little strange was grim monolith. I decided I would be better off with a cabal ritual.... it takes 2 to cast like monolith, but, you get 3 B from it instead of 3 colorless. Not to mention the off chance you may just get the full 5 (which gets even more insane if you use it for a yagmoth's will). The only down side is you can't use goblin welders on a cabal ritual like you would the monolith. This kind of choice may just come down to how many welders you run maindeck.

[LucienStormcrow]

That was rather quickly changed without taking note on reasons.... Land grant is used simply because it can fetch a taiga or bayou without the spending of mana. Scrying first, costs mana, second, is unecessary in the deck. Combo Belcher is not very stable in the first place. Slowing down an alreadyunstable combo with a 3 cc card to fetch your land is a mistake.

You are correct.  I tested the deck with Tolarian Academy about 10 times before posting my comment, and it worked wonderfully.  After posting I tested several more times, and ended up going back to the one bayou.  I do not think I will go back to Tolarian Academy in the main deck.

I use three wishes - two Living and one Death. I find this about right. I can bring lands in from the side - either Gemstone Mine or Tolarian. Ican also bring in a Xantid, Pack, Balance, Zealot, Orangutan, Assasssin, etc. I like the tool box sideboard and it is needed.

I did not even think of this (I forgot Living Wish can also get me much needed lands).  I like the idea of Tolarian Academy on board, but I like Mishra's Workshop better.  However I do not own Workshops so I will have to settle for Academy.  Also, bebe, if you would not mind I would like to see your deck list and compare it to Lucentspirit's.  Thanks!

Finally, thanks a lot Lucentspririt.  Your post really helps me by giving another look at the deck.  Obviously your build had to of worked to place third.  However, I am very worried about trinisphere, as this would completly shut my deck down turn one.  Do you have any ideas on how to defeat this, maybe Force of Will?  What do you think?  Again thanks a lot.

I am going to test a three and four color build with more lands and repost the deck.  
Thanks for all the replies
Clyde

[frimble]

Crow:  Lucentspirit only went up against only 2 control-type decks the whole day.  I beat him playing Supergro.  And CHAIN5 beat him playing Stax.  Belcher walks all over anything resembling aggro. And has a fairly nice matchup against other combo decks.  Post sideboarding, it'll have a fair match with control.

I have yet to decide if the sideboard version of the deck should be the maindeck, but I need quality players to test it against to determine this.

Looking at the make-up of any given tournement: about 42% aggro, 42% control, 16% combo.  I figure that statistically speaking Belcher has a good chance of getting to the top 8 - top 4.  If it has good match-ups with 58% of the field.  And the control (blue or stax) player must have a turn 1-2 key spell.  Odds are good.

Belchers only threats (in order of painfulness):
Trinisphere
Null Rod
Damping Matrix
Force of Will
Sphere of Resistence
Nether Void (can't see this hitting the table fast enough to matter.)
lots of counter spells.
Energy Flux
Opposing Welder

These MUST hit on the first turn (maybe on second will still help).  Other than this, not much can stop it.  Speak up if I missed any.  Odds are good for the Belcher to do its thing.

[Maze]

Serrum Powder could help you to get the combo on your first turn.

[Rico Suave]

You missed Root Maze, Chalice of the Void, Duress/Therapy (and broken Mind Twist plays).  Stifle can buy a turn as well.

[frimble]

Stifle, Root Maze, Chalice, Duress/Therapy are annoying but not at all devastating.  A turn is bought, but then what?  

And Damping Matrix is worse than Null Rod - shuts off the Welders:(

[Lucentspirit]

A small correction to to frimble's post......

       I went against 3 stax decks that day (2 were in the top 8) and Kevin Cron was the only stax deck I lost to (1-2). Frimble was my only other loss that day playing SuperGro with FOW, Daze, Stifle, and True Beleivers in his deck. That match up was also (1-2).

    I CAN understand why he may have missed my playing the other stax decks. I only had 3 opponents all day that saw turn 3 (giving me plenty of time to eat and watch other matches!)

 Also,
    Damping matrix is far worse than null rod because you can't use welders to get it out of play and scavenger folk becomes usless. Kevin was running 4 damping matix SB and that is in large part what brought him the win game 3.

[frimble]

After testing, Lucentspirit and I believe that Mana Cylix is way better than the Barbed Sextant.  It helps solidify the mana base and it ends up usable with the Welder and with Tinker even after use.

[Rico Suave]

Stifle, Root Maze, Chalice, Duress/Therapy are annoying but not at all devastating.  A turn is bought, but then what?  

No, the only one of those that buys a turn is Stifle.  Besides, a turn can be very lethal.  This is T1.  An extra turn is what allows people to drop Shaman and eat things, or Waste your only land, or get UU up for Mana Drain.  It allows the opponent's game-plan to come into effect.

[DEA]

i think you underestimate the value of 1 turn against a combo deck
1 turn is a lot of breathing space IF the opponent has any kind of answer
imagine a null rod, shattering pulse, welder activation or chain of vapour against belcher

a real life example i had playing against mad dragon
he had survival, 5 lands, 1 bazaar in play
he survivalled away an arrogant wurm and had 1 card in hand, with shivan hellkite in the graveyard :lol:
i tapped his bazaar [edit]with ice[/edit]in response to the survival search
he looked at me, passed the turn and on my next turn i thirsted, discarding a sundering titan (welded it back) and ate 3 of his lands, wasted 1 more and dropped a trinisphere  :lol:  :lol:

[Lucentspirit]

In T1 a single turn can mean HUGE things, game over being one of them.... or, it could just be draw go.... because the cards in the format are so powerfull every turn is seriously critical. Because Belcher is so fast it's streangth comes from the fact it can kill its opponents before they get enough mana to play cards like null rod (a deck that runs null rod probably doesn't play many moxen, and that gives you at least a 1-2 turn space to go off).
     Stax is difficult to go second against,  but, if belcher goes first it can lay just as many mana sources and permenants as stax can. A trinisphere being played means nothing if you already have 4 mana on the table and a belcher in hand (which is not that difficult to acheive).
     A trinisphere played on a belcher deck before it has a chance to go is 99% game over. This is a fact of life. There is no easy way around it without throwing more land in the deck (ie:workshops). Which goes against what the deck was built around to begin with.  
 
     One nice thing about the belcher deck is that it can throw so many must counters at a control deck in such a small amount of time that it still has a very good chance at winning. Especially after SB.

      As far as duress, stifle, meddling mage, chalice, and all those other cards that can disrupt belcher's 1st turn plans of conquest ......there are ways around them. A belcher deck should always have a plan B (I use tendrils). Goblin welder is another great way to get back on track after getting derailed.

     Don't forget, welders can weld your opponents stuff too. That may come in handy when they drop that sphere, chalice, or null rod and lotus petal (or other random artifact) is sitting in their graveyard.  

    Damping matrix is probably the worst.... is shuts down almost the entire deck.... You should always have at least 1 artifact mutation to SB in against stax. Oxidize is good too, but mutation is generally game over for the stax player. The only other option I've found is wishing for an uktabi oragutan from the SB.

      Finally, if your worried about cards like naturalize, and oxidize, just waint until you can get 7 mana and just drop the belcher and activate in the same turn.

[martyr]

Here's what I've been playing recently in budget T1...

4x Goblin Charbelcher

3x Spoils of the Vault
1x Demonic Tutor
2x Diabolic Intent
1x Vampiric Tutor
4x Xantid Swarm
1x Memory Jar
1x Wheel of Fortune
4x Serum Powder
1x Yawgmoth's Will
1x Yawgmoth's Bargain

4x Chromatic Sphere
4x Birds of Paradise
4x Orcish Lumberjack
4x Land Grant
4x Dark Ritual
4x Cabal Ritual
4x Elvish Spirit Guide
1x Bayou
1x Taiga
1x Lotus Petal
1x Channel
1x Chrome Mox
1x Mana Vault
1x Mana Crypt
1x Sol Ring
1x Lion's Eye Diamond

The sheer amount of mana this deck can churn out is ridiculous...2nd and first turn kills are frequent, merely on the strength of a fast opening hand (no tutors required) and a Land Grant or other mana source. There are a couple things that will crush this deck, though:

A timely Force of Will on your land grant.

A random Stifle, followed up by an unrecoverable game state or artifact removal.

Your opponent going first, and dropping either a Sphere of Resistance, a Trinisphere, Damping Matrix or Null Rod. Chalice of the Void for 1 really hurts, too.

Conclusion? This is NOT the deck to play in a Stax- or welderMUD-heavy environment.

This is NOT the deck to play in an environment with a bunch of Keeper.

Hmm...well, what does that leave you? A deck that can be played in an aggro environment? Whee. There are better ones.

With that said, there is no combo deck that is more fun to play. Besides, you get to play a combo deck without blue. How cool is that? I'm in love with this deck, but I do realize it's inadequacies.

Concluding, here's a sample sideboard for an environment with URPhid, GB Masque, GUr Madness, O-Stompy, Stompy, and Clamp of Kher Khep, along with assorted other budget-esque decks.

3x Naturalize
3x Oxidize
2x Cabal Therapy
3x Welder
4x Chalice of the Void (comPLETEly shuts down skullclamp)

I'm pretty sure blue would be a superb addition if one has power. Sorry this was a budget post, but I felt a couple of cards I had (like Lumberjack over Tinder Wall, and Channel, which is ridiculous).

[frimble]

Martyr: This is MUCH different from the Budget Forum.  I am not knocking the budget decks/players, but there is a whole forum for your post.  Unless, of course, your build can goldfish at 80% turn 2 kill.  Or you can extrapolate some help to the powered version from your budget version. -- And Stax is only a problem IF they go first AND they drop a first-turn Trinisphere or Sphere of Resistance.

I am looking for a way to make the deck work under adverse conditions.  I know its weaknesses, let's try to solve them.

[Rico Suave]

And Stax is only a problem IF they go first AND they drop a first-turn Trinisphere or Sphere of Resistance.

Or Chalice of the Void.

I was playing this a bit, and I was curious what advantages this deck have over a dedicated Tendrils combo deck.

[LucienStormcrow]

I have been playing around with the deck a little, and here is what I have come up with.

//Search
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Tinker
3 Spoils of the Vault
1 Demonic Consultaion

//Draw
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Windfall
1 Twister
1 Memory Jar
1 Wheel of Fortune

//Acceleration
4 Dark Ritual
4 Tinder Wall
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Land Grant
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
5 Moxen
1 Chrome Mox
1 Lotus Petal
1 Black Lotus
1 Lion's Eye Diamond
1 Chrome Mox
4 Chromatic Sphere
2 Mana Cylix

//Broken/Other
1 Channel
1 Yawgmoth's Will
2 Goblin Welder
1 Necropotence
2 Living Wish

//Kill
4 Goblin Charbelcher
1 Tendrils of Agony

Board
1 Mishra's Workshop (I wish)
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Gemstone Mine
1 Uktabi Orangutan
1 Goblin Welder
??????

This build is a lot more consistant, and against control, almost just as reliable.  I could not get rid of necro, every time I get I have the mana to cast it (mabye I just get lucky with it).  

Some of the acceleration came out (vineyards and monolith), for some of the draw sevens, and I have not seen many mana problems.  

I would like to say that I do not like the tendrils because I often times cannot cast ten spells the turn I get it.  I was thinking of adding hunting pack, but then I may have to add Vineyards again to support it.

Another thing I have been thinking of is adding Mystical Tutor.

Clyde

[bebe]

Okay. I'm going to give a quick report on my experiences with the deck. First, finding the Belcher was never a problem. I never missed Spoils. I played the deck at a 67 person tournament and dropped out after round three.
My match record  0-3
My games 3 - 6
I lost every match 1-2 and in each one it was close but as you can see not close enough. Here was the problem. I never got matched with TnT, Stacker, Aggro or combo. I definately would have won those matches. This deck flat out combos turn two or three undirupted. What I got were two control decks and one Fish derck each running three Stifles, four FoWs and four Mana Drains. One had Null Rods main. I probably should have one of the matches but I misplayed a card. That said control is a terrible match up. Now a Dragon deck won it all. I imagine he faced less control early on.
Do note that Land Grants will be countered so I never played one unless I had another or alternate mana source available.
The deck is a good deck but I noticed that there were an awful lot of control decks being played and quite a few Goblins and Dragon and TnT sprinkled in. I never drew Goblins. I never drew TnT. I never drew Dragon. So the moral of the story is - if Keeper, Phid and Fish are heavily played you are in for a tough outing.
That all said, I would play it again. I now have a much better feel for the deck. I would add Oxidize to the main deck somewhere and a third Swarm ( I play two Welder, two Swarm). Death wish can go to make room for the Swarm and I'll have to think about what to remove for an Oxidize or two. Probably one land and Memory Jar can go as the deck will play fine with just two.

So now here is

Two Wishes

1 Bayou
1 Tropical Island
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
1 Channel
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Chrome Mox
3 Eladamri's Vineyard
3 Tinder Wall  
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Dark Ritual
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Land Grant

4 Goblin Charbelcher

1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Skeletal Scrying

3 Xantid Swarm
2 Living Wish
2 Oxidize

2 Brainstorm  
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Windfall
1 Tinker
1 Timetwister

2 Goblin Welder
1 Wheel of Fortune

sb:
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Oxidize
2 Tendril's of Agony
1 Mishra's Workshop
1 Uktabi Orangutan
1 Viridian zealot
1 Xantid Swarm
1 Goblin Welder
1 Royal Assassin  
1 Tolarian Academy  
1 Gemstone Mine

A Tendril's or Hunting Pack would not have saved my as in any game although it would have been a cool closer. I would rather board in Tendril's game two for control.

[LucienStormcrow]

bebe:
Thanks for the reply.

First of all, you do not run a pearl.  In my experience with the deck, it is essential.  I use it with welders, tinker, to power c spheres, and I have recently added mana cylix, which the pearl can power nicely.

Next, I am interested in how skeletal scrying has been working in the main deck.  It seems like it could be a good idea.

Also, you are still running Vineyards.  I am now highly against the card.  It can not be used until second turn, and can turn a medicore stacks hand into a god hand.  Suppose they have no workshop/tomb, and are planning a first turn sphere of resistance, but now that they have the extra two mana  they drop a trinisphere.  That is a big problem that often came up in my testing.

I like the idea of tendrils only on board against control.  I find it to be a terrible top deck, and often discard it to a draw seven.

Finally, I have not been having to much trouble against control.  They have not been smart enough to counter land grants, which could be the problem.

Thanks for the deck list.
Clyde

[Windfall]

@martyr - Curses to you for using the same avatar... lol.  I can see you have good tastes.

In my days of playing combo, I've found that Brainstorm is one of the most important cards you can have.  It sets up combos like none other, and can also hide key spells from Duress.  It's amazing with Land Grant and stops you from stalling.  There is no way I'd play with zero, and I think two is also too few.  At least three but I'd prefer four.  You'll never hate having Brainstorm in your hand.

Mox Pearl is a must have in combo, even if you do not run white.

Vineyard can be boarded out if you are playing MUD style decks.  But it will help you against just about everything else.  Thus, I'd probably still run it because MUD is not very common around here.  Of course, you do risk your opponent using it to activate a Gorilla Shaman, which would suck.  Either way, I think it's good regardless of what your opponent can do with it.  Against your bad matchups (control), I imagine it will be burning them for two many times.

     ~Mark B.