[Deck] Goblins

[jrw1985]

I played a tourney yesterday that did not go so well. 1-3 on the day. I played the same list I've been using and I really do think that this is about as optimal a list as you'll get with Goblins right now...

4 Vial
4 Lackey
4 Piledriver
4 Warchief
4 Matron
4 Ringleader

3 Tarfire
2 Stingscourger
2 Gempalm Incinerator
2 Skirk Prospector
1 Krenko
1 Kiki-Jiki
1 Lightning Crafter
1 Sharpshooter
1 Tuktuk

4 Cavern
4 Waste
13 Mountain
1 Chrome Mox

SB
4 Trinisphere
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Blood Moon
2 Pyrokinesis

The ONLY change I really wanted was to have a Goblin Settler crammed in there someplace. I think either a Gemaplm or Stingscourger should be cut for it.... Probably Gempalm since it has a higher CMC like Settler. Then again, Gempalm is good against Fair decks, Settler is not. So maybe I should cut Stingscourger since Stingscourger and Settler are much ore marginal against Fair decks but stronger against Unfair decks... It seems like a coin flip.

R1 Solidarity
G1 I lose after a 20 minute turn on his end. BOOOO.
G2 I put on a clock and resolve Trinisphere. Win
G3 I put on a clock. He Forces my first Trinisphere. The second one he had to dig for a response for. This leaves him looking at 20some cards in response to Trinisphere. He Digs, he Meditates, he Brainstorms, he plays multiple High Tides, but he can't win or counter Trinisphere. Trinisphere resolves and I pass the turn. He untaps ad goes to draw his card. I remind him that he Meditated last turn and should have skipped his turn. I call Judge but its a pretty low key event and he just scoops.

The last two times I've played against Meditate my opponent has forgotten to skip his next turn. I fucking hate that card.
1-0

R2 Cloudpost
G1 is a super grind. He has Glacial Chasm in play and I put 2 Wastelands on the bottom thanks to Ringleader. I have infinite damage on the board with Crafter+Kiki+Skirk but no way to deal damage through Chasm. My opponent has no way to attack and kill me though without first sacrificing Chasm so he can attack. So we're stuck in a stalemate. A MD Settler would have won the game for me easy here. As it was I scooped because he had Eye of Ugin out and enough mana to search for Ulamog so it seemed like he was going to get an answer to Kiki before I was going to topdeck a Wasteland.
G2 I had 2 Cavern, Lackey, Matron, Warchief, Piledriver and 2 Wastelands. I Killed around T4 after Wasting his Tabernacle and Chasm.
G3 I kept a hand that was focused on resolving Chalice @ 1 to lock him out. He had a hand that either had SnT or naturally cast Primeval Titan. I did not have gas and he won pretty easily. Weak hand on my part.
1-1

R3 ANT
G1 he wins. I Should have Wasted him T1 but played a Lackey instead. He went off T2.
G2 I have Trinisphere but get stuck on 2 lands. No Skirk to help out either.
1-2, but my opponent had to drop so he gave me the win. Nice guy.

R4 ANT
See R3, Except G2 I mulled to six and had a hand of Lackey, Blood Moon, Blood Moon, 3 Lands. On a Mull to six you kinda have to keep that.
1-3

The only thing I really walked away from in this tourney was that a MD Settler could be good. I do think my list is pretty optimal as it is though, so I'm not exactly excited about cramming in another 4cc card. I'm considering though because Settler has a natural combo with KikiJiki, plus it gives me a little more manabase disruption that the deck is lacking without Port. It is a searchable toolbox Goblin that would have won me G1 against 12Post and its ability would have been relevant every round this tournament.

[Paul7926]

This Sunday is the second of my local groups Legacy Sundays. It promises to have a reasonable turnout and I'm hoping to go better than 0-2-1 (plus a bye) this time. I've managed to grab a couple more cards and also borrow some so my list looks a little better, especially the sideboard.

Creatures (34)

4 Goblin Lackey
4 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin Warchief
4 Goblin Ringleader
3 Mogg War Marshal
3 Gempalm Incinerator
2 Goblin Chieftain
1 Stingscourger
1 Tin Street Hooligan
1 Warren Instigator
1 Krenko, Mob Boss
1 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Goblin Sharpshooter

Spells (5)

4 Aether Vial
1 Tarfire

Lands (21)

1 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Cavern of Souls
8 Mountain
2 Sacred Foundry
1 Stomping Ground
2 Wooded Foothills
1 Wasteland


Sideboard (15)

2 Chalice of the Void
1 Pithing Needle
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Tin Street Hooligan
2 Dismember
1 Perish
1 Rule of Law
1 Earwig Squad
2 Ashen Rider


The last event was a lot of fun but I had no clue what I was doing. Really looking forward to Sunday now.

Well I went 2-2 which was an improvement on my first tournament.

Rd 1 loss to some combo deck involving dumping their library into the GY. He combo's turn 2 game 1 and turn 1 game two. Was no point me even sitting down for that round.

Rd 2 Win against OmniShow. Good games but to be fair I won one of them because he punted the Show and Tell turn after me having Ashen rider in hand to put into play.

Rd 3 Win against Imperial Painter. Good games again.

Rd 4 loss to Affinity. Good games but I just couldn't quite get there.

Two things taken away from this tournament. I hate solo player insta-kill combo decks so much that if my round 1 opponents turns up regularly I'll probably stop going. To be fair every single person he played hated the games win or lose. Second is that I'm always losing game 1 and it's not until post-board that I seem to stand much of a chance.

[bakofried]

If you're that worried about T1 combos, run Leyline of the Void/Leyline of Sanctity/Mindbreak Trap/Ravenous Trap in your sideboard. It's a local meta, so you can devote more sideboard cards to predictable, poor matches. Decks like that are a part of Legacy though, and that is something you just have to learn to accept.

Also, you're running a subpar (not by choice, I know) deck. You won't be as potent in game 1 because of that.

[Paul7926]

If you're that worried about T1 combos, run Leyline of the Void/Leyline of Sanctity/Mindbreak Trap/Ravenous Trap in your sideboard. It's a local meta, so you can devote more sideboard cards to predictable, poor matches. Decks like that are a part of Legacy though, and that is something you just have to learn to accept.

Also, you're running a subpar (not by choice, I know) deck. You won't be as potent in game 1 because of that.

It's not that I mind losing, I knew from the start goblins was not a top tier winning deck. It's that I mind giving up my free time to watch someone play solitaire on turn 1/2 and then either win or fizzle deciding the match. He chose the deck because we are new to Legacy and most people don't have the FOW or more expensive decks or even the cards for the cheaper decks. He knew there would be little to nothing to stop him walking into a prize place. I don't know. It's a personal problem but I play this game to play and had been convinced by others that Legacy was not a turn 1 coin flip format. I've enjoyed playing my other games win or lose as I got to play. If It's true that these sorts of no interaction decks are a large part of legacy then maybe the format is not for me.

Sadly other people trying the format had the same reaction as me so we will see if his free shot at prizes have killed enthusiasm for the format locally. We are mostly new to this format and the first few attempts are vitally important if the local scene is to grow.

At the moment I'm putting a hold on getting any new cards that are not modern playable (my main format) just in case I bail on legacy. Having said that your sideboard suggestions make a lot of sense. Thanks for commenting. :)

EDIT:

Having read that I'm starting to sound anti-Legacy. That's not how it really is. Legacy is what it is and existed before me and will exist if I play it or not. What I'm trying to articulate, badly, is that I need to really think if it's a format I'm going to like before I drop a ton of cash on wasteland, cavern, port that I can't use anywhere else.

Also some investigation shows the deck in question was oops-all-spells.

:)

[jrw1985]

@Paul: you don't have to invest in FoW quite yet. Pick up a play set of Surgical Extraction or Leyline of the Void and you'll be well on your way to beating that deck at a very reasonable price.

[L10]

If you really hate that deck, you can have 4 Leyline of the Void and 4 Serum Powder in your SB and just mull until you hit Leyline of the Void. There. That's an auto loss for him. Do you know if he has a Belcher back up plan via SB?
If he does, then I recommend Mindbreak Trap instead. Mindbreak Trap his Dread Return, Belcher, or Empty the Warrens depending which kill spell he is on. The only problem is that he can play around it.

[Paul7926]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. He had no plan-b at all it was either combo off or lose. I think that is what I found so questionable about the whole experience. It wasn't Magic it was some other game that only he took part in.

I enjoy the game of Magic. Either my goblins trying to be the control against an Affinity player, or the cut and thrust of trying to stick some green guys against real control or the tension in my game against OmniTell (Omnishow?) where I did have turns to apply pressure and present threats. Win or lose I enjoyed playing them all.

Perhaps I should stop letting one bad experience get to me.

[Julian23]

So this guy comes in and completly destroys our local meta with Goblins. Didn't drop a single game during Swiss and Top8. Here's his list:

2 Rishadan Port
4 Cavern of Souls
2 Ancient Tomb
11 Mountain
3 Wasteland
4 Aether Vial
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin lackey
4 Goblin Ringleader
3 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Warchief
3 Gempalm Incinerator
1 Tuktuk Scrapper
3 Tarfire
1 Krenko, Mob Boss
1 Stingscourger
1 Lightning Crafter
3 Mogg War Marshal
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
1 Goblin Chieftain

1 Tuktuk Scrapper
4 Thorn of Amethyst
3 Relic of Progenitus
3 Pyrokinesis
2 Blood Moon
2 Sudden Demise

[Sandro95]

Found this on twitter:


For some reason there are 18 cards listed in the sideboard. Not dropping a single game is an impressive feat though.

Edit: disregard the copies of Duress

[Julian23]

It's 18 cards because he used his Jund list as a template, then forgot to delete the 3 (uncastable) Duress and just crossed them out at the event.

[OlegtheSuper]

So this guy comes in and completly destroys our local meta with Goblins. Didn't drop a single game during Swiss and Top8. Here's his list:

2 Rishadan Port
4 Cavern of Souls
2 Ancient Tomb
11 Mountain
3 Wasteland
4 Aether Vial
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin lackey
4 Goblin Ringleader
3 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Warchief
3 Gempalm Incinerator
1 Tuktuk Scrapper
3 Tarfire
1 Krenko, Mob Boss
1 Stingscourger
1 Lightning Crafter
3 Mogg War Marshal
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
1 Goblin Chieftain

1 Tuktuk Scrapper
4 Thorn of Amethyst
3 Relic of Progenitus
3 Pyrokinesis
2 Blood Moon
2 Sudden Demise

Julian23, thank you! Please tell us what is you meta?

[seilaquem]

Found this on twitter:


For some reason there are 18 cards listed in the sideboard. Not dropping a single game is an impressive feat though.

Edit: disregard the copies of Duress

This seems great.

How does it play against miracles, and omnishow?

Guess I will try this build

[Paul7926]

The Lightning Crafter is an interesting inclusion. The 'bolt with legs' is obviously interesting but the possibilities of championing


Mogg War Marshal
Goblin Matron
Goblin Ringleader
Siege-Gang Commander


Seems like fun. When they try and kill the crafter I imagine leaning forward and uttering in my best Clint Eastwood voice "Go ahead punk, make more goblins."

[Julian23]

Our local meta is heavy on Elves, Miracles, Death & Taxes; some Storm. Very little Delver.

[Morkus]

I'm fan of lightning crafter since many years.
Firstly because I wanted pack the combo prospector/kiki/crafter
Now because with the time I find it very usefull :
- One more mid game good target with vial@4 (ringleader/Krenko)
- to protect one goblin from a removal (championing targeted goblin in response)
- good weapon versus Miracle. It's a nice clock and you often won a goblin with etb effect when it is managed.

Also I better understand the championing mechanism.
Crafter comes into play and championig is added to the stack
- no need to target goblin so, it's safe with 2 goblins on the board
- you can use haste ability provided by warchief even if you champion it.
warchief + crafter on the board + championing on the stack
response with hasted crafter for 3 damages.
Resolve damage
Resolve championing

[NineHDmg]

Does no one feel that the deck would profit from maindeck Chalice agains pretty much everything? Lackey and Vial as 1cc drops into chalice beat a lot of the field.

thoughts?

[jrw1985]

Does no one feel that the deck would profit from maindeck Chalice agains pretty much everything? Lackey and Vial as 1cc drops into chalice beat a lot of the field. thoughts?

It's not a terrible idea at all, and there have been successful decks this year running with it. You could probably run a list without Tarfires and just rely on Gempalm/Stingscourger. 24 Core, 22 Lands, about 8 pieces of removal, 3-4 Chalice... That still leaves 2-3 MD slots. Seems entirely reasonable.

[seilaquem]

So this guy comes in and completly destroys our local meta with Goblins. Didn't drop a single game during Swiss and Top8. Here's his list:

2 Rishadan Port
4 Cavern of Souls
2 Ancient Tomb
11 Mountain
3 Wasteland
4 Aether Vial
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin lackey
4 Goblin Ringleader
3 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Warchief
3 Gempalm Incinerator
1 Tuktuk Scrapper
3 Tarfire
1 Krenko, Mob Boss
1 Stingscourger
1 Lightning Crafter
3 Mogg War Marshal
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
1 Goblin Chieftain

1 Tuktuk Scrapper
4 Thorn of Amethyst
3 Relic of Progenitus
3 Pyrokinesis
2 Blood Moon
2 Sudden Demise

Gonna try this beauty tomorrow. But got to make a few tweaks cause i dont own/found some cards.

Any pointers?

Thx a lot

[Stevestamopz]

Does no one feel that the deck would profit from maindeck Chalice agains pretty much everything? Lackey and Vial as 1cc drops into chalice beat a lot of the field.

thoughts?

All the decks that play chalice mainboard are usually attacking with bigger threats than a few 1/1s e.g Merfolk, and/or they're playing way more lock pieces; all variations of stompy decks.

I'm not saying it's bad, but if you're going to go down the chalice mainboard path, aren't there just better decks that can utilise it better like: http://www.starcitygames.com/article...in-Prison.html

[OlegtheSuper]

Gonna try this beauty tomorrow. But got to make a few tweaks cause i dont own/found some cards.

Any pointers?

Thx a lot

There is nothing superspecial in this list. Main deck is a classic goblins except 2 tombs, and i like this idea. I'm playing with 3 in main and it feels like it more then you need but i use them for my sb chalices, 3ball and moons to play then on turn earlyer vs combo.
3 pyro and 2 demise are good meta call and sure there was a very good pilot.

P.s. jrw, do you realy want moons vs ANT? 3 months ago i wanted to move to ANT from gobs, i've read a lot and have tested a lot so i can say that if ANT can search for basic it will do this. And turn 3 blood moon is a super bad drop/draw for goblins vs ant.