|
Zjoske
|
 |
« Reply #1 on: April 03, 2005, 03:38:46 pm » |
|
It's been a while since I played Belcher in a tournament, but now that Trinisphere is gone I think it's one of the best options in the format if you don't like to play control, but do like combo like me. I'm still messing with the board a bit and I've developed a love/hate relation with Necro, but that's about the only main deck card I'm not quite happy with.
First round I get the bye. That is, I play the young kid with the bad Goblins from Onslaught block. I Belch him twice quite early, while he attacks me with some unusual Goblins like the Lookout and the Taskmaster. He takes it in good stride though. Highlight of the match: I play Mox Emerald and he goes 'What does that do?'. Yep, not a T1 player.
Second round is more serious as I play against a powered Gifts combo deck. My first turn consists of setting up some mana and Welder. I'm then Duressed, so I Consult for Belcher, which leaves me with 21 cards. He takes Ritual, leaving me with Tropical, Belcher and Cabal Ritual. I play Belcher next turn and Belch him for exactly 20 in my next upkeep. Second game I have a great hand, but the Tinker is Duressed. Like the pro that I am, I rip the Twister of the top and Tendrils him after the Twist.
Highlight of this match: my opponent is nice enough to buy my spare playset of Italian Drains.
Third round I play Menno Rieff (mrieff), who is with Dragon today. It is however his first tournament with the deck and he doesn't quite know how the Witness kill works. First game I play Belcher first turn. In the second he has some more defense and gets his own combo going. I let him play it out. At which he failed miserably. He explains how he gets a lot of mana and how he mills his deck, but he starts recurring Ancestrals immediately without first retrieving all his FoWs. We've gathered quite the crowd as Menno stumbles through the motions and starts letting me draw cards. At some point I draw into Naturalize, so I ask Menno how he stacks his stuff. This takes a while to explain and I rush things myself a bit by letting his Witness CITP-effect resolve, before disenchanting, which would leave him with a lot of mana and a lonely Dragon in play. He of course Ancestrals and finds both FoW and blue card. Stupid on my part, but Menno has learned how to play his deck, so that's okay. Third game I mulligan into the mana + Wheel hand. He FoWs the Wheel and combos me out a couple of turn later.
Highlight of the match: definitely Menno's stumbling through his combo. We're still the best of friends though, so no worries there.
Fourth round Goblins again, but a decent Goblin deck this time. I quickly Belch him twice. Sorry, no highlights.
Fifth round Slaver. He start with Sea, Mox, Crypt, while I play some mana and Welder to set up for a turn 2 Belcher + activation. He Facts into Academy, drops Lotus, Slaver and locks me with my own Welder. Second game I mull to five and go land, mox, mox, petal, go. He opens with Gorilla Shaman. He has no mana though and has to FoW two of the spells I manage to draw in the next three turns, so my mana survives quite long. It helped that he didn't have the mana to destroy my Spheres as I can REB his FoW on my Ancestral, getting me back in the game.Some turns later I can play Belcher of a Tinder Wall and Belch him with the LED.
He opens the third game with a Gorilla again. I go ESG, Wall, Sphere, Swarm after another mulligan. The Swarm hits, so I can do my thing undisturbed, but I'm having trouble finding mana. He gets Welder on the board and Thirsts into a Platinum, which enters play. He beats me a bit and on 7 life I find a Land Grant. Demonic for Lotus into Channel happens. I play Mana Vault, Jar and Naturalize his Angel, leaving me at 3 as I click the Jar. Luckily his Welder is tapped and I Jar into Sol Ring, Sphere, double Ritual and Belcher, leaving me at 1 life after Belching. Phew. Highlight: the match actually went into extra turns.
Round six I play Nico (IHESM). Game one turn 1 Belcher happens. Game two is the same, but now I'm lucky Nico can't find his second land for the Null Rod, despite Brainstorming. Another five minute round without any highlights unfortunately.
All in all not a bad day and I get some boosters for my troubles. All that's left is for me to tighten up my play instead of regarding T1 as 'the casual format'.
Cheers,
Jos
|
