Belcher Ablaze! - Zhi Ming (Game Haven 10th October 2010 Legacy Tournament)
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Stomping Ground
4 Land Grant
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Lotus Petal
4 Chrome Mox
4 Lion’s Eye Diamond
4 Tinder Wall
4 Dark Ritual
4 Rite of Flame
4 Manamorphose
4 Seething Song
Threats (8)
4 Goblin Charbelcher
3 Empty the Warrens
1 Chandra Ablaze
Others (6)
4 Street Wraith
2 Burning Wish
Sideboard (15)
4 Xantid Swarm
4 Ingot Chewer
1 Duress
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Infernal Tutor
1 Hull Breach
1 Meltdown
1 Ancient Grudge
Although this decklist did not made top-8 at the tournament it got played in, it did post a record: Zhi Ming got to finish off an opponent with a hard-cast Street Wraith after his opponent spent his resources dealing with his Chandra. Attacking for the win using Belcher – priceless!
Why Chandra Ablaze?
When I asked the creator this question, he replied that it actually is a good card in legacy belcher. Chandra has 3 abilities, all of which are relevant in the deck. Let's take a look at it closer.
Looking at the decklist above, there's 21 other red cards for Chandra to blaze others with. In other words, when you've generated 6 mana on the first/second turn to cast and resolve Chandra, she can use her burn ability about 1/3 of the time. Against aggro, this will most definitely not matter as you'll combo out with Goblin Charbelcher/Empty the Warrens faster than they can kill you. What makes the planeswalker shine is the control matchup where your opponent might not get enough turns to kill you before you shoot the dome and refill your hand for mini Empty the Warrens with her second ability.
Do you think you can lose if your opponent randomly mulligans to 3 on the draw? That's what happens when you land Chandra Ablaze 1st turn on the play. By activating the second ability after you've spent around 5 other cards getting to 6 mana, you've effectively gotten a +6 card advantage – 2 cards from your draw and 4 cards from your opponent's “mulligan to 3”. Who said that you'd mulligan if you do not have a Goblin Charbelcher/Empty the Warrens/Burning Wish in hand?
About the only time this ability is relevant is when you've top-decked a win con: Belcher/Warrens/Burning Wish and you have mana cards in your graveyard. This ability then helps you skip turns by converting your waste into fuel for the win straight away.
Actual Gameplay
In the matches that Zhi Ming played during the tournament, Chandra Ablaze saw play only once, against Burn. After shooting the dome twice, Burn expanded all his resources to deal with the planeswalker, giving Belcher enough time to cast and attack with Street Wraith for the win. Small sample size, but encouraging.
Summary
Consider Chandra Ablaze in your Belcher list in a metagame with heavy control.Use her 1st ability to shoot the dome or smaller creatures.
Use her 2nd ability to give your opponent a random mulligan to 3 and to refuel your hand.
Use her ultimate when you've top-decked another win con for the instant kill.
So what's your verdict? What's your thoughts on this idea? Do you think Belcher is better off without her? Or do you think Street Wraiths and the 2nd colour can go in exchange for 4 more on colour bombs? Let me know by commenting below. Tweet this!
Chandra Ablaze rocks in Legacy. I think it can fit into another shell which shares many cards with Belcher. That shell is All-In Red. My All-In-Red using Chandra and Empty the Warrens as win-con has a record of 3-1 in a Legacy tourney, not tops but not too bad.
ReplyDeleteCongrats for the wins! All-In-Red is hard to pilot to that record. I've posted a comment at http://mtgtrinket.blogspot.com/2010/10/brainstorming-post-scars-of-mirrodin.html#comments about the mana and bombs strategy and I think it might be relevant to All-In-Red. Lmk what you think.
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