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By: Blackdeckwins, Anthony Davis
Mar 21 2016 11:00am
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Last week, we worked on building a bigger version of Goblins, filled with 2/2s for one mana and plenty of two-, three-, and even four-mana Goblins. The resulting deck is fun, and fairly strong, but is somewhat weak to targeted removal and Spellstutter Sprite, so with Delver’s recent resurgence, the deck got a lot worse. Fortunately, with the way the metagame has changed, Stompy, Delver, and Blue/Black Angler have risen through the ranks, pushing Electrickery to the edges of the format. That means the way is now clear for one-toughness Goblins to run rampant.

Even though Electrickery has been pushed to the edges, the card is still around. Goblins, Tron, Delver Fiend, and Affinity play it and Mono-Black Control has access to Shrivel. To avoid crumbling in those sideboard games, I want to take a look at splashing a color to give us access to protective spells for games two and three. If instants and sorceries are the threats that need to be fought, the best splashes are either Blue for counter spells or Black for discard spells. Black has some other interesting cross-over cards the deck would love to have access to, like Terminate, Kathari Bomber, and Chainer’s Edict, so we can start there. If it fails, we can always try Blue later.
 

The Deck

Before we start into throwing cards in the deck, we need to establish a goal. Our goal is to build an aggressive deck full of goblins, with ways to exploit them (pumping or Goblin Sledder) and removal. We also want to include a Black splash for improved removal, Kathari Bomber, and sideboard options to fight against hate cards. Now that we have a goal established, we can start picking out the cards for the deck.
 
A Goblins deck is not a Goblins deck without tons of Goblins! We’re going for the “ignore Electrickery” plan, so we are going to try going deep on token-producers for this build.
 
Mogg War Marshal Dragon_Fodder.jpg Krenkos_Command.jpg
 
There are tons of these two-mana, two-token producers available at common. Mogg War Marshal is the best one available at common, though Dragon Fodder and Krenko’s Command do allow us to attack with the tokens immediately next turn without having to pay extra mana. Mogg War Marshal combos with cards like Goblin Sledder and Foundry Street Denizen better than the sorceries, however, and offers a little incentive against sweepers (and dodges Negate). Twelve is probably not going to be the right number, but we know we have the options if we want to load up on them.
 
Kathari Bomber Beetleback Chief
 
Is Kathari Bomber any good? I am not sure know, but I am always willing to try off-beat cards. It offers one evasive attack, and then makes two Goblin tokens. Later, it can be flashed back to get in another hit and make more tokens. Flashback also makes it not a total dud if it gets countered the first time, and since Delver has resurged, there is a good chance that will happen. While we may be unsure about Kathari Bomber, we know Beetleback Chief is good and should fit neatly in this deck.
 
Now that we have tons of token-producers, we need ways to take advantage of having so many creatures. Fortunately, the base Goblins decks have plenty of good options.
 
Goblin Bushwhacker Foundry Street Denizen Goblin Sledder
 
The most obvious way to abuse these tokens is to double their power and give them haste. Goblin Bushwhacker will help crack for a ton of damage out of nowhere, as it has in Goblin decks since the archetype’s inception. Foundry Street Denizen offers tons of early damage (if we don’t have to lead on a tapped land) since it will almost always be followed by two or more creatures each turn. Kathari Bomber is not really synergistic with it, unfortunately, but the rest of the token producers are fantastic. Goblin Sledder and Mogg Raider allow the deck to move damage from blocked Goblins to unblocked Goblins and punish the opponent even more for trying to remove our Goblins.
 
With the main game plan assembled, we can round out the list with some removal and utility.
 
Terminate Lightning Bolt Read the Bones
 
Some creatures can be giant, immovable problems for decks like this to deal with (Like Gurmag Angler). Terminate removes whatever that problem is, no matter how big it may be. Lightning Bolt is cheaper and quicker, and can be turned into face-damage later in the game, but does kill fewer creatures and is worse against pump spells. Read the Bones is a touch of card advantage, helping the deck dig for its finishers and removal, or lands if the deck is running a bit light.
 
Adding in twenty-three lands of assorted Mountains, Swamps, Evolving Wilds, and Bloodfell Caves gives us this list:
 
Red/Black Goblins
Pauper Brew by Anthony Davis
Creatures
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Goblin Bushwhacker
2 Goblin Sledder
2 Mogg Raider
4 Mogg War Marshal
3 Kathari Bomber
4 Beetleback Chief
23 cards

Other Spells
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Dragon Fodder
3 Terminate
3 Read the Bones

14 cards
Lands
4 Evolving Wilds
10 Mountain
5 Swamp
4 Bloodfell Caves 23 cards
Kathari Bomber

 

The Opposition

To properly prepare a sideboard, we need to consider what decks are performing the best in Pauper right now. Currently, the highest-performing decks over the past two weeks are Delver, Stompy, Goblins, Tron, Mono-Black Control, and Blue/Black Delver (not necessarily in that order). Affinity is not performing well, but is still around, so it should also be on our radar. If we take a closer look at each deck, we can see how we can prepare to beat them, and decide the best cards for our sideboard:
 
Delver is tempo-based, with tons of bounce spells and counter spells, plus the Ninja of the Deep Hours card draw engine and Spire Golem to stop aggressive attempts. Bounce spells are pretty useless against our multiple token-producing effects, although counter spells can slow us down. Singular blockers perform poorly against go-wide strategies like Goblins, especially since Goblin Sledder and Mogg Raider can move around damage so easily.
 
When sideboarding, Foundry Street Denizen should probably be cut, since it’s so vulnerable to Snap + Spellstutter Sprite. Cheap, reusable removal is good for grinding through the multitude of small creatures. Discard (both targeted and not) limits Delver’s resources, potentially handling counter spells before they can come into play. High-converted-mana-cost spells can invalidate Spellstutter Sprite, and Pyroblast handles any non-Spire Golem card in the deck.
 
Sideboard Ideas: Electrickery, Death Spark, Duress, Blightning, Pyroblast
 
Stompy is an aggressive deck filled with pump spells and large creatures. Quirion Ranger allows it to run on a low land count, and Nest Invader allows it to go wider to block other wide strategies, like Goblins. There are also tons of vigilance and pseudo-vigilance creatures (thanks to Quirion Ranger) that make attacking back difficult. Terminate has potential game against cards not named Silhana Ledgewalker if it can dodge Vines of Vastwood. Lightning Bolt can also catch an opposing creature off-guard, but Mutagenic Growth and Gather Courage make that a risky proposition.
 
Stompy seems like it could be a difficult matchup for Red/Black Goblins. Non-targeting removal could help against hexproof effects (especially if the removal is reusable). Targeted discard can pick away the best pump spells and general discard can run them out of threats. Read the Bones will let us pull ahead in card advantage if we can protect our life total, and going wide can end the game reasonable quick.
 
Sideboard Ideas: Chainer’s Edict, Duress, Blightning
 
We have been talking about Goblins for weeks, and it has slowly risen to the top of the ranks The best way to fight the small versions of Goblins is through mini-board-wipes like Electrickery or Shrivel. Bigger versions are actually susceptible to normal removal, as you can often ignore the ones with attack restrictions. Discard is also strong against aggro in general, and squeezing Goblins’ resources is a great way to get ahead. Read the Bones should likely be sideboarded out, as our life total is precious against such an aggressive deck.
 
An aside: stop playing Tarfire. The card is not good, I was wrong, please play any other burn spell in its place.
 
Sideboard Ideas: Electrickery, Shrivel, Flame Slash, Chainer’s Edict, Blightning
 
Tron feels like a dog in aggro matchups, and I expect this deck to continue that tradition. Getting hyper-aggressive can allow us to outpace their game plan and Terminate answers the first threat they play. There are tons of good sideboard options, as well. If we want to fight their lands, we can bring it several different land destruction spells from Red or Black. We can also better-prepare ourselves for early and late creatures with cards like Chainer’s Edict. We can fight Electrickery with Duress and Flaring Pain keeps Circle of Protection: Red from being as much of an out. Against the Murasa Tron version, Pyroblast also fights counterspells.
 
Sideboard Ideas: Molten Rain, Raze, Choking Sands, Chainer’s Edict, Electrickery, Duress, Flaring Pain, Pyroblast
 
Mono-Black Control is less prepared for go-wide strategies in Game 1 than it is after sideboarding. The initial game plan involves Cuombajj Witches and stalling until Gray Merchant of Asphodel, but after sideboarding they can bring in cheap removal and mini-board wipes. Duress is perfect for fighting back through those spells. Chainer’s Edict gives us a way to interact with its creatures and helps fight through early-game discard (as does Kathari Bomber). Some discard effects of our own can also help out if we are on the play.
 
Sideboard Ideas: Duress, Blightning, Chainer’s Edict
 
One of the worst matchups for last week’s deck, Big Goblins, is Blue/Black Delver. Its cheap interaction, main-deck removal, and quick Gurmag Anglers are difficult to deal with. Fortunately, Terminate is already one step in the right direction for handling the Zombie Fish. After sideboard, Chainer’s Edict is another solid answer for the threat-light deck, and Pyroblast and Duress can help against all of the counter spells. Nihil Spellbomb and Relic of Progenitus are also options for slowing down the graveyard interaction.
 
Sideboard ideas: Chainer’s Edict, Pyroblast, Duress, Nihil Spellbomb, Relic of Progenitus
 
Affinity and other assorted artifact-heavy decks are popular, even if they are not currently successful, so we have to be prepared to face them. Fortunately, Red has tons of artifact destruction options to slow down artifact lovers’ mana, and Terminate already gives us main-deck ways to handle Atog. Sideboarding can also bring it more removal if needed, and should probably include Duress to look out for Electrickery.
 
Sideboard ideas: Gorilla Shaman, Smash to Smithereens, Smelt, Hearth Charm, Flame Slash, Chainer’s Edict, Duress
 
Taking all of these options into consideration, and focusing on Delver, Blue/Black Delver, and Stompy because they will be difficult and popular matchups, here is the sideboard I plan on trying:
 
 
And that, essentially, is how I go through the process of brewing a deck. I look forward to testing this out, and seeing how it plays. Some key points I plan on testing and tweaking:
 
  • Is Kathari Bomber good?
  • Is this deck capable enough of winning the game?
  • How often does this deck flood out or get shorted on lands?
  • Should Blightning be in the main deck?
  • Does this deck need the fourth Terminate?

As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, you can find me on Twitter (@blackdeckwins) or on Tumblr (also @blackdeckwins). If you want to check out any of my previous articles here on PureMTGO, you can click this link. Join me next week, when I talk about my results with Red/Black Goblins so far, any tweaks I want to make to it, and the Shadows over Innistrad cards that I am the most excited about.