Today Fountain of Youth games gave away a Timetwister and a Badlands in a legacy tournament. This is the tournament for which I've been preparing my goblins. Here's the final decklist:
Creatures:
4 Goblin Guide
3 Tattermunge Maniac
4 Mogg War Marshal
3 Stingscourger
4 Warren Instigator
4 Goblin Chieftan
2 Siege-Gang Commander
Spells:
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Goblin Grenade
4 Goblin Incinerator
2 Warren Weirding
Lands:
4 Wasteland
4 Auntie's Hovel
2 Wooded Foothills
2 Blood Crypt
2 Teetering Peaks
2 Smoldering Spires
1 Bojuka Bog
5 Mountain
Sideboard:
2 Leyline of the Void
2 Relic of Progenitus
4 Cabal Therapy
2 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Earwig Squad
1 Fodder Launch
Ok, so the Incinerators are creatures and not kill spells, but it's very rare that they act like actual creatures.
If you're looking at that list closely, you'll notice some odd numbers. 2 teetering peaks, 2 smoldering spires, 1 bojuka bog? I never got any actual playtesting games in. When I went into the store the wednesday previous I found out it was actually D&D night (which is also cool), and FNM was much more about EDH games. What I ended up running was actually my playtest list. Partly because I didn't know what was worth cutting and partly because I thought the tournament was starting an hour later than it did so I only got to sign up at the last minute. But anyway, let's get on with the tournament.
Round one: Cheyenna with Squirrel Nest combo
In the first game I get a goblin guide to her wind zendikon. She makes a couple squirrel tokens, forgets a number of guide triggers, and generally gets run over by goblins. In a last ditch effort she drops an intruder alarm to hopefully keep me tapped down, but my deck is providing me with plenty of goblins. Game two goes much the same. No sideboarding, I figured I was at enough of an advantage already.
I feel sort of bad about this match, because plainly she's here with a boyfriend, not really that great at the game (Goblin Guide is much worse when it's faced with brainstorm, unless you horribly misplay brainstorm. Which she did.) and just looking to have fun. Not bad enough to intentionally drop a game or anything, but I do try to make things pleasent for her. Reminding her of guide triggers and so forth.
1-0
Round two: Katie with Affinity
Katie, on the other hand, makes a fearsome opponent. She wins the die roll, lays a first turn Great Furnace, memnite and mox opal, into frogmite and springleaf drum, if I remember correctly. Yeah, Scars of Mirroden printed some stuff that powers up Affinity; who would have thought? I start with a goblin guide to stay in the race, and finish off her creatures. She doesn't have enough gas to say in the race, and I win the first game.
I sideboard in two Umezawa's Jitte for two Siege-gang commanders. I figure Jitte will take over the game only it won't have to wait for five mana to do it. I want to keep in all my removal, since affinity very definetly works with a critical mass of artifact creatures. This was never relevant in the match.
The second game goes similarly, except she's got double myr enforcer. I'm handling it just fine, getting damage in, using smoldering spires to make sure I can still race past. I go for an alpha strike, knowing she doesn't have enough creatures to kill me off and that I'll be able to finish her next turn. The goblin guide flip reveals Shrapnel blast. I go to -1.
Game three ends after she gets Engineered plague on turn three and Engineered plague on turn four. I suggested she name elves, but despite a mutual disdain for them she persisted in locking me out of the game.
1-1
Looking around after the game, I see Enchantress playing Doomsday combo. Enchantress is sitting behind two sterling groves and an enchantress's presence and doomsday combo is resolving it's namesake card. I flit back and forth between this game and Aluren combo facing Merfolk across the way. Doomsday makes his stack. Enchantress spends a turn cantripping wild growths. Doomsday combo plays out Shelldock Isle, looks through the remaining four cards of it's stack and puts Emrakul underneath it. Enchantress sacs a sterling grove to get Runed Halo, naming Emrakul. Ermakul comes out, Aeons are torn, an extra turn is taken, and the swing comes in. Enchantress sacs six permanents, but doesn't take any damage. Doomsday can't make enchantress sac runed halo before running out of cards in library, and concedes. Doomsday indeed.
Across the way Merfolk succumbs to cavern harpy bouncing Parasitic Strix. That card did real good things for the Aluren deck.
Round three: Jonathan with Lightning Rift
Jonathan is going for the mad control route, with all sorts of fun things like humilty and engineered explosives and eventually cycling lands into burning out whatever goblins I get. Unfortunately, my goblins are fast enough to keep him off that eventuality. Again, I get goblin guides on turn one both games (my deck loves me almost as much as I love it.) While he had answers, they didn't come down quick enough, and weren't enough to fight past my burn. I finish him with Goblin Grenade and say "Goblin Grenade! Nobody even remembers that card exists!", at which point the store owner walks by and says "Goblin Grenade? I love that card!"
I sideboarded in the cabal therapies, figuring that I might be able to stop a moat or a humility if I see it early with a Goblin Guide flip. I do get the option to use therapy out the second game, and I have a useful target, but for the life of me I can't remember the target's name. I could describe it, but the last time I wasn't precisely accurate in naming the card there was a judge call and an appeal to the head judge and a whole mess and so forth. So I took the other line of play, which still won me the game. Not the best reason, I really need to practice my therapy.
2-1
I look over and get to see Katie's Affinity sacrifice seven permanents with double Disciple of the Vault in play, finishing off her opponent. Half an hour for lunch. You know what else is good about Fountain of Youth? Convenient access to cheap tacos. Taco Johns it is!
Round four: Other Jonathan with Eva Green.
Eva Green is a green black deck with lots of discard, land destruction and tarmogoyfs and such. Game one he wins the die roll and makes a decent hand into a pretty bad one by getting both my turn two plays with a Hymn to Tourach. We spend some time trading resources back and forth, with me trying to bolt his Hypnotic Specters before they get my last cards in hand and him sinkholing me and so forth. He eventually drops a Tombstalker, I fail to draw any of my outs, and we go on into game two. Game two I keep a sketchy hand which he turns into a nigh unplayable one when his turn one thoughtseize takes my mogg war marshal. I end the game with three goblin grenades in hand, never getting enough board presence to use them.
2-2
After round four I wander towards the back of the store where I find Cheyenna matched up with her boyfriend. Apparently they misunderstood the time allotted for lunch, arriving back about six or seven minutes late. Oh, and they had a couple shots under their belt,which didn't make for tight play. They weren't going to make the finals, but on the other hand they were having a great time.
In the back I spotted a new section of the commons box. Very exciting. You see, they sell the commons for a penny apiece, whcih means that a lot of marginal cards are still worth that coin. And they aren't terribly discriminate about which cards go into it, so you can frequently find good uncommons and jank rares in there. Over the past month or so I think I've spent about $7.00 on penny cards. And I've pulled some decent stuff; A Zuran Orb, two Engineered Plagues, A double playset of Kird Ape, a set of Fyndhorn Elves, A couple Goblin Matrons, and stacks and stacks of decent, interesting, and maybe playable cards. On Wednesday, when everybody else was playing D&D (and not being associated with either of the groups myself), I dug through the penny box, sorting through roughly eight thousand commons, dumping it all back in and making sure it was well mixed.
Sarge, who owns the store, has a philosophy about his penny commons. He'll keep the box, but if you're going to look through it you're going to have to work for it. So he doesn't let anyone sort his box for him. I wanted to get through this new box before he digs it deep into the other one, just to spite me. (He says "I would, too."). The first card I pull out is an Ascendant Evnicar. The second one I pull is a Lin Sivvi. I say "Are you sure this is a penny box?", and point out that these cards are very playable in casual decks. After he checks the price online (about a buck fifty each) he says he'll have to take them out, and he'll sell them to me for .50 each since I found them in the penny box. I accept; they're worth it. I get another .82 cents worth of cards out of that box, finishing it before round 5 starts.
Round 5: ??? with Eva Green
This guy, whos name I can't remember, came from Michigan. Apparently they had no plans for the weekend and a friend in town, so they drove down from the UP for the event. Game one I steamroll him with goblins, he doesn't get much of a chance to do anything. I figure I'm out of contention anyways, so I sideboard in everything that might be useful; two Relics, four Cabal Therapy and that one Fodder Launch.
Game two he kills me with a Tarmogoyf and a Putrid leech that I'm unable to deal with. I spend some time holding up the bolt and trying to force him to pump so I can kill it in response, but I don't manage it. In this game he forced me to discard a cabal therapy. I play a mogg war marshal and flash it back, not knowing what is in his hand. I'm not sure what to guess, so I eventually guess tarmogoyf, even though he would have cast it that turn if he had it. I was considering naming Tombstalker, even though I hadn't yet seen it in his deck. I figured he might have it, and it'd be a problem for me if he did. But no, I play like an idiot, and I get to see the tombstalker in his hand. And the double Sinkhole. Did I mention how I didn't have the mana to play much this game?
Game three is a knock down, drag out affair. We trade resources until neither of us has anything, and I'm leading on board advantage with a relic of progenitus in play. I play a goblin guide, he smothers it. He topdecks a Hypnotic Specter and I topdeck a bolt for it. We both land flood, and I'm removing his graveyard one card at a time, which has little more effect than annoying him. Eventually, I topdeck a goblin and he doesn't have an answer, and I take him down. It didn't take that long; all his free smothers and fetch lands and such had him down to eight life.
3-2
At this point there was a cut to the finals, with Goblins, Goblins, Katie with Affinity, and I believe another green black deck getting in. Katie and her boyfriend (playing goblins) split in the finals, for a badlands and a timetwister between them.
You know what I love about legacy? How you can't at all properly predict the metagame. Remember that neat chart I stole from Starcitygames? Yeah; I didn't face a single deck on it all day. There was a large presence of goblins, and a large presence of green black, which means that my metagame call of more aggressive goblins didn't play out that well. Also a lot of combo, but largely creature based combo so less threatening. The guy playing Ad Nauseum went 0-2 drop. I think, for the next tournament in January, I should bring some other deck, better positioned against the actual metagame and not a supposed metagame.
As for the deck itself, well, it needs more goblins. Most decks do. And possibly some Ninja. No; I think more goblins will do it. Specifically, I think I should kick Warren Weirding to the board. While it's good to have options against Natural Order Progenitus, I think i'd do better leaving it in the side (in place of Fodder launch and... I don't know.) This sort of deck really runs off of a critical mass of goblins; I'm not sure what I want to put in it's place but two more goblins might make the difference between running out of gas and having enough carriers for Goblin Grenades.
As for mana, I could use another black source or two; I need more support for early Cabal Therapy after boarding. The singleton Bojuka bog never kicked me in the teeth, but on the other hand I never got a surprise win out of it either. The taplands didn't give me much trouble, but I still don't know if they're justified. I'm thinking of cutting out wasteland too, actually. On the one hand, you can steal wins with it. On the other hand, I don't have the ports, Aether vials or lackeys to back it up, so those wins aren't that common. I'm already being greedy on land only running 22, and legacy tends to have a lot of wastelands and sinkholes to punish low lands. Still, I never ran up against a Maze of Ith or a Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale.
All in all, it was all kinds of fun, and I'd do it again tomorrow if they were holding it. I'm definetly excited for the next one.
Showing posts with label Goblins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Goblins. Show all posts
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Further Talk on Goblins
As I write this, it's Tuesday, November 30th. The tournament begins Saturday, Dec 4th. I've got to nail down a decklist.
Last time we wrote, I figured I'd end up playing Goblins, because 1) they're reasonably well positioned in the metagame and 2) I always play Goblins anyway. Let's take a look at a current Legacy Goblins list:
It's a fairly standard list, looking at the goblins. Unfortunately, I don't have access to all the legacy goblins that I would like, so my options are a bit narrower:
-4 Goblin Lackey
-4 Goblin Piledriver
-4 Aether Vial
(Not looking at manabase or sideboard right now.)
This, as they say, constitutes a problem. Without the lackeys and the vials the deck becomes much less tenable, as you can't drop the occasional free siege gang commander. While I certainly wouldn't be adverse to picking up a few extra goblins my budget would be. I'm going to look into lackeys though.
Without the free goblins a lot of your plays become much less powerful. Dropping a Matron on turn three gets you an extra goblin, sure, but to your hand. Meanwhile you're just spent your entire turn for a 1/1. If you drop a ringleader next turn you could fill your hand, but what hope do you have of getting those goblins to play in time to actually hurt someone with them?
My chances of winning with that sort of deck get better if I can substitute in some Warren Instigators, which aren't as good as Lackey by a darn site, but there's a lot of room to be not as good as Lackey and still be pretty good. It might be worthwhile to set up one of these decks to work with both lackey and instigator. A quick rundown of relevant goblins:
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Warren Instigator
4 Gempalm Incinerator
4 Goblin Warchief
2 Goblin Chieftan
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin Ringleader
2 Siege-Gang Commander
3 Stingscourger
3 Warren Weirding
4 Mogg War Marshal
(22 lands)
I'm adding in some more war marshals and an extra stingscourger for the piledrivers. If you can get a lackey or a instigator down on turn one or two and connect you're golden. Which is an if or two too many. Let's say you get it down on turn two. How are you going to swing past that tarmogoyf? Unless you've got a turn three warren weirding and he's got nothing else you'll be waiting while you scramble for enough goblins in play to take it out with an incinerator. At which point you really have to be asking, "what's the point of that instigator?"
Goblin Lackey is better than Aether Vial (in this deck) precisely because it starts it's action on turn two. You can often steal games merely by them not having an immediate Force of Will or Swords to Plowshares to answer it. Giving them until turn three to come up with an answer gives them entirely too much time and too many options. Not that Instigator is entirely a loss; it's still an "answer this or lose" card, it's just that you don't gain anything against a common category of answers; (Tarmogoyfs).
The alternative is to focus less on the midrange and more on the beatdown. Naturally, that'd work a lot better if I had the piledrivers, but I could make do. This side of the strategy is aided by the recent printing of some powerful goblins (the chieftans, and of course Goblin Guide) Goblin Guide in particular is much better in a burn or aggro type of deck as he tends to work against you if the game goes long. Another Sample List:
4 Goblin Guide
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Warren Instigator
4 Gempalm Incinerator
4 Goblin Bushwhacker
4 Stingscourger
4 Mogg War Marshal
4 Goblin Chieftan
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Goblin Grenade
(20 lands)
Still with the Lackeys and Instigators. Again, I'm assuming I can get my hands on some Lackeys. Instigator, while being less of an autokill if it connects, is still an decent offensive creature, thanks to double strike. Turn two instigator into turn three bushwhacker with kicker means swinging in for six assuming nothing else has happened this game. And even if a lackey trigger isn't as much of a mana advantage as it is in a deck with Siege-Gang Commanders in it, it can still be a crushing advantage. And when they use a first turn Force of Will on it they don't necessarily know that all you're gonna be able to drop with it is a Mogg War Marshal
On the other hand, instigator works uniquely well with Goblin Matron, allowing you to search something up with first strike damage, then drop it into play with normal damage. That turn two instigator might make for a turn three siege gang commander, with mana up to fling a goblin or cycle an incinerator or... or... Ok, putting away that line of thought. There's no way I could fit everything I wanted to in a 60 card deck, and it still has all the vulnerabilities that I previously mentioned.
Moving on, let's take a quick look at the manabase:
4 Wasteland
8 Mountains
4 Rishidan Port
3 Bloodstained Mire
3 Badlands
I don't have the fetches or the duals; I can manage two onslaught fetches and two ravnica duals.
2 Blood Crypt
2 Wooded Foothills.
That leaves me with much less ability to play any Warren Weirdings that make it into the maindeck, or black sideboard cards, or other things. (Cabal Therapy?) Luckily, I've got a playset of Auntie's Hovel I can substitute in. Also, I can manage the wastelands, but not the Rishidan ports, which is just as well, as I'll be needing more of my mana for casting things if I can't lay hands on lackeys. Revised Mana base:
4 Wasteland
4 Auntie's Hovel
2 Blood Crypt
2 Wooded Foothills
8 Mountains
Note that I also cut it down to 20 cards; the aggro list has 40 nonlands. i'm not very happy cutting down to this level, but with a max casting cost of 3 it might be viable. On the other hand, 20 with 4 wastelands.
Possible other lands:
Ghost Quarter. Depending on how heavily the metagame favors nonbasics it might act like strip mine. Would be a lot better if I went full on Rishidan Ports and Aether Vials. Not gonna happen.
Teetering Peaks: A tap land that also gives me two free damage. Good with Instigator, and getting someone from ten to eight life if so critical. On the other hand... tapland
Smoldering Spires. Really good if someone's relying on a Tarmogoyf to hold off attacks. Also a tapland.
Bojuka Bog: Also a tap land, in the wrong color even. On the other hand, a lot of cards and decks are screwed over by graveyard hate (Tarmogoyf, Life from the Loam, dredge, reanimator). I do like the idea of randomly winning games.
Which brings me naturally to a quick look at the sideboard. There are a couple things I'm looking to reposition myself against:
Bigger creatures
Combo Decks
Graveyards
Counterbalance/top
Essentially, I'm running a red deck wins, so really I only need to get them down to about eight life before the board state becomes much less relevant; a bolt plus a grenade, a hasty creature or two, a couple bolts, forget card advantage as long as I can get those last couple points in. The trouble is if they get a turn two tarmogoyf and sit behind him. I have to set up a massive alpha strike while they smile and slowly take the game away from me. Bolt, incinerator, don't solve goyf that much. Potential other solutions: Warren Weirding, Fodder Launch, temporary solutions such as Stingscourger and Smoldering Spires.
Combo Decks: These work out to storm decks and graveyard decks, for the most part. Storm decks (Ad Nauseum Tendrils, Goblin Charbelcher) don't interact very much with the board, which is where I'm hoping to dominate. Additionally they're very hard to race, as in impossible if I don't get a perfect draw and they don't get an abysmal one. I've got two options; to disrupt their hand with discard effects (Cabal Therapy, Duress, Thoughtseize) or their deck with Cranial Extraction Effects (Earwig Squad, Extirpate if I had any). Still not the greatest matchup
Graveyard decks; largely dredge, but also anything running life from the Loam, or other graveyard based threats. Aside from the Bog already mentioned, there are all sorts of graveyard hate cards being printed in increasing power levels over the recent years, some I can get my hands on (Relic of Progenitus), some I can't (Tormod's Crypt.)
And finally, Counterbalance/top. if I'm running a deck full of one drops, then I've got a hard time beating out someone with the combo. There are two ways of beating it though; either run some good disenchant effects (Krosan Grip, Indrik Stomphowler), or run odd casting cost cards (Earwig Squad, Fodder Launch). Since the disenchant effects don't actually advance my goals (dealing damage), and require a more difficult mana base, I'm leaning towards the other ones.
Bang out a quick sideboard:
4 Earwig Squad
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Bojuka Bog
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Fodder Launch
Final Thoughts: If I shoehorn the bogs into the maindeck, I'll have another pair of sideboard slots to deal with. Also, I sort of need to get some Warren Weirdings in my deck somewhere.
The next step is to build the deck and test it out against someone. Anyone up for a game?
Last time we wrote, I figured I'd end up playing Goblins, because 1) they're reasonably well positioned in the metagame and 2) I always play Goblins anyway. Let's take a look at a current Legacy Goblins list:
| 4 | Wasteland | 20 of 20 (100.00)% | 4.0000 | 8.8000 |
| 8 | Mountain | 19 of 20 (95.00)% | 7.9474 | 9.0526 |
| 4 | Rishadan Port | 13 of 20 (65.00)% | 3.5385 | 8.6154 |
| 3 | Badlands | 13 of 20 (65.00)% | 2.9231 | 9.2308 |
| 3 | Bloodstained Mire | 13 of 20 (65.00)% | 2.9231 | 9.4615 |
| Spells | ||||
| 4 | Goblin Lackey | 20 of 20 (100.00)% | 4.0000 | 8.8000 |
| 2 | Siege-Gang Commander | 20 of 20 (100.00)% | 1.9500 | 8.8000 |
| 4 | Aether Vial | 20 of 20 (100.00)% | 4.0000 | 8.8000 |
| 4 | Goblin Ringleader | 20 of 20 (100.00)% | 4.0000 | 8.8000 |
| 4 | Goblin Warchief | 20 of 20 (100.00)% | 3.9500 | 8.8000 |
| 4 | Goblin Piledriver | 20 of 20 (100.00)% | 3.9500 | 8.8000 |
| 4 | Goblin Matron | 20 of 20 (100.00)% | 3.9000 | 8.8000 |
| 4 | Gempalm Incinerator | 19 of 20 (95.00)% | 3.6316 | 8.8947 |
| 2 | Stingscourger | 16 of 20 (80.00)% | 1.5625 | 8.6250 |
| 2 | Goblin Chieftain | 15 of 20 (75.00)% | 2.3333 | 9.5333 |
| 3 | Warren Weirding | 12 of 20 (60.00)% | 2.5833 | 9.4167 |
| 1 | Mogg War Marshal | 10 of 20 (50.00)% | 3.2000 | 8.9000 |
| Sideboard | ||||
| 4 | Pyrokinesis | 14 of 20 (70.00)% | 3.0714 | 9.0000 |
| 3 | Relic of Progenitus | 8 of 20 (40.00)% | 2.7500 | 10.5000 |
| 3 | Perish | 8 of 20 (40.00)% | 2.5000 | 10.3750 |
| 3 | Blood Moon | 7 of 20 (35.00)% | 3.0000 | 9.4286 |
| 2 | Tormod's Crypt | |||
It's a fairly standard list, looking at the goblins. Unfortunately, I don't have access to all the legacy goblins that I would like, so my options are a bit narrower:
-4 Goblin Lackey
-4 Goblin Piledriver
-4 Aether Vial
(Not looking at manabase or sideboard right now.)
This, as they say, constitutes a problem. Without the lackeys and the vials the deck becomes much less tenable, as you can't drop the occasional free siege gang commander. While I certainly wouldn't be adverse to picking up a few extra goblins my budget would be. I'm going to look into lackeys though.
Without the free goblins a lot of your plays become much less powerful. Dropping a Matron on turn three gets you an extra goblin, sure, but to your hand. Meanwhile you're just spent your entire turn for a 1/1. If you drop a ringleader next turn you could fill your hand, but what hope do you have of getting those goblins to play in time to actually hurt someone with them?
My chances of winning with that sort of deck get better if I can substitute in some Warren Instigators, which aren't as good as Lackey by a darn site, but there's a lot of room to be not as good as Lackey and still be pretty good. It might be worthwhile to set up one of these decks to work with both lackey and instigator. A quick rundown of relevant goblins:
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Warren Instigator
4 Gempalm Incinerator
4 Goblin Warchief
2 Goblin Chieftan
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin Ringleader
2 Siege-Gang Commander
3 Stingscourger
3 Warren Weirding
4 Mogg War Marshal
(22 lands)
I'm adding in some more war marshals and an extra stingscourger for the piledrivers. If you can get a lackey or a instigator down on turn one or two and connect you're golden. Which is an if or two too many. Let's say you get it down on turn two. How are you going to swing past that tarmogoyf? Unless you've got a turn three warren weirding and he's got nothing else you'll be waiting while you scramble for enough goblins in play to take it out with an incinerator. At which point you really have to be asking, "what's the point of that instigator?"
Goblin Lackey is better than Aether Vial (in this deck) precisely because it starts it's action on turn two. You can often steal games merely by them not having an immediate Force of Will or Swords to Plowshares to answer it. Giving them until turn three to come up with an answer gives them entirely too much time and too many options. Not that Instigator is entirely a loss; it's still an "answer this or lose" card, it's just that you don't gain anything against a common category of answers; (Tarmogoyfs).
The alternative is to focus less on the midrange and more on the beatdown. Naturally, that'd work a lot better if I had the piledrivers, but I could make do. This side of the strategy is aided by the recent printing of some powerful goblins (the chieftans, and of course Goblin Guide) Goblin Guide in particular is much better in a burn or aggro type of deck as he tends to work against you if the game goes long. Another Sample List:
4 Goblin Guide
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Warren Instigator
4 Gempalm Incinerator
4 Goblin Bushwhacker
4 Stingscourger
4 Mogg War Marshal
4 Goblin Chieftan
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Goblin Grenade
(20 lands)
Still with the Lackeys and Instigators. Again, I'm assuming I can get my hands on some Lackeys. Instigator, while being less of an autokill if it connects, is still an decent offensive creature, thanks to double strike. Turn two instigator into turn three bushwhacker with kicker means swinging in for six assuming nothing else has happened this game. And even if a lackey trigger isn't as much of a mana advantage as it is in a deck with Siege-Gang Commanders in it, it can still be a crushing advantage. And when they use a first turn Force of Will on it they don't necessarily know that all you're gonna be able to drop with it is a Mogg War Marshal
On the other hand, instigator works uniquely well with Goblin Matron, allowing you to search something up with first strike damage, then drop it into play with normal damage. That turn two instigator might make for a turn three siege gang commander, with mana up to fling a goblin or cycle an incinerator or... or... Ok, putting away that line of thought. There's no way I could fit everything I wanted to in a 60 card deck, and it still has all the vulnerabilities that I previously mentioned.
Moving on, let's take a quick look at the manabase:
4 Wasteland
8 Mountains
4 Rishidan Port
3 Bloodstained Mire
3 Badlands
I don't have the fetches or the duals; I can manage two onslaught fetches and two ravnica duals.
2 Blood Crypt
2 Wooded Foothills.
That leaves me with much less ability to play any Warren Weirdings that make it into the maindeck, or black sideboard cards, or other things. (Cabal Therapy?) Luckily, I've got a playset of Auntie's Hovel I can substitute in. Also, I can manage the wastelands, but not the Rishidan ports, which is just as well, as I'll be needing more of my mana for casting things if I can't lay hands on lackeys. Revised Mana base:
4 Wasteland
4 Auntie's Hovel
2 Blood Crypt
2 Wooded Foothills
8 Mountains
Note that I also cut it down to 20 cards; the aggro list has 40 nonlands. i'm not very happy cutting down to this level, but with a max casting cost of 3 it might be viable. On the other hand, 20 with 4 wastelands.
Possible other lands:
Ghost Quarter. Depending on how heavily the metagame favors nonbasics it might act like strip mine. Would be a lot better if I went full on Rishidan Ports and Aether Vials. Not gonna happen.
Teetering Peaks: A tap land that also gives me two free damage. Good with Instigator, and getting someone from ten to eight life if so critical. On the other hand... tapland
Smoldering Spires. Really good if someone's relying on a Tarmogoyf to hold off attacks. Also a tapland.
Bojuka Bog: Also a tap land, in the wrong color even. On the other hand, a lot of cards and decks are screwed over by graveyard hate (Tarmogoyf, Life from the Loam, dredge, reanimator). I do like the idea of randomly winning games.
Which brings me naturally to a quick look at the sideboard. There are a couple things I'm looking to reposition myself against:
Bigger creatures
Combo Decks
Graveyards
Counterbalance/top
Essentially, I'm running a red deck wins, so really I only need to get them down to about eight life before the board state becomes much less relevant; a bolt plus a grenade, a hasty creature or two, a couple bolts, forget card advantage as long as I can get those last couple points in. The trouble is if they get a turn two tarmogoyf and sit behind him. I have to set up a massive alpha strike while they smile and slowly take the game away from me. Bolt, incinerator, don't solve goyf that much. Potential other solutions: Warren Weirding, Fodder Launch, temporary solutions such as Stingscourger and Smoldering Spires.
Combo Decks: These work out to storm decks and graveyard decks, for the most part. Storm decks (Ad Nauseum Tendrils, Goblin Charbelcher) don't interact very much with the board, which is where I'm hoping to dominate. Additionally they're very hard to race, as in impossible if I don't get a perfect draw and they don't get an abysmal one. I've got two options; to disrupt their hand with discard effects (Cabal Therapy, Duress, Thoughtseize) or their deck with Cranial Extraction Effects (Earwig Squad, Extirpate if I had any). Still not the greatest matchup
Graveyard decks; largely dredge, but also anything running life from the Loam, or other graveyard based threats. Aside from the Bog already mentioned, there are all sorts of graveyard hate cards being printed in increasing power levels over the recent years, some I can get my hands on (Relic of Progenitus), some I can't (Tormod's Crypt.)
And finally, Counterbalance/top. if I'm running a deck full of one drops, then I've got a hard time beating out someone with the combo. There are two ways of beating it though; either run some good disenchant effects (Krosan Grip, Indrik Stomphowler), or run odd casting cost cards (Earwig Squad, Fodder Launch). Since the disenchant effects don't actually advance my goals (dealing damage), and require a more difficult mana base, I'm leaning towards the other ones.
Bang out a quick sideboard:
4 Earwig Squad
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Bojuka Bog
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Fodder Launch
Final Thoughts: If I shoehorn the bogs into the maindeck, I'll have another pair of sideboard slots to deal with. Also, I sort of need to get some Warren Weirdings in my deck somewhere.
The next step is to build the deck and test it out against someone. Anyone up for a game?
Monday, July 26, 2010
Goblins in Standard
This Friday I took my Goblin deck out to the local Friday Night Magic, and battled it out over the course of four rounds. Here's the report.
First off, living where I am (Park Falls, WI), the local FNM is an hour away in Ashland, WI. It's a new store, opened up a couple months ago, granting a great improvement over the 2-3 hours I'd drive previously. Hopefully that means I'll be able to attend more often. But anyways, goblins. On to the list!
4 Goblin Guide
2 Quest for the Goblin lord
1 Forked bolt
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Goblin Bushwhacker
4 Dragon Fodder
4 Warren Instigator
1 Ember Hauler
3 Searing Blaze
4 Goblin Chieftain
2 Staggershock
1 Goblin Ruinblaster
2 Siege Gang Commander
2 Teetering Peaks
3 Smoldering Spires
1 Tectonic Edge
18 Mountain
It's a red deck wins, with goblin flavoring. It's very fast, aggressive and surprisingly powerful. But if you're making an aggressive deck like that, don't you want mostly four ofs? So why all the odd numbers? I'm a bit embarrassed to say this, but it's a card availability issue. I haven't been buying most of the cards I've wanted to in the past year, and so I don't have a lot of the commons and uncommons I'd like. For example, I'm pretty sure I could do with more taplands. Their effects are pretty powerful. Not sure I want the full eight but I might. The presence of playsets of the rares and mythics might give the lie to this statement, but I make sure to trade into new, good goblins when they're printed. But anyways, let's get into the cards one by one.
4 Goblin Guide
This guy is good. Really good. Dropping him turn one on the play is easily good for six damage when they're getting their taplands or mana elves online. Later in the game he's still decent with haste and the possibility of pump. His drawback isn't as terrible as I initially thought; you generate enough tempo by swinging with him that the card advantage is less relevant. And hey, if he draws them out of a mana screw you're officially playing a more fun game of magic because of it.
2 Quest for the Goblin Lord
Only own two of these. I'm still not sure about this card, I haven't played the deck nearly enough to decide if the effect is too powerful or too slow. Sometimes it just never seems to get above three counters, and other times it makes an already decent horde into a impressive strike force. It's one of the cards that makes Dragon Fodder playable, so perhaps it'll get better or worse as I acquire other cards as well.
4 Lightning Bolt
What's that? Some of the best burn in a deck that tries to win quickly? I don't think I've ever heard anyone propose that before. Genius!
1 Forked Bolt
Should be a Searing Blaze, I think. Still a decent spell in it's own right, especially if they're playing out mana elves.
4 Goblin Bushwhacker
Now this guy is amazing. Despite his converted mana cost, he's actually a two drop, regardless. Even in a hand with six mountains he does more damage if you kick him on turn two than if you just play him out turn one. He acts as one turn of a lord effect, he gives everything haste, so he's also great on turn four next to a dragon fodder or ember hauler or warren instigator. He goes a long way towards making you feel like you're playing with 30 haste creatures, which is a great feeling let me tell you.
4 Dragon fodder
Once I start getting more of the other playables, I'll probably end up cutting this card out. It's got it's high points; it interacts well with all the lord effects. one Bushwhacker or Chieftain is enough to make these guys into respectable damage, and it certainly helps to get quest for the goblin lord online, and yet every time I look at it I wish it was Mogg War Marshal. Sigh. Still, getting two guys for two mana makes him pretty resilient to removal spells; they've got a wrath or pyroclasm effect or nothing.
4 Warren Instigator
Now this guy is nuts. I mean, everybody and their mother looked at him and thought "Not as good as goblin lackey", but Goblin Lackey is pretty darn good. As it turns out, this guy can be pretty good while still not being Lackey. Moreso than just the whole drop goblins into play thing, double strike is a very powerful ability, especially on a two mana guy. Given the ten lord effects I'm running and the Teetering Peaks, he often gets in for more than just two damage.
1 Ember Hauler
Double mogg fanatic? Sort of. As good as two mogg fanatics? Maybe. Just being a bear with the goblin type on him is decent in the deck, and being able to shock creatures at will is a useful ability. I expect he'll also do a number on opposing planeswalkers, which is a great thing to look for in a creature. Unfortunately, as a one of he didn't come up very frequently, and none of my opponents ran much in the way of planeswalkers, so I didn't get much opportunity to evaluate him. Once I crack some more M11 I expect I'll get the other 3.
3 Searing Blaze
That's right, I haven't been doing enough to crack myself a playset of Jace, the Mind Sculpter. Searing blaze has a significant drawback in that you need to play a land in order to get the most use out of it. So it's mostly a sorcery. That said, it worked wonders for me all night, clearing blockers and letting my goblin guides get in another two damage. And three damage to the player? For only two mana? Are you kidding me?
4 Goblin Chieftain
This guy is also really, really awesome. 1) He gives all your goblins +1/+1. That dragon fodder looks a lot better next to it. So does instigator and his double strike. 2) he gives everybody haste. On turns four and five that's significant if you're dropping your dragon fodders or siege gang commanders. 3) He himself has haste. No matter how clear your board is you can topdeck him and clock your opponent for two, threatening more on the next turn if you topdeck literally any creature in the deck.
2 Staggershock
This card I'm on the fence about. On the one hand, it's 4 points of burn for only 3 mana. Char and Flame Javelin were both excellent cards, so why not this? Well, staggering the damage out over two turns is less effective when you're trying to burn down their creatures and get your guys through. It's fine when you need to clear out a Wall of Omens after it blocks, but if they've got anything with power as well you're trading a card and a half to kill their guy, which isn't a good place to be. It does go well to their face (or their Jace), as those don't lose damage with the simple passage of a turn.
1 Goblin Ruinblaster
Could've used three more. As a 2/1 haste goblin for 3, he isn't bad. At four mana though, what with killing one of their nonbasics he's got the potential to be much better. While I'm not expecting to actively mana or color screw my opponent with this, it does set their gameplan back by a turn, whether that's laying a Sarkhan the Mad or a Sphinx of Jwar Isle. Either way, I'd prefer to lay some cheap dudes early and kill them before the game gets that far.
2 Siege Gang Commander
Another insane character. So sad that he's rotating in three months. Anyways, beyond the fact that he gets you four bodies for five mana, and that he lets you fling your team at those who would oppose you, this guy also interacts well with a goblin chieftan the turn before or a quest for the goblin lord; finishing the quest and making an impressive strike force with the boost. Oh, and did I mention being able to drop him with Instigator on turn 3?
1 Tectonic Edge
Again with the slowing down the opponent, although I'd prefer more ruinblasters to more edges. The edge makes colorless, which leaves you more vulnerable to Spreading Seas (the deck is mono colored, but most of the spells cost RR. Bushwhacker, Chieftain, Searing Blaze, Siege gang, so on.). It also is worse if you get an on curve hand.
2 Teetering Peaks
Worked out very well for me. Yeah, it's sorcery speed pump, but that comes with some pretty good stuff. Stick it on an instigator for four damage. Stick it on a dragon fodder token and force them to use their removal on it instead of your Chieftain, or take two damage. Very playable on turn three since the deck has many more two drop creatures than three drops.
3 Smoldering Spires
Makes a creature unblockable? Nice. Again, very good on turn three, especially with an instigator on the table. Why yes I'd like free goblins. I don't like including taplands in aggressive builds, but in this case I think the extra damage they offer justifies it. Not sure about playing with the full eight though.
18 Mountains
Dave Price tells me this is the best card in Magic. Who are you to argue with Dave Price?
So those are the cards. Allow me to lay out a couple lines of play with the deck; hands that came up when I was playing it.
Turn 2: Warren instigator. Turn three, Smoldering Spires making his creature unable to block, Goblin Bushwhacker. Swing in. On first strike damage, drop a goblin chieftain, pumping both attacking creatures. You do a total of eight damage on turn three, you can easily make that lethal on turn four.
Or Turn 3 Goblin Chieftain. Turn Four Dragon Fodder, Dragon Fodder, swing in for ten. That's only three cards!
Or one game, off a mull to five, on the draw: Turn two Instigator, Turn three bolt his Hypnotic Specter, use Instigator's ability to drop for free Siege Gang commander and Siege Gang commander. That got a concession.
Or one game, turn one quest, turn two bushwhacker, burned out. Turn three bushwhacker, burned out. Turn four Goblin chieftain, turn five Goblin Chieftan, Goblin Bushwhacker, activating the Quest. Swing in with three 6/3 goblins.
Quite literally more than half the creatures in the deck have haste, and more than half of that more than half give your other creatures haste. The deck can drop a nasty hand even after a board sweeper with just one or two cards, and hit you with it before you get a chance to untap. It'll steamroll you before you get a chance to do anything, unless you come out fighting and fighting hard. It's a real joy to play.
First off, living where I am (Park Falls, WI), the local FNM is an hour away in Ashland, WI. It's a new store, opened up a couple months ago, granting a great improvement over the 2-3 hours I'd drive previously. Hopefully that means I'll be able to attend more often. But anyways, goblins. On to the list!
4 Goblin Guide
2 Quest for the Goblin lord
1 Forked bolt
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Goblin Bushwhacker
4 Dragon Fodder
4 Warren Instigator
1 Ember Hauler
3 Searing Blaze
4 Goblin Chieftain
2 Staggershock
1 Goblin Ruinblaster
2 Siege Gang Commander
2 Teetering Peaks
3 Smoldering Spires
1 Tectonic Edge
18 Mountain
It's a red deck wins, with goblin flavoring. It's very fast, aggressive and surprisingly powerful. But if you're making an aggressive deck like that, don't you want mostly four ofs? So why all the odd numbers? I'm a bit embarrassed to say this, but it's a card availability issue. I haven't been buying most of the cards I've wanted to in the past year, and so I don't have a lot of the commons and uncommons I'd like. For example, I'm pretty sure I could do with more taplands. Their effects are pretty powerful. Not sure I want the full eight but I might. The presence of playsets of the rares and mythics might give the lie to this statement, but I make sure to trade into new, good goblins when they're printed. But anyways, let's get into the cards one by one.
4 Goblin Guide
This guy is good. Really good. Dropping him turn one on the play is easily good for six damage when they're getting their taplands or mana elves online. Later in the game he's still decent with haste and the possibility of pump. His drawback isn't as terrible as I initially thought; you generate enough tempo by swinging with him that the card advantage is less relevant. And hey, if he draws them out of a mana screw you're officially playing a more fun game of magic because of it.
2 Quest for the Goblin Lord
Only own two of these. I'm still not sure about this card, I haven't played the deck nearly enough to decide if the effect is too powerful or too slow. Sometimes it just never seems to get above three counters, and other times it makes an already decent horde into a impressive strike force. It's one of the cards that makes Dragon Fodder playable, so perhaps it'll get better or worse as I acquire other cards as well.
4 Lightning Bolt
What's that? Some of the best burn in a deck that tries to win quickly? I don't think I've ever heard anyone propose that before. Genius!
1 Forked Bolt
Should be a Searing Blaze, I think. Still a decent spell in it's own right, especially if they're playing out mana elves.
4 Goblin Bushwhacker
Now this guy is amazing. Despite his converted mana cost, he's actually a two drop, regardless. Even in a hand with six mountains he does more damage if you kick him on turn two than if you just play him out turn one. He acts as one turn of a lord effect, he gives everything haste, so he's also great on turn four next to a dragon fodder or ember hauler or warren instigator. He goes a long way towards making you feel like you're playing with 30 haste creatures, which is a great feeling let me tell you.
4 Dragon fodder
Once I start getting more of the other playables, I'll probably end up cutting this card out. It's got it's high points; it interacts well with all the lord effects. one Bushwhacker or Chieftain is enough to make these guys into respectable damage, and it certainly helps to get quest for the goblin lord online, and yet every time I look at it I wish it was Mogg War Marshal. Sigh. Still, getting two guys for two mana makes him pretty resilient to removal spells; they've got a wrath or pyroclasm effect or nothing.
4 Warren Instigator
Now this guy is nuts. I mean, everybody and their mother looked at him and thought "Not as good as goblin lackey", but Goblin Lackey is pretty darn good. As it turns out, this guy can be pretty good while still not being Lackey. Moreso than just the whole drop goblins into play thing, double strike is a very powerful ability, especially on a two mana guy. Given the ten lord effects I'm running and the Teetering Peaks, he often gets in for more than just two damage.
1 Ember Hauler
Double mogg fanatic? Sort of. As good as two mogg fanatics? Maybe. Just being a bear with the goblin type on him is decent in the deck, and being able to shock creatures at will is a useful ability. I expect he'll also do a number on opposing planeswalkers, which is a great thing to look for in a creature. Unfortunately, as a one of he didn't come up very frequently, and none of my opponents ran much in the way of planeswalkers, so I didn't get much opportunity to evaluate him. Once I crack some more M11 I expect I'll get the other 3.
3 Searing Blaze
That's right, I haven't been doing enough to crack myself a playset of Jace, the Mind Sculpter. Searing blaze has a significant drawback in that you need to play a land in order to get the most use out of it. So it's mostly a sorcery. That said, it worked wonders for me all night, clearing blockers and letting my goblin guides get in another two damage. And three damage to the player? For only two mana? Are you kidding me?
4 Goblin Chieftain
This guy is also really, really awesome. 1) He gives all your goblins +1/+1. That dragon fodder looks a lot better next to it. So does instigator and his double strike. 2) he gives everybody haste. On turns four and five that's significant if you're dropping your dragon fodders or siege gang commanders. 3) He himself has haste. No matter how clear your board is you can topdeck him and clock your opponent for two, threatening more on the next turn if you topdeck literally any creature in the deck.
2 Staggershock
This card I'm on the fence about. On the one hand, it's 4 points of burn for only 3 mana. Char and Flame Javelin were both excellent cards, so why not this? Well, staggering the damage out over two turns is less effective when you're trying to burn down their creatures and get your guys through. It's fine when you need to clear out a Wall of Omens after it blocks, but if they've got anything with power as well you're trading a card and a half to kill their guy, which isn't a good place to be. It does go well to their face (or their Jace), as those don't lose damage with the simple passage of a turn.
1 Goblin Ruinblaster
Could've used three more. As a 2/1 haste goblin for 3, he isn't bad. At four mana though, what with killing one of their nonbasics he's got the potential to be much better. While I'm not expecting to actively mana or color screw my opponent with this, it does set their gameplan back by a turn, whether that's laying a Sarkhan the Mad or a Sphinx of Jwar Isle. Either way, I'd prefer to lay some cheap dudes early and kill them before the game gets that far.
2 Siege Gang Commander
Another insane character. So sad that he's rotating in three months. Anyways, beyond the fact that he gets you four bodies for five mana, and that he lets you fling your team at those who would oppose you, this guy also interacts well with a goblin chieftan the turn before or a quest for the goblin lord; finishing the quest and making an impressive strike force with the boost. Oh, and did I mention being able to drop him with Instigator on turn 3?
1 Tectonic Edge
Again with the slowing down the opponent, although I'd prefer more ruinblasters to more edges. The edge makes colorless, which leaves you more vulnerable to Spreading Seas (the deck is mono colored, but most of the spells cost RR. Bushwhacker, Chieftain, Searing Blaze, Siege gang, so on.). It also is worse if you get an on curve hand.
2 Teetering Peaks
Worked out very well for me. Yeah, it's sorcery speed pump, but that comes with some pretty good stuff. Stick it on an instigator for four damage. Stick it on a dragon fodder token and force them to use their removal on it instead of your Chieftain, or take two damage. Very playable on turn three since the deck has many more two drop creatures than three drops.
3 Smoldering Spires
Makes a creature unblockable? Nice. Again, very good on turn three, especially with an instigator on the table. Why yes I'd like free goblins. I don't like including taplands in aggressive builds, but in this case I think the extra damage they offer justifies it. Not sure about playing with the full eight though.
18 Mountains
Dave Price tells me this is the best card in Magic. Who are you to argue with Dave Price?
So those are the cards. Allow me to lay out a couple lines of play with the deck; hands that came up when I was playing it.
Turn 2: Warren instigator. Turn three, Smoldering Spires making his creature unable to block, Goblin Bushwhacker. Swing in. On first strike damage, drop a goblin chieftain, pumping both attacking creatures. You do a total of eight damage on turn three, you can easily make that lethal on turn four.
Or Turn 3 Goblin Chieftain. Turn Four Dragon Fodder, Dragon Fodder, swing in for ten. That's only three cards!
Or one game, off a mull to five, on the draw: Turn two Instigator, Turn three bolt his Hypnotic Specter, use Instigator's ability to drop for free Siege Gang commander and Siege Gang commander. That got a concession.
Or one game, turn one quest, turn two bushwhacker, burned out. Turn three bushwhacker, burned out. Turn four Goblin chieftain, turn five Goblin Chieftan, Goblin Bushwhacker, activating the Quest. Swing in with three 6/3 goblins.
Quite literally more than half the creatures in the deck have haste, and more than half of that more than half give your other creatures haste. The deck can drop a nasty hand even after a board sweeper with just one or two cards, and hit you with it before you get a chance to untap. It'll steamroll you before you get a chance to do anything, unless you come out fighting and fighting hard. It's a real joy to play.
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