[Deck] Goblins

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Originally Posted by GoboLord

Ive been testing it in my Winstigator list (moving from 1 to 3 copies) and I liked it a lot, but it was the 58th, 59th and 60th best card in the deck in basically any MU. Im always juggling with these slots so I cant say I discarded it entirely. Right now I just feel like im in need of 2-3 Gempalms.

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Interesting. I think the card has a lot of potential, but can relate to what others said: sometimes it feels like a win-more. I've tried it in a WInstigator-build, but reasoned that it could be better with Goblin Warchief, thus in a Classic-build. Now, my build has been all over the place, and I've returned to a Winstigator-build (almost the same I played earlier this year). For reference:

Core (24)
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Chieftain
4 Goblin Ringleader
4 Goblin Matron
4 Aether Vial

Other (15)
1 Tuktuk Scrapper
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Siege Gang Commander
2 Gempalm Incinerator
3 Subterranean Scout
3 Warren Instigator
3 Tarfire

Mana (22)
2 Pendelhaven
3 Chrome Mox
4 Cavern of Souls
13 Mountain

Sideboard (15)
1 Goblin Settler
1 Tuktuk Scrapper
2 Goblin Sharpshooter
2 Pyrokinesis
2 Stingscourger
3 Relic if Progenitus
4 Chalice of the Void

This build is not optimal, and is still a work in progress. There are the obvious cardchoices, and card-synergies. Still, fire away!

How does your current build look like, Gobolord?

EDIT: Sharpshooter main could be something else not sure what exactly) or dropped being the 61th card (damn, didn't count).

MANA [23] (12 colorfixing)
4 Caverns,
2 Wasteland,
2 Pendelhaven,
1 Ancient Tomb
2 Chrome Mox
4 Hovel, 2 Badlands, 3 Fetchlands
3 Mountain

CORE [28]
4 Vial
4 Lackey
4 Winstigator
4 Piledriver
4 Chieftain
4 Matron
4 Ringleader

2 Warchief
3 Tarfire
2 Gempalm Incinerator
1 Warren Weirding
1 Stingscourger

The 3 slots I was talking about are currently covered with 2 Gempalms and 1 Warren Weirding and could also be 3 SubScouts.
The sideboard is large undecuded, but im sure that I want at least 3 Perish.

It seems like we need to have more CA at a lower cost to effectively compete with Shardless BUG. Perhaps an approach with more cost reducing Goblins (Frogtosser Bannerett and Warchief) and and CA (Gempalms) would be a good Starting point.

4 Vial
4 Lackey
4 Warchief
4 Matron
4 Ringleader

2 Bannerett
3 Mogg War Marshal
4 Gempalm

2 Chieftain
2 Krenko
2 Tarfire
1 Stingscourger
1 Warren Weirding
1 Piledriver

That has plenty of removal, haste, pumps, cost reduction AND CA. You lose the toolbox but should still be strong against any fair MU. Plus you get the benefits of a Black splash.

I like it.
What's the proposed sb? And most importantly, what would be the sb in and out? Seems kind of hard.

I played at scg St. Louis a week or so ago, I play a r/b winstigator list. Finished the day at 5-3-1

4 vial
4 lackey
4 matron
4 piledriver
4 chieftain
4 ringleader
4 instigator
4 tarfire
1 sharpshooter
1 kiki-jiki
1 siege-gang
1 stingscourger
1 settler
1 tuktuk scrapper

6 mountain
4 cavern of souls
4 bloodstained mire
3 wooded foothills
3 chrome mox
2 badlands

board:
4 chalice of the void
4 cabal therapy
1 tuktuk scrapper
2 earwig squad
1 pyrokenisis
2 relic of progenitus
1 grafdiggers cage

On the shardless BUG match up, I played against this deck twice that day. I went 2-0 and didn't lose a game. In my first match against shardless, I kept a hand with lands, goblin lackey, kiki-jiki, piledriver, tarfire. On the play, I played a lackey as he brainstormed. I triggered lackey into kiki-jiki , and played a piledriver. He didn't have the removal and played a strix so EOT copied the piledriver, copied again on my turn an swang for 20+ on turn 3.The next game I was able to take control of the board between goblin matron and tarfires, and grind out the win. The next match I had against against Shardless, I was again able to out pace two tarmagoyfs on board and eventually keep him at bay with a sharpshooter which eventually got there. Game two of this match a little closer, with both of us low on life I managed to hard cast a siege-gang and keep enough a a board presence to activate siege gang commander to clear his board of DRS and strix. End of his turn a saced a lacky to do 2 damage to him putting him at 5. I swang with my remaining lackey, instigator, and siege-gang. He decays my instigator which I sac for 2 damage to him (at 3) he blocks the siege-gang with his tarmagoyf which I sac for 2 damage before he dies, and lackey got through unblocked for lethal. When I boarded for this matchup, I didn't do much besides out with scrapper and in with Earwig Squad which I did't see. I was impressed with the bombs I ran in this matchup, and was successful in out pacing his card advantage engine.

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Originally Posted by LittleGreenGuys

I didn't do much besides out with scrapper and in with Earwig Squad which I did't see.

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Not saying you did anything wrong, just wanted to point out that Shardless runs 8 artifact creatures (4 Shardless Agent and 4 Baleful Strix), so Tuktuk is by no means a dead card. :wink:

I agree with Ace. Shardless BUG also has Jitte and/or Null Rod post sideboard, so TukTuk Scrapper and TSH are rarely dead cards.

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Originally Posted by jrw1985

It seems like we need to have more CA at a lower cost to effectively compete with Shardless BUG. Perhaps an approach with more cost reducing Goblins (Frogtosser Bannerett and Warchief) and and CA (Gempalms) would be a good Starting point.

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Interesting that you want more "warchiefs," I think we're on the same page with regards to the Shardless matchup (4 Gempalms/3 Marshals) but I've been ever so unimpressed with warchief lately. It's a good effect when you're on turn 8 and ready to go nuts but sometimes it feels like the weakest turn 3 play possible.

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Originally Posted by LittleGreenGuys

In my first match against shardless, I kept a hand with lands, goblin lackey, kiki-jiki, piledriver, tarfire. On the draw I played a lackey as he brainstormed. He played a baleful strix on his turn 2, my turn 2 I tarfired the strix, triggered lackey into kiki-jiki , and played a piledriver.

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I must be misinterpreting this... how did you cast tarfire + piledriver on turn 2 :eyebrow:

Hi everyone, I hope you are well.

I went 3-1 today, beating AnT, 12 Post and Grixis Delver with DRS and Abrupt Decay, losing to Shardless BUG.

G1 against AnT was pretty fun. He almost always plays Death and Taxes, and I kept a mediocre seven on the draw (1 Warchief, two therapies, four lands). My opponent went t1 Bloodstained Mire into t2 Infernal Tutor revealing Cabal Ritual. On my turn I therapied three Rituals out of his hand. The second Therapy hit two more Infernal Tutors. Yeah, that was pretty good.

Skirk Prospector won me a super tight game 1 against Grixis Delver. I had a Vial on three and a stacked hand, but hand only just hit my third land. On my turn I went Matron > Prospector > MWM. On his turn I blocked an Elemental token and a Young Pyromancer, then sacced my blockers and Gempalmed his Delver, going to four. On my turn I Vialed in a Warchief and played matron for Sharpshooter, clearing his board except for the Gurmag Angler he'd just played. After that I managed to run away with the game.

Earwig Squad was also very good, against both Storm and 12 post.

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Originally Posted by Stevestamopz

Interesting that you want more "warchiefs," I think we're on the same page with regards to the Shardless matchup (4 Gempalms/3 Marshals) but I've been ever so unimpressed with warchief lately. It's a good effect when you're on turn 8 and ready to go nuts but sometimes it feels like the weakest turn 3 play possible.



I must be misinterpreting this... how did you cast tarfire + piledriver on turn 2 :eyebrow:

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My mistake, I was on the play and tarfired the strix on my turn 3. Im basing this off a few notes a took a week ago so work with me lol

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Originally Posted by Ace/Homebrew

Not saying you did anything wrong, just wanted to point out that Shardless runs 8 artifact creatures (4 Shardless Agent and 4 Baleful Strix), so Tuktuk is by no means a dead card. :wink:

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I didn't expect a Jitte or anything like that, but I can see it being a problem. Tarfire and sharpshooter got it done in my few games though.

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Originally Posted by jrw1985

It seems like we need to have more CA at a lower cost to effectively compete with Shardless BUG

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I agree, but it think this is not the main thing we should focus on. Obviously ringleader matron gempalm war marshal are good because they let us keep pace with them, but the card advantage war is a though fight that we can't always win, so i think we should exploit their weakness to certain cards (basically anything that costs more than 3). I mean, how many maelstrom pulses/toxic deluges can they have if we have 4 matrons and 3-4 krenko's between main and sideboard? With so many "bombs", the only thing that can save them is the one of night of souls betrayal they usually play.... if that thing shows up, it's gonna be very difficult for us to win in any case, but we can also try to fight it with a single boartusk liege.

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Originally Posted by LeoCop 90

I agree, but it think this is not the main thing we should focus on. Obviously ringleader matron gempalm war marshal are good because they let us keep pace with them, but the card advantage war is a though fight that we can't always win, so i think we should exploit their weakness to certain cards (basically anything that costs more than 3). I mean, how many maelstrom pulses/toxic deluges can they have if we have 4 matrons and 3-4 krenko's between main and sideboard? With so many "bombs", the only thing that can save them is the one of night of souls betrayal they usually play.... if that thing shows up, it's gonna be very difficult for us to win in any case, but we can also try to fight it with a single boartusk liege.

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The problem is though that Shardless is a GoodStuff deck without holes. You can attack it's artifacts and still die to Goyfs. You can cast Perish and still get Lilliana'd out of the game. You can't just hose them by attacking the graveyard or their hand or just drop a Chalice @ 1. In order to beat them we need to have board position AND be the beatdown. We can't play control because Deluge will kill us. And Boartusk is fine as a trump to their trump (NoSB, E Plague), but they still run MD answers to it.

I think you're correct about Krenko being our best card in that MU. I also think lord effects to give Haste + Pumps are huge since we need to be the beatdown. Krenko+Lord gives us the advantage on the board and the initiative to attack. And Krenko is really the only threat that is worth forcing a lackey through for in that MU.

Anyway, I guess my whole point is we need to have a plan to out-play Shardless. They want to out draw us, spot-remove our enablers, and beat us down with Goyf, all while threatening 1-sided sweepers. So we need to fill the board with chumpers (MWM), play cards that keep pace with their CA (Gempalm), and then fill the board with more blockers than they can beat through (krenko).

I've been testing Krenko against Shardless and I really like him a lot. Him being 3/3 means he's out of both disfigure range and abrupt decay.

So, I went in a 16-men tournament, and placed 4th with 3-1. Not bad.
I tried the Winstigator list, and frankly I like it, although there are some downfalls...

4x Goblin Lackey
4X Warren Instigator
4x Goblin Ringleader
4x Goblin Chieftain
4x Goblin Matron
4x Aether Vial
2x Goblin Piledriver
2x Tarfire
2x Goblin Incinerator
1x Stingscourger
1x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1x Goblin Settler
1x Siege-Gang Commander
1x Tuktuk Scrapper
1x Subteranean Scout
1x Skirk Prospector
1x Lightning Crafter

4x Cavern of Souls
4x Wasteland
9x Mountain
2x Pendelhaven
3x Chrome Mox

Sideboard
3x Chalice of the Void
3x Relic of Progenitus
2x Pyrokinesis
2x Surgical Extraction
2x Magus of the Moon (I just bought them, but didn't had to use him so welp)
1x Tinstreet Hooligan
1x Boartusk Liege
1x Legion Loyalist

I didn't took notes, so I'll report it as clearly as I remember.

Round 1: Sword-Miracle
Weird brew of Miracle with SFM, Jitte, etc.
*Game 1 I just wrecked him
*Game 2 I had nothing
*Game 3 I had to mulligan to 4 (four!), but I still managed to win with insane perfectly-timed draws and plays, the other player was disgusted by the luck I had.

Round 2: Enchantress
He hasn't played for a while and started again today. He made mistakes, but it was kinda a pain, since I have no fucking answer to enchantments...
*Game 1 is my first turn 3 kill (Mox+Winstigator, into matron and Chieftain + Piledriver cast, plus some other things, I think I dealt 25 damage to him the next turn).
*Game 2 was a pain... I had a good run, putting him @ 1, with much more than lethal (since I also had SGC), and then... Solitary confinement. It is a major pain in the ass... I managed to Waste his Serra land as soon as he put it into play, and stall the game with a Settler on his Forest with 4+ mana enchantments on it. And waited. And waited. He play Greater Auramancy, Leyline of Sanctity, and finally Starfield of Nyx... Then, Miracle! Kiki-Jikki! Copy the Settler, destroy his other land and pass.
My plan now is to destroy his lands, and let him mill himself because of all the Enchantresses he has or stall the game until time (since he had a Solitary confinement in play and one in the grave, with Starfield he could jut cycle between them and not draw), and control his angels (the ones he could pop with Sigil of the Empty Throne he could cast with his other Serra land he would eventually draw) with Kiki+SGC, and just win a dull Round at 1-0-1, but heck, I could do it.
And then, he made a huge mistake...
He attacked me with his Greater Auramancy among other animated enchantment-creatures (because of Starfield)... I block it with a 2/2 token (thanks Chieftain), let the 12 other damage pass, and during my turn sacrifice 2 tokens to kill his Solitary Confinement, and attack with more creatures he had blockers (he still had Leylines, so no direct damage).
I was lucky as hell he attacked me, otherwise it would have been SOOO long and may have lost if he was lucky...

Round 3: ANT
*Game 1 I died. Nothing I could do.
*Game 2 I had during the last turn a lot more than lethal as I would have dealt around 38 damage (double Winstigator into double Ringleaders into double piledrivers with a Siege-Gang and a Chieftain among on the side...) and if he couldn't kill me right now I would have won... He killed me. Welp. I had 2 Surgicals, be never could cast them into something pertinent.

Round 4: SnT
*Game 1 His surprise as I put Stingscourger against his Emrakul on SnT is priceless. Lethal next turn.
*Game 2 Omniscience turn 1, oh well...
*Game 3: The most stupid game ever. I mull to 5, he mull to 4. I had Cavern, Chalice, Vial, Winstigator and another random goblin.
Turn 1: Vial, Force. Welp.
His turn 1: Pass. Yep, he had no lands nor petals.
Turn 2: Pass
His turn 2: Pass...
Turn 3: I draw Prospector, cast him via cavern, pass.
His turn 3: pass... ...
Turn 4: Attack, then sacrifice him for a Winstigator.
His turn 4: Pass.
Turn 5: Attack, matron into Chieftain.
His turn 5: pass... ... ...
Turn 6: I put the Chalice @0 just in case (I had hoped to get a Mox, but no and I couldn't afford him getting a petal), attack put other things, pass.
His turn 5: ... Pass...
Turn 7: I Surgical his FoW, just to be sure, he had none in hand and nothing else that could stop me and I win.

He took it well, but damn, it was so boring it was funny.


Quarter-final: ANT
Weeeeelpppppppp.
End of tournament.


Afterthoughts: Quite explosive, even when low on resource, but less versatile than with a splash. Against Combo, if I don't have Chalice, I lose. No Thalia/RiP and/or no Cabal Therapy/Warren Weirding is harsh on the combo match-ups...
I'll try it on the next tournament too, I like the explosiveness, I'll see what happens.
I never could use the Skirk+Crafter+Kiki combo, since it was ultra-fast games or games without enough fuel, but Skirk can save lives sometimes so he'll stay, and why not the Crafter too while I'm at it...

Hey John where did you finish yesterday?

Hey Dave! The tournament went really well. I went 4-0-2 in the Swiss with the same list I've been playing then I lost in the Quarterfinals. I got to play on camera 3 times so I'll see if I can find the videos later.

4 Vial
4 Lackey
4 Piledriver
4 Warchief
4 Matron
4 Ringleader

2 Tarfire
2 Gempalm Incinerator
2 Stingscourger

2 Skirk Prospector
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Lightning Crafter
1 Krenko, Mob Boss
1 Goblin Sharpshooter

1 Tuktuk Scrapper
1 Goblin Settler

4 Cavern of Souls
3 Wasteland
2 Ancient Tomb
1 Chrome Mox

7 Mountain
5 Fetch

SB
2 Mindbreak Trap
2 Pithing Needle
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Pyrokinesis
2 Blood Moon


R1 RUG Delver 2-0
Cool play here- I'd never played against this guy before so he didn't know I'm on Goblins. He led with a Goose. I played Chrome Mox as my first card to bait a Daze. It worked! He Dazed Chrome thinking it was my only mana source. Then I played land for the turn and Vial and won from there.

R2 MUD 2-1 On camera. Will post once I find the videos.

R3 Goblins 2-1 I lost G1 because he had MWM + SGC. G2 I won with Sharpshooter. G3 I killed his Lackey then Wasted his Cavern and he never had another land.

R4 Shardless BUG 2-1 On camera
R4&5 ID
Quarterfinals Miracles 0-2 On camera. G1 I don't know where my head was at. For some reason I was completely out of it and tried playing an extra land twice this game. Ugh. G2 was pretty awesome. I mulled to 6 and had an awesomely bad but amazing hand. 1 Vial, 2 Cavern, 2 Ancient Tombs, 1 Mountain. Any Matron/Ringleader and I'm good to go. But that just didn't happen.

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Originally Posted by jrw1985

Hey Dave! The tournament went really well. I went 4-0-2 in the Swiss with the same list I've been playing then I lost in the Quarterfinals. I got to play on camera 3 times so I'll see if I can find the videos later.


Quarterfinals Miracles 0-2 On camera. G1 I don't know where my head was at. For some reason I was completely out of it and tried playing an extra land twice this game. Ugh. G2 was pretty awesome. I mulled to 6 and had an awesomely bad but amazing hand. 1 Vial, 2 Cavern, 2 Ancient Tombs, 1 Mountain. Any Matron/Ringleader and I'm good to go. But that just didn't happen.

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Yeah I saw you on camera this round. I was actually going to play this tournament but wasn't feeling well (fairly positive I got some illness from the airplane). Kyle dropping mentor seemed just brutal. He just kinda did a million prowess triggers. Never found out who took 1st.

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Originally Posted by potatodavid

Yeah I saw you on camera this round. I was actually going to play this tournament but wasn't feeling well (fairly positive I got some illness from the airplane). Kyle dropping mentor seemed just brutal. He just kinda did a million prowess triggers. Never found out who took 1st.

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I honestly played the sloppiest Magic of my life G1 that match. I still have no idea why I was so out of it. G2 i probably should have mulled, but my hand was $$$ if I hit a Matron or Ringleader.

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Originally Posted by jrw1985

I honestly played the sloppiest Magic of my life G1 that match. I still have no idea why I was so out of it. G2 i probably should have mulled, but my hand was $$$ if I hit a Matron or Ringleader.

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Yeah Jace kind of fatesealed you into 11 lands. I was waiting for a matron or ringleader because that would have been GG's for him.