[Deck] Goblins

[swoop]

What about Legion Loyalist as a silver bullet?

Makes piledrivers drive the point as they attack? Is a good call with battallion and could be of use.

[GoboLord]

I think you run AT LEAST as many fetchlands as targets for fetchlands, if not more. So in your hypothetical 22 land manabase, I'd start with 9 fetchs and 9 'mountains'. That means we can easily splasy 2-3 colours, or consider other utility lands.

Here's my take on a Rwg list:

4 Cavern of Souls
1 Karakas
9 Fetchlands
4 Mountains
2 Plateau
2 Taiga

That gives you rock solid mana in both splash colours, as well as all the basics you could ever want in the world. And some utility.

Well, it appears that I was misunderstood.
Such a manabase does not have any advantages if you don't run the right cards that the splashcolors (and the manafixing) are supposed to support. Goblins arn't about their splashcolors. There are a FEW examples of powerful SB cards that are not Red (Perish, Rest in Peace), however, having a manabase that supports these cards does not outweigh the advantages of having Wastelands (and Ports).
Again: I do NOT think that cutting Wastelands from the deck is an option. If people want to enhance their manabase they should aim at getting MORE mana, i.e. cards that ramp Goblins into play in case Vial and Lackey don't do the job. This has been done with the WINSTIGATOR list (featuring Warren Instigator and Chrome Mox) and I think that is as far as we can get. There are only very cards left that could improve the manaproduction of Vial Goblins, all of which have proven to be bas cardchoices (reffering to the opening post): Gemstone Caverns, Simian Spirit Guide, Ancient Tomb, City of Traitors, Brightsone Ritual, Rite of Flame and Deathrite Shaman.
So, Goblins don't have issues with colorfixing (please tell me if people have had different experiences), but with gathering a sufficient amount of mana to play such clunky cards as Ringleader, Krenko and Siege-Gang. This actually a topic worth discussing. I'd be willing to discuss the topic of manaramp further, because thats one of the few topic which havn't been discussed to death yet.

And some utility.

Wasteland is the best utility land there is.


@ Adraco:
Welcome back. People can't give you any helpful advice if they don't know some more details, like:

* what does your metagame look like?
* which cards do you have access to?
* what does your SB look like?
* what'S your impression on the deck? which cards do you like/dislike?

[Dice_Box]

With all the talk about wastelands not being as effective against tuned decks as they once where, anyone thinking in might be time to dust off the old Moon effects and run them main? I am tempted to put 3 moons in my goblins in place of Thalia for 2 weeks or so and see what happens. Would throw Chrome in too for the chance of a speed gain. I think it could be useful in the Mono red build.

[Tokugawa]

With all the talk about wastelands not being as effective against tuned decks as they once where, anyone thinking in might be time to dust off the old Moon effects and run them main? I am tempted to put 3 moons in my goblins in place of Thalia for 2 weeks or so and see what happens. Would throw Chrome in too for the chance of a speed gain. I think it could be useful in the Mono red build.

I would say "NO!" to mox.

Most well known moon-based deck, like painters, pack 7+ two-mana lands, 4 mox, 4 simian to ensure a turn 1 moon.

Turn2 moon on play maybe OK, turn2 on draw is late. Turn3 is toooo late. We cannot resolve the moon as fast as they do.

So only 3 or 4 mox won't help a lot. No need to mention again, that a mox is the worst topdeck card you can imagine.

[Tokugawa]

A turn 1 lackey cannot go through a turn 1 shaman.

However,

a turn 1 instigator also cannot go through a turn 1 shaman…

[Dice_Box]

Your argument against Mox is silly, we run them already in one build of the deck and it works well there. I am not talking 4 Mox, the normal 2 is fine.

As for the DRS, might be time to dust off Tarfire.

[magicmerl]

With all the talk about wastelands not being as effective against tuned decks as they once where, anyone thinking in might be time to dust off the old Moon effects and run them main? I am tempted to put 3 moons in my goblins in place of Thalia for 2 weeks or so and see what happens. Would throw Chrome in too for the chance of a speed gain. I think it could be useful in the Mono red build.

I think that Wasteland being too slow means Blood Moon is WAY too slow. Plus the fact that it's so easily countered.

Who do you see it being good against?

As for the DRS, might be time to dust off Tarfire.

Or not be so dependant on hitting with a T1 Lackey?

Goblins arn't about their splashcolors.

While I agree with most of your post about the indispensability of Wasteland, I disagree with this.

I think that Goblins are ALL about the splash colours, since goblins is an inherently fair deck in an unfair format, it MUST have cards which can help its graveyard and storm type decks.

[GoboLord]

I think that Goblins are ALL about the splash colours, since goblins is an inherently fair deck in an unfair format, it MUST have cards which can help its graveyard and storm type decks.

I don't agree with this for two reasons.

First, I have data supporting the fact that Mono-Red WINSTIGATOR lists are just as successful as Mono-Red CLASSIC lists (or Rg CLASSIC lists) and Rgw THALIA-lists. This means at least that Mono-R, Rg and Rgw-lists have had similart success. In fact I would argue that the best choice against 'unfair' decks is the WINSTIGATOR list, which is classically Mono-Red. However, I admit that this arguments only holds for the Maindeck composition, since the analysis din't take SB cards into consideration. That's where my second argument comes into play.

Second, there are effective SB cards against unfair decks (let's take Storm, Show and GY-combo decks as examples) in every color. I would even go as far to say that the most effective hate in "colorless".

Storm Hate:
* Mono-Red: Chalice of the Void, Mindbreak Trap, Leyline of Sanctity, Thorn of Amethyst
* White: Thalia, Ethersworn Cannonist
* Blue: Flusterstorm
* Black: Cabal Therapy
* Green: -

Show-Hate:
* Mono-Red: Angel of Despair, Confusion in the Ranks, Pyroblast, Stingscourger
* White: Thalia, Ethersworn Cannonist
* Blue: Flusterstorm
* Black: Cabal Therapy
* Green: -

Grave-Hate:
* Mono-Red: Leyline of the Void, Relic of Progenitus, Faerie Macabre, Surgical Extraction, Grafdigger'S Cage
* White: Rest in Peace
* Blue: -
* Black: Extirpate, Planar Void, Jixilid Jailer
* Green: -

I don't mean to say that splashcolors have nothing to offer. However, I think the solutions that splashcolors offer against against "unfair" are only slightly (if any) better that the mono-Red ones.
Feel free to tell me IF and WHY you would disagree. I'm open to take new perspectives on this issue.

[LeoCop 90]

I don't really understand the discussion about wastelands and ports, i think that some of you are making wrong assumptions.

The fact that a lot of decks are running less than 20 lands should be a further reason to run mana-denial. To me the logic is not: "they need only few lands to play so we can drop manadenial" , but is "they run few lands so our chances of completing screwing them with waste and ports are higher".

For example, I also have a burn deck wich usually is built with 18-21 lands. The reason is that a burn player wants to see 2 lands in his opening hand and then another one in the next few turns. So , there is the possibility that a deck with 20 lands sees only three of them until mid-late game. What happens if we waste one and port another one ? We win. There is no deck that can run smoothly on 1 land.
I agree with gobolord: the primary function of wastes and ports is being manasources, but apart from that they are the best utility we can have.

Dropping completely wastes and ports might lead to new builds such as "Goblin Stompy" with Ancient tombs , city of traitors, Chrome Moxes, Chalices and Magus of the Moon main deck. In such a build i think it would be right to run bigger threats such as Lightning Crafter or Goblin Goon. That would lead to a completely different strategy: i would keep in only lackey , Ringleader, Matron, Siege-Gang, Krenko of the traditional goblins and drop Vial.But probably this would be only a worse deck than Dragon Stompy.

About sources of mana-acceleration that have not been mentioned there is Infernal Plunge that is slightly better in my opinion than rite of flame and very good with mogg war marshal. Still not playable, i think.

[fimo]

been to the local turney and I played the same thalia list I have been playing for the last weeks, for reference it is posted 2 pages back.

R1: D&T 2-1
R2: Zombardment 1-2
R3: soldier stompy 2-0
R4: esper wizzards 2-0
R5: sneak and show 2-0
R6: we drew into prices

Zombardment is though but not unbeatable. Its weak point is that many of those zombies/bloodghast cannot block lackey. Also, grave hate wins you the game..... unless they abrupt decay it as it happened to me G3 :P. After SB mull to a lackey/grave hate and it should be all right.
Krenko is insane. Too many times it works like this:
- I am in a loosing spot
- drop krenko, tap krenko, stabilize
- next turn, tap krenko, attack for the win.
I think it should be a 1 of core card in every goblin build, it does something that no other goblin can do.

Regarding the mana denial discussion: please don t cut wasteland! Mana denial is the best tool we can ever have against combo decks. R5 against sneak and show I won it because of mana denial/taxing effects. I completely agree with goboLord here:

Goblins don't have issues with colorfixing (please tell me if people have had different experiences), but with gathering a sufficient amount of mana to play such clunky cards as Ringleader, Krenko and Siege-Gang.

Goblins' most (only) powerful side is the matron/ringleader card advantage engine. It has one important problem: it is damn slow. Therefore, you need to build your deck around it in order to make it matter whithin the time window of a tipical match. You have two ways to make it matter: 1) make it faster than what it is (goblin lackey, goblin warchief), 2) slow down your opponet (wastelend-screw, rishadan port, thalia). Do both (recomended).
Unless you play a stompy approach, mana denial lands are absolutelly necessary.

[GoboLord]

Zombardment is though but not unbeatable. Its weak point is that many of those zombies/bloodghast cannot block lackey. Also, grave hate wins you the game..... unless they abrupt decay it as it happened to me G3 :P. After SB mull to a lackey/grave hate and it should be all right.
Krenko is insane. Too many times it works like this:
- I am in a loosing spot
- drop krenko, tap krenko, stabilize
- next turn, tap krenko, attack for the win.

That reminds me....

Event: Legacy Grand Prix Gent, Belgium
Players: 1445
Date: Saturday, July 21st 2012
Result: 6-3-0 after 9 rounds

Round 3: Jasper from The Netherlands with Zombardement
G1: I lost a close game because I didn’t know what his deck did. I underestimated the value of Blood Artist which turned out to be a bad.
IN: 1 Shooter
OUT: 1 MWM
G2: Jasper got combo’ed to death by an early Lackey connecting into Krenko and Piledriver
G3: It turned out that Zombies can’t block, which is quite nice when you have double Piledriver.

3-0-0

[...]

Conclusions:
* Zombies can’t block
[...]

Also, thanks for sharing your results.

[magicmerl]

I don't agree with this for two reasons.

First, I have data supporting the fact that Mono-Red WINSTIGATOR lists are just as successful as Mono-Red CLASSIC lists (or Rg CLASSIC lists) and Rgw THALIA-lists. This means at least that Mono-R, Rg and Rgw-lists have had similart success. In fact I would argue that the best choice against 'unfair' decks is the WINSTIGATOR list, which is classically Mono-Red. However, I admit that this arguments only holds for the Maindeck composition, since the analysis din't take SB cards into consideration.

Yeah, I found that analysis very interesting. The Winstigator list is essentially trying to be even faster than the combo decks. The problem I have with that I don't think we can be faster than a deck like Tin Fins. When I play them and have no disruption, they typically go off T2, very occasionally T1 or T3. That means that even on the draw, cards like Thorn (and Thalia) are too slow.

My real problem with Winstigator lists is that I'm just unhappy with how inconsistent it is as a deck. There are just more ways to be mana screwed, or even hit with Winstigator and just get owned by something as simple as an opposing pyroclasm than there is with a more conventional build.

Maybe it's just that I'm a bad aggro player, but I have the most success playing goblins as a midrange/control deck.

That's where my second argument comes into play.

Second, there are effective SB cards against unfair decks (let's take Storm, Show and GY-combo decks as examples) in every color. I would even go as far to say that the most effective hate in "colorless".

Storm Hate:
* Mono-Red: Chalice of the Void, Mindbreak Trap, Leyline of Sanctity, Thorn of Amethyst
* White: Thalia, Ethersworn Cannonist
* Blue: Flusterstorm
* Black: Cabal Therapy
* Green: -

Show-Hate:
* Mono-Red: Angel of Despair, Confusion in the Ranks, Pyroblast, Stingscourger
* White: Thalia, Ethersworn Cannonist
* Blue: Flusterstorm
* Black: Cabal Therapy
* Green: -

Grave-Hate:
* Mono-Red: Leyline of the Void, Relic of Progenitus, Faerie Macabre, Surgical Extraction, Grafdigger'S Cage
* White: Rest in Peace
* Blue: -
* Black: Extirpate, Planar Void, Jixilid Jailer
* Green: -

I don't mean to say that splashcolors have nothing to offer. However, I think the solutions that splashcolors offer against against "unfair" are only slightly (if any) better that the mono-Red ones.

I think that you have good listings there, but I think that you should only include off-colour examples that are just flat up better than the mono-coloured alternatives. So I would set the bar for off-coloured cards as a little higher than you. For example, I think that the consensus is that Relic of Progenitus is the best monoR GY hate. So any WUBG alternatives would need to be BETTER than Relic in order to be considered. I've taken the liberty of bolding the off-colour cards you listed that I think are better than the mono-R alternatives. I don't think that the other splash cards you mention are flat out better than their monoR alternatives.

Feel free to tell me IF and WHY you would disagree. I'm open to take new perspectives on this issue.

Well, I think that ultimately it's a question of power vs stability. Adding Fetchs and Duals does make the manabase less stable, since it means that other decks (most notably D&T) can now waste our duals and colour screw us. On the flip side, a card like Thalia is just better than Thorn of Amethyst, since it also presents a clock (and is randomly great vs things like Engineered Plague as well).

Basically what it comes down to is that I'm happy to sacrifice percentage points in a matchup that I feel is favourable to us (D&T) in order to get better vs decks that I feel are unfavourable to us (Dredge, Tin Fins, Storm etc).

p.s. Here's the list I'm planning on playing in our 'big legacy' tournament this Saturday, with Thalia moved MD over TSH and Piledrivers 3 and 4:
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Wasteland
4 Rishadan Port
3 Scalding Tarn
3 Bloodstained Mire
2 Mountain
2 Plateau
1 Taiga

4 Aether Vial
4 Gempalm Incinerator
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Goblin Warchief
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin Ringleader
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Mogg War Marshal
2 Goblin Piledriver
2 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Skirk Prospector
1 Stingscourger
1 Goblin Sharpshooter

Sideboard
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Rest in Peace
3 Pyrokinesis
1 Tin-Street Hooligan
2 Krosan Grip
1 Angel of Despair

I'm taking a deliberate and calculated risk with the white mana sources (8 coloured mana sources for RIP should really be 10). I'm gambling that having an 18 card SB is better than having a slightly more coherent goblin theme G1. We'll see how a small sample size goes.

Zombardment is though but not unbeatable. Its weak point is that many of those zombies/bloodghast cannot block lackey. Also, grave hate wins you the game..... unless they abrupt decay it as it happened to me G3 :P. After SB mull to a lackey/grave hate and it should be all right.
Krenko is insane. Too many times it works like this:
- I am in a loosing spot
- drop krenko, tap krenko, stabilize
- next turn, tap krenko, attack for the win.
I think it should be a 1 of core card in every goblin build, it does something that no other goblin can do.

In my experience, pretty much every time that I would have played Krenko and won, SGC would also have won me the game. And SGC is better than Krenko EVERY time I connect with a T1 Lackey.

Goblins' most (only) powerful side is the matron/ringleader card advantage engine. It has one important problem: it is damn slow. Therefore, you need to build your deck around it in order to make it matter whithin the time window of a tipical match. You have two ways to make it matter: 1) make it faster than what it is (goblin lackey, goblin warchief), 2) slow down your opponet (wastelend-screw, rishadan port, thalia). Do both (recomended).
Unless you play a stompy approach, mana denial lands are absolutelly necessary.

I agree with this 100%.

[Sockosensei]

I finally saw my first action as a Warchief, going 2-1 at the local shop.

I played Tietze's Atlanta maindeck, except I was short two cards.
-1 Warchief
+1 Chieftain
-1 SGC
+1 Krenko

The sideboard was short many key cards due to 'circumstances'. I just prayed not to face storm.
3 Pyrokinesis
3 Relic
2 Chalice
2 Thalia
1 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Wear & Tear
1 TSH
1 Mogg War Marshall



Rd. 1: 2-1 vs UBr Land Destruction -- Sinkhole, Rancid Earth, Avalanche Riders, Stifle, Snapcaster,....

I lost game 1 with no permanents on the table when Rancid Earth killed my clock (4 goblin tokens that were beating in uncontested each turn) and the last of my land. There was a key turn where I could have held back mana to Port and to keep him off BB but played a second Mogg War Marshall instead. I had visions of Chieftain coming in the following turn for some big swings, but it was a greedy play and cost me the game as things spiraled out of control from there.
G2: Solid goblin grinding action FTW.
G3: Wasteland opp's only land after his mull to 5. Piledrivers and tokens beat across his empty board.

2-1 win


Rd. 2: vs the blistering ant storm
When you know you're not prepared for a matchup, it always finds you.

1-2 loss


Rd. 3: vs Anvil-Chains of Mephistopheles, Loam+Punishing Fire
He wasn't quite ready for a horde of green men and couldn't top enough answers/mulliganed a lot.

2-0 win

2-1 in rounds on the day


I stuck around afterwards to play several practice games against the rd 3 opponent and another friend piloting MUD and the Gate, going something like 7-2, but more importantly gaining experience against different decks.


Notes:

• Highlight of the night: Opponents' animated overreactions to T1 Lackey. I swear I thought one guy's head was going to explode. News of Lackey's fall from power has not reached my local shop.
• Splashes: My dual lands didn't get wasted. They always went for Caverns or Port first.
• Machine gun: I finally got to see Skirk Prospector in action on a clogged up board. Ringleader revealed MWM, MWM, Sharpshooter, Ringleader(!). The next turn I gunned down all blockers, swung for about 12, and domed the player for the rest.
• Reminder to self: Porting is not just about keeping them low on total mana, but about keeping them off double colors for key spells. And about buying time.
• Reminder 2: Speak up. The rd.1 opponent tapped out at my EOT to Brainstorm, and then QUICKLY untapped to start his turn without giving me time to crack a fetch. It's my fault for not holding him up, and I walked into Stifle the next turn (hadn't seen it in the match yet, but I suspected it was in). Lesson learned.
• EDIT -- Chieftain: I was only running it because I was short a Warchief, but the singleton Goblin Chieftain made frequent appearances and was consistently good to awesome. In particular I liked that I could commit fewer cards to the board and still get in for enough damage to force a board wipe that was then easier to rebuild from. I haven't read the full debate surrounding it do I'll go do my homework.

All in all a very fun evening and great first run of the deck with several key lessons learned.

[goblinsplayer]

Went 2-2 at a local tournament because i lost my 3-1 match against zoo. Anyways, the list.

4 lackey
4 warchief
4 matron
4 ringleaer
3 incenerator
3 piledriver
3 tarfire
3 MWM
1 prospector
1 chieftain
1 krenko
1 sgc
1 sharpshooter
1 stingscourger
4 vial

11 mountain
3 port
4 wasteland
4 cavern

sb
3 pyrokinesis
3 cotv
3 relic
1 cage
3 mindbreak trap
1 scrapper
1 stingscourger

Matches were

BUG Delver: 1-2
TES: 2-1
D&T: 2-1
Zoo: 1-2

I think the zoo matchup is a hard one for goblins. Thoughts? By the way, will be running this list at scg Philly. Feels good and haven't gone 0-2 in a while now.

[Potdindy]

[QUOTE I think the zoo matchup is a hard one for goblins. Thoughts? By the way, will be running this list at scg Philly. Feels good and haven't gone 0-2 in a while now.[/QUOTE]

Your list is the same as I've been running except I keep bouncing between Tarfires and Thalias. How did the Tarfires do against Zoo? I have gotten to play against Tendrils combos a lot lately and I have found that having 4 Mindbreak Traps is not enough to consistently stop them. Usually they just durress then win...awkward. Is Chalice better against storm combos? I just got tired to watching them combo off without any interaction. Thalia was pretty satisfying as I played her and my opponents just stared at her thinking "what kind of noob plays Thalia in Goblins"...scoop.

Another thing...and probably people have said this already...Vial has proven to be the most consistanly solid turn one play. I always love to go lackey, warchief, piledriver win, but so many times those pieces are getting discarded and lackey gets killed. I am thinking Goblins needs to be even more of a control/tempo now than aggro deck. Tell me if I am wrong...I'd be glad to hear if so.

[goblinsplayer]

[QUOTE I think the zoo matchup is a hard one for goblins. Thoughts? By the way, will be running this list at scg Philly. Feels good and haven't gone 0-2 in a while now.

Your list is the same as I've been running except I keep bouncing between Tarfires and Thalias. How did the Tarfires do against Zoo? I have gotten to play against Tendrils combos a lot lately and I have found that having 4 Mindbreak Traps is not enough to consistently stop them. Usually they just durress then win...awkward. Is Chalice better against storm combos? I just got tired to watching them combo off without any interaction. Thalia was pretty satisfying as I played her and my opponents just stared at her thinking "what kind of noob plays Thalia in Goblins"...scoop.

Another thing...and probably people have said this already...Vial has proven to be the most consistanly solid turn one play. I always love to go lackey, warchief, piledriver win, but so many times those pieces are getting discarded and lackey gets killed. I am thinking Goblins needs to be even more of a control/tempo now than aggro deck. Tell me if I am wrong...I'd be glad to hear if so.[/QUOTE]

I would say the tarfires can be good against zoo. It can be awkward for it to be sitting in your hand when there are just a million wild nacatls and kird apes on the table but it kills a lot of the things in their deck and it's a removal spell on turn one. I would say it is good.

About the chalices, yes, they are better. I personally play TES myself and I find chalice for 1 or 0 very annoying and hard to play around. When you are on the play, you can go: Lackey, chalice for 0, go. That is very good considering it stops them from winning on turn one, stops them from discarding their hand with LED for infernal tutor, and makes winning after ad nauseum very hard. And you don't have to hold it in your hand to get it discarded by a duress or something. You can just run it out on turn one.

About the vial, it may be amazing to stick it turn one against blue tempo decks and the such, but it isn't a huge help against decks against show and tell and other types of fast combo that exist. I would much rather have a lackey turn one on the play than have a vial against a bad matchup such as combo. In the fair matchups, I would agree that we want to land vial, cheat creatures into play while disrupting their mana is better than a turn one lackey getting STPed.

Anyways, a question of my own, What would a good sideboard for a mono red build look like in a meta with alot of RUG, Esperblade, Show and tell, TES, shardless bug and other "blue decks" that happen to be tier one. Oh, and ANT. MY sideboard currently looks like this:

3 chalice
3 trap
3 pyrokinesis
3 relic
1 cage
1 scrapper
1 stingscourger

[GoboLord]

4 lackey
4 warchief
4 matron
4 ringleaer
3 incenerator
3 piledriver
3 tarfire
3 MWM
1 prospector
1 chieftain
1 krenko
1 sgc
1 sharpshooter
1 stingscourger
4 vial

11 mountain
3 port
4 wasteland
4 cavern

sb
3 pyrokinesis
3 cotv
3 relic
1 cage
3 mindbreak trap
1 scrapper
1 stingscourger

I really like your decklist, man. Looks pretty good. Don't know if the Cage is worth the slot though. What are your thoughts on that?
--------------------------------------------------

Just came back from a small event (17 players, 5 rounds). List, results and thoughts:

Mana (22)
4 Caverns, 4 Wasteland, 4 Port
10 Mountain

Core (26)
[...]

Others (12)
4 Mogg War Marshal
4 Gempalm Incinerator
2 Stingscourger
1 Sharpshooter
1 Skirk Prospector

Sideboard (15)
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Pyroblast
3 Pyrokinesis
3 Relic of Progenitus
1 Tuktuk Scrapper
1 Boartusk Liege

RESULTS
R1: ANT (0-2)
R2: ANT (2-0)
R3: RUG-Thresh feat. Punishing Fire (1-2)
R4: Sneak Show (2-0)
R5: Manaless Dredge (2-1)


THOUGHTS
* I really liked the maindeck-composition. If I had to identify any "weak spots" it would be Sharpshooter (again...I just dont get warmed up with this guy) and SGC #2. However, I don't think that there is a worthy replacement for those. I'd prefer some Goblin for {R}...I'd play MWM #5 and #6 if I was allowed to do so. Maybe I try some Frogtosser Banneret next time
* Pyroblast was surprisingly good vs ANT and Sneak Show. I didn't board it vs RUG and I think it this was correct.
* Sneak Show is only problematic with Sneak Attack. They don't want to resolve a S&T against a deck with Matron, Ringleader, SGC and Stingscourger

[LeoCop 90]

I'm currently running the same main deck of goblinsplayer with this little differences : an additional chieftain instead of a warchief ( 3 warchief/2 chieftain) and a tin street hooligan instead of a tarfire (only 2 tarfire). Obviously i don't run 11 mountain but 6 fetch 3 mountain 2 taiga.
I'll post my results when i have the occasion to play in a decent event.

[jrw1985]

The past two weeks have been a bit of a drought for my Magic playing. I went 0-4 over a 2-week period and was feeling pretty frustrated going into this week. So I decided to change my decklist and went mono red this week. The result was a 7-0-1 record over two small weekly tourneys.

The list I went 3-0-1 with...

4 Vial
4 Lackey
4 Piledriver
4 MWM
4 Warchief
4 Matron
4 Gempalm
4 Ringleader
2 SGC
1 Krenko
2 Tarfire
1 Stingscourger

10 Mountain
4 Cavern
4 Waste
4 Port

SB
4 Leyline-o-the-Void
4 Chalice-o-the-Void
4 Mindbreak Trap
1 Tuktuk Scrapper
2 Pyrokinesis

I decided to just make the deck as basic as possible. I don't want to worry about playing around Wasteland. I don't want to play around Stifle. I want to punish the decks that try running fewer than 20 Lands. If I'm going to fight fast combo I want the fastest possible hate. If I fight GY decks I want the best GY hate card. The sideboard cards are uber-powerful in their own right. They are clunky to play with, but goblins never really changes its strategy so your SB cards are usually ones you need to mull to anyway.

R1 Hypergenesis
G1 I play and cast a T1 Vial. My opponent cast T1 Shardless agent into Hypergenesis, putting Progenitus and Grizz into play. I play my entire hand, which includes a Krenko and a Matron. Matron fetches Warchief and my opponent dies a gobliny death T3.
I side in 4 Chalice.
G2 I keep a hand with Chalice and Stingscourger. My opponent doesn't go off T1. I play T1 Chalice @ 0 which my opponent is clearly not prepared for. He goes the SnT route and I Stingscourger his Emrakul. He can't draw back into it before I kill him.

R2 Beastmaster's Ascencion - Cheerios
G1 My opponent mulls to 5 and never gets the pieces he needs. I just mess up his mana base and run him over.
I side in Chalice and Trap
G2 he goes off T1, kills me T2.
G3 T1 Chalice @ 0 from me stops him cold.

R3 Tezzeret Control
G1 I keep a shaky 7 that I knew I should have mulled. L
G2 I side in Leyline and Scrapper. I draw Leyline in my opening 7 and whittle away at his life total until I finally grind out the W.
G3 Another leyline in the opener. This match gets super grindy again and we go to time. I can't kill him in turns, but I think I would have won this one.
Draw

R4 Affinity
G1 he starts off well and fetches up a Batterskull with SFM. I triple-block the BS and use Gempalms to clear his board and keep him from mounting an offensive. Krenko joins the show and its all over. W
G2 i side in Chalice and Scrapper. He plays a land and passes T1. I play T1 Chalice and start shutting down his manabase. He gets a BS online and goes up to 32 life off it while I keep chump blocking. I'm then able to turn the corner and I start taking over the game. W

I decided after that tourney to change the MD and SB.
MD -2 Tarfire +2 Pyrokinesis
SB -2 Pyrokinesis +2 Blood Moon

I played the deck again on Saturday ans went 4-0

R1 newbie. I tried to be nice.

R2 Budget RUG Delver.
G1 he mulled to 4. W
G2 I kept a greedy 1 land hand. He had the Force for my Vial. L
G3 I landed a Blood Moon. W

R3 TES
G1 He wins.
G2 I side in Chalice, MBT and Leyline. I play T1 Chalice @ 0 and Lackey. It was enough! W
G3 I was able to use Wasteland and Port to disrupt his mana development and my Mindbreak Trap in hand made his scoop it up. W

R4 Shardless BUG
G1 I get Krenko online and win. Maindeck Pyrokinesis kills an early game Goyf which proves to be significant.
G2 I side in Blood Moon and Leyline. T0 Leyline makes his DRS significantly worse. I then land a Blood Moon and turn his deck off. W
We play a third for funsies.
G3 Blood Moon hits the table again, and without a DRS in play his deck stops doing anything and I'm able to draw his established board position into deep waters for a third win.

MVPs
Chalice of the Void - This card singlehandedly won 4 matches for me. Hypergenesis, Cheerios, Affinity and TES.
Blood Moon - It occurred to me recently that manabases have become so ridiculously janky that Blood Moon has entered the category of a Free-Win bomb like Leyline or Chalice. It just wins games on its own now. It gives you such a huge advantage against decks that can't play around it. What's happened here is that DRS has made people think their manabases are Wasteland-proof, so they've stopped making any attempt to have a conservative manabase. If you notice G1 that your opponent isn't playing around Wasteland (especially with fetches) that probably means they aren't running any. So Blood Moon will let you turn-off their game T3. All you need after that to win is just to keep playing goblins and chumping until you draw them into deep water. It's pretty damn awesome.

Runner-Up
Leyline of the Void - It turned off Tezzerators Thopter/Sword combo, which was pretty vital. UB decks don't really have any way to answer a Leyline. So turning off that combo allowed me to generate a long-game win off of my mana denial and card advantage.
Krenko - He's awesome against BUG decks because cc4 is outside of AD range. He's awesome against RUG because by the time to land him they've generally run out of burn. When paired with a Warchief, Krenko becomes the biggest bomb in the deck. When the legends rule changes next month I'm going to start running multiple Krenkos and some Chieftains for more hasty-token madness. Chaining Krenkos will be easier and I think might be a new strategy to rely upon.

PS - I liked MD Pyrokinesis more than MD Tarfire.

[magicmerl]

4 Cavern of Souls
4 Wasteland
4 Rishadan Port
3 Scalding Tarn
3 Bloodstained Mire
2 Mountain
2 Plateau
1 Taiga

4 Aether Vial
4 Gempalm Incinerator
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Goblin Warchief
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin Ringleader
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Mogg War Marshal
2 Goblin Piledriver
2 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Skirk Prospector
1 Stingscourger
1 Goblin Sharpshooter

Sideboard
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Rest in Peace
3 Pyrokinesis
1 Tin-Street Hooligan
2 Krosan Grip
1 Angel of Despair

5 Rounds of swiss, cut to top 8. First place was a playset of Wastelands.

Rd 1 vs Affinity 2-1
Not much to say here since this was a newer player. His decision not to run Galvanic Blast hurt him vs me, since Sharpshooter is basically game. (which I find a little puzzling given the playability of Lightning Bolt in the format).

Rd 2 vs Dredge 2-0
In game 1 I managed to open with Prospector which kept Bridge from Below in check until Sharpshooter came online. Game 2 stared with him Therapying Rest in Peace on his T2, hitting 1, but there was another on the top of my library. :)

Rd 3 vs Burn 1-2
Another younger player. I mulled to 5 in all three games here, with the only lands in my 7-6 card hands being combinations of Wasteland and Rishadan Port. There's not much to say, other than I never saw a Chalice of the Void in either SB game, and those were the two I lost. Some days you draw your SB cards and sometimes you don't.

Rd 4 vs Storm 0-2 (the eventual tournament winner)
Mulled to 5 in Game 1, Thalia never showed up. In Game 2 I started with CotV on 0, but never drew any more hate cards, and he Chain of Vapor'd it and killed me on about turn 4-5.

Rd 5 vs Stoneblade 2-1
My win and in! TBH I find this matchup to be pretty easy. I just play as if their equipment is the most important thing, and I want to stop equipped creatures dealing combat damage at all costs.

-- Makes the cut to Top 8 --

Quarterfinals vs RUG 1-2
Not much to say here. I mulled to 5-6 all three games, had sketchy hands without red mana, and never saw any SB cards in any game. The game I won was on the back drawing couple of MWM, and all 4 Gempalms. Nothing he could do there. The third game was a deserved win for him as he went for a mana denial strategy (which made cutting Vials a poor decision in retrospect).

My SB plan vs RUG:
In: 4 RIP, 4 CotV
Out: 4 Aether Vial, 3 Thalia, 1 Prospector
In hindsight I think that I should have kept all 4 Aether Vial and instead cut 2 PD and 2 Lackey. What do you think?

So, yeah. Thoughts on the day:
1. I kinda feel like my topdecking skills were poor
2. I had several hands throughout the day that were perfectly adequate overall but didn't have any red mana in them (when there are 15 in the deck). Maybe a Port needs to turn into another Fetch/Mountain? Maybe I should just shuffle my deck better?
3. TSH was moved to the SB and I didn't miss him MD. Most matchups where I want it I'm perfectly happy to tutor for creature removal instead.
4. Krosan Grip is pretty mediocre as artifact removal vs affinity. It's only really vs the Force/Counterbalance/Top/Enlightened Tutor decks that I want the uncounterability. It's possible that I just cut these and Angel of Despair and move Thalia back to the SB to add more goblins to the maindeck.