Goblin Rabblemaster
and
Legion Warboss
: The cards are obviously very similar, and both can spiral out of control very quickly. But there are a few key differences ...
- Rabblemaster hits a little harder than Warboss. For example, without interaction a Rabblemaster plus its Tokens will attack for 1-6-8-10, while a Warboss and its Tokens will attack for 1-5-7-9.
- Warboss is generally better on a crowded board, because it doesn't make all other Goblins attack, just the one that it created most recently.
Goblin King
: Mountainwalk is great vs. many decks, but watch out for 8-Whack, Burn, and
Mutavault
decks (as the King grants Mountainwalk to our opponents' Goblins too).
Taurean Mauler
:
- Mauler can rapidly grow out of hand, and gives us an important "go tall" capability vs. many decks.
- It's especially good vs. UR Phoenix (because it's not bounced by
Awoken Horror
) and the occasional Merfolk or Slivers deck (because of
Lord of Atlantis
and many older Slivers).
Chameleon Colossus
:
- Like
Taurean Mauler
, it's especially good vs. UR Phoenix and the odd Merfolk or Slivers deck.
- It's also extremely strong vs.
Death's Shadow
decks. They have zero answers for it, and even if they can attack with
Temur Battle Rage
, they have to assign lethal damage during both the first and second combat damage steps, leaving relatively little damage to trample through :-)
Siege-Gang Commander
:
- A solid top-deck or Arkbow hit, whether we're ahead, behind, or in a board stall.
- Its activated ability can act as a combat trick, provides us an alternate win-con vs.
Ensnaring Bridge
decks, and can kill even the biggest creatures during the Declare Attackers step (if
Bow of Nylea
is on the battlefield).
Vivien's Arkbow
:
- Card filtering and Instant-speed uncounterable creatures? Yeah, I'll take some of that!
- The odds change as the game progresses, but our odds of hitting a Goblin are approximately 65% for X=3, 84% for X=4, and 92% for X=5.
- Watch out for
Grafdigger's Cage
though, which shuts it down entirely.
Bow of Nylea
:
- Superb in the deck, as Goblin Tokens with Deathtouch put opponents between a rock and a hard place. It also plays nicely with
Siege-Gang Commander
's activated ability during the Declare Attackers step.
- Mode 1 (add +1/+1 counter) can act as a combat trick, sometimes save Creatures from removal, and make even
Birds of Paradise
a threat.
- Mode 2 (damage Creatures with flying) can kill almost all commonly-played Flyers:
Arclight Phoenix
,
Kitesail Freebooter
,
Birds of Paradise
,
Vendilion Clique
,
Narcomoeba
,
Stinkweed Imp
,
Flamewake Phoenix
,
Inkmoth Nexus
, and a bunch of Spirits. It really only misses on
Mantis Rider
,
Crackling Drake
,
Spell Queller
, and
Supreme Phantom
,
- Mode 3 (gain life) can add up surprisingly quickly.
- Mode 4 (put cards on the bottom of our Library) is great vs. the occasional Mill deck, and it can sometimes mess with an opponent's
'Goyf
or
Scavenging Ooze
too.
Magus of the Moon
:
- Magus is primarily for wrecking our opponents manabase, but it also plays VERY well with
Goblin King
.
-
Blood Moon
is much harder for our opponents to remove, but I prefer Magus in a deck with
Vivien's Arkbow
.
Scavenging Ooze
: Superb graveyard hate, especially for a deck running
Vivien's Arkbow
.
Zada's Commando
: The only Goblin Archer in Magic, but unfortunately not a good fit for the deck.
