[Deck] Goblins

Good work there. I also have some questions concerning your manabase. You said that your first opponent played the same list with ports. Why did you cut ports and did you miss any of them? I can see the point, that WInstigator and Chieftain are heavily relying on red sources, but I also get the feeling that it's getting harder to mana-screw decks with Wasteland and Port. Did you make similar experiences? Or did you fear Wasteland yourself? But why then Barbarian ring?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ScatmanX

17 Mountains
4 Wasteland
1 Barbarian Ring

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I also noticed quite a bit of "Burn" in your list (Barbarian Ring and 4 Tarfire). You said yourself that you once burned the opponent. Is it worth to play 1-2 Rings for that? Would you suggest a spilt of Tarfire and Fanatic or stay at the playset, which decreases Incinerator? Did your ring get wasted ever?

Thanks

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Originally Posted by jrw1985

Phenomenal job! Excellent reports and fantastic finishes! I like your build very much. When I'm sick of losing while playing "real" decks I'll have to give your monoR Winstigator build a try.

Ocne again, congratulations!

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Thanks!
Goblins is a real bomb right now. You should come back fast!

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Originally Posted by Ace/Homebrew

Thanks for the report ScatmanX and congratulations on your finishes! I'm sleeving up your build to try it out.

I noticed that Blood Moon sat in your sideboard both tournaments. Are those for RUG?
Do you miss Warchief?

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Thanks!
- Blood Moons are for RUG, BUG, and Esper builds, that I've seen a lot around here. Also, they're phenomenal against other Matchups, like lands, and most commonly: Punishing Maverick. They run only 1 Basic, and Moon is close to a GG against them. I'd not remove them from the list, the same way I'd not remove the Faeries Macabre I didn't use.
- Warchief was not missed. The near all Mountain manabase could easely support it being cut. And the +1/+1 ability was more relevant than the lowering the cost would have been.

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Originally Posted by GoboLord

@ Marcello: Awsome finish! Way to go, bro.
I've some questions there too:

(1) I noticed you board quite different in every UW Stoneblade-MU. Why? I'm not quite into you boarding strategy and the strategy postboard. How do you play Pyros? WHy did you come to the conclusion that Stinger should stay in? Could you take your time and explain this MU a bit more in detail (especially those SB-choices and how you use them)?

(2) Actually what Ace said: Kinda sad that Moons stayed in your SB. WHat are they supposed to be doing?


(3) How did you like Sharpshooter in MD? I find myself boarding it out way too often - so i decided that the right place for him is the SB.

EIther way: very nice list. I like many of you techs!

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Thanks man! thought you had forgotten about us!
1 - At the first tournament, I was trying different aproaches. 1st, on the play, I was just swapping an Instigator for Tinkerer, and on the draw was adding Pyroblast. The reason I went against it on the 4K (except on the last match, where he had Stifle), was because in some testings I'd have the Pyroblast, that should be a great card against them, but lost to Stoneforge and CO.
Stingscourger should definetely stay in. With Chieftain he's a beast. Bouncing the token, and getting in for dmg is what this deck needs, specially if you can do it of Vial. It just takes opponents by surprise and win games. I was actually considering cutting the Piledriver to add a 2nd one (that would have won me the last game, where I had to search for Tinkerer...)
What I want to try against UW now is 3 Pithing Needle on the board. Phyrexian Revoker was on the board, but it was the wrong choice in this tournament. 3 Needles + Tinkerer should bury this already good MU, and they come in against almost all the same MUs, except combo...

2 - Answered above.

3 - Sharpshooter has its applications on several Matches, but where he really shines is Maverick. I thought the field here would be 1/4 Mav, 1/4 UW, 1/4 RUG or UR, 1/4 others. Of those, Maverick is the toughest, so a little more help on the MD does not hurt. I could see myself cutting it too, so I guess its up to a metagame call.

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Originally Posted by BigBopper

Good work there. I also have some questions concerning your manabase. You said that your first opponent played the same list with ports. Why did you cut ports and did you miss any of them? I can see the point, that WInstigator and Chieftain are heavily relying on red sources, but I also get the feeling that it's getting harder to mana-screw decks with Wasteland and Port. Did you make similar experiences? Or did you fear Wasteland yourself? But why then Barbarian ring?



I also noticed quite a bit of "Burn" in your list (Barbarian Ring and 4 Tarfire). You said yourself that you once burned the opponent. Is it worth to play 1-2 Rings for that? Would you suggest a spilt of Tarfire and Fanatic or stay at the playset, which decreases Incinerator? Did your ring get wasted ever?

Thanks

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Thanks.
1 - I don't like splitting Tarfire and Fanatics. I get that Fanatic is very good, but he simply does not kill Stoneforge alone, and that's something I want to be able to do Turn 1.
2 - I do miss Port, but I've lost too many games playing it with this list. The consistency off near all mountains add up each game. The Wastelands aren't there solely to screw an opponent. They gat rid of problematic lands, shut down a color, or just buy us a turn against a problematic card.
3 - The Barbarian Ring got Wasted twice on the duel for Duals, but it never mattered. I considered cutting it, and considered playing more, but I'd kill myself if I had to keep a hand that the only lads were 2 B. Rings... 17 Un-Wastable R manasources seem like a good number, so I might keep this config as it is.
(oh, and B.Ring won me a game in another tournament in december, and won 2 others in testing. Other than that it's been irrelevant)

Congrats on the finishes Scatman - your list is making me re-evaluate my own given our local meta here. I have a couple questions:

You seem to face a fair amount of TES/ANT, which is traditionally a horrible match-up for me. I noticed your sideboard hate for combo is pretty diverse - how has this been working out for you? When I first started playing the deck I had Mindbreak Traps in the board and they never really got there for me - they were either Duressed away or I was hit with a Chant/Silence before he went off. I've since moved to Thorns of Amethyst (we occasionally have a Spiral Tide player, and Trap is mostly useless there)...but I'm having trouble sticking those as well.

Have you just been getting lucky, or are the TES players in your meta just not very good?

Lastly, what are you hitting with Pyroblast in the TES match-up? Do you just snap counter their Brainstorms? Most of the business spells I see in that list are black or artifacts.

Nice results ScatmanX, congratulations!

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Originally Posted by Davran

You seem to face a fair amount of TES/ANT

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This is what he encountered:

Tournament 1:
Goblins: 2-0
TES: 2-1 (mise)
TES: 2-1 (epic mise)
UW Stoneblade: 2-1
Teammaat scoop
UW Stoneblade: 2-1
UW Stoneblade: 2-1
Split.

Tournament 2:
Bye
UW Stoneblade: 2-0
Belcher: 2-0
UW Stoneblade: 2-1
GW Maverickish: 2-0
ID
ID
UR Delver: 2-1
UW Stoneblade: 1-2

Only 2 TES. Alot more Stoneblade.

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Originally Posted by Davran

Have you just been getting lucky, or are the TES players in your meta just not very good?

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I don't know about his opponents really, but this example:

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Originally Posted by ScatmanX

He plays his hand and Ad Nauseam, without landdrop or mana on poll at 18 life. He reveals several Wishes/Tutors, Tendrils and Empty the Warrens, with only a Petal as starting mana source. He dies to it

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Is an extreme mise.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Davran

Lastly, what are you hitting with Pyroblast in the TES match-up? Do you just snap counter their Brainstorms? Most of the business spells I see in that list are black or artifacts.

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Originally Posted by ScatmanX

I get Vial @2 and pass. He cast Chain of Vapor on Vial. I Pyroblast it (If it resolved, it would take me 4 turns to get back in the game).

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But in my experience, it's not a waste to counter their cantrips, especially if you have pressure on the board. If you need to protect your chalice against bounce, I'd keep it in my hand.

Thanks Devran and Skeegi.

I don't like to spend much SB against storm. If I were to do it, I'd play some number of Traps and Chalice. Traps is nice because usually people try to play against it. Post board, TES remove the Chands, and bring in bounce, so they have less way to handle it.
Imo Chalice is better than Thorn, because you can play it turn 1, so it dodges discard on the play. I just used the 1-1 config to try to mislead them. I was EXTREMELY lucky both matchups, and my opponets were unlucky. But that's what happens to combo. sometimes it just fizzles.

@Skeegi: I pyroblasted the bounce on my vial, and would do it again. If I hadn't done it, I'd not be able to hit him for 6 on my turn, and kill him on the next. Also, Pyroblast is not the best at stopping him removing Chalice, because his plan was to Wish for Shattering Spree, and Pyro would have been useless.
Imo, the Pyro should be used the 1st opportunity you get, because you want to use you'r mana later, and holding up R is setting you back maybe a turn, and sometimes we can't afford that.

Don't get me wrong, I totally agree on that play.

But if you have a Chalice@0 and your opponent has 0 artifacts in play yet and you have some pressure, would you counter a Brainstorm if he'd cast it, or the bounce? Chances are he needs a bouncespell to go off.

I think this is the difference between TES and ANT - whereas TES can more easily get his bouncespell since he can also wish to it, you should probably not counter the cantrip and counter the bounce. In case of ANT, which is a bit more explosive even without artifact mana - you should probably counter the cantrip.

@Scatman: Do you think it is necessary to play to artifact killer MD?
Lately Shooter didn't work out nicely to me, since it usually saw a removal or had summoning sickness or something like that. Especially in the maverick matchup I can see 2 Tuktuk shine, but Shooter get's killed instandly by Punishing Fire or StP, and with MoR on board you can't even kill a single dude, even with haste.

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Originally Posted by Mantis

Old love never fades. After trying out various builds of Zoo, a homebrew deck and Dredge, I once again turn to Goblins for GP Amsterdam. But as we all have noticed, times have changed. Canadian Threshold is back and with GW Maverick we have another player. Combo has surged since the banning of Mental Misstep and it seems Show and Tell has been abandonded. Meanwhile Goblins easiest matchup, Merfolk has lost some popularity. But in these dark times, hope shimmers as players underestimate Goblins and don't pack Engineered Plague.

To prepare for this field, I quickly decided Lightning Bolt was insane and 4 are in order. I then noticed how many of the popular archetypes and cards rely on graveyards: Goyf, Lavamancer, Tombstalker, Snapcaster Mage, dredge and Reanimator. I have done this before and will now do it again: maindeck Relic of Progenitus. Sacrifices have to be made and my most radical change is cutting Goblin Piledriver down to just 1. I read an article of Richard Feldman regarding dredge and he did not play any specific Dread Return targets claiming that he was just as happy to take a scrappy victory with Ichorid, Narcomoeba and Putrid Imp beats and that he could always animate a large Grave Troll. Goblin Piledriver gives you the sweet taste of swinging in for 15 damage, but he does not help you establish control in a precarious situation. In other words, I feel like Piledriver is winmore and this feeling is excacerbated by the decline of Merfolk. I still like having 1 to be able to tutor with Matron.

Goblin Warchief, Piledriver and Matron work very well together. If we cut Piley, Warchief loses a lot of it's power. Without Piledriver, Goblins becomes much more focused on the control role and we should maximize the power of our cards. For this reason I chose to play Goblin Chieftain over Warchief.

// Lands
17 [SHM] Mountain (1)
4 [TE] Wasteland

// Creatures
2 [LE] Gempalm Incinerator
4 [US] Goblin Matron
4 [ZEN] Warren Instigator
4 [US] Goblin Lackey
3 [SC] Siege-Gang Commander
4 [AP] Goblin Ringleader
1 [ON] Goblin Piledriver
2 [PLC] Stingscourger
4 [M10] Goblin Chieftain

// Spells
4 [DS] AEther Vial
4 [B] Lightning Bolt
2 [ALA] Relic of Progenitus
1 [MR] Chrome Mox

// Sideboard
SB: 2 [ALA] Relic of Progenitus
SB: 3 [SOM] Arc Trail
SB: 4 [MR] Chalice of the Void
SB: 4 [ZEN] Mindbreak Trap
SB: 2 Faerie Macabre

Sideboard is focused on helping me deal with the hardest matchups: combo and Reanimator. Notably, there are no REBs. I felt like they were always underwhelming, ANT honestly doesn't care too much.

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I just noticed how similair your list is to what I orginally proposed. I really think this idea was golden and will help propel Goblins to tier 1 again.

@ Mantis: ...and pretty similar to what I was tinkering the other day. I think what we can learn from that is that there is consensus on what a goblin-list nowadays should look like.

I hereby promise that I will fix this "Core-cards" stuff in the deckprimer.

So let me summarize what we have found to be a new "core" of Goblins' Maindeck:

22 Lands (4 of which are Wastelands, Ports seem not to be as helpful as they used to)
4 Vial
4 Lackey
4 Winstigator
4 Matron
4 Ringleader
4 Chieftain
2 Siege-Gang
4 L.Bolt/Tarfire
at least 1 Stingscourger
at least 2 Gempalm Incinerator
at least 1 artifact removal (Tuktuk > Tinkerer)

I think we can agree on that part being a "must-have"?
This would leave us with 56 fixed cards. Well now we have to elaborate on the remaining 4 slots.

Suggestions were:
* 1 Piledriver
* 1 Sharpshooter
* 2nd artifact removal
* 2nd Stingscourger
* 1-3 Relic of Progenitus
* some Mogg Fanatics

Sideboard is (as usual) dependend on metagame and personal preference. Only thing is that I'd not leave home without 3 REBs/PyBlasts (given the unusual high number of really broken blue cards).

Can we agree on that? If so this would be a nice point of departure for further testing.

You could also replace two of the four Instigators by MWM and replace one Aether Vial with a Skirk Prospector to have the best of both worlds.

If you run four Instigators I would replace one SGC with Kiki. Instigator > Matron > Kiki > Matron copy > Ringleader/SGC is a lot better than Instigator > Matron > SGC in a meta with a lot of burn (Delver burn, RUG, punishing fire, etc).

Gobolord - Good to see the little green men are gaining your interest again!
I disagree with calling your proposed list a core, even if it is the best foot forward for goblins in the current meta. On 12/6/11 BigSexy took 3rd in a prominent northeast tournament with a much different list. His meta was swimming with RUG and R/U Tempo/Burn strategies. ScatmanX's meta was more about having a way to deal with Stoneforge Mystic or the equipment it tutored.

Looking back through goblin decklists a core is apparent. 95% (yes I'm pulling that from my ass) consist of the following 20 cards:

4 Wasteland
4 Aether Vial
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin Ringleader

Right there we have our mana denial, 1-drop bombs, and card advantage. The other 40 cards are just lands and whatever-helps-us-win-right-now. When goblins was a DTB, Warchief and Piledriver gave us the speed and power we needed.

When goblins wasn't the fastest aggro deck a build using Mogg War Marshal became popular because it was effective. But I wouldn't say MWM was ever a 'core' card.

When combo was king this time last year the Moxtigator list became popular because it was effective. But I wouldn't say Chrome Mox and WI are 'core' cards.

Right now SFM is the card to beat in the meta. If the cards in your deck also happen to stop Delver, Clique, and Matron then great. Marcello did his homework and came up with a fantastic build designed to have a positive match up against Stoneblade. Having said that, is Tarfire really deserving of being a must have 4-of in goblin lists? No... It's great against Stoneblade though!

Regarding changes to the primer, I would remove SCG, Piledriver, and Warchief from the list of core cards because goblins can win without them.

/soapbox

My meta is the same as ScatmanX's. I'm excited to bring this list to the next local event, whenever the hell that will be... I feel Tarfire is better than Lightning Bolt in this deck. What x/3 creatures are being played right now? I also feel that 2 main deck pieces of artifact hate are needed. Stoneblade, AggroBant, and Maverick games last long enough that your opponent may play a 2nd Mystic. If you've already used your artifact killing goblin of choice then you're caught with your pants down...
I agree that Ports, Piledrivers, and Warchiefs are not as strong as Mountains, WInstigators, and Chieftains right now.

ScatmanX - When did you find yourself looking for your 1-of Piledriver? Can he be cut altogether? I agree with you that goblins look strong again as long as SFM can be dealt with!

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Originally Posted by Ace/Homebrew

Gobolord - Good to see the little green men are gaining your interest again!
I disagree with calling your proposed list a core, even if it is the best foot forward for goblins in the current meta. On 12/6/11 BigSexy took 3rd in a prominent northeast tournament with a much different list. His meta was swimming with RUG and R/U Tempo/Burn strategies. ScatmanX's meta was more about having a way to deal with Stoneforge Mystic or the equipment it tutored.

Looking back through goblin decklists a core is apparent. 95% (yes I'm pulling that from my ass) consist of the following 20 cards:

4 Wasteland
4 Aether Vial
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin Ringleader

Right there we have our mana denial, 1-drop bombs, and card advantage. The other 40 cards are just lands and whatever-helps-us-win-right-now. When goblins was a DTB, Warchief and Piledriver gave us the speed and power we needed.

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I second this!

My friend and I (gobs) finished 3rd and 8th on a major tourney (FORCE OF THE GOYF tourney) last year (december 2011) We were at least 70, my meta is filled with RUG delver, Stoneblade, BUG, Maverick, Punishing Mav, Ant, Tes, Belcher - mostly aggro

Heres my RBG list:

//Lands [23]
8 Manadenial-lands (4waste & 4 ports)
7 Fetchlands
4 Mountain
2 Badlands
2 Taiga

//Core [26]:
4 AEther Vial
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Warchief
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin Ringleader
2 Siege-Gang Commander

//Others [12]:
4 Gemphalm Incinerator
3 Mogg Fanatic
2 Warren Wierding
2 Mogwar marshall
1 Stingscourger

SB:
4 LOTV
3 COTV
2 Perish
2 Krosan Grip
2 Pyroblast

game 1: L - Belcher (1-2)

game 2: W - Dredge (2-0)

game 3: W - U/B Snap Control (2-0)

game 4: W - RUG Tempo (2-1)

game 5: L - Sneakshow (1-2)

game 6: W - Reanimator (2-1)

game 7: W - Ant (2-0)

My friends list which finished 3rd has a different built with 3 pyrokinesis and 2 Dismember mainboard - worked very well for him in an aggro meta

Top 8 decklist here:
http://thesphere.freeforums.org/forc...ist-t2832.html

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Originally Posted by BigBopper

@Scatman: Do you think it is necessary to play to artifact killer MD?
Lately Shooter didn't work out nicely to me, since it usually saw a removal or had summoning sickness or something like that. Especially in the maverick matchup I can see 2 Tuktuk shine, but Shooter get's killed instandly by Punishing Fire or StP, and with MoR on board you can't even kill a single dude, even with haste.

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Imo 2 Artifact hate cards MD are worth nowadays. I would not run less.
Sharpshooter is kind of tricky. You don't want to just throw it out there. He is best, as you said, with Haste. Also, Mom does not negate him, just makes it more tricky. In a build like mine, you still have Gempalm, tarfire and Siege-gang to make it untap. If you don't, just attack with a Lackey or Instigator. They're usually inclined to block those, and you can use that to your advantage (specially the 11st strike).
That said, he could go to the SB.

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Originally Posted by Ace/Homebrew

ScatmanX - When did you find yourself looking for your 1-of Piledriver? Can he be cut altogether? I agree with you that goblins look strong again as long as SFM can be dealt with!

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I barely searched for him. Today was just thinking about cutting him. It is sad, but he was the worst card all day... I'd probably put a 2nd Sting here...

@New Core:
There are lots of ways to create a goblin decks. The core on the Primer is just for reference, and helped us visualize the list better, but are in no way set in stone. The "core" of 20 cards Ace/Homebrew suggested seem to be the one that don't change. Everything else is arguable.

@Mantis:
Indeed our list came up very close.
How's the Relics on the MD been treating you? Just wondering if you think they still deserve the slots.

Guys, I tried to read all the pages of the topic, but my eyes have fizzles very soon :eek:

I'm very interested to see the evolution of green men's deck, but there's a thing i cannot understand: why are you cutting Piledrivers? Reading random pages of the topic i found that they are the only things that can be cut from the core, but why?
They are enormous as they create an incredible race, why is worth to play only a 1-of?
I know a Piledriver can be fetched via Matrona when needed, but - maybe it will sound stupid - two, three piledriver aren't better than one? Really there are not other things to cut? And, are the cards that will replace them worth of doing this?

The current metagame does not care all that much about racing. Combo isn't as prevalent perhaps. Also, with Goblin Chieftain, the goblin team gained a possible replacement of some sort for the Goblin Warchief. But as it replaces the Warchief it not only makes the Piledrivers 1R manacost less significant, it also takes over some of the damage dealing power.

Allright, it's not +2/+0 for each creature, but +1/+1 certainly has its benefits.
Merfolk isn't as prevalent as it was, so protection from Blue is no longer important.

Apart from all that, Warren Instigator is gaining some popularity as a replacement in the 2-slot. With all the evil small creatures going around these days (Mother of Runes, Stoneforge Mystic, Snapcaster Mage, Dark Confidant, Vendillion Clique, Delver of Secrets, Noble Hierarch just to name a few..) burn is becoming better in goblin-builds. Warren Instigator works pretty much perfect with burn. It can go into combats and live where Piledriver would die. And if burn is so incredible, that means we can focus more on getting our lackey through.

This shift of focus, from building a goblin army to getting that lackey/instigator through. Makes expensive goblins more valuable. Which is, I suppose also the reason why Goblin Warchief is cut in so many builds. The Chieftain is just better if mana isn't an issue. And with 4 Chieftains, Piledrivers aren't as important for damage as they used to be.

So the sudden lack of Piledrivers is probably due to the metagame, Warren Instigator and the Goblin Chieftain.

Hey all,

I tested ScatmanX list yesterday (switching from r/b back to mono-red) vs. Punishing Maverick. There are a few things that came to my mind:
1) Two pieces of artifact removal are quite nice, although it's still hard to get rid of jitte before it has counters.
2) Sharpshooter is not needed in this MU. I tried several tricks to kill several dudes, but got removed all the time. The GWr deck also has less pieces of */1 creatures. Mother, Hirach but more Ooze, Goyf and Knights. That's what I saw.
3) Instigator is quite a threat and has some serious synergy with Chieftain, although I miss Warchief sometimes when I have 3 lands and a ringleader in hand and stuff...
4) I still believe that a mana hungry deck as this needs more than 22 lands-I just wanna drop more than I actually do.
5) With so many cheat effects (Lackey, WInstigator, Vial) it might be useful to increase the number of SGCs
6) I wouldn't cut Piledriver at all, since it's always nice to pass by a Progenitus or block a Snapcaser etc.
7) and last of all: I got to like the barbarian ring, but this has to bee seen in between land and removal, which is another argument for 23+ lands.

Let's talk about the Barbarian Ring for a moment:

It seems the point of it is to be Tarfire #5, which is fine. One of the things I like best about goblins as a deck is that Wastelands turn into dead cards for our opponents. There is nothing more satisfying than picking apart their mana base and sticking them with the 1 colorless mana they get off of their waste while I play threat after threat. Is opening ourselves up to (admittedly limited) Wasteland interaction worth the effect? What about the life loss that comes from using it as a mountain?

Also, regarding the new "core":

I agree with the others when they say that the true core of the deck looks something like this:

4 Wasteland
4 Vial
4 Lackey
4 Matron
4 Ringleader

I don't see this deck as successful without those key cards. Everything else is debatable.

I stated my concerns about that already and also an experienced tournament answer.

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Originally Posted by ScatmanX

The Barbarian Ring got Wasted twice on the duel for Duals, but it never mattered. I considered cutting it, and considered playing more, but I'd kill myself if I had to keep a hand that the only lads were 2 B. Rings... 17 Un-Wastable R manasources seem like a good number, so I might keep this config as it is.
(oh, and B.Ring won me a game in another tournament in december, and won 2 others in testing. Other than that it's been irrelevant)

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You also supplied wasteland targets with playing Port before and still do, when your own waste is tapped out to play a creature or activate SGC or cycle Gempalm. I'm thinking about testing a second barbarian ring.

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Originally Posted by BigBopper

You also supplied wasteland targets with playing Port before and still do, when your own waste is tapped out to play a creature or activate SGC or cycle Gempalm. I'm thinking about testing a second barbarian ring.

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I don't really think of Port as a wasteland vulnerability though since the whole purpose of running it is for mana denial. If my opponent wants to waste (no pun intended) his land drop blowing up my Port (after I've used it during his upkeep) I've actually accomplished my goal of denying him 2 lands that turn. It's rare that I would rely on a Port for the colorless mana given the presence of Warchiefs and Vials in the deck.

Contrast that with Barbarian Ring. Here, you're playing a much more red mana intensive list where having access to RR as soon as possible is very important. It's actually worse than a mountain until we have threshold. Also consider that the most likely removal that we will see in the early game is Swords to Plowshares/Path to Exile, which does nothing to further threshold. So to even use the ring at all you have to trade away seven goblins, or hope your opponent is sending bolts at your army and not your face.

It may be that the potential 2 damage in the late game is exactly the kind of reach we need to close out the match...but there is certainly a non-zero number of times ripping a Ring off the top is actually just terrible.

As far as the limited testing Scatman and others have done with the Ring...it sounds like they are still unsure about its use. If the general consensus is "well it was great this one game but didn't really matter in all of these others" maybe it shouldn't be there at all.