[DECK] Goblin Muter

[Rock Lee]

// Lands
4 [B] Volcanic Island
4 [10E] Shivan Reef
2 [TE] Ancient Tomb
2 [EX] City of Traitors
4 [MR] Seat of the Synod
2 [5E] Island (3)
2 [MR] Great Furnace

// Creatures
3 [DS] Sundering Titan
4 [UL] Goblin Welder
4 [CFX] Master Transmuter
3 [MR] Duplicant
2 [10E] Platinum Angel

// Spells
4 [MR] Thirst for Knowledge
4 [AL] Force of Will
4 [FNM] Fact or Fiction
3 [CHK] Sensei's Divining Top
3 [DS] Trinisphere
2 [MR] Lightning Greaves
4 [GP] Izzet Signet

// Sideboard
SB: 4 [ALA] Relic of Progenitus
SB: 4 [OV] Pyroclasm
SB: 3 [SC] Pyrostatic Pillar
SB: 4 [MR] Chalice of the Void

This deck is a port of my successful Vintage deck of a similar design. I took it to the Grid event but without the signets, and missed Top 8 in the last round. The deck, which was running 3x Explosives & 1 Top over the much superior suggestion of 4x Izzet Signets (per Rich Meyst), was solid all day long. My only peeve was that often my turn 2-3 was a simple land-go, which is fixed with the signets.

The Deck is very straightforward. "How can I cheat giant fat into play that wrecks my opponent?" The deck only works because now you run 8 Goblin Welders, which are hated on differently (Save double Engineered Plague, but that doesn't count).

The sideboard is rough, but I think it answers your normal staples that this deck will want to press advantage on, goyfs, annoying dudes, & combo.

The only "trick" to note, which hilariously few Legacy players are aware of considering the card in question, is that bouncing/destroying/removing a Sensei's Divining Top with the Tap-to-draw trigger on the stack results in a "free" draw. If the deck is just not giving you those delicious blue draw spells, of which it runs a plethora of, then you can often just get there with turning a welder/transmuter tap into a draw, not too shabby.

The Curve/Plan Priority of the deck is very straightforward as well. Goblin -> Signet/Greaves -> TFK/FoF/Muter -> hardcast Robots

I won't lie that easily 30% of the games become "get plats with greaves and then cackle." This is definitely 'plan B" though. Dropping recurring land/dude removal is highly preferred, but easily 30% of my games in testing and in practice end with me having negative life or zero cards in library for several turns.


Without going into exact details of decks, here are a few breakdowns of matchups.

Landstill/Dreadstill (Standstill) - Both decks lose to early welders or Trinisphere. Despite this fact, the cantrips and tempo push can just overwhelm you. I wouldn't be so naive to say this is a favorable matchup, but I'd say its even if you mull appropriately.

Thresh - This is your face-punching each match. Because thresh has to slow down if they're not just building goyfs, you have the time to assemble inevitability against Thresh. Without knowing the exact cutting edge on Thresh tech, I've found the 4 color versions to be nastiest with combined removal from the two off colors. Of course, with this 4 splash, a titan is scoopsville, whereas against a U/G version this is not the case.

Combo - Whether it be Belcher, Ad Nauseum, or Ichorid, your combo match just plain bites. This is why you have 7 cards on the side against combo, 3 of which cannot be Artifacts. If I owned In the Eye of Chaos, I would test its viability over Pyrostatic Pillar, although I feel pillar to be superior. Game 2, your ichorid matchup becomes winnable, but far from what I would call favorable.

Control - Not that much control exists outside of the Aggro Control tempo shells, but control is also a horrid matchup. Despite having 8 incredible draw spells, not having backup for your forces is killer, which means sometimes you're just throwing chaff into the maw of the counterspell machine while they are churning out their aggro answers, all of which hit your artificers.

Aggro - Angry Bees and their many variants, also known as Goblins & their many imitators. Game one you'll likely get run over. Again winnable, but difficult. If they add hate cards while you're adding board sweepers, game 2 & 3 should be easy to pick up. Gobbos hates fire, not much to talk about there.



Some cards I tried out in the deck before the suggestions go off the charts. Are courier's capsule, Master of Etherium, ponder, other color splashes, Engineered Explosives (mentioned), Triskelion, Triskelavus, Leviathan.

A constant nagging in the back of my head is that perhaps one of the signets could become a Thousand-Year Elixir. But more testing is required to see if this is better than the mana gain.

Feel free to post comments. There seemed to be a large amount of interest at the Grid Event. I'm not sure how much of that has to do with GP Chicago to get an edge, or just genuine interest in welder becoming more viable than a B-deck.

[CaptainGiggles]

What do you think of survival as a way to pitch fatties and tutor up welders and transmuter?