GP Lille with Goblins

[GoboLord]

Hello fellow Chieftains,
I attended the main event of GP Lille on Saturday I want to share my experiences from the weekend with you.

Preparations
Prior to the trip I tried to get a good idea of the expected meta-game by conduction some web-research and listening to people who prepared themselves for the same event. The outcome was that Miracles, Omnitell and Grixis (in its different incarnations) will be the most popular decks, while Storm and Elves are the ‘underplayed’, but excellent contenders. Also, from my experience, GPs draw a lot of people who either (1) just try out the format with some Legacy-version of an actual Modern deck (Burn, Infect, Jund) or just go YOLO with Dredge, Spanish Inquisition, Belcher and the like.
Another part of the preparation was tuning my sideboard. While my MD was basically settled months and weeks ago, the sideboard was a different story. The sideboard of a goblin deck is usually very wide open and can be adapted to any meta-game. It’s not unusual that the sideboard alone determines which (if any) splash color a goblin deck chooses. I worked on my sideboard in the weeks before the GP with the kind help of ScatmanX whose opinion I value because he has a lot of experience and success with the deck.
Friday prior to the GP I met Sandro95, finalist of the previous Scandinavian Open (playing RB Goblins), and we discussed our decklists in relation to our meta game expectations. My take-home messages from this discussion were (1) to streamline the deck and (2) that we do not have to beat every deck.
In conclusion of all this I sleeved up the following list;

Decklist
4 Cavern of Souls
2 Wasteland
2 Pendelhaven
11 Mountain
1 Snow-Covered Mountain
3 Chrome Mox

4 Aether Vial
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Warren Instigator
4 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Chieftain
3 Goblin Warchief
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin Ringleader
3 Tarfire
1 Stingscourger
1 Tuktuk Scrapper
1 Goblin Sharpshooter

Sideboard
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Trinisphere
3 Pyrokinesis
2 Magus of the Moon
2 Relic of Progenitus

Main Event

Round 1: Walter with Shardless BUG
I go first with Goblin Lackey. Walter casts a Deathrite Shaman. On my turn I play a Mountain, then Chrome Mox (removing ???) and cast Goblin Chieftain, attack for 4 damage and Lackey connects into another Goblin Chieftain. Walter has neither a creature, nor an Abrupt Decay on his second turn and the game is already decided.
WIN.

+2 Magus of the Moon, -1 Goblin Sharpshooter, -1 Goblin Warchief

In game 2 I push some damage through, we trade some creatures. At some point he casts Shardless Agent revealing Tarmogoyf. On my next turn I develop my board a little further and pass the turn. Walter casts Toxic Deluge for 3, drops to 11 life, wipes my board and leaves me 5 lands in play, an Aether Vial @4 and 0 cards in hand. On my turn I windmill-slam a Ringleader from top of library to the battlefield via Aether Vial. Ringleader reveals Chieftain and Piledriver; I cast both of them and attack him for exactcies.
WIN.

1-0

Round 2: Marien with Grixis Pyromancer
In game 1 I keep the following opening hand: Wastelands, 2x Aether Vial, Goblin Piledriver, 2x Goblin Matron, Goblin Chieftain. I go first with Aether Vial. Marien plays Ponder out of an Island. I draw a Tarfire, cast my second Vial and pass the turn. Marien fetches a Volcanic Island and casts Young Pyromancer. On my turn I tick my Vials up to 1 and 2 counters, destroy his Volcanic Island with Wasteland and pass the turn. Marien casts another cantrip and attacks with Pyromancer. I tap Vial to put Piledriver into play, but it catches a Lightning Bolt and I take 2 damage from Pyromancer. On my turn I tick Vials to 2 and 3 Counters, draw another Piledriver and pass the turn. On his turn Marien fetches a Volcaninc Island, casts Young Pyromancer and attack with the other. I put Piledriver into play via Aether Vial, it catches a Bolt again and I take 3 damage. As Marien is tapped out I tap my Vial at EOT to bring in Matron, fetching Goblin Sharpshooter. In my turn set my Vials to 3 and 3 counters, bring in Sharpshooter and Chieftain and wipe his whole board.
WIN.

+2 Pyrokinesis, -1 Stingscourger, -1 Piledriver

In game 2 we both mull down to 5 and we both keep quite good hands there. Marien has a Monastery Swiftspear and I got Goblin Lackey, Warren Instigator. On turn 3 I cast Piledriver and attack him with both creatures; he blocks my Warren Instigator and play Pyrokinesis to wipe my board. I kill Swiftspear with Tarfire. At this point I have 3 lands in play and a Ringleader in hand. Marien has 3 lands as well, but no card in hand. On his turn he plays Gitaxian Probe for mana, and draws Cabal Therapy, which brings both of us into topdeck mode. Goblin are better in topdeck mode than most other legacy decks, so I ultimately won this game, because I have more threats than Marien.
WIN.

2-0

Round 3: Omar with Grixis Delver
What are BYEs anyway?

In game 1 Omar bashes my face with two Delver of Secrets who are in wasp-mode in turns 2 and 3. I couldn’t race that.
LOSE.

+2 Pyrokinesis, -1 Warchief, -1 Piledriver

Game 2 is a grindy one and Omar drops too many cards that want to access the graveyard. His graveyard is constantly empty and due to me not playing fetchlands his triple-DRS is pretty much useless. At some point I destroy his Grim Lavamancer with Tarfire and run over him.
WIN.

With 10 Minutes on the clock we start game 3. I open with Lackey, Omar opens with Delver of Secrets. I attack on turn 2 and he doesn’t block (probably because he thought he could win the race) and I drop Warren instigator out of Lackey. On the next turn he attack me with a flipped Delver of Secrets, casts Deathrite Shaman and passes. I attack with Lackey and Winstigator, Omar blocks Lackey (in order not to lose his DRS in the combat) and I connect into Matron, fetching Stingscourger and drop Stingscourger @ Delver with the the second trigger of Winstigator, bouncing his Wasp. At that point the game is basically decided as he can’t catch up with my board position.
WIN.

3-0

Round 4: Davy with Merfolk
I go first in game 1 and I keep the following 7: Chrome Mox, Cavern of Souls, Wasteland, Goblin Piledriver, 2x Goblin Chieftain, Goblin Sharpshooter. I open with Chrome Mox (removing Sharpshooter), Caverns, and Piledriver. On the following turn I learn why my opponent made such a disgusted face: he was on Merfolk. He opened with Island, Cursecatcher and passed. On my turn I dropped Wasteland, cast Chieftain and attack him for 6. Davy drops Mutavault and passes. I draw a Mountain, cast my second Chieftain and he scoops.
WIN.

+2 Pyrokinesis, -1 Sharpshooter, -1 Stingscourger

In game 2 Davy plays an Island and passes. I open with Cavern, which gets Dismembered at EOT. Davy play Lord of Atlantis and passes.I cast Warren Instigator and pass back. He play Cursecatcher and Master of the Pearl Trident and swings for 3. On my turn I make a horrible misplay with Pyrokinesis. I divide all 4damage to Lord of Atlantis, instead of dividing it 3-1 on his Lord + Cursecatcher. I can’t attack with Warren Instigator because he would be able to trade 1-1 with his Curscather. I pass the turn, he drops another Lord and I scoop the turn after because my hand is too clunky to keep up.
LOSE.

Game 3 is a true arms raise. I have two Piledriver, he has True Name Nemesis and 2 Lords. I beat him for 6 (with 2 Piledrivers), he swings for 5 and drops a Mutavault. At this point I can’t attack all-in because Piledriver will be blocked by Mutavault and the ther one does not deal lethal damage. If I don’t kill him he would kill me in return. In his next turn he attack with TNN again, dropping me to 10 life, then casts Phantasmal Image, copying TNN, which means his attack is lethal next turn. On my turn I needed to draw any hastey goblin or a wasteland in order to win. I draw Ringleader, rvealing Chieftain and he takes 16 damage from the one unblocked Piledriver and some more damage from some other unblocked creatures.
WIN.

4-0

Round 5: Yves with Reanimator
Yes goes first, drops a Swamp and passes. I drop aether Vial and pass back. At EOT he Entombs Sphinx of the Steel Wind and Reanimate it on his next turn. I scoop some turns after.
LOSE.

+4 Chalice of the Void, +4 Trinisphere, +2 Relic of Progenitus, -4 Ringleader, -3 Tarfire, -1 Sharpshooter, -1 Tuktuk Scrapper, -1 ???

In game 2 I saw the following 7 cards: Caverns, Mountain, Pendelhaven, Lackey, Relic, Chalice, Winstigator.

QUESTION
What would you do with this hand and why?
LOSE.

4-1

Round 6: Anthony with Affinity
In game 1 Anthony has an amazing run. He builds up some blockers, so that I can’t really deal any damage. Later he plays Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas and I eat his ultimate for 20 damage on the next turn.
LOSE.

+2 Magus of the Moon, -1 Stingscourger, -1 Piledriver

In game 2 he drowns his lifepoints with Ancient tomb. At 12 Life I get an Sharpshooter online, which deals 4 damage after some combats with Master of Etherium. On 8 life I attack Anthony with Goblin Chieftain and 2 Winstigators – Anthony blocks Chieftain and takes 8 damage from Warren Instigators, as he forgot that Chieftain pumps them up by +1/+1.
WIN.

+1 Piledriver, +1 Pyrokinesis, -2 Magus of the Moon

In game 3 I open with Warren Instigator ony turn 1, while Anthony only has that black artifact land and a Springleaf drum. On my turn I connect into Matron, fetching Tuktuk Scrapper, and drop Scrapper with the 2nd WInstigator trigger, destroying his only land. The game is over pretty quickly after that.
WIN.

5-1

Round 7: Kai with Storm
Kai is a friend of mine and we know each other’s decklists. We wish each other the best of luck and start the game. Kai mulls to + and opens with Gitaxian Probe (revealing Chrome Mox, Mountain, 2x Warren Instigator, 2x Chieftain, Warchief), then Cabal Therapy naming Warren Instigator. I topdeck Lackey, cast it and pass. On his next turn Kai takes away my Warchief with Thoughtseize. On my turn I waste his dualland, attack with Lackey, drop Chieftain and pass. Kai takes two more chunks of 4 damage, while I only draw lands. At 5 life he goes off.
LOSE.

+4 Trinisphere, +4 Chalice, +2 Relic, +2 Magus of the Moon, -4 Vial, -3 Tarfire, -1 Stingscourger, -1 Sharpshooter, -1 Tuktuk Scrapper, -2 Ringleader

In game 2 I keep hand that kills him on turn 3 (3 lands, Lackey, 2 Piledriver, Chieftain), but has no disruptive elements (i.e. no SB cards). He goes off on turn 2 casting a natural Tendrils from his hand (Brainstorm, Lotus Petal, Lotus Petal, Dark Ritual, Infernal Tutor for Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Infernal Tutor for Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Tendrils of Agony).
LOSE.

5-2

Round 8: Nicholas with Infect
I don’t remember all details, but Itake 5 poison counters (from Glisterner Elf + Invigorate) before he dies.
WIN.

+4 Chalice, +2 Magus, -4 Vial, -1 Stinger, -1 Tuktuk Scrapper

In game 2 Nicholas does nothing on turn 1. I open with Lackey. Nicholas casts Blightsteel Agent on turn 2 and passes. I cast Chalice @1 on my turn 2, which gets Dazed. On his next turn he kills me with double Invigorate + Vines of Vastwood.
LOSE.

In game 3 I Tarfire his Elf, and later connect into Matron + Sharpshooter with my Winstigator. Sharpshooter stays alive for one whole round before he gets Hyroblasted. At that point my boardposition is too good already and Nicholas concedes.
WIN.

6-2

On to the win-and-in round! My friend and room-mate Toby, who is playing ANT is 6-2 too, so this round is an exciting one for both of us.

Round 9: Niels with Omnitell
I go first, but have no T1 play. My hand is: Caverns, Mountain, Pendelhaven, Warren Instigator, Piledriver, 2x Chieftain. On turn 2 I cast Winstigator, which connects into Chieftain and Chieftain on turn 3. I hold back Piledriver in order to reveal that I have lethal damage on board next turn. Niels casts Gitaxian Probe for mana (revealing Piledriver, a land and Stingscourger) then plays City of Traitors, casts Show & Tell and drops Omniscience. After some Digging and Cantripping he has 2 Emrakuls in hand.
LOSE.

+4 Trinisphere, +4 Chalice of the Void, -3 Aether Vial, -3 Tarfire,-1 Sharpshooter, -1 Tuktuk Scrapper

I mull to 6 and keep a mediocre hand with Chrome Mox, some pitch-target, Warren Instigator, Piledriver, but no disruption. This was a huge mistake to start with. On turn 3 Niels drops Omnicience out of Show and Tell, but to my surprise he passes the turn. I attack him for 5, (no Goblins to bring in with Winstigator) getting him down to 12. And here my next mistake comes. On the next turn I draw Goblin Ringleader, but instead of just dropping it out of the Winstigator trigger, I cast it (without Caverns in play) and Niels has FoW. I swing for 5 putting him to 7. On the next turn I draw a Chrome Mox, which I cast without fueling it (in order to have 7+ permanents for Emrakul’s attack) and attack him for 5 again, putting Niels down to 2 life (this is where the damage from Ringleader was missing). Niels went off the following turn.
LOSE.

6-3


Summary
R1: Shardless BUG (2-0)
R2: Grixis (2-0)
R3: Grixis (2-1)
R4: Merfolk (2-1)
R5: Reanimator (0-2)
R6: Affinity (2-1)
R7: Storm (0-2)
R8: Infect (2-1)
R9: OmniTell (0-2)

Resumé
* I won the ‘fair’ MUs and lost the combo MUs – just what you would expect from Goblins
* mulligan decision have been a topic all day, and I think that I won some games because my opponents did not dare to take mulligans. In general mulligans have only small effect on Goblins, as we are able to get back into the game with Matron and Ringleader at some point.
* the MD I put together feels super solid and strong. It consistently does what it is built for. Basic Mountains make DRS a lot less effective and this makes Magus of the Moon more interesting in the “DRS”-MUs.
* I did not play against Miracles all day, which is without doubt the best MU of the deck
* my opponents where very friendly all day – in victory and in defeat
* despite the very bitter end at round 9 it was a good tournament and a good sample of games to show that Goblins are in a good spot to beat the non-combo decks of the format, with the benefit of having an excellent Miracles MU
* MVP of the day was Goblin Chieftain: it pushes Lakey and Winstigator past DRS, it provides haste and gives you more power in combat oriented MUs. The default decision should be not to attack with Chieftain, in order to keep him alive for as long as possible. At the point where you have 2 Chieftains in play the damage output becomes absurd.
* Although I had 3 Pyrokinesis in the SB I boarded only 2 copies all day. While my SB cards were very shy today anyway, I was not totall happy with boarding Kinesis against Grixis, because the combination of Chrome Mox, Vial and their Cabal Therapy would eat my hand away too fast and ultimately render Pyrokinesis useless.
* Although I won all non-combo MU I think the list could have a problem with large creatures like Gurmag Anglear and Tarmogoyf. For this reason I think Mogg War Marshal might be a good choice for the SB, as it not only time-walk large creature exalted attacks, but it also provides additional 4 damage with Chieftain and Piledriver.

Changes
For future events I would consider the following changes:

-3 Pyrokinesis: (as described above)
+2 Goblin Sharpshooter: the card is insane against Grixis and can multiple copies improve the lategame in grindy MUs, like Shardless BUG and Grixis, where you can chumpblock and go wild with triggers.
OR
+ 2 Mogg War Marshal: (as described above)
+ 1 Magus of the Moon: the card is very strong and can wreck havoc in many MUs. I would not board it against multicolored deck with Lightning Bolt though.
OR
+1 Relic of Progenitus: shrinks Goyfs, and makes Delve-spells like DTT and Angler more difficult to cast.
-1 Stingscourger, + 1 Subterrean Scout: my one and only reason to clinge to Stingscourger was that it bounces Emrakul on occasion. However, I think that OmniTell is not designed to drop Emrakul off Show and Tell,m but cast it off Omniscience. In this case Stingscourger is anything but usefull and I would be glad to give Subterrean Scout a spin instead. It is especially dangerous in this list, as it makes the 12 key-creatures (Lackey, Winstigator, Piledriver) unblockable. Also the list is design to overwhelm the opponent and Subterrean Scout helps exactly with that. One drawback of running Chrome Moxen is that your deck is relatively more “often” Hellbent than the traditional Goblin list. In this configuration the Echo of Stingscourger hurts even ore, as you want to build up your resources as fast as possible and not lose any creature. Subterrean Scout fulfils the same role as Stingscourger on turn 2 and 3, with the additional benefit that it doesn’t die on your next upkeep.

I hope you enjoyed the short trip to the lands of goblins. Thank you for reading my report. Questions are very much appreciated.

[lyracian]

Glad to see Winstigator did some work and it looks like you had some fun overall.

[LeoCop 90]

Well done mate, reaching day 2 would have been the reward for your dedication to goblins, but your result was very good anyway.

Regarding the hand against reanimator, i would keep it. You have two pieces of disruption, and although your threats are a bit anemic, you can topdeck virtually anything (piledriver, chieftain, matron, ringleader) and you have a solid clock. Mulliganing would be greedy i'd say, you can't hope to have it all. I think i would go with turn one relic, turn 2 chalice=1, so that even if he has a force of will you have a realistic possibility of disrupting him. Then on turn three cast instigator and lackey (this one off cavern so he resolves through chalice), turn 4 attack, and if you drew something good you probably win on turn 5.

[Olaf Forkbeard]

Mulliganing would be greedy i'd say, you can't hope to have it all.

Is it greedy with the new proposed Mulligan Rule?

[jrw1985]

Round 5: Yves with Reanimator
Yes goes first, drops a Swamp and passes. I drop aether Vial and pass back. At EOT he Entombs Sphinx of the Steel Wind and Reanimate it on his next turn. I scoop some turns after.
LOSE.

+4 Chalice of the Void, +4 Trinisphere, +2 Relic of Progenitus, -4 Ringleader, -3 Tarfire, -1 Sharpshooter, -1 Tuktuk Scrapper, -1 ???

In game 2 I saw the following 7 cards: Caverns, Mountain, Pendelhaven, Lackey, Relic, Chalice, Winstigator.

QUESTION
What would you do with this hand and why?
LOSE.

4-1

First off, congrats on the strong showing. You did us all proud.

Onto the questions at hand though, it was a very interesting G2 hand to play against Reanimator. Actually, I would say it is a very strong hand, but also a risky one. You don't have gas, but you have two enablers and two pieces of hate, and given just a little bit of luck you will topdeck gas and close out the game quickly. Your gameplan with this hand must center around resolving your hate cards because you are not guaranteed a clock. You need to slow Reanimator down, cut off their options.

It's almost reflex to say that your T1 play should be Cavern into Lackey, but let's look at all the possibilities. You have 3 cards you can cast T1: Lackey, Relic, or Chalice @ 0. Lackey is the most obvious play, but considering your hand it won't necessarily pay dividends if you cannot resolve hate. Relic T1 is a possibility, but it doesn't actually DO anything T1, so it's kind of a wasted turn. Chalice @ 0 can be played along either of those lines, or it could be played by itself. All you'd really be stopping though is Lotus Petal, which might prevent a quick kill from Reanimator, but it certainly doesn't take them out of the game. The correct play very much depends on the type of hand Reanimator kept, so it's difficult to say there is clearly one line that is optimal.

How will your opponent respond to your line? They are on the draw and have the benefit of an extra card. They'll probably be packing more discard than Daze since they're on the draw, and Daze doesn't matter T1 anyway. Force is a real card though. Anything you play can be Forced unless it's a Goblin coming off of Cavern. Anything you don't play T1 could find itself being hit with a Thoughtseize on your opponent's T1. So you have to think about what you'd like in your hand vs what you want on the field.

In my experience against Reanimator there is very little they side in against us. G2 generally looks the same as G1, except maybe a few Show and Tell will be sided in and maybe Daze will be sided out. Maybe. You can generally expect that they will have more Force and Daze than discard spells, meaning counters are still what you'll want to play around. That's important because, given the fact that we have three lands including Cavern in hand, we know we can play around Force and Daze to a degree.

Given our assumptions about our opponent, and taking into consideration our starting hand and our endgame, we need a line that not only maximizes our resources but also minimizes theirs. We are trying to cut off their gameplan after all since we don't have the option of putting on a super-fast clock immediately. To me this means that we need to get our opponent to make a mistake, or make them use their cards sub-optimally.

The best T1 play here is going to be Lackey. But it's not Lackey off Cavern. You need to play the Lackey off Mountain to bait the Force. We know that Lackey T1 actually doesn't pose much of a threat, but our hate cards do. Play the Lackey and represent a fast clock. Get your opponent to Force it since it was played off Mountain. Hopefully that Force is pitching a dig card or a Daze. On your opponent's turn they can cast a Careful Study or Entomb. That's fine, since we can cast Relic T2 with mana open to activate it. Once Relic is in play Reanimator needs to dig for bounce or Show and Tell, or they need to try and go off which forces our hand to pop Relic. That works for us. If they make us blow Relic we play Chalice @ 1 T3 with 1 mana open for Daze. If we haven't popped Relic we can play Winstigator off Cavern and leave 1 mana open to pop Relic. Either way, we're in a strong spot at that point with a couple top-decks to work with too.

T1 Lackey off Mountain
T2 Relic
T3 Winstigator if Relic is still in play. Chalice @ 1 if Relic was popped.

Now I must know: What line did you take and what line did your opponent take?

[Kanti]

What made you switch to the Chrome Mox version the of the deck? How was 4 Chieftan/ 3 Warchiefs? Did they ever clog up your hand? Would you bring the same build of Goblins tomorrow? What changes to the md would you make? I see you're pretty set on Pendelhaven, and I think running only basics is a boon to fight DRS and neuter Stifle, though I feel you might be able to afford that 3rd Wasteland for value.

Also, what are your sideboard ideas moving forward? Looking at your sb it is just filled with a plethora of combo hate, and you 0-2'd all of the matches. I think a lot of this has to do with you being at such a disadvantage g1 that by the time you get to g2 and g3 even if you shored up the match-up it's obviously not enough to take home the round.

Also, to your question, and to the post above, I woudn't try to get too cute and I would just cast a Relic t1. They have to have the Force, and since you are on the play you are dodging Daze, and take away any chances that they pluck it with a TS or Duress. No need to get too nervous imo and bait a Force when your opp can dream-crush you with Duress+Force. Just ram your Relic into the Force, and if it resolves go t2 Caverns, WInstigator, t3 attack, drop Lackey+X, t3 drop Chalice on 1 that can go around a Daze. Yes, you have redundant pieces in Lackey and WInstigator which make the hand not the prettiest to play out, mostly because you are not getting any real value from Lackey if you go about my it way, but it's a hand that goes t1 hate, t2 clock, t3 hate, t4 try to take over the game.

[Chatto]

First of all, congrats on your results! It was really nice seeing you again. Makes me brew with Goblins for the next tournament!

Regarding your question: it's a keep, no need to get greedy Now on the sequencing of spells: I would lead with T1 Relic. Reasoning, trying to bait will lead you nowhere: Entomb into fatty gives your opponent a good blocker.

Now, he either has FoW or not, so jamming Relic is the best option IMHO. T2 Lackey, T3 Chalice going around Daze would hopefully give you enough time...

In the end, what did you do?

[ScatmanX]

Excellent run man.
Interesting to see that the last minute changes did not affect any single game. Maybe you'd have some discard against combo, but maybe not.
Also, you won your fair MU's without Magus, so why do you think your deck still needs a 3rd Magus? Seems counter-intuitive for me.
Still on the SB: Remember why we decided on 3 Kinesis? Elves. And elves is basically the only MU you'd want all of them, siding 1-2 in some others. Shooter is awesome against them, but I recall it not being too fast for this 3 Shooter rout to be useful, specially on the draw.
Agree on not siding Kinesis against Grixis. Maybe 2 against Grixis-Delver, but there are many list not running them, in which case Kinesis should not be necessary.
Regarding your pun against Omnitell, I see your reasoning. If Ringleader resolves and you get a Chieftain of the trigger, you win in the same turn. It was not an easy call and you shouldn't feel bad for making it.

And now, to your trivia, here's what I'd do:
First of all, easy keep for me. Hate, Lackey, Caverns. Games are not supposed to be easy, but you have the pieces you need.
T1 - Pendleheaven / Mountain (just not Caverns) into Relic. I agree that having a clock online is crucial. But having hate is even more. CotV is not a great card against them, specially if not cast T1. They can easily play around if you give them T1 to put a fattie in the yard and casting Exhume or Animate Dead on it. Relic is a bit harder for them to deal with. Also, this way only FoW can counter your Relic, and it cannot be discarded away, which would be my main reason for playing it T1.
If Relic resolves, I'd go for T2 Cavers + Lackey. From this moment on I'd always pass the turn with 1 land open.
T3 Swing and cast CotV, keeping 1 mana open, assuming nothing relevant was drawn.
From T4 onwards you're swinging for 5 a turn, getting him dead T7, and mitigating his options a lot - like the usefulness of Reanimate - by turn 5. That is, if you don't draw anything. He can always help us speed our clock up, which is why I think you'd actually kill him 1 turn earlier, due to Fetches, Seize, Probe and FoW.
Anyway, you can easily lose this game to SnT, but you can also easily draw some more relevant cards.
When you'r gonna post what you did? I'm dying here.

So again, congrats man. Look forward meeting you one day.
Cheers.

[Whitefaces]

Regarding your question: it's a keep, no need to get greedy Now on the sequencing of spells: I would lead with T1 Relic. Reasoning, trying to bait will lead you nowhere: Entomb into fatty gives your opponent a good blocker.

Now, he either has FoW or not, so jamming Relic is the best option IMHO. T2 Lackey, T3 Chalice going around Daze would hopefully give you enough time...

In the end, what did you do?

Ditto, no way I'd mull that. It's a case of shrugging your shoulders, laying your cards on the table and seeing if they can beat it.

I think the T2 play depends entirely on Relic resolving. If it resolves, you play T2 lackey and don't even pay for daze if they play it, you need to leave the relic up. If the relic is FoWd I'd play CotV T2. If they have the Daze for it, well, more power to them. But there's a very, very real chance you'll be facing a Griselbrand if you play Lackey instead.

[testing32]

t1: relic
t2: lackey
t3: CotV

This is the line that I take. I don't think you want to expose relic to discard. If the relic gets forced I would play CotV on turn 2.

[MGB]

Nice report! The power of Chrome Mox in decks like this with explosive starts is not to be underestimated.

Oh, and, I think the correct play in the reanimator example has to be:

T1: Land, Relic
T2: Land, Chalice
T3 and on: Goblins

So you can tap Relic every turn to shrink the graveyard? However, if he threatens to fill the graveyard too fast and with a reanimator target, then you might have to do:

T1: Land, Relic
T2: Land, Lackey, pass with mana open to cycle Relic

[Kanti]

Nice report! The power of Chrome Mox in decks like this with explosive starts is not to be underestimated.

Oh, and, I think the correct play in the reanimator example has to be:

T1: Land, Relic
T2: Land, Chalice
T3 and on: Goblins

So you can tap Relic every turn to shrink the graveyard? However, if he threatens to fill the graveyard too fast and with a reanimator target, then you might have to do:

T1: Land, Relic
T2: Land, Lackey, pass with mana open to cycle Relic

Yes, the second option is the best. Forgot about the damn Relic activation cast when I posted. I think the first option is a bit too greedy, and it also runs your Chalice into Daze, if he has it. And you can't activate Relic if you cast it, so they can go like Entomb with a fetch in the gy, and reanimate next turn. t2 Lackey w/ Relic online and the potential for a t3 CotV with protection from Daze sounds... good. It's gotta be t1 land, Relic, t2 land, Lackey, t3 Chalice and slap a creature down to start the beats.

[iamajellydonut]

I'm on the Lackey wagon.

Ignoring countermagic and just looking at general viability, a turn one Relic of Progentitus is doing absolutely nothing. All it takes is a single fetchland or some other fluff to play around it. So, what you're really looking at is the activated ability. And once you do include countermagic, it's unlikely that they actually left in Daze on the draw against Goblins. Which means that all you're really playing around is Force of Will. And outside of a Ponder or Brainstorm that actively digs for a Force, a single drawstep is unlikely to make a difference in the search for Force. They either have it or they don't. And if they do have it, you're out Relic and you've significantly delayed your clock.

With that in mind, dropping the turn one Lackey might not actually be a terrible plan. Sure, there's nothing really great in hand right now, but you do have a draw step, and if that fails, then Instigator+Pendelhaven is still a pretty fucking ridiculous clock.

Turn 1:
Mountain -> Lackey. Mountain over Cavern of Souls because if they do have a Force, they might be willing to pitch it on a Lackey which would open up room for the following Relic of Progenitus.


Edit: Reading more of other posts. Discard is a consideration when thinking of how quickly you want to get Relic out of your hand, but I think that without any white present it's probably a minimal consideration.

[GoboLord]

Hey guys,

thank you for your feedback, I didnt expct so many comments!

First of all: thank you for your positive words.

Regarding the game against Reanimator I did the following.

Play Lackey off Caverns, pass. Yves draws a card and goes into discard step, discarding Elesh Norn. I drop a land and cast Relic, which gets FoW'ed. I opt to play Chalice for 0 but decide not to. On his turn he plays Usea, Lotus petal and Exhume. On my turn he Dazes my Chalice.

In the end I think starting with Relic would have been the best play as jrw1985 described so accurate.

@Kanti:
I switched to the Winstigator/Chrome Mox build 2years ago, when I was sick of useless RishadanPorts and less effective Wastelands.
7 hastelords may seem clunky, but I dont play any fattie goblin like Siege Gang Commander, Kiki-Jiki, Krenko, Goblin Settler or Earwig Squad. So actually I am playing with a lower manacurve than most goblin decks.
And yes I would play this MD anytime again. Its the most consistent and strong buildI have ever had the pleasure to play with. You are right about the SB, a lot of cards are indeed dedicated to combo decks, and I didnt win a single game against them. On the other hand I dont want or even need many different cards against non-combo decks, so the SB space is there.

@ScatmanX
Thanks for the reminder about Kinesis. You are probably right. Still, I think Young Pyromancer and Monastery Mentor are relevant forces right now, so Sharpshooter becomes more attractive. Also Legion Loyalist sounds interesting, but very narrow.
Magus was not needed in this tournament, but I think it is a verystrong choice against a lot of decks, especially against the more problematic ones like Junk, Junnd etc.

[mort-]

Great report :) I think we might have actually met. Was Kai the Storm guy wearing a hat? I think I played him the round before you and we were just standing outside and talking.

[MGB]

Hey guys,

thank you for your feedback, I didnt expct so many comments!

First of all: thank you for your positive words.

Regarding the game against Reanimator I did the following.

Play Lackey off Caverns, pass. Yves draws a card and goes into discard step, discarding Elesh Norn. I drop a land and cast Relic, which gets FoW'ed. I opt to play Chalice for 0 but decide not to. On his turn he plays Usea, Lotus petal and Exhume. On my turn he Dazes my Chalice.

In the end I think starting with Relic would have been the best play as jrw1985 described so accurate.

Jrw1985 basically said that playing Lackey Turn 1 off Mountain would be the best because it baits out Force of Will. I have to disagree - a smart opponent will realize that a single Lackey will not threaten him if he has Exhume next turn. You basically have to go for the Relic Turn 1 above all else because Reanimator is so fast and it gives you the opportunity to have an answer ASAP. As it turns out, it would be the perfect play because your opponent's hand depended on discarding his reanimation target at his cleanup phase... and if he Force of Wills your Relic he cannot do this, but if he lets it resolve then you have the trump card in play.

@Kanti:
I switched to the Winstigator/Chrome Mox build 2years ago, when I was sick of useless RishadanPorts and less effective Wastelands.
7 hastelords may seem clunky, but I dont play any fattie goblin like Siege Gang Commander, Kiki-Jiki, Krenko, Goblin Settler or Earwig Squad. So actually I am playing with a lower manacurve than most goblin decks.
And yes I would play this MD anytime again. Its the most consistent and strong buildI have ever had the pleasure to play with. You are right about the SB, a lot of cards are indeed dedicated to combo decks, and I didnt win a single game against them. On the other hand I dont want or even need many different cards against non-combo decks, so the SB space is there.

Chrome Mox is an amazing and underplayed card. As someone who has been playing Stompy decks in Legacy for some time, I have found it invaluable as a way to generate tempo early by casting faster Chalice or 2 drops/3 drops. The card disadvantage can be mitigated by using draw engines - in this case, Ringleader - and basically makes the Mox one of the strongest accelerants in the game.

[GoboLord]

Jrw1985 basically said that playing Lackey Turn 1 off Mountain would be the best because it baits out Force of Will.

Whoops, I meant to say 'as ScatmanX described...'

[Chatto]

Regarding the game against Reanimator I did the following.

Play Lackey off Caverns, pass. Yves draws a card and goes into discard step, discarding Elesh Norn. I drop a land and cast Relic, which gets FoW'ed. I opt to play Chalice for 0 but decide not to. On his turn he plays Usea, Lotus petal and Exhume. On my turn he Dazes my Chalice.

I think I forgot another reason to just jam Relic T1: if he uses FoW, he is down to five cards. In theory your opponent needs one to three turns to discard a fatty (unless he has Entomb).

[jrw1985]

Hey guys, thank you for your feedback, I didnt expct so many comments! First of all: thank you for your positive words. Regarding the game against Reanimator I did the following. Play Lackey off Caverns, pass. Yves draws a card and goes into discard step, discarding Elesh Norn. I drop a land and cast Relic, which gets FoW'ed. I opt to play Chalice for 0 but decide not to. On his turn he plays Usea, Lotus petal and Exhume. On my turn he Dazes my Chalice.

Wow. Killer hand. I completely did not even consider draw to discard as his T1 play. Then to have land, petal, exhume, force, daze, blue card? Damn.

So everyone that said Relic T1 was right. Given your opponents hand T1 Relic was the only possible way to win. I hadn't even considered that the T1 Force would have kept him from dumping a card in the graveyard. But considering how amazing his hand was the two unknown cards were probably Entomb plus Reanimate anyway.

[Kanti]

t1 Relic also stops junk like your opponent drawing into the same Force you tried to so hard to play around, or drawing into a key-piece of removal that they would probably snapcast, although not in this case obviously as your opponent was on a very different plan.