Ripwater

I can't speak about what Liquidbeaver does, but at least for me. I've learnt that sac'ing mountains (using Ib) is your game finisher/last resort or else you can be left with nothing while everyone is going off.

Ib finisher moves includes:

Attacking with a sea of globins using: Shared Animosity (self-explanatory) Goblin Sledder (pump up goblins that don't get blocked) Krenko, Mob Boss (moar goblins)

ETB effects / sac for damage: Impact Tremors Purphoros, God of the Forge Goblin Bombardment

Avoid dying Acidic Soil (Sac all your mountains, cast A. Soil, watch your opponents lose 7+ life [without any Fiery Emancipation type of multiplier]) while you only lose 1 or 2 life.

Ripwater: sdidonato is exactly right, saccing mountains is really only for when you make your final big move. 90% of the games I win aren't even through combat, they are through the ETB and sac effects either all at once, or by grinding everyone down.

The addition of Skirk Fire Marshal and Massive Raid on top of the core of Goblin War Strike , Impact Tremors , and Purphoros, God of the Forge really help to bring down several people a turn, which is especially important when you go all in on saccing your mountains.

Crucible is still a strong play, but I like to use it either slowly, or all at once with the amazing new Nahiri's Lithoforming . I still haven't gotten it off, but those two plus Valakut Exploration seem like a dream combo. Also Lithoforming/Crucible into Acidic Soil / Price of Progress and recovering all your lands is really strong and an absolute blast.

I think the the biggest thing that a lot of us that have some variation of the current deck would agree on is that one of its biggest strengths is that you just form a strat depending on what you draw, which is absolute must with mono-red because you have such a poor ability to fetch or tutor compared to other colors. Trying to build a precise combo sets you up for being slow and getting disrupted, so we just don't really do it.

It is also flexible enough to take it a different route and go infinite goblins/mana with things like Mana Echoes , Goblin Warrens , and the like, but as long as Ib is your commander you are a lot harder predict.

Recent Changes:

Vandalblast out for Jeska's Will - In an effort to make sure every card in the deck has something to do with either strengthening the battlefield or preserving my position on it, this one is just a bit weak, especially when it is the only effect out of 99 cards. So add more you say, then the effect won't be so rare! Then the combat strength is further diluted. Definitely a meta call, at the moment my meta doesn't have a lot of artifact heavy decks so this just sits in my hand a lot.

Experimental Frenzy out for Cavalier of Flame (TESTING)- I think that the need for Frenzy has lessened with the last few releases bringing so much draw that we can take advantage of. On top of that, I always dismissed Cavalier as just a dumb standard card which was a mistake because it is perfectly built for a deck like this. The only real test here is whether Frenzy is the card I cut for Cavalier, not whether Cavalier has a spot. Thoughts on a better cut?

Pending Changes:

Treasonous Ogre out for Toralf, God of Fury  ^Flip - I've cut and re-added this poor ogre so many times, and I've said that many times before, but when I feel so much of the deck is so solid than it is not about identifying which cards are weak, but which ones are the least strong (or just not fun enough!). Again, any better ideas for this cut?

I didn’t pay close attention to Kaldheim spoilers either. I saw there had been some chatter about Ib here but hadn’t taken the time to see what was up. I had the chance to really meet Toralf, God of Fury  ^Flip and then I knew what was up.

I love the changes.

I feel the same way about the improvements for card advantage in red. There are so many options available and if you going to add one it makes sense to cut one and see how it goes. You cut Frenzy and you add Jeska’s Will.

I struggle to find room for Vandalblast in a lot of my decks lately and I don’t remember the last time I was wishing I had one in hand. I think this is the right cut. I played my Nin, the Pain Artist ( Stuffy Doll / Brash Taunter ) deck tonight and was facing a deck running Sai, Master Thopterist and I was salivating as his board grew because I played Dockside Extortionist . Needless to say, I won this one.

I only run Ib occasionally with my current playgroup but I have yet to play a game where I have done anything gross with Treasonous Ogre. I WANT TO! It seems like a reasonable cut though.

I just got my copies of Tibalt's Trickery and Toralf, God of Fury  ^Flip. I am thinking about the revisions I will make and I am curious; how has Conspicuous Snoop been working out for you? I planned to give this card a go right away and then I didn't put in. Maybe because I am not running Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker .

Have you found good incidental value in having the Snoop out? Any specific interactions of note?

paytongamerI haven't gotten a lot of opportunities to play since Snoop came out, but I would say the vast majority of the time he has had a positive impact. I think it really hinges on how many Goblins someone is running. I would say 2 years ago with my ~15 Goblin deck it would have been terrible.

When it comes down to it, Snoop really should have been like 4 CMC, so at 2 it has huge potential, and even at its worst it is letting you dig sometimes, which is Red is rare in itself.

So far it's been nothing less than solid, and an easy include. I would cut Dark-Dweller Oracle before Snoop.

I really like Snoop. If you get a Goblin Recruiter , I typically find Conspicuous Snoop , Goblin Warchief , Skirk Prospector , Krenko, Mob Boss , Goblin Chirurgeon

This essentially allows you to start a goblin-creation chain. 4 goblins in play w/ haste tap Snoop to create 4 gob tokens (while Krenko is revealed on top of library), sac 3 gob tokens to play Krenko. Tap it to create 8 gob tokens.

At that point, Massive Raid, Shared Animosity, Impact Tremors, Purphoros, God of the Forge, etc would be pretty deadly.

Thank you Liquidbeaver & sdidonato for the feedback. I am about ready to swap 7 or 8 cards in my deck.

Liquidbeaver, have you seen what has gone on recently with the cost of Goblin Wizard . We were commenting on how expensive it was when it hit $40 to $60. With Reserve List cards being targeted it apparently showed a spike to almost $800 before settling in at $220. The price data is a little confusing. It seems to be out of stock most places.

Dang, this looks like a lot of fun! Considering how good Crucible of Worlds is in this deck, I really think you should find a slot of Goblin Engineer .

I don't normally play mono-red decks but I swear this just looks like the most fun deck on tappedout

paytongamer: I'm not sure what it happening with Wizard, but I just looked at the 6 month price history of every card in the deck, and Goblin Welder has seen the biggest increase. Most of the deck has increased in price an uncomfortable amount. Most of the cards aren't even underprinted, a lot of the ones that have drastically increased in price have been printed several times over and in mass production sets. Unfortunately it looks like the mass buyouts of Magic cards is starting to have a more severe impact on all cards. This deck was under $1000 to build just a year ago, and a good amount under $800 if you skipped the fetches. I hope the market corrects itself over time because this it is going to be hard or impossible for a lot of people to build decks that they enjoy that just so happen to have cards that were randomly targeted for buyouts.

CommanderNeyo: I've had Goblin Engineer in the deck in the past, but it ended up not working that well for that version of the deck because I had a hard time guaranteeing that I would have an artifact on the battlefield to swap the GY artifact for. I think to run it again I would want to be in the 20-25+ artifact range, more mana rocks because they play so well with saccing land, Daretti could come back in, bring in things like Trash for Treasure , etc... It's definitely a viable strategy that I will probably end up trying again at some point. One of the reasons this is my favorite deck is it is so flexible when it comes to picking what kind of playstyle you want whether it be token spam, combo, infinites, ETB triggers, combat step manipulation, artifact shenanigans, MLDestruction instead of MLDysfunction, and more, or a mix of all of them!

ObserverWill: Thanks Will! That really means a lot. If you end up trying it out let us know your thoughts or ideas!

Not to downplay the enjoyment of this deck, it’s really been fun to pick up new cards for. I even purchased a Final Fortune . It matches the high risk/high reward kind of mentality that goblins have. Win or lose it’s fun.

That said, are there any other decks that are equally enjoyable? I keep trying to build a 2nd deck but quickly get tired of it. Any feedback would be great

That's fair. I think you have enough artifacts that you can reliably sacrifice one to get back Crucible of Worlds , but then again the other artifacts you have are generally so powerful it's probably not worth it to sacrifice them XD

Still reviewing MH2 for possible includes, and I think there are a lot of cool options. Let me know if you think something is a must-include!

The only one that’s worth adding in my opinion from MH2 is the monkey Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer . Although with Dockside Extortionist , Jeska's Will , Commune with Lava , Phyrexian Altar and other similar effects I’m not sure it’s worth it

Back with a few updates:

• Settled on Glimpse of Tomorrow as a must include. I feel like it fits the all-or-nothing and chaotic style of the deck so well, and I like the element of randomness. Taking out Dark-Dweller Oracle out for it, as all the recent draw additions make Oracle less necessary.

• Temporarily (maybe?) taking out Dockside Extortionist for another basic. I don't own Extortionist yet and its price is...extortionate. Also I cut a land when I added Valakut Awakening  ^Flip and I think that may have been the wrong move. I've always been able to play with a very lean landbase, but that always meant 33 lands. I need to re-evaluate if that can go any lower after a bunch more games. If my new meta has a large number of artifacts it Extortionist will likely make it back in.

• I think it's finally time to add Cavern of Souls . This is obviously a nice-to-have and not a must-have, but it should help with the big influx of new counterspells.

• Considering re-adding a card that was in the deck very, very long ago with Gravity Sphere . My meta has a lot of flyers and it certainly helps, but I would have a hard time removing anything I am currently running.

• Thoughts on Sol Talisman ? I like it, I just don't know that I need it.

Also hoping to clean up the primer over the weekend, especially to update categories with old info in them.

Looks like we’ll be getting another goblin. Not sure how good he’ll be but he’s high on the flavour points

Ps. Having the hardest time adding a link of an image to this.

Liquidbeaver: I agree with adding Gravity Sphere. Flyers are the one thing I've had the hardest time with in my meta as well.

sdidonato: Den of the Bugbear is definitely a great fit, and I'm also excited about:

Hobgoblin Bandit Leader 1

Creature - Goblin Rogue

Other Goblins you control get +1/+1.

, T: Hobgoblin Bandit Leader deals damage equal to the amount of Goblins that entered the battlefield under your control this turn to any target.

2/3

I'm sure there will be more, but this is the most promising set in a long time for Ib!

Also, I think it's time to embrace Treasures as a core element of the deck to make sacrificing lands easier. No idea yet how much of a role it will play, but there are already a few cards in AFR that I am going to try out...

love this deck so much hope to see more updates with the new set

1. What are you using Madblind Mountain for? Am I missing something?
2. How much work does Impact Tremors do during a game? I don't see a lot of token creation outside of a spell and Krenko.

I’m curious about the Madblind mountain too

Rasaru I’ve won quite a few games with Impact Tremors, works wonders with Ib Halfheart, Goblin Tactician himself. It seconds as a weaker, but still effective Purphorous

Rasaru/sdidonato: Madblind Mountain was originally for Experimental Frenzy for a little topdeck control, but now it helps with Conspicuous Snoop, or if you happen to get hit with the rare spell that puts something back on top of your library that you don't want to draw. It doesn't factor in most games but when it does it is nice to have, and it is a really easy include being a Mountain you can still sac to Ib.

For Impact Tremors it is mostly redundancy for Purphoros like Sdidonato said, but I would never dream of cutting it. I would say the least damage it's ever done in a game is probably 10, with the most being in the hundreds, not even considering the times where I've had both out it and Purph out.

There aren't a lot of traditional token generators in the deck, but don't underestimate repeated damage going out from hardcasting nontoken creatures, the few token doubling artifacts, Mogg Infestation, and Ib himself! These plus the damage doublers (and the tripler) means Impact Tremors tends to do a ton of damage over the course of the game.

The will say that I learned not to just throw it out there when I don't have some ETB follow ups soon after, just in case it gets removed before I get to use it. That's what makes it feel like it isn't pulling its weight.

Added

Den of the Bugbear: Just duh. This is the best manland for us ever.

Treasure Vault: We should be able to take advantage of this to limit the impact of saccing lands to Ib. Have to be careful with our Blood moon effects.

Hobgoblin Bandit Lord: Yes.

Dockside Extortionist: Back in even though it is stupidly expensive in paper. Probably no better Treasure generator for us.

Unexpected Windfall: Really solid draw and treasures? Yes please.

Removed

Goblin Sledder: Unfortunately when every card is so good you have to start cutting anything less than great.

Disrupt Decorum: While I love this card and it is very Ib, it is too narrow and too fleeting to run anymore. If you disagree goad me, bro.

Isolated Watchtower/Great Furnace: Average quality of lands went up, bottom of the threshold did too.

Pending:

Would still like to get Seize the Spoils in, as well as a good number of other token generators. I'm certain that making land-saccing less detrimental is going to really benefit the deck. If you know of better treasure generators that I missed let me know!

Cleaned up the primer a little bit and updated some explanations. Sets are releasing so fast that new card reviews feel perpetually behind, but I will keep testing!