This is my old Modern goblin deck that I used to run at my college. It worked great in my meta at school, and I consistently got turn 5 and even 4 kills with it. I probably won with this deck 70 percent of the time in 1V1 singleplayer. This deck has even beat a Legacy Affinity deck in a match, 2-1. It was close, but it did it. Sidenote: I remember the deck doing horrible against Knights... Goblins, especially ones as aggressive as these, dont do well against a bunch of Knights with First Strike.
This deck is horrible in multiplayer because of the politics that drive games like that, especially because once you have to focus on more than one target, the deck gets too stretched thin. Also in multiplayer, the other players get too much time to build a board presence, and you have to spread out the damage, which hurts the deck.
Ideally, the deck works something like this:
Turn 1: Mountain, cast Goblin Guide, swing for 2
Turn 2, Mountain, cast kicked Goblin Bushwhacker, swing with Guide and Whacker for combined 5 damage
Turn 3: Mountain, cast
Goblin Chieftain
, swing with Guide, Whacker, and Chieftain for combined 7 damage
Turn 4: Mountain, cast
Goblin Wardriver
, swing with Guide, Whacker, Chieftain, and Wardriver for a combined 13 damage. Then blow up Goblin Bushwhacker and
Goblin Wardriver
with two Goblin Grenades adding up to a critical grand total of 37 damage in 4 turns.
The cards:
Goblin Guide: An automatic x4 include, and a must have in the opening hand. Coming out of the gate, and dealing 2 damage a pop is something that is irreplaceable in a deck like this.
Goblin Bushwhacker: The ideal turn two two-drop in this deck. I hardly ever play it without kicking it, thats how valuable its ability is.
Goblin Chieftain
: The turn three engine that keeps us above water. The +1 +1 bonus that it gives is essential for racking up those damage points, and buffing our guys to save us from any wrath like effects (although we hopefully should be swinging for the win before any of those hit the board). And the Haste that it grants to the goblins after turn 3 is amazing, allowing us to keep on our relentless assault without stopping.
Mogg Fanatic: A perfect utility card. Good for popping off and killing a creature, or damaging an opponent for that last 1 life that they were clinging to. A good chump blocker as well.
Goblin Wardriver
: A great turn 4 drop, allowing us to leave mana open for whatever burn spells we have in hand. Pumps up the rest of our attackers with the Battlecry mechanic.
Legion Loyalist: A recent addition to the deck. Its Battalion Ability is great in the later game (Turn 4 or 5) allowing us to get damage in off of the Trample, and/ or knock off a couple of the opponents creatures with the First Strike.
Siege-Gang Commander: A good late game draw, if it ever comes down to it. In one card, we have 4 goblins, ready to pop and burn the opponent to the ashes of their life total. You never want this in your opening hand if you can help it though. A 3 of include.
Krenko, Mob Boss: Another recent addition. We dont really want to play this on turn four. Wed rather play this on turn five or later, when we need more goblins to fuel the attack. A relevant, card advantage creating card. We dont want to draw it that often though, so it remains a 2 of include.
Goblin Grenade: A card this deck could not live without. 5 damage for 1 mana and a creature sacrifice is incredible. Great for when the opponent thinks that they were just barely able to survive until the next turn to drop their "bomb" on us, and then we end their game with 5 damage to the face. Only thing that would make this better would be instant speed.
Lightning Bolt: The ultimate utility spell in Red. I typically use it for creature removal to let my goblins through, although I have used it in similar effect to Goblin Grenade as a game ending spell, 3 damage to the opponents face.
Browbeat: The most relevant red card draw I could think of for a deck like this. Either take 5, or let me draw 3 cards. Win/ win for me.
Mountain: I usually play 19 of them, because 20 is too much and if I play 17 and lower, Im usually hurting for a land turn 4 or 5.
Teetering Peaks
: I dont use this as much as a land card as much as I do for a pumping spell for my Goblin Guide or something similar. Its situational, but I can usually find a use for it. A singleton.
As far of a sideboard, goes, Ive never really used one. If I did though, I would keep a few of the black and red goblin cards from the Lorwyn block in case someone has a Pro- Red deck. But I would highly appreciate it if people contributed ideas to what the sideboard should contain. Its not really something Ive thought about that much.
If youre looking to sleeve this deck up, and take it to your local FNM, or any other setting to play, just remember this: if you want to win with this deck, you have to be extremely aggressive.
Oppa Goblin Style!!
"Finding themselves in a new and unexplored world, they immediately set it on fire. " -----
Goblin Razerunners
, (Conflux)
