GoboLord
07-06-2015, 04:29 PM
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.
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.