[Deck] Goblins

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Originally Posted by LeoCop 90

I suppose if Pyrokinesis kills 4 creatures the game is over, sharpshooter or not :smile:

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Haha. Yeah, I suppose so. Well, I could see an scenario where this may not be true, like against DnT in the mid game.

My opponent can have: Revoker (on Sharpshooter), Mom, Thalia, Flickerwisp, Avenger, Stoneforege, and B. Skull. I can Tarfire the Mom, the Mom will try to give something protection, I use Pyrokinesis in response to kill Revoker, Mom, Thalia, Flickerwisp.

With 4 Untap triggers on stack, I can ping Stoneforge, untap Sharpshooter, ping her again and she dies.
Still having 4 Untap triggers on stack, I can then ping Serra Avenger, and use two untaps to finish her off.
Now with only 3 Untap triggers, that gives me enough ammo to finish off Batterskull.

Can you explain how the 4 untap triggers work from a rules perspective? Don't they all hit the grave at the same time?

Yeah sure:

603.2c An ability triggers only once each time its trigger event occurs. However, it can trigger repeatedly if one event contains multiple occurrences. See also rule 509.4.

Example: A permanent has an ability whose trigger condition reads, "Whenever a land is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, . . . ." If someone casts a spell that destroys all lands, the ability will trigger once for each land put into the graveyard during the spell's resolution.

A common example would be a dredge player sacrificing three non-token creatures to Dread Return, which triggers Bridge from Below three times.

SCV Open Tournament Report

Hello there, fellow warchiefs! As you know I took a break from the deck during the Dig Through Time era, broadening my horizons by trying out various other archetypes. Last weekend I picked up the deck again and took it to a top 8 finish at the Scandinavian Legacy Open in Stockholm. I’m stoked to see that the deck has been performing so well lately, and wanted to write about it again.

R1 - Bye
R2 - Aggro Loam 2-0
R3 - Grixis Omnitell 1-2
R4 - Miracles 2-0
R5 - UWR Delver 2-0
R6 - Hypergenesis 2-0
R7 - ID
Top 8 - Shardless BUG 1-2

R/b Goblins by Sandro Rajalin

4 Goblin Lackey
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin Ringleader
3 Mogg War Marshal
2 Gempalm Incinerator
2 Goblin Warchief
1 Earwig Squad
1 Goblin Chieftain
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
1 Krenko, Mob Boss
1 Skirk Prospector
1 Tuktuk Scrapper

3 Cabal Therapy
1 Warren Weirding

3 Tarfire
1 Pyrokinesis

4 Aether Vial

4 Cavern of Souls
4 Wasteland
3 Badlands
3 Bloodstained Mire
3 Snow-Covered Mountain
2 Arid Mesa
2 Rishadan Port
2 Wooded Foothills

Sideboard:
3 Chalice of the Void
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Perish
1 Cabal Therapy
1 Engineered Plague
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Pyrokinesis
1 Tuktuk Scrapper
1 Umezawa's Jitte

The banning of Dig Through Time has caused a paradigm shift in the Legacy metagame, and I knew I would be at an advantage piloting a deck I know the ins and outs of. This list is similar to what I was on before my hiatus, and I felt confident in my build going into the tournament. The one thing I wasn’t happy about was the two sideboard copies of Perish, and as predicted they failed to impress me during the course of the tournament.

Rather than go through each game I want to focus on the deck and how it is built. My list differs from the norm, but it is the result of careful tuning and reflection. I won’t go through the reason there are exactly three copies of Mogg War Marshal in the deck, or why I believe two copies of Rishadan Port to be the right number for my deck (I’ll save that for another day), but I do have very concrete reasons for my unconventional inclusions, and I’d like to share them with you. There is more to evaluating a card than realizing it’s ‘good against Delver decks’ - you have to understand how it fits into your game plan, and what matters in each matchup.
Thragtusk is great against Burn decks, but if you always die before you reach five mana you’ll be better served by something like Spell Pierce, Kitchen Finks or Swords to Plowshares.

Earwig Squad

Earwig Squad gained a lot of recognition back in February when I made the finals of an SCV Open with it. Miracles was very popular at the time, and I realized the one card I kept losing to was Entreat the Angels. Goblins can easily win the card advantage war against Miracles. However, the threat of Entreat the Angels can put you in an awkward position. Without it you’re free to execute your own game plan at a comfortable place, thereby dictating the flow of the game.
This is an ongoing theme with Goblins in many fair matchups. Every exchange tends to put you a little bit ahead, and you only lose when they play something you can neither answer nor ignore. Earwig Squad deals with these cards proactively. In short, Goblins has a strategic advantages, and Earwig Squad prevents you from losing to a strong tactical move.

Goblins has traditionally been weak to combo decks, and many of them flat out lose to an Earwig Squad on the Prowl. The inclusion of Earwig Squad also helps solve an otherwise difficult conundrum of playing against combo decks. Under normal circumstances there is a negative correlation between the amount of threats you have and the amount of disruption you have. Earwig Squad on the other hand gets stronger the more disruption you have. In my deck Cabal Therapy and Chalice of the Void slow my opponents down, giving me time to get to Earwig Squad, which tends to be the final nail in the coffin in many combo matchups.

Lastly, the value of Earwig Squad as a 5/3 creature is not to be underestimated. This past weekend I used Aether Vial to put it into play on my opponent’s end step when he had the Punishing Fire softlock online. The fact that it lives through Engineered Plague has also won me a couple of few games.

Cabal Therapy

Goblins is a highly synergistic deck, and we have a higher curve than most decks in Legacy. Our cards tend to be less individually powerful, but stronger in conjunction with each other. Having an impactful play early on helps prevent us from falling on the backfoot, and I feel a lot more favored in the games where I led with an Aether Vial or Goblin Lackey.
Cabal Therapy provides an additional form of powerful early interaction.

Cabal Therapy is very strong against combo decks, which tend to require either a critical mass of cards or a set of specific pieces to function. Take away one piece and you virtually render the other one useless.

Cabal Therapy is a very complicated tool to use and understand, but its power level ceiling if used correctly is incredibly high. You have to deduce information about the contents of their hand, as well as understand what the game is about at any given point.
If my hand is such that I believe myself to have inevitability I will aim for their threats in order to prolong the game. This is often the case with slower hands containing some combination of Goblin Matron, Goblin Ringleader and Gempalm Incinerator.
Sometimes I will snipe their Swords to Plowshares and run them over with Goblin Warchief and Krenko, Mob Boss.

Playing with Cabal Therapy is all about staying flexible and alert. You have to understand what matters in a game - what needs to happen for you to win and what could cause you to lose.

R1 - Bye

I had a bye and spent the first round scouring the competition. I took notes of which decks people had brought, and tried my best to stay as relaxed and focused as possible.

R2 Aggro Loam 2-0

I was put to the test right away, as the first round I played was a feature match against one of the strongest players in the room.

R3 Miracles 2-0

I was able to put pressure on my opponent early on in both games, and Goblin Ringleader kept a steady stream coming. I felt very favored throughout the match, and as a result played as safe as possible. In the second game Earwig Squad exiled both a Humility and a Moat - two cards that could otherwise have negated my advantage.

R4 Grixis Omnitell 1-2

I was pretty sure my opponent was on some version of Show and Tell, but failed to trust my intuition and kept a slow hand on the draw in game one. Game two was a close affair where my opponent had the combo in hand but only one turn two draw his third mana source. This was also one of the occasions where Earwig Squad went after my opponent’s lands. I left him with only a basic Mountain as a fetchable land, rendering his topdecked Polluted Delta useless.
Game three was over very quickly and there wasn’t anything I could do. I actually think I have a fighting chance against combo decks most of the time. Cabal Therapy and Chalice of the Void do an excellent job of dismantling decks like Storm and Show and Tell, but sometimes they have the kill before you get there. Going forward I intend to look for ways to solve this problem, and will test more forms of early disruption.

R5 UWR Delver 2-0

Game one lasted very long. After I had halted my opponent’s initial assault and we traded Wastelands I was low on lands for several turns, while his draws were comically poor. His cantrips seemed to find nothing but lands and dead cards. At one point his hand was two Spell Pierce, one Daze and one Pyroblast, and he had about seven lands in play. He did draw and land a Batterskull, but by that time I had reached four mana already and quite easily maneuvered around it.
Game two was my Chalice of the Void versus his Insectile Aberration. I eventually pulled the trigger on my Pyrokinesis, and an Engineered Explosives from my opponent took care of the Chalice. I followed it up with another one next turn however, and won the game from there.


R6 Hypergenesis 2-0

I was paired against my good friend Jesper, and we knew that whoever won would likely make the top 8. I was quite nervous going into the match. Jesper is an excellent magic player. There was a lot at stake, and I knew that there was a risk that I would die on turn one and the game would be over.
In the first game Jesper took a mulligan down to six cards. I led with Cabal Therapy, naming Griselbrand. He revealed a hand of five lands and an Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. Turn two I played a Goblin Lackey that I had scryed to the top. On the third turn Lackey started putting goblins into play and a flashbacked Cabal Therapy took care of the Emrakul. Earwig Squad exiling Hypergenesis sealed the deal.
Game two Jesper mulliganed to four, keeping a card on top, then went Tropical Island, pass.
I therapied him for Griselbrand. I hit two, leaving him with only a Show and Tell. The next turn I drew a Chalice of the Void and deployed it and two copies of Aether Vial. A couple of turns later I prowled Earwig Squad into play again, and the game was over.

R7 ID

I drew with my opponent and went to get something to eat before top 8. I knew that there was a small chance that I would miss, but ultimately my chances of making it in were greater this way. Sure, I wouldn’t get to be on the play as much, but I was pretty tired and hungry at this point. Taking a break and getting something to eat can really help you focus, and focus is incredibly important to playing great magic.

Top 8 Shardless BUG 1-2

In the first game I went for an early Krenko, Mob Boss, but a timely Wasteland delayed him for several turns, and by the time I got him into play I was already dead to his pair of Deathrite Shamans.
Game two I utilized Tarfire, Wasteland and Rishadan port to keep him off of mana. He did get going after a while, but Krenko easily ran away with the game.
The third game was super interesting and very tight. My opponent got an Engineered Plague into play on turn four, but I grinded through it for several turns, removing his blockers while a pair of Ringleaders chipped away at his life total. He cast a Toxic Deluge to clear my board, but went to three life in the process. On my turn I had five lands and two Goblin Matrons. I fetched up a Tarfire and passed the turn, knowing this would be the deciding moment. My opponent played a Hymn to Tourach. I Tarfired him in response, and on my turn I drew…
a Bloodstained Mire.

I missed out on the invitational, but ultimately I had a great weekend, finishing ninth place in Sealed and making the top 8 of Legacy. I had an amazing time piloting Goblins again and was thrilled with how the deck performed for me.

Going forward I want to find some way to prevent dying to combo decks on the first turn. Thoughtseize, Duress and Mindbreak Trap are all candidates here. I don’t know if any of them are what I’m looking for, but it’s time I start looking.
I feel confident about my Death and Taxes matchup. I have plenty of removal and can usually answer their equipments. I do however have a problem with some of their larger creatures, namely Serra Avenger and Brimaz, King of Oreskos. Both are out of Tarfire range, and Serra Avenger having Flying can make life difficult for us. Deathmark, Dismember and Virtue’s Ruin are the first cards that come to mind, but I’m positive there is a solution out there, I just have to find it.
I would like to try sideboarding two copies of Blood Moon. The card helps in several unfavorable matchups where I normally can’t interact much. Some decks straight up lose to it, and it has a lot of utility in that it partially shuts down other decks as well. Having another angle of attack against Infect to deal with their Inkmoth Nexus seems great, and I’m looking forward to trying it out.

Sandro, how about Dread of Night for the d&t matchup?

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Originally Posted by Sandro95

SCV Open Tournament Report

4 Goblin Lackey
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin Ringleader
3 Mogg War Marshal
2 Gempalm Incinerator
2 Goblin Warchief
1 Earwig Squad
1 Goblin Chieftain
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
1 Krenko, Mob Boss
1 Skirk Prospector
1 Tuktuk Scrapper

3 Cabal Therapy
1 Warren Weirding

3 Tarfire
1 Pyrokinesis

4 Aether Vial

4 Cavern of Souls
4 Wasteland
3 Badlands
3 Bloodstained Mire
3 Snow-Covered Mountain
2 Arid Mesa
2 Rishadan Port
2 Wooded Foothills

Sideboard:
3 Chalice of the Void
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Perish
1 Cabal Therapy
1 Engineered Plague
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Pyrokinesis
1 Tuktuk Scrapper
1 Umezawa's Jitte

R4 Grixis Omnitell 1-2

I was pretty sure my opponent was on some version of Show and Tell, but failed to trust my intuition and kept a slow hand on the draw in game one. Game two was a close affair where my opponent had the combo in hand but only one turn two draw his third mana source. This was also one of the occasions where Earwig Squad went after my opponent’s lands. I left him with only a basic Mountain as a fetchable land, rendering his topdecked Polluted Delta useless.
Game three was over very quickly and there wasn’t anything I could do. I actually think I have a fighting chance against combo decks most of the time. Cabal Therapy and Chalice of the Void do an excellent job of dismantling decks like Storm and Show and Tell, but sometimes they have the kill before you get there. Going forward I intend to look for ways to solve this problem, and will test more forms of early disruption.

...

Going forward I want to find some way to prevent dying to combo decks on the first turn. Thoughtseize, Duress and Mindbreak Trap are all candidates here. I don’t know if any of them are what I’m looking for, but it’s time I start looking.
I feel confident about my Death and Taxes matchup. I have plenty of removal and can usually answer their equipments. I do however have a problem with some of their larger creatures, namely Serra Avenger and Brimaz, King of Oreskos. Both are out of Tarfire range, and Serra Avenger having Flying can make life difficult for us. Deathmark, Dismember and Virtue’s Ruin are the first cards that come to mind, but I’m positive there is a solution out there, I just have to find it.

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On OmniTell - Chalice is just not very good against SnT decks. By the time you cast Chalice @ 1 they've usually sculpted already and are either close to their combo or have a FoW. Either way, a resolved Chalice @ 1 doesn't stop them from going off with SnT. I like your idea for using more discard against combo. Thoughtseize and CT obviously work very well together. I've been playing monoR and have been using Trinisphere against SnT, but at 3cmc it is a bit slow against the storm decks of the world. I think you're definitely on the right build with the black splash. Maybe try dropping the Chalice entirely for Thoughtseize and see how that treats you.

On Death and Taxes - I don't think looking for kills spells for two DnT fatties is where you need to be with your sideboard. You already have Pyrokinesis and Warren Weirding anyway. I would not be siding anything else youf that matchup. Your SB Pyro, Sharpshooter and Tuktuk are enough to seal games 2+3 90% of the time.

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Originally Posted by jrw1985

On OmniTell - Chalice is just not very good against SnT decks. By the time you cast Chalice @ 1 they've usually sculpted already and are either close to their combo or have a FoW. Either way, a resolved Chalice @ 1 doesn't stop them from going off with SnT. I like your idea for using more discard against combo. Thoughtseize and CT obviously work very well together. I've been playing monoR and have been using Trinisphere against SnT, but at 3cmc it is a bit slow against the storm decks of the world. I think you're definitely on the right build with the black splash. Maybe try dropping the Chalice entirely for Thoughtseize and see how that treats you.

On Death and Taxes - I don't think looking for kills spells for two DnT fatties is where you need to be with your sideboard. You already have Pyrokinesis and Warren Weirding anyway. I would not be siding anything else youf that matchup. Your SB Pyro, Sharpshooter and Tuktuk are enough to seal games 2+3 90% of the time.

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Just wanted to say that I agree 100% with what you wrote.

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Originally Posted by jrw1985

What other misplays did you see?

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Ill write later. In pm or here?

please post it here so we can all learn as well.

@Sandro

Thanks for the report. I'm glad to see BR still producing.

Re: vs S&T and ANT
Since you're already in black, I agree that you should consider more discard in the board. Discard won't win by itself, but it should work well with the clock you present. You might want a 1-2 more copies of Earwig Squad in conjunction with the discard so you can draw it naturally.

Chalice is obviously a powerhouse, but it clashes with the discard plan. Having already gone the discard route maindeck, I vote you go all in there.

There are cards that shine in one of those matchups but not the other. One card which is solid in both is Phyrexian Revoker, hitting LED/Petal and Griselbrand/Sneak. Remember that you don't name a card until Revoker has entered play, at which point it's too late for the opponent to respond -- you can put it in off Show and Tell, see what they've brought to class, and name that card. Utility vs opposing equipment and Moms is a bonus.

Something like this,
4 Thoughtseize
3 Relic of Progenitus
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Pyrokinesis
1 Sharpshooter
1 Tuktuk Scrapper
1 Earwig Squad
2 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Flex

The flex slot could be Stingscourger (S&T, Lands,...), Boartusk Liege (Plague, Golgari Charm), Goblin Settler (Lands, Grove-Punishing Fire), or even an additional Krenko to straight win the BUG matchups.

Game 1
48:09 you sac skirk to play warchief. Why not to do it in the first main to deal 1 more dmg? I think it is not a good move because of a stp, but you have a crafter in hand so i understand your move.
53:06 you could first deal dmg by crafter, look what your opponent will do and then resolve it's champion trigger.
54:05 why play matron in second main phase? You have to play it in first main and attack with it too. So you've missed 2 dmg.
54:22 why search for tuktuk? You have total board control and you need nothing but continue to increase the presure by putting some goblins into play. If you just play right tuktuk will be in your hand till the end of the game. So i will search for matron because you need nothing.
55:33 I wrote about it in my previous post. You just need to block with matron and kill it by shooter. So counters will not be placed on jitte and this is means gg. Because you could find a driver with matron that you've found with first matron and kill him right that turn.
56:38 while warchief is alive you have to play ringleader for R2 first because lackey costs R all the time.

Game 2
Coming soon

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Originally Posted by goblinpiledriver

Sandro, how about Dread of Night for the d&t matchup?

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I thought about siding two copies. I don't think it's needed at the moment, but I could see it taking some of the pressure off of our other removal. I'd rather spend a Pyrokinesis on a Brimaz than be forced to burn it t1 on a mom.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jrw1985

On OmniTell - Chalice is just not very good against SnT decks. By the time you cast Chalice @ 1 they've usually sculpted already and are either close to their combo or have a FoW. Either way, a resolved Chalice @ 1 doesn't stop them from going off with SnT. I like your idea for using more discard against combo. Thoughtseize and CT obviously work very well together. I've been playing monoR and have been using Trinisphere against SnT, but at 3cmc it is a bit slow against the storm decks of the world. I think you're definitely on the right build with the black splash. Maybe try dropping the Chalice entirely for Thoughtseize and see how that treats you.

On Death and Taxes - I don't think looking for kills spells for two DnT fatties is where you need to be with your sideboard. You already have Pyrokinesis and Warren Weirding anyway. I would not be siding anything else youf that matchup. Your SB Pyro, Sharpshooter and Tuktuk are enough to seal games 2+3 90% of the time.

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I've had the same impression with Chalice. It's great a against Storm, and many Delver decks fold to it as well. I might up the discard count, maybe something like a 3-3 split with the therapiess maindeck? I don't really need that much discard against anything besides combo, but I don't really mind devoting those slots to combo either, as I feel I have the slots to spare.

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Originally Posted by Sockosensei

@Sandro

Thanks for the report. I'm glad to see BR still producing.

Re: vs S&T and ANT
Since you're already in black, I agree that you should consider more discard in the board. Discard won't win by itself, but it should work well with the clock you present. You might want a 1-2 more copies of Earwig Squad in conjunction with the discard so you can draw it naturally.

Chalice is obviously a powerhouse, but it clashes with the discard plan. Having already gone the discard route maindeck, I vote you go all in there.

There are cards that shine in one of those matchups but not the other. One card which is solid in both is Phyrexian Revoker, hitting LED/Petal and Griselbrand/Sneak. Remember that you don't name a card until Revoker has entered play, at which point it's too late for the opponent to respond -- you can put it in off Show and Tell, see what they've brought to class, and name that card. Utility vs opposing equipment and Moms is a bonus.

Something like this,
4 Thoughtseize
3 Relic of Progenitus
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Pyrokinesis
1 Sharpshooter
1 Tuktuk Scrapper
1 Earwig Squad
2 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Flex

The flex slot could be Stingscourger (S&T, Lands,...), Boartusk Liege (Plague, Golgari Charm), Goblin Settler (Lands, Grove-Punishing Fire), or even an additional Krenko to straight win the BUG matchups.

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Diversifying your combo hate is important, and I like having both discard based disruption and permanent based disruption. The anti synergy between CotV and discard is notable at times, but there is also a less obvious synergy between the two, especially against Storm. The information that Thoughtseize and Cabal Therapy provide is very useful to determining when to play your Chalice. Sometimes you see a hand of 2 LED and 2 Petal and drop it for zero. Sometimes you snipe their Abrupt Decay on the flashback and deploy a Chalice for one to lock them out of the game.

I tried a second Earwig Squad in the board a while ago, but was unimpressed by it. I realized I'd rather have more ways to slow them down, and that one Earwig Squad was enough to seal the deal when you have four copies of Goblin Matron in your deck.

I have thought about Phyrexian Revoker (and Pithing Needle, although their applications are different). I could see playing one or two if Sneak and Show becomes popular again, will have to try it out first though. :)

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Originally Posted by GoboLord

2 Sharpshooters
They are insanely against Elves, DnT , Infect and those ttoken-producing wizards

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GoboLord, I also wanted to mention that I've been thinking about your idea to play more Sharpshooters, and come to the conclusion that I like it. I think four might be a bit to much, because it gets a bit easy for our opponents to counteract us that way (D&T have Revokers, and Elves often side a single Pithing Needle against us for that reason, at least in my experience).

I also wanted to say thanks to everyone for the fantastic response, you all have very valuable thoughts and it's quite inspiring to see all of these ideas. :)

Game 2
1:06:12 a very stange turn. You give your opponet an oportunity to equip the sword. I think the right play will be pass, then matron for tarfire in resp to equip. Then if he plays a mom and equip a sword you just play a sting that in your hand. Driver is the worst goblin in that MU. So you found like none and waste a gempalm. You could even let him equip and search for a tuktuk with matron. It will be a better move then you did.
Second video
1:56 why copy driver? Just attack with all but kiki and win or stp to driver, then put crafter into play, in resp to trigger copy it by kiki and kill your opponent.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OlegtheSuper

Game 1
48:09 you sac skirk to play warchief. Why not to do it in the first main to deal 1 more dmg? I think it is not a good move because of a stp, but you have a crafter in hand so i understand your move.

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The main reason I attacked with Skirk was on the off chance that my opponent would trade with Mom. We beat DnT if it becomes a game of one-for-ones. So the attack with Skirk was just giving my opponent the chance to make a mistake. He's obviously not going to block a Warchief with Mom, but he might be willing to trade for some reason.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OlegtheSuper

53:06 you could first deal dmg by crafter, look what your opponent will do and then resolve it's champion trigger.

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Fair enough. I could have picked up some marginal value there. It was pretty clear that he didn't have a Swords at that point though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OlegtheSuper

54:05 why play matron in second main phase? You have to play it in first main and attack with it too. So you've missed 2 dmg.

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I wanted to Matron after combat so I had more complete information. Again, it was already fair to assume there was no Swords, but you never really know. So I played Matron for control, not aggro.

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Originally Posted by OlegtheSuper

54:22 why search for tuktuk? You have total board control and you need nothing but continue to increase the presure by putting some goblins into play. If you just play right tuktuk will be in your hand till the end of the game. So i will search for matron because you need nothing.

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I grabbed Tuktuk because he grabbed Jitte. His only chance to win at this point was playing something ProR and putting Jitte on it. So I took away that out with Tuktuk.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OlegtheSuper

55:33 I wrote about it in my previous post. You just need to block with matron and kill it by shooter. So counters will not be placed on jitte and this is means gg. Because you could find a driver with matron that you've found with first matron and kill him right that turn.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by OlegtheSuper

56:38 while warchief is alive you have to play ringleader for R2 first because lackey costs R all the time.

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I probably just should have Tuktuk'd Jitte, then cast Lackey and maybe Warchief is still alive and cheat in Ringleader off lackey...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OlegtheSuper

Game 2
1:06:12 a very stange turn. You give your opponet an oportunity to equip the sword. I think the right play will be pass, then matron for tarfire in resp to equip. Then if he plays a mom and equip a sword you just play a sting that in your hand. Driver is the worst goblin in that MU. So you found like none and waste a gempalm. You could even let him equip and search for a tuktuk with matron. It will be a better move then you did.
Second video
1:56 why copy driver? Just attack with all but kiki and win or stp to driver, then put crafter into play, in resp to trigger copy it by kiki and kill your opponent.

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I was a little bit aggressive on Gempalming the SFM. My reasoning was that I didn't want him to untap with SFM and get to cheat in a Batterskull. I also wanted to use the Gempalm I had in hand and if I waited a turn it made Swords disrupting Gempalm a possibility. I wanted Gempalm there over Tarfire because I wanted the extra card off cycle. We win this matchup with CA so that seemed like the better play for the long game.

I copies Driver just to force the Swords. I realized the Crafter line after the attack.

Last weekend I top-8'ed a GPT in the Seattle area with RW Goblins, losing only to my own mistakes in the semis. Yesterday I ran it back and won another GPT losing only a single game over 5 rounds of swiss and the top 8. Here's a quick write-up of my experience.

The Deck

Maindeck
3 Bloodstained Mire
3 Wooded Foothills
4 Cavern of Souls
3 Mountain
2 Plateau
4 Rishadan Port
4 Wasteland

4 AEther Vial
3 Tarfire

3 Gempalm Incinerator
1 Goblin Chieftain
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Goblin Matron
1 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Ringleader
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
4 Goblin Warchief
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Krenko, Mob Boss
2 Mogg War Marshal
1 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Skirk Prospector
1 Stingscourger
1 Tuktuk Scrapper

Sideboard
3 Pyrokinesis
3 Red Elemental Blast
3 Relic of Progenitus
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Wear // Tear

Deck Building Decisions

I had a few decisions to make up front. First, I've always been a huge fan of mana denial in this deck. This pushes me to the classic Goblins build instead of Pendelhaven/Chrome Mox/Instigators. I admit I haven't played those builds in any tournaments, but on paper it looks like a much higher variance deck, something I'm not interested in at all.

Once I knew I was on Rishadan Port, I still had to decide if I wanted a color splash. I've played Mono-Red a lot in the past to mitigate damage from fetches and susceptibility to Stife and Wasteland, but I think splashing in this meta is worthwhile. I ultimately chose white as my splash because Thalia seems to be a pretty strong addition to the deck. Thorn of Amethyst was always fine, but being able to add pressure AND disruption at the same time vs Storm makes it a great choice. Wear // Tear is also a fine corollary to Krosan Grip, so you don't lose much for staying out of green.

The last decision to make is which bullets to include. Let's start with the easy ones: Kiki-Jiki is absurdly good in this deck. The ability to copy Matron, Piledriver, and Ringleader is almost always enough to win the game on the spot, even if Kiki doesn't untap again. Krenko is also amazing against everything midrange. If he doesn't have haste, the opponent really only has one turn to answer it before he puts you ahead. I'm actually not a huge fan of Siege Gang Commander, but I conceded to adding one because he's probably the best Lackey drop. I'm also tempted to cut Sharpshooter and Skirk Prospector because they're the most common cards to come out post-board, but they keep finding random ways to be useful. Goblin Chieftain is a recent addition and it's basically a nod to Engineered Plague and Golgari Charm. The haste is also extremely relevant for surprising your opponents. Finally, I don't think Piledriver is very good in multiples. He's easy to kill and requires you to be ahead on board to be effective. Once Goblins is ahead, it's not hard to stay ahead, but Piledriver doesn't get you there alone. That said, he's a great finisher if you can catch your opponents off guard.

On land count: I ran 22 last week and it wasn't enough. Rishadan Port is HUNGRY and I was often bottlenecked on colored mana, especially vs Wasteland decks. Adding a 23rd land made the deck feel a lot better. I flooded out a couple games, but managed to stay alive until I drew more action.

Sideboard Observations

A few points I ran into:

1. Overboarding is a real problem for this deck. Except for extremely bad matchups (traditionally combo), you don't want to slow yourself down by removing too many Goblins. For instance, my board for Miracles is just +2 Red Elemental Blast +1 Wear // Tear, -1 Goblin Sharpshooter -1 Skirk Prospector -1 Tuktuk Scrapper. I could board more cards that would be relevant, but at the expense of pulling relevant cards out of the deck.

2. It's important to know your good matches and to not waste your time boarding against them. Again, Miracles is a prime example. Sure, Chalice of the Void is a good (not great) card against them, but why would I want to board it in if I'm already soooo favored to win that matchup?

3. Pick your battles. I decided that Sneak and Show is such a bad matchup that I won't bother fighting it. I could add a few Ashen Rider and a Pithing Needle, but it means I need to cut into cards from other matchups. Storm is a horrible matchup, but I figured it'd be more likely, so I came with 10 cards to bring in.

Future Changes

Going forward, I wouldn't touch a single card in the maindeck. It was amazing. That said, I think I could tweak the sideboard just a bit:

3 Pyrokinesis
2 Red Elemental Blast
3 Relic of Progenitus
1 Containment Priest
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Wear // Tear

Containment Priest gives me a little more game against Reanimator and Sneak and Show at the expense of a Red Elemental Blast. I might cut a Wear // Tear for a Pithing Needle as well since it covers both Sneak and Show and Jitte from Stoneblade.

Tournament Report

I'm not going to go match-by-match, but I will highlight a few sweet plays over the last two weekends.

1. At one point, my Shardless BUG opponent resolved a Night of Souls Betrayal wiping most of my board. He had a few Goyfs and a Deathrite Shaman with lots of food, but I had Kiki-Jiki to copy Stingscourger and hold him off his green mana to redeploy all his creatures at once. I lasted almost 20 minutes at 1 life going blow for blow, and it was looking grim when he finally Disfigured my Kiki-Jiki, but Relic of Progenitus came to save the day. I wiped the graveyards, his Goyfs became 0/1s, and his own Night of Souls Betrayal killed them all. Attacks for 1 with Siege Gang finished the game.

2. My Miracles opponent Brainstormed and passed the turn without playing a fetch land. He had two Islands and two Plains on the board. In his upkeep, I Ported a Plains and he scooped. Apparently he had Brainstorm locked himself with Entreat the Angels as his only out.

3. I stole a game 1 against Storm. You have to know going into this matchup that you're a dog to win, and you have to do your best to deploy a threat and disrupt as much as possible. In this case, my disruption was a single Rishadan Port and my pressure was a Goblin Warchief -- neither of which are very effective. Unfortunately for him, he stumbled to find a third land after casting Gitaxian Probe for life twice, and he was forced to Ad Nauseum on 13 life. First card he hit: Dark Petition! He then flipped several more cantrips and finally died to Past in Flames. It's not often you see Ad Nauseums this bad, but the lesson to learn is that each life point matters.

4. My Affinity opponent resolved an Etched Champion and Cranial Plating and threatened lethal. I already had a Warchief, Sharpshooter, and Skirk Prospector on the board and I needed to find a line that would kill him that turn. I had just enough mana to Vial in Goblin Matron, fetch Mogg War Marshal, swing with everyone, and then gun him down with Sharpshooter + Prospector for exactly lethal damage.

5. My single game loss yesterday was actually due to a punt on my part. I was facing down two True-Name Nemesis and a Snapcaster Mage with a Vial on 2. My out was to Matron for Piledriver, cast it, pass the turn, and swing for lethal the next turn. I went for this line, but also decided to Stingscourger his Snapcaster Mage for no good reason. When I tried to port his only blue mana the following turn, he responded by casting Snapcaster Mage and flashing back a Swords to Plowshares I had forgotten about on my Piledriver. Lesson learned: Giving your opponent his Snapcaster Mage back is a dumb idea. Especially when you have a win on board otherwise.

Open Questions

Here's some things I'd love to understand from other players:

1. Why do so many people like Chalice of the Void? There's better ways to fight Storm, it's totally unnecessary in Miracles, and it isn't very impactful in lots of other matchups.

2. What is the most effective sideboard strategy for Sneak and Show and Storm? Both those matchups seen extremely difficult, but there's not a lot of crossover in solutions. I'm happy to bring in Red Elemental Blast for both, but there's got to be more. Perhaps this is where the black splash with Cabal Therapy really shines. Or perhaps the right answer is to keep doing what I did and hope to not face one or both of those matchups.

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Originally Posted by btraut

The Deck

Maindeck
3 Bloodstained Mire
3 Wooded Foothills
4 Cavern of Souls
3 Mountain
2 Plateau
4 Rishadan Port
4 Wasteland

4 AEther Vial
3 Tarfire

3 Gempalm Incinerator
1 Goblin Chieftain
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Goblin Matron
1 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Ringleader
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
4 Goblin Warchief
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Krenko, Mob Boss
2 Mogg War Marshal
1 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Skirk Prospector
1 Stingscourger
1 Tuktuk Scrapper

Sideboard
3 Pyrokinesis
3 Red Elemental Blast
3 Relic of Progenitus
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Wear // Tear


Sideboard Observations

A few points I ran into:

1. Overboarding is a real problem for this deck. Except for extremely bad matchups (traditionally combo), you don't want to slow yourself down by removing too many Goblins.



Open Questions

Here's some things I'd love to understand from other players:

1. Why do so many people like Chalice of the Void? There's better ways to fight Storm, it's totally unnecessary in Miracles, and it isn't very impactful in lots of other matchups.

2. What is the most effective sideboard strategy for Sneak and Show and Storm? Both those matchups seen extremely difficult, but there's not a lot of crossover in solutions. I'm happy to bring in Red Elemental Blast for both, but there's got to be more. Perhaps this is where the black splash with Cabal Therapy really shines. Or perhaps the right answer is to keep doing what I did and hope to not face one or both of those matchups.

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I very much agree with you on the overboarding part, I've made the same observation myself many times. For this reason though I am confused as why you would run so many copies of REB. It seems like an all-around good but ultimately low impact card, precisely the kind of sideboard card you'd want to stay away from if overboarding is an issue.

1. I like Chalice of the Void because it is a strong card in many matchups. It's great against Storm, and decent against Miracles. But it also beats up on Burn, UR Delver, UWR Delver, RUG Delver, Grixis Delver etc.
Are there better ways to fight Storm? Maybe, but the fact that CotV can come down on turn 1 helps against both discard and their early kills. Thalia and Ethersworn Canonist both require a splash, and have less impact in other matchups. Is Thorn of Amethyst enough better than CotV against Storm that it's worth losing out on the additional value you get versus Delver decks (among others)? I don't think it is.

2. There's not too much Sneak and Show in my local metagame, but the black splash does indeed help fight both decks at the same time. Unlike Storm, S&S doesn't need to cast too many spells in one turn, which means hate cards like Thalia and Chalice become less effective (if still good).

Congrats on your great results and thank you for your report. It is clear that you've made a lot of concrete and useful observations about the deck.

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Originally Posted by btraut

1. Why do so many people like Chalice of the Void? There's better ways to fight Storm, it's totally unnecessary in Miracles, and it isn't very impactful in lots of other matchups.

2. What is the most effective sideboard strategy for Sneak and Show and Storm? Both those matchups seen extremely difficult, but there's not a lot of crossover in solutions. I'm happy to bring in Red Elemental Blast for both, but there's got to be more. Perhaps this is where the black splash with Cabal Therapy really shines. Or perhaps the right answer is to keep doing what I did and hope to not face one or both of those matchups.

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1. Because it wins elfes/delver matchup on the spot (except for BUG, w/ decay and golgari charm), and stops spot removal from d&t. also, chalice @0 is very strong, since it stops 8 cards(petal and LEDs), and @1 stops almost one third of the deck (rituals/discards/cantrips).

2. I dont feel confortable w/ discard protection, because they can win on the spot if they draw THE card. sure, it`s more unlikely to happen, but hatebears/permahates feel better to me. indeed, cabal therapy stops s&t decks pretty hard, since they are like a 2-3 card combo decks. keeping them w/ 1 -0 card in hand is the way to go, when u use the discard plan.

I went 2-2 last friday

1-2 vs miracles, I blundered game 1 which I should've won. My opponent casted all his 4 terminuses and in a critical moment I decided to vial in Goblin Ringleader (i already was kind of deducing my opponent had a clique in hand) instead of just casting it. He cliqued my ringleader away and didn't draw too much action.

2-1 vs Merfolk I just flooded the board and messed his mana too much with wastes and ports. Pyrokinesis were nice too.

1-2 vs Loam Maverick: all 3 games were a grindfest. He casted devastating dreams all 3 games, Aether Vial is amazing against that card since you can keep the flow going, but i didn't see another copy in g2 or 3. I also made a critical mistake with a cracking of a relic in g2.

2-0 vs miracles

Overall I like the new meta for Goblins. I would really like to try the black splash, but I feel very comfortable with 4 Wastes, 4 Ports, 4 Caverns. Do you guys think it's still viable to splash a color and mantain the 3 playsets?

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Originally Posted by jrw1985

I was a little bit aggressive on Gempalming the SFM. My reasoning was that I didn't want him to untap with SFM and get to cheat in a Batterskull. I also wanted to use the Gempalm I had in hand and if I waited a turn it made Swords disrupting Gempalm a possibility. I wanted Gempalm there over Tarfire because I wanted the extra card off cycle. We win this matchup with CA so that seemed like the better play for the long game.

I copies Driver just to force the Swords. I realized the Crafter line after the attack.

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Attack with all but kiki force the stp anyway. It was a lethal already.