Since the ban announcement back in August, the Modern metagame has been heavily centered around a handful of strategies. At the top of that list is Boros Energy. After that, a mix of Dimir Murktide, Jeskai control, Eldrazi, and Storm make up the top tier.
Most tournaments recently have been dominated by these archetypes. However, in the last week, a very unusual strategy emerged victorious in a Magic Online Modern Challenge, while making top four of another Challenge. This deck is none other than mono-blue Tameshi, Reality Architect combo. By combining the power of Tameshi and Lotus Bloom, you’re able to generate a ton of mana and win the game with Goblin Charbelcher! This shell is wild, but the combo is quite effective.
Tameshi and Goblin Charbelcher Unite
- Mana Value: 4
- Rarity: Rare
- MTG Sets: Mirrodin, Eternal Masters, The Brother’s War Retro Artifacts, Mystery Booster 2
- Card Text: 3, Tap: Reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a land card. Goblin Charbelcher deals damage equal to the number of nonland cards revealed this way to any target. If the revealed land card was a Mountain, Goblin Charbelcher deals double that damage instead. Put the revealed cards on the bottom of your library in any order.
At its core, this deck functions like a mono-blue Charbelcher deck in a lot of games. What makes Goblin Charbelcher a reliable win condition is that this deck doesn’t actually play any land cards in it. Instead, you’ll find a multitude of blue modal double-faced cards (MDFCs), many of which were released in Modern Horizons 3. You’re free to play these as lands, but they don’t mess with your Charbelcher gameplan.
Ideally, you want to be able to play Charbelcher and activate it right away. This allows you to play around artifact removal. In order to do this, though, you do need access to a decent chunk of mana. Luckily, Lotus Bloom is the perfect burst of mana this deck is looking for. Suspending it on turn one sets up a turn four kill with Goblin Charbelcher, assuming you’re able to hit your first four “land” drops.
If you don’t have Lotus Bloom in hand to start the game, there’s no need to fret. You can always use Whir of Invention to go tutor up Lotus Bloom on turn three on your opponent’s end step. This will set up a turn four kill nicely all the same. Using Whir of Invention to search for Goblin Charbelcher is also an option, but this line takes a lot of mana.
This is where Tameshi, Reality Architect comes into play. Tameshi is an interesting card that has amazing synergy with Lotus Bloom. With both cards in play, you can start by cracking Lotus Bloom to float three white mana. You then use one white mana to return one of your lands to your hand and bring Lotus Bloom back from your graveyard to the battlefield. From there, you can keep bouncing your lands, repeatedly cracking and recurring Lotus Bloom to generate a bunch of blue mana.
With enough mana at your disposal, you’re able to Whir for Goblin Charbelcher and activate in one go. Plus, you have the added bonus of using Tameshi to return your MDFCs to your hand, then cast them when applicable. For instance, putting Waterlogged Teachings in your hand and using your excess mana to cast it and grab Whir of Invention or a Counterspell is a nice option to have. This deck has a lot of interesting play to it, which is cool to see.
Read More: Intriguing Infinite Damage Combo Picks Up Steam in Naya Energy Shell
Protecting Your Combo
- Mana Value: 1UU
- Rarity: Rare
- MTG Sets: Modern Horizons, Double Masters
- Card Text: If it’s not your turn, you may exile a blue card from your hand rather than pay this spell’s mana cost. Counter target noncreature spell. If that spell is countered this way, exile it instead of putting it into its owner’s graveyard.
As you might expect from a mono-blue combo deck, there is a high density of counter magic available. Not only do these spells let you push your combo through opposing pieces of interaction, but they help keep other combo decks in check.
In the two-mana slot, we have good old Counterspell. Counterspell hits anything you find threatening for only two mana, making it a great disruptive tool.
One cool aspect of mono-blue Belcher is that, because of all the blue MDFCs, Force of Negation becomes an incredible card. Part of the downside to Force of Negation in other archetypes is that pitching a spell to it when your hand is heavy on lands is far from ideal. In this deck, that’s not much of a concern, since you can always hold one of your weaker MDFCs to pair with Force.
Finally, on combo turns, Pact of Negation works wonders. The five-mana tax doesn’t matter if you win the same turn you cast Pact, so this deck takes full advantage of the free Counterspell.
Read More: Players Discover Terrifying MTG Duskmourn Combo
A Sudden Surge
- Mana Value: W
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 1/2
- MTG Sets: Modern Horizons 3
- Card Text: Whenever another creature enters the battlefield under your control, you gain 1 life and get an energy counter. Whenever you attack, you may pay three enrgy. When you do, put two +1/+1 counters and a flying counter on target attacking creature. It becomes and Angel in addition to its other types.
With two elite finishes this past week, it’s time to put some respect on mono-blue Tameshi Belcher’s name. It may be an off-the-wall strategy, but it’s actually pretty well-positioned in the Modern metagame.
As a quick combo deck, it isn’t always easy for Boros Energy to race you. Obviously, you don’t have much in the way of removal, so an early Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer or Ocelot Pride can be troubling at times. Still, if you can set up a turn four win with one or two Counterspells along the way, you should be in good shape. Meanwhile, your array of interaction for spells sets you up well against decks like Living End.
The types of strategies that can be a bit tough are those that can assemble early pressure and back it up with Counterspells or hand disruption. Dimir Murktide, for example, has the luxury of slamming Psychic Frog and riding it to victory with interaction to back it up. This can be especially problematic on the draw, where Psychic Frog can get under your Counterspells.
At the very least, a full playset of Spell Snare out of the sideboard helps a lot in these situations. This deck really has game against the majority of the best strategies in the format. Mono-blue is picking up steam, so make sure you’re prepared!
Read More: Classic MTG Typal Deck Sees Surprise Success In Major Format
