Hey Gobs, headed to SCG DC in 2 weeks, and I'm trying to nail down my R(b) list. Here's what I have been testing:
4 Lackey
4 Matron
4 Ringleader
3 Warchief
1 Chieftain
2 Gempalm Incinerator
1 Tuk-Tuk
1 Krenko
1 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Kiki-Jiki
1 Piledriver
1 Settler
1 Rabblemaster
1 Sharpshooter
4 Aether Vial
3 Tarfire
2 Warren Wierding
2 Pyrokinesis
4 Wasteland
4 Rishadan Port
3 Cavern of Souls
2 Badlands
3 Mountain
7 Fetchland
SIDE
3 Thoughtseize
3 Cabal Therapy
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Pyrokinesis
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 TukTuk Scrapper
1 Sparksmith
1 ?? (sudden demise, engineered plague, ??)
Any thoughts?
Quote: me
Quote: you- What I suggest most people cut from their lists to play Rabble are the lords (Chieftain / Warchief). These lords do not have much synergy with a removal / resource trading gameplan. Once you have no/fewer lords in your deck you can be less worried about 'all my goblins must attack' because there are fewer copies of cards that you are upset about chump-attacking into things.
Do you really think something that gives you a free 1/1 every turn matches up poorly against Strix? I think you might be failing to see the wood for the trees here@Everyone discussing Piledriver vs Rabblemaster. I personally think Rabblemaster seems absolutely awful in most situations. Goblins already has way too many 3 drops, making my primary beatdown creature cost 3 just doesn't make sense to me. The attack with everything downside also seems terrible, any significantly sized blocker becomes an abyss. Thalia, Leovold, Baleful, Angler, TNN etc all get to eat your lords in combat. Pro Blue on piledriver is more relevant now than any time I can remember, now that people seem to be relying on Baleful Strix as their primary defensive creature.
About playing many finisher I found myself very unhappy with krenko +sgc +Kiki +crafter. I saw few of us making good results but I felt uncomfortable with it.
Too many 4+ drop in the deck make us very vulnerable to mana denial and vial shattering. If lackey cannot not connect i often die with my hand full of threats and a semi-empty board.
And less warchief we play more easy we screw on mana.
About rabble I'm not convinced too, anyway looks interesting to test him.
I'll probably do it in a shell with legion loyalists and no less than 2x chieftain. First strike could be useful to save our army from chump-attack
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I agree that there is a problem of relying too much on finishers. None of our finishers are particularly robust, and die to basically everything (with the exception of Siege gang and Kiki dodging fatal push). My thought process in deckbuilding has had me focus on sticking as many threats into my deck that demand removal spells, not blockers. Too often we spend our turns doing things that our opponents don't need to respect. I've been incorporating 2 Grenzo, Havoc Raiser, and a maindeck Sparksmith as a way to get around this. They fill out the 2 drop slot, and demand answers or else can generate a ton of value (grenzo in particular snowballs if they can't find an answer and he starts stealing creatures).
Sorry Kombatkiwi, should have read your previous post more closely. I see your point. But then the question becomes: is rabblemaster better than warchief and chieftain? My instincts say no (though I'm not super impressed by the lords lately, the format is a little too disruptive for them a lot of the time; however, they do each still play a key role). If your testing says otherwise, I'd be happy to be proven wrong.
Splashing black without maindecking an earwig squad or 2 doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, squad increases your winrate against Storm and Elves by a pretty huge margin, and has high upside against Stoneforge decks as well. Possible cuts I see are the Siege Gang, the Rabble, and the Settler (I've never found settler to be good in general). I'd also really like to hear your reasoning for no MWM or Skirk Prospector/Chirugeon. Right now, you have a huge gap in the 2 drop slot as far as proactive plays to make, and I think that's just not safe. T2 is often where most decks are dropping their first threats, and so having gempalm online by t3-t4 is essential imo. I'm also a huge fan of Grenzo, Havoc Raiser right now, particularly against the goodstuff decks like Czech Pile (also strong against D&T as long as they don't karakas him forever; gaining access to a mother of runes is literally game winning in a lot of situations).
Your Manabase:
I'm not convinced by 4 ports anymore, our color requirements have gotten stricter and stricter as we need R and RR pretty quick (as well as B in this list). I'd probably drop the 4th port for the 4th mountain. I'm interested in how your 3 caverns idea works. It seems a bit risky against the tempo decks, but I do see the upside for accessing your sideboard cards.
On the subject of sideboards:
MWM also makes your sideboard therapies way better. 6 discard spells is a lot, maybe too many? I generally stick to 3 therapies, but I can see that thoughtseize makes therapy better and is just nice to have as general hate. With the 3 Surgicals, 2 weirdings, and a cage, you're really set up to beat on Reanimator.
I wouldn't leave home without 2 Blood Moons, they'll help a lot against both Delver and Lands.
I really like the REB and the sideboarded Sparksmith, he's been fantastic for me lately.
Pithing needle seems like it'd balance things out nicely, since you're a little weak to equipment at the moment, and D&T is always over-represented in paper events. Abrade would also be a good versatile option to have access to. Destroys an opposing vial on curve, which can reallllly mess D&T up.
The crucial question is: What are the decks to beat in paper right now? I personally think we should build with Czech Pile, Grixis Delver, Elves, D&T, and Storm as the top 5, with BUG Delver, Lands, and Omnisneak as the next best decks (maybe miracles too). There's a lot of graveyard stuff happening right now (snapcaster, DRS, Delve Creatures, Loam strats, Reanimation, etc), so perhaps we should be playing Relic again since it's so versatile in a bunch of matchups.
In your mystery slot, I think the card you're looking for is Minister of Pain :) Kills TNN, and can be vialed in on 3. Also nukes a D&T, Elves, or Pyromancer board.
I haven't been super locked into the metagame lately though, outside of data that's published online, so others may feel quite differently.
Thanks for your honesty.Sorry Kombatkiwi, should have read your previous post more closely. I see your point. But then the question becomes: is rabblemaster better than warchief and chieftain? My instincts say no (though I'm not super impressed by the lords lately, the format is a little too disruptive for them a lot of the time; however, they do each still play a key role). If your testing says otherwise, I'd be happy to be proven wrong.
I have tried it for a while and like I say it seems very promising.
I'll also give Havoc Raiser a try, I agree that the deck wants more impactful plays that cost 2 but I'm not happy with it costing RR and it seems like it's only good when you are already ahead on the board.
I see your point about 2-drops being missing. I've been leaning on Port and Wierding as my "2 drops". If I go down a port, I would add MWMs.
The way I see it, mana denial is MOST important turn 2-3. That's where we can really keep people off of impactful plays. Therefore, I've opted to cut my 2-drops in favor of waste/port/removal on T2. I figure if we can get over the "hump" of either lackey connecting or vial getting to 3, we're in good shape. Therefore, instead of a proactive T2, I'm aiming slowing my opponent's turn 2 down. I'm really interested in how people think about this decision point though, I'm really not sure which is better.
I can see how 1 earwig could be really good main. I think I'll try it in the Rabble slot and see how things go.
I'm super high on Settler, and recommend trying it out again. I find that it puts games that would have been close into easy wins fairly often, and can also be a tool to fight Punishing Fire decks and Marit Lage. Combined with high Tarfire counts, he wrecks decks leaning on DRS by turning the mana game completely around.
Regarding Discard, I'm playing it because I'm worried about running narrow answers. I figure the TS/Therapy package is good against almost any combo deck, so rather than hedge one way or another I'm going for the shotgun.
I went to the local legacy tournament last Sunday and managed to finish 5-1 for the 2nd place among 20 participants. I have to say that luck was (probably) on my side.
Here is the deck I played:
Creature (30)
2x Gempalm Incinerator
2x Goblin Chieftain
1x Goblin Chirurgeon
4x Goblin Lackey
4x Goblin Matron
1x Goblin Piledriver
4x Goblin Ringleader
1x Goblin Sharpshooter
2x Goblin Warchief
1x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1x Krenko, Mob Boss
1x Lightning Crafter
2x Mogg War Marshal
1x Siege-Gang Commander
1x Skirk Prospector
1x Stingscourger
1x Tuktuk Scrapper
Land (23)
2x Arid Mesa
2x Badlands
2x Bloodstained Mire
4x Cavern of Souls
3x Mountain
4x Rishadan Port
4x Wasteland
2x Wooded Foothills
Instant (3)
3x Tarfire
Artifact (4)
4x Aether Vial
Sideboard (15)
3x Blood Moon
2x Earwig Squad
1x Goblin Settler
2x Pyrokinesis
2x Relic of Progenitus
1x Sphere of Resistance
1x Thorn of Amethyst
1x Tuktuk Scrapper
2x Warren Weirding
I faced four Leovold decks, some of them BUG, some czech pile, and one was some kind of a Deathblade Leovold deck. Anyhow, I won against all of them, thanks to the grindy power of Goblins. The two remaining opponents were both on storm (one ANT, one ANT-less) and I even managed to beat one (ANT). Here are some highlights from the tournament.
Chirurgeon is decent in my metagame and came out strong. Mogg War Marshal were great as well, paid echo and went for the grind. I really love Tuktuk Scrapper interaction and even managed to vial one in response to maelstrom pulse (I had two vials and one Scrapper on board) to destroy his batterskull and one of the vials to save the other one. I even managed to win one game with Kiki-Crafter-Chirurgeon combo, it was fun and exciting.
I really like Earwig Squad and am thinking about upping the Skirk Prospector count, but either way I'll be packing 3 Earwigs in the side from now on. Blood Moon won a few games on its own and I feel like its a good time for the enchantment.
Well, this is all for now. I played with Winstigator list for a while but struggled a bit and after coming back to Port Goblins, I feel very good about the deck.
I played in Legacy champs last Saturday. I ended up 6-4 and dropping but I started 6-2 and I was in contention all day. Round 9 I screwed myself by missing a vial counter during my upkeep and it ruined my whole day. I was 0-2 verse death and taxes, including my round 9 punt. 2-1 verse eldrazi decks. 3-0 verse 4 color pile. I beat some jund type deck and lost to a grixis deck where the guy kolaghan commanded/ lightning bolted me into oblivion. I was really sleeping on Kolaghan command until this guy cast it & recast it with snapcaster. Anyway my list looks like this.
Lands:
3 Rishadan Port
4 Wasteland
3 Cavern of Souls
1 Swamp
2 Badlands
3 Mountain
2 Wooded Foothills
4 Bloodstained Mire
Creatures
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin Warchief
4 Goblin Ringleader
2 Siege-Gang Commander
2 Goblin Piledriver
3 Mogg War Marshall
3 Goblin Chieftain
1 Wort, Boggart Auntie
1 Tuk-Tuk Scrapper
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
1 Stingscourger
Other Stuff
4 Tarfire
2 Warren Weirding
3 Aether Vials
I know, I know 3 Vials is just not acceptable but I've played 3 for years, not much different from 4. Also I'm going back to 23 lands, 22 just doesn't cut it. I've mulled alot since going to 22
forgot my board...
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Thorn of Amenthyst
2 Blood Moon
3 Red Elemental Blast
3 Surgical Extractions
Got top 8 in the 5k yesterday at eternal weekendwith the same list that I top 4d with at our local city champs. Im on my phone so I won't write a whole write up right now, but here is the list again.
4 waste
4 cavern
4 ports
10 mountain
4 lackey
4 matron
4 ringleader
4 warchief
2 chieftain
2 mwm
1 siege gang
1 krenko
1 lightning crafter
1 stingscourger
1 chirurgeon
1 tuk tuk
1 Kiki-Jiki
1 Sharpshooter
2 gempalm
4 vial
4 tarfire
3 chalice
2 blood moon
2 pyrokinesis
2 piledriver
1 sharpshooter
1 tuktuk
1 stingscourger
3 Grafdigger's Cage
Really digging this list Prince Cortez has had success with as well. Seems very solid. I just made some tweaks to the sideboard.
In order I beat
Dredge
Turbo depths
Turbo depths again
Drew vs Czech pile
Lost to Deathblade
Beat maverick for the win and in
Then lost to the same Deathblade player in the finals.
There was another goblins player in the top 8 as well. I didn't get a chance to see his list though. Don't know if he posts here.
I played in every legacy event running the same list and remained consistently positive with the following records.
3-2 in the trial
3-2 in the 2nd trial.
4-3-1 in the main event
And then the top 8 in the 5k.
I feel this is the most consistent list right now that is posting results. I urge everyone to give it a try.
Last edited by Quackers; 10-26-2017 at 03:19 PM.
why is goblin chirurgeon better than skirk prospector??
Swords to Plowshares and other non-destroy removal is at a historic low at the moment (Top ban making UW control far less prevalent, plus DNT apparently struggling vs CP) so Chirurgeon effectively blocks most removal spells (Decay, Bolt, Push). It can also make combat very awkward for the opponent. Affinity decks have often played 1-2 copies of Welding Jar, Chirurgeon is like an upgraded Welding Jar because it makes every other nonland card you control also a Welding Jar.
If you play high numbers of MWM or expect to play against removal that dodges regenerate then Prospector might be better, or if you don't have many finisher goblins that you care about protecting (but it seems like most lists have Krenko, Kiki Jiki etc).
I like Chirurgeon because I feel that it has much greater synergy with Rabblemaster, which is another card I already think is very good (as I have tried to justify on the last couple of pages).
Not playing the Kiki-Crafter combo is also a slight incentive to play neither but I have been happy with Chirurgeon even without the infinite.
It's nice to see some love for my list, i put a lot of time into trying to put together a very good build. The sideboard was just tweaked for my local meta but i do feel that this is the strongest build in a more fair oriented meta with the main combo decks being reanimation strategies. I wish i was on the east coast for all of those SCG events but at least i can to play it in the 2 local events we have here a month.
As for this I think kombatkiwi's explanation was perfect but, I honestly don't think that skirk prospector should be in the deck at all. It has never done well for me in the past and i always felt disappointed drawing it and "dark ritual"ing out a matron/ringleader never felt that good when it took up most of my board. The only situation that i liked it in was when i had an active krenko but, if the krenko died before an activation the prospector was just useless. I think the reason that it was stuck in the deck in the first place is because it was in the goblins deck when onslaught was in standard. I feel that skirk prospector should just be left to onslaught standard days and we should just play Chirurgeon over it permanently.
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