Quote Originally Posted by Hanni View Post
Played Goblins again at my LGS last night, going 3-1 this time. I probably won't be playing Goblins again for a while, but it was definitely fun playing it two weeks in a row.

I made some tweaks to my list since last time, which felt much better.

R/b Vial Goblins

Lands (22)
3 Bloodstained Mire
3 Wooded Foothills
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Arid Mesa
2 Badlands
6 Mountain
4 Wasteland

Creatures (28)
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Mogg War Marshal
4 Goblin Piledriver
4 Gempalm Incinerator
4 Goblin Warchief
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin Ringleader

Spells (10)
4 AEther Vial
4 Tarfire
2 Warren Weirding

Sideboard (15)
3 Thoughtseize
3 Cabal Therapy
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Blood Moon
2 Tuktuk Scrapper
2 Goblin Sharpshooter
1 Stingscourger

Basically, I cut 2 Goblin Chieftan for 2 more Goblin Piledriver, and I cut Krenko for the 2nd Warren Weirding.

Krenko did nothing for me last week, and wouldn't have done anything for me this week either. I cut it because I went down on hastelords, but I never missed it. I think Krenko would be solid against grindy decks that can stall out the board, like D&T and Maverick, but Goblin Ringleader just seems so much better more often.

Goblin Piledriver was great. I'm not sure why people started trimming these in the first place. The older successful lists always ran 4. In almost every game, Piledriver took my mediocre board of a few small Goblins and turned it into a serious problem that the opponent had to either deal with immediately, or lose.

The extra removal via the 2nd Weirding felt correct. I'm quite happy with this configuration at the moment.

Anyway, onto the matchups:

Round 1 vs Deathblade 2-0
He was playing the Jon Goss list. In game one, I have an unanswered Lackey that puts a Ringleader into play that hits 3 Goblins, but what ultimately won me the game was that he kept a land light hand and my double Wasteland hand blew him out. In game two, I just did what Goblins does... Tarfire killed his SFM, I put Goblins on the board, blew up a Jitte with Tutuk, and outvalued him. I killed him one turn before he could get to a hardcast Batterskull.

Round 2 vs Infect 2-1
I lose the die roll but I keep a good hand. I kill two Blighted Agents, get a board with a couple of Goblins, and Matron for a Ringleader for the the next turn. I play a Mountain instead of the Wasteland in my hand, and he EOT Crop Rotates for Inkmoth, untaps and has Invigorate + Berserk for lethal while I'm sitting on a Gempalm Incinerator (don't have enough mana to cast) and a Wasteland in hand. In game two, I have tons of removal and a pile of Goblins on board. In game three, I have a turn 1 Lackey, kill a Glistener Elf and Lackey puts a Warchief into play, next turn I play double Piledriver and threaten to put him at 1... he fetches for Savannah to Plow one of the Piledriver's, but it's too little too late. I play a Wasteland that deals with an Inkmoth Nexus, and kill him on the next turn.

Round 3 vs TES 1-2
He wins the die roll. I mull two horrible hands and keep a weak 5. He kills me on his turn 4 with a lethal Tendrils. In game two, I keep a disruption-less hand with a Lackey, Piledriver, Warchief, Ringleader, and 3 lands. He double Probes and fetches to put himself to 15, Lackey drops him to 14 and puts Warchief into play. Next turn I topdeck a War Marshal, play Piledriver and War Marshal, and swing for 14 for the turn 3 kill. In game three, I mulligan another two horrible hands down to 5. My blind Therapy misses, and he kills me on turn 2 with a lethal Tendrils.

Round 4 vs Metalworker Stax 2-0
I win the die roll. In game one, I have a Vial + Lackey hand that puts me way too far ahead. In game two, I keep a much slower hand and he gets an early Tabernacle to slow things down even more. I get a midgame Vial, and I'm slowly chipping away. He deals alot of damage to himself with Ancient Tombs this game. He has the board stabilized at 4 life with Crucible, Inventor's Fair, 2 Ensnaring Bridge, a Metalworker, and no cards in hand... but I EOT a Warchief, tick Vial to 4, and play both of the Tuktuks tha I've been sitting on all game to blow up both Bridges, and swing for lethal.
This is probably the most solid list to deal with creatures-based decks, but you istantly lose the game by any artifact or enchantment card that doesn't allow you to attack your opponent. You should run one shooter/siege-gang in MD, you won't concede if an opponent casts moat/ensnaring bridge at least :)
Same thing for stingscourger, how do you deal with reanimator?
i mean, sideboard is ok, but having no toolboxes makes you lose every "strange" matchup.