Ib Halfheart, Goblin Sac-tician [PRIMER]
Commander / EDH
SCORE: 714 | 410 COMMENTS | 64754 VIEWS | IN 232 FOLDERS
Liquidbeaver says... #2
Jay3401: I think Inventors' Fair is a much better fit in a deck like this. I am going to add it to the budget version, which has a more casual pace and more forgiving landbase.
March 16, 2018 4:19 p.m.
Liquidbeaver says... #3
The big changes recently...
Siege-Gang Commander out for Beetleback Chief: Just trying to cut down the CMC a bit more, plus I never get to use the second ability of SGC anyway.
Wheel of Fortune out for Memory Jar: I've been going back and forth on this for a long time, and I finally decided to do it after a string of bad luck with Wheel. Wheel is amazing normally, and I don't know if it is just the deck or my meta, but 9 out of 10 times I play it it ends up going worse for me. Worse yet, I found myself holding onto it and not casting it. Memory Jar allows me to get the effect, I don't have to pitch my original hand if I have a good one, and any benefit to opponents is short lived. Being able to recur it is a huge plus also.
Crawlspace out for Meekstone: Much more effective, and the impact on this deck is minimal (Krenko, Chancellor, Purphoros, Urabrask). I will miss the art though!
Kindred Charge out for Chancellor of the Forge: This change may not stick, or I may just bring Charge back in in addition to the Chancellor, but I tend to have better luck with this effect as a creature than I do with a sorcery. Not losing the new tokens at the end of turn is great too.
Aggravated Assault out: I originally added this because the deck felt one turn away from winning very often at the end of a game someone else won. I figured getting more combats in, or the...14 card infinite with Krenko, Mob Boss and Skirk Prospector was fun if I ever managed to get it off. Ultimately, drawing deeper into my deck more results in a lot more consistent wins.
Basilisk Collar out: I think this was just me trying to be too cute. Fun, but not consistent or impactful enough.
Invasion Plans out: See above. Nemesis Mask does this way, way better. Playing Invasion Plans was always a huge risk, and there are better finishers.
Skirk Fire Marshal out: While great with Basilisk Collar, most of the time it's just a really hard to play around effect, as strong as it is. I would rather have Goblin Assassin back in eventually.
Myriad Landscape out for Buried Ruin: Entering the battlefield tapped is ultimately what killed this for me. Buried Ruin fits the spot better.
Great Furnace in: Added to up the artifact count for the new manarock.
Mox Opal in: Now that I've raised the artifact count a bit, including this is easier than before. Also helps a bit to offload mana generation away from the lands a bit, in cases where I want to sac them all but not be stranded after.
Imperial Recruiter in: Hell yeah! This finally got reprinted, which dropped the price from $150+ to probably around $50. Can grab so, so many good creatures.
Fervor in: I've wanted one more haste enabler for a long time. This might eventually change to Mass Hysteria.
Font of Mythos in: In an effort to drastically increasing my draw, I'm trying symmetrical draw effects for the first time. The hope is to take advantage of it faster than my opponents. We'll see how that goes!
Horn of Greed in: As the deck gets better, getting multiple land drops in a turn becomes more consistent, and I rarely miss a land drop anymore. I would only be worried about this against one green deck in my meta, but even then it is always a race anyway, at least this time it will be more fun.
Scour from Existence in: Rather than just running either this or Spine of Ish Sah, I am going to run both. The deck plays so much better the more interactive it becomes.
That's the biggest number of changes I made since the deck's first revision more than a year ago! I'm confident I will be happy with most of the changes, but as always, this deck will constantly change to be the most powerful and most fun I can make it.
March 16, 2018 4:46 p.m.
Liquidbeaver says... #5
BasedTurtleHD: I had Scrying Sheets in the deck a long, long time ago, and took it out when I took out Extraplanar Lens, and never really thought about it. Now that I look at it again, it is definitely worth playtesting to see how it does now that the deck works much, much better. Great suggestion!
April 13, 2018 3:07 p.m.
Liquidbeaver says... #6
Spine of Ish Sah out for Haphazard Bombardment: I like Haphazard Bombardment/Scour from Existence as a pair better than Spine of Ish Sah/Scour from Existence.
The craziest part of this enchantment is that, per the Gatherer page, you can choose an indestructible permanent as one of the 4 targets, and then you can remove chance from the equation and guarantee that you will remove the other 3 targets.
April 27, 2018 11:50 a.m.
captain_Pugsley says... #7
Liquidbeaver, This deck looks friggin hilarious! Would you mind me sharing this with the playgroup I'm in?
April 27, 2018 3:39 p.m.
Liquidbeaver says... #8
captain_Pugsley: Please do! Even better, proxy it up and have someone playtest it!
April 27, 2018 3:44 p.m.
Liquidbeaver says... #9
After a long hiatus, Daretti, Scrap Savant has returned to the battlefield!
Took out Crystal Ball because I added Scrying Sheets back in per the recommendation of BasedTurtleHD, and it has worked fantastic! Also, having my land slot fill that purpose instead is much easier to work around.
May 13, 2018 5:25 p.m.
Liquidbeaver says... #13
Bad news about Kusari-Gama, apparently although it works in MTGO and Forge, I've had several L2+ judges confirm that it doesn't.
That really sucks. Going to put Horn of Greed back until I can find a suitable replacement.
May 28, 2018 12:08 p.m.
Liquidbeaver says... #15
Changing it up a bit!
Fervor out for for Hammer of Purphoros. Needed a higher artifact count.
Meekstone out for Ensnaring Bridge. Was considering bringing Crawlspace back in, but I think this is a better combo, especially with haste from the Hammer.
Horn of Greed out for Quest for Pure Flame. This may end up being Insult // Injury after playtesting.
Urabrask the Hidden out. The Hammer and Ensnaring Bridge is a better combo I think.
Ashnod's Altar in. I've felt like I needed another sac outlet for a while, might as well try one that worked for me before. If I find I don't need the ramp at all, this may become Mogg Raider
May 31, 2018 11:41 a.m.
Liquidbeaver says... #16
Really want to test out Mindmoil for digging through my deck, but I'm not sure where to fit it in just yet. It's a weird effect, but this is a weird deck, so it will probably be great!
June 1, 2018 11:25 a.m.
ticked-off-squirrel says... #17
this is a beautiful goblin deck. not sure how helpful my suggestion will be but here is what i suggest:
Hazoret's Monument: making ALL your red creatures costing 1 less and able to cycle cards if needed.
Outpost Siege: so when your tokens get sacked they do collateral damage to players.
Tamiyo's Journal while yes a bit high with a CMC of 5, it provides continuous card draw and a tutor.
June 9, 2018 2:25 p.m.
Liquidbeaver says... #18
M19 is bring us Dark-Dweller Oracle:
This is a fantastic new card! Not only is it pseudo-draw or thinning, it also doesn't tap to activate, and it's a sac outlet. Note that it says "play", so it can be used to play lands you exile as well!
This will immediately take the place of Ashnod's Altar.
June 18, 2018 12:07 p.m.
I really dislike Mindmoil in a deck like this, since you have no real way of refilling your cards and dig deep- not even speaking of multiple great cards you get through mindmoil, but you can only play one of them. :( hurts
I haven't given up on Wheel of Fortune and Reforge the Soul - especially the latter one has Top and Rack Synergy.
How about copying a little from Skred and add in a Koth of the Hammer? With your neat little Nemesis Mask and a Moon-effect in play you can force your opponent to block with lands. It's super janky, will probably not work ever, but I love it.
June 19, 2018 9:49 a.m.
Liquidbeaver says... #20
ticked-off-squirrel: Thanks for the compliment! I am very proud of how it has turned out. As for the card suggestions, here are my comments.
Hazoret's Monument: Originally I shied away from Hazoret's because early on I only had like 19 creatures or so, and didn't end up casting them that often. Now that I technically have 25 of them, I think it appeals to me a lot more. I am going to get one and test it out.
Outpost Siege: My experience with Outpost Siege is I only ever declared Khans because I was always hurting for draw, but by the time I got to use it it was Turn 5, and I draw an extra card before it gets destroyed, if I even get to that point. I think if Dragons said "each opponent" instead it would be a completely different story, and an autoinclude for me, but unfortunately it's the same reason I don't run Boggart Shenanigans, the damage is just too narrow.
Tamiyo's Journal: Similar problem with this one, in my meta, even though we aren't playing cEDH decks, we are all at a minimum playing 75%, and having something really come online on T6 or so isn't fast enough to be useful, which is why I've leaned more towards the harder hitting draw spells like Commune with Lava, Memory Jar, or Mindmoil if that one works out. I think Tamiyo's is really interesting as an effect, I just think they dropped the ball on Clues and making them too heavily costed.
Thanks for commenting!
June 19, 2018 12:21 p.m.
Liquidbeaver says... #21
crowned: I haven't drawn it yet, so I don't know how it works in an actual game, but I think I can still work around it to a good effect. I know it is going to be quite the adjustment for me when it is it though. The hope would be that I can dig just enough to turn a win over two turns into an alpha strike on that turn instead. The chance of drawing more than one good card a time is very real, and having to put them on the bottom of the library would suck, but with cracking fetchlands, the few tutors I have, and other shuffling effects it doesn't hurt as much. I'm more curious about it than I am confident it will be great though.
I had Wheel of Fortune for a long time, and Reforge the Soul for a little bit, and never ended up being happy with them. The discard was easily the worst part, as I only have like 3 ways of recurring anything in the deck, and all of them have pretty narrow uses. On top of that, I found myself holding onto it for multiple turns, or not casting it at all, either because my hand was good enough to keep, or I knew my opponents hands weren't great, and I didn't want to risk improving their hand. I realize it is just statistics, but I ended up handing my opponents the game with it more often than I was comfortable with. I switched Wheel out for Memory Jar and was much, much happier with the overall effect. I get the benefit of the wheel, I don't discard my initial hand, I get to dig, and my opponents only get to capitalize on instants they draw, and only until the end of my turn.
Koth of the Hammer is something I am going to have to look into again. I think the emblem is actually the most appealing part of it, because probably 75% of the time I sac all or most of my mountains to Ib, I just float the mana and don't do anything with it. Adding a bunch of damage to players or creatures instead sounds much better.
June 19, 2018 12:54 p.m.
Liquidbeaver says... #22
Another great new M19 card with:
Not only is it a lord, but also has a non-tap sacrifice ability, but it can also get rid of itself to get tokens back under the threshold for Shared Animosity, and it is recurrable. Just a really solid card.
This will be taking place of Shattering Spree in my deck.
June 20, 2018 12:06 p.m.
M19 has brought us the 2nd great goblin! All hail wotc!
I haven't understood the part where you mention a threshold of Animosity which you want to dodge - could you elaborate?
Any chance of seing the deck in action, do you have the possibility of filming a few games IRL or on an MTGO-equivalent?
June 20, 2018 1:49 p.m.
Liquidbeaver says... #24
Good catch, I definitely meant Raid Bombardment and not Shared Animosity.
They tie closely together because they go on the stack at the same time, so as long as a Goblin is a 2/2 or less before attackers are declared, it doesn't matter if you attack with 20 Goblins and each one is a 21/2 because of Shared Animosity, Raid Bombardment still procs as well because at the time the trigger resolves Shared Animosity hadn't. To make sure I hit the hardest I can, I have sometimes sacrificed a Goblin Chieftain or a Goblin King to make sure Bombardment gets to proc. Even if I get chump blocked or fogged I still get a lot of damage through. The fact that we get another lord, and he can sacrifice himself to himself to make sure I get under the threshold for Raid Bombardment is fantastic. I still can't get over how good these two new Goblins are!
Unfortunately I don't have any recordings of this in action, although I've always wanted to get it going on MTGO. I do have a GoPro though, so maybe I can convince some of my friends to play a game with me.
June 20, 2018 2:16 p.m.
keatonsmask says... #25
I love this Goblin deck it's really really creative where it struggles is enchantment removal I'd suggest maybe running steel helkite/ oblivion stone as both are fetchable with daretti/welder... I love the deck again it's amazing and I'd love to hear your opinion on what u think would be good for enchantment removal I feel like hellkite might be better because most enchantments we care about are 4 or less
Jay3401 says... #1
I see your point on Hoarding Dragon and gotta agree... Inventors' Fair then?
March 16, 2018 7:26 a.m.