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Landless Belcher


I don't know what to do with this deck. It's one of the most unique decks I've drafted before and fits well with my philosophy to Make EDH Weird Again. However, the cost to build it the way I envisioned was prohibitive. I don't tend to think about budget when I build and being priced out of a card or two has never derailed a deck for me. But I really stepped in it this time. This was going to set me back a lot of money if I went forward with it. I like a good gimmick as much as the next guy, but they can get stale fast. I didn't know if it was worth the investment. Then the unforeseeable happened. 2 of the cards got banned. I think I'm the only person to save money on the bannings (too soon?). The deck is on ice now but I wanted to let you in on the idea anyway. Do with it what you will.


I have one of the guys from @foursidedsphere to thank for all this. I was streaming with the group and @mtgcolonel was talking about a deck he had with no lands in it. No double faced cards that are lands on the back side, just non lands. He mentioned it was harrowing to play because he needed some specific cards in his opening hand. I don't mind a good gimmick deck, but it still needs to be functional. So the idea sat there filed away in my mind. Then one day I stumbled upon an old modern deck that looked to do tons of damage and burn an opponent out. I've already done Green Burn and White Burn and wasn't looking to do another version. But that's where I found my hook.



Goblin Charbelcher is an unassuming 4 drop artifact with a crazy activated ability. For 3 mana and a tap you flip over cards until you hit a land, then do damage equal to the number of cards that were revealed. Double it if the land was a mountain. That isn't great on the first read. Sure I get to put them on the bottom of my library in the order I want but how many cards am I expecting to turn over? I've played a Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker deck before. There aren't that many cards between lands. About 1/3 of each deck is lands, so maybe I'll get to do 3 damage. That's not EDH material. Then the two ideas converged in my mind. How many lands does a deck really need? Any?



I'm not going to bury the lead. This deck was going to have 0 lands. That's nuts. It doesn't even sound functional. But what's the upside? When I activate Goblin Charbelcher I get to 1 shot someone. Since there are no lands in the deck I reveal every card and deal a damage for each one. As long as no one more than doubled their life total, that should be enough. Was there any other upside though? Absolutely. One of the biggest problems with knocking out a single player or playing into a gimmick is that you can often knock out one opponent but struggle with the remaining 2. I have a great setup after Charbelcher though. The card lets me put the cards I revealed onto the bottom of my library in any order. Since I planned to reveal the entire deck I would get to reorder the entire thing however I wanted. I would be well positioned to draw whatever I need to deal with my remaining opponents. Perhaps something to protect the critical artifact, or return it from the graveyard, or better yet, untap it.



I can hear you all now, casting and activating Goblin Charbelcher is 7 mana. Where is this mana going to come from? Here's where the ban comes into effect. I needed cheap, as in 0 cost mana sources to make this deck work. Those 0 cost options are artifacts. I started with Lotus Petal, since I'm most familiar with it and worked my way out from there. Lotus Bloom would be there too. It's never good the turn you play it, since it Suspends itself for 3 turns, but after that, it's great. One time. Mox Tantalite has the same timing restrictions but I get steady mana each turn. Mox Amber is best if I can reliably get a Legendary Creature out. That informed my commander choice too, more on that later. If you haven't noticed yet, I'm in expensive territory. Anything with Mox in the name is costly. I would still need Chrome Mox and Mox Opal to juice up my opening hand.



The 2 banned cards I had on my original brainstorm list were Jeweled Lotus and Mana Crypt. I knew Jewled Lotus wasn't going to help with Goblin Charbelcher, but it had 2 other things going for it. It would help cast my commander. I hadn't settled on one at that point, but I wanted something easy to cast and that either helped find Charbelcher or draw cards. The second thing going for it, I owned one. I got it in a Commander Masters pack when the set dropped and never did anything with it. As for Mana Crypt, I didn't own one, but I remembered it had been printed in a dozen different versions not long ago in Lost Caverns of Ixilan. I figured the price would be reasonable. I was very wrong. That's when I got my first bit of sticker shock. I almost walked away at that point but decided to push forward. I already had another idea for the deck and it would take some of the pressure off the artifacts.



There were 2 other cards I knew would help in the early game. Really they would help whenever I need an extra mana. Simian Spirit Guide and Elvish Spirit Guide are both 3 mana 2/2s that I can exile to make 1 mana of the corresponding color. These are a great way to push my plan forward a little quicker and a little sneakier. If I wanted these 2 mana sources, and I really did, I knew my deck needed to be at least in Red/Green. The deck had started to solidify it's identity and take shape in a way it hadn't. Being in those 2 colors meant I had some great mana makers. I'm not talking about mana dorks I'm talking about another popular mana source, Treasure tokens. I'm not a huge fan of these artifacts since they tend to fuel sacrifice strategies, artifact strategies, and eliminate the sense of resource management from the game. But in a silly deck like this, they really shine to bring the strategy together.



For Treasures, I wanted to add some great role players like Plundering Barbarian. He provides flexibility with the ability to make that treasure or destroy an artifact. Captain Lanery Storm will make treasures quickly because she attacks so hastily. The ability to turn my extra treasure into damage is even better if Charbelcher is delayed or exiled. Xorn doesn't make treasures but it does double up on the ones I get. More on Treasures to come, but I'm going to be a little broader first.



My most reliable mana sources happen to be artifacts. A bunch of them happen to make colorless mana. I was worried about starting in a deficit so I decided to stock the deck with some cheap mana rocks. Thought Vessel, Mind Stone, and Guardian Idol are all 2 drop rocks that have something else going for them. Keeping my hand full, sacrificing it to draw a card, and turning it into a creature are all relevant at times. Prismatic Lens and Solar Transformer I added to help with fixing. Sometimes making a mana isn't quite good enough so I have Jhoira's Familiar, Foundry Inspector, Cloud Key, and Ruby Medallion to affect multiple cards in a turn.



I'm also using my Artifacts to help with my draws. Reckoner Bankbuster does a lot. It draws me a card and if I do it enough I get a treasure and a Creature token. Tome of Legends requires me to play my commander if I want to draw more than 1 card, but even if I don't it's 3 mana to draw 1 card.



I've avoided a big part of the deck so far. What colors am I in? I hadn't really decided at that point. I had 2 in mind already. Red is good with Artifacts, especially finding specific ones. Green isn't adding much to the Charbelcher plan though. I didn't want to add blue though, I had just done a Temur article with Flubbs from Bloomburrow. Too many colors wasn't a good idea since fixing would be a problem. Meria, Scholar of Antiquity would have been a fine option since it helps with fixing and maybe even ramp along with providing impulse draw. I wanted a 3rd color and I thought White would be best. I get access to a great Charbelcher tutor in Enlightened Tutor. It also gets me great Treasure makers in Battle Angels of Tyr, Beza, The Bounding Spring, and Smothering Tithe. My opponents are all going to have more lands than me, so the first 2 will always net me mana. I don't like Smothering Tithe since it's very annoying to ask people every turn if they're going to pay but desperate times call for desperate measures. A third color also gets me access to a critical resource I need in my landless deck; Lands.



It's not what you think. I'm not going to go back on my Goblin Charbelcher plan but I needed to take some stress off my mana base. There is a way to make this work, Dual faced cards. The kind that are a spell on the front and a land on the back. When I reveal the card with Charbelcher it only checks the front of the card and never sees the land side. The plan is still intact. I chose to go 3 colors with this in mind. There just aren't enough dual faced cards that fit my requirements in 2 colors. This is another area where some of my cost concerns for the deck came in. Something like Valakut Awakening being $10 might not be awful on its own. Compared to a land base of Basics that are basically free, this was going to add up. I went ahead and added Emeria's Call, Bala Ged Recovery, and all the rest anyway. Luckily Modern Horizons 3 recently came out and included some great additions like Witch Enchanter and Stump Stomp that do good work regardless of what side I play. Old School Ixilan cards like Dowsing Dagger and Treasure Map were easy to include since my cost reducers would make them cheaper. The only thing that didn't make it over the top was Thaumatic Compass since I have no lands for it. I really need to play these as lands and not spells but I know there will be times I won't be able to get away with that.



I said these dual faced lands are at a premium so I can't really afford to play the spell side. There is an exception that makes it possible to play the spell side. Ramunap Excavator and Crucible of Worlds allow me to play lands from my graveyard. For the double faced spell lands I can play the land side from my graveyard. If I use Spikefield Hazard early on to clear out a value creature or stack some damage onto a problem creature to exile it, Spikefield Cave is still available to me. This works with my Modal Double Faced Cards, but not Transforming ones. I won't be able to play Lost Vale from my Graveyard since it can only come into existence by transforming Dowsing Dagger.



Since Goblin Charbelcher is so important to what I'm doing, I need to find it ASAP. I already mentioned Enlightened Tutor as a great option. With White, I can also add Oswald, Fiddlebender for his Birthing Pod effect. I can climb up the chain all the way to 3 and get this overly important centerpiece. That's not the only one available to me. Red gives me Magda, Brazen Outlaw. With 5 treasures I can find the artifact I need. Luckily she makes a Treasure when she attacks, like Captain Lanery Storm. Transmutation Font will only cost me 3 Treasure tokens to do the same. Better yet, they don't need to be Treasures. In this deck I prefer Recross the Path. This is a weird one. I reveal cards from the top of my library until I find a land and put the revealed cards on the bottom of my library. Sound familiar? I'm going to reorder my library and put Goblin Charbelcher second from the top. Why second? Because of Clash. Clash has me reveal the top card of my library and force an opponent to do the same. Whoever's is more expensive wins. I'm stacking the most expensive card on top so I can get Recross the Path back to my hand. From there I can just Surveil that same card to my graveyard and be ready to draw Goblin Charbelcher.

  



The last thing to talk about are effects that move stuff from my graveyard back to my library. Hear me out. I want more cards in my library to be able to burn out opponents. I also want to put Golin Charbelcher back if it gets destroyed. I can find it again with any of the tutors I mentioned above. There are some cool niche cards that do this for me. Bow of Nylea is an all star, giving my attacking creatures Deathtouch and opening up a couple additional modes. Reito Lantern and Reito Sentinel let me pay to move a card out of my graveyard this way. Even better, Not Forgotten gives me the option to put that card in my graveyard on top of my library if I want to speed this process up.



I lied, one more thing. Who are my commanders? I wanted to do partners. 2 cards in the command zone means I'm more likely to draw one of my 0 drop artifacts in my opening hand. It's minimal, but I would need every bump I can get. There were a couple of standouts for cheap commander options. Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh is a guaranteed turn 1 play. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of ways to power it up. Sidar Condo of Jamuraa was making waves for me since it encourages my opponents to attack each other as much as me. Keleth, Sunmane Familiar would be castable turn 1 with Jeweled Lotus and power itself and hit partner with every attack. That would have been great with Tana the Bloodsower. I finally settled on Akiri, Line-Slinger and Anara, Wolvid Familiar. I would have had plenty of artifacts in the deck, so Akiri would have been a big threat. That coupled with the Indestructible that Anara brings would make for a very aggressive option if Charbelcher is removed permanently. I could have even played the Wolvid on turn 2 with that previously mentioned Jewled Lotus and one Green land to start the game with. Or even Elvish Spitit Guide.



Where did the deck wind up before the bans? Check it out!

Akiri, Line-Slinger Anara, Wolvid Familiar

Chrome Mox Transmutation Font Conqueror's Galleon

Goblin Charbelcher Academy Manufactor Akoum Warrior

Jeweled Lotus Crucible of Worlds Bala Ged Recovery

Lotus Bloom Ramunap Excavator Emeria's Call

Lotus Petal Xorn Kabira Takedown

Mana Crypt Smothering Tithe Kazandu Mammoth

Mox Opal Grabby Giant Kazuul's Fury

Mox Tantalite Goldvein Hydra Khalni Ambush

Sol Talisman Gala Greeters Makindi Stampede

Mox Amber Discerning Financeer Ondu Inversion

Meria, Scholar of Antiquity Plundering Barbarian Sejiri Shelter

Liquimetal Torque Beza, The Bounding Spring Shatterskull Smashing

Pyramid of the Pantheon Battle Angels of Tyr Skyclave Cleric

Ruby Medallion Breeches, Eager Pillager Song-Mad Treachery

Cloud Key Captain Lannery Storm Spikefield Hazard

Jhoira's Familiar Charming Scoundrel Tangled Florahedron

Foundry Inspector Master of Ceremonies Turntimber Symbiosis

Reckoner Bankbuster Prosperous Partnership Valakut Awakening

Guardian Idol Bow of Nylea Vastwood Fortification

Mind Stone Not Forgotten Legion Leadership

Obsidian Obelisk Reito Lantern Razorgrass Ambush

Prismatic Lens Reito Sentinel Sundering Eruption

Solar Transformer Gerrard's Hourglass Pendant Witch Enchanter

Thought Vessel Candy Trail Pinnacle Monk

Crack Open Wild Growth Bridgeworks Battle

You Find a Cursed Idol Tome of Legends Strength of the Harvest

Reqisition Raid Elvish Spirit Guide Disciple of Freyalise

Wear//Tear Simian Spirit Guide Stump Stomp

Vanquish the Hoard Urban Burgeoning Dowsing Dagger

Blasphemous Act Fertile Ground Treasure Map

Rograhk, Son of Rohgahh Prismite Recross the Path

Phyrexian Walker Enlightened Tutor Magda, Brazen Outlaw

Ornithopter Oswald Fiddlebender



I know I walked away from the deck in part because of the cost of the deck as much as the bans themselves. In truth, I think there's a way to make this deck work with the tools available today. I might even be worth adding in Sol Ring, but probably not. With an additional color, probably Blue, or just waiting for more double faced lands to be printed, a version of this deck would be very doable.


Normally I would spend some time iterating. I would adjust the number of cards that put cards on the bottom of my library or some other sub mechanic. Even after the banning, I think there's potential for the deck. 27 lands and a couple of other cards that can become lands is not far off from the land count of most of my decks. Modal dual faced cards are too popular for Wizards not to make more of them in the future. In that case, I even think there's an avenue for cutting the hundreds of dollars of 0 drop mana rocks. It might be worth exploring. Sooner than later.


What do you think? Have I crossed a line with my MEDHWA series? Do you think I could pull this off?


As always, please use my referral links. With your support, I might even be able to build this crazy idea of a deck.

Your choice!





 

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