[Deck] Goblins

I liked the idea of chump blocking Jitte or Batterscull equipped creatures and/or shooting damage on small creatures in early game. Actually it turned out that I did have him, when I rather likes a lackey like on a starting hand and he was a one drop without an effect. Or I didn't have him when I needed him...so I ended up cutting one for a 3rd Gempalm.
I also made mixed experiences with Wort. Having fear is just awesome, cause it usually walks by everything, but usually it sees instantly removal and it's just so hard to get her out on any way.

The fact that Wort usually sees instant removal is good for the better Goblins. It means less removal for Warchief, Piledriver, Chieftain etc. If she doesn't die it's more card advantage for us. I've played without her a few times and I admit I didn't really miss her. I still find it hard to cut her.

I still think a Goblin Qasali Pridemage is all the little green men need to be Tier 1 again; something useful in combat and capable of blowing up artifacts as a 2-drop. Had they given that lame battle-crying goblin a second ability of - 1, sac: Destroy target artifact - he would have been an automatic 4-of.

I feel like Stingscourger is a definite meta call. He's very situational. He holds a special place in my heart though... Having turn 4 Warchief, Matron, Piledriver and SS for their blocker (KotR and up) is OP.

He's kind of a bad MWM when he doesn't work though :\


Also Wort + Stingscourger is great. We should really get a power-level listing on individual creatures because Wort can suck a lot for such a huge mana investment.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Big Sexy

For the people who tried my list or just tried Fanatic, how is he in your decks? I'm just curious?

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I played Fanatics in my local tourney on last weekend (13 men). They were simply grate!

Deck:

Core 25
– 1 x Goblin Piledriver

2x Mogg Fanatic
2x Lightning Bolt
2x Goblin Incinerator
1x Stingscourger
2x Warren Werding
1x Goblin Chieftain
1x Tuktuk Scrapper
1x Sharpshooter

Lands 23:

4x Wasteland
4x Rishadan Port
4x Badlands
4x Mountain
7x Fetches

Board:
3x CotV
3x REB/Pyro
2x Shatterin Spree
3x Perish
2x Pyrokinezis
2x Relic of progenitus


R1: NOBant
G1 (on play) – He had only one Tarmogoyf the whole game (I simply kill it with double GI). I just outraced him.
G2 – I destroyed his manabase (triple wasteland, mogg fanatic for hierarch) he just scooped with a lone island. (Out: 1x Tuktuk, 1x Vial, 1x Chief, 1x pile, 1x lackey; IN: 2x Pyrokinezis, 3x Perish)
2-0 (1-0)

R2: UW Stoneblade
G1 (on play) – I kept really bad hand with no removal (what was I thinking?!). He quickly stabilized with stoneforge into batterscull.
G2 – we both mulled into 5. I drew into 3 Ringleaders and won. (OUT: 1x Sting, 1x Sharpshooter, 1x Chief, 1x Pile, 1x random card; IN: 3x REB/Pyro, 2x Spree)
G3 – he stabilized with snapcaster mage and jiite on it. (sided same cards as in game 2)
2-1 (1-1)

R3: UW Stoneblade
G1 (on play) – I killed all his creatures (including - fanatic killing clique) and won from there.
G2- I kept good hand with one land and vial. Drop the fanatic and passed.T2 I drew into Rishadan Port and played vial with protection in form of REB. He refused to counter my vial. I won from there. (sided same as in R2)
2-0 (2-1)

R4: Burn
G1 (on draw) – I was using some pressure but he topdecked his lone Volcanic Fallout for my entire team. I managed to kill some of his guys with Bolt/Fanatic. Loss.
G2: I played T2 CotV @ 1. He couldn’t do anything. (OUT: 3 vials, In: 3 CotV)
G3: I kept fast hand and got his manabase in check. Fanatic killed his Lavamancer. I won close game with me @ 4 life and his hand like artifact removal and bolt. (OUT: 4 vials, In: 3 CotV and 1 relic).
2-1 (3-1)

I ended 3rd.

The MVC’s (Most viable cards) of my deck were wastelands, ports, vials, lackeys and fanatics + bolts. Bolts are metacall because of zoo. I never searched for stingscourger and I think he is not necessary in my meta (no s&t/sneak attack/reanimator decks). So probably I will add something like removal (fanatic, bolt, warren werding) or some body (chieftain, piledriver).

Was durdling around on this forum, caught this, and it made me laugh.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jrw1985

I know what WotC can get me for my birthday- a Qasali Pridemage goblin equivalent that can be sacked to blast an artifact. That would be so beautiful, and it would fit with the color and tribal themes. Just a 2/2 gobbo for RR that had "1, Sacrifice: Destroy target artifact". That's all I'm asking for.

And if they really want WotC can give it battle cry too. A Goblin Wardriver with the sac ability. My dream come true.

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9 months later...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jrw1985

I still think a Goblin Qasali Pridemage is all the little green men need to be Tier 1 again; something useful in combat and capable of blowing up artifacts as a 2-drop. Had they given that lame battle-crying goblin a second ability of - 1, sac: Destroy target artifact - he would have been an automatic 4-of.

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Belated congrats on the finish Big Sexy! You motivated me to add Mogg Fanatic into the deck.

I'm a fan of Wort. As a 1 of I've never been upset to see her. She helps the mid game where recurring removal can be the difference between a win and a loss. I'd never put in more than 1 though.

jrw, I agree Wizards needs to print something playable for Goblins, but with 2 more sets of Innistrad... I'm hoping they put a cool goblin into Planechase 2.

Wow... At least I'm consistent.

One stingscrounger provides a lot play.

It has many uses in the deck, esp. when you consider the instant speed provided by aether vial. Instant speed means combat tricks and a counter to instant removal.

Goblins plays many creatures with comes into play effects, bouncing a Ring leader, Matron, Gang Commander ect. If there isn't much pressure, tutoring stringscrounger with matron, just to bounce the matron nets a free goblin.

Goblins also has many ways to mitigate the negatives of echo. Throw it with SGC, or use it to untap Sharpshooter. Not to mention haste lords.

Playing at least one seems like a good idea against a diverse field.

Sorry to spoil your fun, but Stingscourger says:

When Stingscourger enters the battlefield, return target creature an opponent controls to its owner's hand.

So we can't reuse Ringleaders/Matrons..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GrdiVrag

Sorry to spoil your fun, but Stingscourger says:

When Stingscourger enters the battlefield, return target creature an opponent controls to its owner's hand.

So we can't reuse Ringleaders/Matrons..

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This is a shame.
But nothing is more sexy than Stingscourging a Ringleader that has been taken by Veldaken Shackels. Priceless.

I think that the flexibility that Sting adds to the deck is great. He is your most defensive tool when it needs to be, and the most offensive one too.

Reading is fundamental.

That card stringscrounger sux balls!! that's what i get for looking into cards at 3am.

But still how cool would it be if it actually had some internal uses....... :/

The echo mitigation is still thre, but damn that card is narrow.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MUCGuy

That card stringscrounger sux balls!! that's what i get for looking into cards at 3am.

But still how cool would it be if it actually had some internal uses....... :/

The echo mitigation is still thre, but damn that card is narrow.

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There was a discussion on the other thread, and on the primer there is a lot of material about that card. Hope that can give you a new perspective.

From the Primer:
"Stingscourger is really good in trading 1:1,5. This means that he can be flashed into play via AV, bounce a creature and block another. We had an interesting discussion about Stinger and Gempalm starting on page 303 of the old thread – there we considered all applications of both cards in the weirdest kinds of situations."

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MUCGuy

That card stringscrounger sux balls!! that's what i get for looking into cards at 3am.

But still how cool would it be if it actually had some internal uses....... :/

The echo mitigation is still thre, but damn that card is narrow.

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It's still pretty solid utility to be fair. The fact that it's a tutorable out to Emrakul and some Reanimator guys, and can also serve as a tempo play against a Knight of the Reliquary or whatever is pretty good. It being 2cc is pretty big too since it can be used to bridge between early and mid game - having a defensive tool can be great as turns 2-3 are often where the deck is most out classed.

Played a tournament today.
It’s been a long time since I played a real tournament, so I was rusted, but the list was severely tested and all cardchoices were awesome. For reference:

// Lands
16 [M10] Mountain
4 [TE] Wasteland
1 [OD] Barbarian Ring
1 [MM] Rishadan Port

Port was awful today. Bricked on red in a game, got wasted in another, and kept me from playing Instigator on another. Ring won me a game, the rest is core.

// Creatures
4 [US] Goblin Lackey
1 [ON] Goblin Piledriver
4 [M11] Goblin Chieftain
2 [WWK] Tuktuk Scrapper
2 [M10] Siege-Gang Commander
3 [ZEN] Warren Instigator
1 [ON] Goblin Sharpshooter
4 [FNM] Goblin Ringleader
4 [P2] Goblin Matron
1 [PLC] Stingscourger
2 [LE] Goblin Grappler
3 [LE] Gempalm Incinerator

// Spells
4 [DS] AEther Vial
3 [LRW] Tarfire

I chose the version without Warchief, but couldn’t cut all Piledrivers, so 1 Instigator was cut. I had only 1 Scrapper, with 3rd SGC, but the 2nd tuktuk helps a lot in too many MU’s, and kept coming in, so stayed MD. The same is truth for Tarfire. They were 3 Fanatics, but Tarfire kept coming in to fight Stoneforges, so that’s that. The rest is quite core.
WAIT! IS THAT GOBLIN GRAPPLER??
Oh, right… there are 2 of them. This card is, what can I say… simply AMAZING. Really. Never got sad of seeing it. Am quoting myself here:
“Goblin Grappler is a house. There are so many 1 thoughness guys out there, some decks simply have to waste a Plowshers on it. Against the decks played, when he came online the 1st turn (and must be even better on the play), the opponent simply can’t play anymore Noble Hierarch, Delver of Secrets, Mother of Runes, Grim Lavamancer, or Vendillion Cliques, because they'd simply die next turn.
*well, Fanatic those all these things, and even better*.
It does, but the beauty in Grappler is that it is still awesome lategame. There are several times when you have a board with a few goblins (say SGC, Cheiftain , Grappler and Matron), against a guy with 1 or 2 blocker. In this situation, without Grappler, you'd not attack, because you'd lose your best dude for a few points of dmg. With him, you can sacrifice him in order to don't lose your other guys. Also, he is just awesome when you have the Piledriver out. AND, he kills x/2 creatures sith help from a Gempalm or a Chieftain. The greatest feeling is playing it T1/2, have an opponent tapped ot to Stoneforge something, than we Chieftain and take down Stoneferge without losing anything.
Oh, almost forgetting another one: Merfolk lists are using more Kiras. Grappler makes her, or any other folk, "shield" go away, so you can gempalm/Tarfire it. This is simply HUGE in the matchup.”
Today he was golden 3 times.

// Sideboard
SB: 3 [DK] Blood Moon
SB: 4 [SHM] Faerie Macabre
SB: 1 [NPH] Surgical Extraction
SB: 2 [ZEN] Mindbreak Trap
SB: 2 [MR] Chalice of the Void
SB: 3 [IA] Pyroblast
I have no comments here. Saw TES and Reanimator, leaving me with Moon and Pyroblast for the rest.

The Report:

Match 1 - MonoRed
Game 1 – I Lead with Lackey, which gets bolted. T2 I have a Vial and Grappler. He has a Goblin Guide, with reveals nothing, and a Lava Spike. I up Vial, play land, play Chieftain, hit for 2 and Provoke his Guide. He plays another one and attacks, I reveal Mountain. He passes. I play Instigator, drop Ringleader, and have lots of goblins in my hand, and decide to keep a SGC and a Chieftain on my hand. He Flamebreaks me next turn, but I kill him on the following.

Game 2 – He starts with Guide, me with Vial. He plays another Guide and a Rift Bolt. Next turn I double block 1 Guide, but it is useless, since he plays 3 burns + Fireblast.

Game 3 – I have Vial, he has GG. I up vial, play land and pass. He plays Grim Lavamancer, Lava Spike, and hits me. I Tarfire Lavamancer, drop lackey, hit, Ringleader get Gemapalm and kill his guy. He gets a Marauder and has one open. I up Vial, get to have on the board this turn Chieftain, 2 Lackeys and a Ringleader. He allows me to hit, killing the Chieftain only after my attack. Lackey connects into SGC, and game is over on the next turn or so.
1-0

Match 2 – Maverick
Game 1 – I have Vial on the draw. He plays 3 lands, than a Relicary. I have 2 lands, Grappler and Vial @2. He uses Relicary to cast Batterskull. I Vial Instigator. Provoke the Germ Token, 1st Strike gets me SGC, which sacrifices before dmg the Grappler, doing more dmg to him and stopping lifegain, and 2 trigger gets Ringleader that gets me dudes. He untaps, do something, and pass. I have a Chieftain. I guess, and pass. I only remember that the board, after some killing, ended up with me with Vial @3, 2 Chieftains, Ringleader, Lackey and Instigator, SGC and 2 tokens and 2 cards in hand (Tuktuk and Sharpshooter), tapped out, while he had some cards Batter, Relicary (huge) and 1 untapped land. I hit with everything except SGC. Don’t know if this was right. If someone have a better Idea, enlighten me. He blocked both Chieftains, Maze of Ithed the Instigator, and took the rest. I vialed Shooter and did 1 to the token, so it would die, and he would not be able to return to his hand even with Gaea’s Craddle. The token and 2 Chieftains died, he dropped to very low life. Next turn, even with another creature, he was dead.

Game 2 – I mull. He lead with MoM, I Tarfire it. He has no T2 play, So I play Grappler and Waste. He gets another land. I have Port. He plays Maze of Ith. Here, I made a mistake that probably cost me the game. I had only 2 Mountains, Port, with Chieftain, Tuktuk and Matron in hand. I chose to play Chieftain. He drew his 3rd land, and got Relicary. I should not had let that happen. I draw a Ringleader but no 4th land. He plays Jitte. I have to Matron for Sting to buy time. He hits me. I get a land, and play Tuktuk. He StP’s my Chieftain and kill Grappler and Mom. He plays Pridemage. I play Sting. He respond by using Knight and fetching Sijiri Steppe. He shows me Path, and we go to game 3.

Game 3 – I should have mulled, but was stubborn. I had 2 Tarfires, Blood Moon, Gempalm, Vial, Waste and Port. The plan was to Vial T1, Port T2, Moon T3, and win from there. Unfortunately, I never saw a 3rd land. Also, go figure. I played Vial T1, He played Plains and a VIAL! Sweet. I only played a 2nd Vial this game, drawing 5 goblins in a row.
1-1

Match 3 – Bant
Game 1 – He leads with Noble. I With Vial. He plays Stoneforge for Batterskull. I have Tarfire for Stoneforge and Waste for his land. He gets a Relicary I think. I play mountains for some turns while he hits me to 12, playing Relicary. When he gets the mana for Batterskull, I have Vial @4, Ringleader into Tuktuk and play it. He gets some more dmg in, finding a Jitte. I find another Tuktuk for that, dealing 2 dmg to him (nice tuktuk =]). The game goes on a little. A Ringleader reveals Gempalm + Tarfire, that is enough to take out a 2nd Knight (7/7 I think). He has Noble, Relicary, lands and Maze of Ith. I offer a trade for some guys, and he goes down down to 6. I have Matron, Ringleader, 2 Tuktuks and Lackey I think, whith Vail @3 and @4. Lackey untapped. He cast Vendillion on himself, hits for 4, taking me to 2, and untapps Vendillion. . I up Vial to 5, and draw Matron. Matron finds me SGC. He taps Knight and gets Karakas, replaying Vendillion and aiming @SGC. I hit, and he block stuff, going to 2, killing some guys. That put me on Threshold, so my Barbarian Ring got to kill him.

Game 2 – He mulled to 6 or 5. I had T2 Instigator, that got StP, Chieftain, that he killed, than Ringleader, that game me a bunch of goblins. He had 2 more removals, but never drew a big guy…
2-1

Match 4 – Esper
Game 1 – He’s on the play, and I open Mountain, Lackey, Grappler, Tarfire, Gempalm, Ringleader and SGC. I decided to keep because I had seen his last round, and he played Chrome Mox, Bob, Stoneforge, Bitterblossom, so I wanted a good removal for T1. He thought for a while and kept too, going Wasteland, Mox removing Inquisition of Kolziek, Dark Confidant. I draw Vial and Tarfire the Confidant. He looks sad. He plays IoK and takes Vial. I play lackey AND Grappler. He plays Snapcaster and IoK. I Grappler Snappy, get SGC, and win from there.

Game 2 – Don’t quite remember, because we played 2 others after this. Involved a Lackey than an Instigator, than another lackey, that finally connects due to Tarfire + Gempalm, Chieftain. Next turn I connected again, going to Matron into Piledriver, and win next turn.
3-1


Match 5 – BW
Game 1 – I’m tired and keep a hand with Mountain, Waste, 2x Vial, 2x Tuktuk, Chieftain. Don’t know what I’m playing against, and am on the play. His T2 he makes that 2/2artifact guy that takes a card from my hand. I brick on lands, and he takes my only mountain, but I have 2 Vials. When they get to 4 and 3, I vial Tuktuk, than Chieftain. He has Stoneforge + a Sword. Tuktuk, SGC and Instigator are enough to kill him.

Game 2 – I don’t know what I kept. He had T2 2/2 guy, but Tarfire got my chieftain back. T3 he gets E.Plague. Some guys die, I get him only to 15 when he gets Batterskull. He kills my Chieftain, killing a whole lot of my guys. I find another, but he has another removal. SGC, Ringleader and Sting stall for a while, but then he has removal for SGC, it is over.

Game 3 – I lead with Vial. He plays Mom. I Tarfire and pass. He plays Mom. I vial Lackey, and in my turn Tarfire Mom, hit, get Chieftain. He plays Phyrexian Revoker, I vial Instigator in response. My turn I find 2nd land nad play Piledriver. That was a lot of damage. I had Ringleader and SGC on hand, but got scared of Wrath. Even if he found Plague, I could win next turn with my board, so that wasn’t an issue, so I went extra carefully. Turns out he had 2 removals, but it was not enough to stop me, and won 2 turns later.
4-1
Going 3rd.

This list is awesome. I recommend everyone to try it out. Tarfire is great today, and playing 34 goblins is a blast. 7 removal were great, and got everything I needed out of the way.
The only cards I SB-in were Blood Moons, so I think SB must change a little (they only came up 1 game, but I never played it). I’m tempted to play Phyrexian Revoker. It seems great against GW, Folk, and can stop even LEDs. Will try it out next time.
Comments?

What about "Meekstone"? I have tested it online and seems good against Goyf and KotR.

Good job on the deck and fine result. I have noticed that almost all games in reports from succesful Goblins adventures start with turn 1 Vial or Lackey. This one is no exception.

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Originally Posted by ScatmanX

Goblin Grappler is a house. There are so many 1 thoughness guys out there, some decks simply have to waste a Plowshers on it. Against the decks played, when he came online the 1st turn (and must be even better on the play), the opponent simply can’t play anymore Noble Hierarch, Delver of Secrets, Mother of Runes, Grim Lavamancer, or Vendillion Cliques, because they'd simply die next turn.

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Interesting card Grappler. I can see how he owns Noble Hierarch. It seems to me that whether or not he is good against those other guys depends on whether you are on the play or draw. If you are on the draw, Fanatic seems much better against many of said guys.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hof

Good job on the deck and fine result. I have noticed that almost all games in reports from succesful Goblins adventures start with turn 1 Vial or Lackey. This one is no exception.

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Thanks.
This is almost true. I only remember 2 game were I left without Vial/Lackey, but had Instigator, or had to Tarfire T1. I could see myself leading with Grappler on the play too. Also, I tend to mull a lot (should have mulled more against Maverick), so there are high chances I lead with Vial/Lackey, even if it takes me to 5/4 cards.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hof

Interesting card Grappler. I can see how he owns Noble Hierarch. It seems to me that whether or not he is good against those other guys depends on whether you are on the play or draw. If you are on the draw, Fanatic seems much better against many of said guys.

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Though this is true, Fanatic wouldn't have pulled any of the tricks Grappler did that day (killing Guide and making Instigator connect trough a Batterskull). Also, Grappler has more value late (when you want to hit with Piledriver, or when he's 3/3 due to double Chieftain), while Fanatic loses value. And, as stated, Tarfire is in place of the 3 Fanatics I had, fulfilling his task, while Grappler is more flexible.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ScatmanX

Match 5 – BW
Game 1 – I’m tired and keep a hand with Mountain, Waste, 2x Vial, 2x Tuktuk, Chieftain. Don’t know what I’m playing against, and am on the play. His T2 he makes that 2/2artifact guy that takes a card from my hand. I brick on lands, and he takes my only mountain, but I have 2 Vials. When they get to 4 and 3, I vial Tuktuk, than Chieftain. He has Stoneforge + a Sword. Tuktuk, SGC and Instigator are enough to kill him.

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I guess you are referring to tidehollow sculler
he could not take off a mountain, as the card specifies, "nonland card"
Fortunately, just won

Congratulations for the great tournament!

just one question: why tuktuk instead tin street?

(sry for my google translate english)

I personally dislike Tin Street because you can't use him to blow out an artifact with a Warchief already in play.