[Deck] Goblins

[GoboLord]

To be honest, I think that Goblins was only ever in the DTB list since 2008 because of Thalia. Legacy as a format is too fast for fair creature based decks like ours. The unfair decks like storm and omni-tell are just too fast for things like SGC to be relevant.

The time when Goblins was a DTB hardly anyone splashed white for Thalia. The reson Goblins was positioned that well was Cavern of Souls, while most decks in the meta had countermagic (Blade Control, UW Miracles, RUG Thresh).

What feels odd about it to me, it that they aren't goblins and they weaken the rest of the deck.

According to this logic we should cut our Vials as well...any maybe even lands...?
I suggest you to take a minute and think about what Vial Goblins do. The two most powerful elements are:
(1) creating massive card- and boardadvantage
(2) cheating on mana
The cards that keep those 2 main forces alive are
(1) Goblin Matron, Goblin Ringleader, SIege-Gang Commander, Krenko and Mogg War Marshal (on the card-/boardadvantage side)
and
(2) Goblin Lackey, AEther Vial, Gobln Warchief and Cavern of Souls (to do the cheating)
Any card that supports those two main forces is appreciated. Thalia (and Boros Charm) support this strategy in that they make it more difficult for our opponents to fight againyt our board-advantage. (well, of course both cards do more than that)

Why is choosing between white and green an either/or situation? 8 fetch lands mean that you can fairly easily run a single Taiga to facilitate green. I personally splash both.

I agree. We should not be hesitant to run many dual-lands (or nonbasics in general) when we compare our manabase to that of other decks.

The trouble with splashing for spells is that your mana is terrible. Creatures like Thalia and Phantasmal Image can be cast off caverns or Vial'd in. Spells can only be supported by fetch/duals, and quite frankly, we don't have enough of them to reliably cast those spells.

That pretty much speaks against what you saidon the latter part of your posting.

..since it's core strategies are not inherently powerful enough when compared to other decks.

This depends on what you expect from Vial Goblins. If you want to cast one creature each turn and attack with them you are indeed better off with playing Zoo. If you want to combo-off with your creatures Elves or Aluren might be the right deck for you. However, if you want to bury your opponent in card advantage while bein a real nightmare for any deck that works with countermagic, then this is the right place for you.

[Ace/Homebrew]

To be honest, I think that Goblins was only ever in the DTB list since 2008 because of Thalia. Legacy as a format is too fast for fair creature based decks like ours. The unfair decks like storm and omni-tell are just too fast for things like SGC to be relevant.

This is just wrong. You need to provide hard evidence for me to believe otherwise.

TC Decks currently lists 328 Goblin decks.
A quick search shows only 2 of the 328 included Thalia maindeck. There's an additional 2 that have her in the sideboard.
So 1.2% of Goblin players use her with some success.

[Avatara]

To be honest, I think that Goblins was only ever in the DTB list since 2008 because of Thalia.

I highly doubt that; Cavern of Souls, answers to Batterskull (TSH, Skirk Prospector and the 3R artifact destroying goblins combined with sideboard answers) and an o.k. position against show and tell decks were responsible for that if you ask me.

[magicmerl]

This is just wrong. You need to provide hard evidence for me to believe otherwise.

TC Decks currently lists 328 Goblin decks.
A quick search shows only 2 of the 328 included Thalia maindeck. There's an additional 2 that have her in the sideboard.
So 1.2% of Goblin players use her with some success.

I stand corrected on Thalia. There was a period in the SCG tournaments when it seemed like GOblins with Thalia was the only version suceeding, and I hadn't updated my mental model.

The time when Goblins was a DTB hardly anyone splashed white for Thalia. The reson Goblins was positioned that well was Cavern of Souls, while most decks in the meta had countermagic (Blade Control, UW Miracles, RUG Thresh).

I agree that the MAJOR boost was Cavern of Souls.

According to this logic we should cut our Vials as well...any maybe even lands...?

If they print a Land-Goblin tomorrow, you better believe that I'll be running them over basically all of the lands in the deck currently.

In the absence of such a card, you suggesting we cut the manabase for more goblins is just reductio ad absurdum.

I agree. We should not be hesitant to run many dual-lands (or nonbasics in general) when we compare our manabase to that of other decks.

That pretty much speaks against what you saidon the latter part of your posting.

I'm not sure that it does. Despite us running only about 10 white sources that we can cast Rest in Peace with, it's still worth running because it's just SO good vs the dredge decks of the world. Cards like Hydoblast, Stifle, Cabal Therapy etc are not nearly as game-breaking for us when we cast them, and thus don't make the cut. My comment about Thalia and Phantasmal Image is that there are an additional 8 sources (Cavern/Vial) that can get them into play, so they don't have such a severe hurdle to overcome to be playable.

This depends on what you expect from Vial Goblins. If you want to cast one creature each turn and attack with them you are indeed better off with playing Zoo. If you want to combo-off with your creatures Elves or Aluren might be the right deck for you. However, if you want to bury your opponent in card advantage while bein a real nightmare for any deck that works with countermagic, then this is the right place for you.

I do like how goblins is secretly a controlling midrange deck that masquerades as an aggro deck, largely on the back of Matron and Ringleader.

[Remy]

Why is choosing between white and green an either/or situation?

I probably should have clarified this a little better. I do not think green or white are the only options. Not in the least. I do however feel they bring what Goblins is sorely missing at the moment, which is ways to deal with the cards giving us fits.

White brings:
Swords to Plowshares - the hands down best removal spell in the game. We're struggling to find the best fit for Goblins in terms of removal at the moment because the majority of decks topping the tournament scene run few, hyper-efficient creatures, that are 'need to answer'

Thalia - one potential answer against storm combo. Storm is one of those decks that we always need to consider in the back of our minds, we can hope and pray that a control deck knocks it out early, however we should come prepared.

Disencant - if people are siding hate in against us 9 times out of 10 I'd say its Engineered Plague or Absolute Law. Enchantress decks have also been making a comeback and RiP + Field may need answers if your meta starts showing up with those.

Green brings:
Krosan Grip - Probably the best artifact/enchant hate in the game right now, plus its right up our alley with split second. I like goblins being the big 'screw you' to counter decks.

Grove of the Burnwillows - to fuel punishing fire, which is looking like a very appealing source of damage to clear out the wall of 2/1's and 1/2's we typically see.

Blue brings:
More draw - in all its myriad forms, Goblins likes its card advantage engines, blue does too.

Counterspells - Probably the best answer to Storm combo. Mindbreak Traps and Flusterstorms and Force of Will (though we wouldn't be able to support FoW) are probably the best ways to just stop Storm from going off.

Stifle - RUG decks started using a similar concept to us to try and shut opponents off of a color, althought they did it with Wasteland + Stifle (stifle fetch land activations). This was the main thing that led me to throw blue out as a possibility. For nothing other than a potential way to give us back our mana hate strategy. Because if you're being honest, Wasteland alone DOES NOT CUT IT. It's a great card, don't mistake me, but we're asking it to pull too much weight through the sea of DRS, fetches and duals.

Black brings:
Earwig Squad - I'm looking more and more at this guy, he may just be a solid answer and an amazing one or two-of even in mono red (relying on cavern to drop him, not the greatest idea but could work)

Surgical Extraction/Extirpate - if you're splashing for black I'd say go Extirpate without any shadow of a doubt, but even surgical extractions could be useful for the way the meta is going (I'd surgical extract the S*** out of abrupt decay/tarmo/DRS and smile the whole time )

Cabal therapy - Could be a phenomenal discard for us, considering we usually have spare bodies to pitch to it.

So trust me, I'm looking at everything. I enjoy Goblins, its a fun deck, and still has all the potential to be top dog again. I think we just need someone to stumble across that perfect blend of cards to give us decent matches against the current meta. (obviously we won't be favored in every match but if we could 50/50 the majority we'd be sitting pretty again in my opinion.)

So most of what I'm throwing out on these boards is little ideas that MAY possibly help. Feel free by all means to tear them apart (just give a decent reason, please) but I think we need to have an open mind in regards to our deck building at the moment. Our original plan of attack is less effective. It's slower and easier to hate on, and that has weakened us.

If what I say sounds dumb to you, then that's fine. Just know I'm trying to do my part to help. In the next few days I'll be posting a list I plan to test this week that is COMPLETELY out of left field. And you may mock me, or bash it, just know I'm trying to raise our beloved green-skins back to their well deserved podium.

[magicmerl]

Remy, I agree in general with what you have said, although

1. Mindbreak Trap doesn't require blue any more than Surgical Extraction, Leyline of the Void and Dismember require black

2. I don't think that card drawing is a reason to run blue at all, since I don't think that the deck's problem is lack of card draw

3. Stifle seems bad. It's a tempo disadvantage when it works, which makes it bad.

4. I think you might have missed Rest in Peace as a reason to run white

5. Tin-Street Hooligan is another reason for green. Ditto Ancient Grudge

6. Earwig Squad is just way too slow as an answer to combo at 3 mana

In general I think that we are weak to non-interactive decks like 'tell, storm and dredge that want to combo us off. So that's the primary thing we are wanting, in addition to random outs to moat.

[Remy]

Remy, I agree in general with what you have said, although

1. Mindbreak Trap doesn't require blue any more than Surgical Extraction, Leyline of the Void and Dismember require black

2. I don't think that card drawing is a reason to run blue at all, since I don't think that the deck's problem is lack of card draw

3. Stifle seems bad. It's a tempo disadvantage when it works, which makes it bad.

4. I think you might have missed Rest in Peace as a reason to run white

5. Tin-Street Hooligan is another reason for green. Ditto Ancient Grudge

6. Earwig Squad is just way too slow as an answer to combo at 3 mana

In general I think that we are weak to non-interactive decks like 'tell, storm and dredge that want to combo us off. So that's the primary thing we are wanting, in addition to random outs to moat.

1. Very much true, and that's why blue is only a mild consideration.

2. same deal as one

3. Overall Stifle doesn't feel worth it...it's more of a 'Its works for RUg, so maybe it'll work for us' kind of deal.

4. I did and didn't miss it. RiP is the best grave hate in the game right now, though I think relic works just fine for when we need grave hate. So basically I don't consider it a mandatory auto-include, but if I were to splash white I'd run it in a heartbeat. I'm looking at my splashes from the idea of, if I'm not bringing in at least 3 cards that I can't otherwise fill with red, is it worth it? So because I presently run Relic I'm not thinking I NEED RiP, hence why it didn't make my list.

5. Tin street is good, though him getting turned off by warchiefs has me leaning away from him and towards Tuktuk, plus red has virtually no problems handling artifacts. Its enchants I fear.

6. I think he may be as well. Then hes slightly boosted in my eyes because I've been testing the Sol-lands route. Still I think he may fall by the way-side again.

I defintely believe our main concern right now is with three main concepts that decks are following at the moment, and those are:
-Fast non-interactive combo, of which there are many now, we need answers for, and possibly even maindecked answers.
-Hard-locks, in particular via enchantments. RiP + Field, Counterbalance, and Humility/Moat are all things we need to answer and can't do with mono-red.
-Aggro-Control decks running DRS, Tarmo and Bskull. Because to be quite honest those are the only three creatures I feel we have to fear. And they are seeing A LOT of play right now.

So is it possible to build a Goblins deck that can:
-blow up enchants
-stop a combo
-kill hyper-efficient creatures.

All three main deck would literally be impossible. But if we could perhaps find the avenue to answer 2 of those, and dedicate sideboard almost entirely towards the third we'd be set.

That's basically my goal at the moment. I had a decklist that was housing BUG and UW control regularly (since my meta was like 80% in those decks) then one of the nearby shops shut down...my meta shifted quite drastically and I'm back to the drawing board.

[GoboLord]

In the absence of such a card, you suggesting we cut the manabase for more goblins is just reductio ad absurdum.

I didnt suggest to do so and I know that I was overdoing it there. However, stating that "it's not a Goblin card, ergo: it weakens the rest of the deck" is just reductio ad creaturetypum ().

I'm not sure that it does. Despite us running only about 10 white sources that we can cast Rest in Peace with, it's still worth running because it's just SO good vs the dredge decks of the world. Cards like Hydoblast, Stifle, Cabal Therapy etc are not nearly as game-breaking for us when we cast them, and thus don't make the cut. My comment about Thalia and Phantasmal Image is that there are an additional 8 sources (Cavern/Vial) that can get them into play, so they don't have such a severe hurdle to overcome to be playable.

O.k., now I get what you meant and you are right there. Splashing for creatures is indeed less problematic than splashing for other spells, BUT I don't think that splashing a color for certain spells is problematic at all. Goblins are frequently 2-colored (and on occasion even 3-colored) and still we have the highest number of basiclands among all legacy decks that splash more than 1 color. I could totally see myself running a set of lands like this (if my non-red spells require me to do so):

3 Wastelands
4 Caverns
8 Fetchlands
4 Duallands
3 Mountains

With this set you have 12/22 lands to produce the splash-color of your choice, which only very rarely requires more than 1 non-red mana (Perish, StoP, Krosan Grip, Boros Charm, Rest in Peace, younameit).

[Cleston]

I defintely believe our main concern right now is with three main concepts that decks are following at the moment, and those are:
-Fast non-interactive combo, of which there are many now, we need answers for, and possibly even maindecked answers.
-Hard-locks, in particular via enchantments. RiP + Field, Counterbalance, and Humility/Moat are all things we need to answer and can't do with mono-red.
-Aggro-Control decks running DRS, Tarmo and Bskull. Because to be quite honest those are the only three creatures I feel we have to fear. And they are seeing A LOT of play right now.

So is it possible to build a Goblins deck that can:
-blow up enchants
-stop a combo
-kill hyper-efficient creatures.

All three main deck would literally be impossible. But if we could perhaps find the avenue to answer 2 of those, and dedicate sideboard almost entirely towards the third we'd be set.

this is a very nice overview of our position in current legacy. I have the same reading, but I couldn't put in better words, tks.

2 out of 3 could be possible with thalia/port/disenchant/plowshares... but, the board (me included) has a feeling that it is just not up there... so where's the catch?

[FoxBlade]

I think we need:

1. Better Removal

2. Better turn 1 plays, as I said earlier lackey/vial, but mostly I refer to vial here. Vial is great, but abrupt decay seems everywhere. It makes hands that were once keepers, into ones that we should mulligan. Even lackey isn't that strong now, due to plenty of cheap removal + new creatures (delver, deathrite shaman), I would still keep lackey though.

[Remy]

I think we need:

1. Better Removal

2. Better turn 1 plays, as I said earlier lackey/vial, but mostly I refer to vial here. Vial is great, but abrupt decay seems everywhere. It makes hands that were once keepers, into ones that we should mulligan. Even lackey isn't that strong now, due to plenty of cheap removal + new creatures (delver, deathrite shaman), I would still keep lackey though.

Yea I'm realizing that our turn one drops are less effective then they used to be as well. I wouldn't cut lackey, with tricky play and/or a bit of luck he's still a phenomenal engine.

My main concern comes from from AEther Vial. I love it, I truly do. But it's just SO easy to hate on. And far too slow. It doesn't become 'active' until turn 3 at the earliest. So even if our opponent has no hate in hand that gives them 3 draws to pull it. Also, a point that hasn't been covered is that technically its the only counterable card we run in the core. Cavern saw that our goblins can hit play unmolested. I think we need to switch away from vial. The only match it really helps us in is the Aggro-control match anyway (does nothing against locks and it's too slow for combo)

I'm debating if we should maybe take a bit to shift our discussion towards theorizing the best hate cards against the 3 decks I listed and see if we can't find a common trend or similarities in the options. Perhaps that could help us define a path to take for deckbuilding. In the long run I think goblins will become a meta deck a la dragon Stompy. Shifting it's hate method to tackle whatever your meta has more of. But compiling the best hate against a given strategy could give people a nice launching off point.

I'll start it up when I get home from work. =)

[BigBopper]

Yea I'm realizing that our turn one drops are less effective then they used to be as well. I wouldn't cut lackey, with tricky play and/or a bit of luck he's still a phenomenal engine.

My main concern comes from from AEther Vial. I love it, I truly do. But it's just SO easy to hate on. And far too slow. It doesn't become 'active' until turn 3 at the earliest. So even if our opponent has no hate in hand that gives them 3 draws to pull it. Also, a point that hasn't been covered is that technically its the only counterable card we run in the core. Cavern saw that our goblins can hit play unmolested. I think we need to switch away from vial. The only match it really helps us in is the Aggro-control match anyway (does nothing against locks and it's too slow for combo)

I'm debating if we should maybe take a bit to shift our discussion towards theorizing the best hate cards against the 3 decks I listed and see if we can't find a common trend or similarities in the options. Perhaps that could help us define a path to take for deckbuilding. In the long run I think goblins will become a meta deck a la dragon Stompy. Shifting it's hate method to tackle whatever your meta has more of. But compiling the best hate against a given strategy could give people a nice launching off point.

I'll start it up when I get home from work. =)

Talking about hate cards and one-drops. A few pages ago someone listed a deck with 4x Skirk Prospetor instead of vial, making all cards uncounterable in theory with Cavern. It's also super effective vs. Jitte/Batterscull that will see more and more play since it's not a target for Abrupt Decay. On the other hand you could replace Vial by maindecking Relique of Progenitus. It's also a 1-drop, whitch replaces itself, creating card advantage and takes care of DRS since it removes either GY. Both builds take out the speed of goblins list, moving more and more towards a lower curve... Maybe something like this:

4x Lackey
4x Prospector
2x Relique
1x Army Loyalist
4x Mogg-War Marshall
3x Piledriver
4x Warchief
4x Matron
4x Ringleader
1x TSH
1x Stinger
4x Gempalm
1x Krenko
1x SGC

2x Taiga
4x Mountain
2x Mutavault
4x Cavern
4x Wasteland
6x R-Fetch

[orcanmail]

I agree we need better removal than tarfire, gempalm, and stingscourgers. I am trying out packing a combo of 5 reb and pyroblast in the SB v delvers, cliques, snapcasters and jace, plus splashing black for perish v goyf, shamans, hierarchs.
I could then either SB GY hate or anti combo for the remaining slots.

[BigBopper]

If they print a Land-Goblin tomorrow, you better believe that I'll be running them over basically all of the lands in the deck currently.

I guess Mutavault is the closest you can get so far. But maybe it's not that bad of an idea to replace Ports with them, having an aditional body for Piley, Gempalm and maybe Loyalist....

[magicmerl]

I'm debating if we should maybe take a bit to shift our discussion towards theorizing the best hate cards against the 3 decks I listed and see if we can't find a common trend or similarities in the options. Perhaps that could help us define a path to take for deckbuilding. In the long run I think goblins will become a meta deck a la dragon Stompy. Shifting it's hate method to tackle whatever your meta has more of. But compiling the best hate against a given strategy could give people a nice launching off point.

<<combined>>

So is it possible to build a Goblins deck that can:
-blow up enchants
-stop a combo
-kill hyper-efficient creatures.

All three main deck would literally be impossible. But if we could perhaps find the avenue to answer 2 of those, and dedicate sideboard almost entirely towards the third we'd be set.

That's basically my goal at the moment. I had a decklist that was housing BUG and UW control regularly (since my meta was like 80% in those decks) then one of the nearby shops shut down...my meta shifted quite drastically and I'm back to the drawing board.

vs Enchantments: Krosan Grip is really the one-stop shop here, although Disenchant, Seal of Cleansing and Oblivion Ring are inferior but servicable options

vs Combo: Depends on the combo.
a. Graveyard decks: best=Rest in Peace, decent=Leyline of the Void, Relic of Progenitus
b. Storm decks: best=Chalice of the Void, Thalia, decent=Thorn of Amethyst
c. Tell decks: best=Confusion in the Ranks decent=Oblivion Ring, Stingscourger

vs Hyperefficient Creatures: best=Swords to Plowshares, decent=Pyrokinesis, Dismember, Tarfire, Lightning Bolt

Yes?

So how about this as a sideboard:
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Rest in Peace
3 Pyrokinesis
2 Krosan Grip

[Holly]

Maybe Oblivion Ring deserves more mention as a catch-all.
Sure it's worse than Krosan Grip vs Enchantments,
worse than Confusion in the Ranks vs Show n Tell,
worse than StP vs creatures.
But it's at least okay versus all of them.

So for those of you who don't want to splash g für Grip & w for stp, maybe try it.

[GoboLord]

Hey folks,

I did some playtesting to find out how Boros Charm performs... and my first impression is very positive.
BC is a very good tool to enable combat tricks. Roughly speaking you can use it as follows:

(1) provide Lackey with Double Strike
(1.1) force 1/2 creatures (DRS and SFM) into situations where they have to choose between "connect or die"
(2) counter all sorts of (mass-)removal: Abrupt Decay, Maelstrom Pulse, Pyroclasm
(2.1) protect your Vial
(3) protect your lands (e.g. to save an Plateau or Caverns)
(4) throw an infinite number of Goblins into a Critter (Tarmogoyf, Batter-Germ) and make yor dudes indestructible
(4.1) block several creatures and make your dudes indestructible, then go for an alpha strike next turn
(5) provide any 2/2 creature of yours with double strike to destroy a Tarmogoyf or Battergerm (attacking or blocking)

In cases 1.1, 4, 4.1 and 5 BC is a removal spell (in case 4.1 even for more than one creature).
In all other cases it trades 1:1 at its worst! Picture that: this card is a removal spell + occasionally a counterspell for those backbreaking spells we have to fight against. The only problem that I figured out so far is indeed that it requires 2 lands that are neither Wasteland nor Cavern of Souls. For this reason I would suggest to run it as a 3-off in MD, since 4 turned out to be too much in some situations.

Here's my testing list for reference, if anyone is interested in replicating those results.

4 Cavern of Souls, 3 Wasteland
7 Mountains
6 Fetchlands, 2 Plateau

4 Vial, Lackey, Piledriver, Warchief, Matron, Ringleader, Gempalm Incinerator
4 Boros Charm
3 Mogg War Marshal
2 Siege Gang Commander
1 Stingscourger

Ergo, the oldschhol standart list with only 3 MWM and 9(1) removals

[magicmerl]

Hey folks,

I did some playtesting to find out how Boros Charm performs... and my first impression is very positive.
BC is a very good tool to enable combat tricks. Roughly speaking you can use it as follows:

(1) provide Lackey with Double Strike Seems toy
(1.1) force 1/2 creatures (DRS and SFM) into situations where they have to choose between "connect or die" I think that they will snap block all day long, making this a bad non-cantripping Incinerator
(2) counter all sorts of (mass-)removal: Abrupt Decay, Maelstrom Pulse, Pyroclasm Yes, this seems good. How often do you face mass removal, and have mana open?
(2.1) protect your Vial I guess?
(3) protect your lands (e.g. to save an Plateau or Caverns) How often do we need this? Most decks are more mana hungry than us. RUG doesn't even wasteland me anymore.
(4) throw an infinite number of Goblins into a Critter (Tarmogoyf, Batter-Germ) and make yor dudes indestructible All this does it effectively give you another copy of the creature that they would block
(4.1) block several creatures and make your dudes indestructible, then go for an alpha strike next turn Seems nice, as long as they don't run counterspells
(5) provide any 2/2 creature of yours with double strike to destroy a Tarmogoyf or Battergerm (attacking or blocking) Legion Loyalist?

In cases 1.1, 4, 4.1 and 5 BC is a removal spell (in case 4.1 even for more than one creature).
In all other cases it trades 1:1 at its worst! Picture that: this card is a removal spell + occasionally a counterspell for those backbreaking spells we have to fight against. The only problem that I figured out so far is indeed that it requires 2 lands that are neither Wasteland nor Cavern of Souls. For this reason I would suggest to run it as a 3-off in MD, since 4 turned out to be too much in some situations.

Here's my testing list for reference, if anyone is interested in replicating those results.

4 Cavern of Souls, 3 Wasteland
7 Mountains
6 Fetchlands, 2 Plateau

4 Vial, Lackey, Piledriver, Warchief, Matron, Ringleader, Gempalm Incinerator
4 Boros Charm
3 Mogg War Marshal
2 Siege Gang Commander
1 Stingscourger

Ergo, the oldschhol standart list with only 3 MWM and 9(1) removals

Interesting list. Not really sure how Boros Charm counts as removal though. I only see Incinerator, SGC and Stingscourger as removals.

[GoboLord]

(1) provide Lackey with Double Strike Seems toy
Well, it isn't. Thats the reason we used to run Warren Instigator.

(1.1) force 1/2 creatures (DRS and SFM) into situations where they have to choose between "connect or die" I think that they will snap block all day long, making this a bad non-cantripping Incinerator
...or a removal for SFM?! I would glady trade my Lackey there if that means that SFM doesn't get online.

(2) counter all sorts of (mass-)removal: Abrupt Decay, Maelstrom Pulse, Pyroclasm Yes, this seems good. How often do you face mass removal, and have mana open?
As often as you leave it open.

(2.1) protect your Vial I guess?
DOnt understand that one.

(3) protect your lands (e.g. to save an Plateau or Caverns) How often do we need this? Most decks are more mana hungry than us. RUG doesn't even wasteland me anymore.
Thats not even the point. BC is a Stifle for your opponent's Wasteland, when you need it.

(4) throw an infinite number of Goblins into a Critter (Tarmogoyf, Batter-Germ) and make yor dudes indestructible All this does it effectively give you another copy of the creature that they would block
Exactly. And "all it does" is good enough here, since it effectively remove the creature in question. (I'm also willing to trade a warchief or Ringleader for Batterskull).

(4.1) block several creatures and make your dudes indestructible, then go for an alpha strike next turn Seems nice, as long as they don't run counterspells
The fact that deck runs countermagic does not mean that this move is never possible against those decks...They need to have the counterspell right on time. And if you are sure they will have a counter for that move then you just dont use Boros Charm that way. In fact you are not even taking a risk...They attack, you cast BC BEFROE declaring blockers. If they got countermagic you will surely block different than in case the let it resolve.

(5) provide any 2/2 creature of yours with double strike to destroy a Tarmogoyf or Battergerm (attacking or blocking) Legion Loyalist?
Does not nearly come close, since double strike is different than first strike AND it does also give you the edge when blocking.

[ScatmanX]

@GobboLord: Thanks for sharing! Will certainly be testing that.
Also, hasn't doing 4 dmg to the face ever killed anyone, specially if you use 2 Charms?
And how about a 5-7/2 Double Striking Piledriver, making your clock a turn faster?

Realized that against combo, making Lackey a Double Striker T2 might increase your chances of T3ing your opponent. Neat.