Welcome to the dungeon, mortals. Today, we'll be taking a trip back in time to explore some of the older sections of the caverns. There are powers here that can kill you instantly—with little to no warning. Tread carefully and you might survive this trip and perhaps even obtain some of these powers for yourself.

Goblin Charbelcher has served as the win condition for one of the fastest decks in Legacy for some time, taking advantage of the fact that it can deal a massive amount of damage in a deck with very few lands.

Since the deck won't be playing many lands, Firewild Borderpost and Veinfire Borderpost serve as substitutes. As long as you have just one land, you can play as many of these as you want. Lotus Petal can only be used once, but it provides the critical boost you need to get to 2 mana if you don't have a Borderpost.

Coldsteel Heart, Talisman of Indulgence, and Talisman of Impulse are the main mana sources of the deck, and in multiples, they will quickly accelerate you to 7 mana. The off-color mana can also be used to cast a Borderpost without returning a land if it becomes necessary.

Worn Powerstone is the most powerful accelerant in the deck, giving you 2 extra mana with only one card. With one of these, it becomes extremely easy to cast and activate Goblin Charbelcher on turn five.

Wildfire and Destructive Force will devastate your opponent's mana base while leaving yours almost entirely intact. They also kill most—if, not all—of your opponent's creatures. After casting one of these, you should have plenty of time to win with Goblin Charbelcher before your opponent is able to rebuild.

Flame Slash and Galvanic Blast easily dispatch any troublesome creatures you might come into contact with while leaving most of your mana available to cast your artifacts. They also combine with Wildfire and Destructive Force to kill any creatures large enough to survive.

Hoarding Dragon will search up a Goblin Charbelcher, hold off attackers, and then die to one of your sweepers or removal spells to put the Charbelcher into your hand. This guy is the key to making sure you have a Charbelcher every game.

After adding in a sparse eight Mountains, the deck looks something like this:

"Firebelcher”

• Creatures (4)
• 4 Hoarding Dragon

• Spells (48)
• 4 Galvanic Blast
• 4 Destructive Force
• 4 Flame Slash
• 4 Wildfire
• 4 Goblin Charbelcher
• 4 Lotus Petal
• 4 Talisman of Impulse
• 4 Talisman of Indulgence
• 4 Firewild Borderpost
• 4 Veinfire Borderpost
• 4 Worn Powerstone
• 4 Coldsteel Heart

• Lands (8)
• 8 Mountain

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Fluctuator was banned in Standard, and it saw some play in Extended back in the day. It's an extremely powerful card, letting you simply draw through your entire deck—provided it's filled with cards that have cycling. Fortunately, there are quite a few of those to work with. And what to do when you can draw through your deck at will? Mirrodin Besieged has the answer.

Psychosis Crawler makes your opponents lose 1 life each time you draw a card, so with this and Fluctuator on the field, you can cycle twenty cards to kill everyone at the table.

Drifting Meadow, Remote Isle, Polluted Mire, Smoldering Crater, Slippery Karst, and Blasted Landscape make up the mana base of the deck, making sure you never run out of cycling cards. Note that Blasted Landscape is the only one that comes into play untapped, so you'll want to save one for when you really need it.

Cloud of Faeries can serve as a chump-blocker if you need one—without sacrificing the ability to cycle cards if you haven't found Fluctuator yet. Disciple of Malice, Bloated Toad, Disciple of Grace, and Disciple of Law provide more cycling and offer you a creature with protection from any color—except green—if you need one.

If you don't have twenty cards left in your deck after finding a Psychosis Crawler, you can cycle through the remainder of the deck, then cast Repopulate to load up with sixteen more points of damage.

An assortment of possibly useful spells with cycling fills out the deck. Lull can keep you alive, while Clear and Scrap can deal with any troublesome enchantments and artifacts you might come across. Expunge can get rid of creatures, while Miscalculation can stop spells—especially spells that might disrupt your combo.

Here's the deck all put together:

"Psychosis Fluctuator"

• Creatures (18)
• 3 Bloated Toad
• 3 Disciple of Grace
• 3 Disciple of Law
• 3 Disciple of Malice
• 4 Cloud of Faeries
• 2 Psychosis Crawler

• Spells (18)
• 2 Clear
• 2 Expunge
• 2 Lull
• 2 Miscalculation
• 2 Scrap
• 4 Repopulate
• 4 Fluctuator

• Lands (24)
• 4 Blasted Landscape
• 4 Drifting Meadow
• 4 Polluted Mire
• 4 Remote Isle
• 4 Slippery Karst
• 4 Smoldering Crater

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Now that both decks have been assembled, we'll battle it out in the arena and see who comes out on top.

Game 1

Fluctuator won the roll, and Firebelcher mulliganed twice. Fluctuator played a land and passed, and Firebelcher had a Veinfire Borderpost. A Blasted Landscape from Fluctuator enabled the first of the cycling, and Firebelcher accelerated with Coldsteel Heart and a land. More cycling from Fluctuator, and Firebelcher had a rare second land. The next turn passed with little event, and Fluctuator continued to play lands and cycle cards.

Firebelcher had a Worn Powerstone, and Fluctuator cycled twice to find a Psychosis Crawler. Unfortunately, Firebelcher had a Wildfire to take Fluctuator down to just one land. Fluctuator started rebuilding its mana base, while Firebelcher cast Goblin Charbelcher.

Fluctuator had a Blasted Landscape, enabling it to Scrap the Charbelcher before it could be activated. Firebelcher played another mana artifact, and Fluctuator resumed its cycling. Another mana artifact came down for Firebelcher, but Fluctuator drew and cast its namesake card. Firebelcher played a Mountain and cast Destructive Force, wiping out Fluctuator's mana base once again.

Fluctuator started cycling cards to find and play land, and Firebelcher had little action beyond more mana artifacts. Fluctuator got back up to 4 mana, but Firebelcher had another Destructive Force. Fluctuator started playing lands again, and Firebelcher played more mana artifacts. After another land from Fluctuator, Firebelcher cast Hoarding Dragon, searching up a Goblin Charbelcher. Fluctuator found and played a Smoldering Crater to ready the Scrap for next turn, and Firebelcher attacked with the Dragon for 4 before casting Destructive Force to kill the Dragon and prevent any shenanigans from Fluctuator.

Fluctuator floated 2 mana, and when Firebelcher attempted to cast the Goblin Charbelcher, Fluctuator countered it with Miscalculation. Fluctuator started playing land again, but Firebelcher played another Hoarding Dragon, killed it with Flame Slash, and cast the Goblin Charbelcher that it searched up. Fluctuator played another land, but Firebelcher activated Goblin Charbelcher, revealing eight cards to deal exactly enough damage to win the game.

Game 2

Firebelcher took a mulligan, and Fluctuator started playing lands. Firebelcher had a Borderpost, and a Blasted Landscape from Fluctuator made the second mana to kick off the cycling. Firebelcher cast another mana artifact, and Fluctuator played lands and cycled. A Worn Powerstone from Firebelcher ramped up the mana a ton, and Fluctuator continued its cycling. A Lotus Petal from Firebelcher enabled an early Wildfire, wiping out Fluctuator's mana base. The next two turns passed with nothing more than mana and cycling from either side—until Firebelcher drew and cast a Hoarding Dragon.

Fluctuator cycled into a Scrap, and Firebelcher swung for 4 with the Dragon. Fluctuator continued cycling, and Firebelcher swung in with the Dragon again. Fluctuator cycled into its namesake card and cast it, but Firebelcher hit for another 4 with the Dragon and cast Destructive Force, killing all but one of Fluctuator's lands. Wary of the counterspell, Firebelcher held off on casting Goblin Charbelcher, and Fluctuator set up the Scrap for next turn.

Firebelcher cast and activated the Charbelcher, but it only flipped 3 cards, putting Fluctuator at 2. Unfortunately for the cycling deck, Firebelcher had the Galvanic Blast to finish the job.

Game 3

Fluctuator started off with land as usual, and Firebelcher used a Lotus Petal and a land for a turn-one Coldsteel Heart. Fluctuator had more land, and Firebelcher had a Borderpost and another Coldsteel Heart. Fluctuator played out its namesake card on turn three, and Firebelcher cast a Hoarding Dragon.

Fluctuator played more land, and Firebelcher cast Wildfire after swinging for 4 with the Dragon. Fluctuator had the Miscalculation to counter it. Fluctuator then attempted to cycle into a Blasted Landscape but hit a run of bad luck, hitting all three Fluctuators, leaving only one cycling card left and negating the possibility of a win that turn.

Hoarding Dragon swung in again, but Fluctuator drew another cycling card, found a Blasted Landscape, played it, and cast Psychosis Crawler. Firebelcher cast Galvanic Blast on the 4/4 Psychosis Crawler, and Fluctuator started cycling in response.

However, in a remarkably unfortunate event, it hit the second Psychosis Crawler—the last card in the deck without cycling—after only seven cards. The Psychosis Crawler died to Galvanic Blast, and Fluctuator was forced to pass the turn. The Dragon hit for another 4 damage, but Firebelcher didn't have the second Wildfire, and Fluctuator played the second Psychosis Crawler and cycled thirteen more times for the win.

Before we leave the dungeon for today, you have a choice to make. Next time we'll be visiting with some of the denizens of the horrific plane of Innistrad, and you are going to choose which ones. Make your decision carefully, for it may be your last.

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