Pioneer Goblins
Pioneer
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Pre-Covid Change log —March 13, 2020
V.1.8 MD: Legion Warboss - Cut. Battle Cry Goblin & Hobgoblin Bandit Lord - +1. Ringleader - Back to 4x Conspicuous Snoop -> Sideboard over Hour of Devastation.
Battle Cry Goblin is just better than Legion Warboss in almost every way. Snoop has been underperforming so it's back in the SB for control match ups. Increased the land count with Den of the Bugbear to help with activations on new Goblins.
V.1.7 MD: Reckless Bushwacker -> Battle Cry Goblin, Stoke the Flames -> Hobgoblin Bandit Lord
Two straight replacements from the new D&D set. Battle Cry Goblin makes more tokens and gives haste every turn. Bandit Lord is the first 3 mana lord effect in pioneer. Just testing for now as these two cards may be strong enough for a complete overhaul of the deck.
V.1.6 MD: -1 Stoke the Flames, +1 Embercleave
The format has sped up. We need to as well. The extra Cleave lets us kill on turn 4 much more often than before. Turn 2 Rabble into turn 3 Cleave is now a real possibility and very few decks can keep up.
SB: -1 Obelisk, -1 Trashmaster, -2 Grafdigger's Cage, +3 Soul-Guide Lantern, +1 Damping Sphere
Lantern is a better graveyard hate card in the current meta. It gives you the ability to interact with Inverter, even if it's a very poor way to interact. Lotus Field is running rampant so they extra Sphere is there to make that match up better post board. Trashmaster has fallen as Ensoul has, Obelisk was never helpful. Siege-Gang Commander is on the watchlist. He doesn't do enough and we need a way to deal with Spirits.
V.1.5 SB: -1 Torbran, +1 Obelisk of Urd
Torbran isn't a goblin, so he can't be found from Ringleader. Adding a potentially easier to cast anthem that also buffs toughness. Doesn't work with the Siege-Gang Commander or Chainwhirler, but those were very unlikely anyways.
V.1.4 MD: -2 Fanatical Firebrand +2 Foundry Street Denizen -1 Stoke the Flames +1 Embercleave SB: -2 Damping Sphere +2 Goblin Chainwhirler
Fanatical Firebrand wasn't being effective at providing pressure as a 1 drop. Foundry Street should do more damage, and even might replace 1 Prospector to go to a 3/3 split. Legion Loyalist is still too good late game to bring down from a playset. Stoke the flames was getting stuck in hand, and I wanted 1 more way to give Piledriver and Rabblemaster trample. There is also fun timing windows with Prospector that make this a card your opponents may not realize you can cast.
In the Sideboard Damping sphere hasn't been doing enough, with only 1 card (Nykthos) Making a ton of mana, and the Pheonix Decks being answered by the Cage I wanted another way to improve the green match ups.
Version 1.3- MD: -2 Mountain +2 Mutavault SB: -2 Chainwhirler +1 Siege-Gang Commander +1 Torbran, Thane of Red Fell
The mana base felt solid enough that I could add in a creature land. Also with only 1 card with 2 red pips we can stretch the mana base further. Chainwhirler never came in and had no strong reason to. G/x decks with larger creatures continued to annoy me, so I need a way to deal with them. Seige-Gang helps by letting me toss the goblins over. Torbran is just a huge powerup in terms of damage when attacking with large numbers of creatures. Both seem worth testing. I still might just want Embercleave or a Threaten effect.