Welcome to the fourth installment of the Serious Vintage Podcast, hosted by Nat Moes (@GrandpaBelcher on Twitter), Geoff Moes (@ThallidTosser on Twitter), and Josh Chapple (@joshchapple on Twitter). Thanks for joining us for our inevitable Belcher show. Team Serious members have played more Belcher than most other players, in both Vintage and Legacy, so we thought we’d give you a little insight into the deck in both formats, when and why it’s a good metagame choice, and some of the tactics that go into playing it. Then we’ll look at some of the food you might be

Nat’s rules for Belching, which Josh references early in the podcast, are as follows. They’re part of a more extensive primer and history of the deck that Nat wrote in 2009, which is available on The Mana Drain here.

1. Mulligan like you mean it

We’ll also reference a few Belcher lists during the podcast.

You can read Geoff’s SCG Columbus Legacy Open Top 8 tournament report here on Eternal Central. Any extra detail on that list would be covered there, including the meaning behind the 15-Island sideboard.

To contrast with Geoff’s cantrip-based list, here is the more traditional Burning Wish list played by Brian Guess at SCG New Orleans Legacy Open.

One thing we had meant to bring up during the podcast was a comment on Brian’s sideboard, and many of the sideboards from Burning Wish lists: the lack of Trash for Treasure. As a one-shot Welder activation, Trash for Treasure off of Burning Wish can be a huge boon if your early Belcher gets countered. It works well with Lion’s Eye Diamond and you have a decent number of artifacts to sacrifice. When I’ve played Burning Wish in Legacy lists in the past, Trash for Treasure is always a one-of in my board.

Lastly, the Vintage Burning Wish list played by Randal Witherell at the Team Serious Open in Columbus on October 21.

Ultimately, Randal doesn’t use Burning Wish to get more than Tendrils, Empty the Warrens, or Yawgmoth’s Will, but the deck was a good choice to beat a field of Workshops and non-blue aggro control. Normally, we wouldn’t recommend Belcher in a sea of blue where you’ll drown in Force of Will, Mental Misstep, Flusterstorm, and Mindbreak Trap, but it sure looked good in Columbus.

As for our food and drink report for the upcoming Modern GP in Chicago, here are the relevant links:

Thanks for listening, and good luck in Chicago if you’re going!