[Deck] Goblins

[Olaf Forkbeard]

As promised here it is.

Posted it on Reddit.

[GoboLord]

Hey Olaf,
Congrats in your finish and thanks for the report.
I have a couple of questions:
(1) What's the reasoning behind your boarding in Round 1? I would leave as many MWMs in as possible to stop their early hastey beaters. My first thought was to side out TSH. I'm with you on Tarfire and Stinger though.

(2) I tend to agree with boarding Thalia against Infect, but want to hear your thoughts on boarding it over Blood Moon.

Not really a question but entertaining choice of words

I've played against Isaac before and he was on Storm. The problem is that I didn't remember this until we were about a quarter of the way through game 1.
Game 1
Died on his turn 3.

(3) a comment on this:

I draw a Tin Street Hooligan and cast it off of a Cavern, attempting to destroy the Petal. He cracks it and casts Entomb putting Griselbrand in his yard.*

If your opponents reacts to you casting the spell (nnot waiting for the Comes Into Play trigger to be announced) in this situation he would have made you destroy your own Aether Vial, as TSH ability is mandatory.


Lastly I agree with what you wrote on Chalice and Grafdiggers Cage in your conclusion. I forgot to mention exactly this in my last tournament report - Im exchanging 4 Chalice for 3 Cage + 1 Kknesis.

Overall: Very good and detailed report. Thanks again.

[Olaf Forkbeard]

Hey Olaf,
Congrats in your finish and thanks for the report.
I have a couple of questions:
(1) What's the reasoning behind your boarding in Round 1? I would leave as many MWMs in as possible to stop their early hastey beaters. My first thought was to side out TSH. I'm with you on Tarfire and Stinger though.

(2) I tend to agree with boarding Thalia against Infect, but want to hear your thoughts on boarding it over Blood Moon.

Not really a question but entertaining choice of words


(3) a comment on this:

If your opponents reacts to you casting the spell (nnot waiting for the Comes Into Play trigger to be announced) in this situation he would have made you destroy your own Aether Vial, as TSH ability is mandatory.


Lastly I agree with what you wrote on Chalice and Grafdiggers Cage in your conclusion. I forgot to mention exactly this in my last tournament report - Im exchanging 4 Chalice for 3 Cage + 1 Kknesis.

Overall: Very good and detailed report. Thanks again.

1) They are a really burn heavy list, and just like in my delver match-ups, playing Thalia into a kill spell is not worth risking getting Wastelanded off of my red sources. Especially with my 4 Tarfire list. As for leaving Tin Street in, I always do against Delver strategies unless I'm certain there is no Pithing Needle's in their board.

2) I didn't board in Blood Moon because I didn't want to overboard. At some point I've got to clock him back, and reasonably quickly too. I don't think there is too much harm if you wanted too, but I just don't think I wanted to board out any more of my retort.

3) Huh. Woops. We both missed it. The funny thing is I'm aware of this, and didn't notice. I just wanted to Stone Rain him so bad. He luckily cracked in response to target, not cast. Probably due to my wording: I was sure it was resolving because of Cavern, so I said "Tin Street targeting Lotus Petal." And he said "Sure, crack it in response."

[GoboLord]

How to beat Storm.
Just read a very good article. Will appendices it to the deckprimer when I'm home and have some more Control over the formatting.

[B-rad]

Hey Olaf, I was the one also playing goblins at the classic on Sunday but to not as great of a result.

0-2 UB Omnitell
0-2 Shardless Bug
2-1 Shardless Bug
0-2 Reanimator
2-0 Miracles
2-1 UBRg Delver
2-0 Burn
2-1 Infect

As you can see I did not get the ideal matchups
early on and was feeling pretty bummed when I was 0-2 and 1-3. I decided to stick it out because I love playing the deck and love legacy in general. To finish 5-3 by winning 4 in a row really made me feel better about myself and the future playing this deck.

4 Aether Vial
3 Tarfire

4 Goblin Lackey
4 Goblin Warchief
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin Ringleader
3 Goblin Piledriver
3 Gempalm Incinerator
2 Mogg War Marshal
1 Tin Street Hooligan
1 Stingscourger
1 Skirk Prospector
1 Krenko, Mob Boss
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
1 Siege Gang Commander

4 Rishadan Port
4 Wasteland
4 Cavern of Souls
3 Bloodstained Mire
3 Wooded Foothills
1 Plateau
1 Taiga
3 Mountain

SB
3 Pyrokinesis
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Ashen Rider
2 Mindbreak Trap
2 Warping Wail

The main felt solid as usual with my only thought being to add 1 more MWM somewhere but I am unsure of what to cut.

Warping Wail was unimpressive as usual for me and probably won't be playing any in my 75 in the immediate future. I didn't play against any storm but I will probably leave 2 MBTs in the board for now. Might replace the Wails with 2 REBs as they would have been good in a variety of matchups I played.

Now to get ready for GP Columbus. Hope to meet some of you there!

[sampi]

2 - 0 to burn? I seriously can't win that MU. How did you do it?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[B-rad]

2 - 0 to burn? I seriously can't win that MU. How did you do it? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ya I had some pretty good draws both games and won the die roll. Had a Tarfire in both my opening hands for his first creature. My advice on how to give yourself the best chance to win is to drop your curve as low as possible postboard and play around Price of Progress to the best of your ability.

I went something like this:

+3 Pyrokinesis +3 Thalia -3 Ringleader -1 Krenko -1 Sharpshooter -1 Hooligan

Left SGC in to drop off Lackey or if by some miracle the game goes late to matron up. I agree matchup is very difficult but prioritize not letting their creatures do any damage if you can

[Olaf Forkbeard]

Glad you stuck to it.

How did you end up boarding against Shardless?


Edit:
Also on burn. Feel free to chump their 2/2's, even if you are not trading. Just buy time.

[Morkus]

Congratulations Gobolord !
I hope that your 2 byes will help you to reach the day 2 at Prague.
I'm happy to see you joining the classic goblins player group. It's near my feeling.
How can I follow your adventure?

For your PUZZLE (always interresting).
You need to use your wasteland in response at his wasteland. but we knew he could use hexmage in response.
So, in response to his wasteland I think you can use your ports to tap Thespian Stage (wait decision) port the darkdepth (wait decision)
Pray for a mistake with his hexmage or crop rotation where you replied with wasteland or finaly use your wasteland on darkdepth.
(Not impressive... I'm waiting your debrief)

[jrw1985]

2 - 0 to burn? I seriously can't win that MU. How did you do it?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

MWM + chumps for days
Chalice @ 1
Play around PoP if possible.
Keep running out Lackeys, Piledrivers, Krenko... whatever you have that they need to kill so bolts hit your creatures rather than your dome.

[B-rad]

Glad you stuck to it. How did you end up boarding against Shardless? Edit: Also on burn. Feel free to chump their 2/2's, even if you are not trading. Just buy time.

Against Shardless I go something like

On the Play: +3 Pyro +3 Relic -2 Vial -2 Lackey
-1 stingscourger -1 piledriver

Draw: +3 Pyro +3 Relic -4 Vial -1 stingscourger -1 piledriver

Just swap 2 lackeys for vials depending whether I am playing or drawing. Obviously vials are bad vs decay and such but I try to make their hymns as bad as possible because that's the scariest card imo

[Chatto]

As promised here it is.

Posted it on Reddit.

Hi Olaf, just read your report, and just one question: in r5 g1 you kill two creatures with Knesis, but your list only show Knesis in your SB. I assume you mean Tarfire or Incinerator?

[Olaf Forkbeard]

Hi Olaf, just read your report, and just one question: in r5 g1 you kill two creatures with Knesis, but your list only show Knesis in your SB. I assume you mean Tarfire or Incinerator?

Didn't even notice, long day. I updated it to show it was double Tarfire, as that's the only thing that I could have cast there. I just felt so ahead it felt like game 2 I got the memories mixed up.

[Svyelunite]

[Video/Podcast] Legacy's Allure - Ep. 12, Goblins with Jim Davis

After putting up some results in the SCG Classics recently, we feel its appropriate to bring one of Legacy's original powerhouses in the spotlight. Goblins are back! Who better to talk about it than one of the early proponents of the strategy, Jim Davis!

Webcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYbnisCh7pI
Podcast: http://shoutengine.com/LegacysAllure...im-davis-19801

Podcast is also now available on iTunes!

[Olaf Forkbeard]

[Video/Podcast] Legacy's Allure - Ep. 12, Goblins with Jim Davis

That was awesome, thanks!

[Svyelunite]

That was awesome, thanks!

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!

[MasterBlaster]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!

I also enjoyed it. Whats in store for the next episode?

[clashed]

I'm having trouble with beating TNN now. It seems all the fair blue decks online. That and the bunch of tarmogoyfs/gurmag/ fat creatures I feel, are the strongest cards in their deck (combined with removal makes for a hard match up). I've been liking goblin settler which helps with the lands match up, as a 1-of in the sideboard, along with having the ability to just combo win you the game with kiki-jiki. It's also pretty good against 12-post which may be problematic if they get a fast start with candelabra and primeval titan. I've been continually using frogtosser banneret and I think that it's super strong still, as per the last time I posted a couple of months ago. The combo matchup still feels miserable even with 4 chalice and 2 thalia in the sideboard because it's hard to take back a game even if we win game 2. I'm not sure goblins have the tools to deal with reanimator, storm, infect, burn, etc. on the draw game 3, which is always going to result in us losing without getting to really play.

Earwig squad has been over performing for me, and provides a big clock, and he has been able to steal game 1's from me for storm, maybe upping the count is correct here, I'm not sure. I've also been trying out one pyrokinesis in the main, which helps the creature matchups but still doesn't answer the combo matchups. I'm also not a fan of warping wail after extended testing, so I agree with the player above.

Overall, I feel the deck has an awful combo matchup, and only wins against fair matchups when either lackey connects, of a vial resolves and they don't have decay. Otherwise every fair creature matchup seems to tilt in favor of the other decks with plow snap plow combo, their more powerful and cheaper creatures (flipped delver + tarmogof/ gurmag backed with removal), or non-interactive TNN.

Our control matchups are as good as ever and I don't think they will ever be bad due to cavern of souls and lackey.

The problem is when we are losing to 2/3 of the field simply due to either not being fast enough, or not having a vial/ lackey cheating, it just feels demoralizing. Frogtosser banneret + goblin warchief do a good job in lowering our curve, but I'm still having trouble finding the speed to beat the opponent's removal/ combos. Any new insight would be helpful. I'm going to try an engineered plague in the sideboard for the TNN which has incindental splash damage against elves and DnT, but I'm not sure about my other concerns. Feel free to give me input, I need some fresh ideas.''

I guess I should also clarify that deathrite shaman needs to be answered because not only does he double as a blocker, but also gets them mana while we are trying to deny them. Tarfires seem like an ok answer, but sometimes they just get dazed or pierced, which gives cards like that utility when they would normally be dead against us, and gempalm is usually too slow.

[sampi]

I'm seriously considering running a couple of copies of sudden shock in the board to deal with annoying creatures and so I can't get dazed

[jrw1985]

I went 4-2 and had a great time at the Legacy Madness side event yesterday at GP Minneapolis. Entry was $50 and there was a very strong payout to the Prize Wall, so I walked with a From the Vault 20 box to complete my set of Jace, the Mind Sculptors. I haven't played Magic at all since January because I'm not spending money on anything right now except necessities and student loans, so I was definitely worried about being rusty and not having my head wrapped around the metagame. But big Legacy tournaments just don't happen that often in Minneapolis town so I decided to get back in the game for this one.

The list....

4 Vial
4 Lackey
4 Matron
4 Ringleader

3 Pilediver
3 Mogg War Marshal

2 Warchief
2 Chiefain

1 Skirk Prospector
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
1 Krenko Mob Boss

1 Tuktuk Scrapper
1 Earwig Squad

2 Gempalm
1 Stingscourger
1 Warren Weirding
2 Pyrokinesis

4 Cavern
4 Waste
4 Port
5 Fetch
3 Mountain
3 Badlands

Sideboard:
3 Blood Moon
1 Pyrokinesis
3 Relic of Progentius
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Leyline of the void

Card Choices:
Like I said earlier, I haven't been playing magic since I put myself on an austerity plan this winter, so I was going to be a bit rusty. I didn't have a good idea of what the metagame would look like. I had no clue how much Eldrazi had penetrated my local meta or what other decks might be popular. I spent a little time net-decking to see what goblin builds have been having success. Most decks were playing 22-23 lands and 7-10 pieces of removal. I was initially planning on playing 24 lands to help consistency but realized that it squeezed the maindeck too much, so I went with 23 lands which felt really good. I didn't have any mana troubles all tournament.

Since I didn't know what the meta would look like I decided not to worry about trying to squeeze in answers to every problem in the format. Instead I thought about what the four decks I'd like to beat would be. Miracles seemed obvious, as did Eldrazi. Shardless BUG has also been very popular and Death and Taxes is a local standard. With those decks in mind I selected my maindeck.

3 Piledriver - I ran 3 instead of 4 to make a little more room for other fun stuff in the MD. I think it's still a necessary card to bring the beats and an important part of our gameplan, but Legacy is no longer a Merfolk format.

3 Mogg War Marshal - This seemed like an obvious choice. It's great against Eldrazi and Goyf and really helps against DnT. You need something to buy you time while you turn the corner against those decks. MWM does that beautifully.

2 Warchief/2 Chieftain - I saw a few Goblin decks that only run 3 haste lords and I don't agree with that approach. I wouldn't run less than 4. Splitting between the two was meant to add more flexibility. Chieftain gives you more game against Eldrazi and Shardless, Warchief lets you play Matron into Piledriver for fast beats. Both have their upsides, but in netdecking I saw that the manabases and builds aren't that different between 4 Warchief and 4 Chieftain builds, so drawing one versus the other shouldn't be that difficult to formulate a gameplan around. Plus, having both gives you the chance of having the more appropriate benefit at the right time.

Skirk/Sharpshooter/Krenko - This is a very powerful combo and each piece on its own has many benefits. Plus Krenko is sort of an auto-win against decks that can't answer it immediately.

Tuktuk - Jitte is a thing, and he'll have some marginal upside.

Earwig Squad - Squad is obviously very strong against Miracles and also happens to be the only goblin that can actually help us beat combo decks. Running the black splash also opens up Warren Weirding as a removal option.

2 Gempalm - It can kill little guys, it can kill medium sized guys, and it's built in CA.
2 Pyrokinesis - Fast interaction, turn 0 card. Playing 2 Pyro and 2 Gempalm evens the deck out in the +1, -1 CA. Pyro is amazing against DnT and very good against Shardless and, from what I've read, it's decent against Eldrazi as well.
Stingscourger - Gets rid of the fatties
Warren Weirding - Answers stupid Reanimator strategies and other ridiculousness.

23 Lands - This just felt like the right number. I considered playing a lone Taiga instead of 3 Badlands but realized I didn't really want or need access to Green to beat the four decks I wanted to focus on.

Sideboard
1 Pyro - I knew there would be grindy matchups where Earwig Squad would be bad and a 3rd Pyro would be great.
3 Blood Moon - There are always Lands decks, whether it's Lands or 12 Post, and Moon is also a reasonable card against Eldrazi and Shardless when you're on the play.
3 Relic - Goyf format, also decent against Storm. But really Relic is there to keep Goyf and DRS honest.
4 Chalice - Self explanatory. Chalice is a workhorse and ought to be a 4-of in every Goblins board.
4 Leyline of the Void - I didn't feel like I needed more artifact hate and I wasn't going to run Green. I felt that it was likely that I could run into a crazy graveyard deck that Relic wouldn't be enough against. I had 4 slots left in the sideboard so I just jammed the Leylines.

R1 Shardless Bug
G1 I win the roll and lead with a Lackey. He suspends Visions. I Lackey in a lord and Waste him next turn and I have Pyro backup. THis game is over quickly.
G2 There is a downpour of Sharding. Sharding everywhere. I lose.
G3 is a huge grind. We go to time and I'm able to exactsies him thanks to Chieftain pumps. W

R2 Pox
G1 I win the roll but mull to 6. That's bad news for this MU. I keep a hand with Lackey, Warchief, Sharpshooter. I run into Cursed Scroll, Crucible of Worlds and Tabernacle. He had pretty much the best cards he could against me and I had the wrong cards against him. He killed me with manland beats.
G2 He runs out a T1 E Plague. I Vial in Matron for Chieftain and then play MWM and start the beats. I was actually very well positioned here. MWM is great against Smallpox. He plays a second Plague though and the game is over. L
I can't really be mad about this one since this match all came down to the cards we drew. He drew his best cards against me G1 while I had a slow hand better suited to a midrange matchup. G2 he had 2x E Plague. Pox is the only deck that can sideboard those and then he drew them. So it goes. Having Chieftain gave me more game here.

R3 Shardless
G1 - I played very poorly this round. I'll attribute it to being rusty. I got overly focused on getting a 2for2 with pyrokinesis rather than just killing the goyf while it was still small. Goyf eventually kills me.
G2 - Huge grind this game. Super grind. We go to turns and on T4 of turns I swing with everything with a Sharpshooter up. He has a 6/7 Goyf. I'm attacking with 3 Ringleaders and a Piledriver. I'm trying to get lethal damage through and that's all I really look at. Some trades are made, Sharpshooter goes to his dome. Goyf blocks Piledriver. The game ends with my opponent at 2 life and we scoop them up, at which point a friendly spectator says "Shouldn't Goyf have died?". Yep, 6/7 goyf blocked a 7/2 Piledriver. Goyf should have died, I should have had 1 more sharpshooter untap trigger which would have allowed me to do the 2 damage needed to kill my opponent. The match would have been a draw. We were both focusing entirely on how much damage was getting through to him that neither of us paid attention to damage on the goyf. Again, ring rust on my part. I lost his match which should have been a draw and which had all the potential to be win had I played better G1.

Being 1-2 often leads to dropping in big tourneys, but the prize payout was strong and definitely worth playing out since even going 3-3 would get your entry fee back in prize wall shit. Also, Magic is fun, and I wanted to play some fucking Magic.

R4 Brw Reanimator
G1 I had no idea what this deck was because it was a sweet brew. Dark ritual into Buried Alive put Grizzle, Massacre Wurm and Children of Korlish into his grave. What the hell? I managed to get Lackey in and was able to Prowl in Earwig. His deck had MD Tendrils and Burning Wishes, so I just took those to keep him from comboing me to death. He Exhumes Grizz and draws 7 but cannot draw any more. I have the Weirding for Grizz and miraculously steal G1.
G2 T0 Leyline + T1 Lackey. I also has Stingscourer in hand just in case he hardcast a brute, which his deck was set up to do. It didn't come to that though as I put on too much pressure for him and closed the game out quickly. W

R5 4 color Delver/Pyromancer
G1 He plays Tropical Island, Ponder, Gitaxian Probe T1. I play Lackey. T2 he plays Ponder, shuffles, plays Wasteland. I Waste his Trop and he never makes another land drop. I think he must be on Infect.
G2 He opens on Volcanic and I immediately realize its more Grixis with G splash for DRS life gain. I only sided in Pyro for this game and would have considered Chalice had I realized it was Grixis, not Infect. I killed an early Pyromancer then had to carefully keep him off R mana while building my manabase. An Angler hit the board and brought the beats. I had Krenko in hand but knew I couldn't play it until I could get rid of his Red mana. I finally get him down to just an Island and underground sea and play Krenko. Angler beats me to 4 life. Krenko goes hogwild and I win. My opponent shows me 2 Bolts in hand at the end of the game. Maybe I'm not quite as rust as I thought I was! W

R6 ANT
G1 I might have won had I drawn Warchief instead of Chieftain to get a cheap Earwig Prowled in. It was not to be.
G2 Chalice @ 0 + Chalice @ 1. Opponent has a brain fart and plays LED into Chalice. His only option after that is to Tendrils me with storm of 4. I swing back for 10 next turn. He scoops the following.
G3 I have Lackey and 2 Relics in my opening hand. I play Lackey first. My opponent is a gentleman and doesn't kill me T2. I topdeck a Chalice and play it @ 0 T2 plus Relic with mana up. I Lackey in a Tuktuk. His T3 is uneventful. I pop Relic since I have one in hand, drawing another Relic! I play both Relics next turn and LAckey a MWM into play. This is an awkward situation for my opponent as he has to Infernal for Cabal Ritual. He Decays the Chalice, but doesn't have any 0cc spells anyway. Lackey, Tuktuk and tokens beat down. I make sure to do the math to see whether paying MWM echo helps my clock. It's a 3 turn clock either way, so I don't pay echo and keep mana up for both Relics. Since his hand is Cabal Ritual dependent I win the game. This is best Relic has ever been for me against ANT. W

4-2

I had a fantastic time at this tournament and got to play against some cool people and catch up with other nerds from the local scene. I fought my way back to 14th place after a 1-2 start which was cool. I saw where I made mistakes after the fact in one match in particular but I felt I played very tightly the rest of the day. The Pox match was brutal, but that happens sometimes in Legacy and I'm not upset or worried about it. MWM and Vial are pretty amazing cards in the matchup, I just got unlucky in mulling and my opponent had really strong draws. So it goes. To recap: Magic is fun as hell.