Strategy and Gameplay
General Plan
The primary goal of the deck is to resolve and activate Goblin Charbelcher to win the game. The deck supports this strategy with:
Ramp: Lotus Bloom is the key card for generating mana quickly, enabling early and consistent combo attempts.
Protection: A suite of counterspells like Disrupting Shoal, Flare of Denial, and Pact of Negation ensures your combo resolves.
Resilience: Tameshi, Reality Architect enables recursion of key combo pieces or Lotus Bloom, keeping you consistent.
Disruption: Suppression Ray, Sink into Stupor, and various counterspells provide disruption to slow your opponents down and create opportunities for the combo to resolve.
Board Control: Harbinger of the Seas is a valuable utility creature that can help turn nonbasic lands into Islands, disrupting mana bases and slowing down opponents reliant on nonbasic lands for their strategy.
Early Game
Mulligan aggressively for a hand with either Lotus Bloom, Fallaji Archaeologist, or Whir of Invention.
Use Fallaji Archaeologist to dig for combo pieces and build your graveyard for synergies.
Deploy interaction like Suppression Ray or counterspells to disrupt your opponent’s game plan.
If facing aggressive or nonbasic land-dependent strategies, consider Harbinger of the Seas to turn opponent’s nonbasic lands into Islands and disrupt their mana base.
Mid Game
Transition into setting up your combo. Use Whir of Invention to tutor for Goblin Charbelcher or other needed artifacts.
Leverage Tameshi, Reality Architect to generate value and protect key pieces.
Counter opponents’ critical plays using Disrupting Shoal or Flare of Denial.
Late Game
Resolve and activate Goblin Charbelcher to win. If games drag on, Sea Gate Restoration and Tameshi, Reality Architect can provide card advantage to maintain pressure.
In grindy matchups, Tezzeret the Seeker or Thassa's Oracle can serve as alternate win conditions, while Selective Memory can help dig for your combo.
Conclusion
Harbinger of the Seas can be a powerful tool for disrupting opponents who rely on nonbasic lands for their strategy. In addition to its tempo advantage, it serves as a versatile and powerful card for controlling the board early and helping set up your game plan.
The "Blue Belcher" deck remains a unique and versatile take on the Modern Goblin Charbelcher archetype, combining ramp, protection, recursion, and disruption to support a variety of strategies. Mastering this deck requires effective resource management, strategic use of interaction, and precise timing. Good luck, and may the Belcher always hit its mark!