Winning With Goblins. Yes, it is possible,

[ScatmanX]

So, it seems that goblins is not dead!
I’ve been modifying the deck for the past weeks, and after Jim Davis’s good finish with it, I felt I could do the same, but with a tuned deck for my meta.
55 People only showed up, though more than 80 said that would be there.
Here it is:


// Lands
3 [M10] Mountain (2)
4 [ON] Bloodstained Mire
3 [ZEN] Arid Mesa
2 [R] Taiga
1 [MM] Rishadan Port
4 [TE] Wasteland
4 [IA] Snow-Covered Mountain

// Creatures
4 [US] Goblin Lackey
4 [ON] Goblin Piledriver
4 [ZEN] Warren Instigator
2 [M10] Siege-Gang Commander
2 [PLC] Stingscourger
2 [GP] Tin Street Hooligan
3 [LE] Gempalm Incinerator
4 [AP] Goblin Ringleader
4 [SC] Goblin Warchief
4 [7E] Goblin Matron

// Spells
2 [MR] Chrome Mox
4 [DS] AEther Vial

// Sideboard
SB: 3 [AL] Pyrokinesis
SB: 1 [ON] Goblin Sharpshooter
SB: 3 [IA] Pyroblast
SB: 2 [NPH] Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 [CH] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 2 [SOM] Arc Trail
SB: 3 [TSP] Ancient Grudge

I wanted to beat all agroo, Hive Mind, Dredge, and everything with Artifacts, from affinity to Landstill. And so I did.
Tormord’s was supposed to be Surgical, to screw with Intuition from Hive Mind.
Ancient Grudge was Krosan Grips before, but Grudge is way better in the environment.
Arc Trails were Bolts, then Mogg Warmarchall, and than Trail. Slot to deal with Agroo. I don’t want a 4th Knesis so I don’t lose too much cards to Knesis+Mox.

Match 1 – Affinity
Game 1 – He leads with a land, mox, and Springleaf Drum. I play mountain and Vial. He cast Arcbound Ravager. I tick Vial. He hits for 1, cast Mnemite, and a Thoughtcast. I vial Lackey, and play a Warchief. He plays Cranial Plating, and attack with Ravager. I don’t block. He taps a land, and Mnemite+Drum, to hit me for 10. I win from there. Lackey connects, getting me a Siege-Gang. A Matron from Vial gets me Stingscourger, to bounce Ravager, and a Gempalm that I had kills the Menmite. He cast Ravager again, but I bounce it again, and win.

Game 2 – He starts with the new 1/1 flier lifelink, mox and Drum. I play land and pass. He gets to cast Signal Pest, Ravager and Batracoid, and hit me with 1. I Knesis the 2/2, and the 2 1/1’s. He sacs them all for Ravager. I play Tin-Stret, and kill Ravager. He gets to Thoughtcast twice later, but I buy 2 Ancient Grudge, and seal the deal.
1-0

Match 2 – Merfolk
Game 1 – I mull into the same hand I had, with 1 less card, then mull again. He leads with Vial. I play Mountain. He passes. I play Wasteland. He Waste my waste, and I draw my next land when he had 2 Lords and a Cursecatcher in play.

Game 2 – I lead with Vial,and so does he. My Vial gets to 2, and gets me a Piledriver, and a Warchief next turn, that visits for 5, while I remove a Lord and another dude with Knesis. He ticks, plays Mutavault, and passes. I attack, Cycle Gempalm to kill Mutavault. He Vials an Adept, and blocks Warchief. I don’t draw any more goblins for the rest of the game, while he rips a Coralhelm and 2 Reejerys in a ron, and end the game with a BeB as the last card. Nice.
1-1

Match 3 – Elves
Game 1 – He start with Llanowar, I with Vial. He gets the Elf that bounce forest and untaps, and cast Priest of Titania. I tick Vial, and cast Mox and Warchief. He does some shannenigans, and cast that 9/9 dude that eats me my Vial, and 2 lands. I cast Instigator. He gets Progenitus. I scoop.

Game 2 – I start with Mountain, Mox, pass, to Cycle Gempalm to try to get me something, he with Llanowar. I get an Instigator. He gets 2 other elves, tapping the 1st one. I cast Arc Trail, remove both blockers, connect with Gator, getting me Matron and Siege-Gang, that kills the last elf. Then that’s game.

Game 3 – He starts with Llnowar, I with Mountain. He gets the Archdruid. I Knesis them both, and cast an Instigator. He cast 2 1/1’s to chump. I attack, he blocks with both, and I Cycle Gempalm to get rid of the other. He cast a Lord. I attack, we trade, and I cast another Instigator. He cast another Lord. I cast Warchief, and trade my Instigator. He doesen’t find enough gas, and 2 Piledrivers finish him off.
2-1

Match 4 – Merfolk
Game 1 – I mull to 5, on the draw, but my Vial gets to stick. He has a Vial too, and gets 2 Adepts, and a Jitte. I Vial a Piledriver and Instigator, to even things. He has a lord, but I have a Gempalm. We draw-go for a while, up until I have 6 lands into play, having drawn only 3 goblins. I “know” he has a FoW, because he showed me another Reejery, but was holding to it, with Vial @2 (he also had Daze and Misstep). Instead of the 7th land, I get a Ringleader. I wait till next turn, to get vial @4, draw another land, and Vial him, getting Warchief, Matron Matron. He lost 2 turns after.

Game 2 – He counters a Lackey, but Instigator sticks. He has Adept and Cursecatcher and Vial. I had another Lackey, and Knesis and Gempalm, but no true goblin. I hit 3 times with Instigator. The 1st and 2nd he had to chump, while I drew lands. When he had only a Lord to block it,I killed it with 1st strike + Gemapalm. Next turn, it connected, and gave me a Ringleader peeled from the top, getting me 4 Goblins. =] He lost 10 life next turn, then died.
3-1

Match 5 – UBG Landstill
Game 1 – This one takes forever. He Starts with fetch. I lead with Lackey, which is Missteped, and Mox + Vial, which he FoW’s. He play land. I play Warchief, that dies his turn. I get to play a Vial, and next turn Siege-Gang. He cast Pernicious, with2 lands open. I stupidly forget to tick Vial to 2 (had Instigator on my hand), and before attack he cracks Deed for 1. I’m left with a Siege-Gang, and 3 lands (one have been Wasted), and play the Instigator, just to get Snared. His turn, he finishes Siege-Gang off, and cast Standstill, with 1 card in his hand. I had 3 lands in play, Matron and Siege-Gang on my hand. I thought a little, and decided to slow roll this Standstill. I draw up to 8 cards, but only 1 land (freaking Taiga). I crack Standstill with Warchief, that gets counterspell’d and Vial, that gets Missteped. He lands a Jace. I play Ringleader, and hit Jace. After this, the game goes long. I draw a whole bunch of goblins, and he gets to use Jace Brainstorm/Bounce/Fatestill for like 15 turns. I resolve a Siege-Gang, but he has to bounce it to do not die my next turn, and kills all my tokens. He has a Loam, and gets to 4 Mishras up, and start to hit me. I take 2, 3, 4 and 4, going to 3. I managed, mean while to hit with 2 more from a Ringleader, getting him at 2. My turn, with 5 lands, and 8 cards. He has 7 cards, Mishra and 2 U. I cast Warchief, that resolves, Stingscourger, that gets Snared, and Tin-Street, that gets to hit for 2, and win the game for me. Phew.

Game 2 – I mull into a nice hand. He leads with Island, I with Mountain and Lackey, that gets Missteped. He plays a Fetch. I play a Mountain. He cracks fetch for Tropical, and attempts a Standstill, that I Pyroblast. I draw, and have a hand of Pyroblast, Wastes, Matron and Siege-Gang.I decide to play a Waste and Matron, to get a Lackey. He plays another dual. I double-waste him (coloured sources) and plays Lackey. I find a 3rd Waste to hit Mishra, and Lackey connects. He can’t find an out in time with an Island and Wasteland in play, and scoops.
4-1

Match 6 – Weenie StoneBlade
Game 1 – He leads with Mother of Runes, followed up with a Squadron Hawk, a Mirran Crusader, than 3/3 angel + Hawk, then Finks than Finks. I had mulled to 5, and almost pulled it off, with a Warchief into Siege-Gang, and Double Piledriver, but he had too many dudes, and those Finks to stall.

Game 2 – I open with Vial, and so does he. I play Port and pass. He E.Tutors for Absolute Law, and plays Mishra. I up Vial. He has a Waste for my Port, and passes. I don’t remember what I have this game, but I was fast. He wasn’t able to cast Absolute Law, because I was applying too much pressure, so I even got to use a Gempalm and a Knesis.

Game 3 – I start with Vial, and so does he. I TSH his Vial. He has another,and a Mom, that gets Gempalmed. He cast a Stoneforge for Jitte while I had a Vial@2, Lackey into play, Matron and Ringleader on my hand. He equips, and attack I take, planning on Vial Matron for TSH to kill the Jitte, but I draw Grudge, that takes care of both Vial and Jitte. From there, he hits me with Mirran Crusader, but it dies do SGC 2 turns later, while I kill all his guys.
5-1

Top 8 – MUD Forgemaster
Game 1 – He has the Indestructible land, New Mox, and Top. I play a Mountain. He plays Mox Diamond, Ancient Tomb and the 5/3 Guy. I play Waste, Mox and Instigator paying 3. He plays a Forgemaster. I play another Waste and Instigator. He plays another Forgemaster. I Matron for Stingscourger. He eot. Gets Blightstill, and hits me for 9 poison after blockers, than sacs 3 artifacts for 2nd Forgemaster, to get Lightning Greaves, and equip. Funny thing is that I had TSH from the beginning of the game, but no G source, otherwise I could have destroyed Greaves and bounce colossus. I drew a vial… =/

Game 2 – I play land, Mox and Piledriver. He plays a land. I miss my landdrop and hit for 1. He plays Metalworker. I play TSH. He plays Metalworker. I Pyroknesis it. He plays Metalworker. I Stingscourger it. Next turn he dies.

Game 3 – I open Waste, Fetch, Lackey, Instigator, Matron, Ringleader and Knesis. He start with Seat of Synod, Top and Mox Opal. I say what the hell, and Waste his Seat. He tops in response, and play City of Traitors. I fetch Mountain and play Lackey. He tops and passes. I hit, and put Instigator into play. He finds Voltaic Key, and do Top Shannenigans to get 1 card. I hit, and have: Matron, Warchief, Lackey, Stingscourger, Instigator, 2 Knesis. I put Matron to find Piledriver, and put it into play, with Warchief too, and pass the turn with 1 open. He plays Metalworker, but I have 2 Knesis and Stingscourger to deal with it. He dies.
6-1

Top 4 – Dredge
Game 1 – Here I start rocking, and make him mull to 4 on the play. He still start with Putrid Imp, and have a dredger. Play Vial with Waste as only land. He Dredges for nothing relevant now (2 Bridges). I Waste him. He dredges 5 more. I Vial lackey, hit him, drop Siege-gang Commander, and sac a token his turn to get the Pimp and Bridges. He finds a Narcomoeba and Therapy. I vial in Piledriver, and win 2 turns later.

Game 2 – He mulls again, and so do I, keeping a hand with Lackey and and goblins. He opens with Gemstone and P.Imp. I with Lackey. He play that U land, and passes. I draw, and pass to, not finding land. He passes again. I find my land, and cast Stingscourger. When I attack, he Firestorms me and my dudes for 3.His turn he plays a Tireless Tribe (Gemstone goes to grave) and pass. I play Instigator. He passes again. I play Piledriver, and in his drawstep, “Extirpate” his Firestorm, seeing Therapy and nothing relevant. My turn I bounce his dude, and get Warchief and Piledriver. He dies next turn.
7-1

Finals is not played, since both players get to go to National.

I just wanted to write this down to see if people stop whining about MM ambient and this kind of stuff.
Also to say that Goblins is still an awesome deck, that can beat those U and equipment decks. I’m tired of people saying that the deck is dead, and shit like that.
Thanks.

Don’t really know what else to write.

Props:
Store
Winning
Goblins
Team

Slops:
Shimi, for getting too drunk, throwing up on the road twice, and not playing.
Losing to Merfolk, that is easy as hell.

[death]

Nice list you got there. congrats on your finish!

[Charlatan]

Eu não acredito nessas duas moxes. Elas são realmente necessarias?

[Amon Amarth]

How has Chrome Mox been for you? It's been rather inconsistent for me. Sometimes I wish it was a Mountain so I had an extra card. Or sometimes it's been WI > Chieftain... which is "pretty good."

Grats on the finish. Keep reppin' them Goblins.

[ScatmanX]

On this tournament, the only time Mox was bad, was against Landstill, because Deed destroyed it.
Every other time I used, it was better than the Mountain. (G2 against MUD it was irrelevant)
I suggest people to try 2. The speed burst is really good, and with the CA we have, it is rarely a problem.
I don't mean to cut them any time soon (But no, they are not necessary, since there are other sucessful lists that don't run any).

[Mon,Goblin Chief]

Gratz on the win! Love that you're rocking the four Instigators, exactly what I'd be doing in Goblins.

Also thanks for making an effort to prove that MM doesn't kill Goblins *g*

[Mojeh]

Congratz man!
Your list is awesome, innovation is the key.
Have you missed the Black Splash?

[ScatmanX]

Thanks.

Have you missed the Black Splash?

Not at all. We don't need it in this meta.
- Perish is not needed, since Ancient Grudge and Tin-Street got better now, once green (and white, of course) decks are relying much more on Stoneforge.
- There is much less Zoo (at least around here).
- Wort is too slow.
- Weirding is worse than the options now, due to decks with high density of creatures.

[Shimi]

Congratulations Scat!!

Shimi, for getting too drunk, throwing up on the road twice, and not playing.

If I could barely hold my cards... but at least I get some Coconut Ice Cream in my free time.Also I think it was way more than 2 times...

[GoboLord]

First of all: Congratulations, man! Very well done!
About your decklist:

1) Nice to see that 2 TSH in MD actually worked out. Do you think it's a good idea to go up to 3 copies in MD (and maybe cut the 23rd land)?

2) What about the single Rishadan Port? Why did you play it over the 3rd Taiga? And how did you like it?

Now regarding your SB:
SB: 3 [AL] Pyrokinesis
SB: 1 [ON] Goblin Sharpshooter
SB: 3 [IA] Pyroblast
SB: 2 [NPH] Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 [CH] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 2 [SOM] Arc Trail
SB: 3 [TSP] Ancient Grudge

3) Why did you choose to play Ancient Grudge > Krosan Grip? Although I must admit that it's a really nice idea I'd rather have something to fight Pernicious Deed.

4) Arc Trail is really, really nice tech. Did you use it in other MUs than Elves? And: WHat do you think would have been better: Arc Trail or MWM?

5) Why did you cut Blood Moon/Choke? (I guess you cut them for GY hate? Not a bad move though, since you actually faced Dredge)

[Davran]

Congratulations on the finish! It's good to see that not everyone is shelving their goblins.

A couple of sideboard questions:

1) Do you feel that the single target artifact hate is enough in match-ups like MUD and Affinity?

2) Do you think that Blood Moon would have helped the landstill match at all?

3) I'll echo GoboLord and give you props for Arc Trail! How useful was it for you, and what did you bring it in against?

4) How was Surgical Extraction? Did you find it to be sufficient in your dredge match?

[ScatmanX]

Thanks all for the compliments.

@Gobbolord:
1 - I don't think 3 might be a good idea, because there are quite a lot of MU's were he is useless. I don't pretend to cut the 23'th land.

2 - Port was not over the 3rd Taiga. It's there as the 5th land-denial, and as the 23th mana source. I don't like having Taigas on my opening, so I'm good with 2. Port was nice. Sometimes I wished I had 2, but they would conflict with 4 Instigator too much. 16 R mana producers are the minimum for me. (yeah, I have Mox, but I don't want to cast it every time...)

3 - The number of MUDs and Affinities and Stoneforge-decks here was too high. Against Landstill, we already have a positive MU (not great, but positive). Also, there were no Plagues/Humilities around here.

4 - Arc Trail was DEFINITELY better than MWM. I kept thinking of matchs were I'd side MWM in, and Arc Trails got in on many more. I tested them against Merfolk, and liked it (It + Sharpshooter is reckless), and brought it against WWdeck too. Also, I'd bring it against all tribal, Zoo (Qasali/Stoneforge + Lynx/Lavamancer)and Bant (Qasali/Stoneforge + Noble/Dryad Arbor).

5 - Actually, the Moons were cut for Pyroblast. T.A. has suddenly disappeared and, as I said, we have a positive Landstill MU. Because these were the 2 MU's I most wanted Moons/Choke, they felt unnecessary.

@Devran:
1 - Yes. post SB I had 5 artifact removal (2 tutorable, 3 that I could use twice) and 3 Knesis, that deal with multiple Affinity creatures, and and free to cast, which is huge against MUD, because getting rid of Metalworker is key (see game 2 against them).

2 - Yes, it would. But then again, it is not necessary, and I wanted a broader card, because I thought I'd play too many Folks and Hive Minds, so Pyroblast were a better choice.

3 - Answered there. Thanks=]

4 - I still think that the Dredge MU is pretty bad (and got really lucky against them), but I do not want to waste a whole lot of SB space on it, because the deck can lose to itself, and Knesis is actually really good against it. I went with Surgical, because it could mess up with Hive Mind too (if he used Intuition).

[L10]

Very nice report and finish!

Gobolord and Davran pretty much asked the same questions I would have had. I just have three more.

1. Why not replace one Arc Trail for a fourth Pyrokinesis, or that does that cause too much card disadvantage?

2. Have you thought about having a third Chrome Mox to have a better chance of getting it in turn 1? (22.14% to 31.54%)

3. How would you change your deck around against an unknown meta, since this deck was clearly catered heavily towards your known meta.

[ScatmanX]

@L10:
1 - You're right. It's because of the C.A. Those slots were Lightning Bolts, but being 1cc sucked, and then Mogg Warmarchall, but Arc Trail gets the nod being better against a lot of MU's.

2 - No. Drawing into 3 Chrome Mox will lose you too many games. Drawing 2 is already bad.

3 - The MD I'd just wonder if MWM would be better than TSH. On the SB, Grudges would probably became Grips, and Grave-Hate and a arc-trail would probably became combo-hate, but I didn't put a lot of thought into this, since the metagame you play is never really Random...

[Fatal]

Hey, I have a question did u test instead Chrome/WI -> Mental Misstep ?

Just wondering is this could working looking on Jim Davis list it could be also right direction.

[jrw1985]

I like that the 2 TSHs give your deck essentially 7 removal slots. I personally would probably cut 1 WI for a fourth Gempalm, just cause Gempalm is that good. I also like that you've cut down to 1 Port. With so many Sol Lands and free spells in the meta, and with your list's reliance on RR in the cc it seems like Port is being powered out of the format. Tapping down land just doesn't do what it used to, and now that Gobbos is less likely to resolve a T1 Lackey or Vial, we need red mana open to cast spells. We don't want to be stuck on colorless mana when we need to hardcast bodies.

Another reason I like 4 Gempalms is that they play very well with Vial and WI. You can cycle them in response to the Vial upkeep trigger (so you know whether or not to put a counter on it), and you can use it to burn out a blocker after WI first strike damage is dealt (one for none!).

Congratulations. Way to represent.

[Mantis]

In order to do well with Goblins, experience with the deck and really understanding it's foundations is paramount. Lacking this understanding will result in failure. That said, great job and what an insane build you created. Thanks for sharing your tournament experience and build. Personally, I will likely steal some of your ideas such as the Arc Trails, the TSHs and the Ancient Grudges.

One thing I really dislike are the Chrome Moxen. I know there has been a lot of discussion regarding this card in the Goblins thread, but I'd just like to chime in and give my view as well. Chrome Mox has some serious blowout potential, but it can totally backfire as in the case of when mulligans occured or when you rip it from the top. It is my belief, that the situations where Chrome Mox is insane, are situations where with tight play you could have navigated your way to the win regardless. In the situations Mox is bad, it can easily cost you the game. Now I can see a case being made for 1, but with 2 there are bound to be some games where you draw both and this just isn't acceptable. To recap, I personally would run 0, but can see a case being made for 1. I feel like 2 or more Moxen results in a suboptimal deck.

Also, I 100% agree with what jrw1985 said. Way to represent :).

[ScatmanX]

Hey, I have a question did u test instead Chrome/WI -> Mental Misstep ?

Just wondering is this could working looking on Jim Davis list it could be also right direction.

If I got your question right, yes, I did try Misstep.
I liked quite a lot in several games, but it was lackluster in so many ways, I dropped. I guess even Jim Davis will drop them, since his success was not, imo, due to it, but rather in spite of it.

@jrw1985: I'd certainly would like to have a 4th Incinerator, but can't cut Instigator right now. The right number is 4.
Thanks for the compliments.

@Mantis: I see your point. Maybe 1 Mox might be the optimal, or maybe is a play style thing. I really don't know what to comment, since I respect people not wanting to use it, but they have served me so well in testing and tournaments. Maybe next one I play with only 1 Mox, and see that you were right, or maybe I'll find myself in a situation were a 3 Mountain hand just won't match the speed of another deck.
Thanks for the compliments.

[raindrainxi]

Congrats Scat for the excellent tournament result!

Just another question regarding the Moxen, which card did you most imprint it with? I tried the build using 2 of them, and found that I try to exile Gempalm a great deal, only to wish I didn't later on. But with your build I guess the TSH comes in handy during the times no artifacts come out on the first turn.

Another question would be about the GY hate, I can see that you relied mostly on a single Crypt. Were you not worried against the Dredge MU to mull to an Extraction or Crypt? Although I think you were not expecting as much in your meta.

As all the others, I applaud the Arc Trail tech, I'll try to "borrow" that.

Again, way to boost all the other Warchief's morale.

[ScatmanX]

@raindrainxi: Thanks.
The most imprinted goblins were Piledriver, TSH and Warchief, because they are the ones that do not provide CA, and are not stellar by them selfs. Depending on the MU, others are ok. Against MUD and Dredge, I imprinted Ringleader, since it was not CA that would win me the game.

Against dredge I brought 3 Knesis, Crypt and 2 Surgicals. I don't think that it make the MU good, and no, I usually don't mull into the. A good Lackey hand is a sure keep for me. I prefer Surgical because, unlike Crypt, it can come in against Hive Mind (intuition) and other decks (I think I brought against Landstill too), while Crypt is more narrow.