[Deck] Goblins

[cloudshade]

well i can just say what i see when playing with friends: whenever the game went well, i didnt mind paying 1 life for the ring and whenever it went bad (and this usually means many of my goblins went to gyard) i was happy that i was able to deal 2 colorless dmg by sacrificing a land. but true, in combination with too many fedges, ring could become pain.

[BigBopper]

@jrw1985: Congraz, awesome finish on your tournament!!! Always nice to hear Gobbos making some progress out there.
I'm still torn between a Winstigator/Mox/Port-built with 33+ Goblins and a version with 4 MM. I recently thought of splashing and came to a similar list, although I would play another removal MD and one Boartusk Liege in SB. My problem is rather not owning duals (Taiga-Badlands) and theri prize, but I like your list!
Sharpshooter is awesome in current meta, just like warren weirding and tarfire each as a 1 off.
How about playing a 2nd TSH SB instead of one ancient grudge-as tutor target or somewhat?
I don't think Goblin grenate is a good idea: sacrificing a goblin and paying mana to see a MM and only hit for 2...
Barbarian Ring deals damage to you and shortly before you reach theshold it gets wasted away.

[ThoSha]

A list of Things that Mogg Fanatic gets rid off:

Scryb Ranger
Birds of Paradise
Noble Hierarch
Dryad Arbor
Vendillion Clique
Mother of Runes
Dark Confidant
Aven Mindcensor
Grim Lavamancer
Narcomoeba
Bridge from Below
Glistener Elf
Blighted Agent
Ball Lightning
Spark Elemental
Hellspark Elemental
Umezawa's Jitte

Just sayin'.

[lyracian]

A list of Things that Mogg Fanatic gets rid off:

Umezawa's Jitte

Just sayin'.

How does Fanatic get rid of Jitte?

[ThoSha]

Doesn't get rid of jitte, but you can buy time by block/sac.

[Ace/Homebrew]

Warchiefs, just returned from Redcap's Corner in Philadelphia for a 25+ (I'm pretty sure it was 26) man tournament. And since we're introducing ourselves; I'm Mike.

I brought with me the following 75 cards in a R/B list:

Core 26

Flex 12
4 Mental Misstep
2 Gempalm Incinerator
2 Warren Weirding
1 Stingscourger
1 Goblin Chieftain
1 Tuktuk Scrapper
1 Wort, Boggart Auntie

Manabase 22
4 Mountain
2 Badlands
1 Swamp
4 Rishadan Port
4 Wasteland
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Arid Mesa
1 Scalding Tarn

Sideboard 15
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
3 Pyrokinesis
3 Shattering Spree
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Perish

I took 7th or 8th going 3-1-1 into the Top 8. Got knocked out by Burn.
This was my third legacy event and my first time in R/B.
Superstar of the day was Mental Misstep. I highly recommend this card for a third of our flex spots. It's THAT good game 1.

Round 1 Team America 2-0
This was against a friend of mine. Goblins did what it does.

Round 2 Dredge 2-0
Mental misstep pulls it's weight game 1. 2 LotV in hand game 2.

Round 3 Reanimator 1-2
Game 1 was a lot of fun and Wort hit for 1 to take the last point of life.
Let me explain. I MM an entomb first turn and put goblins onto the field early. Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite makes short work of my progress but because he Exhumed it, I get a Matron back letting me find [/cards]Warren Weirding[/cards] to kill her and resume my board filling. This happened again, the third time I found Wort and snuck through as a 1/1 fear for the last point of damage.
Needless to say he took out the Exhume

- 1 Tuktuk Scrapper
- 1 Aether Vial
- 2 Gempalm Incinerator
+ 4 Leyline of the Void

I draw 2 LotV in my starting 7 and decide to keep.
I start with vial and it ticks up until he plays Show and Tell dropping Elesh Norn. I either drop Wort or Matron into Wort. Vial's at 4 and I play Ringleader which finds me Stingscourger. The Scourger get's FoW'd and I figure my Wort engine will allow me a quick 2-0. Instead the Reanimator player animates my Stingscourger bouncing Wort! This again for 2 or 3 turns and Elesh Norn goes the distance...

Game 3 I didn't mull for hate and kept a fetch, Lackey, Vial, Misstep, SGC, 2 other hand. He landed Jin turn 2 and I never drew the 2nd land to cast Piledriver before having to discard my hand.

Round 4 W/U Stoneblade 1-2
Close games. Adding 2 Pyrokinesis last second before game 3 made the difference. It killed 2 Mutavaults allowing my swarm to hit for lethal.

Round 5 Stoneblade - Draw

Top 8 I am paired with Burn. This is the first Burn deck I've played and I know I made several mistakes. Game 1 I forgot Mental Misstep counters Goblin Guide and I'm on the defensive till he ends it.
Game 2 Lackey sneaks in Seige-Gang Commander and I Port him early and often. Goblins gets 1.
Game 3 I resolved 2 Vials. 1 immediately dies to Smash to Smithereens and the other ticks to 3 before getting destroyed and thrown at my face. He Price of Progresses me twice getting 2 the first time and 5 the next cause I fetched for a mountain. Fireblast ended it.

Immediate regret was not having 3 Red Elemental Blast instead of the Shattering Spree. Very, very happy with Mental Misstep. Game 1 of Dredge was him playing City of Brass and Careful Study. I MM'd it and Wasted his City on my turn.
Also mad props to Wort, Boggart Auntie.

[GoboLord]

Hey Mike,

first of: thanks for the report.
I really like REB in Goblin's SB (for the reasons Jon/jrw gave us). But I doubt that it's a good idea to completely cut artifact hate from your SB. You could consider cutting 1 Spree and maybe 1-2 Pyrokinesis to make room for 2-3 REB.
Best thing to do would probably be G-Splash for Ancient Grudge (instead of Spree), but that's a matter of money nowadays.

[Humphrey]

I had good results with 4 Foothills + Forest and 2 Ports. Taiga gets wasted to often for my taste.

[Ace/Homebrew]

Christian I agree with you entirely and for the 20th am considering bringing the same list

-1 Perish
-1 Shattering Spree
-1 Pyrokinesis
+3 Red Elemental Blast

and I'm not 100% on keeping Goblin Sharpshooter in my 75...
Artifact hate is a necessity as long as Stoneforge Mystic is being played heavily

Also, for those playing K-Grip... A friend told me the only way to use it with success against Hive Mind is to put a creature with an EtB trigger in when they play Show and Tell that way you retain priority and can cast Krosan Grip before they get a pact off. So keep a Matron, Ringleader, or Seige-Gang Commander handy.

[ScatmanX]

Edit: sad panda...

[L10]

Also, for those playing K-Grip... A friend told me the only way to use it with success against Hive Mind is to put a creature with an EtB trigger in when they play Show and Tell that way you retain priority and can cast Krosan Grip before they get a pact off. So keep a Matron, Ringleader, or Seige-Gang Commander handy.

This is actually brilliant. Thanks!

Also, thanks to Ace and jrw for your reports.

Edit:

So the idea is that once Ringleader/Matron/SCG effect triggers, you will get priority. Now, you can in response play a spell. The trick is to use split second to close the stack. So a mono-red route can potentially look like this.
Matron -> Chaos Warp -> Sudden Shock
I am not advocating this. Just a hypothetical.

Here is another hypothetical. If I cast Lightning Bolt, then another Lightning Bolt, and then a Sudden Shock ... does that mean that neither Lightning Bolts can get countered due to split second? I am assuming that I never passed priority. Thanks.

[Ziveeman]

Unfortunately that doesn't work. The active player (the player whose turn it is) maintains priority, so the Hive Mind player can still cast Pacts while the ETB trigger is on the stack. Shame :/

[L10]

So the active player does not pass priority when my creature's ETB ability triggers? Well, that's a shame.

[Ziveeman]

Unfortunately nope. I asked it on MTGS just to double check:

http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=345882

[Ace/Homebrew]

woops

[Vandalize]

Unfortunately that doesn't work. The active player (the player whose turn it is) maintains priority, so the Hive Mind player can still cast Pacts while the ETB trigger is on the stack. Shame :/

Yeah buddies, time to pack at least 3 Pyroblast/REB in sideboard and keep up the Rishadan Ports working.

This is my last R/B build, check it out:

Lands [22]
4 Wasteland
4 Rishadan Port
2 Wooded Foothills
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Arid Mesa
4 Mountain
2 Badlands
1 Swamp

Core [26]

Others [12]

4 Mental Misstep/Cabal Therapy
3 Gempalm Incinerator
1 Goblin Chieftain
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
1 Stingscourger
1 Warren Weirding
1 Tarfire

Sideboard [15]

3 Perish
3 Pyrokinesis
3 Pyroblast/Red Elemental Blast
2 Shattering Spree
4 Leyline of the Void

Made some tool-box main deck because it's pretty fine, indeed. When playing with Cabal Therapy, the MD Tarfire should become the second Stingscourger.

[ThoSha]

Mind some innovations?
A few pages ago i mentioned Mogg fanatic and Chieftain being good, but that was for MWS testing.
I went 4-1 in a ~30 people tournament with this list:


//Manabase
5 Mountains
3 Arid Mesa
3 Bloodstained Mire
1 Wooded Foothills
2 Rishadan Port
4 Wasteland
2 Taiga
2 Chrome Mox

//Core
-2 Siege Gang Commander

//Flex
2 Goblin Chieftain
3 Gempalm Incinerator
1 Tin Street Hooligan
1 Stingscourger
4 Mogg Fanatic
SB:
2 Krosan Grip
3 Ancient Grudge
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Tormods Crypt
2 Pyrokinesis
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
3 Red Elemental Blast

MatchUps:

1st Round vs 5 Color Defense of the Heart Combo: 2-0
This was kinda straightforward for me, it felt like goldfishing.
1st turn Mogg Fanatic followed by 2nd turn Wasteland kinda screwed his Manabase forever. Oh how i love Noble Hierarch/Birds Matchups now.

2nd Round vs UWR Patriot: 1-2
This was rough. Even though i had Mogg Fanatic as a Bonus to help against Grim Lavamancer, this matchup was ultratough. I felt being more on the defense for answering all of HIS threats which came plenty. Lavamancer, Force, Misstep, SFM AND Batterskull are too much for this deck to handle, even postboard. Kinda won 1 game because I had the nuts and he didnt mull a bad hand. In that game tough, i had 2 Mogg Fanatics and a Ringleader online and he had a single EE on 1 which he nuked after 3 swings with the Fanatics and got additional 2 in the face. Ringleader people won the game from there. I have to say tough that i never drew any of my awesome grudges or grips which would come in handy as a topdeck.

3rd Round vs GW Maverick: 2-1
Kinda even Matchup, maybe a little favoured for us. Vial into Fanatic into a 1st turn Runemother is bomby. I take the first game home with swarming. 2nd game he takes it with Batterskull/Jitte/SOFI. Game 3 was interesting: Pyrokinesis on 2 Mirran Crusader would be nuts, but i didnt draw it, so i kind of won it with stalling 2 Mirrans, a 6/6 Knight equipped with a SOFF and a Batterskull with multiple Matrons, Piledrivers and Warchief+Ringleaders bought me the time to find a Sharpshooter and almost clear the whole board in synergy with mogg fanatic. The army takes the win home after. He did make a mistake tough for waiting too long for Jitte equip, then after a long time he equipped it on the Batterskull Token, which was fantastic as I had a Stingscourger to handle both.

4th Round vs Mono White Ascension: 2-0
Well this was easy somehow. His Serra Ascendant never was a must answer, so i rather killed his wall of omens and 3/2 soldiers which showed up for a while. After he gets the martyr combo online and going @40 life, i finally get a target for my Gempalm Incinerator for 6, drawing me a Chieftain. The rest was 3 turns of beatdown. 2nd Game was similar, but i had to trick a early resolved Runemother, which just got outpowered by a 3/3 Warren Instigator hence 2 Lords on the table. Ancient Grudge handled a Jitte and stopped batterskull stuff from happening. 2 Ports were insane too, as he was manascrewed on 2 lands.

5th Round vs Merfolk: 2-0
Well i am not so proud of this, because he was a new player and didnt even have forces. What happened was a first turn lackey who gets missteped, a 2nd turn Silvergill Adept gets fanatic'd on my turn + wasting his mutavault. He was so screwed from there on, only resolving another Lord which gets gempalm incineratored 2 turns later. Easy game.
2nd game was even easier since i boarded 3 Red Elemental Blasts.
The situation became a single Piledriver racing a lone Coralhelm Commander.
The Coralhelm went 4/4 was i had an advantage of early beats and when he went to 4, he realized that he cant Dismember my Piledriver anymore and concedes. Next round i would have gone with a Ringleader and finish the game anyway.




Sorry for being lazy at writing a detailed Report, i just wanted to show on result what this changes DO. Mogg Fanatic was a house all day and got even forced against Patriot's Lavamancer. He was gigantic and is that thing that a Lightning Bolt or Misstep never could be. Synergy with Sharpshooter was fantastic and won against Maverick.

Some notes:
-Sword of Fire and Ice is getting less popular. Good meta for Goblins.

-Tin Street hooligan as 1of is kinda handy these days, and a backup in form of Ancient Grudges and Grips from the board is even better.

-Siege Gang Commander: C'mon guys, i wasn't missing him the whole day. He is simply outdated and Win more. SGC lost me more games in the past 3 months than he won.

-Watten Instigator/2Mox:
Has been pretty decent, nice synergy with Mogg Fanatic in most games and nice with Chieftain/Double Strike also. Eats a Sword here and there but its absolutly worth it.

-Ringleader
Adding my Goblin count to 33 was a house, and a ringleadered Mogg Fanatic can just be the difference between win and lose. Always been happy with seing 2 moggs in my ringleader instead of Missteps or Bolts.

-Mental Misstep
Playing against Misstep is not quite the deal, as you can provoke the blue player by playing a lackey or mogg fanatic to catch the mistep and vial the turn after. I was more scared of Force in the end.

-2 Ports
They have been good for me. Goblins is pretty manahungry and 2 ports+4 wastelands are absolutly reasonable. Never wished for more.

-Sideboard
Awesome Grudge owns Stoneblade.REB owns Merfolk.
Was quite happy with rest too, but i never faced Dredge, Hive Mind or Reanimator that day, so i dunno about the gravestuff.
Might have a decent matchup preboard against dredge now thx to Mogg Fanatic. :D

Now flame me please.

[Vandalize]

I've been having mixed feelings about SGC as well. Still, with your Mox/Instigator build, I'd give at least 1 spot to him.

[GoboLord]

3rd Round vs GW Maverick: 2-1
Kinda even Matchup, maybe a little favoured for us.

[...]

-Ringleader
Adding my Goblin count to 33 was a house, and a ringleadered Mogg Fanatic can just be the difference between win and lose. Always been happy with seing 2 moggs in my ringleader instead of Missteps or Bolts.

First of all: thanks for your report. For me it was detailed enough as it was focused on Mogg Fanatic's performance. Although I agree with you that Fanatic is a viable option I'm not concerned about cutting SGC entirely from the deck. But this is a different story.

While reading your report two question came into my mind (reffering to the quote from here):

1st: You wrote that your impression about Maverick is that it is quite even/kinda favored for Gobs. I always found this one frustrating and nearly impossible to win. Now I was wondering what your strategy is? I couldn't read much from your report on that game, other than Mogg Fanatic being awsome. Then again I run Tarfire on this slot, which is just as good in dealing with Mother and SFM (not with Jitte though, but this has never been problematic to me).
Thus: What do you think are their most threatening cards? How do you navigate your deck around that? What is your overall strategy here?

2nd: About Ringleader, I absolutely agree. Marcello/Scatman once said that there is nothing more solid than having 33 Goblins in your MD. Don't you think Tarfire is better than Mog Fanatic, since it kills one of the most frequently played creatures in legacy: SFM?
I Know that this comparison is kinda odd since those cards do slightly different things. When reading through your report I could just as well replace every "Mogg Fanatic" with "Tarfire" without changing any result.

[Vandalize]

First of all: thanks for your report. For me it was detailed enough as it was focused on Mogg Fanatic's performance. Although I agree with you that Fanatic is a viable option I'm not concerned about cutting SGC entirely from the deck. But this is a different story.

While reading your report two question came into my mind (reffering to the quote from here):

1st: You wrote that your impression about Maverick is that it is quite even/kinda favored for Gobs. I always found this one frustrating and nearly impossible to win. Now I was wondering what your strategy is? I couldn't read much from your report on that game, other than Mogg Fanatic being awsome. Then again I run Tarfire on this slot, which is just as good in dealing with Mother and SFM (not with Jitte though, but this has never been problematic to me).
Thus: What do you think are their most threatening cards? How do you navigate your deck around that? What is your overall strategy here?

2nd: About Ringleader, I absolutely agree. Marcello/Scatman once said that there is nothing more solid than having 33 Goblins in your MD. Don't you think Tarfire is better than Mog Fanatic, since it kills one of the most frequently played creatures in legacy: SFM?
I Know that this comparison is kinda odd since those cards do slightly different things. When reading through your report I could just as well replace every "Mogg Fanatic" with "Tarfire" without changing any result.

Tarfire vs Mogg Fanatic is raw power versus versatility. Mogg Fanatic can attack, pump Gempalm Incinerator and do some tricks with Goblin Sharpshooter. Tarfire is just good at doing it's job.

The way to deal with Maverick isn't very complex. Just kill their Mana Dork (aka Noble Hierarch/Birds/Drayd Arbor) and try to waste their duals in early game. They'll need a little time to recover, while Vials are growing. Post-board it gets a little easier due to Perish and Pyrokinesis.

Stingscourger is also a house in this matchup.