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By: Cweaver, Christopher S. Weaver
Dec 09 2013 11:54am
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 Hey there folks! I'm back to check out some Goblins this week.

Goblins is an interesting choice in a given metagame. It's one of those decks that has game against almost everything, has a fast clock with lots of removal and excellent sideboard options. There are several different variations on Goblins: aggressive, controlling, and combo. In this Delver dominated metagame of 8-mans and 2-mans, I decided to go with a controlling style build for Goblins. I'm not running Goblin Matron because I still want to have a solid ability to turn 4 or turn 5 goldfish the slower or combo decks of the format.

 

My list is set. I enter an 8-man.

In my first matchup, I encounter the reason I'm playing this deck: Delver! He's on a different take of Delver, using Mutagenic Growth to help his creatures survive. I'm torn on this subject, but it's probably correct in the current meta.

I lost round 2 of this 8-man thanks to having to mulligan to 4 one game and 5 another. They weren't really games.  I was against Burn and I was never able to play much more than a Lightning Bolt in either game. Choosing not to share that one with you because it's just not fun to watch.

I decide to hop into some 2-man queues. My first opponent is on Tron. Avignon said in his Tron article  that "The aggro matchups with this deck are fairly bad as a whole, as your interaction is almost entirely sorcery speed and fairly clunky, because it usually needs to be played off cyclers."

This holds true as Tron never gets a chance to catch up with the swarm:

I'm ahead on tix for the night so hop into another 2-man. My opponent has a bit of rage in this one. I've had worse, but this guy did get pretty mad that I had so much removal. He was on Infect, so all-in-on-one-creature strategy won't fair too well. Especially since his creatures don't have hexproof and are very costly to protect.

Reflection:

Once again a fun deck that needs lots of stack manipulation to win properly. Death Spark is an awesome card for punishing Delver decks, and running a more controlling version of Goblins means I'm almost intending on going to the midgame. I obviously would love to just goldfish the Turn 4 or Turn 5 wins, but that's just not an option in today's meta. You must have a plan for when your opponent gets ahead of you. Goblins is a great, fun deck to play and I hope you'll give them a shot. After all, thanks to flashback drafts, Mogg Conscripts and Mogg Raider are at an all time low in price!

Until next week, this is Chris. Enjoy Death Sparking Spellstutter Sprite in response to the trigger!

5 Comments

Matchups by MagicGatheringStrat at Mon, 12/09/2013 - 13:27
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Hi, Chris! What do you feel are Goblins three best and three worst matchups?

Worst matchups: Hexproof(by by Cweaver at Mon, 12/09/2013 - 21:34
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Worst matchups: Hexproof(by far the worst), Affinity, UB Trinket or Mono Black Control with Crypt Rats

Best matchups: Tron, Elves, DelverFiend, Infect

Good Stuff by DailyMatters at Mon, 12/09/2013 - 13:45
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Thanks for pointing out that it's time to pick those Raiders and conscripts!

Love the deck! by Modin at Tue, 12/10/2013 - 09:12
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Hey!
I love the deck, I've built a similar deck, inspired by your videos. What do you think about Raid Bombardment as a 1-2 off? It's like this weird out against stalls and I've never hated it yet. I must say that this is more a fun addition than something I'd consider very competitive ;)

Card doesn't do much by by Cweaver at Tue, 12/10/2013 - 12:14
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Card doesn't do much by itself. I think it's better in a more token heavy version of the deck as a possible 1-of. By token heavy I mean the lists that run Krenko's Commands and Dragon Fodders with Skirk Prospector and Foundry Street Denizen and Kruin Striker.

This list is called "Combo Goblins" and you can find a sample list here: http://www.castingcommons.com/optimal-primers/goblins/

Glad I could inspire you to make this deck! That's the whole reason I do videos, to inspire and educate. Your feedback is much appreciated.