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Thread: Grixis Goblins

  1. #1
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    Grixis Goblins

    This is a new version of Goblins built around the following ideas:
    - Brainstorm > red cards
    - Underground Sea > Mountain
    - Snoop + Boggart Harbinger (putting Kiki-Jiki on top) leads to an infinite combo and infinite damage
    - 2-card combo is a more efficient kill than swarming with tribal aggro creatures
    - Discard improves some of Goblins' traditional worst matchups and also protects the combo
    - Did I mention Brainstorm?


    //Goblins: 28
    4 Goblin Lackey
    2 Mogg Fanatic
    3 Munitions Expert
    3 Goblin Cratermaker
    4 Conspicuous Snoop
    4 Boggart Harbinger
    4 Goblin Matron
    1 Pashalik Mons
    1 Goblin Trashmaster
    1 Sling-Gang Lieutenant
    1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker

    //Spells: 12
    4 Thoughtseize
    4 Brainstorm
    4 Ponder

    //Lands: 20
    4 Cavern of Souls
    3 Bloodstained Mire
    3 Scalding Tarn
    3 Polluted Delta
    1 Mountain
    1 Swamp
    1 Island
    2 Volcanic Island
    1 Badlands
    1 Underground Sea



    Not included:
    Goblin Warchief - This card has been getting worse and worse over time.
    Goblin Piledriver - Same. It shines sometimes but is increasingly bad other times.
    Aether Vial+Wasteland+Rishadan Port - Mana denial is a control strategy. It's strong but a different deck.
    Goblin Ringleader - This promotes a slow grindy gameplan, which is unnecessary when you can combo-kill with 2-3 cmc cards, and cutting it frees space for lower cmc interaction

    Useful trick:
    Brainstorm puts cards back on top of library to let Snoop go off.

    Other maybes:
    Skirk Prospector
    Mogg War Marshal
    Cabal Therapy
    Tarfire
    Stingscourger
    Grenzo, Dungeon Warden

  2. #2

    Re: Grixis Goblins

    If I understand correctly, you need to achieve A + B, where A is having a Snoop in play and B is using a Harbinger (or BS or Ponder) to get Kiki-Jiki on top. Snoop copies itself one billion times, then Snoop copies Harbinger to put a Sling-Gang dude or Mogg Fanatic on top, and then you win on the same turn without combat. If you don’t have a Harbinger in play, you have to wait a turn for your billion Snoops to untap and attack.

    The problem I see is that Snoop doesn’t intrinsically have haste, the original Snoop doesn’t have haste just because Kiki-Jiki is on top (the copies will have haste, but not the original), and you have no way to pop a Snoop into play EOT. So you have to just play out a Snoop, hope nothing bad happens for a full turn cycle, and then use a cantrip or Harbinger next turn; only, if you use a cantrip to get Kiki-Jiki on top, rather than using Harbinger, you have to wait *another* turn cycle and hope nothing bad happens before you get to attack with a billion Snoops.

    So, it seems like the combo is slow and vulnerable to disruption, but you seek to make up for that with the fact that your backup plan is to smash face with Goblins. That’s not necessarily bad, but I wonder if I have missed something, and if not, I wonder if you’ve gained enough disruption/protection to compensate for removing the more traditional Goblins cards.

    Edit: You’re also forced to put “air” in the deck since you don’t really like to draw Kiki or Fanatic all that much. They’re not terrible given the smash-face backup plan, but their job is to live inside your deck and not get drawn, and you’ll lose games because Mogg Fanatic is a low-impact draw or because drawing Kiki-Jiki turns off your combo unless you have BS. So you’re asking your cantrips to overperform: You’re asking them not only to replace the 8 worst slots in the deck and generally smooth your mana/spell distribution, but also to save you from drawing Kiki, a mishap that would often make you lose to yourself. To me the cantrip team looks like more of a crutch and less of a superpower (compared with Delver decks, where cantrips are flipping Delver, giving tokens with YP, paying for delve, getting recurred with Arcanist... and you’re not relying on them to save you from a potentially game-losing topdeck.) I actually think your idea is really clever and I hope it works well, but these are my first thoughts without seeing it in action.

  3. #3
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    Re: Grixis Goblins

    Good points about vulnerabilities and reliance on cantrips.

    Yes, it's a tribal A+B combo with Snoop + Harbinger. Brainstorm is backup if Kiki is stranded in hand, but not the main enabler.

    Like other A+B combos, cantrips help assemble it and make land drops. That's why I think a Grixis shell fits better than regular Vial Goblins. Vial Goblins has a better beatdown & control plan, but would struggle more to assemble the combo.

    Unlike other A+B combos, there are also tribal tutors via Goblin Matron and extra Harbingers. There's also the regular tribal beatdown plan. Cards like turn 1 Lackey also draw removal. Those are the main advantages over other A+B decks.

    The drawback is you have to pass the turn with Snoop and it can die to removal, so it's slow and disruptable. The advantage is if it does die, you have just 1-for-1'd and are in no way committed to the combo. You can Harbinger for something else or just play more Goblins.

    Unlike some A+B decks, both A and B are playable on their own. They still provide card selection and have synergy with the beatdown plan. Snoop is a bear that draws free cards. Ponder and fetchlands can manipulate the topdeck to help put goblins there to FutureSight into play. Harbinger is a bad Matron, but it can still find silver bullets. They're not amazing cards but they let you play a fair beatdown game through disruption, and they let you randomly win if you assemble them.

    Fanatics can be cut if they're that bad. I thought they would provide some early interaction. Sling-Gang Lieutenant is sufficient to go off. Mogg Fanatic adds an extra piece that also lets you kill creatures, but 0-1 copy is enough.

    Thoughtseize and maybe maindeck Cabal Therapy can also help protect the combo.

  4. #4

    Re: Grixis Goblins

    I gotta admit that a bear that draws free cards is good, especially when one of the cards it can draw for free is the other half of the infinite combo!

    Edit: Please share any results! :-)

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